Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-119). Also available in print.

M.A. (Afrikaans) / The women's liberation movement, which had its origins in the seventies, produced a number of intellectuals who have been actively campaigning for the eradication of sexism in especially the American society ever since. In terms of this movement, language is deemed to provide the very paradigm within which gender inequality is set to flourish unchecked. One of the principal aims of the movement is, therefore, to eliminate all grammatical forms in terms of which women, trapped in a traditionally male-dominated world, are being ignored, slighted, degraded and stereotyped. Soon, several publishers started introducing and organising women's study series and workshops on sexism at conferences on language and sociology. In the wake of that, a great number of publications, in which language inequalities are scientifically described, have appeared already. In addition, many articles and books were published in which guide-lines were laid down for the avoidance of sexist lexical items in the English language, which has since gained the unfortunate distinction of being labelled the most sexist language. The emphasis in the present study will, however, not fall on the ideology underlying the women's liberation movement, but on the many publications on language sexisms that had been prompted by it. Language planning and change naturally play a crucial part in all publicatlons on language sexisms. The general sociolinguistic supposition about language change is that it is prompted by change in the social structure of a society. The advocates of the development of a non-sexist language, however, appeal to the Whorf hypothesis, in terms of which the language structure of a society is deemed to reflect and facilitate its world view. According to the champions of the said hypothesis, however, the reverse of this argument should also hold good, namely that a change in the language structure of a society should bring about an inevitable change in its world view. On the strength of the latter hypothesis, alternatives are suggested for all sexist lexical items, so that v the new-found non-sexist language could help society to create a non-sexist social structure. A definition of the term language sexism has been formulated in the present study, based on the conclusions reached in research articles. The conclusion drawn is that the term sexism could only be applied in respect of language usage relating to women. Although feminists have even coined such phrases as male chauvinist pig, the literature that was taken into study (with the possible exception of that generated by Hauptfleisch, 1989), made no mention whatsoever of the possibility that male terms' could also be considered sexist. Current research projects and existing publications on language sexisms are mainly in English. With the exception of Liebenberg (1976), the few existing research studies in Afrikaans deal with specific topics, such as sexisms in translation practice or teaching material. In the present study, however, the researcher has endeavoured to describe the specific nature of those sexisms found in the Afrikaans lexicon.

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The aim of this study was two-fold: 1) what the hammer throwing technique differences between sexes are and 2) what technique parameters help determine throw distance. The performances of the top 16 male and female throwers at the 2003 World Athletic Final and the top 13 male and female throwers from the 2003 USA Track and Field Nationals were examined. Video was captured using three Canon 60 Hz cameras. The best throws of each athlete were digitized and analyzed using the Peak Motus 8.2 motion analysis system. T-tests revealed that athlete mass, athlete height, velocity at release, timing components, and centripetal force were different between sexes. The separation between the shoulders and hips and between the shoulders and the hammer at particular positions during the throw, radius changes at certain phases of the throw, and generation of large centripetal forces helped determine throwing distance. Performance would be aided by working on the development of centripetal force, the magnitude of radius changes, the separation that occurs between the shoulders and hips, and the separation between the shoulders and hammer.

Background: Cognitive reserve (CR) has been associated with better cognitive function and lower risk of dementia in older people, yet it remains unclear whether sex moderates the association between CR and cognition. This study aims to identify whether sex influences both the relationships between brain-cognition and how CR proxies moderate the brain-cognition relationship. Materials and Methods: Complete data on the measures of CR, education, occupation, and cognition were available for 189 healthy individuals aged 60 to 71 years (105 men and 84 women). Multiple linear regression models were used to investigate the potential effect of sex and CR proxies on the association between the brain and cognition measures. Results: The results highlighted differences in speed/attention for males compared to females at high education and high occupational complexity. No significant sex differences in brain measures were observed in meanPutamen, meanCaudate, and meanHippocampal volume. Conclusion/Significance: Traditional reserve contributors are influenced by gender and may be a result of different social determinants among men and women. Both sex-specific risk and protective factors for cognitive decline trajectories are critical for advancing knowledge for individualized interventions.

