This thesis: Origins and Destinations: Representation in the theatre of Romeo Castellucci, investigates the working methodology of the Italian theatre director, Romeo Castellucci and his company, Societas Raffaello Sanzio. It provides an account of Societas Raffaello Sanzio???s history, working methods, a detailed reading of the thematic and philosophical landscape in their works especially Genesi: from the museum of sleep, and the cycle: Tragedia Endogonidia, and a discussion on the company???s artistic process towards the formation of its compositions and performances. This research and investigation is based on numerous viewings of most of the company???s theatre works created in the last six years, interviews with Romeo Castellucci as well as other participating artists, two privileged periods of observation (residencies) in Italy of the rehearsal and creation processes of three shows, and the analysis and discussion of some of the key critical and intellectual responses to the work of Romeo Castellucci. The thematic focus of the thesis is the notion of Origins and Destinations, and its relationship with the language of representation in Romeo Castellucci???s theatre. The theoretical discussion in the thesis is organised around Giorgio Agamben???s notion of Potentiality within the composition and content of Castellucci???s theatre. This concept provides a link between the key ideas of Origins, Destinations and Representation. Castellucci???s application of Agamben???s Potentiality deconstructs dramatic structure, narrative and action down to the fundamentals of the act itself, separated from its meaningful context. It is the conclusion of this thesis, that in the instant of this singular act, Romeo Castellucci manages to represent a point where origin and destination meet, or a point where they both are, for an instant, one and the same thing.

The continental shelf off South Australia is incised by some of the largest known submarine canyons. Extensive observations of submarine canyons in other parts of the world have shown submarine canyons can result in locally persistent upwelling regions. Along the southern coastline, westward slope currents including anticyclonic eddies and the Flinders Current (FC) can result in favourable conditions for upwelling in the vicinity of these canyons. Little data is available to describe the FC and so we review three global ocean circulation models and their representation of the FC. Though there are considerable differences between the outputs of these three models, this analysis provides a range of potential scales for the structure and transport of the FC. The reasons for the differences between the output of the three models are extensive, but to a first approximation, climatological surface wind stress products are compared. Dynamical descriptions of the flow past submarine canyons are reviewed and in part extended, in particular the vertical scale of the induced motion is estimated as the Rossby height RH. A description of upwelling and downwelling flow incorporating vorticity stretching is also presented. An idealised model of the southern Australian continental shelf and the submarine canyons reveals the circulation is heavily modified by the presence of the canyons, inducing persistent upwelling of dense water onto the downstream shelf. In addition, one prominent feature of the induced circulation ??? a coastal jet ??? is found to be peculiar to flat inner shelf topographies. More realistic topography including a sloped inner shelf results in reduced shoreward transport within the canyon and hence reduced upwelling.

This thesis constructs, principally from primary sources, a long term time series for house and land prices for Sydney and Melbourne, and house price and rental yield series for Australia. These new series span the period 1880-1965 and give an historical perspective beyond the period from 1970 for which existing house price time series begin for Australia and for most of the world. The price series indicates that the modern experience (i.e. since the 1970s) of a significant upward trend in real prices differs markedly from the experience in the first half of the 20th century when house prices moved very little. The thesis then takes several approaches to explaining the apparent shift in direction in the mid 20th century. The first approach examines house prices in terms of demand and supply variables. Urban theory says that demographic and income factors are critical. However, assessed over this long time span, these demand factors do not offer a satisfactory explanation. Additionally, it is found that there is no cointegrating relationship between prices and income. Rather, it appears that supply factors have probably been the pivotal influence in explaining the shift in direction, consistent with a growing literature which focuses on the role of regulation and other constraints on supply. In Australia???s case, government policies imposing capital contributions on the cost of land appear to be a major factor. The second approach taken is to view housing in terms of asset pricing as more typically applied to the equity market by Campbell and Shiller (1988) and others. A central debate is whether or not there has been a structural fall in the equity yield and given the parallel fall in the house yield, this question is posed for housing. The thesis finds that tax and other factors can explain a structural decline in the housing yield. The house rental yield appears to be a better predictor of future rental growth and a negative predictor of future returns.

This study investigates the relationship between learning approaches and the development of clinical reasoning ability. The main questions for the study were: Is there a statistically significant relationship between students??? learning approaches and development of clinical reasoning ability? If there is a relationship between approaches to learning and development of clinical reasoning ability, which students develop this ability faster? And How does learning approach change relate to the development of reasoning ability? The Revised Two-Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) was used in order to evaluate participants??? learning approaches and Diagnostic Thinking Inventory (DTI) to measure participants??? diagnostic thinking ability. In order to determine changes of learning approaches, the same students were invited to fill out the same questionnaires one year later. This quantitative study was followed by a qualitative inquiry including in-depth interviews aimed at exploring the association of a change in learning approach score with the development of clinical reasoning ability. These interviews also explored the factors influencing learning approaches of these students. Those students with the greatest change in R-SPQ-2F scores between the two surveys were selected for interview. Analysis of the findings of both the quantitative and qualitative phases of this research leads the researcher to conclude that; - there is a correlation between ongoing learning approaches and the development of clinical reasoning ability; this correlation is positive if the approach is deep and it is negative if the approach is surface, - progress towards either end of the learning approach continuum is associated with observation of experts, reasoning practice and/or feedback from experts, and - progress towards either end of the learning approach continuum seems an earlier and better indicator of developing reasoning ability than categorization of learning approach because both learning approach change and the factor causing this change were associated with the development of clinical reasoning ability. This study contributes to understanding of the importance of ongoing learning approaches and the development of clinical reasoning ability by encouraging deep learning approach characteristics. Factors affecting learning approaches are also associated with the development of clinical reasoning ability. Their effect is more than expected.

Genetically engineered insulin-producing cells, surrogate ?? cells, offer a solution to the shortage of ?? cells available for transplantation in individuals with Type 1 diabetes. Hepatocytes are a promising starting cell in the quest for surrogate ?? cells. However, achieving glucose-regulated insulin secretion in the genetically engineered liver cells is a difficult task as liver cells do not possess regulated secretory pathway. NeuroD, a pancreatic ?? cell transcription factor is involved in the differentiation of endocrine pancreatic cells and also directly regulates the expression of genes in the differentiated cells. However, little is known about the role of NeuroD in the glucose-regulated insulin secretion. The aim of this study was to investigate whether NeuroD induces glucose-regulated insulin secretion in the insulin-producing rat liver cell line, FAO-ins. The human NeuroD gene was stably expressed in FAO-ins cells. In the transfected cells (FAOins-Nd) the expression of genes encoding transcription factor Foxa2, L-type calcium channel subunits and secretory granule protein CgA was up-regulated. FAOins-Nd also showed greater intracellular insulin content and secretion as well as released insulin in a regulated manner to calcium stimulus. Further, growth factors namely betacellulin, activin A, nicotinamide and exendin-4 as well as insulin secretagogues such as theophylline, IBMX and carbachol were examined by static incubation in inducing glucose-regulated insulin secretion. Exendin-4 and insulin secretagogues stimulate insulin secretion in the presence of 1.5 mM glucose but the addition of 20 mM glucose had no further stimulatory effect. These results indicate that FAOins-Nd cells are sensitive to glucose and the release of insulin is non-glucose dependent. Overexpression of NeuroD and further treatment with exendin-4 or insulin secretagogues up-regulated insulin secretion but did not render these cells glucose-responsive. An attempt was made to generate transgenic NOD mice expressing large amounts of insulin in the liver using PEPCK promoter with SV40 poly adenylation sequence. Transgenic NOD mice were generated and the presence of insulin transgene was demonstrated. However, insulin mRNA and protein were not expressed in the liver of transgenic mice.

