• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.31-71
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• 1968

To clarify the breeding behavior of the hybrids between tropical and temperate area rice varieties, investigations were made on heading days and grain sterility. In this study, crosses were made in half way diallel involving 7 varieties: 2 photoperied sensitive Indicas, 2 less sensitive intermediate Indicas, 1 Ponlai Japonica and 2 high temperature sensitive Japonicas. The parents and $F_1$s were grown under 10 hours and 14 hours daylength controlled conditions at both IRRI(International Rice Research Institute, N$14^{\circ}$17') and Suwon(N$37^{\circ}$16'). F2s with their parents were grown at IRRI in the short day season, and at Suwon under natural conditions. Fa lines with their parents were grown at Suwon under natural conditions. Observations were made for heading days and sterility. The results are summarized as follow; 1. Heading days : 1. For the $F_1$s, earliness showed dominance or overdominance to lateness under the 10 hours condition, and dominance or partial dominance under the 14 hours conditions, at both IRRI and Suwon. 2. For the $F_2$s grown at IRRI during the shortday season earliness appeared to be dominant over lateness and segregation was not distinct and continuous. In the early season culture of $F_2$s at Suwon earliness showed partial dominance or was intermediate. In the proper season culture of $F_2$s lateness showed partial dominance or was intermediate. 3. In the combinations between late parental varieties which do not head at Suwon, transgressive segregants bearing effective panicles were obtained. 4. The crosses of parental varieties having long basic vegetative growth duration showed bigger variance in heading days, and significant correlation was found between of parental varieties and the mean coefficient of variance for parental arrays. 5. The means of heading days of F2 populations were significantly correlated with those of $F_1$ or mid-parents. The means of F 8 lines were also highly correlated with the means of $F_2$s, but, the means of $F_3$ lines grown at Suwon and of their parental $F_2$ individual, grown at IRRI were not correlated. 6. A faint heritability was calculated from the regression of $F_3$ lines grown at Suwon on the $F_2$ individuals grown at IRRI for most combinations, especially in the combinations involving shortday sensitive varieties. This implies low efficiency for the selection of heading days of $F_2$ individuals at IRRI to be grown in lines at Suwon. 7. No significant reciprocal effects were measured for $F_1$ and $F_2$ mean heading days. 8. Partitioning the observed photoperiod sensitivity. into two components, parental array mean md the deviation from this array mean, the parental photoperiod sensitivity contributing to the hybrids was measured in terms of general and specific combining ability for photoperiod sensitivity. 9. The photoperiod sensitivity of $F_1$s was higher than that of the parents, and it decreased as the generation progressed in most combinations of tested varieties. 10. The response of heading days to difference of temperature was weaker for $F_1$ hybrids than for the parents. The differences of temperature responses between the longday and shortday treatments were specific for the variety. 2. Sterility : 1. The $F_1$ sterility was specific for the combinations and not correlated to the parental sterility. The sterility of $F_1$s grown under the 10 hours condition was higher than of those grown under 14 hours. These results were the same at both locations, IRRI and Suwon. 2. The high sterile combinations in $F_1$ showed high sterility in $F_2$. The combinations between a high photoperiod sensitive variety and a high temperature sensitive variety showed high sterility and wider variance. 3. The mean sterility of $F_2$s was lower than of $F_1$s and the mean of $F_3$ lines was lower than of $F_2$s. Sterility decreased as the generation progressed, and the differences of $F_3$ sterility of different combinations were not significant. 4. A faint correlation between grain sterility and pollen sterility was observed in $F_2$ populations. 5. No significant reciprocal effects were measured in $F_1$ and $F_2$ sterility. 6. Following Griffing's method, specific combining ability effects were higher than general combining ability effects, especially in the combinations between highly photoperiod sensitive varieties and highly temperature sensitive varieties. 7. No distinct correlations were found between $F_2$ individual sterility grown at IRRI and $F_3$ line sterility grown at Suwon. 8. No distinct correlations were observed between heading days and sterility of $F_2$ individuals.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.379-388
