Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diversification Discount, Information Rents, and Internal Capital Markets

While many existing studies report that corporate diversification destroys shareholder value, several recent studies challenge these findings. Schoar [Schoar, A. (2002). Effects of corporate diversification on productivity. The Journal of Finance, 57, 2379-2403] finds that plants in conglomerates are more productive than those in comparable single-segment firms, although conglomerates are traded at discounts. Villalonga [Villalonga, B. (2004a). Diversification discount or premium? New evidence from the business information tracking services. The Journal of Finance, 59, 479-506; Villalonga, B. (2004b). Does diversification cause the "diversification discount". Financial Management, 33, 5-27] employs a more comprehensive database and statistical techniques than those used in the prior studies, and shows that there is a diversification premium, rather than discount. This paper develops a model that highlights the costs and benefits of corporate diversification. The diversified firm trades off the benefits of more efficient resource allocation through its internal capital market against the costs of information rents to division managers, which are necessary for effective workings of the internal capital market. We provide an argument supporting Schoar's findings, and identify conditions under which there can be a diversification discount or a premium.
Feeding ecology of the transparent goby Aphia minuta (Pisces, Gobiidae) in the northwestern Adriatic Sea

The feeding ecology of the transparent goby Aphia minuta was examined in spring (May 2003) in the coastal waters off Comacchio, in the northwestern Adriatic Sea. Stomach content analysis indicated A. minuta to be a planktivorous species, feeding exclusively on pelagic invertebrates. The diet composition was dominated by the calanoid copepods Acartia clausi and Temora longicornis , followed in decreasing order of importance by other copepods (especially calanoids and Oncaea spp.) and larvae of decapods, polychaetes and bivalves. A. minuta exhibited a generalistic feeding strategy with a relatively broad niche width. Abundant taxa in the environment, such as A. clausi and T. longicornis , were seldom selected, whereas rare taxa, such as larvae of polychaetes and decapods, were highly selected. According to the observed ontogenetic shift in diet, small-size individuals relied preferentially on juvenile T. longicornis and Oncaea spp. , whereas large-sized specimens consumed preferably A. clausi and calanoids. The positive relationship found between prey and fish size may help to mitigate the intraspecific competition for food resources.
Developing, testing, and using theoretical models for promoting quality in education

This paper argues that the dynamic model of educational effectiveness can be used to establish stronger links between educational effectiveness research (EER) and school improvement. It provides research evidence to support the validity of the model. Thus, the importance of using the dynamic model to establish an evidence-based and theory-driven approach to school improvement is stressed. In this context, the dynamic approach to school improvement (DASI), which attempts to use the knowledge base of EER for improvement purposes, is presented. Beyond presenting the essential characteristics, assumptions, and stages of DASI, its relationship with the dynamic model is clarified. Moreover, studies investigating the impact of DASI on promoting student learning outcomes are presented. These studies reveal the conditions in which DASI can promote student learning outcomes. Finally, suggestions for further research are provided.
CALCIUM EFFECT IN BONE AND EGG QUALITY OF THE HENS

1Departamento de Produção Animal. Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia. Universidade Estadual Paulista. Fazenda Experimental Lageado. Botucatu, SP. CEP 18618-000. Brasil. Correspondência: ibiara@fca.unesp. br 2Departamento de Produção Animal. Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia. UNESP. Botucatu. Brasil. Aarielmendes@fca.unesp. br; BButobalog@fmvz.unesp. br; Cclaudiamarie@fmvz.unesp. br; Dsaendosp@fca.unesp. br; Eibiara@fasternet.com. br; Fegarcia@fca.unesp. br; Gmarleidecs@ yahoo.com. br; Hkarenfgcardoso@fmvz.unesp. br 3Departamento de Reprodução Animal e Radiologia Veterinária. Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia. UNESP. Botucatu, SP. Brasil. vulcano@fmvz.unesp. br 4Departamento de Engenharia Rural. Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas. UNESP. Botucatu, SP. Brasil. awballarin@fca.unesp. br
Microstructural Characteristics and Creep Behavior of 45XD TiAl Alloys

