• Title/Summary/Keyword: Temperature dependency

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Drug Delivery into the Blood-Brain Barrier by Endogenous Substances-A Role of Amine and Monocarboxylic Acid Carrier Systems for the Drug Transport- (내인성물질의 수송계를 이용한 혈액-뇌관문에의 약물송달V-약물의 혈액-뇌관문 투과성에 대한 염기성 아민 및 모노카르본산 수송계의 역할-)

  • Kang, Young-Sook
    • Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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    • v.20 no.4
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    • pp.223-228
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    • 1990
  • The contribution of endogenous transport systems to the blood-brain barrier (BBB) transport of basic and acidic drugs was studied by using a carotid injection technique in rats and an isolated bovine cerebrovascular disease state were compared between the normotensive rats (WKY) and stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP) which have been well established as an animal model with pathogenic similarities to humans. Basic drugs such as eperisone, thiamine and scopolamine inhibited, in a concentration dependent manner the in vivo uptake of $[{^3}H]choline$ through BBB, whereas amino acids and acidic drugs such as salicylic acid and valproic acid did not inhibit the uptake. The uptake of $[^3H]choline$ by B-CAP increased with time and showed a remarkable temperature dependency. The uptake of $[^3H]choline$ by B-CAP showed the very similar inhibitory effects as observed in the in vivo brain uptake, and was competitively inhibited by a basic drug, eperisone. The in vivo BBB uptakes of $[^3H]acetic$ acid and $[^{14}C]salicylic$ acid were dependent on pH of the injectate and the concentration of drugs. Several acidic drugs such such as salicylic acid, benzoic acid and valproic acid inhibited the in vivo uptake of $[^3H]acetic$ acid, whereas amino acid, choline and a basic drug such as eperisone did not inhibit the uptake. The uptake of acetic acid by B-CAP was competitively inhibited by salicylic acid. The permeability surface area product (PS) through BBB for $[^3H]choline$ in SHRSP was significantly lower than that in WKY. The concentration of choline in the brain dialysate in SHRSP was about half of that in WKY, while no significant difference was observed in the plasma concentration of choline between SHRSP and WKY. No significant difference was observed in the transport of monocarboxylic acids, glucose and neutral amino acid through BBB between SHRSP and WKY. From these results, it was concluded that BBB transport system of choline contributes to the transport of basic drugs through BBB, that acidic drugs can be transported via a moncarboxylic acid BBB transport system and that the specific dysfuntion of the BBB choline transport in SHRSP was ascribed to the reduction of the maximum velocity of choline concentration in the brain interstitial fluids.

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A Study on the Migration of Heavy Metals from Polycarbonate Food Contact Materials Using an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) (식품용 폴리카보네이트 기구류 중 ICP-MS를 이용한 중금속 이행량 조사)

  • Park, Se-Jong;Park, So-Ra;Kim, MeeKyung;Choi, Jae Chun
    • KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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    • v.24 no.3
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    • pp.107-112
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    • 2018
  • The purpose of this study was to investigate the migration levels of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) from polycarbonate food contact materials into food simulant at different temperatures ($70^{\circ}C$ and $100^{\circ}C$). The method was validated by linearity of calibration curves, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), recovery, precision and uncertainty. All of 200 samples, including bottles, cups, containers, ladles, spoons and tongs were purchased from domestic markets and analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Mean concentrations of positive samples were higher at $100^{\circ}C$ than $70^{\circ}C$ as showing a dependency of migration temperature. The migration concentrations ranged from not-detected (ND) to $4.67{\mu}g/L$, ND to $0.49{\mu}g/L$L and ND to $2.91{\mu}g/L$ for Pb, Cd and As, respectively, which were far below the migration limits of Korea standards and specifications for food utensils, containers and packages.

