The main objectives of this thesis are to determine if the addition of an energy wheel in an HVAC system can improve the indoor air relative humidity (RH), and perceived air quality (PAQ), as well as reduce energy consumption. An energy wheel is an air-to-air energy exchanger that transfers heat and moisture between the outdoor air entering and the exhaust air leaving a building. This thesis uses the TRNSYS computer package to model two buildings (an office and a school) in four different cities (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Vancouver, British Columbia; Tampa, Florida and Phoenix, Arizona).<p>The results with and without an energy wheel are compared to see if the energy wheel has a significant impact on the RH and PAQ in the buildings. The energy wheel reduces peak RH levels in Tampa, (up to 15% RH), which is a humid climate, but has a smaller effect on the indoor RH in Saskatoon (up to 4% RH) and Phoenix (up to 11% RH), which are dry climates. The energy wheel also reduces the number of people that are dissatisfied with the PAQ within the space by up to 17% in Tampa. <p>The addition of the energy wheel to the HVAC system creates a reduction in the total energy consumed by the HVAC system in Saskatoon, Phoenix and Tampa (2% in each city). There is a significant reduction in the size of the heating equipment in Saskatoon (26%) and in the size of the cooling equipment in Phoenix (18%) and Tampa (17%). A cost analysis shows that the HVAC system including an energy wheel has the least life-cycle costs in these three cities, with savings of up to 6%. In Vancouver, the energy wheel has a negligible impact on the indoor RH, PAQ and energy consumption.

While prior studies on ERP implementation have largely focused on the importance of best practices, this paper examines the impact of knowledge transfer climate and the competence of the players (i.e., the implementing firm and the consultant team). The model divides factors that influence the result of knowledge transfer during ERP implementation into three categories: those implemented by the firm, those implemented by the consultant, and those related to the impact of the knowledge transfer climate. Competence factors from the first two aspects facilitate the building of a better knowledge transfer climate. Survey results from 101 respondents were subjected to multivariate analysis. The significance of player competence factors is verified, and an understanding of the role that the knowledge transfer climate plays in the knowledge transfer process and the impact on the transfer process is developed. This paper provides a broader, richer model of knowledge transfer networks to promote insight into successful ERP implementation. In practice, the key to effective knowledge transfer is the establishment a positive knowledge transfer climate. To achieve a successful ERP implementation, practitioners should focus on possessing robust competences with ERP implementation partners. Additional research may help ERP implementation project teams more effectively promote knowledge transfer in a wider range of conditions with greater confidence and precision.

This study investigated the specific health-promoting behaviors employed by early adolescents (n = 246) and their subjective well-being (SWB) to provide an understanding of how mental and physical wellness relate in teens. Participants self-reported on their dietary habits, physical activity, sleep hygiene, safety habits, and attitudes toward substance use. A comprehensive assessment of SWB was also gathered (i.e., global life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect). The researcher hypothesized that each of the five health-promoting behaviors assessed in the current study would have significant, positive correlations with the SWB of early adolescents, in that youth who reported higher levels of engagement in these healthy behaviors also would report higher levels of happiness. Furthermore, demographic characteristics of gender, race, and socioeconomic status were hypothesized to play a moderating role in the relationship between health promotion and happiness. Findings demonstrated that two health-promoting behaviors were significantly correlated with SWB in the current study. Increased amount of sleep per night was linked to higher SWB, while attitudes toward substance use were negatively correlated with youth's SWB. A significant percentage of the variance in SWB (15%) was accounted for by the linear combination of health-promoting behaviors, although only one of the five health promoting behaviors (i.e., attitudes toward substance use) was a unique predictor of SWB. In addition, none of the interaction terms of gender, race, and SES with health-promoting behaviors were significant predictors of SWB, indicating that moderating effects were not found for this sample. Implications for further investigation of these findings include the use of other methods for reporting health-promoting behaviors in early adolescents as well as replication of moderating effects with a more ethnically diverse sample of youth. Findings call for integration of health promotion programming into school psychology practice from a prevention to targeted level of service delivery with youth.

Higher education institutions across the globe have been confronted with a series of complex changes. These include changes in management style and structure, increased competitveness, mergers with other institutions, changes in working conditions, increases in student numbers in the context of decreased expenditure per student, higher student-staff ratios, modularization of courses, and the introduction of quality monitoring systems. Tertiary institutions in South Africa are experiencing a similar transformation that is necessary because of changes in the political, economic, technological and social environments. As a result of these transformations support staffs operating within such environments are likely to experience a sense of powerlessness, to report feelings of anxiety and insecurity, including a lack of confidence in their abilities and uncertainty about their future in their organisations, resulting in occupational stress and strain. Possible uncertainties that these same employees may be faced with are lack of job security, decreased career prestige and professional recognition, scarcity of resources, difficulty in understanding the changing values of the organisation, increased centralisation of authority, increased bureaucracy and an increased demand for accountability. Many tertiary education support staff will now be involved in greater interaction with other people, either students or co-workers and would therefore be more vulnerable to occupational stress and strain. Furthermore the workload of support staff is increasing and the nature of the support work is changing. Support personnel groups are being asked to take on more duties and do work for a greater number of people. They are also required to use new technology, sometimes without adequate training, resulting in high stress levels. It is well documented that high levels of occupational stress, if left unchecked and unmanaged, undermine the quality of employees' health, wellbeing and morale, as well as a reduction in productivity and creativity. Therefore the objectives of this research are to determine the levels of occupational stress and strain of support staff at a higher education institution in the North-West province, to investigate possible demographic differences and to determine whether perceived organizational commitment moderates the effect of occupational stress and strain. A stratified sample (N= 3 15) of support staff at a higher education institution in the North-West province was taken. The ASSET Organisational Stress Screening Tool was used as measuring instrument. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the results. The results of the study showed that the support staff has fairly poor physical and psychological health indicating that support staff experience stress-related strain which could be mainly attributed to their work relationships and job characteristics respectively. The levels of the stress were relatively low, while high levels of both individual commitment to the organisation and perceived commitment from the organisation were found. Furthermore, differences in terms of occupational stress levels were found for different biographical groups. Practically significant positive relationships were found for job security, job characteristics and control. This means that in order for employees to feel secure about their jobs, they need to have perceived control over the aspects of their jobs. Work relationships were significantly related to job characteristics, overload and control which means that employee's relationships with others depended to a large extent on the element of control that they have of their jobs and the amount of work that they have. Contrary to the findings in the literature, organisational commitment did not moderate the occupational stress-strain relationship of support staff in the present study. Organisational commitment was significantly negatively related to occupational stress, while occupational stress was significantly positively related to ill-health (strain). Occupational stress explained 18% of the variance in ill-health (strain) and 23% of the variance in organisational commitment. Recommendations for the organisation and future research are made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

Higher education institutions across the globe have been confronted with a series of complex changes. These include changes in management style and structure, increased competitveness, mergers with other institutions, changes in working conditions, increases in student numbers in the context of decreased expenditure per student, higher student-staff ratios, modularization of courses, and the introduction of quality monitoring systems. Tertiary institutions in South Africa are experiencing a similar transformation that is necessary because of changes in the political, economic, technological and social environments. As a result of these transformations support staffs operating within such environments are likely to experience a sense of powerlessness, to report feelings of anxiety and insecurity, including a lack of confidence in their abilities and uncertainty about their future in their organisations, resulting in occupational stress and strain. Possible uncertainties that these same employees may be faced with are lack of job security, decreased career prestige and professional recognition, scarcity of resources, difficulty in understanding the changing values of the organisation, increased centralisation of authority, increased bureaucracy and an increased demand for accountability. Many tertiary education support staff will now be involved in greater interaction with other people, either students or co-workers and would therefore be more vulnerable to occupational stress and strain. Furthermore the workload of support staff is increasing and the nature of the support work is changing. Support personnel groups are being asked to take on more duties and do work for a greater number of people. They are also required to use new technology, sometimes without adequate training, resulting in high stress levels. It is well documented that high levels of occupational stress, if left unchecked and unmanaged, undermine the quality of employees' health, wellbeing and morale, as well as a reduction in productivity and creativity. Therefore the objectives of this research are to determine the levels of occupational stress and strain of support staff at a higher education institution in the North-West province, to investigate possible demographic differences and to determine whether perceived organizational commitment moderates the effect of occupational stress and strain. A stratified sample (N= 3 15) of support staff at a higher education institution in the North-West province was taken. The ASSET Organisational Stress Screening Tool was used as measuring instrument. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the results. The results of the study showed that the support staff has fairly poor physical and psychological health indicating that support staff experience stress-related strain which could be mainly attributed to their work relationships and job characteristics respectively. The levels of the stress were relatively low, while high levels of both individual commitment to the organisation and perceived commitment from the organisation were found. Furthermore, differences in terms of occupational stress levels were found for different biographical groups. Practically significant positive relationships were found for job security, job characteristics and control. This means that in order for employees to feel secure about their jobs, they need to have perceived control over the aspects of their jobs. Work relationships were significantly related to job characteristics, overload and control which means that employee's relationships with others depended to a large extent on the element of control that they have of their jobs and the amount of work that they have. Contrary to the findings in the literature, organisational commitment did not moderate the occupational stress-strain relationship of support staff in the present study. Organisational commitment was significantly negatively related to occupational stress, while occupational stress was significantly positively related to ill-health (strain). Occupational stress explained 18% of the variance in ill-health (strain) and 23% of the variance in organisational commitment. Recommendations for the organisation and future research are made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

