• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.67-101
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• 2023

The utilization of generative AI in the medical field is also being rapidly researched. Access to vast data sets reduces the time and energy spent in selecting information. However, as the effort put into content creation decreases, there is a greater likelihood of associated issues arising. For example, with generative AI, users must discern the accuracy of results themselves, as these AIs learn from data within a set period and generate outcomes. While the answers may appear plausible, their sources are often unclear, making it challenging to determine their veracity. Additionally, the possibility of presenting results from a biased or distorted perspective cannot be discounted at present on ethical grounds. Despite these concerns, the field of generative AI is continually advancing, with an increasing number of users leveraging it in various sectors, including biomedical and life sciences. This raises important legal considerations regarding who bears responsibility and to what extent for any damages caused by these high-performance AI algorithms. A general overview of issues with generative AI includes those discussed above, but another perspective arises from its fundamental nature as a large-scale language model ('LLM') AI. There is a civil law concern regarding "the memorization of training data within artificial neural networks and its subsequent reproduction". Medical data, by nature, often reflects personal characteristics of patients, potentially leading to issues such as the regeneration of personal information. The extensive application of generative AI in scenarios beyond traditional AI brings forth the possibility of legal challenges that cannot be ignored. Upon examining the technical characteristics of generative AI and focusing on legal issues, especially concerning the protection of personal information, it's evident that current laws regarding personal information protection, particularly in the context of health and medical data utilization, are inadequate. These laws provide processes for anonymizing and de-identification, specific personal information but fall short when generative AI is applied as software in medical devices. To address the functionalities of generative AI in clinical software, a reevaluation and adjustment of existing laws for the protection of personal information are imperative.

• Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.5-13
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• 2024

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of salinity stress on the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of Crepidiastrum sonchifolium. The plant was treated with NaCl at concentrations of 0, 50, 100, and 200mM for 6 weeks. After treatment, the whole plant was collected, and 70% ethanol extracts were prepared. The DPPH radical scavenging activity was highest in the order of NaCl treatment concentrations of 0, 100, and 50mM, while the 200mM treatment group showed the lowest radical scavenging. The total phenol and total flavonoid contents showed very similar results to the antioxidant activity depending on the NaCl concentration, confirming that the phenolic compounds of the plant can contribute to the antioxidant capacity against salinity stress. In addition, the investigation of the effect of NaCl-treated C. sonchifolium extract on the inhibition of NO production in the LPS-stimulated mouse macrophage cell line (Raw 264.7) revealed that NO production significantly decreased in the 1,000㎍/mL treatment group across all NaCl concentration groups. But, the high concentration (1,000㎍/mL) treatment of the 100mM and 200mM NaCl treatment groups was found to have a negative effect on cell survival. These results suggest that radical scavenging activity is highest in healthy plants and that they produce antioxidants to respond to NaCl salinity stress up to 100mM. However, a high NaCl concentration of 200mM has a negative effect on the physiological activity of the plants. Compared with the results of the previously reported growth index, it is thought that the growth and physiological activity of plants can be positively affected in an NaCl treatment environment of 50mM or less.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.403-425
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• 2015

The Chicago Convention and Annexes have become the basis of aviation safety regulations for every contracting state. Generally, the State's aviation safety regulations refer to the Standards and Recommended Practices(SARPs) provided in the Annexes of the Chicago Convention. In order to properly reflect international aviation safety regulations, constant studies of the aviation fields are of paramount importance. This Paper is intended to identify the main differences between korean and foreign regulation and suggest a few amendment proposals on Mixed-fleet Flying(at or more two aircraft type operation) of flight crew. Comparing with these regulations, the korean regulations and implementations have some insufficiency points. I suggest some amendment proposals of korean regulations concerning Mixed-fleet Flying that flight crew operate aircraft of different types. Basically an operator shall not assign a pilot-in-command or a co-pilot to operate at the flight controls of a type of airplane during take-off and landing unless that pilot has operated the flight controls during at least three take-offs and landings within the preceding 90 days on the same type of airplane or in a flight simulator. Also, flight crew members are familiarized with the significant differences in equipment and/or procedures between concurrently operated types. An operator shall ensure that piloting technique and the ability to execute emergency procedures is checked in such a way as to demonstrate the pilot's competence on each type or variant of a type of airplane. Proficiency check shall be performed periodically. When an operator schedules flight crew on different types of airplanes with similar characteristics in terms of operating procedures, systems and handling, the State shall decide the requirements for each type of airplane can be combined. In conclusion, it is necessary for flight crew members to remain concurrently qualified to operate multiple types. The operator shall have a program to include, as a minimum, required differences training between types and qualification to maintain currency on each type. If the Operator utilizes flight crew members to concurrently operate aircraft of different types, the operator shall have qualification processes approved or accepted by the State. If applicable, the qualification curriculum as defined in the operator's Advanced Qualification Program could be applied. Flight crew members are familiarized with the significant differences in equipment and/or procedures between concurrently operated types. The difference among different types of airpcrafts decrease and standards for these airpcrafts can be applied increasingly because function and performance have been improved by aircraft manufacture company in accordance to basic aircraft system in terms of developing new aircrafts for flight standard procedure and safety of flight. Also, it becomes more necessary for flight crews to control multi aircraft types due to various aviation business and activation of leisure business. Nevertheless, in terms of flight crew training and qualification program, there are no regulations in Korea to be applied to new aircraft types differently in accordance with different levels. In addition, it has no choice different programs based on different levels because there are not provisions to restrict or limit and specific standards to operate at or more than two aircraft types for flight safety. Therefore the aviation authority introduce Flight Standardization and/or Operational Evaluation Board in order to analysis differences among aircraft types. In addition to that, the aviation authority should also improve standard flight evaluation and qualification system among different aircraft types for flight crews to apply reasonable training and qualification efficiently. For all the issue mentioned above, I have studied the ICAO SARPs and some state's regulation concerning operating aircraft of different types(Mixed-fleet flying), and suggested some proposals on the different aircraft type operation as an example of comprehensive problem solving. I hope that this paper is 1) to help understanding about the international issue, 2) to help the improvement of korean aviation regulations, 3) to help compliance with international standards and to contribute to the promotion of aviation safety, in addition.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.703-712
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• 2009

The principal objective of this study was to supply basic material determine basic information regarding effective health promotion regimens for elderly women via a comparative survey of health status by aging age between elderly women (=70 y) and college women. The subject groups of elderly women (=70 y) and college women were selected and surveyed from March to October, 2008, in the Seoul area. The average age of the elderly women assessed in this study was $78.64{\pm}7.30$, the average height was $147.07{\pm}5.72$ cm, and the average weight was $50.47{\pm}7.44$ kg. As compared with college women, a higher percentage of elderly women ate breakfast regularly, but the elderly women also experienced difficulties in chewing due to dentures, and therefore ate their meals with large quantities of liquids, and usually ate their meals within 10 minutes. The majority of elderly women suffered from at least one disease, and the most common symptom reported was hypertension (25%). 52.2% of elderly women and 47.8% of college women reported that they exercised 1~2 times per week. They reported that their favorite exercise was light exercise, such as jogging and athletics (73.1%). As compared with college women, the smoking rate was lower among elderly women, but some of the elderly women were long-time smokers or alcoholics. The differences in red blood cells counts, Hb, hematocrit, and MCV of the between elderly women and college women were significant. In addition, but the MCH and MCHC were higher in elderly women compared with college women and the total cholesterol of elderly woman ($175.62{\pm}38.89$ mg/dL) was significantly lower compared with college woman ($186.13{\pm}28.19$ mg/dL). TG ($127.89{\pm}51.25$ mg/dL) and LDL-cholesterol ($120.51{\pm}32.88$ mg/dL) of elderly woman were significantly higher than TG ($79.71{\pm}40.9$ 6mg/dL) and LDL-cholesterol($103.78{\pm}22.94$ mg/dL) of college woman (p<0.05). The levels of HDL-cholesterol ($58.78{\pm}12.90$ mg/dL) in the college women was significantly higher than the HDLcholesterol levels ($48.17{\pm}13.79$ mg/dL) of the elderly women (p<0.05). Serum vitamin C levels in elderly women were significantly higher than those of college women (p<0.05), whereas no significant difference was detected between the two groups. Consequently, it can be concluded that the appropriate education programs for dietary habits and health promotion are necessary for a healthier life. Additionally, it is necessary for individuals to precisely determine precisely their own health status, and develop appropriate dietary programs for themselves.

• Proceedings of the KOR-BRONCHOESO Conference
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• 1972.03a
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• pp.3.4-5
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• 1972

생활수준이 낮은 단계에 있어서는 우선 식량에 대한 수요가 강하다. 인간의 욕구가 만족스럽게 먹는다는 것에 대하여 제일 강하게 발동하는 것이다 그러나 점차 과학기술과 산업과 경제가 발전하여 성장과정에 오르게 되고 소득수준도 향상하게 되면 시장기구를 통해서 구입 할 수 있는 개인의 물적 소비재에 대해서는 점차 충족하게 되며 식량이외에도 의복, 전기기구 및 일용생활용품, 자동차 등에 이르기까지 더욱 고차원의 소비재가 보급하게 되는 것이다. 이렇게 되며는 사람의 욕구는 사적 재물이나 물적 수요에서 점진적으로 공공재나 또는 질적 수요(주택, 생활환경 등)의 방향으로 움직이게 되는 것으로써 여기에 환경오염 또는 공해문제에 대하여 의식하게 된다. 그러나 여기에서 더욱이 문제점이 되는 것은 소득 수준의 향상 과정이란 그 자체가 환경오염의 커다란 요인이라는 점이며 자동차의 급격한 보급과 생활의 편의성을 구하여 집중되는 도시인구의 집적, 높은 소득을 보장하기 위한 생산성 높은 중화학공업의 발전 등등은 그 자체가 환경권이란 사람이 요구하는 고차원의 권리를 침해하는 직접적인 요인이 된다는 것이다. 이와 같은 환경오염이나 공해문제에 대한 세계적인 논의는 이미 시작된 지 오래이지만 현재는 우리의 건강보호를 위해서나 생활환경의 보전을 위해서라는 점에서는 그치는 것이 아니고, 더욱 넓혀서 자연의 보호, 자원의 보호라는 견지로 확대되고 있다. 이와 같은 세계적인 확대된 이해와 이에 대한 대책강구의 제안은 1968년 국제연합의 경제사회이사회에서 스웨덴 정부대표에 의하여 제시되었으며 1969년의 우- 탄트 사무총장의 인간환경에 관한 보고서, 1970년 Nixon 미대통령의 연두일반교서 그리고 1972년 5월 6일 스웨덴의 스톡홀롬에서 개최되는 인간환경회의의 주제 등을 통해서 알 수 있고, 종래의 공해나 생활환경의 오염문제라는 좁은 개념에서가 아니고 인간환경전체의 문제로 다루고 있는 것이다. 즉 환경개발(도시, 산업, 지역개발에 수반된 문제), 환경오염(인위적 행위에 의하여 환경의 대인간조건이 악화하는 문제) 자연ㆍ자원의 보호관리(지하, 해양자원, 동식물, 풍경경치의 문제)란 3개 측면에서 다루고 있는 것이다. 환경오염이란 문제를 중 심하여 보면 환경을 구성하는 기본적인 요소로서 대기, 물, 토지 또는 지각. 그리고 공간의 사대요소로 집약하여 생각할 수 있음으로 이 4요소의 오염이 문제가 되는 것이다. 대기의 오염은 환경의 오염중 가장 널리 알려진, 또 가장 오랜 역사를 가진 오염의 문제로써 이에 속하는 오염인자는 분진, 매연, 유해가스(유황산화물, 불화수소, 염화수소, 질소산화물, 일산 화염소 등) 등 대기의 1차 오염과 1차 존재한 물질이 자외선의 작용으로 변화발생 하는 오존, PAN등 광화학물질이 형성되는 2차적인 오염을 들 수 있다. 기외 카도미움, 연등 유해중금속이나 방사선물질이 대기로부터 토지를 오염시켜서 토지에 서식하는 생물의 오염을 야기케 한다는 점등이 명백하여지고 있으며 대기의 오염은 이런 오염물질이 대기중에서 이동하여 강우에 의한 침강물질의 변화를 일으키게 되며 소위 광역오염문제를 발생케하며 동시에 토지의 토질저하등을 가져오게 한다. 물의 오염은 크게 내육수의 오염과 해양의 오염의 양면으로 나누어 볼 수 있다. 하천의 오염을 방지하고 하천을 보호하기 위한 움직임 역시 환경오염의 역사상 오래된 문제이며 시초에는 인분뇨와의 연결에서 오는 세균에 의한 오염이나 양수 기타 일반하수와의 연결에서 오는 오염에 대비하는 것부터 시작하였지만 근래에는 산업공장폐수에 의한 각종 화학적유해물질과 염료 그리고 석유화학의 발달에 의한 폐유등으로 인한 수질오탁문제가 점차 크게 대두되고 있다. 이것은 측 오염이란 시초에 우리에게 주는 불쾌감이 크므로 이것을 피하자는 것부터 시작하여 인간의 건강을 지키고 각종 사용수를 보존하자는 용수보존으로 그리고 이제는 건강과 용수보존뿐만 아니라 이것이 농림 수산물에 대한 큰 피해를 주게됨으로써 오는 자연환경의 생태계보전의 문제로 확대전환하고 있는 것이다. ？간 특히 해양오염에 대한 문제는 국지적인 것에만 끝이는 것이 아니고 전세계의 해양에 곧 연결되는 것이므로 세계각국의 공통관심사로 등장케 되었으며 이것은 특히 폐유가 유류수송 도중에 해양에 투기되는 유류에 의한 해양의 유막성형에서 오는 기상의 변화와 물피해등이 막심함으로 심각화 되고 있다. 각국이 자국의 해안과 해양을 보호하기 위하여 조치를 서두르고 있는 현시점에서 볼 때에는 이는 국제문제화하고 있으며 세계적인 국제적 협력과 협조의 필요성이 강조되는 좋은 예라 하겠다. 토양의 오염에 있어서는 대기나 수질의 오염이 구국적으로 토양과 관련되고 토양으로 환원되는 것이지만 근래에 많이 보급사용되는 농약과 화학비료의 문제는 토양자체의 오염에만 그치는 것이 아니고 농작물을 식품으로 하여 섭취함으로써 발생되는 인체나 기타생물체의 피해를 고려할 때 더욱 중요한 것이며, 또 토질의 저하를 가져오게 하여 농림생산에 미치는 영향이 적지 않을 것이다. 지반강하는 지각 에 주는 인공적 영향의 대표적인 것으로써 지하수나 지하 천연가스를 채취이용하기 위하여 파들어 감으로써 지반이 침하 하는 것이며 건축물에 대한 영향 특히 풍수해시의 재해를 크게 할 우려가 있는 것이다. 공간에 있어서의 환경오염에는 소음, 진동, 광선, 악취 등이 있다. 이들은 특수한 작업환경의 경우를 제외하고는 건강에 직접적인 큰 피해를 준다고 생각할 수 없으나 소음, 진동, 관선, 악취 등은 일반 일상시민생활에 불쾌나 불안을 줌으로써 안정된 생활을 방해하는 요인이 되는 것이다. 공간의 오염물로써 새로운 주목을 끌게된 것은 도시산업폐기물로써 이들은 대기나 물 또는 토지를 오염시킬 뿐만 아니라 공간을 점령함으로써 도시의 미관이나 기능을 손상케 하는 것이다. 즉 노배폐차의 잔해, 냉장고등고형폐기물등의 재생불가능한 것이나 비니루등 합성물질로 된 용기나 포장 등으로 연소분해 되지 않은 내구소비재가 이에 해당하는 것으로 이는 maker의 양식에 호소하여 그 책임 하에 해결되어야 할 문제로 본다. 이렇듯 환경오염은 각양각색으로 그 오염물질의 주요 발생원인 산업장이나 기타 기관에서의 발생요인을 살펴보며는 다음과 같은 것으로 요약할 수 있다. A. 제도적 요인 1. 관리체재의 미비 2. 관리법규의 미비 3. 책임소재의 불명확 B. 자재적 요인 1. 사용자재의 선택부적 2. 개량대책급 연구의 미흡 C. 기술적 요인 1. 시설의 설계불량, 공정의 결함 2. 시설의 점검, 보전의 불충분 3. 도출물의 취급에 대한 검사부족 4. 발생방지 시설의 미설치, 결함 D. 교육적 요인 1. 오염물질 방제지식의 결여 2. 법규의 오해, 미숙지 E. 경제적 요인 1. 자금부족 2. 융자상의 문제 3. 경제성의 문제 F. 정신적 요인 1. 사회적 도의심의 결여(이기주의) 2. 태만 3. 무지, 무관심 등이다. 따라서 환경오염의 방지란 상기한 문제의 해결에 기대하지 않을 수 없으나 이를 해결하기 위하여는 국내적 국제적 상호협조에 의한 사회각층의 총력적 대책이 시급한 것이다. 