130,469 research outputs found
Impact of federal budget deficits on the <i>ex ante</i> real interest rate yield on Moody’s Baa-rated long-term corporate bonds, 1960-2015
No full textPurpose
To investigate the impact of the federal budget deficit (expressed as a per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, GDP) in the US on the ex ante real interest rate yield on Moody’s Baa-rated corporate bonds and to provide evidence that is both contemporary and covers an extended time period, namely, 1960 through 2015.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis constructs a loanable funds model that involves a variety of financial and economic variables, with the ex ante real interest rate yield on Moody’s Baa-rated long-term corporate bonds as the dependent variable. The dependent variable is contemporaneous with the federal budget deficit and two other interest rate measures. Accordingly, instrumental variables are identified for each of these contemporaneous explanatory variables. The model also consists of four additional (lagged) explanatory variables. The model is then estimated using auto-regressive, i.e., AR(1), two-stage least squares.
Findings
The principal finding is that the ex ante real interest rate yield on Moody’s Baa rated corporate bonds is an increasing function of the federal budget deficit, expressed as a per cent of GDP. In particular, if the federal budget deficit were to rise by one per centage point, say from 3 to 4 per cent of GDP, the ex ante real interest rate would rise by 58 basis points.
Research limitations/implications
There are other time-series techniques that could be applied to the topic, such as co-integration, although the AR(1) process is tailored for studying volatile series such as interest rates and stock prices.
Practical/implications
The greater the US federal budget deficit, the greater the real cost of funds to firms. Hence, the high budget deficits of recent years have led to the crowding out of investment in new plant, new equipment, and new technology. These impacts lower economic growth and restrict prosperity in the US over time. Federal budget deficits must be substantially reduced so as to protect the US economy.
Social/implications
Higher budget deficits act to reduce investment in ew plant, new equipment and new technology. This in turn reduces job growth and real GDP growth and compromises the health of the economy.
Originality/value
This is the first study to focus on the impact of the federal budget deficit on the ex ante real long term cost of funds to firms in decades. Nearly all related studies fail to focus on this variable. Since, in theory, this variable (represented by the ex ante real yield on Moody’s Baa rated long term corporate bonds) is a key factor in corporate investment decisions, the empirical findings have potentially very significant implications for US firms and for the economy as a whole in view of the extraordinarily high budget deficits of recent years.
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Pseudophacopteron pretoriense Capener 1973
No full textPseudophacopteron pretoriense Capener (Figs. 34, 70, 98–100, 182–183, 233, 251) Pseudophacopteron pretoriensis Capener, 1973: 46, Figs. 45–53, 57. Holotype ♀, South Africa, Pretoria, Groenkloof Park, 13 October 1965 (A. L. Capener) [NCIP, examined]. Pseudophacopteron pretoriensis, Prinsloo 1981: 200, 209 (description of parasitoid Psyllaephagus capeneri). Pseudophacopteron pretoriense, Burckhardt & van Harten 2006: 192 (differential diagnosis to P. verrucifrons). Pseudophacopteron pretoriense, Malenovský et al. 2007: 1917 (differential diagnosis to P. morion). Description. Adult. Colour. Vertex ochreous to orange brown laterally; median ridge on vertex, genae, frons and clypeus lighter, dirty yellow. Pronotum dirty yellow, dark brown on sides, lateral tubercles light. Mesopraescutum ochreous, lighter basally and laterally. Mesoscutum ochreous or orange brown with pale midline and lateral tips. Mesoscutellum, metascutum and metascutellum dirty yellow, metapostnotum ochreous to orange. Lateral sclerites of thorax dark brown. Antenna off-white, segment 3 narrowly infuscated light brown apically, segments 4–8 narrowly dark brown apically, segments 9–10 entirely black. Legs ochreous, metacoxa partly dark brown, femora usually with dark brown markings near apex and base, tibiae infuscated brown basally. Fore wing membrane clear, transparent, except for a dark brown infuscation along vein Cu 1b which does not reach posterior wing margin on proximal side (in cell cu 2) (Fig. 34). Fore wing veins off-white to ochreous, except for C+Sc, basal half of R, M+Cu 1 fork, a spot medially on R+M+Cu 1, and two spots on anal vein, which are all dark brown. Hind wing clear, transparent, C+Sc brown. Abdominal tergites entirely brown to dark brown. Sternites ochreous to dark brown. Male terminalia ochreous. Female terminalia entirely dark brown or subgenital plate basally lighter. Morphology. Head similar to P. zimmermanni. Antenna relatively robust, slightly serrate, segments distinctly widening to apex; terminal