USER-CENTRED METHODS IN THE ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF SOFTWARE TOOLS TO SUPPORT MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS

The aim of the present work was to investigate the development of improved software tools for management consultants, and to investigate the effectiveness of augmented user-centred methods in this development, and thereby consider the more general use of augmented user-centred methods to develop software tools that support creative human activity systems. The research method used draws from and integrates aspects of user-centred design, soft systems methods, structured systems analysis and design, and software engineering. This includes using user literature, 'thinking aloud' role play observations, and interviews to develop a user model of the management consultancy process; using literature of related disciplines (qualitative data analysis and social network analysis), literature of existing computer assisted management consultant software tools, and formative iterative prototyping, empirical user testing and heuristic evaluation to synthesise a general design rationale of software tools for management consultants; and using empirical user testing and a subjective user acceptability interview to holistically evaluate the impact of the use of such software tools on the management consultancy process. The results provide evidence that the use of such software tools will provide significant benefits to management consultants, and that the overall impact can be summarised by delayed payback: although the use of the software draws out the early stages of an assignment it speeds up later stages, and although it may take a couple of assignments to realise its ftill potential, it leads to a deeper and more rigorous understanding of the client organisation. This leads to an original contribution to knowledge in the conclusions that integrated qualitative data analysis and social network analysis software tools can be useful to management consultants, and user-centred methods are important in the development of software tools for creative human activity systems

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Delay Discounting and Pathological Gambling

Over the past decade behavior analysts have paid increasing attention to the clin-ical phenomena of pathological gambling. Explorations have varied from ani-mal models to therapeutic interventions. Perhaps no topic has received greater attention in the behavioral gambling literature than the discounting of delayed consequences. Delay discounting has been noted as both a conceptual frame-work to understand problem gambling as well as a dependent variable by which to deduce level of pathology. Regardless of hypothesized process, discounting appears to be a topic of great interest to those within the behavioral community. This special section of the Analysis of Gambling Behavior brings together a theoretical account of problem gambling from Fantino and Stolarz-Fantino as well as fourteen commentaries from an impressive list of authors within and beyond the traditional bounds of behavior analysis. Together these articles high-light the wide range of perspectives on the causes of pathological gambling, as well as how delay discounting fits within such causal mechanisms

Pastoral Care on Remand and the Role of the Prison Chaplain

How do prisoners experience life on remand in England, and how do prison chaplains offer them pastoral care in this setting? This thesis explores the question of how prison chaplains deliver pastoral care in a remand prison, and how this care is received and experienced by prisoners. With my own experience as a remand prison chaplain as a catalyst, I engage with literature around practical theological approaches to exploring prison experience, criminological studies of remand, and prison chaplaincy. Using a grounded theory methodology, I explore the challenges of being on remand and the role of prison chaplains in meeting the needs of remandees, as well as chaplains’ own understandings of their vocation and ministry. Chaplains and prisoners were interviewed at three Local prisons in the North of England, and the major themes from these interviews explored thematically and theologically. I discuss issues of trust building and the precarious nature of the prisoner-chaplain relationship, and the core theme of liminality in the role of the chaplain and the experience of the remand prisoner. Liminality is explored as a key theme linking the limbo-like nature of remand life, the challenges of navigating the prison environment, and the status of the chaplain on the thresholds of prison life and ministry. The liminality of the chaplain is considered as a positive characteristic that enables a flexible ministry in a remand context. This leads to a theological analysis of remand chaplaincy through the lens of Walter Brueggemann’s concepts of the disorientation of lament and the notion of prophetic imagination. Remand chaplaincy is explored through the lens of a ministry of presence as ‘being with’ in conversation with the work of Samuel Wells. The thesis concludes with new understandings of remand chaplaincy in light of the liminality of the role and of the remand prisoner, and considers the challenges of the practical and theological aspects of providing pastoral care in this complex context

Review of \u3ci\u3eWaiting for Coyote\u27s Call: An Eco-Memoir from the Missouri River Bluff\u3c/i\u3e By Jerry Wilson

