This research focused on diversion and community-based alternatives to custody for young offenders. For the purposes of this research, diversion, and community-based responses to youth crime include informal processes and non-incarcerating sanctions utilized for young offenders for the purposes of diverting youth away from the formal justice system at any juncture, and/or reintegrating that offender within the community. Measures of interest included extrajudicial measures, extra-judicial sanctions, conferencing, restorative justice, and intensive support and supervision under the YCJA (2002). This research followed a qualitative approach to examine policy and practice. Phase 1 involved an examination of over a decade of policy-related discussions within the House of Commons and Senate as well as their respective committees and resulting legislation reported by Legisinfo. Initially, all transcripts were examined. At a later stage, a proportional stratified random sample was drawn, restricting the sample to 32 items. Phase 2 involved semi-structured interviews conducted with 14 professionals in the field of youth justice with the aim of accessing practice narratives on policy implementation. Chain-referral and maximum variation sampling techniques were employed to access a diverse group of professionals including police, youth workers, restorative justice personnel and probation officers in the regions of Greater Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia. Participants ranged in length of service from one year to over 35 years. Thematic narrative analysis of phases 1 and 2 occurred iteratively with data collection. In this dissertation, I present findings regarding community youth justice measures at three levels: the operational/practice level, the policy-making level and the macro socio-political level. Specifically, findings related to the operational level include: insufficient resources available to individual workers; narrowing the net of youth who are eligible for services; a reliance on informal and formal charitable contributions to provide basic youth justice services; and outsourcing of diversion strategies by government to community organizations. On a policy-making level, I discuss findings related to the complex fusion of restorative justice and diversion strategies; the substitution of anecdotes for evidence in policy-making; and the simple rather than complex stories used to frame the “youth justice problem” by policy-makers. Finally, on the macro socio-political level, I highlight the reversal of the welfare state and the associated implications of this reversal. I analyze and discuss the impacts that ideological and policy shifts have on policy-making and individual practice, notably on the efforts of professionals who must begin the work of closing the gaps in youth justice services, and who do so based on their own understanding of social responsibility and the “ethos of care.” This research contributes to the body of work on youth justice in Canada by exploring the connections and disconnects between policy discourses at each of the political, policy and practice levels and highlights how such a multi-dimensional analysis is a meaningful way to assess an important social policy issue. / Graduate / 0627 / lorinda.stoneman@gmail.com

Water management that alters riverine ecosystem processes has strongly influenced deltas and the people who depend on them, but a full accounting of the trade-offs is still emerging. Using palaeoecological data, we document a surprising biogeochemical consequence of water management in the Colorado River basin. Complete allocation and consumptive use of the river's flow has altered the downstream estuarine ecosystem, including the abundance and composition of the mollusc community, an important component in estuarine carbon cycling. In particular, population declines in the endemic Colorado delta clam, Mulinia coloradoensis, from 50-125 individuals m(-2) in the pre-dam era to three individualsm-2 today, have likely resulted in a reduction, on the order of 5900-15 000 tCyr(-1) (4.1-10.6 mol Cm-2 yr(-1)), in the net carbon emissions associated with molluscs. Although this reduction is large within the estuarine system, it is small in comparison with annual global carbon emissions. Nonetheless, this finding highlights the need for further research into the effects of dams, diversions and reservoirs on the biogeochemistry of deltas and estuaries worldwide, underscoring a present need for integrated water and carbon planning.

Southern Louisiana is experiencing a dramatic loss of freshwater wetlands as a result of natural and man-made changes in the landscape. Multitempral remotely sensed data were used to examine the impact of the Caernarvon Freshwater Diversion Structure, built in 1991 to divert water to Breton Sound. Satellite imagery data covering the period from 1974 to 2006 were analyzed by computing several spectral indices including NDVI, VI, IR/R, Sqrt IR/R, T-NDVI, and NDWI, as well as principle component analysis. The resulting enhanced images were classified into two classes, vegetation or open water. The ratios of vegetation to open water were then calculated and the changes graphed over the 1974-2006 timeframe. The results indicated that despite the infusion of freshwater, the open water portion of the Breton Sound area continued to expand, indeed the expansion rate increased from approximately 0.25% per year before construction of Caernarvon to 0.45% per year after construction.

