Individuals and teams in UMTS-license auctions

We examine bidding behaviour of individuals and teams in an experimental auction resembling UMTS-license auctions. Even though in reality teams were largely involved in those auctions, experimental studies on bidding in auctions have so far relied on individual bidders. Our results show that teams stay on average longer in an (ascending sealed-bid English) auction and pay significantly higher prices than individuals. Consequently, teams make smaller profits and suffer more often the winner's curse. The auction's efficiency is nevertheless higher with teams, since the bidders with the highest valuation are more likely to win the auction when teams bid

Thermophile 90S Pre-ribosome Structures Reveal the Reverse Order of Co-transcriptional 18S rRNA Subdomain Integration

The ‘birth’ of the eukaryotic ribosome is preceded by RNA folding and processing reactions that depend on assembly factors and snoRNAs. The 90S (SSU-processome) is the earliest pre-ribosome structurally analyzed, which was suggested to assemble stepwise along the growing pre-rRNA from 5’>3’, but this directionality may not be accurate. Here, by analyzing the structure of series of novel 90S assembly intermediates isolated from Chaetomium thermophilum, we discover a reverse order of 18S rRNA subdomain incorporation. This revealed that large parts of the 18S rRNA 3’ and central domains assemble first into the 90S, before the 5’ domain is stably integrated. This final incorporation depends on a physical contact between a heterotrimer Enp2-Bfr2-Lcp1 recruited to the flexible 5’ domain and Kre33, which reconstitutes the Kre33-Enp-Brf2-Lcp5 module on the compacted 90S pre-ribosome. Keeping the 5’ domain temporarily segregated from the 90S scaffold could provide an extra time to complete the multifaceted 5’ domain folding, which depends on a distinct set of snoRNAs and processing factors

Promoter elements of rice susceptibility genes are bound and activated by specific TAL effectors from the bacterial blight pathogen, Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae.

Summary • Plant pathogenic bacteria of the genus Xanthomonas inject transcription activator-like effector (TALe) proteins that bind to and activate host promoters, thereby promoting disease or inducing plant defense. TALes bind to corresponding UPT (up-regulated by TALe) promoter boxes via tandemly arranged 34 ⁄ 35-amino acid repeats. Recent studies uncovered the TALe code in which two amino acid residues of each repeat define specific pairing to UPT boxes. • Here we employed the TALe code to predict potential UPT boxes in TALeinduced host promoters and analyzed these via b-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter and electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA). • We demonstrate that the Xa13, OsTFX1 and Os11N3 promoters from rice are induced directly by the Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae TALes PthXo1, PthXo6 and AvrXa7, respectively. We identified and functionally validated a UPT box in the corresponding rice target promoter for each TALe and show that box mutations suppress TALe-mediated promoter activation. Finally, EMSA demonstrate that code-predicted UPT boxes interact specifically with corresponding TALes. • Our findings show that variations in the UPT boxes of different rice accessions correlate with susceptibility or resistance of these accessions to the bacterial blight pathogen

