Alternative dispute resolution : are apology and forgiveness simply two sides of the one coin?

Alternative dispute resolution (a.d.r.) processes are entrenched in western style legal systems. Forms of dispute resolution are utilised within schools and health systems; built in to commercial contracts; found in workplaces, clubs and organisations; and accepted in general day-to-day community disputes. The a.d.r. literature includes references to ‘apology’, but is largely silent on ‘forgiveness’. Where an apology is offered as part of a dispute resolution process, practice suggests that formalised ‘forgiveness’ rarely follows. Mediators may agree there is a meaningful place for apology in dispute resolution processes, but are most unlikely to support a view that forgiveness, as a conscious act, has an equivalent place. Yet, if forgiveness is not limited to the ‘pardoning of an offence’, but includes a ‘giving up of resentment’, or the relinquishing of a grudge, then forgiveness may play an underestimated role in dispute management. In the context of some day-to-day dispute management practice, this paper questions whether forgiveness should follow an apology; and concludes that meaningful resolutions can be reached without any formal element of ‘forgiveness’ or absolution. However, dispute management practitioners need to be aware of the latent role other aspects of forgiveness may play for the disputing parties.

Industrialized housing in China : a coin with two sides

China today is experiencing a time when housing is needed more than ever and one approach satisfying this need is by industrialization - a streamlined process aimed at generating profits and promoting energy efficiency in the housing sectors. Although large housing programs have been completed in China, few housing projects have been built in an industrialized manner. One contributing factor is that industrialization is not omnipotent and, just as a coin has two sides, not all the outcomes of industrialization are beneficial. In this paper, a preliminary assessment is made of these two sides - the benefits and hindrances of industrialized housing in China - by literature review and survey. Case studies are used to verify the questionnaire survey results and from which the advantages and disadvantages involved are compared. The findings indicate the need for formulating policies to encourage industrialized housing in China and for well-planned R&D themes to be implemented simultaneously with industry practices in the near future.

Two sides of seeking funding : grants and deposit funds

Before even thinking of approaching charitable trusts for funding, consideration needs to be given to a whole range of issues. As with many endeavours, preparation paves the way for success...

Three sides to every story; Ernesto Love + Eve Roleston + Ernest Olove = 3SUM/3DUM

This was another in the project of using my three pseudonyms to investigate the strategic potential of the fictocritical as an approach to making visual art. It was large scale single artwork that took place over 21 days and combined 2D, 3D, Time-based elements and performance in an attempt to construct a Gesamtkunstwerk. Over the course of the exhibition I critically and creatively engaged with political, social, economic and cultural issues thorugh opening up a range of rhetorical modes such as the lyrical, the elegiac, the rhapsodic, the humorous, the parodic and the satirical.

Three Sides of a Wall : Obstacles and Border States in Paul Auster's Novels

Tutkielmani käsittelee yhdysvaltalaisen kirjailijan Paul Austerin (s. 1947) romaanituotannossa esiintyviä esteitä ja rajatiloja. Erityisesti olen kiinnostunut siitä, miten Auster liittää nämä "marginaalitilat" amerikkalaiseen vapauden ja laajentumisen ideologiaan sekä kieleen ja kirjoittamiseen. Austerin romaaneissa esteiden ja rajatilojen käsittely voidaan jakaa kolmeen vaiheeseen. Ensimmäisessä vaiheessa henkilöt ovat vahvojen esteiden rajoittamia tai rakentavat niitä itse. Rajoittuneisuus ei kuitenkaan aina tunnu häiritsevän heitä - itse asiassa monet päähenkilöistä tuntevat itsensä onnellisiksi tai vähintäänkin tyytyväisiksi joutuessaan esteen takia pysähdyttämään vapaan liikkeensä. Toisessa vaiheessa henkilöt pyrkivät ylittämään tai rikkomaan esteen päästäkseen toiselle puolelle. Kuten amerikkalaiset esi-isänsä aikoinaan, he etsivät rajatonta, laajaa ja tyhjää tilaa - "suurta tuntematonta" valloitettavakseen. Tällaisen tilan kohdatessaan he joutuvat kuitenkin usein epävarmuuden valtaan. Kolmas vaihe on tutkielmani kannalta tärkein: välitila, josta käytän työssäni nimitystä "in-betweenity". Tähän vaiheeseen päästään kulkemalla ensin kahden muun vaiheen kautta. Juuri tietoisuus näistä kahdesta muusta vaiheesta synnyttää tämän kolmannen tilan, eräänlaisen rajatilan, jossa tajutaan sekä esteiden että esteettömyyden tärkeys. Tämä välitila on Austerille tyypillinen tila, joka kertoo paitsi amerikkalaisen unelman paradoksaalisuudesta myös (kaunokirjallisen) kielenkäytön prosessista. Monet Austerin kirjojen muurin rakentajista tai purkajista voidaan nähdä kirjailijahahmoina, joiden omituinen suhde esteisiin ja rajoihin kumpuaa juuri siitä rajatilasta, jonka asukkaita he kielentaiteilijoina väistämättä ovat. Tällaisen tilan/tilattomuuden kuvaaminen tekee Austerista oman postmodernin aikamme tärkeän kirjailijan - kirjailijan, joka sen sijaan, että pyrkisi eroon paradokseista, sijoittaa hahmonsa niiden sisään. Rajoihin ja esteisiin liittyvä problematiikka ei kuitenkaan ole pelkästään nykyajan ongelma vaan kysymys, joka ihmisen toisaalta rajoja kaipaavan toisaalta rajattomuutta kaipaavan luonteen vuoksi säilyy aina ajankohtaisena. Avainsanat: Paul Auster, este, muuri, raja, Yhdysvallat

Design of rectangular reinforced concrete slabs supported on all the sides with a short discontinuous edge

Bending moment coefficients for the design of rectangular reinforced concrete panels supported on four sides with a short discontinuous edge are derived using the strip theory. The moment fields resulting from the use of proposed coefficients are examined in terms of the moment volume for possible savings in reinforcement and compared with other codified procedures. The strip coefficients averaged over the corresponding sides of the panel, besides resulting in considerable savings in reinforcement, are found to be identical with the coefficients predicted by simple yield line theory using an orthotropic layout of reinforcement.

A Five-Level Inverter Scheme for a Four-Pole Induction Motor Drive by Feeding the Identical Voltage-Profile Windings From Both Sides

This paper presents a five-level inverter scheme with four two-level inverters for a four-pole induction motor (IM) drive. In a conventional three-phase four-pole IM, there exists two identical voltage-profile winding coil groups per phase around the armature, which are connected in series and spatially apart by two pole pitches. In this paper, these two identical voltage-profile pole-pair winding coils in each phase of the IM are disconnected and fed from four two-level inverters from four sides of the windings with one-fourth dc-link voltage as compared to a conventional five-level neutral-point-clamped inverter. The scheme presented in this paper does not require any special design modification for the induction machine. For this paper, a four-pole IM drive is used, and the scheme can be easily extended to IMs with more than four poles. The proposed scheme is experimentally verified on a four-pole 5-hp IM drive.

Multifaceted roles of curcumin: two sides of a coin!

Introduction: Curcumin has been a front-line topic of mainstream scientific research for a variety of diseases from cancer to Alzheimer's to infectious diseases. Curcumin suppresses the type 1 immune response, which might lead to alleviation of type 1 immune response disorders. However, the inhibition of type 1 immune response might invite infections with opportunistic pathogens. Considering its low bioavailability, several curcumin derivatives have been designed to improve its functionality. Areas covered: This is a consolidated review which aims to compare and contrast diverse aspects of curcumin in variety of diseases. The intricate underlying mechanisms and the functional determinants of curcumin are discussed. Expert opinion: Curcumin being considered as a spicy panacea, is not a remedy for all diseases. However, its ability to act differentially as an antioxidant or pro-oxidant akin to that of a double-edged sword/friend turning foe can be either beneficial or harmful for the host. It exhibits antioxidant properties at concentrations achievable in the body, making the host vulnerable to infections due to the suppression of innate immune responses. With the increase in knowledge of its functional groups, production of analogues of curcumin is underway to enhance its bioavailability and hence its therapeutic potency.

Ulva and Enteromorpha (Ulvaceae, Chlorophyta) from two sides of the Yellow Sea: analysis of nuclear rDNA ITS and plastid rbcL sequence data

Ulvacean green seaweeds are common worldwide; they formed massive green tides in the Yellow Sea in recent years, which caused marine ecological problems as well as a social issue. We investigated two major genera of the Ulvaceae, Ulva and Enteromorpha, and collected the plastid rbcL and nuclear ITS sequences of specimens of the genera in two sides of the Yellow Sea and analyzed them. Phylogenetic trees of rbcL data show the occurrence of five species of Enteromorpha (E. compressa, E. flexuosa, E. intestinalis, E. linza and E. prolifera) and three species of Ulva (U. pertusa, U. rigida and U. ohnoi). However, we found U. ohnoi, which is known as a subtropical to tropical species, at two sites on Jeju Island, Korea. Four ribotypes in partial sequences of 5.8S rDNA and ITS2 from E. compressa were also found. Ribotype network analysis revealed that the common ribotype, occurring in China, Korea and Europe, is connected with ribotypes from Europe and China/Japan. Although samples of the same species were collected from both sides of the Yellow Sea, intraspecific genetic polymorphism of each species was low among samples collected worldwide.