Cultural Differences in the Crusade Against International Bribery: Rice-Cake Expenses in Korea and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

The expanding global movement against overseas bribery has emerged as one of the foremost issues in international trade. This paper explores the complex issues surrounding this multilateral anti-bribery movement, particularly focusing on one of the central concerns at the heart of this debate: what type of different cultural perspectives and legal traditions exists regarding questionable payments and whether they need to be respected. This study approaches this subject by discussing how the Korean legal system distinguishes between permissible gifts such as rice-cake expenses and illicit payments. In the process, the new legal interpretations that were developed by the Korean judiciary in the sensational slush fund trials of former presidents Chun Doo-Hwan and Rob Tae-Woo are reviewed. In conclusion, this paper suggests that an international consensus against foreign bribery might be able to better harmonize concerns such as cultural differences by incorporating certain elements of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Evaluation of Creep-fatigue Damage for Heat Exchangers in the Stella Sodium Test Loop

AbstractCreep-fatigue damage evaluation of DHX (Decay Heat Exchanger) and AHX(Air Heat Exchanger) in the sodium test facility has been performed. The sodium test loop of the STELLA-1 is for component performance tests of the main components, heat exchangers and mechanical pumps which are to be installed in an integral sodium test loop (STELLA-2) for simulating thermal hydraulic decay heat removal behaviour of the Korean demonstration Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor. High temperature design and fabrication of the DHX and AHX have been conducted and the components were installed at KAERI site. Evaluation of creep-fatigue damage at critical locations of the two heat exchangers were conducted according to the elevated temperature design codes of the ASME-NH and RCC-MR and the evaluation results were compared

Universal factorization property of certain polycyclic groups

AbstractLet H be a torsion-free strongly polycyclic (torsion-free virtually polycyclic, resp.) group. Let G be any group with maximal condition. We show that there exists a torsion-free strongly polycyclic (torsion-free virtually polycyclic, resp.) group G˜ and an epimorphism ε:G→G˜ such that for any homomorphism ϕ:G→H, it factors through G˜, i.e., there exists a homomorphism ϕ˜:G˜→H such that ϕ=ϕ˜∘ε. We show that this factorization property cannot be extended to any finitely generated group G. As an application of factorization, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for N(f,g)=R(f,g) to hold for maps f,g:X→Y between closed orientable n-manifolds where π1(X) has the maximal condition, Y is an infra-solvmanifold, N(f,g) and R(f,g) denote the Nielsen and Reidemeister coincidence numbers, respectively

Parametric Urban Regulation Models for Predicting Development Performances

This research developed and evaluated the Parametric Urban Regulation Model (PURM) to represent urban regulations in parametric Building Information Modeling (BIM) and assess the development performances of urban regulations prior to the urban regulation adoption. The PURM was formed with the Parametric Urban Design Model (PUDM), the Parametric Urban Design Model Object (PUDO), and the Parametric Urban Design Application (PUDA). The first contribution, representing urban regulation provisions in parametric BIM, was driven by parameterization of the urban regulation provisions with the PUDM and the PUDO. By using the parametric modeling within BIM technology, five types of PUDOs of Site, Block, Parcel, Building, and Parking were assembled to create the PUDM as a 3D urban regulation plan. The PUDOs and the PUDM visualized form implication of urban regulation provisions with the object geometry in parametric BIM. The second contribution, testing development performances of the urban regulation provisions, was devised to articulate the advantage of the urban regulation modeling in parametric BIM. The geometrical attributes of PUDOs were expressed with the parametric relationships, so the PUDM could present a range of regulation provision values. Once the PUDM was built in parametric BIM, an energy performance analysis could be performed. The PUDAs enabled the economic analysis based on the simplified pro forma estimation method. The third contribution, reducing ambiguity in interpretation of the urban regulation provisions, was experimented with an existing zoning regulation and 11 software prototypes of the PUDAs. Some associations among the provisions that can make the regulation interpretation complex were imbedded in the PUDAs so that a set of related provisions can be determined simultaneously. The environmental and the economic analyses made the relations among the provision values and the development performances explicit. In the long run, the PURM can achieve benefits in comparison to conventional methods of representing urban regulations. The development performances can be assessed in explicit and direct ways, which were often unforeseen and unintended in the current practice. The PURM can potentially contribute the new platform development that encapsulates the urban plan without a static regulation tool and that improves the quality of urban planning outcomes and development conceptualization

The Effects of a NAD(P)H Oxidase Inhibition on Matrix Metalloproteinases and TIMP-1 in the MDX Diaphragm

