• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.15-25
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• 2023

Myriophyllum spicatum L. has been used as an ornamental in ponds and aquariums, and as a folk remedy for inflammation and pus. Nevertheless, the biological activity and underlying mechanisms of anti-inflammatory effects are unclear. This study is aimed at investigating the antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activities of ethanol extract of Myriophyllum spicatum L. (EMS) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Antioxidant activity of EMS was assessed by radical-scavenging effects on ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radicals. As inflammatory response parameters produced by LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells were quantified to assess the anti-inflammatory activity of EMS. Our results showed that EMS increased FRAP and DPPH radical-scavenging activity. In EMS-treated RAW 264.7 cells, the production of NO, PGE₂, TNF-α and IL-1β was significantly inhibited at the non-cytotoxic concentration. In addition, EMS significantly attenuated LPS-stimulated the toll-like receptor (TLR) 4/myeloid differentiation protein (MyD) 88 signaling pathway, and inhibited nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-kappa B(NF-κB). Positive correlations were noted between anti-inflammatory activity and antioxidant activity. In conclusion, it was indicated that EMS suppresses the transcription of inflammatory factors by inhibiting the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway, thereby suppressing LPS-stimulated inflammation in RAW 264.7 cells. This study highlights the potential role of EMS against inflammation and associated diseases.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.56 no.9
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• pp.543-551
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• 2023

Snow is an essential climate factor that affects the climate system and surface energy balance, and it also has a crucial role in water balance by providing solid water stored during the winter for spring runoff and groundwater recharge. In this study, statistical analysis of Local Data Assimilation and Prediction System (LDAPS), Modern.-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2), and ERA5-Land snow depth data were used to evaluate the applicability in South Korea. The statistical analysis between the Automated Synoptic Observing System (ASOS) ground observation data provided by the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) and the reanalysis data showed that LDAPS and ERA5-Land were highly correlated with a correlation coefficient of more than 0.69, but LDAPS showed a large error with an RMSE of 0.79 m. In the case of MERRA-2, the correlation coefficient was lower at 0.17 because the constant value was estimated continuously for some periods, which did not adequately simulate the increase and decrease trend between data. The statistical analysis of LDAPS and ASOS showed high and low performance in the nearby Gangwon Province, where the average snowfall is relatively high, and in the southern region, where the average snowfall is low, respectively. Finally, the error variance between the four independent snow depth data used in this study was calculated through triple collocation (TC), and a merged snow depth data was produced through weighting factors. The reanalyzed data showed the highest error variance in the order of LDAPS, MERRA-2, and ERA5-Land, and LDAPS was given a lower weighting factor due to its higher error variance. In addition, the spatial distribution of ERA5-Land snow depth data showed less variability, so the TC-merged snow depth data showed a similar spatial distribution to MERRA-2, which has a low spatial resolution. Considering the correlation, error, and uncertainty of the data, the ERA5-Land data is suitable for snow-related analysis in South Korea. In addition, it is expected that LDAPS data, which is highly correlated with other data but tends to be overestimated, can be actively utilized for high-resolution representation of regional and climatic diversity if appropriate corrections are performed.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.233-246
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• 2023

In terms of understanding the water cycle and efficient water resource management, the importance of soil moisture has been highlighted. However, in Korea, the lack of qualified in-situ soil moisture data results in very limited utility. Even if satellite-based data are applied, the absence of ground reference data makes objective evaluation and correction difficult. The cosmic-ray neutron probe (CRNP) can play a key role in producing data for satellite data calibration. The installation of CRNP is non-invasive, minimizing damage to the soil and vegetation environment, and has the advantage of having a spatial representative for the intermediate scale. These characteristics are advantageous to establish an observation network in Korea which has lots of mountainous areas with dense vegetation. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the applicability of the CRNP soil moisture observatory in Korea as part of the establishment of a Korean cOsmic-ray Soil Moisture Observing System (KOSMOS). The CRNP observation station was installed with the Gunup-ri observation station, considering the ease of securing power and installation sites and the efficient use of other hydro-meteorological factors. In order to evaluate the CRNP soil moisture data, 12 additional in-situ soil moisture sensors were installed, and spatial representativeness was evaluated through a temporal stability analysis. The neutrons generated by CRNP were found to be about 1,087 counts per hour on average, which was lower than that of the Solmacheon observation station, indicating that the Hongcheon observation station has a more humid environment. Soil moisture was estimated through neutron correction and early-stage calibration of the observed neutron data. The CRNP soil moisture data showed a high correlation with r=0.82 and high accuracy with root mean square error=0.02 m³/m³ in validation with in-situ data, even in a short calibration period. It is expected that higher quality soil moisture data production with greater accuracy will be possible after recalibration with the accumulation of annual data reflecting seasonal patterns. These results, together with previous studies that verified the excellence of CRNP soil moisture data, suggest that high-quality soil moisture data can be produced when constructing KOSMOS.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.1559-1575
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• 2009

