• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.15-30
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• 2012

It has been 10 years since the facility modernization projects of traditional markets was rigorously undertaken. Although more than 835 traditional Korean markets nationwide have already completed these projects, there does not exist a specific set of standards of installation, future maintenance, and management. As a result, the complaints made by civil stakeholders in accordance of the actual facility installation caused problems and delays of related projects. In addition, while some local governments secured and implemented their own differing standards, others have not yet established their own separate standards for maintenance and management. Specifically, 694 traditional markets nationwide were supported for the cost of installing arcades by 2010. For the short period of time after the arcade-supported projects were deployed, the number of the traditional markets had been rapidly growing as a prime example of the facility modernization projects. The arcade facilities are being planned and installed merely for screening the rain or the sun. Without fundamental data for the newly landscaped environments or information on the actual conditions of usage and assessment, there is a lack of comprehensive approaches that could possibly organize the public environments. Furthermore, the amount of support needed for repairs, maintenance, and management from the central and local governments is gradually increasing. Thus, it becomes both crucial and necessary to complement the current set of standards. The purpose of this study is to examine the actual conditions of usage, maintenance, and management among those traditional market facilities that were installed with the supports of the facility-modernization projects, especially for arcades. This will be carried out through investigating the local problems, issues, and considering international case studies. The results of this study will provide measures for effective and efficient installation and management of traditional market arcades. Improvements in the use of public resources could be directed towards transforming public business, as well as public enhancement and functional maintenance and reinforcement. Under this condition, the arcade is not a simple area to avoid rain or sunlight; it becomes a public space. It is highlighted that the arcade should establish its public business not only to activate markets but also to refine street environments and revitalize local communities. A more specific way to improve is introduced through systematic supplementation. This is needed to attract effective participation from local residents and is done so by conducting a fair procedure from the first stage of business and by providing guidelines for establishing arcades as public facilities. The study points out to the problem of merchants-centered plans and street use. It presents the need to expand to involve residents and customers. Given that the arcade is a public facility and merchants' ability to maintain it is limited, manuals and systems for its maintenance needs to be introduced through multi-party agreement of merchants, government, residents and customers.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.107-112
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• 2007

Purpose: The pelvic phantom was fabricated in the following purposes: (1) Dose verification of IMRT plan using Eclipse planning computer, (2) to study the interface effect at the interface between rectal wall and air. The TLD can be inserted in the pelvic phantom to confirm the dose distribution as well as uncertainty at the interface. Materials and Methods: A pelvic phantom with the dimension of 30 cm diameter, 20 cm height and 20 cm thickness was fabricated to investigate the dose at the rectal wall. The phantom was filled with water and has many features like bladder, rectum, and prostate and seminal vesicle (SV). The rectum is made of 3 cm-dimater plastic pipe, and it cab be blocked by using a plug, and film can be inserted around the rectal wall. The phantom was scanned with Philips Brillance scanner and various organs such as prostate, SV, and rectal wall, and bladder wall were delineated. The treatment parameters used in this study are the same as those used in the protocols in the SNUH. TLD chips are inserted to the phantom to evaluate the dose distribution to the rectal wall (to simulate high dose gradient region), bladder wall and SV (to simulate the high dose region) and 2 spots in anterior surface (to simulate the low dose region). The TLD readings are compared with those of the planning computer (ECLIPSE, Varian, USA). Results: The target TLD doses represented as the prostate and SV show excellent agreements with the doses from the RTP within +/-3%. The rectal wall doses measured at the rectal wall are different from the those of the RTP by -11%. This is in literatures called as an interface effect. The underdosages at the rectal wall is independent of 3 heterogeneity correction algorithm in the Eclipse RTP. Also the low dose regions s represented as surface in this study were within +/-1%. Conclusion: The RTP estimate the dosage very accurately withihn +/-3% in the high dose (SV, or prostate) and low dose region (surface). However, the dosage at the rectal wall differed by as much as 11% (In literatures, the underdosage of 9$\sim$15% were reported). This range of errors occurs at the interface, for example, at the interface between lung and chest wall, or vocal cord. This interface effect is very important in clinical situations, for example, to estimate the NTCP (normal tissue complication probability) and to estimate the limitations of the current RTP system. Monte-carlo-based RTP will handle this issue correctly.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.71-99
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• 2010

