• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.51-78
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• 2021

Followed by 'start-up', the theme of 'scale-up' has been considered as an important agenda in both corporate and policy spheres. In particular, although it is a term commonly used in industry and policy fields, even a conceptual definition has not been achieved from the academic perspective. "Corporate Growth" in the academic aspect and "Business Growth" in the practical management field have different understandings (Achtenhagen et al., 2010). Previous research on corporate growth has not departed from Penrose(1959)'s "Firm as a bundle of resources" and "the role of managers". Based on the theory and background of economics, existing research has mainly examined factors that contribute to firms' growth and their growth patterns. Comparatively, we lack knowledge on the firms' growth with a focus on 'annual revenue growth rate'. In the early stage of the firms, they tend to exhibit a high growth rate as it started with a lower level of annual revenue. However, when the firms reach annual revenue of more than 100 billion KRW, a threshold to be classified as a 'middle-standing enterprise' by Korean standards, they are unlikely to reach a high level of revenue growth rate. In our study, we used our sample of 333 companies (6.7% out of 5,000 'fastest-growing' companies) which reached 15% of the compound annual growth rate in the last three years with more than USD 100 million. It shows that sustaining 'high-growth' above a certain firm size is difficult. The study focuses on firms with annual revenue of more than $100 billion (approximately 120 billion KRW) from the 'Inc. 2020 fast-growing companies 5,000' list. The companies have been categorized into 1) Fast-growing companies (revenue CAGR 15%~40% between 2016 and 2019), 2) Hyper-growing companies (40%~99.9%), and 3) Super-growing (100% or more) with in-depth analysis of each group's characteristics. Also, the relationship between the revenue growth rate, individual company's strategy choice (market orientation, generic strategy, growth strategy, pioneer strategy), industry/market environment, and firm age is investigated with a quantitative approach. Through conducting the study, it aims to provide a reference to the 'Hyper-Growing Model' that combines the paths and factors of growth strategies. For policymakers, our study intends to provide a reference to which factors or environmental variables should be considered for 'optimal effective combinations' to promote firms' growth.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.199-208
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• 2021

Euonymus porphyreus, a species of plant in the Celastraceae family, is widely distributed in East Asia, especially in Southern China. The botanical characteristics of E. porphyreus have been reported, but its antioxidative and anticancer activities remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated the antioxidative and anticancer effects of ethanol extracts of E. porphyreus (EEEP) and the molecular mechanism of its anticancer activity in human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells. The total polyphenol and flavonoid compound contents from EEEP were 115.42 mg/g and 23.07 mg/g, respectively. EEEP showed significant antioxidative effects with a concentration at 50% of the inhibition (IC50) value of 11.09 ㎍/ml, as measured by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay. EEEP showed cytotoxic activity by increasing the SubG1 cell population of A549 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Apoptosis in A549 cells treated with EEEP was evident due to increased apoptotic cells and apoptotic bodies, as detected by Annexin V and 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining, respectively. EEEP-induced apoptosis resulted in increased expression of the First apoptosis signal (Fas), p53, and Bax, with decreased expression of Bcl-2 and subsequent activation of caspase-8, -9, and caspase-3, leading to cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). Collectively, these results suggest that EEEP may exert an anticancer effect by inducing apoptosis in A549 cells through both intrinsic and extrinsic pathways.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.55-62
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• 2020

A 22-month-old girl who had taken iron supplements due to iron deficiency anemia, presented bloody mucoid stool for one month. She had a bruise at the right periorbital area due to minor trauma and hepatosplenomegaly. Laboratory studies showed anemia, thrombocytopenia, elevated alkaline phosphatase (ALP), hypophosphatemia, decreased haptoglobin, hypocomplementemia, negative direct/indirect Coomb's test, normal vitamin D3 level and high PTHi. Wrist x-ray showed no signs of rickets. The abdominal ultrasound showed only accessory spleen. Tandem mass spectrometry was normal. During follow up, bloody stool regressed after seven days of withdrawal of iron supplement and cow milk, and the total CO2 level had been within 15-20 mEq/L with normal anion gap. NGS (next generation sequencing) panel test for evaluation of renal tubular acidosis showed negative results. After low dose steroid and vitamin D supplements under the impression of hypocomplementemic vasculitis, thrombocytopenia, C3/C4, decreased haptoglobin, and elevated ALP level became normal. At 57 months of age, laboratory findings showed elevated liver enzyme, ALP and gamma-glutamyl transferase again. And liver cirrhosis with splenomegaly and diffuse renal disease were reported with abdomen CT scan. Liver biopsy reported macro- and micronodular cirrhosis. Urine organic acid profile showed elevated succinylacetone level. Whole exome sequencing revealed novel compound heterozygous mutations (NM_00137.2:c.107T>C, NM_00137, 2:c.614T>C) in FAH gene and confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Consequently, the patient was diagnosed as chronic hereditary tyrosinemia type I. She started low phenylalanine/tyrosine diet and nitisinone treatment. Our case had presented symptoms very slowly, which is the first case of chronic tyrosinemia type I in South Korea.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.701-711
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• 2020

