Promotion Tournaments and Capital Rationing

We analyze capital allocation in a conglomerate where divisional managers with uncertain abilities compete for promotion to CEO. A manager can sometimes gain by unobservably adding variance to divisional performance. Capital rationing can limit this distortion, increase productive efficiency, and allow the owner to make more accurate promotion decisions. Firms for which CEO talent is more important for firm performance are more likely to ration capital. A rationed manager is more likely to be promoted even though all managers are identical ex ante. When the tournament payoff is relatively small, offering an incentive wage can be more efficient than rationing capital; however, when tournament incentives are paramount, rationing is more efficient.

Consumers’ Intentions to Buy Energy-Efficient Household Appliances in China

This study investigates the intentions of Chinese consumers to buy electrical household products labeled as highly energy-efficient, using induction cookers as a case study. Data were collected from June to August 2019 using an online survey among Chinese residents (N = 189) recruited through convenience sampling. The SEM analysis revealed that consumers’ intentions to buy an energy-efficient induction cooker are primarily driven by their attitudes towards doing so, while perceived control also played a role. In addition, multi-group analysis revealed that paying attention to energy labels moderates relationships in the model. For Chinese consumers who do not, in general, pay attention to energy labels, the intention to buy an energy-efficient induction cooker is weakly related to the antecedents proposed by the TPB, and only the attitude towards doing so is significant. However, for consumers who generally pay attention to energy labels, relationships in the model are strong, with all three TPB antecedents being significant and jointly accounting for substantial variation in purchase intentions. This suggests that clear and sufficient information on energy-efficient products and energy labeling is necessary to convince consumers that it is worthwhile to choose energy-efficient products

Midsummer Scouting for Downy Mildew and other Soybean Diseases

Summer soybean disease scouting is revealing some interesting finds due to several years of unusual weather. This is the third year in a row that Iowa has had a cool summer. The summer of 2006 was cool, but not wet; this year and last year, cool and wet

Nonformal Education in Ghana: A Project Report

This report presents a description and analysis of nonformal educational activities carried out in Ghana over a two-year period in 1976-77. Its purpose is to share the ideas, problems, and learnings that emerged from this experience with those who are concerned with the improvement of rural nonformal education programs as well as the development of more effective collaborative relationships between American universities and such field programs

Development of a time-to-digital converter ASIC for the upgrade of the ATLAS Monitored Drift Tube detector

The upgrade of the ATLAS muon spectrometer for high-luminosity LHC requires new trigger and readout electronics for the various elements of the detector. We present the design of a time-to-digital converter (TDC) ASIC prototype for the ATLAS Monitored Drift Tube (MDT) detector. The chip was fabricated in a GlobalFoundries 130 nm CMOS technology. Studies indicate that its timing and power consumption characteristics meet the design specifications, with a timing bin variation of 40 ps for all 48 channels with a power consumption of about 6.5 mW per channel.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figure

Spectroscopy of broad absorption line quasars at 3≲z≲53\lesssim z \lesssim 5 -- I: evidence for quasar winds shaping broad/narrow emission line regions

We present an observational study of 22 broad absorption line quasars (BAL QSOs) at $3\lesssim z \lesssim5$ based on optical/near-IR spectroscopy, aiming to investigate quasar winds and their effects. The near-IR spectroscopy covers the \hb\ and/or \mgii\ broad emission lines (BELs) for these quasars, allowing us to estimate their central black hole (BH) masses in a robust way. We found that our BAL QSOs on average do not have a higher Eddington ratio than that from non-BAL QSOs matched in redshift and/or luminosity. In a subset consisting of seven strong BAL QSOs possessing sub-relativistic BAL outflows, we see the prevalence of large \civ-BEL blueshift ($\sim$3100 km s$^{-1}$) and weak \oiii\ emission (particularly the narrow \oiii$\lambda$5007 component), indicative of nuclear outflows affecting the narrow emission-line (NEL) regions. In another subset consisting of thirteen BAL QSOs having simultaneous observations of \mgii\ and \hb, we found a strong correlation between 3000~\AA\ and 5000~\AA\ monochromatic luminosity, consistent with that from non-BAL QSOs matched in redshift and luminosity; however, there is no correlation between \mgii\ and \hb\ in FWHM, likely due to nuclear outflows influencing the BEL regions. Our spectroscopic investigations offer strong evidence that the presence of nuclear outflows plays an important role in shaping the BEL/NEL regions of these quasars and possibly, regulating the growth of central supermassive black holes (SMBHs). We propose that BEL blueshift and BAL could be different manifestations of the same outflow system viewed at different sightlines and/or phases.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap