• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.206-217
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The immunomodulatory effect of Platycodon grandiflorum (PG) has been reported, but studies on its mechanism are still lacking. This study was undertaken to confirm whether the hydrolyzed and fermented PG extract (HFPGE) obtained by adding hydrolysis and fermentation to the extraction process has an immune-enhancing effect in the in vivo system. MATERIALS/METHODS: Five-week-old BALB/c mice were divided into 4 groups: normal control group (NOR), control group (CON), 150 mg/kg body weight (BW)/day HFPGE-treated group (T150), and 300 mg/kg BW/day HFPGE-treated group (T300). The mice were administered HFPGE for 4 weeks and intraperitoneally injected with cyclophosphamide (CPA, 80 mg/kg BW/day) on day 6, 7, and 8, respectively, to induce immunosuppression. The levels of immunoglobulins (Igs) and cytokines were measured in the serum. In splenocytes, proliferation and cytokine levels were measured. RESULTS: Serum IgA, IgG, and IgM levels were observed to decrease after CPA treatment, which was recovered by HFPGE administration. The levels of serum interleukin (IL)-12, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-8, and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β were also decreased after exposure to CPA but increased after HFPGE administration. Decreased splenocyte proliferation was seen in CPA-treated mice, but was observed to increase in the T150 and T300 groups as compared to the NOR group. Compared to the CON group, splenocyte proliferation stimulated with concanavalin A (ConA) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the HFPGE-treated groups was significantly increased. The cytokines secreted by ConA-stimulated splenocytes (IL-2, IL-12, interferon-γ, TNF-α) were increased in the T150 and T300 groups, and cytokines secreted by LPS-stimulated splenocytes (IL-4, IL-8, TGF-β) were also increased by HFPGE administration. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that HFPGE stimulates the immunity in immunosuppressed conditions, thereby enhancing the immune response. Therefore, it is expected that HFPGE has the potential to be used as functional food and medicine for immune recovery in various immunocompromised situations.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.35-51
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• 2003

This study purports to develop a quality assessment tool for the process of health promotion programs at public health centers(PHC). The draft of the assessment tool developed by the literature was distributed to 242 staffs who were in charge of the health promotion programs at PHCs for evaluating the feasibility of the tool on September and October 2002. The major results of the study were as follows; The quality assessment tool developed in the study consisted of four domains: strategic planning, program management, monitoring and evaluation, and resources and information. The strategic planning dealt with the function of the planning staff and committees, community data analysis, the feasibility of the program, and the approach methods for attaining the goal of the program. The program management included the items on the qualification and power of the program staff. The monitoring and evaluation included the items on the reporting and communication among program units, and feed back after monitoring. Finally, the resources and information dealt with community networking, clients' response, and consulting activity of the staff. The validity of the tools was tested and partly supported by both formative and criterion-related methods. The assessment tools developed in this study could be used by health promotion workers in the self-evaluation of the program quality. In conclusion, the quality assessment tool developed in the study will be a good safeguard for assuring the quality of the process of health promotion programs.

• The Journal of Information Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.65-79
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• 2006

e-Marketplace is a business concept which is importantly considered in the area of marketing. e-Marketplace provides the public field in which multi-purchasers can efficiently trade with multi-suppliers. Supply Chain Management(SCM) is being widely acknowledged by the development of information technology. SCM is well known as one of the key issues lately. The complexity of supply chains and the associated potential opportunities for gaining a competitive edge by designing a product and process to support supply chain management can be significant. In order to achieve successful implementation of supply chain management system, companies should understand some barriers in implementation and set up effective and integrated information system. Standardization of logistics is needed through the unification of EDI, Bar Code, Pallet and so on. It's effect is magnified on Efficient Consumer Response such as efficient store assortment, efficient replenishment, efficient promotion and efficient product introduction. International logistics management is the integration of key business processes from original suppliers to end user that provides products, services and information that add value for customers. e-Logistics is being used in managing the international logistics. In this study, three basic e-SCM models for the strategic implementation of supply chain management are suggested. Among them, the virtual company can be the best one we can develop in order to cope with the individualized customer needs.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.267-283
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• 2019

This study analyzes how the port connectivity network has changed with the restructuring of the liner shipping alliance and explores the impact of these changes on network characteristics using social network analysis (SNA). While due to economies of scale, the scale of ports and liner shipping has expanded, the goal of shipping companies has changed to achieve cost-effectiveness due to the diseconomies of scale. Such changes in the environment have greatly affected ports according to the strategies of major liner alliances, and port centrality has shifted in response to restructuring in strategic alliances. This research confirmed that port centrality has continuously changed, and the reason for this phenomenon was analyzed through the derived main network centrality indices. This finding provides significant implications for port authorities and terminal operators to consider different perspectives when planning for sustainable growth and management.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.55-72
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• 2020

Purpose - In this paper, we provide recommendations for Korea's long-term direction and strategic measures to attract inward foreign direct investment (FDI) in response to Japan's export regulations. In doing so, we analyze the current situation and characteristics of trade between Korea and Japan, focusing on the parts and materials industry, which is particularly affected by Japan's trade regulations. Design/methodology - Based on the analysis of five successful inward FDI cases (e.g. Toray, IGK, Delkor, GlobalWafers, DuPont) and statistic trend review in the parts and materials industry, we consider various factors pertaining to successful inward FDI in Korea and propose valuable investment attraction strategies. Findings - For a successful investment attraction strategy, we studied some statistical trends in the internal and external environments of the parts and materials industry and successful investment attraction cases in Korea. We have found that in order to increase the probability of success in attracting investment, we need a mid-to long-term strategy considering multiple factors such as "Production-oriented, Demand-linked, Global Value Chain (VGC) linked, and Policy-linked investment attraction." Originality/value - We suggest several specific measures and important strategic implications for the Korean government and firm's managers to attract inward FDI successfully.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.110-134
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• 2023

North Korea's development and deployment of nuclear weapons increases Pyongyang's diplomatic bargaining leverage. It is a strategic response to counteract the great expansion in US leverage with the collapse of the USSR. Post-Cold War American influence and hegemony is justified partly by claiming victory in successfully containing an allegedly imperialist Soviet Union. The US created and led formal and informal international institutions as part of its decades-long containment grand strategy against the USSR. The US now exploits these institutions to expedite US unilateral global preeminence. Third World regimes perceived as remnants of the Cold War era that resist accommodating to American demands are stereotyped as rogue states. Rogue regimes are criminal offenders who should be brought to justice, i.e. regime change is required. The initiation of summit diplomacy between US President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un occurred following the January 2018 Hawaiian ballistic missile false alarm. This event and its political consequences illustrate the efficacy of nuclear weapons as bargaining leverage for so-called rogue actors. North Korea is highly unlikely to surrender those weapons that were the instigation for the subsequent summit diplomacy that occurred. A broader, critical trend-focused strategic analysis is necessary to adopt a longer-term view of the on-going Korean nuclear crisis. The aim would be to conceptualize long-term policies that increase the probability that nuclear weapons capability becomes a largely irrelevant issue in interaction between Pyongyang, Seoul, Beijing and Washington.

• Archives of design research
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.129-140
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• 1999

Few would disagree with the idea that product aesthetics can be a powerful design tool, because it is important strategic variable not only for design research but also for product design. Surprisingly, however, academic literatures in design field are relatively silent of empirical research on how product aesthetics may be assessed and how its influence measured on consumer response. This study explores the role of the aesthetic elements of product design in influencing consumer response. Specifically, The study reports a psychometric scale to measure consumer perceptions of the aesthetic dimensions of a specific class of product. (the perfume bottle) Although the present effort focused on perfume products, the role of aesthetics in the design of various product and packaging extends beyond the studied product categories.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.327-335
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• 2018

The current study challenges to suggest an umbrella strategy applied to different type of crisis, which is different from normative principle in crisis communication. The umbrella or comprehensive strategy in this study is identification framing. Identification framing is strategic message for organizational identification, which is close to social identification. The current study employed experimental design manipulating crisis types, crisis response types, and identification framing. The crisis types were internal versus external crisis, crisis responses were denial versus apology, and using identification framing $2{\times}2{\times}2$ factorial design were used. Two hundreds forty students participated in the experiment. The result showed the significant effectiveness of identification framing in different crisis types and crisis responses.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.461-475
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• 2021

Strategic structures are a potential target of the growing terrorist attacks, so their performance under explosion hazard has been paid attention by researchers in the last years. In this regard, the aim of this study is to evaluate the blast-resistance performance of lead-rubber bearing (LRB) base isolation system based on a probabilistic framework while uncertainties related to the charge weight and standoff distance have been taken into account. A sensitivity analysis is first performed to show the effect of explosion uncertainty on the response of base-isolated buildings. The blast fragility curve is then developed for three base-isolated steel moment-resisting buildings with different heights of 4, 8 and 12 stories. The results of sensitivity analysis show that although LRB has the capability of reducing the peak response of buildings under explosion hazard, this control system may lead to increase in the peak response of buildings under some explosion scenarios. This shows the high importance of probabilistic-based assessment of isolated structures under explosion hazard. The blast fragility analysis shows effective performance of LRB in mitigating the probability of failure of buildings. Therefore, LRB can be introduced as effective control system for the protection of buildings from explosion hazard regarding uncertainty effect.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to determine the issues of supplementation and improvement to prepare for the outbreak of new infectious diseases such as new variants of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to guide work for a strategic new response to infectious disease. Public officials of Jeju Special Self-governing Province and health personnel responding to COVID-19, working at six public health centers in Jeju-do region were administered a survey about additional preparations to be made in the future, based on the period when COVID-19 was treated legally as a first-class infectious disease. Frequency analysis was conducted on the collected data. The Likert 5-point scale and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to compare the scores for effective response to emerging infectious diseases according to demographics. Among the important factors identified for effective response to new infectious diseases, 'facilitation of cooperation with public institutions' and 'facilitation of cooperation with private institutions' had the highest scores. In the future, when a patient presents with a new infectious disease, the step that needs to be supplemented in each phase of the public health center's response is 'immediate response team operation'. Further, public health centers responded that 'expansion of dedicated personnel related to infectious diseases' needs to be improved to respond to new infectious diseases. Along with the results of this study, considering the difficulties experienced by health personnel responding to new infectious diseases in preparation for future outbreaks of new infectious diseases, and to respond effectively, detailed and clear guidelines for responding to quarantine of patients of new infectious diseases will be needed.