Purpose: In this study, the risk of flammability of a liquid mixture was experimentally confirmed because the purpose of this study was to confirm the increase or decrease of the flammability risk in a mixture of two substances (combustible+combustible) and to present the risk of the mixture. Method: Flash point test method and result processing were tested based on KS M 2010-2008, a tag sealing test method used as a flash point test method for crude oil and petroleum products. The manufacturer of the equipment used in this experiment was Japan's TANAKA. The flash point was measured with a test equipment that satisfies the test standards of KS M 2010 with equipment produced by the company, and LP gas was used as the ignition source and water as the cooling water. In addition, when measuring the flash point, the temperature of the cooling water was tested using cooling water of about 2℃. Results: First of all, in the case of flammable + combustible mixtures, there was little change in flash point if the flash point difference between the two substances was not large, and if the flash point difference between the two substances was low, the flash point tended to increase as the number of substances with high flash point increased. However, in the case of toluene and methanol, the flash point of the mixture was lower than that of the material with a lower flash point. Also, in the case of a paint thinner, it was not easy to predict the flash point of the material because it was composed of a mixture, but as a result of experimental measurement, it was measured between -24℃ and 7℃. Conclusion: The results of this study are to determine the risk of mixtures through experimental studies on flammable mixtures for the purpose of securing the effectiveness of the details of the criteria for determining dangerous goods in the existing dangerous goods safety management method and securing the reliability and reproducibility of the determination of dangerous goods Criteria have been presented, and reference data on experimental criteria for flammable liquids that are regulated in firefighting sites can be provided. In addition, if this study accumulates know-how on differences in test methods, it is expected that it can be used as a basis for research on risk assessment of dangerous goods and as a basis for research on dangerous goods determination.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.511-519
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• 2021

The Perilla frutescens var. japonica HARA is widely cultivated in Korea for vegetable leaves and oil seeds. Perilla species have been used for food and medicine and are known to contain many functional compounds. In this study, we investigated the functional compound contents of Perilla during its growth stages to analyze the optimal harvest time and conditions. The contents of the Perilla sprouts were analyzed according to culture environment and days of growth. Sprouts grown in soil under natural light conditions showed high rosmarinic acid (23.19±0.16 mg/g) and GABA (0.55±0.05 mg/g) content. Therefore, the results suggest that 6 to 8 days after sowing in soil under natural light conditions was the optimum harvest condition for sprouts. Also, the functional compounds of Perilla were analyzed according to growth stage and plant part. As a result, caffeic acid and rosmarinic acid exhibited the highest content in the stage from vegetative growth to reproductive growth (0.28±0.03 ~ 0.30±0.07 mg/g rosmarinic acid and 20.60±7.02 ~ 19.37±3.18 mg/g caffeic acid), and luteolin and GABA showed the highest content in the reproductive growth stage and in the early stages of vegetative growth, respectively (31.11±2.98 ~ 22.35±1.64 ㎍/g luteolin and 0.42±0.09 ~ 0.37±0.04 mg/g GABA). It was confirmed that the content of caffeic acid (0.34±0.03 mg/g), rosmarinic acid (55.22±9.33 mg/g) and luteolin (1,044.89±6.72 ㎍/g) was the highest during the bolting stage. Overall, we identified the timing of the highest level of functional compounds in the sprouts and mature leaves of Perilla. These results suggest a suitable harvest time and conditions for sprouts and leaves for the use of Perilla as a functional material.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.278-289
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• 2021

