Congressional hearings serve as a legitimating force for public agency polices and programs and the interactions among members of policy subsystems. Although not conventionally viewed as a management process, the congressional hearing process is a significant management process and an important component of the American political system. / Ph. D.

This thesis explores the practices and perceptions of the courts and professionals in child contact proceedings where domestic violence is an issue and the implications of this for mothers, with particular reference to Practice Direction 12J which establishes the framework for best practice to be followed in such proceedings. In-depth interviews were undertaken with 29 family lawyers and Cafcass officers covering a broad geographic and demographic area, and the reported cases to which the Practice Direction applies were reviewed. The resulting data were analysed utilising discourse analytic and qualitative approaches, drawing on a feminist poststructuralist approach and also insights from autopoietic theory. It was found that the ‘presumption of contact’ and an acontextual, legalistic approach to domestic violence reinforce each other and have a powerful normative influence on professional and judicial perceptions and practices. Dominant parental subjectivities of ‘implacably hostile mothers’ and ‘safe family men’ continue to resonate with many courts and professionals, who focus on promoting contact rather than safeguarding mothers and children. Despite more judges and professionals gaining a broader understanding of the coercively controlling nature of domestic violence, only recent, very severe physical violence warrants the holding of fact-finding hearings on disputed allegations and provides sufficiently ‘cogent’ reasons for family lawyers to support mothers in opposing contact and for courts to refuse contact. The notion that domestic violence is morally reprehensible and a significant failure in parenting, and that women’s desires for safety, wellbeing and autonomy are morally legitimate, finds very little expression. This study concludes that in order to regain a valid and authoritative voice for women in current family law we need to expose and disrupt law’s construction of the ‘scientific truth’ about children’s welfare, the dominant parental subjectivities to which it gives rise, and the ‘safe haven’ of law’s ideal post-separation family.

O Sistema de Frequência Modulada (FM) é um dispositivo de tecnologia assistiva desenvolvido para crianças com deficiência auditiva que utilizam aparelhos de amplificação sonora individual (AASI) e/ou implantes cocleares (IC) ou próteses ancoradas no osso. Por meio de um microfone/transmissor que transforma o sinal sonoro em ondas eletromagnéticas e de um receptor que converte a transmissão sem fio em sinal sonoro, o Sistema FM tem como objetivo suplantar condições desfavoráveis para compreensão da fala (ambientes ruidosos e/ou reverberantes, distância entre o indivíduo e a fonte sonora). A fim de contribuir para a atualização dos profissionais que trabalham com o Sistema FM após sua inserção no Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), Alves (2016) desenvolveu o Portal Sistema FM, construído e validado em 2016, utilizando Teleducação. Para disseminar esse estudo brasileiro, Guedes (2017) iniciou sua localização para a língua inglesa norte-americana, criando o FM System Portal. Para completar a localização do Portal, este trabalho se propôs a: (1) inserir um novo material, o Guia rápido de orientação aos professores de estudantes que usam: Implante Coclear, AASI e Sistema FM, ao conteúdo presente no Módulo 4, após tradução, adaptação transcultural e validação linguística para a língua inglesa; (2) legendar os vídeos com áudio em língua portuguesa e substituir os links externos presentes por materiais semelhantes em inglês; e (3) revisar o conteúdo traduzido, considerando a evolução tecnológica e a existência de outros microfones remotos. Utilizando as diretrizes de Beaton et al. (2000), o Guia teve seus 48 itens validados linguisticamente por uma reunião de tradutores e peritos, que averiguaram as quatro áreas de equivalências necessárias: semântica, idiomática, experiencial e conceitual. A legendagem dos vídeos foi feita respeitando os parâmetros de legenda por meio do programa Subtitle Workshop 6.0b. A partir da revisão do conteúdo do site, foram feitas três grandes mudanças no FM System Portal. A primeira se refere ao nome do site, que foi atualizado para REMIC, novo título composto pela junção das sílabas iniciais de remote microfone (microfone remoto), que abrange novos conteúdos a serem atualizados no site, como materiais sobre o Sistema de Modulação Digital. A segunda se refere à sua hospedagem, tendo mudado de endereço e para um novo servidor que permite uma maior responsividade para dispositivos