Tax Avoidance and M&A

This paper examines the relationship between tax avoidance and M&A efficiency in the sample of 243 completed M&As in Korea. I find a negative relationship between tax avoidance and M&A returns. This result suggests that tax avoidance increases information asymmetry between shareholders and managers because it increases corporate opacity. It makes shareholders unable to monitor and control even if managers make opportunistic M&A decisions

Determinant of Preemptive Corporate Restructuring

In this paper, I investigate whether companies with high quality accounting information carry out preemptive corporate restructuring or not. I find the higher the quality of accounting information, the more proactive the corporate restructuring for the following reasons. First, Board of Directors overseeing the management basically identifies the financial position and performance of the entity through accounting information, it will encourage the management to make preemptive restructuring decisions when it is necessary to improve its operating performance or improve its financial structure through corporate restructuring such as the sale of assets, interests, affiliates and business units. Second, high-quality accounting information will play a role in enhancing possibility of completion of corporate restructuring. This finding suggests that high quality of accounting information was required as a determinant that could enhance the practicability of preemptive restructuring

Unintended targeting of Dmp1-Cre reveals a critical role for Bmpr1a signaling in the gastrointestinal mesenchyme of adult mice

Cre/loxP technology has been widely used to study cell type-specific functions of genes. Proper interpretation of such data critically depends on a clear understanding of the tissue specificity of Cre expression. The Dmp1-Cre mouse, expressing Cre from a 14-kb DNA fragment of the mouse Dmp1 gene, has become a common tool for studying gene function in osteocytes, but the presumed cell specificity is yet to be fully established. By using the Ai9 reporter line that expresses a red fluorescent protein upon Cre recombination, we find that in 2-month-old mice, Dmp1-Cre targets not only osteocytes within the bone matrix but also osteoblasts on the bone surface and preosteoblasts at the metaphyseal chondro-osseous junction. In the bone marrow, Cre activity is evident in certain stromal cells adjacent to the blood vessels, but not in adipocytes. Outside the skeleton, Dmp1-Cre marks not only the skeletal muscle fibers, certain cells in the cerebellum and the hindbrain but also gastric and intestinal mesenchymal cells that express Pdgfra. Confirming the utility of Dmp1-Cre in the gastrointestinal mesenchyme, deletion of Bmpr1a with Dmp1-Cre causes numerous large polyps along the gastrointestinal tract, consistent with prior work involving inhibition of BMP signaling. Thus, caution needs to be exercised when using Dmp1-Cre because it targets not only the osteoblast lineage at an earlier stage than previously appreciated, but also a number of non-skeletal cell types

Financial Reporting Quality And Acquisition Profitability: Evidence From Korea

In this paper, we examine the association between financial reporting quality and acquisition profitability in a sample of 282 acquisitions in South Korea between 2001 and 2011. Using the accruals quality measure developed by Dechow and Dichev (2002) and McNichols (2002), we find that firms with high-quality financial reporting make more profitable acquisitions, as measured by the bidder's announcement returns. In addition, we find that the importance of financial reporting quality increases in firms with poor information environments

Differential involvement of Wnt signaling in Bmp regulation of cancellous versus periosteal bone growth

Bone morphogenetic proteins (Bmp) are well-known to induce bone formation following chondrogenesis, but the direct role of Bmp signaling in the osteoblast lineage is not completely understood. We have recently shown that deletion of the receptor Bmpr1a in the osteoblast lineage with Dmp1-Cre reduces osteoblast activity in general but stimulates proliferation of preosteoblasts specifically in the cancellous bone region, resulting in diminished periosteal bone growth juxtaposed with excessive cancellous bone formation. Because expression of sclerostin (SOST), a secreted Wnt antagonist, is notably reduced in the Bmpr1a-deficient osteocytes, we have genetically tested the hypothesis that increased Wnt signaling might mediate the increase in cancellous bone formation in response to Bmpr1a deletion. Forced expression of human SOST from a Dmp1 promoter fragment partially rescues preosteoblast hyperproliferation and cancellous bone overgrowth in the Bmpr1a mutant mice, demonstrating functional interaction between Bmp and Wnt signaling in the cancellous bone compartment. To test whether increased Wnt signaling can compensate for the defect in periosteal growth caused by Bmpr1a deletion, we have generated compound mutants harboring a hyperactive mutation (A214V) in the Wnt receptor Lrp5. However, the mutant Lrp5 does not restore periosteal bone growth in the Bmpr1a-deficient mice. Thus, Bmp signaling restricts cancellous bone accrual partly through induction of SOST that limits preosteoblast proliferation, but promotes periosteal bone growth apparently independently of Wnt activation

The Effect Of The Relationships Between Affiliated Firms On Direction Of Income Shifting Within Business Groups

In this study, we examined how income shifting performs among affiliates in a business group to maximize the benefits of the entire business group in terms of minimizing the tax burden, with a particular focus on the direction of income shifting between affiliates within the business group. We find that tax-related decision-making for the entire business group is affected by the relationships between the affiliated firms, that is, the ownership structure of the whole business group. To analyze the ownership structure, we use centrality measures in a social network analysis. The results show that affiliates with the higher outdegree-centrality; that is, firms investing more shareholdings in other affiliates have a tendency to perform more income shifting. On the other hand, the affiliates with high indegree-centrality, that is, firms which are owned by other affiliates, were revealed to be given the income shifting from other affiliated firms to minimize the tax burden of the entire business group

Three-dimensional CT angiography of the canine hepatic vasculature

Eight Beagle dogs were anesthetized and were imaged using a single channel helical CT scanner. The contrast medium used in this study was iohexol (300 mg I/ml) and doses were 0.5 ml/kg for a cine scan, 3 ml/kg for an enhanced scan. The flow rate for contrast material administration was 2 ml/sec for all scans. This study was divided into three steps, with unenhanced, cine and enhanced scans. The enhanced scan was subdivided into the arterial phase and the venous phase. All of the enhanced scans were reconstructed in 1 mm intervals and the scans were interpreted by the use of reformatted images, a cross sectional histogram, maximum intensity projection and shaded surface display. For the cine scans, optimal times were a 9-sec delay time post IV injection in the arterial phase, and an 18-sec delay time post IV injection in the venous phase. A nine-sec delay time was acceptable for the imaging of the canine hepatic arteries by CT angiography. After completion of arterial phase scanning, venous structures of the liver were well visualized as seen on the venous phase

Operando Insights on the Degradation Mechanisms of Rhenium doped Molybdenum Disulfide Nanocatalysts for Electrolyzer Applications

MoS2 nanostructures are promising catalysts for proton-exchange-membrane (PEM) electrolyzers to replace expensive noble metals. Their broadscale application demands high activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) as well as good durability. Doping in MoS2 is commonly applied to enhance the HER activity of MoS2-based nanocatalysts, but the effect of dopants in the electrochemical and structural stability is yet to be discussed. Herein, we correlate operando electrochemical measurements to the structural evolution of the materials down to the nanometric scale by identical location electron microscopy and spectroscopy. Different degradation mechanisms at first electrolyte contact, open circuit stabilization and HER conditions are identified for MoS2 nanocatalysts with and without Rhenium doping. Our results demonstrate that doping in MoS2 nanocatalysts can not only improve their HER activity, but also their stability. Doping of MoS2-based nanocatalysts is validated as a promising strategy to follow for the continuous improvement of high performance and durable PEM electrolyzers

A mechanism for S-adenosyl methionine assisted formation of a riboswitch conformation: a small molecule with a strong arm

The S-adenosylmethionine-1 (SAM-I) riboswitch mediates expression of proteins involved in sulfur metabolism via formation of alternative conformations in response to binding by SAM. Models for kinetic trapping of the RNA in the bound conformation require annealing of nonadjacent mRNA segments during a transcriptional pause. The entropic cost required to bring nonadjacent segments together should slow the folding process. To address this paradox, we performed molecular dynamics simulations on the SAM-I riboswitch aptamer domain with and without SAM, starting with the X-ray coordinates of the SAM-bound RNA. Individual trajectories are 200 ns, among the longest reported for an RNA of this size. We applied principle component analysis (PCA) to explore the global dynamics differences between these two trajectories. We observed a conformational switch between a stacked and nonstacked state of a nonadjacent dinucleotide in the presence of SAM. In the absence of SAM the coordination between a bound magnesium ion and the phosphate of A9, one of the nucleotides involved in the dinucleotide stack, is destabilized. An electrostatic potential map reveals a ‘hot spot’ at the Mg binding site in the presence of SAM. These results suggest that SAM binding helps to position J1/2 in a manner that is favorable for P1 helix formation

Physiological Notch Signaling Maintains Bone Homeostasis via RBPjk and Hey Upstream of NFATc1

Notch signaling between neighboring cells controls many cell fate decisions in metazoans both during embryogenesis and in postnatal life. Previously, we uncovered a critical role for physiological Notch signaling in suppressing osteoblast differentiation in vivo. However, the contribution of individual Notch receptors and the downstream signaling mechanism have not been elucidated. Here we report that removal of Notch2, but not Notch1, from the embryonic limb mesenchyme markedly increased trabecular bone mass in adolescent mice. Deletion of the transcription factor RBPjk, a mediator of all canonical Notch signaling, in the mesenchymal progenitors but not the more mature osteoblast-lineage cells, caused a dramatic high-bone-mass phenotype characterized by increased osteoblast numbers, diminished bone marrow mesenchymal progenitor pool, and rapid age-dependent bone loss. Moreover, mice deficient in Hey1 and HeyL, two target genes of Notch-RBPjk signaling, exhibited high bone mass. Interestingly, Hey1 bound to and suppressed the NFATc1 promoter, and RBPjk deletion increased NFATc1 expression in bone. Finally, pharmacological inhibition of NFAT alleviated the high-bone-mass phenotype caused by RBPjk deletion. Thus, Notch-RBPjk signaling functions in part through Hey1-mediated inhibition of NFATc1 to suppress osteoblastogenesis, contributing to bone homeostasis in vivo