Current UK public health policy and research identifies potential health risks of physical inactivity and high levels of sitting. This is a particularly pertinent issue for office workers, who spend, on average, over two-thirds of the work day sitting. This thesis reports on the design and evaluation of a multicomponent sit-stand desk intervention, delivered within two not-for-profit office-based organisations in London, England. A mixed method study design was employed. A pilot randomised controlled trial examined the efficacy of the intervention on reducing sitting and increasing standing and physical activity, using wearable monitors to measure outcome variables at baseline, and at four additional timepoints up to 12-months following the onset of the intervention. A process evaluation, including in-depth qualitative interviews and participant observation, investigated the processes that influenced the feasibility, acceptability and efficacy of the intervention. Mixed-model ANOVA indicated that the intervention reduced workplace sitting, on average, by 38 minutes, however there was no significant influence on workplace physical activity, or any of the outcome variables across the whole day. The process evaluation revealed that discourses surrounding employee health and organisational effectiveness, and employees' health-focused occupational identities increased the acceptability of sit-stand desk provision, whereas monetary concerns, a centralised organisational structure and incompatibility of the sit-stand desks with the workplace environment negatively influenced implementation feasibility. The sit-stand desk design, expectations and outcomes related to health and productivity, and the organisational culture and interpersonal relationships positively and negatively influenced sit-stand desk experience to differing degrees between participants. Mixed method analyses of outcome and process data illustrated the potential for integrating findings to enhance understanding of 'what works' within behavioural intervention research. Sit-stand desks are not a one-size-fits-all solution to reducing sitting and increasing physical activity, however, they should be available to office-based employees as part of a wider workplace health strategy.

There are many divergent opinions on the nature of organisational culture and organisational climate and the relationship between these two constructs. This study was conducted to assess the level of change in organisational culture as measured by an externally administered survey, the organisational climate as measured by an internal survey, and the development in financial performance over the same period. The subject was Comair Ltd, a successful airline operating out of South Africa. The research was conducted in three sections; firstly the organisational culture was examined using the Denison Organisational Culture Survey as administered by Denison Consulting in the USA. The author compared a pre-existing survey from 2011 which contained 53 responses, and a newly commissioned survey in 2014 for which there were 24 responses. Secondly, the author compared the internally administered Comair Think Vision Climate Survey over a period of three years – 2012 to 2014. The response rate for the latest survey was 96% of all Comair employees. Lastly an analysis was conducted of the company’s key financial ratios over an extended period. Notwithstanding concerns regarding the practical significance of the Think Vision data, all three areas showed marked improvements. The financial performance of the company improved dramatically since 2012 and both the culture and the climate survey demonstrated increases. Of interest was the fact that both surveys independently indicated a move towards a more structured, mission oriented company. This development can be traced back to specific developments taking place in the company over the same period. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

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Since 2015, a U.S. Agency for International Development and Virginia Tech Education and Research in Agriculture collaboration has introduced and tested mung bean as a potential crop to alleviate malnutrition and food insecurity in Senegal. This MS thesis describes a study conducted to assess the impact of mung bean on dietary diversity of Senegalese women and children in the Kaolack, Matam and Bakel localities of Senegal. A mixed-methods research approach included individual surveys to determine dietary diversity scores (DDS) and focus groups to assess the perceived impacts of mung bean. The dietary diversity survey was conducted with 194 participants including adult women, ages 15 to 70 years (n=109) and children, ages 0-10 years (n=85). Half (52%) of the population were mung bean consumers. The dietary diversity surveys revealed an average DDS of 5.73 on a scale of one to 10, with 5.83 and 5.62 for mung bean and non-mung bean consuming groups, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in DDS between mung-bean consuming women and both mung bean and non-mung bean children, and between mung bean and non-mung bean consumers in Bakel; however, there was no significant difference between overall mung bean and non-mung bean groups DDS. Focus groups (n=11) with mung bean consuming women identified perceived agricultural, health, and financial benefits associated with mung bean consumption. These results can increase our understanding of how mung bean may influence policy-relevant issues for the Senegalese population, including agricultural, health and financial outcomes that are not reflected in dietary diversity surveys. / Master of Science

