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Structural Adjustment of Domestic Firms in the Era of Market Liberalization (시장개방(市場開放)과 국내기업(國內企業)의 구조조정(構造調整))

  • Seong, So-mi
    • KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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    • v.13 no.4
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    • pp.91-116
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    • 1991
  • Market liberalization progressing simultaneously with high and rapidly rising domestic wages has created an adverse business environment for domestic firms. Korean firms are losing their international competitiveness in comparison to firms from LDC(Less Developed Countries) in low-tech industries. In high-tech industries, domestic firms without government protection (which is impossible due to the liberalization policy and the current international status of the Korean economy) are in a disadvantaged position relative to firms from advanced countries. This paper examines the division of roles between the private sector and the government in order to achieve a successful structural adjustment, which has become the impending industrial policy issue caused by high domestic wages, on the one hand, and the opening of domestic markets, on the other. The micro foundation of the economy-wide structural adjustment is actually the restructuring of business portfolios at the firm level. The firm-level business restructuring means that firms in low-value-added businesses or with declining market niches establish new major businesses in higher value-added segments or growing market niches. The adjustment of the business structure at the firm level can only be accomplished by accumulating firm-specific managerial assets necessary to establish a new business structure. This can be done through learning-by-doing in the whole system of management, including research and development, manufacturing, and marketing. Therefore, the voluntary cooperation among the people in the company is essential for making the cost of the learning process lower than that at the competing companies. Hence, firms that attempt to restructure their major businesses need to induce corporate-wide participation through innovations in organization and management, encourage innovative corporate culture, and maintain cooperative labor unions. Policy discussions on structural adjustments usually regard firms as a black box behind a few macro variables. But in reality, firm activities are not flows of materials but relationships among human resources. The growth potential of companies are embodied in the human resources of the firm; the balance of interest among stockholders, managers, and workers of the company' brings the accumulation of the company's core competencies. Therefore, policymakers and economists shoud change their old concept of the firm as a technological black box which produces a marketable commodities. Firms should be regarded as coalitions of interest groups such as stockholders, managers, and workers. Consequently the discussion on the structural adjustment both at the macroeconomic level and the firm level should be based on this new paradigm of understanding firms. The government's role in reducing the cost of structural adjustment and supporting should the creation of new industries emphasize the following: First, government must promote the competition in domestic markets by revising laws related to antitrust policy, bankruptcy, and the promotion of small and medium-sized companies. General consensus on the limitations of government intervention and the merit of deregulation should be sought among policymakers and people in the business world. In the age of internationalization, nation-specific competitive advantages cannot be exclusively in favor of domestic firms. The international competitiveness of a domestic firm derives from the firm-specific core competencies which can be accumulated by internal investment and organization of the firm. Second, government must build up a solid infrastructure of production factors including capital, technology, manpower, and information. Structural adjustment often entails bankruptcies and partial waste of resources. However, it is desirable for the government not to try to sustain marginal businesses, but to support the diversification or restructuring of businesses by assisting in factor creation. Institutional support for venture businesses needs to be improved, especially in the financing system since many investment projects in venture businesses are highly risky, even though they are very promising. The proportion of low-value added production processes and declining industries should be reduced by promoting foreign direct investment and factory automation. Moreover, one cannot over-emphasize the importance of future-oriented labor policies to be based on the new paradigm of understanding firm activities. The old laws and instititutions related to labor unions need to be reformed. Third, government must improve the regimes related to money, banking, and the tax system to change business practices dependent on government protection or undesirable in view of the evolution of the Korean economy as a whole. To prevent rational business decisions from contradicting to the interest of the economy as a whole, government should influence the business environment, not the business itself.

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A Study on Commodity Asset Investment Model Based on Machine Learning Technique (기계학습을 활용한 상품자산 투자모델에 관한 연구)

