This thesis is an attempt to consider some of the challenges facing the regime of international commercial arbitration (ICA) in the contemporary global economy. It examines the governance mechanism of the regime of ICA in a globalizing economy. The thesis seeks to analyze the process of harmonization of the law of ICA with particular reference to availability of interim measures from court. In particular, the analytical focus is on how the globalizing economy affects the requirement of “court-ordered interim measures” in the arbitration process and how international arbitral regime attempts to cope with such changing demand of the globalizing economy. The thesis emphasizes the importance of harmonizing the national laws on the above-mentioned issue through ratifying international conventions as opposed to formulation of non-mandatory UNCITRAL Model Law.

This thesis is an attempt to consider some of the challenges facing the regime of international commercial arbitration (ICA) in the contemporary global economy. It examines the governance mechanism of the regime of ICA in a globalizing economy. The thesis seeks to analyze the process of harmonization of the law of ICA with particular reference to availability of interim measures from court. In particular, the analytical focus is on how the globalizing economy affects the requirement of “court-ordered interim measures” in the arbitration process and how international arbitral regime attempts to cope with such changing demand of the globalizing economy. The thesis emphasizes the importance of harmonizing the national laws on the above-mentioned issue through ratifying international conventions as opposed to formulation of non-mandatory UNCITRAL Model Law.

News reports of an escalating youth gang problem are frequent in current Canadian media. However, empirical study of factors contributing to youth gang affiliation, particularly in regards to protective factors that may be targeted in intervention and prevention efforts is lacking, especially in Canadian populations. This study was initiated as an exploratory study to examine the relationship between degrees of gang affiliation and measures of social/emotional competency, with a view to identifying a tool that could possibly be utilized to guide intervention planning efforts. The relationship with group affiliation, as well as the relationship to measures of aggression were also included to lend further depth to the analysis. The target population was youth between the ages of 12 to 15 years old who may have been at earlier (lesser degree and more transient) stages of gang affiliation.<p> Data for this study were collected in self-report survey format from 109 youth between the ages of 12 and 15 years of age from several urban Saskatchewan schools. Correlational analysis was performed to investigate the relationships between group and gang affiliation on the BarOn EQ-i: YV (BarOn & Parker, 2000), and the Aggression Questionnaire (Buss & Perry, 1992). Significant relationships were found between gang affiliation and the BarOn EQ-i: YV Interpersonal and Adaptability composites, and Total EQ scores, as well was with the Physical Aggression subscale of the Aggression Questionnaire. Differences in relationships emerged when the sample was separated by gender. There was a lack of significant relationship found between degree of group (non-gang) affiliation and gang affiliation amongst respondents in this study. Significant correlations were found between degree of group affiliation and the BarOn EQ-i: YV and between group affiliation and the Aggression Questionnaire results. Independent sample T-tests were utilized to investigate gender differences, with significant findings noted. An ANOVA was performed to assess for differences in the social/emotional competency and aggression measures, between outlier groups on the group and gang affiliation measures, with significant findings of between group differences.<p> While the BarOn EQ-i: YV emerges as a potentially valuable tool for the identification of alterable characteristics related to youth gang affiliation, the results of this study are preliminary in nature. Limitations of study design, measures, and sample group are identified, along with recommendations for future research.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between elementary school teachers' attitude towards the students' guidance and discipline measures and the effectiveness of classroom management. Based on the literature and research, we establish the theoretical framework, and to design research tools. This study used "survey method", prior to the merger by the Kaohsiung city and county elementary schools 600 teachers for the survey, obtained 528 valid questionnaires . Formal questionnaires recovered to descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation, and stepwise multiple regression statistical analysis data. According to the result of the data analysis, the main findings are the following: 1. The elementary school teachers' show better "in attitude on the part of the overall performance level, which the" positive discipline measures "the most prominent. 2. The "classroom management effectiveness" is in the upper part of the overall performance, which the "teacher efficacy" best. 3. Male elementary school teachers for teaching, practice and self-efficacy have a higher perception. 4. Older, part-time position of director of elementary school teachers' attitude toward guidance and discipline measures show a higher perception. 5. Older, experienced, part-time position of director of elementary school teachers show the better perception of the effectiveness of classroom management. 6. Elementary school teachers' attitude toward guidance and discipline measures show greater the perception of the situation, the effectiveness of teacher classroom management will be the better. 7. Elementary school teachers' attitude toward guidance and discipline measures has a positive effect on classroom management predict. Keywords:guidance and discipline measures,classroom management effectiveness.

Urban racial segregation has been a problem to many U.S. cities. Many researchers have interested on the urban segregation issues since long time ago. To understand and plan a better community, urban planners needs to know how to measure the segregation and interpret the results. However, over the past several decades, many scientists have proposed many types of urban segregation measures. Although a few of them are commonly used nowadays, this doesn?t mean the other measures are not appropriate. Disregarding the fact that some of the measures are mostly used or easily calculated this paper attempts to gather many of the proposed and the most discussed measures for comparison. The results of the comparison were categorized in one group measure, two group measure, and multi group measure. They are also divided in to the five dimensions of segregation such as the evenness, exposure, concentration, clustering, and centralization. Two U.S. metropolitan cities that are different in racial proportion, Houston, TX and Philadelphia, PA, were selected for the comparison. All the selected measures are evaluated in several criteria such as the scale, level of measures, data required, level of complexity, and tendencies of using different census data.

Firstly, this Study focuses on ¡§Border Measures¡¨ in World Trade Organization¡]WTO¡^Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights¡]TRIPS¡^and in World Customs Organization¡]WCO¡^¡§Model Legislation¡¨. These two measures appear to form the backbone of China Intellectual Property Rights¡]IPR¡^ border protection for the time being. Other reasons for China Customs to implement IPR protection are U.S-China IPR MOUs. Secondly, after this explanatory study on China Customs¡¦ border measures, we find some structural problems existing in PRC¡¦s¡]People¡¦s Republic of China¡^General Administration of Customs¡]GAC¡^ that IPR infringements couldn¡¦t be eliminated at all. Owing to the PRC¡¦s special political-economic conditions, China Customs¡¦ IPR border measures cannot achieve the international standard. They cannot effectively limit the import/export of infringements or counterfeit goods. In their enactment as well as in enforcement of IPR border measures, China Customs still has a long way to go.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Mathematics and Statistics. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 166-167). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR45921

