Digital media are noticeably changing the qualities of urban public spaces, which can no longer be considered a purely physical construct. Yet, the extent to which contemporary digital media can be used to promote other forms of spatial agency remains a critical issue. Whereas the impact of technology from a macro perspective offers a globalizing and homogenizing image, its role in the production of space at a local scale is less clear (Kirsch 1995). The aim of this study is to argue for digital public spaces as a concrete programme to support the articulation of a third notion of public space that emerges at the interface of physical–digital hybrid spaces (Stikker 2013). The project for digital public spaces is posed as one that pursues enabling citizens’ rights to participation and appropriation (Purcell 2002) of physical–digital hybrid spaces. It is argued that while physical and digital spaces do not stand in opposition, their operational models do not fit seamlessly either. Therefore, the research is particularly concerned with how to design for the conditions that allow a dialogical relation between physical and digital features of space, and enable citizens to actively participate in the production of physical–digital hybrid spaces, and for which a dialectical mode of analysis is required. Following a cumulative narrative, the study explores different characterizations of digital public spaces, which have been articulated through design-led action research projects conducted in collaboration with academia, creative industries, citizens and public authorities. The study accomplishes a novel application of the unitary theory of space proposed by the Marxist French philosopher and sociologist, Henri Lefebvre (1992), which is revisited to develop a novel framework to reveal the social production of physical–digital hybrid spaces. The framework is developed through practice, and extensively applied throughout the thesis illustrating three distinctive dominating perspectives of physical–digital hybrid spaces: substitution, co-evolution and recombination (Graham 1998). The framework has proved to be a flexible and insightful method of analysis that: enables approaching the social production of physical and digital spaces individually and in relation to one another; to understand how different spatial configurations allow for participation and appropriation; and in turn, to re-contextualize the right to the city (Lefebvre 1996) in digital public spaces.

This Practice as Research thesis is a contribution to and intervention in the fields of intermedial performance studies and live media practice. Its arguments are formulated through live intermediality, a mode of practice whereby the solo performer activates image, sound, object and body in the presence of and sometimes with the ‘experiencers’ (Nelson 2010), in order to compose a series of shifting intermedial combinations. The thesis interrogates current discourses around intermediality in performance, the role and actions of the live media performer and the generation of events in intermedial and live media practice, arguing that each can be productively re-­-viewed through live intermedial practice. In positioning the practice clearly within the various lineages from which it draws and positing the particular ‘knowings’ it produces, live intermediality is formulated as distinctive ‘praxis’ or ‘doing-thinking’ (Nelson 2013). In addition, the specific characteristics of live intermediality – the dualities, discourses and collisions it generates - are presented both as form of new knowledge through practice and employed as the tools to pierce existing thinking from an ‘insider’ perspective. Working from a Practice as Research methodology, live intermediality is placed in dialogue with resonant conceptual frameworks, such as the work of intermedial theorists, Kattenbelt (2008) and Lavender (2006), new media theorists, Bolter and Grusin (2000), as well as broader paradigms of presence (Power 2008), autopoiesis (Fischer-­-Lichte 2008, Maturana and Varela 1987) and event (Derrida 1978, Deleuze 2006). The praxis, through its dialogue with such frame works, reconfigures current theories around the activation, operation and experience of intermediality in live media forms. In addition, through its distinctive features and the ‘knowings’ they generate, live intermediality is proposed as new mode of praxis within these fields.

Transition of the newly qualified nurses from an educational focus to professional practitioner has long been identified as a conflicted time of critical personal and professional adjustment and staggering reality shock. This study explored the experiences of newly qualified R425 professional nurses during their first year of practice in the Eastern Cape Province at three selected hospitals. The study followed a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive design using a phenomenological approach. The sample included newly qualified professional nurses in their first year of employment. Convenience sampling was used to select the participants. Data collection was conducted by means of semi-structured interviews from ten (n=10) participants. Each interview took about 45 minutes. Ethical codes of research were followed. Data was coded manually and analyzed using content analysis Four themes and seven subthemes emerged from the data collected The findings revealed positive experiences such as sense of belonging and feelings of independence; negative experiences such as feelings of rejection, as well as management challenges The study identified challenges which impacted on the performance of new nurses, namely shortage of human and material resources and inadequate support in the working environment Recommendation: Introducing mandatory education by service institutions on transition as well as extended, sequential and structured orientation and mentoring programs for newly qualified professional nurses as this will assist them in their career development Managers to use different strategies in enhancing quality environments in order to reduce frustration for these newly qualified nurses.

