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One of the key determinants of the “quality” of a neighbourhood is the extent to which owners maintain their properties. Much has been written about the impact of neighbourhood blight or the physically rejuvenating impact of gentrification. To better understand why some neighbourhoods are thriving, and others not, a critical variable that has seen little exploration is the type of tenure. This thesis, focused mostly on data from the City of Rochester NY, comparing absentee landlords, resident landlords and owner-occupiers, looking for differences in the level of maintenance of residential properties. Using a procedure developed by the author, every house in Rochester, Buffalo, and Syracuse containing 1-6 units was assessed, creating a quantitative analysis that is both more current, and on a much larger scale than previous work. Findings mostly confirmed observations and theories in the literature, but there were a number of significant differences. The key observation within Rochester was that, regardless of geographic scale, absentee owners consistently took the worst care of their properties, followed by resident landlords and then owner-occupiers. Further, size and type of absentee landlord mattered. Tenure was found to be the driving force in predicting maintenance outcomes, compounded by variables such as property values and race. Evidence from Buffalo and Syracuse indicated that findings may be generalizable, at least for declining industrial cities. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Urban neighborhoods that work toward carbon-free, climate-neutral goals, attain apositive energy balance, and aspire for excess renewable energy production aredefined as Positive Energy Districts (PEDs). PEDs are designed to contribute tosustainable urban growth, and it is also true that sustainable urban growth can leadto the creation of PEDs. Essentially, PEDs can be achieved by developing andfollowing sustainable infrastructure and urban planning practices including spatial,transportation, and social planning. As per JPI Urban Europe, the key aspects ofPEDs along with the funding include implementation strategies, stakeholders,climate transition, governance, legal frameworks, as well as technological andsystem innovation. As the name suggests, PED mainly comprises positive energy (energy management)and district (neighborhood) elements. The district aspect encompasses urbanplanning that constitutes strategic planning for sustainability implicationsconsisting of environmental, social, economical, mobility, andtransportation-related factors, all of which involve the users and its people. Thepositive energy aspect of a PED enables local energy production resulting in energyefficiency and potential cost savings for its residents. The thesis examines the performance of urban planning factors with the potential todevelop an existing neighborhood toward a PED. This research study explores theoverall sustainability of a neighborhood in terms of mobility, social, economic, andenvironmental factors. The performance of these factors is measured through KeyPerformance Indicators (KPIs), which measure the attributes of sustainability. Thesecontributing KPIs have been studied on a scale through a case study of HammarbySjöstad (HS) in Stockholm. The perception of stakeholders is collected for evaluatingKPIs. These KPIs have been thoroughly analyzed as designed during the planningstage and post-implementation to evaluate their success. The findings of this thesiscan be employed as guidelines for setting benchmarks and goals for the developmentof PEDs in cities throughout the world.

Sustainable design is often conceived of only in terms of applied technologies, without a concern for quality of life of residents. This thesis is an investigation of sustainable design that meets standards of quality of life for residents. The study focuses on balancing the needs for integration with the existing context and maintenance of privacy for the residents, and on heightening peopleâ s responsiveness to and awareness of daily and seasonal phenomena. The goal of this investigation is to create a residence that heightens the inhabitantsâ psychological connection with the outdoor environment, and thus enhances their quality of life. / Master of Architecture

