• Journal of Environmental Policy
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.1-30
• /
• 2009

Emission trading schemes, exemplified by the EU Emission Trading Scheme, have been playing active roles in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions since the Kyoto Protocol employed an emission trading as one of the cost-effective mechanisms. The objective of this study is to investigate potential integration of forestry offsets in designing an emission trading scheme in South Korea. First, the study found feasible scopes in which forestry sectors can take part by analyzing five emission trading schemes: EU Emission Trading Scheme, Chicago Climate Exchange, New South Wales Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme, New Zealand Emission Trading Scheme, and Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The rationale of including forestry offsets in a domestic emission trading scheme was derived from the fact that forestry offset credits can provide cost-effective ways for market participants to commit their emission targets and expand abatement activities through reducing greenhouse gases in other geographical locations as well as other industrial sectors. Even though forestry offset credits have risks induced by their technical complexities in terms of accounting, additionality, and leakage, the integration of forestry offset credits into an emission trading scheme would be able to provide positive opportunities both to forestry sectors and other industrial sectors. In addition, there are technical questions which need to be answered in order to maintain these opportunities.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.75-80
• /
• 2007

The release of genetically modified organisms ($GMO_{s}$) into the environment has the potential risks regarding the possibility of gene transfer from $GMO_{s}$ to natural organisms and this needs to be evaluated. This study was conducted to monitor the possible horizontal gene transfer from herbicide-resistant zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica Steud.) to indigenous microorganisms. We have first examined the effect of field-released GM zoysiagrass on the microbial flora in the gut of locust (Locusts mlgratoria). The microbial flora was analyzed through determining the 165 rDHA sequences of microorganisms. The comparison of the microbial flora in the gut of locusts that were captured at the field of GM zoysiagrass and of wild-type revealed that there is no noticeable difference between these two groups. This result indicates that the GM zoysiagrass does not have negative impact on microbial flora in the gut of locust. We then investigated whether the horizontal gene transfer occurred from GM zoysiagrass to microbes in soil, rhizosphere and faecal pellets from locusts by utilizing molecular tools such as Southern hybridization and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). When the total DNAs isolated from microbes in GM zoysiagrass and in wild-type zoysiagrass fields were hybridized with probes for bar or hpt gene, no hybridization signal was detected from both field isolates, while the probes were hybridized with DNA from the positive control. Absence of these genes in the FNAs of soil microorganisms as well as microbes in the gut of locust was further confirmed by PCR. Taken together, our data showed that horizontal gene transfer did not occur in this system. These results further indicate that frequencies of transfer of engineered plant DNA to bacteria are likely to be negligible.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.421-428
• /
• 2018

Postprandial hyperglycemia plays an important role in the development of Type 2 Diabetes and diabetic complications. Controlling postprandial hyperglycemia is the most important factor for reducing the risks of diabetic complications in Type 2 diabetic patients. This study was designed to determine whether Portulaca oleracea L. extract suppresses the activation of carbohydrate-digesting enzymes, and lowers postprandial hyperglycemia in diabetic mice through streptozotocin. P. oleracea was extracted with either 80% ethanol (PEE) or water (PWE), and the extract solutions were concentrated. The ${\alpha}$-glucosidase and ${\alpha}$-amylase inhibition assays were performed using the chromogenic method. Normal mice and STZ-induced diabetic mice were orally treated with PEE, PWE (300 mg/kg of body weight) or acarbose (100 mg/kg of body weight), with soluble starch (2 g/kg of body weight). The ${\alpha}$-glucosidase and ${\alpha}$-amylase inhibitory effectiveness by PEE were markedly more effective than PWE, and both extracts indicated a higher effectiveness than the acarbose (positive control). The rise in postprandial blood glucose due to starch loading was markedly inhibited in the PEE group when compared to the control group in diabetic and normal mice. Furthermore, the area under the concentration-time curve values were markedly declined by the PEE injection in the diabetic group when compared to that exerted for the control group. These results demonstrate that P. oleracea extracts lower postprandial hyperglycemia by inhibiting carbohydrate-digesting enzymes, and that the ethanol extract is more efficacious than the water extract.

