Structural Maturation Research Articles

Retracted] Debt Maturity Structure and Firm Life Cycle: Empirical Evidence from Asean Countries

Retracted] Debt Maturity Structure and Firm Life Cycle: Empirical Evidence from Asean Countries

How do industry tournament incentives affect firm debt maturity?

Our study investigates the effect of external industry tournament incentives on debt maturity structure. Prior research shows that industry tournament incentives motivate managers to employ more risky strategies. Recognizing this stronger tendency for risk-taking, creditors may shorten debt maturity and subject managers to more frequent scrutiny by debt markets. Consistent with this notion, our results show that stronger industry tournament incentives lead to significantly more short-term debt. This effect is more pronounced in firms with low credit quality, in areas with a high density of firms from the same industry, and in industries with more CEO positions.

A paintable and adhesive hydrogel cardiac patch with sustained release of ANGPTL4 for infarcted heart repair

The infarcted heart undergoes irreversible pathological remodeling after reperfusion involving left ventricle dilation and excessive inflammatory reactions in the infarcted heart, frequently leading to fatal functional damage. Extensive attempts have been made to attenuate pathological remodeling in infarcted hearts using cardiac patches and anti-inflammatory drug delivery. In this study, we developed a paintable and adhesive hydrogel patch using dextran-aldehyde (dex-ald) and gelatin, incorporating the anti-inflammatory protein, ANGPTL4, into the hydrogel for sustained release directly to the infarcted heart to alleviate inflammation. We optimized the material composition, including polymer concentration and molecular weight, to achieve a paintable, adhesive hydrogel using 10% gelatin and 5% dex-ald, which displayed in-situ gel formation within 135 s, cardiac tissue-like modulus (40.5 kPa), suitable tissue adhesiveness (4.3 kPa), and excellent mechanical stability. ANGPTL4 was continuously released from the gelatin/dex-ald hydrogel without substantial burst release. The gelatin/dex-ald hydrogel could be conveniently painted onto the beating heart and degraded in vivo. Moreover, in vivo studies using animal models of acute myocardial infarction revealed that our hydrogel cardiac patch containing ANGPTL4 significantly improved heart tissue repair, evaluated by echocardiography and histological evaluation. The heart tissues treated with ANGPTL4-loaded hydrogel patches exhibited increased vascularization, reduced inflammatory macrophages, and structural maturation of cardiac cells. Our novel hydrogel system, which allows for facile paintability, appropriate tissue adhesiveness, and sustained release of anti-inflammatory drugs, will serve as an effective platform for the repair of various tissues, including heart, muscle, and cartilage.

Spectroscopy Techniques for Monitoring the Composting Process: A Review

Composting is described as a sustainable alternative to organic waste reuse from the agricultural and household sectors. The organic matter degradation and stabilization product presents great variability due to the waste composition used. Thus, the use of techniques that allow the monitoring of the decomposition process is necessary to determine the quality of the final product. Therefore, this review critically analyzes and updates the chemical spectroscopy methods described for the evaluation of the organic matter transformation in the composting process to optimize and generate amendments for agricultural use. This review examines spectroscopic techniques such as ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis), infrared (IR), fluorescence, and 13C NMR reported for the evolution and maturation of carbonate structures in composting. In addition, they are used in the study of indicators for monitoring the degradation of complex structures, such as sugars and proteins, for the formation of precursors that are responsible for the formation of highly stabilized substances such as humic and fulvic compounds. Finally, these parameters may be used to elucidate organic matter degradation and its stabilization process, establish patterns that characterize each stage of composting along with its physicochemical characteristics, and monitor potential phytotoxicity levels.

Busy board and corporate debt maturity structure

Prior literature has examined the effectiveness of the busy board by evaluating two competing hypotheses: quality point of view and busyness point of view. In response to these views, we argue and validate social identity theory, in the sense that, to maintain their entrenchment, managers of firms with busy boards tend to avoid monitoring from short-term debtholders by reducing short-term debt financing. The magnitude of the negative effects increases when busy board members are independent directors compared to non-independent directors. The negative effect of a busy board is more pronounced in firms with lower CEOs' firm-related wealth, less experienced directors, and more foreign directors on the board. Further analysis shows that managers of firms with busy boards also increase cash holdings, decrease capital investment, and increase their entrenchment. Results are robust to alternative (information asymmetry) hypotheses, propensity score matching, entropy-balanced approach, and instrumental variable approach. We interpret our results as managers' ex-ante preclusion of external monitoring from short-term debtholders.

Strain Threshold for the Formation of Coseismic Surface Rupture

AbstractThe 2021 Mw 7.4 Maduo earthquake (eastern Tibetan Plateau), with a surface deformation zone that is characterized by multiple distinct surface rupture segments separated by segments with no surface ruptures, provides an excellent opportunity to constrain the strain threshold (minimum strain) for the formation of surface ruptures. Through sub‐pixel correlation of pre‐ and post‐event SPOT‐6/7 satellite images (pixel = 1.5 m), we derive surface displacement and shear‐strain fields of the Maduo earthquake. By quantifying the minimum shear strain along the surface rupture segments and the maximum shear strain along the segments with no surface ruptures, we estimate a rupture strain threshold, which ranges from 0.8% to 1.8% and appears to decrease with structural maturity of the causative fault. This threshold is generally consistent with a rupture strain limit (0.5%–1.5%) of intact rocks from laboratory measurements, and is higher than a commonly‐assumed strain threshold (0.5%) for inelastic deformation.

The importance of MIR-4328 gene mutations in Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia

Introduction: miRNAs are involved in the pathogenesis of neoplastic syndromes by silencing target genes. As previously shown, hsa-mir-4328 is downregulated in Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL). Objectives: The study aims to identify the somatic mutations of the MIR-4328 gene that caused its downregulation in APL and their localization in key regions of the mature miRNA structure. Material and methods: The study included 24 subiects: the study group (10 patients at the onset of APL, as well as at remission and relapse) and the control group (10 apparently healthy patients). High-Resolution Melting (HRM) was used for genotyping. Results: As MIR-4328 gene has not been studied before, a structure design of the coding region was performed to better understand the impact of somatic mutations on the mature miRNA. Following HRM, 2 mutant genotypes were identified, different from the wild-type (WT) genes. Conclusions and discussion: Due to the major deviation of the mutant genotypic curves compared to WT, the existence of major mutations (probably insertions/deletions) can be assumed. If these mutations are located in the seed region of the gene, attachment to exon 3 of the RARA gene is no longer possible, and therefore overexpression of the target gene occurs. Also, frameshift mutations, or substitutions that change the nucleotide sequence of the seed region, can produce a completely different mature miRNA that may have tropism for another gene. To test these hypotheses, sequencing of the entire gene is required.

Debt Maturity and Institutions: Does Creditor Protection Matter?

This study aims to investigate the relationship between creditor protection and the debt maturity structure of corporations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The GCC countries enjoy large GDPs, growing capital markets, especially the Islamic bonds (Sukuk) market, and negligible tax environments. Nonetheless, the GCC countries’ financial systems are still dominated by banks, and their private investments are held by concentrated investors. The study utilizes firm-level financial data and country-level institutional data obtained from the World Bank Governance Indicators and Doing Business databases and applies the two-stage least square estimator to test its hypotheses. The findings indicate that stronger regulatory effectiveness is associated with long debt maturities, while better creditor protection is associated with short debt maturities. The latter finding suggests that managers and owners have incentives to utilize short-term debt in economies characterized by stronger liquidation and insolvency rules to avoid the loss of control in the case of a firm default. This finding has policy implications in terms of the importance of considering the dual influence of institutional reforms on the supply of and demand for long-term capital.

The Activation of the LIMK/Cofilin Signaling Pathway via Extracellular Matrix-Integrin Interactions Is Critical for the Generation of Mature and Vascularized Cardiac Organoids.

The generation of mature and vascularized human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac organoids (hPSC-COs) is necessary to ensure the validity of drug screening and disease modeling. This study investigates the effects of cellular aggregate (CA) stemness and self-organization on the generation of mature and vascularized hPSC-COs and elucidates the mechanisms underlying cardiac organoid (CO) maturation and vascularization. COs derived from 2-day-old CAs with high stemness (H-COs) and COs derived from 5-day-old CAs with low stemness (L-COs) were generated in a self-organized microenvironment via Wnt signaling induction. This study finds that H-COs exhibit ventricular, structural, metabolic, and functional cardiomyocyte maturation and vessel networks consisting of endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, pericytes, and basement membranes compared to L-COs. Transcriptional profiling shows the upregulation of genes associated with cardiac maturation and vessel formation in H-COs compared with the genes in L-COs. Through experiments with LIMK inhibitors, the activation of ROCK-LIMK-pCofilin via ECM-integrin interactions leads to cardiomyocyte maturation and vessel formation in H-COs. Furthermore, the LIMK/Cofilin signaling pathway induces TGFβ/NODAL and PDGF pathway activation for the maturation and vascularization of H-COs. The study demonstrates for the first time that LIMK/Cofilin axis activation plays an important role in the generation of mature and vascularized COs.

