Governance,public policy and boundary-making

This symposium draws attention to innovative and emerging research in Australian public policy exploring the interplay of governance, public policy and boundary-making. Conceptually and substantively, boundaries are fundamental to understanding policy outcomes, yet remain overlooked and undertheorised. We aim to contribute to public policy debates, in Australia and beyond, by provoking further reflection on this theme, in particular, the distributive effects of boundaries in policy-making; the blurring of boundaries implicit to governance frameworks; the crossing of boundaries, especially by policy-officials within and between institutions; the construction of boundaries to separate and marginalise; and the existence of temporal–spatial boundaries that demarcate jurisdiction and authority. In short, the study of governance and public policy-making is marked by multiple different types of boundaries but the way in which boundaries get drawn and redrawn is also suffuse with political contestation meaning they raise crucial questions about the exercise of power.     

Restoration of paintings on domes with non-developable geometry (Los Santos Juanes Church in Valencia)

The restoration of paintings on elements in cultural heritage buildings (fundamentally, churches) involves two structural problems: capturing the geometry of the construction element and its development. In many cases, the geometries are regular (e.g., cylinders, spheres, elliptical domes). However, there are cases in which the elements cannot be adapted to any known geometry, much less one that can be mathematically developed. The development of surfaces becomes essential for the restoration of paintings over “flat elements” (over which work is performed on the ground) that are subsequently transferred to the real surface (ceilings). The mathematical transformations that allow regular geometries to be developed are widely known (cartographic projections). However, when the geometry is irregular, there is no development. This study presents a new methodology based on differential rectification and its application for the development of oculi in the Los Santos Juanes Church (Valencia), whose geometry is completely irregular both in shape and as a result of construction defects (and damage caused by fire). The present study focuses on the restoration of paintings damaged by fire.     

旅游体验质量评价述评:研究进展、要素解读与展望

旅游体验是游客情感价值的累积。旅游体验质量评价是对游客心理累积情感的测度,科学、准确的核算游客体验质量是旅游景区、旅游企业等可持续发展及竞争力提升的重要保障。本文通过对1980-2015年发表于国内外旅游及管理领域重要期刊文献的梳理,从服务质量研究的历史、科学视角及与旅游融合的角度对旅游体验质量评价的研究进展、理论基础等进行系统的回顾,并从体验质量评价的理论视角、思路、特征、类型与准确性、可操作性、应用范围等中观层面,对所梳理出的4类国外主流质量评价范式进行旅游体验哲学视角下的解读、比较分析和总评,最后对该领域未来研究重点进行展望。     

基于企业网络视角的城市网络研究进展与展望

随着生产分割程度的不断加深,企业网络空间增长已经成为城市网络生长发育的重要驱动力量。近30年来,基于企业网络视角的城市网络研究日益增多,在链接关系及时空过程、价值生产空间格局、外部经济及其空间差异、规划实践及治理模式四个方面取得了重要进展。本文在梳理城市网络发展脉络的基础上,从多维视角提出了基于企业网络视角的城市网络理论体系研究框架。总体来看,基于企业网络视角的城市网络研究还处于起步发展阶段。围绕完善理论体系建设,未来研究应着力在5个方面取得进展：城市网络分析技术方法的发展完善、城市网络多维度时空过程的综合比较研究、城市网络发育过程的微观机理解析、城市网络演化模式理论模型研制、城市网络的治理模式和政策框架研究。     

Users' perspectives on decentralized rural water services in Tanzania

This article examines the impact of decentralization reforms on improving access to domestic water supply in the rural districts of Kondoa and Kongwa, Tanzania, using a users' and a gender perspective. The article addresses the question whether and to what extent the delivery of gender-sensitive water services to rural households improved after the reforms. Household- and village-level data were obtained through a household survey and qualitative methods. The findings show an increase of the proportion of households using improved sources of domestic water between 2002 and 2011. However, more than half of users still travel over a kilometre and use more than an hour to collect water in the dry season. Despite the increased proportion of women in water management committees, the outcomes of these decentralized arrangements differ for men and women. Overall, the reforms have produced contradictory effects by improving access to water supply for some users, and creating or reinforcing existing inter- and intra-village inequalities.     

Potential Use of Foamed Mortar (FM) for Thermal Upgrading of Chinese Traditional Hui-Style Residences

The Hui-style residence is an important architectural heritage of China. The hollow wall structures are widely used to build its exterior wall system. However, the thermal performance of the hollow wall is no longer able to meet the new energy-saving and environmental requirement. This article describes a laboratory study of the development of foamed mortar (FM), with the potential for use in thermal upgrading of the Hui-style hollow wall system without dramatically changing its traditional structure. The key early age, physical, mechanical and thermal properties were systematically measured. Two extended models were respectively developed to calculate compressive strength and thermal conductivity, as a function of porosity. Environment chamber test was also employed to investigate the effectiveness of this novel thermal upgrading approach and the results show that filling the voids with FM can effectively improve the overall thermal resistance of the hollow wall system by 44%, which is almost equal to the overall thermal resistance when using the more expensive commercial inorganic stucco system. In addition, the combination of these two methods yielded an overall thermal resistance of 0.701 m²·K/W, which is even higher than 0.67 m²·K/W for the code required in the hot summer/cold winter climate zone.     

Updating Numerical Models of Masonry Arch Bridges by Operational Modal Analysis

This article aims at presenting and discussing the strategies for updating the finite element numerical modeling of stone masonry arch bridges using operational modal analysis. The study comprehended three bridges: two old ones, the St. Lázaro and the Lagoncinha bridges, and a recently constructed bridge in Vila Fria, Portugal. Updating of the bridge models is performed by comparing the numerical and experimental modal parameters. Three-dimensional detailed numerical models are used to perform modal analysis of the bridges. Experimental modal identification of the bridges is based on the measurement of their acceleration responses during normal operation. The assigned material properties are also based on available results obtained from in situ and laboratory tests and on the results of visual inspection and historical research carried out for both old bridges.     

清末两级地方自治中的官治与自治模式

清末地方自治包括府厅州县和城镇乡地方自治两个层级,并建构了两个层级不同的官治与自治模式,即在城镇乡一级实行"以自治辅助官治",而府厅州县则实行"自治与官治合并"之制度。两种模式都借鉴了日本自治制度,但都有所不同。就清末城镇乡地方自治的运行来看,由于地方自治章程赋予官府监督自治之权,也由于自治团体为谋求地方利益,常常也会与官府对立,所以,官治与自治常常处于矛盾冲突之中。     

Multilevel (mis)governance of palm oil production

The palm oil industry exemplifies the ‘regionalisation without regionalism’ pattern seen in other industries in Asia: extensive, regionally concentrated transnational economic integration accompanied by a low level of formal regional institution-building. Production is concentrated in Malaysia and Indonesia, and Asian countries account for a major share of the market for intermediate products. The ownership structure of palm oil production reflects the dominance of transnational Malaysian and Singaporean firms. There is no authoritative regional institution governing production, investment standards or labour in the industry. A patchwork of both enabling and regulatory governance institutions supports the industry. These are formal and informal, public and private, and are situated at multiple levels: within, below and across the nation state. Although the governance structure surrounding the palm oil industry has supported it well in terms of production volumes and profits, large externalities—environmental and social costs—persist. This article argues that the governance failures associated with the industry stem from different stakeholders' competing interests in contexts of highly unequal wealth and power distribution. Misgovernance is not an unintended consequence of institutions failing to keep up with markets in scale and scope, but is embedded in the multilevel governance regime that supports, and partially regulates, the industry.     

Governing from the Border? Quebec’s Role in North American Security

ABSTRACT

This article aims to shed light on Quebec’s role in cross-border security governance. It exposes the challenges Quebec is facing in this area and what cross-border activities fall within its jurisdiction. The supported hypothesis in this article is that security is subjected to an increasing politicization from the Quebec government in a post-9/11 context, which contributes to the edification of an embryonic “multilevel governance.” If this politicization was noticeable in political statements and international agreements, it seems that it was more driven by conjectural imperatives than a real desire to make Quebec a leader in transnational security. Therefore, there were no diplomatic and financial commitments to make security part of the Gérin-Lajoie doctrine and develop a similar paradiplomacy as in other fields. However, on different technical and bureaucratic levels, transgovernmental relations between certain Quebec governmental organizations, including police corps, and their American counterparts were created. Consequently, they contributed to make continental action more effective, at least in a certain measure.