Most of studies on patriotism in the marketing area have focused on ethnocentric tendencies observed in consumption behaviors. On the contrary, there have been few empirical studies on how patriotism in the general sense, indicating affection for, attachment to, and pride in the country, influences consumers' evaluation of domestic and foreign products. Given the current situation that marketing activities appealing to people's patriotism is increasing, this is somewhat surprising. Thus, this study examined empirically how patriotism influences people's evaluation of domestic and foreign products. In addition, we tested whether consumer ethnocentrism works as an intervening variable in the relation between patriotism and product evaluation. The empirical analysis was conducted through a questionnaire survey of undergraduate and graduate students at universities in Seoul. The survey asked about the respondents' patriotism, consumer ethnocentrism, domestic product evaluation, foreign product evaluation, and demographical characteristics. In foreign product evaluation, the respondents were requested to evaluate Chinese and Japanese products. Email was used to send and recover the questionnaires, and 135 replies were used in the analysis. Major findings from the empirical analysis are as follows. First, a significant relationship was observed between patriotism and domestic product evaluation. That is, patriotic participants evaluated domestic products more favorably. On the other hand, no significant relationship was observed between patriotism and foreign product evaluation(See Table 1-1 and 1-2). Next, the effect of patriotism on domestic product evaluation was mediated by consumer ethnocentrism. However, whether the effect of patriotism on domestic product evaluation is mediated by consumer ethnocentrism partially or fully was different according to product(See Table 2-1 and 2-2). Lastly, we tried to analyze the relation between consumer ethnocentrism and product evaluation and comparing the results with findings of previous researches. According to the results, a significant relationship was observed between consumer ethnocentrism and domestic product evaluation but not between consumer ethnocentrism and foreign product evaluation. The meanings of this study are as follows. First, there have been few marketing studies that investigated the relation between patriotism and product evaluation. Thus, this study is meaningful in that it supplemented the limitation of previous research. Second, consumer ethnocentrism was found to mediate the relation between patriotism and domestic product evaluation. Considering the absence of previous research that examined the role of consumer ethnocentrism as an intervening variable, this study is significant in that it expanded the scope of research on consumer ethnocentrism. Third, from the practical aspect, the results of this study suggest that marketing appealing to patriotism is effective in stimulating consumers' purchase and consumption of domestic products. Accordingly, such a marketing strategy is expected to be effective in protecting domestic markets from imported goods and overseas brands and to increase demands for domestic products and brands. However, there is the question of whether the effect of patriotism based marketing strategies in promoting demand for domestic products would persist. That is, this study could not find a significant relation between patriotism and foreign product evaluation, and this means that the increase in patriotism for the home country does not damage people's view to the quality of foreign products negatively. Accordingly, without change in people's perception of foreign products, it is highly likely that the increase in demand for domestic products or brands induced by patriotism elevated at a specific time or situation may not last long. Fourth, the results of this study suggest that the patriotism level may influence consumers' choice behavior toward retailers strongly connected to a specific country or region. That is, consumers with high level patriotism may hesitate or avoid using a retailer associated with some foreign country. Fifth, according to the results of this study, when people's patriotism is stimulated by a specific social situation or event, it can be an opportunity for domestic franchise brands to increase their market performance such as sales and market share and, at the same time, for foreign franchise brands to experience adversities. Therefore, during a period like the Olympic Games or the World Cup when people's sense of belonging or attachment to their country is heightened, domestic franchise brands need to make marketing activities that may lead market opportunities to substantial results and foreign franchise brands to cope with such adversities. Sixth, consumers' brand choice is often made in retail stores. It has been demonstrated by numerous studies that in store stimuli such as point of purchase display can affect consumers' behavior. Considering this, domestic brands facing competition with foreign brands should make continuous efforts to enhance the market performance of their products through developing in store stimuli that can stimulate consumers' patriotism. Finally, based on the major findings of this study, both academic and practical issues were discussed. Suggestions for future studies were provided.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.53-62
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• 2012

Well-being is a reflection of current sociocultural trends that focus on the quality of life based on economic growth. Furthermore, organic food is believed to help people maintain good health and therefore leads to increased consumption of organic foods. Therefore, consumer interest in organic food is increasing, causing its market to grow, and this trend will be maintained in the future. The abuse of agricultural pesticides, gene manipulation, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy has caused consumers to worry about food safety. The well-being trend has also contributed to consumers' growing interest inorganic food and organic agricultural products. A consumer's choice offood is a complex processes affected by various factors. In particular, organic food is considered an individualistic merit good, considering the consumers' preferences related to certification policies. Therefore, various factors such as personal characteristics and sense of value could affect consumers' decisions. This research focused on an analysis of the factors influencing consumers' purchasing intention for organic food on the basis of an increase in organic food consumption. The research method was based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Factors such as consumer characteristics regarding food consumption, purchasing frequency, and other factors affecting purchasing intention were presented. The hypothesis was set using advanced research and stated that it is easier to forecast purchasing intentions by combining the theory of planned behavior and personal characteristics of consumer. The results show that two dimensions, attitude and perceived behavioral control, have statistically significant influence on the purchasing intention. It can be said that a positive attitude toward organic foods in particular increases the possibility of purchasing intention. In addition, consumers who consume more organic food products are more likely to have positive attitudes, and, in the past, purchasing frequency has positively influenced purchasing intention of organic foods. Consumers' negative feelings about the non-purchase of organic foods also showed a negative influence on purchasing intentions. In other words, even though consumers feel uncomfortable when not consuming organic food products, they do not try to purchase such products because of this feeling of discomfort. Furthermore, the subjective norm and the behavioral control of food-related involvement do not have a statistically significant influence on the purchasing intention or attitudes. This research verified the influence of factors related to purchasing intention. This study has several limitations: (1) even though consumers' responses can change based on the type of food, the types of food were not classified in this study; (2) future studies are necessary to analyze the attitudes of consumers on the basis of their purchasing experiences with organic foods.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.51-60
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• 2017

Purpose - This study aimed to investigate the correlation between the social activity of the elderly and recognition of family cohesion of the elderly who are exposed to the current aging society. In addition, the study has delved into the method of family cohesion improvement through the differences between groups based on the mediator effect of how the results have effects on the elderly's self-control capabilities. Research design, data, and methodology - This study has targeted the elderly who are attending the elderly university among users in seven community centers located in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do area. The study has also conducted a survey by the format of a half-structured questionnaire. It is aiming to investigate the elderly's family cohesion with children and their self-control capability, and understand their satisfaction of social activity to help successful elderly life. The study has suggested the following as mentioned. First, the study analyzed that the perceptual factor of family cohesion with children would be deducted based on advanced researches. Second, the influencing relationship would be analyzed through the relational analysis between the elderly's family cohesion and social activity. Results - The family cohesion with children has a significant effect on psychological happiness and it showed the influencing relationship with improvement of the elderly's self-control capability. Therefore, creating fellowship through meaningful conversation with children would be needed. In addition, various programs and consultant service would be offered to build healthy relationship between aged parents and their children. Through this, the elderly will be able to have not only better relationships with their family, but also increased psychological health and well-being as well. Conclusions - It is needed that not only supporting policies for children who take care of aged parents but also that the elderly who need long-term care could meet their children whenever they want through increased numbers of sanatoriums operated by cities and countries. In addition, the nation would offer financial and administrative support continuously so that people receive the benefits from sanatoriums located in the locality of children's residence beyond the elderly's residence. Moreover, social infra would be established as well.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.294-303
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• 2020

This study aimed to examine was conducted to the ability of microclimate control in old pine forests by surveying pine forest in Buddhist temples, where the pine forest are stably growing through active protection in the Gyeongnam region, and comparing variation characteristics of microclimate characteristics (temperature and humidity) and distribution of vegetation type. The study sites were pine forests protected well by Buddhist temples (Haein-sa, Beomeo-sa, Tongdo-sa, and Bulguk-sa) in the southeast region of Korea and thus known for stably growing young pine trees. According to the vegetation distribution status analysis, these pine forests did not have a high ratio of pine trees. Except for Tongdo-sa, the ratio of deciduous forest and mixed (deciduous and pine trees) forest had a much larger presence than that of pine forest. Measured data of microclimate showed that the Tongdo-sa area had significantly different characteristics compared to the other three areas. Tongdo-sa area showed a significantly higher diurnal range of temperatures and humidity than the other three areas, in both spring and summer. It is due to the difference in vegetation management. The forests around Tongdo-sa are mostly pine forests, except for the developed areas, while those in the other three areas have a dominant ratio of deciduous brad-leaved forests. Intensive control of pine forest is not effective in mitigating microclimate, i.e., temperature and air humidity. Stress caused by rising temperatures and decreasing air humidity is blamed for the decline of pine forests. Thus, the current active management of pine forests, such as the Tongdo-sa case, has been found to have a greater negative impact on the temperature and humidity stress. Therefore, we believe that a new change in forest management is necessary to increase the effect of mitigating the microclimate of pine forests.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.892-901
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• 2012

The purpose of this research was to analyze fish fauna, distribution patterns, and fish community structures in the Juksan-Weir regions of upper weir(R-UW) and lower weir(R-LW), which was constructed in 2011 on Yeongsan River watershed. Our outcomes will provide valuable information in the impact analysis of weir constructions next decades, even if the current research is limited to distributions and fauna studies of fishes. The fishes observed were 8 family and 30 species in all the sites, and the number of the species in the regions of R-UW and R-LW was 23(938 individuals) and 27(1,680 individuals), respectively, indicating greater abundance in the lower region of Juksan-Weir. Most dominant species was Opsarichthys uncirostris amurensis with relative abundance of 42%, and this species had greater abundance in the R-LW(49%) than in the R-UW(30%). Coilia nasus, was the migratory fish sampled in this region and had no differences of abundance between the two regions. The extic species observed were Carassius cuvieri, Lepomis macrochirus, and Micropterus salmoides. The two formers of Carassius cuvieri(1.2%) and Lepomis macrochirus(3.7%) dominated in the R-UW, whereas Micropterus salmoides had greater dominance in the region of R-LW. According to tolerance guild analysis, the proportion of sensitive species ranged from 0.4 to 0.5%, and that of tolerant species ranged from 65% to 70%, implying a severe pollution of nutrients and organic matters in the water body. In the mean time, according to trophic guild analysis, the proportion of carnivores(57 - 77%) was evidently higher than that of insectivores(10 - 20%), indicating a dominance of the carnivores. Especially, high abundance of the bass, exotic species, may disturb the fish overall food chain, so the efficient ecosystem management may be required for the conservation of endemic species. When we examined fish data files of last 60 years, the species of Culter brevicauda, designated as endangered species, was observed firstly in our research area and the total number was 5 individuals(0.2% of the total). So, this region observed should be conserved as a protection zone and further monitoring studies should be done in the future.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.132-141
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• 2012

This current survey was conducted to examine consumer attitudes toward factors determining beef purchasing and improving distribution systems. The frequency of beef purchasing was shown to reflect social and economic status, where inhabitants in large cities, such as Seoul, with higher salaries showed a higher frequency. In addition, consumers that were in their forties bought beef more frequently than consumers that were in their twenties. Consumers in Seoul and the megalopolis with a monthly income of higher than 200 million won preferred to purchase meat from department stores and discount markets. In contrast, people in small cities with lower incomes tended to buy meat from butcher shops and brand shops. In a question regarding unsatisfaction factors of retail beef, individuals that were in their thirties with a high income had concerns associated with packaging problems. For people under thirty with low income, the consistency of quality and price were the prime concerns. In regards to the beef grading system, consumer response varied between inhabitants, monthly income and age group, where consumers from small cities that were in their twenties and forties with a low income had a negative viewpoint. For the differential beef distribution system, housewives between the ages of 30 and 40 from a small city with an income higher than 200 million won had a positive response; however, a large number of consumers were not familiar with this system. The most demanding beef cuts were in the following order: loin, flank and rib. In addition, the most important factors determining purchasing beef were as follows: price, breed and portion.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.31-57
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• 1991

