Abstract not available.

Lack of employment has been identified as a contributing factor to criminal behaviour (Andrews & Bonta, 2003). Canadian Correctional Services have responded accordingly through the provision of interventions directed toward addressing offender needs as they relate to employment issues. Nonetheless, critics have argued that intervention efforts are still largely based on the principles of risk reduction, with limited attention given to a theoretically integrated view of the rehabilitation process. Ward and Stewart (2003) proposed a "Good Lives" model of rehabilitation in hopes of moving toward an enhancement model rather than a strictly harm avoidance model. "Good lives" (Ward & Stewart, 2003) are referred to as methods of living that are beneficial and fulfilling for individuals, and it is argued that any conception of a possible "good life" should take note of an offender's capabilities, temperament, interests, skills, values and support networks. The current research operationalized a 'good lives' model by exploring the theoretical construct of vocational congruence as a protective factor, leading to greater success within correctional environments and upon release in the community. Two studies explored the relevance of Holland's theory of vocational personalities and work environments (1997) for offender populations. The first study examined the validity of Holland's RIASEC Structure for a convenience sample of 305 federally sentenced offenders. Three RIASEC models (i.e., Holland, 1997; Gati, 1982; Round & Tracey, 1996) were also examined in Study I. Results indicated that two of these models are valid for an offender population. The second study examined Holland's theory of vocational congruence (1997) with a convenience sample of 304 federally sentenced offenders. Results revealed minimal support for the statistical significance of vocational congruence for this sample of offenders. Nevertheless, post-hoc analyses showed interesting differences for Aboriginal and women offenders, as well as offenders over 30 years of age. Furthermore, vocational congruence emerged as a significant factor in predicting time to recidivism. The role of behavioural adaptability and relevance of career counselling are introduced. Theoretical and operational implications, as well as implications for the 'Good Lives' model are discussed. The author argues for the value of continued research regarding Holland's RIASEC typology and vocational congruence with offender populations.

The focus of this thesis is the development of methodologies for the analysis of two important issues in a manufacturing environment: human boredom and machine utilization. In particular, this study proposes a mathematical programming model for job rotation to cope with worker's boredom in a manufacturing cell. One of the important side effects of task rotation is the impact of rotation interval on workers' skill learning and forgetting which may cause productivity losses. For this reason, the proposed model simultaneously incorporates worker's skill and boredom variations. The developed formulation is a mixed integer nonlinear mathematical programming model. A linear version of the model is also presented by assuming that both worker's skill and boredom change linearly over time. Furthermore, given the complexity and uncertainty involving human emotions, a novel approach based on the state-of-the-art Bayesian Networks is also presented to measure and to predict human boredom at work. First, the static Bayesian Network is introduced to capture the static aspect of boredom modeling. The static boredom model is subsequently extended based on dynamic Bayesian Networks to account for temporal aspect of boredom modeling. The dynamic boredom model allows integrating boredom evidences spatially and temporally, thus providing a more robust and accurate boredom inference. The proposed boredom model is validated using case based scenarios. Moreover, a metaheuristic approach based on several well-known search algorithms is also presented to solve the nonlinear version of the job rotation model. The proposed algorithm integrates several ingredients including a simulated annealing module, three types of memory, an evolutionary operator, and a blockage removal feature in a generic framework. The main characteristic of the proposed model is the use of both positive and negative memory to intensify the search around good solutions as well as an evolution-based diversification approach. This generic metaheuristic can be tailored to solve a variety of hard optimization problems. Another important issue in a manufacturing environment is machine utilization which is largely affected by scheduling decisions. Though various scheduling problems have been investigated for several decades, the lack of efficient solution methods is still hindering the machine utilization and hence the manufacturing productivity. For this reason, the two most common scheduling problems, job shop scheduling and flow shop scheduling problems are investigated in this thesis. The proposed new metaheuristic is used to solve the scheduling problems. This study presents a methodology to explicitly deal with human's boredom and skill variations at work. It also introduces a probabilistic model to quantitatively measure and predict human boredom. Finally, it contributes to the development of computational intelligence by introducing a generic framework of a new metaheuristic to solve a class of combinatorial optimization problems.