Proton transport through interfaces in nanophase-separation of hydrated aquivion membrane: Molecular dynamics simulation approach

We investigate the effect of temperature and hydration on the nanophase-separated structure and proton conductivity in Aquivion and Nafion membranes using molecular dynamics simulation method. By considering two different temperatures (298 and 353 K) and water contents (10 and 20 wt%), our study reveals that Nafion exhibits better nanophase separation and a more mature internal structure of the water phase compared to Aquivion, leading to facilitated proton dissociation and improved proton conduction through vehicular and hopping mechanisms. This study also identifies the formation of a hydronium-mediated bridge configuration that restricts vehicular mobility at low hydration, resulting in a decrease of the vehicular contribution to proton conduction. From quantitative evaluation of the extent of nanophase-separation using structure factor analysis, we find that Nafion has a shorter correlation length with greater concentration contrast in comparison to Aquivion. At high hydration conditions, the hopping mechanism dominates at low temperature while the vehicular mechanism is dominant at high temperature. At low hydration, the vehicular mechanism is significantly decreased due to hydronium-mediated bridge configurations. It is interesting to note that the proton conductivity in the Aquivion membrane is higher despite the Nafion membrane having a higher proton diffusion. We discover that the greater proton conductivity of Aquivion membrane is caused by its higher proton concentration. In general, our findings offer a fundamental knowledge of the connection between nanophase-separated structure and proton transport characteristics in Nafion and Aquivion systems under a range of temperature and hydration circumstances.

Information security awareness maturity: conceptual and practical aspects in Hungarian organizations

PurposeThis paper aims to provide a maturity model for information security awareness (MMISA), based on the literature, expert interviews and feedback. In addition to developing the MMISA, the authors investigate the role of the three decisive factors that affect ISA maturity level: risk management mechanism, organizational structure and ISA.Design/methodology/approachThe research methodology is a combined one; qualitative and quantitative methods were applied, including surveying the literature, interviews and developing a survey to collect quantitative data about decisive factors that affect ISA maturity level. The authors perform a variance-based partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) investigation of the relationships between these factors.FindingsThe investigation of decisive factors of ISA maturity levels revealed that if the authors identify a strong risk assessment mechanism (through a documented methodology and reliable results), the authors can expect a high level of ISA. If there is a well-defined organizational structure with clear responsibilities, this supports the linking of a risk management mechanism with the level of ISA. The connection between organizational structure and ISA maturity level is supported by ISA activities: an increased level of awareness actions strengthens an organizational structure via the best practices learned by the staff.Originality/valueThe main contribution of the proposed MMISA model is that the model offers controls and audit evidence for maturity levels. Beyond that, the authors distinguish in the MMISA model controls supporting knowledge and controls supporting attitude, emphasizing that this is not enough to know what to do, but the proper attitude is required too. The authors didn't find any other ISA maturity model which has a similar feature. The contribution of the authors' work is that the authors provide a method for solving this complex measurement problem via the MMISA, which also offers direct guidance for the daily practices of organizations.

Early development of olfactory circuit function.

During early development, brains undergo profound changes in structure at the molecular, synaptic, cellular and circuit level. At the same time, brains need to perform adaptive function. How do structurally immature brains process information? How do brains perform stable and reliable function despite massive changes in structure? The rodent olfactory system presents an ideal model for approaching these poorly understood questions. Rodents are born deaf and blind, and rely completely on their sense of smell to acquire resources essential for survival during the first 2 weeks of life, such as food and warmth. Here, we review decades of work mapping structural changes in olfactory circuits during early development, as well as more recent studies performing in vivo electrophysiological recordings to characterize functional activity patterns generated by these circuits. The findings demonstrate that neonatal olfactory processing relies on an interacting network of brain areas including the olfactory bulb and piriform cortex. Circuits in these brain regions exhibit varying degrees of structural maturity in neonatal animals. However, despite substantial ongoing structural maturation of circuit elements, the neonatal olfactory system produces dynamic network-level activity patterns that are highly stable over protracted periods during development. We discuss how these findings inform future work aimed at elucidating the circuit-level mechanisms underlying information processing in the neonatal olfactory system, how they support unique neonatal behaviors, and how they transition between developmental stages.

