The Limits of Discipline: Ownership and Hard Budget Constraints in the Transition Economies

This paper argues that the imposition of financial discipline is not sufficient to remedy ownership and governance-related deficiencies of corporate performance. Using evidence from the postcommunist transition economies, the paper shows that a policy of hard budget constraints falters when state firms, because of inferior revenue performance and lesser willingness to meet payment obligations, continue to pose higher credit risk than privatized firms. The brunt of state firms' lower creditworthiness falls on state creditors. But the "softness" of these creditors is unavoidable if it prevents a demise of firms that are in principle capable of successful restructuring through ownership changes.OWNERSHIP; FINANCIAL DISCIPLINE; PERFORMANCE; TRANSITION.

Diagnosis Of Alpha-1-antitrypsin Deficiency By Dna Analysis Of Children With Liver Disease.

Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency is a genetic disorder which is transmitted in a co-dominant, autosomal form. Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency affects mainly the lungs and the liver leading, in the latter case, to neonatal cholestasis, chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis. A precise diagnosis of Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency may be obtained by biochemical or molecular analysis. The purpose of this study was to use DNA analysis to examine the presence of an alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency in 12 children suspected of having this deficiency and who showed laboratory and clinical characteristics of the disease. Twelve patients, aged 3 months to 19 years, who had serum alpha-1-antitrypsin levels lower than normal and/or had hepatic disease of undefined etiology were studied. The mutant alleles S and Z of the alpha-1-antitrypsin gene were investigated in the 12 children. Alpha-1-antitrypsin gene organization was analyzed by amplification of genome through the polymerase chain reaction and digestion with the restriction enzymes Xmnl (S allele) and Taq-1 (Z allele). Seven of the 12 patients had chronic liver disease of undefined etiology and the other five patients had low serum levels of alpha-1-antitrypsin as well as a diagnosis of neonatal cholestasis and/or chronic liver disease of undefined etiology. Five of the 12 patients were homozygous for the Z allele (ZZ) and two had the S allele with another allele (*S) different from Z. These results show that alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency is relatively frequent in children with chronic hepatic disease of undefined etiology and/or low alpha-1-antitrypsin levels (41.6%). A correct diagnosis is important for effective clinical follow-up and for genetic counseling.3863-

Associations of body mass index and sarcopenia with screen-detected mild cognitive impairment in older adults in Colombia

Background and objective: More research is required to understand associations of body mass index (BMI) and sarcopenia with cognition, especially in Latin America. The objective of this study was to investigate associations of BMI and sarcopenia with mild cognitive impairment in Colombia. Design setting and participants: Data were from the National Survey of Health, Wellbeing and Aging in Colombia (SABE Colombia, in Spanish). Community-dwelling adults aged 60 years or older were invited to participate. Methods: Trained interviewers administered a shorter version of the mini-mental state examination and mild cognitive impairment was defined as a score of 12 or less out of 19. Body mass index was defined using standard cut-offs. Sarcopenia was defined as low grip strength or slow chair stands. Logistic regression models were adjusted for age, sex, height, education, income, civil status, smoking, and alcohol drinking. Results: The prevalence of mild cognitive impairment was 20% in 23,694 participants in SABE Colombia and 17% in 5,760 participants in the sub-sample in which sarcopenia was assessed. Overweight and obesity were associated with decreased risk of mild cognitive impairment and sarcopenia was associated with increased risk. Sarcopenia was a risk factor for mild cognitive impairment in those with normal BMI (adjusted model included 4,911 men and women). Compared with those with normal BMI and without sarcopenia, the odds ratio for mild cognitive impairment was 1.84 in those with normal BMI and sarcopenia (95% confidence interval: 1.25, 2.71). Sarcopenia was also a risk factor in those with obesity but did not present a greater risk than sarcopenia alone. Compared with those with normal BMI and without sarcopenia, the odds ratio was 1.62 in those with obesity and sarcopenia (95% confidence interval: 1.07, 2.48). Sarcopenia was not a risk factor for mild cognitive impairment in those with overweight. Similar results were observed when reference values from Colombia were used to set cut-offs for grip strength. Similar results were also observed in cross-validation models, which suggests the results are robust. Conclusion: This is the first study of the combined associations of sarcopenia and obesity with cognition in Colombia. The results suggest that sarcopenia is the major predictor of screen-detected mild cognitive impairment in older adults, not overweight or obesity

Scattering mechanism in a step-modulated subwavelength metal slit: a multi-mode multi-reflection analysis

In this paper, the scattering/transmission inside a step-modulated subwavelength metal slit is investigated in detail. We firstly investigate the scattering in a junction structure by two types of structural changes. The variation of transmission and reflection coefficients depending on structural parameters are analyzed. Then a multi-mode multi-reflection model based on ray theory is proposed to illustrate the transmission in the step-modulated slit explicitly. The key parts of this model are the multi-mode excitation and the superposition procedure of the scatterings from all possible modes, which represent the interference and energy transfer happened at interfaces. The method we use is an improved modal expansion method (MEM), which is a more practical and efficient version compared with the previous one [Opt. Express 19, 10073 (2011)]. In addition, some commonly used methods, FDTD, scattering matrix method, and improved characteristic impedance method, are compared with MEM to highlight the preciseness of these methods.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figure

Mechanism of the allosteric activation of the ClpP protease machinery by substrates and active-site inhibitors

