Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Change'

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited
Throughout its history, the United States has demonstrated an ability to effect regime change through the use of special warfare, particularly clandestine and covert operations. However, these regime changes have failed to yield favorable, enduring strategic results for the United States. One reason for this failure can be attributed to the difficulty formulating a strategic narrative designed to elicit domestic and international support. Drawing from the tenets of social movement theory, this thesis examines the cases of the Iran Coup of 1953, the Guatemalan Coup of 1954, and the Nicaragua Revolution of 1978–1990 to analyze the impacts of operations aimed at shaping the perceptions of foreign target audiences in support of special warfare objectives. Furthermore, this thesis offers recommendations regarding the requisite means and organizational forms required to create strategic narratives that support influence operations in cases of regime change and other special warfare operation.

Since the start of the 21st century the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is experiencing mass development, and this is accompanied by a growing attention to public sector organizations and their need for change. Linked to this need for change in the UAE higher education sector is the search for avenues that improve performance. This thesis is about 'champions' and 'championing' change in a UAE higher education institution. 'Champions' introduce change, fight for change, and defend others through change. In turn, the champion can be viewed as representing a cuase and conquering change. There has been a tendency to overlook the importance of championing in a UAE higher education context, despite the attention given to institutional change in recent years. In this thesis it will be argues that champions of change are a necessary and important part of higher education institutional change. A champion is somebody on whom others can rely during institutional change. While change may be implemented in the form of structured rationalisation and mission statements, it is the champions that secure institutional change. It will be argued that champions are the key to creating institutional change, and are also an integral part of an institution's wellbeing. The goal of the study was to understand and explain how change leadership works at one representative institution. Following a review of relevant literature, research questions were formulated. These were addressed through an interpretive case study undertaken at a particular UAE higher education institution. The study predominantly used ethnographic methods of data collection, which allowed a set of themes to be identified from interviews, focus groups and observation(s) at the case study institution. It will be argued that the themes show how champions emerge during institutional change.

Cyclones distribution and intensities impact directly on human activities, mainly due to their associated intense precipitation and winds. The main aim of this thesis is to understand changes in the cyclones originated in the South Atlantic focusing on their genesis and intensifying mechanisms. Cyclones are identified and tracked based on the relative vorticity field at 850 hPa computed from the winds. The characteristics of the cyclones are obtained by diagnostic variables sampled within a radial distance from each cyclone center and to produce a spatial distribution of the cyclone properties at the time of genesis. Also, cyclone centered composites are used to analyze the cyclone structure and the evolution of cyclones during their genesis. The climatology of cyclones was done using NCEP-CFSR and shows four main cyclogenesis regions in the South Atlantic Ocean: on the Southern Brazilian coast (SE-BR, 30°S), over the continent near the La Plata river discharge region (LA PLATA, 35°S), on the southeastern coast of Argentina (ARG, 40°S-55°S) and on the Southeastern Atlantic (SE-SAO, centered at 55°S and 10°W). To access changes in cyclone development, we used the CMIP5 HadGEM2-ES historical experiment (1980-2005) and RCP8.5 future projection (2074-2099). The HadGEM2-ES can represent the main South Atlantic characteristics of cyclones according to NCEP-CFSR climatology. However, there is an underestimation in cyclone frequency in the equatorward side of the storm track, particularly in the LA PLATA region. The HadGEM2-ES RCP8.5 future projection shows a general decrease of approximately 10% of cyclogenesis in the South Atlantic domain, which is mainly related to the poleward shift of the storm track. However, LA PLATA region presents a slight increase in its cyclogenetic activity (6.1 and 3.6%), in the summer and winter, respectively). The increase in genesis at 30°S over the continent is associated with the strengthening of the upper-level jet and the increase of warm and moisture advections at the same location. The enhance in the moisture transport from the tropics is also related to the intensification of the cyclone in the domain, mainly northward of 35°S. Finally, a downscaling using WRF was performed in an attempt to improve the climate model resolution. However the downscaling produces less and weaker cyclones in the NCEP-CFSR and HadGEM2-ES runs. The only region that presented an improvement was LA PLATA, due to the better representation of local features related to orography and moisture processes. The downscaled HadGEM2-ES RCP8.5 also shows an increase in cyclogenesis in the LA PLATA region and other locations. The HadGEM2-ES RCP8.5 projection and its downscaling shows that the cyclogenesis in some locations of South America is increasing, mainly due to the increase in the low-level moisture content and the strengthening of the equatorward flank of the upper-level jet. The cyclones in this locations will be slightly intense (between 20°S and 30°S) and will affect a narrow area close to the South American coast.
A distribuição e intensidade dos ciclones afeta diretamente as atividades humanas devido a precipitação e fortes ventos associados a esses sistemas. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é entender as mudanças nos ciclones gerados no Atlântico Sul devido às mudanças climáticas, focando em seus mecanismos geradores e intensificadores. Os ciclones foram identificados e rastreados utilizando a vorticidade relativa em 850hPa, calculada a partir do campo de ventos horizontal. Também foram usadas composições centradas para a análise da estrutura e evolução dos ciclones durante seu desenvolvimento. A climatologia de ciclones feita com o NCEP-CFSR mostra quatro regiões ciclogenéticas principais no Oceano Atlântico Sul: na costa sul do Brasil (SE-BR, 30°S), sobre o continente próximo da desembocadura do Rio da Prata (LA PLATA, 35°S), na costa sudeste da Argentina (ARG, 40°S-55°S) e no Sudeste do Atlântico (SE-SAO, centrada em 55°S, 10°W). Para analisar as mudanças no desenvolvimento dos ciclones, nós utilizamos os experimentos histórico (1980-2005) e RCP8.5 (2074-2099) do HadGEM2-ES (CMIP5). O HadGEM2-ES é capaz de reapresentar as principais características dos ciclones do Atlântico Sul, quando comparado à climatologia. No entanto, existe uma subestimativa do número de ciclones no lado equatorial da região de máxima atividade ciclônica, principalmente na região LA PLATA. A projeção futura HadGEM2-ES no cenário RCP8.5 mostra uma redução de aproximadamente 10% na ciclogêneses no domínio do Atlântico Sul, principalmente associada ao deslocamento em direção ao polo da região de máxima atividade ciclônica. Porém, a região LA PLATA apresenta um pequeno aumento em sua atividade ciclogenética (6.1 e 3.6%), no verão e inverno, respectivamente). O aumento na ciclogênese em 30°S está associada ao fortalecimento do jato de altos níveis e ao aumento da advecção quente e de umidade nessa localidade. O aumento do transporte de umidade dos trópicos está associado também à intensificação dos ciclones observada na projeção futura, principalmente ao norte de 35°S. Por fim, uma regionalização com o modelo WRF foi usada para melhorar a resolução do modelo climático. Porém, as simulações regionais subestimaram os ciclones em número e intensidade. A única região que em as regionalizações apresentaram melhor desempenho foi a LA PLATA, devido a uma melhor representação de feições locais associadas a orografia e processos úmidos. A regionalização do cenário futuro RCP8.5 também apresentou aumento da ciclogênese do LA PLATA, mas para o inverno. Tanto a projeção RCP8.5 do HadGEM2-ES quanto sua regionalização mostram que a ciclogênese em algumas regiões da América do Sul está aumentando, principalmente devido ao aumento de umidade em baixos níveis da atmosfera e fortalecimento do lado ramo equatorial do jato de altos níveis. Os ciclones nessas localidades serão intensos (entre 20°S e 30°S) e tendem a afetar uma região mais próxima à costa.

