Koreans In Korea Research Articles

Effects of lipopolysaccharide on RBC alteration in mice endotoxemic model

Effects of lipopolysaccharide on RBC alteration in mice endotoxemic model Seolju Park, Jeihak Myung, Yeonhee Kim, Sungmook Yoo, Jaekwan Lim, Choonhak Lim Korea University Anam Hospital, Republic of Korea Korea University Ansan Hospital, Republic of Korea Korea University Medicine Graduate School, Republic of Korea Korean Artificial Organ Research Center, Republic of Korea Background/Purpose: Sepsis is a complex pathophysiological process that involves both alterations in the microcirculation (vessels with a diameter b100 m) and changes in the biochemical and physiological characteristics of the blood constituents. Alterations in RBC rheology participate in the alterations of the microcirculation. Early alterations of RBC rheology are reported to be seen commonly in the septic patients. However, time course of RBC alterations is not revealed. Therefore, we evaluated the change of RBC deformability and RBC aggregation in the mice endotoxemic model using lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Methods: Six-week-old male BALB/c mice were used in this study. The LPS-induced sepsis mice received LPS (20 mg/kg) intraperitoneally. Elongation indices (EIs) and aggregation indices (AIs) were tested at shear stresses of 1, 3, 7, 10, and 20 Pa for 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, and 24 hours after LPS. Results: There were no difference in AIs on 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, and 24 hours after LPS; however, EIs significantly decreased in only 10 and 20 Pa at 24 hours after LPS (P b .05). Conclusions: Our results suggested that change of RBC deformability was revealed on 24 hours after LPS injection, and choice of an appropriate shear stress may detect alterations of RBC deformability in LPS-induced sepsis mice.

The Framing of the North Korean Six-Party Talks by Chinese and North Korean News Agencies: Communist Propaganda and National Interests

This article examines the subtle differences in news coverage of the Six-Party Talks by China's Xinhua news agency and North Korea's Korean Central News Agency from 2003 to 2007. The news agencies are the targets of propaganda from the various interests involved in the North Korean nuclear issue. The focus is on how the agencies framed the issue and whether the frames adopted by each reflected its country's dominant ideology and national interests. It was found that the two news agencies adopted frames for the issue that were consistent with the dominant ideology in their respective nations.

Perceived Similarity and Third-Person Effect: Media Coverage of the Shooting Incident at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

We compared the perceptions of Korean Americans, Koreans in the US, and Koreans in Korea, of the media coverage of the fatal shooting of 32 people at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in April 2007. This comparison was based on the third-person effect, according to which people perceive media coverage to have a greater influence on others than on themselves. Results showed that perception of individuals in the participant groups was that the media coverage had a greater influence on the Korean public in Korea (comparison group) than on themselves in terms of generating negative feelings about Korean Americans and Americans (object groups). In addition, the more that Korean Americans perceived themselves to be similar to the Korean public in Korea, the more they overestimated the influence of the media on the Korean public in Korea.

한글에 대한 필적분석과 성격유형과의 관계성에 대한 연구

The effort for identifying personal information for example one`s personality, based on one`s handwriting has been continued in foreign countries, however, there is no research on the graphology for Korean in Korea. In the area of handwriting analysis, of course, they have made attempts to identifying people depended on expert`s individual ability or judgment. For these reasons, the academic approach is needed for the graphology for Korean. In this thesis, we performed the frequency analysis, test of difference, cross tabulation analysis, factor analysis, correlation analysis, regression analysis and logistic regression analysis by using the data on the test of personality diagnosis based on 5 factors method and writing habits such as the size and slope of letters for 339 adults. It can be shown that the 5 factors method has high consistency and reliability, so we accept these 5 factors as the personalities. In cross tabulation analysis, it is found that there is significant relationship between sex and the size of letters, hometown and the margin, job and habit. The correlations between 5 factors are very high and we can find the useful relationships between 5 factors and writing habit through regression analysis and correlation analysis. It is difficult and impossible to compare the Graphology between English and Korean because there are various interpretations and structures of Korean that is much different from those of English. But it is very important to try to test and analyze the Graphology in Korean to found the basic theories at the present stage when there is no research on the graphology for Korean.

Social identity, attribution, and emotion: Comparisons of Americans, Korean Americans, and Koreans

The social identity of another person, in addition to the social identity of self, can be an important factor affecting the types of attribution judgments and emotions that individuals indicate for the other person. In April 2007, the perpetrator of the shooting incident on the Virginia Tech University campus was identified as a person who emigrated to the USA from Korea at a young age. The current study compared non-Korean Americans, Korean Americans, Koreans in the USA, and Koreans in Korea in terms of their attributions and emotions concerning the perpetrator and the shooting incident. Participants were asked to indicate (1) the extent to which they attributed the cause of the incident to either American society or the perpetrator, (2) their emotions (e.g., upset), and (3) the extent to which they categorized the perpetrator as an American, a Korean American, or a Korean. The results indicated that non-Korean Americans were most likely to attribute the cause of the incident to the perpetrator as opposed to American society. Non-Korean Americans, Korean Americans, and Koreans in the United States had more negative emotions (e.g., unhappy, sad, and upset) about the incident than Koreans in Korea did. The results also indicated that individuals differed in their attributions and emotions depending on how they categorized the perpetrator. For example, categorizing the perpetrator as being a Korean was positively related to Americans' tendency to hold the perpetrator responsible, while categorizing the perpetrator as being an American was negatively related to the tendency to hold the perpetrator responsible among Koreans in Korea. The findings may imply that social identity theory, intergroup emotion theory, and cultural orientations (e.g., individualism and collectivism) can provide insights into people's reactions to a tragic incident.

한국 대학생들과 한국에서 한국어를 배우는 중국 대학생들의 태도 차이

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether there are differences in three attitudes-attitudes toward English learning, attitudes toward American, and attitudes toward American culture between Korean and Chinese university students learning Korean in Korea. The subjects are 211 students, who are 101 Korean and 110 Chinese. Gardner(1985)`s AMTB questionnaire was administered to measure the learners` attitudes. And the collected data were analyzed by t-test to examine the differences between two groups. The results of this study showed that there were statistically very significant differences in attitudes toward English learning and there were significant differences in attitudes toward American between two groups. But there were no differences statistically in attitudes toward American culture between two groups. To make better learning environment for English learners, the differences in other affective variables between two groups need to be studied.

Consumer‐based brand equity

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to measure and compare the consumer‐based brand equity of apparel products by three consumer groups across cultures – Americans in the USA, South Koreans in the USA, and South Koreans in Korea. Also examined was cross‐cultural effects of brand equity on purchase intention.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 300 college students were recruited for the survey from local universities and organizations in the USA and South Korea. The MBE and OBE models were used to measure brand equity of the three apparel brands (i.e. Polo, Gap, and Levi's).Findings – Among the elements of brand equity, the perceived brand quality and brand awareness/association reported by American college students were significantly greater than those reported by South Koreans in the USA and Korea. For both South Korean groups, brand loyalty was the most important element of brand equity. In the relationship between elements of brand equity and purchase intention, brand loyalty showed positive co...

High quit ratio among Asian immigrants in California: Implications for population tobacco cessation

Asian immigrants to the U.S. are participants in a natural experiment on the effects of social norms on tobacco cessation. Smoking is socially acceptable in most Asian countries. When Asian smokers move to U.S. states such as California, they experience a radically different social norm toward smoking. This study examines ever smokers among two groups of Asian immigrants in California, Chinese and Koreans, and finds that most have quit smoking. The quit ratios (percent of ever smokers who have quit) for Chinese (52.5%) and Korean immigrants (51.1%) have quit ratios for ever smokers in California in general (53.3%), which is among the highest in the U.S. These high quit ratios contrast sharply with much lower quit ratios for Chinese in China (11.5%) and for Koreans in Korea (22.3%). Such large differences in quit ratios are the results of accumulated differences over the years, because of dramatic differences in annual cessation rates: Chinese in California quit at roughly seven times the rate of Chinese in China, and Koreans in California three times that of Koreans in Korea. Analyses further show that these large differences in annual cessation rates come mainly from the fact that these immigrants in California made quit attempts at a much higher rate than their counterparts in their home countries. These results suggest that creating an impetus to drive up quit attempts, which often results from a significant change in social norms toward smoking, is the most important strategy to improve cessation on the population level.

