The Borneo Company Limited:The Origins of a Nineteenth Century Networked Multinational

The origins of British-based trading companies are to be found in the international mercantile networks which linked together Britain's commercial centres with the rest of the world during the nineteenth century. One such network, drawing together participants with operations in Singapore and Sarawak, was formalized under the title of The Borneo Company Limited (BCL) between 1851 and 1856. To function effectively, these inter-personal networks of merchants required a high degree of trustworthiness among the participants in order to overcome principal/agent problems, since direct supervision from the headquarters in London was not feasible. However, in order to expand, it was necessary to widen the circle of network participants and to incorporate new types of competence. This contribution analyses the early history of BCL with a view to understanding the way in which the process of growth was managed, distinguishing between three different types of expansion: engaging in production as well as trade; extending the geographical scope of the organization; and diversifying into new markets

The Citation Impact of Digital Preprint Archives for Solar Physics Papers

Papers that are posted to a digital preprint archive are typically cited twice as often as papers that are not posted. This has been demonstrated for papers published in a wide variety of journals, and in many different subfields of astronomy. Most astronomers now use the arXiv.org server (astro-ph) to distribute preprints, but the solar physics community has an independent archive hosted at Montana State University. For several samples of solar physics papers published in 2003, I quantify the boost in citation rates for preprints posted to each of these servers. I show that papers on the MSU archive typically have citation rates 1.7 times higher than the average of similar papers that are not posted as preprints, while those posted to astro-ph get 2.6 times the average. A comparable boost is found for papers published in conference proceedings, suggesting that the higher citation rates are not the result of self-selection of above-average papers.Comment: 5 pages, 1 table, Solar Physics accepte

A deeper understanding of white dwarf interiors

A detailed record of the physical processes that operate during post-main-sequence evolution is contained in the internal chemical structure of white dwarfs. Global pulsations allow us to probe the stellar interior through asteroseismology, revealing the signatures of prior nuclear burning, mixing, and diffusion in these stars. I review the rapid evolution of structural models for helium-atmosphere variable (DBV) white dwarfs over the past five years, and I present a new series of model-fits using recent observations to illustrate the relative importance of various interior structures. By incorporating physically motivated C/O profiles into double-layered envelope models for the first time, I finally identify an optimal asteroseismic model that agrees with both diffusion theory and the expected nuclear burning history of the progenitor. I discuss the implications of this fundamental result, and I evaluate the prospects for continued progress in the future.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, Accepted for MNRAS Letter

Crowdfunding Astronomy Research with Google Sky

For nearly four years, NASA's Kepler space telescope searched for planets like Earth around more than 150,000 stars similar to the Sun. In 2008 with in-kind support from several technology companies, our non-profit organization established the Pale Blue Dot Project, an adopt-a-star program that supports scientific research on the stars observed by the Kepler mission. To help other astronomy educators conduct successful fundraising efforts, I describe how this innovative crowdfunding program successfully engaged the public over the past seven years to help support an international team in an era of economic austerity.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, Journal of Astronomy & Earth Sciences Education, accepted. Project website is at http://adoptastar.whitedwarf.or

WhiteDwarf.org - Establishing a permanent endowment for the Whole Earth Telescope

White Dwarf Research Corporation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to scientific research and public education on topics relevant to white dwarf stars. It was founded in 1999 in Austin, Texas to help fulfill the need for an alternative research center where scarce funding dollars could be used more efficiently, and to provide a direct link between astronomers who study white dwarf stars and the general public. Due to its administrative simplicity, WDRC can facilitate the funding of multi-institutional and international collaborations, provide seamless grant portability, minimize overhead rates, and actively seek non-governmental funding sources. I describe the motivation for, and current status of, one of the long-term goals of WDRC: to establish a permanent endowment for the operation of the Whole Earth Telescope. I pay particular attention to fund-raising efforts through the website at http://WhiteDwarf.org/donate/Comment: 5 pages, to appear in proceedings of the 6th Whole Earth Telescope worksho