How does employer support and educational background effect an Ergonomics Practitioner’s awareness of the relationship between ergonomics and psychosocial hazard control?

There is a growning need to address psychological health and safety in the workplace. Ergonomics tends to be widely recognized for its physical applications, such as ¨office¨ and ¨manual materials handling¨ however the other domains of specialization of ergonomics (cognitive and organizational) appear to be less well known. This study evaluates the level of understanding that professionals who practice ergonomics have of the relation between ergonomics and the control of psychosocial hazards in the workplace. A survey was distributed to ergonomics practitioners and asked them about their awareness of the relation between ergonomics and workplace psychosocial hazard control. Ergonomists and human factors specialists demonstrated a greater awareness of this relationship than other allied occupational groups that also practice ergonomics, however they indicated that there may be difficulties in the “real world” applying these areas of knowledge into practice. Participants who demonstrated a high level of awareness of the relation between ergonomics and psychosocial hazard control demonstrated stronger organizational commitment than participants with a low awareness. Ergonomics practitioners who reported having employer support for professional development also demonstrated a higher degree of awareness of the relation between ergonomics and psychosocial hazard control, as did the professionals who had been practicing in the field the longest. This research provides some insight for professional associations for Ergonomists, employers of Ergonomists, and human resource professionals about how ergonomics practitioners perceive the ergonomics field and the profession as well as their employing organization.

The current state of /L/ allophony in St. John's English

This project examines the use and evaluation of light post-vocalic /l/ in St. John's, Newfoundland. The city, which was primarily settled by the Irish, traditionally did not conform to the Standard Canadian pattern of /l/ allophony. That is, it was reported to have light /l/ in all positions, in contrast to Canadian English, which has dark /l/ in codas and light /l/ in onsets (Clarke 2012). There have been, however, several major social and economic changes in Newfoundland since the mid-twentieth century, which have impacted local dialects (Clarke 2010). In terms of postvocalic /l/, data collected by Clarke in St. John's in the 1980s shows that the light variant is declining in use and being replaced by the dark variant, and that little overt awareness is accompanying this change (2012). This study addresses the decline and awareness of this feature, through production and perception experiments, respectively. This work follows that of Clarke in that it looks at younger age groups that have been born since Clarke's study was conducted in the early 1980s. The results of these experiments suggest that the light post-vocalic /l/ has continued its decline in St. John's English, and that the dark variant is a stable norm. In fact, it is light /l/ in initial position that is experiencing social variation, in that younger speakers are using darker /l/s in this position than their older counterparts. Women, though they display a more standard /l/ allophony pattern overall than men, also show more dramatic initial-/l/ darkening in apparent time. Additionally, there is a significant style shift between word list and interview tasks in this position. The perception experiment shows that there is awareness and stigma associated with the light variant in coda, which could extend to light /l/s in general.

The process of implementing a new baby-friendly hospital initiative for nurses: a grounded theory study

Maternity nursing practice is changing across Canada with the movement toward becoming “baby friendly.” The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) as a standard of care in hospitals worldwide. Very little research has been conducted with nurses to explore the impact of the initiative on nursing practice. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine the process of implementing the BFHI for nurses. The study was carried out using Corbin and Strauss’s method of grounded theory. Theoretical sampling was employed, which resulted in recruiting and interviewing 13 registered nurses whose area of employment included neonatal intensive care, postpartum, and labour and delivery. The data analysis revealed a central category of resisting the BFHI. All of the nurses disagreed with some of the 10 steps to becoming a baby-friendly hospital as outlined by the WHO. Participants questioned the science and safety of aspects of the BFHI. Also, participants indicated that the implementation of this program did not substantially change their nursing practice. They empathized with new mothers and anticipated being collectively reprimanded by management should they not follow the initiative. Five conditions influenced their responses to the initiative, which were (a) an awareness of a pro-breastfeeding culture, (b) imposition of the BFHI, (c) knowledge of the health benefits of breastfeeding, (d) experiential knowledge of infant feeding, and (e) the belief in the autonomy of mothers to decide about infant feeding. The identified outcomes were moral distress and division between nurses. The study findings could guide decision making concerning the implementation of the BFHI.

The mermaid series of Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatists (1887-1909): a literary and critical history

The Mermaid Series (1887-1909) edited by Havelock Ellis was a major watershed in appreciation of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. Before it appeared plays were available to general readers in scattered anthologies, large expensive collected editions or in expurgated selections which included only the more lyrical speeches and memorable scenes. Criticism of the drama followed suit; the majority of critics concentrated on the sections which appealed to the romantic and sentimental tastes of nineteenthcentury readers. The two men who conceived the Mermaid Series, John Addington Symonds and Havelock Ellis, approached the drama differently from their contemporaries; Symonds studied a play as a whole work of art and Ellis concentrated on its view of life. Both were unsatisfied with the "select beauties", fragmented approach and wanted readers to have the best plays in their entirety easily available in handy, inexpensive editions. Symonds's awareness of the drama as theatre was combined with a historical perspective allowing him to judge the drama in relation to its own time. He made a lasting but hitherto underestimated contribution to study of Beaumont and Fletcher, Dekker, Marlowe, and Ford. Ellis's work on the drama is overshadowed today by his studies of sex but his concentration on ideas and appreciation of unconventional behaviour enabled him to formulate new views on Ford, Middleton and Chapman. The two other major editors to work on the series, A. C. Swinburne and Arthur Symons had more conventional nineteenth-century approaches. Both were impressionistic critics who were most attracted to the l~nguage of the drama. Swinburne, however, occasionally transcended his fragmented approach and offered significant interpretations of Tourneur, Massinger; 'The .Changeling, Heywood. Symons's range was more limited but his form of impressionism was valuable for its concentration on the aesthetic experience at the heart of a work of art. His most important contributions were the study of Middleton and Massinger. Besides these four major critics numerous lesser writers worked on the series. Their editorial work was valuable and some, notably Ernest Rhys, c. H. Herford and Thomas Dickinson offered criticism of enduring importance. In my first chapter I consider the general availability of texts of the Elizabethan and Jacobean drama in the nineteenth century, the general attitudes towards the drama, and the critical approaches of each of the editors. The subsequent chapters are organized around the volumes of the series. I consider the climate of opinion in which each appeared, assess its critical and editorial contribution and evaluate the work of the other Mermaid editors on the dramatist included in the volume. My study shows that the concept of the Mermaid Series and the work of its editors helped to revolutionize study of the Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatists by providing good texts and by pointing the way to our present view of the plays as whole works of art.