Limited literature exists on Ghana's child domestic servants, and researchers have found it difficult to locate and study these children. The research for this dissertation used qualitative research methodologies and non-probabilistic sampling techniques to make it possible to interview child domestic servants, their parents, employers and recruiters in Ghana. The findings from the qualitative analyses informed the second part of this study, which was quantitative and tested hypotheses using crosstabulations and logistic regression analyses that were based on survey data from the Ghana Statistical Service. Explanatory variables in the quantitative analyses included lineage, level of education and relationships to the household head. This study located findings about the processes of children's recruitment into domestic servitude, their working conditions and methods of remuneration in theories of slavery to answer the question of whether or not child domestic servants are slaves. According to the findings, elite households in Ghana exploit children from rural regions because they have taken advantage of a historical practice that allowed children to live with older members of their extended families to provide domestic services and in return, be given the chance to receive formal education or to learn a trade. The participants in the qualitative part of this research described the treatments that they receive from their employers as slavery. Nevertheless, the processes of their recruitment and the age at which most of them accepted such job offers made it difficult to categorize a majority of them as contemporary slaves.

Current research and anecdotal evidence has suggested that students enrolled in the QSA (Queensland Studies Authority) subject for Year 11 and Year 12, Study of Religion, as outlined in the Senior Syllabus for Study of Religion, are experiencing difficulties in meaning-making. This may be due to particular methodologies being employed to teach the subject to secondary students (Barnes, 2001; Flood, 1999; Kay, 1997). The purpose of this research was to explore the connection between student difficulty in meaning making in Study of Religion and the employment of phenomenological methodologies as a pedagogical tool for teaching Study of Religion. It was anticipated that this study would illuminate the nature of the relationship between these two variables and provide a framework for the consideration of possible changes to current methodologies being employed in the Study of Religion classroom. The researcher adopted a case-study approach and further utilized the research methods of a survey questionnaire and a focus group to collect data. A cross-sectional survey at a Catholic co-educational College was completed. Forty-five students from a Study of Religion cohort totalling ninety were surveyed at this College. This was followed up by a focus group discussion involving five of the original forty-five students surveyed. The participants furnished a range of valuable insights in regard to the connection between student difficulty in meaning-making and the employment of largely phenomenological methodologies in teaching Study of Religion. Data analysis revealed that students enrolled in Study of Religion in Year 12 are struggling to construct meaning when phenomenological methodologies are predominantly employed. This is arguably a result of phenomenological methodologies having their provenance within a modernist paradigm. Consequently, methodologies that once assisted students to make meaning effectively in a modern context are unable to continue to do so in a post-modern context. This may be due to paradigmatic shifts in Education, Philosophy and Religious Studies.

Validation of results is an important phase in the organization of a researcher’s work. Libraries and the internet offer a number of sources for guidance with respect to conducting validation in a variety of fields. However, construction engineering and management (CEM) is an area for which such information is unavailable. CEM is an interdisciplinary field, comprised of a variety of subjects: human resources management, project planning, social sciences, etc. This broad range means that the choice of appropriate validation methodologies is critical for ensuring a high level of confidence in research outcomes. In other words, the selection of appropriate validation methodologies represents a significant challenge for CEM researchers. To assist civil engineering researchers as well as students undertaking master’s or doctoral CEM studies, this thesis therefore presents a comprehensive review of validation methodologies in this area. The validation methodologies commonly applied include experimental studies, observational studies, empirical studies, case studies, surveys, functional demonstration, and archival data analysis. The author randomly selected 365 papers based on three main perspectives: industry best practices in construction productivity, factors that affect labour productivity, and technologies for improving construction productivity. The validation methodologies that were applied in each category of studies were examined and recorded in analysis tables. Based on the analysis and discussion of the findings, the author summarized the final results, indicating such items as the highest percentage of a particular methodology employed in each category and the top categories in which that methodology was applied. The research also demonstrates a significant increasing trend in the use of functional demonstration over the past 34 years. As well, a comparison of the period from 1980 to 2009 with the period from 2010 to the present revealed a decrease in the number of papers that reported validation methodology that was unclear. These results were validated through analysis of variation (ANOVA) and least significant difference (LSD) analysis. Furthermore, the relationship between the degree of validation and the number of citations is explored. The study showed that the number of citations is positively related to the degree of validations in a specific category, based on the data acquired from the examination of articles in Constructability and Factors categories. However, based on the data acquired from the examination of articles in the year 2010, we failed to conclude that there existed significant difference between clear-validation group and unclear validation group at the 95 % confidence level.

Validation of results is an important phase in the organization of a researcher’s work. Libraries and the internet offer a number of sources for guidance with respect to conducting validation in a variety of fields. However, construction engineering and management (CEM) is an area for which such information is unavailable. CEM is an interdisciplinary field, comprised of a variety of subjects: human resources management, project planning, social sciences, etc. This broad range means that the choice of appropriate validation methodologies is critical for ensuring a high level of confidence in research outcomes. In other words, the selection of appropriate validation methodologies represents a significant challenge for CEM researchers. To assist civil engineering researchers as well as students undertaking master’s or doctoral CEM studies, this thesis therefore presents a comprehensive review of validation methodologies in this area. The validation methodologies commonly applied include experimental studies, observational studies, empirical studies, case studies, surveys, functional demonstration, and archival data analysis. The author randomly selected 365 papers based on three main perspectives: industry best practices in construction productivity, factors that affect labour productivity, and technologies for improving construction productivity. The validation methodologies that were applied in each category of studies were examined and recorded in analysis tables. Based on the analysis and discussion of the findings, the author summarized the final results, indicating such items as the highest percentage of a particular methodology employed in each category and the top categories in which that methodology was applied. The research also demonstrates a significant increasing trend in the use of functional demonstration over the past 34 years. As well, a comparison of the period from 1980 to 2009 with the period from 2010 to the present revealed a decrease in the number of papers that reported validation methodology that was unclear. These results were validated through analysis of variation (ANOVA) and least significant difference (LSD) analysis. Furthermore, the relationship between the degree of validation and the number of citations is explored. The study showed that the number of citations is positively related to the degree of validations in a specific category, based on the data acquired from the examination of articles in Constructability and Factors categories. However, based on the data acquired from the examination of articles in the year 2010, we failed to conclude that there existed significant difference between clear-validation group and unclear validation group at the 95 % confidence level.

This thesis analyses the Web infrastructure development process experienced by UK Small Businesses and considers the nature and impact of the barriers and problems that affect it. In doing so the thesis combines three previously disparate streams of research; research that considers the infrastructure development process, research that considers the benefits that become available via the use of an infrastructure and research that considers the barriers to benefit realisation. Analysis reveals that while the organisational advantages and benefits are well documented, Small Businesses routinely encounter problems to their realisation. Likewise, current developmental methodologies appear ill suited for use by Small Business. This thesis addresses those gaps within current knowledge and understanding. The study utilises a multiple case study research strategy. The research design utilises multiple data collection methods to triangulate the study data thereby corroborating the accuracy, veracity and parsimony of the study findings. The study findings reveal that the development process encompasses three stages, initial development, corrective development and long-term development. The findings also reveal that as the sophistication of an infrastructure is enhanced, increasingly sophisticated benefits become available. At the same time however, barriers to development will be encountered. Each can curtail benefit realisation or can block ongoing development entirely. Within the development process, the business's owner/manager is the driving force behind development and is motivated to undertake development because of the benefits that will bring to their organisation. The thesis makes a demonstrable contribution to knowledge because its combined analysis of three previously disparate streams of research is novel as is its depiction of a three stage Web infrastructure development process. Future work can build upon this study's findings by testing the theories developed within this thesis so that they can be generalised more widely.

"Adonde esten mis hijos alli que me entierren," presents the migration history of my great-aunt Aura Lila Callejas. This work utilizes the oral history method to examine one woman's migration experience in an attempt to identify various theoretical issues. Aura Lila's immigration experience sheds light on a number of different issues, including the reasons why people migrate and how they adapt to an entirely new and often frightening set of circumstances in the country of arrival. The oral history method has proven useful in presenting some of the ways in which structural factors combine with personal motivations to provide the impetus for Aura Lila's journey of international migration. My work with Aura Lila has also served to highlight some of the existing gaps in the current literature regarding Nicaraguans in the United States and the importance of the family within the overall process of migration. Finally, this work explores the nature of the relationship between the researcher and subject within the ethnographic process. While much of Aura Lila's story remains unique and specific to her family's history, her narrative can be related to the growing body of literature focusing on women's life histories.

