The so-called ‘missing trader intra-community’ (MTIC) fraud causes enormous losses in value-added tax (VAT) revenue. The fraudsters take advantage of the zero-rated cross-border supplies within the European Union (EU) and resell the goods domestically without paying the received VAT to the tax authorities. One of the most prominent measures to combat this scheme is the optional reverse charge mechanism (RCM) that shifts the VAT liability from the supplier to the customer in business-to-business transactions. Using asymmetries in international trade (trade data gap, TDG), we identify the fraud-reducing effect of the RCM. For the observation period (2003 – 2019) within the EU, we quantify this effect in terms of the VAT revenue between 7.5 and 7.7 billion euros using a midpoint estimate. Additionally, we are the first to provide empirical evidence of a harmful fraud relocation from RCM countries to non-RCM countries. This explains the domino effect of RCM introductions in the EU and calls for a unified approach to VAT fraud.
View lessFor decades, de Casteljau's algorithm has been used as a fundamental building block in curve and surface design and has found a wide range of applications in fields such as scientific computing and discrete geometry, to name but a few. With increasing interest in nonlinear data science, its constructive approach has been shown to provide a principled way to generalize parametric smooth curves to manifolds. These curves have found remarkable new applications in the analysis of parameter-dependent, geometric data. This article provides a survey of the recent theoretical developments in this exciting area as well as its applications in fields such as geometric morphometrics and longitudinal data analysis in medicine, archaeology, and meteorology.
View lessIntroduction. This article examines United States policy towards United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (UN PKOs) by analyzing the U.S. position towards peacekeeping operations in the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC) to trace the evolution and specific features of this policy over time. The article attempts to answer the question: is U.S. policy toward UN PKOs defined by only national interest, or is there more to it? Methods and materials. The article analyzes U.S. official speeches and documents, UN official documents related to peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, American foreign policy doctrines, and academic literature on U.S. foreign policy, U.S.-UN relations, and UN PKOs in the DRC. Analysis. American policy towards UN peacekeeping operations in Congo in 1960–1964 and 1999–2022 is analyzed to identify the main trends in the USA’s approach toward UN PKOs. Results. The article concludes that U.S. policy towards the United Nations is defined by the combination of the national interest of the country and the ideas of American exceptionalism. Authors’ contributions. D. Pushkina defined the research focus of the article, examined academic literature on UN PKOs in Congo and relevant documents, and defined the main vectors of the research. R. Kalina examined academic literature about U.S.-UN relations, analyzed official U.S. statements on UN peacekeeping operations in Congo, and made conclusions.
View lessGenomes are organised through hierarchical structures, ranging from local kilobase-scale cis-regulatory contacts to large chromosome territories. Most notably, (sub)-compartments partition chromosomes according to transcriptional activity, while topologically associating domains (TADs) define cis-regulatory landscapes. The inactive X chromosome in mammals has provided unique insights into the regulation and function of the three-dimensional (3D) genome. Concurrent with silencing of the majority of genes and major alterations of its chromatin state, the X chromosome undergoes profound spatial rearrangements at multiple scales. These include the emergence of megadomains, alterations of the compartment structure and loss of the majority of TADs. Moreover, the Xist locus, which orchestrates X-chromosome inactivation, has provided key insights into regulation and function of regulatory domains. This review provides an overview of recent insights into the control of these structural rearrangements and contextualises them within a broader understanding of 3D genome organisation.
View lessWestern Europe experienced extreme heavy rainfall events with subsequent floods and flash floods from the 13 to the 15 July 2021, which led to over 180 fatalities in Germany. In many places, the professional disaster management units were completely overwhelmed and only partially functional; thus, this situation could only be addressed with the support of citizens. Focusing on the emergency response phase in the municipality of Mayschoβ located in the Ahr valley, the research questions in this paper are as follows: What kind of citizen responses emerged? How did these responses interact with professional disaster management structures? The main finding reveals the emergence of a new form of citizen-led crisis management, “semiprofessional crisis management team”, which 1. makes use of professional knowledge on disaster and crisis management; 2. expands and supplements this knowledge with traditional forms of local nongovernmental civic engagement; and 3. subordinates the structures of professional disaster management to achieve locally defined goals in emergency response. We also discuss the emergence of these new forms of crisis management via an elaboration of the Disaster Research Center typology of organized behavior and volunteer engagement with reference to local institutions (e.g., wine cooperatives, “neighborhoods” or associations).
