Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ion Regulation of Homotypic Vacuole Fusion in Saccharomyces cerevisiae*

Biological membrane fusion employs divalent cations as protein cofactors or as signaling ligands. For example, Mg2+ is a cofactor for the N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor (NSF) ATPase, and the Ca2+ signal from neuronal membrane depolarization is required for synaptotagmin activation. Divalent cations also regulate liposome fusion, but the role of such ion interactions with lipid bilayers in Rab- and soluble NSF attachment protein receptor (SNARE)-dependent biological membrane fusion is less clear. Yeast vacuole fusion requires Mg2+ for Sec18p ATPase activity, and vacuole docking triggers an efflux of luminal Ca2+. We now report distinct reaction conditions where divalent or monovalent ions interchangeably regulate Rab- and SNARE-dependent vacuole fusion. In reactions with 5 mm Mg2+, other free divalent ions are not needed. Reactions containing low Mg2+ concentrations are strongly inhibited by the rapid Ca2+ chelator BAPTA. However, addition of the soluble SNARE Vam7p relieves BAPTA inhibition as effectively as Ca2+ or Mg2+, suggesting that Ca2+ does not perform a unique signaling function. When the need for Mg2+, ATP, and Sec18p for fusion is bypassed through the addition of Vam7p, vacuole fusion does not require any appreciable free divalent cations and can even be stimulated by their chelators. The similarity of these findings to those with liposomes, and the higher ion specificity of the regulation of proteins, suggests a working model in which ion interactions with bilayer lipids permit Rab- and SNARE-dependent membrane fusion.
How Do Cross-Country Differences in Corporate Tax Rates Affect Firm Value?

ABSTRACT: We examine how differences in corporate tax rates across countries affect firm value for U.S. multinationals. Although competition for tax benefits may increase non-tax costs, in an international setting, transaction costs and other frictions may prevent tax differences from being completely competed away. We find that firm value, as measured by Tobin's q, is negatively related to foreign effective tax rates. This result is robust to the presence of growth and risk proxies and other control variables in the model. Our results provide empirical evidence that (1) differences in corporate tax rates are not completely offset by non-tax costs, and (2) the differences in tax costs are reflected in higher firm value for the low tax rate firms.
Gang Risk Factors and Academic Readiness in a Southern Middle School

The current Georgia study examines middle-school-aged gang and non-gang members regarding the risk factors of gang membership and potential effects of these risk factors on academic achievement. Participants, 406 eighth grade students from a suburban middle-school, completed a 42-item survey assessing an array of demographic and risk factor variables. In addition, students provided self-report information regarding their success on national standardized testing used to measure academics readiness. Of the 28 variables analyzed, lower academic readiness was associated with ethnicity and/or gang membership. Findings are discussed in light of the complexity of the gang issue and the importance of recognizing the specificity associated with demographic predictors. Researchers are encouraged to continue exploring gang involvement in a variety of settings investigating differences in locality, school structure, and race/ethnicity. Teachers, parents, school administrators, and other key stakeholders may examine the aforementioned differences to collaboratively develop and share prevention and intervention successes and failures to enhance academic readiness and reduce gang involvement among youth.
Oral health impact, dental caries experience, and associated factors in 12–15-year-old school children in India

Abstract Background: Dental caries affects quality of life and has a negative impact on daily performance. Objective: The study was conducted to assess the impact of oral health and its associated factors in schoolchildren in the age group 12–15 years in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in schoolchildren in the age group 12–15 years. Sociodemographic and oral health related behaviors of schoolchildren were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Child oral impact on daily performance (OIDP) questionnaire was used to assess the oral impacts. Oral examination was performed to check the presence of caries using decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) index. Results: A total of 690 schoolchildren participated in the survey. The mean age of the children was 13.58 years. The overall prevalence of dental caries was found to be 47.2%. The prevalence of one or more impact in the study population was 36.5%. The most prevalent impact was difficulty in eating and cleaning of teeth and the least prevalent impact were emotion and studying. Results of logistic regression analysis showed that the type of school that a child goes to, socioeconomic status, material used, dental visit, and dental caries were significantly associated with the Child-OIDP affected score. Conclusion: Oral health had a significant effect on the quality of life of schoolchildren. The prevalence of dental caries was found to be high. Effective policies need to be drafted for oral health promotion in this age group.
Using job strain and organizational justice models to predict multiple forms of employee performance behaviours among Australian policing personnel

