Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determinants of the Governance Performance of Producer Organizations: Case Study of Village Cotton Producers Cooperatives in Benin

Aims: This article aims to analyze the main factors that influence the performance of the governance of Producers' Organizations in the context of the Uniform Act of OHADA devoted to the Law on cooperative societies. Study Design: The case study is based on Village Cotton Producers Cooperatives (CVPCs). Governance performance of CVPCs referred to and has been measured through respectively quality of internal governance (administrative) and quality of services provided to members. Place and Duration of Study: The study has been carried out in the Department of Alibori, northern Benin Republic. Data collection period run from July to October 2019. Methodology: We included 242 CVPCs selected in the six municipalities in the Department of Original Research Article Manne et al.; AJAEES, 38(11): 224-235, 2020; Article no.AJAEES. 64056 225 Alibori. Primary data relating to socio-economic characteristics (the size of the CVPC, the age, the proportion of women in group, profile of leaders), and governance parameters related to internal governance and the quality of services provided to members. Results: The results revealed that internal governance is generally poor and the quality of services provided to members is good. The proportion of women and the profile of leaders determine (bad) internal governance compared to good governance. The low profile of the leaders, the small size and the low proportion of women determine the quality of the services provided to members. The more the profile of leaders improves, the more likely it is to have good governance. On the other hand, the more the proportion of women in CVPCs increases, the more there is a chance of having bad internal governance rather than good governance. Conclusion: These results suggest that the lower or medium the profile of leaders, the poorer or average internal governance and services provided to members will be. A better combination of all these determinants will improve both the quality of internal governance and the services provided to members in a CVPC.
Conformist social learning leads to self-organised prevention against adverse bias in risky decision making

Given the ubiquity of potentially adverse behavioural bias owing to myopic trial-and-error learning, it seems paradoxical that improvements in decision-making performance through conformist social learning, a process widely considered to be bias amplification, still prevail in animal collective behaviour. Here we show, through model analyses and large-scale interactive behavioural experiments with 585 human subjects, that conformist influence can indeed promote favourable risk taking in repeated experience-based decision making, even though many individuals are systematically biased towards adverse risk aversion. Although strong positive feedback conferred by copying the majority’s behaviour could result in unfavourable informational cascades, our differential equation model of collective behavioural dynamics identified a key role for increasing exploration by negative feedback arising when a weak minority influence undermines the inherent behavioural bias. This ‘collective behavioural rescue’, emerging through coordination of positive and negative feedback, highlights a benefit of collective learning in a broader range of environmental conditions than previously assumed and resolves the ostensible paradox of adaptive collective behavioural flexibility under conformist influences.
The scientific value of long-term field trials in forest soils and nutrition research: An opportunist's perspective

Prescott, C. E. 2014. The scientific value of long-term field trials in forest soils and nutrition research: An opportunist's perspective. Can. J. Soil Sci. 94: 255-262. Long-term field trials are essential in allowing accurate prediction of stand responses to silvicultural treatments. Less well appreciated is the added value that long-term field trials afford to science through a variety of means, often not included in the original experimental plan. Long-term field trials provide a platform upon which additional studies can be conducted; for example a suite of alternative silvicultural trials allowed assessment of influences of forest harvesting on rates of litter decomposition. Well-designed, long-term field trials can be re-purposed to address questions not related to the original research; for example, many of the common garden experiments used to discern influences of different tree species on soil were not originally intended for this purpose. Long-term trials may reveal effects on other ecosystem components such as understorey vegetation or soil organisms, which can generate new hypotheses about ecosystem functioning. Finally, including unusual or non-operational treatments can generate insights that would not occur where trials were constrained to current operational practices. Improved accounting of the additional scientific insights afforded by long-term field trials would go some way towards improved accounting of their true value to science.
The BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 reprograms both adaptive and innate immune responses

The mRNA-based BNT162b2 vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech was the first registered COVID-19 vaccine and has been shown to be up to 95% effective in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infections. Little is known about the broad effects of the new class of mRNA vaccines, especially whether they have combined effects on innate and adaptive immune responses. Here we confirmed that BNT162b2 vaccination of healthy individuals induced effective humoral and cellular immunity against several SARS-CoV-2 variants. Interestingly, however, the BNT162b2 vaccine also modulated the production of inflammatory cytokines by innate immune cells upon stimulation with both specific (SARS-CoV-2) and non-specific (viral, fungal and bacterial) stimuli. The response of innate immune cells to TLR4 and TLR7/8 ligands was lower after BNT162b2 vaccination, while fungi-induced cytokine responses were stronger. In conclusion, the mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine induces complex functional reprogramming of innate immune responses, which should be considered in the development and use of this new class of vaccines.
Longitudinal SARS-CoV-2 infection study at Ulm University

