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Efforts to reconcile work-life balance goals are at the heart of the design of tax-benefit programs. Yet this relationship between work-life balance and tax-benefit programs is relatively unexplored. To help address this lacuna this paper compares approaches to reconciling work-life balance goals in the designs of earned and child tax credits in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These designs indicate different approaches to reconciling work-life balance. In their design of earned and child tax credits the United States places emphasis upon targeting tax relief by paid employment (to breadwinners), Australia and Canada by family structures (to caregivers), and New Zealand and the United Kingdom by both paid employment and family structures, although in New Zealand assistance is provided on a more residual basis. Of these designs the dual objective approach, particularly of the United Kingdom, appears to offer greater opportunity for both directly addressing relatively high rates of child poverty and increasing low wage caregivers' labor supply (as part of a broader poverty reduction strategy). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results from a comparative study of company directors of the top 250 Australian companies. The paper analyses the concentration of directorship holding in Australia and New Zealand in 1991 and compares this with other Australian, New Zealand, British, Canadian and American studies. The paper argues that while the density of interorganisational interlocks in Australia is quite normal by international standards, such comparisons are substantially affected by the relatively small number of board positions characteristic of Australian companies. When we allow for this external parameter by considering the concentration of directorship holding by persons, there is evidence of a significant concentration of available positions in the hands of relatively few persons in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The paper suggests that the organisation of business power in Australia reflects a continuing tension between principles of regulation derived from the larger economies of Britain and the United States and practical concerns of business leadership in Australia generated by the geopolitical realities facing Australian business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2009 international student safety became an issue of immediate concern to Australian international education exporters following a series of demonstrations by Indian students and interventions by concerned foreign governments. With these developments the 'industry' became fixated on how best to secure Australia's share of the international education market in a context in which it was impossible to deny international student safety is a systemic problem. This paper contextualizes this development by utilizing a stigma management framework to review the unfolding debate on international students and safety in the USA, the UK, New Zealand and Australia. We argue that in all four cases it took an exogenous shock to convince education exporters to acknowledge student safety as an issue that needs to be openly debated. We also suggest that Australian officials were slow to make this acknowledgement because they mistakenly believed the industry was shielded by its link to the immigration program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 15 years geographers in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere have been increasingly concerned with issues of sexuality and space and have produced an array of work under the heading 'queer geographies'. This paper considers the importance of place in the production of queer geographies. Material representing queer geographies is drawn from Web pages, conversations and e-mail exchanges (a questionnaire survey) with key individuals in geography (or related spatial disciplines) departments in New Zealand and Australia. Complex politics of place mean that queer geographies in Australasia are both similar to and different from queer geographies produced elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the literature on business-to-business relationships in tourism distribution by examining questions of supplier selection in the New Zealand inbound tourism industry. In particular, the paper examines the factors that influence offshore intermediaries' selection of new suppliers; analyses the factors that would lead them to change suppliers; and investigates the ways they stay abreast of what products and suppliers are available in New Zealand. An open-ended approach is taken to addressing these questions based on interviews with a range of intermediaries in New Zealand's three main international markets: Australia, Great Britain and the USA. Three broad sets of factors are found to influence their behaviour in terms of selecting and changing New Zealand suppliers of travel products: those related to products, people and pricing. In contrast to earlier work in this field, product-related factors are shown to be particularly important. TRENZ, the country's annual travel trade fair, and the activities of the national tourism marketing organization are the main means by which intermediaries remain abreast of product development. The paper concludes by outlining the implications of these results for those researching tourism distribution and for suppliers operating, or seeking to operate, in international markets. doi:10.1300/J073v23n01_05 [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents guidelines for establishing a QuestionPoint collaborative virtual reference partnership between academic libraries in Australia/New Zealand and the US. These guidelines reflect the practices of the state-of-the-art collaborative QuestionPoint partnership, 'AskASERI' as well as the unofficial standards and guidelines for virtual reference services established by IFLA and NISO. Throughout the paper, the projected benefits of international virtual reference collaboration are weighed against the costs. In conclusion, international collaborative virtual reference partnerships are presented to be net beneficial and worthy of further study and consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the relevance of the concept of a liberal welfare regime to housing provision through an exploration of the interactions between