Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of a short‐term climate change experiment on a sub‐Antarctic keystone plant species

The cushion plant Azorella selago is widespread across the sub‐Antarctic, and is considered a keystone species in the dominant fellfield vegetation. However, the impact of current changes in climate in the region (increasing temperature and declining rainfall) on this species is unknown. Here, the response of A. selago to reduced rainfall (a direct effect of climate change) and increased shading (a predicted indirect effect of increasing temperatures, via enhanced growth and wider distribution of more responsive competitors and epiphytes) was experimentally determined. Reduced rainfall increased stem mortality and accelerated autumnal senescence. Furthermore, under this treatment senescence was unequally distributed across individual plants, hypothesized to be a consequence of an interactive effect between rainfall and wind patterns. Shaded stems grew more, and carried larger leaves with lower trichome densities, than their exposed equivalents. As a result, shaded plants were less compact and their surface integrity reduced. The species' response to combined drying and shading was generally similar to its response to shading alone, suggesting that, at least over the short term, the indirect effects of climate change could be more severe than the direct effects. Thus, despite the species' slow growth rate and the short duration of the experiment, persistent direct and indirect effects were observed, both with potential longer‐term consequences for A. selago populations. Climate change is, therefore, likely to impact negatively on this long‐lived keystone species, with significant implications for the structure and functioning of fellfield systems.
Can Non-Binding Promises Increase Cooperation in a Voluntary Contribution Mechanism Game? An Experiment

We consider a modiﬁed voluntary contributions mechanism (VCM) game where the marginal per capita return (mpcr) for a group of responders is endogenously determined by the proposer. We allow the proposer to implement a mpcr that is diﬀerent to the mpcr initially announced, after observing responders’ contributions. Thus, the mpcr used to determine responders’ payoﬀs may diﬀer from the mpcr that was public information when responders decided their contributions. Our ﬁndings indicate that contributions increase with the announced mpcr even when the announced mpcr is non-binding. This suggests that promising a high mpcr in VCM type interactions can be successful at increasing individuals’ contributions even if the eventual mpcr that determines payoﬀ is substantially lower. Finally, we ﬁnd that the marginal gains from the above strategy can be expected to decrease with experience.
The effect of salinity on early seedling growth of seeds of three wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars

We studied the effects of three salinity levels (50, 100 and 150 mM NaCl) on the early seedling growth of three wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars of Albanian origin characterized by different sensitivities to salt. Sodium accumulation was similar in seedlings of different cultivars and, in general, Na+ was confined to the root. Chloride accumulated at high levels in both the root and the shoot but least so in Daity. No appreciable differences were observed in K+ content. The most salt-tolerant cultivar showed a higher capacity for osmoregulation than the other two cultivars. Key words: Ion regulation, ion toxicity, osmoregulation, salinity, Triticum aestivum
Labor Pooling in R&D Intensive Industries

We investigate the interplay between firms' R&D decisions and labor market competition, and how this influences equilibrium location choices and welfare. Firms engage in risky R&D activities and thus create stochastic product and implied labor demand. Spatial agglomeration is more likely in situations where the innovation step is large and the probability for a firm to be the only innovator is high. When firms agglomerate, they tend to invest more in R&D compared to spatially dispersed firms. Agglomeration is welfare maximizing, because expected labor productivity is higher and firms choose a more efficient, diversified portfolio of R&D projects at the industry level. The latter aspect is ascertained by data from German firms in R&D intensive industries.
Flash in the Pan : Management Guidance and Future Performance

Management forecasts have an average horizon of only six months, which requires investors to estimate the persistence of forecast news. We show that about 90% of the information impounded into returns at forecast announcements relates to earnings realized beyond the forecast horizon. Examining returns and earnings beyond the forecast horizon reveals two key findings. First, we show forecasted earnings are less persistent than non-forecasted earnings. Second, we show that the large market reaction to management forecast announcements (e.g. Beyer et al. 2010) are followed by return reversals beyond the forecast horizon. These return reversals are higher when the forecast news can be expected to be less persistent, consistent with investors overestimating the persistence of forecasted earnings. Overall, our findings suggest that investors overreact to management forecasts and that aligning investor beliefs with managers’ private information about short-horizon earnings through managerial forecasts may lead to misalignment at longer horizons.
Effect of interleukin 1β-induced fever on hepatic drug metabolism in rat