Software maintenance is one of the most crucial aspects of software development. Software engineering researchers must develop practical solutions to handle the challenges presented in maintaining mature software systems. Research that addresses practical means of mitigating the risks involved when changing software, reducing the complexity of mature software systems, and eliminating the introduction of preventable bugs is paramount to todays software engineering discipline. Giving software developers the information that they need to make quality decisions about changes that will negatively affect their software systems is a key aspect to mitigating those risks. This dissertation presents work performed to assist developers to collect and process data that plays a role in change decision-making during the maintenance phase. To address these problems, developers need a way to better understand the effects of a change prior to making the change. This research addresses the problems associated with increasing architectural complexity caused by software change using a two-fold approach. The first approach is to characterize software changes to assess their architectural impact prior to their implementation. The second approach is to identify a set of architecture metrics that correlate to system quality and maintainability and to use these metrics to determine the level of difficulty involved in making a change. The two approaches have been combined and the results presented provide developers with a beneficial analysis framework that offers insight into the change process.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2004.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-93).
I expand Christensen's concept and classify two disruptive technologies, company disruptive technology and product disruptive technology. The company disruptive technology is Christensen's definition itself. The product disruptive technology is the disruptive one outside his definition, for example the digital still camera (DSC). I will discuss about some cases, such as a case of high-end disruption, in this expanded definition. Company disruption follows product disruption. Targeting "company" is useful for making strategies, but it is not enough to target only "company" disruptive innovation because the product disruption sometimes badly damages or kills companies. Complementors, such as other products, law, environment etc, are also very important when we consider the disruptive technology, because they change the value criteria of the product performance. It is very important for us to take advantage of complementors in order to grow the disruptive technology. Disruption is a process and it does not always disrupt everything. The disruption is limited in the case of value-change disruption and another disruption is usually required to disrupt a product which falls outside the immediate influence of the first disruption. The disruptions must be happen one after another to disrupt all in the case of the value-change disruption. Circumstances also limit the impact of product disruption. Therefore, it is very useful for one to check and consider a disruptive technology from the viewpoints of both the value criteria and the circumstances.
by Mitsuhiro Kameda.
S.M.M.O.T.

Characteristics of the economy such as the share of polluting sectors, and their pollution intensity are key to understanding how to limit costs of climate policies. In particular, this thesis focuses on four different aspects. The first is the increase in climate policy costs in the presence limited sectoral malleability of capital, and thus the impossibility to reallocate capital from the “dirty” to the “clean” sector. Second, we consider the influence of the sectoral coverage of climate policies such as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. Third, we focus on innovation within the energy sector to illustrate that there are internal dynamics that should be considered as they can lead to higher efficiency in the production of the dirty energy good. Finally, we estimate a model of directed technical change to study the effect of climate policies on the direction of technical change in the energy sector.
Questa tesi é focalizzata sulla connessione tra I cambiamenti climatic, l’innovazione ed il capital fisico. Caratteristiche dell’economia di un paese come il contributo dei settori inquinanti, e la loro intensitá di inquinamento sono fondamentali per comprendere come limitare i costi delle politiche sui cambiamenti climatici. In particolare questa tesi e’incentrata su quattro aspetti. Primo, sull’aumento dei costi delle politiche sui cambiamenti climatici in presenza di una possibilitá limitata ti riallocare il capitale dai settori inquinanti a quelli“puliti”. Secondo, consideriamo l’influenza della copertura settoriale delle politiche sul cambiamento climatico come il sistema di scambio di permessi dell’UE. Terzo, ci focalizziamo sull’innovazione nel settore energetico per illustrare che ci sono dinamiche interne che dovrebbero essere considerate, poiché possono portare a un miglioramento dell’efficienza energetica. Infine, stimiamo un modello di cambiamento technologico per studiare gli effetti delle politiche sul cambiamento climatico sulla direzione del cambiamento tecnologico nel settore ambientale.

Communication is inextricably linked with the process of organisational change (Lewis, 1999). However, managers report that communication of organisational change is challenging, particularly with the advent of continuously changing organisations (Buchanan, Claydon & Doyle, 1999). Continuously changing organisations are those that seek to be more flexible, more innovative and more responsive to the dynamic external environment. One of the problems associated with continuous change is the resultant impact of successive downsizings, re-engineering efforts and culture changes on employee receptivity to change. Despite the unquestioning adoption of continuous change efforts (Zorn, Christensen, & Cheney, 1999) there is a paucity of research on communication during this type of change. This thesis addresses this knowledge gap by situating the research within a continuous change context. The primary research question is 'how do change communication models impact on employee receptivity to change within a continuous change context', and this question considers issues pertaining to how accurately previous change communication models reflect and explain what occurs within change processes. This topic is examined within two case-study organisations through the use of multiple methods. The analysis occurs through an interpretive framework and utilises Langley's (1999) alternate templates as a strategy to manage the process based research. A model of change communication during continuous change is presented, with the central constructs of the model being monologic change communication, dialogic change communication and the background talk of change. Further, Van de Ven and Poole's (1995) Process Theories of Change are extended to consider the sequencing of the three constructs. The findings suggest that the sequencing of the dominant change communication models is informed by an alignment of individual communication competences and change communication expectations.

Communication is inextricably linked with the process of organisational change (Lewis, 1999). However, managers report that communication of organisational change is challenging, particularly with the advent of continuously changing organisations (Buchanan, Claydon & Doyle, 1999). Continuously changing organisations are those that seek to be more flexible, more innovative and more responsive to the dynamic external environment. One of the problems associated with continuous change is the resultant impact of successive downsizings, re-engineering efforts and culture changes on employee receptivity to change. Despite the unquestioning adoption of continuous change efforts (Zorn, Christensen, & Cheney, 1999) there is a paucity of research on communication during this type of change. This thesis addresses this knowledge gap by situating the research within a continuous change context. The primary research question is 'how do change communication models impact on employee receptivity to change within a continuous change context', and this question considers issues pertaining to how accurately previous change communication models reflect and explain what occurs within change processes. This topic is examined within two case-study organisations through the use of multiple methods. The analysis occurs through an interpretive framework and utilises Langley's (1999) alternate templates as a strategy to manage the process based research. A model of change communication during continuous change is presented, with the central constructs of the model being monologic change communication, dialogic change communication and the background talk of change. Further, Van de Ven and Poole's (1995) Process Theories of Change are extended to consider the sequencing of the three constructs. The findings suggest that the sequencing of the dominant change communication models is informed by an alignment of individual communication competences and change communication expectations.

The world we live in is increasingly complex, interconnected and unpredictable. We face social and technological challenges, which must be overcome through the maintenance and redesign of existing systems, as well as the design and integration of new systems. Each of these systems has stakeholders at different levels and across domains, from those governing societies, to technical experts working on well-defined tasks. These stakeholders generally want their system to survive, or even thrive, in the face of uncertainty and unexpected influences. To describe this desire, people, from politicians to CEOs, use the word resilience. Resilience is a term that is referred to across domains in academic and public discourse. However, the exact definition of resilience is elusive, and it is not clear how to apply resilience in the context of socio-technical systems. To design resilient systems, we must first be able to answer questions including: Does a resilient system change to accommodate influences or stay the same? If the system changes, where should this change take place? How do we decide which system, or sub-system, to make resilient and at what level of abstraction? In this research I show how we can answer these questions by eliciting, combining and contrasting the perspectives of multiple stakeholders of socio-technical systems. In order to talk to these stakeholders, in interviews and workshops, I had to overcome communication barriers. Communicating about resilience is challenging because the term means different things to different people, both within and across domains. In this research I use diagrams to develop our understanding of resilience as a concept, prompt discussions with stakeholders, represent examples of resilience, and compare stakeholder perspectives across domains. Using these diagrams, I present three characteristics of resilience that have emerged from the literature and empirical studies: resisting, recovering and changing in response to influences. I also show how resilience is framed by stakeholders’ perspectives and depends on how a system’s boundary, purpose and timescale is defined. The characteristics of resilience are related to system dimensions, structure and function, with a focus on the similarities and differences between social and technical sub-systems. This research contributes a new understanding of resilience in the context of design practice, which moves us closer towards being able to design resilient socio-technical systems.

