Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Montclair State University Digital Montclair State University Digital Commons Zostera Marina Population Genetics in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, Zostera Marina Population Genetics in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, and Implications for Grass Bed Restoration and Implications for Grass Bed Restoration

Within Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, Zostera marina populations have declined by 62% over the last 20 years, and restoration efforts have met with mixed success. We have completed a microsatellite-based genetic investigation of eight populations of Z. marina within Barnegat Bay to determine whether the genetic stock ori-gins of the plants used in management projects may affect restoration success. Additionally, we assessed the genetic diversity of Z. marina in Barnegat Bay to better understand its population structure. Clonal diversity ranged from 0.70 to 0.95 for the populations studied. Individually, Barnegat Bay populations are not genetically diverse, and there is also little divergence among populations. The Atlantic populations had mean Hobs values (0.20–0.34) that were far lower than the Hexp values (0.69–0.83). Also, the F IS values in all of the eastern populations indicate a surfeit of homozygotes over heterozygotes, suggesting a low degree of outcrossing in the Barnegat Bay populations. Six of the ten populations studied (Ham Island, Manahawkin Bay, Shelter Island, Marsh Elder, Harvey Cedar Sedge, and Long Island) show evidence of historical bottlenecks. Mean estimated F ST values would suggest that most alleles are undergoing moderate genetic differentiation, with values that range from 0.06 to 0.13. Oyster Creek and Sedge Island demonstrate the largest estimated effective population sizes and may be the most appropriate populations for use in future eelgrass restoration projects.
Reassessing the Social Returns to Equipment Investment

The recent literature on the sources of economic growth has challenged the traditional growth accounting of the Solow model, which assigned a relatively limited role to capital deepening. As part of this literature, De Long and Summers have argued in two papers that the link between equipment investment and economic growth across countries is stronger than can be generated by the Solow model. Accordingly, they conclude that such investment yields important external benefits. However, their analysis suffers from two shortcomings. First, De Long and Summers have not conducted any formal statistical tests of the Solow model. Second, even their informal rejection of the model fails to survive reasonable tests of robustness. We formally test the predictions of the Solow model using De Long and Summers' data. Our results cast doubt on the existence of externalities to equipment investment. In particular, we find that the empirical link between investment and growth in the OECD countries is fully consistent with the Solow model. Moreover, for De Long and Summers' full sample, the evidence of excess returns to equipment investment is tenuous.
Visits to national parks and the provision of natural and man-made recreation and tourism resources

Understanding the relationship between national park characteristics and the number of visits is crucial for the planning and management of parks. Visitation, the number of visits to the park, has a key role to play in assessing the social and economic impacts of new and existing parks. This study examines how the natural characteristics of a national park, the recreation services inside it and tourism services in the surrounding communities are related to the number of visits. Parks are classified according to these three dimensions and the numbers of visitors are compared within the three types. 35 national parks in Finland form the data of the study. The results indicate that the number of visits is associated with the main nature type, implying a continuum from the highest numbers visiting mountainous (i.e. fell) parks to the lowest visiting mire parks. A high number of visits is associated with a good provision of both recreational facilities inside and tourism services outside it. In water-based parks, in particular, the effect of services on park visits is considerable.
Explaining organizational diversity in emerging industries: the role of capabilities

Is any firm able to internalize any transaction at any time? What explains changes in the vertical coordination strategy adopted by firms through time in a context of institutional and technological stability? This paper uses the example of an emerging wine region, the state of Missouri, to discuss the sources of organizational diversity. We analyse ten case studies of Missouri wineries to investigate the reasons why different organizational strategies are chosen by each firm. This outcome is observed although their managers have similar perceptions when it comes to optimal organizational choices. The fundamental idea developed in this paper is that organizational alignment is based not only on the characteristics of transactions and governance structures, but also on the features of the capabilities and resources owned by economic agents. Two main objectives are accomplished in this work: (1) a set of theoretical propositions is offered, providing a conceptual framework that can be used in other contexts.
Macroeconomic uncertainties, prudent debt targets and fiscal rules

