A Rational Approach to Business Entity Choice

This Article reinvigorates the entity rationalization movement and will ultimately argue that there are only three necessary entity options: corporations, partnerships, and nonprofit organizations. Part I defines the issue of entity proliferation and, along with the Appendix, presents a state-by-state analysis of the types of legal entities available, an endeavor that has not yet been conducted. The Appendix contains a chart that enumerates each legal entity available in each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia. Part II discusses the problems associated with entity proliferation from the perspective of the public, potential business owners, small business attorneys, and judges. Part III discusses the necessity and utility of several of these entities and ultimately argues for entity rationalization and dictating the steps necessary to address the issues

Vegetation Effects on Fish Distribution in Impounded Salt Marshes

We compared the density and biomass of resident fish in vegetated and unvegetated flooded habitats of impounded salt marshes in the northern Indian River Lagoon (IRL) Estuary of east-central Florida. A 1-m2 throw trap was used to sample fish in randomly located, paired sample plots (n = 198 pairs) over 5 seasons in 7 impoundments. We collected a total of 15 fish taxa, and 88% of the fishes we identified from the samples belonged to three species: Cyprinodon variegatus (Sheepshead Minnow), Gambusia holbrooki (Eastern Mosquitofish), and Poecilia latipinna (Sailfin Molly). Vegetated habitat usually had higher density and biomass of fish. Mean fish density (and 95% confidence interval) for vegetated and unvegetated sites were 8.2 (6.7–9.9) and 2.0 (1.6–2.4) individuals m-2, respectively; mean biomass (and 95% confidence interval) for vegetated and unvegetated sites were 3.0 (2.5–3.7) and 1.1 (0.9–1.4) g m-2, respectively. We confirmed previous findings that impounded salt marshes of the northern IRL Estuary produce a high standing stock of resident fishes. Seasonal patterns of abundance were consistent with fish moving between vegetated and unvegetated habitat as water levels changed in the estuary. Differences in density, mean size, and species composition of resident fishes between vegetated and unvegetated habitats have important implications for movement of biomass and nutrients out of salt marsh by piscivores (e.g., wading birds and fishes) via a trophic relay

Scale-Dependent Habitat Selection of Nesting Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets

Foraging habitat selection of nesting Great Egrets ( Ardea alba ) and Snowy Egrets ( Egretta thula ) was investigated within an estuary with extensive impounded salt marsh habitat. Using a geographic information system, available habitat was partitioned into concentric bands at five, ten, and 15 km radius from nesting colonies to assess the relative effects of habitat composition and distance on habitat selection. Snowy Egrets were more likely than Great Egrets to depart colonies and travel to foraging sites in groups, but both species usually arrived at sites that were occupied by other wading birds. Mean flight distances were 6.2 km (SE = 0.4, N = 28, range 1.8-10.7 km) for Great Egrets and 4.7 km (SE = 0.48, N = 31, range 0.7-12.5 km) for Snowy Egrets. At the broadest spatial scale both species used impounded (mostly salt marsh) and estuarine edge habitat more than expected based on availability while avoiding unimpounded (mostly fresh water wetland) habitat. At more local scales habitat use matched availability. Interpretation of habitat preference differed with the types of habitat that were included and the maximum distance that habitat was considered available. These results illustrate that caution is needed when interpreting the results of habitat preference studies when individuals are constrained in their choice of habitats, such as for central place foragers

Research Instruction and Resources in the Transactional Skills Classroom: Approaches to Incorporating Research Instruction into Transactional Skills Courses

Professors Lori Johnson, Jeanne Price, and Eric Franklin discuss methods of teaching legal research skills in the context of a transactional law class

Comparing the cumulative pain patients experience waiting for knee arthroplasty to their postoperative pain

