ABSTRACT Using a qualitative methodology, I conducted this study to identify the barriers to women’s post-secondary education in Bangladesh and to investigate the possible strategies to remove those barriers, from the perspectives of three Bangladeshi women who received post-secondary education in Bangladesh and who are currently living in Canada. To explore participants’ perceptions, I used open-ended structured interviews. I then analyzed data using the conceptual framework of subsystems within an open systems theory. The study revealed that the barriers Bangladeshi women encounter when pursuing a post-secondary education are vast and complex. The findings from this study indicated that Bangladeshi women face barriers from multi-level social subsystems such as family, financial, educational, socio-cultural, political, and governmental subsystems. Six broad themes of major barriers emerged from participants’ reports: (a) financial constraints; (b) socio-cultural practices and attitudes; (c) male domination; (d) inadequate education facilities; (e) student politics and unstable political situations; and (f) corrupt government and inconsistent implementation of law and punishment. Within these six themes, the study identified various factors that hamper women’s post-secondary education in Bangladesh. The participants suggested strategies that may help those who make and implement policy find ways to minimize barriers to women’s post-secondary education in Bangladesh and beyond. The results showed that since the barriers are multifaceted, positive collaboration between the various levels of social subsystems in Bangladesh can reduce the difficulties and may profoundly change the overall Bangladeshi attitude towards women and their education. The family or the government systems alone are not enough to remove the deeply-rooted barriers to Bangladeshi women’s higher learning. Future research might explore the perceptions of a larger sample of Bangladeshi women who are in Bangladesh but could not obtain post-secondary education. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2008-09-28 14:18:40.578

This study is geared at an open systmes critique of the macro theories of development. It is highlighted in this study that we are living through the realities of the open systems, and yet much of development thought is based on closed systems philosophies, principle and ideologies. The first chapter gives an orientation into the origins of both the closed systems and open systems paradigms respectively. Included in this orientation chapter, is the literature review of the various research contributions of the major trends in development thought. The second chapter expands on the evolution of the closed systems paradigm and its influences on development thought. This chapter further explains the attendant philosophies, principles and ideologies that underlie the closed systems paradigm. The third chapter captures the open systems paradigm and its influences on contemporary development discourse. Further to the discussion on the closed systems paradigm, the chapter elaborates on the philosophies, principles and processes that underlie this paradigm. The fourth chapter is on a discussion of trends in development thinking, traced from the traditional, through the medieval to the modern, right up to the contemporary. This entails tracing the theory to its ontological background right up to its implications for social reality in contemporary development thought and experience. The fifth chapter is on the open systems critique of the trends in development thinking, while the sixth chapter revisits the open systems paradigm and its implications for development thought. In the seventh chapter is the recapitulation of the findings in the study and recommendations for both development thought and practice. / Development Studies / D.Litt. et Phil. (Development Administration)

In today's highly competitive global economy, information resources representing enterprise-wide information are essential to the survival of an organization. The development of and increase in the use of personal computers and data communication networks are supporting or, in many cases, replacing the traditional computer mainstay of corporations. The client/server model incorporates mainframe programming with desktop applications on personal computers. The aim of the research is to compile a technology model for the development of client/server software. A comprehensive overview of the individual components of the client/server system is given. The different methodologies, tools and techniques that can be used are reviewed, as well as client/server-specific design issues. The research is intended to create a road map in the form of a Technology Reference Model for Client/Server Software Development. / Computing / M. Sc. (Information Systems)

This study is geared at an open systems critique of the macro theories of development. It is highlighted in this study that we are living through the realities of the open systems, and yet much of development thought is based on closed systems philosophies, principle and ideologies. The first chapter gives an orientation into the origins of both the closed systems and open systems paradigms respectively. Included in this orientation chapter, is the literature review of the various research contributions of the major trends in development thought. The second chapter expands on the evolution of the closed systems paradigm and its influences on development thought. This chapter further explains the attendant philosophies, principles and ideologies that underlie the closed systems paradigm. The third chapter captures the open systems paradigm and its influences on contemporary development discourse. Further to the discussion on the closed systems paradigm, the chapter elaborates on the philosophies, principles and processes that underlie this paradigm. The fourth chapter is on a discussion of trends in development thinking, traced from the traditional, through the medieval to the modern, right up to the contemporary. This entails tracing the theory to its ontological background right up to its implications for social reality in contemporary development thought and experience. The fifth chapter is on the open systems critique of the trends in development thinking, while the sixth chapter revisits the open systems paradigm and its implications for development thought. In the seventh chapter is the recapitulation of the findings in the study and recommendations for both development thought and practice. / Public Administration and Management / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Administration)

