Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Are Land Rents Lower in Transactions between Acquaintances? New Evidences from Rural China

Traditionally, rental transactions between acquaintances have been regarded as informal, and associated with low rents. This view implies market segmentation and the malfunctioning of prices. Our study uses household-level data from the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) in 2015 to assess the relationship between transaction partners and land rents, with consideration of the mediating effect of profit motivations. The results indicate that among villagers who lease land for profit, there is no average difference in land rents between transactions conducted between acquaintances and those conducted between strangers. We also find that profit motivation positively affects land rents. If lessees rent land for the sake of profit, higher land rents are paid no matter who they transact with. Lower land rents are more likely to apply in transactions between acquaintances or transactions conducted for non-profit motivation. Furthermore, we find that more than 52.5% of rental transactions between acquaintances in rural China are done for the sake of profit. Our analysis implies that a large number of formal land rental transactions take place within acquaintance networks, and that land rents in rural markets are converging.
Ultrastructural study of Pisdnoodinium pillulare (Schäperclaus, 1954) Lom, 1981 with special emphasis on its attachment to the fish host

Trophonts of Pisdnoodinium pillulare (Schaperclaus, 1954), a common ectoparasite of freshwater aquarium fish, are attached to host cells by means of a specialized structure, the attachment disc. Unlike other dinoflagellate genera parasitic on fish and invertebrates, this disc features nail-like organelles, the rhizocysts. Head-parts of the rhizocysts are inverted in separate compartments, rhizothecas, in the sole of the disc while their long shafts are firmly embedded in the cytoplasm of cells of the host epidermis or gill epithelium. The attachment inflicts a serious injury on the host cells which may ultimately be destroyed. Rhizocysts originate in the subnuclear cytoplasm from where they migrate into the attachment disc. There are other specialized organelles and inclusions; fibrous vesicles, membraneous bodies, striated tubular bodies and paracrystalline bodies. Pisdnoodinium has well-developed chloroplasts. While its cytological adaptations indicate a nutritional dependence on the host, there is no evidence of ingestion of host-derived particulate material. Pisdnoodinium may derive an essential part of its nutrition from photosynthesis.
The influence of size on the biology of the dog

Many morphological and physiological characters adhere to quite rigid patterns of variation with bodyweight across the 35-fold weight range of dog breeds. The ways in which these characters correlate with weight are thought to be due largely to constraints acting during development, and the rates at which they alter with weight among breeds of dogs often differ from those seen between mammals as a whole. Because of this difference in scaling, the dimensions of several morphological and physiological features (e.g. organ sizes, gestation period and pup size) tend to deviate in toy and giant breeds from the mammalian averages. Equations describing a variety of parameters in relation to weight are presented. These are of practical value in predicting properties from bodyweight, but may also help to explain some pathological conditions seen in toy and giant breeds.
Politicians' Ideology, State Intervention, and Corporate Taxation

This paper examines the impact of politicians' ideological preferences on corporate taxation. Our tests exploit the implementation of the Reform and Opening-up policy in China in 1978 that significantly weakens the communist ideology. We find that, in the post-reform period, the effective tax rates of firms in cities whose secretaries joined the communist party before the reform, and therefore, were indoctrinated with stronger communist ideology, are significantly higher than those of firms with secretaries joining the communist party after the reform. This effect is weaker for party secretaries close to retirement and for party secretaries with working experience in the central government. Further tests suggest that party secretaries' communist ideology affect corporate taxation through both tax benefit provisions and enforcement of tax rules. A regression discontinuity design approach exploiting the age qualification of party members provides consistent results.
State Governments as Financiers of Technology Startups: Evidence from Michigan’s R&D Loan Program

State governments in the United States often fund and support technology startups within their borders. Yet little is known about the magnitude with which these place-based policy interventions shift the performance trajectories of entrepreneurial firms. We provide new evidence based on 241 startups that compete for advanced research and technology commercialization loans between 2002 and 2008 through a Michigan-based program. Among applicants with project scores near the threshold required for funding, we find that award recipients are 20% to 30% more likely to remain in business four years after the competition relative to similar companies that seek but fail to receive funding. We also find that award receipt stimulates follow-on venture capital (VC) investments in surviving companies. The VC stimulus effect is, however, disproportionately driven by subsets of firms that are very young, relatively inexperienced at external fundraising, or located outside the dominant hub of entrepreneurial activity within the state. This distinctive pattern of heterogeneous effects remains visible for follow-on R&amp;D financing from federal government sources, and for supplemental outcome measures that use news articles to track shifts in financing and business development activities. These findings are consistent with the view that public R&amp;D programs are particularly beneficial when frictions in private resource markets are more severe.
Comportamento agronômico e qualidade culinária de feijão-caupi no Vale do São Francisco

