A research project submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of MA by coursework and research report in the field of Organisational Psychology in the Faculty of Humanities, University of Witwatersrand,Johannesburg 2018 / With the change in nature of work, the spaces in which work is done has also changed, prompting research into the effects of the work environment on employees. The purpose of this study is to investigate how different types of workplace office spaces will have different impacts on aspects of wellbeing in employees. The facets explored are how employees perceive their satisfaction of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) attributes, how they perceive their performance and health within these IEQ conditions, how they perceive their current workspace affecting their physical and psychological discomfort, and how they perceived their own psychological wellbeing. A quantitative survey was compiled from previous literature, appropriate to exploring these variables. The questionnaire was piloted at a company that owns, develops, and manages property before being conducted over a two-week period at a large health insurance company in Johannesburg, Gauteng. The final survey consisted of three subscales of the Green Building Survey (Hedge & Dorsey, 2012) measuring perceived satisfaction of indoor environmental quality and its impact on health and performance; the GABO questionnaire (Pierrette et al., 2015) assessed six aspects of perceived noise; the extended Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire assessed physical discomfort in nine body regions; perceived psychological comfort; and perceived psychological wellbeing using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. Data were collected using an online survey platform. The final sample consisted of 1853 participants of different genders, races, ages, and organisational levels of a prominent South African organisation. The results of this study are beneficial to the field as literature pertaining to workspace layout is outdated and new research is needed as innovative trends in layout types are emerging. Most previous research on employee perceptions addresses productivity but not necessarily different aspects of perceived health, wellbeing, and comfort. It is expected that this study will contribute to finding clarity in a still-ambiguous field and will add to the present-day change in how and where work is done. / TL2019

The Jackson Prairie Region represents a rare, poorly understood and threatened ecosystem. A review of the literature concerning the ecology, physiography and geology of the Region was undertaken, along with a search of General Land Office (GLO) records for locations of historic prairie patches. The prairie patch location data was transcribed, digitized and inserted as a base map in a Geographical Information System (GIS). A set of current, local conditions indicating suitability for conservation or restoration, along with importance weights for each condition, was derived from stakeholder input. A simple additive weighting technique was used to rank the locations in terms of suitability for conservation or restoration. Historic patch locations were visited and the presence of prairie indicator species noted. The use of GLO records and GIS in this way improves the ability of landscape architects to enhance and preserve an imperiled habitat as they design across multiple scales.

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Architectural study describes the design of the town hall for the city part Brno northbound on the territory of the former cavalry barracks in the black squares . Hall is the main subject on the newly designed plaza . Hall is also part of the business multifunctional hall.

Thesis addresses the new town hall for the city part Brno north in former barracks in Cerna Pole.

It is an undisputable fact that most systems, upon consistence usage are bound to fail in the performance of their intended functions at a point in time. When this occurs, various strategies are set in place to restore them back to a satisfactory performance. This may include replacing the failed component with a new one, swapping parts, resetting adjustable parts to mention but a few. Any such system is referred to as a repairable system. There is the need to study these systems and use statistical models to predict their failing time and be able to set modalities in place to repair them at least cost to the operator. The main objective of this paper is to analyze data collected on the projectors used for teaching and learning activities in some designated rooms at the Brigham Young University (BYU) under the auspices of the Office of Information Technology (OIT) and help to detect the failure rate of such systems, predict the optimal replacement time for the parts with the view of maximizing the reliability of the systems and finally formulate a cost model that will be used to estimate the optimal cost involve in servicing a failed projector.