1. A fever-induced modelinrat was created by repeated injection of interleukin 1β(IL-1β) in the cerebroventricle and the influence of fever on hepatic drug metabolism was investigated. Fever apparently decreased the content of cytochrome P450 (CYP) and the activities of NADPH-ferrihaemoprotein reductase (ƒp2), aminopyrine N-demethylase, aniline hydroxylase, FAD-monooxygenase, p-nitrophenol UDP-glucuronosyl-transferase and glutathione S-transferase. Immunoblot analysis of the CYP isozymes indicated that CYP2C11 and CYP3A were extensively decreased in the IL-1β-induced fevered rat. 2. Repeated administration (5 days) of mefenamic acid in the fevered rat could not restore the activities of ƒp2, aminopyrine N-demethylase and aniline hydroxylase to control plevels, although their hyperthermic state had been improved. The CYP content in the mefenamic acid-treated fevered rat was also lower than that in the control. 3. These findings suggest that fever impairs the hepatic drug-metabolizing capacity (both oxidati.
Africa’s Skill Tragedy: Does Teachers’ Lack of Knowledge Lead to Low Student Performance?

ABSTRACT:We study the importance of teacher subject knowledge for student performance in Sub-Saharan Africa using unique international assessment data for sixth-grade students and their teachers. To circumvent bias due to unobserved student heterogeneity, we exploit variation within students across math and reading. Teacher subject knowledge has a modest impact on student performance. Exploiting vast cross-country differences in economic development, we find that teacher knowledge is effective only in more developed African countries. Results are robust to adding teacher fixed effects and accounting for potential sorting based on subject-specific factors.
Taking the Stag out Stagflation

In this paper we study investigate whether we can time the performance of stock market factors in a profitable manner. In the first part of our paper, we study a trading strategy that buys factors based on a timing strategy. We find that the factor timing strategy experiences lower maximum than our factor portfolio benchmark but does not produce the returns necessary, net of trading costs and 2% management and 20% performance fees, to outperform our factor benchmark. Additionally, the factor timing portfolio plays a very small role in an optimal portfolio that is comprised of a factor timing portfolio and our factor portfolio benchmark. In the second part of our paper, we test whether economic indicators can predict factor timing performance, net of the factor timing benchmark. We find that stagflation (a period of high inflation during a recession) is predictive of the outperformance of our factor timing strategy relative to our benchmark. We form a strategy that engages in factor timing and shorts our factor benchmark the month after a stagflation period is predicted and only buys our factor benchmark during all other times. We find that this strategy produces a Sharpe ratio of 1 and is negatively correlated to both stocks and bonds. We interpret this result as a discovery of a point of market inefficiency.
Glyphosate: production, pricing and use worldwide

Glyphosate herbicide is the largest-selling single crop-protection chemical product in the market today. This non-selective weedkiller was initially targeted at the non-crop areas in agriculture and for industrial applications but, with the continuing development of minimum- and no-tillage agricultural practices, glyphosate also found usage in a number of crop outlets. Most recently, glyphosate has found direct crop usage on plant varieties that have been genetically modified to be tolerant of glyphosate applications. Such has been the continuing success of the product that its annual volume consumption growth has averaged in excess of 20% in recent years in agricultural use. © 2000 Society of Chemical Industry
Post-copulatory sexual selection and the Zebra Finch

