• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.1-26
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• 2019

Purpose - This paper investigates the recent trade collapse, recovery, and prolonged slowdown to shed light on the discussions about whether the current slowdown is structural or cyclical. I examine structural, cyclical, and heterogeneous aspects of the recent trade trends using detailed statistics of a small open economy, South Korea, whose economic success and growth have been heavily dependent on exports. Design/methodology - I use both aggregated and disaggregated trade statistics of South Korea. I apply the following methodologies: 1) I decompose the trade growth into the extensive and the intensive margin and observe the effect of prices over time. 2) I estimate the trade-income elasticities focusing on the world's import demand, separately for goods from the world and from Korea. 3) I compare the drop in goods exports in slowdown and trade collapse, which are the two unusual periods in the recent history when world trade has substantially dropped altogether. Findings - I show that while the last drop of trade after 2015 has cyclical aspects, there is evidence that the continued slowdown from 2012 is structural: 1) the so-called 'China factor' is found in the analysis of trade-income elasticity of the world and China for imports from Korea. 2) The bilateral trade barriers between Korea and its principal trading partners are universally tightening. 3) Firm sizes, destination countries, and the mode of transactions affect disaggregated trade flows during the slowdown periods. Originality/value - This paper contributes to the debate regarding whether the current trade slowdown is structural or cyclical. I provide two concrete evidence that the export drop in 2015 stems from low oil prices: one is the divergence of Korean export value index from its export quantity index, which started in late 2014 when oil prices plunged. I also contribute to the literature by providing evidence that Korea's trade barriers with important trading partners are steadily increasing since 2012 as the protectionist measures toward Korea's export products are steeply increasing after the global financial crisis.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.269-274
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• 2022

Today, sports are becoming increasingly important for national development, with all countries raising the strategic goal of becoming a sports powerhouse. Among them, martial arts, which are active in China as the main stage among East Asian martial arts, have a long history and are meaningful, and the promotion of internationalization of martial arts is also important. In this study, major problems faced in the process of promoting martial arts internationalization in East Asia were analyzed in depth. Currently, the theoretical system of martial arts is inconsistent and insufficient, there is a big difference in cultural background from region to region, there is a lack of talent for internationalization, and innovative promotion methods are not yet mature. Based on the major problems encountered in the internationalization of each martial arts, we will analyze the internationalization strategy, establish a martial arts theory system, accept the diversity of martial arts culture, and supplement the internationalization talent supply mechanism to propose a martial arts internationalization promotion method. The future succession and development of Chinese martial arts on the global stage and the promotion of internationalization of the value of Chinese martial arts have important theoretical values and practical significance.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.172-182
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• 2023

Purpose: This study investigated the differences in physical function, self-efficacy (SE), and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) categorized by disease severity in community-dwelling patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: This cross-sectional study included 182 patients with COPD selected from the pulmonology outpatient department of a tertiary hospital. Disease severity was measured using forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1). Physical function, SE, and HRQoL were measured with the six-minute walking distance, Pulmonary Rehabilitation Adapted Index of Self-Efficacy (PRAISE), and St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ). Disease duration, FEV1, and 12-month history of exacerbations were obtained from medical records. Patients were categorized by Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) category. Data were analyzed using the χ² test, and one-way ANOVA. Results: Most of the participants were male and nonsmokers. The disease duration was 10.76 ± 10.03 years, the mean FEV1% was 62.13 ± 22.80, and 70.3% of the participants were in GOLD category 2 (moderate) or milder. Half of the participants reported modified Medical Research Council scores ≥ 2. Patients in GOLD categories 1 and 3 (mild and severe) exhibited significantly higher PRAISE scores than those in the other groups (F = 8.23, p < .001). The total SGRQ scores were highest in GOLD 4 (very severe), indicating the lowest HRQoL. Significant differences were identified among GOLD 1, GOLD 2 and 3, and GOLD 4 (F = 9.92, p < .001). Conclusion: We identified potentially useful variables to comprehensively assess disease severity and tailor management strategies, including airflow limitation, and to determine the consequences of COPD from patients' perspectives.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.25_2
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• pp.45-70
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• 2015

