• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.183-193
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• 2023

This paper proposes and examines the economic impact of infrastructure improvement on the San-En-Nanshin region in the Chubu area of Japan. We develop a single transportation computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for each subregion within the San-En-Nanshin region. The explicit modeling of the transportation infrastructure is defined based on interregional commuting flows and business trips, considering the spatial structure of the San-En-Nanshin economy. A CGE model is integrated with an interregional transportation network model to enhance the framework's potential for understanding the infrastructure's role in regional development. To evaluate the economic impact of transportation improvement, we analyze the interrelationship between travel time savings and regional output and income. The economic impact analysis under the CGE framework reveals how transportation facilities and systems affect firm and household behavior and therefore induce changes in the production and consumption of commodities and transportation services. The proposed theoretical model was tested by using data from the 2005 IO tables of each subregion and the 2006 transport flow dataset issued by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism in Japan. As a result, the paper confirms the positive effect of transportation investment on the total output and income of the studied region. Specifically, we found that while economic benefits typically appear in urban areas, rural areas can still potentially benefit from transportation improvement projects.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.101-109
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• 2023

This study examined the relationships among owner-manager characteristics, e-commerce adoption, and performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia. Although the growth of e-commerce was encouraging in many countries, studies of e-commerce adoption among SMEs in developing countries such as Malaysia are insufficient. Furthermore, studies that investigated individual characteristics and e-commerce adoption are still low in number. This study specifically employed the technology-organization-environmental (TOE) framework to develop its research model. The sample was selected by using a non-probability judgmental sampling technique because the desired population frame was unavailable. A total of 111 owner-managers of SMEs were surveyed using online self-administered questionnaires. Subsequently, the data was analyzed through partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results revealed significant relationships between owner-manager characteristics and e-commerce adoption, as well as between e-commerce adoption and the performance of SMEs. The findings suggested that owner-manager characteristics played an important role in determining e-commerce adoption among SMEs. Moreover, e-commerce adoption was crucial in affecting the performance of SMEs. This paper provided new insights into factors affecting e-commerce adoption and firm performance. It could further benefit the government and SMEs in strategizing e-commerce adoption and development, especially in the era of Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) and the post-COVID-19 pandemic.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.67-74
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• 2023

Perioperative treatment with conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy for resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has proven clinical benefits in terms of achieving a higher overall survival (OS) rate. With its success in the palliative treatment of NSCLC, immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has now become an essential component of treatment, even as neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy in patients with operable NSCLC. Both pre- and post-surgery ICB applications have proven clinical efficacy in preventing disease recurrence. In addition, neoadjuvant ICB combined with cytotoxic chemotherapy has shown a significantly higher rate of pathologic regression of viable tumors compared with cytotoxic chemotherapy alone. To confirm this, an early signal of OS benefit has been shown in a selected population, with programmed death ligand 1 expression ≥50%. Furthermore, applying ICB both pre- and post-surgery enhances its clinical benefits, as is currently under evaluation in ongoing phase III trials. Simultaneously, as the number of available perioperative treatment options increases, the variables to be considered for making treatment decisions become more complex. Thus, the role of a multidisciplinary team-based treatment approach has not been fully emphasized. This review presents up-to-date pivotal data that lead to practical changes in managing resectable NSCLC. From the medical oncologist's perspective, it is time to dance with surgeons to decide on the sequence of systemic treatment, particularly the ICB-based approach, accompanying surgery for operable NSCLC.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.32-36
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• 2017

In unresectable stage IV colorectal cancer, the role of palliative surgery is not defined clearly. The palliative surgery can be categorized into two surgeries; first, palliative primary tumor resection; second, palliative metastatectomy. Several retrospective studies reported initial palliative systemic chemotherapy in unresectable stage IV colorectal cancer did not increase primary tumor related complications such as obstruction, perforation and hemorrhage, so they insisted that primary tumor resection in asymptomatic stage IV colorectal cancer should be preserved. However, in terms of overall survival and cancer-specific or progression-free survival, several retrospective studies, especially using population-based big data, reported favored survivals in palliative primary tumor resection group. And also several studies reported that palliative metastatectomy such as liver resection without resection of lung metastasis showed better overall survivals. But those results from those studies came from retrospective studies and are likely to be affected by selection bias. Prospective randomized studies are needed to define the benefit of palliative primary tumor resection and metastatectomy in unresectable stage IV colorectal cancer. However, based on the updated evidences, the dogma that palliative primary tumor resection should be preserved in asymptomatic unresectable stage IV colorectal cancer should be questioned.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.159-182
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• 2024

