title: Student Culture and Binge Drinking

authors: McEwan, Brett James

subjects: alcohol

abstract: New Zealand student culture has had a strong tradition of alcohol use.  Research, both in New Zealand and internationally, has identified halls of residence student drinkers as at more risk of alcohol-related harm than their same age non-resident and non-student peers.  This research project investigates the relationship between student culture and binge drinking behaviour within the University of Waikato's halls of residence student population.  It combines qualitative and quantitative methods encompassing focus groups, individual face-to-face interviews, and a survey questionnaire completed by sixty percent of the resident student population.  The resulting data are set within the context of existing literature on student drinking behaviour and student culture, and the analysis is undertaken using a combination of grounded theory and statistical analysis. 

The study reveals that binge drinking behaviour was viewed by the majority of residents as a normal component of student culture, with one-half of male residents who drink and one-third of female drinking residents becoming intoxicated on a weekly basis.  Contrary to the popular perception that student drinking behaviour is an uncontrolled activity however, the majority of residents' practised 'controlled intoxication' while drinking.  Overall, most residents enjoyed their drinking experiences and showed a high level of tolerance towards many alcohol-related harms.  There is clear evidence that resident drinking behaviour impacts adversely upon residents, with one-half of residents having experienced academic and/or physical harms, and twenty percent reporting sexual encounters they later regretted.  One-third of residents had also felt unsafe due to the drinking behaviour of others.  

Adopting the precepts of a social-ecological approach, this thesis argues that a range of multi-level harm-minimisation strategies targeting resident drinking behaviour are required, in conjunction with renewed efforts to effect change in the New Zealand drinking culture.  Fifteen alcohol-intervention initiatives are recommended which variously target the individual drinker, the halls of residence environment, the institutional environment, and the local community drinking environment.  The national drinking environment is also pursued through recommendations advocating legislative change to make it an offence to be intoxicated in a public place, and through social marketing strategies which encourage peer feedback, the shaming of intoxicated behaviour, and the continued emphasis on the association between drinking and its adverse effects.

text: Student Culture and Binge Drinking New Zealand student culture has had a strong tradition of alcohol use.  Research, both in New Zealand and internationally, has identified halls of residence student drinkers as at more risk of alcohol-related harm than their same age non-resident and non-student peers.  This research project investigates the relationship between student culture and binge drinking behaviour within the University of Waikato's halls of residence student population.  It combines qualitative and quantitative methods encompassing focus groups, individual face-to-face interviews, and a survey questionnaire completed by sixty percent of the resident student population.  The resulting data are set within the context of existing literature on student drinking behaviour and student culture, and the analysis is undertaken using a combination of grounded theory and statistical analysis. 

The study reveals that binge drinking behaviour was viewed by the majority of residents as a normal component of student culture, with one-half of male residents who drink and one-third of female drinking residents becoming intoxicated on a weekly basis.  Contrary to the popular perception that student drinking behaviour is an uncontrolled activity however, the majority of residents' practised 'controlled intoxication' while drinking.  Overall, most residents enjoyed their drinking experiences and showed a high level of tolerance towards many alcohol-related harms.  There is clear evidence that resident drinking behaviour impacts adversely upon residents, with one-half of residents having experienced academic and/or physical harms, and twenty percent reporting sexual encounters they later regretted.  One-third of residents had also felt unsafe due to the drinking behaviour of others.  

