The Voices of Women in the Night: Veronica and Judith

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Molecular Star Formation Rate Indicators in Galaxies

We derive a physical model for the observed relations between star formation rate (SFR) and molecular line (CO and HCN) emission in galaxies, and show how these observed relations are reflective of the underlying star formation law. We do this by combining 3D non-LTE radiative transfer calculations with hydrodynamic simulations of isolated disk galaxies and galaxy mergers. We demonstrate that the observed SFR-molecular line relations are driven by the relationship between molecular line emission and gas density, and anchored by the index of the underlying Schmidt law controlling the SFR in the galaxy. Lines with low critical densities (e.g. CO J=1-0) are typically thermalized and trace the gas density faithfully. In these cases, the SFR will be related to line luminosity with an index similar to the Schmidt law index. Lines with high critical densities greater than the mean density of most of the emitting clouds in a galaxy (e.g. CO J=3-2, HCN J=1-0) will have only a small amount of thermalized gas, and consequently a superlinear relationship between molecular line luminosity and mean gas density. This results in a SFR-line luminosity index less than the Schmidt index for high critical density tracers. One observational consequence of this is a significant redistribution of light from the small pockets of dense, thermalized gas to diffuse gas along the line of sight, and prodigious emission from subthermally excited gas. At the highest star formation rates, the SFR-Lmol slope tends to the Schmidt index, regardless of the molecular transition. The fundamental relation is the Kennicutt-Schmidt law, rather than the relation between SFR and molecular line luminosity. We use these results to make imminently testable predictions for the SFR-molecular line relations of unobserved transitions.Comment: ApJ Accepted - Results remain same as previous version. Content clarified with Referee's comment

The use of carer perspectives and expert consensus to define key components of a biopsychosocial support intervention for stroke carers

© 2019, © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Objective: To identify the key components of a biopsychosocial support intervention to improve mental wellbeing for informal stroke carers within the first year post-stroke based on the combined perspectives of experts in the field of psychological care after stroke and informal stroke carers themselves. Methods: After reviewing the existing literature a cross-sectional mixed-methods design was adopted comprising 1) focus groups with informal stroke carers about their psychological support needs, and 2) nominal group technique with academic and clinical stroke care experts to reach consensus on intervention priorities. Transcripts were thematically analyzed and combined with the ranked priorities from the nominal group to identify key components for intervention content. Results: Key themes for informal stroke carers were associated with: 1) changes in relationships, roles, and dynamics; 2) emotional impact and acceptance; 3) drawing on inner resources; 4) looking for information, solutions, and explanations; 5) support from others. The expert nominal group placed priority on eight ranked areas: 1) acknowledging “normal” emotions; 2) education about the effects of a stroke; 3) reactions to loss and adjustment; 4) recognizing signs and symptoms of not coping; 5) knowing how and when to access practical and emotional support; 6) strategies for taking care of own health; 7) dealing with difficult emotions; and 8) problem solving skills. Conclusions: Themes from the informal carer focus groups, and ranked priority areas will inform the development of a biopsychosocial support intervention for stroke carers to be tested in a feasibility randomized controlled trial

The representation of the woman artist figure in Australian women writers' fiction

This thesis sets out to explore, from a feminist point of view, the ways in which women writers 'author' the literary representation of 'woman' as 'artist', her identity and destiny, within the patriarchal context. Because women writers operate from a marginal position, and despite the fact that they are working within the patriarchal system of language, ideology and discourse, their texts to varying degrees critically evaluate their patriarchal contexts and the attendant notions of both 'woman' and 'artist'. At the same time, in response to previous texts, to changes in ideology (for instance, the emergence of feminist literary theory) and changes in society, the literary construction of the woman artist is also subject to change and development. For this examination, a combination of the theories of Mikhail Bakhtin together with a feminist perspective and insights from feminist theory have been found to be most appropriate. Bakhtin has delineated the discursive relationships and strategies which marginal groups, such as women, might effect upon a centralist hegemony such as the patriarchy. His concept of carnival as a subversive strategy which may be adopted by marginal groups in relation to the hegemony suggests directions for the feminist analysis of women writers' subversive strategies. He locates the struggle for the meaning and value of particular ideologies in the nature of language itself and in the structure of discourse. His theory suggests that literary texts by women are engaged in an ongoing dialectic of critique and transformation of patriarchal literary and cultural values about 'woman'. In the course of this dissertation, it has emerged that the women's texts which I am discussing are all, to some extent, radical texts. All challenge to varying degrees the patriarchal centralist assumptions about both 'woman' and 'artist'. These challenges are effected through a series of literary strategies. The literary representation of both 'woman' and 'artist' is developing from a specifically female point of view, and a new image of 'woman' is being inserted into the literary and cultural national tradition

How professionals work and learn in digitalised work contexts: Insights from an Australian survey of Education Professionals

How professionals work and learn in digitalised work contexts The Australian Research Council Discovery project titled: “Investigating Professional Learning Lives in the digital evolution of work” (DP210100164) investigated how Education and Health professionals in Australia learn as they work in increasingly digitalised work contexts through a survey. The survey was sent to members of 11 Education and 10 Health Australian professional associations. The survey ran from August to November 2022. This report presents the findings of Education professionals’ responses to this survey (299 responses)

The Theme of Integration in Thea Astley's Fiction

'I work from life, as I know it, as I have known it'. With these words Thea Astley presents herself as a disturbingly honest observer of human behaviour who is keenly aware of the triumphs and failures of ordinary people as they struggle to develop their human potential. She sees a world in which spiritual values are disintegrating, and no moral directives exist for a society beset by the fear of nuclear war and by political, economical, racial and sexist contention. Against this disordered backdrop she creates her own worlds with irony and compassion. Her personal dramas of small-town misfits gain deeper and more universal resonance as she expounds her central theme, which is that of the need for charity and fraternalism in the face of human cruelty

Radio continuum observations of Class I protostellar disks in Taurus: constraining the greybody tail at centimetre wavelengths

We present deep 1.8 cm (16 GHz) radio continuum imaging of seven young stellar objects in the Taurus molecular cloud. These objects have previously been extensively studied in the sub-mm to NIR range and their SEDs modelled to provide reliable physical and geometrical parametres.We use this new data to constrain the properties of the long-wavelength tail of the greybody spectrum, which is expected to be dominated by emission from large dust grains in the protostellar disk. We find spectra consistent with the opacity indices expected for such a population, with an average opacity index of beta = 0.26+/-0.22 indicating grain growth within the disks. We use spectra fitted jointly to radio and sub-mm data to separate the contributions from thermal dust and radio emission at 1.8 cm and derive disk masses directly from the cm-wave dust contribution. We find that disk masses derived from these flux densities under assumptions consistent with the literature are systematically higher than those calculated from sub-mm data, and meet the criteria for giant planet formation in a number of cases.Comment: submitted MNRA

AMI-LA radio continuum observations of Spitzer c2d small clouds and cores: Perseus region

We present deep radio continuum observations of the cores identified as deeply embedded young stellar objects in the Perseus molecular cloud by the Spitzer c2d programme at a wavelength of 1.8 cm with the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Large Array (AMI-LA). We detect 72% of Class 0 objects from this sample and 31% of Class I objects. No starless cores are detected. We use the flux densities measured from these data to improve constraints on the correlations between radio luminosity and bolometric luminosity, infrared luminosity and, where measured, outflow force. We discuss the differing behaviour of these objects as a function of protostellar class and investigate the differences in radio emission as a function of core mass. Two of four possible very low luminosity objects (VeLLOs) are detected at 1.8 cm.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, accepted MNRA