• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.12
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• pp.529-540
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• 2021

This study proposes a model and attempts to illustrate the relationship between the frequency of dynamic capability utilization and marketing capabilities, and how market, technology, and competitor turbulence may affect these relationships. The findings suggest that in a highly turbulent environment, frequent use of sensing and integration capabilities may cause certain changes in the impact of marketing capabilities, and in a highly competitive environment, marketing capabilities are positively correlated with company performance. The sample consists of 212 enterprises of China with a three-year vertical data span. The partial least square program Smart-PLS was used for data analysis. The careful management of dynamic capabilities (i.e., relational, sensory, and inclusive) is required to address environmental conditions to achieve capacity alignment and ultimately enhance performance. Our findings demonstrate that relationship capabilities are valuable to the organization and might even help improve its sensing and integrating capabilities. In a highly competitive environment, marketing capabilities contribute the most to company performance. The more frequent the environmental turbulence, the higher the impact of integration capabilities on marketing capabilities. This situation necessitates the organization's usage of dynamic capabilities to modify its marketing approach effectively between stable and turbulent environments.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.50-54
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• 2019

Melatonin is a neurotransmitter that modulates various physiological phenomena including regulation and maintenance of the circadian rhythm. Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) play an important role in oral functions including orofacial muscle contraction, salivary secretion, and tooth development. However, knowledge regarding physiological crosstalk between melatonin and nAChRs is limited. In the present study, the melatonin-mediated modulation of nAChR functions using bovine adrenal chromaffin cells, a representative model for the study of nAChRs, was investigated. Melatonin inhibited the nicotinic agonist dimethylphenylpiperazinium (DMPP) iodide-induced cytosolic free $Ca^{2+}$ concentration ($[Ca^{2+}]_i$) increase and norepinephrine secretion in a concentration-dependent manner. The inhibitory effect of melatonin on the DMPP-induced $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ increase was observed when the melatonin treatment was performed simultaneously with DMPP. The results indicate that melatonin inhibits nAChR functions in both peripheral and central nervous systems.

• Integrative Medicine Research
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.388-394
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• 2017

Background: The present study optimized ultrasound-assisted extraction conditions to maximize extraction yields of glycyrrhizic acid from licorice. Methods: The optimal extraction temperature ($X_1$), extraction time ($X_2$), and methanol concentration ($X_3$) were identified using response surface methodology (RSM). A central composite design (CCD) was used for experimental design and analysis of the results to obtain the optimal processing parameters. Results: Statistical analyses revealed that three variables and the quadratic of $X_1$, $X_2$, and $X_3$ had significant effects on the yields and were followed by significant interaction effects between the variables of $X_2$ and $X_3$ (p<0.01). A 3D response surface plot and contour plots derived from the mathematical models were applied to determine the optimal conditions. The optimum ultrasound-assisted extraction conditions were as follows: extraction temperature, $69^{\circ}C$; extraction time, 34?min; and methanol concentration, 57%. Under these conditions, the experimental yield of glycyrrhizic acid was 3.414%, which agreed closely with the predicted value (3.406%). Conclusion: The experimental values agreed with those predicted by RSM models, thus indicating the suitability of the model employed and the success of RSM in optimizing the extraction conditions.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.676-685
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• 2021

RNA-binding proteins are involved in RNA metabolism and posttranscriptional regulation of various fundamental biological processes. The PUF family of RNA-binding proteins is highly conserved in eukaryotes, and its members regulate gene expression, mitochondrial biogenesis, and RNA processing. However, their biological functions in Aspergillus species remain mostly unknown in filamentous fungi. Here we have characterized the puf genes in the model organism Aspergillus nidulans. We generated deletion mutant strains for the five putative puf genes present in the A. nidulans genome and investigated their developmental phenotypes. Deletion of pufA or pufE affected fungal growth and asexual development. pufA mutants exhibited decreased production of asexual spores and reduced mRNA expression of genes regulating asexual development. The pufE deletion reduced colony growth, increased formation of asexual spores, and delayed production of sexual fruiting bodies. In addition, the absence of pufE reduced both sterigmatocystin production and the mRNA levels of genes in the sterigmatocystin cluster. Finally, pufE deletion mutants showed reduced trehalose production and lower resistance to thermal stress. Overall, these results demonstrate that PufA and PufE play roles in the development and sterigmatocystin metabolism in A. nidulans.

