published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Public Health

by Sylvia Chun Mei Chan. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-114). / Abstract also in Chinese. / Chapter I. --- CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter i) --- Research Problems / Chapter ii) --- Rationale of the Research / Chapter iii) --- Objectives / Chapter II. --- CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.11 / Chapter i) --- Generalized Female Vulnerability Thesis / Chapter ii) --- Biological Factor / Chapter iii) --- Cultural Factor / Chapter iv) --- Motivational Factor / Chapter v) --- Situational Factor / Chapter III. --- CHAPTER THREE: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK --- p.33 / Chapter i) --- The First Model / Chapter ii) --- The Second Model / Chapter iii) --- The Third Model / Chapter IV. --- CHAPTER FOUR: DATA AND METHOD --- p.51 / Chapter i) --- Sample and Data Collection / Chapter ii) --- Measurements of Variables / Chapter iii) --- Profile of Respondents / Chapter ix) --- Analytical Strategy / Chapter V. --- CHAPTER FIVE: ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION --- p.65 / Chapter i) --- The Whole Sample / Chapter ii) --- The Current Drinkers Sample / Chapter VI. --- CHAPTER SIX: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION --- p.81 / Chapter i) --- Implications of the Results / Chapter ii) --- Limitations of the Study / Chapter iii) --- Suggestions for Future Research / Chapter iv) --- Social Reflection / Chapter VII. --- BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.105 / Chapter VIII. --- FIGURES --- p.i-vi / Chapter IX. --- TABLES --- p.vii-xxiv

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

This thesis focuses on the ways in which ‘underachievement' is constituted for boys identified as ‘underachieving' at Stone Acre, a non-selective school in a selective Local Authority in England. It explores how performance pressures, the school processes of the curriculum, selective grouping practices and teachers' understandings of gender all shape boys' experiences of learning. It argues that these layers also interconnect with school type and ethos. In seeking to bring these less visible readings of the policy frameworks and school level processes by which gendered learning outcomes occur, to the surface, this study contributes to the debate around boys' ‘underachievement' in the English school system. The research was conducted as a case study and adopted elements of an ethnographic approach. It is grounded in the work of Connell (2012, p.1677) who understands masculinities as being continuously produced in interaction with social structures and the body as encountering ‘gender regimes'. Data were gathered through a five-stage process that involved paired interviews with six boys in Year 10 (age 15) and identified at the start of the research as ‘underachieving' against the key performance benchmark: attainment at GCSE level. Additional data were collected from other sources including observations of the boys during lessons and individual interviews with eleven teachers. A key conclusion of the study was that boys identified as ‘underachieving' against key performance indicators are not learning in a gender-neutral space. Some teachers were found to have essentialist understandings of masculinities that were powerful in shaping the spaces in which the boys learned. Accountability pressures were identified as having contributed to the creation of a regulatory system that shaped the practices of teachers in both positive and negative ways. Stone Acre's school ethos and school-based approaches to teaching and learning were also found to have mitigated the boys from some of these pressures. Looking beyond the boys towards the system within which boys identified as ‘underachieving' experience their learning, this thesis demonstrates the complex, shifting and contextualised nature of the factors involved and the need for more structural readings of these.

No description available.

Previous route description experiments conducted by psychologists show there are differences between males and females in the use of landmarks when describing routes. Previous research has shown that females used landmarks and egocentric forms of turn descriptors more often than males for route descriptions. This method is known as route knowledge in the spatial knowledge literature. Males, conversely, were seen to use fewer landmarks and more cardinal direction descriptions and standard distances when describing routes. Spatial knowledge literature terms this method survey knowledge. The current experiment tested the hypothesis that sex is not the determinant of landmark usage for route descriptions but different cartographic methods depicting the same locale determine whether landmarks are described. Two quasi-experiments were conducted using different map types. Results of the experiments show that map type, not sex, influences landmark usage for route descriptions. / 10000-01-01

