Regional Economic Policy Transition in the Local Government of Korea

Regional economic policy in developing countries is dominated by central government. The potential of local government has recently attracted more interest (Eisiger 1988; Fosler 1988; Beckeman 1996; Jones 1990 ; Elkins 1966; Kossy; 1966; Leicht 1994). The general consensus is that local business climate manifests either entrepreneurial conditions. Since the early 1970s, local governments in Korea confine their policies for its diversification due to an incomplete financial environment. There has been increased public awareness that regional economic policies should be designed to give local authorities raising local organizational capacity as well as ensuring a greater equality in the allocation of funding and priorities. This study discusses regional economic policy and can summarize as follows; First, most local governments in Korea tend to adopt supply-led policies than the demanded one because of limited local resources and inexperience in its policy formulation/ implementation. Local government leaders, however, are increasingly aware of the importance of demand-led regional economic policy. This means that the entrepreneurial approach to economic development at the local level is being gradually imbedded after initiating local governance as a result of 1997 financial crisis in Korea. Second, the more wealthy, urban and industrial regions are the most innovative in every policy domain promoting regional economic development; this can be interpreted the urban areas have better access to financial/ human resources along with urban government officials having more experience in policy planning and implementation from their favorable resources. Third, there is a high correlation between policy environment factors and regional economic policy tools, particularly with the participation of private sector. The entrepreneurial approach to regional economic development is a crucial element in a firm's capability along with creation of the favorable business climate. Local governments with diverse regional economic policies tend to be associated with high government level and have more financial resources, expertise and a strong local leadership available to them. By contrast, the local governments with weaker regional economic programs are likely to be noted for poorer relationships with low level of policy environmental factor. Therefore, the central government needs to play a coordinated role of resource allocation for less favored regions in order to be diversify/ intensify regional economic development.

Ab initio study of the effect of water adsorption on the carbon nanotube field-effect transistor

We perform density-functional calculations to investigate the effect of adsorbed water molecules on carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Noting that the H2 O molecule has much wider energy gap than the CNT, we find that the charge transfer between them is negligible. We discuss that several recent publications, which claimed a substantial electron transfer from the water molecule to the CNT, have been based on incautious interpretations of the Mulliken population analysis. We suggest that the effect of humidity on nanotube devices may be attributed to various indirect effects enhanced by water vapors, rather than the carrier generations by the physisorbed H2 O molecules.open292

The structural relationships among Korean golf instructors’ human service quality, customer emotional response, customer satisfaction, and customer learning transfer

This study investigates the structural relationships among golf instructors’ human service quality, customers’ emotional responses, customer satisfaction, and learning transfer in the context of golf lesson participants in South Korea. The research focuses on adult golfers who received instruction within the past 2 years at outdoor golf practice ranges. Data were collected from 376 valid responses using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results reveal that the human service quality of golf instructors has a significant positive effect on customers’ positive emotional responses and a significant negative effect on their negative emotional responses. Furthermore, both the instructors’ service quality and customers’ positive emotional responses significantly contribute to higher customer satisfaction. Conversely, negative emotional responses were found to decrease satisfaction. Regarding learning transfer, customer satisfaction positively influences the extent to which golf lesson content is effectively applied, while negative emotional responses negatively affect this process. Mediation analysis further indicates that the impact of human service quality on learning transfer is significantly mediated by both customer satisfaction and emotional responses. In particular, positive emotional responses enhance learning transfer through increased satisfaction, suggesting a dual pathway of influence. These findings underscore the importance of emotional experience and perceived service quality in sports instruction settings. Golf instructors should prioritize strategies that foster positive emotional experiences and satisfaction to optimize learning outcomes and promote the transfer of skills from training to actual performance

Inter- and Intra-Annual Variability of Vegetation in the Northern Hemisphere and Its Association with Precursory Meteorological Factors

Determination of phenological variation is one of the most critical challenges in dynamic vegetation modeling, given the lack of a strong theoretical framework. Previous studies generally focused on the timing of a phenological event (e.g., bud-burst or onset of growing season) and its atmospheric prompts, but not on the interactive variations across phenological stages. This study, therefore, investigated the inter- and intra-annual variability existing in all the phenological stages and the relations of the variability with four meteorological variables (surface temperature (Ts), shortwave radiation (SW ), vapor pressure deficit (VPD), and precipitation (PRCP)) using a 25-year (1982-2006) dataset of leaf area index (LAI) from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). Our six study sites of each 4 degree x 4 degree grids (mixed forest in China, deciduous needle-leaf forest in Siberia, evergreen needle-leaf forest in western Canada, grass in Gobi, and crops in the Central United States and southeastern Europe) include various vegetation types, local climates, and land-use types in the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere. Empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis with detrended LAI anomalies identified the two leading EOF modes that account for the amplitude and phase of the monthly LAI variations. The inter-annual correlation between the principle components (PCs) of the two modes and the meteorological variables for spring and summer showed that the amplitude and phase modes (AM and PM, respectively) were affected by different dominant meteorological factors. Over most of the study regions, AM was positively correlated with PRCP and negatively with Ts, SW, and VPD,while PMwas predominantly positively correlated with Ts. The contrasting responses of the two EOFmodes to Ts reflect environmental limitations on plant growth such as early start of growth, but with a reduced value of maximum LAI in a year with a warm spring. In addition, insignificant correlations between AMand PRCP, as well as negative correlations between PM and PRCP, in the crop regions suggest that human interventions such as advanced irrigation systems also play a key role in vegetative activity

