Board Performance Evaluation Post-Financial Crisis

Over the last ten years, the practice of conducting performance evaluations of boards of directors has become commonplace in large corporations. Not only is the process widely established but it is seen as an essential tool in achieving better board performance and effectiveness

Regulatory responses to the global financial crisis - the next cycle of corporate governance reform?

The causes of the global financial crisis are complex and multidimensional. A combination of factors including low interest rates, highly complex financial products, poor risk management and excessive incentive schemes contributed to the spectacular failure of many financial institutions, which in turn has damaged the wider international economy. The long-term policy response to deal with the crisis has focused on issues of transparency, disclosure, and risk management. The coordinated global effort to rebuild the financial system and restore economic growth has three essential dimensions: containing the contagion and restoring market operations coping with long-term systemic problems aligning international regulation and oversight of financial institutions

Hydraulic conductivity of composite soils

Many natural soils (e.g. glacial tills, residual soils, and alluvial soils) and artificial soils (e.g. engineered fill, environmental barriers) are formed of a range of particle sizes and types. These soils are often difficult to sample and test when using standard site investigations thus it is necessary to resort to empirical correlations; most of which were developed for coarse-grained (e.g. clean sands) or fine-grained (e.g. pure clays) soils. The hydraulic conductivity is dependent on the void ratio, clay type and particle size distribution and, in the case of composite soils it is also dependent on the clay content. Composite soils formed of four clay minerals and two sands were consolidated from slurry to determine the variation of hydraulic conductivity with clay content, clay type and void ratio. The matrix dominated soils, the flow is a function of the matrix void ratio and clay type; and, in clast dominated soils, the intergranular void ratio and particle size distribution. The transition from a matrix dominated soil to a clast dominated soil occurs at a fines content between 20% and 35%

Effect of vibro stone column installation on the performance of reinforced soil

Empirical design methods for stone column foundations are often on single stone columns or as a homogeneous medium of soil/column. These methods underestimate the capacity of the composite system because they do not take into account the increased confining stress acting on the stone column or the increased stiffness of the soil. This study used Plaxis 2D to study the effect of the installation method on the confining pressure and soil stiffness around a single column by assuming the installation of the column could be modelled as an expanding cavity followed by consolidation of the surrounding soil. The mean stress and stiffness generated during installation between two, adjacent columns was used in Plaxis 3D to compare the settlement of circular foundations on estuarine deposits reinforced by stone columns at a site in Santa Barbara, California. Good agreement was found between the predicted and actual settlement of the trial foundations on three column arrangements. The predictions gave a better estimate of the settlement compared to those using a unit cell or homogeneous medium showing that improvements to the soil should be taken into account when assessing stone column performance

A conceptual model for federated authentication in the cloud

Authentication is a key security control for any computing system, whether that is a PC, server, laptop, tablet or mobile phone. However, authentication is traditionally poorly served, with existing implementations falling foul of a variety of weaknesses. Passwords are poorly selected, reused and shared (to name but a few). Research has suggested novel approaches to authentication such as transparent authentication and cooperative and distributed authentication. However, these technologies merely focus upon individual platforms rather than providing a universal and federated authentication approach that can be used across technologies and services. The advent of cloud computing, its universal connectivity, scalability and flexibility, offers a new opportunity of achieving usable and convenient authentication seamlessly in a technology and service independent fashion. The approach introduces a new dedicated authentication provider - the Managed Authentication Service Provider - that is able to provide state-of-the-art centralised verification of authenticity. However, relying upon such an environment also introduces a range of technology, privacy and trust-related issues that must be overcome

Balancing Act - the Tightrope of Corporate Governance Reform

Over the last five years, corporate governance has proved an insistent issue in the boardrooms of Australia. In March 2003, the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) Corporate Governance Council launched its Principles of Good Corporate Governance and Best Practice Recommendations (the guidelines). The following year amendments to the Corporations Act 2001 came into force, designed to improve corporate accountability and auditing practices. In annual reports for 2004-2005, Australian corporations were asked to disclose more information about their corporate governance practices than ever before. This prompted a review of existing governance structures and procedures against those recommended or required by the new regulation

A conceptual model for federated authentication in the cloud

Authentication is a key security control for any computing system, whether that is a PC, server, laptop, tablet or mobile phone. However, authentication is traditionally poorly served, with existing implementations falling foul of a variety of weaknesses. Passwords are poorly selected, reused and shared (to name but a few). Research has suggested novel approaches to authentication such as transparent authentication and cooperative and distributed authentication. However, these technologies merely focus upon individual platforms rather than providing a universal and federated authentication approach that can be used across technologies and services. The advent of cloud computing, its universal connectivity, scalability and flexibility, offers a new opportunity of achieving usable and convenient authentication seamlessly in a technology and service independent fashion. The approach introduces a new dedicated authentication provider - the Managed Authentication Service Provider - that is able to provide state-of-the-art centralised verification of authenticity. However, relying upon such an environment also introduces a range of technology, privacy and trust-related issues that must be overcome

Climate Change and invasibility of the Antarctic benthos

Benthic communities living in shallow-shelf habitats in Antarctica (<100-m depth) are archaic in their structure and function. Modern predators, including fast-moving, durophagous (skeleton-crushing) bony fish, sharks, and crabs, are rare or absent; slow-moving invertebrates are the top predators; and epifaunal suspension feeders dominate many soft substratum communities. Cooling temperatures beginning in the late Eocene excluded durophagous predators, ultimately resulting in the endemic living fauna and its unique food-web structure. Although the Southern Ocean is oceanographically isolated, the barriers to biological invasion are primarily physiological rather than geographic. Cold temperatures impose limits to performance that exclude modern predators. Global warming is now removing those physiological barriers, and crabs are reinvading Antarctica. As sea temperatures continue to rise, the invasion of durophagous predators will modernize the shelf benthos and erode the indigenous character of marine life in Antarctica

Reachability in Biochemical Dynamical Systems by Quantitative Discrete Approximation (extended abstract)

In this paper, a novel computational technique for finite discrete approximation of continuous dynamical systems suitable for a significant class of biochemical dynamical systems is introduced. The method is parameterized in order to affect the imposed level of approximation provided that with increasing parameter value the approximation converges to the original continuous system. By employing this approximation technique, we present algorithms solving the reachability problem for biochemical dynamical systems. The presented method and algorithms are evaluated on several exemplary biological models and on a real case study.Comment: In Proceedings CompMod 2011, arXiv:1109.104

Bioavailability of Glucoraphanin and Sulforaphane From High-Glucoraphanin Broccoli

Scope: Broccoli accumulates 4-methylsulphinylbutyl glucosinolate (glucoraphanin) which is hydrolyzed to the isothiocyanate sulforaphane. Through the introgression of novel alleles of the Myb28 transcription factor from Brassica villosa, broccoli genotypes have been developed that have enhanced levels of glucoraphanin. This study sought to quantify the exposure of human tissues to glucoraphanin and sulforaphane following consumption of broccoli with contrasting Myb28 genotypes. Methods and results: Ten participants were recruited into a three-phase, double-blinded, randomized crossover trial (NCT02300324), with each phase comprising consumption of 300 ml of a soup made from broccoli of one of three Myb28 genotypes (Myb28B/B, Myb28B/V, Myb28V/V). Plant myrosinases were intentionally denatured during soup manufacture. Three-fold and five-fold higher levels of sulforaphane occurred in the circulation following consumption of Myb28V/B and Myb28V/V broccoli soups, respectively. The percentage of sulforaphane excreted in 24 h relative to the amount of glucoraphanin consumed varied amongst volunteers from 2% to 15%, but did not depend on the broccoli genotype. Conclusion: This is the first study to report the bioavailability of glucoraphanin and sulforaphane from soups made with novel broccoli varieties. The presence of one or two Myb28V alleles results in enhanced delivery of sulforaphane to the systemic circulation