President Of Company Research Articles

Nuclear power challenges and alternatives

The comment by Walter Scheider that Three Mile Island “remains an icon of a profit-driven industry cutting corners” echoes one by Anatoly Alexandrov, president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and a strong supporter of the “RBMK” reactor, a particular type built only in Russia and used in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Alexandrov said that “such an accident [as TMI] can only happen in America where they put profits ahead of safety.” Lecturing in Dubna, Moscow, and Gatchina just after TMI, I told listeners that if they believed Alexandrov, they were condemned to have a serious accident in the country within a decade. Alas, I was right. The centrally planned economy of the Soviet Union did far worse in ensuring safety than the US, and the Chernobyl accident occurred.The profit motive, if suitably guided by good analysis tools, can enhance safety. Fortunately, we now have “risk-informed regulation.”Much of the improvement in safety since TMI has been profit driven. It was the industry that set up the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations and the World Association of Nuclear Operators. Those organizations set safety targets and guidelines and put pressure on members to follow them. Analysis by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and university groups strongly suggests that if the safety targets and procedures, guided by a rigorous analysis, are met, the reactor will be safer. Other than closing it, the safest way to operate a power plant is to have it running smoothly and continuously. That is also the most profitable, so the requirements of safety and profitability tend to coincide; the analysis spotlights those areas where they do not. Industry efforts have increased plant availability from 60% in the 1970s to 92% today.The cost of nuclear power to the consumer depends very much on public acceptance, and it is the antinuclear movement that has set up the expensive, often unscientific roadblocks to that acceptance. There are signs that improved plant performance in the past 20 years has increased public acceptance and therefore profitability. 1 1. R. Wilson, Int. J. Global Energy Issues (in press). However, few utility company presidents would order a new nuclear power plant today without some assurance that past roadblocks will not be reinstituted.Although disposal of the waste from nuclear fission is a problem, it is a much smaller one than the disposal of carbon dioxide from burning coal. That waste can produce the climate change that is Alan Robock’s professional concern. But his stated opinion that “the waste disposal problem is not solvable in the near future” can only apply to the political problem rather than to the scientific one. Independent committees agree that a technical solution is possible. Political maneuvers in late 2005 delayed or prevented the temporary storage of nuclear waste on the Goshute Indian Reservation in Utah. It is but one example of the political impasses that delay the storage of nuclear waste material. The funding cut in December 2006 for the US Department of Energy’s presentation of the case for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository is another.Scheider and the authors of the references he quoted incorrectly blame the power company for the confusion at TMI. However, neither the Associated Press nor any major newspaper accurately quoted the press releases from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. From noon on the day of the accident, I was involved in explaining events to the public, and I could say with assurance that the expressed fears were vastly overstated. I recommended that the press quote NRC press releases verbatim and then comment as they wished, but that recommendation was ignored.A study by the European Commission (http://externe.jrc.es/index.html) states unequivocally that if coal plants were forced to pay their full external costs, they would not be built. But Scheider is right in one important respect. The lay public is not stupid, and the details of nuclear power can be explained to them. For such an explanation I recommend David Bodansky’s excellent book. 2 2. D. Bodansky, Nuclear Energy: Principles, Practices, and Prospects, 2nd ed., Springer, New York (2004). REFERENCESSection:ChooseTop of pageREFERENCES <<1. R. Wilson, Int. J. Global Energy Issues (in press). Google Scholar2. D. Bodansky, Nuclear Energy: Principles, Practices, and Prospects, 2nd ed., Springer, New York (2004). Google Scholar© 2007 American Institute of Physics.

The Rosenwald Schools of the American South

Hoffschwelle tells the story of a remarkable partnership to build model schools for black children during the Jim Crow era in the South. The Rosenwald program, which erected more than 5,300 schools and auxiliary buildings between 1912 and 1932, began with Booker T. Washington, then principal of Tuskegee Institute, who turned for financing to Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck & Company. By requiring communities to raise matching funds, the two men inspired a grassroots movement that built schools in 15 southern states. The Rosenwald schools, scores of which still stand, exemplified the ideal educational environment - designed for efficiency, making full use of natural light to protect children's eyesight, and providing sufficient space for learning. Ironically, these schools, which represented the social centers of their African American communities, also helped to set standards for white schools. Though the program's funding ended with Rosenwald's death in 1932, many continued as public institutions. The National Trust for Historic Preservation named Rosenwald Schools to its list of America's Most Endangered Historic Places in 2002. Hoffschwelle examines these buildings as exemplars for school architecture and design, as community institutions and partnerships, and as a means of formalizing a state education program that, finally, would include black children. This story of extraordinary generosity and sacrifice will interest scholars of American and African-American history, educators, school planners, and preservationists.

