Based on the form-invariant of Maxwell’s equations under coordinate transformations, we extend the theoryof transformation optics to transformation magneto-statics, which can design magnets through coordinatetransformations. Some novel DC magnetic field illusions created by magnets (e.g. rescaling magnets,cancelling magnets and overlapping magnets) are designed and verified by numerical simulations. Ourresearch will open a new door to designing magnets and controlling DC magnetic fields. / <p>QC 20141105</p>

Until 1996, all women in South Africa were prohibited, by law, from working underground. With the introduction of the Mining Charter all this changed and companies started hiring women for different positions. The objectives of the study were: to determine the perceptions of the working environment of women in the mining activities, to establish what changes were made to accommodate women in this specific mine and to establish if women can advance in this company. A field study was done at a chrome mine and a random sample of 100 employees participated. The central research tool utilised was a questionnaire using a Likert-type 5 rating scale. The findings were that mining companies will have to work hard on the perception that women are not wanted in the industry, but that a lot has happened since 1996. As expected the study found that there are significant resistance towards women working in the core mining industry. Mines are making changes to accommodate women. Women are receiving a lot of support from management to become part of the mining environment. Different programs are being implemented to develop skills of women and ensure their progression within the mining companies. The study concluded with recommendations as to what can be done to improve the perception of the working environment of women. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Until 1996, all women in South Africa were prohibited, by law, from working underground. With the introduction of the Mining Charter all this changed and companies started hiring women for different positions. The objectives of the study were: to determine the perceptions of the working environment of women in the mining activities, to establish what changes were made to accommodate women in this specific mine and to establish if women can advance in this company. A field study was done at a chrome mine and a random sample of 100 employees participated. The central research tool utilised was a questionnaire using a Likert-type 5 rating scale. The findings were that mining companies will have to work hard on the perception that women are not wanted in the industry, but that a lot has happened since 1996. As expected the study found that there are significant resistance towards women working in the core mining industry. Mines are making changes to accommodate women. Women are receiving a lot of support from management to become part of the mining environment. Different programs are being implemented to develop skills of women and ensure their progression within the mining companies. The study concluded with recommendations as to what can be done to improve the perception of the working environment of women. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

The process of globalization has become a common factor in evolving cities in many developing countries. In Kurdistan Region, Northern Iraq, current urban redevelopment plans not only involve design features imported from elsewhere, but also substantially affect urban land use. The primary goal of the regional government is to transform Erbil, Kurdistan’s capital city, into a leading city in terms of attracting foreign investments and tourists. To achieve this, Kurdistan Regional Government is leaning towards urban transformation as the solution. The city is striving to achieve a global status and in doing so, it is inevitably involved in the process of displacement. This study explores neoliberal urban transformation process within Erbil’s historic city centre and its impacts on the local residents, which has resulted in the demolition of an old bazaar and the displacement of its merchants who were relocated into a new shopping mall. In order to achieve its objectives, this study employed in-depth interviews with relocated merchants from Delal Khaneh bazaar to Nishtiman Mall and key informants in the planning and redevelopment field, as well as personal field observation. The findings indicate that the displacement of merchants had both social and economic impacts. The lack of amenities and failure to apply appropriate design standards in the new mall, Nishtiman, are two other implementation failures that the findings reveal. The demolition of the old bazaar and the relocation of its merchants to the new mall illustrate a new form of spatial fix, where the poor are purged from the city centres, a neoliberal ideology that tries to conceal urban poverty. Based on the findings, this study proposes recommendations to Kurdistan’s Regional Government and to the city of Erbil to clarify and redefine their planning objectives and implementation. As well, the concept of public participation is reconsidered while the adaptation of urban design guidelines and thorough market assessment are proposed. This study contributes to the literature on the redevelopment of historic city centres, the development of shopping malls at city centres and the adaptation of neoliberal goals for cities in developing countries.

Why do seventy percent of Canadian Aboriginal students drop out of school? Although the literature focuses on reform to schools, school systems, and to the formal relationships that govern Aboriginal education, there is, as yet, a lack of empirically-based evidence from the perspectives of the people who have dropped out. The research was conducted in an adult education centre located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and combines semi-structured interviews with an innovative Bead Workshop field-tested in other areas of identity conflict. The study asked 22 Aboriginal people how they make sense of their education experiences, inquired about why they dropped out of school, and invited them to share their hopes for the future. The trans-disciplinary nature of peace and conflict studies offers a new analysis when data were applied to Lederach’s (2003) conflict transformation framework. The findings showed that the participants quit school in the midst of very difficult and strikingly similar life circumstances, and they did not attribute dropping out to inadequacies in education or schooling, or to the effects of colonialism. The study expands the peace and conflict literature into the Canadian Aboriginal context while establishing a new research design and methodology. The study respects Indigenous research principles and combines them with conflict transformation principles to provide empirical evidence about why Aboriginal students drop out of school, and then extends the theoretical literature with a framework for exploring the role of deeper beliefs like love, courage, and hope in personal conflict transformation. Future research can be undertaken with larger groups of Aboriginal people to better understand their experiences in education and in other important areas of life, and to inform and advise Aboriginal policy and practice.

ABSTRACT Paths Towards Reconciliation in the Workplace: Exploring the Aboriginal Cultures Awareness Workshop Educational workplace initiatives to address social inequality are widely used within organizations. In the past, these workplace workshops have varied in their underlying philosophical perspectives - with goals ranging from maintaining the status quo to promoting social change. Workshop curriculum grounded in the contact hypothesis have drawn from such diverse fields as social psychology, organizational theory, feminist viewpoints, critical theory, liberatory educational philosophy, conflict resolution and Indigenous approaches. The research to date on the efficacy of these various types of workplace educational programs have been mixed. For the past ten years, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has offered the Aboriginal Cultures Awareness Workshop to its health care employees in hopes of addressing the differential medical care received by their Aboriginal patients. This mixed methods research project focused on the perceptions of key stakeholders and workshop participants on the most helpful, and least helpful aspects of the Aboriginal Cultures Awareness Workshop. The findings point towards a conceptual framework on the conditions needed within educational workplace initiatives that can create paths toward reconciliation between different identity groups. Addressing the need for accurate information and developing empathy within an atmosphere of joyful humour that is supported by the circle were the key findings in this research project. Specifically, the findings that informed this conceptual framework included the importance of learning about Aboriginal history from an Aboriginal perspective, the power of storytelling to bridge the divide between different identity groups, how the appropriate use of humour can both ease tension, but also be used to challenge intolerant ideas and finally, the power of sharing circles to create safety and allow for dialogue. Drawing on the contributions of the diverse fields that have historically informed these types of workplace educational programs, this research project integrated the field of peace and conflict studies, and Indigenous perspectives to make a number of recommendations for future workplace educational programs.

Det finns antaganden om att offentlig sektor har sämre ledare och färre utbildningsmöjligheter än den privata sektorn. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur kommunala chefer upplever chefsstödet från personalavdelningen samt hur detta kan utveckla deras ledarskap utifrån uppsatta mål. Tidigare forskning visar att chefsstödet kan fungera bra men samtidigt vara komplext. De senare årens reformarbete inom offentlig sektor har genererat krav på chefer att leverera kvalité och utnyttja resurser på bästa sätt. Vi har använt oss av kvalitativ metod i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta chefer inom en kommun. Av resultatet framgår det att cheferna upplever brist på administrativt stöd, främst cheferna med stort antal underställda. De upplever även begränsade resurser men anser att personalavdelningen levererar bra stöd i de handfasta hårda personalfrågorna som cheferna vill ha hjälp med. Vidare framkommer det att stöd i mjuka personalfrågor snarare sker inom den egna verksamheten och att personalavdelningen endast kan bistå med utbildningar för utveckling av ledarskapet. Personalavdelningen bör även tydliggöra sin roll och definiera hur ett gott ledarskap ska tolkas, då resultatet visar många olika definitioner. Genom avlastning i administrativa uppgifter kan personalavdelningen skapa förutsättningar för cheferna att utöva ett gott ledarskap utifrån målsättningen.

Idag ställs allt större krav på chefer från såväl medarbetare, högre chefer, kunder samt samarbetspartners vilket leder till att chefer behöver hjälp för att klara sin roll. Således blir stödet från HR (Human Resources) betydelsefullt för att klara både dagliga utmaningar och långsiktiga höga mål. Studien syftar till att undersöka hur chefer inom en stor privat organisation upplever stödet från HR i dagsläget och hur det i framtiden kan utvecklas. Det centrala i studien är undersökningen mellan chefers förväntningar på stödet från HR kontra det stöd som levereras. Studien består av nio semistrukturerde intervjuer om chefers upplevelser av tillhandahållandet av stöd från HR. Stödet är ur flera perspektiv positivt men kan även utvecklas och förbättras inom ett flertal områden. Resultatet åskådliggör att cheferna ser HR som ett bollplank som bör vara lättillgängliga samt ha viktig expertis inom personalrelaterade frågor. Det framkommer dock att skillnader i kvalitén på chefstödet finns, vilket beror på vilken individ som levererar stödet till chefen. Resultatet framhåller även att cheferna önskar ett mer proaktivt agerande från HR. Majoriteten av cheferna upplever HR-funktionen som kompetenta och välfungerande, dock finns tenderande åsikter om att HR ibland fokuserar mer kring vad som är viktigt för dem själva och inte vad som är betydelsefullt för cheferna. Avslutningsvis diskuteras dessa resultat och slutsatserna är att ett samspel mellan flera faktorer påverkar hur cheferna upplever stödet från HR. Dessa faktorer visar sig vara sociala, materiella och strukturella förutsättningar.

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Mass tourism is a critical agent of change, with a proven capacity of forging new landscapes and thoroughly modifying the internal structure of a community. Thornbury, a rural settlement located in South-western Ontario, is on the brink of such shift: With the emergence of a new culture of tourism and the introduction of ‘upscale’ resort developments, its physical conditions are rapidly being reconfigured and the character of its social landscape is on the precipice of being irrevocably altered. These luxury vacation facilities occur in a dispersed fashion on the fringe – a condition which has not only initiated a radical modification and decentralization of social and economic activity, but has also resulted in the decline of traditional neighbourhood ties. Likewise, this occurrence has introduced an influx of newcomers who advance an identity and lifestyle clearly distinct from that of Thornbury’s quiet community of rural citizens and retirees. In this context, these newly arrived inhabitants soon become dwellers of “limited liability”– those who reside within a community, but do not identify with it – as Thornbury lacks the infrastructure and amenities to support potential exchanges and direct interest to the qualities of traditional civic life. As such, the thesis will examine the question of: What is the role of architecture in sustaining local identity in an altered social fabric? Or, more specifically, how can social relations in a transformed community be advanced through the use and design of public spaces? The work will attempt to outline the trajectory of urban change and understand the factors that account for present circumstances. The outcome of the research will generate a series of responsive designs that hinge upon the idea of uplifting ordinary landscapes and everyday ruralism. Essentially, the proposed strategy is one in which rurality is integral to the solution: Methods which harness rural assets and refashion them in a progressive manner will be utilized to inspire the formation of a new local culture while establishing an interface between opposing population segments. Overall, this study is intended to serve as a template to be used by communities in Ontario for mitigating the effects of changing rural geographies.