This thesis proposes a model for legalized Physician-Assisted Suicide [PAS] for adoption into Canadian legislation. The basis of this model is one which respects the individual freedom to make end-of-life decisions free from state interference. The research herein supports the provisions contained in Oregon legislation where PAS has been legalized on the basis that the Oregon model is consistent with the guarantees afforded under s.7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Oregon maintains strict regulatory barriers which protect against the threat of abuse which the Supreme Court reasoned in Rodriguez outweighed her s.7 rights to autonomy. This thesis will engage in the theories of Ronald Dworkin who supports the preservation of the sanctity of human life which Sopinka J. held prevailed over s. 7 violations in Rodriguez and seeks a model which respects individual freedom without compromising that sanctity or value of life.

Liberals claim that the exercise of state power must be justified on terms that all citizens can reasonably accept. They also support democracy. The challenge is to bring these two desideratum in line-- to ensure that democratic deliberations are somehow predicated on claims that all citizens can reasonably accept. Put differently, the challenge is to set the terms of public reason. Liberal philosophers advance grand theories of political justice towards this end. They claim that a reasonable argument in the political sphere is one that conforms to theory x. The difficulty is that there will be those who reasonably reject theory x, preferring theory y or z, or eschewing theory altogether. Pessimism at the prospect of agreement on higher-order theories of justice leads some to advocate simple majority rule. The thesis argues that convergence on higher order theory is not essential to public reason. The Supreme Court of Canada’s method of adjudication under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is used as a model. Where basic rights are engaged, or are alleged to be engaged, the Court examines the reasonableness of law and policy using a series of open-ended tests. These tests discipline their deliberations by focusing attention on generally accepted facts and values (notably, the values expressed by the Charter). The thesis contends that the Court’s open-ended, contextual approach can serve as a model for broader public reasoning. The thesis then explores the role of religious arguments within this model. In a polity committed above all to Charter values, what is the place of religion in the justification of law? It is argued that religion is understood to be private and inscrutable under the Charter. This is what justifies the Court’s generous reading of the right to religious freedom. It also justifies our forbidding state coercion in the name of religion. With the preceding ideas in mind, the thesis examines Canadian law and public discourse on the issues of therapeutic cloning (ch.4) and same sex marriage (ch.5).

As charter schools continue to proliferate across United States, their impact on the public education system is becoming an increasingly important public policy question. Charter school proponents argue that combined pressures of consumer choice and market competition will induce traditional public schools to respond by providing higher quality education and promoting innovation and equity. Skeptics worry that charter schools pose risks of segregating students by race and economic level, and reducing per-pupil resources available to traditional public schools. This dissertation provides a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of charter schools on regular public schools by addressing the following questions: 1) How do the charter schools affect the racial, ethnic and cosio-economic distribution, student-teacher ratios and achievement of traditional public schools? 2) How do the size and scope of competitive effects vary according to different measures of competition? Using two-period panel data from the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core Data (CCD) for traditional public schools in Florida, New Jersey, Texas and Ohio, I compare changes in racial and ethnic distribution, student-teacher ratios and achievement in public schools that do and do not face competition. I use a variation of the difference-in-differences (DD) estimation strategy to study the effect of charter schools on the outcome measures. The findings from the study suggest that introduction of charter schools in the educational landscape has affected student distributions, and at least in some cases, student-teacher ratios and the performance of traditional public schools. Charter schools seem to contribute to declines in the share of non-Hispanic white students in traditional public schools in all four states. The results show variation in other outcome areas across states and competition measures. The findings highlight the importance of monitoring what will happen to non-choosers in traditional schools as well as the role of considering state context and empirical measures while generalizing from charter school studies.

