• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.40 no.6 s.275
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• pp.407-413
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• 2007

Background: The brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) level has been reported in some studies to be associated with the occurrence of atrial fbrillation (AF). The aim of this study is to evaluate the potential usefulness of the BNP level as a predictor of the occurrence of postoperative (postop) AF and to assess the relationship of the BNP level with the onset of AF and the restoration of sinus rhythm. Material and Method: From January 1, 2005 to February 28, 2006, 82 patients without a history of atrial arrhythmia that had undergone cardiac surgery were enrolled in the study. Blood samples for plasma BNP were drawn daily for all these patients from the preoperative (preop) day to the 7th postop day. The patient records were reviewed and postop EKGs were checked daily for AF until the time of discharge. Result: Patients were divided into two groups based on development of postop AF. Postoperative AF developed in 26 patients (31.7%). There was no significant statistical difference in age, sex distribution, preop left ventricle ejection fraction, hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy, or the use of beta blockers between the non-postop AF and postop AF group. More patients in the AF group had undergone valve surgery (39.3% versus 76.9%, p=0.002). The preop left atrium size was significantly larger in the AF patients ($43.8{\pm}10.3 mm$ versus $49.8{\pm}11.5 mm$, p=0.029). The preop plasma BNP levels were higher in the postop AF patients ($144.1{\pm}20.8 pg/mL$ versus $267.5{\pm}68 pg/mL$, p=0.034). In the postop AF group, the plasma BNP level was the highest on the 3rd postop day. Postop AF developed in most patients by the 3rd postop day; restored sinus rhythm developed by the 7th postop day. Conclusion: Elevated plasma BNP levels may lead to the occurrence of postop AF in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Patients who have a high risk of postop AF should be considered for aggressive prophylactic antiarrhythmic therapy.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.101-114
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• 2001

Transportation enterprises should maintain constant and qualitative operation. Thus, in short period, transportation enterprises don't change supply in accordance with demand. In the result, transportation enterprises don't reduce operation in spite of management deficit at will. In freight transportation type, less-than-truckload(LTL) has more relation with above transportation feature than truckload(TL) does. Because freight transportation supply of TL is more flexible than that of LTL in correspondence of freight transportation demand. Relating to above mention, it appears that shortage of road and freight terminal of LTL is larger than that of TL. Especially in road and freight terminal comparison, shortage of freight terminal is larger than that of road. Shortage of road is the largest in 1990, and improved after-ward. But shortage of freight terminal is serious lately. So freight terminal needs more expansion than road, and shows better investment condition than road. Freight terminal expansion brings road expansion in LTL, on the contrary, freight terminal expansion substitutes freight terminal for road in TL. In transportation revenue, freight terminal's contribution to LTL is larger than that to TL. However, when we adjust quasi-fixed factor - road and freight terminal - to optimal level in the long run, in TL, diseconomies of scale becomes large, but in LTL, economies of scale becomes large. Consequently, it is necessary for TL to make counterplans to activate management of small size enterprises and owner drivers. And LTL should make use of economies of scale by solving the problem, such as nonprofit route, excess of rental freight handling of office, insufficiency of freight terminal, shortage of driver, and unpreparedness of freight insurance.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.55-80
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• 2009

Technology innovation activity plays a pivotal role in constructing the entrance barrier for other firms and making process improvement and new product. and these activities give a profit increase and growth to firms. Thus, technology innovation activity can reduce the default risk of firms. However, technology innovation activity can also increase the firm's default risk because technology innovation activity requires too much investment of the firm's resources and has the uncertainty on success. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of technology innovation activity on the default risk of firms. This study's sample consists of manufacturing firms listed on the Korea Securities Market and The Kosdaq Market from January 1,2000 to December 31, 2008. This study makes use of R&D intensity as an proxy variable of technology innovation activity. The default probability which proxies the default risk of firms is measured by the Merton's(l974) debt pricing model. The main empirical results are as follows. First, from the empirical results, it is found that technology innovation activity has a negative and significant effect on the default risk of firms independent of the Korea Securities Market and Kosdaq Market. In other words, technology innovation activity reduces the default risk of firms. Second, technology innovation activity reduces the default risk of firms independent of firm size, firm age, and credit score. Third, the results of robust analysis also show that technology innovation activity is the important factor which decreases the default risk of firms. These results imply that a manager must show continuous interest and investment in technology innovation activity of one's firm. And a policymaker also need design an economic policy to promote the technology innovation activity of firms.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.447-454
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• 1998

