Financial Integration in Emerging Asia: Challenges and Prospects

Using both quantity- and price-based measures of financial integration, this paper shows an increasing degree of financial openness and integration in emerging Asian markets. This paper also assesses the impact of a regional shock relative to a global shock on local equity and bond markets. The findings of this paper suggest that the region’s equity markets are integrated more globally than regionally, although the degrees of both regional and global integration have increased significantly since the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis. However, emerging Asia’s local currency bond markets remain generally segmented, being neither regionally nor globally integrated. A case can be made for the benefits of increased regional integration of financial markets. Financial integration at the regional level allows for the region’s economies to benefit from allocation efficiency and risk diversification. The findings of this paper suggest that policymakers in the region must strike the right balance between maximizing the net benefits from regional and global financial openness, and minimizing the potential costs of financial contagion and crisis.emerging Asia; financial integration; cross-border financial flows; crossborder asset holdings; convergence of asset returns

Emerging Asia: Decoupling or Recoupling

In this paper, we investigate the degree of real economic interdependence between emerging Asia and major industrial countries to shed light on the heated debate over the “decoupling” of emerging Asia. We first document the evolution of macroeconomic interdependence for emerging Asian economies through changing trade and financial linkages at both the regional and global levels. Then, by employing a panel vector autoregression (VAR) model, we estimate the degree of real economic interdependence before and after the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis. Empirical findings show that real economic interdependence increased significantly in the post-crisis period, suggesting “recoupling”, rather than decoupling, in recent years. Output shocks from major industrial countries have a significant positive effect on emerging Asian economies. More interestingly, the reverse is also true. Output shocks from emerging Asia (and the People’s Republic of China [PRC]) have a significant positive effect on output in major industrial countries. The result suggests that macroeconomic interdependence between emerging Asia and industrial countries has become “bi-directional,” defying the traditional notion of the “North–South relationship” as one of “uni-directional" dependence.Regional integration; decoupling; macroeconomic interdependence; trade and financial market linkages; VAR

Koreas Middle Power Diplomacy for Human Security: A Global and Regional Approach

This study aims to discuss characteristics and limits of Koreas human security-oriented policies in global and regional dimensions as a core tool of identifying itself middle power country. Having recognized a global-regional divide in Koreas positions and leverage, the paper argues that its middle power diplomacy should distinguish the global and regional levels in planning strategies. The paper also argues that it is more realistic for Korea to purse soft power to induce support and agreement from other states rather than hard power to muddle through regional power competition. Yet, given the possibility where its endeavor can be thwarted by its the regional dynamics of the great power politics, it is equally important for Korea to secure a sizable amount of hard power, like financial and military might. Taking the case of the human security diplomacy, which is a distinctive example of soft power strategies, the paper reviews what issues and challenges have been in Koreas quest for middle power leadership on the human security agenda, as well as to evaluate whether the countrys efforts positively or adversely affect its diplomatic status as a middle power. The cases of Canada, Australia, and Japan are examined so that we may draw a lesson for Koreas middle power diplomacy. All three countries actively pursue soft power diplomacy, including the substantive contribution to human security agenda, for the sake of their international contribution and national interest. While Australia and Canada have achieved their expected objectives, Japan does not seem to have done so.This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (2014S13A2044032)

Spatially and temporally varying selection on intra-population QTL for a life history tradeoff in Mimulus guttatus

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: MOJICA, J. P., LEE, Y. W., WILLIS, J. H. and KELLY, J. K. (2012), Spatially and temporally varying selection on intrapopulation quantitative trait loci for a life history trade-off in Mimulus guttatus. Molecular Ecology, 21: 3718–3728. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05662.x, which has been published in final form at http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05662.x. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.Why do populations remain genetically variable despite strong continuous natural selection? Mutation reconstitutes variation eliminated by selection and genetic drift, but theoretical and experimental studies each suggest that mutation-selection balance insufficient to explain extant genetic variation in most complex traits. The alternative hypothesis of balancing selection, wherein selection maintains genetic variation, is an aggregate of multiple mechanisms (spatial and temporal heterogeneity in selection, frequency-dependent selection, antagonistic pleiotropy, etc.). Most of these mechanisms have been demonstrated for Mendelian traits, but there is little comparable data for loci affecting quantitative characters. Here, we report a three-year field study of selection on intra-population Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) of flower size, a highly polygenic trait of Mimulus guttatus. The QTL exhibit antagonistic pleiotropy: alleles that increase flower size reduce viability but increase fecundity. The magnitude and direction of selection fluctuates yearly and on a spatial scale of meters. This study provides direct evidence of balancing selection mechanisms on QTL of an ecologically relevant trait

