Corporate Governance Mechanisms and Firm Performance:Evidence from Finland

This paper examines the association between corporate governance attributes and firm performance of Finnish firms during 1990 – 2000. The empirical results suggest that corporate governance matters for firm performance. First, univariate test results indicate that firms characterized by a high (efficient) level of corporate governance have delivered greater stock returns, are higher valued based on the measure of Tobin’s Q, and exhibit higher ratios of cash flow to assets, on average, in comparison to their counterparts characterized by a low (inefficient) level of corporate governance. Second, controlling for a number of well-known determinants of stock returns, we find evidence that firms categorized by inefficient corporate governance have delivered inferior returns to shareholders during the investigation period. Finally, after controlling for several common determinants of firm value, we find that firms characterized by efficient corporate governance have been valued higher during the investigation period, measured by Tobin’s Q.

Enhancement of Surface Flashover Performance of High Voltage Ceramic Disc Insulators

In this paper, an effort is made to study accurately the field distribution for various types of ceramic insulators used for high-voltage transmission. The surface charge simulation method (SCSM) is employed for the field computation. With the help of SCSM program, a Novel field reduction electrode is designed and developed to reduce the maximum field around the pin region. In order to experimentally analyze the performance of discs with field reduction electrode, special artificial pollution test facility was built and utilized. The experimental results show better surface flashover performance of ceramic insulators used in high-voltage transmission and distribution systems.

A quasi-steady performance prediction model for dynamic characteristics of a volute pump

A performance prediction model generally applicable for volute-type centrifugal pumps has been extended to predict the dynamic characteristics of a pump during its normal starting and stopping periods. Experiments have been conducted on a volute pump with different valve openings to study the dynamic behaviour of the pump during normal start-up and stopping, when a small length of discharge pipeline is connected to the discharge flange of the pump. Such experiments have also been conducted when the test pump was part of a hydraulic system, an experimental rig, where it is pumping against three similar pumps, known as supply pumps, connected in series, with the supply pumps kept idle or running. Instantaneous rotational speed, flowrate, and delivery and suction pressures of the pump were recorded and it was observed in all the tested cases that the change of pump behaviour during the transient period was quasi-steady, which validates the quasi-steady approach presented in this paper. The nature of variation of parameters during the transients has been discussed. The model-predicted dynamic head-capacity curves agree well with the experimental data for almost all the tested cases.

Particle filters for structural system identification using multiple test and sensor data: A combined computational and experimental study

The problem of structural system identification when measurements originate from multiple tests and multiple sensors is considered. An offline solution to this problem using bootstrap particle filtering is proposed. The central idea of the proposed method is the introduction of a dummy independent variable that allows for simultaneous assimilation of multiple measurements in a sequential manner. The method can treat linear/nonlinear structural models and allows for measurements on strains and displacements under static/dynamic loads. Illustrative examples consider measurement data from numerical models and also from laboratory experiments. The results from the proposed method are compared with those from a Kalman filter-based approach and the superior performance of the proposed method is demonstrated. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Performance of inherently compensated flat pad aerostatic bearings subject to dynamic perturbation forces

The importance of air bearing design is growing in engineering. As the trend to precision and ultra precision manufacture gains pace and the drive to higher quality and more reliable products continues, the advantages which can be gained from applying aerostatic bearings to machine tools, instrumentation and test rigs is becoming more apparent. The inlet restrictor design is significant for air bearings because it affects the static and dynamic performance of the air bearing. For instance pocketed orifice bearings give higher load capacity as compared to inherently compensated orifice type bearings, however inherently compensated orifices, also known as laminar flow restrictors are known to give highly stable air bearing systems (less prone to pneumatic hammer) as compared to pocketed orifice air bearing systems. However, they are not commonly used because of the difficulties encountered in manufacturing and assembly of the orifice designs. This paper aims to analyse the static and dynamic characteristics of inherently compensated orifice based flat pad air bearing system. Based on Reynolds equation and mass conservation equation for incompressible flow, the steady state characteristics are studied while the dynamic state characteristics are performed in a similar manner however, using the above equations for compressible flow. Steady state experiments were also performed for a single orifice air bearing and the results are compared to that obtained from theoretical studies. A technique to ease the assembly of orifices with the air bearing plate has also been discussed so as to make the manufacturing of the inherently compensated bearings more commercially viable. (c) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Apparatus and method for heat-run test on high-power PWM converters with low energy expenditure

Before installation, a voltage source converter is usually subjected to heat-run test to verify its thermal design and performance under load. For heat-run test, the converter needs to be operated at rated voltage and rated current for a substantial length of time. Hence, such tests consume huge amount of energy in case of high-power converters. Also, the capacities of the source and loads available in the research and development (R&D) centre or the production facility could be inadequate to conduct such tests. This paper proposes a method to conduct heat-run tests on high-power, pulse width modulated (PWM) converters with low energy consumption. The experimental set-up consists of the converter under test and another converter (of similar or higher rating), both connected in parallel on the ac side and open on the dc side. Vector-control or synchronous reference frame control is employed to control the converters such that one draws certain amount of reactive power and the other supplies the same; only the system losses are drawn from the mains. The performance of the controller is validated through simulation and experiments. Experimental results, pertaining to heat-run tests on a high-power PWM converter, are presented at power levels of 25 kVA to 150 kVA.

Performance of an ionomer blend-nanocomposite as an effective gas barrier material for organic devices

A new, flexible, gas barrier material has been synthesized by exfoliating organically modified nano-clays (MMT) in the blends of Surlyn (PEMA) using a copolymer of vinyl alcohol (EVOH) and demonstrated as a gas barrier material. The materials were characterized by Fourier transform infra red (FTIR) and UV-visible spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and tensile studies. The oxygen and water-vapor permeabilities of the fabricated films were determined by calcium degradation test and a novel permeability setup based on cavity ring down spectroscopy, respectively. Hierarchical simulations of these materials helped us to understand the effect of intermolecular interactions on diffusivities of oxygen and water molecules in these materials. Schottky structured poly(3-hexylthiophene) based organic devices were encapsulated with the fabricated films and aging studies were carried under accelerated conditions. Based on permeability test results and accelerated aging studies, the fabricated PEMA/EVOH/MMT composites were found to be effective in decreasing the permeabilities for gases by about two orders of magnitude and maintaining the lifetime of organic devices.

A performance-based framework for assessing liquefaction potential based on CPT data

This article describes a new performance-based approach for evaluating the return period of seismic soil liquefaction based on standard penetration test (SPT) and cone penetration test (CPT) data. The conventional liquefaction evaluation methods consider a single acceleration level and magnitude and these approaches fail to take into account the uncertainty in earthquake loading. The seismic hazard analysis based on the probabilistic method clearly shows that a particular acceleration value is being contributed by different magnitudes with varying probability. In the new method presented in this article, the entire range of ground shaking and the entire range of earthquake magnitude are considered and the liquefaction return period is evaluated based on the SPT and CPT data. This article explains the performance-based methodology for the liquefaction analysis – starting from probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) for the evaluation of seismic hazard and the performance-based method to evaluate the liquefaction return period. A case study has been done for Bangalore, India, based on SPT data and converted CPT values. The comparison of results obtained from both the methods have been presented. In an area of 220 km2 in Bangalore city, the site class was assessed based on large number of borehole data and 58 Multi-channel analysis of surface wave survey. Using the site class and peak acceleration at rock depth from PSHA, the peak ground acceleration at the ground surface was estimated using probabilistic approach. The liquefaction analysis was done based on 450 borehole data obtained in the study area. The results of CPT match well with the results obtained from similar analysis with SPT data.

Performance enhancement of online handwritten Tamil symbol recognition with reevaluation techniques

In this article, we aim at reducing the error rate of the online Tamil symbol recognition system by employing multiple experts to reevaluate certain decisions of the primary support vector machine classifier. Motivated by the relatively high percentage of occurrence of base consonants in the script, a reevaluation technique has been proposed to correct any ambiguities arising in the base consonants. Secondly, a dynamic time-warping method is proposed to automatically extract the discriminative regions for each set of confused characters. Class-specific features derived from these regions aid in reducing the degree of confusion. Thirdly, statistics of specific features are proposed for resolving any confusions in vowel modifiers. The reevaluation approaches are tested on two databases (a) the isolated Tamil symbols in the IWFHR test set, and (b) the symbols segmented from a set of 10,000 Tamil words. The recognition rate of the isolated test symbols of the IWFHR database improves by 1.9 %. For the word database, the incorporation of the reevaluation step improves the symbol recognition rate by 3.5 % (from 88.4 to 91.9 %). This, in turn, boosts the word recognition rate by 11.9 % (from 65.0 to 76.9 %). The reduction in the word error rate has been achieved using a generic approach, without the incorporation of language models.

