title: The Influence of Work-Life Balance Benefits on Family-Supportive Organisational Perception and Work Attitudes

authors: Herlin, Paula Kristina

subjects: organisational commitment

abstract: This study investigated the relationship between the availability of, and the use of, work-family balance policies offered by organisations and family-supportive organisational perception (FSOP), work-to-family conflict, continuance and affective commitment, family satisfaction, job satisfaction, turnover intention and psychological strain. The research explored whether individuals’ perceptions of how supportive their organisations were to their non-work responsibilities was related to work attitudes including job satisfaction, organisational commitment (affective and continuance) and turnover intention. One hundred and twelve respondents from New Zealand organisations recorded how they perceived their organisation as being family-supportive and whether this affected their wellbeing, as well as how satisfied they were with their jobs. FSOP was shown to not moderate the relationship between work-to-family conflict and psychological strain; turnover intention; job satisfaction and affective commitment. However, FSOP was found to be significantly and negatively related to both psychological strain and turnover intention. The availability of benefits was significantly and positively related to affective commitment and negatively related to psychological strain and turnover intention. The usage of available benefits was not related to any of the study variables. The research adds to the knowledge of factors that may improve the work environment by increasing employees’ levels of FSOP. The results suggest that organisations could improve staff retention by ensuring the existence of valuable benefits and making them available to all employees, supporting them in their pursuit of a reasonable balance between their daily work and non-work activities.

text: The Influence of Work-Life Balance Benefits on Family-Supportive Organisational Perception and Work Attitudes This study investigated the relationship between the availability of, and the use of, work-family balance policies offered by organisations and family-supportive organisational perception (FSOP), work-to-family conflict, continuance and affective commitment, family satisfaction, job satisfaction, turnover intention and psychological strain. The research explored whether individuals’ perceptions of how supportive their organisations were to their non-work responsibilities was related to work attitudes including job satisfaction, organisational commitment (affective and continuance) and turnover intention. One hundred and twelve respondents from New Zealand organisations recorded how they perceived their organisation as being family-supportive and whether this affected their wellbeing, as well as how satisfied they were with their jobs. FSOP was shown to not moderate the relationship between work-to-family conflict and psychological strain; turnover intention; job satisfaction and affective commitment. However, FSOP was found to be significantly and negatively related to both psychological strain and turnover intention. The availability of benefits was significantly and positively related to affective commitment and negatively related to psychological strain and turnover intention. The usage of available benefits was not related to any of the study variables. The research adds to the knowledge of factors that may improve the work environment by increasing employees’ levels of FSOP. The results suggest that organisations could improve staff retention by ensuring the existence of valuable benefits and making them available to all employees, supporting them in their pursuit of a reasonable balance between their daily work and non-work activities.

year: 2010

title: Identification of the floral source of New Zealand honeys

authors: Petchell, Laura Eleanor

subjects: Honey

abstract: Depending on the nectar source, honey is either unifloral (derived mostly from one plant type), or polyfloral (derived from multiple plant types). Unifloral honey has characteristic sensory properties, and is therefore of greater commercial value. Currently, identification of floral source involves pollen counting, a specialised and labour intensive process. The current research was aimed at developing an alternative, rapid, chemistry-based method of floral identification. The aroma of honey depends on volatile compounds present; these may be derived from the plant from which nectar was taken. Therefore by identifying volatiles in honey it could be possible to identify floral source. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is a technique that is useful for the headspace analysis of volatile compounds; when coupled with GC-MS it provides a powerful tool for fingerprinting volatiles in honey. GC-MS chromatograms of ten New Zealand unifloral honey types were obtained after headspace SPME extraction. Statistical analysis of the GC-MS chromatographic data was used to discriminate between floral types. Probability plots were used to identify compounds indicative of floral source; this method discriminated between honey types with 90% success. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis were used to study the structure of the data. Learning algorithms in Weka (machine-learning software) were used to build models of data to classify honey types. The logistic model tree algorithm classified 89.8% of samples correctly. Such a model has the potential to be used to classify future honey samples, once further samples have been tested to validate the model.

text: Identification of the floral source of New Zealand honeys Depending on the nectar source, honey is either unifloral (derived mostly from one plant type), or polyfloral (derived from multiple plant types). Unifloral honey has characteristic sensory properties, and is therefore of greater commercial value. Currently, identification of floral source involves pollen counting, a specialised and labour intensive process. The current research was aimed at developing an alternative, rapid, chemistry-based method of floral identification. The aroma of honey depends on volatile compounds present; these may be derived from the plant from which nectar was taken. Therefore by identifying volatiles in honey it could be possible to identify floral source. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is a technique that is useful for the headspace analysis of volatile compounds; when coupled with GC-MS it provides a powerful tool for fingerprinting volatiles in honey. GC-MS chromatograms of ten New Zealand unifloral honey types were obtained after headspace SPME extraction. Statistical analysis of the GC-MS chromatographic data was used to discriminate between floral types. Probability plots were used to identify compounds indicative of floral source; this method discriminated between honey types with 90% success. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis were used to study the structure of the data. Learning algorithms in Weka (machine-learning software) were used to build models of data to classify honey types. The logistic model tree algorithm classified 89.8% of samples correctly. Such a model has the potential to be used to classify future honey samples, once further samples have been tested to validate the model.

year: 2009

title: Technology, culture and location in a recent New Zealand sonic art project

authors: Whalley, Ian

subjects: music

abstract: The HIEMPA (Hybrid Instruments from Electroacoustic Manipulation And Models of Pütorino and Aquascape) project combined a team of people with technical, artistic, environmental and cultural expertise toward the artistic outcome of extending the New Zealand sonic art tradition. The project involved collecting audio samples from the aquascape of the Ruakuri Caves and Nature Reserve in Waitomo, South Waikato, New Zealand; and samples of a variety of Pütorino – a New Zealand Mäori wind instrument. Following a machine learning analysis of this audio material and an analysis of the performance material, hybrid digital instruments were built and mapped to suitable hardware triggers. The new instruments are playable in real-time, along with the electroacoustic manipulation of Pütorino performances. The project takes into account the environmental and cultural significance of the source material, with the results to be released as a set of compositions. This paper discusses the research process.

text: Technology, culture and location in a recent New Zealand sonic art project The HIEMPA (Hybrid Instruments from Electroacoustic Manipulation And Models of Pütorino and Aquascape) project combined a team of people with technical, artistic, environmental and cultural expertise toward the artistic outcome of extending the New Zealand sonic art tradition. The project involved collecting audio samples from the aquascape of the Ruakuri Caves and Nature Reserve in Waitomo, South Waikato, New Zealand; and samples of a variety of Pütorino – a New Zealand Mäori wind instrument. Following a machine learning analysis of this audio material and an analysis of the performance material, hybrid digital instruments were built and mapped to suitable hardware triggers. The new instruments are playable in real-time, along with the electroacoustic manipulation of Pütorino performances. The project takes into account the environmental and cultural significance of the source material, with the results to be released as a set of compositions. This paper discusses the research process.

year: 2008