eletrônicos diferentes. A terceira se refere ao design, que foi modificado para facilitar a leitura e a impressão dos PDFs disponíveis no site. Apesar de o formato das páginas e da distribuição de algumas informações terem sido alterados, a identidade visual original permaneceu. As alterações que induziram à reformulação de alguns aspectos do site foram devidas às atualizações tecnológicas na área de saúde. Enquanto o surgimento do Portal Sistema FM ocorreu como resposta à sua inserção no SUS, sua reformulação propicia a inserção de informações sobre tecnologias mais atuais, como o Sistema de Modulação Digital, que já demonstrou ter maior eficácia no reconhecimento de fala que o FM. Para concluir a localização do REMIC, sugere-se uma validação funcional com profissionais audiologistas cuja língua materna seja a língua inglesa norte-americana. / The Frequency Modulation System (FM System) is a hearing technology device designed for hearing-impaired children who use hearing aids or cochlear implants or bone anchored prostheses. Through a microphone/transmitter that transforms sound signal into eletromagnetic waves and a receiver that transforms this wireless transmission back to sound signal, the FM system aims to overcome classroom conditions that interfere with speech comprehension (noisy or reverberating environments, distance between individual and sound source). After the FM system was included in Brazils Health System (SUS), Alves (2016) developed a website using tele-education to instruct professionals about the FM System. The Brazilian version of the website was designed and validated in 2016. To disseminate this Brazilian study globally, Guedes (2017) started to localize the website by translating it to American English, creating the FM System Portal. To complete the FM System Portal localization, this project aims to: (1) to translate, cross-culturally adapt and validate a new material, the Quick orientation guide for teachers of students who use: cochlear implants, hearing aids and FM System, in order to add it to Unit 4 (Guidelines for Parents and Teachers); (2) subtitle the videos that are in Brazilian Portuguese and replace external links with similar content; and (3) review the translated content, considering technological evolution and the existence of other remote microphones. Using the guidelines of Beaton et al. (2000), the \"Guide\" had its 48 items validated linguistically by an expert committee review, who ascertained its translation met the four areas of equivalence: semantic, idiomatic, experiential and conceptual. Using the program Subtitle Workshop 6.0b, the videos were subtitled according to subtitling standards. From the site content review, three major changes were made to the FM System Portal. First, the name of the website changed to REMIC, title composed by the initial syllables of remote microphone, which encompasses new contents to be updated on the site, such as information on the Digital Modulation System. Second, the website changed to a new server, allowing greater responsiveness to different electronic devices. Third, the design was modified to make the PDFs available on the site easier to read and print. Although the layout of the pages and the distribution of some information were altered, the original visual identity remained. The changes that led to the reformulation of some aspects of the website were due to the technological updates in Hearing Health. The Brazilian version of the FM System Portal was developed because the device was included in SUS, the alterations on the website facilitate the insertion of information on more current technologies, such as the Digital Modulation System, which has already been shown to be more effective in speech recognition than the FM System. In order to complete REMIC\'s localization, a functional validation with Audiologists whose mother tongue is American English is suggested.

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of selected characteristics on the outcomes of those special education due process hearings brought forth in the state of Texas from September 1, 1983, to September 1, 1992. A further purpose was to determine if district characteristics of size or location affect the likelihood of a district's becoming involved in a special education due process hearing. Data for the study was collected for all special education due process hearings conducted in the State of Texas from September 1, 1983, to September 1, 1992. A coding system was used to record the data for the study and the Chi-square test of independence was used to determine whether a relationship existed between the selected variable (hearing issue, disability classifications and restrictiveness of placement) and hearing outcome. The frequency of involvement in hearings for districts of various size and urban characteristics was displayed as a percentage.

