• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.1010-1018
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• 2021

Although varieties of silkworms, which have recently attracted attention as a health functional food, are being produced, studies on the differences in the functionality of different silkworm varieties are insufficient. Therefore, in this study, the antioxidant activities of different silkworm breeds bred in domestic farms were analyzed, and the potential for their cultivation as specialized varieties with excellent antioxidant function was investigated. To compare antioxidant activity, four varieties of silkworms, white Bakokjam, Golden silk, Yeonokjam, and Hanseongjam, were bred; water and ethanol extracts of these silkworms were prepared on the 3rd and 5th days of the 5th instar larval stage. The highest extraction yield was seen for the water extract from the Golden silk variety on the 3rd day of the 5th instar; the highest total phenolic compound and flavonoid contents were observed for the water extract (86.11±4.04 ㎍/mg GE) and 70% (v/v) ethanol extract (46.70±2.81 ㎍/mg QE). Bakokjam and Yeonokjam exhibited DPPH radical scavenging activity of up to 78% and showed the highest nitrite scavenging activity (85%) at pH 1.2. The maximum SOD-like activity of Yeonokjam was about 47%. Furthermore, 48 ㎍/ml of the Yeonokjam extract showed a reducing power of 0.7 abs, which was the best among the four varieties. Considering these results, the Yeonokjam (on the 3rd day of the 5th instar) had antioxidant activity and represents a silkworm cultivar that would be suitable for cultivation as a health food.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.65 no.3
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• pp.129-142
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• 2022

Ginseng sprouts, which can be eaten from leaves to roots, has the advantage of not having to use pesticides without being affected by the season by using smart farms. The optimal cultivation timing of sprout ginseng was checked and the nutritional content and antioxidant activity were compared and analyzed. The values of total fatty acids and total minerals were no significant changes during the growth periods. The contents of total amino acids were slightly decreased to 45 days and after increased to 65 days. When the growth period was 65 days, arginine had the highest content of 3309.11 mg/100 g. The total phenolic contents were high at 3.73 GAE mg/g on the 45 days, and the total flavonoid contents were also the highest at 9.04 RE mg/g on the 45 days. The contents of total ginsenoside was not noticeable for the growth periods (29.83 on 25 days→32.77 on 45 days→26.02 mg/g on 65 days). The ginsenoside Rg2 (0.62 mg/g), Re (8.69 mg/g), Rb1 (4.75 mg/g) and Rd (3.47 mg/g) had highest contents on 45 days during growth. The values of phenolic acids and flavonols were gradually increased to 45 days (338.6 and 1277.14 ㎍/g) and then decreased to 65 days. The major compounds of phenolic acids and flavonols were confirmed to benzoic acid (99.03-142.33 ㎍/g) and epigallocatechin (416.03-554.64 ㎍/g), respectively. The values of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (44.27%), 2,4,6-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphnoic acid) diammonium salt (75.16%), and hydroxyl (63.29%) radical scavenging activities and ferric reducing/antioxidant power (1.573) showed the highest activity on the 45 days as well as results of total phenolic and total flavonoid contents.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.121-142
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• 2023

As the number and weight of imported food are steadily increasing, safety management of imported food to prevent food safety accidents is becoming more important. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety conducts on-site inspections of foreign food facilities before customs clearance as well as import inspection at the customs clearance stage. However, a data-based safety management plan for imported food is needed due to time, cost, and limited resources. In this study, we tried to increase the efficiency of the on-site inspection by preparing a machine learning prediction model that pre-selects the companies that are expected to fail before the on-site inspection. Basic information of 303,272 foreign food facilities and processing businesses collected in the Integrated Food Safety Information Network and 1,689 cases of on-site inspection information data collected from 2019 to April 2022 were collected. After preprocessing the data of foreign food facilities, only the data subject to on-site inspection were extracted using the foreign food facility_code. As a result, it consisted of a total of 1,689 data and 103 variables. For 103 variables, variables that were '0' were removed based on the Theil-U index, and after reducing by applying Multiple Correspondence Analysis, 49 characteristic variables were finally derived. We build eight different models and perform hyperparameter tuning through 5-fold cross validation. Then, the performance of the generated models are evaluated. The research purpose of selecting companies subject to on-site inspection is to maximize the recall, which is the probability of judging nonconforming companies as nonconforming. As a result of applying various algorithms of machine learning, the Random Forest model with the highest Recall_macro, AUROC, Average PR, F1-score, and Balanced Accuracy was evaluated as the best model. Finally, we apply Kernal SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) to present the selection reason for nonconforming facilities of individual instances, and discuss applicability to the on-site inspection facility selection system. Based on the results of this study, it is expected that it will contribute to the efficient operation of limited resources such as manpower and budget by establishing an imported food management system through a data-based scientific risk management model.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.15-25
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• 2023

