This paper introduces an alternative environmentally sensitive productivity growth index, which is circular and free from the infeasibility problem. In doing so, we integrated the concept of the ...global production possibility set and the directional distance function. Like the conventional Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index, it can also be decomposed into sources of productivity growth. The suggested index is employed in analyzing 26 OECD countries for the period 1990-2003. We also employed the conventional Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index, the global Malmquist productivity index and the conventional Malmquist productivity index for comparative purposes in this empirical investigation.
This paper presents an alternative environmentally sensitive productivity growth index to incorporate group heterogeneities into a conventional Malmquist–Luenberger productivity growth index. The ...proposed approach allows the calculation of both efficiency and technical changes, for economic agents operating under different technologies. Moreover, it also enables the computation of changes in the technological gap between regional and global frontier technologies. The proposed index is employed in measuring productivity growth and its decomposed components in 46 countries between 1993 and 2003. The main finding is that Europe has taken the lead in the world frontier technology and that Asia has attempted to move towards the frontier technology. Subsequent policy implications are provided based on some empirical studies.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
The fatality rate of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) varies among countries owing to demographics, patient comorbidities, surge capacity of healthcare systems, and the quality of ...medical care. We assessed the clinical outcomes of patients with COVID-19 during the first wave of the epidemic in Korea.
Using a modified World Health Organization clinical record form, we obtained clinical data for 3,060 patients with COVID-19 treated at 55 hospitals in Korea. Disease severity scores were defined as: 1) no limitation of daily activities; 2) limitation of daily activities but no need for supplemental oxygen; 3) supplemental oxygen via nasal cannula; 4) supplemental oxygen via facial mask; 5) non-invasive mechanical ventilation; 6) invasive mechanical ventilation; 7) multi-organ failure or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy; and 8) death. Recovery was defined as a severity score of 1 or 2, or discharge and release from isolation.
The median age of the patients was 43 years of age; 43.6% were male. The median time from illness onset to admission was 5 days. Of the patients with a disease severity score of 3-4 on admission, 65 (71.5%) of the 91 patients recovered, and 7 (7.7%) died due to illness by day 28. Of the patients with disease severity scores of 5-7, 7 (19.5%) of the 36 patients recovered, and 8 (22.2%) died due to illness by day 28. None of the 1,324 patients who were < 50 years of age died; in contrast, the fatality rate due to illness by day 28 was 0.5% (2/375), 0.9% (2/215), 5.8% (6/104), and 14.0% (7/50) for the patients aged 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, and ≥ 80 years of age, respectively.
In Korea, almost all patients of < 50 years of age with COVID-19 recovered without supplemental oxygen. In patients of ≥ 50 years of age, the fatality rate increased with age, reaching 14% in patients of ≥ 80 years of age.
Like all developed economies, South Korea has focused on the importance of higher education. This study investigates trends in the teaching and research performance of Korean private universities. It ...uses several input and output variables for the feedback model in the analysis of a two-stage network data envelopment and evaluates the efficiency changes in Korean private universities. Our data set covers university-level data from 2010 to 2016. We employ a set of analytical procedures to classify the targeted universities based on efficiency patterns, into those oriented toward research, teaching, and research-teaching. Our main empirical findings are as follows. During the study period, we observe a deterioration in efficiency. Concentration on research outputs plays a significant role in improving university performance; the average efficiency scores for research-oriented universities are also higher than those of teaching-oriented or teaching-research-oriented universities. Based on these empirical findings, we provide several policy implications relevant to enhancing the performance of Korean private universities.
•This study investigated trends in the teaching and research performance of Korean private universities.•We employed a two-stage NDEA, feedback model to evaluate the efficiency changes in Korean private universities.•This paper proposed an analytical procedure to classify the universities based on efficiency patterns.•We highlighted that the concentration on research outputs plays a significant role in improving university performance.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Widespread applications of magnetic devices require an efficient means to manipulate the local magnetization. One mechanism is the electrical spin-transfer torque associated with electron-mediated ...spin currents; however, this suffers from substantial energy dissipation caused by Joule heating. We experimentally demonstrated an alternative approach based on magnon currents and achieved magnon-torque-induced magnetization switching in Bi
Se
/antiferromagnetic insulator NiO/ferromagnet devices at room temperature. The magnon currents carry spin angular momentum efficiently without involving moving electrons through a 25-nanometer-thick NiO layer. The magnon torque is sufficient to control the magnetization, which is comparable with previously observed electrical spin torque ratios. This research, which is relevant to the energy-efficient control of spintronic devices, will invigorate magnon-based memory and logic devices.
Scope
Long‐term feeding of a high‐fat diet (HFD) causes gastrointestinal inflammation and gut microbiota disturbance, leading to the increased occurrence of obesity and anxiety. In the present study, ...the effects of heat‐labile Lactobacillus sakei OK67, tyndallized OK67 (tOK67), and heat‐stable Lactobacillus sakei PK16 on HFD‐induced obesity and anxiety in mice are examined.
Methods and results
Obesity is induced in mice by feeding with HFD. Oral administration of live OK67, tOK67, or PK16 reduces HFD‐induced body and liver weights and blood triglyceride, total cholesterol, corticosterone, and lipopolysaccharide levels. These treatments also suppress HFD‐induced NF‐κB activation and increased HFD‐suppressed AMP‐activated protein kinase (AMPK) activation and SIRT‐1 expression in the liver. OK67 or PK16 treatment alleviates HFD‐induced anxiety‐like behaviors and increases BDNF expression and NF‐κB activation in the hippocampus. Moreover, OK67 or PK16 treatment suppresses HFD‐induced colitis and suppresses the Proteobacteria population and fecal lipopolysaccharide levels in mice. OK67 or PK16 treatment inhibits NF‐κB activation and induced AMPK activation and SIRT‐1 expression in lipopolysaccharide‐stimulated Caco‐2 cells. Overall, the antiobesity and anxiolytic effects of live OK67 are more potent than those of tOK67.
