Corporate Nationality and Capital Structure Decisions - Evidence from India

This paper examines the Capital Structure of companies classified based on nationality over two-time phases as 2008-09 to 2012-13 and 2013-14 to 2017-18 covering ten years. For each category of companies, the mean of three gearing ratios i.e., Total debt to Net worth ratio, Long term debt to Net worth ratio and Short term debt to Net worth ratio is assessed. The analysis is based on a randomized sample of 206 companies obtained from BT-500 (December, 2017) which are subcategorized on the basis of nationality as Indian Domestic Companies, Indian MNCs operating abroad and Foreign MNCs operating in India. The findings reveal that Domestic Indian companies are more inclined towards debt relative to Indian MNCs and Foreign MNCs over both the time phases. This signifies the importance of the nationality factor which must be contemplated while planning Capital Structure. Statistically significant differences in total and long-term debt ratios of Domestic Indian Companies and Indian MNCs between Phase I and Phase II highlight the significance of the time factor which should also be kept in mind before taking leverage decisions. Overall, the paper suggests the corporations to have beady eyes on the institutional environment of geographical territories in which they operate as well as the time variations before planning their debt structure. The disparities in the debt ratios across nationality and time warrant an empirical investigation of the causes behind them, so examining the determinants of Capital Structure of DCs and MNCs would be an interesting area of research in the future

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field