Linguistic Imperialism, Toponymy, Semiotics & Taxonomies: The Anglicisation of Irish place names in hegemonic library cataloguing systems

Background. Cataloguing systems are generally assumed to be logical, objective and non-political. In this sense they are often assumed to be rather like maps. However, assumptions around the neutrality of both are erroneous. Maps and cataloguing systems reflect and reproduce dominance and power. In Ireland the six inch to a mile mapping project in the early to mid-1800s is generally accepted as the point at which much of the Anglicisation of Irish place names was formalised. As such it is often assumed that this Anglicisation is a historic event and that similar practices do not continue into the present. Objective. This paper sought to examine how vernacular names for places are treated in a mainstream international library classification and cataloguing system. Methods. The treatment of vernacular place names vis-à-vis English was examined under the dominant Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, the Dewey Decimal Classification & Relative Index (DDC) and the Resource Description and Access (RDA) system. Results. This paper demonstrates how established international library classification and cataloguing systems continue to explicitly require English forms of names over the vernacular. Contributions. This paper reveals how library classification and cataloguing systems both reinforce the legacy of colonial oppression, and continue to assert the dominance of English. Cataloguing systems may therefore be viewed in terms of their power and purpose, and as such should not be seen as ideologically neutral

Public support for tobacco control policy extensions in Western Australia: a cross-sectional study

Objectives: Policy makers seeking to introduce new tobacco control measures need to anticipatecommunity support to assist them in planning appropriate implementation strategies. This studyassessed community support for plain packaging and smoking bans in outdoor locations in Australia.Design: Analytical cross-sectional survey. Setting and participants: 2005 Western Australianadults participated in a computer-assisted telephone interview. Random household telephone numberswere used to obtain a representative sample. Outcome measures: Support for plain packaging ofcigarettes and smoking bans at outdoor venues by demographic characteristics. Results: Around half of the survey respondents supported plain packaging and almost a further quarter reported being neutral on the issue. Only one in three smokers disagreed with the introduction of a plain packaging policy. A majority of respondents supported smoking bans at five of the six nominated venues, with support being strongest among those with children under the age of 15 years. The venues with the highest levels of support were those where smoke-free policies had already been voluntarily introduced by the venuemanagers, where children were most likely to be in attendance, and that were more limited in size.Conclusions: The study results demonstrate community support for new tobacco control policies.This evidence can be used by public policy makers in their deliberations relating to the introduction of more extensive tobacco control regulations

Linguistic Imperialism, Toponymy, Semiotics & Taxonomies: The Anglicisation of Irish place names in hegemonic library cataloguing systems

Background. Cataloguing systems are generally assumed to be logical, objective and non-political. In this sense they are often assumed to be rather like maps. However, assumptions around the neutrality of both are erroneous. Maps and cataloguing systems reflect and reproduce dominance and power. In Ireland the six inch to a mile mapping project in the early to mid-1800s is generally accepted as the point at which much of the Anglicisation of Irish place names was formalised. As such it is often assumed that this Anglicisation is a historic event and that similar practices do not continue into the present. Objective. This paper sought to examine how vernacular names for places are treated in a mainstream international library classification and cataloguing system. Methods. The treatment of vernacular place names vis-à-vis English was examined under the dominant Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, the Dewey Decimal Classification & Relative Index (DDC) and the Resource Description and Access (RDA) system. Results. This paper demonstrates how established international library classification and cataloguing systems continue to explicitly require English forms of names over the vernacular. Contributions. This paper reveals how library classification and cataloguing systems both reinforce the legacy of colonial oppression, and continue to assert the dominance of English. Cataloguing systems may therefore be viewed in terms of their power and purpose, and as such should not be seen as ideologically neutral

Linguistic Imperialism, Toponymy, Semiotics & Taxonomies: The Anglicisation of Irish place names in hegemonic library cataloguing systems

Background. Cataloguing systems are generally assumed to be logical, objective and non-political. In this sense they are often assumed to be rather like maps. However, assumptions around the neutrality of both are erroneous. Maps and cataloguing systems reflect and reproduce dominance and power. In Ireland the six inch to a mile mapping project in the early to mid-1800s is generally accepted as the point at which much of the Anglicisation of Irish place names was formalised. As such it is often assumed that this Anglicisation is a historic event and that similar practices do not continue into the present. Objective. This paper sought to examine how vernacular names for places are treated in a mainstream international library classification and cataloguing system. Methods. The treatment of vernacular place names vis-à-vis English was examined under the dominant Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, the Dewey Decimal Classification & Relative Index (DDC) and the Resource Description and Access (RDA) system. Results. This paper demonstrates how established international library classification and cataloguing systems continue to explicitly require English forms of names over the vernacular. Contributions. This paper reveals how library classification and cataloguing systems both reinforce the legacy of colonial oppression, and continue to assert the dominance of English. Cataloguing systems may therefore be viewed in terms of their power and purpose, and as such should not be seen as ideologically neutral

