• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.510-518
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• 2010

Purpose : Kawasaki disease (KD) is a systemic vasculitis, a leading cause of pediatric acquired heart disease. Histopathological findings of coronary artery lesion (CAL) in KD indicate destruction of the coronary artery wall with diffuse vasculitis. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their endogenous tissue inhibitors (TIMPs) might play central roles in this process. Special attention to MMP-9 has recently been emerging. This study was performed to investigate the clinical significance of MMP-9 and its inhibitors, TIMP-1 and TIMP-2, in KD. Methods : We compared 47 KD patients with 14 febrile controls. Serum MMP-9 and TIMP-1, TIMP-2 were measured by ELISA and compared according to clinical stages and coronary involvement. Results : In acute stage, MMP-9 and TIMP-1 were significantly higher, whereas TIMP-2 was lower, in KD than those in febrile controls ($P$<0.05). The elevated MMP-9 levels in acute phase significantly decreased during the subacute and convalescent phases ($P$<0.05). During acute phase, the MMP-9, TIMP-1, and MMP-9/TIMP-2 levels in the CAL group were lower than those in the non-CAL group, but they increased significantly in the subacute phase ($P$<0.05). MMP-9 has a positive correlation with TIMP-1 in the acute and subacute phases, and negative correlation with TIMP-2 in the subacute and convalescent phases ($P$<0.05). Conclusion : These results suggest that MMP-9, TIMP-1, and the imbalance in MMP-9 and TIMP-2 might play important roles on the pathophysiology of KD and especially on the development of CAL. However, further larger studies are needed.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.115-122
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• 2015

Purpose - This study was conducted to develop a beekeeping farm management standard checklist. This is essential to increase the competitive power of beekeeping farmers. Checklists in relation to crops and livestock were established by the Rural Development Administration in the 2000s. To date, 60 checklists have been created by crop and livestock experts. However, other farmers outside the 60 checklists are increasing. Therefore, extra development is required for these farmers. This study was conducted to meet farmers' requirements. The special farming dealt with in this study is beekeeping. Such checklists were not developed due to the small number of beekeeping farmers. However, these days, a number of such farmers are emerging. Research design, data, and methodology - Many related experts participated in this study. This study was conducted in four stages. First, a basic outline of beekeeping was created by surveying many kinds of beekeeping experts. The draft of the beekeeping checklist was created by a secondary advisory council. This draft was then sent to 14 beekeeping experts to confirm whether or not it was suitable as a management checklist. For collecting the experts' opinions, a direct visit survey was done through an arranged questionnaire. Additionally, a basic management checklist blueprint was reviewed by many experts. In the third stage, a Delphi survey method was utilized with a special Delphi questionnaire. In this stage, experts who participated in the first and second stages were excluded. As there were uncertain answers among them, a second Delphi survey was done. As a result of this survey, all answers were agreed among them. Results - From the results of this survey, four subjects in the management accomplishment index were determined. These are farming scale, average product per beehive, the sale price of honey (1kg), and the number of bee plates in the beehive. In the case of the management checklist content, five items were determined. These are beekeeping farming facilities, the environment around the farm land and general management, the product management of the beekeeping harvest, the management of the disease and pest, and farming management. This checklist will be utilized for beekeeping farmers to implement in a management situation. Conclusions - These days, the number of beekeeping farmers is increasing. The management checklist for beekeeping farmers will be used to improve their farming situation and marketing. Beekeeping farmers can understand their management by reviewing their checklist. After checking, the situation of management can be analyzed. Farmers can supplement weaknesses with expert advice. This checklist will be used by agricultural technique extension workers for farming management consulting. This checklist has to be complemented by a change in the management of the environment. This checklist will be delivered to beekeeping farmers after a verification survey is done. The result of the checklist score will be utilized for a benchmarking service to be implemented for beekeeping farmers to utilize.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.10 no.7
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• pp.33-41
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to analyse the state of the energy industry and to determine the efficiency of its functioning on the basis of energy conservation principle and application of innovative technologies aimed at improving the ecological modernisation of agricultural sectors of Kazakhstan. The research methodology is based on an integrated approach of financial and economic evaluation of the effectiveness of the investment project, based on calculation of elasticity, total costs and profitability, as well as on comparative, graphical and system analysis. The current stage is characterised by widely spread restructuring processes of electric power industry in many countries through introduction of new technical installations of energy facilities and increased government regulation in order to enhance the competitive advantage of electricity market. Electric power industry features a considerable value of creating areas. For example, by providing scientific and technical progress, it crucially affects not only the development but also the territorial organisation of productive forces, first of all the industry. In modern life, more than 90% of electricity and heat is obtained by Kazakhstan's economy by consuming non-renewable energy resources: different types of coal, oil shale, oil, natural gas and peat. Therefore, it is significant to ensure energy security, as the country faces a rapid fall back to mono-gas structure of fuel and energy balance. However, energy resources in Kazakhstan are spread very unevenly. Its main supplies are concentrated in northern and central parts of the republic, and the majority of consumers of electrical power live in the southern and western areas of the country. However, energy plays an important role in the economy of industrial production and to a large extent determines the level of competitive advantage, which is a promising condition for implementation of energy-saving and environmentally friendly technologies. In these circumstances, issues of modernisation and reforms of this sector in Kazakhstan gain more and more importance, which can be seen in the example of economically sustainable solutions of a large local monopoly company, significant savings in capital investment and efficiency of implementation of an investment project. A major disadvantage of development of electricity distribution companies is the prevalence of very high moral and physical amortisation of equipment, reaching almost 70-80%, which significantly increases the operating costs. For example, while an investment of 12 billion tenge was planned in 2009 in this branch, in 2012 it is planned to invest more than 17 billion. Obviously, despite the absolute increase, the rate of investment is still quite low, as the total demand in this area is at least more than 250 billion tenge. In addition, industrial infrastructure, including the objects of Kazakhstan electric power industry, have a tangible adverse impact on the environment. Thus, since there is a large number of various power projects that are sources of electromagnetic radiation, the environment is deteriorated. Hence, there is a need to optimise the efficiency of the organisation and management of production activities of energy companies, to create and implement new technologies, to ensure safe production and provide solutions to various environmental aspects. These are key strategic factors to ensure success of the modern energy sector of Kazakhstan. The contribution of authors in developing the scope of this subject is explained by the fact that there was not enough research in the energy sector, especially in the view of ecological modernisation. This work differs from similar works in Kazakhstan in the way that the proposed method of investment project calculation takes into account the time factor, which compares the current and future value of profit from the implementation of innovative equipment that helps to bring it to actual practise. The feasibility of writing this article lies in the need of forming a public policy in the industrial sector, including optimising the structure of energy disbursing rate, which complies with the terms of future modernised development of the domestic energy sector.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.39
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• pp.319-353
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• 2014