This study reviews due process hearing decisions from the years 2014 and 2015. This is primarily a legal analysis, specifically looking at legal and regulatory patterns regarding the provision of one-on-one special education aides for students with disabilities in general education settings. Our findings from the due process hearing decisions reveal that one-on-one aides for students with a wide variety of disabilities are being provided with greater frequency than we anticipated and that, specifically, behavioral aides are being provided for students with autism. Decisions of disabilities such as hearing impairment have higher provision rates, while other disabilities like autism and emotional disturbance do not see the same rate of provision. There are clear patterns of differences between the states in the number of cases that reach due process hearings and in the number of one-on-one aides provided.

Given that Congressional hearings are established legislative and political information generating tools for committee members engaging in oversight, fact finding, and agenda setting, I examine whether or not hearings provide information to actors outside of government. More specifically, does testimony by corporate representatives provide new information to the stock market about the future profitability of certain firms? In this paper, I utilize a new dataset collected by Workman and Shafran (2009) that includes 3,300 witnesses (and their affiliations) who testified in business regulation hearings between 2000 and 2005. I identify 99 publicly traded firms with representatives testifying in 117 hearings, and utilize event study methodology to estimate the effects of testimony events on the daily stock returns of corresponding firms. I find that, even with the ‘expectedness’ of Congressional hearings, such events negatively impact stock returns both generally as well as with greater magnitude under certain conditions. This event effect is largest for politically sensitive firms and for hearings held in the Senate. When selecting a portfolio of firms that combines all significant conditions, I determine that the ‘upper bound’ of the effect is one-half a standard deviation in daily returns (or a change of -1.6% in prices). Congressional hearings with corporate testimony do, in fact, generate information for external actors. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 241-254).

Submitted by Alison Vanceto (alison-vanceto@hotmail.com) on 2017-03-13T11:41:50Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseMT.pdf: 4293371 bytes, checksum: 4298c6c4e39ede3a45feab2827be21a9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2017-03-22T14:20:15Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseMT.pdf: 4293371 bytes, checksum: 4298c6c4e39ede3a45feab2827be21a9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2017-03-22T14:20:25Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseMT.pdf: 4293371 bytes, checksum: 4298c6c4e39ede3a45feab2827be21a9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-22T14:37:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseMT.pdf: 4293371 bytes, checksum: 4298c6c4e39ede3a45feab2827be21a9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-11-18 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / The present research aims to analyze the participation of entrepreneurs and their representatives in the public hearings of the Deputies Chamber commissions from 2001 to 2010. The fact that the permanent committees possess decisive power over certain law projects substantiates the importance of public hearings and the relevance participation of an external agent in its composition. Out of 2,714 public hearings that happened during this period, 91 of them debated law projects that held businessmen amongst its guests. The research has concluded that the public hearings are efficient institutionalized ways of intermediation of interests, in order that the entrepreneurs take a position in favor or against the proposals, representing organizations and defending their own interests on their speeches. Therefore, the public hearings have preserved from the constituent process of 1987-88 the purpose of making consensus through conflicts of preferences. From the analysis of stenographic notes, it has also been concluded that the influence of businessmen over a certain