Alternative Regimes Research Articles

Reduction in the importance of indirect methods of assessing the taxable base in the conditions of digitalization of the economy

Starting from January 1, 2021, the uniform tax on imputed income (UTII) has been cancelled. According to the Federal Tax Service, 96.2% of the subjects who paid UTII have already chosen an alternative tax regime. At the same time, in society, scientific and professional communities, and among business representatives, there are different points of view on this problem, opinions are expressed about the need to preserve indirect methods for assessing the taxable base, and UTII in particular. The state initially had a plan to abandon UTII and consistently implemented the abandonment of indirect methods of assessing the taxable base, implemented under imputed taxation (UTII), and the transition to fair taxation (STS, CTS) based on real income. The introduction of special tax regimes based on fair taxation has contributed to the growth of tax collections and an increase in the number of business entities that have chosen these regimes. Based on the results of the paper, conclusions are presented that can be used in analyzing the prospects for the development of tax systems.

Treatment outcomes of oral propranolol in the treatment of periocular infantile capillary hemangioma and factors predictive of recurrence and incomplete resolution: A multi-centric study.

This study aims to evaluate the treatment outcomes of periocular capillary hemangioma with oral propranolol (OP) and list the factors predictive of recurrence and incomplete resolution after treatment. Data were collected by retrospective review of medical files of patients with infantile hemangioma (IH) treated with OP during January 2014-December 2019 from two tertiary eye institutes from India. Patients presenting with symptoms of IH with/without any history of prior treatment were included. All patients were started on OP with the dose of 2-2.5 mg/Kg body weight and continued till complete resolution or till the lesion reached a plateau response. Details about the ophthalmic examination at each visit and availability of imaging findings were noted down from the records. Primary outcome: Study the treatment outcome of patients treated with OP and discussed our observations regarding factors that may predict nonresponse, poor response, or recurrence. Secondary outcome: complications/side effects of therapy. Response to treatment was judged as fair, good, and excellent depending on resolution <50%, >50%, and complete resolution, respectively. Univariate analysis of factors related to treatment response was judged as fair, good, and excellent depending on resolution <50%, >50%, outcome and recurrence was studied using Mann-Whitney U test and Fisher's exact test. A total of 28 patients were included in the study, out of which 17 were female and 11 were male. The mean age of onset of the lesion was 1.08 (± 1.484) months, 11 being congenital in origin. The mean age at presentation was 4.15 (± 2.92) months. 46.43% (n = 13) of patients showed complete resolution, while 25% (n = 7) showed more than 50% reduction in lesion size. Fair response was noted in 28.57% (n = 8). The mean duration of follow-up after stopping OP was 17.7 (± 20.774) months. The recurrence rate noted was 14.28%. The factors which were associated with incomplete resolution were age at presentation >3 months, later age of appearance of the lesion, superficial lesions with no orbital involvement. Male gender and congenital lesions responded best to OP therapy. Minor complications were noted with a rate of 25% (n = 7). Younger age at presentation was more commonly associated with complications. OP is a safe and effective treatment for capillary hemangioma except for a smaller subset of patients who show suboptimal response to this drug. However, specific factors responsible for suboptimal response or recurrence after OP therapy remain elusive. Although not statistically significant, there was an increasing trend toward higher age at presentation, low birth weight, and superficial lesions with a poorer response. Furthermore, these factors along with the male gender were commonly associated with recurrence in our series. Larger prospective studies focused on evaluating clinical factors responsible for incomplete resolution and recurrence will help in prognosticating and suggesting alternative treatment regimes.

Differential impacts of fiscal consolidation policies under alternative monetary regimes: evidence from Indian economy

The study tried to examine the effects of fiscal consolidation policies under alternative monetary stances in Indian economy. Using structurally adjusted vector autoregression (SVAR) we found that both Monetary and Fiscal-policies interact in cooperative as well as competing manner depending on the type and timing of shocks. Although fiscal policy enjoys a certain degree of superiority, the potency of monetary policy has not waned away. In terms of effectiveness, the study found that the fiscal policy is a better tool of economic stabilisation in the short run but in long and medium run it may harm growth. A consolidation program aimed at infusing fiscal prudence was found to have differential impacts on economic growth depending on whether such a policy is undertaken in an expansionary or contractionary monetary regime. Ironically the fiscal-policy was found to have more influence on inflation than monetary policy pointing towards the fiscal theory of price level; FTPL.

