A Personal Construct Psychology based investigation into a Product Service System for renting pushchairs to consumers

This is the peer-reviewed version of the following article: Maurizio Catulli and Nick Reed, ‘A Personal Construct Psychology Based Investigation Into a Product Service System for Renting Pushchairs to Consumers’, Business Strategy and the Environment, Vol. 26(5): 656-671, February 2017, which has been published in final form at DOI: 10.1002/bse.1944. Under embargo. Embargo end date: 1 February 2019. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.This paper explores how consumers construe a Product Service System (PSS) for the supply of pushchairs. A PSS is a system of products, services, networks of actors and supporting infrastructure designed to be more sustainable than traditional business models. PSS face an implementation challenge in consumer markets and this case based research explores some reasons for this. The study applies Personal Construct Psychology (in particular, Repertory Grid Technique) which has not previously been used in relation to researching PSS. Results suggest that PSS might be difficult to implement in relation to pushchairs. Renting pre-used equipment may meet resistance because of a perceived risk that acquisition by this means might endanger infants. Participants in the study construed buying new products from specialist infant product shops as being the best way of acquiring them. Accordingly PSS providers may, for instance, have to implement certified quality assurance processes in order to reassure consumers.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

The Effect of Eugenol and Isoeugenol to Leukocyte Count on Male Wistar Rats (Rattus norvegicus) That Injected by Uric Acid

Tidak diijinkan karya tersebut diunggah ke dalam aplikasi Repositori Perpustakaan Universitas karena sedang proses review untuk publikasi.Inflamasi pada gout arthritis merupakan inflamasi yang melibatkan pengendapan kristal monosodium urate (MSU) yang terjadi pada area sekitar sendi dan terjadi dengan latar belakang hiperurisemia kronis. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh pemberian eugenol dan isoeugenol terhadap jumlah leukosit tikus wistar jantan yang diinjeksi asam urat. Penelitian eksperimental dengan rancangan Post Test Only Control Group Design pada 20 tikus wistar jantan usia 4 minggu yang dibagi menjadi 2 kelompok yaitu eugenol dan isoeugenol secara acak masing-masing 10 ekor dengan masing-masing kelompok terbagi dalam 4 kelompok konsentrasi yang berbeda (80µM,60 µM, 40 µM, dan 0 µM(kontrol)). Penelitian dimulai dengan pekan adaptasi selama 7 hari. Pemberian eugenol dan isoeugenol secara oral dimulai di hari ke-8 hingga hari ke-20. Pada pertengahan penelitian (hari ke-14) dilakukan injeksi asam urat (AU) yang telah dilarutkan dalam aquadest. Pemeriksaan darah dilakukan sebanyak 3 kali yaitu 120 jam sebelum, 24 jam sesudah dan 120 jam sesudah injeksi asam urat. Hasil menunjukan tidak ada pengaruh yang signifkan dari pemberian eugenol dan isoeugenol dengan konsentrasi yang berbeda terhadap normal tidaknya jumlah leukosit (p > 0,05). Berdasarkan hasil dapat disimpulkan pemberian eugenol dan isoeugenol dengan konsentrasi yang berbeda selama 10 hari tidak menunjukan pengaruh yang signifikan dalam normal tidaknya jumlah leukosit sebagai respon terjadinya inflamasi.Inflammation in gout arthrtitis is an inflammation that involves deposition of monosodium urate (MSU) crystals that occur in the area around the joint and occur against a background of chronic hyperuricemia.This study aimed to determine the effect of eugenol and isoeugenol on total leukocytes male Wistar rats that injected by uric acid. The experimental research design with Post Test Only Control Group Design on 20 male Wistar rats aged 4 weeks were divided into 2 groups : eugenol and isoeugenol that randomly divided into 4 groups consentration with 10 rats each group (80μM, 60 μM, 40 μM, and 0 μM (control)). The study began with an adaptation week for 7 days. Eugenol and isoeugenol given orally starting at day 8 until day 20. In the middle of the study (day 14), male Wistar rats were injected by uric acid that has been dissolved in aquadest. Blood tests were done 3 times of 120 hours before, 24 hours after and 120 hours after injection of uric acid. The results showed no significant effect of giving eugenol and isoeugenol with different consentrations to leukocyte count (p > 0,05). In conclusion, administration of eugenol and isoeugenol with different concentrations for 10 days did not show a significant effect to total leukocytes in response to inflammation