Early Changes after Death of Plaice, Paralichthys olivaceus Muscle -2. Temperature Dependency on Physicochemical and Rheological Properties- (넙치(Paralichthys olivaceus)육의 사후 조기 변화 -2. 물리 화학적 및 물성적 특성의 온도 의존성-)

  • CHO Young-Je;KIM Yuck-Yong
    • Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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    • v.26 no.1
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    • pp.1-7
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    • 1993
  • To clarify the effect of storage temperature on the physicochemical and rheological properties of plaice, Paralichthys olivaceus muscle, the changes in IMP accumulation rates, rigor index, breaking strength and K-value of muscle during storage at $0^{\circ},\;5^{\circ}C$ and $10^{\circ}C$ were studied. The maximum speed and content of IMP accumulation were showed in sample stored at $0^{\circ}C$ among the all samples. The content and time reached around the maximum IMP accumulation for each samples were $6.94{\mu}mole/g$ and 30hrs for samples stored at $0^{\circ}C,\;6.30{\mu}mole/g$ and 31.5hrs for $5^{\circ}C$ samples and $5.40{\mu}mole/g$ and 45hrs for $10^{\circ}C$ samples, respectively. Values of breaking strength in sample stored at $5^{\circ}C$ increased rapidly than samples at $0^{\circ}C$ showed maximum values after 10hrs. However, In case of fresh flesh stored at $10^{\circ}C$, there was no increase of breaking strength during storage. The breaking strength was not closely related with rigor index. The times reached around $5\%$ K-value which is representative excellent freshness index of sashimi were 14hrs for samples stored at $0^{\circ}C$, 13hrs for $5^{\circ}C$ samples and 4hrs for $10^{\circ}C$ samples. From the results above, it was suggested that the storage at low temperature($10^{\circ}C{\sim}5^{\circ}C$) was effective in increase the IMP contents and breaking strength, and maintenance the high-freshness of fresh plaice flesh at early periods after death.

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A Study on Sea Water and Ocean Current in the Sea Adjacent to Korea Peninsula -The Vertical Structure of Temperatures in the East Sea of Korea- (한반도 근해의 해류 및 해수특성 -한국 동해의 수온의 수직구조-)

  • NA Jung-Yul;LEE Seong-Wook;CHO Kyu-Dae
    • Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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    • v.24 no.4
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    • pp.215-228
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    • 1991
  • In the East Sea of Korea the vertical structure functions of the temperature field were evaluated and the characteristic thermal zone was classified by the use of the empirical orthogonal function(EOF) method. The East Sea of Korea within the hydrographic lines of 10-107 of the Fisheries Research and Development Agency of Korea(FRDA) can be divided into three thermal regions by the characteristics of the vertical temperature variability. They are the North Korean Cold Current(NKCC) region near the coast which extends parallel to the north-south direction, the Warm-Core(WC) region which dominates almost all the hydrographic stations of the Line 104 of the FRDA and occupies a few stations of the Line-103 and -105 with its axis at the Line 104, and the East Korea Warm Current(EKWC) region which is bisected into the northern and the southern part by the WC region, respectively. Considering the two most important modes, $85.20-98.20\%$ of the total variance of temperature variation are explained in the NKCC region, $85.20-92.90\%$ in the EKWC region, and$85.50-91.70\%$ in the WC region. The first mode has its peak value at the surface with the annual cycle of variation. The spatial pattern of the first mode portrays a coherent vertical variation in the EKWC region and a clear anti-correlation both in the NKCC region and in the WC region where the zero-crossing depths are loom and 200m, respectively. The second mode of the NKCC region is particularly noticeable, haying its peak at loom with coherent vertical variation. To study the time dependency of the vertical structure functions, the extended EOF(EEOF) method was used. The persistence of the first mode is less than 4 months in the study area. The annual variation of the first mode in the NKCC region is different from those in the WC region and in the EKWC region.

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Characteristics of Anion Exchange Measured by the Rate of Hemolysis in Human Erythrocyte (사람의 적혈구에서 용혈성을 이용하여 측정한 음이온 교환특성)