Coordinated conformational transitions in oligomeric enzymatic complexes modulate function in response to substrates and play a crucial role in enzyme inhibition and activation. Caseinolytic protease (ClpP) is a tetradecameric complex, which has emerged as a drug target against multiple pathogenic bacteria. Activation of different ClpPs by inhibitors has been independently reported from drug development efforts, but no rationale for inhibitor-induced activation has been hitherto proposed. Using an integrated approach that includes x-ray crystallography, solid- and solution-state nuclear magnetic resonance, molecular dynamics simulations, and isothermal titration calorimetry, we show that the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib binds to the ClpP active-site serine, mimicking a peptide substrate, and induces a concerted allosteric activation of the complex. The bortezomib-activated conformation also exhibits a higher affinity for its cognate unfoldase ClpX. We propose a universal allosteric mechanism, where substrate binding to a single subunit locks ClpP into an active conformation optimized for chaperone association and protein processive degradation

Quantification of the performance of chaotic micromixers on the basis of finite time Lyapunov exponents

Chaotic micromixers such as the staggered herringbone mixer developed by Stroock et al. allow efficient mixing of fluids even at low Reynolds number by repeated stretching and folding of the fluid interfaces. The ability of the fluid to mix well depends on the rate at which "chaotic advection" occurs in the mixer. An optimization of mixer geometries is a non trivial task which is often performed by time consuming and expensive trial and error experiments. In this paper an algorithm is presented that applies the concept of finite-time Lyapunov exponents to obtain a quantitative measure of the chaotic advection of the flow and hence the performance of micromixers. By performing lattice Boltzmann simulations of the flow inside a mixer geometry, introducing massless and non-interacting tracer particles and following their trajectories the finite time Lyapunov exponents can be calculated. The applicability of the method is demonstrated by a comparison of the improved geometrical structure of the staggered herringbone mixer with available literature data.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Untersuchungen zum Flüssigkeits-Holdup und zur Flüssigkeitsverweilzeit in Schüttungen mittels Röntgenradiographie und Gammatomographie

Zusammenfassung Es wurden Verweilzeituntersuchungen und Gasverteilungsmessungen an einer senkrecht mit Wasser durchströmten kiesbefüllten Säule mit vier intermediären Eisengranulatschichten durchgeführt. Zur Messung der Verweilzeitspektren wurde in die Zuleitung der Säule ein 60 ml Bolus BaCl2-Lösung (1,4 mol/l) eingespeist. Der Eintrittszeitpunkt des Bolus an der Säule wurde mittels einer direkt am Eintrittstutzen angebrachten Leitfähigkeitsnadelsonde erfasst. Der Durchgang des Tracerbolus durch verschiedene Messebenen wurde mittels Gammadurchstrahlung aufgezeichnet. Aus dem Schwächungssignal lassen sich Verweilzeitspektren direkt ableiten. Zur Bestimmung der Verweilzeit bzw. der mittleren Strömungsgeschwindigkeit in der Säule wurden zwei charakteristische Zeitpunkte des Verweilzeitspektrums verrechnet. Einmal der Frontzeitpunkt, der den erstmaligen Nachweis von Tracerflüssigkeit in der Messebene bezeichnet, sowie der Boluszeitpunkt, der durch die maximale Tracerkonzentration in der Messebene gegeben ist. Der gammadensitometrische Nachweis des Tracerbolus war aufgrund der starken axialen Dispersion nur in der unteren Hälfte der Säule möglich. Die Ergebnisse gaben keinen Hinweis auf größere gasbedingte hydraulische Obstruktionen in der Säule. Der Nachweis von Gaseinschlüssen bzw. die Darstellung der Gasverteilung in vier ausgewählten Messebenen wurde mit dem Verfahren der Gammastrahlungstomographie realisiert. Die Messebenen wurden jeweils mittig zwischen den Eisengranulatschichten gewählt. Bezüglich der Verteilung des Bariumtracers wurden keine nennenswerten Konzentrationsgradienten im Messquerschnitt gefunden, so dass von einer homogenen Durchströmung der Säule ausgegangen werden kann. Erkannt wurden Gaseinschlüsse besonders im peripheren Bereich des Säulenquerschnitts. Der globale Gasgehalt ist dabei kleiner als 5%

The burden of mild cognitive impairment attributable to physical inactivity in Colombia

BACKGROUND: Mild cognitive impairment often precedes dementia. The purpose of this analysis was to estimate the population attributable fraction for physical activity in Colombia, which is the reduction in cases that would occur if all participants were physically active. METHODS: The sample included 20,174 men and women aged 70.04 +/- 7.68 years (mean +/- SD) from the National Survey of Health, Wellbeing and Ageing. Trained interviewers administered a shorter version of the mini-mental state examination and mild cognitive impairment was defined as a score of 12 or less out of 19. Logistic regression models were fitted and population attributable fractions for physical activity were calculated. All analyses were adjusted for age, sex, height, education, income, civil status, smoking, and alcohol drinking. RESULTS: The prevalence of physical activity was approximately 50% when defined as walking between 9 and 20 blocks at least three times per week. Theoretically, 19% of cases of mild cognitive impairment would be eliminated if all adults were to walk (95% confidence interval: 16%, 22%). The prevalence was approximately 20% when defined as taking part in vigorous sport or exercise at least three times per week. Theoretically, 23% of cases of mild cognitive impairment would be eliminated if all adults were to take part in vigorous sport or exercise (16%, 30%). Similar results were observed after removing those who reported mental health problems. CONCLUSION: Physical activity, whether walking or vigorous sport and exercise, has the potential to substantially reduce the burden of mild cognitive impairment in Colombia