Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Mediation
Kinds of Mediation Terms modified by Mediation Selected AbstractsMODELING MEDIATION IN THE ETIOLOGY OF VIOLENT BEHAVIOR IN ADOLESCENCE: A TEST OF THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT MODEL,CRIMINOLOGY, Issue 1 2001BU HUANG The social development model seeks to explain human behavior through specification of predictive and mediating developmental relationships. It incorporates the effects of empirical predictors ("risk factors" and "protective factors") for antisocial behavior and seeks to synthesize the most strongly supported propositions of control theory, social learning theory, and differential association theory. This article examines the fit of the social development model using constructs measured at ages 10, 13, 14, and 16 to predict violent behavior at age 18. The sample of 808 is from the longitudinal panel of the Seattle Social Development Project, which in 1985 surveyed fifth-grade students from schools serving high crime neighborhoods in Seattle, Washington. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to examine the fit of the model to the data. The model fit the data (CFI ,.90, RMSEA ,.05). We conclude that the social development model adequately predicts violence at age 18 and mediates much of the effect of prior violence. Implications for theory and for prevention are discussed. [source] EMPOWERING CHILDREN IN MEDIATIONFAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 3 2004An Intervention Model The available research in the mediation arena regarding child custody disputes indicates a lack of and growing need for effective intervention techniques. The authors present practicing mediators with a specific intervention model for interviewing, safeguarding, and empowering children in the process of mediating custody disputes. The mediation model utilizes a structured, strategic, and process-oriented approach with a family systems theoretical orientation and may be used in private or court-connected settings. The model presented here goes beyond the child-centered interview norm to the inclusion of the child in the process to assist parents in decision making. The model supports the current California statute under Family Code Section 3023, which states that "if a child is of sufficient age and capacity to reason so as to form an intelligent preference as to custody, the court shall consider and give due weight to the wishes of the child in making an award of custody or modification." The model does, however, maintain the position that the final decision continues to lie with the parents or the courts and not the child. [source] AFTER CHALCEDON: THE ONENESS OF CHRIST AND THE DYOTHELITE MEDIATION OF HIS THEANDRIC UNITYMODERN THEOLOGY, Issue 2 2008AARON RICHES This article explores the differentiated unity of divinity and humanity in Christ through the dyothelitism of Maximus the Confessor and Constantinople III (680,681). The essay argues that the dyothelite doctrine makes concrete the communicatio idiomatum of difference in the unity of the Son's theandric prayer. Further, it suggests dyothelitism is the condition of the possibility of ecclesial participation in the unity of the Son's personhood, and therefore the means by which Christ continues his presence and work of salvation in the Church, which is his body. [source] Security Maintenance Mediation: a technology for preventing unintended security breachesCONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION: PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE, Issue 1 2004Roger (Buzz) KingArticle first published online: 4 DEC 200 Abstract Web-resident information is becoming ,smarter', in the sense that emerging technology will support the annotation of it with ontological terms, which will be used to locate and reuse information. This will pose a great security risk in the form of unintended breaches (as distinct from deliberate invasions). Web-resident information will be far more readily available and relevant, thus causing inadvertent releases of secure information to potentially cause it to be diffusely spread across the Internet. Then as this information is iteratively transformed and integrated with other information, it will become irretrievable and potentially used in a myriad of unpredictable ways. The problem is that ontological annotations, while making information more understandable in its original form, do not provide a means for easily capturing the complex semantics of information that has been transformed via abstraction, aggregation, and integration. This demands the development of a semantically rich way of specifying ,views' of Web information, to which security controls can be attached. Also needed is a way for users of secure information to easily and voluntarily blend,and thereby propagate,security controls as information is transformed. Information mediators designed by collaborative teams of experts are proposed as the vehicle for wrapping information, so that at each step of reuse, high-level views and their corresponding integrity controls can be made easily accessible to trusted users who will then be able to ensure their proper maintenance. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Mediation by any other name would smell as sweet,or would it?CONFLICT RESOLUTION QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2009The struggle to define mediation, its various approaches This article reports on two studies. The analysis of the first study, a survey of 250 mediators, finds four distinct groups of mediator "clusters," based on self-reported strategies. These four clusters are described in detail and mediators' self-defined labels are then correlated with the four clusters. There is little consistency between the labels mediators give their approach and the cluster into which they actually fall in this survey. The analysis of the second study, which involved observation and coding of actual mediations, finds that those mediators who were observed to use any directive strategies tended to use mostly directive strategies and those mediators who were observed to use any elicitive strategies tended to use mostly elicitive strategies throughout the observed mediation case. This challenges the notion that mediators may use both directive and elicitive strategies together in the same mediation. [source] Mediation, power, and cultural differenceCONFLICT RESOLUTION QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2003Morgan Brigg In Western mediation practice, conflict and violence are typically seen as destructive and unhelpful ways of being, and this does not allow for the constitutive and productive role of conflict in many non-Western traditions. The playing out of these assumptions in mediation practice effects an operation of power that is particularly significant in intercultural mediations. Explicit and implicit mediator techniques lead disputants in intercultural mediations to behave in ways consistent with the goals of mediation and Western norms around conflict and selfhood. The specificity of this analysis means that the findings are indicative and explorative rather than comprehensive. Nevertheless, the results highlight the need to consider ways in which researchers and mediators can begin to mitigate this operation of power and respond to cultural difference in ethical ways. [source] Mediation and feminism: Common values and challengesCONFLICT RESOLUTION QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2000Marsha Lichtenstein Mediation, and transformative mediation in particular, share several values, despite feminist criticisms of mediation. This article discusses three of the elements that mediation and feminism share. Both promote self-determination, both encourage strengthening values such as empathy and caring in the public sphere, and both deal with the issue of power and have attempted to redefine power to include behaviors other than dominance. Because feminism has gone through the growing pains of shifting from a homogeneous and middle-class movement to a colorful pluralistic social movement, it may serve as a model for the mediation movement as it expands and faces the demands of a demo-graphically diverse constituency. [source] Graphene-Based Nanoporous Materials Assembled by Mediation of Polyoxometalate NanoparticlesADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 16 2010Ding Zhou Abstract A kind of graphene-based nanoporous material is prepared through assembling graphene sheets mediated through polyoxometalate nanoparticles. Owing to the strong interaction between graphene and polyoxometalate, 2D graphene sheets with honeycomb-latticed carbon atoms could assemble into a porous structure, in which 3D polyoxometalate nanoparticles serve as the crosslinkers. Nitrogen and hydrogen sorption analysis reveal that the as-prepared graphene-based hybrid material possesses a specific surface area of 680 m2 g,1 and a hydrogen uptake volume of 0.8,1.3 wt%. Infrared spectrometry is used to probe the electron density changes of polyoxometalate particle in the redox-cycle and to verify the interaction between graphene and polyoxometalate. The as-prepared graphene-based materials are further characterized by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. [source] Once More With Feeling: Ethnographic Reflections on the Mediation of Tension in a Small Team of Call Centre WorkersGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 5 2005Matthew J. BrannanArticle first published online: 12 AUG 200 This article explores the labour process of a team of call-centre workers based in a multi-client call centre in the West Midlands. Founded on the basis of a 13-month ethnographic study into workplace resistance in call-centre environments, this article provides insights into control in call centres, focusing on sexuality, internal team dynamics and discipline. It