Master Jeungsan understood a general view of Pungsu but actually he used the theory of Pungsu in his own religious perspective, transcending it. The theory of Pungsu is different. But the fact that it is premised on the principle of 'in and yang', the five-element principle, the Book of Changes, energy thought, and To chugi piyung, etc. is generally recognized. The three important elements of Pungsu are mountain, water, and direction or man. Pungsu has formal principles such as Gallyongbeop, Jangpungbeop, Deuksubeop, Jeonghyeolbeop, Jwahyangbeop, and Hyeongukron. etc. In the late of Joseon, Jeungsan established a new traditional thought, understanding Bibopungsu, Gukdopungsu, Minganpungsu, etc. However, he reinterpreted them to be suitable to his religious ideal and let his followers understand them as well. In particular, Jeungsan overcame the previous view on earth and expressed a new perspective to enhance earth up to the level of heaven. In the perspective of the traditional world, earth is lower than heaven, but Jeungsan made it a status equal to heaven. He mentioned that in the past, the culture and history of man was influenced by earth's energy but today, at the age of man respect, he put passive man influenced by earth-condition on the more subjective and active status. Even though he mentioned different Pungsu, Hyeongguk, and Hyeolmyeong, he expressed the shape of Pungsu within the construction of three worlds, the one of heaven and earth transcending good or ill luck or a favorable change in fortune. He practised the expedient of Pungsu from the stand of the construction of heaven and earth instead of the usage of Bibopungsu, Gukdopungsu, and Minganpungsu. He diagnosed that the division of the world is caused by the one of earth and tried to solve it. Moreover, he said that Myeongdang(a propitious site) must be the man-orientation rather than the earth-orientation. It means that Pungsu, stressing the energy of earth and turning one's luck, is changing into the world of man-orientation. In other words, Jeungsan diagnosed the world of Pungsu but he ultimately used Pungsu theory in building up his own view of religious world transcending such a theory.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.121-142
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• 2018

Area studies are sometimes framed as focused on specific localities, rooted in deep linguistic, cultural and historical knowledge, and hence empirically rich but, as a result, as yielding non-transferable/non-translatable findings and hence as theoretically poor. In Europe and North America some social science disciplines like sociology, economics and political science routinely dismiss any reference to local specifics as parochial "noise" interfering with their universalizing pretensions which in reality obscure their own Euro-American parochialism. For more qualitatively oriented disciplines like history, anthropology and cultural studies the inherent non-universality of (geographically constricted) area studies presents a predicament which is increasingly fought out by resorting to philosophical concepts which usually have a Eurocentric pedigree. In this paper, however, I argue that concepts with arguably European pedigree - like religion, culture, identity, heritage and art - travel around the world and are adopted through vernacular discourses that are specific to locally inflected histories and cultural contexts by annexing existing vocabularies as linguistic vehicles. In the process, these vernacularized "universal" concepts acquire different meanings or connotations, and can be used as powerful devices in local discursive fields. The study of these processes offer at once a powerful antidote against simplistic notions of "global"/"universal" and "local," and a potential corrective to localizing parochialism and blindly Eurocentric universalism. I develop this substantive argument with reference to my own professional, disciplinary and theoretical trajectory as an anthropologist and historian focusing on Vietnam, who used that experience - and the empirical puzzles and wonder encountered - in order to develop theoretical interests and questions that became the basis for larger-scale, comparative research projects in Japan, China, India, South Africa, Brazil and Europe. The subsequent challenge is to bring the results of such larger, comparative research "home" to Vietnam in a meaningful way, and thus overcome the limitations of both area studies and Eurocentric disciplines.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.63-91
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• 2018

