Corporate Governance: Shareholder Rights And Firm Performance

In the 21st century, greater attention is being paid to the issue of shareholder rights and corporate governance in U.S. corporations by regulators, shareholders and the general public.  A previous paper by the authors finds that the level of shareholder rights generally has not increased and may have declined amongst the S&P 500 companies, despite the recent legislative and regulatory reforms.  Evidence suggests that instead firms are searching for an optimum level of shareholder rights that balances the risks and rewards of greater shareholder rights.  This study investigates the financial performance of firms with greater shareholder rights (GSR) and contrasts it with that of firms with lower shareholder rights (LSR).  This paper finds that GSR firms may perform better on some financial criteria, in absolute terms, but when adjusted for volatility, LSR firms may perform better, contrary to the conventional wisdom

Orbital debris environment for spacecraft designed to operate in low Earth orbit

The orbital debris environment model is intended to be used by the spacecraft community for the design and operation of spacecraft in low Earth orbit. This environment, when combined with material-dependent impact tests and spacecraft failure analysis, is intended to be used to evaluate spacecraft vulnerability, reliability, and shielding requirements. The environment represents a compromise between existing data to measure the environment, modeling of this data to predict the future environment, the uncertainty in both measurements and modeling, and the need to describe the environment so that various options concerning spacecraft design and operations can be easily evaluated

Solar-heated new technology house (1993)

In 1980, the College of Agriculture completed construction of a solar-heated home on a University farm near Columbia. It's called a New Technology House because it incorporates the latest technology available for home construction. The major emphasis is on energy conservation and solar heating.Reviewed October 1993

Methods of Integrating Design and Cost Information to Achieve Enhanced Manufacturing Cost/Performance Trade-offs

In this paper we address problems which arise when large organizations attempt a tight integration of design and cost while developing complex products. Topics include the sources of cost and design data, the arrangement of the databases, and the interfaces required. We also discuss the management methods required to develop and implement Design/Cost Database Commonality

Removal of acid gases and oxides of nitrogen from space cabin atmospheres

Removal of acid gases and oxides of nitrogen from spacecraft cabin atmospheres at ambient temperature

An Analysis Of The Levels And Patterns Of Shareholder Rights: 1990 - 2006

Greater attention is being paid to the issue of shareholder rights and corporate governance, particularly since the scandals of 1990s and 2000s and the stock market decline of the new millennium.  This study advances the concept of an optimum level of shareholder rights in corporate governance and analyzes the long-run trends in shareholder rights versus management entrenchment, using the G-Index.  This study finds that the level of shareholder rights generally has not increased, despite the legislative and regulatory reforms of the 2000s and contrary to the general perception.  Rather, shareholder rights have declined amongst the large, S&P 500 companies.  The paper also finds that there has been a tendency on the part of firms to converge to a median-level/norm of shareholder rights.  Evidence further suggests that firms are searching for an optimum level that balances the risks and rewards of greater shareholder rights

An Analysis of Recent Major Breakups in the Low Earth Orbit Region

Of the 4 recent major breakup events, the FY-1C ASAT test and the collision between Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251 generated the most long-term impact to the environment. About half of the fragments will still remain in orbit at least 20 years after the breakup. The A/M distribution of the Cosmos 2251 fragments is well-described by the NASA Breakup Model. Satellites made of modern materials (such as Iridium 33), equipped with large solar panels, or covered with large MLI layers (such as FY-1C) may generated significant amount of high A/M fragments upon breakup

Coring the Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2 Radiator for Impactor Trace Residue Assessment

No abstract availabl

The Space Debris Sensor Experiment

The Space Debris Sensor (SDS) is a NASA Class 1E technology demonstration external payload aboard the International Space Station (ISS). With approximately one square meter of detection area, the SDS is attached to the European Space Agency Columbus module facing the ISS velocity vector with minimal obstruction from ISS hardware. The SDS is the first flight demonstration of the Debris Resistive/Acoustic Grid Orbital NASA-Navy Sensor (DRAGONS) technology developed and matured over 10 years by the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office (ODPO), in concert with the DRAGONS consortium, to provide information on the sub-millimeter scale orbital debris environment. The SDS demonstrated the capacity to read 4 resistive grids at 1 Hz, 40 acoustic sensors at 500 kHz, and record and downlink impact data to the ground. Observable and derived data from the SDS could provide information to models that are critical to understanding risks the small debris environment poses to spacecraft in low Earth orbit. The technology demonstrated by the SDS is a major step forward in monitoring and characterizing the space debris environment. This paper will address the technical performance of the SDS during its operational lifetime and its realization of technical and scientific goals. The SDS was intended to operate for 3 years; however, the payload incurred multiple anomalies during its operational life. Subsequently termed Anomaly #1, the first was the symptomatic loss of low data rate 1553 channel command and telemetry. The second, Anomaly #2, was loss of all low- and medium-data rate (Ethernet) telemetry. Anomaly #2 proved to be unrecoverable, leading to loss of the payload after approximately 26 days on-board the ISS. Therefore, this paper also addresses the anomalies that occurred during operation of the SDS, their attribution, and their resolution. Lessons learned are described when relevant to anomaly identification, attribution, and resolution

Polyamide/Polyimide Aerogels

An aerogel and method of making the aerogel is disclosed. The aerogel is a polyimide/polyamide hybrid with a cross-linking agent that induces gelation