Since the implementation of Government Procurement Act, the competent authority ¡X Public Construction Commission, Executive Yuan ¡X had set up 40 kinds of sub-laws and more than ten of related operation regulations so as to be the foundation of handling procurement for procuring organs and suppliers. The regulations of government procurement are therefore more complete. While under this circumstance, the dispute of government procurement is increasing day by day. What are the real causes behind the phenomenon? When the two parties had the dispute about procurement, it will incur numerous extra human and substantial costs. If we do not choose corrective approaches to resolve these disputes, not only the two parties waste resources, but also seriously impact the performance of dealing procuring dispute for organs. This situation will be more obvious to the port authority in our study that is located in the key position of sea transportation and transshipment. In this study case, the port authority will deeply suffer the dispute of procurement because it has to provide superior service for shipping company to match the tendency of vessels¡¦ type enlargement. This study explored the ever-happened dispute cases in a port authority and sorted out causes, types, settling ways of procurement dispute and performance of resolving procurement dispute from literatures, and then discussed with main professionals in related business fields to draft adequate questionnaire, going on survey to the members who real did the procurement duty in the port authority. This study got 105 copies of effective surveys, and then preceded factor analysis, correlation analysis, and path analysis to not only verify the hypotheses proposed, but also understand the practices and views of members in the port authority. The conclusions from this study included: 1. Most of procurement dispute happened in the stage of contract implementation. There is huge ratio of concerning cases from representatives. The usual way of resolving procurement dispute is through the appeal to Complaint Review Board of Government Procurement. 2. Different kinds of members got different cognitions in some dimensions. 3. The result of factor analysis shows that there are four significant factors, including perfect regulations, regulations¡¦ acknowledge, training enhancement, and complete documentation. But the primary factors affecting types of procurement dispute are regulations¡¦ acknowledge and training enhancement. Among all four factors, regulations¡¦ acknowledge has the most effect on type of procurement dispute. 4. Type of procurement dispute has positive effect on way of resolving procurement dispute. 5. Way of resolving procurement dispute has positive effect on performance of resolving procurement dispute.

Recent literature has emphasized the possible benefits to mindfulness practice. Evidence for a negative relation between mindfulness and pathology has come from validity studies of several newly developed, self-report mindfulness questionnaires. Results illustrate a consistent negative relation between levels of self-report mindfulness and symptoms of depression, negative affect, and anxiety among college-student samples, however this relation has been previously untested within a clinical sample. The first aim of the present study was to explore the relation between mindfulness levels and social anxiety symptoms in a clinical sample diagnosed with social phobia. Because past research has found mindfulness interventions to be successful in reducing ruminative tendencies, and because recent literature suggests that post-event rumination is an important process in the maintenance of social anxiety, post-event rumination was explored as a mediator of the relation between mindfulness and social anxiety. Participants (N = 98) completed the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), the Rumination Questionnaire (RQ), the Fear of Negative Evaluations Brief Form (FNE-B), the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), and the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA) as part of their participation in a larger, randomly controlled treatment outcome study comparing Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy, a form of Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy for Social Phobia, and a wait-list control group. Results illustrated a strong negative relation between mindfulness scores (MAAS) and social anxiety symptoms as measured by the FNE-B and the LSAS (ps < .001). However, post-event rumination levels (RQ) were not related to either mindfulness or social anxiety indicating that in the present sample post-event rumination did not act as a mediator for the relation between mindfulness and levels of social anxiety.

Persuasion scholars have documented the use of compliance-gaining messages in both negotiation and negotiation. The extant research offers suggestions for litigators and negotiators, but fails to compare the methods of persuasion in the two circumstances in order to advise attorneys and clients which communication messages to employ in the different contexts. The present study explores differences in use of 7 common compliance-gaining message strategies (“It's Up To You”, “This Is The Way Things Are”, “Equity”, “Benefit (Other)”, “Bargaining”, and “Cooperation”; Kellerman, 2004) in separate negotiation and litigation cases. Findings indicate that “This Is The Way Things Are” messages were more frequent in litigation than negotiation, but “Cooperation” messages were more common in negotiation than litigation. No other significant differences in strategy frequency across the different contexts were found. These results indicate that some differences exist between the messages used in negotiation and litigation and that future research should investigate what other messages may be used differently in the two contexts. / text

Today’s legal system of China has faced many significant changes. One of the often mentioned challenges concerns the appropriate management and handling of an abundance of new and complex disputes. Due to the popularity of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in Western countries, it began to draw people’s attention when designing a Chinese dispute resolution policy. With this fact being known and considering China’s domestic political climates and the Chinese practice of using non-confrontational means to solve disputes, one circle of scholars suggested that court mediation (fayuantiaojie, 法院调解) should be enhanced. In June 2009, this suggestion was adopted by the Supreme People’s Court. Concerning the challenges of courts handling disputes in recent years, the SPC has placed a priority on practice of court mediation. However, China’s situation differs from the West, and the existing scholarship lacks empirical research on court-connected ADR. This is especially true in southwest China. Thus, it is quite necessary for legal scholars to assess and examine the operation of court mediation in today’s southwest China in order to answer whether it is a feasible institutional arrangement in the southwest context. This will not only enhance our understanding of the nature and rationale of court-connected ADR at the intellectual level but will also perfect its performance in the future. The purpose of this research is to contribute an empirical study on court mediation and attempts to paint a more complicated and nuanced picture of ADR in southwest China’s context rather than simply copying Western legal narratives to explain China’s legal reality. More specifically, through empirically examining the process of court mediation and the implementation of the relevant policies in practice, this dissertation intends to 1) investigate how court mediation is carried out in southwest China’s grassroots courts in order to answer whether it is a feasible institutional arrangement in the southwest context as well as what the problems are in practice, if any,2) provide suggestions for clarifying and redesigning China’s mediation law in the future and introduce a regionalism-based paradigm to China’s legal studies and dispute resolution policy design as an alternative. Based on empirical studies in the grassroots courts of Yunnan, this dissertation argues that although court mediation now is driven by “politically correct pragmatism”, it is feasible in southwest grassroots China due to the social context and the social embedment of the locals. However, the current “Mediation First” policy is still problematic because it may over-simplify Chinese complexity in the dispute resolution domain and has gone far away from the spirit of ADR by pursuing political goals as its priority and overemphasizing mediation’s role. The way to solve the problem is not to simply or ideologically restrict or limit court mediation; alternatively, it is necessary to establish more straightforward and uncompromising rules to exclude ill-suited cases from being mediated in order to improve its performance. Now is also the time to re-examine China’s nationalized, generalized paradigm concerning both China’s legal constructions and scholarship, and attempt to open up a new regionalism-based paradigm when analyzing China’s legal issues. / published_or_final_version / Law / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The current New Zealand tax disputes resolution procedures were enacted in 1996 following a recommendation made by the Organisational Review Committee of the Inland Revenue Department in 1994. Yet, following their enactment and despite a number of positive aspects to the disputes resolution procedures, commentators and professional bodies alike have continued to raise concerns that inefficiencies, particularly with respect to time and cost, are affecting their operation and are, consequently, adversely impacting on taxpayers’ perceptions of the fairness of the procedures. It is believed that this is potentially negatively impacting on the tax system and on taxpayer voluntary compliance. Consequently, suggestions have been made for the use of alternative disputes resolution procedures, such as mediation, as another method to resolve tax disputes. The objective of this study is to develop a refined tax mediation regime for New Zealand through improving the features of the proposed tax mediation regime for New Zealand’s tax disputes resolution system first developed by Jone and Maples (2012b). Utilising a sequential mixed methods approach, consisting of a quantitative survey questionnaire followed by a qualitative focus group interview, this study seeks feedback on Jone and Maples’ (2012b) proposed New Zealand tax mediation regime from purposively selected practitioners (experts) in the tax disputes resolution and mediation fields. The feedback obtained is used in refining Jone and Maples’ (2012b) proposed tax mediation regime. This study finds that the most important aspect of the refined proposed regime is the inclusion of a mediator who is independent of both parties and moreover, that the mediator is foremost trained and qualified in mediation as opposed to being a specialist in tax law. The findings also indicate that mediation should not be made a mandatory phase of the disputes procedures. This study recommends that the refined tax mediation regime should be an administrative phase and incorporated with the existing conference phase in a proposed ‘ADR stage’ of the disputes procedures. Notwithstanding the potential budgetary and resource constraints, the findings indicate that if mediation were to be provided as a cost-free service, taxpayers (particularly small taxpayers) should be appreciative of the opportunity to put their cases forward and be heard, even if an agreement has not been reached through mediation. The literature suggests that this should in turn enhance taxpayers’ perceptions of fairness of the disputes procedures and thereby voluntary compliance. This study provides a foundation for the further development of tax mediation in New Zealand.

During the past two decades, court and child welfare agency officials have begun to view the use of mediation in child protection cases as a logical and cost-effective approach to finding safe and mutually agreeable solutions to cases in a timely manner so that permanency can be established more quickly for children. While those who support the use of child protection mediation generally believe that the mediation process has a positive influence on permanency outcomes; few studies have attempted to examine the accuracy of these claims. Utilizing participant survey data from an evaluation of a pilot child protection mediation program implemented in 43 Texas counties, as well as case-level administrative data from Child Protective Services (CPS), the present study sought to address gaps in the existing literature by more closely examining the association between child protection mediation and permanency outcomes for children in foster care. In addition, this study examined the impact of parental engagement with the mediation process on permanency outcomes. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) was used to match 315 mediated cases with 315 non-mediated cases that were resolved through the traditional adversarial process (N=630). Descriptive bivariate analysis indicated that mediated cases varied significantly from non-mediated cases on several of the observed characteristics. Furthermore, the findings of this study indicate that neither participation in mediation nor parental engagement in the mediation process had a discernable effect on whether permanency was achieved or on children’s final placement outcomes. Interestingly, the use of mediation, as well as higher levels of parental engagement were both found to be associated with increased time to permanency. While the findings were somewhat counterintuitive, the results of this study suggest that the phenomena of permanency may be better explained not by one or two specific factors, but rather a combination of child, family, agency, court, and community factors that work together, and in some instances against each other, to influence the final permanency outcome. The findings of this study underscore the difficulty in measuring the impact of a single intervention on outcomes likely affected by a multitude of competing factors. / text