이와 같은 환경오염이 단속된다 하며는 미구에 인류의 건강은 물론 그 존립마저 기대하기 어려울 것이며, 현재는 점진적으로 급성피해에 대하여는 그 흥미가 집중되어 그 대비책도 많이 논의되고 있지만 미량의 단속접촉에 의한 만성축적에 관한 문제나 이와 같은 환경오염이 앞으로 태어날 신생률에 대한 영향이나 유전정보에 관한 연구는 장차에 대비하는 문제로써 중요한 것이라 생각된다. 기외에 우려되는 점은 오염방지책을 적극 추진함으로써 올 수 있는 파생적인 문제이다. 즉 오염을 방지하기 위하여 생산기업체가 투자를 하게 되며는 그만큼 생산원가가 상승할 것이며 소비가격도 오를 것이다. 반면 이런 시책에 뒤떨어진 후진국의 값싼 생산국은 자연 수입이 억제 당할 것이며, 이렇게되면 후진국은 무역경쟁에서 큰 상처를 입게될 것이고 뿐만 아니라 선진국에 필요한 오염물질의 발생이 높은 생산기기를 자연후진국에 양도하게 될 것임으로 후진국의 환경오염은 배가할 우려가 있는 것이다. 또 해양오염을 방지할 목적에서와 같이 자국의 해안보호를 위하여 마련된 법의 규제는 타국의 선박운항에 많은 제약을 가하게 될 것이며 이것 역시 시설이 미약한 약소후진국의 선박에 크게 영향을 미치게 될 것임으로 교통, 해운, 무역등을 통한 약소후진국의 경제성장에 제동을 거는 것이 될 것이다. 이렇듯 환경오염의 문제는 환경자체에 대해서만 아니라 부산물적으로 특히 후진국에는 의외 문제를 던져주게 되는 것임으로 환경오염에 대해서는 물론, 전술한 바와 같이 인간환경전체의 문제로써 Nixon 대통령이 말한 결의와 창의와 그리고 자금을 가지고 과감하게 대처해 나가야 할 것이다.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.77-105
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• 1996

The rural problems which we are facing start from the extremely small sized population and the skewed population structure by age and sex. Thus we analyzed the change of the rural population. And we analyzed the recent return migration to the rural areas by comparing the recent in-migrants with out-migrants to rural areas. And by analyzing the rural village survey data which was to show the current characteristics of rural population, we found out the effects of the in-migrants to the rural areas and predicted the futures of rural villages by characteristics. The changes of rural population composition by age was very clear. As the out-migrants towards cities carried on, the population composition of young children aged 0~4 years was low and the aged became thick. The proportion of the population aged 0~4 years was 45.1% of the total population in 1970 and dropped down to 20.4% in 1995, which is predicted to become under 20% from now on. In the same period(1970~1995), the population aged 65 years and over rose from 4.2% to 11.9%. In 1960, before industrialization, the proportion of the population aged 0~4 years in rural areas was higher than that of cities. As the rural young population continuously moves to cities it became lower than that in urban areas from 1975 and the gap grew till 1990. But the proportion of rural population aged 0~4 years in 1995 became 6.2% and the gap reduced. We can say this is the change of the characteristics of in-migrants and out-migrants in the rural areas. Also considering the composition of the population by age group moving from urban to rural area in the late 1980s, 51.8% of the total migrants concentrates upon age group of 20~34 years and these people's educational level was higher than that of out-migrants to urban areas. This fact predicted the changes of the rural population, and the results will turn out as a change in the rural society. However, after comparing the population structure between the pure rural village of Boeun-gun and suburban village of Paju-gun which was agriculture centered village but recently changed rapidly, the recent change of the rural population structure which the in-migrants to rural areas becomes younger is just a phenomenon in the suburban rural areas, not the change of the total rural areas in general. From the characteristics of the population structure of rural village from the field survey on these villages, we can see that in the pure rural villages without any effects from cities the regidents are highly aged, while industrialization and urbanization are making a progress in suburban villages. Therefore, the recent partial change of the rural population structure and the change of characteristics of the in-migrants toward rural areas is effecting and being effected by the population change of areas like suburban rural villages. Although there are return migrants to rural areas to change their jobs into agriculture, this is too minor to appear as a statistic effect.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-19
