In the sports industry, governing bodies often have regulations for political and societal purposes. Despite their well-meaning intentions, the regulations often tend to be detrimental to stakeholders, including players and sports clubs. This study investigates the impact of the Football Association’s homegrown regulation on the operational efficiency of football clubs in the English Premier League (EPL). Using data envelopment analysis, we calculate the efficiency scores of 10 EPL clubs and compare them before and after the implementation of the regulation. Our results show that the efficiency of EPL football clubs decreased after the regulation was implemented, supporting the adverse effects of the homegrown rule. Our results further reveal that clubs were affected by the regulation to varying degrees. The distinct patterns of efficiency score changes in some clubs are explained by their unique managerial circumstances, such as ownership changes. Compliance costs, which vary depending on the level of each club’s youth academy system, also moderate the impact of the regulation. The findings of this study imply that imposing homegrown regulation on clubs unanimously without considering clubs’ different conditions leads to operational inefficiencies, generating adverse effects. This study has rich implications with respect to the productivity management of team sports. It also provides deep insights for the governing bodies trying to develop better policies. Funding: This work was supported by an Incheon National University Research Grant in 2021.
The Navy is committed to protecting the lives and property of the people and defending the national interests by dispatching operations not only to the Korean Peninsula but also to the Aden Bay. Furthermore, in order to develop into a strong navy, the former soldiers are making unanimous efforts to introduce advanced military power and possess strong armament. However, the safety accidents occurring in the Navy are not only losing valuable lives, but also enormously impeding mission performance. In spite of various efforts to prevent safety accidents, constant accidents mean that there are limits to the safety management approach so far. Therefore, in this paper, by attempting to approach the safety management system to increase the current level of safety management, an institutional approach to help accident prevention and an infrastructure for stable operation of the safety and health management system introduced in the Navy It was proposed to build.
Measurement of the background radio noise is very important process being used in survey of radio noise environment, calculating the threshold level for the frequency occupancy measurement and so forth. First step of background radio noise measurement is to select the sample sub-band which is mostly dominated by the background white Gaussian noise (WGN) within the target band. The second step is to carry out the main measurement of radio noise on this selected sample sub-band for the representative value of the noise power. In this paper, an algorithm for selection of sample sub-band for the effective background radio noise measurement using SVD is proposed under the assumption that background radio noise is WGN. The performance of the proposed algorithm is compared with that of the APD method which is widely used for the same purpose. Simulation results are shown to demonstrate the high performance of the proposed algorithm in comparison with the existing APD method.
Abstract Electrophysiological catheters are used for both diagnostics and clinical intervention. To facilitate more accurate and precise catheter navigation, robotic cardiac catheter navigation systems have been developed and commercialized. The authors have developed a novel force‐reflecting robotic catheter navigation system. The system is a network‐based master–slave configuration having a 3‐degree of freedom robotic manipulator for operation with a conventional cardiac ablation catheter. The master manipulator implements a haptic user interface device with force feedback using a force or torque signal either measured with a sensor or estimated from the motor current signal in the slave manipulator. The slave manipulator is a robotic motion control platform on which the cardiac ablation catheter is mounted. The catheter motions—forward and backward movements, rolling, and catheter tip bending—are controlled by electromechanical actuators located in the slave manipulator. The control software runs on a real‐time operating system‐based workstation and implements the master/slave motion synchronization control of the robot system. The master/slave motion synchronization response was assessed with step, sinusoidal, and arbitrarily varying motion commands, and showed satisfactory performance with insignificant steady‐state motion error. The current system successfully implemented the motion control function and will undergo safety and performance evaluation by means of animal experiments. Further studies on the force feedback control algorithm and on an active motion catheter with an embedded actuation mechanism are underway.
Oncogene HCCR-1 functions as a negative regulator of the p53 and contributes to tumorigenesis of various human tissues. HCCR transgenic mice developed breast cancers but it is unknown how HCCR-1 contributes to human tumorigenesis. This study identified a HCCR-1-binding protein 1 (HCCRBP-1) as an HCCR binding partner by performing yeast two hybrid screening. Their endogenous interaction was further confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation experiments. These two proteins colocalized in the mitochondria. HCCRBP-1 was overexpressed in various human tumors. In addition, HCCRBP-1 alone converted NIH/3T3 cells into tumor cells in combination with no other oncogenes. HCCRBP-1 induced tumorigenesis by markedly activating PKC activities but decreasing the pro-apoptotic PKC alpha and PKC delta isoform levels. We observed that p53 stabilization also occurred with functional impairment in HCCRBP-1-transfected 293 cells, as indicated by defective induction of p21, MDM2 and bax. Indeed, HCCRBP-1 decreased p21 promoter activity probably via p53 stabilization leading to the defective function. These results indicate that HCCRBP-1 oncogene induces p53 stabilization and thereby contributes to tumorigenesis.
This work was supported by the Industrial technology Innovation Program (No. 10063421, 'Development of the in-line welds quality estimation system and network-based quality control technology in arc and spot welds of ultra high strength steels for automotive parts assembly') funded By the Ministry of Trade, industry & Energy(MI, Korea).This research was respectfully supported by Engineering Development Research Center (EDRC) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE). (No. 990)
Aims . Gastric cancer is the second most prevalent cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Korea. The National Cancer Screening Program (NCSP) has implemented esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) biennially for all Koreans starting in their 40s. This study was conducted to estimate the clinical relevance of NCSP through identifying the prevalence of gastric disease, including cancer. Materials and Methods . Data from 40,821 subjects who received the screening EGD in the single center for 7 years were retrospectively investigated. Results . The overall prevalence of nonatrophic/atrophic/metaplastic gastritis, peptic ulcer, adenoma, early gastric cancer (EGC), and advanced gastric cancer (AGC) was 44.28%, 27.97%, 14.95%, 0.59%, 0.43%, 0.21%, and 0.09%, respectively. The prevalence of metaplastic gastritis, peptic ulcer, adenoma, EGC, and AGC was significantly higher in men than in women. The prevalence of preneoplastic/neoplastic disease significantly increased with age. Judged from the ratio of EGC to AGC, the proportion of EGC made up to 70% of all cancers. Conclusions . Screening endoscopy starting for people in their 40s should be strongly recommended for the elderly. Through the NCSP, the early detection of gastric cancer might contribute to the decreased mortality rate due to gastric cancer in Korea.
Background and Objectives: The QT interval (QTi) and QT dispersion (QTd), which represent the myocardial electrical heterogeneity of repolarization, were studied to recognize the differences between normal controls (n=32) and stable angina patients (n=78). Subjects and Methods: During the treadmill exercise test, standard 12 lead Electrocardiogram (ECG) was obtained at every stage, with the QTi and QTd measured. The corrected QT interval (cQTi) and QT dispersion (cQTd) were calculated using Bazett’s formula, with the Delta QT interval (ΔQTi) measured on leads V5 and aVF. Results: During exercise, the QTi had a reverse relationship with the heart rate in both groups, but was decreased by a lesser extent in the patient group. The QTd also had a tendency to decrease according to increasing heart rate in both groups and was significantly greater in the patient group. The corrected QTi increased during exercise in both groups, and reached maximum during the pre-peak stage, but was minimized during a 1 minute recovery stage in the patient group. The corrected QTd reached a maximum during the peak exercise stage in both groups, but the values between the two groups were significantly different. Both the QTi and cQTi had tendencies to increase according to the number of vessels with stenosis. The ΔQTi tended to reflect a regional ischemia in a single vessel disease. Conclusion: The QTi, QTd, cQTi and cQTd were increased in the stable angina patients compared with the normal controls, and augmented during the exercise test. (Korean Circ J 2007;37: 543-549) KEY WORD: Exercise test.