In the Western Australian agricultural region, an area of approximately 14 million hectares (70,000 square miles), widespread areas of native vegetation have been cleared and replaced with annual cropping systems, predominantly wheat. Only1.3 million hectares (10%) of small and scattered native vegetation remnants remain. By 2000 16% of land in the region was at risk from soil salinity and was largely unproductive for commercial agriculture. A new hydrological equilibrium affecting 33% of the Western Australian agricultural region is predicted to be reached between 2050 and 2300. The starting premise of this dissertation is that normal disciplinary science was adopted as the dominant intellectual influence on natural resource management policy and thus natural resource degradation was treated as a problem for science, extracted from its social, economic and historical contexts. The second premise of this dissertation is that natural resource problems are not isolated scientific or technical problems, and are exacerbated by human failure to predict the complex inter-relationships among the social, ecological and economic systems. This dissertation initially provides an analytical narrative on the Western Australian agricultural region between 1889 and 2003 (114 years) with the main finding being that in the years pre-1970 a development-driven Western Australian Government was responsible for extensive land clearing for agriculture, often contrary to scientific advice. In the 1980s and 1990s the severity and extent of soil salinity and the prognosis of future negative trends in other natural resource indicators caused a rapid proliferation and evolution of Federal and State policies designed to ‘solve the problem’. Nonetheless many natural resource problems remain intractable. The second part of the dissertation investigates the epistemology of the normal science paradigm as it was applied to natural resource management problems in the 20th century as a potentially contributing cause. The evolution of an alternative epistemology, post-normal science paradigm, is then examined for explicating our current understanding of ‘reality’. A research framework was constructed which defines the post-normal science paradigm; the systemic approach; the bodies of theory–organisational, ecology, resilience and system dynamics theory; the social-ecological system perspective; and the methods–resilience analysis and system dynamics. This framework provides a novel way in which to gain a greater understanding of the fundamental or root causes of natural resource management problems. Using the case study of the Western Australian agricultural region a dynamic model was constructed based on descriptive information. An examination of the historical events and processes of the Western Australian agricultural region reveals that over a 114-year history it has evolved through two interactions of the adaptive cycle. Further investigation reveals these two cycles were synchronous with the second and third economic long-wave cycles or Kondratiev Cycles, that show the behaviour over time of the evolution of modern industrial societies. The model suggests that the reasons for the dynamic behaviour of the Western Australian agricultural region lie in the interaction of the three production growth drivers of the international commodity system, which have resulted in a pathological system, the ‘Lock-in Trap’. Increased total commodity production, reinvestment and declining prices in real terms have tended to produce the unintended negative impacts of resource decline, environmental pollution and rural population decline. I suggest that the expansion of thresholds through the reinvestment in technology is a principle reason why there has not yet been a profound collapse of exploited renewable resources in the Western Australian agricultural region. Regional natural resource management strategies will need to take account of not only spatial cross-scale issues, in particular the linkages between the individual farmer and the international commodity system, but also the temporal variables, in particular the slowly emerging changes in ecological/physical variables, such as the hydrological cycle. This research can help to provide the information and heuristic metaphors to encourage natural resource policy makers to take long-term and whole system perspectives. It includes a powerful set of tools for communicating dynamic processes in an integrated method to inform policy and management decisions. The ideas in this interdisciplinary research are essential for making science relevant within a social and ecological context.

Information about tropical seabird communities is less abundant in the literature than for those that occur at higher latitudes. In research papers examining seabird breeding communities in tropical environments, it has been found that food availability was temporally and spatially variable in comparison to higher latitudes. This environmental variability would be expected to influence the life-history traits of tropical seabird species, and in turn, the structure of the communities in which they occur. To examine the impact of environmental variability upon the life-history traits and community structure of tropical seabirds, a comparative study of the breeding strategies of three tropical tern species and an outlier, shearwater species was carried out, at the Lowendal Islands, Western Australia (20o39’52S; 115o34’44E) between 1996 and 2000. Bridled Terns Sterna anaethetus and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters Puffinus pacificus shared the life-history traits of migration or dispersal from the breeding colony and east-Indian Ocean metapopulation when not breeding, a summer breeding schedule, nest-site fidelity, concealed nest-sites, clutch size of one, offshore and pelagic foraging regime, and protracted post-natal growth. Crested Terns Sterna bergii and Lesser Crested Terns Stern bengalenis bred within the same colony and shared the life-history traits of presence at the breeding colony when not breeding, an autumn breeding schedule, change in colony site each season, open dense nest-sites, brood size of one. inshore foraging regime (as well as offshore for Crested Terns) and rapid post-natal growth. It was found that each species experienced variation in nest-site occupancy and/or colony size, as well as variation in timing of breeding and breeding success between years. The effects upon each species seemed to operate independently, as concurrently breeding species did not appear affected by the same events, with the exception of cyclones. Late and/or poor breeding success in a species often coincided with oceanographic changes in the north-west region, such as fluctuations in the strength of flow and temperature of the Leewin Current. The Leewin Current is a warm water, low salinity current flowing southwards along most of the Western Australian coastline and has a stronger, warmer flow during El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. Cyclone activity is also influenced by ENSO induced changes in the region’s water temperature. Changes in the Leewin Current affected the timing of breeding for Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, and feeding conditions for all study species, presumably as a result of changes in prey availability, while cyclone events delayed breeding for Crested Terns and Lesser Shearwaters in the years studied. Cyclone events were the most obvious cause of re-laying in the case of Crested Terns and Lesser Crested Terns, and breeding failure in the case of Bridled Terns and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters. Breeding failure was common among later breeders in the Crested Tern colonies. Breeding success was relatively high for lesser Crested Terns in all years studied, as they hatched and fledged their chicks within the Crested Tern colony among the first wave of breeders. There was some overlap in the diets and foraging grounds of the four study species. Crested terns and Lesser Crested Terns had the most similar diet, however, Crested Terns appeared to be the most opportunistic foragers, with the highest diversity of dietary prey, while Lesser Crested Terns diet consisted of a high proportion of atherinids. Bridled Terns has the next highest prey diversity, while half the diet of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters in this region, similar to conspecifics elsewhere, consisted of squid. Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were observed to be offshore and pelagic foragers. Their distribution in the waters surrounding the Lowendal Islands ranged to the full extent of observation transects(63 Km), and most likely beyond, excluding inshore waters (i.e. within 5 km of islands). They were not present in the vicinity of the Lowendal Islands when they were not breeding. Bridled Terns were observed to be offshore foragers, also ranging to the full extent of transects, and most likely beyond, occasionally including inshore waters. They were rarely observed when not breeding, with the exception of a small number of fledglings at the end of the breeding season. Crested Terns were observed to combine inshore and offshore foraging grounds, only ranging to the full extent of transects during their breeding season. Lesser Crested Terns were observed foraging inshore only. Chick provisioning, in terms of meal size and frequency, varied between years and within seasons for all species. It was demonstrated that there were differences in mean corrected meal sizes between years for Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, and the same was inferred from chick growth curves for Bridled Terns. Wedge-tailed Shearwaters provisioned their chicks with larger meal sizes and a higher occurrence of double feeds in 1996/97 than in other years studied. The amount of time spent feeding chicks in the burrow by Wedge-tailed Shearwaters adults became shorter as the breeding season progressed. It was demonstrated that all three tern species increased the meal size delivered to chicks as they grew. Wedge-tailed Shearwaters did not increase meal size as the season progressed, however they did increase feeding frequency. The feeding frequency of Crested Terns was highest in 1999, nearly doubling that observed in 1997 and 1998. In 1998 Lesser Crested Terns fed their chicks up to six times more frequently than Crested Terns. Chick growth varied for Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and Bridled Terns between seasons. Bridled Tern chicks grew more rapidly in 1997/98, were heavier and reached higher asymptotes for all linear parameters, the exception of wing length, than in 2000. On the other hand, Wedge-tailed Shearwater chicks grew more rapidly in 1999/2000 than in 1997/98, however, they attained similar asymototes for all parameters in both years. In the absence of repeat measures of same individuals, Crested Tern and Lesser Crested tern growth was examined using age categorization based on wing and tail feather development. Both species appeared to attain similar sizes at similar rates in each year. Wedge-tailed Shearwaters accumulated weight up to 30% in excess of mean adult weight in all seasons. This is a common trait exhibited in procellarigorms, and some weight loss occurs prior to fledging. It is suggested, based upon evidence from other studies in which weight loss prior to fledging was found to be water loss, that lipid accumulation acts as an insurance for the period after fledging when young are leaning to forage for themselves. The information gathered for this project found no direct evidence of competition among the species comprising the seabird community if Lowendal Islands. Niche overlap occurred amongst all species, particularly in the case of lesser Crested Terns and Crested Terns, which shared breeding phenology, breeding colonies, foraging grounds and dietary overlap. Niche overlap also occurred between Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and Bridled Terns, which shared breeding phenology and foraging grounds.

The aim of this study was to address the shortfall in current, in-depth knowledge of Western Australian rickettsiae investigating in particular, the role of native and feral animals as reservoir hosts. Two novel species of rickettsiae were detected in ticks collected from native and feral animals and humans, these were characterised using molecular methods. A preliminary investigation into the pathogenic potential of one of the isolates was also undertaken. To facilitate investigation, ectoparasites (principally ticks) were opportunistically collected from across the State, with an emphasis on native and feral animals and people. All ectoparasites were screened for rickettsial infection using a polymerase chain reaction incorporating Rickettsia-specific citrate synthase gene (gltA) primers. Preliminary sequencing was performed on representative PCR-positive samples from each geographical location, vertebrate host and ectoparasite in order to identify and characterize the infecting rickettsia. Isolation in cell culture and further genotypic characterization was then performed. Finally, a serosurvey and questionnaire were implemented in one of the study areas to determine whether people were being infected with a Rickettsia spp. and whether infection was associated with clinical signs. Ectoparasite collection produced three genera of ticks (Ixodes, Amblyomma and Haemaphysalis) from native animals, feral pigs and people, primarily from the southwest of Western Australia and Barrow Island in the Pilbara region. Ticks from a number of sources were shown to be infected with rickettsiae by the PCR, including feral pigs, people, bobtail lizards, kangaroos, bandicoots, burrowing bettongs, common brushtail possums and yellow-footed antechinus. Genotypic characterization of positive amplicons from ticks revealed the presence of two novel spotted fever group rickettsiae. Rickettsia gravesii sp. nov., named in honour of Dr Stephen Graves, was identified extensively throughout the southwest of the State and on Barrow Island in Ixodes, Amblyomma and Haemaphysalis spp. ticks from multiple hosts. Candidatus “Rickettsia antechini” was detected in Ixodes spp. only from yellow-footed antechinus in Dwellingup. In addition, a novel Bartonella spp. (Bartonella sp. strain Mu1) was also detected from Acanthopsylla jordani fleas collected from yellow-footed antechinus in Dwellingup. Rickettsia gravesii sp. nov. is most closely related to the Rickettsia massiliae subgroup of the spotted fever group and to R. rhipicephali in particular. Sequence similarities between this novel species and the subgroup were 99.7%, 98.4%, 95.8% and 97.4% based on its 16S rRNA, gltA, ompA and ompB genes respectively. Candidatus “Rickettsia antechini” also demonstrated a close relationship to the R. massiliae subgroup (99.4%, 94.8% and 97.1% sequence similarity based on its gltA, ompA and ompB genes respectively). The two novel Western Australian species demonstrated 98.4%, 96.3% and 96.7% sequence similarity to each other based on gltA, ompA and ompB genes respectively indicating separate species. The novel Bartonella spp. (Bartonella sp. strain Mu1) detected in fleas collected from yellow-footed antechinus in Dwellingup demonstrated greatest gltA gene sequence similarity to Bartonella strain 40 at 86.1%. Results from the serosurvey and questionnaire-based investigation into the zoonotic importance of R. gravesii sp. nov. on Barrow Island supported the results of the tick study and suggested that a tick-borne rickettsia(e) was infecting people on the island. However, a significant association between seroconversion and a history of symptoms consistent with a rickettsiosis was not found, and it is possible therefore, that R. gravesii sp. nov. produces only asymptomatic infections. Future work on rickettsiae in Western Australia will involve phenotypic characterization of the novel species, further investigation of their epidemiology and pathogenicity and an ongoing search for additional undiscovered species.

