Safety attitudes in New Zealand forestry : a thesis presented to Massey University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology

This study examines the attitudes towards safety, held by workers, contractors, supervisors, and managers employed in the New Zealand forest industry. The study follows the framework offered by Purdham (1984, cited in Cox & Cox, 1991), which divides safety attitudes into safety hardware, safety software, people, and risk. After a review of the literature relating to these object areas, attitudes, and safety, a safety attitude questionnaire that was developed specifically for the study is described. The questionnaire was administered to 465 people working in the forest industry. The results suggested that the structure provided by Purdham, as well as Cox and Cox (1991) is not entirely apparent, however it can be used to evaluate safety attitudes. Attitudes towards safety hardware were very positive although a number of workers were unaware of the benefits of more recently developed personal protective equipment. Attitudes towards safety software were slightly negative. Many workers were unaware of safety policies and the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, and were of the opinion that there was conflict between safety and other job demands. With regards to people, all groups surveyed had very good attitudes towards responsibility, and realised the importance of safety. Attitudes towards risk were reasonable, but knowledge of objective risk was poor. Results also suggested that the safety climate is rather negative, with many workers not believing that management or their work-mates were committed to safety. Management were also of the opinion that workers would not believe they were committed to safety. The survey found no relationship between individual attitudes and accident involvement. Training, education, and experience were also unrelated to accident involvement. Finally, management appear to be making attribution errors with regards to the cause of accidents. The implications of these findings for the forest industry, and safety research are discussed

Realism and the language dependence of the external world : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Philosophy at Massey University

This Thesis falls loosely into 2 Parts. In Part 1 (Chs. 1-4) a certain version of the view generally called "Realism" is put forward. This Realism is a view that can take either of two forms, one weak or soft, the other hard or strong. The first form states that there is an external world, which we experience and which influences language. The second form states that there is an external world, which is mirrored in consciousness and which is also mirrored in language. That is, the contents of consciousness and the contents of language correspond exactly to an absolute external world. This second stronger version (which I call "Metaphysical Realism") is refuted in Chapters 2-4. Refuting it, however, still leaves us with the first view intact. In the rest of the thesis I argue that this first weaker version of Realism is essentially correct. This is because: a. Objects do indeed exist. (Ch. 5) b. At least part of what we do when we say we see X is refer to a genuine experience of X. (Chs 6 & 7) c. In a certain sense the world is known non-linguistically. (Ch. 8) The final chapter, Ch. 9, is designed to show how language influences what might loosely be called the "External World". Hence we end up with a genuine "Realism" which is yet in a sense "language dependent", for this "real world" is formed by language which then reports on the world so formed

Pastor and People: The Holy Ministry and the Ministries

(Excerpt) I have problems with the theme of this Institute, Church and Ministry . It is the and that troubles me. From that theme one would possibly infer that the church has a ministry, and that we have and in some sense are had by that ministry. I\u27m intrigued by the work of Stanley Hauerwas, a brilliant ethicist at Notre Dame. Hauerwas says that the church does not have a social ethic: the church is a social ethic. Similarly instead of the church and ministry, I would like to explore the possibility of the church as ministry, because the church is ministry

Broken glass as an injury hazard in the Indigenous community of Cherbourg

The research to identify measures to prevent glass-sourced injury is one target of an injury prevention and safety promotion project in Cherbourg, a 1200 resident community 250 kilometres north-west of Brisbane. Funded by Health Promotion Queensland and the Queensland Injury Prevention Council, the Cherbourg Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Project (CIPSPP) was established in 2008. Five areas were identified for action, one of which was the environment, in which there was a specific interest in broken glass litter. Exact data on glass-sourced injury were poor as records from the public hospital, the Aboriginal Medical Service clinic or school-based laceration clinic did not specify cause or location of injury. However the volume of anecdotal evidence backed by community concerns about glass as a cause of injury has resulted in focused activities to reduce litter and prevent injury. The broken glass project has three principal objectives of determining the extent of the problem, devising workable strategies within the local context and assessing the outcome and impact following implementation of those strategies. Determining the extent of the problem was supported by Photovoice, undertaken by the local school children, community survey and interview with community members, health service providers and other stakeholders. Photovoice, in which the school children captured over 100 photographs of potential injury hazards in the community, identified the principal area of interest, glass litter. Fifty three survey respondents and 20 interviewees revealed the perception of glass litter being an increasing problem which was exacerbated by a number of factors including lack of garbage collection and decline in social responsibility in particular by youth. A number of strategies were designed and implemented that dovetail into the overall safety and injury prevention plan. A Council-driven alcohol management plan has contributed to reducing the amount of glass in the community. This has been supported by a community clean-up campaign and a resumption of a household garbage collection service. Rubbish bins have been purchased and located in high traffic areas. Education is a key component of the strategy and a poster competition was initiated as part of the litter awareness and education campaign. Glass as the cause of injury to humans and animals, the unattractiveness of litter and the benefits of wearing shoes were the foci of the poster competition. The five winning posters were generated into an anti-litter message for the community

The genetical examination of 'Grasslands Ariki' ryegrass Lolium ((multiflorum x perenne) x perenne) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Science in Plant Science

'Grasslands Ariki' ryegrass - Lolium [(multiflorum x perenne) x perenne] - has been established in New Zealand as a successful pasture variety. While some genetic parameters were determined during its breeding programme, no diallel cross analyses have been performed on 'Ariki'. It was for this reason that this particular experiment was suggested to me. The inclusion of two treatments arose from a cynical remark passed by W. Harris, regarding the failure on the part of plant breeders to use simulated swards. The experiment was designed to determine the levels of genotype-by-environment interaction in 'Ariki' ryegrass. [FROM INTRODUCTION

Spatial Representation, Reasoning and Control for a Surveillance System

A Dissertation submitted to the University of London in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosoph

Radioimmunoassay and immunocytochemical studies on the recovery of pineal innervation and function following unilateral denervation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in physiology at Massey University

PLEASE NOTE Page 106 is missing from the original copyThe sympathetic noradrenergic neurons of the superior cervical ganglia provide the major source of innervation to the pineal gland Studies described in this thesis were designed to further investigate the initial decline and subsequent recovery of pineal melatonin secretory capacity which has been reported in sheep after unilateral superior cervical ganglionectomy (Lapwood. 1993). Further to that, the compensatory mechanism proposed by Dornay, et al(1985), of re-innervation of denervated tissue by residual nerve fibres originating from the intact SCG, was investigated Melatonin sceretory capacity is advocated as a superior index of pineal function with direct measurement of pineal output Radioimmunoassay was used to measure dark period plasma levels of melatonin prior to and at 1,3,7, 14. 21 and 28 days after unilateral SCGX. Initial response to partial denervation was a reduction in secretory capacity by 80% of pre-operative levels, followed by a linear recovery to pre-operative levels at 21 days after surgery, which was sustained at 28days. Immunocytochemical localization of GAP-43 determined that nerve regeneration occurs in the pineal gland as a reponse to unilateral SCGX GAP-43 in nerve fibres was most prominent at 3 days after surgery after which followed a linear decline to pre-operative levels in measurements taken at 28 days. An association between nerve terminals and the membranes of pinealocytes was observed at 28 days, suggesting those cells were the target of new nerve growth. The presence of nerve growth maturity corresponded with the recovery in pineal function and for this reason the compensatory mechanism of re-innervation is reasoned to be responsible for that recovery. Immunocytochemical localization of alpha tubulin established the presence of that component of microtubules in the cytoplasm of pinealocytes, where it is suggested to function in ihe process of hormone secretion. No variance in the presence of alpha tubulin was measured in any treatment group indicating that cell integrity was maintained and that atrophy did not occur, despite partial denervation. The findings of this study have confirmed a role for re-innervation in the full recovery of pineal melatonin secretory capacity after unilateral SCGX and has demonstrated that the SCG-pineal complex is a very useful model for future studies correlating nerve growth and functional regeneration