• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
• /
• v.44 no.4
• /
• pp.620-635
• /
• 2017

This study was intended to identify the main factors responsible for the decline in purchase of imported agricultural and fish products after Japan's nuclear power plant accident in 2011 and to compare the effects on imported agricultural produce and imported fish products. Logit model and multiple regression model analyses were performed using consumers' survey data. Psychological and qualitative factors reflecting consumers' food safety awareness and purchasing preferences, which were extracted by Factor analysis, were included as the models' explanatory variables, along with socio-demographic and economic factors. The Logit estimation showed aged, married, and low-income households had significantly higher probability of reducing their purchases of imported agricultural and fish products. However, the multiple regression results pointed out that the actual rate of decrease of imported agricultural and fish products purchases were more significantly affected by non-socio demographic factors such as past experience of purchasing imported agricultural and fish products, future intention to purchasing Japanese agricultural and fish products, and the ratio of imported to domestic agricultural and fish products before the nuclear accident, as well as consumers' feeling of food insecurity and their purchasing preferences. Moreover, the results showed that Korean consumers have reacted more sensitively to the decline in imported fish products than imported agricultural produce after the nuclear accident based on the marginal effects of various socio-demographic and economic factors.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.169-176
• /
• 2015

This review has focused on important but less visible aspects of fibromyalgia (FM) with respect to the high impact of this disorder on patients and societies. FM is a common but challengeable illness. It is characterized by chronic widespread pain, which can be accompanied by other symptoms including fatigue, sleep disturbances, cognitive dysfunction, anxiety and depressive episodes. While our understanding of this debilitating disorder is limited, diagnosis and treatment of this condition is very difficult, even in the hands of experts. Due to the nature of disease, where patients experience invalidation by medical services, their families and societies regarding the recognition and management of disease, direct, indirect and immeasurable costs are considerable. These clinical and economic costs are comparable with other common diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension and osteoarthritis, but the latter usually receives much more attention from healthcare and non-healthcare resources. Present alarming data shows the grave and "iceberg-like" burden of FM despite the benign appearance of this disorder and highlights the urgent need both for greater awareness of the disease among medical services and societies, as well as for more research focused on easily used diagnostic methods and target specific treatment.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.47-65
• /
• 2012

The presence of crack-like defects in mechanical and structural elements produces failures during their service life that in some cases can be catastrophic. So, the early detection of the fatigue cracks is particularly important because they grow rapidly, with a propagation velocity that increases exponentially, and may lead to long out-of-service periods, heavy damages of machines and severe economic consequences. In this work, a non-destructive method for the detection and identification of elliptical cracks in shafts based on stress wave propagation is proposed. The propagation of a stress wave in a cracked shaft has been numerically analyzed and numerical results have been used to detect and identify the crack through the genetic algorithm optimization method. The results obtained in this work allow the development of an on-line method for damage detection and identification for cracked shaft-like components using an easy and portable dynamic testing device.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
• /
• v.45 no.4
• /
• pp.42-51
• /
• 2013

Climate changes have become the major issue for the sustainable society and the various regulation has been established for promoting low carbon and green growth in Korea. The paper industry as a large comsumer of energy is forced to cope with these regulation. In this study, the various examples were investigated for providing the basic schemes to develop environmental management strategies of Korean paper industry. The various cases to follow carbon economic were introduced and were categorized into five ways, for example, the carbon capture projects such as reforestation, the increasing the process efficiency, the resource recovery form process waste, the cogeneration systems, the application of non-woody biomass.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.311-317
• /
• 2020

Mushroom has economic, food and medicinal value to a large proportion of human populace. This study assessed the consumption pattern of mushroom species in Southwestern Nigeria. Non-probability sampling method was used to select 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) from 3 states and four communities were selected purposively from each LGAs. Snow-ball sampling approach was used in selecting 5 respondents from each community, making a total of 400 respondents. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, to compare the differences between the local (wild) and Exotic (cultivated) mushroom Species and to determine the rate at which mushroom substitute is consumed among the mushroom consumers. Logit regression was used to identify the factors influencing mushroom consumption in the study area. Thirty percent of the respondents were aged 41 to 50 years, with mean age of 49.76 years. About 82% had tertiary education, 17.3% earned above N200,000 monthly and 8.8% spent above N6000 monthly on mushroom. Logit regression showed that age (-3.21), household size (-2.17) and medicinal benefits (-2.17) had significant (p<0.01) negative effects on mushroom consumption. Conclusively, mushroom has wide acceptance among the general populace, good for food and medicine; hence, awareness should be created through agricultural policy on the need for mushroom cultivation and consumption in Nigeria.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.271-285
• /
• 2024

