Natural disasters such as flooding often affect vast areas and create infinite demands that need to be addressed in the same time. The wide scopes and severe impacts of such catastrophes often exceed, if not overwhelm, capacity of the national government to handle. In such a situation, communities such as cities and neighborhoods need to rely on their own capacity (resources, strategies, and expertise) to respond to disaster impacts at least until external assistance can be reached. Thus, studying how communities can be resilient to the impacts of natural disasters is important because this would enhance their ability to respond to the next disaster better. Within the context of great flooding in Thailand in 2011, this dissertation investigated the factors that generated or enhanced resilience of flood stricken-communities in Thailand. Nakhonswan City Municipality was selected as the research site. Qualitative research methods were employed in this study. Data were collected using in-depth interview and focus group. Thirty-six participants (28 for in-depth interview and 8 for focus group interview) from various organizations were recruited using snowball and purposive sampling strategies. Interview data from the field research were transcribed, translated from Thai language to English, and then analyzed using open coding and focused coding strategies. Analyses of in-depth interview data revealed eight conceptual themes representing factors that constituted resilience of Nakhonsawan City Municipality, as the leading organization responded to the flood. These factors are: availability of resources for resilience; managerial adaptability; crisis leadership; quality workforce; knowledge sharing and learning; organizational preparedness; organizational integration; and sectoral integration. In addition, findings from the focus group interview with members of three strong neighborhoods found eight factors that helped these neighborhoods respond effectively to the flood crisis. They included: self-reliance; cooperation; local wisdom; preparedness; internal support; external support; crisis adaptability; and pre-disaster social cohesion. This dissertation ended with the discussion of implications, limitations and suggestions for future research.

How do organizations rapidly assess command-level effects of cyber attacks? Leaders need a way of assuring themselves that their organization, people, and information technology can continue their missions in a contested cyber environment. To do this, leaders should: 1) require assessments be more than analogical, anecdotal or simplistic snapshots in time; 2) demand the ability to rapidly model their organizations; 3) identify their organization’s structural vulnerabilities; and 4) have the ability to forecast mission assurance scenarios. Using text mining to build agent based dynamic network models of information processing organizations, I examine impacts of contested cyber environments on three common focus areas of information assurance—confidentiality, integrity, and availability. I find that assessing impacts of cyber attacks is a nuanced affair dependent on the nature of the attack, the nature of the organization and its missions, and the nature of the measurements. For well-manned information processing organizations, many attacks are in the nuisance range and that only multipronged or severe attacks cause meaningful failure. I also find that such organizations can design for resiliency and provide guidelines in how to do so.

Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The chief focus of this study was on unearthing the antecedents of resilience in children on the street and street children in institutional care. This study was motivated by the desire to understand what made some street children function resiliently in spite of the individual, familial, environmental and wider community risk process that threaten resilience. I was alerted to the participants' resilience by the unexpected positive findings after they completed the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM). Twenty street children volunteered to take part in this study. Of the 20 participants who took part in this study, 14 were children on the street who still had contact with families and six resided at a shelter with no regular contact with their families. This was a mixed methods exploratory study in which I employed the Child and Youth resilience Measure (CYRM) to collect quantitative data from all the participants, and qualitative data via individual interviews and a focus group interview. I used the interviews to provide a deeper understanding of the antecedents of resilience identified in the CYRM. My findings from this study documented individual and environmental resilience processes that enabled the participants to function resiliently despite the harshness of streetism. Many of the resilience -promoting resources unearthed have not been linked to street children and previous studies on resilient street children have not noted all inter- and intrapersonal resources identified by the street children in my study. These resources included individual resources such as role models, assertiveness, regulating themselves socially, coping mechanisms, community - based resources such as access to education as well as cultural resources which include cultural groundedness and religion. These findings show that some street children are resilient and that they develop coping mechanisms reminiscent of hidden resilience that enable them to cope with streetism. The findings of this study have implications for practice especially asset-focused approaches to supporting street children. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

The chief focus of this study was on unearthing the antecedents of resilience in children on the street and street children in institutional care. This study was motivated by the desire to understand what made some street children function resiliently in spite of the individual, familial, environmental and wider community risk process that threaten resilience. I was alerted to the participants' resilience by the unexpected positive findings after they completed the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM). Twenty street children volunteered to take part in this study. Of the 20 participants who took part in this study, 14 were children on the street who still had contact with families and six resided at a shelter with no regular contact with their families. This was a mixed methods exploratory study in which I employed the Child and Youth resilience Measure (CYRM) to collect quantitative data from all the participants, and qualitative data via individual interviews and a focus group interview. I used the interviews to provide a deeper understanding of the antecedents of resilience identified in the CYRM. My findings from this study documented individual and environmental resilience processes that enabled the participants to function resiliently despite the harshness of streetism. Many of the resilience -promoting resources unearthed have not been linked to street children and previous studies on resilient street children have not noted all inter- and intrapersonal resources identified by the street children in my study. These resources included individual resources such as role models, assertiveness, regulating themselves socially, coping mechanisms, community - based resources such as access to education as well as cultural resources which include cultural groundedness and religion. These findings show that some street children are resilient and that they develop coping mechanisms reminiscent of hidden resilience that enable them to cope with streetism. The findings of this study have implications for practice especially asset-focused approaches to supporting street children. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

