• Title/Summary/Keyword: Behavior problems

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A Usability Testing for the Verification of User Mental Model in Using Multifunction Printer (프린터 복합기의 사용자 심성모형 검증을 위한 사용성 평가)

  • Chung, Sung-Jae;Kim, Bong-Gun;Ha, Kwang-Soo;Jung, Hye-Heon;Lim, Bong-Uk
    • Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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    • v.13 no.1
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    • pp.1-10
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    • 2010
  • This study is about what process and methodology could make UI designer be able to achieve the interface which considers user's mental model through implementing corporate line-up model, when people design an interface between product of multi-function printer and user. The most important concern of UI designers who are dealing with an interface between product and user is how they can make product system image match user's mental model so that users can utilize products without any confusion and discomfort. If concept model which designers bring up and mental model which users expect and recognize could be of one accord, then users can feel ease of use toward products. The understanding and observation for user behavior and use pattern is prerequisite to develop user-centered interface between product and user. However, UI designers do design interface from their own perspective and assumption in many business areas, and users do not react as designers assumed and intended in many cases or examples. This study is to find inappropriate system images against users' mental model on basic function of multi-function printer, and the relationship of system image and user's mental model is diagramed to build up a hypothesis. The hypothesis from this study is validated through evaluation of domestic and international users. In addition, two suggestions to improve usability problems revealed from user test are proposed. The optimal solution is designed based on the result of user evaluation and consideration of many user environments, and then it is implemented to line-up product. In conclusion, this study considers how UI designers can create system image which is close to user's mental model.

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An Analysis of Articles for International Marriage Immigrant Women Related to Health (국제결혼 이주여성 건강관련 선행연구 분석)

  • Ahn, Ok-Hee;Jeon, Mi-Soon;Hwang, Yoon-Young;Kim, Kyung-Ae;Youn, Mi-Sun
    • Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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    • v.35 no.2
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    • pp.134-150
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    • 2010
  • Objectives: This study was for analyzing the research about international marriage immigrant women and a trial to find the right direction for future research. Methods: Sixty articles published from June, 2004 to June, 2009 were reviewed and analyzed according to the general characteristics, major of author, and theme of health domains. Results: Most of them were master's thesis(71.7%) and journals(21.7%) and doctoral dissertation(6.7%) have been published mostly after thesis. Among 83.3% for quantitative research, descriptive(33.3%) and descriptive correlation(41.7%) methods were the most used and there were some qualitative researches(16.7%). The most frequently used data gathering method was questionnaire(81.7%) and the next was interview(16.7%). The major rates of the author were 61.7% for social welfare and 2.1% for nursing. The investigated variables in social health domain were adaptation(28.3%), and communication(1.7%). In psychological health domain, marriage satisfaction(16.7%), life satisfaction(11.7%), and depression(10.0%) were most researched. Utilization of medical center(5.0%) and health promotion behavior(1.7%) were investigated in physical health domain. Conclusions: Above this, most articles were researched about the adaptation of international marriage immigrant women. But the life in foreign countries can cause physical and psychosocial unhealthy conditions, so many-sided health related researches are supposed to be conducted for adaptation and prevention health problems of international marriage immigrant women.

An Application Effect of Rhythmic Movement Program for the Health Promotion in the Elderly (노인의 건강증진을 위한 율동적 운동프로그램의 적용효과)

