177 research outputs found
Board Interlocks and Their Impact on Corporate Governance: The Indian Experience - Coping with Corporate Cholesterol
Board interlocks occur when a director of one organization sits on the board of directors of another organization. The causes and consequences of these interlocks have been much debated in the western literature but comparatively little is known about interlocks in Indian corporate boards. Board interlocks are essentially analogous to cholesterol. Both are facts of life. Like good cholesterol, there are aspects of interlocking directorates that are beneficial and there are others that are detrimental to the corporation and its stakeholders and their respective interests. In this study, we find that board interlocks are quite widespread in India. Taking a (numerically) small but nevertheless (in terms of market capitalization) an important slice of available corporate data, we observed that in 2010, ‘highly boarded’ directors (defined as those on the board of 5 or more listed NSE companies) who constitute just 6 percent of the overall pool of directors among NSE100 companies are associated with 486 NSE listed companies which account for a whopping 66 percent of the total market capitalization of all NSE listed companies. Interestingly, there appears to be a marked increase in market capitalization of these ‘highly boarded’ companies, which these ‘highly boarded’ directors are linked to over the last several years. For instance, for the 3 years from 2001 to 2003, the market capitalization of ‘highly boarded’ companies ranged between 33 percent to 43 percent; it moved up to peak of 70 percent in 2007 and was at 66 percent in 2010 (the latest year in the study period). The substantive rise in market capitalization of these ‘highly boarded’ companies has coincided with only a marginal increase (from 5% to 6%) in the proportion of ‘highly boarded’ directorships. These trends suggest that despite the well-intentioned regulatory reforms (a) the extent of over-boarding/interlocking among directors has not come down (there is actually a marginal increase) and (b) there appears to be increasing concentration of power among key individuals. Given the general view that concentration of power in a few individuals or entities is not desirable in the larger interests of society, it would appear that the observed trends in the concentration of power among a handful of the country’s corporate elite is a matter for substantive public policy concern. Finally, the regression analysis indicates a positive impact on Return on Assets (ROA) for ‘highly boarded’ directors signifying a negation of the agency centric conceptualization on the role of multiple directors. Instead, connectedness variables (Eigen vector) which proxy for the Resource dependency hypothesis are quite strongly supported. In a nutshell, from public policy perspective, the analysis potentially reflects the ‘bad cholesterol’ elements of multiple directorships in terms of a tiny segment of ‘highly boarded’ directors controlling a significant portion of the country’s economic prowess, whereas the positive influences on company performance provide some evidence of the ‘good cholesterol’.
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Application of Solid Freeform Fabrication Processes for Injection Molding Low Production Quantities: Process Parameters and Ejection Force Requirements for SLS Inserts
Studies are underway for the application of solid freeform fabrication processes for mold
inserts to be used in thermoplastic injection molding of low quantities of parts. This work
initially compares a laser sintered insert (LaserForm™ ST-100) with a steel insert. Models and
experiments determine process parameters, including molding latitude, and ejection force
requirements. Ejection force predictions are based on work by Menges, using values for elastic
modulus determined from tensile tests at ejection temperatures. Similar studies are planned for
stereolithography inserts (SL 5170).Mechanical Engineerin
Sorghum and Millet Economies in Asia – Facts, Trends and Outlook
Sorghum and millets are important cereals that
play a significant role in the food and nutrition
security of developing countries. Together,
they account for 10% of Asia’s coarse grain
production. India is the largest producer of
sorghum and millets, accounting for over 80%
of Asia’s production. However, the yield levels
in India are relatively low despite the adoption
of improved cultivars and hybrids
Non-equilibrium interface equations: An application to thermo-capillary motion in binary systems
Interface equations are derived for both binary diffusive and binary fluid
systems subjected to non-equilibrium conditions, starting from the
coarse-grained (mesoscopic) models. The equations are used to describe
thermo-capillary motion of a droplet in both purely diffusive and fluid cases,
and the results are compared with numerical simulations. A mesoscopic chemical
potential shift, owing to the temperature gradient, and associated mesoscopic
corrections involved in droplet motion are elucidated.Comment: 12 pages; Latex, revtex, ap
Nanoparticle assembly: a perspective and some unanswered questions
In early 2016, the Royal Society of Chemistry arranged a meeting on the topic 'Nanoparticle Assemblies: from Fundamentals to Applications' which was hosted at IIT-Bombay, Mumbai. The meeting brought several leading nanoscience and nanotechnology researchers to India and is only the second Faraday Discussions meeting to have been held in the country. The papers presented at the meeting and the resulting active discussions have been summarized in a Faraday Discussion issue(1). The broad range of topics discussed at the meeting led to an understanding on where we stand in the field of nanoparticle assembly, and also enunciated some of the outstanding fundamental and practical issues that remain to be resolved before these ideas can be applied to practical situations. Driven by these ideas, here we focus on four topics/questions: (i) Can we achieve function-driven design of nanoparticle assemblies? (ii) What is the minimal information needed to build a desired assembly? (iii) How complex a structure can one build? How can one make it responsive? What are the relative roles of equilibrium versus dynamics in the assembly process, and are we at a point where we can now pursue active assembly as a viable mode for creating complex assemblies? (iv) What are the applications that are being targeted and what are the barriers to implementation? In this perspective, we do not present an exhaustive survey of the vast literature in this area, but indicate overarching themes/questions that require immediate attention, largely based on the discussions at the Mumbai meeting.open
