Depuis des décennies, les pays du monde entier s'affairent à préserver leurs précieuses ressources en eau potable. Ils cherchent à anticiper les risques et à réduire les impacts anthropiques qui pourraient altérer les sources d'approvisionnement. Au Canada, la protection des sources d'eau potable (PSEP) est mise en œuvre au sein de l'approche à barrières multiples, dont elle est l'une des barrières fondamentales. Cette approche permet une gestion multidimensionnelle de l'eau à l'aide d'outils et des pratiques visant à assurer la qualité de l'eau de la source au robinet. Bien que différents cadres existent pour prendre en compte l'eau dans l'aménagement du territoire, la mise en œuvre de la protection des sources peine à se concrétiser. Pourtant, les acteurs de l'eau et de l'aménagement du territoire ont une grande expérience dans la mise en œuvre d'actions. Alors, comment partager ces expériences afin de les soutenir dans l'identification et la mise en œuvre de futures actions de protection des sources ? Le but de cette thèse est de développer un prototype de système d'aide à la décision à base de connaissances (KB-DSS). Celui-ci a pour objectif de faciliter l'identification d'actions ciblées de PSEP selon les problèmes rencontrés. Pour ce faire, ce prototype a été développé sur la base des connaissances issues des expériences vécues depuis deux décennies au Québec, mettant à contribution des expériences réelles de mise en œuvre d'actions liées à la protection de l'eau. Il est conçu pour être utilisable par tout acteur ayant un intérêt à agir pour protéger les sources d'eau potable à l'échelle locale et régionale, via un transfert de connaissances dans le processus d'élaboration et de mise en œuvre d'actions. En étant un support dans la définition des actions futures, le prototype développé entend encourager les parties prenantes à apprendre les unes des autres. L'originalité de la thèse repose sur l'adoption combinée de l'approche en science du design/de la conception (DSR), qui a servi de lignes directrices pour adopter une démarche collaborative et transparente. Celle-ci a permis une application réussie du raisonnement à base de cas (CBR) au complexe problème de la PSEP dans un cadre de gestion de l'eau et du territoire. De cette démarche sont nés différents outils méthodologiques, procédures et connaissances permettant de mieux comprendre les problèmes liés à la PSEP, mais également d'illustrer la conception intégrale d'un prototype d'aide à la décision à base de connaissances utilisant le CBR. Tout d'abord, le cadre conceptuel (chapitre 1) explore et tente de comprendre les liens qui existent entre la nature des problèmes à résoudre pour protéger l'eau, l'environnement décisionnel et la prise de décision. Pour ce faire, le cadre adopte une approche systémique et holistique superposant différentes théories et concepts tels que la gouvernance de l'eau, la gestion de l'eau, la prise de décision, la rationalité et la connaissance. Cette compréhension des défis sous-jacents à la mise en œuvre de la PSEP permettait de mieux comprendre la complexité du problème à résoudre et posait les bases à l'élaboration du prototype de système CBR proposé. Dans l'optique de mieux comprendre comment les défis soulevés dans le cadre conceptuel se concrétisent en pratique, le second chapitre présente une enquête en ligne documentant la mise en œuvre de la PSEP au Québec. Celle-ci visait à brosser un portrait-diagnostic permettant de mieux comprendre le processus décisionnel, d'identifier qui sont les intervenants et quelles sont les connaissances produites et mobilisées pour la prise de décision sur la PSEP. Les analyses qualitatives et quantitatives des réponses des 208 intervenants retenus ont permis de constater que la mise en œuvre de la PSEP impliquait une grande diversité d'intervenants, de tâches et de connaissances créées et se caractérisait par un fort dynamisme inter-organisationnel. Cependant, on constatait que son processus décisionnel perdait en inclusivité au fil des étapes de mise en œuvre, que les connaissances étaient parfois redondantes et qu'il existait de nombreux enjeux de transfert de connaissances (accès, quantité ou qualité des connaissances) entre les intervenants. Lors de l'enquête en ligne présentée au second chapitre, il a été demandé à certains acteurs (organismes de bassins versants, villes, municipalités régionales de comté) d'illustrer les problèmes liés à la PSEP rencontrés sur le terrain. En parallèle, 102 intervenants se sont auto-recrutés pour participer au processus de design du système d'aide à la