  • 이숙자
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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    • v.30 no.3
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    • pp.776-790
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    • 2000
  • Every year the number of the elderly increases in Korea thanks to the improvemen of social and economical levels and the development of medicine. However, many problems such as insufficent care and the isolation of the elderly have been commonplace. This trend exists not only because of increased lifespan but also the changing social structure of the nuclear family. Accordingly, inspite of the development of medicine, geriatric diseases including circulatory diseases are increasing in proportion of elderly population, as well as the severity. Therefore, it is important to emphasize that health care programs provide the best possible health care and functional capacities in terms of healthy elderly lifestyles. Especially, the phenomena of aging and geriatric diseases taking place with the elderly naturally are affected by lifestyle and the drastic changes in exercise patterns. This study aims to improve geriatric health by introducing a rhythmic movement program for the elderly to estabilish a health-promoting self-care system and by developing quality of life, perceived health status, their physical and physiological functions and emotional state. The theoretical framework used in this dissertation is derived from the Health-Promoting Self-Care System Model (Simmons, 1990), which integrates the Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory (Orem, 1985), the interaction model of Client Health Behavior (Cox, 1982) and the Health Promotion Model (Pender, 1987). As a quasi-experimental design, the nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design is utilized for this study. The subjects of this study consist of 64 people, over 65 years old who live in 2 nursing homes for the aged located in S city , Kyong-gi province and volunteered for this study from July, 12, 1999 to September, 17, 1999. They are divided into two groups:33 in the experimental group and 31 in the control group. The experimental group particpated in the Rhythmic Movement Program at the nursing home, which was comprised of 45 minutes a session, 5 sessions a week during 9 weeks. In order to measure the results of the Rhythmic Movement Program, aspects of perceived health status, balance, flexibility, grip strength, leg strength, heart rate, blood pressure, depression, anxiety and the quality of life were measured before and after participating in the Rhythimic Movement Program for the experimental group after 9 weeks, as well as the control group. The collected data were processed by SPSS PC+ and analyzed by the X2 test, t-test, ANCOVA and the Pearson Correlation Coefficient. The results of this study are as follows: 1. The perceived health status conditions in the experimental group show statistically significant improvement when compared to the control group (F=17.51, p=.000). 2. The physical and physiological functions, that is, balance (F=17.51, p=.000), flexibility (F=8.01, p=.006), grip strength (F=3.21, p=.018) and leg strength (F=25.78, p=.000) in the experimental group are higher than the control group. The vital signs, that is, the number of heart rate (F=.022, p=.884), systolic pressure (F=1.73 p=.193), and diastolic pressure (F=2.74, p=.103) in the experimental group compared to the control group decreased, but doesn't show statistically significant differences. Immune responses (F=5.13, p=.003) showed statistically significant increases in the experimental group when compared to the control group. 3. The emotional state are improved, that is, degree of depression (F=11.56, p=.001) and degree of anxiety (F=9.14, p=.004) in the experimental group showed statistically significant decreases. 4. The quality of life in the experimental group (F=3.03, p=.037) showed statistically significant differences compared to the control group. 5. The observations of the relationships among the perceived health status, emotional state , the quality of life, the relationships between the perceived health status, the degree of depression (r=-.653, p=.000) and the degree of anxiety (r=-.786, p=.000) were in contrary propotions, while the relationships between the perceived health status and the quality of life (r=.234, p=.008) were in direct propotion. In conclusion, the Rhythmic Movement Program used in this study for geriatric nursing care is simple and safe for application to the elderly and shows significant effects by implementing 5 sessions a week for 9 weeks. The Rhythmic Movement Program improves the quality of life, maintains as well as improves the physical and physiological fuctions and emotional state, therefore this program is strongly recommended for positive applications for independant geriatric nursing health care.

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Correlation between Smartphone Addiction and Eating Behaviors of Elementary School Students in Ansan Area (안산지역 초등학생의 스마트폰 중독과 식행동과의 상관성)