Cyber-based technologies are now ubiquitous around the glob and are emerging as an "instrument of power" in societies, and are becoming more available to a country's opponents, who may use it to attack, degrade, and disrupt communications and the flow of information. The globe-spanning range of cyberspace and no national borders will challenge legal systems and complicate a nation's ability to deter threats and respond to contingencies. Through cyberspace, competitive powers will target industry, academia, government, as well as the military in the air, land, maritime, and space domains of our nations. Enemies in cyberspace will include both states and non-states and will range from the unsophisticated amateur to highly trained professional hackers. In much the same way that airpower transformed the battlefield of World War II, cyberspace has fractured the physical barriers that shield a nation from attacks on its commerce and communication. Cyberthreats to the infrastructure and other assets are a growing concern to policymakers. In 2013 Cyberwarfare was, for the first time, considered a larger threat than Al Qaeda or terrorism, by many U.S. intelligence officials. The new United States military strategy makes explicit that a cyberattack is casus belli just as a traditional act of war. The Economist describes cyberspace as "the fifth domain of warfare and writes that China, Russia, Israel and North Korea. Iran are boasting of having the world's second-largest cyber-army. Entities posing a significant threat to the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure assets include cyberterrorists, cyberspies, cyberthieves, cyberwarriors, and cyberhacktivists. These malefactors may access cyber-based technologies in order to deny service, steal or manipulate data, or use a device to launch an attack against itself or another piece of equipment. However because the Internet offers near-total anonymity, it is difficult to discern the identity, the motives, and the location of an intruder. The scope and enormity of the threats are not just focused to private industry but also to the country's heavily networked critical infrastructure. There are many ongoing efforts in government and industry that focus on making computers, the Internet, and related technologies more secure. As the national intelligence institution's effort, cyber counter-intelligence is measures to identify, penetrate, or neutralize foreign operations that use cyber means as the primary tradecraft methodology, as well as foreign intelligence service collection efforts that use traditional methods to gauge cyber capabilities and intentions. However one of the hardest issues in cyber counterintelligence is the problem of "Attribution". Unlike conventional warfare, figuring out who is behind an attack can be very difficult, even though the Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has claimed that the United States has the capability to trace attacks back to their sources and hold the attackers "accountable". Considering all these cyber security problems, this paper examines closely cyber security issues through the lessons from that of U.S experience. For that purpose I review the arising cyber security issues considering changing global security environments in the 21st century and their implications to the reshaping the government system. For that purpose this study mainly deals with and emphasis the cyber security issues as one of the growing national security threats. This article also reviews what our intelligence and security Agencies should do among the transforming cyber space. At any rate, despite of all hot debates about the various legality and human rights issues derived from the cyber space and intelligence service activity, the national security should be secured. Therefore, this paper suggests that one of the most important and immediate step is to understanding the legal ideology of national security and national intelligence.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.105-130
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• 2008

