• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.41-52
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• 2015

Purpose - Given globalization, the new niche market of medical tourism is likely to experience sustainable growth for various reasons, such as aging populations and a shift in the medical consumerism paradigm toward prevention. Importantly, understanding medical customers' behavior is necessary to benefit from a competitive advantage in this industry. The existing research primarily accessed the key factors of medical quality and costs to explain health customers' behavior but is limited in terms of enabling an understanding of the decision process. This limitation exists because, given the intangibility and greater associated risks in the highly professional industry of international medical tourism, most customers lack the knowledge and experience needed to evaluate the central factors-such as the medical competence of health care countries-before purchases. Therefore, they actively search for useful information through various distributions to reduce uncertainty and to make better choices. Interestingly, most of these information channels are associated with word-of-mouth (WOM). However, no evidence is found in the literature to estimate the effect of WOM in the medical tourism field. Thus, this study focuses on WOM to explore its interaction with key medical characteristic factors and the attractiveness of destinations referred to by sources. This study also affects customers' evaluations and, in turn, influences their intention to seek health care services abroad. Research design, data, and methodology - The literature review addressed an interesting research model for estimating the relations among WOM, medical characteristics, attractiveness, and customers' choice intention regarding international health care. In the key economic regions in China, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Guangdong, 2,500 survey questionnaires were distributed to potential customers of different ages, education, and income levels. A resulting 1,717 (68.68 percent of the original 2,500) usable surveys were obtained for analysis. Moderated regression analysis was used to determine the effects of WOM in the decision process regarding international health care destinations. Results - The results indicate that WOM is a good moderator of the relationships between the factors evaluated by sources and customers. More importantly, the WOM effects reflect the factors of tie strength, credibility, and vividness. The results also reveal that, given the moderating role of WOM, the intention of potential Chinese customers to seek the referred health care country varies according to the medical characteristics of medical competency and reputation as evaluated by customers. In contrast, the travel attractiveness of the attractions, facilities, accessibility, and social environment are critical determinants of destination choice intention. Conclusions - The moderating role of WOM has been confirmed through the international healthcare destination selection process. Medical tourism managers should user WOM as an effective marketing tool for industry development. Specially, marketers should consider the effects of WOM determinants, such as tie strength, credibility, and vividness, to develop an effective strategy. Furthermore, this study estimates the factors that affect customers' selection of medical tourism destinations. Health care managers or policy makers should consider a broad variety of variables that may attract more Chinese customers to international health care.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.95-101
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• 2020

The wind turbine blades should be designed to possess a high stiffness and should be fabricated with a light and high strength material because they serve under extreme combination of lift and drag forces, converting kinetic energy of wind into shaft work. The goal of this study is to understand the basic knowledge required to curtail the process time consumed during the construction of small wind turbine blades using carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) prepeg composites. The configuration of turbine rotor was determined using the QBlade freeware program. The fluid dynamics module simulated the loads exerted by the wind of a specific speed, and the stress analysis module predicted the distributions of equivalent von Mises stress for representing the blade structures. It was suggested to modify the shape of test specimen from ASTM D638 to decrease the variance in measured tensile strengths. Then, a series of experiments were performed to confirm that the bladder compression molded CFRP prepreg can provide sufficient strength to small wind turbine blades and decrease the cure time simultaneously.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.215-220
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• 2010

Aerosol observation with Raman LIDAR in NIES (National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan) LIDAR network was conducted from 17 April to 12 June 2008 over Beijing, China. The aerosol optical properties derived from Raman LIDAR were compared with the retrieved data from sun photometer and sky radiometer observations in the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). The comparison provided the complete knowledge of aerosol optical and physical properties in Beijing, especially in pollution and Asian dust events. The averaged aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 675 nm was 0.81 and the Angstrom exponent between 440 nm and 675 nm was 0.99 during experiment. The LIDAR derived AOD at 532 nm in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) was 0.48, which implied that half of the total AOD was contributed by the aerosol in PBL. The corresponding averaged LIDAR ratio and total depolarization ratio (TDR) were 48.5sr and 8.1%. The negative correlation between LIDAR ratio and TDR indicated the LIDAR ratio decreased with aerosol size because of the high TDR associated with nonspherical and large aerosols. The typical volume size distribution of the aerosol clearly demonstrated that the coarse mode radius located near 3 ${\mu}m$ in dust case, a bi-mode with fine particle centered at 0.2 ${\mu}m$ and coarse particle at 2 ${\mu}m$ was the characteristic size distribution in the pollution and clean cases. The different size distributions of aerosol resulted in its different optical properties. The retrieved LIDAR ratio and TDR were 41.1sr and 19.5% for a dust event, 53.8sr and 6.6% for a pollution event as well as 57.3sr and 7.2% for a clean event. In conjunction with the observed surface wind field near the LIDAR site, most of the pollution aerosols were produced locally or transported from the southeast of Beijing, whereas the dust aerosols associated with the clean air mass were transported by the northwesterly or southwesterly winds.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.51 no.9
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• pp.747-759
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• 2018

Multivariate regional frequency analysis has advantages of regional and multivariate framework as adopting a large number of regional dataset and modeling phenomena that cannot be considered in the univariate frequency analysis. To the best of our knowledge, the multivariate regional frequency analysis has not been employed for hydrological variables in South Korea. Applicability of the multivariate regional frequency analysis should be investigated for the hydrological variable in South Korea in order to improve our capacity to model the hydrological variables. The current study focused on estimating parameters of regional copula and regional marginal models, selecting the most appropriate distribution models, and estimating regional multivariate growth curve in the multivariate regional frequency analysis. Annual maximum rainfall and duration data observed at 71 stations were used for the analysis. The results of the current study indicate that Frank and Gumbel copula models were selected as the most appropriate regional copula models for the employed regions. Several distributions, e.g. Gumbel and log-normal, were the representative regional marginal models. Based on relative root mean square error of the quantile growth curves, the multivariate regional frequency analysis provided more stable and accurate quantiles than the multivariate at-site frequency analysis, especially for long return periods. Application of regional frequency analysis in bivariate rainfall-duration analysis can provide more stable quantile estimation for hydraulic infrastructure design criteria and accurate modelling of rainfall-duration relationship.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.345-364
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• 2021

Developments in the understanding of fire behaviour for large open-plan spaces typical of tall buildings have been greatly outpaced by the rate at which these buildings are being constructed and their characteristics changed. Numerous high-profile fire-induced failures have highlighted the inadequacy of existing tools and standards for fire engineering when applied to highly-optimised modern tall buildings. With the continued increase in height and complexity of tall buildings, the risk to the occupants from fire-induced structural collapse increases, thus understanding the performance of complex structural systems under fire exposure is imperative. Therefore, an accurate representation of the design fire for open-plan compartments is required for the purposes of design. This will allow for knowledge-driven, quantifiable factors of safety to be used in the design of highly optimised modern tall buildings. In this paper, we review the state-of-the-art experimental research on large open-plan compartment fires from the past three decades. We have assimilated results collected from 37 large-scale compartment fire experiments of the open-plan type conducted from 1993 to 2019, covering a range of compartment and fuel characteristics. Spatial and temporal distributions of the heat fluxes imposed on compartment ceilings are estimated from the data. The complexity of the compartment fire dynamics is highlighted by the large differences in the data collected, which currently complicates the development of engineering tools based on physical models. Despite the large variability, this analysis shows that the orders of magnitude of the thermal exposure are defined by the ratio of flame spread and burnout front velocities (V_S / V_BO), which enables the grouping of open-plan compartment fires into three distinct modes of fire spread. Each mode is found to exhibit a characteristic order of magnitude and temporal distribution of thermal exposure. The results show that the magnitude of the thermal exposure for each mode are not consistent with existing performance-based design models, nevertheless, our analysis offers a new pathway for defining thermal exposure from realistic fire scenarios in large open-plan compartments.

• ALGAE
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.7-21
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• 2019

The genus Heterocapsa is one of the major dinoflagellate groups, with some of its species having worldwide distributions. However, prior to the present study, the phototrophic species Heterocapsa minima has been reported only from the northeast Atlantic Ocean. Recently, H. minima was found in the Korean waters, and a clonal culture was established. This culture was used to examine the morphology of the Korean strain H. minima HMMJ1604 through light and scanning electron microscopy, as well as for its genetic characterization. Furthermore, to determine the nationwide distribution of H. minima in Korea, its abundance was quantified in the waters of 28 stations in all four seasons in 2016-2018 using the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction method. The overall morphology of H. minima HMMJ1604 was very similar to that of the Irish strain H. minima JK2. However, the Korean strain had five pores around the pore plate, whereas the Irish strain had six pores. When properly aligned, the sequences of the large subunit and internal transcribed spacer regions of the ribosomal DNA of the Korean strain were identical to those of the Irish strain. This species was detected in the waters of 26 out of 28 stations, but its abundance was greater than $1.0cells\;mL^{-1}$ at 8 stations. The highest abundance of H. minima was $44.4cells\;mL^{-1}$. Although this species was found in all seasons, its abundance was greater than $1.0cells\;mL^{-1}$ when the water temperature and salinity were $10.9-25.0^{\circ}C$ and 17.5-34.1, respectively. To the best knowledge, the present study reported for the first time that H. minima lives in the Pacific Ocean and is widely distributed in the Korean waters.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.522-540
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• 2012

The main aim of the paper is to identify the position or status of Korean economic geography in changing global economic geography by reviewing papers published in Korean geographical journals since the mid-1950s. Since the late 20th century as economic geography has developed significantly with the introduction of new research issues, methodologies, and theory and concepts, economic geography in Korea also has gone through rapid development in terms of both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. The paper attempts to analyze trends in Korean economic geography by reviewing agricultural, industrial, commercial geographies, and others since the mid-1950s. The review of economic geography in Korea would be based on four periods classified by research issues and approaches; foundation (~1950s), positioning (1960s and 1970s), jump and rush (1980s and mid-1990s), and transitional period (late 1990s~). Agricultural geography in Korea has decreased due to increases of the interests in industrial geography since the 1980s. In particular, since the late 1990s industrial geography has undergone a significant transition in accordance with the emergence of new theories of institutional perspectives, centering around issues on value chains, innovative cluster, cooperative and competitive networks, foreign direct investment, flexible specialization and venture ecology. Along with this, there has been changes in the interest of commercial geography in Korea from researches on periodical markets, the structure of store formats, and distributions by commodity, to researches on producer services and retailer's locational behaviors and commercial supremacy according to the emergence of new store formats. Since the late 1990s, many researches and discussions associated with the new economic geography began to emerge in Korea. Various research issues are focused on analyzing changes of local, regional and global economic spaces and their processes in relation to institutional perspectives, knowledge and innovation, production chain and innovative networks, industrial clusters and RIS, and geographies of service. Although economic geography in Korea has developed significantly both in quantitative and qualitative perspectives, we pointed out that it has still limited in some specific scope and issues. Therefore, it is likely to imply that its scope and issues should be diversified with new perspectives and approaches.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.42 no.3 s.120
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• pp.368-387
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• 2007

In order to explain geomorphological characteristics of the Korean Peninsula, it is necessary to understand the spatial distribution of tectonic movements and its causes. Even though geomorphological elements which might have been formed by tectonic movements(e.g. tilted overall landform, erosion surface, river terrace, marine terraces, etc.) have long been considered as main geomorphological research topics in Korea, the knowledge on the spatial distribution of tectonic movement is still limited. This research aims to identify the spatial distributions of tectonic movement via sequential analyses of Digital Elevation Model(DEM). This paper first developed a set of terrain analysis techniques derived from theoretical interrelationships between tectonic uplifts and landsurface denudation processes. The terrain analyses used in this research assume that elevations along major drainage basin divides might preserve original landsurfaces(psuedo-landsuface) that were formed by tectonic movement with relatively little influence by denudation processes. Psuedo-landsurfaces derived from a DEM show clear spatial distribution patterns with distinct directional alignments. Lines connecting psuedo-landsufaces in a certain direction are defined as psuedo-landsurface axes, which are again categorized into two groups: the first is uplift psuedo-landsurface axes that indicate the axis of landmass uplift; and the second is denudational psuedo-landsurface axes that cross step-shaped pusedo-landsurfaces formed via surface denudation. In total, 13 axes of pusedo-landsurface are identified in the Korean Peninsula, which show distinct direction, length, and relative uplift rate. Judging from the distribution of psudo-landsurfaces and their axes, it is concluded that the Korean Peninsula ran be divided into four tectonic regions, which are named as the Northern Tectonic Region, Center Tectonic Region, Southern Tectonic Region, and East Sea Tectonic Region, respectively. The Northern Tectonic Region had experienced a regional uplift centered at the Kaema plateau, and the rate of uplift gradually decreased toward southern, western and eastern directions. The Center Tectonic Region shows an arch-shaped uplift. Its uplift rate is the highest along the East Sea and the rate decreases towards the Yellow sea. The Southern Tectonic Region shows an asymmetric uplift centered a line connecting Dukyu and Jiri Mountains in the middle of the region. The eastern side of the Southern Regions shows higher uplift rate than that of the western side. The East Sea Tectonic Region includes south-eastern coastal area of the peninsula and Gilju-Myeongchun Jigudae, which shows relatively recent tectonic movements in Korea. Since this research visualizes the spatial heterogeneity of long-term tenonic movement in the Korean peninsula, this would provide valuable basic information on long-term and regional differences of geomorphological evolutionary processes and regional geomorphological differences of the Korean Peninsula.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.173-184
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• 2016

Knowledge of the relationships among interspecific competition, spatial distributions and ecological niches plays an important role in understanding biogeographical distribution patterns of species. In this study, the distributional characteristics and ecological niches of the three Viperidae species (Gloydius ussuriensis, G. brevicaudus, and G. saxatilis) in South Korea were determined based on observation data and species distribution model. The effects of interspecific competition on geographical distribution and the division of the ecological niches of the vipers were also examined based on the models of predicted species distribution. The results showed that altitude was the most important environmental variable for their distribution, and the altitudes at which these snakes were distributed correlated with the climate of that region. Although interspecific ecological niches are quite overlapped, their predicted distribution patternsvary by the Taebaek Mountains. When overlaying the distribution models, most of the overlapping habitats were forest areas, which were relatively less overlapped than were the entire research areas. Thus, a parapatric distribution pattern was expected. The abundance of species occurring sympatrically was positively correlated with each other, indicating the lack of serious interspecies competition in this region. In conclusion, although the three Viperidae species in South Korea occupy similar ecological niches, these snakes exhibit parapatric distribution patterns without direct competition. Further research on various geographic variables (e.g., altitude, microhabitat characteristics) using relatively fine grid sizes, as well as further detailed ecological and behavioral research, is needed to determine the causative factors for the parapatric distribution pattern.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.13-29
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to analyze the spatial distribution and location factors of startups by generation (young and middle-aged) in Seoul. To this end, a research model was established that included factors of industry, population, and startup institutions by generation in 424 administrative districts using the Seoul Business Enterprise Survey(2018), which includes data on the age group of entrepreneurs. As an analysis method, descriptive statistics were conducted to confirm the frequency, average and standard deviation of startups by generation and major variables in the administrative districts of Seoul, and spatial distribution and characteristics of startups by generation were analyzed through global and local spatial autocorrelation analysis. In particular, the spatial distribution of startups in Seoul was confirmed in-depth by categorizing and analyzing startups by major industries. Afterwards, an appropriate spatial regression analysis model was selected through the Lagrange test, and based on this, the location factors affecting startups by generation were analyzed. The main results derived from the research results are as follows. First, there was a significant difference in the spatial distribution of young and middle-aged startups. The young people started to startups in the belt-shaped area that connects Seocho·Gangnam-Yongsan-Mapo-Gangseo, while middle-aged people were relatively active in the southeastern region represented by Seocho, Gangnam, Songpa, and Gangdong. Second, startups by generation in Seoul showed various spatial distributions according to the type of business. In the knowledge high-tech industries(ICT, professional services) in common, Seocho, Gangnam, Mapo, Guro, and Geumcheon were the centers, and the manufacturing industry was focused on existing clusters. On the other hand, in the case of the life service industry, young people were active in startups near universities and cultural centers, while middle-aged people were concentrated on new towns. Third, there was a difference in factors that influenced the startup location of each generation in Seoul. For young people, high-tech industries, universities, cultural capital, and densely populated areas were significant factors for startup, and for middle-aged people, professional service areas, low average age, and the level of concentration of start-up support institutions had a significant influence on startup. Also, these location factors had different influences for each industry. The implications suggested through the study are as follows. First, it is necessary to support systematic startups considering the characteristics of each region, industry, and generation in Seoul. As there are significant differences in startup regions and industries by generation, it is necessary to strengthen a customized startup support system that takes into account these regional and industrial characteristics. Second, in terms of research methods, a follow-up study is needed that comprehensively considers culture and finance at the large districts(Gu) level through data accumulation.