Conclusion
Lactobacillus sakei can alleviate HFD‐induced obesity, colitis, and anxiety by regulating gut microbiota‐mediated AMPK and NF‐κB activation and SIRT‐1 expression.
Long‐term feeding of a high‐fat diet (HFD) causes obesity, colitis, and anxiety. In the present study, it has been found that Lactobacillus sakei OK67 and PK16 attenuate HFD‐induced obesity, liver steatosis, colitis, and anxiety‐like behaviors in mice by inducing AMPK activation and SIRT1 expression and inhibiting gut‐microbiota‐mediated NF‐κB activation.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
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•The effects of germination on properties of starches from different grains.•The effect of germination on physicochemical properties depended on the grains.•The molecular structure of ...starches differed significantly after germination.•The millet starch substantially differed with oat starch during germination.
Four selected grains (brown rice, oat, sorghum, and millet) were subjected to germinate and changes in granule morphology, molecular structure, crystalline structure, and physicochemical properties of isolated starch were investigated. The germinated starches showed pits and holes on the surface of the starch granules and the particle size distributions shifted slightly to smaller size as the germination time increased. Germination led to decrease in amylose content, while molecular weights of the germinated starches showed no significant changes. The relative crystallinity of all selected grain starches decreased significantly during germination. Compared to the native starches, the germinated starches had lower retrogradation enthalpy. Brown rice and oat starches exhibited marginal increases in peak viscosities, whereas those of sorghum and millet starches decreased significantly during germination. Amylose leaching of brown rice and oat starches decreased after germination, whereas sorghum and millet starches showed an increase in amylose leaching.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Abstract
Electrocatalysis, whose reaction venue locates at the catalyst–electrolyte interface, is controlled by the electron transfer across the electric double layer, envisaging a mechanistic link ...between the electron transfer rate and the electric double layer structure. A fine example is in the CO
2
reduction reaction, of which rate shows a strong dependence on the alkali metal cation (M
+
) identity, but there is yet to be a unified molecular picture for that. Using quantum-mechanics-based atom-scale simulation, we herein scrutinize the M
+
-coupling capability to possible intermediates, and establish H
+
- and M
+
-associated ET mechanisms for CH
4
and CO/C
2
H
4
formations, respectively. These theoretical scenarios are successfully underpinned by Nernstian shifts of polarization curves with the H
+
or M
+
concentrations and the first-order kinetics of CO/C
2
H
4
formation on the electrode surface charge density. Our finding further rationalizes the merit of using Nafion-coated electrode for enhanced C2 production in terms of enhanced surface charge density.
Panax ginseng C.A. MEYER (Araliaceae), which contains ginsenosides as its main components, has been shown to have various biological effects, including anti-inflammatory, anxiolytic, anti-stress, and ...anti-tumor effects. Orally administered ginsenoside Rb1 and Re are metabolized to 20(S)-protopanaxadiol (PPD) and compound K via ginsenoside Rd and 20(S)-protopanaxatriol (PPT) and ginsenoside Rh1 via ginsenoside Rg1 by gut microbiota, respectively. Therefore, we investigated the anti-stress effects of these metabolites, PPD and PPT, by measuring their anxiolytic and anti-inflammatory effects in immobilized mice. Treatment with PPD and PPT prior to immobilization stress increased the time spent in open arms and open arm entries in the elevated plus-maze (EPM) test. The anxiolytic effects of PPD (10 mg/kg) and PPT (10 mg/kg) were comparable to that of buspirone (1 mg/kg). This observed anxiolytic effect of PPD was significantly blocked by flumazenil or bicuculline, and the effect of PPT was blocked by WAY-100635. Treatment with PPD also potently suppressed immobilization stress-induced serum levels of corticosterone and interleukin (IL)-6 by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. However, PPT treatment did not suppress them. Based on these findings, PPD and PPT may exhibit the anxiolytic effect via γ-aminobutyrateA (GABAA) receptor(s) and serotonergic receptor(s), respectively, and PPD may have an anti-inflammatory effect that is more potent than that of PPT.
Extratropical cyclones (ETCs) in East Asia are automatically detected and tracked by applying a Lagrangian tracking algorithm to the 850-hPa relative vorticity field. The ETC statistics, which are ...derived from ERA-Interim reanalysis dataset from 1979 to 2017, show that East Asian ETCs primarily form over Mongolia, East China, and the Kuroshio Current region with a maximum frequency of six to seven cyclones per month. Both Mongolia and East China ETCs are initiated on the leeward side of the mountains. While Mongolia ETCs downstream of the Altai–Sayan Mountains develop slowly, East China ETCs downstream of the Tibetan plateau develop rapidly as they travel across the warm ocean. Both of them show a maximum frequency and intensity in spring rather than in winter. In contrast, oceanic ETCs across the Kuroshio Current and the Kuroshio–Oyashio Extension, where sea surface temperature gradient is sharp, reach a maximum frequency in winter although their intensity is still maximum in spring. On the decadal timescale, both ETC frequency and intensity exhibit insignificant trends. Exceptions are springtime East China and summertime Mongolia ETCs whose frequencies have slightly decreased since 1979. This declining trend is consistent with the enhanced static stability in the region.
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
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