Acceptance and understanding of project management tends to be limited by project managers (PMs) who have a specific technical training and follow one or two major theories on project processes. Consequently, project managers may encounter difficulty in being ‘recognised’ by employers and moving from one professional discipline to another. The current research examines knowledge areas applied ‘in the field’ by project managers (PMs), and provides them with knowledge about the constancy of application of project theories; further, a new model of what constitutes PM and enables flexibility for PMs is suggested. As there was little extant literature about PMs being able to transfer from one professional discipline to another, or to what degree different knowledge areas were applied, it was determined that exploratory research was appropriate. The results strongly indicate that organisations that rely on programs and projects to support the delivery of their strategic objectives will benefit from implementation of the project management revised hypothetical model (Figure 13). The model incorporates the nine knowledge areas of The Project Management Institute (USA) and six knowledge areas extracted from the PM methodology PRINCE2. Further, the additional focus of People Specific Management (PSM) at Level 3 of the revised hypothetical model (Figure 13) is recommended. Qualifications for PMs do make a difference! In addition to demonstrating the importance of PM qualifications to augment PM’s successful transfer across disciplines, further research is suggested regarding the need for training to be ‘compulsory’ and follow the developmental levels described in the up-to-date model developed during the research (Figure 13).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Australia, 2006. / At head of title, vol. 2: SPIRT Project : Report to the Commissioner of Police. "This collaborative project has been made possible through a SPIRT grant: Strategic Partnerships with Industry, Research and Training Scheme."--p. 4.

The role of meat consumption in the development of cancer, including colorectal cancer (CRC), has been subject of much investigation in recent years. The observation of geographical variation in CRC incidence and increased CRC risks in populations consuming high levels of meat prompted researchers to hypothesise a link between meat and CRC. An area of particular interest in CRC pathogenesis is the meat-derived compounds such are heterocyclic amines (HCAs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and meatderived mutagenic activity. Australia is among the countries with high incidence of CRC and also high levels of per capita meat consumption. Hence, clarifying the possible link between meat consumption and the risk of CRC in order that this can be translated into preventive dietary recommendations for the public is important. The objective of this thesis was to examine whether meat consumption is related to risk of CRC in an Australian population. The term meat consumption in this thesis means meaures of consumption of red and white meat that incorporate frequency and cooking method. The following hypotheses were investigated: 1. Increasing intake of meat prepared by methods that involve higher cooking temperature and time is positively associated with the risk of CRC; 2. Increasing exposure to meat-derived heterocyclic amines (HCAs) is positively associated with the risk of CRC; 3. Higher levels of exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from meat consumption is a risk factor for CRC; 4. Exposure to meat-derived mutagens increases the risk of CRC.

