title: Design and development of the trauma informed care beliefs scale-brief

authors: Beehag, Nathan

abstract: Background: Trauma informed care (TIC) practices have been developed to diminish the range of negative consequences associated with adverse childhood experiences (e.g., unemployment, welfare, incarceration, and medical and psychiatric treatment). They have been demonstrated to benefit young people, their carers, and child welfare staff. However, a gap that has been identified in this area is the absence of psychometrically sound TIC instruments, which has hindered the TIC literature in terms of transitioning to a more methodologically robust and data driven research area. Objective: The current study aimed to develop a psychometrically sound instrument (i.e., the TIC Belief Scale) that could assess the TIC beliefs of child welfare carers who reside with youth. Methods: Initially, 143 items were developed based on widely used TIC models. After a review by an expert panel of 10 experienced trauma practitioners, 85 items were retained and administered to a sample of 469 child welfare carers. The psychometric properties of the scale were investigated using Item Response theory (Rasch analyses). Results: Following analyses, a final scale of 13 items was accepted. The scale had good internal reliability (PSI = 0.77), showed evidence of unidimensionality, and there was no evidence of differential performance across sub-groups. Conclusions: The application of the Rasch model in this study provides support for the TIC Belief Scale as a psychometrically sound scale for measuring child welfare carers’ beliefs about TIC practices. An algorithm proposed here for converting ordinal to interval scoring increases the precision in understanding carers’ less favourable TIC beliefs.

text: Design and development of the trauma informed care beliefs scale-brief Background: Trauma informed care (TIC) practices have been developed to diminish the range of negative consequences associated with adverse childhood experiences (e.g., unemployment, welfare, incarceration, and medical and psychiatric treatment). They have been demonstrated to benefit young people, their carers, and child welfare staff. However, a gap that has been identified in this area is the absence of psychometrically sound TIC instruments, which has hindered the TIC literature in terms of transitioning to a more methodologically robust and data driven research area. Objective: The current study aimed to develop a psychometrically sound instrument (i.e., the TIC Belief Scale) that could assess the TIC beliefs of child welfare carers who reside with youth. Methods: Initially, 143 items were developed based on widely used TIC models. After a review by an expert panel of 10 experienced trauma practitioners, 85 items were retained and administered to a sample of 469 child welfare carers. The psychometric properties of the scale were investigated using Item Response theory (Rasch analyses). Results: Following analyses, a final scale of 13 items was accepted. The scale had good internal reliability (PSI = 0.77), showed evidence of unidimensionality, and there was no evidence of differential performance across sub-groups. Conclusions: The application of the Rasch model in this study provides support for the TIC Belief Scale as a psychometrically sound scale for measuring child welfare carers’ beliefs about TIC practices. An algorithm proposed here for converting ordinal to interval scoring increases the precision in understanding carers’ less favourable TIC beliefs.

year: 2023-10-01

title: Engineering and evaluation of hemp fibre reinforced polypropylene composites: Fibre treatment and matrix modification

authors: Beckermann, Gareth

subjects: B. Interface/interphase

abstract: Hemp fibres were alkali treated to improve their suitability for use as reinforcements in composite materials. Improvements in tensile strength, Young’s modulus, fibre separation, crystallinity index, lignin reduction and thermal stability were observed for hemp fibres treated with a solution of 5 wt% NaOH/2 wt% Na₂SO₃. A range of hemp fibre reinforced polypropylene composites were produced by extrusion and injection moulding, and the effect of fibre treatments and MAPP content on the tensile strength and Young’s modulus of composites were investigated. The optimum composite, consisting of polypropylene, 40 wt% NaOH/Na₂SO₃ treated hemp fibre and 4 wt% MAPP, was found to have a tensile strength of 50.5 MPa and a Young’s modulus of 5.31 GPa.

text: Engineering and evaluation of hemp fibre reinforced polypropylene composites: Fibre treatment and matrix modification Hemp fibres were alkali treated to improve their suitability for use as reinforcements in composite materials. Improvements in tensile strength, Young’s modulus, fibre separation, crystallinity index, lignin reduction and thermal stability were observed for hemp fibres treated with a solution of 5 wt% NaOH/2 wt% Na₂SO₃. A range of hemp fibre reinforced polypropylene composites were produced by extrusion and injection moulding, and the effect of fibre treatments and MAPP content on the tensile strength and Young’s modulus of composites were investigated. The optimum composite, consisting of polypropylene, 40 wt% NaOH/Na₂SO₃ treated hemp fibre and 4 wt% MAPP, was found to have a tensile strength of 50.5 MPa and a Young’s modulus of 5.31 GPa.

year: 2008

title: Using a digital library as a Māori language learning resource: Issues and possibilities

authors: Mato, Paora James

subjects: Digital Library

abstract: The development of electronic language learning resources, founded on digital library technology, is a capability that, to date, is largely unrealised. The Flexible Language Acquisition (FLAX) project is a digital library initiative at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. The current FLAX activities provide practice for students who are learning English as an additional language. The prospect of extending this resource to include te reo Māori is as exciting as it is groundbreaking. The outcomes of this research inform the issues and possibilities involved in creating such resources.

