• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.206-223
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• 2023

The introduction of Smart technologies such as Artificial Intelligence(AI) systems are have a powerful impact in a variety of industry fields. Some experts predict that smart technology will completely change people's daily life and work styles, causing technological innovation, productivity improvement, and discovery and emergence of new fields. On the one hand, this vision cannot ignore negative views and concerns. Despite many social debates about employment, such as job loss and rising unemployment, there have not been many studies based on employee experience that provide a fundamental solution to the conflict between AI and employment. Therefore, this study finds out the effects and related factors of AI concierge robots for hotel employees, focusing on the hotel industry, and how employees' perceptions of AI concierge robots affect user resistance and turnover intention. This study, conducted a questionnaire survey of 322 hotel employees who had experience working with AI concierge robots in China, and used SPSS and SmartPLS statistical analysis programs to draw conclusions. We found that hotel employees' perceptions of AI concierge robots were significantly related to user resistance and turnover intention, and this association was related to employee self-efficacy, perceived organizational support, quality of AI services and new tasks. In addition, it was found that the quality of AI concierge robots directly or indirectly had the greatest influence on user resistance and turnover intention. The findings of this study provide theoretical implications for academia and practical implications for industry practitioners.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.215-241
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• 2023

As competition between ports intensifies, port efficiency has always been a hot topic in the port and shipping economy. Boosting regional and national economies by improving port efficiency and promoting sustainable development of ports is also a concern for port operators and local and national governments. In this situation, this study has the following objectives. First, using panel data from 2010 to 2017, the efficiency of 14 major inland ports along the Yangtze River was analyzed, and changes in port efficiency over time were examined. Second, 14 inland ports are divided into the middle, upper, and lower Yangtze River port groups to compare and review differences in efficiency levels of ports by basin. For the study, we applied a three-step DEA analysis method, which evaluated the pure relative efficiency of the port itself by removing the effects of environmental factors and statistical noise that could affect the efficiency evaluation and presented the results. As a result, it was confirmed that there was a clear difference in the efficiency value of the port between the first-stage and the third-stage efficiency evaluation result. In addition, the downstream ports showed relatively high efficiency compared to the middle and upstream ports.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.344-352
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• 2023

Background: With its developed port and related industries, the concentration of fine dust is high in Busan compared to other cities in South Korea. Many studies have reported the health effects of fine dust, but there has been a lack of information regarding concentrations of volatile organic compounds among those who exposed to high levels of fine dust. Objectives: This study aimed to define an area with high concentrations of particulate matter and perform biomonitoring surveys among the residents of the area. Methods: Air quality data was collected and the mean level of each district in Busan was derived. We then defined the area with the highest concentrations of PM₁₀ as a target site. Urine samples were collected from the 400 participants and analyzed for VOCs metabolites - trans,trans-Muconic Acid (t,t-MA) and N-AcetylS-(benzyl)-L-cysteine (BMA). Interviews were conducted by trained investigators to examine demographic information. The levels of t,t-MA and BMA were compared with representative South Korean population data (Korean National Environmental Health Survey). The association of the VOC metabolites and fine dust were analyzed by general linear regression analysis. Results: The mean of PM₁₀ in the target site was 42.50 ㎍/m³ from 2018 to 2020. Among the 400 participants in the target site, 74.8% were female and the average age of the participants was 66 years. The geometric mean of t,t-MA was 71.15 ㎍/g creatinine and the BMA was 7.00 ㎍/g creatinine among the residents. The levels were higher than the geometric mean from the 4th KoNEHS. The levels of t,t-MA showed significance in BMI, smoking status, and household income. BMA showed significance in gender and age. Conclusions: Compared to the general population of South Korea, the target site's residents had higher biomonitoring levels. Based on this study, continuous screening for high risk areas, including the target site, and biomonitoring of the residents are required.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.6_1
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• pp.1195-1210
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• 2023

Coastal debris has emerged as a salient issue due to its adverse effects on coastal aesthetics, ecological systems, and human health. In pursuit of effective countermeasures, the present study delineated the construction of a specialized image dataset for coastal debris detection and embarked on a comparative analysis between two paramount real-time object detection algorithms, YOLOv8 and RT-DETR. Rigorous assessments of robustness under multifarious conditions were instituted, subjecting the models to assorted distortion paradigms. YOLOv8 manifested a detection accuracy with a mean Average Precision (mAP) value ranging from 0.927 to 0.945 and an operational speed between 65 and 135 Frames Per Second (FPS). Conversely, RT-DETR yielded an mAP value bracket of 0.917 to 0.918 with a detection velocity spanning 40 to 53 FPS. While RT-DETR exhibited enhanced robustness against color distortions, YOLOv8 surpassed resilience under other evaluative criteria. The implications derived from this investigation are poised to furnish pivotal directives for algorithmic selection in the practical deployment of marine debris monitoring systems.

