• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2019

During the Obama administration, America made a shift in its foreign policies to re-focus on Asia. The strategy, known as 'Pivot to Asia', was used to contain a rising China. In this editorial note, I appropriate the geopolitical term to call for a scholarly refocus on Asia (and the broader Asia Pacific region). JCEA started as an area journal. While it has become more technology-focused and less geographically-bounded in its coverage of topics, the journal recognizes the centrality of the region's political economy and technological forces in setting (and upsetting) global norms and rules. The Asia Pacific contains the world's freest economies as well as the most oppressive regimes. It breeds both technology giants and laggards. As new geopolitical tensions loom, it is where the digital iron curtain is drawn, and where the vice and virtue of innovations debated. Social scientists in the English world, who lend extensively on European and American cases, can benefit from studying the Asia Pacific by testing whether and how local experience conforms to or confronts with universal theories. Very likely, western-centric norms and models become morphed and entangled in the grounded local particularity, reflecting many shades of this diverse place. In my arguments below, I highlight the Asia Pacific as a site of contradiction, as well as a site of contention and negotiation. My emphasis is that regional particularity holds the key to answer concurrent debates in the West concerning governance and accountability in the digital age.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.105-130
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• 2022

This paper argues that the war in Syria is partly the result of a global Islamist wave that contributed to fuelling conflict across large regions of Asia and Africa. Of course, the war that has consumed Syria since 2011 most certainly has multiple interrelated causes and driving forces, and any attempt to isolate one or even two or three runs the risk of advancing an overly simplistic interpretation of history. This essay, therefore, does not aim to offer an appraisal of the multiple variables that contributed to the war in Syria. Instead, it zeroes in on how political Islam came to impact Syria and its people. In doing so, it demonstrates how competing varieties of political Islam represented leading causes of conflict. Indeed, different Islamist movements contributed to the outbreak of the war in 2011, fuelled the conflict for years on end, and to this day represent major obstacles to the achievement of sustainable peace. Four broad Islamist currents are especially relevant to the case of Syria: the Muslim Brotherhood; the Shia revivalist movement at the nexus of the alliance between Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria; Salafi jihadism and its volatile and fractious underworld of competing armed groups, from Al-Qaeda to the Islamic State; and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's market-friendly Islamism, which induced Turkey to intervene in Syria's civil war.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.503-515
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• 2022

Global or partial damage to a structure due to the failure of gravity or lateral load-bearing elements is called progressive collapse. In the present study, the alternate load path (ALP) method introduced by GSA and UFC 4-023-03 guidelines is used to evaluate the progressive collapse in special steel moment-resisting frame (SMRF) buildings. It was assumed that the progressive collapse is due to the earthquake force and its effects after the removal of the elements still remain on the structures. Therefore, nonlinear dynamic time history analysis employing 7 earthquake records is used to investigate this phenomenon. Internal and external column removal scenarios are investigated and the stiffness of the connections is changed from semi-rigid to rigid. The results of the analysis performed in the OpenSees program show that the loss of the bearing capacity of an exterior column due to a seismic event and the occurrence of progressive collapse can increase the inter-story drift of the structure with semi-rigid connections by more than 50% and make the structure unable to satisfy the life safety performance level. Furthermore, connection stiffness severely affects the redistribution of forces and moments in the adjacent elements of the removed column.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.81 no.6
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• pp.781-790
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• 2022

