• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.1-25
• /
• 1996

The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis can not be summarized as a single process. Lipid infiltration hypothesis and endothelial injury hypothesis have been proposed and investigated. Recent developments show that there are many points of potential interactions between them and that they can actually be regarded as two phases of a single, unifying hypothesis. Among the many risk factors of atherosclerosis, plasma homocysteine and lipoprotein(a) draw a considerable interest because they are independent indicators of atherogenicity. Triglyceride (TG)-rich lipoproteins (chylomicron and VLDL) are not considered to be atherogenic but they are related to the metabolism of HDL cholesterol and indirectly related to coronary heart disease (CHD). LDL can of itself be atherogenic but the oxidative products of this lipoprotein are more detrimental. HDL cholesterol has been considered to be a favorable cholesterol. The so-called 'causalist view' claims that HDL traps excess cholesterol from cellular membranes and transfers it to TG-rich lipoproteins that are subsequently removed by hepatic receptors. In the so-called 'noncausalist view', HDL does not interfere directly with cholesterol deposition in the arterial wall but instead reflects he metabolism of TG-rich lipoproteins and their conversion to atherogenic remnants. Approximately 70-80% of the human population shows an effective feedback control mechanism in cholesterol homeostasis. Type of dietary fat has a significant effect on the lipoprotein cholesterol metabolism and atherosclerosis. Generally, saturated fatty acids elevate and PUFA lower serum cholesterol, whereas MUFA have no specific effect. EPA and DHA inhibit the synthesis of TG, VLDL and LDL, and may have favourable effects on some of the risk factors. Phospholipids, particularly lecithin, have an antiatherosclerotic effect. Essential phospholipids (EPL) may enhance the formation of polyunsaturated cholesteryl ester (CE) which is less sclerotic and more easily dispersed via enhanced hydrolysis of CE in the arterial wall. Also, neutral fecal steroid elimination may be enhanced and cholesterol absorption reduced following EPL treatment. Antioxidants protect lipoproteins from oxidation, and cells from the injury of toxic, oxidized LDL. The rationale for lowering of serum cholesterol is the strong association between elevation of plasma or serum cholesterol and CHD. Cholesterol-lowing, especially LDL cholesterol, to the target level could be achieved using diet and combination of drug therapy. Information on the link between cholesterol and CHD has decreased egg consumption by 16-25%. Some clinical studies have indicated that dietary cholesterol and egg have a significant hypercholesterolemic effect, while others have indicated no effect. These studies differed in the use of purified cholesterol or cholesterol in eggs, in the range of baseline and challenge cholesterol levels, in the quality and quantity of concomitant dietary fat, in the study population demographics and initial serum cholesterol levels, and clinical settings. Cholesterol content of eggs varies to a certain extent depending on the age, breed and diet of hens. However, egg yolk cholesterol level is very resistant to change because of the particular mechanism involved in yolk formation. Egg yolk contains a factor of factors responsible for accelerated cholesterol metabolism and excretion compared with crystalline cholesterol. One of these factors could be egg lecithin. Egg lecithin may not be as effective as soybean lecithin in lowering serum cholesterol level due probably to the differences of fatty acid composition. However, egg lecithin may have positive effects in hypercholesterolemia by increasing serum HDL level and excretion of fecal cholesterol. The association of serum cholesterol with egg consumption has been widely studied. When the basal or control diet contained little or no cholesterol, consumption of 1 or 2 eggs daily increased the concentration of plasma cholesterol, whereas that of the normolipemic persons on a normal diet was not significantly influenced by consuming 2 to 3 eggs daily. At higher levels of egg consumption, the concentration of HDL tends to increase as well as LDL. There exist hyper-and hypo-responders to dietary (egg) cholesterol. Identifying individuals in both categories would be useful from the point of view of nutrition guidelines. Dietary modification of fatty acid composition has been pursued as a viable method of modifying fat composition of eggs and adding value to eggs. In many cases beneficial effects of PUFA enriched eggs have been demonstrated. Generally, consumption of n-3 fatty acids enriched eggs lowered the concentration of plasma TG and total cholesterol compared to the consumption of regular eggs. Due to the highly oxidative nature of PUFA, stability of this fat is essential. The implication of hepatic lipid accumulation which was observed in hens fed on fish oils should be explored. Nutritional manipulations, such as supplementation with iodine, inhibitors of cholesterol biosynthesis, garlic products, amino acids and high fibre ingredients, have met a limited success in lowering egg cholesterol.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.218-228
• /
• 2010

