For this project I describe the socio-historical development of a particular application of genetic prenatal diagnosis, in terms of changing social relations that govern an ethics of reproductive choice. I examine ways that medicine and government articulate prenatal diagnosis to problematise the maternal body and govern women's reproductive choices about chromosomal abnormality in the fetus. Since its introduction in the early 1970s, the major use of prenatal diagnosis has been to detect chromosomal abnormalities-in particular, Down syndrome-in the fetus. Medico-scientific knowledge claims negotiated in everyday practices in the genetic counselling clinic between health professionals and their clients are situated within broader social relations. Negotiations between medicine and government have produced technoscientific possibilities, realised with greater or lesser success in the co-construction of a workable prenatal diagnosis standardised package. I describe how these socio-technical relations have produced similarities and differences across time, and national and professional boundaries. My analysis draws on observations in three genetic counselling clinics, and of the health professionals' other work activities. I also draw on interviews with them and other actors in that arena, as well as claims made about prenatal diagnosis technologies in the medico-scientific literature. I analyse my data using concepts developed in social worlds/arenas theory within a Foucauldian framework of social relations that govern the body. Since the early formation of a standardised package of genetic counselling about amniocentesis, ethical decisions about prenatal diagnosis have identified multiple parts of the self to be governed. This ethics has relied on a duty to make genetically responsible decisions as a particular way to relate to oneself, although it has been expressed in different ways. Newer technologies have articulated greater ethical possibilities for governing the self by co-constructing new ways of assembling the constituent components. Throughout, there have been tensions between two major aims for governing the self: that of giving birth to a healthy baby, and that of managing maternal rationality in order to act as an autonomous rational individual. I have thus described how a woman's use of prenatal diagnosis is not simply one of individual choice. Her decision is a complex ethical one that is historically and socially contingent on relations between medicine and government that present the maternal body in certain ways for her to act upon herself.

This thesis critically analyses how social work practitioners construct moral-ethical decision-making in systems that are constituted as legal-rational authority and political-socioeconomic interests. Notions of moral-ethicality in practice are represented in social work literature and codified ethics in certain ways and this thesis argues that such representations do not conceive of ways in which the claimed ideals of social work might be achieved in the face of structural oppressions and power imbalance that facilitate disadvantage. A notion that there are possibilities for challenge and resistance by social work practitioners to the power of cultural pedagogy that is inherent in the discursive field of social work is articulated. This is a critical postmodern work with a postmodern approach and this thesis is premised on the works of Zygmunt Bauman, and his perspectives on morality, ethics, responsibility for the Other and power relations. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2003

Managing for Survival explores the ways in which individuals holding management roles in secular non-government human service organisations in South Australia deal with the potential and actual conflict between their personal values, the implicit values of their agency and the tasks required of them by the demands of the economic and political environment in which their agency operates. Changes in the requirements and practices of management, due to changes in government funding and support as a result of economic reform, are the focus of the research. Particular attention is paid to the strategies adopted by managers to cope with the shifting priorities and requirements of a restructured community service industry. / thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2003.

This thesis examines the re-emergence of the design manifestos since the 1990s to articulate what these manifestos tell us about the morality of design. By doing so, I have hypothesised that these manifestos offer moral dimensions to design by espousing ethical, social and civic values. These moral dimensions invite specifically, graphic designers to look closely at their actions as design agents and to incorporate research, theory and practice as a unit of design process. In so doing, the graphic designer will work towards a user-centred outcome while showing sensitivity to their society, culture, politics, technologies and natural environments. This thesis also presents my project explorations drawn from my hypothesis of the moral dimensions of design to extract insight to the graphic design process and practice encouraged by the six manifestos. This highlights that design offers infinite possibilities within any given context to the community of users and determines that the incorporation of responsibility must be part of everyday design practice. / Master of Arts (Hons)

