Country of Origin Advertising and U.S. Wine Imports

The objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of media advertising on the US consumption of imported wine. A panel data of seven countries and twelve years from 1994-2005 is used to estimate the demand function for US wine imports. Our empirical analysis reveals evidence of strong price and advertising effects of domestic and imported wines on imported quantities; the advertising of imported wines significantly increases the quantity of imports while the advertising of domestic wines has a strong depressing effect on imported wine volumes. Our short-run import demand price and advertising elasticity estimates are -0.406 and 0.109 for imports and 0.654 and -0.370 for domestic wines, respectively. Other determinants such as population, real income and country specific fixed effects are also found significant. Based on our model estimates, we compute the marginal return to advertising to be $2.68 on average for the six importing countries and$3.40 for the U.S.International Relations/Trade, Marketing,

CEO Compensation and Performance in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

This paper argues that real estate investment trust (REIT) CEO annual compensation is positively correlated with future firm operational performance and firm valuation as measured by funds from operations (FFO) and Tobin’s q respectively. Additionally, the paper argues that cumulative CEO equity incentives, measured by stock and option delta, is positively correlated with future firm valuation. Previous literature suggests salary should not affect future performance, bonus will have a positive effect on future firm operational performance, and equity will have a positive effect on future firm valuation. When compensation is broken into its constituent parts—salary, bonus, and equity—annual salary is positively correlated to future performance, annual bonus is negatively correlated to future performance, and annual equity has no statistically significant effect on future performance. When annual option compensation is isolated from the total equity compensation, it is positively correlated with firm valuation. Cumulative CEO equity incentives are positively correlated with firm valuation. These findings deviate from previously accepted beliefs regarding the effects of REIT CEO compensation structures

Reverse Genetics: Downregulating chk-1 and fasn-1 in the Gonads of C. elegans

Despite its widespread use in research, the model organism C. elegans has several biological processes like gonadal development with potentially unexplored genetic regulators. Previous transcriptome analysis has identified several genes that are upregulated in a specific tissue or sex during the development of the somatic gonad in C. elegans (Kroetz et al. 2015) that have not been previously connected to this process. Of these genes, this research is concerned with chk-1 and fasn-1. Abrogating the expression of these genes in gonadal tissue during gonadogenesis could cause a change in phenotype for affected C. elegans that would aid in understanding these genes’ regulatory role in this process. To accomplish this, we use CRISPR-Cas9 and homology-directed repair to modify the genome of C. elegans so that the proteins chk-1 and fasn-1 produce are tagged with GFP. These tagged proteins can be selectively degraded by the transgene GFP-nanobody-ZIF-1 degron system in somatic gonad tissues to achieve the desired abrogated expression of chk-1 and fasn-1 (Wang et al. 2017). To modify these genes with CRISPR, gRNA, and homology directed repair constructs were designed and created for each gene. With provided Cas9 endonuclease, the gRNA and homology directed repair construct would be injected into the germ cells of individual C. elegans to modify the genes-of-interest so that they produce GFP-tagged proteins. Future research would include cross-breeding the C. elegans animals containing GFP-tagged proteins with those containing the degron system to generate an animal containing both the GFP-tagged genes and the degron system in their genome

Hindutva Nationalism and Civil Government in India: Towards a Theology of Engagement from Luther’s Two Realm Perspective

The task undertaken by this dissertation is to offer a theological response to Hindutva nationalism and its challenges to Christians in India. The particular focus is to understand and critique Hindutva conception of the State and its failure to work towards the common good of all. Towards that end this dissertation expounds a theological frame work in light of Luther’s Two Realm theology to help Christians take their Christian faith seriously (exclusive in nature) while embracing an inclusive paradigm (inclusive in nature) which enables Christians to work together with people of different faiths or no faiths for the common good. This dissertation affirms that, Luther’s Two Realm theology provides an analytical tool to understand and distinguish between the concerns, activities, and mode of God’s rule in relation to God’s two realms of life, which is fundamental to any theology of engagement. In light of the principles explicated, this dissertation affirms the state to be an instrument of God in the left-hand realm for the maintenance of external peace, justice, and the common good for all. Such an affirmation helps Christians in India to affirm the Indian constitutional version of the state and government which seeks to represent and accommodates every one irrespective of one’s caste, creed, language or culture over against the Hindutva vision of a monolithic Hindu state where people belonging to non-Hindu religions do not have a legitimate space in the nationhood. In our effort to find a common ground with people of different faiths or no faiths, this dissertation emphasizes the importance of two foundations for our common existence, namely common Creatureliness and common morality based on natural law and human wisdom. This dissertation explores a Christian’s social engagement in the public square, through their vocational call to be a citizen and/or as political authority. Finally this dissertation examines how the Church as an institution in the left-hand can carry out its divine mandate towards the extension and welfare of all under law in the temporal realm. This dissertation is written as a faithful confession of God’s word within the Lutheran doctrinal tradition with an intention to provide a resource to help and equip the church, and Christians in India, to continue to be faithful in the midst of Hindutva challenges in the public square towards the common good for all

Conjunctive Queries for Logic-Based Information Extraction

This thesis offers two logic-based approaches to conjunctive queries in the context of information extraction. The first and main approach is the introduction of conjunctive query fragments of the logics FC and FC[REG], denoted as FC-CQ and FC[REG]-CQ respectively. FC is a first-order logic based on word equations, where the semantics are defined by limiting the universe to the factors of some finite input word. FC[REG] is FC extended with regular constraints. The second approach is to consider the dynamic complexity of FC.Comment: Based on the author's PhD thesis and contains work from two conference publications (arXiv:2104.04758, arXiv:1909.10869) which are joint work with Dominik D. Freydenberge

Direct Sources of Feeder Cattle and Sheep

Twenty public markets provide a lot of our feeder cattle and sheep imports in Iowa. But a lot of them came direct, too

When Will the Cattle Cycle Turn Down?

The answer to this question is important in Iowa. Let\u27s take a look at the past and move to the present and see just where we are. When will numbers start down? The cue probably will be a sudden increase in cow slaughter

Choosing The Right Hog Market Can Increase Returns

In choosing the most profitable market for your hogs, you must decide both when and where to market. There are differentials between markets. What do they mean in relation to your choosing the place to market