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This study has been conceived with the primary objective of identifying and evaluating the financial aspects of the transformation in country/company relations of the international oil industry from the traditional concessionary system to the system of governmental participation in the ownership and operation of oil concessions. The emphasis of the inquiry was placed on assembling a case study of the oil exploitation arrangements of Libya. Through a comprehensive review of the literature, the sociopolitical factors surrounding the international oil business were identified and examined in an attempt to see their influence on contractual arrangements and particularly to gauge the impact of any induced contractual changes on the revenue benefit accruing to the host country from its oil operations. Some comparative analyses were made in the study to examine the viability of the Libyan participation deals both as an investment proposal and as a system of conducting oil activities in the country. The analysis was carried out in the light of specific hypotheses to assess the relative impact of the participation scheme in comparison with the alternative concessionary model on the net revenue resulting to the government from oil operations and the relative effect on the level of research and development within the industry. A discounted cash flow analysis was conducted to measure inputs and outputs of the comparative models and judge their revenue benefits. Then an empirical analysis was carried out to detect any significant behavioural changes in the exploration and development effort associated with the different oil exploitation systems. Results of the investigation of revenues support the argument that the mere introduction of the participation system has not resulted in a significant revenue benefit to the host government. Though there has been a significant increase in government revenue, associated with the period following the emergence of the participation agreements, this increase was mainly due to socio-economic factors other than the participation scheme. At the same time the empirical results have shown an association of the participation scheme with a decline of the oil industry's research and development efforts.

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The revival of terracotta and faience in Dritish architecture was widespread, dramatic in its results and, for two decades, the subject of intense debate. However tbe materials have been frequently denigrated and more generally disregarded by both architects and historians. This study sets out to record and explain the rise and fall of interest in terracotta and faience, the extent and nature of the industry and the range of architectural usage in the Victorian, Edwardian and inter-war periods. The first two chapters record the faltering use of terracotta as an 'artificial stone', until the material gained its own identity, largely through the appreciation of Italian architecture. In the mid-Victorian period, terracotta will be seen to have become symbolic of the philosophy of the Victoria and Albert Museum and its Art School in attempting to reform both architecture and the decorative arts. The adoption of terracotta was furthered as much by industrial as aesthetic factors; three chapters examine how the exploitation of coalmeasure clays, developments in the processes of manufacture, the changing motivation of industrialists and differing economics of production served to promote and then to hinder expansion and adaptation. The practical values of economy, durability and fireresistance and the aesthetic potential, seen in terms of colour and decorative and sculptural modelling, became interrelated in the work of the architects who made extensive use of architectural ceramics. A correlation emerges between the free Gothic style, exemplified by the designs of Alfred Waterhouse and the use of red terracotta supplied from Ruabon, and between the eclectic Renaissance style and a buff material produced by different manufacturers. These patterns were modified as a result of the adoption of faience for facing external walls as well as interiors, and because of the new architectural requIrements and tastes of the twentieth century. The general timidity in exploiting the scope for polychromatic decoration and the increasing opposition to architectural ceramics is contrasted with the most successful schemes produced for cinemas, chain-stores and factories. In the last chapter, those undertaken by the Hathorn Station Drick and Terracotta Company between 1896 and 1939 are used as a case study; they confirm that manufacturers, architects and clients wore all committed to creating a modorn and yet decorative architecture, appropriate for new building types and that would appeal to and be comprehensible to the public.

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It is proposed that, for rural secondary schoolgirls, school is a site of contestation. Rural girls attempt to 'use' school as a means of resisting traditional patriarchal definitions of a 'woman's place'. In their efforts, the girls are thwarted by aspects of the school itself, the behaviour and attitudes of the boys in school, and also the 'careers advice' which they receive. It is argued that the girls perceive school as being of greater importance to them than is the case for the boys, and that these gender differentiated perceptions are related to the 'social' lives of the girls and boys, and also to their future employment prospects. Unlike the boys, the girls experience considerable restrictions concerning these two areas. This theory was grounded in an ethnographic study which was conducted in and around a village in a rural county in England. As well as developing the theory through ethnography, the thesis contains tests of certain hypotheses generated by the theory. These hypotheses relate to the gender differentiated perspectives of secondary school pupils with regard to the areas of school itself, life outside school, and expectations for the future. The quantitative methods used to test these hypotheses confirm that there is a tendency for girls to be more positively orientated to school than the boys; to feel less able to engage in preferred activities outside school time than the boys, and also to be more willing to move away from the area than the boys. For comparative purposes these hypotheses were tested in two other rural locations and the results indicate the need for further research of a quantitative kind into the context of girls' schooling in such locations. A critical review of literature is presented, as is a detailed discussion of the research process itself.

This doctoral thesis originates from an observational incongruence between the perennial aims and aspirations of economic endeavour and actually recorded outcomes, which frequently seem contrary to those intended and of a recurrent, cyclical type. The research hypothesizes parallel movement between unstable business environments through time, as expressed by periodically fluctuating levels of economic activity, and the precipitation rates of industrial production companies. A major problem arose from the need to provide theoretical and empirical cohesion from the conflicting, partial and fragmented interpretations of several hundred historians and economists, without which the research question would remain unanswerable. An attempt to discover a master cycle, or superimposition theorem, failed, but was replaced by minute analysis of both the concept of cycles and their underlying data-bases. A novel technique of congregational analysis emerged, resulting in an integrated matrix of numerical history. Two centuries of industrial revolution history in England and Wales was then explored and recomposed for the first time in a single account of change, thereby providing a factual basis for the matrix. The accompanying history of the Birmingham area provided the context of research into the failure rates and longevities of firms in the city's staple metal industries. Sample specific results are obtained for company longevities in the Birmingham area. Some novel presentational forms are deployed for results of a postal questionnaire to surviving firms. Practical demonstration of the new index of national economic activity (INEA) in relation to company insolvencies leads to conclusions and suggestions for further applications of research into the tempo of change, substantial Appendices support the thesis and provide a compendium of information covering immediately contiguous domains.

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Malawi is seen as a society in transition, and as a consequence, it is argued, Malawian managers face particular problems where traditional and Western values intersect. The role of the Polytechnic of Malawi as a provider of management education in this environment is thus problematical. The thesis begins with a description of the Malawian business environment in its geographical, historical, political, cultural, economic and institutional forms, and then goes on to examine the problems practising managers themselves feel they face, and attempts to explain these problems in terms of the environmental factors described, and the environmental changes taking place. It is concluded, from the analysis conducted, that the environmental features discussed interact in a complex way to make Malawian managers averse to exercising initiative and taking decisions. The question of what the Polytechnic can do to help overcome this aversion is addressed. The field research was conducted in Malawi in the seven months January to July, 1980, during which time 207 questionnaires were administered to junior and middle managers working in all sectors of the economy at levels equivalent to Polytechnic graduate entry. In addition, a number of senior managers (both Malawian and expatriate) were interviewed, a case study was conducted in a manufacturing organisation, and a second questionnaire was administered to all business students at the Polytechnic. Extensive use of official statistics was also made where appropriate.