Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elephants

Existing models of open-access resources are applicable to non-storable resources, such as fish. Many open-access resources, however, are used to produce storable goods. Elephants, rhinos, and tigers are three prominent examples. Anticipated future scarcity of these resources will increase current prices, and current poaching. This implies that, for given initial conditions, there may be rational expectations equilibria leading both to extinction and to survival. Governments may be able to eliminate extinction equilibria by promising to implement tough anti-poaching measures if the population falls below a threshold. Alternatively, they, or private agents, may be able to eliminate extinction equilibria by accumulating a sufficient stockpile of the storable good.
The Economics of Credit Default Swaps (CDS)

Credit default swaps (CDS) are term insurance contracts written on traded bonds. This paper studies the economics of CDS using the economics of insurance literature as a basis for analysis. It is alleged that trading in CDS caused the 2007 credit crisis, and therefore trading CDS is an "evil" which needs to be eliminated or controlled. In contrast, we argue that the trading of CDS is welfare increasing because it facilitates a more optimal allocation of risks in the economy. To perform this function, however, the risk of CDS seller failure needs to be minimized. In this regard, government regulation imposing stricter collateral requirements and higher equity capital for CDS traders need to be imposed.
A Theory of Chosen Preferences

We propose and develop a dynamic theory of endogenous preference formation in which people adopt worldviews that shape their judgments about their experiences. The framework highlights the role of mindset flexibility, a trait that determines the relative weights the decision-maker places on her current and anticipated worldviews when evaluating future outcomes. The theory generates rich behavioral dynamics, thereby illuminating a wide range of applications and providing potential explanations for a variety of observed phenomena. (JEL D11, D81, D91, Z13)
Study of the Stability Of Vaccinium myrtillus Peroxidase in Reverse Micellar Systems

The stability of a cationic peroxidase isolated and purified from a cell suspension of Vaccinium myrtillus, microencapsulated in reverse micelles of sodium dioctylsulfosuccinate (AOT) was evaluated. By using a central composite design (CCD), some relevant parameters for the enzymatic activity, such as surfactant and water concentration, pH and buffer molarity, were analysed. The response surface curves showed that 50 mM AOT, 500 mM water, 80 mM buffer and pH 7.6 were the best conditions for enzyme stability. The effect of carbohydrates and polyols on enzyme stability was also evaluated. At 20 mM, carbohydrates like arabinose, and trehalose increased the enzymatic stability by a factor of 4.4 and 2.3, respectively, but melezitose had no effect. From the three polyols tested, inositol and sorbitol increased the peroxidase stability by a factor of 3.8 and 1.8, respectively, while mannitol had no effect.
A molecular identification key for economically important thrips species (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) using direct sequencing and a PCR‐RFLP‐based approach

Abstract 1 Treatments against pathogens or pests are often very specific and, as a fundamental first step, require the ability to identify taxa correctly and unambiguously. We used PCR amplification techniques to successfully establish a molecular identification key for economically important thrips species. 2 A PCR amplified 433 bp long fragment of the mitochondrial COI coding gene was analysed by automated direct sequencing and RFLP. Sequencing of 264 individual thrips representing 10 named species detected 17 haplotypes. Variation within species was low, whereas among species variation was high resulting in an average sequence divergence of 18.6% and an average pairwise species differentiation (calculated as FST‐value) of 0.9896. 3 Two restriction enzymes (AluI, Sau3AI) produced patterns that allowed unambiguous identification of all thrips species. 4 Statistical support for the quality of the key was given by (i) a highly significant permutation approach, assigning individual haplotypes to the correct species groups and (ii) a hierarchical NJ cluster analysis in which all conspecific individual sequences clustered together with maximal (100%) bootstrap support. 5 This study has shown that the use of genetic markers represents a valuable alternative for situations, such as epidemiological research, in which correct identification with classical morphological methods is either very difficult and time consuming or virtually impossible.
Response of Adult Lymantriid Moths to Illumination Devices in the Russian Far East

In field studies in the Russian Far East, five types of illuminating devices were evaluated for attracting adult gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), pink gypsy moth, L. mathura Moore, and nun moth, L. monacha (L.). Our objective was to determine if light from commercial lamps suited to out-of-doors floodlighting could be modified to reduce their attractiveness to moths without a reduction of illumination. During 17 nights of tests, fluorescent blacklight lamps captured significantly more adults than either phosphor mercury or highpressure sodium lamps. Captures were slightly higher for phosphor mercury than high-pressure sodium lamps but both were unattractive to all three lymantriids after the addition of filters that blocked spectral emissions
Predatory Advertising, Financial Fraud, and Leverage

We examine how an industry leader’s competitors respond when financial fraud by the leader is publicly revealed. We document evidence of predatory advertising and pricing. Close competitors of the leader step up advertisement spending relative to control firms. Although we do not directly observe product prices, we find that even though advertisement increases, competitors’ profit margins drop, consistent with predatory pricing. Evidence of predation is stronger when rival firms have larger market share, the fraud firm has higher leverage, and when the average leverage of rival firms is lower. The effects appear mainly in industries that produce customized products and where consumer switching costs are high. Increasing advertising expenditure appears to be a more potent predatory strategy in industries that experience new customer growth, whereas cutting prices appears more potent in industries with stagnant customer base. We present a switching cost model similar to Klemperer (1995) that generates implications broadly consistent with these observations.
Cog in the Wheel: Resource Release and the Scope of Interdependencies in Corporate Adjustment Activities

Research Summary This study characterizes and tests interdependencies in corporate activities used to adjust resources and implement change. Because each activity contributes only a partial result and depends on others to complete an intended change, constraining one can create a bottleneck that traps multiple other activities. For my empirical analysis, I leverage the staggered adoptions of employment protection laws intended to constrain one specific adjustment to one specific resource: dismissing employees. The constraint, however, not only affects the contraction but also the expansion in labor as well as capital investments, acquisition, divestiture, CEO turnover, and other adjustments, and increases (shortens) the persistence of negative (positive) performance. The expansive interdependencies are critical to understanding firm rigidity and resilience, implementation failures, and the persistence of firm performance. Managerial Summary This study shows how executing even a seemingly straightforward improvement requires piecing together a series of interdependent corporate strategic activities. As a result, a constraint on just one is sufficient to foil a successful firm response. Using changes in employment laws, I show that a firm's ability to dismiss employees not only affects firing, but also hiring, capital investments, acquisition, divestiture, and CEO turnover, and increases (shortens) the persistence of negative (positive) performance. Underestimating the complex and interdependent nature of these activities can lead to bias‐for‐action and contribute to implementation failures, such as cost overruns, schedule delays, and a post‐merger integration process that fails to realize expected synergies.
Corporate Innovation in the Cyber Age

We construct and validate a text-based metric capturing firms’ ex-ante exposure to cybersecurity risk, and we document that the rise of cyber threats is redesigning corporate innovation strategies. As firms’ exposure to cybersecurity risk increases, managers’ reliance on trade-secrets declines, as they seek to protect their firm’s intellectual capital under patent and intellectual property laws. Beside increasing their patenting activity, we document that firms exposed to cyber threats file for simpler patents to accelerate their innovation cycle. Finally, we show that this strategic adjustment is not costless, as it causes firms’ returns to R&D investments to decline significantly.
Characteristics of the Term Structure of Psychological Discount Rate

The discounted utility theory is one of the corner stone of financial theory; particularly in inter-temporal asset pricing and portfolio management. The questioning of this theory has opened a whole field of research in psychology, economics and management and has undergone several enhancements recently. Its violation seems widely established and opened the way for the building of a more efficient framework to understand the time preferences. One improvement is related to the refining of the knowledge on the psychological discount rate function that underlies inter-temporal choices. Thus, an individual time preferences may be characterized by various discounting function such as exponential, Hernstein, Harvey, proportional, Laibson, Rachlin, Hyperbolic or generalized Hyperbolic discounting function. Empirical validation of these psychological discount rate term structures proposed to explain individual preferences and the distribution of their parameters in a given population has been subject to number of recent studies. The aim of this paper is to study empirically the form and parameters of psychological discount rate functions that characterized a given population. Based on the data collected through an experimental study, the violation of the discounted utility theory is confirmed, that mean that time preferences could not be characterized by an exponential discounting function. This finding is consistent with other empirical studies and shows that the population is characterized by a decreasing impatience. In addition, it shows that the population is characterized by an heterogeneity of the psychological discount rate functions.
Reproductive cycle in Pipistrellus kuhlii (Chiroptera,Vespertilionidae) in western Iran

