Effects of Light and Nutrients on Tomato Plant Compensation for Herbivory by \u3ci\u3eManduca Sexta\u3c/i\u3e (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae)

This preliminary study examined how two resources (light and nutrients) influence the ability of tomato plants to show growth compensation for defoliation by the tobacco homworm (Manduca sexta). Growth rate and biomass of plants grown under high and low levels of light and nutrients, and exposed to 4 levels of defoliation by Manduca sexta were measured. Nutrients affected plant growth rate much more strongly than did light. Light and nutrients, however, each influenced how herbivory affected plant growth. Defoliation significantly decreased growth rate only under conditions of low light and high nutrients. Biomass, on the other hand. was low under all resource treatments except high levels of both light and nutrients, and defoliation significantly decreased biomass only under high levels of both resources. Thus, plants appeared to compensate for damage. in terms of biomass, only under conditions of either low light and/or low nutrients

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in U.S. Older Women: Findings from Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, 2003 & 2004

The purpose of this study was to examine racial and ethnic variations in the modifiable CVD risk factors in older women (65 years and older). The study data was drawn from the merged 2003 and 2004 national Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS). Multinomial regression analyses for indicator outcome and multiple logistic regression analyses for binary outcomes were performed to determine the relationship between each of the six dependent variable and the independent variables. Compared to older white women, older black women had significantly higher odds of hypertension, diabetes and obesity. No significant association was found between Hispanics and hypertension. However Hispanics were found to be more likely to have diabetes and no leisure-time physical activity compared to whites. Hispanics were also found to have lower odds of smoking compared to whites. American Indian and Alaskan Native (AIAN) s were found to have significantly higher odds of diabetes and obesity compared to whites. No significant association between AIANs and smoking was found. Overall, there are striking racial and ethnic differences in the CVD risk factors among older U.S women after controlling for socio-economic status. It is evident from these findings that in designing interventions to reduce cardiovascular risks for elderly women, clearly “one size does not fit all.” These findings highlight the need for development and implementation of appropriate public health programs aimed at these various target communities

Smoothing of sandpile surfaces after intermittent and continuous avalanches: three models in search of an experiment

We present and analyse in this paper three models of coupled continuum equations all united by a common theme: the intuitive notion that sandpile surfaces are left smoother by the propagation of avalanches across them. Two of these concern smoothing at the `bare' interface, appropriate to intermittent avalanche flow, while one of them models smoothing at the effective surface defined by a cloud of flowing grains across the `bare' interface, which is appropriate to the regime where avalanches flow continuously across the sandpile.Comment: 17 pages and 26 figures. Submitted to Physical Review

The Modern Corporation Magnified: Managerial Accountability in Financial Services Holding Companies

This Article\u27s goal is to revisit early and thoughtful commentary on the fundamental problem of the large corporate enterprise--managerial accountability to shareholders-- to show that this fundamental problem is dramatically pronounced--magnified, if you will--in the types of enterprises that were at the center of the financial crisis, whether too big to fail or not. In particular, The Modern Corporation articulated that the evolution of economic organization has separated the beneficial ownership of property from those who control it and that this disjunction has created an irresolvable tension between shareholders and management. Nowhere is that tension more pronounced than in the context of FSHCs, raising questions regarding whether the standard tools of corporate governance are equipped to address it. This Article first recalls the primary contours of Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means\u27s acclaimed observations regarding the separation of ownership and control in the “modern corporation,” as well as their conclusions about the implications of those observations for the doctrine of shareholder primacy. Second, the Article describes how the activities of FSHCs generally differ from what we think corporations do and, certainly, from what Berle and Means conceived of as the purpose of corporations or, indeed, any business enterprise. In particular, rather than deploying physical property for the purpose of producing goods or providing services and, beyond that, creating economic value for the property\u27s ultimate owners, FSHCs deploy their and their customers\u27 and clients\u27 financial assets for the purpose of generating profits through trading and investment activities. Third, this Article articulates how those business activities render more acute the problem of the separation of ownership and control that Berle and Means observed. In particular, FSHC shareholders face additional peril as a result of managerial incentives that cultivate excessive risk-taking, which is often difficult to temper, and heavy regulation, which raises the prospect of both regulatory enforcement actions and regulatory capture--all fueled by rules under the Bankruptcy Code that, in the event of insolvency, limit a firm\u27s rights to recoup assets transferred in its final days. Additional risk derives from FSHCs\u27 relationships to their subsidiaries, which typically do carry on activities that fall within the more traditional role of corporate activity, such as performing broker-dealer or banking services. This discussion highlights that, because FSHCs are an evolved specimen of the modern corporation, there should be heightened concern regarding the possibility that FSHC managers may not be looking after shareholders\u27 best interests. Finally, this Article concludes that the special concerns that FSHCs produce both portend and necessitate rethinking the problem of managerial accountability in large, publicly traded corporations. The Article suggests, consistent with Berle and Means\u27s conclusions, that the notion of shareholder primacy should be supplanted--but does so without necessarily embracing the notion that corporations should be managed in the interests of innumerable constituencies. Rather, the Article raises the possibility that many of the concerns associated with FSHCs\u27 activities could be addressed through a greater governance focus on one constituency, in particular: those who seek out, and benefit from, FSHCs\u27 traditional and foundational business operations--namely, clients and customers