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This study applied various scientific analyses to one fragment of paper and three pigments excavated from earthenware found in the Hoeamsa Temple site at Yangju, Korea, which is believed to have been built in the early twelfth century. Radiocarbon dating of the paper fragment suggests a manufacture date between 1460 and 1646 (at a 95% confidence interval). It was estimated to have been used during the early and middle period of the Joseon dynasty (1391–1776), when the Hoeamsa Temple site was rebuilt. In addition, by staining the fiber of the paper fragment with Graff "C" stain, the paper's raw material was identified as paper mulberry through dislocation, cross-marking, and transparent membrane, which are characteristics of the bast fiber. Efforts were made to identify their material properties and manufacturing techniques of the three types of pigments. Color difference analysis was performed by distributing the pigments in large areas to reveal characteristic differences according to the color difference of the pigment. We found that green-type pigments are malachite and atacamite, red-type pigments are hematite based on the element Fe, and white-type pigments are quartz and muscovite based on the elements Si and Al. In addition, as the size distribution of the three types of pigments is wide and has a multi-peak distribution curve, it was concluded that the pigments were used without purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study applied various scientific analyses to one fragment of paper and three pigments excavated from earthenware found in the Hoeamsa Temple site at Yangju, Korea, which is believed to have been built in the early twelfth century. Radiocarbon dating of the paper fragment suggests a manufacture date between 1460 and 1646 (at a 95% confidence interval). It was estimated to have been used during the early and middle period of the Joseon dynasty (1391–1776), when the Hoeamsa Temple site was rebuilt. In addition, by staining the fiber of the paper fragment with Graff "C" stain, the paper's raw material was identified as paper mulberry through dislocation, cross-marking, and transparent membrane, which are characteristics of the bast fiber. Efforts were made to identify their material properties and manufacturing techniques of the three types of pigments. Color difference analysis was performed by distributing the pigments in large areas to reveal characteristic differences according to the color difference of the pigment. We found that green-type pigments are malachite and atacamite, red-type pigments are hematite based on the element Fe, and white-type pigments are quartz and muscovite based on the elements Si and Al. In addition, as the size distribution of the three types of pigments is wide and has a multi-peak distribution curve, it was concluded that the pigments were used without purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study applied various scientific analyses to one fragment of paper and three pigments excavated from earthenware found in the Hoeamsa Temple site at Yangju, Korea, which is believed to have been built in the early twelfth century. Radiocarbon dating of the paper fragment suggests a manufacture date between 1460 and 1646 (at a 95% confidence interval). It was estimated to have been used during the early and middle period of the Joseon dynasty (1391–1776), when the Hoeamsa Temple site was rebuilt. In addition, by staining the fiber of the paper fragment with Graff "C" stain, the paper's raw material was identified as paper mulberry through dislocation, cross-marking, and transparent membrane, which are characteristics of the bast fiber. Efforts were made to identify their material properties and manufacturing techniques of the three types of pigments. Color difference analysis was performed by distributing the pigments in large areas to reveal characteristic differences according to the color difference of the pigment. We found that green-type pigments are malachite and atacamite, red-type pigments are hematite based on the element Fe, and white-type pigments are quartz and muscovite based on the elements Si and Al. In addition, as the size distribution of the three types of pigments is wide and has a multi-peak distribution curve, it was concluded that the pigments were used without purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, convergence has been presented as one of the technical innovations in many industrial sectors and diffusion has been discussed as providing the main influence on convergence. The present study used the VOSviewer to analyze convergence trends and the current state of joint research, complemented by quantitative analysis using information from scientific papers published in 2015 obtained through the Scopus database. The results of this study illustrate that convergence of research occurring in Korea is evident in a variety of sectors, e.g. chemistry, material science, mechanics and the electrical and electronics sectors. We discovered that a sector performing research characterized by convergence also was actively involved in joint research. We also discovered that institutions conducting many studies were doing so as partners within joint research with other institutions. There are two important applications: The present study identified important information that can be used to monitor convergence and diffusion appears to provide the most influence on convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to clarify how and why South Korea initiated and maintained a fragmented aid structure, even though discussions about integration existed before the establishment of its aid institutions. The research utilises a path dependence framework for its analysis. This analysis reveals that discussions concerning the fragmented structure of South Korean aid began in the 1960s and ultimately led to the establishment of South Korean aid agencies. This paper delves into the issue of integrating fragmented aid within the South Korean government by using newspaper articles, government documents, and reports. Path dependence is further illuminated by its relationship to the policy environment and institutional context. In conclusion, the persistence of this fragmented structure can be ascribed to factors such as the intricate nature of the aid policy, which combines diplomatic and economic policies within the policy environment. In terms of the institutional context, the claims of legitimacy for preserving the policy authority of aid-related ministries and the diminished coordination authority of the Economic Planning Board in the 1980s steered the path dependence of the fragmented aid structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, four novel bacterial strains, USB13T, AW1T, GTP1T, and HM2T, were isolated from various environments in Busan and Jeju Island, Republic of Korea. The 16S rRNA sequencing results indicated that the four novel strains belong to the genus Ramlibacter. All four strains were tested for their potential cellulolytic properties, where strain USB13T was identified as the only novel bacterium and the first within its genus to show cellulolytic activity. When tested, the highest activities of endoglucanase, exoglucanase, β-glucosidase, and filter paper cellulase (FPCase) were 1.91 IU/mL, 1.77 IU/mL, 0.76 IU/mL, and 1.12 IU/mL, respectively at pH 6.0. Comparisons of draft whole genome sequences (WGS) were also made using average nucleotide identity, digital DNA-DNA hybridization values, and average amino acid identity values, while whole genome comparison was visualized using the BLAST Ring Image Generator. The G + C contents of the strains ranged from 67.9 to 69.9%, while genome sizes ranged from 4.31 to 6.15 Mbp. Based on polyphasic evidence, the novel strains represent four new species within the genus Ramlibacter, for which the names Ramlibacter cellulosilyticus sp. nov. (type strain, USB13T = KACC 21656T = NBRC 114839T) Ramlibacter aurantiacus sp. nov. (type strain, AW1T = KACC 21544T = NBRC 114862T), Ramlibacter albus sp. nov. (type strain, GTP1T = KACC 21702T = NBRC 114488T), and Ramlibacter pallidus sp. nov. (type strain, HM2T = KCTC 82557T = NBRC 114489T) are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the Maker Competency Instrument (MCI) was developed to diagnose the level of Maker Competence of elementary and secondary students in South Korea. First, in this study, a draft of the test tool was adapted based on the Maker Competency Model developed as part of Yoon et al.'s research (2018). Then, two expert-level Delphi surveys examined the content validity of the MCI. To verify the construct's validity, the exploratory factor analysis and the confirmatory factor analysis were conducted in two