The irresponsible director

To improve the position of one creditor for a company in insolvency is nearly always at another creditor’s expense. However, if directors could be held liable for their irresponsible behaviour, this may allow liquidators further opportunities to make directors to make good the loss to their companies or their companies’ creditors. This could be done by revisiting s.172 of the Companies Act 2006 which has not, so far, been particularly effective in improving directorial decision-making. Lessons may be learned from the wording of directors’ duties in other jurisdictions, in particular Ireland

Plasma interaction experiment 2 (PIX 2): Laboratory and flight results

The Plasma Interaction Experiments 1 and 2 (PIX 1 and 2) were designed as first steps toward understanding interactions between high-voltage solar arrays and the surrounding plasma. The PIX 2 consisted of an approximately 2000-sq cm array divided into four equal segments. Each of the segments could be biased independently and the current measured separately. In addition to the solar array segments, PIX 2 had a hot-wire-filament electron emitter and a spherical Langmuir probe. The emitter was operated when the array segments were biased positively bove 125 V. Thermal electrons from the emitter aided in balancing the electron currents collected by the array. Laboratory and flight results of PIX 2 are presented. At high positive voltages on the solar array segments, the flight currents were approximately an order of magnitude larger than the ground test currents. This is attributed to the tank walls in the laboratory interfering with the electron currents to the array segments. From previous tests it is known that the tank walls limit the electron currents at high voltages. This was the first verification of the extent of the laboratory tank effect on the plasma coupling current

COMMENTARY ON EXCHANGE RATE IMPACTS ON HOG/PORK COMPETITIVENESS

Agribusiness,

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF MANUFACTURER CONSOLIDATION ON THE GROCER SECTOR

Agribusiness,

BEEF DEMAND AND HEALTH AND FOOD SAFETY RISKS

The purpose of this paper is to provide an update on beef demand. More specifically, however, the purpose of the paper is to show how Canadian producers, processors and industry associations have helped to improve beef demand as a result of determined, focused efforts. By having the courage to address sensitive topics like health and safety, the beef industry has helped to improve the most important issue that they faced: the demand for their product.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

LESSONS FROM QUAKER OATS

One of the biggest challenges faced by food manufacturers and the agriculture and food industry in general, is the fact that many food products are mature product lines. That means that sales are essentially steady - at best. In fact by its very nature, the food industry is characterized by relatively steady growth at relatively narrow profit margins. In mature markets, competition typically takes the form of price-cutting and gains by one firm are often at the expense of another. From that point the entire product line or category can become nothing more than a commodity that is priced as low as possible and simply milked for whatever profits are possible. That is not an enviable position, nor is it a position that a firm can easily escape. When an example occurs in which a mature product category is revived from the mature stage, it is worth taking a close look at how it was done. Lessons learned from one firm or product category might be applied to another in order to escape the clutches of maturity and commoditization. The purpose of this note is to examine the case of Quaker Oats rice cakes and how that firm twice managed to escape the clutches of product maturity.Agribusiness,

MANDATORY PRICE REPORTING - ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF MISPLACED GOVERNMENT EFFORT IN AGRICULTURE

Agricultural and Food Policy,

Experimental results on plasma interactions with large surfaces at high voltages

Multikilowatt power levels for future payloads can be more efficiently generated using solar arrays operating in the kilovolt range. This implies that large areas of the array at high operating voltages will be exposed to the space plasma environment. The resulting interactions of these high voltage surfaces with space plasma environments can seriously impact the performance of the satellite system. The plasma-surface interaction phenomena were studied in tests performed in two separate vacuum chambers, a 4.6 m diameter by 19.2 long chamber and a 20 m diameter by 27.4 m long chamber. The generated plasma density was approximately 1x10 to the 4th power/cu cm. Ten solar array panels, each with areas of 1400 sq cm were used in the tests. Nine of the solar panels were tested as a composite unit in the form of a 3x3 solar panel matrix. The results from all the tests confirmed small sample tests results: insulators were found to enhance the plasma coupling current for high positive bias and arcing was found to occur at high negative bias

Applications of living systems theory to life in space

The conceptual system and methodology of living systems theory appear to be of value to research on life in isolated environments. A space station, which must provide suitable conditions for human life in a stressful environment that meets none of the basic needs of life, is an extreme example of such isolation. A space station would include living systems at levels of individual human beings, groups of people engaged in a variety of activities, and the entire space crew as an organization. It could also carry living systems of other species, such as other animals and plants. Using the subsystem analysis of living systems theory, planners of a station, either in space or on a celestial body, would make sure that all the requirements for survival at all these levels had been considered. Attention would be given not only to the necessary matter and energy, but also the essential information flows that integrate and control living systems. Many variables for each subsystem could be monitored and kept in steady states. Use of living systems process analysis of the five flows of matter energy and information would assure that all members of the crew received what they needed