Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is There Information Content in the Tax Footnote?

This paper assesses the extent to which the disaggregated book-tax differences (BTDs) detailed in the tax footnote are associated with earnings persistence and growth, and the extent to which these associations matter to investors. Using hand-collected data from the schedule of deferred tax assets and liabilities and rate reconciliations in the tax footnotes of the Fortune 250 from 1993 to 2007, we find associations between various BTDs and persistence and future growth in earnings. However, we find no evidence that the market prices the BTDs that are associated with earnings persistence and growth differently from other BTDs. The results are consistent with investors ignoring the details in the tax footnote, because the tax footnote is complex, requires accounting and tax expertise, may be obfuscated to protect proprietary information from the taxing authority, and/or is not prominently displayed in the financial statements.
Water Use and Water-Use Efficiency of Three Perennial Bioenergy Grass Crops in Florida

Over two-thirds of human water withdrawals are estimated to be used for agricultural production, which is expected to increase as demand for renewable liquid fuels from agricultural crops intensifies. Despite the potential implications of bioenergy crop production on water resources, few data are available on water use of perennial bioenergy grass crops. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare dry matter yield, water use, and water-use efficiency (WUE) of elephantgrass, energycane, and giant reed, grown under field conditions for two growing seasons in North Central Florida. Using scaled sap flow sensor data, water use ranged from about 850 to 1150 mm during the growing season, and was generally greater for giant reed and less for elephantgrass. Despite similar or greater water use by giant reed, dry biomass yields of 35 to 40 Mg ha −1 were significantly greater for energycane and elephantgrass, resulting in greater WUE. Overall, water use by the bioenergy crops was greater than the rainfall received during the study, indicating that irrigation will be needed in the region to achieve optimal yields. Species differ in water use and WUE and species selection can play an important role with regard to potential consequences for water resources.
The Study of Relationship between Performance of Maxis Berhad and Internal & External Factors

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the financial performance and the capital structure of the company. The performance of the company will be measured by analysing the trend of various financial ratios obtained from the company’s annual report from 2014 to 2018. The relationship between the profitability and the internal and external factors are also analysed with the company’s performance. The performance of Maxis Berhad is represented by the return on asset over 5 years’ period. The capital structure is measured by collecting data from the balance sheet of the annual reports. As for the financial performance, the data is collected from the income statements and balance sheets. Ratio analysis is then measured from the obtained data. As for the internal factors, these are the relevant variables to be measured; current ratio, quick ratio, average-collection period, debt-to-income, operational ratio, and operating margin. The additional measurement is the corporate index score, asset size, net profit margin, GDP growth rate, inflation, interest rate, and exchange rate. The data was carefully analysed by applying regression and correlation. The Model Summary table also shows that debt-to-income has the most reliable variable as the R Square is equals to 79.9%. There is a strong relationship between ROA and debt-to-income with -0.894 and sig. 0.020. There are three variables that significant to the ROA, namely, debt-to-income, operating margin and, the interest rate as the sig. value is below 0.1.
Sex Determination in Reptiles

Two factors in reptile sex determination have been studied: (1) the presence or absence of heteromorphic sex chromosomes, and (2) the influence of temperature. Recognizable sex chromosomes are common in snakes and lizards, but are apparently rare in turtles and absent in crocodilians and the tuatara. Temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) is common in turtles and has been reported in two lizards and alligators; however, data on TSD are available for few non-turtle species. Present findings on TSD suggest that (1) temperature actually determines sex rather than simply causing differential mortality, and (2) temperature controls sex determination in nature as well as in the laboratory. Only one study, however, has convincingly demonstrated the latter. Sex determination by nest temperature is proposed to interfere with the evolution of sex chromosomes and live-bearing (ovoviviparity); a negative correlation should thus be observed between TSD and sex chromosomes/live-bearing. Present evidence is consistent with these predictions. Possible selective advantages and disadvantages of the different sex-determined mechanisms are discussed, and an attempt is made to deduce their ancestries.
Incorporating Knowledge Sharing as a Sustainable Competitive Advantage with Business Processes

Objective - This paper aims to clarify the importance of knowledge sharing application in businesses, and to illuminate the effect of knowledge sharing as the key compartment of knowledge management on business process and organizational performance based on current research. Finally, this paper endeavours to suggest a model and some recommendation for future research. Methodology/Technique - A qualitative method based on a comprehensive search of numerous leading databases has been utilized for the purpose of this study. Findings - Knowledge sharing influences organizational performance from diverse aspects like; management, decision making, and production procedure. In knowledge based societies, the ability of a company to create, sustain, and communicate knowledge has a major impact on its performance. Knowledge sharing is the basis of competitive advantage due to its implicit dimension and the complexity to imitate or substitute. Therefore, companies who are capable of achieving a successful knowledge sharing are likely to perform better. Novelty - Knowledge sharing affects business overall performance. Therefore, knowledge sharing should be incorporated into business processes in order to maintain a business, organizational performance at a competitive level.
Executive Gender and Prospect-Value Bias: Evidence from Insider Trading

