Conformation of Tax-response elements in the human T-cell leukemia virus type I promoter

Background: HTLV I Tax is believed to activate viral gene expression by binding bZIP proteins (such as CRIB) and increasing their affinities for proviral THE target sites. Each 21 by THE target site contains an imperfect copy of the intrinsically bent CRE target site (the TRE core) surrounded by highly conserved flanking sequences. These flanking sequences are essential for maximal increases in DNA affinity and transactivation, but they are not, apparently, contacted by protein. Here we employ non-denaturing gel electrophoresis to evaluate TRE conformation in the presence and absence of bZIP proteins, and to explore the role of DNA conformation in viral transactivation.Results: Our results show that the TRE-1 flanking sequences modulate the structure and modestly increase the affinity of a CREB bZIP peptide for the TRE-1 core recognition sequence. These flanking sequences are also essential for a maximal increase in stability of the CREB-DNA complex in the presence of Tax.Conclusions: The CRE-like TRE core and the TRE flanking sequences are both essential for formation of stable CRIB-TRE-1 and Tax-CREB-TRE-1 complexes. These two DNA segments may have co-evolved into a unique structure capable of recognizing Tax and a bZIP protein.     

供应链视角下的增值税改革影响研究

构建了一个制造商和一个零售商所组成的两级供应链模型,研究增值税税率下调对供应链决策和社会福利的影响.结果表明,下调制造商、零售商增值税税率都会使产品零售价降低,提高零售商和制造商的利润.下调增值税税率给制造商带来的利润增量大于给零售商带来的利润增量.制造商税率下调导致批发价降低,零售商税率下调反而提高批发价.社会福利的...     

Molecular approach to human leukemia: Isolation and characterization of the first human retrovirus HTLV-1 and its impact on tumorigenesis in Adult T-cell Leukemia

Molecular biology of mouse and chicken retroviruses had identified oncogenes and provided a revolutionary concept in understanding of cancers. A human retrovirus was established during 1980–1982 in linkage with a unique human leukemia, concurrently in Japan and USA. This review covers our efforts on the discovery of new retrovirus, Human T-cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 (HTLV-1), first introducing to a new class of retroviruses with a unique regulatory factors, Tax and Rex. Then it is followed by analyses of molecular interaction of the vial Tax with cellular machineries involved in the pathogenesis of Adult T-cell Leukemia (ATL). And then a probable mechanism of pathogenesis of ATL is proposed including recent findings on HBZ after our efforts.     

Personal income tax reforms: A genetic algorithm approach

Given a settled reduction in the present level of tax revenue, and by exploring a very large combinatorial space of tax structures, in this paper we employ a genetic algorithm in order to determine the ‘best’ structure of a real world personal income tax that allows for the maximisation of the redistributive effect of the tax, while preventing all taxpayers being worse off than with the present tax structure. We take Italy as a case study.     

回报型众筹定价模型

构建了众筹融资、向支持者提供产品和向普通消费者出售产品的回报型众筹三阶段模型,研究兼顾增加发起人收益与提高项目众筹成功率的发起人定价决策,并运用比较静态方法探讨了发起人给支持者提供的增值服务和投资者的消费耐心程度因素对发起人定价决策的影响。研究表明,发起人与消费者是一个关于价格和效用的动态博弈过程,并最终达到纳什均衡;支持者所得的增值服务和消费者消费的时间偏好在改善发起人收益与项目众筹成功率之间并不协同,因此发起人的产品定价和筹资目标设定应折中设置在一个合理的范围。结论为发起人合理的产品定价和项目筹资成功率的提高提供一定理论依据和实践参考。     

Lapse of time effects on tax evasion in an agent-based econophysics model

We investigate an inhomogeneous Ising model in the context of tax evasion dynamics where different types of agents are parameterized via local temperatures and magnetic fields. In particular, we analyze the impact of lapse of time effects (i.e. backauditing) and endogenously determined penalty rates on tax compliance. Both features contribute to a microfoundation of agent-based econophysics models of tax evasion.     

Harmonizing model with transfer tax on water pollution across regional boundaries in a China’s lake basin

This paper presents a bilevel programming framework for a harmonizing model with transfer tax (HMTT) on water pollution across regional boundaries of a lake basin in China, where the administrator is the upper-level decision maker and individual regions consisting of the lake basin are the lower-level decision makers (followers). Leader’s cost is the total pollution reduction cost, whereas each region selfishly minimizes its own cost including reduction cost and transfer cost, given the transfer tax rate imposed by the leader. The HMTT guarantees that the imposed environmental quality standard is met through the transfer tax. Based on the KKT conditions of an auxiliary problem, we obtain that the solution set of the HMTT is nonempty. An algorithm is proposed, with the convergence result, to compute the cost-minimized transfer tax rate along with the reduction quantities of individual regions. Theoretical analysis and a case study for China’s Taihu Lake Basin show that the HMTT is superior to the current model of proportional share of pollution reduction (MPSPR). The HMTT not only solves the problem of conflicts over water pollution across regional boundaries but also utilizes the resources of the lake basin more efficiently.     

The distribution of tax payments in a Lévy insurance risk model with a surplus-dependent taxation structure

We study the distribution of tax payments in the model of Kyprianou and Zhou [Kyprianou, A.E., Zhou, X., 2009. General tax structures and the Lévy insurance risk model. J. Appl. Probab. (in press)], that is a Lévy insurance risk model with a surplus-dependent tax rate. More precisely, after a short discussion on the so-called tax identity, we derive a recursive formula for arbitrary moments of the discounted tax payments until ruin and we identify the distribution of the tax payments when there is no force of interest.     

The tax identity in risk theory — a simple proof and an extension

By linking queueing concepts with risk theory, we give a simple and insightful proof of the tax identity in the Cramér-Lundberg model that was recently derived in Albrecher & Hipp [Albrecher, H., Hipp, C., 2007. Lundberg’s risk process with tax. Blätter der DGVFM 28 (1), 13-28], and extend the identity to arbitrary surplus-dependent tax rates.     

On the time value of absolute ruin with tax

Consider a compound Poisson surplus process of an insurer with debit interest and tax payments. When the portfolio is in a profitable situation, the insurer may pay a certain proportion of the premium income as tax payments. When the portfolio is below zero, the insurer could borrow money at a debit interest rate to continue his/her business. Meanwhile, the insurer will repay the debts from his/her premium income. The negative surplus may return to a positive level except that the surplus is below a certain critical level. In the latter case, we say that absolute ruin occurs. In this paper, we discuss absolute ruin quantities by defining an expected discounted penalty function at absolute ruin. First, a system of integro-differential equations satisfied by the expected discounted penalty function is derived. Second, closed-form expressions for the expected discounted total sum of tax payments until absolute ruin and the Laplace-Stieltjes transform (LST) of the total duration of negative surplus are obtained. Third, for exponential individual claims, closed-form expressions for the absolute ruin probability, the LST of the time to absolute ruin, the distribution function of the deficit at absolute ruin and the expected accumulated discounted tax are given. Fourth, for general individual claim distributions, when the initial surplus goes to infinity, we show that the ratio of the absolute ruin probability with tax to that without tax goes to a positive constant which is greater than one. Finally, we investigate the asymptotic behavior of the absolute ruin probability of a modified risk model where the interest rate on a positive surplus is involved.