• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.89-97
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• 2021

This research aims to investigate the impact of falling oil prices at the beginning of 2020 on 82 industrial companies listed on the GCC stock markets. The research sample period is divided into two periods pre-COVID and during COVID covering the period starting 1st January 2020 to May 15, 2020. The research uses the Panel Least Square (PLS) method and Panel Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) with fixed and random effects in each country. The results of GMM models reveal a positive relationship between oil prices and the share prices of industrial companies in the Gulf countries, which confirms that the share prices of industrial companies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have been negatively affected by the decline in oil prices with the beginning of 2020. The findings show that the highest impact of falling oil prices has been recorded in the industrial companies in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. However, the falling of oil prices does not have a significant effect on industrial companies in the state of Qatar. The research results suggest that GCC economies have to move on the path of non-reliance on Oil and gas-driven economy.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• 제8권3호
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• pp.229-235
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• 2021

The ability of entrepreneurs to arrange working capital is the key to maximizing the profitability of small- and medium-sized enterprises and the wealth of entrepreneurs. The study investigates the correlation between entrepreneurs' working capital management and the profitability of SMEs listed on six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stock exchanges between 2019 and 2020. The secondary data is collected from the financial statements of SMEs listed on the six GCC stock exchanges. Actual sample for the research study was a total of 136 small- and medium-sized enterprises selected using purposive sampling methods. Four research models were considered in this analysis, all ending up affecting gross profits. The selected entrepreneurial SMEs were listed on six different Gulf Cooperation Council stock exchanges during 2019-2020. The fixed financial assets ratio, financial debt ratio, and company size are used as control variables and data were analyzed using multiple regression. The research results demonstrate that there is a statistically significant negative correlation between profitability measured by gross profit and cash cycle and the components of the cash cycle (including days of accounts receivable and days of inventory). The study further reveals that there is no significant correlation between gross profit and days of accounts payable.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• 제11권4호
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• pp.327-357
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• 2023

Adopting the Tools of Liberalism and Clash of Civilizations theories of international relations, this study examines the perceptions of 25,406 Arabs in 11 Arab countries as expressed in an Arab Barometer survey exploring their perceptions of violence against the United States (US), American citizens as "good," President Donald Trump's foreign policy in the Middle East, increasing economic relations with the US, and welcoming American foreign aid. As aspects of the Clash of Civilizations theory, this study examines religiosity, religious ritual practices, and political Islam and, as aspects of liberalism, this study explores the roles of online media as well as perceptions about US foreign aid in the prediction of the criterion variables. The findings suggest that religious indicators, and aspects of the Clash of Civilizations generally, were negative predictors of the perceptions, while social media and motivations for US foreign aid as aspects of liberalism, positively predicted the perceptions. The study discusses the results in relation to implications for policy makers.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• 제7권12호
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• pp.181-193
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• 2020

This study examines the relationship between gender diversity (women on the board and women on the audit committee) and a firm's financial stability. The ordinary least square analysis was used to determine the relationship. To measure the financial stability of Malaysian suspect firms, i.e., firms with the lowest positive earnings, the Altman (1993) Z-Score measurement was utilized. The results indicate that women on the board are significantly and negatively associated with the firm's financial stability. That is, they are related to low financial stability, which contradicts the agency and resource dependence theories. Regarding women directors on the audit committee, there is no significant relationship with financial stability, meaning that they cannot protect the company against financial distress. These results are robust and do not change when using different measurements of gender diversity, one-year lag of independent variables, and other methods of analysis, namely random effect panel data. This study is the first to alert policymakers, stakeholders, researchers, and society in general to the need to re-evaluate and strengthen the role of women directors in improving firms' financial stability, particularly in emerging economies like Malaysia.

• ALGAE
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• 제23권2호
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• pp.141-150
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• 2008

Populations of Codium amplivesiculatum were found in association with rhodolith beds. We present population trends of C. amplivesiculatum from surveys conducted in the southwestern Gulf of California based on monthly sampling from June 1999 to August 2000. Surveys were conducted at 2 sites in the San Lorenzo Channel at depths of 8 - 12 m. The parameters measured were percent cover, biomass and structure in relation to size of the thalli. From each thallus the following measurements were taken: length and diameter, proportion of each thallus with reproductive structures and the degree of fragmentation (measured as number of small thalli). Mean biomass and cover varied seasonally with the maximum (1036.6 gm$^{-2}$ and 100% cover) present in June 2000 and the minimum in winter (0 gm$^{-2}$ and 0% cover). The longest fronds (3 m) occurred during July 1999 and August 2000, while the maximum diameters of 1.0 cm were present during October and November 1999. There were no significant linear relationships between length and diameter of the fronds, suggesting independent growth. Reproductive structures were common in June and July 1999 with monoic and dioic thalli present. Most fronds were monoic, and this is the first record of this feature for this species. Fragmentation occurred in September, and may be associated with stress from early gametangial reproduction and the combination of high temperatures and low nutrients. A hypothetical life cycle for the species is presented.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.427-430
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• 2015

Background: Dokha is a novel form of smoking in United Arab Emirates (UAE) on which there is very little published literature, especially among adolescents, and this form of smoking has been not been addressed adequately in the smoking cessation strategies in the UAE. Objectives: To assess the prevalence of dokha smoking among male secondary school students in Ajman UAE. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted among male secondary school students in Ajman, UAE. A total of 560 participants filled in self-administered questionnaires. Results: The prevalence of ever smokers was 39%; ever dokha smokers was 36% and current dokha smokers was 24%. The prevalence is very high when compared to other forms of smoking in the region and globally. Prevalence increased with increasing age and grade of students, prevalence of ever smokers, ever dokha smokers and current dokha smokers was lower in students in the science stream. 40% of the smokers used dokha, cigarettes and shisha, 30% used dokha and cigarettes, and 21% used dokha alone. 30% of the students smoked dokha on all days of the month. Conclusions: The prevalence of ever smokers, ever dokha smokers and current dokha smokers is very high. There is an urgent need for specific health promotion programs tailored to this age group on prevention of dokha smoking and policies restricting the availability of dokha to this age group.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제9권4호
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• pp.285-292
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• 2018

In the following study, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is used for prediction of permeate flux decline during oily wastewater treatment by hybrid powdered activated carbon-microfiltration (PAC-MF) process using mullite and mullite-alumina ceramic membranes. Permeate flux is predicted as a function of time and PAC concentration. To optimize the networks performance, different transfer functions and different initial weights and biases have been tested. Totally, more than 850,000 different networks are tested for both membranes. The results showed that 10:6 and 9:20 neural networks work best for mullite and mullite-alumina ceramic membranes in PAC-MF process, respectively. These networks provide low mean squared error and high linearity between target and predicted data (high $R^2$ value). Finally, the results present that ANN provide best results ($R^2$ value equal to 0.99999) for prediction of permeation flux decline during oily wastewater treatment in PAC-MF process by ceramic membranes.

• 한국해양학회지
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.17-33
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• 1980

The materials were obtained in the eastern Gulf of Alaska and the south- eastern Bering Sea during the cruise of the research vessel, Ohdae San, from July to October 1978. A total of 76 samples were taken by NORPAC net from a depth of 200 meters or less in coastal areas. 1. The surface water temperature in the coastal waters, varing from 9 to 10$^{\circ}C$, was lower than that in offshore waters which varied from 10 to 12.9$^{\circ}C$ in the eastern Gulf of Alaska. Thermocline was formed in the 30∼50 meter layer. Salinity of the coastal waters of Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak was 30 which was slightly lower than that of offshore. 2. The water temperature of the surface layer down to 30 meters varied from 7 to 10$^{\circ}C$ and from 1 to 9$^{\circ}C$ in the layer below 30 meters in the south-eastern Bering Sea. Meandering thermal front spread from the Alaska Peninsula to St. Matthew Island by way of St. Paul, and a thermocline was found at the 30∼50 meter layer Salinity ranged from 31.0 to 33.0 and that of northern and coastal waters was little lower than that of offshore. 3. Zooplankton biomass fluctuated from 0.1 to 23.6cc/10㎥ in the eastern Gulf of Alaska and 2.0 to 26.1cc/10㎥ in the south-eastern Bering Sea. Plankton was rich in the following areas, the inshore Kodiak waters, the northern Bering Sea, the Coastal waters and waters adjacent to Alutian islands however, poor in the central Bering Sea. In general, the south-eastern Bering Sea has a higher concentration of plankton volume than the eastern Gulf of Alaska. 4. Twenty three species representing 17 genera of copepods were identified from the samples. These were mostly composed of the cold water species, such as Pseudocalanus minutus, Acartia longiremis, Metridia lucens and Eucalanus bungii var. bungii. 5. The cold oceanic species were composed of Calanus cristatus, C.plumchrus, Metridia lucens, Eucalanus bungii var. bungii and Scolecithricella minor. The cold neritic species were Centropages abdominalis, Pseudocalanus minutus, Acartia longiremis, Eurytemora herdmanii, Pontella pulvinata, P. longipedata and Tortanus discaudatus. On the other hand, the warm oceanic species were Calanus tenuicornis and Oithona plumifera. The cosmopolitan species were Calanus finmarchicus and Oithona similis. 6. It was suggested that the cold oceanic species, Eucalanus bungii var. bungii and Metridia lucens in the south-eastern Bering Sea can be recommended as a valuable indicator species for finding the fishing grounds of demersal fish such as pollock and yellowfin sole in this area.

• 한국산학기술학회논문지
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• 제19권5호
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• pp.577-586
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• 2018

대학캠퍼스는 여러 개의 건물로 구성된 하나의 소도시이자 막대한 에너지를 사용하며 많은 학생들이 향후 친환경에 대한 인식과 실천방향을 제시할 수 있는 마지막 기회이다. 또 교육시설은 교육이 행해지는 물리적인 공간과 사용자가 동시에 접할 수 있는 건물의 형태라는 점에서 특히 그린캠퍼스는 중요점을 가진다. 본 연구의 목적은 한국의 그린캠퍼스의 정책과 평가기준, 미국의 AASHE의 정책과 국제기구인 UNEP, ISCN-GULF의 그린캠퍼스 평가기준과 항목들을 비교분석하여 한국대학의 그린캠퍼스 조성의 활성화와 그린캠퍼스 인증 시행에 대비한 문제점을 도출하고 정책방향을 제시하는데 있다. 연구의 결론은 다음과 같다. 첫째, 한국 그린캠퍼스 평가기준에서 개별 건축물의 경우 현재는 G-SEED에 의존한다. 하지만 인증의 시행을 위해 전체 건축물 총 연면적 대비 G-SEED인증 건축물 연면적의 비율로 평가항목을 마련하여 차등점수를 부여하여야 한다. 둘째, 한국의 그린캠퍼스 평가기준은 캠퍼스별 특성을 살릴 수 있도록 전체 평가항목의 수를 늘려서 평가항목과 점수를 신청 캠퍼스의 특성에 부합되게 선택할 수 있도록 개선되어야 한다. 셋째, STARS의 비교에도 나타나듯이 한국은 다른 친환경 건축물 인증과의 차별화를 위해 그린캠퍼스의 교육부문 평가영역에서 대학의 지속가능한 교육과정개발의 피드백이나 결과물의 관리와 이에 대한 명확한 보상을 보장하는 평가항목이 필요하다.

• 한국음향학회지
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• 제34권1호
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• pp.1-11
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• 2015

양쯔강이나 나이저강과 같은 큰 강의 하구를 통해서 많은 담수가 흘러 들어오는 연안에서는 표층염분이 급격히 낮아져서 음속 변화에 영향을 끼친다. 본 논문에서는 우기의 동중국해 해역과 기니만에서 저염분수로 인해 생성되는 표층음파채널(SSC) 현상을 분석하였다. 동중국해는 KODC(Korea Oceanographic Data Center)의 자료를, 적도 부근의 기니만은 ARGO(Array for Real-time Geostrophic Oceanography) 자료를 사용하였다. 수집된 자료를 토대로 표층음파채널 발생동향을 살펴본 결과 동중국해에서는 10년 동안(2000 ~ 2009) 9개 정점에서 측정된 90회 자료중 표층음파채널은 32회 나타났고 그 중 염분채널은 14회 나타난 반면 기니만에서는 3년 동안(2006 ~ 2009) 20개 정점에서 측정된 20회 자료 중 모든 경우에서 표층음파채널이 발생하였으며 염분채널은 18회 나타났다. 음속구배에 영향을 주는 수온-염분의 기울기를 분석한 결과 동중국해에서는 염분과 수온 변화량 모두 크게 나타나 염분, 수온의 조합에 의한 표층음파채널이 형성되었다. 반면 기니만에서는 혼합층이 잘 발달하여 수온 변화가 적고 염분 변화량이 크게 나타나 주로 염분에 의한 표층음파채널이 형성되었다. 음향 특성 분석 결과 동중국해 정점은 채널두께가 6.5 m, 임계각은 $1.5^{\circ}$, 표층과 수온약층에서 전달손실 차는 11.5 dB로 나타났고, 기니만 정점은 채널두께가 18 ~ 24 m, 임계각은 $4.0{\sim}5.4^{\circ}$, 전달손실 차이는 21.5 ~ 27.9 dB로 나타났다. 따라서 본 연구는 큰 강의 하구나 강수량이 많은 해역에서 저염분수로 인한 음파전달 변화를 이해하기 위한 기초 자료로 활용될 수 있을 것으로 판단된다.