This study shows that prospect value influences insider-trading decisions, and the impact is stronger among female executives’ trades. Insiders who buy (sell) when their company's prospect value is above (below) other firms’ prospect values lose 34 (12) basis points over the next month. Female insider trades, as compared with trades by their male counterparts, are affected more by prospect-value bias, and they suffer significantly higher resultant losses. While the findings contradict the overconfidence hypothesis that predicts poor trading decisions by male insiders, the results are consistent with the male insiders’ superior information access hypothesis, suggesting that behavioral biases diminish with knowledge.
Foreign Direct Investment and the Development of the Automotive Industry in Eastern and Southern Europe

This working paper provides an overview of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the automotive industry in Eastern Europe and Spain since the 1990s. The authors examine the main trends and patterns of FDI in Czechia, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Hungary, Serbia and Spain as well as the impact of the 2008 economic crisis on further developments of their automotive sector. The study underlines the long-term structural costs of external ownership and control of economic activities for peripheral regions in the form of 'truncated development'.
Stock Price Relevance of Voluntary Disclosures about Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrencies

We examine the firm value relevance of blockchain technology–related disclosures in 10-K filings, proxying for the involvement of firms in the trending technology and its applications. Using textual analysis to quantify blockchain-related disclosures, we first show that blockchain technology–related disclosures are indeed value relevant. However, when we further categorize the disclosures into cryptocurrency- and other blockchain-related disclosures, the result only holds for other blockchain-related disclosures. In addition, for cryptocurrency-disclosing firms that actually hold cryptocurrencies, these disclosures are negatively related to the firm’s business value. Finally, based on latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling, we find that only the disclosures about technology applications are positively value relevant. Our results indicate that investors value the involvement of blockchain technology applications positively only in business operations or solutions, and not in cryptocurrency-related issues.
Regioselective enzymatic acylation of pharmacologically interesting nucleosides in 2-methyltetrahydrofuran, a greener substitute for THF

1-β-Arabinofuranosyl uracil, 9-β-arabinofuranosyl adenosine, 2′-O-(2-methoxyethyl)-5-methyl uridine, adenosine and uridine were enzymatically acylated with hexanoic anhydride and vinyl esters by CALB lipase (lipase B from Candida antarctica) with excellent regioselectivity in many cases and analytical reaction yields above 90%. The influence of the stereochemistry of the hydroxyl group on C-2′ was studied. Some of these esterifications were carried out in 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (MeTHF), which is described as an excellent substitute for THF in biocatalysed processes in organic media. This application for this green solvent is a proof-of-concept opening the use of MeTHF in biotransformations.
S‐NITROSOCYSTEINE AS AN ANTIOXIDANT, COLOR‐DEVELOPING, AND ANTICLOSTRIDIAL AGENT IN COMMINUTED TURKEY MEAT

The effects of S-nitrosocysteine (RSNO) as an inhibitor of lipid oxidation and as a color-developing and anticlostridial agent in a comminuted turkey meat product are reported. These effects were compared with those of nitrite on a molecular weight basis. Similar effects were obtained by 25 ppm of nitrite or the corresponding molar concentration of RSNO in color development and inhibition of lipid oxidation in cooked cured meat stored under anaerobic conditions. Transnitrosation between RSNO and hemeproteins occurred in the meat product. Results indicate that as far as the chances for nitrosamines formation are concerned, RSNO cannot be recommended as a substitute for nitrite. In a microbiological medium and in a meat product, RSNO had less anticlostridial activity than nitrite.
Estimating Corporate Tax Avoidance with Accounting Data