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• 2019

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the main driving forces leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The technologies associated with AI have already shown superior abilities that are equal to or better than people in many fields including image and speech recognition. Particularly, many efforts have been actively given to identify the current technology trends and analyze development directions of it, because AI technologies can be utilized in a wide range of fields including medical, financial, manufacturing, service, and education fields. Major platforms that can develop complex AI algorithms for learning, reasoning, and recognition have been open to the public as open source projects. As a result, technologies and services that utilize them have increased rapidly. It has been confirmed as one of the major reasons for the fast development of AI technologies. Additionally, the spread of the technology is greatly in debt to open source software, developed by major global companies, supporting natural language recognition, speech recognition, and image recognition. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the practical trend of AI technology development by analyzing OSS projects associated with AI, which have been developed by the online collaboration of many parties. This study searched and collected a list of major projects related to AI, which were generated from 2000 to July 2018 on Github. This study confirmed the development trends of major technologies in detail by applying text mining technique targeting topic information, which indicates the characteristics of the collected projects and technical fields. The results of the analysis showed that the number of software development projects by year was less than 100 projects per year until 2013. However, it increased to 229 projects in 2014 and 597 projects in 2015. Particularly, the number of open source projects related to AI increased rapidly in 2016 (2,559 OSS projects). It was confirmed that the number of projects initiated in 2017 was 14,213, which is almost four-folds of the number of total projects generated from 2009 to 2016 (3,555 projects). The number of projects initiated from Jan to Jul 2018 was 8,737. The development trend of AI-related technologies was evaluated by dividing the study period into three phases. The appearance frequency of topics indicate the technology trends of AI-related OSS projects. The results showed that the natural language processing technology has continued to be at the top in all years. It implied that OSS had been developed continuously. Until 2015, Python, C ++, and Java, programming languages, were listed as the top ten frequently appeared topics. However, after 2016, programming languages other than Python disappeared from the top ten topics. Instead of them, platforms supporting the development of AI algorithms, such as TensorFlow and Keras, are showing high appearance frequency. Additionally, reinforcement learning algorithms and convolutional neural networks, which have been used in various fields, were frequently appeared topics. The results of topic network analysis showed that the most important topics of degree centrality were similar to those of appearance frequency. The main difference was that visualization and medical imaging