One of the reasons for firms decentralising aspects of their operations is to enable managers to gain specialised knowledge of local conditions. For credit managers in a banking firm, this may take the form of knowledge of investment opportunities and the risk profiles of each of these opportunities. In light of principal-agent problems that arise when information is asymmetrical, the focal point of this dissertation is the development of incentive-compatible mechanisms that facilitate the free and accurate disclosure of the private information of managers on the risk profile of investments to the centre of the bank at the time investment decisions are being implemented. These mechanisms are required because managers may have strong incentives to misrepresent their private information when doing so has the potential to favourably impact on the size of their remuneration. This, in turn, has a direct impact on the ability of the centre to optimally allocate the capital of the bank and effectively price risk into bank investments. The dissertation commences by examining which internal risk measures act to align the investment decisions of managers in a bank with the risk/return goals of the centre of the bank. This requires knowledge of the bank risk preference function. It is initially assumed that managers have developed specialised knowledge of the opportunity set of available investments, and have no reason to misrepresent this information to the centre. This assumption is later removed and the implications assessed. In order to ensure incentive-compatibility between the centre and managers, a truth-revealing mechanism is employed in the capital allocation process and tied to the compensation payment function of the bank. This mechanism acts to ensure managers disclose their private information on the expected risks and returns in the investments under their control, and facilitates the efficient investment of capital within the bank. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This portfolio addresses the moral, ethical and legal issues that impact upon decisions to maintain or disclose confidential communications. The tensions and moral dilemmas that are created when a conflict between these aspects arises are considered. Risk assessment procedures that inform decisions to maintain or disclose confidential information are discussed, as are issues related to the practical implementation of planned interventions. The topic is addressed by firstly reviewing professional codes of conduct and legal requirements to maintain confidentiality. The limits of confidentiality and privileged communication are then reviewed together with legal requirements of “duty to warn” or “duty of care”. These requirements are then related to risk assessment procedures and relevant interventions. Four case studies that illustrate the practical application of assessment techniques in the decision process and planned interventions are presented. They cover such diverse topics as disclosure and suicidal intent, threat of harm to a third party, risk of transmission of the AIDS virus and “duty to warn” and maintenance of a minor’s confidential communications. The ways in which these issues were addressed and the outcome is presented. NOTE: All names and details that have the potential to identify the people whose cases are presented here have been changed to protect their anonymity.

In this work, I argue that the Alexandiran position on feticide found in Hellenistic Judaism and appropriated by patristic, medieval and reformed theologians is defensible in the 21st Century. I formulate an argument from the Alexandrian position as it appears in several representative Christian traditions. This argument contends that that: [1] killing a human being without justification violates the law of God, [2] a formed conceptus (i.e. a fetus) is a human being and [3] that in the case of feticide (at least in the majority of cases) no justification is forthcoming. In developing my case, I argue that the objections raised against the premises of this argument by contemporary philosphers are unsound. I defend the intellectual acceptability of belief in and appeals to the existence of a divine law, the notion that a formed fetus is a human being and the claim that feticide lacks any justification in the vast majority of cases. In addition, I examine and critique theologians who claim the Alexandrian position is motivated by misogyny and those who claim it appropriates a translation error found in the Septuagint. I conclude that the traditional position is defensible and that contemporary dismissals of it are unconvincing.