Consumers of e-learning market differ from those of other markets in that they are replaced in a specific time scale. For example, e-learning contents aimed at highschool senior students cannot be consumed by a specific consumer over the designated period of time. Hence e-learning service providers need to attract new groups of students every year. Due to lack of information on products designed for continuously emerging consumers, the consumers face difficulties in making rational decisions in a short time period. Increased uncertainty of product purchase leads customers to herding behaviors to obtain information of the product from others and imitate them. Taking into consideration of these features of e-learning market, this study will focus on the online herding behavior in purchasing e-learning contents. There is no definite concept for e-learning. However, it is being discussed in a wide range of perspectives from educational engineering to management to e-business etc. Based upon the existing studies, we identify two main view-points regarding e-learning. The first defines e-learning as a concept that includes existing terminologies, such as CBT (Computer Based Training), WBT (Web Based Training), and IBT (Internet Based Training). In this view, e-learning utilizes IT in order to support professors and a part of or entire education systems. In the second perspective, e-learning is defined as the usage of Internet technology to deliver diverse intelligence and achievement enhancing solutions. In other words, only the educations that are done through the Internet and network can be classified as e-learning. We take the second definition of e-learning for our working definition. The main goal of this study is to investigate what factors affect consumer intention to purchase e-learning contents and to identify the differential impact of the factors between consumers with purchase experience and those without the experience. To accomplish the goal of this study, it focuses on herding behavior and perceived usefulness as antecedents to behavioral intention. The proposed research model in the study extends the Technology Acceptance Model by adding herding behavior and usability to take into account the unique characteristics of e-learning content market and e-learning systems use, respectively. The current study also includes consumer experience with e-learning content purchase because the previous experience is believed to affect purchasing intention when consumers buy experience goods or services. Previous studies on e-learning did not consider the characteristics of e-learning contents market and the differential impact of consumer experience on the relationship between the antecedents and behavioral intention, which is the target of this study. This study employs a survey method to empirically test the proposed research model. A survey questionnaire was developed and distributed to 629 informants. 528 responses were collected, which consist of potential customer group (n = 133) and experienced customer group (n = 395). The data were analyzed using PLS method, a structural equation modeling method. Overall, both herding behavior and perceived usefulness influence consumer intention to purchase e-learning contents. In detail, in the case of potential customer group, herding behavior has stronger effect on purchase intention than does perceived usefulness. However, in the case of shopping-experienced customer group, perceived usefulness has stronger effect than does herding behavior. In sum, the results of the analysis show that with regard to purchasing experience, perceived usefulness and herding behavior had differential effects upon the purchase of e-learning contents. As a follow-up analysis, the interaction effects of the number of purchase transaction and herding behavior/perceived usefulness on purchase intention were investigated. The results show that there are no interaction effects. This study contributes to the literature in a couple of ways. From a theoretical perspective, this study examined and showed evidence that the characteristics of e-learning market such as continuous renewal of consumers and thus high uncertainty and individual experiences are important factors to be considered when the purchase intention of e-learning content is studied. This study can be used as a basis for future studies on e-learning success. From a practical perspective, this study provides several important implications on what types of marketing strategies e-learning companies need to build. The bottom lines of these strategies include target group attraction, word-of-mouth management, enhancement of web site usability quality, etc. The limitations of this study are also discussed for future studies.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.97-115
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• 2008