is argued that control is exerted through management and information technology but it is crucially exerted laterally in the team and sexuality is an important medium of such control. This article focuses specifically on how worker sexuality is deployed to regulate the tension between contradictory imperatives faced by workers. The article then considers the emotional content of the call-centre labour process, arguing that the apparent resolution of potentially contradictory logic, in fact, depends upon the development by call-centre workers, encouraged by more senior employees, of informal, pseudo-sexualized client relations at the point of production. Crucially however the fieldwork reveals that the demands placed upon customer service representatives are subtly gendered. [source] Mediation in a sibling context: the relations of older siblings' mediating behaviour and younger siblings' task performanceINFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2002Pnina S. Klein Abstract We investigated the sibling relationship as a context for cognitive development. Forty preschoolers (ages 5,6) and their younger siblings (ages 2,3) were visited at home. Four games were presented to the older siblings and they were asked (a) to estimate how well their younger sibling will perform on each game and (b) to teach the younger sibling how to use the games. The older siblings' mediating behaviours during the teaching session and the younger siblings' performance on the four tasks were coded. The frequency of mediating behaviours,including attention focusing, amplifying affect and providing meaning, fostering a sense of competence, regulating of the learning process, de-contextualization, and negative feedback in the form of mocking and laughing at errors, predicted the younger siblings' task performance. The older sibling's accurate perception of the younger child's competence was uniquely predictive of task performance. The highest amount of mediation was observed in older-brother,younger-brother pairs, in particular the behaviours of negative feedback and amplifying affect. Results contribute to the discussion on the role of siblings as moderators of cognitive development and are discussed in terms of Vygotsky's cultural,historical perspective on apprenticeship. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Enhanced Charge Separation by Sieve-Layer Mediation in High-Efficiency Inorganic-Organic Solar CellsADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 7 2009Chien-Hung Lin The introduction of a thin electronic sieve layer of a material with a wide bandgap, such as lithium fluoride (LiF) or silicon oxide (SiOx), at the inorganic-organic interface of an organic photovoltaic device enhances the charge separation and improves the efficiency by more than an order to a maximum of 6.04%. [source] Religiosity, Self-Control, and Virginity Status in College Students from the "Bible Belt": A Research NoteJOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION, Issue 3 2010Alexander T. Vazsonyi Using a sample of college students (N,= 904) from the "Bible Belt," this study examines the effect of religiosity and self-control on late adolescents' delay in initiating sexual intercourse or oral sex. Findings from logistic regressions provide evidence that for each one unit increase in self-control, the odds of a male remaining a virgin or of delaying oral sex increased by a factor of 1.82 and 2.84, respectively, while for females, the odds of not engaging in oral sex increased by a factor of 1.67. In addition to the effect of self-control, a one unit increase in religiosity results in the odds of a male remaining a virgin by a factor of 3.86 and 3.30, respectively. For females the odds are increased by a factor of 4.13 and 2.60, respectively. Mediation tests also provided evidence that self-control mediated the effects by religiosity on both dependent measures. Thus, both religiosity and self-control independently and additively function as key social control mechanisms that promote late adolescent health. [source] Mediation of arsenic oxidation by Thiomonas sp. in acid-mine drainage (Carnoulès, France)JOURNAL OF APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 3 2003O. Bruneel Abstract Aims: To isolate, identify, and characterize heterotrophic bacteria in acid-mine drainage that mediate oxidation of As(III). Methods and Results: Samples of acid-mine drainage were collected over a period of 14 months. Heterotrophic and non-obligatory acidophilic bacteria in the samples were cultured on a solid medium (pH 7·0,7·2), and three strains were isolated. The three different strains belong to the genus Thiomonas, and have more than 99% homology with the group Ynys1. Culturing in mineral media demonstrated that the isolated strains used thiosulphate as an energy source, and oxidized iron in the presence of thiosulphate. However, none of the strains were able to oxidize arsenic in the presence of thiosulphate, nor