• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제72권1호
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• pp.8-14
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• 2012

Background: Although airway obstruction in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is due to pathologic processes in both the airways and the lung parenchyma, the contribution of these processes, as well as other factors, have not yet been evaluated quantitatively. We therefore quantitatively evaluated the factors contributing to airflow limitation in patients with COPD. Methods: The 213 COPD patients were aged >45 years, had smoked >10 pack-years of cigarettes, and had a post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in one second ($FEV_1$)/forced vital capacity (FVC) <0.7. All patients were evaluated by medical interviews, physical examination, spirometry, bronchodilator reversibility tests, lung volume, and 6-minute walk tests. In addition, volumetric computed tomography (CT) was performed to evaluate airway wall thickness, emphysema severity, and mean lung density ratio at full expiration and inspiration. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to identify the variables independently associated with $FEV_1$ - the index of the severity of airflow limitation. Results: Multiple linear regression analysis showed that CT measurements of mean lung density ratio (standardized coefficient ${\beta}$=-0.46; p<0.001), emphysema severity (volume fraction of the lung less than -950 HU at full inspiration; ${\beta}$=-0.24; p<0.001), and airway wall thickness (mean wall area %; ${\beta}$=-0.19, p=0.001), as well as current smoking status (${\beta}$=-0.14; p=0.009) were independent contributors to $FEV_1$. Conclusion: Mean lung density ratio, emphysema severity, and airway wall thickness evaluated by volumetric CT and smoking status could independently contribute to the severity of airflow limitation in patients with COPD.

• 한국항해항만학회지
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• 제46권4호
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• pp.375-384
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• 2022

해운산업은 수요와 공급뿐만 아니라 여러 경제지표와 사회적 사건 등 복잡한 변수에 의하여 영향을 받으며 순환한다. 본 연구는 우리나라 13개 정기선사에 대하여 30여 년의 영업실적을 분석하여 1990년대 말의 외환위기, 2000년대 말의 글로벌 금융위기, 그리고 최근의 코로나 팬데믹 위기 상황에서 정기선 해운기업의 영업이익률에 어떤 요인들이 영향을 미치는지 분석하였다. 정기선사의 특성을 고려하여 원양과 근해로 구분하고, 한국채택국제회계기준(K-IFRS)에 근거한 영업이익률과 시계열에 의한 해상물동량, 선박량 및 거시경제지표를 이용하여 다중회귀분석으로 그 요인을 분석하였다. 한편 사회적 사건으로 인하여 경제지표가 이상하게 탐지된 경기 침체기에 대하여는 별도로 분석하였다. 그 결과 중국컨테이너운임지수 (CCFI)는 원양 및 근해 정기선사 모두에게 정(+)의 영향을 주었다. 한국 컨테이너 선박량은 원양 정기선사에만 정의 영향을 주었고, 세계물동량과 유가는 근해정기선사 영업이익률에 부(-)의 영향을 미쳤다. 더불어 세계와 우리나라 GDP도 미미하게나마 근해선사 영업이익률에 영향을 주었다. 그 외 중국의 GDP, 환율, 이자율 등은 양 그룹의 영업이익률에 유의미한 영향을 주지 못하였다. 또한 경기침체기 중 2009년 글로벌 금융위기를 제외하고 1998년 외환위기 및 2020년 코로나 팬데믹 기간은 오히려 경제지표와 부의 상관관계를 보여주었다. 본 연구는 해운경기 예측의 복잡성과 어려움을 감안하여 금융비용을 고려하지 않은 영업이익률에 초점을 맞추었고, 3번의 경제·사회적 사건을 포함한 장기간의 실증 분석을 통하여 결론을 도출하였다.