Components of dental resin-based restorative materials are reported to leach from the filling materials even after polymerization. Hydroquinone (HQ) is one of the major monomers used in the dental resin and is known as a carcinogen. Thus, carcinogenic risk of HQ leaching from the dental resin becomes a public health concern. The present study attempted to examine the carcinogenic potentials of HQ on the human epithelial cell, which is the target cell origin of the most of oral cancers. Cytotoxicity of HQ was observed above 50${\mu}M$ as measured by LDH assay, indicating a relatively low toxicity of this substance in human epithelial cells. The parameters of neoplastic cellular transformation such as cell saturation density, soft agar colony formation and cell aggregation were analyzed to examine the carcinogenic potential of HQ. The study showed that 2-week exposure of HQ showed the tendency of increase in the saturation density and the significant enhancement of soft agar colony formation at the highest dose, 50 ${\mu}M$ only. It is suggested that HQ has a weak potential of carcinogenicity. When cells were treated with HQ and TPA, a well-known tumor promoter, the parameters of neoplastic cellular transformation was significantly increased. This result indicates that the potential risk of carcinogenicity from HQ is largely dependent upon the presence of promoter. Exposure of 50 ${\mu}M$ HQ increased the time-dependent apoptosis as measured by the ELISA kit. This concentration coincides with a dose of neoplastic transformation, indicating a possible link between apoptosis and HQ-induced cellular transformation. Hydroquinone generated Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) which was evidenced by the treatment of antioxidants such as trolox and N-acetyl cysteine and the GSH depleting agent, BSO. Antioxidants blocked the generation of ROS and the GSH depleting agent, BSO dramatically increased the ROS production. Since HQ is known to increase ROS production thru activation of transcriptional factor such as c-Myb and Pim-1, it is speculated that ROS generation by HQ plays a role in the activation of oncogene, which may lead to neoplastic transformation. In addition, ROS is involved in the alteration of signal transduction, which regulates the apoptosis in many cellular systems. Thus, ROS-mediated apoptosis may be involved in the HQ-induced carcinogenic processes. Protein kinase C (PKC) is known to play pivotal roles in neoplastic transformation of cells and its high expression is often found in a variety of types of tumors including oral cancer. PKC translocation of PKC-${\alpha}$ was observed following HQ exposure. Altered signaling system may also play a role in the transformation process. Taken together, HQ leached from the dental resin does not pose a significant threat as a cancer causing agent, but its carcinogenic potential can be significantly elevated in the presence of promoter. The mechanism of HQ-induced carcinogenesis involved ROS generation, apoptosis and altered signaling pathway. The present study will provide a valuable data to estimate the potential risk of HQ as a carcinogen and understand mechanism of HQ-induced carcinogenesis in human epithelial cells.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.73-80
• /
• 2002

In spite the fact that H. pylori infection might be the causative organisms of acute and chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer diseases and the definition as the class I carcinogen by WHO IARC, still debates exist about the relationship between H. pylori and gastric carcinogenesis. Epidemiological and animal studies demonstrated a link between gastric cancer and chronic infection with H, pylori, but the exact mechanism responsible for the development of gastric cancer in H. pylori-infected patients still remain obscure. In order to declare the clear association, definate evidences like that decrement in the incidence of gastric cancer after the eradication of H. pylori in designated area compared to noneradicated region or the blockade of specific mechanism acting on the carcinogenesis by H. pylori infection. The other way is to identify the upregulating oncogenes or downregulating tumor suppressor genes specifically invovled in H. pylori-associated carcinogenesis. For that, we established the animal models using C57BL/6 mice strain. Already gastric carcinogenesis was developed in Mongolian gerbils infected with H. pylori, but there has been no development of gastric cancer in mice model infected with H. pylori after long-term evaluation. Significant changes such as atrophic gastritis were observed in mice model. However, we could observe the development of mucosal carcinoma in the stomach of transgenic mice featuring the loss of TGF-beta sig naling by the expressions of dominant negative forms of type II receptor specifically in the stomach. Moreover, the incidence of gastric adenocarcinoma was significantly increased in group administered with both MNU and H. pylori infection than MNU alone, signifying that H. pylori promoted the gastric carcinogenesis and there might be host susceptibility genes in H. pylori-associated gastric carcinogenesis. Based on the assumption that chronic, uncontrolled inflammation might predispose to carcinogenesis, there have been several evidences showing chronic atrophic gastritis predisposed to gastric carcinogenesis in H. pylori infection. Although definite outcome of chemoprevention was not drawn after the longterm administration of anti-inflammatory drug in H. pylori infection, the actual incidence of atrophic gastritis and molecular evidence of chemoprevention could be obtained. Selective COX-2 inhibitor was effective in decreasing the development of gastric carcinogenesis provoked by H. pylori infection and carcinogen like in chemoprevention of colon carcinogenesis.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.123-137