• Journal of Venture Innovation
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.49-67
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• 2021

This study analyzed the effects of hospital service quality, emotional attachment, and perceived value on customer satisfaction. In particular, the purpose of this study was to understand the role of emotional attachment and perceived value in the relationship between hospital service quality and customer satisfaction. For this purpose, the results of structural equation model analysis with the data collected by conducting a survey on customers visiting small and medium-sized hospitals were as follows. First, hospital service quality felt by hospital customers had a significant effect on emotional attachment and customer satisfaction, but had no significant effect on perceived value. Second, the emotional attachment felt by customers who visited the hospital had a significant effect on perceived value and customer satisfaction. Third, emotional attachment felt by customers in the relationship between hospital service quality and customer satisfaction had a significant mediating effect. Through the above results, it was confirmed that the service quality felt by customers visiting the hospital leads to attachment to the doctor's competence and medical technology competency, which leads to an increase in customer satisfaction through this attachment. The implications obtained based on these results are as follows. In order for the service quality felt by the customers who visit the hospital to lead to customer satisfaction, above all, it is important to focus on the emotional attachment they can have and find a strategy to improve the service quality. In other words, it is necessary to establish excellent medical staff and medical technology so that hospital customers can have high confidence in the competence of doctors and medical technology, and establish a public relations strategy that can effectively display these competences. Through these efforts, hospital customers will feel a strong attachment to doctors and medical technology, which will increase their satisfaction with the hospital.

• Journal of Venture Innovation
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.123-144
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• 2023

In the age of 100 years, it had become very important to prepare for unexpected dangers. This study was conducted to analyze the factors affecting the sales performance of financial planners. We analyzed the influence relationship of sales training, sales management, and customer orientation on sales performance, and furthermore, analyzed the impact of these influence relationships. To this end, sales training was subdivided into customer development, sales competency, and learning agility. Customer orientation was subdivided into the use of customer management system, SNS use, and customer service provision. Sales management was subdivided into goal orientation, manager leadership, and compensation system. The effect of these detailed variables on sales performance was empirically analyzed. To this end, a survey was conducted targeting currently active financial planners. The survey was conducted for a month in January 2023, and 250 valid samples were analyzed. The results of the empirical analysis were as follows. Customer development and learning agility had a significant positive (+) effect on sales performance. Sales competency were not tested for significance. Among customer orientations, SNS use and customer service provision had a significant positive (+) effect on sales performance. The use of the customer management system was not tested for significance. Among sales management, goal orientation and compensation system had a significant positive (+) effect on sales performance. Manager leadership was not tested for significance. The influence of variables that significantly affect sales performance was in the order of goal orientation, customer service provision, compensation system, slearning agility, customer development, and SNS use. Based on these research results, academic and practical implications were presented.

• Journal of Venture Innovation
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.115-137
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• 2023

This study analyzed the relationship between organizational innovative capability and absorptive capacity, market and technology orientations, and their impact on business performance for IT-BPO companies that are required to absorb new technologies from a leading perspective in the digital transformation era. To achieve this, an online specialized research company and offline surveys were conducted on 291 domestic IT-BPO companies, and SPSS 23 was used for descriptive statistics and reliability analysis while AMOS 23 was used for hypothesis testing including validity and mediating effects. The main findings were as follows: First, in the relationship between innovation and absorptive capabilities and Market Orientation Strategic(MOS), learning capability and knowledge network capability were found to have a statistically significant positive (+) effect on MOS. In the relationship between innovation and absorptive capabilities and Technology Orientation Strategic(TOS), R&D capability, potential absorptive capacity, and realized absorptive capacity had a statistically significant positive (+) effect on TOS. Second, in the relationship between innovation and absorptive capabilities and BP, only R&D capability was found to have a significant effect on BP. Third, both market orientation and technology orientation were found to have a significant positive (+) effect on BP. These findings suggest that effective competency factors can be identified according to the market and technology orientations pursued by IT-BPO companies to increase their growth and value creation, and provide implications for developing differentiated competency enhancement strategies based on strategic objectives.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.743-754
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• 2023