A near lamellar microstructure and two fine-grained fully lamellar (FGFL) microstructures in Ti-45Al-2Nb-2Mn+0.8 vol%TiB 2 alloy were prepared by selected heat treatments, and the fully lamellar microstructures were aged for stabilizing the lamellar plates. Microstructural examination and tensile creep tests at 760°C showed that the near lamellar microstructure possessed inferior creep resistance due to its coarse lamellar spacing and its larger amount of equiaxed y grains at colony boundaries. The fine lamellar spacing as well as the fine lamellar colony size gave a major contribution to make the minimum creep rates smaller in the fully lamellar TiAl alloys. Since aging treatments stabilized the lamellar microstructures and delayed the degradation process during creep deformation, the aged samples exhibited lower minimum creep rate and longer creep life than the corresponding samples without the aging treatment. These results suggest that a fine as well as stabilized fully lamellar structure is a critical factor to improve the creep resistance of TiAl alloys in terms of short and long-term creep.
The Cross-Section of Credit Risk Premia and Equity Returns

type="main"> We explore the link between a firm's stock returns and credit risk using a simple insight from structural models following Merton ( ): risk premia on equity and credit instruments are related because all claims on assets must earn the same compensation per unit of risk. Consistent with theory, we find that firms' stock returns increase with credit risk premia estimated from CDS spreads. Credit risk premia contain information not captured by physical or risk-neutral default probabilities alone. This sheds new light on the “distress puzzle”—the lack of a positive relation between equity returns and default probabilities—reported in previous studies.
EFFECT OF CYANOBACTERIAL BIOFERTILIZER ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD COMPONENTS OF TWO HYV OF RICE

Impact of blue-green algal inocula (cyanobacteria) and urea-N on the growth and yield components of two HYV of rice (BR-28, BR-29) grown in T. Aus and Boro seasons was investigated in the filed. Application of 20 to 40% less fertilizer-N than recommended dose combined with cyanobacterial inoculum 1 kg ha -1 ; (Nostoc spongiaeforme Dh 164, Nostoc commune Dh 169, Calothrix marchica Dh 167 and Stigonema Dh 168) produced significantly higher number of tillers/hill, panicles/hill, length of panicle, weight of 1000 grains, and yields of grain and straw as compared to the control. However, in most of the cases, agronomic characters and yield components in algalized plots were statistically identical to the treatment with recommended dose of N. The best role was achieved by cyanobacterial inocula in presence of 40% less fertilizer-N to stimulate the growth and yield attributes of both varieties of rice signifying the better contribution of cyanobacterial inoculum in rice field ecosystem relatively low in N content.
Social Capital And Commitment in the Brazilian Wine Industry

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on organizational social capital and organizational commitment in collaborative networks context. Firstly, we identified the most important elements that compound these two concepts. In order to do that, we surveyed 193 employees of 74 companies’ members of a food network – the Brazilian Wine Industry Cluster. Finally, we sought to better understand the relationship between commitment and social capital. The results show that affective and normative organizational commitments enhance social capital development, specially in relational and cognitive dimensions. These findings revealed that employees may execute some tasks as a way of reciprocity to the support and trust - as well as, the other social capital elements - that have been placed on them. In addition to contributing to the literature, we hope to provide an improved understanding of the determinants of organizational social capital in collaborative network context.
Models of reliability prediction of electric machine taking into account the state of major structural units

It is shown that conventional mathematical models for calculation of the reliability of electric machine structural units, based on the theory of planning an experiment, do not take into account the peculiarities of their properties variation during the process of manufacture and long-term operation. Taking into consideration the multiple factors of the assigned problem, the prospect of the use of fuzzy logic postulates in the creation of models for calculation of reliability is substantiated. An approach to such models building is formed.
Theories of action in the field of child participation: In search of explicit frameworks

