Leveling the Playing Field: Applying Federal Corporate Charging Considerations to Individuals

The American prison system is grappling with a well-publicized carceral crisis. In the words of former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, “too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long, and for no truly good law enforcement reason.” And, as a result of developments in federal law over the past few decades, the power of federal prosecutors to decide when and how to charge individuals with crimes is crucial to when and how American citizens go to prison. Many ideas have been proposed to revise prosecutorial discretionary powers, but few have been heeded by the Department of Justice (DOJ). However, this Note posits that the DOJ has already paved the way to enhanced guidance for federal prosecutors when charging individuals with crimes. This is because the DOJ’s prosecutorial guidance for charging corporations with federal crimes is more robust than the guidance for charging individuals. In particular, a discussion on collateral consequences is included in the corporate charging guidance, yet lacking in the individual charging guidance. This enhanced corporate guidance has had the purposeful impact of curtailing the prosecution of corporate crime. This Note argues that a similar discussion of collateral consequences in the individual charging guidance could have important and far-reaching effects on the federal criminal regime. Perhaps more importantly, such a discussion could remedy some of the unfairness presented by the current system in which federal prosecutors are guided to consider a superior set of factors before charging corporations with crimes

Economic conditions at the time of birth and cognitive abilities late in life: evidence from eleven European countries

With ageing populations and a stronger reliance on individual financial decision-making concerning asset portfolios, retirement schemes, pensions and insurances, it becomes increasingly important to understand the determinants of cognitive ability among the elderly. To study effects of the early-life economic environment, macro-economic fluctuations may be used. In European countries, about three to four economic recession and boom periods occurred between 1900 and 1945. The timing of these periods differs across countries. We apply data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) among elderly individuals. This survey is homogeneous across countries. We use almost 20,000 respondents from 11 countries. We examine several domains of cognitive functioning at ages 60+ and link them to the macro-economic deviations in the year of birth, controlling for demographic, socioeconomic and health status. We find that economic conditions at birth significantly influence cognitive functioning late in life in various domains. The effects are particularly pronounced among the less educated. Recessions negatively influence numeracy and verbal fluency as well as the score on the omnibus cognitive indicator. The results are robust; controlling for current characteristics does not change effect sizes and significance. We discuss possible causal pathways.Cognition; economic business cycle; developmental origins; health; long-run effects; dementia; numeracy; memory; decision-making

Being Born Under Adverse Economic Conditions Leads to a Higher Cardiovascular Mortality Rate Later in Life: Evidence Based on Individuals Born at Different Stages of the Business Cycle

We connect the recent medical and economic literatures on the long-run effects of early-life conditions, by analyzing the effects of economic conditions on the individual cardiovascular (CV) mortality rate later in life, using individual data records from the Danish Twin Registry covering births since the 1870s and including the cause of death. To capture exogenous variation of conditions early in life we use the state of the business cycle around birth. We find a significant negative effect of economic conditions early in life on the individual CV mortality rate at higher ages. There is no effect on the cancer-specific mortality rate. From variation within and between monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs born under different conditions we conclude that the fate of an individual is more strongly determined by genetic and household-environmental factors if early-life conditions are poor. Individual-specific qualities come more to fruition if the starting position in life is better.longevity, genetic determinants, health, recession, life expectancy, cardiovascular disease, cancer, lifetimes, fetal programming, cause of death, developmental origins

Long-term Effects of Famine on Life Expectancy: A Re-analysis of the Great Finnish Famine of 1866-1868

Famines are extreme cases of environmental stress, and have been used by a series of studies to explore the long-term consequences of the fetal or childhood environment. Results are inconsistent and do not support negative long-term effects on mortality. The authors test the hypothesis that selection during famine changes the frailty distributions of cohorts and may hide negative long-term effects. They use death counts from age 60+ from the Human Mortality Data Base for the birth cohorts 1850-1854, 1855-1859, 1860-1865, 1866-1868, 1869-1874, 1875-1879, 1880-1884 and 1885-1889 to explore the effect of being born during the Great Finnish Famine 1866-1868. Swedish cohorts without famine exposure are analysed as a control group. Cohorts born in Finland during the Great Finnish Famine are highly heterogeneous in their distribution of deaths after age 60. By contrast, cohorts born in the years immediately after the famine are particularly homogeneous. Accounting for these differences results into a lower remaining life expectancy at age 60 for cohorts born during the famine. Statistically, long-term effects of famine on mortality become only visible when changes in the frailty distribution of cohorts are explicitly considered.old-age mortality, selection, debilitation, early life circumstances