décision. Le troisième chapitre présente la démarche d'acquisition et de structuration des connaissances du dit KB-DSS par une approche CBR. Le chapitre décrit une seconde enquête en ligne ayant permis de définir ce qu'est un cas pour la PSEP, soit une expérience vécue qui consiste en une multitude de problèmes et de solutions mises en œuvre. Puis, il décrit la modélisation d'une taxonomie des connaissances ayant permis d'aboutir à des descriptions structurées des cas. La conception des cas repose sur le savoir-faire et les besoins en connaissances exprimés par les acteurs de l'eau. La base de cas constitue l'épine dorsale du prototype de KB-DSS destiné à guider les décideurs dans l'élaboration de solutions fondées sur des expériences passées. Le quatrième chapitre présente le prototype de KB-DSS/CBR pour la protection des sources d'eau potable. Il retrace comment le CBR a été modélisé, structuré, implanté, testé et validé en collaboration avec les 102 acteurs de la gestion et de la gouvernance de l'eau au Québec. Il décrit l'intégralité du processus manuel d'ingénierie de cas pour concevoir des attributs qualitatifs sur la base de la taxonomie des connaissances. Il présente l'édition des cas, le processus et les métriques permettant de retrouver des cas, l'implantation et un exemple d'utilisation ainsi que la validation du prototype, réalisée par une procédure participative rigoureuse et transparente avec un petit groupe d'acteurs de l'eau du Québec. Ainsi, il fournit des preuves empiriques du potentiel positif d'une approche CBR pour la PSEP sur le territoire, et retrace une démarche qui peut être généralisée à d'autres contextes géographiques et socio-économiques similaires. / Countries worldwide have been working for decades to preserve their precious drinking water resources. They seek to anticipate risks or reduce anthropogenic impacts that could alter the water quality and availability. In Canada, drinking water source protection (DSWP), or source water protection (SWP), is implemented as part of the multi-barrier approach and is one of the fundamental barriers. This approach allows for multidimensional water management using tools and practices to ensure water quality from source to tap. Although various frameworks exist to consider water in spatial planning, the implementation of DWSP is struggling to materialize. However, water and spatial planning actors have significant experience implementing actions. So, how can these experiences be shared to support them in identifying and implementing future DWSP actions? The goal of this thesis is to develop a prototype of a knowledge-based decision support system (KB-DSS). The objective of this prototype is to facilitate the identification of targeted actions for water protection according to the problems encountered. To do so, this prototype was developed based on knowledge gained from past experiences conducted over the last two decades in Quebec, using real experiences in implementing actions related to water protection. It is designed to be used by any actor with an interest in contributing for the protection of drinking water sources at the local and regional levels, through the transfer of knowledge in the process of developing and implementing actions. By being a support in the definition of future actions, the developed prototype intends to encourage the actors to learn from each other. The originality of the thesis lies in the combined adoption of the design science approach (DSR), which served as a guideline to adopt a collaborative and transparent approach. This allowed for a successful application of case-based reasoning (CBR) to the complex problem of DWSP in a water and territory management framework. From this approach, various methodological tools, procedures and knowledge were developed to better understand the DWSP problems, but also to illustrate the complete design of a prototype knowledge-based decision support system using CBR. First, the conceptual framework (chapter 1) explores and attempts to understand the links between the nature of the problems to be solved to protect water, the decision-making environment, and the decision-making process. These issues were explored by adopting a system analysis that allowed for layering concepts such as water governance, water management, decision-making, rationality, and knowledge. This holistic understanding of the underlying challenges of DWSP implementation provided a better understanding of the complexity of the problem at hand and laid the foundation for developing the proposed CBR system. To better understand how the challenges raised in the conceptual framework materialize in practice, the second chapter presents an online survey documenting the implementation of DWSP in Quebec. This survey aimed to provide a diagnostic portrait to understand the decision-making process better and identify the actors and the knowledge produced and mobilized for DWSP decision-making. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the responses from the 208 selected actors revealed that the implementation of DWSP involved a wide variety of actors, tasks and knowledge created and was characterized by great inter-organizational dynamism. However, it was found that the decision-making process becomes less inclusive as actions are implemented. Also, the knowledge was sometimes redundant, and there were many problems with the knowledge transfer (access, quantity, or knowledge quality) between actors. During the online survey presented in the second chapter, selected actors (watershed organizations, municipalities, counties, etc.) were asked to illustrate DWSP-related problems encountered in the field. In parallel, 102 actors were self-recruited to participate in the design process of the KB-DSS. The third chapter presents the acquisition and structuring of DWSP problem-related knowledge. The chapter describes a second online survey that helped define a DWSP case, i.e., a lived experience consisting of a multitude of problems and solutions implemented at various scales by various actors. It then describes the modelling of a knowledge taxonomy that led to structured case descriptions. The design of the cases is based on the expertise and knowledge needs expressed by the water actors. The case base is the backbone of the KB-DSS prototype to guide decision-makers in developing solutions based on past experiences. The fourth chapter presents the prototype KB-DSS/CBR system for DWSP. It traces how CBR was modelled, structured, implemented, tested and validated in collaboration with 102 water management and governance actors in Quebec. It describes the entire manual case engineering process for the design of qualitative attributes from the knowledge taxonomy. It presents the case base, the case edition, and the case retrieval (process and metrics). This chapter also illustrates the implementation using a real-world experience use case, as well as the validation of the prototype, carried out through a transparent, participatory procedure with a small group of water actors in Quebec. Thus, it provides empirical evidence of the high potential of a CBR approach for DWSP in the spatial planning context and describes an approach that can be generalized to other similar geographical and socio-economic contexts.

Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 1 mai 2023) / L'animal, pilier massif de notre écosystème - et en cela de notre biodiversité toute entière -, est menacé depuis plusieurs dizaines d'années du fait de l'activité humaine. Au centre de considérations éthiques, sociales, environnementales mais également juridiques, ce « sujet d'une vie » se voit accorder une place de plus en plus prégnante dans nos sociétés. Cette considération nouvelle, matérialisée notamment par l'adoption de nombreuses normes juridiques visant à le protéger sous divers aspects, tant à l'échelle nationale qu'internationale, n'est cependant qu'une prémisse de sa protection véritable. D'une part, parce que la protection effective de l'animal ne relève pas uniquement de considérations juridiques dont il sera question dans ce mémoire ; d'autre part, parce qu'il s'agira de constater que certains des textes ainsi adoptés ne vise pas intrinsèquement la protection de l'être sensible considéré, mais davantage la protection sous-jacente de l'intérêt humain qui en résulte. Car tout n'est question que de cela : quel intérêt l'homme peut-il assouvir par le biais de l'utilisation animale ? Mais aussi et surtout, quel intérêt l'homme a-t-il à protéger l'animal dans le cadre de l'activité exploitante ? C'est en cela qu'il sera fait référence de manière constante à l'anthropocentrisme régnant en la matière. Ces lacunes ainsi révélées, il s'agira de constater qu'une évolution juridique est amorcée et se matérialise notamment par la volonté doctrinale de consacrer une personnalité juridique animale, laquelle représenterait un véritable tremplin dans le processus judiciaire de représentation de l'animal. Par ce biais-ci, l'animal serait effectivement protégé en sa qualité d'être vivant doué de sensibilité dont il s'agirait de respecter l'intégrité de même que les droits dont il serait dorénavant titulaire. / The animal, a massive pillar of our ecosystem - and in this of the entire biodiversity-, has been threatened for decades by human activity. At the center of ethical, social, environmental and also legal considerations, this "subject-of-a-life" is given an increasingly prominent place in our societies. This new consideration, materialized in particular by the adoption of numerous legal norms aimed at protecting it in various aspects, both nationally and internationally, is however only a premise of its true protection. On the one hand, because the effective protection of the animal is not solely a matter of legal considerations which will be discussed in this brief; on the other hand, because it will be necessary to note that the vast majority of the texts consequently adopted do not intrinsically aim at the protection of the sensitive being in question, but rather at the underlying protection of the resulting human interest. Because it is all about this : what interest can man satisfy through the use of animals? But also and above all, what interest does man have in protecting the animal in the context of exploitative activity ? It's in this context that there will be constant reference to the prevailing anthropocentrism in this matter. These shortcomings thus revealed, it will be necessary to note that a legal evolution is initiated and materialized notably by the doctrinal will to consecrate an animal juridical personality, which would represent a real springboard in the legal process of representation of the animal. In this way, the animal would indeed be protected as a sensitive living being whose integrity and rights it would henceforth hold.

Clostridium difficile est un pathogène entérique pouvant causer des diarrhées allant de modérées à sévères, des colites pseudomembraneuses et même la mort. Les traitements actuels contre la bactérie ont des taux de rechutes élevés. De plus, il n'existe pas à ce jour de vaccin permettant de prévenir l'infection. Cette étude épidémiologique porte sur la protection contre la colonisation et/ou la maladie conférée par la présence d'anticorps sériques naturels spécifiques aux antigènes de la bactérie. Nous avons développé un test ELISA (Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay) pour la détection des anticorps contre les toxines A et B de C. difficile et contre les protéines du flagelle (flagellines) dans des échantillons de sérum. Notre test ELISA servant à détecter les anticorps dirigés contre la toxine B a été calibré de façon à obtenir la meilleure corrélation possible avec le test de neutralisation de la cytotoxicité de la toxine B. Les paramètres du test ELISA ainsi mis au point ont été appliqués aux autres antigènes (toxine A et flagellines), pour lesquels un test de référence n'existe pas. Par la suite, nous avons tenté de définir le rôle de la réponse immunitaire humorale de l'hôte en corrélant les résultats de l'analyse des sérums de deux groupes de patients hospitalisés avec les informations sur le suivi des symptômes et la recherche de la présence de la bactérie dans les selles. Le premier groupe de patients nous a permis d'étudier la relation entre la survenue de la colonisation ou de l'infection par C. difficile et la production d'anticorps. Nos résultats montrent que les anticorps sériques ne semblent pas protéger le patient de l'implantation de la bactérie au tube digestif mais que suite à l'infection, une réponse humorale est mise en place contre les toxines du pathogène. Les patients du deuxième groupe, des patients hospitalisés infectés par C. difficile, ont été surveillés pour la survenue de symptômes sévères, du décès ou de rechutes suite à un épisode de maladie. Nous avons observé une plus grande prévalence d'anticorps sériques dirigés contre la toxine B et contre certaines flagellines chez les patients ayant eu une infection simple, sans complications ni rechutes. Les résultats de nos travaux indiquent donc que certains patients développent une réponse humorale contre les antigènes de C. difficile et que les anticorps produits, particulièrement ceux dirigés contre la toxine B, semblent impliqués dans la défense du patient contre la survenue de complications et de rechutes. Nos données laissent toutefois sous-entendre que d'autres caractéristiques de l'hôte contribuent de façon importante à la défense contre la colonisation et l'infection par C. difficile. Des travaux supplémentaires sont nécessaires afin de définir les paramètres qui permettront d'élaborer un protocole de vaccination optimal contre C. difficile.

