Reconcilable differences?: Portuguese obstetricians' and midwives' contrasting perspectives on childbirth, and women’s birthing experiences

Based on recent ethnographic research in Portugal, this paper examines contrasting perspectives of doctors and midwives regarding their roles in childbirth, the institutional contexts in which these divergent perspectives are enacted and sustained, and the inter-related experiences of birthing women. It was found that obstetricians’ rhetoric around birth focused on potential risk; interventions were often explicated through a perception of childbirth as a risk-laden, and potential emergency, situation. Within this discourse, hospital-based birth was presented as a triumph of progress. Technical measures were justified using institutional rationales, such as the use of anaesthetic pain relief during labour to ensure tranquillity within the maternity units and the induction of labour to guarantee “throughput” and free up hospital beds. Midwives, contrastingly, described their philosophy of care as one focused on offering women presence, guidance, and a range of informed choices in the management of birth, and professed their commitment to an ideal model of normal birth founded on minimal intervention, except in cases of clinical necessity. Both professional groups expressed mutual respect for each other´s skills and respective roles. However, the co-existence of different professional rationales within the same hospital setting, they admitted, resulted in tensions. These were found to be exacerbated by historical power dynamics and the present spatial and organisational separation of the two groups. Selected extracts from Portuguese women´s birth narratives from the same study are utilised to elucidate the variegated experiences of women, and the modes by which authoritative knowledge is reproduced. The potential ramifications of the current situation for the provision of effective maternity care are discussed, and the conceptualisation of women as autonomous consumers of services is challenged

Improving Equine Welfare through Human Habit Formation. Animals

This paper explores the potential for interventions to develop pro-animal welfare habitual behaviours (PAWHBs) in people to improve the lives of animals. Human behavioural research indicates that opportunities exist to deliver lasting change through developing positive habitual behaviours. The routine nature of many equine care and management practices lends itself to habit formation and maintenance. This proof-of-concept paper aims to evaluate a theory-based intervention of developing and maintaining a PAWHB in people caring for equines. Qualitative research methods were used. A 30 day PAWHB intervention (PAWHBInt) of providing enrichment to an equine by scratching them in a consistent context linked to an existing routine behaviour was undertaken. Participants (n = 9) then engaged in semi-structured interviews that were analysed using thematic analysis, where the participants self-reported the outcomes they observed during the intervention. The study findings suggest that the PAWHBInt had a positive impact on human behaviour and habit formation. The research helps to address the dearth of evidence regarding the application of habit theory to equine welfare interventions and emphasised linking a desired new behaviour to an existing routine behaviour when developing PAWHBs. The research also highlights the role of mutual benefit for human and equine, and emotion in providing feedback and potential reward, supporting the link to the cue-routine-reward principle of habit theory

Do you take Credit Cards? Security and Compliance for the Credit Card Payment Industry

Security is a significant concern in business and in information systems (IS) education from both a technological and a strategic standpoint. Students can benefit from the study of information systems security when security concepts are introduced in the context of real-world industry standards. The development of a data security standard for organizations operating within the credit card payment industry serves as an excellent example of a real-world security standard that lends itself to classroom study. The establishment and requirements of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), and the associated consequences for noncompliance, represents a businesslike approach to the organizational protection of data that students will find interesting and one to which they will relate. Everybody uses credit cards! Incorporating the topic of PCI DSS into an activity allows students to learn and apply PCI DSS concepts to a business setting. Just asking “If everyone uses credit cards, why don’t all businesses accept them?” will start a process of exploration for the class. A hypothetical business teaching case, Blue Mountain Jams (BMJ), illustrates the challenge of PCI DSS mandates for small businesses. Small business is given some leeway in self-assessment under PCI DSS to document compliance after the decision is made to accept credit card payments. That leeway gives students the opportunity to learn and analyze the PCI DSS requirements and compliance methods and to determine the best course of action for a business that has made the decision to start accepting credit cards

Dating of Bush Turkey Rockshelter 3 in the Calvert Ranges establishes Early Holocene Occupation of the Little Sandy Desert, Western Australia

Systematic excavation of occupied rockshelters that occur in ranges along the Canning Stock Route of the Western Desert has seen the establishment of both a Pleistocene signal (c.24ka BP) as well as the fleshing out of a Holocene sequence. Recent dating of a perched rockshelter in the Calvert Ranges, east of the Durba Hills, has provided a Holocene record filling in previous occupational gaps from the Calvert Ranges. The extrapolated basal date of the site is in the order of 12,000 BP. Assemblages from this site illustrate repeated occupation through the Holocene with a notable shift in raw materials procured for artefact production and their technology of manufacture in the last 1000 years. Engraved and pigment art is thought to span the length of occupation of the shelter. The site illustrates a significant increase in the discard of cultural materials during the last 800 years, a trend observed at other desert sites. Much of the pigment art in this shelter seems likely to date to this most recent period

Signs of Safety and the Paradox of Simplicity: Insights from Research with Social Work Students

Signs of Safety (SOS) is a widely adopted approach in child protection internationally. However, very little is known about the effectiveness of students’ learning and engagement with this approach. To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore social work students’ perceptions and experiences of SOS based on training and use of the approach during final practice placements. Interviews, focus groups, and surveys were undertaken at two time points: post-training and during placement. Findings highlighted student appreciation of SOS which was perceived as easy to use, promoting clear communication, and enabling collation of information within a simple structure. However, the perceived simplicity of SOS was also problematic in respect of recording information, and in developing balanced communication which facilitated relationship building, alongside skilful use of authority. These findings suggest that the apparent simplicity of the SOS framework, applied in the context of complex child protection and family work, can present a paradox for social work students. It is vital that, in adopting SOS, agencies do not seek to over-simplify a complicated and challenging area of practice, and that ongoing support from experienced practitioners is provided to enable novice social workers to apply this approach effectively

Harnessing Technology Schools Survey 2009: analysis report

The Harnessing Technology schools survey (HTSS) report presents the key survey findings from the academic year 2008-09 set out according to the five system outcomes against which impact of the strategy was measured. The HTSS was an annual national survey of ICT in primary, secondary and special schools. (The data report that accompanied this analysis provides further details of the sample and the characteristics of respondents and is listed separately.