Matters of development and experience: Evaluation of dog and human emotional expressions by children and adults.

Emotional facial expressions are an important part of across species social communication, yet the factors affecting human recognition of dog emotions have received limited attention. Here, we characterize the recognition and evaluation of dog and human emotional facial expressions by 4-and 6-year-old children and adult participants, as well as the effect of dog experience in emotion recognition. Participants rated the happiness, anger, valence, and arousal from happy, aggressive, and neutral facial images of dogs and humans. Both respondent age and experience influenced the dog emotion recognition and ratings. Aggressive dog faces were rated more often correctly by adults than 4-year-olds regardless of dog experience, whereas the 6-year-olds' and adults' performances did not differ. Happy human and dog expressions were recognized equally by all groups. Children rated aggressive dogs as more positive and lower in arousal than adults, and participants without dog experience rated aggressive dogs as more positive than those with dog experience. Children also rated aggressive dogs as more positive and lower in arousal than aggressive humans. The results confirm that recognition of dog emotions, especially aggression, increases with age, which can be related to general dog experience and brain structure maturation involved in facial emotion recognition.

Cryo-EM structure and polymorphic maturation of a viral transduction enhancing amyloid fibril

Amyloid fibrils have emerged as innovative tools to enhance the transduction efficiency of retroviral vectors in gene therapy strategies. In this study, we used cryo-electron microscopy to analyze the structure of a biotechnologically engineered peptide fibril that enhances retroviral infectivity. Our findings show that the peptide undergoes a time-dependent morphological maturation into polymorphic amyloid fibril structures. The fibrils consist of mated cross-β sheets that interact by the hydrophobic residues of the amphipathic fibril-forming peptide. The now available structural data help to explain the mechanism of retroviral infectivity enhancement, provide insights into the molecular plasticity of amyloid structures and illuminate the thermodynamic basis of their morphological maturation.

Maternal methylmercury exposure during early-life periods adversely affects mature enamel structure of offspring rats at human exposure levels: a concern for oral health.

Although there are many studies on the health effects of methylmercury (MeHg) toxicity during in utero and early development, little is known about its effects on mineralized tissues present in the oral cavity, such as enamel structure. Therefore, this study evaluated the effects of MeHg exposure on the physico-chemical, ultrastructural and functional properties of mature tooth enamel. Specifically, we studied offspring of mothers exposed to MeHg during the prenatal and postnatal periods which are the developmental stages associated with tooth enamel formation. Female rats were exposed to MeHg at a dose of 40 μg/kg/day for 42 days of pregnancy and lactation. The enamel of offspring was analyzed by (1) Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Raman to assess physicochemical composition, (2) Scanning Electron Microscopy for ultrastructural evaluation, (3) Transmitted Polarizing Light Microscopy for analysis of the enamel extracellular matrix, and (4) resistance and hardness were evaluated by microhardness. The results showed that MeHg exposure during this sensitive enamel formation period induced changes in inorganic and organic content and enamel prisms ultrastructure alterations and disturbed the organic extracellular matrix due to a decreased enamel strength. These novel findings establish for the first time that maternal exposure to MeHg pre and postnatal promoted relevant changes in mature enamel of their offspring rats.

Narcissism and Masculinity/Feminity

Why have we chosen this research question dedicated to Narcissistic Personality Disorders and Sexuality? This comes from vast clinical practice, in Psychiatry and Mental Health, which empirically highlights what appears to be a mature and cohesive mental structure within the individual’s psychic and sexual development with man and woman, each one well defined internally and externally what it is and feels, as well as its association with health or mental illness in terms of Personality Disorder being inevitable. At the heart of the importance of this study is an imbalance in their psychosexual development that is revealed latently or is manifested in the therapeutic approach of patients (mainly narcissistic and borderline), and there is already a history of studies on this topic. We defined a methodology whose study design, selection of participants, and sample size best reflected to our objectives, expecting to deepen the results and provide answers to the initial questions. These became clearer with the selection (inclusion/exclusion) of individuals for the Experimental and Control Groups, Clinical Interviews and Questionnaires over the years, which, in an objective way, reveals an unavoidable reality: the psychosexual development of the individual, in terms of Masculinity/Femininity, conditions and is conditioned by Personality Disorders in general, and Narcissistic and Borderline in particular. Soon it will be possible for us to objectify (qualify/quantify) the results that will be made available to the scientific community, for a better understanding of the Disease and Mental Health, with the final objective of its acceptance, consideration and therapeutic evolution.