The overall purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationship between stress-related working conditions and three forms of employee performance behaviours: in-role behaviours, citizenship behaviours directed at other individuals and citizenship behaviours directed at the organization. The potentially stressful working conditions were based on the job strain model (incorporating job demands, job control and social support) as well as organizational justice theory. A sample of Australian-based police officers (n = 640) took part in this study and the data were collected via a mail-out survey. Multiple regression analyses were undertaken to assess both the strength and the nature of the relationships between the working conditions and employee performance and these analyses included tests for additive, interactional and curvilinear effects. The overall results indicated that a significant proportion of the explained variance in all three outcome measures was attributed to the additive effects of demand, control and support. The level of variance associated with the organizational justice dimensions was relatively small, although there were signs that specific dimensions of justice may provide unique insights into the relationship between job stressors and employee performance. The implications of these and other notable findings are discussed.
Minimum Price Variations, Discrete Bid-Ask Spreads, and Quotation Sizes

Exchange minimum price variation regulations create discrete bid-ask spreads. If the minimum quotable spread exceeds the spread that otherwise would be quoted, spreads will be wide and the number of shares offered at the bid and ask may be large. A cross-sectional discrete spread model is estimated by using intraday stock quotation spread frequencies. The results are used to project $1/16 spread usage frequencies given a $1/16 tick. Projected changes in quotation sizes and in trade volumes are obtained from regression models. For stocks priced under $10, the models predict spreads would decrease 38 percent, quotation sizes would decrease 16 percent, and daily volume would increase 34 percent. Article published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Financial Studies in its journal, The Review of Financial Studies.
Audit fee premium and auditor change: the effect of Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide more comprehensive analysis of the effects of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act on both audit fee premium and auditor change in the US audit market. Design/methodology/approach - The audit fee premium model is employed to track the trend in audit fee premium between 2000 and 2006 for small accelerated filers compared with large accelerated filers and non-accelerated filers and how the change in auditor affected such trend around the enactment of SOX. Findings - The results indicate a significant shift in audit fee premium during early years of SOX compliance especially for small accelerated filers compared with large accelerated filers or non-accelerated filers. Such shift started to wind down during 2006 after the initial application of SOX requirements. Although clients who switched from big to non-big auditors have experienced a slower increase in their audit fees, these fee savings are lower for small accelerated filers during 2004 and 2005 with the increasing demand for audit services in the US audit industry during these years. Practical implications - The compliance costs of significant regulatory changes like SOX may be upfront loaded but their benefits are long-term benefits in terms of higher quality of financial reporting and better internal controls over financial reporting. When analyzing the effects of such regulatory changes, practitioners and researchers should factor these costs and benefits over a sufficient time horizon. Originality/value - More comprehensive analysis of SOX effects on the US audit industry not only in the short run during early compliance years, but also in the longer run after the initial setup process.
Gender, employment and social class

For about three decades British between analyses of contempora of social class and those that po nificance by purportedly ‘new’ social nation. There are still those who arg damental principle of social organiz and diminishing band increasingly emphasize the alternative perspective In 1996 Turner and Lee publishe debate and to which the reader is re involved. A more recent examination ships between these various principle class in contemporary society, sugges has descended whereby proponents assert, or attempt to justify philosop make a ritual affirmation about the investigations that rigorously explore are rare – as are systematic empirical oretical examination raises. Reid (1 range of social class differences in B speak for itself and pointedly refrain those who challenge the class perspec lection of contributions on eight ma allows experts to focus on their respe look systematically at the relative sign ing dimensions of social inequality an an assessment that attempts an integ abstract level which rejects the view macy, and the extreme contrary vie Dates [DOI: 10.1177/0950017007073627] SAGE Publications Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore nd Conoversi Gender, employment and social class
A Stackelberg Oligopoly with Nonidentical Firms

This paper extends the Stackelberg model to include any number of nonidentical firms and demonstrates significant counterintuitive results. For example, entry of an additional firm may increase the quantities and/or profits of some existing firms; it may also increase the total industry profit. Copyright 2001 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the Board of Trustees of the Bulletin of Economic Research
The Priority Structure of Corporate Liabilities

Most discussions of corporate capital structure effectively assume that all debt is the same. Yet debt differs by maturity, covenant restrictions, conversion rights, call provisions, and priority. Here, the authors examine priority structure across a sample of 4995 COMPUSTAT industrial firms from 1981 to 1991. They analyze the variation in the use of capital leases, secured debt, ordinary debt, subordinated debt, and preferred stock both as a fraction of the firm's market value and as a fraction of total fixed claims. The authors' evidence provides consistent support for contracting cost hypotheses, mixed support for tax hypotheses, and little support for the signaling hypothesis. Copyright 1995 by American Finance Association.
Alternative indicators for predicting the probability of declining inflation: evidence from the US

The performance of inflation indicators for predicting the probability of inflation falling inside constant and moving targets is considered with a probit model using US data. Given the Federal Reserve System's emphasis on achieving price stability, particular attention is given to the target that future inflation will be below recent inflation. In contrast with earlier years, the unemployment and capacity utilisation rates do not perform well in forecasting the direction of inflation in the mid and late 1990s. We suggest that extending the Keynesian Phillips curve analysis to consider changes in labour market conditions, technological advance and worker skills, and openness will increase understanding of these issues. Copyright 2004, Oxford University Press.
Tenure Security as a Predictor of Housing Investment in Low-Income Settlements: Testing a Tripartite Model

Tenure security is widely believed to contribute to low-income settlement development by encouraging investment in housing improvement. However, in spite of consensus about its importance, it is still unclear what tenure security exactly entails and few studies have examined how it relates to housing improvement. Using survey data from six informal neighborhoods in Buenos Aires, Argentina, we empirically test a model that specifies how the different types of tenure security that feature in academic and policy debates relate to each other, and the extent to which each predicts investment in housing improvement. We find that legal tenure security and de facto security of tenure influence investment in part through increases in perceptions of tenure security. We conclude that the hypothesized model accurately predicts investment in housing improvement and discuss how these findings inform current debates on tenure security and informality.
The role of boundary-spanning managers in the establishment of public-private partnerships

This article presents the findings of a study examining the roles and behaviours of boundary-spanning managers during the establishment of voluntary public-private partnerships (PPPs). It responds to recent calls in the literature to pursue research that incorporates the pivotal contribution of individual actors in the collaborative process, and to set this research within the stage specific context of partnerships. The analysis is located within the theoretical framework of organizational sensemaking. Using a grounded methodology of data collection, coding and analysis within ten Australian and UK PPPs, the study demarcates a four-stage evolutionary establishment process of PPPs. Within each stage there exists a specific managerial focus in conjunction with one or two main managerial challenges. Boundary-spanning managers employ various strategies to overcome such challenges within each specific stage, thus ensuring the progressive evolution of the PPP. These foci, challenges and strategies are identified and analysed in the article.
Exploring the solution – the contextual effect on consumer dissatisfaction and innovativeness in financial service companies

This study focuses on the context under which consumer dissatisfaction leads to consumer innovativeness as an expression of voice. This study theorises that online facility and investment consultant support leads to consumer dissatisfaction, which consequently results in consumer innovative behaviour. Data was collected from a sampling of 603 consumers and 150 investment consultants across 50 financial service companies. The results from hierarchical linear modelling analyses show that consumer dissatisfaction relates positively to consumer innovativeness when online facility and investment consultant support are present. This study suggests that given the fact that in most companies, some consumers are bound to be dissatisfied with products or services at one time or another, managers should treat such dissatisfaction as an opportunity for encouraging the generation of new and useful ideas rather than viewing it as a problem or nuisance.
Episodic demyelination and subsequent remyelination within the murine central nervous system: changes in axonal calibre

Exposure of young adult C57BL/6 mice to cuprizone in the diet initiated profound and synchronous demyelination of the corpus callosum, which was virtually complete by 4 weeks of exposure. Interestingly, even in the face of a continued exposure to cuprizone, there was spontaneous remyelination 2 weeks later. This remyelination preferentially involved smaller calibre axons. There was a suggestion of yet another cycle of demyelination (at 10 weeks) and remyelination (at 12 weeks), but by 16 weeks of exposure, the regenerative capacity was exhausted and the animals were near death. The relapsing–remitting pattern suggests this may be a useful model for certain human demyelinating disorders. In contrast to the above chronic model, the corpus callosum from mice exposed to cuprizone for only 6 weeks continued to remyelinate, with 67% of the axons being myelinated or remyelinated at 10 weeks. Interestingly, a significant reduction in the mean value for axonal diameter was observed during acute demyelination. Upon remyelination, however, the axonal calibre distribution returned to near‐normal. In contrast, when mice were maintained on a cuprizone diet for 16 weeks, the mean value for axonal diameter was reduced to 60% of normal. These results provide further evidence that the interactions between oligodendrocytes and axons alter axonal calibre.
In Search of Management Accounting Theory

