Thesis (Ph. D.)--Bryn Mawr College, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 214-229).

In recent years, patient-centredness has become a central focus in improving health care quality. In 2010, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) launched a four-year action plan aimed at transforming Canada’s health care through a framework aimed at creating a culture of patient-centred care, accountability and responsibility. Several of Canada’s provincial governments proceeded to launch patient-centred action plans, including the Government of Ontario’s “Patients First” framework, which prioritizes patient engagement and increased transparency. As an example of how organizations are putting these values into practice, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO)’s transparency initiative, which aims to make more physician-specific information available to the public in order to help patients make informed decisions about their health care, was examined. This thesis asks how physicians and members of the public feel that the transparency initiative aligns with the CPSO’s public interest mandate. Using discourse analysis, 226 responses by physicians, members of the public and organizations on a discussion forum in the Policy Consultations section of the CPSO’s website were analyzed in order to identify the main themes in arguments for or against increased transparency. The results show that physicians and members of the public tended to differ in their views on the purposes and probable outcomes of the CPSO’s transparency initiative. The majority of physicians worried about patients’ ability to accurately understand and utilize the information being provided to them, and the negative impact that this might have on individual physicians and on the physician-patient relationship more broadly. Most members of the public had a more positive outlook on the potential for transparency to build public trust, help patients become informed and engaged decision-makers and improve patient safety.

Scientific views on EMF radiation dosimetry and models increasingly suggest that even a tiny increase in the incidence of diseases resulting from exposure to EMF radiation could have broad¹ implications for public health, social accounting and the economy. In South Africa (SA) there is no national EMF radiation exposure protection standard, statutory monitoring or regulations. Multinational High Court deliberations indicate the need for public interest EMF radiation exposure protection standards in South Africa. Domestic citizens, academics, as well as regulatory and legislative practitioners, are unable to effectively monitor and investigate EMF radiation exposure emissions from infrastructure sources, because industries refuse to provide the required data. Industries have, since 2003, continually obstructed access to the data and the establishment of a national EMF radiation standard, citing that it would be in conflict with their strategic economic interests. The demonstration of a public interest override (PIO) function is legislatively required to gain access to the required data. This study constructed (1) a framework and (2) a model to perform test simulations against the (3) PIO criteria to demonstrate a PIO function and tested one PIO simulation scenario. Testing the PIO scenario firstly required the construction of a public interest framework, drawing input from multiple disciplines. The framework literature review used systematic case law and scientific-technical analysis whilst the framework science sought to understand the connections, feedbacks, and trajectories that occur as a result of natural and human system processes and exchanges. The EMF radiation exposure system functions to support human wellbeing needs and to explore the benefits and losses associated with alternative futures with the goal to uncover the current and future limits thereof. In the second instance a HYGEIA² model was selected as a base investigation and forecast simulation tool. The study had to uncover the key attributes and parameters necessary to construct and to run successful EMF radiation exposure simulations. Thereafter the HYGEIA model was modified to specifically identify and evaluate EMF radiation exposure hazard conditions. Through subsequent simulation runs, the constructed framework was then tested. Requested anthroposphere information was synthesized within a systems model to forecast ecosystem services and human-use dynamics under alternative scenarios. The simulation used the model, the model references and the framework for guidelines, thus allowing multiple simulation / demonstration runs for different contexts or scenarios. The third step was the construction of a PIO checklist which guides criteria testing and provides a means of gaining pertinent information for further studies, based on this dissertation. Framework EMF radiation policy inputs into the model were intersected with identified vulnerable area facilities which were selected based on international criteria. The research output revealed potential EMF radiation violations which served as system feedback inputs in support of a demonstrated PIO function. The research recommends that the identified EMF radiation exposure violations of public health undergo a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) judicial review process to confirm the research findings. The judicial qualification of a PAIA PIO function of ‘substances released into the environment’ and ‘public safety or environmental risk’ would enable access to EMF radiation emissions data essential to future studies.

This thesis will consider how the multidimensional public interest concept at once informs development of Chinese copyright law and also limits it. Since 1990 China has awarded copyright - individual rights - but also provides for public, non-criminal enforcement. Bowing to pressures of development, globalisation and participation in a world economy, the public interest is leaving copyright. But at the same time, as a socialist country, placing the common ahead of the individual interest, the public interest also constitutes a phenomenological tool with which to limit copyright. The tensions are further exacerbated by the rise of the Internet, which has had major social and economic impact on China, and also raise problems for Chinese copyright law, of which selected aspects will be discussed in comparison with those in the United Kingdom and the United States. The thesis consists of an introduction and a conclusion, together with six chapters: a historical background of legal culture and the rise of the Internet in China; an examination on copyright law and the different aspects of the public interest; discussions on the Chinese system of copyright protection with a focus on the administrative copyright enforcement, and topical copyright issues arising within education, library and archives sectors on the ground of the multidimensional public interest.

In the Czech Republic, the same way as it is in other democratic countries, the ownership right is recognized to be one of the fundamental human rights, and it is protected by legislation of a supreme legal force. Along with modern society development and for this reason it becomes more and more restricted. It is a long time ago, when the unlimited legal domain like theory of ownership rights in rem was forsaken. The restrictions are more numerous and intensive in case of land being subject to ownership rights. This results from many differences between land and other subjects of ownership. Limited and definitive land area, the fact that land is not relocatable as well as soil, being one of environmental elements, represent the most important ones. In one line with increasing amount of people on Earth and their increasing requirements on its usage, the land must fill constantly increasing needs for the welfare of increasing amount of people at the same time. The necessity of protection of environmental aspect of land and soil respectively, is still growing. For all those reasons, the restrictions and regulations on land ownership rights are to be put in place. When justified by public interest, the restrictions arise from public law legislation. Key words: land ownership, restriction, public interest

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in Communication and Culture. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-151). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss&rft%5Fval%5Ffmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss:MQ99343

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 191-202).

Urban and regional planning, from a professional standpoint, is built on a history of preservation, with the backdrop of a perennial quest to define itself for the benefit of both laypeople and its own members. Consequently, different stages of planning throughout the twentieth century relate to simultaneous cultural changes that have caused the re-definition and re-focusing of professional efforts. From the original concentration on rational thought that coincided with the planner as objective expert with the ability to identify and promote the public interest, to the civil rights movement of the late twentieth century that embodied postmodern ideas such as advocacy, collaboration, and communication, the concept of who the planner is and what role he or she plays has developed over time. In parallel, the structures planners use to deliver their services have altered. While the shift from the traditional concept of the public sector to quasi-public and private applications has been well documented, the structures of the twenty-first century such as multinationals, public-private partnerships, and multi-disciplinary arrangements are less studied and understood. Multi-disciplinary practices (MDPs), in particular, garner little attention from the academic or professional planning spheres. While the legal and accounting professions are scrambling for a clear policy direction on cross-discipline collaboration, planners do not seem to have diverted much attention to whether or not they have a future. Indeed, the existence of MDPs provokes the return of the question of what role planners should play, and whether they should be a distinct specialized profession, or an entity with a mandate to coordinate other professions with an eye to long-term planning for the public good. This analysis attempts to qualitatively assess whether MDPs should be supported or rejected by the planning discipline, and how the profession should be addressing the answer. / Thesis (Master, Urban & Regional Planning) -- Queen's University, 2007-09-28 11:25:12.401

More than ever before, two imperatives, ‘the right to know’ and ‘the need to keep secret’, find themselves in a contest for a position of primacy in the contemporary legal system. The need to keep secret is antipathetic to the right to know. The Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms has entrenched a person’s right to disclosure of both exculpatory and inculpatory material in possession of the prosecution. Moreover, the common law has placed the additional responsibility on the prosecution to inquire of third parties as to the existence and production of material relevant to the defence. Despite the entrenchment of the right to disclosure the demands by the state have steadily grown for more evidence to be withheld from defendants, parties to proceedings and the public in general. The applications for in camera or ex parte hearings are common place and frequently acceded to. This thesis seeks to examine the clash of the two imperatives from the Canadian perspective. By using a comparative analysis of other jurisdictions throughout the thesis, it examines the various legislative instruments and common law employed in the Canadian Courts in respect of ‘ordinary’ criminal trials as well as trials of suspected terrorists, specifically, in respect of disclosure and the ability to withhold material from other parties and refrain from the obligation to disclose. The thesis includes a full analysis of disclosure options, public interest immunity, informer privilege, special advocates and other regimes, and claims of privilege in the interests of national security. The thesis provides a number of detailed recommendations as to how Canada can better balance rights of accused against the public interest and the needs of those who enforce the law.. The recommendations call for legal reforms, some new institutions for better accountability and new internal standards for those engaged in the investigation of crimes and national security matters. / Thesis (Ph.D, Law) -- Queen's University, 2012-04-25 15:01:59.292

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, [2001]. / A thesis submitted to the University of Western Sydney in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. "An applied study of the response of a selected group of large construction companies in the Sydney Basin to the National Training Reform Agenda (NTRA)" Includes appendices and bibliography: leaves 218-226.