Shifting the child protection juggernaut to earlier intervention

"For every complex problem there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong (M.L. Mencken, US writer and social commentator). Nowhere is this quote more apt than when applied to finding over-simplified solutions to the complex problem of looking after the safety and well-being of vulnerable children. The easiest formula is, of course, to ‘rescue children from dysfunctional families’, a line taken recently in the monograph by the right wing think tank, Centre for Independent Studies (Sammut & O’Brien 2009). It is reasoning with fatal flaws. This commentary provides a timely reminder of the strong arguments which lie behind the national and international shift to supporting children and families through universal and specialist community-based services, rather than weighting all resources into statutory child protection interventions. A brief outline of the value of developing the resources to support children in their families, and the problems with 'rescuing' children through the child protection system are discussed.

Patterns of reporting to child protection services in Canada by healthcare and nonhealthcare professionals

Background: All Canadian jurisdictions require certain professionals to report suspected or observed child maltreatment. This study examined the types of maltreatment, level of harm and child functioning issues, controlling for family socioeconomic status, age and gender of the child reported by healthcare and non-healthcare professionals. Methods: We conducted chi-square analyses and logistic regression on a national child welfare sample from the 2003 Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS-2003) and compared the differences in professional reporting with its previous cycle (CIS-1998) using Bonferroni-corrected confidence intervals. Results: Our analysis of CIS-2003 data revealed that the majority of substantiated child maltreatment is reported to service agencies by non-healthcare professionals (57%), followed by non-professionals (33%) and healthcare professionals (10%). The number of professional reports increased 2.5 times between CIS-1998 and CIS-2003, while non-professionals’ increased 1.7 times. Of the total investigations, professional reports represented 59% in CIS-1998 and 67% in CIS-2003 (p<0.001). Compared to non-healthcare professionals, healthcare professionals more often reported younger children, children who experienced neglect and emotional maltreatment and those assessed as suffering harm and child functioning issues, but less often exposure to domestic violence. Conclusion: The results indicate that healthcare professionals played an important role in identifying children in need of protection considering harm and other child functioning issues. The authors discuss the reasons why underreporting is likely to remain an issue.

Why creative industries matter to economic evolution

This paper proposes that the 'creative industries'(CIs) play an important yet widely unexamined function in economic evolution through their role in the innovation process. This occurs in terms of the facilitation of demand for novelty, the provision and development of social technologies for producer-consumer interactions, and the adoption and embedding of new technologies as institutions. The incorporation of CIs into the Schumpeterian model of economic evolution thus fills a notable gap in the social technologies of the origination, adoption and retention of innovation.

Дизайнът на взаимодействията, масовата комуникация и предизвикателствата на споделеното експертно знание (Interaction Design, Mass Communication And the Challenge of Distributed Expertise)

This paper considers some of the implications of the rise of design as a master-metaphor of the information age. It compares the terms 'interaction design' and 'mass communication', suggesting that both can be seen as a contradiction in terms, inappropriately preserving an industrial-age division between producers and consumers. With the shift from mass media to interactive media, semiotic and political power seems to be shifting too - from media producers to designers. This paper argues that it is important for the new discipline of 'interactive design' not to fall into habits of thought inherited from the 'mass' industrial era. Instead it argues for the significance, for designers and producers alike, of what I call 'distributed expertise' -including social network markets, a DIY-culture, user-led innovation, consumer co-created content, and the use of Web 2.0 affordances for social, scientific and creative purposes as well as for entertainment. It considers the importance of the growth of 'distributed expertise' as part of a new paradigm in the growth of knowledge, which has 'evolved' through a number of phases, from 'abstraction' to 'representation', to 'productivity'. In the context of technologically mediated popular participation in the growth of knowledge and social relationships, the paper argues that design and media-production professions need to cross rather than to maintain the gap between experts and everyone else, enabling all the agents in the system to navigate the shift into the paradigm of mass productivity.

Providing youth with skills, training and employment opportunities through ICT Initiatives