Little research has examined which individual factors may predict mental health court diversion outcome. Using data provided by a non-profit mental health services agency operating in the Durham Region in Ontario, this study examined 419 persons with mental illness participating in a post-charge diversion program. Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics were employed to investigate the relationship between clientspecific factors and level of program completion. Logistic regression results revealed that unemployment was a significant predictor of program completion. Employment and symptom severity were predictive of partial completion of court diversion. Additionally, participants who did not complete programming were more likely to have a concurrent disorder and were more likely to be residentially unstable than participants who did complete programming. These findings are discussed with respect to their implications for practice and future research. / UOIT

With the expansion of the European Union there have been concerns over increasing competition for FDI attraction between member states. This study will examine to what extent, if to any extent at all, the admission of the Central and Eastern countries to the EU has raised completion for FDI in Spain. Spain and the CEECs will be compared in terms of advantages in FDI attraction. Ultimately, evidence and analysis will suggest that given current trend, there is no serious threat to diverting foreign assets from Spain to the CEECs.

This thesis proposes a reinterpretation of assumptions towards material value. It is a positive argument in favour of adaptive re-use, not only as a means to divert waste but also as encouragement to reconsider our current habits of consumption. This paper promotes a discussion of our current environmental predicament rather then a one-sided statement and acts as a guide to re-evaluate our sense of value. This dissertation puts forward design solutions and alternatives to certain materials that are part of our everyday lives. The design projects herein adapt existing objects into ordinary household items, as an intended gesture of nostalgia toward the object’s previous form, while at the same time, taking on a raw elegance of aesthetic quality: the projects are raw in their material origins and elegant in their form and function. This work is intended to evolve into an ongoing discussion of salvaged material as a response to problems of consumption and waste, as well as to highlight an ongoing process of design.

This thesis proposes a reinterpretation of assumptions towards material value. It is a positive argument in favour of adaptive re-use, not only as a means to divert waste but also as encouragement to reconsider our current habits of consumption. This paper promotes a discussion of our current environmental predicament rather then a one-sided statement and acts as a guide to re-evaluate our sense of value. This dissertation puts forward design solutions and alternatives to certain materials that are part of our everyday lives. The design projects herein adapt existing objects into ordinary household items, as an intended gesture of nostalgia toward the object’s previous form, while at the same time, taking on a raw elegance of aesthetic quality: the projects are raw in their material origins and elegant in their form and function. This work is intended to evolve into an ongoing discussion of salvaged material as a response to problems of consumption and waste, as well as to highlight an ongoing process of design.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-149).

A traffic network can be disrupted by work zones and incidents. Calculating diversion rate is a core issue for estimating demand changes, which is needed to select a suitable work zone configuration and work schedule. An urban network can provide multiple alternative routes, so traffic assignment is the best tool to analyze diversion rates on network level and the local level. Compared with the results from static traffic assignment, dynamic traffic assignment predicts a higher network diversion rate in the morning peak period and off-peak period, a lower local diversion rate in the morning peak period. Additionally, travelers may benefit from knowing real-time traffic condition to avoid the traffic incident areas. Deploying variable message signs (VMSs) is one possible solution. One key issue is optimizing locations of VMSs. A planning model is created to solve the problem. The objective is minimize total system travel time. The link transmission model is used to evaluate the performance of the network, and bounded rational behavior is used to represent drivers' response to VMSs. A self-adapting genetic algorithm (GA) is formulated to solve the problem. This model selects the best locations to provide VMSs, typically places are that allow travelers to switch to alternative routes. Results show that adding more VMSs beyond a certain threshold level does not further reduce travel time. / text

An understanding of both the determinants of health care access and the implications of that access is of crucial importance because it enables us to learn about policies and institutions that are welfare enhancing in health outcomes. The first chapter of my dissertation explores how access to sanitaria aided in tuberculosis control in the time before antibiotics. Results indicate that access to an additional sanitaria bed reduced the death rate from tuberculosis for white residents by nearly .695 per 100,000 and had no impact for black residents. The next two chapters investigate the retail health clinic. First, I construct a choice model of clinic location that accounts for both demand and competition effects. I find that clinics are more likely to locate in areas that are populous, wealthy, educated, and white, and that they are less likely to locate in traditionally underserved communities. Second, I combine the results of my predictive model with data on ED visits to determine if clinics help direct patients away from receiving treatment at expensive emergency rooms. I find that access to retail clinics causes a substantial decrease in the number of ED visits for bronchitis and upper respiratory infections. The savings associated with retail clinic induced ED diversion is conservatively estimated to be at least $88 million in 2012 alone. In California, counterfactual analysis suggests that relaxing the barriers to clinic entry would result in $10.5 million in annual health care savings.