Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Derivatives Pricing

This paper presents a fallacy of the Black and Scholes’ (BS) option pricing concept. The BS pricing is still the unique theoretical way for pricing derivatives though quite a large number of expert have found a lot of remarks concerning its theoretical and practical failings. We should note that implementation of BS methodology uses a real historical data and it is difficult to identify in practice whether deviations of the theoretical predictions of the option prices are due to incorrect interpretation of the BS option prices or deviations are implied by initial assumptions of the theoretical model regarding to say for example a stock model. In [4] one presented a critical point of view on BS pricing concept. After this paper was published BS methodology is continue to be the benchmark interpretation of the derivatives pricing. Our goal is to introduce more substantial formal arguments which demonstrate that Black and Scholes’ approach to derivative pricing is incorrect.
Tracking spatially variable resources : an experimental study on the oviposition of the water-lily beetle

The water-lilly leaf beetle Galerucella nymphaeae is a specialist herbivore of the floating-leaved Nuphar lutea. Floating leaves occur in patches with different densities. I studied experimentally the oviposition responses to spatially varying patch characteristics. In the manipulations I changed density of leaves, quality (as measured by the previous herbivory) of leaves and number of eggs laid on a leaf
Attention for the Inattentive: Positive Effects of Negative Financial Shocks

Using unique data on employee ownership plans sponsored by U.S. public companies, we estimate the effects of the 2008 financial crisis on individual investors’ participation and trading decisions. Consistent with a decreased willingness to take risk, we observe an increase in the average propensity to exercise employee stock options following the crisis, controlling for grant timing and moneyness in addition to time-invariant firm and employee characteristics. However, the results are concentrated among employees with limited experience in option plans prior to the pre-crisis run-up in equity prices. Moreover, we find that low-experience employees also increase their participation in employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs) following the shock. Conditional on initiating participation in ESPPs, we find that they are disproportionally likely to sell the acquired shares both immediately and within the first year of ownership. Since declining to participate in an ESPP amounts to leaving money on the table, our results suggest a new wrinkle in our understanding of how investors’ personal return experiences interact with risk preferences. While negative shocks appear to diminish investors’ appetites for risk, they also mitigate investor inattention. Thus, at least along certain dimensions, they can induce investors to make decisions that are closer to the optimum.
Nest‐dwelling ectoparasites influence the start and duration of the first pre‐basic moult in the European starling Sturnus vulgaris

Nest-dwelling ectoparasites represent an early stressor for birds as they impair the development of nestlings, which can adaptively respond by adjusting their growth rate to current conditions. While nest ectoparasites have long-term effects on nesting adults, no study has examined if they also have an impact on the moult patterns of juveniles. Herein, we investigated whether the presence of ectoparasites in the nest influences the start and duration of the first pre-basic moult in the European starling. To do so, we experimentally removed nest-dwelling ectoparasites from a group of nests and used another group of unmanipulated (i.e. naturally infested) nests as the control. The moult began at an earlier age and lasted longer in birds from the ectoparasite-free nests compared to their control counterparts. The timing of the moult was also affected by the hatching date (i.e. birds that fledged later had shorter moults) and the brood size (i.e. birds in larger broods started their moult at an older age). We also found evidence that the removal of nest ectoparasites influenced the condition of individuals during the course of the moult. In the control birds, we observed a decrease in hematocrit levels, but these were unaltered in the birds fledged from the ectoparasite-free nests. Our study shows that nest-dwelling ectoparasites adversely affected the timing of the moult and the individual condition of juvenile starlings, with possible major consequences for their subsequent life-history events.
Vegetation, climatic changes and net carbon sequestration in a North‐Scandinavian subarctic mire over 30 years

