• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.53-63
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• 2019

The paper examines the influence of profitability on distance to default (DD) in Vietnam securities market. The investigated sample consists of 211 companies listed on HOSE during 18 years from 2010 to 2017. We apply KMV model to calculate distance to default and use both macroeconomics factors and firm specific factors as independent variables. Using General Least Squared (GLS) method, we find evidence to confirm the positive relationship between profitability and distance to default. This result showed that, although profitability did not directly reflect the cash flow generated, a good profitable enterprise would be an important factor to help facilitate and generate cash flow and at the same time debt was guaranteed when it was due. Besides, the test results revealed that the financial structure and sales on assets have the inverse effect on the distance to default at the significance level of 5%. The results also revealed that a group of macro factors had an influence on the distance to default of businesses, including spread, GDP and trade balance (via exchange rates). Gross domestic income had certain impacts on the distance to default of businesses. This was also a basic indicator measuring the national economic cycle.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.1483-1490
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• 2004

Community-based centres were surveyed to determine the frequency of and risk factors for falls among elderly Koreans. We examined fall-related risk factors, including physiological and physical health, psychosocial functions, self-reported physical capacity and activity, vision, and the use of medication, among 351 elderly people aged 65 years or older, with ambulatory. Forty-two per cent of elderly Korean subjects reported at least one episode of falling in the previous 12 months, $38\%$ of whom had consequences that required either the attention of a physician or hospitalization. Factors significantly associated with an increased risk of falling were a restricted activity during the previous five years (adjusted OR 1.3), use of alternative therapy (adjusted OR 2.7), low knee flexor and extensor-muscle strength (adjusted OR 1.21 and 1.20), and poor balance with closed eyes (adjusted OR 8.32). We conclude that falls among older persons living in the community are common in Korea and that indicator of bad health and frailty or variables directly related to neuromuscular impairment are significant predictors of the risk of falling.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.09a
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• pp.450-452
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• 2004

Using factor analysis and bivariate comparisons of major components in ground water, three geochemical processes were identified as controlling factors of ground water chemistry; 1) natural mineralization by water rock interactions, 2) effect of seawater which includes salinization by seawater near seashores and deposition of sea salt, and 3) nitrate contamination by N fertilization. Contribution of rainfall was also estimated from the measured composition of wet deposition. The geochemical processes were separated using total alkalinity as an indicator for natural mineralization, Cl for effect of seawater, and nitrate for N fertilization. Relatively high correlation of major components with nitrate suggests that nitrification of nitrogenous fertilizers significantly affects ground water chemistry. Total cations derived from nitrate sources have good linearity for nitrate in equivalent basis with a slope of 1.8, which is a mean of proton production coefficients in nitrification of two major compounds in nitrogenous fertilizers, ammonium and urea. Contribution of nitrate sources to base cations, Cl, and SO$_4$ in ground water was determined considering maximum contribution of natural mineralization to estimate a threshold of the effect of N fertilization for ground water chemistry, which shows W fertilization has a greatest effect than any other processes in ground water with nitrate concentration greater than 50 mg/L for Ca, Mg, Na and with concentration greater than 30 mg/L for Cl and SO$_4$.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2008.11b
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• pp.112-116
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• 2008

Determining the investment priority of the railway project is essential to keep its object of railway investment. [National railway construction plan] provide 4 major evaluation indicators and their weighting range in determining the investment priority of railway construction. Which are investment efficiency, inter-regional balance of development, network effects, government supporting policy. However this present criteria has inconsistency in determining economical feasibility of the railway transportation when applying the same evaluation indicator, investment efficiency, with the road transportation. The railway transportation is superior to road transportation in terms of transportation capacity and distance, while offering less carbon emissions. In spite of the prominent position of the railway transportation, it can be failed to obtain its proper investment priority when being determined under economical feasibility based. Therefore, this study analyzed the inconsistency under present evaluation criteria and proposed new evaluation method for the investment priority of the railway construction using AHP(analytic hierarchy process), while differentiate from the road construction. This method is optimized for only determining the priority of the railway construction itself under object of railway investment respectively.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.207-211
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• 2020

