• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.81-93
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• 2014

Purpose - Recent rapid environmental changes in the hospital industry are accelerating the spread of customer satisfaction management. Customers' desires have become diversified and advanced; in the past, customers tended to preferred popularized and standardized care, whereas they now prefer individualized and differentiated care, based on an increase in income. Specifically, this study tries to analyze the mediating effects of factors that affect the configuration portion of customer value and relationship quality (customer trust and relationship commitment) by investigating the impacts and configuration factor of customer value on relationship quality and determining how these factors impact customer loyalty directly or indirectly. Research design, data, and methodology - This study aims to determine the customer value factors that impact the perceptions of dental hospital customers, how these factors impact relationship quality and customer loyalty, and the causal relationship of these factors, and to verify the research model based on previous research. To increase the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, the authors of this study constructed basic questions using measurement tools already verified for reliability and validity in existing studies. In this study, customer value is defined as customers' recognizing value by exchanging goods or services and is measured using a five-point Likert scale using 19 questions about the 4-Ds, such as convenience value, quick service, response value, and trustworthiness. For each question, "very low" was set at 1 point and "very high" at 5 points. Customer trust, relationship commitment, and customer loyalty are also measured using a five-point Likert 5-point scale (1 = very low, 5 = very high) based on previous studies. Results - For customer value, trustworthiness and quick service are shown to have direct significant positive impacts on customer loyalty. For customer value and quality of the relationship (customer confidence and commitment), trustworthiness, response value, confidence value, and quick service are shown to have a significant positive impact on customer truth, in order of impact. For the relationship between customer value and commitment, quick service and response value are shown to have significant positive impact. Customer confidence has a very high positive influence on commitment. For the relationship between the quality of the relationship (customer confidence and commitment) and customer loyalty, customer confidence is shown to have more of an impact than commitment, in terms of a direct influence of customer loyalty. Commitment showed a positive impact on customer loyalty. For the relationship between customer confidence and customer loyalty, commitment showed a mediating effect. Conclusions - Many additional variables could apply; this study focused on customer value, quality of the relationship, and customer loyalty. In particular, there will be significant value in identifying the relationships among customer value, relationship quality, and customer loyalty by using impact factors for customer value; ensuring external validity by expanding denotation and applying the findings to other service industries; and undertaking continuous research. This study has limited generalization potential because the target for this survey was located only in the Seoul area.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.517-529
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• 2021

This study analyzes changes in the efficiency of the Department of Early Childhood Education in Korea to examine the effectiveness of the National Evaluation for Teacher Education Institution. We provide policy implications from exploring factors influencing efficiency and comparing characteristics of efficient and inefficient departments. With 149 Department of Early Childhood Education in Korea, DEA was conducted to estimate the relative efficiency, and the Tobit model was applied to explore factors affecting efficiency. The results confirm that the Department of Early Childhood in Korea is run efficiently, though there was no change in scale efficiency and relative efficiency after the two phases of the National Evaluation for Teacher Education Institution. The results show the number of books per student was significantly lower despite a significantly higher employment rate. Efficiency of college departments, department greater than 60 (per cohort), and department in metropolitan city (except Seoul area) is confirmed greater. These results provide policy implications on developing evaluation measure and processes to improve education quality and efficiency.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.157-175
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• 2012

It is difficult to evaluate the performance of process innovation of e-procurement which has large scale and complex processes. The existing evaluation methods for measuring the effects of process innovation have been mainly done with statistically quantitative methods by analyzing operational data or with qualitative methods by conducting surveys and interviews. However, these methods have some limitations to evaluate the effects because the performance evaluation of e-procurement process innovation should consider the interactions among participants who are active either directly or indirectly through the processes. This study considers the e-procurement process as a complex system and develops a simulation model based on MAS(Multi-Agent System) to evaluate the effects of e-procurement process innovation. Multi-agent based simulation allows observing interaction patterns of objects in virtual world through relationship among objects and their behavioral mechanism. Agent-based simulation is suitable especially for complex business problems. In this study, we used Netlogo Version 4.1.3 as a MAS simulation tool which was developed in Northwestern University. To do this, we developed a interaction model of agents in MAS environment. We defined process agents and task agents, and assigned their behavioral characteristics. The developed simulation model was applied to G2B system (KONEPS: Korea ON-line E-Procurement System) of Public Procurement Service (PPS) in Korea and used to evaluate the innovation effects of the G2B system. KONEPS is a successfully established e-procurement system started in the year 2002. KONEPS is a representative e-Procurement system which integrates characteristics of e-commerce into government for business procurement activities. KONEPS deserves the international recognition considering the annual transaction volume of 56 billion dollars, daily exchanges of electronic documents, users consisted of 121,000 suppliers and 37,000 public organizations, and the 4.5 billion dollars of cost saving. For the simulation, we analyzed the e-procurement of process of KONEPS into eight sub processes such as 'process 1: search products and acquisition of proposal', 'process 2 : review the methods of contracts and item features', 'process 3 : a notice of bid', 'process 4 : registration and confirmation of qualification', 'process 5 : bidding', 'process 6 : a screening test', 'process 7 : contracts', and 'process 8 : invoice and payment'. For the parameter settings of the agents behavior, we collected some data from the transactional database of PPS and some information by conducting a survey. The used data for the simulation are 'participants (government organizations, local government organizations and public institutions)', 'the number of bidding per year', 'the number of total contracts', 'the number of shopping mall transactions', 'the rate of contracts between bidding and shopping mall', 'the successful bidding ratio', and the estimated time for each process. The comparison was done for the difference of time consumption between 'before the innovation (As-was)' and 'after the innovation (As-is).' The results showed that there were productivity improvements in every eight sub processes. The decrease ratio of 'average number of task processing' was 92.7% and the decrease ratio of 'average time of task processing' was 95.4% in entire processes when we use G2B system comparing to the conventional method. Also, this study found that the process innovation effect will be enhanced if the task process related to the 'contract' can be improved. This study shows the usability and possibility of using MAS in process innovation evaluation and its modeling.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.27-45
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• 1990

Two opposing views prevail regarding the economic impact of rural out-migration on the rural areas of origin. The optimistic neoclassical view argues that rapid rural out-migration is not detrimental to the income and welfare of the rural areas of origin, whereas Lipton (1980) argues the opposite. We developed our own alternative model for rural to urban migration, appropriate for rapidly developing economies such as Korea's. This model, which adopts international trade theories of nontraded goods and Dutch Disease to rural to urban migration issues, argues that rural to urban migration is caused mainly by two factors: first, the unprofitability of farming, and second, the decrease in demand for rural nontraded goods and the increase in demand for urban nontraded goods. The unprofitability of farming is caused by the increase in rural wages, which is induced by increasing urban wages in booming urban manufacturing sectors, and by the fact that the cost increases in farming cannot be shifted to consumers, because farm prices are fixed worldwide and because the income demand elasticity for farm products is very low. The demand for nontraded goods decreases in rural and increases in urban areas because population density and income in urban areas increase sharply, while those in rural areas decrease sharply, due to rapid rural to urban migration. Given that the market structure for nontraded goods-namely, service sectors including educational and health facilities-is mostly in monopolistically competitive, and that the demand for nontraded goods comes only from local sources, the urban service sector enjoys economies of scale, and can thus offer services at cheaper prices and in greater variety, whereas the rural service sector cannot enjoy the advantages offered by scale economies. Our view concerning the economic impact of rural to urban migration on rural areas of origin agrees with Lipton's pessimistic view that rural out-migration is detrimental to the income and welfare of rural areas. However, our reasons for the reduction of rural income are different from those in Lipton's model. Lipton argued that rural income and welfare deteriorate mainly because of a shortage of human capital, younger workers and talent resulting from selective rural out-migration. Instead, we believe that rural income declines, first, because a rapid rural-urban migration creates a further shortage of farm labor supplies and increases rural wages, and thus reduces further the profitability of farming and, second, because a rapid rural-urban migration causes a further decline of the rural service sectors. Empirical tests of our major hypotheses using Korean census data from 1966, 1970, 1975, 1980 and 1985 support our own model much more than the neoclassical or Lipton's models. A kun (county) with a large out-migration had a smaller proportion of younger working aged people in the population, and a smaller proportion of highly educated workers. But the productivity of farm workers, measured in terms of fall crops (rice) purchased by the government per farmer or per hectare of irrigated land, did not decline despite the loss of these youths and of human capital. The kun having had a large out-migration had a larger proportion of the population in the farm sector and a smaller proportion in the service sector. The kun having had a large out-migration also had a lower income measured in terms of the proportion of households receiving welfare payments or the amount of provincial taxes paid per household. The lower incomes of these kuns might explain why the kuns that experienced a large out-migration had difficulty in mechanizing farming. Our policy suggestions based on the tests of the currently prevailing hypotheses are as follows: 1) The main cause of farming difficulties is not a lack of human capital, but the in­crease in production costs due to rural wage increases combined with depressed farm output prices. Therefore, a more effective way of helping farm economies is by increasing farm output prices. However, we are not sure whether an increase in farm output prices is desirable in terms of efficiency. 2) It might be worthwhile to attempt to increase the size of farmland holdings per farm household so that the mechanization of farming can be achieved more easily. 3) A kun with large out-migration suffers a deterioration in income and welfare. Therefore, the government should provide a form of subsidization similar to the adjustment assistance provided for international trade. This assistance should not be related to the level of farm output. Otherwise, there is a possibility that we might encourage farm production which would not be profitable in the absence of subsidies. 4) Government intervention in agricultural research and its dissemination, and large-scale social overhead projects in rural areas, carried out by the Korean government, might be desirable from both efficiency and equity points of view. Government interventions in research are justified because of the problems associated with the appropriation of knowledge, and government actions on large-scale projects are justified because they required collective action.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.130-138
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• 2020

As of 2017, the sewerage penetration rate of Seoul and metropolitan cities is more than 90%, and the number of domestic sewage treatment plants increased by 25% from 3,064 in 2010 to 4,072 in 2017. Among them, sewage treatment plant operated by SBR system is 585, which is 17% higher than 2010. In order to improve the water quality of the water source and improve the operation of the small sewage facilities, the improvement of the process was studied by applying the modelling to 49 facilities of the sewage treatment plant in Andong Imha dam area with more than 500㎥/day 3 places and 46 places less than 500㎥/day. As an improvement plan for modelling, candidate data were derived by reviewing operation data for 5 years. 49 facilities are operated by 12 types of operating processes. Among them, 1 place mort than 500㎥/day with SBR method and 9 facilities with less than 500㎥/day were selected by dividing 46 sites into 3 types. As a result of applying modelling to more than 500㎥/day, it was possible to improve the quality of discharged water through SRT control and it was found that applying model to sites of small scale treatment plants can improve the removal efficiency of TP by up to 14.4%. As a result, the data of this study could be used to improve and improve the operation of sewage treatment plants and RCSTP(Rural Community Sewage Tratment Plant).

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.29-37
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• 2012

This study is to find out the characteristics of the behavior of Geosyntehtic Reinforced Retaining Earth Wall(GRREW) through the laboratory experiment with the reduced-scale model, and to verify the effect of reinforcement by materials of GRREW. The loading tests after combining nonwoven geosynthetic, re-bar mesh nets and drainage blocks respectively among the components of the GRREW were performed in three cases of their slopes. In the cases of the behavior analysis including all of the components of the GRREW, the maximum horizontal displacement was generated 8.4mm at the location of 0.57H in the slope of 1:0.3; 3.8mm at the location of 0.57H in the slope of 1:0.6; 3.6mm at the location of 0.86H in the slope of 1:1.0. On average, the horizontal displacements of the GRREW were reduced by 83.8% against those of the original slopes. Lastly, seepage analysis and slope stability analysis were performed by modelling section of field, to confirm the effect of installation of drainage block in GRREW. We can confirm to compare increasing the slope safe factor and decreasing ground water in accordance with drainage blocks.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.1-29
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• 2007