Background: A health damage that has been specifically related to nursing is pressure ulcers. Pressure ulcers are a complication caused by disease, care and treatment and can result in great suffering for the patient. Pressure ulcers can affect people both physically and psychosocially and is experienced, by most patients, as a serious and unnecessary complication of care. Today there are hundreds of identified risk factors for pressure ulcers described that can be divided into patient and care-related risk factors. A successful pressure ulcer prevention and treatment is to reduce or eliminate the underlying causes for the development of pressure ulcers, prevent deterioration and to treat existing ulcers. To prevent the occurrence of pressure ulcers and heal them, nurses’ knowledge and skills become important.   Aim: The aim was to describe the nurses´ knowledge and attitude towards pressure ulcer prevention and treatment and how it affects the practice.   Methods: The study was conducted as a literature study and was based on Willman, Stoltz och Bahtsevani (2011) methodology for reviewing scientific articles. 12 articles were chosen, three of which were qualitative, eight quantitative and one quantitative and qualitative. The analyze was conducted by Fribergs (2012) analysis regarding qualitative and quantitative research.   Results: The result are presented under the four headings: Differences in nurses’ knowledge, Either you love pressure ulcers or you hate them, Lack of access to training, despite its positive impact, The attitude has a greater impact on the practice than knowledge.   Discussions: The results were discussed based on the concept of health care environment, where the focus was directed towards a psychosocial component. Areas addressed include lack of access to education on pressure ulcers and what it can lead to, how the nurses’ negative attitude affect the practice and finally discussed the need to further examine of how nurses' attitudes can be improved and how they can be inspired to a greater interest in their work with pressure ulcers.   Keywords: Pressure ulcer, Nurse, Prevention, Treatment, Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Patient safety, Health care environment

Many companies are exploring opportunities for improving Home Health Care (HHC) provision, at a time when the demand for well-designed home healthcare products (HHCPs) and associated services is rapidly growing. Research into their approaches found that innovation strategies and techniques adopted by many HHCP suppliers have not matured to realise the best innovative solutions. This practice-based PhD thesis presents the research journey which investigated the strengths and weaknesses of product innovation approaches of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) which dominate the HHC field. It considers how to improve HHC product innovation by using more robust New Product Development (NPD) processes that aim at enabling more effective team working; improving information management; and establishing a better understanding the needs of all stakeholders, particularly end-users, in the design and development process. Working collaboratively with companies in the sector innovation shortcomings are identified at the fuzzy front-end (FFE) of a project cycle. The majority of these issues are related to poor practices in creating and applying the design brief. The study found that few SMEs engage in structured approaches to the development of the HHCP brief, which leads to numerous (often very costly) design modifications as the product life develops. As a solution an original toolkit for improving the design brief development process is presented. It is focussed on managing innovation within the FFE of NPD. It takes the form of a new and novel online web service that guides and supports SMEs in writing a multi-stakeholder design brief.

Class of 2016 Abstract / Objectives: Discover what is working within the class, and what is not working in the class. Methods: Three focus groups were held on the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy campus in January 2016. Participants were recruited via electronic mail invitation and given the opportunity to attend in person or call in via conference call. During each focus group participants were asked a series of questions designed to illicit a discussion regarding their opinions of the course and identify which areas of the curricula they still utilize. These focus groups were recorded via hand-held digital recording device. The recordings were transcribed verbatim into a word processing computer program, with all names and other identifying agents removed to maintain anonymity. The transcriptions were then imported into Atlas.Ti analysis software for descriptive coding. Once coded, the quotations were organized into a network to identify trends in answers. Results: A total of 8 students participated in the three focus groups. Students were able to reflect on both the course and project as well as explain and demonstrate their application of the knowledge they learned as a result, as well as areas in which they feel the course can be improved. Conclusions: The QI course taught the students how to perform a formal quality improvement research project, while performing the project helped solidify skills learned not only in the class but also previous courses. The students still utilize the skills they learned in both the class and project as they continue on in their professions outside a classroom setting.

Taking as its focus the ‘actor-creator’s’ process in devising practices, this study explores the notion of the ‘poetic body’ developed by French theatre pedagogue Jacques Lecoq (1921 - 1999) and the writings of French philosopher Gaston Bachelard (1884 - 1962) on the ‘poetics of imagination.’ The overarching aim is to originate a new ‘embodied poetics’ whereby the sensate, feeling body actively explores correspondences with the ‘material elements’ of earth, air, fire and water. These are experienced as ‘poeticising substances’ – catalysts and conductors for an embodied imagination. More specifically, this thesis asks the following question: What new understandings can a relational encounter between Lecoq’s pedagogy and Bachelard’s ‘poetic imagining’ reveal about the ’poetic body’ and how might these new understandings originate a devising process? I combine three solo practical projects with accompanying written analysis, to first interrogate the working methods I have inherited as a practitioner and teacher since my time as a student at the Lecoq School, from 1987 to 1989. This is followed by an embodied exploration of Bachelard’s ‘poetic imagining’ process through my own practice. In the final project, I develop an ‘embodied poetics’ for devising, based on the ‘actor-creator’s’ active participation with the world and a recognition that the poeticising ‘I’ is intimately entwined with the material elemental substances that comprise it. In considering the material elements as originating substances for an imagining body, their dialectic qualities offer infinite possibilities for a permanent renewal, expansion and transformation of practice. This study also proposes a new reading of Lecoq’s notion of the ‘poetic body’ from an embodied perspective. Equally, in applying Bachelard’s ‘poetic imagining’ to the devising process, I seek to revivify and reposition his philosophical standpoint from a contemporary perspective within the field of interdisciplinary practices.

Despite increased academic focus on knowledge management, the creation and management of knowledge within organisations has received limited attention. Whilst a considerable body of international literature exists on the role of communities of practice in managing knowledge in organisations, the South African literature is largely silent on communities of practice as a means of managing knowledge and thus represents a gap for further research. The objective of the research is to assess which critical success factors identified in the academic literature are rated as being most relevant to members of communities of practice in a single organisational context, being Multichoice. Further, the research assesses whether critical success factors vary by type and life cycle phase of communities of practice at Multichoice. A deductive, quantitative approach within the positivist paradigm is employed. Specifically, the descriptive survey questionnaire approach is adopted. The research reveals a strong resemblance between the critical success factors identified in the literature and those rated by members of communities of practice at Multichoice. In addition, the research demonstrates that critical success factors vary – albeit marginally - with both the type, and stage in the life cycle, of communities of practice at Multichoice. All the factors identified, with the exception of two factors, are rated as `critical’ to the success of communities of practice at Multichoice. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The research project investigated critical success factors for communities of practice in the Anglo American Corporation. It was found that critical success factors for communities of practice can be identified in the context of the Anglo American Corporation. In addition, it was found that the critical success factors vary with the type and life cycle stage of the community. The research project comprised a qualitative literature review component which led to the design of a quantitative survey component. The survey was conducted in the Anglo American Corporation, with the respondents being members of communities of practice within the organisation. The respondent data set was analysed to produce results for discussion. The concluding chapter of the report outlines the critical success factors identified, and the recommendations made for establishing the support infrastructure for these factors. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

This study explored the experiences of Jordanian critical care staff about the transition to, and provision of, end of life care. It examined the difficulties they encountered, and how they sought to care for and communicate with the families of patients who were approaching the end of life. The study took place in two University hospitals in different cities. A mixed methods design in two phases was adopted. The first phase employed the “National Survey of Critical Care Nurses' Perceptions of End-of-Life Care” (adapted with permission) to elicit the views of critical care staff (N=104) about the obstacles and facilitators to providing end of life care for critically ill patients and their families. In the second phase, qualitative interviews were conducted with staff (15 nurses; 10 junior doctors; 5 head nurses). The key overarching finding from the study is that staff experience moral distress when working with critically ill patients whom they perceive to be dying. There were three main dimensions to the experience of moral distress: First, nurses experience moral distress when they are aware when the patients are likely to die, know that continuing life sustaining treatment is futile and yet are expected to continue to provide treatment as normal to the patients. Aggressive modalities of treatments are usually pursued for most terminally ill patients, with both nurses and doctors perceiving there to be no planned, clear or distinct transition from curative focused care to end of life care. Second, with regard to their relationship with patients’ families, the staff found themselves to be in a problematic and paradoxical situation. One the one hand, they expected patients’ families to take the lead in the care decision making process and perceived that the power in decision-making should lie with patients’ relatives; but on the other hand, they also perceived that it is difficult and sometimes impossible to disclose bad news openly to families meaning that families are not fully informed in a way that would enable them to take the lead in the care decision making process. Third, staff have an appreciation of the principles of end of life decision making as a team activity and as a collaborative venture, but they are not able to put these principles into practice for many reasons, ranging from difficulties in their relationships with each other to health care system factors. This study sheds light on two central ethical problems in end of life decision-making in Jordan: the problem of disclosure of terminal prognosis at the end of life and limited involvement of nurses and junior doctors in the process of end of life communication and decision making. The study recommendations focus on developing practice in and disseminating understanding of ethically sound end of life decision-making.