  • Song, Jin Ho;Choi, Heung Sik;Kim, Sun Woong
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.127-146
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    • 2017
  • Services using artificial intelligence have begun to emerge in daily life. Artificial intelligence is applied to products in consumer electronics and communications such as artificial intelligence refrigerators and speakers. In the financial sector, using Kensho's artificial intelligence technology, the process of the stock trading system in Goldman Sachs was improved. For example, two stock traders could handle the work of 600 stock traders and the analytical work for 15 people for 4weeks could be processed in 5 minutes. Especially, big data analysis through machine learning among artificial intelligence fields is actively applied throughout the financial industry. The stock market analysis and investment modeling through machine learning theory are also actively studied. The limits of linearity problem existing in financial time series studies are overcome by using machine learning theory such as artificial intelligence prediction model. The study of quantitative financial data based on the past stock market-related numerical data is widely performed using artificial intelligence to forecast future movements of stock price or indices. Various other studies have been conducted to predict the future direction of the market or the stock price of companies by learning based on a large amount of text data such as various news and comments related to the stock market. Investing on commodity asset, one of alternative assets, is usually used for enhancing the stability and safety of traditional stock and bond asset portfolio. There are relatively few researches on the investment model about commodity asset than mainstream assets like equity and bond. Recently machine learning techniques are widely applied on financial world, especially on stock and bond investment model and it makes better trading model on this field and makes the change on the whole financial area. In this study we made investment model using Support Vector Machine among the machine learning models. There are some researches on commodity asset focusing on the price prediction of the specific commodity but it is hard to find the researches about investment model of commodity as asset allocation using machine learning model. We propose a method of forecasting four major commodity indices, portfolio made of commodity futures, and individual commodity futures, using SVM model. The four major commodity indices are Goldman Sachs Commodity Index(GSCI), Dow Jones UBS Commodity Index(DJUI), Thomson Reuters/Core Commodity CRB Index(TRCI), and Rogers International Commodity Index(RI). We selected each two individual futures among three sectors as energy, agriculture, and metals that are actively traded on CME market and have enough liquidity. They are Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Corn, Wheat, Gold and Silver Futures. We made the equally weighted portfolio with six commodity futures for comparing with other commodity indices. We set the 19 macroeconomic indicators including stock market indices, exports & imports trade data, labor market data, and composite leading indicators as the input data of the model because commodity asset is very closely related with the macroeconomic activities. They are 14 US economic indicators, two Chinese economic indicators and two Korean economic indicators. Data period is from January 1990 to May 2017. We set the former 195 monthly data as training data and the latter 125 monthly data as test data. In this study, we verified that the performance of the equally weighted commodity futures portfolio rebalanced by the SVM model is better than that of other commodity indices. The prediction accuracy of the model for the commodity indices does not exceed 50% regardless of the SVM kernel function. On the other hand, the prediction accuracy of equally weighted commodity futures portfolio is 53%. The prediction accuracy of the individual commodity futures model is better than that of commodity indices model especially in agriculture and metal sectors. The individual commodity futures portfolio excluding the energy sector has outperformed the three sectors covered by individual commodity futures portfolio. In order to verify the validity of the model, it is judged that the analysis results should be similar despite variations in data period. So we also examined the odd numbered year data as training data and the even numbered year data as test data and we confirmed that the analysis results are similar. As a result, when we allocate commodity assets to traditional portfolio composed of stock, bond, and cash, we can get more effective investment performance not by investing commodity indices but by investing commodity futures. Especially we can get better performance by rebalanced commodity futures portfolio designed by SVM model.

A Study on Forest Insurance (산림보험(山林保險)에 관한 연구(硏究))

