The Demise of Universality: Federal Financing for Post-Secondary Education in Canada

This paper has two central objectives. Generally, its purpose is to trace the trajectory of the fiscal relationships that exist between Canada’s two orders of government. In particular, the main focus is on the linkages financing post-secondary education. Towards that end, the paper is structured on a broad canvas in the following manner. First, the concept of federalism is examined, which establishes the theoretical context underpinning the intergovernmental relationships in Canada. Next, the different types of transfers between the federal and provincial government that finance post-secondary education are investigated arguing that the imprecision of these arrangements obscures lines of accountability for post-secondary education as outlined in the constitution. And third, the implications of these arrangements for the provision of educational services are traced in order to suggest that recent developments in the funding regimes are the product of changing federal policy preferences that favour economic efficiency over social cohesion. Overall then, this paper suggests that although post-secondary education is an area of provincial jurisdiction, the fiscal arrangements that finance this area of social policy have altered the nature of its delivery. As such, recent changes to the fundingregimes represent a shift in policy orientation from one previously based on a pan-Canadian universality to a policy more oriented towards individuals and their ability. (author's abstract

An ethnohistorical study of the Swan-Canning Fishery in Western Australia, 1697-1837

The study takes a multidisciplinary approach by examining historical and contemporary scientific literature in order to determine the degree of intercultural competition which took place between Aborigines and Europeans for the native food resources which were associated with the Swan-Canning estuarine system, which is located in the south west of Western Australia, at approximately longitude 116 E. and latitude 32 S. The 1697-1827 time frame of the study, covers all the documented pre-colonial European visits to the fishery environs and also incorporates the first decade of the British colonisation process at the Swan River, which can be said to have begun in 1827 when a comprehensive British survey was carried out. The study draws on historical data from settlers\u27 diaries, official correspondence, old newspapers and early cartographic material. Under separate headings it examines: The archaeological evidence for human involvement with the region; the potential food resources, including anadromous fish; European accounts of Aboriginal exploitation of the fishery resource and the associated environment; the historical accounts of European visitations to the fishery and environs,· the colonial exploitation of the fishery resource and associated environment and finally, Aboriginal-European conflict issues which involved the fishery resource and environs. The appendices contain maps, charts, tables and photographs of some species which are discussed. The conclusion of the study is that there was no direct intercultural competition for the fish resources of the estuary, but that European settlers had an impact on other faunal species such waterfowl and kangaroos. Aborigines made certain modifications to their foraging strategies as the colonisation process enveloped them, but based on theoretical calculations, intercultural violence appears to have played a major role in reducing the Aboriginal population by between 17% and 25% during the period 1829 to 1837

Maritime resource exploitation in southwest Australia prior to 1901

This ethnohistorical study identifies maritime resources of southwest Australia which were subject to human exploitation prior to 1901 and provides an overview of how, when and why this took. place by integrating historical, archaeological, ethnographic, and natural-science information. The resources included for discussion arc whales, seals, seabirds, guano, oysters and pearls, and fish. An argument is developed that the socio-spatial relationship which existed between peoples and marine• estuarine species in the region was determined by the physiography and climate. This relationship has always been imperfect, if not chaotic because of the unpredictability of the resources through long and short term cyclic phenomena. Control of access was the key to furthering economic and social advantage for all peoples, and this control could be sustained by a complex matrix of customary beliefs and/or law. An abundant resource could occasionally engender friendly interaction, however ruthless competition, and resource over-exploitation emerged as predominant themes. The study proposes that regardless of cultural origins, the finite nature of southwest Australian maritime and estuarine resources has long been recognised, and the resultant priority of people was to maximise effort at the most opportune times in order to augment socioeconomic advantage

Deleterious localised stress fields:the effects of boundaries and stiffness tailoring in anisotropic laminated plates

The safe design of primary load-bearing structures requires accurate prediction of stresses, especially in the vicinity of geometric discontinuities where deleterious three-dimensional stress fields can be induced. Even for thin-walled structures significant through-thickness stresses arise at edges and boundaries, and this is especially precarious for laminates of advanced fibre-reinforced composites because through-thickness stresses are the predominant drivers in delamination failure. Here, we use a higher-order equivalent single-layer model derived from the Hellinger–Reissner mixed variational principle to examine boundary layer effects in laminated plates comprising constant-stiffness and variable-stiffness laminae and deforming statically in cylindrical bending. The results show that zigzag deformations, which arise due to layerwise differences in the transverse shear moduli, drive boundary layers towards clamped edges and are therefore critically important in quantifying localized stress gradients. The relative significance of the boundary layer scales with the degree of layerwise anisotropy and the thickness to characteristic length ratio. Finally, we demonstrate that the phenomenon of alternating positive and negative transverse shearing deformation through the thickness of composite laminates, previously only observed at clamped boundaries, can also occur at other locations as a result of smoothly varying the material properties over the in-plane dimensions of the laminate