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Researchers have struggled to define how to age well since the time of Roman philosopher Cicero in 44 BC, yet today it remains a mystery (Tate, Lah, & Cuddy, 2003). In the context of dealing with age-related declines that often accompany later life, it has recently been suggested that positive reinterpretation, a concept implicit to positive psychology, may be important (Ouwehand, de Ridder, & Bensing, 2007; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Positive reinterpretation has at times been referred to as “secondary control” in the psychological literature. In their seminal article of 1982, Rothbaum, Weisz, and Snyder theorized that there were multiple ways in which people could positively reinterpret outcomes and gain feelings of secondary control, including believing in the power of others and nature, as well as downgrading importance. These belief patterns become especially important in later life, when faced with age-related challenges. In the present study, secondary control beliefs were examined cross-sectionally in 2003 (n = 223) and prospectively in 2006 (n = 117) in a sample of older adults (M age = 85 years, 62% women) using a variety of outcome measures including severity of chronic conditions score, recent health, self-rated health, positive emotion, life satisfaction, and perceived stress. The unique contributions of this study are twofold. First, the findings suggest that some older adults may emphasize certain secondary control beliefs in combination. Second, the combined beliefs were found to relate cross-sectionally to measures of physical and psychological well-being. These exploratory findings have important implications in applied and theoretical contexts. In applied contexts, they may help to enhance physical and psychological well-being in the very old. In theoretical contexts, they extend contemporary thinking on secondary control.

Cerebral vascular accidents (CVAs) rank as the third leading cause of death in Canada with more than 50,000 of these events occurring annually. The evidence base from which to provide end-of- life care to patients dying from a CVA is currently limited, and there is a dearth of research examining the experiences of nurses charged with the responsibility of caring for these patients. In order to begin to address this gap in the literature, a qualitative study, using van Manen’s interpretive phenomenology was conducted to examine and describe the lived experiences of nurses working on an acute neurosciences unit in a tertiary hospital. Nine nurses were interviewed initially, and two nurses participated in follow-up interviews to confirm the interpretation of the data. This manuscript will discuss the essence of nurses’ lived experience in caring for these patients, as well as implications for education, practice, and future research.

This thesis investigates the two major conflicting modes of interpretation applied to Mo Yan’s literary texts diachronically and synchronically in order to reveal both the aesthetic imperative and the liberating force of the British and North American literary centers in receiving literature from the periphery. After an introduction to the centers’ disparate responses to the paradigmatic shift of the local Chinese literary trend in the 1980s, the thesis continues with a theoretical discussion on reader-response theory and the uneven power relations between the literary center and the periphery. Jauss’s concept of horizon of expectation and Fish’s interpretive community are adopted to stress openness in interpretation while Casanova’s conceptualization of the world republic of letters provides the framework to study the competition among interpretive communities for the legitimacy of their respective interpretation. The study of the press reception of Mo Yan focuses on the ongoing shift of horizon of expectation from the dominating political and representational mode of interpretation to one that stresses the literary and fictional nature of literature. The study shows that the imperative in the reception of Mo Yan is the extension of the Western cultural hegemony sustained by an Orientalist dichotomy. The academic promotion in the public sphere, however, shows critics’ effort to subvert such domination by suggesting an alternative mode that brings the Chinese literary context to bear on the interpretation. In addition to this, Mo Yan’s strategic negotiation with the dominating mode of reception is analysed in my close reading of POW!. At the end of the thesis, I call for general readers to raise the awareness of the hegemonic tendency of any prevailing mode of interpretation. By asserting a certain distance, readers enable the openness in interpretation and hence possible communication among different communities.

This project involved the adaptive reuse of Maw Garage at 112 King Street. The building was transformed into an interpretive centre for Winnipeg’s Exchange District. As museums are faced with challenges of being relevant in today’s context, museum planners have started to shift their attention toward new approaches for the design of these environments. The purpose of this project was to investigate the evolving nature of the museum, and to determine how its role in society could be modified to better accommodate its audience’s needs. Society’s understanding of heritage in regard to the way we interpret, relate to, and connect with objects, each other, and environments has changed. A thorough review of literature resulted in a broad understanding of post-museum, constructivist learning, and public space theories. Combined with knowledge gained from the analysis of three precedents and programming, these theories enabled the development of a contemporary museum that challenges stereotypical ideas of the museum. This design proposal illustrates one possible way in which post-museum, constructivist learning, and public space theories could be used to design a new museum. Although the solution presented here is specific to Winnipeg’s Exchange District and the Heritage Winnipeg client, conceivably, the same theories could be used to design interpretive centres elsewhere in North America.