  • Kim, Eun Ji;Kim, Seong Yeong
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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    • v.44 no.7
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    • pp.1007-1015
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    • 2015
  • This study investigated the correlation between smartphone addiction and eating behaviors of 288 elementary school students (fifth and sixth grades) in the Ansan area. Addiction and normal groups consisted of 29 (10.1%) and 259 students (89.9%). Average usage time of the smartphone addiction group was higher than that of the normal group (P<0.001). Percentages of using a smartphone when eating meals as well as skipping meals due to using a smartphone were also higher in the addiction group than the normal group (P<0.01). Degree of reduction of physical activity and sleep disorders due to using a smartphone were higher in the addiction group than the normal group (P<0.001). However, nutritional knowledge related to protein and dietary life scored lower in the addiction group than the normal group (P<0.05). Correlation between smartphone usage time and eating behaviors was as follows: smartphone usage time on weekdays increased with elevated usage time on weekends in the addiction group (+0.742) (P<0.001) and the normal group (+0.762) (P<0.001). Frequency of snack intake in the addiction group increased with elevated usage time on weekdays (+0.460) (P<0.05). Sleeping time of the normal group decreased with elevated usage time on weekdays (-0.150) (P<0.05), and good eating behaviors decreased with elevated usage time the on weekend (-0.143) (P<0.05). Consequently, smartphone addiction in elementary school students showed negative eating behaviors. Therefore, effective nutritional education programs and national support policy are required to solve problems of unhealthy eating behaviors from smartphone usage in elementary school students.

Food Habits and Health Food Consumption Patterns of Adults in the Ulsan Area (울산지역 중.장년층의 식생활 특성과 건강식품 섭취 실태)

  • 유수연;김혜경
    • Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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    • v.8 no.6
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    • pp.889-900
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    • 2003
  • This study was carried out to obtain information regarding eating habits, including health related behavior and health food consumption patterns. The subjects of this study were 149 men and 152 women residing in the Ulsan area. We obtained results by means of a questionnaire and an interview, and these were analyzed using the SPSS package program. The results of this study are summarized as follows The average age of the men was 47.6 $\pm$ 7.3 years and of the women was 47.3 $\pm$ 7.6 years old. The average height and weight of the men were 169.4 $\pm$ 5.5 cm and 67.7 $\pm$ 8.2 kg, respectively. Those of the women were 157.6 $\pm$ 5.0 cm and 58.2 $\pm$ 7.5 kg, respectively. The BMI values of all the subjects ranged from 20.0 to 25.0, all within the normal levels. In the case of dietary patterns, 24.3% of the total population always skipped a meal. In particular, 15.9% of the total population skipped breakfast. No time to eat, no appetite, having no taste, and having poor health were themain reasons for skipping meals. With regard to health care, there was a significant difference between the men and the women with respect to smoking and drinking (p<0.001). Of the total population, 40.5% hardly exercised (less than once a week), 26.2% exercised occasionally, 13.6% frequently exercised, and 19.6% exercised almost every day. A total of 60.7% responded that they were not interested in their health. The mean eating habit score of the subjects was 65.6 $\pm$ 9.9. The women had a higher eating habit score than the men (64.0 $\pm$ 9.6 for the men and 67.2 $\pm$ 9.9 for the women). Except for one group above 60 years, the older group had a higher eating habit score than the younger one. The group having a higher income and a more specialized career had a higher eating habit score than the one having a lower income and a less specialized career. There was also a marital difference. The group of single subjects showed a lower eating habit score than the married group. The group having a higher eating habit score drank, smoked and went out for meals less, and exercised more than the group having lower scores. They also were more concerned about their health. In the older group, there were more diabetic and hypertensive individuals. The subjects who had a higher BMI index were more likely to be patients with hypertension, especially in the men's group. Those who had a higher BMI index and hypertension simultaneously took a variety of medicines and foods for promoting health. Those who worried a lot about their health and had health problems tended to take special foods for their health. Patients usually took tonics. Special foods for health included Chinese medicines, tonic foods, vitamin or mineral supplements and manufactured health food supplements. Preferences for them depended on the sex and age of the subject. In the case of tonic foods, the men liked them more than the women. Foods other than tonic foods were favorites with the women. This study may provide basic information on the eating habits and health related behaviors of middle-aged people. However, further studies are needed to improve the eating habits and to change the nutritional attitudes, so that people can make better choices of health foods.

