Police Misconduct:Mapping its location, seriousness and theoretical underpinning

Police misconduct and the location of street crimes and deviance have received much research attention. The location of police misconduct, by contrast, has not. Taking the case of Ireland, where policing underwent significant reform in 2007, police oversight data are mapped to determine the location and nature of complaints and any clustering of police misconduct, particularly in areas of greatest deprivation usually associated with people coming into most frequent contact with police. The implications of the findings for police, police oversight, and existing theories by which geography of deviance is framed are discussed

The Technology Trap: Lessons from the One Laptop Per Child Program

This thesis project was submitted to the graduate degree program in Global and International Studies and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts.Just as the industrial revolution reshaped society in much of the world during the 19th century, the rapid spread of computer technology has dramatically changed the world in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. However, just as the industrial revolution was slow to reach many parts of the world, the spread of computer technology around the globe has been anything but even. Developed countries are advancing at a faster pace than most less-developed countries, despite having started with a relative advantage, and the gap between the “global north” and the “global south” continues to grow. As a result, many efforts have been made to narrow the gap – in terms of education, health care, living standards, and more – with mixed results. In many cases, the assistance comes in the form of “boomerang aid,” which helps the donor country more than the recipient. Other cases are more benign, such as the One Laptop Per Child program explored in this paper, where well-meaning efforts fail to properly anticipate real-world challenges, leading to limited successes at best

Assessing Reference Service Quality: A Chat Transcript Analysis

This presentation was given on March 28, 2017 at the Association of College and Research Libraries' bi-annual conference in Baltimore, Maryland. The conference proceedings are available online at http://www.ala.org/acrl/conferences/acrl2017/papers .In 2016, members of the University of Kansas Libraries’ Reference Services unit participated in a peer review of 60 chat transcripts from the Fall 2015 and 2016 semesters. This project grew out of the need to begin assessing the level of reference service quality provided at the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries. In-person and virtual reference assistance is provided at the two main libraries up to 12 hours per day, six days per week, when classes are in session. Two main libraries plus four smaller branches make up the KU Libraries system. Staffing of reference services at the KU Libraries has evolved over time, from a mix of faculty-equivalent librarians and library staff to the current staffing model, which employs three full-time staff members and two half-time staff members, complemented by graduate student employees. While the current desk staff are all well qualified, very few have degrees in library science. Therefore, extra care must be taken to train reference staff on how to conduct a proper reference interview, and additional time is required to monitor reference stats to ensure that questions are being answered properly. Previous local studies have been conducted in this vein. In 2007, librarians rated 2,300 chat transcripts from a two-year period to determine whether teaching moments were being taken advantage of, using ACRL’s Information Literacy Standards for Higher Education as criteria. A follow-up study took place in 2008, examining 50 of the previous 2,300 transcripts in detail to identify opportunities and best practices for incorporating instruction in virtual reference services. Since 2008, KU Libraries have not conducted additional formal studies to examine the quality of reference services provided. During the Fall 2015 semester, chat questions made up approximately 43 percent of overall reference questions asked at KU Libraries reference desks. This increased to 47 percent during the Fall 2016 semester. As chat becomes an increasingly common venue for reference questions at KU, this transcript analysis is a first step toward measuring the quality of reference service quality. Chat transcripts are attractive as a starting point since they provide a comprehensive snapshot of an interaction with a patron, and can be examined in a variety of ways to inform best practices in virtual reference. This paper describes the study’s findings, and presents the project methodology alongside referenced literature as a resource for other librarians who may be looking for a starting point in establishing broader evaluation of reference services in general

The psychophysiological and health corollaries of child problem behaviours in caregivers of children with autism and ADHD

Background The positive relationship between problem behaviours of children with additional complex needs and psychological distress in their caregivers has been widely evidenced. Fewer studies, however, have assessed the relationship between care recipients’ problem behaviours and key physiological processes, relevant for the physical health status of their care providers. This study examined the psychological, endocrine and health corollaries of child problem behaviours in caregivers of children with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Methods Caregivers (n = 18) completed self-report measures of psychological distress, child problem behaviours and incidences of commonly occurring ailments. To capture important parameters of the basal diurnal cortisol pattern, caregivers collected saliva samples at waking, 30 min post waking, 1200 h and 2200 h on two consecutive weekdays. Results Data revealed a positive relationship between caregivers’ perceived levels of stress and problems with child conduct behaviours. In addition, caregivers who reported more problems with child emotional and hyperactivity behaviours displayed atypical cortisol patterns characterised by flatter diurnal cortisol slopes and reduced cortisol awakening response magnitude. Subjective reports of commonly occurring ailments were also greater in caregivers experiencing more problems with child emotional behaviours. Conclusions These findings have implications for interventions that aim to improve the psychophysiological well-being of the caregiver by targeting problem behaviours of the care recipient

Submerged macrophyte decline in shallow lakes: What have we learnt in the last forty years?

Over the last 40 years there has been substantial evidence that high biomasses of submerged aquaticplants and phytoplankton rarely occur together in shallow lakes, but it is clear that when present, plantshave a competitive advantage over algae. Aquatic plants provide habitat structure, which influences the fish community such that zooplanktonand other macroinvertebrates maintain a top-down control on algal growth, and this control is largelyindependent of the nutrient supply to the lake. Nonetheless it is clear that many, but not all, lakes losetheir vegetation as nutrient loading increases. However, in eutrophic lakes, the subsequent dominanceby phytoplankton is more likely to be a result of the loss of vegetation rather than the cause. At higher nutrient levels, grazing or mechanical damage can reduce plant cover allowing rapid devel-opment of algae. Changes to fish community structure or the influence of toxic chemicals can reduceinvertebrate algal grazers, overcoming the positive feedback loops that stabilise the plant dominance. The longer-term stability of macrophyte dominance is also reduced if there are few surviving plantspecies. Such loss of species richness is associated with increased nitrogen loading. Submerged plantsalso depend on a spring clear-water phase to become established, and local weather conditions duringwinter and spring may determine the relative success of phytoplankton and plant growth, leading to aprogressively longer period of algal dominance and fewer surviving plant species. The loss of submerged vegetation from lakes, although often perceived as a rapid change, is more likelyto be the final conclusion of a process in which the competitive advantage of a diverse plant communityis eroded by many pressures that are collectively interpreted as eutrophication. In attempts to manage our environment we hope to find simple, closed stable systems that will respondto measures designed to meet our perceptions of improved ecological quality. What we increasingly findare more complex open systems, which do not necessarily respond as expected. We look for simple andwidely applicable explanations where none are likely to exist

Leadership Development in the Local Church: An Intentional Strategy for Developing Leaders at Every Level

Every evangelical pastor knows that they have a responsibility to make disciples, and most of their churches have a system for doing so. They also know that every healthy church needs healthy leaders. As more and more of the next generation drop out of church and consequently leadership roles in the church, the evangelical church is facing a serious crisis. Most church leaders would agree that developing new leaders is a critical responsibility of the local church, yet very few churches actually have an intentional leadership development process. Even worse, many pastors are confused as to how leadership development differs from standard discipleship. Utilizing surveys of sixty-four church leaders, this project will identify the state of current leadership development among churches and will then submit a model for implementing intentional leadership development in the local church

Heated aquatic microcosms for climate change experiments

Ponds and shallow lakes are likely to be strongly affected by climate change, and by increase in environmental temperature in particular. Hydrological regimes and nutrient cycling may be altered, plant and animal communities may undergo changes in both composition and dynamics, and long-term and difficult to reverse switches between alternative stable equilibria may occur. A thorough understanding of the potential effects of increased temperature on ponds and shallow lakes is desirable because these ecosystems are of immense importance throughout the world as sources of drinking water, and for their amenity and conservation value. This understanding can only come through experimental studies in which the effects of different temperature regimes are compared. This paper reports design details and operating characteristics of a recently constructed experimental facility consisting of 48 aquatic microcosms which mimic the pond and shallow lake environment. Thirty-two of the microcosms can be heated and regulated to simulate climate change scenarios, including those predicted for the UK. The authors also summarise the current and future experimental uses of the microcosms

Definition of the sea surface infrared sun glitter corridor

Measurements of sea surface radiance were made in the 2-5.6 and 8-14 um wavebands near the azimuth of the sun at low solar observation angles. From these measurement, an analysis of the statistical and physical nature of a sun glitter channel as presented to a low altitude observer (i.e. shipboard) was conducted. findings showed strong correlations between wind speed and corridor width, and between wind speed and strength of source radiance, dominated primarily by the direct solar reflected contribution to sea radiance. 8-14 um radiances showed far less susceptibility to the detrimental effects of sun glitter on IE sensing systems. All patterns were Gaussian in shape across the azimuthal extent of each glitter corridor. The magnitude of glinting radiances decreased with increasing depression angles, presenting an approximate half Gaussian radiance distribution in elevation. A method to convert apparent radiant (as received at the sensor) to equivalent zero-range blackbody source radiance was formulated but showed weaknesses in computing the path radiance of the atmosphere intervening between the sea and the AGA 780 sensor, and in accounting for the emissivity of the sea surface as it affected the self-emitted component of sea surface source radiance.http://archive.org/details/definitionofseas00mossLieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Freshwaters, climate change and UK nature conservation

The literature on ecological effects of recent climate change in fresh waters has been reviewed, with particular reference to freshwater conservation in the UK.  Least emphasis is given to predictive models of future change, because of considerable uncertainties even in the climate models, let alone their biological implications.  Climate change effects on fresh waters have been superimposed on existing large human impacts, which make separation of climatic effects particularly difficult.Research in fresh waters has concentrated on communities and processes and there is less emphasis on individual charismatic species than in terrestrial systems.  This approach lends itself to space-for-time studies on climate effects.  There has been a modest amount of experimentation, particularly in mesocosms, and analysis of long-term biological data sets, the most extensive from lakes.  The most detailed information on ecological effects comes from lake plankton.No species is yet known to have been lost from the UK as a result of climate change but there is extensive evidence of changes in phenology and distribution, and in processes in the plankton.  It is likely that temperature effects per se will be less important than effects of changed hydrology and that idiosyncratic behaviour of each species will lead to many indirect effects through biological interactions in communities.  Experimental studies suggest major likely changes in plant, fish and invertebrate communities with a several degree increase in temperature and associated hydrological changes expected in the 21st century.  Freshwater organisms, however, are well adapted to disturbance and through invasion, redistribution, adaptation and microevolution will re-form functioning communities, though with likely different biodiversity than at present.  Some invasive species may come to dominate the new communities.  There will be important consequences for the estimation of ecological quality, which will inconvenience statutory obligations under the Water Framework Directive, and symptoms of eutrophication will be exacerbated.  Some coastal lakes may revert to estuaries.Much more important, however, may be the consequences of climate change for the important part of the carbon cycle that is focussed on fresh waters, particularly if the ratio of community respiration to gross primary production increases with rising temperature.  Several studies suggest large increases in this ratio with temperature rises of up to 4 °C.  A much more radical approach to conservation, involving re-establishment of entire, connected catchment systems rather than the present piecemeal attention to biodiversity issues is likely to be needed if a comfortable human future is to be guaranteed