Many organizations have transitioned from single-systems development to product-line development with the goal of increasing productivity and facilitating mass customization. Variability modelling is a key activity in software product-line development that deals with the explicit representation of variability using dedicated models. Variability models specify points of variability and their variants in a product line. Although many variability-modelling notations and tools have been designed by researchers and practitioners, very little is known about their usage, actual benefits or challenges. Existing studies mostly describe product-line practices in general, with little focus on variability modelling. We address this gap through a qualitative study on variability-modelling practices in medium- and large-scale companies using two empirical methods: surveys and interviews. We investigated companies' variability-modelling practices and experiences with the aim to gather information on 1) the methods and strategies used to create and manage variability models, 2) the tools and notations used for variability modelling, 3) the perceived values and challenges of variability modelling, and 4) the core characteristics of their variability models. Our results show that variability models are often created by re-engineering existing products into a product line. All of the interviewees and the majority of survey participants indicated that they represent variability using separate variability models rather than annotative approaches. We found that developers use variability models for many purposes, such as the visualization of variabilities, configuration of products, and scoping of products. Although we observed that high degree of heterogeneity exists in the variability-modelling notations and tools used by organizations, feature-based notations and tools are the most common. We saw huge differences in the sizes of variability models and their contents, which indicate that variability models can have different use cases depending on the organization. Most of our study participants reported complexity challenges that were related mainly to the visualization and evolution of variability models, and dependency management. In addition, reports from interviews suggest that product-line adoption and variability modelling have forced developers to think in terms of a product-line scenario rather than a product-based scenario.

Creative visualization is an essential attribute to be possessed by an artist to achieve success in any art endeavour. To reach its purpose in all its fields, art is made manifest and is expressed through real genuine passion. This research study acknowledges Gibran Kahlil Gibran, as a distinguished immigrant artist, with a vision. A comparison is then made of six other artists, including the researcher, who have all had similar ordeals in the successful attainment of their vision. This biographical, neo-narrative research design methodology was recorded through extensive readings and lengthy interviews, which consisted of proposing specific questions to each of the participants in order to extract valid and comparable findings. As a consequence, the art researcher was able to observe, reflect and draw some relevant conclusions towards the creative vision of Lebanese immigrants, which led to their success despite hardships, expatriation, ambition and hope. This study has provided the researcher with real insight into the characteristics of these artists and what constitutes a successful immigrant. It has confirmed her pre-conceived perceptions that success takes time and personal effort. It highlights the importance for the existence of tolerance between people, which in turn will enable the realisation of empathy.

This study explored the experience of what it is to be a gay man and to live in a rural community. It sought to understand why gay men would want to live in places that are said to have a reputation for hostility towards them. The empirical data from the semi-structured interviews with twenty-one gay men living in fifteen small-town locations across New South Wales, Australia, was analysed using a qualitative method derived from phenomenology, ethnography and modified grounded theory. The distinctive findings of this thesis centre on these men???s desire and determination to stay in the bush. They chose to stay in rural locations and effectively employed a diverse range of strategies to both combat the difficulties of rural life and enhance its advantages. The bush was the place in which these men could find themselves, be themselves and also find others like themselves. The space and the isolation of the bush gave them the latitude and the scope to live gay lives. This is why they stayed. By staying, they were also able to live out both the homosexual and rural components of their personal and social identity. Building on a brief look at the Australian rural past, the conceptual framework utilises notions of ???the stranger??? and draws on resilience, agency and resistance theory to understand these men???s ability to live in an unwelcoming place. Resilience allowed these men to cope and deal with the difficulties they faced. Human agency, the individual's capacity to exert autonomy over his life, is used to restore prominence to resistance theory. Agency is the catalyst to resistance and resistance fuels an individual???s, and sometimes a collective, opposition to the dominant social forces that inhibits one???s agency. These men???s desire to live in a rural place can be understood through theoretical considerations of place, the freedom of place and queer theory. Their satisfaction with life can be theorised through the application of a concept new to theory in gay literature - thriving. This thesis documents a largely unreported aptitude and proficiency by rural gay men to live in the bush. It suggests that their close affinity with place gives them a sense of belonging that, when combined with their concept of a gay lifestyle, effectively queers the places in which they live. That gay men can live fulfilled lives in the very places they are said to have fled evokes an innovative perspective together with an appreciation of what it is to be gay in the bush.

