Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Upgrading Heterogeneous Consumers

We study how a durable-goods monopolist upgrades heterogeneous consumers in an infinite horizon model of quality growth. While unable to charge consumers based on their purchase histories, the monopolist may engage in both inter- and intra-temporal price discriminations: charge different prices for goods of the same quality over time and offer different buyback prices for earlier, lower quality versions. First, we consider that there is a frictionless secondhand market such that consumers are anonymous. The monopolist always keeps high-value consumers abreast of the latest development. Moreover, when consumers are similar, the monopolist also upgrades low-value consumers at the same pace as the high-value ones. Otherwise, the monopolist completely ignores low-value consumers and focuses only on the high-value ones. Second, we consider where there is no secondhand market and consumers are semi-anonymous. If consumers and the monopolist are impatient, the outcome is the same as in an anonymous market. Otherwise, besides the efficient pooling equilibrium, there are three interesting inefficient upgrade patterns where high-value consumers always upgrade every period: the low-value consumers (1) keep a constant quality difference from the high-value ones, (2) upgrade in cycles but below the quality frontier, and (3) upgrade to the frontier in cycles.
Frequentist Methods for Statistical Inference

Statistical inference can be described as the process of drawing conclusions about a population or process based on sample data. This chapter outlines the logic of “classical” or “frequentist” methods for such inference. Three commonly used concepts for assessing statistical error are confidence intervals, p-values, and hypothesis tests. The chapter explains the reasoning behind these devices without focusing unduly on the computational steps. It also outlines the logic underlying resampling methods. It identifies common misinterpretations of computed quantities and discusses some of the comparative advantages and disadvantages of using confidence intervals, p-values, classical hypothesis tests, and likelihood ratios for various purposes in forensic science. Along with idealized, simple examples of probabilistic processes, it uses two principal examples from forensic science to illustrate the frequentist reasoning. The first involves an experiment to ascertain the validity and false positive probability of identifications made by latent fingerprint examiners. The second involves measurements of the refractive index of glass fragments.
Levée de dormance des faînes avant leur conservation : résultats préliminaires

Les faines Fagus silvatica de trois lots recoltes en 1976 et 1979 ont pu etre conservees dans un etat non dormant, donc «pretes a germer» pendant 24 et 30 mois. La levee de dormance etait effectuee sur les lots humides, apres recolte, soit par stratification au contact d'un milieu humide, soit par pretraitement sans milieu a +3°C. Apres levee de dormance, les lots etaient seches a 15-18°C jusqu'a 8-9 p. 100 de teneur en eau avant d'etre mis en conservation a −5°C. Mis a germer en temperatures alternees 5∼15°C, la germination etait tres rapide avec des temps moyens de germination de 9 a 13 jours. L'utilisation de ces temperatures alternees 5∼15°C s'est revelee comme tres bien adaptee a la germination des faines non dormantes. Les meilleurs resultats sont obtenus avec le pretraitement sans milieu
The Effect of External Factors towards the Logistics Performance in Efficiency of Material Supply for the Pipeline Construction Based Projects: Evidence from the Oil and Gas Industry in Pakistan

This study investigates the influence of systematic factors on Logistics Performance and Efficiency. The external factors included Transport Policy/Regulation, Transport Availability, and Infrastructure of Technology. Data was collected from 191 supply chain personals belonging to Oil and Gas Industry in Pakistan by means of a close-ended questionnaire. Data were analyzed through Structured Equation Modeling and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The results suggested that logistics performance is positively and significantly influenced by all the above-mentioned factors. Thus the results imply that infrastructure technology, transport availability, and transport policy and regulation has directly related to logistics performance and share significant variance upon logistics performance.
Immigrants and Foreign Firm Performance.

Studies have demonstrated that foreign firms locate where immigrants from their home countries reside and suggested that doing so can improve performance. We argue that, to properly assess how immigrants impact the performance of co-national firms, research must account for heterogeneity in how independent foreign entrants (owned by individual foreigners) versus MNC subsidiaries (owned by a foreign corporate parent) benefit from immigrant communities. Independent entrants have a greater need for resources from the immigrant community and depend more on their individual managers’ personal connections within the community to obtain such resources. Subsidiaries of MNCs can instead rely on the impersonal organizational resources of their parent firm (e.g. brand, reputation, channels) to access valuable immigrant community resources. Using data on foreign firms in Russia during 2006-2011, we find that immigrants improve the profitability of co-national independent firms only if they are managed by immigrant CEOs, whereas co-national MNC subsidiaries profit from immigrants regardless of their CEO’s nationality. Our study suggests that while organizations benefit from the resources of co-national immigrant communities in foreign markets, the means by which they activate them—personal or impersonal—systematically vary across different types of firms.
Pricing TARN Using a Finite Difference Method

