Private transfers and emerging welfare states in East Asia: Comparative perspectives

Empirical studies on income distribution and poverty have indicated that the public transfer system has been successful in terms of poverty and inequality reduction in welfare states. However, very little attention has been paid to private transfers in this analysis. Recently, while there has been an increasing interest in the unique features of East Asian welfare states/regimes, many scholars have begun to have an interest in the role of the family in their welfare mix. This article aims to widen the scope of comparative income studies, firstly by analyzing 12 Western welfare states and two newly emerging East Asian welfare states, i.e. South Korea and Taiwan, and secondly, by comparing the poverty and inequality reduction effects of private transfers with those of public transfers. The Luxemburg Income Study dataset is used for the analysis. The empirical results indicate that private transfers are much more effective than public transfers in terms of income inequality and poverty reduction effects in both South Korea and Taiwan, in contrast to western counterparts including three Southern European countries. Finally, based on the results, we propose further research questions

Feminisation of poverty in 12 welfare states: Strengthening cross-regime variations?

The feminisation of poverty is said to have become a common feature in the majority of advanced welfare states, but it is equally true that there has been significant variation in the feminisation of poverty from one country to another. While the concept of the feminisation of poverty remains controversial, there have been very few attempts to reveal a detailed picture from a comparative perspective. Considering this background, this study aims to illustrate the feminisation of poverty in 12 welfare states (Liberal - Australia, Canada, UK, US; Conservative - Austria, France, Germany, Italy; Nordic - Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) between the 1980s and the 2000s and to analyse whether or not there has been any convergence or divergence between these welfare states. This study will evaluate the scope and depth of the feminisation of poverty by conducting analyses not only in terms of different sex, but in terms of different population groups. Further, the changing role of welfare states will be assessed via an analysis of the antipoverty role of public transfers in each country. The Luxemburg Income Study dataset will be used for empirical analysis. This paper will argue that while the feminisation of poverty has been slowed down and even reversed in certain cases, cross-national differences have been increasingly visible. The results of this study also show that the welfare regime framework can prove to be a useful tool for understanding the similarities and the differences in the feminisation of poverty across different Western welfare state regimes

Temperature dependence of Mott transition in VO_2 and programmable critical temperature sensor

The temperature dependence of the Mott metal-insulator transition (MIT) is studied with a VO_2-based two-terminal device. When a constant voltage is applied to the device, an abrupt current jump is observed with temperature. With increasing applied voltages, the transition temperature of the MIT current jump decreases. We find a monoclinic and electronically correlated metal (MCM) phase between the abrupt current jump and the structural phase transition (SPT). After the transition from insulator to metal, a linear increase in current (or conductivity) is shown with temperature until the current becomes a constant maximum value above T_{SPT}=68^oC. The SPT is confirmed by micro-Raman spectroscopy measurements. Optical microscopy analysis reveals the absence of the local current path in micro scale in the VO_2 device. The current uniformly flows throughout the surface of the VO_2 film when the MIT occurs. This device can be used as a programmable critical temperature sensor.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Eastern Staining: A Simple Recombinant Protein Detection Technology Using a Small Peptide Tag and Its Counter Partner Which is a Fluorescent Compound

Small peptide tags such as c-myc, HA, or FLAG tag have facilitated efficient Westernblotting of proteins of interest especially when specific antibodies for the proteins are not available. However, the conventional Western-blotting requires the multi-steps process taking at least several hours up to two days. With examples of various applications, here we show a convenient and time-saving method for protein detection which employs a fluorescent chemical BDED and its binding peptide RC-tag. And we propose “Estern staining”, as a standard term for protein detection method using fluorescent chemicals and their binding small peptide tags. Eastern staining may substitutes for the time-consuming “immuno-staining” in many versatile applications.22Yothe

Fuzzy implicative hyper BCK-ideals of hyper BCK-algebras

We consider the fuzzification of the notion of implicative hyper BCK-ideals, and then investigate several properties. Using the concept of level subsets, we give a characterization of a fuzzy implicative hyper BCK-ideal. We state a relation between a fuzzy hyper BCK-ideal and a fuzzy implicative hyper BCK-ideal. We establish a condition for a fuzzy hyper BCK-ideal to be a fuzzy implicative hyper BCK-ideal. Finally, we introduce the notion of hyper homomorphisms of hyper BCK-algebras, and discuss related properties

Monitoring of multi-frequency polarization of gamma-ray bright AGNs

We started two observing programs with the Korean VLBI Network (KVN) monitoring changes in the flux density and polarization of relativistic jets in gamma-ray bright AGNs simultaneously at 22, 43, 86, 129 GHz. One is a single-dish weekly-observing program in dual polarization with KVN 21-m diameter radio telescopes beginning in 2011 May. The other is a VLBI monthly-observing program with the three-element VLBI network at an angular resolution range of 1.0--9.2 mas beginning in 2012 December. The monitoring observations aim to study correlation of variability in gamma-ray with that in radio flux density and polarization of relativistic jets when they flare up. These observations enable us to study the origin of the gamma-ray flares of AGNs.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings of the conference "The innermost regions of relativistic jets and their magnetic fields", Granada, Spai