Discretionary Accounting for Loss Reserves in the Korean Property-Casualty Insurance Industry

This study examines whether property-casualty insurance companies exercise accounting discretion when reporting the claim loss reserves, in response to their financial strength. Specifically, we test if there is evidence of directional overstatement or understatement in the original loss reserves, in relation to financial strength measured by several financial ratios and rating scores for each company prepared by the insurance regulatory bodys financial scores. The study period includes fiscal years 1993 through 1995, and takes measurements of reserve error after two years of loss development. Empirical results provide statistical evidence of a tendency for financially weak insurers to understate the value of claim loss reserves while financially strong insurers tend toward overvaluation of the reserves

Injured axons instruct schwann cells to build constricting actin spheres to accelerate axonal disintegration

After a peripheral nerve lesion, distal ends of injured axons disintegrate into small fragments that are subsequently cleared by Schwann cells and later by macrophages. Axonal debris clearing is an early step of the repair process that facilitates regeneration. We show here that Schwann cells promote distal cut axon disintegration for timely clearing. By combining cell-based and in vivo models of nerve lesion with mouse genetics, we show that this mechanism is induced by distal cut axons, which signal to Schwann cells through PlGF mediating the activation and upregulation of VEGFR1 in Schwann cells. In turn, VEGFR1 activates Pak1, leading to the formation of constricting actomyosin spheres along unfragmented distal cut axons to mediate their disintegration. Interestingly, oligodendrocytes can acquire a similar behavior as Schwann cells by enforced expression of VEGFR1. These results thus identify controllable molecular cues of a neuron-glia crosstalk essential for timely clearing of damaged axons

Multi-Robot Task Scheduling with Ant Colony Optimization in Antarctic Environments

This paper addresses the problem of multi-robot task scheduling in Antarctic environments. There are various algorithms for multi-robot task scheduling, but there is a risk in robot operation when applied in Antarctic environments. This paper proposes a practical multi-robot scheduling method using ant colony optimization in Antarctic environments. The proposed method was tested in both simulated and real Antarctic environments, and it was analyzed and compared with other existing algorithms. The improved performance of the proposed method was verified by finding more efficiently scheduled multiple paths with lower costs than the other algorithms

Preliminary Evaluation of Derived Concentration Guideline Level for Surface Soil at Wolsong NPP Site Using RESRAD-ONSITE Code

A preliminary derived concentration guideline level (DCGL) was calculated for the soil of the Wolsong nuclear power plant (NPP) (the first commercial pressurized heavy water reactor in South Korea) site using the RESRAD-ONSITE computational code. In total, fourteen selected radionuclides were analyzed after considering the preliminary evaluation information of radionuclides observed in the pressure tube specimen in the Wolsong Unit 1 heavy water reactor and previous NPP decommissioning cases. Furthermore, a geological structure model of the Wolsong NPP site was established according to the safety analysis report of the Wolsong NPP. In addition, the distribution coefficients (Kd) of various radionuclides were derived using the JAEA-SDB and the pH information of the groundwater around the Wolsong NPP site. The DCGL for surface soil of the Wolsong NPP site was derived via the application of criteria for the site release to facilitate unrestricted reuse. Moreover, preliminary dose evaluation and relevant analysis were performed according to the Wolsong NPP site resident scenario. The novelty of this study lies in the first calculation of the preliminary DCGL values for the case of the pressurized heavy water reactor (Wolsong NPP) site. It is expected that further reliable DCGL results might be achievable if more precise radionuclide information and site-specific parameters with respect to the Wolsong NPP site are secured and applied in the future

Polynomials-based summation inequalities and their applications to discrete-time systems with time-varying delays

This paper proposes a novel summation inequality, say a polynomials-based summation inequality, which contains well-known summation inequalities as special cases. By specially choosing slack matrices, polynomial functions, and an arbitrary vector, it reduces to Moon's inequality, a discrete-time counterpart of Wirtinger-based integral inequality, auxiliary function-based summation inequalities employing the same-order orthogonal polynomial functions. Thus, the proposed summation inequality is more general than other summation inequalities. Additionally, this paper derives the polynomials-based summation inequality employing first-order and second-order orthogonal polynomial functions, which contributes to obtaining improved stability criteria for discrete-time systems with time-varying delays. Copyright (C) 2017 JohnWiley & Sons, Ltd.112Nsciescopu

Fossil eggshell SEM images

Elongatoolithus sp., Prismatoolithus levis and Gobioolithus minor secondary electron images. Note rugged grain boundaries in continuous layers

Raw data converted to Text files

These are CRC files converted into text files for users who can not access CRC file

10 Grain boundary maps

These maps were used for measuring ruggedness of the grain boundaries in squamatic ultrastructure and an external layer

Modern avian eggshell SEM images

Rhea, chicken, duck, Japanese tit, Korean magpie eggshells in secondary electron mode. Note rugged grain boundaries in continuous layers