Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1986.

The thesis identifies a methodology for practice-led Fine Art research that emphasises day-to-day processes, which tend to be overlooked, and a practice, which becomes invisible to the mainstream art world. Attending to day-to-day habitual process is found to open up possibilities for embodied becoming through thinking and re-membering. Negotiating boundaries in face-to-face encounter is discovered to encourage inter-subjective becoming and is explored in terms of ethical interaction. The reflexive methodology considers questions arising from the possibility of exchange instead of gift, art as process rather than commodity, and an attitude of dissensus relating to artists as nonconformists. Tension and interaction in community leads to a pacific process of immanent invisibility, which functions as quiet activism and gentle politics provided by readymade situations. Mierle Laderman Ukeles s Touch Sanitation (1984), Allan Kaprow s Trading Dirt (1983) and selected works of Heath Bunting (2002-2010) are amongst the artworks cited in a discussion of artists who engage with materials or processes that are often overlooked including waste disposal, soil, and institutional structure. Emmanuel Levinas s approach to alterity (Levinas, 1988, 172) and Julia Kristeva s suggestion that connection cannot occur without severance (Kristeva, 1987, 254) have helped define an ethical practice of inter-subjective becoming. Victor Turner s notion of communitas (Turner, 1969) has affirmed a choice to avoid hierarchical structure and engage in processes that result in immanent invisibility. My contribution to practice-led, Fine Art research has involved testing a method rather than proving a hypothesis. I have developed a methodology that values art becoming invisible during the process of emphasising the overlooked in day-to-day life. Anecdotal passages throughout the text together with links in the text to my website and web log demonstrate an integration of practice with theory, which has been arrived at through a process of reflexive speculation. Two discs accompany the printed thesis that allow for digital reading.

Although day laborers are highly visible, as they seek employment, in public street corners or storefronts, their life struggles, including their mental health and social service needs, remain largely unknown to local officials or service providers. This is one of the first studies to directly examine the risk and protective factors impacting Latino Day Laborers’ (LDLs) well-being and substance use and abuse. The study utilized a mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) design. Specifically, this study used risk and protective variables identified by LDLs in the initial qualitative phase of the study to quantitatively examine the impact on these factors on LDLs’ well-being and substance use and abuse. Based on a sample of 147 LDLs, the quantitative results indicate that risk factors for well-being include psychological distress, social isolation, and older age; while factors protective of well-being include higher levels of religiosity and sending remittances to family members. In addition, psychological distress was found to be a risk factor for substance abuse. A member checking focus group was conducted to contextualize and validate the quantitative findings with the lived experiences of LDLs. Implications for practice and policy are discussed. / text

LaRossa, Jaret, Gadgil, and Wynn (2000, 2001) conducted a content analysis of 495 comic strips published on Father’s Day and Mother’s Day in the United States from 1945 to 1999 in order to determine whether the culture of fatherhood and gender disparities in the media had changed over the past half-century. Drawing on their research, I conducted a similar kind of analysis of 246 comic strips published on Father’s Day and Mother’s Day in Japan from 1950 to 2004. By comparing and contrasting the results in the two studies, I show how comic portrayals of families have changed in Japan and in the United States, and demonstrate the value of analyzing comic strips in cross-national research.

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences

No description available.