State-of-the-art solar-thermal flat-plate collectors suffer from a limited potential to decrease production costs for the necessary higher economic benefit of so-lar-thermal systems. Costly metallic materials and corresponding manufactur-ing processes prevent further cost reductions. For that issues, plastic materials can offer a promising approach. The main hurdle for the use of cost-effective plastics lies in the high thermal loads on the collector components — absorber and insulation — which were identified in a field-testing. The necessary overheating protection approaches to lower these thermal loads were investigated in a literature review. A large number of relevant concepts was evaluated related to achievable temperature reduction, influence on solar yield, additional costs and intrinsic safety. There-fore, a mathematical model was developed to determine the solar-thermal col-lector´s behaviour in a solar-thermal system for hot water and space heating. This way, the most promising overheating concepts were simulated and ana-lysed with regard to component temperatures and system performance. Omitting the selective absorber coating and reducing the backside insulation was found to be the most suitable solution for component materials with limited temperature resistance like polypropylene. In the second part of the research, collector design concepts were developed on the basis of the characteristics of plastic material processing. The identified unit costs showed savings of more than 50 % in comparison to stateof- the-art collectors. The analysis regarding temperature loads and annual solar yield by simulation proved the performance of the concepts. The collector costs and the simulation results were used to define the total costs of the solar-thermal sys-tems and to evaluate the economic benefits by means of the collector con-cepts. The benefits were similar to state-of-the-art set-ups. Thus, further adjustments at system level are necessary to lower the total costs. Therefore, the system set-up has to be harmonised with the collector requirements and investigated in detail.

This study has aimed at examining the nature and function of the support and protection that is offered and provided to human rights defenders trough a selected few international as well as regional human rights instruments and mechanisms, among them the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders as well as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court on Human Rights. In order to conduct such a study in a fairly limited and concrete way a number of cases were selected of human rights defenders who have undergone or are currently undergoing criminal prosecution and are incarcerated in Guatemala. The selection was based on the notion that apart from murder, criminal prosecution and incarceration of human rights defenders constitutes one of the most harmful and effective ways to actively hinder the continuance of valuable human rights work. Consequently, it impedes the promotion, implementation and protection of human rights on a general level. In regards to this States such as Guatemala have found ways to circumvent their international human rights duties by allowing others or themselves to label human rights defenders as criminal and violent actors, thus taking away the legitimate aspect of their roles and functions when it comes to promoting and safeguarding the enjoyment and exercise of human rights. The examined cases were meant to shed light on the situation for defenders in Guatemala but most importantly they were meant to illustrate a context in which one can examine the role and function that international human rights instruments and mechanisms have to combat such types of situations. The study found that although the concerned instruments and mechanisms such as the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the EU-guidelines on Human Rights Defenders, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court on Human Rights have a positive, important and impacting role in providing support to human rights defenders they have not yet reached/obtained the function of preventing persecution of human rights defenders, most notably of the legal kind. Since these mechanisms can only recommend but not force States to recognize and treat advocates of rights as “human rights defenders” their role and function for this specific purpose becomes less effective. All is not negative however, and the instruments and mechanisms that exist today are an illustration of the ambitions of States to follow international human rights principles and standards, at least to some extent.

This research applies a recently developed dynamic state-estimation based protection scheme, the settingless protection, to the photovoltaic (PV) industry for the first time. At this time, the proposed protection algorithm has been implemented on traditional protection zones for individual power system devices, but this research extends this protection to a microgrid, specifically, a system of PV network composed of several PV modules. Several illustrative examples on various anomalies such as high impedance faults and shorted-out PV modules have been provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of this protection scheme. The detection of these anomalies has been demonstrated in the presence of changing atmospheric conditions, and with the operation of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) equipped dc-dc converters. This protection scheme requires an accurate model of the PV module, therefore, a two-diode PV model has been developed using quadratic integration modeling. In this PV model development, a scaling factor is applied to the Taylor series expansion of the exponential terms of the model of the PV module. Then the higher order terms of the Taylor series expansion are reduced to at most second order terms using the quadratization technique. Furthermore, a novel approach for extracting the PV parameters, namely, the ideality constants, leakage currents, PV module internal current, shunt and series resistances, has been presented. A comparison was performed between numerically generated data using the determined PV module parameters and data measurements from a physical PV module. It was shown that the maximum error from this comparison was below 0.12A, and less than 0.05A around the maximum power point region of the PV modules used for this research. The residual data from the PV array protection scheme has been used to develop a method for identifying the location of faulted PV modules. Also, condition-based monitoring of the PV array system has also been presented with examples. From the PV array system monitoring, the shading and underperformance of a PV module have been identified. From the contributions of this research, an accurate module of the PV array has been developed in a form that can be integrated with other power system devices. This accurate module can be used for state estimation of the PV array, load flow analysis, short circuit analysis, and other power system analytical studies. Also, by determining the location of the faulted PV module, the time to identify this faulted PV module in a large PV installation is drastically reduced. Lastly, by identifying shading conditions and underperforming PV modules, the PV system operator can quickly bring the underperforming module or modules to optimal performance, thereby, maximizing the power yield of the PV array, and maximizing the revenue of the PV system owner.

Escherichia coli has evolved in environments which may commonly be acidic and thus developed adaptive mechanisms to minimise acid-induced damage. It has previously been observed that adapted bacteria to moderately acidic conditions can grow in media considerably below their optimum growth pH. To explain this phenomenon, a hypothesis which suggested that diffusible molecules (alarmones) may serve as early warning systems of acidic conditions was proposed. Alarmones are thought to be produced upon exposure to mildly-acidic conditions. They then diffuse in the environment and elicit a protective response against acid in recipient cells. The protective activity of those putative alarmones against lethal acid was investigated. The main aim of this project is to determine the mode of action of those alarmones at the molecular level. Preliminary experiments confirmed acid resistance conferred by alarmones to populations of E. coli C600. The stability of those alarmones at different temperatures and following proteinase K treatment was investigated. Moreover, investigations into whether alarmones are autoinducer-2 (AI-2) molecules and whether alarmones increase the percentage of persisters in an E. coli population were undertaken. Subsequently, microarray analyses of both alarmone-induced and non-induced cultures were performed to reveal E. coli genes induced by alarmones. Moreover, proteomic studies using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis were conducted to reveal proteins induced by alarmones. Supernatants from alarmone-induced cultures conferred statistically significant protection (p<0.01) on recipient cultures against lethal acid (pH3). Alarmones were inactivated by heat (60oC) and by proteinase K. The autoinducer-2 (AI-2) assay revealed that alarmones are not AI-2 molecules. In addition, alarmones did not increase the percentage of persisters. In order to elucidate potential mechanisms for alarmone-mediated protection, the genomic expression and protein induction of alarmone-induced cells using microarray analysis and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, respectively, were performed. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of transduced cultures indicated that around 13 proteins were induced in the alarmone-protected populations of E. coli C600. Mass-spectrometric analysis revealed that these alarmone-inducible proteins include the acid stress chaperone HdeB and the DNA-binding transcriptional dual regulator, H-NS which plays an important role in stress adaptation. Microarray analyses of transduced cultures indicated that 671 open reading frames (ORFs) were significantly differentially expressed between alarmone-protected and control populations (p<0.05). 508 ORFs were upregulated in the induced cells including 10 genes related to acid-resistance and 36 different genes related to multidrug efflux system proteins whereas 163 ORFs including the autoinducer-2 system were downregulated. E. coli releases diffusible signalling compounds which mediate adaptation to acid stress of recipient cells. Microarray and proteomic data show that two acid fitness island genes (hdeB and hdeD) and three genes that encode the antiporters of the three amino-acid-dependent acid resistance mechanisms (gadC, adiC and cadB) were among the upregulated genes. This work confirms that there is communication between bacterial cells in general and warning messages amongst E. coli C600 cells in particular in the presence of stress.

