• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.103-117
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• 2022

The recent corporate economy, such as the COVID 19 pandemic that has spread all over the world since the beginning of 2020, the acceleration of the 4th industrial revolution, and supply chain management risks triggered by the US-China conflict and the Ukraine crisis, is more serious than ever before. CEOs who have started and managed small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are more concerned than ever about the sustainability of their businesses in this reality. Nevertheless, there were few empirical studies on the factors that influence the intention of SME CEOs to discontinue business. In this study, the perception of the business environment of SMEs (intensity of competition in key business areas, difficulty in manpower management), corporate competency (employee competency, company product or service competitiveness, supply chain and consumer relations, digital competency and technical expertise), and CEO's competency(trust between employees and the CEO, management competency and perceived health status of CEO) on CEO's intention to discontinue business was discussed. As a result of the study, the intensity of competition in the main business field, and the difficulty in manpower management had a positive (+) effect on the intention to discontinue the business, and the employee competency, product (service) competitiveness, digital competency of the company, and the CEO's Health status had a negative (-) effect on intention to discontinue business. The relationship between these influences was found in the order of CEO's health status, product competitiveness, employee competency, digital competency, competitive strength in the main business, and difficulty in manpower management. It was analyzed that supply chain and consumer relations, trust between employees and the CEO, and management capabilities did not significantly affect the intention to discontinue business. On the other hand, business confidence has a mediating effect between the intensity of competition in the main business field, the difficulty in manpower management, product or service competitiveness, digital competency, trust between employees and the CEO, and the management capability and intention to discontinue business was tested. This study had academic significance in that it empirically analyzed factors related to intention to discontinue business targeting small and medium-sized business CEOs. In practice, as it has been found that business environment awareness, corporate competency, managerial competency, and business confidence are factors that influence the intention to discontinue business, if an action ideas that can reinforce this part can be found, SMEs can achieve sustainable growth or it may help CEO find an meaningful exit.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2024

Persistent droughts due to climate change will intensify water shortage problems in Korea. According to the 1st National Water Management Plan, the shortage of domestic and industrial waters is projected to be 0.07 billion m³/year under a 50-year drought event. A long-term prediction of water demand is essential for effectively responding to water shortage problems. Unlike industrial water, which has a relatively constant monthly usage, domestic water is analyzed on monthly basis due to apparent monthly usage patterns. We analyzed monthly water usage patterns using water usage data from 2017 to 2021 in Chungcheong, South Korea. The monthly water usage rate was calculated by dividing monthly water usage by annual water usage. We also calculated the water distribution rate considering correlations between water usage rate and climate variables. The division method that divided the monthly water usage rate by monthly average temperature resulted in the smallest absolute error. Using the division method with average temperature, we calculated the water distribution rates for the Chungcheong region. Then we predicted future water usage rates in the Chungcheong region by multiplying the average temperature of the SSP5-8.5 scenario and the water distribution rate. As a result, the average of the maximum water usage rate increased from 1.16 to 1.29 and the average of the minimum water usage rate decreased from 0.86 to 0.84, and the first quartile decreased from 0.95 to 0.93 and the third quartile increased from 1.04 to 1.06. Therefore, it is expected that the variability in monthly water usage rates will increase in the future.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.173-189
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• 2023

As supreme technologies continue to be developed, industries such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, robots, aerospace, electric vehicles, and solar energy are created, and the macro business environment is rapidly changing. Due to these large-scale changes and increased complexity, it is necessary to pay attention to the effect of social capital, which can create new value by utilizing capital increasing the importance of relationships rather than technology or asset ownership itself at the level of start-up strategy. Social capital is a concept first proposed by Hanifan in 1916, and refers to the overall sum of capabilities or resources that are latent or available for use in mutual, continuous, organic relationships or accumulated human relationship networks between individuals or social members. In addition, the diversity of start-up teams with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, and capabilities, rather than one exceptional founder, has been emphasized. Founding team diversity refers to the diversity of in-depth factors such as demographic factors, beliefs, and values of the founding team. In addition, changes in the macro environment are emphasizing the importance of technology start-ups and laboratory start-ups that lead industrial innovation and create the nation's core growth engines. This study focused on the I-Corps' program. I-Corps, which means innovation corps, is a laboratory startup program launched by the National Research Foundation (NSF) in 2011 to encourage entrepreneurship and commercialization of research results. It focuses on forming a startup team involving professors, researchers and market discovery activities. Taking these characteristics into account, this study empirically verified the impact of social capital from a network perspective and founding team diversity on I-Corps start-up performance. As a result of the analysis, the educational diversity of the founding team had a negative (-) effect on the financial performance of the founding team. On the other side, the gender diversity and the cognitive dimension of social capital had a positive (+) effect on the financial performance of the founding team. This study is expected to provide more useful theoretical and practical implications regarding the diversity, social capital, and performance interpretation of the I-Corps Lab startup team.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.36-43
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• 2024

Fishing net waste (FNW) constitutes over half of all marine plastic waste and is a major contributor to the degradation of marine ecosystems. While current treatment options for FNW include incineration, landfilling, and mechanical recycling, these methods often result in low-value products and pollutant emissions. Importantly, FNWs, comprised of plastic polymers, can be converted into valuable resources like syngas and pyrolysis oil through pyrolysis. Thus, this study presents a process for generating high-purity hydrogen (H₂) by catalytically pyrolyzing FNW in a CO₂ environment. The proposed process comprises of three stages: First, the pretreated FNW undergoes Ni/SiO₂ catalytic pyrolysis under CO₂ conditions to produce syngas and pyrolysis oil. Second, the produced pyrolysis oil is incinerated and repurposed as an energy source for the pyrolysis reaction. Lastly, the syngas is transformed into high-purity H₂ via the Water-Gas-Shift (WGS) reaction and Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA). This study compares the results of the proposed process with those of traditional pyrolysis conducted under N₂ conditions. Simulation results show that pyrolyzing 500 kg/h of FNW produced 2.933 kmol/h of high-purity H₂ under N₂ conditions and 3.605 kmol/h of high-purity H₂ under CO₂ conditions. Furthermore, pyrolysis under CO₂ conditions improved CO production, increasing H₂ output. Additionally, the CO₂ emissions were reduced by 89.8% compared to N₂ conditions due to the capture and utilization of CO₂ released during the process. Therefore, the proposed process under CO₂ conditions can efficiently recycle FNW and generate eco-friendly hydrogen product.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.87-98
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• 2024

This study was conducted to investigate the efficiency of the filtering sets composed of fiberboards, which were fabricated with lignocellulosic fiber and cork oak bark-based activated carbon (COA), as well as traditional Korean paper handmade from mulberry trees (KP) for the filtration of PM, TVOC and HCHO. Three-layers fiberboards (WRF) were fabricated with wood fiber in its surface layers and recycled fiber/COA in its core layer using a protein-based adhesive with the resin content of 8%. Filtering sets were composed of three WRF and one sheet of KP. Concentrations of PM, TVOC and HCHO generated with the combustion of a incense in a sealed laboratory hood were reduced efficiently with the operation of air-purifier installed the filtering sets. Except for the WRF fabricated with 4%/4% resin contents, other WRF were prepared with 5%/3% and 6%/2% resin contents in surface/core layers, and then the WRF were used with KP for the fabrication of filtering sets. Filtration efficiency of the filtering sets was improved as the core-layer resin content applied in the fabrication of WRF decreased. In addition, filtration efficiency of the WRF-based filtering set fabricated with KP of 25 g/m² basis weight was higher than that with KP of 45 g/m² basis weight. Filtering sets composed of three-layers fiberboards (RWF) that recycled fiber and wood fiber/COA were used in its surface and core layers, respectively, and KP-25g showed higher filtration efficiency than those of WRF-based filtering sets. Air-inhalation equipment installed the RWF-based, WRF-based filtering sets and without filtering set were operated in small indoor and large outdoor spaces. Efficiency for filtering PM and TVOC of the RWF-based filtering sets was higher than that of other filtering sets. It is concluded that fiberboard-based filtering sets composed of RWF and KP-25g can be used as a filter for reducing the concentrations of PM and TVOC existed in indoor and outdoor spaces.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.149-162
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• 2024