governments, private markets and households in rental housing in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. In particular, it examines the extent of dualism in these four countries in the financing, ownership and management of rental housing and the types of social guarantees offered by governments to households in different rental sectors. The paper concludes that the welfare regime concept has some relevance in explaining dualism in rental housing in the four countries, as reflected in different types of guarantees offered to households through social housing and housing allowances. It finds, however, that there is passive rather than active government support for private rental markets and that different institutional arrangements in the four countries lead to differences in the extent of government support for private renters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper seeks to identify common features in the fertility patterns of the English-speaking world and provide a model basis for comparison of fertility between countries and over time. Attention is focused on the heterogeneity within the fertility patterns of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States, similar to that reported earlier for the UK and the Irish Republic. The recent age-specific fertility patterns of these countries display a marked 'bulge' in fertility of women under age 25. A mixture model with two-component: Hadwiger functions provides a suitable fit. The heterogeneity thus suggested is shown to be related to differences in the timing of births by marital status, and its magnitude is related to the proportion of births outside marriage. Additionally, there is some evidence that, in the United States, and to a lesser extent in New Zealand, this heterogeneity in fertility patterns may be explained by ethnic differences in the timing and number of births. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the emergence of education as a marketable service with institutions now seeking to market themselves in a professional manner. A comparison is made between two samples- one of administrators within educational institutions in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and United States, the other of college and university students in Australia. Statistical analysis identified a series of key factors considered critical to the successful marketing of these institutions. A comparison of institutional and student views is made concluding that significant differences exist between the two groups. Managerial and research implications are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As a knowledge domain, contemporary indigenous tourism is framed in reference to cultures conventionally recognized as ‘indigenous,’ and engages this almost exclusively from a supply-side perspective. This paper reimagines indigeneity and indigenous tourism as embracing also the other 94% of global population. From a utilitarian perspective, this inclusion of ‘nonconventional indigenous people’ harbors opportunities to advance the sustainability agenda by reconnecting modern mainstream cultures, through personal exposure in dispersed settings, with ancestral roots and associated sustainable livelihoods. Such reconnections are framed as a form of re-indigenization that may be especially attractive to ‘travel promiscuous’ diasporic populations such as those found in the ‘settler’ countries of Canada, United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Articulation of this concept could be facilitated by existing knowledge domains and products in heritage tourism, rural tourism, and urban tourism, as well as sustainable tourism. Rather than usurping conventional indigenous efforts to re-indigenize and re-empower, it is contended that the nonconventional dimension can coexist with and even reinforce the latter, while enriching the dimensions of indigenous tourism as a dynamic knowledge domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disparities in access to health care also extend to the end-of-life care. Despite the general principle that palliative care is equitably available for all in need, it remains underutilised by certain groups in the community. Ethnic minorities, older people and patients with non-cancer diseases are found to be at a greatest risk for underutilisation of palliative care. Barriers to access palliative care by these groups in the community are complex and often overlapping. To overcome these barriers, there is a need to take action on many fronts. This paper discusses these barriers and provides an overview of the strategies that have been implemented to address these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The professional identity of counsellors and guidance practitioners in Aotearoa New Zealand is currently under review as a result of the passing of legislation regulating health professionals and the proposed introduction of national registration of counsellors. In this paper I explore this debate, and examine the professional identities claimed by counsellors, counselling psychologists and psychotherapists. The current discussion in this country is both informed by and provides an illuminating lens on professional identity issues in Australia, the UK and the US. An alternative construction of professional identities that are localised and dynamic, yet distinctly of Aotearoa New Zealand, is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A number of international reports, including the National Academies (NAS) report from the USA, have highlighted shortcomings in wide-ranging aspects of forensic science. The reports not only target service delivery issues but also the fundamental underpinnings of forensic science with respect to its knowledge base. How does forensic science in Australia compare? What would the reports say if the studies conducted overseas had been undertaken here? This paper will examine whether or not we are 'in front of the game'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the results of the world's largest ever survey of international relations (IR) scholars with an eye to establishing the particularities of the discipline in Australia and New Zealand. The survey covered the areas of teaching, research, the structure of the profession and scholars' views on foreign policy. From these results, this paper compares IR in New Zealand and Australia, and discusses the extent to which the