• /
• 2007

The advent of the Internet and related Web technologies has created an easily accessible link between a firm and its customers, and has provided opportunities to a firm to use information technology to support supplementary after-sale services associated with a product or service. It has been widely recognized that supplementary services are an important source of customer value and of competitive advantage as the characteristics of the product itself. Many of these supplementary services are information-based and need not be co-located with the product, so more and more companies are delivering these services electronically. Net-based customer service, which is defined as an Internet-based computerized information system that delivers services to a customer, therefore, is the core infrastructure for supplementary service provision. The importance of net-based customer service in delivering supplementary after-sale services associated with product has been well documented. The strategic advantages of well-implemented net-based customer service are enhanced customer loyalty and higher lock-in of customers, and a resulting reduction in competition and the consequent increase in profits. However, not all customers utilize such net-based customer service. The digital divide is the phenomenon in our society that captures the observation that not all customers have equal access to computers. Socioeconomic factors such as race, gender, and education level are strongly related to Internet accessibility and ability to use. This is due to the differences in the ability to bear the cost of a computer, and the differences in self-efficacy in the use of a technology, among other reasons. This concept, applied to e-commerce, has been called the "e-commerce divide." High Internet penetration is not eradicating the digital divide and e-commerce divide as one would hope. Besides, to accommodate personalized support, a customer must often provide personal information to the firm. This personal information includes not only name and address, but also preferences information and perhaps valuation information. However, many recent studies show that consumers may not be willing to share information about themselves due to concerns about privacy online. Due to the e-commerce divide, and due to privacy and security concerns of the customer for sharing personal information with firms, limited numbers of customers adopt net-based customer service. The limited level of customer adoption of net-based customer service affects the firm profits and the customers' welfare. We use a game-theoretic model in which we model the net-based customer service system as a mechanism to enhance customers' loyalty. We model a market entry scenario where a firm (the incumbent) uses the net-based customer service system in inducing loyalty in its customer base. The firm sells one product through the traditional retailing channels and at a price set for these channels. Another firm (the entrant) enters the market, and having observed the price of the incumbent firm (and after deducing the loyalty levels in the customer base), chooses its price. The profits of the firms and the surplus of the two customers segments (the segment that utilizes net-based customer service and the segment that does not) are analyzed in the Stackelberg leader-follower model of competition between the firms. We find that an increase in adoption of net-based customer service by the customer base is not always desirable for firms. With low effectiveness in enhancing customer loyalty, firms prefer a high level of customer adoption of net-based customer service, because an increase in adoption rate decreases competition and increases profits. A firm in an industry where net-based customer service is highly effective loyalty mechanism, on the other hand, prefers a low level of adoption by customers.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.89-116
• /
• 2011

In collaborative tagging systems such as Delicious.com and Flickr.com, users assign keywords or tags to their uploaded resources, such as bookmarks and pictures, for their future use or sharing purposes. The collection of resources and tags generated by a user is called a personomy, and the collection of all personomies constitutes the folksonomy. The most significant need of the folksonomy users Is to efficiently find useful resources or experts on specific topics. An excellent ranking algorithm would assign higher ranking to more useful resources or experts. What resources are considered useful In a folksonomic system? Does a standard superior to frequency or freshness exist? The resource recommended by more users with mere expertise should be worthy of attention. This ranking paradigm can be implemented through a graph-based ranking algorithm. Two well-known representatives of such a paradigm are Page Rank by Google and HITS(Hypertext Induced Topic Selection) by Kleinberg. Both Page Rank and HITS assign a higher evaluation score to pages linked to more higher-scored pages. HITS differs from PageRank in that it utilizes two kinds of scores: authority and hub scores. The ranking objects of these pages are limited to Web pages, whereas the ranking objects of a folksonomic