The present paper describes a general procedure of the structural safety assessment for the independent type C tank of LNG bunkering ship. This strength assessment procedure consists of two main scheme, global Finite Element Analysis (FEA) model primarily for hull structure assessment and detailed LNG Tank structures FEA model including the cylindrical tank itself and saddle-support structures. Two kinds of mechanism are used, fixed and slides constraints in fore and rear of the saddle-support structures that result in a variation of the reaction forces. Finite Element (FE) analyses have been performed and verified by the strength acceptance criteria to evaluate the safety adequacy of yielding and buckling of the hull and supporting structures. The detail of FE model for an LNG type C tank and its saddle supports was made, which includes the structural members such as cylindrical tank shell, ring stiffeners, swash bulkhead, and saddle supports. Subsequently, the FE buckling analysis of the Type C tank has been performed under external pressure following International Gas Containment (IGC) code requirements. Meanwhile, the assessment is also performed for yielding and buckling strength evaluation of the cylindrical LNG tank according to the PD 5500 unfired fusion welded pressure vessels code. Finally, a complete procedure for assessing the structural strength of 500 CBM LNG cargo tank, saddle support and hull structures have been provided.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2023

Reinforced concrete flat slab (RCFS) with columns is a standard gravity floor system for tall buildings in North America. Typically, RCFS-column connections are designed to resist gravity loads, and their contribution to resisting seismic forces is ignored. However, past experimental research has shown that RCFS-column connections have some strength and ductility, which may not be ignored. Advanced numerical models have been developed in the past to determine the nonlinear cyclic behavior of RCFS-column connections. However, these models are either too complicated for nonlinear dynamic analysis of an entire building or not developed to model the behavior of modern RCFS-column connections. This paper proposes a new nonlinear model suitable for modern RCFS-column connections. The numerical model is verified using experimental data of specimens with various material and reinforcement properties. A 40-story RC shear wall building was designed and analyzed to investigate the influence of RCFS on the global response of tall concrete buildings. The seismic responses of the building with and without the RCFS were modelled and compared. The results show that the modelling of RCFS has a significant impact on the inter-story drifts and force demands on both the seismic force-resisting and gravity elements.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.33-60
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• 2023

This paper analyzes the entire distribution of stock market returns/volatility in five emerging markets (ASEAN5) and figures out the conditional distribution of the CHI_EPU index. The aim is to examine the impact of CHI_EPU on the stock returns/volatility density of ASEAN5 markets. It also examined whether changes in CHI_EPU explain returns at higher or lower points (abnormal returns). This paper models the behaviour of stock returns from March 2011 to June 2018 using a non-parametric conditional density estimation approach. The results indicate that CHI_EPU diminishes stock returns and augments volatility in ASEAN5 markets, except for Malaysia, where it affects stock returns positively. The possible reason for this positive impact is that EPU is not the leading factor reducing Malaysian stock returns; but, other forces, such as dependency on other countries' stock markets and global factors, may have a positive impact on stock returns (Bachmann and Bayer, 2013). Thus, the risk of simultaneous investment in Chinese and ASEAN5 stock markets, except Malaysia, is high. Further, the degree of this influence intensifies at extreme high/low intervals (positive/negative tails). The findings of this study have significant implications for investors, policymakers, market agents, and analysts of ASEAN5.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.57.3-57.3
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• 2021

99942 Apophis is an Sq-type Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) with an estimated diameter of 370 m. It will approach the Earth down to 31,000 km from the surface during the encounter on April 13, 2029 UT, which is closer than geostationary satellites. This once-in-a-20,000 year opportunity would further expand our knowledge on the physical and dynamical processes which are expected to occur due to the gravitational tidal forces when an asteroid encounter with a planet. It will also provide an opportunity to promote great knowledge of the science of planetary defense. The science goal of the Apophis mission is to global-map the asteroid before and after the Earth's approach. In this talk, we will present scientific objectives, and briefly introduce instruments and operation scenarios of the mission.

