Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Osteology of Cryolophosaurus ellioti (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Early Jurassic of Antarctica and implications for early theropod evolution

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, CW 405 Biological Sciences Centre, Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaReceived March 2005; accepted for publication March 2007Cryolophosaurus ellioti Hammer and Hickerson, 1994, from the Early Jurassic Hanson Formation of the CentralTransantarctic Mountains, represents a theropod dinosaur from a period of time and geographical area that arepoorly sampled with respect to dinosaur taxa. An in-depth morphological description of Cryolophosaurus is pre-sented here, along with a rigorous phylogenetic analysis of theropod relationships consisting of 347 characters and56 taxa, in an attempt to clarify the relationships of Cryolophosaurus and to provide insight into questions sur-rounding early theropod evolution. Cryolophosaurus is characterized by a unique cranial crest, formed primarily bythe lacrimals, a pronounced constriction of the squamosal and jugal bones across the infratemporal fenestra, andextremely elongate cranial processes on the cervical ribs. Several shared characters, including the presence of a slot-shaped foramen at the base of the nasal process of the premaxilla, nasolacrimal crests and erect tab-like dorsal pro-cesses on the articular, suggest afﬁnities between Cryolophosaurus and a clade of medium-bodied Early Jurassictheropods that includes ‘Dilophosaurus’ sinensis, Dracovenator regenti and Dilophosaurus wetherilli. This clade isrecovered as sister-taxon to a Neoceratosauria + Tetanurae clade, rendering both a traditional Coelophysoidea andCeratosauria non-monophyletic. Cryolophosaurus represents the largest known Early Jurassic theropod, and marksthe beginning of theropod occupation of the dominant predator niche in the Mesozoic. © 2007 The Linnean Societyof London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 151, 377–421.
The biology and ecology of juvenile pilotfish (Naucrates ductor) associated with Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) in eastern Mediterranean waters

The pilotfish ( Naucrates ductor ) is an epipelagic oceanic species, whose 0-group specimens tend to aggregate below flotsam, constituting a principal by-catch of the western Mediterranean FAD fishery. During a one-year survey sampling, monthly experimental hauls using surrounding nets were conducted at sites in south Peloponnesian waters, where FADs were moored; during the summer-early autumn months bongo tows were also carried out. 0-group pilotfish appeared beneath FADs from mid-summer till early winter and the total length of the collected specimens ranged between 120 and 330 mm. Pilotfish larvae, measuring 2.0- 3.9 mm, were found at FAD sites in mid-summer and in early autumn. The age of juvenile specimens, determined by counting daily increments on their sagittae, ranged between 50-141 increments (days) for males, and 51-131 increments (days) for females. The predicted asymptotic length was found to be 412.3mm TL for males and 435.2 mm TL for females. The onset of sexual maturity appeared to occur when specimens were a few months old. Stomach content analysis suggested that the diet of 0-group pilotfish associated to FADs in Greek waters depended mainly on decapod larvae, hyperiid amphipods, and alciopid polychaetes.
Bank Runs, Fast and Slow: From Behaviors to Dynamics

This paper studies the dynamic and behavioral aspects of bank runs. Existing mod- els mainly consider bank runs as coordination failures that occur instantly in simultaneous games. In the present model, bank runs arise as continuous cascades of withdrawals. Depositors make decisions based on (i) their types, (ii) their private information on total withdrawal, and (iii) the observed actions of others within a network. By both analytical and numerical methods, this paper makes two main contributions. First, the model can characterize the frequency, speed, and abruptness of dynamic runs. Particularly, there are two distinct patterns: slow runs that build up progressively vs. sudden runs that occur abruptly “out of nowhere”. Second, regarding the behavioral aspect, increase herding generates a trade-off between activation and speed of runs, bank runs are more frequent but slower to build up. By contrast, increase heterogeneity in information or types amplifies both activation and speed of runs, strictly increase bank failures.
Hard and Soft Selection in a Subdivided Population