The sharp rise in debt experienced by most OECD countries raises questions about the prudent debt level countries should target. It also raises questions about the fiscal frameworks needed to reach them and to accommodate cyclical fluctuations along the path towards a prudent debt target. The objective of this paper is to define long-run prudent debt targets for OECD countries and country-specific fiscal rules. To this end, a semi-structural macroeconomic model for OECD countries and primary balance reaction functions are estimated. The shocks derived from these estimations are used to assess uncertainties surrounding the development of macroeconomic variables. The model is simulated up to 2040 to derive the prudent debt target for each country and design country-specific fiscal rules. Incertitudes macroeconomiques, cibles prudentes d'endettement et regles budgetaires La forte hausse de la dette que connaissent la majorite des pays de l’OCDE interroge sur le niveau prudent d’endettement que les pays doivent cibler. Elle interroge egalement sur les cadres budgetaires necessaires pour y parvenir et absorber les fluctuations de la conjoncture tout au long de la trajectoire vers une cible prudente d’endettement. L’objectif de ce document est de definir des cibles prudentes d’endettement pour les pays de l’OCDE et des regles budgetaires propres a chacun d’entre eux. A cet effet, on procede a l’estimation d’un modele macroeconomique semi-structurel des pays de l’OCDE et de fonctions de reaction du solde primaire. Les chocs calcules a partir de ces estimations servent a evaluer les incertitudes entourant l’evolution de variables macroeconomiques. La simulation est effectuee jusqu’en 2040 pour deduire le niveau d’endettement prudent pour chaque pays et elaborer des regles budgetaires propres a chacun.
An analysis of macroeconomic determinants of banking sector development in Namibia.

This study carries out an empirical investigation of the determinants of banking sector development in Namibia. The study uses quarterly data for Namibia covering the period of 2000: I to 2011: IV, obtained from the Bank of Namibia. The indicator that is used to represent banking sector development is the ratio of credit extended to the private sector by the banks to gross domestic product (GDP). The study uses the autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) for the analysis. The bounds test for cointegration is used to test whether a long run relationship exists between the included variables. In addition, an ARDL framework is also used to test whether any of the included variables: real gross domestic product, nominal interest rates, inflation and the ratio of market capitalisation to nominal gross domestic product as a proxy of stock market development, impacts development in the banking sector. The main result from the study is that a long run relationship exists between the variables. Secondly, the estimated coefficients for the variables impacting banking sector development have expected signs. Real GDP, nominal interest rates positively influence banking sector development, while inflation is found to negatively impacts banking sector development. Stock market development is insignificant in determining banking sector development. The results suggest that developing the real sector without keeping interests rates too low could benefit the banking sector development.
Developing Country Perspectives on Country-of-Origin Effects: The Case of the Proudly South African Campaign

ABSTRACT Research on the effect of product country of origin (COO) also referred to as “made in campaigns” or “buy national campaigns” has attracted considerable attention from international marketing theorists for the past 40 years. This paper examines how the Proudly South African (PSA) initiative in the context of the global debate on the relevance of the concept of country of origin/buy national campaign/made in campaigns has been developed. Reference is made to other international campaigns such as Made in USA and Buy New Zealand and to the importance of the concept as a cue in the purchase decision-making process of consumers.
Consumption in Brazil: myopia or liquidity constraints? A simple test using quarterly data

Several papers have put serious doubt on the validity of the life cycle-permanent income hypothesis. However, a few of them have focused on the reasons behind the failure. In this study, quarterly data from Brazil is used to check whether the rejection of the life cycle hypothesis could be attributed to the presence of either liquidity constraints or Keynesian-type consumers. The findings indicate that neither liquidity constraints nor myopic consumers could generate the finding that consumption is sensitive only to expected income declines. A possible explanation would be that consumers have some kind of loss aversion preference.
Loan Commitment Contracts, Terms of Lending, and Credit Allocation

This paper analyzes the structure of loan commitment contracts and the interrelationships among their component parameters. Lenders offer borrowers a set of loan "packages," from which the latter may choose that "package" found to be most appealing. Borrowers may "trade off' changes in any loan parameter in exchange for other adjustments. The borrower, at this time, may "purchase" a larger credit ration for a price. Supporting empirical evidence is presented. RECENTLY, RESEARCHERS HAVE BEGUN to study the determinants of loan commitment or line of credit contracts. Such contracts play an extremely important role in bank credit allocation. According to the Federal Reserve Bulletin, over 70% of U.S. commercial and industrial loans are made under loan commitment contracts. Given the central importance of the institution, it is not surprising that it is the subject of a growing literature. Loan commitment contracts have importance both at the micro level, in terms of the bank-customer relationship, and at the marco level, in terms of the channels of operation of monetary policy. In this paper, we seek to present and test empirically an analytic model of loan commitment contracts. Our paper differs from most previous work in that we include empirical analysis of credit allocation. Moreover, most previous theoretical work on the subject has concentrated on the specific issue of pricing of the contracts, often using an approach based on option theory, and not on the quantity allocation of credit and its determinants. We are particularly interested in the determinants of the quantitative allocation of credit to bank customers, and in the composition of and trade-offs among the various parameters comprising such a loan commitment "package. " Our model helps explain how contract terms are established in the market and will illuminate the institutional framework of commercial lending. A view of the credit contract as a "package of loan terms" has been implied recently in connection with the credit rationing problem. ' Studies by Azzi and Cox [21, Arzac, Schwartz, and Whitcomb [11 and Koskela [81 show that the
Timeliness Of Reporting And The Stock-Price Reaction To Earnings Announcements

