This thesis presents a narrative that connects discussion of a number of my papers submitted for consideration of the award of PhD by published work with reflections on methods and theory within a critical sociological context. This analysis of my publications is extended by a critical engagement with communicative action theory to consider its relevance for thinking about service user involvement activity in university settings. The thesis explores methodological and theoretical ideas by first narrating the thematic consistency of the portfolio of published work presented for consideration and, second, considering analytic connections with wider critical social theory and emancipatory goals. In part this is accomplished by exploring a scholarly interest in the subjective: tracing in my own papers a development of thought from an affinity for critical post-structuralist concepts of a de-centred subject, as illustrated in my use of Q-methodology as a particular means of accessing forms of subjective expression, through to a current interest in forms of critical social theory, aligned to the Frankfurt School. Despite some acknowledged philosophical tensions, it is argued that there is a consistency of theoretical exposition whereby a line of reasoning via Habermas’s theory of communicative action, focuses on a radical subjectivity which is not antithetical to the aforementioned post-structural accounts. A contribution to original knowledge is demonstrated with respect to theorising social constructions of difference and identity in a mental health context and critical analyses and commentary on the mental health service user/survivor movement. Themes of radicalism and emancipation in research methods and praxis, and their critique, connect with a concluding focus on academic alliances with user movement activists including an analytic reflection on the university as a particular social space which may be amenable to forging effective solidarity.

The current research examined gaming within a leisure context to examine the motivational and experiential value of the activity, to better understand the range of outcomes of playing videogames. Flow theory was used as a theoretical framework for examining positive gaming experiences, and how these were associated with gaming motivations, and potential positive psychological and affective outcomes. The research utilised a mixed-methodological approach with samples of gamers. These included focus groups, an experiment and online questionnaires. The findings showed that immersion and achievement-orientated gaming motivations predicted flow in gaming, and could also predict some dimensions of psychological well-being. Flow in gameplay interacted with increases in positive mood and activation. This suggests that the processes involved in gaming are influential to positive gaming outcomes. Specific game aspects were influential to the nature of gaming experiences, although these were largely dependent on game-type. The findings also showed that social gaming contexts were influential towards gaming experiences, and the associated affective outcomes. This suggests the dynamic nature of gaming experiences, and the importance of acknowledging the wider social contexts in which gaming occurs. Aspects of personality (i.e. trait aggression and competitiveness) influenced negative mood after gameplay, suggesting the importance of considering internal factors when examining gaming outcomes. Further, because gaming motivations, experiences and the associated effects were largely individual and game-specific, this highlights the need for future research to adopt more idiographic approaches. Based on the findings, the research presents a Process Model of Gameplay to examine the dynamic nature of gameplay processes for a range of outcomes. The current research highlights the effectiveness of considering gaming within the wider context of leisure, to identify gaming processes as a way of examining the influence of gaming motivations and experiences on positive outcomes of the activity.

Characters in games and virtual worlds continue to gain improvements in both their visual appearance and more human-like behaviours with each successive generation of hardware. One area that seemingly would need to be addressed if this evolution in human-like characters is to continue is in the area of characters with emotions. To begin addressing this, the thesis focuses on answering the question “Can an emotional architecture be developed for characters in games and virtual worlds, that is built upon a foundation of formal psychology? Therefore a primary goal of the research was to both review and consolidate a range of background material based on the psychology of emotions to provide a cohesive foundation on which to base any subsequent work. Once this review was completed, a range of supplemental material was investigated including computational models of emotions, current implementations of emotions in games and virtual worlds, machine learning techniques suitable for implementing aspects of emotions in characters in virtual world, believability and the role of emotions, and finally a discussion of interactive characters in the form of chat bots and non-player characters. With these reviews completed, a synthesis of the research resulted in the defining of an emotion architecture for use with pre-existing agent behaviour systems, and a range of evaluation techniques applicable to agents with emotions. To support validation of the proposed architecture three case studies were conducted that involved applying the architecture to three very different software platforms featuring agents. The first was applying the architecture to combat bots in Quake 3, the second to a chat bot in the virtual world Second Life, and the third was to a web chat bot used for e-commerce, specifically dealing with question and answers about the companies services. The three case studies were supported with several small pilot evaluations that were intended to look at different aspects of the implemented architecture including; (1) Whether or not users noticed the emotional enhancements. Which in the two small pilot studies conducted, highlighted that the addition of emotions to characters seemed to affect the user experience when the encounter was more interactive such as in the Second Life implementation. Where the interaction occurred in a combat situation with enemies with short life spans, the user experience seemed to be greatly reduced. (2) An evaluation was conducted on how the combat effectiveness of combat bots was affected by the addition of emotions, and in this pilot study it was found that the combat effectiveness was not quite statistically reduced, even when the bots were running away when afraid, or attacking when angry even if close to death. In summary, an architecture grounded in formal psychology is presented that is suitable for interactive characters in games and virtual worlds, but not perhaps ideal for applications where user interaction is brief such as in fast paced combat situations. This architecture has been partially validated through three case studies and includes suggestions for further work especially in the mapping of secondary emotions, the emotional significance of conversations, and the need to conduct further evaluations based on the pilot studies.

Over the last twenty years there has been a dramatic rise in subsidence claims for residential buildings. This has led to growing concern amongst insurance companies and the structural engineers who investigate these cases on their behalf. Their attention has begun to focus more on the engineering management of these cases. A review of the mechanism of subsidence damage to residential buildings and existing subsidence management procedures has shown that existing management procedures are often ad-hoc and uncoordinated, have been criticised for being inadequate, and have lead to solutions which have either been inappropriate or have failed to solve the problem. The review concludes that there is major scope for improving the decision-making process, by ensuring that it is based on a sound technical framework. This thesis describes an innovative approach to the engineering management of subsidence cases based on knowledge-based system (KBS) techniques. The Subsidence CAse Management System (SCAMS) is applicable to the multi-task domain and consists of three main components which address important facets of subsidence management. These are the diagnosis of a subsidence problem, the choice of an appropriate course of investigations, and the specification of effective remedial measures. SCAMS was developed using a KBS building shell- Kappa PC. The data structure adopted was object-oriented and incorporates production rules. The knowledge acquisition was based on multiple sources of knowledge using a variety of techniques. The system implementation was designed to result in a user-friendly system, and incorporates a highly graphical interface. Evaluation of the system was undertaken using test cases from industry. The system proved highly effective in all the tests and, in some cases, achieved more accurate results than the human expert. SCAMS represents a significant advance over existing approaches to the engmeenng management of subsidence cases. It provides many benefits to the construction industry including greater consistency in the evaluation of subsidence damage, improved quality of engineering judgement, reduced repair costs and specific guidance to -engineers for individual cases.

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