This book documents its author\u27s move to the bluffs of the Missouri River valley in southeastern South Dakota and his experiences and personal reflections during twenty-five years of life there. In the spirit of Aldo Leopold\u27s A Sand County Almanac, Jerry Wilson weaves together observations about the natural and human history of the bluffs and reflections-derived from his experiences on the South Dakota bluffs and his childhood on an Oklahoma farm-about how to live ethically on the land and toward its creatures. In so doing, he fashions an intimate tapestry of the Missouri River bluffs and woodlands that are often underappreciated in the Plains. Each of the book\u27s five sections is divided into four chapters-each an extended essay. The first section, Rehomesteading the Prairie, recounts how Wilson and his family purchased forty acres of bluffland and built a geo-solar home. Section two, Into the Woods, describes personal experiences related to woodlands, water, and darkness. The third and longest section (seventy-one pages), All my Relatives, devotes chapters to human predecessors on the bluff, both Native and Euro-American, and the animals and plants that live there. Prairie Home includes reflections about snow and winter, stones, gardening, and efforts at restoring the bluff land prairie. The final section, The Bluff and Beyond, examines practices of land degradation (especially the loss of the family farm) that Wilson attributes to the arrogance of human attitudes toward the land. In the penultimate chapter, Battles beyond the Bluff, Wilson extends his own ethic of land stewardship to struggles over a broader array of social and environmental issues across the state and region. The book ends with a diary of observations of nature on the bluff through the course of a year

Why Behavior Analysts Should Study Gambling Behavior

The field of behavior analysis has been applied to solve many problems facing our society. Differential allocation of behavioral research to certain applied problems has resulted in positive changes in those areas while other areas re-main underserved. Problem and pathological gambling are areas of concern in our society which have been minimally addressed by behavior analysts. Rea-sons for the underrepresentation of research in gambling are discussed and poss-ible solutions to foster a behavioral understanding of and treatment for problem gamblers are presented

Review of \u3ci\u3eWaiting for Coyote\u27s Call: An Eco-Memoir from the Missouri River Bluff\u3c/i\u3e By Jerry Wilson

This book documents its author\u27s move to the bluffs of the Missouri River valley in southeastern South Dakota and his experiences and personal reflections during twenty-five years of life there. In the spirit of Aldo Leopold\u27s A Sand County Almanac, Jerry Wilson weaves together observations about the natural and human history of the bluffs and reflections-derived from his experiences on the South Dakota bluffs and his childhood on an Oklahoma farm-about how to live ethically on the land and toward its creatures. In so doing, he fashions an intimate tapestry of the Missouri River bluffs and woodlands that are often underappreciated in the Plains. Each of the book\u27s five sections is divided into four chapters-each an extended essay. The first section, Rehomesteading the Prairie, recounts how Wilson and his family purchased forty acres of bluffland and built a geo-solar home. Section two, Into the Woods, describes personal experiences related to woodlands, water, and darkness. The third and longest section (seventy-one pages), All my Relatives, devotes chapters to human predecessors on the bluff, both Native and Euro-American, and the animals and plants that live there. Prairie Home includes reflections about snow and winter, stones, gardening, and efforts at restoring the bluff land prairie. The final section, The Bluff and Beyond, examines practices of land degradation (especially the loss of the family farm) that Wilson attributes to the arrogance of human attitudes toward the land. In the penultimate chapter, Battles beyond the Bluff, Wilson extends his own ethic of land stewardship to struggles over a broader array of social and environmental issues across the state and region. The book ends with a diary of observations of nature on the bluff through the course of a year

Generating Embedded Systems Software using a Component Based Development Approach

This work examines how a predominantly graphical approach to software development, that was designed to be deployment platform agnostic, can be used to target embedded software systems. The general aim of the approach was to provide engineers with a development method that was general enough to be applied across a multitude of problem domains. The development technique employs a component centric approach, in which target platform specifics are hidden from the language design. Deployment specific mapping tools are then used to target each type of system. Embedded software systems however are probably the most demanding type of target system, due to limited resources and lack of software infrastructure support. This paper describes a method of mapping an example component based design to a target embedded system