project is directly related to the legitimization process of their own interests at the plenary session. This fact means that, in order to have influence over decisive processes, the entrepreneur needs not only legitimacy from the group/association to which one belongs but also a political and partisan legitimacy, making it possible for their interests to be inserted into the political agenda. This political and partisan legitimacy is based on the relationship between the businessmen and the members of the Parliament who are part of the commissions, and the authors of the proposals, besides also in the way the speeches are built during public hearings. / Esta pesquisa visa analisar a participação dos empresários e seus representantes nas audiências públicas das comissões da Câmara dos Deputados, no período de 2001-2010. O fato das comissões permanentes possuírem poder terminativo sobre determinados projetos de lei evidencia a importância das audiências públicas e a relevância da participação de um ator externo em sua composição. Do total de 2.714 audiências públicas que ocorreram nesse período, 91 delas debateram projetos de lei que continham empresários entre seus convidados. A pesquisa concluiu que as audiências públicas são canais institucionalizados e efetivos de intermediação de interesses, de modo que os empresários se posicionam ante as propostas, representam entidades e defendem interesses em seus discursos. Dessa forma, a audiência manteve do processo constituinte de 1987-88 o propósito de construir consensos por meio dos conflitos de preferências. A partir da análise das notas taquigráficas, conclui-se também que a influência de um empresário sobre determinado projeto está diretamente relacionada ao processo de legitimação de seus interesses em plenário, ou seja, o empresário para ser influente em processos decisórios precisa não só da legitimidade do grupo/associação a que pertence, como também de uma legitimação política em ambiente institucional, tornando possível a inserção de interesses na agenda política. Essa legitimidade política é construída a partir da relação dos empresários com os parlamentares que compõem as comissões, com os autores dos projetos de lei e na forma como os discursos em audiências públicas são articulados.

Avaliar a eficácia da audiência pública do licenciamento ambiental, conforme prevista pela legislação brasileira e compreendida pelos tribunais, em face da necessidade de gestão dos riscos ecológicos, bem como sugerir como este procedimento poderia ser aprimorado, no sentido de implementar os princípios da precaução e participação, constituem o tema central deste trabalho. Utilizou-se como matriz teórica básica, a obra de José Isaac Pilati, intitulada “Propriedade e função social na pós-modernidade”, por entender-se que o texto do autor se comunica com a linha de arguição do tema proposto, por suas ideias, o sentido da participação nos processos decisórios e a falta de um sentido pragmático da função social da propriedade coletiva e de um conteúdo passível de tutelar direito de ordem coletiva. Assim, verificou-se de que forma as diferentes percepções dos riscos ambientais, através dos mencionados princípios, podem aprimorar a audiência pública do licenciamento ambiental, enquanto instrumento de proteção ao meio ambiente, para além do status de mera consulta. Para que o licenciamento ambiental assuma um caráter precaucional, faz-se necessário, em casos que envolvem atividades potencialmente causadoras de danos graves ou irreversíveis ao meio ambiente, que não seja atribuído à participação social um caráter meramente consultivo. Neste sentido, sustentou-se que as audiências públicas, bem como outros procedimentos decisórios em matéria ambiental, carecem de normas que estabeleçam os parâmetros para a participação coletiva, sobretudo quanto à segurança. Para alcançar o objetivo deste trabalho, analisa-se de que forma as normas que orientam a audiência pública do licenciamento ambiental podem ser conduzidas, a fim de terem um caráter precaucional e considerar, de maneira mais efetiva, a participação. A pesquisa foi dividida em embasamento teórico, relativo a conceitos e definições de audiência pública e licenciamento ambiental, no contexto legal brasileiro, e se refere ao Estudo de Impacto Ambiental e o Relatório de Impacto Ambiental no licenciamento de atividades