Longitudinal study of veterinarians from entry to the veterinary course to 10 years after graduation: attitudes to work, career and profession

Objective To describe the attitudes of veterinarians to their work, career and profession during the 10 years after graduation. Design Longitudinal study of students who started their course at The University of Queensland in 1985 and 1986, and who completed questionnaires in their first and fifth year as students, and after one, five and 10 years as veterinarians. Methods Data from 129 (96%) questionnaires completed after 10 years as a veterinarian were coded numerically then analysed, together with data from previous questionnaires, with SAS System 7 for Windows 95. Results After 10 years, almost all respondents were either very glad they had done the veterinary course (57%) or generally glad, though with some misgivings (37%). Despite this, only 55% would definitely become a veterinarian if they 'had to do it over again'. The responses for about one-third were different from those given five years earlier. The views of many were related to the level of support and encouragement received in their first job after graduation. There were 42% who were working less than half-time as veterinarians, and their main reasons were, in order, raising children, long hours of work, attitudes of bosses and clients, and poor pay. A majority was concerned about the ethics and competence of some colleagues, and almost all believed that consideration of costs must influence the type of treatment animals receive. Conclusions Most veterinarians were glad to have done the veterinary course, but for about one-quarter their career had not lived up to expectations and almost half would not do it again in another incarnation. Stress, hours of work, difficulties in balancing personal life with career and low income were important concerns for many. Low income may contribute to the low number of males entering the veterinary profession.

The work of fracture in uniaxial and biaxial oriented unplasticised polyvinylchloride pipes

In oriented unplasticised polyvinylchloride (uPVC) pipes, cracks propagate tangentially rather than through the wall as in conventional pipe. Notched impact, a modified peel test and the specific work of fracture approach have been used to measure fracture toughness of a conventionally extruded, a uniaxially oriented and a biaxially oriented uPVC pipe in different directions. The different failure mode for the oriented pipes was found to result from an order of magnitude increase in the fracture toughness for cracks propagating perpendicular to the orientation direction. Differences in the fracture toughness between the oriented pipes were also related to their molecular orientation. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The essential work of fracture through the wall of uPVC pipe

The specific essential work of fracture, w(e), has been measured for a relatively thick walled uPVC pipe as a function of position through the wall of the pipe. w(e) was highest at the surface of the pipe and decreased significantly at the centre of the pipe wall. The variation in w(e) through the wall of the pipe correlated with the processing level of the uPVC material as measured by the critical temperature, T-c. The variability in the measured values of w(e) was substantially higher in the centre of the pipe where the processing levels were lower. This was likely to be a result of the variability in the microstructure of the material where poor processing had introduced regions of poor fusion of primary PVC particles. (C) 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

The effects of status on subgroup relations

Two experiments were conducted to assess the impact of status differentials on subgroup attitudes and behaviours. In Experiment 1, 73 maths-science students were led to believe they had higher or lower status than humanities students. They then performed a non-interactive decision-making task during which they were categorized exclusively as a university student (superordinate condition), or as a university student and maths-science student simultaneously (subgroups condition). Experiment 2 (N = 98) differed from Experiment I in that perceptions of relative subgroup status were measured rather than manipulated. Consistent with social identity theory, subgroup members tended to categorize themselves more at the superordinate (university) level the lower status they considered their subgroup to be. In Experiment 2, a series of interactions also emerged, showing that status and inter-subgroup bias were positively related when the participants had been categorized exclusively at the superordinate level. When superordinate and subgroup identities were activated simultaneously, perceptions of status had no effect on levels of bias. The results were interpreted in terms of participants' needs for identity enhancement and identity distinctiveness.

Predictors of cheating behavior at a university: A lesson from the psychology of work

The present study investigated students' behavior across academic departments to establish how personality, demographic, educational, attitudinal, and climate (both psychological and departmental) predicted self-reported cheating behavior at a university, Participants were 107 students from a variety of academic disciplines, The results explain 50.5% of the variability in self-reported cheating behavior in terms of demographic (male, school education qualifications), departmental climate, and individual differences (Lie and Neuroticism scales), We concluded that an expanded theoretical perspective (utilizing a wide range of person and situation variables) explained more variability than would otherwise be explained from any single perspective, and that findings from the literature of integrity at work generalize to educational settings. Finally, we discuss the limitations and implications of this research.

Being attuned to intergroup differences in mergers: The role of aligned leaders for low-status groups

The present research focused on responses of low-status group members to a merger with a high-status group. A study was conducted (N = 153) in which the alignment of the leader for the merged group (ingroup vs. outgroup) and leader behavior (equality, outgroup favoritism, ingroup favoritism, complementarity) were manipulated. The authors predicted that the leader, by his or her behavior, would play an important role in defining the new relationship between premerger groups. Overall, low-status ingroup leaders were evaluated more positively than high-status outgroup leaders. Ingroup leaders were evaluated more favorably and were more likely to engender a common identity in the merged group than were outgroup leaders when leaders behaved in an ingroup-favoring or complementary fashion. In contrast, evaluations of ingroup and outgroup leaders did not differ when the leader stressed equality or was outgroup favoring. The findings demonstrate the important role leaders can play in accentuating or de-emphasizing premerger status differences.