topics were found at the top of the list, although they were not in the top of the list from 2009 to 2012. The results indicated that OSS was developed in the medical field in order to utilize the AI technology. Moreover, although the computer vision was in the top 10 of the appearance frequency list from 2013 to 2015, they were not in the top 10 of the degree centrality. The topics at the top of the degree centrality list were similar to those at the top of the appearance frequency list. It was found that the ranks of the composite neural network and reinforcement learning were changed slightly. The trend of technology development was examined using the appearance frequency of topics and degree centrality. The results showed that machine learning revealed the highest frequency and the highest degree centrality in all years. Moreover, it is noteworthy that, although the deep learning topic showed a low frequency and a low degree centrality between 2009 and 2012, their ranks abruptly increased between 2013 and 2015. It was confirmed that in recent years both technologies had high appearance frequency and degree centrality. TensorFlow first appeared during the phase of 2013-2015, and the appearance frequency and degree centrality of it soared between 2016 and 2018 to be at the top of the lists after deep learning, python. Computer vision and reinforcement learning did not show an abrupt increase or decrease, and they had relatively low appearance frequency and degree centrality compared with the above-mentioned topics. Based on these analysis results, it is possible to identify the fields in which AI technologies are actively developed. The results of this study can be used as a baseline dataset for more empirical analysis on future technology trends that can be converged.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.17-26
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• 2010

Recently concerns have been raised due to the unbalanced supply of crops: the price of crops has been unstable and at one point the price went up so high that the word Agflation(agriculture+ inflation) was coined. Korea, in particular, is a small-sized country and needs to secure the stable supply of crops by investing in the produce importation at a national level. Investment in foreign produce importation is becoming more important as a measure for sufficient supply of crops, limited supply of domestic crops, weakened farming conditions worldwide, as well as recent changes in the use of crops due to the development of bio-fuels, influence of carbon emission on crops, the price increase in crops, and influx of foreign hot money. However, there are many problems with investing in foreign produce importation: lack of support from the government; lack of farming information and technology; difficulty in securing the capital; no immediate pay-off from the investment and insufficient management. Although foreign produce is originally more price-competitive than domestic produce, it loses its competiveness in the process of importation (due to high tariffs) and poor distribution system, which makes it difficult to sell in Korea. Therefore, investment in foreign produce importation is being questioned for feasibility; to make it possible, foreign produce must maintain the price-competitiveness. Especially, harvest of agricultural products depends on natural and geographical conditions of each country and those products have indigenous properties, so distribution system according to import and export of agricultural products should be treated more carefully than that of other industries. Distribution costs are differentiated into each