• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.103-129
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• 2023

This study aims to analyze the network structure of technological innovation resources in SMEs, especially manufacturing firms, and reveal the differences between innovative and non-innovative firms. The study first analyzes connection centrality, flow-mediated centrality, and power centrality for all firms, and derives structural equivalence through CONCOR analysis. Then, the network structure of innovative and non-innovative firms was compared and analyzed according to innovation performance and creation. The results show that entrepreneurship and corporate innovation strategy have a significant impact on the analysis of technological innovation resources of all firms. According to the CONCOR analysis, the innovation resources of SMEs are organized into seven clusters, which can be defined as intrinsic product innovation resources, competitive advantage promotion resources, cooperative activities resources, information system resources, and innovation protection resources. The network analysis of innovative and non-innovative firms showed that innovative firms focused on enhancing competitiveness and improving quality, while non-innovative firms tended to focus more on existing products and customers. In addition, innovative firms had eight clusters, while non-innovative firms had six clusters, suggesting that innovative firms utilize resources diversely to pursue structural change and new value creation, while non-innovative firms operate technological innovation resources in a more stable form. This study emphasizes the importance of entrepreneurship and corporate innovation strategy in SMEs' technological innovation, and suggests that strong internal efforts are needed to increase innovativeness. These findings have important implications for strategy formulation and policy development for technological innovation in SMEs.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.50
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• pp.142-154
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• 2023

Plant abscission is a natural process in which plant organs or tissues undergo detachment, a strategy selected by nature for the disposal of nonessential organs and widespread dissemination of seeds and fruits. However, from an agricultural perspective, the abscission of seeds or fruits represents a major factor that reduces crop productivity and product quality. Therefore, during the crop domestication process in traditional agriculture, mutants exhibiting suppressed abscission were selected and crossbred, thereby enabling the production of modern crop varieties such as rice, tomatoes, canola, and soybeans. These crops possess a unique trait of retaining ripe fruits or seeds in contrast to disposal via abscission. During the previous century, research on quantitative trait loci along with genetic and molecular biological studies on Arabidopsis thaliana have elucidated various cell biological mechanisms, signaling pathways, and transcription regulators involved in abscission. Additionally, it has been revealed that various hormone signals, which are involved in plant growth, play crucial roles in modulating abscission activity. Researchers have developed several chemical treatments that target these hormones and signal transduction pathways to enhance crop yields. This review aimed to introduce the previously identified signal transduction pathways and pivotal regulators implicated in abscission activity. Moreover, this review will discuss the future direction of research required to investigate crop abscission mechanisms for their potential application in smart farming and other areas of agriculture, as well as areas within model systems that require extensive research.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.1249-1259
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• 2023

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) for osteoporosis screening. Materials and Methods: Eligible patients who had and had not undergone DXA screening were identified from among those aged 50 years or older at Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan. Age, sex, screening year (index year), and Charlson comorbidity index of the DXA and non-DXA groups were matched using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) for propensity score analysis. For cost-effectiveness analysis, a societal perspective, 1-year cycle length, 20-year time horizon, and discount rate of 2% per year for both effectiveness and costs were adopted in the incremental cost-effectiveness (ICER) model. Results: The outcome analysis included 10337 patients (female:male, 63.8%:36.2%) who were screened for osteoporosis in southern Taiwan between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2021. The DXA group had significantly better outcomes than the non-DXA group in terms of fragility fractures (7.6% vs. 12.5%, P < 0.001) and mortality (0.6% vs. 4.3%, P < 0.001). The DXA screening strategy gained an ICER of US$ -2794 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) relative to the non-DXA at the willingness-to-pay threshold of US$ 33004 (Taiwan's per capita gross domestic product). The ICER after stratifying by ages of 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, and ≥ 80 years were US$ -17815, US$ -26862, US$ -28981, and US$ -34816 per QALY, respectively. Conclusion: Using DXA to screen adults aged 50 years or older for osteoporosis resulted in a reduced incidence of fragility fractures, lower mortality rate, and reduced total costs. Screening for osteoporosis is a cost-saving strategy and its effectiveness increases with age. However, caution is needed when generalizing these cost-effectiveness results to all older populations because the study population consisted mainly of women.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 2024

[⁶⁸Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 is a promising radiopharmaceutical that binds specifically to fibroblast activation protein, which is overexpressed in more than 90% of malignant epithelial tumors but not in normal healthy tissue. This study aimed to develop an efficient method for producing ⁶⁸Ga-labelled FAPI-04 using a cassette-based automated synthesizer. [⁶⁸Ga]GaCl₃ was eluted from an Eckert & Ziegler Medical germanium-68/gallium-68 generator using 2.5 mL of 0.1 M HCl. The synthesis of the [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 was performed using different concentrations of HEPES (1~2.5 M; 4-(2-hydroxyethyl) piperazine-1-ethanesulfonic acid) in 3~10 minutes; amounts of FAPI-04 precursor (5~50 ㎍) and reaction temperature (25℃~100℃) were optimized on the BIKBox^® synthesizer. The labeling efficiency of [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 was greater than 96% (decay corrected) using 25 ㎍ FAPI-04 synthesized in 10 minutes at 100℃ in 2 M HEPES (pH 3.85), and its stability was greater than 99% at 6 hours. The total synthesis time of [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 was 32.4 minutes, and the product met all quality control criteria. In this study, we developed and optimized a labeling method using [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 using a cassette-based synthesizer. The devised method is expected to be useful for supplying [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 for diagnosis in clinical practice.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.67-85
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• 2023