View lessUniparental reproduction is advantageous when lack of mates limits outcrossing opportunities in plants. Baker’s law predicts an enrichment of uniparental reproduction in habitats colonized via long-distance dispersal, such as volcanic islands. To test it, we analyzed reproductive traits at multiple hierarchical levels and compared seed-set after selfing and crossing experiments in both island and mainland populations of Limonium lobatum, a widespread species that Baker assumed to be self-incompatible because it had been described as pollen-stigma dimorphic, i.e., characterized by floral morphs differing in pollen-surface morphology and stigma-papillae shape that are typically self-incompatible. We discovered new types and combinations of pollen and stigma traits hitherto unknown in the literature on pollen-stigma dimorphism and a lack of correspondence between such combinations and pollen compatibility. Contrary to previous reports, we conclude that Limonium lobatum comprises both self-compatible and self-incompatible plants characterized by both known and previously undescribed combinations of reproductive traits. Most importantly, plants with novel combinations are overrepresented on islands, selfed seed-set is higher in islands than the mainland, and insular plants with novel pollen-stigma trait-combinations disproportionally contribute to uniparental reproduction on islands. Our results thus support Baker’s law, connecting research on reproductive and island biology.
View lessThis study examined the (mis)alignments between multiple disaster cultures, the Indonesia Tsunami Early Warning System (InaTEWS) and local risk profiles as revealed by the 2018 non-tectonic tsunami triggered by the Anak Krakatau Volcanic eruption in Labuan. The research assessed to what extent the tsunami warning system was adapted to local needs and characteristics. Based on qualitative data collection, this study showed that before the 2018 tsunami (and notwithstanding memories of the 1883 Krakatau tsunami) different local groups shared a strikingly homogeneous understanding of tsunamis as exclusively triggered by earthquakes. After the 2018 tsunami, study participants reported increased awareness of different tsunami types and earthquake risks. However, this rarely translated into practical actions and changes at the local level as structural and cultural factors significantly hampered the work of local government and emergency management agencies. This research identified steps to improve alignment, for example by involving community members in warning technology maintenance, tailoring awareness-raising materials to local hazard profiles and connecting awareness-raising with local cultural traditions. However, a reform of the InaTEWS is necessary, including overcoming sectoral silos and incorporating local knowledge and experiences into policymaking. By addressing these (mis)alignments, authorities can better support communities to understand tsunami risks and respond to future event, ultimately enhancing preparedness.
View lessExpansion microscopy (ExM) is a revolutionary novel approach to increase resolution in light microscopy. In contrast to super-resolution microscopy methods that rely on sophisticated technological advances, including novel instrumentation, ExM instead is entirely based on sample preparation. In ExM, labeled target molecules in fixed cells are anchored in a hydrogel, which is then physically enlarged by osmotic swelling. The isotropic swelling of the hydrogel pulls the labels apart from one another, and their relative organization can thus be resolved using conventional microscopes even if it was below the diffraction limit of light beforehand. As ExM can additionally benefit from the technical resolution enhancements achieved by super-resolution microscopy, it can reach into the nanometer range of resolution with an astoundingly low degree of error induced by distortion during the physical expansion process. Because the underlying chemistry is well understood and the technique is based on a relatively simple procedure, ExM is easily reproducible in non-expert laboratories and has quickly been adopted to address an ever-expanding spectrum of problems across the life sciences. In this Review, we provide an overview of this rapidly expanding new field, summarize the most important insights gained so far and attempt to offer an outlook on future developments.
View lessIn this analytical essay, we situate truth commissions as relevant sites for International Relations (IR) research, in particular on professional communities and knowledge hierarchies. With an empirical focus on report-making, we argue that there is a need to rethink and revise established professional community concepts. While these concepts stress professional communities’ detachment from mundane pressures, we suggest a “pressure lens” to better grasp the key dynamics of expert knowledge production. Based on in-depth interpretive research on three truth commissions—in Sierra Leone, Kenya, and Tunisia—we set out to identify key dynamics in the report-making of truth commissions that contribute to the gap between high expectations and sobering realities regarding truth commissions as “victim-centred” policy instruments. Understanding the dynamics at play requires us to pay attention to unequal pressures—such as time and funding pressures, powerholder interference, and demands voiced by victims and survivors—that bear on the work of experts and professionals who produce truth commission reports. We argue that these pressures and, crucially, the ways in which they tend to play out under conditions of coloniality, are expressions of global hierarchies that shape professional report-making work.
