CONSTRUCTION OF A METRIC OF QUALITY OF ACCOUNTING INFORMATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF FUNDAMENTAL ANALYSTS

Este estudo objetivou construir uma Métrica de Qualidade da Informação Contábil (MQIC) sob a ótica de analistas fundamentalistas, os quais, enquanto intermediários informacionais, utilizam informações públicas para fazer suas previsões e recomendações, mostrando por meio de seus relatórios as melhores oportunidades de investimentos. O estudo é classificado como exploratório e utilizou abordagem qualitativa. Para atingir o objetivo foi utilizada a técnica Delphi, com a aplicação aos analistas fundamentalistas de um questionário elaborado a partir da literatura sobre qualidade da informação contábil. Os resultados do estudo possibilitaram construir uma MQIC com 17 componentes, cuja nota varia entre 0 (pior nota) e 100 (melhor nota). A média geral dos 17 componentes da métrica final é 4,3, indicando uma concordância elevada entre os analistas sobre os itens que compõem a MQIC. Além disso o Coeficiente de Variação é de 18,4% o que indica uma dispersão média dos dados. O resultado do Alfa de Cronbach, de 0,89, mostra que a MQIC possui consistência interna.This study aimed to set up a Metric of Quality of Accounting Information (MQIC) validated by fundamental analysts, which, as informational intermediaries, use public information to make their forecasts and recommendations about the best investment opportunities. To achieve the study’s objective, the Delphi technique was used through the application of a survey drawn from the literature on quality of accounting information to a group of fundamental analysts. The results of the study led to set up a MQIC with 17 components whose score ranges from 0 (worst score) up to 100 (best score). The overall average of the 17 components of the final metric was 4.3, indicating a high agreement among the fundamental analysts about the items of the MQIC. Moreover, the Coefficient of Variation was 18.4 %, which indicates average data dispersion. Finally, the Cronbach’s Alpha result of 0.89 attested that MQIC has internal consistenc

Tri-trophic effects of inter- and intra-population variation in defence chemistry of wild cabbage (Brassica oleracea)

The effect of direct chemical defences in plants on the performance of insect herbivores and their natural enemies has received increasing attention over the past 10 years. However, much less is known about the scale at which this variation is generated and maintained, both within and across populations of the same plant species. This study compares growth and development of the large cabbage butterfly, Pieris brassicae, and its gregarious pupal parasitoid, Pteromalus puparum, on three wild populations [Kimmeridge (KIM), Old Harry (OH) and Winspit (WIN)] and two cultivars [Stonehead (ST), and Cyrus (CYR)] of cabbage, Brassica oleracea. The wild populations originate from the coast of Dorset, UK, but grow in close proximity with one another. Insect performance and chemical profiles were made from every plant used in the experiment. Foliar glucosinolates (GS) concentrations were highest in the wild plants in rank order WIN > OH > KIM, with lower levels found in the cultivars. Caterpillar-damaged leaves in the wild cabbages also had higher GS levels than undamaged leaves. Pupal mass in P. brassicae varied significantly among populations of B. oleracea. Moreover, development time in the host and parasitoid were correlated, even though these stages are temporally separated. Parasitoid adult dry mass closely approximated the development of its host. Multivariate statistics revealed a correlation between pupal mass and development time of P. brassicae and foliar GS chemistry, of which levels of neoglucobrassicin appeared to be the most important. Our results show that there is considerable variation in quantitative aspects of defensive chemistry in wild cabbage plants that is maintained at very small spatial scales in nature. Moreover, the performance of the herbivore and its parasitoid were both affected by differences in plant quality