The practical course in macroscopic (gross) anatomy is an essential component of medical studies. The dynamic situation with high SARS-CoV-2 infection rates prior to the winter semester (02.11.2020 until 01.03.2021) confronted university institutions with the difficult question of how or whether essential practical courses in medical schools can be conducted in presence. The gross anatomy course at Ulm University took place with a comprehensive hygiene concept and accompanied by a longitudinal study. This included in particular SARS-CoV-2 pathogen detection (swab with RT-PCR) at neuralgic time points, as well as antibody testing at the beginning and at the end of the semester for both students and teaching staff. The first SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test prior to the gross anatomy course revealed two asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals of 327 students. All institute and student staff of this course tested negative at semester start (n=75). Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 were detected in 6.4% of the anatomy course students (22 out of 345). The second SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test after the Christmas break was negative in all participants, including teaching staff (n=429). At the end of the course in mid-February 2021, seroconversion after infection was detected in only two students of the anatomy course who participated in both tests (0.6%, n=325). Also other semester cohorts of the first three years of study in human medicine and dentistry were invited. No further active SARS-CoV-2 infections at the start of the semester and seven seroconversions after infection (n=335) were detected after the semester in these cohorts. The data illustrate the likely preventive effect from the interaction of hygiene concepts, regular information on the pandemic and testing. Thus, this study demonstrates ways in which face-to-face teaching can be implemented for selected courses at universities, even with high national incidence rates.
The Determinants of Long-term Debt Issuances

This paper proposes a probit model to test capital structure theories. It focuses on leverage increasing capital raisings and tests the various competing theories. It is shown that this approach does not have the spurious ratio problem documented by Barraclough (2007) that plague traditional capital structure tests. Results indicate that, contrary to stylized facts, leverage increasing firms tend to be more profitable and firms with high R&D expenditures tend not to use debt as a means of financing.
EUROPEAN CO2 FUTURES MARKET: AN INTRADAY ANALYSIS

European Union CO2 allowances (EUAs) are traded on several markets with increasing intensity. We provide an intraday data analysis of the EUA futures market for the complete first trading period 2005-2007. To investigate the trading process in this young market, we compare the two main trading platforms ECX and Nord Pool with respect to liquidity and price discovery. Both are of high relevance to traders. We analyze liquidity by estimating traded bid-ask spreads following the approach of Madhavan et al. (1997) and study price discovery using the VECM framework of Engle and Granger (1987). We find that while estimated transaction costs are always lower on the larger exchange ECX, the less liquid platform Nord Pool also contributes to price discovery, especially during the first months of trading. Overall, results indicate that from 2005 to 2007 liquidity in the European CO2 futures market has markedly increased and organized trading has rapidly expanded. JEL-Classifications: G13, G14, G19.
The growth of socially responsible investing in the recent decades is one of the major trends in financial markets worldwide, having motivated the debate on the financial impact of considering social criteria in the portfolio selection

This paper investigates the performance of socially screened bond portfolios of 189 Eurozone companies between 2003 and 2016. Bond portfolios are formed on the basis of an aggregate measure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as well as on specific dimensions of CSR: Environment, Social and Governance dimensions. Our results suggest that the performance of high socially rated bonds is not statistically different from that of low-rated bonds. We further analyze the evolution of bond portfolio performance over time. The results indicate that in an earlier stage portfolios of high-rated bonds outperformed portfolios of low-rated bonds. Yet, over time this outperformance disappears. These results suggest that the errors-in-expectations hypothesis and the shunned-security hypothesis are not only useful to explain the performance of socially responsible equity portfolios but they are also useful in explaining the performance of socially screened bond portfolios over time.
Krytox GPL102 Oil as Reference Fluid for High Viscosities: High Pressure Volumetric Properties, Heat Capacities, and Thermal Conductivities

In this paper the results of volumetric, isobaric heat capacity, and thermal conductivity measurements in the liquid region of a round-robin sample of Krytox GPL102 oil are reported. The measurements presented here are part of a worldwide program for the determination of transport properties of this perfluoropolyether oil. Density was measured from (278.15 to 398.15) K up to 120 MPa, whereas isobaric heat capacity and thermal conductivity measurements were performed at atmospheric pressure from (278.00 to 398.14) K and (278.77 to 323.29) K, respectively. The measured properties are represented within 0.0003 g·cm–3, 0.005 J·g–1·K–1, and 2 mW·m–1·K–1 by using different correlation equations. The provided Tammann–Tait equation of state with seven parameters was used to determine isobaric thermal expansivities, bulk modulus, and isothermal compressibilities. Finally, the temperature dependence of the thermal diffusivities was also analyzed.
APPLIED FINANCE LETTERS