Visual and metric analysis both provide accepted methods for sex determination in humans. Visual ascertainment uses differing morphological traits in males and females to establish sex. Researchers have continually sought accurate methods of sexing long bones when skulls or pelves are absent or fragmented. These long bone elements may not have sexually distinct characteristics, but tend to survive in the field quite well. Metric analysis depends on size dimorphism between males and females to correctly assign sex. Metric methods fail where the sexes overlap or when skeletal elements cannot be assigned to their correct biological population. Under these conditions, visual ascertainment is extremely useful. It relies on descriptive features, not size, to interpret the shape variations between male and female elements. For example, physiological soft tissue variations in the "carrying angle'" of the arm at the humero-radioulnar junction are known to be sexually dimorphic; therefore, the hard tissue features of the distal humerus also should be sexually dimorphic. I observed six distinct visual characteristics of the distal humerus to determine sex in a blind study conducted on 649 individuals sampled from diverse biological populations. In addition to visual assessment, I collected four humeral measurements to determine whether quantitative analysis would be a better indicator of sex than non-metric analysis. I used nonparametric statistical methods to examine· the significance of each morphological feature and its relationship to known sex. All characteristics showed a high association with sex, and the relationships between sex and each characteristic were statistically strong. The final predictive quality of this method was 84% regardless of population; I concluded that my visual method is a dependable sex predictor among diverse populations. Every biological group varied considerably in size dimensions, but exhibited common morphological features of the distal humerus. This confirms that visual techniques provide accurate results regardless of biological affiliation. In many cases, visual assessment was as accurate or more accurate than metric analysis. Therefore, the distal humerus and its unique physical features provide an alternative method to previously used quantitative techniques in the determination of sex.

There were three underlying purposes to this study: 1) To test the main effect of gender on work -> family and family -> work conflict; 2) To re-examine the predictors of inter-role conflict used by Frone, Russell, and Cooper (1992) (i.e., job involvement, job stress, family involvement, and family stress); and 3) To investigate the importance of using personality characteristics as predictors of how individuals deal with inter-role conflict. A questionnaire was assembled, consisting of: a work -> family conflict spillover scale, a family -> work conflict spillover scale, a job involvement scale, a family involvement scale, a job stressors scale, a family stressors scale, and two sub-scales from the California Psychological Inventory (i.e., the Managerial Potential scale and the Work Orientation scale) . Questionnaires were completed by 134 employees of a civil service agency. Results indicated that gender was not a significant predictor of either work -> family or family ->work conflict. Job stress was found to be a significant predictor of both work -> family, and family ->work conflict. Where as family stress was found to be a significant predictor of family -> work conflict only. Job involvement was found to be a significant predictor of work -> family conflict for managers only. When all predictors were assessed simultaneously, Work Orientation was the only variable found to be a significant predictor of work -> family conflict. The results from this study clarify and add to Frone, Russell, and Cooper's (1992) study of the work-family interface.

The Cache County Study on Memory in Aging (CCSMA) is a longitudinal population-based study which took place in Cache County, Utah. The study followed 5092 older-adult residents (aged 65+) for approximately 12 years to examine risk and protective factors for dementia. Participants completed dementia screening and follow-up assessments across four triennial visits. Additionally, researchers gathered information regarding demographics, reproductive history (e.g. age of menopause; hormone replacement therapy [HRT]) and other health-related factors, such as physical activity. Genotyping of DNA was completed for a genetic variation of genes for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein found in the brain associated with neuronal health and survival. Estrogen has been associated with cognitive health and has been shown to interact with BDNF in the brain to promote neuronal survival. The current research investigated the associations between estrogen, BDNF, and cognitive decline in older adult women from the CCSMA. An examination of how reproductive history, including the reproductive window (age of menarche to menopause) and use of HRT, affects the cognitive health of women in older adulthood can provide a clearer understanding of how estrogen exposure across the lifespan contributes to cognition in late life. This research can be helpful in determining the implications of events such as pregnancy, breastfeeding, surgical menopause and use of HRT on cognitive decline. Additionally, an investigation of how these reproductive factors interact with BDNF genetics is important to understand gene-by-environment interactions. The results of the current project demonstrated that increased lifelong estrogen exposure, both in the form of the reproductive window and HRT use, had small cognitive benefits for women in late life. Additionally, it was shown that women who initiated HRT use closer to menopause had increased cognitive status compared to those who initiated later. The specific BDNF gene under investigation was not associated with cognitive status in late life, neither was the interaction between BDNF and lifetime estrogen exposure. This research contributes to the discussion of sex-dependent factors of cognitive health and can help provide a better understanding late life cognitive decline.

No description available.