Confidence in the police : balancing public image with community safety : a comparative review of the literature

Examining the evolution of British and Australian policing, this comparative review of the literature considers the historical underpinnings of policing in these two countries and the impact of community legitimacy derived from the early concepts of policing by consent. Using the August 2011 disorder in Britain as a lens, this paper considers whether, in striving to maintain community confidence, undue emphasis is placed on the police's public image at the expense of community safety. Examining the path of policing reform, the impact of bureaucracy on policing and the evolving debate surrounding police performance, this review suggests that, while largely delivering on the ideal of an ethical and strong police force, a preoccupation with self-image may in fact result in tarnishing the very thing British and Australian police forces strive to achieve – their standing with the public. This paper advocates for a more realistic goal of gaining public respect rather than affection in order to achieve the difficult balance between maintaining trust and respect as an approachable, ethical entity providing firm, confident policing in this ever-evolving, modern society.

The benefit of modeling jumps in realized volatility for risk prediction : evidence from Chinese mainland stocks

Recent literature has focused on realized volatility models to predict financial risk. This paper studies the benefit of explicitly modeling jumps in this class of models for value at risk (VaR) prediction. Several popular realized volatility models are compared in terms of their VaR forecasting performances through a Monte Carlo study and an analysis based on empirical data of eight Chinese stocks. The results suggest that careful modeling of jumps in realized volatility models can largely improve VaR prediction, especially for emerging markets where jumps play a stronger role than those in developed markets.

Memory : (Re)imagining the past through children's literature

There has been a renewal of interest in memory studies in recent years, particularly in the Western world. This chapter considers aspects of personal memory followed by the concept of cultural memory. It then examines how the Australian cultural memory of the Anzac Legend is represented in a number of recent picture books.

Exploring Indigenous representations in Australian film and literature for the Australian Curriculum

The Australian Curriculum: English, v.5 (ACARA, 2013) now being implemented in Queensland asks teachers and curriculum designers to incorporate the cross curriculum priority (CCP)of Indigenous issues through Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures. In the Australian Curriculum English, (AC:E) one way to address this CCP is by including texts by and about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. With the rise of promising and accomplished young, Indigenous filmmakers such as Ivan Sen, Rachael Perkins, Wayne Blair and Warwick Thornton, this guide focuses on the suitable films for schools implementing the Australian Curriculum in terms of cultural representations. This annotated guide suggests some films suitable for inclusion in classroom study and suggests some companion texts (novels, plays, television series and animations, documentaries, poetry and short stories) that may be studied alongside the films. Some of these are by Indigenous filmmakers and writers, and others features Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island representations in character and/or themes.

Trees along our travelling tracks

This creative non-fiction piece of writing speaks to the ‘tree’ themed edition of the About Place Journal. It begins with…“This tree stands steadfast along my inland travelling track, near the town of Mundubbera on the land of the Wakka Wakka people. It is in the region called North Burnett. When we travel, we follow the river systems and look out for distinct markers in the landscape. We acknowledge the lands of others as we move down to Booburrgan Ngmmunge (the language term used by many Aboriginal people to describe the Bunya Mountains) and beyond”. The piece includes photograph images also taken by the author.

Attitudes of future special education teachers toward gifted students and their education

Saudi Arabian education is undergoing substantial reform in the context of a nation transitioning from a resource-rich economy to a knowledge economy. Gifted students are important human resources for such developing countries. However, there are some concerns emanating from the international literature that gifted students have been neglected in many schools due to teachers’ attitudes toward them. The literature shows that future teachers also hold similar negative attitudes, especially those in Special Education courses who, as practicing teachers, are often responsible for supporting the gifted education process. The purpose of this study was to explore whether these attitudes are held by future special education teachers in Saudi Arabia, and how the standard gifted education course, delivered as part of their program, impacts on their attitudes toward gifted students. The study was strongly influenced by the Theory of Reasoned Action (Ajzen, 1980, 2012) and the Theory of Personal Knowledge (Polanyi, 1966), which both suggest that attitudes are related to people’s (i.e. teachers’) beliefs. A mixed methods design was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from a cohort of students enrolled in a teacher education program at a Saudi Arabian university. The program was designed for students majoring in special education. The quantitative component of the study involved an investigation of a cohort of future special education teachers taking a semester-long course in gifted education. The data were primarily sourced from a standard questionnaire instrument modified in the Arabic language, and supplemented with questions that probed the future teachers’ attitudes toward gifted children. The participants, 90 special education future teachers, were enrolled in an introductory course about gifted education. The questionnaire contained 34 items from the "Opinions about the Gifted and Their Education" (Gagné, 1991) questionnaire, utilising a five-point Likert scale. The quantitative data were analysed through the use of descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation Coefficients, Paired Samples t-test, and Multiple Linear Regression. The qualitative component focussed on eight participants enrolled in the gifted education course. The primary source of the qualitative data was informed by individual semi-structured interviews with each of these participants. The findings, based on both the quantitative and qualitative data, indicated that the majority of future special education teachers held, overall, slightly positive attitudes toward gifted students and their education. However, the participants were resistant to offering special services for the gifted within the regular classroom, even when a comparison was made on equity grounds with disabled students. While the participants held ambivalent attitudes toward ability grouping, their attitudes were positive toward grade acceleration. Further, the majority agreed that gifted students are likely to be rejected by their teachers. Despite such judgments, they considered the gifted to be a valuable resource for Saudi society. Differences within the cohort were found when two variables emerged as potential predictors of attitude: age, experience, and participants’ hometown. The younger (under 25 years old) future special education teachers, with no internship or school practice experience, held more positive attitudes toward the gifted students, with respect to their general needs, than did the older participants with previous school experiences. Additionally, participants from a rural region were more resistant toward gifted education than future teachers from urban areas. The findings also indicated that the attitudes of most of the participants were significantly improved, as a result of the course, toward ability grouping such as special classes and schools, but remained highly concerned about differentiation within regular classrooms with either elitism or time pressure. From the findings, it can be confirmed that a lectured-based course can serve as a starting point from which to focus future teachers’ attention on the varied needs of the gifted, and as a conduit for learning about special services for the gifted. However, by itself, the course appears to have minimal influence on attitudes toward differentiation. As a consequence, there is merit in its redevelopment, and the incorporation of more practical opportunities for future teachers to experience the teaching of the gifted.