We offer empirical evidence that stocks with low volatility earn higher risk-adjusted returns compared to high volatility stocks in the Indian stock market. The annualised excess returns for the low and high volatility decile portfolios amount to 11.40% and 1.30%, respectively, over the period January 2001 to June 2015. The difference of returns is statistically and economically significant for both low and high-risk stocks. Using risk measures of standard deviation and beta, the volatility effect remains after controlling for size, value and momentum. We uncover that the volatility effect is not statistically significant after controlling for beta effect. Our evidence for volatility effect is not dominated by small and illiquid stocks. Our results show that the low volatility portfolio outperforms benchmark portfolio not only in down market but also in up market conditions.
Journal of Banking and Finance Special Issue on “Global Financial Services” Barclays Global Investor Australia Prize

This paper addresses empirical analysis of Malaysian credit spreads in a number of directions. Firstly, the investigation of explanatory power of macroeconomic or market variables to the changes in the spreads. Secondly, use of daily data rather than data sampled to match typical macroeconomic data release. Third, a focused study on the market behaviour of bonds issued from a rapidly emerging market. Fourth, the inclusion of semi-parametric measures to better capture the behaviour of the credit spreads. This study finds that changes in credit spread of Malaysian bonds are only receptive to certain macroeconomic factors. Also changes in credit spreads are negatively correlated with the interest factor but this study could not find convincing evidence to support the argument of a negative relationship with the asset factor. JEL Classification: G12, G14, G15
Parallel and population-specific gene regulatory evolution in cold-adapted fly populations

Abstract Changes in gene regulation at multiple levels may comprise an important share of the molecular changes underlying adaptive evolution in nature. However, few studies have assayed within- and between-population variation in gene regulatory traits at a transcriptomic scale, and therefore inferences about the characteristics of adaptive regulatory changes have been elusive. Here, we assess quantitative trait differentiation in gene expression levels and alternative splicing (intron usage) between three closely related pairs of natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster from contrasting thermal environments that reflect three separate instances of cold tolerance evolution. The cold-adapted populations were known to show population genetic evidence for parallel evolution at the SNP level, and here we find evidence for parallel expression evolution between them, with stronger parallelism at larval and adult stages than for pupae. We also implement a flexible method to estimate cis- vs trans-encoded contributions to expression or splicing differences at the adult stage. The apparent contributions of cis- vs trans-regulation to adaptive evolution vary substantially among population pairs. While two of three population pairs show a greater enrichment of cis-regulatory differences among adaptation candidates, trans-regulatory differences are more likely to be implicated in parallel expression changes between population pairs. Genes with significant cis-effects are enriched for signals of elevated genetic differentiation between cold- and warm-adapted populations, suggesting that they are potential targets of local adaptation. These findings expand our knowledge of adaptive gene regulatory evolution and our ability to make inferences about this important and widespread process.
Alkaloids from Rhizoma corydalis

AIM To isolate alkaloids from the tuber of Corydalis yanhusuo for evaluating the quality of Corydalis germ plasm. METHODS Chromatographic and spectroscopic methods were used to isolate and identify the alkaloids. RESULTS Thirteen alkaloids were obtained,among which,twelve compounds were identified as d -corydaline, tetrahydropalmatine, dehydrocorydaline, tetrahydrocoptisine, tetrahydroberberine, isocorybulbine, protopine, tetrahydrocolumbamine, palmatine chloroform, saulatine, glaucine and dehydroglaucine respectively. CONCLUSION Saulatine, an isoquinobenzazepine type alkaloids, was obtained from Papaveraceae for the first time and isocorybulbine was firstly obtained from Corydalis yanhusuo .
Lumbar spine loading during dressage riding 1

4 Context: Lower back pain is prevalent in horse riders as a result of the absorption of repetitive 5 and multi-planar propulsive forces from the horse. GPS technology provides potential for in6 vivo measurement of planar loading during riding. Objective: To quantify the uni-axial 7 loading at the lumbar and cervico-thoracic spine during dressage elements. Design: Repeated 8 measures, randomized order. Setting: Equestrian arena. Patients (or Other Participants): 9 21 female dressage riders. Intervention(s): Each rider completed walk, rising trot, sitting trot 10 and canter trials in randomized order. A GPS unit was placed within customized garments at 11 C7 and L5, collecting tri-axial accelerometry data at 100Hz. Outcome Measures: PlayerLoad 12 based on the rate of change of acceleration, and calculated in the anteroposterior (AP), 13 mediolateral (ML) and vertical planes during each trial. Results: There was no significant 14 main effect for GPS location in the AP (P=0.758), ML (P=0.876) or V (P=0.762) planes. There 15 was a significant main effect for pace in all trials (P<0.001), with successive elements eliciting 16 significantly greater loading (P≤ 0.030) in all planes in the order walk < rising trot < canter < 17 sitting trot. There was a significant placement x element interaction only in the AP plane 18 (P=0.032) with AP loading greater at L5 during walk, rising trot and canter trials, but greater 19 at C7 during sitting trot. Conclusions: The significant main effect for dressage element was 20 indicative of greater pace of the horse, with faster pace activities eliciting greater loading in all 21 planes. In-vivo measurement of spinal accelerometry has application in the objective 22 measurement and subsequent management of lumbar load for riders. 23 24 25
Monte Carlo simulated model of a preclinical PET insert and experimental validation based on NEMA performance measurements

