Fiscal Policy, Inequality and the Poor in the Developing World

Using comparable fiscal incidence analysis, this paper examines the impact of fiscal policy on inequality and poverty in 25 countries for around 2010. Success in fiscal redistribution is driven primarily by redistributive effort (share of social spending to GDP in each country) and the extent to which transfers/subsidies are targeted at the poor and direct taxes targeted at the rich. While fiscal policy always reduces inequality, this is not the case with poverty. Fiscal policy increases poverty in 4 countries using a US$1.25/day PPP poverty line, in 8 countries using a US$2.50/day line, and in 15 countries using a US$4/day line (over and above market income poverty). Net direct taxes are always equalizing and net indirect taxes are equalizing in 17 of the 25 countries. While spending on pre-school and primary school is pro-poor (i.e. the per capita transfer declines with income) in almost all countries, pro-poor secondary school spending is less prevalent, and tertiary education spending tends to be progressive only in relative terms (i.e. equalizing but not pro-poor). Health spending is always equalizing

Joint Observation of the Galactic Center with MAGIC and CTA-LST-1

MAGIC is a system of two Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs), designed to detect very-high-energy gamma rays, and is operating in stereoscopic mode since 2009 at the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos in La Palma, Spain. In 2018, the prototype IACT of the Large-Sized Telescope (LST-1) for the Cherenkov Telescope Array, a next-generation ground-based gamma-ray observatory, was inaugurated at the same site, at a distance of approximately 100 meters from the MAGIC telescopes. Using joint observations between MAGIC and LST-1, we developed a dedicated analysis pipeline and established the threefold telescope system via software, achieving the highest sensitivity in the northern hemisphere. Based on this enhanced performance, MAGIC and LST-1 have been jointly and regularly observing the Galactic Center, a region of paramount importance and complexity for IACTs. In particular, the gamma-ray emission from the dynamical center of the Milky Way is under debate. Although previous measurements suggested that a supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* plays a primary role, its radiation mechanism remains unclear, mainly due to limited angular resolution and sensitivity. The enhanced sensitivity in our novel approach is thus expected to provide new insights into the question. We here present the current status of the data analysis for the Galactic Center joint MAGIC and LST-1 observations

Measurement of the non-prompt D-meson fraction as a function of multiplicity in proton-proton collisions at s \sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

The fractions of non-prompt (i.e. originating from beauty-hadron decays) D0 and D+ mesons with respect to the inclusive yield are measured as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The results are reported in intervals of transverse momentum (pT) and integrated in the range 1 < pT < 24 GeV/c. The fraction of non-prompt D0 and D+ mesons is found to increase slightly as a function of pT in all the measured multiplicity intervals, while no significant dependence on the charged- particle multiplicity is observed. In order to investigate the production and hadronisation mechanisms of charm and beauty quarks, the results are compared to PYTHIA 8 as well as EPOS 3 and EPOS 4 Monte Carlo simulations, and to calculations based on the colour glass condensate including three-pomeron fusion

Effect of protein structure on mitochondrial import

Most proteins that are to be imported into the mitochondrial matrix are synthesized as precursors, each composed of an N-terminal targeting sequence followed by a mature domain. Precursors are recognized through their targeting sequences by receptors at the mitochondrial surface and are then threaded through import channels into the matrix. Both the targeting sequence and the mature domain contribute to the efficiency with which proteins are imported into mitochondria. Precursors must be in an unfolded conformation during translocation. Mitochondria can unfold some proteins by changing their unfolding pathways. The effectiveness of this unfolding mechanism depends on the local structure of the mature domain adjacent to the targeting sequence. This local structure determines the extent to which the unfolding pathway can be changed and, therefore, the unfolding rate increased. Atomic force microscopy studies find that the local structures of proteins near their N and C termini also influence their resistance to mechanical unfolding. Thus, protein unfolding during import resembles mechanical unfolding, and the specificity of import is determined by the resistance of the mature domain to unfolding as well as by the properties of the targeting sequence