Groundnut and Soybean Economies in Asia: Facts, Trends and Outlook
This report provides a factual assessment of demand, production and international trade in oilseeds and their
products in Asia, and explores future prospects for the oilseed sector by focusing on groundnut and soybean,
the two most important crops grown in the continent. Rising per capita incomes and increasing urbanization are
fuelling rapid growth in demand for edible oils in most Asian countries, raising their consumption rates close to
the global average. Further, demand for oilcake meals – as animal feed – too has been increasing fast due to rapid
growth in the livestock sector
Row-switched states in two-dimensional underdamped Josephson junction arrays
When magnetic flux moves across layered or granular superconductor
structures, the passage of vortices can take place along channels which develop
finite voltage, while the rest of the material remains in the zero-voltage
state. We present analytical studies of an example of such mixed dynamics: the
row-switched (RS) states in underdamped two-dimensional Josephson arrays,
driven by a uniform DC current under external magnetic field but neglecting
self-fields. The governing equations are cast into a compact
differential-algebraic system which describes the dynamics of an assembly of
Josephson oscillators coupled through the mesh current. We carry out a formal
perturbation expansion, and obtain the DC and AC spatial distributions of the
junction phases and induced circulating currents. We also estimate the interval
of the driving current in which a given RS state is stable. All these
analytical predictions compare well with our numerics. We then combine these
results to deduce the parameter region (in the damping coefficient versus
magnetic field plane) where RS states can exist.Comment: latex, 48 pages, 15 figs using psfi
Tab2Know: Building a Knowledge Base from Tables in Scientific Papers
Tables in scientific papers contain a wealth of valuable knowledge for the scientific enterprise. To help the many of us who frequently consult this type of knowledge, we present Tab2Know, a new end-to-end system to build a Knowledge Base (KB) from tables in scientific papers. Tab2Know addresses the challenge of automatically interpreting the tables in papers and of disambiguating the entities that they contain. To solve these problems, we propose a pipeline that employs both statistical-based classifiers and logic-based reasoning. First, our pipeline applies weakly supervised classifiers to recognize the type of tables and columns, with the help of a data labeling system and an ontology specifically designed for our purpose. Then, logic-based reasoning is used to link equivalent entities (via sameAs links) in different tables. An empirical evaluation of our approach using a corpus of papers in the Computer Science domain has returned satisfactory performance. This suggests that ours is a promising step to create a large-scale KB of scientific knowledge
Edge Detection in Landing Budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus)
Background: While considerable scientific effort has been devoted to studying how birds navigate over long distances, relatively little is known about how targets are detected, obstacles are avoided and smooth landings are orchestrated. Here we examine how visual features in the environment, such as contrasting edges, determine where a bird will land. Methodology/Principal Findings: Landing in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) was investigated by training them to fly from a perch to a feeder, and video-filming their landings. The feeder was placed on a grey disc that produced a contrasting edge against a uniformly blue background. We found that the birds tended to land primarily at the edge of the disc and walk to the feeder, even though the feeder was in the middle of the disc. This suggests that the birds were using the visual contrast at the boundary of the disc to target their landings. When the grey level of the disc was varied systematically, whilst keeping the blue background constant, there was one intermediate grey level at which the budgerigar's preference for the disc boundary disappeared. The budgerigars then landed randomly all over the test surface. Even though this disc is (for humans) clearly distinguishable from the blue background, it offers very little contrast against the background, in the red and green regions of the spectrum. Conclusions: We conclude that budgerigars use visual edges to target and guide landings. Calculations of photoreceptor excitation reveal that edge detection in landing budgerigars is performed by a color-blind luminance channel that sums the signals from the red and green photoreceptors, or, alternatively, receives input from the red double-cones. This finding has close parallels to vision in honeybees and primates, where edge detection and motion perception are also largely color-blind
Deuteron and antideuteron production in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV
The production of deuterons and antideuterons in the transverse momentum
range 1.1 < p_T < 4.3 GeV/c at mid-rapidity in Au + Au collisions at
sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV has been studied by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC. A
coalescence analysis comparing the deuteron and antideuteron spectra with those
of protons and antiprotons, has been performed. The coalescence probability is
equal for both deuterons and antideuterons and increases as a function of p_T,
which is consistent with an expanding collision zone. Comparing (anti)proton
yields p_bar/p = 0.73 +/- 0.01, with (anti)deuteron yields: d_bar/d = 0.47 +/-
0.03, we estimate that n_bar/n = 0.64 +/- 0.04.Comment: 326 authors, 6 pages text, 5 figures, 1 Table. Submitted to PRL.
Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and
previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at
http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
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