[Formulae and special characters can only be approximated here. Please see the pdf version of the abstract for an accurate reproduction.] This thesis reviews, extends and applies to urban traffic analysis the entropy concept of Shannon and Luce's mathematical psychology in a fairly complex and mathematically demanding model of human decision making, if it is solved as a deeply nested structure of logit calculus. Recognising consumers' different preferences and the universal propensity to seek the best choice when going to some desired goal (k), a transparent mathematical program (MP) is developed: the equivalent of a nested multinomial logit model without its inherent computational difficulty. The MP model makes a statistical assessment of individual decisions based on a randomised (measurable) utility within a given choice structure: some path through a diagram (Rk, Dk), designed a priori, of a finite number of sequential choices. The Equivalence Theorem (ET) formalises the process and states a non-linear MP with linear constraints that maximises collective satisfaction: utility plus weighted entropy, where the weight (1/θn) is a behavioural parameter to be calibrated in each case, eg for the Perth CBD. An optimisation subject to feasible routes through the (Rk, Dk) network thus captures the rational behaviour of consumers on their individually different best-choice decision paths towards their respective goals (k). This theory has been applied to urban traffic assignment before: a Stochastic User Equi-librium (SUE). What sets this thesis apart is its focus on MP models that can be solved with standard Operations Research software (eg MINOS), models for which the ET is a conditio sine qua non. A brief list of SUE examples in the literature includes Fisk's logit SUE model in (impractically many) route flows. Dial's STOCH algorithm obviates path enumeration, yet is a logit multi-path assignment procedure, not an MP model; it is nei-ther destination oriented nor an optimisation towards a SUE. A revision of Dial's method is provided, named STOCH[k], that computes primal variables (node and link flows) and Lagrangian duals (the satisfaction difference n→k). Sheffi & Powell presented an unconstrained optimisation problem, but favoured a probit SUE, defying closed formulae and standard OR software. Their model corresponds to the (constrained) dual model here, yet the specifics of our primary MP model and its dual are possible only if one restricts himself to logit SUE models, including the ET, which is logit-specific. A real world application needs decomposition, and the Perth CBD example is iteratively solved by Partial Linearisation, switching from (measured) disutility minimisation to Sheffi & Powell's Method of Successive Averages near the optimum. The methodology is demonstrated on the Perth Central Business District (CBD). To that end, parameter Θ is calibrated on Main Roads' traffic count data over the years 1997/98 and 1998/99. The method is a revision of Liu & Fricker's simultaneous estimation of not only Θ but an appropriate trip matrix also. Our method handles the more difficult variable costs (congestion), incomplete data (missing observations) and observation errors (wrong data). Finally, again based on Main Roads' data (a sub-area trip matrix), a Perth CBD traffic assignment is computed, (a) as a logit SUE and - for comparison - (b) as a DUE (using the PARTAN method of Florian, Guélat and Spiess). The results are only superficially similar. In conclusion, the methodology has the potential to replace current DUE models and to deepen transport policy analysis, taking into account individual behaviour and a money-metric utility that quantifies 'social benefits', for instance in a cost-benefit-analysis.

[Truncated abstract] This research has studied the penetration and extraction resistance profiles of different types of penetrometers in soft clay. The penetrometers of interest include the cone, T–bar, ball and plate. Effects of the surface roughness and aspect ratio of the T–bar penetrometer on its resistance have also been investigated. Undrained shear strength, Su, profiles derived from the penetration tests are compared with the shear strengths measured from field vane shear tests and laboratory (triaxial and simple shear) tests. Both in situ and centrifuge model penetration tests were undertaken for the research. In addition, ‘undisturbed’? tube samples were retrieved from both the field and the centrifuge strongbox samples (after completion of the centrifuge tests) for laboratory testing. The in situ testing was carried out in Western Australia, at the Burswood site near Perth, with tests including cone, T–bar, ball and plate penetrometer tests, and vane shear tests. Interestingly, the T–bar, ball and plate (‘full-flow’) penetrometers showed a narrow band of resistance profiles both during penetration and extraction, with a range of around 15 % between the highest and lowest profiles and standard deviation of 15 %. However, the cone penetrometer gave similar resistance at shallow depths but increasingly higher penetration resistance at depths greater than 7 m – a phenomenon that is also common in offshore results. During extraction, the cone penetrometer