Industry Canada’s Community Access Program (CAP) aims to provide affordable public access to the Internet and the skills that people need to use it effectively. In fact, the CAP is an Industry Canada effort to bridge the digital divide (rural-urban, intra-urban). In the City of Toronto Industry Canada funding is used to support CAP sites managed by two organizations, the Learning Enrichment Foundation and the Toronto District School Board. CAP was implemented through the establishment of community-based public Internet access facilities. The implementation of the CAP in Toronto has resulted in the use of a wide range of organizations and locations including: libraries, schools, community centres, employment and social service agencies, and language development centres. This research asks the question, is the current network of CAP locations adequately geographically organized to meet the demand for service provision? Adequate supply means that the neighbourhood CAP supply is not over-served and under-served. Data from Industry Canada’s CAP database and the Canada census are input to a modeling process that combines multi-attribute decision analysis with a location-allocation model. The results suggest that there is likely a need to reevaluate the geographical structure of the current CAP network, with a view to achieving a more equitable allocation of supply.

Industry Canada’s Community Access Program (CAP) aims to provide affordable public access to the Internet and the skills that people need to use it effectively. In fact, the CAP is an Industry Canada effort to bridge the digital divide (rural-urban, intra-urban). In the City of Toronto Industry Canada funding is used to support CAP sites managed by two organizations, the Learning Enrichment Foundation and the Toronto District School Board. CAP was implemented through the establishment of community-based public Internet access facilities. The implementation of the CAP in Toronto has resulted in the use of a wide range of organizations and locations including: libraries, schools, community centres, employment and social service agencies, and language development centres. This research asks the question, is the current network of CAP locations adequately geographically organized to meet the demand for service provision? Adequate supply means that the neighbourhood CAP supply is not over-served and under-served. Data from Industry Canada’s CAP database and the Canada census are input to a modeling process that combines multi-attribute decision analysis with a location-allocation model. The results suggest that there is likely a need to reevaluate the geographical structure of the current CAP network, with a view to achieving a more equitable allocation of supply.

This dissertation is about the role of institutions in bridging the Digital Divide. Its thesis is that governments must encourage the consistently increased use of information and communications technology (“ICT”) if they hope to foster sustained economic growth. Superficially, the Digital Divide describes differences in ICT usage between rich and poor nations, but it is more profoundly concerned with poor nations’ integration into a global economy. Intensive academic study demonstrates that four factors are critical to the relationship between ICT usage and economic growth: institutions; telecommunications infrastructure; investment in ICT; and human capital. The dissertation addresses three perceived shortcomings in the literature. First, proponents of institutions’ importance use the term vaguely, often obscuring important distinctions between policies, laws and institutions, thereby inhibiting detailed analysis. Second, many writers see the institutional reform needed for growth as an exceedingly slow process due to factors beyond governments’ control. Third, the literature does not adequately address which institutions are salient to the relationship between ICT usage and economic growth or how to create them. The dissertation attributes more precise meanings to key terms and contests the view that institutional reform can only proceed at a glacial pace. Its primary goal, however, is to identify specific institutions that help mediate the relationship and to suggest how they might be built relatively quickly. Good institutions can create the enabling environment that allows for the building of telecommunications infrastructure, investment in ICT goods and services and the development of human capital to lead to economic growth. The analysis of institutions identifies several salient institutions and concludes that the manner in which they are designed often determines their effectiveness. Case studies of Singapore and Malaysia examine their successful, but divergent, development paths. Their different rates of development can be attributed, in part, to the quality of their institutions.

Industry Canada’s Community Access Program (CAP) aims to provide affordable public access to the Internet and the skills that people need to use it effectively. In fact, the CAP is an Industry Canada effort to bridge the digital divide (rural-urban, intra-urban). In the City of Toronto Industry Canada funding is used to support CAP sites managed by two organizations, the Learning Enrichment Foundation and the Toronto District School Board. CAP was implemented through the establishment of community-based public Internet access facilities. The implementation of the CAP in Toronto has resulted in the use of a wide range of organizations and locations including: libraries, schools, community centres, employment and social service agencies, and language development centres. This research asks the question, is the current network of CAP locations adequately geographically organized to meet the demand for service provision? Adequate supply means that the neighbourhood CAP supply is not over-served and under-served. Data from Industry Canada’s CAP database and the Canada census are input to a modeling process that combines multi-attribute decision analysis with a location-allocation model. The results suggest that there is likely a need to reevaluate the geographical structure of the current CAP network, with a view to achieving a more equitable allocation of supply.

It has been previously shown that DNA computing can solve those problems currently intractable on even the fastest electronic computers. The algorithm design for DNA computing, however, is not straightforward. A strong background in both the DNA molecule and computer engineering are required to develop efficient DNA computing algorithms. After Adleman solved the Hamilton Path Problem using a combinatorial molecular method, many other hard computational problems were investigated with the proposed DNA computer. The existing models from which a few DNA computing algorithms have been developed are not sufficiently powerful and robust, however, to attract potential users. This thesis has described research performed to build a new DNA computing model based on various new algorithms developed to solve the 3-Coloring problem. These new algorithms are presented as vehicles for demonstrating the advantages of the new model, and they can be expanded to solve other NP-complete problems. These new algorithms can significantly speed up computation and therefore achieve a consistently better time performance. With the given resource, these algorithms can also solve problems of a much greater size, especially as compared to existing DNA computation algorithms. The error rate can also be greatly reduced by applying these new algorithms. Furthermore, they have the advantage of dynamic updating, so an answer can be changed based on modifications made to the initial condition. This new model makes use of the huge possible memory by generating a ``lookup table'' during the implementation of the algorithms. If the initial condition changes, the answer changes accordingly. In addition, the new model has the advantage of decoding all the strands in the final pool both quickly and efficiently. The advantages provided by the new model make DNA computing an efficient and attractive means of solving computationally intense problems.

