Initial research findings:the typical levels of parental involvement where post-separation parenting is resolved by court order

This case file study explored the typical patterns of parental involvement in post-separation parenting arrangements finalised by court order. It is estimated that 9%–13% of parents resort to court to arrange their post breakdown parenting patterns (A Blackwell and F Dawe, Non-Resident Parental Contact (ONS, 2003), at p 39). We selected five county courts (which we code-named Ambledune, Borgate, Cladford, Dunam and Esseborne), and looked at 197 case files which began as applications for a s 8 order and were recorded as ending in a final order between February and August 2011. The purpose of this selection was not to achieve generalisable results but rather to ensure that we encountered as many of the different types of issues that affect the use of contact and residence orders as possible. As current policy is to divert as many cases as possible away from court it is important to understand how cases that reached court were handled during this period

Role of tephra in dating Polynesian settlement and impact, New Zealand

Tephrochronology in its original sense is the use of tephra layers as time-stratigraphic marker beds to establish numerical or relative ages (Lowe and Hunt, 2001). Tephra layers have been described and studied in New Zealand for more than 160 years (the German naturalist and surgeon Ernst Dieffenbach described ‘recognizable’ tephra sections in his 1843 book Travels in New Zealand), and the first isopach map, showing fallout from the deadly plinian basaltic eruption of Mt Tarawera on 10 June 1886, was published in 1888 (Lowe, 1990; Lowe et al., 2002). More recently, a wide range of tephra-related paleoenvironmental research has been undertaken (e.g., Lowe and Newnham, 1999; Newnham and Lowe, 1999; Newnham et al., 1999, 2004; Shane, 2000), including new advances in the role of tephra in linking and dating sites containing evidence for abrupt climatic change (e.g., Newnham and Lowe, 2000; Newnham et al., 2003). Here we focus on the use of tephrochronology in dating the arrival and impacts of the first humans in New Zealand, a difficult problem for which this technique has proven to be of critical importance

The commercialisation of BDS through an NGO: case study of AKRSP-Pakistan

Book ChapterBased on the theme of how donors can play a more effective role to stimulate effective and sustainable provision of BDS by or through private sector intermediaries, this case study looks at how the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) has sought to encourage the development of markets for Business Development Services (BDS) in the remote areas of northern Pakistan. This paper explores that the isolation of the region, poor infrastructure, small scale of landholdings, and lack of economic development leads to problems when attempting to promote markets for business development services. In the short term, the priority is the development of more basic markets, rather than markets for business development services. Without active markets there are a few opportunities for BDS provision let alone the development of vibrant private sector markets for BDS. It specifies the geographic, economic, political, and institutional context in which the AKRSP’s interventions have been implemented. Grassroots village based initiatives have been discussed, where groups of farmers are facilitated by AKRSP to provide BDS to neighboring farmers (farmers interest groups in Chitral), along with more structured formal approaches such as the more direct provision of BDS through commercial entity associated with AKRSP (North South Seeds). It is argued that both models have a positive impact on MSME performance and lead to market development in the long run. Both are methods through which donors can promote BDS markets but which model is most appropriate depends on the market being served. Where the service offered is relatively simple and the business of the BDS provider is relatively straight-forward, facilitating private sector intermediaries may be the most effective way of creating markets for BDS. However, where the service is complex and there is a need to establish a sophisticated organisation to provide the service, it may be necessary to set up an organisation within the NGO, on commercially sustainable basis if possible, with a view to fully commercialising and ideally privatising the organisation over time

Late Holocene palynology and palaeovegetation of tephra-bearing mires at Papamoa and Waihi Beach, western Bay of Plenty, North Island, New Zealand.