discipline in these two countries is distinctive from its overseas counterparts, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom. The particular areas of focus include the degree to which the field in Australasia conforms to or differs from US or Commonwealth identities; epistemological and gender divides; the distinctive foci of what IR scholars in both countries teach and research; which publications are favoured and disfavoured; and the contrasting linkages between academia and the world of government and policy. We conclude with some suggestions about how the field in both countries might be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the evolution of the relationship between tourism and indigenous peoples. Based on published work on indigenous tourism in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, a six-stage model of evolution has been proposed. The model begins with (1) pre-European in situ control, characterised by high local control and indigenous theme; (2) in situ exposure occurs in the early stages of colonialism and is followed by (3) ex situ exhibitionism and exploitation as native artefacts are displayed in museums and exhibitions. The opening of remnant indigenous space to tourist visits marks (4) in situ exhibitionism and exploitation, which represents the nadir of indigenous control but fosters strategies of resistance. Reassertions of indigenous control give rise to (5) in situ quasi-empowerment, while the extension of this control to previously occupied territory characterises (6) ex situ quasi-empowerment and the presence of “shadow indigenous tourism”. The empowerment and sustainability implications of the model have also been discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research ethics review process is now an inherent part of conducting research and a topic of much discussion. On the negative side it has been presented as cumbersome, expensive, time consuming, and potentially a system that does not adequately deal with the concerns it was set up to address. One common, but often controversial, proposal to address some of these concerns has been the institutionalization of centralized systems of review. This paper uses data on the review systems in place in five countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the USA and the U.K.), some with and some without versions of centralized review, to explore issues related to centralization of the review process. It suggests that there are at least three types of systems (fully centralized, dual, and decentralized or multicommittee) in place; all are made up of two, interrelated components (the administrative and the ethics review). We suggest that both components need to be considered in discussions about centralized review. Serious consideration of centralization of the administrative component may address many concerns. Centralization of the ethics review may provide a context that deals with other issues and may encourage reviews that more effectively focus on the ethical issues involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dystonia is a neurological disorder characterised by involuntary muscle contractions. Pain is the primary non-motor symptom, and limited studies have investigated how dystonic pain is experienced. This study aimed to investigate how people with isolated dystonia describe their pain and compare across subgroups of dystonia. Anonymous online survey via social media asking participants to describe their pain in their own words, complete the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), and answer demographic questions. Thematic analysis identified common themes and frequencies were calculated for demographic and MPQ data. One-hundred and sixty-five respondents were included (mean age 51 years, 85% female). Thematic analysis identified four major themes "Physical sensations", "Temporal features", "Destruction", "Impact on life" with several sub-themes. The most chosen MPQ descriptor was "exhausting" followed by "tight," "sharp," "pulling," and "aching". The most common descriptors showed similar prevalence across subgroups of dystonia. As no objective tests for pain exist, pain sufferers must use language to describe their pain experience. People with isolated dystonia used sensory words combined with metaphorical language to detail temporal features of pain, as well as destructive internal battles or feelings of external forces acting upon them, and the significant toll pain has on everyday life. Pain is a common and debilitating non-motor symptom for people living with dystonia and should be discussed in a persons treatment plan. Pain sufferers use language to discuss their pain experience with others and report they don't feel well understood by others including health professionals. People with dystonic pain commonly described physical sensations, temporal features, destructive forces, and the impact on life caused by their pain. Findings suggest the experience of pain with dystonia is varied and better pain management options for people with dystonia are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about papers discussed at a meeting held February 9-10, 2012 sponsored by the Legal Issues Centre at the Faculty of Law of University of Otago on the role of legal ethics to the legal professionals and lawyers is presented. The topics include the role of adversarialism on ethics and the compliance of the clients with law. Information on the participation of the legal ethicists from Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. in the meeting is also presented.

