Large firms and soft budget constraints for transition economies

Whilst the adverse effect of soft budget constraints (SBCs) is politically and theoretically recognised in transition economies, there is a lack of empirical investigation of SBCs to determine the extent of the bearing on the economy. This article empirically examines the impact of SBCs on investment for large firms in six new European Union (EU) member states. The conventional investment model is challenged by augmenting the model with the variable of ‘bank loans’ as a proxy to capture the impact of SBCs. The panel estimation reveals that there is a clear indication of SBCs for the Czech Republic and Poland, whereas for Hungary and the Baltic countries, the operation of SBCs seems to be weak. It is also found that such factors as joining the EU and financial development mitigate the practice of SBCs

The volatility spillover from the market to disaggregated industry stocks: the case for the US and UK

This article empirically investigates the volatility spillover of stock returns from the market to disaggregated industry sectors. Seventeen sectors from the US and UK stock markets are estimated by the GARCH technique based on daily data from 1973 to 2008. The key findings are two-fold. In the UK, whilst some industries are more sensitive to market volatility in a bear market than others, these disaggregated sectors are broadly affected in a similar way in a bull market. The volatility of foreign markets seems to have more impact than the domestic markets on some key industries in the US, suggesting the international integration for these sectors

Production of hollow components for rolling element bearings by diffusion welding

A hollow rolling element for a bearing is fabricated by diffusion welding hollow shells together. The hollow shell halves are joined by faying surfaces and diffusion welding

Liquid switch is remotely operated by low dc voltage

A liquid switch which does not depend on any mechanical, gravitational, or inertial actuation is developed for use in space environments. It may be remotely operated on low dc voltage

Strain gage calibration

A temporary bonding system for accurately predetermining the individual apparent strain curve characteristics of the gages is used, and subsequently employs a computer to watch the apparent strain curves of the individual gages to determine which gages should be used together on transducers. The temporary bonding system requires a test block on which the gages are temporarily bonded, several thermocouples for monitoring temperature, and a data acquisition system for recording apparent strain data. Initially, a group of strain gages are attached to the test block using a bonding agent that disintegrates at high temperatures. The gages are then wired to an appropriate data acquisition and data, collected throughout a predetermined temperature excursion. Once the data is obtained, the test block is heated until the bonding agent disintegrates freeing the gages from the test block. The gages are then disconnected from the data acquisition system and cleaned, thereby ready for use on transducers

Fabrication of hollow ball bearings by diffusion welding

Two steel hemispheres are diffusion welded in an atmosphere of 0.00002 torr at a temperature of 2130 degrees F for 4 hours with a pressure of 4 psi holding the hemispheres together. Weld is accomplished with only microdeformation

Joining precipitation-hardened nickel-base alloys by friction welding

Solid state deformation welding process, friction welding, has been developed for joining precipitation hardened nickel-base alloys and other gamma prime-strengthened materials which heretofore have been virtually unweldable. Method requires rotation of one of the parts to be welded, but where applicable, it is an ideal process for high volume production jobs

Circuit controls transients in SCR inverters

Elimination of starting difficulties in SCR inverters is accomplished by the addition of two taps of the output winding of the inverter. On starting or under transient loads, the two additional taps deliver power through diodes without requiring quenching of SCR currents in excess of normal starting load