The vegetation history of two mires associated with Holocene dunes near the western Bay of Plenty coast, North Island, New Zealand, is deduced from pollen analysis of two cores. Correlation of airfall tephra layers in the peats, and radiocarbon dates, indicate that the mires at Papamoa and Waihi Beach are c. 4600 and c. 2900 conventional radiocarbon years old, respectively. Tephras used to constrain the chronology of the pollen record include Rotomahana (1886 AD), Kaharoa (700 yr B.P.), Taupo (Unit Y; 1850 yr B.P.), Whakaipo (Unit V; 2700 yr B.P.), Stent (Unit Q; 4000 yr B.P.), Hinemaiaia (Unit K; 4600 yr B.P.), and reworked Whakatane (c. 4800 yr B.P.) at Papamoa, and Kaharoa and Taupo at Waihi Beach. Peat accumulation rates at Papamoa from 4600 - 1850 yr B.P. range from 0.94 to 2.64 mm/yr (mean 1.37 mm/yr). At Waihi Beach, from 2900 yr B.P. - present day, they range from 0.11 to 0.21 mm/yr (mean 0.20 mm/yr). Peat accumulation at both sites was slowest from 1850 to 700 yr B.P., suggesting a drier overall climate during this interval. At both sites, the earliest organic sediments, which are underlain by marine or estuarine sands, yield pollen spectra indicating salt marsh or estuarine environments. Coastal vegetation communities declined at both sites, as sea level gradually fell or the coast prograded, and were eventually superseded by a low moor bog at Papamoa, and a mesotrophic swamp forest at Waihi Beach. These differences, and the marked variation in peat accumulation rates, probably reflect local hydrology and are unlikely to have been climatically controlled. The main regional vegetation during this period was mixed northern conifer-angiosperm forest. Kauri (Agathis australis) formed a minor component of these forests, but populations of this tree have apparently not expanded during the late Holocene at these sites, which are near its present southern limit. Occasional shortlived forest disturbances are detectable in these records, in particular immediately following the deposition of Taupo Tephra. However, evidence for forest clearance during the human era is blurred by the downward dislocation of modern adventi ve pollen at these sites, preventing the clear differentiation of the Polynesian and European eras

Palynology, vegetation and climate of the Waikato lowlands, North Island, New Zealand, since c. 18,000 years ago

The vegetational and climatic history of the Waikato lowlands during the last c. 18,000 years is inferred from the palynology of sediment cores from Lakes Rotomanuka, Rotokauri, and Okoroire. Intra- and inter-lake correlations were aided by multiple tephra layers interbedded with the lake sediments. The detailed chronological resolution given by these tephra sequences shows that late glacial-post glacial vegetational and climatic changes were nearly simultaneous throughout the Waikato lowlands

Stratigraphy and chronology of a 15ka sequence of multi-sourced silicic tephras in a montane peat bog, eastern North Island, New Zealand.

We document the stratigraphy, composition, and chronology of a succession of 16 distal, silicic tephra layers interbedded with lateglacial and Holocene peats and muds up to c. 15 000 radiocarbon years (c. 18 000 calendar years) old at a montane site (Kaipo Bog) in eastern North Island, New Zealand. Aged from 665 +/- 15 to 14 700 +/- 95 14C yr BP, the tephras are derived from six volcanic centres in North Island, three of which are rhyolitic (Okataina, Taupo, Maroa), one peralkaline (Tuhua), and two andesitic (Tongariro, Egmont). Correlations are based on multiple criteria: field properties and stratigraphic interrelationships, ferromagnesian silicate mineral assemblages, glass-shard major element composition (from electron microprobe analysis), and radiocarbon dating. We extend the known distribution of tephras in eastern North Island and provide compositional data that add to their potential usefulness as isochronous markers. The chronostratigraphic framework established for the Kaipo sequence, based on both site-specific and independently derived tephra-based radiocarbon ages, provides the basis for fine-resolution paleoenvironmental studies at a climatically sensitive terrestrial site from the mid latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. Tephras identified as especially useful paleoenvironmental markers include Rerewhakaaitu and Waiohau (lateglacial), Konini (lateglacial-early Holocene), Tuhua (middle Holocene), and Taupo and Kaharoa (late Holocene)

Development and evaluation of a pilot program to reduce stigma of mental illness among rural adolescents

Two forms of stigma – social and self – represent barriers to receiving professional help for rural Australian adolescents with mental health issues. Characteristics of rural communities such as self-reliance, social proximity and social exclusion are thought to compound experiences of stigma, creating a fear of seeking professional help. The aim of this project was to design and evaluate a stigma reduction program for rural secondary school students. A two-stage quasi-experimental research design was developed. Study 1 involved working collaboratively with seven students from a rural secondary school to develop a population specific program. The curriculum development process was evaluated and the final form of the intervention documented. Study 2 involved delivering and evaluating the intervention within the same secondary school. The aim of Study 2 was to decrease adolescents‟ stigma of mental illness, as measured by social and self stigmatic attitudes, desired social distance, and help-seeking intentions. The treatment group comprised students from year 7, 8, 9, and 12, and the control comprised a delayed treatment group of comparable students from these year levels. After accounting for attrition, the treatment group comprised 31 (16 females) participants, and the delayed treatment group 36 participants (16 females). Measures of stigmatic attitudes, desired social distance and help-seeking intentions were taken at pre-, post-, and 12-week follow-up. The intervention comprised two sessions each of 90 minutes spaced one week apart. Focus-group discussions held post-intervention expanded evaluations of the program; and suggested areas for improvement. The first hypothesis, that prior to intervention, adolescent boys would have significantly higher social stigma, self stigma, desired social distance from those with mental illness, and perceived barriers to seeking help than females, was supported. The second hypothesis, that participants in the treatment group would report lower social- and self-stigma, desired social distance, and fewer perceived barriers to seeking help post-intervention than pre-intervention and compared to the control group was supported in part. The third hypothesis, that reductions in social stigma, self stigma, desired social distance, and barriers to seeking help would be maintained at follow-up also received mixed support. Qualitative data confirmed that student attitudes towards those with mental health issues improved slightly; however, it also indicated that more change was possible and provided direction for future programs. Results have implications for anti-stigma campaign development and implementation. Suggestions for developing more effective anti-stigma programs that will help to lift the burden of stigma and to increase help-seeking behaviours for rural youth are discussed.Doctor of Psycholog

Product Launch in a Declining Environment: The Blu-ray Disc – Opportunities and Struggle

Increasingly ICT-based virtual products are challenging physical products and markets. Obsolescence has become a real effect for an augmented number of established industries due to the facilitation of access, consumption, and permanent, immediate availability, which dematerialised products provide. Once again, Schumpeter’s Wind of Creative Destruction intensifies organisations’ permanent struggle for survival (1950). This paper presents long-term research in the optical disc industry, which has presented the optical disc format of Blu-ray as its latest innovation. It is an example of how an established industry launches a new product for finding new opportunities, but fights desperately against market resistance. The degree of innovation, the Blu-ray represents, may not be sufficient in the overarching battle of the physical place versus the virtual space (Kotler et al. 2002, Lam. 2004, Lamont et al. 1993, Scardigli et al. 1988). As the US market research institute In-Stat highlights, the optical disc market has declined for the 10th year in sequence (Kaufhold. 2010, IFPI. 2010). Sufficient evidence is available that the replication industry of optical discs may be confronted with an endgame scenario. The market climate may already be too hostile to support this industry’s desire for a renewal of consumers’ acceptance of the physical product, here the Blu-ray disc, and to create new market opportunities in the struggle against the industry’s potential obsolescence (Harrigan et al. 1983). Despite strong efforts of promotion and powerful market approaches, the Blu-ray disc could not find inroads to markets yet making this format sustainably successful. Evidence is that after a short period of time, Blu-ray discs’ available manufacturing capacities outperform consumers’ demand by >30%, consumer and replication prices fall sharply and many of the Home Entertainment’s content providers have little or no use for this format being a commodity and based on mass production (dvd-intelligence. 2010a, Kaufhold. 2010, Killer-Korff. 2010). Therefore, as research among the replication industry indicates, it presently seems more as though the Blu-ray format may not fulfil this industry’s needs and, with reference to Abernathy et al.’s research, may not lead to the renewal of industrial dynamics in a declining marketplace (1983, 1984). Further explanation for reasons can be found in the theories of innovation based on Utterback’s, Christensen’s and Christensen et al.’s studies of disruptive and discontinuous innovation (1996, 2003, 2003, 2004). Following the paper presented at the Sixteenth Annual South Dakota International Business Conference, this paper presents research about the Blu-ray format’s market problems. The introduction of the Transilience Organisation Innovation Map provided a conceptual approach for the initial explanation of the underlying reasons (Oestreicher. 2009). Research among European replication firms since concludes for Blu-ray that innovation in technology alone is not sufficient, when innovation’s second stream of market linkages is involved (Abernathy et al. 1983, 1984). The paper presents explanations, why the Blu-ray disc may not be sufficiently strong to support the replication industry in overcoming the odds impacting their strategic opportunities in a declining and eventually disruptive environment (Lamont et al. 1993, Yoo. 1992). The research methods applied are grounded theory and case study (Goulding. 2002, Charmaz. 2009, Eisenhardt. 1989, Davies. 2006). The overall intention of this long-term research is to contribute to a theory, which may also be relevant for other industries, like the publishing industry, whose struggle against dematerialisation of content is presently starting (Picard. 2003). Key Words: Radical vs. marginal innovation, Ideal Final Result, endgame strategies, theories of innovation, Blu-ra

When is a teacher or school liable in negligence?

The law is increasing affecting the practice of education. The most likely reason a teacher or school will face legal action is in negligence where a student has been injured while under the school’s protection. This may occur in a variety of settings. To satisfy the elements of the tort of negligence the student who becomes in law the plaintiff must prove that a duty of care was owed, that the duty was breached, by not maintaining the appropriate standard and that the injury was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of that breach of duty. It would be rare for a teacher to face criminal charges but it could happen if a teacher had an intention to harm or acted recklessly