Hey Queenie... From the looks of the Others inhabiting the barracks, it seems they wanted to keep up appearances as if they were still Dharma, keeping a guy in the Flame, a couple guys in the Swan... etc. Perhaps Harper isn't actually her name, but she was a hostile who took over the persona of an old Dharma person, the real Harper, and that's why she really was a terrible psychiatrist. That's my two cents there.

I don't know what a box maker is, but I shall google the device and see what I can come up with.