In this paper, we provide descriptive evidence on the relationship between timeliness of earnings reports and stock price behavior surrounding their release. Timeliness is defined in two ways. In the first phase of the paper, we define it as the reporting lag from the end of the fiscal period covered by the report to the date of the report, and compare the variability of stock returns (price changes) associated with the release of reports published relatively promptly after fiscal close with that associated with less timely reports. There is much evidence (e.g., in Beaver [1968] and May [1971]) which documents that the variability of stock returns at the time of announcements of firms' annual and interim earnings differs from that in nonannouncement periods, indicating that more information arrives at the market during periods when earnings reports are released than at other times, on average. However, there is also evidence (such as that in Ball and Brown [1968] and Brown and Kennelly [1972], for example) that much accounting information is reflected in security prices prior to the release of the report. Apparently, other sources of information allow the market to anticipate the earnings report so that the variability of returns (amount of information) associated with earnings reports may be related to reporting lag. More specifically, longer reporting lags provide the opportunity for more of the information in the report to be supplied by other sources, either through
APOBEC3F Can Inhibit the Accumulation of HIV-1 Reverse Transcription Products in the Absence of Hypermutation

APOBEC3F (apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing enzyme catalytic polypeptide 1-like protein 3F) is a cytidine deaminase that, like APOBEC3G, is able to restrict the replication of HIV-1/ Δvif. Initial studies revealed high numbers of mutations in the cDNA of viruses produced in the presence of these proteins, suggesting that cytidine deamination underpinned the inhibition of infection. However, we have recently shown that catalytically inactive APOBEC3G proteins, derived through mutation of the C-terminal cytidine deaminase motif, still exert a substantial antiviral effect. Here, we have generated a panel of APOBEC3F mutant proteins and show that the C-terminal cytidine deaminase motif is essential for catalytic activity and that catalytic activity is not necessary for the antiviral effect of APOBEC3F. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the antiviral activities of wild-type and catalytically inactive APOBEC3F and APOBEC3G proteins correspond well with reductions in the accumulation of viral reverse transcription products. Additional comparisons between APOBEC3F and APOBEC3G suggest that the loss of deaminase activity is more detrimental to APOBEC3G function than to APOBEC3F function, as reflected by perturbations to the suppression of reverse transcript accumulation as well as antiviral activity. Taken together, these data suggest that both APOBEC3F and APOBEC3G are able to function as antiviral factors in the absence of cytidine deamination, that this editing-independent activity is an important aspect of APOBEC protein-mediated antiviral phenotypes, but that APOBEC3F may be a better model in which to study it.
Variance Investigation in Agency Settings

Early variance investigation papers (see Kaplan [1975] for a review) were concerned with controlling mechanical production processes. More recently, the question of when to conduct an investigation has been examined from the perspective of agency theory. In an agency setting, the productive outcome is affected by both exogenous factors and the actions of an agent. An incentive problem occurs when the principal cannot observe the agent's action directly. This incentive problem can be reduced if the principal can acquire additional information about the agent's action. Of course, the benefits of acquiring additional information via an investigation must be weighed against the costs of conducting the investigation. For this reason, it is of interest to determine what factors affect the benefits of conducting an investigation. Baiman and Demski [1980a; 1980b] show that the productive outcome that occurs affects the benefits of investigation, and that the decision to conduct an investigation will therefore depend on the production outcome. In deriving their results, Baiman and Demski assume that the distribution of the information signal that is generated about the agent's action is independent of the productive outcome. In this paper, I allow the productive outcome to affect the distribution of the information signal that the investigation generates. This allows for consideration of investigations which provide information about the environment or the
Research Needs in Corporate Finance: Perspectives from Financial Managers

A profile of needed research in corporate finance is developed based on a survey of financial managers. Research needs are perceived to be the greatest in the areas of regulation and ownership. The area of long-term financing represents the third most important category. Alternatively, financial managers consider operational financing to be the least important area in terms of research needs. Write-in comments, in general, indicate a particularly strong need for research in two distinctive areas: the effects of globalization and the use of hedging tools to reduce financial risk.
Placenta growth factor is not an early marker for the development of severe preeclampsia.