This study deals with changes in the plant cover and its net carbon sequestration over 30 years on a subarctic Sphagnum‐mire with permafrost near Abisko, northernmost Sweden, in relation to climatic variations during the same period. Aerial colour infrared images from 1970 and 2000 were compared to reveal changes in surface structure and vegetation over the whole mire, while the plant populations were studied within a smaller, mainly ombrotrophic part. The results demonstrated two processes, namely (1) that wet sites dominated by graminoids expanded while hummock sites dominated by dwarf shrubs receded, and (2) that on the hummocks lichens expanded while evergreen dwarf shrubs and mosses decreased, both processes creating an instability in the surface structure. A successive degradation of the permafrost is the likely reason for the increase in wet areas, while the changes in the hummock vegetation might have resulted from higher spring temperatures giving rise to an intensified snow melt, exposing the vegetation to frost drought. Because of the vegetation changes, the annual litter input of carbon to the mire has increased slightly, by 4 g m−2 a−1 (7.3%), over these years while an increased erosion has resulted in a loss of 40–80 Mg carbon or 7–17 g m−2 a−1 for the entire mire over the same period. As the recalcitrant proportion of the litter has decreased, the decay rate in the acrotelm might be expected to increase in the future.
On exotic birds imported into Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract After the successful establishment of free–living populations of Rose–ringed Parakeets (Psittacula krameri) and Common Mynas (Acridotheres tristis) in Jeddah, an overview of all exotic birds imported into Jeddah in the first three months of 1990 is given.
All-in-Auctions for Water

This paper proposes a novel mechanism for reallocating temporary water flows or permanent water rights. The All-in-Auction (AiA) increases efficiency and social welfare by reallocating water without harming water rights holders. AiAs can be used to allocate variable or diminished flows among traditional or new uses. AiAs are appropriate for use within larger organizations that distribute water among members, e.g., irrigation districts or wholesale water agencies. Members would decide when and how to use AiAs, i.e., when transaction costs are high, environmental constraints are binding, or allocation to outsiders is desired. Experimental sessions show that an AiA reallocates more units with no less efficiency that traditional two-sided auctions.
CSR in Indian Companies: A Comparative Study

The motive behind this research paper is to know the impact of a company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy on the buying behavior of customers. CSR is what a firm returns to the society for the services that it is receiving like land, resources, labor, etc., so it is a practice to contribute back to the society in the form of Social or Environmental concerns. CSR policies of different companies are usually distinguished between Good &amp; Bad, and ranks are also given to the companies based on their CSR. The research is conducted in comparison of two brands of automobiles namely Maruti &amp; TATA, considering their respective CSR ranks. For the research, a self-designed questionnaire was prepared which was further standardized. The study sample was of Management students. This research aims to study CSR along with its aspects and perspective of students towards it. The study resulted in different factors for Maruti and TATA for buying Behavior. Also, t-test resulted in the difference in buying behavior for these brands.
Minimum-variance hedging of Bitcoin inverse futures

ABSTRACT We formulate an optimal hedging problem of Bitcoin inverse futures under the minimum-variance framework. We obtain the optimal hedging strategy in closed forms for both short and long hedges and compute hedging effectiveness under the optimal strategy. Our empirical analyses show that the optimal hedging strategy achieves superior effectiveness in reducing risk and outperforms the naïve hedge in all scenarios.
Pricing Digital Outperformance Options with Uncertain Correlation

Multi-asset options exhibit sensitivity to the correlations between the underlying assets and these correlations are notoriously unstable. Moreover, some of these options such as the digital outperformance options, have a cross-gamma that changes sign depending on the relative evolution of the underlying assets. In this paper, I present a model to price digital outperformance options when there is uncertainty about correlation, but it is assumed to lie within a certain range. Under the assumption that assets prices follow a Geometric Brownian motion with constant instantaneous volatilities I present an analytic expression for the price of the digital outperformance option under the constant correlation assumption, as well as the partial differential equation corresponding to the uncertain correlation model. The comparison of the prices obtained using both models shows that there is no constant correlation which allows attaining the price obtained under the uncertain correlation model. This fact shows that it can be dangerous to assume a constant instantaneous correlation for products with a cross-gamma that changes sign.
Chemical Attractants for the Adult House Fly.