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• 1994

Background : In sleep apnea syndrome, arterial oxygen saturation($SaO_2$) decreases at a variable rate and to a variable degree for a given apneic period from patient to patient, and various kinds of cardiac arrythmia are known to occur. Factors supposed to affect arterial oxygen desaturation during apnea are duration of apnea, lung voulume at which apnea occurs, and oxygen consumption rate of the subject. The lung serves as preferential oxygen source during apnea, and there have been many reports related with the influence of lung volume on $SaO_2$ during apnea, but there are few, if any, studies about the influence of oxygen consumption rate of an individual on $SaO_2$ during breath holding or about the profile of arterial oxygen resaturation after breathing resumed. Methods : To investigate the changes of $SaO_2$ and heart rate(HR) during breath holding(BH) and rebreathing(RB) and to evaluate the physiologic factors responsible for the changes, lung volume measurements, and arterial blood gas analyses were performed in 17 healthy subjects. Nasal airflow by thermistor, $SaO_2$ by pulse oxymeter and ECG tracing were recorded on Polygraph(TA 4000, Gould, U.S.A.) during voluntary BH & RB at total lung capacity(TLC), at functional residual capacity(FRC) and at residual volume(RV), respectively, for the study subjects. Each subject's basal metabolic rate(BMR) was assumed on Harris-Benedict equation. Results: The time needed for $SaO_2$ to drop 2% from the basal level during breath holding(T2%) were $70.1{\pm}14.2$ sec(mean${\pm}$standard deviation) at TLC, $44.0{\pm}11.6$ sec at FRC, and $33.2{\pm}11.1$ sec at RV(TLC vs. FRC, p<0.05; FRC vs. RV, p<0.05). On rebreathing after $SaO_2$ decreased 2%, further decrement in $SaO_2$ was observed and it was significantly greater at RV($4.3{\pm}2.1%$) than at TLC($1.4{\pm}1.0%$)(p<0.05) or at FRC($1.9{\pm}1.4%$)(p<0.05). The time required for $SaO_2$ to return to the basal level after RB(Tr) at TLC was not significantly different from those at FRC or at RV. T2% had no significant correlation either with lung volumes or with BMR respectively. On the other hand, T2% had significant correlation with TLC/BMR(r=0.693, p<0.01) and FRC/BMR (r=0.615, p<0.025) but not with RV/BMR(r=0.227, p>0.05). The differences between maximal and minimal HR(${\Delta}HR$) during the BH-RB manuever were $27.5{\pm}9.2/min$ at TLC, $26.4{\pm}14.0/min$ at RV, and $19.1{\pm}6.0/min$ at FRC which was significantly smaller than those at TLC(p<0.05) or at RV(p<0.05). The mean difference of 5 p-p intervals before and after RB were $0.8{\pm}0.10$ sec and $0.72{\pm}0.09$ sec at TLC(p<0.001), $0.82{\pm}0.11$ sec and $0.73{\pm}0.09$ sec at FRC(p<0.025), and $0.77{\pm}0.09$ sec and $0.72{\pm}0.09$ sec at RV(p<0.05). Conclusion Healthy subjects showed arterial desaturation of various rates and extent during breath holding at different lung volumes. When breath held at lung volume greater than FRC, the rate of arterial desaturation significantly correlated with lung volume/basal metabolic rate, but when breath held at RV, the rate of arterial desaturation did not correlate linearly with RV/BMR. Sinus arrythmias occurred during breath holding and rebreathing manuever irrespective of the size of the lung volume at which breath holding started, and the amount of change was smallest when breath held at FRC and the change in vagal tone induced by alteration in respiratory movement might be the major responsible factor for the sinus arrythmia.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.1210-1219
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• 2001

