Accidental immersion and unintentional drowning of rural children: An investigation for the Child Accident Prevention Foundation of New Zealand

In New Zealand drowning amongst preschoolers is one of the leading causes of death. The monetary and emotional costs to society are devastating and cannot be underestimated . The need to reduce the high number of deaths and the monetary and emotional costs prompted this research. This research presents the possibility for proactive measures to be taken in this area. In addition, it provides insightful knowledge for parents and educators alike. Ultimately, it seeks to reduce the number of child drownings that occur in the rural environment

Design guidelines for online resources: a longitudinal analysis of information processing

This paper proposes that to create superior information resources that meet the information needs of the target audience, a greater understanding of information processing is required. We suggest that the subjective assessment criteria that information-seekers use to process information resources and the information they contain can be used to produce design guidelines for online information resources. This is tested using data from a participant in an eighteen-month longitudinal study of expectant and new mothers. From our participant, three information resource assessment criteria (convenience, credibility, and format) and five information assessment criteria (complete, easy to understand, references, relevance and reliability) were identified. These eight criteria were used to generate design guidelines to meet the needs of our participant. This article provides an analysis tool that can be used by other researchers to collect and analyse subjective assessment criteria

Some political aspects of ritual and belief concerning death.

This thesis considers ritual and belief pertaining to death, and locates these in a political or economic context. The contexts considered include those of alliance (chapter I), economic interest groups (Chapter II), authority (chapter III), and political interest groups (chapter IV). All involve a consideration of either the political or economic purposes of groups. For the most part, the orientation followed relates to two dimensions of human experience; the ritual dimension and the political dimension. These I see as having been variously described as 'Custon and Politics' (Cohen 1969b), 'Communitas and Structure' (Turner 1969), the ethical experience and the political experience (Baldelli 1972). I see these as not dissimilar ways of depicting the two dimensions. This thesis studies the relationship between these two dimensions with regard to death, and the various problems that death occasions. Diverse cultural materials are treated in this respect. Although from the work of some writers (Turner and Baldelli) it seems that these dimensions of human experience are fundamentally antagonistic one to another, almost compartmentalized one from the other in an ideal-typical sense, this thesis seeks to establish a very close correlation between the strength or vitality of custom (communitas, the ethical experience), and the political or economic factor. Conversely, and equally close correlation exists between the decline of custom and the political or economic factor. Although these dimensions of human experience are in a sense understood as being independent of one another, the dynamic involvement of custom in a political or economic process, the intensification of customary symbolic forms by a political or economic group, means that political or economic man in the pursuit of his interests is able to exploit the ideological resources of ritual man and his creations. Death is treated as the province of the ritual dimension, and it is the customary symbolic forms thereof, that man can manipulate for political or economic purposes

A tool for analysing the information behaviour of expectant and new mothers

In recent years, there has been an increase in the variety and availability of information resources in nearly every area of life. Unfortunately, variety and availability don’t always signal quality. With health information, it’s important not only to have quality information resources but also to ensure resources meet the needs of their audience. Expectant and new mothers have become active consumers of health information. They access and combine information from offline and online resources when making healthcare decisions. This paper presents a tool that analyses the information behaviour of expectant and new mothers. The Information Behaviour Analysis Tool (IBAT) is based on a theoretical model of information behaviour that is adapted from extant literature. We use interview and activity diary data from the first stage of a longitudinal exploratory study to create and demonstrate the tool. The IBAT can be used to map the information behaviour of new and expectant mothers from beginning to end. Three different search episodes are used to demonstrate the efficacy of the tool and to highlight different types of search strategies. These examples demonstrate the variability of uncertainty as a factor during information behaviour and the interaction it can have when processing different information resources

Crop type influences edge effects on the reproduction of songbirds in sagebrush habitat near agriculture

Extensive fragmentation of the sagebrush shrubsteppe of western North America could be contributing to observed population declines of songbirds in sagebrush habitat. We examined whether habitat fragmentation impacts the reproduction of songbirds in sagebrush edge habitat near agriculture, and if potential impacts vary depending on the adjacent crop type. Specifically, we evaluated whether nest abundance and nest survival varied between orchard edge habitat, vineyard edge habitat, and interior habitat. We then examined whether the local nest predator community and vegetation could explain the differences detected. We detected fewer nests in edge than interior habitat. Nest abundance per songbird was also lower in edge than interior habitat, although only adjacent to vineyards. Nest predation was more frequent in orchard edge habitat than vineyard edge or interior habitat. Predators identified with nest cameras were primarily snakes, however, reduced nest survival in orchard edge habitat was not explained by differences in the abundance of snakes or any other predator species identified. Information theoretic analysis of daily survival rates showed that greater study plot shrub cover and lower grass height at nests were partially responsible for the lower rate of predation-specific daily nest survival rate (PDSR) observed in orchard edge habitat, but additional factors are likely important. Results of this study suggest that different crop types have different edge effects on songbirds nesting in sagebrush shrubsteppe, and that these reproductive edge effects may contribute to observed declines of these species. Habitat managers should avoid the creation of new orchard-sagebrush habitat edges to avoid further impacts on already declining songbird populations