The flow theory becomes one of the most important frameworks in the internet research arena. Hoffman and Novak proposed a hierarchical flow model showing the antecedents and outcomes of flow and the relationship among these variables in the hyper-media computer circumstances (Hoffman and Novak 1996). This model was further tested after their initial research (Novak, Hoffman, and Yung 2000). At their paper, Hoffman and Novak explained that the balance of challenge and skill leads to flow which means the positive optimal state of mind (Hoffman and Novak 1996). An imbalance between challenge and skill, leads to negative states of mind like anxiety, boredom, apathy (Csikszentmihalyi and Csikszentmihalyi 1988). Almost all research on the flow 4-channel model have been focusingon flow, the positive state of mind (Ellis, Voelkl, and Morris 1994 Mathwick and Rigdon 2004). However, it also needs to examine the formation of the negative states of minds and their outcomes. Flow researchers explain play or playfulness as antecedents or the early state of flow. However, play has been regarded as a distinct concept from flow in the flow literatures (Hoffman and Novak 1996; Novak, Hoffman, and Yung 2000). Mathwick and Rigdon discovered the influences of challenge and skill on play; they also observed the influence of play on web-loyalty and brand loyalty (Mathwick and Rigdon 2004). Unfortunately, they did not go so far as to test the influences of play on state of mind. This study focuses on the relationships between state of mind in the flow 4-channel model and play. Early research has attempted to hypothetically explain state of mind in flow theory, but has not been tested except flow until now. Also the importance of play has been emphasized in the flow theory, but has not been tested in the flow 4-channel model context. This researcher attempts to analyze the relationships among state of mind, skill of play, challenge, state of mind and web loyalty. For this objective, I developed a measure for state of mind and defined the concept of play as a trait. Then, the influences of challenge and skill on the state of mind and play under on-line shopping conditions were tested. Also the influences of play on state of mind were tested and those of flow and play on web loyalty were highlighted. 294 undergraduate students participated in this research survey. They were asked to respond about their perceptions of challenge, skill, state of mind, play, and web-loyalty to on-line shopping mall. Respondents were restricted to students who bought products on-line in a month. In case of buying products at two or more on-line shopping malls, they asked to respond about the shopping mall where they bought the most important one. Construct validity, discriminant validity, and convergent validity were used to check the measurement validations. Also, Cronbach's alpha was used to check scale reliability. A series of exploratory factor analyses was conducted. This researcher conducted confirmatory factor analyses to assess the validity of measurements. All items loaded significantly on their respective constructs. Also, all reliabilities were greater than.70. Chi-square difference tests and goodness of fit tests supported discriminant and convergent validity. The results of clustering and ANOVA showed that high challenge and high skill leaded to flow, low challenge and high skill leaded to boredom, and low challenge and low skill leaded to apathy. But, it was different from my expectation that high challenge and low skill didnot lead to anxiety but leaded to apathy. The results also showed that high challenge and high skill, and high challenge and low skill leaded to the highest play. Low challenge leaded to low play. 4 Structural Equation Models were built by flow, anxiety, boredom, apathy for analyzing not only the impact of play on state of mind and web-loyalty, but also that of state of mind on web-loyalty. According the analyses results of these models, play impacted flow and web-loyalty positively, but impacted anxiety, boredom, and apathy negatively. Results also showed that flow impacted web-loyalty positively, but anxiety, boredom, and apathy impacted web-loyalty negatively. The interpretations and implications of the test results of the hypotheses are as follows. First, respondents belonging to different clusters based on challenge and skill level experienced different states of mind such as flow, anxiety, boredom, apathy. The low challenge and low skill group felt the highest anxiety and apathy. It could be interpreted that this group feeling high anxiety or fear, then avoided attempts to shop on-line. Second, it was found that higher challenge leads to higher levels of play. Test results show that the play level of the high challenge and low skill group (anxiety group) was higher than that of the high challenge and high skill group (flow group). However, this was not significant. Third, play positively impacted flow and negatively impacted boredom. The negative impacts on anxiety and apathy were not significant. This means that the combination of challenge and skill creates different results. Forth, play and flow positively impacted web-loyalty, but anxiety, boredom, apathy had negative impacts. The effect of play on web-loyalty was stronger in case of anxiety, boredom, apathy group than fl ow group. These results show that challenge and skill influences state of mind and play. Results also demonstrate how play and flow influence web-loyalty. It implies that state of mind and play should be the core marketing variables in internet marketing. The flow theory has been focusing on flow and on the positive outcomes of flow experiences. But, this research shows that lots of consumers experience the negative state of mind rather than flow state in the internet shopping circumstance. Results show that the negative state of mind leads to low or negative web-loyalty. Play can have an important role with the web-loyalty when consumers have the negative state of mind. Results of structural equation model analyses show that play influences web-loyalty positively, even though consumers may be in the negative state of mind. This research found the impacts of challenge and skill on state of mind in the flow 4-channel model, not only flow but also anxiety, boredom, apathy. Also, it highlighted the role of play in the flow 4-channel model context and impacts on web-loyalty. However, tests show a few different results from hypothetical expectations such as the highest anxiety level of apathy group and insignificant impacts of play on anxiety and apathy. Further research needs to replicate this research and/or to compare 3-channel model with 4-channel model.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.459-467
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• 2015

Understanding of a carbon storage in a regional scale ecosystem is a very important data for predicting change of global carbon cycle. Therefore, the real data collected in the various ecosystems are a very useful for enhancing accuracy of model prediction. We tried to estimate total accumulated ecosystem carbon in Deogyusan National Park (DNP) with naturally well preserved ecosystem. In DNP, vegetations were classified to four main communities with Quercus mongolica community (12,636.9 ha, 54.8%), Quercus variabilis community (2,987.0 ha, 13.0%), Pinus densiflora community (5,758.0 ha, 25.0%), and Quercus serrata community (402.9 ha,1.7%). Biomass and soil carbons were estimated by the biomass allometric equations based on the DBH and carbon contents of litter and soil (0~30 cm) layers collected in 3 plots ($30cm{\times}30cm$) in each community. The biomass and soil carbons were shown as high value as 1,759,000 tC and 7,776,000 tC, respectively, in Quercus mongolia community in DNP area. In Quercus mongolica, Quercus variabilis, Quercus serrata, Pinus densiflora communities, the accumulated ecosystem carbon were shown 9,536,000 tC, 1,405,000 tC, 147,000 tC, 346,000 tC, respectively. Also, the total ecosystem carbon was estimated with 11,434,000 tC in DNP.

• Journal of Practical Engineering Education
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.163-176
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• 2020

Promoting job growth and quality has been central to developing countries to reduce poverty for decades. In this regard, Nepal is not unique in its need to develop effective TVET programme as it is considered showing positive association with workforce development and productivity. While the copious academic literature has highlighted upon staff training programme in general education, it encounters lack of adequate attention in the field of TVET education. The purpose of the study is to identity and prioritise the professional development needs for the teachers of TVET sector in Nepal. A sample(N=317) of Nepalese teachers from seven provinces were asked to answer the scale. The Borich needs assessment model was employed to assess the perceived level of importance and present preferred training modules among 29 teaching subjects. Moreover, a quadrant analysis using 2×2 matrix was used as a diagnostic tool to denote overriding training topics. The result shows that following competence skills constructs were perceived to be in high need of enhancement as well as in existence of discrepancies: 'occupational characteristics of TVET trainer', 'training needs analysis and curriculum development', 'curriculum development based on national competence standard(NCS)', and 'Institution management evaluation'.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.303-309
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• 2016

Purpose: Malignant ascites is a common complication in terminal cancer patients. Less-invasive pigtail catheter insertion is the most frequent procedure in patients who need repeated ascites drainage. This study investigated effects and adverse events associated with catheter insertion for ascites drainage and evaluated prognostic outcomes. Methods: We reviewed medical records between 2010 and 2013 of hospice and palliative care institutions in Seoul, South Korea. Among 2,608 inpatients, 67 patients received ascites pigtail catheter drainage. We reviewed demographic data, palliative performance scale, laboratory data, duration of catheter insertion, prevalence and type of complications, use and duration of antibiotics, and survival time. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression models were used to evaluate prognostic outcomes related with catheter insertion. Results: Ascites drainage was performed most commonly in hepatobiliary and gastric cancer patients. Ascites symptoms improved in 55 patients after the catheter drainage. Adverse events included pain (19.4%), leakage (14.9%), disconnection (7.5%), catheter occlusion (6%) and fever (4.5%). In Cox regression analysis, survival time from the catheter insertion was significantly associated with Palliative Performance Scale (PPS) (HR 0.73; P value 0.045) and serum sodium level (HR 2.77; P value 0.003) in a multivariate model. Conclusion: Patients' PPS and serum sodium level should be considered before making a decision of pigtail catheter insertion.