separate stages with the involvement of both teachers and professional Makers. As a result, it was confirmed by the MCI that 6 higher-order factors (Making mind, Making practice, collaboration, visual thinking, human-orientation, integrated thinking), 19 lower-order factors (observation, sense of challenge, interest in various areas, pleasure of the making process, understanding programming, understanding electricity, information searching, direct execution, understanding production tools, planning, hand knowledge, conflict management, communication, sharing, visual thinking and insight, humanity, user-oriented, analytical thinking, intuitive thinking), and 57 items were reasonable. From the outcome of this paper, it can be deduced that the MCI can be used from elementary to secondary school due to its proven reliability and validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we describe the development and validation of an automatic assessment system that examines students' hand-drawn visual representations in free-response items. The data were collected from 1,028 students in the second through 11th grades in South Korea using two items from the Test About Particles in a Gas questionnaire (Novick & Nussbaum, 1981). Students' free responses, which include hand drawings and writing, were coded for two dimensions — structural (particulate/continuous/other) and distributional (expanded/concentrated/other). Machine learning (ML) models were trained to assess the responses on the particulate nature of matter. For classifying hand drawings, a pre-trained Inception-v3 model followed by a support vector machine was trained and its performance was evaluated. The assessment model yielded high machine-human agreement (MHA) (kappa = 0.732–0.926, accuracy = 0.820–0.942, precision = 0.817–0.941, recall = 0.820–0.942, F1 = 0.818–0.941, and area under the curve [AUC] = 0.906–0.990). Students' written responses were tokenized, and a dictionary of scientific semantic scores was prepared. The final model for the overall assessment of both drawing and writing yielded high MHA (kappa = 0.800–0.881, accuracy = 0.859–0.956, precision = 0.865–0.957, recall = 0.859–0.956, F1 = 0.859–0.956, and AUC = 0.944–0.995), which varied by the final classifiers of the models. There were some variances in the performance of the assessment model according to the school level. This study suggests that artificial intelligence can be used to automate assessments of students' representations of scientific concepts in free-response items, particularly those drawn in a pencil-and-paper format. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The study aims to assess the current development status of transforaminal full-endoscopic spine surgery (TFES) by exploring and analyzing the published literature to obtain an overview of this field and discover the evolution and emerging topics that are underrepresented. Methods: Using Bibliometrix, CiteSpace, and VOSviewer, we analyzed the bibliometric data selected from the Web of Science Core Collection between January 2002 and November 2022. The descriptive and evaluative analyses of authors, institutes, countries, journals, keywords, and references are compiled. The quantity of research productivity was measured by the number of publications that were published. A quality indicator was thought to be the number of citations. In the bibliometric analysis of authors, areas, institutes, and references, we calculated and ranked the research impact by various metrics, such as the h-index and m-index. Results: A total of 628 articles were identified in the field of TFES by the 18.73% annual growth rate of research on the subject from 2002 to 2022, constituting the documents are by 1961 authors affiliated with 661 institutions in 42 countries or regions and published in 117 journals. The USA (n = 0.20) has the highest international collaboration rate, South Korea has the highest H-index value (h = 33), and China is ranked as the most productive country (n = 348). Brown univ., Tongji univ., and Wooridul Spine represented the most productive institutes ranked by the number of publications. Wooridul Spine Hospital demonstrated the highest quality of paper publication. The Pain Physician had the highest h-index (n = 18), and the most cited journal with the earliest publication year in the area of FEDS is Spine (t = 1855). Conclusion: The bibliometric study showed a growing trend of research on transforaminal full-endoscopic spine surgery over the past 20 years. It has shown a significant increase in the number of authors, institutions, and international collaborating countries. South Korea, the United States, and China dominate the related areas. A growing body of evidence has revealed that TFES has leapfrogged from its infancy stage and gradually entered a mature development stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Endoscopic spine surgery (ESS) is a minimally invasive surgical technique that offers comparable efficacy and safety with less collateral damage compared to conventional surgery. To achieve clinical success, it is imperative to stay abreast of technological advancements, modern surgical instruments and technique, and updated evidence. Purposes: To provide a comprehensive review and updates of ESS including the nomenclature, technical evolution, bibliometric analysis of evidence, recent changes in the spine communities, the prevailing of biportal endoscopy, and the future of endoscopic spine surgery. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive review of the literature on ESS for the mentioned topics from January 1989 to November 2022. Three major electronic databases were searched, including MEDLINE, Scopus, and Embase. Covidence Systematic Review was used to organize the eligible records. Two independent reviewers screened the articles for relevance. Results: In total, 312 articles were finally included for review. We found various use of nomenclatures in the field of ESS publication. To address this issue, we proposed the use of distinct terms to describe the biportal and uniportal techniques, as well as their specific approaches. In the realm of technical advancement, ESS has rapidly evolved from addressing disc herniation and spinal stenosis to encompassing endoscopic fusion, along with technological innovations such as navigation, robotics, and augmented reality. According to bibliometric analysis, China, South Korea, and the USA have accounted for almost three-quarters of total publications. The studies of the biportal endoscopy are becoming increasingly popular in South Korea where the top ten most-cited articles have been published. The biportal endoscopy technique is relatively simple to adopt, as it relies on a more familiar approach, requires less expensive instruments, has a shorter learning curve, and is also well-suited for interbody fusion. The uniportal approach provided the smallest area of soft tissue dissection. While robotics and augmented reality in ESS are not widely embraced, the use of navigation in ESS is expected to become more streamlined, particularly with the emergence of recent electromagnetic-based navigation technologies. Conclusions: In this paper, we provide a comprehensive overview of the evolution of ESS, as well as an updated summary of current trends in the field, including the biportal and uniportal approaches. Additionally, we summarize the nomenclature used in ESS, present a bibliometric analysis of the field, and discuss future directions for the advancement of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some problems, unraveled, seem to resolve each other. The Soviet integrative psychologist Vygotsky bequeathed to us an unfinished paper on the emotions. But was it about the teachings of Spinoza, was it concerned with contemporaneous theories, or did Vygotsky have a teaching/theory of his own? Vygotsky called his approach "Spinozian but not Spinozist" in his notes, but in his actual writings this appears as a distinction without a difference. What did he mean by it? In many places, Vygotsky appears to be retracing his steps rather than proceeding to a conclusion, yet he was already considering a title and a dedicatee. Was it really finishable? This paper argues that Vygotsky intended to use the teachings of Spinoza to critique his colleagues and associates; that he turned the critique back on "Spinozism" itself, and that the theory he intended to construct would be properly called "Spinozian". In the end, however, only practice can resolve the Spinozist teaching on emotions into the kind of working Spinozian theory Vygotsky had in mind; only real data will help us tie up the last loose threads. To this end, a linguistic approach to the problem of how the concept of sexual consent develops in Korean children is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The correct affiliation is: Cultural Heritage Conservation Science Center, National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Daejeon 34122, Republic of Korea. A case study on Hoeamsa Temple, Korea: technical examination and identification of pigments and paper unearthed from the temple site. [Extracted from the article]

The genus Taxus (yew) is a source of a number of high-value medicinal substances, particularly, paclitaxel (taxol)—a complex diterpenoid compound with a powerful antitumor action (trade name of Taxol®). Paclitaxel is one of the most efficient drugs in chemotherapy owing to its specific ability to suppress proliferation of tumor cells via stabilization of their microtubules. The world-wide demand for taxol is 800–1000 kg a year and these figures annually rise by 20%. The growing need for paclitaxel and its derivatives and the shortage of plant resources necessary for their production made compounds of the taxane group one of the most important objects for development of biotechnological methods of their production. Out of all the possible ways of taxol production (isolation from wild or plantation trees, total chemical synthesis or semisynthesis, use of yew cell cultures, techniques of metabolic engineering, and use of yew endophytic fungi), the most promising is industrial cultivation of Taxus spp. cell cultures. This review examines the papers dealing with investigation of secondary metabolism in dedifferentiated cells in vitro of various yew species and feasibility of industrial use of cell cultures for production of taxoids. We revealed a number of specificity of Taxus spp. cell cultures: (1) from a cytophysiological aspect—difficult initiation of cell cultures, their low growth characteristics, specific media and culturing conditions; (2) from a phytochemical aspect—distinction from intact plants in qualitative composition and content of secondary metabolites accounted for by specificity of cell culture as a biological system; predominant formation of С14-hydroxylated rather than of С13-hydroxylated taxoids; an opportunity for elevation of the content of taxoids—including commercially valuable ones (paclitaxel and baccatin III) with the aid of different tools (elicitation, stress exposures, two-phase cultivation and some others); (3) from a biotechnological aspect—possibility of industrial cultivation of yew cell cultures; existence of several successful industries (Germany and the Republic of Korea). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The incidence of injuries associated with the use of electric scooter (e-scooter) has consistently increased since the launch of the first shared e-scooter systems in late 2017. The aim with this review was to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of fractures related to e-scooter accidents. Methods: A systematic review of the all published papers was conducted regarding epidemiologic characteristics of traumatic fractures following e-scooter-related injuries. Multiple databases of PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Cochrane library were searched and relevant clinical studies reporting incidence for traumatic fractures from e-scooter-related injuries were included. All other types of studies and those including patients with non-orthopedic injuries were excluded. The Methodological Index for Non-randomized Studies (MINORS) was used to assess the quality of the included studies. The characteristics of patients were analyzed by the mean and the standard deviation for continuous variables. Results: Eleven published studies (6579 patients) were identified which have been reported from Nov, 2019 to Sep, 2021. Periods of research in each study were different from May, 2017 to July, 2020. In the majority of cases, the mechanism of injury was a fall from the scooter (84.8%), which was followed by e-scooter motor vehicle accident (7.4%) and collision (5.5%). Regarding the fractures, upper limb injuries were the most prevalent (65%) and radial fracture was the most common fracture type of the upper limb (28.2%). Lower limb fractures were recorded in 475 (25.3%) patients, the most common being tibial fractures (8.4%). Conclusions: As e-scooter market continues to considerably rise, the incidence of major orthopedic traumas is also likely to increase. Despite potential selection and reporting biases, our systematic review suggested up-to-date guidelines for the epidemiology of fractures following e-scooter injury. According to the results found in the present study, we believe that it is reasonable to mandate helmet use and the obligation to wear other types of safety equipment such as elbow and knee pads should be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species of Broussonetia have been essential in the development of papermaking technology. In Japan and Korea, a hybrid between B. monoica and B. papyrifera (= B. × kazinoki) known as kōzo and daknamu is still the major source of raw materials for making traditional paper washi and hanji, respectively. Despite their cultural and practical significance, however, the origin and taxonomy of kōzo and daknamu remain controversial. Additionally, the long-held generic concept of Broussonetia s.l., which included Sect. Allaeanthus and Sect. Broussonetia, was challenged as phylogenetic analyses showed Malaisia is sister to the latter section. To re-examine the taxonomic proposition that recognizes Allaeanthus, Broussonetia, and Malaisia (i.e., Broussonetia alliance), plastome and nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) sequences of six species of the alliance were assembled. Characterized by the canonical quadripartite structure, genome alignments and contents of the six plastomes (160,121–162,594 bp) are highly conserved, except for the pseudogenization and/or loss of the rpl22 gene. Relationships of the Broussonetia alliance are identical between plastome and nrDNA trees, supporting the maintenance of Malaisia and the resurrection of Allaeanthus. The phylogenomic relationships also indicate that the monoecy in B. monoica is a derived state, possibly resulting from hybridization between the dioecious B. kaempferi (♀) and B. papyrifera (♂). Based on the hypervariable ndhF-rpl32 intergenic spacer selected by sliding window analysis, phylogeographic analysis indicates that B. monoica is the sole maternal parent of B. × kazinoki and that daknamu carries multiple haplotypes, while only one haplotype was detected in kōzo. Because hybridizations between B. monoica and B. papyrifera are unidirectional and have occurred rarely in nature, our data suggest that daknamu might have originated via deliberate hybrid breeding selected for making hanji in Korea. On the contrary, kōzo appears to have a single origin and the possibility of a Korean origin cannot be ruled out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To model the COVID-19 infection and develop effective control measures, this paper proposes an SEIR-type epidemic model considering the impact of face-mask wearing and vaccination. Firstly, the effective reproduction number and the threshold conditions are obtained. Secondly, based on the data of South Korea from January 20, 2022 to March 21, 2022, the model parameters are estimated. Finally, a sensitivity analysis and the numerical study are conducted. The results show that the face-mask wearing is associated with 83 % and 90 % reductions in the numbers of cumulative cases and newly confirmed cases, respectively, after a period of 60 days, when the face mask wearing rate increases by 15 % . Furthermore, the vaccination rate is associated with 75 % and 80 % reductions in the numbers of cumulative cases and the newly confirmed cases, respectively, after the same period of 60 days when the vaccination rate is increased by 15 % . A combined measure involving face-mask wearing and vaccination may be more effective and reasonable in preventing and controlling this infection. It is also suggested that disease control departments should strongly recommended the wearing of face masks s as well as vaccination to prevent the unvaccinated people from becoming infected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we model an infectious disease epidemic using Multi-type Branching Process where the number of offsprings of different types follow non-identical Poisson distributions whose parameters may vary over time. We allow for variation in parameters due to the behavior of citizens, government interventions in the form of lockdown, testing and contact tracing and the infectiousness of the variant of the virus in circulation at a time-point in a location. The model can be used to estimate several unknown quantities of interest in an epidemic such as the number