Positron Emission Tomography combined with Magnetic Resonance (PET/MR) is a medical imaging method, used to investigate the distribution of a previously administered radioactive tracer in humans or animals. Among others, it can be used for diagnosis of cancer and neurological disorders. Before newly developed methods or tracers can be used in clinical routines, extensive research is necessary. This can be done using preclinical scanners, specifically designed for imaging small animals such as mice or rats, or using Monte Carlo simulations to reproduce the imaging process. However, Monte Carlo (MC) models for available scanners need to be established and compared to the real systems. In this work, a preclinical PET/MR system, the model ”Si 198”, manufactured by the ”Bruker BioSpin GmbH”, available at the Medical University of Vienna, was experimentally characterized following standardized performance measurements. Subsequently, the system was modeled in the MC simulation environment GATE. Then, the performance of the MC model was compared to its real counterpart. Specifically, the performance of the system was determined following the standardized measurement protocol ”NEMA NU4-2008”. In this process, the scanner was assessed regarding its sensitivity to radioactivity, its count rate behavior, its spatial resolution and the resulting image quality. For sensitivity measurements, a Na point source was stepped through the field of view along the scanner axis and the count rate was brought in relation to source-activity. To evaluate the count rate behavior, two F line sources in polyethylene cylinders with different dimensions were measured and the acquired counts were classified in scattered, random and true counts. The measurements for spatial resolution evaluation were performed with the same point source as sensitivity measurements, whereas for spatial resolution, the source was stepped transaxially through the field of view. The image quality was assessed using a complex cylinder system made from PMMA, which was filled with
Phonological abstractness in English Diphthong Raising

Phonological patterns often involve factors other than the surface phonetic form of the utterance, abstract factors such as underlying representation (opacity, Kiparsky 1971, 1973), prosodic affiliation (Kahn, 1976), morphological structure (Casali, 1996; Beckman, 1998), paradigm membership (Benua, 1997), syntactic category (Smith, 2001, 2011), or lexical stratum (Itô and Mester, 1995). Since many (perhaps most) phonological patterns originate historically in phonologization of preexisting phonetic covariation (Hyman, 1976; Ohala, 1993; Hume and Johnson, 2001; Barnes, 2002; Blevins, 2004, 2008), the question arises of how and when they acquire their sensitivity to the effects of abstract factors. Research on American Raising has played an important role in addressing this question. That research has focused on lexical abstractness, specifically, how Raising comes to be conditioned by the (abstract) underlying voicing of flapped /t/ rather than its (concrete) surface voicing (e.g., Fruehwald 2013, 2016; Berkson et al. 2017; Davis et al. 2019; Farris-Trimble and Tessier 2019; Davis et al., this volume). The theme of this paper is that that the program of research into lexical conditioning of American Raising can be usefully generalized to encompass a wider spectrum of abstract factors and a wider field of dialects. American Raising and Canadian Raising are members of a larger family of similar patterns in English worldwide, English Diphthong Raising (Moreton and Thomas, 2007). Underlying voicing is one of many abstract factors that can condition Raising, including prosody, the type and position of morpheme boundaries, and the free/bound status of stems. This chapter lays out three competing hypotheses as to how phonological patterns acquire abstract conditioning, and sketches several specific ways in which between-dialect variation in English Diphthong Raising might be used to distinguish between them empirically. The first section situates American Raising in the global typology of English Diphthong Raising.
CEO Compensation and Capital Structure

We examine whether and how executive pay relates to financing choice (i.e., debt and leasing). Using hand-collected CEO pay and operating lease data for a sample of 140 large UK firms over the period 1999-2003, we find that leverage and CEO stock option measures are not related. This is largely attributable to the UK distinctive characteristics. Interestingly, we find that finance (capital) leases and CEO stock option measures are significantly negatively related. One possible intuition is to relate leasing to managerial perks. We argue that finance leases can be used as an opportunistic (economic) means for executives (firms) to acquire managerial perks’ assets. Perks can become a means for rent-seeking from the perspective of managers with less incentive pay as well as a substitute to incentive pay to align manager-shareholder interest.