Purpose : This study evaluated the survival, local control, prognostic factor, and failure pattern of patients with esophageal cancer treated with operation and adjuvant radiation therapy to use as fundermental data of postoperative radiation therapy. Materials and Methods : A retrospective analysis was undertaken of 82 patients who had locally advanced esophageal cancer treated with operation and adjuvant radiation therapy from January 1988 to December 1995. According to AJCC staging, stage IIA were in 26 patients, stage IIB in 4 patients, and stage III in 52 patients. Squamous cell carcinoma were in 77 patients, adenosquamous carcinoma in 3 patients, and adenocarcinoma in 2 patients. The patients received radiation therapy ranging from 41.0 Gy to 64.8 Gy. Five patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Results : Two-year survival and local control rates for all patients were 36.8$\%$ and 30.4$\%$ respectively. And they were 9.3$\%$ and 26.3$\%$ respectively at 5 years. According to stages, 2-year survival rates were 50.2$\%$ in IIA, 0$\%$ in IIB and 23.3$\%$ in III (p=0.004). Two-year local control rates were 49.2 $\%$ in IIA, 66.6$\%$ in IIB and 24.7$\%$ in III (p=0.01). Sixty patients developed recurrence, which were 3 tumor margin, 23 lymph node recurrence, 4 tumor margin and lymph node, 1 tumor margin and distant metastasis, 9 lymph node and distant metastasis, 17 distant metastasis and 3 unknown metastatic site. Prognostic factors affecting survival were smoking (p=0.02), T-staging (p=0.0092), N-staging (p=0.0045). Prognostic factors affecting local control were T-staging (p=0.019), N-staging (p=0.047). Conclusion : In spite of post-operative radiation therapy, predominant failure pattern was local failure. Especially regional lymph node failure was major cause of local failure. So strategy of aggresive adjuvant radiation therapy to regional lymph node area in post operative treatment should be proposed.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.65-71
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• 2008

Purpose: This paper studied the effect of eyes on the comparison between the distance optical centers problem of dispensing reading glasses made by optician and finished reading glasses in the current market. Methods: The method of this study has been measured by eleven different categories from +1.00D to +4.00D. This study also separated into three groups by their optical frame size and measured optical center point (O.C) and optical center height (O.H) with 200 peoples of man and females over 40 years old without ocular disease living in Gwang-san gu, Gwang-Ju city. Results: As a result, optical center point ranged from 57 mm to 80 mm and it turned to be most common range is from 61 mm to 65 mm (64.6%). Moreover, the optical center height ranged from 1 mm to 8mm and most common ranged (23%) were 4 mm. In other words, finished reading glasses have irregular optical ranges. After observing 200 people who are over 40 years old men and women, result shows that more than 75.5% (151 people) currently use finished reading glasses. Survey of 151 people, most common error between the finished reading glasses's O.C and the wearers P.D were 4 mm (45%). Furthermore, the most common error between the finished reading glassses's O.H and the wearers O.H ranged from 3 mm to 4 mm. Astonishingly, the entire 151 people who wear finished reading glasses appeal that they feel tiredness on their eyes when they wear finished reading glasses. 53 people (35%) claimed that they feel tiredness on their eyes after 10 to 20 minutes wearing finished reading glasses. Base on the research, We conducted more experiment to find the value of prism of optical centers err because it will tell us whether the finished reading glasses are good enough to wear or not. We multiplied diopter by the difference between finished reading glasses's O.C. and wearer's P.D. Consequently, We found out that the finished reading glasses counter to the German RAL-RG 915 policy. And We also found that it is relative to the diopter of lenses. In conclusion, based on the researched that wearing finished reading glasses have a dangerous factor for our vision. Therefore optician must need to recommend correctly made dispensing reading glasses based on the optical center point.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.268-295
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• 1997

Sweating is natural phenomenon necessary for the regulation of an individual's body-temperature. The secretion of sweat is mediated by a portion of our vegetative nervous system(the sympathetic nervous system). In some people, this system is working at a very high activity level, far higher than needed to keep a constant temperature. This condition is referred to as hyperhidrosis. Especially excessive sweating of the hands and the feet is palmoplantar hyperhidrosis or volar hyperhidrosis. This is by far the most distressing condition. It was founded that the first important cause of this was emotional factor. The hands are much more exposed in social and prefessional activities than any other part of our body. Many individuals with palmoplantar hyperhidrosis are limited in their choice of proffession, because unable to manipulate materials sensitive to humidity or reluctant to shake hands; some patients arrive to the point to avoid social contact. The occidental medical treatments for palmoplantar hyperhidrosis include application of topical agents(chemical antiperspirants such as aluminum chloride), iontophoresis(treatment with electrical current), or surgery(thoracic sympathectomy). It was reported that the most effective treatment was thoracic sympathectomy. So this study was started to find the easy and effective oriental medical treatments against the occidental medical treatments through the oriental medical literature. The occidental medical idea for palmoplantar hyperhidrosis is only limited in neurologic system, so surgery is the best treatment. But the oriental medical idea for palmoplantar hyperhidrosis is much wider, so the oriental medical causes and treatments for this are able to be veriety. And the oriental medical teatment is freely in treating the patients of palmoplantar hyperhidrosis, because entire idea including pulse, facial color, mental condition, constitution and other symptom exists in the oriental medicine. The results of a bibliographic study of causes and treatments for palmoplantar are as follows; 1. The main causes of pa1moplantar hyperhidrosis are heat in the stomach, damp-heat in the spleen and the stomach, insufficiency of the spleen-qi and the stomach-qi, deficiency of the spleen-yin and the stomach-yin, and the others are the stomach-cold syndrome, stasis of blood and dyspepsia in the stomach, disorder of the liver-qi, deficiency of the heart-yin and the kidney-yin, deficiency of the heart-yang and the kidney-yang, stagnated heat in the liver and the spleen, the lung channel-heat etc. 2. The main methods of medical treatments for palmoplantar hyperhidrosis are clearing out the stomach-heat, eliminating dampness and heat in the spleen and the stomach, invigorating the spleen-qi and the stomach-qi, reinforcing the spleen-yin and the stomach-yin, warming the stomach, relaxing the liver and alleviating of mental depression and tonifying the heart and the kidney etc. 3. The main prescriptions of palmoplantar hyperhidrosis are Taesihotang, Palmultang-kakam, Samyeongbaechusan, Chongbisan, Sasammaekmundongtang, the others are Leejungtang, Hwangkikonjungtang, Seungkitang, Boyumtang, Baekhotang, Chongsimyonjayum, Moyrosan, etc. 4. Local medicine for external use are liquid after boiling alum in water for about 1 or 2 hours, liquid after boiling alum and pueraria root in water and liquid after boiling stragalus root, pueraria root, ledebouriella root and schizonepeta in water, etc. 5. The methods of acupuncture therapy include invigorating Bokyru, Yumkuk and purgating Hapkouk, or invigorating Bokyru, Kihae and purgating Hapkouk, or steadying Hapkouk, Nokung.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.46-55
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• 2005

Purpose : Recurrent urinary tract Infection(UTI) in primary vesicoureteral reflux(VUR) may lead to serious renal scarring, a major cause of childhood hypertension and end-stage renal disease. To prevent recurrent UTI, low-dose long--term antibiotic prophylaxis has been recommended. However, recurrent UTI still develops during antibiotic prophylaxis, the efficacy of which is now being disputed. The emergence of resistant bacteria has also raised concerns. To evaluate the effect of antibiotic prophylaxis, we investigated recurrent UTI during prophylactic antibiotic use in children with primary VUR Materials : The incidence and risk factors of recurrent UTI were retrospectively evaluated in ninety-one children with primary VUR on trimethoprim- sulfamethoxazole(TMP/SMX) prophylafis during the year following their index febri]e UTI. Results : Recurrent UTI occurred in 31.9%(29/91) children and comprised 0.32 episodes/patient year. Febrile UTI was 0.26 episode/patient year and afebrile UTI was 0.07 episodes/patient year. The recurrent rate of UTI in male patients with phimosis was 37.2%(19/51), which was significantly higher than in males without phimosis 0%(0/5)(P=0.025). In the logistic regression analysis for recurrent UTI, renal scar was the significant risk factor for recurrent UTI [RR 3.8(95% CI 1.0-14.1) P=0.04]. For other well-known risk factors such as sex, age, degree of VUR, APN, and voiding dysfunction, the differences were not significant. Conclusion : TMP/SMX prophylaxis did not prevent recurrent UTI in children with primary VUR. Phimosis and renal scars were the risk factors for recurrent UTI but the grade of primary VUR was not. In VUR without phlmosis and renal scar, a randomized controlled study without antibiotic prophylaxis is required. (J Korean Soc Pediatr Nephrol 2005;9:46-55)

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.127-140
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• 2010

The benefit that a consumer derives from the use of a good often depends on the number of other consumers purchasing the same goods or other compatible items. This property, which is known as network externality, is significant in many IT related industries. Over the past few decades, network externalities have been recognized in the context of physical networks such as the telephone and railroad industries. Today, as many products are provided as a form of system that consists of compatible components, the appreciation of network externality is becoming increasingly important. Network externalities have been extensively studied among economists who have been seeking to explain new phenomena resulting from rapid advancements in ICT (Information and Communication Technology). As a result of these efforts, a new body of theories for 'New Economy' has been proposed. The theoretical bottom-line argument of such theories is that technologies subject to network effects exhibit multiple equilibriums and will finally lock into a monopoly with one standard cornering the entire market. They emphasize that such "tippiness" is a typical characteristic in such networked markets, describing that multiple incompatible technologies rarely coexist and that the switch to a single, leading standard occurs suddenly. Moreover, it is argued that this standardization process is path dependent, and the ultimate outcome is unpredictable. With incomplete information about other actors' preferences, there can be excess inertia, as consumers only moderately favor the change, and hence are themselves insufficiently motivated to start the bandwagon rolling, but would get on it once it did start to roll. This startup problem can prevent the adoption of any standard at all, even if it is preferred by everyone. Conversely, excess momentum is another possible outcome, for example, if a sponsoring firm uses low prices during early periods of diffusion. The aim of this paper is to analyze the dynamics of the adoption process in markets exhibiting network effects by focusing on two factors; switching and agent heterogeneity. Switching is an important factor that should be considered in analyzing the adoption process. An agent's switching invokes switching by other adopters, which brings about a positive feedback process that can significantly complicate the adoption process. Agent heterogeneity also plays a important role in shaping the early development of the adoption process, which has a significant impact on the later development of the process. The effects of these two factors are analyzed by developing an agent-based simulation model. ABM is a computer-based simulation methodology that can offer many advantages over traditional analytical approaches. The model is designed such that agents have diverse preferences regarding technology and are allowed to switch their previous choice. The simulation results showed that the adoption processes in a market exhibiting networks effects are significantly affected by the distribution of agents and the occurrence of switching. In particular, it is found that both weak heterogeneity and strong network effects cause agents to start to switch early and this plays a role of expediting the emergence of 'lock-in.' When network effects are strong, agents are easily affected by changes in early market shares. This causes agents to switch earlier and in turn speeds up the market's tipping. The same effect is found in the case of highly homogeneous agents. When agents are highly homogeneous, the market starts to tip toward one technology rapidly, and its choice is not always consistent with the populations' initial inclination. Increased volatility and faster lock-in increase the possibility that the market will reach an unexpected outcome. The primary contribution of this study is the elucidation of the role of parameters characterizing the market in the development of the lock-in process, and identification of conditions where such unexpected outcomes happen.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.1-20
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• 2013

