Do Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance Affect Tax Aggressiveness? Evidence from Indonesia

For businesses in Indonesia, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is still seen as an additional burden that will incriminate the company. Based on the observations of two companies that received awards for the CSR programs, it seems that the company always received a Tax Underpayment Assessment Letter (SKPB) from the Directorate General of Taxes for the period 2014-2017. This suggests that the burden of CSR incurred by the company exceeds the limits set out in the provisions of Minister of Finance Regulation No. 76/PMK.03 (2011). The indications that arise for these conditions are the efforts made by the company to practice tax avoidance by posting CSR expenses above the applicable provisions with the aim of reducing corporate’s income taxes. But the aggressive tax planning measures should be minimized by implementation of good corporate governance (GCG). This study aims to examine the effect of CSR and corporate governance (CG) on corporate tax aggressiveness and the effect of CSR on tax aggressiveness which is moderated by corporate governance. The objects of the research are the financial statements of public companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) with the observation period of 2014– 2017. The data are analysed using multiple linear regression. The test results show that CSR has a positive effect on tax aggressiveness, however corporate governance does not affect tax aggressiveness. Furthermore, corporate governance has no effect in moderating the effect of CSR on tax aggressiveness

Wildlife research and development

A research paper on wildlife research and development in Zimbabwe.Wildlife as legitimate, viable and competitive land-use is now well established in several southern African countries. Zimbabwe played a leading and pioneering role in developing wildlife as a land-use in both commercial and communal farming sectors and by 1990 it covered 22 per cent of the country (Cumming, 1991a). By the late 1980s, the wildlife-based tourism industry was the fastest growing sector of the economy and ranked fourth in its contribution to gross domestic product. An important feature of the wildlife sector was that it generated wealth, and particularly foreign exchange earnings, from marginal lands and provided incentives to conserve the country’s wildlife heritage and biodiversity.203 This is possible because, unlike meat, milk and hides, wildlife’s main revenue earning products are service-based and only loosely coupled to rainfall and plant production. Importantly, extensive wildlife production systems maintain ecosystem services and retain options for future development

Covalent binding studies on the 14C-labeled antitumour compound 2,5-bis(1-aziridinyl)-1,4-benzoquinone. Involvement of semiquinone radical in binding to DNA, and binding to proteins and bacterial macromolecules in situ

2,5-Bis(1-aziridinyl)-1,4-benzoquinone (BABQ) is a compound from which several antitumour drugs are derived, such as Trenimone, Carboquone and Diaziquone (AZQ). The mechanism of DNA binding of BABQ was studied using 14C-labeled BABQ and is in agreement with reduction of the quinone moiety and protonation of the aziridine ring, followed by ring opening and alkylation. The one-electron reduced (semiquinone) form of BABQ alkylates DNA more efficiently than two-electron reduced or non reduced BABQ. Covalent binding to polynucleotides did not unambiguously reveal preference for binding to specific DNA bases. Attempts to elucidate further the molecular structure of DNA adducts by isolation of modified nucleosides from enzymatic digests of reacted DNA failed because of instability of the DNA adducts. The mechanism of covalent binding to protein (bovine serum albumin, BSA) appeared to be completely different from that of covalent binding to DNA. Binding of BABQ to BSA was not enhanced by reduction of the compound and was pH dependent in a way that is opposite to that of DNA alkylation. Glutathione inhibits binding of BABQ to BSA and forms adducts with BABQ in a similar pH dependence as the protein binding. The aziridine group therefore does not seem to be involved in the alkylation of BSA. Incubation of intact E. coli cells, which endogenously reduce BABQ, resulted in binding to both DNA and RNA, but also appreciable protein binding was observed

Learning the Smart Way: Lessons Learned by the Reaching Agents of Change Project.