Hard and soft selection are compared in a population subdivided into random mating subpopulations. The possibility for protected polymorphism is greater with soft than with hard selection. Protected polymorphism is more readily achieved with increasing isolation, an effect that is more pronounced with hard selection. The results are discussed in relation to selection components.
The Ardl Bounds Cointegration Test: Tips for Application and Pretesting

The ARDL bounds test of Pesaran, Shin and Smith (2001) has become an important tool for exploring cointegration. However, some pretesting is needed for its valid application: regressor variables should not be integrated of order higher than unity; the dependent variable must be integrated of order one; and that there be at most one cointegrating equilibrium involving the dependent variable, where only the dependent variable, and not the regressors, responds to deviations from this equilibrium.
Reducing Foreclosures

This paper takes a skeptical look at a leading argument about what is causing the foreclosure crisis and what should be done to stop it. We use an economic model to focus on two key decisions: the borrower’s choice to default on the mortgage and the lender’s choice on whether to renegotiate or “modify” the loan. The theoretical model and econometric analysis illustrate that “unaffordable” loans, defined as those with high mortgage payments relative to income at origination, are unlikely to be the main reason that borrowers decide to default. Rather, the typical problem appears to be a combination of household income shocks and an unprecedented fall in house prices. Regarding the small number of loan modifications to date, we show, both theoretically and empirically, that the efficiency of foreclosure for investors is a more plausible explanation for the low number of modifications than contract frictions related to securitization agreements between servicers and investors. While investors might be foreclosing when it would be socially efficient to modify, there is little evidence to suggest they are acting against their own interests when they do so. An important implication of our analysis is that policies designed to reduce foreclosures should focus on ameliorating the immediate effects of job loss and other adverse life events, rather than modifying loans to make them more “affordable” on a long-term basis.
Unemployment and Confidence in EU

It is held that financial integration requires a perfect market, perfect capital mobility, perfect labor mobility as well as perfect information. International crisis started in the USA and spread around the globe affecting many macroeconomic variables. Today EU has not yet recovered out of this crisis and confidence in EU is declining. In the present paper an attempt will be made to estimate how the unemployment rate affects the confidence in EU. The findings would be useful to investors as well as policy makers.
Top-down peptidomics of bodily fluids

Abstract The naturally occurring peptides, mainly arising from the proteolytic cleavage of larger proteins, play several functions within the body (e. g. antihypertensive, immuno-modulatory, anti-microbial and antiviral, mineral carriers). Their presence or the increase of their concentration could be connected to different pathologies and thereby some peptides could be useful biomarkers for the diagnosis or prognosis of the disease. Peptidome research, particularly within biological fluids, therefore represents one of the most interesting and challenging purposes of proteomics. In this review we describe the current state-of-the-art in peptidomics-based studies of several human bodily fluids (serum, plasma, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, saliva, tears, seminal fluid, vitreous humor, pancreatic juice), emphasizing the contribution of top-down proteomic platforms to the deep structural characterization of natural peptides and their posttranslational modifications.
On the Interaction between the Nigerian Residential Property Market and the Macroeconomy

Changes in real Gross Domestic Product, changing relativities of exchange rates, as well as inflation rates and short-term interest rates fluctuations exert profound impacts on the bulk of any country’s tangible capital and vice-versa. This paper employs a vector autoregressive (VAR) model to examine the interaction between the Nigerian residential property market - using returns from direct residential property as proxy - and the macroeconomy. First, in estimating a parsimonious VAR model, we applied Augmented Dickney Fuller (ADF) test to detect the presence of unit roots (non-stationary) within the variables that enter the model. Secondly, a multivariate information criteria technique is used in selecting the appropriate lag lengths for the variables to be included in each equation so as not to introduce multicollinearity problem and specification errors. The results of the forecast error variance within the VAR model suggest that macroeconomic shocks explain 28% of the variation in residential property rents and that unexplained variation in the behaviour of residential rents may reflect the explanatory power of property market indicators (as varied as yield, vacancy rates and new construction) rather than macroeconomic variables. Furthermore, responses of residential property rents to shocks in real GDP, exchange rates and short-term interest rates reflect the fact that rents from direct residential property and by extension, the market for residential property adjust slowly to changes in macroeconomic events in Nigeria. On this basis, we hypothesise that this relatively slow adjustment will creates arbitrage profits for parties operating within the Nigerian residential property market to exploit.
The CAPM: A Reformulation