Third Public Television Service (Channel 3) plays important roles in enhancing sense of community and encouraging involvement in community. The Cable Television Channel Planning and Management Regulations, which was promulgated on December 13 in 2004, indicate clearly that each cable station s third channel is the public channel to practice community people s media access rights. Its major purposes are to protect the freedom of speech, to ensure citizens having channels to express their opinions, and to facilitate the diverse social developments. Recently, the issue of new immigrants has become the main issue discussed in the society. In the past, scholars apply the theories of society science to the research of the issue of new immigrants. The number of study regarding the interaction of cable station¡¦s public channel is much fewer. This paper aims to use the media access rights and theory of life adjustment of new immigrants from the concept of public channel. Taking KuanSheng CATV Co., Ltd. in Pingtung as the example, we aim to explore if cable station¡¦s third public channel can play a more positive role in enhancing the right to access to the media of new immigrants to reduce digital divide, cultural gap, and life adjustment in addition to the social work unit. For the aspect of data analysis, a questionnaire was designed according to the research goals and questions, and further in-depth interview was conducted to cover the insufficient parts of questionnaire. Data were collected via either giving away the text of questionnaire or sending email. A total of 323 questionnaires were administered, leaving 176 valid questionnaires. This research has adopted statistical package software for social science including SPSS13.0 and AMOS 4.0 as the tool for data analysis. The result of research can be described as follows: public channel has brought the positive influence to the adaptability of new immigrants. Among them, programming of public channel and support of government¡¦s policies are not only crucial to public channel¡¦s impacts on the viewing of new immigrants but also the key factors of new immigrants¡¦ adjustment to new life in Taiwan.

Under the trend of ICT implementation in education, students’ learning becomes highly reliant on ICT. A student will thus suffer in his / her learning process if he / she lacks the chance of using ICT at home. This is what a divide in student’s learning is. As the occurrence of this divide is due to digital ICT devices and its effect is focussed on students’ academic performance, such divide is termed as digital divide in education (DDE). To bridge this divide, most governments around the world have spent a lot purchasing hardware for schools and even assisting students from low income families to have computers at home. The divide, however, still persists. Nowadays, almost all students have the chance to use ICT. If a student is skilful in using ICT, he / she can learn more effectively by searching useful materials on the Internet. Otherwise, the student may lose his / her learning path. Thus there is a divide in learning between the skilled and unskilled students using ICT. In addition to the learning-related usages, recent studies showed that most students mainly use ICT to play games or for social communication. The divide in learning still exists and shifts to the difference between the students who use ICT for their learning and those who mainly use ICT for other purposes. Moreover, even some of the students using ICT for their studies, such as doing assignments, may use it inappropriately for copying and reassembling materials from the Internet as their assignments for submission. Such surely impedes their learning. The divide in learning then extends to whether students use ICT appropriately. The aim of this research is to investigate the effect of DDE on students learning in terms of four facets: the chance of using ICT (access disparity), the skilfulness in using ICT (skill disparity), the ways in using ICT (usage disparity), and the appropriateness of using ICT (ethical disparity). The objective is three-fold. The first one is to examine whether the four facets of DDE affect students’ academic performance, the second one is to investigate whether the four facets are interrelated, and the third one is to explore the factors contributing to the four facets empirically. After reviewing various literatures, the potential factors are categorised into three groups: students’ personal factors, environmental factors, and ethics-related factors. A survey has been conducted to achieve the objective. A pilot test was carried out first to check the reliability and validity of the designed questionnaire. 825 valid responses were obtained from a set of random samples taken from Secondary 2 students in Hong Kong. Statistical methods are employed for investigating the relationship between the four facets and also the factors of each facet. The analysis results indicate that the latter three facets are the main constituents of DDE, significantly affecting students’ academic performance. The facets are also interrelated in a sequence. There is a significant effect of skill disparity on the other two disparities, and there is also a significant effect of usage disparity on ethical disparity. A number of key factors were also found for the facets, including students’ gender, SES, ICT experience, and also their parents’ parenting styles and ICT abilities. Their peers’ behaviour also plays an important role in affecting their appropriateness of using ICT. A number of policy implications are then proposed according to the results, in terms of financing approach of government (e.g. direct subsidy scheme), revision of curriculum, and enhancement of parenting skills. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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This qualitative study focused on the stories told by five, White, female teachers with a long-term commitment to teach at a predominantly Hispanic high school. The stories of these teachers' life experiences were part of a teaching journey that began long before their formal teacher preparation. Understanding the personal, practical knowledge embedded in the events and experiences of these teachers' journeys was important to study, as these teachers possessed an extremely positive personal and academic reputation with their mostly Hispanic students. This study shed light on possible reasons for these teachers' longetivity in the profession of teaching as well as their ability to bridge cultural differences potentially dividing them from their students.Data collection came from classroom observations, a questionnaire, and a series of three, semi-structured interviews. In a cross-case analysis of the narratives compiled from the data, three main types of stories were told: stories of cross-cultural experiences, difficult challenges, and conversations with students. The highs and lows of these unusual women's experiences provide cases for preservice teachers to consider as they prepare to teach an increasingly diverse student population. These cases also reinforce the importance of cross-cultural experiences and intimate knowledge of challenging issues facing Hispanic communities as a prerequisite both before and throughout teacher preparation programs. These cases also emphasize the importance of conversation as a cultural strategy in bridging the cultural divide with Hispanic students.

Lou, the heroine of Marian Engel's Bear, attempts to confront the difficulties she has with male domination in a relationship with a semi-tame bear, but fails to resolve them because both female subjectivity and the patriarchy are socially constructed.