could they use iron or arsenic alone as an energy source. In vitro experiments demonstrated that two of the Thiomonas strains were able to oxidize more than 90% of the As(III) present in the acid-mine drainage, whereas no abiotic oxidation of arsenic occurred. Conclusions: Two strains of newly identified Thiomonas sp. found in acid-mine drainage are capable of oxidizing arsenic. Significance and Impact of Study: These results represent the first reported oxidation of arsenic by Thiomonas sp. Biologically mediated oxidation and subsequent immobilization of arsenic is of great interest for the remediation of contaminated mine sites. [source] The Populist Chola: Cultural Mediation and the Political Imagination in Quillacollo, BoliviaJOURNAL OF LATIN AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2000Robert Albro This argument situates the "image" of the popular woman in the emerging electoral context of Quillacollo, a Bolivian provincial capital. Even as "cholas" remain largely shut out from regional political power, their ubiquitous image culturally mediates political access to the popular sector for men. Hence authorities initiate token economic exchanges with cholas. both to participate intimately in the popular cultural milieu, and to solidify their claims to personal roots in this world. This argument examines the interrelated contexts of national structural adjustment, regional development, the domestic economy, agricultural fiestas, and sexual conduct, as these are "performed" within a regional folkloric calendar, that turn on the currency of the chola as a political "root metaphor." In turn, the role of the chola's image suggests limitations upon her status as historical actor. [source] Cocaine and Amphetamine-Regulated-Transcript Peptide Mediation of Leptin Stimulatory Effect on the Rat Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Pulse Generator In VitroJOURNAL OF NEUROENDOCRINOLOGY, Issue 5 2000Lebrethon Pulsatile gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) secretion was studied in vitro using explants of the retrochiasmatic hypothalamus from prepubertal male and female rats. Leptin caused a dose-dependent reduction of the GnRH interpulse interval in both sexes. We studied the effects of cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) since this peptide was shown recently to mediate the anorectic effects of leptin in the hypothalamus. CART caused a reduction of the GnRH interpulse interval. This effect was prevented using an anti-CART antiserum which could partially overcome leptin stimulatory effects as well. Using hypothalamic explants from Zucker rats homozygous for the leptin receptor mutation ( fa/fa), GnRH pulse frequency was not affected by leptin, while a significant acceleration was caused by the CART-peptide. In conclusion, leptin involves the hypothalamic CART-peptide to stimulate the prepubertal GnRH pulse generator in vitro. [source] Religiousness, Antisocial Behavior, and Altruism: Genetic and Environmental MediationJOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 2 2007Laura B. Koenig ABSTRACT Although religiousness is considered a protective factor against antisocial behaviors and a positive influence on prosocial behaviors, it remains unclear whether these associations are primarily genetically or environmentally mediated. In order to investigate this question, religiousness, antisocial behavior, and altruistic behavior were assessed by self-report in a sample of adult male twins (165 MZ and 100 DZ full pairs, mean age of 33 years). Religiousness, both retrospective and current, was shown to be modestly negatively correlated with antisocial behavior and modestly positively correlated with altruistic behavior. Joint biometric analyses of religiousness and antisocial behavior or altruistic behavior were completed. The relationship between religiousness and antisocial behavior was due to both genetic and shared environmental effects. Altruistic behavior also shared most all of its genetic influence, but only half of its shared environmental influence, with religiousness. [source] Cholinergic Mediation of Alcohol-Induced Experimental PancreatitisALCOHOLISM, Issue 10 2010Aurelia Lugea Objectives:, The mechanisms initiating pancreatitis in patients with chronic alcohol abuse are poorly understood. Although alcohol feeding has been previously suggested to alter cholinergic pathways, the effects of these cholinergic alterations in promoting pancreatitis have not been characterized. For this study, we determined the role of the cholinergic system in ethanol-induced sensitizing effects on cerulein pancreatitis. Methods:, Rats were pair-fed control and ethanol-containing Lieber-DeCarli diets for 6 weeks followed by parenteral administration of 4 hourly intraperitoneal injections of the cholecystokinin analog, cerulein at 0.5 ,g/kg. This dose of cerulein was selected because it caused pancreatic injury in ethanol-fed but not in control-fed