Despite its name, Corporate Social Responsibility is not exclusively a concept for large corporations; however, previous studies have primarily focused on CSR within larger firms. As Small and Medium sized Enterprises both possess unique characteristics, and are important actors in the global economy, this is an area that deserves deeper research. As pressure from internal and external stakeholders are mounting, firms needs to ensure that they are following the current rules of the game. As such, firms put pressure on their suppliers, in order to protect their business. Consequently, a failure to cope with this pressure from the supplier’s part is a potential source for a conflict. Thus, the actual CSR standards used by a focal firm, has a direct link to a potential conflict within an offshoring relationship. Hence, this thesis aims to investigate how Swedish SMEs apply CSR policies and activities regarding social issues in their organisations, and how these policies and activities affect conflicts between Swedish SMEs, and their foreign suppliers. Three Swedish SMEs where interviewed, and their CSR activities, and conflict management were analysed. While all the three firms used CSR to a various degree, this research suggests that the nature and direction of the CSR activities are largely determined by the industry in which the firm operates. Furthermore, SMEs typically lack the power to enforce their CSR standards on their suppliers. However, SMEs can act in the roles of supervisors, in order to communicate that CSR is an important aspect within a relationship. The case companies also illustrated that clear goals of CSR activities within SMEs, connected to the actual business goals, aids in the establishment of CSR in small firms. Finally, none of the three case firms experienced any conflicts with their suppliers, based on social issues within CSR. Instead, this research suggests that SMEs avoid conflicts, by emphasising a careful selection of suppliers.

This thesis is concerned with the contribution of practising planners, working in town or urban planning departments, to social wellbeing. It is concerned with what planners do, how they conceptualise the application of town or urban planning practice to social issues, and what they think about their role in achieving social outcomes in a place. The general question is initially addressed through an introductory story and then via a content analysis of recent regional strategic plans. This is followed by a review of town planning literature on social issues, particularly literature concerned with small areas such as villages and neighbourhoods and which treat urban areas as a series of villages or neighbourhoods. The work is further advanced by a discourse analysis of the use of the word community, as a noun and as an adjective, in a series of planning reports. Recent literature on community development, community consultation and sustainability principles is also reviewed for its contribution to the way in which planners address social issues. On the basis of findings from this work, five research propositions are developed. These are explored through a survey of practising planners. The research propositions are explored in a number of questions so as to search for consistency and establish the reliability of the results. The same questionnaire is also administered to a class of fourth year student planners as a control. Four of the five research propositions are demonstrated by the survey results. The results suggest that practising planners have a knowledge and skill shortfall in the area of applying planning practice to achieving social outcomes. However, the results also demonstrate that most planners think that community building is part of their role, they have a realistic appreciation of their skills and are open to new ideas and learning opportunities. The concluding section of the thesis makes a series of suggestions for responding to the shortfall and developing planners� knowledge and skills relevant to community building.

This article describes the work of Project ImpactCS, which was initiated to define the core content and pedagogical objectives for integrating social impact and ethics into the computer science (CS) curriculum. Over a three year period the project will address three major problems that hamper the implementation of across-the-board curriculum change: the lack of a well-specified definition of what the core content and learning objectives should include, the lack of a strategy for adapting and adopting existing materials that address the core topics into the existing CS curriculum, and the lack of awareness and expertise on the part of most CS faculties regarding the need and methodology for presenting such material in their courses. This report provides the conceptual framework and describes the learning objectives, called knowledge units, for defining a new content area in the computer science curriculum. It also discusses strategies and innovative pedagogical techniques for implementing the knowledge units into the curriculum.