This dissertation research addresses how to detect structural changes in stochastic linear models. By introducing a special structure to the design matrix, we convert the structural change detection problem to a variable selection problem. There are many existing variable selection strategies, however, they do not fully cope with structural change detection. We design two penalized regression algorithms specifically for the structural change detection purpose. We also propose two methods involving these two algorithms to accomplish a bi-level structural change detection: they locate the change points and also recognize which predictors contribute to the variation of the model structure. Extensive simulation studies are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods in a variety of settings. Furthermore, we establish asymptotic theoretical properties to justify the bi-level detection consistency for one of the proposed methods. In addition, we write an R package with computationally efficient algorithms for detecting structural changes. Comparing to traditional methods, the proposed algorithms showcase enhanced detection power and more estimation precision, with added capacity of specifying the model structures at all regimes.

The current study attempted to identify conditions that affect the manner in which Western Australian primary school teachers perceive recent curriculum changes; the types of support they access; and the relative usefulness of this support. Based on preliminary findings in the first phase of this study and the research literature it was expected that teacher self-efficacy, teacher characteristics such as age and years of teaching, and school context such as the level of 'innovativeness' would prove to be influential in the process of implementing new initiatives. A model expressing the relationships between these concepts was developed and evaluated in the second phase of this study. This study is important for two reasons. It focused on Western Australian primary school teachers, whereas most previous research focused on high school teachers, and it explored ways to help teachers deal with future changes instead of simply identifying their responses to changes. It is therefore hoped that the education system will be more informed and better able to provide appropriate support for teachers when faced with future reforms. The study was conducted in two parts. The purpose of phase one was to become familiar with the current circumstances of teachers in relation to curriculum change. By focusing on the attitudes and behaviours of teachers from 'innovative' schools it was thought more could be learned than in schools that maintain the status quo. Qualitative methods of semi-structured interviews, informal observations and the analysis of websites and school documents were utilised throughout this phase. The second phase of the study employed a quantitative approach, based on the findings of the first phase, specifically a process of questionnaire construction and distribution throughout the defined population. A number of cautious conclusions have been made within the limits of this study. Firstly, the most useful type of professional development for teachers involves teachers interacting with each other. Teachers need time to discuss issues and share their successes. However, Action Research as a means of professional development is currently under utilised. It was discovered that most teachers were positive towards curriculum change, yet an overwhelming workload has proved a formidable barrier to new initiatives. In addition, most teachers will modify initiatives to meet the needs of their students and to fit in with their existing orientations. Consequently, school structures need to become more flexible to encourage teachers to engage in innovative practices. Interestingly, the self-efficacy of a teacher influences the way they perceive and cope with curriculum change, however teacher characteristics, such as age and the number of years teaching, did not yield substantially different results when teachers were categorised along these dimensions. School context, as defined by the level of 'innovativeness', did produce differential results in terms of teacher attitudes and responses to curriculum change, and the type of professional development accessed. Finally, schools may need to involve parents and the wider school community in the school level decision-making processes if they truly are to become ' learning communities'.

The current study attempted to identify conditions that affect the manner in which Western Australian primary school teachers perceive recent curriculum changes; the types of support they access; and the relative usefulness of this support. Based on preliminary findings in the first phase of this study and the research literature it was expected that teacher self-efficacy, teacher characteristics such as age and years of teaching, and school context such as the level of 'innovativeness' would prove to be influential in the process of implementing new initiatives. A model expressing the relationships between these concepts was developed and evaluated in the second phase of this study. This study is important for two reasons. It focused on Western Australian primary school teachers, whereas most previous research focused on high school teachers, and it explored ways to help teachers deal with future changes instead of simply identifying their responses to changes. It is therefore hoped that the education system will be more informed and better able to provide appropriate support for teachers when faced with future reforms. The study was conducted in two parts. The purpose of phase one was to become familiar with the current circumstances of teachers in relation to curriculum change. By focusing on the attitudes and behaviours of teachers from 'innovative' schools it was thought more could be learned than in schools that maintain the status quo. Qualitative methods of semi-structured interviews, informal observations and the analysis of websites and school documents were utilised throughout this phase. The second phase of the study employed a quantitative approach, based on the findings of the first phase, specifically a process of questionnaire construction and distribution throughout the defined population. A number of cautious conclusions have been made within the limits of this study. Firstly, the most useful type of professional development for teachers involves teachers interacting with each other. Teachers need time to discuss issues and share their successes. However, Action Research as a means of professional development is currently under utilised. It was discovered that most teachers were positive towards curriculum change, yet an overwhelming workload has proved a formidable barrier to new initiatives. In addition, most teachers will modify initiatives to meet the needs of their students and to fit in with their existing orientations. Consequently, school structures need to become more flexible to encourage teachers to engage in innovative practices. Interestingly, the self-efficacy of a teacher influences the way they perceive and cope with curriculum change, however teacher characteristics, such as age and the number of years teaching, did not yield substantially different results when teachers were categorised along these dimensions. School context, as defined by the level of 'innovativeness', did produce differential results in terms of teacher attitudes and responses to curriculum change, and the type of professional development accessed. Finally, schools may need to involve parents and the wider school community in the school level decision-making processes if they truly are to become ' learning communities'.

The current study attempted to identify conditions that affect the manner in which Western Australian primary school teachers perceive recent curriculum changes; the types of support they access; and the relative usefulness of this support. Based on preliminary findings in the first phase of this study and the research literature it was expected that teacher self-efficacy, teacher characteristics such as age and years of teaching, and school context such as the level of 'innovativeness' would prove to be influential in the process of implementing new initiatives. A model expressing the relationships between these concepts was developed and evaluated in the second phase of this study. This study is important for two reasons. It focused on Western Australian primary school teachers, whereas most previous research focused on high school teachers, and it explored ways to help teachers deal with future changes instead of simply identifying their responses to changes. It is therefore hoped that the education system will be more informed and better able to provide appropriate support for teachers when faced with future reforms. The study was conducted in two parts. The purpose of phase one was to become familiar with the current circumstances of teachers in relation to curriculum change. By focusing on the attitudes and behaviours of teachers from 'innovative' schools it was thought more could be learned than in schools that maintain the status quo. Qualitative methods of semi-structured interviews, informal observations and the analysis of websites and school documents were utilised throughout this phase. The second phase of the study employed a quantitative approach, based on the findings of the first phase, specifically a process of questionnaire construction and distribution throughout the defined population. A number of cautious conclusions have been made within the limits of this study. Firstly, the most useful type of professional development for teachers involves teachers interacting with each other. Teachers need time to discuss issues and share their successes. However, Action Research as a means of professional development is currently under utilised. It was discovered that most teachers were positive towards curriculum change, yet an overwhelming workload has proved a formidable barrier to new initiatives. In addition, most teachers will modify initiatives to meet the needs of their students and to fit in with their existing orientations. Consequently, school structures need to become more flexible to encourage teachers to engage in innovative practices. Interestingly, the self-efficacy of a teacher influences the way they perceive and cope with curriculum change, however teacher characteristics, such as age and the number of years teaching, did not yield substantially different results when teachers were categorised along these dimensions. School context, as defined by the level of 'innovativeness', did produce differential results in terms of teacher attitudes and responses to curriculum change, and the type of professional development accessed. Finally, schools may need to involve parents and the wider school community in the school level decision-making processes if they truly are to become ' learning communities'.

This thesis examines morphological change and processes causing change on shore platforms formed in five different lithologies around New Zealand. Study platforms located at Kaikoura, Akaroa Harbour and Lake Waikaremoana are variously eroded into limestone, greywacke, basalt and two types of mudstone.

