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Subject: search.filters.subject.16 Studies in Human Society

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 24
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    When veiled silences speak: Reflexivity, trouble and repair as methodological tools for interpreting the unspoken in discourse-based data
    (SAGE Publications (UK and US), 2014-12) Morison T; Macleod C
    Researchers who have attempted to make sense of silence in data have generally considered literal silences or such things as laughter. We consider the analysis of veiled silences where participants speak, but their speaking serves as ‘noise’ that ‘veils’, or masks, their inability or unwillingness to talk about a (potentially sensitive) topic. Extending Lisa Mazzei’s ‘problematic of silence’ by using our performativity–performance analytical method, we propose the purposeful use of ‘unusual conversational moves’, the deployment of researcher reflexivity and the analysis of trouble and repair as methods to expose taken-for-granted normative frameworks in veiled silences. We illustrate the potential of these research practices through reference to our study on men’s involvement in reproductive decision-making, in which participants demonstrated an inability to engage with the topic. The veiled silence that this produced, together with what was said, pointed to the operation of procreative heteronormativity.
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    Sleep health in later life: Interviews exploring experiences, attitudes and behaviours of older people
    (Cambridge University Press, 21/04/2022) Crestani F; Williams G; Breheny M; Tupara H; Cunningham C; Gander P; Gibson R
    Sleep is vital for health and wellbeing across the lifecourse. Ethnic differences have been observed with regards to the prevalence and predictors of self-reported sleep problems. An understanding of sleep experiences with ageing and across ethnicities is required to better support older people. Open-ended interviews were conducted with 23 people living in Aotearoa/New Zealand aged 61-92 years (12 MAori and 11 non-MAori) concerning current sleep status, changes over their lifecourse and personal strategies for supporting good sleep. Participants typically expressed satisfaction with current sleep (usually pertaining to duration) or feelings that sleep was compromised (usually pertaining to waking function). Comparisons to a socially perceived 'ideal' sleep were common, with sleep transitions presented as a gradual and accepted part of ageing. Participants resisted medicalising sleep disruptions in older age. While participants were aware of ways to enhance their sleep, many acknowledged engaging in practices that undermined it. Unique insights from some MA ori participants indicated that sleep disruptions were not so readily pathologised compared to Western views and that sleeplessness could provide opportunity for cultural or spiritual connection. Common narratives underpinning the themes were: 'You don't need as much sleep when you're older', 'Sleep just fits in' and 'Having the time of my life'. Findings provide personal experiences and cultural interpretations relating to sleep and ageing. This provides the foundation for future participatory research to co-design sleep health messages which are meaningful for ageing well across ethnicities.
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    The limits of satire, or the reification of cultural politics
    (SAGE Publications, 15/02/2023) Holm N
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    Estimating direct N2O emissions from sheep, beef, and deer grazed pastures in New Zealand hill country: accounting for the effect of land slope on N2O emission factors from urine and dung
    (Elsevier, 2015-03) Saggar SK; Giltrap DL; Davison R; Gibson R; de Klein CAM; Rollo M; Ettema P; Rys G
    Nearly one-half of New Zealand's ruminant livestock graze on hill country pastures where spatial differences in soil conditions are highly variable and excretal deposition is influenced by pasture production, animal grazing and resting behaviour that impact the nitrous oxide (N2O) emission factor from excreta (EF3). New Zealand currently uses country-specific EF3 values for urine and dung of 0.01 and 0.0025, respectively, to estimate direct N2O emissions from excreta. These values have largely been developed from trials on flat pastoral land. The use of the same EF3 for hill pasture with medium and steep slopes has been recognised as a possible source of overestimation of N2O emissions in New Zealand. The objectives of this study were to develop and describe an approach that takes into account the effects of slope in estimating hill country N2O emissions from the dung and urine of ruminant animals (sheep, beef cattle, and deer) across different slope classes, and then compare these estimates with current New Zealand inventory estimates. We use New Zealand as a case study to determine the direct N2O emissions between 1990 and 2012 from sheep, beef cattle and deer excreta using updated estimates of EF3 for sloping land, the area of land in different slope classes by region and farm type, and a nutrient transfer model to allocate excretal-N to the different slope classes, and compare the changes between these hill pastures-specific and current inventory estimates. Our findings are significant - the proposed new methodology using New Zealand specific EFs calculated from a national series of hill country experiments resulted in 52% lower N2O estimates relative to using current inventory emission factors, for the period between 1990 and 2012 and reduces New Zealand's total national agricultural N2O greenhouse inventory estimates by 16%. The improved methodology is transparent, and complete, and has improved accuracy of emission estimates. On this basis, the improved methodology of estimating N2O emission is recommended for adoption where hill land grasslands are grazed by sheep, beef cattle and deer.
