Why does it always overrun the budget? Those who engage in construction engineering practice, including budgeting, contracting and construction site management, often experience additional project budgets. The business operator of the construction company will feel the pain as flesh- like when project budgets were overspent. Relating issues have not been researched to the bottom yet till now. Such as: How serious they are for overrun? What caused it? How much it will impact? And could it be comprehended then find ways to resolve? And so on. The research methods employed in this study are through questionnaire survey, interviews with professionals and the case study to collect data as the foundation of analysis and to explore various problems about discrepancies and links between budgeting and completion of settlement. According to findings of this study, the researcher will offer some suggestions to relating engineers and business operators.

This dissertation contains two chapters on law and economics and one chapter on international trade. An important but under-researched issue for medical malpractice (med-mal) litigation is how physicians' previous medical malpractice experiences affect their behaviour. Using Florida data on closed med-mal claims, I find that if physicians have prior paid claims, their current litigation is resolved faster and is associated with less cost. Having a prior payout does not significantly predict the likelihood or the amount of the current payout. This suggests that ``learning'' occurs as a result of prior med-mal experience. As a theoretical motivation, I developed a dynamic version of the divergent expectations (DE) litigation model. The model predicts, consistent with the data, that physicians have a more realistic analysis of med-mal litigation if they have prior experience. Many robustness checks are carried out to test the results, including using a fixed effect framework, to which the results are robust. In the second chapter, we investigate the impact of ``duty to settle'' rule in predicting patterns in data. Prior models and studies of settlement ignore the insurer's ``duty to settle'' -- the obligation to settle within policy limits if it would be unreasonable to refuse a within-limits settlement offer. We incorporate the duty to settle into a structural model of settlement of medical malpractice claims, and then estimate the model using maximum likelihood methods applied to a Texas closed claims database. Both the data and our model predict: a mass of cases with a settlement demand by the plaintiff exactly at limits; a smaller but still sizeable mass of cases with settlement exactly at limits; very few above-limits payments by insureds; and when above-limits payments are made, they are often by insurers. The model does a reasonable job in predicting data moments, including fractions of cases settled at limits, settled above limits, and tried. Using the model in counterfactual analysis, we predict: (i) with no duty to settle, more cases will be tried; (ii) with strict insurer liability for not settling within limits, there will be fewer trials and more above limits payments by insurers; and (iii) the duty to settle will rarely cause insurers to pay more than the expected value of claims. The third chapter of this dissertation is on international trade. There is a well established literature on the impact of sovereign debt renegotiation on bilateral trade, including Rose (2005) among others. However, there is no study that disentangles impacts of renegotiation on the intensive and extensive margins, where the former is the trade volume of established bilateral trading relationships and the latter is the number of established relationships. This study employs the UNComTrade dataset and debt renegotiation data from the Paris Club for over 150 countries in order to address the impact of a debt renegotiation on the extensive margin of trade. This paper finds that bilateral trade volume declines following a sovereign debt renegotiation. The result is robust to the use of trade lags as instrumental variables to address endogeneity. Consistent with the trade literature, this study documents a negative impact of a debt renegotiation on the trade value using the Tobit approach in a fixed effect model, to appropriately handle censored data. Interestingly, a comparison between the marginal impacts of a debt renegotiation on the extensive and the intensive margins shows that the former effect has at least the same magnitude as the latter. / text

To explore progressively larger biomolecular systems, methods to model explicit solvent cheaply are required. In this work, the use of Graphics Processing Units, found in commodity video cards, for solving the constraints, calculating the non-bonded forces and generating the pair list in the case of the fully constrained three site SPC water model is investigated. It was shown that the GPU implementation of the SPC constraint-solving algorithm SETTLE was overall 26% faster than a conventional implementation running on a Central Processing Unit (CPU) core. The non-bonded forces were calculated up to 17 times faster than using a CPU core. Using these two approaches, an overall speed up of around 4 times was found. The most successful implementation of the pair-list generation ran at 38% the speed of a conventional grid-based implementation on a CPU core. In each investigation the accuracy was shown to be sufficient using a variety of numerical and distributional tests. Thus, the use of GPUs as parallel processors for MD calculations is highly promising. Lastly, a method of calculating a constraint force analytically is presented.