of undetected cases and number of people quarantined following contact tracing. The model is fitted to the publicly available COVID-19 caseload data of India, South Korea, UK and US and is seen to provide good fit. It also provides good short-term forecast of the caseload for these countries. This model can be useful for health policy planners in assessing the impact of various intervention strategies such as testing, contact tracing, quarantine etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a brief description of a joint Russian-Korean project abbreviated as EXPLANATION (EXoPLANet And Transient events InvestigatiON). The project is aimed at a massive photometric, speckle-interferometric, spectral, and radio bolometric search for non-stationary events in the Universe, as well as the study of exoplanets. The core of the project consists of several 0.07–2.5-m optical telescopes, 6-m telescope BTA and a six-hundred-meter radio telescope RATAN-600 of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of RAS (Russia), Moscow State University observatory (Russia), Kourovka Observatory (Russia), Crimean Astrophysical Observatory (Crimea), Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (Republic of Korea). We discuss the philosophy of the project and its instrumentation, as well as the first obtained results. In this paper we report the results related to the detection of several types of transient events and the study of exoplanets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the possibility of North Korean regime collapse has been raised and the economic gap between North and South Korea has been increasing, temporary separate operation has emerged as a way of economic integration of North and South Korea. Its main idea is that even if political integration is achieved rapidly, economic integration should proceed over time. It is generally accepted that temporary separate operation has desirable economic consequences but doubts about the feasibility are often raised because it is a scenario based on many assumptions, and politicians might prefer radical integration based on their short-term political interests. So, this paper aims to develop a temporary separate operation by providing more concrete reasons, by anticipating problems and by suggesting policy measures to enhance the feasibility. For this, the paper examines German reunification and European integration (especially Eurozone crisis) cases and compares them with the situations and features of economic and financial sectors of North and South Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to test whether Korea's emission trading scheme (KETS) was effective in curbing GHG emissions in the three major emitting sectors during the first commitment period (2015–2017). The merged dataset, which contains GHG emissions, the amount of free allowances, fuel use and sales at the firm level, and market price information for fuels and Korea's allowance units (KAU), was used for the empirical exercise in this paper. Our research show that the adoption of the KETS was effective in improving the carbon intensity of KETS-regulated entities in the manufacturing and building sectors, but not in the power sector. The reduction burden, defined as the proportion of the expected emission level to the amount of free allowances allocated before the complying year starts, was shown to be critical in altering CO2 emission characteristics of covered entities in the manufacturing and building sectors. This paper's empirical findings also suggest that the development of a pricing scheme reflects carbon costs in electricity prices, In addition to the stringency in free allowances allocated to large emitters, is necessary to mitigate CO2 emissions in the power sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In general, the created era of a literary work is significant information for understanding the background and the literary interpretation of the work. However, in the case of literary works of old Korea, especially works created in Hangul, there are few works of which the era of creation are known. In this paper, the created era of old Korean documents was estimated based on artificial intelligence. Hangul, a Korean letter system where one syllable is one character, has more than 10,000 combinations of characters, so it is available to predict changes in the structure or grammar of Hangul by analyzing the frequency of characters. Accordingly, a deep neural network model was constructed based on the term frequency of each character in Hangul. Model training was performed based on 496 documents with known publication years, and the mean-absolute-error of the test set for the entire prediction range from 1447 to 1934 was 13.77 years for test sets and 15.8 years for validation sets, which is less than an error ratio of 3.25% compared to the total year range. In addition, the predicted results of works from which only the approximate creation time was inferred were also within the range, and the predicted creation years for other divisions of the identical novel were similar. These results show that the deep neural network model based on character term frequency predicted the creation era of old Korean documents properly. This study is expected to support the literary history of Korea within the period from 15C to 19C by predicting the period of creation or enjoyment of the work. In addition, the method and algorithm using syllable term frequency are believed to have the potential to apply in other language documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can capital flow management measures (CFMs) reduce external vulnerability of the economy? This paper studies the effectiveness of a macroprudential stability levy introduced in Korea, which was intended to curb foreign currency (FX) debt as well as to lengthen its maturity structure in the banking sector. Using the detailed bank-level balance sheet data, this study finds that the levy had limited effects on curbing non-core FX debt, while it substantially lengthened its maturity structure driven mainly by foreign bank branches' interoffice account. The subsequent analysis employing the transaction-level loan rate data further suggests that it likely had unintended consequences favoring foreign bank branches that took advantage of regulatory arbitrage and therefore were able to take FX loan market share from domestic banks that could not avoid passing the levy onto their borrowers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taoism and Confucianism both exited simultaneously as philosophies of living in dynastic China. Although there has been an increasing popularity in scientometric studies, religion and health (R&H) literature lacks a holistic evaluation investigating articles relevant to Taoism and Confucianism. All publications produced in Taoism and Confucianism literature and indexed in Web of Science (WoS) databases between 1975 and 2018 were included in this study. Database search on health and Taoism literature retrieved 199 documents from WoS databases. Main research areas were Psychology, Religion and Behavioral Sciences (24.121, 21.608 and 20.603, respectively). The USA ranked first with 38 papers followed China, Taiwan and the UK (n = 35, 20 and 6 documents, respectively). Hong Kong Polytechnic University from China was the most contributor institution in health and Taoism literature. A total of 448 documents were published in health and Confucianism literature between 1975 and 2018, and original articles covered 93.08% of all literature. China was leading country with 126 articles followed by the USA, South Korea and Taiwan (n = 97, 35 and 35 items, respectively). The most productive institutions were City University of Hong Kong (China), Karolinska Institute (Sweden) and University of Hong Kong (China). Researchers from developing and least developed countries should be encouraged to carry out novel scientometric studies in R&H literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about test procedure development of a 4 year project regarding V2X based cooperative safety systems. The project was the first major cooperative safety research project which was led by automotive industry side in Korea. The paper includes a brief introduction of the overall project, basic warning logics, detail test procedures, and some part of test results. The scope of the project include UTIS(Urban Traffic Information Systems) and WAVE dual communication RSE, dual communication OBD, 6 urban area cooperative safety services and test procedures. 