Purpose This study aims to investigate the factors influencing social media users' sharing behaviors of COVID-19 health information. Specifically, we seek to examine the impact of three key antecedents-trust in information source, trust in information content, and trust in social media platform-on users' trust in information quality and determine whether their effects vary between South Korea and China. Design/methodology/approach To fulfill our research objectives, we conducted an online survey across two countries, collecting 408 valid responses (South Korea: N = 201; China: N = 207) for our analysis. We employed Partial Least Squared based Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4 and performed Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and independent t-tests with SPSS 27. Findings The study revealed that perceived risks significantly inhibit users from sharing health information, highlighting the critical role of trust in countering these effects. We also identified variances in the levels of trust in information content and trust in social media platform between the two countries, which offers fresh perspectives for designing culturally tailored public health communications and interventions.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.5 no.4 s.20
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• pp.281-287
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• 2005

Purpose: This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and the role of post-operative adjuvant chemoradiation therapy in a stage-II (UICC, 1997) primary gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: From September 1994 to December 2004, 954 stage-II gastric-cancer patients were seen, and all of them underwent a curative resection with extensive (D2) lymph-node dissection. The chemotherapy consisted of fluorouracil $(400mg/m^2)$ plus leucovorin $(20mg/m^2)$ for 5 days, followed by 4,500 cGy of radiotherapy for 5 weeks with fluorourcil and leucovorin on the first 4 days and the last 3 days of radiotherapy. Two five-day cycles of chemotherapy were given four weeks after the completion of radiotherapy. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate the survival rates. To assess the importance of potential prognostic factors, we performed univariate and multivariate analyses using a log-rank test and Cox's proportional hazards regression model. A P value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: Univariate analysis revealed that age, tumor size, gross type, surgical method, and postoperative adjuvant therapy had statistical significance. Among these factors, age, surgical method, tumor size, surgical method, and postoperative adjuvant therapy were found to be independent prognostic factors by using a multivariate analysis. The postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy group and the chemoradiation therapy group had survival benefit compared to the surgery-only group. However the chemoradiation therapy group had no significant survival benefit compared to the chemotherapy group. Conclusion: The postoperative adjuvant therapy in stage-II gastric-cancer patients had significant benefit. Therefore, postoperative adjuvant chemoradiation therapy has an acceptable effect. A large-scale, randomized study is needed to evaluate the effectiveness and the role of postoperative radiation therapy.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.100 no.3
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• pp.522-534
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• 2011

The aim of this study is to draw forth the tasks for establishing the right of native biology in Korea through the case study on 'Access on genetic resources and Benefit Sharing'. For this purpose, this study decided on its research subject by selecting Hoodia, on which ABS treaty was made the most recently, through the examination of the representative ABS precedents on plant species. This study analyzed the process background of ABS on Hoodia, and compared & analyzed the ABS procedures of 'Bonn Guidelines' adopted by the 6th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2002 and Hoodia case. Together with the ABS major issues in common drawn as a result of this analysis, and "Nagoya Protocol" adopted by the 10th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity, this study intended to shed a light on the impending tasks which Korea faces at present and its role relationship. The research results are as follows: 1. It is required that species habitats should be divided based on biological classification and its subsequent community should be established with the development of infrastructure such as a community's independent production, management and monitoring of bio-species. 2. There needs to be a designation of ABS National Focal Point for sharing of ABS-related general information, boosting of implementation of the relevant convention. 3. There needs to be the establishment of ABS convention system consequent on legislative, administrative, political procedures, and designation of the Competent National Authorities for the provision of the format of Prior Informed Consent (PIC) and Mutually Agreed Terms (MAT) and their contents assessment and confirmation. 4. There should be the establishment of integrated management system of ABS-related research and development of forest biological resources and its relevant research projects. 5. There should be information development through the distribution of responsibility and role between the ministries and offices concerned according to bio-resources, and there needs to be efforts in aiming for opening a working group of academic-industrial institutions for developing a mutually interchangeable system. 6. It's required that the efficient access between industrial circles and the people should be promoted by setting up ABS support center of biological resources in ministry and office's charge. 7. There should be a selection of a national supervisory organization for securement of the right of a local community and monitoring of ABS convention implementation, and a countermeasure system for preventing outflow of forest bioresources. Conclusively, it's judged that it will be possible to inquire into the countermeasures for the establishment of the native forest biology dominion through such research results.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.65-93
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• 2011