Background: Myocardial fibrosis post-myocardial infarction (MI) can induce maladaptive cardiac remodeling as well as heart failure. Although 20(S)-ginsenoside Rg3 (Rg3) has been applied to cardiovascular diseases, its efficacy and specific molecular mechanism in myocardial fibrosis are largely unknown. Herein, we aimed to explore whether TGFBR1 signaling was involved in Rg3's anti-fibrotic effect post-MI. Methods: Left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery ligation-induced MI mice and TGF-β1-stimulated primary cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) were adopted. Echocardiography, hematoxlin-eosin and Masson staining, Western-blot and immunohistochemistry, CCK8 and Edu were used to study the effects of Rg3 on myocardial fibrosis and TGFBR1 signaling. The combination mechanism of Rg3 and TGFBR1 was explored by surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi). Moreover, myocardial Tgfbr1-deficient mice and TGFBR1 adenovirus were adopted to confirm the pharmacological mechanism of Rg3. Results: In vivo experiments, Rg3 ameliorated myocardial fibrosis and hypertrophy and enhanced cardiac function. Rg3-TGFBR1 had the 1.78×10^-7 M equilibrium dissociation constant based on SPRi analysis, and Rg3 inhibited the activation of TGFBR1/Smads signaling dose-dependently. Cardiac-specific Tgfbr1 knockdown abolished Rg3's protection against myocardial fibrosis post-MI. In addition, Rg3 downregulated the TGF-β1-mediated CFs growth together with collagen production in vitro through TGFBR1 signaling. Moreover, TGFBR1 adenovirus partially blocked the inhibitory effect of Rg3. Conclusion: Rg3 improves myocardial fibrosis and cardiac function through suppressing CFs proliferation along with collagen deposition by inactivation of TGFBR1 pathway.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.56 no.11
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• pp.823-835
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• 2023

Recently, due to the increase in abnormal climate, rainfall intensity is increasing and drought periods are continuing. These environmental changes lead to prolonged drought conditions and difficulties in real-time recognition. In general, drought can be judged by the amount of precipitation and the number of days without rainfall. In determining the impact of drought, it is divided into meteorological drought, agricultural drought, and hydrological drought and evaluation is made using the drought index, but environmental drought evaluation is insufficient. The river water quality managed through the total water pollution cap system is vulnerable to the effects of such drought. In this study, we aim to determine the drought impact on river water quality and quantify the impact of prolonged drought on water quality. The impact of rain-free days and accumulated precipitation on river water quality was quantitatively evaluated. The Load Duration Curve (LDC), which is used to evaluate the water quality of rivers, was used to evaluate water pollution occurring at specific times. It has been observed that when the number of consecutive rainless days exceeds 14 days, the target water quality in the mid-basin is exceeded in over 60% of cases. The cumulative rainfall is set at 28 days as the criteria, with an annual average rainfall of 3%, which is 32.1 mm or less. It has been noted that changes in water quality in rivers occur when there are 14 or more rainless days and the cumulative rainfall over 28 days is 32.1 mm or less in the Gamcheon Mid-basin. Based on the results of this study, it aims to quantify the drought impact and contribute to the development of a drought water quality index for future environmental droughts.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.218-236
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• 2023

This study attempted to analyze the environmental equity of fine dust(PM₁₀) in Daegu using MGWR(Multi-scale Geographically Weighted Regression) and KT(Korea Telecom Corporation) sensor data. Existing national monitoring network data for measuring fine dust are collected at a small number of ground-based stations that are sparsely distributed in a large area. To complement these drawbacks, KT sensor data with a large number of IoT(Internet of Things) stations densely distributed were used in this study. The MGWR model was used to deal with spatial heterogeneity and multi-scale contextual effects in the spatial relationships between fine dust concentration and socioeconomic variables. Results indicate that there existed an environmental inequity by land value and foreigner ratio in the spatial distribution of fine dust in Daegu metropolitan city. Also, the MGWR model showed better the explanatory power than Ordinary Least Square(OLS) and Geographically Weighted Regression(GWR) models in explaining the spatial relationships between the concentration of fine dust and socioeconomic variables. This study demonstrated the potential of KT sensor data as a supplement to the existing national monitoring network data for measuring fine dust.