10 organizations participated to develop RSE, OBD, Antenna, cooperative services and testbed. KATECH developed the testbed and test procedures. The devices and services are well developed, and the participating companies are now directly working with OEMs for commercialization. All the test procedures are now in KATECH standard test procedure document. For EEBL service, the developed system functions and test procedures are proposed as a ISO standard. The EEBL is published as ISO 20901 EEBL (Emergency Electric Brake Light) systems in May 2020. The author Si-bok Yu is the work item leader for this ISO standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the importance of divergence measures, the literature has not provided a satisfactory formulation for the case of intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFS). This paper criticizes the existing attempts in terms of respect of the basic axioms of a divergence measure. Then, new improved, axiomatically supported divergence measures for IFSs are proposed. Additional properties of the new divergence measures are discussed to guarantee their good performance. Transformation relationships with entropy and dissimilarity measures are debated. As an application, a new intuitionistic fuzzy set theory-based ranking method for figure skaters is designed. A numerical example illustrates its applicability. It uses real data produced during the Men Single Skating Short Program performed in the Team Event in Figure Skating during the Olympic Winter Games 2018 PyeungChang held in Korea from 09.02.2018 to 25.02.2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We open an avenue for discussing how we can pave the way for compliance with existing regulations is a far-reaching factor for settling nuclear fusion technology. Based on a model of the Korean Fusion Demonstration Reactor (K-DEMO) with a target fusion power of 2.2 GW, we assess the intrinsic safety determinants of internal energy sources, the expected radioactive waste, and the tritium management. Regarding these safety factors, we scrutinize the compatibility of the current legislative environment in Korea with K-DEMO and envisage foreseeable obstacles, such as licensing of the nuclear facilities and acceptability of the radioactive waste. Based on precedent licenses for the Korean Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) and lessons learned from the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), we examine hazardous factors that would threaten regulatory compliance of K-DEMO. This approach can help shape a fusion-compatible framework for consolidating the necessary technical provisions and regulatory baselines reflecting social acceptance with a sense of safety. Fusion-compatible aspects in the regulatory environment are discussed, from fusion philosophy to subordinate administrative and technical guidelines, facility classification, and detailed methods guaranteeing integrity and safety. This paper will contribute to the timely settlement of fusion demonstration facilities and subsequent commercial plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with weak or no symptoms accelerate the spread of COVID-19 through various mutations and require more aggressive and active means of validating the COVID-19 infection. More than 30% of patients are reported as asymptomatic infection after the delta mutation spread in Korea. It means that there is a need for a means to more actively and accurately validate the infection of the epidemic via pre-symptomatic detection, besides confirming the infection via the symptoms. Mishara et al. (Nat Biomed Eng 4, 1208–1220, 2020) reported that physiological data collected from smartwatches could be an indicator to suspect COVID-19 infection. It shows that it is possible to identify an abnormal state suspected of COVID-19 by applying an anomaly detection method for the smartwatch's physiological data and identifying the subject's abnormal state to be observed. This paper proposes to apply the One Class-Support Vector Machine (OC-SVM) for pre-symptomatic COVID-19 detection. We show that OC-SVM can provide better performance than the Mahalanobis distance-based method used by Mishara et al. (Nat Biomed Eng 4, 1208–1220, 2020) in three aspects: earlier (23.5–40% earlier) and more detection (13.2–19.1% relative better) and fewer false positives. As a result, we could conclude that OC-SVM using Resting Heart Rate (RHR) with 350 and 300 moving average size is the most recommended technique for COVID-19 pre-symptomatic detection based on physiological data from the smartwatch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about test procedure development of a 4 year project regarding V2X based cooperative safety systems. The project was the first major cooperative safety research project which was led by automotive industry side in Korea. The paper includes a brief introduction of the overall project, basic warning logics, detail test procedures, and some part of test results. The scope of the project include UTIS(Urban Traffic Information Systems) and WAVE dual communication RSE, dual communication OBD, 6 urban area cooperative safety services and test procedures. 10 organizations participated to develop RSE, OBD, Antenna, cooperative services and testbed. KATECH developed the testbed and test procedures. The devices and services are well developed, and the participating companies are now directly working with OEMs for commercialization. All the test procedures are now in KATECH standard test procedure document. For EEBL service, the developed system functions and test procedures are proposed as a ISO standard. The EEBL is published as ISO 20901 EEBL (Emergency Electric Brake Light) systems in May 2020. The author Si-bok Yu is the work item leader for this ISO standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2022 International Conference on Nuclear Analytical Techniques (NAT2022) was held in Daejeon, Korea, in conjunction with the 8th Symposium on Radiation in Medicine, Space, and Power (RMSP-VIII) and the Symposium on Applications of Chemical and Analytical Technologies in the Nuclear Industry (Nu-ACT 2022). The conference was organized by the Korean Nuclear Society (KNS), the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), and the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology at Seoul National University (SNU), with support from other organizations. The conference featured sessions on various topics related to nuclear analytical techniques and included presentations from distinguished speakers. The conference saw an increase in participation compared to its predecessor, NAT2020, indicating the growing interest in the field. A special issue of the Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry (JRNC) will publish 22 papers from the conference. [Extracted from the article]

At present, we live in prosperity contrary to the past times. As income increases, people enjoy wealth, but more people tend to pursue their own inner happiness: travel. People go to other places or visit foreign countries for business or journey. This study aims to identify the best tour route for foreign tourists in South Korea. Based on the review analysis results, this paper also aims to put forward techniques and methodologies required in practical affairs when developing a travel site or a travel application. On this note, it collected tourists' reviews at the Tripadvisor official website and conducted text mining technique as well as network analysis using R and Tagxedo, which is a big data analytic tool. The analysis results displayed that there were differences in travel preference, and especially, individual travelers had difficulty traveling by public transportation and selecting travel destinations. Therefore, customized travel routes were suggested for convenient use among travelers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the research of marine knowledge and information technology has grown rapidly by the increasing interest in the rich repository of natural resources in the sea. For marine knowledge services, accurate marine environmental data must be continuously collected to deeply understand and analyze the marine circumstances. However, there is an insufficiency of research on the observation of marine circumstances in South Korea for the marine knowledge services. The ocean data buoy, a marine environmental monitoring equipment currently operating in South Korea, is large in size and high in production cost because it consumes a lot of power for communication. Aso, it provides only marine data and lacks information on marine knowledge. In this paper, we have proposed containerized marine knowledge system by means of IoT-Cloud and LoRaWAN to improve the marine environment monitoring. The proposed system enables flexible construction of the system and can analyze the marine knowledge through visualizing the gathered data and the knowledge processing with respect to the prediction of red tide events. LoRaWAN-based IoT devices are able to collect long-range marine environmental data in an energy efficient manner. Our proposed method is helpful for researching low-cost marine monitoring buoy and flexible marine knowledge system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interspecific hybridization has been suggested to occur frequently in Rumex (Polygonaceae). Several hypothesized combinations of parental species of hybrids based on their intermediate morphology have been suggested in the genus, but few of them have been phylogenetically tested. We analyzed nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequence data of a putative natural hybrid between Rumex crispus and Rumex obtusifolius from Korea to confirm its hybrid status and to determine the maternal parent. Analysis of the nuclear DNA pgiC region revealed that R. crispus and R. obtusifolius have contributed to the nuclear genome of the putative hybrids. The haplotype distribution pattern inferred from the combined sequence data set of five chloroplast DNA regions (matK, rbcL-accD IGS, trnK-rps16 IGS, ycf6-psbM IGS and psbA-trnH IGS) indicated bidirectional hybridization events between R. crispus and R. obtusifolius. This paper provides the first molecular evidence for interspecific hybridization between R. crispus and R. obtusifolius. In addition, our findings strongly suggested that Korean populations of Rumex japonicus have a hybrid origin, and R. crispus may represent one of the parental taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes data-analytics-based factory operation strategies for the quality enhancement of die casting. We first define the four main problems of die casting that result in lower quality: [P1] gaps between the input and output casting parameter values, [P2] occurrence of preheat shots, [P3] lateness of defect distinction, and [P4] worker-experience-based casting parameter tuning. To address these four problems, we derived seven tasks that should be conducted during factory operation: [T1] implementation of exploratory data analysis (EDA) for investigating the trends and correlations between data, [T2] deduction of the optimal casting parameter output values for the production of fair-quality products, [T3] deduction of the upper and lower control limits for casting parameter input–output gap management, [T4] development of a preheat shot diagnosis algorithm, [T5] development of a defect prediction algorithm, [T6] development of a defect cause diagnosis algorithm, and [T7] development of a casting parameter tuning algorithm. The details of the proposed data-analytics-based factory operation strategies with regard to the casting parameter input and output data, data preprocessing, data analytics method used, and implementation are presented and discussed. Finally, a case study of a die-casting factory in South Korea that has adopted the proposed strategies is introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the success of the demonstration experiment of MW-class Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) in East Sea, Korea, OTEC technology is expected to spread in the future. In order for this to happen, technology improvement factors, such as minimizing human error and reducing operating costs through automatic start and stop for stable operation, are to be applied. In this paper, the operation performance of a 20 kW-class pilot model for the automated start and stop of the recently demonstrated MW-class OTEC served as the basis for the scenario. The scenario derived from the operation experiment of the 20 kW-class pilot plant established the starting conditions of the surface water and deep water seawater inflow conditions with maximum flow conditions of 1,864 kg/s and 1,507 kg/s, respectively, at the initial start-up of the MW-class OTEC. The refrigerant circulation pump produces 86.4 kW initial power at 700 RPM (Max 1,150) when the turbine bypass valve is closed by 50%. The maximum flow condition of 104.0 kg/s through the sequential increase in refrigerant flow and decrease in the opening of the turbine bypass valve generated an output of 886.9 kW. In the stop condition, the RPM of the refrigerant pump is reduced to 800, and the bypass valve is fully closed. Moreover, the power generation output is reduced to 154.3 kW. In accordance with the normal stop condition of 200 kW or less, the bypass valve, which is fully opened, and the valve at the turbine inlet, which is completely opened and closed, block the inflow into the turbine. On the other hand, the opening degree of the bypass valve, which is fully opened, reduces the turbine output to 0 kW in the emergency stop condition. Then, the turbine inlet valve, which is completely opened and closed, blocks the working fluid inflow. As the bypass valve opens abruptly, the flow rate of the working fluid increases up to 328.0 kg/s due to the decrease in turbine resistance. In doing so, the flow rate decreases, and the working fluid amount in the liquid separator decreases. The construction of an automated system for the empirical model in the future will use the OTEC start and stop simulation results derived through this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pectoral nerve blocks (Pecs I and Pecs II) are superficial thoracic wall blocks which block the pectoral and intercostal nerves. They can be used as analgesia/anesthesia for breast surgery and other procedures/surgeries involving the anterior chest wall (arteriovenous graft creation surgery, minimally invasive cardiac surgery and thoracotomy, etc.). The aim of this study is to evaluate publications in the scientific field of pectoral nerve blocks. ISI Web of Knowledge-Science was used for the analysis. All scientific works published included in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-E) from 1975 to January 27, 2019, were analyzed. A retrospective search was performed using key words "pectoral nerve block," "PECS I," "PECS II," "pecs block," "PECS block,""Pecs I," "Pecs II," "PECS 1," "PECS 2," and "modified pecs I block." We further analyzed these results by the "analyze" function of the software in terms of number of papers for each country, type of documentation, number of publications per year, and name of journals and authors. The number of citations to published works was also calculated by using the citation function of the same software. 72 papers were found related to pectoral nerve block. The biggest contribution was from India (24.28%), and followed by Japan (14.28%), USA (14.28%), Canada (7.14%), Egypt (7.14%), Italy (5.71%), and South Korea (5.71%). The total number of publications increased sharply in years from 2014 (n = 1) to 2018 (n = 28). We have detected that papers on the use of pecs block in breast cancer surgery, which is one of the most common surgical procedure in the world, are few in the literature. With this study, we hope to increase the awareness on this area. We believe that pecs block applications will become widespread with the increasing use of ultrasound in anesthesia and the increase in education in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

89Zr is an emerging radionuclide with promising application in nuclear medicine for the non-invasive diagnosis of various cancers with PET imaging. This paper would discuss optimization efforts in the production of 89Zr carried out at Accelerator Radioisotope Development Team, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. Optimized conditions reveal high production yields of 89Zr ~ 37 ± 1.4 MBq/µA using 89Y(p,n)89Zr, ~ 12.7 MeV of proton, and 35 µA using yttrium coin target with indigenously constructed 30 MeV Cyclotron (RFT-30). Besides, the production optimization, quality control, and biological behavior of [89Zr]Zr-oxalate, chloride and, DFO demonstrated promising results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether political connection of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in public institutions is associated with organization efficiency. We utilize two types of public institutions in Korea, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and quasi-governmental organizations (QUANGOs). Using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), we find that CEOs with political connection are positively related to organization efficiency. Specifically, such association is largely driven by QUANGOs whose revenue resource is fully funded and owned by the government. It implies that politically connected CEOs can improve firm efficiency when the organizations are financially dependent on the government and are under its stringent monitoring by government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a range of responses from countries across the globe in managing and containing infections. Considerable research