• Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.195-211
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• 2021

This paper measures the economic impacts of the U.S. port investment strategies coping with the Panama Canal expansion. Using secondary import data, negative and positive estimates of the impacts were presented in this study. Reduced port activities into the West Coast Customs Districts negatively affect transportation and warehousing industries, among other effects. Still, they have simultaneous positive effects in other states from increased imports resulting from modal shifts and changes in the entry port located in the South and East coasts. This study applied the supply-driven National Interstate Economic Model that measures all interstate trade among the U.S. states to divert foreign imports from 15 Pacific Rim countries. For this purpose, the following assumption was adopted: larger ships using the canal will lead to a redirection of seaborne trade among U.S. (and other) ports and result in secondary effects, e.g., using different freight modes and regional growth spillovers. This study also accounted for the entry point change and significant port investments for foreign trade under alternative scenarios. The choice of ports for international trade depends on decisions about how to minimize multimodal delivery costs. The total direct reduction of transportation and warehousing activities associated with foreign imports in the West Coast ports was estimated at $3.3 billion, leading to total negative effects of $5.8 billion. Total positive impacts from the shift of transportation modes with the choice of an entry port and new warehousing activities for foreign imports in the selected 12 states varied. As expected, states that involved an entry port had the most prominent benefits, but Texas, New York, and New Jersey may be benefited through all the port enhancement projects in the U.S. Also, except for Transportation and Postal, and Warehousing industries, Construction is another dominant positive affected industry of the Canal expansion in the U.S.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.2315-2317
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• 2012

Background: Use of smoke-less tobacco (SLT) is very common in South and South-East Asian countries. It is significantly associated with various types of cancers. The objectives of this study were to assess the proportion of hospital staff that use SLT, and to identify the factors associated with its use and their practices. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 560 staff of two tertiary care hospitals were interviewed in the year 2009. Nurses, ward boys and technicians were counted as a paramedic staff while drivers, peons, security guards and housekeeping staff were labeled as non-paramedic staff. SLT use was considered as usage of any of the following: betel quid (paan) with or without tobacco, betel nuts with or without tobacco (gutkha) and snuff (naswar). Results: About half (48.6%) of the hospital staff were using at least one type of SLT. Factors found to be statistically significant with SLT were being a male (OR=2.5; 95% CI=1.8-3.7); having no/fewer years of education (OR=1.7; 95% CI=1.2-2.4) and working as non-paramedic staff (OR=2.6; 95% CI=1.8-3.8). Majority of SLT users were using it on regular basis, for > 5 years and keeping the tobacco products in the oral cavity for >30 minutes. About half of the users started due to peer pressure and had tried to quit this habit but failed. Conclusion: In this study, about half of the study participants were using SLT in different forms. We suggest educational and behavioral interventions for control of SLT usage.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.41-50
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• 2013

Objectives: As a newcomer to the medical tourism industry, Korea needs to differentiate itself from the leading competing countries to vitalize its early-stage medical tourism industry. This study aims to introduce a strategic plan to vitalize the Korean integrated medical tourism so that Korea can differentiate itself from competing countries and create high added value. Methods: The concept and actual conditions of medical tourism and Oriental medical tourism were examined. A plan to differentiate Korea from the competing countries in the medical tourism industry was studied to create high added-value through strategic vitalization of its medical tourism industry. Results: Korean integrated medical tourism must be developed differently from those of other South-East Asian countries in order to strategically promote the cash-cow medical tourism industry. In order to develop such medical tourism, Korean medical practice, which integrates Western and Oriental medicine, is to be developed through mutual understanding and fusion of other disciplines among medical doctors and Oriental medical doctors who are working in local healthcare for health promotion of local residents and disease prevention and control. This will play a key role in developing a unique medical tourism product of Korea by means of strategic alliances as an integrated medicine. Manpower specialized for integrated medicine is to be specially supplied for Oriental medicine-related business lines at city, county and borough levels, among local governments, that are enthusiastically carrying forward Oriental medical tourism with an interest to promoting more active and strategic business development and raise the effectiveness and efficiency of public health centers handling related medical tourism. Manpower specialized for Korean integrated medical tourism is to be specially supplied for the Ministry of Culture, Health and Tourism, a policy control tower to develop and vitalize high value-added fusion (theme) tourism products such as the Korean integrated medical tourism, in order to discover, promote and support Korean integrated medical tourism's differences from existing medical tourism. Conclusions: The differentiated integrated medical tourism that only Korea can offer in a variety of forms, in order to create a key area of high value-added medical tourism, should be strategically vitalized through a liaison between integrated medicine and tourism and the realization of patient-centered health care services with medical technology developed based on mutual understanding of Western and Oriental medicine.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2019.09a
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• pp.5-5
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• 2019

