Experts on corporate boards: more is not always better

In times of uncertainty, expert-heavy boards are more likely to hurt the chances of a firm to survive, write John Almandoz and András Tilc

State Activism and the Hidden Incentives Behind Bank Acquisitions

A number of studies have shown that, as a result of the ambiguity of U.S. legal mandates, organizations have considerable latitude in how they comply with regulations. In this paper, we address how the different agendas of the federal and state governments increase ambiguities in state-firm relations and how states are interested actors in creating opportunities for firms to navigate the federal legislation. We analyze the institutional forces behind bank acquisitions within and across state lines in order to illuminate the ways that U.S. states take advantage of federal ambiguity and are able to shape corporate practices to their benefit. We specifically examine how patterns of bank acquisitions are shaped by the crucial relationship between the federal Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and a little understood provision in the federal tax code that is implemented at the state level, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). The relationship is complex because, while the federal government uses the CRA to control bank acquisition activity, states promote use of the LIHTC, through which banks can address federal CRA concerns, and thereby promote bank acquisitions in their jurisdictions. Thus, our findings suggest that the implementation of social legislation at one level in a federal regulatory system undermines the mechanisms of social legislation at another level. We use archival research and in-depth interviews to examine the interaction between these institutional processes and formulate hypotheses that predict the ways in which bank acquisitions are constrained by banks' CRA ratings and the way states in turn help banks overcome their CRA constraints. Quantitative analyses of all bank acquisitions in the U.S. from 1990 to 2000 largely support these hypotheses

Evaluación energética de materiales y procesos en el mantenimiento de una sección de autopista en España

La evaluación energética de una autopista nos lleva a conclusiones muy interesantes sobre la importancia del correcto uso de materiales y procesos en todo su ciclo de vida. Varios estudios afirman que la etapa de mantenimiento es la que gasta más energía. (Stripple, H. 1993 y Thenoux, G et al.2006) Este estudio llega a cuantificar la energía consumida en los materiales y procesos, usando un ejemplo de una unidad de dos carriles de autopista, en la fase de mantenimiento. Para realizar el estudio, se ha definido un escenario tipo, con valores medios para España. Al tener un autopista un sistema tan complejo, se ha dividió en unidades funcionales UF, con un grado menor de complejidad y con similares características morfológicas y energéticas. Para este estudio se ha elegido la UF con mayor repercusión energética por su mayor uso en una autopista, el tronco. Formada por dos carriles por sentido, con 10m de ancho de firme y un kilómetro de medida de longitud. El objetivo es conocer el consumo energético asociado a todos los materiales y las acciones debidas al mantenimiento y conservación de una autopista, en toda la vida útil de la infraestructura, que se estima y se justifica en 50 años. Los resultados del estudio son bastante claros, sólo hay dos capítulos con un peso elevado en el consumo energético: iluminación con un 17% y con un porcentaje mayoritario, las reposiciones de firmes 78%.El resto de capítulos tienen un porcentaje inferior a 2%

Towards low-friction and wear-resistant plasma sintering dies via plasma surface co-alloying CM247 nickel alloy with V/Ag and N

Nickel based superalloys have good oxidation and creep resistance and hence they can function under high mechanical stress and high temperatures. However, their undesirable tribological behaviour is the major technical barrier to the challenging high-temperature, lubricant-free plasma sintering tool application. In this study, nickel based CM247 superalloy surfaces were co-alloyed using innovative active screen plasma technology with both interstitial element (e.g. N) and substitutional alloying elements (e.g. V and Ag) to provide a synergy effect to enhance its tribological properties. The tribological behaviour of the plasma co-alloyed CM247 superalloy surfaces were fully evaluated using reciprocal and pin-on-disc tribometers at temperatures from room temperature to 600 ∘C. The experimental results demonstrate that the co-alloyed surface with N, Ag and V can effectively lower the friction coefficient, which is expected to help demoulding during lubricant-free plasma sintering

Disrupting European authoritarianism Grassroots organizing, collective action and participatory democracy during the Eurozone crisis

Many critical scholars have tended to analyse the recent development of the European Union (EU) and its member states as a one-way street towards authoritarianism. European crisis management and disciplinary pressures resulting from global capitalism, they argue, have constricted the room for democratic decisions and significantly increased existing tendencies to erode liberal democracy. Drawing on activist experience[i] (and in an attempt to avoid the ‘left melancholy’ that characterizes a number of critical analyses), we try here to provide a more nuanced picture. In doing so, we argue that activists’ experiences during the European crisis have highlighted the increasingly exclusionary nature of the institutions, procedures, and limitations of liberal democracy under capitalism. In addition, they have allowed us to identify new – albeit fragile – forms of social organization that have challenged this growing authoritarianism. In particular, grassroots organizing around daily social problems, alongside efforts to achieve collective self-help, inclusive solidarities, and a feminization of politics – as well as first-person and new forms of participatory democracy (presentist democracy) beyond state institutions – have all been able to partially disturb and disrupt new forms of authoritarian governance. The political turn towards authoritarianism, we conclude, not only largely fails to oppress contradictory movements, but may even – at least for a certain period – produce ‘a veritable explosion of democratic demands’.[ii] The trend towards authoritarianism in the EU thus produces, and is confronted by, undercurrents that challenge it

