There has been an influx in the number of African people entering North America since the 1960's. Despite the fact that women who emigrate from Africa tend to be more highly educated compared to the rest of Canada's population, they are far more likely to be unemployed and low-income (Statistics Canada, 2007: 7). Economic security is linked to decision-making power in many aspects of a woman’s life, including personal safety and freedom of choice. The original research question investigated in this study was how do female African immigrants in the Region of Waterloo access the services they require to gain economic security? The intent of the study was to explore how the services in the Region of Waterloo are accessed by African immigrants with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. However, during the interview process the information collected extended beyond the initial research question. The analysis of the research answers three important questions. What are the various types of resources that women need to access in order to achieve economic self-sufficiency? How do they find out what these resources are? How can they acquire them? The qualitative research used in-depth interviews that were conducted with fifteen African women living in the Region of Waterloo. The analysis of the thesis emerged from the lived experiences of the participants following a feminist ethnographic approach. Women were given the opportunity to discuss their personal backgrounds and their reasons for leaving their countries of origin from their perspectives. The barriers to economic security after arriving in the region were analyzed with special attention to the unique barriers women face because of care-taking responsibilities. The impact of the loss of social support networks was explained. The use of government support services was discussed, leading into an analysis of the lack of information regarding support services. Participants identified that there is collective action of African immigrant women in non-profit organizations operating to fill the information gap. There are a number of important conclusions that can be drawn from this research. First, the women interviewed argued that they felt that it was the government’s responsibility to provide economic support services to new African immigrant families in order to help them become established. Second, although the government does have a number of programs designed to economically assist immigrants, they are not accessible nor do they reflect the needs of African immigrant women. Third, non-profit women’s organizations in the region are effective in providing information about available resources, and do take the needs of African women into consideration. Fourth, non-profit organizations in the region empower African women locally and help them to integrate into the community. Finally, participants asserted that non-profit organizations should be funded by the government in order to be able to provide sufficient economic support to community members. This research adds to the actions of local non-profit agencies and builds a needed step in bridging that gap between government and non-profit organizations by acknowledging the contribution of non-profit organizations.

There has been an influx in the number of African people entering North America since the 1960's. Despite the fact that women who emigrate from Africa tend to be more highly educated compared to the rest of Canada's population, they are far more likely to be unemployed and low-income (Statistics Canada, 2007: 7). Economic security is linked to decision-making power in many aspects of a woman’s life, including personal safety and freedom of choice. The original research question investigated in this study was how do female African immigrants in the Region of Waterloo access the services they require to gain economic security? The intent of the study was to explore how the services in the Region of Waterloo are accessed by African immigrants with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. However, during the interview process the information collected extended beyond the initial research question. The analysis of the research answers three important questions. What are the various types of resources that women need to access in order to achieve economic self-sufficiency? How do they find out what these resources are? How can they acquire them? The qualitative research used in-depth interviews that were conducted with fifteen African women living in the Region of Waterloo. The analysis of the thesis emerged from the lived experiences of the participants following a feminist ethnographic approach. Women were given the opportunity to discuss their personal backgrounds and their reasons for leaving their countries of origin from their perspectives. The barriers to economic security after arriving in the region were analyzed with special attention to the unique barriers women face because of care-taking responsibilities. The impact of the loss of social support networks was explained. The use of government support services was discussed, leading into an analysis of the lack of information regarding support services. Participants identified that there is collective action of African immigrant women in non-profit organizations operating to fill the information gap. There are a number of important conclusions that can be drawn from this research. First, the women interviewed argued that they felt that it was the government’s responsibility to provide economic support services to new African immigrant families in order to help them become established. Second, although the government does have a number of programs designed to economically assist immigrants, they are not accessible nor do they reflect the needs of African immigrant women. Third, non-profit women’s organizations in the region are effective in providing information about available resources, and do take the needs of African women into consideration. Fourth, non-profit organizations in the region empower African women locally and help them to integrate into the community. Finally, participants asserted that non-profit organizations should be funded by the government in order to be able to provide sufficient economic support to community members. This research adds to the actions of local non-profit agencies and builds a needed step in bridging that gap between government and non-profit organizations by acknowledging the contribution of non-profit organizations.