The objectives of this paper are (i) to analyze past trends and future directions of rice production, consumption and trade across the world and (ii) to discuss emerging challenges and future directions in the global rice industry. Rice is a staple food of over half of the world's 7.7 billion people. It is an important economic, social, political, and cultural commodity in most Asian countries. Rice is the $1^{st}$ most widely consumed, $2^{nd}$ largely produced, and $3^{rd}$ most widely grown food crop in the world. It was cultivated by 144 million farms in over 100 countries with harvested area of over 163 million ha producing about 745 million tons paddy in 2018. About 90% of the total rice is produced in Asia. China and India, the biggest rice producers, account for over half of the world's rice production. Between 1960 and 2018, world rice production increased over threefold from 221 to 745 million tons (2.1% per year) due to area expansion from 120 to 163 million ha (0.5% per year) and paddy yield increase from 1.8 to 4.6 t/ha (1.6% per year). The Green Revolution led massive increase in rice production prevented famines, provided food for millions of people, reduced poverty and hunger, and improved livelihoods of millions of Asians. The future increase in rice production must come from yield increase as the scope for area expansion is limited. Rice is the most widely consumed food crop. The world's average per capita milled rice consumption is 64 kilograms providing 19% of daily calories. Asia accounted for 84% of global consumption followed by Africa (7%), South America (3%), and the Middle East (2%). Asia's per capita rice consumption is 100 kilograms per year providing 28% of daily calories. The global and Asian per capita consumption increased from the 1960s to the 1990s but stable afterward. The per capita rice consumption is expected to decline in Asia but increase outside Asia especially in Africa in the future. The total milled rice consumption was about 490 million tons in 2018 and projected to reach 550 million tons by 2030 and 590 million tons by 2040. Rice is thinly traded in international market because it is a highly protected commodity. Only about 9% of the total production is traded in global rice market. However, the volume of global rice trade has increased over six-fold from 7.5 to 46.5 million tons between the 1960s and 2018. A relatively small number of exporting countries interact with a large number of importing countries. The top five rice exporting countries are India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, and China accounting for 74% of the global rice export. The top five rice importing countries are China, Philippines, Nigeria, European Union and Saudi Arabia accounting for 26% of the global rice import. Within rice varieties, Japonica rice accounts for the highest share of the global rice trade (about 12%) followed by Basmati rice (about 10%). The high concentration of exports to a few countries makes international rice market vulnerable to supply disruptions in exporting countries, leading to higher world prices of rice. The export price of Thai 5% broken rice increased from 198 US$/ton in 2000 to 421 US$/ton in 2018. The volumes of trade and rice prices in the global market are expected to increase in the future. The major future challenges of the rice industry are increasing demand due to population growth, rising demand in Africa, economic growth and diet diversification, competition for natural resources (land and water), labor scarcity, climate change and natural hazards, poverty and inequality, hunger and malnutrition, urbanization, low income in rice farming, yield saturation, aging of farmers, feminization of agriculture, health and environmental concerns, improving value chains, and shifting donor priorities away from agriculture. At the same time, new opportunities are available due to access to new technologies, increased investment by the private sector, and increased global partnership. More investment in rice research and development is needed to develop and disseminate innovative technologies and practices to overcome problems and ensure food and nutrition security of the future population.

• CELLMED
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.19.1-19.32
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• 2013

Piper sarmentosum is a creeping herb belongs to the family of Piperaceae. It is locally known to the Malays as 'Pokok kadok' and can be found in different regions of South-East Asia including Malaysia. Ethnopharmacologically, various parts of the plant (e.g. leave, fruit and root) are widely used in Asian countries for centuries to treat different types of diseases and ailments such as hypertension, diabetes, joint aches, muscle pain, coughs, influenza, toothaches and rheumatism. Scientific findings also demonstrated different pharmacological actions of various parts of P. sarmentosum such as adulticidal, antitermite, antioxidant, antifungal, antituberclosis, antiplasmoid, antimalarial, hypoglycemia, antiinflammatory, antinoceptive, antipyretic, antibacterial, anticancer, antituberculosis, antiangiogenesis, antimicrobial, antifeedant and cytotoxic activities. Different types of phytochemical constituents have been successfully identified and isolated from various parts of P. sarmentosum. Therefore, the information related to the botany, ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemical constituents and pharmacological activities of P. sarmentosum were reviewed here.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.530-536
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• 2016