Purpose - This study seeks to investigate the determinants of global sourcing intention in clothing sewing industry, in particular with its focus on women's knit wear production. Design/methodology/approach - This study collected a unique set of qualitative data through 31 in-depth interviews with fashion brands, promotion agencies, and sewing factories between July 2023 and October 2023. In addition, it analyzed the dataset using the MAXQDA to complement the research findings. Findings - We have two findings. First, the interviewees commonly mentioned the following factors as reasons for considering global sourcing: the human factors(aging of skilled technicians and labor shortages), the financial factors(gap in production unit prices at home and abroad), the relational factors(lack of novelty), and the physical factors(loss of production infrastructure and network), while the human factors(skilled workforce), the production factors(delivery date and product quality), and the relational factors(timely communication and mutual trust) as reasons for continuing domestic sourcing. Additional code analysis of interview also supports this finding. On the other hand, there was also a subtle difference between buyers(brands) and suppliers(promotion agencies and processing plants), and buyers consider the exact delivery date critical so that they could see trend-sensitive women's knit wear on time, and suppliers took production costs, labor costs, and labor shortages, which are financial factors, more seriously. Research implications or Originality - This study provides a richer and more balanced view of existing literature, which has generally tended to introduce global sourcing across the clothing industry despite the existence of various diversity within the industry. In addition, through qualitative research, we introduce that the sewing industry is carried out according to complex factors, and by revealing and categorizing the determinants of global sourcing, we supplement the existing research on the clothing sewing industry centered on survey. On a practical note, this study introduces that there is a difference in view of domestic sourcing and global sourcing between buyers(brands) and suppliers(promotion agencies and sewing factories), suggesting practical implications for revitalizing networks and deriving win-win cooperation network models among members in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.46-58
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to understand the current status of the pet plant kit industry and determine the priorities for support policies to revitalize the industry. SWOT analysis assessed the industry's current state, and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used with industry professionals to prioritize support policies. The SWOT analysis results indicated that SO strategies involve leveraging government support policies to enhance marketing and developing eco-friendly DIY products. WO strategies include launching advertising campaigns to increase market recognition and establishing strategic partnerships to expand distribution. ST strategies focus on strengthening price competitiveness and proposing unique values, while WT strategies involve improving production processes and enhancing product quality based on consumer feedback. The AHP analysis identified 3 top-level and 12 sub-level evaluation items, with data collected from 17 expert surveys. The results showed the 'entry phase' (0.482), 'activation phase' (0.397), and 'advanced phase' (0.121) were prioritized, with 'organizing seminars' (0.181) as the most crucial subcategory and 'support for kit development' (0.020) as the least. The pet plant kit industry is in its early stages, and appropriate policy incubation can help activate the garden industry. This study provides foundational information on the industry's needs for activation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.28 no.12 s.138
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• pp.1596-1604
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• 2004

Quality Function Deployment(QFD) is a product development tool which ensures that the voice of the customer needs is heard and translated into products. To develop a sensible brassiere for middle-aged women QFD was adopted. In this study the applicability and usefulness of QFD was examined through the engineering design process for a sensible brassiere for middle-aged women. The customer needs for the wear comfort of brassiere was made by one-on-one survey of 100 women who aged 30-40. The customer competitive assessment was generated by wearing tests of 10 commercial brassieres. The subjective assessment was conducted in the enviornmental chamber that was controlled at $28{\pm}1^{\circ}C,\;65{\pm}3\%RH.$ As a results, we developed twenty-one customer needs and corresponding HOWs for the wear comfort of brassiere. The Customer Competitive Assessment was generated by wearing tests of commercial brassiere. The subjective measurement scale and dimension for the evaluation of sensible brassiere were extracted from factor analysis. Four factors were fitting, aesthetic property, pressure sensation, displacement of brassiere due to movement. The most critical design parameter was wire-related property and second one was stretchability of main material of brassiere. Also, wearing comfort of brassiere was affected by the interaction of initial stretchability of wing and support of strap. Engineering design process, QFD was applicable to the development of technical and aesthetic brassieres.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.147-152
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• 2016

