An exploratory study of final grades awarded to bachelor with honours and masters students : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

This study explores the final grades awarded to Bachelor with honours and Masters students in New Zealand universities from 1960 to 1989 as a function of students' gender, the university attended, the degree completed, and the subject studied. These grades were also compared with the grades awarded to Bachelor with honours students in England and Wales from 1974 to 1989. Chi-square test statistics were used to measure the significance of these relationships. In New Zealand women were awarded significantly more first class degrees than men. In England and Wales men were awarded significantly more first class degrees than women. Science students were awarded a higher percentage of first class degrees than other students in both New Zealand and England and Wales. In New Zealand Bachelor with honours students were awarded first class degrees more frequently than Masters students. Political and historical developments, the nature of the grading procedures used, and institutional and departmental variance provide partial explanation for some of the results. It is clear that no single factor is responsible for these variations in degree performance, but rather a complex interaction of several factors. It is concluded that in New Zealand and England and Wales, gender, university, the degree undertaken, and the subject studied, all have an effect on the final grade a student is awarded

On Forgiveness

On Forgiveness is a young woman\u27s thoughts on forgiveness - of the self and of others - based on several key moments in her life. Told through a series of memories, the essay wrestles with the power of forgiveness and how it can be misunderstood in difficult moments

Soil carbon stocks in a Sitka spruce chronosequence following afforestation

peer-reviewedIncreasing concentrations ofCO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are leading to concern worldwide due to their contribution to the greenhouse effect. As the body of evidence supporting the need for change from a carbon rich economy/society becomes stronger, international mitigation agreements require high quality and precise information. Following the Kyoto Protocol and EU agreements to reduce carbon production, countries could utilise default values or comparable international data to calculate their carbon budgets. Initially, approximations were successful for generating a guide to a national carbon stock for reporting GHG inventories to the UNFCCC (Tier 1 ). However, now that the second phase of the Kyoto protocol is running until 2020, greater accuracy is essential and, where possible, nationally specific information is increasingly required (Tier 3, UNFCCC). Forestry and forest soils are seen as a key component in the carbon cycle and depending on their management, can mitigate or contribute to GHG emissions. Litter and soil organic matter (SOM) are two of the major carbon pools required for reporting under LULUCF. In this study, stocks of SOM and litter were recorded along a chronosequence of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.) on wet mineral gley soil. Over a 47-year period, the rate of soil carbon sequestration was found to be 1 .83 t C ha−1 yr−1 . Soil microbial biomass was used to estimate highly active SOM. The mineral soils were also fractionated in a density separation procedure to identify light and heavy SOM pools. These estimates can now be used to model carbon budgets of this most common soil type currently under forestry in Ireland.The Irish National Council for Forest Research and Development provided funding for this work as part of the CARBiFOR research project