• Information Systems Review
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.21-46
• /
• 2012

Organizations that make widely use of information technologies can be more efficient. But, the dependence of information technologies leads to an increase in threat of security. This is the reason why organizations are investing in security risk management (SRM) which is designed to protect of information assets. Noting a lack of empirical research in SRM, we investigate the key factors having a direct effect on performance of SRM. Particularly, this study focused on identifying factors influencing awareness of SRM and Intention to develop SRM in Organization. Based on relevant literature review, six motivating factors, including Behavior for Security Management, Compliance with Security Policy, perceived Benefits, Perceived Sacrifice, Social Pressure, Experience of Security Risks, were initially identified. The results indicated that most perception factors were positively related to Organization's intention to develop SRM and awareness of SRM, which then had positive impact on performance of SRM. But Perceived Sacrifice was not significantly related to two variables which is Organization's intention to develop SRM and awareness of SRM.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
• /
• 2017.06a
• /
• pp.7-7
• /
• 2017

Unfavorable weather and soil conditions reduce rice yield and land and water productivity, aggravating existing encounters of poverty and food insecurity. These conditions are foreseen to worsen with climate change and with the unceasing irrational human practices that progressively debilitate productivity despite global appeals for more food. Our understanding of plant responses to abiotic stresses is advancing and is complex, involving numerous critical processes - each controlled by several genetic factors. Knowledge of the physiological and molecular mechanisms involved in signaling, response and adaptation, and in some cases the genes involved, is advancing. Moreover, the genetic diversity being unveiled within cultivated rice and its wild relatives is providing ample resources for trait and gene discovery, and this is being scouted for rice improvement using modern genomics and molecular tools. Development of stress tolerant varieties is now being fast-tracked through the use of DNA markers and advanced breeding strategies. Large numbers of drought, submergence and salt tolerant varieties were commercialized over recent years in South and Southeast Asia and more recently in Africa. These varieties are making significant changes in less favorable areas, transforming lives of smallholder farmers - progress considered incredulous in the past. The stress tolerant varieties are providing assurance to farmers to invest in better management of their crops and the ability to adjust their cropping systems for even higher productivity and more income, sparking changes analogous to that of the first green revolution, which previously benefited only favorable irrigated and rainfed areas. New breeding tools using markers for multiple stresses made it possible to develop more resilient, higher yielding varieties to replace the aging and obsolete varieties still dominating these areas. Varieties with multiple stress tolerances are now becoming available, providing even better security for farmers and lessening their production risks even in areas affected by complex and overlapping stresses. The progress made in these less favorable areas triggered numerous favorable changes at the national and regional levels in several countries in Asia, including adjusting breeding and dissemination strategies to accelerate outreach and enabling changes at higher policy levels, creating a positive environment for faster progress. Exploiting the potential of these less productive areas for food production is inevitable, to meet the escalating global needs for more food and sustained production systems, at times when national resources are shrinking while demand for food is mounting. However, the success in these areas requires concerted efforts to make use of existing genetic resources for crop improvement and establishing effective evaluation networks, seed production systems, and seed delivery systems to ensure faster outreach and transformation.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.161-166
• /
• 2013

