• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.547-555
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• 2014

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the association between subjective distress symptoms and argon welding among workers in Gyeongnam Province shipyard. Method: 31 argon and 29 non-argon welding workers were selected as study subjects in order to measure concentrations of personal dust, welding fumes and other hazardous materials such as ZnO, Pb, Cr, FeO, MnO, Cu, Ni, $TiO_2$, MgO, NO, $NO_2$, $O_3$, $O_2$, $CO_2$, CO and Ar. An interviewer-administered questionnaire survey was also performed on the same subjects. The items queried were as follows: age, height, weight, working duration, welding time, welding rod amounts used, drinking, smoking, and rate of subjective distress symptoms including headache and other symptoms such as fever, vomiting and nausea, metal fume fever, dizziness, tingling sensations, difficulty in breathing, memory loss, sleep disorders, emotional disturbance, hearing loss, hand tremors, visual impairment, neural abnormality, allergic reaction, runny nose and stuffiness, rhinitis, and suffocation. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software, version 18. Data are expressed as the mean ${\pm}SD$. An ${\chi}^2$-test and a normality test using a Shapiro wilk test were performed for the above variables. Logistic regression analysis was also conducted to identify the factors that affect the total score for subjective distress symptoms. Result: An association was shown between welding type (argon or non-argon welding) and the total score for subjective distress symptoms. Among the rate of complaining of subjective distress symptoms, vomiting and nausea, difficulty breathing, and allergic reactions were all significantly higher in the argon welding group. Only the concentration of dust and welding fumes was shown to be distributed normally after natural log transformation. According to logistic regression analysis, the correlations of working duration and welding type (argon or non-argon) between the total score of subjective distress symptoms were found to be statistically significant (p=0.041, p=0.049, respectively). Conclusion: Our results suggest that argon welding could cause subjective distress symptoms in shipyard workers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.2159-2165
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• 2013

Cancer registries help to establish and maintain cancer incidence reporting system, serve as a resource for investigation of cancer and its causes, and provide information for planning and evaluation of preventive and control programs. However, their wider role in directly enhancing oncology drug access has not been fully explored. We examined the value of cancer registries in oncology drug access in the Asia-Pacific region on three levels: (1) specific registry variable types; (2) macroscopic strategies on the national level; and (3) a regional cancer registry network. Using literature search and proceedings from an expert forum, this paper covers recent cancer registry developments in eight economies in the Asia-Pacific region - Australia, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand - and the ways they can contribute to oncology drug access. Specific registry variables relating to demographics, tumor characteristics, initial treatment plans, prognostic markers, risk factors, and mortality help to anticipate drug needs, identify high-priority research area and design access programs. On a national level, linking registry data with clinical, drug safety, financial, or drug utilization databases allows analyses of associations between utilization and outcomes. Concurrent efforts should also be channeled into developing and implementing data integrity and stewardship policies, and providing clear avenues to make data available. Less mature registry systems can employ modeling techniques and ad-hoc surveys while increasing coverage. Beyond local settings, a cancer registry network for the Asia-Pacific region would offer cross-learning and research opportunities that can exert leverage through the experiences and capabilities of a highly diverse region.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.10 no.9
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• pp.43-52
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to develop video exercise education for patients with shoulder-joint and evaluate the effects on range of motion, pain and quality of life. This study was conducted in 30 experimental groups and 26 control groups among shoulder-joint patients who were admitted to orthopedic outpatient clinics at university hospitals in G city from January to June 2020. For data analysis, SPSS was used to analyze the general characteristics of the two groups and the pre-homogeneity test for the dependent variables by 𝑥²-test and t-test. As a result of the study, the subject's pre-post score change was found to have a significant difference in the degree of internal rotation of the range of motion and pain score, but there was no significant difference in the flexion, abduction degree of the range of motion and quality of life. In this study, clinical application of video education can be suggested as a way to improve nursing practice as it saves time spent on patient education of nurses not only in outpatients but also in wards.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.211-226
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• 2011

This study was intended to investigate the attributes of the Internet shopping mall and to examine the effects of each attribute on the consumer purchase intention. 279 valid responses of total 300 questionnaire were used for the analysis of this study. Both the exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis were conducted to evaluate the conceptual validity and internal coherence of the determining variables and the use intention. The factor analysis resulted in identifying the five factors of the Internet shopping mall and on the multiple regression analysis, three of the five identified factors were found to affect significantly the purchase intention. According to the verified results interactivity(t=4.384) was found to affect positively the use intention, while privacy risk(t=-2.985) and delivery risk(t=-2.257) were found to affect negatively the purchase intention. Managerial suggestions are recommended as the results of analysis. It is urgently necessary for decreasing countermeasures delivery risk and privacy risk to enhance purchase intention of customers in internet shopping malls. Especially obtaining more information on consumers gives short-term advantages to marketers, perceived slackness in privacy will hinder purchase intention in internet shopping malls in the long run by causing distrust of consumers. Other limitations and future research directions are also mentioned.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.47-57
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• 2015

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to investigate the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory (the cost of financing increases with asymmetric information) among Korean retail firms from the perspective of debt capacity. According to the Pecking-order theory, a firm's first preference is to use internal funds for its capital needs, its next preference is the issuance of debt, and its last preference is the issuance of equity; this is due to the information asymmetry problem between existing shareholders and investors. However, prior empirical studies, such as Lemmon and Zender (2010), argue that the entire sample test for the Pecking-order theory could be misleading due to the different levels of debt issuance capability of each of the individual firms; in fact, they confirm that the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory improves after taking into account the differences in debt capacity of the U.S. firms they examined. This paper implements a case study approach among Korean retail firms to examine the relationship between debt capacity and the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory in Korea. Research design, data, and methodology - This study uses the sample of public retail firms on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) from the time period of 1990 to 2013. We gather related financial and accounting statements from the financial information firm WISEfn. Credit rating information is provided by the Korea Investor Service. We employ the models of Lemmon and Zender (2010) and Son and Kim (2013) to measure a firm's debt capacity. Their logit models use the rating dummy variable as a dependent variable and incorporate other firm characteristics as independent variables to estimate debt capacity. To test the Pecking-order theory, we adopt variants of the financing deficit model of Shyam-Sunder and Myers (1999). In the test of the Pecking-order theory, we consider all of the changes in total debt obligations, current debt obligations, and long-term debt obligations. Results - Our main contribution to the literature is our confirmation of the predicted relationship between debt capacity and the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory among Korean retail firms. The coefficients on financing deficits become greater as a firm's debt capacity improves. This is consistent with the results of Lemmon and Zender (2010). The coefficients on the square of the financing deficits are also negative for the firms in the largest debt capacity group, which is also consistent with the predictions in prior literature. Conclusions - This study takes a case study approach by examining Korean retail firms. We confirm that the Pecking-order theory explains the capital structure of retail firms more appropriately, after taking into account the debt capacity of each firm. This result suggests the importance of debt capacity consideration in the testing of the Pecking-order theory. Our result also implies that there has been a potential underestimation of the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory in existing studies.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.93-105
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• 2019

Purpose - First, empirical research will reveal how personal creativity affects the knowledge sharing and innovation behaviors of organizational members. Second, self-management competency will be verified to explain the causal relationship between independent and dependent variables as a mediating variable and to reduce the time interval. Research design, data, and methodology - There are two major research models. First, personal creativity (professionalism, emotional intelligence, internal motivation) has a positive impact on knowledge sharing (creation of knowledge, organization of knowledge, use of knowledge) and innovation behavior (deriving ideas, implementing ideas, promoting ideas). Second, self-management competency (intellectual capacity, emotional capacity, personality capacity) plays a mediating role. In addition to descriptive statistics and correlation analysis, Cronbach's α was calculated for 259 workers in the retail industry. In addition, confirmatory factor analysis was performed using the AMOS 24.0 program, and the influence on the measurement model was analyzed to verify the structural equation model. Results - First, personal creativity had a positive effect on knowledge sharing and innovation behavior. In other words, it was confirmed that the decision-making process accompanied by individual creativity can create an atmosphere of knowledge sharing and continue to innovate. Second, personal creativity had a positive effect on self-management competency, and self-management competency had a positive effect on knowledge sharing and innovation behavior. Third, self-management competency was found to partially mediate the influence of personal creativity on knowledge sharing and innovation behavior. Conclusions - First, it is important for managers to recognize the value of creative talents who can be a fundamental source of organizational success and competitive advantage, and to attract talented people. Second, managers should be able to develop decision-making processes to develop potential creativity and encourage creative ideas, opinions, or solutions when organizing the work environment of their members. Third, managers should promote the sharing and integration of new knowledge that underlies the creative views and attitudes of teams and organizational members. Unlike previous studies, which emphasize the role of the work environment in which creative behaviors are promoted, this study shows that creativity of individual members, itself, is an important determinant of knowledge sharing and innovation behavior.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.773-783
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• 2007

A simple unbonded-type shear strengthening technique for reinforced concrete beams using wire rope units is developed. Six two-span continuous T-beams externally strengthened with wire rope units and an unstrengthened control beam were tested. The main variables investigated were the amount and prestressing force of wire rope units. All specimens had the same geometrical dimension and arrangement of internal reinforcement. Influence of the distribution of vertical stresses in beam web owing to the prestressing force of wire rope units on the diagonal shear cracking load and the ultimate shear capacity of beams tested is presented. Based on the current study, it can be concluded that the amount and initial prestress of wire rope should be limited to be above 2.5 times the minimum shear reinforcement ratio specified in ACI 318-05 and below 0.6 times its own tensile strength, respectively, to ensure the enhancement of shear capacity and ductile failure mode of the strengthened beams. A numerical analysis based on the upper-bound theorem is developed to assess the shear capacity of continuous T-beams strengthened with wire rope units. From the comparisons of measured and predicted shear capacities, a better agreement is achieved in the proposed numerical analysis than in empirical equations recommended by ACI 318-05.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.88-98
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• 2012

Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) plays an essential role in the regulation of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) and triglyceride levels, which have been closely associated with cardiovascular diseases. Genetic studies in European have shown that LPL single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are strongly associated with lipid levels. However, studies about the influence of interactions between LPL SNPs and lifestyle factors have not been sufficiently performed. Here, we examine if LPL polymorphisms, as well as their interaction with lifestyle factors, influence lipid concentrations in a Korean population. A two-stage association study was performed using genotype data for SNPs on the LPL gene, including the 3' flanking region from 7,536 (stage 1) and 3,703 (stage 2) individuals. The association study showed that 15 SNPs and 4 haplotypes were strongly associated with HDLC (lowest $p=2.86{\times}10^{-22}$) and triglyceride levels (lowest $p=3.0{\times}10^{-15}$). Interactions between LPL polymorphisms and lifestyle factors (lowest $p=9.6{\times}10^{-4}$) were also observed on lipid concentrations. These findings suggest that there are interaction effects of LPL polymorphisms with lifestyle variables, including energy intake, fat intake, smoking, and alcohol consumption, as well as effects of LPL polymorphisms themselves, on lipid concentrations in a Korean population.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.55
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• pp.255-281
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• 2003

This study sought to explore factors affecting the adjustment of children living in shelters for battered women. Specifically, the impact of domestic violence on children's internal and external adjustment was examined using data from two samples: children who were exposed to marital violence and those who did not have violent experience. Likewise, this study identified the variables that distinguished the "resilient" children from the maladjusted group. The pathways by which protective factors considerably affected children's adjustment were also investigated. A total of 72 children in a women's shelter and their mothers and 76 children in nonviolent homes and their mothers were considered. ANOVA, logistic regression models, and path analysis were employed to process the data. Results revealed that children of battered women demonstrated a high frequency of aggressive and delinquent behaviors and had poor academic achievement and depressive mood compared to children coming from nonviolent homes. Likewise, children who were exposed to marital violence and were physically abused themselves were more likely show aggressive or delinquent behaviors compared to those who only witnessed marital violence. In addition, social support was found to be a protective factor in academic achievement. Predictors of delinquent behavior included the mother's education and income as well as the children's age and social support. Factors related to children's self-esteem included the social support and the mother's self-esteem. Moreover, woman battering has a direct effect on children's adjustment as well as indirect effect through children's academic achievement and self-esteem. Finally, woman battering indirectly affected children's academic achievement through the mother's depression or the child's social support. Based on these findings, practical implications of enhancing children's adjustment were discussed.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.39-49
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• 2015

Thus this study looked into existing literature focusing on generalities, and after literature studies, hypothesis was set up to solve the problems in the study. According to literature examination, self employed consulting was found to be comprised of four areas: awareness, reliability, satisfaction, and utilization, while consulting could be divided into four customer perspectives: customer, financial, internal processing, and learning and growth. An empirical study was conducted to verify the causal relationship between these causes, and we describe the findings of the study on the business management performance pursuant to self employed business consulting as follows: In this study, we examine an overall business management performance measurement by adopting the four variables of self employed business consulting, and enhance the chance of success by having systematic access to business establishment. In conclusion, in order to increase the success rate of the small business start-up, it is important to choose such items that fit the founder's experience and the characteristics of the business zone, and a successful founding of a business will be accomplished only when sufficient funding is combined with successful running, therefore, most importantly, striking a balance between the factors should start with the founder as the center, and there must be professional business knowledge and technical assistance by the business start-up support agency.