Corrupt Local Government as Resource Farmers: The Helping Hand and the Grabbing Hand

We study the role of tax share and transparency of governance on growth and stagnation. A local government maximizes its private benefits using two activities. The first one consists of providing local public goods that help local firms to increase profits, thus enlarging tax revenue. The second one consists of extortion. We show that there is a threshold level of local government tax share, and a threshold level of transparency. Below these thresholds, the economy will stagnate and above them, the economy will achieve perpetual growth.corruption, growth, local government, tax share.

Corrupt local government as resource farmers : the helping hand and the grabbing hand

We study the role of tax share and transparency of governance on growth and stagnation. A local government maximizes its private benefits using two activities. The first one consists of providing local public goods that help local firms to increase profits, thus enlarging tax revenue. The second one consists of extortion. We show that there is a threshold level of local government tax share, and a threshold level of transparency. Below these thresholds, the economy will stagnate and above them, the economy will achieve perpetual growth

Accurate Quantification of Nervous System Drugs in Aqueous Samples at Trace Levels by Binary Solvent Dispersive Liquid–Liquid Microextraction‐Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry

Pharmaceutical products are widely consumed globally and are commonly found in wastewaters as a result of constant excretion and disposal into sewers. The present study proposes an efficient binary solvent dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (BS-DLLME) method that was developed for preconcentration of 7 nervous system drug active compounds from aqueous media for their determination at trace levels by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The drug analytes included 3 antidepressants, 2 antipsychotics, 1 antiepileptic, and 1 antidementia. Optimum conditions of the BS-DLLME method were acquired by univariate optimization of parameters including type of binary solvents, ratio of binary solvents, type of disperser solvent, volume of binary solvents, and volume of disperser solvent. Detection and quantification limits were calculated in the range of 0.28 to 6.5 mu g/L. Municipal wastewater, medical wastewater, synthetic domestic wastewater, and lake water were utilized as real samples in spike recovery experiments; and the results (94-106%) indicated the method's applicability and accuracy at quantifying the analytes in complex matrices. Environ Toxicol Chem 2021;00:1-6. (c) 2021 SETA

Nanocrystalline Zn2+ and SO42- binary doped fluorohydroxyapatite: A novel biomaterial with enhanced osteoconductive and osteoinconductive properties

In this study, we have successfully doped hydroxyapatite (HA) with zinc (Zn2+), sulphate (SO42-) and fluoride (F-) ions to develop a new composition of bioceramic, Ca10-xZnx(PO4)(6-y)(SO4)(y)(OH)(2-z-y)F-z(SO4)(y), (x = 0, 0.2, 0.6, 1.0, y = 0, 0.5 and z = 0,1.0 mol), using wet precipitation method. The obtained materials were analysed using XRD, FTIR, FESEM, and XPS techniques to investigate the phase purity, particle morphology and elemental composition, respectively. A model anticancer drug (Doxorubicin, DOX) was loaded onto the surface of the Zn/SO4-FHA materials. About 100% loading of DOX with a controlled release profile was obtained. Degradation of materials in Simulated body fluid (SBF) was greatly improved with the incorporation of Zn2+/SO42- ions in comparison to HA/FHA, which makes it highly bioactive materials. In vitro cell viability and adhesion of Human fetal osteoblast (hFOB) cell were investigated. Cell viability has demonstrated that the hFOB cells proliferated at a high rate on Zn/SO4-FHA materials, confirming the in vitro biocompatibility of the materials. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and intracellular calcium deposition of hFOB cells seeded on 1ZnSO(4)-FHA disc surface was statistically higher than observed on pure HA and FHA discs, indicating that hFOB cells differentiated into mature osteoblasts on 1Zn/SO4-FHA disc surfaces. Taken together, our results suggest that HA substituted by (Zn2+, 0.2 mol), (SO42-, 0.5 mol) and (F-, 1 mol) (1Zn/So(4)-FHA) material was a promising material for hard tissue scaffolds.Karabuk University [KBUBAP-17-KP-477]Dr. Ammar Z. Alshemary would like to thank Karabuk University for providing financial support via Project no. KBUBAP-17-KP-477