We evaluated 64 lines and four cultivars of cowpea, in two different trials of planting density, under some environments of the Sao Francisco valley during the years 2004 and 2005, under rainfed and irrigated conditions, with the objective of identifying an adequate cowpea cultivar for the region. The trials were conducted in a randomized blocks design, with three replications, in two planting densities (100,000 and 200,000 plants/ha). Grain yield, genetic parameters, tolerance to some viruses, 100-grain weight, days for grain maturity and some cooking parameters were evaluated in both trials. A strong interaction genotype x environment was observed. The yield averages under irrigated conditions doubled the yield under rainfed grown conditions, for both densities. Some lines did not present virus symptoms, contrasting with the most damaged genotypes BR 17 Gurgueia and Canapu. The 100-grain weight was around 20.0 g in both planting densities. The 'Canapu' presented the highest value of grain water imbibing before cooking, differing significantly from all genotypes. Only the negative phenotypic correlations between percentage of grain water imbibing after cooking x expansion volume after cooking was significant. The line PC 95-05-12-2-2, which presented viruses notes close to one (without symptoms), grain yield higher than the mean, 100-grain weight around 24 g, broad stability, repeatability, and with attractive grain color and shape, was released as a new cowpea cultivar for region with the name of BRS Pujante.
Do the Benefits of Reducing Accounting Complexity Persist in Markets Prone to Bubble?

Standard setters and regulators generally assume that making accounting easier to process leads to more efficient markets, thereby benefiting traders. I test that assumption in markets that are prone to price bubbles. Market efficiency will obtain only if reducing complexity in accounting leads traders to acquire and process that information more readily, and then to trade in a manner that moves price closer to fundamental value. This reasoning implies two causal links - (1) the link from less complex information to greater processing of that information, and (2) the link from greater processing of information to more efficient markets. I test these causal links in an experiment by examining the effect of reducing accounting complexity on market efficiency, as mediated by processing accounting information and as moderated by the market’s propensity to form price bubbles. Traders buy and sell shares of an asset in a multiperiod, double auction market in which speculative capital gains are possible. I find that reducing complexity in information increases processing. However, this processing increases market efficiency only in markets that are less prone to a price bubble. Conversely, in markets more prone to bubble some traders that process information trade according to value, while other informed traders utilize profitable non-value trading strategies that exacerbate price inefficiencies.
What Happens When Equity Investors Disagree with the FOMC?

This research explores an alternative explanation for the equity premium associated with Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announcement days that accounts for a sizable fraction of annual equity returns. My evidence shows that investor expectations formulated prior to FOMC announcements have a significant impact on equity prices, particularly when these expectations are not aligned with the FOMC decision. Furthermore, I document an even larger impact around FOMC announcements where the level of interest rates remained unchanged. When monetary policy is neutral, the observed investors’ disagreement towards the FOMC decisions represents a further layer of uncertainty in the dynamics of equity markets. My results reconcile past findings on the monetary policy surprise literature and more recent empirical findings on the effect of FOMC announcements, which are difficult to explain with standard asset pricing theories. Moreover, as I find little effects on equity returns when the FOMC decision is anticipated by the market, a practical implication of my study is that monetary policy authorities should take into account market expectations when formulating disclosure policy in order to improve alignment with financial market expectations and smooth out their economic consequences.
The Biochemical Composition of the Cement of two Barnacle Species, Balanus Hameri and Balanus Crenatus

Adult barnacles adhere to surfaces by a secretion released on to or forced beneath the bases. This secretion has been called barnacle cement. Carderelli (1968) calculated from crude experiments that the tensile strength of Balanus eburneus exceeded 50,000 p.si. , but apart from this work no other data exist on the adhesive properties of barnacle cement. More studies have been undertaken on the biochemical composition of cement (Carderelli, 1968; Saroyan et al., 1970; Cook, 1970), but the results are somewhat contradictory.
Co-management of National Protected Areas: Lessons Learned From Bolivia