Relation of pipelines to unbundled LDCs

Natural GasVolume 16, Issue 2 p. 30-32 Article Relation of pipelines to unbundled LDCs Richard G. Smead, Richard G. Smead Richard G. Smead is a senior vice president of Colorado lnterstate Gas Company, a subsidiary of The Coastal Corporation. He is past chairman of the Rate Committee of the American Gas Association.Search for more papers by this author Richard G. Smead, Richard G. Smead Richard G. Smead is a senior vice president of Colorado lnterstate Gas Company, a subsidiary of The Coastal Corporation. He is past chairman of the Rate Committee of the American Gas Association.Search for more papers by this author First published: 09 January 2007 https://doi.org/10.1002/gas.3410160207 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume16, Issue2September 1999Pages 30-32 RelatedInformation

Order 637 a major step forward

Natural GasVolume 16, Issue 10 p. 24-26 Article Order 637 a major step forward Richard G. Smead, Richard G. Smead Richard G. Smead is a senior vice president of Colorado lnterstate Gas Company, a subsidiary of The Coastal Corporation. He is past chairman of the Rate Committee of the American Gas Association.Search for more papers by this author Richard G. Smead, Richard G. Smead Richard G. Smead is a senior vice president of Colorado lnterstate Gas Company, a subsidiary of The Coastal Corporation. He is past chairman of the Rate Committee of the American Gas Association.Search for more papers by this author First published: 09 January 2007 https://doi.org/10.1002/gas.3410161006 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume16, Issue10May 2000Pages 24-26 RelatedInformation

Short-term pricing and auction issues can be resolved

Natural GasVolume 15, Issue 8 p. 21-23 Article Short-term pricing and auction issues can be resolved Richard G. Smead, Richard G. Smead Richard G. Smead is a senior vice president of Colorado lnterstate Gas Company, a subsidiary of The Coastal Corporation. He is past chairman of the Rate Committee of the American Gas Association.Search for more papers by this author Richard G. Smead, Richard G. Smead Richard G. Smead is a senior vice president of Colorado lnterstate Gas Company, a subsidiary of The Coastal Corporation. He is past chairman of the Rate Committee of the American Gas Association.Search for more papers by this author First published: 09 January 2007 https://doi.org/10.1002/gas.3410150806 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume15, Issue8March 1999Pages 21-23 RelatedInformation

Producer rate proposal: Pipeline point of view

Natural GasVolume 16, Issue 4 p. 22-25 Article Producer rate proposal: Pipeline point of view Richard G. Smead, Richard G. Smead Richard G. Smead is a senior vice president of Colorado lnterstate Gas Company, a subsidiary of The Coastal Corporation. He is past chairman of the Rate Committee of the American Gas Association.Search for more papers by this author Richard G. Smead, Richard G. Smead Richard G. Smead is a senior vice president of Colorado lnterstate Gas Company, a subsidiary of The Coastal Corporation. He is past chairman of the Rate Committee of the American Gas Association.Search for more papers by this author First published: 09 January 2007 https://doi.org/10.1002/gas.3410160406 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume16, Issue4November 1999Pages 22-25 RelatedInformation

Kansas tax refunds divide industry

Natural GasVolume 16, Issue 8 p. 30-32 Article Kansas tax refunds divide industry Richard G. Smead, Richard G. Smead Richard G. Smead is a senior vice president of Coforado lnterstate Gas Company, a subsidiary of The Coastal Corporation. He is past chairman of the Rate Committee of the American Gas Association.Search for more papers by this author Richard G. Smead, Richard G. Smead Richard G. Smead is a senior vice president of Coforado lnterstate Gas Company, a subsidiary of The Coastal Corporation. He is past chairman of the Rate Committee of the American Gas Association.Search for more papers by this author First published: 09 January 2007 https://doi.org/10.1002/gas.3410160807 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume16, Issue8March 2000Pages 30-32 RelatedInformation

