Ally literature suggests processes and guidelines that non-Indigenous researchers can follow in order to establish respectful relationships (Battiste, 1998; Wilson, 2008; Edward, 2006; Margaret, 2010). It also states the importance of preparedness for engaging and sustaining long term alliances (Lang, 2010; Brophey, 2011); however specific training methods; modalities that support long-term relationships; practices to develop desired qualities; or self-care approaches for Allies have not been addressed in the literature. Through autoethnographic work I sought to explore this gap in literature. This study is situated within decolonizing methodologies looking to contribute to legitimizing traditional ways of knowing; and within Anzaldúas (1987) philosophical view of “Doing Mestizaje” (1987). My work is a personal account of the complicated and conflicted situation of working as an Ally, being both Mestiza and Buddhist in a culture of colonization/decolonization. Unique to this exploration are modalities I chose to help with a deeper understanding, and as possible approaches to address emotional stress and prevent burnout in Ally work: art, meditation, mindfulness practice, prayer, dream work, and narrative/poetry. My findings show that a Mestizo view of Allyhood presents differences with those of White Allies; that implementation of the Buddhist concepts of interdependence and selflessness can support Allies during a painful or stressful process of self-reflection, as well as through out the relationship; and that doing research as ceremony, and ceremony as research contributes to the revitalization of Indigenous traditional ways of knowing and its importance in Decolonizing work. / Graduate

There is a dearth of literature to guide the development of community-based HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) prevention and sexual health promotion programs within Inuit communities. The aim of this research project was to create a dialogue with Inuit women to inform future development of such programs. This study employed Indigenous methodologies and methods by drawing from Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and postcolonial research theory in a framework of Two-Eyed Seeing, and utilizing storytelling sessions to gather data. Community-Based Participatory Research Principles informed the design of the study, ensuring participants were involved in all stages of the project. Nine story-sharing sessions took place with 21 Inuit women ages 18-60. Participants identified several key determinants of sexual health and shared ideas for innovative approaches that they believe will work as prevention efforts within their community. These research results build upon the limited knowledge currently available about perceptions of HIV and STI among Inuit women living in the remote north. / Graduate / 0573 / jenny.r.rand@gmail.com

The voices, perspectives and experiences of girls and young women in history, political and civic education remain rare, and those of girls of color are even rarer still. This dissertation reports on the results of a qualitative study exploring girls’ perspectives on and experiences of citizenship in the Toronto area. Through the use of document analysis, semi-structured interviews; and photovoice, this study suggests that the girls easily identify traditional gendered expectations in their families, schools and in the society at large. At the same time, the girls often make deliberate choices to defy these expectations, carve out their own paths, and serve as advocates for gender equality, social justice and engaged citizenship. This study focuses on the voices of girls and the ways in which concepts of gender enhance, shape and inhibit civic action within schooling. Despite an increased emphasis on education for active citizenship in education more broadly, this study provokes serious questions about what girls are learning about their roles in society and how concepts of gender affect the ways young people understand and enact their citizenship roles. There are new fields of research in the areas of youth civic engagement, citizenship education, feminist and girlhood studies, all of which informed my understanding of these ‘citizen-girls’, however they still often remain separated and inadequately consider the intersections of multiple identity factors as well as the relationship between individual agency and the societal structures that construct dominant values. This study has important implications for educators and policymakers, suggesting a need for more spaces and opportunities both within the classroom, and outside the school, for girls and boys to critically engage with the messaging they receive about gender, democratic participation and citizen engagement. Furthermore, these girls’ experiences also suggest that we must broaden our definition of citizenship and civic participation in order to better reflect the myriad new forms of citizen expression being used by girls and young people in modern societies today.

