Michigan State University

About: Michigan State University is a education organization based out in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 60109 authors who have published 137074 publications receiving 5633022 citations. The organization is also known as: MSU & Michigan State.

TRY plant trait database : Enhanced coverage and open access

Abstract: Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.

Tunneling or Value Added? Evidence from Mergers by Korean Business Groups

Abstract: We examine whether firms belonging to Korean business groups ~chaebols! benefit from acquisitions they make or whether such acquisitions provide a way for controlling shareholders to increase their wealth by increasing the value of other group firms ~tunneling!. We find that when a chaebol-affiliated firm makes an acquisition, its stock price on average falls. While minority shareholders of a chaebolaffiliated firm making an acquisition lose, the controlling shareholder of that firm on average benefits because the acquisition enhances the value of other firms in the group. This evidence is consistent with the tunneling hypothesis. RECENT EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE SUGGESTS that business groups in developing countries can facilitate efficient allocation of capital and managerial resources. Khanna and Palepu ~1997, 2000! argue that business groups in developing countries mimic the beneficial functions of market mechanisms that are present only in advanced economies. When a particular market mechanism is not well developed or accessible, a business group can add value by providing member firms with alternative means of overcoming problems. For example, when a country’s external capital market is not well developed, the operation of an internal capital market within a business group enables those firms with the best projects within the group to obtain resources. 1 However, the structure of diversified business groups may create agency problems. In most business groups, ownership is highly concentrated, and

General strategies for nanoparticle dispersion.

Abstract: Traditionally the dispersion of particles in polymeric materials has proven difficult and frequently results in phase separation and agglomeration. We show that thermodynamically stable dispersion of nanoparticles into a polymeric liquid is enhanced for systems where the radius of gyration of the linear polymer is greater than the radius of the nanoparticle. Dispersed nanoparticles swell the linear polymer chains, resulting in a polymer radius of gyration that grows with the nanoparticle volume fraction. It is proposed that this entropically unfavorable process is offset by an enthalpy gain due to an increase in molecular contacts at dispersed nanoparticle surfaces as compared with the surfaces of phase-separated nanoparticles. Even when the dispersed state is thermodynamically stable, it may be inaccessible unless the correct processing strategy is adopted, which is particularly important for the case of fullerene dispersion into linear polymers.

Systems integration for global sustainability

Abstract: Global sustainability challenges, from maintaining biodiversity to providing clean air and water, are closely interconnected yet often separately studied and managed. Systems integration—holistic approaches to integrating various components of coupled human and natural systems—is critical to understand socioeconomic and environmental interconnections and to create sustainability solutions. Recent advances include the development and quantification of integrated frameworks that incorporate ecosystem services, environmental footprints, planetary boundaries, human-nature nexuses, and telecoupling. Although systems integration has led to fundamental discoveries and practical applications, further efforts are needed to incorporate more human and natural components simultaneously, quantify spillover systems and feedbacks, integrate multiple spatial and temporal scales, develop new tools, and translate findings into policy and practice. Such efforts can help address important knowledge gaps, link seemingly unconnected challenges, and inform policy and management decisions.

The turn model for adaptive routing

Abstract: We present a model for designing wormhole routing algorithms that are deadlock free, livelock free, minimal or nonminimal, and maximally adaptive. A unique feature of this model is that it is not based on adding physical or virtual channels to network topologies (though it can be applied to networks with extra channels). Instead, the model is based on analyzing the directions in which packets can turn in a network and the cycles that the turns can form. Prohibiting just enough turns to break all of the cycles produces routing algorithms that are deadlock free, livelock free, minimal or nonminimal, and maximally adaptive for the network. In this paper, we focus on the two most common network topologies for wormhole routing, n-dimensional mesh, just a quarter of the turns must be prohibited to prevent deadlock. The remaining three quarters of the turns permit partial adaptiveness in routing. Partially adaptive routing algorithms are described for 2D meshes, n-dimensional meshes, k-ary n-cubes, and hypercubes. Simulations of partially adaptive and nonadaptive routing algorithms for 2D meshes and hypercubes show that which algorithm has the lowest latencies and highest sustainable throughput depends on the pattern of message traffic. For nonuniform traffic, partially adaptive routing algorithms perform better than non-adaptive ones.