The development of chemical attractants as baits for the house fly ( Musca dorncstica L.) is is described. A large number of compounds was first tested in an olfactometer. The materials which proved most attractive were tested in baited traps in a closed room. The best of these materials were then tested in the field in dry, open country, and in a humid area with rich vegetation. No single compound was so active that its attractiveness could not be enhanced by admixture. The most attractive material consisted of a combination, in aqueous solution, of malt extract 5%, ethyl alcohol 0.5%, skatole 0.02% and acetal 1%. For field use, 380 cc. of this attractant solution was made into a paste with 240 gm. or fine-ground peat and 40 gm. of alfalfa meal.
Present Bias

Present bias is the inclination to prefer a smaller present reward to a larger later reward, but reversing this preference when both rewards are equally delayed. Such behavior violates stationarity of temporal choices, and hence exponential discounting. This paper provides a weakening of the stationarity axiom that can accommodate present‐biased choice reversals. We call this new behavioral postulate Weak Present Bias and characterize the general class of utility functions that is consistent with it. We show that present‐biased preferences can be represented as those of a decision maker who makes her choices according to conservative present‐equivalents, in the face of uncertainty about future tastes.
Federalism

In recent years the Supreme Court has shown a special solicitude to claims that federal legislation or federal courts have encroached on the prerogatives of the states or interfered with state processes. This special concern for preserving what Justice Black termed "Our Federalism" has emerged as a dominant theme of the Burger Court. It is therefore appropriate at this time to examine the Burger Court's labors in the name of "Our Federalism"-to probe the underlying premises and to critique the doctrinal implications. It is also an appropriate time to reflect generally on what federalism means and what values it should serve. In his foreword to the symposium, Judge Friendly provides a historical sketch of the shifting allocation of authority between the states and the federal government. Each of the four articles that follows explores the role of a different actor in the federal system. Professor Cover and Mr. Aleinikoff attempt to define the function of state courts in the determination of constitutional rights. They offer an interesting new perspective on the function of the writ of habeas corpus in a federal system. Professor Fiss focuses on the equitable powers of federal courts to protect constitutional rights from the encroachments of state and local governments. He traces the evolving judicial doctrines through the important series of Supreme Court cases that began with Dombrowski v. Pfister. Analyzing one of the most dramatic and certainly most perplexing decisions of the last two Terms, National League of Cities v. Usery, Professor Michelman discusses the role of state governments in the federal system. He asks if the rights of states found in Usery to be guaranteed by the Tenth Amendment imply concomitant constitutional responsibilities. Finally, Professor Stewart analyzes the constitutional power of Congress to force state participation in federal programs. The symposium closes with a return to the source of modern conceptions of federalism, The Federalist. The late Martin Diamond argues that the perspective of Publius has much to offer contemporary political theory. Professor Shklar exposes the assumptions about political sociology that underlay the thinking of federalists and antifederalists.
Evidence-Based Intellectual Property Policymaking: An Integrated Review of Methods and Conclusions

