Action Evaluation in the Theory and Practice of Conflict Resolution

Questions of evaluation are important to conveners, participants and funders of conflict resolution initiatives. Yet good evaluation is tied to a number of complicated questions concerning what constitutes success and failure in projects that may be multi-dimensional or only part of an effort to settle a larger conflict. Rothman has offered Action Evaluation as a methodology that seeks to incorporate goal setting and evaluation into project designs. He argues that this will improve a project by monitoring the changing nature of goals through the life of a conflict resolution intervention, and action evaluation’s self-conscious attention to goal setting offers a mechanism for developing and committing an intervention to specific internal and external standards of evaluation. This article examines Action Evaluation as a theory of practice, considering its conceptual strengths and examining specific issues of its implementation

Computed torque control of a free-flying cooperat ing-arm robot

The unified approach to solving free-floating space robot manipulator end-point control problems is presented using a control formulation based on an extension of computed torque. Once the desired end-point accelerations have been specified, the kinematic equations are used with momentum conservation equations to solve for the joint accelerations in any of the robot's possible configurations: fixed base or free-flying with open/closed chain grasp. The joint accelerations can then be used to calculate the arm control torques and internal forces using a recursive order N algorithm. Initial experimental verification of these techniques has been performed using a laboratory model of a two-armed space robot. This fully autonomous spacecraft system experiences the drag-free, zero G characteristics of space in two dimensions through the use of an air cushion support system. Results of these initial experiments are included which validate the correctness of the proposed methodology. The further problem of control in the large where not only the manipulator tip positions but the entire system consisting of base and arms must be controlled is also presented. The availability of a physical testbed has brought a keener insight into the subtleties of the problem at hand

Some Guidelines for Conceptualizing Success in Conflict Resolution Evaluation

The immediate job of project evaluation is to decide what worked and what didn’t. However, the more challenging task is making sense of why success or failure occurred and in so doing to propose appropriate future action. Effective evaluation of conflict resolution initiatives is complicated since interventions involve multiple goals and cross-level connections where indirect effects are often not seen in the short-run. This paper argues that there is no single best instrument or method for evaluating the extent to which conflict resolution practice has been successful. However, this does not mean that evaluation should be ignored. Instead projects need to develop methods that are good enough to be applied in contextually appropriate ways. To assist in this process, this article offers six guidelines for deciding when, how, and the extent to which specific conflict resolution interventions are effective. Good evaluation requires a self-conscious effort to articulate the most significant goals of different groups of participants and to track goal evolution in the course of a project using multiple, operational criteria. It should addresses the question of transfer, the ways in which direct work with only a small number of project participants, is expected to have more extensive, indirect effects on the course of the wider conflict. If it is done well, good evaluation helps practitioners define future activities and helps interveners and funders to imagine good-enough conflict management asking not whether they have fully resolved a complicated conflict but whether they have improved conditions sufficiently so that the parties in the conflict are more likely to develop the capacity to manage it constructively in the future

Industrial energy conservation

Industrial processes are extraordinarily diverse, so the physical conditions for energy conservation are diverse. The opportunities for conservation also depend on the economic and technological outlook of each industry. This chapter briefly examines the subject as a whole and explores a few examples to a little depth. These issues are touched upon: the structure and trends in use of energy, the thermodynamic factors that influence energy intensity, and examples of technical change enabling the reduction of energy intensity—from operations to conservation equipment to revolutionary changes in manufacturing process. The future of the energy‐intensive industries and energy conservation is also discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87547/2/347_1.pd

Mortgage Lenders' Market Response to a Landmark Regulatory Decision Based on Fair Lending Compliance

Regulation of real estate lending has substantially increased in the past decade. Government efforts to improve compliance with Community Reinvestment Act mandates are evidence of increased emphasis on racial equal opportunity in loan origination. To investigate the impact of these efforts, this paper examines the Federal Reserve Bank rejection of Shawmut National Corporation's application to buy New Dartmouth Bank. Rejection was based on Shawmut's poor compliance with fair-lending guidelines. Testing finds significant negative abnormal stock returns for samples of mortgage lenders on the announcement day of Shawmut's application rejection. In addition, cross-sectional analysis reveals an inverse relationship between national banks' cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) and a measure of fair lending.

An Empirical Examination of Compensation of REIT Managers

Principal-agent literature finds that manager and owner incentives can be aligned with performance contingent contracts. We investigate the compensation of Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) industry executives. The competitive nature of mortgage and equity markets, in conjunction with the corporate tax exemption available when REITs distribute most of their earnings as dividends, is likely to influence the compensation of REIT managers. Executive compensation is modeled as a function of revenues and unexpected profit. After transforming the model to reduce collinearity and heteroskedasticity, we find compensation to be generally positively related to revenue. We also find unexpected profit to be generally insignificantly related to compensation, but positively related in those cases where it is significant.

Sipping Fuel and Saving Lives: Increasing Fuel Economy without Sacrificing Safety

Demonstrates how new fuel-efficiency technologies make it possible, and advisable, to significantly increase the fuel economy of motor vehicles without compromising their safety