Comparative studies in sainthood in world religions, especially Pali Buddhism and Judaism has been a substantial component of my academic interests. Constructed out of my research findings the new typology of sainthood lays emphasis on the fact the two religions have a common universal pattern of sainthood, hence parallel sainthoods. My research concludes that Siddhartha the Buddha and Moses the Prophet as primordial saints, as saintliness as a human quality in Pali Buddhism and Judaism originates from these personalities. Any other successive types of sainthood in the said religious traditions are derived from the main type, the primordial sainthood.

The purpose of this research is to identify the impact of recent organizational change upon the culture of firefighting. The experiences of female firefighters were utilized as a measure of cultural change. A purposive sample of twenty-seven male and female firefighters were interviewed in a semi-structured format about their experiences in the fire service. This research found that the culture of firefighting has adjusted to the presence of previously excluded groups by forging a division among the identities and roles of male and female firefighters. The white, male firefighters, who have traditionally constituted a majority of the workforce, have continued to identify with traditional firefighter roles and reported high levels of cohesion. In contrast, the female firefighters showed a greater variance in their identification with traditional roles and decreased levels of cohesion with the main body of the group.

Combined simulation and optimization models, which are helpful for long-term groundwater planning of complex nonlinear aquifer systems, are developed using alternative modelling approaches. The models incorporate a representation of steady-state, quasi-three-dimensional head response to pumping within an optimization . An embedding model which describes exactly the nonlinear flow of an unconfined aquifer is presented. In contrast with the embedding models presented in the Utah State University Ground Water Model, it directly achieves the optimal solution without a "cycling." To address the nonlinearity of the flow system, response matrix models couple superposition with the cycling procedure. Their linear influence coefficients are generated using a modified McDonald and Harbaugh model. First, these models are tested for a hypothetical, 625 cell, nonlinear aquifer system and compared in terms of computational accuracy and efficiency. All of the models achieve the same optimal solution. The fully nonlinear embedding model attains the same optimal solution regardless of how far the initial guess is from that solution. Thus, global optimality is probably obtained. A predictive program for comparing a priori the embedding and response matrix models in terms of computational size is also developed. This computes the required memory for running each model, an important factor in computational efficiency. It is based on the number of nonzero elements in the matrix of the optimization scheme. The model most appropriate for a given aquifer and desired management scenarios is dependent upon required simulation accuracy, flow conditions (steady or unsteady) , spatial scale, model computational resources requirement, and the computational capacity of available hardware and software. The linear embedding model coupled with a cycling procedure, as incorporated within a modified version of the USUGWM, is most appropriate for the subject reconnaissance level study of the East Shore Area. Here, the demand for sufficient water of adequate quality is increasing. The underlying aquifer is three-layered, unconfined/confined and is discretized into 4,880 finite-difference cells. To overcome the difficulties of solving many nonsmooth functions describing evapotranspiration, discharge from flowing wells, and drain discharge, a former cycling procedure is improved by optimizing the purely linearized models repeatedly. Using the modified version of the USUGWM, optimal sustained-yield pumping strategies are computed for alternative future scenarios in the East Shore Area.

Research on prostitution has flourished over the last few decades with a new emphasis on the online sex market. To study the online market, researchers have utilized qualitative methods to investigate escort review websites. Coding for violent rhetoric and perceived intimacy are two conventional techniques that have been utilized using qualitative methods. Other areas investigated include the overall characteristics of sex buyers, price variation, and socialization of buyers. What has lacked in current literature has been the use of quantitative methods to study what factors influence the presence of positive reviews. To expand on limited existing literature utilizing quantitative methods, the current study used data from an escort review website titled Punternet.com for the years 2015 through 2017. Punternet is a public website where sex buyers (punters in the UK) can review sex workers and discuss aspects of sex buying culture in community forums. Factors that influence the presence of positive reviews were investigated including various sexual acts (oral, anal, vaginal, manual, group sex), session variables (length, cost, location, climax, condom usage, and intimacy), and a factor related to the type of sex worker (escort). Symbolic interactionism theory was used to explain the presence of intimacy within the reviews. The results from a binary logistic regression indicate that a variety of different factors are significant in regard to influencing the presence of positive reviews. For example, the odds that positive reviews occurred were increased when intimacy, or perceived intimacy, occurred throughout the sessions and whether at least one climax occurred. Future research in this area should continue to use quantitative methods to investigate what factors influence intimacy within the sessions, due to the high significance finding in the present research.