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is characterized by devastating muscle degeneration that includes oxidative stress, loss of contractile tissue, muscle weakness and increased fibrosis in respiratory muscles (e.g., diaphragm). The mdx mice diaphragm undergoes a progressive degeneration similar to that occurring in patients with DMD. We showed that apocynin, a NAD(P)H oxidase inhibitor, protects against reduction in diaphragm mass, oxidative capacity, and apoptosis. We hypothesized that apocynin (1.5mmol/L per day) would attenuate extramyocyte space and collagen content by ameliorating matrix metalloproteinases (e.g., MMP-2, MMP-9), tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (e.g., TIMP-1) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) in the mdx diaphragm. Eight to nine week old mdx mice and age-matched C57BL wild-types were divided into 4 groups: wild-type controls + water (WW, n=7); wild-type controls + apocynin (WA, n=7); mdx mice + water (MW, n=7), and mdx mice + apocynin (MA, n=7). After 8 days of treatment, the diaphragm was extracted. Both MMP-2 (-22.6%) and MMP-9 (-27.8%) were lower in MW than WW. TIMP-1 (+61.3 %) and TGF-beta levels (+39.4%) were higher in MW than WW. MMP-2 (-21.8%) and TIMP-1 (-8.5%) levels were significantly decreased with apocynin in the mdx diaphragm. Our findings indicate cell protection of apocynin against fibrosis in the mdx diaphragm by regulating the protein levels of MMP-2/9 and TIMP-1

Dynamic finite element analysis of micropolar elastic materials

In granular or fibrous materials, in which the dimensions of the internal structure can be of the same order of magnitude as major flaws or holes, classical elasticity theory does not consistently provide accurate models of the large stress gradients that may develop. With the incorporation of additional rotational degrees of freedom, the development of micropolar elasticity theory offers promise for the modeling of these phenomena. The principal objective of this investigation was to develop a plane-strain, dynamic, finite element method for the dynamic response of micropolar elastic media. For purposes of analysis, an eight-node isoparametric, quadrilateral element was used, and the dynamic finite element model was verified by comparing its output, including both displacement and microrotational solutions, with analytic solutions for micropolar plate material subject to shear loads. In addition, plates with circular holes under dynamic loads were analyzed. The results obtained for a special case of a classically elastic material were in good agreement with previously obtained analytical solutions. Materials with significant micropolar behavior were found to cause significant reductions in the dynamic stress concentrations caused by the diffraction of plane dilatational waves adjacent to circular holes. Similar trends were observed from the analysis of plates with elliptical holes subject to suddenly applied loads. Finally, two cases were considered: 1) A stationary crack subject to dynamic loads, and 2) a crack propagating at a constant velocity while under constant load. The method for the calculation of dynamic energy release rates, and node releasing techniques for the simulation of crack propagation, were developed for micropolar elastic materials. In both cases, materials with strong micropolar properties were found to have significantly lower dynamic energy release rates than classically elastic material counterparts

Association of handgrip strength with new-onset CKD in Korean adults according to gender

IntroductionHandgrip strength (HGS) is an indicator of many diseases such as pneumonia, cardiovascular disease and cancer. HGS can also predict renal function in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, but the value of HGS as a predictor of new-onset CKD is unknown.Methods173,195 subjects were recruited from a nationwide cohort and were followed for 4.1  years. After exclusions, 35,757 participants remained in the final study, and CKD developed in 1063 individuals during the follow-up period. Lifestyle, anthropometric and laboratory data were evaluated in relation to the risk of CKD.ResultsThe participants were subdivided into quartiles according to relative handgrip strength (RGS). Multivariate Cox regression demonstrated that RGS was inversely associated with incident CKD. Compared with the lowest quartile, the hazard ratios (HRs) [95% confidence intervals (CIs)] for incident CKD for the highest quartile (Q4) was 0.55 (0.34–0.88) after adjusting for covariates in men and 0.51 (0.31–0.85) in women. The incidence of CKD decreased as RGS increased. These negative associations were more significant in men than in women. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve showed that baseline RGS had predictive power for new-onset CKD. Area under the curve (AUC) (95% CIs) was 0.739 (0.707–0.770) in men and 0.765 (0.729–0.801) in women.ConclusionThis is the novel study demonstrating that RGS is associated with incident CKD in both men and women. The relationship between RGS and incident CKD is more significant in women than in men. RGS can be used in clinical practice to evaluate renal prognosis. Regular measurement of handgrip strength is essential to CKD detection

Ultracompact bottom-up photonic crystal lasers on silicon-on-insulator

Abstract Compact on-chip light sources lie at the heart of practical nanophotonic devices since chip-scale photonic circuits have been regarded as the next generation computing tools. In this work, we demonstrate room-temperature lasing in 7 × 7 InGaAs/InGaP core-shell nanopillar array photonic crystals with an ultracompact footprint of 2300 × 2300 nm2, which are monolithically grown on silicon-on-insulator substrates. A strong lateral confinement is achieved by a photonic band-edge mode, which is leading to a strong light-matter interaction in the 7 × 7 nanopillar array, and by choosing an appropriate thickness of a silicon-on-insulator layer the band-edge mode can be trapped vertically in the nanopillars. The nanopillar array band-edge lasers exhibit single-mode operation, where the mode frequency is sensitive to the diameter of the nanopillars. Our demonstration represents an important first step towards developing practical and monolithic III-V photonic components on a silicon platform