Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 106-114).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 189-196).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves i-iv).

Thesis (M.S.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Community, Agriculture, Recreation, and Resource Studies, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Aug. 3, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 141-146). Also issued in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1996. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [392]-425).

Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 34-36).

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes special study report entitled : Interface of old and new: transformation of shophouse to museum. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 13, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This study sought to find out the extent to which decentralisation has brought about development in the rural areas in Malawi, specifically focusing on Salima District Council. It sought the views from the local communities themselves and government officials at district level on decentralisation in relation to rural development. Although the study used both qualitative and quantitative approaches, it was predominantly qualitative. As such, it used mixed methods of data collection, which included in-depth interviews, direct observations, questionnaires, focus group discussions (FGDs) and documentary search. Qualitative data was developed into themes and concepts and was subsequently interpreted in a trustworthy manner so as to reflect the true meaning of the data. In other words, explanations were attached to each theme or concept in an attempt to give the meaning of the data. The study found out that decentralisation is effective in terms of rural development such that local people are able to demand for services of their choice from local governments but the main challenge or constraint is availability of financial resources to cater for all the demanded public services. Other major barriers to rural development include capacity deficiencies at district and grassroots level and tensions among key stakeholders competing to maximize their role in local governments. Basing on these findings, and financial resources being the major barrier to rural development, the study recommends that Government should make sure that enough financial resources are released and channelled to district councils to cater for the needs of the communities. The study also recommends that councils should strive to generate more local revenues to cope up with the demand from the communities. And finally, the study recommends that Government should recognize local governments as entities on which is bestowed a huge responsibility of improving socio-economic conditions of the rural areas where 87 percent of the population lives, therefore provision of resources and enabling legislation to enhance rural development should be the primary focus. Of course, these recommendations should be understood within the context of the studied district. Otherwise there is potential for different and expanded recommendations if one replicated the study to cover the entire country.

Reliable and precise information about possible floods, related water levels and inundation areas are needed even in urban areas to minimize potential damages. An important requirement for this issue is to adapt the stage-discharge relations to the changing constraints which could arise from morphology and hydrology. This paper reconsiders the use of historical hydrologic data in urban areas which have fundamentally changed even concerning the river beds, cross sections and floodplain areas. By means of a historical approach the flood statistics have been updated with surprising results.