Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New insight into the antennal chemosensory function of Opius concolor (Hymenoptera, Braconidae)

Abstract The presence of taste and olfactory chemosensilla is demonstrated by using both morphological and electrophysiological techniques on antennae of Opius concolor, a parasitoid of tephritid larvae. Observation under the Scanning Electron Microscope revealed the presence of large sensilla trichodea with an apical pore, and of flat plates (sensilla placodea) extending almost the entire length of each antennomere. By means of currently used electrophysiological techniques, it was possible to record both the gustatory activity generated by sensilla trichodea following contact with KC1 100 mM and sucrose 100 mM solutions, and olfactory activity probably generated by sensilla placodea in response to volatile stimuli. The analysis of gustatory activity showed that each sensillum trichodeum consisted of at least three chemosensory units. This supports the assumption that in O. concolor single sensilla may, by providing different spike discharge patterns, which depend on the quality and intensity of the stim.
Intrageneric Phylogeny ofAcomys(Rodentia, Muridae) Using Mitochondrial Gene Cytochromeb

Abstract This paper investigates interspecies relationships within the genus Acomys (spiny mice) by analyzing entire mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (1141 bp). This gene provides strong phylogenetic signal, as shown by high support of the topology obtained (bootstrap value and RNA support number). The phylogeny is congruent with inferences from allozymes for the species considered. Controversial taxonomy of Acomys cahirinus, dimidiatus, airensis, and ignitus is clarified, with their specific ranks confirmed on the basis of tree topology and nucleotide distances. Phylogenetic relationship between the undescribed species Acomys sp. from west Africa and A. airensis argue in favor of two distinct colonization events in this zone.
Liquidity and the Cross-Section of International Stock Returns

Abstract We perform a comprehensive investigation of the illiquidity premium in international stock markets. We examine several established liquidity measures in 45 countries for the years 1990–2020. Our findings provide convincing evidence that liquidity pricing depends strongly on firm size. Although the premium is globally present, it exists only among microcap stocks, which have negligible economic significance. Outside the microcap universe, virtually no liquidity effect can be observed.
Taxation and Durable Goods Monopoly

This paper studies the role of taxation in durable good markets with dynamic monopolies. By conditioning the marginal tax rate on the volume of trade, the regulator can provide incentives for the monopolist to accelerate trade. When marginal cost pricing generates a loss for the monopolist, strategic delay cannot be avoided under regulatory budget constraint and the effects of tax policy depend on the monopolist's ability to commit. In the context of binary consumer types, we find a tax policy involving “back‐loaded subsidy” that achieves the second‐best outcome with commitment. In contrast, without commitment, a “front‐loaded subsidy” improves welfare.
The Effect of Organisational Demography on Board Characteristics: Findings from the Greek Manufacturing Sector

Purpose: This study examines how organisational demography (organizational age, organisational size and number of years listed in the Athens Stock Exchange, ATHEX), may impact the board structure (board size, CEO duality and CEO dependence/independence). Design/Methodology/approach: The relationships are proposed, under the light of data collected from the annual reports of 140 manufacturing organisations quoted in the Athens Stock Exchange. Findings: Research findings revealed a significantly positive relationship of organisational size, organisational age and number of years that a firm is listed in the Stock Exchange with board size. However, the same organisational characteristics do not influence the leadership structure or dependency/independency of the Chairperson to the CEO. Originality/Value: While many studies examining the impact of board characteristics on various organisational outputs, including performance, reputation and effectiveness, there are limited studies investigating variables that affect board characteristics. This study, opens the discussion on potential predictors of board configuration and offers some evidence from the Greek manufacturing sector.
The Impact of Chicago's Small High School Initiative

This project examines the effects of the introduction of new small high schools on student performance in the Chicago Public School (CPS) district. Specifically, we investigate whether students attending small high schools have better graduation/enrollment rates and achievement than similar students who attend regular CPS high schools. We show that students who choose to attend a small school are more disadvantaged on average, including having prior test scores that are about 0.2 standard deviations lower than their elementary school classmates. To address the selection problem, we use an instrumental variables strategy and compare students who live in the same neighborhoods but differ in their residential proximity to a small school. In this approach, one student is more likely to sign up for a small school than another statistically identical student because the small school is located closer to the student’s house and therefore the “cost” of attending the school is lower. The distance-to-small-school variable has strong predictive power to identify who attends a small school. We find that small schools students are substantially more likely to persist in school and eventually graduate. Nonetheless, there is no positive impact on student achievement as measured by test scores.
What the Degree of Structural Autonomy Can Say about Instrument Validity

