Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multivariate continuous-time modeling of wind indexes and hedging of wind risk

With the introduction of the exchange-traded German wind power futures, opportunities for German wind power producers to hedge their volumetric risk are present. We propose two continuous-time multivariate models for wind power utilization at different wind sites, and discuss the properties and estimation procedures for the models. Applying the models to wind index data for wind sites in Germany and the underlying wind index of exchange-traded wind power futures contracts, the estimation results of both models suggest that they capture key statistical features of the data. We show how these models can be used to find optimal hedging strategies using exchange-traded wind power futures for the owner of a portfolio of so-called tailor-made wind power futures. Both in-sample and out-of-sample hedging scenarios are considered, and, in both cases, significant variance reductions are achieved. Additionally, the risk premium of the German wind power futures is analysed, leading to an indication of the risk premium of tailor-made wind power futures.
Associação de diferentes fontes energéticas e protéicas em suplementos múltiplos na recria de novilhos mestiços sob pastejo no período da seca

Two trials were conducted to investigate different protein and energy sources in multiple supplements fed to growing crossbred bulls. In the first experiment, performance of 20 crossbred growing bulls averaging 17 months of age and 265±18 kg of body weight was evaluated in the dry season. Animals were maintained in 1.5 ha paddocks of Brachiaria brizantha with supplements being offered daily in a proportion of 0.75% of the body weight. A completely randomized design with a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement was used. Supplements contained whole soybean (WSB) or whole cottonseed (WCS) as the protein sources and rice bran (RB) or wheat bran (WB) as the energy sources. No significant differences on the average daily weight gain (ADG), final body weight (FBW), and total weight gain were observed among diets in this trial. The ADG and FBW averaged 0.589 and 318.2, 0.530 and 317.2, 0.620 and 319.6 and 0.606 kg/day and 323.6 kg for animals fed supplements containing WSB/WB, WSB/RB, WCS/WB, and WCS/RB, respectively. The objective of the second study was to estimate the carbohydrate fractions of the pasture and that of the feeds used in multiple supplements as well as their digestion rates using the gas production technique. Forage had higher indigestible fraction (C) and lower potentially degradable fraction (B2) compared to the supplements. Among supplements, WCS had the lowest C fraction while WSB and WB had the highest proportion of non-fiber carbohydrates (NFC). Although WCS had the highest content of C fraction, it also showed the fastest rate of digestion of the B2 fraction. Digestion rate of NFC were: 35.06, 14.86, 17.83 and 58.80, respectively for RB, WB, WSB and WCS. The choice of each protein and energy source will depend on market price and availability because there were no significant differences among treatments. The structural carbohydrates (B2 e C) are responsible for the high concentrations of total carbohydrates in Brachiaria brizantha during the dry season, which averaged 80%. It was observed variations in the carbohydrate fractions as well as in the degradation rates across supplements.
Country Versus Industry Effect on Board Structures

We examine the board structures of US and Indian firms in two industries. We examine three aspects of board structures: board size, board independence, and board leadership. The two industries selected for analysis are information technology and capital goods. While Indian information technology firms have close ties to the American economy, capital goods firms have a domestic focus. Thus, we are able to analyze differences in board structures of firms in two countries and two industries, one of which is closely related and the other relatively unrelated. We do not find any significant differences in board size and board leadership for US and Indian firms in either industry. However, we find that US boards are more independent than Indian firms, both for information technology firms and capital goods firms. These findings are more supportive of the country effect than for the industry effect on board structures.
Behavioral Effects of Insurance Coverage and Health Consequences: Evidence from Long-Term Care

How does the generosity of social insurance coverage affect demand for healthcare and health outcomes of elderly people? This paper examines the effects of insurance coverage on long-term care utilization and its health consequences using novel administrative data of the public long-term care insurance (LTCI) system in Japan. The LTCI coverage is determined by a standardized health index and there exist multiple thresholds that generate discontinuous changes in insurance coverage limits. I implement a regression discontinuity design and find that the coverage expansion significantly increases recipients' long-term care utilization even without changing the prices they face. Moreover, using more long-term care has little effect on health outcomes. Together, these results suggest that generous LTCI coverage can induce excessive utilization, mainly because of behavioral biases, without having health benefits.
Learning-by-Erring: Towards a New View of Rationality in Economics