By means of an amended basic model of financial markets, I reformulate the classical CAPM in two fundamental respects. The first is to have the B-pricing basis extended to include two more market factors; the second is to have the pricing model allow for the hedging relation between ambiguity and ambiguity aversion in the general case of market incompleteness. As a result, the reformulated CAPM captures not only systematic information associated with market factors but also systemic information associated with the state of market structure. Moreover, it becomes relatively more informational efficient than the classical CAPM is.
A Social Cost-Benefit Criterion for Evaluating Voluntary Counseling and Testing with an Application to Tanzania

Rationale: There are many interventions for HIV/AIDS that require that people know their status and hence require a HIV test. Testing that is driven by a desire to prevent the spread of the disease often has an indirect effect on others. These external effects need to be identified, quantified and included as part of the benefits and costs of testing. Pioneering analyses of HIV testing by Philipson and Posner have introduced the economic calculus of individual expected benefits and costs of activities into an understanding of the HIV epidemic. What is required for social evaluations is an extension of the analysis to ensure that external effects are included. Objectives: The objective of this paper is two‐fold. First we seek to formulate cost–benefit criteria that incorporate fully the external effects in the evaluation of Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT). We achieve this by recasting the individual calculus of benefits and costs to a couple setting. We can then compare an individual's cost–benefit analysis of being tested with social criteria that look at outcomes from a couple's perspective for both separate and dual/joint testing. Second we aim to apply our social criteria to VCT programs as they currently operate in Tanzania and how these programs might operate in the future when they are scaled up to relate to the general population. Methodology: We develop social criteria for evaluating separate and dual VCT using a couple's perspective with and without altruism. Therefore, the welfare function is based on two individual expected utility functions viewed as a couple, either married or regular partners. The benefits are the averted lives lost whenever discordant couples are revealed. The costs of VCT are the benefits of unprotected sex that the couple foregoes and the costs of the testing and counseling. The cost–benefit criteria are applied to VCT programs in Tanzania. The four main ingredients estimated are: the foregone benefit of unprotected sex (measured by the compensated wage differentials charged by commercial sex workers); the probability of infection; the cost of an infection (measured by both the value of a statistical life and the human capital approaches) and the cost of a single test (which includes behavior‐modifying counseling). Conclusions: We find separate testing in existing VCT programs to be only marginally worthwhile. However, in scaled‐up programs the benefit–cost ratio is over three. Dual testing is always more beneficial than separate testing. However, this advantage is reduced in scaled‐up programs. VCT should be greatly expanded throughout Tanzania as future returns would be even higher for both separate and joint counseling and HIV testing.
Median Splits, Type II Errors, and False Positive Consumer Psychology: Don't Fight the Power

Considerable prior statistical work has criticized replacing a continuously measured variable in a general linear model with a dichotomy based on a median split of that variable. Iacobucci, Posovac, Kardes, Schneider, and Popovich (this issue) defend the practice of “median splits�? using both conceptual arguments and simulations. We show that both their conceptual arguments and their simulations range from incomplete to incorrect. There are no real benefits to median splits, and there are real costs in increases in Type II errors through loss of power and increases in Type I errors through false positive consumer psychology. Median splits remain a bad idea.
In Vitro Angiogenesis of 3D Tissue Engineered Adipose Tissue

Using a cell assembly device developed in this laboratory, we coextruded adipose derived stem cells (ADSC) and gelatin/alginate hydrogel to form cubic 3D constructions (10 × 10 × 10 mm3) with regular distributed go-through pores. The ADSC grew, proliferated, and differentiated within these constructions. With the addition of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), cells located on the scaffold walls differentiated into endothelial like cells while cells embedded in the hydrogel differentiated into adipose like cells. The integrity of the constructions remained for more than 60 days. This new technology enables us to construct 3D adipose tissue with blood vessel-like structures in vitro which is a significant enhancement in adipose tissue engineering and provides a better biomimic 3D model for studying cell—cell interaction, stem cell differentiation conditions and cell organization mechanisms.
Parasite-Mediated Selection Amidst Marked Inter-Annual Variation in Mite Parasitism and Damselfly Life History Traits

Abstract: Parasite-mediated selection in host populations is thought to vary in magnitude temporally. We monitored variation in life history traits that are known or suspected to influence fitness in a population of damselflies parasitized by larval water mites. Mite prevalence and intensity varied considerably over 5 y and was often higher in females. Prevalence and intensity were highest in the years when the damselfly emergence periods were early and of short duration, which also corresponded to damselflies emerging at larger sizes. Mites appeared to exert negative effects on apparent survival in some years only, and only for females, suggesting that parasite-mediated selection on damselflies is variable and dependent on other factors such as emergence times, weather, and sex and body size of hosts. Nomenclature: Selys, 1862; Marshall, 1910.
Bovine Nuclear Transfer Using Cumulus Cells Derived from Serum-Starved and Confluent Cultures

Bovine cumulus cells after oocyte maturation were cultured under serum-starvation condition or grown to confluence. Their cell size, cell cycle phases, and developmental potential as donors for nuclear transfer (NT) were investigated. The majority of trypsinized cells of both cultures were found within the medium size range (15-20 μm). Flow cytometric analysis revealed that small- and medium-sized cells had significantly higher percentages of nuclei existing in the G0/G1 phase (95-98%) than large-sized cells (82%) regardless of the culture conditions. Serum-starved cells of different sizes (small, 9-14 μm; medium, 15-20 μm; large, 21-26 μm) had the same fusion rate, cleavage, development to blastocysts, and blastocyst cell number of NT embryos. NT embryos reconstituted from serum-starved and confluent medium-sized cells showed the same developmental rate. These results indicate that the most available medium-sized cells derived from both serum-starvation and confluent cultures can be used as a G0/G1-phase nuclei source.
IFAD IMPACT ASSESSMENT - Smallholder Commercial Agriculture Project (PAPAC) and Participatory Smallholder Agriculture and Artisanal Fisheries Development Programme (PAPAFPA)

Despite the progress made over the last decades across several socio-economic indicators, poverty incidence remains persistently high in São Tomé e Príncipe, with over two-thirds of the population living below the poverty line of US$3.2 (World Bank 2018). A set of constraints imposed by the country’s insularity, small market size and agroecological conditions make the country extremely vulnerable to market and climate shocks. Its economy relies heavily on imports, which are counterbalanced by a narrow set of exports, with cacao taking the lion share (approximately 70% of total exports, World Bank 2018). Agricultural production, however, has declined since the country’s independence in 1975 and productivity has remained consistently low, hindering economic wellbeing and progress of rural livelihoods, particularly of those relying on small-scale farming as a key source of income. The two projects evaluated in this report – the Participatory Smallholder Agriculture and Artisanal Fisheries Development Programme (PAPAFPA; implemented 2003-15) and, its successor, the Smallholder Commercial Agriculture Project (PAPAC; 2015-2020) – focus on this group of farmers and on three value chains: cacao, coffee and pepper. The projects interventions revolve around the promotion of certified organic farming and the creation of export-oriented cooperatives in each value chain, together with the investment in rural infrastructure. The projects’ cooperatives play a key role in the implementation of the interventions in the field, by working closely with the farmers and their associations, providing professional training, productive assets and facilitating linkages to the market. The interventions aim at increasing agricultural production in a sustainable manner via organic farming, enhancing market access and resilience to shocks, thereby promoting small farmers’ income stability and food security. Organic certification labels have been increasingly used across the world to pursue social and environmental sustainability in supply chains for agricultural products. However, there is still considerable debate surrounding their effectiveness in achieving those goals. Robust quantitative evidence of their impact on crop prices, productivity and overall welfare of rural livelihoods is scarce, and for São Tomé e Príncipe inexistent. Thus, the current impact assessment fills a gap in this literature by using a mixed-methods approach to assess and quantitatively estimate the impact of a project centred around certification schemes through rigorous counterfactual-based methods. Given the fundamental role played by the value-chain cooperatives in the project, it also contributes to a growing literature on the impact of associativism and cooperativism on the economic mobility of farmers and rural households.
Are There Spillover Effects from Negative Say-on-Pay Votes?