• 해양환경안전학회지
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• 제29권5호
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• pp.417-426
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• 2023

세종기지가 위치한 마리안 소만은 기후 변화로 인한 빙하후퇴로 다량의 융빙수가 유입되고 있다. 이러한 빙하후퇴에 따른 생태계 반응을 예측하기 위해, 해양 환경 변화의 지시자인 식물플랑크톤 생체량 및 크기 구조와 물리, 화학적 매개변수에 대한 현장 조사를 2021년 12월, 2022년 1월 두 차례 수행하였다. 2022년 1월의 수온과 염분은 평균 1.41 ± 0.13 ℃, 33.9 ± 0.10 psu로 2021년 1월의 수온과 염분인 0.87 ± 0.17 ℃, 34.1 ± 0.12 psu보다 상대적으로 고온, 저염의 양상을 보였다. 조사시기 동안 영양염류는 대체로 높은 농도를 보여 식물 플랑크톤의 제한요소로 작용하지 않은 것으로 판단된다. 식물플랑크톤 생체량의 지표인 엽록소는 2021년 12월, 2022년 1월에 각각 1.03 ± 0.64 ㎍ L^-1, 0.66 ± 0.15 ㎍ L^-1로 나타났으며 부유물질은 전체 조사기간 평균 24.9 ± 3.54 mg L^-1로 나타났다. 부유물질의 농도가 높은 소만내측에서 엽록소는 낮은 농도를 보였는데 이는 융빙수로부터 유입되는 고농도의 부유물질로 인해 수층 내 빛이 강하게 제한되어 식물플랑크톤의 성장이 저해된 것으로 판단된다. 또한, 빙벽 주변 정점에서 크기가 작은 미소 식물플랑크톤이 전체 식물플랑크톤 생체량에서 70% 이상 차지하는 것으로 나타났으며 이는 융빙수 유입으로 유발된 저조도 환경에서 미소 식물플랑크톤의 기여도가 증가할 수 있음을 시사한다. 따라서 본 연구는 빙하후퇴 지역에서 유입되는 담수와 부유물질이 식물플랑크톤의 생체량 및 군집구조 조절 요인이 될 수 있음을 시사하며, 결과 자료는 추후 마리안 소만의 탄소순환 변동을 파악하는 기초자료로 활용될 수 있다.

• 마케팅과학연구
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• 제19권4호
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• pp.11-23
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• 2009