Change is a constant reminder that permanence is the ultimate illusion. It is through the creation of hyper-realistic, ceramic sculpture that I explore the relationship between nature, humans, and the phenomenon of impermanence. I seek to expose the beauty that often results from decay while, at the same time, making my viewer question their own perception of the world around them. The juxtaposition of natural and man-made features in combination with the skewing of scale, proportion, and material, creates an altered perspective – forcing the viewer to look closer. By combining both human and natural elements within my work I highlight the fact that we are not separate from nature but are, in fact, part of it.

This diploma thesis is focused on Change Management, for which I used translation "správa změn" in my thesis. The diploma thesis includes a proposal for solution of Change Management, which is based from elements of RUP (Rational Unified Process), and methodology and CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration). In the first chapter, entitled Software requirements, there are at first defined basic concepts related to Change Management. The chapter includes the definition of software requirements and specification of different types of requirements. Then it focuses on sphere of Requirements Management, involving Change Management. Next part of chapter includes improving of existing processes, which can be used for change-oriented processes. The following section introduces the basic characteristics of RUP methodology. At first there are described its basic features, best practices and elements of methodology. The following there are described the components and procedures of specific discipline Configuration and Change Management. A separate part of thesis is also focused on the the presentation of the CMMI model. In the charter, which is devoted to this model, there is a definition of basic concepts. Then there is description of the model, the various components and method of improving in CMMI model. In the following section is a description of the Change Management in the CMMI model. The final part tries to evaluate the Change Management in concept of the RUP methodology and CMMI model. It also focuses on aspects of integrating these two areas. I try design solution of Change Management based on analysis of available information. This solution is the main aim of my thesis.

Die vorliegende Dissertation beschäftigt sich hauptsächlich mit zwei Fragen: Erstens, welche Faktoren beein-flussen den Prozess, durch den sich neue Technologien unter Firmen verbreiten? Zweitens, welche Konsequen-zen ergeben sich aus der Verbreitung neuer Technologien? Beide Fragen beschäftigen sich mit der Dynamik des technologischen Wandels. Die Analyse wird am konkreten Beispiel von e-Business Technologien durchgeführt. Dabei werden insbesondere die Konsequenzen von interdependenten Technologien untersucht. Es wird ge-zeigt, dass es zu steigenden Erträgen der Adoption kommen kann, wenn verwandte Technologien sich nicht in ih-ren Funktionalitäten substituieren. Dies kann zu einer endogenen Beschleunigung der technologischen Entwick-lung führen. Dies bedeutet, dass die Wahrscheinlichkeit der Adoption einer Technologie mit der Anzahl der zu-vor adoptierten, verwandten Technologien ansteigt. Diese Theorie wird empirisch getestet und in vier verschie-denen Untersuchungen mit zwei verschiedenen, großen Datensätzen bestätigt. Die Existenz einer wachsenden di-gitalen Kluft in der e-Business Technologie-Ausstattung der Unternehmen wird für den Zeitraum von 1994-2002 nachgewiesen. Außerdem wird argumentiert, dass die Adoption neuer Technologien in Firmen strategische Bedeutung hat da sich daraus Möglichkeiten zur Durchführung von Innovationen ergeben. Diese können sich entweder durch redu-zierte Produktionkosten für bestehende Produkte, neue Produkte und Dienstleistungen, oder neue Distributions-kanäle manifestieren. Empirische Evidenz zeigt, dass e-Business Technologien derzeit wichtige Enabler von In-novationen sind und dass innovative Firmen mit höherer Wahrscheinlichkeit wachsen. Außerdem wird gezeigt, dass durch e-Business Technologien induzierte Innovationen gegenüber anderen Innovationsarten nicht inferior sind in Bezug auf deren gleichzeitiges Auftreten mit finanziellen Leistungsindikatoren. Die Arbeit diskutiert die Implikationen dieser Ergebnisse aus volks- und betriebswirtschaftlicher Perspektive.
This dissertation primarily deals with two questions: First, what determines the process by which new tech-nologies spread among enterprises over time? Second, what are the consequences of the spread of new technolo-gies? Both questions concern the dynamics of technological change. They are analyzed considering the diffusion and implications of e-business technologies as a concrete example. Particular attention is given to technological interdependencies. It is shown that increasing returns to adoption can arise if related technologies do not substitute each other in their functionalities. This can lead to an endoge-nous acceleration of technological development. Hence, the probability to adopt any technology is an increasing function of previously adopted, related technologies. The theory is empirically tested and supported in four inde-pendent inquiries, using two different exceptionally large datasets and different econometric methods. The exis-tence of a growing digital divide among companies is demonstrated for the period between 1994 and 2002. In addition, it is argued that the adoption of new e-business technologies by firms has strategic relevance be-cause this creates opportunities to conduct innovation, either to reduce production costs for a given output, to create a new product or service, or to deliver products to customers in a way that is new to the enterprise. Empiri-cal evidence is presented showing that e-business technologies are currently an important enabler of innovations. It is found that innovative firms are more likely to grow. Also, e-business related innovations are not found to be inferior to traditional kinds of innovations in terms of simultaneous occurrence with superior financial perform-ance of enterprises. Implications of these findings are discussed both for economists and management researchers.