Every woman experiences the menopause transition period in a very individual way. Menopause symptoms and management are greatly influenced by socioeconomic status in addition to genetic background and medical history. Because of their very unique cultural heritage and often holistic view of health and well-being, menopause symptoms and management might differ greatly in aboriginals compared to non-aboriginals. Our aim was to investigate the extent and scope of the current literature in describing the menopause experience of aboriginal women. Our systematic literature review included nine health-related databases using the keywords ‘menopause’ and ‘climacteric symptoms’ in combination with various keywords describing aboriginal populations. Data were collected from selected articles and descriptive analysis was applied. Twenty-eight relevant articles were included in our analysis. These articles represent data from 12 countries and aboriginal groups from at least eight distinctive geographical regions. Knowledge of menopause and symptom experience vary greatly among study groups. The average age of menopause onset appears earlier in most aboriginal groups, often attributed to malnutrition and a harsher lifestyle. This literature review highlights a need for further research of the menopause transition period among aboriginal women to fully explore understanding and treatment of menopause symptoms and ultimately advance an important dialogue about women’s health care. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is minimal research about the military-to-civilian transition (MCT) from the perspective of the family. The goal of this scoping review was to identify what is known about military families across the Five Eyes Nations (FVEY) (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States) during this phase as well as identify gaps in the evidence base. Scoping review methods were employed with a narrative review process to conceptualize and organize results. The initial search returned 2,219 sources. From these, 27 sources about military family experiences during MCT were identified. Overall, there was limited research on this topic with the majority of sources being from gray literature. A contributing factor to this lack of literature could be the conflation of the MCT with other military transitions (i.e. deployments). Sources highlighted four major themes that influenced identified needs and current services for military families during MCT: (1) mental health; (2) barriers to care; (3) financial needs; and (4) targeted transition support. The limited literature documents promising family skills-based interventions during MCT. However, there is a need for more empirical research on existing family-based interventions and experiences and needs of the family as a unit during MCT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we investigated the representation of countries and continents in the publication of six English language journals of sport and exercise psychology from 1997 until 2011. We selected all articles (N = 2093) published in theJournal of Sport and Exercise Psychology,The Sport Psychologist,Journal of Applied Sport Psychology,Journal of Sport Behavior,Psychology of Sport and Exercise, andInternational Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychologyduring 1997–2011 and all proceedings (N = 2034) in the last four World Congress of Sport Psychology (1997, 2001, 2005, and 2009). Then, we classified them by country and continent where the first author's institution was located. Five English-speaking countries (USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) represented 82% of the total publications in the six journals and 38.5% of congress proceedings. These were followed by five European countries (France, Germany, Greece, Norway, and Belgium) accumulating 10% of the total publications. The continents of Asia, Africa, and Latin America represented less than 4% of the publications but 28.2% of congress proceedings. There was a very high correlation between continents' representation in journal editorial boards and journal publications. Reviewers and readers should be aware of systematic errors that might happen in the review process of submitted manuscripts describing studies which have been conducted in non-English-speaking countries but which are eventually rejected in English language journals of sport and exercise psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Can there be a generic textbook for the teaching of creative writing that will serve the major English-speaking countries-the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand? The author of such a text must ask a range of questions and, in attempting to answer them, will better understand the institutional, educational and cultural climate in which he or she functions. Some questions relate to content. For example, what local or international authors, critics and theorists should they include? What types of exercises? What commercial considerations might restrict them? Canvassing the types of books available raises further questions about creative writing's position in tertiary institutions. How and why is it taught and who teaches it? Reasons are explored (to support literary studies, to create audiences, to produce new writing, to educate apprentices, to train teachers, to provide creative therapy, etc.) and how they affect the text's pedagogical and theoretical orientation. Discussion of a case study chapter that targets an international audience (writing for children and young adults) demonstrates the problems of creating a book with transnational appeal. Crossing borders to discover other pedagogical strategies and fresh literary landscapes can invigorate the teacher-writer's professional practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the international community's response to Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor in light of recently declassified documents from the US, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. It argues that anti-Communist and geopolitical concerns at the end of the Vietnam War were not the only, and perhaps not even the most important explanations of Western support for Indonesia's takeover of East Timor. Rather, this article suggests that beliefs that East Timor was too small and too primitive to merit self-governance reinforced the perceived imperative of maintaining friendly relations with the Suharto regime, whose growing importance in the regional political economy overshadowed its defiance of international law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a comparative review of 21st-century organizational communication in Australia/New Zealand and the United States. The parochialism of United States scholarship is perhaps a manifestation of its attempts to consolidate the disciplinary status of organizational communication. The near-obsessive concern about the disciplinary status of the field in the United States academy is reflected in a series of soul-searching, as well as inward-looking, debates. Critical discourse analysis is a particularly popular methodological tool used in Australia. Working in a smaller field has definitely made scholars in Australasia less insular about disciplinary identities.

