Capital Structure in the Family Firm: Exploring the Relationship Between Financial Sources and Family Dynamics

How a company structures its capital greatly affects its strategic options and its strategic decisions according to contemporary thinking. However, while there is ample literature on how publicly held companies’ capital should be structured, less is known about private companies. Additionally, one or more members of a single family typically own the majority of private companies, and unlike public companies, family dynamics influence these firms’ non-financial and financial goals and strategic decisions. This overlap of family dynamics into the business arena complicates conventional approaches or at least makes conventional approaches more difficult to apply. This dissertation focuses on privately held, family-owned companies, and on how family dynamics challenge or make conventional approaches inapplicable or, at least, more complicated to apply. Utilizing a grounded theory-influenced approach on a sample of 11 family companies with different capital structures, the study explores the effects of family influence and family dynamics on capital structure decisions and vice versa in family owned companies. The qualitative inquiry took place in the South American country of Colombia, because this country is a representative capital market in Latin America from the financial development perspective, where the foreign investment growth has been high in the last years. The findings of this study advance the research of family dynamics and its effect on family business, and will be of help to family boards, managers, advisors, and family shareholders when making decisions on capital structure

The motion of a satellite of the moon

Analytical solution for motion of lunar orbital satellit

Controlled nucleation of topological defects in the stripe domain patterns of Lateral multilayers with Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy: competition between magnetostatic, exchange and misfit interactions

Magnetic lateral multilayers have been fabricated on weak perpendicular magnetic anisotropy amorphous Nd-Co films in order to perform a systematic study on the conditions for controlled nucleation of topological defects within their magnetic stripe domain pattern. A lateral thickness modulation of period $w$ is defined on the nanostructured samples that, in turn, induces a lateral modulation of both magnetic stripe domain periods $\lambda$ and average in-plane magnetization component $M_{inplane}$. Depending on lateral multilayer period and in-plane applied field, thin and thick regions switch independently during in-plane magnetization reversal and domain walls are created within the in-plane magnetization configuration coupled to variable angle grain boundaries and disclinations within the magnetic stripe domain patterns. This process is mainly driven by the competition between rotatable anisotropy (that couples the magnetic stripe pattern to in-plane magnetization) and in-plane shape anisotropy induced by the periodic thickness modulation. However, as the structural period $w$ becomes comparable to magnetic stripe period $\lambda$, the nucleation of topological defects at the interfaces between thin and thick regions is hindered by a size effect and stripe domains in the different thickness regions become strongly coupled.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Bifenthrin Baseline Susceptibility and Evaluation of Simulated Aerial Applications in \u3ci\u3eStriacosta albicosta\u3c/i\u3e (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Striacosta albicosta (Smith) is a maize pest that has recently expanded its geographical range into the eastern United States and southeastern Canada. Aerial application of pyrethroids, such as bifenthrin, has been a major practice adopted to manage this pest. Reports of field failure of pyrethroids have increased since 2013. Striacosta albicosta populations were collected in 2016 and 2017 from maize fields in Nebraska, Kansas, and Canada and screened with bifenthrin active ingredient in larval contact dose-response bioassays. Resistance ratios estimated were generally low in 2016 (1.04- to 1.32-fold) with the highest LC50 in North Platte, NE (66.10 ng/cm2) and lowest in Scottsbluff, NE (50.10 ng/cm2). In 2017, O’Neill, NE showed the highest LC50 (100.66 ng/cm2) and Delhi, Canada exhibited the lowest (6.33 ng/cm2), resulting in a resistance ratio variation of 6.02- to 15.90-fold. Implications of bifenthrin resistance levels were further investigated by aerial application simulations. Experiments were conducted with a spray chamber where representative S. albicosta populations were exposed to labeled rates of a commercial bifenthrin formulation. Experiments resulted in 100% mortality for all populations, instars, insecticide rates, and carrier volumes, suggesting that levels of resistance estimated for bifenthrin active ingredient did not seem to impact the efficacy of the correspondent commercial product under controlled conditions. Results obtained from this research indicate that control failures reported in Nebraska could be associated with factors other than insecticide resistance, such as issues with the application technique, environmental conditions during and/or after application, or the insect’s natural behavior. Data generated will assist future S. albicosta resistance management programs

High-Temperature Monitoring of Refractory Wall Recession Using Frequency-modulated Continuous-wave (FM-CW) Radar Techniques

Furnaces are among the most crucial components in the glass and metallurgical industry. Nowadays, furnaces are being operated at higher temperatures and for longer periods of time thus increasing the rate of wear on the furnace refractory lining. Consequently, there is a great need for a nondestructive tool that can accurately measure refractory wall thickness at high temperatures. In this paper the utility of a frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FM-CW) radar is investigated for this purpose