Social commerce has been gaining explosive popularity, with typical examples of the model such as Groupon and Level Up. Both local business owners and consumers can benefit from this new e-commerce model. Local business owners have a chance to access potential customers and promote their products in a way that could not have otherwise been easily possible, and consumers can enjoy discounted offerings. However, questions have been increasingly raised about the value and future of the social commerce model. A recent survey shows that about a third of 324 business owners who ran a daily-deal promotion in Groupon went behind. Furthermore, more than half of the surveyed merchants did not express enthusiasm about running the promotion again. The same goes for the case in Korea, where more than half of the surveyed clients reported no significant change or even decrease in profits compared to before the use of social commerce model. Why do local business owners fail to exploit the benefits from the promotions and advertisements through the social commerce model and to make profits? Without answering this question, the model would fall under suspicion and even its sustainability might be challenged. This study aims to look into problems in the current social commerce transactions and provide implications for the social commerce model, so that the model would get a foothold for next growth. Drawing on justice theory, this study develops theoretical arguments for the effects of transaction characteristics on consumers' distributive justice and purchase intention in the social commerce. Specifically, this study focuses on two characteristics of social commerce transactions-the discount rate and the purchase rate of products-and investigates their effects on consumers' perception of distributive justice for discounted transactions in the social commerce and their perception of distributive justice for regular-priced transactions. This study also examines the relationship between distributive justice and purchase intention. We conducted an online experiment and gathered data from 115 participants to test the hypotheses. Each participant was randomly assigned to one of nine manipulated scenarios of social commerce transactions, which were generated based on the combination of three levels of purchase rate (high, medium, and low) and three levels of discount rate (high, medium, and low). We conducted MANOVA and post-hoc ANOVA to test hypotheses about the relationships between the transaction characteristics (purchase rate and discount rate) and distributive justice for each of the discounted transaction and the regular-priced transaction. We also employed a PLS analysis to test relations between distributive justice and purchase intentions. Analysis results show that a higher discount rate increases distributive justice for the discounted transaction but decreases distributive justice for the regular-priced transaction. This, coupled with the result that distributive justice for each type of transaction has a positive effect on the corresponding purchase intention, implies that a large discount in the social commerce may be helpful for attracting consumers, but harmful to the business after the promotion. However, further examination reveals curvilinear effects of the discount rate on both types of distributive justice. Specifically, we find distributive justice for the discounted transaction increases concavely as the discount rate increases while distributive justice for the regular-priced transaction decreases concavely with the dscount rate. This implies that there exists an appropriate discount rate which could promote the discounted transaction while not hurting future business of regular-priced transactions. Next, the purchase rate is found to be a critical factor that facilitates the regular-priced transaction. It has a convexly positive influence on distributive justice for the transaction. Therefore, an increase of the rate beyond some threshold would lead to a substantial level of distributive justice for the regular-priced transaction, threrby boosting future transactions. This implies that social commerce firms and sellers should employ various non-price stimuli to promote the purchase rate. Finally, we find no significant relationship between the purchase rate and distributive justice for the discounted transaction. Based on the above results, we provide several implications with future research directions.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.260-269
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• 2009

Hwabuk Dam has been under construction to reduce flood damage in Nakdong River watershed and to supply stable water for middle area of Gyeongbuk Province. Therefore, fish investigation in up and downstream of the dam was conducted from 2004 to 2008 in order to determine any negative effect on fish community due to dam construction and to use as fundamental data for conserving species diversity and maintaining stream health. According to data analysis on water quality, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, suspended solids, and total E-coli had seasonal variation, but they did not significantly differ in sites. However, biological and chemical oxygen demand, chlorophyll-a, nitrogen, and phosphorus representing organic matter and nutrient concentration were higher in upper site and decreased to lower site so that they differed by site. Concentration of arsenic among the heavy metals was less than 0.05 mg $L^{-1}$, which is regulated for protection of human health in water quality standard, except for 0.092 mg $L^{-1}$ in June 2005. During the study period, the total number of fish caught from the 6 sites was 10,263 representing 7 families 19 species. Among them, dominant and subdominant species were Korean chub (Zacco koreanus, 62.5%) and Chinese minnow (Rhynchocypris oxycephalus, 10.6%) which inhabit mostly in mid and upper streams, Korea. Among the 19 species, Korean endemic species were 9 species (47.4%) including Korean slender gudgeon (Squalidus gracilis majimae), Korean dark sleeper (Odontobutis platycephala), and Korean shiner (Coreoleuciscus splendidus). There was several individuals of the $1^{st}$-class endangered species, Naktong nose loach (Koreocobitis nahtongensis), caught in 2005${\sim}$2007, and no introduced species of fish was found in entire sampling period. According to result of community analysis, dominance index decreased toward lower site, but diversity and richness indices increased toward lower site. The equation of length-weight relationship on the dominant species was TW=0.000003$(TL)^{3.2603}$. The parameter b in the equation was greater than 3.0 indicating good nutritional condition in the populations. Compared to populations of Korean chub in other streams, the population in Hwabuk Dam watershed had higher mean of condition factor by size indicating better growth rate. With fish fauna and multi-metric health assessment model in each sampling attempt, index of biotic integrity (IBI) was evaluated and it resulted mostly in good (26${\sim}$35) and excellent (36${\sim}$40) condition in all sites, and the mean of IBI was the highest in site 5. The results indicate that it is very important to study not only environmental impact assessment with fish composition but also stream health assessment in order to conserve healthy aquatic ecosystem.