The focus in this study is on the situation of Roma in Sweden. The purpose is to see the integration strategies that are reflected in Swedish politics, considering the inclusion of Roma. Idea analysis has been used as method, and I have analysed the text to find expressions of four different ideal types that represent four different types of integrations processes. The material consists of the government’s strategy plan for the Roma’s inclusion in Sweden between 2012-2032. Depending on what is being said in the government’s strategy plan about the inclusion of Roma, I will be able to categorize different parts of the text and place it under a certain ideal type, and consequently see the integration strategies that are reflected in Swedish politics.The essay’s results shows that the strategy for the Roma’s inclusion consist of two different ideas of integration processes. It also shows that the other two ideal types for integration processes do not occur in the strategy plan. The four ideal types are: ethnic assimilation, ethnic segregation, civic integration and multiculturalism. The results show that expressions of the last two ideal types are consistent throughout the government’s strategy plan for the Roma’s inclusion. Which one of the two integrations strategies that is the most dominant in the strategy plan has been hard to identify. Keywords: Roma, Inclusion, Integration strategies

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The literature review on immigrant’s self-employment activities has limited the debate around the leading factors to this type of activity. Much research on the subject has tried to answer the question ‘what are the determinant characteristics to become self-employed?’ In addressing that question researchers have focused on the relative value of the block mobility thesis and the ethnic enclave theory. This focus created a research gap; researchers have ignored how self-employment may be used by immigrants as an alternative or complementary strategy for accessing a new labour market. Using the Longitudinal Immigration Database, this research explores, using survival regression analysis, the extent to which immigrants adopt different labour market strategies following their admission to Canada. More specifically, it examines their rate of access to labour market activities, the length of time they stay in specific type of labour market activities and the determinant factors for such events. The findings of this research demonstrate that 27 per cent of the economic immigrants, who were admitted to Canada between 1990 and 2008, are likely to rely on paid and self-employment activities simultaneously over time. This finding reinforces the need to analyse self-employment activity as a concurrent activity to paid employment. The regression analysis results on the concurrent activities imply that immigrants admitted under the self-employed category are more inclined, than the other economic immigrants, to rely on the two types of activities when integrating into the Canadian labour market. The findings of this thesis indicated that the traditional theories on self-employment activities are inadequate to explain concurrent self-employment activities and paid employment activities. There is a need to develop contemporary theories around this new concept of concurrent labour market activities that would take into consideration self-employment and employment theories as well as immigrants’ adaptive integration capacity.

The importance of the post acquisition integration in order to realize the anticipated value from an acquisition has been researched from various angles. Scholars have identified several distinct integration strategies that acquiring firms implement, that differs to what extent the acquired firm is integrated. This paper examines why firms choose a specific integration strategy, and how the strategy is implemented. A multiple case study was conducted with three Swedish companies in different industries, all with technology as a common denominator. Through an inductive approach, the empirical data was coded and analyzed. With the help of existing literature, the analysis showed that the dimension risk aversion can be added to the existing body of literature to explain the choice of integration strategy. The analysis also indicated that an absorbent integration strategy comes with more human resource challenges, however the benefit is a potentially higher value creation.

In the last decade, the number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activities by emerging market firms has rapidly increased to exploit growing markets at home and abroad. In order to be successful in their M&A goals, these firms need to develop a specific M&A capability and manage post-M&A processes effectively. Drawing on the dynamic capabilities view, I develop a theoretical framework for emerging market acquirers that outlines the development of the acquisition capability mechanisms. I first examine the influence of prior acquisition experience on acquisition performance. I then go on to study the integration capability of emerging market firms and examine the effect of post-M&A integration strategies on the performance of acquisitions by emerging market firms. The overall results indicate that a firm‘s focal acquisition performance positively relates to prior acquisition experience that is similar to the focal acquisition. Moreover, post-M&A integration strategies vary depending on the geographical similarity of the focal acquisition. Replacing the target‘s top manager is a particularly important determinant of acquisition performance in domestic M&A. Finally, in this research, I also extend the organisational learning view and develop a multi-level analysis that examines the role of business groups alongside firm-level learning from acquisitions. The usual focus in emerging market studies is on the big emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). I focus instead on the country case of Turkey, one of the second tier of ―biggish‖ growing economies of ―MIST‖ (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey). The empirical results are based on a unique hand-collected dataset of acquisitions in Turkey culled from publicly available data. The final dataset consists of 279 acquisitions between 1998 and 2011.

