No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Using five-year credit default swap (CDS) spreads on 2,364 companies in 54 countries from 2004 to 2011, we find that firms exposed to stronger property rights through their foreign asset positions (institutional channel) and firms cross-listed on exchanges with stricter disclosure requirements (informational channel) reduce their CDS spreads by 40 bps for a one-standard-deviation increase in their exposure to the two channels. These channels capture effects beyond those associated with firm-and country-level fundamentals. Overall, we find that firm-level global asset and information connections are important mechanisms to delink firms from their sovereign and country risks.

Performance characteristics of low power cylindrical Hall thrusters are investigated in terms of the length of the discharge channel. Thrust, efficiency, discharge current, and propellant utilization are evaluated for different channel lengths of 19, 22, and 25 mm. It is found that the propellant utilization and ion energy distribution function are strongly associated with the channel length. Increase of thrust and efficiency are also found with increasing channel lengths. These characteristics of the thruster are interpreted with possible generation of multi-charged ions due to increased residing time within the extended space inside the channel. V