Although the cardiovascular benefits of an increased urinary potassium excretion have been suggested, little is known about the potential cardiac association of urinary potassium excretion in patients with chronic kidney disease. In addition, whether the cardiac association of urinary potassium excretion was mediated by serum potassium levels has not been studied yet. We reviewed the data of 1633 patients from a large-scale multicentre prospective Korean study (2011–2016). Spot urinary potassium to creatinine ratio was used as a surrogate for urinary potassium excretion. Cardiac injury was defined as a high-sensitivity troponin T ≥ 14 ng/l. OR and 95 % (CI for cardiac injury were calculated using logistic regression analyses. Of 1633 patients, the mean spot urinary potassium to creatinine ratio was 49·5 (sd 22·6) mmol/g Cr and the overall prevalence of cardiac injury was 33·9 %. Although serum potassium levels were not associated with cardiac injury, per 10 mmol/g Cr increase in the spot urinary potassium to creatinine ratio was associated with decreased odds of cardiac injury: OR 0·917 (95 % CI 0·841, 0·998), P = 0·047) in multivariate logistic regression analysis. In mediation analysis, approximately 6·4 % of the relationship between spot urinary potassium to creatinine ratio and cardiac injury was mediated by serum potassium levels, which was not statistically significant (P = 0·368). Higher urinary potassium excretion was associated with lower odds of cardiac injury, which was not mediated by serum potassium levels.

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of trade barriers and cultural distance on the domestic market share in the film industry. We analyze panel data with both two-stage least squares and instrumental-variable methods. These methods can separate the effects of time-invariant measures of trade barriers and cultural difference from country-specific effects. This improvement in the estimation method and the use of a more appropriate measure of trade barriers in the film industry enable us to produce empirical results that are consistent with theoretical arguments. Based on the panel data collected from 30 countries for the period 2001–2013, the empirical results herein indicate that the cultural distance, as well as market size, is an important factor for the domestic market share. Trade barriers are also shown to be a significant factor, but the magnitude of their impact on the domestic market share is much smaller than that of the market size.

The diatoms are an ecologically important group of algae that have been extensively studied by ecologists and taxonomists. However, the large-scale patterns of diatom distribution and the factors underlying this distribution are largely unknown. The aims of this study were to identify the large-scale spatial patterns of benthic diatom assemblages in Korean streams and rivers, and to assess the importance of numerous environmental factors on diatom distribution. We classified 720 study sites based on diatom flora. Benthic diatoms, water chemistry, altitude, and riparian land cover and use were characterized by multivariate analyses, Monte Carlo permutation tests, and indicator species analysis. In total, we identified 531 diatom taxa. Diatom assemblages were mostly dominated by species of the genera Achnanthes, Navicula, Nitzschia, Cocconeis, Fragilaria (Synedra included), Cymbella, Gomphonema, and Melosira. Cluster analysis partitioned all 720 sites into eight groups based on diatom species composition. Canonical correspondence analysis indicated that altitude, land cover and use, current velocity, electrical conductivity, and nutrient levels explained a significant amount of the variation in the composition of assemblages of benthic diatoms. At the national scale, a downstream ecological gradient was apparent, from fast-flowing, mostly oligotrophic highland streams to slow-flowing, mostly eutrophic lowland rivers. Our data suggest that spatial factors explain some of the variation in diatom distribution. The present investigation of the spatial patterns of benthic diatoms, the ecological determinants of diatom occurrence, and the identification of diatom indicator species contributes to development of a program for assessing the biological integrity of lotic ecosystems in Korea.

We investigate boron transient enhanced diffusion (TED) and series resistance in SiGe/Si heterojunction channel pMOSFET. The stress gradient at the SiGe/Si interface near the gate edge in high Ge concentrations are found to determine boron TED as well as extension junction shape, which has a significant impact on the parasitic LDD and source/drain (S/D) series resistance. In addition, high Ge concentrations in the epitaxial SiGe layer on top of Si substrate result in a high sheet resistance during a 1000°C/5s rapid thermal processing (RTP), which is mainly due to alloy scattering and interface roughness scattering.

AlxGa1-xN sample with x=0.36 was epitaxially grown on sapphire by MOCVD. SAW velocity of 5420 m/s and TCF (temperature coefficient of frequency) of -51.20 ppm/°C were measured from the SAW devices fabricated on the AlxGa1-xN sample, when kh value was 0.078, at temperatures between –30 °C and 60 °C Electromechanical coupling coefficient was ranged from 1.26 % to 2.22 %. The fabricated SAW filter have shown a good device performance with insertion loss of -33.853 dB and side lobe attenuation of 20 dB.

Hydrogen diffusion paths in top-gated polysilicon thin-film transistors have been investigated by measuring the current-voltage characteristics of the transistors with various sizes after hydrogenation. Hydrogenation has been performed in ECR plasma sysytem. It is noted that hydrogen is introduced through three main paths instead of one predominant path. The hydrogen from different paths affects the device parameters differently.

Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited tungsten nitride (PECVD-W67N33) thin film has been proposed as a diffusion barrier. The resistivity and lattice constant of PECVD-W67N33 are 110-28 μΩ-cm and 4.134 Å, respectively and this film has compressive stress of 2.6 × 1010 dyne/cm2. Thermal stability of PECVD-W67N33 as a diffusion barrier reveals that the interdiffusions between Al or W and Si substrate can be prevented by N interstitial atoms in fcc-W2N grains and grain boundaries.