This study examines the dynamic linkages between food price inflation and its volatility in the context of Sri Lanka. The empirical evidence derived from the monthly data for the period from 2003M1 to 2017M12 for Sri Lanka. The relationship between inflation rate and inflation volatility has attracted more attention by theoretical and empirical macroeconomists. Empirical studies on the relationship between food inflation and food inflation variability is scarce in the literature. Food price inflation is defined as log difference of food price series. The volatility of a food price inflation is measured by conditional variance generated by the FIGARCH model. Preliminary analysis showed that food inflation is stationary series. Granger causality test reveals that food inflation seems to exert positive impact on inflation variability. We find no evidence for inflation uncertainty affecting food inflation rates. Hence, the findings of the study supports the Friedman-Ball hypothesis in both cases of consumer food price inflation and wholesale food price inflation. This implies that past information on food inflation can help improve the one-step-ahead prediction of food inflation variability but not vice versa. Our results have some important policy implications for the design of monetary policy, food policy thereby promoting macroeconomic stability.

The purpose of the study to evaluate the contribution of foreign direct investment (FDI) and tourism receipts (TR) to Sri Lanka’s gross domestic product (GDP). This study employs time series annual data for the period from 1978 to 2016 and EViews 10 econometrics software was used for the time series data analysis. Unit root test was done on the variables and the method chosen was the Augmented Dicky – Fuller test. Co-integration analysis was used for the long run relationship and the Granger causality test was performed to investigate the causal relationship. Recently a more conducive environment has been established after the three decade long ethnic war came to an end. In this context, the Sri Lankan government has taken positive measures to attract foreign direct investment and boost tourism in the country. This study intends to evaluate the contribution of Sri Lanka, as these two factors are considered to be very effective at increasing the GDP of a country. The empirical study shows that there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between the variable’s TR and FDI to the GDP in the long run. Results of Granger causality test implied that the two-way causality promoted the economic growth of Sri Lanka.

In this study, a load duration curve was applied to the Jangseongcheon, one of the tributaries of the Yeongsan River, to assess whether the target water quality was achieved. In addition, pollution of the water body was investigated to develop and suggest the optimal management time with respect to polluted flow sections and monthly conditions. The average flow rates of sections JS1 and JS2 were 0.25 m3/s and 1.08 m3/s , respectively. The BOD and T-P for water-quality standards at JS1 were rated at II, whereas the COD and TOC were rated at III, thus indicating a fair level of water quality. By contrast, the BOD at JS2 was rated at III, the T-P at IV, and the TOC at V, indicating poor water quality in this section. The load duration curve was plotted using the actual flow data measured in eight-day intervals for eight years from 2011 to 2018 at locations JS1 and JS2 in the Jangsungcheon Basin. In an assessment using the load duration curve on whether the target water quality was met at location JS1, all of the water quality parameters (BOD, COD, TOC, T-N, T-P, and SS) satisfied the target water quality. By contrast, at location JS2, parameters COD, TOC, T-N, and T-P exceeded target values by more than 50%, indicating the target water quality was not met. The discharge loads of locations JS1 and JS2 were analyzed to identify the reasons the target water quality was exceeded. Results revealed that the land system contributed considerably. Furthermore, the discharge load of JS2 accounted for more than 80% of the load on the entire basin, excluding that of JS1. Therefore, the best method for restraining the inflow of pollutants into the stream near location JS2 must be applied to manage the water quality of the Jangsungcheon.

The objective of the current study is to investigate and evaluate the annual and seasonal rainfall trends and patterns of the Punjab province, Pakistan during the 1981-2015. The spatial patterns and temporal trends were identified through the Modified Mann Kendall test. Finding revealed that 13 weather stations of Punjab province have shown the statistically significant decreasing trend of annual and summer monsoon rainfall during the study period. From further investigation, the rainfall during the summer monsoon period (JJAS) found to be increased by 12.45%, similarly the rainfall during the whole of year be also increased by 18.75%. The significant decreasing trends observed with the higher percentage change in annual and monsoon rainfall for the stations of Sialkot and Lahore in the northern and central Punjab. The empirical evidences suggested that northern Punjab gets more moisture as compared the Southern and Western Punjab. This study suggests intensive empirical research in the future to evolve further spatio-temporal trends in the rainfall pattern of Punjab.