While writers of the Victorian era were free to address contemporary social issues, playwrights were forced to contend with government censorship that ostensibly discouraged them from debating politically controversial topics. An adjunct of the Lord Chamberlain's Office, the Examiner of Plays was responsible for censoring morally and politically sensitive material, giving this individual tremendous influence over the English stage. My dissertation, Dramatic Anxieties: William Bodham Donne, Censorship and the Victorian Theatre, 1849-18 74, focuses on the career of one dramatic censor, William Bodham Donne (1807-82). Throughout his tenure as Examiner (1849-74), Donne controlled the written content of every play performed in every theatre in England. His was a position of remarkable cultural and social influence, offering him the opportunity to shape the performed drama, and thereby the attitudes of those who attended it. This study examines Donne's censorship of dramatists' attempts to treat in a serious manner such political and social issues as Anglo-Jewish emancipation, Chartism, the repeal of the Com Laws, prison reform, and the condition of the working classes. I demonstrate that to evaluate the cultural impact of dramatic censorship in the Victorian period requires an understanding of the ongoing tension between Donne and the playwrights who, despite the professional ignominy that accompanied censorship, often struggled to address the political and social issues of their time. The relationship between Victorian playwrights and the Examiner involves a cultural dialectic that negotiates the boundaries of a licensed public space. In exposing the explicit and implicit pressures which one such Examiner brought to bear on dramatists, this study begins to uncover what is still a largely unexplored feature of Victorian theatre history. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The most common personal authentication techniques used for identity management employ a secret PIN or password that must be remembered. The challenge, for a given user, is that a multitude of such codes must be recalled over the course of the day for transactions involving distinct computer applications. Password mania prevails. Fingerprint biometric technology is an ideal alternate solution to this password recall problem. In spite of their availability for nearly thirty years, fingerprint biometric systems still remain uncommon in public sectors of industry such as education, government, and technology. Technology has improved sufficiently that false acceptance and rejection rates are no longer valid excuses. Two proposed reasons for this lack of deployment are 1) society's misunderstanding regarding the personal privacy, security, and function of the technology; and 2) inadequate education regarding the technology. This present research was structured to test these hypotheses, and attempt to identify the major societal factors that have limited fingerprint biometric eployment in IT authentication systems. Three research approaches regarding acceptance of fingerprint biometric technology by targeted populations were used in this study, namely 1) a personal survey, 2) a personal training exercise, and 3) a web-based survey. Targeted populations included the general public in the State of Utah and its legislative members who made decisions regarding identity management legislation for state departmental functions. Objectives of this research included gaining a better understanding of 1) legislator's perceptions of why past legislation was rejected, and 2) the public's perception of the personal security of the technology. An additional objective was the confirmation that proper education on security issues improves personal confidence in and acceptance of fingerprint biometric technology.

This study applies priming, framing, and exemplification theories to examine the ways in which photos published with a news story influenced readers’ judgments about the ethnicities of the people receiving emergency hunger services. Of particular interest were the perceptions of Caucasian respondents about minorities, and Hispanic perceptions about African Americans and other Hispanics. A sample of 506 college students was randomly assigned to read one of three versions of an online news article about emergency hunger services in Central Florida. One version included two photographs of African American adults receiving food at a food bank. The second version included two photographs of Hispanic adults receiving food at a food bank. The third version was text-only and included no photographs. All three articles included base-rate statistics of ethnicities using emergency hunger services. Results showed images influence the way Caucasians and Hispanics perceive those people suffering from hunger. Key findings included that Caucasians in the study were susceptible to Hispanic primes, which altered their views on their perceptions about the number of Hispanics receiving emergency food services. However, Caucasians’ perceptions of African Americans did not change. Additionally, Hispanic participants were affected by primes in such a way that limitations on societal advancement were perceived more strongly than those of the Caucasian participants. The difference between Caucasians’ stereotypes regarding African Americans and Hispanics is an interesting development. The role of priming stereotype in relation to social issues is discussed