  • Woo, Jae-Suk;Kim, Yong-Keun;Hwang, Il-Yong
    • The Korean Journal of Physiology
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    • v.20 no.2
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    • pp.218-224
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    • 1986
  • The characteristics of anion exchange with internal $HCO_3\;^{-}\;(or\;OH^-)$ was studied by determining the time course of hemolysis in isoosmotic ammonium salt solution in human erythrocytes. The effects of inhibitors, pH and temperature on the exchange between internal $HCO_3\;^-\;(or\;OH^-)$ and external $Cl^-$ were observed and the permeabilities of various organic and inorganic anions were also measured. The results were compared with data previously reported from the experiments using radioisotopes. The results are as follows; 1) SITS $H_2DIDS$ and furosemide inhibited the hemolysis of erythrocytes in isoosmotic $NH_4Cl$ solution in a dose·dependent manner, and the concentrations for lengthening twice the time for $half-hemloysis(t_{1/2})\;were\;2.3{\times}10^{-7},\;1.3{\times}10^{-7}\;and\;2.5{\times}10^{-5}M$, respectively. 2) Acetazolamide also shifted the time-dependent hemolytic curve to the right in a dose-dependent manner, and the concentrations for lengthening twice $t_{1/2}\;was\;2.4{\times}10^{-5}M$. 3) The time-dependent hemolysis was delayed by decreasing pH from 7.0 to 6.2, but w·as not affected by the change of pH in the range of 7.0 to 8.2. 4) The time for $half-hemloysis(t_{1/2})$ showed a temperature-dependency and Arrhenius plot exhibited a break point at $20^{\circ}C$. The apparent activation energy calculated from this plot was 18.1 kcal/mol between $2^{\circ}C-20^{\circ}C$ and 11.2 kcal/mol between $20^{\circ}C-37^{\circ}C$, respectively. 5) The apparent permeabilities of various inorganic anions based on $t_{1/2}$ were in the order of $Cl^->NO_{3}\;^->SCN^->SO_4\;^{2-}>SSO_3\;^{2-}>HPO_4\;^{2-}$. which was similar with the previous reports based on the experiment using radioisotopes. The results Obtained from this study are comparable with the previous data reported from the experiments using radioisotopes. This indicates that the hemolysis of erythrocytes in isoosmotic ammonium salt solution can be used as a simple and good method for the study of anion exchange in erythrocyte membrane.

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Interface Reaction of Molten Converter Slag and Sintered CaO Pellet (용융 전로슬래그와 소결 CaO 펠렛 사이의 계면반응)

  • Kim Yaung-Hwan;Ko In-Yang
    • Resources Recycling
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    • v.13 no.1
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    • pp.47-53
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    • 2004
  • As a basic study of the re-using molten converter slag as an ordinary portland cement by conversion process, molten slag and sintered CaO pellet was reacted each other. The dissolution rate of the sintered CaO pellet into the molten slag was measured and the changes of the reaction layer was also investigated. The converter slag reagent-grade $SiO_2$ added was melted and hold for 30 minutes in MgO crucible between $1350∼1500 ^{\circ}C$. Then sintered CaO pellet heated at the same temperature was dipped into the molten slag and hold for 10∼30 min. After the reaction, the crucible was cooled in air and the specimen was cut off to the horizontal direction of the crucible. The dissolution rate of CaO pellet was measured by the change of the radius of sintered CaO pellet and the interface layer was observed by SEM/EDX and XRD. The dissolution rate of sintered CaO pellet contacted with the slag of basicity 1 was 9.8 $\mu\textrm{m}$/min at $1350^{\circ}C$ and increased to 18.0 $\mu\textrm{m}$/min at $1500^{\circ}C$. The rate was slightly decreased to 7.6 $\mu\textrm{m}$/min at $1350^{\circ}C$ and 15.0 $\mu\textrm{m}$/min at $V^{\circ}C$ in the slag of basicity 2. The dissolution rate of CaO in converter slag was followed to the rule of Arrhenius' temperature dependency, and the apparent activation energy of the dissolution of CaO was 36 kcal/mole. In case of the slag basicity of 1, the thickness of $C_2$S layer was 64-118 $\mu\textrm{m}$ and the thickness of $C_3$S was 28∼90 $\mu\textrm{m}$ for 10∼30 minutes at $1500^{\circ}C$. And the thickness of the $C_3$S layer was 90∼120 $\mu\textrm{m}$ at the same conditions in the slag basicity of 2.