The validity of instrumental variables to estimate causal eﬀects is typically justifed narratively and often remains controversial. Thus, more objective evaluation of instrument validity through data-driven methods is desirable. I build on a method to quantify the degree of confounding in multivariate linear models, which invokes arguments about the autonomy of mechanisms linking cause and eﬀect, and show how it can be used to evaluate instrument validity. Monte Carlo studies show a high accuracy of the procedure. An empirical application shows its feasibility in practice.
A New International Division of Labor in Europe: Outsourcing and Offshoring to Eastern Europe

Europe is reorganizing its international value chain. I document these changes in Europe’s international organization of production with new survey data of Austrian and German firms investing in Eastern Europe. I show estimates of the share of intrafirm trade between Austria or Germany on the one hand and Eastern Europe on the other. Furthermore, I present empirical evidence of the drivers of the new division of labor in Europe. I find among other things that falling trade costs and reduced levels of corruption as well as improvements in the contracting environment in Eastern Europe are affecting the level of intrafirm imports from that region. These factors also favor outsourcing over offshoring. In contrast, low organizational costs of hierarchies and large costs of holdup (when there are no alternative investors in Old Europe or no alternative suppliers in Eastern Europe) favor offshoring over outsourcing. Tax holidays granted by host countries in Eastern Europe also mildly affect the organizational choice.
Curtain color and lighting program in broiler production: II. carcass and parts yield and abdominal fat deposition

The objective of the present study was to evaluate carcass and parts' yield, abdominal fat deposition and breast and foot pad blisters of broilers reared under two lighting programs (nearly continuous or intermittent) in broilers houses with yellow and blue curtains. The experiment was conducted between June, 2004 and May, 2005. Six flocks were sequentially housed in four 12 × 10 m broiler houses divided into 4 pens with 200 birds each. The litter was reused six times or until flock 6. A completely randomized design in a 6 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement (flocks, lighting programs, curtains) with four replicates per treatment was applied. A total of 288 birds were evaluated for carcass yield. Curtain color did not affect carcass or parts' yield. The effect of lighting program and curtain color on carcass yield may depend on other factors related to flock. Intermittent lighting program promoted the highest drumstick and thigh yields. Lighting programs and curtain colors did not affect abdominal fat deposition or the presence of breast and foot pad blisters.
Confirmation of the synonymy of Paratrichodorus christiei (Allen, 1957) Siddiqi, 1974 with P.minor (Colbran, 1956) Siddiqi, 1974 (Nematoda: Triplonchida) based on sequence data obtained for the ribosomal DNA 18S gene

Sequence data were obtained for the full length of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) 18S gene of specimens from three populations of Paratrichodorus christiei from the USA and four populations of P. minor from Brazil and Portugal. Alignment of the sequences and their application in a phylogenetic analysis revealed that the populations of P.christiei and P.minor formed a single cluster that differentiated from a second cluster comprising P.anemones and P.pachydermus. Previously, P.christiei had been proposed as a junior synonym of P.minor, but this synonymy had not been universally accepted, with many reports, particularly from the USA, continuing to refer to P. christiei. The results obtained here with the sequences of the rDNA 18S gene from the various populations confirm the validity of the synonymy of P.christiei with P.minor.
Divers’ Willingness to Pay for Improved Coral Reef Conditions in Guam: An Untapped Source of Funding for Management and Conservation?

Coral reefs are degrading globally, yet are essential to coastal and island economies, particularly in the Pacific. The diving industry benefits from coral reef management and can be positively or negatively impacted by ecological change. Quantifying divers’ ecological preferences that influence economic outcomes can help inform managers and justify conservation. Utilizing non-market valuation, we assess SCUBA divers’ preferences and WTP for ecological attributes of coral reef ecosystems in Guam, and investigate socioeconomic drivers influencing preferences. A discrete choice experiment grounded in ecosystem modeling reveals divers are willing to pay user fees in reef ecosystems with greater ecological health (higher fish biomass, diversity, and charismatic species). Improvement in fish biomass from low (<25g/m2) to high (>60g/m2) was worth over $2 million/year. Presence of sharks and turtles together was the preeminent attribute, with divers WTP $15-20 million/year. Contingent valuation results suggest divers are willing to make voluntary payments ($900 thousand) towards sediment-reduction projects in upland watersheds. These payments could benefit divers and the broader tourism industry by improving reef conditions. Relatively few policy instruments are in place worldwide collecting fees from divers for coastal management, and none in Guam. Our results suggest this remains an untapped funding source for coral reef management and conservation.
Are Entrepreneurs Penalized during Job Searches? It Depends on Who is Hiring

