Impure Memory, Imperfect Justice: A Comparison of Post-Repression Fiction Across the South Atlantic

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Satellite borne radar altimetry : empirical orbit refinement and ocean signal recovery techniques

Measurements of the sea surface obtained by satellite borne radar altimetry are irregularly spaced and contaminated with various modelling and correction errors. The largest source of uncertainty for low Earth orbiting satellites such as ERS-1 and Geosat may be attributed to orbital modelling errors. The empirical correction of such errors is investigated by examination of single and dual satellite crossovers, with a view to identifying the extent of any signal aliasing: either by removal of long wavelength ocean signals or introduction of additional error signals. From these studies, it was concluded that sinusoidal approximation of the dominant one cycle per revolution orbit error over arc lengths of 11,500 km did not remove a significant mesoscale ocean signal. The use of TOPEX/Poseidon dual crossovers with ERS-1 was shown to substantially improve the radial accuracy of ERS-1, except for some absorption of small TOPEX/Poseidon errors. The extraction of marine geoid information is of great interest to the oceanographic community and was the subject of the second half of this thesis. Firstly through determination of regional mean sea surfaces using Geosat data, it was demonstrated that a dataset with 70cm orbit error contamination could produce a marine geoid map which compares to better than 12cm with an accurate regional high resolution gravimetric geoid. This study was then developed into Optimal Fourier Transform Interpolation, a technique capable of analysing complete altimeter datasets for the determination of consistent global high resolution geoid maps. This method exploits the regular nature of ascending and descending data subsets thus making possible the application of fast Fourier transform algorithms. Quantitative assessment of this method was limited by the lack of global ground truth gravity data, but qualitative results indicate good signal recovery from a single 35-day cycle.

CONSTITUTIONAL JUSTICE IN AFRICA: An Examination of Constitutional Positivism, Fundamental Law and Rights in Ghana and Nigeria

This work explores the idea of constitutional justice in Africa with a focus on constitutional interpretation in Ghana and Nigeria. The objective is to develop a theory of constitutional interpretation based upon a conception of law that allows the existing constitutions of Ghana and Nigeria to be construed by the courts as law in a manner that best serves the collective wellbeing of the people. The project involves an examination of both legal theory and substantive constitutional law. The theoretical argument will be applied to show how a proper understanding of the ideals of the rule of law and constitutionalism in Ghana and Nigeria necessitate the conclusion that socio-economic rights in those countries are constitutionally protected and judicially enforceable. The thesis argues that this conclusion follows from a general claim that constitutions should represent a ‘fundamental law’ and must be construed as an aspirational moral ideal for the common good of the people. The argument is essentially about the inherent character of ‘legality’ or the ‘rule of law.’ It weaves together ideas developed by Lon Fuller, Ronald Dworkin, T.R.S. Allan and David Dyzenhaus, as well as the strand of common law constitutionalism associated with Sir Edward Coke, to develop a moral sense of ‘law’ that transcends the confines of positive or explicit law while remaining inherently ‘legal’ as opposed to purely moral or political. What emerges is an unwritten fundamental law of reason located between pure morality or natural law on the one hand and strict, explicit, or positive law on the other. It is argued that this fundamental law is, or should be, the basis of constitutional interpretation, especially in transitional democracies like Ghana and Nigeria, and that it grounds constitutional protection for socio-economic rights. Equipped with this theory of law, courts in developing African countries like Ghana and Nigeria will be in a better position to contribute towards developing a real sense of constitutional justice for Africa.

Reframing Public Inquiries as 'Procedural Justice' for Victims of Institutional Child Abuse: Towards a Hybrid Model of Justice

As the number of high profile cases of institutional child abuse mounts internationally, and the demands of victims for justice are heard, state responses have ranged from prosecution, apology, and compensation schemes, to truth commissions or public inquiries. Drawing on the examples of Australia and Northern Ireland as two jurisdictions with a recent and ongoing history of statutory inquiries into institutional child abuse, the article utilises the restorative justice paradigm to critically evaluate the strengths and limitations of the inquiry framework in providing ‘justice’ for victims. It critically explores the normative and pragmatic implications of a hybrid model as a more effective route to procedural justice and suggests that an appropriately designed restorative pathway may augment the legitimacy and utility of the public inquiry model for victims chiefly via improving offender accountability and ‘voice’ for victims. The article concludes by offering some thoughts on the broader implications for other jurisdictions in responding to large-scale historical abuses and seeking to come to terms with the legacy of institutional child abuse.

