83 research outputs found
Putting the ‘Public’ back into Inquiries: Assessing the success of Public Inquiries in Australia
Public Inquiries are significant, authoritative institutions established by governments to address some of the most important and controversial issues in public policy and society. Inquiries are powerful mechanisms to investigate and advise on matters of public concern. They are designed to right wrongs and address egregious breaches of public trust. However, Public Inquiries are not just tools of government. They are also tools of society, and they express a significant dimension of the social contract, the reciprocal acceptance of obligations between citizens and their government. Public Inquiries often respond to crises, scandals, or the incremental development of inadequacies, which violate public expectations of the reciprocal obligations between State and citizens. The central objective of this thesis is to assess the success of Public Inquiries in Australia. Public administration scholars and political scientists generally contemplate success from the point of view of government. This is problematic because it has resulted in less than adequate recognition of the ‘public interest or common good’ served by Public Inquiries (Prasser and Tracey 2014, p. 227). On the basis of illustrative case studies, the thesis argues that including citizen perspectives provides a powerful means by which to assess the success of Public Inquiries in repairing breaches of societal expectations. The literature review (Chapter 2) is utilised systematically to distil three recurring propositions regarding the assessment of success of Public Inquiries. These propositions suggest that an assessment of the success of a Public Inquiry should examine the ways in which a Public Inquiry: • has responded to a crisis and restored legitimacy; • given voice to the public, including stakeholders, ‘victims’ or experts; and • provided the opportunity for policy change and improved outcomes. Based on these three propositions, and their theoretical foundations, an analytical framework is derived to assess the success of Public Inquiries (Chapter 3). Three Public Inquiries are selected as case studies for analysis, each corresponding to a distinct ‘type’ of Public Inquiry. The first type is the ‘Investigatory Inquiry’ (Inquiry into Certain Australian Companies in Relation to the UN Oil for Food Programme 2006; Chapter 4). The second type is the ‘Policy Advisory Inquiry’ (Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry 2013; Chapter 5). The third type is the ‘Hybrid Inquiry’ (Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry 2012, Chapter 6). The analytical framework is applied to each case study (respectively in Chapters 4, 5 and 6). The thesis then draws out the implications of these findings for scholarship (Chapter 7). For Public Inquiries to be positioned as part of the social contract, the perspectives of citizens could be more effectively incorporated. The case study analyses reveal various proxies or markers of citizen perspectives. These include media commentary, subsequent Inquiries, and legal action. Further analysis of the case studies using these proxies provides significant insights into how citizens assess the success of the Public Inquiry. The thesis then moves to theory building and argues that despite their many variations, the overarching purpose of a Public Inquiry is to rebuild the social contract after breach. Three enduring functions of Inquiries are identified: to respond; to hear; and to prevent. The analytical framework applied to the three case studies is revised to include citizen perspectives in order to assess success. That is, an assessment of the success of a Public Inquiry should examine three characteristics. First, the ways in which the Public Inquiry is trusted to make sense of the events or the violation of expectations. Second, the ways in which people were heard. Third, the ways in which the Public Inquiry rights wrongs and thus changes policy, processes or outcomes for the better
Anisotropic magnetoresistive and magnetic properties of La_{0.5}Sr_{0.5}CoO_{3-\delta} film
The magnetic and transport properties of La_{0.5}Sr_{0.5}CoO_{3-\delta} film
grown on a LaAlO_3 substrate by pulsed-laser deposition are studied. The
properties are found to be influenced by the magnetic anisotropy and
inhomogeneity. Magnetoresistance anisotropy is determined by the shape
anisotropy of the magnetization and the strain-induced magnetic anisotropy due
to the film-substrate lattice interaction. Indications of the
temperature-driven spin reorientation transition from an out-of plane orderded
state at low temperatures to an in-plane ordered state at high temperatures as
a result of competition between the mentioned sources of magnetic anisotropy
are found.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Fiz. Nizk. Temp, an extended version
of short communication in cond-mat/020734
Influence of high-energy electron irradiation on the transport properties of La_{1-x}Ca_{x}MnO_{3} films (x \approx 1/3)
The effect of crystal lattice disorder on the conductivity and colossal
magnetoresistance in La_{1-x}Ca_{x}MnO_{3} (x \approx 0.33) films has been
examined. The lattice defects are introduced by irradiating the film with
high-energy (\simeq 6 MeV) electrons with a maximal fluence of about 2\times
10^{17} cm^{-2}. This comparatively low dose of irradiation produces rather
small radiation damage in the films. The number of displacements per atom (dpa)
in the irradiated sample is about 10^{-5}. Nethertheless, this results in an
appreciable increase in the film resistivity. The percentage of resistivity
increase in the ferromagnetic metallic state (below the Curie tempetature
T_{c}) was much greater than that observed in the insulating state (above
T_{c}). At the same time irradiation has much less effect on T_{c} or on the
magnitude of the colossal magnetoresistance. A possible explanation of such
behavior is proposed.Comment: RevTex, 22 pages, 3 Postscript figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J.
Transport, thermal and magnetic properties of RuSr_2(Gd_{1.5}Ce_{0.5})Cu_2O_{10-\delta}, a magnetic superconductor
Resistivity, thermoelectric power, heat capacity and magnetization for
samples of RuSr_2(Gd_{1.5}Ce_{0.5})Cu_{2}O_{10-\delta} were investigated in the
temperature range 1.8-300 K with a magnetic field up to 8 T. The resistive
transitions to the superconducting state are found to be determined by the
inhomogeneous (granular) structure, characterized by the intragranular, T_{c0},
and intergranular, T_{cg}, transition temperatures. Heat capacity, C(T), shows
a jump at the superconducting transition temperature T_{c0}\approx 37.5 K. A
Schottky-like anomaly is found in C(T) below 20 K. This low temperature anomaly
can be attributed to splitting of the ground term of paramagnetic
Gd^{3+} ions by internal and external magnetic fields.Comment: 3 pages (4 figs. incl.), reported at 50th Magnetism and Magnetic
Materials Conference, San Jose, CA, USA, 200
Anisotropic magnetoresistive properties of La_{1-x}Ca_{x}MnO_{3} (x \approx 1/3) film at temperatures far below the Curie temperature
A sharp distinction between magnetoresistance (MR) behavior for the magnetic
fields applied perpendicular (H_{perp}) and parallel (H_{par}) to the film
plane is found in colossal-magnetoresistance film La_{1-x}Ca_{x}MnO_{3} (x
\approx 3). At increasing of H_{perp} the MR is first negative (at H_{perp} < 4
kOe), then positive (4 kOe < H_{perp} < 12 kOe), and then negative again
(H_{perp} > 12 kOe). At increasing of H_{par} the MR is positive below H_{par}
\simeq 6 kOe and negative above it. In both cases the magnetic field was
perpendicular to the current. The anisotropic behavior of this kind occurs only
at low temperatures (T < 18 K) and is quite different from the results of
previous studies.Comment: 2 pages,2 EPS figures, LT22 Proceedings, to appear in Physica
Magnetoresistance and magnetic anisotropy in LaSrCoO film
The magnetic and transport properties of LaSrCoO
film grown on a LaAlO substrate by pulsed-laser deposition are studied. The
properties are found to be influenced by a combined influence of the magnetic
anisotropy and inhomogeneity. Magnetoresistance anisotropy is determined by the
shape anisotropy and the strain-induced magnetic anisotropy due to the
film-substrate lattice interaction. Indications of the temperature-driven spin
reorientation transition from an out-of plane orderded state at low
temperatures to an in-plane ordered state at high temperatures as a result of
competition between the mentioned anisotropy sources are found.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, reported at Moscow Int. Symp. on Magnetism (MISM
2002), June 200
The upper critical field in superconducting MgB_2
The upper critical field Hc2(T) of sintered pellets of the recently
discovered MgB_2 superconductor was investigated in magnetic fields up to 16 T.
The upper critical field of the major fraction of the investigated sample was
determined from ac susceptibility and resistance data and was found to increase
up to Hc2(0) = 13 T at T = 0 corresponding to a coherence length of 5.0 nm. A
small fraction of the sample exhibits higher upper critical fields which were
measured both resistively and by dc magnetization measurements. The temperature
dependence of the upper critical field, Hc2(T), shows a positive curvature near
Tc and at intermediate temperatures. This positive curvature of Hc2(T) is
similar to that found for the borocarbides YNi_2B_2C and LuNi_2B_2C indicating
that MgB_2 is in the clean limit.Comment: 8 pages with 4 figure
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