Thesis (Ph. D.)(Information Science)--University of Pretoria, 2002. / Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Background: Therapeutic relationships in psychiatry services have been shown to have a significant impact on outcomes for people in severe mental distress. Service user experience-based studies consistently show relationships are an important factor in either helping or hindering recovery. Few studies have conducted a detailed exploration into the interpersonal mechanisms within these relationships by asking service users directly about what emotional impact these relationships have had on them. This is important knowledge for improving the quality of mental healthcare for people in severe mental distress. Aims: The purpose was to co-create a piece of research with a service user organisation that explored services users' experiences and perceptions of helpful and hindering relationships with mental health practitioners. The aim was to gain a greater understanding of the components in the relationship that brought about psychological change. Little research about relationships in psychiatry settings has been conducted in collaboration with service users outside of government-led mental health services. Participants: Eight participants were recruited from the service user organisation. The participants self-reported as having a mental health problem. Seven of the eight participants had long-term experience of using psychiatry services. Method: This research was service user-informed. The data was collected using single in-depth interviews focused on service users' views of their relationships with mental health practitioners. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) methodology was used to analyse the data and explore the participants' lived experiences of relationships in mental health services. Findings: The main themes identified were 'Trying to survive: am I a person or just an object in the system', 'Traumatic experiences and relationships' and 'Transformative relationships'. The findings showed the transformative components of these relationships were power, security and identity. The findings highlighted how the participants experienced a relationship to the system of psychiatry through their relationships with staff. Conclusions: How the components of power, security and identity were managed by practitioners determined whether relationships helped or hindered recovery. The responsibility for relationships in psychiatry needs to be broadened beyond the interpersonal relationship provided by practitioners. The systemic institution of psychiatry based on statutory control, risk aversion, the biomedical model and under resourcing were a cause of many of the problems in relationships in psychiatry settings.

For many decades in India, natural resource management (NRM) programs were implemented by government bureaucracies in a centralized, top-down manner. The programs were unsustainable and suffered from resource use inefficiency and inequity. In the 1990s, under pressure from civil society organizations and multilateral agencies, the Government of India and many State Governments introduced policies that decentralized NRM programs and mandated active participation of users in the management of resources. When implementation responsibilities were transferred to resource user-groups many of the problems associated with centralization could be reduced significantly. However, despite their proven capacity of being better resource managers than government agencies, the user-groups encountered difficulties as self-governed people's organizations. Participation of users declined and problems of equity resurfaced in many user-groups. This dissertation describes the research that examines the causes of problems in the governance of user-groups in villages of Mehsana District in Gujarat. Using an eight-fold criteria of good governance, the study looks at eight Water Users Associations (WUAs) that took over irrigation management responsibilities from the Irrigation Department. This program of decentralization of irrigation is called Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM). The assessment of each WUA on each of the eight criteria reveals a close link between characteristics of good governance and the process of democratization. It can be seen that the WUAs that performed well on participation, equity, transparency, accountability, rule of law and consensus-orientation were less likely to face situations of dysfunction than the WUAs that performed poorly on these criteria. These criteria for good governance are also the core elements of democratic governance. At the same time, the case-studies reveal the tension between the democratization process that is attempted within the WUAs and the historical and cultural legacy of the feudal, autocratic and patriarchal society that rural India has been for many centuries. The thesis supports the argument, with empirical evidence, that the decentralization process can be sustainable only when user-groups institutionalize democratic processes and the early leaders behave in a democratic manner. It also suggests that the transition from an undemocratic institution to a democratic one can be enabled when external support agencies play an important catalytic role. / Science, Faculty of / Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for / Graduate

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Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / This study examined computer anxiety and motivation to learn in a computer class, using Csikszentmihalyi's Flow Theory, and Heinssen, Glass and Knight's Computer Anxiety Rating Scale (CARS), to explore the root causes of computer anxiety, and to determine anxiety's relationship to the motivation students have to participate in training. The study considered whether computer anxiety was more appropriately a form of trait anxiety, similar to Spielberger's State/Trait Anxiety, or a transitory state of anxiety independent of personality traits. The researcher assessed initial computer anxiety using the CARS, then sampled students' experience in the computer course during every class period using Csikszentmihalyi's Experience Sampling Form. Possible changes in computer anxiety were measured by mid-semester and end of semester administrations of the CARS, and regression analysis of the incidence of the Flow States. Achievement was measured by course grade, then correlated with incidence of the Flow States, and with pre-course CARS score. Csikszentmihalyi's conceptualization described the anxious state actually experienced in the computer laboratory class. The measurement of trait type of anxiety had no correlation with the students' actual experience of anxiety in the course. It was also determined that Csikszentmihalyi's Flow Theory described the psychological states of the students, and the relationship between students' motivation and their experience of anxiety. There was no correlation between the measurement of the students' trait type computer anxiety and their performance in the classroom, but the students' performance was significantly correlated with both the incidence of the Flow state and the Anxiety state. Student interviews complemented the data collection, and provided additional insight into the interactions between the students, their computers, and the computer laboratory environment. The researcher discussed the theoretical implications of the study, which demonstrated the validity of Csikszentmihalyi's Flow Theory, demonstrated the distinction between state and trait anxiety, and added to the growing body of research concerning Flow Theory. The researcher also discussed implications for educational practice, including careful pre-course screening, attention to intermediate educational objectives, and greater student control over the pace of learning. / 2031-01-02

