The research was carried out during a time when residential provision for people with learning difficulties in the north of Scotland was changing from being hospital based towards being community centred. The aim was to utilise an understanding of the dynamics of past provision to shed light upon present practice and planning for the future: focussing upon that form of ‘difference’ which has been given the name ‘learning difficulty’. The research utilised records, interviews, narratives and discussion groups to explore the experiences of providers of services, service users and those who were close to them. The research sought to go beyond description; to facilitate respondents in sharing their understanding of the organisation of care services and how it had an effect upon their life chances and self concept. The design of the research, which made use of multiple sources of evidence, was qualitative in its approach. It was undertaken within four ‘sites of interest’:  The archive or the historical record of provision at Lhangbyde Hospital..  Through semi structured interviews with ‘Providers’  A ‘Punters’ discussion forum located within a self advocacy group.  A set of ‘Intimate Narratives’. The method had its roots in constructivist, reflective and post modern currents of thought which confronted the difficulty inherent is making an epistemological distinction between what is out there in the world and the categories of meaning which are resident in the human mind. The goal was to produce texts which promoted dialogue rather than monologue, were evocative rather than definitive, In chapter 8 some ‘Intimate Narratives’ from the researcher’s own life experience as a father and as a facilitator and adviser within a self advocacy organisation were presented directly as stories of everyday experience. In the final two chapters of the thesis an attempt was made to synthesise the overall findings of the research, and to assess their implications for future policy and practice. In chapter 9, under the heading of ‘Reading the Chart: understanding the past and present as a foundation for future planning’ the findings from the four ‘sites of interest’ were gathered together under seven explanatory themes, with the section entitled ‘Gaining a Voice’ achieving an overall pre-eminence.. The last chapter in the thesis (Chapter 10), under the title of ‘The Future Course’ detailed a plan for change and development based on a synthesis of findings. In addition the role of future research in promoting change was examined. The thesis concluded with a ‘plain language’ summary of recommendations.

From Ravenstein onwards, historians considering the causes of migration have stressed the importance of economic factors. Whilst work related issues have been shown to prompt the majority of migrations, the role of extended kin deserves further attention. Plakans and Wetherell found that, the ‘placing [of the] domestic group within a larger kin context’, seen as the next logical research step as long ago as the 1970s, was an issue that remained largely unaddressed in 2003. Here the impact of the extended family, on migration decisions and the likelihood of residential persistence, is investigated. Evidence for community cohesion has been sought and kinship links have been investigated; both have been found to influence the residential patterns of individuals. This research has revealed that, whilst economics may provide the impetus for a move, cultural factors and the role of non-resident kin played a far greater part in the decision to migrate, or not, than most previous studies have acknowledged. It has been shown that, although kinship impacted upon both, reasons for emigration were very different from those for migration. The substantial role played by religious belief, not only as a motivation for the emigration of extended family groups, but also as an issue influencing the choice of destination, is a particular feature of the findings of this study. In 1994, Pryce and Drake were ‘making a strong plea for the adoption of rigorous intellectual approaches in migration research’ and the methods used here address this appeal. A technique of total reconstruction and longitudinal tracing has been employed in order to investigate the inhabitants of three small areas of North Devon. A comprehensive range of sources has been used and an in-depth examination of exemplar migrants and the residentially persistent, has allowed possible motivations to be scrutinised. In this way, the details of the structures and processes observed become clearer. In the context of family reconstitution, Barry Reay wrote of ‘a dearth of such studies of nineteenth-century England’ and it is intended that the methods used in this research will facilitate a wider understanding of the factors that motivated migrants in Victorian rural England. Whilst considering the influences of kin and community on migration patterns in the three study areas, the relative roles of other factors have been taken into account. It has been necessary to look at economic patterns and to investigate how, for example, farming and fishing, and any nineteenth century changes therein, affected the lives of the inhabitants. In an area where, and at a time when, non-conformist religion took a particular hold, the effect that the faith of these individuals had on their decisions to move, or stay put, has been assessed. Thus, the issues of faith, fish, farm and family are all borne in mind when studying the motivations for the migration decisions of the inhabitants of the three settlements.

This research report assesses the affordability of private residential developments in Addis Ababa and delineates factors that contribute to their affordability. Literatures related to concepts of housing affordability; household income levels; housing prices and mortgage financing, etc are reviewed. The research studies examined revealed that the combination of high population and high urban growth rates coupled with a high prevalence of urban poverty have placed massive strain on Ethiopian cites. Accordingly, the critical urban issue is: lack of healthy, affordable housing for all sectors of the urban population. This is especially true in Addis Ababa as it has a share of 23% of the country’s urban population. In Addis Ababa, there is strong housing demand as supply lags behind demand; conditions of existing houses worsen and the population is increasing. To date, the government housing program has only managed to build only about half of the demanded units. It has, therefore, became increasingly imperative that the government should concentrate on reforming and managing the policy and legal framework in such a way as to create an environment for the private sector to provide housing.

A university has been shown to have a positive effect on society and has led to greater awareness of the social problems found in our towns today and a willingness to openly discuss and resolve them. Universities have a social and civic role that improves the social living conditions in the areas surrounding them. A university also improves the local economy by creating jobs and attracting new businesses which in turn lead to an improved infrastructure and a subsequent decrease in residence segregation. Residential segregation is a growing phenomenon in Sweden where students living in disadvantaged areas are less likely to succeed in school than students living in more advantaged areas, as is often shown by their school results. The purpose of this study is to analyze a university’s effects on high school student’s grades in different socioeconomic living areas in Sweden. Is there a correlation between the student’s grades in these areas and the presence of a university in the region? To analyze these effects, a multilevel regression model in two scales has been used. his thesis shows that a direct correlation exists between high school students’ grades and the presence of a university in the region. A university has a strong improving effect on the grades of students from highly resourceful areas. The study further illustrates that although a new university will lead to an improvement of the general standard of education of a region, the introduction of more universities does not result in an increase in the number of people with a university education.

