Unsatisfying Wars: Degrees of Risk and the \u3ci\u3eJus ex Bello\u3c/i\u3e

Self-defensive war uses violence to transfer risks from one’s own people to others. We argue that central questions in just war theory may fruitfully be analyzed as issues about the morality of risk transfer. That includes the jus ex bello question of when states are required to accept a ceasefire in an otherwise-just war. In particular, a “war on terror” that ups the risks to outsiders cannot continue until the risk of terrorism has been reduced to zero or near zero. Some degree of security risk is inevitable when coexisting with others in the international community, just as citizens within a state must accept some ineradicable degree of crime as a fact of community life. We define a conception of morally legitimate bearable risk by contrasting it with two alternatives, and argue that states must stop fighting when they have achieved that level. We call this requirement the Principle of Just Management of Military Risk. We also argue that states should avoid exaggerated emphasis on security risks over equivalent risks from other sources—the Principle of Minimum Consistency Toward Risks. This latter principle is not a moral requirement. Rather, it is a heuristic intended to correct against well-known fallacies of risk perception that may lead states to overemphasize security risks and wrongly export the costs of their security onto others. In conclusion, we suggest that states must invest in non-violent defensive means as a precondition for legitimately using force externally

Henri Temianka Correspondence; (blum)

This collection contains material pertaining to the life, career, and activities of Henri Temianka, violin virtuoso, conductor, music teacher, and author. Materials include correspondence, concert programs and flyers, music scores, photographs, and books.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/temianka_correspondence/1205/thumbnail.jp

Abusive Supervision Detection as Part of Venture Capital Due Diligence of Management

Abusive supervision (AS) costs U.S. businesses billions of dollars per year in lost productivity, increased absenteeism, and health care costs. To reduce these costs and to enhance the probability of a successful exist, independent venture capitalists (IVCs) need to be aware of the issue of AS among the management team during the due-diligence process. This study addresses a gap in literature related to IVCs being able to detect AS during due-diligence process of the management team. The research question was this: What tools, processes, and methods can IVCs use to detect AS during the due-diligence process of the management team? Four tools, processes, and methods were presented to help reduce the frequency of employee abuse and associated costs

Henri Temianka Correspondence; (blum)

This collection contains material pertaining to the life, career, and activities of Henri Temianka, violin virtuoso, conductor, music teacher, and author. Materials include correspondence, concert programs and flyers, music scores, photographs, and books.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/temianka_correspondence/1207/thumbnail.jp

Experiences of Grade Inflation at an Online University in the United States: An Autoethnography

Grade inflation is a problem at universities in the United States. To understand the cultural effect of grade inflation at a regionally accredited online university in the United States, I conducted autoethnographic research as a participant and observer. In this autoethnographic study, the purpose of my research was to explore my experiences being immersed in a grade inflation culture. I addressed a gap of autoethnographic research related to a culture of grade inflation existing at an online university in the United States. I provided seven themes serving as my discoveries related to my observations and participation as a faculty member. My discoveries supported my assumptions that a culture of grade inflation likely exists at the online university. My discoveries also contribute to the overriding theme in the extant literature that grade inflation exists. My discoveries also support the concept that grade inflation is not limited to on ground universities but also extends to online universities in the United States

Nine Potential Solutions to Abate Grade Inflation at Regionally Accredited Online U.S. Universities: An Intrinsic Case Study

Grade inflation must be abated. The effect of grade inflation weakens academic standards to the point where accurately assessing levels of competency and student knowledge is difficult to determine. Using intrinsic case study design, I contacted 411 online instructors in the United States exploring potential solutions to abate grade inflation. Of 411 faculty members contacted via personal e-mail, 27 instructors at three regionally accredited online universities in the United States agreed to be interviewed by the use of an interview protocol and recorded via Skype. The research question guiding the study was “What are potential solutions to abate grade inflation?” The research addressed a gap in research related to potential solutions to abate grade inflation at online universities located in the United States. Concepts developed from data analysis were (a) use rubrics, (b) revising student evaluations (c) re-evaluating academic policies, (d) instituting objective exams, (e) instructor training program, (f) take instructors out of grading, (g) pass / fail grading, (h) ranking rather than GPA, and (i) best practices

Ways to Reduce Restaurant Industry Food Waste Costs

Food waste costs U.S. restaurant leaders billions of dollars per year. The purpose of this research was to provide restaurant leaders with processes and strategies to reduce food waste costs. The research method used was systematic literature review in addressing this research question: What processes and strategies are available to U.S. restaurant leaders to reduce food waste costs? This study addresses a gap in literature related to processes and strategies to reduce food waste costs. Six processes and seven strategies to reduce food waste costs were presented

The State of Illinois Manufacturing

The strength of the manufacturing sector is fundamental to the overall economic performance of Illinois and the U.S. as a whole. The manufacturing sector in Illinois create large numbers of jobs that pay high wages to workers, purchases more goods and services from within the state than any other sector, and constitutes a main component of the state export economy. For these and other reasons, manufacturing needs be at the center of all government discussions on economic policy.The Center for Labor and Community Research (CLCR) was commissioned by the Illinois Manufacturers' Association to analyze the condition of the Illinois manufacturing sector. We found that Illinois manufacturing is essential to Illinois' economy, and although it is among the top manufacturing states in the country, it faces a number of challenges. This report demonstrates why and how Illinois manufacturing matters, explains the current challenges it faces, and recommends actions to overcome some of these challenges. In addition to looking at manufacturing as a whole, this report looks at four key manufacturing sectors, or clusters, that together account for 64% of manufacturing employment in the state. These are the metals, electrical, printing, and food manufacturing sectors.A few key findings that CLCR uncovered in this study include the following: Manufacturing is vital to the state's economy and workers. Manufacturing exports create significant employment opportunities in Illinois, and the state's manufacturing workers are the most productive in the nation by far.Like other U.S. states, Illinois faces increasing competition from low-wage producers in the developing world as well as from highly skilled producers in developed countries. In order to remain competitive into the future, the sector requires increased investments in its infrastructure and workers and an improved workforce development system in order to increase the value-added component of their products.The Illinois manufacturing sector needs a "High Road" partnership with government and labor to increase investment in infrastructure and workforce development, to support the sector by creating specialized service centers that provide assistance to Illinois companies, and to effectively using public subsidies to reward and assist those companies that are pursuing High Road strategies of innovation and development

Integrated Dynamic Facade Control with an Agent-based Architecture for Commercial Buildings

Dynamic façades have significant technical potential to minimize heating, cooling, and lighting energy use and peak electric demand in the perimeter zone of commercial buildings, but the performance of these systems is reliant on being able to balance complex trade-offs between solar control, daylight admission, comfort, and view over the life of the installation. As the context for controllable energy-efficiency technologies grows more complex with the increased use of intermittent renewable energy resources on the grid, it has become increasingly important to look ahead towards more advanced approaches to integrated systems control in order to achieve optimum life-cycle performance at a lower cost. This study examines the feasibility of a model predictive control system for low-cost autonomous dynamic façades. A system architecture designed around lightweight, simple agents is proposed. The architecture accommodates whole building and grid level demands through its modular, hierarchical approach. Automatically-generated models for computing window heat gains, daylight illuminance, and discomfort glare are described. The open source Modelica and JModelica software tools were used to determine the optimum state of control given inputs of window heat gains and lighting loads for a 24-hour optimization horizon. Penalty functions for glare and view/ daylight quality were implemented as constraints. The control system was tested on a low-power controller (1.4 GHz single core with 2 GB of RAM) to evaluate feasibility. The target platform is a low-cost ($35/unit) embedded controller with 1.2 GHz dual-core cpu and 1 GB of RAM. Configuration and commissioning of the curtainwall unit was designed to be largely plug and play with minimal inputs required by the manufacturer through a web-based user interface. An example application was used to demonstrate optimal control of a three-zone electrochromic window for a south-facing zone. The overall approach was deemed to be promising. Further engineering is required to enable scalable, turnkey solutions

Venture Capital Best Practice Strategies To Reduce Economic Uncertainty In Biofuel Investing

Independent venture capital firms require actionable economic best practice strategies to reduce uncertainty when investing in biofuel firms. Biofuels derived from plant oils are a primary source of renewable fuel energy replacing petrol diesel. Investing in biofuels is fraught with high capital start-up costs and inaccurate portfolio firm valuation models lessening venture capital personnel ability to achieve higher levels of successful biofuel firm exits. The gap in literature addressed in this paper is venture capital best practice strategies to reduce economic uncertainty in biofuel firms investing are an unexplored phenomenon. Reducing and prospering from the effects economic uncertainty requires venture capital firms to implement best practice strategies. This paper provides venture capital firms with best practice strategies to reduce economic uncertainty when in investing in biofuel firms. Utilizing multiples, net present value, internal rate of return, and venture capital model for establishing a valuation price for portfolio firms are actionable economic best practice strategies addressed in this paper. The best practice strategies presented in this paper might reduce economic uncertainty, increase the number of successful exists, and encourage increased funding of biofuel energy firms, contributing to cleaner and healthier communities throughout the United States