Abstract The Zebra Finch Taeniopygia guttata is a model passerine and since the mid-1980s my research group has studied both domesticated birds in captivity, and wild birds in Australia, as part of a program of research designed to explore the adaptive significance and underlying mechanisms of sperm competition in birds. Extra-pair courtship is common in wild Zebra Finches, but rarely leads to mounting and as a result extra-pair paternity is infrequent, a result consistent with male Zebra Finch reproductive anatomy. Nonetheless, the species has proved to be an excellent model for sperm competition studies because its basic reproductive anatomy and reproductive processes are similar to other birds. The outcome of sperm competition in the Zebra Finch and other birds is best predicted by the passive sperm loss model, allowing for differences in sperm numbers and quality (fertilising capacity). Last male sperm precedence is not a ‘rule’ in birds but is a consequence of the way sperm competition experiments have been conducted. Several male reproductive traits, including sperm size and velocity in the Zebra Finch have a genetic basis, and, as the Zebra Finch genome project gains momentum, the genes for these traits will be identified. ‘Zebra Finches are often taken for granted by Australians because they are numerous, noisy and persistent, but many, including myself, admire them because they typify the “little Australian battler”—the small and insignificant, that somehow succeeds by simply hanging on and enduring the vicissitudes of the vast, harsh country of inland Australia. ’ (Richard Zann, ‘The Zebra Finch’, 1996)
Inhibition of ischaemic hippocampal neuronal death in primates with cathepsin B inhibitor CA‐074: a novel strategy for neuroprotection based on ‘calpain–cathepsin hypothesis’

Although Cornu Ammonis (CA) 1 neurons of the hippocampus are known to be vulnerable to transient ischaemia, the mechanism of ischaemic neuronal death is still unknown, and there are very few strategies to prevent neuronal death at present. In a previous report we demonstrated μ‐calpain activation at the disrupted lysosomal membrane of postischaemic CA1 neurons in the monkey undergoing a complete 20 min whole brain ischaemia. Using the same experimental paradigm, we observed that the enzyme activity of the lysosomal protease cathepsin B increased throughout the hippocampus on days 3–5 after the transient ischaemia. Furthermore, by immunocytochemistry cathepsin B showed presence of extralysosomal immunoreactivity with specific localization to the cytoplasm of CA1 neurons and the neuropil of the vulnerable CA1 sector. When a specific inhibitor of cathepsin B, the epoxysuccinyl peptide CA‐074 (C18H29N3O6) was intravenously administered immediately after the ischaemic insult, ≈ 67% of CA1 neurons were saved from delayed neuronal death on day 5 in eight monkeys undergoing 20 min brain ischaemia: the extent of inhibition was excellent in three of eight and good in five of eight monkeys. The surviving neurons rescued by blockade of lysosomal activity, showed mild central chromatolysis and were associated with the decreased immunoreactivity for cathepsin B. These observations indicate that calpain‐induced cathepsin B release is crucial for the development of the ischaemic neuronal death, and that a specific inhibitor of cathepsin B is of potential therapeutic utility in ischaemic injuries to the human CNS.
Stem and Crown Relations in Four Species from an Evermoist Forest in Sri Lanka

Abstract The volume of a tree's crown represents the accumulated historic crown surfaces integrated over time and environmental conditions. As such the crown volume of a tree should be correlated to the stem diameter, which represents accumulated historic wood increment. This study examines the relationship between crown and stem metrics of four tree species, Macaranga peltata, Schumacheria castaneifolia, Shorea megistophylla, and Shorea trapezifolia, from an evermoist forest in southwestern Sri Lanka. Shorea megistophyllahad the highest correlation between crown volume and stem diameter of the four species (r2 = 0.55). The addition of an inverted parabola, to represent historic crown surfaces not included by the current crown volume, improved correlations with stem diameter significantly, especially in the flat-topped pioneer species, Macaranga peltata. Schumacheria castaneifoliashowed poor correlations between stem and crown dimensions, suggesting that allocation to fruit and flower production may recei.
Liquidity Risk and Corporate Risk-Taking

We construct a theoretical framework to investigate the impact of liquidity risk, in the secondary corporate debt market, on corporate risk-taking preferences. Using closed-form solutions, our model shows that equity holders choose to adopt high-risk projects upon the arrival of illiquidity shocks. This effect is more pronounced for firms with weaker fundamentals. Empirically, we confirm the positive relationship between liquidity risk and corporate risk-taking. We also document that the impact of liquidity risk on corporate risk-taking preferences is more pronounced for smaller firms and firms with lower profits and higher rollover risk. In addition, we use the introduction of the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE) as a natural exogenous liquidity shock and find a decrease of firms’ risk-taking preferences after the TRACE is implemented. Our findings shed light on the managerial behavior literature, which shows that the frictions of the secondary bond market have a real impact on firms’ risk-taking behaviors.
The control of the citrophilus mealybug, Pseudococcus gahani, by Australian parasites

Abstract does not appear. First page follows. Introduction The general disappearance of injurious infestations of citrophilus mealybug, Pseudococcus gahani Green, in California, is attributed to the work of Coccophagus gurneyi Compere and Tetracnemus pretiosus Timberlake, two internal parasites introduced into California in 1928 from Sydney, Australia, by the University of California Citrus Experiment Station. Since 1929, after the general establishment of these parasites, the mealybug has been scarcer than at any other time since it became a major pest. This scarcity of mealybugs has been continuous without appreciable annual fluctuations. No damage has been reported in the areas where the parasites have been established for a period of about two years, nor has it been necessary to liberate Cryptolaemus montrousieri Mulsant to prevent the citrophilus mealybug from increasing to injurious numbers. The saving resulting from the work of Coccophagus and Tetracnemus may be estimated from the saving in Orange County, where more than 40,000 acres of citrus were infested and where surveys show that the parasites have prevented the recurrence of infestations that were estimated to be costing the growers $500,000 to $1,000,000 annually.
The Bioindicators of Forest Condition Project: a physiological, remote sensing approach.

Objective measures of forest ecosystem condition are needed to gauge the effects of management activities and natural phenomena on sustainability. The Bioindicators of Forest Condition Project seeks to develop a Forest Condition Rating (FCR) system using a physiological, remote sensing approach. In particular, the goal of the project is to test whether hyperspectral remote sensing may be used to infer stand-level information about pigment concentration, chlorophyll fluorescence, and other physiological features of condition. The project spans a four-year period of intensive sampling in tolerant hardwood forests in Ontario using the Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI). For each airborne campaign, concurrent ground-based sampling for leaf physiological features was performed. Controlled laboratory and greenhouse studies were also conducted to derive relationships between leaf-based spectral measurements and physiology in the presence of environmental stresses. The project has identified several pr.
(Priced) Frictions

We propose a parsimonious measure based solely on daily stock returns to characterize the severity of microstructure frictions at the individual stock level and assess the impact of frictions on the cross section of stock returns. Stocks with the largest frictions command a value-weighted return premium as large as 10% per year on a risk-adjusted basis. The friction premium is stronger among small, low price, volatile, value, and illiquid stocks. Return spreads associated with momentum and idiosyncratic volatility are smaller and statistically less significant than previously documented after screening out stocks with high microstructure frictions. Using UK data, we show that our measure is useful in settings where the availability of quality data on trading volume, bid-ask prices, and intraday high-low prices is limited.
Relación Consumo de Energía y PIB: Evidencia Desde un Panel Cointegrado de 10 Países de América Latina entre 1971-2007 (Energy Consumption and GDP relationship: Evidence from a Cointegration Panel of Ten Latin America Countries between 1971-2007)