[pt] Com o aumento da complexidade dos SMA´s governados por leis, tornouse mais difícil projetar e implementar requisitos referentes à tolerância a falhas, principalmente por não existir nenhum ponto de controle sobre tais sistemas. E, apesar disto, não são conhecidas soluções que abordem tais questões na literatura de governança de SMA´s baseados em leis. Contudo, existe uma técnica de tolerância a falhas, chamada Replicação de Agentes, que propõe reutilizar os conceitos de recuperação em sistemas distribuídos através da tolerância a falhas para a recuperação de agentes baseando- se em informações que identifiquem suas criticalidades. Entretanto, apesar de existirem algumas estratégias de estimativa de criticalidade de agentes, nenhuma apresenta o grau de granularidade suficiente para o monitoramento de SMA´s abertos governados por leis. Desta forma, o trabalho aqui proposto tem como objetivo apresentar um mecanismo de configuração de variação de criticalidade de agentes que interagem em SMA´s abertos. Para isto é proposta uma arquitetura para desenvolvimento de SMA´s abertos governados por leis tolerantes a falhas e uma abordagem para projetar tais mecanismos com simplicidade, modularidade e reuso. Este trabalho apresenta três contribuições principais: a extensão no modelo conceitual da linguagem declarativa de especificação de lei XMLaw com elementos para monitoramento da criticalidade dos agentes; a integração dos frameworks de governança de SMA´s abertos (M-Law) e de adaptação dinâmica de replicação de agentes (DIMAX); e a proposição de uma forma de documentação e derivação das leis. Por fim são apresentadas planilhas de resultados da aplicação do mecanismo proposto em dois estudos de caso. / [en] With law-governed multi-agent systems complexity growth, it is harder to design and implement requirements related to dependability mainly because there is no control point over such systems. Despite the great importance of those problems, there is no solution that fully addresses those issues in the context of law-governed multi-agent systems. However, there is a fault tolerant technique called Agent Replication that proposes the reuse of some recovery concepts of distributed systems through a fault tolerance based approach on some data that helps the identification of critical agent. And, besides the existents strategies of agents´ criticality estimation, none of them presents the granularity degree necessary for the monitoring of law- governed open MAS´s. Due to it, the goal of this work is to present a mechanism of the configuration variation of the agents´ criticality that interacts in open MAS´s. To achieve this goal, an architecture to support the development of fault tolerant law-governed open MAS and an approach to design such mechanisms with simplicity, modularity and reuse were proposed. This work has three main contributions: an extension on the conceptual model of the law- specification declarative language XMLaw within new elements to monitor the agents´ criticality; the integration of two frameworks: one is for law-enforcement (M-Law), and the other one is for a dynamic and adaptative agents´ replication (DimaX); and a proposal of a means to document and derive the laws. Finally, we present some sheets of the results of the proposed mechanism application in two case studies.

Este trabalho trata de ambientes de software para a realização de teste e caracterização de dispositivos, componentes ou circuitos eletro-eletrônicos, de forma automatizada. Ênfase especial é dada à problemática relacionada ao teste e caracterização automatizados de dispositivos e circuitos integrados. O assunto é tratado sob dois pontos de vista distintos e complementares: i) Sob o ponto de vista do engenheiro de teste e caracterização, que realiza experimentos físicos, que são as medidas e aquisições de dados, processa, visualiza e analisa dados. ii) Sob o ponto de vista do projetista de ferramentas de software, que desenvolve programas de computador para automatizar as tarefas rotineiramente realizadas durante o teste e a caracterização. Após a analise do assunto em questão, um ambiente de software (Framework), chamado SGC, é proposto e implementado. O SGC foi implementado em ambiente MS-WindowsTM através de um paradigma de orientação a objetos, e pretende atender as necessidades inerentes ao teste e caracterização automatizados, quando tratados sob os dois pontos de vista citados. O ambiente SGC é um sistema aberto, a fim de permitir o fácil acoplamento de novas facilidades, bem como mostra-se um sistema prático para suportar rotinas de teste e caracterização em laboratório. / This work deals with software environments for automatic test and characterization of electro-electronical devices, components and circuits. Special attention is paid to the features of testing and characterizing integrated devices and circuits. The subject is treated in two different and complementary views: i) The needs of the test and characterization engineer are addressed. The test engineer carries out physical experiments, which embody measurements and data acquisitions, data processing, visualization and analysis. ii) The needs of the software tools developer, who develops computer programs for the automation of the procedures that are usually carried out during test and characterization, are also addressed. After the analysis of the subject under study, a software framework, called SGC ("Sistema de Gerenciamento e Controle"), is proposed and implemented. The SGC Framework was implemented under MS-WindowsTm using a object oriented approach. The SGC framework aims to fulfill the needs inherent to the automatic test and characterization, when treated using the approaches mentioned above. The SGC Framework is a open system, supporting the easy integration of new software functions to the environment, as well as a practical system for test and characterization laboratory routines.

Este trabalho trata de ambientes de software para a realização de teste e caracterização de dispositivos, componentes ou circuitos eletro-eletrônicos, de forma automatizada. Ênfase especial é dada à problemática relacionada ao teste e caracterização automatizados de dispositivos e circuitos integrados. O assunto é tratado sob dois pontos de vista distintos e complementares: i) Sob o ponto de vista do engenheiro de teste e caracterização, que realiza experimentos físicos, que são as medidas e aquisições de dados, processa, visualiza e analisa dados. ii) Sob o ponto de vista do projetista de ferramentas de software, que desenvolve programas de computador para automatizar as tarefas rotineiramente realizadas durante o teste e a caracterização. Após a analise do assunto em questão, um ambiente de software (Framework), chamado SGC, é proposto e implementado. O SGC foi implementado em ambiente MS-WindowsTM através de um paradigma de orientação a objetos, e pretende atender as necessidades inerentes ao teste e caracterização automatizados, quando tratados sob os dois pontos de vista citados. O ambiente SGC é um sistema aberto, a fim de permitir o fácil acoplamento de novas facilidades, bem como mostra-se um sistema prático para suportar rotinas de teste e caracterização em laboratório. / This work deals with software environments for automatic test and characterization of electro-electronical devices, components and circuits. Special attention is paid to the features of testing and characterizing integrated devices and circuits. The subject is treated in two different and complementary views: i) The needs of the test and characterization engineer are addressed. The test engineer carries out physical experiments, which embody measurements and data acquisitions, data processing, visualization and analysis. ii) The needs of the software tools developer, who develops computer programs for the automation of the procedures that are usually carried out during test and characterization, are also addressed. After the analysis of the subject under study, a software framework, called SGC ("Sistema de Gerenciamento e Controle"), is proposed and implemented. The SGC Framework was implemented under MS-WindowsTm using a object oriented approach. The SGC framework aims to fulfill the needs inherent to the automatic test and characterization, when treated using the approaches mentioned above. The SGC Framework is a open system, supporting the easy integration of new software functions to the environment, as well as a practical system for test and characterization laboratory routines.

[pt] Nesta dissertação, apresenta-se uma abordagem para regular a interação dos agentes que fazem parte de um sistema multi-agente aberto. Em sistemas abertos, os agentes podem ser não-cooperativos, estão imersos em um ambiente altamente imprevisível e, freqüentemente, os outros agentes que compõem o sistema não são conhecidos a priori. Para algumas classes de aplicações, esta imprevisibilidade não é adequada, podendo levar a falhas de software. Desta forma, é proposta uma abordagem baseada em leis de interação para construir sistemas multi-agentes abertos, onde um controle sobre o comportamento dos agentes é esperado. Propõe-se um modelo conceitual para a especificação da forma como as interações são reguladas em um sistema multi-agente. Este modelo conceitual trata conceitos como cenas, normas e restrições de forma integrada. Além disso, a interação entre os agentes deve ser monitorada e as leis que foram especificadas devem ser aplicadas. Para isto, propõe-se uma linguagem declarativa para a especificação da interação de acordo com os elementos do modelo conceitual e uma infra-estrutura de software que age como mediador das interações garantindo que elas estejam de acordo com as especificações. / [en] In this work, we propose an approach for regulating agents interaction on an open multi-agent system. In open systems, agents are immersed in a highly unpredictable environment, they can be self-interested, and other agents are frequently unknown beforehand. We argue that, in some applications, unexpected behavior may lead to system faults. For this reason, we propose a law enforcement approach to build open multi-agent systems where a certain degree of control over agents behavior is desirable. A conceptual model is proposed to specify how the interactions of an open multi-agent system should happen. This model deals with concepts such as norms, constraints and scenes in a integrated way. We also propose a declarative language that allows the interaction s specification according to the elements that compose the conceptual model, and a software infrastructure that acts as a mediator monitoring and enforcing agents interaction.

No description available.

<p>U doktorskoj disertaciji opisani su interorganizacioni informacioni sistemi i uslovi za njihovo uvođenje. Definisan je model vrednovanja informacionih sistema sa aspekta njihove integracije u kooperativne, otvorene interorganizacione informacione sisteme. Ovaj model je testiran sa 50 odabranih organizacija i formulisani su zaključci sprovedenog istrživanja.</p> / <p>In this master degree thesis interorganisational information sytems and factors for their<br />implementation are described. Evaluation model for information systems from the aspects for their integration into cooperative, open interorganisational information systems is defined. This model is tested on the sample made from 50 organisations and conclusions from whole research are formulated.</p>