Korean firms of all sizes, from virtually every industry, have used and are using the term "excessive competition" to describe the state of their industry and to call for government interventions. Moreover, the Korean government has frequently responded to such calls in various ways favorable to the firms, such as controlling entry, curbing capacity investments, or allowing collusion. Despite such interventions' impact on the overall efficiency on the Korean economy as well as on the wealth distribution among diverse groups of economic agents, the term "excessive competition", the basis for the interventions, has so far escaped rigorous scrutiny. The objective of this paper is to clarify the notion of "excessive competition" and "over-investment" which usually accompanies "excessive competition", and to examine the circumstances under which they might occur. We first survey the cases where the terms are most widely used and proceed to examine those cases to determine if competition is indeed excessive, and if so, what causes "excessive competition". Our main concern deals with the case in which the firms must make investment decisions that involve large sunk costs while facing uncertain demand. In order to analyze this case, we developed a two period model of capacity precommitment and the ensuing competition. In the first period, oligopolistic firms make capacity investments that are irreversible. Demand is uncertain in period 1 and only the distribution is known. Thus, firms must make investment decisions under uncertainty. In the second period, demand is realized, and the firms compete with quantity under realized demand and capacity constraints. In the above setting, we find that there is "no over-investment," en ante, and there is "no excessive competition," ex post. As measured by the information available in period 1, expected return from investment of a firm is non-negative, overall industry capacity does not exceed the socially optimal level, and competition in the second period yields an outcome that gives each operating firm a non-negative second period profit. Thus, neither "excessive competition" nor "over-investment" is possible. This result will generally hold true if there is no externality and if the industry is not a natural monopoly. We also extend this result by examining a model in which the government is an active participant in the game with a well defined preference. Analysis of this model shows that over-investment arises if the government cannot credibly precommit itself to non-intervention when ex post idle capacity occurs, due to socio-political reasons. Firms invest in capacities that exceed socially optimal levels in this case because they correctly expect that the government will find it optimal for itself to intervene once over-investment and ensuing financial problems for the firms occur. Such planned over-investment and ensuing government intervention are the generic problems under the current system. These problems are expected to be repeated in many industries in years to come, causing a significant loss of welfare in the long run. As a remedy to this problem, we recommend a non-intervention policy by the government which creates and utilizes uncertainty. Based upon an argument which is essentially the same as that of Kreps and Wilson in the context of a chain-store game, we show that maintaining a consistent non-intervention policy will deter a planned over-investment by firms in the long run. We believe that the results obtained in this paper has a direct bearing on the public policies relating to many industries including the petrochemical industry that is currently in the center of heated debates.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.207-215
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• 2009

Numerous factors can affect the activities of hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad (HPG) hormonal axis, resulting in alteration of reproductive capacity or status such as onset of puberty and menopause. Soon after the finding of leptin, a multifunctional hormone secreted from adipocytes, a close relationship between reproduction and body energy balance have been manifested. Ghrelin, another multifunctional hormone from gastrointestinal tract, is an endogenous ligand of growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR), and is thought to be a counterpart of leptin in the regulation of energy homeostasis. As expected, ghrelin can also modulate the reproductive capacity through the modulation of activities of HPG axis. This paper summarizes the current knowledge on the discovery, gene structures, tissue distribution and roles of ghrelin and GHSRs in mammalian reproduction in particular modulation of reproductive hormone secretion in HPG axis. Like POMC gene expression in pituitary gland, preproghrelin gene can generate a complex repertoire of transcripts which further undergo alternative splicing and posttranslational modifications. Concerning the roles of preproghrelin gene products in the control of body physiology except energy homeostasis, limited knowledge is available so far. Several lines of evidence, however, show the interplay of ghrelin between metabolism and reproduction. In rat and human, the distribution of ghrelin receptor GHSRs (GHSR1a and GHSR1b) has been confirmed not only in the hypothalamus and pituitary which were originally postulated as target of ghrelin but also in the testis and ovary. Expression of the preproghrelin gene in the brain and gonads was also verified, suggesting the local role (s) of ghrelin in HPG axis. Ghrelin might play a negative modulator in the secretions of hypothalamic GnRH, pituitary gonadotropins and gonadal steroids though the action on pituitary is still questionable. Recent studies suggest the involvement of ghrelin in regulation of puberty onset and possibly of menopause entry. It is now evident that ghrelin is a crucial hormomal component in 'brain-gut' axis, and is a strong candidate links between metabolism and reproduction. Opposite to that for leptin, ghrelin signaling is likely representing the 'hunger' state of body energy balance and is necessary to avoid the energy investment into reproduction which has not a top priority in maintaining homeostasis. Further researches are needed to gain a deep insight into the more precise action mechanism and role of ghrelin in reproduction, and to guarantee the successful biomedical applications.