La Teoria della Mente, abilità ritenuta alla base della buona riuscita delle relazioni sociali, è un rilevante e classico oggetto di ricerca della Psicologia dello Sviluppo e dell’Educazione che negli ultimi quaranta anni ha visto proliferare numerosi studi volti a indagarne i contenuti, oltre che a identificarne e approfondirne le tappe di sviluppo e le implicazioni di tipo relazionale e sociale. L'integrazione delle prospettive, i rapporti con altre discipline e l'assunzione di approcci interdisciplinari caratterizzano gli sviluppi recenti delle ricerche in psicologia, aprendo nuove prospettive di indagine. La tesi consta di tre capitoli, ognuno dei quali si riferisce a un autonomo progetto di ricerca. Tutti gli studi hanno coinvolto bambini di età scolare: età critica per l’acquisizione e lo sviluppo delle abilità di Teoria della Mente e periodo sensibile per quanto riguarda la competenza sociale, perché la rappresentazione, la considerazione e l’assunzione della prospettiva dell’altro diventa sempre più rilevante ai fini di una funzionale vita sociale e relazionale anche al di fuori del contesto familiare. Nello specifico, viene presentato il primo studio che propone una nuova interpretazione teorica e metodologica per valutare i risultati di un compito classico di falsa credenza di II ordine - il gelataio - in bambini di 10 anni alla luce della teoria dell'argomentazione e sottolinea il ruolo del ragionamento dei bambini nella capacità di rappresentarsi la prospettiva degli altri. Il secondo contributo, si propone di studiare il ruolo che la considerazione della prospettiva dell’altro svolge nei processi decisionali, in particolare nei giochi interattivi di scambio che valutano la fairness e l’altrusimo, analizzati in relazione alla capacità di ritardare la gratificazione. Infine il terzo studio è una proposta applicativa perché presenta l’efficacia del Progetto TiM (Thought in Mind Project), un progetto di formazione in cui le rappresentazioni del funzionamento della mente vengono proposte alle insegnanti durante alcuni incontri di formazione in cui si svolgono attività e si co-costruisce il significato di alcune storie suggestive. Il progetto ha visto il coinvolgimento delle insegnanti di scuola primaria e ha promuove un effetto indiretto sulle capacità di mentalizzazione all’inizio e alla fine dell’anno scolastico (prima e dopo l’intervento formativo sulle insegnanti) grazie alla creazione di una “comunità mentalizzante”, in cui i contenuti mentalistici oltre ad essere condivisi, vengono trasferiti ai bambini durante le attività in classe. Tutti e tre i lavori di ricerca sono attualmente pubblicati su riviste internazionali.
People, during all their life, understand and predict the other’s behaviour from the capacity to read the other’s mental contents. This skill is one of the hallmarks of human cognition and it is fundamental to social interaction. This psychological construct is referred to the ability to attribute mental states such desires, thoughts, beliefs, intentions emotions to self and others n order to predict their and others behaviour (Premack and Woodruff, 1978; Wimmer and Perner, 1985) and it is defined Theory of Mind – ToM. Understanding of mental states allows to explain observable events as actions by inferring unobservable entities like beliefs, desires, etc... also it involves understanding that others’ mental states may differ from one’s own, and may differ from reality (e.g., false belief). Children’s Theory of Mind has been a lively area of research in developmental psychology for the last 40 years. All the studies presented in the thesis involves primary school children: during this period of age children become more flexible and appropriate in understanding of mental states and they still beginning to understand the increasingly sophisticated capacity of represent the one’s own and other’s mental states. Moreover, it is considered as a critical age because children are called to engage a new relationship (i.e. think about the social networks in school, in church, in sport activity etc...) outside the family, that means they must use their ToM ability in new relational contexts (e.g. ToM helps people plan and manage their own and others’ choices and the decisions that characterize interpersonal relationships and social competence (Takagishi, Koizumi, Fujii, Schug, Kameshima, Yamagishi, 2014; Castelli, Massaro, Sanfey, Marchetti, 2013). One of the component of ToM is the assumption of other’s perspective, in fact the child might understand that people can have different beliefs, even different beliefs about the exact same situation; something can be true, but someone might not know that; something can be true, but someone might falsely believe something different. The aim of this thesis is to explore the children representation of other’s perspective in three different ways. To achieve this purpose, the studies presented address three main questions and the three different research contexts about this ability. The first proposes a novel theoretical and methodological interpretation to evaluate the results of false belief tasks in the light of argumentation theory and asks what the role of children’s reasoning in the ability to represent others perspective. The second question considers the other’s perspective with respect to one's own ability to thinking prospectively and to assume the other’s perspective in decision making processes. In the third study the assumption of other’s perspective has shown in a mentalizing theacher’s training and its indirect effects on pupils’ ToM ability. The first study is focused on exploring the main arguments behind 10 years old children’s responses in a classic second-order false belief task, in order to understand children's competences in the use of second level recursive thought. Interpreting the experimental setting as an argumentative discussion shed new and innovative light on the child’s answer to the experimenter’s questions, also explaining what premises are shared between adults and children and what possible misunderstandings might arise. Traditionally, in fact, the understanding of false belief is a classical measure of Theory of Mind and, in the false belief task, only the explanations that explicitly show that the child is engaging in recursive reasoning about mental states was considered right. The interpretation and the traditional coding of justifications reflect the child's ability to attribute and explain mental reasoning on the mental states of the characters of the story or the mental reasoning about false belief. Usually, however, these dichotomous classifications – wrong or correct and its coding 0/1 - neither reflect the justification answers as a countercheck of the test question. We wanted to try to makes explicit some components that are lost with the usual dichotomous evaluation through a qualitative analysis of the ToM reasoning about false beliefsr, in particular when children gave a “wrong” answer. For this reason, we have reinterpreted the traditional false belief task and the expected answer in argumentative terms, thus showing what is expected in terms of type of arguments and level of explicitness. Our findings show that a dialogic consideration of research settings allows to illuminate the reasons behind children’s “right” and “wrong” answers, which can be due either to the pragmatic context of the conversation or to a misunderstanding at the level of issues. Moreover, we have shown that, even in those cases in which a child’s answer and justification do not met the expectations, they can nevertheless be correct at the inferential level. The cause of the “mistake” should rather be sought for in the material/contextual premises at the basis of the argument. The second study investigates decision-making processes in 6, 8 and 10 years old children, highlighting the role played by prospective thinking on the relationship between altruism, wich benefits from immediate selfless reward, and fairness, that requires the strategic thinking. To assess this hypothesis, three different decision-making tasks, and namely an intertemporal choice task, testing their ability to delay gratification; the Dictator Game, assessing altruism; and the Ultimatum Game, assessing fairness/inequality aversion was admnistered. A component that, in our view, greatly affects the outcomes of these decisional tasks is prospective thinking, which critically involves a temporal aspect of decision making, insofar poorly addressed to. By relating results from the three tasks, our findings highlight overall changes in the children’s approach to decision-making, particularly at age 10, when the relationships between the manifold components of decisional dynamic are differently shaped. Such changes appear to be associated with a greater control to delay gratification, reflecting the ability to account for outcome optimization when making decisions. We suggest that this is due to the use of prospective thinking, which allows children to fully assess the advantages and disadvantages of the different decision strategies. In particular, children overall proposed more at the Ultimatum Game than at the Dictator Game task independently of age and gender. Especially in 10 years old children we showed the refinement of the strategic reasoning with age that take into account the other’s presence and the other’s response. The third study is focused on TiM (Thought in Mind) Project. We proposed a training program and the aim of this study was to introduce and explain the key concepts involved, and to provide teachers with direct experience of these methods. Moreover, we aimed to support teachers in reflecting together on how to apply the TiM Project in the classroom with their pupils. Changes in teachers’ attitude helped pupils in developing mentalizing skills, useful in order to create a context that support the social competence and cognition. We demonstred that the administration of a specific training program to adults is the first step to create a mentalizing community and that this kind of training can help children to develop and use their mentalization and ToM abilities. To reach this goal, we designed a “TiM Project training program” for primary school teachers, with the purpose of introducing and explaining the key concepts and methods of the TiM Project and involving teachers in a direct experience of these methods, selecting some of the original content and activities, adjusted to an Italian context and created others ad hoc for our training program. Subsequently, we tested the efficacy of this training by evaluating mentalization and theory of mind abilities in pupils. In particular, the results showed that, although some measured components of mentalization progressed over time, only the TiM Project training group significantly improved in third order false belief understanding and changed -in a greater way compared to the control group- in two of the three components of the Mentalizing Task, i.e. the rational dimension increased and the positive dimension decreased.

