Publications
NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.
2017
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
This study deals with the composition of corporate boards and examines the impact of independent (outside) and inside directors. We analyze the effect of independent and representative board members on firm performance and shareholder protection. Overseeing the CEO to ensure value maximization is one of the key functions of boards. Hence, boards appear as a protective mechanism that protects shareholder rights. With this reasoning regulators promote independent directors at boardrooms. The literature corroborates the notion that independent directors are instrumental in mitigating agency problems. At the same time, increasing worker representation has been considered as a mechanism to contain, or balance the power of controlling shareholders for big companies. In Norway, employee representation in boards has been promoted by the legislation long before. Employee representatives have insider information about the companies and leaves little room for executives to mislead the board. For companies that adopt the gender balance law, and change their boards, we look at the impact of outsiders. We take the insiders into consideration by controlling for the board ownership, and use the incremental effect of female additions to the board as variable capturing the outsider impact. We examine the explanatory power of outsiders at board over the value and tax returns of the company. Conversely, we try to see how the employee representatives are related with firm fundamentals. For the companies that change their organizational form, we gauge the differential impact of employee representation when we control for other factors. The key posits are that employee representatives can protect employee rights, alleviate layoffs, and moderate the executive pay. This view has found audience among policy makers recently. Preliminary results demonstrate that increasing outside and independent directors have a positive effect on the firm value. Furthermore, independent board directors are essential in promoting efficient outcomes. Further, they are instrumental in returning the value to shareholders, limiting the executive compensation, and curbing the relative tax burden.
Authors
Rolf Nestby Tore Krogstad Knut Anders HovstadAbstract
In a project focusing on semi-cultivation of European blueberry (EB) from 2008 to 2011, a botanical survey was undertaken in two experimental fields in the municipalities of Snåsa and Lierne in the county of Nord-Trøndelag, Norway. The focus was mainly on growth of EB and Vaccinium vitis-idaea. We examined the effects of fertilization and cutting of EB to evaluate if established practices in the semicultivation of the wild American lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), also had potential for semi-cultivation of EB. We assigned four levels of fertilization randomly per block, with five replications. The Snåsa and the Lierne fields were clearcut, 25 and 5 years prior to the survey, respectively. We pruned the remaining trees and shrubs to the ground when the experiment was established. Before application of fertilizer and cutting, we conducted a vegetation survey, recording the percentage cover of all plant species. Furthermore, we recorded maximum, minimum, and middle canopy height of EB and estimated percent cover and thickness of plant litter at the forest floor in 2008 and 2011. The survey consisted of three plots of one m2. We placed each of them in the center of a fertilization plot, randomly distributed across the four fertilization treatments of each block at both sites. Twenty-six species were present in the fields, and the changes in botanical diversity were influenced by year, location, fertilization, and pruning of shrubs. Suggestions of how development of European blueberry in forest fields could be strengthened, and subsequently how the competitors could be weakened are presented. We showed that Pruning of EB decreased canopy cover, maximum- and middle- height, which was still lower three years after pruning than unpruned plants, and that V. vitis-idaea had a lower nutrient demand than EB.
Authors
Tatjana Kince Ruta Galoburda Dace Klava Lolita Tomsone Santa Senhofa Evita Straumite Garry Kerch Arta Kronberga Ievina Sturite Daiga Kunkulberga Anita BlijaAbstract
The aim of the study was to investigate changes of physical, microbiological, and sensory properties of muesli with germinated fakes during storage. Germinated fakes were made from conventionally grown grains: hullless barley, hull-less oat, rye, wheat, and triticale in various proportions. Breakfast cereals samples were packaged in Doypack (stand up pouches) made from Pap50g/Alu7/ Pe60 (Pap/Alu/PE) and stand up pouches Fibrecote® HB MG 40/60 (PE/EvOH/Pap) and stored for 6 months at temperature t=35±2°C and relative air humidity φ=55±3%, to provide accelerated shelf-life testing. The main quality parameters such as total plate count, yeasts and mould, water activity, moisture content, water absorption and sensory properties—taste, aroma, consistency, and appearance were analysed using the standard methods. The results of the present experiments demonstrate that the best quality of dried breakfast cereals after storage in terms of sensory quality, microbiological stability, moisture migration, and water absorption were achieved in the Fibrecote® HB MG 40/60 pouches. This study revealed that breakfast cereals made from rye, triticale germinated triticale, germinated hull-less oat, germinated hull-less barley fakes; as well breakfast cereals made from triticale, oat, germinated wheat, germinated triticale, and germinated hull-less barley fakes packaged in Fibrecote® HB MG 40/60 can be stored for 12 months at temperature 23±2°C; but breakfast cereals made from wheat, rye, triticale, germinated hull-less oat, germinated hull-less barley, germinated rye fakes and package in same packaging material can be stored for 10 months at temperature 23±2°C.
Authors
Marcos Viejo Elena Carneros Hugh Cross Igor A. Yakovlev Carl Gunnar Fossdal Jorunn Elisabeth OlsenAbstract
No abstract has been registered
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No abstract has been registered
Authors
Marcos Viejo Elena Carneros Hugh Cross Igor A. Yakovlev Carl Gunnar Fossdal Jorunn Elisabeth OlsenAbstract
No abstract has been registered
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No abstract has been registered
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No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered