Investor Protection and Equity Markets

We present a simple model of an entrepreneur going public in an environment with poor legal protection of outside shareholders. The model incorporates elements of Becker's (1968) crime and punishment' framework into a corporate finance environment of Jensen and Meckling (1976). We examine the entrepreneur's decision and the market equilibrium. The model is consistent with a number of empirical regularities concerning the relationship between investor protection and corporate finance.

Conflict Resolution Among Terminally Ill Cancer Patients and Their Families: How Nurses Intervene

All interpersonal relationships have conflict as well as peace and harmony. An otherwise healthy family who has a member with terminal cancer of the breast or prostate will experience increased conflict because of all the changes that occur with this prognosis. The problem explored in this study was how nurses facilitated conflict resolution among terminally ill patients and their families. The research design consisted of presenting nurses with two scenarios demonstrative of a family conflict with pain control and anorexia as the foci. Each scenario had five responses which each nurse was asked to rank order in terms of nursing interventions. These responses represented nursing interventions by: l) authoritarian action; 2) turning conflict over to physician; 3) ignoring the conflict by taking the side of the caregiver; 4) ignoring the caregiver\u27s perception; and 5) facilitating conflict resolution. The sample consisted of ten home health nurses who had a baccalaureate degree in nursing. The results suggest that the majority of nurses might in actual situations insight choose to intervene by facilitating conflict resolution as their first choice. Taking the side of the caregiver was the least desirable intervention selected by these nurses

Characterization of solid phases and study of transformation kinetics in m-chlorofluorobenzene by 35Cl nuclear quadrupole resonance

Polymorphism is of widespread occurrence in the world of molecular crystals. In this work we present experimental results showing the existence of four solid phases in m-chlorofluorobenzene. A glass structure is achieved by quenching the liquid phase at 77 K. This glassy state crystallizes in a disordered phase at T∼143 K, which in turn transforms to the high-temperature stable phase (phase I) at T∼153 K. Depending on the thermal history of the sample, a different ordered phase (phase III) can be obtained. The disorder is attributed to a molecular orientational disorder. There is no evidence of molecular reorientation in any phase. A study of the disorder-order phase transformation kinetics, using nuclear quadrupole resonance, is presented. The results are analyzed following Cahns theory. Nucleation seems to take place at grain boundaries. Growth rates for different temperatures have been determined. © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Fil: Pérez, Silvina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; ArgentinaFil: Wolfenson, Alberto Enrique. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; Argentin

Molecular structure and semiexternal molecular motions in 2,4,5-trichlorobenzenesulfonyl chloride, C6H2Cl4O2S

The molecular structure of 2,4,5-trichlorobenzenesulfonyl chloride has been determined by X-ray diffraction methods. The compound is orthorhombic,Aba2, witha=16.253(12),b=17.016(9),c=7.146(5) A,V=1976(5) A3,Z=8,D=1.88 kg·mm−3, (MoKα)=0.7107 A,μ=136.8 cm−1,F(000)=1104. Data were obtained at room temperature; the finalR is 0.029 for 854 independent reflections. The substituted benzene ring is planar within experimental accuracy, the dihedral angle with the C(1)-S(1)-Cl(1) plane being 66.0(5)°. The compound has normal bond lengths and angles; some short intramolecular distances account for the maintenance of the rigid benzene frame. No significatively short intermolecular distances have been found. Confirmation of the oscillatory character of the semiexternal molecular motions operating above 180 K is accounted for.Facultad de Ciencias Exacta

'Our grandmother used to sing whilst weeding': Oral histories, millet food culture, and farming rituals among women smallholders in Ramanagara district, Karnataka

The cultural and historical dimensions of rural lives matter. However, development practitioners and writings tend to play down these aspects. This article demonstrates the significance of oral history in revealing the meanings of women smallholders’ millet based foodways in southern India. It argues that women farmers’ cultural practices around food constitute fundamental ‘capabilities’ nurtured over a long historical duration, and are essential to any meaningful articulation of ‘development’. Drawing on age-old spiritual beliefs and practices involving non-human entities, the women demonstrate fine-tuned skills in nurturing seeds and growing crops, in preparing and cooking food, and in discerning food tastes, particularly in relation to the local staple ragi, or finger millet. They also express their creativity in the joys of performing songs and farming rituals linked to the agricultural cycle. In this way, cultural capabilities express significant dimensions of women’s agency exercised in the intimately related spheres of food and farming. Oral history thus emerges as a research method capable of generating insights into concrete manifestations of culture over a significant historical duration, one that is particularly conducive to reclaiming the voices and life experiences of subaltern groups such as women smallholders who are either not heard or are marginalized in written contemporary and historical documentary records

