Land reorganisation proceedings for re-regulation of the ownership-rights structure in rural areas are summarized under the term “reorganisation of land holdings” in Saxony. These have their legal basis in the Land Consolidation Act (FlurbG) or in section 8 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act (LwAnpG). Furthermore, land regulation can be conducted under the Building Code (BauGB). The goal is to develop capable, versatility structured agriculture and forestry, and to secure and improve rural areas as an attractive location for working, living, and recreation. Land management and land regulation serve “land development” and are thus in the area of tension of many different user interests.

Ultrasonic Consolidation of stainless steel structures is being investigated for potential applications. This study investigates the suitability of Stainless Steel 316L annealed (SS316L annealed) as a building material for Ultrasonic Consolidation (UC), including research on Linear Welding Density (LWD) estimation on micrographs of samples. Experiment results are presented that include the effect of UC process parameters on SS316L annealed UC, optimum levels of these parameters, and bond quality of ultrasonically consolidated SS316L annealed structures in terms of LWD. In support to these efforts, a Measurement System Analysis for LWD assessment has been performed, and a new instrument for LWD measurement was developed. This work will determine local maximum LWD UC process parameters for SS316L annealed structures based upon systematic evaluation of sample micrographs.

This research explores the use of two additive manufacturing processes for the fabrication of multi-material structures. Ultrasonic consolidation (UC) and laser- engineered net shaping (LENS) processes were used for parallel systematic investigations of the process parameters and methodologies for the development of multi-material structures. The UC process uses ultrasonic energy at low temperature to bond metallic foils. A wide range of metallic materials including nickel; titanium; copper; molybdenum; tantalum; MetPreg®; silver; stainless steel; and aluminum alloys 1100, 3003, and 6061 were bonded in different combinations. Material domains are inherently discrete in ultrasonically consolidated structures. The mechanical properties of some of the bonded structures were characterized to lay the groundwork for their real-life applications. LENS uses a laser beam to deposit metallic powder materials for the fabrication of fully dense structures. Mechanical testing was used to characterize the flexural and tensile properties of dual-material structures made of Ti6Al4V/10wt%TiC composite and Ti6Al4V materials. Experimental results show that the strength of transition joints in multi-material structures significantly depends on the joint design. Dual-material minimum weight structures, representing geometrically and materially complex structures, were fabricated using the results of the process parameters and fabrication methodologies developed in this work. The structures performed well under loading test conditions. It shows that function-specific multi-material structures ultrasonically consolidated and LENS fabricated can perform well in real-life applications.

The study addresses the fiscal, governance, and educational impact of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act on elementary and secondary education in Oregon from its inception in 1983 through the 1985 fiscal year. A review of the national literature and research provided rationale for hypothesizing within state redistribution of federal aid to elementary and secondary school districts, increased federal aid to local education agencies, a continuation of decreased federal funding for state educational agency positions, and an expansion of federal aid to private schools. Interviews were conducted with Oregon Department of Education officials, members of the State Block Grant Advisory Committee, and local educators. State documents and plans were studied and analyzed. Oregon's 309 elementary and secondary school districts and seven state institution schools were classified into five recipient groups: (1) Population Center; (2) Suburban; (3) Metropolitan-Urban; (4) Rural; and (5) State Institutions. School districts gains and losses within groups and among groups were computed and reported. The study showed that the metropolitan school district of Portland and the state institution schools were the only two groups to lose federal aid in the transition from the antecedent categorical programs in 1982 to the first year block grant program in 1983 while the proportion of federal aid per-pupil allocated to suburban and population center school districts increased. The trend from 1982 to 1985 showed per-pupil distribution shaped federal aid into more of a mathematical equity distribution where the percent of federal aid has become more proportionate to the percent of pupils in school district groups. The study also found that the block grant set aside at the state level is a significant source of funds to support educational change and reform. The Oregon Department of Education has used block grant funds as a major revenue source to support the Oregon Action Plan for Excellence. The study concluded that the program had moved federal aid away from previously targeted needs and that federal aid, in the absence of strongly worded purposes and national interests, may evolve into an educational revenue sharing program. In times of economic difficulty and revenue shortfalls, the justification for continued educational block grants may be questioned.

This study has been inspired by the political events in the past few years that signalled a general decline, instead of consolidation, of democracy in South Africa. The decline has caused a rising trust deficit between the government and the citizens of South Africa. These events have raised questions of the role of the media in the consolidation of democracy. Katrin Voltmer's pioneering work, The Media in Transitional Democracies (2013) shines an important light in delineating the role of the media in transitions, including democratic consolidation. Much of the focus of scholastic research in the subject of media and democracy has been on news and journalistic content. Jurgen Habermas' seminal work, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (1989) also accorded more weight to the rational and cognitive, as opposed to the affective and emotive aspects of the media when arguing in favour of emancipatory potential of the public sphere. The rational and cognitive aspects are generally associated with news and journalistic content (McGuigan, 2005: 430). Unlike Habermas, this study follows the lead by scholars like Van Zoonen (2006) and McGuigan's (2005) interest in the popular entertainment content which has often been regarded as having little significance in politics, especially democracy. In its emphasis on the consolidation aspect of South African democratic transition, the study is conducted against the backdrop of the broader ‘third wave' transitions of the early 1990's (Huntington, 1991). The study's theoretical framework is aligned with Christians et al.'s (2009) revision of the Four Theories (Siebert, et al, 1956) of the press. Their approach is useful because of its normative strength that opens the possibilities of media roles in democratization. The normative approach allows a free exploration of the potential of the media, instead of restricting the media to the political systems within which they operate. In addition, it aligns itself to Jim McGuigan's theory of the cultural public sphere which highlights the often-ignored political potency of popular cultural texts in the public sphere. McGuigan (2005: 430) argues that the affective or emotive aspects of popular cultural texts enhance, rather than hinder, the quality of political engagement in the public sphere. Through entertainment television programmes, democratic ways of life can be portrayed as part of everyday, ordinary life (Stevenson, 2010: 276). Against the widely held expectation that the media should play a positive role in democracies, some scholars have noted that in reality, “this is not necessarily so” (Jebril, Stetka & Loveless, 2013: 3). Rather, the media can serve dictatorships as happily as they serve democracies (Voltmer, 2013: 23). Using the case studies of two soap operas of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Muvhango and 7de Laan, the study explores the role of popular media in the enhancement or consolidation of democracy, and the circumstances under which this is carried out. The media of interest for this study is public service broadcasting (PSB). For most democracies of the third wave, especially in Africa, PSB has been an easy victim of political power. Because of its dependence on the state, PSB tends to be more susceptible to political interference than other media types. Like other PSBs, the SABC has clearly spelt-out objectives that are linked to the national developmental objectives, including the goal of promoting and deepening democracy. This connection makes it possible to evaluate the selected entertainment case studies against these objectives. The study uses Multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) because it allows for the analysis of text in its multimodal form such as visuals and audio. It equally allows for the application of analytical tools borrowed from film and television theories. By indirect measurement, MCDA model is used in the study to evaluate how democracy is represented (promoted, negated, omitted) in various aspects of the text.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1979. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Bibliography: leaves 133-135. / by William Eugene Hadge. / M.S.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Bibliography: leaves 151-155. / by Michael Kavvadas. / M.S.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Vita. / Bibliography: p. 482-499. / by Jacques-Noel Levadoux. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Bibliography: leaves 160-167. / by Mark David Bucknam. / M.S.

Thesis (Sc.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Bibliography: leaves 544-558. / by Michael Kavvadas. / Sc.D.