Many rural areas are undergoing structural changes as jobs in forestry, fishing, mining, agricultural and other natural resource-based industries decline. These communities, often based around these industries, are generally small and located some distance from urban areas. They are faced with decreasing population as residents and their families leave for jobs elsewhere. As a result, the communities and residents are looking for alternative ways to create employment and sustain themselves. Given the nature of these rural locations, many small businesses based there face challenges that are not generally experienced by enterprises in urban areas. Some communities are not accessible by paved road while others are not accessible by road at all, relying instead on water and air transportation. The business people in these areas often operate without standard business infrastructure, which can include telephone lines, broadband Internet, banking services and other items, and can have difficulty accessing supplies, customers, employees and other required materials. However, there has been relatively little research on the challenges facing rural businesses and the specific methods by which these owners mitigate these challenges. Understanding and addressing the challenges faced by these businesses becomes important in order to support and encourage economic growth and development in these rural communities. Building on this context, this research looks to answer the following questions: • Why do people start businesses in rural locations? • What type of businesses do they start? • What challenges do these rural businesses face? • How do owners respond to these challenges? Vancouver Island and the surrounding smaller islands in British Columbia, Canada serve as the research site. Given the exploratory nature of this research, an inductive approach has been selected with the use of case studies, interviews and grounded theory analysis. Purposeful sampling is used with the sample businesses meeting specific criteria, based on location, business size and definition of success. These businesses are interviewed at their locations to allow the researcher to experience the challenges associated with accessing the particular rural community. The interview topics are focused on the above research questions. There are several common characteristics among the sample owners and their businesses. The owners tend to be in-migrants who moved to the rural area for lifestyle reasons. They have started their business to provide an income, take advantage of a business opportunity, or both. Family members, particularly spouses, are actively involved in the business. In many cases, participants supplement their business income with other income sources to ensure business viability. Success is measured generally by personal and lifestyle goals, rather than financial criteria. The businesses face common challenges in terms of a limited local population base which impacts on market size and labour pool, rural location and access to urban centres, gaps in business and social services infrastructure and heavy time demands. The owners respond to these challenges in a variety of ways which includes the involvement of family, core business diversification, alternative income sources, long hours invested in the business and involvement with the community. To meet these challenges and devise their responses, the owners draw upon four key resources – their own skills and attitudes, their family, business and community. The resulting conceptual framework draws together these key resources and suggests that all four must be present to ensure success within a rural context. Each resource is comprised of several components which contribute to business success. The framework also integrates several resource-based theories, which consider the key resources either separately or in pairs, to create a holistic model. The conclusions focus on several key areas. This research contributes to the knowledge base on rural small businesses by creating a framework that draws directly from the experience of these owners and their objectives and motivations for their businesses. It reflects their internal focus and a concentration of the four resources that they access easily from within their domain. This research also suggests some possible roles for government which focus on its role in shaping the larger environment, particularly at the infrastructure level and human capital development. Finally, future research directions are recommended. This study considers a relatively unexplored topic and suggests ways for rural small businesses to address the challenges which they face. With this knowledge, individuals, businesses, communities and other interested organizations can work to achieve their economic development goals.

Cornwall is a peripheral rural location in the South West of the UK, and has experienced almost continual socio-economic decline for more than a century. It has a nationalist heritage and is a popular tourist resort. It is also one of the poorest parts of the UK. Academic work has addressed poverty in Cornwall, but has failed to adequately answer why various development programmes have not improved the economy. Part of the reason for this may be that traditional approaches to regional development utilise identity politics as a development tool, and yet lack sufficient attention to the lived experience of local residents. This work takes the opposite approach, seeking to address this omission by using narratives of identity to understand why Cornwall is still so poor. Supporting data uses a qualitative, grounded methodology, using interviews to explore how decision makers and members of the public construct Cornwall. The research finds that policy is based on a perception of the region which lacks a foundation in lived reality for local residents, and which carries a number of implications. The area and its inhabitants are constructed as being a lifestyle choice, impacting on economic activity and the kinds of investment attracted, which has a negative impact on long term economic growth. The solution proposed is that successful development needs to use a politics of identity that incorporates the realities of life in Cornwall, rather than emphasising an idealised perception. This can be done through adopting a more ‘evolutionary’ method, encouraging economic development to come to accept and work with what already exists, rather than trying to create anew.

