Access to justice for Aboriginal People in the Northern Territory

This article discusses research in the Northern Territory on Aboriginal civil and family law needs. It is based on focus group discussions and interviews with legal services providers and other associated organisations. The article argues that key areas of legal need involve discrimination, housing, child protection, social security, credit/debt and consumer law problems. It further argues that welfare conditionality, particularly as embodied in the NT Intervention and subsequent Stronger Futures policies, has exacerbated the need for legal assistance and advocacy for Aboriginal people.     

Remote Work in Library Technical Services: Connecting Historical Perspectives to Realities of the Developing COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The concept and practice of remote work in library technical services is not new, but the scale and speed of the transition to remote work for many libraries due to the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented. This column provides an overview of pre-pandemic literature on remote work in library technical services and briefly examines the history, planning, case studies, technology and equity concerns, challenges, and potential benefits of remote work. Initial connections are drawn between existing literature and the impact of the pandemic on remote work, and future directions for research and discussion are offered.     

Shared‐use mining infrastructure: Why it matters and how to achieve it

This article considers the cases for and against ‘open access’ regulation of rail and port logistics infrastructure used by ‘bulk’ mining operations, arguing that host governments should proactively impose and then enforce such regulation in almost all cases. The logistics infrastructure needed for this type of mining activity is of critical importance. The costs and potential inefficiencies involved in duplicating such infrastructure confer a significant competitive advantage on its owner in the absence of effective access regulation. In particular, where a first mover develops an ‘integrated’ project incorporating a mine and associated infrastructure, a failure to impose access regulation discourages third‐party investment in mineral exploration and development in the region serviced by the infrastructure, due to the risk of hold‐up by the first mover. An unregulated first mover can also use its infrastructure advantage to capture the state's share of resource rents from the mineral endowment of the region. Open access regulation further benefits host countries by enabling broad‐based economic development through the shared‐use of mining infrastructure with other sectors (e.g., agribusiness). The article highlights contrasting experience with access regulation in Australia: the Pilbara iron ore region has seen protracted disputes involving mining firms and policy‐makers and very few examples of third‐party access, while in the coal region of central Queensland an extensive multi‐user, multi‐purpose railway network operates independently of mining firms. The authors urge governments in sub‐Saharan Africa (in particular) not to underestimate the internal capacity and other challenges associated with developing and enforcing open access regulation of mining infrastructure in a manner that protects their national interests.     

试析影响词汇访问速度的关键因素

一些高频词汇在学习者大脑词库中常被存储在底层,如何把这些需要熟练使用的词汇尽可能多地转移到词库表层,以达到词汇访问的自动化,是值得探索和研究的问题。本文从词汇访问频率、词汇意义变化和语境三方面分析影响词汇访问速度的原因,并提出外语学习过程中提高词汇访问速度的建议。     

Poverty Research in a Development Policy Context

This article provides an evaluation of the extent to which science is addressing worldwide poverty and hunger. It is based on the literature contained in the Thomson Reuters' Web of Science Citation Index (1980 to 2008) and focuses on the WOTRO Strategy Plan 2007–2010 of the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research, although similar policies from other countries might also be assessed. The data show that poverty/hunger research has grown steadily over time in many disciplines, most significantly in Environmental Sciences and Technology. Much of this research is hidden; hence the construction of an internationally recognised open‐access database is recommended so that scientists can easily identify critical gaps related to scientific capacity‐building.     

Access to Water in the Slums of Sub‐Saharan Africa

This article reviews the changing perspectives for improving access to water in the slums of developing countries, especially in sub‐Saharan Africa. While much of the literature continues to maintain an aversion to state‐led urban development policies, there is now increasing emphasis on the importance of informal, small‐scale providers and communitarian initiatives, following the many failures of privatisation. The article argues that market‐oriented solutions are inappropriate for sub‐Saharan African countries where over two‐thirds of the urban population live in squatter settlements with multidimensional challenges.     

Computer-Supported Distance Art Therapy: A Focus on Traumatic Illness

SUMMARY

Recent research has documented the growing gap between those who have access to information technology and those who do not. Reviewing available literature regarding the lack of access to computers and technology by oppressed groups, this paper discusses problems inherent in ignoring this issue in social work education and practice. Finally, some of the promising interventions currently used to address problems of access are outlined and recommendations for social workers are highlighted.     

广西边远地区农村教育资源闲置问题实证研究——以百色为例

教育资源闲置是教育资源完全或部分没有发挥教育功能的状态,具有绝对闲置和相对闲置两种含义。文章以百色农村教育资源为例,分析了广西边远地区农村教育资源闲置在小学和初中两个层面的表现,并分析了造成广西边远地区农村教育资源闲置的原因;文章认为,提高广西边远地区农村经济发展水平、拓宽融资渠道、优化教育资源配置、灵活撤并教学点、改变闲置校舍的用途以及合理解决代课教师问题是解决广西边远地区农村教育资源闲置问题的可能途径。     

鼓励和引导民间投资对策的思考

我国近期出台了扩大民间投资行业和领域的政策。然而,长期以来民间投资遇到了市场准入的障碍。要想彻底改善当前民间投资的环境,则需要通过完善有关措施来贯彻和细化有关的政策,努力形成各类资本相互融合、多种所有制经济协调发展的经济新格局。     

Throughput and delay analysis of an opportunistic tree algorithm

Tree algorithms are a well-known class of random access algorithms with a provable maximum stable throughput under the infinite population model (as opposed to ALOHA or the binary exponential backoff algorithm). In this article, we propose a tree algorithm for opportunistic spectrum usage in cognitive radio networks. A channel in such a network is shared among so-called primary and secondary users, where the secondary users are allowed to use the channel only if there is no primary user activity. The tree algorithm designed in this article can be used by the secondary users to share the channel capacity left by the primary users.

We analyze the maximum stable throughput and mean packet delay of the secondary users by developing a tree structured Quasi-Birth Death Markov chain under the assumption that the primary user activity can be modeled by means of a finite state Markov chain and that packets lengths follow a discrete phase-type distribution.

Numerical experiments provide insight on the effect of various system parameters and indicate that the proposed algorithm is able to make good use of the bandwidth left by the primary users.