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    Examining the role of human perceptions during cetacean stranding response in New Zealand
    (Elsevier Ltd, 2022-11) Stockin KA; Pawley MDM; Jarvis RM; Boys RM
    Cetacean strandings often elicit significant media attention and public engagement. However, how human perceptions of such events may influence decision-making during strandings response is poorly understood. To address this, we undertook an online questionnaire targeting stranding relevant/interested parties in New Zealand, Aotearoa to understand perceptions around stranding events and response. Participants responded to questions and statements using the 5-point Likert scale to explore human perceptions and expectations of intervention, decision-making, animal welfare and survival prognosis during strandings. Responses were analysed based on level of experience and role at stranding events using descriptive and multivariate statistics. A total of 268 respondents completed the questionnaire; most stated that human intervention is necessary to assist animals during strandings. However, 43% of respondents indicated that they did not know what affect intervention may have on the animals. Notably, participants felt that human intervention was more likely to improve survival (26%) than welfare (19%). Importantly, experienced responders appeared more welfare complacent, prioritising survival for strandings response decision-making. Respondents from the legislative agency responsible for strandings in New Zealand, indicated that public sentiment may take precedence over welfare considerations when considering euthanasia. Our results highlight a disjunct between perceptions of welfare and survival, despite these variables being inextricably linked. This may be cause for concern in highly publicised strandings events where management decisions are more likely influenced by public sentiment. Comprehensive animal assessments that are informed both by animal welfare and survival prognoses are required to ensure the best outcomes for stranded cetaceans.
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    Speaking the unspeakable : the construction and presentation of narratives in literary and popular trauma novels : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2014) Greenfield, Sheryl
    Focusing on Purple Hibiscus (2003) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Housekeeping (1980) by Marilynne Robinson, The Secret Life of Bees (2002) by Sue Monk Kidd and Cat’s Eye (1988) by Margaret Atwood, my thesis considers a range of contemporary portrayals of trauma within novels featuring girls or women as autodiegetic narrators. These texts are examined in dialogue with theories of representations of trauma in literature from contemporary trauma critics Roger Luckhurst and Michelle Balaev, theories of memory taken from Paul Antze and Michael Lambek, and readings of clinical psychiatrists Judith Herman Lewis and Lenore Terr. The 1972 work Survival by Margaret Atwood is critical in my interpretations of the protagonists as they attempt to heal from their trauma and become accommodated into society. I commence the thesis with an overview of the history of the medical study of trauma and the complementary study of representations of trauma in literature. Through a study of prominent critic Cathy Caruth’s investigations into Freud, I establish the signs of symptoms of trauma, and their typical presentation in a novel. In the work of contemporary theorists I establish the typical features of a trauma novel; however, I aim to establish that a wider range of techniques is utilized, examining the concepts of narrative closure, psychic integration, temporal disruption, and the reconciliation with flawed maternal and paternal figures. The thesis is structured in four chapters, each examining within a novel the relationship between the types of trauma suffered, the presentation of the traumatic symptoms, and the healing process of the protagonists. Each chapter is structured around a significant relationship, their titles reflective of the faults of the perpetrator of the trauma, for example The Sins of the Father, where analysis of the effects of these flawed relationships takes place. Kambili’s narration in Purple Hibiscus shows the effects of colonisation on the formation of identify; Housekeeping demonstrates the continuing effects of abandonment; The Secret Life of Bees demonstrates the necessity of truth to overcome repressed traumatic memories; and Cat’s Eye demonstrates the ongoing effects of repressed memory on the formation of character. Together these novels form a coherent argument that representations of trauma have become an organising concept for female identity in the late twentieth century.
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    Evaluating disaster education programs for children : a thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Emergency Management at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2014) Johnson, Victoria Anne
    This research aimed to generate new theories on how to evaluate the outcomes and societal impacts of disaster education programs for children. In the last decade, disaster education programs for children have been promoted as an innovative approach to disaster risk reduction, based on several theories about the benefits of these programs. Due to limited research on these programs, widely held assumptions about the relationships between program outcomes and societal improvements in disaster risk reduction remain unchallenged. The thesis uses case studies of evaluations to explore ways to improve the evaluation of disaster education programs for children. To build on previous research, this study began with a methodological review of program evaluations in order to characterize the tradition of evaluation methods. Based on the finding that few evaluations examined program theories, program theory models were developed for two case study evaluations of disaster education programs for children. The first case used quasi-experimental methodology to underpin an impact evaluation of ShakeOut, an earthquake and tsunami drill in two Washington State school districts. The program logic suggested that drills provided children with adequate understanding of protective actions to prevent injuries and deaths during a disaster. The second case used process evaluation to explore the implementation of What’s the Plan, Stan?, a free, voluntary disaster teaching resource distributed to New Zealand primary schools. The process logic suggested that increased promotion of the resource would increase its uptake and use. The case studies revealed that some program theories common to many disaster education programs for children are faulty. The findings of the ShakeOut evaluation suggest school drills, as they are currently practiced, do not teach all children adaptive response skills. The What’s the Plan, Stan? evaluation identified several intervening and deterrent factors influencing the resource’s uptake and use, suggesting increased national promotion of the resource is unlikely to increase its use. In both case studies, the application of theory-based evaluation methods helped to articulate unknown influencing factors and develop meaningful and feasible outcome indicators for both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Ongoing research is needed to refine outcome indicators of programs’ societal impacts.
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    Success and risk factors in the pre-startup phase
    (Springer, 2006) Van Gelderen, Marco; Thurik, Roy; Bosma, Niels
    Why does one person actually succeed in starting a business, while a second person gives up? In order to answer this question, a sample of 517 nascent entrepreneurs (people in the process of setting up a business) was followed over a three-year period. After this period, it was established that 195 efforts were successful and that 115 startup efforts were abandoned. Our research focuses on estimating the relative importance of a variety of approaches and variables in explaining pre-startup success. These influences are organized in terms of Gartner's (1985) framework of new venture creation. This framework suggests that start-up efforts differ in terms of the characteristics of the individual(s) who start the venture, the organization that they create, the environment surrounding the new venture, and the process by which the new venture is started. Logistic regression analyses are run for the sample as a whole as well as for subgroups within the sample, namely for those with high ambition vs. low ambition and for those with substantial vs. limited experience. The results point to the importance of perceived risk of the market as a predictor of getting started vs. abandoning the startup effort.