Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estrutura populacional de Armases angustipes (Dana) (Decapoda, Brachyura, Grapsidae) na Ilha do Farol, Matinhos, Paraná

Annual fluetuation of densities and population strueture of Armases angustipes (Dana, 1852) from a rocky shore at Farol Island, Matinhos, Parana, Brazil (25o51'S and 48o32'W) were studied. The population strueture was treated in the following aspects: sexual proportion, dial intensity of activities, size composition and its fluetuation, and general condition of the crabs. The collections were made monthly, from January to December 1991. The samples were obtained handly, in the morning and at night, at the supratidal zone during low tides. There were caught 1,139 crabs, among which 34 were juveniles, 544 males, 555 females and 4 ovigerous females. Population density was highest in April (19.56 ind.m"2 ) and in October (23.86 ind.m"2 ). The sexual proportion was 1:1 in eleven months. Although the male crabs were more abundant than the females in May, there was not any statistical significam difference between the sexes. The activity of the population is intenser at night than at morning for both sexes. The recruitment of juveniles oceurs mainly in March, April and July. The condition factor in females is related to the reproduetive period. The population can migrate to the terrestrial habitat near the supratidal zone.
Morphological, biochemical and molecular evidence for the transfer of Gyrosigma nipkowii Meister to the genus Haslea (Bacillariophyta)

The diatom genus Haslea Simonsen was erected to accommodate spindle-shaped valves with acute apices, convex margins, straight raphe and approximate central pores, inconspicuous areas, and transapical striae crossed at a right angle by a longitudinal pattern with a slit apically oriented in each areola. Investigations on mudflats of the French Atlantic coast revealed the presence of a sigmoid diatom with characteristics of both Gyrosigma Hassall and Haslea. Following a thorough morphological study by light and scanning electron microscopy in addition to biochemical and molecular analyses, we propose the transfer of Gyrosigma nipkowii Meister to Haslea nipkowii (Meister) Poulin & Massé, comb. nov. Despite a deviant sigmoidicity, this taxon shows diagnostic features of Haslea, with longitudinal slits running externally from one pole to the other, all merging with a peripheral slit at the apex, and the presence of small areolae beyond the helictoglossa. Unique to H. nipkowii are the unequal T-shaped distal raphe fissures, the overlapping and deflected proximal raphe ends, and the overhanging axial costa on the primary side of the valve. This taxon synthesizes C25 highly branched isoprenoids (HBIs) typical of the genus Haslea, with a double bond always present between C6 and C5. Phylogenetic analyses of the plastid-encoded 16S ribosomal gene for seven species of Haslea and two sigmoid taxa established the monophyly of the genus Haslea including H. nipkowii.
Tidal clustering and dispersal of the hermit crab Clibanarius digueti

At Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico, field observations indicate that C. digueti exhibits a tidal rhythm of clustering and dispersal. Upon exposure, up to 700 individuals assemble in tight clusters both above and below boulders and in crevices. Throughout low tide, the hermit crabs remain inactive and in physical contact with each other. At the onset of flood tide and near the end of ebb tide, the hermit crabs disperse on upper boulder and other surfaces, apparently to feed. When water depths exceed 0.7 m, the hermit crabs refuge under boulders and in crevices. Thirteen monthly transects on two different substrates, boulder and shell‐hash beachrock, were used to detail clustering trends. In both habitats, highly significant degrees of clustering are shown. The degree of clustering (s2/x) varies according to the relative abundance of C. digueti. However, similar degrees of clustering between and within habitats and with time are demonstrated using Morisita's Index, a measure independent of numerical abundanc.
Firm-level Media Coverage, Bank Loan, and the Role of Institutional Environments

Employing an international sample of 12,422 bank loan facilities across 37 countries spanning 2000-2016, we investigate the impact of firm-level media coverage on bank loan pricing and the role of institutional environments. We find that both media coverage and positive media sentiment reduce the bank loan interest rate spread, which can be achieved by media’s roles in mitigating information frictions, reducing information risks, and enhancing the competition among lenders. We further document that this negative relationship is more pronounced in countries with better accounting and trading information environments, higher representation of privately owned media newspapers, and lower government control of banks. Our main conclusions remain valid after carefully taking into account endogeneity issues and conducting various robustness tests.
The Impact of Marketing Expenditures on Economic Performance: The Case of Agricultural Processed Products Industry