Cultural influences on travel lifestyle: A comparison of Korean Australians and Koreans in Korea

The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference in the travel behaviour of two groups of Koreans: those resident in Australia and those resident in Korea. A series of items measuring travel-specific lifestyle were analysed using factor analysis and cluster analysis. The two groups were classified into four clustered segments based on seven travel lifestyle factors. Chi-square tests were conducted to compare the two groups on the basis of the clusters as well as demographic variables and respondents’ travel experiences and preferences. The results included findings that, when comparing the two groups, those Koreans who had migrated to Australia were more likely to avoid group travel, take longer holidays and make travel arrangements without the aid of a travel advisor.

Performing Community: A Comparison of Korean-Language Newspapers in Beijing and Sydney

Performing Community:A Comparison of Korean-Language Newspapers in Beijing and Sydney Sung-Ae Lee (bio) More than six million Koreans now live outside Korea, in 173 countries, according to data released in 2003 by the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Jungang Ilbo 7 Feb. 2004). This number represents 13% of all Korean people and hence constitutes a diaspora of highly significant proportions. As migration from Korea continues, and the number of generations born outside Korea increases, identifiably "Korean" identities both proliferate and diversify. As Stuart Hall argues, identities undergo constant transformations and are "increasingly fragmented," "fractured," and "multiply constructed across different, often antagonistic, discourses, practices, and positions" ("Introduction" 4). As people with a common ancestry and a shared history follow diverse itineraries of migration, the diasporic identities that emerge are necessarily heterogeneous. Identities are constituted and reconstituted within differing host cultures and are variously marked by a desire to recuperate what has been "lost." My focus in this essay is on the quite different identities developed by Koreans in Beijing and Koreans in Sydney as a result of the very different social formations, ideologies, and political agendas of each host country; in particular, I will be concerned with the role played by Korean-language community newspapers in this process. Here, I consider issues of the Beijing Journal (henceforth BJ) and the Sydney Korean Herald (henceforth SKH). Allan Bell has argued that The stories people tell are a core part of their social identity, and the construction of a life story is crucial to our self-identity. The idea of the story is also central to news media. Journalists do not write articles, they write stories—with structure, order, viewpoint and values. So the daily happenings of our societies are expressed in the stories we are told in the media. [End Page 227] In addition, the media are important social institutions. They are crucial presenters of culture, politics and social life, shaping as well as reflecting how these are formed and expressed. Media "discourse" is important both for what it reveals about a society and because it also contributes to the character of a society. (64–5) Bell's triad of "culture, politics and social life" is formulated a little differently by Norman Fairclough when he proposes that the discourse of newspapers constitutes social identities, social relations, and systems of knowledge and belief (55). An examination of how community-language news media reflect and shape systems of knowledge and belief pertaining to the culture, politics, and social life of diasporic communities, linking individual and group identity to social identity, offers considerable insight into the relationships between host and diasporic cultures. There are substantial Korean communities, of comparable size, in Beijing and Sydney: 55,000 Koreans in Beijing (BJ 28 Jan.–3 Feb. 2005, 9) and 46,000 in Sydney.2 Their size enables a useful comparison between them: they are relatively small diasporic communities in comparison with the large communities in the United States, for example, and they do not (yet) have support networks comparable to those of the United States. Their relationship to the host country is also strongly shaped by the strongly contrasting political systems of China and Australia. Common traditions and cultural practices deriving from the home (originary) country are performed within each host country, but negotiations with the sociocultural circumstances of the host country may modify or reinterpret ideas of Koreanness. Like many other diasporic communities, diasporic Koreans are constantly negotiating the implication that they are culturally "inauthentic" or culturally fractured in comparison with Koreans living in Korea, and this issue of status affects cultural negotiation with both home and host societies. What constitutes the essence of being Korean is a challenging question in a globalized world, where many people migrate, travel, exchange ideas and goods, and negotiate identity in an expanded intersubjective field. In addition, diasporic conceptions of home culture are at perpetual risk of becoming anachronistic, as Koreans in Korea themselves change under the influence of globalization. Significant changes emerge from, for example, the aspirations of students returning home after studying abroad and of returning migrants; cultural exchange through multimedia and Internet use; and the pressure on cultural representation stemming from...

Cancer Patterns in Different Racial/Ethnic Groups

Cancer patterns in different racial/ethnic groups in different areas were presented at a symposium in the 14th International Scientific Meeting of the International Epidemiological Association; Koreans in Korea and Los Angeles, Japanese in Japan and Sao Paulo, and Chinese, Indians and Malays in Singapore. The findings from these descriptive epidemiology suggested the effects of environmental factors in the etiology of various cancers appear during relatively short period at least in a generation. Comparison of hormonal profiles in populations at the extremes of incidence of prostate cancer, which shows one of the remarkable racial-thnic variation, indicated that the difference may be due to variation in testosterone secretion and testosterone metabolism. It was also suggested that these hormonal differences might be genetically regulated. Two case-control studies of breast cancer in Indonesia and Japan suggested that the risk factors for the disease are almost the same in the two countries but the investigators found large differences in the stage and age at diagnosis of the cancer. J Epidemiol, 1996 ; 6 : S181-S182.

P-58 Seroepidemiologic study of hepatitis B and C virus infection among Koreans in Korea

P-58 Seroepidemiologic study of hepatitis B and C virus infection among Koreans in Korea

Psychiatric disorders among elderly Koreans in the United States

This study examines the lifetime prevalence of various psychiatric disorders among 100 Korean elderly in Los Angeles. The instrument used in this study is the Diagnostic Interview Schedule, Version III (DIS III, 1-10). The main finding is of relatively low prevalence of most DSM-III disorders with the exception of alcohol abuse and dependence. The rate of alcoholism is astonishingly high among elderly Korean males in Los Angeles. The findings are compared with the U.S. Epidemiological Catchment Area studies, and with other much larger community studies conducted in Korea. A comparison shows that there are no significant differences in the prevalence of mental disorders between elderly Koreans in Los Angeles and elderly Americans in St. Louis (N = 576) except for the prevalence of alcohol abuse and dependence. The lifetime prevalence of DSM-III disorders among Koreans in Korea (N = 5100) is generally higher than among elderly Koreans in Los Angeles.

The Impact of Cultural Background and Cross-Cultural Experience on Impressions of American and Korean Male Speakers

This study tested the hypothesis that people from different cultures would form different trait impressions based on the same vocal qualities and that cross-cultural experience would influence trait impressions through adaptive acculturation. Koreans in Korea, Koreans in the United States, and Americans served as subjects with American and Korean male speakers as targets. It was found that vocal loudness universally conveyed power. The effects of vocal rate and tenseness differed across cultures. A fast voice conveyed power and competence to Americans, but not to Koreans. Koreans in the United States converged with Americans in perceiving a positive relationship between vocal speed and the competence of American and Korean speakers. However, unlike Americans, they did not perceive a positive relationship between vocal speed and power. Koreans in the United States perceived a positive relationship between a tight voice and the power of both Korean and American speakers more so than Koreans in Korea did. These results are discussed within theories of ecological perception and linguistic accommodation.

Incidence estimation of genitourinary cancer in Korea.

A nation-wide study was performed to estimate the incidence of bladder, kidney, renal pelvis and ureter, prostate, testicular and other genitourinary cancer among Koreans in Korea using medical records of the inpatients of the beneficiaries of the Korea Medical Insurance Corporation (KMIC) from Jan. 1, 1989 to Dec. 31, 1989. The crude incidence rate of bladder cancer (ICD-9 188) is estimated to be 4.43 and 0.98 per 100,000 in males and females, respectively. Around 1,093 new cases of bladder cancer (895 male and 198 female) are estimated to occur in a year. The adjusted rate for the world population is 7.76 in males and 1.19 in females which is similar to that of Japanese in Osaka and Chinese in Shanghai, but lower than in American whites and blacks. The crude incidence of kidney, renal pelvis and ureteral cancer (ICD-9 189) is estimated to be 1.61 and 0.87 in males and females, respectively. Around 507 new cases of kidney, renal pelvis and ureteral cancer (332 male and 175 female) are estimated to occur in a year. The adjusted rate for the world population is 2.69 in males and 1.04 in females. In the prostate (ICD-9 185), the crude incidence rate of cancer is estimated to be 1.36. Around 274 new cases of prostate cancer are occurring in a year. The adjusted rate for the world population is 2.98 which is similar to the Chinese rate. The incidence of genitourinary cancer continuously increases with age.

