Web accessibility

In dieser Arbeit wird erstmalig ein holistischer Ansatz zur Ermittlung der betriebswirtschaftlichen Implikationen von barrierefreien Webpräsenzen vorgestellt, welcher die Barrierefreiheit aus zwei Perspektiven (Organisation, Behörde) analysiert. Die organisationale Dimension umfasst die Entwicklung eines fallstudienbasierten Rahmenwerks für eine explorative Analyse der betriebswirtschaftlichen Implikationen von Barrierefreiheit sowie dessen Anwendung auf Organisationen in drei verschiedenen Unternehmenssektoren: Tourismus, Finanzdienstleistungen und Information. Die Ergebnisse dieser Fallstudie stellen einen ersten betriebswirtschaftlichen Ansatz dar, um die wirtschaftlichen Implikationen von barrierefreiem Web zu identifizieren und dienen somit als wichtige Entscheidungsunterstützung für das Management. Die wiederholte Anwendung dieser Methode führt zu einer beliebig erweiterbaren Fallstudiensammlung, welche eine wichtige Basis für weitere quantitative und qualitative Forschung bildet. Die behördliche Dimension dieser Arbeit untersucht ausgewählte Strategiealternativen zur Etablierung eines einheitlichen Web Accessibility Gütesiegels in Österreich. Dafür wird ein antizipativer Ansatz verwendet, welcher das Bestehen eines normativen Dokuments und einer Evaluationsmethodik voraussetzt. In einer Szenarienanalyse werden vier Strategiealternativen entwickelt und evaluiert. Ferner wird ein flexibles Geschäftsmodell für ein österreichisches Gütesiegel entwickelt, um in weiterer Folge Entscheidungsträger bei der Auswahl einer geeigneten Herangehensweise auf nationaler Ebene zu unterstützen und somit eine europakonforme Realisierung eines Gütesiegels unabhängig vom Fortschritt internationaler Standardisierungsbemühungen zu erleichtern.This thesis develops a holistic approach for the analysis of business implications of accessible web presences which encompasses two strongly interrelated perspectives (organization and authority). The organizational part introduces a case study research based framework for an exploratory analysis of web accessibility implications which is applied to organizations in three business sectors. The case study draws on a triangulation approach and considers the opposing insights of organizations with and without successful web accessibility implementation in the tourism, financial services and information sector. The findings of this case study research constitute a first managerial approach to identify the business impacts of web accessibility and generate a sound basis for management decision recommendations. The reapplication of this methodology to any real world case results in a case study collection that can be extended continuously. This collection represents an important basis for further quantitative and qualitative research. The authority perspective of this thesis explores viable alternatives for implementing the European web accessibility quality mark in Austria. A look-ahead approach is applied that assumes the release of a normative document and an evaluation methodology in the near future. A scenario analysis includes the development of four scenarios and their evaluation in terms of six criteria. Moreover, a flexible business model for an Austrian web accessibility quality mark that fits into a possible European framework and at the same time facilitates and accelerates national implementation is introduced

WEB ACCESSIBILITY IN THE AUSTRIAN HOTEL SECTOR

This contribution aims to provide an analysis of the current state of web accessibility in the tourism industry with the focus on the Austrian hotel sector. The results of the conducted study verify previous research, showing that tourism organizations considerably lack awareness of web accessibility. A three dimensional hotel categorization model on accessibility is introduced to encompass the complexity of accessibility in the hotel sector. This model can be used to evaluate the current state of hotel accessibility and may therefore provide a valuable tool for further benchmarking activities

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements