Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A preliminary survey of epiphytes in some tree canopies in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo

The vertical distribution of the density and richness of vascular and nonvascular epiphytes on some mature trees was studied in two 1 km2 plots in Miombo Woodland in Zambia (n = 20) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C.) (n = 20). The aim was to assess the diversity of arboreal epiphytes and to investigate general distribution patterns of epiphytes along some individual mature phorophytes. Species richness was low on both sampling sites (24 in D.R.C. and nineteen in Zambia) with Orchidaceae being the richest family. Epiphyte density for both sampling plots was high with 92% of the available surface area being occupied. Lichens showed the highest density of 67.2% followed by moss 18.4%, orchids 7.9% and ferns 6.5%. Species richness and density showed a clear zonation within the canopy. Richness and density peaked in the upper and mid-canopy and was positively correlated with available surface area, branch aspect and to some extent bark pH, but not with bark texture. This study demonstrated that tree canopies can harbour a diversity of epiphyte species, and the findings constitute baseline information in such environments. Resume Nous avons etudie la distribution verticale de la densite et de la richesse des epiphytes vasculaires et non vasculaires sur certains arbres matures de deux parcelles d'un kilometre carre, dans une foret a miombo en Zambie (n = 20) et en Republique Democratique du Congo (RDC) (n = 20). Le but etait d'evaluer la diversite des epiphytes corticoles et d'analyser le schema de distribution generale des epiphytes en meme temps que quelques phorophytes individuels matures. La richesse en especes etait faible aux deux sites d'echantillonnage (24 en RDC et 19 en Zambie), et les Orchidaceae etaient la famille la plus riche. La densite des epiphytes etait elevee dans les deux parcelles: 92% de la surface disponible etait occupee. Les lichens presentaient la plus forte densite avec 67.2%, suivis par les mousses, 18.4%, puis par les orchidees, 7.9%, et les fougeres, 6.5%. La richesse en especes et la densite montraient un zonage net dans la canopee. La richesse et la densite presentaient un pic dans la canopee superieure et moyenne et etaient positivement liees a la superficie disponible, a l'aspect des branches et, dans une certaine mesure, au pH de l'ecorce mais pas a sa texture. Cette etude montre que la canopee des arbres peut abriter toute une diversite d'especes epiphytes, et ces resultats constituent une base de reference pour de tels environnements.
Comparison between the Velocities of Escaped Savings with than of Maximum Financial Liquidity to the Case of Mixed Savings

This paper is about the comparison of the velocity of cycle of money with the velocity of maximum financial liquidity in the case of mixed savings. This analysis is based on the cycle of money in combination with the velocity of escaped savings with the velocity of maximum financial liquidity with the influence of mixed savings. This means that used the escaped savings, the enforcement savings and the mixed savings as are parts of these velocities. Thence, we compare the velocity of the maximum financial liquidly with the velocity of the escaped savings, using and the mixed savings. Then, we extract conclusions between these velocities. The method which used is the Q.E. method.
Factors Influencing German House Owners’ Preferences on Energy Retrofits

In this paper, we identify key drivers and barriers for the adoption of building energy retrofits in Germany, which is promoted by public policy as an important measure to address the future challenges of climate change and energy security. We analyze data from a 2009 survey of more than 400 owner-occupiers of single-family detached, semidetached, and row houses in Germany, that was conducted as a computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI). In the survey, respondents were asked directly for reasons for and against retrofitting their homes, but also faced a choice experiment involving different energy retrofit measures. Overall, both the descriptive and econometric results show that house owners who are able to afford it financially, for whom it is profitable, and for whom there is a favorable opportunity, are more likely to undertake energy retrofit activities. Based on an estimated mixed logit error component model, we also simulate the incentive effects of different policy options, such as public subsidies and energy tax increases.
From Financial Markets to Corporate Governance: Steering the Capital Allocation Process and Its Implications for Firm Performance and Society at Large

Ten years ago, much of the Western world was shocked by the financial crises affecting not only the corporate ecosystem, but society at large. This brought a - classical - question to the forefront: How can we ensure that capital is allocated to its most efficient uses? <br><br>Not only economists consider a well-functioning capital allocation process to be of first order importance for a modern (capitalist) economy and differentiate two levels of capital allocation: First, on the macro-level investors decide about their investments (i.e. which firms receive capital). Second, on a micro-level managers determine the capital allocation among the multitude of firms. <br><br>Following this hierarchy, this research proceeds in two steps. First, it examines the role and economic impact of financial structures (i.e., the size and composition of financial markets) for economic development (broadly defined). Analyzing 98 countries over the years 1975-2016, it provides novel evidence for the importance of equity markets for growth, investment, capital formation, and productivity, as well as for reducing unemployment and inequality. Moreover, it documents that stock markets are particularly important in countries with well-functioning institutions, as for instance measured by the Rule of Law. Second, it examines the role and economic impact of corporate governance on individual firm behavior. Analyzing about 450 European firms over the years 2004-2016, it provides novel evidence for the importance of long-term oriented institutional investors and board independence for a firm’s long-term development. Specifically, it documents that these two factors are able to reduce the firm’s cost of capital and to encourage more unique strategies. <br><br>The project contributes to the ongoing debate about the optimal design of financial markets and the role of corporate governance in the capital allocation process among the firms. It provides strong arguments for initiatives fostering equity capital markets and establishing country- and firm-level governance mechanisms ensuring an efficient capital allocation process.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Corporate Governance, and Firm Performance: An International Study

We examine the association between ICT investment, corporate governance and firm performance. Using an international sample of 62,199 firm-year observations from 42 countries, we find that ICT investment and corporate governance mechanisms (i.e., board independence and foreign ownership) on their own are not directly associated with firm performance. However, ICT investment is associated with higher firm performance (i.e., ROA) when moderated by either board independence or foreign ownership. Further, this moderating relationship differs between small versus large firms, competitive versus less competitive industries. We also find that the ICT investment-firm performance relationship is more significant among countries with a high level of internet use, access to finance, and innovative capacity. <br><br>
Positional Competition: A Theory of the Great Gatsby Curve and the Easterlin Paradox

Abstract This paper provides a novel theory that simultaneously explains the Great Gatsby curve and the Easterlin paradox, demonstrating that these two phenomena could be driven by the same mechanism. I model positional competition, in which productive opportunities are allocated according to relative performance, as a Nash equilibrium outcome of agents reacting optimally to a distribution of productive opportunities. Positional competition is not a zero-sum game and its intensity is endogenously determined. The distribution of income and intergenerational mobility are also endogenously determined, with income following a power law distribution. As productivities become more dispersed, optimizing agents respond by competing more intensely with each other. This endogenous intensification lies at the heart of my explanation for both the Great Gatsby curve and the Easterlin paradox.
Taxes, Debt, Investments and the Choice of Business Form with Overconfident and Pessimistic Entrepreneurs

This article is the first to analyze the simultaneous choice of investment and organizational form using the behavioral finance approach. When entrepreneurs are rational, the choice of investment and organizational form is irrelevant in most cases. However, when entrepreneurs are overconfident/pessimistic, it leads to overinvestment/underinvestment. We show that a combination of corporate tax for limited liability businesses along with a universal personal income tax can improve the efficiency of decision-making and increase social surplus.
Spillovers Reconsidered: Analysing Economic Welfare Under Complementarities in R&D

We analyse economic welfare in R&D intensive industries under varying assumptions on the spillover process. The focus lies on spillover processes with complementary R&D investments such as those modelling absorptive capacity. There spillovers give rise to both negative and positive externalities. We show that the rationale for public policy intervention is strengthened where spillovers also have positive effects. This conclusion is based on the supermodularity of the spillover process and the investment game. We characterise a large class of spillover processes with similar implications for public policy. We show that results of much empirical work on absorptive capacity extend to this class of models.
Using Cashflow and Value Spreads to Forecast Long/Short Factor Returns