Taking under consideration the high importance of primary sector for the Greek economy, the present study combines quantitative and qualitative research in order to examine the effectiveness of marketing expenditures on the profitability of Greek agricultural processed products industry. The sample is consisted of 163 firms of the fruit and vegetables processing industry that report economic data for the 6 year period from 2010 to 2015. The results of the quantitative research reveal that marketing expenditures (packaging, advertising, participation in trade fairs) have significantly positive influence on the economic performance of the firms of the sector. Qualitative research confirms this finding and further highlights packaging as the most important marketing element, since it attracts consumers at selling point. International trade shows also proved to be crucial for exporting companies in winning new customers and as a consequence lead to increased profitability. The results of this study could help all the firms of this sector to better understand the way marketing can affect their economic performance and could also give advice and ideas about their future decisions in order to exploit all the opportunities that they may have, as well as to be better prepared to face any threats and solve any problems.
Is Structuralism Still Relevant to Human Development? An Assessment of Poverty, Production and Environmental Challenges in the Caribbean

The paper examines current human development experience in the Caribbean focusing on the interconnected challenges of poverty, production and environmental vulnerability. Using an extended structuralist framework that incorporates organisational and domestic politics, it examines the 2016 Caribbean Human Development Report. The paper finds evidence that over time human development proxied by increased expenditures on education and healthcare has been decoupled from productive capability evinced by the decreasing role of industry in these economies. We thus offer an integrated approach showing continued peripherality and helps identify structural, socio-political and technical rigidities that underpin complex development challenges to redefine a sustainable future.
Financial Systems and the Real Economy

The great financial crisis of 2007-08 and the recession have generated active debate on the role of financial systems on the real economy. In particular, central banks have shown increased interest in how financial systems can evolve to maximise their contribution to the real economy. Many Asia-Pacific economies have also experienced a rapid growth in household debt since the crisis. Against this background, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) co-hosted a research conference on "Financial systems and the real economy" on 16-18 October 2016 in Kuala Lumpur. The event was the wrap-up conference of a research programme of the BIS Representative Office for Asia and the Pacific that had been approved by the Asian Consultative Council of central bank Governors in February 2015. The conference brought together senior officials and researchers from central banks, international organisations and academia. Papers presented at the conference covered macroprudential policies and firm financing; household credit, growth and inequality; capital structure in emerging Asia; foreign banks and credit conditions in emerging market economies; household credit and the effectiveness of monetary and macroprudential policies in Asia-Pacific; and household indebtedness and debt repayment capacity. This volume is a collection of the speeches, papers and prepared discussant remarks and panel remarks from the conference. While the full publication can be downloaded using the above link, individual contributions are available separately. <a href="http://ssrn.com/abstract=2944864">Foreword to: Financial Systems and the Real Economy</a> <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2944988">What is Macroprudential Policy for? Making It Safe for Central Bankers</a> <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2945011">Credit Growth and Macroprudential Policies: Preliminary Evidence on the Firm Level</a> <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2945014">Household Credit, Growth and Inequality in Malaysia: Does the Type of Credit Matter? </a> <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2945067">Corporate Leverage in Emerging Asia</a> <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2945068">Foreign Banks and Credit Conditions in Emes</a> <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2945098">Household Credit in Asia-Pacific</a> <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2945113">Rich Debt, Poor Debt: Assessing Household Indebtedness and Debt Repayment Capacity</a>
Understanding the Determinants of Analyst Target Price Implied Returns

We investigate the determinants of analysts' target price implied returns and the implication of our findings for investment decision-making. We identify four broad sets of factors that help explain the cross-sectional variation in target price implied returns: future realized stock returns, errors in forecasting fundamentals, errors in forecasting the expected return to risk, and biases relating to analysts' incentives. Our results suggest that all four sets help explain target price implied returns, with errors in forecasting the expected return to empirical risk proxies having the greatest impact. Collectively, these variables explain nearly a quarter of the cross-sectional variation in target price implied returns. We use our model to predict the optimistic bias in target price implied returns and evaluate whether investors correctly ignore the predictable bias. The results suggest that investors make similar valuation errors to analysts and/or do not perfectly back out the predicted bias in target prices. JEL Classifications: M40; M41; G14.
Endogenous Credit, Business Cycle, and Portfolio Selection