Differential impacts of fiscal consolidation policies under alternative monetary regimes: evidence from Indian economy

Differential impacts of fiscal consolidation policies under alternative monetary regimes: evidence from Indian economy

A Causal-Role Account of Ecological Role Functions

AbstractI develop an account of ecological role functions—the functions of species within ecosystems—that is informed by alternative regime phenomena in ecology. My account is a causal-role theory that includes a counterfactual sensitivity condition. The account tracks and explains a distinction ecologists make between functions and various activities that are not functions. My counterfactual sensitivity condition resolves the liberality problem often attributed to causal-role theories of function while also illuminating the explanatory centrality of role functions within ecology.

In-river weir effects on the alteration of flow regime and regarding structural stream habitat

In-river hydraulic structures may negatively impact aquatic ecosystems, including changing river flow regimes and the habitat quality of endemic fish habitats. This study integrates the wavelet analysis and the time-series exceedance probability method to quantify the degree of evolution in the river flow regime caused by weirs and determine the critical time scale most affected in the environmental flow. Hydrodynamic and habitat models were conducted to analyze the influence of the variant flow characteristics between the dry and wet seasons on the habitat structure. Four endemic fishes were selected as the indicator species to represent different habitat preferences and reveal the spatiotemporal changes in habitat quality. The flow difference between dry and wet seasons became more extensive after the weir construction, indicating the alternative flow regime downstream. The annual deviation of daily flow dramatically raised, showing the flow rates decline in the dry season and enlarge in the wet season. The findings exhibit that the downstream flow amplitude changes regardless of time scale after constructing the weir. The flow data from the 2-days scale to the 1-week scale were most adjusted, meaning that these periods to meet the environmental flow decline significantly. The critical environmental flow corresponding to lower flow events was apparently influenced in the dry season, in which the Q75 and Q90 displayed the highest degradation in fish habitat quality. In addition, the simulation results of the habitat model found that glide is the primary habitat type. The total water area and the habitat diversity were reduced, while the habitat quality also had a lowered tendency after the weir operation. The habitat run was most degraded, and the riffle was also significantly negatively impacted. Regarding the endemic fish species,F. lacustresuffered the most harmful effects on suitable-habitat quality and quantity from the weir. This study suggests considering natural flow regimes at the planning and design phases of weir construction and rehabilitating these essential habitat patterns to mitigate the downstream ecosystem impacts.

Cabergoline treatment promotes myocardial recovery in peripartum cardiomyopathy.

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare heart disease, occurring in previously heart-healthy women during the last month of pregnancy or the first months after delivery due to left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction. A common pathomechanistic pathway of PPCM includes increased oxidative stress and the subsequent generation of a cleaved prolactin fragment (16kDa PRL), which promotes the onset of heart failure (HF) in a microRNA (miR)-146a-dependent manner. Inhibition of prolactin secretion with the dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) agonist bromocriptine combined with standard HF therapy supports cardiac recovery. This study examined whether treatment with the more selective D2R agonist cabergoline prevents HF development in an experimental PPCM mouse model and might be used as an alternative treatment regime for PPCM. Postpartum (PP) female PPCM-prone mice with a cardiomyocyte restricted STAT3-deficiency (αMHC-Cretg/+ ; Stat3fl/fl ; CKO) were treated over two consecutive nursing periods with cabergoline (CKO Cab, 0.5mg/kg/day) and were compared with bromocriptine treated CKO (CKO Br) and postpartum-matched WT and CKO mice. Cabergoline treatment in CKO PP mice preserved cardiac function [fractional shortening (FS): CKO Cab: 34.5±9.4% vs. CKO: 22.1±9%, P<0.05] and prevented the development of cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, and inflammation as effective as bromocriptine therapy (FS: CKO Br: 33.4±5.6%). The myocardial up-regulation of the PPCM biomarkers plasminogen inhibitor activator 1 (PAI-1) and miR-146a were prevented by both cabergoline and bromocriptine therapy. A small cohort of three PPCM patients from the German PPCM Registry was treated with cabergoline (1mg per week for 2weeks, followed by 0.5mg per week for another 6weeks) due to a temporary unavailability of bromocriptine. All PPCM patients initially presented with a severely reduced LV ejection fraction (LVEF: 26±2%). However, at 6months of follow-up, LV function (LVEF: 56±2%) fully recovered in all three PPCM patients, and no adverse events were detected. In the experimental PPCM mouse model, the selective D2R agonist cabergoline prevents the onset of postpartum HF similar to bromocriptine. In PPCM patients, cabergoline treatment was safe and effective as all patients fully recovered. Cabergoline might serve as a promising alternative to bromocriptine. However, these findings are based on experimental data and a small case series and thus have to be interpreted with caution and should be validated in a larger clinical trial.

