The last decade has seen numerous proposals to reform existing tribunal systems in jurisdictions throughout the common law world. Across the board, there have been proposals to adopt generalist tribunal models in preference to smaller, specialist tribunal systems, and to achieve these changes through the process of amalgamation. The most significant recent developments to occur in Australia have taken place in Victoria and NSW during the past five years. Legislators in these States have chosen to amalgamate a number of smaller, specialist tribunals into larger, generalist bodies. In 1997 the NSW Parliament passed legislation amalgamating a number of specialist tribunals to create the Administrative Decisions Tribunal (ADT); comparable legislation was passed in Victoria in 1998 to create the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). There were concurrent attempts to implement similar reforms at federal level. In 1998 the Commonwealth government announced its intention to amalgamate four Commonwealth merits review tribunals to form one �super Tribunal� � the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART). The Bills containing these proposals were ultimately defeated in the Senate, however the Australian Government remains convinced of the benefits of amalgamation at federal level. Similar reforms have been proposed in Western Australia, Tasmania and the United Kingdom. This thesis argues that these reforms are taking place in the absence of data about their likely implications, and without a thorough understanding of the objectives that generalist versus specialist tribunal systems can realistically achieve. This ill-considered or �over-hasty� trend towards amalgamation raises a number of questions which have not previously been addressed in academic or policy-making circles. An obvious question is whether or not an amalgamated tribunal model is more effective than a series of smaller, specialised tribunals in delivering administrative justice, in other words, whether there is any net gain to be had from a government�s decision to amalgamate. The less explored, but equally important, question addressed in this thesis is how the process of amalgamation should be approached in order to realise the maximum potential benefits that an amalgamated tribunal can bring. That is, to ask what are the ingredients of an optimal amalgamation. This is not a question about whether government decisions to pursue amalgamation are intrinsically worthwhile or beneficial for stakeholders. Rather, it is about how government decisions to amalgamate should best be implemented. This thesis proposes a way of differentiating between good and bad amalgamations, that is grounded in theory and informed by experience to date. The proposed approach is to assess the effectiveness of amalgamation processes using relevant measures drawn from an analysis of organisational theory literature: � Legislation � the legislation establishing an amalgamated tribunal needs to ensure the tribunal will have appropriate independence, powers, processes, membership and structure. � Political commitment � those responsible for proposing and planning an amalgamation need to provide appropriate funding and support for the process and for the establishment of an autonomous, self-directed tribunal. � Organisational structure � the structures put in place need to be appropriate, integrated and flexible, and should promote cohesion and interaction. � Process and procedure � the processes and procedures adopted in an amalgamated tribunal need to capitalise upon the opportunities provided by amalgamation, as well as being appropriate, efficient and able to balance the needs of a range of stakeholders. � Organisational culture � an organisational culture which counters natural tendencies towards disjunction will assist members and staff to identify with a newly amalgamated tribunal and to implement initiatives that will improve its performance. � Leadership � effective leadership plays an important role in ensuring a smooth transition from specialist to amalgamated tribunal, and engendering commitment from members and staff. Broadly speaking, these factors fall into the four categories of law, context, organisation and people. It is argued that attention must be paid to all four of these ingredients in order to achieve optimal tribunal reform. The thesis tests this proposition by examining the three most advanced tribunal amalgamations so far, namely, the Commonwealth ART, the NSW ADT and VCAT in Victoria. It is argued that the fate of the Commonwealth ART proposal proves the importance of a solid, generally endorsed legislative foundation in creating a viable amalgamated tribunal. The importance of context, organisation and people is borne out by qualitative research into the amalgamation experiences in NSW and Victoria. The fact that the NSW and Victorian governments decided to pursue policies of amalgamation at the same time provided a unique opportunity to compare the success or otherwise of two concurrent attempts at amalgamation in different jurisdictions. This thesis finds that the unfavourable political context in NSW prevented the ADT from realising its potential. In contrast, the VCAT experience highlights the benefits of paying careful attention to the wide range of factors that can contribute to a successful amalgamation. Of most relevance are the initial scale of an amalgamation, the political �will� behind its implementation, the appointment of a core of full-time members, and the creation of an open institutional culture which facilitates the sharing of information. In short, the thesis concludes that the successful construction and consolidation of a tribunal post-amalgamation requires that the necessary ingredients of optimal tribunal reform � legislation, context, organisation and people � are thoughtfully addressed.

