Bricks vs. Clicks: How Businesses Survive

Traditional retail has transformed into a digital shopping marketplace, as revenue for e-commerce businesses have increased and is expected to rise over the next five years, whereas traditional brick and mortar companies without online capabilities have experienced a decline in revenue. The paper will discuss what businesses must do to survive the digital shift in shopping from brick-and-mortar shopping to e-commerce shopping. Two major players in the e-commerce market today are Amazon and Wal-Mart. Both companies have become profitable e-businesses leading the way in transforming retail trade and e-commerce. As customers shift more of their shopping to online platforms, I want to discuss how e-commerce has changed the face of retail, and focus on two businesses, Amazon, and Wal-Mart and the evolution of both companies and their success

How much does school matter? : an examination of adolescent dating violence perpetration

The purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) to identify how school concepts may be independently related to dating violence perpetration and 2) to assess how these factors may reduce or exacerbate the relationship between parental domestic violence and adolescent dating violence perpetration, while accounting for adolescent and family characteristics. The school factors examined include academic difficulties, involvement with school, involvement with antisocial peers, and school violence. The adolescent characteristics included were: gender, race, alcohol and/or drug use, mental health problems, childhood sexual abuse, and externalizing behavior problems. Family factors included: family structure, maternal education, family income, parent-child anger and alienation, parent-child trust and communication, father involvement, harsh physical punishment, and parental monitoring. All three waves of the Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study were used (N = 765; ages 16-20). Associations between the school factors and dating violence perpetration as well as potential moderating school factors in the intergenerational transmission of violence were assessed using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) multiple regression techniques. Overall, being female, using drugs and/or alcohol, being involved with antisocial peers, having externalizing behavior problems, and being angry or alienated from one\u27s mother was associated with greater dating violence perpetration. School involvement was a significant moderator between parental domestic violence and adolescent dating violence perpetration. Results varied by gender and race, including analyses assessing the school moderators. Implications for the prevention of dating violence perpetration are discussed

The State of Health Insurance in California: Findings From the 2003 California Health Interview Survey

Provides an overview of the shift from job-based health insurance to enrollment in public insurance programs, and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of key public policy options to extend coverage to California's uninsured residents

These Rights Have No Use? Forest Land Rights and the Economic and Subjective Wellbeing of Indigenous People in India

The formalization of rural people’s rights to agricultural and forest land is a key policy focus for many developing countries (Larson et al. 2010; Deininger and Hilhorst 2013). These reforms can improve marginalized people’s wellbeing by securing their hold on durable income-yielding assets, especially where land ownership is culturally prized (Holden et al. 2013; Lawry et al. 2014). However, other studies suggest that formalizing de facto land tenure may have negligible or detrimental effects, both economic and subjective (Sjaastad and Cousins 2008; Bose 2011, 2013). India’s Forest Rights Act of 2006 formalizes the rights of indigenous people to the government forestland that they have been using illegally (Government of India 2006). To estimate the results of this major reform, the author and her research assistant conducted 200 household surveys and 42 interviews with indigenous farmers in Gujarat, India. Although the Forest Rights Act is one of the most thorough attempts at forest tenure reform in South Asia, there is little published research on its results. This paper uses regression models complemented by qualitative data to estimate the effects of formal forestland rights on households’ economic outcomes and subjective life satisfaction. Logistic regressions indicate a strong correlation between indigenous households’ land rights and access to government benefits. According to these models, a household with formal land rights was 8.9% more likely to have received a subsidized borewell, and 16.5% more likely have received a home renovation subsidy, than an identical household without rights (p=0.041, p=0.009). There was no significant correlation between formal rights and farm income, rights and food security, nor rights and life satisfaction, perhaps due to pre-existing tenure security or the small amount of land covered by formal rights iiMaster of ScienceSchool for Environment and SustainabilityUniversity of Michiganhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137968/1/Rice_Melissa_Thesis_2017.pd

Bioanalytical Assay of Antimicrobial Polymers Binding to Bacterial Cells

Branched polyethylenimine (BPEI) has an antimicrobial effect on bacteria. The killing mechanism of BPEI centers on its cationic properties. The mechanism of action against Gram-positive bacteria is less understood but recent reports erroneously suggest that membrane depolarization occurs. To the contrary, data from our laboratory suggests that BPEI binds to the anionic sites provided by the biopolymer wall teichoic acid (WTA). To test the validity of this hypothesis, we measure the amount BPEI binding to whole, intact, bacterial cells of Bacillus subtilis. Comparative measurements are made with Bacillus subtilis bacteria that contain WTA and Bacillus subtilis genetic mutants that lack WTA. Using equilibrium dialysis, Bacillus subtilis bacteria were exposed to different solution concentrations of BPEI. Removal of small aliquots from solution and subsequent assay with the ninhydrin test were used to measure the amount of BPEI remaining in solution and the amount of BPEI bound to the bacterial cell walls. These data were used to obtain the amount of bound vs. unbound BPEI and determine the equilibrium constant. These data influence the understanding of BPEI antimicrobial properties and impacts the development of antibiotics to treat human disease

The mineral diversity of Jezero crater: Evidence for possible lacustrine carbonates on Mars

Noachian-aged Jezero crater is the only known location on Mars where clear orbital detections of carbonates are found in close proximity to clear fluvio-lacustrine features indicating the past presence of a paleolake; however, it is unclear whether or not the carbonates in Jezero are related to the lacustrine activity. This distinction is critical for evaluating the astrobiological potential of the site, as lacustrine carbonates on Earth are capable of preserving biosignatures at scales that may be detectable by a landed mission like the Mars 2020 rover, which is planned to land in Jezero in February 2021. In this study, we conduct a detailed investigation of the mineralogical and morphological properties of geological units within Jezero crater in order to better constrain the origin of carbonates in the basin and their timing relative to fluvio-lacustrine activity. Using orbital visible/near-infrared hyperspectral images from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) along with high resolution imagery and digital elevation models, we identify a distinct carbonate-bearing unit, the “Marginal Carbonates,” located along the inner margin of the crater, near the largest inlet valley and the western delta. Based on their strong carbonate signatures, topographic properties, and location in the crater, we propose that this unit may preserve authigenic lacustrine carbonates, precipitated in the near-shore environment of the Jezero paleolake. Comparison to carbonate deposits from terrestrial closed basin lakes suggests that if the Marginal Carbonates are lacustrine in origin, they could preserve macro- and microscopic biosignatures in microbialite rocks like stromatolites, some of which would likely be detectable by Mars 2020. The Marginal Carbonates may represent just one phase of a complex fluvio-lacustrine history in Jezero crater, as we find that the spectral diversity of the fluvio-lacustrine deposits in the crater is consistent with a long-lived lake system cataloging the deposition and erosion of regional geologic units. Thus, Jezero crater may contain a unique record of the evolution of surface environments, climates, and habitability on early Mars