<p>The two Eastern enlargements in 2004 and 2007 marked a new chapter in the EU’s history, since it was the first time that the Union turned to enlarge eastwards. This thesis examines the borderline problem that arose with Article 49 of the <em>Maastricht</em> <em>Treaty on the European Union</em>, which gave the right to <em>any European country</em> that respects the principles of: liberty, democracy, human and fundamental rights, and the rule of law, to apply for membership in the EU.</p><p> </p><p>This thesis approaches the EU’s borderline problem by taking on three case studies consisting of Hungary, Lithuania, and Ukraine, for the purpose of analyzing the Eastern enlargement and Ukraine’s potentials of becoming a member of the EU. The reason for doing so is to compare Ukraine’s potentials of becoming a member in the EU with two Eastern states that, like Ukraine, have been involved with the Soviet Union, and that despite their degree of involvement, have been successfully integrated in the EU.</p><p> </p><p>As the EU has turned to enlarge eastwards, it gradually pushes its borderline with every enlargement, closer to Russian territory. Hence, it is necessary to investigate how potential integration of a country like Ukraine can affect the EU’s relations with Russia. The crucial aspect of the current relations between the EU and Russia is the interdependence of energy, where Ukraine is as a strategically important country, since it currently serves as a corridor between East (Russia) and West (EU). This thesis therefore shows that the problematic of potential integration of Ukraine goes much deeper than that of a geographical matter, and therefore touches other problem areas related to domestic political instability in Ukraine, and Russian political influence through its gas supplies.</p><p> </p><p>This thesis approaches the EU’s borderline problem from a foreign political perspective by investigating Ukraine’s potentials of becoming a member of the EU and suggesting, by the assistance of Westberg’s theoretical framework of integration theories, a third generation of integration theories to be needed in order to meet the problematic of the enlargement towards East. The thesis further gives recommendations to how the EU could deal with its borderline problem by answering three research questions related to the enlargement problematic.</p> / <p>De två östutvidgningarna 2004 och 2007 utgjorde ett nytt kapitel i EU:s historia då det var första gången som Unionen påbörjade utvidgningen mot Öst. Denna uppsats undersöker gränsproblematiken som uppkom i samband med Artikel 49 i <em>Maastricht</em> <em>Fördraget om Europeiska Unionen</em>, vilken gav rätten till varje Europeiskt land som respekterar principerna om: frihet, demokrati, mänskliga och fundamentala rättigheter, samt rättsstat, att ansöka om medlemskap i EU.</p><p> </p><p>Denna uppsats närmar sig EU:s gränsproblem genom att ta sig an tre fallstudier bestående av Ungern, Litauen, och Ukraina, i syfte att analysera östutvidgningen och Ukrainas potential att bli medlem i EU ur ett utrikespolitiskt perspektiv. Anledningen till detta är att jämföra Ukrainas potential att bli medlem i EU med två öststater som, i likhet med Ukraina, har varit involverade i Sovjet Unionen, men som oberoende graden av involvering med Ryssland, framgångsrikt blivit integrerade i EU.</p><p> </p><p>Eftersom EU påbörjat utvidgningen mot Öst så förskjuts EU:s gräns gradvis, med varje östutvidgning, nära ryskt territorium. Därmed är det nödvändigt att utreda hur potentiell integrering av ett land som Ukraina kan påverka EU:s relationer med Ryssland. Den avgörande aspekten när det gäller relationerna mellan EU och Ryssland, är det ömsesidiga beroendet kring energi, där Ukraina utgör ett strategiskt viktigt land, eftersom det för närvarande verkar som en korridor mellan Öst (Ryssland) och Väst (EU). Denna uppsats visar att problematiken kring potentiell integrering av Ukraina rör problemområden bortom geografisk natur, så som inhemskt politisk instabilitet i Ukraina, samt Rysslands politiska inflytande genom energiförsörjning till Europa.</p><p> </p><p>Denna uppsats närmar sig EU:s gränsproblem från ett utrikespolitiskt perspektiv genom att utreda Ukrainas potentiella medlemskap i EU. Den föreslår, med hjälp av Westbergs integrationsteoretiska ramverk, att en tredje generation av integrationsteorier är nödvändig för att analysera problematiken kring utvidgningen mot Öst. Uppsatsen ger rekommendationer till hur EU kan hantera sitt gränsproblem genom att svara på tre frågeställningar gällande utvidgningsproblematiken.</p>

