How Production Firms Adapt to War: e Case of Liberia

How do production firms adapt to civil war? The answer to this question will inform the potential for economic development during and after conflict. Many businesses survive violent conflict, and in some cases even thrive. Understanding these successes will help policymakers to support the “coping economy” during civil wars, and to understand better the post-conflict economy as a system. In this paper I use the case of production firms operating in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, during the country’s civil war to argue that successful wartime firms continually adapt their supply chain structures in response to a shifting combat frontier by dispersing their functions spatially and temporally. Such adaptability depends on the rapid gathering (via business networks) and processing (at the place of production) of information. This contention represents a micro-level explanation for, and also a conditioning of, the generally accepted view that industries that survive civil war tend to be non-capital intensive and non-trade intensive.production firms, civil war, conflict economics, post-conflict recovery, economic resiliency, Liberia

Alien Registration- Macdougal, John (Bath, Sagadahoc County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/9065/thumbnail.jp

Adipose Tissue\u27s Potential Role as a Reproductive or Lactation Endocrine Gland

While adipose tissue secretes hormones related to nutrition and metabolism, a few studies have provided evidence suggesting a direct reproductive role from adipose-derived products. The goal of this study was to determine if adipose tissue serves as a reproductive or lactation endocrine gland. Adipose tissue was associated with the reproductive tract of mature female cows in two locations, mesosalpinx and mesometrium (tissues supporting the oviduct and uterus, respectively), in varying amounts. Using quantitative polymerase chain reaction on a non-descript pool of cows, LHβ, CGA, PRL, FST, and LEP transcripts were demonstrated to be present in mesosalpinx, subcutaneous, visceral, and peri-renal adipose depots. Subsequent efforts aimed to determine the influence of adiposity on transcript abundance. Body condition score was used to separate cows into two adiposity groups, which were confirmed by adipocyte size. Adiposity did not influence the abundance of LHβ, but the CGA transcript was influenced by the adiposity by depot interaction. The PRL transcript was also not influenced by adiposity. The FST transcript was more abundant in BCS 3 cows, while LEP was more abundant in BCS 6 cows. Protein efforts utilizing an RIA revealed the presence of luteinizing hormone in all four adipose depots. Using an antibody against purified pituitary-derived prolactin, a band was detected in 6/9 mesosalpinx adipose depots similar in size to that observed in the pituitary. Presence of transcripts and hormones in adipose tissue provides the framework necessary for adipose to be a reproductive or lactation endocrine gland, though secretion would also be required. Secretion of such hormones by specific adipose depots could provide local effects to nearby tissues

Case 282 Stipulation to Resolve

Stipulation between the Klamath Tribes, the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Contestant PaficiCorp and the Oregon Water Resources Department to resolve numerous claims and contests in Klamath Basin Adjudication

Case 282 Stipulation to Resolve

Stipulation between the Klamath Tribes, the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Contestant PaficiCorp and the Oregon Water Resources Department to resolve numerous claims and contests in Klamath Basin Adjudication

Effects of Canopy Connectivity on Ant Community Assembly on a Shaded, Organic Coffee Farm

Canopy connectivity influences foraging, dispersal, and competition in arboreal ant species, with implications for ant community assembly. Connectivity among the crowns of shade trees varies greatly with agricultural intensification in agroforestry systems, where some ant species have been shown to act as biological control agents against agricultural pests. Understanding how canopy connectivity affects arboreal ant communities could aid in the development of management practices that maximize biological control services from arboreal ant species. I used a manipulation of connectivity between the crowns of large shade trees to investigate the effects of canopy connectivity on arboreal ant species richness, composition, and co-occurrence rates in a coffee agroecosystem. Further, I examined the effects of the major dominant arboreal ant species, Azteca sericeasur, on ant species density and composition on trunks and crowns of upper shade trees. A linear mixed-effects analysis showed that the number of species observed at baits set in tree crowns increased significantly after the crowns had been connected with nylon ropes (p = 0.028). In trees occupied by A. sericeasur , lower numbers of species were observed at baits even in the crown (p = 0.067). Crowns that were connected increased in similarity of ant species composition, particularly between adjacent connected crowns. Composition also significantly differed between both trunks (P = 0.003) and crowns (P = 0.014) that contained A. sericeasur nests and those that did not. Overall C-scores combined with an analysis of co-occurrence rates of individual pairs of species indicate that this arboreal ant community is not characterized by high rates of segregation, and pairwise competitive interactions are not among the most important forces structuring community assembly here. In timed observations of connecting lines between tree crowns, only arboreal-nesting ant species were recorded, reinforcing the idea that canopy connections are most significant to strictly arboreal species. Connectivity may increase the number of species present in tree crowns by allowing ants to disperse and forage in the canopy while bypassing trunks with more aggressive, territorial species. While the keystone ant A. sericeasur makes heavy use of connections within lower vegetative strata, I found that other species, such as twig-nesting species, are more likely to make use of connections in the canopy above 11 m. Because some twig-nesting species in the upper crown have been shown to act as biological control agents, an increase in species density in tree crowns could have positive implications for agricultural pest control services.Master of ScienceSchool for Environment and SustainabilityUniversity of Michiganhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150643/1/MacDougal_fern_Thesis.pd

Spin dynamics of coupled spin ladders near quantum criticality in Ba2CuTeO6

We report inelastic neutron scattering measurements of the magnetic excitations in Ba2CuTeO6, proposed by ab initio calculations to magnetically realize weakly coupled antiferromagnetic two-leg spin-1/2 ladders. Isolated ladders are expected to have a singlet ground state protected by a spin gap. Ba2CuTeO6 orders magnetically, but with a small Neel temperature relative to the exchange strength, suggesting that the interladder couplings are relatively small and only just able to stabilize magnetic order, placing Ba2CuTeO6 close in parameter space to the critical point separating the gapped phase and Neel order. Through comparison of the observed spin dynamics with linear spin wave theory and quantum Monte Carlo calculations, we propose values for all relevant intra- and interladder exchange parameters, which place the system on the ordered side of the phase diagram in proximity to the critical point. We also compare high field magnetization data with quantum Monte Carlo predictions for the proposed model of coupled ladders.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figure