The voices, perspectives and experiences of girls and young women in history, political and civic education remain rare, and those of girls of color are even rarer still. This dissertation reports on the results of a qualitative study exploring girls’ perspectives on and experiences of citizenship in the Toronto area. Through the use of document analysis, semi-structured interviews; and photovoice, this study suggests that the girls easily identify traditional gendered expectations in their families, schools and in the society at large. At the same time, the girls often make deliberate choices to defy these expectations, carve out their own paths, and serve as advocates for gender equality, social justice and engaged citizenship. This study focuses on the voices of girls and the ways in which concepts of gender enhance, shape and inhibit civic action within schooling. Despite an increased emphasis on education for active citizenship in education more broadly, this study provokes serious questions about what girls are learning about their roles in society and how concepts of gender affect the ways young people understand and enact their citizenship roles. There are new fields of research in the areas of youth civic engagement, citizenship education, feminist and girlhood studies, all of which informed my understanding of these ‘citizen-girls’, however they still often remain separated and inadequately consider the intersections of multiple identity factors as well as the relationship between individual agency and the societal structures that construct dominant values. This study has important implications for educators and policymakers, suggesting a need for more spaces and opportunities both within the classroom, and outside the school, for girls and boys to critically engage with the messaging they receive about gender, democratic participation and citizen engagement. Furthermore, these girls’ experiences also suggest that we must broaden our definition of citizenship and civic participation in order to better reflect the myriad new forms of citizen expression being used by girls and young people in modern societies today.

Recent designs for low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have exhibited capacity approaching performance for large block length, overtaking the performance of turbo codes. While theoretically impressive, LDPC codes present some challenges for practical implementation. In general, LDPC codes have higher encoding complexity than turbo codes both in terms of computational latency and architecture size. Decoder circuits for LDPC codes have a high routing complexity and thus demand large amounts of circuit area. There has been recent interest in developing analog circuit architectures suitable for decoding. These circuits offer a fast, low-power alternative to the digital approach. Analog decoders also have the potential to be significantly smaller than digital decoders. In this thesis we present a novel and efficient approach to LDPC encoder / decoder (codec) design. We propose a new algorithm which allows the parallel decoder architecture to be reused for iterative encoding. We present a new class of LDPC codes which are iteratively encodable, exhibit good empirical performance, and provide a flexible choice of code length and rate. Combining the analog decoding approach with this new encoding technique, we design a novel time-multiplexed LDPC codec, which switches between analog decode and digital encode modes. In order to achieve this behaviour from a single circuit we have developed mode-switching gates. These logic gates are able to switch between analog (soft) and digital (hard) computation, and represent a fundamental circuit design contribution. Mode-switching gates may also be applied to built-in self-test circuits for analog decoders. Only a small overhead in circuit area is required to transform the analog decoder into a full codec. The encode operation can be performed two orders of magnitude faster than the decode operation, making the circuit suitable for full-duplex applications. Throughput of the codec scales linearly with block size, for both encode and decode operations. The low power and small area requirements of the circuit make it an attractive option for small portable devices.

With the evolution of Information Technology, especially the Internet, system integration is becoming a common way to expand IT systems within and beyond an enterprise network. Although system integration is becoming more and more common within large organizations, however, the literature review had found IS research in this area had not been sufficient, especially for the development of integration solutions within large organizations. It has made research like this one conducted within a large NZ government agency necessary. Four system integration projects were selected and studied using case study research methodology. The case study was designed and conducted using guidelines mainly from the well-known R. K. Yin’s (2002) “Case Study Research” book. The research was set to seek answers for a series of research questions, which were related to requirements of system integration and challenges for solution development. Special attention had been given to XML applications, as system integration and XML were found to be coupled in many system integrations and frameworks during the literature review. Data were first gathered from all four projects one by one, and then the bulk of analysis was done on the summarized data. Various analysis methods including chain-of-evidence, root-cause-analysis and pattern-matching were adopted. The principles of interpretive research proposed by Klein and Myers (1999) and triangulation were observed. In conclusions, a set of models have been derived from the research, namely a model for clarifying integration requirements; a model for integration solution architecture; a model for integration development life cycle and a model of critical success factor for integration projects. A development framework for small to medium size integration projects has also been proposed based on the models. The research also found XML application indeed would play an important role for system integration; the critical success factors for XML application included suitable development tools, development skills and methodologies.