Youth population is increasing explosively particularly in developing countries as a result of rapid urbanization. This increase is bringing large number of social and economic problems. For instance the impacts of job and training availability, and the physical, social and cultural quality of urban environment on young people are enormous, and affect their health, lifestyles, and well-being (Gleeson and Sipe 2006). Besides this, globalization and technological developments are affecting youth in urban areas in all parts of the world, both positively and negatively (Robertson 1995). The rapidly advancing information and communications technologies (ICTs) helps in addressing social and economic problems caused by the rapid growth of urban youth populations in developing countries. ICTs offer opportunities to young people for learning, skill development and employment. But there are downsides: young people in many developing countries lack of having broad access to these new technologies, they are vulnerable to global market changes, and ICTs link them into global cultures which promote consumer goods, potentially eroding local cultures and community values (Manacorda and Petrongolo 1999). However we believe that the positives outweigh such negatives. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the world’s young population number more than they ever have. There are over a billion young people between the ages of 15 and 24, which 85 per cent of them live in developing countries and mainly in urban environments. Many of these young people are in the process of making, or have already made, the transition from school to work. During the last two decades all around the world, these young people, as new workers, have faced a number of challenges associated with globalization and technological advances on labour markets (United Nations 2004). The continuous decrease in the manufacturing employment is made many of the young people facing three options: getting jobs in the informal economy with insecurity and poor wages and working conditions, or getting jobs in the low-tier service industries, or developing their vocational skills to benefit from new opportunities in the professional and advanced technical/knowledge sectors. Moreover in developing countries a large portion of young people are not even lucky enough to choose among any of these options, and consequently facing long-term unemployment, which makes them highly vulnerable. The United Nations’ World Youth Employment report (2004) indicates that in almost all countries, females tend to be far more vulnerable than males in terms of long-term unemployment, and young people who have advanced qualifications are far less likely to experience long-term unemployment than others. In the limited opportunities of the formal labour market, those with limited vocational skills resort to forced entrepreneurship and selfemployment in the informal economy, often working for low pay under hazardous conditions, with only few prospects for the future (United Nations 2005a). The International Labour Organization’s research (2004) revealed that the labour force participation rates for young people decreased by almost four per cent (which is equivalent of 88 million young people) between 1993 and 2003. This is largely as a result of the increased number of young people attending school, high overall unemployment rates, and the fact that some young people gave up any hope of finding work and dropped out of the labour market. At the regional level, youth unemployment was highest in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) (25.6%) and sub-Saharan Africa (21%) and lowest in East Asia (7%) and the industrialized economies(13.4%) (International Labour Organization 2004). The youth in economically disadvantaged regions (e.g. the MENA region) face many challenges in education and training that delivers them the right set of skills and knowledge demanded by the labour market. As a consequence, the transition from school to work is mostly unsuccessful and young population end up either unemployed or underemployed in the informal sectors (United Nations 2005b). Unemployment and lack of economic prospects of the urban youth are pushing many of them into criminal acts, excessive alcohol use, substance addiction, and also in many cases resulting in processes of social or political violence (Fernandez-Maldonado 2004; United Nations 2005a). Long-term unemployment leads young people in a process of marginalisation and social exclusion (United Nations 2004). The sustained high rates of long-term youth unemployment have a number of negative effects on societies. First, it results in countries failing to take advantage of the human resources to increase their productive potential, at a time of transition to a globalized world that inexorably demands such leaps in productive capacity. Second, it reinforces the intergenerational transmission of poverty. Third, owing to the discrepancy between more education and exposure to the mass media and fewer employment opportunities, it may encourage the spread of disruptive behaviours, recourse to illegal alternatives for generating income and the loss of basic societal values, all of which erode public safety and social capital. Fourth, it may trigger violent and intractable political conflicts. And lastly, it may exacerbate intergenerational conflicts when young people perceive a lack of opportunity and meritocracy in a system that favours adults who have less formal education and training but more wealth, power and job stability (Hopenhayn 2002). To assist in addressing youth’s skill training and employment problems this paper scrutinises useful international practices, policies, initiatives and programs targeting youth skill training, particularly in ICTs. The MENA national governments and local authorities could consider implementing similar initiative and strategies to address some of the youth employment issues. The broader aim of this paper is to investigate the successful practice and strategies for the information and communication related income generation opportunities for young people to: promote youth entrepreneurship; promote public-private partnerships; target vulnerable groups of young people; narrow digital divide; and put young people in charge. The rest of this paper is organised in five parts. First, the paper provides an overview of the literature on the knowledge economy, skill, education and training issues. Secondly, it reviews the role of ICTs for vocational skill development and employability. Thirdly, it discusses the issues surrounding the development of the digital divide. Fourthly, the paper underlines types and the importance of developing ICT initiatives targeting young people, and reviews some of the successful policy implementations on ICT-based initiatives from both developed and developing countries that offer opportunities to young people for learning, skill development and employment. Then the paper concludes by providing useful generalised recommendations for the MENA region countries and cities in: advocating possible opportunities for ICT generated employment for young people; and discussing how ICT policies could be modified and adopted to meet young people’s needs.

Generating rules with predicates, terms and variables from the pruned neural networks

Artificial neural networks (ANN) have demonstrated good predictive performance in a wide range of applications. They are, however, not considered sufficient for knowledge representation because of their inability to represent the reasoning process succinctly. This paper proposes a novel methodology Gyan that represents the knowledge of a trained network in the form of restricted first-order predicate rules. The empirical results demonstrate that an equivalent symbolic interpretation in the form of rules with predicates, terms and variables can be derived describing the overall behaviour of the trained ANN with improved comprehensibility while maintaining the accuracy and fidelity of the propositional rules.