Breast Cancer-Derived Microparticles Reduce Cancer Cell Adhesion, an Effect Augmented by Chemotherapy

Tumor cell heterogeneity is primarily dictated by mutational changes, sometimes leading to clones that undergo a metastatic switch. However, little is known about tumor heterogeneity following chemotherapy perturbation. Here we studied the possible involvement of tumor-derived extracellular vesicles, often referred to as tumor-derived microparticles (TMPs), as mediators of the metastatic switch in the tumor microenvironment by hindering cell adhesion properties. Specifically, we show that highly metastatic or chemotherapy-treated breast cancer cells shed an increased number of TMPs compared to their respective controls. We found that these TMPs substantially reduce cell adhesion and disrupt actin filament structure, therefore increasing their biomechanical force pace, further implicating tumor cell dissemination as part of the metastatic cascade. Our results demonstrate that these pro-metastatic effects are mediated in part by CD44 which is highly expressed in TMPs obtained from highly metastatic cells or cells exposed to chemotherapy when compared to cells with low metastatic potential. Consequently, when we inhibited CD44 expression on TMPs by a pharmacological or a genetic approach, increased tumor cell adhesion and re-organized actin filament structure were observed. We also demonstrated that breast cancer patients treated with paclitaxel chemotherapy exhibited increased CD44-expressing TMPs. Overall, our study provides further insights into the role of TMPs in promoting metastasis, an effect which is augmented when tumor cells are exposed to chemotherapy

Tropomyosin controls sarcomere-like contractions for rigidity sensing and suppressing growth on soft matrices

Cells test the rigidity of the extracellular matrix by applying forces to it through integrin adhesions. Recent measurements show that these forces are applied by local micrometre-scale contractions, but how contraction force is regulated by rigidity is unknown. Here we performed high temporal- and spatial-resolution tracking of contractile forces by plating cells on sub-micrometre elastomeric pillars. We found that actomyosin-based sarcomere-like contractile units (CUs) simultaneously moved opposing pillars in net steps of ∼2.5 nm, independent of rigidity. What correlated with rigidity was the number of steps taken to reach a force level that activated recruitment of α-actinin to the CUs. When we removed actomyosin restriction by depleting tropomyosin 2.1, we observed larger steps and higher forces that resulted in aberrant rigidity sensing and growth of non-transformed cells on soft matrices. Thus, we conclude that tropomyosin 2.1 acts as a suppressor of growth on soft matrices by supporting proper rigidity sensing

Tumor Suppressor DAPK1 Catalyzes Adhesion Assembly on Rigid but Anoikis on Soft Matrices

Cancer cells normally grow on soft surfaces due to impaired mechanosensing of the extracellular matrix rigidity. Upon restoration of proper mechanosensing, cancer cells undergo apoptosis on soft surfaces (anoikis) like most normal cells. However, the link between mechanosensing and activation of anoikis is not clear. Here we show that death associated protein kinase 1 (DAPK1), a tumor suppressor that activates cell death, is directly linked to anoikis activation through rigidity sensing. We find that when rigidity sensing is decreased through inhibition of DAPK1 activity, cells are transformed for growth on soft matrices. Further, DAPK1 catalyzes matrix adhesion assembly and is part of adhesions on rigid surfaces. This pathway involves DAPK1 phosphorylation of tropomyosin1.1, the talin1 head domain, and tyrosine phosphorylation of DAPK1 by Src. On soft surfaces, DAPK1 rapidly dissociates from the adhesion complexes and activates apoptosis as catalyzed by PTPN12 activity and talin1 head. Thus, DAPK1 is important for adhesion assembly on rigid surfaces and the activation of anoikis on soft surfaces through its binding to rigidity-sensing modules