Purpose - We empirically investigate the promises and pitfalls of digital platforms in the online food ordering and delivery section. We first focus on the role of digital platforms before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic, and then proceed to explore whether there exists a digital divide phenomenon in Korea's digital economy. Design/methodology/approach - We partner with a nation-wide online food ordering and delivery platforms in Korea and quantify the long tail effect before and after the COVID-19 pandemic year by year. We also utilize non-parametric estimation techniques to investigate whether digital divide indeed exists in the cross-section of Korea's digital economy. Findings - We find that the use of digital platforms makes it easier for small businesses and restaurants to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic on average. But, it appears that relatively sophisticated (large or franchised rather small or independent) entities take more advantage of digital platforms. Research implications or Originality - This study is one of the first few empirical works on the role of digital platforms in Korea. The results may imply that digital platforms complement the traditional brick-and-mortal industry especially upon unexpected economic shocks. We also note that this complementary effect is transient and more clustered in those entities having a good understanding of digital platforms.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.23-41
• /
• 2003

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the gravitation of ship's cargo tons of arriving and leaving port of Busan based on the gravity model empirically and experimentally and to suggest possible ways to expand the trade quantities(cargo tons) by identifying important factors determining the port of Busan's bilateral trade flows with foreign countries by using the 1995, and 2001 data. In this paper, new independent variables, such as land, populations, and the APEC and ASEAN memberships, and new dependent variable, such as the ship's cargo tons of arrival and leaving port of Busan were used for expanding the previous studies. Empirical analysis found that the port of Busan tends to trade more with countries in close proximity and the large size of economies. The fact that the port of Busan's trades more with APEC countries than with non-APEC countries is a clear empirical evidence of the growing importance of the regional trade agreement and strategic alliance with the ports of these member countries. The main policy implication based on the findings of this study is that GDP, distance, adjacency, and APEC membership which were the affecting variables to the bilateral trade with the port of Busan should be closely investigated for enhancing the trade quantities with those foreign countries.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers Conference
• /
• 1998.10a
• /
• pp.508-512
• /
• 1998

Recently, biofilm reactors are considered as efficient wastewater treatment system in rural areas, because of characteristics of easy operation and economic feasibility. In order to select the most efficient media, an experimental apparatus with five different media was designed, installed and examined. The media used in this study were zeolite, artificial sponge gourd, absorbent biofilter, non-woven fabric and charcoal. With only one month investigation, all five media showed high removal efficiencies of BOD.

• Agribusiness and Information Management
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2012

Cameroon, with her numerous resources, still depends on foreign aid while the rate of poverty remains high. Thus, even though historical evidence gives impetus to the impasse over role of developmental aid, from the top down approach through to development as a springboard raising states from the doldrums of poverty, it is still very difficult to draw a substantial relationship between developmental aid and poverty reduction. Against this backdrop of controversy, I find it apt to put Cameroon on a balance scale. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to critically assess the implications of developmental aid on poverty reduction and agro-rural development in Cameroon, using the RUMPI Area Development Project in the South West region of Cameroon as a case study. The study will situate and contextualize the top-down and bottom-up approaches to development within the basis of a Cameroonian perspective, using the Sachs-Easterly debate. The RUMPI Project was introduced with the objective of improving agriculture and empowering the rural woman; thereby fighting poverty within the South West region of Cameroon. Despite its criticism of the barriers to development created by corruption, political pressure and limited use of local and grass-root partnerships, the study, in assessing these failures also tries to outline vital ways in which the project can be improved upon.

• Journal of Fashion Business
• /
• v.10 no.6
• /
• pp.131-145
• /
• 2006

The study used 24 clothing salespersons who had turnover experiences. It used a qualitative research method, through which the following turnover motives were found. The turnover motives can be classified into two: voluntary and non-voluntary. The voluntary turnover motives include marriage, career change, wages, human relationship, family moving, study abroad, health problems, and so forth. This study finds that some salespersons made a turnover because they did not like the products and brand or they preferred another products and brand. This kind of turnover is unique in the field of clothing sales and seldom found in the motives of salesperson turnover in other fields. The non-voluntary turnover motives are caused by non-personal, circumstantial factors which include the bankruptcy of companies due to economic depression, withdrawal of salesroom from department stores due to low sales, etc. This means that the creation, rise, and fall of fashion brands are closely related to frequent turnover of clothing sale associates. As there are various motives for the salesperson turnover, so it is necessary for the clothing industry to examine and investigate the trends of its salespersons and establish an appropriate policy to cope with the matter.