The reproductive cycle of male and female Pipistrellus kuhlii are described. Sexual activity is based on the degree of testicular and cauda epididymal development and on histological examination of both male and female reproductive organs. During the study spermatogenesis took place during summer and spermatozoa were released from the testis in August and September. Although no more spermatozoa were produced during late summer and early autumn, they continued to be stored in the cauda epididymides for winter. Endometrial sperm storage in the uterus of females in mid-December together with packing and perpendicular orientation of spermatozoa toward the endometrum indicate that Pipistrellus kuhlii mate in winter and store spermatozoa until spring when the fertilization takes place. This study indicates that the reproductive cycle of Pipistrellus kuhlii involves asynchrony between primary and secondary sexual function which is typical of vespertilionid bats inhabiting temperate latitude.
Plasma inorganic phosphorus concentration during egg‐shell formation: Effect of the physical form of the dietary calcium

1. Four experiments were carried out with Warren laying hens to elucidate the changes in plasma inorganic phosphorus (Pi) concentration during egg formation. 2. In hens receiving a normal diet containing a calcium supplement in a powdery form Pi increased from 25 to 42 mg/1 during an entire shell formation cycle (from 10 to 22 h after oviposition of the previous egg), while in cockerels Pi decreased slightly during the night. 3. This increase in Pi in hens, was not related to cessation of feeding at the onset of darkness but was specifically connected with the beginning of shell secretion. 4. When hens received calcium as crushed sea‐shells separately from the diet, the nocturnal peak in Pi virtually disappeared and only a temporary increase of 4 mg/1 between 10 and 14 h after oviposition remained. 5. These results indicate that the beginning of shell secretion is always accompanied by an increase in Pi and that a separate presentation of dietary calcium reduces the bone mobilisation at night.
ATPase activity in plasmalemma-rich vesicles isolated by aqueous two-phase partitioning from Vicia faba mesophyll and epidermis: Characterization and influence of abscisic acid and fusicoccin

Plasmalemma-rich microsomal vesicles were prepared from whole leaf and acid-washed epidermal tissue of Vicia faba L. cv. Osnabrucker Markt by aqueous two-phase partitioning in dextran T-500 and polyethylenglycol 1350 aqueous phases. These vesicles were tightly sealed and predominantly right-side out, and contained a K+ -stimulated, mg2+-dependent and vanadate-sensitive ATPase. The enzyme from both tissues exhibited nearly identical properties: pH optimum 6.4, Km for ATP 0.60 mM(whole leaf) and 0.67 mM (epidermis). Vmax -480 nmol (mg protein)1 min1 (whole leaf) and 510 nmol (mg protein)1 min1 (epidermis), I50 (Na3,VO4) 7.5 μM (whole leaf) and 15 μM (epidermis). The enzyme was not inhibited by NO3(50 mM)or sodium azide (I mM). DCCD (20 μM) reduced enzyme activity to 50% (whole leaf) and 58% (epidermis), gramicidin S (20 μM) to 36% (whole leaf) and 41%(epidermis). Ca2+ inhibited the ATPase [I50, C2+: 0.5 mM(whole leaf) and 0.8 mM(epidermis)]. Ca2+ inhibited the ATPase [I50, C2+ 0.5 mM(whole leaf) und 0.8 (epidermis)]. The vanadate-sensitive ATPase from whole leaf and epidermal tissue was slightly but significantly stimulated by fusicoccin (FC) at a concentration (0.13 μM) promoting stomatal opening. The stimulation was not seen in the solubilized ATPase. Stomata of the cultivar used here were insensitive lo (±)ABA up to 2 μM level which is effective in most other cultivars and species. Likewise, at this concentration no effect of ABA on the activity of the epidermal ATPase was observed. The data are discussed with respect to the interaction of FC and ABA with the ATPase.
Information Transfer and Firm‐Level Strategy