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While architecture, a physical built art form, markets itself as a public endeavor, access divides along societal and economical status. Urban planning of city layouts mimic and deep these divides, falling prey to the ideology that one must afford spaces, beauty, and comfort. Those who fall short of societal standards must be designed away as to not inconvenience the desired user. Washington DC does not even deem shelter a human right. The homeless, who population is higher there than anywhere else in the United States, are simply neglected. The Embed Projects aims to recognize their needs. Exploring the conditions and attributes that led them there, the every day struggles faced, the community centers focus on overall support through many facets. Breaking down hostile architecture, the failures of homeless architecture solutions typically offered, and the systemic design to keep individuals from escaping homelessness, and exploring the lifestyle sustainability offered through permanent housing. This thesis offers a city wide, communal plan to provide flexible, permanent housing to individuals suffering from homelessness and a full network of support for every homeless individual. It aims to address not only the housing but the societal measures that led to it, and difficulties of within this community. / Master of Architecture / Historically architecture was designed to be for everyone but never has been. Money and class have always played too large of a role. Housing, design, and the over network of cities should never be restricted. This thesis navigates the start of network throughout Washington DC that would help the overwhelming issue of homelessness there. Public housing would be offered in a variety of sizes and locations with the hope of a growth throughout the city. Embed provides not only housing but also a network to support them. It looks into the reasoning for individuals to fall into homelessness and who is most vulnerable, the issues faced by those who are suffering from it, and the roadblocks society has set up against escaping it. The design of the two community centers dives into these issues and roadblocks, attempting to offer possible solutions.

The successful delivery of large complex infrastructure projects continues to challenge the civil engineering profession, with a predominance of projects delivered late and over budget. Many researchers have investigated methods and means of improving the less-than-satisfactory record of the execution of these projects. One recent research direction suggests that improvements in project delivery may not be realized until the project setting is understood from the as-lived perspective of the participants. Following this direction, the research described in this dissertation explores the personal and interpersonal dynamics operating within projects, treating them as complex social processes. The social dimensions explored in this study involve team leaders and staff engineers in a matriced organization handling a large urban design-build infrastructure project. The interactions among the participants within and across units and levels had both positive and negative impacts. The data for this exploratory case study comes from semi-structured interviews and online surveys collected at three points over eleven months when the project was in the design phase. Interviews were conducted with a limited number of individuals; the survey was collected from the larger engineering organization. From the interview data, issues which impacted project delivery were identified as the relationship with supervision, the availability of information, an understanding of the larger project context, and the response to project constraints. The survey data was used primarily to understand the social dimensions affecting two engineering disciplines, one that performed well and one that performed poorly. Issues that aligned with the performance differences included frequency of contact with supervision, the ability to make decisions, and effective use of time available to complete design tasks. Data from the two modes of investigation demonstrated strong triangulation. Recommendations for both academia and industry are provided. / Ph. D.

The Social Assistance Act 13 of 2004 makes provision for social assistance in the form of older person’s grant, disability grant, child support grant, foster care grant, war veteran grant, care dependency grant and social relief of distress. The provision of a disability grant is prescribed in Section 9 of the afore-mentioned Act which sets out the qualifying criteria for a disability grant which stipulates that the applicant for a disability grant should have attained the prescribed age at the time of application. The Act further prescribes that, owing to the applicant’s physical or mental disability, which is unable to secure employment or profession to enable him/her to provide for his/her maintenance, may also submit an application. The purpose of the study was to “Evaluate the policy regulating access to South African Social Security Agency’s disability grant in Umlazi Township”. The focus is on the Umlazi Township in the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal Province. The data collection techniques used in the collection of data was qualitative in nature. A semi-structured questionnaire with a mixture of a five-point Likert scale and open-ended questions was administered. The major findings of the study included the lack of policy for the disability grant, the lack of relevant training for staff and medical practitioners, the lack of community engagement and awareness, medical practitioners who use their discretion to make recommendations to the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) administrators, the risk of inclusion and exclusion errors caused by poor gate-keeping, the impact of poverty, unemployment and the chronic illnesses resulting to demand for disability grants. / MA (Public Administration), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015