Este estudo foi realizado com o objetivo geral de compreender a situação biográfica de familiares de usuários de álcool residentes no meio rural e teve como objetivos específicos conhecer as expectativas dos familiares com o tratamento em uma unidade de internação psiquiátrica e descrever o típico da ação de familiares de usuários de álcool residentes no meio rural. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, com abordagem da sociologia fenomenológica. O local de estudo foi uma unidade de internação psiquiátrica de um hospital geral localizado no estado de Santa Catarina, Brasil. Os participantes foram 15 familiares de usuários de álcool internados neste serviço. A coleta das informações foi realizada por meio de entrevista semiestruturada, de agosto de 2015 a julho de 2016. Os resultados foram organizados a partir de cinco categorias concretas que constituíram os „motivos porque‟ expressos nas experiências vividas dos familiares com o usuário de álcool, disponíveis em seu estoque de conhecimentos, que compunham suas situações biográficas no momento em que ocorreu a pesquisa, e os „motivos para‟ referentes às suas expectativas com relação ao tratamento do alcoolista. As categorias que fazem referência aos „motivos porque‟ revelaram a repetição de um histórico de alcoolismo na família, o quadro clínico do alcoolista interferindo no relacionamento entre os membros da família e trazendo sintomas para todo o grupo familiar, e o cuidado dispensado ao alcoolista devido aos vínculos de afetividade, à responsabilidade sentida pelos laços familiares, à compreensão da situação vivenciada pelo alcoolista por também já ter passado por um tratamento para alcoolismo e ao fato de o alcoolista manter uma boa convivência social quando não estava sob o efeito do uso do álcool. As categorias manifestadas nos „motivos para‟ mostraram que os familiares esperavam que o alcoolista mantivesse a abstinência e faziam planos sobre os cuidados a serem tomados após o período de internação do alcoolista. Foram pensadas em várias possibilidades, que envolveram desde o acolhimento do alcoolista em seus lares a projetos voltados para uma perspectiva de controle ou que traduziam o receio de não terem condições de cuidar constantemente dele. As experiências ouvidas apontam para a necessidade de ampliação do cuidado visando ao suporte aos familiares de usuários de álcool residentes no meio rural por meio de um olhar que focalize o seu mundo da vida cotidiana. Destaca-se a importância de favorecer a participação da família no cuidado e de fortalecê-la para enfrentar as dificuldades que possam surgir nas interações familiares oriundas da dependência de álcool, contribuindo para relações face a face saudáveis. / This study was performed with the general objective of understanding the biographical situation of relatives of alcohol users living in rural areas and had as specific objectives to know the expectations of these relatives with the treatment in a psychiatric hospital facility and to describe the typical actions of relatives of alcohol users living in rural areas. This is a qualitative research, with an approach based on phenomenological sociology. The place of study was a psychiatric hospital facility of a general hospital situated in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. The participants were 15 relatives of alcohol users admitted to this service. The information collection was done through semi-structured interviews, from August 2015 to July 2016. The results were organized from five concrete categories that made up the „reasons why‟ expressed in the lived experiences of the relatives with the alcohol user, available in their storage of knowledge, which comprised their biographical situations at the time of the research, and the „reasons for‟ regarding their expectations in relation to the treatment of the alcoholic. The categories that refer to the „reasons why‟ revealed a repetition of a history of alcoholism within the family, the clinical picture of the alcoholic interfering in the relationship among the family members and bringing symptoms to the whole family group, and the care given to the alcoholic due to the bonds of affection, the responsibility felt by the family ties, the understanding of the situation experienced by the alcoholic because he / she has already undergone a treatment for alcoholism and to the fact that the alcoholic managed to maintain a good social coexistence when he/she was not under the effect of the alcohol use. The categories manifested in the „reasons for‟ showed that the relatives expected that the alcoholic would maintain abstinence, and they made plans about the care actions to be taken after the period of admission of the alcoholic. Various possibilities were regarded, ranging from the welcoming of the alcoholic in their homes to projects oriented to a perspective of control or that reflected the fear of not being able to constantly care for him/her. The experiences heard through this survey highlight the need to broaden care actions with a view to supporting the relatives of alcohol users living in rural areas by means of a look focused on their world of everyday life. It is worth emphasizing the importance of fostering the family‟s participation in the care actions, as well as empowering it to deal with the difficulties that may arise in family interactions resulting from the alcohol addiction, thus contributing to healthy face-to-face relationships.

