Taxpayers Coalition Niagara fonds

Taxpayers Coalition Niagara (TCN) was founded and incorporated in 1990 in response to the increasing tax burden faced by citizens, and the sometimes questionable use of taxpayers’ money by the government. Originally founded as the Committee for Responsible Government, the name was changed to Taxpayers Coalition Niagara in order to facilitate membership in a similar provincial organization, Taxpayers Coalition Ontario. The non-partisan Coalition was comprised of businessmen from St. Catharines, with Frank Sheehan as President. The objectives of the Coalition included individual freedom and responsibility; obtaining maximum value for tax dollars; identifying and exposing irresponsible government policy and practice; the reduction of debt at all levels of government; the elimination of wasteful and unnecessary programmes; encouraging elected officials to regain control of their bureaucracies; and discouraging ‘empire building’ within local government. Early in 1991, the Coalition began advertising for members and financial support, receiving $11 000 from 1100 supporters. The membership consisted of both businesses and private citizens, eventually reaching 3500 members. The Coalition formed several committees, each one responsible for monitoring a public sector, such as municipal councils, school boards, police services and regional council. The Coalition worked towards achieving their objectives through presentations given to these groups by the committee leaders, as well as through ‘letters to the Editor’ and advertisements in local newspapers. Frank Sheehan resigned as President in 1995, in order to run as a Conservative candidate in the Provincial election. In June 1995, Charles Atkinson was elected President. The recent election of the Conservative government (led by Mike Harris) resulted in the expectation that many of the Coalition’s objectives would be achieved by the newly elected government. Accordingly, it was decided that the organization would operate in a reduced capacity. The Coalition was terminated in April, 2003, after several years of little or no activity.

The Ontario Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Individual Privacy Act: an analysis of its application to school boards

In Canada freedom of information must be viewed in the context of governing -- how do you deal with an abundance of information while balancing a diversity of competing interests? How can you ensure people are informed enough to participate in crucial decision-making, yet willing enough to let some administrative matters be dealt with in camera without their involvement in every detail. In an age when taxpayers' coalition groups are on the rise, and the government is encouraging the establishment of Parent Council groups for schools, the issues and challenges presented by access to information and protection of privacy legislation are real ones. The province of Ontario's decision to extend freedom of information legislation to local governments does not ensure, or equate to, full public disclosure of all facts or necessarily guarantee complete public comprehension of an issue. The mere fact that local governments, like school boards, decide to collect, assemble or record some information and not to collect other information implies that a prior decision was made by "someone" on what was important to record or keep. That in itself means that not all the facts are going to be disclosed, regardless of the presence of legislation. The resulting lack of information can lead to public mistrust and lack of confidence in those who govern. This is completely contrary to the spirit of the legislation which was to provide interested members of the community with facts so that values like political accountability and trust could be ensured and meaningful criticism and input obtained on matters affecting the whole community. This thesis first reviews the historical reasons for adopting freedom of information legislation, reasons which are rooted in our parliamentary system of government. However, the same reasoning for enacting such legislation cannot be applied carte blanche to the municipal level of government in Ontario, or - ii - more specifially to the programs, policies or operations of a school board. The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 1989 (MFIPPA) was a neccessary step to ensure greater openness from school boards. Based on a review of the Orders made by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario, it also assesses how successfully freedom of information legislation has been implemented at the municipal level of government. The Orders provide an opportunity to review what problems school boards have encountered, and what guidance the Commissioner has offered. Reference is made to a value framework as an administrative tool in critically analyzing the suitability of MFIPPA to school boards. The conclusion is drawn that MFIPPA appears to have inhibited rather than facilitated openness in local government. This may be attributed to several factors inclusive of the general uncertainty, confusion and discretion in interpreting various provisions and exemptions in the Act. Some of the uncertainty is due to the fact that an insufficient number of school board staff are familiar with the Act. The complexity of the Act and its legalistic procedures have over-formalized the processes of exchanging information. In addition there appears to be a concern among municipal officials that granting any access to information may be violating personal privacy rights of others. These concerns translate into indecision and extreme caution in responding to inquiries. The result is delay in responding to information requests and lack of uniformity in the responses given. However, the mandatory review of the legislation does afford an opportunity to address some of these problems and to make this complex Act more suitable for application to school boards. In order for the Act to function more efficiently and effectively legislative changes must be made to MFIPPA. It is important that the recommendations for improving the Act be adopted before the government extends this legislation to any other public entities.