The two Eastern enlargements in 2004 and 2007 marked a new chapter in the EU’s history, since it was the first time that the Union turned to enlarge eastwards. This thesis examines the borderline problem that arose with Article 49 of the Maastricht Treaty on the European Union, which gave the right to any European country that respects the principles of: liberty, democracy, human and fundamental rights, and the rule of law, to apply for membership in the EU.   This thesis approaches the EU’s borderline problem by taking on three case studies consisting of Hungary, Lithuania, and Ukraine, for the purpose of analyzing the Eastern enlargement and Ukraine’s potentials of becoming a member of the EU. The reason for doing so is to compare Ukraine’s potentials of becoming a member in the EU with two Eastern states that, like Ukraine, have been involved with the Soviet Union, and that despite their degree of involvement, have been successfully integrated in the EU.   As the EU has turned to enlarge eastwards, it gradually pushes its borderline with every enlargement, closer to Russian territory. Hence, it is necessary to investigate how potential integration of a country like Ukraine can affect the EU’s relations with Russia. The crucial aspect of the current relations between the EU and Russia is the interdependence of energy, where Ukraine is as a strategically important country, since it currently serves as a corridor between East (Russia) and West (EU). This thesis therefore shows that the problematic of potential integration of Ukraine goes much deeper than that of a geographical matter, and therefore touches other problem areas related to domestic political instability in Ukraine, and Russian political influence through its gas supplies.   This thesis approaches the EU’s borderline problem from a foreign political perspective by investigating Ukraine’s potentials of becoming a member of the EU and suggesting, by the assistance of Westberg’s theoretical framework of integration theories, a third generation of integration theories to be needed in order to meet the problematic of the enlargement towards East. The thesis further gives recommendations to how the EU could deal with its borderline problem by answering three research questions related to the enlargement problematic. / De två östutvidgningarna 2004 och 2007 utgjorde ett nytt kapitel i EU:s historia då det var första gången som Unionen påbörjade utvidgningen mot Öst. Denna uppsats undersöker gränsproblematiken som uppkom i samband med Artikel 49 i Maastricht Fördraget om Europeiska Unionen, vilken gav rätten till varje Europeiskt land som respekterar principerna om: frihet, demokrati, mänskliga och fundamentala rättigheter, samt rättsstat, att ansöka om medlemskap i EU.   Denna uppsats närmar sig EU:s gränsproblem genom att ta sig an tre fallstudier bestående av Ungern, Litauen, och Ukraina, i syfte att analysera östutvidgningen och Ukrainas potential att bli medlem i EU ur ett utrikespolitiskt perspektiv. Anledningen till detta är att jämföra Ukrainas potential att bli medlem i EU med två öststater som, i likhet med Ukraina, har varit involverade i Sovjet Unionen, men som oberoende graden av involvering med Ryssland, framgångsrikt blivit integrerade i EU.   Eftersom EU påbörjat utvidgningen mot Öst så förskjuts EU:s gräns gradvis, med varje östutvidgning, nära ryskt territorium. Därmed är det nödvändigt att utreda hur potentiell integrering av ett land som Ukraina kan påverka EU:s relationer med Ryssland. Den avgörande aspekten när det gäller relationerna mellan EU och Ryssland, är det ömsesidiga beroendet kring energi, där Ukraina utgör ett strategiskt viktigt land, eftersom det för närvarande verkar som en korridor mellan Öst (Ryssland) och Väst (EU). Denna uppsats visar att problematiken kring potentiell integrering av Ukraina rör problemområden bortom geografisk natur, så som inhemskt politisk instabilitet i Ukraina, samt Rysslands politiska inflytande genom energiförsörjning till Europa.   Denna uppsats närmar sig EU:s gränsproblem från ett utrikespolitiskt perspektiv genom att utreda Ukrainas potentiella medlemskap i EU. Den föreslår, med hjälp av Westbergs integrationsteoretiska ramverk, att en tredje generation av integrationsteorier är nödvändig för att analysera problematiken kring utvidgningen mot Öst. Uppsatsen ger rekommendationer till hur EU kan hantera sitt gränsproblem genom att svara på tre frågeställningar gällande utvidgningsproblematiken.