item and include cost of sorting and wrapping, cost of wrapping materials, cost of domestic transport, cost of international transport and cost of clearing customs for import and export. So transporting and storing agricultural products generates considerable costs compared with other products. Also, due to upgrade of dietary life, needs for stability, taste and visible quality toward food including agricultural products are being raised and wrong way of storage causes decomposition of food and loss of freshness, making the storage more difficult than that in room temperature, so storage and transport in distribution of agricultural products needs specialty. In addition, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. However, existing distribution system of agricultural products is exposed to various problems including problems in distribution channel, making distribution and strategy for distribution and those problems are as follows. First, in case of investment in overseas agricultural industry, stable supply of the products is difficult because areas of production are dispersed widely and influenced by outer factors due to including overseas distribution channels. Also, at the aspect of quality, standardization of products is difficult, distribution system is quite complicated and unreasonable due to long distribution channels according to international trade and financial and institutional support is not enough. Especially, there are quite a lot of ineffective factors including multi level distribution process, dramatic gap between production cost and customer's cost, lack of physical distribution facilities and difficulties in storage and transport due to lack of wrapping containers. Besides, because import and export of agricultural products has been manages under the company's own distribution according to transaction contract between manufacturers and exporting company, efficiency is low due to excessive investment in fixed costs and lack of specialty in dealing with agricultural products causes fall of value of products, showing the limit to lose price-competitiveness. Especially, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. Second, among tangible and intangible services which promote the efficiency of the whole distribution, a function building distribution environment which includes distribution information, system for standard and inspection, distribution finance, system for diversification of risks, education and training, distribution administration and tax system is wanted. In general, such a function building distribution environment is difficult to be changed and supplement innovatively because its effect compared with investment does not appear immediately despite of its necessity. Especially, in case of distribution of agricultural products, as a function of collecting and distributing is performed individually through various channels, the importance of distribution information and standardization is getting more focus due to the problem of repetition of work and lack of specialty. Also, efficient management of distribution is quite difficult due to lack of professionals in distribution, so support to professional education is needed. Third, though effort to keep self-sufficiency ratio of staple food, rice is regarded as important at the government level, level of dependency on overseas of others crops is high. Therefore, plan for stable securing food resources aside from staple food is also necessary. Especially, governmental organizations of agricultural products distribution in Korea are production-centered and have unreasonable structure whose function at the aspect of