Incidence estimation of stomach cancer among Koreans

A series of incidence estimation studies of cancers among Koreans through a nationwide survey has been undertaken by authors since 1988. The medical records were studied of inpatients with diagnoses of either ICD-9 151 (malignant neoplasm of the stomach), or 197 (secondary malignant neoplasm of the respiratory and digestive systems), or 211 (benign neoplasm of other parts of the digestive system) in claims sent in by medical care institutions throughout the country to the Korea Medical Insurance Corporation (KMIC) during the period from January 1, 1986 to December 31, 1987. These records were abstracted in order to identify and confirm the new cases of stomach cancer among the beneficiaries of the KMIC, which covers about 10% of whole Korean population. Using these data from the KMIC, the incidence patterns of stomach cancer among Koreans were estimated as of July 1, 1986 to June 30, 1987. The crude incidence rates of stomach cancer among Koreans are estimated to be 36.2 (95% tonfidence interval; 35.3-36.9) and 21.0 (95% CI; 20.3-21.6) per 100,000 in males and females, respectively. The cumulative rates for age spans 0-64 and 0-74 are 3.8% and 7.3% in males, respectively. In females they are 1.8% and 3.0%. The adjusted rates for the world population are 57.9 in males and 25.1 in females, which are similar to those of Shanghai, China '78-'82 but lower than those of Osaka, Japan. The truncated rates for ages 35-64 years, however, are 108.3 in males and 49.1 in females, which may be the highest in the world. Among Koreans in Korea, an increased risk of stomach cancer in this age group is the notable finding. Incidence patterns of stomach cancer by age, sex, and area, which are the first report in Korea, are analyzed and presented.

Sociolinguistic Implications of Korean in Hawaii

This article investigates the Korean language as spoken in Hawaii by the early Korean immigrants who arrived in Hawaii between 1903 and 1924. This language has been largely isolated from the language spoken by Koreans in Korea and has been in contact mainly with English as spoken in Hawaii. Whenever single language comes to be spoken by separate groups in isolation from one another, divergence results. Such divergence is greater if these groups are placed in divergent environments, and Hawaii is quite different from Korea in many respects; for instance, Hawaiian society is much more egalitarian than that of Korea. Much sociolinguistic study of the Korean language is being done in Korea, and this research indicates that the Korean language is undergoing rapid sociolinguistic change. Such rapid change may be ascribed to the introduction of Western egalitarian philosophy (Suh 1979a, b, 1980). The purpose of this study is to investigate the sociolinguistic aspect of the Korean language as spoken in the milieu of the egalitarian society of Hawaii. The Korean language has an intricate address system, number of speech levels, two statuses, and some other honorific and humble expres sions, which are chosen on the basis of communicative distance (Peng 1974:33) between (or among) the people involved. In this complex socio linguistic system, Howell (1967:56) points out, a difference of single year is frequently enough to insure deferential speech on the part of the junior.1 We will attempt to compare the address terms and speech levels used by the oldest group in Park-Choi's study (1978) with those used by early Korean immigrants to Hawaii. We will also review some of the re search methods used in sociolinguistic studies. In section one, we will consider some drawbacks of the widely used

Use of cultural criterion groups and discriminant analysis in acculturation studies

Based on the argument that empirically verified cultural distance, rather than proximity to a set of arbitrarily determined cultural elements of the host culture, should be the base for the assessment of acculturation level, this report demonstrates methodological procedures involving the use of criterion groups and discriminant analysis for measuring cultural distance. Specifically, 158 Koreans in Korea and 125 Americans served as criterion groups who responded to a series of value statements. Discriminant analysis results indicate that this procedure is extremely useful in identifying value judgments and their relative weights, which contribute to the maximal distance between the two cultures. Classification and cross-validation results also exhibit that an individual's cultural identity can be predicted with an accuracy higher than 90%.

Fertility of the Korean population in Japan influenced by a folk superstition in 1966.

SummaryFertility trends for Korean populations in Japan and Korea and for Japanese have been examinated, with special reference to the Fire-Horse or White-Horse year, 1966.Koreans in Japan and the Japanese showed a remarkable drop in crude birth rates and a sharp increase in stillbirth rates in 1966, while Koreans in Korea showed only a steady decline in crude birth rate.It was concluded that the Japanese folk superstition of Hinoe-Uma influenced the crude birth rates and stillbirth rates of both Japanese and Koreans in Japan 1966 and that the fertility behaviour of these Koreans had come to resemble that of the Japanese through the effect of environment factors in Japanese society.