Keeping stakeholders far from danger is even more urgent for the construction industry which features higher than average accident and fatality rates worldwide. Improving safety proactively and thus saving huge losses incurred through cultivating safety climate (i.e. people’s perception and attitude of safety policies, procedures, and practices at workplaces) has been advocated and studied since 1980s. Nevertheless, the issue remains that what are the antecedents and how do they impact on safety climate and hence safety behavior at the individual level. With the construction industry of Hong Kong in perspective, a plateau of accident statistics reached since the entry into the new millennium calls for research into possible human factors behind the scene. Against such backdrop, the investigation is carried out in an attempt to tackle the issue with both theoretical and practical implications. With the aim at a better understanding of the research question, a two-stage mixed method research design featured with both qualitative and quantitative approaches is adopted. At the first stage, based on extant literature and 17 interviews with local construction practitioners, antecedents of safety climate are ascertained and categorized into five general perspectives, i.e. structural perspective, perceptual perspective, interactive perspective, cultural perspective, and to-be-confirmed perspective capturing factors not belonging to the first four perspectives. To increase the conceptual precision of safety climate and reveal the working mechanism of safety climate, a series of safety climate related outcomes are integrated into an initially hypothesized research model. Measurement instruments and practical relevance of latent constructs of interest are obtained by literature review and interviews. At the second stage, a large scale questionnaire survey targeting at construction practitioners across Hong Kong and case study of a local civil engineering project are conducted concurrently. Based on 292 valid responses, most of the bi-variate correlations between constructs demonstrate support for the hypothesized relationships, despite of some unexpectedly weak effects implied by path coefficients of the initial structural model. After modification based on theory and practice, the modified structural model reveals four routes to forming safety climate, i.e. 1) sound organizational climate through fluent leader-member exchange; 2) client involvement via enforcing safety management system; 3) individualism leading to negative safety climate; and 4) sound supervisory practice contributing to positive safety climate. Furthermore, the revised model confirms the previously found relationships among safety climate and its related outcomes. Learning from the case study which involves six interviews, participant observations of onsite meetings, and analysis of documents including safety plan, safety manual, minutes of safety related meetings, and content analysis of the primary 17 interviews generally corroborate the findings. Taken together, the research achieves the established objectives, provides a framework for future investigations into antecedents of safety climate, and hence suggests that safety is an emergent property of a complicated socio-technical system, involving diversifying factors. The implications of the findings have for devising safety interventions are discussed in the conclusion section, along with limitations and future research directions. / published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Background: Long outpatient waiting time is a significant problem in Mainland China’s healthcare system. Long patient waiting time negatively affects actual care quality as well as patients’ perceptions of medical care. Aim: This study aims to understand the causes of long patient wait times in China’s outpatient care departments, and how those waits influence patients’ attitudes towards medical care. The rhythm of hospital patient flow will be explored in order to posit modest suggestions to resolve these issues. Objectives: The objectives of this study are to identify the causes of long waiting times in China’s outpatient care departments, to distinguish the specific bottleneck points in patient flow, and to characterize the relationship between waiting time length and the patients’ perceptions of medical care. Method: Two tertiary care hospitals in Mainland China were included as study sites. Macroergonomic methodologies were adopted to guide the data collection and analysis. The Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model was specifically adopted to guide the study design and data analysis procedures. First, audio records were made of interviews with care providers from the two hospitals in order to document and discern the causes of long outpatient care waiting times. Second, a time study was carried out with patients visiting two outpatient departments at the two study sites in order to identify inefficiencies and bottleneck points in the patient flow. Third, a questionnaire survey was provided to the patients in order to understand the impact of lengthy wait times on their overall perceptions of medical care. The interview data was analyzed using content analysis methods, time study data was used to generate a patient flow model, and the questionnaire feedback was analyzed in tandem with the time study data using a linear regression analysis. Results: Sixty-three factors contributing to lengthy patient wait time were discerned from the interview data, concerning each of the five dimensions of the SEIPS model work system. Two patient flow diagrams were designed based on identified patient flow inefficiencies and bottlenecks. A majority (four-fifths and three-quarters, respectively, at the two study sites) of total patient visit time was spent on waiting for physician services and ancillary, non-medical activities. Serious bottlenecks in patient flow occurred while waiting for physician consultation, ultrasound examinations, and medical test result feedback. Patients’ evaluations of medical care quality dropped 0.04 points for each minute of consultation wait time, and 0.02 points for each minute of total visit duration and total waiting time. Conclusions: The causes of long patient wait times concern the physicians’ and patients’ characteristics, the organization and management of the hospital, the tasks, technology, and tools involved, and the hospital environment. Waiting for physician consultation, ultrasound examinations, and medical test result feedback cause the most patient flow problems. Long wait times have an adverse impact upon patients’ perceptions of medical care. The macroergonomic methodologies prove feasible and effective in evaluating health care systems. / published_or_final_version / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

In view of the 911 terrorist incident plus various cases regarding undeclared dangerous goods were happened, tightening security measure on air cargo was adopted by different governments. Additional requirement of cargo screening would involve extra cost and thus the competitiveness of Hong Kong in the industry may weaken. Concern about that the compliance of new security requirement would affect Hong Kong economy and adversely affect the position of Hong Kong International Airport as an international air cargo hub. There are implications of the trend of having tightening of security measures on air cargo in Hong Kong. This study will examine the development of international air cargo security requirement, focusing on the potential solutions and cost implications for Hong Kong air cargo industry. It is expected that the research results will outline the practical solutions and provide a platform for further academic research analysis on providing recommendations to facilitate the aviation security requirement development in Hong Kong. / published_or_final_version / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning