This volume constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 24th EuroSPI conference, held in Ostrava, Czech Republic, in September 2017.The 56 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 97 submissions. They are organized in topical sections on SPI and VSEs, SPI and process models, SPI and safety, SPI and project management, SPI and implementation, SPI issues, SPI and automotive, selected key notes and workshop papers, GamifySPI, SPI in Industry 4.0, best practices in implementing traceability, good and bad practices in improvement, safety and security, experiences with agile and lean, standards and assessment models, team skills and diversity strategies.

This textbook is intended for SPI (software process improvement) managers and - searchers, quality managers, and experienced project and research managers. The papers constitute the research proceedings of the 16th EuroSPI (European Software Process Improvement, www.eurospi.net) conference held in Alcala (Madrid region), September 2-4, 2009, Spain. Conferences have been held since 1994 in Dublin, 1995 in Vienna (Austria), 1997 in Budapest (Hungary), 1998 in Gothenburg (Sweden), 1999 in Pori (Finland), 2000 in Copenhagen (Denmark), 2001 in Limerick (Ireland), 2002 in Nuremberg (G- many), 2003 in Graz (Austria), 2004 in Trondheim (Norway), 2005 in Budapest (Hungary), 2006 in Joensuu (Finland), 2007 in Potsdam (Germany), 2008 in Dublin (Ireland), and 2009 in Alcala (Spain). EuroSPI established an experience library (library.eurospi.net) which will be conti- ously extended over the next few years and will be made available to all attendees. EuroSPI also created an umbrella initiative for establishing a European Qualification Network in which different SPINs and national initiatives join mutually beneficial collaborations (ECQA - European Certification and Qualification Association, www.ecqa.org). With a general assembly during October 15-16, 2007 through Euro-SPI partners and networks, in collaboration with the European Union (supported by the EU L- nardo da Vinci Programme) a European certification association has been created (www.eu-certificates.org, www.ecqa.org) for the IT and services sector to offer SPI knowledge and certificates to industry, establishing close knowledge transfer links between research and industry.

Winner of the 2021 BPS Popular Science Book Award 'Read this incredible book. I wept and I learnt' - Prof Tanya Byron 'This book comes from the heart' - Roman Kemp 'Compassionate, personal and thought-provoking' - Prof Steve Peters When you are faced with the unthinkable, this is the book you can turn to. Suicide is baffling and devastating in equal measures, and it can affect any one of us: one person dies by suicide every 40 seconds. Yet despite the scale of the devastation, for family members and friends, suicide is still poorly understood. Drawing on decades of work in the field of suicide prevention and research, and having been bereaved by suicide twice, Professor O'Connor is here to help. This book will untangle the complex reasons behind suicide and dispel any unhelpful myths. For those trying to help someone vulnerable, it will provide indispensable advice on communication, stressing the importance of listening to fears and anxieties without judgment. And for those who are struggling to get through the tragedy of suicide, it will help you find strength in the darkest of places.

From dodgy home haircuts and TikTok dance crazes to banana-bread baking and checkpoint cheek, even in lockdown social media star and comedian Rory O'Connor found plenty of opportunities to keep everyone laughing. Filled with Rory's trademark banter and observational gems, this infectious (!) and hilarious lockdown lookback will make you nostalgic for outdoor dining in the rain and loo roll shortages!

