What is the Price of Hubris? Using Takeover Battles to Infer Overpayments and Synergies

We present a framework for determining the information that can be extracted from stock prices around takeover contests. In only two types of cases is it theoretically possible to use stock price movements to infer bidder overpayment and relative synergies. The takeover contest for Paramount in 1994 illustrates one of these generic cases. We estimate that Viacom, the winning' bidder, overpaid for Paramount by more than $2 billion. This occurred despite the fact that Viacom's CEO owned roughly 3/4 of Viacom. These results are consistent with managerial overconfidence and/or large private benefits, but not with the traditional agency-based incentive problem.

Polyelectrolyte stabilized nanodiamond dispersions

Colloidal stability of negatively charged nanodiamonds (ND) has been realized with the help of double hydrophilic block copolymers poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate)-dodecyl (PEO-bPDMAEMA-C12). The polymers were synthesized through RAFT polymerization of DMAEMA with a PEO macromonomer carrying trithiocarbonate and dodecyl end-groups. The NDs and the polymers were complexed by mixing them in different ratios. In addition to the amount of polymers, the effect of the detailed structure of the polymer was of interest and thus, also polymers with different lengths of the PEO-block were synthesized, as well as a block copolymer without the dodecyl end-group. The composition of the polymer, as well as the complexation conditions were varied to find the route to stable nanoparticles. The optimized complexation method gave colloidally stable ND particles with positively charged PDMAEMA coronas. The colloids were stable at room temperature and also in saline solutions up to 0.154 M NaCl.Peer reviewe

The effect of phosphonates on lanthanide separation for surface-grafted porous zirconia

The effect of phosphonate groups on selective lanthanide sorption for a series of inorganic-organic hybrid materials was investigated. Four functional ligands with an increasing number of aminomethylenephosphonate groups were attached to the porous zirconia matrix via the post-synthetic grafting method. Successful surface grafting was confirmed by FTIR and P-31 MAS-NMR spectroscopies. All the synthesized hybrids showed a lanthanide uptake of about 100 mu mol g(-1) at pH 3. The sorption studies revealed that the hybrids of ligands with a larger number of phosphonate groups possess higher selectivity, as one with the largest number showed a separation factor of over 80 for La3+ and Lu3+. Fixed-bed column experiments also demonstrated the materials' favored uptake of Lu3+ over La3+ at pH 3, in addition to the reusability and applicability to the actual separation settings. These results propose strategies for the selection of organic ligands for hybrid sorbent synthesis.Peer reviewe

Supermagnetosonic jets behind a collisionless quasi-parallel shock

The downstream region of a collisionless quasi-parallel shock is structured containing bulk flows with high kinetic energy density from a previously unidentified source. We present Cluster multi-spacecraft measurements of this type of supermagnetosonic jet as well as of a weak secondary shock front within the sheath, that allow us to propose the following generation mechanism for the jets: The local curvature variations inherent to quasi-parallel shocks can create fast, deflected jets accompanied by density variations in the downstream region. If the speed of the jet is super(magneto)sonic in the reference frame of the obstacle, a second shock front forms in the sheath closer to the obstacle. Our results can be applied to collisionless quasi-parallel shocks in many plasma environments.Comment: accepted to Phys. Rev. Lett. (Nov 5, 2009

Greenhouse gas emissions of organic dairy farms from six European countries

Posteri. Scientific seminar on organic food, Mikkeli 5-7.11.2014. Book of Abstracts published on the seminar 6.11.201

Plasticized Cellulosic Films by Partial Esterification and Welding in Low-Concentration Ionic Liquid Electrolyte

