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To understand the evolution and current status of qualitative research in School Psychology, we reviewed 4,346 articles published across seven school psychology journals between 2006 and 2021. The bibliometric analysis indicates that publication of qualitative research has increased over the years, but remains small (3%) when seen against the total volume of journal publications. Less than 5% of articles in all but one journal were qualitative. The most commonly explored topic was diversity, equity, and social justice accounting for 23% of the qualitative articles. In total, 55% of the studies were conducted in the United States. Although many studies did not specify participants' race and gender, the most commonly reported research participants were K-12 students, female, White, and from the United States. We discuss these findings and provide recommendations.

Introduction: It is now widely recognised that engaging consumers in research activities can enhance the quality, equity and relevance of the research. Much of the commentary about consumer engagement in research focuses on research processes and implementation, rather than dissemination in conference settings. This article offers reflections and learnings from consumers, researchers and conference organisers on the 12th Health Services Research Conference, a biennial conference hosted by the Health Services Research Association of Australia and New Zealand (HSRAANZ). Method: We were awarded funds via a competitive application process by Bellberry Limited, a national not‐for‐profit agency with a focus on improving research quality, to incorporate consumer engagement strategies in conference processes and evaluate their impact. Findings: Strategies included consumer scholarships, a buddy system, designated quiet space and consumer session co‐chairs; the reflections explored in this paper were collected in the funded, independent evaluation. Our insights suggest a need for more structured consumer involvement in conference planning and design, as well as the development of specific engagement strategies. Conclusion: To move toward active partnership in scientific conference settings, our experience reinforces the need to engage consumers as members in designing and conducting research and in presenting research and planning conference content and processes. Public Contribution: Consumer engagement in research dissemination at conferences is the focus of this viewpoint article. Consumers were involved in the conception of this article and have contributed to authorship at all stages of revisions and edits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Digital storytelling and other methods of self-expression and autobiography have become an increasingly important tool for those working with young people, including those from migrant, refugee or other 'culturally diverse' backgrounds. A structured scoping review was undertaken to better understand the potential value and challenges of using digital stories to promote the health and well-being of these diverse groups of young people and to identify key knowledge gaps. Design: The review process comprised a systematic search of the literature and strategic consultations with professionals working with young people in the area of sexual and reproductive health promotion and care. A descriptive-analytic method was used to collate and synthesise the literature and apply narrative and thematic analyses. Results: In total, 28 papers were deemed eligible for inclusion. Findings are presented as two analyses: what is known from the literature and key knowledge gaps. Identified themes included the use of digital stories as social activism and as research intervention, recognition of digital stories as complex terrain and recommendations for good practice. Three key gaps of particular relevance to our research aims were identified. These were (1) the lack of digital stories on sexual health and relationships by 'culturally diverse' young people in Australia, (2) the need for discussion of the ethical considerations of using digital storytelling and related methods in sexual health fields and (3) the value of exploring opportunities to employ digital methods as self-representation and autobiography to generate new knowledge and build organisational capacity. Conclusion: As confirmed in discussions with professionals working in the youth, migrant and sexual health sectors, the literature highlighted the many potential applications of digital storytelling to promoting the sexual health and well-being of young people from diverse backgrounds. Additional research is required to understand the particular ethical and contextual issues shaping, and at times constraining, this engagement in specific cultural contexts.

Changes in wool prices, labour costs and animal welfare have sparked interest in several new sheep traits. Shedding, the ability of moulting or seasonal wool loss in sheep, is one of them. Here, we aimed to develop breeding values for shedding using existing data from New Zealand flocks. We used breeder-collected shedding scores, 0 = 'no shedding on any part of the body' to 10 = 'wool shed fully from all the body', for Wiltshire and Wiltshire-composite lambs born between 2003 and 2022. After QC, 20,653 phenotypic records from 25,066 animals with pedigree information (393 sires and 7439 dams from 12 flocks) were included in the analyses. Genetic parameters and breeding values were obtained using a genetic additive model with pedigree data (BLUP model), assuming shedding scores were quantitative. The genetic model incorporated the following variables: date of birth, sex, birth and rearing rank, age of dam and contemporary group. We found a high heritability for lamb shedding, 0.54 (0.02), and estimated a low-to-moderate prediction accuracy of breeding values (ranging from 0.09 to 0.36) using forward-validation. Our results confirmed that shedding can be subject to selection and that pedigree-based breeding values for this trait can be a useful tool for breeders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2022, the Society for Reproductive Biology came together in Christchurch New Zealand (NZ), for its first face-to-face meeting since the global COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting showcased recent advancements in reproductive research across a diverse range of themes relevant to human health and fertility, exotic species conservation, and agricultural breeding practices. Here, we highlight the key advances presented across the main themes of the meeting, including advances in addressing opportunities and challenges in reproductive health related to First Nations people in Australia and NZ; increasing conservation success of exotic species, including ethical management of invasive species; improvements in our understanding of developmental biology, specifically seminal fluid signalling, ovarian development and effects of environmental impacts such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals; and leveraging scientific breakthroughs in reproductive engineering to drive solutions for fertility, including in assisted reproductive technologies in humans and agricultural industries, and for regenerative medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) virtual worlds have been used for more than a decade in higher education for teaching and learning. Since the 1980s, academics began using virtual worlds as an exciting and innovative new technology to provide their students with new learning experiences that were difficult to provide any other way. But since that time, virtual worlds have failed to maintain their popularity as learning spaces; many builds falling into disuse and many disappearing altogether. The aim of this article is not only to determine why virtual worlds have not become a mainstream teaching tool, but to ascertain why they have even failed to maintain their popularity. In order to do this, the research team surveyed over 200 academics about the barriers and enablers to the use and perceived affordances of virtual worlds in teaching and learning. These responses are examined in relation to academics' past, present and future use, experience and knowledge of virtual world environments.