  • Park, Tai Sik
    • Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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    • v.15 no.1
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    • pp.1-38
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    • 1972
  • 1. Objective of the Study The objective of the study was to make fundamental suggestions for drawing a forest insurance system applicable in Korea by investigating forest insurance systems undertaken in foreign countries, analyzing the forest hazards occurred in entire forests of Korea in the past, and hearing the opinions of people engaged in forestry. 2. Methods of the Study First, reference studies on insurance at large as well as on forest insurance were intensively made to draw the characteristics of forest insurance practiced in main forestry countries, Second, the investigations of forest hazards in Korea for the past ten years were made with the help of the Office of Forestry. Third, the questionnaires concerning forest insurance were prepared and delivered at random to 533 personnel who are working at different administrative offices of forestry, forest stations, forest cooperatives, colleges and universities, research institutes, and fire insurance companies. Fourth, fifty three representative forest owners in the area of three forest types (coniferous, hardwood, and mixed forest), a representative region in Kyonggi Province out of fourteen collective forest development programs in Korea, were directly interviewed with the writer. 3. Results of the Study The rate of response to the questionnaire was 74.40% as shown in the table 3, and the results of the questionaire were as follows: (% in the parenthes shows the rates of response; shortages in amount to 100% were due to the facts of excluding the rates of response of minor respondents). 1) Necessity of forest insurance The respondents expressed their opinions that forest insurance must be undertaken to assure forest financing (5.65%); for receiving the reimbursement of replanting costs in case of damages done (35.87%); and to protect silvicultural investments (46.74%). 2) Law of forest insurance Few respondents showed their views in favor of applying the general insurance regulations to forest insurance practice (9.35%), but the majority of respondents were in favor of passing a special forest insurance law in the light of forest characteristics (88.26%). 3) Sorts of institutes to undertake forest insurance A few respondents believed that insurance companies at large could take care of forest insurance (17.42%); forest owner's mutual associations would manage the forest insurance more effectively (23.53%); but the more than half of the respondents were in favor of establishing public or national forest insurance institutes (56.18%). 4) Kinds of risks to be undertaken in forest insurance It would be desirable that the risks to be undertaken in forest insurance be limited: To forest fire hazards only (23.38%); to forest fire hazards plus damages made by weather (14.32%); to forest fire hazards, weather damages, and insect damages (60.68%). 5) Objectives to be insured It was responded that the objectives to be included in forest insurance should be limited: (1) To artificial coniferous forest only (13.47%); (2) to both coniferous and broad-leaved artificial forests (23.74%); (3) but the more than half of the respondents showed their desire that all the forests regardless of species and the methods of establishment should be insured (61.64%). 6) Range of risks in age of trees to be included in forest insurance The opinions of the respondents showed that it might be enough to insure the trees less than ten years of age (15.23%); but it would be more desirous of taking up forest trees under twenty years of age (32.95%); nevertheless, a large number of respondents were in favor of underwriting all the forest trees less than fourty years of age (46.37%). 7) Term of a forest insurance contract Quite a few respondents favored a contract made on one year basis (31.74%), but the more than half of the respondents favored the contract made on five year bases (58.68%). 8) Limitation in a forest insurance contract The respondents indicated that it would be desirable in a forest insurance contract to exclude forests less than five hectars (20.78%), but more than half of the respondents expressed their opinions that forests above a minimum volume or number of trees per unit area should be included in a forest insurance contract regardless of the area of forest lands (63.77%). 9) Methods of contract Some responded that it would be good to let the forest owners choose their forests in making a forest insurance contract (32.13%); others inclined to think that it would be desirable to include all the forests that owners hold whenerver they decide to make a forest insurance contract (33.48%); the rest responded in favor of forcing the owners to buy insurance policy if they own the forests that were established with subsidy or own highly vauable growing stock (31.92%) 10) Rate of premium The responses were divided into three categories: (1) The rate of primium is to be decided according to the regional degree of risks(27.72%); (2) to be decided by taking consideration both regional degree of risks and insurable values(31.59%); (3) and to be decided according to the rate of risks for the entire country and the insurable values (39.55%). 11) Payment of Premium Although a few respondents wished to make a payment of premium at once for a short term forest insurance contract, and an annual payment for a long term contract (13.80%); the majority of the respondents wished to pay the premium annually regardless of the term of contract, by employing a high rate of premium on a short term contract, but a low rate on a long term contract (83.71%). 12) Institutes in charge of forest insurance business A few respondents showed their desire that forest insurance be taken care of at the government forest administrative offices (18.75%); others at insurance companies (35.76%); but the rest, the largest number of the respondents, favored forest associations in the county. They also wanted to pay a certain rate of premium to the forest associations that issue the insurance (44.22%). 13) Limitation on indemnity for damages done In limitation on indemnity for damages done, the respondents showed a quite different views. Some desired compesation to cover replanting costs when young stands suffered damages and to be paid at the rate of eighty percent to the losses received when matured timber stands suffered damages(29.70%); others desired to receive compensation of the actual total loss valued at present market prices (31.07%); but the rest responded in favor of compensation at the present value figured out by applying a certain rate of prolongation factors to the establishment costs(36.99%). 14) Raising of funds for forest insurance A few respondents hoped to raise the fund for forest insurance by setting aside certain amount of money from the indemnity paid (15.65%); others wished to raise the fund by levying new forest land taxes(33.79%); but the rest expressed their hope to raise the fund by reserving certain amount of money from the surplus money that was saved due to the non-risks (44.81%). 15) Causes of fires The main causes of forest fires 6gured out by the respondents experience turned out to be (1) an accidental fire, (2) cigarettes, (3) shifting cultivation. The reponses were coincided with the forest fire analysis made by the Office of Forestry. 16) Fire prevention The respondents suggested that the most important and practical three kinds of forest fire prevention measures would be (1) providing a fire-break, (2) keeping passers-by out during the drought seasons, (3) enlightenment through mass communication systems. 4. Suggestions The writer wishes to present some suggestions that seemed helpful in drawing up a forest insurance system by reviewing the findings in the questionaire analysis and the results of investigations on forest insurance undertaken in foreign countries. 1) A forest insurance system designed to compensate the loss figured out on the basis of replanting cost when young forest stands suffered damages, and to strengthen credit rating by relieving of risks of damages, must be put in practice as soon as possible with the enactment of a specifically drawn forest insurance law. And the committee of forest insurance should be organized to make a full study of forest insurance system. 2) Two kinds of forest insurance organizations furnishing forest insurance, publicly-owned insurance organizations and privately-owned, are desirable in order to handle forest risks properly. The privately-owned forest insurance organizations should take up forest fire insurance only, and the publicly-owned ought to write insurance for forest fires and insect damages. 3) The privately-owned organizations furnishing forest insurance are desired to take up all the forest stands older than twenty years; whereas, the publicly-owned should sell forest insurance on artificially planted stands younger than twenty years with emphasis on compensating replanting costs of forest stands when they suffer damages. 4) Small forest stands, less than one hectare holding volume or stocked at smaller than standard per unit area are not to be included in a forest insurance writing, and the minimum term of insuring should not be longer than one year in the privately-owned forest insurance organizations although insuring period could be extended more than one year; whereas, consecutive five year term of insurance periods should be set as a mimimum period of insuring forest in the publicly-owned forest insurance organizations. 5) The forest owners should be free in selecting their forests in insuring; whereas, forest owners of the stands that were established with subsidy should be required to insure their forests at publicly-owned forest insurance organizations. 6) Annual insurance premiums for both publicly-owned and privately-owned forest insurance organizations ought to be figured out in proportion to the amount of insurance in accordance with the degree of risks which are grouped into three categories on the basis of the rate of risks throughout the country. 7) Annual premium should be paid at the beginning of forest insurance contract, but reduction must be made if the insuring periods extend longer than a minimum period of forest insurance set by the law. 8) The compensation for damages, the reimbursement, should be figured out on the basis of the ratio between the amount of insurance and insurable value. In the publicly-owned forest insurance system, the standard amount of insurance should be set on the basis of establishment costs in order to prevent over-compensation. 9) Forest insurance business is to be taken care of at the window of insurance com pnies when forest owners buy the privately-owned forest insurance, but the business of writing the publicly-owned forest insurance should be done through the forest cooperatives and certain portions of the premium be reimbursed to the forest cooperatives. 10) Forest insurance funds ought to be reserved by levying a property tax on forest lands. 11) In order to prevent forest damages, the forest owners should be required to report forest hazards immediately to the forest insurance organizations and the latter should bear the responsibility of taking preventive measures.

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Relationship Between Nutrient Intakes and Blood Biochemical Parameters of Korean Female Subjects Classified by Eight Constitution Medicine (8체질로 분류한 한국 여성의 영양소 섭취 수준과 혈중 지질 농도와의 관계)

  • Cho, B.J.;Kim, M.J.;Kim, M.J.;Song, Y.O.
    • The Journal of Korean Medicine
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    • v.34 no.3
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    • pp.143-152
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    • 2013
  • Objectives: To investigate the relationship between nutrient intakes and blood biochemical parameters of Korean women classified by the Eight Constitutions. Methods: The constitutions of female subjects were determined by the methods of eight constitutional pulse formation. Anthropometric characteristics and blood biochemical parameters including fasting blood glucose (FSB), serum lipid profiles, homocysteine, and insulin were determined. Food frequency questionnaires were used to evaluate the nutrient intake of the subjects. Results: Subjects were classified as Hepatonia 16.8%, Cholecystonia 2.8%, Pancreotonia 58.9%, Pulmotonia 5.1%, Colonotonia 16.4%, respectively. Gastrotonia, Renotonia, and Vesicotonia individuals were not present in this study. BMI, total calorie and fat intakes of the Mok constitutions (Hepatonia and Cholecystonia) were higher than those of the Gum constitutions (Pulmotonia and Colonotonia) (p<0.05). Triglyceride, total cholesterol, and LDL-C concentrations for the Cholecystonia were the highest while those for the Pulmotonia (p<0.05) were lowest, which is in line with the results from nutrient intakes. Conclusions: Total calorie and fat intake among subjects with different constitutions were different. BMI and serum lipid profiles positively associated with calorie and nutrients intakes were significantly higher in Mok constitutions than Gum constitutions. Personalized diet plans seem to be needed for subjects on a special diet due to the individual constitutional differences.

