Advantage Of Synergy Research Articles

Low addition of melamine salts for improved melamine‐urea‐formaldehyde adhesive water resistance

AbstractThe addition of melamine acetate salts to an adhesive glue mix can allow the use of melamine–urea–formaldehyde (MUF) resins of lower melamine contents (rather than just urea–formaldehyde resins) and lower total amounts of melamine. Performances can be obtained that are characteristic of the top‐of‐the‐line, generally higher melamine content MUF adhesive resins for the preparation of wood particleboard panels. Improvements in the panel internal‐bond strength of greater than 30% can be obtained by the addition of melamine acetate salts to top‐of‐the‐line MUF resins. The approach to the concept of increased melamine solubility with a melamine salt is compatible with the approach of increasing melamine solubility with solvents such as acetals (e.g., methylal). However, the synergy advantage of using the two approaches jointly is not very marked. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 88: 287–292, 2003

FUNDING OF OIL SPILL SCIENCE IN LOUISIANA: 50 PROJECTS AND STILL COUNTING

ABSTRACT Immediately following the Exxon Valdez incident, Alaska, California, Texas, and Louisiana law makers enacted complementary legislation to the federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Among other things, the Louisiana legislation provides $530,000 annually, through the Louisiana Applied and Educational Oil Spill Research and Development Program (OSRADP), to underwrite oil spill research. Although in some areas interest in oil spill research may be waning, this is not the case in Louisiana. In fact, the program may be getting stronger. Since the fall of 1993, the OSRADP has awarded 83 grants in support of 50 projects (some are 2- year projects); the average award has been $46,925. This paper briefly summarizes projected completed as of May 1999. Through the coordination and cooperation of industry, government, and university community, OSRADP's research mission has promoted scientific endeavors based on a 1- or 2-year turnaround plan. This mission requires rigorous oversight and a dedicated research commitment. OSRADP's goals and objectives are designed to ensure all research projects are applied in nature and designed to take advantage of synergies. The program focuses on: (1) education, training, and public awareness; (2) remote sensing and mapping; (3) spill response, cleanup, and harmful ecological consequences; and (4) spills-of opportunity. It is critical that the science developed with OSRADP support is incorporated into the oil industry's planning and response strategies with the approval and support of the various regulatory agencies. Investment in the research initiatives can only be justified when the regulatory community incorporates the research results/material in their oil spill cleanup protocols. Louisiana takes the position that planning and response can be enhanced by good science and supports this philosophy by annually underwriting up to 14 research projects.

Relations entre la recherche et la pratique. L'Antenne romande du WSL sur les voies de l'innovation | Correlations Between Research and Practice – The Antenne Romande WSL and its Innovative Concept

The first decade of the Antenne romande WSL between 1990 and 2000 is presented under the institutional point of view and the research and extension activities are commented. Far beyond the concepts which were aimed at at the time of its foundation, this new structure had to adapt itself to a continuously changing context, despite the scarce means. Some of its results actually show an innovative character, which is mainly due to the quality of the human relations established and to the enthusiasm brought along by all the research partners involved. The AR-WSL took advantage of synergies reaching beyond the field of forestry. In order to transmit innovative impulses to Swiss forestry through research and practice, it could be of interest to involve non-forest scientists in the management of renewable natural resources. Taking action from its location at the EPF Lausanne, the Antenne romande has decided to implement this solution.

Scope and intensity of logistics-based strategic alliances: A conceptual classification and managerial implications

Strategic alliances are at the forefront of current management practice. Firms with complementary skills are taking advantage of synergies among them to reduce operating costs and to secure competitive advantages. Whereas strategic alliances can take many forms, this article focuses on logistics-based strategic alliances. In these alliances, buyers, sellers, and third-party service providers in the distribution channel engage in business relationships designed to reduce the joint cost of two or more firms. We propose a typology that classifies logistics based strategic alliances along the dimensions of scope (broad versus narrow) and intensity (high versus low). Based on this typology, we offer guidelines for firms involved or interested in logistics-based strategic alliances and raise issues for further research on this topic.

Bounded governance within extended order: The Confucian advantage of synergy under generalized constitutional rules

A constitutional explanation of the economic dynamism of the East Asian Confucian economies is proposed. The main hypothesis is that the synergy between the extended order of generalized rules, first introduced by Western civilization, and the bounded governance of Confucian societies has produced a comparative cultural and institutional advantage for the five tigers in East Asia. As a pure form, the extended order, represented in Western society by a system of private property rights, a system of impersonal and generalized markets and a formal-rational system of law and administration, is far more efficient than the bounded governance of Confucian societies in the East Asia, which is characterized by the particularistic human relations and familistic, clannish, and other forms of personal ties and connections. Nevertheless, once a linkage to the extended order is established—overcoming the limits of personal exchange—Confucian ethics can support the bounded governance structures of clans, networks, communities, and familistic corporations that are effective in governing those complex tasks in which property rights are difficult to divide and allocate, individual performance is difficult to measure, and complete contract is either difficult to make or hard to enforce.