Meta-analyses of Post-acquisition Performance: Indications of Unidentified Moderators

Empirical research has not consistently identified antecedents for predicting post-acquisition performance. We employ meta-analytic techniques to empirically assess the impact of the most commonly researched antecedent variables on post-acquisition performance. We find robust results indicating that, on average and across the most commonly studied variables, acquiring firms’ performance does not positively change as a function of their acquisition activity, and is negatively affected to a modest extent. More importantly, our results indicate that unidentified variables may explain significant variance in post-acquisition performance, suggesting the need for additional theory development and changes to M&A research methods

Application of multispectral radar and LANDSAT imagery to geologic mapping in death valley

Side-Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR) images, acquired by JPL and Strategic Air Command Systems, and visible and near-infrared LANDSAT imagery were applied to studies of the Quaternary alluvial and evaporite deposits in Death Valley, California. Unprocessed radar imagery revealed considerable variation in microwave backscatter, generally correlated with surface roughness. For Death Valley, LANDSAT imagery is of limited value in discriminating the Quaternary units except for alluvial units distinguishable by presence or absence of desert varnish or evaporite units whose extremely rough surfaces are strongly shadowed. In contrast, radar returns are most strongly dependent on surface roughness, a property more strongly correlated with surficial geology than is surface chemistry

Reminiscences

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/civ_clip/1010/thumbnail.jp

A Bayesian Model of Pasture Curing

Curing percentage (the percentage of dead material in the sward) is a necessary component of fire behaviour modelling and subsequent fire danger ratings in grasslands. Current methods of estimating curing have limitations. Curing is controlled by leaf turnover in grasses but individual leaf turnover rates of themselves do not give estimates of curing. Bayesian modelling provides the potential to incorporate leaf turnover rates representing the entire life cycle of each leaf into a standalone model of curing from which statistical summaries can be generated and used in field models. In this study, curing percentage was estimated over thermal time for four common C3 grasses, and tested against field data

A Policy Maker’s Guide to Designing Payments for Ecosystem Services

Over the past five years, there has been increasing interest around the globe in payment schemes for the provision of ecosystem services, such as water purification, carbon sequestration, flood control, etc. Written for an Asian Development Bank project in China, this report provides a user-friendly guide to designing payments for the provision of ecosystem services. Part I explains the different types of ecosystem services, different ways of assessing their value, and why they are traditionally under-protected by law and policy. This is followed by an analysis of when payments for services are a preferable approach to other policy instruments. Part II explains the design issues underlying payments for services. These include identification of the service as well as potential buyers and sellers, the level of service needed, payment timing, payment type, and risk allocation. Part II contains a detailed analysis of the different types of payment mechanisms, ranging from general subsidy and certification to mitigation and offset payments. Part III explores the challenges to designing a payment scheme. These include the ability to monitor service provision, secure property rights, perverse incentives, supporting institutions, and poverty alleviation

Few-body resonances of unequal-mass systems with infinite interspecies two-body s-wave scattering length

Two-component Fermi and Bose gases with infinitely large interspecies s-wave scattering length $a_s$ exhibit a variety of intriguing properties. Among these are the scale invariance of two-component Fermi gases with equal masses, and the favorable scaling of Efimov features for two-component Bose gases and Bose-Fermi mixtures with unequal masses. This paper builds on our earlier work [D. Blume and K. M. Daily, arXiv:1006.5002] and presents a detailed discussion of our studies of small unequal-mass two-component systems with infinite $a_s$ in the regime where three-body Efimov physics is absent. We report on non-universal few-body resonances. Just like with two-body systems on resonance, few-body systems have a zero-energy bound state in free space and a diverging generalized scattering length. Our calculations are performed within a non-perturbative microscopic framework and investigate the energetics and structural properties of small unequal-mass two-component systems as functions of the mass ratio $\kappa$, and the numbers $N_{1}$ and $N_2$ of heavy and light atoms. For purely attractive Gaussian two-body interactions, we find that the $(N_1,N_2)=(2,1)$ and $(3,1)$ systems exhibit three-body and four-body resonances at mass ratios $\kappa = 12.314(2)$ and 10.4(2), respectively. The three- and four-particle systems on resonance are found to be large. This suggests that the corresponding wave function has relatively small overlap with deeply-bound dimers, trimers or larger clusters and that the three- and four-body systems on resonance have a comparatively long lifetime. Thus, it seems feasible that the features discussed in this paper can be probed experimentally with present-day technology.Comment: 17 pages, 17 figure