In this article, I examine a previously unexplored avenue for information transfer: similarities in firms&#8217; strategies. This examination is based on the idea that information transfer is likely to be positively related to similarity in business activities. Drawing on the concept of generic strategies found in the strategy literature, I develop a measure of strategic distance between firms. Using this measure, I provide evidence that information transfer is positively related to the similarity of firms&#8217; strategies. In addition, I find that this information transfer is strongest when the announcing firm is large or has persistent earnings.
First Proposal to Minorities or How to Channel the Say in Politics

We examine optimal democratic procedures for public project provision, financing, and redistribution, and provide a game-theoretic foundation of how to channel the say in politics. We consider a large and heterogeneous political decision body and show that first-best outcomes are obtained by a procedure involving two proposal-making rounds, uniform taxation, the simple majority rule, fixed subsidies for agenda-setters, and the minority's right to move first. We explore the robustness of the result and consider applications of our procedure. For instance, the result rationalizes those rules of democracies granting minorities the right to initiate collective decisions. We further show that the above procedure constitutes the unique minimal form of political competition ensuring first-best outcomes under democratic constraints.
Short-duration colchicine treatment for in vitro chromosome doubling during ovule culture of Beta vulgaris L.

Colchicine uptake into ovules of sugar beet after 7 days of culture and its chromosome-doubling effect on ovule-derived plants were studied with high colchicine concentrations (0.4–6.0%) and short treatment duration (0–5 h). The best result of 4.2 diploid plants per 100 ovules was produced by treatment with 0.4% colchicine for 2.5 h. Both colchicine concentration and treatment time of ovules showed toxic effects on embryo formation, but it was stabilized at a low level with short exposure. The chromosome-doubling effect, by contrast, was unchanged with the colchicine concentrations used, but highly affected by the duration of exposure studied. A maximum percentage of 60% diploid plants was obtained after 3–5 h of uptake, which corresponds to only 31–39% of the total capacity for colchicine uptake in the ovules. Further uptake of the drug produced mainly toxic effects. Flow-cytometric measurements of the ploidy level in plantlets in vitro and of the same plants before flowering in soil were similar in about 80% of cases. Thus, flow-cytometric selection of diploid plants in vitro may be an efficient tool.
On Bootstrap Validity for Specification Tests with Weak Instruments

We study the asymptotic validity of the bootstrap for Durbin–Wu–Hausman tests of exogeneity, with or without identification. We provide an analysis of the limiting distributions of the proposed bootstrap statistics under both the null hypothesis of exogeneity (size) and the alternative hypothesis of endogeneity (power). We show that when identification is strong, the bootstrap provides a high�? order approximation of the null limiting distributions of the statistics and is consistent under the alternative hypothesis if the endogeneity parameter is fixed. However, the bootstrap only provides a first�? order approximation when instruments are weak. Moreover, we provide the necessary and sufficient condition under which the proposed bootstrap tests exhibit power under (fixed) endogeneity and weak instruments. The latter condition may still hold over a wide range of cases as long as at least one instrument is relevant. Nevertheless, all bootstrap tests have low power when all instruments are irrelevant, a case of little interest in empirical work. We present a Monte Carlo experiment that confirms our theoretical findings.
Network Centrality, Connections, and Social Capital: Evidence from CEO Insider Trading Gains

CEO’s insider trading gains are affected by the position of the CEO within the hierarchy of all executives, as assessed by network centrality. CEOs with high centrality earn superior abnormal returns following their company’s stock purchases, consistent with social capital advantage. Social capital and trading gains are positively associated primarily in firms that are riskier, have weak governance, or are managed by CEOs with no background in finance. High centrality CEOs also gain by selling their shares prior to a bad news event experienced by their firm. Finally, trading gains are positively affected by CEOs having past connections to the CFOs.
Conservation Genetics of the Ashy Darter, Etheostoma cinereum (Percidae: Subgenus Allohistium), in the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers of the Southeastern United States