HSDPA（高速下行分组接入）是在第三代的W－CDMA技术基础上的3.5代移动通信异步服务. 在韩国, 它主要是通过提供可视电话服务. 由于更强大和多元化的服务扩散, 随着移动通信技术迅速的进步, 消费者需要更多的选择. 然而, 由于各种技术, 不论消费者偏好往往会溢出市场, 消费者感到越来越迷惑. 因此, 我们不应该采取只注重发展假设是下一代新技术项目的战略相反, 我们应该了解消费者接受新的形式和技术的过程, 通过制定战略, 使开发人员能够理解并提供消费者真正想要的, 从而降低进入市场的障碍. 在技术接受模型（TAM）中, 感知到的有用性和使用的简单性被认为是影响人们接受新技术的态度的最重要因素(Davis, 1989; Taylor and Todd, 1995; Venkatesh, 2000; Lee et al., 2004). 感知到的有用性是一个人相信某种特定的技术能提高他或她工作绩效的程度. 感知易用性是主观认为使用某种特定技术不需要太多体力和精力的付出的程度(Davis, 1989; Morris and Dillon, 1997; Venkatesh, 2000). 感知的愉悦性和感知的有用性已经被清楚的证明对接受技术的态度有影响(Davis et al., 1992). 比如, 网上购物的愉悦性已经表现出对消费者对网上商家的态度有积极的影响(Eighmey and McCord, 1998; Mathwick, 2002; Jarvenpaa and Todd, 1997). 消费者的感知风险是一种主观风险. 这种风险和客观可能的风险是有显著区别的. 感知风险包括心理上的风险, 这是当消费者为某一特定物品而选择品牌, 商店和购买方式时所感知到的. 企业革新产品的能力取决于有效的获得有关新产品的知识(Bierly and Chakrabarti, 1996; Rothwell and Dodgson, 1991). 知识获取是公司感知外界新事物和技术的价值的能力(Cohen and Levinthal, 1990); 是公司评估外界最新的技术的能力(Arora and Gambaradella, 1994); 是公司正确预测这项科技对未来革新的能力(Cohen and Levinthal, 1990). 消费者创新是一种在社会体系中比其他人更早接受创新的程度(Lee, Ahn, and Ha, 2001; Gatignon and Robertson, 1985). 也就是说, 它显示了消费者如何快速、方便地接受新的思路. 创新被认为是重要的, 因为它对消费者是否接受新产品和他们多快接受新产品有显著的影响(Midgley and Dowling, 1978; Foxall, 1988; Hirschman, 1980). 我们用技术接受模型来进行跨国家的研究比较, 此模型实证验证了影响态度的因素-感知有用性, 易用性, 感知愉悦, 感知风险, 创新和感知的知识管理水平-和对ＨＳＤＰＡ服务的态度之间的关系. 我们为HSDPA服务提供商开发更有效的管理方法还验证了态度和使用意图之间的关系. 在本研究中, 我们在韩国350名学生中分发了346份问卷调查. 由于其中26份收回的问卷时不完整的或者有缺失数据, 所以在假设检验时320份问卷被使用. 在英国, 200份问卷收回了192份, 舍弃了两份不完整的之后, 总共有190份问卷用于统计分析中. 整体模型的分析结果如下: 韩国, x2=333.27(p=0.0), NFI=0.88, NNFI=0.88, CFI=0.91, IFI=0.91, RMR=0.054, GFI=0.90, AGFI=0.84; 英国, x2=176.57(p=0.0), NFI=0.88, NNFI=0.90, CFI=0.93, IFI=0.93, RMR=0.062, GFI=0.90, AGFI=0.84. 在韩国消费者中, 从有关影响HSDPA服务的使用意图和态度之间的关系的假设检验的结果中, 感知的有用性, 易用性, 乐趣, 知识管理的高水平和促进创新对HSDPA移动手机的态度有积极的影响. 然后, 易用性和感知的乐趣对HSDPA服务的使用意图没有直接的影响. 这可能是因为在日常生活中使用视频电话还不是必需的这一现实. 而且消费者对ＨＳＤＰＡ视频电话的态度和使用意图有直接的关系, 这些态度包括感知的有用性, 易用性, 乐趣, 知识管理的高水平和创新. 这些关系构成了购买意图的基础, 并造成消费者决定谨慎购买的情况. 对欧洲消费者的假设检验结果揭示了感知的有用性, 乐趣, 风险和知识管理水平是影响态度形成的因素, 而易用性和创新则对态度没有影响. 特别是效果价值和感知有用性, 在快乐和知识管理之后对态度有最大的影响. 相反, 认为感知风险对态度影响较小. 在亚洲模型中易用性和感知的乐趣没有发现对使用意图有直接影响. 然而, 因为态度广泛的影响使用意图, 感知有用性, 乐趣, 风险和知识管理可被视为从使用意图中的态度发展的关键因素. 总之, 感知的有用性, 愉悦和知识管理水平在亚洲和欧洲消费者中对态度形成都有影响, 这些梯度形成了消费者的使用意图. 而且, 易用性和感知的乐趣对使用意图的假设被拒绝. 然而, 易用性, 感知风险和创新有不同的结果. 在亚洲消费者中, 感知风险对态度形成没有影响, 而在欧洲消费者中, 易用性和创新对态度都没有影响.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제25권8호
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• pp.889-895
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• 2015

혈관내피세포 기능장애는 동맥경화증 발생의 초기단계이다. 비타민B군(B6, B12, 엽산)은 혈관항상성에 중요한 인자이다. 이들 비타민B군이 결핍되면 혈관항상성에 변화가 생겨 심혈관질환을 유발한다. 비타민B군 중 엽산은 내피세포에서 산화질소 항상성에 중요한 역할을 한다. 동맥경화증에 관련된 섭취엽산의 용량의존적 효과를 알기 위해, C57BL/6 쥐의 대동맥이완과 간 C반응단백질 수준을 연구하였다. 본 연구는 총 54마리의 C57BL/6 쥐를 서양식이군과 대조식이군으로 나누고, 각각은 다시 엽산섭취용량(0.2, 2, 8mg/kg)에 따라 3형태의 하위집단으로 나누었다. 18개월 동안의 식이섭취후, 양군의 8mg/kg 엽산섭취용량에서는 대동맥 이완반응을 전혀 나타내지 않았고 양군의 차이도 없었다(p<0.05). 모든 엽산섭취용량(0.2, 2, 8mg/kg)에서 간 C반응단백질 수준은 대조식이군보다 서양식이군에서 더 높았다(p=0.035). 양군의 간 C반응단백질 수준은 0.2 mg/kg 엽산섭취용량에서 가장 낮았다(p<0.05). 결론적으로, C57BL/6 쥐에서 식이에 관계없이 0.2 mg/kg 엽산섭취용량만으로도 대동맥의 이완반응을 유도하고 간 C반응단백질 수준을 낮춤으로써 동맥경화증을 충분히 예방할 수 있다.

• 한국수정란이식학회지
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.133-145
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• 2004

난자의 체외성숙 및 체외배양에는 일반적으로 동물의 혈청을 사용하고 있다. 그러나, 채취한 소의 상태에 따라서 혈청의 질에 차이가 있어 실험데이터가 일정하지 않을 수 있고, 그것으로부터 바이러스, 세균, 마이코플라즈마 등에 오염될 가능성이 있다. 따라서, 본 실험에서는 완전 무 혈청 배양액에서 난자의 성숙, 배 발생율, 세포 수, 동결성을 검토하였다. 다음으로, 근래 혈청배지로 생산한 체외 배양 수정란은 과체중의 산자 생산, 초기 산자 사망률, caesarean section, dystocia 같은 발병으로 문제가 지적되고 있다. 그러나 무 혈청 배지로 생산한 체외 배양 수정란은 이러한 현상을 개선할 수 있다는 보고가 있어 본 실험에서는 완전 무혈청 배양액에서 생산된 동결란과 신선란을 젖소에 이식하여 그 결과를 검토하였다. 무혈청 배양액에는 에너지원과 세포성장인자가 첨가된 IVD101과 IVMD101, 대조군인 혈청 배양액에는 TCM199 + 10% FBS가 사용되었다. IVMD101에 의해 체외성숙이 이루어 졌고, 혈청이 첨가된 TCM199 + 10% FBS에서는 12.4% 배 발생율을 보인데 반해, 무혈청 배양액 IVD101과 IVMD101이 각 32.4%, 34.5%로 훨씬 높은 배 발생율을 보였다. 더욱이, 세포 수에 있어서도 무혈청 배양액에서 발생된 배반포의 세포수가 혈청이 첨가된 배양액에서 발생된 배반포의 세포수보다 월등하였으며, 이는 체내란과 비슷한 세포 수를 보이고 있다. 수정란의 내동성을 보면, 융해하고 24시간 배양기 정치 후에 IVD101과 IVMD101은 94.5%, 95.8%의 생존율을 보인 반면 TCM199 + 10% FBS는 52.5%에 불과하다. 융해하고 72시간후 탈출 배반포율이 IVD101과 IVMD101는 78.4%, 83.7%였는데 반해 TCM199 + 10% FBS는 32.0%였다. 마지막으로, 무혈청 배양액에서 발생한 동결란과 신선란을 젖소에 이식한 후에 임신율에 있어서는 유의적 차이는 없었지만, 무혈청 배지에서 생산된 수정란의 내동성의 탁월함이 증명되었다. 이러한 결과들로 종합해 보면, 무혈청 배양액 (IVD101, IVMD101)에서 발생된 수정란이 혈청 배양액에서 발생된 수정란보다 배발생율, 세포수, 동결성, 임신율에 있어서 우수함을 알 수 있었다. 이러한 무혈청 배양액은 배발생 과정의 연구뿐만 아니라 수정란 이식을 위한 고품질의 체외 수정란의 대량 생산, 복제, 형질전환 동물 생산 등에도 유익할 것으로 사료된다.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제2권1호
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• pp.5-22
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• 1969

The urban population of our country is rapidly increasing due to many factors of social structure, and sociologists are predicting that the increase rate of the urban population will be over 50% in 1980's. Above all, the population of the capital city of Seoul, is at present more than four millions. Such centring of people in cities, together with the improvement of the standards of living, caused rapid increase in the amount of fuel consumption, and this consumption of fuels became one of the primary sources of the air pollution in cities. Moreover, the heavy traffic, construction of many tall buildings, and the increasing number of new factories due to the industrial development-all these are contributing to make the matter of air pollution worse and worse in the Metropolitan, whose geographical location is quite unfavorable considered from the view point of air pollution. Most homes in Seoul use briquet as fuel, while oils are used in tall buildings. The CO, $SO_2$, and smoke that come from burning of these fuels are a great threat to the health of the urban population. With the purpose of examining the influence of air pollution upon the public health, written inquiries were made upon respiratory diseases, and the carboxyhemoglobin saturation in the blood was measured to determine whether the air pollution may affect the health of the urban population. Method of Health Examination (1) Investigation of Respiratory Diseases Patients' records were examined to figure out the monthly ambulance rate of respiratory patients to the total number of patients treated. On the other hand, by using the questionnaire form approved by the Medical Research Council's Committee on Research into Chronic Bronchitis, investigators interviewed the examinees and inquired into the respiratory symptoms. (2) Measuring of Carboxyhemoglobin Saturation From the ear lobe of the examinees, with the use of the melangeur for the white blood cell counting, blood was taken, and after diluting it ten times with 0.1% $Na{2}CO_{3}$, again diulting it 20 times with 0.5% $Na_{2}\;CO_{3}$, its absorbancy was measured. The following results are obtained from the investigation. (1) It was found out that 7.7% of the total patients under treatment were suffering from upper respiratory infection, acute or chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, pulmonary emphysema and bronchiectasis. Of them all, patients with upper respiratory infection numbered the greatest with 4.8% and patients with acute or chronic bronchitis the next with 2.1%, and their monthly ambulance rate was high from December to February during the winter, and from April to May and from September to October during the changeable seasons. (2) The daily ambulance rate of respiratory patients, it was revealed, had a close connection with the concentration of $SO_2$ and CO in the air. (3) It was found out that men were more subject to respiratory disease than women, and both men and women were more liable to the diseases with the advancing of age. (4) People living at Choong-ku with the heavy traffic and in the industrial zones of Yeungdungpo had high frequency of respiratory symptoms. (5) Considered from the view point of occupations, high frequency was found among those without job, with jobs unknown, merchants and intdustrial workers, whose social status was rather low and traffic policemen who were always exposed to the exhaust gas of cars. As for women, the frequency was detected in the order of those from high to low, housewives who were exposed to briquet gas, women with jobs unknown, women without jobs, whose social status was low. (6) Ex-smokers rather than smokers, of both sexes, had higher frequency. As for men, heavy smokers had high frequency, while in women light smokers had rather high frequency which was presumed to be due to their average old age. (7) Men's average of carboxyhemoglobin saturation was 9.48%, while women's was 11.3%, higher than men's. (p<0.05). Age meant no difference in the case of men, but as for women, the saturation was remarkably high between the ages from 20 to 60. (8) No regional difference was detected in the carboxyhemoglobin saturation. (9) The carboxyhemoglobin saturation was found, in the case of men, in the order of office workers, traffic policemen, students, the unemployed, merchants and industrial workers, drivers; and as for women, the order was housewives, office workers, merchants and industrial workers. (10) No significant correlation was found between the carboxyhemoglobin saturation and the concentration of CO detected in kitchens, or between the carhoxyhemoglobin saturation and the passing of time after exposure to briquet gas. No difference of carboxyhemoglobin saturation was detected between smokers and non-smokers, and the degrees of smoking; only, significant negative correlation was found between the passing of time after smoking and the carboxyhemoglobin saturation. It is ture that air pollution causes or aggravates the respiratory diseases, increases the carboxyhemoglobin saturation in the blood, but what seems to be more hazardous to the health is the air polluted by the briquet gas in the kitchens and on-dol rooms rather than the atmospheric air pollution.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.421-426
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• 1999

도시 가스 제조 공장에서 집단적으로 피부질환이 발생하여 1998년 8월 14일과 9월 11일 2차례에 걸쳐 한번이라도 설문조사가 가능하였던 사무직 49명, 생산직 15명, 탱크로리 운전기사 6명 및 경비 3명 총 73명을 조사 대상으로 하여 역학 조사를 시행하였다. 조사 방법은 설문 조사를 실시하고, 피부질환이 있는 근로자의 피부병변을 피부과 전문의가 관찰하였다. 집단 피부질환의 발생 원인이 개미일 것이라는 가설 하에 원인으로 생각하는 개미를 채집하여 종명을 확인하였다. 조사 대상자 73명 중에서 이번 유행과 관련된 피부질환 발생자는 12례로 피부 질환 발병률은 16.4%이었다. 연령별, 교육수준별 및 근무기간별 발병률의 차이는 없었다. 직종별 피부질환의 발병률은 생산직 근로자에서 타직종 근로자보다 유의하게 발병률이 높았다. 피부질환 발생 장소는 10례가 생산동의 조종실이었고, 9례가 개미에게 물린 것을 확인하였다. 원인으로 생각되는 개미를 채집 동정한 결과 왕침개미(Pachycondyla chinensis) 임을 확인하였다. 피부질환 환자군 12명과 비환자군 61명을 비교한 결과 1997년에 동일한 피부질환은 없었다. 가족 중 피부질환자는 환자군에서 1명이 있었으나 유행과는 무관하였고, 피부질환과 알레르기 질환의 과거력도 차이가 없었다. 피부병변은 개미 교상후 홍반이 발생하였고, 주증상으로는 가려움증이 가장 많았다. 3례에서는 전신적인 알레르기 피부병변을 관찰할 수 있었다. 피부질환은 7월 30일부터 8월 12일까지 발생하였고, 유병기간은 5일부터 30일까지이었다. 피부병변의 발생부위는 가슴과 복부가 각각 66.6%, 목과 팔은 각각 33.3%, 어깨와 등은 각각 16.7%이었고 최초 발생부위는 복부가 41.7%, 목이 25.0%, 팔은 16.7%이었다. 치료 방법은 자가 치료가 9례(75.0%), 약국 방문이 1례 (8.3%), 병원 방문이 2례(16.7%)이었다. 이상의 결과에서 이번 집단 피부질환 유행은 왕침개미의 교상에 의하여 발생하였다고 생각한다. 앞으로 본 유행을 일으킨 개미가 이 지역에서 유행하게 된 원인과 개미의 생활사에 대한 연구와 함께 환경개선 및 재발을 막기 위한 예방적 조치가 강구되어야 한다.

