Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investment and the Valuation of Firms When There Is an Option to Shut Down

An important lesson from elementary microeconomics is that a plant should be shut down if operating revenues are less than variable costs. This simple production rule has implications -which have received little attentionfor the initial decision to build the plant.2 This paper develops and studies a methodology for valuing risky investment projects, where there is an option to temporarily and costlessly shut down production (with no effect on future prices and costs) whenever variable costs exceed operating revenues. It is obvious that future revenues or costs must be uncertain if the shut-down option is to affect the investment decision otherwise, it is always known ex ante whether the plant is to be operated. Uncertainty is introduced in this paper by supposing that prices and costs follow a continuous time stochastic process.3 The firm in our model is a risk-neutral, price-taking value maximizer, which is owned by risk-averse investors. Risk aversion thus influences the investment decision by affecting the cost of capital faced by the firm. This is in contrast to the model in Sandmo [1971], in which the firm maximizes the utility of profits.4 Our treatment is descriptive of value-maximizing, publicly-owned firms and is widely used in the finance literature. The economics literature studying the effect of uncertainty on firm behavior has, however, tended to follow Sandhmo. The explicit modelling of the shut-down option and our treatment of risk aversion give us results that differ from those obtained by others who have studied the valuation of risky projects. Our principal results are: 1) Increases in the variance of the output price can either raise or lower the
Hypotension and Environmental Noise: A Replication Study

Up to now, traffic noise effect studies focused on hypertension as health outcome. Hypotension has not been considered as a potential health outcome although in experiments some people also responded to noise with decreases of blood pressure. Currently, the characteristics of these persons are not known and whether this down regulation of blood pressure is an experimental artifact, selection, or can also be observed in population studies is unanswered. In a cross-sectional replication study, we randomly sampled participants (age 20–75, N = 807) from circular areas (radius = 500 m) around 31 noise measurement sites from four noise exposure strata (35–44, 45–54, 55–64, >64 Leq, dBA). Repeated blood pressure measurements were available for a smaller sample (N = 570). Standardized information on socio-demographics, housing, life style and health was obtained by door to door visits including anthropometric measurements. Noise and air pollution exposure was assigned by GIS based on both calculation and measurements. Reported hypotension or hypotension medication past year was the main outcome studied. Exposure-effect relationships were modeled with multiple non-linear logistic regression techniques using separate noise estimations for total, highway and rail exposure. Reported hypotension was significantly associated with rail and total noise exposure and strongly modified by weather sensitivity. Reported hypotension medication showed associations of similar size with rail and total noise exposure without effect modification by weather sensitivity. The size of the associations in the smaller sample with BMI as additional covariate was similar. Other important cofactors (sex, age, BMI, health) and moderators (weather sensitivity, adjacent main roads and associated annoyance) need to be considered as indispensible part of the observed relationship. This study confirms a potential new noise effect pathway and discusses potential patho-physiological routes of actions.
Status Dilemmas and Inter-State Conflict

I develop the concept of a "status dilemma," and conduct initial case studies that examine how it might help explain patterns of conflict. The process of signaling and recognizing status claims is at least as subject to uncertainty and complex strategic incentives as are the security politics with which scholars of international politics are familiar. Hence, just as the security dilemma may create or amplify conflict among states that seek only security, so might a status dilemma create or amplify conflict among states that are satisfied with their relative position. Case studies ranging from the 19th century to the latter Cold War highlight the differences between security dilemmas, status dilemmas, and status competition. They raise the possibility that the status dilemma fosters strategic behavior commonly attributed to the security dilemma.
Compensation of Depleted Neuronal Subsets by New Neurons in a Local Area of the Adult Olfactory Bulb

In the olfactory bulb (OB), loss of preexisting granule cells (GCs) and incorporation of adult-born new GCs continues throughout life. GCs consist of distinct subsets. Here, we examined whether the loss and incorporation of GC subsets are coordinated in the OB. We classified GCs into mGluR2-expressing and -negative subsets and selectively ablated mGluR2-expressing GCs in a local area of the OB with immunotoxin-mediated cell ablation method. The density of mGluR2-expressing GCs showed considerable recovery within several weeks after the ablation. During recovery, an mGluR2-expressing new GC subset was preferentially incorporated over an mGluR2-negative new GC subset in the area of ablation, whereas the preferential incorporation was not observed in the intact area. The area-specific preferential incorporation of mGluR2-expressing new GCs occurred for BrdU analog- and retrovirus-labeled adult-born cells as well as for neonate-derived transplanted cells. The mGluR2-expressing new GCs in the ablated area were synaptically incorporated into the local bulbar circuit. The spine size of mGluR2-expressing new GCs in the ablated area was larger than that of those in the intact area. In contrast, mGluR2-negative new GCs did not show ablated area-specific spine enlargement. These results indicate that local OB areas have a mechanism to coordinate the loss and incorporation of GC subsets by compensatory incorporation of new GC subsets, which involves subset-specific cellular incorporation and subset-specific regulation of spine size.
PhotoProof: Cryptographic Image Authentication for Any Set of Permissible Transformations

Since the invention of the camera, photos have been used to document reality and to supply proof of events. Yet today it is easy to fabricate realistic images depicting events that never happened. Thus, dozens of papers strive to develop methods for authenticating images. While some commercial cameras already attach digital signatures to photographs, the images often undergo subsequent transformations (cropping, rotation, compression, and so forth), which do not detract from their authenticity, but do change the image data and thus invalidate the signature. Existing methods address this by signing derived image properties that are invariant to some set of transformations. However, these are limited in the supported transformations, and often offer weak security guarantees. We present PhotoProof, a novel approach to image authentication based on cryptographic proofs. It can be configured, according to application requirements, to allow any permissible set of (efficiently computable) transformations. Starting with a signed image, our scheme attaches, to each legitimately derived image, a succinct proof of computational integrity attesting that the transformation was permissible. Anyone can verify these proofs, and generate updated proofs when applying further permissible transformations. Moreover, the proofs are zero-knowledge so that, for example, an authenticated cropped image reveals nothing about the cropped-out regions. PhotoProof is based on Proof-Carrying Data (PCD), a cryptographic primitive for secure execution of distributed computations. We describe the new construction, prove its security, and demonstrate a working prototype supporting a variety of permissible transformations.
Electron scattering from disilane (Si2H6) molecules. Absolute total cross section measurements from 1 to 370 eV

Absolute grand total cross sections (TCSs) for electron-disilane (Si2H6) scattering have been measured over the energy range from 1 to 370 eV in a linear transmission experiment. The low-energy TCS is dominated by a broad resonant-like enhancement. In the region of the maximum the present grand TCS values appeared to be distinctly lower than previously reported integral elastic cross section data. A comparison of total electron scattering cross sections for the two simplest silicon hydrides and relevant hydrocarbons is given.
Bivariate option pricing with copulas

The adoption of copula functions is suggested in order to price bivariate contingent claims. Copulas enable the marginal distributions extracted from vertical spreads in the options markets to be imbedded in a multivariate pricing kernel. It is proved that such a kernel is a copula function, and that its super-replication strategy is represented by the Fréchet bounds. Applications provided include prices for binary digital options, options on the minimum and options to exchange one asset for another. For each of these products, no-arbitrage pricing bounds, as well as values consistent with the independence of the underlying assets are provided. As a final reference value, a copula function calibrated on historical data is used.
The Invisibilisation of Female Farmers from Agricultural Policies and Interventions: The case of the Malawi Farm Inputs Subsidy Programme (FISP)

Female farmers in Malawi and many other African countries remain subordinate to and more food insecure than their male counterparts. It is paradoxical that this status quo has persisted in spite of two significant factors: their high and increasing involvement in food and agricultural production, and policy commitments at both national and international levels to address gender inequalities in the agricultural sector. Using the case study of the Malawi Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP), this research critically engages with these issues to explain why agricultural policies have not been successful in addressing gender inequalities in the sector. It argues that in spite of feminisation of agriculture, development policies in Malawi still largely consider men as ‘the farmers’ and therefore neglect female farmers and the complexity of gender relations. Consequently, the government’s response to food insecurity is compromised by a cyclical process embedded in the policy making cycle that facilitates, re-enforces and perpetuates the subordination of female farmers – the Female Subordination Cycle. This research is situated at the intersection of food security, agricultural policy and gender and development literature – fields that are inter-connected but inadequately speak to each other. It therefore brings to the fore connections across these fields that are critical for understanding and consequently addressing the dual and inter-connected challenges of female subordination and food insecurity. Through a detailed examination of how the food security status of FHHs (both de jure and de facto) has been affected by the FISP, it contributes to a de-invisibilisation of female farmers from agricultural policies and interventions. The research takes a pragmatic approach and employs mixed research methods. It is grounded in extensive fieldwork involving a large number of participants (over 540). A gender-aware approach to selection of participants is undertaken in that although female farmers are the main and primary research participants, male farmers are also consulted through focus group discussions.
A Cross-Sectional Test of a Production-Based Asset Pricing Model

This paper tests a factor pricing model for stock returns. The factors are returns on physical investment, inferred from investment data via a production function. The tests examine the model's ability to explain the variation in expected returns across assets and over time. The model is not rejected. It performs about as well as the CAPM and the Chen, Roll and Ross factor model, and it performs substantially better than a simple consumption-based model. In comparison tests, the investment return factors drive out all the other models. The paper also provides an easy technique for estimating and testing dynamic, conditional asset pricing models. All one has to do is include factors and returns scaled by instruments in an unconditional estimate. This procedure imposes none of the usual restrictions on conditional moments, and does not require prewhitened or orthogonalized factors.
The Impact of E-Replenishment Strategy on Make-to-Order Supply Chain Performance

This research investigates the impact of electronic replenishment strategy on the operational activities and performance of a two-stage make-to-order supply chain. We develop simulation-based rolling schedule procedures that link the replenishment processes of the channel members and apply them in an experimental analysis to study manual, semi-automated, and fully automated e-replenishment strategies in decentralized and coordinated decision-making supply chain structures. The average operational cost reductions for moving from a manual-based system to a fully automated system are 19.6, 29.5, and 12.5%, respectively, for traditional decentralized, decentralized with information sharing, and coordinated supply chain structures. The savings are neither equally distributed among participants, nor consistent across supply chain structures. As expected, for the fully coordinated system, total costs monotonically decrease with higher levels of automation. However, for the two decentralized structures, under which most firms operate today, counter-intuitive findings reveal that the unilateral application of e-procurement technology by the buyer may lower his purchasing costs, but increase the seller's and system's costs. The exact nature of the relationship is determined by the channel's operational flexibility. Broader results indicate that while the potential economic benefit of e-replenishment in a decentralized system is substantial, greater operational improvements maybe possible through supply chain coordination.
Time‐Varying Trend Inflation and the New Keynesian Phillips Curve in Australia

This paper investigates whether the persistence and the time-varying nature of trend inflation can explain the persistence of inflation in Australia - that is, whether it can explain the apparent need for the backward-looking inflation term in the New Keynesian Phillips curve (NKPC) estimated using Australian data. We derive and estimate an extended open-economy NKPC equation, accounting explicitly for time-varying trend inflation. The paper finds that although the estimated role for backward-looking indexation is near zero in some difference-equation specifications, when one considers the closed-form specifications of the NKPC, the parameter estimate increases dramatically, implying a high degree of indexation to past inflation. Thus, in contrast to Cogley and Sbordones (2008) result for the US economy, our estimates suggest that accounting for time variation in trend inflation in the NKPC cannot explain away the inertia in the Australian inflation data. Our preferred estimates suggest that lagged inflation and future expectations of inflation enter the NKPC with almost equal weights. Finally, notwithstanding the previous results, we find a marked decline in the role of the backward-looking inflation terms since the adoption of an inflation targeting regime by the Reserve Bank in 1993.
Synthesis and Sar Study of Diarylpentanoid Analogues as New Anti-Inflammatory Agents

A series of ninety-seven diarylpentanoid derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their anti-inflammatory activity through NO suppression assay using interferone gamma (IFN-γ)/lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages. Twelve compounds (9, 25, 28, 43, 63, 64, 81, 83, 84, 86, 88 and 97) exhibited greater or similar NO inhibitory activity in comparison with curcumin (14.7 ± 0.2 µM), notably compounds 88 and 97, which demonstrated the most significant NO suppression activity with IC50 values of 4.9 ± 0.3 µM and 9.6 ± 0.5 µM, respectively. A structure–activity relationship (SAR) study revealed that the presence of a hydroxyl group in both aromatic rings is critical for bioactivity of these molecules. With the exception of the polyphenolic derivatives, low electron density in ring-A and high electron density in ring-B are important for enhancing NO inhibition. Meanwhile, pharmacophore mapping showed that hydroxyl substituents at both meta- and para-positions of ring-B could be the marker for highly active diarylpentanoid derivatives.
Fano resonance in nanoscale structures

Nowadays nanotechnology allows to scale-down various important devices (sensors, chips, fibres, etc), and, thus, opens up new horizon for their applications. Nevertheless, the efficiency most of them is still based on the fundamental physical phenomena, such as resonances. Thus, the understanding of the resonance phenomena will be beneficial. One of the well-known examples is the resonant enhancement of the transmission known as Breit-Wigner resonances, which can be described by a Lorentzian function. But, in many physical systems the scattering of waves involves propagation along different paths, and, as a consequence, results in interference phenomena, where constructive interference corresponds to resonant enhancement and destructive interference to resonant suppression of the transmission. Recently, a variety of experimental and theoretical work has revealed such patterns in different branches of physics. The purpose of this Review is to demonstrate that this kind of resonant scattering is related to the Fano resonances, known from atomic physics. One of the main features of the Fano resonances is the asymmetric profile. The asymmetry comes from the close coexistence of resonant transmission and resonant reflection. Fano successfully explained such a phenomenon in his seminal paper in 1961 in terms of interaction of a discrete (localized) state with a continuum of propagation modes. It allows to describe both resonant enhancement and resonant suppression in a unified manner. All of these properties can be demonstrated in the frame of a very simple model, which will be used throughout the Review to show that resonant reflections observed in different complex systems are indeed closely related to the Fano resonances.
Contextualising information behaviour: The example of Laos

The ways in which people need, seek, and use information vary considerably from one context to another. This thesis reports on a qualitative study investigating the contextual factors affecting information behaviour in a developing country. The literature review revealed that cultural and social factors have a significant impact on cognition and information behaviour, yet contextualised understandings of information behaviour that take diverse local conditions into account have yet to be developed for non-Western, developing country contexts. An interpretivist research design was employed in this study, using Dervin’s sense-making methodology, the critical incident technique, and discourse analysis to collect, analyse and interpret interview data on everyday information behaviour from 30 participants in Laos. The primary objective of the research was to identify the contextual factors that affect information behaviour in Laos, and to understand how contextual factors influence how people need, seek, manage and use information. The findings indicated that a number of interdependent primary and secondary contextual factors play a key role in how people engage with information in Laos. Primary factors included the social and cultural contexts of an individual, with numerous secondary factors such as personal, situational, physical, and economic contexts also playing a role in information behaviour. The interpretation of the findings enabled the development of a contextualised understanding of information behaviour for individuals in Laos. In addition, the research methods provided a framework from which contextualised understandings of information behaviour in diverse local contexts can be explored, fulfilling a secondary objective of the research. These findings have implications for information professionals, information systems design, and international aid projects, by providing contextualised understandings of information behaviour, facilitating the development of more relevant services and resources.
Temporally and spatially coordinated roles for Rho, Rac, Cdc42 and their effectors in growth cone guidance by a physiological electric field

Although it is known that neuronal growth cones migrate towards the cathode of an applied direct current (DC) electric field (EF), resembling the EF present in the developing nervous system, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate temporally and spatially coordinated roles for the GTPases Rac, Cdc42 and Rho and their effectors. Growth cones of cultured Xenopus embryonic spinal neurons turned towards the cathode but collective inhibition of Rho, Rac and Cdc42 attenuated turning. Selective inhibition of Rho, Cdc42 or Rac signalling revealed temporally distinct roles in steering by an electrical gradient. Rho, Rac and Cdc42 are each essential for turning within the initial 2 hours (early phase). Later, Rho and Cdc42 signals remain important but Rac signalling dominates. The EF increased Rho immunofluorescence anodally. This correlated spatially with collapsed growth cone morphology and reduced anodal migration rates, which were restored by Rho inhibition. These data suggest that anodally increased Rho activity induces local cytoskeletal collapse, biasing growth cone advance cathodally. Collapse might be mediated by the Rho effectors p160 Rho kinase and myosin light chain kinase since their inhibition attenuated early turning. Inhibitors of phosphoinositide 3-kinase, MEK1/2 or p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) did not affect turning behaviour, eliminating them mechanistically. We propose a mechanism whereby Rac and Cdc42 activities dominate cathodally and Rho activity dominates anodally to steer growth cones towards the cathode. The interaction between Rho GTPases, the cytoskeleton and growth cone dynamics is explored in the companion paper published in this issue. Our results complement studies of growth cone guidance by diffusible chemical gradients and suggest that growth cones might interpret these co-existing guidance cues selectively.
Defective Lamin A-Rb Signaling in Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome and Reversal by Farnesyltransferase Inhibition

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS) is a rare premature aging disorder caused by a de novo heterozygous point mutation G608G (GGC>GGT) within exon 11 of LMNA gene encoding A-type nuclear lamins. This mutation elicits an internal deletion of 50 amino acids in the carboxyl-terminus of prelamin A. The truncated protein, progerin, retains a farnesylated cysteine at its carboxyl terminus, a modification involved in HGPS pathogenesis. Inhibition of protein farnesylation has been shown to improve abnormal nuclear morphology and phenotype in cellular and animal models of HGPS. We analyzed global gene expression changes in fibroblasts from human subjects with HGPS and found that a lamin A-Rb signaling network is a major defective regulatory axis. Treatment of fibroblasts with a protein farnesyltransferase inhibitor reversed the gene expression defects. Our study identifies Rb as a key factor in HGPS pathogenesis and suggests that its modulation could ameliorate premature aging and possibly complications of physiological aging.