setae subequal, long, the longer terminal seta 1.5 times or twice longer than segments 9 and 10 together (Fig. 233). Fore wing with surface spinulation present in cells cu 1, cu 2, m 1, m 2, r 1, and apical portion of r 2 (Fig. 70). Mesotibia with subapical comb on outer margin consisting of 6–8 densely arranged stout setae. Hind legs relatively long and slender; metatibia with 10 apical spurs and eight similar spurs laterally; metabasitarsus slightly longer than broad (contrary to the information given by Capener 1973, it bears two sclerotised lateral spurs). Male proctiger, in lateral view, relatively short and narrow (Fig. 98). Paramere relatively short, robust; in lateral view, club-shaped, with apex forming a tooth situated medially; paramere inner side densely covered with stout setae (Fig. 99). Apical dilation of distal segment of aedeagus small, rounded at apex, drop-shaped (Fig. 100). Female proctiger and subgenital plate with moderately long apical extensions; circumanal pore ring with two rows of pores, pores of outer row contiguous; subgenital plate, in lateral view, pointed apically (Fig. 187); in ventral view, regularly narrowing to a narrowly rounded apex (Fig. 183). Dorsal and ventral valvulae laterally with usually three distinct teeth (Fig. 182). Measurements and ratios in Tabs. 2–4. Fifth instar larva (Fig. 251). Body rounded, ovoid in outline, margins of wing pads confluent with body margin. Whole body margin with densely arranged broadly truncate lanceolate setae in following numbers (one side only): head in front of insertion of antenna: 8–11, cephalothorax behind eyes: 12–19, fore wing pad: 33–43, hind wing pad: 6–12, abdomen: 26–35. Dorsum of body with sparse minute simple setae, lacking other conspicuous setae. Antenna short, robust, situated on ventral side, oriented obliquely outwards, lacking distinct divisions, with anterior margin serrate and two rhinaria posteriorly. Tarsal arolium as large as claws. Abdomen dorsally compact, with four distinct free sclerites and fused caudal plate; caudal plate margin broadly rounded. Anus in ventral position. Circumanal ring wide, with fore and hind margin close together; outer ring composed of a single row of pores, not sinuate. Measurements and ratios in Tab. 5. Host plant. Harpephyllum caffrum (Anacardiaceae) (Capener 1973). A part of the examined material is labelled as collected on Ekebergia capensis (Meliaceae). Both plant species are relatively similar and can be confused (Dlamini 2004). Biology. Induces pit galls on the upper surface of leaves (Capener 1973). Parasitized by Psyllaephagus capeneri Prinsloo (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Encyrtidae) (Prinsloo 1981). Distribution. South Africa. Material examined. Holotype ♀, SOUTH AFRICA: Pretoria, 13 October 1965 (A. L. Capener). Drymounted [NCIP, Ac. Psy. 118]. Paratypes: SOUTH AFRICA: 7 ♂, 7 ♀, 6 larvae, Gauteng Province, Pretoria, Groenkloof Park, 13 October 1965, on Harpephyllum caffrum (A. L. Capener); 1 ♂, 4 larvae, same data, but 13 September 1972; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Pretoria, 20 October 1971 (H. D. Catling). Dry- and slide-mounted [BMNH, NCIP]. Other material: SOUTH AFRICA: 2 ♂, Gauteng Province, Pretoria, October 1965, Ekebergia capensis (A. L. Capener); 12 ♂, 7 ♀, ca. 120 larvae and exuviae, Pretoria, 24 October 1985, on Ekebergia capensis (S. Neser); 1 ♀, Western Cape Province, Bloukrans Pass, Vargrivier, 33°57’S, 23°38’E, 14–16 October 1994 (R. Danielsson). Dry- and slide-mounted and preserved in ethanol [BMNH, MMBC, MZLU, NCIP, NHMB]. Comments. Examination of the type series of P. pretoriense (NCIP) revealed that some paratypes belonged to another Pseudophacopteron species described in the present paper as P. stigmatum sp. nov. Capener’s original description (Capener 1973) mixes the two species, Figs. 45–51 and perhaps Figs. 52–53 are conspecific with the holotype of P. pretoriense Capener, while his Figs. 54–56 represent the male and female terminalia and a fourth instar larva of P. stigmatum. P. pretoriense can be differentiated from similar species (P. carapae, P. electum, P. morion, and P.sodalis) by the form of the dark brown infuscation on fore wings, which does not reach the posterior wing margin on inner (proximal) side of vein Cu 1b. It also differs in the shape of male and female terminalia, the length of antennal terminal setae and the larval morphology.Published as part of Malenovský, Igor & Burckhardt, Daniel, 2009, A review of the Afrotropical jumping plant-lice of the Phacopteronidae (Hemiptera: Psylloidea), pp. 1-74 in Zootaxa 2086 (1) on pages 22-23, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2086.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/531038
Colophorina Capener