Background: Antenatal depression is relatively a new area of study compared to postnatal depression and the depth and sophistication of this research is yet developing. For instance, very little is reported on the specific role of the risk factors as moderators and mediators to explain the variability in the magnitude of exposure and the causal pathway for depression during pregnancy. Moderators are those variables that are not modifiable (e.g., ethnicity, and gender), or have qualitative character or nominal in nature, and could also often be antecedent to other independent variables (e.g., behavioural and psychosocial) and depression. Mediators are those variables that may be better able to describe the pathway that connects a predictor to an outcome and intervention can be designed targeting mediators as they are causally related to the outcome. This thesis will address this gap in research and provide empirical evidence to increase the understanding of the role of each identified risk factors that could potentially influence maternal mental health interventions. Methods: In this thesis, I have used the Feelings in Pregnancy and Motherhood (FIP) study. This was a longitudinal study and 649 pregnant women participated in the study. Women were interviewed three times over the course of their pregnancy and the immediate postpartum. Depression status was assessed by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS); sociodemographic characteristics, psychosocial and behavioural information were collected at each time point. Depression status in late pregnancy and postpartum were the two outcomes of interest. Non-modifiable sociodemographic risk factors were considered as moderators. Behavioural and psychosocial variables were considered as mediators. Moderators and mediators were tested through series of regression analysis. Results: In modeling moderating effects in late pregnancy, low income women who were in poor marital relationships (β=1.54; p<0.05) and partnered women (married or common law) who reported having used recreational drugs (β= -1.62; p<0.05) were more likely to be depressed. Young mothers with low social support (β= 1.04; p=0.15) and Aboriginal mothers with low social support (β= 1.12; p=0.17) were also almost significantly noted to have depression symptoms in late pregnancy. In mediating analysis for late pregnancy, psychosocial mediators such as stress, social support, and marital satisfaction, and behavioural factors, such as smoking and recreational drug use exerted partial or full mediating effect for depressive symptoms in women in late pregnancy. In moderating analysis for postpartum, Aboriginal women who had never exercised in late pregnancy were found to be depressed at postpartum compared with non Aboriginal mothers who did not exercise. In looking at mediating effects in postpartum, smoking at late pregnancy exerted full mediating effects for ethnicity and marital satisfaction pathways, and partial mediating effects for age, education, and stress pathways in predicting depression in postpartum period among mothers. Conclusion: Depression, particularly during pregnancy and in postpartum, is a top priority for women themselves, their families, care providers, and society in general. This study found that characteristics of women or their psychosocial or behavioural experiences could have specific effects such as either a mitigating or exacerbating role, or a mediating role, in depression in late pregnancy or in postpartum. This information could be strategically used by clinicians or by health promotion professionals to either target or provide tailored programs to women who might experience depression during pregnancy and postpartum.