• Journal of East Asia Management
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.75-90
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• 2024

About 100 years after the start of mass production by American car maker Ford in 1913, the automobile industry has come to a major transformation in 100 years. In this transformation period, automakers are facing the biggest challenge of converting power sources, the basis of automobiles, from existing internal combustion engines to electric vehicles. Hybrid vehicles have been released in Japan since the late 1990s, and changes in automobile power sources have occurred early. In order to gain global leadership in hybrid vehicles, Japanese automakers and the Japanese government joined forces to promote the growth of the domestic hybrid vehicle market. The government has implemented a policy to substantially subsidize the high price of hybrid cars compared to internal combustion engine cars by providing purchase subsidies and tax benefits to buyers. Toyota has increased its line-up of hybrid cars around the Prius and has further strengthened communication with customers for the sale of hybrid vehicles. As a result of continuing these efforts for about 20 years, the percentage of Japan's hybrid vehicle market in 2022 reached 51% for passenger cars. Recently, each country has been setting and promoting aggressive goals for electric vehicles that require a wider range of physical and institutional infrastructure than hybrid vehicles. This study aims to assess the growth of electric vehicles by looking at the trend of hybrid vehicles and how they've been distributed in the Japanese market.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.190-194
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• 2023

Purpose: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) refers to brain damage caused by external forces or trauma. TBIs can vary in severity and result from accidents, falls, sports injuries, assaults, or other forms of physical trauma. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is known have roles in various cognitive functions. We report on a patient with traumatic brain injury who showed prefrontal symptoms after injury of thalamocortical connections between mediodorsal nuclei (MD) of thalamus and PFC. Methods: A 54-year-old, male patient suffered a TBI as a result of a heavy object falling on his head. After onset of TBI, he showed typical symptoms of prefrontal lobe injury, including personality changes, memory impairment, and general cognition problem. The thalamocortical connections between MD and PFC (ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and obrbitofrontal cortex (OFC)) were reconstructed using diffusion tensor tractography. In terms of fractional anisotropy value, the right thalamocortical connections to the OFC were significantly lower than those of control subjects. Results: The value of mean diffusivity in the right thalamocortical connections to the DLPFC was significantly higher than that of control subjects. By contrast, both VLPFC and left OFC showed significant decrement in the tract volume of thalamocortical connections compared with that of control subjects. Conclusion: We reported on a patient who showed cognitive and neuropsychiatric impairment due to global injury of the thalamocoritcal connections between MD and PFC following TBI.

• Korea and Global Affairs
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.209-242
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to contribute to enhancing spiritual combat power as the core of intangible combat power in Korean armed forces through analyses and suggestions on Admiral Yi Sun-sin's leadership for four major sweeping victories based upon jointness which effectively integrates tangible and intangible combat power in armed forces to maximize the synergy of fighting power. As our armed forces has improved their military structure in the dimension of hardwares so as to enhance their efficiency, according to the results of analyzing the process to promote the jointness between our armed forces and our allied powers in the dimension of softwares supporting such hardware dimensions, it was necessary to innovate the system for reinforcing future-oriented spiritual combat power as well as all the tasks related to leadership as the core of intangible combat power jointly and harmoniously. In order to derive tasks about the leadership of Korean armed forces in the dimension of softwares which should be combined with military structural reform for strengthening spiritual combat power for national defense, this study selected research questions linked with jointness. That is, (1) what is the core of military leadership in Western advanced countries in the age of jointness? (2) What are the contemporary illuminations or implications of Korean leaderships through Admiral Yi Sun-sin's war history? Then, this study analyzed literature reviews, this author's field interviews in the time of war participation, and leadership war history focusing on Admiral Yi Sun-sin's leadership for four major sweeping victories. According to the results of these analyses, this study extracted (1) the strategic leadership to predict and prepare the future, (2) the leadership of integration to create synergy effects, and (3) the leadership of knowledge to be practiced focusing on combats. In addition, in order to reinforce spiritual combat power based upon jointness, (1) it is necessary to precede in-depth and substantial leadership diagnosis for enhancing jointness. (2) It is necessary to embody national defense reform as well as integration for jointness improvement after scientifically comparing and analyzing the differentiation and integration between the Ministry of National Defense, army-navy-air force leadership centers, and PKO centers. (3) It is necessary to promote the merger and abolition between institutions related to intangibale combat power under the Ministry of National Defense.