Cognitive representations of disability behaviours in people with mobility limitations : consistency with theoretical constructs

Disability is conceptualised as behaviour by psychological theory and as a result of bodily impairment by medical models. However, how people with disabilities conceptualise those disabilities is unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine disability representations in people with mobility disabilities. Thirteen people with mobility disabilities completed personal repertory grids (using the method of triads) applied to activities used to measure disabilities. Ten judges with expertise in health psychology then examined the correspondence between the elicited disability constructs and psychological and medical models of disability. Participants with mobility disabilities generated 73 personal constructs ofdisability. These constructs were judged consistent with the content of two psychological models, namely the theory of planned behaviour and social cognitive theory and with the main medical model of disability, the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health.Individuals with activity limitations conceptualise activities in a manner that is compatible with both psychological and medical models. This ensures adequate communication in contexts where the medical model is relevant, e.g. clinical contexts, as well as in everyday conversation about activities and behaviours. Finally, integrated models of disability may be of value for theory driven interdisciplinary approaches to disability and rehabilitation

Identity change and the human dissection experience over the first year of medical training

The aim of this study is to explore identity change in medical students over their first year of medical training, particularly in relation to their experience of human dissection. Each of our four participants completed two repertory grids at the end of term one and, again, towards the end of term three. One grid tapped their identity construction, and the other, their experience of human dissection. Our participants were optimistic about becoming similar to a doctor they admired and, towards the end of term three, began to develop a stable identity as a medical student. Their identity constructs involved three common themes: dedication, competence, and responsibility. However, the data also revealed negative reactions to the demands of training, such as feeling driven and stressed. Three major themes were apparent in their experience of human dissection: involvement, emotional coping, and ability. Our participants’ dedication to their studies was reflected in their appreciation of the need to become involved actively in the process of dissection but some experienced an erosion of their self-confidence and perceived some of their colleagues to have lost much of their enthusiasm for learning. Emotional coping could be an additional challenge within this context and their reaction tended to reflect distancing processes previously identified in the literature. In all, we see a development of a vulnerable sense of professionalism alongside a frustration of losing out potentially on wider aspects of personal development due to the high work demands

Cognitive conflicts in major depression : Between desired change and personal coherence

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposesThe notion of intrapsychic conflict has been present in psychopathology for more than a century within different theoretical orientations. However, internal conflicts have not received enough empirical attention, nor has their importance in depression been fully elaborated. This study is based on the notion of cognitive conflict, understood as implicative dilemma (ID), and on a new way of identifying these conflicts by means of the Repertory Grid Technique. Our aim was to explore the relevance of cognitive conflicts among depressive patientsPeer reviewedFinal Published versio

Toward a constructivist model of radicalization and deradicalization: a conceptual and methodological proposal.

© 2019 Feixas and Winter.This article identifies common features of existing models of radicalization and deradicalization, such as the transition from uncertainty to certainty, before integrating these in a model based upon personal construct theory. It is proposed that the personal construct concepts of validation and invalidation are particularly relevant to processes of identity change such as radicalization and deradicalization. Thus, it is argued that radicalization occurs when major invalidation of an individual’s construing is followed by the development of a new radicalized view of the world that provides a turning point in his or her sense of identity and a more structured and certain view of the world. There is likely to be seeking out of validation for this view in interactions with others who share similar views or by extorting evidence for the individual’s radical constructions. These constructions are likely to involve extreme negative views of another group, by contrast to members of which, and possibly by taking extreme action against this group, the individual’s new self-construction may become further defined. These same processes can be seen to operate in deradicalization, and it will therefore be argued that the model has implications for the development of deradicalization programs. A further advantage of the model is that it has an associated personal construct methodology, particularly repertory grid technique, that may be used to investigate processes of radicalization and deradicalization. As illustrations of such investigations, results will be summarized from a repertory grid study of Salafist Muslims in Tunisia, some of whom had returned from fighting in Syria, and an analysis of the writings of the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik. The findings of these investigations are argued to be consistent with the personal construct model of radicalization and deradicalization.Peer reviewe

Negotiation in strategy making teams : group support systems and the process of cognitive change