Previous literature has applied system-focused structures to understand the success of First Nations Peoples' nutrition and exercise group programmes. Existing system-focused measures have included biomedical outcomes, access and service utilization. By broadening the focus of programme success beyond the system, we can evaluate programmes from a First Nations Peoples' lifeworld perspective. Critical hermeneutics and yarning using a lens of Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action to the literature has the potential to transform understandings of "success" in First Nations Peoples' nutrition and exercise group programmes. In this literature interpretation, we explored the critical success factors from a lifeworld perspective, giving scope to go beyond a system perspective to include a cultural, social or personal perspective. Our yarning led us to understand that there is a communicative relationship between explicit system structures and implicit lifeworld concepts that are critical success factors for First Nations nutrition and exercise group programmes. We have developed a set of reflective questions to guide others in considering a lifeworld perspective. Our findings represent a shift away from success measured by the dominant power structure to respect the lifeworld culture, knowledges and values of First Nations Peoples towards shared understanding and mutual decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The location determinants of US FDI in the Pacific region of the OECD, i.e. Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Korea, are analysed for 1982-1997. The data set allowed two time periods i.e. the 1980s and the 1990s, and two different subgroups, i.e. Australia and New Zealand, and Japan and Korea to be distinguished. Statistical evidence indicates a heterogeneous response of US FDI towards different countries and for different time periods. Factors such as market size, income level and qualified and productive labour exert a significant impact on both the timing and the locational choice of US investors in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, undertaking cultural safety education often evokes strong emotional responses by health students. Despite the potential for emotion to drive transformative learning in this space, measures of emotion are uncommon. To review existing tools that intend to measure emotional components of learning in relation to cultural safety education. Articles published in English from January 2005 to January 2020; reported studies from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and United States of America; and measured an emotional construct/s after an education intervention offered to university students enrolled in a health programme were included. Studies were assessed for quality according to the Critical Appraisals Skills Programme criteria. Eight articles were reviewed; five conducted in the United States of America, and three in Australia. Intervention type, measures, methodological rigour and outcomes varied. Studies predominately measured empathy, guilt and/or fear. Although students' emotional responses were measured, processes for students to reflect upon these reactions were not incorporated in the classroom. The review has implications for future research and curricula through developments in measuring and acting upon emotion in cultural safety education for nursing students in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper utilises a bilateral bargaining approach as an explanatory framework for understanding how New Zealand and Australia have conducted their trade policy towards the United States and the European Union. Though alternatives like neo realism and liberal institutionalism have some value for explaining bilateral outcomes between the strong and the weak, the bilateral bargaining approach takes us further by showing how and why the negotiation process can potentially adjust outcomes in favour of weaker states. New Zealand and Australia have sought to exploit such opportunities through the application of three important bilateral strategies: informing tactics; coalition-building; and the execution of formal agreements. Differences in their bilateral bargaining approaches are informed by reference to their commercial history and respective interests, as well as cognitive factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate international oesophageal screening (OS) practices during videofluoroscopy (VFS) amongst speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and to establish SLP perspectives regarding OS during VFS. Method: A 25-item online survey was developed and disseminated internationally. Respondents were SLPs with dysphagia and VFS experience. Information was sought on OS practices and perspectives. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse results. Result: A total of 202 SLPs completed the survey from USA, UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and Austria. Fifty-eight per cent (n = 117/202) of SLPs internationally include an OS during VFS. This rate varies across USA (81%; 91/113), UK (69%; 18/26) and Ireland (60%; 18/30). Only 25% (29/117) of SLPs use a validated OS protocol. Most SLPs perform an OS in an anterior–posterior view (55%; 64/117) with patients seated (54%; 64/117). Bolus consistencies administered vary greatly. SLPs evaluate oesophageal bolus clearance (81% (95/117), bolus redirection (64%; 75/117), oesophageal transit time (49%; 57/117) and oesophageal pathology (11%; 13/117). Perceived challenges include scope of practice, patient positioning, protocol uncertainty and multidisciplinary support. Conclusion: Over half of SLPs internationally responding to the survey include an OS during VFS. Few follow validated protocols and analysis practices vary. OS guidelines and training opportunities are needed to ensure validated OS protocols are adopted into clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aphasia services are currently faced by increasing evidence for therapy of greater intensity and comprehensiveness. Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Programs (ICAPs) combine these elements in an evidence-based, time-limited group program. The incorporation of new service delivery models in routine clinical practice is, however, likely to pose challenges for both the service provider and administering clinicians. This program of research aims to identify these challenges from the perspective of aphasia clinicians from six countries and will seek to trial potential solutions. Continual advancements in global communication technologies suggest that solutions will be easily shared and accessed across multiple countries. Aims: To identify the perceived and experienced barriers and facilitators to the implementation of 1) intensive aphasia services, 2) comprehensive aphasia services, and 3) ICAPs, from aphasia clinicians across six countries. Methods and procedures: A qualitative enquiry approach included data from six focus groups (n = 34 participants) in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK), and Ireland. A thematic analysis of focus group data was informed by the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF). Outcomes and results: Five prominent theoretical domains from