본 연구는 방사선학과 학생들을 대상으로 전공만족도가 진로결정몰입에 미치는 영향을 알아보고자 실시하였다. 구조화된 설문지를 사용하여 218명의 방사선학과 학생들을 대상으로 자가 보고식 조사를 실시하였다. 방사선과 학생들의 전공만족도는 ‘보통’ 정도였으며 진로결정몰입도는 ‘보통’에서 ‘미몰입’ 수준으로 1 학년에서 가장 낮게 나타났고 4학년에서 가장 높게 나타났다. 전공만족도는 진로결정몰입도에 영향을 주고 있었는데 특히, 하부요인인 전공 자부심이 진로결정 몰입에 가장 많은 영향을 주고 있었다. 본 연구에서 방사선학과 학생들의 진로결정몰입도는 미몰입 수준으로 낮게 나타나서 진로결정몰입도를 향상시킬 수 있는 방안이 필요한 것으로 보인다.

약물용출 스텐트(drug-eluting stents, DES)는 일반 금속 스텐트에 비하여 재협착을 현저하게 줄였지만, 여전히 관상동맥 스텐트 재협착은 비율이 높다. 2012년 11월부터 2016년 12월까지의 일 대학교병원 심혈관센터에서 경피적 관상동맥 스텐트 삽입술 후 관상동맥 조영술에서 스텐트 재협착 환자 187명 그룹 I (약물코 팅 풍선카테터 사용, n=127명), 그룹 II (약물용출 스텐트 사용, n=60명)로 분류하여 치료효과, 주요심장사건, 사망 발생률, 심근경색, 표적병변 재개통술 그리고 스텐트 혈전등을 2년 동안 추적 분석하였다. 임상적 특성는 두 그룹간 차이는 없었고(21.1 ± 5.3 vs. 25.3 ± 9.6 mm, p<0.002), 혈관조영검사에서 약물코팅 풍선 카테터 사용 그룹에서 스텐트 재협착 길이가 짧았다. 주요심장사건은 8.7%vs.10.0%, p=0.789, 사망발생률 0%vs.0%,p=1.000, 심근경색 1.6%vs.6.7%, p=0.085, 표적병변 재개통술 8.7% vs. 10.0%, p=0.789 그리고 스텐트 혈전증 0% vs. 0%, p=1000에서 양군 간에 차이를 보이지 않았다. 약물코팅 풍선카테터가 약물방출 스텐트와 비교하여 2년 추적 검사 결과 주요심장사건에서 차이가 없었고, 약물코팅 풍선카테터는 스텐트 재협착 병변에서 약물방출 스텐트와 함께 선택할 수 있는 좋은 치료방법이라고 사료된다.

방사선치료 분야에서는 치료의 안전성을 검증하기 위한 Quality Assurance(QA) 절차가 매우 중요하게 여겨진다. 그러나 일반적으로 이에 사용되는 선량계들의 다양한 문제점 때문에, 이를 대체하기 위한 선량계 연구가 활발히 진행되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 형광체로부터 방출된 visible light(VL)에 의한 Sensitivity 극대화를 위해, 뛰어난 형광 효율을 가지는 형광체인 Gd2O2S:Tb를 요오드화납(Lead(II) Iodide; PbI2)에 다양한 weight percent(wt%)로 혼합한 Blended hybrid sensor를 제작하였다. 이후 Blended sensor 및 Pure PbI2 sensor의 고에너지 방사선에 대한 반응특성을 비교 및 평가하였다. 민감도 평가결과, 3wt%는 sensor에서 타 sensor들과 40% 이상 차이나는 최댓값이 나타났으며, 이를 제외한 센서에서 wt%의 증가에 따른 점차적 민감도 감소추세를 확인하였다. 또한, 재현성 평가에서는 Pure PbI2 sensor가 coefficient of variation(CV)>0.015의 큰 편차를 보인 반면, blended sensor는 모두 CV<0.015 이하의 결과를 보였다.