La Teoria della Mente, abilità ritenuta alla base della buona riuscita delle relazioni sociali, è un rilevante e classico oggetto di ricerca della Psicologia dello Sviluppo e dell’Educazione che negli ultimi quaranta anni ha visto proliferare numerosi studi volti a indagarne i contenuti, oltre che a identificarne e approfondirne le tappe di sviluppo e le implicazioni di tipo relazionale e sociale. L'integrazione delle prospettive, i rapporti con altre discipline e l'assunzione di approcci interdisciplinari caratterizzano gli sviluppi recenti delle ricerche in psicologia, aprendo nuove prospettive di indagine. La tesi consta di tre capitoli, ognuno dei quali si riferisce a un autonomo progetto di ricerca. Tutti gli studi hanno coinvolto bambini di età scolare: età critica per l’acquisizione e lo sviluppo delle abilità di Teoria della Mente e periodo sensibile per quanto riguarda la competenza sociale, perché la rappresentazione, la considerazione e l’assunzione della prospettiva dell’altro diventa sempre più rilevante ai fini di una funzionale vita sociale e relazionale anche al di fuori del contesto familiare. Nello specifico, viene presentato il primo studio che propone una nuova interpretazione teorica e metodologica per valutare i risultati di un compito classico di falsa credenza di II ordine - il gelataio - in bambini di 10 anni alla luce della teoria dell'argomentazione e sottolinea il ruolo del ragionamento dei bambini nella capacità di rappresentarsi la prospettiva degli altri. Il secondo contributo, si propone di studiare il ruolo che la considerazione della prospettiva dell’altro svolge nei processi decisionali, in particolare nei giochi interattivi di scambio che valutano la fairness e l’altrusimo, analizzati in relazione alla capacità di ritardare la gratificazione. Infine il terzo studio è una proposta applicativa perché presenta l’efficacia del Progetto TiM (Thought in Mind Project), un progetto di formazione in cui le rappresentazioni del funzionamento della mente vengono proposte alle insegnanti durante alcuni incontri di formazione in cui si svolgono attività e si co-costruisce il significato di alcune storie suggestive. Il progetto ha visto il coinvolgimento delle insegnanti di scuola primaria e ha promuove un effetto indiretto sulle capacità di mentalizzazione all’inizio e alla fine dell’anno scolastico (prima e dopo l’intervento formativo sulle insegnanti) grazie alla creazione di una “comunità mentalizzante”, in cui i contenuti mentalistici oltre ad essere condivisi, vengono trasferiti ai bambini durante le attività in classe. Tutti e tre i lavori di ricerca sono attualmente pubblicati su riviste internazionali.
People, during all their life, understand and predict the other’s behaviour from the capacity to read the other’s mental contents. This skill is one of the hallmarks of human cognition and it is fundamental to social interaction. This psychological construct is referred to the ability to attribute mental states such desires, thoughts, beliefs, intentions emotions to self and others n order to predict their and others behaviour (Premack and Woodruff, 1978; Wimmer and Perner, 1985) and it is defined Theory of Mind – ToM. Understanding of mental states allows to explain observable events as actions by inferring unobservable entities like beliefs, desires, etc... also it involves understanding that others’ mental states may differ from one’s own, and may differ from reality (e.g., false belief). Children’s Theory of Mind has been a lively area of research in developmental psychology for the last 40 years. All the studies presented in the thesis involves primary school children: during this period of age children become more flexible and appropriate in understanding of mental states and they still beginning to understand the increasingly sophisticated capacity of represent the one’s own and other’s mental states. Moreover, it is considered as a critical age because children are called to engage a new relationship (i.e. think about the social networks in school, in church, in sport activity etc...) outside the family, that means they must use their ToM ability in new relational contexts (e.g. ToM helps people plan and manage their own and others’ choices and the decisions that characterize interpersonal relationships and social competence (Takagishi, Koizumi, Fujii, Schug, Kameshima, Yamagishi, 2014; Castelli, Massaro, Sanfey, Marchetti, 2013). One of the component of ToM is the assumption of other’s perspective, in fact the child might understand that people can have different beliefs, even different beliefs about the exact same situation; something can be true, but someone might not know that; something can be true, but someone might falsely believe something different. The aim of this thesis is to explore the children representation of other’s perspective in three different ways. To achieve this purpose, the studies presented address three main questions and the three different research contexts about this ability. The first proposes a novel theoretical and methodological interpretation to evaluate the results of false belief tasks in the light of argumentation theory and asks what the role of children’s reasoning in the ability to represent others perspective. The second question considers the other’s perspective with respect to one's own ability to thinking prospectively and to assume the other’s perspective in decision making processes. In the third study the assumption of other’s perspective has shown in a mentalizing theacher’s training and its indirect effects on pupils’ ToM ability. The first study is focused on exploring the main arguments behind 10 years old children’s responses in a classic second-order false belief task, in order to understand children's competences in the use of second level recursive thought. Interpreting the experimental setting as an argumentative discussion shed new and innovative light on the child’s answer to the experimenter’s questions, also explaining what premises are shared between adults and children and what possible misunderstandings might arise. Traditionally, in fact, the understanding of false belief is a classical measure of Theory of Mind and, in the false belief task, only the explanations that explicitly show that the child is engaging in recursive reasoning about mental states was considered right. The interpretation and the traditional coding of justifications reflect the child's ability to attribute and explain mental reasoning on the mental states of the characters of the story or the mental reasoning about false belief. Usually, however, these dichotomous classifications – wrong or correct and its coding 0/1 - neither reflect the justification answers as a countercheck of the test question. We wanted to try to makes explicit some components that are lost with the usual dichotomous evaluation through a qualitative analysis of the ToM reasoning about false beliefsr, in particular when children gave a “wrong” answer. For this reason, we have reinterpreted the traditional false belief task and the expected answer in argumentative terms, thus showing what is expected in terms of type of arguments and level of explicitness. Our findings show that a dialogic consideration of research settings allows to illuminate the reasons behind children’s “right” and “wrong” answers, which can be due either to the pragmatic context of the conversation or to a misunderstanding at the level of issues. Moreover, we have shown that, even in those cases in which a child’s answer and justification do not met the expectations, they can nevertheless be correct at the inferential level. The cause of the “mistake” should rather be sought for in the material/contextual premises at the basis of the argument. The second study investigates decision-making processes in 6, 8 and 10 years old children, highlighting the role played by prospective thinking on the relationship between altruism, wich benefits from immediate selfless reward, and fairness, that requires the strategic thinking. To assess this hypothesis, three different decision-making tasks, and namely an intertemporal choice task, testing their ability to delay gratification; the Dictator Game, assessing altruism; and the Ultimatum Game, assessing fairness/inequality aversion was admnistered. A component that, in our view, greatly affects the outcomes of these decisional tasks is prospective thinking, which critically involves a temporal aspect of decision making, insofar poorly addressed to. By relating results from the three tasks, our findings highlight overall changes in the children’s approach to decision-making, particularly at age 10, when the relationships between the manifold components of decisional dynamic are differently shaped. Such changes appear to be associated with a greater control to delay gratification, reflecting the ability to account for outcome optimization when making decisions. We suggest that this is due to the use of prospective thinking, which allows children to fully assess the advantages and disadvantages of the different decision strategies. In particular, children overall proposed more at the Ultimatum Game than at the Dictator Game task independently of age and gender. Especially in 10 years old children we showed the refinement of the strategic reasoning with age that take into account the other’s presence and the other’s response. The third study is focused on TiM (Thought in Mind) Project. We proposed a training program and the aim of this study was to introduce and explain the key concepts involved, and to provide teachers with direct experience of these methods. Moreover, we aimed to support teachers in reflecting together on how to apply the TiM Project in the classroom with their pupils. Changes in teachers’ attitude helped pupils in developing mentalizing skills, useful in order to create a context that support the social competence and cognition. We demonstred that the administration of a specific training program to adults is the first step to create a mentalizing community and that this kind of training can help children to develop and use their mentalization and ToM abilities. To reach this goal, we designed a “TiM Project training program” for primary school teachers, with the purpose of introducing and explaining the key concepts and methods of the TiM Project and involving teachers in a direct experience of these methods, selecting some of the original content and activities, adjusted to an Italian context and created others ad hoc for our training program. Subsequently, we tested the efficacy of this training by evaluating mentalization and theory of mind abilities in pupils. In particular, the results showed that, although some measured components of mentalization progressed over time, only the TiM Project training group significantly improved in third order false belief understanding and changed -in a greater way compared to the control group- in two of the three components of the Mentalizing Task, i.e. the rational dimension increased and the positive dimension decreased.