News story for “Endogenous Credit, Limited Commitment, Business Cycle” Countercyclical Investment Patterns with Endogenously Determined Credit Anticipated returns are sufficiently high to offset the elevated risks during downturns, presenting favorable investment opportunities. For instance, Warren Buffett accumulated more than $10 billion in profits amidst the 2008 financial crisis, as highlighted in his Wall Street Journal interview from October 2013: “In terms of simple profitability, an average investor could have performed just as well investing in the stock market if they bought during the panic period. ” In “Endogenous Credit, Limited Commitment, Business Cycle,” Choi, Koo, Lim, and Yoo reveal a divergence in investment behavior between affluent and less affluent individuals during economic downturns. Whereas wealthier individuals tend to increase their exposure to risky investments, less affluent individuals tend to reduce theirs. We employ rigorous modeling and solution analysis to establish endogenous borrowing constraints in general equilibrium, elucidating the observed investment patterns.
Daphnia Paleogenetics and Environmental Change: Deconstructing the Evolution of Plasticity

It is only recently that ecologists, including limnologists, have begun to appreciate the potential for organisms to evolve rapidly in response to environmental change. The resulting changes in the mean characteristics of the evolving populations have the potential to alter population, community and ecosystem responses to environmental changes – while those changes are still taking place. Viable diapausing eggs of zooplankton buried annually in lake sediments represent an historical record of the genotypes present at a series of time points in the past, typically dating back several decades. Because these eggs can be extracted from sediment layers of known age and hatched, the phenotypes of past populations can be reconstructed and evolutionary responses to recent environmental change revealed. This is especially valuable for investigating the nature of evolution of phenotypically plastic traits for which trait expression in different environmental conditions must be measured using living animals. When animals, hatched from sediments deposited at different times during a period of rapid change in the lake environment, are reared under a range of laboratory conditions, the nature of plasticity evolution can be discovered. Here, we use the results of two previously published studies of Daphnia evolutionary response to anthropogenic environmental change to deconstruct the patterns and rates of genetic changes in phenotypic plasticity. We find for the populations studied that (1) in three of four instances, plasticity evolved primarily by changes in the trait expressed in the environmental condition for which selection acted most strongly, rather than purely as a change in slope, and (2) the rates of evolution of plasticity were comparable to those for constitutive traits reported in the literature suggesting that plasticity does not necessarily retard the rate of evolution. Because Daphnia is a critical species in many limnetic ecosystems, and because in both of our study systems the characteristics of the Daphnia populations that evolved are known to influence community and ecosystem processes, this rapid adaptive evolution may be a critical component of population, community and ecosystem response to the accelerating pace of environmental change.
Unnatural Selection of Outside Directors: Consequences of Japanese Corporate Governance Reforms

We examine whether firm compliance with the corporate governance reforms is associated with enhanced effectiveness of corporate governance in practice. Past literature has cast doubts on the efficacy of the “one-size-fits-all” approach and pointed out the possibility of in-form compliance, decoupling substance from appearance. Regarding this issue, we focus on the rapid increase in the number of outside directors in Japanese markets driven by the new corporate governance code and amended Companies Act. We find that, after implementation of the governance reforms, there is an increase in cases in which a company’s former auditors become new outside directors for the same company. We also report that firms that had no outside directors prior to the reforms are more likely to engage in decoupling owing to their innate unwillingness to change and redeploy former company auditors as new outside directors. Moreover, we find no evidence that increases in the number of outside directors are related to a firm’s future performance. We provide consistent but new evidence on the prediction of institutional theory and it suggests that firms tend to decouple their appearance of compliance from their practices when they have lower incentives to change.
Monetary Momentum

We document a large return drift around monetary policy announcements by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Stock returns start drifting up 25 days before expansionary monetary policy surprises, whereas they decrease before contractionary surprises. The cumulative return difference across expansionary and contractionary policy decisions amounts to 2.5% until the day of the policy decision and continues to increase to more than 4.5% 15 days after the meeting. Standard returns factors and time-series momentum do not span the return drift around FOMC policy decisions. The return drift is a market-wide phenomenon and holds for all industries and many international equity markets. A simple trading strategy exploiting the drift around FOMC meetings increases Sharpe ratios relative to a buy-and-hold investment by a factor of 4.
Offer Premia in Takeovers

In this paper we develop and test a theoretical framework that models the negotiation and timing processes of corporate acquisitions. The acquisition timing is modelled using real options techniques, and the negotiation process between target and bidder firms is assumed to be a Stackelberg (leader-follower) game with complete information. From the equilibrium strategies, we obtain testable implications for the determinants of the offer premia based on the characteristics of both the bidder and target firms. The three hypotheses related to acquisition premium are tested in a sample of 228 U.S. target firms using an event study methodology and cross sectional regressions. Consistent with the predictions in the model, we find that target volatility and market to book ratios are important determinants of the offer premium. Our findings relating target volatility and target premium are important since these determinants do not arise in existing models of takeovers.
Asset Pricing with Heterogeneous and Constrained Investors

