Corporate Governance and Management Succession in Family Businesses

Family businesses carry the weight of economic wealth creation in most economies. In the U.S. alone, family businesses account for 80 to 90 percent of the 18-million business enterprises in the United States, and 50 percent of the employment and GNP. In many ways, the family business is synonymous with the entrepreneurial organization as many were started as a means to provide for the financial well being of the founder's family. Founders who went on to build family empires started many of today's large corporations (e.g., Anheuser-Busch, Dupont, and Seagrams). Still, we know relatively little about the issues peculiar to a family business, such as the process and impact of succession planning. Yet, no recurring event in the life of the family firm is more critical to survival than the transfer of power from the incumbent to the successor. Organizations are especially susceptible to loss of vision and purpose during periods of CEO transition, as the leaders who helped shape the vision are replaced by others who may not share the same values and abilities. This study addresses the importance of understanding business succession planning by proposing and empirically verifying a model of succession planning and firm effectiveness in the family business. It links aspects of succession planning and successor preparation to the effectiveness of transition and from performance. The model depicts multiple interactive relationships, with emphasis placed not only on the planning and process-specific but also on successor-specific factors that lead to effectiveness.corporate governance, family businesses, management succession, firm performance, successor characteristics

Bee Communities on Managed Emergent Wetlands in the lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley of Arkansas

Native bee communities that use emergent wetlands are among the least studied systems in bee research. Most native bee species are thought to be in decline based on the loss of usable habitat across the United States. I surveyed emergent wetlands in the lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley of Arkansas during the summers of 2015 and 2016 using pan traps, blue-vane traps, and sweep nets to determine the current status of bee communities in this system. I surveyed 11 sites in 2015 and 17 sites in 2016 and found that bee communities were similar in actively versus passively managed emergent wetlands. I estimated that the probability of detecting a bee species in my study area to be high (67-86%). I also estimated that species richness in emergent wetlands ranged from 69.5-83.5 species throughout the growing season. Actively managed emergent wetlands had a lower percent cover of flowering plants throughout the growing season in comparison to passively managed wetlands. Through better understanding of bee communities in emergent wetlands, I provide a foundation to inform conservation and management decisions on emergent wetlands while also justifying continued support of Farm Bill programs like the Wetlands Reserve Program

Short term analysis services, SOLO

Issued as Final report, Project no. G-36-62

Comparison of steam and water processing on physical, chemical, and nutritive characteristics of southern peas (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp)

The objective of this investigation was to determine the effects of processing with steam (103.5 Pascal) on the physical, chemical, and nutritive values of two maturities of southern peas, as compared to peas processed in water. The moisture content of the steam-processed peas remained constant, while the water-processed peas increased in moisture content. Processing had little or no effect on the other proximate components. Processing had no effect on the amino acid profile. The chemical scores showed the peas to be high in lysine and isoleucine and low in methionine and leucine. The protein efficiency ratio (PER) increased with steam-processing up to 11 minutes, after which the PER decreased. The vitamin C content was reduced due to heating time but was not affected by the heat process method. The niacin and riboflavin contents were reduced due to process method and process time. Thiamin content was not affected by processing. The beta-carotene content was not affected by process method. Beta-catotene content was reduced in first phases of heating, after which the content remained constant. The succulent peas had a higher beta-carotene content than did the dry peas. The contents of calcium, potassium, and sodium were affected by process method. Calcium was lost to a greater extent in the steam-processed peas. The potassium content was only reduced in the water-processed peas and the content was higher in the dry peas than in the succulent peas. The sodium content was not affected by process time, but the content was higher in the water-processed peas. The phytate content was little affected by processing. The trypsin inhibitor activity was affected by the process time, process method, and the maturity of the peas. The steamed peas lost the trypsin inhibitor faster than did the water-processed peas. The process method, process time, and maturity of the peas affected the firmness of the peas. The water-processed peas were softened more than were the steam-processed peas. The succulent peas were softer than the dry peas. The color of the peas was altered by processing. Processing had little affect on the L values. Processing decreased the b values and increased the a values. The succulent peas had a -a value and the dry peas had a +a value. With few exceptions, the steam-processed peas retained their nutrients better than the water-processed peas. One exception to this is the calcium content. The color of the steam-processed peas was altered less than the color of the water-processed peas. The PER reached an optimum at a time when the peas were still too firm to be comsumed

EFFECTS OF SHELTERWOOD AND PATCH CUT HARVESTS ON A POST WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME BAT COMMUNITY IN THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU IN EASTERN KENTUCKY

The impact of shelterwood and patch cuts harvests on bat communities was tested at three sites in Eastern Kentucky. Shelterwood harvests had 50% of the basal area and understory removed to create a uniform spacing of residual trees. Patch cuts had 1-hectare circular openings created to remove 50% of the basal area creating an aggregated spacing of residual trees. Acoustic detectors were deployed to assess activity levels pre-harvest. Sites were then sampled from 1 – 2 years post-harvest to determine differences. Pre-harvest data revealed little acoustic activity for the Myotis spp. at two sites. The remaining site had high activity of Myotis pre-harvest. All sites saw a large increase in bat activity post-harvest. Activity of low-frequency and mid-frequency bats increased in response to the harvests. Big brown and red bats were commonly captured within forest harvests. Tri-colored bats also captured, suggesting forest harvests could improve habitat. Myotis activity did not increase post-harvest at the site with a known population. Netting efforts revealed a remnant population of northern long-eared bats (Myotis septentrionalis). These bats were radio-tagged and tracked to day-roosts. All day roosts were in upslope habitats within 100 m of forest roads created for maintenance and logging operations

Development of high Tc (greater than 110K) Bi, Tl and Y-based materials as superconducting circuit elements

This report is presented in two parts. Part 1 deals primarily with Bi-based materials and a small amount of work on a Y-based composition while Part 2 covers work on Tl-based materials. In Part 1, a reliable and reproducible process for producing bulk bismuth-based superconductors has been developed. It is noted however, that a percentage of the tapecast material experiences curling and fracturing after a 30 hour sintering period and is thus in need of further examination. The Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O (BSCCO) material has been characterized by critical temperature data, X-ray diffraction data, and surface morphology. In the case of T sub c, it is not critical to anneal the material. It appears that the BSCCO material has the possibility of producing a better grounding strap than that of the 123 material. Attempts to reproduce near room temperature superconductors in the Y-Ba-Cu-O system were unsuccessful. In Part 2, several methods of processing the high temperature superconductor Tl2Ba2Ca2Cu3O10 were investigated; i.e., different precursor compositions were sintered at various sintering times and temperatures. The highest superconductig temperature was found to be 117.8K when fired at 900 C for three hours. Higher sintering temperatures produced a melted sample which was nonsuperconducting at liquid nitrogen temperature. Also, a preliminary study found Li2O substitutions for copper appeared to increase the transition temperature and create fluxing action upon sintering. It was suggested that lower sintering temperatures might be obtained with lithium additions to produce reliable Tl2Ba2Ca2Cu3O10 processing methods