Identification of Strategies to Improve Digital Information Literacy Skills amongst Frontline Public Library Staff

Research Problem The purpose of this research was to discover ways to improve digital information literacy skills of frontline public library staff in New Zealand. Earlier studies have identified skill gaps in the area of digital information literacy skills amongst this population of the library workforce in New Zealand. Frontline public library staff are the interface between the library as an organization and the general public in a digital arena which is increasingly fluid and changeable. Methodology A semi-structured interview technique along with some basic demographic information was used Nine staff were recruited from two different organizations, a Level One, and a Level Three public library service as defined by the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA). Participants were those who spent more than thirty percent of their time serving the public. Kolb’s model of experiential learning was the theoretical basis for this research. Results For reasons of finance of access staff are unable to gain sufficient digital information literacy skills in their own time to keep current in the workplace. Participants’ preference for hands on learning in the workplace and training by peers places them at the feeling end of Kolb’s perception continuum. Implications This report identifies the importance of using peer training mentors to provide regular team based digital information literacy training sessions and to provide workplace support after any formal classroom based training has been delivered

Direct sequential simulation algorithms in geostatistics

Conditional sequential simulation algorithms have been used in geostatistics for many years but we currently find new developments are being made in this field. This thesis presents two new direct sequential simulation with histogram reproduction algorithms and compares them with the efficient and widely used sequential Gaussian simulation algorithm and the original direct sequential simulation algorithm. We explore the possibility of reproducing both the semivariogram and the histogram without the need for a transformation to normal space, through optimising an objective function and placing linear constraints on the local conditional distributions. Programs from the GSLIB Fortran library are expanded to provide a simulation environment. An isotropic and an anisotropic data set are analysed. Both sets are positively skewed and the exhaustive data is available to define global target distributions and for comparing the cumulative distribution functions of the simulated values

Court Review: Volume 40, Issue 2 - Judicial Report on the Adjudication and Sanctioning of Hard-Core Drinking Drivers

Impaired driving is the most frequently committed crime in America. It has been an issue of debate and concern for the judiciary, as courtrooms across the country hear cases involving a majority of the 1.4 million annual DWI arrests. Since the early 1980s, concerned citizens have lobbied for and won considerable changes to the way these cases are approached from a public-policy perspective, often resulting in legislative initiatives and changes in criminal practice. Until now, however, little comprehensive research has been conducted on the implications of these system-wide changes for criminal justice professionals. In December 2002, the Traffic Injury Research Foundation—an independent road safety institute—released a report concerning the adjudication of DWI cases and the sanctioning of hard-core drinking drivers. Its findings were based on the views, insights, and opinions of more than 1,000 judges across the country. The report is part of a multiyear research initiative designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice system by highlighting key problems in each segment of the system and recommending practical, costeffective solutions. Two earlier reports addressed problems in the detection and apprehension of hard-core drinking drivers, and the prosecution of these offenders. The foundation recently released the final report in July 2003, which addressed monitoring by probation and parole. In addition to funding provided by a charitable contribution from the Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc., the involvement and participation of several thousand criminal justice professionals across the United States—representing law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, and probation and parole officers—made this unique initiative possible. By identifying key problems and recommending practical solutions derived from prior research and validated by the experiences of thousands of professionals participating in the study, the initiative underscores the need for systemic improvements. As a starting point, this series of reports serves as a valuable sourcebook. It provides direction to criminal justice and traffic safety professionals at national and state levels. It also guides agencies in addressing concerns and in strategically reviewing existing policies. This research has received considerable support, cooperation, and interest from a wide variety of individuals as well as key national agencies. These groups include the Highway Safety Committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Traffic Law Center of the American Prosecutors’ Research Institute, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators, the Conference of State Court Administrators, the American Judges Association, the National Judicial College, the National Center for State Courts, the American Probation and Parole Association, and the National Criminal Justice Association

Challenging Culture and Managing Change in Higher Education

To effect systematic change in higher education requires a sophisticated blend of management, collegiality and simple hard work over a prolonged period of time. This paper will present the process and outcomes of a period of change within the Institute of Education. The three phase model of change which has recently been published in the journal Management in Education (Vol 23 Issue 1) will be presented which suggests that change begins gradually and that it is important that strong leadership continues to support the change over a sustained period. The presentation will provide data from interviews with participants in the change process and also present the change model

Trends in alcohol-impaired driving in Canada Trends in alcohol-impaired driving in Canada