gave a higher resistance profile than the full–flow penetrometers for much of the depth of interest. The Su profile measured directly from the vane shear tests falls within the Su profiles derived from the penetration resistances of the full–flow penetrometers, using a single bearing factor, N = 10.5 (the value originally suggested in the literature for a T–bar penetration test). Again, the cone penetrometer demonstrated diverging results, requiring two separate values for the cone factor, Nkt (10.5 initially increasing to 13 for depths below 10 m) in order to give Su similar to the vane shear tests. This highlights the possible variability of the cone factor with depth. Cyclic penetration and extraction tests were performed at specific depths for each fullflow penetrometer. These tests comprised displacement cycles of ±0.5 m about the relevant depth, recording the penetration and extraction resistances over five full cycles. The results may be used to derive the remoulded strength and sensitivity of the soil. Laboratory tests such as triaxial and simple shear tests were performed on ‘undisturbed’ tube samples retrieved from the same site to evaluate the in situ shear strengths in the laboratory. However, the resulting Su data were rather scattered, much of which may be attributed to variable sample quality due to the presence of frequent shell fragments and occasional silt lenses within the test samples. In general, N factors for the full–low penetrometers, back–calculated using Su values measured from the simple shear tests, fell mainly in a range between 9.7 and 12.8 (between 10.4 and 12.2 for the standard size T–bar (250 mm x 40 mm))

This thesis interrogates the relationship of archaeological models and indigenous understandings of origins in the East Kimberley region of Northern Australia and the Aru Islands of Eastern Indonesia. Archaeological models of prehistoric migration construct these places as part of the same landmass in the recent human period and at times of lower sea levels. Yet, the indigenous groups who currently inhabit these places assert and rely upon their localised understandings of autochthony and mythological creationism. The existence of these competing models has led me to examine the degree to which the practice of archaeology in these locations constructs human prehistory in a way that necessarily disempowers the indigenous cosmology there. Below I examine the construction and content of these different stories about the same place to show how it is that they are essentially competing, conflicting and contradictory claims to truth. I show how each of these asserted cosmological positions emerge from the various cultural systems that sponsor and perpetuate them and I pay special attention to the role of institutionally authorised experts within each of the cosmological positions described. I also seek to demonstrate the ways in which the distribution of expert knowledge plays a core role in a naturalised social order and the ongoing construction of cultural identity in their respective communities. I then interrogate the relationships that these differing forms of knowledge have with each other - paying close attention to the specifics of context in which they are evoked. I conclude that the examination of how these competing claims to truth are distributed in space reveals their influence in the ongoing construction of identity in their respective communities.

[Truncated abstract] Ecologists are increasingly interested in quantifying local interacting processes and their impacts on spatial vegetation patterns. In arid and semiarid ecosystems, theoretical models (often spatially explicit) of dynamical system behaviour have been used to provide insight into changes in vegetation patterning and productivity triggered by ecological events, such as fire and episodic rainfall. The incorporation of aerial imagery of vegetation patterning into current theoretical model remains a challenge, as few theoretical models may be inferred directly from ecological data, let alone imagery. However, if conclusions drawn from theoretical models were well supported by image data then these models could serve as a basis for improved prediction of complex ecosystem behaviour. The objective of this thesis is therefore to innovate methods for inferring theoretical models of vegetation dynamics from imagery. ... These results demonstrate how an ad hoc inference procedure returns biologically meaningful parameter estimates for a germ-grain model of T. triandra vegetation patterning, with VLSA photography as data. Various aspects of the modelling and inference procedures are discussed in the concluding chapter, including possible future extensions and alternative applications for germ-grain models. I conclude that the state-and-transition model provides an effective exploration of an ecosystem?s dynamics, and complements spatially explicit models designed to test specific ecological mechanisms. Significantly, both types of models may now be inferred from image data through the methodologies I have developed, and can provide an empirical basis to theoretical models of complex vegetation dynamics used in understanding and managing arid (and other) ecological systems.