Governing for Genuine Profit

Business corporations seek profit. That is, after subtracting cost, they maximize net revenue. Spillovers (both costs and benefits) involve trade-offs governing boards should make. Spillovers, especially when coupled with clumsy applications of discounted present value, distort a business' perception of profit. Today, businesses are buffeted by the old risks of recession and the new risks of terrorism. If modern society is to survive, then the seeds of terrorism and their fruit of tremendous loss must be contained. Accordingly, governing boards must propel businesses towards a paradigm of genuine profit. Governing boards must insist that their businesses prospect for positive feedback loops and implement a sustainable profit stream. In short, governing boards must insist that business be entrepreneurial.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39918/3/wp533.pd

Governing for Genuine Profit

Business corporations seek profit. That is, after subtracting cost, they maximize net revenue. Spillovers (both costs and benefits) involve trade-offs governing boards should make. Spillovers, especially when coupled with clumsy applications of discounted present value, distort a business' perception of profit. Today, businesses are buffeted by the old risks of recession and the new risks of terrorism. If modern society is to survive, then the seeds of terrorism and their fruit of tremendous loss must be contained. Accordingly, governing boards must propel businesses towards a paradigm of genuine profit. Governing boards must insist that their businesses prospect for positive feedback loops and implement a sustainable profit stream. In short, governing boards must insist that business be entrepreneurial.Uncertainty, Corporate Governance, Corporate Law, Managerial Discretion, Social Responsibility

The university student experience of face-to-face and online discussions: coherence, reflection and meaning

This paper reports on an investigation into learning through discussions by undergraduate social work students. Second‐year students studying psychology for social work experienced discussions began with face‐to‐face tutorials, and then continued for some time after online. This study used closed‐ended questionnaires to investigate what students thought they were learning through discussions (their concepts), and how they engaged in the discussions face‐to‐face and online (their approaches). Significant associations were found among students’ concepts of discussions, approaches and levels of achievement. The results suggest that students who do not understand how discussions can help them to interrogate, reflect on and revise their ideas tended not to approach either face‐to‐face or online discussions in ways likely to improve their understanding or their levels of achievement. This type of insight is critical for teacher/designers wishing to create university experiences in which discussion is used to promote learning

Investigation of genetic changes in inoculant strains of Rhizobium trifolii isolated from the soil : a thesis presented in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Microbiology at Massey University

Information about the fate of plant inoculating strains of Rhizobium trifolii entering the soil environment is incomplete. It is known that inoculating strains must compete with existing adapted strains, if such are present. It is not known whether or not the introduced strains can adapt to soil conditions. Strains of the white clover (Trifolium repens) symbiont, R. trifolii, were isolated from plants growing as a result of sowing virgin soil with bacteria-coated seed. Rhizobium bacteria were isolated from one nodule on each randomly chosen plant at two and then six months after sowing. Three different methods were used to type the isolated strains because of the importance of distinguishing between derivatives of the inoculant (R. trifolii #2668) and adapted rhizobia immigrating from adjacent pastures. Gel diffusion identification of antigens showed that all strains reacted positively to anti-2668 serum, although the response was not identical for all strains. The determination of intrinsic antibiotic resistance patterns showed that low level resistances were accumulating in a non-random manner as time progressed. Initial isolates showed the same pattern as 2668. Restriction endonuclease analysis of the isolated strains showed them all to have a high degree of similarity to 2668, with a few being identical in pattern. This was despite alterations in numbers and sizes of plasmids (as compared to those in 2668) seen in these isolates. A nif gene probe of a plasmid profile showed that several strains had alterations in the size and number of bands which would hybridize, as compared to 2668. The field isolated strains had gained the ability to produce a broad range bacteriocin-like inhibitor. Conjugation experiments between R. trifolii #0/18 and E. coli HB101 showed that this inhibitor was transferable to and expressable by the E. coli, strain. This suggests the existence of a broad host range replicon in the field isolates which either carries or mobilizes this function

The Navy as a Political Instrument: Freedom of Navigation Operations 1958-2013

Through the Freedom of Navigation Program, established in 1979, the United States exercises diplomatic and military options for disputing maritime claims it judges to be inconsistent with customary international law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Yet, despite the United States’ universal commitment to freedom of navigation and the law of the sea, it has behaved inconsistently from 1979-2013. This dissertation examines the variation and asks under what conditions the United States demonstrates its refusal to acquiesce to maritime claims—either by issuing a diplomatic protest or driving a warship through the disputed waters. This dissertation introduces a new dataset of every coastal state in the world over this 34-year period, coding each type of maritime claim made by every coastal state in the world, whether the United States disputes that particular claim, and whether the United States takes some kind of diplomatic or operational action to dispute it. The mixed-method analysis proceeds with a large-n quantitative analysis that sets up a qualitative case study on the Strait of Hormuz. The dissertation begins and concludes with a discussion of current conditions in the South China Sea and the United States activity in this disputed region. This study finds that territorial and usage claims are twice as strongly correlated with operational assertions as a response than diplomatic protests. More specifically, coastal states that require foreign ships to obtain permission prior to entering their territorial sea are most highly correlated with operational assertions. When the United States disputes a maritime claim, military powers and wealthy states are no more likely to receive Freedom of Navigation operations (FONOPS) than others. Moreover, bilateral trade relationships and polity type hardly seem to matter. Similarly, neither the number of ships nor diplomatic representation increases the likelihood of FONOPS. Rather, a coastal state’s possession of nuclear weapons significantly increases the likelihood of receiving an operational assertion—especially if that states has made a declaration upon ratification of UNCLOS

Adiabatic quantum computation: Noise in the adiabatic theorem and using the Jordan-Wigner transform to find effective Hamiltonians

This thesis explores two mathematical aspects of adiabatic quantum computation. Adiabatic quantum computation depends on the adiabatic theorem of quantum mechanics, and (a) we provide a rigorous formulation of the adiabatic theorem with explicit definitions of constants, and (b) we bound error in the adiabatic approximation under conditions of noise and experimental error. We apply the new results to a standard example of violation of the adiabatic approximation, and to a superconducting flux qubit. Further, adiabatic quantum computation requires large ground-state energy gaps throughout a Hamiltonian evolution if it is to solve problems in polynomial time. We identify a class of random Hamiltonians with non-nearest-neighbor interactions and a ground-state energy gap of $\mathcal{O}(1/\sqrt{n})$, where $n$ is the number of qubits. We also identify two classes of Hamiltonians with non-nearest-neighbor interactions whose ground state can be found in polynomial time with adiabatic quantum computing. We then use the Jordan-Wigner transformation to derive equivalent results for Hamiltonians defined using Pauli operators

Morphology controls the thermoelectric power factor of a doped semiconducting polymer.

The electrical performance of doped semiconducting polymers is strongly governed by processing methods and underlying thin-film microstructure. We report on the influence of different doping methods (solution versus vapor) on the thermoelectric power factor (PF) of PBTTT molecularly p-doped with F n TCNQ (n = 2 or 4). The vapor-doped films have more than two orders of magnitude higher electronic conductivity (σ) relative to solution-doped films. On the basis of resonant soft x-ray scattering, vapor-doped samples are shown to have a large orientational correlation length (OCL) (that is, length scale of aligned backbones) that correlates to a high apparent charge carrier mobility (μ). The Seebeck coefficient (α) is largely independent of OCL. This reveals that, unlike σ, leveraging strategies to improve μ have a smaller impact on α. Our best-performing sample with the largest OCL, vapor-doped PBTTT:F4TCNQ thin film, has a σ of 670 S/cm and an α of 42 μV/K, which translates to a large PF of 120 μW m-1 K-2. In addition, despite the unfavorable offset for charge transfer, doping by F2TCNQ also leads to a large PF of 70 μW m-1 K-2, which reveals the potential utility of weak molecular dopants. Overall, our work introduces important general processing guidelines for the continued development of doped semiconducting polymers for thermoelectrics

Modelling the sensitivity of suspended sediment profiles to tidal current and wave conditions

Seawater turbidity due to suspended particulate material (SPM) is an important property of a marine ecosystem, determining the underwater light environment and many aspects of biological production and ecology. SPM concentrations are largely determined by patterns of sediment resuspension from the seabed due to shear stress caused by waves and currents. Hence planning for the construction of large scale offshore structures which will alter regional hydrodynamics needs to consider the consequences for SPM concentrations. Here we develop a one-dimensional (vertical) model of SPM dynamics which can be used to scope the effects of changes in wave and tidal current properties at a site. We implement the model for a number of sites off the east coast of Scotland where we have extensive data sets to enable numerical parameter optimisation. The model performs well at simulating fluctuations in turbidity varying from flood-ebb tidal cycles, spring-neap cycles, storm wave events, and an annual cycle of SPM concentration which is attributed to seasonal consolidation of seabed sediments. Sensitivity analysis shows that, for the range of seabed sediment types in the study (water depth 16 – 50 m; mud content 0.006 – 0.380 proportion by weight), relatively large (50%) attenuations of tidal current speed are required to produce changes in water column turbidity which would be detectable by observations given the variability in measurements. The model has potential for application to map the large scale sensitivity of turbidity distributions to the installation of wave and tidal energy extraction arrays