Upregulation of miR-22-3p contributes to plumbagin-mediated inhibition of Wnt signaling in human colorectal cancer cells

The emergence of resistance and side effects for currently available drugs warrant the need for an alternative treatment regime for colorectal cancer (CRC). Several natural compounds, including plumbagin, have exhibited promising anti-cancer effects in different cancer models, although the molecular mechanisms underlying their effects remain at large. We previously reported plumbagin-mediated inhibition of Wnt signaling in CRC cells and to unravel the actual mechanism, we hypothesized the involvement of miRNAs as they have emerged as critical regulators of gene expression. We performed miRNA-microarray to check if plumbagin-mediated effects are through alteration of miRNA expression and found 32 DE-miRNAs (11 upregulated and 21 downregulated), and KEGG enrichment analysis indicated that their target mRNAs are associated with several pathways relevant to CRC and Wnt signaling. miRNA-mRNA network analysis by miRNET revealed a highly upregulated miRNA upon plumbagin treatment, miR-22-3p, having multiple Wnt-associated mRNAs interacting partners. 3′UTR luciferase assays revealed that miR-22-3p directly targeted the 3′UTR of BCL9L (a coactivator of CTNNB1). miR-22-3p inhibited Wnt signaling by downregulating the levels of BCL9L and that of CTNNB1 and several Wnt-associated proteins (TCF4, c-Myc, CCND1, Snail, Slug, and vimentin) in CRC cells. We also demonstrated that both miR-22-3p and plumbagin reduced colony formation and caused apoptotic cell death (detected by Annexin V/PI dual staining), possibly through increased ROS (detection by Dihydroethidium staining) and decreased MMP (detection by MitoTracker™ Orange staining) in CRC cells. These effects of plumbagin were partially rescued by antimiR-22-3p, suggesting the involvement of miR-22-3p in plumbagin-mediated effects. The present study revealed that alteration in miR-22-3p levels by plumbagin contributes to the induction of apoptosis and its inhibitory effects on Wnt signaling and colony formation, thus providing a mechanistic basis behind its anti-cancer potential.

UK monetary policy in an estimated DSGE model with financial frictions

This paper develops a dual-state monetary DSGE model that accommodates a refined financial accelerator to analyze UK monetary policy. Unconventional monetary policy (QE) is interpreted as expanding the central bank’s purchases of bonds using M0 to offset financial disruptions at the ZLB. Within a collateral-augmented costly state verification framework, M0 enters the financial accelerator as the cheapest collateral and reduces the cost of credit. The model is tested and estimated using indirect inference and found to fit the UK data for key variables over 1993–2016. We find that while financial shocks are significant, it is productivity shocks that had slowed down the recovery for 2009–2012. Alternative monetary regimes are evaluated and compared.

State preferences, viable alternatives, and American covert action, 1946-1989

ABSTRACT This study introduces novel data on American covert action during the Cold War, as well as new data on the presence of viable alternative regimes throughout the Cold War. This data is then used to test an argument about when and where the U.S. was most likely to employ three types of covert action programs, differentiated by motive: regime change, regime maintenance, and subversion. The key variables driving covert action are alignment towards the U.S.-led international order and the presence of a viable alternative regime challenging the authority of the government in the target state.