Suicide is increasingly recognized as a major global issue of public health, with far-reaching social, economic, and emotional consequences. The World Health Organization estimates that around 800,000 people die each year by suicide, with suicide attempts perhaps up to twenty times more frequent than the completed act. Moreover, in the past thirty years global suicide rates have increased by a dizzying 60 per cent. (For example, in Japan-after Russia, the developed world's leading suicide nation-more than 33,000 people committed suicide in 2007.) Some general facts are now widely known. For instance: suicide is mainly a (young) male act; mental disorders (such as depression and schizophrenia) are strongly associated with the majority of suicide cases; and suicide rates tend to increase during times of economic downturn, and decrease when individuals within society are well integrated-which probably explains why suicide rates tend to decline during wars. Also, certain groups of people (e.g. alcoholics, the bereaved, prisoners, and migrants) are recognized to be at particular risk of suicide. While it is possible to make such generalizations, many urgent questions, of course, remain unanswered. Consequently, practical and scholarly research better to understand the complex interaction of psychological, genetic, sociological, and environmental factors that may lead to suicide flourishes as never before, not least in the hope of instigating effective suicide-prevention strategies and initiatives. However, much of the literature remains inaccessible or is highly specialized and compartmentalized, so that it is often difficult to obtain an informed overview. To enable users to make sense of the sheer scale of the growth in research output-and the breadth of the field-this new four-volume collection from Routledge's Major Themes in Health and Social Welfare series answers the need for a comprehensive reference work offering wide-ranging and multidisciplinary perspectives on suicide and suicidal behaviour. Edited by two of the world's leading authorities, the collection brings together canonical and the very best cutting-edge research. Suicide will be welcomed by professionals and policy-makers. It will also be an invaluable reference resource for students and scholars working in the field, as well as users from a wide range of allied disciplines-such as nursing, education, social work, and law-who increasingly require an understanding of the issues this collection explores.

Nobody thought Rory O'Connor would make it - written off as 'thick' at school he struggled to find a career he felt he could succeed in. When a hot tip led to a win on the horses it was the beginning of a dangerous spiral into a gambling addiction that gnawed away at his self-esteem even further. How did the man who thought he had nothing to live for go on to become a stand-up comedian selling out venues around Ireland and reaching 800,000 people through his social media platforms? This is Rory's Story. Told with his trademark humour, this straight-talking memoir is a book for anyone who wants to be inspired by an ordinary man's mental health journey. 'A witty and moving look behind one of the biggest comedy success stories of recent years.' Donal Lynch, Sunday Independent 'Great Read' Kieran Cuddihy, The Hard Shoulder ''Brilliant' Dermot and Dave

From weddings and wakes to hangovers, pre-marriage courses, working as an apprentice on a building site, Irish summers, the Irish abroad, smart-arse barmen, more hangovers, aspiring TDs, the GAA lotto man, going on the hop from school and Irish mammies. Based on the hugely successful Rory's Stories Facebook page, The Rory's Stories Guide to Being Irish is a laugh-out-loud guide to the most important things about being Irish.

Based on the popular Facebook page, which regularly reaches over 500,000 people, The Rory's Stories Guide to the GAA sends up a certain kind of lad obsessed with the GAA calendar, his local club and county team above everything else. This hilarious guide to the GAA covers it all: bleep tests; post-game hangovers; forty-way WhatsApp conversations; that lad always doing his hamstring; fair-weather Dub supporters; old men who've umpired every parish game since the Civil War; Marty Morrissey's forehead; ham sandwiches; dirty corner-backs; more hangovers; impenetrable Kerry accents; weight training followed by ten pints; pretending to understand tactics; lobbing it up to the big lad; prima donna corner forwards... Infinitely recognisable and laugh-out-loud funny, it's the perfect gift for GAA fans. 'A must read for all GAA fans' - Steven McDonnell, former Armagh Footballer 'Haven't put this book down all evening' -Marc O Se, Kerry Footballer

In today's sick world, the application of psychological research and methods to issues about and around health could not be more important. Health psychologists pursue ambitious goals, including: the promotion and maintenance of health; the prevention and management of illness; the improvement of healthcare systems; and the formulation of rational health policies. And they seek to understand dizzyingly difficult questions, such as: how do people adapt to chronic illness? What factors influence healthy eating? How is stress linked to heart disease? And, why do so many patients ignore medical advice and prescriptions? As research in and around health psychology burgeons as never before, this new four-volume collection from Routledge's acclaimed Critical Concepts in Psychology series meets the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of a rapidly growing and ever more complex corpus of literature. Edited by two leading scholars, the collection gathers foundational and canonical work, together with innovative and cutting-edge applications and interventions. With a full index, together with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editors, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Health Psychology will be particularly useful as a one-stop database allowing scattered and often fugitive material to be easily located. It will also be welcomed as a crucial tool permitting rapid access to less familiar-and sometimes overlooked-texts. For researchers and advanced students, it is a vital one-stop research and reference resource.