• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.425-433
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• 2019

In this study, a simple method of calculating the passive earth pressure coefficient, which is based on the limit equilibrium method, was proposed and the calculated earth pressure coefficients were compared with those of several researchers. The angle of the linear failure surface, which is combined with the logarithmic spiral arc, to the failure surfaces of the passive zone was derived and the whole passive thrust acting on the Rankine passive zone was considered in the proposed method instead of considering the horizontal component of passive thrust. The variations of the passive earth pressure coefficients of the proposed method showed the same tendency as that of the Coulomb's passive earth pressure coefficients with an inclined angle of backfill and internal friction angle. The magnitude of passive earth pressure coefficients of the proposed method were smaller than those of the Coulomb in almost all cases. A comparison of the passive earth pressure coefficients with the wall friction angle revealed the passive earth pressure coefficients of the proposed method to be smaller than those of the Coulomb and the differences between the two values increased with increasing internal friction angle and wall friction angle. A comparison of the passive earth pressure coefficients of the proposed method with those of the existing researchers for the considered internal friction angles of $25^{\circ}$, $30^{\circ}$, $35^{\circ}$, and $40^{\circ}$ and three wall friction angles revealed the maximum percentage differences for the Kerisel and Absi method, Soubra method, Lancellotta method, $Ant\tilde{a}o$ et al. method, Kame method, and Reddy et al. method to be 4.8%, 3.8%, 31.1%, 4.0%, 20.6%, and 12.8% respectively. The passive earth pressure coefficient and existing pressures were similar in all cases.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.121-148
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• 2018

This paper examines the role of accounting conservatism on investment expenditure for non-financial Korean listed firms around the 2007-2008 global financial crisis using a differences-in-differences design. Specifically, this paper examines the association between an ex ante classification of firms by their level of accounting conservatism prior to the credit crisis and the ex post magnitude of the decline in investment. Consistent with prior literature, this study found that firms experienced a decline in their investment when hit by the financial crisis (Campello et al. 2010). And also this study found that firms with more conservative financial reporting experienced a smaller decline in investment activity following the financial crisis than did firms with less conservative financial reporting. Together, the results suggest that negative shocks to the supply of external finance hampers firm-level investment and that conservative financial reporting can lessen the sensitivity of firms' investment to such negative shocks. Next, this study shows that the magnitude of our findings is greater for firms more likely to suffer from underinvestment (as opposed to overinvestment). Firms that are financially constrained or have greater demand for external finance are more likely to experience underinvestment. Consistent with the predictions, this study finds stronger benefits of conservatism for firms that face relatively greater costs in raising external capital (i.e., financially constrained firms) or that have a relatively greater need to do so (i.e., firms that lack internal financial resources). This study also finds that the role for conservatism is greater in firms with a higher level of information asymmetry, consistent with the notion that conservatism mitigates financing frictions arising from information problems.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.41-63
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• 2017

FDI can either be absorbed in the production cycle with domestic investment and create an inducement effect or it can remain as an exogenous factor and increase the volatility of GDP. The purpose of this paper is to research these different impacts that FDI could have. For that, the endogenous growth theory was employed. The statistic method used are the panel model for sectoral analysis, and GARCH model and VAR for time series analysis. Myanmar was selected as this paper's research subject because it is one of countries which had a colossal amount of FDI inflow recently. The panel analysis did not confirm the causality between sectoral FDI and sectoral GDP. The reason for this could be in the lack of data, since sectoral data exists yearly only during 2006-2016. Therefore this study conducted the times series analysis. According to the results, during 2006 until 2010, it showed signs of GARCH but the effect of FDI on GDP was nonexistent, which means FDI was not integrated into the domestic production cycle but stayed in residual terms. During 2011 to 2016, FDI seemed to affect the growth of Myanmar's GDP. The estimation confirmed the existence of GARCH and the Granzer causality test confirmed that FDI influenced the GARCH, which signified FDI increased the volatility of GDP. The VAR analysis showed responses of GDP to FDI was small(about 0.0007). This research assumes that FDI can be divided in two parts: one part which can be assimilated in the domestic production cycle and the other where it stays outside of the production cycle. The former creates production inducement effect and the latter only increases the volatility of GDP. According to this study, the latter outweighs the former impact in Myanmar.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.237-251
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• 2011

This study presents a review on the recent climate change over the Korean peninsula, which has experienced a significant change due to the human-induced global warming more strongly than other regions. The recent measurement of carbon dioxide concentrations over the Korean peninsula shows a faster rise than the global average, and the increasing trend in surface temperature over this region is much larger than the global mean trend. Recent observational studies reporting the weakened cold extremes and intensified warm extremes over the region support consistently the increase of mean temperature. Surface vegetation greenness in spring has also progressed relatively more quickly. Summer precipitation over the Korean peninsula has increased by about 15% since 1990 compared to the previous period. This was mainly due to an increase in August. On the other hand, a slight decrease in the precipitation (about 5%) during Changma period (rainy season of the East Asian summer monsoon), was observed. The heavy rainfall amounts exhibit an increasing trend particularly since the late 1970s, and a consecutive dry-day has also increased primarily over the southern area. This indicates that the duration of precipitation events has shortened, while their intensity became stronger. During the past decades, there have been more stronger typhoons affecting the Korean peninsula with landing more preferentially over the southeastern area. Meanwhile, the urbanization effect is likely to contribute to the rapid warming, explaining about 28% of total temperature increase during the past 55 years. The impact of El Nino on seasonal climate over the Korean peninsula has been well established - winter [summer] temperatures was generally higher [lower] than normal, and summer rainfall tends to increase during El-Nino years. It is suggested that more frequent occurrence of the 'central-Pacific El-Nino' during recent decades may have induced warmer summer and fall over the Korean peninsula. In short, detection and attribution studies provided fundamental information that needed to construct more reliable projections of future climate changes, and therefore more comprehensive researches are required for better understanding of past climate variations.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.129-140
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• 2017

This study was carried out to develop of environmental risk assessments and the biosafety guide for Vitamin E enhanced transgenic soybean at LMO (Living Modified Organism) isolation field. In LMO quarantine area of National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, insect species diversities and population densities on vitamin E enhanced transgenic soybean and non-GM soybeans (Willams 82 and Seoritae) were investigated. A total of 17,717 individuals of 77 species from 8 orders were collected in LMO isolation field. In three type soybeans field, total of 5,250 individuals in Vitamin E enhanced transgenic soybean, 5,510 individuals in Willams 82, and 6,957 individuals in Seoritae were collected, respectively. There was no difference between the population densities of insect pests, natural enemies and other insects on Vitamin E enhanced transgenic soybean and Willams 82, while natural enemies density on Seoritae was higher than on Vitamin E enhanced transgenic soybean, but insect pests density on Vitamin E enhanced transgenic soybean was higher. These results provided the insects diversity for risk assessment survey of Vitamin E enhanced transgenic soybean and suggested that the guideline could be useful to detect LMO crops.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.580-589
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the food insecurity status and dietary behavior and examine the association between the food insecurity status and consumption of processed beverage for secondary school students in Vientiane, capital city of Lao PDR. Methods: The study subjects are 714 students (boys = 307 and girls = 407) in four secondary schools (Chao_Anouvong, Phiavat, Saysetha, and Chansavang) of Vientiane, Lao PDR. Data on study subject's demographic characteristics, dietary behavior, food insecurity, and Mini Dietary Assessment (MDA) index were collected. A "Self-Administered Food Security Survey Module for Children Aged 12 Years and Older" developed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was used for the food insecurity assessment. Results: As a result, 72.7% of the subjects were in a state of food insecurity, and food security was associated with higher socioeconomic status (higher life satisfaction, higher parent's education attainment, higher item ownership, fewer number of siblings, and having more lunches at the school restaurant than at home). Compared to the food insecurity group, the frequency of breakfast, self-rated diet, and the total score of MDA index were higher in the food security group. On the other hand, multiple logistic regression analysis showed that 'food security' was also associated with a higher consumption of processed beverages (OR 1.544; 95% CI 1.078-2.213; p = 0.018). Conclusion: Improving the quality of the diet is essential for adolescents in both the food insecurity and food security groups in Lao PDR. Therefore, it is necessary to provide well organized nutrition education and establish adequate nutrition policy for adolescents in Lao PDR.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.1507-1515
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• 2018

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is characterized by prostatic hypertrophy mainly in the elderly. Corni Fructus is reportedly effective in the prevention and treatment of various diseases, but its efficacy on BPH has not been previously studied. In the present study, we investigated whether or not a Corni Fructus water extract (CF) could prevent testosterone-induced prostatic hyperplasia in rats. To induce BPH, castrated rats were subcutaneously injected with testosterone propionate (TP). CF was administered daily by oral gavage, along with the TP injections, and finasteride, a selective inhibitor of $5{\alpha}$-reductase type 2, was used as a positive control. The results show that CF significantly reduces prostate weight and histopathologic changes while also decreasing levels of serum dihydrotestosterone, similar to the finasteride-treated group. CF also suppresses TP-induced $5{\alpha}$-reductase expression and concentration in prostate tissue and serum, respectively. Furthermore, CF markedly inhibited TP-induced expression of the androgen receptor (AR) and the steroid receptor coactivator 1, an AR coactivator, which was associated with a decrease in prostate-specific antigen levels in both serum and prostate tissue. In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that CF weakens BPH status by inactivation of $5{\alpha}$-reductase and AR.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.243-250
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• 2018

