Cloud computing adoption by SMEs in Australia.

This study aims to examine the important factors that influence SMEs’ adoption of cloud computing technology. The results showing that SMEs were influenced by factors related to advantaging their organizational capability rather than risk-related factors. The findings are useful to SMEs owners, Cloud service providers and government in establishing Cloud computing adoption strategies for SMEs

Operational progression of digital soil assessment for agricultural growth in Tasmania, Australia

Tasmania, Australia, is currently undergoing a period of agricultural expansion through the development of new irrigation schemes across the State, primarily to stimulate the economy and ensure future food security. ‘Operational Progression of Digital Soil Assessment (DSA) for Agricultural Growth in Tasmania, Australia’ presents the adaptation and operationalisation of quantitative approaches for regional land evaluation within these schemes, specifically applied Digital Soil Mapping (DSM) to inform a land suitability evaluation for 20 different agricultural crops, and ultimately a spatial indication of the State’s agricultural versatility and capital. DSM had not previously been applied or tested in Tasmania; the research examines and validates DSM approaches with respect to the State’s unique and complex soils and biophysical interactions with climate and terrain, and how these apply to various agricultural land uses. The thesis is a major contribution to the methodology and development of one of the first major operational DSA programs in Australia, and forms a framework for this type of DSM approach to be used in future operational land evaluation elsewhere

Of railways, wine and flowers : A biography of George William Knight

This thesis examines misunderstandings surrounding class and reveals Knight to have been a member of the petty bourgeoisie - aspirational, yet understanding and empathetic towards working people. Knight was an erudite, respectable gentleman, an intellectual, a man of culture, committed to liberal values and the code of the gentleman, and a defender of the oppressed. Highlighted in this study are the high tides, low ebbs and pivotal turning points that beset Knight's life. A noted writer and raconteur, he was an influential figure in Bendigo and the colony. Covering more than ninety years, Knight's story encompasses London 1832-56, early colonial Victoria to 1923, and shines a light on one of the many oft-forgotten people who helped to build the colony.Doctor of Philosoph

A data-driven conceptual framework for understanding the nature of hazards in railway accidents

Hazards threaten railway safety by their potential to trigger railway accidents. Whilst there are a considerable number of prior works investigating railway hazards, few offer a holistic view of hazards across jurisdictions and time and demonstrate policy implementation due to the inability to analyse a large amount of safety-related textual data. The conceptual framework HazardMap is developed to overcome this gap, employing open-sourced Natural Language Processing topic model BERTopic for the automated analysis of textual data from Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) railway accident reports. The topic modelling depicts the relationships between hazards, railway accidents and investigator recommendations and is further extended and integrated with the existing risk theory and epidemiological accident models. Results show that each hazard in the railway system has different aspects and could trigger a railway accident when combined with other hazards. Each aspect can be partially or fully addressed by implementing hazard mitigation policies such as introducing new technologies or regulations. A case study of the application to the risk at level crossings is provided to illustrate how HazardMap works with real-world data. This demonstrates a high degree of coverage within the existing risk management system, indicating the capability of helping policymaking for managing risks with adequate accuracy. The primary contributions of the framework proposed are to enable a huge amount of knowledge accumulated for an intuitive policymaking process to be summarised, and to allow other railway investigators to leverage lessons learnt across jurisdictions and time with limited human intervention. Future research could incorporate data from road, aviation or maritime accidents

Corporate social responsibility, institutional investors’ ownership, financial restatements and sell-side analysts’ stock recommendations

In Malaysia, the capital market regulators have recently given prominent attention to issues such as corporate responsibility (CSR), shareholder activism and integrity in financial reporting by issuing the Sustainability Reporting Guide (2015) and Malaysian Code for Institutional Investors (2014). Given the importance of these issues, this study examines whether CSR, institutional investors’ ownership, and financial restatements influence stock recommendations made by analysts. It employs a dataset from a panel of 285 Malaysian public listed companies (PLCs) for the period 2008 to 2013 (737 company-year observations). The results show a positive and significant influence of CSR reporting on the stock recommendations, which means that analysts issue more favourable stock recommendations for companies with higher CSR disclosures. Further, the findings indicate that the presence of both transient and dedicated institutional investors are viewed positively by analysts. In particular, the results indicate that analysts issue more favourable stock recommendations for the companies with higher levels of transient and dedicated institutional investors’ ownership. In addition, the results also show that analysts tend to give favourable stock recommendations for companies that restated their financial statements, contrary to expectation. These findings imply that analysts tend to echo government initiatives by giving favourable stock recommendations to companies with greater engagement in CSR activities and the ability to attract institutional investors. The findings also suggest that analysts view financial restatements as informative rather than opportunistic. Overall, these findings should be useful to PLCs and policymakers. PLCs might use the findings to understand the preferences of sell-side analysts towards CSR engagement. Furthermore, policymakers might use it to recognize the important role played by institutional investors in monitoring investee companies and to understand how analysts perceive and evaluate restated companies