The thesis set out to explore means of coping with change when in a state of isolation and basic parameters and references in life have been lost. Isolation may be a result of a change in environment, such as an interstate move to take up a new job,or changing from an office environment to home based work. It can result from relational changes such as marriage breakdown or from major life stage changes such as retirement. The first stage of the study involved the establishment of a collaborative group to explore issues that each member had experienced in coping with change. The second stage was an individual exploration of the author's own journey involving changes in work environments and interstate moves. The third stage was a consideration of literature that reflected and supported the thesis, of gathering information from relevant case studies conducted.Out of these stages came the hypothesis that people cope with change in isolation through a sense of belonging associated with several factors.Reflections on the research process and methodologies have been considered and implications arising out of the research are discussed. The thesis concludes with evocations of the impact of the research findings on others.
Master of Science (Hons)(Social Ecology)

The Supreme Court decision of A.O. & D.L. v. Minister for Justice [Lobe] and the Irish Citizenship Referendum of 2004 had the cumulative effect of restricting both the rights associated with Irish citizenship and the class of persons entitled to possess it. This thesis considers the dynamics underpinning those restrictions. The history of the regulation of Irish identities is not simply a story of ever tightening border controls. The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Ireland in 1998 seemingly widened the class of person entitled to call themselves Irish. Moreover, the Republic of Ireland's membership of the European Union has reduced the state's ability to exercise control over its borders and narrowed the distinction between Irish citizens and those of other EU countries. I argue that recent developments in the regulation of Irish identities demonstrate the Janus-like nature of modern law. Accepting the arguments advanced in Lobe and the Citizenship Referendum necessitates the embrace of contradiction, not rationality. They illustrate both continuity and change in the conception of what it means to be Irish. Measures to reduce perceived "abuse" of Irish citizenship seek to preserve a particular concept of Irishness and yet simultaneously serve to transform it. However, with its adherence to the creed of modernity - reason, objectivity, and the rejection of ambiguity - modern law cannot acknowledge these tensions.
Law, Peter A. Allard School of
Graduate

The primary purpose of this research was to investigate relationships between physical activity participation, weight change, and selfreports of social physique anxiety, physical self-concept and health-related quality of life. A secondary purpose was to investigate personality as a mediator of self-perceptions and quality of life beliefs following obesity surgery. Two studies with differing methodologies were conducted. The first study was a cross-sectional survey of patients who had participated in a multi-component clinical weight-loss program involving a combination of physical activity, diet modification, and drug therapy. The second study was a longitudinal investigation of laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding patients. Amount of weight lost was not found to be related to changes in social physique anxiety, physical self-concept or health-related quality of life. However, physical activity levels were found to be an important predictor of improvements in physical self-concept and health-related quality of life amongst clinical weight loss patients, but not surgical patients. Improvements over time with respect to social physique anxiety, physical self-concept and health-related quality of life were observed amongst all participants who underwent LABG. Personality factors, whilst not predicting changes over time in social physique anxiety, physical self-concept or health-related quality of life, discriminated between two types of obese adults presenting for obesity surgery. Future research could be undertaken to determine if long-term outcomes differ for these two types of patients.

The Child Welfare System is faced with an increasing number of children in foster care with a decreasing number of foster homes available for placement. By interviewing adults who were former foster children, this study examines the significance of one caring adult in the life of a foster child. Erik Erikson states that in the first stage of psychosocial development a child learns trust vs. mistrust. For many children entering foster care, this first stage of development has not been achieved, given their experiences in their biological families. In order to protect themselves during this time of mistrust, children exhibit behaviors designed to keep adults at a distance. This poses a problem for foster parents who must try to develop trust with their foster children in an effort to change their behavior. What if anything can be done to help these children learn to trust? The participants were asked to focus on specific behaviors at least one caring adult demonstrated that helped them as foster children, move through their past experiences of mistrust to a place of trusting that caring adult. The concept of attachment theory provided a foundation for the study.
Master of Science

Alpine plants are assumed to be in particular danger as the climate changes rapidly worldwide. Specialist alpine species in Norrbotten County, northern Sweden have been surveyed over the last 20 years, providing insight to population dynamics and how the plants might respond to the changing climate. The main current threat to the species is habitat destruction as the climate changes. Variation in the number of plants among populations and years, and correlations with environmental variables were examined. Some species had increased while others had decreased over the years. No uniform relationship for all species and populations were discovered, but some of the species exhibited relationships between population size changes and temperature and precipitation. However, if the future climate in Norrbotten County changes according to the predictions, the habitats of the specialist alpine plants may be severely altered, leaving the species with no alternative places to establish and grow.

We propose a Capabilities-based approach for constructing complex emergent systems such that they are change-tolerant, and the development effort promotes change-reduction. The inherent complexity of software systems increases their susceptibility to change when subjected to the vagaries of user needs, technology advances, market demands and other change inducing factors. Despite the inevitability of change, traditional Requirements Engineering strives to develop systems based on a fixed solution. This is a mostly unsuccessful approach as evidenced by the history of system failures. In contrast, we utilize Capabilities â functional abstractions that are neither as amorphous as user needs nor as rigid as system requirements â to architect systems to accommodate change with minimum impact. These entities are designed to exhibit desirable characteristics of high cohesion, low coupling and balanced abstraction levels. Capabilities are generated by a two-phased process called Capabilities Engineering. Phase I mathematically exploits the structural semantics of the Function Decomposition graph â a representation of user needs â to formulate change-tolerant Capabilities. Phase II optimizes these Capabilities to conform to schedule and technology constraints. Results from an empirical evaluation of a real-world Course Evaluation System indicate, with statistical significance, that a Capabilities-based design is more change-tolerant than a requirements-based design. In addition, we observe that the use of the CE process inherently reduces change, otherwise generated, during the regular development effort. Empirical analysis on the change-requests of Sakai, a complex emergent system, supports this claim. Finally, we observe that the process of Capabilities Engineering assists in pre-requirement specification traceability by bridging the complexity gap between the problem and solution spaces.
Ph. D.

xiv, 143 p.
The amplified effects of climate change in the Arctic are well known and, according to many commentators, endanger Inuit cultural integrity. However, the specific connections between climate change and cultural change are understudied. This thesis explores the relationship between climatic shifts and culture in the Inuit community of Salluit, Quebec, Canada. Although residents of Salluit are acutely aware of climate change in their region and have developed causal explanations for the phenomenon, most Salluit residents do not characterize climate change as a threat to Inuit culture. Instead, they highlight the damaging impacts of globalization and internal colonialism as a more serious problem. This counter-narrative suggests that focusing narrowly on climate change can obscure the broader and more immediate challenges facing Inuit communities. Such a realization demonstrates the need for researchers to locate climate change within a matrix of non-climatic challenges in order to mitigate threats to indigenous cultures.
Committee in charge: Susan W. Hardwick, Chairperson; Alexander B. Murphy, Chairperson; Michael Hibbard, Member

Teachers are experiencing change at a constant rate within school systems across the nation. Principals are preparing teachers to adapt the curriculum to meet standards that are state mandated. This study focused on the change process adopted by the principal for use in assisting teachers with implementation of curriculum and instructional strategies. Findings from this study will provide administrators’ strengths and weaknesses that are experienced during the change process. Through analysis of interviews, focus groups and documents, the researcher was able to unfold the perspectives of teachers as they relate to Fullan’s Change Theory with initiation, implementation, and institutionalizing the change and The Concerns Based Adoption Model.