No full textColophorina Capener Colophorina Capener, 1973: 41; Li, 2011: 506. Type-species: Colophorina cassiae Capener, 1973, by monotypy. Diagnosis. Adult. Vertex subrectangular, base straight, dorsally completely flattened including area adjacent to median ocellus, bearing distinct anteorbital tubercle; separated from genae by transverse suture; genal processes lying in the same plane as vertex, flattened dorsally, usually irregularly truncate apically. Antenna shorter than twice head width; segment 3 longest. Rostrum short, hardly visible in profile. Metatibia lacking genual spine, with 4–6 sclerotised, relatively evenly spaced apical spurs. Forewing rhomboidal, subrectangular or broadly, evenly rounded apically, usually with flattened, slightly widened vein C+Sc. Hindwing with vein M+Cu. Male proctiger unipartite, tubular. Male subgenital plate hemisphaerical. Paramere lamellar, simple. Distal segment of aedeagus simple, with weak oval apical dilatation; sclerotised end tube of ductus ejaculatorius short and thick, almost straight. Female terminalia cuneate, short; circumanal ring cruciform. Fifth instar immature. Antenna 8-segmented. Capitate setae absent. Additional pore fields present as 1+1 convoluted loops. Following numbers of marginal sectasetae present: hindwing pads 0+0 or 1+1, abdomen 3+3 or 4+4. Description of adults and immatures by Capener (1973) and Li (2011). Egg. Oblong oval, slightly curved, 3–4 times as long as wide; irregularly narrowing at apex which is subacute (Fig. 23). Surface with cellular microsculpture. Comments. Colophorina, as diagnosed above, is a pantropical genus closest related to Euryconus Aulmann. Species of both share the same head structure and are associated with Leguminosae. Colophorina includes 10 de- scribed species (Li 2011; Ouvrard 2019) but several species currently misplaced in Euphalerus Schwarz also belong here (D. Burckhardt, unpublished data). On the other hand, the only Neotropical member, C. favis (Brown & Hodkinson, 1988), does not conform with the diagnosis provided above. It is not congeneric with C. cassiae, the type species of the Colophorina, but with E. edentalis Li, the type species of Epiacizzia Li (D. Burckhardt, unpublished data) to which it is transferred here as Epiacizzia favis (Brown & Hodkinson, 1988), comb. nov. from Euphalerus. Here we add four new species from Brazil which are morphologically similar and probably constitute a monophyletic group. They differ from other described species, all from the Old World, in the slightly convex, apically broadly rounded forewings and the host association with Copaifera spp. The species are mostly characterised by the shape of the genal processes and the forewing pattern. The morphology of the male and female terminalia, including the parameres and the distal portion of the aedeagus, is very homogeneous and useful only to a limited degree for separating species. A single teneral ♀ from Brazil: AM, Novo Airão, Parque Nacional de Anavilhanas, -2.5366/6217 -60.8327/9559, 20– 30 m, 18–20.iv.2014, Amazonas inudation forest (D. Burckhardt & D.L. Queiroz) #128 (NHMB, 70% ethanol) probably represents another undescribed species but more material is required for a formal description.Published as part of Burckhardt, Daniel & Queiroz, Dalva L., 2020, Neotropical jumping plant-lice (Hemiptera, Psylloidea) associated with plants of the tribe Detarieae (Leguminosae, Detarioideae), pp. 1-73 in Zootaxa 4733 (1) on pages 10-11, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4733.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/366964
Diaphorina albomaculata Capener 1970
No full textKey to the species of the Diaphorina albomaculata group Adults 1. Fore wing predominantly light with dark pattern consisting of dots that are partly confluent; cell r1 with large light area................................................................................................... 2 – Fore wing predominantly dark with a few light areas; cell r1 entirely dark, at most with a few small light dots................................................................................................................................... 4 2. Paramere with forward directed hook apically. Ventral margin of female subgenital plate evenly weakly convex. On Vernonia amygdalina (Asteraceae)......................................................................................................................................................................... D. enderleini Klimaszewski – Paramere lacking apical hook. Ventral margin of female subgenital plate with strong basal swelling. On other hosts.............................................................................................................................................. 3 3. Fore wing relatively narrow,> 2.3 times as long as wide. Paramere digitiform. Basal swelling on female subgenital plate forming large hump. On Searsia undulata spp. (Anacardiaceae)...................................................................................................... D. natalensis (Pettey) – Fore wing relatively wide, 2.3 times as long as wide; bearing light spots along wing margin in cells r1, r2 and m1. Paramere narrowly rounded apically. Ventral margin of female subgenital plate angular. On O. pulcherrima.................................................... D. pfanderae sp. nov. Last-instar immatures (Immatures of D. natalensis are unknown) 1. Caudal plate with several long robust setae on either side of medial indentation.... 