The cornerstone of mainstream economic theory is the premise of rationality. Humans are assumed to be rational economic agents who, subject to the available information and limited resources, are able to select, among a set of alternatives, the best means to maximize their ends and their individual subjectively defined welfare. This view has been subject to debate and criticism from the earliest days of modern economic thought. Is human action rational or irrational and how successful are economic agents at maximizing individual or collective welfare? In this paper, the authors argue that economic agents are endowed with the capacity for rational thinking but not the ability to maximize their ends, as it is acquired through learning from the mistakes we make in practice. The efficiency of rational decisions is limited to the amount of experience and knowledge we possess when decisions are taken. The authors introduce a learning function describing the rational decision-making process and argue that erring is not trivial but carries significant costs and consequences. Making errors is the price we pay to learn and accumulate valuable new knowledge and human capital. Inherent to the decision-making process is the making of errors which, rather than being trivial, are a valuable opportunity to learn and accumulate knowledge. The rational decision-making process is enhanced from the accumulation of knowledge, which raises the efficiency of our decisions, moving closer to maximizing outcomes, and increases welfare.
Managing In-Store Logistics: Perspective from Pakistani Small & Medium Retail Stores

Purpose – Nowadays customers want to enjoy their shopping experience with convenience and maximum value for their money. The key objective of this paper is to examine the role of in-store logistics in crafting store image and perceived value to customers, thus creating satisfied and loyal customers. Design/Methodology – A research framework was developed based on the review of relevant past research in the area of retail store service quality, perceived value, store image, customer loyalty and satisfaction. Valid data was gathered through survey from 200 respondents who have shopping experience of small and medium sized retail store. Data is analysed through Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLSSEM) using Smart PLS 3.2. 4 Findings – The findings of this study suggest that in-store logistics play a major role in developing customers’ satisfaction followed by store image and perceived value. Further, satisfied customers are expected to return to the same retail store, thus showing loyalty. Research Contribution – This research provides insights into retail decisions makers regarding the factors which enhance customer satisfaction and retention. This study also helps marketers and operations managers to develop strategies for retail stores based on the findings of this research. Originality/value – From a retailer’s perspective the paper explains the factors empirically that impact shoppers in retail store environment.
Breadth of University Curriculum and Labor Market Outcomes

We explore whether the choice of broad versus specialized university curricula affects subsequent labor market outcomes, as measured by earnings, full-time permanent employment, and unemployment six months after university graduation. We exploit a unique episode in the history of the National University of Singapore, in which a university-wide revision in graduation requirements in 2007 prompted students in one of the largest faculties to read a narrower, more specialized, curriculum. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, we compare changes in the labor market outcomes of graduate cohorts from the affected faculty, before-and-after the curriculum revision, to changes in the labor market outcomes of graduate cohorts from the other faculties. We do not find evidence that curriculum breadth matters for these labor market outcomes. Similar conclusions are obtained using regression-control strategies and rich administrative data on student characteristics and academic ability for the broader population of undergraduates at NUS.
Interaction of central and peripheral mechanisms during walking in first instar stick insects, Extatosoma tiaratum

ABSTRACT. Individual stick insects were studied walking on a tread‐wheel. When a leg caught hold of a small fixed rod beside the wheel it: (a) applied a rhythmically modulated backward directed force (with the modulation frequency identical to the stepping frequency of the other legs); or (b) regularly lifted off the stick during the phase of minimum force, and then returned to the stick; or (c) it stepped onto the wheel. If the wheel was stopped, the applied force increased. It is deduced that this behaviour is driven by central rhythmicity of unknown origin. All the known sensory inputs to this behaviour are superimposed on this central oscillation. A hypothesis is discussed which qualitatively fits all the experimental results on the effect of these sensory influences on the timing of an individual leg's movements in stick insects.
Liquidity Risk?

We revisit the role of liquidity risk. We successfully replicate Pastor and Stambaugh’s (2003) gamma liquidity risk index and, within their time period, concur with their risk premium estimate. An out-of-their-time-period analysis finds post-time-period returns that are higher and pre-time-period returns that are lower than in-time-period returns. Modest variations to the index that are intended to improve power—such as value weighting, including zero volume days, including all stock price levels, and a modification intended to reduce estimation error—all cast doubt on whether the gamma premium is compensation for liquidity risk. We create five alternative liquidity risk indices from various popular liquidity proxies. Using time-series that start in either 1932 or 1968, none of the ten specifications produce statistically significant risk premia.
Benthic diatoms and some environmental conditions in three lowland streams

L'objet de cet article est d'exposer les preferences ecologiques des diatomees benthiques en fonction du pH, de la conductivite, du degre d'eutrophisation et de la pollution organique afin de definir leurs spectres de tolerance. Trois fleuves de la Pampa soumis a differentes influences humaines ont ete choisis. Le substrat de ces fleuves est le plus souvent constitue par de l'argile limoneuse avec une faible proportion de gravier et de sable ; par suite, la communaute benthique est surtout representee par l'epipelon. Des echantillons ont ete preleves dans 9 stations de 1997 a 1998 en fonction des saisons. A chaque station, 10 sous-echantillons etaient recoltes en pipetant la couche superficielle (5-10 mm) de sediment en differents endroits. Les principaux parametres physico-chimiques ont ete mesures. Le spectre de tolerance des especes a ete defini en fonction du pH, de la conductivite et du degre d'eutrophisation et de pollution organique. 162 especes de diatomees ont ete identifiees. Plus de 50 % des especes ont ete rencontrees dans les stations ou la conductivite etait inferieure a 600 μS cm -1 . Plus de 50 % des especes montrent une preference pour les stations ou les teneurs en matiere organique et en nutriments sont moderees. Les especes rencontrees se repartissent en fonction du degre de pollution organique et d'eutrophisation. Par contre, il n'y a pas de repartition nette des especes en fonction de la conductivite et du pH.
Antigens of Aspergillus fumigatus expressed during infection

