Information literacy: conceptions, context and the formation of a discipline

In this article the authors argue that progress in the development of information literacy (IL) has been hindered by tendencies such as: denying that information literacy is even a subject, paying exclusive attention to forces outside the discipline and forming information literacy silos. The authors start by reflecting on formative developments in information literacy outside North America in the late 1990s-early 2000s, and noting that IL has not evolved from that period as much as one might expect. They identify hindrances to information literacy’s formation as a discipline, and relate their discussion to changing notions of disciplinarity. The authors present ‘Information Literacy in the lifecourse’ as an example focus which could stimulate engagement from researchers and practitioners who are currently situated in different information literacy silos. They conclude that taking a disciplinary and lifecourse approach to information literacy would open up opportunities for working in a collegiate way, both within the information literacy community and with those outside it, and provide a more robust foundation for influencing policy

Myths about HIV and AIDS among serodiscordant couples in Malawi

Purpose: The paper reports on research that uncovered myths about HIV and AIDS held by serodiscordant couples in Malawi, and the sources of these myths. The paper reflects on how the myths affect serodiscordant couples’ engagement with HIV and AIDS information. Design Van Manen's (1997) approach to analysis of phenomenological data is used to analyse data from indepth interviews conducted in Malawi with 21 serodiscordant couples and 3 individuals who had separated from their partners because of serodiscordance. Findings Serodiscordant couples in Malawi believe and hold on to some inaccurate HIV and AIDS information that can be seen as ‘myths’. Some of these myths are perpetuated by official HIV and AIDS information when it is translated into the local languages. Other myths derive from social norms of the societies where the couples live. Practical implications: The findings of this paper have practical implications for how HIV and AIDS information providers should engage with target audiences to understand the origins of the myths they hold. The findings also imply that some myths have technical, religious, moral and cultural bases which need to be addressed before challenging the myth itself. Originality/Value: Using real-life descriptions of experiences of HIV and AIDS information provided by serodiscordant couples, the authors reveal how myths can affect engagement with the information. The authors make recommendations on how to address myths in ways that contribute to a positive experience of HIV and AIDS information by serodiscordant couple

Myths about HIV and AIDS among serodiscordant couples in Malawi

Purpose: The paper reports on research that uncovered myths about HIV and AIDS held by serodiscordant couples in Malawi, and the sources of these myths. The paper reflects on how the myths affect serodiscordant couples’ engagement with HIV and AIDS information. Design Van Manen's (1997) approach to analysis of phenomenological data is used to analyse data from indepth interviews conducted in Malawi with 21 serodiscordant couples and 3 individuals who had separated from their partners because of serodiscordance. Findings Serodiscordant couples in Malawi believe and hold on to some inaccurate HIV and AIDS information that can be seen as ‘myths’. Some of these myths are perpetuated by official HIV and AIDS information when it is translated into the local languages. Other myths derive from social norms of the societies where the couples live. Practical implications: The findings of this paper have practical implications for how HIV and AIDS information providers should engage with target audiences to understand the origins of the myths they hold. The findings also imply that some myths have technical, religious, moral and cultural bases which need to be addressed before challenging the myth itself. Originality/Value: Using real-life descriptions of experiences of HIV and AIDS information provided by serodiscordant couples, the authors reveal how myths can affect engagement with the information. The authors make recommendations on how to address myths in ways that contribute to a positive experience of HIV and AIDS information by serodiscordant couple

Reflections on Running a critLIS Reading Group

In this chapter we offer our reflections, developed through a collaborative autoethnography, on our experience of running a face-to-face Critical Librarianship and Information Studies (critLIS) reading group in an Information School (iSchool) in the United Kingdom (UK)

Discrimination, labour markets and the Labour Market Prospects of Older Workers: What Can a Legal Case Teach us?

As governments become increasingly concerned about the fiscal implications of the ageing population, labour market policies have sought to encourage mature workers to remain in the labour force. The ‘human capital’ discourses motivating these policies rest on the assumption that older workers armed with motivation and vocational skills will be able to return to fulfilling work. This paper uses the post-redundancy recruitment experiences of former Ansett Airlines flight attendants to develop a critique of these expectations. It suggests that policies to increase older workers’ labour market participation will not succeed while persistent socially constructed age- and gender- typing shape labour demand. The conclusion argues for policies sensitive to the institutional structures that shape employer preferences, the competitive rationality of discriminatory practices, and the irresolvable tension between workers’ human rights and employers’ property rights

Implementing the LPM effect in a parton cascade model

Parton Cascade Models (PCM), which describe the full time-evolution of a system of quarks and gluons using pQCD interactions are ideally suited for the description of jet production, including the emission, evolution and energy-loss of the full parton shower in a hot and dense QCD medium. The Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal (LPM) effect, the quantum interference of parton wave functions due to repeated scatterings against the background medium, is likely the dominant in-medium effect affecting jet suppression. We have implemented a probabilistic implementation of the LPM effect within the PCM which can be validated against previously derived analytical calculations by Baier et al (BDMPS-Z). Presented at the 6th International Conference on Physics and Astrophysics of Quark Gluon Plasma (ICPAQGP 2010).Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. A proceeding of ICPAGQP 201

A new direction for tackling phosphorus inefficiency in the UK food system

Publication history: Accepted - 3 April 2022; Published online - 25 April 2022The UK food system is reliant on imported phosphorus (P) to meet food production demand, though inefficient use and poor stewardship means P is currently accumulating in agricultural soils, wasted or lost with detrimental impacts on aquatic environments. This study presents the results of a detailed P Substance Flow Analysis for the UK food system in 2018, developed in collaboration with industry and government, with the key objective of highlighting priority areas for system interventions to improve the sustainability and resilience of P use in the UK food system. In 2018 the UK food system imported 174.6 Gg P, producing food and exportable commodities containing 74.3 Gg P, a P efficiency of only 43%. Three key system hotspots for P inefficiency were identified: Agricultural soil surplus and accumulation (89.2 Gg P), loss to aquatic environments (26.2 Gg P), and waste disposal to landfill and construction (21.8 Gg P). Greatest soil P accumulation occurred in grassland agriculture (85% of total accumulation), driven by loadings of livestock manures. Waste water treatment (12.5 Gg P) and agriculture (8.38 Gg P) account for most P lost to water, and incineration ashes from food system waste (20.3 Gg P) accounted for nearly all P lost to landfill and construction. New strategies and policy to improve the handling and recovery of P from manures, biosolids and food system waste are therefore necessary to improve system P efficiency and reduce P accumulation and losses, though critically, only if they effectively replace imported mineral P fertilisers.This paper was produced as part of the RePhoKUs project (The role of phosphorus in the sustainability and resilience of the UK food system) funded by BBSRC, ESRC, NERC, and the Scottish Government under the UK Global Food Security research programme (Grant No. BB/R005842/1)

Association of community engagement with vaccination confidence and uptake: A cross-sectional survey in Sierra Leone, 2019

Background The 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic disrupted childhood immunization in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. After the epidemic, the Government of Sierra Leone prioritized community engagement to increase vaccination confidence and uptake. To support these efforts, we examined potential drivers of vaccination confidence and uptake in Sierra Leone. Methods We conducted a population-based household survey with primary caregivers of children in a birth cohort of 12 to 23 months in four districts with low vaccination coverage in Sierra Leone in 2019. Modified Poisson regression modeling with robust variance estimation was used to examine if perceived community engagement in planning the immunization program in the community was associated with vaccination confidence and having a fully vaccinated child. Results The sample comprised 621 age-eligible children and their caregivers (91% response rate). Half of the caregivers (52%) reported that it usually takes too long to get to the vaccination site, and 36% perceived that health workers expect money for vaccination services that are supposed to be given at no charge. When mothers were the decision-makers of the children’s vaccination, 80% of the children were fully vaccinated versus 69% when fathers were the decision-makers and 56% when other relatives were the decision-makers. Caregivers with high confidence in vaccination were more likely to have fully vaccinated children compared to caregivers with low confidence (78% versus 53%). For example, caregivers who thought vaccines are ‘very much’ safe were more likely to have fully vaccinated children than those who thought vaccines are ‘somewhat’ safe (76% versus 48%). Overall, 53% of caregivers perceived high level of community engagement, 41% perceived medium level of engagement, and 6% perceived low level of engagement. Perceiving high community engagement was associated with expressing high vaccination confidence (adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) = 2.60; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.67-4.04) and having a fully vaccinated child (aPR = 1.67; 95% CI = 1.18-2.38). Conclusions In these four low coverage districts in Sierra Leone, the perceived level of community engagement was strongly associated with vaccination confidence among caregivers and vaccination uptake among children. We have provided exploratory cross-sectional evidence to inform future longitudinal assessments to further investigate the potential causal effect of community engagement on vaccination confidence and uptake

Measurement of the open-charm contribution to the diffractive proton structure function

Production of D*+/-(2010) mesons in diffractive deep inelastic scattering has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 82 pb^{-1}. Diffractive events were identified by the presence of a large rapidity gap in the final state. Differential cross sections have been measured in the kinematic region 1.5 < Q^2 < 200 GeV^2, 0.02 < y < 0.7, x_{IP} < 0.035, beta 1.5 GeV and |\eta(D*+/-)| < 1.5. The measured cross sections are compared to theoretical predictions. The results are presented in terms of the open-charm contribution to the diffractive proton structure function. The data demonstrate a strong sensitivity to the diffractive parton densities.Comment: 35 pages, 11 figures, 6 table