<p>In the mid-eighteenth century the British Crown claimed a network of territories around the globe as its "Empire." Through a close study of law and legal instutions in Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, as well as London, this dissertation examines what it meant to be a part of that Empire. These three cities on the Indian subcontinent were administered by the English East India Company and as such have often seemed abberant or unique to scholars of eighteenth-century empire and law. This dissertation argues that these Indian cities fit squarely within an imperial legal and governmental framework common to the wider British world. Using a variety of legal records and documents, generated in both India and England, the dissertation explores the ways in which local elites and on-the-ground litigants of all national, religious, and cultural backgrounds shaped the colonial legal culture of EIC India. In the process, the dissertation shows the fitful process by which litigants from India, Company officials, and London legal elites struggled over how to define the limits of Empire. The dissertation argues that it was this process of legal wrangling which both defined the mid eighteenth-century Empire and planted the seeds for the more exclusionary colonial order in nineteenth century British India.</p> / Dissertation

none

Abstract After our country joins WTO, will face the strong capital competition pressure of the international large-scale financial institution, and after foreign businessman's bank has grand capital, the industry manages completely dark, in the face of so strong impact country the financial market fluctuates and aggravates, has increased the operation pressure of the domestic banking, too. How to transform this pressure into helping hand, utilize aquistion and merger to consider complementarily , lower costs then improve the competitiveness, it is really the question which the banking of Taiwan needs to face at present. Domestic aquistion and merger case or makes up the financial domain that the financial holding company has already affected 14 financial holding companies in Taiwan to reform with the operation pattern jointly at present, but these financial holding companies can reach the value expected and comprehensive result which is greater than two of one plus one ( Synergy ) The goal needs checking and tests directly. It does not belong to the financial holding company at home to spy on put the independent bank, in case of financial market saturation, the profit shrinks, the income reduces by a wide margin, the quality of the assets is not good, so that is it put rate is it wait for numerous unfavourable factor to remain high to exceed, how face assets huge financial holding company lay big bank create life their extremely, whether it is influenced that purpose calls it and manages the performance; Establish financial holding company purpose is it can reach category economy and purpose of the large-scale production to call separately. Purpose of this research, focus on wanting to untie it under the trend of the international finance, can really improve the bank and manage the performance and business efficiency of independent bank to establish the financial holding company under the double pressure of the domestic trouble and foreign invasion and really not so good as finance holding company bank put. Because of above-mentioned backgrounds and motives, so this text hope book probe into by document, materials collect and utilize materials not to make analytic approach of holding in place with a net ( Data Envelopment Analysis , abbreviated as DEA) ,displaying the result of study, it is by offering competent authorities or the financial holding company policymaker to the government and wanting to set up some reference suggestions of bank of the financial holding company. Keywords: Data Envelopment Analysis , The materials charter and hold analytic approach, technological efficiency, pure technological efficiency, scale efficiency

This study focuses on how cultural heritage interpretation can effectively be planned and operated as an integral part of preservation process. The ICOMOS Charter for the Interpretation and Presentation of Cultural Heritage Sites, which was initiated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), offers professional principles for effectively interpreting cultural heritage sites. This study apply these principles as analysis and evaluation criteria of the case study. The Charter principles include &lsquo / access and understanding&rsquo / , soundness of &lsquo / information sources&rsquo / , attention to &lsquo / setting and context&rsquo / , preservation of &lsquo / authenticity&rsquo / , planning for &lsquo / sustainability&rsquo / , concern for &lsquo / inclusiveness&rsquo / , and importance of &lsquo / research, evaluation and training&rsquo / . Considering the necessity of correlating these international principles with interpretation practices, this study analyzes and assesses interpretation at the Boston National Historical Park, a unit of the National Park Service in the US / and at the same time tests the practicality of the Charter principles. This park is composed of eight nationally significant historical sites located separately in an urban context. This study examines certain aspects of the park that affect the effectiveness of its interpretation activities i.e., management policies, organizational model, partnerships with stakeholders, fiscal resources, management planning, and interpretive planning. Besides on-site interpretation at three sites of the park - the Charlestown Navy Yard, Old South Meeting House and Paul Revere House- are analyzed in detail within to the ICOMOS Charter framework. Finally, recommendations have been developed for the ongoing work of the ICOMOS, for the Boston National Historical Park as well as for other cultural heritage sites.