Effects of Boliing, Steaming, and Chemical Treatment on Solid Wood Bending of Quercus acutissima Carr. and Pinus densiflora S. et. Z. (자비(煮沸), 증자(蒸煮) 및 약제처리(藥劑處理)가 상수리나무와 소나무의 휨가공성(加工性)에 미치는 영향(影響))

  • So, Won-Tek
    • Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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    • v.13 no.1
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    • pp.19-62
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    • 1985
  • This study was performed to investigate: (i) the bending processing properties of silk worm oak (Quercus acutissima Carr.) and Korean red pine (Pinus densiflora S. et Z.) by boiling and steaming treatments; (ii) the effects of interrelated factors - sapwood and heartwood, annual ring placement, softening temperature and time, moisture content. and wood defects on bending processing properties; (iii) the changing rates of bending radii after release from a tension strap, and (iv) the improving methods of bending process by treatment with chemicals. The size of specimens tested was $15{\times}15{\times}350mm$ for boiling and steaming treatments and $5{\times}10{\times}200mm$ for treatments with chemicals. The specimens were green for boiling treatments and dried to 15 percent for steaming treatments. The specimens for treatments with chemicals were soaked in saturated urea solution, 35 percent formaldehyde solution, 25 percent polyethylene glycol -400 solution, and 25 percent ammonium hydroxide solution for 5 days and immediately followed the bending process, respectively. The results obtained were as follows: 1. The internal temperature of silk worm oak and Korean red pine by boiling and steaming time was raised slowly to $30^{\circ}C$ but rapidly from $30^{\circ}C$ to $80-90^{\circ}C$ and then slowly from $80-90^{\circ}C$ to $100^{\circ}C$. 2. The softening time required to the final temperature was directly proportional to the thickness of specimen. The time required from $25^{\circ}C$ to $100^{\circ}C$ for 15mm-squared specimen was 9.6-11.2 minutes in silk worm oak and 7.6-8.1 minutes in Korean red pine. 3. The moisture content (M.C.) of specimen by steaming time was increased rapidly first 4 minutes in the both species, and moderately from 4 to 20 minutes and then slowly and constantly in silk worm oak, and moderately from 4 to 15 minutes and then slowly and constantly in Korean red pine. The M.C. of 15mm-squared specimen in 50 minutes of steaming was increased to 18.0 percent in the oak and 22.4 percent in the pine from the initial conditioned M.C. of 15 percent The rate of moisture adsorption measured was therefore faster in the pine than in the oak. 4. The mechanical properties of the both species were decreased significantly with the increase of boiling rime. The decrement by the boiling treatment for 60 minutes was measured to 36.6-45.0 percent in compressive strength, 12.5-17.5 percent in tensile strength, 31.6-40.9 percent in modulus of rupture, and 23.3-34.6 percent in modulus of elasticity. 5. The minimum bending radius (M.B.R.) of sapwood and heartwood was 60-80 mm and 90 mm in silk worm oak, and 260 - 300 mm and 280 - 300 mm in Korean red pine, respectively. Therefore, the both species showed better bending processing properties in sapwood than in heartwood. 6. The M.B.R. of edge-grained and flat-grained specimen in suk worm oak was 60-80 mm, but the M.B.R. in Korean red pine was 240-280 mm and 260-360 mm, respectively. Comparing the M.B.R. of edge-grained with flat-grained specimen, in the pine the edge-grained showed better bending processing property than the flat-grained. 