The World Wide Web has allowed an everyday access to the Internet, but finding and retrieving pertinent information is often a convoluted and time-consuming exercise. The normal outcome is that users are unable to take full advantage of the available resources. Digital libraries have an unprecedented power in terms of organising and storing vast amounts of information and, with built-in retrieval functionality, serve as ideal repositories. The ability to focus the information within these repositories is extremely significant because there is no longer the chaff that normally results from Internet searches. Purposeful learning activities can be presented exploiting an assortment of media and drawing on stored information that can be assembled in a range of formats. Such capacity, flexibility and diversity is normally only encountered at traditional, physical libraries.

The research includes an overview of digital libraries and some of the language learning resources that are currently available on the Internet. Since the target language is te reo Māori, a critical review on the features of kaupapa Māori theory, pedagogy and Māori pedagogy is undertaken. Using the concepts discussed in this review, the language learning activities associated with the FLAX project are analysed to determine their suitability for learning te reo Māori. Further feedback was provided by a sample group following their testing of a selection of activities that were based on text written in te reo Māori. 
 

The analysis suggests the current range of FLAX activities have more benefit to students as tools that allow practice of the learning that has been delivered in face-to-face classroom settings, rather than as a standalone language learning resource. In their present form, the main benefits of the activities predominantly rest in the way they were performed rather than in the activities themselves. Furthermore, commentary from the testing group regarded the activities as more beneficial for practicing sentence structures, grammar and punctuation, rather than actual language learning. The group generally agreed, however, that combining the activities with methods of oral and aural transmission, in te reo Māori, would certainly result in more effective language learning outcomes.

The legitimacy of digital library-based language learning activities lies in designs that promote learner-centred interaction that is consistent with best practice communicative learning theory. When the target language is te reo Māori, it is of the utmost importance that the activities are tailored to embrace a Māori world view in ways that promote the learning rather than the activity or the content.

text: Using a digital library as a Māori language learning resource: Issues and possibilities The development of electronic language learning resources, founded on digital library technology, is a capability that, to date, is largely unrealised. The Flexible Language Acquisition (FLAX) project is a digital library initiative at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. The current FLAX activities provide practice for students who are learning English as an additional language. The prospect of extending this resource to include te reo Māori is as exciting as it is groundbreaking. The outcomes of this research inform the issues and possibilities involved in creating such resources.

The World Wide Web has allowed an everyday access to the Internet, but finding and retrieving pertinent information is often a convoluted and time-consuming exercise. The normal outcome is that users are unable to take full advantage of the available resources. Digital libraries have an unprecedented power in terms of organising and storing vast amounts of information and, with built-in retrieval functionality, serve as ideal repositories. The ability to focus the information within these repositories is extremely significant because there is no longer the chaff that normally results from Internet searches. Purposeful learning activities can be presented exploiting an assortment of media and drawing on stored information that can be assembled in a range of formats. Such capacity, flexibility and diversity is normally only encountered at traditional, physical libraries.

The research includes an overview of digital libraries and some of the language learning resources that are currently available on the Internet. Since the target language is te reo Māori, a critical review on the features of kaupapa Māori theory, pedagogy and Māori pedagogy is undertaken. Using the concepts discussed in this review, the language learning activities associated with the FLAX project are analysed to determine their suitability for learning te reo Māori. Further feedback was provided by a sample group following their testing of a selection of activities that were based on text written in te reo Māori. 
 

The analysis suggests the current range of FLAX activities have more benefit to students as tools that allow practice of the learning that has been delivered in face-to-face classroom settings, rather than as a standalone language learning resource. In their present form, the main benefits of the activities predominantly rest in the way they were performed rather than in the activities themselves. Furthermore, commentary from the testing group regarded the activities as more beneficial for practicing sentence structures, grammar and punctuation, rather than actual language learning. The group generally agreed, however, that combining the activities with methods of oral and aural transmission, in te reo Māori, would certainly result in more effective language learning outcomes.

The legitimacy of digital library-based language learning activities lies in designs that promote learner-centred interaction that is consistent with best practice communicative learning theory. When the target language is te reo Māori, it is of the utmost importance that the activities are tailored to embrace a Māori world view in ways that promote the learning rather than the activity or the content.

year: 2009