the TDF influenced the implementation of all three aphasia service types across participating countries: environmental context and resources, beliefs about consequences, social/professional role and identity, skills, and knowledge. Four overarching themes assisted the identification and explanation of the key barriers and facilitators: 1. Collaboration, joint initiatives and partnerships, 2. Advocacy, the promotion of aphasia services and evidence-based practice, 3. Innovation, the ability to problem solve challenges, and 4. Culture, the influence of underlying values. Conclusions: The results of this study will inform the development of a theoretically informed intervention to improve health services' adherence to aphasia best practice recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of parent-child interactions and family relationships has a powerful influence on children's development and well-being. The International Parenting Survey (IPS) is a brief, web-based survey developed to provide a cross-national, community-level, population snapshot of the experiences of parents related to raising children. The IPS was developed as a planning tool to assist policy makers and community agencies plan, implement, and evaluate parenting programs and as a tracking tool to evaluate parenting support programs in different countries. We report the preliminary psychometric properties of the IPS on various domains of measurement in an international sample of over 9,000 parents. Moderate to high reliabilities were obtained for all domains of measurement. High internal consistency reliabilities (α = .88-.97) were obtained for the domains of children's behavior and emotional maladjustment, for parental self-efficacy, parental distress and parental beliefs. Moderate levels of reliabilities (α = .52-.83) were obtained for domains of parental consistency, coercive parenting, positive encouragements, and parent-child relationships. Overall, the measure appears to have satisfactory reliability justifying further psychometric validation studies in population level studies of parenting. Examples of uses of the IPS are described and directions for future research and policy explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: It has been argued that social security disability assessments should directly assess claimants’ work capacity, rather than relying on proxies such as on functioning. However, there is little academic discussion of how such assessments could be conducted. Method: The article presents an account of different models of direct disability assessments based on case studies of the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Norway, the United States of America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, utilising over 150 documents and 40 expert interviews. Results: Three models of direct work disability assessments can be observed: (i) structured assessment, which measures the functional demands of jobs across the national economy and compares these to claimants’ functional capacities; (ii) demonstrated assessment, which looks at claimants’ actual experiences in the labour market and infers a lack of work capacity from the failure of a concerned rehabilitation attempt; and (iii) expert assessment, based on the judgement of skilled professionals. Conclusions: Direct disability assessment within social security is not just theoretically desirable, but can be implemented in practice. We have shown that there are three distinct ways that this can be done, each with different strengths and weaknesses. Further research is needed to clarify the costs, validity/legitimacy, and consequences of these different models. Implications for rehabilitation: It has recently been argued that social security disability assessments should directly assess work capacity rather than simply assessing functioning - but we have no understanding about how this can be done in practice. Based on case studies of nine countries, we show that direct disability assessment can be implemented, and argue that there are three different ways of doing it. These are “demonstrated assessment” (using claimants’ experiences in the labour market), “structured assessment” (matching functional requirements to workplace demands), and “expert assessment” (the judgement of skilled professionals). While it is possible to implement a direct assessment of work capacity for social security benefits, further research is necessary to understand how best to maximise validity, legitimacy, and cost-effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Talanoa is an established format for generating discussion about complex topics used throughout the Pacific. Pacific researchers use talanoa to gather data with migrant Pacific Island populations, in countries such as the United States of America, Australia, and Aotearoa/New Zealand (A/NZ). Using talanoa in this way, changes the way that the approach is used as, on the one hand it is out of its original context, and on the other hand, extends its use to gather data with Pacific Islanders. In this article, we discuss the implementation of talanoa in an explorative qualitative research project, and discuss its effectiveness and usefulness for getting to the heart of the story about Tongan interpretations of mental illness and distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States each endorse a national objective to protect the safety and well-being of children and preserve families, while dually seeking to re-establish self-governance within indigenous communities. This review presents a collective overview of indigenous peoples’ experience with child protection systems and evaluates the different national approaches used to improve child welfare practice and re-establish the sovereignty of indigenous populations within each of these countries. Key strategies for improving child protection, developing cross-cultural partnerships, and increasing the effectiveness of child welfare service delivery within indigenous communities are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Increased interest in creating safe environments while controlling security costs has led to the proliferation of closed circuit television (CCTV) systems in the public sector. This article describes and compares guidelines from four countries on the installation and usage of CCTV systems. To assist those contemplating, or already invested in, CCTV the national governments of the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, and New Zealand have published guidelines that are voluntary rather than proscriptive. While sharing many recommendations, each set of guidelines also has unique suggestions. This comparative overview of the guidelines provides assistance to practitioner and scholar interested in CCTV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational travel, a neglected area of study in sustainable tourism, has grown substantially over the last 20 years in part as a response to institutional missions to promote international education, but also as a result of the USA's national security concerns to nurture a global citizenry. Considerable future growth is predicted following the bipartisan Lincoln Commission report and under the pending new legislation in the USA. Our pre-test/post-test