Recent developments on RTAs in North East Asia

This paper explores the recent developments for regional trade agreements (RTAs) in North East Asia since China’s accession to the WTO in 2001. After having successfully achieved high growth rates since it became a WTO member, China’s stance towards RTAs has become more positive. In particular, an RTA in North East Asia will be facilitated if China, Japan and Korea fully acknowledge the positive spillover effect from launching such an RTA. This paper further argues that all three nations have to endeavor to resolve the prolonged confrontation in their collective defense systems if they want to expedite any real progress towards a federal RTA in North East Asia.     

Effects of deregulation and performance on government accountability: Role of trust in Korea,Japan, and the United States

Public administration has been struggling to address the balance between conflicting government values. Trust in the study is employed as nodal value to reconcile modern management dilemma concerning conflicting relationships between performance and accountability and between discretion and accountability. Using 2012 International Social Survey Program data, this paper analyzed the moderator and mediator role of government trust among discretion, performance, and accountability in cases of South Korea, Japan, and the United States. This study used factor analysis and ordinary least square multiple regression analysis. The statistical results partially confirmed the hypotheses regarding the mediating and moderating role of trust: (a) the moderating effect of the trust on the relationship between performance and accountability in South Korea; (b) the moderating impact of the trust on the relationship between deregulation and accountability in Japan; and (c) when governments work well, it leads to high level of trust, in turn followed by high accountability in the United States and Japan.     

Residential Segregation,Housing Submarkets,and Spatial Analysis: St. Louis and Cincinnati as a Case Study

This article considers how spatial analysis of housing submarkets can advance research into residential segregation. While an emphasis on housing submarkets has been proposed as a new construct for modeling housing prices, its use in analyzing residential segregation has been limited. Recent advances in spatial analysis and geographic information systems present new opportunities for researchers to exploit the potential of housing submarkets as constructs that offer a more precise way to examine residential segregation. The article synthesizes literature related to residential segregation and housing submarkets and demonstrates how to delineate housing submarkets using publicly available data. It examines the spatial distribution of housing submarkets and how the socially disadvantaged are represented across housing submarkets in St. Louis, Missouri, and Cincinnati, Ohio, to conclude that St. Louis's housing market is more polarized and racially segregated than Cincinnati's. Spatial analysis of housing submarkets, in conjunction with archival analysis, provides a promising avenue for identifying residential segregation as a multidimensional phenomenon, and a means to explore local processes of urban inequality.     

Implications of an Arrest in Domestic Violence Cases: Learning From Korean Social Workers' Experiences in the U.S.

In response to the lack of research on the effect of arrest in deterring domestic violence in minority communities, a qualitative exploratory study was conducted with Korean American social workers providing services to Korean domestic violence victims in the New York metropolitan area. The authors examined study participants' perceptions about their clients' experiences of arrests in domestic violence situations. Findings reveal major barriers for Korean victims that prevent them from utilizing help from the police. Main themes from the data show both negative and positive results from arrests. Participants perceived arrest as an ultimately necessary tool for deterring domestic violence in the Korean community in the U.S. Participants suggested some changes in the criminal justice system to better respond to immigrant victims of domestic violence. Practice and policy implications are discussed. This study was, in part, presented at the 23rd APPAM (Association for Public Analysis and Management) Annual Research Conference in Washington, D.C. on November 1, 2001.     

Reproducibility of facial soft tissue thicknesses for craniofacial reconstruction using cone-beam CT images

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reproducibility of the soft tissue (ST) thicknesses at 31 landmarks using the cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images obtained from 20 adult subjects. Four observers carried out ST thickness measurements using Skull Measure software, and the inter- and intra-observer error rates were evaluated. Only five of 31 landmarks showed significant differences in recorded ST thickness between the observers. When excluding inexperienced observers, only one landmark showed a significant difference between the observers. Regarding the intra-observer reproducibility, the ST thickness measurements at three landmarks showed low correlation coefficients. The results of this study indicate that CBCT images can be used to measure ST thickness with high reproducibility. However, some landmarks need to be redefined to reliably measure ST thickness on CBCT images.     