The rapid aging of society has led to a surge in cognitive dysfunction in the elderly. As there is limited evidence for the development of dementia in medicine, a shift in focus on prevention strategies using bioactive compounds in food is required. This systematic review evaluated the effects of various bioactive compounds on age-associated cognitive decline. The literature was searched for terms related to bioactive compounds in cognitive decline and article selection was limited to clinical randomized controlled trials for a single bioactive compound. We identified 21 studies that evaluated the strength of the evidence. ω-3 fatty acids and vitamin B presented a strong evidence level, whereas vitamin D and E, anserine/carnosine, and chromium were defined as having moderate levels of evidence. ω-3 fatty acids relieved cognitive decline and reduced amyloid β-related protein accumulation. Vitamin B decreased homocysteine levels, which is accompanied by alleviation of cognitive function. In conclusion, ω-3 and vitamin B have the potential to improve age-associated cognitive decline.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.65-82
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• 2021

Stock market investors are generally split into foreign investors, institutional investors, and individual investors. Compared to individual investor groups, professional investor groups such as foreign investors have an advantage in information and financial power and, as a result, foreign investors are known to show good investment performance among market participants. The purpose of this study is to propose an investment strategy that combines investor-specific transaction information and machine learning, and to analyze the portfolio investment performance of the proposed model using actual stock price and investor-specific transaction data. The Korea Exchange offers daily information on the volume of purchase and sale of each investor to securities firms. We developed a data collection program in C# programming language using an API provided by Daishin Securities Cybosplus, and collected 151 out of 200 KOSPI stocks with daily opening price, closing price and investor-specific net purchase data from January 2, 2007 to July 31, 2017. The self-organizing map model is an artificial neural network that performs clustering by unsupervised learning and has been introduced by Teuvo Kohonen since 1984. We implement competition among intra-surface artificial neurons, and all connections are non-recursive artificial neural networks that go from bottom to top. It can also be expanded to multiple layers, although many fault layers are commonly used. Linear functions are used by active functions of artificial nerve cells, and learning rules use Instar rules as well as general competitive learning. The core of the backpropagation model is the model that performs classification by supervised learning as an artificial neural network. We grouped and transformed investor-specific transaction volume data to learn backpropagation models through the self-organizing map model of artificial neural networks. As a result of the estimation of verification data through training, the portfolios were rebalanced monthly. For performance analysis, a passive portfolio was designated and the KOSPI 200 and KOSPI index returns for proxies on market returns were also obtained. Performance analysis was conducted using the equally-weighted portfolio return, compound interest rate, annual return, Maximum Draw Down, standard deviation, and Sharpe Ratio. Buy and hold returns of the top 10 market capitalization stocks are designated as a benchmark. Buy and hold strategy is the best strategy under the efficient market hypothesis. The prediction rate of learning data using backpropagation model was significantly high at 96.61%, while the prediction rate of verification data was also relatively high in the results of the 57.1% verification data. The performance evaluation of self-organizing map grouping can be determined as a result of a backpropagation model. This is because if the grouping results of the self-organizing map model had been poor, the learning results of the backpropagation model would have been poor. In this way, the performance assessment of machine learning is judged to be better learned than previous studies. Our portfolio doubled the return on the benchmark and performed better than the market returns on the KOSPI and KOSPI 200 indexes. In contrast to the benchmark, the MDD and standard deviation for portfolio risk indicators also showed better results. The Sharpe Ratio performed higher than benchmarks and stock market indexes. Through this, we presented the direction of portfolio composition program using machine learning and investor-specific transaction information and showed that it can be used to develop programs for real stock investment. The return is the result of monthly portfolio composition and asset rebalancing to the same proportion. Better outcomes are predicted when forming a monthly portfolio if the system is enforced by rebalancing the suggested stocks continuously without selling and re-buying it. Therefore, real transactions appear to be relevant.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.66 no.2
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• pp.171-181
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• 2021