Purpose: This study was intended to perform a cephalometric comparison between the patients with and without obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The factors influencing the OSA in the lateral cephalogram were also investigated. Methods: Fifty patients who had visited the Sleep Disorder Clinic at the Ajou University Hospital and evaluated with the polysomnograph (PSG) and cephalogram, were included in the study. The patients had the apnea-hypopnea episode over 5 times per hour (apnea-hypopnea index $[AHI]{\geq}5$) were diagnosed as OSA after the overnight PSG. To evaluate the hard and soft tissue profiles, the cephalometric radiograms were taken at the maximal intercuspation. The correlation between the patient's age, height, weight, body mass index (BMI) and AHI was inspected in the OSA and control group. The difference between the OSA and control group was evaluated (Mann-Whitney U Test). The cephalometric influencing factors to OSA were analyzed (Pearson's correlation coefficient) statistically using SPSS statistics. Results: The OSA Group had a significantly higher BMI than the control group. The mean lower facial height (ANS-Me) was longer in the OSA group; however, statistically significant difference was not detected in the anteroposterior craniofacial measurements. The distance between mandibular plane and hyoid bone of the OSA group was significantly longer than that of the control group. The hyoid position (MP-Hyoid) had a positive correlation between AHI (P<0.001). However, the measurements of oropharyngeal airway were not different between the two groups. The hypothesis, that the antero-posteriorly narrow oropharyngeal airway may aggravate the airway resistance and give rise to a higher AHI, was rejected in the study. Conclusion: We suggest that the lateral cephalogram may be utilized as a useful method to evaluate OSA. The patients with a lower hyoid position can be expected to have higher risks of OSA. However, a comprehensive intraoral inspection, including the soft palate and tonsilar hypertrophy, is emphasized, as the lateral cepahlogram cannot visualize the oropharyngeal status completely.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.1-19
• /
• 2014

Weather seems to influence industries in a variety of ways. On a day-to-day basis, it is the most volatile external factor influencing consumer and market behavior. And, because weather is constantly changing, industries must deal with a continuously shifting array of opportunities and risks. This study aims to examine how climate and weather changes and information, as external environmental factors, have affected the Korean industries, particularly marine shipping and logistics. To find out the economic value of marine weather information, we use measurable results of VVOS(Vessel and Voyage Optimization Services) in the ocean shipping, which the marine weather software tool can save fuel costs up to 4%. When the fuel saving is same as VVOS's performance, the saving of Korean flag ship is estimated about 62 billion won and the saving of total flag ship is estimated about 519 billion won. However, coastal shipping companies have been struggling with the heavy weather factors, such as wave height, wave period and wind. Major findings are that wind and wave height have a significant negative effect on cargo transport, while wave period has a significant positive effect on cargo transport. And to conclude, when we use efficiently the marine weather information, we can increase cargo transport and save fuel costs etc.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.13 no.10
• /
• pp.135-142
• /
• 2015

Purpose - Following the speedy development of the smart phone industry, tourism companies started to increase their brand recognition and sales volume by adopting mobile applications. However, applications for tourism industries are still insignificant. This study tries to analyze empirical evidence from Korean and Chinese consumers who have used mobile tour applications. By using an expansion of the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study will find what factors have effects on user intention for mobile tour applications. The findings will be helpful for the development of mobile tour applications and the tourism industries. Research design, data, and methodology - This study uses the TAM, which was presented by Davis in 1989. This study uses consumer acceptance level, consumer choice attitude, and use intention as the basic variables to fit to the TAM, and adopts choice content quality, brand value, and usage motivation as additional variables to analyze. This study has developed several hypotheses and collected data from 620 users who used mobile applications for tourism during April 1 to April 30, 2015. A total of 612 valid questionnaires were collected and used in the data analysis. The data was analyzed with structural equation modeling using SPSS Win/pc and Amos 22.0. Results - The findings can be summarized as follows: First, the content quality affects the consumer acceptance degree and choice attitude. Second, the brand value has a directly positive effect on the consumer acceptance degree and choice attitude. It is clear that the content quality and brand value play important roles in raising consumer acceptance and choice attitude. Third, usage motivation has no effect on the consumer acceptance degree and choice attitude. Fourth, the acceptance degree does not have any effect on the consumer choice attitude. Fifth, the acceptance degree affects the use intention. Last, the consumer choice attitude affects the use intentions. This indicates that consumer acceptance and choice attitude must both be achieved to induce use intention among consumers. Finally, the effects of the mobile tour application content quality and brand value on consumer acceptance degree and choice attitude were confirmed. Additionally, the effects of the consumer acceptance degree and choice attitude on use intentions were analyzed. Conclusion - It is not meaningful for tourism marketing to launch tour applications in the mobile market without understanding tourism consumer characteristics. When developing mobile tour applications, companies should focus on the characters of consumer choice attitudes as high quality, high brand value, usefulness, and ease of mobile tour applications. This study has limitations in that it did not consider negative factors such as perceived risks or analyze whether there are differences between Korean and Chinese consumers. In the future, we will consider equipping the same mobile tour applications commonly used by both Korean and Chinese consumers, and then examine negative factors as well as the differences in mobile tour applications between Korean and Chinese consumers.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.292-312
• /
• 2017