We analyze the joint effect of borrowing and short-sale constraints in a dynamic economy populated by two constrained investors with heterogeneous risk aversions and beliefs. We find that equilibrium prices adjust in such a way that the constraints never simultaneously bind. When the constraints are tight, we observe a regimeswitch behavior (discontinuities) in the risk-free rate and market price of risk at a critical state, where two equilibria exist, i.e., either constraint can be binding. Stock return volatility is the lowest at the critical state. Imposing a ban on short-sales at the same time when access to credit is restrictive or tightening borrowing during a short-sale ban can potentially move the equilibrium away from the critical state, thus increase stock return volatility rather than reducing it. ∗Macquarie University, Macquarie Business School, Department of Applied Finance, l.shi@mq.edu. au †University College Dublin, Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, Banking and Finance Subject Area, yajun.xiao@ucd.ie We thank Georgy Chabakauri, Xuezhong He, Thierry Post and seminar participants at the FIRN Asset Pricing Group Meeting, University College Dublin (UCD), Queen’s University Belfast, and Sun Yat-Sen University for helpful discussions and comments. Lei Shi acknowledges the hospitality and financial support provided by UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, where part of this paper was written. All errors are our responsibility.
Foreign Acquisitions, Plant Survival, and Employment Growth

This paper analyses the effect of foreign acquisition on survival probability and employment growth of target plant using data on Swedish manufacturing plants during the period 1993-2002. An improvement over previous studies is that we take into account firm level heterogeneity by separating the targeted plants into those within Swedish MNEs, Swedish exporting non-MNEs, and purely domestic firms before foreign takeover. The results, controlling for possible endogeneity of the acquisition dummy using an IV and propensity score matching approach suggest that acquisition by foreign owners increases the lifetime of the acquired plants only if the plant was an exporter. The effect differs depending on whether the acquisition is horizontal or vertical. We also find robust positive employment growth effects only for exporters, and only if the takeover is vertical, not horizontal.
Consumer Research with Big Data: Applications from the Food Demand Survey (Foods)

In three separate studies based on data from the Food Demand Survey (FooDS), which has been conducted monthly for over three years, this paper explores heterogeneity in preference across consumers in traditional demand systems, heterogeneity in preferences over time in choice experiments, and the tail of the distribution for a particular food consumption pattern&#8212;vegetarianism. Results show that elasticities of demand for food at home and food away from home vary widely across different groups of consumers defined by a priori cluster analysis based on demographic and attitudinal variables. Results from a choice experiment are found to depend on when the experiment was conducted and on the market prices prevailing at the time of the survey. Given the large sample of consumers observed over time, there is sufficient data to demographically characterize a small portion of the population&#8212;vegetarians&#8212;using traditional logit models and a machine learning method &#8208; a classifications tree.
Minimum Wages and Youth Employment in France and the United States

We use longitudinal individual wage and employment data for young people in France and the United States to investigate the effect of intertemporal changes in an individual's status vis-. -vis the real minimum wage on employment transition rates. We" find that movements in both French and American real minimum wages are associated with relatively important employment effects in general, and very strong effects on workers employed at the minimum wage. In the French case, albeit imprecisely estimated, a 1% increase in the real minimum wage decreases the employment probability of a young man currently employed at the minimum wage by 2.5%. In the United States, a decrease in the real minimum of 1% increases the probability that a young man employed at the minimum wage came from nonemployment by 2.2%. These effects get worse with age in the United States, and are mitigated by eligibility for special employment promotion contracts in France.
Effects of Dietary Carbohydrate Source and Level on Growth, Feed Utilization, and Body Composition of the Humpback Grouper, Cromileptes altivelis (Valenciennes)

Six diets were formulated to contain corn starch, tapioca starch, or dextrin at 10% and 20% inclusion levels and fed to humpback grouper fingerlings to apparent satiation for 10 weeks. Growth and feed utilization efficiency of humpback grouper were not affected by dietary carbohydrate source and level. Only slightly higher growth was observed in fish fed 20% dietary carbohydrate compared to the fish fed 10% carbohydrate irrespective of carbohydrate source. Body indices and whole body proximate composition of fish in the present study were generally independent of diet, except that muscle lipid of fish fed diets with 7.6% lipid and 20% carbohydrate was significantly lower than the other groups. In view of the lower price and local availability of tapioca starch compared to corn starch and dextrin, tapioca starch is the preferred source of starch in practical diets for humpback grouper.