This study is a longitudinal study of female older adults living alone, one of the most vulnerable groups in our society, to determine how their depression changes over time and what factors affect their depression. At the same time, considering that there is a large difference in age among the same older adults, this study divided the female older adults into the young-old and the old-old to see how the predictors of depression in each group differ from each other. The main findings are as follows First, depression among female older adults living alone appears to have a declining pattern over time. In the conditional model, factors affecting the initial level of the depression trajectory among women living alone were found to be associated with lower initial depression values among those living in metropolitan areas rather than non-metropolitan areas, better subjective health, and those who did not exercise. Next, we examined the factors affecting rate of change (slope) in depression among female living alone older adults and found that the higher the age, the larger the metropolitan area, the better the subjective health, the less socializing, and the more socializing, the greater the decrease in depression level. Finally, there were some differences in the pathways affecting the initial value and slope of depression among female older adults living alone between the early and late older adults. Specifically, the higher the initial level of participation in social activities, the greater the change in depression among the late older adults, while there was no significant relationship among the early older adults. In the early older adults, better initial subjective health was associated with a larger change in depression than in the late older adults. Only in the late older adults did those who regularly exercised in the early years have higher initial depression values than those who did not. Based on the results of the above analyses, suggestions were made to reduce depression among female older adults living alone.

• The Journal of KAIRB
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.5-16
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• 2024

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the current status of pediatric assent in nationwide hospitals and to assess the children's comprehension for pediatric assent by interviewing pediatricians/pediatric neurologists to determine whether children of the age (elementary and middle school students) can understand the purpose, risks, benefits, and concepts of voluntary participation in clinical research described in the assent form, and to help improve the administrative efficiency of multicenter clinical trials. Methods: The status of pediatric assent was surveyed online using Google Forms at 141 university hospitals with administrative staff who are members of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) administrative staff subcommittee with in Korean Association of Institutional Review Boards (KAIRB). Additionally, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 7 pediatricians/pediatric neurologists. Survey and interview responses were summarized using descriptive statistics. Results: Out of the 141 institutions surveyed, 35 institutions (24.8%) responded. Among them, 30 institutions (85.7%) reported having age criteria for acquiring pediatric assent forms in the case of children. The age range for pediatric assent acquisition have been from 7 years old to 12 years old (15 institutions, 50%), and from 7 years old to 15 years old (7 institutions, 23.3%). Nine institutions (25.7%) have had criteria for obtaining both parents' consent in cases involving the participation of children. Nineteen institutions (54.3%) have had checklists or guidelines available for use by IRB members in study protocols involving vulnerable research subjects. Three pediatricians/pediatric neurologists have believed that upper-grade elementary school students (5th-6th grade) could comprehensively understand informed consent forms. Two have believed that middle school students would be able to understand them if they included personal information. Two pediatricians/pediatric neurologists have believed that even lower-grade elementary school students (1st-4th grade) could understand the explanations if they were made simpler. Conclusion: It is suggested that not only elementary school students (7-12 years old) but also middle school students (13-15 years old) should receive pediatric assent forms, as it would facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the forms. To enhance the comprehension of assent form content, it is necessary to use age-appropriate words, language, and expressions in the forms hospital. It is also recommended to create comics or videos to make the content of the assent forms more accessible for children.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.273-284
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• 2024

This study investigates the impact of international oil price fluctuations on overseas construction orders secured by domestic and foreign companies. The analysis employs statistical data spanning the past 20 years, encompassing international oil prices, overseas construction orders from domestic firms, and new overseas construction orders from the top 250 global construction companies. The correlation between these variables is assessed using correlation coefficients(R), determination coefficients(R²), and p-values. The results indicate a strong positive correlation between international oil prices and overseas construction orders. The correlation coefficient between domestic overseas construction orders and oil prices is found to be 0.8 or higher, signifying a significant influence. Similarly, a high correlation coefficient of 0.76 is observed between oil prices and new orders from leading global construction companies. Further analysis reveals a particularly strong correlation between oil prices and overseas construction orders in Asia and the Middle East, potentially due to the prevalence of oil-related projects in these regions. Additionally, a high correlation is observed between oil prices and orders for industrial facilities compared to architectural projects. This suggests an increase in plant construction volumes driven by fluctuations in oil prices. Based on these findings, the study proposes an entry strategy for navigating oil price volatility and maintaining competitiveness in the overseas construction market. Key recommendations include diversifying project locations and supplier bases; utilizing hedging techniques for exchange rate risk management, adapting to local infrastructure and market conditions, establishing local partnerships and securing skilled local labor, implementing technological innovations and digitization at construction sites to enhance productivity and cost reduction The insights gained from this study, coupled with the proposed overseas expansion strategies, offer valuable guidance for mitigating risks in the global construction market and fostering resilience in response to international oil price fluctuations. This approach is expected to strengthen the competitiveness of domestic and foreign construction firms seeking success in the international arena.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.229-241
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• 2024

With the advancement of big data processing technology using cloud platforms, access, processing, and analysis of large-volume data such as satellite imagery have recently been significantly improved. In this study, the Change Detection Method, a relatively simple technique for retrieving soil moisture, was applied to the backscattering coefficient values of pre-processed Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite imagery product based on Google Earth Engine (GEE), one of those platforms, to estimate the surface soil moisture for six observatories within the Yongdam Dam watershed in South Korea for the period of 2015 to 2023, as well as the watershed average. Subsequently, a correlation analysis was conducted between the estimated values and actual measurements, along with an examination of the applicability of GEE. The results revealed that the surface soil moisture estimated for small areas within the soil moisture observatories of the watershed exhibited low correlations ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 for both VH and VV polarizations, likely due to the inherent measurement accuracy of the SAR satellite imagery and variations in data characteristics. However, the surface soil moisture average, which was derived by extracting the average SAR backscattering coefficient values for the entire watershed area and applying moving averages to mitigate data uncertainties and variability, exhibited significantly improved results at the level of 0.5. The results obtained from estimating soil moisture using GEE demonstrate its utility despite limitations in directly conducting desired analyses due to preprocessed SAR data. However, the efficient processing of extensive satellite imagery data allows for the estimation and evaluation of soil moisture over broad ranges, such as long-term watershed averages. This highlights the effectiveness of GEE in handling vast satellite imagery datasets to assess soil moisture. Based on this, it is anticipated that GEE can be effectively utilized to assess long-term variations of soil moisture average in major dam watersheds, in conjunction with soil moisture observation data from various locations across the country in the future.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.169-177
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• 2024

This study investigated whether population dynamic analysis based on the height characteristics of Abies nephrolepis was feasible. It was necessary because existing population dynamic analyses based on age and diameter at breast height (DBH) made it difficult to reflect the slow growth characteristics of Abies nephrolepis in harsh environments of high altitudes. The limitations of population dynamics analysis based on the age and DBH distribution of Abies nephrolepis in Seoraksan, Odaesan, and Taebaeksan National Parks, where Abies nephrolepis populations are representative, were verified, and the characteristics of height growth were investigated to comprehensively analyze whether a vertical structure based on height could reveal the population dynamics. The result of this study showed some limitations in understanding the population dynamics of Abies nephrolepis based on age distribution due to practical difficulties in sampling all trees and variations in age distribution within the same community depending on factors such as light conditions. Moreover, it was challenging to differentiate the distribution of DBH classes at fine levels, making it difficult to reflect the rapid growth characteristics of Abies nephrolepis when light conditions become suitable after prolonged stays in smaller DBH classes under shade conditions. However, a comprehensive analysis of the height characteristics of Abies nephrolepis revealed that the density corresponding to the population dynamic characteristics of Abies was high and adequately reflected the predominant tree death at similar height stages, as well as the U-shaped population dynamics at the lower stratum. Moreover, it was possible to identify a transition point in height values under shaded conditions, where the annual growth of Abies nephrolepis individuals in the lower stratum increases significantly, indicating that Abies nephrolepis individuals can escape from competition with other shrubs and undergo vigorous growth only at this height level. Therefore, this study confirmed that a vertical structure based on height can be utilized to understand the population dynamics of Abies nephrolepis in high altitudes, and it is expected that future studies on height characteristics can intuitively reveal the maintenance status of Abies nephrolepis populations in the field.