The key objective of this research is to develop a selection methodology that can be used to support and aid the selection of development processes for e-Commerce Information Systems (eCIS) effectively using various decision methods. The selection methodology supports developers in their choice of an e-Commerce Information System Development Process (e-Process) by providing them with a few different decision making methods for choosing between defined e-Processes using a set of quality aspects to compare and evaluate the different options. The methodology also provides historical data of previous selections that can be used to further support their specific choice. The research was initiated by the fast growing Information Technology environment, where e-Commerce Information Systems is a relatively new development area and developers of these systems may be using new development methods and have difficulty deciding on the best suited process to use when developing new eCIS. These developers also need documentary support for their choices and this research helps them with these decision-making processes. The e-Process Selection Methodology allows for the comparison of existing development processes as well as the comparison of processes as defined by the developers. Four different decision making methods, the Value-Benefit Method (Weighted Scoring), the Analytical Hierarchy Process, Case-Based Reasoning and a Social Choice method are used to solve the problem of selecting among e-Commerce Development Methodologies. The Value-Benefit Method, when applied to the selection of an e-Process from a set of e-Processes, uses multiple quality aspects. Values are assigned to each aspect for each of the e-Processes by experts. The importance of each of the aspects, to the eCIS, is defined in terms of weights. The selected e-Process is the one with the highest score when the values and weights are multiplied and then summed. The Analytic Hierarchy Process is used to quantify a selection of quality aspects and then these are used to evaluate alternative e-Processes and thus determining the best matching solution to the problem. This process provides for the ranking and determining of the relative worth of each of the quality aspects. Case-Based Reasoning requires the capturing of the resulting knowledge of previous cases, in a knowledge base, in order to make a decision. The case database is built in such a way that the concrete factual knowledge of previous individual cases that were solved previously is stored and can be used in the decision process. Case-based reasoning is used to determine the best choices. This allows the user to either use the selection methodology or the case base database to resolve their problems or both. Social Choice Methods are based on voting processes. Individuals vote for their preferences from a set of e-Processes. The results are aggregated to obtain a final result that indicates which e-Process is the preferred one. The e-Process Selection Methodology is demonstrated and validated by the development of a prototype tool. This tool can be used to select the most suitable solution for a case at hand. The thesis includes the factors that motivated the research and the process that was followed. The e-Process Selection Methodology is summarised as well as the strengths and weaknesses discussed. The contribution to knowledge is explained and future developments are proposed. To conclude, the lessons learnt and reinforced are considered.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Many variations of Systems Development Life Cycle models have evolved over the last fifty years of systems engineering and software science, yet not enough knowledge is available to better understand these as Complex Adaptive Systems by studying chaos and complexity theories. The primary application domain of the thesis is focused on the development of electronic hardware and software products. There is a great need for innovation to reach all corners of the development ecosystem; however a large cognitive distance exists between the concept of systematic product development and that of value creation. Instruments are needed to aid process agility, for defusing imminent problems as they mount, and for making effective decisions to sustain maximum productivity. Many of these objectives are neglected in systems development practices. As with so many management fads, it appears that no single one of these models lived up to all of the expectations and in many cases ended up being recipes for disaster. The statistics available on failed projects are concerning but has not stopped the scientific and engineering communities from trying over, and over again, to make progress. The goal of the thesis is therefore to identify the most viable model that supports the sustainability of systems development team performance. The research draws insights from extant literature, by applying a knowledge management theory based analysis on the various models with specific attention given to complexity theory. The dominant metric discovered is to measure the Value Velocity of a Systems Development Team. This metric is determined by two independent variables, being Value Created and Delivery Delay. Complex Adaptive Systems simply requires a guiding vision and a carefully selected set of generative rules for increasing and sustaining the Value Velocity. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Menige variasies van stelselsontwikkelingsmodelle het ontwikkel oor die afgelope vyftig jaar in stelselsingenieurswese en sagtewarewetenskap, en steeds is daar nie genoegsame kennis beskikbaar om beter begrip te kry oor hoe hierdie stelsels as Komplekse Aanpassende Sisteme bestudeer kan word nie, ten einde die bestuur daarvan te verbeter. Die primêre toepassingsgebied in die tesis is gespits op die ontwikkeling van rekenaarhardeware en - sagteware. Die behoefte vir innovasie moet al die fasette van die ontwikkelingsekosisteem bereik. Die bewusheidsgaping tussen sistemiese produkontwikkeling en waardeskepping, is te wyd. Instumentasie word benodig om te help met ratsheid in prosesuitvoering, om dreigende probleme te ontlont, en effektief besluitneming toe te pas, en sodoende produktiwiteit op ‘n maksimum vlak te hou. Hierdie doelwitte word tot ’n meerdere mate in die huidige praktyk verontagsaam. Net soos somige bestuursadvies oneffektief is, blyk dit dat daar nog steeds geen stelselsmodelle is wat alle verwagtinge bevredig nie. In baie gevalle eindig die toepassing daarvan in waan en mislukking. Die statistiek beskikbaar op mislukte projekte is onrusbarend, tog het dit nie vooruitgang gekelder nie, en die behoefte na verbetering bestaan steeds. Die doelwit van die tesis is dus om die mees lewensvatbare model wat die voortbestaan van stelselsontwikkelingsgroepe sal kan handhaaf, uit te sonder. Die navorsing neem insigte uit hedendagse literatuur en is gebasseer op ’n analiese van verskeide kennisbestuursteorieё teenoor die bestaande stelselsontwikkelingsmodelle. Die fokus is meer spesifiek toegespits op kompleksiteitsteorie. Die hoofmaatstaaf is om die Waardesnelheid van ’n stelselsontwikkelingspan te bepaal. Hierdie maatstaaf word gepyl deur twee onafhanklike veranderlikes, naamlik die Waarde Geskep en die Afleweringsvertraging. Ten slotte, vereis Kompleks Aanpassende Sisteme slegs die aanwesigheid van 'n leidende visie tesame met 'n goeddeurdagte stel ontwikkelingsreëls, wat aanleiding sal gee tot die verhoging en behoud van die Waardesnelheid.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:35:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5556.pdf: 2485382 bytes, checksum: 1c304b1c595f4ea61c08d9e86362a167 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-09-10 / The study approached the pedagogic assumptions of current proposals of health graduation in Brazil, disclosed by the Health Ministry as innovative and as the only possibility, nowadays, of a competent, critical and progressive health graduation. The recommended assumptions are expressed by the quotations of learning to learn; the facilitating professor; signifying learning; teaching centered in the student s interest and problem based learning. Worked with the premise that the assumptions of innovative methodologies if historically situated they lose their inventiveness and originality not constituting themselves in something new. The research aimed systematizing the historical background of the changing movement in graduation of professionals connected to health in the last decades; to identify and analyze the suggestions of changes in health training in different historical moments by different actors. To apprehend from official documents the methodological assumptions divulged to health graduation in Brazil in the last years, aiming to identify the theoretical origins of the identified pedagogical assumptions. For carrying out the present study there were recurred to primary sources, official documents which explicit the reorientations of health professionals training; ordinances; resolutions; reports; recommendations and official discourses elaborated and divulged by institutions, organs and people, which one way or another, are connected to the discussion of professionals formation which act in health field in Brazil and in the world. The secondary sources used in the course of study are intellectual productions identified as disseminators of the movement which encouraged and still do the change in health graduation based in the adhesion of innovative and intellectual methodologies which analyze the limits of active and non-directive assumptions. Through the systematization and analysis of data it was possible to identify the burden that the international movements, mostly those connected to the discussion of medical education and the role of different international organisms as the OPAS and Kellog foundation had in the disclosure of theoretical-methodological change proposes in professional training in the health field. By analyzing the main initiatives of changes in the health training disclosed in Brazil there were explicit the theoretical and political influences which conducted the Health Ministry to induce the proposes of training backed by innovative/active methodologies, which started to divulge the pedagogical assumptions theoretically connected to the active and non-directive pedagogies. Starting from the assumption that not always what is referred as new is new itself, or brings in it a significant progress related to what has been already established, along to the study of the theoretical-methodological origins of the recommended pedagogical assumptions. We conclude that the pedagogical assumptions divulged may be considered innovations in the context in which they were produced, beginning of the last century, because they constitute answers to the problems faced in the field of education, mostly in the beginning of the last century and which had as main point basic education, notedly, children s education. In the field of health, is not something new, but it is strongly anchored in one of the most advanced movements concerning the field, Preventive Medicine, which since the last century has