2 – Caudal plate with several lanceolate setae on either side of medial indentation................... 4 2. Circumanal ring completely reduced. On Vernonia amygdalina (Asteraceae)............................................................................................................................................. D. enderleini Klimaszewski – Circumanal ring developed, consisting of a few pores. On Anacardiaceae.................... 3 3. Wing pads and caudal plate with inconspicuous microscopic marginal lanceolate setae. On Ozoroa pulcherrima.............................................................................. D. pfanderae sp. nov. – Wing pads and caudal plate with conspicuous macroscopic, evenly spaced marginal lanceolate setae. On Searsia leptodictya............................................ D. tenebrosa Capener 4. General body colour brown. Caudal plate with 7–10 lanceolate setae on either side of medial indentation. On Ozoroa insignis subsp. reticulata, O. paniculosa (Anacardiaceae).............................................................................................................................. D. albomaculata Capener – General body colour pale cream. Caudal plate with 4–5 lanceolate setae on either side of medial indentation. On Solanum incanum (Solanaceae)........ D. solani Capener Biology Adults and immatures of D. pfanderae were observed feeding on young plants of O. pulcherrima, especially on the underside of leaves, along the petiole and the midrib, and even on fruit-bearing stalks. Eggs were laid on the leaf-blade near the central vein (Figure 5 (b)). The different stages were always associated with the three ant species Camponotus congolensis Emery, 1899, Camponotus flavomarginatus Mayr, 1862 and Crematogaster sp. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Of these, C. congolensis was the most abundant, with 391 individuals, followed by Crematogaster sp. (288 individuals) and C. flavomarginatus (220 individuals). The infestation of leaves by the psyllids did not significantly differ between the three age classes of leaves (Χ2 = 1.78; p = 0.41) (Table 1), and the relative numbers of psyllids on young and very young leaves were approximately the same (37.24% and 38.86%, respectively). Camponotus congolensis was predominantly found associated with colonies of immature psyllids on the very young leaves (47.57%), while C. flavomarginatus was most abundant on young leaves (41.82%). Crematogaster sp., in contrast, was evenly distributed among the three age classes of leaves (Table 1). These ants would often, but not always, build shelters around the colonies of D. pfanderae. The Spearman’s test performed between ant species and the psyllid showed that the number of individuals of D. pfanderae was positively and significantly correlated with that of C. congolensis (R = 0.49, P <0.001) and Crematogaster sp. (R = 0.50, P <0.001).Published as part of Aléné, Désirée Chantal, Latar Vernyuy, Nina, Djiéto-Lordon, Champlain & Burckhardt, Daniel, 2021, Diaphorina pfanderae Aléné and Burckhardt sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Psylloidea: Psyllidae) and its association with ants on Ozoroa pulcherrima (Anacardiaceae), pp. 1649-1662 in Journal of Natural History 55 (27 - 28) on pages 1658-1659, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2021.1951861, http://zenodo.org/record/552993
MeSH term explosion and author rank improve expert recommendations
No full textInformation overload is an often-cited phenomenon that reduces the productivity, efficiency and efficacy of scientists. One challenge for scientists is to find appropriate collaborators in their research. The literature describes various solutions to the problem of expertise location, but most current approaches do not appear to be very suitable for expert recommendations in biomedical research. In this study, we present the development and initial evaluation of a vector space model-based algorithm to calculate researcher similarity using four inputs: 1) MeSH terms of publications; 2) MeSH terms and author rank; 3) exploded MeSH terms; and 4) exploded MeSH terms and author rank. We developed and evaluated the algorithm using a data set of 17,525 authors and their 22,542 papers. On average, our algorithms correctly predicted 2.5 of the top 5/10 coauthors of individual scientists. Exploded MeSH and author rank outperformed all other algorithms in accuracy, followed closely by MeSH and author rank. Our results show that the accuracy of MeSH term-based matching can be enhanced with other metadata such as author rank
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
No full textBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Scholarly Communication and Publishing Lunch and Learn Talk #11: The ULS Open Access Author Fee Fund
No full textAt the May 2014 talk, you will learn about the ULS Open Access Author Fee Fund--what it is, why we do it, how it works, and how the program is going so far
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