Resilience testing device Patent

Automated ball rebound resilience test equipment for determining viscoelastic properties of polymer

Theory and Evidence on Mergers and Acquisitions by Small and Medium Enterprises

The theory of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) has been developed almost exclusively from the study of large deals by large firms. In this paper we argue that the behaviour and success of M&As by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) may be significantly different. Accordingly, we revisit established M&A theories, and develop a theoretical framework, and several testable hypotheses, regarding the distinctive features of SME M&As. Our empirical results support our expectations and show that, compared to large firms, acquiring SMEs: rely more intensively on external growth via M&As; are more likely to be withdrawn, suggesting that SMEs are more flexible, and more able to avoid deals that turn sour; and, finally, SME M&As are more likely to be financed with equity rather than debt, indicating that the influential financial pecking order theory is of less relevance to SMEs.mergers, acquisitions, small and medium sized enterprises

High precision cryogenic thermal conductivity standards

New apparatus allows accurate simultaneous measurement of thermal conductivity, electrical resistivity, and thermopower for technically important materials, such as new or uncommon alloys. A list of materials investigated is presented. Sources for obtaining data on these materials, as well as the source giving a description of the apparatus, are cited

CAMPUS GRIDS: A FRAMEWORK TO FACILITATE RESOURCE SHARING

It is common at research institutions to maintain multiple clusters. These might fulfill different needs and policies, or represent different owners or generations of hard- ware. Many of these clusters are under utilized while researchers at other departments may require these resources. This may be solved by linking clusters with grid mid- dleware. This thesis describes a distributed high throughput computing framework to link clusters without changing security or execution environments. The framework initially keeps jobs local to the submitter, overflowing if necessary to the campus, and regional grid. The framework is implemented spanning two campuses at the Holland Computing Center. We evaluate the framework for five characteristics of campus grids. This framework is then further expanded to bridge campus grids into a regional grid, and overflow to national cyberinfrastructure

Hydrogen slush density reference system

A hydrogen slush density reference system was designed for calibration of field-type instruments and/or transfer standards. The device is based on the buoyancy principle of Archimedes. The solids are weighed in a low-mass container so arranged that solids and container are buoyed by triple-point liquid hydrogen during the weighing process. Several types of hydrogen slush density transducers were developed and tested for possible use as transfer standards. The most successful transducers found were those which depend on change in dielectric constant, after which the Clausius-Mossotti function is used to relate dielectric constant and density

Instrumentation for hydrogen slush storage containers

Hydrogen liquid and slush tank continuous inventory during ground storag

A GAMS/MPSGE implementation of the PET model

This paper describes a version of the Population-Economy-Technology (PET) model implemented in the GAMS/MPSGE programming language. The implementation of the model is comparable with the original fortran version of iPETS over a number of test cases. While a number of possible configurations exist for both model types, we demonstrate that there is a configuration that makes both implementations behave very similarly and the remaining difference can be traced to different implementations of dynamic agent behavior. This paper also serves as a methodological blueprint for model translation across different programming languages

A cautionary note: False homozygosity for BRCA2 6174delT mutation resulting from a single nucleotide polymorphism masking the wt allele

Sequencing an amplification product of the terminal segment of BRCA2 exon 11 showed apparent homozygosity for the 6174delT mutation in two healthy sisters. Subsequent sequencing of an alternate overlapping amplicon revealed the presence of the 5972C>T polymorphism, which is within the standard upstream amplification primer. This mismatch was responsible for the failure to amplify the normal (5972T) allele in both sisters who were heterozygous for the 6174delT mutation. Though the unexpected finding of apparent homozygosity for the 6174delT mutation prompted re-evaluation of the assay, the potential for false negative results due to masking of a mutation-bearing allele by such a circumstance should be a cautionary note for the testing and also in the interpretation of the results published under such assay conditions.Fil: Solano, Angela Rosario. Instituto Alexander Fleming; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; ArgentinaFil: Dourisboure, Ricardo J.. Instituto Alexander Fleming; ArgentinaFil: Weitzel, Jeffrey. City of Hope Cancer Center; Estados UnidosFil: Podesta, Ernesto Jorge. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; Argentin

Thermal conductivity, electrical resistivity, and thermopower of aerospace alloys from 4 to 300 K

Measurement apparatus for broad thermal conductivity testing of aerospace alloys used in low temperature system

BoscoR: Extending R from the desktop to the Grid

In this paper, we describe a framework to execute R functions on remote resources from the desktop using Bosco. The R language is attractive to researchers because of its high level programming constructs which lower the barrier of entry for use. As the use of the R programming language in HPC and High Throughput Computing (HTC) has grown, so too has the need for parallel libraries in order to utilize computing resources. Bosco is middleware that uses common protocols to manage job submissions to a variety of remote computational platforms and resources. The researcher is able to control and monitor remote submission from their interactive R IDE, such as RStudio. Bosco is capable of managing many concurrent tasks submitted to remote resources while providing feedback to the interactive R environment. We will also show how this framework can be used to access national infrastructure such as the Open Science Grid. Through interviews with R users, and their feedback after using BoscoR, we learned how R users work and designed BoscoR to fit their needs. We incorporated their feedback to improve BoscoR by adding much needed features, such as remote package management. A key design goal was to have a flat learning curve in using BoscoR for any R user