Ageing in Africa and the world over is a phenomenon that affects individuals and societies. The expanding older population (people aged 60+) in South Africa led to this research, which represents an attempt to explore the experiences of loneliness of older persons in Africa and thereby gain some understanding of the subjective experiences of loneliness of a group of older African persons in their socio–cultural context. Defining loneliness from the existing literature was challenging since it became evident that loneliness in the literature is defined and researched largely in terms of individual meanings attached to the concept, and the applicability of such individual meanings to an African context remains unconfirmed. Experiences of loneliness are not well known among older Setwana–speaking persons, and few studies have focused on collectivistic experiences as such. Loneliness is considered a complex, contextual experience that goes beyond the individual and also includes culture as an inseparable aspect of people’s lives. Conceptualising loneliness as a socially constructed phenomenon places this study within the paradigm of phenomenology exploring people’s experiences. The philosophy of ubuntu relates to being in the world among others thus creating the concept of a social self. In essence, to be a self, one has to belong to a community, and one is always contextualised as an existence among others in interaction. A qualitative design was used together with a purposive convenience sampling method whereby the participants were selected on the basis of their availability during the research period. The participants’ ages ranged from 61 up to 73, and the sample included 16 female and two male participants. Two data sets were collected at different times from members of the Day Care Centre for the Aged in Ikageng, Potchefstroom, South Africa, as well as community residents who did not attend the centre. Various qualitative techniques were used to collect the data including the Mmogo–methodTM, in–depth individual interviews and focus groups. Multiple methods were employed for analysing the data including phenomenological analysis, key–words–in–context and analysis strategies as stipulated by the Mmogo–methodTM. The rigour of the data was enhanced through the use of diverse qualitative data–gathering methods as well as an array of qualitative analysis methods in a process known as crystallisation. Ethical approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of the North–West University, Potchefstroom Campus, under a larger project, “An exploration of enabling contexts (05K14)”. The researchers constructed two main themes from the findings: descriptions of loneliness and coping with loneliness. Loneliness related to the self and to others, and coping with loneliness involved actively engaging with the environment, being with others and using coping strategies. Some of the findings are linked to the existing literature, and some are unique relating to being with others and including social embeddedness as a multi–layered phenomenon connected to experiences of loneliness - it is here where the literature falls short in clarifying the findings within our context. Suggestions are made for future research, and some of the limitations of the study are pointed out. To conclude: Loneliness is a multi–dimensional phenomenon that older Batswana people experience on many levels of engagement with and disengagement from the self and others. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Research Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

台灣IC設計產業的技術並非是最尖端的，也不具有低人力成本與低價格的優勢，並且夾擠在先進的「創新領導型聚落」（例如：美國矽谷）與低成本優勢的「製造成本控制型聚落」（例如：中國大陸上海）之間發展。但台灣新竹的IC設計產業聚落卻仍能在知識快速流動的空間趨勢中，持續且擴大地理群聚效應，成為全球IC/半導體產業的重要節點。因此，本論文旨在回答以下的研究問題：在知識快速流動的空間趨勢中，為什麼台灣IC設計產業仍鑲嵌在台灣的經濟社會環境中持續群聚與成長？ 本論文有以下主要研究結論：（一）IC設計廠商在台灣形成新竹與台北兩個產業聚落，新竹產業聚落包含「快速跟隨型」與「專業化型」兩種台灣IC設計廠商，台北則是「專業化型」廠商群聚。「快速跟隨型」IC設計廠商採取「次進市場」時間策略，「專業化型」IC設計廠商則以「市場區隔」時間策略切入產品生命週期；（二）新竹地區廠商的快速跟隨策略，由速度、彈性與成本控制的制度環境所支撐，其群聚效應與成長速度高於台北產業聚落；（三）本論文驗證了知識的快速流動空間，有助於地方空間的快速技術學習與產業群聚效應。 / Taiwan’s IC design industry, located mainly in the Taipei-Hsinchu corridor, has important status in the global value chain of the world semiconductor industry. Nevertheless, it neither has cutting edge technology nor has the lowest cost advantage; it is besieged between leading innovative cluster (eg. Silicon Valley) and catch-up cluster that is based on production cost (eg. Shanghai). Most significantly, it still continues to grow in the age in which place is said to be meaningless due to the tendency of space of flows. This study thus aims to answer the following question: why does IC design industry still continue to embed in and to grow in the northern part of Taiwan? My research findings can be summarized as follows. First of all, it is found that there are two major IC design clusters in the northern part of Taiwan: Hsinchu and Taipei. Secondly, it is found that firms in Hsinchu cluster have both “fast follower” and “specialist” characteristics, whereas IC design firms in Taipei has only “specialist” features. Fast follower firms adopt “second-to-market” strategy and specialist firms adopt “market-segmentation” strategy to enter the product market in the product-life-cycle. Thirdly, due to the fact that fast follower firms in Hsinchu are supported by institutionalized features that can sustain speed, flexibility, and cost-control which Taipei lacks, Hsinchu thus has better agglomeration effect and growth rate. Finally, this study concludes that current tendency of space of flows in which knowledge can be transmitted through space is contributive to Taiwan’s fast technological learning and clustering effect.