This study focuses on the role that land reform policies have played and are continuing to play in promoting women’s sustainable development in South Africa. The Land Reform Policy and its related Programmes which aim to provide equitable access to land have gathered strength after 1994 and intend to promote participation and involvement of women, youth and people with disabilities. To this effect the study has investigated the effectiveness of the Land Reform Policy and the Programmes with specific reference to women beneficiaries. The topic of the thesis refers to the Land Reform Policies as opposed to only one Land Reform Policy (The White Paper on South African Land Policy of 1997) which was introduced with the aim of integrating the then three existing policies which were later renamed programmes; Redistribution, Tenure Reform and Restitution. The Land Redistribution Programme is based on the Provision of Certain Land Rights for Settlement Act, 1993 (Act 126 of 1993) and Section 25 (b) (5) of the Constitution, 1996. The programme provides for the description of land for settlement purposes and financial assistance to people acquiring land for agricultural purposes. The Land Tenure Reform Programme is based on the Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights Act, 1993 (Act 112 of 1993) and Section 25 (b) (6) of the Constitution, 1996. This programme is aimed at availing and providing security of tenure in different ways to its beneficiaries. The Land Restitution Programme has its basis on the Restitution of Land Rights Act, 1994 (Act 22 of 1994) and Section 25 (b) (7) of the Constitution, 1996. The Restitution of Land Rights Act, 1994 (Act 22 of 1994) provides for the restitution of rights in land to those dispossessed of land in terms of racially based policies of the past. This thesis will therefore make reference to the main Land Reform Policy (WPSALP, 1997) and the Redistribution Programme and its sub-programmes. The role of government has been quite critical in the establishment and implementation of the Land Reform Policies. This is fundamental especially because land reform is a national mandate. There is proven necessity that each government sphere must play its role and support each other towards achieving this call. There is potential to achieve beyond what has been achieved to date if all spheres of government and the relevant stakeholders put enough effort into this and land reform is placed centrally in all government spheres. Formal agreements are necessary between the three spheres of government on ensuring that land reform is implemented successfully and benefits its targets beneficiaries. The study revealed that previous policies and legislations purposefully neglected and isolated women as beneficiaries of any developmental initiatives. The study proved that women are still regarded as the main provider of support to their families and yet have little say in land matters. The way in which the inferiority of women was inculcated was evident in the manner in which women were complacent with their lifestyles and ability to still take care of their families irrespective of the lack of resources. The study mainly discusses the White Paper on South African Land Policy of 1997 in isolation of the other policies even though there is strong mentioning of the Constitution, 1996, the land related legislation which the programmes are based on and the RDP document as some of the policies supporting land reform. The other beneficiary categories as mentioned are equally important but the focus herein is on women. The study applied the qualitative research method towards addressing the study focus challenges. A qualitative study is defined as an inquiry process of understanding based on distinct methodological traditions of analysis that explore a social or human problem. The ability of women to own and utilise land is the focus of the study particularly in terms of promoting sustainable development for women. The desired result out of this study is an enquiry on how has the land reform empowered women towards their sustainable development, as well as what has been the process of ensuring that women have equal access to land. The qualitative research types that have been applied are a combination of case studies, literature review and unstructured interviews. An analysis of the relationship between Public Administration and land reform is undertaken by the study. Within the analysis of the relationship between Public Administration and land reform, focus is on the origin of Public Administration and sustainable development’s perspective to Public Administration. The need to maintain a balance between economic development and environmental protection to ensure generational equity is highlighted as critical for sustained livelihoods. The use of natural resources such as land in an environmentally friendly manner will ensure that future generations can utilise land for their livelihoods as well. The enquiry has revealed that there is a lot of literature on the subject of land reform. Further on, through the unstructured interviews and cases used within the study, women have made a success of the land they received even though support to utilise land was not timeously provided by the relevant Department of Agriculture. The level of education, presence of women on farms, the ability to make decisions and knowledge of business concepts contributed to the women’s success. The study revealed that previous policies and legislations purposefully neglected and isolated women as beneficiaries of any developmental initiatives. The study has proven that women were and still are regarded as the main support for their families and yet do not have any say in what happens on land matters. The way in which the inferiority of women was inculcated was evident in the manner in which women were complacent and satisfied with their lifestyles and ability to still take care of their families irrespective of the lack of resources. The study further emphasises the important role of government in the establishment and implementation of the Land Reform Policies. There is proven necessity that each government sphere must play its role and support each other towards achieving this call. There is potential to achieve beyond what has been achieved to date if all spheres of government put enough effort into this and land reform is placed centrally in all government spheres. Cooperation between the three spheres of government and the beneficiaries of land is necessary towards ensuring that land reform is implemented successfully. The thesis proposes that women should not be regarded as recipients of land only but also as contributors towards the government’s land reform. The lack of support that has been observed in the early years of land transfers to women has only delayed success of women but it did not hamper their continuous production on land. Implementation of these Land Reform Policies has supported women towards their sustainable development and improved livelihoods. The study has also revealed that some of the international countries still face challenges towards the inclusiveness of women in land related initiatives and can exchange success cases and learning with the South African models. The systems model that has been proposed by the study is based on the contribution of all the affected stakeholders and not government alone. The Land Reform Programmes have made a difference in people’s lives but there is work that is still necessary in terms of ensuring cooperation, coordination and strategies that indicate the extent to which government can support women. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA) / unrestricted

