Ownership and Firm Performance: Evidence from 25 Countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

Using the joint World Bank and EBRD Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS), compiled in 1999, this paper explores the relationship between firm performance and ownership in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Former Soviet Union (FSU). The literature on privatization and performance has been largely inconclusive, especially now that sample selection bias is taken into account. This paper provides evidence that foreign owned firms perform the best, performing significantly better than state owned enterprises, while firms whose owners are domestic outside companies or individuals also perform better than state owned enterprises but the result is somewhat sensitive to the specification of the model. The more significant, albeit puzzling result, is that insider owned firms perform worse than state owned firms. This result is not significant when looking at manager and worker owned firms separately. In further work, I will explore the determinants of this puzzling result.transition, privatization, ownership, firm performance

Water Quality Index Mapping of Kengeri Industrial Area of Bangalore City Using Geospatial Analysis

Assessment of groundwater quality is essential in the field of environmental quality management. The present study aims at the assessment of groundwater quality of Kengeri industrial area, comprises of 133.95 Sq Km, in Bangalore city with the help of water quality index (WQI).The groundwater samples collected from thirty locations were analyzed as per the standard methods. pH, total hardness, iron, chloride, fluoride, total dissolved solids, calcium, magnesium, sulphate and nitrate were considered for the study. The WQI of thirty samples were ranged between 0.92 and 361.41. Nearly 24 % of the samples exceeded the value of WQI 100. The high value of WQI may be attributed due to higher concentrations of iron, nitrate, total dissolved solids, total hardness and fluorides beyond desirable limits in the groundwater samples. During post monsoon season, groundwater of about 42.78 Sq Km area was unfit for drinking. The analysis reveals that the groundwater of south-west Kengeri industrial area needs some treatment before using it for domestic applications and it also necessitates for protection from the risk of further contaminatio

Planar Reinforcements for Flexible Pavements

ase and subbase layers, forming a major portion of a pavement, are constructed using crushe d aggregates. In order to reduce the consumption of h uge quantities of aggregates in large-size projects, it is essential to adapt and utilize alternate materials and design me thods in building sustainable road ways. Reinforcing flexibl e pavements is one of the ways to improve the performance or to reduce the pavement thickness. Many researchers conducted exp eriments to quantify the benefit of reinforcing flexible pav ements in terms of traffic benefit ratio (TBR). In this study , Large Scale Model Experiments (LSME) are conducted to investigate the settlement behaviour of unpaved pavement system aga inst static loading. The design of reinforced unpaved ro ads is carried out using Giroud and Han method with reinfo rcement in the form of geogrids having aperture stability m odulus of 0.32 N-m/ 0 and 0.65 N-m/ 0 . The design of reinforced paved roads is carried out using AASHTO guidelines with th e selected TBR values equal to 3 and 6. From the LSME conducted on the unreinforced and reinforced unpave d pavement system, it is observed that inclusion of p lanar reinforcement in the form of geogrid or steel-wire- mesh within the aggregate layer resulted in load improvement fa ctor ranging from 1.1 to 1.9. Based on the design carrie d out using the proposed methods on paved and unpaved reinforce d roads, it is possible to reduce the pavement thickness fro m 20% to 70% depending on the type of geogrid and subgrade s trength

Growth and Characterization of Nickel Catalyzed Gallium Oxide Nanowires on Sapphire Substrate

Beta gallium oxide (-Ga2O3) nanowires (NWs) were synthesized via chemical vapor deposition in argon atmosphere using gallium as a precursor and sapphire substrate coated with ultra thin film of nickel (Ni). In this report, we report the growth of -Ga2O3 NWs as a function of deposition time. The structure and morphology of grown NWs were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results revealed that single crystal growth of the NWs and their crystallinity improved with the increase in the deposition time. The diameter of -Ga2O3 NWs varied in the range between 40-80 nm and their length was observed up to many micrometers. The optical property of NWs was determined using UV-visible spectrophotometer and the bandgap of -Ga2O3 NWs was found to be about 4.30 eV. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/3099

Long Term Bioremediation of Petroleum Contaminated Soil under Varying Moisture Content

Petroleum hydrocarbon spills cause contamination of soils, surface aquifers and groundwater supplies, thereby having a negative impact on the environment. Advances in science and technology have enabled us to apply the potential of biological diversity for pollution abatement which is termed as bioremediation. Bioremediation is an innovative technology for the treatment of wide variety of contaminants. The present study was hence focused on treating petroleum contaminated soils utilizing the potential of bioremediation. The study emphasizes on hydrocarbon degradation during the long term bioremediation of petroleum contaminated soil. Moisture content of the soil was considered for optimization, in order to evaluate its influence on the biodegradation process. Biodegradation of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) was examined for 28 bioreactors with varying moisture content (30% - 90% field capacity) and one reactor was taken as control bioreactor. The physico-chemical and biological characteristics of the soil were tested on a weekly basis for a period of 23 weeks to determine the TPH degradation rate. It was observed that at moisture content of 60% field capacity, maximum TPH removal of 78.21% was recorded and the degradation rate constants for rapid and slow phase of degradation were 0.0250 d-1 and 0.00267 d-1respectively. Since the first (rapid) stage of degradation was dominating, efforts to enhance biological activity should be directed towards the first phase of biodegradation