Introduction: Reduction of pain is a major goal of anesthesiologists treating patients undergoing knee arthroplasty. This has been achieved traditionally through the use of regional analgesia. Although these techniques decrease postoperative pain, they inherently do not affect the longstanding pain patients experience as they wait for surgery. Our objectives were to quantify: 1) the decrease in pain achieved by surgical joint replacement; and 2) the decrease in postoperative pain achievable through femoral nerve blocks versus opioids. From a systems-based perspective, we wanted to determine how much reduction in waiting time before surgery would be necessary to achieve an equal cumulative pain decrease (i.e, pain x duration of pain) as that afforded by regional techniques in the immediate postoperative period. Materials and methods: A systematic review using PubMed was performed to obtain: 1) articles reporting preoperative pain scores for patients awaiting joint arthroplasty; 2) articles with knee arthroplasty patients who received femoral nerve blocks; and 3) articles providing duration on joint arthroplasty waiting lists. Cumulative pain was assessed by the area under the response curve of pain scores vs. time, a methodology that is simple and valid. This was calculated by multiplying mean pain scores by the duration of pain. Results: The decrease in knee pain subsequent to arthroplasty (6.4/10 vs. 2.9/10) is similar to the decrease in pain afforded by femoral nerve blocks for knee arthroplasty (4.7/10 vs. 2.0/10). Waiting times in many countries exceed 3 months. A decrease in waiting time by about 2 days results in a decrease in the area under the curve of Conclusion: Reducing waiting time for knee arthroplasty decreases total pain experienced by patients and is one systems-based approach that anesthesiologists could take to relieve pain. Further studies are needed to evaluate how best to accomplish this goal

Axin2 as regulatory and therapeutic target in newborn brain injury and remyelination.

Permanent damage to white matter tracts, comprising axons and myelinating oligodendrocytes, is an important component of brain injuries of the newborn that cause cerebral palsy and cognitive disabilities, as well as multiple sclerosis in adults. However, regulatory factors relevant in human developmental myelin disorders and in myelin regeneration are unclear. We found that AXIN2 was expressed in immature oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OLPs) in white matter lesions of human newborns with neonatal hypoxic-ischemic and gliotic brain damage, as well as in active multiple sclerosis lesions in adults. Axin2 is a target of Wnt transcriptional activation that negatively feeds back on the pathway, promoting β-catenin degradation. We found that Axin2 function was essential for normal kinetics of remyelination. The small molecule inhibitor XAV939, which targets the enzymatic activity of tankyrase, acted to stabilize Axin2 levels in OLPs from brain and spinal cord and accelerated their differentiation and myelination after hypoxic and demyelinating injury. Together, these findings indicate that Axin2 is an essential regulator of remyelination and that it might serve as a pharmacological checkpoint in this process

Descubrimiento de dos poblaciones sobrevivientes de Sapos Arlequín (Amphibia: Bufonidae: Atelopus) en los Andes de Ecuador

We report the presence of new populations of arlequín toads belonging to Atelopus palmatus and A. nepiozomus species in the provinces of Pastaza and Loja respectively. These new findings allow us to re-evaluated and verify the conservation status of these two species. The information herein reported is a contribution to the knownlodge of the genus Atelopus on which still exist important information gaps on its taxonomy, systematics and natural history.Reportamos la presencia de nuevas poblaciones de sapos arlequines pertenecientes a las especies Atelopuspalmatus y A. nepiozomus en las provincias de Pastaza y Loja respectivamente. Estos nuevos hallazgos permiten re-evaluar y corroborar el estado de conservación de estas especies. La información aquí reportada es una contribución al conocimiento del género Atelopus sobre el cual existe todavía importantes vacíos de información sobre su taxonomía, sistemática e historia natural

Use of Self-Selected Postures to Regulate Multi-Joint Stiffness During Unconstrained Tasks

The human motor system is highly redundant, having more kinematic degrees of freedom than necessary to complete a given task. Understanding how kinematic redundancies are utilized in different tasks remains a fundamental question in motor control. One possibility is that they can be used to tune the mechanical properties of a limb to the specific requirements of a task. For example, many tasks such as tool usage compromise arm stability along specific directions. These tasks only can be completed if the nervous system adapts the mechanical properties of the arm such that the arm, coupled to the tool, remains stable. The purpose of this study was to determine if posture selection is a critical component of endpoint stiffness regulation during unconstrained tasks.Three-dimensional (3D) estimates of endpoint stiffness were used to quantify limb mechanics. Most previous studies examining endpoint stiffness adaptation were completed in 2D using constrained postures to maintain a non-redundant mapping between joint angles and hand location. Our hypothesis was that during unconstrained conditions, subjects would select arm postures that matched endpoint stiffness to the functional requirements of the task. The hypothesis was tested during endpoint tracking tasks in which subjects interacted with unstable haptic environments, simulated using a 3D robotic manipulator. We found that arm posture had a significant effect on endpoint tracking accuracy and that subjects selected postures that improved tracking performance. For environments in which arm posture had a large effect on tracking accuracy, the self-selected postures oriented the direction of maximal endpoint stiffness towards the direction of the unstable haptic environment.These results demonstrate how changes in arm posture can have a dramatic effect on task performance and suggest that postural selection is a fundamental mechanism by which kinematic redundancies can be exploited to regulate arm stiffness in unconstrained tasks