This study was conducted to investigate the physicochemical quality properties and provide basic data for the activation of traditional Kamju of juice type product prepared by mixing malt and extruded rice collet powder. Malt extracts were prepared by extracting the mixture of malt and water at a weight ratio of 25:75 after soaking for 2 h at $45^{\circ}C$. Rice collet powder was prepared by adjusting the barrel temperature to $95^{\circ}C$, screw speed to $3.07{\times}g$, discharge port diameter to 7 mm and a raw material input to 50 kg/h, the powder was then ground to a particle size of 80 mesh. The physicochemical characteristics (pH, color, viscosity, reducing sugars, number of viable cells, free amino acids) and sensory evaluations were conducted at various time points during the saccharification and at different mixing ratios of the extruded rice collet powder to malt extract (5:95, 15:85, 25:75, 35:65, each at $55^{\circ}C$ for 9 h). As a result, with an increase in the proportion of the extruded rice collet powder and saccharification time, the physicochemical properties of traditional Kamju significantly improved (p<0.05). A mixing ratio of 35:65 rice collet powder to malt extract and a saccharification time of 9 h were found to be the most desirable conditions. However, based on the sensory evaluation, a mixing ratio of rice collet powder and malt extract of 25:75 and a saccharification time of 5 h resulted in the most preferable palatability of traditional Kamju (p<0.05). Therefore, the mixing ratio and saccharification time should be determined to provide a better choice with respect to the taste and economic aspects of traditional Kamju.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.723-730
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• 2016

In this study, we developed traditional liquor, Omegisul, with seaweeds to support the regional culture of Jeju Island in manufacturing traditional liquors. Seaweed extracts from Sargassum fulvellum and Hizikia fusiformis were added for manufacturing Omegisul at a final concentration of either 5 or 10% and fermented for 10 days. During fermentation, samples were collected to measure changes in quality of Omegisul including pH, acidity, alcohol content, chromaticity, total microbes, organic acid content, and antioxidant activity. Both pH and acidity of Omegisul were significantly altered in the early stages of fermentation. Alcohol contents increased over the fermentation period up to 9%. Regarding chromaticity of the product, L, a, and b values were highest in Omegisul with 10% Hizikia fusiformis. Both total plate count and lactic acid bacterial count tended to increase in the early stage of fermentation and decrease later, reaching their highest points in Omegisul with 10% Hizikia fusiformis at 10 days: $1.45{\times}10^8CFU/mL$ and $2.21{\times}10^8CFU/mL$, respectively (P<0.05). Among organic acids, lactic acid contents were significantly higher during fermentation with the highest concentration of 7.474 mg/mL in Omegisul containing 10% Sargassum fulvellum. 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging assays showed that antioxidant activity of Omegisul was increased during fermentation period. Among the samples, Omegisul with 10% Sargassum fulvellum showed the highest antioxidant activities of 69.81% and 81.61% in DPPH and ABTS assays, respectively. Taken together, Omegisul with 10% Sargassum fulvellum showed better characteristics in terms of quality than the other groups and has potential as functional Omegisul.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.105 no.1
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• pp.93-102
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• 2016

This research was conducted for major cultivated chestnut (Castanea spp.) in Korea to compare chestnut quality characteristics according to storage temperatures ($4^{\circ}C$ vs. $-1^{\circ}C$) and cultivars. Color, hardness, soluble solids content (SSC), rate of decay and sensory evaluation were investigated during 16 weeks storage. Cultivars 'Tsukuba' and 'Ishizuchi' showed the least pericarp color change while cultivars 'Riheiguri' and 'Daebo' showed the most pericarp color change during storage. Chestnut fruits stored at $-1^{\circ}C$ showed less pericarp color change than those stored at $4^{\circ}C$. Cultivars 'Arima' and 'Tanzawa' exhibited the decrease tendency of hardness with lowest hardness during storage at $-1^{\circ}C$. Chestnut fruits stored at $4^{\circ}C$ showed high hardness than those stored at $-1^{\circ}C$. Cultivars 'Riheiguri' showed the highest increase of SSC, while cultivar 'Arima' showed the lowest increase of SSC after 16 weeks of storage. The SSC increased in nuts from all cultivars at both temperatures, but nuts stored at $-1^{\circ}C$ showed higher increases in SSC than nuts stored at $4^{\circ}C$. Cultivars 'Ishizuchi' and 'Riheiguri' showed high rates of decayed nuts in contrast to cultivars 'Daebo', 'Okkwang' and 'Tanzawa' that showed low rates of decayed nuts during storage. The chestnut fruit stored at $-1^{\circ}C$ showed less decay than fruit stored at $4^{\circ}C$. Texture and sweetness were tested for sensory evaluation. Among the tested cultivars, 'Riheiguri', 'Daebo' and 'Tsukuba' showed hard texture and very sweetness, while 'Tanzawa' showed relatively soft texture. 'Arima' and 'Okkwang' showed weak sweetness during storage. Nuts stored at $4^{\circ}C$ exhibited harder texture than nuts stored at $-1^{\circ}C$ while $-1^{\circ}C$ exhibited more sweetness than nuts stored at $4^{\circ}C$. Chestnuts for hard texture and short-term storage (less than one month), $4^{\circ}C$ will be a proper storage temperature, while in order to store long-term (more than 4 month), $-1^{\circ}C$ will be a proper storage temperature. Result from this study provide base-line data of postharvest management for Korean cultivated chestnut as well as contributing increased product value and income for chestnut producers.