Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006.

Living in the countryside can be complex and is often a matter of daily movements in order to make all activities fit into one’s life. The structure of everyday life is also about the interplay between political decisions and physical structures. This thesis shows the consequences of change to the rural landscape for daily life. In this case, the change was brought about by the closure of two rural schools in Ydre, Sweden. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the meaning of rural schools in the development of local society and identity, and how such meaning is based on people’s time-spatial everyday stories. The study focuses on how households interpret change and the problems that arise from the closure of rural schools. Studying this is accomplished through interviews with twelve households with schoolchildren of varying ages and is based on a time-geographical perspec-tive. In the spring of 2009, qualitative interviews were carried out concerning rural life and the possible effect of closure-threatened schools on their daily lives. In the autumn of 2009, the schools were closed, and the same families were visited and the household studies fol-lowed up with further interviews. Thus, the study investigates local circumstances, how householders adapt to structural changes, how this creates patterns in their everyday lives and activities, and how schools and private life are connected.  One conclusion here is that the householders are concerned about their local community. They highlight the importance of the rural school, which they consider exclusive and not just a resource for the children but the community as a whole. Thereby, they highlight their hope that their area is seen as attractive by visitors; by people looking for somewhere to settle down; and also by themselves, the inhabitants. A school is not just a place for teaching; it is also an important place where parents can meet; it is a part of social life; and it is a place where social networks are created and decisions about everyday life are made. Through stud-ies of the school closures and people’s everyday experiences, some of the complexities of countryside life and problems appear in a more human-centred and everyday perspective.

Account books of household expenses provide details of people's social and economic life. For Scotland during the seventeenth and eighteenth century few, if any, account books are as detailed as those of Lady Grisell Baillie of Jerviswood who lived from 1665-1746. Lady Baillie (nee Hume) is a well-known upper class woman in Scottish history, both in her own right and in relation to the tumultuous political careers of her father (Patrick Hume) and husband (George Baillie). A scholarly edition of the accounts, augmented by an 1822 biography written by her daughter, can provide insight into women's social history in eighteenth-century Scotland. The household accounts, in particular, provide the opportunity to examine what the everyday lifestyles were like for upper-class families in Scotland. These accounts include the expenses of raising and educating children, feeding a large household of family and servants and the extravagant costs involved in overseas travel. What makes Lady Grisell's accounts unique is their level of detail and organization spanning over forty years, from 1692 to 1746. In addition to the accounts the biography, written in the style of times, provides valuable information about the Baillies' marriage, family life and the Baillie girls' upbringing. These sources add to the understanding of the household and marital economy in Scotland during the long eighteenth century.

The Internet has made profound changes in how people conduct their daily lives as well as how they buy goods and services. This study's objective is to shed light on the use and diffusion of online or electronic buying (e-buying). Canadian households have not adopted e-buying equally, as revealed by Statistics Canada's Household Internet Use Survey (HIUS) data of 1997 ? 2003. We explore how e-buying varies across age groups, genders, education levels, income levels, and the nature of goods. We first develop a simple model for e-buying demand in the context of a utility-maximizing individual choosing between e-buying and conventional buying. We employ a parameter reflecting individual taste, so we can study the influence of individual-specific factors in e-buying adoption decisions. The taste parameter is distributed in a population in some unknown way, and we try different distributions in empirical tests. We use the literature in conjunction with the model to derive the model's implications in terms of variables available in the HIUS datasets. We employ Tobit and Poisson regression models for the empirical tests. The tests suggest that household e-buying is more when household income is more, when heads of households are more educated, and for homogeneous goods; but that household e-buying is less when heads of households are female. This understanding may help policy makers, businesses, and other interested parties find ways to promote Internet use and e-buying across all segments of society.

Marlot Company Limited is a company in the sector household services. It is a new company where the owners, and also the clients, felt that the company was in need of a distinct platform where they could communicate with their current and prospective customers. The assignment was to create a platform consisting of a graphic profile and a Wordpress site for the company. The graphic profile's task was to distinctly profile the company in the market, and visualizing the conceptions that the company wants to be associated with. The purpose of the Wordpress site was to create a showcase for Marlot towards their customers, and thecompany itself could manage after completion. These two products have been created with the help of a pilot study which included an analysis in which the competitors in the market has been scanned, and reports of the household services sector has been studied. The result is an appealing and modern graphical profile that stands out in the sector household services, and a Wordpress site where the company can communicate with their market in a distinct and appealing manner.

Continuous increase in resource demand and associated with it environmental impact, by-products and wastes,  are  going  to  put  strains  on  the  global  ecosystem  including  humans.  The  thesis  was  based  on  the assumption that: The household scale holds important information on flows of resources and statistical  relations between them. This master thesis was pilot-study of the project “Quantifying Household Metabolism” which was carried out by Urban Metabolism Research Group (UMRG) at Chalmers University of Technology. The thesis intends to develop methods to quantify fluxes of consumption and waste generation through individual household. The data was collected in two Swedish households and the collection period in the master project was 2.5 months on solid waste and 1 month on biowaste. The data was collected on a daily basis and from three streams: shopping receipts, recyclable solid waste and biowaste from kitchen. The data gathered by the proposed method illustrated a  pattern  of  consumption  and  waste  generation  through  individual  household  based  on  t h e   two  studied households. Although the proposed method avoided the errors happened in pervious study methods (Survey), the  deficiencies  and  potential  risks  exited.  The  indicators  developed  to  evaluate  the  situation  of  household metabolism  failed  to  apply  to  the  testing households  in pilot-study.  The applied data collection procedure was manual  and  laborious,  and  accumulated  errors  easily  happened  when  it  carry  out  in  a  long  term.  Several automatic possibilities could be introduced in the future study.

In this thesis potential for (final and primary) energy and CO2 emission reductions and cost effectiveness of replacing existing household electric appliances and light bulbs with most popular or most energy efficient appliances in a multifamily apartment building in Växjö city is studied. The results showed that there is significant potential to reduce electricity demand and thereby to reduce primary energy use and CO2 emissions. The greatest potential lies with replacing existing incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs, while the lowest savings seem to be with replacement of microwave ovens. Assuming that reduced electricity demand reduces electricity generation in coal-based steam turbine (CST) technology, annually about 63 MWh of primary energy and 25 ton CO2 emissions could be reduced from the investigated building if the existing refrigerator/freezer, stove/oven, microwave oven, televisions and light bulbs are replaced with the most energy efficient alternatives available in the market today. Also, the results from ‚discounted payback period‛ and ‚cost of conserved energy‛ analyses also showed that it is cost-effective to install the most energy efficient appliances. This study for a single building is based on limited number of interviews, selected appliance types, and number of assumptions about marginal electricity production systems. To generalize the results more such studies in different conditions with measurement of actual energy use of all the household appliances should be conducted, which would help to fully understand the potential of primary energy savings and CO2 emission reductions in Swedish apartment buildings.

The Internet has made profound changes in how people conduct their daily lives as well as how they buy goods and services. This study's objective is to shed light on the use and diffusion of online or electronic buying (e-buying). Canadian households have not adopted e-buying equally, as revealed by Statistics Canada's Household Internet Use Survey (HIUS) data of 1997 ? 2003. We explore how e-buying varies across age groups, genders, education levels, income levels, and the nature of goods. We first develop a simple model for e-buying demand in the context of a utility-maximizing individual choosing between e-buying and conventional buying. We employ a parameter reflecting individual taste, so we can study the influence of individual-specific factors in e-buying adoption decisions. The taste parameter is distributed in a population in some unknown way, and we try different distributions in empirical tests. We use the literature in conjunction with the model to derive the model's implications in terms of variables available in the HIUS datasets. We employ Tobit and Poisson regression models for the empirical tests. The tests suggest that household e-buying is more when household income is more, when heads of households are more educated, and for homogeneous goods; but that household e-buying is less when heads of households are female. This understanding may help policy makers, businesses, and other interested parties find ways to promote Internet use and e-buying across all segments of society.

Account books of household expenses provide details of people's social and economic life. For Scotland during the seventeenth and eighteenth century few, if any, account books are as detailed as those of Lady Grisell Baillie of Jerviswood who lived from 1665-1746. Lady Baillie (nee Hume) is a well-known upper class woman in Scottish history, both in her own right and in relation to the tumultuous political careers of her father (Patrick Hume) and husband (George Baillie). A scholarly edition of the accounts, augmented by an 1822 biography written by her daughter, can provide insight into women's social history in eighteenth-century Scotland. The household accounts, in particular, provide the opportunity to examine what the everyday lifestyles were like for upper-class families in Scotland. These accounts include the expenses of raising and educating children, feeding a large household of family and servants and the extravagant costs involved in overseas travel. What makes Lady Grisell's accounts unique is their level of detail and organization spanning over forty years, from 1692 to 1746. In addition to the accounts the biography, written in the style of times, provides valuable information about the Baillies' marriage, family life and the Baillie girls' upbringing. These sources add to the understanding of the household and marital economy in Scotland during the long eighteenth century.