Myriophyllum spicatum L. has been used as an ornamental in ponds and aquariums, and as a folk remedy for inflammation and pus. Nevertheless, the biological activity and underlying mechanisms of anti-inflammatory effects are unclear. This study is aimed at investigating the antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activities of ethanol extract of Myriophyllum spicatum L. (EMS) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Antioxidant activity of EMS was assessed by radical-scavenging effects on ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radicals. As inflammatory response parameters produced by LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells were quantified to assess the anti-inflammatory activity of EMS. Our results showed that EMS increased FRAP and DPPH radical-scavenging activity. In EMS-treated RAW 264.7 cells, the production of NO, PGE₂, TNF-α and IL-1β was significantly inhibited at the non-cytotoxic concentration. In addition, EMS significantly attenuated LPS-stimulated the toll-like receptor (TLR) 4/myeloid differentiation protein (MyD) 88 signaling pathway, and inhibited nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-kappa B(NF-κB). Positive correlations were noted between anti-inflammatory activity and antioxidant activity. In conclusion, it was indicated that EMS suppresses the transcription of inflammatory factors by inhibiting the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway, thereby suppressing LPS-stimulated inflammation in RAW 264.7 cells. This study highlights the potential role of EMS against inflammation and associated diseases.

• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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• no.125
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• pp.63-89
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• 2019

The aim of this paper is to examine the so-called theory of automatic action attributed to Plotinus, according to which the sage can act automatically without deliberation or reasoning. Concerns were raised that such a theory runs the risk of turning the agent into an automaton by reducing action to mechanical reflexes to external stimuli. I attempt to show that Plotinus does not hold a theory of automatic action by arguing that the Plotinian sage's non-deliberative action is not automatic at all. For this purpose, I first draw attention to the non-deliberative action of the World-Reason (i.e. the reason of the World-Soul), which is supposed to present an ideal model of action. Indeed, Plotinus mentions that the World-Reason rules the world "as if automatically". This is, however, meant to indicate the spontaneous and natural manner in which the World-Reason rules. In this respect, the way the World-Reason works is compared to the way nature (i.e. the productive power of the World-Soul) works. But Plotinus points out that the World-Reason knows what to do, whereas nature works without knowing. In this connection, Plotinus makes it clear that the World-Reason does not calculate or deliberate about what to do because it already knows it. To clarify this point, I turn to Plotinus' analogy of practical wisdom (phronêsis) and skill, according to which the World-Reason is compared to an accomplished craftsman or artist, who confidently works without any doubt, hesitation or difficulty, thereby expressing her intelligence, unmediated by deliberation. From this perspective, non-deliberative action according to practical wisdom turns out to be superior to deliberative action. Plotinus admits that there are difficult circumstances in which even the skilled craftsman, unlike the World-Reason who always controls the whole situation, needs to deliberate or calculate, but he is nevertheless confident that the craftsman easily finds the solution. This suggests that the sage, who possesses practical wisdom, can act normally like a great master or virtuoso without deliberation, but in an emergency situation he also employs deliberation, but resourcefully and creatively responds to challenge. The attempt is made to elucidate the Plotinian model of sage's action with the help of Csikzentmihalyi's concept of 'flow' and Annas' application of it to the analogy of virtue and skill. Finally, it is shown that the sage's virtuous action, in spite of being a habituated action, is not a passive, routinized, automatic action, but an active, flexible, intelligent action.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.1052-1061
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• 2023

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of fermentation by B. subtilis (BPLE), L. brevis (LPLE), S. cerevisiae (SPLE) and C. militaris (CPLE) on the antioxidant activity of Protaetia brevitarsis larvae fed with mushroom substrates (king oyster mushroom). The total polyphenol content of Protaetia brevitarsis larvae (PLE), BPLE, LPLE, SPLE and CPLE were 58.07±0.67, 83.33±0.98, 79.21±1.32, 61.02±0.87 and 57.90±1.02 mg GAEs/extract g, respectively. The flavonoid contents of the PLE, BPLE, LPLE, SPLE and CPLE were 17.35±1.57, 19.49±0.95, 16.90±1.57, 18.12±0.95 and 16.99±0.95 mg QEs/extract g, respectively. The DPPH radical scavenging activity showed no significant difference between the PLE, BPLE, LPLE, SPLE and CPLE at a concentration of 0.2 mg/ml. However, at a concentration of 0.4 mg/ml or more, the DPPH radical scavenging activity of the BPLE and LPLE was higher than that of the PLE. The reducing power of the BPLE and LPLE was also higher than that of the PLE, and more than twice as high at a concentration of 0.8 mg/ml or more. The ORAC value of the BPLE (79.77±0.82 uM TEs/extract g) was higher than that of the PLE (61.34±0.97 uM TEs/extract g). A WST-1 assay of the RAW 264.7 cells indicated that the PLE, BPLE, LPLE, SPLE and CPLE showed no cytotoxicity.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.183-196
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• 2024

This study investigated the protective effect of the aqueous extract of Eucommia ulmoides leaves (AEEL) against high glucose-induced human colon epithelial HT-29 cells. The 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethyl benzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazy (DPPH) radical scavenging activities, ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP), and malondialdehyde (MDA) analyses indicated that AEEL had significant antioxidant activities. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay showed that AEEL increased cell viability against high glucose-, H₂O₂-, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cytotoxicity in HT-29 cells. Also, the 2'-7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCF-DA) assay indicated that AEEL decreased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) against high glucose-, H₂O₂-, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cytotoxicity in HT-29 cells. AEEL showed inhibitory activities against α-glucosidase and inhibited the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). AEEL showed significant positive effects on the viability and titratable acidity of L. brevis. The high-performance liquid chromatogram (HPLC) analysis identified chlorogenic acid and rutin as the major compounds of AEEL. These results suggested that AEEL has the potential to be used as a functional food source to suppress blood glucose levels and protect the gut from high glucose-induced oxidative stress.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.65-88
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• 2008

Since the implementation of economic reforms in 1978, the Chinese economy grows rapidly at an average annul growth rate of 9% over the post two decades. Franchising has been widely recognized as an important source of entrepreneurial activity. Trust is important in that it facilitates relational exchanges by permits partners to transcend short-run inequities or risks to concentrate on long-term profits or gains. In the relationship between the franchisors and franchisees, trust has been described as an important source of competitive advantage. However, little research has been done on the factors affecting trust in Chinese franchisor-franchisee relationships. The purpose of this study is to investigate what factors affect the trust in the franchise system in China, and to provide guidelines and insights to franchisors which enter Chinese market. In this study, according to Morgan and Hunt (1994), trust is defined as the extending when one party has confidence in an exchange partner's reliability and integrity. We offered a conceptual model of the empirical study. The model shows that the factors affecting the trust include franchisor's supports, communication, satisfaction with previous outcome and conflict. We also suggested the franchisor's supports and communication like to enhance the franchisee's satisfaction with previous outcome, and the franchisor's supports, communication and he franchisee's satisfaction with previous outcome tend to decrease conflict. Before the formal study, a pretest involving exploratory interviews with owners from three franchisees was conducted to make sure the questionnaire was relevant and clear to the respondents. The data were collected using trained interviewers to carry out personal interviews with the aid of an unidentified, muti-page, structured questionnaire. The respondents comprised of owners, managers, and owner managers of franchisee-owned food service franchises located in Beijing, China. Even though a total of 256 potential franchises were initially contacted, the finally usable sample consisted of 125 respondents. As expected, the sampling method was successful in soliciting respondents with waried personal and firm characteristics. Self-administrated questionnaires were used for all measures. And established scales were used to measure the latent constructs in this study. The measures tapped the franchisees' perceptions of the relationship with the referent franchisor. Five-point Likert-type scales ranging from "strongly disagree" (=1) to "strongly agree" (=7) were used throughout the constructs (trust, eight items; support, five items; communication, four items; satisfaction, six items; conflict, three items). The reliability measurements traditionally employed, such as the Cronbach's alpha, were used. All the reliabilities were greater than.80. The proposed measurement model was estimated using SPSS 12.0 and AMOS 5.0 analysis package. We conducted A series of exploratory factor analyses and confirmatory factor analyses to assess the convergent validity, discriminant validity, and reliability. The results indicate reasonable overall fits between the model and the observed data. The overall fit of measurement model were $X^2$= 159.699, p=0.004, d.f. = 116, GFI =.879, NFI =.898, CFI =.969, IFI =.970, TLI =.959, RMR =.058. The results demonstrated that the data reasonably fitted the model. We also examined construct reliability and reliability and average variance extracted (AVE). The construct reliability of each construct was greater than.80 and the AVE of each construct was greater than.50. According to the analysis of Structure Equation Modeling (SEM), the results of path model indicated an adequate fit of the model: $X^2$= 142.126, p = 0.044, d.f. = 115, GFI =.892, NFI =.909, CFI =.981, IFI =.981, TLI =.974, RMR =.057. As hypothesized, the results showed that it is strategically important to establish trust in a franchise system, and the franchisor's supports, communication and satisfaction with previous outcome tend to reinforce franchisee's trust. The results also showed trust seems to decrease as the experience of conflict episodes increases. And we also noticed that franchisor's supports and communication tend to enhance the franchisee's satisfaction with previous outcome, and communication tend to decrease conflict. If the trust between the franchisor and franchisee can be established in a franchise system, franchising offers many benefits and reduces many costs. To manage a mutual trust of relationship with their franchisees, franchisor's should provide support effectively to their franchisees. Effective assistant services have direct effect on franchisees' satisfaction with previous outcome and trust in franchisor. Especially, franchise sales process, orientation, and training in the start-up period are key elements for success of the franchise system. Franchisor's support is an accumulated separate satisfaction evaluation with different kind of service provided by the franchisor. And providing support definitely can improve the trustworthy image of the franchisor. In the franchise system, conflicts of interests and exertions of different power sources are very common. The experience of conflict episodes seems to negatively relate to trust. Therefore, it is important to reduce the negative side of the relationship conflicts. Communication actually plays a broader role in reducing conflict and establish mutual trust in franchisor-franchisee relationship. And effective communication between franchisors and franchisees can improve franchisees' satisfaction toward the franchise system. As the diversification of Chinese markets, both franchisors and franchisees must keep the relevant, timely, and reliable communication. And it is very important to improve the quality of communication. Satisfaction with precious outcomes seems to positively relate to trust. Franchisors and franchisees that are highly satisfied with the previous outcomes that flow from their relationship will perceive their partner as advancing their goal achievement. Therefore, it is necessary for both franchisor and their franchisees to make the welfare of partner with effort. Little literature has focused on what factors affect the trust between franchisors and their franchisees in China. This study developed the hypotheses regarding the factors affecting trust in the transaction relationship. The results of data analysis supported the hypotheses strongly. There are certain limitations in this study. First, we may point out that some other factors missed in this study could be significantly important. Second, the context of this study, food service industry, limits its potential generalizability for all franchise systems. More studies in different categories of franchise system are needed to broaden its generalizability. Third, the model was tested empirically in a sample in Beijing, more empirical tests of the proposed model in other Chinese areas are needed. Finally, the analysis in this study was solely based on the perception of franchisees and the opinions of franchisors were not included.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.19-45
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• 2008

