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The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between social policy and late-life happiness by analyzing the impact of the basic old-age pension on the happiness of older people in South Korea.

People aged 65 and over selected from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing are analyzed in the study.

It shows that the association between the basic old-age pension and the happiness of older people is negative. This may be attributable to the frugality of the benefits and the side effects of the means test.

This implies that the relationship between social policy and late-life happiness is not linear but it is affected by the context of the policy. It suggests that changing the fundamental benefit system to be more progressive can be a more useful policy option to realize the initial policy goal for recipients.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of the National Pension Scheme (NPS) on the economic well-being of older people in South Korea.

It analyses older people aged 60 and over sampled from the third wave of the Korean retirement and income study.

The analysis shows a gendered effect. The NPS is positively associated with the economic well-being of only older men. This gendered impact is probably attributable to the inherent patriarchal structure of the NPS that is based on the strong male bread-winner model.

The results suggest that promoting the female labour market participation, and also reforming the gender structure of the NPS and South Korean labour market, can be a potential policy option to amend gendered economic well-being in later life.

When a pure titanium component is fabricated in a selective laser melting (SLM) process using titanium powder, the oxygen concentration of the SLM sample increases compared to the initial powder. The purpose of this paper is to study the reason for increasing oxygen concentration after SLM.

To understand this phenomenon, the authors analyzed the oxidation behavior during the SLM process thermodynamically.

Based on the laser parameters used in this study, the temperature of the Ti melt during the SLM process was expected to rise to 2,150°C. Based on the thermodynamic analysis, the equilibrium oxygen partial pressure for oxidation was 2.32 × 10⁻¹⁹ atm at 2,150°C when the dissolved oxygen concentration in the titanium is 0.2 wt.%. However, the oxygen partial pressure inside the SLM chamber was 1 × 10⁻³ atm, which is much higher than the equilibrium oxygen partial pressure. Therefore, oxidation occurred during the SLM process, and the oxygen concentration of the SLM sample increased compared to the initial powder.

Most studies on fabricating Ti components using additive manufacturing (AM) have been focused on how the changes in the microstructures and mechanical properties depend on the process parameters. However, there are a few studies that analyzed the oxygen concentration change of Ti during the AM process and its causes. In this study, the authors analyzed the oxidation behavior during the SLM process thermodynamically.

This paper proposes a scheme to estimate the technical efficiency at child care centers for the less‐than‐three‐year‐old infants by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and to manage the quality of care service through implementing flexible and efficient government subsidy system. The result of technical efficiency estimation shows that there exists the heterogeneity in technical efficiency a substantial opportunity for improvement in technical efficiency across child care centers. This result implies that government may bring up the competition by giving subsidy differentially based on efficiency and use the money which has been used inefficiently other purposes. Both can improve the quality of child care service.

This paper is to develop a quality measure to evaluate the quality level of child care service in the regional level. By utilizing the biannual intensive child care statistical reports, ten variables are integrated and summarized as a quality measure for child care service in regional level by employing Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Conclusively, it is possible to get a comprehensive measure and the measure obtained from data between 2003 and 2008 illustrates the difference in child care service quality among regions over years. With the measure developed by this research, each region can also get very good insight into what kinds of factors of child care service should be paid more attention to in order to improve the quality of its child care service. Moreover, the measure obtained in this paper is proven reliable and robust in that it reflects the quality of child care service in each region and gives us statistically uniform quality scores with a different data set.

The purpose of this paper is to examine regional voting patterns in South Korea using the results from six presidential elections since the 1990s.

A χ² test was used to determine the municipalities where a regional voting pattern emerged, and λ correlation coefficients were calculated to examine changes in the regional voting patterns.

The analyses lead to three key findings. First, voting patterns differ in Yeongnam and Honam: regional voting in Yeongnam is getting weaker, it remains strong in Honam. Second, the tendency to vote along regional lines decreased significantly in the election in which the Honam party fielded a candidate with a Yeongnam appeared identity. Third, regional voting patterns declined but then stabilized at a constant level, regardless of the candidates’ local identity, which was confirmed in “Bu-Ul-Gyeong.”

This paper can empirically verify the manifestation of regional voting pattern and confirm the trend. It is possible to derive a condition for suppressing the regional voting pattern.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the toxicological impacts of exhaust generated during the combustion process of aviation fuel containing synthesized hydrocarbons.

Tests on aircraft turbine engines in full scale are complex and expensive. Therefore, a miniature turbojet engine was used in this paper as a source of exhaust gases. Toxicity was tested using innovative BAT–CELL Bio–Ambient Cell method, which consists of determination of real toxic impact of the exhaust gases on the human lung A549 and mouse L929 cells. The research was of a comparative nature. The engine was powered by a conventional jet fuel and a blend of conventional jet fuel with synthesized hydrocarbons.

The results show that the BAT–CELL method allows determination of the real exhaust toxicity during the combustion process in a turbine engine. The addition of a synthetic component to conventional jet fuel affected the reduction of toxicity of exhaust gases. It was confirmed for both tested cell lines.

In the literature related to the area of aviation, numerous publications in the field of testing the emission of exhaust gaseous components, particulates or volatile organic compounds can be found. However, there is a lack of research related to the evaluation of the real exhaust toxicity. In addition, it appears that the data given in aviation sector, mainly related to the emission levels of gaseous exhaust components (CO, Nox and HC) and particulate matters, might be insufficient. To fully describe the engine exhaust emissions, they should be supplemented with additional tests, i.e. in terms of toxicity.

In the current economic climate, the huge rise in the levels of debt incurred by professional football clubs challenges the need to improve their efficiency levels. Hence, analysis of their productivity is essential and represents an integral dimension to any realistic and efficient strategy. Any such strategy includes the identification and analysis of the inputs and outputs that underpin club sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between the team performance of professional European football clubs and the stability of their financial efficiency.

The sample spans 15 professional football clubs that won the league titles in the leading football leagues (the English, German, Spanish, Italian and French leagues) in the period between 2009 and 2014. The analysis made recourse to the data envelopment analysis method.

The results demonstrate that of the 15 clubs analysed, only 10 proved efficient. Football is now an industry that moves major quantities of financial capital and holds the attentions of large groups of fans worldwide. However, despite this attractiveness, the financial crisis and recession, ongoing since 2008, increasingly requires the better management of such resources. To this end, clubs should improve their control over the financial resources available given the positive relationship prevailing between the sporting performance of clubs and their levels of financial efficiency.

Analysis of the efficiency levels of the inputs and outputs encapsulating performance related financial variables may aid in improving the standards of planning and sustainable management at professional sport clubs.

The purpose of this paper was to develop a loaf bread enriched with naranjilla (lulo) fruit (shells, seeds and pulp) and determine the technical quality, sensory acceptability and bioavailability (by in vitro digestion) of antioxidant components.

Loaf bread was prepared by using a no-time bread-making process. The crumb moisture, specific volume, crust and crumb color, texture profile analysis, analysis of the crumbs' alveoli, sensory evaluation, in vitro simulation of gastrointestinal digestion and antioxidant capacity were determined. Data were analyzed with one-way ANOVA (α = 0.05).

The specific volume was reduced by 21% (4.62 cm3/g, p < 0.0001), and the hardness was increased by 70% (2.9 N, p < 0.0001). Enrichment of the bread with naranjilla fruit (NF) contributes a yellowish coloration to the bread, which was very well accepted by the consumers and could be considered a natural colorant alternative. Moreover, the sensory evaluation indicated that the analyzed attributes (appearance, color, odor, taste, firmness and overall quality) of the naranjilla bread presented scores higher than 6.5 of 9 points hedonic scale. Naranjilla in the bread formulation had good acceptability by consumers. Naranjilla-enriched bread had an increase in total phenolic (TP)compounds and total carotenoids. In the product without digestion, naranjilla bread increased 1.7 times for TP, 50 times for CT and 1.3 times for TEAC, compared to the control bread (p < 0.0001). The percentage of bioaccessibility for fresh bread without digestion was 39.2 and 53.9% for the control and naranjilla bread, respectively. The addition of NF contributes to a higher TP compounds content and favors its bioavailability.

For bread production, fruits that do not meet the quality standards to be consumed as a natural fruit can be used. In this way, these fruits can contribute as a potential use to reduce agro-industrial waste and as a natural colorant.

Naranjilla is a native fruit from the subtropical Andean regions, which has high ascorbic acid concentrations, making it a fruit rich in antioxidants. Naranjilla-enriched bread contributes with beneficial compounds for the consumer.