Self-efficacy and academic achievement in Australian high school students: The mediating effects of academic aspirations and delinquency

Studies have shown that self-efficacy, aspirational, and other psychosocial influences account for considerable variance in academic achievement through a range of mediational pathways, although no research to date has tested the mediational relationships identified. The present research investigated the structural relations among self-efficacy, academic aspirations, and delinquency, on the academic achievement of 935 students aged 11-18 years from ten schools in two Australian cities. The Children's Self-Efficacy, Scale, Adapted Self-Report. Delinquency Scale (Revised), and Children's Academic Aspirations Scale were administered to participants prior to academic achievement being assessed using mid-year school grades. Structural equation modeling was employed to test three alternative models for the relationships from academic, social, and self-regulatory efficacy on academic achievement. A partial mediation model showed the best overall fit to the data. Academic and self-regulatory efficacy had an indirect negative effect through delinquency and a direct positive effect on academic achievement. Academic and social self-efficacy had positive and negative relationships, respectively, with academic aspiration and academic achievement; however, the relationship between academic aspiration and academic achievement was not significant in the final model. (C) 2008 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Development of a nonlinear hierarchical model to describe the disposition of deuterium in mother-infant pairs to assess exclusive breastfeeding practice

The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first 6 months after birth. The deuterium oxide dose-to-the-mother (DTM) technique is used to distinguish EBF based on a cut-off (< 25 g/day) of water intake from sources other than breastmilk. This value is based on a theoretical threshold and has not been verified in field studies. The aim of this study was to estimate the water intake cut-off value that can be used to define EBF practice. One hundred and twenty-one healthy infants, aged 2.5-5.5 months who were deemed to be EBF were recruited. After administration of deuterium to the mothers, saliva was sampled from mother and infant pairs over a 14-day period. Validation of infant feeding practices was conducted via home observation over six non-consecutive days with caregiver recall. A fully Bayesian framework using a gradient-based Markov chain Monte Carlo approach implemented in Stan was used to estimate the cut-off of non-milk water intake of EBF infants. From the original data set, 113 infants were determined to be EBF and provided 1500 paired mother-infant observations. The deuterium saliva concentrations were best described by two linked 1-compartment models (mother and infant), with body weight as a covariate on the mother's volume of distribution and infant's body weight on infant's water clearance rate. The cut-off value was based on the 90th percentile of the posterior distribution of non-milk water intake and was 86.6 g/day. This cut-off value can be used in future field studies in other geographic regions to determine exclusivity of breast feeding practices in order to determine their potential public health needs

Development of a parsimonious design for optimal classification of exclusive breastfeeding

A deuterium oxide dose‐to‐mother (DTM) technique is used to determine if an infant is exclusive breastfeeding (EBF). However, the DTM method is intensive, requiring seven paired mother–infant samples during a 14‐day study period. The purpose of this study was to develop a field‐friendly protocol. Data from 790 mother–infant pairs from nine countries were analyzed using a Markov chain Monte Carlo method with Stan. The data were split into (i) model building (565 pairs) and (ii) design evaluation (225 pairs). EBF classification was based on a previously published cut‐off for nonmilk water intake. Classification based on the full design was the reference (gold standard classification). The receiver operating characteristics of parsimonious designs were used to determine an optimal parsimonious classification method. The best two postdose windows (days 7–9 and 13–14) yielded optimal categorization with similar performance in the design evaluation data. This postdose two‐sample design provided 95% sensitivity and specificity when compared with the full design

Reciprocal relationships between trajectories of loneliness and screen media use during adolescence

Adolescence is the peak period for loneliness. Now a ubiquitous part of the adolescent landscape, electronic screens may provide avenues for ameliorating feelings of loneliness. Conversely, they may act as risk factors for the development of such feelings. Although cross-sectional studies to date have investigated the relationship between screen use and loneliness, longitudinal studies are needed if causal and directional associations are to be investigated. Utilising an accelerated longitudinal design and online survey we collected four waves of data from 1919 secondary school adolescents aged 10–15 years over two years. Random intercept cross-lagged panel models tested whether changes in five types of screen use (i.e., total screen time, social media use, gaming, passive screen use, and web use) are associated with changes in loneliness in the subsequent time-point, or changes in loneliness are associated with changes in screen use in the subsequent time-point. We found significant reciprocal associations between screen use and loneliness, with the strongest associations between social networking and electronic gaming and quality of friendships. These findings highlight that any significant increase in an adolescent's screen use may be a potential indicator of changes in quality of friendships or feelings of isolation