How logrolling can explain the failure of the government coalition in Brazil

This article presents an analysis of the behavior of federal representatives in the Brazilian House of Representatives between 1995 and 1998, when a series of constitutional amendments were presented by the president to be voted on by Congress. The objective is to show that the lack of a stable government coalition resulted in costs to society that were not anticipated by the government. The study argues that a logroll - a trade of votes - was the strategy used by the government in order to guarantee the number of votes necessary to approve the amendments. This strategy created a vicious system in which representatives would only vote with the government if they had benefits in return.

A multi-agent system for the support of producer coalition formation in electricity markets

All over the world Distributed Generation is seen as a valuable help to get cleaner and more efficient electricity. To get negotiation power and advantages of scale economy, distributed producers can be aggregated giving place to a new concept: the Virtual Power Producer. Virtual Power Producers are multitechnology and multi-site heterogeneous entities. Virtual Power Producers should adopt organization and management methodologies so that they can make Distributed Generation a really profitable activity, able to participate in the market. In this paper we address the development of a multi-agent market simulator – MASCEM – able to study alternative coalitions of distributed producers in order to identify promising Virtual Power Producers in an electricity market.

A new approach for multi-agent coalition formation and management in the scope of electricity markets

This paper presents a new methodology for the creation and management of coalitions in Electricity Markets. This approach is tested using the multi-agent market simulator MASCEM, taking advantage of its ability to provide the means to model and simulate VPP (Virtual Power Producers). VPPs are represented as coalitions of agents, with the capability of negotiating both in the market, and internally, with their members, in order to combine and manage their individual specific characteristics and goals, with the strategy and objectives of the VPP itself. The new features include the development of particular individual facilitators to manage the communications amongst the members of each coalition independently from the rest of the simulation, and also the mechanisms for the classification of the agents that are candidates to join the coalition. In addition, a global study on the results of the Iberian Electricity Market is performed, to compare and analyze different approaches for defining consistent and adequate strategies to integrate into the agents of MASCEM. This, combined with the application of learning and prediction techniques provide the agents with the ability to learn and adapt themselves, by adjusting their actions to the continued evolving states of the world they are playing in.

Multi-agent negotiation for coalition formation and management in electricity markets

Negotiation is a fundamental tool for reaching understandings that allow each involved party to gain an advantage for themselves by the end of the process. In recent years, with the increasing of compe-titiveness in most sectors, negotiation procedures become present in practically all of them. One particular environment in which the competitiveness has been increasing exponentially is the electricity markets sector. This work is directed to the study of electricity markets’ partici-pating entities interaction, namely in what concerns the formation, management and operation of aggregating entities – Virtual Power Players (VPPs). VPPs are responsible for managing coalitions of market players with small market negotiating influence, which take strategic advantage in entering such aggregations, to increase their negotiating power. This chapter presents a negotiation methodology for the creation and management of coalitions in Electricity Markets. This approach is tested using MASCEM, taking advantage of its ability to provide the means to model and simulate VPPs. VPPs are represented as coalitions of agents, with the capability of negotiating both in the market, and internally, with their members, in order to combine and manage their individual specific characteristics and goals, with the strategy and objectives of the VPP itself.

MASCEM - an electricity market simulator providing coalition support for virtual power players

This paper presents MASCEM - a multi-agent based electricity market simulator. MASCEM uses game theory, machine learning techniques, scenario analysis and optimization techniques to model market agents and to provide them with decision-support. This paper mainly focus on the MASCEM ability to provide the means to model and simulate Virtual Power Players (VPP). VPPs are represented as a coalition of agents, with specific characteristics and goals. The paper details some of the most important aspects considered in VPP formation and in the aggregation of new producers and includes a case study based on real data.