Abstract The Ashy Darter, Etheostoma cinereum (Percidae: subgenus Allohistium), is restricted to flowing pools of relatively silt free, medium-sized rivers in the Cumberland, Duck and Tennessee River drainages in the southeastern United States. Degradation of these habitats within these drainages has fragmented the range of E. cinereum into several disjunct populations and eliminated it from many historical localities. Phylogenetic analysis of cytochrome b sequence from individuals (n = 14) representing each of the extant populations of E. cinereum indicated genetic differentiation among populations inhabiting the Cumberland, Duck, and upper Tennessee River drainages. These analyses are concordant with previously noted patterns of morphological variation and minimally support three different management units (MU) currently recognized as E. cinereum. Efforts to conserve these distinct MUs should be considered in management attempts.
23 INDUCTION OF ESTRUS IN CYCLIC ALPINE GOATS WITH SHORT-TERM PROGESTAGEN PROTOCOLS WITH OR WITHOUT eCG ADMINISTRATION

Depending on the season, estrus can be efficiently induced using male effect, melatonin implants, light controlled programs, prostaglandin, progestagens, and gonadotrophins. The eCG is the most used hormone employed in estrus induction protocols in goats. However, as eCG is a foreign protein, a humoral immune response (i.e. antibody formation) is displayed in goats, which tends to reduce the efficiency of eCG when successively administered. The objective of this study was to evaluate the possibility of omitting the administration of eCG to induce estrus in Alpine goats during the breeding season in herds submitted to successive hormonal estrus induction. This study was done in April (local breeding season) of 2009 in Florestal/MG, Brazil. Nulliparous (n = 10) and pluriparous (n = 10) Alpine goats were equally assigned to receive (Day 0) MAP 60 mg intravaginal sponges (Progespon®, Schering Plough Animal Health, Sao Paulo, Brazil) for 6 days and 50 μg D-cloprostenol (Ciosin®, Schering Plough Animal Health) i.m. with (T1) or without (T2) 200 IU of eCG (Novormon 5000®, Schering Plough Animal Health) i.m. 24 h before sponge removal. Transrectal ultrasound (5 MHz probe, Aloka SSD 500®, Tokyo, Japan) was done at 12-h intervals until 72 h after sponge removal. All goats underwent timed AI 55 h after sponge removal according to expected ovulation (Menchaca et al. 2007 Anim. Reprod. Sci. 102, 76-87). Statistical analysis was performed using all tests at the 95% confidence interval (SAEG® program, Funarbe, Vicosa, Brasil). Data are reported as percentage or mean ± SD. The following results for T1 or T2 animals (respectively) were observed: estrus response (80 and 80%), goats ovulating (80 and 100%), interval from sponge removal to estrus onset (46.0 ± 17.0 and 53.5 ± 18.1 h) and to ovulation (58.8 ± 6.2 and 66.0 ± 9.8 h), interval from estrus onset to ovulation (26.0 ± 8.5 and 26.0 ± 0.7 h), diameter of ovulatory follicles (7.1 ± 0.6 and 7.4 ± 0.9 mm), number of ovulations (1.7 ± 0.8 and 1.8 ± 0.9 h), intervals from sponge removal to insemination (56.9 ± 2.3 and 58.2 ± 1.2 h) and from estrus onset to insemination (10.9 ± 14.5 and 4.6 ± 16.1h) and pregnancy rate (20 and 40%). Eight goats were inseminated at 17 to 23 h after estrus onset, which resulted in 50% pregnancy rate, and the other 2 pregnant goats were inseminated without being detected in estrus. In Brazil, dairy goats are inseminated with frozen-thawed semen 12 to 24 h after estrus onset or 42 to 55 h after sponge removal. Thus, for Alpine goats, this study suggests that earlier AI time should be avoided. However, under heat detection, AI at 18 to 24 h can be indicated. Ovarian ultrasonography of goats submitted to estrus induction gives great information of ovulation time relative to device removal and to estrus onset, which can optimize AI efficiency. In herds with successive estrus induction this kind of information could indicate an error in the common times currently used in AI programs in goats in Brazil. Financial support: Embrapa Goats and Sheep, CNPq and FAPEMIG.