Paid employment of mothers and fathers of an adult child with multiple disabilities

Background Paid employment is increasingly undertaken by mothers as their children age, with the majority of women being in employment by the time their offspring are adult. Opportunities to engage in employment appear to be reduced for mothers of children with disabilities; however, little is known about the employment of mothers or fathers of adults with disabilities. Method Data were collected regarding the employment decisions of parents of a young adult with multiple disabilities and contrasted with those of parents whose children were all developing normally. Twenty-five mothers and 12 fathers of a young adult with multiple disabilities were interviewed, as were 25 comparison mothers and 19 comparison fathers. Data collected included hours of work, reasons for employment status, attitudes towards work and child care, and psychological well-being. Results Clear differences were found between the two groups. Mothers and fathers of a child with multiple disabilities showed different engagement patterns with the paid workforce from comparison parents. Hours of work for fathers of a young adult with multiple disabilities showed a bi-modal distribution, with some fathers working fewer hours than usual and others working very long hours. For mothers in both groups, the number of hours in paid employment was negatively associated with reports of psychological problems. Conclusions Increased attention needs to be given to the employment opportunities of parents of children with disabilities since employment appears to play a protective role for mothers, in particular. Services provided to adults with disabilities will need to change if parents are to have the same life chances as parents without adult offspring with a disability.

Clinical and non-clinical predictors of vocational recovery for Australians with psychotic disorders

Clinical and non-clinical predictors of vocational recovery were examined among 782 Australians diagnosed with DSM III R psychotic disorders, using data from the study on low-prevalence disorders, part of the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, Australia 1997-1998. Of the six significant clinical predictors, self-reported course of illness emerged as a potentially practical predictor of vocational recovery. Five non-clinical variables, age, education and skills, marital status, premorbid work adjustment, and use of a vocational service in the previous year, also contributed to the prediction of vocational recovery. The implications of these findings for both rehabilitation professionals and researchers are discussed.

Genotypic variation in proanthocyanidin status in the Leucaena genus

The proanthocyanidin (PA) status of 116 accessions from the Leucaena genus representing 21 species, 6 subspecies, 3 varieties and 4 interspecific hybrids was evaluated under uniform environmental and experimental conditions at Redland Bay, Queensland, Australia in October 1997. The PA content of lyophilized youngest fully expanded leaves was measured spectrophotometrically by the butanol/HCl assay referenced to L. leucocephala ssp. glabrata standard PA and expressed as L. leucocephala ssp. glabrata PA equivalents (LLPAE). Considerable interspecific variation in PA concentration existed within the genus, ranging from 0-339 g LLPAE/kg dry matter (DM). Taxa including L. confertiflora, L. cuspidata, L. esculenta and L. greggii contained very high (> 180 g LLPAE/kg DM) PA concentrations. Similarly, many agronomically superior accessions from L. diversifolia, L. pallida and L. trichandra contained extremely high (up to 250 g LLPAE/kg DM) PA concentrations, although these taxa exhibited wide intraspecific variation in PA content offering the potential to select accessions with lower (120-160 g LLPAE/kg DM) PA content. Commercial cultivars of L. leucocephala ssp. glabrata, known to produce forage of superior quality, contained low amounts of PA (33-39 g LLPAE/kg DM). Artificial interspecific hybrids had PA contents intermediate to those of both parents, Lesser-known taxa. including L. collinsii, L. lanceolata, L. lempirana, L. macrophylla, L. magnifica, L. multicapitula, L. salvadorensis and L. trichodes, contained undetectable to low (0-36 g LLPAE/kg DM) quantities of PA and have potential as parents to breed interspecific hybrids of low PA status and superior forage quality. Extractable PA was the dominant PA component, accounting for 91% of total PA within the genus. Regression analysis of accession ranks from different experiments compared to these results indicated that genetic regulation of Leucaena spp. PA content was consistent (P < 0.01) under different edapho-climatic environments. The distribution of PA within the Leucaena genus did not concur with the predictions of various evolutionary and phylogenetic plant defence theories.

Which aspects of socio-economic status are related to health in mid-aged and older women?

A population-based study was conducted to validate gender- and age-specific indexes of socio-economic status (SES) and to investigate the associations between these indexes and a range of health outcomes in 2 age cohorts of women. Data from 11,637 women aged 45 to 50 and 9,5 10 women aged 70 to 75 were analyzed. Confirmatory factor analysis produced four domains of SES among the mid-aged cohort (employment, family unit, education, and migration) and four domains among the older cohort (family unit, income, education, and migration). Overall, the results supported the factor structures derived from another population-based study (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1995), reinforcing the argument that SES domains differ across age groups. In general, the findings also supported the hypotheses that women with low SES would have poorer health outcomes than higher SES women, and that the magnitude of these effects would differ according to the specific SES domain and by age group, with fewer and smaller differences observed among older women. The main exception was that in the older cohort, the education domain was significantly associated with specific health conditions. Results suggest that relations between SES and health are highly complex and vary by age, SES domain, and the health outcome under study.