Marie Janice BULMAN

Thesis Title:  Outfielder Stories:  Supporting Primary Teachers Teaching Secondary Science to Come in from the Margins.

Rinku Panchal, Jo Luck, Sandrine Makiela, Professor Jennelle Kyd and Jan Bulman celebrate at a pre-graduation lunch for doctoral graduates

Thesis Summary:  Shortages of mathematics, science and technology teachers in regional and rural Australia have traditionally been resolved by employing out-of-field teachers.  The varied experiences of six primary trained teachers were investigated to establish criteria for the selection and support of such teachers to increase the possibility of their retention and efficacy.

Jo-Anne Therese LUCK

Thesis Title:  Lost in Translations:  A Socio-technical Study of Interactive Videoconferencing in Australian Higher Education.

Thesis Summary:  The introduction of a new technology into a contemporary university is a process of negotiation and struggle as people and technology interact.  This study used an actor network to understand the translations that occurred when interactive videoconferencing was introduced at a time of rapid change and reform in higher education.

Sandrine MAKIELA

Thesis Title:  Studies on Dieback of Buffel Grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) in Central Queensland.

Thesis Summary:  This is a comprehensive study of the dieback condition of buffel grass, with emphasis on the importance of this condition to the beef industry.  It comprises a full description of the symptoms and effects of the condition, as well as studies undertaken to identify the causal agents of this condition.

Rinku PANCHAL

Thesis Title:  Significance of features in classification of breast abnormality patterns in digital mammography.

Thesis Summary:  The thesis proposes a novel technique for the classification of breast abnormality patterns in digital mammograms.  The proposed technique finds significant features and characteristics of benign and malignant patterns that can improve the classification accuracy.  The technique achieved high classification accuracy on a benchmark database of digital mammograms.

Brian John SENGSTOCK

Thesis Title:  The Development of Professional Identity in Nursing Students in the off-campus Clinical Setting.

Thesis Summary:  This research explored the experiences of undergraduate nurses during their clinical placement.  This study found that the experiences of the nursing students on clinical placement were centered on three concepts which included the traditions of nursing and the performance of both the staff and the students.