The purpose of the study was to create guidelines regarding effective diffusion of elearningto and within developing countries. Another aim of the study was to identifychallenges and problems related to the diffusion of e-learning, as well as identifying whatcharacterizes a successful ICT diffusion project. To achieve the purpose of the study acase study was performed in Thailand, where two different schools, i.e. two cases thathad been targeted by ICT diffusion projects were studied. In combination to studying theschools, the donor side of the project were also included in the study. The study wasconducted with a qualitative research approach, and was divided into one inductive andexploratory phase, which generated a theory, and one deductive phase where the theorywas both theoretically and empirically validated. To gather the empirical material, eightsemi-structured interviews were conducted of which six included staffs from the twoschools, and two included donors that were involved in one of the studied ICT diffusionprojects. Yet another semi-structured interview was performed with a person involved inan ICT diffusion project, which helped to perform the empirical validation of thegenerated theory. With the help of the collected empirical material as well as throughexisting theories it was possible to identify numerous of challenges regarding diffusion ofe-learning to and within developing countries. The challenges were primarily connectedto language, culture, governmental, lack of computer knowledge and infrastructural. Totackle the challenges a number of characteristics regarding effective ICT diffusionprojects in developing countries were identified. These characteristics included theimportance of doing a proper investigation about the recipients, follow ups, providedright amount of computers, provided software that had been adapted and providededucation about how computers should be used. Based on the challenges andcharacteristics guidelines for effective diffusion of e-learning to and within developingcountries were designed. The knowledge about challenges and characteristics led to theidentification of two important findings. The first was that the diffusion of e-learning todeveloping countries is highly dependant on the diffusion of ICT to the schools, as anevident problem that existed was that the schools lacked the proper technicalinfrastructure to be able to support computer-aided teaching. The other finding was thatin order for the diffusion process to be effective, it is vital to provide information andeducation about the technology in advance of the implementation. These two findingslead to that the 19 created guidelines were divided into two categories; basic guidelinesfor diffusion of ICT and enabling guidelines for diffusion of e-learning. / Program: Dataekonomutbildningen

The Public Internet Terminal (PIT) is the Department of Communication initiative that aims to bring electronic communication to all South African citizens. It was launched in 1998 as a joint venture between the Department of Communications (DoC) and the South African Post Office (SAPO).This study postulates that the massive roll out of the Public Internet terminals (PIT‘s) has enhanced the lives of the poor by providing easy access to government services. It further assumes that the PITs are able to facilitate access of eService‘s to all the citizens in particular where electronic services are not freely available such as in the rural and remote under serviced areas of South Africa. In addition, it explores the envisaged value added initiatives stipulated in the memorandum of understanding entered in between the Department of Communication (DOC) and the South African Post Office (SAPO).