Les principaux objectifs de la thèse sont : d'explorer les motivations sociales et stratégiques et leurs conséquences, de modéliser et de décortiquer les mécanismes relationnels et instrumentaux des stratégies des organisations sur le marché du carbone. Pour cela, trois études empiriques ont été menées sur le terrain du marché du carbone régit par le Mécanisme de Développement Propre (MDP) élaboré dans le cadre du protocole de Kyoto. La première recherche exploratoire qui se base sur une étude de cas inductive a été réalisée dans un pays en voie de développement. Les résultats suggèrent que les préoccupations institutionnelles et concurrentielles influencent la stratégie des organisations du marché du carbone. Traitant de l'influence sociale comme opérant au sein d’une structure relationnelle, les deux études suivantes analysent la dynamique du comportement de l'organisation et son réseau relationnel. Les résultats suggèrent que, dans le cadre du marché MDP, l'ancrage et la centralité du réseau des entreprises affectent leurs comportements. Cependant, tout en contrôlant les contingences structurelles d’ordre relationnel à l’échelle des acteurs, les dynamiques co-évolutionnaires liées au réseau et au comportement suggèrent que les motivations instrumentales d’une entreprise sont plus promptes à influencer son comportement. Cette thèse contribue à la littérature sur la stratégie climatique par l'explication des dynamiques comportementales sociales et stratégiques, ainsi que par l’analyse des caractéristiques structurelles du réseau d’acteurs sur le marché carbone. / The main objectives of the dissertation are to explore social and strategic motivations and consequences, and to model and disentangle relational and rational-instrumental mechanisms of carbon market strategies of organizations. To achieve these objectives, three empirical studies were conducted in the context of carbon market that operates under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The first inductive case study based exploratory research was carried out in a developing country. Findings suggest that institutional and competitive concerns motivate carbon market strategy of organizations. Treating social influence as operating through relational structure, the next two papers then analyze dynamics of organization’s behavior and its relational network. Results suggest that in the CDM market, firm’s network embeddedness, and centrality affect firms’ behaviors. However, while controlling for certain actor level and relational-structural contingencies, network and behavior co-evolutionary dynamics suggest that firm’s instrumental motivations are more pronounced in influencing the behavior of firms. This dissertation contributes to the climate strategy literature by explicating the social and strategic dynamics of behavior, and network structural characteristics, of the carbon market actors.

Remote communities stay vulnerable in the face of major socioeconomic challenges. Tourism is often seen as a way to stimulate local economies and increase attractiveness of peripheral destinations, while events are considered to be one of the tools to promote tourism. In this regard, local collaboration is deemed to be crucial for facilitating development in spatially remote areas, where social context plays an important role in formation of entrepreneurial networks. By using the case of a local community festival Aldrei fór ég suður (AFS) in Ísafjörður, Iceland, I investigate relationship between the festival and local tourism entrepreneurs and define opportunities that the festival might provide for sustainable development of the area. Based on data collected from 24 interviews, findings suggest that the impact of AFS on local businesses varies depending on the category of business, its location, seasonality and target group, whereas the festival also contributes to enhancement of destination image, extension of tourist season and attraction of new categories of visitors. Following theoretical framework of social capital and social embeddedness, the main role of the festival is found to be related to enhancement of community pride and contribution to social change within community. On the other hand, results demonstrate general lack of willingness to collaborate and suggest an increased risk of overembeddedness given the self-reliant nature of the festival and its reluctance to commercialization. Discussed suggestions for sustainable destination development include co-branding, packaging for extended stay, transportation options and usage of empty housing for temporary accommodation.