HOUSING MODEL AND URBAN LIFE STYLE

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart

Wet Torrefaction of forest Residues – Combustion Kinetics

AbstractFresh branches of Norway spruce and birch were torrefied in hot compressed water at varied temperatures(175, 200, or 225°C) and for 30minutes. The combustion of untreated and torrefied branchesin synthetic air (21% O2 and 79% N2) wasexperimentally studied by means ofa thermogravimetric analyzer, followed by a kinetic analysis adopting the distributed activation energy model. It appears that, wet torrefaction has significant effects on the combustion reactivity of forest residues. Compared with the raw materials, wet-torrefied branches are less reactive during devolatilization, but more reactive in the char combustion stage

Two Essays on Behavioral Finance

The first essay is entitled: CEO Overconfidence, Corporate Governance Practices and Firm Innovation . In this study, I examine if overconfident CEOs overinvest or underinvest in innovative projects. I also investigate if overconfident CEOs pursue innovative projects to benefit personal interests or the interest of shareholders. By focusing on the effect of corporate governance in monitoring the behavior of overconfident CEOs, my results show that there is a negative relation between CEO overconfidence and firm innovation among firms with poor governance. In these cases, the finding is consistent with the implication that overconfident CEO are entrenched and invest inadequately in innovative projects when the firm has poor corporate governance. My results also show that for well-governanced firms, the overconfident CEOs do not overinvest because good risky projects are accepted and results in an increase in firm value. The other important result of my study is that well-governanced firms could influence the behavior of overconfident CEOs so that firm performance (measured by Tobin\u27s q, ROA, and sales growth) is enhanced. On the other hand, it is also found that overconfident CEOs of poorly-governanced firms might pursue innovative projects so aggressively that projects with low expected payoff are accepted and results in poorer firm performance. These results add to the literature on managerial overconfidence by showing that the behavior of overconfident CEOs can be influenced and corporate governance could guide overconfident managers to invest selectively in good risky projects. In addition, my results offer insights into the puzzle why irrational managers are hired by showing that overconfident managers are hired because they could enhance firm performance if they were monitored by good governance practices. The second essay is entitled Book-Tax Income Differences: a New Measure of Earnings Management\u27. In this study I develop a comprehensive measure that captures taxable income related earnings management in addition to the conventional book income related accruals management. To confirm the adequacy of the new measure of earnings management developed in this study, I revisit several earnings management related issues previously investigated in the literature to see if the new measure performs better than conventional measures. The issues I re-examine include: 1. Executive stock option exercises - Insiders have incentives to use private information about forthcoming earnings to time their stock option exercises. Conflicting results have been documented by Bartov (2004), Efendi (2007) and Armstrong et al. (2009). My new measure that captures both income tax related and book income related earnings management may provide better insights. My results also show that executives time their stock option exercises regardless of the source of earnings management. 2. Firm credit ratings - Earnings management has led to downward revisions of firm credit ratings because credit analysts are able to see through the information content of earnings management (Ayers et al. 2009). The book-tax earnings management measure I develop can provide additional information to credit analysts. My results show that credit analysts react favorably to tax savings associated with tax planning activity when other information is obscured by earnings management. 3. Firm Value and earnings management - Outside investors are in general unable to fully comprehend the information underlying earnings management. The new book-tax earnings management measure I develop may help investors respond more correctly as the measure incorporates more information. My results show that once investors decipher the information of earnings management, they correct their errors in the following time periods

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF ELECTROCHEMICAL CHANGES IN THE STUDY OF CORROSION IN AN OCCLUDED ZONE

An experimental setup allowing pH measurements inside a confined volume representing a lapped joint was designed in our last study [1]. The pH evolution over steel surface in confined conditions was monitored. In this study, the experimental pH was compared with that calculated using a two-dimensional transport-reaction model only in the case of a confined iron surface. The difference between the experimental and calculated pH in the steady state was attributed to the limitation of the modelling approach, more especially concerning solid phases precipitation inside the cavity. Nevertheless, only short term (hour) experiments and simulations can be compared illustrating the necessary improvement of these basic models to predict real perforation corrosion rate at long term

