Organizational leaders who can manage business intelligence system (BIS) resources may achieve sustainable success in economic, political, and corporate environments. The review of professional literature indicated that effective resource management in a BIS environment requires the establishment of best practice. The purpose of this qualitative, single-case study was to explore best practices among 9 BIS practitioners for effective resource management. Participation criteria included the active engagement in BIS professional disciplines and the willingness to share their perspectives. The conceptual framework for this study was the cognitive experiential self-theory (CEST). Five leaders and 4 data analysts at an eastern U.S. county government agency were interviewed. Using computer based qualitative data analysis software to assist with the coding process, interview transcripts and the published directives of government agency leaders were reviewed to identify themes and achieve triangulation. Five themes emerged: the need for comprehensive policies and procedures for creating operating standards, updated data acquisition training, human capital dynamics management for improved efficiency, protocols for transforming raw information into knowledge, and safeguards for preventing bias in data analysis. Findings derived from this study could contribute to global social change as BIS leaders use best practices to improve resource and data management proficiencies for rapidly transforming information into knowledge for developing policies, services, and regulations that affect public safety, fiscal planning, and social risk management.

Mechanisms of change in psychotherapy must be empirically investigated to shed light on how particular therapies work, as well as common mechanisms that may be at work across modalities. The current study investigated a proposed mechanism of change in a mindfulness intervention; this proposed mechanism, experiential avoidance (EA), may function more broadly as a mediator of change across multiple therapies. The primary hypothesis was that gains in mindfulness over the course of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) would be associated with reductions in negative affect, and that changes in EA would mediate the relation between changes in mindfulness and negative affect. The role of EA in mediating the effect of mindfulness on positive affect, disability, and life satisfaction was also investigated. Participants (N = 106) completed questionnaires before and after an 8-week MBSR program. A subset of participants (n = 74) completed questionnaires at the mid-point of treatment, and recorded time spent on mindfulness practice and level of relaxation after homework completion. Mediation analyses were conducted in which relations between change in predictor (mindfulness), mediator (EA), and outcome measures over the course of the intervention were assessed using regression steps, followed by PRODCLIN. Participants reported significant improvements in mindfulness, reductions in EA and disability, and improved affect and life satisfaction from pre- to post-MBSR. The relation between increased mindfulness and reduced negative affect over the course of the intervention was partially mediated by reduced EA. No evidence was found for relaxation as an additional mediator of the relation between mindfulness and negative affect. The relation between increased mindfulness and positive affect over the course of the intervention was fully mediated by decreased behavioral avoidance. Reductions in behavioral avoidance also fully mediated the relation between increased mindfulness and reduced disability. The relation between increased mindfulness and increased life satisfaction was mediated by EA. More mindfulness practice was linked with greater positive affect; the relation between practice and positive affect was mediated by EA. This study offers support for EA as a mediator of the effect of mindfulness on multiple outcomes, while highlighting a mechanism of change that may pertain across psychotherapeutic modalities.

Delay discounting (the devaluation of rewards delayed in time) has been studied extensively using animal models with psychophysical adjustment procedures. Similar procedures were soon developed to assess delay discounting in humans. Although across species the same mathematical function relates discounted value to imposed delay, several methodological concerns have been implicated in human delay discounting procedures. A procedure recently developed to address these concerns is the Experiential Discounting Task (EDT). This task arranges experienced delays and rewards that humans make decisions regarding—experiencing the outcomes of their choices within session before making additional choices. The popularity of this procedure has been fueled by reports of its sensitivity to acute experimental manipulation, and that it has been predictive of treatment success. Similar sensitivity results have not been found when a traditional delay discounting task (DDT) has been used. Though the EDT appears useful for a variety of reasons, it has not been subjected to the same rigorous internal validity and reliability tests that traditional DDTs have. In two experiments we examined the test-retest reliability of the EDT (Experiment 1) and the way in which choice trials are regulated (Experiment 2). Results demonstrate that the EDT is reliable across time and choice is insensitive to trial regulation differences. We conclude with a critique of the EDT as a procedure for assessing delay discounting and hypothesize other processes it may be measuring.

In this thesis a discursive examination of backpacker attitudes towards and use of a New Zealand tourism website, based on their own accounts of their experiences of using the web for travel, offers a contribution to existing knowledge about human computer interaction. The study enhances current understandings of the processes through which backpackers interact with travel websites by including the social and personal context of their experience. Analysing interview data on user attitudes and behaviour, it argues the importance of taking into account the use-context of human computer interactions. Placing participants’ interaction with the newzealand.com website within themes of imagination, emotional engagement, and authenticity in experience allows an exploration of such context. It demonstrates that backpackers’ engagement with websites is shaped not only by their material circumstances but by their attitudes to travel in general, their assumptions and feelings about New Zealand as a place, and as a site for their own experiences. The research applies usability techniques and methods to observe and inquire into tourists’ experiential interaction with a destination website. The emotional, affective, reflective and behavioural aspects of tourists’ decision making processes are studied in order to show how websites, as a medium of communication, evoke users’ travel imaginings. In this way the study contributes to research into tourists’ web-related motivation and behaviour. In addition, by applying discursive, performative, and experiential lenses drawn from travel research to human-computer interaction, it augments current research techniques for studying the social effects of virtual technology and web related human behaviour. The thesis explores themes of representation of place and self in relation to backpacker experiences and frames them in terms of authenticity and trust. It argues that in navigating places, backpackers seek authentic experiences and that this notion of authenticity is mediated by their encounters with other travellers, locals, tourism providers, as well as books, television and the Internet. Websites as travel information sources shape how backpackers think about their tourist experiences; to do this effectively, what the site presents must resonate with the backpacker’s views on how they think those experiences should be.