The birth of a new South Africa in 1994 necessitated various reforms in education, and like in many other countries, decentralization was imperative in order to address, among other issues, the undemocratic governance practices and inequalities of the former apartheid educational system. This study interrogates the establishment of districts and circuits in Mpumalanga as nodes of service delivery, immediately after South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994. It also focuses on their demise in 2001 and the birth of regions. The study investigates the rationale behind these processes that took place in Mpumalanga, through posing three main research questions: 1. Which decentralization model(s) informed the formation of districts and circuits in the Mpumalanga Department of Education? 2. What circumstances led to the dismantling of districts and their amalgamation into regions? 3. What has been the effect of this shift on service delivery in circuits and schools? (Did it lead to an improvement or decline in service delivery, education governance in the province, effectiveness and efficiency?) The methodology used in this study is the qualitative framework. The qualitative research approach is appropriate for investigating the rationale behind the shift from the district structure to the regional structure in Mpumalanga, with the Ehlanzeni region as a case study. This phenomenon can be best understood by using a qualitative approach to investigate how those involved conceptualized and experienced the whole process. The data collection method is face-to-face, unstructured, in-depth interviews. The study argues that the shift from districts to regions in Mpumalanga is the result of inadequacies in the district structure which caused districts to fail. These inadequacies filtered down to the performance of roles and responsibilities which led to the demise of districts and their amalgamation into regions, which were given more powers and resources in order to fulfill their mandate. This study uses Samoff’s (1990) decentralization typologies as a lens through which the establishment of districts and circuits, their demise, and the reorganization into regions can be conceptualized. This study found that districts and circuits were established in line with the government’s principle of taking government to the people; in that they were closer to the people they served. Districts and circuits were field offices that were strategically established to assist the province in delivering services to the people as well as encouraging community participation in education. Districts and circuits failed to perform their roles and responsibilities as expected, due to lack of power and authority, resources (physical; human and financial), capacity, coordination and financial support. This led to their restructuring into regions in order to reduce costs, consolidate expertise, provide resources, and grant more powers for them to perform well and achieve efficacy. This study contributes to the body of literature and understanding of the ramifications of decentralization. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