No standard answer to latin American financing arrangements

Natural GasVolume 16, Issue 1 p. 17-19 Article No standard answer to latin American financing arrangements Robert E. Willett, Robert E. Willett Robert E. Willett is president of Financial Communications Company, of Houston, a company that he founded in 1979. The company makes a specialty of editing and publishing in the areas of energy and international business.Search for more papers by this author Robert E. Willett, Robert E. Willett Robert E. Willett is president of Financial Communications Company, of Houston, a company that he founded in 1979. The company makes a specialty of editing and publishing in the areas of energy and international business.Search for more papers by this author First published: 09 January 2007 https://doi.org/10.1002/gas.3410160105 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume16, Issue1August 1999Pages 17-19 RelatedInformation

Caiu na rede, é peixe: a industrialização tardia e suas implicações sobre o trabalho, o ambiente e a saúde no Estado do Ceará, Brasil

The present study focuses on the characteristics of late industrialization in a city in Ceará State (in the semiarid region of Northeast Brazil) and its implications for work, environment, and health in the context of industrial mobility and advanced capitalism. Using direct observation of work processes, interviews (with production managers, company presidents, workers, local authorities, and community leaders), institutional visits and secondary data analysis, eight recently built factories that manufacture chemicals, shoes, electric appliances, clothing, mechanical parts, and packaging were analyzed as to relocation, technology, organization, work relations, worker profile, environmental and occupational risks, and the impact of these factors on health and regulatory mechanisms. The lack of adequate criteria for attracting and accepting new investments, leading to a "get it while you can" attitude, the poor quality of jobs and environmental conditions, and the scale of new changes and risks in the area, like the difficulties of the public sector and society in dealing with these challenges, raise the issue of sustainability in the current development processes.

THE SECURITY OF TRADING TRANSACTIONS ON THE EXAMPLE OF CEREAL PARTNERS POLAND TORUŃ-PACIFIC SP. Z O.O.

Having in the firm’s portfolio excellent products offered at prices acceptable to customers - is not a sufficient factor guaranteeing the achievement of economic success in the Polish realities of free market. Neither a sufficient condition is the access to modern technologies. Necessary is to arrange such an organisation of the whole system of sales, distribution, and collection of dues, so as to secure running by the firm its trading transactions in a safe way, and assuring the inflow of dues to the account of entity selling the products. On the example Cereal Partners Poland Toruń-Pacific, manufacturer of breakfast cereal products, there is presented the way in which a firm may build an effective system of running securely the sales of its products. The article introduces into the issues related to the manufacture and distribution of food products in Poland (in this case the breakfast cereal flakes), in order to describe the mechanisms of preparing, running, and controlling the trading transactions, realised by the firm, basing on the legal possibilities and instruments arising from the currently binding regulations of Polish law, regulating the business activity. Author of the article is the multi-year President of company, who has been managing it since its privatisation i.e. since the year of 1990.

My Ethical Problems with Book Publishers

On page two ofthe Fall 2003 issue ofthe Journal ofInformation Ethics there is a request for ...articles that deal with ethical problems encountered in academia or publishing. This makes me think of the many painful experiences that I, a professor, have experienced with book publishers. I have produced seven books, but I have had so many bad experiences with book publishers that I am pretty sure I will never again try to publish a book.Change of MindOne of my really painful, negative experiences occurred when a top book publisher asked me to write a book on social deviance, which would be used as a text to accompany introduction to psychology textbooks. It planned to publish many paperbacks on social issues to be marketed as books that professors would adopt along with the main introduction to psychology textbook. The publisher gave me a $1000 advance and I spent lots of time producing the manuscript. Finally, after several months, I was finished, and sent it in to the series editor.When I did not hear from him months later, I thought my manuscript was acceptable, and I looked forward to it being published. However, the manuscript had been requested in 1971 or 1972, when books on social problems were hot. By the time the editor got back from a trip outside the country, it was 1973 or 1974, and such books no longer were so desired. I believe that what we call the 1960s really extended into about 1972, but by 1973 the era was pretty much ended.Most of us who produced manuscripts found that the publisher used an out that they always have in their contract, and declined to publish our manuscripts. Thus, all that work was done for nothing. I was told that since they were nice guys, I could keep the $1000. Then, I got another letter saying they had changed their mind, and I had to return the $1000. I was furious, and wrote an angry letter addressed to the President of the publishing company. Then, I got yet another letter saying I could keep the money. But it was not the money that was really important to me. I had some original ideas in the book, and wanted it to see the light of day, especially after all the work I had put into it. Worse, I was made to feel it was my fault the book was not published. The series editor asked me for lots of revisions when he returned from his overseas trip, and I did them with limited enthusiasm. He sent me a letter saying that my revisions were not that good, and that the publisher wanted good books, so mine might not get published. So, originally, I thought it was my less-than-outstanding revisions that accounted for the rejection of the book. But I later found out that the publisher opted out on most of the books contracted for the series.Years later I got the book published by a custom publishing company, which demanded that I sell a certain number each year. A colleague referred to it as a vanity press, which I think is inaccurate. They did not charge me anything, and when I was no longer able to sell as many in a year as I had promised, there was no financial demand on me. They just declined to publish my book any more, and, for tax purposes, destroyed their inventory.To Accompany a Main TextI custom published a book of some of my journal articles. This, too, was accepted by one of the top publishers, in fact the number one publisher of high school textbooks. …

