Being comfortable : having and making a comfortable cognitive and environmental habitat : a grounded theory on the meaning of home : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

Prior research on the meanings of home represents a rather fragmented set of studies. The present research utilises phenomenology and aims to create a grounded theory on the meanings of home which is explorative, participant-led and integrates the current state of home research. 15 participants singularly took part in semi-structured interviews, including myself as a participant-researcher. The interviews were audio taped but not transcribed. The interviews were then analysed qualitatively as per grounded theory methodology. Participant's interpretation of the word home was both construed as having a spatial definition, and varying along a continuum from home as a house to a more subjective definition of home. The core code that the data generated on the meanings of home was that home was primarily about being comfortable. The basic social process of making a comfortable habitat was the main axial code. While the idea of comfort held strong between participants there was much individuality as to what was comfortable and which particular strategies were employed to make home comfortable. The result was a grounded theory about person environment interactions in the field of home, a cognitive and a physical habitat. Implications of this theory are discussed in relation to current and future home research as well as suggestions for practical applications

Does the British state’s categorisation of 'mixed race' meet public policy needs?

The England and Wales 2001 Census was the first to include ‘Mixed’ categories which have now been adopted across government. The four ‘cultural background’ options were highly prescriptive, specifying combinations of groups. This paper assesses how satisfactorily these analytical categories captured self-ascribed cultural affiliation based on the criteria of validity, reliability and utility of the data for public services. Finally, the paper asks whether we now need a census question on ethnic origin/ancestry in addition to – or instead of – ethnic group or whether multi-ticking or a focus on family origins might give more useful public policy data and better measure the population's ethnic diversity

Main findings and Recommendations

This study aimed to enhance the evidence base on health promotion issues related to minority ethnic groups, refugees/asylum seekers and Gypsy Travellers in Wales. The study objectives were to: identify gaps in the existing evidence base of health needs and health promotion issues for the study groups identify existing good practice of health services and promotion for the study groups explore ways of delivering health promotion policy/programmes targeting these groups in a culturally and socially sensitive manner, and to identify issues for further research

Learning to learn: A case for developing Small Firm Owner/Managers

Purpose: The paper seeks to contribute to the management development debate by providing insight on the dynamics of organisational learning and human interaction in the SME firm. The paper sets out to consider how a practice based perspective of knowledge is useful in this regard. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is theoretical in its intent and adopts a social constructionist view of knowledge and learning. Using qualitative analysis the paper establishes a review of the current literature by highlighting the centrality of knowledge and learning. Findings: Literature has suggested that critical aspects of learning within the SME firm are based around contextualised action, critical reflection and social interaction. A limited number of studies account for how practice is configured and influenced, in terms of value, uniqueness and scope of what is known, and how these influences can vary depending upon the contexts in which knowledge is being used, and potentially used. Practical Implications: There is a strong recognition in many of the empirical studies of learning and its use in the SME firm, that knowledge is gained through practice as opposed to formal instruction. What current research does not reflect is the changing nature of knowledge research in the wider organisational community, which has focused its attention towards the situated nature of knowledgeable activity or knowing in practice. Originality/Value: The paper argues that learning through practice, with its focus on real world issues and lived experiences, which are contextually embedded in the owner-manager's environment, may provide a better means of successfully developing practitioner focused owner/managers

The development of social class sensitive proxies for infant mortality at the PCT level: An appraisal of candiate indicators for the commission for health improvement

The main aim of the work is to identify social class-sensitive proxies for infant mortality at Primary Care Trust level that could be used in the CHI performance ratings process for PCTs in 2003/4

Viscount Lymington: The Journey of a fascist ‘Fellow Traveler’

This study, in short, excavates the political career of Viscount Lymington. He was, at various points, a member of parliament, an aristocrat, a lord, an agriculturalist, an author, and, in the late 1930s, a popular fascist ideologue. This historical study tracks Lymington as he travelled through the late 1920s, into and through the 1930s and wartime, showcasing how his ideas and politics evolved into an identifiably fascist worldview and how he obtained a prominent position within the British fascist milieu of the inter-war period. Lymington journeyed from his place as a young conservative aristocrat to an important tributary to the historical development of British fascism. This study is an investigation into that process

Symbolic and analytic techniques for resource analysis of Java bytecode

Recent work in resource analysis has translated the idea of amortised resource analysis to imperative languages using a program logic that allows mixing of assertions about heap shapes, in the tradition of separation logic, and assertions about consumable resources. Separately, polyhedral methods have been used to calculate bounds on numbers of iterations in loop-based programs. We are attempting to combine these ideas to deal with Java programs involving both data structures and loops, focusing on the bytecode level rather than on source code

Capturing Hiproofs in HOL Light

Hierarchical proof trees (hiproofs for short) add structure to ordinary proof trees, by allowing portions of trees to be hierarchically nested. The additional structure can be used to abstract away from details, or to label particular portions to explain their purpose. In this paper we present two complementary methods for capturing hiproofs in HOL Light, along with a tool to produce web-based visualisations. The first method uses tactic recording, by modifying tactics to record their arguments and construct a hierarchical tree; this allows a tactic proof script to be modified. The second method uses proof recording, which extends the HOL Light kernel to record hierachical proof trees alongside theorems. This method is less invasive, but requires care to manage the size of the recorded objects. We have implemented both methods, resulting in two systems: Tactician and HipCam