Heavy Construction Systems Specialists, Inc. (HCSS)

Heavy Construction Systems Specialists, Inc. [HCSS] designs and sells hi-tech software to the heavy/highway construction industry. The case describes a unique corporate culture that has made HCSS a business success in a highly competitive industry. The company’s employees discuss in detail why they bought into the concept of employee ownership while Mike Rydin, the firm’s CEO, explains the advantages but also the limits of this very successful business model

Electrochemical study in both classical cell and microreactors of flavin adenine dinucleotide as a redox mediator for NADH regeneration

The electrochemical reduction of flavinadeninedinucleotide (FAD) is studied in a classical electrochemical cell as well as in two types of microreactors: the first one is a one-channel reactor and the other one, a multichannel filter-press reactor. The ultimate goal is to use the reduced form of flavin (FADH2), in the presence of formate dehydrogenase (FDH), in order to continuously regenerate the reduced form of nicotinamide adeninedinucleotide (NADH) for chiral syntheses. Various voltammetric and adsorption measurements were carried out for a better understanding of the redox behavior of the FAD as well as its adsorption on gold. Diffusivity and kinetic electrochemical parameters of FAD were determined

Principled Entrepreneurship And Shared Leadership: The Case Of TEOCO (The Employee Owned Company)

This case describes a unique corporate culture, focused on employee ownership and employee-centered Human Resource practices, which fosters employee loyalty and motivates employee focus on organization objectives. The organization’s CEO and senior management team discuss in detail the company’s development strategy, the concept of shared leadership, and its strategic focus on Human Resource Management. Also emphasized is how the organization’s recent partnership with a private equity firm, and its acquisition of an international organization of similar size, may change TEOCO’s culture and its business model

Structuring An MBA Consulting Course: Aligning Pedagogical Strategies To Meet The Needs Of A Business Schools Critical Stakeholders

At a time when business schools of second-tieruniversities face budget constraints, the MBA consulting program has become avehicle to build a schools reputation and to engage the business community inorder to raise financial resources. Business schools also face competition fromon-line programs, and consulting assignments help to define a schools competitive advantage. Finally, an increasing number of students with little or no prior business experience are seeking the MBA edge to help them find their first positions. As a result, the consulting program is rapidly becoming aninstrument of choice to facilitate the transition from campus to professional environment. This article presents the pedagogical strategies implemented by auniversity with limited resources and for which the consulting program has been designed to address the needs of both external and internal stakeholders

An Early Warning Model for EU banks with Detection of the Adverse Selection Effect

We estimate an early warning model of banks’ failure using a panel of 82 EU banks observed between 1991 and 2005. We make two contributions to the literature. Firstly, we construct a distance-to-default indicator and test its predictive power. The tests implemented here are very similar to those realized by Gropp, Vesala and Vulpes (2005), but our time dimension is four years longer and we use a more restrictive definition of banks’ “failure”. This first part of the paper establishes the accuracy of our data and confirms the robustness of distance-to-default as an early indicator of EU banks’ fragility. Our second advance consists in introducing a variable detecting the adverse selection problem that can be caused by rapid growth strategies. A measure of past average growth of assets is shown to be a very significant and powerful predictor of future banks’ difficulties. We discuss the origins and implications of such an effect.failures; early warning systems; CAMEL ratings; distance to default

Viscoplastic modeling of granular column collapse with pressure-dependent rheology

International audienceA mechanical and numerical model of dry granular flows is proposed that quantitatively reproduce laboratory experiments of granular column collapse over inclined planes. The rheological parameters are directly derived from the experiments.The so-called \mu(I) rheology is reformulated in the framework of Drucker-Prager plasticity with the yield stress and viscosity \eta(||D||,p) depending on both the pressure p and the norm of the strain rate tensor ||D||. The granular domain, velocities, stress deviator and pressure fields are calculated using a finite element method based on an iterative decomposition-coordination formulation coupled with the augmented Lagrangian method. 2-D simulations using this model well reproduce the dynamics and deposits of collapsing granular columns. The flow is essentially located in a surface layer behind the front, whereas it is distributed over the whole depth near the front where basal sliding occurs. The computed runout distances and slopes of the deposits agree very well with the values found in the experiments. Using an easily calculated order of magnitude approximation of the mean viscosity during the flow (\eta = 1 Pa s here), we show that a Drucker-Prager rheology with a constant viscosity gives results very similar to the \mu(I) rheology and agrees with experimental height profiles, while significantly reducing the computational cost. Within the range of viscosities 0.1 < \eta < 1 Pa s, the dynamics and deposits are very similar. The observed slumping behavior therefore appears to be mainly due to the flow/no-flow criterion and to the associated strain-independent part of the "flowing constitutive relation" (i.e. related to plastic effects). However, the results are very different when an unrealistically large value of viscosity (10 Pa s) is used

Dynamical weakening of pyroclastic flows by mechanical vibrations

Dynamical weakening of dense granular flows plays a critical role on diverse geological events such as seismic faulting and landslides. A common feature of these processes is the development of fluid-solid relative flows that could lead to fluidization by hydrodynamic viscous stresses. Volcanic ash landslides (pyroclastic flows) are characterized by their high mobility often attributed to fluidization of the usually fine and/or low-density particles by their interaction with the entrapped gas. However, the physical mechanism that might drive sustained fluidization of these dense granular flows over extraordinarily long runout distances is elusive. The behavior of volcanic ash in a slowly rotating drum subjected to mechanical vibrations shown in this work suggests that fluid-particle relative oscillations in dense granular flows present in volcanic eruption events can promote pore gas pressure at reduced shear rates as to sustain fluidization.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CTQ2014-52763-C2-2-

Dynamic pore-pressure variations induce substrate erosion by pyroclastic flows

International audienceField evidence shows that pyroclastic flows can entrain blocks from underlying substrates formed by earlier geological events, yet, counterintuitively, they are less likely to erode unconsolidated layers of fine particles. Here we report laboratory experiments that reproduce these seemingly contradictory observations and also offer a means to infer pyroclastic flow velocity. Experiments demonstrate that the sliding head of a granular flow generates a dynamic upward pore-pressure gradient at the flow-substrate interface. Associated upward air flux is enough to fluidize a substrate of fines, so that particles are not entrained individually but the substrate instead is subject to small shear instabilities. In contrast, coarse particles forming a non-fluidized substrate are lifted at a critical upward force due to the pore-pressure gradient, according to their individual masses, which provides a basis for a model to calculate the flow velocity. Application to the 18 May 1980 pyroclastic flow deposits at Mount St. Helens (Washington State, USA) gives velocities of ∼9-13 m s-1 at ∼6-7 km from the vent on gentle slopes (<4°-6°), in agreement with field observations at this volcano and at others

Synthesizing Field and Experimental Observations to Investigate the Behavior of Pyroclastic Density Currents

One of the major hazards associated with volcanic eruptions are pyroclastic density currents (PDCs), which are fast-moving volcanic avalanches consisting of ash, boulders, and gas. Because of their unpredictability, studying PDCs in real time is dangerous and difficult. Therefore, we investigate the deposits produced by PDCs and use granular flow experiments to simulate PDCs in the laboratory. The experimental results allow us to understand sediment transport and erosional processes at small scales, and then we can extrapolate those results to natural PDCs. By better understanding what controls PDC behavior, we hope to ultimately improve risk assessment for these dangerous flows