Pastaraisiais metais Lietuvoje buvo galima stebėti ir itin spartų nevyriausybinių organizacijų vaikų ir jaunimo dienos centrų gausėjimą. Tokį reiškinį, mūsų nuomone, galėjo įtakoti faktas, jog daugumoje savivaldybių buvo pradėta vykdyti Nacionalinė nevyriausybinių organizacijų vaikų dienos centrų 2002-2004 programa, kurios tąsa- Nacionalinė vaikų dienos centrų 2005-2007 metų programa ir 2008-2012 metų programa. NVO vaikų ir jaunimo dienos centrai, jų veikla, steigimo ypatumai yra mažai nagrinėti Lietuvos autorių, sociologų, mokslininkų tarpe. Šiuo darbu buvo siekiama teoriškai ir empyriškai pagrįsti vaikų ir jaunimo dienos centro veiklos modelį Lietuvoje. Užsibrėžto tikslo atskleidimui buvo siekta: išanalizuoti NVO vaikų ir jaunimo dienos centrų steigimo ir veiklos vykdymo teisinį reguliavimą; apibrėžti NVO vaikų ir jaunimo dienos centrų susikūrimo prielaidas pasaulyje ir Lietuvoje; atlikti Lietuvos NVO vaikų ir jaunimo dienos centrų PEST ir SWOT analizes; apibrėžti galimą NVO vaikų ir jaunimo dienos centro veikos modelį. Tyrimas empyriškai parėmė NVO vaikų ir jaunimo dienos centrų teorinį modelį, kurį paruošė ir pristatė autorė. / Few resent years there could be observed rapid growth of non-govermental organzations child and youth daycare centers. In our opinion, such occurence can be influenced by the fact, that majority of local administrations started to execute National non-govermental organizations child and youth daycare centers Pastaraisiais metais Lietuvoje buvo galima stebėti itin spartų nevyriausybinių 2002-2004 program. This program has a continuation – National child daycare centers 2005-2007 year and 2008-2012 year programs. NGO child and youth daycare centers, their activieties and establishment specificity has never been deeply examined by Lithuanian authors, socialogists or scientists. This work is done to reach theoretical and epyrical validity for Lithuanian NGO child and youth daycare centers activities model. To acomplish this task we tried to achive: to examine NGO child and youth daycare centers establishment and activities legal regulations; to define NGO child and youth daycare centers establishment premises; to cary out NGO child and youth daycare centers PEST and SWOT analysis; to carry out NGO child and youth daycare centers directors and experts interview (to adapt expert evaluation method). The research empirically based theoretical model of NGO child and youth daycare centers, which was prepared and presented by the author.

The day-of-the-week effect is a market anomaly that manifests as the cyclical behaviour of traders in the market. This market anomaly was first observed by M.F.M. Osborne (1959). The literature distinguishes between two types of cyclical effects in the market: the cyclical pattern of mean returns and the cyclical pattern of volatility in returns. This dissertation studies and reports on cyclical patterns in the South African market, seeking evidence of the existence of the day-of-the-week effect. In addition, the dissertation aims to investigate the implications of such an effect on hedge fund managers in South Africa. The phenomenon of cyclical volatility and mean returns patterns (day-of-the-week effect) in the South African All-share index returns are investigated by making use of four generalised heteroskedastic conditional autoregressive (GARCH) models. These were based on Nelson's (1991) Exponential GARCH (EGARCH) models. In order to account for the risk taken by investors in the market Engle et al's, (1987) 'in-Mean' (risk factor) effects were also incorporated into the model. To avoid the dummy variable trap, two different approaches were tested for viability in testing for the day-of- the-week effect. In the first approach, one day is omitted from the equation so as to avoid multi-colinearity in the model. The second approach allows for the restriction of the daily dummy variables where all the parameters of the daily dummy variables adds up to zero. This dissertation found evidence of a mean returns effect and a volatility effect (day-of-the- week effect) in South Africa's All-share index returns data (where Wednesdays have been omitted from the GARCH equations). This holds significant implications for hedge fund managers. as hedge funds are very sensitive to volatility patterns in the market, because of their leveraged trading activities. As a result of adverse price movements, hedge fund managers employ strict risk management processes and constantly rebalance their portfolios according to a mandate, to avoid incurring losses. This rebalancing typically involves the simultaneous opening of new positions and closing out of existing positions. Hedge fund managers run the risk of incurring losses should they rebalance their portfolios on days on which the volatility in market returns is high. This study proves the existence of the day-of-the-week effect in the South African market. These results are further confirmed by the evidence of the trading volumes of the JSE's All-share index data for the period of the study. The mean returns effect (high mean returns) and low volatility found on Thursdays, coincide with the evidence that trading volumes on the JSE on Thursdays are the highest of all the days of the week. The volatility effect on Fridays, (high volatility in returns) is similarly correlated with the evidence of the trading volumes found in the JSE's All-share index data for the period of the study. Accordingly. hedge fund managers would be advised to avoid rebalancing their portfolios on Fridays, which show evidence of high volatility patterns. Hedge fund managers are advised to rather rebalance their portfolios on Thursdays, which show evidence of high mean returns patterns, low volatility patterns and high liquidity. / Thesis (M.Com. (Risk Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Brigham Young University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-90).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Newcastle, 2000. / Faculty of Education. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 243-286). Also available online.