Šiandien visos pasaulio valstybės akcentuoja neįgaliųjų integraciją, skaitmeninės atskirties mažinimą, yra kuriami socialinės integracijos įstatymai, rekomendacijos, kuriose kaip vienas iš svarbiausių punktų minimas prieinamumas. Šis prieinamumas apima ir informacijos prieigą – teisę į informaciją. Todėl, atsižvelgiant į tai, jog: 1) rega yra svarbiausias žmogaus pojūtis, o jos netekimas apsunkina informacijos prieigą bei galimybę naudotis tomis paslaugomis, kuriomis naudojasi negalios neturintys žmonės, 2) internetinė bankininkystė suteikė galimybę asmeninius finansus tvarkyti neišeinant iš namų, o tai dėl komplikuoto neregių mobilumo yra ypač jiems aktualu, 3) siekiant sumažinti skaitmeninę neregių atskirtį, yra sukurta daugybė rekomendacijų, metodikų ir pagalbinių priemonių, palengvinančių internete esančios informacijos prieigą yra aktualu išsiaiškinti, kaip Lietuvos komercinių bankų teikiamos internetinės bankininkystės paslaugos yra prieinamos regos negalią turintiems asmenims. Magistro darbo tikslas – išanalizuoti prieigos prie internetinės bankininkystės paslaugų užtikrinimą Lietuvos komerciniuose bankuose asmenims su regėjimo negalia. Šiam tikslui keliami uždaviniai yra: išnagrinėti internetinės bankininkystės paslaugas; išanalizuoti asmenų su regėjimo negalia skaitmeninės atskirties mažinimo galimybes; ištirti Lietuvoje veikiančių komercinių bankų internetinės bankininkystės paslaugų prieinamumą neregiams; išsiaiškinti, ar bankai imasi specialių priemonių tam, kad... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Nowadays, all of the world emphasizes the integration of disabled people, bridging the digital divide, is creating laws of social integration and recommendations in which accessibility is one of the key points. This includes the accessibility of information - the right to information. Therefore, given the fact that: 1) the vision is the most important human sense and its’ loss impedes the access to information and to those services which are used by people without disabilities; 2) internet banking is an opportunity to manage personal finances from home, which is especially important for blind people with complicated mobility; 3) on purpose to reduce the digital divide of blind people a lot of recommendations, methodologies and tools are created in order to facilitate access to online information; it is relevant to find out how Lithuanian commercial banks providing Internet banking services are accessible to visually impaired persons. The aim of this master work is to analyze the access to the online banking services in Lithuanian commercial banks for the people with visual disabilities. The goals of the work: to explore an online banking service; to analyze the digital divide bridging opportunities of persons with visual disabilities; to explore online banking services accessibility to the blind people in the commercial banks which operate in Lithuania; to find out whether the banks undertake special measures that their online banking services are available to people with... [to full text]

Cette thèse explore le potentiel des dispositifs de l’aménagement architectural et urbain à très petite échelle afin d’améliorer le confort piétonnier dans un contexte d’inconfort thermique estival. Partant du postulat que le plaisir et la capacité d’adaptation thermique du piéton reposent sur l’expérience d’états climatiques non uniformes et transitoires, on cherche à identifier les événements climatiques court-terme qui représentent des« invites » de rafraîchissement. Pour caractériser les invites des événements climatiques du piéton, on définit d’abord une échelle « pico » et ses descripteurs.La thèse présente trois corpus d’étude d’expériences climatiques proposées dans des contextes et périodes différentes. Au sein du premier corpus, on présente et discute les expériences climatiques proposées dans les travaux théoriques et expérimentations réalisés dans la période des années 1950-70 par les auteurs de l’avant garde artistique et architecturale. Dans le deuxième corpus, on s’intéresse aux installations artistiques et architecturales contemporaines dédiées aux variations climatiques, apparues dans les deux dernières décennies,in vitro ou dans l’espace urbain. Le troisième corpus est une recherche d’identification plus précise des adaptations comportementales manifestées par les habitants lors de leur rencontre avec les dispositifs climatiques de rafraîchissement dans un contexte urbain.La ville de Madrid en période estivale est ici considérée comme laboratoire donnant à voir les usages et les stratégies réalisés par les habitants en vue de se rafraîchir. L’expression corporelle est considérée comme un indice d’appréciation et du ressenti thermique et comme premier instrument du contrôle de son propre état de confort.On discute les potentiels de l’échelle « pico » pour la conception des dispositifs de rafraîchissement et la mesure dans laquelle l’accessibilité des indices sur la présence et le fonctionnement d’une « invite » peut être mise en relation avec les modèles d'adaptations comportementales particulières. / This thesis investigates the potential of architectural and urban design schemes on a very small scale so as to improve pedestrian comfort during excessive summertime heat conditions. Starting from the premise that pedestrian’s pleasure and ability to thermally adapt are based upon experience of transient and non-uniform climate states, attempts are being made to identify short-term climate events named cold inducing"affordances". In order to enhance affordances of climate events related to the pedestrian, firstly a scale denominated "pico" and its descriptors are defined.The thesis outlines three study corpuses of climatic experiences that have been proposed in different periods of time and various contexts. The first corpus introduces and discusses climatic experiences that have been proposed in theoretical studies and experiments realized between 1950 and 1970 by the authors from the artistic and architectural avant-garde. The second corpus is focused on contemporary artistic and architectural installations dedicated to climatic variations, which showed up during the last two decades, in vitro or in urban space. The aim of the third corpus is to identify more precisely behavioral adaptations expressed by inhabitants during their encounter with selected cooling climate features in an urban context. The city of Madrid during summertime is considered as a laboratory, revealing uses and strategies of inhabitants in order to cool down. Behavioral expression is regarded as an index parameter revealing appreciation and thermal feel and as a prime instrument of control of one’s own comfort state.The potentials of the "pico" scale are discussed inregard to cold inducing design schemes along with the extent to which the accessibility of information related to existence and usability of an "affordance" can be related to specific behavioral adaptations.