• Journal of Sport and Applied Science
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.55-61
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aims to obtain basic data for conceptual establishment of sports participation and perceived benefits by considering prior research on the effects of sports participation to derive variables for perceived benefits of sports participants. Research design, data, and methodology: This study used an integrated literature review. A conceptual model is designed with reference to a prior study by adopting a guiding theory. Based on the key words. The literature collection was conducted online, and the reference period for the literature collection was for studies published between 2015 and 2020. Results: First, a total of seven related variables were derived from the literature analysis related to sports participation and physical benefits. Second, a total of six variables were derived from the literature analysis related to sports participation and mental benefits. Third, a total of four related variables were derived through a literature analysis related to sports participation and social benefits. Conclusions: Health fitness, objectified body consciousness, and social body shape anxiety, including body composition, approach physical benefits among perceived benefits through sports participation, and physical self-efficacy and physical self-concepts are related to physical benefits but are also shown to be related to mental benefits. And successful aging is seen to be close to social benefits and related to some mental benefits. Mental and social benefits can be seen as the variables derived from the results being related to the benefits, and more in-depth exploration of perceived benefits is needed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.8
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• pp.2646-2651
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• 2021

A rectangular-shaped PET system with an adjustable gantry (AGPET) has been developed for imaging small animals. The AGPET system employs a new depth of interaction (DOI) method using a depth dependent reflector patterns and a new digital time pickoff method based on the pulse reconstruction method. To evaluate the performance of the AGPET, timing resolution, intrinsic spatial resolution and point source images were acquired. The timing resolution and intrinsic spatial resolution were measured using two detector modules and Na-22 gamma source. The PET images were acquired in two field of view (FOV) sizes, 30 mm and 90 mm, to demonstrate the characteristic of the AGPET. As a result of in the experiment results, the timing resolution was 0.9 ns using the pulse reconstruction method based on the bi-exponential model. The intrinsic spatial resolution was an average of 1.7 mm and the spatial resolution of PET images after DOI correction was 2.08 mm and 2.25 mm at the centers of 30 mm and 90 mm FOV, respectively. The results show that the proposed AGPET system provided higher sensitivity and resolution for small animal imaging.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.421-432
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• 2022

Regarding the high significance of correct pan evaporation modeling, this study introduces two novel neuro-metaheuristic approaches to improve the accuracy of prediction for this parameter. Vortex search algorithms (VSA), sunflower optimization (SFO), and stochastic fractal search (SFS) are integrated with a multilayer perceptron neural network to create the VSA-MLPNN, SFO-MLPNN, and SFS-MLPNN hybrids. The climate data of Arcata-Eureka station (operated by the US environmental protection agency) belonging to the years 1986-1989 and the year 1990 are used for training and testing the models, respectively. Trying different configurations revealed that the best performance of the VSA, SFO, and SFS is obtained for the population size of 400, 300, and 100, respectively. The results were compared with a conventionally trained MLPNN to examine the effect of the metaheuristic algorithms. Overall, all four models presented a very reliable simulation. However, the SFS-MLPNN (mean absolute error, MAE = 0.0997 and Pearson correlation coefficient, R_P = 0.9957) was the most accurate model, followed by the VSA-MLPNN (MAE = 0.1058 and R_P = 0.9945), conventional MLPNN (MAE = 0.1062 and R_P = 0.9944), and SFO-MLPNN (MAE = 0.1305 and R_P = 0.9914). The findings indicated that employing the VSA and SFS results in improving the accuracy of the neural network in the prediction of pan evaporation. Hence, the suggested models are recommended for future practical applications.