Introduction The e-government is concerned with using Internet and Web technologies to exchange information and services with citizens, businesses and other related organizations, and it centers on three functions, namely informational, interactive, and transactional [UN, 2001]. Many developed countries like the U.S. have been actively involved in e-government projects, since they enable both more effective public services for citizens and more efficient internal operations. Korea is among these leading countries that are planning to leverage computer and communication technologies to provide for integration of work processes and information as well as convenient access to information and services. For this reason, evaluating e-government projects is becoming a crucial issue for both researchers and policy-makers. However, most research to date has primarily focused on a model of success of an e-government system designed for citizens, overlooking internal systems specifically created for employees working in a public organization. This paper is intended to propose a model to measure the success of a Web-based information system designed for use by internal users at Chungwadae, the executive branch of Korea's central government. The paper is also aimed at applying the model to the assessment of the present system being used at Chungwadae in comparison with the preceding system. Evaluating an e-Government System The most widely cited model of information systems success today is that of DeLone and McLean[1992, 2003, 2004]. The original model states that the success of an information system can be measured using six dimensions, including system quality, information quality, use, user satisfaction, individual impact, and organizational impact. Although the ultimate success of an information system may be reflected in the impact that the system has upon individuals as well as an organization, aspects of using the system such as system use and user satisfaction can play an important role in determining the system success, because the system would be a sheer failure if users don't like and use the system. As a response to criticisms given by numerous researchers, the authors adapted their model to fit the emerging Web-based environment. The revised model[DeLone and McLean, 2003] they offered included an additional quality dimension, namely service quality, and combined individual and organizational impacts into net benefits which can also influence user satisfaction. The e-government system success model can be built around this updated model. Our model incorporates information quality, system quality, and service quality as in the DeLone and McLean model. However, the 'system use' dimension has been replaced by perceived usefulness, as suggested by Seddon[1998]. In addition, because the e-government systems that this paper focuses on are internal public systems used in government agencies, the 'net benefits' dimension has been replaced by perceived work efficiency. Based on the proposed model, a total of nine hypotheses have been formulated which we tested using an empirical analysis. Methods A questionnaire form has been created with items that are designed to examine the relationships among the variables in the model. The questionnaire has been handed over, in person, to 65 members of Chungwadae staff who are now actively using the E-Support System, the present information system created to support internal work at Chungwadae. We made arrangements to meet with each individual who agreed to participate in our survey, and helped to fill out the survey form with explanations. Of the 65 copies that were delivered, only 33 were returned, and 30 responses of these have been adopted for our analysis, since three were not valid. The extremely small sample size was due to the limited number of staff members who had adequate experience required of this study. Results We gathered data from the questionnaire survey and analyzed them using a regression analysis to test the hypotheses. As shown in the table below, the results indicated that all three dimensions of an information system’s quality are positively related to user satisfaction. However, information quality and system quality were found to be positively related to perceived usefulness, while service quality was not. In addition, perceived usefulness is not positively related to user satisfaction, implying that a user may find a system useful, but may not be satisfied with it. Finally, user satisfaction and perceived usefulness both are positively related to perceived work efficiency. This suggests that workers' positive experience with the system is important to guarantee favorable work efficiency. Conclusions We conclude that the proposed model proved useful in measuring the success of an internal information system used by a government agency. To demonstrate the applicability and usefulness of the model in the paper, we applied the model to the assessment of the present internal system used at Chungwadae in comparison with the preceding system. The results showed that the present system outperforms the preceding one in a statistically significant way. Future research will have to focus on applying the model to Korea's governmental agencies other than Chungwadae and examine whether it proves applicable in different types of governmental organizations.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.107-117
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• 2004

If doubtlessly contributes much to agriculture and rural development. The roles can be summarized as; 1. to activate rural areas and to provide more comfortable and safe rural life with equivalent services to those in urban areas, facilitating distance education, tole-medicine, remote public services, remote entertainment etc. 2. To initiate new agricultural and rural business such as e-commerce, real estate business for satellite officies, rural tourism and virtual corporation of small-scale farms. 3. To support policy-making and evaluation on optimal farm production, disaster management, effective agro-environmental resource management etc., providing tools such as GIS. 4. To improve farm management and farming technologies by efficient farm management, risk management, effective information or knowledge transfer etc., realizing competitive and sustainable farming with safe products. 5. To provide systems and tools to secure food traceability and reliability that has been an emerging issue concerning farm products since serious contamination such as BSE and chicken flu was detected. 6. To take an important and key role for industrialization of farming or lam business enterprise, combining the above roles.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.50-56
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• 2016