Fatigue fracture of different dental implant system under cyclic loading (반복하중에 따른 수종 임플란트의 피로파절에 관한 연구)

  • Park, Won-Ju;Cho, In-Ho
    • The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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    • v.47 no.4
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    • pp.424-434
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    • 2009
  • Statement of problem: Problems such as loosening and fractures of retained screws and fracture of implant fixture have been frequently reported in implant prosthesis. Purpose: Implant has weak mechanical properties against lateral loading compared to vertical occlusal loading, and therefore, stress analysis of implant fixture depending on its material and geometric features is needed. Material and methods: Total 28 of external hexed implants were divided into 7 of 4 groups; Group A (3i, FULL $OSSEOTITE^{(R)}$Implant), Group B (Nobelbiocare, $Br{\aa}nemark$ $System^{(R)}$Mk III Groovy RP), Group C (Neobiotec, $SinusQuick^{TM}$ EB), Group D (Osstem, US-II). The type III gold alloy prostheses were fabricated using adequate UCLA gold abutments. Fixture, abutment screw, and abutment were connected and cross-sectioned vertically. Hardness test was conducted using MXT-$\alpha$. For fatigue fracture test, with MTS 810, the specimens were loaded to the extent of 60-600 N until fracture occurred. The fracture pattern of abutment screw and fixture was observed under scanning electron microscope. A comparative study of stress distribution and fracture area of abutment screw and fixture was carried out through finite element analysis Results: 1. In Vicker's hardness test of abutment screw, the highest value was measured in group A and lowest value was measured in group D. 2. In all implant groups, implant fixture fractures occurred mainly at the 3-4th fixture thread valley where tensile stress was concentrated. When the fatigue life was compared, significant difference was found between the group A, B, C and D (P<.05). 3. The fracture patterns of group B and group D showed complex failure type, a fracture behavior including transverse and longitudinal failure patterns in both fixture and abutment screw. In Group A and C, however, the transverse failure of fixture was only observed. 4. The finite element analysis infers that a fatigue crack started at the fixture surface. Conclusion: The maximum tensile stress was found in the implant fixture at the level of cortical bone. The fatigue fracture occurred when the dead space of implant fixture coincides with jig surface where the maximum tensile stress was generated. To increase implant durability, prevention of surrounding bone resorption is important. However, if the bone resorption progresses to the level of dead space, the frequency of implant fracture would increase. Thus, proper management is needed.

Legal Review on the Regulatory Measures of the European Union on Aircraft Emission (구주연합의 항공기 배출 규제 조치의 국제법적 고찰)