7. The bending processing properties of the both species were improved by the rising of softening temperature from $40^{\circ}C$ to $100^{\circ}C$. The minimum softening temperature for bending was $90^{\circ}C$ in silk worm oak and $80^{\circ}C$ in Korean red pine, and the dependency of softening temperature for bending was therefore higher in the oak than in the pine. 8. The bending processing properties of the both species were improved by the increase of softening time as well as temperature, but even after the internal temperature of specimen reaching to the final temperature, somewhat prolonged softening was required to obtain the best plastic conditions. The minimum softening time for bending of 15 mm-squared silk worm oak and Korean red pine specimen was 15 and 10 minutes in the boiling treatment, and 30 and 20 minutes in the steaming treatment, respectively. 9. The optimum M.C. for bending of silk worm oak was 20 percent, and the M.C. above fiber saturation point rather degraded the bending processing property, whereas the optimum M.C. of Korean red pine needed to be above 30 percent. 10. The bending works in the optimum conditions obtained as seen in Table 24 showed that the M.B.R. of silk worm oak and Korean red pine was 80 mm and 240 mm in the boiling treatment, and 50 mm and 280 mm in the steaming treatment, respectively. Therefore, the bending processing property of the oak was better in the steaming than in the boiling treatment, but that of the pine better in the boiling than in the steaming treatment. 11. In the bending without a tension strap, the radio r/t of the minimum bending radius t to the thickness t of silk worm oak and Korean red pine specimen amounted to 16.0 and 21.3 in the boiling treatment, and 17.3 and 24.0 in the steaming treatment, respectively. But in the bending with a tension strap, the r/t of the oak and the pine specimen decreased to 5.3 and 16.0 in t he boiling treatment, and 3.3 and 18.7 in the steaming treatment, respectively. Therefore, the bending processing properties of the both species were significantly improved by the strap. 12. The effect of pin knot on the degradation of bending processing property was very severe in silk worm oak by side, e.g. 90 percent of the oak specimens with pin knot on the concave side were ruptured when bent to a 100 mm radius but only 10 percent of the other specimens with pin knot on the convex side were ruptured. 13. The changing rate in the bending radius of specimen bent to a 300 mm radius after 30 days of exposure to room temperature conditions was measured to 4.0-10.3 percent in the boiling treatment and 13,0-15.0 percent in the steaming treatment. Therefore, the degree of spring back after release was higher in the steaming than in the boiling treatment. And the changing rate of moisture-proofing treated specimen by expoxy resin coating was only -1.0.0 percent. 14. Formaldehyde, 35 percent solution, and 25 percent polyethylene glycol-400 solution found no effect on the plasticization of the both species, but saturated urea solution and 25 percent ammonium hydroxide solution found significant effect in comparison to non-treated specimen. But the effect of the treatment with chemicals alone was inferior to that of the steaming treatment, and the steaming treatment after the treatment with chemicals improved 10-24 percent over the bending processing property of steam-bent specimen. 15. Three plasticity coefficients - load-strain coefficient, strain coefficient, and energy coefficient - were evaluated to be appropriate for the index of bending processing property because the coefficients had highly significant correlation with the bending radius. The fitness of the coefficients as the index was good at load-strain coefficient, energy coefficient, and strain coefficient, in order.

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A study on the improvement of distribution system by overseas agricultural investment (해외농업투자에 따른 유통체계 개선방안에 관한 연구)

  • Sun, Il-Suck;Lee, Dong-Ok
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.8 no.3
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    • pp.17-26
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    • 2010
  • Recently concerns have been raised due to the unbalanced supply of crops: the price of crops has been unstable and at one point the price went up so high that the word Agflation(agriculture+ inflation) was coined. Korea, in particular, is a small-sized country and needs to secure the stable supply of crops by investing in the produce importation at a national level. Investment in foreign produce importation is becoming more important as a measure for sufficient supply of crops, limited supply of domestic crops, weakened farming conditions worldwide, as well as recent changes in the use of crops due to the development of bio-fuels, influence of carbon emission on crops, the price increase in crops, and influx of foreign hot money. However, there are many problems with investing in foreign produce importation: lack of support from the government; lack of farming information and technology; difficulty in securing the capital; no immediate pay-off from the investment and insufficient management. Although foreign produce is originally more price-competitive than domestic produce, it loses its competiveness in the process of importation (due to high tariffs) and poor distribution system, which makes it difficult to sell in Korea. Therefore, investment in foreign produce importation is being questioned for feasibility; to make it possible, foreign produce must maintain the price-competitiveness. Especially, harvest of agricultural products depends on natural and geographical conditions of each country and those products have indigenous properties, so distribution system according to import and export of agricultural products should be treated more carefully than that of other industries. Distribution costs are differentiated into each item and include cost of sorting and wrapping, cost of wrapping materials, cost of domestic transport, cost of international transport and cost of clearing customs for import and export. So transporting and storing agricultural products generates considerable costs compared with other products. Also, due to upgrade of dietary life, needs for stability, taste and visible quality toward food including agricultural products are being raised and wrong way of storage causes decomposition of food and loss of freshness, making the storage more difficult than that in room temperature, so storage and transport in distribution of agricultural products needs specialty. In addition, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. However, existing distribution system of agricultural products is exposed to various problems including problems in distribution channel, making distribution and strategy for distribution and those problems are as follows. First, in case of investment in overseas agricultural industry, stable supply of the products is difficult because areas of production are dispersed widely and influenced by outer factors due to including overseas distribution channels. Also, at the aspect of quality, standardization of products is difficult, distribution system is quite complicated and unreasonable due to long distribution channels according to international trade and financial and institutional support is not enough. Especially, there are quite a lot of ineffective factors including multi level distribution process, dramatic gap between production cost and customer's cost, lack of physical distribution facilities and difficulties in storage and transport due to lack of wrapping containers. Besides, because import and export of agricultural products has been manages under the company's own distribution according to transaction contract between manufacturers and exporting company, efficiency is low due to excessive investment in fixed costs and lack of specialty in dealing with agricultural products causes fall of value of products, showing the limit to lose price-competitiveness. Especially, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. Second, among tangible and intangible services which promote the efficiency of the whole distribution, a function building distribution environment which includes distribution information, system for standard and inspection, distribution finance, system for diversification of risks, education and training, distribution administration and tax system is wanted. In general, such a function building distribution environment is difficult to be changed and supplement innovatively because its effect compared with investment does not appear immediately despite of its necessity. Especially, in case of distribution of agricultural products, as a function of collecting and distributing is performed individually through various channels, the importance of distribution information and standardization is getting more focus due to the problem of repetition of work and lack of specialty. Also, efficient management of distribution is quite difficult due to lack of professionals in distribution, so support to professional education is needed. Third, though effort to keep self-sufficiency ratio of staple food, rice is regarded as important at the government level, level of dependency on overseas of others crops is high. Therefore, plan for stable securing food resources aside from staple food is also necessary. Especially, governmental organizations of agricultural products distribution in Korea are production-centered and have unreasonable structure whose function at the aspect of distribution and consumption is quite insufficient. And development of new distribution channels which can deal with changes in distribution environment and they do not achieve actual results of strategy for distribution due to non-positive strategy for price distribution. That is, it implies the possibility that base for supply will become vulnerable because it does not mediate appropriate interests on total distribution channels such as manufacturers, wholesale dealers and vendors by emphasizing consumer protection excessively in the distribution of agricultural products. Therefore, this study examined fundamental concept and actual situation for our investment to overseas agriculture, drew necessities, considerations, problems, etc. of overseas agricultural investment and suggested improvements at the level of distribution for price competitiveness of agricultural products cultivated in overseas under five aspects; government's indirect support, distribution's modernization and distribution information function's strengthening, government's political support for distribution facility, transportation route, load and unloading works' improvement, price competitiveness' securing, professional manpower's cultivation by education and training, etc. Here are some suggestions for foreign produce importation. First, the government should conduct a survey on the current distribution channels and analyze the situation to establish a measure for long-term development plans. By providing each agricultural area with a guideline for planning appropriate production of crops, the government can help farmers be ready for importation, and prevent them from producing same crops all at the same time. Government can sign an MOU with the foreign government and promote the importation so that the development of agricultural resources can be stable and steady. Second, the government can establish a strategy for an effective distribution system by providing farmers and agriculture-related workers with the distribution information such as price, production, demand, market structure and location, feature of each crop, and etc. In order for such distribution system to become feasible, the government needs to reconstruct the current distribution system, designate a public organization for providing distribution information and set the criteria for level of produce quality, trade units, and package units. Third, the government should provide financial support and a policy to seek an efficient distribution channel for foreign produce to be delivered fresh: the government should expand distribution facilities (for selecting, packaging, storing, and processing) and transportation vehicles while modernizing old facilities. There should be another policy to improve the efficiency of unloading, and to lower the cost of distribution. Fourth, it is necessary to enact a new law covering exceptional cases for importing produce in order to maintain the price competitiveness; currently the high tariffs is keeping the imported produce from being distributed domestically. However, the new adjustment should be made carefully within the WTO regulations since it can create a problem from giving preferential tariffs. The government can also simplify the distribution channels in order to reduce the cost in the distribution process. Fifth, the government should educate distributors to raise the efficiency and to modernize the distribution system. It is necessary to develop human resources by educating people regarding the foreign agricultural environment, the produce quality, management skills, and by introducing some successful cases in advanced countries.

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