Land tenure drives Brazil’s deforestation rates across socio-environmental contexts

Many tropical forestlands are experiencing changes in land-tenure regimes, but how these changes may affect deforestation rates remains ambiguous. Here, we use Brazil’s land-tenure and deforestation data and quasi-experimental methods to analyze how six land-tenure regimes (undesignated/untitled, private, strictly-protected and sustainable-use protected areas, indigenous, and quilombola lands) affect deforestation across 49 spatiotemporal scales. We find that undesignated/untitled public regimes with poorly defined tenure rights increase deforestation relative to any alternative regime in most contexts. The privatization of these undesignated/untitled lands often reduces this deforestation, particularly when private regimes are subject to strict environmental regulations such as the Forest Code in Amazonia. However, private regimes decrease deforestation less effectively and less reliably than alternative well-defined regimes, and directly privatizing either conservation regimes or indigenous lands would most likely increase deforestation. This study informs the ongoing political debate around land privatization/protection in tropical landscapes and can be used to envisage policy aligned with sustainable development goals.

P016 Selected trans-Himalayan medicinal plants and their nano-particles express potent antifungal and antibiofilm activity against Candida auris and Candida glabarata

Poster session 1, September 21, 2022, 12:30 PM - 1:30 PMNormal microbiota turned opportunistic pathogen Candida glabrata and pathogenic Candida auris are becoming major health concerns globally. Antimicrobial resistance is growing gradually now, even the newer antibiotics alone are not able to completely irradicate the resistant microorganisms. This dire situation reflects the need to have an alternative regime, especially with a diverse range of applicability. Nanoparticles synthesized from medicinal plants are emerging as potent antifungal agents to battle against fungal pathogens with unique antimicrobial properties. Secondary metabolites obtained from the herbs like alkaloids, carbohydrates, esters, flavonoids, glycosides, lignin, phenol, steroids, tannin, etc are robust therapeutic and immune-modulator compounds. The selected herbs (Aconitum heterophyllum, Allium ursinum, Paris polyphylla, Podophyllum hexandrum, Rheum austral, and Selenium vaginatum) in this study have a diversity of activity expression and had multiple medicinal usages traditionally. Extract of medicinal plants was produced and used as a reducing and stabilizing agent for silver nanoparticles preparation. After the synthesis of nano-particles antimicrobial activity was determined qualitatively and quantitatively. Biofilm activity and metabolic activity of the fungal cells after treatment with extracts and their nanoparticles were determined by crystal violet and XTT assay. Nanoparticles were characterized using UV-Vis, FTIR, and TEM. Extracts from the medicinal plants show potent antimicrobial activity, MIC ranging from 56 μg/ml to 625 μg/ml while their nanoparticles show activity in the range of 9.75 μg/ml to 80 μg/ml. The nanoparticles prepared were in the size range of 5-70 nm. Nanoparticles inhibited biofilm formation till MIC/64 with P <.001 and significantly (P <.01) eradiated the 24 h established biofilm at 64*MIC till 16*MIC. Uses of nanoparticles in the microbiological application are widely reported and have shown robust activity against almost all the organisms of the microbial world. Antifungal use in developing countries is uncontrolled and unregulated hence resistance to antimicrobial agents is increasing. These factors along with many others elevate the chances of nosocomial infections and globally C. glabrata accounts for 8%-10% of nosocomial candidiasis. Nanoparticles are more effective agents to fill the void created by the chemical-based drugs that are getting least effective in the treatment procedure as the drug resistance pattern in Candida is increasing dramatically. Plant-based reductants are good stabilizing agents also; they are environment friendly, non-hazardous, and less toxic. Less energy consumption and moderate condition preparation make green synthesis of nanoparticles most desirable process to proceed. Adding to this, if reductant has antimicrobial activity, it can enhance the potency of prepared nanoparticles.