system are somewhat heterogeneous(i.e., users, resources, and tags). Therefore, uniform application of the voting notion of PageRank and HITS based on the links to a folksonomy would be unreasonable, In a folksonomic system, each link corresponding to a property can have an opposite direction, depending on whether the property is an active or a passive voice. The current research stems from the Idea that a graph-based ranking algorithm could be applied to the folksonomic system using the concept of mutual Interactions between entitles, rather than the voting notion of PageRank or HITS. The concept of mutual interactions, proposed for ranking the Semantic Web resources, enables the calculation of importance scores of various resources unaffected by link directions. The weights of a property representing the mutual interaction between classes are assigned depending on the relative significance of the property to the resource importance of each class. This class-oriented approach is based on the fact that, in the Semantic Web, there are many heterogeneous classes; thus, applying a different appraisal standard for each class is more reasonable. This is similar to the evaluation method of humans, where different items are assigned specific weights, which are then summed up to determine the weighted average. We can check for missing properties more easily with this approach than with other predicate-oriented approaches. A user of a tagging system usually assigns more than one tags to the same resource, and there can be more than one tags with the same subjectivity and objectivity. In the case that many users assign similar tags to the same resource, grading the users differently depending on the assignment order becomes necessary. This idea comes from the studies in psychology wherein expertise involves the ability to select the most relevant information for achieving a goal. An expert should be someone who not only has a large collection of documents annotated with a particular tag, but also tends to add documents of high quality to his/her collections. Such documents are identified by the number, as well as the expertise, of users who have the same documents in their collections. In other words, there is a relationship of mutual reinforcement between the expertise of a user and the quality of a document. In addition, there is a need to rank entities related more closely to a certain entity. Considering the property of social media that ensures the popularity of a topic is temporary, recent data should have more weight than old data. We propose a comprehensive folksonomy ranking framework in which all these considerations are dealt with and that can be easily customized to each folksonomy site for ranking purposes. To examine the validity of our ranking algorithm and show the mechanism of adjusting property, time, and expertise weights, we first use a dataset designed for analyzing the effect of each ranking factor independently. We then show the ranking results of a real folksonomy site, with the ranking factors combined. Because the ground truth of a given dataset is not known when it comes to ranking, we inject simulated data whose ranking results can be predicted into the real dataset and compare the ranking results of our algorithm with that of a previous HITS-based algorithm. Our semantic ranking algorithm based on the concept of mutual interaction seems to be preferable to the HITS-based algorithm as a flexible folksonomy ranking framework. Some concrete points of difference are as follows. First, with the time concept applied to the property weights, our algorithm shows superior performance in lowering the scores of older data and raising the scores of newer data. Second, applying the time concept to the expertise weights, as well as to the property weights, our algorithm controls the conflicting influence of expertise weights and enhances overall consistency of time-valued ranking. The expertise weights of the previous study can act as an obstacle to the time-valued ranking because the number of followers increases as time goes on. Third, many new properties and classes can be included in our framework. The previous HITS-based algorithm, based on the voting notion, loses ground in the situation where the domain consists of more than two classes, or where other important properties, such as "sent through twitter" or "registered as a friend," are added to the domain. Forth, there is a big difference in the calculation time and memory use between the two kinds of algorithms. While the matrix multiplication of two matrices, has to be executed twice for the previous HITS-based algorithm, this is unnecessary with our algorithm. In our ranking framework, various folksonomy ranking policies can be expressed with the ranking factors combined and our approach can work, even if the folksonomy site is not implemented with Semantic Web languages. Above all, the time weight proposed in this paper will be applicable to various domains, including social media, where time value is considered important.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
• /
• v.4
• /
• pp.7-35
• /
• 1992

The expansion of air transport on a global scale with ever increasing traffic densities has brought about problems that must be solved through new multilateral mechanisms. Looking to the immediate future, air transport will require new forms of international cooperation in technical and economic areas. Air transport by its very nature should have been a counterforce to nationalism. Yet, the regulatory system in civil aviation is still as firmly rooted in the principle of national sovereignty as when it was first proclaimed at t-11e Paris Convention of 1919 and reaffirmed in the Chicago Convention. Sovereignty over the airspace has remained the cornerstone of relations between states in all respects of air transport. The importance of sovereignty over air space embodied in article 1 of the Chicago Conrenton also is responsible for restricting the authority of ICAO as an intergovernmental regulatory agency. The Orgenization, for all its extensive efforts, has only limited authority. ICAO sets standards but cannot enforce them; it devises solutions but cannot impose them. To implement its rules ICAO most rely not so much on legal requirements as on the goodwill of states. It has been forty-eight years since international community set the foundations of the international system in civil aviation action. Profound political, economic and technological changes have taken place in air transport. The Chicago Convention is living proof that staes can work together to make air transport a safe mode of travel. The law governing international civil auiation is principally based on international treaties and on other regulation agreed to by governments, for the most part through the mechanism of ICAO. The role of ICAO international standards and recommended practices and procedures dealing with a broad range of technical matters could hardly be overestimated. The organization's ability to develop these standards and procedures, to adapt them continuously to the rapid sate of change and development of air transport, should be particularly stressed. The role of ICAO in the area of the development of multilateral conventions on international air law has been successful but to a certain degree. From the modest starting-point of the Tokyo Convention, we have seen more adequate international instruments prepared within the scope of ICAO activities, adopted: the Hague Convention of 1970 for the suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft and the Montreal Convention of 1971 for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation. The work of ICAO in the new domain of international law conventions concerning what has been loosely termed above as the criminal problems connected with international air transport, in particular the problem of armed aggression against aircraft, should be positively appreciated. But ICAO records in the domain of developing a uniform legal system of international carriage by air are rather disappointing. The problem of maintaining and developing the uniformity of this regulation exceeds the scope of interest and competence of governmental transport agencies. The expectations of mankind linked to it are too great to give up trying to restore the uniform legal system of international air carriage that would create proper conditions for its further growth. It appears that ICAO has, at present, a good opportunity for doing this. The hasty preparation of ICAO draft conventions should be definitely excluded. Every Preliminary draft convention ought to be sent to Governments of all member-States for consideration, So that they could in form ICAO in due time of their observation. The problom of harmonizing a uniform law of international air carriage with that of other branches of international transport should demand more and more of its attention. ICAO cooperation with other international arganization, especially these working in the field of international transport, should be strengthened. ICAO is supposed to act as a link and a mediator among, at times the conflicting interests of member States, serving the happiness and peace of all of the world. The transformation of the contemporary world of developing international relations, stimulated by steadily growing international cooperation in its various dimensions, political, economic, scientific, technological, social and cultural, continuously confronts ICAO with new task.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.50 no.6
• /
• pp.445-466
• /
• 2017

Yeongdong area is located in the contact zone between central southeastern Ogcheon belt and Yeongnam massif, in which Cretaceous Yeongdong basin exists. Therefore, the study area has complex geological environment of various geological age and rock types such as Precambrian metamorphic rocks, age-unknown Ogcheon Supergroup, Paleozoic/Mesozoic sedimentary rocks, Mesozoic igneous rocks and Quaternary alluvial deposits. This study focuses on the link between the various geology and water type, and discussed the source of some major ions and their related water-rock interaction. For this study, the field parameters and ion concentrations for twenty alluvial/weathered and eighty bedrock aquifer wells were used. Statistical analysis indicates that there was no significant differences in groundwater quality between wet and dry seasons. Although various types were observed due to complex geology, 80 to 84 % of samples showed $Ca-HCO_3$ water type. Some wells placed in alluvial/weathered aquifers of Precambrian metamorphic and Jurassic granitic terrains showed somewhat elevated $NO_3$ and Cl concentrations. $Mg-HCO_3$ typed waters prevailed in Cretaceous Yeongdong sedimentary rocks. The deeper wells placed in bedrock aquifers showed complicated water types varying from $Ca-HCO_3$ through $Ca-Cl/SO_4/NO_3$ to $Na-HCO_3$ and Na-Cl type. Groundwater