• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.331-352
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• 2022

This study used a latent growth curve models(LGCM) to examine longitudinal changes in youth's game usage, self-control and the longitudinal mediation effect of adaptive game use in the relationship between game usage and self-control. A four-year longitudinal data of 863 adolescents from the Game User Panel Survey, provided through participation in the 2019 Game User Panel Research Conference hosted by the Korea Creative Contents Agency, was used to verify the longitudinal mediation effect of adaptive game use. SPSS 21 was used to verify the normality of variables from each wave, and to conduct correlation analysis. Mplus 6.12 was used to verify the longitudinal mediation effect. The results are as follows. First, game usage, self-control and adaptive game yielded linear temporal growth. Second, latent growth curve models showed that the direct effect of game usage on self-control was insignificant, but game usage had a significant indirect effect on self-control through adaptive game use. Continuous adaptive gaming increased self-control. Third, sobel test results showed that both the initial value and change rate of adaptive game use had a full-mediation effect, confirming the longitudinal mediation effect. This study verified the longitudinal change of self-control affected by change in game usage and adaptive game use.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.99-114
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• 2023

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to determine factors that affect the quality of life (QoL) of people with diabetes. We hope to provide a basis for intervention strategies for health promotion and related research among patients with diabetes in the field of physical therapy. Methods : We selected individuals diagnosed with diabetes who were aged 19 years or higher by using data from the 2019 Korean Health Panel survey and analyzed the results of 1,527 people. The influencing factors were sex, age, household income, marital status, age, education level, subjective health status, body mass index (BMI), smoking, drinking, regular exercise, experience of depression and anxiety, suicidal thoughts, stress, and frequency of walking (days/week). Frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and multiple regression analysis were performed. Results : The EQ-5D score for QoL was .87 ± .12, with pain and discomfort being the most detrimental to the QoL of people with diabetes. In terms of patients characteristics, the QoL was lower among participants who were female, older, and separated/widowed/divorced; had an education level below middle school; had a poor subjective health status; were non-smokers and drinkers; and did not walk and exercise regularly, experienced a lot of stress, and experienced depression and anxiety; and had suicidal thoughts (p<.001). Being separated/bereaved/divorced; experiencing a lot of stress, depression, and anxiety; and having suicidal thoughts were negatively associated with QoL in people with diabetes (p<.01). On the other hand, age of 65 years or younger; graduation from high school, fair or better subjective health, regular exercise and alcohol consumption, and walking (days/week) were positively associated with QoL (p<.05). Conclusion : Regarding the QoL of patients with diabetes, intervention strategies should be formulated by considering general characteristics and disease-related characteristics. Among the various factors affecting QoL, the number of walking and regular exercise were found to be the factors that improved the QoL of patients with diabetes. These results can be used as a basis for the education and management of patients with diabetes in the field of physical therapy.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.142-147
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• 2023

Objectives: As medical history before surgery is often based on patient reporting, there is the possibility that patients intentionally hide underlying diseases or that dentists cannot recognize abnormal health states. Therefore, more professional and reliable treatment processes are needed under the Korean dental specialist system. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the necessity of a preoperative blood testing routine prior to office-based surgery under local anesthesia. Patients and Methods: Preoperative blood lab data for 5,022 patients from January 2018 to December 2019 were assembled. Study participants were those who underwent extraction or implant surgery under local anesthesia at Seoul National University Dental Hospital. Preoperative blood tests included complete blood count (CBC), blood chemistry, serum electrolyte, serology, and blood coagulation data. Values outside of the normal range were considered an "abnormality," and the percentage of abnormalities among the total number of patients was calculated. Patients were divided into two groups based on the presence of underlying disease. The rates of abnormalities in the blood tests were compared between groups. Chi-square tests were performed to compare data from the two groups, and P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The percentages of males and females in the study were 48.0% and 52.0%, respectively. Of all patients, 17.0% (Group B) reported known systemic disease, while 83.0% (Group A) reported no specific medical history. There were significant differences between Groups A and B in CBC, coagulation panel, electrolytes, and chemistry panel (P<0.05). In Group A, the results of blood tests that required a change in procedure were identified even though the proportion was very small. Conclusion: Preoperative blood tests for office-based surgery can detect underlying medical conditions that are difficult to identify from patient history alone and can prevent unexpected sequelae. In addition, such tests can result in a more professional treatment process and build patient confidence in the dentist.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.336-340
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• 2023

A dog (2-year old, female, Shih-Tzu) presented with hyperthermia and right-sided facial paralysis characterized by the inability to close the right eye and drooling from the right side of the mouth after H3N2 influenza vaccination [A/Canine/Korea/01/07(H3N2) strain; Caniflu-Max, Bionote, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do, ROK]. To determine the cause of the fever and neurological symptoms, physical examination, ophthalmic examination, thoracic and abdominal radiography, abdominal ultrasonography, complete blood counts, serum chemistry values, and electrolyte levels were determined. In addition, Cerebrospinal fluid analysis, antinuclear antibody test, fever of unknown origin polymerase chain reaction (PCR) panel, tick-borne pathogen PCR panel were performed. As a result, hyperthermia, leukocytosis, and elevated C-reactive protein were confirmed. In addition, neurological examination revealed decreased right eyelid reflexes, corneal reflexes, threat response, and facial sensation, it was possible to suspect problems with the trigeminal and facial nerves of the cranial nerve. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a lesion suggestive of myositis in the right muscular lesion at atlanto-occipital junction level on site of vaccine injection. Therefore, right-sided facial paralysis was tentatively determined to be a secondary cause of nerve damage caused by myositis. The patient was treated with immunosuppressants such as prednisolone and mycophenolate mofetil. After 3 months of immunosuppressant therapy, the patient's symptoms improved.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.23-45
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• 2023

This study aims to investigate the relationship between institutional distance and FDI and focuses on China's outward FDI. The institutional distance between China and the host country is measured using the institutional quality published by the World Bank. This study collects panel data from 50 countries in which China invested from 2008 to 2019 and use the panel GLS methodology to examine the factors affecting outward FDI through three models. First, this study examines the impact of the absolute value of institutional distance on China's OFDI across all countries in which China invests. Second, this study divides countries with positive and negative institutional distance to China into two groups and examine the relationship between institutional distance and OFDI in each group. Finally, this study examines the non-linear relationship between institutional distance and OFDI from China. To test this, this study adds the squared term of institutional distance to the model. The results of the analysis are as follows Institutional distance is positively related to China's OFDI. The relationship between institutional distance and OFDI is inverted U-shaped in the group of host countries with relatively higher institutional quality than China, but positive in the group of low-quality host countries. In addition, China's OFDI is affected by a combination of institutional and economic factors. The results of this study have implications not only for FDI host countries but also for MNCs' choice of FDI destinations.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.27-38
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• 2024

Given the concern about the reduction in birth rate in Korea today, the objective of this study was to examine the association between Work·Family Compatibility policy and parenting stress, focusing on sex and occupational groups. Data from the 13th year Panel Study on Korean Children were analyzed by descriptive statistics, a one-way analysis of variance, and Duncan's post hoc test. The results of this study were as follows: First, the most commonly used aspect of the Work·Family Compatibility policy among both males and females was flextime, irrespective of occupational types. Also, flextime was the most used policy among professional workers. Second, regarding the use of related systems and parenting stress, it was found that all respondents perceived above average parenting stress. Specifically, the parenting stress scores of male users of flextime were higher than those of family care leave users. The parenting stress of military personnel were the lowest among males' occupational groups. Among females, the parenting stress scores of maternity leave users were higher than those of shorter workweek user. Diverse discussions and implications were suggested about promoting the usage of Work·Family Compatibility policy.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.235-244
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• 2024

This study is a descriptive exploratory research aimed at identifying factors influencing the health-related quality of life(HRQOL) in middle-aged and senior-aged patients with complex chronic diseases. The study participants were extracted from the Korean Medical Panel annual data. A total of 2,408 patients, with two or more chronic diseases were included. The data were analyzed using STATA 15.0 software through descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, and multiple linear regression analysis. The research findings indicate that in middle-aged patients, educational level, household income, economic activity, stress, experience of despair, and basic needs satisfaction positively influence health-related quality of life. On the other hand, types of medical insurance, depressive feelings, and suicidal ideation exert a negative impact. In the case of senior-aged patients, positive influences on health-related quality of life were observed for educational level, household income, economic activity, alcohol consumption, stress, experience of despair, and basic needs satisfaction. Conversely, negative influences were noted for marital status, types of medical insurance, depressive feelings, and suicidal ideation. Therefore, in order to enhance the HRQOL for middle-aged and senior-aged patients with complex chronic diseases, tailored policies considering individual and age-specific characteristics should be formulated.