Typically options with a path dependent payoff, such as Target Accumulation Redemption Note (TARN), are evaluated by a Monte Carlo method. This paper describes a finite difference scheme for pricing a TARN option. Key steps in the proposed scheme involve tracking of multiple one-dimensional finite difference solutions, application of jump conditions at each cash flow exchange date, and a cubic spline interpolation of results after each jump. Since a finite difference scheme for TARN has significantly different features from a typical finite difference scheme for options with a path independent payoff, we give a step by step description on the implementation of the scheme, which is not available in the literature. The advantages of the proposed finite difference scheme over the Monte Carlo method are illustrated by examples with three different knockout types. In the case of constant or time dependent volatility models (where Monte Carlo requires simulation at cash flow dates only), the finite difference method can be faster by an order of magnitude than the Monte Carlo method to achieve the same accuracy in price. Finite difference method can be even more efficient in comparison with Monte Carlo in the case of local volatility model where Monte Carlo requires significantly larger number of time steps. In terms of robust and accurate estimation of Greeks, the advantage of the finite difference method will be even more pronounced.
Effect of Bacillus velezensis and Glomus intraradices on Fruit Quality and Growth Parameters in Strawberry Soilless Growing System

This study evaluates the effect on the ‘Splendor’ and ‘Primoris’ strawberry cultivars of different dates of inoculation with Glomus intraradices, an arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus. Additionally, plants were grown in a soilless growing system with or without Bacillus velezensis at the beginning of the experiment. A completely randomized block design (2 biofertilizer treatments × 2 cultivars × 3 inoculation dates) with 2 replications was used. Each replicate consisted of one bag with 10 plants. Fruit weight, fruit quality, growth parameters, and SPAD values in young leaves were monitored from October 2011 to June 2012 in a greenhouse. At the end of the crop cycle, the microbial population of Bacillus spp. and the Glomus intraradices population were determined from the rhizosphere of the plant. Bacillus velezensis and Glomus intraradices were established in the strawberry soilless growing system. The effect of arbuscular mycorrhizae on strawberry fruit quality was more important than that on growth parameters. Biofertilizer with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi had an inhibitory effect on fruit quality, as indicated by low TSS, pH, and TA values. The combined effect of the biofertilizer and inoculation dates of Glomus intraradices on growth parameters was more significant in the ‘Primoris’ cultivar than in ‘Splendor’. In both cultivars, an increase in SPAD values was observed from week 12 to week 22 after planting. Depending on the cultivar selected, the date of inoculation may significantly affect plant response to AM fungal colonization in a soilless growing system.
STUDIES ON FLAVINS IN ORGANIC SOLVENTS‐I * . SPECTRAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RIBOFLAVIN, RIBOFLAVIN TETRABUTYRATE AND LUMICHROME

Abstract— The absorption and fluorescence spectra of riboflavin, riboflavin tetrabutyrate and lumichrome have been studied in organic solvents of different polarity including ethanol, acetone, dioxane, pyridine, acetic acid and in cyclohexane‐dioxane mixtures. The molar extinction coefficients of the compounds were measured and the character of solvent sensitive changes observed in the absorption spectra are discussed. The effect of hydrogen bonding and/or intramolecular charge transfer complex are proposed as possible explanation.
Platforms, Open/User Innovation, and Ecosystems: A Strategic Leadership Perspective

Abstract Platform, open/user innovation, and ecosystem strategies embrace and enable interactions with external entities. Firms pursuing these approaches conduct business and interact with environments differently than those pursuing traditional closed strategies. This chapter considers these strategies together highlighting similarities and differences between platform, open/user innovation, and ecosystem strategies. We focus on managerial and organizational challenges for organizations pursuing these strategies and identify four institutional logic shifts associated with these strategic transitions: (1) increasing external focus, (2) moving to greater openness, (3) focusing on enabling interactions, and (4) adopting interaction-centric metrics. As mature incumbent organizations adopt these strategies, there may be tensions and multiple conflicting institutional logics. Additionally, we consider four strategic leadership topics and how they relate to platform, open/user innovation, and ecosystem strategies: (1) executive orientation and experience, (2) top management teams, (3) board-management relations, and (4) executive compensation. We discuss theoretical implications, and consider future directions and research opportunities.
Key Lessons from Bear Markets in Malaysia 1990 – 2016

The objective of this paper is to review the salient features of major bear markets in Malaysia based on historical evidence. This paper seeks to provide an in-depth review and analysis of three key areas: the macroeconomic experiences, the historical events and the global circumstances in which a rapid fall in share prices have occurred in Malaysia. The research methodology encompasses a mix of qualitative and quantitative analysis, based on literature and secondary data. Political instability, capital reversal, spillover effect from international development, investor perception are some of the key themes identified behind a bearish stock market environment in Malaysia.
Stuck Online: When Online Engagement Gets in the Way of Offline Sales

In recent years, billions of dollars have been spent by both online and offline retailers on website design aimed at increasing consumers’ online engagement. We study the relationship between online engagement and offline sales, utilizing a quasi-experimental setting in which a leading premium automobile brand gradually launched a new interactive website across markets, allowing for a treatment-control comparison. This paper offers evidence of a causal effect of online engagement on offline sales, with the high-engagement website leading to a decline of approximately 12% in car sales. This negative effect is due to substitution between online and offline engagement; users of the high-engagement website exhibited a decreased tendency to seek out personal contact with a car dealer and proceed to offline engagement—a necessary stage in the car purchase funnel. We develop an analytical model of the online-to-offline sales funnel to generalize our findings and highlight the conditions under which online engagement substitutes for offline engagement and potentially decreases offline sales. Taken together, our findings suggest that while online engagement serves as a means for both product information provision and consumer persuasion, it may fall short in achieving the latter goal, as compared to the offline channel. For purely offline products, hands-on engagement is a necessary step toward purchase. Thus, increasing consumers’ online engagement may not be an optimal strategy if it has the potential to halt progression down the sales funnel and reduce offline engagement.
Coupling microscale vegetation–soil water and macroscale vegetation–precipitation feedbacks in semiarid ecosystems

At macroscale, land–atmosphere exchange of energy and water in semiarid zones such as the Sahel constitutes a strong positive feedback between vegetation density and precipitation. At microscale, however, additional positive feedbacks between hydrology and vegetation such as increase of infiltration due to increase of vegetation, have been reported and have a large impact on vegetation distribution and spatial pattern formation. If both macroscale and microscale positive feedbacks are present in the same region, it is reasonable to assume that these feedback mechanisms are connected. In this study, we develop and analyse a soil‐vegetation‐atmosphere model coupling large‐scale evapotranspiration–precipitation feedback with a model of microscale vegetation–hydrology feedback to study the integration of these nonlinearities at disparate scales. From our results, two important conclusions can be drawn: (1) it is important to account for spatially explicit vegetation dynamics at the microscale in climate models (the strength of the precipitation feedback increased up to 35% by accounting for these microscale dynamics); (2) studies on resilience of ecosystems to climate change should always be cast within a framework of possible large‐scale atmospheric feedback mechanism (substantial changes in vegetation resilience resulted from incorporating macroscale precipitation feedback). Analysis of full‐coupled modelling shows that both type of feedbacks markedly influence each other and that they should both be accounted for in climate change models.
Digital Platforms and Informal Work: Analysis of Labor Lawsuits in the City of São Paulo Related to Uber

This work aims to study the digital platforms and informal work. The discussion about the informal work is related to the precarious, insecure and unprotected work and its environmental factors as well as can be related to the emergence of digital platforms and technologies in the economy. The research problem was: how digital platforms and technologies increase informal work and judicial claims requesting work formalizations? The methodology was based on the analysis of labor complaints regarding work formalization (n=108) against Uber in Sao Paulo, the most populous city in Brazil and the city that Uber makes the most rides in the world. As a result, it is intended to discuss if and how labor complains promote the access of informal workers to the essential protections and benefits of labour law and social security in Brazil.
Essential Oil Composition of Thymus vulgaris L.

This study was carried out at the research field of Tarbiat Modares University, Peykan Shahr, Tehran to determine the changes in the chemical compositions of essential oil of thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) at full flowering stage. The essential oils of the aerial parts were extracted by hydrodistillation method using Clevenger apparatus, and analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The main constituents of the EO were thymol and β-Cymene.
No Influence of Type 2 Diabetes on Chronic Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in Obese Patients

Obesity per se carries the features of chronic inflammation and oxidative stress that interrelate in a complex network and exert an important role in the onset of several complications such as type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis and cardiovascular events. On the other hand, it seems that hyperglycemia per se as well as insulin resistance (independent of hyperglycemia), both induce increased oxidative stress. The aim of our study was to analyze proinflammatory and oxidative stress markers in obese patients with and without type 2 diabetes and to verify the hypothesis that type 2 diabetes associated with obesity would promote a higher chronic inflammation and oxidative stress state as compared to obesity alone. We found no differences between the two groups of patients regarding chronic inflammation and oxidative stress markers. Therefore we may conclude that there is no influence of type 2 diabetes on chronic inflammation and oxidative stress in obese patients.
Banking Integration and Growth: Role of Banks' Previous Industry Exposure

