The purpose of this thesis research is to describe the availability of social support among street-involved youth and how this longitudinally predicts their substance use, mental health and mental well-being. Data from a panel study of street-involved youth in Victoria, British Columbia were analyzed (N=130). Thematic analysis of responses to open-ended questions and descriptive analyses of survey data were conducted to describe the availability of social support in participants’ lives. Multivariate regression was used to test two prominent theories of the relationship between social support and health (the stress-buffering and main effect theories) and to examine the association between sources of social support and health. The thematic analysis and descriptive analysis results indicate that there is considerable heterogeneity in terms of the availability, sources and types of social support among this population. The regression results provide partial support for the main effect theory; perceived availability of social support predicted reduced alcohol and hard drug use and better overall mental health and well-being, regardless of the stress levels. The stress-buffering theory was not supported. Sources of social support were not significantly related to health outcomes. The thesis concludes with policy and program suggestions and gives direction for further research on the relationship between social support and health among street-involved youth. / Graduate / 0626 / 0347 / 0573 / mary06@uvic.ca

This thesis explores street involved youth friendship in Victoria, Canada. The friendships of street involved youth—that is “young people who may or may not be homeless and spend some time in the social and economic world of ‘the street’” (Perkin 2009)—are regularly thought and talked about as being prone to deviant or risky behaviour, particularly in social scientific literature and by the mainstream media. I conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 street involved youth (ages 16 – 21) who talked about friendships as important relationships offering (among other things) help, protection, support, nurture and meaningful existences not available to them otherwise. Street youth friendships allow youth some escape and respite from damaging neoliberal political-economic policies in Victoria, Canada. In addition, street involved youth friendships bring into question dominant developmentalist discourses and assumptions as youth agentively and expertly negotiate their friendships in careful and nuanced ways. / Graduate / 0326 / twerdal@uvic.ca

This is a study about employment officers at the Swedish public employment service. The aim of this study was to examine how they understand and use their discretion in their daily work. We used a qualitative method and the data was gathered by semi-structured interviews with eight employment officers working at the same office in a small town in Sweden. Lipskys theory about street-level bureaucracy and Lazarus description of coping theory are applied to analyze the empirical data. The work for the Swedish employment officers have changed over the last years with an increasing focus on control and administration. The results from the study show that the employment officers considered that they have a freedom of action in their daily work about planning their meetings, but all of them thinks that the administration, and the fact that they have to handle too many unemployed means that they are lack of time, what leads to a negative impact on their discretion. All of the interviewed subjects indicated that the Swedish public employment service has a top-down organization. We found that the informants used a unified strategy to cope dilemmas by referring to the existing laws, both when they handled disgruntled unemployed and even as a way to cope their own liable situations. They could interpret the laws in different ways and they took help from the colleagues at the local office to decide how to interpret the laws. Even if dilemma was common in their work with the unemployed, they considered that their mission to control was mainly positive. The main reasons, to how the employment officers margin for manoeuvre are limited, appears to be the laws, the regulations and the available efforts for the unemployed.

Street children in Central America are largely denied protection of their human rights. They live in difficult situations of poverty, inappropriate work and neglect, and thus are not able to enjoy most of their rights and basic needs. / The international framework for children's human rights law, composed primarily of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the principles inherent to it, can be described as based on a doctrine of integral protection, a notion developed primarily by Central American legal scholars. At the same time, however, most Central American states ignore their obligations to conform their domestic legislation to these standards. / This thesis is meant to provide Central American countries with guidelines captured by a model referred to as UPPP2. Its main objective is for States to acknowledge that the plight of street children needs to be understood; prevented by adequate domestic legislation; and requires protection by effective implementation and provision of justice.

