Income and democracy:Evidence from system GMM estimates

Does higher income cause democracy? Accounting for the dynamic nature and highpersistence of income and democracy, we find a statistically significant positive relationbetween income and democracy for a postwar period sample of up to 150 countries. Ourresults are robust across different model specifications and instrument sets.Income, democracy, dynamic panel estimators

Understanding Digital Nomadism as an Employer Branding Signal

The advancement of digital technologies and the wider acceptance of remote work have led to heightened expectations among knowledge workers. Nowadays, many individuals make career decisions based on the level of flexibility that is offered by employers. This paper explores to what extent the label of ‘digital nomadism’ is used and perceived as an employer branding signal in the context of corporate work. Preliminary findings from qualitative interviews with corporate employees that engage in nomadic work suggest that promoting digital nomadism as an employer is perceived as an attractive signal. However, the data also shows that employers are reluctant to send this signal to potential employees but rather use it internally to retain talent within the organization. The paper proposes a framework that informs signaling theory and puts forth a notion of digital nomadism as an employer branding signal for talent attraction and retention in organizations

Conformational dynamics of coatomer : functional and structural studies

In my PhD thesis I have investigated molecular mechanisms in the biogenesis of membrane vesicles. Formation of transport vesicles involves polymerization of cytoplasmic coat proteins. In COPI vesicle biogenesis, the heptameric complex coatomer is recruited to donor membranes by the interaction of multiple coatomer subunits with the budding machinery. Specific binding to the trunk domain of coatomer's subunit gamma-COP of the Golgi membrane protein p23 induces a conformational change in the gamma-subunit, leading to polymerization of the complex in vitro. Using a combination of biochemical assays and an assay based on single-molecule, singlepair fluorescence resonance energy transfer, we find that this conformational change is only induced by dimers of the p24-family proteins p23 and p24, and neither by the other p24-family members nor by cargo proteins. This conformational change takes place in individual coatomer complexes, independent of each other, and the rearrangement induced in gamma-COP is transmitted within the complex to its alpha-subunit. Alpha-COP is one of coatomer's subunits capable of binding to dibasic cargo motifs, and also shows analogy to the Clathrin molecule. We propose a model in which capture of membrane protein machinery triggers cage formation in the COPI system. At the nanometer resolution I started investigating the structure of the lattice of conformationally changed coatomer on COPI vesicles generated in vitro from purified Golgi membranes and coating machinery, using cryo electron tomography. Initial data on coated vesicles and coated buds is presented

Thermal Phase Mixing During First Order Phase Transitions

The dynamics of first order phase transitions are studied in the context of (3+1)-dimensional scalar field theories. Particular attention is paid to the question of quantifying the strength of the transition, and how `weak' and `strong' transitions have different dynamics. We propose a model with two available low temperature phases separated by an energy barrier so that one of them becomes metastable below the critical temperature $T_c$. The system is initially prepared in this phase and is coupled to a thermal bath. Investigating the system at its critical temperature, we find that `strong' transitions are characterized by the system remaining localized within its initial phase, while `weak' transitions are characterized by considerable phase mixing. Always at $T_c$, we argue that the two regimes are themselves separated by a (second order) phase transition, with an order parameter given by the fractional population difference between the two phases and a control parameter given by the strength of the scalar field's quartic self-coupling constant. We obtain a Ginzburg-like criterion to distinguish between `weak' and `strong' transitions, in agreement with previous results in (2+1)-dimensions.Comment: 28 pages RevTeX, 9 postscript figures, IMPERIAL/TP/93-94/58, DART-HEP-94/0

Comparative Evaluation of Combined Navigated Laser Photocoagulation and Intravitreal Ranibizumab in the Treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema

Objective: To evaluate if a standardized combination therapy regimen, utilizing 3 monthly ranibizumab injections followed by navigated laser photocoagulation, reduces the number of total ranibizumab injections required for treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME). Research Design and Methods: A 12-month, prospective comparison of 66 patients with center-involving DME: 34 patients with combination therapy were compared to 32 patients treated with ranibizumab monotherapy. All patients initially received 3 monthly ranibizumab injections (loading phase) and additional injections pro re nata (PRN). Combination therapy patients additionally received navigated laser photocoagulation after the loading phase. Main outcome measures were mean number of injections after the loading phase and change in BCVA from baseline to month 12. Results: Navigated laser combination therapy and ranibizumab monotherapy similarly improved mean BCVA letter score (+8.41 vs. +6.31 letters, p=0.258). In the combination group significantly less injections were required after the 3 injection loading phase (0.88 +/- 1.23 vs. 3.88 +/- 2.32, p<=0.001). By month 12, 84% of patients in the monotherapy group had required additional ranibizumab injections as compared to 35% in the combination group (p<=0.001). Conclusions: Navigated laser combination therapy demonstrated significant visual gains in most patients. Retreatment rate and number of injections were significantly lower compared to ranibizumab monotherapy and compared to the results of conventional laser combination therapy previously reported in pivotal anti-VEGF studies

Cysteine oxidation and disulfide formation in the ribosomal exit tunnel.

Funder: DFG graduate college: CLiC State of Hesse HMWK: BMRZUnderstanding the conformational sampling of translation-arrested ribosome nascent chain complexes is key to understand co-translational folding. Up to now, coupling of cysteine oxidation, disulfide bond formation and structure formation in nascent chains has remained elusive. Here, we investigate the eye-lens protein γB-crystallin in the ribosomal exit tunnel. Using mass spectrometry, theoretical simulations, dynamic nuclear polarization-enhanced solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance and cryo-electron microscopy, we show that thiol groups of cysteine residues undergo S-glutathionylation and S-nitrosylation and form non-native disulfide bonds. Thus, covalent modification chemistry occurs already prior to nascent chain release as the ribosome exit tunnel provides sufficient space even for disulfide bond formation which can guide protein folding

Cryo-electron microscopy reveals two distinct type IV pili assembled by the same bacterium

Type IV pili are flexible filaments on the surface of bacteria, consisting of a helical assembly of pilin proteins. They are involved in bacterial motility (twitching), surface adhesion, biofilm formation and DNA uptake (natural transformation). Here, we use cryo-electron microscopy and mass spectrometry to show that the bacterium Thermus thermophilus produces two forms of type IV pilus ('wide' and 'narrow'), differing in structure and protein composition. Wide pili are composed of the major pilin PilA4, while narrow pili are composed of a so-far uncharacterized pilin which we name PilA5. Functional experiments indicate that PilA4 is required for natural transformation, while PilA5 is important for twitching motility. Type IV pili are flexible filaments on the surface of bacteria, consisting of a helical assembly of pilin proteins. Here, Neuhaus et al. show that the bacterium Thermus thermophilus produces two forms of type IV pilus, differing in structure, protein composition, and function.Peer reviewe