The purpose of this study was to compare Registered Nurse (RN) current and future demand between Tennessee rural and urban licensed hospitals and nursing homes. Comparisons of Registered Nurse demand by principal duty or position and by educational level were also undertaken. The educational level of RNs was examined using the proportion of RNs at each of five educational levels: diploma, associate, baccalaureate, master's, and doctorate. The variables examined were 1988 and 1989 vacancy rates and proportion of budgeted positions, change in vacancy rates and proportions from 1988 to 1989, projected changes in positions and proportions from 1988 to 1992 and to 1995. Nurse administrators from one hundred fifty four hospitals (63% response rate) and two hundred twelve nursing homes (72% response rate) were surveyed for responses about current and future RN demand. This study is a secondary analysis of data that were collected as a part of a larger research project conducted by the Tennessee Board of Regents Task Force on Nurse Supply and Demand. The findings were that rural hospitals had significantly higher vacancy rates for total nurse positions in 1988 and general duty positions in 1989. Urban hospital administrators reported higher vacancy rates for RN positions at the diploma level and projected significantly greater changes in clinical specialist and master's level positions for 1992 and 1995. Rural hospitals had a higher proportion of associate degree nurses in 1989, and urban hospitals had a higher percentage of master's prepared RNs for 1988 and 1989. Urban hospitals projected a greater change in the proportion of RNs at the doctoral level for 1995. Rural nursing homes projected higher numbers of associate degree nurses for 1992 and 1995. The major conclusion was that the nursing shortage in Tennessee hospitals was more severe than that reported on the national level and greater in rural hospitals. The shortage in Tennessee nursing homes was reported to be much less acute than the national shortage, and the critical shortages were limited to a few facilities, both rural and urban.

The rise in the number of Black, male, incarcerated, rural youth and the retributive juvenile justice system is a prominent problem in the United States, creating a revolving door for youth in conflict with the law. Restorative justice is an alternative approach that diverts youth from court and focus on rehabilitation, but lacks sufficient experiential evidence from those involved in the process to support broader implementation. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of restorative justice arbitrators and the role they play in facilitating resolution of youth criminal charges in a rural setting in a southern U.S. state. The research question asked how restorative justice arbitrators perceive and explain their roles, and successes and failures of a restorative justice process with Black male rural youth. The theoretical framework for the study was Braithwaite's reintegrative shaming, which posits the significance of the immediate family and community in rehabilitation. In this multicase study, research data were collected from semistructured interviews of 4 rural restorative justice arbitrators and analyzed using content analysis. Themes that emerged from the analysis were: the key role of rural community involvement in holding youths accountable to victims for their actions, preventing youths from developing a criminal record, and redirecting youth away from incarceration and more toward the community wellbeing. These findings contribute to social change by informing those working with youth crime about implications for the field of restorative justice specifically related to the opportunity for communities to provide benefits not only for juvenile offenders but also for victims and the community as a whole.

Driverless vehicles might fundamentally change the transport system in multiple ways. Reducing driver costs in mobility services could create opportunities for new mobility concepts. Research on driverless vehicles have previously concentrated on urban areas, though driverless vehicles in rural areas could have greater positive effects. Hence, the aim of the study is to see how driverless vehicles can be used in rural areas to contribute to a more sustainable transport system. Three rural mobility concepts for driverless vehicles are developed and by applying these to different case locations, the feasibility of the concepts is discussed. Interviews with local actors in Sweden were conducted to learn about general and local challenges with specific case locations. What rural mobility concept for driverless vehicles to use depends on access to public transport, distance to main roads and spatial density of travel demand. A modelling approach of a first and last mile feeder service is used to evaluate the feasibility of this mobility concept further. Model results show that driverless shuttles can feed travel demands of 100-150 passengers daily and still perform alternative tasks. Even though rural areas have general challenges, local issues also need consideration to optimize the benefits of the services. Public transport authorities are experts on local challenges and could take more responsibility in questions regarding driverless vehicles. For instance, flexibility, accessibility and equality could be improved by merging routes and shorten travel times for entire bus routes. Furthermore, other societal functions can be developed by reinvesting capital in other areas.