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The concept of "food deserts" has been widely used in Western countries as a framework to identify areas with constrained access to fresh and nutritious foods, providing guidelines for targeted nutrition and public health programs. Unlike the vast amount of literature on food deserts in a Western context, only a few studies have addressed the concept in an East Asian context, and none of them have investigated spatial patterns of unhealthy food consumption from a South Korean perspective. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We first evaluated the applicability of food deserts in a Korean setting and identified four Korean-specific unhealthy food consumption indicators, including insufficient food consumption due to financial difficulty, limited consumption of fruits and vegetables, excessive consumption of junk food, and excessive consumption of instant noodles. The KNHANES 2008-2012 data in Seoul were analyzed with stratified sampling weights to understand the trends and basic characteristics of these eating patterns in each category. GIS analyses were then conducted for the data spatially aggregated at the sub-district level in order to create maps identifying areas of concern regarding each of these indicators and their combinations. RESULTS: Despite significant reduction in the rate of food insufficiency due to financial difficulty, the rates of excessive consumption of unhealthy foods (junk food and instant noodles) as well as limited consumption of fruits and vegetables have increased or remained high. These patterns tend to be found among relatively younger and more educated groups, regardless of income status. CONCLUSIONS: A GIS-based analysis demonstrated several hotspots as potential "food deserts" tailored to the Korean context based on the observed spatial patterns of undesirable food consumption. These findings could be used as a guide to prioritize areas for targeted intervention programs to facilitate healthy food consumption behaviors and thus improve nutrition and food-related health outcomes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.1429-1441
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• 2010

This study examines the post-national trends of the $21^{st}$ century fashion that has embraced multiculturalism. This study conducted a literature view to explore the concept of multiculturalism and the background of post-national phenomena appearing in contemporary fashion. In addition, as a case study, the author used local and foreign fashion magazines and collections published between 2000 and 2009, in addition to other related materials available on the Internet. The objective was to analyze photographic materials in which post-national features are reflected. From this study, the post-national trends in $21^{st}$ century fashion that adopted multiculturalism are as follows: The first is that oriental culture is more actively embraced. In the past, the tendency of embracing the oriental culture was mainly developed with a focus on China and Japan, but recently the tendency has spread to Southeast Asian countries and national/ethnic minorities that include Mongolians and Tibetans that is present in more active ways that reflect oriental sentiment and philosophy as well as adopts simple images. Second, $21^{st}$ century fashion based on multiculturalism broadens the interest in the understanding of nations in the regions of Africa, Middle East, and South America and uses regional folk costumes or indigenous characteristics to create new things instead of staying within a fixed paradigm. Third, as horizontal transfer is involved in ways of looking at culture, $21^{st}$ century fashion shows a post-national tendency to use regional cultures and folk costumes of the occidental world that includes North and West Europe in addition to non-mainstream regions (as considered so far). Fourth, dress elements of many heterogeneous national cultures are combined to create multinational images difficult to define in terms of a specific national culture or clothing style.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.49-91
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• 2022

Recent years have witnessed renewed interest in Africa and public diplomacy has emerged as the vital tool being used to cultivate these relations. China has been leading in pursuing stronger economic partnership with Africa while middle powers such as Korea are also intensifying engagement with the continent. While previous studies have analyzed the implications of China's activities in Africa on advanced powers, none has examined them from the paradigm of middle powers. This study fills this gap by assessing China's activities in Africa, their economic engagement and implications for Korea's interest in Africa. The analysis is qualitative based on secondary data from various sources and literature. The study shows that China's public diplomacy strategy involves a high degree of innovation and has evolved to encompass new tools and audiences. China has institutionalized a cooperative model that permeates many aspects of governance institutions in Africa, enabling it to strengthen their relations. This could also be helping China to adjust faster leadership transitions in Africa. Whereas the US is still the most influential country in Africa, China is influential in economic policies and has outstripped the US in infrastructure diplomacy. This could be because African policy makers align more with China's economic model than the US' mainstream economics. Chinese aid to Africa has been diversified to social sectors that are more responsive to the needs of Africa. Trade and investment relations between China and Africa have deepened, but so does trade imbalance since 2010. China mainly imports natural resources and raw materials from Africa. But this product portfolio is not different from Korea and the US. China's energetic insertion in Africa using various strategies has significant implications for countries with ambitions in Africa. Korea can achieve its ambitions in Africa by focusing resources in areas it can leverage its core strengths-such as education and vocational training, environmental policy and development cooperation.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.95-104
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• 2016