Cette recherche porte sur l’identification des informations légales disponibles sur les entreprises en Europe, l’identification de mesures de protection de ces informations, ainsi que les méthodes utiles à leur exploitation dans une démarche d’intelligence économique et stratégique. Les informations légales sont entendues comme les informations structurelles et comptables des entreprises, soumises à une obligation légale de publicité. Les résultats de cette étude présentent un référentiel des informations légales sur les entreprises en Europe, ainsi qu’en Suisse et en Norvège, et l’analyse des différentes possibilités de protection, de collecte et d’exploitation de ces informations dans une démarche d’intelligence économique et stratégique. / This research focuses on the identification of legal information available on businesses in Europe, the identification of measures able to protect it, and the identification of methods able to exploit it in an economic and strategic intelligence process. Legal information is understood as structural and accounting information about enterprises, subject to legal disclosure requirement. The results of this study present a repository of legal information on companies in Europe, as well as Switzerland and Norway, and the analysis of different options regarding the protection, the collection and the use of this information in an economic and strategic intelligence process.

Efficient records management is a founding block for successful transparency and accountability initiatives. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) promotes transparency and accountable management of extractive resources by disclosing governments’ and extractive companies' value chain information in resource-rich countries. Without proper management of records, transparency and accountability in the extractive industry become difficult. This study sought to explore the integration of records management in the Tanzania Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (TEITI) with the view to develop a framework for incorporating records management in such an initiative. This qualitative case study anchored on the interpretivism research paradigm used the researcher’s conceptual framework as a theoretical lens. The study sample was purposively selected from the public institutions involved in TEITI, namely, TEITI Committee and the Secretariat, Mining Commission, Records and Archives Management Department, Tanzania Revenue Authority, and Regional Mines Office Dodoma. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observation, and analysis of documents. The study established that Tanzania has a well-established archives and records management infrastructure. However, institutions involved in TEITI did not implement the infrastructure or developed in-house procedures to incorporate records management in the initiative. Also, the non involvement of various players of the extractive sector in TEITI resulting in silos approaches to the initiative was noted. In addition, the studied institutions do not plan for their records management activities, and the budgets to support records management activities are inadequate. Records management staff are also insufficient, and their competencies to manage records mining activities is limited. The study concludes that because of the failure to integrate records management in TEITI, the initiative will not succeed in releasing its goal of bringing about transparency and accountability in the extractive sector in Tanzania until deliberate efforts are taken to incorporate records management as a critical component of the initiative. The study proposes a framework upon which the TEITI Committee, institutions and governments can apply to integrate records management in the EITI. Overall, the study bridges the gap of a missed inclusion of records management in the EITI initiative by proposing a framework. A further study on the underlying factors deterring the integration of records management in the organisational business process of institutions involved in TEITI is proposed. / Information Science / Ph. D. (Information Science)