The use of mainstream maternity services by urban Aboriginal women is an important issue for health professionals. Aboriginal mothers are much more likely to die in childbirth than are non-Aboriginal mothers and their excessive risk does not appear to have changed over the last two decades. The infant mortality rate is three times higher than for non-Aboriginal infants. Therefore, this project aimed to discover the cultural needs of urban Aboriginal women who use mainstream maternity services. Six Aboriginal women who were attending the ante-natal clinic at Daruk Aboriginal Medical Service were interviewed. The thesis included the following recommendations and strategies for their implementation: 1/. Establishment of a discrete Aboriginal women's health unit in Western Sydney. 2/. Provision of culturally acceptable education about pregnancy and childbirth. 3/. Promotion of breastfeeding. 4/. Education and encouragement for non- Aboriginal health professionals. / Master of Nursing (Hons)

The 21st century is an age of conducting business electronically. The benefits of dealing electronically with customers, suppliers, government and others is a fact that will continue the push towards further use of digital technology. This research work aims to address the following research question. How can a small to medium size enterprise (SME)etransform to be competitive in a globalised, rapidly changing, digital world? There are two components to this question; firstly the nature of competitiveness in a globalised environment, and secondly, the issue of how an orgaisation can etransform.The background material investigated at the initiation of this work can be broadly categorised into two types (1)theoretical possibilities; proposing 'potential' uses of internet technologies and (2)case studies reporting on existing ebusinesses. A detailed literature review of eBusiness was conducted to discover what made these organisations different from a traditional business. The next phase in this research work involved development of the eTransformation Roadmap, a tool that served two purposes. Firstly, to measure the current Information Technology sophistication of a business. Secondly, to show the steps that an organisation can take to become an eBusiness. The Roadmap was also used to analyse data collected from a survey of Western Sydney businesses. Overall, this research has provided a holistic view of how an organisation can transform itself to compete in a rapidly changing, digital world. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Estuarine habitats along the temperate south-eastern shores of Australia are generally made up of salt marsh, mangrove forests and seagrass beds. In urban areas these habitats have been progressively fragmented as a result of population increase and industrial expansion. Salt marshes in particular have been vulnerable to urban expansion and reclamation because of their close proximity to densely populated areas, while mangrove forests have been less often reclaimed because of frequent tidal inundation. The effect of reclamation of salt marshes on the biotic assemblages and functioning of mangrove forests with an adjacent salt marsh, park or bund wall was examined at nine separate locations on the Parramatta River, Sydney NSW. A mensurative approach was used to describe the patterns of distribution and abundance of macro fauna at several temporal and spatial scales. The implications for management are that salt marshes are an integral part of estuaries, and smaller patches of salt marsh are just as important as larger patches in maintaining the diversity of faunal assemblages and ecosystem functioning in mangrove forests in urban areas / Master of Science (Hons)

In this thesis three independent studies of tidal dynamics have been pesented. The first is an analytical study of continental shelf tides forced at the ocean boundary. Earlier studies have shown that the response for a sloping shelf and a flat shelf differ and that the response for a flat shelf changes when tides are incident at an angle. Other studies considered a sloping shelf but they did not take into account a possible non-zero depth at a coastal wall. This study shows that the effects of a sloping shelf, a coastal wall and obliquely incident tides an all significantly modify the response on the shelf. The modification increases with the width of the shelf, and in a wide shelf scenario, near resonance, it greatly modifies the response. Secondly, the Princeton Ocean Model in barotropic mode along with a tracer transport module has been used to study the tides of Sydney Harbour. The tidally induced residual circulation due to the semi-diurnal tide consists of a series of recirculating gyres which are due to the interaction of flow with topography. This study shows that in the harbour it is the Lagrangian residual velocity not the Eulerian residual velocity which determines the net transport of material over a tidal cycle. In addition, the flushing time of the harbour varies significantly in space, and the tidal mixing is restricted in the vicinity of the entrance. The third is a theoretical study of forced oscillations in a rotating, flat-bottomed, circular basin. This study shows that the direction of propagation of waves in a basin depends on the ratio of its radius to depth. At each latitude there is a critical value of this ratio and this value decreases with increase in latitude. Beyond this value, waves start to propagate around the basin in the opposite direction to the earth ???s rotation (clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the southern hemisphere).The presence of friction increases this critical value which shows that friction plays an important role in determining the response.

