Justification by Heaven: A Comparative Analysis of Political Legitimacy in Confucianism and Mohism

About the author: Sung Min Kim attends UIUC (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) as a double major in History and East Asian Languages and Cultures. His field of interest is the history of early China from the Eastern Zhou to Han Dynasty

Essays on Knowledge, Technology, and Economic Growth

This thesis is motivated by the question, how does computer-related technological change affect the individual\u27s incentive to acquire specialized knowledge? Specifically, will the impact of technological change be homogeneous for all workers regardless of their idiosyncratic characteristics such as educational attainments or occupation? If not, then how do the heterogeneous effects from advances in computer-related technology change the labor market? Based on the related theoretical frameworks from the literature, Chapter 2 focuses on the empirical implementations of heterogeneous impacts of information and communication technology on between-occupation wage differentials and within-group wage differentials, and Chapter 3 examines the impact of computerization on labor productivity and on demand shifts for different types of skilled workers. Chapter 2 re-investigates the skill-biased technological change puzzle through a different view of technological change. Garicano (2000) and Garicano and Rossi-Hansberg (2006) separate comprehensive skill-biased technological change into information and communication technological changes, which have qualitatively different characteristics. Based on this distinction, I try to show that advances in information and communication technology raise wage differentials between problem solvers and production workers. In contrast, for within-group wage differentials, information technology has homogeneous positive effects on within-group wage differentials for problem solvers and production workers, while communication technology has a heterogeneous impact on the within wage differentials: a positive effect for problem solvers and a negative effect for production workers. Furthermore, empirical analyses based on wage differentials between four occupational layers provide an important direction for solving the skill-biased technological change puzzle questioned by Card and DiNardo (2002) with different growth rates of information and communication technology. To explain strong increases in productivity growth across industries in the late 1990s, Chapter 3 suggests that large investments in computer-related capital resulted in the U.S. productivity revival. It also shows that rapid adoption of computer-based assets is a driving force for polarization trends in employment. This is due to heterogeneous demand shifts for different types of skilled workers, accompanied by diverging wage inequality between top-half and bottom-half wage distribution. The implications are based on the theoretical frameworks from Autor, Levy, Murnane (2003) and Autor, Katz, and Kearney (2006) in which (i) price declines in computer-related capital raise relative wages for nonroutine cognitive tasks and nonroutine manual tasks to routine tasks. Thus, middle workers for routine tasks increase their labor supply toward nonroutine cognitive tasks and nonroutine manual tasks through a self-selection process. And (ii) since demand for routine tasks are increased due to cheaper computerization costs, routine tasks, which were performed by middle-skilled workers, are carried out by computer-related capital. Empirical applications in Chapter 3 provide evidence for increasing demand shifts of high-skilled workers and low-skilled workers with the U.S. productivity gains and decreasing demand shifts for middle-skilled workers due to increasing investment for computerization as predicted in the theoretical framework

Numerical investigation on laminar pulsating flow through porous media

In this investigation, the flow friction associated with laminar pulsating flows through porous media was numerically studied. The problem is of interest for understanding the regenerators of Stirling and pulse tube cryocoolers. Two-dimensional flow in a system composed of a number of unit cells of generic porous structures was simulated using a CFD tool, with sinusoidal variations of flow with time. Detailed numerical data representing the oscillating velocity and pressure variations for five different generic porous structure geometries in the porosity range of 0.64 to 0.84, with flow pulsation frequency of 40 Hz were obtained, and special attention was paid to the phase shift characteristics between the velocity and pressure waves. Based on these detailed numerical data, the standard unsteady volume-averaged momentum conservation equation for porous media was then applied in order to obtain the instantaneous as well as cycle-averaged permeability and Forchheimer coefficients. It was found that the cycle-averaged permeability coefficients were nearly the same as those for steady flow, but the cycle-averaged Forchheimer coefficients were about two times larger than those for steady flow. Significant phase lags were observed with respect to the volume-averaged velocity and pressure waves. The parametric trends representing the dependence of these phase lags on porosity and flow Reynolds number were discussed. The phase difference between pressure and velocity waves, which is important for pulse tube cryocooling, depended strongly on porosity and flow Reynolds number.M.S.Committee Co-Chair: Dr. S. Mostafa Ghiaasiaan; Committee Co-Chair: Dr. S.I. Abdel-Khalik; Committee Member: Dr. Sheldon M. Jete

Unintended complication of intracranial subdural hematoma after percutaneous epidural neuroplasty.

Percutaneous epidural neuroplasty (PEN) is a known interventional technique for the management of spinal pain. As with any procedures, PEN is associated with complications ranging from mild to more serious ones. We present a case of intracranial subdural hematoma after PEN requiring surgical evacuation. We review the relevant literature and discuss possible complications of PEN and patholophysiology of intracranial subdural hematoma after PEN

Design and Implementation of a Wireless Charging-Based Cardiac Monitoring System Focused on Temperature Reduction and Robust Power Transfer Efficiency

Wireless power transfer systems are increasingly used as a means of charging implantable medical devices. However, the heat or thermal radiation from the wireless power transfer system can be harmful to biological tissue. In this research, we designed and implemented a wireless power transfer system-based implantable medical device with low thermal radiation, achieving 44.5% coil-to-coil efficiency. To suppress thermal radiation from the transmitting coil during charging, we minimized the ESR value of the transmitting coil. To increase power transfer efficiency, a ferrite film was applied on the receiving part. Based on analyses, we fabricated a cardiac monitoring system with dimensions of 17 x 24 x 8 mm(3) and implanted it in a rat. We confirmed that the temperature of the wireless charging device increased by only 2 degrees C during the 70 min charging, which makes it safe enough to use as an implantable medical device charging system.11Ysciescopu

Online home appliance control using EEG-Based brain-computer interfaces

Brain???computer interfaces (BCIs) allow patients with paralysis to control external devices by mental commands. Recent advances in home automation and the Internet of things may extend the horizon of BCI applications into daily living environments at home. In this study, we developed an online BCI based on scalp electroencephalography (EEG) to control home appliances. The BCI users controlled TV channels, a digital door-lock system, and an electric light system in an unshielded environment. The BCI was designed to harness P300 andN200 components of event-related potentials (ERPs). On average, the BCI users could control TV channels with an accuracy of 83.0% ?? 17.9%, the digital door-lock with 78.7% ?? 16.2% accuracy, and the light with 80.0% ?? 15.6% accuracy, respectively. Our study demonstrates a feasibility to control multiple home appliances using EEG-based BCIs

Distribution of Korean Family Names

The family name distribution in Korea is investigated in comparison with previous studies in other countries. In Korea, both the family name and its birthplace, where the ancestor of the family originated, are commonly used to distinguish one family name from the others. The family name distributions with and without the information of the regional origins are analyzed by using different data sets of various sizes, and compared with previous studies performed in other countries. The growth rate of the family is empirically obtained. Contrary to commonly used assumptions, the growth rate is found to be higher for the smaller family.Comment: 13 pages in one column forma