The research problem that was investigated in this research study was to evaluate the implementation of sector policing in Tembisa policing precinct. Even though there are policies and directives on how to implement it, there is still some challenges because it is yet to yield the intended results. Data was collected from focus group interviews, literature studies and polices. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in the form of focus group interviews. Moreover, a literature study including material such as official SAPS documents, library sources and National Legislation regarding community policing has been presented. Data was also collected from sector managers, sector teams, CPF members and pastors who participated in four focus group interviews in Tembisa police station. The sample was chosen on the basis of what the researcher considers to be typical units. Participants were interviewed in stages. The collected data was broken into themes, patterns, trends and relationships. Data analysis followed verbatim transcription of interviews, that’s why the researcher followed Tesch’s approach of descriptive analysis. The research conducted indicated that although progress has been made in the implementation of sector policing In Tembisa, there still more which needs to be done. Specific concerns which require the attention of SAPS management were raised. It is clear that internal communication and consultation are a necessity. It is also clear that members on the ground are not well trained because they lack the actual knowledge on how to implement it. Training and development of all role players need to be prioritised to enhance their knowledge. All the role players need to be motivated during the implementation of sector policing to ensure that they are ready for the job ahead. The recommendations drawn from the conclusions made in this study may provide a proper direction on how to implement sector policing in the Republic. / Police Practice / M.Tech. (Policing)

The central issue of this research revolves around the implementation of sector policing in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The research is based in two police stations, that is, Nongoma and Newcastle. Sector policing is a policing strategy introduced by South African Police Service in 1994. The aim of this policing strategy is the creation of structured consultation with regards to local crime problems between the police and respective communities. The objective of sector policing is to develop an organizational structure and environment that reflects community values and facilitates community involvement in addressing risk factors and solve crime-related problems. The research problem for this study is that there is little or no research conducted on the implementation of sector policing in South Africa in general and Nongoma and Newcastle in particular. Following this problem statement, the following five research questions were formulated: What is sector policing and how does its implementation differ between the USA, the UK and South Africa? What is the status of the implementation of the sector policing in South Africa, in particular the Province of KwaZulu-Natal? What are the challenges experienced in implementing sector policing in Nongoma and Newcastle police stations? What are best practices that can be observed in the implementation of sector policing in these two police stations? What is the best possible way of implementing sector policing in South Africa? The aim of the research is to assess and describe the manner in which sector policing was implemented in the two police stations in KZN. The research findings obtained through interviews are analysed and interpreted. In view of the findings, best practices, and recommendations were formulated on how to overcome challenges that may face the implementation of sector policing in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. / Public Administration & Management / M.Tech. (Public Administration & Management)

本研究將探討非等效平行機台問題中具備順序相依整備時間及不同開始工作時間（Unequal ready-time）之情況，並以最小化總延遲工件權重數為目標值，其目的在改善非等效平行機台問題應用於實際產業中製造環境裡所面對的各項挑戰，如印刷電路板的鑽孔和半導體的測試製程。因本研究欲求解之問題是屬於NP - Hard problems 性質之尋優問題，故利用啟發式方法(heuristics)求解為合適的選擇。此外，本研究計畫開發混合式巨集啟發式方法來求解非等效平行機台問題，主要以禁忌搜尋法為主，在鄰域的搜尋上，也藉由變動鄰域尋優法能夠透過鄰域轉換的機制，進而找出更多好的解。由於啟發式方法對於尋優問題常需花費許多時間來計算才能獲得更好的解，為確保增進求解效率與品質，將針對問題特性開發數種初始解產生法，並也嘗試定義幾個能夠減少尋找鄰近解之鄰域。在後續求解改善的過程中，主要整合變動鄰域(VND)及禁忌(TS)巨集啟發式演算法搜尋最佳解。此外，為了評估本文推導之演算法效能，本研究利用設定之條件隨機產生適量模擬現場狀況的測試情境，進而比較本研究所提出之混合式巨集啟發式方法及標準禁忌搜尋法在不同情境下之表現。 / The problem considered in this paper is a set of independent jobs on unrelated parallel machines with sequence-dependent setup times and with unequal ready times so as to minimize total weighted tardy jobs. These problems can be found in real-life manufacturing environments, such as PCB fabrication drilling operations and semiconductor wafer manufacturing dicing. Since the problems are NP-hard in the strong sense, heuristics are an acceptable practice to finding good solutions. A hybrid meta-heuristics are proposed to solve this scheduling problem. The proposed heuristics belong to a type of solution improvement heuristic; therefore, the heuristics start with an effective initial feasible solution then a meta-heuristic is applied to improve the solution. To enhance both the efficiency and efficacy of the heuristics, several different initial solution generators, based on the characteristics of problems, are developed. The meta-heuristic is a hybrid heuristic integrating the principles of Variable Neighborhood Descent approach (VND) and Tabu Search (TS). In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed heuristics, two sets of large number test scenarios will be designed to simulate practical shop floor problems. Computational experiments will be performed to compare the performance of the proposed heuristics, and a basic tabu search algorithm. The results show the proposed heuristic perform better than the basic tabu search algorithm.