We provide evidence that when more than half of a firm’s voting shareholders disapprove of the executive pay plan, the spillover effects are significantly positive for peers of non-financial firms and significantly negative for peers of financial firms. The valuation effects are positively related to equity-based compensation and negatively related to cash-based and excess compensation. The no-votes are also associated with significant changes in compensation in the following year. In general, peer firms take action to align compensation with shareholder interests by lowering cash-based pay, increasing equity-based pay, and reducing excess compensation. Financial firms lower equity-based and excess compensation, suggesting they may alter pay in a manner that reduces regulatory pressure and the perception of CEO overpayment. Our results show far reaching effects from say-on-pay regulations, where even peer firms feel pressure to change their compensation following a no-vote.
Protective Effect of ACTIValoe N-931 Complex, a Mixture of Aloe vera and Silybum marianum, on Experimental Acute Liver Injury

− The aim of this study was to investigate the hepatoprotective effect of ACTIValoe® N-931 complex, a mixture of Aloe vera and Silybum marianum, against acute liver injuries. Acute liver damages were induced by intraperitoneal injection of galactosamine (GalN, 700 mg/kg), naphthylisothiocyanate (ANIT, 40 mg/kg) and ethionine (500 mg/kg). ACTIValoe® N-931 complex (85, 170 and 340) was administered orally 48 h, 24 h, 2 h before and 6 h after the injection of hepatotoxins. At 24 h after GalN treatment the levels of serum aminotransferases and hepatic lipid peroxidation were significantly elevated, whereas hepatic glutathione, serum triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol were decreased. These changes were attenuated by ACTIValoe® N-931 complex. The serum aminotransferase activities and total bilirubin significantly increased at 48 h after ANIT treatment, but were attenuated by ACTIValoe® N-931 complex. The bile flow was lower after ANIT treatment, which was restored by ACTIValoe® N-931 complex. ACTIValoe® N-931 complex reduced the ethionine-induced elevated hepatic TG contents. Histopathological analysis revealed that signs of liver injury were prominent at 24 h as result of ethionine injection, demonstrated by extensive areas of fatty change and microvesicular steatosis were observed around cells. These changes were attenuated by ACTIValoe® N-931 complex. Our results suggest that the ACTIValoe® N-931 complex has a protective effect on acute liver injury.
Decentralization and Spatial Distribution of Regional Economic Activity: Does Equalization Matter?

This paper investigates the effect of fiscal equalization on the spatial distribution of public activities and, therefore, on regional disparities in per capita GVA. With this aim, we use a simple theoretical model which is tested using data for the Spanish regions over the period 1986-2006. Our results show that a decentralized scenario with full equalization implies less differences across regions in per capita GVA and a more important share of public spending (production) on it in poorest territories, in comparison with a case in which decentralization is not accompanied by full fiscal equalization.