defended the necessity of change, the curricular readjustment and the incorporation of active methodologies in health training. Currently such assumptions are resignified, losing their original sense. / O estudo abordou os pressupostos pedagógicos das atuais propostas de formação em saúde no Brasil, divulgados pelo Ministério da Saúde como inovadores e como a única possibilidade, na atualidade, de uma formação em saúde competente, crítica e progressista. Os pressupostos recomendados são expressos pelas máximas do aprender a aprender; do professor facilitador; da aprendizagem significativa; do ensino centrado no interesse do aluno e da aprendizagem por problemas. Trabalhou-se com a premissa de que os pressupostos das metodologias inovadoras, se situados historicamente, perdem sua inventividade e originalidade não se constituindo em uma novidade. A pesquisa teve como objetivos sistematizar os antecedentes históricos do movimento de mudança na formação superior dos profissionais ligados à saúde nas últimas décadas; identificar e analisar as sugestões de mudanças na formação em saúde, nos diferentes momentos históricos, por diferentes atores; apreender dos documentos oficiais os pressupostos teóricos metodológicos divulgados para a formação em saúde no Brasil nos últimos anos, visando identificar as origens teóricas dos pressupostos pedagógicos identificados. Para realização do estudo recorreu-se a fontes primárias, documentos oficiais que explicitaram as reorientações da formação dos profissionais da saúde: portarias; resoluções; relatórios; recomendações e discursos oficiais elaborados e divulgados por instituições, órgãos e pessoas, que de um modo ou outro, estão ligados à discussão da formação dos profissionais que atuam na saúde no mundo e no Brasil. As fontes secundárias foram produções de intelectuais identificados como divulgadores do movimento que incentivaram e incentivam a mudança na formação em saúde embasada na adesão às metodologias inovadoras, e intelectuais que analisam os limites dos pressupostos das metodologias ativas e não diretivas. Pela sistematização e análise dos dados foi possível identificar o peso dos movimentos internacionais, principalmente aqueles ligados à discussão da educação médica, e o protagonismo de diferentes organismos internacionais como a OPAS e a Fundação Kellogg na divulgação de propostas de mudanças teórico-metodológicas na formação profissional em saúde. Ao analisar as principais iniciativas de mudança na formação em saúde divulgadas no Brasil, explicitaram-se as influências teóricas e políticas que levaram o Ministério da Saúde a induzir as propostas de formação respaldadas nas metodologias inovadoras/ativas, as quais passaram a divulgar os pressupostos pedagógicos vinculados teoricamente às pedagogias ativas e não diretivas. Partindo do pressuposto de que nem sempre aquilo que se denomina como novo é uma novidade, ou traz em si um progresso significativo em relação ao já estabelecido, assim como do estudo das origens teórico-metodológicas dos pressupostos pedagógicos recomendados, conclui-se que os princípios pedagógicos divulgados podem ser considerados inovações no contexto em que foram produzidos, no início do século passado, por se constituírem respostas dirigidas aos problemas daquele momento histórico, tendo como questão central a educação básica, notadamente a educação de crianças. No campo da saúde, também não se trata de uma novidade, pois sua proposição está fortemente ancorada em um dos movimentos considerados mais avançado na área, a Medicina Preventiva, que desde meados do século passado, tem defendido a necessidade de mudança, de readequação curricular e da incorporação de metodologias ativas na formação em saúde. Na atualidade tais pressupostos são ressignificados, perdendo seu sentido originário.

This project is a study of the way that people use language actively to achieve certain ends in communication, the way that they organise their spoken discourse to construct, convincingly, the state of their lives, both ‘internal’ and ‘external’. It does this primarily through an analysis of the systematic properties of the descriptive, communicative and interpretative skills which members use in the accomplishment of the meanings central to everyday existence. More specifically, this project is a study of verbal accounts of, and doctor-patient interaction relating to, clinical depression. The project begins from the premise that most social studies of depression and its diagnosis have been subject to the same problematic treatment of language as a ‘transparent medium’ as the psychiatric frames upon which the modern clinical understanding of depression in the UK is itself based. I aim, in view of this, to demonstrate how hitherto neglected elements in the social analysis of the condition can be revealed with the application of an alternative methodology, a methodology which treats talk-in-interaction as a dynamic and constructive phenomenon rather than a neutral conduit for the passage of information. The empirical data takes the form of a set of General Practitioners from a single practice in the North West talking freely about depression and their experiences of diagnosing it, and actual consultations between these GPs and their patients. Drawing upon Wittgenstein, Ethnomethodology, Discursive Psychology and, particularly, Conversation Analysis this project examines the ways in which doctors and patients construct, negotiate and manage ‘depressive’ meanings in the course of medical interaction, always holding tightly to Wittgenstein’s maxim that practice gives words their significance.