The urban population is growing at an exponential rate throughout the world leading to the problems related to swift and speedy mobility or issues caused by convectional mobility options. This study illustrates and explores the new ways to transport people specially taking into account the self-driving cars concept and discusses the concept of mobility 4.0 (smart / intelligent mobility) and briefly highlights the technological aspects of autonomous vehicles, adaptation advantages and progress in laws and legislations of autonomous vehicle. The study is primarily qualitative and relies on the work of previous researcher, technical reports and blogs but the part of this study is quantitative where empirical data was collected from the experts in a conference held by BBG Austria. The result of the studies shows adaptation readiness of Austrian professional market and business prospects associated with autonomous vehicles Moreover, different business models are suggested, which could be adopted to incorporate the driverless vehicles in day-to-day life of an individual living in urban environment. The models basically suggest that the adaptation of the technology would help curbing transport externalities especially external cost associated to transportation of each individual; which includes congestion, accident, infrastructure costs and environmental costs which are incurred by least efficient conventional cars and would also help shrinking the diseases like premature mortality, aggravation of respiratory as well as cardiovascular disease and sleep disturbance which are the result of city level congestion and pollution. (author's abstract) / Series: Schriftenreihe des Instituts für Transportwirtschaft und Logistik - Verkehr

Au tournant du XXIème siècle plusieurs nouveaux défis dans les domaines environnementales, économique et sociétal intéressent les villes. Nombreuses métropoles occidentales visent aujourdʼhui à devenir des «modèles» de développement durable, intelligeant et équitable, dans lʼaprès-Kyoto. Lors des consultations internationales sur lʼavenir des villes métropoles (Grand Paris en 2007 suivi par Bruxelles 2040, Lille 2030, Grand Moscou 2050, etc.), politiciens, économistes et experts réfléchissent ensemble au rapport entre régénération et formes urbaines. Notamment les pratiques du recyclage, de la récupération et de la réparation deviennent centrales. Pour contrevenir lʼétalement urbain, la dispersion résidentielle et le manque dʼidentité de plusieurs zones, on parle à nouveau de concentration et intensification des aires urbaines, de densités minérales et végétales, de mixité et dʼhybridation fonctionnelle. Qualités indéniables de la ville durable mais dépourvues des réelles retombées à une échelle architecturale adéquate. Au moment que nouveaux regroupements dʼintercommunalités redessinent leurs limites urbains en envisageant de reconstruire leur identité sur des objectives communes, notre recherche réclame la nécessité de comprendre et maîtriser les différents dégrés de modifications possibles sur un tissu urbain déjà sédimenté. Réversibilité et flexibilité deviennent alors deux concepts opérationnelles et complémentaires dans le nouveau rôle que lʼarchitecture doit se donner à fin de sʼinsérer dans des situations déjà en cours. Architecture capable dʼintégrer la perspective et dʼaccueillir, au cours du temps, ses propres transformations et évolutions. / At the beginning of the 21st century, many new challenges have been proposed to the cities in the realms of ecology, economy and sociology. Several western metropolis aim at becoming nowadays a template for a sustainable, smart and fair development, particularly in the “after Kyoto” world. In recent international consultations on the future of cities (e.g. Grand Paris in 2007, followed by Bruxelles 2040, Lille 2030, Big Moscow 2050 etc.) politicians, economists and urban experts discussed together the relationship between regeneration and urban forms. In particular the practices of recycling, rescue and repair became central themes. In order to contain urban expansion, sprawl and lack of identity, the consultations re‐propose the concepts of concentration and intensification of urban areas, of vegetal and artificial density, of mixing and of functional hybridization. These are undeniable qualities of a sustainable city, but unfortunately deprived of real repercussions at the proper human scale. At present, while new inter‐municipal groups redraw their urban limits and envisage to renovate their identity around common goals, our research claims the need to understand and master different degrees of possible modifications on the already established urban fabric. In order for architecture to play a role in situations that are already in progress, reversibility and flexibility become two operational and complementary concepts. Architecture must become capable of integrating in time mutating perspectives and accepting its own transformation and evolution.

The work deals with heterogeneous island models. The work designs and implements a new island model based on knowledge of homogeneous models of evolutionary algorithms. The model allows dynamic replanning of general computational methods. The work experimentally compares results of homogeneous and heterogeneous models.

M.A. (Counselling Psychology) / Family life is a universal human experience. The family is generally applIed to be the primary and almost powerful. system that an individual belongs to, as it shapes and determines the course and outcome of the lives of its members (Perkins & Kahan, 1979). Given this assumption, it is evident that the understanding of how differences in family structure affect family system functioning is vitally important. however, the impact of family structure on the family system has not been systematically examined by researchers. 'this is particularly true of the structurally unique system of the reconstituted family...

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / Many historically disadvantaged South Africans are entering into universities, where they are expected to perform academically not only to secure themselves a continued place at university, but also to secure themselves a place in the competitive job-market post university. Not only have these individuals been disadvantaged by an inferior schooling system, which is the legacy of apartheid, but they also struggle against the grasp of poverty, attempting to sustain themselves financially in order to afford the necessities for their survival, while still attempting to cope academically. Resilience has been presented as a process that helps individuals deal effectively with stressful events and adverse conditions. An attempt is therefore made to investigate whether resilience plays this role in the experience of disadvantaged students at university, where academic performance and adjustment represent the expected measures of coping. The aim of the study was therefore to explore the role of resilience constructs in the relationship between socio-economic and demographic variables and academic coping. The study is based within the broad framework of Psychofortology, which is the science of psychological strengths. The resilience constructs used included fortitude (measured by the Fortitude Questionnaire), hardiness (measured by the Personal Views Survey) and sense of coherence (measured by the Sense of Coherence Scale). Demographic variables included age, sex, language, town (urban/rural), with household income as an indicator of socio-economic status. Academic coping (outcome) was measured using students’ academic performance (average grade) and their adjustment to university (measured by the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire). Participants included 164 third year Psychology students from the University of the Western Cape. Results indicate statistically significant relationships between various demographic and resilience variables; between various demographic and outcome variables; and between various resilience and outcome variables. Resilience variables were also found to play a role in the relationship between demographic and outcome variables, as various resilience variables emerged as significant predictors of outcome variables, or as having either direct, moderating, mediating or indirect effects on the relationship between demographic and outcome variables. Research suggesting the health-sustaining and stress-reducing (buffering) roles of resilience constructs, as well resilience constructs as influencing the perceptions of adverse conditions or stressors is therefore supported by these findings. Limitations of the study were also discussed, as well as recommendations for future research put forward. / South Africa

In this study the researcher explores the career adaptability needs of a young woman in Swaziland. The study is driven by the work of Hackett and Betz (1981) and the Career Counselling Approach of Savickas (1993, 1997,&2009). Hackett and Betz (1981) postulate that women’s career development is hindered largely as a result of socialization experiences. A number of academics and practitioners assert that career adaptability is a key competency for career success (Hartung; Hirschi, 2009; O’Connell, McNeely&Hall 2008), hence the focus in this study on career adaptability through a qualitative research approach employing a case study design. In a bid to yield an up to date and inclusive personality and career profile of the participant, the following data collection techniques were utilised: Career Adaptability Questionnaire, career-story interview, semi-structured follow-up interviews, Rothwell-Miller Interest Blank, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Career Interest Profile, Values Scales, observations and a researcher journal. The results were then be analysed and interpreted quantitatively and QUALITATIVELY. Swaziland has established her own rules based on widely accepted and held values, beliefs and meanings (Daly, 2001). These views, beliefs and meanings have a strong influence on women’s place in society and in the workplace. In fact, a number of interrelated factors influence the way in which Swazi women are treated in Swaziland. Given this long-standing heritage, Swazi society has become accustomed to male control and decision making over family, traditional and societal issues (Daly, 2001). The research includes recommendations for career counselling practice and training as well as research and policy development appropriate to the cultural context of Swaziland that in many respects typifies most developing Africa countries. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

Organizations, once established, tend not to change, typically going obsolete as society continues to evolve. This makes adaptability an important issue. Organizational members must make sense to each other, or coordination suffers. They must also make sense to environmental actors, or the organization will not achieve the support it needs to survive. This sense-making is a process of institutionalization, of constructing a shared understanding of the organization's enterprise, business and environment. When environmental actors adopt new priorities, ideas and modes of thinking, organizations must develop a new understanding of reality or go obsolete. To stay adaptable, organizations needs to contain competing perspectives. But the pressures to conform and to coordinate make it difficult for established organizations to adapt, trapped by the very benefits of increased efficiency. Using an agent-based model of organizational institutionalization, I show that an organization's adaptability is highly dependent on structural elements that affect the member interaction frequencies, and that organizations that leverage the strength of weak ties between member groups can maintain adaptability. The effects of changes to any of these elements are decidedly non-linear, however, which helps explain why it is difficult to design effective organizations. Organizational structure is one part of a tri-partite framework of institutional development in organizations and of organizational adaptability, where the other two parts are the individual characteristics of the members and the content of the organizational culture.