Governments have long been interested in making intellectual property (IP) policy based on sound evidence. There is a large body of literature addressing the economic impacts of IP, but little of it is accessible to policy makers. This article aims to improve understanding of how IP contributes to the economic performance of a country’s innovative sectors. A detailed literature review and meta-analysis identifies existing methodologies and analytical frameworks. The article organizes the literature and conclusions into four major archetypes, and explains the advantages/disadvantages of each approach. First, data for advocacy is used primarily by special-interest lobby groups. This literature is accessible to policy makers, but rarely transparent, verified or peer reviewed. Second, valuations of aggregate economic contributions of IP-related industries are influential worldwide. This literature usefully allows us to compare data internationally, but makes unfounded or misleading assumptions about the importance of IP to a particular industry. Third, innovation indices and rankings are increasingly used to assess comparative progress over time. This literature reports on a broad-base of IP and innovative activity, but risks turning into a statistical horse race. Fourth, the literature on scholarly theoretical and empirical research and modelling is extensive. This literature often relies on sound evidence, but tends to use the available information—patent data—without explaining the context in which firms may or may not choose to use formal IPRs. It is also rarely accessible to policy makers in the format or timelines required. None of these frameworks alone are fully capable of providing complete, reliable information about the economic importance of intellectual property in any one particular country. An approach that positions and integrates various frameworks, methods and data sources is, therefore, appropriate. The key challenge for the future is to connect empirical data and micro-economic analyses about firms’ strategic responses to IP policy changes with statistics and macro-economic insights on overall economic performance or social welfare.
The Chromosomal Relation Between the Two Allied Species of the Loach (Cobitidae, Pisces)

It has been assumed that the union of rod-shaped chromosomes two by two at their inner ends producing V-shaped multiples constitutes a source of definite variation in the chromosome number within certain groups of animals. The best examples of such a chromosome-linkage have been known to occur among insects, particularly in the acridian grass hoppers, as has been emphasized especially by McClung ('05, '17) and Robertson ('16). It seems not improbable that chromosome-linkage has probably played an important part in the change of chromosome number among closely related forms of animals. The present case to be described in this paper is an example that finds the most obvious explanation under such an assumption. The author wishes to express his cordial thanks to Prof. K. Oguma for valuable suggestion. Material: The two species of the Iach, Misgurnus anguillicaudatus (Contor) and Barbatula orcas (Jordan et Fowler) providing the material for this study are the common fresh-water teleosts belonging to the family Cobitidae and closely allied with each other. The testes fixed in Champy's solution furnished the material with favourable results.
Pressure and Expertise: Explaining the Information Supply of Interest Groups in EU Legislative Lobbying

EU politics has long been portrayed as an elite affair in which technocratic deliberation prevails. As a consequence, information supply by interest groups has typically been viewed as part of an expertise‐based exchange with policy‐makers. Less attention has been devoted to whether the supply of information is also used to exert political pressure. In addition to expertise‐based exchanges between interest groups and policy‐makers, can we identify the prevalence of information supply that aims to put pressure on EU policy‐makers? And under what conditions are different modes of information supply likely to occur? My analysis relies on interviews with 143 lobbyists who were active on a set of 78 legislative proposals submitted by the European Commission between 2008 and 2010. The results demonstrate that expertise‐based exchanges are dominant in interactions with civil servants, while political information is predominantly communicated to political officials and often the key substance in outside lobbying tactics.
Tasse e Notizie: Il Caso Agenzia Delle Entrate: L’evoluzione Dell’amministrazione Finanziaria Tra Arene Pubbliche e Nuove Forme di Relazionalità (Taxes and News: A Case History)

L’obiettivo del saggio è ricostruire la “mediatizzazione” dell’evasione fiscale, illustrando come l'attuale centralità del tema evasione nel discorso pubblico sia l’esito ultimo di una combinazione di fattori esterni (contesto socio-economico, opinione pubblica, sistema politico) e interni all’organizzazione (missione istituzionale, strategie di intervento, funzione di comunicazione). La domanda che ci si pone riguarda i fattori e i processi che hanno portato l’evasione fiscale a rappresentare una public issue (Hilgartner, Bosk, 1988), in una cornice teorica che privilegia l’idea di una costruzione sociale della sfera pubblica, nella quale i media esercitano un peso significativo ma evidentemente non esclusivo. The aim of this paper is to recreate how tax evasion became a central issue in Italian communicative arenas, on the score of several factors. On the one hand (inside italian Revenue Agency), it depends on plains of action and communication’s development; on the other hand (external context), it depends on a mix of economic and social factors (i.g. social background, economic crisis, etc…). The starting point is this question: which processes and factors built Tax evasion as “issue”? The adopted theoretical framework bases on the social building of the common sense (Hilgartner, Bosk, 1988): in this context, mass media play an important but not decisive role, to advantage of institutions, associations, lobbies, etc.
Digestive utilization of minerals by weanling pigs fed copper- and phytase-supplemented diets

