Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Queensland, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Mudrooroo has been influenced both by Henry Louis Gates' notions of signifying, as well as by those of Roland Barthes. For Aboriginal Australians, the Dreaming Ancestors marked the world with signs that they could read. The central character in the novel, Jangamuttuk, receives the European as his "dreaming" and his totemic ancestor. He (and Mudrooroo) therefore understand and can use and combat the power of this Ghost.

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The aim of this thesis is to explore the evolution and global dissemination of fashion values, both aesthetic and commercial, in the interfaces between fashion, media, celebrity, sport, and the cultivation of the modern body. In particular, it traces the career of the modern swimsuit, showing how an inventive individual, Annette Kellerman, and a peripheral nation, Australia, influenced the design direction of the swimsuit in the 20th century and beyond to create a distinctly Australian niche in global fashion. Annette Kellerman, an Australian long-distance swimmer, diver, vaudeville performer and silent movie star, was a modern woman shaped for speed. She achieved success across a number of related fields – in fashion, film, sport, and as a role-model for women, encouraging self-motivation and self-development. Kellerman achieved global fame and recognition for popularising the one-piece swimsuit, and for her innovations as an aquatic performer, entertainer, and fitness writer. As a prototypical Hollywood star she prefigured the celebrity culture focused on the body that has predominated since then. Australia has continued to be associated with the values championed by Kellerman. It is also a launching pad for a number of international swimwear and surfwear companies, from iconic brands like Speedo, Quiksilver, and Billabong through to a new breed of contemporary swimsuit designers who tap into fashion trends while maintaining an Australian handwriting. This is exemplified by the Zimmermann and Tigerlily fashion labels. This study demonstrates the fluidity of fashion as a result of geographic and cultural influences, and the convergence and cross-pollination between individuals and global currents. Using a combination of historical and archival research, interviews, textual analysis, and the author’s own experience as a fashion designer, this thesis explores the shaping of the modern swimsuit and its eventual incorporation into global high fashion. It shows how a garment and a nation have migrated from the periphery to the centre of international attention by combining popular culture and high fashion to embody the values of modernity for women.

It is well known that global optimization problems are, generally speaking, computationally infeasible, that is solving them would require an unreasonably large amount of time and/or space. In certain cases, for example, when objective functions and constraints are convex, it is possible to construct a feasible algorithm for solving global optimization problem successfully. Convexity, however, is not a phenomenon to be often expected in the applications. Nonconvex problems frequently arise in many industrial and scienti¯c areas. Therefore, it is only natural to try to replace convexity with some other structure at least for some classes of nonconvex optimization problems to render the global optimization problem feasible. A theory of abstract convexity has been developed as a result of the above considerations. Monotonic analysis, a branch of abstract convex analysis, is analogous in many ways to convex analysis, and sometimes is even simpler. It turned out that many problems of nonconvex optimization encountered in applications can be described in terms of monotonic functions. The analogies with convex analysis were considered to aid in solving some classes of nonconvex optimization problems. In this thesis we will focus on one of the elements of monotonic analysis - Increasing Positively Homogeneous functions of degree one or in short IPH functions. The aim of present research is to show that finding the solution and ²-approximation to the solution of the global optimization problem for IPH functions restricted to a unit simplex is an NP-hard problem. These results can be further extended to positively homogeneous functions of degree ´, ´ > 0. / Master of Mathematical Sciences (Research)

Doctor of Philosophy

The design of vehicle brake systems involves optimising a large number of competing parameters. In order to find an appropriate balance of properties, it is important to have a good picture of the range of operating conditions the system will operate under. Obtaining such information for a large range of driving conditions requires recording data over a long period from a number of vehicles under a number of different driving conditions. In this thesis, a proposed data acquisition system has been designed, constructed and implemented to measure and store in real-time performance related parameters of brake systems. The system proposed in this thesis to monitor brake performance employs a small embedded PC system along with a number of peripheral cards as its basis [...] / Masters

"The central focus of this study is an investigation into how the implementation of a clinical pathway for the surgical procedure of transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) impacted on clinical quality, cost, and patient and staff satisfaction at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) in Pakistan" / Doctor of Philosophy

This project is concerned with exploring a particular cluster of ideas and stories concerning Homecoming, most notably the presence of the Woman Who Waits for the traveller to return. Underlying the storied aspects of the visual work are the deeper intentions of soulfulness, personal therapy and social interaction. Although profoundly autobiographical, the metaphoric images I have produced are not only a means to touch others but are inclusive of a broader experience than simply my own. Throughout the following exegesis I draw on the disciplines of psychology, sociology, mythology and history, to explore the metaphoric presences of the deities Hestia and Hermes and their relationship to ideas of Home and Not - Home. Particular qualities associated with Home may, for the traveller, become symbolically embodied within the figure of The Woman Who Waits. This simple perception of The Woman Who Waits, and the process of waiting for the traveller to return was explored and expanded through autobiographic art practice combined with visual and theoretical research. Throughout the project the expression of emotive autobiographic issues through the running use of metaphor has been combined with increasing technical control and subtlety along with sustained explorations of spatial and compositional dynamics. / Masters (Visual Arts)

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Since the 1970’s, there has been a growing impetus in Australian education to include Aboriginal issues across the full range of educational settings, from pre-school to tertiary levels. In practice, the provision of an Aboriginal perspective has often lead to socio-cultural constructions of Aboriginal people that tend to reflect, rather than contest, hegemonic understandings of Aboriginal people and culture. In doing this some fundamental misconceptions are continuing to have currency within mainstream Australia, becoming more entrenched due to the ascribed legitimacy of the educational institutions. The discipline of sociology has recently self-identified an absence in its scholarship related to provision of comment on Aboriginal issues. The challenge for the future is to find meaningful alternatives that allow for the diversity of Aboriginal cultures and histories to be interpreted through a multiplicity of cultural subjectivities. Given the diversity of both Aboriginal cultures and the student cohorts examining them, an essentialising curriculum based on the inclusion of Aboriginal content is ultimately unhelpful. Rather, the development of critical pedagogies actively seeking a localised praxis is of far greater utility. This thesis considers the author’s pedagogical approach to teaching Aboriginal perspectives within the mainstream discipline of sociology at a regional university in New South Wales, Australia. Methodologically, the thesis is framed on a syncretic model between the Western mode of auto-ethnography and the Indigenous narrative tribalography. It includes a deeply reflexive component that aims to illustrate the way the Aboriginal lived experience can inform teaching, as well as a more standard textual engagement with academic literature and debate. Specific focus will be applied to consideration of The Dreaming as a foundational Aboriginal philosophy.