A multiple case study approach was used to investigate the pattern of experience in a career transition. The participants were five men and five women who had completed a career change. The participants were selected to represent a variety of occupations. The study produced ten rich, detailed narrative accounts of career transition. Each one is told from the perspective of the individual who went through the experience. The accounts were based on in depth descriptions of the experience, and a charting of the transition using terms drawn from relevant transition models. Each account was reviewed and validated by the case study participant, who was the subject of the narrative, and by an independent reviewer. A comparison of the individual accounts revealed a pattern of experience that was common to all ten cases of career transition. It can be best represented as a three phase process, with each phase involving a distinctive character and each subsequent phase building on the preceding one. Furthermore, in each case the career transition reflected a process that was cyclical rather than linear in nature. Several theoretical implications arise from this study. First, it supports those models that describe career transition as a three stage process. The common pattern bears a remarkable resemblance to the rites of passage process described by Van Gennep (1908/1960). Second, the accounts suggest that the meaning of one’s work can change over the course of one’s life and that a career change be considered a change in a person’s life path. Third, the accounts support rejecting the notion of career transition having to be a crisis or traumatic event. From a practical standpoint, the pattern of transition can serve as a guide for those who are going through a career transition and for those who counsel them.

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This research project explores the motivations of women's voluntary career transitions at midlife. Participants for this study consisted of 14 women who at the time of their transition were between 40 and 51 years of age. All women had maintained an active career throughout their adult life and were either negotiating or had already experienced a career transition. This voluntary transition was initiated for reasons other than an upward mobility within the same occupation. The data were analysed and reported using the six step phenomenological approach described by Moustakas (1994). Themes important to transition that emerged from the data were: self-actualization, generativity, authenticity, self-care, timing, and the changing role of work.

This thesis is concerned with the role of fairness in international environmental law and, by way of example, focuses specifically on the perspective of developing countries in the context of the climate change regime. A brief analysis of underlying conceptions of fairness in general international law serves as the backdrop for an evaluation of both procedural and substantive aspects of fairness within the climate change regime. This evaluation includes a detailed consideration of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol to that Convention. The thesis concludes that the role of fairness in the climate change regime, and in international environmental law more generally, has become significant in recent years. It is likely that this trend will continue through further articulation of claims, by developing countries and others, in the context of an ongoing fairness debate. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This thesis presents an assessment of the effectiveness of the compliance mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol in promoting compliance with the obligations under the Protocol. First, theoretical approaches to compliance are explored in order to understand the reasons for which states comply, using both international legal and international relations theory. This not only contributes to a greater understanding of compliance, but also helps to establish a framework of criteria for the assessment. Second, practical experience with the compliance mechanisms of the Montreal Protocol is used to develop further assessment criteria. Following a detailed description and analysis of the compliance mechanisms, the insights from theory and practice are applied. The results show that the Kyoto Protocol's compliance mechanisms present an innovative balance of managerial and incentive strategies and integrate important elements emphasised by constructivist approaches to international law. They are thus designed effectively to promote compliance with the Kyoto Protocol.

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The partial constitutions of the Au-Ge-X and Au-Pb-X ternary alloys have been investigated, where X is a metallic element, selected from the sub-groups period 1m and rrm of the periodic table (In, Ga, Zn, or Cd), which forms one or more stable compounds with gold, but which forms no stable compound with Ge and Pb. The Smith Thermal Analysis Method, supplemented by metallographic and X-ray techniques, was used to determine the constitutions of the ternary systems. Eutectiferous, pseudobinary systems were found between Ge and the stable congruent intermediate compounds, AuIn, Auln2' AuGa, AuGa2' AuZn and AuCd. The solubility of Ge in the AuX compounds was not determined directly. However, it was 1.3 at.% Ge for Zn and Cd containing alloys and less than 1.0 at. % Ge for In and Ga containing alloys at the eutectic temperatures, which is in accordance with the Hume-Rothery rule. Ternary eutectic points were also determined in the Auln-AuIn2-Ge, Auln2-In-Ge and AuGa-AuGa2-Ge partial ternary systems. No evidence of liquid immiscibility was found in any of these ternary systems. The experimental results obtained were in good agreement with computed features of the diagrams. However, pseudobinary systems were not found between Pb and the stable congruent melting intermediate compounds, AuGa, AuGa2, AuZn and AuCd (the AuIn-Pb and AuIn2-Pb sections had already been investigated). The evidence of an extensive liquid immiscibility was found in each of these systems. The miscibility in the liquid state was found to decrease progressively down group IV when the elements of this group react with AuX compounds, which can be attributed to the progressive increase of the atomic size and decrease in electronegativities and solubility parameters of the elements, down this group. Two rules were derived to relate the liquid immiscibility/miscibility of ternary systems. One of the rules based upon the atomic sizes and melting points of the constituent elements showed a fair agreement with many systems. However, the other rule based upon the solubility parameter and electronegativities of the constituent elements showed good agreement with immiscible systems, but gave a poor predictability for miscible systems. The lower temperature equilibria of the Au-rich portion of the Au-Sn binary phase diagram are not well defined. So, long term heat treatment of samples at appropriate temperatures and compositions was carried out. Optical microscopy and SEMIEDAX techniques were employed and hence the low temperature equilibria of the Au-Sn binary system have been amended.

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