<p>Abstract</p><p>University of Växjö, School of Social Sciences</p><p>Course: POC 536, Political Science 41-60</p><p>Title: The U.S. military intervention in Iraq – A study of how the intervention corresponds with the UN Charter</p><p>Authors: Andreas Malmgren & Johan Schneider</p><p>Supervisor: Lennart Bergfeldt</p><p>Date: 2006-09-26</p><p>The aim of this essay is through a qualitative literature study examine the main arguments of the Bush administration to justify a military intervention in Iraq. The theories used to explain the actions of the U.S. are system level analysis, hegemonism and realism while the UN Charter will be applied as a normative theory. The research questions are:</p><p>■ What were the main arguments of the Bush administration for a military intervention in Iraq?</p><p>■ How do these arguments correspond to the UN Charter?</p><p>U.S. claimed that Iraq was manufacturing nuclear weapons and this was threatening the security of the U.S. The administration also wanted to liberate the Iraqi people from the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. When the U.S. could not get support through the UN they decided to act independently.</p><p>According to the UN Charter, UN or its member states are not allowed to intervene in matters within the domestic jurisdiction of any state neither is it allowed to act with a pre-emptive purpose. An exceptional clausal exists if the Security Council decides it is a threat to peace or peace crimes. If a state act without the UN mandate this could undermine the UN authority.</p><p>Keywords: Weapon of mass destruction, intervention, Iraq, UN Charter, Bush administration</p>

Abstract This study investigated perceptions of school work culture of instructional staff members (administrators and faculty) in public charter and public non-charter elementary schools in a large urban metropolitan county of Central Florida by assessing differences in perceptions of administrators and faculty related to school work culture, perceptions between school administrators and faculty, and the interaction between type of school. The School Work Culture Profile (SWCP), a paper-and-pencil survey, was designed in 1988 by Snyder to obtain a measure of a school's work culture. The SWCP uses a Likert scale to assess the overall perception and four sub-domains of planning, development, program development, school assessment, and staff development. One hundred sixty-one teachers and administrators from public charter and public non-charter elementary schools participated. Results of ANOVA tests indicated differences by job category: administrators scored significantly higher than faculty on the overall perception and three sub-domains of school work culture: planning development, program development, and school assessment. There was no difference on the staff development sub-domain. Administrators and faculty members do perceive certain aspects of school work culture differently. Program Development, Planning Development, and School Assessment are administrative functions, whereas Staff Development may be perceived to be more of a personal function. There was no difference between perceptions of instructional staff by type of school (public charter and public non-charter). In addition, there was no interaction between job category and school type. The perceptions of administrators and faculty members of both types of schools do not appear to be dependent upon whether or not they work in charter or non-charter public schools. Public charter and public non-charter school instructional staff responded to SWCP sub-domains similarly; therefore, the type of school the respondents worked in, albeit public charter or public non-charter, did not impact their perceptions. Differences existed in perceptions between school administrators and faculty members, regardless of type of school, with the exception of the sub-domain of staff development. The mean perception for administrators in both types of schools was higher in the other three domains. No interaction occurred between type of school and type of job category for any sub-domain or the overall perception. The conclusions from this study included (a) schools are equal regardless of the type of school, (b) the culture of administrators and faculty members remains the same regardless of the type of school, (c) the perceptions of administrators and faculty members are not determined by the type of school in which they work--administrators and faculty members do perceive certain aspects of school work culture differently. Implications derived from the study include (a) efforts to mainstream and encourage cross-institutional (public charter schools and public non-charter schools) collaboration might be helpful to improve the educational conditions for all students, (b) efforts need to be focused on increasing the collaborative conversations and involvement that connect the individuals in a school setting as related to planning development, program development, school assessment, and the overall perception of school work culture as well as developing inclusionary practices that increase faculty members' input in meeting schools' stated goals, (c) placing emphasis on the charter school movement as an alternative for the innovative ideas needed to address the state of the national education system could be increased in colleges of education and educational leadership programs, and (d) program development, planning development, and school assessment are administrative functions, whereas staff development may be perceived to be more of a personal function.

The University of Texas Elementary School (UTES) is a charter school operated by The University of Texas at Austin that practices innovative research-based teaching methods. The school is in need of a system to track the educational achievements of its alumni and compare them to peers to determine the effects of attending UTES. This report provides an overview of existing studies on school effects and research design methods, offers advice and insight from other charter school administrators who have alumni-tracking experience, recommends data to collect, and outlines a plan of action including the necessary steps to gather such information. / text