has highlighted the importance of trust in ethically and effectively managing infectious diseases in the population; however, considerations of reciprocal trust remain limited in debates on pandemic response. This paper aims to broaden the perspective of good ethical practices in managing an infectious disease outbreak by including the role of reciprocal trust. A synthesis of the approaches drawn from South Korea and Taiwan reveals reciprocal trust as an important ethical response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Reciprocal trust offers the opportunity to reconcile the difficulties arising from restrictive measures for protecting population health and individual rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) in freshwater produce toxins that pose a threat to public health and aquatic ecosystems. Although algal communities have been studied globally to understand the characteristics of HABs, the occurrence of toxic cyanobacteria in freshwater ecosystems is rarely understood. Unlike abiotic factors, the effects of biotic factors (e.g., interaction, dominance, and variability) on the occurrence of toxic cyanobacteria were overlooked due to the intricate interaction of microorganisms under different environmental conditions. To address this problem, a comprehensive ecological concept stability, which encompasses variations in species or communities due to changing biological interactions or environmental fluctuations, was applied in this study. The algal communities in six river-connected lakes in the North Han River, South Korea, were classified into high and low stability groups. The algal species belonging to diatoms and green algae groups played a major role in the interaction within the algal community in highly stable lakes, but the frequency of Microcystis led the interaction within the algal community at the center of the network in low-stability lakes. These results indicate that the interaction within the cluster is easily changed by Microcystis, where the abundance explosively increases in lakes with low algal community stability. Water quality is more strongly associated with the occurrence of toxic cyanobacteria (Microcystis and Dolichospermum). In low-stability lakes, more diverse water quality indicators are correlated with the development of toxic algae than in high-stability lakes. This paper is the first report on the importance of algal community stability in freshwater in the occurrence of toxic cyanobacteria and offers a new perspective on Microcystis monitoring and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, several studies pointed out that anthropogenic emission sources in China which significantly contribute to the PM2.5 mass burden was an important cause of particulate pollution in South Korea. However, most studies generally focused upon a single pollution event. It is rare to see comprehensive research that captures those features prone to interannual variations concerning the transboundary pollutant contribution in South Korea using a unified method. In this paper, we establish the emission inventories covering East Asia in 2010, 2015, and 2017, and then conduct the source apportionment by applying a coupled regional air quality model called the Integrated Source Apportionment Module (ISAM). Comparison of simulated and observed PM2.5 mass concentration at 165 CNEMC (China National Environmental Monitoring Center) sites suggests that the PM2.5 concentrations are well represented by the modeling system. The model is used to quantitatively investigate the contribution from emission sources in China to PM2.5 concentrations over South Korea and those features found to be prone to interannual variations are then discussed. The results show that the average annual contribution of PM2.5 has dropped significantly from 28.0% in 2010 to 15.7% in 2017, which strongly suggests that China has achieved remarkable results in the treatment of atmospheric particulates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper explores the significance of Honor in the context of group dynamics underlying human behavior across three cultures, Germany, Pakistan, and South Korea. While earlier studies on Honor have focused on the negative connotations of Honor, the effects of these still remain as critical as ever. In this paper, Honor is defined as an assignment of recognition for being a member of a prestigious group where members of Honor group are obliged to follow their group's Honor-code; not sticking to the Honor-code threatens reputation and instigates condemnation. To explore this assumption three studies were conducted: A Pilot Study, Study 1, and Study 2. The Pilot Study socially situates different groups in the assignment of Honor. Based on the findings of the Pilot Study, high Honor group (medical doctors) was chosen as a protagonist group for the studies that follow. Study 1 explores the effects of an Honor-code-related factor and an Honor-code unrelated factor in a vignette-based experiment. Loss of Honor, assessed in terms of an outsider perspective on Honor, is seen as an outcome of the violation of the Honor-code in three countries (Germany/Pakistan/South Korea). Study 2 further explores the effects of Honor-code violations from an insider perspective. The findings of Study 2 showed that the effects of Honor-code violation were stronger than outsider's perspective. It is concluded that Honor may have a functional role in regulating the prestige of a group via outsiders' and insiders' monitoring of adherence to Honor-codes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An anti-lock braking system (ABS) is an anti-skid braking system commonly used as a safety feature in vehicles. The hydraulic control unit for the ABS of a vehicle includes a plunger pump between the wheel and master cylinder. This paper presents numerical investigations of the effect of valve shapes on the performance improvement provided by a plunger pump, focusing on two different valve shapes, ball-type and hat-type. Transient laminar flow analyses of plunger pumps with ball and hat-type inlet valves are performed under motor speeds from 1000 to 5000 rpm using the fluid-structure interaction (FSI) and user-defined function (UDF) techniques. An experimental verification of the simulation results for the plunger pump with a ball-type valve was conducted using the standard pump test of the Mando Corporation, South Korea. A comparison of the simulation and experimental results suggests that these are in good agreement. The simulation results indicate that the hat-type valve outperforms the ball-type valve due to a shorter delay in the closing time at the end of the suction cycle. These findings suggest that valve shape has a considerable impact on the performance improvement provided by a plunger pump, providing crucial insights into the future design of high-efficiency pumps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aggression in dating relationships is a serious problem that can have long-term negative consequences. While research had been increasing in western societies concomitant with an increasing awareness of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration, studies in Asian societies are still few and far between. This paper examines dating violence perpetration among college students in South Korea. Overall violence, emotional, and physical violence are examined respectively. Witnessed parental conflict is used as the main explanatory variable consistent with much of the literature on intimate partner violence perpetration, and also examines the effect of the self-conscious emotion of guilt on dating violence perpetration. Guilt had been shown in the psychological literature to be prosocial and adaptive, but its role has been largely ignored in the IPV and aggression literature. Both its direct and moderating effects on dating violence are examined. Anonymous surveys were administered to college students in four universities across four cities and four regions in South Korea. Three hundred and thirty students who have had a dating experience are included in the analyses. Results show that both witnessed parental conflict and guilt are independently related to dating violence overall, and also to emotional and physical violence. Guilt moderates the effect of witnessed parental conflict on emotional but not physical violence. A closer examination of the role of self-conscious emotions on dating aggression is important. The results extend the generally western theories of dating violence to South Korea and provide evidence of the relevance of these theories cross-culturally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes and analyzes an efficient robot task sequence for a flexible assembly system that consists of multiple 3D printers, post-processing, assembly, inspection machines, and a material handling robot. The flexible assembly system, which has been built in many large cities in Korea, has been designed to fabricate customized products for start-ups or individuals. We consider cyclic scheduling of the system in which the robot repeats a certain sequence to produce identical products. We propose a robot task sequence to minimize the cycle time. The system behavior with the proposed robot task sequence is modeled with a timed event graph (TEG), and the optimality of the sequence is proved by analyzing the circuits in the TEG. The results are extended for producing multiple types of products simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the nature of scientific research traffic on the Korea research environment open network. Based on these investigations, we propose a scalable design and algorithm for the science demilitarization zone (DMZ). The proposed design allows users to share a data-transfer node (DTN), which is essential but costly equipment in the Science DMZ. The proposed iterative greedy algorithm attempts to minimize the peak traffic of the shared DTNs. By considering state-of-the-art DTN and practical research traffic, the proposed design and algorithm achieve up to 79% capital expenditure (CAPEX) reduction from that of a reference design of the Science DMZ where a DTN is allocated per user. The proposed algorithm achieves a 5-order-of-magnitude reduction in computation time at the cost of acceptable CAPEX overheads compared to those of the minimum-CAPEX solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the assessment of equivalence of the spectral radiance scales in the wavelength range from 250 to 2500 nm, reproduced at the national metrology institutes of Korea (KRISS), China (NIM), and Russia (VNIIOFI), carried out in the framework of international comparisons. The common set of three tungsten strip lamps was used as an artefact. Based on a series of blind measurements of the lamps spectral radiance performed at each laboratory alternately, the reference value of the comparison was determined at each wavelength as a weighted mean of the measured data of three laboratories. The degree of equivalence of each laboratory was then calculated as the deviation of the measurement data of that participant from the reference value. A data analysis method was proposed for calculating the degree of equivalences and their uncertainties. The method is based on processing spectral radiance ratios, rather than differences, which allows eliminating the influence of a result of one particular participant to results of other laboratories. The comparison results confirm the equivalence of spectral radiance scales of all the laboratories within their expanded uncertainties (k = 2) except a few wavelength points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much scholarly attention is paid to understanding subjective well-being (SWB) from a spatial perspective. Various features of a city including social capital may have significant impacts on SWB in addition to individual attributes and national characteristics. However, the extant empirical studies of SWB tend to focus on the national- or regional-scale analysis rather than the city-scale analysis. Particularly, few studies inquire into the impacts of social capital and urban amenities on SWB along with the spatial dependence at the city level. This paper aims to examine the spatial effects of social capital and urban characteristics on the SWB of cities. For this purpose, we construct a series of spatial panel models for SWB using data for 219 cities in South Korea, from the Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS) conducted in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. The results show that income, Gini-coefficient, social trust, social networks with friends, participation in charity activities, open space, and cultural opportunities all affect the SWB. Particularly, social capital and open space have spatial spillover effects on the SWB, even after controlling for socio-demographic variables. These findings will not only draw some important policy implications for urban planning and public management to improve the level of urban SWB, but also provide a piece of significant evidence for follow-up studies of its kind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently an earthquake sequence occurred in Haenam, southwestern part of the Korean Peninsula. Earthquake swarms are not unusual in the western region of Korea, which already experienced comparable series of earthquakes before the Haenam earthquake: in the Boryeong offshore (2013) and Baekryeong Island (2013 and 2019) regions. The ML 3.1 earthquake occurred 21km WNW of Haenam on May 3, 2020 and the earthquake sequence occurred from April 26 to May 9 intensively. For two weeks, a dozen small foreshocks preceded the mainshock and more aftershocks occurred. In this paper, relocation of events with focal mechanisms based on the seismicity of the 2020 Haenam earthquake sequence is proposed. The distribution of earthquake sequence in Haenam area is WNW-ESE direction, which is approximately parallel to the fault plane solutions of events with ML ≥ 2.0 indicating strike-slip faults. The sequential events concentrate within the elliptical area of about 0.18 km2 on the surface and the focal depth distributions show some variations between 19.6 km and 21.6 km for different velocity models but their ranges are within about 500–600 m. The depth variations for different models can be due to the different boundary depths between upper and lower crusts. Based on a comparison of the earthquake swarms in the western region of the Korean Peninsula, this study provides seismological information for understanding the seismotectonic structures in the Korean Peninsula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether three sets of factors—humanitarianism, the South Korean government's official aid, and concerns regarding performance—affect South Korean CSOs' decisions regarding aid recipients and the amount of aid to them. The statistical results of these two-stage analyses show that South Korean CSOs take into consideration different sets of factors at each stage of their aid allocation decisions. While humanitarianism and ODA allocation are consistently important at both stages of South Korean CSOs' aid allocation decisions, performance concerns for aid effectiveness and efficiency (language and religion) matter especially at the second stage. Governance level of a developing country has a positive relationship with aid allocation decisions, while the direction of influence changes when only recipient countries are included in the regression analysis. These findings suggest that concerns regarding accountability and autonomy of CSOs in the context of their growing engagement in development cooperation may be unwarranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to translate and validate into the Korea language and setting the Sarcopenia Quality of Life (SarQoL®) questionnaire. Methods: The participants consisted of 450 individuals in Namgaram-2 cohort who were followed up in 2019–2020. The study participants were divided into four groups: (1) SARC-F < 4, (2) SARC-F ≥ 4 and robust grip strength, (3) SARC-F ≥ 4, low grip strength, robust muscle mass, (4) SARC-F ≥ 4, low grip strength, and low muscle mass. To assess construct validity, population with sarcopenia-associated symptoms (SARC-F ≥ 4) apart from the Korean SarQoL (SarQoL-K®) completed the Korean versions of two generic questionnaires, the Short Form-36 and the EuroQoL 5-dimension. To validate the Korean SarQoL®, we assessed its validity (discriminative power, construct validity), reliability (internal consistency, test–retest reliability), and floor/ceiling effects. Results: The SarQoL-K® questionnaire was translated without major difficulties. The mean SarQoL-K scores were 72.9 (95%, CI; 71.2–74.6) in SARC-F < 4, 54.6 (95%, CI; 50.7–58.3) in SARC-F ≥ 4 and robust grip strength, 47.0 (95%, CI; 43.8–50.1) in SARC-F ≥ 4, low grip strength, robust muscle mass, 46.6 (95%, CI; 43.0–50.1) in SARC-F ≥ 4, low grip strength, and low muscle mass. The results indicated good discriminative power across each four groups (p < 0.001), high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha of 0.866), and excellent test–retest reliability (ICC = 0.977, 95% CI 0.975–0.979). No floor- or ceiling-effects were observed. Conclusions: This is the first study to confirm the reliability and validity of the Korean version of the SarQoL®. We demonstrated that the population with sarcopenia-associated symptoms (determined using the SARC-F questionnaire) has a lower quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]