Research students' early experiences of the dissertation literature review

The phenomenon of a dissertation literature review is explored from a "second-order" perspective. Written responses from 41 neophyte research scholars from various disciplines in an Australian university were gathered in response to two questions: "What do you mean when you use the words "literature review"?" and "What is the meaning of a literature review for your research?" A phenomenographic analysis identified six conceptions, or ways of experiencing, literature reviews: literature review as a list, literature review as a search, literature review as a survey, literature review as a vehicle for learning, literature review as a research facilitator, and literature review as a report. The conceptions represent differing relations between student researchers and the literature. The range of conceptions suggests that the supervisors of postgraduates and other teachers interested in the literature review process need to accept literature reviews as a problem area for students and develop strategies to help them.

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in Far North Queensland, Australia, 2004 to 2010 : midwives’ perinatal data most accurate source

Objectives: This study examines the accuracy of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) case-ascertainment in routinely collected data. Methods: Retrospective cohort study analysed routinely collected data from all births at Cairns Base Hospital, Australia, from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2010 in the Cairns Base Hospital Clinical Coding system (CBHCC) and the Queensland Perinatal Data Collection (QPDC). GDM case ascertainment in the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) and Cairns Diabetes Centre (CDC) data were compared. Results: From 2004 to 2010, the specificity of GDM case-ascertainment in the QPDC was 99%. In 2010, only 2 of 225 additional cases were identified from the CDC and CBHCC, suggesting QPDC sensitivity is also over 99%. In comparison, the sensitivity of the CBHCC data was 80% during 2004–2010. The sensitivity of CDC data was 74% in 2010. During 2010, 223 births were coded as GDM in the QPDC, and the NDSS registered 247 women with GDM from the same postcodes, suggesting reasonable uptake on the NDSS register. However, the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women was lower than expected. Conclusion: The accuracy of GDM case ascertainment in the QPDC appears high, with lower accuracy in routinely collected hospital and local health service data. This limits capacity of local data for planning and evaluation, and developing structured systems to improve post-pregnancy care, and may underestimate resources required. Implications: Data linkage should be considered to improve accuracy of routinely collected local health service data. The accuracy of the NDSS for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women requires further evaluation.

Late Quaternary vegetation history of North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, eastern Australia

Currently there is a paucity of records of late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental variability available from the subtropics of Australia. The three continuous palaeoecological records presented here, from North Stradbroke Island, subtropical Queensland, assist in bridging this large spatial gap in the current state of knowledge. The dominance of arboreal taxa in the pollen records throughout the past >40,000 years is in contrast with the majority of records from temperate Australia, and indicates a positive moisture balance for North Stradbroke Island. The charcoal records show considerable inter-site variability indicating the importance of local-scale events on individual records, and highlighting the caution that needs to be applied when interpreting a single site as a regional record. The variability in the burning regimes is interpreted as being influenced by both climatic and human factors. Despite this inter-site variability, broad environmental trends are identifiable, with changes in the three records comparable with the OZ-INTIMATE climate synthesis for the last 35,000 years.

An Arabic instrument to measure medication adherence in Saudi hypertensive patients

Aim: To show the validity and reliability of the translated Hill-Bone scale on 110 hypertensive participants from an Arabic speaking country. Background: With the wide spread availability of treatment, individuals with hypertension have reported various levels of adherence to their medications. Flexible and practical methods of measuring adherence are the use of surveys, scales and interviews. There is a scarcity in Arabic tools and scales that measure levels of adherence to antihypertensive treatments in the Arabic speaking context. Design and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 110 individuals diagnosed with hypertension and from an Arabic speaking country. The Hill-Bone scale includes three subscales that measure salt intake, medication adherence and appointment keeping. Given the focus on the pharmacological management of hypertensive patients, only items related to medication adherence and appointment keeping subscales were used. The scale was translated by following a comprehensive and accepted method of translation. Results: Instrument reliability was tested by identifying the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The subscale for medication adherence in the Hill-Bone scale reported an acceptable level of reliability (Cronbach’s alpha =0.76). Compared with other translated versions of the Hill-Bone scale, the scale also reported good reliability and validity. Conclusion: Results indicate that the Arabic translated version of the Hill-Bone scale has an acceptable level of reliability and validity and therefore can be used in Arabic speaking populations.