Cultures in contact over a considerable period influence intellectual traditions, practices and habits relating to musical expression and the manner of teaching it. This study investigates the effects of different cultural contacts on Vietnamese student pianists, especially from Russian-style piano pedagogy and associated educational ideas and methods in music conservatoires. The purpose of this study was to compare various teaching approaches and learning styles, and the reactions of Vietnamese students to three different sources of training of piano teachers: Russia, Vietnam and England. Different sources of training affected piano pedagogy, and different musical traditions affected expression in piano performance, especially where students are from a cultural background different from that of their teacher. Observations of actual piano lessons were undertaken, and data were also obtained from interviews and questionnaires and analysed statistically. Results are reported and discussed in relation to four prominent features of the Russian piano school: achieving a powerful and substantial sound; the requirement for ???singing??? quality on the piano; the solid technical training which requires an enormous amount of practice time; and the necessity to play from memory. These are four prominent features of the Russian piano schooling. In addition, Vietnamese students??? problems regarding rhythmic accuracy highlight an inherent difference between the Vietnamese and Russian piano school. Major differences and similarities in teaching styles between Russian teachers and those from the UK and Vietnam were described and commented on under the following headings: use of mental practice; the role of listening; teacher demonstration; freedom for students in learning and making decisions (choice of repertoire; performance opportunities for students; students??? emotional reactions); the more liberal approach of the UK teachers; and the piano teaching styles at the Hanoi Conservatory that have been strongly influenced by the Russian piano school through Russian graduates??? teaching in Vietnam. These findings have important pedagogical implications. The more teachers control there was in lessons, the less a student would contribute to lessons actively. More liberal or less authoritarian approaches to teaching do not necessarily inculcate the discipline required for high achievement technically and expressively. There needs to be a balance between liberal approaches and encouraging the student to become autonomous in their efforts, and ensuring that they realize the importance of being disciplined in their practice habits.

This is a study against essentialist generalisations. Empirically, the study has been conducted to understand the food related practices among the Bengali-Muslim migrants in Sydney based on the dichotomy of Halal (permitted in Islam) and Haram (prohibited in Islam). Instead of evaluating Islam and Muslim communities as monolithic and undifferentiated this study reveals the localised actualisation of Islam which serves as a conditioning factor for these Bengali-Muslim migrants. Adopting a naturalistic methodological approach a number of ethnographic tools have been used to reveal the complex multifaceted processes through which Sydney???s Bengali-Muslim migrants negotiate the situational convergence and divergence between their ethnic identity as Bengali and their religious identity as Muslim. As a significant site of this interplay this study discovers from their food related practices that the Bengali-Muslim migrants in Sydney construct the notion of Halal-Haram food rules and regulations through the dialectics of their Bengali-informed Islam. The Bengali version of Islam poses considerable challenge to the modernist opposition between secularism and religion which is quite inadequate to understand the way the Bengali-Muslims historically negotiate both of these in the form of overlapping consensus. The findings of the study exhibit that this situationally shifting emphasis on their secular Bengali identity at one point of time and on their religious Muslim identity at another determines their decisive practices regarding food consumption in a Western cultural milieu. The Bengali-Muslim migrant participants of this study tend to perceive the notion of Halal-Haram in multiple ways so as to fit the pragmatic realities of their migrant life, which eventually leads them to reconstruct, renegotiate or even discard the scriptural/theological/authoritative discourse. Such underlying properties of food practices vindicate the argument that any stereotypically standardised notion of ???Islam??? is inadequate to understand varied Muslim migrant communities across the globe. Rather specific Muslim migrant community should be studied along with a profound understanding of their very contextual nature and historical formations.

This study is a comprehensive account of Indonesian foreign policy. It analyses the perceptions of the country???s foreign policy elite about other states and the manner in which these shape the decision-making process and determine policy outcomes. It demonstrates that the dynamics of Indonesian foreign relations in the reformasi period can be understood in terms of elite perceptions. Policy-makers??? perceptions are as important as realities, insofar as they shape their real actions. The balance-of-threat theory is the principal analytical tool used to examine elite perceptions. The study argues that the key realist balance-of-power theory lacks the power to explain past dynamics or to predict future direction of Indonesian foreign relations. The balance-of-threat theory is employed here as a predictor about how Indonesia will behave and whether it will implement policies intended to prevent other countries from endangering Indonesia???s national interests and security. The combined qualitative and quantitative research strategy is based on, but by no means limited to, archival study, content analysis of literature and official statements of relevant Indonesian policy-makers and the survey data. The latter approach draws on a series of 45 in-depth interviews with members of the Indonesian foreign policy elite. Indonesian relations with the United States and China are the highest concern of the elite. The leaders believe that, in the future, Indonesia will increasingly have to manoeuvre between the two rival powers. While the United States is currently seen as the main security threat to Indonesia, China is considered the main malign factor in the long run with power capabilities that need to be constrained and counter-balanced. The ambiguity, dichotomy and haphazardness that have characterized Indonesian foreign policy in the reformasi period are caused by four factors: first, the existence of a plurality of disparate views and attitudes among the contemporary Indonesian elite; second, the perceived complex security challenges on all fronts that are both internal and external in origins and traditional and non-traditional in nature; third, a low level of elite consensus about how to rank the external threats according to their urgency; and, fourth, a significant disparity between the elite???s present threat assessment and its long-term threat assessment.