The Silk Route in ancient times served as a link between the World's greatest civilizations and as a source of knowledge, art, religion and philosophy. This network of ancient caravan paths formed the first bridge between East and West, where two different civilizations came in contact with their respective cultural traditions and religious beliefs, as well as their scientific and technological achievements. One of the main routes of the Great Silk Route passed through the Karakoram, linking Kashgar with Kashmir and the Gandhara regions. The Karakoram Highway connects the Chinese province with Pakistan and follows the ancient Silk Route, which connected the Heartlands of Asia with the Western fringes and further beyond the entire continent of Europe. Evidences of the history of humankind, ranging from Pre-historic times to the spread of Buddhism from South Asia to China and the Far East, is depicted in the rocky cliffs on the waysides and on rough boulders scattered in the upper valley of the Indus River and its tributaries. The ancient trade routes also carried scholars, teachers, missionaries and monks of different beliefs and practices, who met and exchanged ideas. The Buddhists as well as Zoroastrians and other missionaries all followed the Silk Route, leaving permanent footprints of their passage. The ancient greater Gandhara is situated in the North-West of the Indian Sub-continent, with the steep mountain ranges of the Karakoram, the Pamir and the Hindu-Kush bordering it and the dry areas of Central Asia to its rear. A number of races from Central Asia migrated to Gandhara because of its mild climate and plentiful farm products and fruits. This area was an entry point of Western Culture into India and at the same times the exit point of Indian Culture, including Buddhism, to the West. In Gandhara, the diffusion of different cultures developed an art form, during the 1-7th centuries CE commonly known after its geographic name as "Gandhara Art". The Buddhism's route of introduction into China originated in Gandhara, then reached in Korea and Japan and other countries. The fame of Gandhara however, rested on its capital, "Taxila" which was a great centre of learning. From the time of the Achaemenians, down through Muslim period, Gandhara continued to establish and maintain a link between East & West, as shown by material evidences recovered from Taxila and other Buddhist centres of Gandhara during the course of archaeological excavations.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.3335-3340
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• 2016

Background: Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is a precancerous condition with a 4 to13% malignant transformation rate. Related to the habit of areca nut chewing it is mainly prevalent in South-east Asian countries where the habit of betel quid chewing is frequently practised. On chewing, alkaloids and polyphenols are released which undergo nitrosation and give rise to N-nitrosamines which are cytotoxic agents. CYP450 is a microsomal enzyme group which metabolizes various endogenous and exogenous chemicals including those released by areca nut chewing. CYP1A1 plays a central role in metabolic activation of these xenobiotics, whereas CYP2E1 metabolizes nitrosamines and tannins. Polymorphisms in genes that code for these enzymes may alter their expression or function and may therefore affect an individuals susceptibility regarding OSF and oral cancer. The present study was therefore undertaken to investigate the association of polymorphisms in CYP1A1 m2 and CYP2E1 (RsaI/PstI) sites with risk of OSF among areca nut chewers in the Northern India population. A total of 95 histopathologically confirmed cases of OSF with history of areca nut chewing not less than 1 year and 80, age and sex matched controls without any clinical signs and symptoms of OSF with areca nut chewing habit not less than 1 year were enrolled. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples and polymorphisms were analyzed by PCR-RFLP method. Gene polymorphism of CYP1A1 at NcoI site was observed to be significantly higher (p = 0.016) in cases of OSF when compared to controls. Association of CYP1A1 gene polymorphism at NcoI site and the risk of OSF (Odd's Ratio = 2.275) was also observed to be significant. However, no such association was observed for the CYP2E1 gene polymorphism (Odd's Ratio = 0.815). Our results suggest that the CYP1A1 gene polymorphism at the NcoI site confers an increased risk for OSF.