Products that children get in contact with every day, such as toys, paints, electronics and detergents have recently been discovered that they contain harmful chemicals. Children are more susceptible than adults because of their thin skin and yet not fully developed bodies. The purpose of this work is to identify the risks from chemicals that children in the indoor nursery get in contact with, and how these products affect the health of children, and to describe how these chemicals affect children's health and the environment. The aim is also to find out how great the level of the staff's knowledge is about the harmful chemicals, as well as the preventive measures taken.  This is done through a survey among the staff at nurseries in Båstad municipality. The report consists of three parts, two practical parts in the form of an on-site investigation at nine kindergartens in Båstad municipality and a survey among the staff who worked there. The third theoretical part was in the form of literature.  The results of this study show that the indoor environment in nurseries has important significance for children's health. The inventory of nursery in Båstad municipality showed that today there are goods and products with harmful chemicals among kids at nurseries. The products that have been found in nurseries in Båstad municipality where most contain harmful chemicals such as phthalates, flame retardants, perfluorinated substances and bisphenol A. It was above all the electronic toys such as cell phones, keyboards, computers, and even in the older toys or soft and semi-soft toys.  To reduce the amounts of chemicals found in nurseries one should start to throw away old toys, old electronic toys, avoid toys with batteries or electronics that do not have their batteries covered, stop using cleaning products containing chemicals and also increase the number of times that the nurseries are cleaned thoroughly. The questionnaire study showed that most nurseries were not sufficiently aware of the dangerous chemicals in toys and detergents used. There was a certain part of the staff that was aware of what "green flag" means.  To achieve this is the best way, the municipality, and politicians should help the nurseries. Improvements by the municipality, and politicians should provide important training for both nurseries staff and for the various pictures within the community that directly or indirectly impact. In order to improve knowledge in this area it is needed to train nurseries staff, cleaning staff, parents and others in the business. To get a non-toxic nursery, it is important that the municipality, the nurseries staff, cleaning staff and parents all gain knowledge about chemicals in materials and products.

This study investigates the role of privacy and data protection in the implementation of e-government in developing countries. It examines the privacy and data protection issues which arise when e-government is introduced in Ghana. E-government is a way that governments liaise with their various departments and agencies through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Through e-government, governments are able to provide better, effective and efficient services to their citizens. This new form of governments’ delivering services electronically to their citizens, businesses and various departments potentially offers benefits (for example, economic development, low costs and improved services) to society. However the implementation of e-government carries potential risks to users. The potential for online identity theft and fraud raises privacy concerns. From a theoretical foundation, fieldwork in Ghana, through interviews and focus groups, is used to investigate the issue of privacy and data protection in e-government implementation in an empirical setting. Interviewees included senior civil servants, political leaders, members of the Select Committee on Communication, academics, university students as well as stakeholders from private and public organisations. The research borrowed from the Straussian grounded theory approach as a technique to analyse the fieldwork data. The results of the study indicate that privacy and data protection does not currently play a significant role in e-government implementation in a developing country such as Ghana. Other factors such as access to information and communication technologies (Internet accessibility) and e-skills were found to be challenges which significantly impact individuals’ use of e-government. The study found that there is a low privacy concern among Ghanaian citizens. This was found to be significantly related to a lack of awareness of privacy issues; and also the national cultural dimensions of Ghanaian society. The study concludes by emphasising the importance of government investing in ICT infrastructure and public education to raise awareness of e-government services, as well as privacy and data protection issues. Implications for research and policy makers are discussed. The study suggests future research to investigate the further impact of privacy awareness on individuals’ adoption of e-government in a collectivist society such as Ghana.

published_or_final_version / Computer Science and Information Systems / Master / Master of Philosophy