Abstract Background Drinking and driving continues to be a major road safety problem in Canada with 744 persons killed in crashes involving a drinking driver and 37% of fatally injured drivers testing positive for alcohol in 2010, the most recent data year available. Aims This paper describes recent trends in drinking and driving in Canada to better understand the current situation, and to determine whether the magnitude of the problem has been increasing or decreasing. Methods Multiple indicators are used to examine trends in drinking driving behaviour and alcoholrelated fatalities. Data sources include: A National Fatality Database, a comprehensive source of national data compiled annually by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) from coroner/medical examiner files and police reports on fatal crashes; and the Road Safety Monitor (RSM), an annual National Public Opinion Poll on Drinking and Driving conducted by TIRF. Results From 1995 to 2010 in Canada, there has been a continued and fairly consistent decrease in the number of fatalities involving a drinking driver in absolute terms as well as when these numbers are standardized into per capita and per licensed driver rates. The number and percent of fatally injured drivers testing positive for alcohol have also declined over this study period. Survey data from the RSM further show that the percentage of those who reported driving after they thought they were over the legal limit has also decreased consistently and significantly since 2008. Discussion and conclusions Despite the apparent decreasing trend in drinking driving fatalities and behaviour since 1995, reductions have been relatively modest in recent years, and fatalities in crashes involving drivers who have consumed alcohol remain at high unacceptable levels

Cross-cultural acceptability and utility of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire:views of families

Abstract Background Screening children for behavioural difficulties requires the use of a tool that is culturally valid. We explored the cross-cultural acceptability and utility of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for pre-school children (aged 3–5) as perceived by families in New Zealand. Methods A qualitative interpretive descriptive study (focus groups and interviews) in which 65 participants from five key ethnic groups (New Zealand European, Māori, Pacific, Asian and other immigrant parents) took part. Thematic analysis using an inductive approach, in which the themes identified are strongly linked to the data, was employed. Results Many parents reported they were unclear about the purpose of the tool, affecting its perceived value. Participants reported not understanding the context in which they should consider the questions and had difficulty understanding some questions and response options. Māori parents generally did not support the questionnaire based approach, preferring face to face interaction. Parents from Māori, Pacific Island, Asian, and new immigrant groups reported the tool lacked explicit consideration of children in their cultural context. Parents discussed the importance of timing and multiple perspectives when interpreting scores from the tool. Conclusions In summary, this study posed a number of challenges to the use of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in New Zealand. Further work is required to develop a tool that is culturally appropriate with good content validity

State of the Practice of State Alcohol Ignition Interlock Programs

DTNH2216D00020/693JJ920F000080A breath alcohol ignition interlock device (BAIID, or interlock) prevents a vehicle from being driven unless the driver provides a breath sample indicating a blood alcohol concentration lower than a pre-set level, usually .02 g/dL. Every State uses interlocks as a sanction for driving while impaired (DWI) offenses. The law may dictate that a DWI offender is required to use an interlock, or it may allow an offender the option to use an interlock in lieu of a harsher sanction such as license suspension or revocation. Offenders using interlocks must enroll in the State BAIID program to arrange for interlock installation, management, and removal. State BAIID programs vary due to variations in DWI and licensing laws. This project sought to document the state of the practice of BAIID programs by inviting BAIID program administrators and staff from each State to complete surveys or discuss the program features. Thirty-eight State programs completed the survey, participated in the discussions, or both. Thirteen programs (including the District of Columbia) did not participate in either, limiting the completeness of the findings. The project data are summarized online, located at: https://aic.tirf.ca/alcohol-interlock-program-inventory/. This project was conducted under the National Cooperative Research and Evaluation Program, a cooperative program between NHTSA and the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). Each year, the States (through the GHSA) identify highway safety research or evaluation topics they believe are important for informing State policy, planning, and programmatic activities. This report addresses one of those requested topics, the need for current information on interlock programs

Study Protocol - Alcohol Management Plans (AMPs) in remote indigenous communities in Queensland: their impacts on injury, violence, health and social indicators and their cost-effectiveness