Sue-and-settle is the name applied to a federal agency’s use of litigation to create policy outside of the normal regulatory process. This paper discusses the impact that the sue-and-settle policy has had on Congress, the judiciary, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Specifically, this paper will discuss the issues caused by the perception of collusion within the sue-and-settle policy. First, this paper examines whether a relationship occurs between the litigants. The paper then discusses whether the relationship between the litigants in sue-and-settle cases tends to be collusive or not. The second part of the paper examines how Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the judiciary are viewed because of the continued perception of collusion in the agency’s settlements. Overall, this paper finds that, the impacts of the sue-and-settle policy, and the perception of collusion, has affected Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the judiciary by increasing regulation, distorting the purpose of the courts, and resulting in a lost value for the regulatory process.

A presente dissertação tem como objetivo apresentar um breve diagnóstico da litigiosidade repetitiva e como o sistema processual propôs alternativas para o seu gerenciamento. Inicialmente, verificou-se que a mudança de paradigma para que o acesso à justiça se tornasse coletivo contribuiu, de forma decisiva, para o aumento da litigiosidade, tornando-se necessária a distinção entre as demandas individuais e coletivas, que passaram a conviver com as demandas repetitivas, e com elas a dividir os mesmos instrumentos processuais, adaptando-os diante da ausência de um microssistema processual próprio. Neste contexto, buscou-se analisar os principais aspectos das ações coletivas, com ênfase naqueles que se apresentaram como óbices à sua eficiência em resolver os conflitos de massa, destacando-se a inexistência de litispendência entre as ações coletivas e individuais, a suspensão opcional do processo individual, a legitimação ope legis para a propositura de ações coletivas, a coisa julgada erga omnes secundum eventum probationis ou secundum eventum litis e as razões que levaram à proibição do uso das ações coletivas quanto a matérias naturalmente candidatas à litigiosidade repetitiva. Paralelamente às ações coletivas, verificou-se que o sistema também buscou gerenciar as demandas repetitivas através de mecanismos processuais, ao proporcionar técnicas de julgamentos que pudessem gerar efeitos a múltiplas demandas individuais que tratassem da mesma controvérsia fática ou jurídica, com o intuito de consolidar a jurisprudência, mas também acelerar os julgamentos, de modo a atingir os vetores valorativos da igualdade, efetividade e segurança jurídica. Buscou-se ainda, contextualizar a questão em uma perspectiva de direito comparado, apresentando as novas técnicas processuais que também surgiram como alternativas às ações coletivas, especificadamente o instituto de origem alemã, que inspirou o Incidente de Resolução de Demandas Repetitivas no Projeto do Novo Código de Processo Civil brasileiro, o Musterverfahren, assim como outros paradigmas nos sistemas norte-americano (Class Actions), inglês (Group Litigation Order), italiano (Azione Collettiva Risarcitoria) e português (Regime Processual Experimental).Por fim, buscou-se apresentar os principais aspectos do Incidente de Resolução de Demandas Repetitivas, enquanto novo instrumento processual que surge como mais uma tentativa de conter o avanço da litigiosidade de massa que sobrecarrega o Poder Judiciário. / The instant dissertation aims to present a brief diagnosis of repetitive litigation, and of how the civil procedure system proposed alternatives to contain it. At first, it was possible to verify that a change to paradigm in order to make the access to justice collective decisively contributed to an increase in litigation, which made the distinction between individual and collective claims necessary, once they coexisted with repetitive claims and shared the same procedural instruments, adapting them in view of the absence of an own procedural micro system. Hence, this study was intended to analyze the main aspects of collective lawsuits, emphasizing the ones presented as obstacles to its efficiency to solve mass conflicts, and highlighting the absence of lis pendens among collective and individual lawsuits, the optional suspension of the individual lawsuit, the ope legis legitimacy to file collective lawsuits, the res judicata erga omnes secundum eventum probationis or res judicata secundum eventum litis and the reasons which led to the prohibition to use collective lawsuits concerning matters naturally prone to repetitive litigation. In addition to collective lawsuits, it was possible to verify that the system also sought to manage repetitive claims through procedural mechanisms, while providing techniques for judgment, which could have effects on multiple individual claims concerning the same legal or factual controversy, with the aim of consolidating precedents, in addition to expediting the decisions, in order to attain equality, effectiveness and legal certainty. Furthermore, this work sought to contextualize the issue within a comparative