rats. Pancreatitis was preceded by treatment with the muscarinic receptor antagonist atropine or by bilateral subdiaphragmatic vagotomy. Measurement of pancreatic pathology included serum lipase activity, pancreatic trypsin, and caspase-3 activities, and markers of pancreatic necrosis, apoptosis, and autophagy. In addition, we measured the effects of ethanol feeding on pancreatic acetylcholinesterase activity and pancreatic levels of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors m1 and m3. Finally, we examined the synergistic effects of ethanol and carbachol on inducing acinar cell damage. Results:, We found that atropine blocked almost completely pancreatic pathology caused by cerulein administration in ethanol-fed rats, while vagotomy was less effective. Ethanol feeding did not alter expression levels of cholinergic muscarinic receptors in the pancreas but significantly decreased pancreatic acetylcholinesterase activity, suggesting that acetylcholine levels and cholinergic input within the pancreas can be higher in ethanol-fed rats. We further found that ethanol treatment of pancreatic acinar cells augmented pancreatic injury responses caused by the cholinergic agonist, carbachol. Conclusion:, These results demonstrate key roles for the cholinergic system in the mechanisms of alcoholic pancreatitis. [source] Determining factors of academic library Web site usageJOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 14 2007John H. Heinrichs This study develops three alternative models of academic library Web site usage based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The three alternative models depict relationships among various intrinsic and extrinsic determinant factors of an academic library's Web site usage. The four factors included in the models are perceived ease-of-use, perceived usefulness, service functionality, and task functionality. These four factors are hypothesized to affect directly or indirectly both factors of satisfaction and intention-to-use. LISREL analysis using survey data shows that the best-fit model is the "Dual Mediation Impact" Model. Research and managerial implications for the academic library are discussed. Future research directions and limitations also are provided. [source] Expressing Conflict, Neutralizing Blame, and Making Concessions in Small-Claims MediationLAW & POLICY, Issue 2 2000Marian Borg This research examines the link between the way small-claims mediation participants express their conflicts and their willingness to engage in concession-making. Observations of seventy-seven mediation participants suggest that a significant factor in this relationship is the way participants manage the issue of blame. The research identifies three categories of mediants: individuals named in a civil suit who represent themselves; agents, usually lawyers, who represent the interests of other parties in a civil suit; and business owners or managers who represent the interests of their establishments. The study depicts some of the differences in the way these participants describe their conflicts. In particular, the research suggests that the manner in which mediation participants handle the issue of blame , by either justifying, excusing, or denying it , constrains their willingness to engage in concession-making, a fundamental aspect of the mediation process. I discuss implications for future research and for developing strategies that might improve the effectiveness of mediation for some participants. [source] A Study of the Emergence of Cooperation in MediationNEGOTIATION JOURNAL, Issue 2 2005Jean Poitras All mediators confront the challenge of how to encourage cooperation among parties in a mediation. Based on a phenomenological study of workplace mediation, this article explores the variables that are linked to the emergence of cooperation between parties. In the first part of the study, factors influencing the desire to cooperate are identified and categorized, based upon whether they help or hinder cooperation. The second part of the study compares the characteristics of cooperative and antagonistic mediation climates in order to better understand how cooperation is established during the mediation process. Based on the findings, strategies are proposed to help mediators facilitate the transition of an antagonistic climate into a cooperative one and thereby encourage the emergence of cooperation. [source] Skill Is Not Enough: Seeking Connectedness and Authority in MediationNEGOTIATION JOURNAL, Issue 4 2004Christopher Honeyman Coauthor Christopher Honeyman was struck by the flagging "marketability" of mainstream professionally trained mediators in the U.S. More and more parties were choosing retired judges and other practitioners who were not classically trained mediators to help them resolve their disputes. Searching for an explanation of this phenomenon, Honeyman found a possible answer in Melbourne, Australia, where he listened with a Western ear to the presentations of coauthors Loretta Kelly and Bee Chen Goh about the importance of connectedness and individual perceptions of authority to the parties in the mediation of indigenous disputes. In this article, the authors present case histories from Australia and Malaysia to illustrate these concepts. They contend the same concepts are behind the shifting of the market for mediation in the United States. [source] The Human Side of Complex Pubilc Policy MediationNEGOTIATION JOURNAL, Issue 4 2003Susan L. Podziba If properly barnessed, the passions inherent in complex public policy disputes can be a driving force for reaching sustainable agreements, rather than leading to chaos. The author discusses how mediators can intervene to challenge existing assumptions, encourage ease among negotiators, promote uriosity and lay the groundwork for achieving actionable agreements by delving into human nature and the spectrum of differentiated human emotion [source] Bringing Peace into the Room: The Personal Qualities of the Mediator and Their Impact on the MediationNEGOTIATION JOURNAL, Issue 1 2000Daniel Bowling The training and development of mediators has focused primarily on enhancing mediators' technical skills and increasing their understanding of the theory behind the practice of mediation. This article focuses on a third aspect of the development of mediators , namely, their personal characteristics. The authors contend that a mediator's "presence", more a function of who the mediator is than what he or she does , has a profound impact on the mediation process. Drawing on analogies from research in the physical and social sciences, the article suggests that the most subtle influences of the mediator's affect and manner may in fact be powerful influences in helping the mediator "bring peace into the room." [source] Molecular mechanism of monocyte predominant infiltration in chronic inflammation: Mediation by a novel monocyte chemotactic factor, S19 ribosomal protein dimerPATHOLOGY INTERNATIONAL, Issue 11 2000Tetsuro Yamamoto A novel monocyte chemotactic factor, a cross-linked homodimer of S19 ribosomal protein (RP S19) was initially isolated from a rheumatoid arthritis synovial lesion. The RP S19 dimer causes the monocyte specific chemotaxis in vitro and the monocyte predominant infiltration in vivo, via its agonistic and antagonistic effects on the C5a receptors of monocytes and polymorphonuclear leukocytes, respectively. The agonistic effect is attributed to the similarity of regional structures between RP S19 and C5a, the complement C5-derived leukocyte chemotactic factor, although overall homology of the amino acid sequence between these molecules is only 4%. The antagonistic effect depends upon the C-terminal portion of RP S19. The RP S19 dimer is produced and released by apoptotic cells, and this dimer recruits monocytes from the circulation to the apoptotic lesion. The infiltrated monocytes/macrophages engulf the apoptotic cells, translocate to regional lymph nodes via lymphatics and present the antigenic information of the apoptotic cells to the T cell repertoire. In this manner, the apoptotic cell clearance system connects to the acquired immune system. The innate and acquired immune mechanisms, mediated by the RP S19 dimer, participate in the pathology of inveterate chronic inflammation such as rheumatoid arthritis. [source] International Mediation and the Question of Failed Peace Agreements: Improving Conflict Management and ImplementationPEACE & CHANGE, Issue 1 2010Jacob Bercovitch This study examines the contribution of international mediation to the successful termination of conflicts. In particular, we look at what exactly can mediation do, and what do we mean by success in mediation? We identify a short-term definition of success that relates only to the signing of an agreement, and a long-term definition of success that relates to the duration of peace following an agreement. We discuss the factors that may contribute to the failure of peace agreements, and use a contingency framework to argue that a settlement is only one aspect of a dynamic conflict, rather than a defining termination point. Within this framework we study how mediation can help with achieving peace agreements and ensuring they remain viable and are adhered to. We examine our ideas in the context of three conflicts, Angola, Sri Lanka, and Sierra Leone. [source] Race, Worldviews, and Conflict Mediation: Black and White Styles of Conflict RevisitedPEACE & CHANGE, Issue 1 2008Mark Davidheiser The article offers a wide-ranging, critical reflection on intercultural mediation theory and practice. Rather than following the standard format of literature review and discussion, the author uses his experiences as a mediator and researcher to frame the culture question and analyze intercultural practice models. We begin with the White American author's realization that culture is important, following a mediation session