We show the value of adding cashflow spreads to value spreads to forecast long/short factor returns. These spreads, namely the profitability and investment spreads, have significant forecasting power for a number of factors. Including cashflow spreads also increases the predictive power of the value spread since it is a noisy measure of expected factor returns when used alone. Our results hold after controlling for macroeconomic variables and in out-of-sample tests. We also combine the value spread with the profitability and investment spreads to create a parsimonious measure, the composite characteristic spread, that has strong predictive power for many long/short anomalies.
Negative Returns: U.S. Military Aid, Domestic Institutions and Anti-American Terrorism

Using cross-national data for 148 countries between 1996 and 2015, we investigate the relationship between U.S. military aid, institutions in aid-receiving countries and anti-American terrorism. We find that countries — such as Columbia and Pakistan — that receive more military aid from the United States are more likely to produce anti-American terrorism. Studying the underlying mechanisms, we find that U.S. military aid contributes to poor domestic institutional conditions; in turn, poor domestic institutions incite anti-American violence. Considering these findings, we argue that U.S. military aid amplifies anti-American terrorism by undermining counter-terrorism effectiveness and facilitating local grievances associated with poor institutional quality.
Migration, Human Capital Formation and Growth: An Empirical Investigation

In this empirical investigation we study the effect of skilled emigration on human capital formation and growth in a sample of developing countries. We find that the migration rate exerts statistically significant effects on both the level and the skill composition of human capital. We also show that these migration-induced changes in the formation of human capital affect the growth performance of sending countries. The sign and the magnitude of these effects are shown to depend on the level of economic development of the sending country. Both the least and the most developed countries in our sample would suffer as a result of an increase in skilled migration, while countries at intermediate stages of development may benefit. Overall, the majority of sending countries are shown to lose from migration, and the losses that accrue to the least developed ones are larger than the benefits for the winners.
Assessing population genetic structure and variability with RAPD data: Application to Vaccinium macrocarpon (American Cranberry)

A method for estimating and comparing population genetic variation using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) profiling is presented. An analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) is extended to accomodate phenotypic molecular data in diploid populations in Hardy‐Weinberg equilibrium or with an assumed degree of selfing. We present a two step strategy: 1) Estimate RAPD site frequencies without preliminary assumptions on the unknown population structure, then perform significance testing for population substructuring. 2) If population structure is evident from the first step, use this data to calculate better estimates for RAPD site frequencies and sub‐population variance components. A nonparametric test for the homogeneity of molecular variance (HOMOVA) is also presented. This test was designed to statistically test for differences in intrapopulational molecular variances (heteroscedasticity among populations). These theoretical developments are applied to a RAPD data set in Vaccinium macrocarpon (American cranberry) using small sample sizes, where a gradient of molecular diversity is found between central and marginal populations. The AMOVA and HOMOVA methods provide flexible population analysis tools when using data from RAPD or other DNA methods that provide many polymorphic markers with or without direct allelic data.
Moulting mass dynamics of female Gadwall Anas strepera and male Wigeon A. penelope at Abberton Reservoir, southeast England

Capsule Female Gadwall Anas strepera and male Wigeon A. penelope lost about 18% of body mass during flightless wing moult at Abberton Reservoir, southeast England – slightly greater than that recorded for other dabbling ducks but less than among Pochard Aythya ferina at the same site. Results, while consistent with the ‘moult stress’ hypothesis, also support the hypothesis that dabbling ducks deplete accumulated fat stores to enable exploitation of moulting habitats that are safe from predators, but which do not enable these ducks to balance their energy budgets during the flightless period.
Neuronal types expressing μ‐ and δ‐opioid receptor mRNA in the rat hippocampal formation