MAE - musical adaptation effects

Keine Zsfassung vorhanden.Long-term memory representations play a central role helping humans to orientate in a constantly changing environment. These processes provide standards for the comparison of novel information, but also allow for adapting these standards (e.g., Bower, Thompson, Schill, & Tulving, 1994). Human faces are typically assumed to elicit such stable long-term memory representations. Carbon & Leder (2005a, 2006) have shown that the presentation of extremely distorted familiar faces of celebrities affects the ability to distinguish between an original and a shifted version of a face. These adaptation effects were not only short termed but last for minutes and even for 24 hours (Carbon, Strobach, Lanton, Harsà nyi, Leder, & Kovà cs, 2007). Studies have shown that memory representations for musical tempo and musical pitch can be remarkably stable across time - even for very long time spans (e.g., Levitin, 1996; Levitin & Cook, 1996; Schellenberg & Trehub, 2003). Within this dissertation project adaptation effects in the musical domain were investigated. This project deals, with respect to the design of the initial study by Carbon and Leder (2005a), with memory representations for musical tempo and musical pitch. The project aims to test if the findings from the visual domain can be found in the auditory domain. The overall research question was: Does the perception of extremely distorted versions of familiar pieces of music (TV themes) affect judgements about the original tempo or, respectively the original pitch level of these pieces? This overall question was tested with eight empirical studies with various designs and specific additional research questions. As stimuli I used six TV themes of US American TV series from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s which were pre-tested for familiarity. The results of the eight empirical studies (N =288, mean age = 26, SD = 8.6, 78 % female participants) show that musical adaptation effects (MAEs) can be found for both domains of interest, musical tempo and musical pitch. The adaptation towards the treatment versions was found, and was not only short termed. Musical adaptation effects were also found after a delay of 30 s. The effect was absent after a delay of 3 min under the given experimental conditions, but is assumed to last somewhat between 30 s and 3 min. MAEs were found to be directional with respect to the treatment presentation. The musical adaptation effects for musical tempo were found to be clear-cut and distinct; those for musical pitch were found to be weaker. The results of the eight empirical studies gave further insights into the field of memory representations of musical tempo and musical pitch. MAEs are in line with Dudai's (2004) neurophysiological theory of adaptive memory formation, which points to flexible updating processes of long-term memory standards. The MAEs reported in this dissertation project show strong correspondence to other modalities (e.g., the face-processing domain). Evidence points to musical adaptation effects being a facet of a domain-general long-term memory mechanism for context-dependent template updating.Sabine StraußKlagenfurt, Alpen-Adria-Univ., Diss., 2009KB2009 04OeBB(VLID)241119

Adaptive memory representations of musical tempo and pitch

Recent studies showed that the perception of extremely shifted versions of familiar pieces of music affects judgements about the original tempo and pitch. This paper aims to give an overview on musical adaptation effects (MAEs) for musical tempo and pitch. The focus is set on the questions if the recently found MAEs are generally comparable between the tempo and the pitch domain, and if they can be found to the same extent. In a series of eight empirical studies (N = 288, mean age = 26, SD = 8.6, 78 % female participants) the influence of extremely shifted versions (tempo-accelerated or pitch-shifted) of audio signals on memory representations was tested. Within this paper the focus will be set on a study on musical pitch (N = 30, mean age = 23, SD = 3, 77 % female participants). We used six TV themes, pre-selected for familiarity, as stimuli. The influence of different presentation conditions on the persistency and comparability of MAEs in the time and pitch domain were tested. The results of repeated-measures ANOVAs revealed treatment x probe interactions. Overall, participants had difficulties to distinguish between a shifted and an original probe version after hearing an extreme version in the treatment. MAEs vary between the domains of interest. The adaptation effects for musical tempo are stronger and more systematic than the effects found for musical pitch. The results give further insight into the memory representations of musical pitch in comparison with the results from the time domain

Inattentional deafness under dynamic musical conditions

While inattentional blindness is a modern classic in attention and perception research, analogous phenomena of inattentional deafness are less well-known. In music, inattentional deafness has never been demonstrated under controlled experimental conditions, despite of indirect evidence for related effects. We tested inattentional deafness with real music in both musicians and non-musicians. Participants listened to the first 1’50” of Richard Strauss’ Thus Spake Zarathustra, with the experimental group having the task of counting the number of tympani beats and the control group just listening. The unexpected event was an e-guitar solo during the last 20s of this sequence. In Study 1, among non-musicians, only a single person in the experimental group noticed the e-guitar, while 52% of the control group did. In amateur musicians, results were less extreme, but structurally equivalent: When engaged in a simple parallel task, only 38% explicitly noticed the strange guitar, with 68% doing so in the control group. In Study 2, findings were extended to an easier stimulus setting. Results demonstrate that inattentional deafness exists in the musical realm, in close correspondence to known blindness effects with dynamic visual stimuli. The striking effects in the musicians’ group shed a new light on the role of attentional processes in music perception and performance

Tax evasion and state productivity – An experimental study

In an overlapping generations-experiment with multiple families participants can either support their parents directly and thereby reduce their tax burden or hope for tax-financed old age support. State productivity is captured by the factor with which total tax revenues are multiplied to determine old age support. This factor is systematically varied from 0.75 to 1.25. Tax payments depend in declared endowment. Tax evasion is possible, but monitored. Surprisingly state productivity influences neither direct support of own parents nor tax evasion. The main effect is that rich endowment triggers relatively low support of own parents and high (and more frequent) tax evasion.tax evasion, state productivity, experiment, overlapping generations-model