CENTRAL BANK INDEPENDENCE AND PRICE STABILITY UNDER ALTERNATIVE POLITICAL REGIMES: A GLOBAL EVIDENCE

In this paper, we explore the connection between Central Bank Independence (CBI) and inflation under alternative political regimes. We formulate a predictive model that accommodates CBI in the analysis of inflation and thereafter we regroup the countries based on the choice of political regimes as well as the level of development. We find that CBI has a statistically significant and negative effect on inflation in countries adopting full democratic and partial autocratic regimes; but are statistically insignificant in countries operating full autocratic and partial democratic regimes. The results leading to this conclusion are robust to different levels of development.

Identifying Thresholds, Regime Shifts, and Early Warning Signals Using Long-Term Streamflow Data in the Transboundary Rio Grande–Rio Bravo Basin

As the centerpiece of ecosystems and human societies, river basins are complex social–ecological systems (SESs) that depend on the natural flow regime and the hydrologic variability to adapt to changes and absorb disturbances. Anthropogenic and climate change disturbances destabilize river systems. Therefore, a resilience question arises: What is the carrying capacity of a river basin, i.e., how much disturbance can a river basin take until the system undergoes a regime shift? To answer this question, this study aims to identify regime shifts, thresholds, and the carrying capacity of the transboundary Rio Grande–Rio Bravo (RGB) basin using 110 years of monthly streamflow data. To address this research question, first, gauged (regulated) and naturalized streamflow data is collected; if naturalized flows are not available, they are calculated through streamflow naturalization. Second, streamflow standardization is estimated using the streamflow drought index. Third, a regime shift assessment is performed using Fisher Index, and fourth, the nonparametric Mann-Kendall test is used to assess the Sustainable Regime Hypothesis which evaluates regime shifts and alternative regimes. Results demonstrate that resilience thresholds are surpassed, and regime shifts, including early warning signals, occurred in multiple locations of a transboundary basin. The present study highlights the importance of assessing the carrying capacity of a river basin; hence, evaluating regime transitions, including identifying early warning signals and thresholds, is critical in managing for sustainability and ecological resilience of SESs. Looking ahead, the integration of ecological resilience theory into water management has the potential to recognize the sustainable carrying capacity of river basins at the local, regional, and international scale.

Profit Effects of Consumers’ Identity Management: A Dynamic Model

We consider a nondurable good monopolist that collects data on its customers in order to profile them and subsequently practice price discrimination on returning customers. The monopolist’s price discrimination scheme is leaky in the sense that an endogenous fraction of consumers choose to incur a privacy cost to conceal their identity when they return in the following periods. We characterize the Markov perfect equilibrium of the game under two alternative customer profiling regimes: full information acquisition (FIA) and purchase history information (PHI). In both cases, we find that, contrary to what could be expected, the monopolist’s aggregate profit is not monotonically increasing in the level of the privacy cost, but a U-shaped function of it, leading to ambiguous profit effects: a reduction in privacy costs increases the fraction of customers who choose to be anonymous (detrimental profit effect), but it also softens the firm’s introductory price, reducing the pace at which prices targeted to new customers fall over time (positive profit effect). When comparing results under FIA and PHI, we find that market expansion is faster, and more customers conceal their identity under FIA than under PHI. Equilibrium profits are also higher in the FIA case. Although equilibrium profits are U-shaped functions of the privacy cost in both profiling regimes, they tend to be globally decreasing with the privacy cost under PHI and globally increasing under FIA. This paper was accepted by Eric Anderson, marketing. Funding: This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [Grants NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-028540 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006890]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4511 .

HUKUK VE EKONOMİ DİSİPLİNLERİ İLİŞKİSİNDE GÜVENİLİR TAAHHÜDÜN ÖNEMİ

Bu çalışmada öncelikle hukuk ve ekonomi disiplinleri ilişkisinden bahsedilmektedir. İki disiplinin birlikte geliştirdiği, kurumsal politikaların nasıl oluştuğu ve politika oluşturma süreci devam eden alt başlıktır. Burada kurumsal yapıda kamu politikasını oluşturan erklerin arasındaki işleyiş anlatılmaktadır. Ardından güvenilir taahhüt kavramı açıklanmaktadır. Devletin yatırımcıya vereceği taahhüdün güvenilir olması için alternatif 4 farklı rejimden bahsedilmektedir. Bunlar bağımsız düzenleyici kurumlar, sözleşme hukukunun kullanılması, düzenleyici süreç, hukuki denetim ve uluslararası tahkim şeklindedir. Sonuç bölümünde güvenilir taahhüdün iktisadi büyüme açısından neden önemli olduğu tartışılmaktadır.