This creative project presents a plan for interpreting the natural, cultural, and historical features of the Whitewater Gorge Park in Richmond, Indiana to the people who will visit the park in the future. The plan begins with inventories of natural, cultural, and historical resources, management concerns, and visual character, and also examines patterns of use in the park. The park's greatest assets are summarized in a series of interpretive themes; for each theme, specific interpretive media and methods are proposed and discussed. Interpretive measures are then grouped in lists of short-term and long-term priorities.An appendix to this creative project outlines the results of a questionnaire completed by a group of hikers in the park. The questionnaire was designed to sample hikers' opinions about the usefulness of a printed trail guide with which they had been supplied, and to investigate their reactions to the Whitewater Gorge Park as a whole. / Department of Landscape Architecture

This project involved the adaptive reuse of Maw Garage at 112 King Street. The building was transformed into an interpretive centre for Winnipeg’s Exchange District. As museums are faced with challenges of being relevant in today’s context, museum planners have started to shift their attention toward new approaches for the design of these environments. The purpose of this project was to investigate the evolving nature of the museum, and to determine how its role in society could be modified to better accommodate its audience’s needs. Society’s understanding of heritage in regard to the way we interpret, relate to, and connect with objects, each other, and environments has changed. A thorough review of literature resulted in a broad understanding of post-museum, constructivist learning, and public space theories. Combined with knowledge gained from the analysis of three precedents and programming, these theories enabled the development of a contemporary museum that challenges stereotypical ideas of the museum. This design proposal illustrates one possible way in which post-museum, constructivist learning, and public space theories could be used to design a new museum. Although the solution presented here is specific to Winnipeg’s Exchange District and the Heritage Winnipeg client, conceivably, the same theories could be used to design interpretive centres elsewhere in North America.

La tesi si focalizza sull'implementazione di un sistema ERP in una organizzazione multinazionale con headquarters in Massachusetts, USA. Il metodo e' case study e l'approccio e' di tipo interpretativo. Sono studiati i processi di apprendimento (learning) di utenti e management che hanno permesso lo sviluppo di absorptive capacity. I risultati sottolineano l'importanza di processi di apprendimento di tipo "double loop". E' proposta una riconcettualizzazione del costrutto "absorptive capacity" ispirato all'originario framework di Cohen e Levinthal (1990)che rappresenta un modello di sintesi. / The dissertation concentrates on ERP implementation in a worldwide organization with headquarters in Massachusetts, USA. The method used is the case study and the approach is interpretive. The research points to learning processes which underpin the development of absorptive capacity. The findings highlight that double-loop learning is necessary to develop absorptive capacity. A reconceptualized model of absorptive capacity is provided based on the original construct of Cohen and Levinthal (1990).

The world we live in today demands systems that make our lives easier and help us make the right choices on time. There exists a growing need for quality products that help us in our day to day activities. Easy-to-use computer-based decision support systems apply all available and applicable data with the correct model, knowledge and skill of decision makers to support the user to choose the best solution. It is therefore important to develop decision support systems correctly to be of value to the user. Looking at other information system developments, the author tries to suggest ways to develop decision support systems. System development methodologies are investigated to determine if they are able to address the development of the very important decision support system components. Five methodologies were discussed and researched for their theoretical suitability to address the development of decision support systems. The author performed qualitative research using case studies and semi-structured interviews to assess the use or non-use of system development methodologies in the development of decision support systems in a South African context. Content and cross-case analyses were used to achieve results that are discussed to broaden the knowledge on the development of decision support systems. The author provides some explanations to why system development methodologies were not used in the development of the case studies. This research not only contributes to the academic body of knowledge about using system development methodologies in the development of decision support systems, but could also be useful to developers embarking on a new decision support system development. / Thesis (MSc (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.