Youth in modem society can be seen as a synonym for the term problems. No longer children, yet not adults, youth are exposed to most of the stressors of adulthood. Alcohol, drugs and other illegal substances are freely available and provide youth with the easy way of handling the problems that they face in becoming adults. The objective of this study was to determine whether an adventure experiential learning programme had an effect on the self-perception as an emotional component of youth, as well as the sustainability of the proposed change. The participants (N=28) were tested before the five-month adventure experiential learning programme, directly afterwards and a month after the programme. Participants were from all over South Africa and the training took place at Beyond Adventure School located in the Alexandria vicinity in the Eastern Cape Province. There were boys (n=18) and girls (n=10) within the group that included white (n=26) and other (n=2) race groups. The effect on self-perception was determined by means of two tests, the Self-perception Scale (SPS) and the Comprehensive Functioning Inventory: Post-matric (CFI-post). The tests include the following dimensions: inner insecurity, guilt feelings, lack of self-worth, anxiety, responsibility for consequences for others and lack of assertiveness. The data received from the two tests was processed in conjunction with PASWIN 2000. The SAS System for Windows Release (SAS Institute lnc.. 1999) was used to determine the effect sizes and calculate the sustainability of the effect. The study shows that the adventure experiential learning programme had a medium effect (d = 0.59) on the self-perception of participants. All the different dimensions improved after the second testing. Inner insecurity (d = 0.47), lack of self-worth (d = 0.67) and anxiety (d = 0.53) were the biggest contributors towards the medium effect. Adventure experiential learning programmes were results oriented and had a significant effect on the participants. In other words, the effect was medium-sustainable (d = 0.46). The effect could have been greater if more time had been available and if more participants had been involved. Responsibility for consequences (d = 0.90) for others showed the largest sustainability in the long run. The presence of change could be related to several factors. One, the participants were pre-assessed, which helped to plan the programme according to the identified needs of the participants. Two, the programme had a duration of more than 20 days, which created a greater and more sustainable effect on the participants. Three, there was more time for reflection on activities during this programme to make the participants aware of what they had actually accomplished. There were also some shortfalls. In future, more participants should be involved in the programme to create more sustainability. Secondly in experiential learning programmes provision must be made for diversity. Boys and girls experience certain aspects differently and the programme should be planned accordingly. In the third instance, individual attention should be paid to the dimensions instead of the bigger aspects (i.e. total self-perception) to ensure a more results-oriented adventure experiential learning programme. / Thesis (M.A. (Recreation Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

The exploration of developing digital components and integrating technology with design informs a new model for retail design. This model responds to its users and lets them engage more with the space than the traditional retail stores. It also provides an experiential space informing customers in more attractive interactive ways. Advances in computing technology and software, along with new ways to configure and display these systems, have made it possible to create a new generation of immersive environments. This new environment, which is integrated with design, gives more freedom to users. According to the more links and connections this immersive environments creates, It provides a more liberated environment that is free from place and time and engages more people to attend to the space and be a part of that. Equipping the retail with digital components makes it accessible for people to interact with each other and get any information they want. As a result, interactive retail space relies less on materials and locations and more on social and technical capabilities.

In this thesis a discursive examination of backpacker attitudes towards and use of a New Zealand tourism website, based on their own accounts of their experiences of using the web for travel, offers a contribution to existing knowledge about human computer interaction. The study enhances current understandings of the processes through which backpackers interact with travel websites by including the social and personal context of their experience. Analysing interview data on user attitudes and behaviour, it argues the importance of taking into account the use-context of human computer interactions. Placing participants’ interaction with the newzealand.com website within themes of imagination, emotional engagement, and authenticity in experience allows an exploration of such context. It demonstrates that backpackers’ engagement with websites is shaped not only by their material circumstances but by their attitudes to travel in general, their assumptions and feelings about New Zealand as a place, and as a site for their own experiences. The research applies usability techniques and methods to observe and inquire into tourists’ experiential interaction with a destination website. The emotional, affective, reflective and behavioural aspects of tourists’ decision making processes are studied in order to show how websites, as a medium of communication, evoke users’ travel imaginings. In this way the study contributes to research into tourists’ web-related motivation and behaviour. In addition, by applying discursive, performative, and experiential lenses drawn from travel research to human-computer interaction, it augments current research techniques for studying the social effects of virtual technology and web related human behaviour. The thesis explores themes of representation of place and self in relation to backpacker experiences and frames them in terms of authenticity and trust. It argues that in navigating places, backpackers seek authentic experiences and that this notion of authenticity is mediated by their encounters with other travellers, locals, tourism providers, as well as books, television and the Internet. Websites as travel information sources shape how backpackers think about their tourist experiences; to do this effectively, what the site presents must resonate with the backpacker’s views on how they think those experiences should be.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1988. / Bibliography: leaves 90-98.

Thesis (MSc. Sys. Ag. (Honors))--University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, 1994. / "A thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirement of the Degree of Master of Science (Hons) in Systems Agriculture."

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, 1997. / Thesis submitted for the degree of doctor of philosophy. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 278-298).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Technology, Sydney, 2003.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2008. / Title from file title page. Lisa Martin-Hansen, committee chair; Geeta Verma, Christine Thomas, Mike Dias, committee members. Electronic text (122 p. ; ill.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed August 22, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-210).

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 199-211). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR29570

Thesis (Ph.D.(Curriculum Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.