This thesis investigates the Out-of-Box Experience (OoBE) of interactive consumer products for older adults, with a view to improve the User Experience (UX) of a product by manipulating factors of the OoBE. This research emerges in the context of current demographic trends, which see people living longer and in better health, and the increasing ubiquity of technology in modern life. The OoBE describes the very first stages of interaction with a new product, including acquisition, unpacking and setup. This crucial initial experience has the potential to influence product acceptance and therefore determine its future use. Creating a positive OoBE requires an empathic understanding of the intended users, as well as contextual knowledge about current practices. A review of the literature revealed that many of the difficulties older adults experience with technology concern elements of the OoBE, such as complicated documentation, technical jargon and inadequate support for inexperienced users. However, the absence of research on how to engage older adults during the OoBE of new technology reinforced the need for further research. To this end, two user studies were conducted with older people, followed by a design study with designers. The first study explored older adults relationship with technology and their current practices of the OoBE, using the Technology Biography method. The second study used cultural probes to investigate the social side of UX and its effect on personal feelings of independence. Data from these two studies were used to create four personas, which were used in the design study. This third and final study focused on whether the construct of social benefits could be operationalised within the OoBE of new technology. Collectively, the findings indicated that the involvement of other people during the OoBE can be a strong motivator for older people to take up and use technology. Far from impinging on individual perceptions of independence, some older people actively manipulate the OoBE in order to derive social benefits. This research thus contributes to the discussion of how Inclusive Design can evolve through the incorporation of social benefits, in order to generate desirable and successful future products.

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published_or_final_version / abstract / Law / Master / Master of Philosophy

As globalization increases at a fast pace, more and more companies are diversifying their presence in foreign capital markets to gain access to capital. Today, strong corporate governance is an important element to a company’s long-term success. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Cadbury Report and King Report from the US, UK and South Africa provide recommendations for good corporate governance. Corporate governance practices and guidelines vary greatly from country to country because of differences in economic, culture, and other factors. This study examines ten companies across different regions around the world analyzing each company’s board structure, committee structure and code of ethics. Results show that the prevalence of concentrated ownerships through family and group dynamics in Asian and Latin American companies convey the need for more independent directors in the board and committees to protect the interests of minority shareholders. European companies are leading the way in incorporating sustainability as part of corporate governance. As the world becomes more interdependent, successful corporate governance requires companies to adopt an inclusive approach to economic, social and environmental issues. Internalizing these issues as part of business strategy are essential for companies to be profitable, sustainable and respected in the future.

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This study explores the Impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on internal control effectiveness in preventing and detecting fraud within the financial sector of a developing economy - Nigeria. Using a triangulation of questionnaire and interview techniques to investigate the internal control activities of Nigerian Internal Auditors in relation to their use of ICT in fraud prevention and detection, the study made use of cross-tabulations, correlation coefficients and one-way ANOVAs for the analysis of quantitative data, while thematic analysis was adopted for the qualitative aspects. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Omoteso et al.'s Three-Layered Model (TLM) were used to underpin the study in order to provide theoretical considerations of the issues involved. The study's findings show that Nigerian Internal Auditors are increasingly adopting IT-based tools and techniques in their internal control activities. Secondly, the use of ICT-based tools and techniques in internal control positively impacts on Internal Auditors' independence and objectivity. Also, the study's findings indicate that Internal Auditors' use of ICT-based tools and techniques has the potential of preventing electronic fraud, and such ICT-based tools and techniques are effective in detecting electronic fraud. However, continuous online auditing was found to be effective in preventing fraud, but not suited for fraud detection in financial businesses. This exploratory study sheds light on the impact of ICT usage on internal control's effectiveness and on internal auditors' independence. The study contributes to the debate on the significance of ICT adoption in accounting disciplines by identifying perceived benefits, organisational readiness, trust and external pressure as variables that could affect Internal Auditors' use of ICT. Above all, this research was able to produce a new model: the Technology Effectiveness Planning and Evaluation Model (TEPEM), for the study of ICT adoption in internal control effectiveness for prevention and detection of fraud. As a result of its planning capability for external contingencies, the model is useful for the explanation of studies involving ICT in a unique macro environment of developing economies such as Nigeria, where electricity generation is in short supply and regulatory activities unpredictable. The model proposes that technology effectiveness (in the prevention and the detection of fraud) is a function of TAM variables (such as perceived benefits, organisational readiness, trust, external pressures), contingent factors (size of organisation, set-up and maintenance cost, staff training and infrastructural readiness), and an optimal mix of human and technological capabilities

A note on terminology. Throughout, the term 'Holland' is used to apply only to the province of that name. Similarly, where 'Flanders' appears in the text it applies only to that province, although commonly used by contemporaries to designate the Netherlands as a whole. 'Dutch' is employed as a convenient shorthand for the inhabitants of the rebel provinces, but 'Belgian' has been avoided for the southern provinces because it implies a predetermined racial/ national division in the Netherlands. 'Spanish' is used generally to describe the government and the armed forces operating against the United Provinces even though, in the armed forces, Spaniards were themselves a small minority. This is justified by the commanding position held by the servants of Madrid during this period. Rather than adopt a slavish consistency with place names, we have employed forms familiar to English speakers, such as The Hague (Den Haag), Antwerp (Antwerpen), Flushing (Vlissingen). Elsewhere, the form familiar to the inhabitants has been employed (Mechlin for Malines, Liege for Luik). Dates are given according to the 'New Style' except where otherwise stated, or where it is unclear which style is being used.

The judiciary in Kenya has been progressively viewed as subservient to the executive, an upholder of state power and a poor protector of citizens’ rights. The rejection of the judiciary as an independent and impartial arbiter of disputes was a major contributor to the post-election violence experienced in December 2007 which resulted in anarchy and massive loss of lives and property. This thesis contends that there is a contextually symbiotic link between separation of powers, judicial independence and the rule of law. While focusing on the relationship between the judiciary and the executive, the research highlights the dangers of failure to maintain the appropriate balance of power between the executive, judiciary and the legislature, its ramifications to judicial independence and the rule of law. By analysing secondary data and using Kenya as a case study, this relationship is chronologically traced from the pre-colonial, colonial, independence and post-independence periods. An examination of successive constitutions exposes gaps and weaknesses in constitutional provisions guaranteeing judicial independence. Instances of violation are discussed with examples as confirmation that such protection was minimal, weak and not respected in practice. A high degree of executive intrusion, influence and control was evident inter alia in appointments, removal, funding and administration. Cumulatively, these factors contributed to the erosion of personal and institutional independence leading to drastic loss of confidence. Opportunities in terms of implemented reforms, especially the newly promulgated Constitution of Kenya 2010 are scrutinised. The thesis concludes that even though complete independence from the executive cannot be achieved nor is it desirable, more robust constitutional protection of judicial independence, coupled with a high degree of autonomy can be a strong guardian against violation. New threats are discovered. Further research, constitutional amendments and use of non-legal initiatives are proposed as key for future judicial reform.

First introduced by Forman in 1998, discrete Morse theory has become a standard tool in topological combinatorics. The main idea of discrete Morse theory is to pair cells in a cellular complex in a manner that permits cancellation via elementary collapses, reducing the complex under consideration to a homotopy equivalent complex with fewer cells. In chapter 1, we introduce the relevant background for discrete Morse theory. In chapter 2, we define a discrete Morse matching for a family of independence complexes that generalize the matching complexes of suitable "small" grid graphs. Using this matching, we determine the dimensions of the chain spaces for the resulting Morse complexes and derive bounds on the location of non-trivial homology groups. Furthermore, we determine the Euler characteristic for these complexes and prove that several of their homology groups are non-zero. In chapter 3, we introduce the notion of a homomorphism complex for partially ordered sets, placing particular emphasis on maps between chain posets and the Boolean algebras. We extend the notion of folding from general graph homomorphism complexes to the poset case, and we define an iterative discrete Morse matching for these Boolean complexes. We provide formulas for enumerating the number of critical cells arising from this matching as well as for the Euler characteristic. We end with a conjecture on the optimality of our matching derived from connections to 3-equal manifolds