The article explores child participation from the perspective of the sociology of action. Despite the important literature on child participation following adoption of the UNCRC, a consistent theory of child participation is still missing. The distinction between the child as a subject of rights and the child as a social actor draws attention to the cumulative and systemic nature of action. Applications of a new model going in this direction are presented. They foster discussion on children’s agency and give insights for assessing implicit theories of action lying behind child participation.
FOR THE DEGREE OF LICENTIATE OF ENGINEERING Equilibrium of Lignin Precipitation

The kraft process is the predominant method for producing pulp in Scandinavia. However, the material efficiency in modern kraft pulp mills for pulp production is only 40−55% and the final product consists mainly of cellulose. A novel process called “LignoBoost” has been introduced recently for extracting lignin from alkaline black liquor. The separated lignin can either be utilized as solid fuel or raw material of other value-added products such as carbon fibre or phenols, which is one step towards a combined pulp and biorefinery process. The LignoBoost process consists of four major steps: precipitation, filtration, re-dispersing and final washing. Whilst filtration and washing have already been investigated extensively, more knowledge needs to be gained of the precipitation step. In this work, lignin precipitation was performed by the acidification of black liquor at various process conditions, namely pH, temperature and ion strength, and the influences exerted by these parameters on the equilibrium of lignin precipitation were investigated. Carbohydrate analysis was performed on the precipitated solid and lignin-lean liquor, and the average molecular weight of the precipitated lignin was determined. The content of the functional groups (i.e. phenolic and methoxyl) in the precipitated lignin was analyzed and, finally, new parameters in a given model from a previous study for estimating the precipitation yield of lignin were provided and evaluated. The results show that the precipitation yield of lignin increases with decreasing pH and temperature and/or with increasing ion strength of the black liquor used. The concentration of carbohydrates in lignin decreases with decreasing pH or with increasing temperature, and that an increasing amount of lower molecular weight lignin is precipitated at a higher precipitation yield. Furthermore, it was found, for the experimental conditions chosen, that the precipitation pH has a much stronger influence than the temperature and the ion strength on the precipitation yield and the average molecular weight of the precipitated lignin. According to 1 H and 13 C NMR spectra analysis, the content of phenolic and methoxyl groups in the precipitated lignin increases with increasing precipitation yield.
Initial Mass Function and Star Formation History in the Small Magellanic Cloud

This study investigated the initial mass function (IMF) and star formation history of high-mass stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) using a population synthesis technique. We used the photometric survey catalog of Lee (2013) as the observable quantities and compare them with those of synthetic populations based on Bayesian inference. For the IMF slope ( Γ ) range of �1.1 to �3.5 with steps of 0.1, five types of star formation models were tested: 1) continuous; 2) single burst at 10 Myr; 3) single burst at 60 Myr; 4) double bursts at those epochs; and 5) a complex hybrid model. In this study, a total of 125 models were tested. Based on the model calculations, it was found that the continuous model could simulate the high-mass stars of the SMC and that its IMF slope was �1.6 which is slightly steeper than Salpeter's IMF, i.e., Γ = �1.35.
Effect of Different Amounts of Protein, Corn Silage

