Debt maturity and firm performance : a panel study of Indian companies

Economic policy makers traditionally hold the view that, because of imperfections in capital markets, a shortage of long-term finance acts as a barrier to industrial performance and growth. Long term finance is thought to allow firms to invest in more productive technologies, even when they do not produce immediate payoffs, without fear of premature liquidation. As a result, special state-supported term-lending institutions have been established, especially in developing countries. But some believe that short-term finance may offer better incentives because it allows suppliers of finance to monitor and control firms more effectively, thus improving the firms'performance. The authors empirically investigate the determinants and consequences of the term structure of debt. Using a rich panel of data on privately owned companies in India, they also examine the influence of debt maturity structures on those firm's performance, especially on productivity. The results are not conclusive, but seem to support conventional beliefs about the importance of long term finance to firm performance. Heavy leveraging, however, has a strong negative impact on productivity. They base their econometric evidence on estimates of a maturity equation and of a production function augmented by financial variables. The data on which these results are based have been generated by a financial system in which there is little competition, in which state-owned financial institutions are not guided by the profit motive and have no control over interest rates, so one cannot say whether short term finance would have been more beneficial in a less regulated system. Moreover, by the end of the 1980s, the capital base of India's government-owned financial institutions had been severely eroded and they carried a heavy burden of nonperforming assets. This means that the benefits of long term finance must be weighed against the costs.Banks&Banking Reform,Financial Intermediation,Economic Theory&Research,Municipal Financial Management,Environmental Economics&Policies

Low stress creep of copper and some aluminium and magnesium alloys at high and intermediate homologous temperatures.

Creep behavior of high purity copper under low stress has been investigated in tension for bamboo grain-structured wires 25 -500 pm diameter and foils 0.4 and 0.6 mm thick and, in bending, for foils 100 and 250 pm thick. Additionally, creep behavior of polycrystalline 7075 aluminium and AZ61 magnesium alloy has been investigated under low applied tensile stress. The conditions explored feature diffusional creep and related mechanisms expected to be operative at the high temperatures and low stresses involved. The creep and surface profile of copper (>99.99%) wires has been investigated close to their melting temperature (0.93 Tm) under stresses up to 0.35 MPa for which strain rate varied linearly with stress. For the thinnest wires (diameter 25- 125 pm), the strain rate was about twice that expected from Nabarro-Herring diffusional creep theory and between one and two orders of magnitude larger than expected from Harper-Dorn creep. For 500 pm diameter wire, the measured rate was initially near to Harper-Dorn prediction but became constant only at longer durations at a level about five times lower than this. The lower rates were about 1.5 times that expected from diffusional creep. The surface profile observations indicated a small contribution of grain boundary sliding to the creep process when grain boundaries were not closely perpendicular to the stress. The observed effect of grain aspect ratio on the creep rate is shown to provide better correlation with theory. Tensile creep tests were carried out on OFHC copper foils at 850°C and 990°C in the stress range 0.1-0.6 MPa. The stress exponent for creep was found to be close to 2 and measured rates were about two orders of magnitude faster than expected from diffusional creep. Slip lines, approximately 30 pm apart, were observed on the surface after creep. The creep process in these foils under tensile loading is ascribed to glide of dislocations controlled by the rate of generation of dislocations at Bardeen-Herring sources about 30 pm apart. The creep tests in bending (which are novel) were carried out at 950°C in cantilever configuration loaded under self weight. The measured profile of the crept foils confirmed the linear dependence of strain rate on stress with final curvature 7-13 times lower than predicted from diffusional creep theory. A hundred nanometer thick alumina coating was applied to some copper foils prior to creep exposure. The associated localization of strain at grain boundaries was found to result in fracture of a 100 nm thick alumina coatings there at extremely low applied stress and overall strain. Tensile creep test of thermomechanically treated 7075 aluminium alloy of initial grain size 48 (am at <5MPa and 350 to 410°C showed a stress exponent close to 1. After correcting for grain growth to 79 pm during the test, the creep rates were within a factor of two of those expected for Nabarro-Herring creep. The creep rates were found to be lower for longer test durations evidently due to grain growth at test temperature and thus indirect evidence for dependence of N-H creep rate on grain size was obtained. True activation energy for creep was found to be close to 165 kJ/mol comparable to the aluminium self diffusivity. For AZ61 magnesium alloy at 250 to 346°C, and stresses upto 6 MPa, Bingham type behaviour was observed with threshold stress decreasing with increasing temperature. The corresponding activation energy for creep was 106 ± 9 kJ/mol comparable with that expected for grain boundary self diffusion in magnesium with the resulting values of grain boundary diffusivity closely matching those obtained previously for Coble creep in pure magnesium. Grain elongation in the direction of the application of tensile stress was observed also to be consistent with operation of Coble creep. Strain rate versus stress for both these materials are shown to be continuous with published results for superplastic flow under comparable conditions

Reducing Inequalities in Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene in the Era of the Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the World Bank's corporate goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity call for specific attention to the poor and vulnerable. The overarching objective of the SDGs is to end poverty in all its forms, but their key difference from the earlier Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is the integration of social, economic, and environmental goals (UN 2015). This has significant implications for reforms aimed at improving service delivery. With this understanding as its guiding compass, the Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Poverty Diagnostic Initiative focuses on what it would take to reduce existing inequalities in WASH services worldwide. This report, a synthesis of that global initiative, offers new insights on how data can be used to inform allocation decisions to reduce inequalities and prioritize investment in WASH to boost human capital. It also offers a fresh perspective on service delivery that considers how institutional arrangements affect the incentives of a range of actors

Baryon Inhomogeneity Generation in the Quark-Gluon Plasma Phase

We discuss the possibility of generation of baryon inhomogeneities in a quark-gluon plasma phase due to moving Z(3) interfaces. By modeling the dependence of effective mass of the quarks on the Polyakov loop order parameter, we study the reflection of quarks from collapsing Z(3) interfaces and estimate resulting baryon inhomogeneities in the context of the early universe. We argue that in the context of certain low energy scale inflationary models, it is possible that large Z(3) walls arise at the end of the reheating stage. Collapse of such walls could lead to baryon inhomogeneities which may be separated by large distances near the QCD scale. Importantly, the generation of these inhomogeneities is insensitive to the order, or even the existence, of the quark-hadron phase transition. We also briefly discuss the possibility of formation of quark nuggets in this model, as well as baryon inhomogeneity generation in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, revtex4, more detailed discussion added about formation and evolution of Z(3)domain walls in the univers

EVALUATION OF KNOWLEDGE, PRACTICES OF VITAMIN D AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS SUNLIGHT AMONG INDIAN STUDENTS

ABSTRACTObjective: The current study was carried out to assess the knowledge, practice of Vitamin D and attitudes toward sunlight exposure among Indianstudents.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study on students, studying in Amity University, Noida, India. A pre-designed and self-administeredquestionnaire was given to all students to collect the information regarding their knowledge about Vitamin D.Results: Almost all (99.5%) students had heard of Vitamin D. The majority of students (53.3%) indicated that sunlight as the main source of Vitamin D,however, knowledge in terms of required daily dose and time in the sun were low among students. Despite having awareness regarding the mainsource of Vitamin D, 64.2% students did not like going in the sun and percentage (%) of female students who disliked being exposed in the sun weresignificantly higher (71.1% and 51.6%, respectively; p=0.000). Moreover, female students were a frequent user of sunscreen, applied sunscreen inboth summer and winter seasons (47.2% females vs. 37% males; p=0.000). No significant associations were found for the factors, associated with theknowledge of Vitamin D such as the use of sunscreen and hours per day outdoor.Conclusion: The findings of this survey show a lack of consistency between knowledge and attitude, negative approach toward sunlight exposuremay severely affect the Vitamin D status of young students. Implementing awareness campaigns and future health programs such as a workshop ortraining at the college level may help in building more awareness and knowledge about the Vitamin D importance.Keywords: Vitamin D, Sun exposure, Knowledge.Â