Direct seeding of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) has a problem of low yield including poor establishment. This poor establishment results from poor quality seed, poor seedbed preparation, seedling pests, poor sowing technique and high soil temperature. This study sought to establish the age at which sorghum seedlings can be transplanted with minimal effects on grain yield. Transplants were raised in 128 nursery tray pot. Five seedling ages were established by transplanting at 10 (T10), 15 (T15), 20 (T20), 25 (T25) and 30 (T30) days after planting (DAP). The treatment combinations were arranged in a randomized complete block design and replicated three times with an individual plot size of $6{\times}5m^2$. Each plot had five ridges with a planting space of $0.60{\times}0.20m^2$ at one plants per stand. Results showed that seedling age on transplanting significantly affected growths and yields to sorghum after transplanting. Plant heights and diameters of transplants at T15 were longer than the other transplants. Conclusively, The advantages of this practice were better control of crop density and greater yields; either to fill gaps after emerging and thinning of crops or to compensate for a growth period that was too short for a complete crop cycle.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.417-427
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• 2010

The Lankawi archipelago is located in 30 km western offshore near the Thailand-Malaysia border in west coast of the Malay Peninsula and consists of 99 (+5) tropical islands, covering an area of about $479km^2$. Together with biodiversity in flora and fauna, the Lankawi archipelago displays also geodiversity that includes rock diversity, landform diversity, and fossil diversity. These biodiversity and geodiversity have led to the Lankawi islands as a newly emerging hub for ecotourism in Southeast Asia. As a result, the Lankawi islands have been designated the first Global Geopark in Southeast Asia by UNESCO since July 1st, 2007. The geodiversity of Lankawi Geopark today is a result of a very long depositional history under the various sedimentological regimes and paleoenvironments during the Paleozoic, followed by tectonic and magmatic activities until the early Mesozoic, and finally by surface processes that etched to the present beautiful landscape. Paleozoic strata exposed in the Lankawi Geopark are subdivided into four formations that include the Machinchang (Cambrian), Setul (Ordovician to Early Devonian), Singa (Late Devonian to Carboniferous), and Chuping (Permian) formations in ascending order. These strata are younging to the east, but they are truncated by the Kisap Thrust in the eastern part of the islands. Top-to-the-westward transportation of the Kisap Thrust has brought the older Setul Formation (and possibly Machinchang Formation) from the east to overlay the younger Chuping and Singa formations in the central axis of the Lankawi islands. Triassic Gunung Raya Granite intruded into these sedimentary strata, and turned them partially into various types of contact metamorphic rocks that locally contain tin mineral deposits. Since Triassic, not much geologic records are known for the Lankawi islands. Tropical weathering upon rocks of the Lankawi islands might have taken place since the Early Jurassic and continues until the present. This weathering process played a very important role in producing beautiful landscapes of the Lankawi islands today.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.148-153
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• 2005

Malaria is a re-emerging infectious disease that is spreading to areas where it had been eradicated, such as Eastern Europe and Central Asia. To avoid the mortality from malaria, early detection of the parasite is a very important issue. The peripheral blood smear has been the gold standard method for the diagnosis of malaria infection. Recently, several other methods have been introduced for quantitative detection of malaria parasites. Real time PCR that employs fluorescent labels to enable the continuous monitoring of PCR product formation throughout the reaction has recently been used to detect several human malaria parasites. 18S rRNA sequences from malaria parasites have been amplified using Taqman real time PCR assay. Here, a SYBR Green-based real time quantitative PCR assay for the detection of malaria parasite-especially, Plasmodium vivax - was applied for the evaluation of 26 blood samples from Korean malaria patients. Even though SYBR Green-based real time PCR is easier and cheaper than Taqman-based assay, SYBR Green-based assay cannot be used because 18S rRNA cannot be specifically amplified using 1 primer set. Therefore, we used DBP gene sequences from Plasmodium vivax, which is specific for the SYBR Green based assays. We amplified the DBP gene from the 26 blood samples of malaria patients using SYBR Green based assay and obtained the copy numbers of DBP genes for each sample. Also, we selected optimal reference gene between ACTB and B2M using real time assay to get the stable genes regardless of Malaria titer. Using selected ACTB reference genes, we successfully converted the copy numbers from samples into titer, ${\sharp}$ of parasites per microliter. Using the resultant titer from DBP based SYBER Green assay with ACTB reference gene, we compared the results from our study with the titer from Taqman-based assay. We found that our results showed identical tendency with the results of 18S rRNA Taqman assay, especially in lower titer range. Thus, our DBP gene-utilized real time assay can detect Plasmodium vivax in Korean patient group semi-quantitatively and easily.