This article explores the New Zealand legal history of adoption and the effect it has had on Maori. The status of children within Maori and European societies before and during the early contact periods differed, and it is from here that the author begins this article. These two societies had their own terms in relation to the care of children by those who were not the biological parents. Europeans use the term "adopt," while Maori use the term "whangai." Although these terms relate to the care of children by those who are not the biological parents, they possess different ideals. Due to these differences, European society was faced with challenges when informally adopting a child. These challenges led to the establishment of the 1881 Adoption of Children Act. While this act initially had no effect on the practice of "whangai," by 1901 the Native Land Act required "whangai" to be registered and then recorded in the "New Zealand Gazette." Over time a number of changes made to adoption laws that affected Maori were based on the issue of who had rights to land succession. (Contains 79 notes.)

Aim: Both macroecology and disturbance ecology have long been used to characterize population‐ and community‐level patterns across scales, but the integration of both approaches in characterizing disturbed ecosystems is rare. Here, we use the maximum entropy theory of ecology (METE) to model the individual size distribution (ISD) of trees in pre‐ and post‐disturbance tree populations and estimate the corresponding metabolic scaling exponents. Location: New Zealand. Time Period: 1987–1999. Major Taxa Studied: Mountain beech (Fuscospora cliffortioides Nothofagaceae). Methods: METE uses information entropy and empirical macro‐state variables to constrain predictions of ecological distributions related to biodiversity. METE has successfully predicted a range of biodiversity metrics in static or relatively undisturbed conditions. However, METE can fail to accurately model ecological patterns in disturbed ecosystems. We extend existing theoretical predictions to a highly disturbed ecosystem by treating the metabolic scaling exponent and Lagrange multipliers as free parameters in METE. Results: We showed that the fully parameterized METE (FP‐METE) model reasonably predicted the ISD of mountain beech populations in a monodominant forest after a strong earthquake, which restructured the forest. Furthermore, the FP‐METE model revealed that decreasing metabolic scaling exponent drove the substantial decline of total metabolic rate energy and the redistribution of energy towards smaller trees after the earthquake. Increased number of small trees was not sufficient to capture the full impact of disturbance on forest energy use. Main Conclusions: Our FP‐METE model applies an informatics approach to estimate the metabolic scaling relationship. We find that instead of maintaining a fixed value, the metabolic scaling exponent is variable among populations, and declines significantly after an earthquake disturbance. This leads to major shifts in the total population metabolic energy and energy distribution. With this approach, we now have the opportunity to advance beyond categorizing forms of mathematical distributions that describe biodiversity patterns and move into a predictive framework where the true constraints on ecosystems and their dynamics emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Mathematical modeling suggests that a low efficacy vaccine with a short duration of protection could reduce gonorrhea prevalence by > 10 % given high enough coverage. • Scaling up coverage of the currently available 4CMenB in the United States could help achieve Healthy People 2030 goals to decrease gonorrhea prevalence. • A better vaccine candidate with up to 8-year duration and 70% efficacy could increase impact up to 8-fold. • If the potential cross-protection of 4CMenB against both Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae were considered, the costs effectiveness of this vaccine could differ from previous estimates. • Cost-effectiveness work accounting for the dual protection will be critical to inform this issue. Neisseria gonorrhoeae cross-protection was suggested in a New Zealand meningitis B vaccine. We modeled the potential impact of similar vaccines on gonorrhea prevalence in heterosexuals in the United States. Our mathematical model incorporated infection, behavior, and vaccination dynamics. Approximate Bayesian Computation calibrated our model to US prevalence. Primary analyses assumed New Zealand vaccine characteristics: 30% efficacy and 2-year duration of protection. We estimated impact under two vaccine coverages (20%, 50%). Reduction in gonorrhea prevalence ranged from 4.8 to 39.4%, depending on vaccine coverage. Vaccine impact was correlated with both size of the highly sexually active subpopulation and sexual mixing between high and low activity subpopulations. A meningitis vaccine providing low efficacy cross-protection against gonorrhea acquisition and short duration of protection could result in a large reduction in gonorrhea prevalence in the United States. Potential dual protective effects can be considered when making vaccine recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population estimates are widely used to underpin conservation decisions. However, determining accurate population estimates for migratory species is especially challenging, as they are often widespread and it is rarely possible to survey them throughout their full distribution. In the East Asian–Australasian Flyway (EAAF), this problem is compounded by its size (85 million square kilometres) and the number of migratory species it supports (nearly 500). Here, we provide analytical approaches for addressing this problem, presenting a revision of the EAAF population estimates for 37 migratory shorebird species protected under Australian national environmental legislation. Population estimates were generated by (1) summarizing existing count data in the non‐breeding range, (2) spatially extrapolating across uncounted areas, and (3) modelling abundance on the basis of estimates of breeding range and density. Expert review was used to adjust modelled estimates, particularly in under‐counted areas. There were many gaps in shorebird monitoring data, necessitating substantial use of extrapolation and expert review, the extent of which varied among species. Spatial extrapolation to under‐counted areas often produced estimates that were much higher than the observed data, and expert review was used to cross‐check and adjust these where necessary. Estimates of population size obtained through analyses of breeding ranges and density indicated that 18 species were poorly represented by counts in the non‐breeding season. It was difficult to determine independently the robustness of these estimates, but these breeding ground estimates were considered the best available data for 10 species that mostly use poorly surveyed freshwater or pelagic habitats in the non‐breeding season. We discuss the rationale and limitations of these approaches to population estimation, and how they could be modified for other applications. Data available for population estimates will vary in quality and extent among species, regions and migration stage, and approaches need to be flexible enough to provide useful information for conservation policy and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]