The project was informed by non-rational modes of perception which explored the matrix of dream, imagination, my body and the viewer. The material from this matrix was brought together and translated into artworks through the use of every day materials, techniques and procedures. The resulting artwork offered an experience in the form of an installation which included projected images, aural landscapes, tactile surfaces and spatial constructions.

This research focuses on the academic programs at the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm (the Farm). The Farm is a centre for sustainability learning and research, providing a working model of sustainable food systems with which to engage students, faculty and community. The Farm is situated within the global context of a dominant industrial food paradigm that is demonstrated to be a major contributor to the social and ecological crises the world now faces. The Farm is further situated within the context of a dominant education paradigm that provides most students with knowledge that is disconnected from social and ecological realities, leading to the misuse of knowledge and to the exacerbation of global crises. The purpose of this research is to explore the contributions that the Farm’s academic programs provide toward advancing sustainability learning from the perspective of program participants, including myself. The research methodology was guided by participatory approaches to research. Qualitative methods were employed, focusing primarily on surveys and semi-structured interviews with program participants. I have also been an involved participant in a diversity of programs at the Farm from April 2004 – December 2008. The results of the research suggest that program participants value the ability to engage with their subject matter, not only on an abstract/theoretical level, but also on practical and affective levels. Participants feel that UBC is lacking in programs that allow students to engage physically and emotionally with their learning. Students feel their knowledge will be better recalled and more likely to be useful if they care about what they are learning, if they can engage with it in a real world context, and if they have some ownership and responsibility for what they are learning. Further, program participants feel that the Farm’s academic programs would benefit from providing more theoretical context and connection to their other academic work, from additions and improvements to Farm infrastructure and resources, and from additional human resources support. This research project was site specific. Nevertheless, it connects with and complements work being done at dozens of universities, colleges and student farms around the world.

Experiential education has impacted many classrooms across the United States since its inception. Experiential learning, for this study, is defined as the process of learning by experiences. For this study a specific course at Texas A&M University was observed to identify the aspects of the course that directly impacted the students' transfer of knowledge. This study identifies the themes within the course that impacted the students over one year after the completion of the course. It describes the five themes that emerged from data collection as: the role of the instructor as facilitator, the student's role is active, learning by experiences, deep learning, and emotional connection. These themes were consistent with previous research on experiential learning. The findings in this study revealed that knowledge is transferred after deep learning occurs, and that reflection and intrinsic motivation are two contributing factors of knowledge transfer. This study found that an experiential learning based course is effective in promoting deep learning. Since the sole purpose of this course was to teach the students how to teach the content of experiential learning as well as how to use experimental education methods, this particular course was effective in promoting deep learning. In the future, researchers should continue to observe the higher retention levels due to reflection, and note its results in other disciplines. Reflection is believed to be the key ingredient in experiential learning that contributes to knowledge transfer and application.

The main purpose of this study was to explore the situation of experiential theories merging into the teaching of Integrative Activities Learning Area in elementary schools. Samples were taken from two classes of fourth graders at a primary school in Kaohsiung. One class of the subjects was used as the experimental group and the other class was used as the control group. Experiential theories were emerged into the Integrative Activities Learning Area teaching of the experimental group, while the control group received the traditional lecture. The courses lasted six weeks. After completion of the course, students from both groups filled up the Integrative Activities Learning Area attitude questionnaires. The research also adopted qualitative research method, which includes observation, interview, questionnaire, and document analysis. As a result, the following conclusions were obtained: 1. Students were used to thinking in one way about discussion chart¡FThey confused suspense with surprise about assessment chart¡FThey could reflect over reflection chart . 2. Students loved visiting and performance, because of fun, inter- action and challenge. 3. Discussion chart and assessment chart could be applied to formative assessment¡FReflection chart could be applied to summative assessment. 4. Understanding the member enhanced learning performance. 5. Teachers must be flexible when they merge experiential theories into Integrative Activities Learning Area teaching. 6. When students had good attitude towards group cooperation, their learning performances were fine. 7. Merging experiential theories into Integrative Activities Learning Area teaching could enhance students¡¦ attitude toward Integrative Activities Learning Area.

Thesis (EdD)--Open University.

Thesis(Ph.D.)--Case Western Reserve University, 2010 / Title from PDF (viewed on 2010-01-28) Department of Organizational Behavior Includes abstract Includes bibliographical references and appendices Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center