This is the first study within the area of rental affordability. It is an important issue to address since many startups and SMEs are struggling with finding suitable workspace in Stockholm. This study contributes to a better understanding of different aspects of affordability. Moreover the aim is to enhance the understanding of different perspectives of rental affordability for these companies when choosing office space. When defining rental affordability it has to be a relative concept within a certain context since it includes the perspective of both tenants´ preferences and market related factors. The proposed definition of affordability solutions is based on theory and empiricism, which are found through a literature review and a qualitative method. Since there is lack of consistency in research papers of the definition of affordability, and no previous definition of affordable solutions within this context is found, this method could define what factors affecting tenants when choosing office space. The qualitative method together with a literature review resulted in a pre-study, which was supposed to combine different aspects of affordability and further suggest how to construct a rental affordability index. Methodological triangulation increases the originality of this report, since the approach involves three aspects, which together highlight what dimensions should be evaluated when constructing an affordability index. A number of benefits from affordability solutions for startups and SMEs are presented in the results. Affordability solutions are intangible factors, which in several ways benefit property owners, tenants and society. However the office market is changing and tenants do not have the same preferences as before. Thus, it could be asked whether the recent office trend is just a trend or if it is here to stay. This report provides a starting point for such discussion, which is also proposed to consider when constructing a rental affordability index in further studies. / Denna masteruppsats är den första av sitt slag inom området för rental affordability. Det är av stor vikt att framhäva den problematik som är kopplat till den rådande situationen för många startups och småtill medelstora företag, vilka kämpar för att hitta lämplig kontorsplatser i Stockholm. Denna studie bidrar till en bättre förståelse för vilka aspekter som karaktäriserar rental affordability. Dessutom är målet att öka förståelsen för olika perspektiv av begreppet när det sätts i dess sammanhang. Vid en definition av rental affordability, bör hänsyn tas till sammanhanget vilket inkluderar både hyresgästers nuvarande preferenser samt rådande marknadsrelaterade faktorer. Den föreslagna definitionen av lösningar som hyresgäster har råd med, affordable solutions, baseras på hyresgästernas preferenser, vilka kartläggs genom kvalitativa intervjuer och teori. Med hänsyn till att en enhetlig definition saknas i tidigare forskning och att ingen tidigare definition finns inom kontexten för denna rapport, så kan den valda metoden användas för att definiera vilka immateriella faktorer som påverkar hyresgästerna när de väljer kontorslokaler. Den kvalitativa metoden tillsammans med en litteraturgranskning resulterade i en förstudie som kombinerar olika aspekter av affordability och vidare föreslås hur ett affordability index kan konstrueras. En metodologisk ansats i form av triangulering ökar originaliteten av denna rapport, eftersom tre aspekter tillsammans lyfter fram vilka dimensioner som bör utvärderas när ett affordability index konstrueras. Ett antal fördelar från affordability solutions för startups och små- till medelstora företag kan påvisas i resultaten. Ett flertal faktorer är framträdande och kan på flera sätt gagna fastighetsägare, hyresgäster och samhället. Emellertid så förändras kontorsmarknaden och hyresgäster har inte samma preferenser som tidigare. Således kan det diskuteras om den rådande kontorsutvecklingen bara är en trend eller om den är här för att stanna, vilket bör tas hänsyn till i vidare studier där ett affordability index konstrueras i enlighet med förstudien.

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This study provides a qualitative interpretation of the work done by central office administrators in a school district in Texas as they supported and built capacity for the professional learning community (PLC) process over a five year time period. Literature by PLC scholars, especially R. DuFour, R.B. DuFour, Eaker, Hord, Hipp, Huffman, and Olivier, informed development of the study. In a school district of 19,000 students and 2,000 staff members, ten central office administrators were interviewed to gain their perceptions of their roles in the PLC process. Interviews were analyzed through the processes of initial, focused, and theoretical coding. Documents were examined and used as supplemental sources of data to corroborate the perspectives provided. Findings revealed the story of central office administrators who worked interdependently to support and build capacity in the implementation and sustainment of the PLC process. A thick description of the work based on their perceptions offers actions and behaviors of administrators specific to their roles and practices and protocols developed to hold the work together. A grounded theory was developed with regard to central office administrators' support and capacity-building for the PLC process. From the administrators' perceptions, six theoretical categories relating to central office support and capacity building of the PLC process emerged: 1) establishment, 2) deployment, 3) accountability for implementation, 4) adult learning, 5) collaboration, and 6) leadership development. The study contributes an interpretivist description of the involvement of central office in the PLC process and confirms the importance of the change process in the implementation of the PLC framework.