second language  learners often develop grammatical competence in the absence of concomitant pragmatic competence (kasper & roever, 2005) and the exact nature of the relationship between the two competences is still indistinct and in need of inquiries ( bardovi-harlig, 1999; khatib & ahmadisafa, 2011). this study is a partial attempt to address the lacuna and aims to see if any relation...

Doctors and patients are not natural enemies. On the contrary, there is commonly a special relationship between them, with vulnerability and trust on one side and caring and professional expertise on the other. A medical dispute can create turmoil of that relationship, particularly if it is conducted in the traditional adversarial procedure. Depending on how it develops, the patient may see the...

In the context of overlapping bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade agreements, states face a wide array of options for market opening strategies. This paper examines why states choose to adjudicate some trade disputes in the WTO dispute settlement process while negotiating or ignoring others. It then compares outcomes given the choice among alternative strategies. I argue that government...

It is generally assumed that speakers of grammatical gender languages consider grammatical gender arbitrary, but this assumption has never been tested. Research shows that the grammatical gender of nouns can affect perceptions of the masculinity or femininity of the noun's referent in speakers of languages with masculine and feminine noun classes. However, bilingualism facilitates the developme...

This study explores the interactions among the claimants for the sovereignty over the Senkaku/ Diaoyu Islands dispute with the intention to find out what is lacking in their communication for a genuinely peaceful and mutually beneficial solution to the multilateral international conflict. Guided by the theory of border institutions and via the research methods of hermeneutics, we found that the...

An essential problem in online forms of alternative dispute resolution is that it is difficult to structure and process the information that is exchanged between negotiating parties. This paper offers a simple scheme according to which users can enter claims and justify them with other claims. Claims can also be conceded, questioned and contradicted. Based on the information that is entered int...

Executive summary The aim of this research was to investigate what the Legal Ombudsman can learn from other Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) providers. The research was commissioned by the Legal Ombudsman to help it review and develop its dispute resolution model and ensure it remains fit-for-purpose. The research involved a case study design and fieldwork was conducted with ten organisatio...