The Texas Economy: Full Steam Ahead

The Texas Economy: Full Steam AheadBureau of Business Researc

Legitimating Inequality: Fooling Most of the People All of the Time

Over the three decades leading up to the crisis of 2008, inequality dramatically increased in the United States and Great Britain. What stands out, but is seldom noted, is that this occurred within democracies where the relative losers -- the overwhelming majority -- could in principle have used the political system to block or reverse rising inequality. Why did they not do so? A glance at history reveals that peoples have only very infrequently contested inequality because they were led to believe that their inferior status in terms of income, wealth, and privilege was just, that it was not really so bad, or that it was necessary for their future wellbeing. Ideological systems legitimated a status quo of inequality, or in more modern times even increasing inequality. This article surveys the manner in which inequality has been historically legitimated, first predominantly by religion, then predominately by economic thought. Attention is then focused on the manner in which contemporary economic science and its popular interpretations in the media have served to legitimate inequality in the U.S. since the mid-1970s. The paper concludes with a reflection on the unique conditions that enable the legitimation of inequality to be delegitimated.Ideology, class power, utility of poverty, trickle down, vertical social mobility

High Species Diversity in Fleshy-Fruited Tropical Understory Plants

Key innovations may increase the number of taxa in a clade that possesses the proposed innovation in comparison to its sister group that lacks the trait through either increased speciation or reduced extinction rates. Comparing sister clades across several independent lineages provides statistical support that the trait has increased species diversity. Previous studies have indicated that there may not be a relationship between biotic dispersal and higher species diversity, but only a few of these studies specified habit, habitat, or type of disperser. No previous study has specified all of the above parameters and used a phylogenetic approach. This article examines species diversity in numerous lineages of tropical understory plants with small, fleshy, bird-dispersed fruits for which a reliable estimate of phylogenetic relationships is available. Clades with fleshy fruits are significantly more diverse than sister clades with dry fruits

Enhancing the Quality of Data on Income: Recent Developments in Survey Methodology

In this paper, we evaluate two survey innovations aimed at improving income measurement. These innovations are (1) integrating the question sequences for income and wealth which may elicit more accurate estimates of income from capital than has been true in the past, and (2) changes in the periodicity over which income flows are measured, which may provide a closer match between what the survey respondent knows best and the periodicity contained in survey measurement. These innovations have been introduced into both the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the study of Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD). Based on the results reported in this paper, the potential return in quality of income measurement from these innovations is substantial.

The Phylogenetic Relationships of \u3cem\u3eLembocarpus\u3c/em\u3e and \u3cem\u3eGoyazia\u3c/em\u3e (Gesneriaceae) Based on \u3cem\u3endh\u3c/em\u3eF Sequences

The phylogenetic relationships of Goyazia and Lembocarpus are investigated based on cladistic analysis of ndhF sequences. Both genera are currently classified in the tribe Gloxinieae, but both are poorly known. Based on its floral morphology, the classification of Goyazia in Gloxinieae is not controversial. Lembocarpus may be placed in Gloxinieae, Episcieae, or Sinningieae. The acaulescent, tuberous nature of Lembocarpus limits the number of characters available for a morphological analysis and has made its classification and phylogenetic relationships difficult to resolve. Phylogenetic analyses of ndhF sequences place both genera in Gloxinieae. Although the affinities within the tribe are ambiguous for Goyazia, Lembocarpus is sister to Capanea. The addition of Goyazia, Lembocarpus, and an additional species of Capanea provide better resolution of relationships within Gloxinieae and Gesnerieae than had been obtained previously from parsimony analysis. A maximum likelihood analysis is largely congruent with the parsimony tree

Genetic Differentiation of Rare and Common Varieties of \u3cem\u3eEriogonum Shockleyi\u3c/em\u3e (Polygonaceae) in Idaho Using ISSR Variability

Idaho populations of Eriogonum shockleyi are divided taxonomically into 2 varieties: E. shockleyi var. packardae , which is endemic to Idaho, and the typical variety, which is widespread in the western United States. Recent morphological investigations of E. shockleyi in Idaho have identified potentially reliable morphological characters for field identification of the subspecific taxa. This paper investigates the genetic basis for the separation of the 2 varieties of E. shockleyi using inter simple-sequence repeats (ISSR) markers. Although we found some morphological differences between the populations that correlated with the 2 varieties, we identified no molecular markers in this study to distinguish between them. Morphological measurements obtained in the field indicate that although a population may have an overall average morphology that defines the variety, some individuals in nearly all populations have putative diagnostic characters that define the other variety. The morphological characters used to distinguish the 2 varieties are most likely the result of environmental variability and could result from differences in precipitation and soil water retention. Alternatively, high levels of outcrossing through pollen flow could be obscuring selection for morphological characters at particular sites