• 한국사회복지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.3-19
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• 2002

The problems and needs of families in Hong Kong are becoming more complex. Traditional family structures and functions are rapidly eroding. Moreover, family problems are further exacerbated by a growing number of socio-economic issues including rising divorce rates and extra-marital affairs. continuous family reunion migration from Mainland China, emotional and financial cost of caring for the older people and the changing economy which has pushed more families into hardship. In effect, more and more families are becoming vulnerable to risk. Traditional family services in Hong Kong are varied in mode, operation and provision, often overlapping in service boundaries with other family-oriented programs. In many instances, family service centers are stretched far beyond their capacity. As a consequence, they become too reactive, remedial and casework dominated. The University of Hong Kong Consultant Team recommended that family service programs have to protect vulnerable families and strengthen family capacities to promote maximum independence. The direction of family services is summarized as: strengthening families; child-centered, family-focused and community-based. New integrative family service centers aim at attaining the principles of promoting accessibility to users with minimum physical, psychological and administrative barriers; early identification of needs and intervention before the further deterioration of problems; integration of services cutting across program boundaries, and partnership between service providers to achieve efficient and effective use of scarce resources. Under the new model, multi-skilled teams can respond more proactively to a wide range of social needs, rather than addressing needs in isolation. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the new model, the consultant team has been commissioned by the government to evaluate the performance of these two-year pilot projects. More importantly, a coherent and family-friendly social policy should be formulated to strengthen family capacity against family-related problems.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.8 no.spc1
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• pp.360-390
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• 2005

The paradigm of the corporate innovations has been changed from the intra-company innovations to the inter-company innovations. A prevalent approach to the inter-company innovations is the supply chain management. Three key words of the core concept of supply chain management are the long-term relationship, resource integration, and value creation. Specifically, it means that the supply chain management aims to make value creation through the resource integration for the supply chain entities, based on the long-term relationship between buyers and sellers. To make more effective long-term relationship among the supply chain entities, it is very important for the supply chain entities to analyze followings: i) What variables can influence the long-term relationship, ii) How these variables can influence to the long-term relationship. However, previous researches mostly deals the long-term relationship in the marketing area in fragment, and thus few research efforts have been done for the development of conceptual model using supply chain management theories. In contrast to previous studies, our research tried to develop and examine the integrative research model by introducing both the marketing theories and the supply chain management theories, and thus related hypotheses are derived. A multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the influence of the antecedents of the long-term relationship, for the 87 retailers of grocery supply chains. The empirical results confirm that cultural similarity, reputation, interdependency, and trust positively influence long-term relationship (i.e., partnership orientation and partnership symmetry). And results also confirm that the supply implementation factors such as organization integration, information system integration, and process integration playa moderating role between antecedents and long-term relationship. These findings suggest that companies should perceive the importance of managing the process, organization, information system integration in the long-term relationship implementation process as well as the factors such as cultural similarity, reputation, interdependency, and trust in the long-term relationship establishment process.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.350-358
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to define and clarify the concept of developmental care for preterm infants. Methods: The hybrid model method was used to identify the main attributes and indicators. In the field work stage, data were collected in Seoul and Cheonan, Korea. The participants were 5 nurses working in the NICU. Results: The concept of developmental care was found to have six attributes and ten indicators in 2 dimensions. For the nursing practice dimension, four attributes were derived. They were being like intrauterine state, individualization, interaction, and integrative care with awareness of development. For the family centeredness dimension, supporting parental attachment and professional alliance were attributes of developmental care. Conclusion: Developmental focused care can facilitate the identification of behavioral responses of newborns and provide individualized interventions for fostering growth and development. This concept analysis could provide guidelines for "developmental care" nursing practice and be useful for research in the neonatal field.