Canon fodder : young adult literature as a tool for critiquing canonicity

Young adult literature is a tool of socialisation and acculturation for young readers. This extends to endowing ‘reading’ with particular significance in terms of what literature should be read and why. This paper considers some recent young adult fiction with an eye to its engagement with canonical literature and its representations of young people reading. Wider possibilities of using such novels in secondary English classes are discussed, particularly in the context of critiquing literary canons and the social hierarchies they are used to legitimate.

The spectroscopic characterization of the sulphate mineral ettringite from Kuruman manganese deposits, South Africa

The mineral ettringite has been studied using a number of techniques, including XRD, SEM with EDX, thermogravimetry and vibrational spectroscopy. The mineral proved to be composed of 53% of ettringite and 47% of thaumasite in a solid solution. Thermogravimetry shows a mass loss of 46.2% up to 1000 °C. Raman spectroscopy identifies multiple sulphate symmetric stretching modes in line with the three sulphate crystallographically different sites. Raman spectroscopy also identifies a band at 1072 cm−1 attributed to a carbonate symmetric stretching mode, confirming the presence of thaumasite. The observation of multiple bands in the ν4 spectral region between 700 and 550 cm−1 offers evidence for the reduction in symmetry of the sulphate anion from Td to C2v or even lower symmetry. The Raman band at 3629 cm−1 is assigned to the OH unit stretching vibration and the broad feature at around 3487 cm−1 to water stretching bands. Vibrational spectroscopy enables an assessment of the molecular structure of natural ettringite to be made.

Transitions in taste in Vietnam and the diaspora

This paper argues that food and styles of eating have become the predominant markers of social change for the Vietnamese in both Vietnam and in the diaspora. In post-socialist Vietnam the transition to a market economy has allowed for a huge growth in the number of restaurants and cafes, and in the north, a return to an earlier style of cooking. The intense interest and emphasis on food as embodied pleasure has meant that it has come to stand for the transition away from a heavily state-controlled economy. The new configurations of family and friendship are being framed by newly available ways of ‘eating out’, which are both a means of social display and distinction as well as an indicator of the tensions between reform and festivity within an authoritarian nation-state struggling to define itself in a globalising world. At the same time as food in Vietnam is undergoing rapid transformation so too has the Vietnamese diaspora enerationally changed its eating patterns. Although there as been a focus in the literature on food in the diaspora that emphasises the nostalgic and recuperative elements of ‘migrant food’, I argue that food is the prime mechanism of intercultural engagement for each diasporic generation. For older Vietnamese, Vietnamese restaurants and barbecues have been the sites of interplay between cultural tradition’ and innovation, and between Australianness and Vietnameseness, and these interstitial places continue to be important for younger Vietnamese. Within this established framework of cross-cultural interaction, for Vietnamese youth, the social settings of ‘ethnic food’, eaten at home and shared with family, have been grafted onto a sociality of eating fast food. This melding together of both invention and convention, of transgression and ordinariness provides the background against which young people from migrant backgrounds are reinvigorating the social spaces of food consumption and in the process both e-enchanting and destabilising the notion of migrant food.

Loneliness, social anxiety and bullying victimization in young people : a literature review

Loneliness is a distressing, complex, universal phenomena. This review focuses on loneliness in children and adolescents, specifically examining research on the relationship between young people’s social anxiety and loneliness and the role of bullying victimization and loneliness. The three concepts are distinct, yet inextricably intertwined as antecedents and consequences of each other. The constructs are bi-directional, often forming a feedback loop or negative cycle. Implications for interventions are addressed.

Quality assessment of service bundles for governmental one-stop portals : a literature review

Service bundles, in the context of e-government, are used to group services together that relate to a certain citizen need. These bundles can then be presented on a governmental one-stop portal to structure the available service offerings according to citizen expectations. In order to ensure that citizens utilise the one-stop portal and comprised service bundles for future transactions, the quality of these service bundles needs to be managed and maximised accordingly. Consequently, models and tools that focus on assessing service bundle quality play an important role, when it comes to increasing or retaining usage behaviour of citizens. This study focuses on providing a rigorous and structured literature review of e-government outlets with regards to their coverage of service bundle quality and e-service quality themes. The study contributes to academia and practice by providing a framework that allows structuring and classifying existing studies relevant for the assessment of quality for government portals. Furthermore, this study provides insights into the status quo of quality models that can be used by governments to assess the quality of their service bundles. Directions for future research and limitations of the present study are provided as well.