154 research outputs found

    The Responses of Taxable Income Induced by Tax Cuts – Empirical Evidence from the German Taxpayer Panel

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    The elasticity of taxable income has gained increasing attention as a fiscal policy parameter. This paper provides empirical evidence for Germany and adds to the relatively small body of literature for European countries. We use a large new panel data set to analyze the taxable income response to tax rate changes in 2004 which were part of an extensive reform programme in Germany at the beginning of this century. We find an average elasticity of approximately 0.6. Separately estimated income effects however are mostly small or insignificant. The results vary when dividing taxpayers by income type and group.elasticity of taxable income; tax reform; net-of-tax rate

    Flagellin genes of Yersinia enterocolitica biotype 1A: playground of evolution towards novel flagellin functions

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    Yersinia enterocolitica strain 8081, representing the high-pathogenic biotype 1B, harbours three flagellin genes arranged in tandem in the order fliC3, fliC, fliC2. The genes are organized monocistronic but coordinately expressed under the control of the flagellar sigma factor. No sequence data is available on flagellins of low-pathogenic Y. enterocolitica biotypes 2-5 and of biotype 1A strains, appearing non-pathogenic in the mouse infection model. We sequenced the flagellin genes of ten biotype 1A and biotype 4 isolates, respectively. While we could not identify any sequence polymorphism among flagellin genes of biotype 4 isolates, we found that biotype 1A strains harbour three variable flagellin genes. Moreover, three biotype 1A isolates exhibited a rearranged flagellin gene order and at least one rearranged flagellin gene was apparently acquired by horizontal gene transfer. The variability of flagellin genes seems to mirror evolution towards novel flagellin functions. By contrast, strictly conserved flagellins of biotype 4 isolates point at a strong selection pressure such as expected to be imposed by an important function in the context of infection

    Reformoption Duale Einkommensteuer: Aufkommens- und Verteilungseffekte

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    In der vorliegenden Studie werden die Aufkommens- und Verteilungswirkungen einer Einführung der Dualen Einkommensteuer mit Hilfe des IAW-Mikrosimulationsmodells abgeschätzt. Dabei werden Verhaltensanpassungen seitens der Steuerpflichtigen berücksichtigt, die sich an den Erkenntnissen der New-Tax-Responsivenes Literatur orientieren. Ohne Berücksichtigung von Verhaltensreaktionen beziffert sich der mit der Reform zu erwartende Steuerausfall bei der Einkommensteuer auf rund 11,6 Mrd. €. Mit Berücksichtigung von Verhaltensanpassungen sinken die Mindereinnahmen auf rund 7,8 Mrd. €. Hinsichtlich der Verteilungswirkungen würde der Übergang zur Dualen Einkommensteuer eine Umverteilung von unten nach oben bewirken

    The responses of taxable income induced by tax cuts: Empirical evidence from the German taxpayer panel

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    The elasticity of taxable income has gained increasing attention as a fiscal policy parameter. This paper provides empirical evidence for Germany and adds to the relatively small body of literature for European countries. We use a large new panel data set to analyze the taxable income response to tax rate changes in 2004 which were part of an extensive reform programme in Germany at the beginning of this century. We find an average elasticity of approximately 0.6. Separately estimated income effects however are mostly small or insignificant. The results vary when dividing taxpayers by income type and group

    Reformoption Duale Einkommensteuer - Aufkommens- und Verteilungseffekte

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    In der vorliegenden Studie werden die Aufkommens- und Verteilungswirkungen einer Einführung der Dualen Einkommensteuer mit Hilfe des IAW-Mikrosimulationsmodells abgeschätzt. Dabei werden Verhaltensanpassungen seitens der Steuerpflichtigen berücksichtigt, die sich an den Erkenntnissen der New-Tax-Responsivenes Literatur orientieren. Ohne Berücksichtigung von Verhaltensreaktionen beziffert sich der mit der Reform zu erwartende Steuerausfall bei der Einkommensteuer auf rund 11,6 Mrd. Euro. Mit Berücksichtigung von Verhaltensanpassungen sinken die Mindereinnahmen auf rund 7,8 Mrd.Euro. Hinsichtlich der Verteilungswirkungen würde der Übergang zur Dualen Einkommensteuer eine Umverteilung von unten nach oben bewirken.

    Eating disorders symptoms and excessive internet use in adolescents : the role of internalising and externalising problems

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    Background: Both eating disorders and excessive internet use represent significant health issues for contemporary adolescents. Yet, the link between them has seldom been investigated. We aim to study this association through their common underlying psychological factors: internalising problems and externalising problems. Methods: A representative sample of 7,083 adolescents (Mage = 13.48 years; SDage = 1.32; 50.3% girls) from Slovakia was obtained from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) project in 2018. Study variables included the Excessive Internet Use Scale (EIU) and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Eating disorders symptoms (EDS) were assessed by SCOFF and selected items from the Eating Disorder Screen for Primary Care (ESP). Data were analysed separately for boys and girls with Structural Equation Modelling. Results: There was a partial correlation between EDS and EIU (r = 0.36 for boys and r = 0.29 for girls) after controlling for the internalising and externalising of problems. Internalising and externalising problems were positively associated with EDS, while EIU was only associated with externalising problems. The results were comparable for both genders. Conclusion: The study provides evidence that, during adolescence, EDS and EIU are related and have a tendency to occur together. Also, they are related even when controlled for their shared underlying psychological factors, namely the emotional and attentional/behavioural difficulties

    Adding to Yersinia enterocolitica Gene Pool Diversity: Two Cryptic Plasmids from a Biotype 1A Isolate