OBJECTIVE Our purpose was to determine whether plasma concentrations of placenta growth factor may be used as a marker for women who ultimately have severe preeclampsia. STUDY DESIGN We performed a nested case-control study to compare plasma concentrations of placenta growth factor in women with severe preeclampsia with the concentrations in normotensive pregnant control subjects. Plasma samples were collected at <20 weeks' gestation and again in the third trimester. Twenty-two women who ultimately had severe preeclampsia were matched for gestational age at delivery with 22 normotensive control subjects. Placenta growth factor concentrations were measured by a specific antigen capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Comparisons were made by using the Mann-Whitney U test for nonparametric data such as placenta growth factor concentrations. The Student t test was used for parametric data. RESULTS A total of 880 pregnant women were screened. Severe preeclampsia developed in 22, for an incidence of 2.5%. As expected, women with severe preeclampsia had significantly higher systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and their infants had lower birth weights. Placental weights at delivery were similar between those with severe preeclampsia and control subjects (659 vs 699 g; P =.51). During the third trimester, the median placenta growth factor concentrations were significantly lower in women with severe preeclampsia than in normotensive control subjects (125 vs 449 pg/mL; P =.003). When samples drawn at <20 weeks' gestation were compared, there was no difference between the group with severe preeclampsia and those who remained normotensive (98.8 vs 56.34 pg/mL; P =.15). CONCLUSION During the third trimester, patients with severe preeclampsia have decreased maternal concentrations of placenta growth factor. This difference is not seen earlier in pregnancy. Lower concentrations of placenta growth factor may be a result of severe preeclampsia rather than a causal factor. Placenta growth factor is not a good marker for the subsequent development of severe preeclampsia.
The Impact of Direct Democracy on Public Education: Performance of Swiss Students in Reading

This paper analyzes the impact of direct legislation at the cantonal level on the quality of public education in Switzerland, using a cross-section of individual data on reading performance similar to that used in the OECD-PISA study. For this purpose, a structural and a reduced form of an educational production function is estimated. The OLS esti­mate of a composite index of direct democracy supports the findings previously ob­tained for U.S. states in which initiative-driven tax limits have had a deleterious effect on student performance in public schools. For a more complete picture, the impact of direct democracy on several portions of the conditional test score distribution is also in­vestigated using a quantile regression method. The negative impact appears to be equal in size between the estimated quantiles and to occur exclusively through the budgetary channel. Moreover, the equipment of schools is found to matter for student per­formance. Finally, no redistributive influence on students attending the same class is found.
Multi-Trait Matching and Intergenerational Mobility: A Cinderella Story

Empirical studies of intergenerational social mobility have found that women are more mobile than men. To explain this finding, we describe a model of multi-trait matching and inheritance, in which individuals’ attractiveness in the marriage market depends on their market and non-market characteristics. We show that the observed gender differences in social mobility can arise if market characteristics are relatively more important in determining marriage outcomes for men than for women and are more persistent across generations than non-market characteristics. Paradoxically, the female advantage in social mobility may be due to their adverse treatment in the labor market. A reduction in gender discrimination in the labor market leads to an increase in homogamy in the marriage market, lowering social mobility for both genders.
Specialized photoreceptor composition in the raptor fovea

The retinae of many bird species contain a depression with high photoreceptor density known as the fovea. Many species of raptors have two foveae, a deep central fovea and a shallower temporal fovea. Birds have six types of photoreceptors: rods, active in dim light, double cones that are thought to mediate achromatic discrimination, and four types of single cones mediating color vision. To maximize visual acuity, the fovea should only contain photoreceptors contributing to high‐resolution vision. Interestingly, it has been suggested that raptors might lack double cones in the fovea. We used transmission electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry to evaluate this claim in five raptor species: the common buzzard (Buteo buteo), the honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus), the Eurasian sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus), the red kite (Milvus milvus), and the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus). We found that all species, except the Eurasian sparrowhawk, lack double cones in the center of the central fovea. The size of the double cone‐free zone differed between species. Only the common buzzard had a double cone‐free zone in the temporal fovea. In three species, we examined opsin expression in the central fovea and found evidence that rod opsin positive cells were absent and violet‐sensitive cone and green‐sensitive cone opsin positive cells were present. We conclude that not only double cones, but also single cones may contribute to high‐resolution vision in birds, and that raptors may in fact possess high‐resolution tetrachromatic vision in the central fovea.