While extant research has shown entrepreneurial activities and their returns are unequally distributed among majority and minority groups, little is known about career trajectories after the entrepreneurial event and whether the bias against minority groups continues. For example, in technology-intensive labor market, entrepreneurial experiences are common, more so for male than for female. Because new ventures commonly fail, founders move on to look for jobs in the regular labor market; yet, we have only limited information about the continuation of bias against the minority groups (e.g. female entrepreneurs) in the labor market post-entrepreneurship. This paper utilizes a field experimental approach to answer the following questions. First, what effect does entrepreneurship experience have on an individual’s wage-labor market outcome? Second, does any entrepreneurship-experience effect on wage-labor market differ for men and women? Third, do these effects vary with types of employers? An audit study and a vignette-based experimental study have been conducted to answer these questions. In the audit field experiment conducted at an online job marketplace, we find that job applicants do not seem to be penalized by having entrepreneurship experience, and that there is no statistically significant difference between the genders in the effect of entrepreneurship experience on getting a hiring contact. However, from a vignette-based experimental study with recruited managers tasked with hiring a candidate from resumes provided to them by the researchers, the effect of entrepreneurship experience and gender on hiring attractiveness may be interpreted differently based on certain characteristics of the recruiters. Participating recruiters who are male, younger than age 45, located in urban and entrepreneurial hub areas, with weak entrepreneurship intentions and working at larger firms turn out to be the main force driving the entrepreneurship-experience penalty. In contrast, recruiters who are female, older than 45, with strong entrepreneurship intentions, located in non-urban areas and not near entrepreneurial hub areas, and working for smaller firms are indifferent to job candidate with or without entrepreneurship experience.
The regulation of potassium influx into intact roots of barley by internal potassium levels

Isotherms were obtained for the influx of K+ into roots of intact barley (Hordeum vulgare (L.) cv. Conquest) plants which had previously been grown in either 0.5 mM CaSO4 solution or 0.5 mM CaSO4 plus 5 mM KGl solution. Km and Vmax values obtained from these influx data were 0.03 ± 0.003 mM and 10.8 μmol g−1 h−1 respectively for the low-K+ plants and 0.1 ± 0.01 mM and 1.74 ± 0.08 μmol g−1 h−1 for the high-K+ plants.When the K+ content of low-K+ plants was increased, by pretreating the roots of intact plants in 10 mM KCl plus 0.5 mM CaSO4 solution, K+ influx values, as determined from 0.1 mM KCl plus 0.5 mM CaCl2 solutions, declined continuously during the 12 h of pretreatment. Hill plots of this data revealed a consistent biphasic response to internal K+. Below 50 μmol K+ g−1 the Hill coefficient was close to unity. Above 50 μmol g−1 the Hill coefficient increased to values close to 3. The time, or root K+ concentration, at which this change in Hill coefficient occurred corresponded to the first indicatio.
Proximate biochemical variations in eggs of the prawn Macrobrachium americanum (Bate, 1869) during its embryonic development

Eggs of seven females were sampled to analyse the lipid, protein and carbohydrate content during the embryonic development of the prawn Macrobrachium americanum. Sampling was performed from recently spawned eggs to hatching. A hundred of eggs were sampled every 48 h during the trial. Proteins, lipids and carbohydrates were quantified. Proteins were the most abundant component, followed by lipids and carbohydrates as only minor constituents. Lipid decreased significantly from 42% to 23% of the total composition, while proteins increased from 55% to 76% and carbohydrates varied inconsistently. The change in total energy per egg through time during the embryonic development is represented by the equation y=−0.0133x+0.334; r2=0.94 (y represents the energy content and x represents days). The main energy provider was lipids whose energy consumption is described by the equation y=−0.0158x+0.203; r2=0.96.
The Real Exchange Rate and Growth in Latin America

This paper provides evidence on the role played by the real exchange rate in the growth process of emerging economies. The empirical analysis is conducted on a panel dataset of Latin-American countries over the period 1970-2010. We find keeping an undervalued real exchange rate is conducive to higher growth, at least in Granger-causality terms. In addition, we demonstrate how using standard fixed effects and mean-group estimators may lead to misleading inference, in particular on the role of the Balassa-Samuelson effect, because the appropriate estimation strategy should control for both parameter heterogeneity and cross-section dependence. These findings are independent of the particular estimator used, as well as additional regressors employed in the growth literature, or direct measures of the real exchange rate.
Direct Measures of Reserve Management and Managerial Incentives

We propose a new reserve error measure net of loss development forecasting error using the most basic actuarial technique of estimating loss development. We argue that the proposed measure is better for capturing managerial discretion than the traditional reserve error measures due to its consistency with managerial decisions on loss reserving. Using a sample of US insurers from 2000 to 2010, we show that the proposed measure estimates much larger effects of tax incentives and earning management incentives than the traditional measures do, while the presence of underreserving by financially weak insurers is supported only by the proposed measure.
Financial Distress and Fiscal Inflation

