• Title/Summary/Keyword: agency factor

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Smoking Habits and Neuropeptides: Adiponectin, Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor, and Leptin Levels

  • Kim, Ki-Woong;Won, Yong Lim;Ko, Kyung Sun;Roh, Ji Won
    • Toxicological Research
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    • v.30 no.2
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    • pp.91-97
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    • 2014
  • This study aimed to identify changes in the level of neuropeptides among current smokers, former smokers, and individuals who had never smoked, and how smoking habits affect obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS). Neuropeptide levels, anthropometric parameters, and metabolic syndrome diagnostic indices were determined among male workers; 117 of these had never smoked, whereas 58 and 198 were former and current smokers, respectively. The total sample comprised 373 male workers. The results obtained from anthropometric measurements showed that current smokers attained significantly lower body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and abdominal fat thickness values than former smokers and those who had never smoked. Current smokers' eating habits proved worse than those of non-smokers and individuals who had never smoked. The level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the neuropeptides in the case of former smokers was $23.6{\pm}9.2pg/ml$, higher than that of current smokers ($20.4{\pm}6.1$) and individuals who had never smoked ($22.4{\pm}5.8$) (F = 6.520, p = 0.002). The level of adiponectin among former smokers was somewhat lower than that of current smokers, whereas leptin levels were higher among former smokers than current smokers; these results were not statistically significant. A relationship was found between adiponectin and triglyceride among non-smokers (odds ratio = 0.660, ${\beta}$ value=-0.416, p < 0.01) and smokers (odds ratio = 0.827, ${\beta}$ value=-0.190, p < 0.05). Further, waist circumference among non-smokers (odds ratio = 1.622, ${\beta}$ value=0.483, p < 0.001) and smokers (odds ratio = 1.895, ${\beta}$ value=0.639, p < 0.001) was associated with leptin. It was concluded that cigarette smoking leads to an imbalance of energy expenditure and appetite by changing the concentration of neuropeptides such as adiponectin, BDNF, leptin, and hsCRP, and influences food intake, body weight, the body mass index, blood pressure, and abdominal fat, which are risk factors for MetS and cardiovascular disease.

Organizational Factors Facilitating the Internationalization of Korean Franchising Companies (해외진출 국내 프랜차이즈기업의 조직특성)

  • Lim, Young-Kun;Lee, Dong-Whuy;Kim, Hee-Jung
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.19 no.2
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    • pp.40-52
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    • 2009
  • Franchising is one of the fastest growing types of business. It is already popular and well-known in the U.S., and has been growing in many other countries including Korea. Furthermore, many Korean franchising companies have expanded their business overseas actively. According to the data by the Ministry of Industry and Resource, 82 companies out of a sample of 500 franchising companies are already operating in many foreign countries and 48% of them have started their foreign business since 2006. This clearly indicates the fast growing current trend of foreign operation by Korean franchising companies. In spite of the fast growing trend of foreign expansion in the industry, academic research on internationalization of franchising companies is extremely difficult to find. Accordingly, academic research on the issue is necessary and urgent in Korea. Among the various research questions on internationalization of franchising business, this study intends to investigate the difference in organizational factors between the franchising companies doing foreign operation and those doing business only domestically. More specifically, this research has the following purposes. First, considering the lack of theoretical basis of previous studies, resource-based theory and agency theory are employed as the theoretical bases. Second, this study explains the difference in internationalization based on organizational factors such as company size, history and growth rate. Third, the five hypotheses regarding the difference in organizational factors are presented and tested empirically, which is the first attempt in the area of this topic. Finally, the study attempts to clarify the conflicting implications among theories regarding some organizational factos such as growth rate. As the theoretical background, resource-based theory and agency theory are discussed. According to resource-based theory, a firm can grow continuously when it has competence and resource, and also the ability to develop them. The competence and resource can include capital, human resource, management skill, market information, ability to manage risk, etc. Meanwhile, agency theory views the relationship between franchisor and franchisee as an agency relationship. In agency theory, bonding capability and monitoring capability are the two key factors which promote internationalization of franchising companies. Based on the two theories, a conceptual model is designed. The model consists of two groups of variables. One is organizational factors including size, history, growth rate, price bonding and geographic dispersion. The other is whether a franchising company is operating overseas or not. We developed the following five research hypotheses basically describing the relationship between organizational factors and internationalization of franchising companies. H1: The size of franchising companies operating overseas is larger than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H2: The history of franchising companies operating overseas is longer than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H3: The growth rate of franchising companies operating overseas is higher than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H4: The price bonding of franchising companies operating overseas is higher than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H5: The geographic dispersion of franchising companies operating overseas is wider than that of franchising companies operating domestically. Data for the analyses are obtained from 2005 Korea Franchise Survey data co-generated by Ministry of Industry and Resource, GS1 Korea, and Korea Franchise Association. Out of 2,804 population companies, 2,489 companies are excluded for various reasons and 315 companies are selected as the final sample. Prior to hypotheses tests, validity and reliability of the measures of size, history, growth rate and price bonding are examined for further analyses. Geographic dispersion is not validated since it is measured using nominal data. A series of independent sample T-tests is used to find out whether there exists any significant difference between the companies internationalized and those operating only domestically for each organizational factor. Among the five factors, size and geographic dispersion show significant difference, growth rate and price bonding do not reveal any difference and, finally, history factor shows conflicting results in the difference depending on how to measure it.

    shows the summary statistics for hypotheses testing. In conclusion, the results show that the size and history, which are the key variables in resource-based theory, have a significant relationship with internationalization and that geographic area, which belongs to agency theory, also has a strong relationship with internationalization. The results support the findings of extant research and, therefore, prove the usefulness of resource-based theory and agency theory in explaining internationalization of franchising companies. However, growth rate and price-bonding do not show a clear difference between the two types of companies. Accordingly, these two factors need further attention in the future research. Although this study shows meaningful findings theoretically and practically, it has several limitations. First, only organizational factors are considered even if there are various environmental factors influencing franchising firm's internationalization. Second, only being internationalized or not is considered. That is, modes of entry and the size of foreign operations are not included in the study. Third, internationalization strategy is often determined based on the desire for business expansion and higher profitability and egoistical reasons of the CEOs. However, this type of factors belonging to behavioral science is not discussed in the study. Finally, organizational ecology perspective is usefully applicable in explaining the survival and performance of internationally operating companies. Accordingly, research propositions based on this perspective need to be developed and tested.

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  • A Study on Relationship between Track Impact Factor and Track Support Stiffness of Turnout System on Urban Transit (도시철도 분기기 궤도구조의 궤도지지강성과 궤도충격계수의 상관관계에 관한 연구)

    • Choi, Jung-Youl;Park, Jong-Yoon;Lee, Kyu-Yong;Chung, Jee Seung
      • The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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      • v.6 no.2
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      • pp.461-466
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      • 2020
    • In this study, the relationship between the track support stiffness and the track impact factor for a sleeper floating track and a turnout system with wood ties currently employed in Korean urban transit was assessed by performing field tests using actual vehicles running along the service lines. Field tests were performed on four track systems (i.e., sleeper floating track, and point, lead and crossing sections of turnout system). The theoretically designed track impact factor and track support stiffness were compared with the corresponding track impact factor and track support stiffness measured through field tests for the target tracks on the service line. The track impact factor for the service line appeared to increase with the deviation of track support stiffness according to vehicle driving direction; therefore, it was inferred that the deviation of track support stiffness between each track section directly affected the track impact factor.

    Developing the Vulnerability Factor Structure Affecting Injuries and Health Problems Among Migrant Seafood Processing Industry Workers

    • Jiaranai, Itchaya;Sansakorn, Preeda;Mahaboon, Junjira
      • Safety and Health at Work
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      • v.13 no.2
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      • pp.170-179
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      • 2022
    • Background: The vulnerability of international migrant workers is on the rise, affecting the frequency of occupational accidents at workplaces worldwide. If migrant workers are managed in the same way as native workers, the consequences on safety assurance and risk management will be significant. This study aimed to develop the vulnerability factor model for migrant workers in seafood processing industries because of significant risk-laden labor of Thailand, which could be a solution to control the risk effectively. Methods: A total of 569 migrant workers were surveyed (432 Burmese and 137 Cambodian), beginning with 40 initial vulnerability factors identified in the questionnaire established from experts. The data were analyzed through descriptive analysis; exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to ascertain the model. Results: The result of content validity >0.67 and the Cronbach's alpha of 0.957 specified the high reliability of 40 factors. The EFA indicated a total variance of 65.49%. The final CFA validated the model and had an empirical fitting; chi-square = 85.34, Adjust Goodness-of-Fit Index = 0.96, and root mean square error of approximation = 0.016. The structure concluded with three dimensions and 18 factors. Dimension 1 of the structure, "multicultural safety operation," contained 12 factors; Dimension 2, "wellbeing," contained four factors; and Dimension 3, "communication technology," contained two factors. Conclusion: The vulnerability factor structure developed in this study included three dimensions and 18 factors that were significantly empirical. The knowledge enhanced safety management in the context of vulnerability factor structure for migrant workers at the workplace.

    Robust adaptive control of linear time-varying systems which are not necessarily slowly varying

    • Song, Chan-Ho
      • 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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      • 1990.10b
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      • pp.1424-1429
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      • 1990
    • This paper presents an indirect adaptive control scheme for discrete linear systems whose parameters are not necessrily slowly varying. It is assumed that system parameters are modelled as linear combinations of known bounded functions with unknown constant coefficients. Unknown coefficients are estimated using a recursive least squares algorithm with a dead zone and a forgetting factor. A control law which makes the estimated model exponentially stable is constructed. With this control law and a state observer, all based on the parameter estimates, it is shown that the resulting closed-loop system is globally stable and robust to bounded external disturbances and small unmodelled plant uncertainties.

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    Analysis of success factors for games using animation IP - Focusing on <Digimon story cyber sleuth>

    • Kim Tae Gyu
      • International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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      • v.12 no.3
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      • pp.388-395
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      • 2024
    • The current state of the domestic game industry is that most of the sales generated in the domestic game industry occur on PC and mobile, and the genre is limited to RPG, so games of similar genres are repeatedly released to increase sales. To solve this situation, games using IP are being discussed, and games based on webtoon and animation IP are being released. In this way, we would like to analyze and consider ways to utilize IP well and success factors focusing on "Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth."

    A Minimum Degree Ordering Algorithm using the Lower and Upper Bounds of Degrees

    • Park, Chan-Kyoo;Doh, Seungyong;Park, Soondal;Kim, Woo-Je
      • Management Science and Financial Engineering
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      • v.8 no.1
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      • pp.1-19
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      • 2002
    • Ordering is used to reduce the amount of fill-ins in the Cholesky factor of a symmetric positive definite matrix. One of the most efficient ordering methods is the minimum degree ordering algorithm(MDO). In this paper, we provide a few techniques that improve the performance of MDO implemented with the clique storage scheme. First, the absorption of nodes in the cliques is developed which reduces the number of cliques and the amount of storage space required for MDO. Second, we present a modified minimum degree ordering algorithm of which the number of degree updates can be reduced by introducing the lower bounds of degrees. Third, using both the lower and upper bounds of degrees, we develop an approximate minimum degree ordering algorithm. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is competitive with the minimum degree ordering algorithm that uses quotient graphs from the points of the ordering time and the nonzeros in the Cholesky factor.

    Development and Validation of a Safety Climate Scale for Manufacturing Industry

    • Ghahramani, Abolfazl;Khalkhali, Hamid R.
      • Safety and Health at Work
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      • v.6 no.2
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      • pp.97-103
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      • 2015
    • Background: This paper describes the development of a scale for measuring safety climate. Methods: This study was conducted in six manufacturing companies in Iran. The scale developed through conducting a literature review about the safety climate and constructing a question pool. The number of items was reduced to 71 after performing a screening process. Results: The result of content validity analysis showed that 59 items had excellent item content validity index (${\geq}0.78$) and content validity ratio (> 0.38). The exploratory factor analysis resulted in eight safety climate dimensions. The reliability value for the final 45-item scale was 0.96. The result of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the safety climate model is satisfactory. Conclusion: This study produced a valid and reliable scale for measuring safety climate in manufacturing companies.

    A Study on Adolescent psychological adjustment for neglected family

    • Jang, Chun-Ok
      • International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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      • v.6 no.2
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      • pp.30-35
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      • 2018
    • In contemporary society, neglected families increase adolescents' maladjustment behaviors, causing academic problems, psychological and emotional problems, and showing flight behavior. By identifying the nature of the protective factor against the dangerous environment of a neglected family and increasing the protection factor for the children in a dangerous environment, it is necessary to create the environment so that the young can grow up positively rather than adversely. The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics of adolescents who are psychologically adaptive at the level of general family children among the adolescents who are in a dangerous environment. The results showed that self - esteem, ego - resilience, ego - identity, and community variables had a significant effect on discriminating adolescents who showed high psychological adjustment from risk factors of neglect while controlling other factors. SPSS 20.0 was used to analyze the data.


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