Using U.S. interstate banking deregulations, we identify the effect of banks’ prior to market-entry industry exposures on the state-level manufacturing sector growth. Examining industry value added, gross operating surplus, total compensation, number of employees, output per employee and wages, we find that the larger the discrepancy in specialization in an industry between a state-pair, the higher is the impact of banking integration on the growth of that sector in the less specialized state. Our results indicate that a banking channel shapes the states’ industrial landscape. Banks prior exposure to different sectors appears to have important consequences for regional economic integration.
Identification of bird species and their prey using DNA barcode on feces from Korean traditional village groves and forests (maeulsoop)

Abstract A DNA barcode based on 648 bp of cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene aims to build species-specific libraries for animal groups. However, it is hard to recover full-length (648 bp) barcode gene from environmental fecal samples due to DNA degradation. In this study, we designed a new primer set (K_Bird), which amplifies a 226 bp fragment targeted an inner position of full-length COI barcode based on 102 species of Korean birds to improve amplification success, and we attempted to identify bird species from 39 avian fecal samples collected during 4 months from Jinan, South Korea. Simultaneously, we conducted a dietary analysis using a universal DNA mini-barcode (Uni_Minibar) from same fecal samples. In silico analysis on newly designed mini-barcode represented that genetic distances were 0.5% in species and 9.1% in genera. Intraspecific variations of 149 species out of 174 species (86%) between Korea and North America were within the threshold (5.3% threshold in this study). From environmental fecal samples collected in Jinan, we identified seven avian species, which have high similarity (99–100%) with registered COI sequences in GenBank. Eight kinds of prey species, such as moth, spider, fly, and dragonfly, were identified in dietary analysis. We suppose that our strategy applying mini-barcode for environmental fecal samples, might be a useful and convenient tool for species identification and dietary analysis for birds.
Shipping Investor Sentiment and International Stock Return Predictability

We construct investor sentiment indices for real assets and study how these can affect international stock returns on the aggregate market and cross-sectional level. Our findings suggest that shipping sentiment can be employed as a leading indicator for financial asset markets. We find that sentiment serves as a contrarian predictor of stock returns for a set of country stock indices, developed markets portfolios and US industry portfolios. This new predictor consistently outperforms the historical average forecast benchmark. To demonstrate the economic significance of shipping sentiment, we also perform a sentiment-based trading simulation. The trading strategies designed to exploit the predictive ability of sentiment provide higher returns and lower risk exposure than those of the buy-and-hold benchmark.
Family or Nonfamily? CEO Appointment in a Multitask Model with Economic and Non-Economic Tasks

Prior economic research is very critical about family CEOs and family management. Nepotism, altruism, lower managerial abilities, and a small pool of qualified family candidates are cited as reasons that speak against family management. Still, the empirical reality is different. A surprisingly large share of firms is run by family managers. Our study provides a rational economic explanation for this paradox, linked to the multitasking problem in managing family firms. We compare the performance of family and non-family managers in a moral-hazard model with imperfect performance measures, where managerial tasks are related to the economic and non-economic goals of the business-owning family. While incentive pay is more effective for nonfamily managers, the associated effort distortion towards economic outcomes is less pronounced for family managers. When economic and non-economic tasks are strong substitutes, the family hires a non-family manager at the expense of its non-economic goals. However, the more complementary the tasks, the more aligned the performance measure with the family's goals, and the less severe the moral-hazard conflict, the more likely a family manager is optimal. We find that family managers can be preferred even if they have lower ability than non-family managers on average. Our study contributes to the literature about family management and agency costs in family firms and has practical implications for family businesses deciding between hiring managers in or outside the family.
Consistent Re-Calibration in Yield Curve Modeling: An Example

Popular yield curve models include affine term structure models. These models are usually based on a fixed set of parameters which is calibrated to the actual financial market conditions. Under changing market conditions also parametrization changes. We discuss how parameters need to be updated with changing market conditions such that the re-calibration meets the premise of being free of arbitrage. We demonstrate this (consistent) re-calibration with the Hull-White extended discrete time Vasicek model at hand, but this concept applies to a wide range of related term structure models.
Evidence of target specificity in attacks by Australian magpies on humans

Although attacks on humans by Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen) are a source of significant wildlife-human conflict in urban areas of Australia, little is known about the patterns of attack by these birds. Such information is essential for the development of sound management plans for this species. We examined the attack behaviour of 48 aggressive magpies from Brisbane during September-October 1999, paying particular attention to the types of intruders targeted. All attacking birds were male. A clear majority (71%) of birds attacked only one intruder type, with about half attacking pedestrians only; similar proportions targeted cyclists (8%) only and mail deliverers (10%) only. While all intruding cyclists and mail deliverers were attacked, magpies did not attack all pedestrian intruders, suggesting possible discrimination within this category. Management implications for these intruder types are discussed.