A Grid Simulator to Evaluate Control Performance of Grid-Connected Inverters

Grid simulators are used to test the control performance of grid-connected inverters under a wide range of grid disturbance conditions. In the present work, a three phase back-to-back connected inverter sharing a common dc bus has been programmed as a grid simulator. Three phase balanced disturbance voltages applied to three-phase balanced loads has been considered in the present work. The developed grid simulator can generate three phase balanced voltage sags, voltage swells, frequency deviations and phase jumps. The grid simulator uses a novel disturbance generation algorithm. The algorithm allows the user to reference the disturbance to any of the three phases at any desired phase angle. Further, the exit of the disturbance condition can be referenced to the desired phase angle of any phase by adjusting the duration of the disturbance. The grid simulator hardware has been tested with different loads – a linear purely resistive load, a non-linear diode-bridge load and a grid-connected inverter load.

Influence of dust deposition on photovoltaic panel performance

Solar photovoltaic power plants are ideally located in regions with high insolation levels. Photovoltaic performance is affected by high cell temperatures, soiling, mismatch and other balance-of-systems related losses. It is crucial to understand the significance of each of these losses on system performance. Soiling, highly dependent on installation conditions, is a complex performance issue to accurately quantify. The settlement of dust on panel surfaces may or may not be uniform depending on local terrain and environmental factors such as ambient temperature, wind and rainfall. It is essential to investigate the influence of dust settlement on the operating characteristics of photovoltaic systems to better understand losses in performance attributable to soiling. The current voltage (I-V) characteristics of photovoltaic panels reveal extensive information to support degradation analysis of the panels. This paper attempts to understand performance losses due to dust through a dynamic study into the I-V characteristics of panels under varying soiling conditions in an outdoor experimental test-bed. Further, the results of an indoor study simulating the performance of photovoltaic panels under different dust deposition regimes are discussed in this paper. (C) 2014 Monto Mani. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is all open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

Effects of temperature and clay content on water absorption characteristics of modified MMT clay/cyclic olefin copolymer nanocomposite films: Permeability, dynamic mechanical properties and the encapsulated organic device performance

In the present study, amino-silane modified layered organosilicates were used to reinforce cyclic olefin copolymer to enhance the thermal, mechanical and moisture impermeable barrier properties. The optimum clay loading (4%) in the nanocomposite increases the thermal stability of the film while further loading decreases film stability. Water absorption behavior at 62 degrees C was carried out and compared with the behavior at room temperature and 48 degrees C. The stiffness of the matrix increases with clay content and the recorded strain to failure for the composite films was lower than the neat film. Dynamic mechanical analysis show higher storage modulus and low loss modulus for 2.5-4 wt% clay loading. Calcium degradation test and device encapsulation also show the evidence of optimum clay loading of 4 wt% for improved low water vapor transmission rates compared to other nanocomposite films. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

DESIGN OF AN EXPERIMENTAL TEST FACILITY FOR SUPERCRITICAL CO2 BRAYTON CYCLE

A supercritical CO2 test facility is currently being developed at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India to analyze the performance of a closed loop Brayton cycle for concentrated solar power (CSP) generation. The loop has been designed for an external heat input of 20 kW a pressure range of 75-135 bar, flow rate of 11 kg/min, and a maximum cycle temperature of 525 degrees C. The operation of the loop and the various parametric tests planned to be performed are discussed in this paper The paper addresses various aspects of the loop design with emphasis on design of various components such as regenerator and expansion device. The regenerator design is critical due to sharp property variations in CO2 occurring during the heat exchange process between the hot and cold streams. Two types of heat exchanger configurations 1) tube-in-tube (TITHE) and 2) printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) are analyzed and compared. A PCHE is found to be similar to 5 times compact compared to a TITHE for identical heat transfer and pressure drops. The expansion device is being custom designed to achieve the desired pressure drop for a range of operating temperatures. It is found that capillary of 5.5 mm inner diameter and similar to 2 meter length is sufficient to achieve a pressure drop from 130 to 75 bar at a maximum cycle temperature of 525 degrees C.

Part II: A Fully Integrated RF PA in 28-nm CMOS With Device Design for Optimized Performance and ESD Robustness

In this paper, we report drain-extended MOS device design guidelines for the RF power amplifier (RF PA) applications. A complete RF PA circuit in a 28-nm CMOS technology node with the matching and biasing network is used as a test vehicle to validate the RF performance improvement by a systematic device design. A complete RF PA with 0.16-W/mm power density is reported experimentally. By simultaneous improvement of device-circuit performance, 45% improvement in the circuit RF power gain, 25% improvement in the power-added efficiency at 1-GHz frequency, and 5x improvement in the electrostatic discharge robustness are reported experimentally.