• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.4409-4413
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• 2013

Background: Cigarette smoking is a well-established risk factor of pancreatic cancer (PC). Although an association between nicotine dependence phenotype, namely time to first cigarette (TTFC) after waking, and the risk of several smoking-related cancers has been reported, an association between TTFC and PC risk has not been reported. We assessed the impact of smoking behavior, particularly TTFC, on PC risk in a Japanese population. Materials and Methods: We conducted a case-control study using 341 PC and 1,705 non-cancer patients who visited Aichi Cancer Center in Nagoya, Japan. Exposure to risk factors, including smoking behavior, was assessed from the results of a self-administered questionnaire. The impact of smoking on PC risk was assessed with multivariate logistic regression analysis adjusted for potential confounders to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: Cigarettes per day (CPD) and/or smoking duration were significantly associated with PC risk, consistent with previous studies. For TTFC and PC risk, we found only a suggestive association: compared with a TTFC of more than 60 minutes, ORs were 1.15 (95%CI, 0.65-2.04) for a TTFC of 30-60 minutes and 1.35 (95%CI, 0.85-2.15) for that of 0-30 minutes (p trend=0.139). After adjustment for CPD or smoking duration, no association was observed between TTFC and PC. Conclusions: In this study, we found no statistically significant association between TTFC and PC risk. Further studies concerning TTFC and PC risk are warranted.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.415-425
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• 2014

This study investigated population fluctuations in two mite species in apple orchards over 20-year period. The occurrence of two major mite pests infesting apple trees, two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae and European red mite Panonychus ulmi (Acari: Tetranychidae), was investigated from 1992 to 2011 in major apple-producing districts, including four to eight cities, in the southern part of the Republic of Korea. The 20-year trend revealed that more orchards were infested by T. urticae from 1992 to 1999, but thereafter P. ulmi became dominant. The observed mean density of P. ulmi was consistent, whereas that of T. urticae fluctuated during this period. The analysis of occurrence in four time periods reveals that the density of T. urticae decreased after 2002. The monthly sampling, revealed that the density of P. ulmi was higher in April, whereas the density of T. urticae was higher from May to August. This change may be due to a change in the frequency of pesticide spraying, ground vegetation management, a decrease in nitrogen fertilization, and the overall orchard management practices. However, this projection should be examined in more detail. On the basis of the findings of this study, it can be concluded that cultural practices, including fertilization, and environmental changes, such as pesticide spray frequency and integrated pest management practices, affect species dominance and population densities of the two mite species in apple orchards.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.372-382
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• 2013

Thermal-hydro-mechanical (THM) modeling is a critical R&D issue in the performance and safety assessment of a high-level waste repository. With an $\ddot{A}$sp$\ddot{o}$ prototype repository, its thermal behavior was analyzed and then compared with in-situ experimental data for its validation. A model simulation was used to calculate the temperature distributions in the deposition holes, deposition tunnel, and surrounding host rock. A comparison of the simulation results with the experimental data was made for deposition hole DH-6, which showed that there was a temperature difference of $2{\sim}5^{\circ}C$ depending on the location of the measuring points, but there was a similar trend in the evolution curves of temperature as a function of time. It was expected that the coupled modeling of the thermal behavior with the hydro-mechanical behavior in the buffer and backfill of the $\ddot{A}$sp$\ddot{o}$ prototype repository would give a better agreement between the experimental and model calculation results.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.52 no.9
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• pp.54-62
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• 2015

Although NAND flash-based SSD (Solid-State Drive) provides superior performance in comparison to HDD (Hard Disk Drive), it has a major drawback in write endurance. As a result, the lifetime of SSD is determined by the workload and thus it becomes a big challenge in current technology trend of such as the shifting from SLC (Single Level Cell) to MLC (Multi Level cell) and even TLC (Triple Level Cell). Most previous studies have dealt with wear-leveling or improving SSD lifetime regarding hardware architecture. In this paper, we propose the optimal configuration of host I/O stack focusing on file system, I/O scheduler, and link power management using JEDEC enterprise workloads in terms of WAF (Write Amplification Factor) which represents the efficiency perspective of SSD life time especially for host write processing into flash memory. Experimental analysis shows that the optimum configuration of I/O stack for the perspective of SSD lifetime is MinPower-Dead-XFS which prolongs the lifetime of SSD approximately 2.6 times in comparison with MaxPower-Cfq-Ext4, the best performance combination. Though the performance was reduced by 13%, this contributions demonstrates a considerable aspect of SSD lifetime in relation to I/O stack optimization.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.5069-5073
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• 2015

The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1053004 in Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) was recently reported to be associated with chronic hepatitis B (CHB)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a Chinese cohort. This study was aimed at investigating whether the SNP might also contribute to HCC susceptibility in the Thai population. Study subjects were enrolled and divided into 3 groups including CHB-related HCC (n=211), CHB without HCC (n=233) and healthy controls (n=206). The SNP was genotyped using allelic discrimination assays based on TaqMan real-time PCR. Data analysis revealed that the distribution of different genotypes was in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P>0.05). The frequencies of allele T (major allele) in HCC patients, CHB patients and healthy controls were 51.4%, 58.6% and 61.4%, respectively, whereas the frequencies of C allele (minor allele) were 48.6%, 41.4% and 38.6%. The C allele frequency was higher in HCC when compared with CHB patients (odds ratio (OR)=1.34, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.02-1.74, P=0.032). The genotype of SNP rs1053004 (CC versus TT+TC) was significantly associated with an increased risk when compared with CHB patients (OR=1.83, 95% CI=1.13-2.99, P=0.015). In addition, we observed a similar trend of association when comparing HCC patients with healthy controls (OR=1.77, 95% CI=1.07-2.93, P=0.025) and all controls (OR=1.81, 95% CI=1.19-2.74, P=0.005). These findings suggest that the SNP rs1053004 in STAT3 might contribute to HCC susceptibility and could be used as a genetic marker for HCC in the Thai population.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.85-106
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• 2009

Current trend of audit is to check the physical aspects of developed information system, such as checking the budget constraints, time constraints or functional fluency etc. However, ultimate goal of information system is to help the organization to achieve the competency over their competitors. Also, there are three different interest groups in system auditing, like audit requesting group, audited group and audit group, who may have different points of interests in auditing. Current auditing process, however, ignores this point, and so does not check the differences between three groups. This study tries to develop new auditing method to cure these two problems. Contributions of this study may be summarized as follows. First, Redefine Information Systems Audit from a service point of view. Second, Divide the audit related person into three groups, and their different needs toward the information system was analyzed. Third, Analyze and compare the main interests of three groups, and weights of each groups to each indexes were calculated. Fourth, Fuzzy theory was applied to quantify the qualitative answers, which may minimize the ambiguity of questionnaire replies.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.45-53
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• 2015

Purpose - Online shopping enables consumers to conveniently purchase products irrespective of the time and place. As a result, several online shopping companies have emerged to cater to this growing market and, therefore, the competition among them has become increasingly intense. This paper evaluates the comparative efficiency of online shopping companies for a multi-year period (2009-2013), in order to help online shopping managers identify major drivers for enhancing management efficiency and the subsequent competitiveness. Research design, data, and methodology - The researchers collected the data from 2009 to 2013 from the distribution yearbook. This paper analyzes the marketability (sales figures), profitability (business profits), and management conditions (net profits) of domestic online shopping enterprises by incorporating information on human resources (number of employees) and material resources (total assets and capital). Therefore, the number of employees, total assets, and capital are selected as input variables, and sales figures, business profits, and net profits as the output variables. In this study, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used to measure the comparative efficiency of domestic online shopping companies. In addition, the Malmquist Productivity Index was used to evaluate the trend of change of Decision Making Units' (DMUs') efficiency for a multi-year period. Results - First, as of 2013, Interpark (2.415) was found to be the most efficient online shopping enterprise, followed by Aladdin Communications (2.117), Hyundai Home shopping (1.867), Home&Shopping (1.176), NS Home shopping (1.170), Commerce Planet (1.126), CJ O Shopping (1.105), Ebay Korea (1.088), and GS Home Shopping (1.051). Second, this study recognizes how the management efficiency has changed for the period 2009-2013. Third, the lesser the capital and employees, the more are the net profits, and the better is the management efficiency of domestic online shopping companies. Lastly, the productivity of such companies is influenced by endogenous factors rather than exogenous factors such as shifts in business environment and technological advances. Conclusions - DHC Korea influenced various distribution channels to reach customers through the Internet. Consequently, this helped in increasing the awareness about its products, in addition to an increase in sales. These achievements can be attributed to the characteristics of online shopping companies. Although it is easy for these companies to suggest goods for one-off purchases, they however have difficulties in retaining customers. Overcoming this challenge can be one of the ways to benchmark a successful case of an efficient company. For example, an online shopping company can attract customers by developing a corresponding mobile application as a convenient way to shop online. Additionally, they can satisfy customers by quick delivery of purchased products, which is possible by building an effective logistics network. Our study indicates that the productivity of an online shopping company was influenced by endogenous factors driven by improvements in managerial practices rather than exogenous factors. Accordingly, online shopping companies should adopt strategies to improve their operational efficiency rather than sales volume-oriented management.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.237-245
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• 2020

Tropicália, which marked the beginning of Brazilian Popular Music (MPB), is a musical genre that originated in the Brazilian cultural movement and this arose in the late 1960s. The musicians who participated in this cultural movement delivered radical innovation by embracing the international music trend of the 60s, such as the Beatles phenomenon and the experimental and creative music of the electronic age. The music derived from this era incorporated the cannibalism of the Brazilian modernism cultural movement in the 1920s, and it presented a cultural consilience while maintaining the traditional Brazilian culture. In particular, the convergence of Tropicália with rock was especially prominent. As rock grew into the culture of resistance in both Britain and the United States, the convergent characteristic of Tropicália reflected the critical sociocultural view toward Brazil at that time. This paper focuses on the element of fusion of traditional Brazilian music and the rock music present in Tropicália. To present a case study, this paper selected music pieces by Caetano Veloso, the essential pillar of Tropicália, and examined each element through specific music analysis. This study aims to establish an academic foundation for third-world music and contributes to the development and creation of fusion music.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.179-188
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• 2012

Performance analyses of vertical breakwaters were conducted for fictitiously designed breakwaters for various water depths to analyze the influence of climate change on the structures. The performance-based design method considering sea level rise and wave height increase due to climate change was used for the performance analysis. One of the problems of the performance-based design method is the large calculation time of wave transformation. To overcome this problem, the SWAN model combined with artificial neural network was used. The significant wave height and principal wave direction at the breakwater site are quickly calculated by using a trained neural network with inputs of deepwater significant wave height and principal wave direction, and tidal level. In general, structural stability becomes low due to climate change impacts, but the trend of stability is different depending on water depth. Outside surf zone, the influence of wave height increase becomes more significant, while that of sea level rise becomes negligible, as water depth increases. Inside surf zone, the influence of both wave height increase and sea level rise diminishes as water depth decreases, but the influence of wave height increase is greater than that of sea level rise. Reinforcement and maintenance policies for vertical breakwaters should be established with consideration of these results.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.3-17
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• 2017

This study ranks by developing an urban competitiveness index of major global cities, including seven cities in Korea using data from the Global Cities Forecast (2013) provided by Oxford Economics. The City competitiveness index is selected from 18 indicators including scale index, ratio index, growth rate index while Gini coefficient is used for distribution index. In order to analyze the relationship between the competitiveness index and the distribution index, we use the LOGIT panel regression model. As a result, the increase in income inequality (Gini coefficient) has a negative effect on the economic growth rate in 5-year time lag shown statistically significant. We have compiled global rankings of 770 city competitiveness based upon 19 indicators by combining the global competitiveness index and the distribution index. The trend of rank shows that 7 Metropolitan Korean Cities are expected to decline substantially over the period. In particular, Seoul ranked $59^{th}$ in 2010 and $74^{th}$ in 2015. Its ranking is expected to be decline to $185^{th}$ in 2030. The declining competitiveness of Korean cities is expected to lead to a weakening of Korea's national competitiveness in the long run. Accordingly, it is imperative to identify problems and seek strategic plans to secure global urban competitiveness.