• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.1272-1280
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• 2021

With changes in human dietary patterns, the proportion of high-fat and high-cholesterol foods in the daily diet has increased. As a result, the incidence rate of cholelithiasis is increasing rapidly. Many studies have reported on the crucial role that the intestinal microflora plays in the progression of gallstones. Although the whole herb of Lysimachia christinae, a traditional Chinese medicine, has long been extensively used as a remedy for cholelithiasis in China, its effects on the intestinal microflora remain unknown. Hence, in this study, we investigated the ability of the aqueous extract of L. christinae (LAE) to prevent cholesterol gallstones (CGSs) in model animals by affecting the intestinal microflora. The effects of LAE on body weight, serum lipid profile, visceral organ indexes, and histomorphology were studied in male C57BL/6J mice, which were induced by a lithogenic diet. After the 8-week study, CGSs formation was greatly reduced after LAE treatment. LAE also reduced body weight gain and hyperlipidemia and restored the histomorphological changes. Moreover, the intestinal microflora exhibited significant variation. In the model group fed the lithogenic diet, the abundances of the genera unclassified Porphyromonadaceae, Lactobacillus and Alloprevotella decreased, but in contrast, Akkermansia dramatically increased compared with the control check group, which was fed a normal diet; the administration of LAE reversed these changes. These results imply that L. christinae can be considered an efficient therapy for eliminating CGSs induced by a high-fat and high-cholesterol diet, which may be achieved by influencing the intestinal microflora.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.727-739
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• 2021

Over the past decades, the Jordanian government has made great efforts to help poor women start small businesses by providing microcredit and facilitating financial services. Although in Jordan almost hundreds of thousands of women have the ability to contribute more fully to their economy, they are reluctant to do so. Women's participation in economic activities in 2016 was only 13.2%, while the unemployment rate for Jordanian women was 24.1%. The decline in women's participation in small business management has gradually become an important issue following the trial of more than 13,000 Jordanian women for non-payment of their micro-loans. This study aims to identify the factors that hinder Jordanian women from achieving job stability. In this qualitative study, a semi-structured interview method with sixteen open-ended questions was used to collect relevant data. A purposeful sampling method is also used to select participants. To analyze the data, this study used NVivo 11 software as a method. Using System Theory, this study showed that women's failure depends on three factors: women entrepreneurs, the environment around women entrepreneurs, and micro-financial institutions. Findings of this study suggest that strengthen women's entrepreneurship sustainability and minimize the risk of failure should be done through integrated strategies include these three domains.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.807-815
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• 2021

Microfinance is seen as a tool for poverty elimination by providing various services characterized as financial and non-financial to minority groups in the society to be included in the mainstream financial system. This paper seeks to examine the effect of microfinance institutions' (MFIs) financial and non-financial services on women's entrepreneurship and empowerment in Jordan as a developing country. To gain a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of microfinance services, the study is undertaken to address the question of what kinds of services are available and whether the MFI services are in line with the actual needs of women entrepreneurs to improve their performance. Hence, a qualitative approach was adopted in this study using semi-structured interview questions to collect data from twenty-four women entrepreneurs in Jordan. The results showed that, as regards financial services, the most important needs of women entrepreneurs include providing adequate financing with necessary financial facilities such as reducing interest, reducing monthly installments, and extending the grace period, while non-financial services should include holding specialized courses, accessing a counseling center, providing incentives and psychological support, marketing support, and monitoring and evaluation. This study concluded that factors associated with MFI play a crucial role to uplift women entrepreneurs and eliminate gender inequality.

• Journal of Wellbeing Management and Applied Psychology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.21-31
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• 2020

As people's income rises dramatically, people's happiness seems not as high as expected. In fact, there are two different arguments about the relationship between income level and happiness. The focus of the debate is whether the correlation between income and probability of happiness is positive or negative. Therefore, we hypothesizes that the relationship between income and probability of happiness presents an inverted U-shaped curve. Then, this paper sets China as an example to explore the effect of income on happiness. The data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) in 2015 is employed to conduct empirical analyses under the Probit model and the Zero-Inflation-Passion model. The empirical findings indicate that the effect of income on happiness presents an inverted U-shaped curve and significantly in statistic. Meanwhile, spouse's income, educational level, marriage time and house property have a positive and significant effect on happiness. Conversely, age and local living standards have a negative and significant effect on happiness. Unfortunately, even though registered residence and children have a negative effect on happiness, they do not get through the significant test. In order to ensure the robustness of our empirical results, we test the robustness of the above empirical results by adjusting the sample size. The results of robustness test verify that our empirical results are robust. Moreover, this paper also makes a small contribution to the current literature with a sample from China.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.1156-1159
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• 2017

The various ground support equipments are necessary for KSLV-II ground operation at the assembly building located in Naro Space Center. Among the various ground support equipments, the launch vehicle connection unit and high pressure flexible hose are important elements, because they are used for connection between the ground compressed gas supply system and the launch vehicle. In this paper, the development progress of the launch vehicle connection unit and high pressure flexible hose are introduced.

• Journal of Wellbeing Management and Applied Psychology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.1-10
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• 2023

Purpose: As an important provision to protect the rights and interests of low-income groups, it is worth studying whether the minimum wage policy can improve the quality of life for people. Research design, data and methodology: Using data from the 2015 and 2017 China General Social Survey (CGSS), this paper employs the logit model to estimate the probability of an individual's annual income being higher than the per capita disposable income of their province. It also utilizes the DID model to analyze the impact of minimum wage increases on individuals' annual incomes. Results: The analysis reveals that an overall increase in the minimum wage raises the probability of an individual's annual income exceeding the per capita disposable income by 3%. Among them, the probability increased by 2.2% for males and by 3.2% for females. Furthermore, the impact of the minimum wage on annual income varies depending on the individual's income level. Notably, the most positive and significant impact is observed for individuals whose income level is close to the minimum wage standard. Conclusions: This provides evidence that the increase in the minimum wage has effectively improved the quality of life for the population.

• The Journal of Small Business Innovation
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.1-16
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• 2016

Korean government had used public 'credit guarantee schemes' (CGS) as a counter-cyclical measure. However, it is still controversial about the effectiveness of policy financing on the SMEs. Criticism on policy financing involves the argument that supporting enterprises hampers competition and innovation of SMEs by increasing their dependence on the government and delays the exit of marginal firms. In this paper, we investigate how to effectively build up the rationale of running public CGSs. At the same time, we propose the ways to coexist of public credit guarantee and market-based private finance system for SMEs. First, CGS, as a counter-cyclical function, must coexist with the private financial system by compensating the market failure caused by pro-cyclical behavior of the private financial market. Second, CGS has the comparative advantages, compared to both the interest rate policy of the central bank and fiscal policy of the government. The credit guarantee is the symptomatic treatment that could revitalize the economy shortly by providing liquidity. Also, knowing that CGS is provided based on the leverage ratio defined by outstanding guarantee divided by capital fund, public 'credit guarantee' (CG) has an advantage that is free from the risk of government deficit. Third, the reason for existence of the CGS should be founded in supporting services for SMEs, available only in a public sector that is difficult to expect from private banks. In this regard, it is desirable to strengthen the publicness of credit guarantee over the support for start-ups, growing companies, the improvement of productivity, increase of exports, a long-term investment in facilities, the employment-creating businesses, and innovative enterprises.