The DoD Law of War Manual and its Critics: Some Observations

The U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) new Law of War Manual has generated serious debate about its treatment of a variety of issues including human shields, the status of journalists, cyber operations, the precautions to be taken prior to attacks and even the role of honor in war. Although this article does not purport to be a comprehensive response to every critique of the Manual and, indeed, cites opportunities for its improvement, it nevertheless concludes that on balance the Manual provides an excellent, comprehensive and much-needed statement of DoD’s view of the lex lata of the law of war

Ergonomic fingerings for guitar chordsequences

An algorithm has been developed which generates fingeringsfor guitar chord sequences using a cost minimizing function.The performance of the algorithm was evaluated by two professional guitarists and the results indicate that the approach gives viable solutions. With a few minor improvements the algorithm can be a good way to calculate sets of guitar chord fingerings that suit specific needs concerning playability and ergonomic constraints.En algoritm har utvecklats som genererar fingersättningar för ackordsekvenser på gitarr med hjälp av en kostnadsminimerande funktion. Utvärderingen av algoritmen gjordes av två professionella gitarrister och resultaten indikerar att denna approach ger dugliga resultat. Efter ett par smärre förbättringar kan algoritmen vara ett bra sätt att beräkna fingersättningar som uppfyller specifika krav på spelbarhet och ergonomiska hänsyn

Value creation through digital solutions in the energy industry : A case study at Skellefteå Kraft AB

Purpose – The purpose of this master thesis is to gain a better understanding of how value creation can be achieved with digital solutions in the energy industry. More specifically, this research aims to increase the understanding of factors that affect customer value in form of exploring the customers’ digital wants and needs. Method – This master thesis uses a combination of exploratory and descriptive approach which is based on qualitative data gathered from semi-structured interviews with area experts and focus groups with customers. In this study three area experts and four focus groups were included. The gathered data were analyzed through an abductive analysis approach and a thematic coding. Findings – The research found three main findings that energy company’s need to take into consideration. The first is that the energy industry needs to simplify the energy concept since customers’ state that the industry is too complex at the moment. Second is that value creation can be achieved in form of a superior mobile application where customers’ have the ability to follow their consumption and can gain improved customer care. The last main finding from this study show that there may be a lot of changes in the energy industry in the future, which entails many possibilities for energy companies to improve customer value. Recommendations – The recommendations from this study is that energy companies need to address that the driving force to buy in the energy industry is that customers want to like their energy company. The energy industry must change their focus and provide marketing strategies that are appealing to the customers’ emotions. Companies in the energy industry also need to deal with the increasing digitalization that is affecting society everywhere. The development of a great mobile application will improve a lot of things for the customers such as making their consumption controllable and easier to grasp, which will make them more satisfied. It is also recommended that energy companies in Sweden unite and together make a proposition to the EU to drop the regulations on electricity charges in order to unlock energy companies’ ability to make energy subscription customer friendly. Research contribution – This master thesis contributes to the three dimensions that customer value derived from, in the energy industry digital solutions affect functional and emotional value but has low impact on social value. It also occurred that simplicity, control, better information and customers’ buy with their heart are key factors that contributes to customer value in the industry, which contributes to both theoretical and practical. Digitalization are also moving fast in the energy industry which companies need to embrace right away and take action to not fall behind. Paper type – Master thesi

Are likes as important for brands as it is for the teenager next door? : An explanatory study of how activity and engagement in social media as a brand community have an impact on attitude and repetitive purchases.

Background: In recent years, the emergence of the internet and social networks have allowed consumers to interact and communicate quickly, this means that online social media-based brand communities are an important part of the market. However, does the engagement and activity on social media-based brand communities affect the consumers’ attitude and repetitive purchase?. That is what this research set out to find out. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explain how Social Media Brand Community affects consumers’ attitudes and repurchase behavior based on their activity. Methodology: For this research, a quantitative method was conducted. The research was explanatory, and a cross-sectional research design was used. Afterward, a questionnaire was developed and shared via internet platforms to collect the data needed for this study. Findings: It can be seen that both Activity and Engagement within Social Media brand communities have a statistically significant relationship with Consumers’ attitudes. However, it could also be seen that neither Activity or Engagement have a statistically significant relationship with Repetitive Purchase. Conclusion: Two of the null hypotheses were rejected and two failed to be rejected. To conclude, the results showed that activity and engagement had an effect on attitude but it did not have an effect on repetitive purchases

Is your brand loyalty affected by the country? : An explanatory investigation of the relationship between brand loyalty and country-of-origin in a Swedish context

Background: Brand loyalty is a rather old concept and has become a central part of everybrand and there are many factors that need to be considered when choosing strategies in orderto achieve this. However, even though the concept itself is rather set-in stone the research onhow brands archive this in different contexts is constantly in motion, for instance it has beenshown that a brand's Country-of-Origin has effects on consumers purchase intent and attitudeswhich are crucial factors within Brand loyalty.  Purpose: The Purpose of this paper is to explain what effect COO has on brand loyalty of Swedish consumers. Methodology: For this research a quantitative method was used. The research wasexplanatory, and a cross-sectional research design was chosen. After this a questionnaire wasconstructed and shared through two platforms in order to collect the data that was needed forthe research. Findings: Both our hypotheses from the proposed model were rejected, therefore theresearcher could conclude that Country-of-Origin has no effect on brand loyalty of Swedish consumers. Conclusion: Even though both hypotheses were rejected, did the research contribute withknowledge that COO has no significant effect on brand loyalty since such research has notbeen done before. However, the research also contributes with knowledge towards previousresearch, where it has been shown that perceived quality from a country has an effect onconsumers' purchase intent and attitudes. Whereby, our test showed that it also has an effecton brand loyalty when tested alone without the country image

Are likes as important for brands as it is for the teenager next door? : An explanatory study of how activity and engagement in social media as a brand community have an impact on attitude and repetitive purchases.

Background: In recent years, the emergence of the internet and social networks have allowed consumers to interact and communicate quickly, this means that online social media-based brand communities are an important part of the market. However, does the engagement and activity on social media-based brand communities affect the consumers’ attitude and repetitive purchase?. That is what this research set out to find out. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explain how Social Media Brand Community affects consumers’ attitudes and repurchase behavior based on their activity. Methodology: For this research, a quantitative method was conducted. The research was explanatory, and a cross-sectional research design was used. Afterward, a questionnaire was developed and shared via internet platforms to collect the data needed for this study. Findings: It can be seen that both Activity and Engagement within Social Media brand communities have a statistically significant relationship with Consumers’ attitudes. However, it could also be seen that neither Activity or Engagement have a statistically significant relationship with Repetitive Purchase. Conclusion: Two of the null hypotheses were rejected and two failed to be rejected. To conclude, the results showed that activity and engagement had an effect on attitude but it did not have an effect on repetitive purchases

Osedax mucofloris (Polychaeta, Siboglinidae), a bone-eating marine worm new to Norway

The bone-eating siboglinid polychaete Osedax mucofloris Glover, Källström, Smith & Dahlgren, 2005 is reported from Norwegian waters for the first time. Dense growth was found on bovine bones deposited at 118 meters depth off western Norway. Dwarf males were observed for the first time. The two specimens sequenced were identical to haplotypes previously found at a Swedish whale fall. The possibility of finding additional species of Osedax is discussed