Aspergillus fumigatus secretes an array of antigenic molecules in vitro and in vivo. Recent progresses have been made in the characterization and standardization of A. fumigatus antigens useful for the serodiagnosis of aspergillosis. The chymotrypsin antigen has been purified and can be utilized for the diagnosis of aspergillosis occurring in patients with an immunocompetent B cell population. In the case of immunosuppressed patients suffering from invasive aspergillosis, new methods have been developed to detect the galactofuran containing antigen in the serum. The chemical configuration of this molecule is now known. In contrast to their potential in diagnosis, very little progress has been made on the study of the biochemical and pathoimmunological role of these antigens during the infection process. Two reasons can be advanced for this lack of understanding of the virulence determinants. First of all, antigens studied have been produced in vitro in a dextrose rich medium where pH reaches a value below.
Who’s the boss? Post‐colonialism, ecological research and conservation management on Australian Indigenous lands

Summary The involvement of Indigenous people in the national conservation effort is increasingly being acknowledged and valued in Australia. Ecological research can play an important role in reinforcing the efforts of Indigenous land managers; and interest from Indigenous and non-Indigenous ecologists and land managers to work together on ecological issues of common concern is increasing. Although there are many examples of successful collaborations there are also many instances where expectations, particularly of the Indigenous partners, are not met, and this is less frequently communicated. This paper, written from the perspective of an Arrernte researcher in partnership with his non-Indigenous colleague, outlines a range of challenges including the need for Indigenous people to have more control of what is done and why it is done on their country and to define and prioritise their own objectives for land management, which may or may not align with mainstream conservation agendas. Currently, Western conservation paradigms play the dominant role in how Natural Resource Management is practiced and how broader policy is set, and ecological research on Indigenous land is still most often led by the Western ecologists. This can leave out the ideas of Indigenous people and does little to address underlying inequitable power relationships. Indigenous Australians do not want to become spectators in the research process, giving away knowledge, or labourers to Western conservation agendas. They want to be active partners in developing better understandings of the environment and implementers of management that reflects shared agendas. Open discussion of these issues within the mainstream ecological literature is an important step towards change and will create better opportunities for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous ecological practitioners and Indigenous people dealing with land management policy.
Adaptive radiation in the fossil record: a case study among Jurassic ammonoids

Evolutionary radiations have been extensively studied especially in the fossil record and in the context of postcrisis recoveries. The concept of adaptive radiation that emerges from this very broad topic explicitly involves the effect of adaptation driven by ecological opportunity and is considered to be of the foremost importance. It is essential to be able to detect adaptive radiation because it points up factors that predispose a clade to radiate. Adaptive radiation has received much attention in recent decades based mostly on studies dealing with recent clades, but data from the fossil record are still scarce. This study begins to fill this gap with the example of Lower Jurassic ammonoids (through c. 8 Myr of history). A survey of several clades, using both taxonomic and disparity‐based approaches, shows that they diversified successively through time, but not systematically, in terms of species numbers and morphological variety. Some clades seem to have exhibited adaptive radiation and to have become rapidly extinct. One clade (which engendered nearly all post–Lower Jurassic ammonoids) has a fossil record that begins with low diversity and disparity but is superseded by a sustained radiation pattern. The results are discussed in the light of the Modern Synthesis and its continuation into an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis.
The ecological impacts of fragmentation and vegetation removal in Lake Huron's coastal wetlands

Many Great Lakes coastal wetlands that remain today have been heavily fragmented by anthropogenic activities. The rate of fragmentation tends to increase during periods of low lake levels, especially in areas of low-gradient bathymetry where wetland area expands substantially and prompts the desire to dredge channels and groom shorelines. We sampled fish and invertebrates, using fyke nets and dipnets respectively, from wetland fragments paired with either areas where wetland vegetation was mowed or removed completely. Our concurrent studies showed that removal of vegetation by beach grooming and channel dredging created conduits for pelagic water to infiltrate the marsh and disrupt the ambient chemical/physical conditions. Alterations to both fish and macroinvertebrate communities were also evident where a significant amount of vegetation was removed. However, where only enough vegetation was removed to allow for boat access, impacts on fish communities were generally non-detectable. Mowing seemed to impact fish, but not invertebrates. Our data suggest that wetland fragmentation may have substantial and long lasting effects on wetland biota, but the magnitude of the impact is likely associated with the area of vegetation removed coupled with the potential for pelagic water to penetrate remaining fragments.
Variation in the diet of the Patagonian toothfish with size, depth and season around the Falkland Islands

