Inside Civil Society in Mexico: The RGK Center Partnership

Latin American Studie

Mechanized fluid connector and assembly tool system with ball detents

A fluid connector system is disclosed which includes a modified plumbing union having a rotatable member for drawing said union into a fluid tight condition. A drive tool is electric motor actuated and includes a reduction gear train providing an output gear engaging an integral peripheral spur gear on the rotatable member. Coaxial alignment means are attached to both the connector assembly and the drive tool. A hand lever actuated latching system includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced latching balls selectively wedged against the alignment means attached to the connector assembly or to secure the drive tool with its output gear in mesh with the integral peripheral spur gear. The drive motor is torque, speed, and direction controllable

Empirical Evidence on the Duration of Bank Relationships

We present evidence on the duration of firm-bank relationships using a unique panel data set of connections between Oslo Stock Exchange-listed firms and their banks for the period 1979-1994. We focus on the determinants of the duration of a relationship and the causes for ending an existing bank relationship. We find that duration itself does not greatly influence the likelihood of ending a relationship: short-lived relationships are as likely to end as long-lived relationships. We also find firms that maintain simultaneous multiple-bank relationships are more likely to end a bank relationship than a single-bank firm and that small, highly-leveraged "growth" firms are more likely to end a bank relationship than large, low-leveraged "value" firms.banking relationships, hazard models, duration analysis JEL Codes: G21, C41

Distressed relationships: lessons from the Norwegian banking crisis

This paper measures the economy-wide impact of bank distress on the loss of relationship benefits. We use the near-collapse of the Norwegian banking system during the period 1988 to 1991 to measure the impact of bank distress announcements on the stock prices of firms maintaining a relationship with a distressed bank. We find that although banks experience large and permanent downward revisions in their equity value during the event period, firms maintaining relationships with these banks face only small and temporary changes, on average, in stock price. In other words, the aggregate impact of bank distress on the real economy appears small. We analyze the cross-sectional variation in firm abnormal returns and find that firms that maintain international bank relationships suffer more upon announcement of bank distress

"The art of printing shall endure": journalism, community, and identity in New York City, 1800-1810

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on January 10, 2008)Includes bibliographical references.Thesis (M.A.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2007.Dissertations, Academic -- University of Missouri--Columbia -- History.This thesis reconstructs the community of printers, booksellers, and bookbinders that existed in New York City in the first decade of the nineteenth-century. A close analysis of city directories published between 1800 and 1810 reveals that working-class artisans and merchants associated with the printing trade deliberately settled in Manhattan's Old East Ward by consciously choosing to open shops on certain streets as a result of their shared social and economic identities. This community, consisting of an area geographically bound by William Street and the East River docks, has been heretofore ignored by historians. This thesis asserts that the association of printers, booksellers, and bookbinders should be considered as a central category of analysis, and demonstrates that this community had a direct influence on early printing trade unionization, printing and publishing specialization, and political rivalries between newspaper editors such as James Cheetham, Peter Irving, and William Coleman. Thus, by utilizing sources such as directories, newspapers, pamphlets, speeches, journals, and letters, this thesis reinterprets the Habermasian public sphere as an actual public space - community of like-minded artisans and merchants who shared common identities through their association with New York City's printing trade, despite ideological barriers. Indeed, this thesis maintains that by looking at public discourse as part of an organic community - as opposed to a theoretical realm that exists only in conversation - a better understanding of print culture will emerge that will enrich the prevailing scholarly dialogue

Positron-inert gas differential elastic scattering

Measurements are being made in a crossed beam experiment of the relative elastic differential cross section (DCS) for 5 to 300 eV positrons scattering from inert gas atoms (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe) in the angular range from 30 to 134 deg. Results obtained at energies around the positronium (Ps) formation threshold provide evidence that Ps formation and possibly other inelastic channels have an effect on the elastic scattering channel

Efficiency arcjet thruster with controlled arc startup and steady state attachment

An improved efficiency arcjet thruster has a constrictor and electrically-conductive nozzle anode defining an arc chamber, and an electrically-conductive rod having a tip spaced upstream from the constrictor and defining a cathode spaced from the anode by a gap generally coextensive with the arc chamber. An electrical potential is applied to the anode and cathode to generate an electrical arc in the arc chamber from the cathode to anode. Catalytically decomposed hydrazine is supplied to the arc chamber with generation of the arc so as to produce thermal heating and expansion thereof through the nozzle. The constrictor can have a electrically insulative portion disposed between the cathode tip and the nozzle anode, and an electrically-conductive anode extension disposed along the insulative portion so as to define an auxiliary gap with the cathode tip substantially smaller than the gap defined between the cathode and nozzle anode for facilitating startup of arc generation. The constrictor can also include an electrically-conductive electrode with a variable electrical potential to vary the shape of the arc generated in the arc chamber. Also, the cathode is mounted for axial movement such that the gap between its tip and the nozzle anode can be varied to facilitate a generally nonerosive generation of the electrical arc at startup and reliable steady state operation. Further, the arc chamber can have a nonparallel subsonic-to-supersonic transition configuration, or alternatively solely a nonparallel supersonic configuration, for improved arc attachment

Exploration of Life in Deep Subseafloor Sediments

The scientific ocean drilling community has been retrieving cores from hundreds of meters below the seafloor since the inception of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) in 1968. While microbiological research was not part of the scientific impetus for the creation of DSDP, it became apparent to geochemists that some of the observations in pore water chemistry indicated microbiological activity at great depth (e.g., Claypool and Kaplan, 1974). Site after site yielded profiles of microbiologically relevant compounds (e.g., sulfate, methane) that indicated microbial activity