The United Kingdom (UK) construction industry is one of the worst industries in the UK in terms of health and safety (H&S) performance. Numerous injuries, deaths, dangerous occurrences and work related illnesses are reported annually in the industry, and these are associated with huge economic and social costs which make the need for H&S improvement inevitable. The pursuit of improvement has triggered studies into construction accident causation which have emphasised the need to pay attention to underlying accident causal factors which emanate from the pre-construction stage in order to have sustained improvement in H&S. Construction project features (CPFs), such as nature of project, method of construction, site restriction, procurement method, project duration, level of construction, design complexity, and subcontracting, which are organisational, physical, and operational characteristics of projects emanating from pre-construction decisions fall in this category of underlying causal factors. However, despite the significance of underlying causal factors to H&S, not much attention by way of research has been given to CPFs. As a result, insight into how CPFs influence accident occurrence, the degree of their inherent potential to influence accident occurrence (i.e. their potential to cause accident) and their associated degree of H&S risk (i.e. the likelihood of accident occurrence due to CPFs) remain elusive in the extant construction H&S literature. This research was thus undertaken to empirically investigate the mechanism by which CPFs influence accident occurrence and assess their degree of potential to influence accident occurrence and their associated H&S risk. Adopting a mixed method approach, the accident causal influence of CPFs was investigated. Following a conceptualisation of how CPFs influence accident occurrence based on systems models of accident causation, a qualitative inquiry involving semi-structured interviews with experienced construction professionals was undertaken to provide empirical verification of the conceptualised view. Subsequent to the qualitative inquiry, a questionnaire survey was undertaken to elicit relevant data from experienced professionals in construction management roles to enable the assessment of the degree of potential of CPFs to influence accident occurrence and their associated H&S risk. From the analysis of data, it was found that CPFs, emanating from pre-construction decisions, influence accident occurrence by their inherent introduction of certain associated H&S issues (which can be termed as proximal accident factors) into the construction phase of projects to give rise to accidents. There are also causal interactions between CPFs and the proximal factors which can reduce or increase the presence of proximal factors. CPFs have varying degrees of potential to influence accident occurrence which can generally be high or moderate and is influenced by: the extent to which their proximal factor(s) is common (in other words prevalent) within them; and the degree of potential of the proximal factor(s) to influence accident occurrence. Where CPFs apply on a project, they are generally associated with medium risk or high risk. Whereas with medium-risk CPFs some risk control measures would suffice in mitigating risk, with high-risk CPFs substantial measures are required. As a consolidation of the research findings, a toolkit, called CRiMT, has been developed. CRiMT provides H&S risk information regarding CPFs and it has the potential of assisting pre-construction project participants in managing the accident causal influence of CPFs from the early stage of project procurement. In view of the findings, the accident causal influence of CPFs should thus not be ignored or underestimated in construction project delivery. Pre-construction project participants, especially those whose decisions determine CPFs, ought to take into consideration the H&S effects of CPFs when making decisions which determine CPFs. Also, pre-construction project participants ought to plan and implement commensurate risk control measures in the early stage of projects to eliminate or mitigate the H&S risk posed by CPFs.

Significant research has investigated Jack Gibb’s model of defensive and supportive communication, but little has explored the influence of the type of talk -- defensive or supportive -- on perceptions of communication climate and the role that verbal aggressiveness may play in influencing both the types of talk and these perceptions. This thesis explored the relationship between defensive and supportive talk, verbal aggressiveness and communication climate using a mixed-method approach. Specifically, the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale was used to group participants for a dyadic problem solving exercise which generated conversational data that was analyzed qualitatively. Then, the Communication Climate Inventory was used to measure participants’ perceptions of the communication climate that emerged in their problem-solving dyad. The findings highlight factors that may influence the perception of communication climate. Examples of supportive talk that builds positive communication climates and limits the effects of verbal aggressiveness and examples of defensive talk that leads to negative communication climates are provided. This research demonstrates that language has an influence on communication climate through the words that shape the complex ways people perceive and understand each other and, interestingly, that the negative impact of defensive communication overrides the positive impact of supportive communication on the emergent communication climate.

Significant research has investigated Jack Gibb’s model of defensive and supportive communication, but little has explored the influence of the type of talk -- defensive or supportive -- on perceptions of communication climate and the role that verbal aggressiveness may play in influencing both the types of talk and these perceptions. This thesis explored the relationship between defensive and supportive talk, verbal aggressiveness and communication climate using a mixed-method approach. Specifically, the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale was used to group participants for a dyadic problem solving exercise which generated conversational data that was analyzed qualitatively. Then, the Communication Climate Inventory was used to measure participants’ perceptions of the communication climate that emerged in their problem-solving dyad. The findings highlight factors that may influence the perception of communication climate. Examples of supportive talk that builds positive communication climates and limits the effects of verbal aggressiveness and examples of defensive talk that leads to negative communication climates are provided. This research demonstrates that language has an influence on communication climate through the words that shape the complex ways people perceive and understand each other and, interestingly, that the negative impact of defensive communication overrides the positive impact of supportive communication on the emergent communication climate.

In its course of development, urban and regional planning has been greatly influenced by the modernist movement, which left human environments with various problematic ecological and social conditions. In reaction to these conditions, alternative planning approaches branched from the planning profession, one of these being the development approach known as place-making. Place-making is the physical designing of a place based on locational contexts. Place-making is offered as an alternative planning approach to current planning practice to ameliorate and possibly prevent continuation of the problematic ecological and social conditions. However, this implies that there has to come about a shift in the focus and aims of current planning practice. The main implications of place-making are that planning should become more contextually driven, holistic, multidisciplinary, as well as human and quality centred. Also, it is proposed to increase research on place in the South African context. In terms of current research in South Africa, a mixed-method research approach made it possible to include symbolic locational elements, like sense of place, in the planning process. Researching the Vredefort Dome's sense of place aimed to explore sense of place in a rural area and to concretise the area's sense of place for inclusion in spatial planning. Initial qualitative research informed the quantitative phase. This way symbolic experiences and meanings of participants were linked to spatial locations and three-dimensional features, which made it possible to create place-making guidelines based on both symbolic and material contexts of the Vredefort Dome. / Thesis (M.Art. et Scien. (Town and Regional Planning))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

In its course of development, urban and regional planning has been greatly influenced by the modernist movement, which left human environments with various problematic ecological and social conditions. In reaction to these conditions, alternative planning approaches branched from the planning profession, one of these being the development approach known as place-making. Place-making is the physical designing of a place based on locational contexts. Place-making is offered as an alternative planning approach to current planning practice to ameliorate and possibly prevent continuation of the problematic ecological and social conditions. However, this implies that there has to come about a shift in the focus and aims of current planning practice. The main implications of place-making are that planning should become more contextually driven, holistic, multidisciplinary, as well as human and quality centred. Also, it is proposed to increase research on place in the South African context. In terms of current research in South Africa, a mixed-method research approach made it possible to include symbolic locational elements, like sense of place, in the planning process. Researching the Vredefort Dome's sense of place aimed to explore sense of place in a rural area and to concretise the area's sense of place for inclusion in spatial planning. Initial qualitative research informed the quantitative phase. This way symbolic experiences and meanings of participants were linked to spatial locations and three-dimensional features, which made it possible to create place-making guidelines based on both symbolic and material contexts of the Vredefort Dome. / Thesis (M.Art. et Scien. (Town and Regional Planning))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Significant research has investigated Jack Gibb’s model of defensive and supportive communication, but little has explored the influence of the type of talk -- defensive or supportive -- on perceptions of communication climate and the role that verbal aggressiveness may play in influencing both the types of talk and these perceptions. This thesis explored the relationship between defensive and supportive talk, verbal aggressiveness and communication climate using a mixed-method approach. Specifically, the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale was used to group participants for a dyadic problem solving exercise which generated conversational data that was analyzed qualitatively. Then, the Communication Climate Inventory was used to measure participants’ perceptions of the communication climate that emerged in their problem-solving dyad. The findings highlight factors that may influence the perception of communication climate. Examples of supportive talk that builds positive communication climates and limits the effects of verbal aggressiveness and examples of defensive talk that leads to negative communication climates are provided. This research demonstrates that language has an influence on communication climate through the words that shape the complex ways people perceive and understand each other and, interestingly, that the negative impact of defensive communication overrides the positive impact of supportive communication on the emergent communication climate.