Los grandes avances científico-tecnológicos, especialmente los que se asocian al campo de la informática y de las comunicaciones han producido cambios en la economía que se globalizado y en los mercados que se han internacionalizado de manera rápida y son actualmente mayoritariamente de oferta. Este nuevo escenario del siglo XXI, ha influenciado a las empresas de productos manufacturados que están obligadas a generar productos que aporten valor apreciado por los clientes/usuarios mediante la incorporación de atributos diferenciadores que generen ventajas competitivas, especialmente en diseño e innovación. En consecuencia la generación de nuevos productos en el actual escenario, obliga a las empresas a contar con una organización y un sistema de gestión eficiente que incorpore un proceso de generación de productos que reduzca incertidumbres y optimice la actividad proyectual. Ante esta nueva situación, las empresas consideran que la creación de productos es un factor estratégico de primer nivel y creen que contar con una buena idea y/o concepto permitirá a través de un proceso organizado y efectivo conseguir el objetivo final: nuevos productos que ofrezcan ventajas competitivas. Algunos sectores de manufactura se han preocupado por optimizar los procesos generales establecidos, adaptándolos a sus necesidades especialmente en las áreas relacionadas con la creación de producto. En la última década el sector del mobiliario urbano ha tenido un crecimiento rápido y sin planificación en consonancia con la expansión del mercado inmobiliario. Actualmente con la situación de crisis económica es necesario mejorar la competitividad del sector, potenciando especialmente el desarrollo de productos y los factores de innovación y diseño, optimizando el proceso proyectual. Todo ello para conseguir reducir tanto los costes e inversiones, como los tiempos de desarrollo así como disminuir la incertidumbre. Por ello, consideramos que ahora es el momento de plantear un proceso singular para el sector que permita mejorar su competitividad. La presente tesis quiere definir un modelo de proceso de desarrollo de producto focalizado en el sector del mobiliario urbano focalizado en las pymes, que facilite la potenciación de la innovación y el diseño, y que tenga como resultado una aportación a la actividad proyectual que permita y un incremento del grado de competitividad. En la investigación desarrollada en la tesis, se han estudiado diferentes campos que configuran la actual complejidad de un proceso de generación de producto, a través de sus interacciones, especialmente las de mercado, las tecnológicas y las de fabricación en el entorno empresarial y teniendo en cuenta los factores competitivos del diseño y la innovación. Esperamos que la tesis aporte, conocimiento y permita generar valor y que sea referente para la actividad proyectual de diseñadores, ingenieros y gestores de producto y que al mismo tiempo sea una herramienta que ayude a las empresas pymes del sector a homologarse en relación a los estándares existentes en otros sectores en lo relativo al proceso de desarrollo de producto. / The scientific and technological advances, especially those associated with computing and communications, have globalized economies and internationalized markets, in which there is currently more supply than demand. This new 21ts century scenario has influenced companies in the manufacturing sector, which are poised to generate products with distinguishing attributes that give them a competitive advantage, especially in design and innovation, and that clients and users value. Consequently, this scenario has obliged companies to implement efficient organization and management systems and to incorporate product generation processes focused on competitive factors. In light of this new situation, companies now view product creation as a strategic factor of the highest order. They believe that having a good idea or concept will lead, through an organized and effective process, to achieving the final goal: new products that offer competitive advantages. Some manufacturing sectors have been eager to optimize established processes and adapt them to their needs, especially in areas related to product development. Over the last decade the street furniture sector has experienced rapid unplanned growth, parallel to the expansion of the property market. Recently, with the onset of the economic crisis, the sector has had to become more competitive, especially through the promotion of product development strategies that incorporate innovation and design factors and optimize the project process. This is required to reduce costs and investments, development times and uncertainty. For these reasons, we believe it is the right time to introduce new processes that will lead to improved competitiveness in the sector. This thesis will focus on SMEs in the street furniture sector to define a product development model that promotes innovation, contributes to project activity and increases competitiveness. The research was focused on different fields to better investigate the complexity of product generation processes, looking at interactions, especially within markets, technology and manufacturing in companies, and taking into account the competitive factors of design and innovation. It is hoped that the thesis will contribute valuable knowledge, and that it will be a reference for designers, engineers and product managers involved in project activity. It is also hoped that it will become a tool to help SMEs in the sector achieve the product development standards of other sectors.