As the basic old-age pension system was enforced in 2008, the base for old-age income security was founded. However, due to the basic old-age pension played a minor role as assistant allowance, it did not reach to sufficient level to cover full income security system. It is estimated that the dependency on private transfer income among the elderly who are difficult to be economically independent is still high. Therefore the poverty rate of the elderly households, who are not economically active or who are not protected by old-age income security system, is more likely to be higher than that of non-elderly households. Based on the assumption that public transfer income system should become a central means of old-age life guarantee, this study examined the poverty mitigation effects among the elderly households by comparing the private transfer income and the public transfer income. For this purpose, we selected single-elderly-households who have been considered the most vulnerable to poverty. We used 2006- 2008 Household Income and Expenditure Survey dataset that contained single-elderly who were older than 65 years old. To understand the conditions of poverty among single-elderly-households and the degree of poverty-reducing effect originated from income transfer system, we compared the poverty rates of total households and the whole elderly households. Next, we analysed the poverty of the single-elderly-households by social demographic factors such as gender, age, and economic activity. Our major findings are as follows: First, the poverty rate of the whole elderly households were not reduced, even though the basic old-age pension and long-term care management system were enforced in 2008. Second, half of the elderly households including single-elderly-households belonged to the absolute poverty line. Relatively higher level of poverty among the single-elderly-households was found especially those who were female, unemployed, low-educated, older, and rural single-elderly-households. Third, the effect of the public transfer income on mitigating the single-elderly-households poverty showed a little progress. However, even greater poverty reducing effect was found by the private transfer income system. Fourth, in a group of the public transfer systems, the public assistance such as supporting living costs contributed more to reduce poverty of the elderly population than the public pension system did.

• Journal of the Korean Society of International Agriculture
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.475-484
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• 2011

International price of cereal has been dramatically increasing for the past few years. This price hike amplified the importance of food self-sufficiency in numerous countries due to the fact that food security is directly proportional to food self-sufficiency. In this study, we conducted a survey to provide useful information of Cambodia's agricultural environment to possible Korean agricultural investors and as to highlight Cambodia as a strong candidate for the establishment of Korea's foreign base for cereal production. The survey conducted includes information regarding Cambodia's agricultural environment and investment circumstances including the political, economical and other contributing factors affecting agricultural investment in Cambodia. Seventy percent of the Cambodia's total population engage in agriculture and this comprises about 30% of the country's GDP. This statistics reflects the possibility of Cambodia's poverty alleviation which proves that agriculture in Cambodia is the driving force for the improvement of the country's economy. In addition, low labor cost, fertile land, abundant water resources, like the Tonle sap lake and the Mekong river, and unreclaimed lands are the strong points that could attract agricultural investors to Cambodia. Poor infrastructure, irrigation systems, law reforms, including social and cultural differences may be the biggest setbacks for the acceleration of Cambodia's agriculture development. However, the Cambodian government is open and willing to make adjustments for Cambodia to be both foreign and domestic agricultural investor-friendly, expecting that it will boost its country's agricultural development. Making the best out of this opportunity, the coordination of KOICA with Korean agricultural investors in building infrastructures and with the help of the KOPIA program for the transfer of agricultural technology will benefit both countries and will play an important role in Cambodia's agriculture.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.61-101
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• 2014

