title: Comparison of resilience rating systems:‎ Assessing post earthquake hospital functionality

authors: Boston, Megan

abstract: A community’s ability to recover from an earthquake is heavily tied to the overall resilience of that community. Damage to critical infrastructure can dictate how the community as a whole recovers. Efforts have been made to quantify the resilience of important infrastructure components of a community, i.e., individual buildings. These resilience frameworks aim to predict damage, life safety concerns, and recovery times and cost. Several rating systems have been developed to help stakeholders assess vulnerabilities in their buildings and address specific areas for improvement. Each rating system has a different way of quantifying resilience, however, they have a common goal of reducing the adverse effects of a disaster and keep critical facilities running. Hospitals are critical to a community’s well being, and contribute to their resilience and ability to recover following an earthquake. Physical damage to structural and nonstructural components in a hospital can severely limit the ability of the hospital to provide critical life saving services to the community. Predicting post-earthquake hospital functionality is critical for planning and preparing for future earthquakes. Rating systems provide valuable information on the predicted performance of these critical facilities. The results of three different rating systems are compared for a single hospital building.

text: Comparison of resilience rating systems:‎ Assessing post earthquake hospital functionality A community’s ability to recover from an earthquake is heavily tied to the overall resilience of that community. Damage to critical infrastructure can dictate how the community as a whole recovers. Efforts have been made to quantify the resilience of important infrastructure components of a community, i.e., individual buildings. These resilience frameworks aim to predict damage, life safety concerns, and recovery times and cost. Several rating systems have been developed to help stakeholders assess vulnerabilities in their buildings and address specific areas for improvement. Each rating system has a different way of quantifying resilience, however, they have a common goal of reducing the adverse effects of a disaster and keep critical facilities running. Hospitals are critical to a community’s well being, and contribute to their resilience and ability to recover following an earthquake. Physical damage to structural and nonstructural components in a hospital can severely limit the ability of the hospital to provide critical life saving services to the community. Predicting post-earthquake hospital functionality is critical for planning and preparing for future earthquakes. Rating systems provide valuable information on the predicted performance of these critical facilities. The results of three different rating systems are compared for a single hospital building.

year: 2018-06

title: Understanding perceptions of severity and reporting of child-to-parent family violence

authors: O'Keeffe, Bridget

subjects: Psychology

abstract: It is widely understood that family violence (FV) is underreported, and research — predominantly on intimate partner violence (IPV) — suggests that the perceived severity of FV is one of the many factors important in decisions about whether to report to police. Previous research has identified several factors that affect perceptions of IPV severity (e.g., gender, type of harm, and history of violence), and the types of appraisals that contribute to perceived severity (e.g., victim fear and hurt, the harmfulness, aggressiveness, ordinariness and justifiability of aggressor behaviour; and victim responsibility for aggressor behaviour). But less is known about factors that contribute to perceptions of severity and reporting decisions for other types of FV, including child-to-parent violence (CPV), where children are the aggressors against their parents.  
Therefore, the overarching aim of this thesis was to gain a better understanding of whether perceived severity is associated with the likelihood of reporting CPV, and to identify factors that may affect the perceived severity of CPV. We set out to achieve this aim with two survey studies. In the first study, we examined whether participants’ perceptions of CPV severity were related to the likelihood they would report CPV to the police, and analysed the effect of aggressor gender and developmental stage, and parent gender on perceptions of severity. The results indicated that perceived severity was moderately associated with participants’ likelihood of reporting CPV, and that parent gender — rather than aggressor gender or developmental stage — affected those perceptions of CPV severity.
In the second study we set out to identify the appraisals that may contribute to perceptions severity and investigate the effect of context about previous use of CPV on perceived severity. We found that perceptions of severity appeared to consist of judgements about the extent to which the victim was impacted by the aggressor’s harmful behaviour, with the items for victim fear and hurt, the harmfulness and aggressiveness of aggressor behaviour, and severity forming a coherent index for perceived severity. We also found that overall, context about previous use of CPV did not affect the perceived severity of CPV. Taken together, the findings presented in this thesis have contributed to the growing body of research on CPV, as well as furthering our understanding of factors related to perceived severity and reporting decisions for FV in general. The results could be used to inform efforts to increase FV reporting to police and improve the support offered to families experiencing CPV.

text: Understanding perceptions of severity and reporting of child-to-parent family violence It is widely understood that family violence (FV) is underreported, and research — predominantly on intimate partner violence (IPV) — suggests that the perceived severity of FV is one of the many factors important in decisions about whether to report to police. Previous research has identified several factors that affect perceptions of IPV severity (e.g., gender, type of harm, and history of violence), and the types of appraisals that contribute to perceived severity (e.g., victim fear and hurt, the harmfulness, aggressiveness, ordinariness and justifiability of aggressor behaviour; and victim responsibility for aggressor behaviour). But less is known about factors that contribute to perceptions of severity and reporting decisions for other types of FV, including child-to-parent violence (CPV), where children are the aggressors against their parents.  
Therefore, the overarching aim of this thesis was to gain a better understanding of whether perceived severity is associated with the likelihood of reporting CPV, and to identify factors that may affect the perceived severity of CPV. We set out to achieve this aim with two survey studies. In the first study, we examined whether participants’ perceptions of CPV severity were related to the likelihood they would report CPV to the police, and analysed the effect of aggressor gender and developmental stage, and parent gender on perceptions of severity. The results indicated that perceived severity was moderately associated with participants’ likelihood of reporting CPV, and that parent gender — rather than aggressor gender or developmental stage — affected those perceptions of CPV severity.
In the second study we set out to identify the appraisals that may contribute to perceptions severity and investigate the effect of context about previous use of CPV on perceived severity. We found that perceptions of severity appeared to consist of judgements about the extent to which the victim was impacted by the aggressor’s harmful behaviour, with the items for victim fear and hurt, the harmfulness and aggressiveness of aggressor behaviour, and severity forming a coherent index for perceived severity. We also found that overall, context about previous use of CPV did not affect the perceived severity of CPV. Taken together, the findings presented in this thesis have contributed to the growing body of research on CPV, as well as furthering our understanding of factors related to perceived severity and reporting decisions for FV in general. The results could be used to inform efforts to increase FV reporting to police and improve the support offered to families experiencing CPV.

year: 2024

title: Strawmen and the decolonisation of the academy

authors: Tauri, Juan Marcellus

subjects: Social justice

abstract: For this piece I take as my point of departure Biko Agozino’s response to a series of questions posed by a member of the audience, to a panel he was a member of during this time in New Zealand. The panel in question was part of the launch of a new journal, Decolonisation of Criminology and Justice, at AUT University, Auckland in June 2018. Biko was invited to give a speech at the launch of the journal, and participate in a panel discussion on the broad theme of ‘decolonising criminology and criminal justice’.

text: Strawmen and the decolonisation of the academy For this piece I take as my point of departure Biko Agozino’s response to a series of questions posed by a member of the audience, to a panel he was a member of during this time in New Zealand. The panel in question was part of the launch of a new journal, Decolonisation of Criminology and Justice, at AUT University, Auckland in June 2018. Biko was invited to give a speech at the launch of the journal, and participate in a panel discussion on the broad theme of ‘decolonising criminology and criminal justice’.

year: 2019-07-10