Stevia rebaudiana (Asteraceae), a perennial plant, has been used as a low-calorie sweetener and is being developed as a therapeutic agent for diabetes, hypertension, myocardial diseases, and microbial infections. Despite the common use of its leaves and stem, the bioavailability of the components present in S. rebaudiana flowers, when used as ingredients of cosmetics, has not been well investigated. Herein, we investigated the antioxidative and antimelanogenic effects of an aqueous extract of S. rebaudiana flowers (Stevia-F). Total flavonoid and phenolic content in Stevia-F were determined to be 8.64 ± 0.23 ㎎ of quercetin equivalents/100 g and 631.5 ± 2.01 ㎎ of gallic acid equivalents/100 g, respectively. The IC50 values of Stevia-F for reducing power, and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate radical, hydrogen peroxide, and nitric oxide scavenging activities were 5541.96, 131.39, 466.34, and 10.44 ㎍/mL, respectively. Stevia-F showed inhibitory effects on the tyrosinase (IC50 = 134.74 ㎍/mL) and α-glucosidase (IC50 = 114.81 ㎍/mL) activities. No significant cytotoxicity of Stevia-F was observed in B16F10 cells, treated with up to 100 ㎍/mL of the extract for 24 and 48 h (p > 0.05). Stevia-F (1–100 ㎍/mL) suppressed α-melanocyte stimulating hormone-induced melanin production in B16F10 cells (p < 0.05) and also inhibited the cellular tyrosinase activity (p < 0.05). Overall, our results show that Stevia-F possesses potential for inhibiting tyrosinase and α-glucosidase activities and has significant antioxidant capacity. The antimelanogenic potential of Stevia-F should extend the usage of S. rebaudiana flowers in the development of skinwhitening products.

UV Psc is a typical RS CVn type system undergoing dynamic chromosphere activity. We performed photometric observations of the system in 2015 and secured new BVR light curves showing well-defined photometric waves. In this paper, we analyzed the light curves using Wilson-Devinney binary code and investigated the orbital period of the system. The combination of our light curve synthesis with the spectroscopic solution developed by previous investigators yielded the absolute parameters as: M1 = 1.104 ± 0.042 Mⵙ, R1 = 1.165 ± 0.025 Rⵙ, and L1 = 1.361 ± 0.041 Lⵙ for the primary star, and M2 = 0.809 ± 0.082 Mⵙ, R2 = 0.858 ± 0.018 Rⵙ, and L2 = 0.339 ± 0.010 Lⵙ for the secondary star. The eclipse timing diagram for accurate CCD and photoelectric timings showed that the orbital period may vary either in a downward parabolic manner or a quasi-sinusoidal pattern. If the latter is adopted as a probable pattern for the period change, a more plausible account for the cyclic variation may be the light time effect caused by a circumbinary object rather than an Applegate-mechanism occurring via variable surface magnetic field strengths.

The study aims to analyze the influence of egoistic, altruistic and biospheric value on green functional benefit, green monetary cost, green satisfaction and green loyalty. The study analyzes the effect of green functional benefit and green monetary cost on green satisfaction and green loyalty, as well as green satisfaction on green loyalty. The study employs quantitative methods with customers who have green brand purchase experience in Indonesia. Non-probability sampling was conducted using purposive sampling method based on predetermined criteria, which are customers who have already purchase and use green brand products. A total of 402 samples were analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling. The result shows that the data support hypotheses on egoistic and biospheric value, hypotheses on green functional benefit effect to green satisfaction and green loyalty, as well as green monetary cost effect to green loyalty. The other hypotheses are not supported by data. As a conclusion, it is egoistic and biospheric value that has positive effect on green loyalty, while green functional benefit and green monetary cost act as mediation between the value orientation and green loyalty. As managerial implication, green brand marketing strategy should incorporate egoistic and biospheric values in messages in advertising and promotion.