Determination and validation of tetrodotoxin in human whole blood using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy and its application

A sensitive analytical method was developed for the quantitative determination of tetrodotoxin (TTX), a powerful sodium channel blocker, in human postmortem whole blood. The sample mixture was cleaned up using cation exchange SPE catridge after protein precipitation by methanol and then separated on a PC-HILIC (phosphorylcholine hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography) column (150 mm × 2.0mm i.d., 5 μm) using a isocratic elution of 1% acetic acid and acetonitrile. The identification of TTX was performed on tandem mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization interface in positive ion mode. The retention time of voglibose (internal standard) and TTX was 5.1 and 6.0 min, respectively. TTX and internal standard (voglibose) were monitored and quantitated using the ion transitions: the respective precursor to product ion combinations, m/z 320/302 for TTX and m/z 268/92 for voglibose in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The recovery of TTX and voglibose was 61.4% and 62.8%, respectively and the good accuracy (97.7-103.9%), linearity (2-1200 ng/mL) and reproducibility were shown in this method. The limit of detection and limit of quantification were 0.32 ng/mL and 1.08 ng/mL, respectively. This method was applied in the case of three fishermen who were poisoned (including one death) by unknown fish on their boat in October 2010. In this case, the levels of TTX were 27.2, 30.0 and 29.7 ng/mL in heart blood, peripheral blood and serum of a victim, were 3.1 and 12.1 ng/mL in peripheral blood and 3.9 and 12.8 ng/mL in serum of two survivors, respectively.     

Genetic and chemical components analysis of Papaver setigerum naturalized in Korea

Of the 110 species of genus Papaver, only Papaver somniferum and P. setigerum are controlled poppies in Korea. All poppy samples share similar morphology therefore it is important to check if they contain controlled substances such as morphine and codeine for forensic purpose. Since the alkaloid content of Papaver plants varies according to their growing stage, chemical components analysis alone is not enough to identify exact species. In 2010, hundreds of poppy plants suspected to be P. somniferum were found in Jeju Island, South Korea. They had a slightly different but overall similar appearance to P. somniferum. Using GC-MS analysis, codeine, rhoeadine, papaverine, protopine, noscapine, setigeridine and trace amounts of morphine were detected in these samples. Although their chemical components were different from what has been described in literatures for P. setigerum, they could be assumed to be P. setigerum based on their morphological features and GC-MS results. Also, chromosome numbers using their seeds showed 2n=44 and the numbers were in accordance with those of P. setigerum. Nucleotide substitution or insertion/deletion of ITS (internal transcribed spacer), 18S rRNA (ribosomal RNA), rbcL (large subunit of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase), trnL-trnF IGS (intergenic spacer), trnL intron and psbA-trnH were assessed as universal genetic markers for P. setigerum. Also, genetic analysis using six target genes involved in the biosynthesis of benzylisoquinoline alkaloids, including TYDC (tyrosine/dopa decarboxylase), SAT (salutaridinol-7-O-acetyltransferase), BBE (berberine bridge enzyme), COR (codeinone reductase), CYP80B1 ((S)-N-methylcoclaurine 3'-hydroxylase) and NCS (norcoclaurine synthase) were tested as Papaver-specific genetic markers by the existence of their PCR products. From the results, the sequences of the 6 universal genetic markers and 6 Papaver-specific genetic markers for P. setigerum were identified and then Genbank accession numbers of them were registered in NCBI. Also, the trnL intron and psbA-trnH nucleic acid sequences of the 7 Papaver species were identified and registered.     

Positive Effects in Detecting Lies from Training to Recognize Behavioral Anomalies

We examined whether training in both the verbal and nonverbal indicators of truth telling and lying would have positive effects on Law Enforcement Officers’ (LEOs) ability to evaluate truths from lies. College course-level training on empirically validated verbal and nonverbal indicators of truth telling and lying was provided to mid- to advanced-career level LEOs, whose accuracy in detecting lies from truths was assessed pre- and post-training using truthful and deceptive videos of mock crimes and opinions. A marginally significant truth bias existed at pre-test; training, however, resulted in a significant improvement in accuracy rates for both truth and lie videos, and the truth bias that existed at pre-test was eliminated. Additional analyses indicated that accuracy rates improved for videos of mock crimes but not for opinions. These findings add to a small but growing literature that indicates that training on validated verbal and nonverbal indicators of truth telling and lying has positive benefits.     

Changing South Korean Water Policy after Political and Economic Liberalisation

This study explores the way in which South Korean water policy has been dynamically (re-)constructed by continuing political contestations among diverse social forces acting in and through the state in the face of political and economic liberalisation. The path-dependency of the state-driven water resource policy under the former authoritarian regime did not disappear even after the democratisation. It was difficult to transform the old authoritarian and hierarchical water governance to the newly democratic and environmentally friendly one because the Ministry of Construction, as a main actor in driving water policy under the authoritarian regimes, did not give up its interest in a dam-based policy orientation, although it did partially accept institutional tools for democratic policy making, such as public hearings and the participation of civil society in the process of establishing the water policy plan. It also showed democratic and environment-friendly gestures using the rhetoric of environmentalism and localisation. Overall, this article emphasises the importance of the path-dependency of the past authoritarian regimes under democratised society to better understand the current democratic regime’s policy orientation.