Motives for Mergers in Food Manufacturing

This paper reviews theories that identify motives for mergers, reviews recent empirical research, specifies a model that incorporates alternative motives, and tests the model with data from food manufacturing mergers between 1979 and 1986. Results suggest that capital markets are not efficient, and that mergers are not to redress agency problems. Acquirers paid higher premiums for target firms that have recently had low profitability, and paid higher premiums when the stock market was low. The model explains at best 30 percent of the variation in premiums, suggesting that major explanations for mergers remain as yet unidentified.Agribusiness, Industrial Organization,

Small and beautiful? The programme of activities and the least developed countries

Most carbon abatement projects under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) have been implemented in rapidly industrializing countries, notably China and India. To support small carbon abatement projects and to promote decarbonization in the least developed countries, the Programme of Activities (PoA) modality was introduced. Are the determinants of project implementation different under the PoA from those of conventional CDM projects? To answer this question, we conduct a statistical analysis of the global distribution of CDM projects and PoAs during the years 2007–2012. In regard to country size, large countries clearly dominate both the CDM and PoA, suggesting that the PoA may do only little to facilitate project implementation in small countries. However, the number of PoAs has a strong negative association with a country's corruption level, while the importance of corruption for the CDM is much smaller. Moreover, per capita income has no effect on PoA implementation, while high wealth levels have a weak positive effect on CDM projects. Thus, the PoA modality seems to promote sustainable development in poor countries that have exceeded a certain threshold of good governance. In this regard, PoAs are directing carbon credits to new areas, as many had initially hoped

Effect of strain rate on the formation of nanocrystallites in an Al-based amorphous alloy during nanoindentation

Copyright 2003 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The article originally appeared in Journal of Applied Physics 93, 9287 (2003) and may be found at http://jap.aip.org/resource/1/japiau/v93/i11/p9287_s1.The effect of deformation by nanoindentation on nanocrystallization in amorphous Al90Fe5Gd5Al90Fe5Gd5 was investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Massive precipitation of nanocrystallites is observed within the indents. Under the quasistatic condition used, a temperature rise due to adiabatic heating is likely negligible, confirming that plastic deformation can induce crystallization without a heating effect. The nucleation of nanocrystallites is significantly affected by the strain rate. © 2003 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69990/2/JAPIAU-93-11-9287-1.pd

The value of twins in dental research

The document attached has been archived with permission from the Australian Dental Association. An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.Due to recent advances in molecular genetics, studies of twins will continue to provide important insights into how genetic and environmental factors contribute to variation in human physical and behavioural traits and disorders. This review emphasizes that biometrical genetic studies of twins are particularly valuable in complementing and directing molecular approaches to facilitate the detection of quantitative trait loci. It also describes several other research models involving twins, apart from the traditional comparison of similarities in monozygotic (identical) and dizygotic (nonidentical) pairs, that have the potential to provide new information in the future. Current knowledge about the genetic bases of common dental problems is summarized and future directions in dental research involving twins are outlined.GC Townsend, L Richards, T Hughes, S Pinkerton, W Schwerd