Reduction of seafood processing wastewater using technologies enhanced by swim–bed technology

The increasing growth of the seafood processing industries considerably requires more industrial process activities and water consumption. It is estimated that approximately 10–40 m3 of wastewater is generated from those industries for processing one-tonne of raw materials. Due to limitations and regulations in natural resources utilization, a suitable and systematic wastewater treatment plant is very important to meet rigorous discharge standards. As a result of food waste biodegradability, the biological treatment and some extent of swim-bed technology, including a novel acryl-fibre (biofilm) material might be used effectively to meet the effluent discharge criteria. This chapter aims to develop understanding on current problems and production of the seafood wastewater regarding treatment efficiency and methods of treatment

Polymeric materials with multiple crystalline phases: structure, morphology and crystallization

303 p.El objetivo de esta tesis doctoral es el análisis y la comparación de sistemas poliméricos multifásicos con al menos dos fases cristalizables, para diseñar y desarrollar nuevos materiales con propiedades mejoradas. La primera parte se centra en el estudio de mezclas PET/HDPE doblemente cristalinas con nanopartículas de titanio dióxido (tres tipos) y agentes compatibilizantes. La reducción de tamaño de partícula como consecuencia de la adición de las nanopartículas mejora las propiedades mecánicas.La segunda parte del trabajo consiste en el estudio de copolímeros de bloques multicristalinos. La adición de un tercer y cuarto bloque cristalino hace el análisis mucho más desafiante, pero se han identificado las cristalizaciones de todos los bloques en: terpolímeros PE-b-PEO-b-PLLA y PE-b-PCL-b-PLLA, y tetrapolímeros PE-b-PEO-b-PCL-b-PLLA y sus correspondientes terpolímeros (PE-b-PEO-b-PCL) y demás precursores (PE-b-PEO y PE). El efecto de la velocidad de enfriamiento (20 vs. 1 ºC/min) en los terpolímeros PE-b-PEO-b-PLLA y PE-b-PCL-b-PLLA hace variar la secuencia de cristalización, siendo a20 ºC/min el bloque de PE el primero en cristalizar, mientras que a 1 ºC/min la cristalización comienza con el bloque de PLLA, finalizando en todos los casos con los bloques de PEO o PCL, lo que dará lugar a distintas morfologías y propiedades mecánicas. El estudio de los tetrapolímeros (PE-b-PEO-b-PCL-b-PLLA) y sus terpolímeros precursores (PE-b-PEO-b-PCL) mediante DSC, SAXS/WAXS y PLOM demuestra su naturaleza triple- y tetra- cristalina, siguiendo las secuencias de cristalización e identificando esferulitas triple- y tetracristalinas

European urbanism in Caracas (1870s-1930s)

The research focuses on the transfer of European urban ideas into Caracas, from Antonio Guzman Blanco's urban reforms in the 1870s to the proposal of the 1939 Plan Monumental de Caracas, devised under the guidance of the French urbanist Maurice Rotival. Considering that the emergence of urbanism cannot be reduced to its mere technical contents - especially in the backward context of the Venezuela of that period - the research traces not only the transfer of urbanistic ideas, but also the importation which took place in the domains related to the Caraquenians' urban culture and urbanity. At the same time, that urban transfer is not reduced to a deterministic effect of economic dependence, but is rather regarded as a component of the cultural relationship maintained by the Venezuelan elite with the most advanced countries of North Atlantic capitalism. By tracing the transfer of urban ideas from Europe into Caracas - which remains the core issue of the research -a parallel question is explored: the reconstruction of the primary stages which articulated the urban debate in Venezuela and underpinned modern urbanism as a discipline, a process which apparently occurred against that European background. This reconstruction involves three episodes - the urban art of the Guzmanian city, the hygiene and progress of the belle Opoque and the monumental urbanism of the democratic capital - which are presented as components of a European-oriented cycle in the history of Caracas. In order to trace that transfer and reconstruct those episodes, the research combines four types of urban discourse: the legal, political and administrative texts, the urban literature, the travel chronicles and general descriptions, and technical literature about urbanism. The interlacement of such a catalogue of specialized and non-specialized sources claims to be an innovation of the research

Analytical Model to Calculate Radial Forces in Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Machines

There are three principal sources of noise and vibration in electrical machines: electromagnetic sources, mechanical sources, and aerodynamic sources. Nowadays, one of the major advantages of permanent-magnet synchronous machines is their torque density. This density is achieved through a high magnetic flux density in the air gap, which is achieved through hard magnets. Unfortunately, in these machines, electromagnetic forces have been identified as the main source of vibration and noise, and high magnetic flux densities make these vibrations and noises more significant. With the aim of better understanding the relationship between electromagnetic forces and design variables, this article, which is the continuation of previous work, firstly describes a study of the sources of magnetic forces in permanent-magnet synchronous machines. Subsequently, an analytical model for the computation of the radial forces originating from electromagnetic sources in permanent-magnet synchronous machines is stated. This model analyzes the forces on both the rotor surface and the base of the stator tooth. The analytical results were corroborated through simulations using the finite element method (FEM) and also by experimental tests performed over two prototypes. The results achieved by the analytical model show good agreement with both FEM results and experimental measurements