In Vitro Chemosensitivity Using the Histoculture Drug Response Assay in Human Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

The choice of chemotherapeutic drugs to treat patients with epithelial ovarian cancer has not depended on individual patient characteristics. We have investigated the correlation between in vitro chemosensitivity, as determined by the histoculture drug response assay (HDRA), and clinical responses in epithelial ovarian cancer. Fresh tissue samples were obtained from 79 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer. The sensitivity of these samples to 11 chemotherapeutic agents was tested using the HDRA method according to established methods, and we analyzed the results retrospectively. HDRA showed that they were more chemosensitive to carboplatin, topotecan and belotecan, with inhibition rates of 49.2%, 44.7%, and 39.7%, respectively, than to cisplatin, the traditional drug of choice in epithelial ovarian cancer. Among the 37 patients with FIGO stage Ⅲ/Ⅳ serous adenocarcinoma who were receiving carboplatin combined with paclitaxel, those with carboplatin-sensitive samples on HDRA had a significantly longer median disease-free interval than patients with carboplatin- resistant samples (23.2 vs. 13.8 months, p＜0.05), but median overall survival did not differ significantly (60.4 vs. 37.3 months, p＝0.621). In conclusion, this study indicates that HDRA could provide useful information for designing individual treatment strategies in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer

Mobile service usage behavior in Korea: an empirical study on consumer acceptance of innovative technologies

Whilst mobile services have grown to a sizeable market in recent years, and leaps and bounds have been made in related technology, consumers’ usage behavior with regard to these services has received little attention from researchers. Studies on related topics are few and scarce, if compared, for example, to studies on information systems or web services. The main purpose of this study is to investigate consumers’ usage behavior in mobile services to provide pointers for future development of this field. Specifically, this study attempts to identify variables influencing the use of mobile service consumers. We developed an information technology acceptance model to determine usage characteristics and usage trends in mobile services and predict consumers’ usage behavior based on patterns discerned from these characteristics and trends. Information technology acceptance models are a useful tool for understanding the behavior of consumers of services such as mobile services, combining aspects of a technology and service good, from the perspective of behavioral science. This study, comprehensively concerned with mobile service marketing-related issues, considers both factors influencing consumers’ usage behavior and also technical aspects of services. Factors influencing the behavior of mobile service consumers are investigated empirically, by examining them in a real-world context. The expected outcomes of this study are as follows: First, it will predict consumers’ usage behavior with regard to mobile services based on usage characteristics at the level of task management, and discern identifiable and recurring patterns. Second, it will awaken providers to the importance of technical and functional performance and a clear understanding of consumers’ needs for the success of marketing mobile services

MR Imaging Features of Obturator Internus Bursa of the Hip

The authors report two cases with distension of the obturator internus bursa identified on MR images, and describe the location and characteristic features of obturator internus bursitis; the "boomerang"-shaped fluid distension between the obturator internus tendon and the posterior grooved surface of the ischium

Enhanced cardiac expression of two isoforms of matrix metalloproteinase-2 in experimental diabetes mellitus.

BackgroundDiabetic cardiomyopathy (DM CMP) is defined as cardiomyocyte damage and ventricular dysfunction directly associated with diabetes independent of concomitant coronary artery disease or hypertension. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), especially MMP-2, have been reported to underlie the pathogenesis of DM CMP by increasing extracellular collagen content.PurposeWe hypothesized that two discrete MMP-2 isoforms (full length MMP-2, FL-MMP-2; N-terminal truncated MMP-2, NTT-MMP-2) are induced by high glucose stimulation in vitro and in an experimental diabetic heart model.MethodsRat cardiomyoblasts (H9C2 cells) were examined to determine whether high glucose can induce the expression of the two isoforms of MMP-2. For the in vivo study, we used the streptozotocin-induced DM mouse heart model and age-matched controls. The changes of each MMP-2 isoform expression in the diabetic mice hearts were determined using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Immunohistochemical stains were conducted to identify the location and patterns of MMP-2 isoform expression. Echocardiography was performed to compare and analyze the changes in cardiac function induced by diabetes.ResultsQuantitative RT-PCR and immunofluorescence staining showed that the two MMP-2 isoforms were strongly induced by high glucose stimulation in H9C2 cells. Although no definite histologic features of diabetic cardiomyopathy were observed in diabetic mice hearts, left ventricular systolic dysfunction was determined by echocardiography. Quantitative RT-PCR and IHC staining showed this abnormal cardiac function was accompanied with the increases in the mRNA levels of the two isoforms of MMP-2 and related to intracellular localization.ConclusionTwo isoforms of MMP-2 were induced by high glucose stimulation in vitro and in a Type 1 DM mouse heart model. Further study is required to examine the role of these isoforms in DM CMP