3,932 research outputs found
S Corp ESOP Legislation Benefits and Costs: Public Policy and Tax Analysis
Samuel Zellâs acquisition of the Tribune Company in December 2007 using an S corporation employee stock ownership plan (S ESOP) brought S ESOPs to national attention. An S ESOP is a trust that holds shares of an S corporation (a closely held corporation whose shareholders are taxed on a pass-through basis similarly to partners in a partnership) for the benefit of the corporationâs employees. S ESOPs, which have only existed since 1998 are not as well known as C ESOPs, an ESOP that holds shares of a C corporation (a separately taxed corporation). Enron, Polaroid and United Airlines, all of which had ESOPs when they went bankrupt, were C corporations.
Perhaps because they have only existed for ten years, little academic attention has focused on S ESOPs. In this paper we draw on the extensive existing employee ownership literature to describe the benefits and costs to employees, to firms and to society at large from the legislation that authorizes S ESOPs, and, where possible, we quantify these costs and benefits. We estimate that annual contributions to S ESOPs on behalf of employees total 3 billion annually. Accumulated stakes, which are essentially forced savings and usually do not displace other savings, lead to additional annual accruals of 33 billion annually attributable to employee ownership. We estimate that one quarter of the annual gain, $8 billion ultimately goes to the federal treasury, which thereby also benefits from the adoption of S ESOPs
Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome (WAS) and Dedicator of Cytokinesis 8- (DOCK8) Deficiency
Both Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS) and dedicator of cytokinesis 8 (DOCK8) deficiency are primary immunodeficiency diseases caused by mutations in genes that result in defective organization of the cytoskeleton in hematopoietic tissues. They share some overlapping features such as a combined immunodeficiency, eczema and a predisposition to autoimmunity and malignancy, but also have some unique features that make them relatively easy to diagnose by clinical means. Both diseases can be cured by HSCT in a large proportion of patients. In WAS it is sometimes difficult to establish an indication for HSCT due to the large variability of disease severity, while HSCT is probably indicated in all patients affected by DOCK8 deficiency. There is considerably more published HSCT experience for WAS than for DOCK8 deficiency, but many open questions remain, which will be discussed in this review
Diverse Structural Evolution at z > 1 in Cosmologically Simulated Galaxies
From mock Hubble Space Telescope images, we quantify non-parametric
statistics of galaxy morphology, thereby predicting the emergence of
relationships among stellar mass, star formation, and observed rest-frame
optical structure at 1 < z < 3. We measure automated diagnostics of galaxy
morphology in cosmological simulations of the formation of 22 central galaxies
with 9.3 < log10 M_*/M_sun < 10.7. These high-spatial-resolution zoom-in
calculations enable accurate modeling of the rest-frame UV and optical
morphology. Even with small numbers of galaxies, we find that structural
evolution is neither universal nor monotonic: galaxy interactions can trigger
either bulge or disc formation, and optically bulge-dominated galaxies at this
mass may not remain so forever. Simulated galaxies with M_* > 10^10 M_sun
contain relatively more disc-dominated light profiles than those with lower
mass, reflecting significant disc brightening in some haloes at 1 < z < 2. By
this epoch, simulated galaxies with specific star formation rates below 10^-9.7
yr^-1 are more likely than normal star-formers to have a broader mix of
structural types, especially at M_* > 10^10 M_sun. We analyze a cosmological
major merger at z ~ 1.5 and find that the newly proposed MID morphology
diagnostics trace later merger stages while G-M20 trace earlier ones. MID is
sensitive also to clumpy star-forming discs. The observability time of typical
MID-enhanced events in our simulation sample is less than 100 Myr. A larger
sample of cosmological assembly histories may be required to calibrate such
diagnostics in the face of their sensitivity to viewing angle, segmentation
algorithm, and various phenomena such as clumpy star formation and minor
mergers.Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures, MNRAS accepted versio
Modularity and community detection in bipartite networks
The modularity of a network quantifies the extent, relative to a null model
network, to which vertices cluster into community groups. We define a null
model appropriate for bipartite networks, and use it to define a bipartite
modularity. The bipartite modularity is presented in terms of a modularity
matrix B; some key properties of the eigenspectrum of B are identified and used
to describe an algorithm for identifying modules in bipartite networks. The
algorithm is based on the idea that the modules in the two parts of the network
are dependent, with each part mutually being used to induce the vertices for
the other part into the modules. We apply the algorithm to real-world network
data, showing that the algorithm successfully identifies the modular structure
of bipartite networks.Comment: RevTex 4, 11 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; modest extensions to conten
Observing---and Imaging---Active Galactic Nuclei with the Event Horizon Telescope
Originally developed to image the shadow region of the central black hole in
Sagittarius A* and in the nearby galaxy M87, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT)
provides deep, very high angular resolution data on other AGN sources too. The
challenges of working with EHT data have spurred the development of new image
reconstruction algorithms. This work briefly reviews the status of the EHT and
its utility for observing AGN sources, with emphasis on novel imaging
techniques that offer the promise of better reconstructions at 1.3 mm and other
wavelengths.Comment: 10 pages, proceedings contribution for Blazars through Sharp
Multi-Wavelength Eyes, submitted to Galaxie
Malondialdehyde-acetaldehyde (MAA) modified proteins induce pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic responses by liver endothelial cells
Ethanol Induced Disordering of Pancreatic Acinar Cell Endoplasmic Reticulum: An ER Stress/Defective Unfolded Protein Response Model.
Background & aimsHeavy alcohol drinking is associated with pancreatitis, whereas moderate intake lowers the risk. Mice fed ethanol long term show no pancreas damage unless adaptive/protective responses mediating proteostasis are disrupted. Pancreatic acini synthesize digestive enzymes (largely serine hydrolases) in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), where perturbations (eg, alcohol consumption) activate adaptive unfolded protein responses orchestrated by spliced X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1). Here, we examined ethanol-induced early structural changes in pancreatic ER proteins.MethodsWild-type and Xbp1+/- mice were fed control and ethanol diets, then tissues were homogenized and fractionated. ER proteins were labeled with a cysteine-reactive probe, isotope-coded affinity tag to obtain a novel pancreatic redox ER proteome. Specific labeling of active serine hydrolases in ER with fluorophosphonate desthiobiotin also was characterized proteomically. Protein structural perturbation by redox changes was evaluated further in molecular dynamic simulations.ResultsEthanol feeding and Xbp1 genetic inhibition altered ER redox balance and destabilized key proteins. Proteomic data and molecular dynamic simulations of Carboxyl ester lipase (Cel), a unique serine hydrolase active within ER, showed an uncoupled disulfide bond involving Cel Cys266, Cel dimerization, ER retention, and complex formation in ethanol-fed, XBP1-deficient mice.ConclusionsResults documented in ethanol-fed mice lacking sufficient spliced XBP1 illustrate consequences of ER stress extended by preventing unfolded protein response from fully restoring pancreatic acinar cell proteostasis during ethanol-induced redox challenge. In this model, orderly protein folding and transport to the secretory pathway were disrupted, and abundant molecules including Cel with perturbed structures were retained in ER, promoting ER stress-related pancreas pathology
Chitosan amphiphile coating of peptide nanofibres reduces liver uptake and delivers the peptide to the brain on intravenous administration
Beyond Spheroids and Discs: Classifications of CANDELS Galaxy Structure at 1.4 < z < 2 via Principal Component Analysis
Important but rare and subtle processes driving galaxy morphology and
star-formation may be missed by traditional spiral, elliptical, irregular or
S\'ersic bulge/disk classifications. To overcome this limitation, we use a
principal component analysis of non-parametric morphological indicators
(concentration, asymmetry, Gini coefficient, , multi-mode, intensity
and deviation) measured at rest-frame -band (corresponding to HST/WFC3 F125W
at 1.4 ) galaxy morphologies. Principal component analysis (PCA) quantifies
the correlations between these morphological indicators and determines the
relative importance of each. The first three principal components (PCs) capture
75 per cent of the variance inherent to our sample. We interpret the
first principal component (PC) as bulge strength, the second PC as dominated by
concentration and the third PC as dominated by asymmetry. Both PC1 and PC2
correlate with the visual appearance of a central bulge and predict galaxy
quiescence. PC1 is a better predictor of quenching than stellar mass, as as
good as other structural indicators (S\'ersic-n or compactness). We divide the
PCA results into groups using an agglomerative hierarchical clustering method.
Unlike S\'ersic, this classification scheme separates compact galaxies from
larger, smooth proto-elliptical systems, and star-forming disk-dominated clumpy
galaxies from star-forming bulge-dominated asymmetric galaxies. Distinguishing
between these galaxy structural types in a quantitative manner is an important
step towards understanding the connections between morphology, galaxy assembly
and star-formation.Comment: 31 pages, 24 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
The HIPASS Catalogue - II. Completeness, Reliability, and Parameter Accuracy
The HI Parkes All Sky Survey (HIPASS) is a blind extragalactic HI 21-cm
emission line survey covering the whole southern sky from declination -90 to
+25. The HIPASS catalogue (HICAT), containing 4315 HI-selected galaxies from
the region south of declination +2, is presented in Meyer et al. (2004a, Paper
I). This paper describes in detail the completeness and reliability of HICAT,
which are calculated from the recovery rate of synthetic sources and follow-up
observations, respectively. HICAT is found to be 99 per cent complete at a peak
flux of 84 mJy and an integrated flux of 9.4 Jy km/s. The overall reliability
is 95 per cent, but rises to 99 per cent for sources with peak fluxes >58 mJy
or integrated flux > 8.2 Jy km/s. Expressions are derived for the uncertainties
on the most important HICAT parameters: peak flux, integrated flux, velocity
width, and recessional velocity. The errors on HICAT parameters are dominated
by the noise in the HIPASS data, rather than by the parametrization procedure.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 12 pages, 11 figures. Paper with
higher resolution figures can be downloaded from http://hipass.aus-vo.or
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