Conserving Australia's iconic marsupials; one genome at a time

In the midst of a global sixth mass extinction event, conservation initiatives are now more crucial than ever. Australia houses the most diverse range of marsupial species in the world; however, the number that are threatened is growing every year. Genetic management of threatened populations is vital in species recovery, yet incorporation of genetic data in conservation management is currently limited. International and national genome sequencing consortia are currently producing reference genomes for a large variety of species, though there is currently a gap between the creation of these genomic resources and their downstream applications, particularly in conservation contexts. One of the major drivers of this gap is due to the bioinformatic expertise and resources that are required to analyse genomic datasets and to translate the findings into conservation management. This PhD employs a variety of bioinformatic and sequencing approaches to develop genomic resources for threatened Australian Marsupials and demonstrates how these resources can be used as a tool to assist species conservation. The value of genomic data for conservation is demonstrated for a range of species under varying scenarios including: i) using existing genomic datasets for the endangered Tasmanian devil to answer new conservation questions relating to reproduction, ii) creating a reference genome for the common brown antechinus, to act as a model species for its threatened congeneric counterparts and iii) generating and uniting a suite of genomic resources to assist in the management of the vulnerable greater bilby. In addition, ten simple rules for getting started with command-line bioinformatics are presented to facilitate the use of genomic data in wildlife conservation. Bridging the research-implementation gap is essential for harnessing the power of genomic resources for the conservation of threatened species. The findings from this PhD provide crucial steps into bridging this gap

Release protocols and release environment: what influences reintroduction success for the brushtail possum?

This thesis examines the relative influence of release protocols and the release environment on short-term establishment and long-term persistence in reintroduction programs, using a brushtail possum reintroduction in semi-arid South Australia as a case study. I present a comparison of three release treatments, as release methods are known to influence post-release parameters but vary greatly by species and other factors such as source and release environment. The survival, post-release dispersal, change in body mass and reproductive condition of possums in each treatment are compared and results highlight a mismatch between release protocols that may benefit a species and being able to deliver them effectively. I investigated whether exposure to predators was likely to influence the antipredator behaviour of possums, and whether this translated to a difference in post-release survival between predator-exposed and predator-naïve possums. Antipredator behaviour was assessed using a variety of methods. Predator-exposed possums exhibited heightened antipredator behaviour compared to predator-naïve possums in all tests. However, post-release survival of both source populations was high, suggesting that successful fox control may negate the need to source predator-exposed animals for release. With predation the leading cause of reintroduction failure in Australia, the successful control of foxes at the reintroduction site provided an opportunity to investigate the impact of habitat quality. Habitat quality was assessed via the availability and recruitment of hollow bearing trees, mid storey vegetation cover and known preferred food plants in arid systems. Effects of habitat quality were measured post-release. Body condition and mass was maintained or increased over the study period following an initial post-release drop, and reproduction was constant. Most mortalities were due to predation by feral cats. Results suggest that habitat quality varies according to the factors tested but that despite a history of degradation at the site, short term reintroduction success was achieved. However, longer term persistence may be compromised unless further habitat restoration occurs. I investigated the interaction between diet and time since release to understand acclimatisation patterns and likelihood of long–term persistence. Next-generation DNA sequencing was used to identify plant genera within possum scats. Vegetation surveys were conducted to measure plant availability. Diet changed significantly over time and suggested that acclimatisation periods revealed by diet may be longer than indicated by other commonly used measures. Results have implications for reintroductions and restoration. Finally, I documented the survival, movement and growth of juvenile possums, as an indicator of the feasibility of population growth and persistence. I found sex effects for movement and growth, which interacted with maternal effects. Dispersal involved multiple movement phases and was male-biased. Most mortalities were attributed to predation by feral cats, but were not high enough to arrest population growth. Dispersal behaviour is interpreted in light of other studies of mammalian dispersal, and the influence of sex, maternal behaviour and environmental conditions are discussed. Release environment was found to be more important for short-term reintroduction success for brushtail possums than release protocols, but its influence on long-term persistence should be carefully monitored over time and, particularly, through drought. This thesis includes three chapters that have been published (chapters 2, 3 & 6) and two chapters that have been submitted to journals (chapters 4 & 5). Formatting styles may thus vary slightly between chapters. A single reference list is provided at the end of the thesis.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Biological Sciences, 201