Being born under adverse economic conditions leads to a higher cardiovascular mortality rate later in life: evidence based on individuals born at different stages of the business cycle

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Exogenous determinants of early-life conditions, and mortality later in life

We analyze causal effects of conditions early in life on the individual mortality rate later in life. Conditions early in life are captured by transitory features of the macro environment around birth, notably the state of the business cycle around birth, but also food price deviations, weather indicators, and demographic indicators. We argue that these features can only affect high-age mortality by way of the individual early-life conditions. Moreover, they are exogenous from the individual point of view, which is a methodological advantage compared to the use of unique characteristics of the newborn individual or his family or household as early-life indicators. We collected national annual time-series data on the above-mentioned indicators, and we combine these to the individual data records from the Danish Twin Registry covering births in 1873-1906. The empirical analyses (mostly based on the estimation of duration models) indicate a significant negative causal effect of economic conditions early in life on individual mortality rates at higher ages. If the national economic performance in the year of birth exceeds its trend value (i.e., if the business cycle is favorable) then the mortality rate later in life is lower. The implied effect on the median lifetime of those who survive until age 35 is about 10 months. A systematic empirical exploration of all macro indicators reveals that economic conditions in the first years after birth also affect mortality rates later in life.

Understanding the sugar beet holobiont for sustainable agriculture

The importance of crop-associated microbiomes for the health and field performance of plants has been demonstrated in the last decades. Sugar beet is the most important source of sucrose in temperate climates, and—as a root crop—yield heavily depends on genetics as well as on the soil and rhizosphere microbiomes. Bacteria, fungi, and archaea are found in all organs and life stages of the plant, and research on sugar beet microbiomes contributed to our understanding of the plant microbiome in general, especially of microbiome-based control strategies against phytopathogens. Attempts to make sugar beet cultivation more sustainable are increasing, raising the interest in biocontrol of plant pathogens and pests, biofertilization and –stimulation as well as microbiome-assisted breeding. This review first summarizes already achieved results on sugar beet-associated microbiomes and their unique traits, correlating to their physical, chemical, and biological peculiarities. Temporal and spatial microbiome dynamics during sugar beet ontogenesis are discussed, emphasizing the rhizosphere formation and highlighting knowledge gaps. Secondly, potential or already tested biocontrol agents and application strategies are discussed, providing an overview of how microbiome-based sugar beet farming could be performed in the future. Thus, this review is intended as a reference and baseline for further sugar beet-microbiome research, aiming to promote investigations in rhizosphere modulation-based biocontrol options

Biologische Bekämpfung von Rhizoctonia solani im ökologischen Anbau mit Hilfe von bakteriellen und pilzlichen Antagonisten