Murder is not a phenomenon that sits comfortably with the typical image of nurses and yet the number of cases of nurses accused and convicted of murdering patients is mounting. The nursing literature is quiet on the subject and therefore what is generally known on the topic predominantly comes from the media. An analysis of this seemingly unfathomable phenomenon is required to re-consider the problem and understand from new perspectives how and why this is happening. The aim of the study is to provide information for health professionals and organisations that will help them work together to recognise situations in which murder by nurses can occur. The research question is: How do the various discourses surrounding murder committed by nurses on patients in the course of their work shape the definition and treatment of these crimes? A discursive analysis of texts guided by a number of discourse theorists is undertaken to reveal the social construction of murder of patients by nurses. Texts related to the media and professional reporting of over 50 cases of registered nurses, enrolled and licensed nurses and assistants were retrieved from searches of Factiva, CINAHL and MEDLINE between 1980 to 2006. The software program JBI-NOTARI® (Joanna Briggs Institute, 2003b) houses the texts and facilitated analysis. Discursive constructions are reported in four findings chapters and include: the profile of murderous nurses; types of murders; contexts in which murder takes place; factors that aid detection and apprehension; legal processes that guide charges, convictions and punishment; and finally the reactions of the public, the profession, the regulators and the families. The murder of patients by nurses is construed as a combination of extraordinary nurses, extraordinary deeds in ordinary contexts. While members of the nursing profession may not be held accountable for the actions of aberrant nurses who murder there is a responsibility to understand how hospitals and units form crucibles in which murder can take place. The recommendations from this study relate to both practice and research. Practitioners are recommended to critically reflect on structures and processes. / Thesis(Ph.D.)-- School of Population Health and Clinical Practice, 2008

Considered one of Northern Europe’s most renowned art film directors to date, Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson has been hailed by critics and art cinemagoers alike for his unconventional visual and narrative style. Marked by his use of long, static shots filmed in wide-angle and deep focus, Andersson’s “tableau aesthetic” is intimately linked to his idea that films, like other art forms, can have an important function in contemporary society: to provoke social and moral awareness in its audience. Aiming to counter what he considers a “fear of seriousness” and a dearth of critical contemplation in modern society and media, Andersson uses his films and his distinct tableau aesthetic to explore the key social, political and philosophical issues of our times: the human condition, the problems of modernity, and the lingering legacy of past historical traumas. This dissertation presents a study of Andersson’s aesthetic and thematic concerns. The central thesis is that his films continue and innovate key stylistic and ideological tendencies associated with modernist painting and theatre. The introductory chapter serves to justify why Andersson’s work represents a “modernist structure of feeling.” Besides giving an overview of the key ideas, themes and stylistic techniques that mark his films, the introduction explains the humanistic philosophy that is central to not only his aesthetic and thematic concerns, but also his approach to filmmaking itself. The topics that emerge from this introduction – including the function of Andersson’s distinct tableau aesthetic, the thematic richness of his films, and his position within contemporary Nordic cinema and global art cinema – serve as points of departure for the thesis proper. Chapter 1 focuses on Andersson’s tableau aesthetic, its relationship to his overall tableaux narrative structure, and the influences of pictorial arts and earlier cinematic trends on his style. The chapter discusses the director’s justification for the tableau aesthetic and narrative structure, and what it may tell us about the limits of conventional narrative cinema, and cinema’s relationship to the other arts. Chapters 2-4 explore three of the central themes in Andersson’s work: the human condition, the critique of modernity, and the lingering legacy of past historical traumas. Chapter 2 focuses on the human condition as a theme in You, the Living (Du Levande, 2007) and compares the film thematically and stylistically to the Theatre of the Absurd. Chapter 3 analyzes Songs from the Second Floor (Sånger från andra våningen, 2000) and its critique of the Swedish welfare state, modern institutions and ideologies. Meanwhile, Chapter 4 looks at the changing ways that Andersson has artistically rendered the topic of historical traumas during the course of his career. In the concluding chapter, Andersson and his films are discussed within the wider contexts of the Swedish film industry and global art cinema. This dissertation, then, has a two-fold aim: to illuminate the thematic and stylistic richness of Andersson’s much under-researched films, while also critically exploring how his films may move us towards a cinema of contemplation. / published_or_final_version / Comparative Literature / Master / Master of Philosophy

D.Tech. Organisational Leadership. Business School. / Organisations in South Africa and parastatals and semigovernmental organisations, in particular are adversely impacted upon by the low productivity of the workforce. The adverse situation invariably points to ineffective leadership. Few organisations focus on personal character, principles and moral skills, which everyone in a leadership role should possess to ensure long-term sustainable results. Improving the performance of individual organisations to the benefit of South Africa should be one of the country's highest priorities. The formulated conceptual process model could serve as a mechanism to achieve this highly complex objective.