This thesis describes a case study of a rural sub district in Thailand, develops a network model for development and makes policy suggestions that stress the importance of participatory governance processes. The aim of this thesis is to learn from a limited case study and explore the extent to which ICT could bridge the gaps in rural and remote areas and thus aid development and empower those who are marginalized by virtue of gender inequality, poverty, lack of education and limited access to resources. The thesis: - Investigates how a case study of rural and remote communities, particularly in North Eastern Thailand, can gain more capacity to: i.) harness and obtain the potential advantages of information and communication technologies and ii.) promote the interconnectedness and network partnership across public, private and community sectors. - Describes the lack of connection across public, private and community sectors and argues for the need to develop and promote the capacity of individuals, groups, organizations, and institutions in these rural areas. In this limited case study, the lack of capacity leads to an inability to use ICT in many sectors that could support community development goals in Thailand. Without access to or the ability to share new information and knowledge across the remote and more developed regions, it is difficult to create success in development projects for individuals and institutions and to mobilize and allocate tangible and intangible resources from the workplace, family, and community. Amidst the flood of information and knowledge globally, including within a nation itself, partnerships among public and private sectors and other stakeholders both inside and outside a community can play a substantial role in harnessing the new technologies to pool information and knowledge, in order to develop the community's capacity and people's capability to achieve their goals sustainably. - Argues that the development gaps in these rural and remote areas could be reduced if the people there are promoted and empowered to be significant and active partners equally able to share and contribute information and knowledge to others outside their communities. The focus of the research is on the powerful knowledge brokers in the society such as the monks, the village leaders, local government officials and the school teachers who know about ICTs. The research focus is not the powerless who (in this case) may not have access to ICT. The thesis points out the way in which the powerful view the shortcomings and barriers to ordinary people having access to computers. As such 'the gaze' (in the sense used by Foucault is upwards at the powerful, not downwards at the powerless. 'Power and knowledge are linked' (Foucault), according to Foucault and this thesis looks only at the way in which the powerful see themselves. Although I argue for participatory governance, my thesis only looks at the powerful. This is in part as a result of my being a member of the knowledge broker stakeholders as I am training to be a Buddhist monk and live in the temple. My thesis makes a contribution, by studying the powerful knowledge brokers, instead of researching the powerless. I have researched issues with the powerful as I was able to access them, in my role as a trainee monk and because of my position in and connections within the community. There are usually two areas in research in Thailand that are not discussed; they are religion and the role of the state. This thesis addresses some causes or sources of difficulties or conflicts that have occurred as a part of the obstacles for the development in selected case study areas, in order to understand what significantly lies underneath the difficulties. This thesis does not engage in a discussion on the diverse needs of the Southern region. Muslims, who live in the five southern provinces adjacent to Malaysia, see themselves as second class citizens compared to others (in particular Buddhists who make up about 95% of the population). This is supported by international criticism of the handling of separatist movements. This thesis is written from the perspective of a Buddhist monk -to- be who lives and works in the Northern area and who is concerned with his case study area. I have been in training to become a monk my entire life as I was brought up in the Buddhist temple. I acknowledge that my experiences contribute to the way that I see the world but that I have tried to be as reflexive as possible. Much of the research draws on my role and position in the society in which I live. I have strived to understand the wider world. To that end, I was trained in the private and public sector in leadership skills in Bangkok Life Insurance Company and in Bangkok Business Administration School including in Naluang Temple, Udorn Thani province. I have been trained to work with the community leaders such as schools and local government officers with a view to help with community development as the temple representative. This thesis does not argue that information and communication technologies (ICTs), in and of themselves, are the means to achieving social justice and socioeconomic being. Instead it argues that they can support and enable the stakeholders to participate in decision making and greater access to information and resources amongst and across local stakeholders - village, school, temple and local government - in the rural areas. I stress that if there is no political willingness and community spirit (social capital) to support this, then information and communication technologies (ICTs) are of no value. 