Freshwater vertebrates were sampled in different waters of the Upper Parramatta River catchment to determine their patterns of distribution with respect to water quality. A total of 730 animals (831 captures)were caught between November 1997 and December 1998. Data was collected on three freshwater turtle species, and four fish species.The abundance of aquatic vertebrates was correlated with physiochemical water quality parameters. The large aquatic vertebrates studied did not correlate with the commonly used parameters for aquatic health. The assumption ANZEEC water quality parameters are the definitive determinant of aquatic health for vertebrates is, therefore, erroneous. / Master of Science (Hons)

The Problem: Novel community-acquired, non-multiresistant strains of oxacillin- (methicillin-) resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ORSA) have emerged in many parts of the globe. Little is known of the clinical features, the epidemiology, and the antibiotic treatment of these strains. Materials and Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed on patients presenting to Emergency Departments or Dermatology Clinics with staphylococcal infections. Patients were stratified into three groups, non-multiresistant ORSA (NORSA), multiresistant ORSA (MORSA) and oxacillin-susceptible S. aureus, and clinical comparisons made. Strains of NORSA and MORSA were typed using antibiograms, phage typing and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Antimicrobial studies were performed to compare different methods of detecting resistance to oxacillin and to non-beta-lactams. Time-kill studies were performed with one drug to explore killing kinetics. The interaction between drug combinations was examined using disk approximation and time-kill methodologies. A single point pharmacodynamic analysis was performed. Results: There was an increase in infections with NORSA, MORSA and OSSA. NORSA strains appeared to be more virulent than OSSA and MORSA strains. NORSA was strongly associated with skin and soft tissue infections and with Polynesians. Most of the NORSA strains were related to New Zealand ????Western Samoan Phage Pattern???? (WSPP) isolates, and unrelated to community-acquired, non-multiresistant MRSA strains from Western Australia. Two patients were found to have British EMRSA-15 strains. NORSA strains were unrelated to MORSA strains. Resistance to rifampicin, fusidic acid, ciprofloxacin and trimethoprim emerged in the time-kill assays. Combinations of antibiotics, particularly with ciprofloxacin, often showed antagonism. Gentamicin, fusidic acid, clindamycin, teicoplanin, vancomycin, and linezolid were predicted to perform well. Ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, doxycycline, flucloxacillin and quinupristin/dalfopristin were predicted to fail. Conclusions: WSPP strains of New Zealand and EMRSA-15 strains from Britain exist in South Western Sydney. These organisms are virulent, and increasing in incidence in several areas of Australia. Antimicrobial treatment of infections with these strains is problematic and requires further study.

Purpose: To study ???on??? and ???off-axis??? wavefront aberration of eyes of children and to determine the relationship with refractive error development. Methods: On and off-axis ocular aberrations of cyclopleged eyes of children (mostly 12 year olds) were measured and compared to data obtained from a group of mostly 6 year old children. Only data from the right eyes were analysed (pupil diameter=5 mm) and categorised into refractive error groups based on ???M???. Differences in ???on??? and ???off-axis??? aberrations between refractive and ethnic groups were analysed using univariate and multivariate analyses of variance with adjustment for multiple comparisons. Off-axis refraction was analysed using skiagrams and mean relative spherical equivalent. Results: Data from 1,636 12 year old children (mean age 12.6 ?? 0.4 years) was analysed. Lower order aberrations were the largest and higher order aberrations contributed to only 25% of the wavefront. There were no differences in the amount of total higher orders between refractive groups. Of the individual higher orders, spherical aberration was greater in hyperopic eyes (0.07 ?? 0.06 ??m) in comparison to emmetropic and myopic eyes (0.05 ?? 0.04 ??m and 0.05 ?? 0.04 ??m) (p<0.001). Myopic eyes had more positive values of Z(3,-1) (p<0.05). Similar results were obtained for the 1,364 6 year old children (mean age 6.7 ??? 0.4 years). Despite East Asian children being more myopic than other ethnic groups (p<0.01), there were no differences in higher orders except for low hyperopic East Asian eyes presenting with higher levels of positive spherical aberrations (p<0.001). When compared to the fovea, off-axis myopic eyes had hyperopia (0.55 to 1.66 D) and emmetropes and hyperopes had myopia (0.10 to -2.00 D). Astigmatism and defocus were the dominant off-axis aberrations. The magnitude of higher order aberrations (mostly 3rd orders) increased with eccentricity but was similar across refractive error groups. Conclusions: Myopic eyes do not have abnormal or excessive levels of on and off-axis higher order aberrations but had patterns of off-axis refraction that may be associated with progression. Considerable inter-subject variability in higher order aberrations was seen for all refractive groups. However, their magnitude was small and suggests that any impact on the optical quality of the eye is negligible.

Accountability has become a key issue in the delivery of human services, and counsellors have been challenged to demonstrate that what they do makes a difference and that what they do meets the needs of the system in which they work. Thus proponents of the consultancy model such as Dinkmeyer (1973) have urged counsellors to move from the crisis-oriented approach in which only a few benefit from counsellor services to a consultative role which involves the counsellor with the total system. In 1979 the author was appointed to the Metropolitan West District of Sydney. This is an area with many social problems such as high unemployment, single parent families and families receiving social welfare benefits. Many students attending school are adversely affected by their home environment. To compound the problem a difference in value systems exists between home and school, which is a source of frustration to both teachers and students. As a result many children were referred for counselling because they were behaviour problems in the classroom. It was not possible for the counsellor to see all the students referred so other strategies needed to be employed. From discussions with teachers concerning the management of students who were behaviour problems it became apparent that teacher training had left them ill-equipped to deal with the student behaviours they were facing. A Classroom Management and Interpersonal Skills programme was designed and presented to a group of Primary school teachers in one of the schools to which the author was appointed. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the programme was based on the statistical analysis of pretest and post-test measures of teachers and students of those teachers participating in the programme. In addition to reporting on outcomes of the programme this study provides a theoretical rationale for its development. The statistical evidence does not strongly support the effectiveness of the programme. However there are some trends, particularly in the teacher data, which suggest that the programme was effective in bringing about teacher attitude change towards students. Teachers' written evaluations of the programme, together with informal feedback, indicate the programme was successful in providing some of the answers to behaviour problems which occur in the classroom. A corollary to the presentation of the programme has been a reduction in the number of children referred to the author as "behaviour problems". This has provided more time to work with infant children and parents, both counsellor functions which the administrative staff see as significant, and to continue in the role as a consultant to teachers.

Estuarine habitats along the temperate south-eastern shores of Australia are generally made up of salt marsh, mangrove forests and seagrass beds. In urban areas these habitats have been progressively fragmented as a result of population increase and industrial expansion. Salt marshes in particular have been vulnerable to urban expansion and reclamation because of their close proximity to densely populated areas, while mangrove forests have been less often reclaimed because of frequent tidal inundation. The effect of reclamation of salt marshes on the biotic assemblages and functioning of mangrove forests with an adjacent salt marsh, park or bund wall was examined at nine separate locations on the Parramatta River, Sydney NSW. A mensurative approach was used to describe the patterns of distribution and abundance of macro fauna at several temporal and spatial scales. The implications for management are that salt marshes are an integral part of estuaries, and smaller patches of salt marsh are just as important as larger patches in maintaining the diversity of faunal assemblages and ecosystem functioning in mangrove forests in urban areas / Master of Science (Hons)

<p>Lieutenant James Cook claimed New South Wales for Great Britain in 1770. However, it was not until 1786 that a settlement was authorised there. The settlement was not for free men, but the for the unwanted convicts, their masters and protectors; the First Fleet convicts landed at Sydney Cove on January 26, 1788 and Governor Phillip lay claim officially to the country. </p><p>The decision to establish a settlement in New South Wales took sixteen years. It was not the clear-cut and positive beginning to a country that it could have been. </p><p>The emphasis of this report is to look at the factors that contributed to the decision and the line that the decision makers took. This has involved investigation of parliamentary debates, ministers’ letters and other sources relevant to the decision. The factors most pressing at the time for the government were the over abundance of criminals and the budget deficit. With a relatively simple move, Lord Sydney was able to relieve the first problem at the same time as his Prime Minister, William Pitt, took on the budget. It is clear that the settlement was established for the dubious benefit of relieving England of the convicts.</p>