This study investigates when and how disagreements in online customer ratings prompt more favorable product evaluations. Among the three metrics of volume, valence, and variance that feature in the research on online customer ratings, volume and valence have exhibited consistently positive patterns in their effects on product sales or evaluations (e.g., Dellarocas, Zhang, and Awad 2007; Liu 2006). Ratings variance, or the degree of disagreement among reviewers, however, has shown rather mixed results, with some studies reporting positive effects on product sales (e.g., Clement, Proppe, and Rott 2007) while others finding negative effects on product evaluations (e.g., Zhu and Zhang 2010). This study aims to resolve these contradictory findings by introducing preference heterogeneity as a possible moderator and causal attribution as a mediator to account for the moderating effect. The main proposition of this study is that when preference heterogeneity is perceived as high, a disagreement in ratings is attributed more to reviewers' different preferences than to unreliable product quality, which in turn prompts better quality evaluations of a product. Because disagreements mostly result from differences in reviewers' tastes or the low reliability of a product's quality (Mizerski 1982; Sen and Lerman 2007), a greater level of attribution to reviewer tastes can mitigate the negative effect of disagreement on product evaluations. Specifically, if consumers infer that reviewers' heterogeneous preferences result in subjectively different experiences and thereby highly diverse ratings, they would not disregard the overall quality of a product. However, if consumers infer that reviewers' preferences are quite homogeneous and thus the low reliability of the product quality contributes to such disagreements, they would discount the overall product quality. Therefore, consumers would respond more favorably to disagreements in ratings when preference heterogeneity is perceived as high rather than low. This study furthermore extends this prediction to the various levels of average ratings. The heuristicsystematic processing model so far indicates that the engagement in effortful systematic processing occurs only when sufficient motivation is present (Hann et al. 2007; Maheswaran and Chaiken 1991; Martin and Davies 1998). One of the key factors affecting this motivation is the aspiration level of the decision maker. Only under conditions that meet or exceed his aspiration level does he tend to engage in systematic processing (Patzelt and Shepherd 2008; Stephanous and Sage 1987). Therefore, systematic causal attribution processing regarding ratings variance is likely more activated when the average rating is high enough to meet the aspiration level than when it is too low to meet it. Considering that the interaction between ratings variance and preference heterogeneity occurs through the mediation of causal attribution, this greater activation of causal attribution in high versus low average ratings would lead to more pronounced interaction between ratings variance and preference heterogeneity in high versus low average ratings. Overall, this study proposes that the interaction between ratings variance and preference heterogeneity is more pronounced when the average rating is high as compared to when it is low. Two laboratory studies lend support to these predictions. Study 1 reveals that participants exposed to a high-preference heterogeneity book title (i.e., a novel) attributed disagreement in ratings more to reviewers' tastes, and thereby more favorably evaluated books with such ratings, compared to those exposed to a low-preference heterogeneity title (i.e., an English listening practice book). Study 2 then extended these findings to the various levels of average ratings and found that this greater preference for disagreement options under high preference heterogeneity is more pronounced when the average rating is high compared to when it is low. This study makes an important theoretical contribution to the online customer ratings literature by showing that preference heterogeneity serves as a key moderator of the effect of ratings variance on product evaluations and that causal attribution acts as a mediator of this moderation effect. A more comprehensive picture of the interplay among ratings variance, preference heterogeneity, and average ratings is also provided by revealing that the interaction between ratings variance and preference heterogeneity varies as a function of the average rating. In addition, this work provides some significant managerial implications for marketers in terms of how they manage word of mouth. Because a lack of consensus creates some uncertainty and anxiety over the given information, consumers experience a psychological burden regarding their choice of a product when ratings show disagreement. The results of this study offer a way to address this problem. By explicitly clarifying that there are many more differences in tastes among reviewers than expected, marketers can allow consumers to speculate that differing tastes of reviewers rather than an uncertain or poor product quality contribute to such conflicts in ratings. Thus, when fierce disagreements are observed in the WOM arena, marketers are advised to communicate to consumers that diverse, rather than uniform, tastes govern reviews and evaluations of products.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.127-152
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• 2012

The research investigates the attitudes toward children among mothers young children and maternal grandmothers, focusing specifically on the ideal number of children, gender preference, old age security and positive and negative values of children. A total of 442 respondents, consisting of 221 young mothers (average age of 35) and 221 maternal grandmothers (average age of 63) completed a questionnaire developed by Kim, Park and Kwon (2005). The reliability of the scales ranged from Cronbach α of .78 to .91. The results are as follows. First, as for the ideal number of children, young mothers reported that they would prefer two children, while grandmothers reported that they would prefer four children. As for the ideal number of male child, young mothers reported that they would prefer that they would prefer one son, while grandmothers reported two sons. Second, as for the gender of the child, young mothers did not show a gender preference, while grandmothers stated that at least one child should be a son, especially if it is the only child. Third, grandmothers had higher expectation of old age security in their male child than young mothers but two groups did not show any difference for the female child. Fourth, as for positive values of children, young mothers were more likely to emphasize personal aspects (i.e., psychological pleasure and happiness) and family cohesiveness, while grandmothers were more likely to emphasize social aspects (i.e., continuing the family line and old age security. As for negative values of children, young mothers were more likely to emphasize personal aspects (i.e., parental role and responsibility), while grandmothers were more likely to emphasize social aspects (i.e., family conflict and relationship). Fifth, as for factors that influenced the number of children that they decided to have, young mothers were more likely to report negative values of children (i.e., financial constraints), while grandmothers were more likely to emphasize positive values of children (i.e., continuing the family line).

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.183-214
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychological characteristics of affecting never married men and women through analyzing the content of in-depth interviews about the idea of marriage and the reason for never married choice. For achieving this purpose, the in-depth interview was conducted with 9 men and women aged mid-20s to late 30s who said to choose never married life for a long time, and then the content of interview was analyzed using consensual qualitative research. As a result of analyzing the content of in-depth interview, it was derived into 2 areas, 10 sub-areas, and 25 categories. The results of the study were as follows. Firstly, it was found that research participants negatively recognized the marriage and had unrealistic expectation rather than no expectation for marriage. Secondly, most of the research participants felt negative feelings about their parents' patriarchal role, and they did not want to live like their parents. They also reported that they did not see their marriage separated from their parents. Thirdly, most of the research participants felt difficulty in forming relationships with intimate person, and it became more difficult to have expectations about spouses and marriage due to repeated relationship conflict patterns. Fourthly, the research participants showed psychological aspect of experiential avoidance and seeking for individuality in terms of never married choice. Most of the research participants predicted the failure of married life, and reported that they were trying to prevent uncomfortable feelings and sufferings by choosing never married life. Also they reported that individuality considered more important than connection with others(togetherness) and individual value considered more important than collective value. Participants in this study showed negative evaluation or had negative influences on the marriage life of parents and acquaintances. This is more likely to be a passive factor in never married choice, so future research should examine the characteristics of active factors in never married choice.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.578-593
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• 2023

Intense convective activity and heavy precipitation inundated Seoul and its metropolitan area on July 15, 2017. This study investigated the synoptic-scale meteorological drivers of cold cloud genesis of this event. The WRF-Chem (Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry) model was employed to explore the intricate interplay between meteorological factors and the indirect effects of PM_2.5 aerosols originating from eastern China. The PM_2.5 aerosols' indirect effect was quantified by contrasting outcomes between the comprehensive Aerosol Radiation Interaction experiment (encompassing aerosol radiation feedback, cloud chemistry processes, and wet scavenging in the WRF-Chem model) and ACR (Aerosol Cloud Radiation interaction) experiment. The ACR experiment specifically excluded aerosol radiation feedback while incorporating only cloud chemistry processes and wet scavenging. Results indicated that in the early hours of July 15, 2017, a convergence of warm, moisture-laden airflow originating from southeast China and the East China Sea unfolded over the Yellow Sea. This convergence was driven by the juxtaposition of a low-pressure system over the Chinese mainland and Northwest Pacific high. Notably, at approximately 12 km altitude, the resultant convective clouds were characterized by the presence of ice crystals, a hallmark of continental-origin cold clouds. The WRF-Chem model simulations elucidated the role of PM_2.5 aerosols from eastern China, attributing 5.7, 10.4, and 10.8% to cloud water, ice crystal column, and liquid water column formation, respectively, within the developing cold clouds. Thus, this study presented a meteorological mechanism elucidating the formation of deep convective clouds over the Yellow Sea and the indirect effects of PM_2.5 aerosols originating from eastern China.

• Journal of Venture Innovation
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.71-80
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• 2022

The real estate market is an important part of a country's economy and plays a major role in economic growth through the growth of many related industries. Changes in interest rates affect asset prices and have a significant impact on housing prices. This study analyzed housing prices by dividing them into nationwide, local, and Seoul housing prices in order to analyze whether the effect of changes in interest rates on housing prices shows regional differences. The analysis was conducted from the first quarter of 2011 to the fourth quarter of 2021, and was analyzed using the DOLS model. The main analysis results are as follows. First, interest rates were found to have a significant negative effect on national housing prices, and a drop in interest rates significantly increased national housing prices and an increase in interest rates significantly lowered national housing prices. The consumer price index and loan growth rate also had a positive effect on housing prices nationwide, but statistical significance was not high. Second, interest rates had a negative effect on local housing prices, unlike national housing prices, but were not statistically significant. On the other hand, it was found that the consumer price index and loan growth rate had a larger and significant positive effect on local housing prices compared to national housing prices. Finally, it was found that the interest rate had the only significant negative effect on housing prices in Seoul. And this effect was greater and more significant than the effect on national and local housing prices. In the end, it was found that the effect of interest rates on Korean housing prices differs locally. Interest rates have a significant negative effect on national housing prices, and local housing prices, but they are not statistically significant. In addition, the interest rate was found to have the largest and most significant negative effect on housing prices in Seoul. In addition, it was found that there was a difference in the effect of macroeconomic variables on housing prices. This means that there are differences between regions with different factors influencing local and Seoul housing prices, and this point should be considered when drafting and implementing real estate policies.