Labor market dualism and the insider-outsider politics in South Korea

노트 : Prepared for delivery at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the French Political Science Association, June 22-24, 2015, Aix-en-Province, France. We thank Seoeun Yang for her excellent research assistance

Transition from the Developmental State: The Deliberative Policy Process of Civil Service Pension Reform in Korea

This paper examines three recent efforts to reform Koreas Civil Service Pension Program, in order to trace the changing policy process in Korea, where the policy regime of the developmental state used to be predominant. It has been argued that the government no longer has overwhelming influence over the policy-making process, while social actors are not able to compromise on social issues. This paper aims to test the hypotheses of the decline of government influence and the inability to reach social compromise, focusing on stakeholders interactions at the micro level. It argues that a new deliberative policy process has emerged that engages a range of stakeholders, such as trade unions and policy experts, and in which different government ministries compete against each other. The paradox of the new policy process is that despite its deliberative nature, the governments strategic influence continues to be strong

Mutagenic activity of river water from a river near textile industrial complex in Korea

The mutagenic activity of XAD-2 adsorbates and water extracts recovered from nine locations of the Kumho River was tested on S. typhimurium TA98 strain to identify the source of the mutagenicity. A sampling site, receiving effluents from the textile industrial complex located in Daegu City, showed extraordinarily high mutagenic activity, especially in the presence of S9 mixture, at all sampling time in both XAD-2 adsorbates and dichloromethane extracts. This indicated the existence of the frame-shift mutagens in the Kumho River, same type of mutagens detected in previous studies by other researchers in the Nakdong River into which the Kumho River discharges. The fractionation study showed that the mutagenic chemicals in the river water are mid-polar. Furthermore, mean tail length obtained by single cell gel electrophoresis assay (Comet assay) showed consistent dose-dependent DNA damage, indicating that the chemicals in the river water not only act as frame-shift mutagens but also break human lymphocytes DNA strain. Chemical identification of the mutagens should be require

Solution structures of RseA and its complex with RseB

Conformational changes of RseA and RseB were observed by circular dichroism and small-angle X-ray scattering upon the formation of their complex

The Clinical Frailty Scale as a Risk Assessment Tool for Dysphagia in Older Inpatients: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background Dysphagia is a common problem with potentially serious consequences including malnutrition, dehydration, pneumonia, and death. However, there are challenges in screening for dysphagia in older adults. We assessed the feasibility of using the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) as a risk assessment tool for dysphagia. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary teaching hospital from November 2021 to May 2022 and included 131 older patients (age ≥65 years) admitted to acute wards. We used the Eating Assessment Tool-10 (EAT-10), which is a simple measure for identifying individuals at risk of dysphagia, to assess the relationship between EAT-10 score and frailty status as measured using the CFS. Results The mean age of the participants was 74.3±6.7 years, and 44.3% were male. Twenty-nine (22.1%) participants had an EAT-10 score ≥3. The CFS was significantly associated with an EAT-10 score ≥3 after adjusting for age and sex (odds ratio=1.48; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09–2.02). The CFS was able to classify the presence of an EAT-10 score ≥3 (area under the receiver operating characteristic [ROC] curve=0.650; 95% CI, 0. 544–0.756). The cutoff point for predicting an EAT-10 score ≥3 was a CFS of 5 according to the highest Youden index, with a sensitivity of 82.8% and a specificity of 46.1%. The positive and negative predictive values were 30.4% and 90.4%, respectively. Conclusion The CFS can be used as a tool to screen for the risk of swallowing difficulty in older inpatients to determine clinical management encompassing drug administration routes, nutritional support, prevention of dehydration, and further evaluation of dysphagia

The motivations for the adoption of management innovation by local governments and its performance effects

This article analyses the economic, political and institutional antecedents and performance effects of the adoption of shared Senior Management Teams (SMTs) – a management innovation (MI) that occurs when a team of senior managers oversees two or more public organizations. Findings from statistical analysis of 201 English local governments and interviews with organizational leaders reveal that shared SMTs are adopted to develop organisational capacity in resource‐challenged, politically risk‐averse governments, and in response to coercive and mimetic institutional pressures. Importantly, sharing SMTs may reduce rather than enhance efficiency and effectiveness due to redundancy costs and the political transaction costs associated with diverting resources away from a high‐performing partner to support their lower‐performing counterpart