Rhizoctonia solani Kühn ist ein weit verbreiteter bodenbürtiger Erreger, der an verschiedenen Kulturen für ökonomisch relevante Ertragsverluste verantwortlich ist. Der Erreger R. solani ist aufgrund seiner sowohl saprophytischen als auch parasitischen Eigenschaften sowie seiner persistenten Dauerorgane (Sklerotien) schwer zu bekämpfen. Seine Fähigkeit auch an Nichtwirtspflanzen seinen Lebenszyklus vollenden zu können, erschwert die Kontrolle über Fruchtfolgen, die insbesondere im organischen Landbau Teil der Bekämpfungsstrategie gegen bodenbürtige Erreger sind. Probleme durch R. solani treten im ökologischen Anbau vor allem an Kartoffeln auf. Derzeit stehen dem ökologischen Anbau keine geeigneten Strategien zur Bekämpfung des Erregers zur Verfügung. Ziel des Projektes ist daher die Entwicklung einer biologischen Methode zur Kontrolle des Erregers auf der Basis eines bakteriellen und pilzlichen Antagonisten. Durch Einsatz eines bakteriellen Antagonisten soll die Widerstandsfähigkeit der Pflanze gegenüber R. solani erhöht und durch Anwendung eines pilzlichen Antagonisten die Dauerorgane im Boden oder an Kartoffelknollen bekämpft werden. Im Rahmen des Projektes wurden 450 bakterielle und 390 pilzliche Isolate auf der Basis eines hierarchischen Screeningsystems aus verschiedenen in vitro und ad planta Methoden hinsichtlich ihrer Eignung als Biological Control Agents (BCAs) zur Kontrolle von R. solani geprüft. Insgesamt konnten durch in vitro Untersuchungen 18 bakterielle und 12 pilzliche Isolate gegen das Zielpathogen selektiert werden. Das Myzel von R. solani wird von den pilzlichen Antagonisten parasitiert und die Sklerotienkeimung vollständig gehemmt. Ihre Wirkung wurde bislang an natürlich mit Rhizoctonia-Sklerotien infizierten Kartoffelknollen, künstlich infizierten Kartoffelknollen sowie Salatpflanzen und Zuckerrübensämlingen unter krankheitsbegünstigenden Bedingungen geprüft. In diesen Versuchen zeigten insbesondere 3 bakterielle (Pseudomonas putida B1, Pseudomonas fluorescens B2 und Serratia plymuthica B4) und 6 pilzliche (P2, P3, P4, P9, P10, P11, Trichoderma spp.) Antagonisten eine wiederholte, signifikante krankheitsunterdrückende Wirkung, z. B. bis zu 60 % durch B1 oder über 50 % durch P11 an Kartoffelkeimlingen. Unter Feldbedingungen wurde der marktfähige Kartoffelertrag durch R. solani bei einem hohen Befalldruck signifikant reduziert und der Befall der Knollen mit R. solani Sklerotien signifikant erhöht. Durch die Bakterisierung der Pflanzkartoffeln konnte die Befallsschwere signifikant reduziert und der Ertrag erhöht werden. An Salat war ebenfalls eine Kompensation der durch R. solani verursachten Biomasseverluste gegeben. Die Ergebnisse erster Feldversuche mit den bakteriellen Antagonisten B1, B2 und B 4 an Salat und Kartoffel bestätigten somit deren krankheitsunterdrückende Wirkung. Durch eine optimale Applikationsdichte und –häufigkeit sowie die Entwicklung einer geeigneten Formulierung für die gegen R. solani wirksamsten BCAs (bakteriell sowie pilzlich) könnte die krankheitsunterdrückende Wirkung verbessert und eine höhere Wirksicherheit gewährleistet werden. Dies ist in weiteren Feldversuchen zu prüfen

The workload of fishermen: a cross sectional survey among Danish commercial fishermen

Background: Fishery has always been perceived as a physically demanding industry of a manual character. In recent years the physical work environment has developed positively and consequently the current situation in not fully described in the existing literature. This study aims to describe the work environment of Danish fishermen with regard to their physical workload and ergonomic factors. Materials and methods: A cross sectional study was performed on a random sample of active Danish commercial fishermen (response rate: 28%) by means of a questionnaire on demographic and self-reported occupational and health data. Questions covering the physical workload were related to seven different work situations and a score summing up the workload was developed for the analysis of the relative impact on different groups of fishermen. Results: Almost all fishermen (96.2%) were familiar to proper lifting techniques but only 55.4% used them in their daily work. Standing work was the most applied work position (81.8%), while repetitive hand and finger movements and twisting and bending in the back were other frequent work situations. Deckhands had higher workload scores than skippers, while crew on Danish seiners had higher workload scores than fishermen in other vessel types. Conclusions: Despite improved work environment in the Danish fishing industry, fishermen still experience high levels of workload and suboptimal ergonomic conditions, which are known to cause pain and impair musculoskeletal health. To address the specific areas of fishing with the highest workload, future investments in assistive devices to ease the demanding work and reduce the workload, should particularly address deckhands and less mechanized vessels.