As relationship between buyer and seller has been brought closer and long-term relationship has been more important in B2B markets, the importance of service and service convenience increases as well as product. In homogeneous markets, where service offerings are similar and therefore not key competitive differentiator, providing greater convenience may enable a competitive advantage. Service convenience, as conceptualized by Berry et al. (2002), is defined as the consumers' time and effort perceptions related to buying or using a service. For this reason, B2B customers are interested in how fast the service is provided and how much save non-monetary cost like time or effort by the service convenience along with service quality. Therefore, this study attempts to investigate the impact of service convenience on relationship factors such as relationship satisfaction, relationship commitment, and relationship performance. The purpose of this study is to find out whether service convenience can be a new antecedent of relationship quality and relationship performance. In addition, this study tries to examine how five-dimensional service convenience constructs (decision convenience, access convenience, transaction convenience, benefit convenience, post-benefit convenience) affect customers' relationship satisfaction, relationship commitment, and relationship performance. The service convenience comprises five fundamental components - decision convenience (the perceived time and effort costs associated with service purchase or use decisions), access convenience(the perceived time and effort costs associated with initiating service delivery), transaction convenience(the perceived time and effort costs associated with finalizing the transaction), benefit convenience(the perceived time and effort costs associated with experiencing the core benefits of the offering) and post-benefit convenience (the perceived time and effort costs associated with reestablishing subsequent contact with the firm). Earlier studies of perceived service convenience in the industrial market are none. The conventional studies that have dealt with service convenience have usually been made in the consumer market, or they have dealt with convenience aspects in the service process. This service convenience measure for consumer market can be useful tool to estimate service quality in B2B market. The conceptualization developed by Berry et al. (2002) reflects a multistage, experiential consumption process in which evaluations of convenience vary at each stage. For this reason, the service convenience measure is good for B2B service environment which has complex processes and various types. Especially when categorizing B2B service as sequential stage of service delivery like Kumar and Kumar (2004), the Berry's service convenience measure which reflect sequential flow of service deliveries suitable to establish B2B service convenience. For this study, data were gathered from respondents who often buy business service and analyzed by structural equation modeling. The sample size in the present study is 119. Composite reliability values and average variance extracted values were examined for each variable to have reliability. We determine whether the measurement model supports the convergent validity by CFA, and discriminant validity was assessed by examining the correlation matrix of the constructs. For each pair of constructs, the square root of the average variance extracted exceeded their correlations, thus supporting the discriminant validity of the constructs. Hypotheses were tested using the Smart PLS 2.0 and we calculated the PLS path values and followed with a bootstrap re-sampling method to test the hypotheses. Among the five dimensional service convenience constructs, four constructs (decision convenience, transaction convenience, benefit convenience, post-benefit convenience) affected customers' positive relationship satisfaction, relationship commitment, and relationship performance. This result means that service convenience is important cue to improve relationship between buyer and seller. One of the five service convenience dimensions, access convenience, does not affect relationship quality and performance, which implies that the dimension of service convenience is not important factor of cumulative satisfaction. The Cumulative satisfaction can be distinguished from transaction-specific customer satisfaction, which is an immediate post-purchase evaluative judgment or an affective reaction to the most recent transactional experience with the firm. Because access convenience minimizes the physical effort associated with initiating an exchange, the effect on relationship satisfaction similar to cumulative satisfaction may be relatively low in terms of importance than transaction-specific customer satisfaction. Also, B2B firms focus on service quality, price, benefit, follow-up service and so on than convenience of time or place in service because it is relatively difficult to change existing transaction partners in B2B market compared to consumer market. In addition, this study using partial least squares methods reveals that customers' satisfaction and commitment toward relationship has mediating role between the service convenience and relationship performance. The result shows that management and investment to improve service convenience make customers' positive relationship satisfaction, and then the positive relationship satisfaction can enhance the relationship commitment and relationship performance. And to conclude, service convenience management is an important part of successful relationship performance management, and the service convenience is an important antecedent of relationship between buyer and seller such as the relationship commitment and relationship performance. Therefore, it has more important to improve relationship performance that service providers enhance service convenience although competitive service development or service quality improvement is important. Given the pressure to provide increased convenience, it is not surprising that organizations have made significant investments in enhancing the convenience aspect of their product and service offering.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.62 no.12
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• pp.444-449
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• 2019

Background: Sixty percent of infants with severe neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy die, while most survivors have permanent disabilities. Treatment for neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy is limited to therapeutic hypothermia, but it does not offer complete protection. Here, we investigated whether hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) promotes cell survival and suggested neuroprotective strategies. Purpose: HIF-1α deficient mice have increased brain injury after neonatal hypoxia-ischemia (HI), and the role of HIF-2α in HI is not well characterized. Copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD)1 overexpression is not beneficial in neonatal HI. The expression of HIF-1α and HIF-2α was measured in SOD1 overexpressing mice and compared to wild-type littermates to see if alteration in expression explains this lack of benefit. Methods: On postnatal day 9, C57Bl/6 mice were subjected to HI, and protein expression was measured by western blotting in the ipsilateral cortex of wild-type and SOD1 overexpressing mice to quantify HIF-1α and HIF-2α. Spectrin expression was also measured to characterize the mechanism of cell death. Results: HIF-1α protein expression did not significantly change after HI injury in the SOD1 overexpressing or wild-type mouse cortex. However, HIF-2α protein expression increased 30 minutes after HI injury in the wild-type and SOD1 overexpressing mouse cortex and decreased to baseline value at 24 hours after HI injury. Spectrin 145/150 expression did not significantly change after HI injury in the SOD1 overexpressing or wild-type mouse cortex. However, spectrin 120 expression increased in both wild-type and SOD1 overexpressing mouse at 4 hours after HI, which decreased by 24 hours, indicating a greater role of apoptotic cell death. Conclusion: HIF-1α and HIF-2α may promote cell survival in neonatal HI in a cell-specific and regional fashion. Our findings suggest that early HIF-2α upregulation precedes apoptotic cell death and limits necrotic cell death. However, the influence of SOD was not clarified; it remains an intriguing factor in neonatal HI.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.438-443
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• 2020

The digital treatment technology industry is one of the core fostering industries of the Moon Jae-in government along with the global trend. The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the investment and economic ripple effect on the related industries. To this end, we used the industry-related table, which is the actual measurement data for 2015 that the Bank of Korea actually measured and released every 5 years in 2019. The digital treatment technology industry was not clearly classified within Korea's industrial classification system, so the contents of the industry-related survey were analyzed, and the digital treatment technology industry was reclassified and then analyzed. As a result of the analysis, it was analyzed that the production induction effect of the digital treatment technology-related industry in 2015 was 1.770, the value-added induction effect was 0.875, and the employment induction effect was 19.128, which was higher than that of other industries in Korea. As a result of the analysis of the economic ripple effect (scenario 1), the production inducing effect was about 370 billion won, the added value inducing effect was about 185 billion won, and the employment inducing effect was 4,044 people. The results of this study are expected to play a large role in economic revitalization as the effect of inducing production, increasing employment, and creating added value through fostering the digital treatment technology industry is expected to play a large role in activating the economy. It is expected to play a large role in providing central medical services. Therefore, it is expected that policy support for revitalizing the digital treatment technology industry through active investment support and tax benefits from the government to foster the digital treatment technology industry is necessary.