study of almost 5% (n= 651 US students) of the entire short-term, US educational travel market to Australia and New Zealand between 2008 and 2009 revealed significant differences between the cohorts of the two programs, both of which focused on sustainable development. The Australia program not only produced significant increases in global citizenship (as measured by scores on consumer behaviors, support for environmental policies, and environmental citizenship) beyond that of the New Zealand program, but any initial differences between the programs were erased following participation. Reasons for the differences in attitude change are discussed. Analysis also noted key differences between students with different political orientations, but no gender differences. Implications for managing educational travel, marketing Australia's and New Zealand's tourism, sustainable tourism planning, and theory advancements are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Chronic conditions place a significant burden on the Australian health care system, and this burden continues to increase. This literature review examines the concepts of chronic illness and chronic condition self-management (CCSM), particularly in the context of asthma. It explores the implementation of, and barriers to, CCSM in the modern health care system with a focus on CCSM in children and adolescents, and the differences that need to be recognized when dealing with Indigenous Australian children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study adds to the food products marketing and product development literature by comparing the purchasing behaviors of wine consuming segments in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States when faced with a lack of information. Region of origin information was the most popular coping mechanism in the United States and Australia when unsure about making a wine selection. New Zealanders place the most emphasis on medals won. Daily wine consumers relied more on region of origin information than moderate consumers in the United States but this was not true in Australia and New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Adopting a multivariate Markov-switching-VAR model (Krolzig, 1997) and a recently developed regime-dependent impulse response analysis technique (Ehrmann et al., 2003), this article investigates the dynamic relationships among the stock markets of the US, Australia and New Zealand. Our results reveal the existence of two different regimes in the three stock markets. We find that the correlations among the three markets are significantly higher in a bear regime than in a bull regime. In addition, the responses of each of the three markets to shocks in the other two markets are stronger and more persistent in the bear regime than in the bull regime. Finally, our findings imply that for the New Zealand stock market, the Australian stock market is more influential than the US stock market, and for the Australian stock market, the US stock market is more influential than the New Zealand stock market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was designed to conduct systematic reviews of existing evaporative cooling system maintenance guidelines and of published Legionnaires' disease outbreaks to determine what, if any, maintenance practices were in place at the time of the disease outbreaks and then to contrast the reported practices with the published guidelines for evaporative cooling systems. For the first review, similarities in the reported recommendations were assessed; in the second review, any reported information about the state of the evaporative cooling system during the outbreak investigation was summarized. The systematic reviews yielded 38 current guidelines for evaporative cooling systems and 38 published outbreak investigations. The guidelines varied regarding the recommended type and dose of biocides, frequency of general inspections and total system maintenance, the preferred disinfection and cleaning procedures when testing a system for microbiological contamination, the type and frequency of testing procedures, and interpretation of test results. Overall, the maintenance guidelines did not contain sufficiently detailed procedures to prevent the problems that were observed in the outbreak investigations. These maintenance procedures included lack or improper use of a biocide; infrequent testing for microbiological contamination; improper use or maintenance of drift eliminators; and lack of a total system cleaning within 6 months of the outbreak for cooling systems that were either under continuous use, recently started up, or frequently switched on and off. This study suggests that more specific and standardized maintenance guidelines for the control of Legionella bacteria are needed and that these guidelines must be properly implemented to help reduce further Legionnaires' disease outbreaks associated with evaporative cooling systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning with 1990, this article identifies and comments on fifteen years of legal case law across the five national common law jurisdictions of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, addressing legal responses to Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSBP). MSBP is a syndrome in which perpetrators either harm a child in their care or achieve harm through their insistence on medical tests and treatments for non-existent, fabricated or exaggerated conditions. Abuse may go on for some time, and sometimes this abuse results in the child's death. The discussion situates this body of reported cases, identified through keyword searches in the LexisNexis databases, within current academic and professional literatures. Primarily, this review finds that the open-textured attributes of syndrome evidence, coupled with the idealisation of mothering and the concomitant social revulsion and retributive impulse towards “bad mothers”, invites professionals to infuse alleged cases of MSBP with morality, gender attributions, and social judgements. While identifying and preventing child abuse is an important goal, the questions of conscious knowledge and volition in a psychiatrically disordered perpetrator and the nexus of professional expertise in attributing liability and assigning punishment and treatment options deserve a more nuanced consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We review the development and success of fish stock recovery plans in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. A range of multi-disciplinary factors that have been associated with successful stock recovery were evaluated for 33 case studies. Each factor was assessed and scored based on the best available information to indicate its relative importance in the overall process leading to stock recovery. The results showed that rapid and often large reductions in catches at the start of the recovery process, and biological characteristics such as the life history strategies of species and the demographic composition of the stock, played a key role in the ability of populations to recover. Although the latter cannot be controlled directly by human intervention, they should be used to inform the management process and set appropriate levels of exploitation