En este documento se estima la relación de largo plazo en la relación Consumo de Energía – PIB, y PIB – Consumo de Energía para 10 países de América Latina durante el periodo 1971 – 2007. Por medio de la prueba de Cointegración de Westerlund (2006) para datos de panel, la cual tiene en cuenta la posible dependencia entre países (Cross-Section) y los posibles quiebres estructurales existentes en la relación de largo plazo, se calculan las elasticidades, tanto individuales como a nivel regional. Lo anterior, con el fin de aportar evidencia empírica sobre la posibilidad de diseñar e implementar políticas que promuevan la conservación de la energía. Se encuentra que existe Cointegración en ambas direcciones, del consumo de energía al PIB, y del PIB al consumo de energía. Se evidencia la energía dependencia de algunos países, así como la posibilidad de implementar políticas de conservación de la energía en otros. In this paper estimates the long-term relationship in the relationship Energy Consumption - GDP and GDP - Energy Consumption for 10 Latin America countries during the period 1971 to 2007. Through Cointegration test of Westerlund (2006) for panel data, which takes into account the possible dependence between countries (Cross-Section) and any existing structural breaks in long-run relationship, we calculate the elasticities, both individual and regional level. Above, to provide empirical evidence on the ability to design and implement policies those promote energy conservation. Cointegration is found to exist in both directions, energy consumption to GDP, and GDP to energy consumption. It shows the energy dependence of some countries, as well as the possibility of implementing energy conservation in others.
Impacts of thinning on growth, timber production and carbon stocks in Finland under changing climate

Abstract A gap-type ecosystem model was used to assess how climate change may affect the growth (stemwood production), timber production (sawlogs and pulpwood) and carbon stocks in the forest ecosystem (trees and soil) under varying thinning regimes in Finland. Simulations were carried out over a 100-year period under current and changing climate for seven thinning regimes by changing both the basal area threshold when the thinning is performed and the remaining basal area after the thinning. The management recommendations, currently applied in Finnish forestry, were used to define the “business-as-usual” treatment. The results indicated that climate change may substantially increase the growth, timber production and carbon stocks in the forest ecosystem. The largest relative changes were found in northern (above 64° N) Finland (south: growth 37–45%, timber production 23–40%, carbon stocks 8–10%; north: 75–78%, 59–70%, 21–23%, respectively, depending on the thinning regimes applied), although the absolute (mean) values were higher in southern (below 64° N) Finland. Regardless of climate scenarios, a reduced level of tree stocking in thinnings may result in cuttings exceeding the growth and result in lower carbon stocks in the forest ecosystem. Conversely, increased tree stocking level up to 30% reduced timber production, but did not remarkably affect the growth and carbon stocks under the current or changing climate. Hence, it may be suggested that if thinning is made at 15–30% higher stocking than current level it would result in a positive compromise; beyond that, timber production could be reduced drastically.
Conspecific vocalisations modulate the circadian activity rhythm of marmosets

Conspecific vocalisations have an important ecological role for marmosets and likely modulate the circadian timing system. However, the effect of this specific cue on circadian activity rhythm (CAR) has not been evaluated. To analyse the synchroniser effect of conspecific vocalisations on CAR in marmosets, the motor activity of five isolated adult males was continuously recorded in rooms with constant dim light (~2 lx) and attenuated sound. All animals presented positive masking, four presented relative coordination and three presented temporary entrainment associated with the daily pattern of vocalisations from animals kept outdoors, similarly to previous studies that assessed social cues. Furthermore, most animals displayed a shortened circadian period in response to conspecific vocalisation pulses that were reproduced daily for 30 days under total darkness. This is evidence that a non-photic cue with ecological significance can modulate the CAR, reinforcing the role of conspecific vocalisation as an important zeitgeber for marmosets.
Fundamentals of Behavioral Economics: Role of Symmetry in Irrational Choice

Symmetry is a fundamental concept in modern physics and other related sciences. Being such a powerful tool, almost all physical theories can be derived from symmetry, and the effectiveness of such an approach is astonishing. Since physicists do not actually believe that symmetry is a fundamental feature of nature, it seems more likely it is a fundamental feature of human cognition. According to evolutionary psychologists, humans have a sensory bias for symmetry. The unconscious quest for symmetrical patterns has developed as a solution to specific adaptive problems related to survival and reproduction. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that some fundamental concepts in behavioral economics necessarily involve symmetry. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the role of symmetry in decision-making and to illustrate how it can be algebraically operationalized through the use of mathematical group theory.