Since C J Dennis wrote The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke in 1915 the Little Lonsdale Street precinct has been a symbol of rough, immoral inner Melbourne working-class community life. Scholars and journalists have perpetuated this negative image, and the major archaeological survey conducted by Justin McCarthy in 1989 confirmed the impression of a "lowlife slum". The only industry of substance that was acknowledged by these writers was prostitution. The Museum of Victoria has erected an exhibition, and prepared a web-site, about Little Lon based on McCarthy’s report. In recent years Alan Mayne, Tim Murray and Susan Lawrence have published research questioning the slum image and have argued instead that the precinct was, essentially, a residential neighbourhood. My hypothesis is that Little Lon was much more than a poor, working-class area. Over a long period it contained a significant enclave of successful family firms engaged in manufacture and other diverse activities. / My research has involved a macro-survey of all the industries in the precinct from 1860-1950 and micro-surveys of seven individual firms. Careful note has been taken of the manner in which Nonconformist, Lebanese and Chinese entrepreneurs clustered separately, but within the same small precinct. The influence within Little Lon of Chinese cabinetmakers between about 1905 and 1925, both industrially and residentially, was strong indeed. Preceding the Chinese was a cluster of Lebanese traders (some later becoming clothing manufacturers) and, throughout the century the Nonconformist industrialists consolidated their respective positions. Research questions concerning their motivation and effectiveness have been asked of each entrepreneur. The impact of religion has been noted. My research has produced a set of commercial histories of relatively long-term small enterprises, located within a defined city area. The development of each firm has been monitored by comparison with its respective industry as a whole.

In this thesis, public housing was investigated with particular reference to the nature of communication between the landlord and tenant. It focussed on interactive behaviours and the incidence of litigation. The study attempts to bridge the gap between social theory and social practice through the application of existing social theory in the description and analyses of social problems. Based on a critical review of the relevant literature, the characteristics of communicative interaction and human relationships are described, together with the history of housing provision and the growth of litigation to resolve issues in public housing. Research of communicative interaction in the housing sector in general and the landlord-tenant interaction in particular has been a neglected area of research that is addressed in this thesis. An initial study surveyed both tenants and housing officers in the Sydney metropolitan area. Social analysis focuses on local interaction between landlord and tenant and how these local interactions expand into global patterns. The thesis analyses how power-relating, ideological/evaluative and ethical choices of housing officers and tenants influence their communicative interaction and the subsequent access and distribution of services and resources in the public housing sector. The theoretical framework explicates on complex responsive processes (CRP) perspective. CRP is a process theory that looks into the simultaneous and co-influencing relationship between the individual and the social and multi-agency approach in social analysis. The conceptualising framework relies on the application of this theory and the principles of Humanity, human rights and social justice to achieve a dialogical communicative interaction. The thesis applied complementary quantitative and qualitative methods where a quantitative study of a small population was conducted using structured interviews and group meetings to guide the qualitative research. The population was identified by natural experiment, i.e., identification of two populations in a public housing estate: a Participative group, comprising tenants who had consciously participated in the housing authorities?? renewal programs, and a Non-participative group of tenants who had not taken part in the Tenant Participation programs by Housing New South Wales (HNSW). The housing officers and tenants were identified using snowball and quota sampling. The findings reveal a conspicuous absence of research that focus on local interaction between housing officers and tenants in public housing. The study confirms the anti-dialogical nature of communicative interaction in public housing, which is iterated, sustained and perpetuated by the use of litigation, a mechanism that is increasingly being preferred to settle disputes, by both landlord and tenant.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Abilene Christian University, 1993. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-130).

Thesis (M.Env. St.)--University of Adelaide University, Mawson Graduate Centre for Environmental Studies, 1995.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 245-249).