This research investigates the linkages that exist between climate change impacts, adaptation and information and communication technologies (ICTs) within developing country livelihoods. The analysis is based on an original conceptual framework that explores the notion of 'e-resilience' as a key property through which ICTs may strengthen the capacity of vulnerable systems to adapt and potentially transform in the face of increasing climate change impacts and uncertainty. By drawing key principles from the sustainable livelihoods framework, new institutionalism and Sen's capabilities approach, and based on a critical realist view of the world, the research provides a novel approach to the understanding of ICTs' role in contexts vulnerable to climate change. Based on the experience of Colombia's coffee producers, the analysis demonstrates that ICTs can contribute to the ability of vulnerable livelihoods to adapt to the impacts of climate change and variability through improved short-term informational efficiency and knowledge sharing, and long-term decision-making effectiveness, capacity building and behavioural change. The analysis explores the main factors that enable or constrain ICTs' contribution to the implementation of adaptive actions, arguing that the extent and impact of those contributions are best understood through the concept of e-resilience. As an increasingly relevant property of vulnerable systems, e-resilience integrates foundational (robustness, self-organisation and learning) and enabling attributes (redundancy, rapidity, scale, flexibility, diversity and equality) that may have been overlooked from a traditional 'asset-based' approach, while allowing a systemic (multi-scale/multi-temporal/multi-stressor) understanding of the context within which developing country stakeholders operate. The research findings reveal numerous linkages between ICTs' role and resilience building, suggesting that the e-resilience sub-properties strengthen the ability of vulnerable systems to enact adaptation actions, and better cope with the process of change and increasing uncertainty associated with (but not limited to) climate change. The analysis shows that, while ICT tools have not been explicitly integrated into national or sectoral climate change adaptation strategies, they are playing an increasing role in the adaptive capacity and resilience of developing country livelihoods. The study concludes by recognising the strengths and weaknesses of the e-resilience approach, providing recommendations to facilitate its use in development practice and suggesting key areas for future research.

This thesis applies a resilience lens to investigate conversions of farmland from conventional to organic status as transformations in social-ecological systems. Transformation is widely promoted in resilience literature yet there are relatively few empirical studies of transformation at multiple scales. This research addresses this distinct gap in understanding by analysing dimensions of transformations including the roles of key individuals, social-ecological innovation, and different capacities to manage dynamic change. Resilience concepts and ideas are embedded in action research practice to provide new directions and insights on transformation. These insights are the result of a process of research that engaged with the Tamar Valley Organics Group, UK, during the period 2012 to 2016. Reflective interviews, mental models interviews, and participatory scenario planning research activities facilitate past, present and future perspectives on transformation. The findings of these research methods are synthesised to elaborate a resilience perspective on transformation. Transformations are identified as intertwined fundamental shifts in understanding and management of agroecosystem fertility. These transformations emerge from processes of self-organisation and social learning that are shaped by distinct contributions from key individuals across temporal and spatial scales. Innovation builds capacities to manage uncertain dynamics of agroecosystem fertility. Signals of social-ecological innovation are identified but are considered more akin to processes of adaptive management. These findings act as the foundations for a more nuanced set of issues to emerge. Transformations involve complex cross-scale interplay between small and large changes. It is the way in which these cross-scale dynamics work with each other, and the ways in which different capacities change, that informs a more grounded understanding of transformations in social-ecological systems.

Objectives: This thesis aims to further our understanding in relation to childhood obesity and associated psychological difficulties. Design: The systematic review aimed to investigate the relationship between childhood psychological functioning in overweight and obese children and parental mental health difficulties. The empirical study aimed to examine possible relationships between Body Mass Index (BMI), self-esteem, quality of life and resilience, in order to determine any factors which may protect against the negative psychological consequences of obesity. Methods: A systematic review was completed using a comprehensive literature search of relevant databases to identify studies examining the relationship between childhood psychological functioning in children who were deemed overweight or obese and parental mental health difficulties. In the empirical study children of a variety of differing Body Mass Indexes (BMI) were asked to complete measures of quality of life, resilience and self-esteem. Correlation analyses were carried out to determine any relationships between BMI, quality of life, resilience and self-esteem. Moderation analyses were then completed to examine whether resilience moderates the relationship between BMI and quality of life or between BMI and self-esteem. Results: Ten studies met inclusion criteria for the systematic review. Although the reviews appeared to indicate a significant relationship between parental mental health and childhood psychological functioning, the studies were predominantly of average or low methodological quality, weakening any conclusions drawn. Results of the empirical study indicated significant correlations between resilience and quality of life and resilience and self-esteem. BMI was not found to significantly correlate with any other factors. Further moderation analyses indicated no moderating effect for resilience. The lack of association between BMI and either quality of life or self-esteem may in part be because most children who took part were of normal weight. Conclusions: Interventions targeting childhood overweight/obesity and their psychological effects may need to take into account wider psychosocial factors including parenting and positive factors which may protect against the negative psychological effects of obesity. However, further research is needed, particularly in relation to resilience.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / Family resilience has a positive bearing on the academic performance of learners in the developmental phase of middle childhood. The role of family is often ignored and so there is a gap in the literature on the link between positive academic performance and family resilience. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between perceived family resilience and the academic performance of children in the phase of middle childhood. A quantitative methodological approach was employed in this study with a cross-sectional correlational design. The type of sampling used in this study was convenience sampling. Three primary schools were selected and participants at the schools were randomly selected. The sample consisted of N = 194 Grade 6 learners from schools in the Penlyn Estate area. The reason for having chosen Grade 6 learners was that they are on the brink of puberty and have a good idea of how things function within the family and they were therefore better able to verbalise their opinions than were the younger learners in the phase of middle childhood. The data was collected using a self-reported questionnaire that included the demographic information and the Family Resilience Assessment Scale, as part of the quantitative methodology. The data was then analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences V23 (SPSS). The results were provided using descriptive and inferential statistics. Participation in this study was voluntary after being well informed, while confidentiality and anonymity were maintained throughout the study. The results show that there is a significant positive relationship between the dimensions of academic performance and family resilience.