Effective approaches to working with male perpetrators of domestic violence in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in International Development at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

The rate of domestic violence has been increasing around the world today. Even though women do conduct abusive acts towards men, the majority of perpetrators of domestic violence remain men. A Men and Development (MAD) framework is used as an overarching framework for the research because it is believed that problem of domestic violence cannot be tackled if men are not involved. The purpose of this study is to investigate effective approaches to working with male perpetrators of domestic violence. The specific objective is to identify factors to be considered in programme design and delivery so as to maximize men’s engagement in intervention programmes and prevent them from reoffending. The study also explores whether cultural aspects are considered when delivering programmes for perpetrators, particularly for those with Asian, Pasifika and Maori backgrounds and if yes, how much it affects programme delivery. The data collection took place in New Zealand by interviewing people working for five organisations that have intervention programmes for male perpetrators of domestic violence. It was hoped that the research findings would provide some insights on how to establish and run a centre in Vietnam that offers intervention programmes for male perpetrators of domestic violence. Currently, such programmes do not exist in Vietnam. The research findings show that cognitive behavioural therapy, the Duluth model, and the strengths-based approach are believed to be effective for working with male perpetrators. Programme components that are important for effective programme delivery include an initial assessment, the existence of both male and female facilitators in a team, timeout planning, and anger/anxiety management. Regarding the cultural aspects, organisations do account for the cultural backgrounds of perpetrators. For example, during the initial assessment, their clients are asked if they have any cultural requirements that the facilitators should be aware of during the programme. Particularly, some special models are used with Maori perpetrators namely the Tangi Hepi or the Mason Durie model. Maori people can do hongi (a traditional Maori greeting) or karakia (prayers or incantations) if they wish provided that other clients do not oppose this. Having a Maori facilitator in the team also plays a crucial role for effective communication and better understanding among Maori perpetrators when they take part in the programme. The Men and Development framework is reflected in programme design and delivery in the organisations even though none of the facilitators named this framework when interviewed. For example, facilitators often talk with their male clients about the positive aspects of being a man and how this can help them improve their relationship with their partners rather than destroying it using violence. The facilitators help the clients navigate away from negative aspects of masculinities. They create conditions for men to work with men in the group, take responsibility for their violent behaviours and help one another in order to change their attitudes and behaviours towards domestic violence

Assessing the Impacts of Crowdsourcing in Logistics and Supply Chain Operations

Crowdsourcing models, whereby firms start to delegate supply chain operations activities to a mass of actors in the marketplace, have grown drastically in recent years. 85% of the top global brands have reported to use crowdsourcing in the last ten year with top names such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and Nestle. These emergent business models, however, have remained unexplored in extant SCM literature. Drawing on various theoretical underpinnings, this dissertation aims to investigate and develop a holistic understanding of the importance and impacts of crowdsourcing in SCM from multiple perspectives. Three individual studies implementing a range of methodological approaches (archival data, netnography, and field and scenario-based experiments) are conducted to examine potential impacts of crowdsourcing in different supply chain processes from the customer’s, the crowdsourcing firm’s, and the supply chain partner’s perspectives. Essay 1 employs a mixed method approach to investigate “how, when, and why” crowdsourced delivery may affect customer satisfaction and behavioral intention in online retailing. Essay 2 uses a field experiment to address how the framing of motivation messages could enhance crowdsourced agents’ participation and performance level in crowdsourced inventory audit tasks. Lastly, Essay 3 explores the impact of crowdsourcing activities by the manufacturers on the relationship dynamics within the manufacturer-consumers-retailer triads

Rights and Fairness: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Representation of Gender Relations in Marriages in Vietnamese and British Online Comments

Many researches have been conducted with the motivation of discovering a precise definition of gender equality (Beveridge & Velluti 2008; Verloo 2007). However, this conception depends on many factors relating to specific features of each society, and it also changes over time. After thousands of year of patriarchy, starting from the 19th Century, with the emergence of feminist theory in Europe, debates endure over women’s right and equality in every essential aspect of society. Even though women’s position in society and family has improved, the long period of patriarchal ideology still has its influence, especially in developing countries where the feminist movements were formed later than in Europe. Women in developing countries are still fighting for their rights while many women in developed countries have gained decisive achievements. In addition to that, each culture possesses its own perspective on specific phenomena, and these perspectives differ when we consider complicated issues, such as gender. This study therefore seeks to examine how people in different cultures perceive their gender roles and how their percipience influences their action by analyzing online comments under articles about household chore division in two tabloids. The first tabloid is from Vietnam (www.afamily.vn), a typical developing country; the second one is from Great Britain (www.dailymail.co.uk), one of the leaders of feminist movements. By combining qualitative content analysis by Mayring (2000), the analysis of cultural models as developed by Paul Gee (2008), with a stylistic analysis by Arp & Johnson (2009), and comparative research methods by Brislin (1976) the research not only demonstrates how gender and gender relation are constructed in different cultural contexts but also discloses different conceptions of gender roles in both the Vietnamese and British comments. Apparently, ultimate masculine power in the past still impacts on the conception of gender roles in both Vietnamese and British case and makes men resist sharing domestic chore with women. However, the needs of women are not really a fair share but actually being respected and appreciated by their partner for what they have done.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

The Relationship Between Prostate Volume, Prostate-Specific Antigen and Age in Saudi Men with Benign Prostatic Conditions

Objectives: To assess the relationship between prostate volume (PV), prostate specific antigen (PSA) and age in a cohort of Saudi men from the Urology Department, King Abdul Aziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.Methods: Medical records of 447 Saudi men aged 20-89 years with benign prostatic conditions seen between January 2003 and June 2009, were reviewed, retrospectively. Cases with PSA >10 ng/ml, proven prostate cancer, previous prostate surgery or those who received 5-alpha reductase inhibitors (5-ARIs) were excluded. The study population was categorized into seven successive age groups (20-89 years). The variables of age, PV and PSA were examined. Using mean PV of the 20-29 years age group and mean PSA of the 40-49 years age group as reference points, percentage differences in mean PV and mean PSA in subsequent age groups were determined. A p-valu

Corporate Social Responsibility in Implementing Social Justice for Sustainable Development in Vietnam Today

Social responsibility is one of the issues that has been studied for a long time, but in fact corporate social responsibility activities, besides the achieved aspects, have still had many shortcomings that cause outrage in public opinion such as environmental pollution, counterfeit goods, imitated goods, inferior goods, infringing upon the interests of workers, interests of the State and the people, increasing gap between the rich and the poor, etc. These problems have been causing negative impacts on social life. Therefore, in addition to generalizing some relevant theoretical and practical issues, the article recommends some solutions to further enhance the corporate social responsibility in implementing social justice for sustainable development in Vietnam today. Keywords: justice, sustainability, enterprise, responsibility, society. DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/12-18-03 Publication date:September 30th 202

Binary-Continuous Sum-of-ratios Optimization: Discretization, Approximations, and Convex Reformulations

We study a class of non-convex sum-of-ratios programs which can be used for decision-making in prominent areas such as product assortment and price optimization, facility location, and security games. Such an optimization problem involves both continuous and binary decision variables and is known to be highly non-convex and intractable to solve. We explore a discretization approach to approximate the optimization problem and show that the approximate program can be reformulated as mixed-integer linear or second-order cone programs, which can be conveniently handled by an off-the-shelf solver (e.g., CPLEX or GUROBI). We further establish (mild) conditions under which solutions to the approximate problem converge to optimal solutions as the number of discretization points increases. We also provide approximation abounds for solutions obtained from the approximated problem. We show how our approach applies to product assortment and price optimization, maximum covering facility location, and Bayesian Stackelberg security games and provide experimental results to evaluate the efficiency of our approach

Fungi and some mycotoxins contaminating rice (Oryza Sativa) in Niger State, Nigeria

Study on the fungi and some mycotoxins (Aflatoxin B1 - AFB1, ochratoxin A - OTA and zearalenone -ZEN) contaminating rice (Oryza sativa) in Niger State of Nigeria was carried out. One thousand and sixty two fungi were isolated and identified from one hundred and ninety six mouldy rice samples collected from the state. The major fungal genera contaminating rice were Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium,Alternaria, Mucor, Rhizopus, Trichoderma, Curvularia,  elminthosporium and Cladosporium. The most prevalent fungal species on rice were .Penicillium spp., A. flavus, A. parasiticus, A. niger, Mucor spp.,Rhizopus spp. and Alternaria spp. The commonest fungal contaminants of the dry, harmattan; dry-hot and rainy seasons were A. niger, Penicillium spp. and A. flavus respectively. AFB1 was detected in 97 ofthe samples analyzed at concentrations between 20-1642 ug/kg. Fifty six of the one hundred and forty samples analyzed for OTA contained the toxin (24 – 1164 ug/kg). Zearalenone was found in ninety threeof the one hundred and ninety six mouldy rice samples analyzed at concentrations of between 24 and 1169 ug/kg. Twenty two samples were concurrently contaminated with the three toxins while sevenothers were found to contain both AFB1 and OTA. AFB1 and ZEN occurred together in twelve samples, and eight samples contained both OTA and ZEN

Toxicologic screening of fungi isolated from millet (pennisetum spp) during the rainy and dry harmattan seasons in Niger state, Nigeria

A survey of fungi contaminating mouldy field, stored and marketed millet samples collected during rainy and dry harmattan seasons of the year 2000 from the twenty five local government areas of NigerState, Nigeria, was conducted. Some of the fungal isolates from the two groups of samples were screened for their mycotoxin producing potentials in mice. Aflatoxin B1 content of the rainy season millet samples was determined. Aspergillus niger was the predominant fungi found in millet during the rains. Twelve out of the 49 wet season millet samples were contaminated with AFB1 at concentrations between 1370.28 and 3495.10 ug/kg. Penicillium spp. was the commonest contaminant of millet during the dry harmattan season. Thirty five of the fifty five fungal isolates screened for toxicity were found to produce toxic metabolites that were lethal to mice and were isolates of Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium, Rhizopus, Mucor, Syncephalastrum, and Helminthosporium