This thesis explores the role of comfort in adventure leisure and in recreational SCUBA diving in particular. In this chapter the study’s central elements of comfort, constraints and negotiation will be introduced. Human engagement with marine locations provides background to the evolution of SCUBA diving as a leisure activity. The concept of comfort is then introduced, with attention given to what comfort means from a range of disciplines. Following this, the use of the term comfort in adventure, leisure and tourism research is reviewed. Divers’ constraints to comfort are also briefly examined here in this introduction, to build understanding of how comfort can be experienced during adventure, and SCUBA diving. Leisure constraints-negotiation research is discussed briefly and linked to SCUBA diving experiences. The objectives of this study are then presented prior to introducing the qualitative research paradigm that guides the research, and the thesis outline.

The thesis examines the role of regional labour councils in local employment generation. It specifically analyses the case of an Australian regional labour council, the South Coast Labour Council (SCLC), between 1981 and 1996. The Illawarra region was the centre of SCLC activity. It was an industrialised region that experienced high levels of unemployment in the period. These were greater than the State and national averages, which reflected a geographical concentration of unemployment in certain regions in Australia. The SCLC attempted to address this issue, as it was part of the union structure that was specifically focused on the regional level and on regional concerns. The study argues that the SCLC developed a local employment generation strategy and it examines how and why this was adopted and pursued. It finds that the SCLC was well placed at the regional level and was well resourced with a capacity to influence the external environment through its utilisation of both political and industrial methods in a period of agreeable internal relations. The research identifies the development of its local employment generation strategy. Sometimes the SCLC pursued its strategy in a manner of ad hoc decision-making and muddling through, while at other times it involved characteristic and distinctive regular patterns. The thesis concludes by evaluating the SCLC�s strategy of local employment generation and by exploring the applicability of the general trade union literature on methods and strategy to regional labour councils.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, 2000. / A thesis submitted in completion of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Social Ecology, University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, November, 2000. Bibliography : leaves 351-358.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, 1999. / Spine title: Sino-foreign negotiation. Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliographical references (p. 572-574).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [178]-182). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Carleton University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 308-334). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [178]-182). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 388-396).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 209-222).

Thesis (M.S. in Defense Analysis)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2010. / Thesis Advisor(s): Borer, Douglas A. ; Second Reader: Simons, Anna. "June 2010." Description based on title screen as viewed on July 14, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: Upstream states, Downstream states, sovereign territory, equitable utilization, national security, conflict, water scarcity, Nile river/basin, hegemony, control, legitimacy, absolute territorial sovereignty, natural rights, absolute integrity, acquired rights, negotiations, contentious agreements, prior appropriation, virtual water, interstate relations, competitive exploitation, political stability/instability, compromise, cooperation, unilateralism, food security, regional security, strategic interests, sustainable exploitation, riparian co-dependence, limited territorial sovereignty, limited integrity, arbitration, asymmetry. Includes bibliographical references (p. 71-74). Also available in print.