Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
VITAMIN E SUPPLEMENTATION OF AWASSI FAT‐TAILED MALE LAMBS1

Lambs were divided into two groups consisting of a control (n=4) and an experimental (n=4) treatment starting at the beginning of the fattening period. The vitamin E- treated group (SUP) received an additional 45 mg of vitamin E (DL-α tocopheryl acetate) with a diet given to the control (CON) per lamb per day for 75 days. The effect of vitamin E supplementation on most meat quality traits was not statistically significant. L* and +a* values were measured on the M. longissimus dorsi (LM) and M. semimembranosus (SM) muscles obtained from vitamin E treated lamb groups which had been stored for a period of 12 days at 4C. The +a* (redness) for the freshly sliced SM muscle was significantly higher than the control (CON) at 4, 7 and 12 days of storage. TBARS (thiobarbituric acid) values in the LD muscle obtained from the control group were found to be higher than those obtained from the vitamin E supplementation group (P<0.01) on day 7 of storage.
Agency Theory

Agency theory studies the problems and solutions linked to delegation of tasks from principals to agents in the context of conflicting interests between the parties. Beginning from clear assumptions about rationality, contracting and informational conditions, the theory addresses problems of ex ante (“hidden characteristics”) as well as ex post information asymmetry (“hidden action”), and examines conditions under which various kinds of incentive instruments and monitoring arrangements can be deployed to minimize the welfare loss. Its clear predictions and broad applicability have allowed agency theory to enjoy considerable scientific impact on social science; however, it has also attracted considerable criticism.
On the Relative Efficiency of Crowdsourced Rating Mechanisms: Experimental Evidence

This paper experimentally tests the effectiveness of three crowdsourced signaling mechanisms on their ability to resolve an asymmetric information problem over product quality for a set of consumers. Motivated by naturally occurring environments, the first mechanism allowed experimental subjects to submit a signal of high product quality only, the second allowed for a signal of high and a signal of low quality, and the third a five star rating scale of quality, which reported the average rating. In support of the primary hypothesis, the experimental results reveal positive returns to the degree of signal specificity in the rating system given to consumers. Namely, the five- star rating mechanism reduces the presence of asymmetric information more than the high quality signal only mechanism. The high-and-low quality signaling mechanism, which offers an intermediate level of signal specificity on quality, is not statistically different from the other two mechanisms. Furthermore, an analysis of individual characteristics finds evidence that the willingness of a subject to rate products, and thus aid in producing valuable information for other consumers, is critically linked to their pro-social tendencies. <br>
Rapid and Efficient Microwave‐Assisted Synthesis of N‐Carbamoyl‐L‐amino Acids

Abstract A rapid and efficient method for the synthesis of N‐carbamoyl‐L‐amino acids is reported. The procedure, involving the reaction between urea and α‐amino acids sodium salts, was performed under microwave conditions using an unmodified domestic microwave oven. A careful study of the operative conditions indicated proline (1d) as the less reactive substrate and phenylglycine (1e) as the more reactive one among all the α‐amino acids tested. Substitution of urea with potassium cyanate produced a low conversion into the corresponding N‐carbamoyl derivative, and a possible explanation of this result is reported.
The Short- and Long-Term Effects of School Choice on Student Outcomes - Evidence from a School Choice Reform in Sweden

This paper evaluates the effects of a major Swedish school choice reform. The reform in 1992 increased school choice and competition among public schools as well as through a large-scale introduction of private schools. We estimate the effects of school choice and competition, using precise geographical information on the locations of school buildings and children’s homes for the entire Swedish population for several cohorts affected at different stages in their educational career. We can measure the long-term effects up to age 25. We find that increased school choice had very small, but positive, effects on marks at the end of compulsory schooling, but virtually zero effects on longer term outcomes such as university education, employment, criminal activity and health.
The Spines of Sticklebacks (Gasterosteus and Pygosteus) as Means of Defence Against Predators (Perca and Esox)

Feeding experiments with Pike (Esox lucius L.) and Perch (Perca fluviatilis L.) as predators, and Three-spined Sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.), Ten-spined Sticklebacks (Pygosteus pungitius L.), Minnows (Phoxinus phoxinus (L.)), Roach (Rutilus rutilus (L.)), Rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus (L.)) and Crucian Carp. (Carassius carassius (L.)) as prey species show that both species of stickleback enjoy a demonstrable degree of protection from these predators. This protection is much better for Gasterosteus than for Pygosteus; tests with de-spined sticklebacks show that it is mainly due to the spines. A description of the predatory behaviour of Perch and Pike is given; analysis of the experiments shows that (I) sticklebacks are rejected when, after being snapped up, their spines hurt the predator's mouth; (2) after very few experiences both Perch and Pike become negatively conditioned to the sight of sticklebacks and avoid them before they have made contact. As a result of this conditioning, the last links of the predators' feeding chain drop out; in Pike, mere fixation with two eyes was often sufficient to recognise the prey as unwanted. The possession of few and large spines in Gasterosteus must be regarded as more specialised than that of many small spines as found in various other species of stickleback. There is a correlation between the extreme development of this anti-predator device in Gasterosteus and (I) its boldness, (2) its tendency to select a more open nesting habitat, (3) the schooling and wandering tendencies of the females in the spawning season, and (4) its relatively conspicuous nuptial colours; these correlations suggest an interrelationship between anti-predator devices and reproductive behaviour and structures; the evolution of these two systems must have occurred in conjunction with each other.
How Big-4 Firms Improve Audit Quality

This paper studies whether and how Big-4 firms provide higher-quality audits than non-Big-4 firms. Specifically, we first examine a Big-4 effect and then explore three sources of the Big-4 effect. To test the Big-4 effect, we use a unique data set of individual audit partners for a large sample of private companies and a novel research design exploiting the fact that auditees may follow the auditor who switches affiliation from a non-Big-4 firm to a Big-4 firm. Thus, we compare audit quality and audit fees of the same partner–auditee pairs before and after the switch. The results show that the Big-4 effect exists in the private-firm segment. More important, we find evidence for three sources of the Big-4 effect. First, Big-4 firms are able to recruit non-Big-4 partners who deliver higher audit quality than other non-Big-4 partners in the preswitch period. Second, enhanced learning has taken place after the switch. Third, the increased audit quality can also be attributed to stronger incentives/monitoring. These are new findings to the literature.This paper was accepted by Suraj Srinivasan, accounting.
The role of biomass in America's energy future: framing the analysis

The Role of Biomass in America's Energy Future (RBAEF) project, initiated during the first half of 2003, has sought to identify and evaluate paths by which biomass can make a large contribution to energy services and determine means to accelerate biomass energy use. In addressing these issues, the study has focused on future, mature, technologies rather than today's technology. This perspective – the first of eight papers that comprise this issue – introduces the project, providing an operative definition of and method for estimating mature technology, a rationale for choosing the model feedstock, a list of the conversion technologies considered, and as a point of reference, a brief overview of the energy flows through a typical petroleum refinery. The subsequent papers are introduced as well. © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Is Public-Private Partnership Better than Traditional Procurement? An Analysis Under Nash Bargaining

Problem Definition: Public-private partnership (PPP) is a form of government procurement where a private entity (firm) provides upfront funding to construct a public project. After the project is completed, the firm collects payments from end consumers to recoup the construction cost and generate a profit. Academic/Practical Relevance: PPPs are particularly useful for the provision of major government infrastructure projects that require large capital expenditures. For these projects, the government and the firm often entertain intense negotiations on the subject of the construction and compensation details. However, existing literature has not studied the impact of negotiations on the outcome of the final PPP agreement. Methodology: This study uses the canonical Nash bargaining solution to evaluate the negotiation outcome between the government and the firm. Results: We solve for the Nash bargaining outcome between the government and the firm under PPP, and compare it to traditional procurement where the government provides the project funding from its operating budget. We find that when the government has a relatively balanced goal of maximizing consumer surplus and public revenue, PPP can lead to a win-win-win situation for the government, the firm, and consumers, compared to traditional procurement. In contrast, when the government’s goal is to mainly maximize consumer surplus, PPP can result in worse outcomes. In this case, the government can attain a desired bargaining outcome for all stakeholders by providing subsidies to either the firm or the end consumers. Managerial Implications: Our results are useful for informing policy makers of instances when PPP is better than traditional procurement and when government subsidies should be provided.
Earnings Management and Investor Protection: An International Comparison

This paper examines the pervasiveness of earnings management across 31 countries between 1990 and 1999. It documents systematic differences in earnings management across different clusters of countries. We propose an explanation for these differences based on the notion that insiders, in an attempt to protect their private control benefits, use earnings management to conceal firm performance from outsiders. Thus, earnings management is expected to decrease in investor protection because strong protection limits insiders' ability to acquire private control benefits, which reduces their incentives to mask firm performance. Our evidence is consistent with this prediction. The findings suggest a link between corporate governance and the quality of reported earnings, and complement prior finance research that treats the quality of corporate reporting as exogenous.
Perspectives of Sorghum in Europe

This paper attempts to review the present status and offers a perspective on sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] use and breeding in Europe. Topics such as botany, origin, utilization, agronomic performances and improvement of sorghum are discussed. Clearly, producers and users of sorghum should be more familiar with the crop so that they can take advantage of some of the unique characteristics that are associated with sorghum as it relates to Europe.
Network Size and Content Generation on Social Media Platforms

Social media has been increasingly integrated into firm operations. Past literature documented the operational value of the content generated by social media users but paid little attention to the users’ incentives to generate and share content. We fill in the gap by linking a user’s social network to her content contribution. Specifically, we distinguish the role of the followee network (the group of people being followed by the user) from the role of the follower network. When a user follows more people, she may spend more time in consuming content than generating content (the substitution effect); she may gain more conflicting information from her followees, obfuscating her incentives to generate content (the information overload effect). Conversely, gathering more information from her followees may facilitate her own content generation (the information sharing effect). Through different identification strategies using multiple datasets from two influential social media platforms, we find that the effects of followees and followers are asymmetric in signs and different in magnitudes. Most notably, a user generates less content with a larger followee network, especially when she faces more time constraints. Our findings suggest social media platforms and companies leveraging social media in their operations incorporate network analytics to promote their user engagement.
Share Repurchases

This text provides an overview of research on stock repurchases. The author presents a personal interpretation of the numerous research results published during the last 25 years starting with a description of the various methods to repurchase stock and the growing importance of buybacks around the world. The review discusses the importance of the institutional environment (i.e. regulation and taxes) for the emergence of share repurchase activity and provides an overview of short-term event-studies around repurchase announcements. The general conclusion is that, regardless of the repurchase method, stock prices increase significantly. The author discusses the extent to which various theories can explain this price increase. He also shows that managers are able to time the market buy buying back stock when the shares are undervalued. In addition, the text compares dividends and repurchases. Finally, it summarizes the main findings and implications for corporate financial policy.
Advertising and Risk Selection in Health Insurance Markets

We study impacts of advertising as a channel of risk selection in Medicare Advantage. We show evidence that both mass and direct mail advertising are targeted to achieve risk selection. We develop and estimate an equilibrium model of Medicare Advantage with advertising to understand its equilibrium impacts. We find that advertising attracts the healthy more than the unhealthy. Moreover, shutting down advertising increases premiums by up to 40% for insurers that advertised by worsening their risk pools, which further reduces the demand of the unhealthy. We argue that risk selection may make consumers better off by improving insurers' risk pools.
Director Overconfidence

We examine overconfident CEO directors and find they attend more board meetings, are more likely to serve on the nominating or the compensation committee, have more independent directorships, and foster higher attendance rates on boards. Boards with overconfident directors are more likely to appoint a better prepared and more reputable CEO following a turnover. These newly appointed CEOs are also more likely to be overconfident. This evidence indicates overconfident CEO directors exhibit significant influence on the board and over the firm’s CEO selection.
Some observations on the Carex muricata group with especial reference to the identification and definition of C. divulsa subsp. leersii (Cyperaceae)

Abstract A morphological study of Carex divulsa subsp. leersii is described. This work was prompted by recent finds of the taxon away from its presumed characteristic calcareous substrates, and by the fact that many plants had measurements outside the ranges given in standard descriptions. The study confirmed this to be so for inflorescence length, proximal inter-spike distance and especially for utricle length. Large values for the first two of these characters may have caused confusion in the past with subsp. divulsa and of the last with C. spicata, which also shares the broad leaves and robust, tufted habit of subsp. leersii. The importance of using only plants with mature fruits for identification is stressed, as immature fruits of subsp. leersii are paler and can be up to 0.5 mm shorter than the darker mature ones. Misidentification of subsp. leersii as other taxa in the C. muricata group has led to it being under-recorded, and adoption of the European concept of the taxon is recommended in order to remedy this.
Interest Rate Pass-Through and Consumption Response: The Deposit Channel

Abstract This study assesses a new mechanism, the deposit channel, in the transmission of interest rate shock to household consumption using an administrative panel data set of financial transactions for Turkey. Our empirical strategy exploits variation in consumers' adherence to the Islamic laws that forbid earning interest and employs a standard difference-in-difference design. Following an unanticipated announcement of interest rate hike, rate-sensitive consumers significantly reduce their overall spending, and the response persists throughout the post-announcement period. The response of debt payment, disparate exposure to inflation, exchange rate, and the demographic difference can hardly fully account for the documented consumption response heterogeneity.
Response of laying hens to dietary supplementation with energetically equivalent amounts of maize starch or maize oil

Equivalent levels of metabolisable energy (ME) from either maize starch or maize oil were fed to laying hens receiving a constant intake of all other nutrients from diets containing either maize or wheat as the sole cereal ingredient. Birds receiving maize oil as compared with maize starch utilised a greater proportion of the ME to synthesise body tissue. Increasing dietary additions of maize starch consistently improved the numbers of eggs laid but no beneficial effect of maize starch on egg size could be observed. In contrast, increasing dietary additions of maize oil consistently improved egg size but had little influence on the numbers of eggs laid. Although the increased egg size in birds fed supplementary maize oil appeared to be due to some component of the oil other than ME no significant difference in total egg yield could be observed between maize starch and maize oil treatments. The substitution of wheat for maize as the sole cereal ingredient in the ration did not alter the pat terns of response observed with the maize diet.
Consumption Inequality Among Children: Evidence From Child Fostering in Malawi

The share of household resources devoted to a child may depend on their gender, birth order, or relationship to the household head. However, it is challenging to determine whether parents favour certain children over others as consumption data are collected at the household level and goods are shared among family members. I develop a new methodology using the collective household framework to identify consumption inequality between different types of children. I apply this method to child fostering in Malawi. I find little evidence of inequality between foster and non-foster children.
How Relevant is the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) for Tests of Market Efficiency on the Nigerian Stock Exchange?

We find an asset pricing model which consists of the market portfolio, the market skewness or co-skewness factors, and portfolio idiosyncratic volatility factor best explains portfolio risk-return trade-offs on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), and is appropriate to studies of the efficiency of the Nigerian stock market. Our finding that an asset pricing model which consists of the market portfolio alone tends to consistently understate portfolio risk indicates this conventional one-factor specification of the CAPM is inappropriate to tests of the efficiency of the Nigerian stock market. With respect to the effects of non-synchronous trading of stocks on portfolio risk-return trade-offs, we find that while the presence of non-synchronous trading induces greater diversification benefits for investors, it simultaneously results in a higher price for market risk; that is, higher levels of risk aversion. Our findings demonstrate preference for market skewness or co-skewness can be a risk mitigating response to anticipated adverse effects of changes in the risk of the market portfolio on portfolio returns.
Wild blueberry response to phosphorus applied to Prince Edward Island soils

Pressure on growers to protect the environment and reduce input costs has increased the need to more effectively use fertilizers. Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the response of wild blueberries to soil-applied P on loamy sand to sandy loam Orthic Podzol soils in Prince Edward Island over three cropping cycles from 1992 to 1997. The sites had soil test (Mehlich-3) P levels from 33 to 44 µg P g-1, which are rated as L- for blueberries in the PEI Soil and Feed Testing Laboratory Standards. Treatments consisted of soil-applied P at 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 kg ha-1 applied to the same plots in the sprout year in each of three consecutive cropping cycles. There was a positive linear relationship between application rate of P and extractable soil P and leaf tissue P concentration. Over the 6 yr of the study, soil extractable P increased on average 1.1 µg P g-1 for each kg of soil-applied P compared with the control where no soil P was applied. Increases in levels of tissue P concentration were less drama.
Does Investor Sentiment Predict Future Mexican Stock Market Returns?

This paper studies whether investor sentiment can predict future Mexican stock market returns. Furthermore, we examine the dynamic correlation between sentiment and returns. Lastly, we examine whether sentiment innovations influence unexpected returns. We find that sentiment has significant predictive power up to 24 months ahead. Higher levels of sentiment today lead to lower returns in the future. We also find that the correlation between investor sentiment and equity returns varies over time. Finally, we find that sentiment innovations are correlated with unexpected returns. Overall, the results suggest that investor sentiment is an important risk factor for the Mexican stock market.
High Mortality of Monochamus alternatus Adults Emerging from Pine Logs to Which Non-woven Fabric Strips with Beauveria bassiana Were Applied under Field Conditions.

Monochamus alternatus adults emerging from pine logs to which non-woven fabric strips with Beauveria bassiana were applied were reared individually under field or laboratory conditions, and their mortality was investigated. Under field conditions in 2001 and 2002, accumulated mortality on the 15th day after emergence was 95 to 99% of adults emerging from logs with strips, and 68 to 90% of adults emerging from logs with no strips. Under laboratory conditions in 2001 to 2003, the mortality was 84 to 97% for adults emerging from logs with strips and 22 to 30% for adults emerging from logs with no strips. Since the adults emerging from logs with strips died quickly under field conditions, their total area of maturation feeding within 30 days after emergence was 42–51% that of adults emerging from logs with no strips, and most females died before their ovaries matured. Even though adults emerged from logs with strips, B. bassiana was not detected in 34–43% of dead adults under field conditions and in 12–34% of dead adults under laboratory conditions. However, the death was suggested to be influenced by the application of B. bassiana.