Phylogenetics of Seed Plants: An Analysis of Nucleotide Sequences from the Plastid Gene \u3cem\u3erbc\u3c/em\u3eL

We present the results of two exploratory parsimony analyses of DNA sequences from 475 and 499 species of seed plants. respectively, representing all major taxonomic groups. The data are exclusively from the chloroplast gene rbcL, which codes for the large subunit of ribulose-l .5-bisphosphate carboxylase/ oxygenase (RuBisCO or RuBPCase). We used two different state-transformation assumptions resulting in two sets of cladograms: (i) equal-weighting for the 499-taxon analysis; and (ii) a procedure that differentially weights transversions over transitions within characters and codon positions among characters for the 475-taxon analysis. The degree of congruence between these results and other molecular. as well as morphological, cladistic studies indicates that rbcL sequence variation contains historical evidence appropriate for phylogenetic analysis at this taxonomic level of sampling. Because the topologies presented are necessarily approximate and cannot be evaluated adequately for internal support, these results should be assessed from the perspective of their predictive value and used to direct future studies, both molecular and morphological. In both analyses, the three genera of Gnetales are placed together as the sister group of the flowering plants, and the anomalous aquatic Ceratophyllum (Ceratophyllaceae) is sister to all other flowering plants. Several major lineages identified correspond well with at least some recent taxonomic schemes for angiosperms, particularly those of Dahlgren and Thorne. The basalmost clades within the angiosperms are orders of the apparently polyphyletic subclass Magnoliidae sensu Cronquist. The most conspicuous feature of the topology is that the major division is not monoco! versus dicot, but rather one correlated with general pollen type: uniaperturate versus triaperturate. The Dilleniidae and Hamamelidae are the only subclasses that are grossly polyphyletic; an examination of the latter is presented as an example of the use of these broad analyses to focus more restricted studies. A broadly circumscribed Rosidae is paraphyletic to Asteridae and Dilleniidae. Subclass Caryophyllidae is monophyletic and derived from within Rosidae in the 475-taxon analysis but is sister to a group composed of broadly delineated Asteridae aud Rosidae in the 499-taxon study

Phylogenetic Hypotheses for the Monocotyledons Constructed from \u3cem\u3erbc\u3c/em\u3eL Sequence Data

DNA sequences for the plastid locus that encodes the large subunit if ribulose 1.5 bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (rbcL) were determined for 18 species of monocotyledons in 15 families. These data were analyzed together with sequences for 60 other monocot species in a total of 52 families by the maximum likelihood method producing one, presumably optimal, topology. An additional 26 species were added (104 total monocot species) and analyzed by the parsimony method with an outgroup of 18 dicot species producing 109 trees of 3,932 steps. The rbcL data show at least moderate support for seven lineages corresponding to the following orders, superoders, or combinations: Arecanae; Asparagales (excludng Hypoxideceae) plus Iridaceae; Cyclanthanae plus Pandananea; Dioscoreales, Orchidales; Typhales; amd Zingiberales. Six clades corresponding to families or genera are well supported, including: Agavaceae, Asphodelaceae, Bromeliaceae, Hypoxidaceaem Poaceaem and Tradescantia. The two earliest diverging multispecies clades in our rbcL phylogenies, Alistmatanae and Aranae, are only weakly supported, and Bromelianae, Commelinanae, and Lilianae are paraphyletic. In all analyses Acorus calamus is phylogenetically isloated as the sister species to the remaining species of monocotyledons

Funding Industrial Aviation

TRB\u27s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Synthesis 79: Funding Industrial Aviation explores how airports fund the infrastructure to support industrial aviation development. For this report, industrial aviation development includes but is not limited to: Aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) Specialized aviation services such as paint and interior completion (single service operators, SSOs) Aircraft manufacturing and assembly Aircraft fabrication and development Aviation warehousing Cold ports Spaceports Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) platform developmen