• Korean small business review
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.67-93
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• 2009

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relations between financial constraints and dividend smoothing of innovative small and medium sized enterprises(SMEs) listed on Korea Securities Market and Kosdaq Market of Korea Exchange. The innovative SMEs is defined as the firms with high level of R&D intensity which is measured by (R&D investment/total sales) ratio, according to Chauvin and Hirschey (1993). The R&D investment plays an important role as the innovative driver that can increase the future growth opportunity and profitability of the firms. Therefore, the R&D investment have large, positive, and consistent influences on the market value of the firm. In this point of view, we expect that the innovative SMEs can adjust dividend payment faster than the noninnovative SMEs, on the ground of their future growth opportunity and profitability. And also, we expect that the financial unconstrained firms can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms, on the ground of their financing ability of investment funds through the market accessibility. Aivazian et al.(2006) exert that the financial unconstrained firms with the high accessibility to capital market can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms. We collect the sample firms among the total SMEs listed on Korea Securities Market and Kosdaq Market of Korea Exchange during the periods from January 1999 to December 2007 from the KIS Value Library database. The total number of firm-year observations of the total sample firms throughout the entire period is 5,544, the number of firm-year observations of the dividend firms is 2,919, and the number of firm-year observations of the non-dividend firms is 2,625. About 53%(or 2,919) of these total 5,544 observations involve firms that make a dividend payment. The dividend firms are divided into two groups according to the R&D intensity, such as the innovative SMEs with larger than median of R&D intensity and the noninnovative SMEs with smaller than median of R&D intensity. The number of firm-year observations of the innovative SMEs is 1,506, and the number of firm-year observations of the noninnovative SMEs is 1,413. Furthermore, the innovative SMEs are divided into two groups according to level of financial constraints, such as the financial unconstrained firms and the financial constrained firms. The number of firm-year observations of the former is 894, and the number of firm-year observations of the latter is 612. Although all available firm-year observations of the dividend firms are collected, deletions are made in the case of financial industries such as banks, securities company, insurance company, and other financial services company, because their capital structure and business style are widely different from the general manufacturing firms. The stock repurchase was involved in dividend payment because Grullon and Michaely (2002) examined the substitution hypothesis between dividends and stock repurchases. However, our data structure is an unbalanced panel data since there is no requirement that the firm-year observations data are all available for each firms during the entire periods from January 1999 to December 2007 from the KIS Value Library database. We firstly estimate the classic Lintner(1956) dividend adjustment model, where the decision to smooth dividend or to adopt a residual dividend policy depends on financial constraints measured by market accessibility. Lintner model indicates that firms maintain stable and long run target payout ratio, and that firms adjust partially the gap between current payout rato and target payout ratio each year. In the Lintner model, dependent variable is the current dividend per share(DPS_t), and independent variables are the past dividend per share(DPS_t-1) and the current earnings per share(EPS_t). We hypothesized that firms adjust partially the gap between the current dividend per share(DPS_t) and the target payout ratio(Ω) each year, when the past dividend per share(DPS_t-1) deviate from the target payout ratio(Ω). We secondly estimate the expansion model that extend the Lintner model by including the determinants suggested by the major theories of dividend, namely, residual dividend theory, dividend signaling theory, agency theory, catering theory, and transactions cost theory. In the expansion model, dependent variable is the current dividend per share(DPS_t), explanatory variables are the past dividend per share(DPS_t-1) and the current earnings per share(EPS_t), and control variables are the current capital expenditure ratio(CEA_t), the current leverage ratio(LEV_t), the current operating return on assets(ROA_t), the current business risk(RISK_t), the current trading volume turnover ratio(TURN_t), and the current dividend premium(DPREM_t). In these control variables, CEA_t, LEV_t, and ROA_t are the determinants suggested by the residual dividend theory and the agency theory, ROA_t and RISK_t are the determinants suggested by the dividend signaling theory, TURN_t is the determinant suggested by the transactions cost theory, and DPREM_t is the determinant suggested by the catering theory. Furthermore, we thirdly estimate the Lintner model and the expansion model by using the panel data of the financial unconstrained firms and the financial constrained firms, that are divided into two groups according to level of financial constraints. We expect that the financial unconstrained firms can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms, because the former can finance more easily the investment funds through the market accessibility than the latter. We analyzed descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, and median to delete the outliers from the panel data, conducted one way analysis of variance to check up the industry-specfic effects, and conducted difference test of firms characteristic variables between innovative SMEs and noninnovative SMEs as well as difference test of firms characteristic variables between financial unconstrained firms and financial constrained firms. We also conducted the correlation analysis and the variance inflation factors analysis to detect any multicollinearity among the independent variables. Both of the correlation coefficients and the variance inflation factors are roughly low to the extent that may be ignored the multicollinearity among the independent variables. Furthermore, we estimate both of the Lintner model and the expansion model using the panel regression analysis. We firstly test the time-specific effects and the firm-specific effects may be involved in our panel data through the Lagrange multiplier test that was proposed by Breusch and Pagan(1980), and secondly conduct Hausman test to prove that fixed effect model is fitter with our panel data than the random effect model. The main results of this study can be summarized as follows. The determinants suggested by the major theories of dividend, namely, residual dividend theory, dividend signaling theory, agency theory, catering theory, and transactions cost theory explain significantly the dividend policy of the innovative SMEs. Lintner model indicates that firms maintain stable and long run target payout ratio, and that firms adjust partially the gap between the current payout ratio and the target payout ratio each year. In the core variables of Lintner model, the past dividend per share has more effects to dividend smoothing than the current earnings per share. These results suggest that the innovative SMEs maintain stable and long run dividend policy which sustains the past dividend per share level without corporate special reasons. The main results show that dividend adjustment speed of the innovative SMEs is faster than that of the noninnovative SMEs. This means that the innovative SMEs with high level of R&D intensity can adjust dividend payment faster than the noninnovative SMEs, on the ground of their future growth opportunity and profitability. The other main results show that dividend adjustment speed of the financial unconstrained SMEs is faster than that of the financial constrained SMEs. This means that the financial unconstrained firms with high accessibility to capital market can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms, on the ground of their financing ability of investment funds through the market accessibility. Futhermore, the other additional results show that dividend adjustment speed of the innovative SMEs classified by the Small and Medium Business Administration is faster than that of the unclassified SMEs. They are linked with various financial policies and services such as credit guaranteed service, policy fund for SMEs, venture investment fund, insurance program, and so on. In conclusion, the past dividend per share and the current earnings per share suggested by the Lintner model explain mainly dividend adjustment speed of the innovative SMEs, and also the financial constraints explain partially. Therefore, if managers can properly understand of the relations between financial constraints and dividend smoothing of innovative SMEs, they can maintain stable and long run dividend policy of the innovative SMEs through dividend smoothing. These are encouraging results for Korea government, that is, the Small and Medium Business Administration as it has implemented many policies to commit to the innovative SMEs. This paper may have a few limitations because it may be only early study about the relations between financial constraints and dividend smoothing of the innovative SMEs. Specifically, this paper may not adequately capture all of the subtle features of the innovative SMEs and the financial unconstrained SMEs. Therefore, we think that it is necessary to expand sample firms and control variables, and use more elaborate analysis methods in the future studies.