Production performance, milk composition and cheese quality of crossbred dairy sheep supplemented with dietary omega-3 oils

This thesis primarily investigated the effect of supplementing pasture-based dairy sheep with different plant oil-infused and rumen-protected pellets containing eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) on lactation performance, milk and cheese fatty acid composition and cheese eating quality. It was hypothesised that plant oil supplements would interact with sire breed to influence feed intake, body condition score, milk yield and composition, milk and cheese fatty acid contents and sensory attributes of ripened cheese. Sixty Awassi and Awassi × East Friesian crossbred ewes in mid-lactation, balanced by liveweight (59 ± 5.9 kg), milk yield (657 ± 100 g/day), parity (2.8 ± 0.5), and sire breed were randomly allocated into 6 treatment groups of 10 ewes each, that were: (1) supplemented with on-farm existing commercial wheat-based pellets without oil inclusion (control) or supplemented with wheat-based pellets infused with 50 mL/kg dry matter of oils from (2) canola, (3) rice bran, (4) flaxseed, (5) safflower, and (6) rumen-protected EPA + DHA in a 10- week supplementary feeding trial including a 2-week adjustment period. All supplementary diets included the same level of 50 mL/kg DM of oil except for the control group, and all diets were isocaloric and isonitrogenous. Experimental animals were grazed in the same paddock with ad libitum access to pasture, hay, and water. During milking time, each ewe was fed 1 kg/day of the supplemented pellets individually in the milking parlour. Data on weekly body condition score, daily feed intake, feed composition, weekly bulked fresh milk, raw milk, and ripened cheese samples were collected. Feed intake, body condition score, milk yield, milk composition, fatty acid composition of milk and cheese, and cheese sensory attributes were analysed in SAS with sire breed, diet, and week of supplementation and their second-order interactions as fixed effects. It was demonstrated that oil supplementation and sire breed affected animal performance, productivity and quality of milk and its processed product, in that: 1) Rumen-protected oil pellet containing EPA + DHA was the most effective diet that improved milk production, n-3 long-chain (C≥20) polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LC-PUFA) in fresh milk and ripened cheese without any negative effect on animal performance and cheese eating quality. A serving of milk and cheese reached the "good source" and "source" levels of n-3 LC-PUFA, respectively; 2) Flaxseed oil supplementation elicited not only the highest concentration of α- linolenic acid (ALA, 18:3n-3) in both fresh milk and ripened cheese, but also improved all cheese eating sensory traits. Flaxseed oil also significantly increased n-3 LC-PUFA in milk because a serving of fresh milk met the claimed "source" of n-3 LC-PUFA; 3) Safflower oil diet considerably improved milk, fat and protein yields. More importantly, this diet also had the most efficiency at enhancing the level of linoleic acid (18:2n-6) in milk and cheese. Safflower oil inclusion had no effect on cheese eating quality; 4) Rice bran oil was the sole diet that improved milk yield with an increase in protein content. However, adding rice bran oil to the diet of grazing dairy ewes had only minor effects on altering milk and cheese PUFA composition. Together with flaxseed oil, rice bran oil significantly enhanced consumer acceptability of ripened cheese; 5) Canola oil was found to have minor but statistically significant effect on milk yield, body condition score, and docosapentaenoic acid (DPA, 22:5n-3) content in milk; 6) Sire breed and its interaction with diet mainly affected milk production, but not milk quality, in which crossbred Awassi x East Friesian had higher milk yield than pure-bred Awassi. Taken together, these outcomes suggest that oil supplements and crossbreeding can be utilised by Australian sheep milk producers in pasture-based systems to improve production traits and cheese eating quality to increase farm-gate value