A growing body of literature suggests that Virtual Reality is a successful tool for exposure therapy for anxiety disorders. Virtual Reality (VR) researchers posit the construct of presence, interpreting an artificial stimulus as if it were real, as the mechanism that enables anxiety to be felt during virtual reality exposure therapy (VRE). However, empirical studies on the relation between presence and anxiety in VRE have yielded mixed findings. The current study tested the following hypotheses 1) Presence is related to in session anxiety and treatment outcome; 2) Presence mediates the extent that pre-existing (pre-treatment) anxiety is experienced during exposure with VR; 3) Presence is positively related to the amount of phobic elements included within the virtual environment. Results supported presence as the mechanism by which anxiety is experienced in the virtual environment as well as a relation between presence and the phobic elements, but did not support a relation between presence and treatment outcome

This thesis is about the possibility of addressing power disparities in divorce mediation in order to maximize the benefits that this alternative practice offers. It describes the development of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in general and of divorce mediation in particular, primarily through a feminist lens. In doing so it discusses the promise that feminist proponents saw in mediation initially, and then proceeds to describe the breaking of the promise that developed into some of the harshest critique of this process. The thesis explores a critical element of this critique, namely the problematic nature of utilizing mediation in the face of existing power imbalances generally, and in the context of divorce specifically. In order to facilitate the address of incongruities of power, it delves into an examination of the concept of power from several angles. To enhance and deepen the analysis of this concept, it describes Foucault's definitions and understanding of the term, and applies these towards advancing the discussion regarding the possibility of addressing existing inequality in power between parties to a dispute. Finally, it offers some tools that can be used in addressing power disparities in order to ameliorate the mediation process and its results. To this end it describes the ethical guidelines that can be utilized, comprised of internal tools to address power imbalances through mediation styles, as well as external ethical guidelines inherent to the process. Additionally, it suggests legal boundaries that may be utilized to offset possible power discrepancies. It ends with a hopeful message of the possibility of transformation in the face of conflict, thereby entertaining the prospects of a promising future for this alternative to resolving disputes.

The goals of sexual health programming in youth populations frequently focus on reducing sexual risk taking, as these behaviours can lead to sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies. A focus on enhancing distal factors such as social support is starting to be considered of greater importance in adolescent sexual health programming. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the relationship between social support and sexual risk taking behaviours in school age youth in Northern Nova Scotia in 2000. Social support was found to be a factor in some sexual risk taking behaviours, with different relationships seen for males and females. Depression and self-esteem also influence the relationship between social support and some sexual risk taking behaviours. Health programming with a wholistic approach, including a focus the role of support and psycho-social variables, may be a positive way to reduce sexual risk taking behaviours and support healthy adolescent sexuality.

Family mediation is a process that' was and is still practised by African indigenous societies. However, mediation in relation to family and divorce matters, is viewed either positively or negatively by most South African writers mainly from a Western perspective. The recommendations made in this work focus, amongst other things, on what ought to be done by policy makers and exponents of mediation in order to make the ,benefits of mediation realised by South Africans particularly disadvantaged communities. The role of illiterate and semi-literate South African citizens)'is pointed out as being critical more in managing family disputes from disfunctioning the family and leading to marriage break-down than merely mediating the parting of ways and ancillary issues of marriage. The practice of family mediation and procedures followed by Africans when introducing the son-in-law to the daughter-in-Iaw's family and the protracted marriage negotiations between Umkhongi (emissary) and the in-laws are all indicative of the entrenched or mandatory approach to family mediation. The benefits of the peaceful ending of marriage relationship through third party interveners are highlighted in President Mandela's desire to terminate his marriage as 'painless as possible' particularly for the sake of children. It is pointed out in this work that the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert still adhere strictly to their tribal mediation procedures both in relation to family disputes and disputes in general. The tribe relies highly on korakoradue who is its senior citizen and respected elder, as resolver of community disputes. III The South African Justice Department brought hope when it worked toward introducing divorce mediation legislation. However, the vision was misdirected as the enacted family mediation legislation turned out to be constraining in its operation contrary to the recommendations by the Hoexter Commission. The majority of destitute South Africans who should be benefiting from this legislation end up not knowing about the existence of the Act and/or not making use of it because of the costs involved as only the Supreme Court can adjudicate upon matters covered by the Act. The lack of research which focuses on local mediation styles makes it difficult to justify, for example, either Mrs. Mandela's claim when she said ,Mr. Mandela had not answered to the 'African Cultural and Traditional Inkundla' or Mr. Mandela's defence that he respects customs but is not a 'tribalist' as he 'fought as an African Nationalist with no commitment to any tribal custom'. / Thesis (LL.M.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1997.