Korea's IT Competitiveness Declines

Korea's IT competitiveness declined five notches from 2007. According to the Korea International Trade Association on Sunday, Korea ranked eighth among 66 countries, with 64.1 points out of 100, in the 2008 IT industry competitiveness index by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a provider of economic data and analysis. Korea ranked third after the U.S. and Japan in 2007.

This year, the U.S. topped the list for the second year running with 74.6 points, followed by Taiwan (69.2 points), the U.K. (67.2 points), Sweden (66 points), Denmark (65.2 points), Canada (64.4 points), and Australia (64.1 points).

Taiwan rose to second place from sixth last year. Sweden and Canada rose by three notches each.

By contrast, Japan fell from second to 12th place (62.2 points). Germany and France ranked 19th and 20th, respectively. China finished 50th with 27.6 points.

The EIU uses weighted categories such as overall business environment (10 percent), IT infrastructure (20 percent), human capital (20 percent), legal environment (10 percent), R&D environment (25 percent) and support for IT industry development (15 percent).

KITA said, "Korea has been well-known as an IT powerhouse, but it's noteworthy that its IT competitiveness had declined significantly." It urged the government to give a variety of support to the industry, and the industry to make its own efforts to enhance its competitiveness.

Thermodynamics

As all catalysts, enzymes do not alter the position of the chemical equilibrium of the reaction. Usually, in the presence of an enzyme, the reaction runs in the same direction as it would without the enzyme, just more quickly. However, in the absence of the enzyme, other possible uncatalyzed, "spontaneous" reactions might lead to different products, because in those conditions this different product is formed faster.

Furthermore, enzymes can couple two or more reactions, so that a thermodynamically favorable reaction can be used to "drive" a thermodynamically unfavorable one. For example, the hydrolysis of ATP is often used to drive other chemical reactions.
Enzymes catalyze the forward and backward reactions equally. They do not alter the equilibrium itself, but only the speed at which it is reached. For example, carbonic anhydrase catalyzes its reaction in either direction depending on the concentration of its reactants.

Nevertheless, if the equilibrium is greatly displaced in one direction, that is, in a very exergonic reaction, the reaction is effectively irreversible. Under these conditions the enzyme will, in fact, only catalyze the reaction in the thermodynamically allowed direction.

Cloning

Cloning involves the removal of the nucleus from one cell and its placement in an unfertilized egg cell whose nucleus has either been deactivated or removed.
There are two types of cloning:

1. Reproductive cloning. After a few divisions, the egg cell is placed into a uterus where it is allowed to develop into a fetus that is genetically identical to the donor of the original nucleus.
2. Therapeutic cloning. The egg is placed into a Petri dish where it develops into embryonic stem cells, which have shown potentials for treating several ailments.
In February 1997, cloning became the focus of media attention when Ian Wilmut and his colleagues at the Roslin Institute announced the successful cloning of a sheep, named Dolly, from the mammary glands of an adult female. The cloning of Dolly made it apparent to many that the techniques used to produce her could someday be used to clone human beings. This stirred a lot of controversy because of its ethical implications.