A City for Music Lovers: Creating a classical music culture in Sydney 1889-1939

Through the efforts of thousands of dedicated men and women classical music obtained a privileged position in Sydney in the early twentieth century. This neglected area of Australia’s cultural history was part of a transnational phenomenon which has divided historians and musicologists. Does it demonstrate the imposition of elite culture from above or did it emerge from the combined energies of those who believed that classical music might provide genuine benefits for the whole community? Contributing to a body of literature on the social history of classical music in Europe and the United States, this thesis incorporates a Bourdieuian analysis examining the creation of classical music in Sydney from the perspective of key stakeholders: entertainment entrepreneurs, musical institutions, performers, composers and audience. It focuses on the interaction between these stakeholders to consider the field of classical music as a dynamic, constantly evolving arena of interaction where the personal and political intersect. It takes into account social, economic, political and technological developments as Australia established itself as an independent nation grappling with a rapidly expanding population, modernity and the rise of a politically engaged working class. Such an approach brings into question previous accounts of the development on classical music in Australia which have focused on the role of the government owned Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) rather than the efforts of multiple stakeholders, community groups and committed individuals. It provides a new perspective that demonstrates the complex and iterative nature of social change and suggests ways in which our musical choices have come to define who we are

Temperature responses of nitrogen transformations in grassland soils

The current literature shows that global climate is changing with temperatures generally increasing, precipitation patterns becoming less predictable and extreme weather events becoming more frequent. However, the literature is often unclear not only about how changes in temperature will affect soil processes but even about how soil temperatures themselves are changing. This thesis has found that soil temperatures over recent decades have increased at rates comparable to air temperatures (average mean of 0.71 in soil and 0.93 °C in air over the total length of the data sets used). There were differences in seasonal trends between soil and air, for example, winter air temperatures increased twice as quickly as spring air temperatures whereas in soil winter and spring temperatures were increasing at similar rates. This highlights potential problems for predicting how soil functions such as biogeochemical cycling will respond to realistic temperature change. In order to assess the effects of changing soil temperatures on particular reactions involved in soil Nitrogen cycling incubation experiments, both short and longer term in the laboratory as well as soil warming in the field were carried out. Realistic warming was found to increase the rates of protease and urease activity during all tests; however, amidase activity was only measurable after the addition of labile carbon and even then showed no temperature sensitivity. This thesis also considered the effect of temperature change on the size and structure of the soil microbial community at these realistic soil temperatures. Both in the lab and the field changes in rates of soil processes (enzyme activity) as a result of temperature change are not accompanied by a change in either size or structure of the microbial community as measured by phospholipid fatty acid analysis, suggesting high levels of functional redundancy within the soil microbial community. The effects of organic matter input in the field were found to have only small effects on the rates of enzyme activity although this was more important during laboratory incubations. Organic matter quality was also important during lab incubations where lower quality organic matter provoked greater enzyme activity in accordance with q-theory; however, there was no evidence for greater temperature sensitivity of low quality organic matter. The size and structure of the microbial community, both in the field and in the lab, were not affected by either the rate of organic matter input (in the field) or they quality of organic matter (in the lab). The size of the microbial community, however, decreased over time in both situations, the ratio of bacteria to fungi in the soil seemed to increase over time also

Private Goes Public: An Exploration of the Translation of Social Reality within a Hospital Setting

Fiona Fraser’s investigates ideas of privacy and the search for ‘normalcy’ in a Highland hospital

Effects of weight loss interventions for adults who are obese on mortality, cardiovascular disease and cancer : a systematic review and meta-analysis

We thank Associate Professor Andrew Grey for helping to resolve discrepancies in data extraction and interpretation for cardiovascular events and cancer events. We thank trialists from 16 studies for clarifying or providing additional information for this review [Andrews 2011, Aveyard 2016, Bennett 2012, de Vos 2014, Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study 2009, Goodwin 2014, Green 2015, Horie 2016, Hunt (FFIT) 2014, Katula 2013, Li (Da Qing) 2014, Logue 2005, Ma 2013, O’Neil 2016, Rejeski (CLIP) 2011, Uusitupa 1993] and also others who provided information, but their trials were later found not to fulfil our inclusion criteria. Funding: The Health Services Research Unit is funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorate.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Capital: A Contemporary Opera in Two Acts

Capital is a two act opera which incorporates a range of different stylistic elements as a means of communicating with a broad audience and promoting discourse about the future of the city of Canberra. This dissertation encompasses a detailed exegesis of my research as well as the final score of the opera. Together they are designed to support the proposition that opera can retain a socially relevant role today. Such a proposition sits in stark contrast to statistics that demonstrate a serious decline in interest in all classical music genres in the last few decades. Opera has been reinvigorated at different historical points by embracing heterogeneous elements, engaging interactively with audiences, and addressing socially relevant concerns. Many commentators, particularly Theodor Adorno, have looked to Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute as the ideal model for an opera that both entertains and edifies the audience. This thesis examines the strategies Mozart employed in his iconic opera. It also explores different compositional approaches taken by composers such as Kurt Weill, Leonard Bernstein, Larry Sitsky, John Adams, and Louis Andriessen, designed to achieve similar ends. The defining feature of such works is a willingness to incorporate culturally meaningful musical allusions that represent different perspectives and, through a process of recontextualisation, invite a reappraisal, revealing previously hidden facets of the original material. This approach is consistent with the practice of parody, as described by literary scholar, Linda Hutcheon. Parody was a common feature of the traditional opera buffa genre. It harks back to an earlier era, when music was valued for its functional utility rather than its structural unity or commercial success. Such operas have historically come to be overshadowed by a Wagnerian quest for an organically unified form of art, which, in accord with nineteenth-century aesthetic standards, should ideally eliminate all extraneous material and aspire to express a transcendent spiritual aura. In response to this, many twentieth- and twenty-first-century composers have been seeking to find an alternate role for opera by reclaiming it as an essentially heterogeneous art form that excels at parody. Capital is an opera that sits firmly within the parodic tradition. Like other works examined in this thesis, it embraces opera as a heterogeneous mix of art forms ultimately grounded in the hopes and aspirations of contemporary life. It is a work that favours diversity and debate rather than conformity and unity. It challenges the long- standing paradigm that separates classical and popular music on a hierarchical basis, accepting that both might be legitimate sources for music which seeks to play a functional role in contemporary discourses. By engaging with local issues, and incorporating a unique mix of heterogeneous elements, Capital makes an original contribution to opera in Australia

Understanding the rules governing NCX1 palmitoylation

No abstract available

The Effect of Short-Term Vitamin D Supplementation on Calcium Status in Vitamin D Insufficient Renal Transplant Recipients at Risk of Hypercalcaemia

Vitamin D insufficiency is highly prevalent amongst renal transplant recipients and in observational studies is associated with adverse outcomes. Hypercalcaemia, usually due to persistent hyperparathyroidism, also commonly occurs in this population and often coexists with vitamin D insufficiency. However, concern that vitamin D supplementation might exacerbate the pre-existing hypercalcaemia often leads clinicians to avoid vitamin D supplementation in such patients. This feasibility study aimed to quantify the effect on serum calcium of short-term low- dose cholecalciferol supplementation in a group of renal transplant recipients with a recent history of serum calcium levels >10 mg/dL