  • Park, Won-Hwa
    • The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.3-26
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    • 2010
  • The European Union(EU) has recently introduced its Directive 2008/101/EC to include aviation in the EU ETS(emissions trading system). As an amendment to Directive 2003/87/EC that regulates reduction of the green house gas(GHG) emissions in Europe in preparation for the Kyoto Protocol, 1997, it obliges both EU and non-EU airline operators to reduce the emission of the carbon dioxide(CO2) significantly in the year 2012 and thereafter from the level they made in 2004 to 2006. Emission allowances allowed free of charge for each airline operator is 97% in the first year 2012 and 95% from 2013 and thereafter from the average annual emissions during historical years 2004 to 2006. Taking into account the rapid growth of air traffic, i.e. 5% in recent years, airlines operating to EU have to reduce their emissions by about 30% in order to meet the requirements of the EU Directive, if not buy the emissions right in the emissions trading market. However, buying quantity is limited to 15% in the year 2012 subject to possible increase from the year 2013. Apart from the hard burden of the airline operators, in particular of those from non-European countries, which is not concern of this paper, the EU Directive has certain legal problems. First, while the Kyoto Protocol of universal application is binding on the Annex I countries of the Climate Change Convention, i.e. developed countries including all Member States of the European Union to reduce GHG at least by 5% in the implementation period from 2008 to 2012 over the 1990 level, non-Annex I countries which are not bound by the Kyoto Protocol see their airlines subjected to aircraft emissions reductions scheme of EU when operating to EU. This is against the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol dealing with the emissions of GHG including CO2, target of the EU Directive. While the Kyoto Protocol mandates ICAO to set up a worldwide scheme for aircraft emissions to contribute to stabilizing GHG concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system, the EU ETS was drawn up outside the framework of the international Civil Aviation Organization(ICAO). Second, EU Directive 2008/101 defines 'aviation activities' as covering 'flights which depart from or arrive in the territory of a Member State to which the [EU] Treaty applies'. While the EU airlines are certainly subject to the EU regulations, obliging non-EU airlines to reduce their emissions even if the emissions are produced during the flight over the high seas and the airspace of the third countries is problematic. The point is whether the EU Directive can be legally applied to extra-territorial behavior of non-EU entities. Third, the EU Directive prescribes 2012 as the first year for implementation. However, the year 2012 is the last year of implementation of the Kyoto Protocol for Annex I countries including members of EU to reduce GHG including the emissions of CO2 coming out from domestic airlines operation. Consequently, EU airlines were already on the reduction scheme of CO2 emissions as long as their domestic operations are concerned from 2008 until the year 2012. But with the implementation of Directive 2008/101 from 2012 for all the airlines, regardless of the status of the country Annex I or not where they are registered, the EU airlines are no longer at the disadvantage compared with the airlines of non-Annex I countries. This unexpected premium for the EU airlines may result in a derogation of the Kyoto Protocol at least for the year 2012. Lastly, as a conclusion, the author shed light briefly on how the Korean aviation authorities are dealing with the EU restrictive measures.

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Optimal Selection of Classifier Ensemble Using Genetic Algorithms (유전자 알고리즘을 이용한 분류자 앙상블의 최적 선택)

  • Kim, Myung-Jong
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.16 no.4
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    • pp.99-112
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    • 2010
  • Ensemble learning is a method for improving the performance of classification and prediction algorithms. It is a method for finding a highly accurateclassifier on the training set by constructing and combining an ensemble of weak classifiers, each of which needs only to be moderately accurate on the training set. Ensemble learning has received considerable attention from machine learning and artificial intelligence fields because of its remarkable performance improvement and flexible integration with the traditional learning algorithms such as decision tree (DT), neural networks (NN), and SVM, etc. In those researches, all of DT ensemble studies have demonstrated impressive improvements in the generalization behavior of DT, while NN and SVM ensemble studies have not shown remarkable performance as shown in DT ensembles. Recently, several works have reported that the performance of ensemble can be degraded where multiple classifiers of an ensemble are highly correlated with, and thereby result in multicollinearity problem, which leads to performance degradation of the ensemble. They have also proposed the differentiated learning strategies to cope with performance degradation problem. Hansen and Salamon (1990) insisted that it is necessary and sufficient for the performance enhancement of an ensemble that the ensemble should contain diverse classifiers. Breiman (1996) explored that ensemble learning can increase the performance of unstable learning algorithms, but does not show remarkable performance improvement on stable learning algorithms. Unstable learning algorithms such as decision tree learners are sensitive to the change of the training data, and thus small changes in the training data can yield large changes in the generated classifiers. Therefore, ensemble with unstable learning algorithms can guarantee some diversity among the classifiers. To the contrary, stable learning algorithms such as NN and SVM generate similar classifiers in spite of small changes of the training data, and thus the correlation among the resulting classifiers is very high. This high correlation results in multicollinearity problem, which leads to performance degradation of the ensemble. Kim,s work (2009) showedthe performance comparison in bankruptcy prediction on Korea firms using tradition prediction algorithms such as NN, DT, and SVM. It reports that stable learning algorithms such as NN and SVM have higher predictability than the unstable DT. Meanwhile, with respect to their ensemble learning, DT ensemble shows the more improved performance than NN and SVM ensemble. Further analysis with variance inflation factor (VIF) analysis empirically proves that performance degradation of ensemble is due to multicollinearity problem. It also proposes that optimization of ensemble is needed to cope with such a problem. This paper proposes a hybrid system for coverage optimization of NN ensemble (CO-NN) in order to improve the performance of NN ensemble. Coverage optimization is a technique of choosing a sub-ensemble from an original ensemble to guarantee the diversity of classifiers in coverage optimization process. CO-NN uses GA which has been widely used for various optimization problems to deal with the coverage optimization problem. The GA chromosomes for the coverage optimization are encoded into binary strings, each bit of which indicates individual classifier. The fitness function is defined as maximization of error reduction and a constraint of variance inflation factor (VIF), which is one of the generally used methods to measure multicollinearity, is added to insure the diversity of classifiers by removing high correlation among the classifiers. We use Microsoft Excel and the GAs software package called Evolver. Experiments on company failure prediction have shown that CO-NN is effectively applied in the stable performance enhancement of NNensembles through the choice of classifiers by considering the correlations of the ensemble. The classifiers which have the potential multicollinearity problem are removed by the coverage optimization process of CO-NN and thereby CO-NN has shown higher performance than a single NN classifier and NN ensemble at 1% significance level, and DT ensemble at 5% significance level. However, there remain further research issues. First, decision optimization process to find optimal combination function should be considered in further research. Secondly, various learning strategies to deal with data noise should be introduced in more advanced further researches in the future.