A clash in perception is taking place. Some perceive predictive genetic testing in young people to be too potentially harmful to allow. Others perceive it to be an opportunity for benefit, even an opportunity for the prevention of harm. In this thesis I consider the issue of potential harm to mature young people who seek predictive genetic tests. / There are two parts to this thesis. In part one (chapters 1-4) I provide a background to the current debate. I describe the prohibitive stance purported within current guidelines, the arguments used to justify this stance and the opposition that has arisen in response. I discuss the psychological and social ways in which young people differ from adults, arguing that it is likely young people will react differently from adults in response to predictive genetic tests. However, I conclude that the lack of empirical evidence means we are unable to determine if these differences will confer a greater potential for harm or benefit when young people are tested. Finally, I present a discussion of two fundamental gaps in our knowledge about testing in young people: a lack of knowledge about current practice and a lack of first-hand evidence about the effects of testing. I argue that empirical research is required. / In part two of this thesis (chapters 5-7) I present the findings of my own empirical research. Firstly, I describe the findings of an international survey of clinical geneticists. Secondly, I describe the outcomes of 18 in-depth interviews performed with young people who have experienced predictive genetic testing for either Familial Adenomatous Polyposis or Huntington Disease. These young people ranged in age from 14 to 25 years. / The international survey uncovered 49 cases where predictive genetic tests had been provided to young people for non-medical reasons. When such tests are provided, the impacts are rarely followed-up as part of a formal research protocol. Clinicians’ reasons for providing and refusing tests are highly varied and are driven more by the nuances of individual cases than by any one ethical principle or set of guidelines. / When young people talk about the predictive genetic tests they have experienced, they refer to the entire experience of being at risk of a genetic condition, not simply the time after receipt of their test result. Young people speak about a far more extensive range of harms and benefits associated with the testing process than have been previously researched. / I argue that some young people growing up at risk of a genetic condition suffer several harms prior to their request for predictive genetic testing, because of their risk status. I argue that when we understand this, it becomes clear that for these mature young people who seek such testing, the provision of a test may not only serve to alleviate some of these harms, but may in fact create benefits for them, irrespective of their test result. In these cases, the provision of a predictive genetic test is appropriate, logical and ethical.

This PhD thesis investigates power relationships within a corporate Finance Department employing a Foucauldian approach to explaining corporate hierarchies and resistance and the implications.Research was conducted in the form of a case study and observation of a corporate finance department, referred to as the 'Finance Department', at the 'Company', referred to as such for confidentiality purposes. The Company is a large Dutch based mail and logistics entity that operates internationally across over 200 countries and has its corporate head office just outside of Amsterdam. The Company's Finance Department was in the throws of change, particularly around hierarchies as a result of the reengineering process with the purpose of creating efficiencies. The aim of the research was to evaluate the power relationships that existed within the hierarchies between management and workers who worked either for the Finance Department or closely with it, and to analyse the outcomes of these power relationships in terms of resistance.The case study is a Foucauldian insight into the different individuals who worked either within the Finance Department or closely with it, with an evaluation of their roles and how their differing power structures impacted upon the workflow within the Finance Department.The outcome of this research is an evaluation of those individuals and their relationships at a particular point in time, which was impacted by so many different factors. The research could give readers an understanding of power relationships and framework for contextual Foucauldian evaluation.The significance of the contribution arising from this particular piece of research is that it involves the combination of a case study method with a Foucauldian perspective. The combination of these two elements allows the research to be done both from the top down and also from the bottom up. Increasing in use as a research tool (Hamel, 1992), the case study contributes uniquely to our body of knowledge of individual, organisational, social and political phenomena (Yin, 1994). The Foucauldian perspective plays an important part in terms of an understanding of power, despite the fact that it is often difficult to fully comprehend the meanings behind Foucault's work (McHoul & Grace, 1993).