A demonstração feita por Erdos da existência de grafos com cintura e número cromático grandes é uma das primeiras aplicações do método probabilístico. Essa demonstração fornece um limite para o número de vértices de um grafo desse tipo, que é exponencial na cintura quando o número cromático é fixado. O foco deste texto, no entanto, são as construções determinísticas de grafos com cintura e número cromático grandes e os números de vértices dos grafos obtidos. As construções elementares conhecidas fornecem apenas grafos com um número Ackermanniano de vértices. O texto começa com uma breve repetição das demonstrações probabilísticas da existência de grafos e hipergrafos com cintura e número cromático grandes. Depois, a busca por construções determinísticas é motivada apresentando-se algumas construções para o caso particular de grafos livres de triângulo e com número cromático grande. São construídos os grafos de Tutte, Zykov, Mycielski e Kneser, os grafos de shift e os de planos projetivos finitos. Os números de vértices dessas construções são computados e comparados. De fato, a construção a partir de planos projetivos finitos tem um número polinomial de vértices. A parte principal do texto são as construções de grafos e hipergrafos com cintura e número cromático grandes. A primeira construção apresentada foi feita por Kriz. Ela foi a primeira construção para grafos com cintura e número cromático grandes que não envolvia hipergrafos. A segunda construção apresentada foi feita por Nesetril e Rödl. Essa construção antecede a de Kriz. Ela utiliza a amalgamação entre grafos e hipergrafos para obter um hipergrafo uniforme com cintura e número cromático grandes. A terceira e última construção apresentada foi encontrada por Alon, Kostochka, Reiniger, West e Zhu. Essa construção consegue obter hipergrafos uniformes com cintura e número cromático grandes diretamente a partir de um grafo, que é uma certa árvore aumentada. Em particular, essa construção obtém grafos com cintura e número cromático grandes sem envolver hipergrafos. Os números de vértices dos hipergrafos obtidos por essas construções são computados e comparados. / The proof by Erdos of the existence of graphs with high girth and high chromatic number is one of the first applications of the probabilistic method. This proof gives a bound on the number of vertices of such graphs, which is exponential on the girth if the chromatic number is fixed. The focus of this text is however on the deterministic construction of graphs with high girth and high chromatic number and on the number of vertices of the obtained graphs. The elementary known constructions can only give us graphs with an Ackermannian number of vertices. We begin by briefly repeating the probabilistic proofs of the existence of graphs and hypergraphs with high girth and high chromatic number. Then we motivate the search for deterministic constructions of such graphs by showing some constructions for the special case of triangle-free graphs with high chromatic number. We construct Tutte, Zykov, Mycielski and Kneser graphs, the shift graphs and graphs built from finite projective planes. We count and compare the number of vertices of the graphs obtained by each of these constructions. In fact, the construction based on finite projective planes gives us graphs with a polynomial number of vertices. The main part of the text consists of constructions of graphs and hypergraphs with high girth and high chromatic number. The first construction we present is due to Kriz. This was the first construction to give graphs with high girth and high chromatic number without using hypergraphs. The second construction we present is due to Nesetril and Rödl. This construction precedes the one by Kriz. It uses amalgamations between graphs and hypergraphs to obtain uniform hypergraphs with high girth and high chromatic number. The third and last construction we show was found by Alon, Kostochka, Reiniger, West and Zhu. This construction manages to build uniform hypergraphs with high girth and high chromatic number directly from a single graph, which is an augmented-tree. In particular, it constructs graphs with high girth and high chromatic number without using hypergraphs. We count and compare the number of vertices of the hypergraphs obtained by these constructions.

The diploma thesis analyzes the issues of voluntary consolidation of municipal structures in the European countries. The period between the 1990 and 2013 was chosen as the time frame for the thesis because of the possibility to incorporate the countries of the former Soviet bloc to comparison. The text is divided into two main parts, where different perspectives are used. The first part is mainly theoretical using the top-down, state-focused perspective. The European countries are distributed into different categories according to the type and degree of voluntariness in the consolidation process. The cases of the countries are individually analyzed to illustrate the tools and factors that influenced success or failure of the municipal merger processes. The second part of the text, using the bottom-up perspective, is focused on the individual cases of the municipal amalgamation in the Czech Republic. It describes every case alone and analyzes assumptions and factors affecting decisions of small municipalities to merge. The combination of the two perspectives allows creating a basic set of strategies and instructions which, under certain circumstances, may convince small municipalities to merge.

No description available.

<p>This research project explores the effects of neoliberal policy reform at Children Aid Society (CAS) in Ontario with a specific focus of a newly amalgamated agency in Northern Ontario. For the purpose of this research paper, the agency currently restructuring is referred as Agency # 1. The amalgamation has been initiated by the Ontario Ministry of Youth and Children Services (MYCS). In order to provide these changes, the MYCS formed the Commission to Promote Sustainable Child Welfare (CPSCW) to look into approaches that would make services more efficient and sustainable. This project focuses on the interpretation of the amalgamation through three lenses: the academic literature reviewed; five interviews conducted with administrators and front line workers; and finally the researchers lived experience at Agency # 1 will form a backdrop to the research questions in order to highlight the voices of the research participants. A qualitative approach was conducted to analyze and outline specific themes and sub themes that relate to the literature review such as Neoliberalism, Centralization and New Public Management (NPM). The findings support that neoliberal policy reform has impacted employees at Agency # 1 through a series of miscommunication on policy and procedures along with a delayed process to agreeing on a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The data outlines that the process has been highly influenced and developed by the MYCS, CPSCW and senior administration. The data supports the conclusion that neoliberal reform through managerial approaches is highly entrenched in restructuring of Agency # 1.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

