The microsporophyll genus Pteruchus, belonging to the pteridosperms (seed ferns) in the family Umkomasiaceae (Corystospermaceae), is reassessed comprehensively worldwide and emended. All records are analysed, and some fertile structures previously attributed are reclassified. The Lower Jurassic record of Pteruchus from Germany is ascribed to a new genus as Muelkirchium septentrionalis. Pteruchus is shown to be restricted to the Triassic of Gondwana and is clearly affiliated with the megasporophyll genus Umkomasia and the vegetative leaf genus Dicroidium. It is well represented from Argentina, Antarctica, Australia and southern Africa; the Molteno Formation of southern Africa is by far the most comprehensively sampled, yielding three species and 425 specimens from 22 localities. Nomenclatural problems with the species of Pteruchus are addressed. A key to Pteruchus species is provided; geographic and stratigraphic distributions are tabulated.

The choice of capital structure is one of the most important and fundamental aspects of corporate finance studies. It is a controversial topic among finance scholars. In the mid-1950s when Modigliani and Miller devised their concept of "Modigliani-Miller (M&M) propositions," the assumption was made that in a perfect market, capital structure is irrelevant and does not affect a firm's value. Following M&M theory, finance scholars developed various theories based on the assumption of the perfect market. First, trade-off theory assumes that firms trade-off between the benefits and costs of using debt and equity as a source of financing when considering market imperfections such as taxes, bankruptcy cost, and agency cost. Second, pecking order theory examines the issue of asymmetric information between shareholders and firms' managers. The main goal of this theory is to minimize the problem of asymmetric information using internal sources as the first choice, if internal sources are not enough to fund a business as financing requires, then external sources are resorted to be used. Third, agency cost theory argues that corporate governance comprises ownership structure and how processes are properly implemented, given that these impact on firm performance, firm value and subsequently the capital structure. Other scholars examine whether firm performance can be determined by the choices of capital structure which can be predicted by the efficiency risk and franchise value hypotheses. This study aims to shed light on the capital structure theories that have been used by scholars; various empirical studies are reviewed to clarify the capital structure theories.

This chapter examined the rising prominence of what is commonly referred to as "Environmental Finance." While the notion of ethical investing that is seeking to avoid investments in industries perceived as providing socially negative outcomes such as tobacco companies. gambling and gaming companies etc., has long been a feature of the investment landscape. Environmental Finance has emerged as another investment class with a much greater concentration of projects with very defined environmental objectives. A number of financial instruments have emerged to serve this growing marker including Green Bonds, Green Bond Funds, REDD/REDD+, and Debt-for-Nature Swaps (DNS). While some instruments, such as Green Bonds, are used to finance environmentally centered projects, their popularity and acceptance in the capital markets have also risen due to investor demand for such investments and are available to wholesale and retail investors via Green Bond Funds. Green Bonds are defined in many ways and provide considerable flexibility in terms of the scope of projects able to be funded under this banner to those raising funds. However. Environmental Finance can also encompass more specific objectives such as REDD/REDD+ projects where the objective is a more targeted funding model to counter "reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. In a completely different approach, other innovations have emerged to tackle the financing of environmentallv centered projects. One of these is the DNS where debt obligations are purchased at a discount by various bodies such as the World Wildlife fund and the proceeds used to finance the conservation and management of large tracts of typically native forests.

Rising fuel prices can hamper economic activities in urban and regional areas. Despite following a mean reverting pattern over time, the spread between retail and wholesale prices of petrol exhibits significant differences across various geographical locations in Australia. Using a hierarchical cluster analysis, this paper classifies 109 retail locations into six heterogeneous groups with homogeneous contents. By identifying the whereabouts of those petrol stations that set relatively high gross profit margins within each comparable cluster, this study can provide important policy implications for both consumers and regulators. Contrary to popular belief, we found that excessively high margins are not necessarily observed only in remote and rural areas.