Pair programming is a software development method which describes two programmers working together on the same computer, sharing one keyboard. This approach requires programmers to communicate frequently, which can lead the pair to experience certain benefits over solo programming, such as faster problem solving and a greater enjoyment of their work (Cockburn and Williams, 2001, Bryant et al., 2006). Many programmers approach their first pairing experience with scepticism, having doubts about their partner’s working habits and programming style, and about the additional communication aspects that this programming style entails (Williams et al., 2000). Despite a significant amount of research into pair programming of over 15 years, it is not evident what communication between the pair contributes to the task of pair programming. This work presents an analytic coding scheme which was derived from the observation of the communication of expert pairs working in industry. Over 35 hours of communication across 11 different pairs was analysed. This coding scheme was further refined to produce industry-inspired pair programming guidelines that assist novice pair programmers to improve their experience of pair communication. Findings indicate that introducing these guidelines to novice student pairs can have a positive impact on their perception of intra-pair communication, and on their perception of their partner’s contribution. Feedback received from expert pairs was used to add detail to the guidelines, which have been made publically available through an online resource.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-146).

<p> Since 2010, 2,000 U. S. leaders spent $150 billion on return on investment (ROI) training, yet questions still exist on how to measure the benefits of organizational change. The purpose of this embedded single-case study was to explore how business leaders could use ROI to characterize the benefit of intervention strategies for organizational change. Stakeholder theory and Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory formed the conceptual framework for this study. A purposive sample of 20 civilian personnel managers located at a medical facility for veterans in central Texas participated in semistructured interviews. The 5 primary themes that emerged using thematic analysis were (a) training, (b) leadership, (c) communication, (d) recognition, and (e) consistency. Implications for positive social change include the possibility of organizational leaders applying these findings to develop better intervention strategies. Such interventions could improve processes for stakeholders and create an open dialogue with business leaders within the government sector.</p>

<p> Ghana has experienced solid economic and social development during the years before the finding of oil. Now that oil has been found, one should not forget that there are many countries in Africa which are rather cursed than blessed with natural resources. This phenomenon is known as the resource curse or more specifically the oil curse. This paper attempts to uncover the most challenging areas for Ghana, when its government wants to lift the resource curse. It further shows that Ghana is well prepared to tackle the negative effects of being oil abundant, by using the well-established models and concepts, which build on empirical analysis. Literature provides a lot to describe the oil curse, including the so called Dutch disease as well as conflicts, corruption, violence and bad governance, to mention a few. This paper will - in a case study approach- apply the concepts on Ghana and -with a qualitative comparative research design- expose the best practices from which Ghana can learn most. It will also show that Ghana's relatively good institutions will be able to implement most of the suggested policies which oppose the resource curse. </p><p> The outcome will be that Ghana's political environment, although far from perfect, is well prepared to deal with windfall oil revenues. Furthermore Ghana due its good structure of institutions and its stabilizing macroeconomic policies in the last decades, Ghana will be able to engage in best practice policies.</p>

Laboratory experimentation was once considered impossible or irrelevant in economics. Recently, however, economic science has gone through a real ‘laboratory revolution’, and experimental economics is now a most lively subfield of the discipline. The methodological advantages and disadvantages of controlled experimentation constitute the main subject of this thesis. After a survey of the literature on experiments in philosophy and economics (chapter one), the problem of testing normative theories of rationality is tackled (chapter two). This philosophical issue was at the centre of a famous controversy in decision theory (the ‘Allais controversy’), during which a methodology of normative falsification was first articulated and used to assess experimental results. In the third chapter, the methodological advantages of controlled experimentation are illustrated and discussed with examples taken from the experiments on the so-called ‘preference reversal’ phenomenon. Laboratory testing allows to establish with a high degree of certainty that certain phenomena lie behind the experimental data, by means of independent testing, elimination of alternative hypotheses, and the use of different instruments of observation. The fourth chapter is devoted to a conceptual analysis of the problem of ‘parallelism’. This is the problem of inferring from the occurrence of a phenomenon in the laboratory, to its (possible) instantiation also in non-laboratory environments. Experimental economists have discussed parallelism at length, and their views are presented and criticised. Eventually, it is argued that parallelism is a factual matter and as such can only be established on empirical grounds. The fifth chapter provides an example of how one can argue for parallelism, focusing on the case of experimentation on the ‘winner’s curse’ phenomenon. The role of experiments as ‘mediators’ between theoretical models and their target domain of application is illustrated, and the structure of parallelism arguments analysed in detail. Finally, in the last chapter, economic experiments are compared to simulations, in order to highlight their specific characteristics.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-164).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Political Science. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Philosophy, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Sept. 10, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 226-232). Also issued in print.

No description available.

This thesis aims to examine a number of issues related to exchange rate movements at different time horizons: long-run, in terms of investigating equilibrium real exchange rates; medium-run, in terms of investigating predictability of exchange rates in out-of-sample forecasting contexts; and short-run, in terms of studying high-frequency exchange rate dynamics in the actual foreign exchange trading. Specifically, we reassess four topics concerning exchange rate movements through macroeconomic fundamental analysis and microstructure approaches to exchange rates. With macro approaches, our study demonstrates, in a panel data setting, the link between real exchange rates and net foreign asset could be through the association between real exchange rates and trade balance. The panel study indicates the heterogeneity, in terms of the association between real exchange rates and trade balance, between the OECD economies and less mature economies. Our study on the monetary exchange rate model indicates the monetary model can describe the long-run behaviour of nominal exchange rates. Furthermore, we find the short-term exchange rate deviation adjustments to equilibrium and nonlinearities involved in the association between exchange rates and monetary fundamentals. With micro approaches, our study demonstrates, in short run, order flow has a significant impact on the contemporaneous exchange rate dynamics. However, we observe the prediction of order flow on the future exchange rate is quite weak. Our study also finds the weak interaction between macro news and private information in the exchange rate volatility study.