utilizadoras de recursos ambientais, consideradas efetiva ou potencialmente poluidoras. Na segunda parte, foi investigada a aplicabilidade do princípio da precaução e da participação no licenciamento ambiental, em especial nas audiências públicas; a gestão dos riscos ambientais, sob a análise de tais princípios, e o problema da informação e da participação em modelos de gestão precaucional, assim como, uma comparação com a convenção de Aarhus. Na terceira parte, fez-se uma crítica à audiência pública no licenciamento ambiental sob o seu caráter de efetividade ou mera consulta. Considerou-se o processo de licenciamento ambiental federal da Usina Hidrelétrica de Barra Grande; da Usina Hidrelétrica de Pai Querê e da Linha de Transmissão Salto Santiago-Itá-Nova Santa Rita e suas relações e contribuições do conteúdo apresentado no presente estudo. Por fim, propõem-se alternativas de aprimoramento da audiência pública no procedimento de licenciamento ambiental à luz do princípio da precaução. / Submitted by Ana Guimarães Pereira (agpereir@ucs.br) on 2015-07-08T11:30:01Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Cintia Tavares Pires da Silva.pdf: 1794556 bytes, checksum: 84f29f790c6c61d748237840caf73870 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-08T11:30:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Cintia Tavares Pires da Silva.pdf: 1794556 bytes, checksum: 84f29f790c6c61d748237840caf73870 (MD5) / Evaluate the effectiveness of the public hearing of the environmental licensing as provided by Brazilian law and understood by the courts, given the need to manage environmental risks, as well as suggesting how this procedure could be improved in order to implement the Principles of Precaution and Participation constitute the central theme of this work. It was used as a base, the José Isaac Pilati book, named “Property and social function in the Post-modernity”, because it interfaces with the thread of this research, the ideas, the sense of participation in the decision procedures and the lack of pragmatism in the social function of collective property. Thus, there was how the different perceptions of environmental risks through the aforementioned principles, can hone a public hearing of the environmental licensing as a means of protecting the environment, beyond the status of mere consultation. For the environmental licensing takes on a precautionary basis, it is necessary, in cases involving activities potentially causing serious or irreversible environmental damage, which is not allocated to social participation merely advisory. In this sense, it is argued that the public hearings, as well as other decision procedures in environmental matters, lack of rules establishing the parameters for collective participation, especially regarding the security requirement. To achieve the objective of this work, is analyzed how the rules governing the public hearing of the environmental licensing may be conducted in order to have a precautionary basis. The research was divided into three parts. The first is the theoretical foundation on the concepts and definitions of public hearing and environmental licensing in Brazilian legal context and refers to the Environmental Impact Statement and Environmental Impact Report in licensing activities using environmental resources considered effectively or potentially pollutant, and in this context, the requirement of public hearings in licensing these activities. In the second part, it is investigated the applicability of the Precautionary Principle and Interest in environmental licensing especially in public hearings; the management of environmental risks in the analysis of these Principles and the problem of information and participation in models of precautionary management, as well as a comparative analysis of the Aarhus Convention. In the third, a critique of the public hearing on the environmental licensing under your character effectiveness or mere consultation will be done. It is considered federal environmental licensing process of the Barra Grande and Pai Querê Hydroelectric Power Plants and the Salto Santiago-Itá-Nova Santa Rita Electrical Trasmission Line and its relations to the presented content. Finally, it proposes alternatives for improving public hearing on the environmental licensing in the light of the precautionary principle procedure.

