The enforcement of child custody orders by contempt remedies

Family law statutes in every state govern the child-related issues that arise at the time of divorce. As a general rule, these statutes require the divorce courts to enter coercive orders that will govern the residential and decisionmaking aspects of post-divorce parent-child relationships. The laws in many states also set out the remedies, including civil and criminal contempt, available to enforce court-ordered parenting plans in the event of parental noncompliance. This area of statutory regulation, which touches the lives of millions of families every year, is in many ways sui generis. At the same time, the coercive nature of the court-ordered terms of post-divorce parenting plans, and the availability of enforcement by civil or criminal contempt remedies, place custody and visitation orders in a larger doctrinal context. This Article analyzed child custody and visitation laws against this backdrop of the law of injunctions and the law of contempt. The family law system assigns priority to the maintenance of established relationships between children and both of their parents following the parents' divorce. This priority leads to certain variations from the general model of injunctive remedies in many child custody cases. For example, divorce courts formulate the initial coercive parenting orders, which become immediately enforceable by contempt remedies upon violation by one parent, without making any determination of prior wrongdoing by either parent. Furthermore, the courts routinely enter coercive orders addressing the residential and decisionmaking aspects of post-divorce parenting, even though the anticipated period of judicial regulation is lengthy (until the children's ages of majority), and despite evidence of likely compliance problems. Finally, in the event of parental noncompliance, judicial enforcement via contempt remedies may involve the entry of orders that vary significantly from the classic contempt model, especially when the contempt remedy is civil rather than criminal in nature. Parenting plan orders typically set out specific responsibilities for both parents, to be performed over a period of years until the children become adults. The nature of these orders, involving recurring patterns of family behavior, and the importance of the interests that they seek to protect have shaped many of the family law doctrines discussed in this Article. These doctrines have molded the general law of injunctions to fit a unique legal context, the creation and enforcement of post-divorce custody orders

Generalized backward induction: Justification for a folk algorithm

I introduce axiomatically infinite sequential games that extend Kuhn’s classical framework. Infinite games allow for (a) imperfect information, (b) an infinite horizon, and (c) infinite action sets. A generalized backward induction (GBI) procedure is defined for all such games over the roots of subgames. A strategy profile that survives backward pruning is called a backward induction solution (BIS). The main result of this paper finds that, similar to finite games of perfect information, the sets of BIS and subgame perfect equilibria (SPE) coincide for both pure strategies and for behavioral strategies that satisfy the conditions of finite support and finite crossing. Additionally, I discuss five examples of well-known games and political economy models that can be solved with GBI but not classic backward induction (BI). The contributions of this paper include (a) the axiomatization of a class of infinite games, (b) the extension of backward induction to infinite games, and (c) the proof that BIS and SPEs are identical for infinite games

Towards a preservation policy for European Research Libraries

At the LIBER Annual Conference in Berne in 1997 Professor John Feather presented the results of a survey of preservation policies in European Research Libraries. Following this, those libraries that indicated in the survey that they had a written preservation policy were approached with the request to send a copy of their policy. Of the twenty-two libraries with a written policy, five national libraries and seven university libraries sent their documents, while a number of libraries replied that their policy was purely for internal use and not for general circulation. The policies that were received were translated into English (where necessary) and were analysed3 in order to determine whether a common trend could be found and whether a model could be developed on which to base a preservation policy for European research libraries

Usability dimensions in collaborative GIS

Collaborative GIS requires careful consideration of the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Usability aspects, given the variety of users that are expected to use these systems, and the need to ensure that users will find the system effective, efficient, and enjoyable. The chapter explains the link between collaborative GIS and usability engineering/HCI studies. The integration of usability considerations into collaborative GIS is demonstrated in two case studies of Web-based GIS implementation. In the first, the process of digitising an area on Web-based GIS is improved to enhance the user's experience, and to allow interaction over narrowband Internet connections. In the second, server-side rendering of 3D scenes allows users who are not equipped with powerful computers to request sophisticated visualisation without the need to download complex software. The chapter concludes by emphasising the need to understand the users' context and conditions within any collaborative GIS project. © 2006, Idea Group Inc

Training for preservation management

In August 1997 the first of a series of summer schools in Preservation Management was held at the Archivschule in Marburg (Germany). The school was organised by the ECPA, the LIBER Division on Preservation, ICA and the Archivschule itself and was aimed at archivists and librarians in management positions from European institutions. It dealt with managerial, organisational and financial aspects of preservation and required active participation by those attending. Apart from introductory sessions by the teaching staff at the Archivschule, a large part of the course took the form of working groups, discussions, assignments and role play, to which participants were expected to take their own experience and problems. The school was conducted in German. Topics, spread over five days, ranged from preservation in the context of the core activities of libraries and archives; planning of preservation projects; general management issues, such as resource management, budgeting, priority setting, communication and effecting change; to more detailed considerations of day-to-day issues, such as storage, disaster control, microfilming and digitising, mass conservation processes, and moulds and fungi

The only certainty is change: A library management response to a changing environment

The theme of this year’s LIBER conference emphasises the changing missions libraries envisage for the decade ahead and the different skills that are needed to fulfil these missions. However, change - a word we are hearing often during this week - does not materialise in a void, it does not just happen. There are reasons for the changing world in which libraries need to function and I would like to start by looking at a few of them

Conceptual modelling and the quality of ontologies: A comparison between object-role modelling and the object paradigm

Ontologies are key enablers for sharing precise and machine-understandable semantics among different applications and parties. Yet, for ontologies to meet these expectations, their quality must be of a good standard. The quality of an ontology is strongly based on the design method employed. This paper addresses the design problems related to the modelling of ontologies, with specific concentration on the issues related to the quality of the conceptualisations produced. The paper aims to demonstrate the impact of the modelling paradigm adopted on the quality of ontological models and, consequently, the potential impact that such a decision can have in relation to the development of software applications. To this aim, an ontology that is conceptualised based on the Object Role Modelling (ORM) approach is re-engineered into a one modelled on the basis of the Object Paradigm (OP). Next, the two ontologies are analytically compared using the specified criteria. The conducted comparison highlights that using the OP for ontology conceptualisation can provide more expressive, reusable, objective and temporal ontologies than those conceptualised on the basis of the ORM approach

Implementing CSR through partnerships: Understanding the selection, design and institutionalisation of nonprofit-business partnerships

Partnerships between businesses and nonprofit organisations are an increasingly prominent element of corporate social responsibility implementation. The paper is based on two in depth partnership case studies (Earthwatch-Rio Tinto and Prince’s Trust-Royal Bank of Scotland) that move beyond a simple stage model to reveal the deeper level micro-processes in the selection, design and institutionalisation of business-NGO partnerships. The suggested practice-tested model is followed by a discussion that highlights management issues within partnership implementation and a practical Partnership Test to assist managers in testing both the accountability and level of institutionalisation of the relationship in order to address any possible skill gaps. Understanding how CSR partnerships are implemented in practice contributes to the broader CSR and partnership literatures a context specific level of detail in a systematic way that allows for transferable learning in both theory and practice

Behaviour of composite floor slabs under fire conditions

This paper is concerned with the ultimate behaviour of composite floor slabs during fire scenarios. Steel/concrete composite structures are increasingly common in the UK and worldwide, particularly for multi-storey construction. The popularity of this construction form is mainly due to the excellent efficiency offered in terms of structural behaviour, construction time and material usage all of which are attractive given the ever-increasing demands for improved sustainability in construction. In this context, the engineering research community has focused considerable effort in recent years towards understanding the response of composite structures during fires. In particular, the contribution made by the floor slab system is of crucial importance as its ability to undergo secondary load-carrying mechanisms (e.g. membrane action) once conventional strength limits have been reached may be the key to preventing disproportionate collapse of the overall structure. Researchers have focused on developing the fundamental understanding of the complex behaviour of floor slabs and also improving the methods of analysis. Building on this work, the current paper describes the development and validation of a finite element model which can simulate the response of floor slab systems until failure, both at ambient and elevated temperature. The model can represent the complexities of the behaviour including the temperature-dependent material and geometric nonlinearities. It is first developed at ambient temperature and validated using a series of experiments on isolated slab elements. The most salient parameters are identified and studied. Thereafter, the model is extended to include the effects of elevated temperature and is employed to investigate the behaviour under these conditions. Comparisons with current design procedures are assessed and discussed