Historically, youth with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) have experienced higher rates of absenteeism, lower grade point averages, and higher course failure than their non-disabled peers; as a result, students with EBD are at significant risk of school failure, dropping out of school, and experiencing poor life outcomes. Emerging literature suggests that teaching self-determination to students with EBD may be an effective strategy to address the in-school and post-school challenges faced by youth with EBD. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of teaching self-determination on adolescents with EBD's on- and off-task behavior, grades, progress towards self-selected goals, and global self-determination. The Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI) was implemented with four high school students with EBD between the ages of 14 and 16 years who were having difficulty meeting classroom behavioral expectations in two general education classrooms. The SDLMI teaches key components of self-determination, is suitable for diverse students, and is compatible with major academic content areas. Twelve lessons were taught as a separate curriculum individually to each participant. The entire study took 25-weeks, between October and April, to complete. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to examine the functional relation between SDLMI intervention and the on- and off-task behaviors of high school students with EBD. The results showed that all four students significantly increased on-task behaviors and decreased off-task behaviors and all four participants maintained the increase of on-task behaviors and the decrease of off-task behaviors after the intervention was withdrawn. Moreover, all four students made progress towards their goal of implementing on-task behavior in the classroom and generalized on-task behavior to a second general education classroom. However, data regarding the impact on students' grades and self-determination were inconclusive. The study provides evidence of effective self-determination instruction that supports students to improve their behavior in a general education classroom. It also provides direction for future research exploring the relationship between behavior and academic skills. Contributions to the field, limitations, and implications for practice and future research are provided. / text

This dissertation concerns the family context of self-determination in adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) during life transitions. Although self-determination is interpreted in different ways in different disciplines, the construct is frequently used to describe the attitudes and behaviours that allow people to feel autonomous and causal in their lives. Research on self-determination in adolescents and adults with ID has commonly occurred in community and special education sectors, with an emphasis on arranging supports for people with ID to develop component self-determination skills, like choice making, problem solving, and goal setting. From the perspective of organismic-dialectical theories, people develop and express self-determination through relationships and person-environment interactions at multiple system levels. Further research on the way family interactions and supports influence the self-determination of adults with ID is important. To address this need, this dissertation includes a qualitative study presented in two manuscripts and a quantitative study presented in one manuscript. The qualitative study explored processes and challenges in the family system during significant life transitions with an adult family member with ID. Families participated in semi-structured interviews and ethnographic observations of daily activities every three to four months for one year. Manuscript 1 concerns the influence of family processes on the self-determination of two young adults with ID as they attained adult roles in the community. Parents were observed to model goal setting, encourage choice making, and scaffold new skills, which helped the young adults with ID to experience autonomous motivation in their transitions. Parents reported feeling unsure of the best way to promote their adult child’s independence while ensuring his or her safety. They tried to resolve this dilemma with open and honest communication. Most interestingly, families collaborated in choice making to the extent that every family member perceived autonomy in transition planning and implementation. Manuscript 2 concerns the influence of transition processes and challenges on the quality of life and resilience of four families with an adult family member with ID. Although families reported different transition types, they progressed through similar transition stages. They invested in quality of life and self-determination as a foundation, considered future support needs, pre-planned and actively planned transitions, implemented transitions, adjusted to new roles and routines, and reflected upon their growth. Although all families experienced challenges during their transitions, two families entered a state of crisis when they did not receive mental health and residential supports. Findings highlight that transitions are lifelong processes in the family system, and risk and protective factors at multiple system levels affect resilience and self-determination. The quantitative study, presented in Manuscript 3, considers that the family system functions within broader socioecological environments that include formal services for adults with ID. Community participation supports provide opportunities to develop self-determination in recreational, educational, and vocational activities. In a cohort of families requesting community participation supports, the vast majority of parents endorsed the expectation that this service would improve choice-making outcomes for their adult child with ID. Preliminary results suggest that the gender and prior choice-making experience of the adult with ID may be associated with the odds of parents endorsing this expectation. The General Discussion integrates the primary findings from each manuscript within a conceptual framework informed by self-determination theory, family systems theory, and family resilience models. This dissertation has theoretical implications for the way the self-determination construct is understood and applied in research with families with a family member with ID. Further, this dissertation reveals practical implications for supporting families with a family member with ID during important life transitions.

Gegenstand der Arbeit ist die Entwicklung eines tour-basierten Verkehrsnachfragemodells zur Abbildung von Aktivitätenketten unter Berücksichtigung von raum-zeitlichen constraints. Den theoretischen Hintergrund bildet ein hierarchisch organisierter Entscheidungsprozess, um die theoretisch möglichen Entscheidungskombinationen zu reduzieren und damit eine wahrscheinlichkeitsbasierte Berechnung zu ermöglichen. Als Beispieltour dient die Aktivitätenkette ‚Wohnen-Arbeit-Sekundäraktivität-Wohnen’, auf deren Basis auch die statistischen Analysen der Mobilitätsbefragung Santiagos durchgeführt werden. Unter Verwendung eines GIS werden so genannte ‚Suchräume’ (Aktionsräume in denen Sekundäraktivitäten durchgeführt werden) ermittelt. Ein Ergebnis der Datenanalyse sind Grenzwerte der maximalen täglichen Reisezeit für eine Reihe von Modus-Kombinationen. Die Zeitfenster von Startzeiten und Aktivitätendauer werden in Abhängigkeit sozioökonomischer Gruppen ermittelt. Die Bestimmung der Suchräume erfolgt in Abhängigkeit von Arbeitsdauer sowie Distanz zwischen Wohn- und Arbeitsort. Beide Kriterien erwiesen sich in der Analyse als statistisch signifikant. Der Vergleich zwischen Modell und Empirie (Santiagos Mobilitätsbefragung) deutet darauf hin, dass die Suchräume geeignet sind und die Mehrheit der beobachteten Zielwahlentscheidungen beinhalten. Zur Berechnung der Wahrscheinlichkeitspfade (unter Verwendung der Programmsyntax von SPSS) wird ein im Umfang auf sieben Ziele reduziertes Alternativenset pro Wohn- und Arbeitsstandort bestimmt. Dabei werden Erreichbarkeit und Attraktivität der Ziele innerhalb des Suchraumes berücksichtigt. Die erzielten Ergebnisse stützen das Argument, dass die raum-zeitlichen constraints (tägliche Reisezeit, Suchräume) eine effektive Reduktion der kombinatorischen Vielfalt zulassen. Die Erfahrungen aus der Berechnung der Beispieltour eignen sich zum Übertrag auf weitere Tour-Typen, um eine Modellierung der städtischen Gesamtverkehrsnachfrage zu ermöglichen. / In this thesis we develop a tour-based approach for modeling activity and travel pattern considering time-space constraints. A hierarchical structure of choice-making builds theoretical background for the model and is based on a set of axiomatic rules. Our central argument is that the time-space constraints can be used for reducing the number of choices and, respectively, control the combinatorics associated with the probabilistic approach. The empirical analysis of our use case, a tour of type ‘Home-Work-SecondaryActivity-Home’, is based on Santiago’s travel survey. In addition, we apply GIS to estimate the so-called search spaces (potential areas where secondary activities are realized) and justify their sizes with the empirical findings. From the data analysis we identify thresholds for the tour-based maximum daily travel times considering a set of mode combinations. We define regimes of starting times and duration of activities depending on socio-economic user groups. The estimation of search spaces is realized considering the time spent at work as well as the distance between the home and work locations. Both criteria were found to be statistically significant. The comparison of modeled results with survey observations allowed concluding that the search spaces are realistic since they capture most of the observed trip destinations. For the estimation of spatial path flows of activities and trips (using SPSS programming language), we define a final choice set of no more than seven alternatives per primary location considering zone-based accessibility and land-use attractiveness. The obtained results support the argument that time-space constraints (daily travel time, search spaces) allow an effective control of combinatorial complexity. Basing on the experience obtained in process of modeling the exemplary tour, the approach can be applied to further tour types offering the possibility to estimate the entire transport demand of Santiago city.

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Abstracts in English and Southern Ndebele / “We tend to think of the mind of an organisation residing in the … top management …but… [strategic] intelligence is not organised in a centralised structure but much more like a beehive of small simple components… ” Kevin Kelly, (1994: 166283). From the quote above, it is implied that the strategising practices of, among others, top managers, are the ‘small simple components’ that build towards the overall strategy of an organisation. The overall strategy of any organisation directly influences the performance thereof. As strategists, top managers use their thinking styles to influence the new strategic practices they endorse and those that are discarded, thereby impacting the competitive strategy employed by the organisation and ultimately organisational performance. This study investigated the rapport between the strategising practices used by top managers and their thinking styles. Based on a single illustrative case, this study utilised mixed data obtained from of 33 interviews and 79 questionnaires to describe the possible relationship between thinking styles and strategising practises. The results show that at the case organisation, thinking styles of top managers differ depending on the situation in which they find themselves. A possible relationship between thinking styles and strategising practises, at the case organisation, is further implied. / “Se taele go nagana ge monagano we mokhadlo lo o hlala e tulu, mara lehlelo le go hlaganepha le ga bekwa ge Ndlela le ngore esekhathi, mara kgulu go fana ne lekhaya le tenosi le le le gase bodese le lengane.” Kevin Kelly, (1994:166283). Go leso setsopolwe e tulu, era gore tedlela te go hlela, go leto te khona, baphathi ba se tulu, geto tedo te tengane leto te gase bodese le to te akha lehlelo gemoga le mokhadlo. Lehlelo gemoga le mokhadlo o monye na o monye le dlolela e go etene ge tedo. Jene ge bahleli, baphathi ba setulu ba beregesa tedlela tabo te go nagana, go tshwaetja tedlela te tetsha leto ba te vumelago na leto ba te kganago. Ge go eta jalo te thella lehlelo lelo le phalesanago lelo lele beregeswe mokhadlo, e maphellweni na leso mokhadlo o se yetago. Go bala lokhu, go ete gore go be ne go vesesana e khathe ge tedlela te go hlela leto te beregeswa mbaphathi ba setulu ne Ndlela leyo ba nagana gayo. Go beka nnye ye tedlela leto ba te beregeselego, go beregeswe tedaba leto te phoma go 33 ye bado labo be ba butiswa go kereya leso be ba fona go seva ne mebotiso e 79 leyo e hlalosa nkgonagalo ye go talana e khathe ge mehuda ye go nagana ne ndlela leyo go hlelwa gayo. Mephomela e bonesa gore lapho e mekhadlweni, Ndlela ye go nagana ge baphathi ba setulu e ya phabana go ya ge gore ba te kereya ba se sejamweni se se jane. Nkgonagalo ye bodlelwano e khathe ge Ndlela ye go nagana ne lenaneo le le le ladelwago e tedweni te nhlagano, te beregeselwe. Mave e bohlogwa: Bophathi ba setulu, bakgoni be go hlela, baberegi be go hlela, tedlela leto go hlelwa gato, Ndlela leyo go naganwa gayo; go khetha, mekgwa ye go nagana ge botalo, tedlela te go suga endabeni ennye goya go ennye. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)