The 1980s merger wave: an industrial organization perspective

Consolidation and merger of corporations

The Direct and Ecological Costs of an Ant-Plant Symbiosis

How strong is selection for cheating in mutualisms? The answer depends on the type and magnitude of the costs of the mutualism. Here we investigated the direct and ecological costs of plant defense by ants in the association between Cordia nodosa, a myrmecophytic plant, and Allomerus octoarticulatus, a phytoecious ant. Cordia nodosa trees produce food and housing to reward ants that protect them against herbivores. For nearly 1 year, we manipulated the presence of A. octoarticulatus ants and most insect herbivores on C. nodosa in a full-factorial experiment. Ants increased plant growth when herbivores were present but decreased plant growth when herbivores were absent, indicating that hosting ants can be costly to plants. However, we did not detect a cost to ant colonies of defending host plants against herbivores. Although this asymmetry in costs suggests that the plants may be under stronger selection than the ants to cheat by withholding investment in their partner, the costs to C. nodosa are probably at least partly ecological, arising because ants tend scale insects on their host plants. We argue that ecological costs should favor resistance or traits other than cheating and thus that neither partner may face much temptation to cheat.Organismic and Evolutionary Biolog

Roan, Alex

Alex Roan is a 42 year old trans masc individual who uses he/him pronouns. He was originally from Stoughton, Massachusetts where he grew up with his family before moving to Central Maine for college and living in the Portland area through adulthood. Alex shares his experience with growing up in a Catholic family and finding himself as a trans person in college. He details what it was like to come out to his family, who was in denial at first but later in life became his biggest supporters. Alex Roan is the founder of MaineTransNet. This interview captures the story of its journey from its conception as a project for school to the fully fledged nonprofit it is today. Alex gives insight into how his college experiences and job as a mental health counselor with teens jump-started the development of MaineTransNet. He also shares stories of forming trans support groups that started in the Portland area and expanded to be held all over the state.https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/querying_ohproject/1101/thumbnail.jp

Analysis of the 14 July 2015 Nocturnal Convective Initiation Event During the PECAN Field Campaign

https://louis.uah.edu/vbs-posters/1040/thumbnail.jp

Creative Entrepreneurs: Moving to the Fron within the Photography Industry

https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/student_scholarship_posters/1122/thumbnail.jp

A Comparison of Vertical Velocity Profiles from the Balloon Borne Sounding System and the 915/50 MHz Radar Wind Profiler/Radio Acoustic Sounding System to Parcel Theory at the ARM SGP Site

In this study we characterized vertical wind velocity profiles in the troposphere using the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) equipment facility at the Southern Great Plains (SGP) site in Lamont OK established by the Department of Energy (DOE) and administered through Argonne National Laboratories (ANL). Using the Balloon Borne Radio Sonde (BBSS) system launched four times per day, we collected ambient temperature profiles and lapse rates from the period of June to September of 2001. Concurrently the Rass Radar Wind Profiler collected vertical wind speed data at 915 MHz continuously throughout this period. The BBSS data is visualized using a Skew-T atmospheric profile plot allowed calculations of the Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) by integrating from the fiducial saturated adiabatic lapse rate curve to the ambient temperature curve. From this we calculated the vertical velocity using ideal atmospheric parcel theory. In addition the linear Brunt-Väisälä convective parcel theory is compared to the Skew-T derived lapse rate velocities applied to the stable regime. A statistical comparison was made to characterize the condensation fraction associated with vertical winds at the topographically unique SGP location. Robustness of the comparison is tested using second, third and fourth order moments and by testing for a normal distribution of the deviations. We found that the χ2 = 0.889 for CAPE and RWP vertical velocities measured in the aggregate. This characterization matches the methodology used at a similar site in Darwin, Australia and was used as input for full scale three-dimensional modeling of the atmosphere over SGP. The CAPE derived vertical wind speed parameter was found to be 0.55 for the SGP site