samples with $Na-HCO_3$ or Na-Cl types are generally high in F concentrations, indicating more influences of water-rock interaction within mineralized/hydrothermal alteration zone by Cretaceous porphyry or granites. This study revealed that many deep-seated aquifer had been contaminated by $NO_3$, especially prominent in Jurassic granites area. Based on molar ratios of $HCO_3/Ca$, $HCO_3/Na$, Na/Si, it can be inferred that Ca and $HCO_3$ components of most groundwater in alluvial/weathered aquifer wells were definitely related with dissolution of calcite. On the other hand, Ca and $HCO_3$ in bedrock aquifer seem to be due to dissolution of feldspar besides calcite. However, these molar ratios require other mechanism except simple weathering process causing feldspar to be broken into kaolinite. The origin of $HCO_3$ of some groundwater occurring in Cretaceous Yeongdong sedimentary rock area seems to be from dissolution of dolomite($MgCO_3$) or strontianite($SrCO_3$) as well.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.239-276
• /
• 2009

The paper investigates the possible relationship between earnings prediction by security analysts and special ownership ties that link security companies those analysts belong to and firms under analysis. "Security analysts" are known best for their role as information producers in stock markets where imperfect information is prevalent and transaction costs are high. In such a market, changes in the fundamental value of a company are not spontaneously reflected in the stock price, and the security analysts actively produce and distribute the relevant information crucial for the price mechanism to operate efficiently. Therefore, securing the fairness and accuracy of information they provide is very important for efficiencyof resource allocation as well as protection of investors who are excluded from the special relationship. Evidence of systematic distortion of information by the special tie naturally calls for regulatory intervention, if found. However, one cannot presuppose the existence of distorted information based on the common ownership between the appraiser and the appraisee. Reputation effect is especially cherished by security firms and among analysts as indispensable intangible asset in the industry, and the incentive to maintain good reputation by providing accurate earnings prediction may overweigh the incentive to offer favorable rating or stock recommendation for the firms that are affiliated by common ownership. This study shares the theme of existing literature concerning the effect of conflict of interests on the accuracy of analyst's predictions. This study, however, focuses on the potential conflict of interest situation that may originate from the Korea-specific ownership structure of large conglomerates. Utilizing an extensive database of analysts' reports provided by WiseFn(R) in Korea, we perform empirical analysis of potential relationship between earnings prediction and common ownership. We first analyzed the prediction bias index which tells how optimistic or friendly the analyst's prediction is compared to the realized earnings. It is shown that there exists no statistically significant relationship between the prediction bias and common ownership. This is a rather surprising result since it is observed that the frequency of positive prediction bias is higher with such ownership tie. Next, we analyzed the prediction accuracy index which shows how accurate the analyst's prediction is compared to the realized earnings regardless of its sign. It is also concluded that there is no significant association between the accuracy ofearnings prediction and special relationship. We interpret the results implying that market discipline based on reputation effect is working in Korean stock market in the sense that security companies do not seem to be influenced by an incentive to offer distorted information on affiliated firms. While many of the existing studies confirm the relationship between the ability of the analystand the accuracy of the analyst's prediction, these factors cannot be controlled in the above analysis due to the lack of relevant data. As an indirect way to examine the possibility that such relationship might have distorted the result, we perform an additional but identical analysis based on a sub-sample consisting only of reports by best analysts. The result also confirms the earlier conclusion that the common ownership structure does not affect the accuracy and bias of earnings prediction by the analyst.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.111-120
• /
• 2021

Objectives : Shift work has been known to cause various health problems by making it difficult for humans to adapt to their natural circadian rhythms. In particular, shift workers tend to complain of sleep difficulties associated with work schedules, and sometimes use alcohol as a self-medication to induce sleep. To date, no clear mechanism has been identified regarding the link between shift work and sleep, between shift work and drinking. This study aims to confirm the relationship between shift work and sleep, and to analyze whether the change in sleep caused by shift work causes drinking. Methods : This study included 11360 people (5704 men and 5656 women) among the Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey data in 2014, 2016 and 2018. The work type between 6am-6pm was defined as day work, and other work types were defined as shift work. Using logistic regression