The purposes of this study were to determine how changes in temperature affect germination rates and growth of hulled and dehulled barley, malting barley, and naked oat plants, and to measure chlorophyll content, photosynthetic efficiency, and secondary compounds (total phenol, total flavonoid, and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity) in plants grown at 13℃ or 25℃). Various types of barley seeds were collected from areas with ideal conditions for barley cultivation, hereinafter referred to as IA, and also from areas where barley cultivation is more difficult due to lower temperatures, hereinafter referred to as LTA. Seeds were tested for seed vigor. While there were significant differences in the electrical conductivity values between seeds collected from certain specific areas, no significant differences were evident between IA and LTA seeds, regardless of the type of barley seed. When plants were grown at 25℃, there were no significant differences in germination rates, plant height, root length and shoot fresh weight between plants originating from IA and LTA. However, there were differences in the measured parameters of some specific seeds. Similarly, under the low temperature condition of 13℃, no differences in the emergence rate, plant height, and shoot fresh weight were evident between plants originating from IA or LTA, regardless of the type of barley. However, there were differences between some specific seeds. One parameter that did vary significantly was the emergence date. Hulled barley and malting barley emerged 5 days after sowing, whereas naked oats emerged 7 days after sowing. There were no differences in the chlorophyll content and photosynthetic efficacy, regardless of the type of barley. There were no significant differences in total phenol, total flavonoid content, and DPPH radical scavenging activity between plants originating from IA and LTA, regardless of the type of barley. However, there were differences between some specific seeds. In particular, for malting barley the total flavonoid content differed in the order of Gangjin > Changwon > Haenam = Jeonju > Naju. The results indicate that crop growth, yield and content of secondary compounds in various types of barley may be affected by climate change.

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.46-53
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• 2022

The agglomeration characteristics of coal and silica sand were investigated under various conditions using mixed samples consisting of coal, silica sand, and potassium hydroxide, which is an agglomeration accelerator. The samples were prepared by either physically mixing or using aqueous solutions. The experiments using the physically mixed powder samples were performed with a two hour reaction time. The results showed that the number of aggregates generated increased as the reaction temperature and the total potassium content increased. The experiments using aqueous solutions were performed at 880 ℃, which is the operating temperature of a fluidized bed boiler, and at 980 ℃, which assumes a local hot spot. The amount of agglomeration generated as the reaction time increased and the total potassium content increased was identified. In the experiment performed at 880 ℃, the amount of aggregate generated clearly increased with the reaction time, and in the experiment performed at 980 ℃, assuming a local hot spot, a large amount of aggregate was generated in a relatively short time. The aggregates became harder as the potassium content increased. When the total potassium content was less than 1.37 wt.%, the aggregates were weak at both temperatures and collapsed even with a slight impact. Additionally, the surface characteristics of the silica sand and ash aggregates were observed by SEM-EDS analysis. The analysis revealed a large amount of potassium at the bonding sites. This result indicates that there is a high possibility of aggregation in the form of a eutectic compound when the alkali component is increased.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.317-322
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• 2022

Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis is the causative agent of caseous lymphadenitis (CLA), a chronic contagious disease in small ruminants. The prevalence of CLA has been reported to be >50% in Korean black goats. CLA is difficult to control due to a lack of efficient vaccines and treatment methods. Effective disinfection of the farm environment may be an alternative strategy for reducing the spread of C. pseudotuberculosis. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of commercial disinfectants against CLA. The six commercial disinfectants, largely composed of sodium dichloroisocyanurate, sodium hypochlorite, potassium monopersulfate triple salt, quaternary ammonium, citric acid, and copper sulfate, were tested against five different genotypes of C. pseudotuberculosis isolated from goat farms in Korea. Efficacy tests were performed in accordance with the disinfectant efficacy test guidelines recommended by the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency of Korea with slight modifications. All disinfectants except for copper sulfate exhibited >99.99% killing efficacy under hard water conditions following 30 min of incubation, which is the recommended standard treatment time according to guidelines. The minimum bactericidal treatment time was evaluated by employing treatments for durations of 1, 5, and 15 min. The most effective compounds under hard water conditions were sodium dichloroisocyanurate, potassium monopersulfate triple salt, and sodium hypochlorite, exhibiting >99.99% killing efficacy after 1 min of treatment. In the aqueous solution forms, citric acid and the quaternary ammonium compound were the most effective, but required at least 5 min to kill >99.99% of the bacteria. The current study characterizes the killing efficacy of six commercial disinfectant active compounds against C. pseudotuberculosis. Thus, this study provides essential information regarding the efficacy of the disinfectants used to control CLA in goat farms.