Scientists started to study the relationship between changing weather patterns and the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other harmful gasses. They soon discovered compelling evidence that CO2 concentration and other gases have been increasing and it was causing temperatures to increase in certain areas on the earth, which disturb historic weather patterns. Climate change has become a very popular field of study in the modern science. Europe first introduced measures to reduce carbon emissions but it was the Kyoto in 1997 where global leaders were asked to participate in a joint protocol to reduce greenhouse gases. South Africa responded to climate change challenges in 2008 with the Long term Mitigation Scenarios (LTMS). The Integrated Resource Plan for electricity to 2030 was developed from the LTMS scenarios and after some major amendments it was accepted and promulgated by Government and has recently been included in the National Development Plan to 2030 (NDP). There are concerns about the achievability of some of the objectives listed in the NDP and this study explored the IRP2010 as the proposed strategy to meet energy demand and reduce emissions. The purpose for this study was to answer this question: Is there an optimum climate change mitigation strategy for South Africa and how can the effect thereof be simulated on economic growth? Through primary and secondary research during the study it was possible to define some 32 categories of energy producing assets that are commercially active or nearly market-ready. The characteristics of the various assets and the relevant fuel are defined in mathematical equations. It was found that the three portfolios that matched the 450TWh electricity requirement would perform substantially better than the NDP portfolio in terms of cost and similar on emissions with marginally fewer employment opportunities created. The proposed electricity strategy in this study was 390TWh and 33.5 Million tonnes of oil consumption by 2030. This strategy was substantially more affordable than the 450TWh strategy. Trends in the Supply and Use tables since 1993 were studied and then forecasted to 2030 to determine consumption levels on electricity and liquid fuel into the future. It was found that electricity demand is seriously overestimated and South Africa would end up with large excess capacity in electricity infrastructures if the NDP energy strategy (IRP2010) is implemented. It is concluded that the NDP energy strategy to 2030 is based on an incorrect electricity demand forecast. It would lead to excessive investment in an electricity infrastructure. Government has confirmed that part of the new infrastructure would be nuclear. It is also found that NDP has not clearly supported nuclear as part of the strategy. Nuclear is partly the reason why the capital requirement of the NDP portfolio is so much higher than the other portfolios. It is the conclusion of this study that South Africa do not need to invest in a nuclear build programme as the electricity demand would be adequately covered by adding the new Medupi and Kusile power stations, Ingula pump storage scheme, some wind and solar renewables, electricity from cogeneration, biogas, biomass, small hydro and imported hydro from neighbour countries. To invest in electricity capacity to generate 450TWh annually by 2030 would result in excessive energy cost, GDP growth could be up to 1% lower due to underperforming capital investments in the electricity infrastructure and higher energy cost would lead to a decline in global competitiveness.

It is well accepted by now that most change initiatives are unsuccessful even though more organisations are experiencing change as they fight to retain and improve their competitiveness in the market place. It is against this background of change failure that researchers have looked for new strategies to improve change outcomes. Theoretical models conceptualising the dynamic change process advise on better change strategies, but little empirical evidence has demonstrated that these models are effective in improving change implementation outcomes. Theoretical models were also developed to counter change resistance, but little emphasis has been placed on employee change readiness. Some empirical research on employee change readiness explores employees? perception of organisational readiness, but no empirical research has explored employee readiness from a psychological perspective. That is, how to create change readiness in employees. This thesis has contributed to both the theoretical and empirical understanding of the change readiness model. Firstly, the theoretical readiness for change model Armenakis et al.?s (1993, 2002) was extended by the inclusion of the ?understanding of the change? driver. Secondly, this change readiness model was empirically tested on two distinct organisational changes: organisational restructure and IT change. The extended model is also examined for two change stages of the dynamic process to identify which readiness drivers should be prioritised by change agents. Two online questionnaires were administered eight months apart assessing the responses to three change stages (planning, implementation and post-implementation) of employees ? supervisors and subordinates - of a flat structured organisation in the human resource industry. At the two measurement points 189 and 141 employees returned completed surveys. Six employee readiness drivers were operationalised and regressed against behavioural change intention. The quantitative findings using regression models across two change types and longitudinally did not identify a specific change pattern. However, all six readiness drivers including the ?understanding of the change? driver were influential on employees? behavioural change intention. Furthermore, statistical differences between supervisors and subordinates were identified in the organisational restructure change. The quantitative findings using a triangulation approach with qualitative date including data from two unstructured interviews and employee comments further validated the quantitative findings. The thematic analysis of the employee comments enhanced the findings and identified employee specific concerns including information dissemination of the changes and a level of uncertainty. The findings supported Armenakis et al.?s (1993, 2002) theoretical contribution that change readiness drivers are an important part of the organisational change process explaining why employee do and do not change. The empirical application of readiness change driver evaluation during the dynamic change is supported as it permits change agents to directly monitor employees? readiness perception of a specific change target. This valuable information finds practical utilisation for change agents in providing targeted guidance and support for employees thus facilitating a greater likelihood of a positive change outcome. Implications of these findings and future research opportunities are discussed.

Background: There is a growing consensus that our world is facing substantial global challenges which can have devastating consequences for both planet and people. The call for change is clear and to shift the unsustainable trends, there must be an involvement by everyone, including business. However, there is a high risk of change initiative’s failure and one of the main reasons have considered to be employee resistance. One solution to change resistance is suggested to be change readiness, which has not received as much academic attention. The question that remains is how businesses, which account for major negative impacts on both planet and people, can create change readiness.    Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore how change readiness is created in the context of changes initiated to develop more sustainable businesses.   Method: This thesis is a qualitative study with an exploratory nature where 21 interviews, representing 13 companies were conducted in order to collect the empirical data. Further, this thesis involves a comparative study of multiple case studies. Conclusion: The findings show that businesses are creating readiness for change towards becoming more sustainable by establishing various components including discrepancy, appropriateness, efficacy, principal support, personal valence and the affective component. These components are conveyed through the accompanying strategies, persuasive communication and active participation. Furthermore, education was found to be a strong influencer of change readiness for sustainable development. Nevertheless, change readiness as a concept is not consciously used by any of the companies represented in this thesis.

Contemporary biodiversity conservation is ‘wickedly complex'. This complexity stems from the need to address the diverse objectives of protecting biodiversity and enhancing social wellbeing. However, centralized and exclusionary conservation approaches are often ill-suited to tackling these coupled objectives. Consequently, increasingly calls have been made for the development of more holistic, participatory, nuanced and context-specific conservation governance approaches. Community-based conservation – which seeks to include local communities and their knowledge and priorities in conservation governance – offers a viable though context-specific alternative. However, thus far communitybased conservation initiatives have produced mixed results, largely due to a lack of understanding of how to effectively initiate, implement and manage such ‘wickedly complex' conservation initiatives. South Africa possesses enabling legislation for community-based conservation, but to date there has been no implementation of legally recognized communityconserved areas in the coastal zone. Accordingly, this research is guided by a desire to better understand this ‘policy-praxis disjuncture', and explores what factors, conditions and processes are required to enable South Africa to embrace a more community-orientated approach to conservation. It is proposed that greater understanding and potentially success can be gained by viewing communitybased conservation including, the initiation, implementation and governance of community-conserved areas, as a ‘change process'. Drawing on Commons Theory, Governance Theory, and the Theory of Change approach, a framework was developed to guide the exploration of the factors, conditions and processes that enable the shift to a community-based mode of conservation governance. Case study investigations were conducted in two established regional community coastal conservation cases, and one South African ‘case-in-progress'. Based on the findings of these cases, and the perceptions of South African conservation actors, this dissertation offers insights for tackling South Africa's policy-praxis disjuncture by developing a South African Empirical Community-Based Conservation Theory of Change Pathway. By exploring the initiation, implementation and governance of community-based conservation initiatives as a change process, this dissertation provides a framework for designing a process to facilitate and implement community-based conservation where contextually appropriate. More specifically, it emphasizes the need to develop a context-appropriate, strategic, systematic and iterative set of actions, with clearly articulated assumptions, which strive to address present or potential issues, to support the change to community-based governance. Consequently, this dissertation provides a framework for understanding how a shift to a community-based mode of conservation governance takes place, and offers a South African specific design pathway, with potential application by diverse conservation actors in other countries.

The popularity of agile methodologies is steadily increasing. This study is an intent to balance the agile change literature with a psychological perspective and quantitative measures of an agile change made within a Swedish organization. Organizational change recipients’ beliefs (discrepancy, appropriateness, valence, efficacy, & principal support) and trust in management were measured in an online survey to see how well these variables could predict a successful agile change towards transparency. The results indicate a lack of support for several previously cited success factors in the agile literature and a need for more quantitative and research-driven literature. No support could be found for a relationship between discrepancy, appropriateness, valence, principal support, trust in management, and the outcome of a successful implementation of transparency. Efficacy was found to be a significant and robust predictor of the outcome. More research is needed to ensure the generalizability of the results.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2006.
Title from electronic title page (viewed Oct. 10, 2007). "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Sociology." Discipline: Sociology; Department/School: Sociology.