Business Groups and Tunneling: Evidence from Private Securities Offerings by Korean Chaebols

Using a comprehensive sample of equity-linked private securities offerings by Korean firms from 1989 to 2000, we examine whether such offerings can be used as a mechanism for wealth transfer between issuers and acquirers. For deals involving issuers and acquirers in the same business group (chaebol), the announcement returns for chaebol-affiliated issuers with good past performance are lower than those for other types of issuers if the price discount is larger. In contrast, this deal leads to more value creation for chaebol-affiliated acquirers than other types of acquirers. Furthermore, well-performing chaebol-affiliated acquirers experience a larger wealth loss than other types of acquirers if they buy securities from poorly performing issuers in the same chaebol. We also find that chaebol firms with good past performance tend to sell private securities at a low price to their member firms. This evidence is consistent with tunneling within business groups.

Study on Optimization of Design Parameters for Offshore Mooring System using Sampling Method

In this study, the optimal design of a mooring system was carried out. Unlike almost all design methods, which are based on the deterministic method, this study focused on the probabilistic method. The probabilistic method, especially the design of experiment (DOE), could be a good way to cover some of the drawbacks of the deterministic approach. There various parameters for a mooring system, as widely known, including the weight, length, and stiffness of line. Scenarios for the mooring system parameters were produced using the Latin Hypercube Sampling method of the probabilistic approach. Next, a vessel-mooring system coupled analysis was performed in Orcaflex. A total of 50 scenarios were used in this study to optimize the initial design by means of a genetic algorithm. Finally, after determining the optimal process, a reliability analysis was performed to understand the system validity

Consensus of Corporate E-Learning System Stakeholders Regarding the Satisfaction of End-Users

The purpose of this study is to call attention to the consensus of stakeholders of corporate e-Learning system regarding success. We identified the critical success factors (contents, technical features, management, and organizational support) as major components of corporate eLearning systems and questioned whether stakeholders’ consensus on the importance of these components facilitates the implementation of these components to achieve good quality or well. We also questioned whether the influence of these components on user satisfaction could be moderated by contextual factors. Based on empirical testing of 18 eLearning user companies, we verified that the consensus of stakeholders regarding the importance of content, technological features, and organizational support has a positive influence on the perceived quality of these factors in their e-Learning systems, which in turn is positively related to user satisfaction. The learning subjects and learning style did significantly moderate the influences of these perceived qualities on user satisfaction

The effect of age on sagittal plane profile of the lumbar spine according to standing, supine, and various sitting positions

BACKGROUND: The sagittal alignment of the spine changes depending on body posture and degenerative changes. This study aimed to observe changes in sagittal alignment of the lumbar spine with different positions (standing, supine, and various sitting postures) and to verify the effect of aging on lumbar sagittal alignment. METHODS: Whole-spine lateral radiographs were obtained for young volunteers (25.4 ± 2.3 years) and elderly volunteers (66.7 ± 1.7 years). Radiographs were obtained in standing, supine, and sitting (30°, 60°, and 90°) positions respectively. We compared the radiological changes in the lordotic and segmental angles in different body positions and at different ages. Upper and lower lumbar lordosis were defined according to differences in anatomical sagittal mobility and kinematic behavior. RESULTS: Lumbar lordosis was greater in a standing position (52.79° and 53.90° in young and old groups, respectively) and tended to decrease as position changed from supine to sitting. Compared with the younger group, the older group showed significantly more lumbar lordosis in supine and 60° and 90° sitting positions (P = 0.043, 0.002, 0.011). Upper lumbar lordosis in the younger group changed dynamically in all changed positions compared with the old group (P = 0.019). Lower lumbar lordosis showed a decreasing pattern in both age groups, significantly changing as position changed from 30° to 60° (P = 0.007, 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Lumbar lordosis decreases as position changes from standing to 90°sitting. The upper lumbar spine is more flexible in individuals in their twenties compared to those in their sixties. Changes in lumbar lordosis were concentrated in the lower lumbar region in the older group in sitting positions