Passive ventilation and cooling systems can offer energy savings when combined into a mechanical ventilation and cooling strategy for office buildings. At early design stages, it is difficult to predict actual energy savings as current design and calculation tools are limited and do not allow assessment for energy reductions when attempting to use typical passive options such as solar chimneys, rain screen facades, ventilated double facades, passive downdraught evaporative cooling and earth ducts. The only passive systems that are directly incumbent to dynamic thermal modelling software are natural ventilation and external solar shading. Currently, impacts of passive systems on annual building energy performance is unclear and lacks clarity. In hot climates, this is even more problematic as buildings need to endure higher external temperatures and solar irradiation. Understanding minimal energy performance reductions for each passive system can aid with design decisions regarding building ventilation and cooling strategies. The aim of this study is to investigate how existing passive ventilation and cooling system design and operational strategies can be improved to reduce mechanical ventilation and cooling energy consumption for commercial buildings in hot climates. Theoretical commercial building models are created using dynamic thermal simulation software to determine minimum mechanical ventilation and cooling energy values, which are verified against published bench marks, known as base case models. These base case models are simulated using weather data from four different hot climates (Egypt, Portugal, Kenya and Abu Dhabi). Impacts of passive system energy performance are afforded by using either dynamic thermal simulation or fundamental steady state analysis identifying approximate passive ventilation and cooling potentials for reducing mechanical energy. These percentage reductions are created based upon passive system parameters and weather data, using appropriate methodology. From these findings new simplified design guidelines, integration strategies and performance design tools are created including a new passive system energy assessment tool (PSEAT) using Microsoft Excel platform to ensure that a wider audience can be achieved in industry. The design guidance and integration strategies are developed and simplified to enable architects, building services engineers and alike, to apply with speed and accuracy influencing the design process and improve confidence in desired passive solution.

Food insecurity is on the rise worldwide and within Canada due to a myriad of factors such as climatic instability, rising food prices and unsustainable food production practices. In this context, educational systems (e.g. schools and universities) can contribute to developing knowledge and awareness of food insecurity as well as fostering new ways of thinking and engaging with food premised on just and sustainable food systems. This study is situated within the field of environmental education where there is a growing body of research at the intersections of food and the environment. Likewise, it was guided by the theoretical framing of EcoJustice Education, which offers a way of teaching and learning premised on the belief that our thoughts and actions can foster and enhance more social and ecologically equitable connections between food and the environment. By engaging in semi-structured interviews with teacher educators in select teacher education programs in Ontario and conducting document reviews, I investigated how the integration of the topic of food security is taking place—or not—in the initial training of future teachers in the province. The results showed that integration is not consistent across the different organizational levels of the programs investigated (i.e. whole-program level and classroom level). Moreover, the interviews with teacher educators revealed that any practices aiming at the integration of food security topics in BEd programs were primarily guided by a sustainable cultures perspective, which sees the world as having interconnected relationships amongst all living things. This view is supported by the data analysis of interviews with teacher educators, the Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum documents, and select course syllabi. On the other hand, the school curriculum documents contained conflicting views on the topic, including an understanding of the world as being based on hierarchized relationships. This research advances the field of environmental education by further adding to the limited scholarship on the topic of food security in the context of EE, as well as contributing to an account of food security education and EE with a focus on teacher education in Ontario.