This study is to empirically examine the primary dimensions of visual merchandising (VMD) of internet shopping mall, namely store design, merchandise, and merchandising cues, to be a attractive virtual store to the shoppers. The authors reviewed the literature related to the major components of VMD from the perspective of the AIDA model, which has been mainly applied to the offline store settings. The major purposes of the study are as follows; first, tries to derive the variables related with the components of visual merchandising through reviewing the existing literatures, establish the hypotheses, and test it empirically. Second, examines the relationships between the components of VMD and the attitude toward the VMD, however, putting more emphasis on finding out the component structure of the VMD. VMD needs to be examined with the perspective that an online shopping mall is a virtual self-service or clerkless store, which could reduce the number of employees, help the shoppers search, evaluate and purchase for themselves, and to be explored in terms of the in-store persuasion processes of customers. This study reviewed the literatures related to store design, merchandise, and merchandising cues which might be relevant to the store, product, and promotion respectively. VMD is a total communication tool, and AIDA model could explain the in-store consumer behavior of online shopping. Store design has to do with triggering a consumer attention to the online mall, merchandise with a product related interest, and merchandising cues with promotions such as recommendation and links that induce the desire to pruchase. These three steps might be seen as the processes for purchase actions. The theoretical rationale for the relationship between VMD and AIDA could be found in Tyagi(2005) that the three steps of consumer-oriented merchandising are a store, a product assortment, and placement, in Omar(1999) that three types of interior display are a architectural design display, commodity display, and point-of-sales(POS) display, and in Davies and Ward(2005) that the retail store interior image is related to an atmosphere, merchandise, and in-store promotion. Lee et al(2000) suggested as the web merchandising components a merchandising cues, a shopping metaphor which is an assistant tool for search, a store design, a layout(web design), and a product assortment. The store design which includes differentiation, simplicity and navigation is supposed to be related to the attention to the virtual store. Second, the merchandise dimensions comprising product assortments, visual information and product reputation have to do with the interest in the product offerings. Finally, the merchandising cues that refer to merchandiser(MD)'s recommendation of products and providing the hyperlinks to relevant goods for the shopper is concerned with attempt to induce the desire to purchase. The questionnaire survey was carried out to collect the data about the consumers who would shop at internet shopping malls frequently. To select the subject malls, the mall ranking data announced by a mall rating agency was used to differentiate the most popular and least popular five mall each. The subjects was instructed to answer the questions after navigating the designated mall for five minutes. The 300 questionnaire was distributed to the consumers, 166 samples were used in the final analysis. The empirical testing focused on identifying and confirming the dimensionality of VMD and its subdimensions using a structural equation modeling method. The confirmatory factor analysis for the endogeneous and exogeneous variables was carried out in four parts. The second-order factor analysis was done for a store design, a merchandise, and a merchandising cues, and first-order confirmatory factor analysis for the attitude toward the VMD. The model test results shows that the chi-square value of structural equation is 144.39(d.f 49), significant at 0.01 level which means the proposed model was rejected. But, judging from the ratio of chi-square value vs. degree of freedom, the ratio was 2.94 which smaller than an acceptable level of 3.0, RMR is 0.087 which is higher than a generally acceptable level of 0.08. GFI and AGFI is turned out to be 0.90 and 0.84 respectively. Both NFI and NNFI is 0.94, and CFI 0.95. The major test results are as follows; first, the second-order factor analysis and structural