• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.504-516
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• 2015

This study addresses one of the curent issues in modern finance, which investigates financial profile on the levels of the chaebol firms' cash hoardings in the domestic capital market. Iit may be imperative to search for robust and consistent financial determinants of cash holdings as well as identifying any changes or trend of the determinants affecting the corporate cash reserves in the post-era of the global financial turmoil, considering that interest parties at the government and corporate levels, still seem to have a controversy or debate on excess cash savings. Two hypotheses were postulated and empirically tested for the chaebol firms in the study, such as any transitional changes of the relevant factors on cash holdings and unique attributes of financial factors discriminating between the different type of domestic stock markets.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.2901-2907
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• 2016

Background: Despite increasing debate about overdiagnosis and overtreatment of thyroid cancer in Korea, information to guide decisions on whether or not to undergo screening for and treatment of abnormal lesions of the thyroid is lacking. Moreover, studies have yet to outline what lay people know and want to know about thyroid cancer. The primary aim of this study was to explore general awareness of thyroid cancer among Korean women, their sources of information, and their satisfaction with the information they are provided. The secondary aim was to investigate information needs about thyroid cancer. Materials and Methods: A qualitative study using focus group interviews was conducted. Twenty-nine women were divided into four groups: (1) participants who had never undergone thyroid ultrasound screening; (2) those who had undergone screening, (3) those who continued to undergo regular check-ups with ultrasonography for benign nodules of the thyroid; and (4) participants who had undergone surgery for thyroid cancer. Results: A widespread lack of awareness of information on thyroid cancer was noted among participants in groups 1 and 2 who were not well aware of thyroid cancer and generally recognized it as a 'good cancer'. Surprisingly, instead of doctors and medical personnel, most participants reported obtaining information from acquaintances and media outlets. Moreover, most participants described dissatisfaction with their experience with screening and a lack of explanation on treatment and test results from medical personnel. Conclusions: Women in Korea seek reliable information on thyroid cancer that could help them to better understand the disease and make informed decisions regarding screening and treatment. More effort is needed from medical personnel to communicate the implications of thyroid cancer, screening results, and treatments thereof to lay people.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.33-64
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• 2015

World Wide Views (WWViews) on Climate and Energy was an experiment of public deliberation which was held in 77 countries with over 10,000 global citizens on June 6, 2015. The coordinator of this project (the Danish Board of Technology with Missions Publiques and the French National Commission for Public Debate) developed the overal procedure, and local partners implemented the actual events in each country on the same day. The coordinator gathered the results of the events from all local sites in order to submit them as global citizens' voice to the COP21 negotiations at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris. This study examines the extent to which such new method of WWViews, standardized at global level to be implemented in different local contexts, achieves its quality of public deliberation (representativeness, transparency, impartial inclusion, deliberativeness, influence) by evaluating the Korean WWViews held in Seoul.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.41-79
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• 2017

The fourth industrial revolution, which is all the rage in recent years in South Korea, comes from Klaus Schwab's book. Schwab claims that recent rapid technological innovation has inevitably determined the future of our society, and regulations on related policies need to be relaxed. The debate on the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the Korean society is also centered on deregulation policies. In particular, it is strongly argued that personal data protection regulation should be relaxed in a big data environments. The Science and technology studies has long criticized technological determinism. The future of technology can be changed by the will of regulatory authorities and the intervention of civil society. In this article, the author examines various discussions at home and abroad around the deregulation of data protection, including de-identification of personal data. Through this, the author criticizes the way of accepting the fourth industrial revolution theory, and draw its implications for the Korean society.

• Review of Culture and Economy
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.121-146
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• 2016

Local governments have absolute authority for the policy and budget. So the backgrounds of local cultural foundation managers vary depending on whether the priorities are close relationship with upper institutions and organizational stability or whether the managers are asked to conduct autonomous management based on professionalism to boost the development of local culture. There are conflicting opinions about managers of local cultural foundations; some argue that administrators are desirable as they can not only maintain close relationship with the local government but also establish and maintain organizational stability. Others argue that cultural art experts are desirable for professional and effective management. However, the conflict and debate kept going on without clarifying objective facts how those completely different backgrounds, such as administrators and cultural art experts, make the characteristics of managers different. In this regard, this study divides the managers of The National Local Cultural Foundations Association into administrator group and cultural art expert group. By comparing and analyzing their characteristics, This study will enhance the professionalism and efficiency of each group.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.539-547
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• 2019

Anoctamin 5 (ANO5)/TMEM16E belongs to a member of the ANO/TMEM16 family member of anion channels. However, it is a matter of debate whether ANO5 functions as a genuine plasma membrane chloride channel. It has been recognized that mutations in the ANO5 gene cause many skeletal muscle diseases such as limb girdle muscular dystrophy type 2L (LGMD2L) and Miyoshi muscular dystrophy type 3 (MMD3) in human. However, the molecular mechanisms of the skeletal myopathies caused by ANO5 defects are poorly understood. To understand the role of ANO5 in skeletal muscle development and function, we silenced the ANO5 gene in C2C12 myoblasts and evaluated whether it impairs myogenesis and myotube function. ANO5 knockdown (ANO5-KD) by shRNA resulted in clustered or aggregated nuclei at the body of myotubes without affecting differentiation or myotube formation. Nuclear positioning defect of ANO5-KD myotubes was accompanied with reduced expression of Kif5b protein, a kinesin-related motor protein that controls nuclear transport during myogenesis. ANO5-KD impaired depolarization-induced $[Ca2^{+}]_i$ transient and reduced sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) $Ca^{2+}$ storage. ANO5-KD resulted in reduced protein expression of the dihydropyridine receptor (DHPR) and SR $Ca^{2+}-ATPase$ subtype 1. In addition, ANO5-KD compromised co-localization between DHPR and ryanodine receptor subtype 1. It is concluded that ANO5-KD causes nuclear positioning defect by reduction of Kif5b expression, and compromises $Ca^{2+}$ signaling by downregulating the expression of DHPR and SERCA proteins.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.181-205
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• 2019

There is evidence that the luminosities of Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) depend on their environments. While the impact of this trend on estimating cosmological parameters is widely acknowledged, the origin of this correlation is still under debate. In order to explore this problem, we first construct the YONSEI (YOnsei Nearby Supernova Evolution Investigation) SN catalog. The catalog consists of 1231 spectroscopically confirmed SNe Ia over a wide redshift range (0.01 < z < 1.37) from various SN surveys and includes light-curve fit data from two independent light-curve fitters, SALT2 and MLCS2k2. For a sample of 674 host galaxies, we use the stellar mass and the star formation rate data in Kim et al. (2018). We find that SNe Ia in low-mass and star-forming host galaxies are $0.062{\pm}0.009mag$ and $0.057{\pm}0.010mag$ fainter than those in high-mass and passive hosts, after light-curve corrections with SALT2 and MLCS2k2, respectively. When only local environments of SNe Ia (e.g., locally star-forming and locally passive) are considered, this luminosity difference increases to $0.081{\pm}0.018mag$ for SALT2 and $0.072{\pm}0.018mag$ for MLCS2k2. Considering the significant difference in the mean stellar population age between the two environments, this result suggests that the luminosity evolution of SNe Ia with redshift is most likely the origin of the environmental dependence.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2015.05a
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• pp.521-521
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• 2015

This study evaluated the gap filler radar as an implementation of the 1.5 km CAPPI data in Korea. The use of the 1.5 km CAPPI data was an inevitable choice, given the topography of the Korean Peninsula and the location of the radar. However, there still exists a significant portion of beam blockage, and thus there has been debate about the need to introduce the gap filler radar (or, the gap-filler). This study evaluated the possible benefits of introducing gap-fillers over the Korean Peninsula. As a first step, the error of the radar data was quantified by the G/R ratio and RMSE, and the radar data over the Korean Peninsula were evaluated. Then, the gap-fillers were located where the error was high, whose effect was then evaluated by the decrease in the G/R ratio and RMSE. The results show that the mean values of the G/R ratio and RMSE of the 1.5 m CAPPI data over the Korean Peninsula were estimated to be about 2.5 and 4.5 mm/hr, respectively. Even after the mean-field bias correction, the RMSE of the 1.5 km CAPPI data has not decreased much to be remained very high around 4.4 mm/hr. Unfortunately, the effect of the gap-filler on the 1.5 CAPPI data was also found very small, just 1 - 2%. However, the gap-filler could be beneficial, if the lowest elevation angle data were used instead of the 1.5 km CAPPI data. The effect of five gap-fillers could be up to 7% decrease in RMSE.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.64 no.3
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• pp.130-135
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• 2021

Background: The clinical significance of lip-tie, or a tethered maxillary frenulum, remains under debate. Clinicians and parents are often perplexed when deciding whether procedures available to relieve a seemingly tight or severe maxillary frenulum are needed. Purpose: No previous studies have assessed the consequences of not subjecting a tethered maxillary frenulum in newborns to surgical intervention. This study aimed to contribute the first prospective trial on this topic with a relatively extended follow-up of these newborn infants. Methods: This prospective observational questionnaire-based cohort trial was performed in a community setting and aimed to determine whether lip-tie is associated with an increased likelihood of eventual feeding or oral disorders. Results: The convenience sample comprised of 61 consecutively arriving infants with concomitant tethered frenula who were treated at the clinic for various reasons. This cohort was compared with a random sample of 66 age-matched children for a mean follow-up period of 6.42 years. Infants undergoing oropharyngeal procedures were excluded. Awareness of a deviation in oral structures was reported by 18% of the study group versus 0% of the controls. Mothers participating in the study group (24.6%) less frequently recalled painful nipples or discomfort during breastfeeding than those in the control group (47.0%) (P<0.01). There were no intergroup differences in other types of feeding difficulty, dental hygiene, pronunciation, or speech development. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that a tethered labial frenulum is not associated with an increase in breastfeeding disturbances or oral disorders. These data encourage clinicians to question the need to intervene in cases of tethered maxillary frenula.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.237-244
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• 2020

Endometrial cancer (EC) in young women tends to be early-stage and low-grade; therefore, such cases have good prognoses. Fertility-sparing treatment with progestin is a potential alternative to definitive treatment (i.e., total hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, pelvic washing, and/or lymphadenectomy) for selected patients. However, no evidence-based consensus or guidelines yet exist, and this topic is subject to much debate. Generally, the ideal candidates for fertility-sparing treatment have been suggested to be young women with grade 1 endometrioid adenocarcinoma confined to the endometrium. Magnetic resonance imaging should be performed to rule out myometrial invasion and extrauterine disease before initiating fertility-sparing treatment. Although various fertility-sparing treatment methods exist, including the levonorgestrel-intrauterine system, metformin, gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists, photodynamic therapy, and hysteroscopic resection, the most common method is high-dose oral progestin (medroxyprogesterone acetate at 500-600 mg daily or megestrol acetate at 160 mg daily). During treatment, re-evaluation of the endometrium with dilation and curettage at 3 months is recommended. Although no consensus exists regarding the ideal duration of maintenance treatment after achieving regression, it is reasonable to consider maintaining the progestin therapy until pregnancy with individualization. According to the literature, the ovarian stimulation drugs used for fertility treatments appear safe. Hysterectomy should be performed after childbearing, and hysterectomy without oophorectomy can also be considered for young women. The available evidence suggests that fertility-sparing treatment is effective and does not appear to worsen the prognosis. If an eligible patient strongly desires fertility despite the risk of recurrence, the clinician should consider fertility-sparing treatment with close follow-up.