Emergency and Transitional Shelters [Literature Review]

Over the past two decades the number of recorded disasters has doubled from approximately 200 to over 400 disasters per year. Such an increase in the frequency of disasters has not been without consequence, producing ever-greater waves of population displacements throughout the developing world. The United Nation’s Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) responsible for the coordination of international humanitarian responses states unequivocally that populations displaced by disaster have a right to protection and the provision of basic necessities such as adequate food, water, clothing, sanitation, and essential health services (IASC, 2006 and The Sphere Project, 2011). Shelter responses are often a vital node around which many of these humanitarian concerns are addressed. This document is a review of 3 case studies, 6 field reports, 1 concept paper, 16 guidelines, 1 call for proposals, and 4 strategic framework documents prepared by organizations active in the humanitarian shelter sector on emergency and transitional shelters. While emergency shelter response is focused primarily on protection and relief during and immediately after a disaster has occurred, the transitional shelter approach emphasizes integrating disaster response into an immediate transition towards reconstruction, recovery, and sustainable development.

Some Remarks on the Approximation of Transitional Density in Stochastic Differential Equations

Aijt-Sahalia (2002) introduced a method to estimate transitional probability densities of di®usion processes by means of Hermite expansions with coe±cients determined by means of Taylor series. This note describes a numerical procedure to ¯nd these coe±cients based on the calculation of moments. One advantage of this procedure is that it can be used e®ectively when the mathematical operations required to ¯nd closed-form expressions for these coe±cients are otherwise infeasible.

Perpetuating Racism: Legal Education, Race and Social Justice

By presenting the results of a content analysis of Australian undergraduate legal education, this paper examines the extent to which issues of race, ethnicity, discrimination, and multiculturalism feature within this component of the moral, ethical, and professional development of legal professionals. It will demonstrate that instead of encouraging a deep, critical and contextual understanding of such issues, legal education provides a relatively superficial one, which has important implications for the role that legal professionals play in overcoming injustices such as institutional racism, and the kinds of social reform that they are likely to undertake.

Tensions, transisitions and triumphs : examining the transitional experience of fashion students between school and university

Joining any new community involves transition and adaptation. Just as we learn to adapt to different cultures when we choose to live abroad, so students learn the language and culture of an academic community in order to succeed within that environment. At the same time however, students bring with them individual learning styles and expectations, influenced by their prior experiences of learning and of life more generally. Some have excelled at school; others have come to fashion seeking something in which to excel for the first time. Commencing a degree in fashion design brings students into contact with peers and lecturers who share their passion, providing them with a community of practice which can be both supportive and at the same time intimidating.----- In Queensland where university level study in fashion is such a new phenomenon, few applicants have any depth of training in design when they apply to study fashion. Unlike disciplines such as Dance or Visual Art, where lecturers can expect a good level of skill upon entry to a degree program, we have to look for the potential evidenced in an applicant’s portfolio, much of which is untutored work that they have generated themselves in preparation for application. This means that many first year fashion students at QUT whilst very passionate about the idea of fashion design are often very naïve about the practice of fashion design, with limited knowledge of the history or cultural context of fashion and few of the technical skills needed to translate their ideas into three dimensional products.----- For teachers engaging with first year students in the design studios, it is critical to be cognizant of this mix of different experiences, expectations and emotions in order to design curricula and assessment that stretch and engage students without unduly increasing their sense of frustration and anxiety. This paper examines a first year project designed to provide an introduction to design process and to learning within a creative discipline. The lessons learnt provide a valuable and transferable resource for lecturers in a variety of art and design disciplines.

Comparing the diffusion of online service recovery in small and large organisations

A key concern organisations face is how to incorporate Internet tools into their marketing communications mix. Where and how should companies invest their human, technological and financial resources? This paper explores a subset of this problem, online complaining and electronic customer service. It applies diffusion of innovation as a theoretical framework to investigate organisational implementation of email technology and explain the outcome of annual customer service surveys in 2001, 2002 and 2003. The results add to the small body of research on electronic service recovery by extending diffusion of innovations to email service recovery and underscoring the importance of adoption phases, particularly for SMEs. Larger companies provide more channels for submitting complaints, which represents an early phase of adoption. There was little difference in how large and small companies respond to online complaints, a later phase of adoption.