• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.12
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• pp.345-352
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• 2021

Guided by a resource-based theory, this study is the first one that takes a quantitative approach to identify determinants of competitiveness of women-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. The study employs time series data of Vietnamese SMEs extracted from the Vietnam Small and Medium Enterprises Survey conducted biennially from 2005 to 2015 in ten Vietnamese provinces. Firm competitiveness hereby is indicated by revenue, market share, profitability, and export volume. The research reveals a number of determining factors, of all, research and development, labor skills, business environment, technology investment are the most important factors, followed by capital and headcount. It is indicated that the determining factors have different influences on competitiveness obtained by different measurements. Therefore, it is based on specific targets and situations to make wise business decisions. The authors also make comparisons among groups of women-owned enterprises divided by their firm age, location, ownership, export, age, and educational background of business owners. The findings serve as critical empirical evidence and provide policy recommendations for improving the competitiveness of women-owned SMEs in Vietnam. The recommendations range from technology support, education and professional support for female entrepreneurs, access to capital and human resources to business environment improvement.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.21-29
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• 2021

The present study investigated how one's cognitive resources are related to speech perception by examining Korean speakers' executive function (EF) capacity and its association with voice onset time (VOT) and f0 sensitivity in identifying Korean stop laryngeal categories (/t'/ vs. /t/ vs. /t^h/). Previously, Kong et al. (under revision) reported that Korean listeners (N = 154) in Seoul and Changwon (Gyeongsang) showed differential group patterns in dialect-specific cue weightings across educational institutions (college, high school, and elementary school). We follow up this study by further relating their EF control (working memory, mental flexibility, and inhibition) to their speech perception patterns to examine whether better cognitive ability would control attention to multiple acoustic dimensions. Partial correlation analyses revealed that better EFs in Korean listeners were associated with greater sensitivity to available acoustic details and with greater suppression of irrelevant acoustic information across subgroups, although only a small set of EF components turned out to be relevant. Unlike Seoul participants, Gyeongsang listeners' f0 use was not correlated with any EF task scores, reflecting dialect-specific cue primacy using f0 as a secondary cue. The findings confirm the link between speech perception and general cognitive ability, providing experimental evidence from Korean listeners.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.9
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• pp.155-163
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• 2021

This research was conducted to check the impact of factors related to the small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) on the economic growth in the Southeast region of Vietnam, over the years from 1996-2019. This paper applies a combination of FEM, DKSE, GMM, and RIDGE-FEM regression methods to estimate the influence of independent variables on the economic growth of the whole Southeast region with the panel data collected from GSO; and applying the OLS regression model for each province. The study finds that all variables have a statistically significant positive impact on the economic growth of the study area. Accordingly, the importance of the variables is in the following order: (1) the proportion of workers by professional and technical qualification (SMEH), (2) the number of vocational training schools (LnTSCH), and educational level of workers (LnSchool), (3) the number of SME enterprises (LnSME); (4) The average number of years in the schooling of employees in the enterprise (LnSchool); (5) Enterprise capital (LnCAP); and (6) the average number of employees of SME (LnSMER). The research results also show that factors related to the quality of labor resources have a more positive influence on growth than both the labor size and financial capital of SMEs.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.90-96
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• 2019

The contributions of nuclear science and technology in enhancing prosperity and quality of life all over the world and its potential to achieve many important Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations are well recognized. It also is now recognized that with fewer students getting attracted to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in general and nuclear science and technology (NST) in particular; hence, there is a vital need to reach out to young students to provide the crucial human resources needed for these endeavours to continue in this highly specialized area. The success of a recently completed IAEA project related to introducing NST during 2012-2016 in secondary schools in the Asia-Pacific region countries encouraged the formulation of a new IAEA TC project RAS0079 entitled "Educating Secondary Students and Science Teachers on Nuclear Science and Technology" for 2018-2021, focusing on enhancing existing educational approaches through training and development opportunities both for teachers and students. The project aims at reaching a million students during the project duration while keeping the depth of learning between teacher and student. The strategy of executing the project, implementation status and its impact so far is presented in this paper.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.75-84
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• 2022

The efficiency of the regional fiscal policy implementation is based on the achievement of target criteria in the formation and distribution of own financial resources of local budgets, reducing their deficit and reducing dependence on transfers. It is also relevant to compare the development of financial autonomy of regions in the course of decentralisation of fiscal relations. The study consists in the cluster analysis of the effectiveness of fiscal policy implementation in the context of 24 regions and the capital city of Kyiv (except for temporarily occupied territories) under conditions of fiscal decentralisation. Clustering of the regions of Ukraine by 18 indicators of fiscal policy implementation efficiency was carried out using Ward's minimum variance method and k-means clustering algorithm. As a result, the regions of Ukraine are grouped into 5 homogeneous clusters. For each cluster measures were developed to increase own revenues and minimize dependence on official transfers to increase the level of financial autonomy of the regions. It has been proved that clustering algorithms are an effective tool in assessing the effectiveness of fiscal policy implementation at the regional level and stimulating further expansion of financial decentralisation of regions.

• Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.13-39
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• 2022

The author examines three new religious movements in South Korea: Jehovah's Witnesses, the Unification Church, and the Daesoon Jinrihoe, and aims to identify the factors that are conducive to the growth of each. All three organisations believe in a coming paradise, and the article explores their respective attempts to interest the populace in their appeal. Discussion is given to membership statistics and the problems of measuring allegiance and moves on to consider methods of propagation. Most obviously, evangelisation strategy is important: Jehovah's Witnesses and Unificationists have tended to engage the interest of strangers, while followers of Daesoon Jinrihoe are more inclined to evangelise family and friends. Additionally, there are other factors that determine an organisation's progress: cultural appropriateness, engagement in social and educational work, and attitudes to conflict and peace, the latter being particularly important in a society that has experienced war and occupation. Reference is made to the ways in which these three organisations finance themselves, and it is argued that financial resources merit greater attention in the scholarly study of religion, since monetary assets are needed to secure a spiritual movement's existence. Of the three organisations under discussion, the Daesoon Jinrihoe has been the most successful, being South Korea's largest new religion, while Jehovah's Witnesses are in steady state, and the Unification movement is experiencing slight decline.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.144-153
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• 2022

Purpose: This study examines the influence and the relevance of personal background factors, social activity factors, and satisfaction factors for university education of college students in terms of changes in core competencies required by companies, so as to provide basic data for developing a curriculum necessary for improving core competencies. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire survey was administered to 172 college students from the Department of Dental Laboratory Technology at K University in Gangwon Province, who understood the purpose of this study and agreed to participate, from September 10, 2022 to September 30, 2022. Results: 1. The core competency scores of university students in the dental technology department for teamwork was 3.91±0.65, creativity was 3.66±0.70, challenging spirit was 3.64±0.74, professionalism was 3.54±0.74, global was 3.29±0.69. 2. To enhance the core competencies of college students in the dental technology department, it is necessary to improve the satisfaction with the curriculum through the expansion of educational infrastructure, and help in the career decision and preparation process. Conclusion: It is necessary to seek research that identifies the core competencies of dental technicians and university students based on the image of human resources desired by companies in a more diverse way and programs necessary to promote them.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.237-241
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• 2023

The genus Scrophularia L. (Scrophulariaceae) comprises 200-270 species worldwide and is a taxonomically challenging lineage, displaying morphological diversity and hybridization. S. kakudensis is morphologically similar to the closely related taxa S. kakudensis var. microphylla, S. pilosa, and S. cephalantha. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to sequence the chloroplast (cp) genome of S. kakudensis using next-generation sequencing and compare it to those of related taxa. The complete cp genome sequence of Scrophularia kakudensis was found to be 152,355 bp long, consisting of a pair of inverted repeats of 25,485 bp that separate a large single-copy (LSC) of 83,479 bp from small single-copy regions of 17,909 bp. The cp genome contained 78 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNAs, and four rRNAs. A phylogenetic analysis based on 78 protein-coding genes from six Scrophularia species showed S. kakudensis and S. cephalantha formed with 100% bootstrap values. We compared the complete cp genomes of S. kakudensis and S. cephalantha and identified seven sequence divergence regions: matK/rps16, rps16/trnQ, trnS/trnG, rpoB/trnC, trnS/trnG, rpl32/trnL, and ndhD/psaC. These regions may be useful for determining the phylogenetic relationships among S. kakudensis-related species.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.37-45
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• 2023

Adaptive has gained significant attention in Education Technology (EdTech), with personalized learning experiences becoming increasingly important. Next-generation chatbots, including models like ChatGPT, are emerging in the field of education. These advanced tools show great potential for delivering personalized and adaptive learning experiences. This paper reviews previous research on adaptive learning and the role of chatbots in education. Based on this, the paper explores current and future chatbot technologies to propose a framework for using ChatGPT or similar chatbots in adaptive learning. The framework includes personalized design, targeted resources and feedback, multi-turn dialogue models, reinforcement learning, and fine-tuning. The proposed framework also considers learning attributes such as age, gender, cognitive ability, prior knowledge, pacing, level of questions, interaction strategies, and learner control. However, the proposed framework has yet to be evaluated for its usability or effectiveness in practice, and the applicability of the framework may vary depending on the specific field of study. Through proposing this framework, we hope to encourage learners to more actively leverage current technologies, and likewise, inspire educators to integrate these technologies more proactively into their curricula. Future research should evaluate the proposed framework through actual implementation and explore how it can be adapted to different domains of study to provide a more comprehensive understanding of its potential applications in adaptive learning.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.108-123
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• 2023

Recent increase of eco-conscious trends and pleasure from Do It Yourself (DIY) activities have led to a surge in sales of package products bundling together clothing patterns and raw materials. However, a well-structured market system is yet to be established. We surveyed 460 women with sewing as a hobby who had purchased these DIY clothing pattern packages. The survey revealed that majority of respondents had their hobby for over five years. Choosing the right fabric to match clothing patterns presented a common challenge. Most participants owned a sewing machine and an overlocker, with price being the primary concern when purchasing a package. For guidance during the sewing process, participants preferred print materials featuring real-life images. Those with less sewing experience leaned towards video tutorials. Items of interest or those commonly created included blouses, shirts, and dresses. Desire for further learning in sewing and pattern-making was prominent, with a clear preference for online classes. Several strategies are recommended to enhance the appeal of DIY clothing package products, including broadening range of packages that incorporate fabric, offering supplementary educational resources to improve users' skills, implementing affordable pricing structures, supplying comprehensive creation guidelines, and making available design modification guides. These considerations could significantly boost customer satisfaction. This research intends to lay groundwork for understanding DIY clothing creation market, ultimately fostering production of highly desirable products. Insights of this study will prove instrumental in refining product development and devising effective marketing tactics, leading to a more rewarding consumer experience.