'Thick democracy', in the sense used by Edgar, is dependent on better communication with all the stakeholders. Knowledge management is not about technology alone it is about pooling and sharing ideas so that development opportunities can be developed. Technology is the means to achieve joined-up government. It is not an end in itself. My thesis shows how the lack of ability to work together, and lack of willingness to cooperate amongst some players, undermine the potential of people to access information and resources. I argue that the geographical isolation of rural areas nowadays can be theoretically bridged by investing in telecommunication infrastructure. It is debatable if the state could achieve this alone. Local institutions cannot serve, help and work in partnership with other organizations. They need to be able to work collaboratively, in order to deal with the complexity of problems. Some temples, for instance, lack capacity to apply the local, tacit knowledge of people that is needed for balanced development in the community. A consequence of the isolation of local institutions, in this case study, is that it can lead to insufficient co-operation across community, public and private sectors. Also, it can reduce and demote institutional and social capacity necessary for working together effectively. The aim of this thesis was to establish to what extent ICT can bridge the gaps in rural and remote areas and thus aid development and empower those who are marginalized by virtue of gender inequality, poverty, lack of education and limited access to resources. At the outset the limitations of the small sample are acknowledge and the analysis is limited to the discussion of themes that could have potential relevance, but nevertheless the thesis aims to - Explore the issue of capacity building (by means of a small purposive sample) drawn from 7 rural communities, in North Eastern Thailand; - Consider the themes from the purposive sample to explore the potential development role for information and communication technologies; - Consider the extent to which the technologies (as part of a development process) could support the creation of networks and partnership across public, private and community sectors; and - Describe the themes that emerge in the small sample about the lack of connection across (public, private and community) sectors and argue for the need to develop and promote the capacity of individuals, groups, organizations, and institutions in this purposive sample. The lack of capacity in this small sample indicated that in these communities there is limited capacity to use ICT in many sectors that could support community development goals in this part of Thailand. Perhaps the themes that are evident in this sample could be explored further to assess their more general relevance. It is possible that without access to or the ability to share new information and knowledge across the remote and more developed regions, it is difficult to create success in development projects for individuals and institutions and to mobilize and allocate tangible and intangible resources from the workplace, family, and community. Amidst the flood of information and knowledge globally, including within a nation itself, partnerships among public and private sectors and other stakeholders both inside and outside a community can play a substantial role in harnessing the new technologies to pool information and knowledge, in order to develop the community's capacity and people's capability to achieve their goals sustainably. I argue that the development gaps in these rural and remote areas could be reduced if the people there are promoted and empowered to be significant and active partners equally able to share and contribute information and knowledge to others outside their communities.

The Structure-of-Intellect - Learning Abilities Test (SOI-LA) (Meeker, 1975) has an enthusiastic following in the USA, but is little-known in Australia. It is based on the Structure-of-Intellect model of J P Guilford, and through a series of up to 26 subtests, purports to identify 14 general learning abilities. Forms are designed to cater for students from Kindergarten to adult. In NSW, classroom teachers can have support for students with learning difficulties through the Support Teacher program; this support often falls far short of need, as there is a paucity of time and material resources. There is a need for a tool which can identify areas of both strength and weakness efficiently and suggest effective strategies to cater for the identified weaknesses; the Meeker paradigm is purported to address this need with a diagnostic approach which identifies learning disabilities which underlie and serve to maintain school-based learning difficulties, and prescribes materials and approaches for remediation. This study explores the first part of the Meeker paradigm, the diagnostic approach of the Structure-of-Intellect - Learning Abilities Test. This exploration is undertaken in the context of four rural Support Teachers and their student with learning difficulties from Grades 2-6. Rather than consider questions of the Test's validity, this study was designed to explore the Test's utility in the Support Teacher context, by giving the Support Teachers a working knowledge of the concepts of SOI-LA, and to compare the application of their knowledge with the information about their students' learning disabilities from the Test results. Problems are evident with the Support Teachers' knowledge and understanding of their students' disabilities; whist they felt comfortable about the approach which the Test takes, they felt they did not know their students well enough to make informed judgements about their disabilities. It was apparent from the study that the Support Teachers' understanding of the concepts of the Test was comparatively superficial, despite their impression that they did understand well. Several difficulties with the instrument itself are highlighted by this study; the assumptions underlying the derivation of the general ability scores are questioned, and the suitability of Test Forms for a learning disabled population of this age is open to criticism. The Structure-of-Intellect - Learning Abilities Test may have utility as an instrument for gaining information about a student's disability on an individual basis, and may be best in the hands of the School Counsellor.