Grandpa\u27s House for Christmas

Fiction by Miriam Burrel

Gender, power and practices in tension : mixed-sex rooming in hospital : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment for the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Women's Studies at Massey University

Using a feminist poststructural framework this study analyses interview reports and the complex contextual elements existing in the uncommon event of sharing one's bedroom space with a stranger of the opposite sex whilst in hospital. Dilemmas of gender sensibility, patients' rights and privacy are evident for the eight women interviewed for this study who experienced mixed-sex rooming (MSR) in New Zealand hospitals. Sex differentiation and gender difference significantly influence the conditions upon which social relationships evolve. This research examines the significance of the category 'woman' and the impact of gender and patient norms, including the foundations on which any objection to MSR might rest. Deconstruction revealed tensions around spatial confines and the operation of institutional power and authority at macro and micro levels. Conflicts between, the rhetoric of health reform, and the practices affecting patients' right to choose, and privacy, are discussed in the wake of the New Zealand health services restructuring of the 1990s and the re-organisation of patient accommodation, marked by mixing the sexes, thereby raising the question of whether gender is rendered somehow irrelevant. It is concluded that particular interests are served by MSR and that patient concerns risk being neglected where choice is withheld. The exertion of institutional power was found to override some patients' choice. Patient acceptance of the practice is conditional in respect to preservation of their privacy, especially in regard to toileting and washing. Assumptions about gender persist even though mixing the sexes would appear to relegate gender to a neutral state. Recourse to blanket policies is found to be inappropriate when it is individual patients' rights that health professionals are bound to respect

The risk of solar proton events to space missions

The total dose in rads-tissue from solar protons was tabulated for weekly time intervals, and the number of weeks which gave a dose above 25 rads behind 10 g/sq cm of aluminum for the active 6 years of the 19th cycle were called dangerous or large event weeks. The number of such event weeks was found to be only 3 weeks for the past 20 years. Even though the chance for smaller events is examined, it was found that for any reasonable, high confidence level (95%), the smaller events could be ignored. Consequently, the total particle flux for the 19th cycle was divided by a factor of 3 and determined a single large event week. Using this spectrum, the tissue dose in rads is calculated at the center of an aluminum spherical shell

Assessing Children's Oral Storytelling in their first year of School

This paper discusses some findings from a small-scale investigation of the assessment of young children's oral narrative skills that was conducted in three primary schools in London, UK. Effective early language and literacy teaching with children from diverse backgrounds such as those in London depends on having articulated knowledge about children’s skills (McNaughton 1995). A particularly important area is that of narrative skills since the ability to narrate and report is a vital skill for future academic success and is highly correlated to later fluency in reading (Beals and DeTemple 1993; Dickenson and Snow 1987). Teachers need to have sufficiently detailed descriptions of their pupils’ language skills and this is especially important where populations are diverse. A procedure, developed and used extensively in New Zealand, exists for increasing teachers’ knowledge of their pupils’ language skills on entry to school. This story retelling activity (Tell Me) lends itself to use in the normal course of classroom teaching and is the focus of the present study

Art or science? The challenges of publishing peer reviewed papers based on linked models

The methodology used in a linked model system is generally too voluminous and of insufficient interest to form the basis of a peer-reviewed journal article. To be readily acceptable to an economics journal, the simulation results should provide economic insight and contribute to the economics literature.quantitative integrated assessment, empirical models, “black boxâ€, Agricultural and Food Policy, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,