The study aims to investigate the effects of brand value in the oriental medicine cosmetics market, as perceived by consumers, on brand satisfaction, brand loyalty, and purchase intention. The subjects were Korean and Chinese female consumers, the primary consumers of oriental medicine cosmetics. A total of 615 sample surveys were analyzed from consumers who have experience using oriental medicine cosmetics. Out of the sample, 264 respondents had used Oriental medicine cosmetics for one to four years, 199 respondents for more than four years, and 108 respondents for three months to a year. Based on existing research, we categorized the value of oriental medicine cosmetics brands into four dimensions: emotional, social, functional, and epistemic values. Whether brand satisfaction and brand loyalty can be mediating factors in brand value influencing purchase intention was inspected through several hypotheses. As a result, except for the epistemic value factor, the brand value factors were found to have a positive effect on brand satisfaction and brand loyalty. In addition, emotional, social, and functional brand value factors influence purchase intention through brand loyalty, and it was found that brand loyalty is an important factor for oriental medicine cosmetics consumers, however mediator effects did not appear for brand satisfaction.

The Indonesian government launched a new people's business credit program as part of a package of economic policy and deregulation. The interest rate is set lower than the average of the current loan interest rates, especially when compared with rural bank interest rates. To capture the social spatial aspects, quota sampling is applied to ten areas that divided based on the social culture. Further, the method utilized in this research is logit models, which designed to analyse the determinants of asymmetric information particularly on the rural bank and small micro enterprises. The study was conducted in East Java as the province with the largest number of rural banks in Indonesia. Based on the estimation of asymmetric information model to the respondent of rural banks and small businesses, the result shows that adverse selection can be avoided by strengthening the information about prospective borrowers. Regarding moral hazard, rural banks and small businessmen argued that the imposition of the collateral to the debtor has an important role to avoid moral hazard. Rural bank respondents stated that the KUR program with low-interest rates has affected their business development. The results implied the need of broadening the collaboration schemes between this people’s business credit program and rural banks.

The Optical Wide-field patroL-Network (OWL-Net) is a global optical network for Space Situational Awareness in Korea. The primary operational goal of the OWL-Net is to track Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites operated by Korea and to monitor the Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) region near the Korean peninsula. To obtain dense measurements on LEO tracking, the chopper system was adopted in the OWL-Net’s back-end system. Dozens of angle-only measurements can be obtained for a single shot with the observation mode for LEO tracking. In previous work, the reduction process of the LEO tracking data was presented, along with the mechanical specification of the back-end system of the OWL-Net. In this research, we describe an integrity assessment method of time-position matching and verification of results from real observations of LEO satellites. The change rate of the angle of each streak in the shot was checked to assess the results of the matching process. The time error due to the chopper rotation motion was corrected after re-matching of time and position. The corrected measurements were compared with the simulated observation data, which were taken from the Consolidated Prediction File from the International Laser Ranging Service. The comparison results are presented in the In-track and Cross-track frame.

Being a torque free motion of the rotating Earth, Chandler wobble is the major component in the Earth’s polar motion with amplitude about 0.05-0.2 arcsec and period about 430-435 days. Free core nutation, also called nearly diurnal free wobble, exists due to the elliptical core-mantle boundary in the Earth and takes almost the whole part of un-modelled variation of the Earth’s pole in the celestial sphere beside precession and nutation. We hereby present a brief summary of their theories and report their recent features acquired from updated datasets (EOP C04 and ECMWF) by using Fourier transform, modelling, and wavelet analysis. Our new findings include (1) period-instability of free core nutation between 420 and 450 days as well as its large amplitude-variation, (2) re-determined Chandler period and its quality factor, (3) fast decrease in Chandler amplitude after 2010.

The purpose of this study is to investigate empirical evidences of productivity of life insurance institutions in Malaysia. Therefore, this study attempts to explore the productivity of the life insurance institutions in Malaysia. The overall findings show that the total factor productivity (TFP) has progressed by 2.5% per year during the study period from 2012 to 2016 in the Malaysian insurance industry. However, TFP change has declined from 2012 to 2015 and observed a negative growth in 2015-16 (3.3%). The highest productivity progress was documented during 2012-13 at a rate of 11.7% while the minimum productivity progress was during 2014-15 (only 0.2%). The results also indicate that the decomposition of TFP found that overall progress could mainly be attributed to technological change (TC). However, technical efficiency change (TEC) and pure technical efficiency change (PTE) have negative impact on TFP. The findings also show that most of the insurance companies have a steady growth. Therefore, this study will contribute new insights for the policy makers and insurance institutions to take appropriate steps in developing relevant policies for increasing productivity of insurance institutions in Malaysia

산업 비파괴 분야에서 사용되는 방사선원은 장비의 노후화 및 작업자의 부주의로 인해 선원이 노출되는 사고가 발생되어 왔다. 이에 선원의 위치를 실시간으로 추적할 수 있는 안전관리 시스템의 필요성이 부곽 되고 있다. 이에 본 연구에서는 방사선원의 위치 추적을 위한 line-array 선량계를 구성하는 unit-cell 선량계 단위의 각도의존성을 분석하기 위해 Monte Carlo Simulation을 수행하였다. 그 결과 각 기울기에서 상위 1 0% 수치에 대한 오차율은 0°에서 5.90%, 30°에서 8.08%, 60°에서 20.90%의 오차율을 보였다. 총 흡수선량의 비율은 0°(100%)를 기준으로 30°에서 83.77%, 60°에서 53.36%로 나타났으며 기울기가 증가함에 따라 낮아지는 경향성을 보였다. 모든 기울기에서 최대 수치는 30°의 No. 9에서 나타났으며, No. 10에서는 7.24% 낮아지는 경향성을 보였다. 본 연구 결과 각도의존성은 크게 발생되는 것으로 나타났으며, 이를 낮추기 위해서는 선원과 line-array 선량계의 적정거리는 1 cm 이상의 거리에서 유지해야 하는 것으로 사료된다.

The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of informational justice on post-recovery satisfaction, and the effect of post-recovery satisfaction on behavioral intentions in e-commerce, including further investigate the moderating effect of service failure severity. Using quantitative method, the population of this research are online customers in Indonesia, with non-probability sampling that will be done by purposive sampling method based on predetermined criterias, which are customers who were doing transactions in the Business to Consumer (B2C) online sites, experienced service failure in the last 6 months, submitted a complaint, and received a response. Sample of 317 online customers were gathered and analyzed using the Structural Equation Modeling. The results of this study indicated that 5 hypothesis are supported with data. As a conclusion, informational justice and post-recovery satisfaction has positive effect, while service failure severity acts as a moderator between post-recovery satisfaction and behavioral intentions. As a managerial implication, online store management needs to ensure the informational justice to make a post-recovery satisfaction. Therefore, online store management needs to ensure the informational justice to make a post-recovery satisfaction, increase repurchase and positive e-word of mouth intention, also work harder to recover services, especially in high service failure severity condition.