law perspective, presenting the new procedural techniques which have also arisen as alternatives to collective lawsuits, specifically the German institute Musterverfahren - which inspired the Incidental Motion to Settle Repetitive Litigation (Incidente de Resolução de Demandas Repetitivas) in the Project for the New Brazilian Civil Procedure Code, as well as other paradigms in the North American (Class Actions), British (Group Litigation Order), Italian (Azione Collettiva Risarcitoria ) and Portuguese (Regime Processual Experimental) systems. Finally, this work sought to present the main aspects of the Incidental Motion to Settle Repetitive Litigation (Incidente de Resolução de Demandas Repetitivas), as a new procedural instrument arising as an additional attempt to contain the increase of the mass litigation that burdens the Judiciary.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2018-09-21T14:00:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Clarice da Silva Conter_.pdf: 1036272 bytes, checksum: 8eb605973c67e5ba8cfb0f51413323f8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-21T14:00:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Clarice da Silva Conter_.pdf: 1036272 bytes, checksum: 8eb605973c67e5ba8cfb0f51413323f8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-13 / Nenhuma / Esta pesquisa tem a finalidade de analisar a prática das assembleias de classe, com estudantes do Ensino Fundamental 2, bem como a sua implicação na concepção da educação integral. A pesquisa teve uma abordagem qualitativa e os instrumentos utilizados foram a entrevista semiestruturada com os gestores, o grupo focal com os estudantes, os registros no diário de pesquisa, a análise dos documentos da instituição e as observações, onde foram analisadas as práticas das assembleias de classe com estudantes de 7o anos de uma escola particular da Rede Marista. Na análise foram exploradas as relações da prática das assembleias com alguns conceitos, como democracia, autoritarismo, valores, momentos de mediação de conflitos, bullying e outros. A partir da análise dos resultados, concluiu-se que a prática da assembleia possibilitou, em algumas situações, a autorregulação do grupo, o exercício da empatia de saber ouvir o outro. Também que algumas questões ainda não se conseguem resolver na assembleia e que esse momento não é só para resolver os conflitos, mas, sim, possibilitar momentos de fala, escuta, organização pessoal e de grupo, educação em valores, exercício da cidadania e outras questões pertinentes à formação integral e ética. / This research has the finality to parsing the practice of class assemblies, with students of Elementary School 2, as well as its implication in conception of integral education. The research had a qualitative approach and the instruments used were the half structured interview with the managers, the focal group with the students, the records in the research diary, the analysis in the institute documents and the observations, where the class assemblies practice were analysed with the 7º grade students from a private school of the Marista chain. In the analysis were explored the relations in assemblies practices with some concepts, such as democracy, authoritarianism, moments of conflict intercession, bullying and other. From the analysis attainment, it was concluded that the assemblies practice enables, in some situations, the group self-regulation, the empathy exercise of lore and listen each other. Some questions still can’t be solved in the assemblage and this moment is not only to just settle conflicts, but, it is used as a moment to talk, listen, personal and group organization, values education, citizenship exercise and other issues relevant to integral and ethical formation.

One of the most important transformations of contemporary Administrative Law Penalties is the one related to the openness to cooperation with private actors, considering that one of its expressions is the commitment to cease.In this academic paper, the author realizes a theoretical approach on the legal concept of concerted administration regarding penalties, and analyzes its regulation within sectoral rules. Finally, he offers some criticisms of the use of this concept by the public administration. / Una de las transformaciones más importantes del Derecho Administrativo Sancionador contemporáneo es la relativa a la apertura a la concertación con los agentes privados, siendo una de sus expresiones el compromiso de cese. En el presente artículo, el autor realiza un acercamiento teórico a la figura de la administración concertada en el ámbito sancionador, y analiza su regulación en normas sectoriales. Finalmente, ensaya críticas sobre la utilización de esta figura por parte de la Administración Pública.

This item contains the agenda, minutes, and attachments for the Faculty Senate meeting on this date. There may be additional materials from the meeting available at the Faculty Center.

This item contains the agenda, minutes, and attachments for the Faculty Senate meeting on this date. There may be additional materials from the meeting available at the Faculty Center. / Minutes originally posted on Dec. 3rd, 2013; correction made to minutes and reposted on Feb. 3rd, 2014.