The first goal in formulating diets of lactating dairy cows for protein requirements is to meet the requirements of the microbes in the rumen. The second goal is to balance the metabolizable protein (MP) requirement of the cow. An additional goal, such as not exceeding the CP requirement of the cows so that N excretion is reduced, may need to be considered. Excess CP in the diets of dairy cows contributes to growing environmental concerns related to N pollution of water resources (Tamminga, 1992). In addition, excess dietary CP can be met, resulting in unnecessary feeding expenses. Diets with lower concentrations of CP but with properly balanced ruminally degradable CP may have both an economical and environmental impact. Increased amounts of rumen undegradable protein (RUP) in the diets of cows in the mid (Arieli et al. 1996; Robinson et al. 1991) or late lactation (Robertson and Van Soest, 1981) did not result in higher milk production. This result could be explained because cows in early lactation have a greater demand for MP to meet the demands of high milk production but in later lactation, these demands decline. After peak of Four treatments were assigned to determine the effects of dietary potential digestible fiber (pdF) and crude protein (CP) levels in mid lactating Holstein cows on milk production and nitrogen efficiency. Sixteen primiparous (n=8) and multiparous (n=8) Holstein cows (body weight (BW)=546±72 kg; days in milk (DIM)=118±50 day) were allocated to one of four diets in balanced randomized complete design in two periods (each period including 28 day). Diets consisted of 50% forage and 50% concentrate. The experimental diets were as follows: 1) 19% CP and low pdF (HPLDF); 2) 17% CP and low pdF (MPLDF); 3) 15% CP and high pdF (LPHDF) and 4) 17% CP and high pdF (MPHDF). Milk yield was similar among dietary protein levels in each treatment, when data were combined across treatments. Both milk urea nitrogen and blood urea nitrogen concentrations increased as the protein content of diet was increased. As dietary protein was increased from the lowest to the highest concentrations, mean fecal N concentration increased from 2.8 to 3.0% and urinary N from 5.8 to 7.3 g/L (P<0.05). Overall, based on N utilization as well as milk production, 17% protein in diets utilizing various proportions of alfalfa hay and corn silage as the forage source appeared sufficient for cows producing 27 kg/d of milk in this study. Reducing protein to this amount can reduce N excretion, especially environmentally labile urinary N, without affecting milk production.
PolaronMass and Electron-Phonon Correlations in the HolsteinModel

The Holstein Molecular Crystal Model is investigated by a strong coupling perturbative method which, unlike the standard LangFirsov approach, accounts for retardation effects due to the spreading of the polaron size. The effective mass is calculated to the second perturbative order in any lattice dimensionality for a broad range of (anti)adiabatic regimes and electron-phonon couplings. The crossover from a large to a small polaron state is found in all dimensionalities for adiabatic and intermediate adiabatic regimes. The phonon dispersion largely smoothes such crossover which is signalled by polaron mass enhancement and on-site localization of the correlation function. The notion of self-trapping together with the conditions for the existence of light polarons, mainly in twoand three-dimensions, is discussed. By the imaginary time path integral formalism I show how nonlocal electron-phonon correlations, due to dispersive phonons, renormalize downwards the e-ph coupling justifying the possibility for light and essentially small 2D Holstein polarons.
Social origin and occupational success at labour market entry in The Netherlands, 1931–80

In this article we study some of the overlooked mechanisms of how social origin affects an individual’s occupational success at labour market entry. The empirical analysis draws on four Dutch retrospective life-course surveys. The analytical sample consists of 6,416 respondents born in the period 1931–80. The results show intergenerational transmission of occupational status, but the effect of father’s occupation on his child’s first job has declined over time. Part of the decreased impact of social origin is related to the increased age at first job. Educational expansion prolonged the school career of individuals and increased the age at which they first enter the labour market, when parental control and influence matter less. The effect of level of education has decreased over time too, at an even faster rate. Because of that, a trend from ascription to achievement cannot be confirmed. Furthermore, we found evidence of a weaker impact of social origin on occupational status attainment for the higher educated. The labour market for higher levels of education is more meritocratic, as employers use the degree to which various educational programmes at these levels provide occupation-specific skills to evaluate the labour productivity of potential workers.
WORKING PAPER SERIES REAL INTEREST PARITY : A NOTE ON ASIAN COUNTRIES USING PANEL STATIONARITY TEST