• 대한간호학회지
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• 제3권3호
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• pp.1-14
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• 1973

This study is designed to meet the following objectives: (1) To study attitude and behavior regarding marriage and age at marriage, (2) To learn correlates of age at marriage and to examine their relations, (3) To measure relative importance of the correlates of age at marriage, and (4) To study relations of age at marriage and family planning practice to fertility and their relative importance as correlates of fertility. The data are obtained by an independent cross-sectional survey in three study areas purposively selected to represent metropolitan. semihuman. rural population. The study population is confined to women age 17-50 as of survey. The overall response rate is 90%. Reliability of data is measured by . individual and aggregate inconsistency based upon a 15% subsample of the original interviews. The individual inconsistency (31%) is found to be high compared to the aggregate inconsistency (6%) for all 85 variables. However, the magnitude of differences between means is small, and the mean absolute shifts and proportional shifts are also small on the whole. In a word respondents did not change their answers too extremely or radically. The study populations of each study area are compared on some basic characteristics. It is found that the three study populations have more dissimilarities than similarities. The findings on seven different attitudinal positions of women toward marriage indicate that there have been tremendous changes in all study areas Iron "traditional" attitudes which have been prevalent for a long time in Korean society to "liberalized" or "modernized" attitudes. An apparent tendency is that women generally take a position of a "golden mean" attitude by not preferring either extreme of marriage attitudes. Nevertheless, the young, single, educated, and urbanite appears more "liberalized. " There has been some increase in ideal age at marriage from 1958 to 1970 for both sexes. No age group, marital status, or study area differentials in ideal age at marriage are found, the average ideal age at marriage in every sub-group being 24-25. Awareness of existing legal marriageable ages is low; only 4.4% are aware that "with parental permission: minimum age for males is 18 years and for females 16 years,"and only 3.7% are aware that "without parental permission: 27 years for males and 23 years for females." People in Korra tend to marry spouses who are in various social ways like themselves: the similarities include (a) education, occupational status of father, (c) economic status, (d) usual residence before marriage, and (e) religion. Both singulars and actual mean ages at marriage in this study confirm the trend of rising age at marriage previously established by other independent studies. The urban-rural differential in age at marriage is observed, but the differential narrows down gradually from 1935 to 1970. All socio-economic, demographic, and other variables pertaining to wife before and at first marriage, excluding (a) religion, (b) father′s of occupation, and (c) as: of menarche, are correlated with respondent's age at first marriage, whereas only three variables out of all socio-economic variables relating to husband before and at wife′s first marriage, viz., (a) education, (b) usual residence, and (c) economic level of his old home, are correlated with respondent′s age at marriage. Among socio-economic and modernity variables related to either husband or wife at the time of survey, only education and duration of residence are correlated with wife′s age at first marriage. Among the correlates of respondent′age at first marriage, education is in general the most important variable. However, it is found that wife′s education is more important than husband′s. The combined effects or the correlates studied explain no more than about 40% of variance for any of the selected groups of variables. Points which might counteract the effects of late marriage on fertility are not serious in Korea. For each of the correlates of the three fertility indices chosen for this study. namely, (a) number of living children, (b) number of live births, and (c) number of pregnancies, age at marriage is the major contributor to the variance in all age groups except the age group of 20-29 in which the index of family planning practice is the major contributor. The proportion of variability in fertility indices accounted for by the correlates is never more than 40% of the total variance in any age group. Based upon the findings from this study, it could be concluded that in the foreseeable future (a) celibate group will no! be increased to a point that would slow down population growth rate in Korea, (b) age at marriage will not increase continually, (c) although education stands out as the major contributing variable which independently explains the variation in age at marriage, it seems probable that education may not be the major variable in the near future, and (d) despite the fact found by this study that age at marriages has been the major contributor to the variance of each of the fertility indices used, family planning practice will play a more important role in the reduction of fertility in the Korean society. Therefore, factors interrupting practice of family planning must be eliminated and family planning program should be strengthened if further fertility reduction is needed.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.21-38
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• 2012