Alternatives to petroleum-based plastics are of great significance not only from the point of view of their scientific and practical impact but to reduce the environmental footprint. Inspired by the composition and structure of wood's cell walls, we used phenolic acids to endow cellulosic fibers with new properties. The fiber dissolution and homogeneous modification were performed with a recyclable ionic liquid (IL) (tetrabutylammonium acetate ([N-4444][OAc]):dimethyl sulfoxide) to attain different levels of reaction activity for three phenolic acids (p-hydroxybenzoic acid, vanillic acid, and syringic acid). The successful autocatalytic Fischer esterification reaction was thoroughly investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (C-13-CP-MAS, diffusion-edited H-1 NMR and multiplicity-edited heteronuclear single quantum coherence). Control of the properties of cellulose in the dispersed state, welding, and IL plasticization were achieved during casting and recrystallization to the cellulose II crystalline allomorph. Films of cellulose carrying grafted acids were characterized with respect to properties relevant to packaging materials. Most notably, despite the low degree of esterification (DS 90%), and water resistance (WCA similar to 90 degrees). Moreover, the measured water vapor barrier was found to be similar to that of poly(lactic acid) composite films. Overall, the results contribute to the development of the next-generation green, renewable, and biodegradable films for packaging applications.Peer reviewe

In Situ Observations of a Magnetosheath High-Speed Jet Triggering Magnetopause Reconnection

Magnetosheath high‐speed jets—localized dynamic pressure enhancements typically of ∼1 Earth radius in size—impact the dayside magnetopause several times per hour. Here we present the first in situ measurements suggesting that such an impact triggered magnetopause reconnection. We use observations from the five Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms spacecraft in a string‐of‐pearls configuration on 7 August 2007. The spacecraft recorded magnetopause in‐and‐out motion during an impact of a magnetosheath jet (VN∼−300 km/s along the magnetopause normal direction). There was no evidence for reconnection for the preimpact crossing, yet three probes observed reconnection after the impact. We infer that the jet impact compressed the originally thick (60–70 di), high magnetic shear (140–160° magnetopause until it was thin enough for reconnection to occur. Magnetosheath high‐speed jets could therefore act as a driver for bursty dayside reconnection

Injection of thermal and suprathermal seed particles into coronal shocks of varying obliquity

Context. Diffusive shock acceleration in the solar corona can accelerate solar energetic particles to very high energies. Acceleration efficiency is increased by entrapment through self-generated waves, which is highly dependent on the amount of accelerated particles. This, in turn, is determined by the efficiency of particle injection into the acceleration process. Aims. We present an analysis of the injection efficiency at coronal shocks of varying obliquity. We assessed injection through reflection and downstream scattering, including the effect of a cross-shock potential. Both quasi-thermal and suprathermal seed populations were analysed. We present results on the effect of cross-field diffusion downstream of the shock on the injection efficiency. Methods. Using analytical methods, we present applicable injection speed thresholds that were compared with both semi-analytical flux integration and Monte Carlo simulations, which do not resort to binary thresholds. Shock-normal angle θ and shock-normal velocity V were varied to assess the injection efficiency with respect to these parameters. Results. We present evidence of a significant bias of thermal seed particle injection at small shock-normal angles. We show that downstream isotropisation methods affect the θ-dependence of this result. We show a non-negligible effect caused by the cross-shock potential, and that the effect of downstream cross-field diffusion is highly dependent on boundary definitions. Conclusions. Our results show that for Monte Carlo simulations of coronal shock acceleration a full distribution function assessment with downstream isotropisation through scatterings is necessary to realistically model particle injection. Based on our results, seed particle injection at quasi-parallel coronal shocks can result in significant acceleration efficiency, especially when combined with varying field-line geometry. © 2013 ESO

Identification of Kelvin waves: numerical challenges

Kelvin waves are expected to play an essential role in the energy dissipation for quantized vortices. However, the identification of these helical distortions is not straightforward, especially in case of vortex tangle. Here we review several numerical methods that have been used to identify Kelvin waves within the vortex filament model. We test their validity using several examples and estimate whether these methods are accurate enough to verify the correct Kelvin spectrum. We also illustrate how the correlation dimension is related to different Kelvin spectra and remind that the 3D energy spectrum E(k) takes the form 1/k in the high-k region, even in the presence of Kelvin waves.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. The final publication is available at http://www.springerlink.co