This paper investigates the existence and extent of economies of scale in depository and settlement systems. Evidence from 16 settlement institutions across different regions for the years 1993–2000 indicates the existence of significant economies of scale. The degree of such economies, however, differs by size of settlement institution and region. While smaller settlement service providers rev...

Between 1961 and 1970, the U.S. military engaged in massive chemical defoliation and crop destruction operations in Southeast Asia. In 1985, nearly two decades after the spraying had ceased, a landmark tort settlement was reached between a class of Vietnam veterans and the chemical manufacturers that had supplied the Agent Orange and other military herbicides to the U.S. Department of Defense. ...

Coral settlement is a key ecological process in the maintenance, recovery and resilience of coral reef ecosystems. Coral reefs in the Persian Gulf survive in one of the world’s most extreme environments, yet there remains limited knowledge of the role of coral settlement considered critical for maintaining population dynamics. Spatial and temporal patterns of coral settlement were examined at 6...

Long-term settlement of MSW landfills is a complex process, which is explained by the following two mechanisms: (1) the mechanical long-term compression of degradable organic solids (DOS) and un-degradable organic solids (UDOS); and (2) the decomposition-based compression of the DOS. Based on these two distinct settlement mechanisms, in this study, the authors propose a new estimation model to ...

The bipartite life history of most marine organisms leads to complex patterns of replenishment in benthic populations. High variation in adult spawning, dynamic oceanographic currents, and often unknown larval behaviors create challenges in accurately predicting spatial and temporal patterns in the supply and settlement of pelagic larvae to nearshore juvenile habitats. Yet, understanding and pr...

Metamorphosis from a pelagic to a benthic stage is a critical transition in the life cycle of sessile marine invertebrates. The barnacle Semibalanus balanoides attaches permanently during settlement, and once attached, its gross location in the adult habitat is fixed. The partitioning of benthic habitat among barnacles in a recruit cohort is often mediated by settlement timing because early set...

Abst rac t Balanus subalbidus (Henry) has the most oligohaline distribution of three congeneric barnacles in Chesapeake Bay and tolerates prolonged exposure to fresh water. We studied larval settlement (i.e., permanent attachment and metamorphosis) of B. subalbidus in the laboratory, over a 3 yr period, May 1989 to March 1992, under the following conditions: (1) across an array of salinities at...

We study wage bargaining in which the union is uncertain about the firm's willingness to pay and threat payoffs vary over time. Strike payoffs change over time as replacement workers are hired, as strikers find temporary jobs, and as inventories or strike funds run out. We find that bargaining outcomes are substantially altered if threat payoffs vary. If dispute costs increase in the long-run, ...

Several recent ®eld studies have found disproportionately high barnacle settlement rates (expressed on a per-area basis) in situations where the amount of suitable substrate is reduced, either due to occupation by other individuals or to physical processes. We call this phenomenon the intensi®cation e€ect; it is not included in many models of benthic populations, which assume that the per-area ...