Effect of plasmonic excitation on mature insulin amyloid fibrils

Interactions between amyloid protein structures and nanomaterials have been extensively studied to develop effective inhibitors of amyloid aggregation. Limited investigations are reported on the impact of nanoparticles on mature fibrils. In this work, gold nanoparticles are used as photothermal agents to alter insulin fibrils. To this end, gold colloids bearing a negatively charged capping shell, with an average diameter of 14 nm and a plasmon resonance maximum at 520 nm are synthesized. The effects on mature insulin fibril morphology and structure upon plasmonic excitation of the nanoparticles-fibril samples have been monitored by spectroscopic and microscopic methods. The obtained data indicate that an effective destruction of the amyloid aggregates occur upon irradiation of the plasmonic nanoparticles, allowing the development of emerging strategies to alter the structure of amyloid fibrils.

Risk preferences, global market conditions and foreign debt: Is there any role for the currency composition of FX reserves?

I estimate a transition probability matrix associated with a two-state Markov process of emerging market economies (EMEs) volatility. The different states of EMEs volatility, generate switches in central bank preferences between approximated constant relative risk aversion and increasing relative risk aversion expected utility. Therefore, I construct and propose constrained portfolio selection frameworks with skewness, for the currency composition of FX reserves over different EMEs volatility states for Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa. These EMEs have constituted as part of the “Fragile Five”. Thus, I propose progressive risk management procedures for these EMEs. These portfolio selection frameworks satisfy Pratt–Arrow measures of risk aversion and are constrained by each country’s currency composition of foreign debt. Using different methods of computing expected FX reserves returns, traditional strategic FX reserve assets and different maturity structures, I simulate optimal FX reserve weights for each EME and validate my proposal.

Histological Investigation of the Female Gonads of Chiropsalmus quadrumanus (Cubozoa: Cnidaria) Suggests Iteroparous Reproduction

The box jellyfish Chiropsalmus quadrumanus (Chirodropida: Cubozoa: Cnidaria) is common in warm waters. Although it is assumed that external fertilization is a characteristic of Chirodropida, the life history of C. quadrumanus is not yet known since its reproductive behavior has never been described, nor has the polyp has been found in nature. As a result, in the absence of documentation of reproductive behavior, we sought to test the hypothesis of external fertilization through a histological analysis of the female gonads. Herein, we analyze ten females collected in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and describe the gonadal organization and pattern of oocyte development. The discovery of four distinct stages of oocyte differentiation augments the scant existing reports of the structural and functional maturation of sex cells in Cubozoa species. Furthermore, the gonads of mature females comprise both mature (average diameter of 122 µm) and immature oocytes, suggesting that C. quadrumanus is iteroparous and exhibits multiple reproductive cycles during its life. Medusa bell size was not found to correlate with maturity state as even small females possessed a high percentage of oocytes in late vitellogenesis, suggesting that sexual maturation occurs rapidly in C. quadrumanus females.

The Optimal Layer for Breast Augmentation in an Autologous Fat Grafting Murine Model.

Fat grafting is an effective procedure for breast augmentation, but the variations in this technique result in unpredictable fat retention. Therefore, animal models are needed to simulate the operation and the optimal layer for fat retention. An autologous fat grafting murine model for breast augmentation was built to detect a new layer for fat grafting in the chest. The left side of the female rat inguinal fat flap was harvested, dissected into small pieces, and autotransplanted into 3 different layers of the breast. Retention rate and hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining were measured at 1, 4, 8 12, and 16 weeks. Immunofluorescence staining was utilized to detect adipocytes and endothelial cells, and immunohistochemistry was conducted to evaluate the expression of integrins β1 and α6. The volume of fat grafts slightly grew in the intramuscular and submuscular layers at Week 4. Retention rates in the subcutaneous layer and submuscular layer were significantly higher than the intramuscular layer at Week 16. H&E staining showed that oil cysts existed in the subcutaneous layer throughout the 16 weeks. At the terminal time point, well-vascularized mature adipose structures were observed in intramuscular and submuscular layers, with smaller adipocytes in intramuscular layers. Immunohistochemistry analysis showed that integrin β1 was identically expressed in every adipocyte in all the layers, whereas integrin α6 selectively expressed in bigger adipocytes in the intramuscular layer. The expression intensities of integrin β1 and α6 were significantly higher in the intramuscular layer than in the subcutaneous and submuscular layers. The angiogenic and moderate mechanical environment makes the submuscular layer the optimal layer for fat retention.