The ontogenetic and seasonal variations in the feeding spectrum were studied in 756 specimens of the Patagonian toothfish Dissostichus eleginoides (16-159 cm total length, L T ) collected on the shelf, continental slope and bathyal waters (67-1960 m depth range) around the Falkland Islands between April 1999 and August 2002. On the shelf, small toothfish ( 60 cm L T ) switched their diet to other large pelagic fishes occurring near the bottom (Macruronus magellanicus and Micromesistius australis australis), again taking mostly one prey item at a time. The diet of medium-size D. eleginoides on the shelf varied seasonally depending on the abundance and migrations of the major prey species. Patagonotothen ramsayi was abundant in the diet throughout the year, whereas L. gahi appeared only from February to October during its offshore seasonal migrations to the depth range of D. eleginoides. During November to January, L. gahi migrated inshore to spawn and disappeared from the toothfish diet, being substituted by M. australis australis which dispersed on the shelf after spawning. After its ontogenetic descent to the lower part of the continental slope (500-1000 m depths), toothfish took less active (than on the shelf) fishes such as Antimora rostrata whilst also feeding on active near-bottom macrourids and skates. In their deepest habitat (>1000m depths), toothfish became a typical opportunistic predator, feeding mainly on relatively small and inactive fishes, squids and prawn-like crustaceans Acanthephyra pelagica and Thymops birsteini. Decrease in hunting activity with depth could be related to a specific adaptation to keep neutral buoyancy by increase of lipid content in white muscles of D. eleginoides with size.
Effects of synchronizing the rate of dietary energy and nitrogen release in diets with a similar carbohydrate composition on rumen fermentation and microbial protein synthesis in sheep

SUMMARY The effects of synchronizing dietary energy and nitrogen supply in diets with a similar carbohydrate composition on microbial protein synthesis and rumen fermentation were examined in sheep. Two diets were formulated to be either synchronous (diet S) or asynchronous (diet A) for the hourly release of nitrogen (N) and energy to the rumen. Diet S contained (g/kg) 425 g wheat straw, 400 g winter barley, 150 grapeseed meal and 25 g minerals/vitamins and diet A contained 505 g wheat straw, 458.5 g winter barley, 11·5 g urea and 25 g minerals/vitamins. Both diets were fed at the rate of 1 kg/day in four equal portions, to four cannulated sheep, in two periods in a change-over design. Rumen ammonia concentrations followed the predicted hourly trend in N degradation with a peak 1 h after feeding of 10 mM for diet S and 16 mM for diet A before falling within 3 h of feeding to 4 ITIM in animals fed either diet. Rumen volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations followed the cyclical trend predicted by stoichiometric equations, whilst rumen VFA ratios were more stable than predicted in animals fed either diet. The observed content of rumen degradable protein and organic matter truly degraded in the rumen was similar for both diets. The increase in total CHO digested in the rumen observed with diet A (427 g/kg DM) compared with diet S (364 g/kg DM) can be attributed to the greater content of starch in the asynchronous diet, which had a high degradability. The efficiency of microbial protein synthesis (g N/kg OM truly degraded in the rumen) was 11–20% greater in animals fed the synchronous diet (S) than the asynchronous diet (A). It is concluded that microbial N production was more efficient when dietary energy and N supply were synchronized.
Dietary Effects of Natural Conjugated Triene Fatty Acid in Comparison with Trans Fatty Acids of Hydrogenated Fat on Plasma and Tissue Lipid Profile

An attempt has been made to compare the nutritional quality between naturally occurring conjugated octadecatrienoic fatty acid with trans configuration and the trans fatty acids being produced in hydrogenated fats. The karela seed oil (Momordica charantia) (29.2% trans isomer) was used as the source of conjugated trienoic trans fatty acid and hydrogenated fat for trans fatty acid (39.5%). The two fats were fed to male albino rats (Charles Foster strain) for four weeks. Feeding experiment showed comparable results in terms of growth rate, food efficiency ratio (FER) and serum lipid profile. In the third week the growth rate of rats fed hydrogenated fat with trans showed a significant increase than the karela seed oil with trans conjugated trienoic fatty acid fed group. Total cholesterol level of liver was significantly higher in rats fed karela seed oil containing conjugated trienoic fatty acid with trans configuration. The phospholipid content of heart and brain of rats fed karela seed oil was significantly higher than the hydrogenated fat with trans fed group.