Gambling Preference and the New Year Effect of Assets with Lottery Features

This paper examines whether investors exhibit a New Year's gambling preference and whether such preference impacts prices and returns of assets with lottery features. In January, calls options have higher demand than put options, especially by small investors. In addition, relative to at-the-money calls, out-of-the-money calls are the most expensive and actively traded. In the equity markets, lottery-type stocks in the US outperform their counterparts mainly in January, but tend to underperform in other months. Lottery-type Chinese stocks outperform in the Chinese New Year month, but not in January. This New Year effect provides new insights into the broad phenomena related to the January effect.January effect, Gambling, Preference for skewness, Out-of-the-money options, China

Pectin-rich biomass as feedstock for fuel ethanol production

The USA has proposed that 30 % of liquid transportation fuel be produced from renewable resources by 2030 (Perlack and Stokes 2011). It will be impossible to reach this goal using corn kernel-based ethanol alone. Pectin-rich biomass, an under-utilized waste product of the sugar and juice industry, can augment US ethanol supplies by capitalizing on this already established feedstock. Currently, pectin-rich biomass is sold (at low value) as animal feed. This review focuses on the three most studied types of pectin-rich biomass: sugar beet pulp, citrus waste and apple pomace. Fermentations of these materials have been conducted with a variety of ethanologens, including yeasts and bacteria. Escherichia coli can ferment a wide range of sugars including galacturonic acid, the primary component of pectin. However, the mixed acid metabolism of E. coli can produce unwanted side products. Saccharomyces cerevisiae cannot naturally ferment galacturonic acid nor pentose sugars but has a homoethanol pathway. Erwinia chrysanthemi is capable of degrading many of the cell wall components of pectin-rich materials, including pectin. Klebsiella oxytoca can metabolize a diverse array of sugars including cellobiose, one degradation product of cellulose. However, both E. chrysanthemi and K. oxytoca produce side products during fermentation, similar to E. coli. Using pectin-rich residues from industrial processes is beneficial because the material is already collected and partially pretreated to facilitate enzymatic deconstruction of the plant cell walls. Using biomass already produced for other purposes is an attractive practice because fewer greenhouse gases (GHG) will be anticipated from land-use changes

Gambling Preference and the New Year Effect of Assets with Lottery Features

This paper examines whether investors exhibit a New Year's gambling preference and whether such preference impacts prices and returns of assets with lottery features. In January, calls options have higher demand than put options, especially by small investors. In addition, relative to at-the-money calls, out-of-the-money calls are the most expensive and actively traded. In the equity markets, lottery-type stocks in the US outperform their counterparts mainly in January, but tend to underperform in other months. Lottery-type Chinese stocks outperform in the Chinese New Year month, but not in January. This New Year effect provides new insights into the broad phenomena related to the January effect

Gambling Preference and the New Year Effect of Assets with Lottery Features

This paper examines whether investors exhibit a New Year's gambling preference and whether such preference impacts prices and returns of assets with lottery features. In January, calls options have higher demand than put options, especially by small investors. In addition, relative to at-the-money calls, out-of-the-money calls are the most expensive and actively traded. In the equity markets, lottery-type stocks in the US outperform their counterparts mainly in January, but tend to underperform in other months. Lottery-type Chinese stocks outperform in the Chinese New Year month, but not in January. This New Year effect provides new insights into the broad phenomena related to the January effect

Short-Sale Constraints and the Idiosyncratic Volatility Puzzle: An Event Study Approach

Using event studies, we show that short-sale constraints play an important role in the negative relation between idiosyncratic volatility and stock returns. We explore three exogenous events that change short-sale constraints: the IPO lockup period expiration, option introduction, and the recent short-selling ban on financial stocks. Following mitigation of short-sale constraints from the first two events, high idiosyncratic volatility stocks underperform low volatility stocks in the short and long run, and are associated with higher abnormal trading volume. Additionally, highly volatile financial firms experience greater price increases upon the short-sale ban enforcement and greater price drops upon the ban expiration

Z7Z_7 Orbifold Models in M-Theory

Among $T^7/\Gamma$ orbifold compactifications of $M$-theory, we examine models containing the particle physics Standard Model in four-dimensional spacetimes, which appear as fixed subspaces of the ten-dimensional spacetimes at each end of the interval, $I^1\simeq S^1/Z_2$, spanning the $11^\text{th}$ dimension. Using the $Z_7$ projection to break the $E_8$ gauge symmetry in each of the four-planes and a limiting relation to corresponding heterotic string compactifications, we discuss the restrictions on the possible resulting gauge field and matter spectra. In particular, some of the states are non-local: they connect two four-dimensional Worlds across the $11^\text{th}$ dimension. We illustrate our programmable calculations of the matter field spectrum, including the anomalous U(1) factor which satisfies a universal Green-Schwarz relation, discuss a Dynkin diagram technique to showcase a model with $SU(3)\times SU(2)\times U(1)^5$ gauge symmetry, and discuss generalizations to higher order orbifolds.Comment: 23 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables; LaTeX 3 time

Biorefinery and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Research

In this project we focused on several aspects of technology development that advances the formation of an integrated biorefinery. These focus areas include: [1] establishment of pyrolysis processing systems and characterization of the product oils for fuel applications, including engine testing of a preferred product and its pro forma economic analysis; [2] extraction of sugars through a novel hotwater extaction process, and the development of levoglucosan (a pyrolysis BioOil intermediate); [3] identification and testing of the use of biochar, the coproduct from pyrolysis, for soil applications; [4] developments in methods of atomic layer epitaxy (for efficient development of coatings as in fuel cells); [5] advancement in fermentation of lignocellulosics, [6] development of algal biomass as a potential substrate for the biorefinery, and [7] development of catalysts from coproducts. These advancements are intended to provide a diverse set of product choices within the biorefinery, thus improving the cost effectiveness of the system. Technical effectiveness was demonstrated in the pyrolysis biooil based diesel fuel supplement, sugar extraction from lignocelluose, use of biochar, production of algal biomass in wastewaters, and the development of catalysts. Economic feasibility of algal biomass production systems seems attractive, relative to the other options. However, further optimization in all paths, and testing/demonstration at larger scales are required to fully understand the economic viabilities. The various coproducts provide a clear picture that multiple streams of value can be generated within an integrated biorefinery, and these include fuels and products

Agricultural trade publications and the 2012 Midwestern U.S. drought: a missed opportunity for climate risk communication

The Midwestern United States experienced a devastating drought in 2012, leading to reduced corn and soybean yields and increased instances of pests and disease. Climate change induced weather variability and extremes are expected to increase in the future, and have and will continue to impact the agricultural sector. This study investigated how agricultural trade publications portrayed the 2012 U.S. Midwestern drought, whether climate change was associated with drought, and whether these publications laid out transformative adaptation measures farmers could undertake in order to increase their adaptive capacity for future climate uncertainty. We performed a content analysis of 1000 media reports between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2014, sampled from ten agricultural trade publications. The results lead us to suggest that trade publications’ 2012 U.S. Midwestern drought discussion lacked information that would allow farmers and agricultural advisors to assess climate change risk and subsequent potential adaptive management strategies. Agricultural risk from climate change is very real, and farmers will need to adapt. The agricultural trade publications studied missed an opportunity to convey risk from climate change and the transformative adaptation practices necessary for a sustainable and resilient agricultural system

Harnessing plant biomass for biofuels and biomaterials

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72519/1/j.1365-313X.2008.03512.x.pd