This paper reports on the use of a Group Support System (GSS) to explore at a micro level some of the processes manifested when a group is negotiating strategy-processes of social and psychological negotiation. It is based on data from a series of interventions with senior management teams of three operating companies comprising a multi-national organization, and with a joint meeting subsequently involving all of the previous participants. The meetings were concerned with negotiating a new strategy for the global organization. The research involved the analysis of detailed time series data logs that exist as a result of using a GSS that is a reflection of cognitive theory

The Construal of Midwives by Pregnant Women with a Body Mass Index Greater Than or Equal to 30 kg/m2 (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2): A Repertory Grid Study

Objective To explore the construal of midwives by pregnant women with a body mass index greater than 30 kg/m2 (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2). Method Ten pregnant women with a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 were recruited from antenatal clinics at a maternity hospital in the North West of England. Each participant completed a repertory grid. The participants chose people to match roles including themselves, pregnant women, midwives of different BMIs and hypothetical elements. They also generated psychological constructs to describe them. Results Pregnant women with a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 construed themselves as vulnerable and self-conscious. Some women endorsed obesity-related stereotypes for themselves and felt responsible for their weight. The midwife with a BMI 18 < 30 kg/m2 was considered to be most similar to the ideal midwife, while the midwife with a BMI ≤ 18 kg/m2 was construed as having an undesirable interpersonal style. The midwife with a BMI ≥ 40 kg/m2 was often construed as sharing similar experiences to the pregnant women with a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2, such as struggling with the psychological consequences of a raised BMI. Some women construed the midwife with a BMI 30 < 40 kg/m2 in a positive way, whereas others viewed it as sharing similar feelings about weight as the midwife with a BMI ≥ 40 kg/m2. Conclusions The pregnant women with a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 in this study described perceptions of themselves and the midwives responsible for their care, which may affect their engagement and satisfaction with services. Pregnant women with a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 should be involved in service development activities to ensure the structure of services and the language used by midwives are acceptable and do not confirm weight-related stereotypes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Message Pregnant women with a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 construe themselves as vulnerable and self-conscious and perceive themselves responsible for their weight. Pregnant women with a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 construe midwives with a low BMI as having an undesirable, cold, interpersonal style. Midwives with a raised BMI are construed as similar to the women, because they share the uncomfortable psychological consequences of a raised BMI. The nature of pregnant women's construal may affect their engagement and satisfaction with maternity services and midwifery care

Aspects across Software Life Cycle: A Goal-Driven Approach

Goal modeling fits model-driven engineering (MDE) in that it captures stakeholder concerns and the interdependencies using concepts that are much less bound to the underlying implementation technology and are much closer to the problem languages. Aspect-oriented software development (AOSD) provides language constructs to facilitate the representation of multiple perceptions and to alleviate tangling and scattering concerns. Synthesis of AOSD and MDE not only manages software complexity but also improves productivity, as well as model quality and longevity. In this paper, we propose a model-driven framework for tracing aspects from requirements to implementation and testing, where goal models become engineering assets and straightforward model-to-code transformation bridges the gap between domain concepts and implementation technologies. We test our hypotheses and evaluate the framework’s applicability and usefulness with a case study of an open-source e-commerce platform written in PHP

Intrapersonal, interpersonal, and physical space in anorexia nervosa: a virtual reality and repertory grid study.

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a published work that appeared in final form in Psychiatry Research after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see doi: https://doi.org.10.1016/j.psychres.2017.02.060.Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder characterized by severe body image disturbances. Recent studies from spatial cognition showed a connection between the experience of body and of space. The objectives of this study were to explore the meanings that characterize AN experience and to deepen the examination of spatiality in relational terms, through the study of how the patient construes herself and her interpersonal world. More specifically this study aimed (1) to verify whether spatial variables and aspects of construing differentiate patients with AN and healthy controls (HCs) and are related to severity of anorexic symptomatology; (2) to explore correlations between impairments in spatial abilities and interpersonal construing. A sample of 12 AN patients and 12 HCs participated in the study. The Eating Disorder Inventory, a virtual reality-based procedure, traditional measures of spatial abilities, and repertory grids were administered. The AN group compared to HCs showed significant impairments in spatial abilities, more unidimensional construing, and more extreme construing of the present self and of the self as seen by others. All these dimensions correlated with the severity of symptomatology. Extreme ways of construing characterized individuals with AN and might represent the interpersonal aspect of impairment in spatial reference frames.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio