• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.199-210
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• 2021

Purpose: This study investigated the food consumption behaviors in Korean adults, according to the agrifood consumer competency index (ACCI). Methods: Data obtained from the 2019 Consumption Behaviors Survey for Food were analyzed. A total of 6,176 adults (2,783 males, 3,393 females) aged ≥ 19 years, were included in the study. Based on the score of agrifood consumer competency index, the subjects were classified into three groups. The dietary habits, eating-out and food-delivery/take-out behaviors, opinion of food labeling, and concerns for domestic products were compared among the 3 groups. Results: The ACCI scores of the male and female subjects were 63.6 and 64.8, respectively. Subjects of both genders in the highest tertile of the ACCI were more likely to have a higher education level and higher health concerns, as compared to subjects in the lowest tertile (p < 0.05). Male subjects having highest tertile of the ACCI reported significantly more exercise and alcohol consumption, as compared to subjects in the lowest tertile (p < 0.05). A higher score of the ACCI also portrayed a higher satisfaction in own diet and greater checking of the food label. Moreover, subjects with a higher score of the ACCI showed greater satisfaction and reliability in the food label, as well as increased concerns for domestic agrifoods, local foods, and eco-friendly foods. Subjects in the lowest tertile of the ACCI acquired their dietary information from acquaintances, whereas subjects in the highest tertile of the ACCI learnt the information from food labels themselves. Conclusion: These results are indicative of the food consumption and behaviors of Korean adults according to their ACCI scores, and provide basic data that will be useful for implementing an effective food policy.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.263-276
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• 2021

Marine benthic organisms have been used as the indicators for the environment assessment and recently considered as a very important component in the biodiversity and ecosystem restoration. In Korean waters, the quantitative data on marine benthos was used as one of major components for the marine pollution assessment for 50 years since 1970s. The species identification which is an important factor for the quantitative biological data was mainly performed by the marine benthic ecologists. This leads to the deterioration of the data quality on marine benthos from the misidentication of major taxonomic groups due to the lack of taxonomic expertise in Korea. This taxonomic problem has not been solved until now and remains in most data from national research projects on the marine ecosystems in Korean waters. Here we introduce the quality assurance and control (QA/QC) system for the marine biological data in UK, that is, NMBAQC (Northeast Atlantic Marine Biological Analytic and Quality Control) Scheme which has been performed by private companies to solve similar species identification problems in UK. This scheme asks for all marine laboratories which want to participate to any national monitoring programs in UK to keep their identification potency at high level by the internal quality assurance systems and provides a series of taxonomic workshops and literature to increase their capability. They also performs the external quality control for the marine laboratories by performing the Ring Test using standard specimens on various faunal groups. In the case of Korea, there are few taxonomic expertise in two existing national institutions and so they can't solve the taxonomic problems in marine benthic fauna data. We would like to provide a few necessary suggestions to solve the taxonomic problems in Korean marine biological data in short-terms and long-terms: (1) the identification of all dominant species in marine biological data should be confirmed by taxonomic expertise, (2) all the national research programs should include taxonomic experts, and (3) establishing a private company, like the Korea marine organism identification association (KMOIA), which can perform the QA/QC system on the marine organisms and support all Korean marine laboratories by providing taxonomic literature and species identification workshops to enhance their potency. The last suggestion needs more efforts and time for the establishment of that taxonomic company by gathering the detailed contents and related opinions from diverse stakeholders in Korea.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.23-48
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• 2021

The Korean economy has achieved continuous economic growth for the past several decades thanks to the government's export strategy policy. This increase in exports is playing a leading role in driving Korea's economic growth by improving economic efficiency, creating jobs, and promoting technology development. Traditionally, the main factors affecting Korea's exports can be found from two perspectives: economic factors and industrial structural factors. First, economic factors are related to exchange rates and global economic fluctuations. The impact of the exchange rate on Korea's exports depends on the exchange rate level and exchange rate volatility. Global economic fluctuations affect global import demand, which is an absolute factor influencing Korea's exports. Second, industrial structural factors are unique characteristics that occur depending on industries or products, such as slow international division of labor, increased domestic substitution of certain imported goods by China, and changes in overseas production patterns of major export industries. Looking at the most recent studies related to global exchanges, several literatures show the importance of cultural aspects as well as economic and industrial structural factors. Therefore, this study attempted to develop a forecasting model by considering cultural factors along with economic and industrial structural factors in calculating the import volume of each country from Korea. In particular, this study approaches the influence of cultural factors on imports of Korean products from the perspective of PUSH-PULL framework. The PUSH dimension is a perspective that Korea develops and actively promotes its own brand and can be defined as the degree of interest in each country for Korean brands represented by K-POP, K-FOOD, and K-CULTURE. In addition, the PULL dimension is a perspective centered on the cultural and psychological characteristics of the people of each country. This can be defined as how much they are inclined to accept Korean Flow as each country's cultural code represented by the country's governance system, masculinity, risk avoidance, and short-term/long-term orientation. The unique feature of this study is that the proposed final prediction model can be selected based on Design Principles. The design principles we presented are as follows. 1) A model was developed to reflect interest in Korea and cultural characteristics through newly added data sources. 2) It was designed in a practical and convenient way so that the forecast value can be immediately recalled by inputting changes in economic factors, item code and country code. 3) In order to derive theoretically meaningful results, an algorithm was selected that can interpret the relationship between the input and the target variable. This study can suggest meaningful implications from the technical, economic and policy aspects, and is expected to make a meaningful contribution to the export support strategies of small and medium-sized enterprises by using the import forecasting model.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.49-63
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• 2021

