Rationality, traditionalism and the state of corporate governance mechanisms: illustrations from a less developed country

Purpose ? The purpose of this research is to provide an account of corporate governance practices in Bangladesh. This paper demonstrates that the traditionalist culture mediates the rationalist/legalist framework of corporate governance in Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach ? A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted. Observations and the personal working experience of one of the researchers, along with documentation, provided rich sources of information for the paper. Findings ? The findings show that families have a dominant presence in all aspects of corporate governance. Boards of directors in companies play a significant part in serving the interests of families rather than those of general shareholders. Research limitations/implications ? This study focuses on corporate governance practices in a traditional setting and shows how traditional culture and values are in conflict with the rational ideas imported from a different setting. It suggests that the World Bank?s expectations that Anglo-American models of corporate governance will be effective in Bangladesh and possibly other LDCs are unfounded. Originality/value ? The paper adds to the literature on corporate governance, especially in the context of LDCs. It will be of great value to researchers and practitioners seeking to gain a better understanding of corporate governance frameworks in various settings

Simulating soybean canopy temperature as affected by weather variables and soil water potential

Hourly weather data for several clear sky days during summer at Phoenix and Baltimore which covered a wide range of variables were used with a plant atmosphere model to simulate soybean (Glycine max L.) leaf water potential, stomatal resistance and canopy temperature at various soil water potentials. The air and dew point temperatures were found to be the significant weather variables affecting the canopy temperatures. Under identical weather conditions, the model gives a lower canopy temperature for a soybean crop with a higher rooting density. A knowledge of crop rooting density, in addition to air and dew point temperatures is needed in interpreting infrared radiometric observations for soil water status. The observed dependence of stomatal resistance on the vapor pressure deficit and soil water potential is fairly well represented. Analysis of the simulated leaf water potentials indicates overestimation, possibly due to differences in the cultivars

A note on solar elevation dependence of clear sky snow albedo

Recent attempts to match shortwave albedo of snow for clear skies using approximate spectral solar fluxes and solutions of the radiative transfer equation for snow were unsuccessful until a separate surface reflection term was introduced. A separate consideration of specular reflection from surface snow grains has been objected to as being ad hoc. Results based on a new parameterization of shortwave radiation are discussed. Compared to the previous radiation models, new model gives higher diffuse insolation and predicts higher albedos. The difference between observed and predicted albedos is substantially reduced without invoking surface reflection

An analysis of the Isgur-Wise Function and its derivatives within a Heavy-Light QCD Quark Model

In determining the mesonic wave function from QCD inspired potential model, if the linear confinement term is taken as parent (with columbic term as perturbation), Airy's function appears in the resultant wave function - which is an infinite series. In the study of Isgur-Wise function (IWF) and its derivatives with such a wave function, the infinite upper limit of integration gives rise to divergence. In this paper, we have proposed some reasonable cut-off values for the upper limit of such integrations and studied the subsequent effect on the results. We also study the sensitivity of the order of polynomial approximation of the infinite Airy series in calculating the derivatives of IWF.Comment: 14 pages,6 tables 8 figure