BACKGROUND: In 2002/03 the Queensland Government responded to high rates of alcohol-related harm in discrete Indigenous communities by implementing alcohol management plans (AMPs), designed to include supply and harm reduction and treatment measures. Tighter alcohol supply and carriage restrictions followed in 2008 following indications of reductions in violence and injury. Despite the plans being in place for over a decade, no comprehensive independent review has assessed to what level the designed aims were achieved and what effect the plans have had on Indigenous community residents and service providers. This study will describe the long-term impacts on important health, economic and social outcomes of Queensland’s AMPs. METHODS/DESIGN: The project has two main studies, 1) outcome evaluation using de-identified epidemiological data on injury, violence and other health and social indicators for across Queensland, including de-identified databases compiled from relevant routinely-available administrative data sets, and 2) a process evaluation to map the nature, timing and content of intervention components targeting alcohol. Process evaluation will also be used to assess the fidelity with which the designed intervention components have been implemented, their uptake and community responses to them and their perceived impacts on alcohol supply and consumption, injury, violence and community health. Interviews and focus groups with Indigenous residents and service providers will be used. The study will be conducted in all 24 of Queensland’s Indigenous communities affected by alcohol management plans. DISCUSSION: This evaluation will report on the impacts of the original aims for AMPs, what impact they have had on Indigenous residents and service providers. A central outcome will be the establishment of relevant databases describing the parameters of the changes seen. This will permit comprehensive and rigorous surveillance systems to be put in place and provided to communities empowering them with the best credible evidence to judge future policy and program requirements for themselves. The project will inform impending alcohol policy and program adjustments in Queensland and other Australian jurisdictions.The study was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC, Project Grant #APP1042532), with additional support from the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute-funded Centre for Research Excellence for the Prevention of Chronic Conditions in Rural and Remote High Risk Populations at James Cook University & University Adelaide. Dr Caryn West is a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Early Career Research Post – Doctoral Fellow (NHMRC ECR, #APP1070931).Associate Professor Clough holds a NHMRC Career Development Award (#APP1046773)

Enhancements to velocity-dependent dark matter interactions from tidal streams and shells in the Andromeda galaxy

Dark matter substructure around nearby galaxies provides an interesting opportunity for confusion-free indirect detection of dark matter. We calculate the boost over a smooth background distribution of dark matter for gamma-ray emission from dark matter self-annihilations in tidal structure in M31, assuming a cross-section inversely proportional to the relative velocities of the dark matter particles as proposed by the Sommerfeld effect. The low velocity of the material in the structure results in a significant increase in gamma-ray emission compared to both the background halo and the predicted emission for a velocity-independent cross section. We also calculate the expected signal for Fermi, for reasonable choices of the dark matter parameters. We find that for a cross section proportional to the inverse-square of the relative velocity, the enhancement to the annihilation rate is sufficient to test the velocity dependence of the cross section by spatial correlation with the stellar component of the stream, given sufficient detector sensitivity.Comment: new version revised per referee's comment

Alcohol management plans in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) Australian communities in Queensland: community residents have experienced favourable impacts but also suffered unfavourable ones

Background: In Australia, 'Alcohol Management Plans' (AMPs) provide the policy infrastructure for State and Commonwealth Governments to address problematic alcohol use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. We report community residents' experiences of AMPs in 10 of Queensland's 15 remote Indigenous communities.\ud \ud Methods: This cross-sectional study used a two-stage sampling strategy: N = 1211; 588 (48%) males, 623 (52%) females aged ≥18 years in 10 communities. Seven propositions about 'favourable' impacts and seven about 'unfavourable' impacts were developed from semi-structured interviews. For each proposition, one-sample tests of proportions examined participant agreement and multivariable binary logistic regressions assessed influences of gender, age (18–24, 25–44, 45–64, ≥65 years), residence (≥6 years), current drinking and Indigenous status. Confirmatory factor analyses estimated scale reliability (ρ), item loadings and covariances.\ud \ud Results: Slim majorities agreed that: AMPs reduced violence (53%, p = 0.024); community a better place to live (54%, 0.012); and children were safer (56%, p < 0.001). More agreed that: school attendance improved (66%, p < 0.001); and awareness of alcohol's harms increased (71%, p < 0.001). Participants were equivocal about improved personal safety (53%, p = 0.097) and reduced violence against women (49%, p = 0.362). The seven 'favourable' items reliably summarized participants' experiences of reduced violence and improved community amenity (ρ = 0.90).\ud \ud Stronger agreement was found for six 'unfavourable' items: alcohol availability not reduced (58%, p < 0.001); drinking not reduced (56%, p < 0.001)); cannabis use increased (69%, p < 0.001); more binge drinking (73%, p < 0.001); discrimination experienced (77%, p < 0.001); increased fines, convictions and criminal records for breaching restrictions (90%, p < 0.001). Participants were equivocal (51% agreed, p = 0.365) that police could enforce restrictions effectively. 'Unfavourable' items were not reliably reflected in one group (ρ = 0.48) but in: i) alcohol availability and consumption not reduced and ii) criminalization and discrimination.\ud \ud In logistic regressions, longer-term (≥ 6 years) residents more likely agreed that violence against women had reduced and that personal safety had improved but also that criminalization and binge drinking had increased. Younger people disagreed that their community was a better place to live and strongly agreed about discrimination. Current drinkers' views differed little from the sample overall.\ud \ud Conclusions: The present Government review provides an opportunity to reinforce 'favourable' outcomes while targeting: illicit alcohol, treatment and diversion services and reconciliation of criminalization and discrimination issues.\ud \u