Arsenic accumulation in rice: Alternative irrigation regimes produce rice safe from arsenic contamination

The natural occurrence of arsenic (As) in groundwater & soils and its bioaccumulation in rice grains is a major health concern worldwide. To combat the problem, best combination of irrigation management and suitable rice variety altering As content in grains must be ensured. With this aim, a field trial was conducted with two rice varieties and water management including alternate wetting and drying (AWD) and continuous flooding (CF) irrigation regimes with As contaminated groundwater (AsW) and temporarily stored groundwater (TSG) and river water for only CF (as control). Results revealed that As content in different portions of paddy plant was significantly different (P < 0.001) with irrigation practices and rice varieties. AWD irrigation with TSG accumulated lower As in rice grains compared with CF-AsW for both varieties. Data showed that AWD-TSG practice led to 61.37% and 60.34% grain As reduction for BRRI dhan28 and BRRI dhan29, respectively, compared with CF-AsW. For Principle Component Analysis (PCA), first principle component (PC1) explained 91.7% of the variability and irrigation water As, soil total and available As, straw As, root As and husk As were the dominating parameters. With significant (P < 0.05) variation in yields between the genotypes, AWD increased grain yield by 29.25% in BRRI dhan29 Compared with CF. However, translocation factor (TF) and bioconcentration factor (BCF) for both varieties were less than one for all the treatments. The addition of this study to our knowledge base is that, AWD-TSG with BRRI dhan29 can be an As–safe practice without compromising yields.

Working Out Desire: Women, Sport, and Self-Making in Istanbul

Working Out Desire: Women, Sport, and Self-Making in Istanbul

New Frontier in the Management of Corneal Dystrophies: Basics, Development, and Challenges in Corneal Gene Therapy and Gene Editing.

Corneal dystrophies represent a group of heterogeneous hereditary disorders causing progressive corneal opacification and blindness. Current corneal transplant management for corneal dystrophies faces the challenges of repeated treatments, complex surgical procedures, shortage of appropriate donor cornea, and, more importantly, graft rejection. Genetic medicine could be an alternative treatment regime to overcome such challenges. Cornea carries promising scope for a gene-based therapy involving gene supplementation, gene silencing, and gene editing in both ex vivo and in vivo platforms. In the cornea, ex vivo gene therapeutic strategies were attempted for corneal graft survival, and in vivo gene augmentation therapies aimed to prevent herpes stromal keratitis, neovascularization, corneal clouding, and wound healing. However, none of these studies followed a clinical trial-based successful outcome. CRISPR/Cas system offers a broad scope of gene editing and engineering to correct underlying genetic causes in corneal dystrophies. Corneal tissue--specific gene correction in vitro with minimal off-target effects and optimal gene correction efficiency followed by their successful surgical implantation, or in vivo CRISPR administration targeting pathogenic genes finds a way to explore therapeutic intervention for corneal dystrophies. However, there are many limitations associated with such CRISPR-based corneal treatment management. This review will look into the development of corneal gene therapy and CRISPR-based study in corneal dystrophies, associated challenges, potential approaches, and future directions.

The role of information signals in determining crowdfunding outcomes

Crowdfunding platforms often display information signals about the funding activity of a project throughout the fundraising campaign. We assess the impact of two of these signals, the progress towards the project’s funding goal and the current number of backers, on project-level funding outcomes. Estimating a discrete-choice model of backer behavior and then conducting simulations under alternative information regimes, we find that, for both content-oriented (Film, Music, and Publishing) and product-oriented (Games, Technology, and Design) projects, the number of backers increases with the funding status and the backer volume. The difference between the two project types is that the number of backers decreases for content-oriented projects that have already reached their funding goal, while product-oriented projects see an increase in the number of backers after reaching the goal. Because of this, displaying the funding status information decreases (increases) the number of product (content)-oriented projects that are successfully funded.