BACKGROUND: Recently, the use of $^{131}I$ for diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer has been increasing, and the radionuclide is continuously released into aquatic ecosystem. This study was carried out to investigate the $^{131}I$ concentrations in mainstreams, tributaries, and sewage wastewater treatment plants (SWTPs) of the Yeongsan River Basin and to identify their origins from the assessment of behaviors in the rivers. METHODS AND RESULTS: The water samples were collected from 19 sites including mainstreams (13), tributaries (4) and SWTPs (2). The $^{131}I$ concentration was measured using a gamma-ray spectrometry with a HPGe detector. The $^{131}I$ in SWTPs was detected mostly in the discharged effluent at the sampling sites. However, from the surface water of the rivers, $^{131}I$ was found only at two sites from each sampling period of the first (MS4 and MS10) and the second half (MS4 and MS7) of the year 2017. The concentrations of $^{131}I$ in the effluent discharged from SWTPs were in the range of 0.0870 to 3.87 Bq/L for SWTP1, and $^{131}I$ in the river revealed that it was not detected in the upper streams of the mainstreams and tributaries, while continuous detection was found in the SWTPs and downstream sites affected by the effluent. However, the concentration of $^{131}I$ decreased downstream, eventually becoming undetectable. Such behavior was closely related to the behavior found in the SWTPs. CONCLUSION: These results indicated that medically-derived $^{131}I$ was discharged to the river via sewage effluent at the SWTPs. It is necessary to evaluate the influence of aquatic ecosystems through continuous monitoring in the future.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.1-14
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• 2018

As interest and consumption of luxury goods have become more popular, luxury goods market is growing rapidly. Consumers can acquire psychological satisfaction with material abundance by purchasing and using luxury goods. Also, from the view of corporations, luxury goods have price inelastic characteristics, so they can enjoy price premium and it is good to produce good performance. That is the reason why they should pay much attention to securing luxuriousness. This study examined the establishment of brands luxuriousness in Korean SMEs. First, it examined the world market of luxury goods industry and the present condition of Korean market. Then it identified the constituents of luxuriousness by examining the prior studies and related literatures, and designed a research model based on the theoretical grounds to suggest the methods of brand luxuriousness building of Korean SMEs. Luxuriousness can be defined as the attribute of product that distinguishes luxury goods from other products by consumers' perceptions, and the factor that provides situational benefits that motivate consumers' purchasing behavior. In this study, I identified the sub-dimensions of luxuriousness according to whether there are product related attributes and consumers' benefit in consideration of the problems of existing studies. Product related luxuriousness are classified into superiority(functional benefit) and scarcity(experiential benefit), while non-product related luxuriousness are classified into differentiation(symbolic benefit) and traditionality(exclusive benefit). The following are the ways to build brand luxuriousness. First, company can use product factors. High quality, excellent design, high recognized brand with strong, favorable and unique images can enhance the luxuriousness of brand. Second, company can use price factors. Consumers tend to perceive luxury goods as high-priced items, so lowering the price of product can undermine the luxuriousness of product. Third, company can use distribution factors. It is effective for making consumers to perceive the differentiation and scarcity of luxuriousness through limited distribution channel. In addition, store atmosphere suitable for luxury brands should be created. Fourth, company can use promotion factors. The more consumers are exposed to advertisements, the more positive attitudes toward luxury brands are made, and consumers recognize luxuriousness higher. Price promotion negatively affects consumers' perception of luxuriousness. Fifth, company can use corporate factors. Consumer evaluations of products are influenced not only by the product attributes but also by the corporate association and corporate image surrounding the product. Considering the existing researches, it is possible to enhance the brand luxuriousness through high corporate competence and good corporate reputation. In order to increase the competence of the enterprise, it is useful to approach multidimensionally in relation with the knowledge creation capability. In corporate reputation, the external stakeholders' reputation is important, but the internal members' reputation is also important. Korean SMEs will be able to build brand luxuriousness by establishing marketing strategies as above and/or mix(integrate) them according to the situation.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.49-62
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to develop an assessment index for the selection of promising start-ups, which will enhance the efficiency of program that support start-ups. In order to develop assessment models for selecting start-ups, three major research steps were conducted. First, this study attempted to theoretically redefine the assessment index from the perspective of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) through a literature review. Second, major assessment index were derived using Delphi technique for experts in start-up areas. Third, weights were derived by applying AHP technique to calculate the importance of each index. The results of this study are summarized as follows. First, this study attempted to apply the assessment model for selecting start-ups from the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) view through the previous study review. Second, the final major questions were derived with sufficient opinions collected and structured survey of leading start-up experts in areas related to research subjects and elicited the most representative questions. Third, the results of applying the weights of the main selected assessment index, commercialization viewpoint is the most priority, followed by market view, technology development viewpoint, and organizational capability viewpoint. In the middle section, th ability to make products in the commercialization viewpoint, market competitiveness in the market, product discrimination capacity in the technology development perspective, and the ability of the entrepreneur in the organizational capacity perspective were important. Overall important items were found to be in the order of the capabilities of entrepreneurs, market competitiveness, product fire capability, and product discrimination. The importance of small items was highest priority for comparative excellence of competing products, and the degree of marketability, capacity of entrepreneurship, ability to raise capital, desire for entrepreneurship, and passion were shown. The results of this study presented a conceptual alternative to the preceding study on the development of existing selection assessment indexes. And it provides meaningful and important implications as an attempt to develop more sophisticated indicators by overcoming the limitations of empirical research on only some of the evaluation metrics.