Identification of marbling-related candidate genes in M-longissimus dorsi of high- and low marbled Hanwoo (Korean native cattle) steers

This study was conducted to identify marbling-related candidate genes in M. longissimus dorsi of high- and low-marbled Hanwoo. The longissimus dorsi muscles were selected for gene expression from eight Hanwoo steer carcasses based on crude fat content. In the analysis of variance, gene expression of five candidate genes, FABP4, SCD, PPARγ, Titin and Nebulin was determined to be significantly different between high- and low-marbled Hanwoo steers (P < 0.0001). The Pik-4 and CaMK II genes were also shown to have a significant effect on crude fat content (P < 0.01). In the analysis of the differential expression between high- and low marbled groups, FABP4 gene expression was approximately 2 times higher in the high marbled group relative to the low marbled group. However, the PPAR y and SCD gene were highly expressed in the low marbled group. In addition, Titin and Nebulin were highly expressed in the low marbled group when placed under relatively high shear force. Finally, the Pik-4 and CaMKII gene also displayed a high expression pattern in the low marbled grou

Estimation of Corrosion-Free Life for Concrete Containing Ground Granulated Blast-Furnace Slag under a Chloride-Bearing Environment

The rate of chloride transport by diffusion in concrete containing ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) was mathematically estimated to predict the corrosion-free service life of concrete structures exposed to seawater environment. As a factor to corrosiveness of steel embedment, replacement ratio of GGBS was selected, accounting for 25 and 50% to total binder. As a result, it was found that an increase in the GGBS content resulted in an increase in the chloride binding capacity, which would give rise to a lower chloride diffusion rate, thereby reducing the risk of chloride-induced corrosion. When it comes to the sensitivity of parameters to service life, the effective diffusivity showed a marginal influence on serviceability, irrespective of GGBS contents while surface chloride content and critical threshold concentration revealed more crucial factors to long term chloride diffusion. As the GGBS replacement increased, the variation in service life has become less influential with changing parameters. Substantially, GGBS concrete at high replacement ratio enhanced the service life due to a combination of dense pore structure and enhanced chloride binding capacity

Mutations in DDX58, which Encodes RIG-I, Cause Atypical Singleton-Merten Syndrome

Singleton-Merten syndrome (SMS) is an autosomal-dominant multi-system disorder characterized by dental dysplasia, aortic calcification, skeletal abnormalities, glaucoma, psoriasis, and other conditions. Despite an apparent autosomal-dominant pattern of inheritance, the genetic background of SMS and information about its phenotypic heterogeneity remain unknown. Recently, we found a family affected by glaucoma, aortic calcification, and skeletal abnormalities. Unlike subjects with classic SMS, affected individuals showed normal dentition, suggesting atypical SMS. To identify genetic causes of the disease, we performed exome sequencing in this family and identified a variant (c.1118A>C [p.GLu373Ala]) of DDX58, whose protein product is also known as RIG-I. Further analysis of DDX58 in 100 individuals with congenital glaucoma identified another variant (c.803G>T [p.Cys268Phe]) in a family who harbored neither dental anomalies nor aortic calcification but who suffered from glaucoma and skeletal abnormalities. Cys268 and Glu373 residues of DDX58 belong to ATP-binding motifs I and II, respectively, and these residues are predicted to be located closer to the ADP and RNA molecules than other nonpathogenic missense variants by protein structure analysis. Functional assays revealed that DDX58 alterations confer constitutive activation and thus lead to increased interferon (IFN) activity and IFN-stimulated gene expression. In addition, when we transduced primary human trabecular meshwork cells with c.803G>T (p.Cys268Phe) and c.1118A>C (p.Glu373A1a) mutants, cytopathic effects and a significant decrease in cell number were observed. Taken together, our results demonstrate that DDX58 mutations cause atypical SMS manifesting with variable expression of glaucoma, aortic calcification, and skeletal abnormalities without dental anomalies.X116452Ysciescopu