The Forest Visitor Centers for Little Children who means preschoolers is an educational facility that achieves holistic growth by experiencing forests, and it should not be completed by installing specific facilities in the forest environment, but should be a space where preschoolers can play freely in the forest environment themselves. This study comprehensively evaluated the current status of Seoul Forest Visitor Centers for Little Children and suggested space improvement measures to enhance the effectiveness of forest experience. Through the theoretical review, seven spatial elements that enhance the effect of forest experience and six areas composing outdoor play areas were derived to prepare an analysis table for current status evaluation, and field survey studies were conducted on 24 centers in Seoul. Through expert interviews, the physical status was examined from the perspective of childhood education and the experiences of the users were summarized. As a result of the study, the Seoul Forest Visitor Center for Little Children is classified into six types according to the location characteristics and spatial structure, and has the characteristics of each type. The effectiveness of forest experience can be enhanced by identifying and revealing the environmental strengths of individual centers. In the case of outdoor experience learning zones, the proportion of exercise play areas was very large. By evenly organizing the forest experience space for each area, it will be possible to provide more diverse experiences to preschoolers. However, the status of uniform facility-oriented cannot be viewed as a fragmentary factor that lowers the effect of forest experience. The key to increasing the effect of forest experience by inducing creative activities is the spatial composition that considers the surrounding natural environment. Facilities should be a medium to help preschoolers' interest move into the forest. This study prepared data to understand the average physical status of the Seoul Forest Visitor Center for Little Children and suggested space improvement measures to increase the effectiveness of forest experience. This can be used as basic data for research to improve the quality level of the Seoul Forest Visitor Center for Little Children about 10 years after the project was implemented.

• 한국노년학
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.707-727
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• 2020

This study aims to empirically analyze the role that perception of the probability of lonely death among the elderly people living alone plays in the relationship between perceived social support and preference for institutional care based on Andersen's expanded Behavioral Model (2002). The subjects (n=676) of this study were the elderly people living alone, extracted from the "2018 Seoul Aging Survey." With "perceived social support" as an independent variable, "preference for institutional care" as a dependent variable, and "perception of the probability of lonely death" as a mediator variable, we conducted a Binary Logistic Regression to follow the three steps of analyzing mediation effect, as suggested by Baron and Kenny (1986). The results showed that perceived social support has a negative effect on the preference for institutional care and perception of the probability of lonely death among the elderly people living alone; at the same time, perception of the probability of lonely death was found to have a positive effect on their preference for institutional care. Lastly, perception of the probability of lonely death was found to partially mediate the effect of perceived social support among the elderly people living alone in terms of their preference for institutional care. Based on these findings, the practical implications of this study can be summarized as follows. First, various programs and support should be provided to the elderly people living alone in order to enhance the level of perceived social support, a factor that has been confirmed to increase preference for institutional care among the elderly people living alone. Second, as the perception of the probability of lonely death was confirmed to be a psychosocial factor of the preference for institutional care, we need to promote education and support for older people living alone to prepare them for lonely death. These efforts are expected to form a foundations for implementing a community-based integrated care system, "Aging in Place," which is the policy direction required for older people care.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.79-89
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• 2022

With the wide use of greenhouses, the working hours have been increasing inside the greenhouse for workers. In the closed ventilated greenhouse, the internal environment has less affected to external weather during making a suitable temperature for crop growth. Greenhouse workers are exposed to organic dust including soil dust, pollen, pesticide residues, microorganisms during tillage process, soil grading, fertilizing, and harvesting operations. Therefore, the health status and working environment exposed to workers should be considered inside the greenhouse. It is necessary to secure basic data on particulate matter (PM) concentrations in order to set up dust reduction and health safety plans. To understand the PM concentration of working environment in greenhouse, the PM concnentrations were monitored in the cut-rose and Hallabong greenhouses in terms of PM size, working type, and working period. Compare to no-work (move) period, a significant increase in PM concentration was found during tillage operation in Hallabong greenhouse by 4.94 times on TSP (total suspended particle), 2.71 times on PM-10 (particle size of 10 ㎛ or larger), and 1.53 times on PM-2.5, respectively. During pruning operation in cut-rose greenhouse, TSP concentration was 7.4 times higher and PM-10 concentration was 3.2 times higher than during no-work period. As a result of analysis of PM contribution ratio by particle sizes, it was shown that PM-10 constitute the largest percentage. There was a significant difference in the PM concentration between work and no-work periods, and the concentration of PM during work was significant higher (p < 0.001). It was found that workers were generally exposed to a high level of dust concentration from 2.5 ㎛ to 35.15 ㎛ during tillage operation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1094-1099
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• 2021