In the global economy, trade is not confined in geological boundaries, enhancing the international relation among countries. However, the trade tension between the largest economy and the second-largest economy raise concerns among the world economies, enhancing the uncertainties around world. In particular, the trade tension between the two countries is highly related with South Korea's trade balance, because the country is highly dependent on the trade with the two countries. Given this, we analyzed the news editorials published in Korean quality newsaper, with related to U.S. and China Trade War by looking at the ideological perspectives of news outlets or journalists to the issue within the framework of critical discourse analysis. In particular we gave a special attention to the attitude to each country in order to investigate their ideological stance to the country, following van Dijk (1998)' ideological square. The results are as follows: first, the Chosun Ilbo emphasized 'their' bad properties directly and aggresively, while the Hankyoreh designated the U.S. as a member of an out-group, thus mitigating 'our' bad quatilies; Second, the two strategies of emphasis and mitigation enabled both newspapers to reinforce in-group homogeneity and out-group exclusion. Thus, we could conclude that the editorial is a clear indicator to show the news outlet's ideological stance to each country in regard to the trade issue.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2023.05a
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• pp.447-447
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• 2023

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a critical indicator of soil fertility. Its importance in maintaining ecological balance has received widespread attention. However, global temperatures have risen by 0.8℃ since the late 1800s due to human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in severe disruptions in SOC dynamics. To study the impacts of temperature variations on SOC and soil respiration, we used the Soil Carbon and Landscape co-Evolution (SCALE) model, which was capable of estimating the spatial distribution of soil carbon dynamics. The study site was located at Heshan Farm (125°20'10.5"E, 49°00'23.1"N), Nenjiang County in Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China. We validated the model using observed soil organic carbon and soil respiration in 2015 and achieved excellent agreement between observed and modeled variables. Our results showed considerable influences of temperature increases on SOC and soil respiration rates at both erosion and deposition areas. In particular, changes in SOC and soil respiration at the deposition area were greater than at the erosion area. Our study highlights that the impacts of temperature elevations are considerably dependent on soil erosion and deposition processes. Thus, it is important to implement effective soil conservation strategies to maintain soil fertility under global warming.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.49-58
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• 2013

The most critical point in the assessment of adherence to dietary guidelines is the development of a practical definition for adherence, such as a dietary pattern score. The purpose of this study was to develop the Korean Diet Score (KDS) based on the Korean Food Balance Wheel and to examine the association of KDS with various lifestyle characteristics and biochemical factors. The dietary data of 5,320 subjects from the 4th Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey were used for the final analysis. The food guide was composed of six food group categories; 'grain dishes', 'fish and meat dishes', 'vegetable dishes', 'fruits', 'milk' and 'oils and sugars'. Based on the recommended serving numbers for each group, the scores measuring adherence to this food guide were calculated from the dietary information from the 24-hour dietary recall questionnaire, and then its correlation with various characteristics was assessed. KDS was significantly associated with several clinical, lifestyle and socioeconomic factors as well as diagnosed disease history. The higher quintile group of KDS showed a significantly lower level in fasting blood glucose, systolic blood pressure, triglycerides, current smoking and drinking as well as higher leisure time activity, house income and education. Furthermore, the KDS quintile group of women was inversely associated with hypertension, osteoporosis and diabetes. A higher KDS quintile was characterized with a higher intake of several critical nutrients, such as Ca, Fe and vitamins as well as a desirable nutrition balance such as the ratio of macronutrients. Our results demonstrate that KDS is a beneficial tool in assessing the adherence to a healthy diet based on the Korean dietary guidelines. We suggest that KDS could be a useful indicator for evaluating the dietary balance of the Korean population.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.383-391
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• 2000

Milk urea nitrogen (MUN) determination is being used an indicator of the protein-energy balance in dairy herds. A faulty balance can be corrected to optimize milk production and animal health. This parameter is regarded as a potential tool to evaluate suboptimal feeding practices and reproductive disorders. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the response of milk composition by regular feeding analysis and to compared the relationship between MUN and milk protein(MP) and fertility at the insemination period in Holstein dairy cows. Total of 355 artificial insemination (AI) for 150 Holstein cows in the herd were used to examine the relationship between MUN and MP content and conception rate. The AI occured for the cows 50 to 150 day in milk, and MUN and MP concentration were determined using automated infrared procedures. The mean${\pm}$standard deviation of MUN and MP concentration in the herd were $15.6{\pm}2.1mg/dl$ and $3.23{\pm}0.38%$, respectively. MUN contents of bulk milk were increase by elevated crude protein intake. The conception rate was lower in the cows in which the level of MUN was lower than > 8.0mg/dl (10.0%) or > higher than 25mg/dl (15.4%) relative to the cows in MUN content of 12.0~17.9 mg/dl (36.7%) at the time of insemination. Also, lower MP than 3.0% or higher MP than 3.25% were associated with a lower conception rates. Consequently, MUN and MP analyses may be used serve as a monitoring tool of protein and energy nutritional balance to improve reproduction efficiency in Holstein dairy cows.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.28-41
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• 2024

The carbon balance serves as a valuable indicator of a plant's physiological status under diverse environmental conditions. We investigated the photosynthetic and respiratory responses of the Asian surfgrass Phyllospadix iwatensis along the northeast coast of the Korean peninsula in response to changing water temperature (ranging from 5℃ to 30℃) to estimate the seasonal whole-plant carbon balance through a series of incubation experiments. The maximum gross photosynthetic rate (P_max) showed a significant difference among the temperature treatments, while there was no significant difference in photosynthetic efficiency (α). The maximum gross photosynthetic rate of P. iwatensis reached its peaks at 20℃ treatment (101.65 μmol O₂ g^-1 DW h^-1) but decreased rapidly at 30℃. The saturation irradiance (I_k), compensation irradiance (I_c), and respiration rate (R) of P. iwatensis exhibited significant differences among the temperature treatments. The saturation irradiance increased up to 20-25℃ (121.59-124.50 μmol photons m^-2 s^-1) and sharply decreased at 30℃. The compensation irradiance and respiration rate increased steadily with rising water temperature. The ratio of P_max to R (P_max:R ratio) was the highest at 5℃ but dramatically decreased at 30℃. The whole-plant carbon balance, calculated based on photosynthetic parameters, respiration rates, and biomass, exhibited distinct seasonal variation, increasing during winter and spring and decreasing during summer and fall, which is consistent with the highest in situ growth in spring and severely limited growth at the highest water temperature conditions. Phyllospadix iwatensis displayed a negative carbon balance during late summer, fall, and winter, but demonstrated a positive carbon balance during spring and early summer. Our findings suggest that the rising seawater temperatures associated with climate change may lead to significant alterations in the seagrass ecosystem functioning along the rocky shores of the Korean east coast.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.509-520
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• 2018

Alkalinity is one of the basic variables, which determine geochemical characteristics of natural waters and participate in processes changing concentrations of various contaminants either directly or indirectly. However, not a few laboratories and researchers of Korea still use alkalinity-measurement methods not appropriate for groundwaters, and which becomes one of the major reasons for the poor ion balance errors of the geochemical analysis. This study was performed to review alkalinity-measurement methods, to discuss their advantages and disadvantages, and, thus, to help researchers and analytical specialists in analyzing alkalinity of groundwaters. The pH-titration-curve-inflection-point (PTC-IP) methods, which finds the alkalinity end point from the inflection point of the pH titration curve are revealed to be most accurate. Gran titration technique among them are likely to be most appropriate for accurate estimation of titrant volume to the end point. In contrast, other titration methods such as pH indicator method and pre-selected pH method, which are still commonly being used, are likely to cause erroneous results especially for groundwaters of low ionic strength and alkalinity.