Existing panel data studies of real interest parity are either unable to identify which panel members are characterised by stationary real interest differentials, or are subject to size distortion resulting from the presence of structural breaks and cross-sectional dependencies. Using a panel stationarity testing procedure recently advocated by Hadri and Rao (2008) that allows for structural breaks and cross-sectional dependency, we are unable to reject the stationarity of Asian real interest rate differentials. JEL Classification: C33; F36; G15
Nano-architecture and mineralization of the amorphous CaCO 3 deposits during the molt cycle of the terrestrial isopod Porcellio scaber ( Crustacea ) Dissertation

s related to this thesis Fabritius, H. and Ziegler, A. , 2004. The sternal CaCO3 deposits of Porcellio scaber (Crustacea): an ultrastructural study of a biomineralisation process, EMC 2004: 13 European Microscopy Congress, Antwerp, Belgium. Fabritius, H. and Ziegler, A. , 2003. Nano-architecture and structural changes in the sternal CaCO3 deposits of the terrestrial isopod Porcellio scaber during the molt cycle. Microscopy Conference 2003: 31 Tagung der DGE, Dresden, Germany. Fabritius, H. and Ziegler, A. , 2003. Structure and assembly of spherules within the sternal CaCO3 deposits in Porcellio scaber (Crustacea, Isopoda). 96. Jahresversammlung der Deutschen Zoologischen Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany. Fabritius, H. and Ziegler, A. , 2003. Aufbau, Abbau und Ultrastruktur der sternalen CaCO3-Reservoire während des Häutungszyklus von Porcellio scaber (Isopoda, Oniscidea). 11. Crustaceologentagung, Ulm, Germany. Fabritius, H. and Ziegler, A. , 2002. Formation and degradation of sternal CaCO3 deposit layers in Porcellio scaber (Isopoda, Crustacea) as revealed by field emission scanning electron microscopy, 95. Jahresversammlung der Deutschen Zoologischen Gesellschaft, Halle, Germany.
Com(ple)menting the news on the financial crisis: The contribution of news users’ commentary to the diversity of viewpoints in the public debate

Does news users’ commentary contribute to widening the diversity of viewpoints represented in the news? This article comparatively analyses the interpretations of the current financial crisis in the online coverage of five German newspapers and the subsequent commentary of news users. Using an innovative strategy to identify the interpretative repertoires constructed by news and user frames, it assesses how user commentary deviates from those viewpoints represented in the news. Findings show that user accounts mostly remain within the wider interpretative repertoires offered by the media. However, they utilize media frame fragments rather freely to construct their own views, shifting focus and elaborating upon new aspects. While no consistent alternative repertoires were constructed, users thus valuably complemented the diversity of concerns discussed on news websites.
On the energy economics of air lubrication drag reduction

ABSTRACT Air lubrication techniques for frictional drag reduction on ships have been proposed by numerous researchers since the 19th century. However, these techniques have not been widely adopted as questions persist about their drag reduction performance beyond the laboratory, as well as energy and economic cost-benefit. This paper draws on data from the literature to consider the suitability of air lubrication for large ocean going and U.S. Great Lakes ships, by establishing the basic energy economic calculations and presenting results for a hypothetical air lubricated ship. All the assumptions made in the course of the analysis are clearly stated so that they can be refined when considering application of air lubrication to a specific ship. The analysis suggests that, if successfully implemented, both air layer and partial cavity drag reduction could lead to net energy savings of 10 to 20%, with corresponding reductions in emissions.
Italy: Still a Pro-European, but not a Fully Europeanised Elite?

The aim of this article is to analyse the attitudes of Italian political and economic elites towards European citizenship through the results of a survey conducted in 2007. We begin with a discussion of the changing patterns of pro-Europeanism among Italian elites, within the framework of the recent deep transformations of the domestic political system. In order to understand how these transformations have affected the elites' attitudes towards European citizenship, we investigate the analytical dimensions covered in this special issue: identity, representation and scope of governance. We reach the conclusion that the Italian elite are still characterised by a clear pro-European profile. However, some hints of change are evident: in comparison with politicians, economic elites are more certain about their degree of support. Moreover, a growing difference emerges within the political class, as centre-left MPs are more oriented towards full pro-Europeanism.