Motivation — Dyreng, Hanlon, Maydew, and Thornock (2017) find that US domestic corporations achieve greater levels of tax avoidance than their multinational counterparts (MNEs). Motivated by recent research, this study examines if the authors’ unexpected findings are associated with the research design choices used when the cash effective tax rate (Cash ETR) estimates corporate tax avoidance. Objectives — The objectives of this study are to develop and test an alternative corporate tax avoidance measure that is not subject to the problematic research design choices that exist when estimating the Cash ETR. Specifically, we investigate alternatives to the researcher-selected cutoffs, the methods used to control for influential observations, and the discarding of loss years. Methods — Building on the linear corporate tax function used by Edwards, Kubata, and Shevlin (2018) this study develops an alternative corporate tax avoidance measure. The tax avoidance measure developed in this study is the marginal propensity to tax (MPT) which represents the incremental tax payment in the current period due to an additional dollar of current period pretax income. Results — When testing the MPT measure on the Dyreng et al. (2017) dataset, this study finds that MNEs engage in significantly more tax avoidance than domestic corporations. Specifically, the findings indicate that the MPT for MNEs is 3 percentage points lower than domestic corporations (26 percent and 29 percent, respectively). The results suggest that the unexpected results reported by Dyreng et al. (2017) reflect the undue influence of a few observations combined with the ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation procedure. To our knowledge, this is the first study to provide empirical evidence to suggest that the treatment of influential observations is an important factor to consider when estimating corporate tax avoidance. Contribution — The MPT measure provides an empirically viable corporate tax avoidance estimator that offers several distinct advantages. The MPT 1) provides an easily interpretable measure of corporate tax avoidance that is meaningful for all firm year observations, 2) controls for changes in pretax income by using a linear corporate tax function, 3) utilizes robust regression to control for influential observations — eliminating the need for a priori choices by researchers, and 4) uses piecewise linear regression to accommodate the inclusion of loss years — after documenting the nonlinearity that exists when including loss years in the sample. Additionally, using the MPT measure, this study provides an alternative explanation for Dyreng et al.’s (2017) unexpected finding that US domestic corporations achieve greater levels of tax avoidance than MNEs.
TNF- and Cancer Therapy-Induced Apoptosis: Potentiation by Inhibition of NF-κB

Many cells are resistant to stimuli that can induce apoptosis, but the mechanisms involved are not fully understood. The activation of the transcription factor nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) by tumor necrosis factor (TNF), ionizing radiation, or daunorubicin (a cancer chemotherapeutic compound), was found to protect from cell killing. Inhibition of NF-κB nuclear translocation enhanced apoptotic killing by these reagents but not by apoptotic stimuli that do not activate NF-κB. These results provide a mechanism of cellular resistance to killing by some apoptotic reagents, offer insight into a new role for NF-κB, and have potential for improvement of the efficacy of cancer therapies.
BREED-DIRECT, BREED-MATERNAL AND NONADDITIVE GENETIC EFFECTS FOR PREWEANING TRAITS IN CROSSBRED CALVES

Two sets of preweaning records of calves were used to estimate breed-direct, breed-maternal, and nonadditive genetic effects. Three groups were represented in both sets of data: a straightbred Hereford line; a rotational crossbreeding line using Angus, Charolais, Hereford, and Simmental breeds; and a rotational crossbreeding line using Angus, Hereford, Holstein-Friesian, and Simmental breeds. Dataset 1 (DS1) consisted of calf records from 1972 to 1976 while dataset 2 (DS2) comprised records from 1978 to 1982. The breeds were the same in both datasets except the Simmental breed was not used in DS1. The traits studied in both DS1 and DS2 were birth weight (BWT), preweaning average daily gain (ADG), and weaning weight (WWT). Calving difficulty (CD) and percent assisted births (%AB) were studied in DS1. A multiple regression procedure was used to estimate breed-direct and breed-maternal effects, as well as average individual and maternal heterosis. Compared to the Hereford breed, breed-direct effects for BWT .
Going Beyond Classic Nudges: Comparing the Effectiveness of Information Nudges Combined with Commitment Devices in Lowering Meat Consumption

This paper makes a novel attempt at understanding the effect of a classic information nudge combined with a reflective commitment device in influencing the dietary choices of individuals. In doing so, it undertakes a field experiment with an unchanged subject pool at LSE Bankside Residential Hall. This study is the first to use a combination of classic nudges and reflective devices in lowering meat consumption; it does so by incorporating a behavioural change intervention amongst the subjects and assessing their revealed dietary choices. The study relies on predictions from the model of impure altruism; while the information nudge is effective on 93% of the sample, it has a boomerang effect on the remaining 7% as suggested by the cluster analysis. Furthermore, its effects quickly fade out when the nudge is retracted. However, on adding a commitment device to it, the treatment effects on the sample are retained. The findings of this paper are critical in understanding how behavioural policies can be designed to induce persistent pro- environmental behaviour amongst individuals. Although the results must be verified in a larger sample setting, this demand led solution offers a unique way to reduce meat related carbon emissions. <br>
Reprodução em cativeiro do jurupecê Sorubim lima (Siluriformes, Pimelodidae) por meio de indução hormonal

Sorubim lima e um bagre migratorio que nao se reproduz em ambientes lenticos como os que sao formados apos a construcao de usinas hidreletricas. Uma das alternativas para conservacao da especie nesses ambientes e a estocagem com alevinos produzidos em cativeiro. A tecnica utilizada para a sua reproducao em cativeiro foi a da inducao por hormonio hipofisario de carpa, com dosagem de 5 mg.kg -1 para femeas (1 mg.kg -1 na primeira dose e 4 mg.kg -1 na segunda) e 3 mg.kg -1 para machos (1 mg.kg -1 na primeira dose e 2 mg.kg -1 na segunda), com intervalo de 14 horas. A determinacao do momento da extrusao dos ovulos foi feita pelo acompanhamento da migracao do nucleo de sua posicao central para a periferica. Apos 264,5 UTA (unidades termicas acumuladas) os ovulos foram obtidos por compressao da regiao ventral da femea, mas os machos foram sacrificados para extracao dos espermatozoides. Os ovos foram mantidos em incubadora e o tempo de eclosao das larvas foi de 370 UTA. As larvas foram alimentadas inicialmente com plâncton e nao apresentaram canibalismo. Alem disso, nao foram exigentes quanto a alimentacao, aceitando racoes preparadas apos o decimo quinto dia de vida. O ganho de peso das larvas foi muito baixo, ate proximo a 20 mm de comprimento total (14o dia), nao ultrapassando 0,05 mg por dia. Apos esse periodo tanto o peso quanto o comprimento aumentaram rapidamente.
Comparative studies of antifugal potentialities for some natural plant oils against different fungi isolated from poultry

The inhibitory effect of eight natural oils on ten pathogenic fungi isolated from the digestive and respiratory tracts of dead chickens in Kena Governorate showed that crude peppermint oil only has a highest effect against some isolated fungi and a low response against others. While its 10% and 2% oil concentrations failed to give any effect against all the tested fungi. Crude chamomile and pelargonium oils showed moderate effect against all isolated fungi. The effect of different dilutions of chamomile, cumin and celery oils appeared that the 10% concentration showed more effective than the crude oil. Lemongrass and basil oils have almost the same behaviour towards the isolated fungi as the crude oils and the 10% concentration affected them greatly. On the other hand 2% basil oil gave no effect at all. Critical concentrations of the efficient oils against isolated fungi were calculated. The most efficient oils were lemongrass against Aspergillus flavipes, chamomile against A. fumigatus and cumin against A. nidulans , while cumin against A. glaucus , clove against A. flavus were chamomile against A. flavus and clove against A. flavipes were the lowest efficient oils.
Incorporating Certainty and Attribute Non-attendance in Choice Experiments: An Application to Valuation of Coastal Habitat

Because of their nonmarket characteristics, coastal habitats are often valued using stated preference methods. An extensive literature cautions the confounding influence of both choice complexity and hypothetical bias in these types of analyses. In response, researchers have developed a variety of ex post controls to reduce the influence of potential biases. This study utilizes a discrete choice experiment with the goal of measuring users’ willingness to pay for estuarine habitat and access in the Sarasota Bay estuary. Our application examines model calibration to address (1) reported choice certainty and (2) stated attribute non-attendance. Our results indicate that accounting for attribute non-attendance and choice certainty has minor effects on coefficient estimates, generally leading to small changes in the marginal utilities for coastal habitat and income. The more apparent influence of these approaches comes via smaller standard errors, suggesting that ex post methods may ameliorate hypothetical bias and provide more precise estimates.
Lottery Equilibrium

Absent convex preferences or in the presence of indivisibilities, many classical results in general equilibrium fail. We provide a simple solution in a continuum economy: allow traders to engage in simple lotteries between two wealth levels. Such lottery equilibria approximately clear finite economies, with the approximation improving as the economy grows large. Our results generalize those in macroeconomics while suggesting more efficient designs for assignment without transfers and auction markets with budget constraints and may have implications for social policy and the theory of fair allocations.
Inhomogeneous Dependency Modelling with Time Varying Copulae

Measuring dependence in a multivariate time series is tantamount to modelling its dynamic structure in space and time. In the context of a multivariate normally distributed time series, the evolution of the covariance (or correlation) matrix over time describes this dynamic. A wide variety of applications, though, requires a modelling framework different from the multivariate normal. In risk management the non-normal behaviour of most financial time series calls for nonlinear (i.e. non-gaussian) dependency. The correct modelling of non-gaussian dependencies is therefore a key issue in the analysis of multivariate time series. In this paper we use copulae functions with adaptively estimated time varying parameters for modelling the distribution of returns, free from the usual normality assumptions. Further, we apply copulae to estimation of Value-at-Risk (VaR) of a portfolio and show its better performance over the RiskMetrics approach, a widely used methodology for VaR estimation.