Search results

The purpose of this paper is to show how one medium-sized research library sustainably delivers large scale integrated library instruction via team efforts that allow for (and encourage) librarians diverse teaching approaches within a unified team.

This paper examines an individual case within the context of library and management research literature.

A self-managed library instruction team, using agreed upon learning outcomes and supported by good infrastructure, communication skills and tools, and within administration supportive of professional development and experimentation can sustainably delivery high volume, high-quality library instruction.

This paper may help other libraries learn how to develop their own self-managed teams to deliver sustainable high volume, high-quality library instruction.

This paper contributes to the literature on self-managed teams in librarianship and especially self-managed teams to deliver sustainable high volume information literacy. It also contributes to the small pool of literature using the jazz metaphor in library instruction.

The purpose of this paper is to describe HKUST Library’s active participation in helping the university prepare for the 2014 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2014) in Hong Kong. Through the process the authors demonstrated library’s value and librarians’ expertise in supporting research.

This is a case study that highlights how HKUST Library tackled this complex exercise. The effort was delineated as three stages: the design stage when the authors proactively supported the electronic system design for RAE 2014, the formation stage in which the submission infrastructure was built, and the data process stage.

Based on the Library’s experience in creating and managing the Institutional Repository and the Scholarly Publication Database, the participation proved to be instrumental in designing and building the electronic infrastructure for the RAE 2014. After the project, the HKUST research community had higher trust and regard of the Library, both for the research information management systems and librarians’ expertise in providing research support service.

The paper elaborates details of HKUST Library’s effort, including human resource deployment, project management strategy, operational tactics, challenges the authors faced and keys to success. The experience demonstrates that libraries and librarians can establish credibility and gain respect from research communities through delivering tangible outcomes.

There is very few case studies in the literature on libraries’ participation in and contribution to RAEs. This paper fills a gap in the area.

This study of 491 government secondary school teachers in Victoria, Australia, explores the relationship between sources and types of social support and teacher burnout. Examines both a conceptual model of social support and a social support instrument based on House′s typology developed for the purpose of the study. The major finding that principal support is a significant predictor of burnout is consistent with established research. However, the result that certain types of social support contribute to burnout presents a unique dimension on the social support‐burnout relationship. Also examines the support provided to others by teachers themselves and its impact on burnout. Explains the implications of the findings for theory and practice.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide is about changing the law to enable doctors, under certain circumstances, to intentionally kill patients. For proponents the issues have been determining what are “appropriate circumstances” for such activity and gathering up enough political support to win the day on numbers. The community and medical profession have been exposed to years of misinformation about euthanasia, and advocates have become so vocal that contrary positions are now barely heard. Nevertheless, there are enormous adverse implications for all healthcare professionals. Clinical management in the twenty-first century has moved well past scenarios painted to justify killing the patient. The inclusion of killing in the therapeutic armamentarium will cause an inexorable erosion of what is at present an absolute protection for the patient, the doctor, and other healthcare professionals.

This paper aims to present a multi-period dynamic power project financing model to produce pragmatic estimates of benchmark wholesale power prices based on the principles of normal profit. This, in turn, can guide policymakers as to whether price spikes or bidding above marginal cost in wholesale electricity markets warrants any investigation at all. One of the seemingly complex areas associated with energy-only wholesale electricity pools is at what point market power abuse is present on the supply side. It should not be this way. If a theoretically robust measure of normal profit exists, identification of potential market power abuse is straightforward. Such a definition readily exists and can be traced back to the ground-breaking work of financial economists in the 1960s.

Using a multi-period dynamic power project model, the authors produce pragmatic and theoretically robust measures of normal profit for project financed plant and plant financed on balance sheet. These model results are then integrated into a static partial equilibrium model of a power system. The model results are in turn used to guide policymaking on generator bidding in energy-only power markets.

Under conditions of perfect plant availability and divisibility with no transmission constraints, energy-only markets result in clearing prices which are not economically viable in the long run. Bidding must, therefore, deviate from strict short-run marginal cost at some stage. To distinguish between quasi-contributions to substantial sunk costs and market power abuse, a pragmatic and robust measure of normal profit is required.

This article finds policymakers can be guided by an ex-post analysis of base energy prices against pragmatic estimates for the long-run marginal cost of the base plant, and an ex-ante analysis of call option prices along the forward curve against pragmatic estimates of the carrying cost of the peaking plant.

The “two communities” metaphor for the relationship between policy and academia is inconsistent with empirical evidence that shows that a sizeable minority of public servants use academic research in their policy-related work. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the two communities metaphor by comparing the personal and professional characteristics of Australian public servants who claim to use research in their policy work with the characteristics of those who claim not to use research.

Using data from a survey of 2,084 public servants from the state and federal levels in Australia carried out from 2011 to 2013, tests of statistical significance were conducted for the relationship between some personal and professional characteristics (e.g. gender, age, work experience) and the claim that research is used in policy-related work.

The “two communities” metaphor is not an accurate description of the relationship between policy and academia. In reality, public servants who claim to use academic research in their policy work are more likely to have much in common with academics, including having postgraduate degrees and work experience in the university sector.

Rather than existing as isolated solitudes, the findings in this paper suggest that the policy and academic communities possess links that can encourage the use of research in policy making.

The findings presented in this paper are especially important for the evidence-based policy movement, which emphasises the value of the use of research evidence in the creation of public policy.

This paper aims to examine the ways in which the criminal justice system has evolved to accommodate mental illness. Mental health courts are one such alternative; these courts actively seek rehabilitative and therapeutic outcomes for participants. However, current literature suggests that these courts are ineffective for offenders who have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD).

The aim of the current inquiry was to determine the degree to which participation in the Assessment and Referral Court (ARC) List in the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria reduced re-offending rates for offenders diagnosed with BPD by providing a comparative analysis of pre and post ARC List offending.

The results of a two-year recidivism study suggest that successful completion of the ARC List reduces recidivism for 50% of offenders diagnosed with BPD.

To the authoring team’s knowledge, this is the second paper to explore the efficacy of the Assessment of Referral Court List (Magistrates’ Court of Victoria) in reducing recidivist behaviours for programme participants; however, it is the first paper to look specifically at the recidivist behaviours of participants of the Assessment of Referral Court List (Magistrates’ Court of Victoria) who have been diagnosed with BPD.

Managerial stress exists and has to be coped with. The author describes a study that demonstrates that cue‐controlled relaxation can be applied to groups of managers to reduce psychological and physical stress. The study involved 36 middle managers with stress problems who were randomly exposed to treatment and non‐treatment, which consisted of a three‐week programme to teach conditioned relaxation responses to self‐administered cues. Three months after both groups completed measures of psychological strain, physical strain and job satisfaction. Results indicated that the treatment reduced psychological and physical strain and improved job satisfaction, but had a negligible impact on performance and physiological strain.

How stressful is the role of inspectors of schools and senior educational administrators of a large state department of education? How do they compare with teachers and other professional groups in the perception of their occupational stress? The purposes of this study were (1) to determine the prevalence of self‐reported role related stress in senior educational executives, (2) to examine the influence of biographical characteristics on their perceptions of stress, (3) to investigate the sources of perceived stress, and (4) to test for evidence of ill‐health or other negative coping processes. The paper presents the general findings and reveals some significant relationships between general well being, personality type and physiological symptoms. Four reliable stress factors were extracted: teacher assessment, time management, disruption to family life, and aspects of representing the system. The data also show that this group claims significantly higher levels of affective disturbance than other professional groups. Insights gained from this study provide a guide for remediation that should be undertaken at both organisational and personal levels.