Hermetia illucens (Black soldier fly) is attracting attention as an environmental purification insect because it can supply a wide range of by-products of the agricultural food industry. Also, it has a potential feed for fish, birds, and pets due to a short life cycle and excellent nutritional components. Several pharmacological effects, including antimicrobial, of H. illucens have been reported. However, no study has focused on antiobesity effects of ethanol extract of H. illucens. In this study, we aimed to assess the anti-obesity effects of ethanol extract of H. illucens larvae (HIE) through inhibition of differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes into adipocytes. The amount of lipid accumulated in adipocytes was measured by oil red-O staining, and the inhibitory effect on adipogenesis was confirmed. The expression levels of factors related to adipocyte differentiation and fat synthesis were determined using Western blot analysis. Lipid droplet formation in adipocytes was remarkably inhibited by HIE. In addition, treatment with 400 ㎍/ml of HIE significantly reduced the expression levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ and CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein α-transcription factors involved in adipocyte differentiation. Therefore, the results of this study indicate that HIE is a potential anti-obesity agent because it inhibits adipocyte differentiation.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.105-131
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• 2022

Even after the improvement in 2019, UNCTAD's Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI), which evaluates the performance of the global container port market, has limited use. In particular, since the liner shipping connectivity index evaluates the performance based only on the distance of the relationship, the performance index combining the port attractiveness of calling would be more efficient. This study used the modified Huff model, the hub-authority algorithm and the eigenvector centrality of social network analysis, and correlation analysis for 2007, 2017, and 2019 data of Ocean-Commerce, Japan. The findings are as follows: Firstly, the port attractiveness of calling and the overall performance of the port did not always match. However, according to the analysis of the attractiveness of a port calling, Busan remained within the top 10. Still, the attractiveness among other Korean ports improved slowly from the low level during the study period. Secondly, Global container ports are generally specialized for long-term specialized inbound and outbound ports by the route and grow while maintaining professionalism throughout the entire period. The Korean ports continue to change roles from analysis period to period. Lastly, the volume of cargo by period and the extended port connectivity index (EPCI) presented in this study showed a correlation from 0.77 to 0.85. Even though the Atlantic data is excluded from the analysis and the ship's operable capacity is used instead of the port throughput volume, it shows a high correlation. The study result would help evaluate and analyze global ports. According to the study, Korean ports need a long-term strategy to improve performance while maintaining professionalism. In order to maintain and develop the port's desirable role, it is necessary to utilize cooperation and partnerships with the complimentary port and attract shipping companies' services calling to the complementary port. Although this study carried out a complex analysis using a lot of data and methodologies for an extended period, it is necessary to conduct a study covering ports around the world, a long-term panel analysis, and a scientific parameter estimation study of the attractiveness analysis.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.5_2
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• pp.707-723
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• 2022

Although satellite-based sea surface temperature (SST) is advantageous for monitoring large areas, spatiotemporal data gaps frequently occur due to various environmental or mechanical causes. Thus, it is crucial to fill in the gaps to maximize its usability. In this study, daily SST composite fields with a resolution of 4 km were produced through a two-step machine learning approach using polar-orbiting and geostationary satellite SST data. The first step was SST reconstruction based on Data Interpolate Convolutional AutoEncoder (DINCAE) using multi-satellite-derived SST data. The second step improved the reconstructed SST targeting in situ measurements based on light gradient boosting machine (LGBM) to finally produce daily SST composite fields. The DINCAE model was validated using random masks for 50 days, whereas the LGBM model was evaluated using leave-one-year-out cross-validation (LOYOCV). The SST reconstruction accuracy was high, resulting in R² of 0.98, and a root-mean-square-error (RMSE) of 0.97℃. The accuracy increase by the second step was also high when compared to in situ measurements, resulting in an RMSE decrease of 0.21-0.29℃ and an MAE decrease of 0.17-0.24℃. The SST composite fields generated using all in situ data in this study were comparable with the existing data assimilated SST composite fields. In addition, the LGBM model in the second step greatly reduced the overfitting, which was reported as a limitation in the previous study that used random forest. The spatial distribution of the corrected SST was similar to those of existing high resolution SST composite fields, revealing that spatial details of oceanic phenomena such as fronts, eddies and SST gradients were well simulated. This research demonstrated the potential to produce high resolution seamless SST composite fields using multi-satellite data and artificial intelligence.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.399-407
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• 2021

Wrinkle formation and dryness are the most well-known symptoms of skin aging. This study investigated skin anti-aging and moisturizing effects of Mugunghwa (Hibiscus syriacus L.), the national flower of Korea. The effect of H. syriacus L. flower extract was examined in skin cells originating from humans in vitro and in hairless mice exposed to UVB in vivo. The in vivo study results showed that skin hydration-related factors such as involucrin, filaggrin, HAS1, HYAL1, and matrix metalloproteinase-I (a primary skin photoaging factor) were regulated by H. syriacus L. Additionally, epidermal thickness and collagen disruption, which resulted in wrinkle formation and skin dryness, were ameliorated by oral administration of H. syriacus L. These results indicate that H. syriacus L. flowers can play important roles in preventing aging and promoting skin moisturizing.