Business process modelling has gained widespread acceptance, particularly in large IT-enabled business projects. It is applied as a process design and management technique across all project lifecycle phases. While there has been much research on process modelling, there has been little attention on 'how to' conduct process modelling effectively, or on the evaluation of process modelling initiatives and outcomes. This study addresses this gap by deriving a process modelling success model that contains both the success factors (independent variables) and success dimensions (dependent variables) of process modelling. The study employs a multi-method approach, blending both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The research design commenced with a comprehensive literature review, which includes the first annotated bibliography in process modelling research. A multiple case study approach was used to build the conceptual process modelling success model which resulted in a model with eleven (11) success factors (namely Modeller Expertise, Team Structure, Project Management, User Competence, User Participation, Management Support, Leadership, Communication, Modelling Tool, Modelling Language and Modelling Methodology), two (2) moderating variables (namely Process Complexity and Project Importance) and five (5) process modelling success dimensions (namely Modeller Satisfaction, Model Quality, User Satisfaction, Model Use and Modelling Impact). This conceptual model was then operationalised and tested across a global sample, with an online survey instrument. 290 valid responses were received. The constructs were analysed seeking a parsimonious, valid and reliable model. The statistical analysis of this phase assisted in deriving the final process modelling success model. The dependent variables of this model consisted of three (3) contextual success factors (namely Top Management Support, Project Management and Resource Availability), two (2) Modelling specific success factors (namely Modelling Aids and Modeller Expertise), and two (2) moderating variables (namely Importance and Process Complexity). The dependent variable; Process Modelling Success (PMS) was derived with three (3) success measurement dimensions (namely Model Quality, Process Impacts and Process Efficiency). All resulting success factors proved to have a significant role in predicting process modelling success. Interaction effects with the moderating variables (Importance and Process Complexity) proved to exist with Top Management Support (TMS) and Resource Availability (RA). A close analysis to their interaction relationship illustrated that Importance (IMP) moderated the relationship between Top Management Support (TMS) and Process Modelling Success (PMS) in a linear manner and that Process Complexity (PC) moderated the relationship between Resource Availability (RA) and Process Modelling Success (PMS), also in a linear manner. This is the first reported study with empirical evidence on process modelling success. The progressive outcomes of this study have been readily accepted by the practitioner and academic community, with 16 published internationalrefereed- conference papers [including best paper award at the Pacific Asian Conference on Information Systems (PACIS 2004)], 2 journal publications, and over 5 major industry presentations made upon invitation.

Effects of neuroticism, agreeableness, extraversion, conscientiousness in online are affecting consumer impulse buying behavior are important to explore because it directly impacts the consumers individually. The objective of this study is to find out the role of demographics and personality traits of a consumer in shaping their online impulse buying behavior. This study will also will evaluate the moderating effect of hedonic shopping in impulse buying behavior of consumers. Quantitative research approach has been used by using survey method and data was collected through adapted questionnaires. The sample of the study was consisted of 200 respondents from different cities of Sweden and response rate was 80%. IBM SPSS data editor was used to conduct data analysis. Multiple linear regression and analysis of variance (ANOVA) with LSD technique was performed to test the proposed hypothesis. Based on the empirical analysis, it is been concluded that personality traits i.e. Neuroticism and Agreeableness have negative and significant relationship online impulse buying behavior. More a person possesses the characteristics of Neuroticism and Agreeableness less will be the online impulsive buying. Furthermore, Openness to Change, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion have positive and significant relationship with online impulsive buying behavior. Results also depict that hedonic motivation moderates the relationship of personality traits and online impulsive buying which implies that the pleasure of online shopping boosts online impulsive buying.

An adapted version of the Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation model was used as a theoretical guide for this study, which proposes that adaptive processes exist and can moderate relationships between enduring vulnerabilities and different outcomes. Relationships of interest include the negative link between depression and marital satisfaction and the positive link between marital satisfaction and physical health. An adaptive process of interest is empathy, due to its well-researched positive impact on mental, relational, and physical health. This study examined whether perceived spousal empathy (i.e., the empathy perceived by one spouse coming from their spouse) had any moderating effects on the previously mentioned links. A clinical sample of 34 relationally distressed heterosexual couples was included in the study. Depression unexpectedly had a positive relationship with marital satisfaction and physical health. Marital satisfaction had no significant relationship with physical health. Perceived spousal empathy had no moderating effects. The clinical implications of the results are discussed.

Background: Risk and uncertainty as a concept resides in unknown results and uncertainties with the ability of affecting firms. With its ability to affect, comes the necessity for firms to adapt in its corporate strategic decision making. Corporate governance in its broad terms has been shown to impact strategic decision making. As the factors affecting it are not unanimous among prior literature, corporate governance mechanisms' relationship to risk is therefore relevant to examine in order to create a deeper understanding within the subject. Purpose: This paper aims to explain the relationship between strategic decision making with risk and uncertainty as well as the influence on this relationship from corporate governance mechanisms. Additionally, by studying these relationships in a Swedish context, we aim to build upon existing literature of corporate governance. Method: This study uses a positivist deductive approach using a quantitative strategy to investigate the risk-strategic relationship and the influence of corporate governance mechanisms. The study uses a research setting of Swedish firms listed at least one year on the large cap list on Stockholm stock exchange. The data was collected through financial and non-financial databases and annual reports. The data was analyzed using statistical tests. Findings: Change in R&amp;D, capital structure, and employees are all impacted by risk and uncertainty, but change in dividends, intangible assets, and internationalization are unaffected. Risk-strategic connections are influenced by corporate governance mechanisms, but the effect of board independence is negligible. CEO age and gender impact, but not compensation. Identity of ownership matters, however not the concentration.