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Šiame darbe atskleistas ir įvertintas įmonėje naudojamas mokymo procesas, sudarytas nuotolinių mokymų sistemos teorinis modelis. Įvertinta mokymų laiko ir kaštų pagrindinės dalys ir sąnaudos. Remiantis įmonėje atliktu tyrimu, ištirti mokymo ir mokymosi versle poreikiai bei trūkumai, išskirti nuotolinio mokymo sistemos pagrindiniai reikalavimai. Pasiūlytos pagrindinės nuotolinio mokymo sistemos charakteristikos ir įrankiai joms realizuoti. Realizuoti demonstraciniai nuotoliniai mokymai ir gautas grįžtamasis ryšys iš vartotojų. / The theoretic model of e-learning system and processes of modern teaching and learning, which operate in business, also teaching/learning time and value are reviewed in this paper. The company personnel’s demand for learning was examined with a purpose to reveal the advantages and weaknesses of teaching and learning systems. Basic requirements and tools for distance learning were described according the above-mentioned examinations. A prototype distance learning system was tested in real-life training of the users of a new software systems. The feedback of training participants was collected and analyzed.

A survey of the literature has suggested that most of IT system failure in information system development is due to problems of identifying and meeting users' requirements. Conventional systems that support the waterfall approach try to focus on defining information processing requirements rather than looking at IT from a wider perspective. This approach complicates the relationship between the client who 'owns' the problem and the developer who seeks to solve it. Therefore it is common for systems to be created which do not satisfy the needs of their human operators even though they are technically sound. The main aim of the research is to develop a new methodology that can contribute to the effective determination of user requirement. The new methodology has been constructed from unifying ORDIT (Organisational Requirement Definition for Information Technology) and ISAC (Information System Work and Analysis of Change) methodologies. Therefore it can solve a certain set of problems, some which are solved by ORDIT, some which are also solved by ISAC and some which neither of the two methodologies can solve. The activity model used in ISAC is insufficient for solving the organisational issues, therefore it is replaced with the responsibility model which is taken from ORDIT. The responsibility model is used in order to give a clearer understanding of the organisation's structure, aim, objectives and policies. The tables and tools, which are used in the change analysis stage ofISAC, will be used in the new methodology for the purpose of identifying the business problem, user objectives and change needs. These tools and models are used in order to elicit requirements for different problem owner in different levels of the organisation. The new methodology has been applied to a real case study in order to demonstrate and evaluate its performance and usefulness. This case study showed the new methodology to be useful and effective.

Chromo stereoscopy (CS) is a simple and cost effective 3D system that can easily deliver geospatial information. CS has been used in several scientific data presentations, including remote sensing, physical modelling and hydrographic applications. In some of these applications the 3D effect was solely CS-related, while others integrated CS with other methods of implementing 3D. CS was mainly used in static visualisation, but no dynamic applications were found. Also, the restricted use of colour was acknowledged as a limitation for CS suggesting its unsuitability for applications where colour conventions are significant. This research focuses on CS for the marine applications and aims to (i) investigate users’ perception to CS effect and its interaction with other depth cues, (ii) assess the acceptance of the potential users to the changes in conventional colouring systems, (iii) and evaluate the usability and practicality of CS as an additional visualisation system in dynamic marine applications. To address these, visual scenarios were developed and expert human participants were recruited and interview for the evaluation. CS was well perceived among the participants. The interaction between different depth cues has advantages of increasing the depth perception and comprehending the 3D nature of the surrounding environment. For instance, from a certain view angle where two objects block each other, CS enhances the interposition effect, that indicates which object is in the front and gives a qualitative estimation of the spatial separation between them. Shading increases the realism of surface objects, and provides information for their undulation. It also dilutes the colours used in CS and increases the range of colours perceived and enhances the effect perceived from CS. The advantage of using the colour coding system to indicate distance is a valuable and original outcome of this thesis. This coding improved the participants understanding of the behaviour of moving objects (whether vessels coming closer or drifting apart) and enabled users to locate them in reference to the surrounding topography. Such knowledge is important to attain safer operations in a 3D environment. Accepting changes in colours in a visual presentation is linked to experience gained during interaction with the system, and the changes would be tolerated by the users in favour of improvements in situation awareness. Blind navigation and underwater operations are examples of where CS can be beneficial.

This thesis focuses on contribution of users in innovation activities. Through the case analysis of a mid-small sized tech company specialized in technology testing, we study one of the main innovative projects, undertaken for a client. Employing interviews and questionnaires throughout our research, we identify characteristics of client-users who contribute substantially in the ideation development and testing of the new innovation. The company deviating from their routinized testing activities, integrate the knowledge generated by those users in a particular way. We observe, analyze and make a critique upon those knowledge integration strategies, implemented by the company at this stage. The study highlights how the firm responds to the stimulus of those users involvement, aiming to give an interpretation of the phenomenon.