Depression in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients: a cross sectional study from rural tertiary care hospital of South Karnataka, India

Background: Depression is associated with a 60% increased risk of Type 2 Diabetes mellitus and diabetes doubles the odds of depression. This study was undertaken to estimate the prevalence of depression and to assess the association between glycemic control and depression in diabetic patients.Methods: Total 130 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients were included in this cross-sectional hospital-based study. Study protocol included detailed clinical history, examination, administering of questionnaire-based scale and investigations. Fasting plasma glucose, post prandial plasma glucose, HbA1c, lipid profile, renal function test and electrolytes of these subjects were determined. Becks depression inventory (BDI) scale was used for diagnosis and grading the severity of depression among these patients.Results: Out of 130 diabetic patients, depression was present in 39.23% of the individuals, among which, 16.15% had mild depression, 10% had borderline depression, 7.69% had moderate depression, 3.07% had severe depression and 2.3% had extreme depression. Prevalence of depression in patients with glycated haemoglobin levels of ≤6.4 was found to be 29.16%, 6.5 to 7 was 33.76% and ≥7.1% was 62.07%.Conclusions: Depression was found to be more common in diabetic patients compared to general population. The prevalence of depression was more among patients with long duration of diabetes, female sex, Muslim religion, substance abuse, complications associated with diabetes and poor glycaemic control. More case control studies with larger sample size are needed to confirm this association

Pain, Physical and Social Functioning, and Quality of Life in Individuals with Multiple Hereditary Exostoses in the Netherlands

Background: This study aimed to assess pain and quality of life in a large cohort of patients with multiple hereditary exostoses. Methods: All 322 known patients with multiple hereditary exostoses in the Netherlands were asked to participate. An age-specific questionnaire was sent to children (less than eighteen years old) and adults. The questionnaire focused on pain, daily activities, and school and/or professional situation. Adults also filled out the RAND-36 questionnaire.Results were statistically analyzed with use of the SPSS 15.0 software and with the chi-square test and multiple logistic regression. A p value of <0.05 was regarded as significant. Results: Two hundred and eighty-three patients (88%), including 184 adults (65%) and ninety-nine children (35%), completed the questionnaire. Multiple hereditary exostoses resulted in various physical and social consequences. The majority of adults (119) were employed; however, thirty-three (28%) had changed jobs because of the symptoms of multiple hereditary exostoses and twenty-five (21%) required adjustments in their working environment. Of the sixty-five adults who were not employed, thirteen were medically unfit to work. Of eighty-five children attending school, forty-five (53%) experienced problems at school. The symptoms of multiple hereditary exostoses caused twenty-seven children (27%) and eighty-five adults (46%) to stop participating in sporting activities. Pain was the greatest problem, with sixty-two children (63%) and 152 adults (83%) who reported recent pain. On multivariate analysis, pain in adults was correlated most significantly with age and problems at work, and pain in children was correlated with the perception of the disease and problems at school. Adult patients with multiple hereditary exostoses had a lower quality of life than the Dutch reference groups, with lower scores on six of eight RAND-36 subscales. Conclusions: Our study confirms that multiple hereditary exostoses is a chronic disease causing a profound impact on quality of life. The results suggest that pain is not the only problem associated with multiple hereditary exostoses, as it has an extensive influence on daily activities, as well as on social and psychological well-being, causing significant disability

Pigeonpea genotypes influence parasitization preference and survival and development of the Helicoverpa armigera larval parasitoid, Campoletis chlorideae

Studies were undertaken to identify pigeonpea, Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh and the wild relative of pigeonpea, Cajanus scarabaeoides (L.) (accession ICPW 125,) genotypes that are hospitable to the pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) larval parasitoid, Campoletis chlorideae Uchida (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) for the management of this pest in pigeonpea based cropping systems. Percentage parasitization of the H. armigera larvae by the C. chlorideae females was greater under no-choice conditions than under multi-choice conditions because of forced parasitization under no-choice conditions. Lowest parasitization was recorded on the wild relative, ICPW 125, which may be due to long nonglandular hairs and low survival of H. armigera larvae. Parasitization of H. armigera larvae was greater under no-choice, dual-choice and/or multi-choice conditions on ICPL 87, ICPL 87119 and ICPL 87091, which are susceptible to H. armigera, than on the pod borer-resistant genotypes ICPL 332WR, ICPL 84060 and ICPB 2042; while survival and development of the parasitoid was better on H. armigera larvae fed on ICPL 87, ICPL 87119, LRG 41, ICP 7035 and ICPL 87091 than on ICPL 332WR, ICPL 84060, ICPB 2042 and ICPW 125. The genotypes ICPL 87, ICPL 87119, LRG 42 and ICPL 87091 that are hospitable to C. chloridae, are better suited for use in integrated pest management to minimize the losses due to H. armigera in pigeonpe