This thesis analyzed Georgia's pre and post embargo consumption of gasoline and residential electricity from 1960 to 1982 to determine: 1) if the structure of gasoline demand was stable; 2) to investigate the arguments for conservation; and 3) to ascertain that the pricing mechanism is indeed able to adjust consumption to levels of supply. Elasticities were computed and they were used to address simple tax issues. The study was significant for several reasons: 1) it is the first ever known study of its kind done on Georgia; 2) Georgia has a ninety five percent dependence rate on other states and foreign countries (indirectly) for her supply of energy resources; 3) the impact of the oil embargo on consumption, prices and the economy at large is necessary both as a post moterm and for future policy decisions. The results overwhelmingly favored stability in the structure of these demands. As such, the restricted model was valid for any projections and conclusions. The short-term price and income elasticities for gasoline were .30 and .06 and the long-term coefficients were 1.5 and .20 respectively. For electricity, the short-term price and income elasticities were .22 and .37 and the long-term estimates were .81 and 1.33 respectively. The weather variables were very inelastic. All coefficients were significant by the usual criteria. With inelastic demands for these energy resources, taxation seemed a welcome proposition for controlling prices and consumption and for generating revenue. However, it is only to the extent that other monetary, fiscal and economic objectives of the government are not jeopardized. Thus, the arguments for conservation holds to a good degree. A hybrid of a comprehensive tax-pricing policy and conservation efforts is necessary for stability in the energy sector.

Based on Prime Minister Harper’s 2008 Apology for the Indian Residential School (IRS) system, this thesis addresses the need to confront the intergenerational legacy of this system on non-Indigenous Canadians in order to challenge our ability to actually ‘journey together’ with Indigenous Survivors. Aiming to break the silence that has surrounded this legacy, the voices of non-Indigenous descendents of former staff, as well as my own as a non-Indigenous Canadian, expose personal experiences of the lived reality of the IRS legacy. Working from a narrative methodology from within a decolonizing framework, this research includes interviews with two descendents of former staff, as well as an auto-ethnography of myself, as researcher, to capture the lived experiences with relation to this legacy. Results from this introductory work illustrate a variety of themes needing to be acknowledged, and deals with notions of opening dialogue, violence, guilt and responsibility within the context of the IRS system. / Graduate / 0334 / 0626 / 0630 / khaiste@gmail.com

The subject of this thesis is the lease and sublease of non-residential premises amended by Czech law. The thesis clarifies the term "non-residential premises" in general as well as particular meaning. Hereafter is the thesis focused on the creation of the lease of non- residential premises, the essential elements of the lease agreement of non-residential premises, rights and obligations of landlords and tenants, especially the issue of handover of non- residential premises, maintenance and repair of non-residential premises, revisal of the premises by the landlord and securing and providing the services by the landlord. The thesis deals in detail with possibilities and conditions for termination of the lease. In order to assure better orientation of the reader the creation, content and termination of sublease are handled separately from the lease of non-residential premises in detached chapter. In addition the thesis aims to outline the conceivable contractual arrangements of presentive institutes appearing in the lease agreement. A special chapter is dedicated to the building conversions of non-residential premises, which are concerned as a particular issue causing fairly big complications. Furthermore the thesis describes the lease of non-residential premises by entrepreneurs together with the...

The thesis focuses on gated communities (GCs) as an example of residential separation in today's Prague. The GCs are a new specific phenomenon characterising the society in present post-industrial cities. It is a type of residence where high social status population concentrates behind walls and fences. The number of GCs grows more or less globally which results in increased experts' interest in GCs. This type of residence occurs also in Czechia, primarily in Prague. Experts' interest in the subject in our environment is, however, not as high as in other post-communist countries. This thesis follows up with previous studies and assesses in detail if - in context of the post-industrial transformation - the high social status population is separated in Prague GCs and why such type of residence appears. The document also partly focuses on the development and situation of residential separation and the consequences of GCs formation. It is based on several quantitative (data analysis, questionnaire survey) and qualitative (interviews) research methods. It turns up that on one hand the level of residential segregation and separation in Prague decreases, on the other hand we can see that the number of specific separated locations such as the GCs where the high social status population concentrates grows....

This empirical study is aimed to analyze the determinants of residential water demand and performed water use practice at household level in Hawassa. This study will fill the research gap and information on factors affecting household water demand in regions being water scarce and will provide useful information for policy-makers and water utility planners in order to use scarce drinking water resource more efficiently. In this study the proposed potential factors determine household water demand in Hawassa were; Socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, the average monthly household expenditure, use of water appliances and household water use patterns for various purposes, and household awareness towards water source conservation. The cross sectional survey was done in 169 rondomly selected households. The collected Data was analyzed using multiple regression models with different functional forms (linear, semi-log) and heteroskedaticity corrected model was also used in each of functional forms to examine the structural relationship between the quantity of water demand and explanatory variables. The gretl statisitcal software package was used. The descriptive statistics analysis was also followed to present results in tables, charts and graphs (mean, median, minimum, maximum, frequency...

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