In this article we discuss the motivation for and role of theory in management accounting. We argue that theories in an applied field such as management accounting research should provide explanations that are useful for those we study – managers, organizations and society. We evaluate the nature of theories currently used and developed. Those theories that are considered theories by the research community are largely imported from other disciplines, but have hardly anything that makes them unique to management accounting. Those theories that are not currently regarded as theories by many of our colleagues attempt to explain how to apply management accounting to achieve superior performance. We argue that both forms of theories, at present, largely fail to provide valid support for practitioners. We contend that management accounting theory should help us to answer questions of what kind of management accounting systems we should apply, how, in what circumstances, and how to change them. We provide suggestions on how management accounting research could proceed to produce better theories in this regard.
Are There Differences Across Countries Regarding the Effect of Currency Unions on Trade? Evidence from Emu

This article investigates the effect of EMU on the bilateral trade of each EMU country with the rest of the euro area using pooled data in the context of an augmented gravity model. Using the fixed effect in the pooled data, the empirical results indicate that EMU's effect on trade differs across euro area countries. For Belgium/Luxembourg, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain the effect is positive and statistically significant, whereas in the cases of Austria, France and Greece, it is negative and statistically significant. For Italy, EMU's effect on its trade with the rest of the euro area is positive but not statistically significant.
Mechanism-Based Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Models of In Vitro Fungistatic and Fungicidal Effects against Candida albicans

ABSTRACT Mechanism-based pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) models describing the fungistatic activity of fluconazole and the fungicidal activity of caspofungin were developed using dynamic in vitro models. Antifungal-drug pharmacokinetics was simulated in vitro, assuming a one-compartment model with an elimination half-life of 3 h and using a wide (1 to 10,000) range of initial concentrations. The number of CFUs over time was determined for up to 31 h and used for PK-PD modeling. A model incorporating first-order natural growth and natural death, plus a maximum number of viable Candida cells, was used to characterize Candida growth in the absence of a drug. Fluconazole was considered to inhibit Candida growth and caspofungin to stimulate Candida death according to an Emax pharmacodynamic model. The data were analyzed with Nonmem, using a population approach. A good fit of the data was obtained with satisfactory estimates of PK-PD parameters, especially with drug concentrations producing 50% of the maximal effect: 50% inhibitory concentrations for fluconazole growth inhibition and 50% effective concentrations for caspofungin death stimulation. In conclusion, mechanistic PK-PD models were successfully developed to describe, respectively, the fungistatic and fungicidal activities of fluconazole and caspofungin in vitro. These models provide much better information on the drug effects over time than the traditional PK-PD index based on MICs. However, they need to be further characterized.
Independent Courts and Administrative Agencies: An Empirical Analysis of the States

This article explores the hypothesis that state administrative agencies spend more time and effort attempting to protect their actions from judicial review in states with more independent appointed courts (as opposed to less independent elected courts). This is because more independent courts are (by definition) less influenced by the political/electoral forces that underlie agency--policymaking--as rational actors, agencies may therefore be expected to recognize the degree of judicial independence and respond to it. Three state agencies subject to substantial judicial review in the 1970s are examined: utility commissions, insurance commissions, and the public education bureaucracy. Controlling for relevant political factors, each is found to have significantly larger staffing for a given regulatory workload in states with more independent appointed courts, consistent with the hypothesis. Copyright 2000 by Oxford University Press.
The positive impacts of irrigation schedules on rice yield and water consumption: synergies in Jilin Province, Northeast China

Food and water security in China are inextricably linked to the development of regional economy, especially for regions with temporary or sustained water shortage such as Jilin Province in northeast China. Water-saving irrigation practices are therefore urgently sought to maintain sustainable growth in grain production. To improve knowledge of the effect of irrigation water level on rice yield and water-use efficiency (WUE), we conducted a field experimental study over two growing seasons in central Jilin. The irrigation experiment included four schedules: (1) traditional irrigation (CK), (2) shallow wet irrigation (T1), (3) intermittent irrigation (T2), and (4) controlled irrigation (T3). Soil test pits were used to estimate evapotranspiration and seepage. The study showed that T3 had the highest WUE (1.64 kg/m3). However, the highest rice yield was found in T1 (9867 kg/ha1) that achieved the second highest WUE (1.63 kg/m3). Compared with CK, T1 and T3 consumed 7.3% and 36.1% less water, respectively. If adopted at the operational scale, these two schedules could help reduce the pressure of local surface water supply and the production costs significantly. The results gained from this study could also have relevant implication in developing an effective irrigation management for other high-latitude regions.