State-guided entrepreneurship: A case study

The premise that active engagement by the state in business is crucial for small, developing economies for global competitiveness is based on the assumption that the state has the wherewithal to support such competitiveness. This paper advocates the view that governments of developing economies should be involved in business. While this view goes against the trend of popular and current thinking of the free market economy and a non-interventionist government, it needs to be recognized that such ideals are beyond many struggling, developing economies whose space in the global economy is heavily constricted by the presence of the developed economies. Using Singapore, more specifically, its government-owned company Temasek Holdings, as a case study, this paper argues that the concept of state-guided entrepreneurship has beenapplied successfully based on the hypothesis offered in this paper

Synthetic and Biochemical Exploration of the Degradation and Utilization of Thiamin Analogs and Preliminary Studies on Methanopterin methyltransferase

Thiaminase I from Clostridium botulinum cleaves thiamin to the constituent pyrimidine and thiazole using a wide range of external nucleophiles. The crystal structure of the thiamin bound mutant of thiaminase I from Clostridium botulinum revealed the complete active site architecture and all the catalytically important residues were identified. The role of each active site residue was determined by its position and the steady-state kinetic study of the mutant of the corresponding residue. Based on the structural and the kinetic data, the mechanism of thiaminase I is proposed. Thiaminase I accepts a wide variety of cysteine containing nucleophiles, suggesting the possibility of some protein or peptide as its natural nucleophile. A plate assay and an HPLC based assay were developed to identify new thiaminase producing bacteria. The second part of the thesis is focused on the development of synthetic strategies for thiamin analogs to answer the following biological questions. Firstly, methoxythiamin pyrophosphate synthesized to study the effect of bacimethrin on thiamin-dependent enzymes and ^13C and ^15N labeled thiamin analog was synthesized to study different intermediate states of thiamin in PDC. Inhibition of thiamin-dependent enzymes was observed and the data indicates that the toxicity arises due to a different binding mode of 2’-methoxythiamin in the active site. Secondly, two fluorine labeled thiamin analogs were designed that can be used as a tracer for PET imaging study in live animals. Thirdly, synthetic methodologies have been developed to utilize thiamin molecule as a delivery vehicle. The impermeable cargo molecules attached to thiamin molecule via ester or carbamate linkage can be delivered inside the cells through membrane transporters of thiamin. Finally, synthesis of thiochrome was utilized to estimate thiamin content in auxotrophic phytoplankton and preferential utilization of pyrimidine precursors were observed to fulfill the thiamin requirement. Preliminary studies were done to explore a putative methanopterin methyltransferase MJ0619. This enzyme is air sensitive and copurifies with bound 4Fe- 4S clusters. MJ0619 contains at least three 4Fe-4S clusters and can cleave SAM homolytically in reducing conditions, which classifies it as a radical SAM enzyme. It also possesses GTP cyclohydrolase activity to produce 7,8-dihydroneopterin cyclic phosphate from GTP and can cleave N-glycosidic bond of several nucleosides. Methylation of 7,8- dihydro-6-hydroxymethyl pterin is also observed with this enzyme, however the sources of the methyl groups are still unknown

Assimilation of Somali Refugees and Immigrants in the Kansas City Area

This dissertation investigates the assimilation challenges of Somali refugees and immigrants in the Kansas City area. The process of immigrant assimilation has both economic and socio- cultural dimensions, and the purpose of this project was to understand those aspects of immigrant integration. This project was especially is dedicated to gain a deeper knowledge of the challenges faced by Somali immigrants while trying to adapt to the culture and ways of the host societies in light of their culture, traditions and economic conditions. I examined the role that gender, age and local institutions play in the assimilation process as well as the transnational nature of individual's lives. The role that place plays in the assimilation dynamics and the impact of a growing ethnic enclave on the cultural landscape of Kansas City were also themes elucidated in this work

Contours and conflicts in tax design: principles and international practice

Tax design is said to be based on certain principles comprising efficiency of resource allocation despite taxation’s distortionary effects, maintenance or encouragement of equity among taxpayers, and assisting in macro-economic stabilisation. Other safeguards are a tax system’s revenue productivity, clarity of taxation law, ease of tax compliance, and facilitation of tax administration. Common experience reveals, however, that no tax structure complies with these criteria all at once, for the principles tend to conflict with one another. The term reform is variously used by authors and across tax professions — economists, legal experts, accountants, administrators — their emphasis varying significantly. Bridging these gaps remains a crucial challenge. Empirical evidence also suggests that when a new administration takes over, it puts its own stamp on tax policy, egged on by lobbyists who were adversely affected in earlier change cycles. And, with the internationalisation of taxation, a country’s tax structure gets affected by developments in political or trading blocs. With this background, this paper points towards vacillations and drifts in the way tax changes occur. Consumption taxes (VAT/GST), production taxes such as excises, environment taxes, and user charges, as well as direct taxes including income and wealth taxes, and their component taxes on dividends, capital gains, cash-flow, presumptive bases, minimum tax payments, and emerging factors in international taxation, are taken up. In conclusion, the effects of taxes go beyond narrow economic aspects. Legal, accountancy or administrative aspects carry important implications. The glass wall between tax economics and tax law or accountancy, and between tax economics and tax administration, if removed, would generate an awareness with beneficial crossover effects. Then tax reform can be discussed on the same plane and be implemented with comparable understandings

Impact of School Closures on Female Labor Force Participation in the Covid-19 Pandemic

This paper examines the role of school closures in reducing the female labor force participation during the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States. While there is significant discussion on the decline of female labor force participation, this paper examines the role of school closures and lack of child care options in determining women’s decisions and ability to work. The data set includes the share school closures at each level of education, the number of schools and students in each school, the regulatory stringency indices, and the number of Covid-19 related deaths in each state on a monthly basis from January 2020 to August 2021. Using a fixed effect panel data model, this paper finds that an increase in share of schools closed is associated with a large decrease in female labor force participation, where a full closure of schools decreases female labor force participation by 1 percentage point. This paper also finds that areas with greater growth in female labor force participation between 2017 and 2019 (before the pandemic) saw a more dramatic decline after the pandemic