A Comparative Analysis of Three Major Transfer Airports in Northeast Asia Focusing on Incheon International Airport Using a Conjoint Analysis

Due mainly to the privatization and commercialization of airline companies and deregulation of the aviation rules, the demand for air transport has continuously been increasing. Airport authorities state that transfer passengers, who contribute to the large portion of the airports’ profits, are gaining much more importance, particularly in the Northeast Asia region where the air transport industry is very vital. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the competitiveness of IIA (Incheon International Airport) with other major airports located in Northeast Asia in passenger transfers made between Southeast Asia and China to North America using Conjoint Analysis. Results have indicated that airport brand is the most important attribute for the competitiveness of airport, followed by cost, connectivity and duty free shops. In further analysis focusing on brand value of the three airports measured by the use of transfer passengers, it was revealed that IIA needs more effort in developing their brand identity to become the leading transfer hub airport. Based on the results, recommendations for increasing the brand value have also been suggested

Analysis of import changes through shift-share, location quotient and BCG techniques: Gwangyang Port in Asia

The main aim of this article is to analyze the import changes of Gwangyang Port using shift-share, location quotient and BCG matrix techniques. We perform the standard shift-share analysis and spatial shift-share analysis for the period 2010–2018 and investigate the import performance of Gwangyang Port for coal, iron ore, natural gas and vegetable matter. The static analysis shows that the regional shift effect, which is the most important component, is negative for coal and iron ore, but positive for natural gas and vegetable matter. The spatial shift-share analysis also indicates that Gwangyang Port experiences not only the gains in regional competitiveness but the industrial advantage for iron ore, natural gas and vegetable matter owing to its higher competitiveness. Incorporating location coefficients into BCG matrix for coal imports, we also show that Gwangyang Port succeeds upgrading its position for natural gas and vegetable matter, but fails escaping from transformation category or upgrading its position for coal and iron ore

Cocoa polyphenols suppress TNF-α-induced vascular endothelial growth factor expression by inhibiting phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase-1 (MEK1) activities in mouse epidermal cells

Cocoa polyphenols have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. TNF-α is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that has a vital role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases such as cancer and psoriasis. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression is associated with tumorigenesis, CVD, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. We tested whether cocoa polyphenol extract (CPE) inhibited TNF-α-induced VEGF expression in promotion-sensitive JB6 mouse epidermal cells. CPE significantly inhibited TNF-α-induced up-regulation of VEGF via reducing TNF-α-induced activation of the nuclear transcription factors activator protein-1 (AP-1) and NF-κB, which are key regulators of VEGF expression. CPE also inhibited TNF-α-induced phosphorylation of protein kinase B (Akt) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase. CPE blocked activation of their downstream kinases, p70 kDa ribosomal protein S6 kinase and p90 kDa ribosomal protein S6 kinase. CPE suppressed phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) activity via binding PI3K directly. CPE did not affect TNF-α-induced phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase-1 (MEK1) but suppressed TNF-α-induced MEK1 activity. Collectively, these results indicate that CPE reduced TNF-α-induced up-regulation of VEGF by directly inhibiting PI3K and MEK1 activities, which may contribute to its chemopreventive potentia

Time-resolved photoluminescence of the size-controlled ZnO nanorods

Size dependence of the time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) has been investigated for the ZnO nanorods fabricated by catalyst-free metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The nanorods have a diameter of 35 nm and lengths in the range of 150 nm to 1.1 mum. The TRPL decay rate decreases monotonically as the length of the nanorods increases in the range of 150 to 600 nm. Decrease of the radiative decay rate of the exciton-polariton has been invoked to account for the results

Non-Invasive Follow-up Evaluation of Post-Embolized AVM with Time-Resolved MRA: A Case Report

We report the hemodynamic assessment in a patient with cerebral arteriovenous malformation using time-resolved magnetic resonance angiography (TR-MRA), a non-invasive modality, and catheter-based digital subtraction angiography (DSA), before and after embolization. Comparison of the results showed that TR-MRA produced very fast dynamic images and the findings closely matched those obtained at DSA. For initial work-up and follow-up studies in patients with vascular lesions, TR-MRA and DSA are therefore comparable

The resistance anomaly in the surface layer of Bi2_2Sr2_2CaCu2_2O8+x_{8+x} single crystals under radio-frequency irradiation

We observed that radio-frequency (rf) irradiation significantly enhances the $c$-axis resistance near and below the superconducting transition of the CuO$_{2}$ layer in contact with a normal-metal electrode on the surface of Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8+x}$ single crystals. We attribute the resistance anomaly to the rf-induced charge-imbalance nonequilibrium effect in the surface CuO$_{2}$ layer. The relaxation of the charge-imbalance in this highly anisotropic system is impeded by the slow quasiparticle recombination rate, which results in the observed excessive resistance.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure