Increases in consumption and harms among young people in the context of alcohol policy liberalisation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

Objective: To assess drinking patterns and alcohol-related harms among young people in the context of substantial liberalising alcohol policy change in New Zealand. Five studies were developed to address this objective which assessed: (i) trends in drinking patterns, alcohol-related problems and harms during the time of the liberalising policy change and (ii) specific policy changes relevant to young people in New Zealand: the lowering of the minimum purchase age, the introduction of ready to drinks and alcohol outlet density (alcohol outlets had proliferated due to the relaxation of the liquor licensing system). Methods: General population alcohol surveys and routinely collected harms datasets were utilised. Survey measures were: typical occasion quantity, drinking frequency, heavier drinking, self-reported drunkenness, alcohol-related problems and individual demographic measures. Harms measures included: prosecutions for disorder offending, prosecutions for driving with excess breath alcohol, alcohol-involved crashes (all and fatal) and individual demographic measures. Analysis techniques utilised in Studies One through Five were as follows: quantile regression, general linear models, broken stick Poisson regression, logistic regression (and analysis of variance) and multi-level modelling. When possible the wider New Zealand population was considered in relation to young people. Young people were defined as those up to 24 years of age (inclusive). Results: In the context of alcohol policy liberalisation young people, and in particular teenagers, were observed to experience the greatest increases in typical occasion quantities, alcohol-related problems and harms relative to other groups in the New Zealand population. Specific liberalising policy contexts relevant to young people, including the lowering of the minimum purchase age, ready to drinks and alcohol outlet density were also associated with increased quantities consumed or increased harms among teenagers. Conclusion: The public health problem of increased alcohol consumption and related harms among young people in New Zealand can be reduced. It will, however, take effective restrictive alcohol policy controls to achieve this

A UK indicator of education for sustainable development

Report references UK Government publication 'Securing the Future'.Report on workshops consulting members of the education community on their preferred approach to the indicator announced in the UK strategy for sustainable development, 'Securing the Future'.Publisher PD

A restricted signature normal form for Hermitian matrices, quasi-spectral decompositions, and applications

In recent years, a number of results on the relationships between the inertias of Hermitian matrices and the inertias of their principal submatrices appeared in the literature. We study restricted congruence transformation of Hermitian matrices M which, at the same time, induce a congruence transformation of a given principal submatrix A of M. Such transformations lead to concept of the restricted signature normal form of M. In particular, by means of this normal form, we obtain short proofs of most of the known inertia theorems and also derive some new results of this type. For some applications, a special class of almost unitary restricted congruence transformations turns out to be useful. We show that, with such transformations, M can be reduced to a quasi-diagonal form which, in particular, displays the eigenvalues of A. Finally, applications of this quasi-spectral decomposition to generalize inverses and Hermitian matrix pencils are discussed

Educació per a la sostenibilitat : el paper de la geografia escolar en l'educació ambiental

La généralisation des problbmes écologiques a l'échelle planétaire a encouragé la demande d'une éducation environnementale qui contribue i relever ces défis et a atteindre un développement soutenable. La géographie scolaire, a cause de sa tradition et de ses intérets, jouit d'un énorme potentiel pour mener a terme cet objectif. Or, ce potentiel ne peut se développer qu'en partant d'une théorie et d'une pratique appropiées; elles doivent comporter les Clements nécessaires pour établir le développement soutenable dans un cadre de démocratie et de justice. Cet article explore ces questions dans le contexte de l'education environnementale en Grande Bretagne.The generalization of environmental problems at world scale has aroused increasing calls for environmental education which could play a part in resolving such problems and aiding the transition to sustainable development. Thanks to its traditional role as the major vehicle whereby young people learn of the relationship between different societies and the natural world, school geography offers enormous potential to realize this objective provided appropiate theory and practice are applied. A critica1 and emancipatory environmental education and school geography could, therefore, play a role in the overall struggle to establish sustainability with demo cracy and justice. The article explores these topics in the context of recent developments in environrnental and geographical education in Britain.La generalización de los problemas ecológicos a escala planetaria ha estimulado la demanda de una educación ambiental que contribuya a la solución de estos retos y ayude a conseguir un desarrollo sostenible. Por tradición y por intereses docentes, la geografia escolar disfruta de un potencial enorme para llevar a cabo este objetivo. Sin embargo, este potencial solo puede desarrollarse a partir de una teoria y una práctica adecuadas, que incluyan los elementos necesarios para establecer el desarrollo sostenible con democracia y justicia. El articulo explora estos temas en el contexto de la educación ambiental en Gran Bretaña.La generalització dels problemes ecològics a escala planetaria ha esperonat la demanda d'una educació ambiental aue contribueixi a la solució d'aquests reptes i ajudi a assolir un desenvolupament sostenible. Per tradició i per interessos docents, la geografia escolar gaudeix d'un potencial enorme per dur a cap aquesta fita. Tanmateix, aquest potencial nomes es pot desenvolupar a partir d'una teoria i una practica adequades, que incloguin els elements necessaris per establir el desenvolupament sostenible amb democràcia i justícia. L'article explora aquests temes en el context de l'educació ambiental a la Gran Bretanya

Learning from sustainable development: education in the light of public issues

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is increasingly affecting environmental education policy and practice. In this article we show how sustainable development is mainly seen as a problem that can be tackled by applying the proper learning processes and how this perspective translates sustainability issues into learning problems of individuals. We present a different perspective on education in the context of sustainable development based on novel ways of thinking about citizenship education and emphasizing the importance of presenting issues of sustainable development as ‘public issues’, as matters of public concern. From this point of view, the focus is no longer on the competences that citizens must achieve, but on the democratic nature of the spaces and practices in which participation and citizenship can develop