Until recently, successful implementation of ERP systems has been a popular topic among ERP researchers, who have attempted to identify its various contributing factors. None of these efforts, however, explicitly recognize the need to identify disparities that can exist between organizational information requirements and ERP systems. Since ERP systems are in fact "packages" -that is, software programs developed by independent software vendors for sale to organizations that use them-they are designed to meet the general needs of numerous organizations, rather than the unique needs of a particular organization, as is the case with custom-developed software. By adopting standard packages, organizations can substantially reduce many of the potential implementation risks commonly associated with custom-developed software. However, it is also true that the nature of the package itself could be a risk factor as the features and functions of the ERP systems may not completely comply with a particular organization's informational requirements. In this study, based on the organizational memory mismatch perspective that was derived from organizational memory theory and cognitive dissonance theory, we define the nature of disparities, which we call "mismatches," and propose that the mismatch between organizational information requirements and ERP systems is one of the primary determinants in the successful implementation of ERP systems. Furthermore, we suggest that customization efforts as a coping strategy for mismatches can play a significant role in increasing the possibilities of success. In order to examine the contention we propose in this study, we employed a survey-based field study of ERP project team members, resulting in a total of 77 responses. The results of this study show that, as anticipated from the organizational memory mismatch perspective, the mismatch between organizational information requirements and ERP systems makes a significantly negative impact on the implementation success of ERP systems. This finding confirms our hypothesis that the more mismatch there is, the more difficult successful ERP implementation is, and thus requires more attention to be drawn to mismatch as a major failure source in ERP implementation. This study also found that as a coping strategy on mismatch, the effects of customization are significant. In other words, utilizing the appropriate customization method could lead to the implementation success of ERP systems. This is somewhat interesting because it runs counter to the argument of some literature and ERP vendors that minimized customization (or even the lack thereof) is required for successful ERP implementation. In many ERP projects, there is a tendency among ERP developers to adopt default ERP functions without any customization, adhering to the slogan of "the introduction of best practices." However, this study asserts that we cannot expect successful implementation if we don't attempt to customize ERP systems when mismatches exist. For a more detailed analysis, we identified three types of mismatches-Non-ERP, Non-Procedure, and Hybrid. Among these, only Non-ERP mismatches (a situation in which ERP systems cannot support the existing information needs that are currently fulfilled) were found to have a direct influence on the implementation of ERP systems. Neither Non-Procedure nor Hybrid mismatches were found to have significant impact in the ERP context. These findings provide meaningful insights since they could serve as the basis for discussing how the ERP implementation process should be defined and what activities should be included in the implementation process. They show that ERP developers may not want to include organizational (or business processes) changes in the implementation process, suggesting that doing so could lead to failed implementation. And in fact, this suggestion eventually turned out to be true when we found that the application of process customization led to higher possibilities of failure. From these discussions, we are convinced that Non-ERP is the only type of mismatch we need to focus on during the implementation process, implying that organizational changes must be made before, rather than during, the implementation process. Finally, this study found that among the various customization approaches, bolt-on development methods in particular seemed to have significantly positive effects. Interestingly again, this finding is not in the same line of thought as that of the vendors in the ERP industry. The vendors' recommendations are to apply as many best practices as possible, thereby resulting in the minimization of customization and utilization of bolt-on development methods. They particularly advise against changing the source code and rather recommend employing, when necessary, the method of programming additional software code using the computer language of the vendor. As previously stated, however, our study found active customization, especially bolt-on development methods, to have positive effects on ERP, and found source code changes in particular to have the most significant effects. Moreover, our study found programming additional software to be ineffective, suggesting there is much difference between ERP developers and vendors in viewpoints and strategies toward ERP customization. In summary, mismatches are inherent in the ERP implementation context and play an important role in determining its success. Considering the significance of mismatches, this study proposes a new model for successful ERP implementation, developed from the organizational memory mismatch perspective, and provides many insights by empirically confirming the model's usefulness.