Tous ne sont pas égaux dans la société. Lorsque les individus reconnaissent leur situation de désavantage et en sont insatisfaits, un sentiment que les auteurs ont qualifié de privation relative, certains choisissent de réagir à leur situation désavantageuse ouvertement et d'autres optent plutôt pour des réactions silencieuses. Dans les quatre études présentées, nous focalisons sur un type précis de réaction souterraine en réponse à la privation relative, soit le désengagement psychologique. Cette stratégie qui, selon les hypothèses de départ, protège l'estime de soi, peut s'effectuer par le biais de deux mécanismes : le discredit du feedback et des évaluations et la dévaluation du domaine dans son ensemble. Les quatre études presentées dans cette thèse portaient principalement sur les antécédents et les conséquences du désengagement psychologique. La première étude, réalisée par questionnaire auprès d'un groupe d'employées de bureau (N = 154) avait pour but de déterminer si le recours aux mécanismes de désengagement psychologique diffère selon le type de comparaisons (sociales ou temporelles) donnant lieu à la privation relative. Les résultats de la modélisation par équations structurales font état d'une certaine stabilité au niveau de l'adoption des mécanismes de désengagement suite aux sentiments de privation relative. En revanche, la deuxième étude, menée auprès d'éducatrices et d'aides enseignantes (N = 106), démontre qu'être un laissé-pour-compte dans son milieu professionnel, mesure par la privation relative intragroupe, peut entraîner une baisse de l'identification au groupe et renforcer de façon indirecte le retrait non plus psychologique, mais effectif du domaine. La troisième étude, une méta-analyse recensant les réponses de 4351 participants (30 échantillons distincts), infirme l'hypothèse de l'effet protecteur du désengagement psychologique sur l'estime de soi : il a été démontré que le discrédit et la dévaluation blessent. De plus, plusieurs modérateurs ont été évalués afin d'expliquer la variance observée au niveau des résultats d'études antérieures. Les résultats indiquent, par exemple, que les blessures infligées par le discrédit et la dévaluation dans le milieu scolaire sont moins graves que celles dans le milieu de travail. Dans la foulée de cette méta-analyse, la quatrième étude a été menée par questionnaire auprès d'un groupe d'étudiants francophones en situation minoritaire (N = 107), afin d'évaluer l'apport de facilitateurs du désengagement psychologique. Il a été démontré que les étudiants dont l'estime de soi est liée à l'approbation des autres répondent davantage à la privation relative par le discrédit ; de plus, les résultats suggèrent que ce recours au discrédit suscite une plus forte baisse de l'estime de soi lorsque l'étudiant n'attribue pas de sens ou de signification psychologique à la poursuite des études. En somme, les quatre études ont permis de démontrer que 1) le désengagement psychologique peut être provoqué par les privations relatives sociale, temporelle et intragroupe ; 2) le recours au désengagement psychologique peut être provoqué par un traitement différentiel relié à des stigmas non visibles, comme le groupe professionnel et la langue ; 3) certains facteurs peuvent modérer le recours au désengagement psychologique ; 4) la séquence d'adoption des mécanismes de désengagement est plutôt stable mais l'identification au groupe mené plus directement à la dévaluation du domaine ; et 5) les mécanismes de désengagement psychologique ont un effet néfaste sur l'estime de soi ; 6) certains facteurs peuvent rendre l'un ou l'autre de ces mécanismes plus dommageable à l'estime de soi.

Bibliography: leaves 123-136. / Recognition of the need to develop black employees' interpersonal skills in order that they cope with the demands of the western business environment formed the backdrop to this study. The use of currently available self-report measures of assertiveness to assess behaviour change was questioned in terms of their psychometric properties and relevance to the black employee working in South African organisations. The aim of this study, therefore, was to develop a self-report instrument to measure assertiveness of black employees in work organisations. Another objective was the assessment of criterion-related validity. Information gathered from 12 in-depth interviews was used in the writing of new items and assisted in the modification of items from available self-report assertiveness measures. A preliminary questionnaire, consisting of 55 items was subsequently developed. After a number of changes, the questionnaire, consisting of a four-point Likert scale, was distributed to 80 potential respondents for the pilot study. A response rate of 37.5% enabled the analysis of 30 pilot study questionnaires. After further changes, 450 questionnaires were distributed through training and personnel managers from 10 major South African organisations sampling both the commercial and manufacturing business sectors. A response rate of 57% (240 questionnaires) allowed for the analysis of 234 usable questionnaires. The statistical analysis of responses was done by using both item and factor analytic techniques. After two phases of analysis a 20 item instrument with a three factor structure emerged. The first factor was labelled "anxiety behaviour in interpersonal situations", the second, "collaborative and complimentary behaviour", and the third factor "confronting behaviour". A sub-sample (n = 48) of peer-and self-ratings were correlated for each of the three factors to establish criterion-related validity. Results of this study supported the multidimensional and situation specific nature of the assertiveness construct. The value of developing measuring instruments suited to local conditions was also emphasised. However, the inadequate construct validity and reliability of the instrument indicates the need for further research before - application of the measure in decision making regarding the assertive behaviour of black employees.

No description available.

To make plan-based expert systems more accessible to end users we should develop interfaces that make the functionality of the planner seem natural and immediately understandable. In particular, we should design a graphical language and interface for the acquisition and display of plan knowledge, where the intended users are domain experts and novices. Lack of previous computer experience should not affect their performance. On the basis of existing theories in cognitive science and from our own experimental research, we propose a model of the user's view of tasks. The model postulates the domain experts' ability to recall relevant parts of self performed tasks. The validity of the model is demonstrated in a paper-and-pencil experiment involving 153 subjects. Employing an extended cognitive systems engineering approach we use the model, a stage process model of knowledge acquisition, and requirements from the plan formalism to specify DACRON, a visual language for plan acquisition and display embedded in a direct manipulation interface. DACRON supports the acquisition of plan knowledge by providing graphical representations of domain entities from the users' point of view. DACRON checks the consistency of specified units and graphically aids the debugging process. DACRON also allows the animated presentation of results of the planning process and its results. To evaluate the usability of DACRON and the relevance of the acquired and displayed knowledge, experimental studies involving 39 users are conducted. The studies show that over 90% of the subjects can easily use DACRON to enter knowledge, and 80% of the entered knowledge is relevant and correct. In the case of knowledge display, subjects are able to use the displayed knowledge effortlessly and apply it to solve 95% of the problems presented to them.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.