Tester l’indépendance entre plusieurs vecteurs aléatoires est une question importante en statistique. Puisqu’il y a une infinité de manières par lesquelles une quantité aléatoire X peut dépendre d’une autre quantité aléatoire Y , ce n’est pas une question triviale, et plusieurs tests “classiques” comme Spearman [33], Wilks [40], Kendall [18] ou Puri and Sen [24] sont inefficaces pour détecter plusieurs formes de dépendance. De significatifs progrès dans ce domaine ont été réalisés récemment, par exemple dans Székely et al. [34], Gretton et al. [14] ou Heller et al. [15]. Cela dit, la majorité des tests disponibles détectent l’indépendance entre deux quantités aléatoires uniquement. L’indépendance par paires ne garantissant pas l’indépendance mutuelle, il est pertinent de développer des méthodes testant l’hypothèse d’indépendance mutuelle entre n’importe quel nombre de variables. Dans cette recherche nous proposons un test non-paramétrique et toujours convergent, applicable à un nombre quelconque de vecteurs aléatoires. Précisément, nous étendons la méthode décrite dans Heller et al. [15] de deux manières. Premièrement, nous proposons d’appliquer leur test aux rangs des observations, plutôt qu’aux observations elles-mêmes. Ensuite, nous étendons leur méthode pour qu’elle puisse tester l’indépendance entre un nombre quelconque de vecteurs. La distribution de notre statistique de test étant inconnue, nous utilisons une méthode de permutations pour calculer sa valeur-p. Des simulations sont menées pour obtenir la puissance du test, que nous comparons à celles d’autres test décrits dans Genest and Rémillard [10], Gretton et al. [14], Székely et al. [34], Beran et al. [3] et Heller et al. [15]. Nous investiguons divers exemples et dans plusieurs de ceux-ci la puissance de notre test est meilleure que celle des autres tests. En particulier, lorsque les variables aléatoires sont Cauchy notre test performe bien mieux que les autres. Pour le cas de vecteurs aléatoires strictement discrets, nous présentons une preuve que notre test est toujours convergent. / Testing for independence between random vectors is an important question in statistics. Because there is an infinite number of ways by which a random quantity X can be dependent of another random quantity Y , it is not a trivial question. It has been found that classical tests such has Spearman [33],Wilks [40], Kendall [18] or Puri and Sen [24] are ineffective to detect many forms of dependence. Recent, significant results on the topic include Székely et al. [35], Gretton et al. [14] or Heller et al. [15]. However, most of the available tests can only detect dependence between two random quantities. Because pairwise independence does not guarantee mutual independence, techniques testing the hypothesis of mutual independence between any number of random quantities are required. In this research we propose a non-parametric and universally consistent test of independence, applicable to any number of random vectors of any size. Precisely, we extend the procedure described in Heller et al. [15] in two ways. Firstly, we propose to use the ranks of the observations instead of the observations themselves. Secondly, we extend their method to test for independence between any number of random vectors. As the distribution of our test statistic is not known, a permutation method is used to compute p−values. Then, simulations are performed to obtain the power of the test. We compare the power of our new test to that of other tests, namely those in Genest and Rémillard [10], Gretton et al. [14], Székely et al. [34], Beran et al. [3] and Heller et al. [15]. Examples featuring random variables and random vectors are considered. For many examples investigated we find that our new test has similar or better power than that of the other tests. In particular, when the random variables are Cauchy, our new test outperforms the others. In the case of strictly discrete random vectors, we present a proof that our test is universally consistent.