De nombreux problèmes pratiques qui se posent dans dans le domaine de la logistique, peuvent être modélisés comme des problèmes de tournées de véhicules. De façon générale, cette famille de problèmes implique la conception de routes, débutant et se terminant à un dépôt, qui sont utilisées pour distribuer des biens à un nombre de clients géographiquement dispersé dans un contexte où les coûts associés aux routes sont minimisés. Selon le type de problème, un ou plusieurs dépôts peuvent-être présents. Les problèmes de tournées de véhicules sont parmi les problèmes combinatoires les plus difficiles à résoudre. Dans cette thèse, nous étudions un problème d’optimisation combinatoire, appartenant aux classes des problèmes de tournées de véhicules, qui est liée au contexte des réseaux de transport. Nous introduisons un nouveau problème qui est principalement inspiré des activités de collecte de lait des fermes de production, et de la redistribution du produit collecté aux usines de transformation, pour la province de Québec. Deux variantes de ce problème sont considérées. La première, vise la conception d’un plan tactique de routage pour le problème de la collecte-redistribution de lait sur un horizon donné, en supposant que le niveau de la production au cours de l’horizon est fixé. La deuxième variante, vise à fournir un plan plus précis en tenant compte de la variation potentielle de niveau de production pouvant survenir au cours de l’horizon considéré. Dans la première partie de cette thèse, nous décrivons un algorithme exact pour la première variante du problème qui se caractérise par la présence de fenêtres de temps, plusieurs dépôts, et une flotte hétérogène de véhicules, et dont l’objectif est de minimiser le coût de routage. À cette fin, le problème est modélisé comme un problème multi-attributs de tournées de véhicules. L’algorithme exact est basé sur la génération de colonnes impliquant un algorithme de plus court chemin élémentaire avec contraintes de ressources. Dans la deuxième partie, nous concevons un algorithme exact pour résoudre la deuxième variante du problème. À cette fin, le problème est modélisé comme un problème de tournées de véhicules multi-périodes prenant en compte explicitement les variations potentielles du niveau de production sur un horizon donné. De nouvelles stratégies sont proposées pour résoudre le problème de plus court chemin élémentaire avec contraintes de ressources, impliquant dans ce cas une structure particulière étant donné la caractéristique multi-périodes du problème général. Pour résoudre des instances de taille réaliste dans des temps de calcul raisonnables, une approche de résolution de nature heuristique est requise. La troisième partie propose un algorithme de recherche adaptative à grands voisinages où de nombreuses nouvelles stratégies d’exploration et d’exploitation sont proposées pour améliorer la performances de l’algorithme proposé en termes de la qualité de la solution obtenue et du temps de calcul nécessaire. / Many practical problems arising in real-world applications in the field of logistics can be modeled as vehicle routing problems (VRP). In broad terms, VRPs deal with designing optimal routes for delivering goods or services to a number of geographically scattered customers in a context in which, routing costs are minimized. Depending on the type of problem, one or several depots may be present. Routing problems are among the most difficult combinatorial optimization problems. In this dissertation we study a special combinatorial optimization problem, belonging to the class of the vehicle routing problem that is strongly linked to the context of the transportation networks. We introduce a new problem setting, which is mainly inspired by the activities of collecting milk from production farms and distributing the collected product to processing plants in Quebec. Two different variants of this problem setting are considered. The first variant seeks a tactical routing plan for the milk collection-distribution problem over a given planning horizon assuming that the production level over the considered horizon is fixed. The second variant aims to provide a more accurate plan by taking into account potential variations in terms of production level, which may occur during the course of a horizon. This thesis is cast into three main parts, as follows: In the first part, we describe an exact algorithm for the first variant of the problem, which is characterized by the presence of time windows, multiple depots, and a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles, where the objective is to minimize the routing cost. To this end, the problem is modeled as a multi-attribute vehicle routing problem. The exact algorithm proposed is based on the column generation approach, coupled with an elementary shortest path algorithm with resource constraints. In the second part, we design an exact framework to address the second variant of the problem. To this end, the problem is modeled as a multi-period vehicle routing problem, which explicitly takes into account potential production level variations over a horizon. New strategies are proposed to tackle the particular structure of the multi-period elementary shortest path algorithm with resource constraints. To solve realistic instances of the second variant of the problem in reasonable computation times, a heuristic approach is required. In the third part of this thesis, we propose an adaptive large neighborhood search, where various new exploration and exploitation strategies are proposed to improve the performance of the algorithm in terms of solution quality and computational efficiency.