Avaliar a eficácia da audiência pública do licenciamento ambiental, conforme prevista pela legislação brasileira e compreendida pelos tribunais, em face da necessidade de gestão dos riscos ecológicos, bem como sugerir como este procedimento poderia ser aprimorado, no sentido de implementar os princípios da precaução e participação, constituem o tema central deste trabalho. Utilizou-se como matriz teórica básica, a obra de José Isaac Pilati, intitulada “Propriedade e função social na pós-modernidade”, por entender-se que o texto do autor se comunica com a linha de arguição do tema proposto, por suas ideias, o sentido da participação nos processos decisórios e a falta de um sentido pragmático da função social da propriedade coletiva e de um conteúdo passível de tutelar direito de ordem coletiva. Assim, verificou-se de que forma as diferentes percepções dos riscos ambientais, através dos mencionados princípios, podem aprimorar a audiência pública do licenciamento ambiental, enquanto instrumento de proteção ao meio ambiente, para além do status de mera consulta. Para que o licenciamento ambiental assuma um caráter precaucional, faz-se necessário, em casos que envolvem atividades potencialmente causadoras de danos graves ou irreversíveis ao meio ambiente, que não seja atribuído à participação social um caráter meramente consultivo. Neste sentido, sustentou-se que as audiências públicas, bem como outros procedimentos decisórios em matéria ambiental, carecem de normas que estabeleçam os parâmetros para a participação coletiva, sobretudo quanto à segurança. Para alcançar o objetivo deste trabalho, analisa-se de que forma as normas que orientam a audiência pública do licenciamento ambiental podem ser conduzidas, a fim de terem um caráter precaucional e considerar, de maneira mais efetiva, a participação. A pesquisa foi dividida em embasamento teórico, relativo a conceitos e definições de audiência pública e licenciamento ambiental, no contexto legal brasileiro, e se refere ao Estudo de Impacto Ambiental e o Relatório de Impacto Ambiental no licenciamento de atividades utilizadoras de recursos ambientais, consideradas efetiva ou potencialmente poluidoras. Na segunda parte, foi investigada a aplicabilidade do princípio da precaução e da participação no licenciamento ambiental, em especial nas audiências públicas; a gestão dos riscos ambientais, sob a análise de tais princípios, e o problema da informação e da participação em modelos de gestão precaucional, assim como, uma comparação com a convenção de Aarhus. Na terceira parte, fez-se uma crítica à audiência pública no licenciamento ambiental sob o seu caráter de efetividade ou mera consulta. Considerou-se o processo de licenciamento ambiental federal da Usina Hidrelétrica de Barra Grande; da Usina Hidrelétrica de Pai Querê e da Linha de Transmissão Salto Santiago-Itá-Nova Santa Rita e suas relações e contribuições do conteúdo apresentado no presente estudo. Por fim, propõem-se alternativas de aprimoramento da audiência pública no procedimento de licenciamento ambiental à luz do princípio da precaução. / Evaluate the effectiveness of the public hearing of the environmental licensing as provided by Brazilian law and understood by the courts, given the need to manage environmental risks, as well as suggesting how this procedure could be improved in order to implement the Principles of Precaution and Participation constitute the central theme of this work. It was used as a base, the José Isaac Pilati book, named “Property and social function in the Post-modernity”, because it interfaces with the thread of this research, the ideas, the sense of participation in the decision procedures and the lack of pragmatism in the social function of collective property. Thus, there was how the different perceptions of environmental risks through the aforementioned principles, can hone a public hearing of the environmental licensing as a means of protecting the environment, beyond the status of mere consultation. For the environmental licensing takes on a precautionary basis, it is necessary, in cases involving activities potentially causing serious or irreversible environmental damage, which is not allocated to social participation merely advisory. In this sense, it is argued that the public hearings, as well as other decision procedures in environmental matters, lack of rules establishing the parameters for collective participation, especially regarding the security requirement. To achieve the objective of this work, is analyzed how the rules governing the public hearing of the environmental licensing may be conducted in order to have a precautionary basis. The research was divided into three parts. The first is the theoretical foundation on the concepts and definitions of public hearing and environmental licensing in Brazilian legal context and refers to the Environmental Impact Statement and Environmental Impact Report in licensing activities using environmental resources considered effectively or potentially pollutant, and in this context, the requirement of public hearings in licensing these activities. In the second part, it is investigated the applicability of the Precautionary Principle and Interest in environmental licensing especially in public hearings; the management of environmental risks in the analysis of these Principles and the problem of information and participation in models of precautionary management, as well as a comparative analysis of the Aarhus Convention. In the third, a critique of the public hearing on the environmental licensing under your character effectiveness or mere consultation will be done. It is considered federal environmental licensing process of the Barra Grande and Pai Querê Hydroelectric Power Plants and the Salto Santiago-Itá-Nova Santa Rita Electrical Trasmission Line and its relations to the presented content. Finally, it proposes alternatives for improving public hearing on the environmental licensing in the light of the precautionary principle procedure.