Note:

In 2002 the number of reported nonfatal injury and illness cases in the construction industry involving days away from work was over 98,000 for European-Americans (non Hispanic) and 26,000 for Hispanics. Disproportionate to the number of injury and illness cases, the construction industry is comprised of 68% European-Americans, 7% African-Americans and 23% Hispanics (BLS, 2004a). Based on the expected increase in employment of construction laborers and the increase in the number of injuries and fatalities among specific ethnic groups, a need exists to study disparities across cultural groups to determine the basis for injury and fatality differences between these ethnic groups. The purpose of this research was to contribute to the literature, an effective method for predicting the risk judgments of laborers employed by small construction firms. Predicting the risk judgments of laborers will assist in developing training programs to address these risk factors, which ultimately will reduce injury and fatality rates. Thirty-six construction laborers , 18 European-American and 18 Hispanic, were recruited for the research. Both ethnic groups were divided into two groups; the control and experimental groups. The control groups viewed a generic concrete construction video and the experimental groups viewed a People-Based Safety video. Each of the participants completed a demographic form, questionnaires, and the narrative simulations (pre-test). Following the narrative simulations the participants rated the narrative simulations, watched a video designated by group, and completed the narrative simulations (post-test). The narrative simulations were used to assess their ability to make risk judgments based on the information presented in the video. The questionnaires completed measured various individual differences, and were administered to detect confounding factors that may not be directly attributed to ethnicity. These questionnaires included: Phinney's (1992) Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure, Leonard, Hill, and Karners' (1989) Risk Perception Scale, Janicak's (1996) Accident Locus of Control Scale, Rooney and Osipow's (1992) Self-efficacy Measure, and Zohar's (1980) Safety Climate Measure. Participant prior exposure to incidents as well as experience in the construction industry was also included. These measures were used to determine if differences in risk perception, locus of control, experience, acculturation, incident exposure, education, self-efficacy, and safety climate had an influence on the ability to make safe risk judgments. Information on topics construction laborers would like included in safety training as well as the preferred method of training was obtained through the use of focus groups. Eleven participants from the experimental group were recruited for the focus groups; 5 European Americans and 6 Hispanics. One focus group was conducted for each ethnic group. Six hypotheses were tested in this study: (1) there would be no difference in the risk judgments of European-American and Hispanic construction workers when given a choice of language, (2) more experienced construction workers would have more difficulty making safe judgments, (3) construction workers who have had more experience with safety related critical incidents in the workplace would have more difficulty making safe judgments, (4) construction workers who have lower levels of risk perception would have more difficulty making safe judgments, (5) construction workers who have an internal locus of control would have more difficulty making safe judgments than those who have an external locus of control, and (6) high acculturation participants would score higher on the narrative simulations than low acculturation participants following the video intervention. The first and fourth hypotheses were supported by the research. There were no significant differences found between the risk judgments of European-American and Hispanic construction workers, and risk perception was positively correlated to risk judgments. The remaining hypotheses were not supported by the research. The major findings of the research are (1) there were no differences in the risk judgments of European-American and Hispanic construction laborers, (2) risk perception and safety climate were significant predictors of construction laborer risk judgments, and (3) the risk judgments of participants were significantly higher for individuals viewing a People-based Safety intervention. There are several advantages of having this information. First, the lack of differences between the two ethnic groups, demonstrates that both groups are able to make safe risk judgments when given the appropriate information in the correct form and language. Secondly, regression analysis using independent variables risk perception and safety climate, may be used to predict narrative simulation risk judgments. The positive relationship between risk perception and safety climate on safe risk judgments should encourage employers and trainers to increase employees' awareness of hazards on the job and increase employees' perception of the company safety climate. Hazards should be identified in addition to their consequences. Trainers should aim to increase workers' perception of risk by relying on past negative outcomes that have a personal nature even if they are infrequent events. Third, experience was positively correlated to participants' confidence in their risk judgments on the narrative simulations. Trainers should not exclude the more experienced employees during training. Continuous training will allow more experienced employees to re-familiarize themselves with old hazards and become aware of new hazards. It is just as important for more experienced employees to be updated on risks because they are more confident in how they react to hazardous situations. It is in the best interest of the company for the confident employees to be confident in safe risk judgments. / Master of Science

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