Opioids are thought to control the excitability of hippocampal principal neurons indirectly by inhibiting GABAergic interneurons. However, direct inhibition of hippocampal principal neurons by opioids has also been reported. To understand better the neuromodulatory role of opioids in rat hippocampal circuits, we analyzed types of μ‐ and δ‐opioid receptor (MOR, DOR)‐expressing hippocampal neurons. Most MOR‐immunoreactive neurons in the granular and pyramidal cell layers exhibited multipolar morphologies characteristic of GABAergic neurons. Virtually all neurons in the hippocampal formation expressing high MOR mRNA levels cocontained the mRNA for glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD). Most parvalbumin‐, several calretinin‐, and several pre‐proenkephalin‐containing neurons expressed the MOR gene in the hippocampal formation. Expression of high DOR mRNA levels was restricted to GAD‐positive neurons in the principal cell layers, oriens layer and hilus. More than 90% of the parvalbumin‐positive neurons in the hippocampal formation strongly expressed the DOR gene. Granule cells expressing vesicular glutamate transporter 1 (VGLUT1) mRNA contained very low MOR and DOR transcript levels. In VGLUT1‐positive pyramidal cells, weak DOR but no MOR gene expression was detected. Whereas most somatostatinergic hilar neurons were negative for MOR and DOR mRNA, somatostatinergic oriens layer neurons frequently expressed these receptors. Taken together, weak expression of MOR and DOR genes in hippocampal principal cells is in concordance with direct opioid‐mediated inhibition of principal cells. However, strong expression of the MOR and DOR genes in the hippocampus is restricted to γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic neurons, with DORs being selectively expressed in the parvalbumin‐ and somatostatin‐containing subpopulations. Activation of MOR and/or DOR in parvalbumin‐ and somatostatin‐containing neurons, which provide GABAergic inhibition to the perisomatic and distal dendritic regions of principal cells, respectively, is likely to facilitate principal cell excitation. J. Comp. Neurol. 469:107–118, 2004. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Globalization, Creative Destruction, and Labor Share Change: Evidence on the Determinants and Mechanisms from Longitudinal Plant-Level Data

We examine the sources and micro-level mechanisms of the changes in the labor share of value added. We link the micro-level dynamics of the labor share change with that of productivity and wage growth. Using a useful variant of the decomposition method we make a distinction between the change in the average plant and the micro-level restructuring. With Finnish plant-level data covering three decades we show that micro-level restructuring is the link between the declining labor share and increasing productivity in 12 manufacturing industries of four regions, and that increased international trade is a factor underlying those shifts.
Shock waves and golden shores: the asymmetric interaction between gold prices and the stock market

ABSTRACT Gold is often considered a safe haven asset providing negative return correlation with the stock market in times of distress, while in more calm periods the correlation is close to zero. We study the dynamic inter-linkage of gold prices and the stock market. Specifically, we model the log-prices of gold and a stock index as jump-diffusive processes, with the jumps arriving with mutually exciting intensities. Hence, the occurrence of negative shocks to the stock index spill over into higher probabilities of positive shocks to the gold price and vice versa. For the empirical analysis, we consider daily prices on gold and the SPX index. Utilizing that the model's moment conditions are computed efficiently in closed form, we use the generalized method of moments to estimate the model parameters. We document the existence of cross-excitation between the stock index and gold prices, with the channel from the stock index to gold prices being the most pronounced. Moreover, we find that gold behaves as a safe haven asset for the stock index for around 20 days following a market crash. Finally, we study the power of the proposed model to predict future price jumps and benchmark the performance against more classical models.
The Past, Present and the Future of the Cap - The Hungarian Viewpoint

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was one of the first common policies of the European Community and it still allocates significant share of the common budget. With its initial objectives, CAP generated even more problems than it solved. The past several decades was dedicated to problem solving by different reforms. Hungary accessed the EU on May 1, 2004 in the 2000-2006 financial planning period. The CAP provided and still provides enormous support to the Hungarian agricultural sector, however, it can be seen that it was in favour of the crop sector at the expense of the animal husbandry sector. The reforms definitely have impact on the sector, albeit to different extent. The future of this high level support is quite insecure which requires instant competitiveness actions from agricultural producers.
Two new species and a new genus of Cicadettini (Hemiptera, Cicadidae) from the Greek island of Evia

In the mountains on the island of Evia (Euboea, Euboia), Mt. Dirfis, Mt. Kandilio and Mt. Ochi, we discovered two new species of Cicadettini. One species, Cicadetta dirfica sp. n. was found on the southern slopes of Mt. Dirfis and Euboeana gen. n. castaneivaga sp. n. at the same locality, on Mt. Kandilio in the NW and on Mt. Ochi in the southern part of the island. Cicadetta dirfica is morphologically very similar to other species of the C. montana species complex, but has a different and characteristic sound pattern. However, E. castaneivaga sp. n. has some different morphological characteristics and a very unusual sound pattern for this group of species. (© 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Sweet corn (Zea mays) cultivar tolerance to primisulfuron

Nine sweet corn cultivars were evaluated to identify cultivar sensitivity to primisulfuron in four field studies, conducted over a 2-yr period. Response to primisulfuron varied, depending on cultivar and application dose. DelMonte 2038 was highly sensitive to primisulfuron resulting in very severe injury and, in most cases, the death of all plants at both locations, each year. At Exeter in 1998 and 1999, injury was slight with no plant height or yield reductions on other cultivars. At Simcoe in 1998 and 1999, five other cultivars showed visual injury of 10% or greater at 50 g ha–1 of primisulfuron. However, in most cases, this did not result in a significant plant height or yield reduction. SS Jubilee Bt showed a yield reduction but only in 1998 at Simcoe. Three cultivars, CNS 710, GH 2690 and Reveille, were classified as fully tolerant to field applications of primisulfuron at 25 g ai ha–1 with little or no risk of injury. Key words: Sensitivity, herbicide injury, cultivars, primisulfuron, Zea mays
Uso de diferentes aditivos em silagem de capim- elefante

Objetivou-se avaliar o uso de diferentes aditivos na ensilagem de Capim-Elefante. O delineamento experimental foi o inteiramente casualizado. Os tratamentos foram: T1(capim-elefante), T2 (capim-Elefante + 7% polpa citrica), T3 (capim-elefante + 7% raspa de batata), T4 (capim-elefante + 7% milho desintegrado com palha e sabugo MDPS), T5 (capim-elefante + 7% farelo de trigo), T6 (capim-elefante + aditivo biologico). Os tratamentos com aditivos secos (T1; T3; T4 e T5) apresentaram maiores valores de materia seca diferindo estatisticamente (p 0,05) entre os tratamentos, variando de 3,87 (T1) a 4,04 (T3). Houve diferenca significativa (p<0,05) para perda de gases, sendo maior nos tratamentos T2 e T5. Os demais tratamentos nao diferenciaram estatisticamente entre si. A perda por efluentes foi maior no tratamento T6 (57,30 kg/Ton. de MV). Para Proteina Bruta o tratamento T5 apresentou maior porcentagens e o tratamento T1 foi o de menor teor. Os tratamentos T1 (69,79% FDN) e T6 (70,52% FDN) apresentaram maiores valores de FDN. Os tratamentos T4 e T3 obtiveram menores valores de FDN. Quanto aos valores de FDA, os tratamentos T1 e T6 apresentaram maiores valores de FDA e os tratamentos T3 e T4 apresentaram menores valores. Para os valores de DIVMS variaram de 56,04% (T1) a 71, 13% (T3). A silagem de Capim Elefante sem aditivos e/ou com aditivo biologico utilizado neste experimento nao apresentou melhoria em sua qualidade.