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User Centred Design is accepted as being essential to good software design, only by involving the users throughout the development process can the developers understand what the end users really want (Sharp et al., 2007). One area which has in the past had little experience of User Centred Design is Assistive Technology, and in particular Augmentative and Alternative Communication software (Waller et al., 2005a). Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) offer the possibility of being able to access communication for people with Severe Speech and Physical Impairments.This thesis describes a software development study which investigated methods currently used in software development and how they could be adapted for use with this population. The way difficulties cited in the literature when working with this population were tackled are also discussed. The study involved four adults with Severe Speech and Physical Impairments in the User Centred Development of a piece of assistive software.The study found that with careful planning it was possible to conduct User Centred Design with participants with Severe Speech and Physical Impairments, the lessons from this study were translated into recommendations and provided to a second developer who wished to work with adults with Severe Speech and Physical Impairments. The second study found similar levels of contribution to the features of the software were found in the pilot study. This work has demonstrated the potential for adults with Severe Speech and Physical Impairments to be actively involved (i.e. contribute a high proportion of the features) in the development of Augmentative and Alternative Communication software. A number of areas for further investigation have been identified including the differences found in usability of devices developed using User Centred Design compared to traditional methods, and also how adults with Severe Speech and Physical Impairments can be more actively included in a range of research fields.

In recent times much research has been carried out regarding the use of organic materials to fabricate electronic devices, for example diodes and thin film transistors. This thesis examines the use of polymers and small molecule materials to fabricate these devices with the aim of developing a greater understanding of their operation and to provide the basis for the development of circuits. Various materials are used to fabricate Schottky diodes and the measurements enable them to be compared. Equations are developed to describe the operation of the diodes and to facilitate the modelling of circuits. Schottky diode characteristics were also studied at various temperatures. This is important since many of the materials do not conduct heat very readily and the effect of internal heating may be important. Temperature measurements also provide useful evidence of the nature of the conduction process and demonstrate the validity of the analytical work. Such models often, unintentionally, have temperature as one of the variables. Capacitance measurements were obtained for the Schottky diodes to establish how the depletion region width alters with frequency, applied voltage and doping. A series of expressions were also derived to establish the theoretical relationships between the parameters and these were checked against experimental results. The transient response of the diodes was also modelled and compared to experimental results. This was carried out at both a uniform temperature and at varying temperatures.The final chapter of the thesis moves onto polycrystalline materials as opposed to polymers. The reason for this was the higher carrier mobility. It is practically important to have a single set of equations for both disordered and polycrystalline material if they are to be modelled in design software. This part of the project was to establish how the different transport mechanisms compare and also how parameters such as Tc vary between different kinds of material. The polycrystalline experiments were completed using TFTs because diodes fabricated with polycrystalline material were not available at the time. Having completed this work it is apparent that further work could be undertaken to aid the analytical aspects of the subject. Polycrystalline diodes need to be studied and compared with disordered diodes. Assessment of the potential value of the two types, for circuit applications, is essential, particularly from the point of view of circuit performance and cost. This implies an extension of the work to flexible substrates. It would also be of use to fabricate the devices in more ideal conditions to eliminate the effects of air. A wider range of temperatures should also be used to establish how internal heating of the devices affects the results. The effect of temperature on device capacitance and measurements under pulsed inputs would go someway to describing the mechanisms involved with digital circuits.

Adventure sport participation numbers have significantly increased over the period of the past ten years; it has been suggested that the emergence of an experience economy, where experiences have more value than possessions, could be a key factor for this increase. Motivations for taking part in an adventure sport activity varies between participants, and perhaps even more so than those motivations that were expressed by participants’ pre-experience economy. There are a number of theories about increased participant numbers; for example, the type of demographic, how they approach participation, and approximate suggestions of how the trend for experiences rather than possessions will evolve in the future. However, there is little that explores the experiences of these newer participants, how they behave, and how they are being received by the adventure sport industry. Additionally, there is no evidence to suggest a definite understanding of the needs and requirements of these participants, nor has an investigation been conducted to measure how well the industry is meeting these. Likewise, the potential to adapt existing provision, to expose untapped opportunities, appears unconsidered, and therefore may have benefit for both providers and participants. This study took its lead from using a process of problematization, whereby the problem is explored, identified and defined by the designer(s), rather than presented to them to solve. Using this approach, a hybrid methodologies model was designed and tested to explore the perceptions and experiences of adventure sport participants, to identify any changes that may be occurring as a result of the experience economy and increased numbers of participants taking up an adventure sport activity. Immersive ethnographic and qualitative methods were implemented to better understand identified changes and issues, and quantitative methods were used to elaborate on, confirm and validate the findings. By doing this it was also possible to establish the efficacy of taking a lived experience approach to identifying and exploring emergent and currently unaddressed issues. The study identified three key themes of interest to adventure sport participants: provision of information, ability to accurately assess skill level and participate safely, and being a part of the adventure sport community. These emerging themes were problematizated, validated, and a process of co-design and ideation was used to establish and suggest a solution that could be implemented by the industry to solve the identified issues. This study highlights the potential of using lived experiences to identify a problem, and employs new mixed methodologies to develop a better understanding of critical factors occurring within a specific industry and its associated communities. The study uses this knowledge to generate a designed solution. The theories and methods discussed by the study have transferable values, and could be used within a wide range of other subject areas, being especially useful when a hypothesis proves difficult to identify and define at the outset of a study.