equational modeling reveals that the differentiation, simplicity and ease of identifying current status of the transaction are confirmed to be subdimensions of store design and to be a significant predictors of the dependent variable. This result implies that when designing an online shopping mall, it is necessary to differentiate visually from other malls to improve the effectiveness of the communications of store design. That is, the differentiated store design raise the contrast stimulus to sensory organs to promote the memory of the store and to have a favorable attitude toward the VMD of a store. The results that navigation which means the easiness of identifying current status of shopping affects the attitude to VMD could be interpreted that the navigating processes via the hyperlinks which is characteristics of an internet shopping is a complex and cognitive process and shoppers are likely to lack the sense of overall structure of the store. Consequently, shoppers are likely to be alost amid shopping not knowing where to go. The orientation tool enhance the accessibility of information to raise the perceptive power about the store environment.(Titus & Everett 1995) Second, the primary dimension of merchandise and its subdimensions was confirmed to be unidimensional respectively, have a construct validity, and nomological validity which the VMD dimensions supposed to have a positive correlation with the dependent variable. The subdimensions of product assortment, brand fame and information provision proved to have a positive effect on the attitude toward the VMD. It could be interpreted that the more plentiful the product and brand assortment of the mall is, the more likely the shoppers to favor it. Brand fame and information provision as well affect the VMD attitude, which means that the more famous the brand, the more likely the shoppers would trust and feel familiar with the mall, and the plentifully and visually presented information could have the shopper have a favorable attitude toward the store VMD. Third, it turned out to be that merchandising cue of product recommendation and hyperlinks affect the VMD attitude. This could be interpreted that recommended products could reduce the uncertainty related with the purchase decision, and the hyperlinks to relevant products would help the shopper save the cognitive effort exerted into the information search and gathering, which could lead to a favorable attitude to the VMD. This study tried to sheds some new light on the VMD of online store by reviewing the variables mentioned to be relevant with offline VMD in the existing literatures, and tried to link the VMD components from the perspective of AIDA model. The effect size of the VMD dimensions on the attitude was in the order of the merchandise, the store design and the merchandising cues.It is said that an internet has an unlimited place for display, however, the virtual store is not unlimited since the consumer has a limited amount of cognitive ability to process the external information and internal memory. Particularly, the shoppers are likely to face some difficulties in decision making on account of too many alternative and information overloads. Therefore, the internet shopping mall manager should take into consideration the cost of information search on the part of the consumer, to establish the optimal product placements and search routes. An efficient store composition would be possible by reducing the psychological burdens and cognitive efforts exerted to information search and alternatives evaluation. The store image is in most part determined by the product category and its brand it deals in. The results of this study support this proposition that the merchandise is most important to the VMD attitude than other components, the manager is required to take a strategic approach to VMD. The internet users are getting more accustomed and more knowledgeable about the internet media and more likely to accept the internet as a shopping channel as the period of time during which they use the internet to shop become longer. The web merchandiser should be aware that the product introduction using a moving pictures and a bulletin board become more important in order to present the interactive product information visually and communicate with customers more actively, therefore leading to making the quantity and quality of product information more rich.