One of the goals of this article is to continue the momentum begun by emerging scholarship on theory and practice of writing about visual culture of and in Southeast Asia. I hope to offer culturally sensitive and embodied ways of looking at images and objects as sites/sights of cultural knowledge as further theoretical intervention. The argument put forward in my essay is three-fold: first, I critique the prevailing logocentric approach in the field of Southeast Asian Studies and I argue that in a postcolonial, global, and transnational period, it is important to be inclusive of other objects as sites/sights of social, political and cultural analysis beyond written and oral texts. Second, I argue that although it has its own political and theoretical problems, the evolving field of Visual Studies as it is practiced in the United States is one of many ways to decolonize the prevailing logocentric approach to Southeast Asian Studies. Third, I argue that if one reads these Euro-American derived theories of vision and visuality through the lens of what Walter Mignolo calls "colonial difference(s)," then Visual Studies as an evolving field has the potential to offer more nuanced local ways of looking at and understanding objects, vision, and visuality. Last, I point out that unlike in the West where there is an understanding of pure, objective and empirical vision, local Southeast Asian perspectives on objects and visions are more embodied and multi-sensorial. I argue that if one is ethically mindful of the local cultural ways of seeing and knowing objects, then the evolving field of Visual Studies offers a much-needed intervention to the privileged, lingering logocentric approach to Southeast Asian Studies. Moreover, these alternative methods might help to decolonize method and theory in academic disciplines that were invented during the colonial period.

• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.37-49
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• 2021

Analysis and prediction of storm surges are very important because the global warming has raised sea levels and increased the frequency of massive typhoons, accelerating damage of coastal flooding. However, the data for storm surge prediction is lacking due to the short history of observation in South Korea. The purpose of this study is to investigate the spatial and temporal characteristics of the previous surges and tsunamis based on the historical documents published during the Joseon Dynasty. In addition, we tried to evaluate the damage and spatial extent of such disasters, using the expressions about surge records including heights and number of administrative divisions. As a result, a total of 175 records of surges and tsunamis were compiled from 1392 to 1910: 145 events were extracted through the analysis of the ancient documents, and 30 events were from the previous research. Most of the strorm surges occurred along the west coast during summer season. More than half of the total surges were concentrated for 120 years from the mid 1600s to the mid 1700s, which was estimated to be highly relevant to the climate conditions in East Asia during the Little Ice Age. Hazardous areas by storm and tidal surges were also extracted, including Asan, Ganghwa, and Siheung during the Joseon Dyanisity period.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.27-56
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• 2015

How should we conceptualize regions? What is the context in which new approaches to regional study take place? What is the role of historical change in the reconceptualization of regions or areas? This article addresses this issue by using two case studies to shed light on the history of regional study by comparing some of the ways in which the Middle East and Southeast Asia have been conceptualized. Accordingly, the discussion traces the ways in which these areas were understood in the 19th century by highlighting the ideas of a number of influential Victorian thinkers. The Victorians are useful because not only did British thinkers play critical roles in the shaping of modern patterns of knowledge, but their empire was global in scope, encompassing parts of both Southeast Asia and the Middle East. However, the Victorians regarded these places quite differently: Southeast Asia was frequently described as "Further India" and the Middle East was the home of the Ottoman Empire. Both of these places were at least partly understood in relation to the needs of British policy-makers, who tended to focus most of their efforts according to the needs of India-which was their most important colonial possession. The article exhibits the connections between the "Eastern Question" and end of the Ottoman Empire (and the political developments which followed) led to the creation of the concept of "Middle East". With respect to Southeast Asia, attention will be devoted to the works of Alfred Russell Wallace, Hugh Clifford, and others to see how "further India" was understood in the 19th century. In addition, it is clear that the successful deployment of the term "Southeast Asia" reflected the political needs of policy makers in wake of decolonization and the Cold War. Finally, by showing the constructive nature of regions, the article suggests one possible new path for students of Southeast Asia. If the characterization of the region is marked by arbitrary factors, it may actually point to a useful avenue of enquiry, a hermeneutic of expedience. Emphasis on the adaptive and integrative features of lived realities in Southeast Asia may well be a step beyond both the agendas of "colonial knowledge" and anti-colonial nationalism.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.223-242
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• 2023

In contrast to chemical medicines, biopharmaceuticals exhibit reduced side effects and enhanced therapeutic efficacy. Antibody therapies have significantly advanced since the first monoclonal antibody's approval in 1986, now dominating the pharmaceutical market with seven out of the top 10 biopharmaceuticals. The bispecific antibody has a distinct capability to bind to two antigens simultaneously, unlike conventional monoclonal antibodies that target just one antigen. The notion of bispecific antibodies was initially introduced in 1960, and by 1997, the first symmetrical form of bispecific antibody was successfully produced. Subsequently, extensive research has been conducted on bispecific antibodies, leading to a significant milestone in 2014 when blinatumomab became the first FDA-approved drug to treat acute lymphocytic leukemia. Despite having a relatively shorter history compared to monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies have proven their potential by targeting two antigens simultaneously, thereby rendering them highly effective as anti-cancer drugs. As of 2023, there are a total of 11 globally approved bispecific antibodies, with six of them receiving approval from FDA. In light of the rapidly expanding market for bispecific antibodies, this review article comprehensively explores the attributes, historical background, applications, and market status of bispecific antibodies. Additionally, it sheds light on the present trends in bispecific antibody development, drawing insights from 96 research articles and 105 clinical studies. Excitingly, we anticipate further progress in the development of bispecific antibodies and clinical trials on a global scale, with the aspiration of utilizing them not only in cancer treatment but also for addressing diverse medical conditions.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.559-573
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• 1997

Background : Asthma causes recurrent episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and cough. These symptoms are usually associated with widespread but variable airflow limitation that is partly reversible either spontaneously or with treatment. The inflammation also causes an associated increase in airway responsiveness to a variety of stimuli. Method : Of the 403 adult bronchial asthma patients enrolled from March 1992 to March 1994 in Allergy Clinics of Severance Hospital in Yonsei University, this study reviewed the 97 cases to evaluate the treatment effects and to analyse prognostic factors. The patients were classified to five groups according to treatment responses ; group 1 (non control group) : patients who were not controlled during following up, group 2 (high step treatment group) : patients who were controlled longer than 3 months by step 3 or 4 treatment of "Global initiative for asthma, Global strategy for asthma management and prevention" (NHLBI/WHO) with PFR(%) larger than 80%, group 3 (short term control group) : patients who were controlled less than 1 year by step 1 or 2 treatment of NHLBI/WHO, group 4 (intermediate term control group) : patients who were controlled for more than 1 year but less than 2 years by step 1 or 2 treatment of NHLBI/WHO, group 5 (long term control group) : patients who were controlled for more than 2 years by step 1 or 2 treatment of NHLBI/WHO. Especially the patients who were controlled more than 1 year with negatively converted methacholine test and no eosinophil in sputum were classified to methacholine negative conversion group. We reviewed patients' history, atopy score, total IgE, specific IgE, methacholine PC20 and peripheral blood eosinophil count, pulmonary function test, steroid doses and aggrevation numbers after treatment. Results : On analysis of 98 patients, 20 cases(20.6%) were classified to group 1, 26 cases(26.8%) to group 2, 23 cases(23.7%) to group 3, 15 cases(15.5%) to group 4, and 13 cases(13.4%) to groups 5. There were no differences of sex, asthma type, family history, smoking history, allergic rhinitis and aspirin allergy among the groups. In long term control group, asthma onset age was younger, symptom duration was shorter, and initial pulmonary function was better. The long term control group required lower amounts of oral steroid. had less aggrevation during first 3months after starting treatment and shorter duration from enrollment to control Atopy, allergic skin test, sputum and blood eosinophil, total IgE, nonspecific bronchial responsiveness was not significantly different among the groups. Seven out of 28 patients who were controlled more than 1 years showed negatively converted methachloine test and no eosinophils in the sputum. The mean control duration was $20.3{\pm}9.7$ months and relapse did not occur. Conclusion : Patients who had asthma of onset age younger, shorter symptom duration, better PFT, lower treatment initial steps, lower amounts of steroid needs and less aggravation numbers after starting treatment were classified in the long term control groups compared to the others.