This article evaluates local management committees and co‐administration—two mechanisms to promote local participation in the management of Bolivia's protected areas. The experience with the broadly participatory management committees varied tremendously. While their potential utility was large, they often struggled to overcome conflicts between local stakeholders, inconsistent representation, and a lack of basic funding for their operations. Co-administered protected areas were significantly better managed than those that were not, particularly for basic protection activities. Differences in long-term management, financing, and participation were not significant. Key challenges to co-administered protected areas included unclear rights and responsibilities of the parties, poor communication, distrust, and other institutional weaknesses. We conclude that co-administration works best when both parties have clearly defined rights and responsibilities, engage as full partners, are committed to protected area objectives, develop adequate institutional capacity, and build mutual trust and local support through effective communication and complimentary mechanisms to foster broad participation.
Occurrence of Arbuscular Mycorrhizas and Dark Septate Endophytes in Hydrophytes from Lakes and Streams in Southwest China

In this study, the colonization of arbuscular mycorrhizas (AM) and dark septate endophytes (DSE) in 140 specimens of 32 hydrophytes collected from four lakes and four streams in southwest China were investigated. The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and DSE colonization in these hydrophytes were rare. Typical AM structures were observed in one of the 25 hydrophytic species collected in lakes and six of the 17 species collected in streams. Spores of 10 identified AMF species and an unidentified Acaulospora sp. were isolated from the sediments. The identified AMF came from the four genera, Acaulospora, Gigaspora, Glomus and Scutellospora . Glomus and G. mosseae were the dominant genus and species respectively in these aquatic environments. The presence of DSE in hydrophytes was recorded for the first time. DSE occurred in one of the 25 hydrophyte species collected in lakes and three of the 17 species collected in streams. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
How Prices Matter in Politics: Returns to Campaign Advertising

The apparent ineffectiveness of incumbent campaign spending in congressional elections is one of the enduring puzzles in the political economy literature. Intuitively, higher spending should translate into more advertising, and more advertising should translate into more votes. Previous work in this area has assumed that advertising prices are uniform across congressional districts, and therefore that campaign spending alone is a good proxy for campaign advertising. However, candidates in different districts face widely different advertising prices. This paper emphasizes the importance of media advertising prices for the analysis of campaign spending and shows that differences in advertising costs are one source of the apparent ineffectiveness of campaign spending. Accounting for the price of advertising, this paper shows that campaign spending is productive for both incumbents and challengers.
The Examination of Continuation Applications and the Problem of Invalid Patents in the U.S.

It has long been recognised that the U.S. patent office routinely grants a large number of invalid patents. Recently, scholars have studied the root causes of this issue and have emphasised the key role played by the patent examination process itself. In this paper, I study how features of the examination process affect examiner behaviour and the problem of invalid patents in the context of continuation applications. These applications emanate from earlier patent applications filed at the patent office and allow applicants to submit new claims for a given invention. In the U.S., continuations are generally examined by the same examiner who was assigned to the earlier application. Using application-level data, I explore how this feature, which I call "relatedness," affects examiners' grant decisions and other examination practices. I find that relatedness increases the grant rate, decreases examiners' efforts to narrow down the scope of protection claimed by patent applicants and decreases the examiners' search efforts for prior art. I also show that the effects of relatedness do not seem to be driven by a "wearing down" effect on examiners and differ only slightly across different technology areas. Finally, I find evidence that relatedness leads to the granting of patents of more dubious validity. A key implication of these results is that the way the U.S. continuation application system is designed causes examiners to adopt softer examination practices, which in turn contributes to the problem of invalid patents.
Eulittoral macroinvertebrate communities of lowland lakes: discrimination among trophic states.

Summary 1. Nutrient inputs from urban and agricultural land use often result in shifts in species composition of pelagic and profundal invertebrate communities. Here, we test if nutrient enrichment affects the composition of eulittoral macroinvertebrate communities, and, if so, if macroinvertebrate communities of five different habitat types reflect differences in trophic state. 2. Macroinvertebrate community composition of 36 lakes was significantly correlated with total phosphorus (TP) concentration, the proportion of coarse woody debris (CWD) and root habitats and the proportion of grassland. 3. However, macroinvertebrate communities of five major habitat types from eight lakes were more dissimilar among habitats than among trophic states. Community composition of reed and stone habitats was significantly correlated with wind exposure but not TP concentration, while macroinvertebrate composition of sand habitats was related to TP concentration and coarse sediments. In CWD and root habitats, both TP concentration and a predominance of invasive species covaried, which made it difficult to relate the observed compositional differences to either trophic state or to the effects of competition between native and invasive species. 4. Trophic state influenced the composition of eulittoral macroinvertebrate communities but to a lesser extent than has been previously reported for profundal habitats. Moreover, the effects of trophic state were nested within habitat type and were partially superseded by biotic interactions and small-scaled habitat complexity. Although eulittoral macroinvertebrate communities were not strong indicators of the trophic state of lowland lakes, they may be used to assess other anthropogenic impacts on lakeshores.
Individual Consumption Risk and the Welfare Cost of Business Cycles

This paper measures the welfare gain from removing aggregate consumption fluctuations starting from an economy in which each individual faces both aggregate and idiosyncratic income shocks, and incomplete consumption insurance. We show that, because this welfare gain is a convex function of the overall consumption risk - aggregate plus idiosyncratic - that each individual faces, to gauge the magnitude of the gain, it is important to match individuals' overall risk prior to any policy. We also show that the convexity of the welfare gain function increases substantially if individual consumption risk contains a realistic random walk component. While being agnostic about how much consumption risk countercyclical policy can remove, we show that in an economy calibrated to match individuals' overall risk, even removing ten percent of aggregate fluctuations results in a large welfare gain. In fact, a sizable welfare gain arises even in the simple model used by Lucas (1987). We also review the previous literature that has found a low gain and argue that their estimates are low because they unrealistically assume that the idiosyncratic shocks to income are transitory. With transitory shocks, individuals can come close to perfect consumption insurance, thus undercutting the need for countercyclical policy.
Pollen morphology and phylogeny of the Alyxieae (Apocynaceae)

The pollen of the tribe Alyxieae, including Alyxia , Chilocarpus , Condylocarpon , Lepinia , Lepiniopsis , Plectaneia and Pteralyxia , has been studied with light, scanning electron and transmission electron microscopy. It is characterised by relatively large, irregularly disposed and - unequal-sized pores. 2-porate grains are most common in the Alyxieae, and occur in all genera except for Condylocarpon . 1-, 3-, 4- and 5-porate pollen grains are less common. The orientation of the polar axis and the equatorial plane could not be determined in any of the genera. Within the Alyxieae, Chilocarpus and Plectaneia are the nearest to other Apocynaceae, showing an essentially similar exine ultrastructure. Alyxia , Lepinia , Lepiniopsis and Pteralyxia make up a derived group, characterised by large pollen grain size and a remarkable nexine structure. Pollen of Lepinia and Lepiniopsis might be derived on the basis of their fossulate-verrucate ornamentation. Condylocarpon pollen shows a deviating set of pollen features (tetrads, inaperturate, reduced exine) that suggest it to be neotenic. Pollen morphology supports preliminary results of cladistic analyses of chloroplast data, in which the tribe is a monophyletic group nested in a 3-colporate environment, Chilocarpus and Condylocarpon are sisters at the base of the tree, Plectaneia is sister to a clade made up by Alyxia , Pteralyxia , Lepinia and Lepiniopsis , of which Lepinia and Lepiniopsis are the most derived.
Caracterização de briquetes produzidos com resíduos agroflorestais

O presente trabalho teve por objetivo caracterizar a qualidade de briquetes de moinha de carvao vegetal e residuos de bambu produzidos em diferentes formulacoes. Determinou-se a densidade basica, a massa especifica aparente, a umidade de equilibrio e a taxa de degradacao termica dos briquetes. Os briquetes foram avaliados por meio de testes de resistencia a compressao e de tamboramento e o poder calorifico superior e inferior foram estimados a partir de equacoes ajustadas. Os briquetes produzidos com as maiores porcentagens de moinha de carvao vegetal apresentaram densidade basica, densidade aparente, teores de cinza e de carbono fixo mais elevados e menor friabilidade. Os briquetes com as maiores porcentagens de residuos de bambu na composicao apresentaram degradacao termica mais rapida, maior resistencia a compressao, alem de teor de materiais volateis e poder calorifico mais elevados.
Herbivores, but not other insects, are scarce on alien plants

Abstract Understanding how the landscape-scale replacement of indigenous plants with alien plants influences ecosystem structure and functioning is critical in a world characterized by increasing biotic homogenization. An important step in this process is to assess the impact on invertebrate communities. Here we analyse insect species richness and abundance in sweep collections from indigenous and alien (Australasian) woody plant species in South Africa's Western Cape. We use phylogenetically relevant comparisons and compare one indigenous with three Australasian alien trees within each of Fabaceae: Mimosoideae, Myrtaceae, and Proteaceae: Grevilleoideae. Although some of the alien species analysed had remarkably high abundances of herbivores, even when intentionally introduced biological control agents are discounted, overall, herbivorous insect assemblages from alien plants were slightly less abundant and less diverse compared with those from indigenous plants – in accordance with predictions from the enemy release hypothesis. However, there were no clear differences in other insect feeding guilds. We conclude that insect assemblages from alien plants are generally quite diverse, and significant differences between these and assemblages from indigenous plants are only evident for herbivorous insects.