A Comparison of Vertical Velocity Profiles from the Balloon Borne Sounding System and the 915/50 MHz Radar Wind Profiler/Radio Acoustic Sounding System to Parcel Theory at the ARM SGP Site

In this study we characterized vertical wind velocity profiles in the troposphere using the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) equipment facility at the Southern Great Plains (SGP) site in Lamont OK established by the Department of Energy (DOE) and administered through Argonne National Laboratories (ANL). Using the Balloon Borne Radio Sonde (BBSS) system launched four times per day, we collected ambient temperature profiles and lapse rates from the period of June to September of 2001. Concurrently the Rass Radar Wind Profiler collected vertical wind speed data at 915 MHz continuously throughout this period. The BBSS data is visualized using a Skew-T atmospheric profile plot allowed calculations of the Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) by integrating from the fiducial saturated adiabatic lapse rate curve to the ambient temperature curve. From this we calculated the vertical velocity using ideal atmospheric parcel theory. In addition the linear Brunt-Väisälä convective parcel theory is compared to the Skew-T derived lapse rate velocities applied to the stable regime. A statistical comparison was made to characterize the condensation fraction associated with vertical winds at the topographically unique SGP location. Robustness of the comparison is tested using second, third and fourth order moments and by testing for a normal distribution of the deviations. We found that the χ2 = 0.889 for CAPE and RWP vertical velocities measured in the aggregate. This characterization matches the methodology used at a similar site in Darwin, Australia and was used as input for full scale three-dimensional modeling of the atmosphere over SGP. The CAPE derived vertical wind speed parameter was found to be 0.55 for the SGP site

A Comparison of Vertical Velocity Profiles from the Balloon Borne Sounding System and the 915/50 MHz Radar Wind Profiler/Radio Acoustic Sounding System to Parcel Theory at the ARM SGP Site

In this study we characterized vertical wind velocity profiles in the troposphere using the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) equipment facility at the Southern Great Plains (SGP) site in Lamont OK established by the Department of Energy (DOE) and administered through Argonne National Laboratories (ANL). Using the Balloon Borne Radio Sonde (BBSS) system launched four times per day, we collected ambient temperature profiles and lapse rates from the period of June to September of 2001. Concurrently the Rass Radar Wind Profiler collected vertical wind speed data at 915 MHz continuously throughout this period. The BBSS data is visualized using a Skew-T atmospheric profile plot allowed calculations of the Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) by integrating from the fiducial saturated adiabatic lapse rate curve to the ambient temperature curve. From this we calculated the vertical velocity using ideal atmospheric parcel theory. In addition the linear Brunt-Väisälä convective parcel theory is compared to the Skew-T derived lapse rate velocities applied to the stable regime. A statistical comparison was made to characterize the condensation fraction associated with vertical winds at the topographically unique SGP location. Robustness of the comparison is tested using second, third and fourth order moments and by testing for a normal distribution of the deviations. We found that the χ2 = 0.889 for CAPE and RWP vertical velocities measured in the aggregate. This characterization matches the methodology used at a similar site in Darwin, Australia and was used as input for full scale three-dimensional modeling of the atmosphere over SGP. The CAPE derived vertical wind speed parameter was found to be 0.55 for the SGP site

Business exit and strategic change: Sticking to the knitting or striking a new strategic path?

The purpose of this study is to examine the potential of business exit for initiating strategic change in divesting parent firms. In contrast to prior literature that mainly investigates the impact of different antecedents on the likelihood of business exit in general, this study additionally tests the influence of these antecedents on the choice between two exit types with a cross-industry sample of divesting firms listed in the German CDAX over the time period 1999-2004. A divestiture involving strategic change is a strategic business exit; otherwise it is denoted as status quo-preserving. The findings reveal that a relatively highly dissipated focus does not automatically enhance the likelihood of business exit in general and status quo-preserving business exit in particular. CEO turnover and pressures exerted by institutional investors predict neither strategic nor status quo-preserving business exit. Low firm performance does not nurture the likelihood of business exit per se but especially promotes status quo-preserving business exit