Diversification in small firms: Does parental influence matter?

Diversification is a common goal for many small firms, yet research examining whether small firm ownership structure influences their use of the tactic is limited. As such, this paper provides one of the first empirical investigations of the subject by examining whether the presence of a corporate parent positively influences the likelihood that small firms will utilize diversification. Results indicate that small firms with corporate parents are more likely to use both related and unrelated diversification than comparable firms that are independently owned. Such findings are noteworthy because diversification may be more beneficial for small, independently owned firms, yet small, subsidiary firms appear to be better able to utilize diversification. Implications of these findings are discussed

Cost of saving natural gas through efficiency programs funded by utility customers: 2012–2017

This study estimates the cost of saving a therm of natural gas from energy efficiency programs funded by utility customers during the period 2012 to 2017. Berkeley Lab researchers compiled and analyzed efficiency program data reported by investor-owned utilities and other program administrators in a dozen states representative of the four U.S. Census regions — Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Utah. Depending on the year, the dataset accounts for about 50 percent to 70 percent of annual national spending on natural gas efficiency programs. The estimated cost of saving natural gas during the study period is $0.40 per therm. The analysis also includes estimates of the program administrator cost of saved energy for three core sectors for natural gas: commercial and industrial, residential, and low-income households. It aggregates these sectors to provide regional and national values. Our metrics include savings-weighted averages, unweighted medians, and interquartile ranges (25th and 75th percentiles) of the levelized program administrator cost of saving gas, in constant 2017 dollars. In addition, the study analyzes cost trends during the study period, finding that average program costs trended downward. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office supported this work

Small business owner persistence: Do personal characteristics matter?

Recent research suggests that (1) business failure rates are lower than previously thought and (2) business owners exit businesses for myriad reasons besides performance. Despite these findings, relatively little is known about whether personal characteristics (i.e. expectations, competencies, education) of small firm owners influence their likelihood to persist with business ownership. Given this gap, the present study investigates the relationship between owner characteristics and persistence intentions. Framed by threshold theory, we theorize and test whether owner growth expectations, satisfaction, education, competencies, and financial investment influence their persistence intentions. Results indicate that owner future growth expectations for the business, their opportunity recognition abilities, and their satisfaction with the business significantly impact persistence intentions. Implications of study findings are discussed.&nbsp

Prison as Seen by Convict Criminologists

Most criminologists tend to base their view of prison on ideological assumptions gathered from secondary sources, with at best limited entry to the prison world. They nearly always get it wrong, as they systematically exclude the perspectives and real life experiences of their human subjects. These academic researchers have contributed to poor public policy that promotes the violent repression of prisoners in the USA and other countries. In response, Convict Criminologists are ex‐convicts working as criminology and criminal justice professors, along with “non‐con” associates, that insist that as a means for societies to develop humane, effective, and cost efficient prisons, we must develop ways to incorporate the voice of prisoners in our theorizing about, policy recommendations for, and management of the prison

Stitching of near-nulled subaperture measurements

A metrology system for measuring aspheric test objects by subaperture stitching. A wavefront-measuring gauge having a limited capture range of wavefront shapes collects partially overlapping subaperture measurements over the test object. A variable optical aberrator reshapes the measurement wavefront with between a limited number of the measurements to maintain the measurement wavefront within the capture range of the wavefront-measuring gauge. Various error compensators are incorporated into a stitching operation to manage residual errors associated with the use of the variable optical aberrator

Contemporary Viewpoints: a Survey of Law Enforcement Officers in Oregon

Contemporary Viewpoints: A 2012 Survey of Law Enforcement Officers in Oregon is the culmination of a research initiative conducted in partnership with Oregon’s major law enforcement organizations: the Oregon Association Chiefs of Police (OACP), Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association (OSSA), Oregon State Police (OSP), and the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST). The project had two objectives. First, collect a statewide sampling of viewpoints from Oregon law enforcement officers employed in municipal police agencies, sheriff’s offices, and the State Police to establish a baseline dataset, which could then be used to measure selected aspects of law enforcement’s professional development. The second objective is to use the findings as a means to facilitate critiques of the data in partnership with Oregon’s law enforcement practitioners. Consequently, it is both a report and an open invitation. The report examines aspects of an officer’s work-environment presented from two viewpoints. The first viewpoint is from an “agency perspective” (i.e. state police, municipal police, and sheriff’s offices) and is intended to highlight any differences or similarities of opinion that occur between agencies. The second viewpoint is from a “rank perspective” looking across all ranks in these agencies (i.e. line officers, sergeants, lieutenants, captains and above, and chiefs and sheriffs) and is intended to highlight any differences or similarities of opinion that occur between ranks

Control of starting material and final product administration of cellular therapies

The manufacture of cellular therapies involves the challenge of maintaining critical characteristics of starting materials and the final product which contain living cells. In order to ensure that the cellular product administered is viable and therapeutically active, there is a need to define and control the starting cell collection and final product administration processes that take place outside of the manufacturing facility. First, it is necessary to understand and define the characteristics of suitable cellular starting materials, such as patient’s autologous leukapheresis or blood draw collection or allogeneic placental tissue. In order to do so, collection parameters have been set based on industry known standards for these starting materials and data are being continually collected and analyzed to further drive controls that need to be established. An understanding of the collection parameters that affect the critical attributes of the starting material will further drive the development of a manufacturing process that is robust to the variability inherent in a biological starting material. Additionally, it is necessary to control the manipulations such as thawing and dilution of the final cellular product at the patient interface. In order to establish a design space for the thawing and dilution at clinical site of our cellular products, studies were executed to establish limits for the time and temperature of the product thaw, stability of the thawed and diluted product prior to administration, and infusion rates and procedures that are tolerable for the living product and the patient. The characterization of failure limits for each processing step has further motivated the simplification of a number of steps in the preparation procedure to reduce the risk of working outside the design space. Once such simplification is the design and implementation of a thaw device that is simpler, lower risk, and more user-friendly than a water bath. The characterization of and requirement to control both the collection parameters for our starting material and the cellular product preparation and administration procedure has broadened our scope of responsibilities. These responsibilities include identifying a design space for steps in the starting material collection and product preparation procedures, creating simplified and user-friendly cellular preparation procedures, providing training and technical support for our clinical counterparts, and creating systems that allow traceability from collection to administration. This collaboration of engineers and the clinical research groups will be crucial in the cellular therapeutic industry moving forward

Predicting the reducing power of organic super electron donors

The utilization of computational methods to predict reactivity is an increasingly useful tool for chemists to save time and materials by screening compounds for desirable reactivity prior to testing in the laboratory. In the field of electron transfer reactions, screening can be performed through the application of Marcus Hush theory to calculate the activation free energy of any potential reaction. This work describes the most accurate and efficient approach for modelling the electron transfer process. In particular, the importance of using an electron transfer complex to model these reactions rather than considering donor and acceptor molecules as separate entities is highlighted. The use of the complex model is found to produce more accurate calculation of the electron transfer energy when the donor and acceptor spin densities are adequately localised