This study explores therapists' spiritual experience, personally and within the therapeutic relationship. It focuses on the lived experience of therapists and the different meanings made of what is experienced. The purpose of this research is to bring into the light spiritual experiences of therapists and how they are experienced in the therapeutic process. It contributes to current debate about spiritual experience in the day- to- day practice of psychotherapy. The methodology of phenomenological hermeneutics is chosen as it provides the means to study therapists' lived experience. The study is guided by the philosophical thinking of Heidegger, Gadamer and Van Manen.The findings of this study reveal different types of spiritual experience. These include non-ordinary states of consciousness where there is a feeling sense of being beyond the boundaries of linear time and space. Experiences involve noticing subtle body feelings before they manifest in everyday consciousness. They include hearing and seeing phenomena that may normally be overlooked or disavowed in psychotherapy. The findings show therapists' ability to notice, explore and utilize subtle body phenomena was a combination of their own capabilities, their spiritual practice, and years of experience as therapists. The therapist's body appeared to be like a doorway into experiences that had transformative effects on both therapists and clients. The meanings made of experiences reflected therapists' spiritual and cultural beliefs. These beliefs meant that therapists are attuned to something bigger than everyday identity that gave meaning and purpose to the work and was a rich source of wisdom and guidance, comfort and a sense of being held in the work. Specific attitudes and qualities of presence are revealed that reflect therapists' spiritual beliefs. Participants described experiences that emerged out of the context of the therapeutic relationship but could not be explained clinically. The findings show therapists' world views, their spiritual and cultural beliefs and capacity to experience the unknown, bring a richness and diversity of meanings to the therapeutic relationship that includes the wider contexts of culture and the environment. This study explores current thinking about spiritual experience in psychotherapy and its effects on the therapist. It raises issues for further discussion relating to the role of therapists' spiritual experience in contemporary psychotherapy.

The 1990's saw a rapid growth in the use of Enterprise Systems by organisations to undertake quick and strategic decisions. Significant to the use of Enterprise systems, is their implementation in the organisation. The increased use of paper documents in government organisations and the augmented implementation rate of Electronic Document Management Systems within government organisations in New Zealand, is what triggered this research and subsequently the framing of the research objectives and thereby the research question. This research encompasses the factors which affect the implementation process of an Enterprise Document Management System and thereby render it a success or a failure. The study used an ethnographic approach in order to introduce rigour in the research. The data was collected by conducting eight semi-structured interviews at the client organisation. The interviews were transcribed and later coded using an open - coding methodology. A thematic analysis based schema was developed to later analyse the coded data.The research found that, factors such as change management, behaviour management / emotions, communication, implementation process approach and system functionality had profound effects on the implementation success of the Electronic Document Management System in the research organisation. The thesis has been mostly written in the first person to represent the author's interpretation of the implementation process and its related factors.

How important is the social experience of learning in the postgraduate classroom? This thesis explores what eight postgraduate students judged to be their ‘best’ classroom experiences within one New Zealand university. The researcher started from the assumption that the students’ ‘best’ classroom experiences would correspond with what the literature characterises as ‘communities of learners’ in which the students felt that their past experiences were valued and personal relationships were respectful and relatively equal. This assumption was, for the most part, accurate. Problematic areas, such as assessment, were also identified. International students’ experiences were a key part of the research. Six of the students were studying in their second language yet that alone was not the main indicator of classroom participation as personality (such as shyness)also affected how students engaged with the course content, the lecturers, and with each other. The case study approach raises possibilities and questions as well as recognising trends that suggest that postgraduate students value interactive learning within meaningful classroom contexts.

The effects of the public sector reform impacted on all aspects of public services including the performance of the economy. Central to this argument was the re-organization of the operations of the public service from the traditional administration system to the new public management (NPM). Education, a critical service in any economy was not spared. Literatures around the application of NPM (a derivative of market principles and practices) to education (which was value based) suggested that NPM was dangerous for education and could deplete the value system of education and replace that with a focus on accounting for money by individuals who were self-interested and who would seek to maximize their benefit with guile. Arguments against NPM suggested that the human factor was neglected and that education had led to chaos among professionals, stakeholders and students. However, those who argued for the introduction of NPM suggested that it had made the provision of education more efficient, effective and relevant to the needs to the clients. It held those working in the education sector accountable for the resources used and made the system more responsive to the needs of the clients of education. Education in the Cook Islands experienced many changes since western type education was introduced by the Missionaries in the late 1800s. Cook Islands people have always regarded education as a right and also believed their participation in education would improve their lives as well as positively contribute to economic growth. As the public sector reform was a global phenomenon, the currents of NPM also converged on the Cook Islands and affected the delivery of education. Those changes revolutionalized education in ways that was not commonplace in the Cook Islands. However, professionals and stakeholders within education made the most of the system and diverged some of the practices to suit the need, the environment and the culture of the Cook Islands people. Change also refocused education from teachers teaching to student learning reinforcing the dedication of many teachers and education administrators to ensure NPM served the best interest of their clients; the students, despite the workload placed on them. The challenge in this thesis was to understand how the NPM system affected education and how the Cook Islands education professionals worked within the system in their favour. The stories of teachers and Ministry of Education professionals demonstrated that there was no resistance to the application of NPM system in the Cook Islands. In fact, the system was embraced by the education sector suggesting it was a positive change from their previous system of traditional administration. Much of their system was inherited from New Zealand where the environment, layers of bureaucracy and economic status of the country was different. Instead, it appeared the Cook Islands took much of what others deemed as dangerous for education and turned it into a positive opportunity for the Cook Islands education. This thesis presents the story of the revolution in the Cook Island education system.

In the rapidly changing ‘knowledge economy’ where ‘innovation’ and ‘responsiveness’ are vital, tertiary education can be at a point transformation. Since the late 1990s the New Zealand government began to shift part of its tertiary education policy with an increasing focus on what is commonly called ‘foundation’ education. The shift was aimed at ensuring all New Zealanders are equipped for the knowledge economy and raising the skills of individuals. A variety of research and education programmes were launched, and existing foundation or bridging programmes strengthened through policy, research and educational endeavours. Bridging education programmes (a subset of foundation education) are designed to prepare non-traditional and under-prepared students for ongoing study at a higher level. This current research sought to identify the influence of a university bridging programme (Level 4) on students who progressed into further study at undergraduate level. The bridging programme commenced in 2003 providing a pathway for students into undergraduate health degrees. The key question for this thesis was: how does bridging education influence students? To determine the influence of the bridging programme, this research was based on a case-study of seven students who completed four or eight papers in the bridging programme. Participants were in ongoing study (for at least one year) in a Bachelor of Health Science (any major). The methodology was qualitative in design, drawing extensively on a case-study approach to research the influences of the bridging programme. The method of data collection utilised was individual semi-structured interviews with former bridging students to ascertain their perceptions, views and experiences of the influence of a bridging programme, both historically and currently. In examining this unique context, information on the influences of bridging education was explored and the importance of bridging education, from the participant’s perspective, understood more clearly. This thesis and the research within revealed that the influence of the bridging programme began at the participant’s time of enrolment and continued into their undergraduate study and their lives. The bridging programme influenced the way participant’s interacted with a range of factors including: the institution; their undergraduate programme; with educators and peers; and with family, friends and others in society. Equally, it is acknowledged that these factors influenced the participant’s, facilitating or impeding their ongoing learning. The participants also identified several challenges (financial and relational) related to the influence of tertiary study which they faced. The research revealed the programme influenced their ongoing success and continuation in undergraduate study. The programme provided an effective bridge into tertiary education (academically, emotionally and socially). Participant’s acknowledged the influence on their cognitive and meta-cognitive growth and development. The range of tertiary leaning skills and knowledge gained and/or enhanced was considerable. Close links between the academic skills taught in the bridging programme and required in undergraduate study were evident. Positive improvements in confidence, self-efficacy and motivation were also attributed to the influence of the programme. Holistic personal development occurred as the skills and knowledge gained and developed were transferred and extended from academia into other areas of the lives of former bridging students and thus further influenced their family, personal friends and society. The influence of the bridging programme has enabled new opportunities, ways of being and employment to become more than a dream, but a reality which the participants continue to move towards. Overall, it could be claimed that the influence of the bridging programme was holistic. A series of recommendations are provided for theory, policy and practice. The significance for social issues and action are discussed and avenues for further research outlined.