Green growth and green new deal policies in Korea

노트 : A Paper for the GURN/ITUC workshop on "A Green Economy that Works for Social Progress

The effect of CEO turnover on audit report lag and management discretionary report lag: evidence from Korea

This study empirically investigates the effect of a CEO turnover on audit report lag (ARL), discretionary report lag (DRL) and total report lag (TRL). The object of this study is to provide empirical evidence for the responses of both the CEO and the external auditor on audit risk increases and information asymmetry that occur as a result of a CEO turnover. According to the previous study on CEO turnovers, the CEO turnover would increase audit risk and information asymmetry (Sohn et al., 2014). In this situation, the CEO has an incentive to provide timely information to decrease the monitoring costs and cost of debt (Lee et al., 2008). It is expected that an external auditor spends a large amount of time on audit procedures to lower the audit risk when the CEO changes. Therefore, the CEO turnover would have a conflicting effect on the ARL and DRL. The results of the analysis are as follows. First, the ARL increases and DRL decreases when the CEO changes, which suggests that an external auditor spends a great amount of time on audit procedures to lower the audit risk because the audit risk increases when the CEO changes. A new CEO provides information faster to reduce monitoring costs and cost of debt that occur due to information asymmetry. Second, the ARL increases and DRL decreases as the frequency of CEO turnover increases. An external auditor would estimate the audit risk as being high if the CEO changes more frequently. To lower the audit risk to an acceptable level, many audit hours are spent on audit procedures by an external auditor, which increases the ARL. A new CEO has an incentive to provide timely information when the CEO changes more frequently. Thus, the DRL decreases as the frequency of CEO turnover increase

Orphan nuclear receptor Nurr1 induces neuron differentiation from embryonic cortical precursor cells via an extrinsic paracrine mechanism

AbstractNurr1 is an orphan nuclear receptor-type transcription factor (TF) that plays critical roles in midbrain dopamine neuron development. This study demonstrated a novel role for Nurr1 in neuronal/astrocytic differentiation of neural precursor (NP) cells isolated from rat embryonic cortices: overexpression of this TF promoted NP cell differentiation towards neurons at the expense of astrocytic differentiation. Single cell-based lineage analyses and experiments using co-cultures revealed that Nurr1 elicited its neurogenic role in an extrinsic paracrine manner. We defined diffusible factors and downstream neurogenic TFs responsible for the Nurr1-mediated neuronal differentiation

Ionized gas outflows in infrared-bright dust-obscured galaxies selected with WISE and SDSS

We present the ionized gas properties of infrared (IR)-bright dust-obscured galaxies (DOGs) that show an extreme optical/IR color, $(i - [22])_{\rm AB} > 7.0$, selected with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). For 36 IR-bright DOGs that show [OIII]$\lambda$5007 emission in the SDSS spectra, we performed a detailed spectral analysis to investigate their ionized gas properties. In particular, we measured the velocity offset (the velocity with respect to the systemic velocity measured from the stellar absorption lines) and the velocity dispersion of the [OIII] line. We found that the derived velocity offset and dispersion of most IR-bright DOGs are larger than those of Seyfert 2 galaxies (Sy2s) at $z < 0.3$, meaning that the IR-bright DOGs show relatively strong outflows compared to Sy2s. This can be explained by the difference of IR luminosity contributed from active galactic nucleus, $L_{\rm IR}$ (AGN), because we found that (i) $L_{\rm IR}$ (AGN) correlates with the velocity offset and dispersion of [OIII] and (ii) our IR-bright DOGs sample has larger $L_{\rm IR}$ (AGN) than Sy2s. Nevertheless, the fact that about 75% IR-bright DOGs have a large ($>$ 300 km s$^{-1}$) velocity dispersion, which is a larger fraction compared to other AGN populations, suggests that IR-bright DOGs are good laboratories to investigate AGN feedback. The velocity offset and dispersion of [OIII] and [NeIII]$\lambda$3869 are larger than those of [OII]$\lambda$3727, which indicates that the highly ionized gas tends to show more stronger outflows.Comment: 19 pages, 16 figures, and 2 tables, accepted for publication in Ap

The effect of sildenafil on right ventricular remodeling in a rat model of monocrotaline-induced right ventricular failure

PurposePulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) leads to right ventricular failure (RVF) as well as an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance. Our purpose was to study the effect of sildenafil on right ventricular remodeling in a rat model of monocrotaline (MCT)-induced RVF.MethodsThe rats were distributed randomly into 3 groups. The control (C) group, the monocrotaline (M) group (MCT 60 mg/kg) and the sildenafil (S) group (MCT 60 mg/kg+ sildenafil 30 mg/kg/day for 28 days). Masson Trichrome staining was used for heart tissues. Western blot analysis and immunohistochemical staining were performed.ResultsThe mean right ventricular pressure (RVP) was significantly lower in the S group at weeks 1, 2, and 4. The number of intra-acinar arteries and the medial wall thickness of the pulmonary arterioles significantly lessened in the S group at week 4. The collagen content also decreased in heart tissues in the S group at week 4. Protein expression levels of B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2)-associated X, caspase-3, Bcl-2, interleukin (IL)-6, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), endothelin (ET)-1 and ET receptor A (ERA) in lung tissues greatly decreased in the S group at week 4 according to immunohistochemical staining. According to Western blotting, protein expression levels of troponin I, brain natriuretic peptide, caspase-3, Bcl-2, tumor necrosis factor-α, IL-6, MMP-2, eNOS, ET-1, and ERA in heart tissues greatly diminished in the S group at week 4.ConclusionSildenafil alleviated right ventricular hypertrophy and mean RVP. These data suggest that sildenafil improves right ventricular function

Initial serum sodium concentration determines the decrease in sodium level after terlipressin administration in patients with liver cirrhosis

BACKGROUND: Terlipressin, as a prodrug of vasopressin, has agonistic effects on the V1 receptor and partial agonistic effects on renal vasopressin V2 receptors. However, its effects on serum sodium concentration are controversial. METHODS: This study retrospectively investigated 127 patients with liver cirrhosis to examine the incidence and risk factors for the decrease in serum sodium level following terlipressin administration. RESULTS: Terlipressin was prescribed for bleeding control (99) and management of hepatorenal syndrome (28). Serum sodium level decreased from 134.0 ± 6.5 mmol/L to 130.4 ± 6.2 mmol/L during or after terlipressin treatment (P < 0.001) in all patients. In 45 patients (35.4%), the serum sodium concentration decreased by > 5 mmol/L, in 29 patients (22.8%); by 5–10 mmol/L; and in 16 patients (12.6%), by > 10 mmol/L. Five patients in the latter group showed neurological manifestations. In the univariate analysis, several factors including age, purpose of use, serum creatinine, and Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score, representing liver function, were significantly associated with the decrease in serum sodium after terlipressin administration. However, a multivariate analysis revealed that only initial sodium level was the most powerful predictor of terlipressin-induced reduction in serum sodium. CONCLUSION: An acute reduction in serum sodium concentration was not uncommon during terlipressin treatment, and the baseline serum sodium level was closely related to the reduction in serum sodium concentration

Compressive Behavior and Mechanical Characteristics and Their Application to Stress-Strain Relationship of Steel Fiber-Reinforced Reactive Powder Concrete

Although mechanical properties of concrete under uniaxial compression are important to design concrete structure, current design codes or other empirical equations have clear limitation on the prediction of mechanical properties. Various types of fiber-reinforced reactive powder concrete matrix were tested for making more usable and accurate estimation equations for mechanical properties for ultra high strength concrete. Investigated matrix has compressive strength ranged from 30 MPa to 200 MPa. Ultra high strength concrete was made by means of reactive powder concrete. Preventing brittle failure of this type of matrix, steel fibers were used. The volume fraction of steel fiber ranged from 0 to 2%. From the test results, steel fibers significantly increase the ductility, strength and stiffness of ultra high strength matrix. They are quantified with previously conducted researches about material properties of concrete under uniaxial loading. Applicability of estimation equations for mechanical properties of concrete was evaluated with test results of this study. From the evaluation, regression analysis was carried out, and new estimation equations were proposed. And these proposed equations were applied into stress-strain relation which was developed by previous research. Ascending part, which was affected by proposed equations of this study directly, well fitted into experimental results

Role of age and sex in determining antibiotic resistance in febrile urinary tract infections

SummaryObjectivesTo identify the age- and sex-specific antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) in outpatient febrile urinary tract infections (UTIs) in Korea.MethodsA total 2262 consecutive samples collected from patients aged 1–101 years with febrile UTIs, during the period January 2012 to December 2014, were analyzed in this multicentre, retrospective cohort study.ResultsThe sensitivities to cefotaxime and cefoxitin were over 85% for females but under 75% for males. Sex played an important role in the susceptibility of GNB to cefotaxime (p<0.001) and cefoxitin (p<0.001). The sensitivity to ciprofloxacin (age >20 years) was under 75% in both sexes, and was not influenced by sex (p=0.204). Age distributions of the incidences of resistance to cefotaxime, cefoxitin, and ciprofloxacin (age >20 years) were similar to the age distribution of the incidence of GNB, which indicates that the resistance patterns to these drugs were not affected by age (Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, female/male: p=0.927/p=0.509, p=0.193/p=0.911, and p=0.077/p=0.999, respectively).ConclusionsAge is not a considerable factor in determining the antibiotic resistance in febrile UTIs. Ciprofloxacin should be withheld from both sexes until culture results indicate its use. Second- or third-generation cephalosporins such as cefoxitin and cefotaxime can be used empirically only in females