Chapter 2: Welfare comparisons between funded and pay-as-you-go (PAYG) or unfunded pension systems are often made using the Aaron condition (Aaron, 1966). However, the Aaron condition as usually stated is not precise enough about the exact form of the PAYG pension system. PAYG pension systems can be either of the defined benefit or defined contribution variety. They can also differ with regard to intra-generational redistribution, for example pension benefits can be flat or earnings related. Here, four alternative PAYG pension systems are considered. It is shown that each system generates its own Aaron condition. In addition, the standard Aaron condition assumes that the wage rate and labour participation rate does not vary across individuals. These assumptions are also relaxed. Using US data covering the period 1933-2001, it is shown that the results of welfare comparisons are highly sensitive to different specifications of PAYG systems. Chapter 3: The sustainability of a defined benefit pay-as-you-go (DBPAYG) pension system is investigated in the context of an overlapping-generations model of endogenous fertility. The model places particular emphasis on the time costs of child rearing. It illustrates the mechanism by which such a pension system can increase the opportunity cost of having children and hence sow the seeds of its own destruction. The model is then extended to allow for fertility-based payments. Such a system is more likely to be sustainable. These models highlight a number of issues that are of considerable relevance to a number of OECD countries that have generous DBPAYG pension systems and falling fertility rates. Chapter 4: The previous chapter focused on transition dynamics, while this chapter investigates steady state outcomes of fertility based defined benefit pay-as-you-go (DB-PAYG) pension systems in the context of an overlapping-generations model with endogenous fertility and heterogeneous agents. Special attention is paid to the impact on fertility, utility, taxation, and per capita saving. Chapter 5: A two-stage bargaining model is developed to describe how fertility decisions are made in a strategic family setting. Given the assumption that family contracts are incomplete and cannot be used to enforce optimal behaviour, it is shown that investments in children (i.e. the fertility rate) may be sub-optimal. This is because the woman may find it in her interest to invest too little in children in stage 1 of the model in order to protect her bargaining status in stage 2. The chapter then considers in the context of this model the impact on fertility rates of changes in child custody rules (in the case of divorce), the wage rate, and the male-female wage differential. It concludes by exploring how the introduction of child subsidies can change the results.

This study is situated within the contested fields of architectural education and sustainable development. It seeks to identify ideological positions within discourses related to these fields in order to explain documented resistance to the integration of sustainable design curricula in architectural education. To understand resistance to such integration we must go beyond identifying the problem. To affect curriculum change it is necessary not only to have a design for a desired state, but also to gain the power to implement it. This assumption demands both an understanding of the power relations that support the status quo and an acceptance of curriculum development as a process of ideological struggle. Hence, efforts to reform architectural education need to be informed by an understanding of the hegemonic struggles which shape architectural curricula. Existing research in the field of sustainable design education has not focussed on such issues. International studies have not considered curricula as manifestations of a history of ideological struggle. Nor have detailed studies of sustainable design education in schools of architecture been conducted in Australia. This study has addressed these knowledge gaps by investigating histories of ideas in architectural and sustainability education. A critical discourse analysis was conducted of the handbook descriptions of architectural courses in Sydney over the last thirty years, and of courses offered in 2007 by all Australian schools of architecture. This analysis was supported by curriculum mapping to reveal the power relations inherent in architectural curricula. The research has identified strategies of hegemonic struggle which affect the hegemony of ideologies in Australian architectural education and the positioning of sustainable design curricula within this contested field. I have found that sustainable design curricula are marginalised in Australian architecture courses and that this marginalisation has been historically constructed. I have also exposed hegemonic strategies that reproduce such marginalisation within curricula.