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With ion plated aluminium films, the film acted as the anode of the cell and was subject to chemical dissolution. The corrosion rates in NaCl, however, were comparatively lower than those detected for bulk aluminium. Figs. 8 and 9 show scanning electron micrographs for surface texture of a coated couple in comparison with the surface texture of uncoated couples.

It is now increasingly recognised that surface coating technology offers production engineers and designers significant opportunities to optimise the use of raw materials. Due to the forecasted shortage in a number of engineering metals, such as zinc, mercury, tin … etc., surface coating technology offers the most attractive finishing process, with material conservations. Suitable bulk materials may be selected for cost or structural reasons, whilst surface coating materials are chosen to meet specific surface properties, such as wear resistance, protection against corrosion, surface thermal and electrical conductance, optical reflections and decorative features. The recent design trends towards higher speeds, minimum airplane weight and maximum load capacity, however, encourage the use of light weight titanium fasteners in airplane aluminium alloy structures. This creates a serious galvanic corrosion problem to airplane skin sheets. In the following a new surface coating technique which is recently recognised as a growth of a new technology is applied to the problem of galvanic corrosion in air frame structures. The application of aluminium coatings for the protection of airplane skin sheets and fasteners against the galvanic corrosion in local environments is investigated. Both polarisation and galvanic tests are used for the evaluation of the potential of the new surface coatings. Furthermore both sodium chloride and sulphur dioxide electrolytes are used to simulate sea water and jet exhaust environments. Electrolyte saturation with either air or nitrogen are considered to compensate for the presence and lack of oxygen at different environments. It is concluded that the strong adhesion and the extensive graded interfaces of the ion plated films are responsible for the good protection of coated metallic couples.

The 1997-98 financial crisis has had a profound effect on how East Asian economies the role of the IMF and its strategic interests relative to those of the United States in the international financial regime. It has prompted them to create a regional mechanism for financial and monetary cooperation, ranging from deeper policy dialogue and surveillance, to a system of financial cooperation, and common exchange rate arrangements. This paper analyses the economic and strategic motivations behind this and outlines recent developments in financial cooperation in East Asia to provide possible directions for the future.

A network of bilateral swap arrangements under the Chiang Mai Initiative(CMI) needs stronger policy dialogue and surveillance to develop into a regional financing facility, a sort of East Asian IMF. The facility plays a role as an regional lender of last resort, providing short-term funds to a member country facing a temporary liquidity shortage and for market intervention to stabilize foreign exchange rate. East Asian countries need to achieve regional exchange rate stability. In the long run, the region may develop a common currency arrangement, but it cannot be expected in the very near future because there is no convergence of macroeconomic conditions, economic structure and systems. A realistic approach would be for East Asian developing countries to adopt a currency basket system to minimize the impact of dollar/yen exchange rate volatility on their economies. Strong political will and a vision for regional integration will be required to introduce it.

The purpose of this study is to empirically analyse the fiscal revenue implications for oil-dependent African countries in the face of low-carbon energy transition (LET).

The study combined the novel fully modified ordinary least squares, dynamic ordinary least squares and canonical cointegrating regressions estimators to analyse secondary data between 1990 and 2020 for the three major oil-dependent African Countries (Algeria, Angola and Nigeria).

The result shows that LET reduces oil revenue and non-revenue for specific countries (Algeria, Angola and Nigeria) and the panel, suggesting that low-carbon energy transiting is lowering the fiscal revenue of oil-dependent African nations.

The seeming weakness of this study is its inability to broaden the scope to include all oil-producing African economies. However, since the study selected Africa’s top three oil-producing states, the sample can serve as a model for others with lesser crude oil outputs.

Oil-dependent African countries must urgently engage in sincere economic diversification in sectors like industry and manufacturing, the service sector and human capital development to promote economic transformation that will enhance fiscal revenue.