Dynamic QoS-Aware coalition formation

Users of wireless devices increasingly demand access to multimedia content with speci c quality of service requirements. Users might tolerate di erent levels of service, or could be satis ed with di erent quality combinations choices. However, multimedia processing introduces heavy resource requirements on the client side. Our work tries to address the growing demand on resources and performance requirements, by allowing wireless nodes to cooperate with each other to meet resource allocation requests and handle stringent constraints, opportunistically taking advantage of the local ad-hoc network that is created spontaneously, as nodes move in range of each other, forming a temporary coalition for service execution. Coalition formation is necessary when a single node cannot execute a speci c service, but it may also be bene cial when groups perform more e ciently when compared to a single s node performance.

Coalition based approach for shop floor agility – a multiagent approach

Dissertation submitted for a PhD degree in Electrical Engineering, speciality of Robotics and Integrated Manufacturing from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Coalition of distributed generation units to Virtual Power Players - a game theory approach

Smart Grids (SGs) have emerged as the new paradigm for power system operation and management, being designed to include large amounts of distributed energy resources. This new paradigm requires new Energy Resource Management (ERM) methodologies considering different operation strategies and the existence of new management players such as several types of aggregators. This paper proposes a methodology to facilitate the coalition between distributed generation units originating Virtual Power Players (VPP) considering a game theory approach. The proposed approach consists in the analysis of the classifications that were attributed by each VPP to the distributed generation units, as well as in the analysis of the previous established contracts by each player. The proposed classification model is based in fourteen parameters including technical, economical and behavioural ones. Depending of the VPP strategies, size and goals, each parameter has different importance. VPP can also manage other type of energy resources, like storage units, electric vehicles, demand response programs or even parts of the MV and LV distribution network. A case study with twelve VPPs with different characteristics and one hundred and fifty real distributed generation units is included in the paper.

Efeitos de giberelinas e auxina na frutificação da videira 'Niagara Rosada'

Estudou-se a influência da aplicação, por imersão, de giberelinas e auxina (ácido 2-hidroximetil 4-clorofenoxiacético), 11 dias após o florescimento, nas características morfológicas da panícula da videira Vitis (labrusca x vinifera) 'Niagara Rosada'. Neste experimento verificou-se que, aplicação de giberelinas na concentração de 100 ppm em pós-florescimento, promoveu aumento no peso da panícula, número e peso das bagas, além de alongamento da ráquila, o que contribue para a formação de panículas com distribuição das bagas mais adequada. Tratamento com giberelinas 60 ppm + ácido 2-hidroximetil 4-clorofenoxiacético 50 ppm provocou aumento no peso da panícula, número e peso das bagas, sem contudo promover uma melhor distribuição das mesmas. Giberelinas na concentração de 500 ppm causou aumento na elongação das bagas com relação ao diâmetro, porém não apresentou nenhuma outra característica superior ao controle. Aplicação do ácido 2-hidroximetil 4-clorofenoxiacético em pós-fiorescimento, nas concentrações utilizadas, não apresentou resultados favoráveis na frutificação da 'Niagara Rosada', nas condições de estudo.

Efeitos de retardadores de crescimento na frutificação da videira 'Niagara Rosada'

Estudou-se a influência da aplicação por imersão, de retardadores de crescimento (CCC e SADH), 5 dias antes do florescimento, nas características morfológicas da panícuia da videira Vitis (labrusca x vinifera) 'Niagara Rosada'. Neste ensaio verificou-se que as concentrações de CCC aplicadas em pré-florescimento, não afetaram favoravelmente a morfologia das panículas da cultivar estudada, nas condições do ensaio. SADH na dosagem de 1000 ppm provocou, na primeira colheita, aumento no peso e comprimento da panícula, no peso das bagas, e no comprimento da ráquis, proporcionando a formação desejada de uma panícula mais alongada, nas condições estudadas. Aplicação de SADH na concentração de 250 ppm em pré-florescimento, promoveu aumento no peso e comprimento da panícula, número e peso das bagas, além do inconveniente de elevar o número de sementes.

Ação do cepa e do ácido giberélico na frutificação da videira 'niagara rosada'

Estudou-se o efeito da aplicação, por imersão, do CEPA (ácido 2-cloroetil fosfônico) e do ácido giberélico, 14 dias antes do florescimento, nas características morfológicas da panícula da videira Vitis (labrus-ca x vinifera) "Niagara Rosada". Alguns tratamentos com ácido giberélico foram concluídos com nova aplicação 10 dias após o florescimento. Neste experimento verificou-se que, aplicação do CEPA na concentração de 250 ppm resultou na formação de panículas com a maioria de características indesejáveis. o tratamento misto CEPA 100 ppm + ácido giberélico 100 ppm também promoveu o aparecimento de panículas subdesenvolvidas. Aplicação de ácido giberélico na concentração de 100 ppm em pré e pós-ílorescimento, resultou médias mais elevadas, com relação ao peso da panícula, comprimento da panícula, peso das bagas e comprimento da ráquis. Ácido giberélico na concentração de 100 ppm aplicado em pós-ílorescimento, promoveu uma tendência de aumento nas médias do tratamento quanto ao comprimento médio das bagas, largura média das bagas, largura do engaço e comprimento da ráquila. Devemos considerar porém, que os resultados obtidos não apresentaram diferenças significativas com relação ao controle, quanto às características das frutificações, nas condições de estudo.

Acúmulo de boro, cobre, ferro, manganês e zinco pela videira (Vitis labrusca L. X Vitis vinifera L.) CV.'niagara rosada' durante um ciclo vegetativo

Ensaio foi conduzido com viderias da cultivar 'Niagara Rosada' (Vitis labrusca L. X Vitis vinifera L.) com 7 anos de idade, no município de Jundiaí, SP, (23°12' de latitude sul e 46°33' de longitude oeste e 715 m de altitude), situadas sobre um Regossolo unidade Currupira, com os objetivos de: (1) determinar as quantidades de nutrientes absorvidos pela videira nos diferentes estádios de desenvolvimento; (2) avaliar a exportação de nutrientes pela cultura durante um ciclo vegetativo. Após a brotação da videira, foram realizadas 17 coletas quinzenais de material. Foram coletadas e separadas as folhas das partes terminal e basal, sarmentos das partes terminal e basal e cachos. No material coletado foram determinados os teores de micronutrientes, com exceção do molibdênio e cloro. Curvas representativas das concentraçoes dos nutrientes nas partes da planta, em função da idade, foram obtidas a partir dos dados calculados através de equações de regressão. Pelos pontos de máximo estimaram-se as quantidades máximas de nutrientes extraídos. Concluiu-se que: - A concentração dos nutrientes é sempre maior nas folhas do que nos sarmentos e existem diferenças nas concentrações de nutrientes das folhas, sarmentos e cachos, em função da idade. - Os acúmulos máximos de nutrientes nas folhas, sarmentos e cachos ocorrem nas seguintes idades: - A exportação de nutrientes em mg por planta pelos cachos e sarmentos removidos pelas colheitas e poda é a seguinte.

Ação de calciocianamida e alzodef na época de brotação e produtividade da videira 'Niagara Rosada'

Este ensaio foi realizado com o objetivo de determinar o efeito de calciocianamida e Alzodef na quebra de dormência das gemas da videira 'Niagara Rosada'. O controle da brotação da videira pode possibilitar a produção de uvas nas diferentes épocas do ano. Em 28 de outubro, na regiãode Jundiaí, duas horas depois da poda, aplicou-se calciocianamida 20% através de pincelamento da região apical do ramo, calciocianamida 20% pincelada sobre o corte da poda, pulverização com Alzodef 2% e com Alzodef 5% sobre a região apical do ramo , além do controle. Verificou-se que Alzodef 2% promoveu maior precocidade na emergência das gemas da videira 'Niagara Rosada'. Pincelamento do ramo ou do corte da poda com calciocianamida 20% e pulverização com Alzodef 2% e 5%promoveram quebra da dormência das gemas. Os produtos químicos aplicados não afetaram significati vãmente o número de panículas nem o peso das panículas na colheita.