Introduction : The purpose of this study was to analyze the safety, pullout strength and radiographic characteristics of unicortical and bicortical screws of cervical facet within cadaveric specimens and evaluate the influence of level of training on the positioning of these screws. Methods : Twenty-one cadavers, mean 78.9 years of age, underwent bilateral placement of 3.5mm AO lateral mass screw from C3-C6(n=168) using a slight variation of the Magerl technique. Intraoperative imaging was not used. The right side(unicortical) utilized only 14mm screws(effective length of 11mm) while on the left side to determine the length of the screw after the ventral cortex had been drilled. Three spine surgeons(attending, fellow, chief resident) with varying levels of spine training performed the procedure on seven cadavers each. All spines were harvested and lateral radiographs were taken. Individual cervical vertebrae were carefully dissected and then axial radiographs were taken. The screws were evaluated clinically and radiographically for their safety. Screws were graded clinically for their safety with respect to the spinal cord, facet joint, nerve root and vertebral artery. The grades consisted of the following categories : "satisfactory", "at risk" and "direct injury". Each screw was also graded according to its zone placement. Screw position was quantified by measuring a sagittal angle from the lateral radiograph and an axial angle from the axial radiograph. Pull-out force was determined for all screws using a material testing machine. Results : Dissection revealed that fifteen screws on the left side actually had only unicortical and not bicortical purchase as intended. The majority of screws(92.8%) were satisfactory in terms of safety. There were no injuries to the spinal cord. On the right side(unicortical), 98.9% of the screws were "satisfactory" and on the left side(bicortical) 68.1% were "satisfactory". There was a 5.8% incidence of direct arterial injury and a 17.4% incidence of direct nerve root injury with the bicortical screws. There were no "direct injuries" with the unicortical screws for the nerve root or vertebral artery. The unicortical screws had a 21.4% incidence of direct injury of the facet joint, while the bicortical screws had a 21.7% incidence. The majority of "direct injury" of bicortical screws were placed by the surgeon with the least experience. The performance of the resident surgeon was significantly different from the attending or fellow(p<0.05) in terms of safety of the nerve root and vertebral artery. The attending's performance was significantly better than the resident or fellow(p<0.05) in terms of safety of the facet joint. There was no relationship between the safety of a screw and its zone placement. The axial deviation angle measured $23.5{\pm}6.6$ degrees and $19.8{\pm}7.9$ degrees for the unicortical and bicortical screws, respectively. The resident surgeon had a significantly lower angle than the attending or fellow(p<0.05). The sagittal angle measured $66.3{\pm}7.0$ degrees and $62.3{\pm}7.9$ degrees for the unicortical and bicortical screws, respectively. The attending had a significantly lower sagittal angle than the fellow or resident(p<0.05). Thirty-three screws that entered the facet joint were tested for pull-out strength but excluded from the data because they were not lateral mass screws per-se and had deviated substantially from the intended final trajectory. The mean pull-out force for all screws was $542.9{\pm}296.6N$. There was no statistically significant difference between the pull-out force for unicortical($519.9{\pm}286.9N$) and bicortical($565.2{\pm}306N$) screws. There was no significant difference in pull-out strengths with respect to zone placement. Conclusion : It is our belief that the risk associated with bicortical purchase mandates formal spine training if it is to be done safely and accurately. Unicortical screws are safer regardless of level of training. It is apparent that 14mm lateral mass screws placed in a supero-lateral trajectory in the adult cervical spine provide an equivalent strength with a much lower risk of injury than the longer bicortical screws placed in a similar orientation.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.192-199
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• 2004

Purpose: To determine the patterns on evaluation and treatment in the patient with early breast cancer treated with conservative surgery and radiotherapy and to improve the radiotherapy techiniques, nationwide survey was peformed. Materials and Methods: A web-based database system for korean Patterns of Care Study (PCS) for 6 common cancers was developed. Two hundreds sixty-one randomly selected records of eligible patients treated between 1998$\~$1999 from 15 hospitals were reviewed. Results: The patients ages ranged from 24 to 85 years(median 45 years). Infiltrating ductal carcinoma was most common histologic type (88.9$\%$) followed by medullary carcinoma (4.2$\%$) and infiltrating lobular carcinoma (1.5$\%$). Pathologic T stage by AJCC was T1 in 59.7$\%$ of the casses, T2 in 29.5$\%$ of the cases, Tis in 8.8$\%$ of the cases. Axillary lymph node dissection was peformed I\in 91.2$\%$ of the cases and 69.7$\%$ were node negative. AJCC stage was 0 in 8.8$\%$ of the cases, stage I in 44.9$\%$ of the cases, stage IIa in 33.3$\%$ of the cases, and stage IIb in 8.4$\%$ of the cases. Estrogen and progesteron receptors were evaluated in 71.6$\%$, and 70.9$\%$ of the patients, respectively. Surgical methods of breast-conserving surgery was excision/lumpectomy in 37.2$\%$, wide excision in 11.5$\%$, quadrantectomy in 23$\%$ and partial mastectomy in 27.5$\%$ of the cases. A pathologically confirmed negative margin was obtained in 90.8$\%$ of the cases. Pathological margin was involved with tumor in 10 patients and margin was close (less than 2 mm) in 10 patients. All the patients except one recieved more than 90$\%$ of the planned radiotherapy dose. Radiotherapy volume was breast only In 88$\%$ of the cases, breast+supraclavicular fossa (SCL) in 5$\%$ of the cases, and breast+ SCL+ posterior axillary boost in 4.2%$\%$of the cases. Only one patient received isolated internal mammary lymph node irradiation. Used radiation beam was Co-60 in 8 cases, 4 MV X-ray in 115 cases, 6 MV X-ray in 125 cases, and 10 MV X-ray in 11 cases. The radiation dose to the whole breast was 45$\~$59.4 Gy (median 50.4) and boost dose was 8$\~$20 Gy (median 10 Gy). The total radiation dose delivered was 50.4$\~$70.4 Gy (median 60.4 Gy). Conclusion: There was no major deviation from current standard in the patterns of evaluation and treatment for the patients with early breast cancer treated with breast conservation method. Some varieties were identified in boost irradiation dose. Separate analysis for the datails of radiotherapy planning will be followed and the outcome of treatment is needed to evaluate the process.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.846-854
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• 1995

Background: Cytokeratin 19 is a subunit of cytokeratin intermediate filament expressed in simple epithelia such as respiratory epithelial cells and their malignant counterparts. An immunoradiometric assay is available to detect a fragment of the cytokeratin, referred to as Cyfra 21-1 in the serum. This study was conducted to evaluate the clinical utility of this new marker in the diagnosis of lung cancer compared with established markers of squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC Ag) and carcino-embryonic antigen(CEA). In addition, we compared the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of Cyfra 21-1 with those of SCC Ag in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. We also measured the level of Cyfra 21-1 in the different stages of squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. Method: We measured Cyfra 21-1(ELSA-CYFRA 21-1), SCC Ag(ABBOTT SCC RIABEAD) and CEA(ELSA2-CEA) in 79 patients with primary lung cancer and in 78 persons as a comparison group including 32 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, 23 patients with benign lung disease and 23 cases with healthy individual. Cyfra 21-1 is measured by a solid-phase immunoradiometric assay(CIS Bio International, France) based on the two-site sandwich method. SCC Ag is measured by a radioimmunoassay(Abbott Laboratories, USA). CEA is measured by a immunoradiometric assay(CIS Bio International, France). All data were expressed as the mean$\pm$standard deviation. Results: 1) The mean value of Cyfra 21-1 was $18.38{\pm}3.65\;ng/mL$ in the lung cancer and $1.l6{\pm}0.53\;ng/mL$ in the comparison group(p<0.0001). SCC Ag was $3.53{\pm}6.06\;ng/mL$ in the lung cancer and $1.19{\pm}0.5\;ng/mL$ in the comparison group(p<0.01). CEA was $35.03{\pm}13.9\;ng/mL$ in the lung cancer and $2.89{\pm}1.01\;ng/mL$ in the comparison group(p<0.0001). 2) Cyfra 21-1 level in squamous cell carcinoma($31.52{\pm}40.13\;ng/mL$) was higher than that in adenocarcinoma($2.41{\pm}1.34\;ng/mL$)(p<0.0001) and small cell carcinoma($2.15{\pm}2.05\;ng/mL$)(p=0.007). SCC Ag level in squamous cell carcinoma($5.1{\pm}7.68\;ng/mL$) was higher than that in adenocarcinoma($1.36{\pm}0.69\;ng/mL$)(p=0.009) and small cell carcinoma($1.1{\pm}0.24\;ng/mL$) (p=0.024). 3) The level of Cyfra 21-1 was not correlated with the progression of stage in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. 4) Using the cut-off value of 3.3ng/mL, the diagnostic sensitivity of Cyfra 21-1 was 83% in squamous cell carcinoma, 22% in adenocarcinoma and 17% in small cell carcinoma. The sensitivity of SCC Ag and CEA were 39% and 20%, respectively in squamous cell carcinoma, 11% and 39% in adenocarcinoma, and 0% and 33% in small cell carcinoma. 5) Comparison of the receiver operating characteristics curves(ROC curve) for Cyfra 21-1, SCC Ag and CEA revealed that Cyfra 21-1 showed highest diagnostic sensitivity among them in the diagnosis of lung cancer. Conclusion: Cyfra 21-1 is thought to be a better tumor marker for the diagnosis of lung cancer than SCC Ag and CEA, especially in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.61-71
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• 1989

The purposes of this study were to investigate the genetic variations by backcrossing in commercial chickens. Backcrossing was carried out successively back to parent stock (P.S). Heritabilities and genetic correlation coefficients were estimated to verify the genetic variations. The data obtained from a breeding programme with commercial chickens (I strain) were collected from 1955 to 1987 at Poultry Breeding Farm, Seoul National University. Data came from a total of 1230 female offspring. The results obtained are summarized as follows： 1. The general performance ($Mean\pmStandard deviation$) of each trait was $663.94\pm87.11$g for 8 weeks body weight, $1579.1\pm155.43$g for 20 weeks body weight, $2124.1\pm215.3$g for 40 weeks body weight, $2269.1\pm242.94$g for 60 weeks body weight, $168.43\pm12.94$ day for a9e at sexual maturity (SM), $214.52\pm29.82$ eggs , for total egg number to 60 weeks of age (TEN), $61.45\pm3.48$ g for average weight (AEW), $13180.7\pm1823.22$ g for total egg mass to 60 weeks of age(TEM). All traits, except 10 weeks body weight and AEW, were significant for the degrees of backcross (p＜0.01). 2. The pooled estimates of heritabilities derived from the sire, dam and combined variance components were 0.47~0.52 for age at sexual maturity (SM), 0.07~0.37 for total egg number (TEN), 0.40~0.54 for average egg weight (AEW), 0.18~0.27 for total egg mass (TEM). High heritability estimates were found for SM and AEW. TEN and TEM were estimated to be a lowly heritable traits. Heritability estimates from dam components were higher than those from sire components. These differences might be due to non-additive genetic effect and maternal effect. 3. The estimates of heritabilities and standard errors derived from combined variance components for different degrees of backcross were $0.47\pm0.11$ (BCO), $0.42\pm0.16$ (BC1), $0.51\pm0.29$ (BC2) for TEN, $0.59\pm0.20$ (BCO), $0.43\pm0.17$ (BC1), $0.35\pm0.18$ (BC2) for AEW, $0.28\pm0.12$(BC0), $0.20\pm0.11$(BC1), $0.18\pm0.14$ (BC2) for TEM. Heritability estimates for AEW and TEM were decreased by backcrossing while those for SM and TEN remained constant. Since backcrossing contributes to increased homozygosity, the genetic variation of the traits (AEW and TEM) decreased . 4. The pooled estimates of genetic correlation coefficients were -0.55 between SM and TEN, 0.20 between SM and AEW, -0.29 between TEN and AEW, 0.82 between TEM and TEN, 0.31 between TEM and AEW, -0.42 between TEM and SM. The genetic correlation between TEM and TEN was higher than that between TEM and AEW, and it was suggested that egg mass was strongly affected by egg number. Also, age at sexual maturity(SM) contributes to egg mass(TEM). 5. When backcrossing was carried out successively, the genetic correlation between TEM and TEN increased (BC0：0.79, BC1：0.82, BC2：0.91) but those between TEM and SM decreased (BC0：-0.54, BC1：-0.36, BC2：-0.09) with successive backcrosses.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.99-111
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• 1973

Percentage recovery or fertilizer nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium by rice plant(Oriza sativa L.) were investigated at 8, 10, 12, 14 kg/10a of N, 6 kg of $P_2O_5$ and 8 kg of $K_2O$ application level in 1967 (51 places) and 1968 (32 places). Two types of nutrient contribution for the yield, that is, P type in which phosphorus firstly increases silicate uptake and secondly silicate increases nitrogen uptake, and K type in which potassium firstly increases P uptake and secondly P increases nitrogen uptake were postulated according to the following results from the correlation analyses (linear) between percentage recovery of fertilizer nutrient and grain or dry matter yields and nutrient uptake. 1. Percentage frequency of minus or zero recovery occurrence was 4% in nitrogen, 48% in phosphorus and 38% in potassium. The frequency distribution of percentage recovery appeared as a normal distribution curve with maximum at 30 to 40 recovery class in nitrogen, but appeared as a show distribution with maximum at below zero class in phosphorus and potassium. 