Spatial Distribution Patterns and Prediction of Hotspot Area for Endangered Herpetofauna Species in Korea (국내 멸종위기양서·파충류의 공간적 분포형태와 주요 분포지역 예측에 대한 연구)

  • Do, Min Seock;Lee, Jin-Won;Jang, Hoan-Jin;Kim, Dae-In;Park, Jinwoo;Yoo, Jeong-Chil
    • Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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    • v.31 no.4
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    • pp.381-396
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    • 2017
  • Understanding species distribution plays an important role in conservation as well as evolutionary biology. In this study, we applied a species distribution model to predict hotspot areas and habitat characteristics for endangered herpetofauna species in South Korea: the Korean Crevice Salamander (Karsenia koreana), Suweon-tree frog (Hyla suweonensis), Gold-spotted pond frog (Pelophylax chosenicus), Narrow-mouthed toad (Kaloula borealis), Korean ratsnake (Elaphe schrenckii), Mongolian racerunner (Eremias argus), Reeve's turtle (Mauremys reevesii) and Soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis). The Kori salamander (Hynobius yangi) and Black-headed snake (Sibynophis chinensis) were excluded from the analysis due to insufficient sample size. The results showed that the altitude was the most important environmental variable for their distribution, and the altitude at which these species were distributed correlated with the climate of that region. The predicted distribution area derived from the species distribution modelling adequately reflected the observation site used in this study as well as those reported in preceding studies. The average AUC value of the eigh species was relatively high ($0.845{\pm}0.08$), while the average omission rate value was relatively low ($0.087{\pm}0.01$). Therefore, the species overlaying model created for the endangered species is considered successful. When merging the distribution models, it was shown that five species shared their habitats in the coastal areas of Gyeonggi-do and Chungcheongnam-do, which are the western regions of the Korean Peninsula. Therefore, we suggest that protection should be a high priority in these area, and our overall results may serve as essential and fundamental data for the conservation of endangered amphibian and reptiles in Korea.

Vertical Distribution of the Heavy Metal in Paddy Soils of Below Part at Guundong Mine in Milyang, Korea (구운동 폐광산 하류 논토양의 토심별 중금속함량)

  • Yun, Eul-Soo;Park, Sung-Hak;Ko, Jee-Yeon;Jung, Ki-Yeol;Park, Ki-Do;Hwang, Jae-Bok;Park, Chang-Yeong
    • Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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    • v.43 no.5
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    • pp.590-595
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    • 2010
  • This study was conducted to investigate form of pollution brought by residual of mine tailing in agricultural land, and get basic information need for environment restoration. Guundong mine was completely restored region by implementation the soil pollution prevention plan. The districts is soils in Guundong mine vicinity the Mahul-ri, Muan-myeon, Miryang city, Gyeongsangnam-do. The nature of soil studied is the Shinra series andesite and mineral deposits which contain brimstone and heavy metals such as gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc. The residual mine tailing and around agricultural land of heavy metals analyzed with 0.1N HCI solubility. The chemical properties of surface soil in upper part around mining area were pH 4.3-4.4, organic matter 19-21 g $kg^{-1}$, available $P_2O_5$ 85 mg $kg^{-1}$, exchangeable Ca 0.21-0.25 $cmol_c\;kg^{-1}$, exchangeable Mg 0.04 $cmol_c\;kg^{-1}$. The pH, exchangeable Ca, and Mg were increased with soil depth. The contents of 0.1N HCl extractable Cu, Cd, Pb, Cr, and Ni in soil (siteI) which influenced by outflow water from mine tailing were 97, 0.6, 197, 0.28 및 0.12 mg $kg^{-1}$, respectively. The vertical distribution of heavy metals in soil varied considerably among the metals kind. In case of siteI, The content of Cu, Pb, and Cr in soil was highest at surface soil. However, the content of Cd, Zn, Ni, and Mn was high at middle part of soil profile.

A Study on the Early North Sung Period Buddhist Literatures Found in the Pagoda of Suzhou Ruiguangsi (소주(蘇州) 서광사탑(瑞光寺塔) 출토(出土) 북송초기(北宋初期)의 불교문헌(佛敎文獻) 연구(硏究))

  • Song, Il-Gie
    • Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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    • v.45 no.1
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    • pp.81-102
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    • 2014
  • In 1978, there was an investigation before the repair of the pagoda in Suzhou Ruiguangsi (蘇州 瑞光寺) and many Buddhist literatures were found in the center of pagoda's 3rd floor. This study is the analysis of the forms and values of the literatures. Since there were 123 ea of precious literatures made from Tang (唐) period to early North Sung (北宋) period among the found Buddhist literatures, they have very important meaning in the bibliography for the time. Suzhou Reiguangsi (蘇州 瑞光寺) was built by the first king of Wu (吳), Sun Quan (孫權). He built this Buddhist temple to meet Monk Xingkang (性康) from Kangjuguo (康居國). When it had been first built, it had been called Puji Chanyuan (普濟禪院) and it was renamed as current Ruiguangsi (瑞光寺) after the major expansion in the early period of North Sung (北宋). The Ruiguangta (瑞光塔) was built by Sun Quan (孫權) in A.D. 247 immediately after the temple had been built. Sun Quan built this pagoda as a 13-floor pagoda to pray for the easy passage into eternity of his mother, national prosperity and welfare of the people. As time passed by, the pagoda was largely damaged and it was newly built in A.D. 1017 (天禧 1) of early North Sung (北宋) period; while it was named as Duobaota (多寶塔). The literatures found in Ruiguangta consist of 107 ea of 3 sets dharani (陀羅尼) scripture and 16 volumes of 5 books, total 123 ea. Especially, there were 7 books of full set transcript of Lotus Sutra (法華經) in relatively complete form. This sutra written in gilt lettering on dark blue paper was made in Middle Tang (中唐) period and it is believed to be the only one existing in East Asia as a scripture written in gilt lettering on dark blue paper (紺紙金字寫經). There were also 6 books of small letter edition of Lotus Sutra (法華經) in complete form, which was published during the early North Sung (北宋) period. This specific edition is incorrectly stated in most general reference books published in China as having been engraved in early Tang period (初唐) since a Japanese scholar wrongly introduced it as having been engraved together with Nakamura edition (中村本). It is meaningful that this error can be corrected by the finding of this study.

Assessment of the Cause and Pathway of Contamination and Sustainability in an Abandoned Mine (폐광산 오염원인 분석 및 오염경로, 향후 지속가능성에 대한 평가)

  • Kim, Min Gyu;Kim, Ki-Joon;Jeong, Gyo-Cheol
    • The Journal of Engineering Geology
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    • v.28 no.3
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    • pp.411-429
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    • 2018
  • Daeyoung mine (also called "Daema mine") produced gold and silver from mainly gold- and silver-bearing quartz veins. The mine tailings are a waste hazard, but most of the tailings were swept away or dispersed throughout the area around the mine long before the tailing dump areas were transformed into agricultural land. Soil liner and protection facilities, such as retaining walls, were constructed in the mine area to prevent the loss of tailings. The content of the tailings is 3,424.41~3,803.61 mg/kg, which exceeds the safety standard by a factor of 45. In addition, contamination was detected near agricultural areas and in the sediments in downstream drainage channels. A high level of As contamination was concentrated near the waste tailings yard; comparaable levels were detected in agricultural areas close to streams that ran through the waste dump yard, whereas the levels were much lower in areas far from the streams. The contamination in stream sediments showed a gradual decrease with distance from the mine waste yard. Based on these contamination patterns, we concluded that there are two main paths that affect the spread of contaminants: (1) loss of mine waste, and (2) the introduction of mine waste into agricultural areas by floods after transportation by streams. The agricultural areas contaminated by mass inflow of mine waste can act as contamination sources themselves, affecting other agricultural areas through the diffusion of contaminants. At present, although the measured effect in minimal, sediments in streams are contaminated by exposed mine waste and surface liners. It is possible for contaminants to diffuse or spread into nearby areas if heavy elements trapped in soil grains in contaminated agricultural areas leach out as soil solution or contaminant particles during diffusion into the water supply.

Immunohistochemical and Immunogold Electron Microscopic Studies on Effects of Cis-platin on the Ciliogenesis of Rat Oviducts (Cis-Platin이 흰쥐 난관의 섬모형성에 미치는 영향에 대한 면역조직학적 및 면역도금법에 의한 전자현미경적 연구)

  • Kim, Jin-Kook;Kim, Won-Kyu;Paik, Doo-Jin;Chung, Ho-Sam
    • Applied Microscopy
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    • v.30 no.1
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    • pp.45-59
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    • 2000
  • Cis-platin is a widely used anticancer drug against certain solid tumors such as malignant ovarian tumor, malignant carcinoma of head and neck, bladder cancer and cervical cancer of uterus, and its major mechanism of action is inhibition of DNA synthesis of the tumor cell. To investigate the inhibitory effects of cis-platin on the ciliogensis of the ciliated cells in the mucosa of oviduct, the author pursued the alterations of $\alpha-tubulin$, which is the main constituent of the microtubles in cilia, after cis-platin treatment. To eliminate the possible variations due to ovarian cycle, female Spargue-Dawley rats ($150\sim200gm$ in B.W.) were pretreated with estradiol benzoate (20 mg/kg, once a day, for 4 consecutive days). Animals were administrated with cis-platin (6 mg/kg, i.p.) and sacrificed at 1day, 3days, 5days and 7days after treatment, respectively. Immunohistochemistry for $\alpha-tubulin$ using mouse anti-rat $\alpha-tubulin$ monoclonal antibody as primary antibody was done. Immunogold electronmicroscopy for intracellular distributions of $\alpha-tubulin$ was also performed with same primary antibody and Goat anti- mouse IgM which is preconjugated with gold particles of 15 nm as secondary antibody. The results obtained were as follows; 1. Strong immunoreactivity of $\alpha-tubulin$ was observed in ciliated cells of oviducts at 1, 3 and 5 days after estradiol pretreatment. 2. Weak immunoreactivity of $\alpha-tubulin$ was observed in ciliated cells of oviducts at 1 and 3 days after cis-platin treatment but it was recovered to strong immunoreactivity in 5 days 3. In immunogold electronmicroscopy, density of gold particles for $\alpha-tubulin$ reactions was decreased in apical cytoplasm, but few changes were observed in basal body or cilia at 1 and 3 days after cis-platin treatment. From these above results, it is indicated that synthesis of $\alpha-tubulin$ in ciliated cells of rat oviduct is inhibited by cis-platin treatment.

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Dissipation Pattern of Boscalid in Cucumber under Greenhouse Condition (시설 내 오이 재배 중 살균제 Boscalid의 잔류특성)

  • Lee, Jong-Hwa;Park, Hee-Won;Keum, Young-Soo;Kwon, Chan-Hyeok;Lee, Young-Deuk;Kim, Jeong-Han
    • The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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    • v.12 no.1
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    • pp.67-73
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    • 2008
  • The dissipation patterns of a boscalid in cucumber under greenhouse condition was investigated to establish pre-harvest residue limit (PHRL) and biological half-life. Initial concentration of boscalid in cucumber at standard application rate was $7.29\;mg\;kg^{-1}$ and decreased to $0.04\;mg\;kg^{-1}$ after 15 days with half-life of 1.9 day, while the initial concentration was $14.69\;mg\;kg^{-1}$ and decreased to $0.11\;mg\;kg^{-1}$ after same period with half lift of 2.0 day at double application rate. PHRL was suggested by prediction curve derived from the decay curve of boscalid at double rate treatment. For example, $10.39\;mg\;kg^{-1}$ was calculated for 10 days before harvest, and $1.73\;mg\;kg^{-1}$ for 5 days. Dilution effect was major factor far the decrease of boscalid residue due to fast increasement of weight of cucumber during cultivation. Final residues level of boscalid was predicted based on the dissipation curve and guideline on safe use, when boscalid was used to control powdery mildew and gray mold. At standard rate application, $1.26\;mg\;kg^{-1}$ and $1.33\;mg\;kg^{-1}$ were calculated as final residue levels for control powdery mildew and gray mold, respectively, which are above the MRL(Meximum Residue Limit).