The Reaching Agents of Change (RAC) project was a pilot that advocated for increased investment in orange-fleshed sweetpotato to combat vitamin A deficiency among young children and women of reproductive age. It was implemented by the International Potato Center and Helen Keller International primarily in Nigeria, Mozambique, Tanzania and to a lesser extent in Ghana and Burkina Faso between 2011 and 2014. The project had multiple deliverables in advocacy for raising of new investment, policy change and strengthening of institutional and individual capacities in the project countries. RAC incorporated a systematic and comprehensive results-based monitoring and evaluation system and continuously documented the implementation process over the project period. This booklet shares the learning process that RAC adopted and highlights some useful and replicable lessons learned

Mitosene-DNA adducts. Characterization of two major DNA monoadducts formed by 1,10-bis(acetoxy)-7-methoxymitosene upon reductive activation

Reductive activation of racemic 1,10-bis(acetoxy)-7-methoxymitosene WV15 in the presence of DNA, followed by enzymatic digestion and HPLC analysis, revealed the formation of various DNA adducts. Reduction is a necessary event for adduct formation to occur. This reductive activation was performed under hypoxic conditions in various ways:  (1) chemically, using a 2-fold excess of sodium dithionite (Na2S2O4), (2) enzymatically using NADH-cytochrome c reductase, (3) electrochemically on a mercury pool working electrode, and (4) catalytically, using a H2/PtO2 system. Five different mitosene−DNA adducts were detected. These adducts were also present when poly(dG-dC) was used instead of DNA, but were absent with poly(dA-dT). All were shown to be adducts of guanine. Reduction of 1,10-dihydroxymitosene WV14 in the presence of DNA did not result in detectable adduct formation, demonstrating the importance of good leaving groups for efficient adduct formation by these mitosenes. Finally, two of the adducts were isolated and their structures elucidated, using mass spectrometry, 1H NMR and circular dichroism (CD). The structures were assigned as the diastereoisomers N2-(1‘ ‘-n-hydroxymitosen-10‘ ‘-yl), 2‘-deoxyguanosine (n = α or β). These type of adducts, in which the mitosene C-10 is covalently bonded to the N-2 of a guanosylic group, are different from the well-known mitomycin C 2‘-deoxyguanosine monoadducts, that is linked via the mitomycin C C-1 position, demonstrating that the order of reactivity of the C-1 and C-10 in these mitosenes is reversed, as compared to mitomycin C. The 7-methoxy substituent of WV15 is a likely factor causing this switch. Evidence is presented that the 7-substituent of mitosenes also influences their DNA alkylation site. Adducts 4 and 5 represent the first isolated and structurally characterized covalent adducts of DNA and a synthetic mitosene

Optomechanical scheme for the detection of weak impulsive forces

We show that a cooling scheme and an appropriate quantum nonstationary strategy can be used to improve the signal to noise ratio for the optomechanical detection of weak impulsive forces.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex, 1 figur

Bone mineral density and risk of heart failure in older adults: The Cardiovascular Health Study

Background Despite increasing evidence of a common link between bone and heart health, the relationship between bone mineral density ( BMD ) and heart failure ( HF ) risk remains insufficiently studied. Methods and Results We investigated whether BMD measured by dual‐energy x‐ray absorptiometry was associated with incident HF in an older cohort. Cox models were stratified by sex and interactions of BMD with race assessed. BMD was examined at the total hip and femoral neck separately, both continuously and by World Health Organization categories. Of 1250 participants, 442 (55% women) developed HF during the median follow‐up of 10.5 years. In both black and nonblack women, neither total hip nor femoral neck BMD was significantly associated with HF ; there was no significant interaction by race. In black and nonblack men, total hip, but not femoral neck, BMD was significantly associated with HF , with evidence of an interaction by race. In nonblack men, lower total hip BMD was associated with higher HF risk (hazard ratio, 1.13 [95% CI, 1.01–1.26] per 0.1 g/cm 2 decrement), whereas in black men, lower total hip BMD was associated with lower HF risk (hazard ratio, 0.74 [95% CI, 0.59–0.94]). There were no black men with total hip osteoporosis. Among nonblack men, total hip osteoporosis was associated with higher HF risk (hazard ratio, 2.83 [95% CI, 1.39–5.74]) compared with normal BMD . Conclusions Among older adults, lower total hip BMD was associated with higher HF risk in nonblack men but lower risk in black men, with no evidence of an association in women. Further research is needed to replicate these findings and to study potential underlying pathways. </jats:sec