Abstract Is inflation ‘always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon’ or is it fundamentally a fiscal phenomenon? The answer hinges crucially on the underlying monetary–fiscal policy regime. Scant attention has been directed to the role of credit market frictions in discerning the policy regime, despite its growing importance in empirical macroeconomics. We augment a standard monetary model to incorporate fiscal details and credit market imperfections. These ingredients allow for both interpretations of the inflation process in a financially constrained environment. We find that introducing financial frictions to the model and adding financial variables to the dataset generate important identifying restrictions on the observed pattern between inflation and measures of financial and fiscal stress, to the extent that it overturns existing findings about which monetary–fiscal policy regime produced the U.S. data. To confront policy regime uncertainty, we propose the use of dynamic prediction pools and find strong cyclical patterns in the estimated historical regime weights.
Plant Selection and Foraging Patterns in Two Species of Leaf‐Cutting Ants (Atta)

Three colonies each of two species of leaf—cutting ants (Atta colombica Guer. and Atta cephalotes L.) were studied for 1 yr in the Guanacaste Province of Costa Rica to determine the following: (1) Do colonies of Atta cut leaves from a limited number of species (i.e., are they selective)? (2) What determines which plant species are attacked? (3) Do leaf—cutters optimize foraging in terms of energy expended by attacking palatable plants closest to the nest or do they distribute their efforts more or less evenly throughout their foraging territory? Several line of evidence support the hypothesis that A. cephalotes and A. colombica are selective in terms of plant material attacked. The ants sampled a large majority of the plant species present, but concentrated their foraging on a restricted subset of species. The mature leaves of only 31.4% and 22.0% of the species present were readily acceptable to A. colombica and A. cephalotes, respectively. The new leaves of another 12—16 plant species were acceptable. Different colonies of the same Atta species consistently attacked the same plant species if they were available, cut leaves from the same species at similar rates, and even attacked the same species of plants at the same time of year. The amount of material cut from host plant species was not correlated with host plant abundance in four of the six colonies studied, and was even slightly negatively correlated in two of these four. An analysis of plant distance from the nest versus amount harvested shows that palatable plant species close to the nest have a greater probability of being visited by the ants, but do not necessarily suffer more defoliation than other such plants within 50—60 m of the nest. Amount harvested decreases greatly for plants farther than 60—80 m from the nest. Thus colonies of Atta do not normally concentrate their efforts on plants closest to the nest, but foraging cannot be described as evenly distributed either. The factor responsible for selectivity in colonies of Atta is probably the internal chemistry of the material selected. An Atta colony must provide the fungus garden when a proper balance of nutrients and moisture without overlapping it with secondary compounds from the plants selected. The ants' attempt to solve this problem may explain some of the complexities of leaf—cutter foraging behavior.
Friendly Precedent

This Essay explores which legal precedent judges choose to support their decision. When describing the legal landscape in a written opinion, which precedent do judges gravitate toward? We examine the idea that judges will gravitate toward citing “friendly” precedent. A friendly precedent, here, is one that was delivered by Supreme Court judges who have similar political preferences. In this Essay, we test whether a federal Court of Appeals panel is more likely to engage with binding Supreme Court precedent when the political flavor of that precedent is aligned with the political composition of the panel. We construct a unique dataset of 591,936 citations to United States Supreme Court decisions by the federal Court of Appeals in 127,668 unanimous decisions from 1971-2007. We find that judges gravitate toward friendly precedent. The political composition of a panel consistently influences which binding precedent is cited in the written opinion. All-Republican appointed panels gravitate toward the most conservative precedent; all-Democratic appointed panels gravitate toward the most liberal precedent and unfavorably cite the most conservative precedent. This result is notable because it provides strong evidence that judges, when reasoning their decisions, have different conceptions of binding precedent.
The Internationalisation of the Renminbi as an Investing and a Funding Currency: Analytics and Prospects

The use of international currencies in the global financial system is not symmetric: while a few currencies have been primarily used as investing currencies, a few others have mostly served as funding currencies; only a handful have a better balance functioning as both investing and funding currencies. This paper develops a three-currency model to study the determinants of the demand for assets and liabilities denominated in an international currency, and attempts to shed light on the prospects for the renminbi as a budding international currency. We show that interest rate differentials would be only one of the factors shaping the renminbi's position, while other factors, including the correlation between foreign countries' economic growth and their bilateral exchange rates against the renminbi, and the correlation between exchange rates of the renminbi with other international currencies, would also be important. A broad interpretation of these findings is that the renminbi will likely be very attractive to investors from high-income economies and fund-raisers from emerging market economies.