First report on dung beetles in intra-Amazonian savannahs in Roraima, Brazil

This is the first study to address the dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) diversity in intra-Amazonian savannahs in the state of Roraima, Brazil. Our aim was to survey the dung beetle fauna associated with these savannahs (regionally called 'lavrado'), since little is known about the dung beetles from this environment. We conducted three field samples using pitfall traps baited with human dung in savannah areas near the city of Boa Vista during the rainy seasons of 1996, 1997, and 2008. We collected 383 individuals from ten species, wherein six have no previous record in intra-Amazonian savannahs. The most abundant species were Ontherus appendiculatus (Mannerheim, 1829), Canthidium aff. humerale (Germar, 1813), Dichotomius nisus (Olivier, 1789), and Pseudocanthon aff. xanthurus (Blanchard, 1846). We believe that knowing the dung beetles diversity associated with the intra-Amazonian savannahs is ideal for understanding the occurrence and distribution of these organisms in a highly threatened environment, it thus being the first step towards conservation strategy development

Evidence for a Conserved Quantity in Human Mobility

Recent seminal works on human mobility have shown that individuals constantly exploit a small set of repeatedly visited locations. A concurrent study has emphasized the explorative nature of human behaviour, showing that the number of visited places grows steadily over time. How to reconcile these seemingly contradicting facts remains an open question. Here, we analyse high-resolution multi-year traces of ~40,000 individuals from 4 datasets and show that this tension vanishes when the long-term evolution of mobility patterns is considered. We reveal that mobility patterns evolve significantly yet smoothly, and that the number of familiar locations an individual visits at any point is a conserved quantity with a typical size of ~25. We use this finding to improve state-of-the-art modelling of human mobility. Furthermore, shifting the attention from aggregated quantities to individual behaviour, we show that the size of an individual’s set of preferred locations correlates with their number of social interactions. This result suggests a connection between the conserved quantity we identify, which as we show cannot be understood purely on the basis of time constraints, and the ‘Dunbar number’ describing a cognitive upper limit to an individual’s number of social relations. We anticipate that our work will spark further research linking the study of human mobility and the cognitive and behavioural sciences

Nutritional indices in the gypsy moth ( Lymantria dispar (L.)) under field conditions and host switching situations

A large proportion of gypsy moths ( Lymantria dispar (L.)) are likely to experience multiple species diets in the field due to natural wandering and host switching which occurs with these insects. Nutritional indices in fourth and fifth instar gypsy moth larvae were studied in the field for insects that were switched to a second host species when they were fourth instars. The tree species used as hosts were northern pin oak ( Quercus ellipsoidalis E. J. Hill), white oak ( Q. alba L.), big-tooth aspen ( Populus grandidentata Michx.), and trembling aspen ( P. tremuloides Michx.). Conclusions of this study include: 1) Insects which fed before the host switch on northern pin oak performed better after the host switch than did insects with other types of early dietary experience. While the northern pin oak-started insects had very low relative food consumption rates on their second host species immediately after the switch, one instar later they had the highest ranked consumption rates. During both instars they had the second highest efficiencies of converting ingested and digested food to body mass. High food consumption rates and relatively high efficiency of food conversion helped these insects to obtain the highest ranked mean relative growth rates in the fifth instar compared to the relative growth rates obtained by insects from any of the other first host species. 2) Among the four host species examined, a second host of trembling aspen was most advantageous for the insects. Feeding on this species after the switch led to higher larval weights and higher relative growth rates for insects than did any of the other second host species. The insects on trembling aspen attained excellent growth despite only mediocre to low food conversion efficiencies. The low efficiencies were offset by high relative food consumption rates. 3) Low food consumption rates often tend to be paired with high efficiency of conversion and vice versa. 4) There is no discernable tendency for the first plant species eaten to cause long-term inductions which affect the ability of gypsy moths to utilize subsequent host plants. Insects did not tend to consume more, grow faster, or be more efficient if their second host plant was either the same as their rearing plant or congeneric to it. Methods are delineated which allow values of nutritional indices to be obtained for insects on intact host plants under field conditions. These methods are useful for the purpose of answering questions about the relative effects that different diet treatments have on insect response.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47803/1/442_2004_Article_BF00323145.pd