The digestive utilization of minerals in Cu- and phytase-supplemented diets by weanling pigs was investigated in an experiment with a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments. Three levels of Cu (0, 60 and 120 mg kg−1 as CuSO4∙5H2O) and two levels of phytase activity (0 and 1500 units kg−1) were added to a corn-soybean meal basal diet. Seventy-two pigs (gilts:bar-rows, 1:1) with an average initial weight of 9.7 kg received the six diets for 21 d, after which 36 of the pigs were used in an 8-d mineral balance study. Phytase supplementation of diets increased serum P, Zn and Mg concentrations but reduced serum Cu concentration. The addition of Cu to the diets produced serum concentrations of minerals similar to Cu-unsupplemented diets. Absorption and retention of Ca and P were both slightly increased in pigs fed the phytase-supplemented diets compared with pigs fed diets that did not contain phytase. Addition of phytase to the diet that was not supplemented with Cu doubled (P < 0.1) Cu retention. Copper su.
Health Care Crowds: Collective Intelligence in Public Health

For what purposes are crowds being implemented in health care? Which crowdsourcing methods are being used? This work begins to answer these questions by reporting the early results of a systematic literature review of 110 pieces of relevant research. The results of this exploratory research in progress reveals that collective intelligence outcomes are being generated in three broad categories of public health care; health promotion, health research, and health maintenance, using all three known forms of crowdsourcing. Stemming from this fundamental analysis, some potential implications of the research are discussed and useful future research is outlined.
CAPILLARY BASAL LAMINA THICKENING

Thickening of basal lamina' (BL) which occurs with advancing age (1) and various diseases (4, 7, 10) is most common and severe in patients with diabetes mellitus (2, 8, 6, 12, 14) . The reasons, for. and the mechanism of this thickening have thus far escaped satisfactory explanation . In this communication, we wish to provide new evidence which elucidates the development of thick BL and which directs attention to the underlying defect. In a detailed study of capillaries in skeletal muscle from 40 overt diabetics (15), 26 chemical diabetics, and 41 nondiabetics (14), several findings suggested the possibility that the BL thickening is the result of repeated episodes of cell death and cell regeneration . These are : (a) The BL is not homogeneously thickened but is composed of concentrically arranged lamellae (6, 12, 14, 16), each measuring between 800 and 2000 A (Fig. 1) . The thickness of individual lamellae increases with the distance from endothelium, while their electron opacity decreases . The innermost lamella is usually well defined, intimately applied to the endothelium, and encompasses the pericytes . The outermost lamella may be partly missing or it may be arranged in redundant folds. (b) The interlamellar space is irregular in width or obliterated by fusion of lamellae, and it commonly contains cellular debris and droplets of lipid (6, 14, 12) (Fig . 1). Spaces also occur within individual lamellae, suggesting by their crescent shapes that they were occupied by pericytes. They, too, occasionally contain cellular debris . (c) BL thickening between the pericytes and endothelium is generally absent (Fig . 1). As in normal capillaries, the pericytes are embraced by the innermost lamella of the BL, giving the
Molecular taxonomy and phylogeny of the Geodiidae (Porifera, Demospongiae, Astrophorida) – combining phylogenetic and Linnaean classification

Cárdenas, P., Rapp, H. T. , Schander, C. & Tendal, O. S. (2009). Molecular taxonomy and phylogeny of the Geodiidae (Porifera, Demospongiae, Astrophorida) – combining phylogenetic and Linnaean classification. —Zoologica Scripta, 39, 89–106.