A Case Study on High and Low Performance Areas for Family Planning (가족계획 우수.부진지역 사례연구)

  • 홍성열;김태일
    • Korea journal of population studies
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    • v.4 no.1
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    • pp.105-130
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    • 1981
  • This study was conducted to compare the characteristics of high performane areas for family planning with that of low performance areas and to find factors which strongly affected contraceptive practice behavior. For the study, eight areas were selected from 274 rural family planning canvassing areas of Korean Population Policy and Program Evaluation Study, which was an action study operated in all areas of Cheju Island from July 1, 1976 until December 31,1979. As a first step of the action study, Cheju Island was devided up 318 family planning canvasser areas Each area was consisted of 200 households in rural district and 300 households in urhan one Duriog the period of project, each canvassing area had been managed by a female family planning canvasser, selected by director of health center considering several individual conditions needed for family planning activities Basic activities of canvassers were to counsell all the eligihie couples in own charged area about family planning methods and also to distribute contraceptives such as condoms and oral pills. In case couples desire to accept sterilization including vasectomy and tubal-ligation, the canvassers played a linking role connecting potential client with family planning field workers. Canvassng areas shows significant differentce in performance for family planning, nevertheless they are supposed to have almost the same conditions regarding family planning distribution channel. Because the purpose of the Cheju project was to eliminate all the problems that existed in governmental distribution system, that is to remove geographic, economic, cognitive and administrative barriers Accumulated performances of family planning methods accepted by residents in each area were calculated by eligible women aged 14-49. And then canvassing areas were ranked according to performance score. Consequently, 4 areas in extremely high and low family planning performance areas were selected respectively. Major results were obtained by comparing characteristics of high performance area with that of low performance areas, which are as follows: 1. The mean number of living children was about the same both in high and low performance areas for family planning. But respondents' mean age (38.5) in high performance areas was higher than that (37.0) in low performance areas 2. Respondents' perception in the expectant educational level of others' children in high performance areas was higher than that in low performance areas, although respondents educational level, monthly expenditure and ratio of children in high school and above was not different. 3. Ratio of ownerships of TV and newspaper in high performance areas was highen than that in low performance areas 4. The duration of canvasser' charge in high performance areas was longer than that of low performance areas, showing the fact that canvassers didn't move cut in high performance areas 5. In high performance areas, canvassers' houses were relatively located in the center part of the village. And so villagers resided in near distances from the anvasser's house 6. 4H clubs' activities in high performance areas were more active than those in low performance areas Therefore it was assumed that cohesiveness of community in high performance areas were stronger than that in low areas. 7. Canvassers' family planning practice rate was higher than that in low performance areas, and also canvassers' human relationship was more sociable than that of canvassers in low performance areas. 8. Fourteen variables which showed relatively high significance level in $X^2$ and F test were selected as independent variables for stepwise regression analysis. According to the results of regression analysis. five of 14 variables-distributors education level ($R^2$=.4439), duration of distributor's charge ($R^2$=.6166), 4H club activities ($R^2$=.6697), canvasser's contraceptive practice ($R^2$=.7377) and location of distributions house ($R^2$=.8010) explained 80.1 percent of total variance.

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Underpricing of Initial Offerings and the Efficiency of Investments (신주(新株)의 저가상장현상(低價上場現象)과 투자(投資)의 효율성(效率成)에 대한 연구(硏究))

  • Nam, Il-chong
    • KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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    • v.12 no.2
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    • pp.95-120
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    • 1990
  • The underpricing of new shares of a firm that are offered to the public for the first time (initial offerings) is well known and has puzzled financial economists for a long time since it seems at odds with the optimal behavior of the owners of issuing firms. Past attempts by financial economists to explain this phenomenon have not been successful in the sense that the explanations given by them are either inconsistent with the equilibrium theory or implausible. Approaches by such authors as Welch or Allen and Faulhaber are no exceptions. In this paper, we develop a signalling model of capital investment to explain the underpricing phenomenon and also analyze the efficiency of investment. The model focuses on the information asymmetry between the owners of issuing firms and general investors. We consider a firm that has been owned and operated by a single owner and that has a profitable project but has no capital to develop it. The profit from the project depends on the capital invested in the project as well as a profitability parameter. The model also assumes that the financial market is represented by a single investor who maximizes the expected wealth. The owner has superior information as to the value of the firm to investors in the sense that it knows the true value of the parameter while investors have only a probability distribution about the parameter. The owner offers the representative investor a fraction of the ownership of the firm in return for a certain amount of investment in the firm. This offer condition is equivalent to the usual offer condition consisting of the number of issues to sell and the unit price of a share. Thus, the model is a signalling game. Using Kreps' criterion as the solution concept, we obtained an essentially unique separating equilibrium offer condition. Analysis of this separating equilibrium shows that the owner of the firm with high profitability chooses an offer condition that raises an amount of capital that is short of the amount that maximizes the potential profit from the project. It also reveals that the fraction of the ownership of the firm that the representative investor receives from the owner of the highly profitable firm in return for its investment has a value that exceeds the investment. In other words, the initial offering in the model is underpriced when the profitability of the firm is high. The source of underpricing and underinvestment is the signalling activity by the owner of the highly profitable firm who attempts to convince investors that his firm has a highly profitable project by choosing an offer condition that cannot be imitated by the owner of a firm with low profitability. Thus, we obtained two main results. First, underpricing is a result of a signalling activity by the owner of a firm with high profitability when there exists information asymmetry between the owner of the issuing firm and investors. Second, such information asymmetry also leads to underinvestment in a highly profitable project. Those results clearly show the underpricing entails underinvestment and that information asymmetry leads to a social cost as well as a private cost. The above results are quite general in the sense that they are based upon a neoclassical profit function and full rationality of economic agents. We believe that the results of this paper can be used as a basis for further research on the capital investment process. For instance, one can view the results of this paper as a subgame equilibrium in a larger game in which a firm chooses among diverse ways to raise capital. In addition, the method used in this paper can be used in analyzing a wide range of problems arising from information asymmetry that the Korean financial market faces.

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