Adopting the precepts of a social-ecological approach, this thesis argues that a range of multi-level harm-minimisation strategies targeting resident drinking behaviour are required, in conjunction with renewed efforts to effect change in the New Zealand drinking culture.  Fifteen alcohol-intervention initiatives are recommended which variously target the individual drinker, the halls of residence environment, the institutional environment, and the local community drinking environment.  The national drinking environment is also pursued through recommendations advocating legislative change to make it an offence to be intoxicated in a public place, and through social marketing strategies which encourage peer feedback, the shaming of intoxicated behaviour, and the continued emphasis on the association between drinking and its adverse effects.

year: 2009

title: Conditions for sustainment of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence driven by Alfvén waves

authors: Dmitruk, Pablo

subjects: Alfvén waves

abstract: In a number of space and astrophysical plasmas,turbulence is driven by the supply of wave energy. In the context of incompressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) there are basic physical reasons, associated with conservation of cross helicity, why this kind of driving may be ineffective in sustaining turbulence. Here an investigation is made into some basic requirements for sustaining steady turbulence and dissipation in the context of incompressible MHD in a weakly inhomogeneous open field line region, driven by the supply of unidirectionally propagating waves at a boundary. While such wave driving cannot alone sustain turbulence, the addition of reflection permits sustainment. Another sustainment issue is the action of the nonpropagating or quasi-two dimensional part of the spectrum; this is particularly important in setting up a steady cascade. Thus, details of the waveboundary conditions also affect the ease of sustaining a cascade. Supply of a broadband spectrum of waves can overcome the latter difficulty but not the former, that is, the need for reflections. Implications for coronal heating and other astrophysical applications, as well as simulations, are suggested.

text: Conditions for sustainment of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence driven by Alfvén waves In a number of space and astrophysical plasmas,turbulence is driven by the supply of wave energy. In the context of incompressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) there are basic physical reasons, associated with conservation of cross helicity, why this kind of driving may be ineffective in sustaining turbulence. Here an investigation is made into some basic requirements for sustaining steady turbulence and dissipation in the context of incompressible MHD in a weakly inhomogeneous open field line region, driven by the supply of unidirectionally propagating waves at a boundary. While such wave driving cannot alone sustain turbulence, the addition of reflection permits sustainment. Another sustainment issue is the action of the nonpropagating or quasi-two dimensional part of the spectrum; this is particularly important in setting up a steady cascade. Thus, details of the waveboundary conditions also affect the ease of sustaining a cascade. Supply of a broadband spectrum of waves can overcome the latter difficulty but not the former, that is, the need for reflections. Implications for coronal heating and other astrophysical applications, as well as simulations, are suggested.

year: 2001

title: The rhetorical organisation of Maori discourse: An illustration

authors: Crombie, Winifred

subjects: Māori medium education

abstract: Almost 20% all Māori students in New Zealand schools are involved in some form of Māori-medium education. These students need to develop competence in using the language for a wide range of purposes. They need, therefore, to understand a range of written discourse conventions. In seeking to assist them in this task, elders and scholars are turning to the works of major Māori figures of the past, works composed when the language was used widely in a range of discourse contexts. However, scholars need ways of analysing these texts and of communicating their findings to others. The primary aim of this paper is to demonstrate one such approach. A single letter of condolence written in Māori is analysed here in terms of rhetorical discourse structure. On the basis of the analysis, a number of hypotheses concerning epistolary discourse in Māori are put forward. The primary hypothesis is that letters of condolence written in Māori by highly competent users of the language are likely to be characterized by an overall Problem-Solution rhetorical prototype involving spiral multilayering.

text: The rhetorical organisation of Maori discourse: An illustration Almost 20% all Māori students in New Zealand schools are involved in some form of Māori-medium education. These students need to develop competence in using the language for a wide range of purposes. They need, therefore, to understand a range of written discourse conventions. In seeking to assist them in this task, elders and scholars are turning to the works of major Māori figures of the past, works composed when the language was used widely in a range of discourse contexts. However, scholars need ways of analysing these texts and of communicating their findings to others. The primary aim of this paper is to demonstrate one such approach. A single letter of condolence written in Māori is analysed here in terms of rhetorical discourse structure. On the basis of the analysis, a number of hypotheses concerning epistolary discourse in Māori are put forward. The primary hypothesis is that letters of condolence written in Māori by highly competent users of the language are likely to be characterized by an overall Problem-Solution rhetorical prototype involving spiral multilayering.

year: 2001-02