Light Adaptation through Phosphoinositide-Regulated Translocation of Drosophila Visual Arrestin

AbstractPhotoreceptor cells adapt to bright or continuous light, although the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are incompletely understood. Here, we report a mechanism of light adaptation in Drosophila, which is regulated by phosphoinositides (PIs). We found that light-dependent translocation of arrestin was defective in mutants that disrupt PI metabolism or trafficking. Arrestin bound to PIP3 in vitro, and mutation of this site delayed arrestin shuttling and resulted in defects in the termination of the light response, which is normally accelerated by prior exposure to light. Disruption of the arrestin/PI interaction also suppressed retinal degeneration caused by excessive endocytosis of rhodopsin/arrestin complexes. These findings indicate that light-dependent trafficking of arrestin is regulated by direct interaction with PIs and is required for light adaptation. Since phospholipase C activity is required for activation of Drosophila phototransduction, these data point to a dual role of PIs in phototransduction

Nanomechanical behavior of biodegradable metallic glass for transient electrodes

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Regulatory gaps between LNG carriers and LNG fuelled ships

Given a number of marine vessels treating the liquefied natural gas either as cargo or fuel, this paper examined the regulatory gaps of two different international Codes – the InternationalCodeof the Construction and Equipment of Ships Carrying Liquefied Gases in Bulk and the International Code of Safety for Ships Using Gases or Other Low-flashpoint Fuels – from the regulatory standpoint. Results of the gap analysis have identified and discussed the key areas encountered with regulatory discrepancies or ambiguities that might interrupt the proper design, construction and operation of LNG carrier and LNG fuelled ship. A systematic investigation and harmonisation process across the Codes was proposed to mitigate the potential issues that may arise from the discordant regulations. Also, the International Maritime Organization was suggested to take proactive action to improve such dissonances while a general insight into the importance of filling those gaps was provided for rule-makers and stakeholders

A STUDY OF MOTION CHARACTERISTICS LED BY CONNECTION METHODS AND POSITIONS OF A WAVE-ENERGY CONVERTER IN A REGULAR WAVE

The potential of wave power as an alternative energy resource is being studied to address problems associated with fossil fuel exhaustion and environmental pollution. In this paper, to improve the power generation efficiency of a floating-type wave-energy converter that has an activating body, the effects of the positions of a connecting bridge and different connecting methods between a main body and the activating body of the wave-energy converter were studied. In order to research the activating body’s motion characteristics that are caused by the changes of connecting bridge’s position and connecting methods; hinged or fixed connector, the wave-energy converter was modeled and simulated by using a commercial software. The moment and angular velocity of the axis of power generation were measured from the results of simulations and then the power outputs were calculated based on the moment and angular velocity. The outputs, which were analyzed under several regular wave conditions, were compared to each other

A simple iterative independent component analysis algorithm for vibration source signal identification of complex structures

ABSTRACT:Independent Component Analysis (ICA), one of the blind source separation methods, can be applied for extracting unknown source signals only from received signals. This is accomplished by finding statistical independence of signal mixtures and has been successfully applied to myriad fields such as medical science, image processing, and numerous others. Nevertheless, there are inherent problems that have been reported when using this technique: insta- bility and invalid ordering of separated signals, particularly when using a conventional ICA technique in vibratory source signal identification of complex structures. In this study, a simple iterative algorithm of the conventional ICA has been proposed to mitigate these problems. The proposed method to extract more stable source signals having valid order includes an iterative and reordering process of extracted mixing matrix to reconstruct finally converged source signals, referring to the magnitudes of correlation coefficients between the intermediately separated signals and the signals measured on or nearby sources. In order to review the problems of the conventional ICA technique and to vali- date the proposed method, numerical analyses have been carried out for a virtual response model and a 30m class submarine model. Moreover, in order to investigate applicability of the proposed method to real problem of complex structure, an experiment has been carried out for a scaled submarine mockup. The results show that the proposed method could resolve the inherent problems of a conventional ICA technique