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    Transformation and time-out: The role of alcohol in identity construction among Scottish women in early midlife
    (Elsevier, 2015) Emslie C; Hunt K; Lyons AC
    Despite the increase in drinking by women in early midlife, little alcohol research has focused on this group. We explore how alcohol is associated with the construction of gender identities among women aged 30-50 years in the west of Scotland, United Kingdom. We draw on qualitative data from 11 focus groups (five all-female, six mixed-sex) with pre-existing groups of friends and work colleagues in which women and men discuss their drinking behaviours. Analysis demonstrated how alcohol represented a time and space away from paid and unpaid work for women in a range of domestic circumstances, allowing them to relax and unwind. While women used alcohol to construct a range of identities, traditional notions of femininity remained salient (e.g. attention to appearance, drinking 'girly' drinks). Drinking enabled women to assert their identity beyond the roles and responsibilities often associated with being a woman in early midlife. For example, some respondents with young children described the transformative effects of excessive drinking which allowed them to return temporarily to a younger, carefree version of themselves. Thus, our data suggest that women's drinking in early midlife revolves around notions of 'idealised' femininity but simultaneously represents a way of achieving 'time out' from traditional female responsibilities such as caring for others. We consider these findings within a broader social and cultural context including alcohol marketing, domestic roles and motherhood and their implications for health promotion.
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    Extent of E-Procurement Use in SMEs: A Descriptive Study
    (Elsevier, 31/12/2014) Hassan H; Tretiakov A; Whiddett RJ; Adon I
    Although e-procurement is a complex practice, a number of existing studies, however, simplified the representation of the state of e-procurement in an organization to a binary measure. Although this is helpful to understand adoption decisions, it does not completely capture the reach and richness of the use of information technology (IT) innovations. Hence, this study explores the extent of e-procurement use in New Zealand, focusing specifically on the range of e-procurement functionalities used in the manufacturing SMEs. The e-procurement functionalities are seen from the information and transaction perspectives. A crosssectional survey is used as a methodology for data collection. The SPSS software is used to analyse the data gathered from the 151 senior managers. Our results demonstrate that all of the functionalities, especially those that rely on commonly available technologies, are in use. Nonetheless, complex e-procurement technologies, such as e-auctions, are not common.
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    Motivation in humanitarian health workers: A self-determination theory perspective
    (Routledge, 2011) Tassell N; Flett RA
    This paper emerged from the authors' interest in why humanitarian health workers initially engage and remain in humanitarian work, often in the face of threats to safety and personal well-being. Semi-structured qualitative interviews assessed the consciously available reasons why individuals engaged in humanitarian health work. Interview data was unpacked through a thematic analysis. Using self-determination theory as a guiding framework, data suggested introjected and identified motivations are applicable to this occupational domain. Introjected motivation is implicated in initial reasons to engage the work, while identified motivation is implicated in reasons to continue. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
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    Environmental input-output analysis of the New Zealand dairy industry
    (Inderscience Enterprises Ltd., 2/01/2012) Flemmer CL; Nepomuceno-Silo, J
    This work presents data and analysis quantifying the total (direct and indirect) resource use and outputs (products and pollutants) of the New Zealand dairy industry for the year April 1997 to March 1998. It also identifies those sectors supplying the dairy industry which make significant indirect contributions to its total inputs and outputs. Although this data is 14 years old, it is the only large-scale, detailed data available. Further, more modern data can be compared with this baseline data. Comparison with the other major New Zealand food and fibre sectors shows that the dairy farming sector has the highest total water consumption and the highest total effluent. It also has high total land use, electricity use and production of animal methane. The dairy processing sector is water and fuel intensive and has high total water effluent and greenhouse gas emissions. The high resource use and pollutants have to be weighed against the enormous economic value of the dairy sectors.
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    Political ecology, privation and sustainable livelihoods in northern Thailand's national parks
    (University of Arizona, 2020) Pongchiewboon A; Farrelly T; Hytten K; Holland J
    National parks provide a wide range of ecological, social and economic benefits. However, in some cases the establishment of national parks has also led to the displacement of Indigenous people, the disruption of their livelihoods, and ongoing social conflict. Northern Thailand's national parks are home to approximately one million Indigenous people. Balancing the interests and needs of national park authorities with those of Indigenous communities within and adjacent to these parks poses significant challenges. This article employs qualitative research methods to assess the livelihood strategies of six Indigenous hill tribe communities residing within three national parks in Northern Thailand. Due to the criminalization of the traditional farming systems and restrictions imposed on land use, these communities have had to adapt their livelihood practices to survive. Our findings suggest that communities remain in a state of flux and are continually adapting to changing circumstances. It is argued that greater community empowerment and participation in collaborative decision making is crucial to strengthen both sustainable livelihoods and environmental conservation efforts within Northern Thailand's national parks.
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    Ministerial advisers and the politics of policy-making: Bureaucratic permanence and popular control
    (Blackwell, 2007) Eichbaum C; Shaw RH
    The advent of ministerial advisers of the partisan variety - a third element interposing itself into Westminster's bilateral monopoly - has been acknowledged as a significant development in a number of jurisdictions. While there are commonalities across contexts, the New Zealand experience provides an opportunity to explore the extent to which the advent of ministerial advisers is consistent with rational choice accounts of relations between political and administrative actors in executive government. Public administration reform in New Zealand since the mid 1980s - and in particular machinery of government design - was quite explicitly informed by rational choice accounts, and normative Public Choice in particular. This article reflects on the role of ministerial advisers in the policy-making process and, on the basis of assessments by a variety of political and policy actors, examines the extent to which the institutional and relational aspects of executive government are indeed consistent with rational choice accounts of the 'politics of policy-making'. The reader is offered a new perspective through which to view the advent, and the contribution of ministerial advisers to policy-making in executive government. © 2007 The Authors Journal compilation © 2007 National Council of the Institute of Public Administration Australia.