in which the other participants were Black. Reading Kochman's Black and White Styles in Conflict reinforced that realization, and, combined with other works, suggested a relatively straightforward relationship between culture and mediation managed through cultural competency. However, original field research on third-party peacemaking in West Africa complicated the issue by indicating that worldviews and associated conflict styles are highly diverse, varying both within and across social groups. The second half of the paper examines the nature of cultural perspectives or worldviews and considers proposed methods for intercultural mediation. By analyzing prominent responses to the issue of sociocultural variation, the paper explores the challenge of creating a broadly applicable mediation methodology that addresses the complexity of worldviews. [source] Lessons Learned from Two Decades of Alternative Dispute Resolution Programs and Processes at the U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 6 2001Rosemary O'Leary Mediation, facilitation, and other alternative dispute resolution (ADR) techniques are being used in federal agencies, state and local governments, private-sector organizations, and among private citizens in an effort to prevent and resolve disputes in a timely, cost-effective, and less adversarial manner. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), one of the pioneers in the application of ADR processes and techniques to public policy disputes, recently announced that it plans to in-crease the use of ADR techniques and practices across all agency programs. This article reports the results of a four-part evaluation of the use of ADR in enforcement actions at the EPA during the last two decades. Funded by the Hewlett Foundation, this effort utilized in-depth telephone interviews, government statistics, and archival records. The four groups interviewed were EPA's alternative dispute resolution specialists, potentially responsible parties (defendants) to EPA enforcement lawsuits, mediators and facilitators to EPA cases, and agency enforcement attorneys who had participated in agency enforcement ADR processes. Concluding that there are generally high levels of satisfaction with the EPA's enforcement ADR program, this article examines the sources of obstacles and assistance to ADR efforts at the EPA, suggests ways in which the EPA might improve its ADR programs, and draws lessons from the EPA's experiences that may be helpful to other public programs or organizations. [source] Urban Space and the Mediation of Political Action in Nepal: Local Television, Ritual Processions and Political Violence as Technologies of EnchantmentTHE AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2008Michael Wilmore This paper examines how political identities in the town of Tansen in the central western district of Palpa, Nepal, are mediated by contrasting forms of cultural and material practice: religious and secular processions and programs made by a local, cable-television production organisation. These practices and their materiality are conceptualised as ,technologies of enchantment' (Gell 1992) through which political culture is made manifest in urban space. Paradigmatically ,modern' and ,traditional' technologies are juxtaposed in order to analyse the different ways that political action is embodied within the community. The loss of life in Tansen and the destruction of buildings associated with these practices in the course of the 10-year Maoist insurgency provide a tragic confirmation of the conclusions reached in this paper. [source] The Pendulum of Poetry: Metaphor and Mediation in Rilke's Duineser ElegienTHE GERMAN QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2006Eleanor E. ter Horst First page of article [source] Amending Youth Justice Policy in Canada: Discourse, Mediation and AmbiguityTHE HOWARD JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, Issue 3 2001Kathryn Campbell In postmodern democratic societies, mediation of diverse discourses on critical social issues has become an essential means by which states legitimate social policy formulation. Yet because discourse can serve as an instrument of both power and resistance, mediation is a process that often entails language that is ambivalent and simplified. In Canada, since the mid-1980s successive federal governments have attempted to mediate debate concerning amendments to the Young Offenders Act through a series of parliamentary hearings. Analysis of the transcripts of hearings that were held immediately prior to Bill C-37, the last set of legislative amendments to the Act which were enacted in 1995, has revealed the prominence of the language of rationalisation, polarisation and over-simplification. As such, the hearings and subsequent passage of the amendments did little to reduce the ambiguity and contradictions of Canada?,s youth justice policy. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||