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Previous research on community attitudes toward the police focuses on suspect race as an important predictor of attitudes toward law enforcement and police use of force. Generally, missing from these studies, however, is the role of mental illness, both independently and in conjunction with race, and its effect on perceptions of police. This chapter summarizes our recent research addressing two issues: (1) how race and mental illness of suspects affect perceptions of the appropriateness of police use of force, and (2) how race and mental illness of citizens affect perceptions of police.

We examine these issues by summarizing research obtained through The Portland Race and Mental Illness Project (PRMIP), a survey administered to residents of Portland, Oregon. For our first topic, we use an experimental vignette that randomly alters race and mental health status of suspects. For our second topic, we ask respondents to self-report race, mental health status, and perceptions of the police.

Our dual focus provides two key findings: first, citizens’ perceptions of police use of force are affected by suspect race and mental health status. Second, like Black citizens, citizens with mental illness also have a negative impression of law enforcement.

Our research builds on research indicating racial disparity in trust in police by showing that mental illness – both that of the respondent and that of a suspect – affects attitudes toward the police. These results suggest that mental health status affects attitudes toward law enforcement and should be considered in future research and public policy.

Can we speed the testing, implementation and spread of management innovations in a systematic way to also contribute to scientific knowledge? Researchers and implementers have developed an approach to test and revise a local version of an innovation during its implementation. The chapter starts with a case example of an application of this combination of implementation and quality improvement sciences and practices (improve-mentation). It then summarizes four examples of this approach so as to help understand what improve-mentation is and how it is different from traditional quality improvement and traditional implementation of evidence-based practices. It considers gaps in knowledge that are hindering both more use of improve-mentation to generate scientific knowledge about spread and implementation, as well as more use of improve-mentation by health care service organizations and researchers. It closes by proposing fruitful research and development that can address these knowledge gaps to speed the implementation, sustainment and spread of care and management innovations.

Financial communication refers to the strategies and practices employed by companies to share financial information and engage with investors, stakeholders and the broader financial community. At its core lies investor relations management (IRM), focused on achieving effective two-way communication between the company and these groups for fair valuation of securities. Key financial communication activities include investor meetings, earnings calls, roadshows, annual reports, market analysis and crisis communication. Moreover. stakeholder theory emphasizes identifying and managing relationships with all individuals and entities that can affect or be affected by the company's operations. Stakeholders include shareholders, employees, creditors, suppliers, communities, regulators etc., classified as primary (essential) or secondary (indirectly involved). Proactive stakeholder engagement is crucial for achieving corporate objectives. Additionally, investor relations (IR) specifically deal with managing interactions with shareholders, creditors and potential investors through information dissemination, utilizing finance, marketing and communication techniques. Implementation channels include regulated disclosures, shareholder meetings, media engagement and forums. Other covered aspects include crisis communication strategies, corporate reputation management, internal communication practices, transparency and disclosure guidelines and legal/ethical considerations surrounding corporate communication. Overall, robust financial communication capabilities are vital for corporate success, reputation building and sustainable growth in today's competitive landscape.

This paper aims to present recently published resources on library instruction and information literacy providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.

This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations, reports and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2018.

The paper provides a brief description of all 422 sources, and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.

The information may be used by librarians and anyone interested as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

This chapter reports on a qualitative study that investigated the functioning of school governing bodies as a tool for promoting democracy in two schools. Data was gathered through interviews, observations and document reviews. Findings revealed that democracy was in existence and practiced at both schools and that it was characterized by shared decision-making and acknowledged rights of individuals, representation, participation and equality. Two structures for promoting democracy were found to be in existence in both schools, and these are school governing bodies and representative councils for learners. Such structures were found to be functioning effectively and contributing to the democracy in schools. However, although the learner voice was represented at both schools, learner participation in crucial issues in both the schools was limited. The study recommends that all teachers, learners and parent representatives on the SGBs be trained in skills such as deliberation, debate, dialogue and managing differences. Furthermore, training or capacity building related to advocacy skills and leadership development should be provided for all members of the SGB including teachers. The more learners, parents and staff are involved in school policy and decision-making, the more there is a genuine community involvement in schools, and the more effective a school becomes. Also, schools need to move towards learner-initiated decision-making where learners initiate the process and invite adults to join them in decision-making. Also, there is need for teachers to be trained in democratic ways of operating in the school and classroom, which will possibly help them learn ways of working democratically in both the whole school and the classroom.

The report of the Working Group on Criminal Trial Procedure did not discuss the right to silence in any detail or arrive at any conclusion about it. There were, it appears, two reasons for this. First, it would have required considerable research and time and, as the report in effect remarks, the members did not have the luxury of either. Secondly, at the time this report was published, reports from the New South Wales Law Reform Commission and the Western Australian Law Reform Commission on this topic were expected. The former has not yet appeared; the second is referred to below.

The law with respect to the exclusion, in a criminal trial, of evidence which is relevant and otherwise admissible against an accused because it was illegally or improperly obtained is far from clear. More importantly, in the author's opinion, it does not best give effect to its stated purposes; and it may permit a result which is inconsistent with one of them. Those stated purposes are:

The Protection of Consumers (Trade Descriptions) bill which, owing to the General Election, did not quite make the Statute Book in the last Parliament, is, at the moment of writing, passing through its readings, with every likelihood of becoming law in the near future. It has been criticised for the extent of the control to be exercised over general trading and that in “coddling the customer” it will place unreasonable responsibilities upon retailers. In fact, it is impossible to foresee just how far its provisions may extend, but there will be few who will disagree that new and more searching requirements are long overdue.

The Technium initiative started in 2001 with an initial Business and Innovation Centre established in the Swansea docklands area. Early success of this first Technium building led to the concept being rapidly proliferated into a pan-Wales network of primarily sector-focussed centres. Although the Welsh Government withdrew its support for the Technium network initiative in 2010, the individual centres continued under a range of ownerships and the historic initiative of continued interest, particularly with respect to regional policy.

A vibrant policy and practice debate subsequently emerged together with strident media comment. Lack of coherence between Technium Centres and weaknesses in monitoring systems meant this debate has been poorly informed. This case study helps address the evidence deficit within this debate by revisiting the initial Technium Swansea initiative and its subsequent development.

The case study provides an insight into what can realistically be expected of such initiatives in the short, medium and long terms, with realistic time-horizons for ‘success’ and the role of learning for knowledge-based development in similar initiatives and regions.

Research has established a connection between industrially-produced food and negative health outcomes. Scholars have also shown a significant link between poor food environments and health. This paper explores the experiences of university extension program agents in order to initiate greater dialogue about the role of extension in lessening the deleterious health impacts of unequal access to high quality and sufficient quantity foods. Specifically, we consider the role of food self-provisioning instruction (e.g., food gardening, preservation).

The paper draws on semi-structured interviews with 20 university extension program officers in the state of Washington.

Although our participants report that demand for education in food production skills is on the rise across Washington, there are barriers to the equitable distribution of self-provisioning skills.

There is considerable promise for extension programs to have positive implications for health and nutrition for communities struggling to access quality foods. To meet this progress, extension must be more aware of serving the entire public either through hiring agents mirror their constituencies or funding a more diverse array of programming.

Little existing research examines or evaluates using university extension programs as a vehicle for teaching food self-production, though these topics have been taught since the founding of extension.