View lessThe photochemical reaction of iodine and graphene induces strong new Raman modes due to the formation of trans-oligoene substructures in graphene domains. This unique reactivity was demonstrated before on defect-free graphene, however leaving the influence of e. g. carbon vacancies, unexplored. Here, we investigate the photochemical reaction applied on graphene with varying average distances of lattice defects and statistically analyze the characteristic Raman modes which develop with the iodination reaction. We show that the iodination reaction does not lead to Raman-active defects and thus, the newly formed trans-oligoene substructures do not contribute to the D-mode of graphene. A statistical analysis reveals the correlation between the average distance of lattice defects and the intensity of the v1-mode. For defective graphene with average defect distances below ~1 nm no new Raman modes evolve, which is the lower limit of the substructure size probed at 532 nm and explains why this observation was not possible before using common graphene oxide as graphene source.
View lessUnderstanding the structural and dynamic properties of proton-bound complexes is crucial for elucidating fundamental aspects of chemical reactivity and molecular interactions. In this work, the proton-bound complex between dihydrogen phosphate and formate, and its deuterated counterparts, is investigated using IR action spectroscopy in helium droplets. Contrary to the initial expectation that the stronger phosphoric acid would donate a proton to formate, both experiment and theory show that all exchangeable protons are located in the phosphate moiety. The experimental spectra show good agreement with both scaled harmonic and VPT2 anharmonic calculations, indicating that anharmonic effects are small. Some H-bending modes of the nondeuterated complex are found to be sensitive to the helium environment. In the case of the partially deuterated complexes, the experiments indicate that internal dynamics leads to isomeric interconversion upon IR excitation.
View lessThis review paper summarizes the observations and results of the Mars Express Mission and its application in the analysis of geological processes and landforms on Mars during the last 20 years. The Mars Express observations provided an extended data base allowing a comparative evaluation of different geological surface landforms and their time-based delimitation. High-resolution imagery and digital elevations models on a local to regional scale and spectral measurements are the basis for geological analyses of water-related surface processes on Mars. This includes the nature and discharges of valley networks, formation timescale of deltas, volumina of sedimentary deposits as well as estimating the age of geological units by crater size–frequency distribution measurements. Both the quantifying of geological processes and the determination of absolute model ages allows to constraint the evolution of Martian water-related activity in space and time. Comparative age estimation of fluvial, glacial, and lacustrine deposits, as well as their timing and episodicity, has revealed the nature and evolution of the Martian surface hydrological cycle. Fluvial and lacustrine activity phases are spread over a time span from Noachian until Amazonian periods, but detailed studies show that they have been interrupted by multiple and long-lasting phases of cessation and quiescent. In addition, evidence of glacial activity shows discrete phases of enhanced intensity correlating with increased spin-axis obliquity amplitude. The episodicity of geological processes, erosion, deposition, and glaciation on Mars demonstrate a close correlation between individual surface processes and endogenic activity as well as spin-axis/orbital variations and changing climate condition.
View lessThe class B2 of GPCRs known as adhesion G protein-coupled receptors (aGPCRs) has come under increasing academic and nonacademic research focus over the past decade due to their physiological importance as mechano-sensors in cell-cell and cell-matrix contexts. A major advance in understanding signal transduction of aGPCRs was achieved by the identification of the so-called Stachel sequence, which acts as an intramolecular agonist at the interface between the N terminus (Nt) and the seven-transmembrane helix domain (7TMD). Distinct extracellular signals received by the Nt are integrated at the Stachel into structural changes of the 7TMD towards an active state conformation. Until recently, little information was available on how the activation process of aGPCRs is realized at the molecular level. In the past three years several structures of the 7TMD plus the Stachel in complex with G proteins have been determined, which provide new insights into the architecture and molecular function of this receptor class. Herein, we review this structural information to extract common and distinct aGPCR features with particular focus on the Stachel binding site within the 7TMD. Our analysis extends the current view of aGPCR activation and exposes similarities and differences not only between diverse aGPCR members, but also compared to other GPCR classes.
