• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.51-79
• /
• 1990

Research on technical efficiency, an important dimension of market performance, had received little attention until recently by most industrial organization empiricists, the reason being that traditional microeconomic theory simply assumed away any form of inefficiency in production. Recently, however, an increasing number of research efforts have been conducted to answer questions such as: To what extent do technical ineffciencies exist in the production activities of firms and plants? What are the factors accounting for the level of inefficiency found and those explaining the interindustry difference in technical inefficiency? Are there any significant international differences in the levels of technical efficiency and, if so, how can we reconcile these results with the observed pattern of international trade, etc? As the first in a series of studies on the technical efficiency of Korea's manufacturing industries, this paper attempts to answer some of these questions. Since the estimation of technical efficiency requires the use of plant-level data for each of the five-digit KSIC industries available from the Census of Manufactures, one may consture the findings of this paper as empirical evidence of technical efficiency in Korea's manufacturing industries at the most disaggregated level. We start by clarifying the relationship among the various concepts of efficiency-allocative effciency, factor-price efficiency, technical efficiency, Leibenstein's X-efficiency, and scale efficiency. It then becomes clear that unless certain ceteris paribus assumptions are satisfied, our estimates of technical inefficiency are in fact related to factor price inefficiency as well. The empirical model employed is, what is called, a stochastic frontier production function which divides the stochastic term into two different components-one with a symmetric distribution for pure white noise and the other for technical inefficiency with an asymmetric distribution. A translog production function is assumed for the functional relationship between inputs and output, and was estimated by the corrected ordinary least squares method. The second and third sample moments of the regression residuals are then used to yield estimates of four different types of measures for technical (in) efficiency. The entire range of manufacturing industries can be divided into two groups, depending on whether or not the distribution of estimated regression residuals allows a successful estimation of technical efficiency. The regression equation employing value added as the dependent variable gives a greater number of "successful" industries than the one using gross output. The correlation among estimates of the different measures of efficiency appears to be high, while the estimates of efficiency based on different regression equations seem almost uncorrelated. Thus, in the subsequent analysis of the determinants of interindustry variations in technical efficiency, the choice of the regression equation in the previous stage will affect the outcome significantly.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.131-138
• /
• 2017

In most mammals, metaphase II (MII) oocytes having high maturation promoting factor (MPF) activity have been considered as good oocytes and then used for assisted reproductive technologies including somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Caffeine increases MPF activity in mammalian oocytes by inhibiting p34cdc2 phosphorylation. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of caffeine treatment during in vitro maturation (IVM) on oocyte maturation and embryonic development after SCNT in pigs. To this end, morphologically good (MGCOCs) and poor oocytes (MPCOCs) based on the thickness of cumulus cell layer were untreated or treated with 2.5 mM caffeine during 22-42, 34-42, or 38-42 h of IVM according to the experimental design. Caffeine treatment for 20 h during 22-42 h of IVM significantly inhibited nuclear maturation compared to no treatment. Blastocyst formation of SCNT embryos was not influenced by the caffeine treatment during 38-42 h of IVM in MGCOCs (41.1-42.1%) but was significantly improved in MPCOCs compared to no treatment (43.4 vs. 30.1%, P<0.05). No significant effects of caffeine treatment was observed in embryo cleavage (78.7-88.0%) and mean cell number in blastocyst (38.7-43.5 cells). The MPF activity of MII oocytes in terms of p34cdc2 kinase activity was not influenced by the caffeine treatment in MGCOCs (160.4 vs. 194.3 pg/ml) but significantly increased in MPCOCs (133.9 vs. 204.8 pg/ml). Our results demonstrate that caffeine treatment during 38-42 h of IVM improves developmental competence of SCNT embryos derived from MPCOCs by influencing cytoplasmic maturation including increased MPF activity in IVM oocytes in pigs.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
• /
• s.36
• /
• pp.189-215
• /
• 2014

Since the launching of in 1963, a large amount of outstanding cartoons had been produced in China by the year 1980. During this period of time, international reputation was achieved with the extremely full expression and characteristic stories originated from Chinese culture. Decades of cartoons were produced ever year benefiting from support of the government in the last years. However, the quality and in fluence power dropped down comparing with the increasing productivity. The outward followed by examples of successful international box office most of the animation made in China. These cartoons did not obtain admitting internationally, or disclose any traditional speciality of China, although the domestic box office is considered to be fairly successful. The key factors to the successful cases should be analysed and researched rather than simply estimating, in order to achieve both artistic and commercial success. Factor of humor, as a key element of a successful cartoon is proposed in this thesis. Prior to the discussion, a general definition of humor factor is described through Henri Bergson's comedy concept, based on which the key factors of humor will be analysed. A classification system would be derived and introduced as a tool for the analysis of humor factors. According to Henri Bergson, Humor is determined by circumstance, language and character factors. Humor factors are divided into visual, scene and acoustic factors in this research taking the Speciality of cartoon media into consideration. It is the speciality that, in addition to the visual and language factors, multiple acoustic elements are also introduced in such a presentation pattern. This classification system would be considerably applicable to the analysis of humor factors in Chinese cartoons. In this study, around the year 2000 to share the Chinese animation masterpiece were analyzed by selecting and , and . This discussion about key factors of humor is likely to be beneficial to the development of Chinese Cartoons in the future.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.49 no.3
• /
• pp.243-247
• /
• 2006

The biological activity of functional food source with thyme extracts were examined. Total phenol contents in the 60% ethanol extracts $(26.8{\pm}0.35\;mg/g)$ with thyme leaf was higher than water extracts $(25.7{\pm}0.20\;mg/g)$. This HPLC analysis is significant in that physiological activity is related with phenolic compound content such as rosemarinic acid, quercetin and chlorogenic acid. Electron donating ability was shown as 90.1% in the water extracts and 77.7% in the 60% ethanol extracts. Antioxidant protection factor of 60% ethanol extracts was higher than water extracts. Helicobacter pylori of the water extracts from thyme leaves did not have antimicrobial activity, but the 60% ethanol extracts revealed the high antimicrobial activity as 9 mm of clear zone in $50\;{\mu}g/ml$ of phenol content, 10 mm in $100\;{\mu}g/ml$, 13 mm in $150\;{\mu}g/ml$ and 16 mm in $200\;{\mu}g/ml$, respectively. Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition activity showed no inhibition activity in 60% ethanol extracts but 39.9% inhibition activity in water extracts. Xanthine oxidase inhibition activity showed high inhibition activity at 73.5% in water extracts and 100% in 60% ethanol extracts. The result suggests the development of phenol compound in thyme as anti Helicobacter pylori, antioxidant and anti-gout agents.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.38 no.5
• /
• pp.259-268
• /
• 2005

Most of the tailings have been left without any management in their mines and have become the main source of serious environmental problems in nearby groundwater, stream and cultivated lands. To compare fractionation and potential mobility of heavy metals in tailings and paddy soils near abandoned 10-metalliferous mines in Korea, the distribution and chemical fractions of heavy metal and their mobility in relation to chemical compositions were investigated. The pollution index of heavy metal in mine tailing calculated with the permissible levels were in the order Cheongyang>Dogok>Beutdeun>Baegwoul mine, which were considered sufficient to raise environmental problems. The rates of 0.1M-HCl extractable Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Ni to total content in paddy soils were 49.1, 50.7, 26.8, 18.4 and 2.9%, respectively, and their rates of heavy metals in paddy soils were higher than that of mine tailing. Dominant chemical forms of heavy metals in tailings were sulfide and residual form (63-91%), specially, the exchangeable portion of Cd (21%) was relatively higher than that of other metals in paddy soils. The mobility factor of heavy metals in tailings and paddy soils was in the order Cd>Zn>Cu>Pb, and the mobility factor in tailing varied considerably among the mines. The potential mobility of heavy metals in tailings showed significant positive correlation with water-soluble $Al^{3+}$ and $Fe^{3+}$ contents, while in paddy soils, it correlated negatively with soil pH values.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.133-144
• /
• 2004