• Journal of Rhinology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.91-98
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• 2018

Background and Objectives: The present study evaluated the results of skin prick test using 55 allergens at 20 centers in the Republic of Korea in 2006, 2010, and 2014-2015. The aim was to assess changes in the positive rate of allergens according to temporal, regional, and environmental factors. Materials and Method: In total, 20 hospitals were selected based on the population distribution in the Republic of Korea. A skin prick test panel comprising 55 aeroallergens was distributed to 18 hospitals for this prospective study. The 2006 and 2010 skin prick test results were collected and analyzed retrospectively from 20 hospitals, while the 2014/2015 skin prick test results (from June 2014 to May 2015) were collected prospectively from 18 hospitals. Results: A total of 14,897 SPT test results were analyzed: 4,319 in 2006, 7,431 in 2010, and 1,852 in 2014/2015. The overall rate of skin prick test positivity to more than two allergens was significantly higher in males than females. The positive rates of alder pollens and birch, oak and ragweed pollen positivity were increased in older patients. Several positive rates were increased according to the temperature in spring. The positive rates for beech pollen, birch pollen, hazel pollen, oak pollen, Tyrophagus putrescentiae, mugwort, cat, Acarus siro, Lepidoglyphus destructor and Tyrophagus putrescentiae were significantly increased, while those of Cult rye pollen and dandelion were significantly decreased over the three test periods. The overall positive rate for allergens in Jeju province varied significantly from Seoul and other cities. Conclusion: Change in the positive rate of multiple aeroallergens was evaluated in the Republic of Korea over time. Our findings can be used to recommend aeroallergens suitable for inclusion in skin prick test panels in the Republic of Korea and will facilitate further investigation of changes in the patterns of allergic diseases.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.528-535
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• 2014

Objectives: This study compares the differences of fit factors before and after training on the N95 mask. The results will be utilized to suggest the need of providing effective training on respirator use. Methods: A total of 49 study subjects were tested, comprised of nurses from a general hospital and undergraduate nursing students from a medical school. Anthropometric measurements of face length and face width were compared with the NIOSH(National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) panel. Fit factors(FF) were measured with TSI Portacount Pro+8038 before and after on-site training regarding the proper use of respirators. The FF pass/fail criterion was set at 100. Results: Two subjects(4.1 %) passed the fit test before training on use of the N95. However, 36(73.5%) of the 49 passed the test after training. Overall the FF(GM(GSD)) was 13.4(3.2) before training, but improved to 106.6(2.1) after training, which was statistically significant. These findings suggest the efficacy of educational intervention, and the performance of the direct on-site training proved to be better than that of the traditional educational methods. Conclusions: This study showed the effect of on-site training of the N95 respirator among health care workers(HCW). Therefore, providing effective training on the use of N95 for HCWs before their work assignments will greatly reduce exposure to harmful agents. It is recommended that fit testing be mandated to check for adequate protection being provided by the given respirators.