Bread and Roses: Mills, Migrants, and the Struggle for the American Dream

The 1912 Lawrence, Massachusetts, textile strike is a labor history landmark. Aided by Industrial Workers of the World (iww) organizers, participants in the “bread and roses” strike drew on community resources to mobilize a creative, militant struggle that won them improved wages and working conditions. The strike captured nationwide attention with huge parades, mass picketing, and the evacuation of strikers' children. Journalists and strike supporters pointed to harsh living conditions, women's militancy, the strikers' multiethnic cooperation, and the authorities' heavyhanded repression. Those events provide rich material for journalist Bruce Watson's lively narrative organized around a cast of characters that includes iww organizers and American Woolen Company President William M. Wood. Sympathetic to the strikers' complaints about their living and working conditions but uncomfortable with their militancy and ambivalent toward the iww, Watson highlights the strikers' determination and sacrifices and offers colorful accounts of events like a dynamite plot by strike foes and the children's exodus.

Celebrity versus Company President as Endorsers of High Risk Products for Elderly Consumers

This study examines the effectiveness of a celebrity endorser vs. a company president as an endorser for a high financial/performance risk product, supplemental health insurance, with a sample of 280 senior citizens (65+) drawn from six geographically dispersed markets. The results show significant differences between a celebrity and a company spokesperson in initial interest in the product and likelihood of seeking additional information but no differences in belief of claim or likelihood of enrolling in the insurance program.

Stand Tall and Speak Up: High Prices Do Not Mean We're Running Out of Oil

I was chatting about oil prices with a vice president of a giant agricultural-commodity company. He said that in his industry, the cure for high prices was high prices. While it is difficult to get the timing correct, in the long run the same holds true for oil. When oil prices rise, people leap to the conclusion that the world is running out of oil. In the late 1970's and early 1980's, soaring oil prices raised the specter of the end of the oil era. Then, in response to the high prices, demand dropped. Between 1978 and 1983, worldwide demand dropped by about 16%, and consumption in the U.S. declined by almost 20%. On the supply side, high prices stimulated a wide range of efforts to create new energy supplies, including efforts in renewable energy, oil shale, surfactant flooding, and oil production in hostile environments. New supplies of oil entered the market. The combination of reduced demand and new supplies led to a price collapse in early 1986. Fears of oil shortages receded into the background for many years. Now, in the midst of another period of high prices, people are again worrying that the world is running out of oil. I don't think so. The world has vast supplies of hydrocarbons that are waiting for new technology or higher oil prices to make them commercial. Examples include ultra-heavy oil, heavy oil in deep water, and oil shale. Rising oil prices push the rates of return of many previously unattractive projects above company investment thresholds. However, companies are reluctant to invest in large capital projects with long payout times until they are convinced that the higher prices will be sustained. Even after development projects are approved, the time to bring the new supplies to market is measured in years. When a flood of new energy supplies hits the market, prices will drop if demand does not grow faster than the increase in supply. Once capital has been invested and become a sunk cost, projects will continue production as long as operating expenses are covered. When prices are declining, everyone strives to reduce operating costs. A project will continue to operate at far lower oil prices than anticipated when the capital investment was made. Although many alternatives to oil were investigated in the oil boom of the late 1970's and early 1980's, oil has remained the overwhelmingly dominant transportation fuel. But, oil is not without competition. Every time oil prices surge, energy alternatives have a boost in their efforts to enter the market. During an oil boom, investment increases not only in hydrocarbon projects but also in energy efficiency technologies and alternative energy supplies. At some point, on the basis of a combination of price, convenience, and environmental concerns, the general public will embrace a substitute for oil. As former Saudi Arabia Oil Minister Sheikh Yamani noted in an interview in The Telegraph several years ago, just as the Stone Age did not end because of a shortage of stones, the oil era will not end because we ran out of oil. It will end when a better alternative emerges.

The ice man cometh: An interview with Terry D. Growcock, Chairperson, Chief Executive Officer, and President of The Manitowoc Company

The ice man cometh: An interview with Terry D. Growcock, Chairperson, Chief Executive Officer, and President of The Manitowoc Company

Promotion, Competition, Captivity: The Political Economy of Coal

“Coal is, perhaps, the most indispensable article used by man. Without it, in time, we should return to a state of barbarism.” So proclaimed the president of Pennsylvania's Pequa Railroad and Improvement Company in 1849. The importance of coal, the official explained, lay in its utility as an energy source, for which he hailed it as unsurpassed: coal was “‘hoarded labor’”—a “treasure reserved by nature to promote and perfect our civilization.” The railroad official's florid tribute to the mineral fuel was hardly disinterested: the Pequa Railroad had ambitious plans to ship a great deal of coal. Yet it effectively underscored the enormous role of coal in nineteenth-century America. It was an age in which, as countless industry boosters proclaimed, coal was king.

Faster, Shorter, Cheaper May Be Simple; It’s Never Easy

This article describes an experimental alternative to months-long systems redesigns. In one meeting, the global furniture retailer, IKEA, applying the principle of “whole system in the room,” created a new structure and process for product design, manufacture, and distribution, decentralizing an agglomeration of “silos” that no longer served. Some 52 stakeholders examined the existing system, developed a new design, created a strategic plan and formed task forces led by key executives to implement it. In 18 hours, the plan was developed and signed off on by the company president and key people from all affected functions, with active support from several customers. Was this idiosyncratic to IKEA or repeatable anywhere? The authors hypothesize that oneway to change a system in real time is for those with critical stakes in it to share what they knowunder conditions that enable action without asking permission from anyone not present.

Reminiscences of Leon A. Heppel

Reminiscences of Leon A. Heppel

Fighting Feminism: Exploring Triumphs and Obstacles in Feminist Politics and Scholarship

The William A. Kern Endowment in Communications was established by the Rochester Telephone Company in honor of Kern, a former company president who served as a trustee for the Rochester Institute of Technology from 1959–1964. The endowment funds the William A. Kern Professorship in Communications in the Department of Communication and exists to sponsor research into contemporary communication issues. Through the endowment, Kern Professor Diane Hope has organized two annual conferences in Visual Communication and, in conjunction with her role as general editor of Women's Studies Quarterly, held three annual conferences exploring gender and communication. Tonn's keynote address was for the third and final conference, which had the theme “Feminist Discourse: Theories, Practices. Challenges.” The address that appears below has been altered slightly for publication purposes.

On the Use of Hierarchies to Complete Contracts When Players Have Limited Abilities

Why do larger corporations have more layers in their hierarchy? My contention in this paper is that hierarchies arise because players in the economy have limited ability to anticipate and ascertain every future contract contingency so that it becomes too complex (or too costly) to devise and manage a complete contract directly. As a result hierarchies are designed to help a limited-ability principal (the company president) collect all information about the productive elements in the organization. The contributions of the paper are seven-fold: 1- it suggests a reason why hierarchies exist; 2- it develops a measure of the quantity of information that needs to be processed at each level of the organization; 3- it measures endogenously the optimal number of layers in a hierarchy given the players’ ability to process information; 4- it provides a rationale for having the most talented individuals at the top of the hierarchy; 5- it offers an explanation for the existence of an unique president in an organization; 6-it explains how the number of layers and of managers may vay over time as the company grows and/or the players’ ability changes; and 7- it offers predictions on the structure of organizations in the economy.