through a set of harvest control rules. Recovery is more effective when the recovery plan is part of a legal mandate, which is automatically triggered on reaching pre-defined limit reference points. Of the four regions studied, the United States was the only country to have a legal framework within which clear guidelines are given to establish a recovery process within a pre-defined time period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article employs a Fractionally Integrated Vector Error Correction Model (FIVECM) to examine the return transmission between the Australian and New Zealand stock markets and the Australian and the United States stock markets. We augment the FIVECM with a multivariate GARCH model. In so doing, the first and second moments spill over between stock market indices are simultaneously revealed. Our empirical results suggest that the Australian stock market has stronger ties with the United States stock market than with the New Zealand stock market. We conclude that stock market movements in the United States, as the world's economic superpower, are more important to the Australian stock market than stock market movements in New Zealand, Australia's closest neighbour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effects of public preschool expenditures on the math and science scores of 4th graders, holding constant child, family, and school characteristics, other relevant social expenditures, and country and year effects, in 7 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries - Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, UK, and USA - using data from the 1995 and 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Our results indicate that there are small but significant positive effects of public preschool expenditures on the math and science scores of 4th graders and that preschool expenditures reduce the risk of children scoring at the low level of proficiency. We also find some evidence that children from low-resource homes and homes where the test language is not always spoken may tend to gain more from increased public preschool expenditures than other children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article features several national and regional bryophyte records. These bryophyte records include Bucklandiella crispipila, an Afro-American tropical montane species, widely distributed but scattered in Central and South America, Dicranella hookeri, a pan-south-temperate species that is widely distributed in southern South America, south-eastern Australia and New Zealand, and Dicranella dietrichiae, an Australasian endemic, widely distributed in eastern Australia. Details on the contributors of these records are also considered in the article.

The article discusses the author's experience of recovering from a mental illness. She also explores the concept of recovery from a service user perspective. The concept of mental health recovery has emerged within the mental health service user movement in the U.S., New Zealand and Australia. During the author's recovery, she had to relearn how to concentrate and had to learn to take back her sense of identity.

Political leaders, the media, business people, trade union leaders and academics continually refer to how globalisation is impacting on our lives. Governments may at times argue that globalisation benefits us, and at others attribute to globalisation many of the major problems we currently face. What do ordinary people make of all this? We do not have a systematic account of their understandings, in terms of the primary associations they make with globalisation, and how they orient to it in terms of resistance or support. 302 respondents (groups from the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand) were asked to note the first five things they associate with the word `globalisation’. Their most salient associations centre on issues of economy, culture, power and communication. Differences emerge in the contrasting priorities that the groups give these categories and how they evaluate them in positive or negative terms, with the US respondents holding a comparatively more positive outlook. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, youth services instructors from five countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States) were surveyed as to the content of youth-oriented classes they had taught between 2000 and 2003. As anticipated, a content analysis of those descriptions revealed that the youth-oriented library curriculum was heavily dominated by children's and young adult materials. Management of the youth library and foundations of youth library services were less frequently emphasized. Descriptive content is remarkably similar between regions, but looking at an analysis of the content with regard to national differences suggests additions to curricula based on the needs of each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defenders of the WTO argue that it provides an independent arena for hearing and adjudicating trade disputes. Member countries are bound by the decisions of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (WTO-DSB), and the perception of neutrality – that cases are ruled according to the strict and true meaning and spirit of the agreements that countries signed – is pivotal to its broader legitimacy. Using a fine-grained assessment of one trade dispute brought to the WTO, involving a complaint by Australia and New Zealand that US lamb tariffs contravened the WTO's safeguard provisions, this article questions these assumptions. It argues that the praxis of dispute settlement is over-determined by the institutionalized market preferences of the Organization. The procedural materiality of dispute settlement hinges on the narrow legalisms of wording within trade agreements, heard within an environment that is sympathetic to market liberal interpretations. With regard to safeguard provisions, and as evidenced in the case US – Lamb Meat , these institutional contexts create daunting obstacles for defendant countries to demonstrate they have not contravened WTO rules. These insights bring into relief debates on WTO dispute settlement as a system of global governance, providing support for the contention that this system should be understood as a political mechanism working systematically to advance trade liberalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of the articles on modernization in Australia, England, New Zealand, Scotland and the USA demonstrates and discusses the complexity attached to the concept. This also enables a better understanding of the contention and controversy that surrounds the concept and its application to educational policy and practice. Modernization policies in these five countries are then analysed and interpreted within a conceptual framework that explores the locations of decisions and the motivational principles underlying decisions. The analysis proposes four 'ideal' type mechanisms for allocating resources in society. Arguing that a 'mixed economy' model is both necessary and right, the discussion concludes by examining the appropriate balance within that 'mixed economy' if education is to yield both economic growth and social cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]