The purpose of this study was to test Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) theoretical framework of stress and coping as it applied to daughters who have parents living in care facilities. Specifically, the effects of personal and environmental influences, cognitive appraisals, and coping on positive affect and depression were examined in two subsamples of daughters: daughters with parents with dementia (n=100) and daughters with parents with other health difficulties (n=89). The data were collected from a volunteer sample of 189 daughters (M age 51.3) in the Greater Vancouver region. Daughters completed three parts of a questionnaire over a six-week period. Specific variables of interest included prior communal behaviors, support satisfaction, care satisfaction, appraisals (perceived control and perceived stress), coping strategies (relationship-focused, problem-focused, emotionfocused), positive affect, and depression. Negative affectivity (NA) was examined as a confounding variable. Path analysis using LISREL VIII (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1993) was undertaken to examine the hypothesized relationships between antecedent, mediating, and outcome variables that are central to Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) theoretical framework. Initial results revealed a poor fitting model for both the dementia and other health groups. However, a revised model, taking into account theoretical and empirical support for a direct relationship between support satisfaction and emotion-focused coping, provided an acceptable fit for both groups. The overall pattern of relationships for the variables in the model offer some support for the hypothesized model and for Lazarus and Folkman's theoretical assumptions. For both groups, greater control over the stressful aspect of facility care was related to more problem-focused coping, which in turn was related to more positive affect. For the other health group, greater appraised stress was related to more emotion-focused coping, which was in turn was related to greater depression. Among daughters with parents with dementia, low levels of care satisfaction and high communal behaviors were associated with greater perceived control. The hypothesized mediational role of appraisals and coping was not supported. The results point to the importance of understanding caregiving in the context of chronic stress and the unique contribution of personality, health type, and positive aspects of caregiving to a daughter's stress process. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

The future of mobility is changing at an exponential rate, as every day passes it moves closer to the goal of complete autonomy, therefore, it is safe to say that the adaptation of self-driving cars in near future is no more a matter of science fiction. Keeping in view the rapid evolution of mobility, this study tries to enlighten and compile the importance of autonomous vehicles in our daily life by highlighting monetary and societal advantages of adaptation. Moreover, it analysis the Austrian expert's opinion on the topic of adaptation of the self- driving cars and business prospects with autonomous vehicles for current businesses. The data on these two questions was collected in a workshop using Delphi method, where experts from varied professional backgrounds participated. But mainly the participants of the controlled group were representatives of public procurement, energy and automobile industry/sector. After a detailed presentation and discussion over the topic, the participants were asked for their views on forth mentioned two questions. Their opinions were recorded and visualized on a custom made graph and further analyzed using the descriptive statistical tool. At the end of the question and answer session a vast majority of experts, which is approximately 80%, thought that there is a good possibility of adaptation of autonomous vehicles in near future. But on the other hand relatively less percentage of experts were confident about the bright future for current businesses in automobile industry; They argued that the current business decorum would change dramatically in a couple of decades and this would be the question of survival of the fittest and smartest.

The aim of this thesis "Regional analysis of the impacts of the projects of the Operational Programme Prague Adaptability (focused on the priority axis 3 Modernization of initial education)" is to find some allocation, aiming and impacts of approved funds of the priority axis 3 Modernization of initial education from the Operational Programme Prague Adaptability, using financial, quantitative and qualitative analysis. The thesis is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. In the theoretical apart there is analysed the structure of EU funds as well as the implementation of the Operational Programme Prague Adaptability. The practical part covers the financial allocation, the structure of the recipients, the location of the realization of the approved projects and their focus. It makes use of the methods of quantitative and qualitative analyses. The financial and quantitative analyses are defined according to various criteria (e.g. priority axis, recipients, calls etc.). The qualitative analysis guarantees the focus of the completed projects, the impacts and their importance for the surroundings. The expert method is used a semi-structured interview with some experts, a questionnaire survey and the method of cartograms. At the end there are summarized the findings from the individual parts of the thesis.