최근 도입된 FFF 빔을 활용하는 방사선치료는 flattening filter에서 비롯되는 빔의 감쇠를 막을 수 있어 치료효율을 높일 수 있지만, 불균일한 단면적 선량분포에 대하여 정확한 정도관리가 구축되어 있지 않은 실정이다. 이에 본 연구에서는 광도전체 물질 HgI2 기반의 곡면 선량계를 제작하였으며, 성능을 검증하기 위하여 6 MV 광자에너지에서 재현성 및 선형성을 평가하였다. 또한 곡면 계측의 유용성을 나타내기 위하여 아크릴 필터를 적용한 FFF beam에서 평면 기판과 곡면 기판 상에서 계측되는 신호를 비교하였다. 그 결과 Unit cell 선량계의 재현성은 SE 0.613%, 선형성은 R-sq 0.9999로 나타났으며, line array 곡면 선량계의 유용성 평가는 평면 기판에서 23.337%, 곡면 기판에서 12.264%로 11.073%p 감소된 신호 차이를 보였 다.

X-선 영상에서 필터를 통한 여과의 역할은 영상 형성에 유용한 광자를 이용해 환자의 피폭량을 낮춤과 동시에 영상의 대조도를 높이는 것이다. 영상을 형성하는 데 있어서 저에너지 X-선은 환자 조직의 최초 몇 cm 부위에서 흡수되고 고에너지 부분만을 통과하여 형성되므로, 방사선 여과는 여과물질을 삽입하여 저에 너지 X-선을 여과물질로 하여금 흡수시켜 환자의 피폭량을 낮추고 영상의 질을 높인다. 본 연구의 목적은 시뮬레이션을 통해 이상적인 환경에서 부가 필터가 방사선 영상 촬영 시 영상의 화질에 미치는 영향을 확 인하고, 실제 방사선 영상을 촬영할 경우와 비교하는 것이다. 이를 위해 시뮬레이션 프로그램인 Geant4 Ap plication for Tomographic Emission (GATE)를 이용해 Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) Phantom의 실제 크기, 모양과 재질을 모사하고 부가 필터의 사용유무 및 필터의 두께에 따른 촬영 조건을 설정하여 시뮬레이션 결과 영상을 얻어냈다. 또한, Digital Radiography (DR)장비로 실제 PMMA Phantom을 필터가 없는 경우와 필터가 있을 때 그 두께를 변화시키며 촬영했다. 시뮬레이션의 결과 영상과 실제 실험을 통해 얻은 영상을 각각 Image J 프로그램을 이용해 Contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) 평가를 실행한 뒤, 시뮬레이션 결과 영상과 최종적으로 도출된 두 영상의 변화 추이를 비교 측정했다. 실험 결과 DR장비와 시뮬레이션 영상 모두 CN R이 감소하는 추세를 보였으며, 이는 결국 영상에서의 대조도 감소로 인해 나타난 결과였다. 이론적으로 관전압 (kVp)이 증가하면 대조도가 감소하고, 이를 통해보았을 때 필터는 저에너지부의 X-선을 흡수하면서 전체적인 선량을 감소시키지만, X-선의 평균에너지를 증가시키는 역할을 한다는 것을 알아볼 수 있었다.

Two unrecorded alien plants, Melilotus officinalis (L.) Lam. and M. indicus (L.) All. (Leguminosae) were found in Korea. M. officinalis is native to Eurasia and widely distributed in agricultural regions throughout the world. M. indicus is native to Mediterranean and Southwestern Europe, and naturalized in temperate regions all over the world. These species are morphologically similar to M. suaveolens (Jeon-dong-ssa-ri). However, M. officinalis is distinguished from M. suaveolens by transverse nerved legumes, definite ovary stalks, and five to eight number of ovules in ovary. M. indicus is also distinguished from M. suaveolens by smaller size of flowers, broadly triangular calyx teeth, globose legumes, and minutely papillose seeds. The local name of M. officinalis and M. indicus were given as “Ju-reumjeon- dong-ssa-ri” and “Jom-jeon-dong-ssa-ri” based on transverse nerved legumes and overall smaller size than M. suaveolens, respectively. The descriptions on morphological characters and photographs at the habitat of M. officinalis and M. indicus are provided.