With the pace of energy transition towards low-carbon energy, it is not business as usual for oil-rich African countries (Algeria, Angola and Nigeria) due to fluctuating demand and price. As a result, it becomes worthy to examine how the transition is affecting oil-dependent economies in Africa. Also, this study’s method is unique as it has not been used in a similar study for Africa.

This study investigates the impact of natural resources on wealth inequality as a first attempt on a panel of 45 developed and developing countries.

Using the generalized method of moments (GMM), the results provide strong evidence that natural resources increase wealth inequality within a linear empirical framework.

These results are robust to the use of alternative natural resources and wealth inequality measures. Additionally, a nonlinear analysis provides evidence of an inverted U shaped relationship between natural resources and wealth inequality. The net effect of enhancing natural resources on wealth inequality is positive and building on the corresponding conditional negative effect, the attendant natural resource thresholds for inclusive development are provided. It follows that while natural resources increase wealth inequality, some critical levels of natural resources are needed for natural resources to reduce wealth inequality.

To the best of knowledge, this is the first study to assess how enhancing natural resources affect wealth inequality.

The purpose of this paper is to show whether pressure-induced partnerships do impact the link between stakeholder pressure and firms’ CSR attitude. The veracity that stakeholder pressure and firms social attitude issues have been extensively covered in three interrelated literature, namely, corporate social responsibility (CSR), partnership and stakeholder management, is widely recognised. However, to date, efforts to investigate conditions under which partnerships initiated through stakeholder pressures help to impact firms’ CSR attitudes either as per their request or in a more balanced way, have rarely been explored.

Empirically, this paper adopts quantitative research approach (hierarchical multiple regression) to build a case that pressure-induced partnership is one such key driver that shapes firms’ CSR attitude.

Study results show that firms’ CSR attitude can only add value if these activities and firm reputation are aligned with meaningful pressure-induced partnerships.

The study’s methodological approach (hierarchical multiple regression) stands tall in studies that explore drivers that shape firms’ CSR attitude. The paper concludes with theoretical and managerial implications for future studies.

The objective of this study is to present a successful strategy to promote Korea as the logistics hub of Northeast Asia. Firstly, we introduce the necessity of a logistic hub strategy for Korea. In order to develop a successful strategy, we consider the 'free trade zone' model of the Netherlands and China. We develop a realistic and suitable model for Korea based on this Jree trade zone' model. Our proposal for a successful logistic hub strategy for Korea is the fulfillment of the following six objectives: 1) security of market accessibility, 2) improvement of the logistic system, 3) improvement of the education system, 4) improvement of the tax system, 5) assurance of labor market flexibility, and 6) development of an appealing living environment for foreigners.

The uncertainty that surrounds oil and gas exploration environments call for an examination at different angles. In terms of robustness, the purpose of this paper is to focus on three performance measurements: the amount of exploration investments, the growth rate of exploration investments, and the value at risk (VaR) of exploration investments.

The study utilizes the properties of discriminant analysis for deriving Z-score models that can be used for monitoring firms’ performance. A cointegration analysis is utilized as well in order to examine the level of cointegration between predictors of each performance measure. The sample includes annual data for 41 firms (local and multinational) working in the oil and gas industry in Egypt for the period 2009-2014.

The results show that amount and growth of exploration investment are quite robust performance measures in the oil and gas industry; VaR of exploration investment is sporadic as it firm-specific; and GDP, capital expenditure and operating expenditure are quite relevant for managing and monitoring growth of exploration investments.

The study offers robust evidence that amount and growth of exploration investment are quiet relevant for measuring firm performance in the oil and gas industry.

Few librarians think of U.S. documents as a source for professional reading, growth, and information, yet several agencies of the government are involved with library programs, services, and research. This bibliography is a compilation of some of the most recent documents about libraries published by these agencies. It is an eclectic group, ranging from scholarly research studies to descriptions of model programs. Most of these studies are known only to a small segment of the library profession and have not received wide distribution in the field. The quality of the documents is quite good, particularly the research reports being done out of the Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) Library Programs Office. Much of the information contained in the surveys and research reports is not available in any other form.