Control and protection of a microgrid with converter interfaced micro sources

This paper describes protection and control of a microgrid with converter interfaced micro sources. The proposed protection and control scheme consider both grid connected and autonomous operation of the microgrid. A protection scheme, capable of detecting faults effectively in both grid connected and islanded operations is proposed. The main challenge of the protection, due to current limiting state of the converters is overcome by using admittance relays. The relays operate according to the inverse time characteristic based on measured admittance of the line. The proposed scheme isolates the fault from both sides, while downstream side of the microgrid operates in islanding condition. Moreover faults can be detected in autonomous operation. In grid connected mode distributed generators (DG) supply the rated power while in absence of the grid, DGs share the entire power requirement proportional to rating based on output voltage angle droop control. The protection scheme ensures minimum load shedding with isolating the faulted network and DG control provides a smooth islanding and resynchronization operation. The efficacy of coordinated control and protection scheme has been validated through simulation for various operating conditions.

Exploring Chinese consumer's perceptions of using new mobile technology : A qualitative study

This study examines the case of Chinese consumer's intention to adopt the upcoming mobile technology, 3G. The qualitative study involved 45 in-depth intervie3ws undertaken in three major Chemise cities to explore what perceptions, beliefs and attitudes will influence their decisions about adopting 3G. Perceived beliefs about using 3G technology were found to be important determinants. Additionally, there was evidence of influences from their social network that could motivate the adoption behaviour, as well as influence from the secondary information sources, such as the media and the Internet. Finally, some constraints were identifies that may inhibit Chinese consumers' adoption of this technology.

Vitamin D and sun protection : the impact of mixed public health messages in Australia

Exposure of the skin to sunlight can cause skin cancer and is also necessary for cutaneous vitamin D production. Media reports have highlighted the purported health benefits of vitamin D. Our aim was to examine attitudes and behaviours related to sun protection and vitamin D. A cross-sectional study of 2,001 residents in Queensland, Australia aged 20-70 years was undertaken. Information collected included: skin cancer risk factors; perceptions about levels of sun exposure required to maintain vitamin D; belief that sun protection increases risk of vitamin D deficiency; intention, and actual change in sun protection practices for adults and children. Multivariate models examined predictors of attitudinal and behavioural change. One-third (32%) believed a fair-skinned adult, and 31% thought a child required at least 30 minutes per day in summer sun to maintain vitamin D levels. Reductions in sun protection were reported by 21% of adults and 14% of children. Factors associated with belief that sun protection may result in not obtaining enough vitamin D included aged ≥ 60 years (OR=1.35, 95% CI 1.09-1.66) and having skin that tanned easily (OR=1.96, 95% CI 1.38-2.78). Participants from low income households, and those who frequently used sun protective clothing were more likely to have reduced sun protection practices (OR=1.33, 95% CI 1.10-1.73 and OR=1.73, 95% CI 1.36-2.20, respectively). This study provides evidence of reductions in sun protection practices in a population living in a high UV environment. There is an urgent need to re-focus messages regarding sun exposure and for continued sun protection practices.

An investigation of consumer acceptance of M-Banking in Australia

Mobile phone banking (M-Banking) adoption around the world has been slow, and this has been perpetuated by the limited research that has been undertaken in the area. To address this gap, the study developed a model of antecedents to consumers' intention to sue M-Banking using attitudinal theory as a framework. To test the model, a quantitative web-based survey was undertaken with 314 respondents. The findings show that perceived usefulness, compatibility, perceived risk, perceived cost and attitude are primary determinants of consumer acceptance of M-Banking in an Australian context, The research contributes to an enhanced understanding of the multiple antecedents beliefs to customer attitudes and usage intentions that must be considered when introducing technology into the service encounter.

Freedom of information implications of information sharing networks for critical infrastructure protection

Protection of “critical infrastructure” has become a major issue for govern- ments worldwide. Yet in Australia, as in many other countries, including the United States, an estimated 90% of critical infrastructure is privately owned or operated commercially – in other words, critical infrastructure protection is not the exclusive domain of government. As a result, information sharing between government and the private sector has become a vitally important component of effective risk management. However, establishing effective arrangements of this kind between the public and private sector needs to take account of existing regimes of access and public disclosure which relate to government-held documents; in particular, that which is established by freedom of information (FOI) legislation. This article examines the extent to which the current Commonwealth FOI regime is likely to act as an impediment to the private sector operators of critical infrastructure participat- ing in government-operated information sharing arrangements. By examining developments in other jurisdictions, principally the United States, the article considers whether amendments to the current Australian FOI regime are necessary to ensure effective participation, consistent with the underlying object and purpose of FOI.

Experts vs. Discounters: Consumer Free Riding and Experts Withholding Advice in Markets for Credence Goods

This paper studies the incentives for credence goods experts to invest effort in diagnosis if effort is both costly and unobservable, and if they face competition by discounters who are not able to perform a diagnosis. The unobservability of diagnosis effort and the credence characteristic of the good induce experts to choose incentive compatible tariff structures. This makes them vulnerable to competition by discounters. We explore the conditions under which honestly diagnosing experts survive competition by discounters; we identify situations in which experts misdiagnose consumers in order to prevent them from free-riding on experts' advice; and we discuss policy options to solve the free-riding consumers–cheating experts problem.