The Korean case study : past experience and new trends in training policies

Korea's skills development strategy has been highlighted as one of the key driving forces of the country's economic development. This paper examines the main features and evolution of this strategy from the 1960s to the present. In particular, it discusses how the skills development policies have contributed to economic development and poverty reduction. The findings in the paper highlight a set of important lessons for the design and implementation of skills development policies, which could be useful for other developing countries.Education For All,Primary Education,Access&Equity in Basic Education,Population Policies,Labor Markets

Commissioning and evaluation of a new commercial small rodent x-ray irradiator

An appropriate radiation source is essential in studies of tissue response in animal models. This paper reports on the evaluation and commissioning of a new irradiator suitable for studies using small animals or cell culture. The Faxitron is a 160-kVp x-ray machine that was adapted from an x-ray imaging unit through modifications to facilitate experimental irradiation. The x-ray unit is housed in a shielded cabinet, and is configured to allow multiple irradiation positions and a range of field sizes and dose rates. Use of this machine for animal irradiation requires characterisation of relevant dosimetry, and development of methodology for secondary beam collimation and animal immobilisation. In addition, due to the limitation of the irradiator, the optimal selection of three characteristics of the x-ray beam is important. These three characteristics, namely, the dose rate, the beam uniformity, and the field size are inter-dependent and the selection of a combination of these parameters is often a compromise and is dependent on the application. Two different types of experiments are selected to illustrate the applicability of the Faxitron. The Faxitron could be useful for experimental animal irradiation if the experimental design is carried out carefully to ensure that accurate and uniform radiation is delivered

Tapasin gene polymorphism in systemic onset juvenile rheumatoid arthritis: a family-based case-control study

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) comprises a group of chronic systemic inflammatory disorders that primarily affect joints and can cause long-term disability. JRA is likely to be a complex genetic trait, or a series of such traits, with both genetic and environmental factors contributing to the risk for developing the disease and to its progression. The HLA region on the short arm of chromosome 6 has been intensively evaluated for genetic contributors to JRA, and multiple associations, and more recently linkage, has been detected. Other genes involved in innate and acquired immunity also map to near the HLA cluster on 6p, and it is possible that variation within these genes also confers risk for developing JRA. We examined the TPSN gene, which encodes tapasin, an endoplasmic reticulum chaperone that is involved in antigen processing, to elucidate its involvement, if any, in JRA. We employed both a case-control approach and the transmission disequilibrium test, and found linkage and association between the TPSN allele (Arg260) and the systemic onset subtype of JRA. Two independent JRA cohorts were used, one recruited from the Rheumatology Clinic at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (82 simplex families) and one collected by the British Paediatric Rheumatology Group in London, England (74 simplex families). The transmission disequilibrium test for these cohorts combined was statistically significant (chi(2) = 4.2, one degree of freedom; P = 0.04). Linkage disequilibrium testing between the HLA alleles that are known to be associated with systemic onset JRA did not reveal linkage disequilibrium with the Arg260 allele, either in the Cincinnati systemic onset JRA cohort or in 113 Caucasian healthy individuals. These results suggest that there is a weak association between systemic onset JRA and the TPSN polymorphism, possibly due to linkage disequilibrium with an as yet unknown susceptibility allele in the centromeric part of chromosome 6

Mixed-State Entanglement and Quantum Teleportation through Noisy Channels

The quantum teleportation with noisy EPR state is discussed. Using an optimal decomposition technique, we compute the concurrence, entanglement of formation and Groverian measure for various noisy EPR resources. It is shown analytically that all entanglement measures reduce to zero when $\bar{F} \leq 2/3$, where $\bar{F}$ is an average fidelity between Alice and Bob. This fact indicates that the entanglement is a genuine physical resource for the teleportation process. This fact gives valuable clues on the optimal decomposition for higher-qubit mixed states. As an example, the optimal decompositions for the three-qubit mixed states are discussed by adopting a teleportation with W-stateComment: 18 pages, 4 figure

A study on the key performance indicator of the dynamic positioning system

AbstractThe dynamic positioning system (DPS) maintains an offshore vessel's position and heading under various environmental conditions by using its own thrust. DPS is regarded as one of the most important systems in offshore vessels. So, efficient operation and maintenance of the DPS are important issues. To monitor the DPS, it is necessary to define an appropriate key performance indicator (KPI) that can express the condition of the DPS from the perspective of operational efficiency and maintenance. In this study, a new KPI for the DPS is proposed considering the efficiency of the machinery and controller, the energy efficiency, and the environmental conditions in which the DPS is operated. The KPI is defined as a function of control deviation, energy consumption, and environmental load. A normalization factor is used to normalize the effect of environmental load on the KPI. The KPI value is calculated from DPS simulation and model test data. The possibility of applying the KPI to monitoring of DPS condition is discussed by comparing the values. The result indicates the feasibility of the new KPI

Both Basic and Acidic Amino Acid Residues of IpTxa Are Involved in Triggering Substate of RyR1

Imperatoxin A (IpTxa) is known to modify the gating of skeletal ryanodine receptor (RyR1). In this paper, the ability of charged aa residues of IpTxa to induce substate of native RyR1 in HSR was examined. Our results show that the basic residues (e.g., Lys19, Lys20, Lys22, Arg23, and Arg24) are important for producing substate of RyR1. In addition, other basic residues (e.g., Lys30, Arg31, and Arg33) near the C-terminus and some acidic residues (e.g., Glu29, Asp13, and Asp2) are also involved in the generation of substate. Residues such as Lys8 and Thr26 may be involved in the self-regulation of substate of RyR1, since alanine substitution of the aa residues led to a drastic conversion to the substate. The modifications of the channel gating by the wild-type and mutant toxins were similar in purified RyR1. Taken together, the specific charge distributions on the surface of IpTxa are essential for regulation of the channel gating of RyR1