In this paper the problems of finding error estimates of quadrature formulas are discussed. A method proposed by K.Plukas was tested. One of the most important tests was the one determining the error estimates that are too optimistic. The results have shown that there are 1/8 of such error estimates and that there is no visible pattern when they occur. The second very important test was the one that shows how many iterations are needed to get the estimate of integral. After comparing the results to the ones produced by method of T.O.Espelid it was obvious that method of K.Plukas produced results even when method of T.O.Espelid was not able to. Comparison of these results have also shown that method of K.Plukas is not always as effective as method of T.O.Coteda, i.e. in many cases method of K.Plukas produced the result after more iterations than method of T.O.Coteda.

In this qualitative research study the focus is on the use of sensory integration strategies with children who have Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Three respondents specialising in sensory integration in the Durbanville area were involved. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with each of the respondents in order to gain knowledge on the use of sensory integration strategies with children who have Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder by a professional other than an occupational therapist. After permission had been obtained, the interviews were captured on video tape and transcribed for use in the empirical study. Seven themes were identified from the interviews and a literature control was done with each of the themes. The researcher did not attempt to generalise the results of the research, but tried to reflect on the information that the respondents provided. The researcher summarised the findings of the empirical study and made recommendations. / Social Work / M. Diac (Play Therapy)

本研究主要探討金融機構合併的資訊架構整併策略.藉由國內大型金融機構的合併個案來了解主併公司所採用的合併策略,過程與影響。 經過文獻討論與個案分析，有八點發現: 1. 以資訊整併策略角度來看，個案中的資訊整併模式是整體接收(Take Over)。 2. 以歷史角度來看，此次金融合併案的成功因素之一來自於併購集團累積多次的成功的合併經驗與總部的大力支持。 3. 從組織架構來看，被併購集團擁有功能完整的資訊組織架構與嚴謹的專案執行規劃，是本此合併成功的第二要素。 4. 在專案時間掌握上來看，遇到重大問題與障礙時，專案經理需要能克服困難完成任務，減少專案時間耽誤造成企業損失。 5. 從人力資源的角度來看，專案經理需要能在有效地預算掌控下，當地尋找支援人力，減少專案開銷。 6. 專案過程的溝通協調方面，資訊部門需要能與程式使用者之間良好的溝通協調，資訊單位可即刻反映使用者需求，達到快速反饋的目的。 7. 由綜效結果的分析來觀察，由併購銀行公布99年年報中所揭露之財務報表、信用評等與社會評價皆呈現正向成長。內部人員對併購銀行資訊技術處服務滿意度有高達八成滿意度維持併購前資訊服務水準。 8. 法律、政治因素影響與合併後併購銀行IT策略方面來看，新的個人資料保護法的通過，造成整體合併綜效、與合併後資訊策略的改變。 關鍵字: 資訊技術,資訊整併策略,企業併購 / The objective of this study is to understand the strategy, process and impacts of information technology (IT) infrastructure integration in a mergers and acquisitions project in a financial institution. Based on literature review and an in-depth case study there are eight findings: 1. In view of the information integration strategy, the applied model of IT integration was a “Take Over” strategy. 2. From a historical perspective, one of the success factors of the merger was enterprise’s accumulated experience of mergers and strong support from headquarters. 3. From an organizational point of view, the acquiring group has both a full-featured information organizational structure and rigorous plan of project execution, which was one of the important elements of the success of this merger. 4. Regarding the project management, the major challenge of the project manager is to overcome problems and obstacles to complete the tasks on time and on budget. 5. From the perspective of human resources, the effective utilization of local support are the key to budget control. 6. From the communication and coordination aspects of the project, rapid feedback and good communication between staffs in the information sector and business users could increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the project execution. 7. By analyzing the results of the merger, the credit ratings and social evaluation in the acquiring bank revealed a positive growth. Internal user survey of the post-merger has shown a satisfaction rate of 80% which remained the same comparing to the figure of pre-merger. 8. From a legal and political point of view, the new Personal Data Protection Law has become a major concern for overall information strategy making after the merger. Key Word: Information Technology Infrastructure, IT Integration Strategies, Mergers and Acquisitions