View lessThe recurrent emerging of novel viral variants of concern (VOCs) with evasion of preexisting antibody immunity upholds severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) case numbers and maintains a persistent demand for updated therapies. We selected the patient-derived antibody CV38-142 based on its potency and breadth against the VOCs Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta for preclinical development into a therapeutic. CV38-142 showed in vivo efficacy in a Syrian hamster VOC infection model after post-exposure and therapeutic application and revealed a favorable safety profile in a human protein library screen and tissue cross-reactivity study. Although CV38-142 targets the same viral surface as sotrovimab, which maintains activity against Omicron, CV38-142 did not neutralize the Omicron lineages BA.1 and BA.2. These results highlight the contingencies of developing antibody therapeutics in the context of antigenic drift and reinforce the need to develop broadly neutralizing variant-proof antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.
View lessDigital data have become a valuable resource for autocratic governments seeking to influence societal behaviours. The rise of social credit systems in China has garnered a great deal of attention, with some even referring to them as ‘Orwellian’ surveillance systems. This study expands on previous research that has found surprisingly high levels of acceptance of social credit systems in China to the Southeast Asian region. Through an online opinion survey conducted in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, we discovered that citizens in these countries exhibit higher acceptance rates of social credit systems than opposition rates, although lower than those observed in China. Moreover, we find that acceptance rates would decline significantly if the technologies supporting these systems originated from China. By introducing an external technology acceptance model, we provide an explanation for these findings based on citizens' attitudes towards their domestic situation and their perceptions of China's potential benefits to their countries. Interestingly, most of the ‘China Threat’ perceptions do not translate into opposition against Chinese social credit system technologies, except for military risks. Instead, citizens' negative views are primarily influenced by specific technology-related risks. These findings contribute to the existing literature on the acceptance of government-run social credit systems and public perception in the context of international relations.
View lessIn der Bestandsaufnahme werden der gegenwärtige Stand und die Möglichkeiten der personenbezogenen Genomsequenzierung und ihr Nutzen für die Erforschung von seltenen Erkrankungen und Krebserkrankungen erörtert sowie einige wichtige sich aus der Genomforschung ergebende ethische und rechtliche Fragen diskutiert.
Although mobile social networking sites have successfully penetrated into individual’s various aspects of everyday lives, few empirical studies have investigated important antecedents of civic involvement in the WeChat context from a network capital perspective. The principal aims of the research are to systematically explore the underlying associations between mobile social media use, network heterogeneity, network capital, and civic participation among young people. The data was collected in an online survey of 1,208 young people in mainland China. Structural equation modeling analysis was carried out to examine the corresponding hypotheses. Findings revealed that informational WeChat use could positively impact young people’s network heterogeneity, which subsequently contributes to increased degrees of civic involvement. Additionally, the results demonstrated that network heterogeneity and network capital on WeChat are positively associated with civic involvement. Furthermore, network heterogeneity and network capital could mediate the association between WeChat use for information and individual’s civic activities. These obtained outcomes underlined the vital role of mobile social media communication in facilitating democratic engagement of young citizens in contemporary mobile media-saturated society.
View lessThe US-Dollar (USD) holds a paramount position in the hierarchy of the International Monetary System (IMS). The significance of this currency has experienced a remarkable surge, leading to non-US banking systems to adopt new strategies for integrating themselves into the USD funding structure. Consequently, non-US banks have turned to new financial instruments and institutions to hedge their balance sheets effectively. While previous research has primarily focused on the Eurodollar market and FX swaps, the role of US banks in providing USD funding liquidity to these markets and instruments has been curtailed due to post-GFC regulations. This funding gap has been filled by US prime MMFs. Therefore, this paper investigates the emerging global dimension of unsecured funding liquidity provided by prime MMFs through wholesale funding instruments, namely commercial papers (CPs) and certificates of deposit (CDs), to the European and Japanese banking systems. Moreover, it examines the implications of this unsecured funding for JPY/USD and EUR/USD FX swaps markets. The paper argues that rates associated with CPs and CDs have become pivotal indicators of liquidity conditions in the offshore USD system. Disruptions in these markets can result in significant vulnerabilities in FX swaps markets, as evidenced during the pandemic crisis. Only through the Fed’s backstop strategy, implemented via swap lines and the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility (MMLF), have the liquidity conditions of prime MMFs improved, yielding favorable outcomes for non-US banks.
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