Amalgamations are a promising replacement for electronic solders, thermal interface materials, and other conductive joining materials. Amalgams are mechanically alloyed materials of a liquid constituent with a solid powder. Unlike traditional solders, these materials are processed at room temperature or slightly above, and can often operate at temperatures near, or beyond, their processing temperatures. Existing bonding processes require an excessive amount of heat, which may cause thermal stress to the electronic components and delaminate the attachment. Amalgams have promising characteristics for thermal interface materials (TIMs) due to being fully metallic, relatively easy of handling, and possessing metallic strength similar to solder or braze. Non-toxic gallium (Ga) based room temperature liquid metal alloys are a favorable material for structural amalgamations over conventional mercury (Hg). Unlike Hg amalgamations, Ga-based amalgamations have not been widely studied in the literature. In this work, the authors investigate a novel Ga-based amalgamation, further detailing the fabrication process and characterize the physical structure, chemistry, and mechanical strength. Different packing ratios are examined, by weight, 2:1, 1:1, 4:3, and 4:1 of Galinstan, which is composed of 68wt% Ga, 22wt% indium (In), 10wt% tin (Sn), to copper (Cu) powder. These ratios are molded into three-dimensional (3D) printed tensile bars of the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard dimensions of a model that is per D638 TypeIV. The tensile bars are cured for 24-hours at three different temperatures (room temperature, 100°C, 200°C). The 4:1 ratio was the only specimen that failed to solidify. After allowing 24-hours of undisturbed curing, the samples that solidified were tested for their ultimate tensile strength. The optimal strength was achieved with the 2:1 ratio cured at 100°C, reaching an average tensile strength of 32.0 MPa. A scanning electron microscope (SEM), equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), was then utilized to perform microstructural characterization and local chemical composition mapping of fractured and polished sample surfaces. It is concluded that, of the packing ratios that set, there is no statistically significant correlation between packing ratio and tensile strength. Further, the phases formed during curing at room temperature are the same for all packing ratios but are present at different dispersions. However, it is found that the tensile strength decreases with statistical significance as the cure temperature is increased to 200°C. This change can be attributed to the presence of new phases that occur when the sample is heated to 200°C vs. when cured at room temperature. In the room temperature sample, x-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed the existence of pure Cu, CuGa2, and In3Sn. At 200°C, XRD shows a decrease in pure Cu, the presence of CuGa2 and In3Sn, and the emergence of a new Cu2Ga phase. These different phases form different interfaces with different bond energies, resulting in a change in tensile strength.

This thesis examines historical and contemporary artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in Kadoma-Chakari, Zimbabwe in order to identify effective strategies to reduce mercury loss and exposure and to increase miners’ incomes by improving gold recoveries. Cyanidation of mercury-rich tailings and the use of nitric acid to leach mercury from cathode sludge and amalgams are identified as significant pathways for losses of mercury into the environment in Zimbabwe. Indirect evidence suggests that as much as 90% of the mercury contained in amalgamation tailings at mills in Kadoma-Chakari is dissolved during passive vat cyanidation. Mercury traps placed after copper amalgamation plates and centrifuges could reduce the amount of mercury subjected to cyanidation, but mercury can be kept out of cyanidation circuits altogether by replacing whole ore amalgamation with vinyl loop carpets. The optimal cyanide concentration for passive vat leaching is between 0.1 to 0.15%. Better management of nitric acid waste solutions can also significantly reduce mercury losses. The current political and socio-economic crisis significantly limits the effectiveness of ASGM programs in Zimbabwe. Nevertheless, strategies for more effective management of ASGM interventions are suggested by a review of the history of didactic theatre (Theatre for Development) in Africa. Theatre used as an awareness building tool is exemplified by “Nakai”, a drama produced in Kadoma-Chakari to increase knowledge of the hazards of mercury use. Theatre can also be a means to ensure horizontal communication between donors and project beneficiaries if it is used to stimulate discussions that give communities a real voice in development programs. It is proposed that community participation in project design, implementation and evaluation increases the likelihood of project success and sustainability because community-identified problems and solutions are more realistic than those defined by donors, and because community “buy in” and ownership increases pressure on project administrators to deliver the services communities need.

This thesis examines historical and contemporary artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in Kadoma-Chakari, Zimbabwe in order to identify effective strategies to reduce mercury loss and exposure and to increase miners’ incomes by improving gold recoveries. Cyanidation of mercury-rich tailings and the use of nitric acid to leach mercury from cathode sludge and amalgams are identified as significant pathways for losses of mercury into the environment in Zimbabwe. Indirect evidence suggests that as much as 90% of the mercury contained in amalgamation tailings at mills in Kadoma-Chakari is dissolved during passive vat cyanidation. Mercury traps placed after copper amalgamation plates and centrifuges could reduce the amount of mercury subjected to cyanidation, but mercury can be kept out of cyanidation circuits altogether by replacing whole ore amalgamation with vinyl loop carpets. The optimal cyanide concentration for passive vat leaching is between 0.1 to 0.15%. Better management of nitric acid waste solutions can also significantly reduce mercury losses. The current political and socio-economic crisis significantly limits the effectiveness of ASGM programs in Zimbabwe. Nevertheless, strategies for more effective management of ASGM interventions are suggested by a review of the history of didactic theatre (Theatre for Development) in Africa. Theatre used as an awareness building tool is exemplified by “Nakai”, a drama produced in Kadoma-Chakari to increase knowledge of the hazards of mercury use. Theatre can also be a means to ensure horizontal communication between donors and project beneficiaries if it is used to stimulate discussions that give communities a real voice in development programs. It is proposed that community participation in project design, implementation and evaluation increases the likelihood of project success and sustainability because community-identified problems and solutions are more realistic than those defined by donors, and because community “buy in” and ownership increases pressure on project administrators to deliver the services communities need.

This thesis examines historical and contemporary artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in Kadoma-Chakari, Zimbabwe in order to identify effective strategies to reduce mercury loss and exposure and to increase miners’ incomes by improving gold recoveries. Cyanidation of mercury-rich tailings and the use of nitric acid to leach mercury from cathode sludge and amalgams are identified as significant pathways for losses of mercury into the environment in Zimbabwe. Indirect evidence suggests that as much as 90% of the mercury contained in amalgamation tailings at mills in Kadoma-Chakari is dissolved during passive vat cyanidation. Mercury traps placed after copper amalgamation plates and centrifuges could reduce the amount of mercury subjected to cyanidation, but mercury can be kept out of cyanidation circuits altogether by replacing whole ore amalgamation with vinyl loop carpets. The optimal cyanide concentration for passive vat leaching is between 0.1 to 0.15%. Better management of nitric acid waste solutions can also significantly reduce mercury losses. The current political and socio-economic crisis significantly limits the effectiveness of ASGM programs in Zimbabwe. Nevertheless, strategies for more effective management of ASGM interventions are suggested by a review of the history of didactic theatre (Theatre for Development) in Africa. Theatre used as an awareness building tool is exemplified by “Nakai”, a drama produced in Kadoma-Chakari to increase knowledge of the hazards of mercury use. Theatre can also be a means to ensure horizontal communication between donors and project beneficiaries if it is used to stimulate discussions that give communities a real voice in development programs. It is proposed that community participation in project design, implementation and evaluation increases the likelihood of project success and sustainability because community-identified problems and solutions are more realistic than those defined by donors, and because community “buy in” and ownership increases pressure on project administrators to deliver the services communities need. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Mining Engineering, Keevil Institute of / Graduate