The purposes of this research are to verify: first, if the technology appraisal model reflects the company's management performance and the rates of bankruptcy and overdue; second, if the existing classification system of technology levels is suitable; and third, which is the most important appraisal factor that defines the classification system of technology levels. As a result of the analysis, financial performance (stability) and non-financial performance (technology environment) proved to be significant variables in explaining technology ratings. According to the verification of the suitability of classification system, it appeared that there is a significant difference in all appraisal items of all groups. The result of neural networks model verification indicates that the most important variable was the R&D capacity, the second variables which determine the suitability of technology financing were indicators related to the company management. The second variables which determine a company's technological excellence were a company's technological base. To summarize, the technology appraisal model not only reflects both managerial performance and risks of a company, but also anticipates the future by converging the management competence and technological competitiveness into R&D capacity. This implies that if the 'forward-looking' technology appraisal model is integrated into the existing, credit rating model, the appraisal model may have positive impact on improving anticipation and stability.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.289-301
• /
• 2018

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the current status of consumption of energy drinks among college students and investigate the effects of general environmental factors, health behavior factors, caffeine knowledge levels, and perceived stress levels on consumption of energy drinks. Methods: A survey was conducted among a total of 479 college students in Gwangju, using self-administered questionnaires. The questionnaire consisted of items about general environmental factors, health behavior, caffeine knowledge, perceived stress, and energy drink consumption behaviors. Results: 69.1% of participants experienced consumption of energy drinks, and specifically 82.8% of male students and 54.1% of female students experienced consumption of energy drinks (p<0.001). The reasons for drinking energy drinks were found to be recovery from fatigue, curiosity, taste, habit, thirst relief, and stress relief. In addition, 40.7% of participants experienced drinking energy drinks mixed with alcohol, and specifically 48.6% of male students and 27.4% of female students reported drinking energy drinks with alcohol (p<0.001). Moreover, 51.5% of participants responded that they experienced the effects of energy drinks, 31.9% reported experiencing adverse effects, and 41.1% were found to perceive the health risks. As a result of the assessment of caffeine knowledge, the participants showed a high level of knowledge of the arousal effect (77.7%) and the concentration increasing effect (70.8%) of caffeine, whereas they exhibited a low level of understanding of the health problems due to caffeine (32.6%) and adequate caffeine intake levels (24.4%). The higher levels of consumption experience of energy drinks was associated with higher body mass indexes (BMI) (p<0.01), higher academic years (p<0.01), lower levels of interest in health (p<0.05), smoking (p<0.001), alcohol consumption (p<0.05), and higher levels of perceived stress (p<0.05). Conclusions: The risk groups related to consumption of energy drinks among college students were identified as male students rather than female students, students in the third or fourth year of study associated with increased stress levels, and students with negative health behaviors. Therefore, support for diverse health and nutrition education for college students is required along with the improvement of internal and external environments of schools in order for college students to manage increased stress levels due to the schoolwork and preparation for employment and maintain positive health behaviors.