analysis, the relationship between shift work and sleep quality, shift work and high risk drinking, drinking amount at 1 time, drinking frequency were analyzed. In addition, we analyzed whether sleep mediates the relationship between shift work and drinking using mediated analysis. Results : Shift work showed a significant negative relationship with sleep quality in men and women (male OR=1.37, 95% CI 1.11-1.70, female OR=1.26, 95% CI=1.05-1.50). There was no significant relationship between shift work and alcohol in the case of men, but in the case of women, there was a significant positive relationship between shift work and the number of alcohol consumption (OR=1.34, 95% CI=1.04-1.72). When mediation analysis was conducted, it was found that women's sleep quality partially mediated the relationship between shift work and the frequency of drinking. Conclusions : The results of this study suggest that shift work causes sleep difficulties, and in the case of women, drinking can be induced through the partial mediating effect of sleep. Considering that women are more likely to choose drinking as a coping method for sleep problems, more active interventions for female shift workers are needed.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.51-69
• /
• 2020

Now, it is a stylized fact that a small number of technology firms such as Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and a few others have become larger and dominant players in an industry. Coupled with the rise of these leading firms, we have also observed that a large number of young firms have become an acquisition target in their early IPO stages. This indeed results in a sharp decline in the number of new entries in public exchanges although a series of policy reforms have been promulgated to foster competition through an increase in new entries. Given the observed industry trend in recent decades, a number of studies have reported increased concentration in most developed countries. However, it is less understood as to what caused an increase in industry concentration. In this paper, we uncover the mechanisms by which industries have become concentrated over the last decades by tracing the changes in industry concentration associated with a firm's status change in its early IPO stages. To this end, we put emphasis on the case in which firms are acquired shortly after they went public. Especially, with the transition to digital-based economies, it is imperative for incumbent firms to adapt and keep pace with new ICT and related intelligent systems. For instance, after the acquisition of a young firm equipped with AI-based solutions, an incumbent firm may better respond to a change in customer taste and preference by integrating acquired AI solutions and analytics skills into multiple business processes. Accordingly, it is not unusual for young ICT firms become an attractive acquisition target. To examine the role of M&As involved with young firms in reshaping the level of industry concentration, we identify a firm's status in early post-IPO stages over the sample periods spanning from 1990 to 2016 as follows: i) being delisted, ii) being standalone firms and iii) being acquired. According to our analysis, firms that have conducted IPO since 2000s have been acquired by incumbent firms at a relatively quicker time than those that did IPO in previous generations. We also show a greater acquisition rate for IPO firms in the ICT sector compared with their counterparts in other sectors. Our results based on multinomial logit models suggest that a large number of IPO firms have been acquired in their early post-IPO lives despite their financial soundness. Specifically, we show that IPO firms are likely to be acquired rather than be delisted due to financial distress in early IPO stages when they are more profitable, more mature or less leveraged. For those IPO firms with venture capital backup have also become an acquisition target more frequently. As a larger number of firms are acquired shortly after their IPO, our results show increased concentration. While providing limited evidence on the impact of large incumbent firms in explaining the change in industry concentration, our results show that the large firms' effect on industry concentration are pronounced in the ICT sector. This result possibly captures the current trend that a few tech giants such as Alphabet, Apple and Facebook continue to increase their market share. In addition, compared with the acquisitions of non-ICT firms, the concentration impact of IPO firms in early stages becomes larger when ICT firms are acquired as a target. Our study makes new contributions. To our best knowledge, this is one of a few studies that link a firm's post-IPO status to associated changes in industry concentration. Although some studies have addressed concentration issues, their primary focus was on market power or proprietary software. Contrast to earlier studies, we are able to uncover the mechanism by which industries have become concentrated by placing emphasis on M&As involving young IPO firms. Interestingly, the concentration impact of IPO firm acquisitions are magnified when a large incumbent firms are involved as an acquirer. This leads us to infer the underlying reasons as to why industries have become more concentrated with a favor of large firms in recent decades. Overall, our study sheds new light on the literature by providing a plausible explanation as to why industries have become concentrated.