distribution and consumption is quite insufficient. And development of new distribution channels which can deal with changes in distribution environment and they do not achieve actual results of strategy for distribution due to non-positive strategy for price distribution. That is, it implies the possibility that base for supply will become vulnerable because it does not mediate appropriate interests on total distribution channels such as manufacturers, wholesale dealers and vendors by emphasizing consumer protection excessively in the distribution of agricultural products. Therefore, this study examined fundamental concept and actual situation for our investment to overseas agriculture, drew necessities, considerations, problems, etc. of overseas agricultural investment and suggested improvements at the level of distribution for price competitiveness of agricultural products cultivated in overseas under five aspects; government's indirect support, distribution's modernization and distribution information function's strengthening, government's political support for distribution facility, transportation route, load and unloading works' improvement, price competitiveness' securing, professional manpower's cultivation by education and training, etc. Here are some suggestions for foreign produce importation. First, the government should conduct a survey on the current distribution channels and analyze the situation to establish a measure for long-term development plans. By providing each agricultural area with a guideline for planning appropriate production of crops, the government can help farmers be ready for importation, and prevent them from producing same crops all at the same time. Government can sign an MOU with the foreign government and promote the importation so that the development of agricultural resources can be stable and steady. Second, the government can establish a strategy for an effective distribution system by providing farmers and agriculture-related workers with the distribution information such as price, production, demand, market structure and location, feature of each crop, and etc. In order for such distribution system to become feasible, the government needs to reconstruct the current distribution system, designate a public organization for providing distribution information and set the criteria for level of produce quality, trade units, and package units. Third, the government should provide financial support and a policy to seek an efficient distribution channel for foreign produce to be delivered fresh: the government should expand distribution facilities (for selecting, packaging, storing, and processing) and transportation vehicles while modernizing old facilities. There should be another policy to improve the efficiency of unloading, and to lower the cost of distribution. Fourth, it is necessary to enact a new law covering exceptional cases for importing produce in order to maintain the price competitiveness; currently the high tariffs is keeping the imported produce from being distributed domestically. However, the new adjustment should be made carefully within the WTO regulations since it can create a problem from giving preferential tariffs. The government can also simplify the distribution channels in order to reduce the cost in the distribution process. Fifth, the government should educate distributors to raise the efficiency and to modernize the distribution system. It is necessary to develop human resources by educating people regarding the foreign agricultural environment, the produce quality, management skills, and by introducing some successful cases in advanced countries.