A critical analysis of family law mediation in England and Wales

The focus for this thesis for the LLM by Research is Family Law Mediation in England and Wales. The research is looking at the system both as it stands currently as well as past changes made by the government. It starts by looking at where mediation stands within alternative dispute resolution and what the history of alternative dispute resolution entails. It then moves on to look at the place of mediation in the family law system. It is mainly looking at four major parts the first one being the introduction of The Family Law Act in 1996 and what impact this had on the stance of mediation. The second part is looking at the introduction of Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings and how successful they were at meeting increasing the mediation intake. Thirdly the research looks at the introduction of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 and how this changed the legal aid available for family law and what this did for mediation. Finally the research also looks at what stance children have in the mediation process and whether mediation is a beneficial process for them. Throughout the thesis is critique and analysis of these aspects of mediation concluding with whether or not the current system meets the aims the government have for alternative dispute resolution and what the future of mediation holds

The SALIENT checklist: gathering up the ways inwhich built environments affect what we do andhow we feel

In recent years, behavioural science has emerged as an additional tool to explore the impact of built environments on behaviour and wellbeing. Recognising the potential for further research in this field, we have sought to better understand how built environments affect what we do, as well as how they make us feel. We began this process through a review of the behavioural science literature, and have brought together evidence to develop a checklist for design with wellbeing in mind. In this paper, we present Sound, Air, Light, Image, Ergonomics and Tint as the mnemonic SALIENT, which forms a checklist. We outline an example where elements of the checklist have been applied in a real-world setting to examine subjective wellbeing (SWB). We present this example to illustrate how the SALIENT checklist could potentially be applied more extensively to measure the impact of built environments on wellbeing

Factors Associated With the Underrepresentation of Female Head Coaches in Intercollegiate Athletics

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceived barriers, stereotypes, and workplace challenges that contributed to the underrepresentation of female head coaches in intercollegiate athletics. One-hundred-twenty-four current collegiate coaches affiliated with three NCAA conferences completed their responses through an online survey. A 26-item self-created survey was implemented to identify perceived attributes and barriers which impact the females’ involvement in the coaching profession. The results yielded four constructs of attributes and three types of barriers that affected female coaches’ success for job obtainment and career advancement. Unlike the older experienced coaches, young and less experienced coaches tended to value the importance of administrative support less. Coaches with a higher level of education (having earned a graduate degree) also perceived the “dominant culture and social stereotypes” as a significant barrier that impeded female coaches’ career. Based on the findings of the study, athletic departments ought to provide more family-related and administrative support to satisfy the needs of female coaches. For a department that does not provide such support, it may consider a change in its existing culture by offering more support in order to sustain the female coaches’ career in a long-term basis. Limitations of the study and directions for future studies were further discussed

Continuous pyrolysis technology: a business case study

This project investigates the implementation of continuous pyrolysis technology by Fulton Hogan within New Zealand as a value-add process for end of life tyres. The literature review highlights potential problems including high set-up costs and poor product quality of the end products, oil, gas and char, resulting in limited market options. Many pyrolysis set-ups are deemed economically unviable for these reasons. Market research identifies major retail outlets and tyre collectors within the tyre industry in New Zealand. A report on the potential uses of the recycled end products investigates ways to alter product yield based on requirements, and potential ways to export energy to the grid. The location analysis supports recommendations for Miners Road Quarry in Christchurch and Whitford Quarry in Auckland as sites to build full-sized commercial pyrolysis plants