2. Percentage recovery (including only above zero) was 33 in N (above 10kg/10a), 27 in P, 40 in K in 1967 and 40 in N, 20 in P, 46 in Kin 1968. Mean percentage recovery of two years including zero for zero or below zero was 33 in N, 13 in P and 27 in K. 3. Standard deviation of percentage recovery was greater than percentage recovery in P and K and annual variation of CV (coefficient of variation) was greatest in P. 4. The frequency of significant correlation between percentage recovery and grain or dry matter yield was highest in N and lowest in P. Percentage recovery of nitrogen at 10 kg level has significant correlation only with percentage recovery of P in 1967 and only with that of potassium in 1968. 5. The correlation between percentage recovery and dry matter yield of all treatments showed only significant in P in 1967, and only significant in K in 1968, Negative correlation coefficients between percentage recovery and grain or dry matter yield of no or minus fertilizer plots were shown only in K in 1967 and only in P in 1968 indicating that phosphorus fertilizer gave a distinct positive role in 1967 but somewhat' negative role in 1968 while potassium fertilizer worked positively in 1968 but somewhat negatively in 1967. 6. The correlation between percentage recovery of nutrient and grain yield showed similar tendency as with dry matter yield but lower coefficients. Thus the role of nutrients was more precisely expressed through dry matter yield. 7. Percentage recovery of N very frequently had significant correlation with nitrogen uptake of nitrogen applied plot, and significant negative correlation with nitrogen uptake of minus nitrogen plot, and less frequently had significant correlation with P, K and Si uptake of nitrogen applied plot. 8. Percentage recovery of P had significant correlation with Si uptake of all treatments and with N uptake of all treatments except minus phosphorus plot in 1967 indicating that phosphorus application firstly increases Si uptake and secondly silicate increases nitrogen uptake. Percentage recovery of P also frequently had significant correlation with P or K uptake of nitrogen applied plot. 9. Percentage recovery of K had significant correlation with P uptake of all treatments, N uptake of all treatments except minus phosphorus plot, and significant negative correlation with K uptake of minus K plot and with Si uptake of no fertilizer plot or the highest N applied plot in 1968, and negative correlation coefficient with P uptake of no fertilizer or minus nutrient plot in 1967. Percentage recovery of K had higher correlation coefficients with dry matter yield or grain yield than with K uptake. The above facts suggest that K application firstly increases P uptake and secondly phosphorus increases nitrogen uptake for dry matter yied. 10. Percentage recovery of N had significant higher correlation coefficient with grain yield or dry matter yield of minus K plot than with those of minus phosphorus plot, and had higher with those of fertilizer plot than with those of minus K plot. Similar tendency was observed between N uptake and percentage recovery of N among the above treatments. Percentage recovery of K had negative correlation coefficient with grain or-dry matter yield of no fertilizer plot or minus nutrient plot. These facts reveal that phosphorus increases nitrogen uptake and when phosphorus or nitrogen is insufficient potassium competatively inhibits nitrogen uptake. 11. Percentage recovery of N, Pand K had significant negative correlation with relative dry matter yield of minus phosphorus plot (yield of minus plot x 100/yield of complete plot; in 1967 and with relative grain yield of minus K plot in 1968. These results suggest that phosphorus affects tillering or vegetative phase more while potassium affects grain formation or Reproductive phase more, and that clearly show the annual difference of P and K fertilizer effect according to the weather. 12. The correlation between percentage recovery of fertilizer and the relative yield of minus nutrient plat or that of no fertilizer plot to that of minus nutrient plot indicated that nitrogen is the most effective factor for the production even in the minus P or K plot. 13. From the above facts it could be concluded that about 40 to 50 percen of paddy fields do rot require P or K fertilizer and even in the case of need the application amount should be greatly different according to field and weather of the year, especially in phosphorus.

• 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.