A model and a measure which can evaluate the risk of rear end collision are developed. Most traffic accidents involve multiple causes such as the human factor, the vehicle factor, and the highway element at any given time. Thus, these factors should be considered in analyzing the risk of an accident and in developing safety models. Although most risky situations and accidents on the roads result from the poor response of a driver to various stimuli, many researchers have modeled the risk or accident by analyzing only the stimuli without considering the response of a driver. Hence, the reliabilities of those models turned out to be low. Thus in developing the model behaviors of a driver, such as reaction time and deceleration rate, are considered. In the past, most studies tried to analyze the relationships between a risk and an accident directly but they, due to the difficulty of finding out the directional relationships between these factors, developed a model by considering these factors, developed a model by considering indirect factors such as volume, speed, etc. However, if the relationships between risk and accidents are looked into in detail, it can be seen that they are linked by the behaviors of a driver, and depending on drivers the risk as it is on the road-vehicle system may be ignored or call drivers' attention. Therefore, an accident depends on how a driver handles risk, so that the more related risk to and accident occurrence is not the risk itself but the risk responded by a driver. Thus, in this study, the behaviors of a driver are considered in the model and to reflect these behaviors three concepts related to accidents are introduced. And safe stopping distance and accident occurrence probability were used for better understanding and for more reliable modeling of the risk. The index which can represent the risk is also developed based on measures used in evaluating noise level, and for the risk comparison between various situations, the equivalent risk level, considering the intensity and duration time, is developed by means of the weighted average. Validation is performed with field surveys on the expressway of Seoul, and the test vehicle was made to collect the traffic flow data, such as deceleration rate, speed and spacing. Based on this data, the risk by section, lane and traffic flow conditions are evaluated and compared with the accident data and traffic conditions. The evaluated risk level corresponds closely to the patterns of actual traffic conditions and counts of accident. The model and the method developed in this study can be applied to various fields, such as safety test of traffic flow, establishment of operation & management strategy for reliable traffic flow, and the safety test for the control algorithm in the advanced safety vehicles and many others.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
• /
• 2007.11a
• /
• pp.79-92
• /
• 2007

Oxidative stress have known to be a risk factor for the degenerative processes and closely related to a lot of diseases. It is well established that antioxidants are good in protection and therapeutic means against oxidative damage. There is increasing interest in natural antioxidants and many natural antioxidants have been found and utilized as the possible protection for various diseases and skin aging. We have screened natural antioxidant agents for cosmeceuticals, nutraceuticals, and drugs as therapeutic and preventive means against oxidative stress, and have developed a number of novel antioxidants from various natural sources. A novel melanin synthesis inhibitor, Melanocin A, isolated from the metabolite of a fungal strain Eupenicillium shearii F80695 inhibited mushroom tyrosinase and melanin biosynthesis of B16 melanoma cells with $IC_{50}$ value of 9.0 nM and MIC value of $0.9\;{\mu}M$, respectively. Melanocin A also exhibited potent antioxidant activity by scavenging of DPPH and superoxide anion radicals. UV was found to increase the level of hydrogen peroxides and other reactive oxygen species (ROS) in skin tissues. This increase in ROS may not only alter the structure and function of many genes and proteins directly but may also modulate their expressions through signal transduction pathways and, ultimately, lead to skin damage. We investigated the effect of Melanocin A on UV-induced premature skin aging. Firstly, the effect of Melanocin A on UV-induced matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 expression in an immortalized human keratinocyte cell line, HaCaT in vitro was investigated. Acute UV irradiation induced MMP-9 expression at both the mRNA and protein levels and Melanocin A suppressed this expression in a dose-dependent manner. We then investigated UV-induced skin changes in hairless mice in vivo by Melanocin A. Chronic exposure of hairless mouse dorsal skin to UV increased skin thickness and induced wrinkle formation and the gelatinase activities of MMP-2 and MMP-9. Moreover, Melanocin A significantly suppressed UV-induced morphologic skin changes and MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression. These results show that Melanocin A can prevent the harmful effects of UV that lead to skin aging. Therefore, we suggest that Melanocin A should be viewed as a potential therapeutic agent for preventing and/or treating premature skin aging. Terrein is a bioactive fungal metabolite isolated from Penicillium species. Terrein has a relatively simple structure and can be easily synthesized. However, the biologic effects of terrein are comparatively unknown. We found for the first time that terrein potently inhibit melanin production in melanocytes and has a strong hypopigmentary effect in a spontaneously immortalized mouse melanocyte cell line, Mel-Ab. Treatment of Mel-Ab cells with terrein (10-100 mM) for 4 days significantly reduced melanin levels in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, terrein at the same concentration also reduced tyrosinase activity. We then investigated whether terrein influences the extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK) pathway and the expression of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), which is required for tyrosinase expression. Terrein was found to induce sustained ERK activation and MITF down-regulation, and luciferase assays showed that terrein inhibits MITF promoter activity in a dose-dependent manner. To elucidate the correlation between ERK pathway activation and a decreased MITF transcriptional level, PD98059, a specific inhibitor of the ERK pathway, was applied before terrain treatment and found to abrogate the terrein-induced MITF attenuation. Terrein also reduced the tyrosinase protein level for at least 72 h. These results suggest that terrain reduces melanin synthesis by reducing tyrosinase production via ERK activation, and that this is followed by MITF down-regulation.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.138-144
• /
• 2010

Purpose: Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), which mediates neovascularization of uterine endometrium may be involved in the neovascularization in the utero-placental circulation. Low numbers of endothelial progenitor colony-forming unit (CFU) in culture are predictive biomarker of vascular disease. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether the number of CFU in preeclampsia differed from that in normal pregnancy. Materials and Methods: Women with singleton normal (n=26) or preeclamptic (n=20) pregnancies were studied during the third trimester. The number of EPCs was quantified by CFU methodology. Plasma levels of angiogenic factors, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1), and placental growth factor (PlGF) were determined by enzyme-linked immunoassay. Results: CFU numbers were significantly decreased in the preeclamptic patients compared with the controls (median, 3; range 1-12 vs. 31; 3-81 CFU/well, P<0.001). A majority of the cells comprising individual colonies were positive for endothelial characteristics (Ulex europaeus lectin staining and acetylated low-density lipoprotein uptake). Plasma levels of the sFlt-1 were highly elevated (P<0.001) in patient with preeclampsia compared to controls, whereas PlGF were highly reduced (P=0.004), but these factors did not associate with CFU numbers. Conclusion: Our results suggest that reduced numbers of CFU obtained from maternal peripheral blood may contribute to the development of preeclampsia.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.17 no.9
• /
• pp.228-234
• /
• 2016

The aim of this study was to develop pharmaceutical dosage forms with a bi-phasic drug using a double extrusion approach. Hot melt extrusion was performed using a co-rotating twin-screw extruder. The. 1st melt extrusion was performed using polymer with a relatively higher Tg, such as HPMC and the 2nd melt extrudate was obtained using the 1st extrudate and polymers with a lower Tg, such as HPMC-AS and PEO. In addition, the formulation with all the content in the same proportion as the double extudate was produced using single extrusion for comparison. Physical characterization was performed on the formulations employing differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). In vitro release tests were studied using a USP Type-I apparatus at $37{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$ and 100 rpm. The similarity factor (f2) was also used to check the difference statistically. The DSC results indicated that the crystallinity of ibuprofen was changed to an amorphous state after extrusion in both double and single melt extrusion. Double melt extrudate with ibuprofen showed the desired release in acidic media (pH 1.2) in the first two hours and basic (pH 6.8) during six hours. Double melt extrudate with glimepiride showed faster release in 60 min of over 80%, whereas the single extrudate with glimepiride showed retarded release due to the interaction with HPMC. The similarity factor(f2) value was 28.5, which demonstrates that there were different drug release behavior between the double and single extrusion. Consequently, the double melt extrudated formulation was robust and gave the desired drug release pattern.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.19-30
• /
• 2012

Due to the fact that the social environment is improved and the urban development is stabilized, the demand of new construction of apartment becomes slowdown. Accordingly, there are many researches to lengthen the service life of the existing apartment through the remodeling and its importance is continuously rising. However, reliable design specifications and guidelines for the design of remodeling with partial demolition are not provided yet in Korea. Specially, in the apartment remodeling, slab collapse accidents take major portion in all accidents that reported by Korean Government. It is very important to prevent intial crack of slab because intial crack could cause severe accident like collapse of all structure in a short period of time. The purpose of this study is to develop structural guidelines that could guarantee the structural safety and serviceability of slab structure and could be adopted in Korean remodeling with partial demolition. There are mainly two components to determine structural behavior of slab structure. One is the shape of slab structure and the other is load which is resisted by the slab structure. In this study, the weight per unit volume of concrete debris and concrete strength are estimated through the analysis of previous researches to recognize the relationship between the shape of slab and load that loaded on the slab. Accordingly, approximately 300 pieces of floor plan are collected and analyzed. The finite element analysis is conducted using these analyzed and estimated results. From the finite element analysis results, the limited stacking height of debris is suggested and the stacking method is also discussed. In addition, to find the relationship between movement of demolition equipment and structural behavior of slab, the static and dynamic loading tests are conducted. From the results of loading tests, the impact factor which will be considered in the remodeling design could be estimated.