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    We report the nucleotide sequence of two novel cryptic plasmids (4357 and 14 662 base pairs) carried by a Yersinia enterocolitica biotype 1A strain isolated from pork. As distinguished from most biotype 1A strains, this isolate, designated 07-04449, exhibited adherence to eukaryotic cells. The smaller plasmid pYe4449-1 carries five attributable open reading frames (ORFs) encoding the first CcdA/CcdB-like antitoxin/toxin system described for a Yersinia plasmid, a RepA-like replication initiation protein, and mobilizing factors MobA and MobC. The deduced amino acid sequences showed highest similarity to proteins described in Salmonella (CcdA/B), Klebsiella (RepA), and Plesiomonas (MobA/C) indicating genomic fluidity among members of the Enterobacteriaceae. One additional ORF with unknown function, termed ORF5, was identified with an ancestry distinct from the rest of the plasmid. While the C+G content of ORF5 is 38.3%, the rest of pYe4449-1 shows a C+G content of 55.7%. The C+G content of the larger plasmid pYe4449-2 (54.9%) was similar to that of pYe4449-1 (53.7%) and differed from that of the Y. enterocolitica genome (47.3%). Of the 14 ORFs identified on pYe4449-2, only six ORFs showed significant similarity to database entries. For three of these ORFs likely functions could be ascribed: a TnpR-like resolvase and a phage replication protein, localized each on a low C+G island, and DNA primase TraC. Two ORFs of pYe4449-2, ORF3 and ORF7, seem to encode secretable proteins. Epitope-tagging of ORF3 revealed protein expression at 4°C but not at or above 27°C suggesting adaptation to a habitat outside swine. The hypothetical protein encoded by ORF7 is the member of a novel repeat protein family sharing the DxxGN(x)nDxxGN motif. Our findings illustrate the exceptional gene pool diversity within the species Y. enterocolitica driven by horizontal gene transfer events

    Analysis of Coastal Areas Using SAR Images: A Case Study of the Dutch Wadden Sea Region

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    The increased availability of civil synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite images with different resolution allows us to compare the imaging capabilities of these instruments, to assess the quality of the available data and to investigate different areas (e.g., the Wadden Sea region). In our investigation, we propose to explore the content of TerraSAR-X and Sentinel-1A satellite images via a data mining approach in which the main steps are patch tiling, feature extraction, classification, semantic annotation and visual-statistical analytics. Once all the extracted categories are mapped and quantified, then the next step is to interpret them from an environmental point of view. The objective of our study is the application of semi-automated SAR image interpretation. Its novelty is the automated multiclass categorisation of coastal areas. We found out that the north-west of the Netherlands can be interpreted routinely as land surfaces by our satellite image analyses, while for the Wadden Sea, we can discriminate the different water levels and their impact on the visibility of the tidal flats. This necessitates a selection of time series data spanning a full tidal cycle

    Very-High-Resolution SAR Images and Linked Open Data Analytics Based on Ontologies

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    In this paper, we deal with the integration of multiple sources of information such as Earth observation (EO) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images and their metadata, semantic descriptors of the image content, as well as other publicly available geospatial data sources expressed as linked open data for posing complex queries in order to support geospatial data analytics. Our approach lays the foundations for the development of richer tools and applications that focus on EO image analytics using ontologies and linked open data. We introduce a system architecture where a common satellite image product is transformed from its initial format into to actionable intelligence information, which includes image descriptors, metadata, image tiles, and semantic labels resulting in an EO-data model. We also create a SAR image ontology based on our EO-data model and a two-level taxonomy classification scheme of the image content. We demonstrate our approach by linking high-resolution TerraSAR-X images with information from CORINE Land Cover (CLC), Urban Atlas (UA), GeoNames, and OpenStreetMap (OSM), which are represented in the standard triple model of the resource description frameworks (RDFs)

    Biochemical characterization and cellular imaging of a novel, membrane permeable fluorescent cAMP analog

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    <p><b>Background</b></p> <p>A novel fluorescent cAMP analog (8-[Pharos-575]- adenosine-3', 5'-cyclic monophosphate) was characterized with respect to its spectral properties, its ability to bind to and activate three main isoenzymes of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA-Iα, PKA-IIα, PKA-IIβ) in vitro, its stability towards phosphodiesterase and its ability to permeate into cultured eukaryotic cells using resonance energy transfer based indicators, and conventional fluorescence imaging.</p> <p><b>Results</b></p> <p>The Pharos fluorophore is characterized by a Stokes shift of 42 nm with an absorption maximum at 575 nm and the emission peaking at 617 nm. The quantum yield is 30%. Incubation of the compound to RIIα and RIIβ subunits increases the amplitude of excitation and absorption maxima significantly; no major change was observed with RIα. In vitro binding of the compound to RIα subunit and activation of the PKA-Iα holoenzyme was essentially equivalent to cAMP; RII subunits bound the fluorescent analog up to ten times less efficiently, resulting in about two times reduced apparent activation constants of the holoenzymes compared to cAMP. The cellular uptake of the fluorescent analog was investigated by cAMP indicators. It was estimated that about 7 μM of the fluorescent cAMP analog is available to the indicator after one hour of incubation and that about 600 μM of the compound had to be added to intact cells to half-maximally dissociate a PKA type IIα sensor.</p> <p><b>Conclusion</b></p> <p>The novel analog combines good membrane permeability- comparable to 8-Br-cAMP – with superior spectral properties of a modern, red-shifted fluorophore. GFP-tagged regulatory subunits of PKA and the analog co-localized. Furthermore, it is a potent, PDE-resistant activator of PKA-I and -II, suitable for in vitro applications and spatial distribution evaluations in living cells.</p&gt
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