Countryside biogeography of neotropical herbaceous and shrubby plants

As human impacts on the environment intensify, the future of plant and animal biodiversity will depend increasingly on the floras surviving in human-dominated "countryside" habitats. To begin to characterize these floras for the Neotropics, we investigated the richness and composition of herbaceous and shrubby plant communities in six forested and deforested habitats, in three replicated study areas (7.5-km in diameter), of southern Costa Rica. We chose habitat types that are common throughout the tropics, to begin building a general understanding of both the habitats of origin and the diversity of countryside floras. Focal forest habitats were understory, 1- to 2-year-old tree-fall gaps, and riverbanks, all in primary forest. Focal deforested habitats were ungrazed road verges, grazed pasture, and riverbanks in grazed pasture. Non-riverbank habitats were sampled both near and far from. forest edge. In total, we sampled 772 species from 79 families, similar to 40% of the non-tree plant diversity of the region. Only 6% of identified species are known to be exotic. In each study area, understory and pasture plots were consistently species poor, while tree-fall gaps and road verges near forest were consistently the most species-rich habitats. In each study area, we found the same proportion of species restricted to forested habitats (similar to 45%) and deforested habitats (similar to 37%), and the same proportion of "countryside-habitat generalists" ( similar to 18%) occurring in both forested and deforested habitats. However, different forested habitats supported different proportions of country side-habitat generalists in each study area, although understory plots consistently 'supported the fewest generalists. Among forested habitats, riverbanks were the most similar floristically to deforested habitats. Pasture riverbanks and road verges near forest supported plant communities most similar to those in forested habitats. The uniqueness and richness of each habitat suggests that countrysides with diverse land uses can support many native herbaceous and shrubby plant species. As it becomes increasingly difficult to protect large tracts of undisturbed tropical forest, we suggest that conservation goals expand to encompass maintenance of heterogeneity in countryside landscapes

Enhancing Grasslands Education With Decision Support Tools

We have successfully used Decision Support Tools (DST) relevant to the management of grazing enterprises to enhance problem solving skills of undergraduates in Australia. Tools such as GrassGro™ (Moore et al., 1997) and GrazFeed™ (Freer et al., 1997) are accessed from a central server by authorised users at many widely dispersed Universities across Australia using remote access to thin-client technology via an Internet portal. This has been supplemented with training for lecturers. Experience in developing appropriate teaching and learning materials and the reliable delivery of simulation software to many clients has enhanced learning outcomes at tertiary level. We are also trialling the use of DST to other learning sectors

Three Dimensional (3D) Reconstruction of Subterranean Clover

Three dimensional (3D) plant reconstructions, extended to four dimensions with the use of time series and accompanied by visual modelling, is being used for a number of purposes including the estimation of biovolume and as the basis for functional structural plant modelling (FSPM). This has been successfully applied to crop species such as cotton (Paproki et al. 2012). Measuring the growth pattern and arrangement of a pasture sward is a difficult task but can be used as an indirect measure of other variables of interest, such as growth rate, light interception, nutritional quality, herbivore intake, etc. (Laca and Lemaire 2000). Digital representation of individual plants in three dimensions is one way to determine sward structure. The High Resolution Plant Phenomics Centre (HRPPC) has developed PlantScan™ which combines robotics, image analysis and computing advances, to accelerate and automate the measurement of plant growth characteristics and allow discrimination of differences between individual plants within species. Image silhouettes and LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) are used and combined to digitise plant architecture in three dimensions with a high level of detail. Colour information, extracted from multispectral sensors, and thermal imaging from infra-red (IR) cameras are then overlaid on these 3D plant representations, thus providing a tool to link plant structure to plant function. Successful reconstructions using data collected by PlantScan™ in controlled conditions, have been conducted for a range of grasses such as wheat (Triticum aestivum), rice (Oryza sativa), corn (Zea mays) and broadleaf species such as canola (Brassica napus), cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) and tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). This suggests that modelling the sward structure of grass and legume pasture species should be equally achievable. This study explores the use of PlantScanTM to reconstruct 3D images of the important and common pasture legume, subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum) with a view to analysing their 3D structure in-silico

Invisibility in billiards

The question of invisibility for bodies with mirror surface is studied in the framework of geometrical optics. We construct bodies that are invisible/have zero resistance in two mutually orthogonal directions, and prove that there do not exist bodies which are invisible/have zero resistance in all possible directions of incidence