• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.173-178
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• 2010

A privately held, third generation family owned company, Boom Technologies, Inc. (BTI), a provider of products and services to the electric utility, telecommunications and contractor markets, continues to make progress in exporting. Although export sales only equaled 5% of total revenue in 2008, BTI has an entire export division. Their export division's Managing Director reveals the trial and errors of a privately held company and their quest for success overseas. From its inception, BTI has always believed its greatest asset is its employees. When export sales struggled due to lack of strategy and direction, BTI hired a Managing Director for its export division. With leadership and guidance from BTI's president and from the Managing Director, they utilized the department's skills and knowledge. Structural changes were made to expand their market presence abroad and increase export sales. As a result, export sales increased four-fold, area managers in new countries were added and distribution networks were successfully cultivated. At times, revenue generation was difficult to determine due to the structure of the company. Therefore, in 1996, the export division was restructured as a limited liability company. This allowed the company to improve the tracking of revenue and expenses. Originally, 80% of BTI's export sales came from two countries; therefore, the initial approach to selling overseas was not reaching their anticipated goals of expanding their foreign market presence. However, changes were made and now the company manages the details of selling to over 80 countries. There were three major export expansion challenges noted by the Managing Director: 1. Product and Shipping - The major obstacle for BTI was product assembly. Originally, the majority of the product was assembled in the United States, which increased shipping and packaging costs. With so many parts specified in the order, many times the order would arrive with parts missing. The missing parts could equate to tens of thousands of dollars. Shipping these missing parts separately in another shipment also cost tens of thousands of dollar, plus a delivery delay time of six to eight weeks; all of which came out of the BTI's pockets. 2. Product Adaptation - Safety and product standards varied widely for each of the 80 countries to which BTI exported. Weights, special licenses, product specification requirements, measurement systems, and truck stability can all differ from country to country and can serve as a type of barrier to entry, making it difficult to adapt products accordingly. Technical and safety standards are barriers that serve as a type of protection for the local industry and can stand in the way of successfully pursuing foreign markets. 3. Marketing Challenges - The importance of distribution creates many challenges for BTI as they attempt to determine how each country prefers to operate with regard to their distribution systems. Some countries have competition from a small competitor that only produces one competing product; whereas BTI manufactures over 100 products. Marketing material is another concern for BTI as they attempt to push marketing costs to the distributors. Adapting the marketing material can be costly in terms of translation and cultural differences. In addition, the size of paper in the United States differs from those in some countries, causing many problems when attempting to copy the same layout and With distribution being one of several challenges for BTI, the company claims their distribution network is one of their competitive advantages, as the location and names of their distributors are not revealed. In addition, BTI rotates two offerings yearly: training to their distributors one year and then the next is a distributor's meeting. With a focus on product and shipping, product adaptation, and marketing challenges, the intricacies of selling overseas takes time and patience. Another competitive advantage noted is BTI's cradle to grave strategy, where they follow the product from sale to its final resting place, whether the truck is leased or purchased new or used. They also offer service and maintenance plans with a detailed cost analysis provided to the company prior to purchasing or leasing the product. Expanding abroad will always create challenges for a company. As the Managing Director stated, "If you don't have patience (in the export business), you better do something else." Knowing how to adapt quickly provides BTI with the skills necessary to adjust to the changing needs of each country and its own unique challenges, allowing them to remain competitive.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.33-51
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• 2017

With the advent of 'The Forth Industrial Revolution' and the growing demand for quality of life due to economic growth, needs for the quality of medical services are increasing. Artificial intelligence has been introduced in the medical field, but it is rarely used in chronic skin diseases that directly affect the quality of life. Also, atopic dermatitis, a representative disease among chronic skin diseases, has a disadvantage in that it is difficult to make an objective diagnosis of the severity of lesions. The aim of this study is to establish an intelligent severity recognition model of atopic dermatitis for improving the quality of patient's life. For this, the following steps were performed. First, image data of patients with atopic dermatitis were collected from the Catholic University of Korea Seoul Saint Mary's Hospital. Refinement and labeling were performed on the collected image data to obtain training and verification data that suitable for the objective intelligent atopic dermatitis severity recognition model. Second, learning and verification of various CNN algorithms are performed to select an image recognition algorithm that suitable for the objective intelligent atopic dermatitis severity recognition model. Experimental results showed that 'ResNet V1 101' and 'ResNet V2 50' were measured the highest performance with Erythema and Excoriation over 90% accuracy, and 'VGG-NET' was measured 89% accuracy lower than the two lesions due to lack of training data. The proposed methodology demonstrates that the image recognition algorithm has high performance not only in the field of object recognition but also in the medical field requiring expert knowledge. In addition, this study is expected to be highly applicable in the field of atopic dermatitis due to it uses image data of actual atopic dermatitis patients.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.67 no.2
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• pp.85-112
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• 2015

This study examined the relationship structure among personal and social cognitive factors contributing to professional help-seeking decisions to relieve distress of those in low-income, then suggested an appropriate model to inform knowledge for better social work practice. Using data of a purposive sampling from 331 low-income people, covariance structural analyses were conducted in two stages of model exploration, one for TPB model and another for its extended model including the level of distress, family support, and willingness. As results, in the path analyses with the observed variables of the basic components of the TPB, subjective norm showed the strongest effect on the intention, following by attitudes towards help-seeking, then behavioral control the least; in turn both the intention, positively, and behavioral control, negatively, contributed to help-seeking decisions. In the second stage of the path analyses with the extended model of the TPB, each of distress and family support demonstrated direct positive effect on each of attitudes, subjective norm, and behavioral control; each of the attitudes, subjective norm, and behavioral control showed positive effect on both intention and willingness; in turn, while intention showed strong positive effect on help-seeking decisions, willingness had no significant effect and behavioral control had negative effect on decisions. There were significant indirect effects of behavioral control on intention through willingness and of willingness on decisions through intention. These results suggested that the TPB model is useful for modeling help-seeking decisions through personal and social cognitions, especially the significance of subjective norm implied the importance of social cognition for the people in low-income with distress. Further, it was implied that the extended model needs to address particularity of those people in low-income and the mechanism shown by behavioral control and willingness implied the importance of practicing respect for the client's autonomy and will for self-support in social work practice.

• The Korean Journal of Elementary Counseling
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.33-50
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to develop a PBL-based career education program and to examine its effectiveness on school children's career maturity. It's specifically meant to prepare a career education program to assist students to get an accurate grip on their aptitude, interest and personality and explore various sorts of occupations in the course of solving authentic and contextual career-related problems. After children's developmental characteristics and needs were analyzed, task analysis was implemented, and the objectives were defined. And then the core of the program, PBL problems were developed, and the validity of the problems were verified Evaluation plans and tools were prepared to assess children's problem-solving process and presentation, and an online learning space was designed. The program that consisted of 10-minute 21 sessions was provided to fifth-grade elementary schoolers for eight weeks. The findings of the study were as follows: The experimental group that participated in the PBL-based career education program showed a more significant improvement than the control group that didn't in career attitude and three career attitude subfactors involving planness, disposition and compromise. And the former made a more significant progress than the latter in career ability and its subfactors including vocational comprehension, self-understanding and decision-making skills as well. As a result of making a content analysis to make up for the survey, the students reported that they were able to get an objective understanding of themselves and acquire diverse and profound knowledge on work and the business world in the middle of solving the given PBL problems related to different areas in group and giving a presentation. In conclusion, a PBL based career education program developed by this researcher encouraged the students to have an objective self-understanding, to have a dynamic interactive discussion with their group members. Therefore the program had a positive impact on boosting the career attitude and career ability of the elementary schoolers. The findings suggested that in the field of elementary career education, autonomous learning attitude and subjecthood are the crucial factors to stimulate school children to explore and create their own future.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.41-60
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• 2007

Attempts were made to define the elements of debates, impact of decisions of the Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-sharing(ABS) of the Conference of the Parties(COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD) In Korea. Providing policy suggestions to cope with ABS, a cross-cutting issue of the meetings of the COP, was also undertaken. Meetings concerning ABS deal with several key matters such as an international regime, which is a legally binding implementation tool of the Bonn Guidelines, an international certificate of genetic resources' origin/source/legal provenance, and disclosure of origin of genetic resources, compliance measures with prior informed consent of the Contracting Parties providing such resources and with mutually agreed terms on which access was granted. Developing countries, rich in biodiversity and genetic resources, use the CBD as a major tool to maximize their national profits. They demand for national sovereign rights for the genetic resources and indigenous communities providing associated traditional knowledge. At the meetings of the COP, in addition, they requested that developed countries should transfer technologies and provide a financial mechanism for resource conservation to them. On the contrary, the developed countries argue that facilitating access to genetic resources is essential for scientific research and development, and that both Intellectual Property Rights and biotechnology using genetic resources should be protected to maximize their national benefits. Decisions of the COP concerning the Bonn Guidelines and compliance measures with ABS will affect on various socioeconomic fields of Korea, a country which is short of genetic resources. Especially, the importation of genetic resources and land development which might damage genetic resources will be limited seriously. Consequently, overall expenses will increase for the securing genetic resources from the foreign countries and developing biotechnology for conservation and sustainable uses of genetic resources. To minimize the adverse impacts, we endeavor to establish our clear standpoint and to lead the international trends, which are favorable for us. In order to achieve these objectives, government needs i) to proceed researches to lead the international ABS debates actively and to prepare the expected decisions of the future meetings of the COP, ii) to establish a national implementation plan to cope with the ABS and its related decisions, iii) to examine and improve the efficiencies of the national implementation plan with a proper monitoring system, and iv) cope with the other international meetings including the meetings of Trade Related Intellectual Properly Rights and International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture actively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.421-426
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge of dental hygiene students of the quality assurance of dental radiation such quality assurance and related educational experiences in an effort to accelerate the preparation of a curriculum for systematic quality-assurance. The subjects in this study were 453 dental hygiene students who participated in dental radiography courses. Varied statistical analyses such as frequency analyses, reliability, chi-square, and independent samples t-tests were conducted on the data collected, using SPSS 12.0. Scheffe test was also used after one-way ANOVA as post-hoc tests. Results showed that (a) the students' acknowledge level of Radiographic Quality Assurance was $7.71{\pm}1.7$ out of 12 on average. The more theory and practical classes students took, the higher points they got (p<0.001); (b) Most of the students experienced 1-3 lessons out of 13 in practical training and 26.3% of students did not take any practical lesson. ;(c)Students who did not take any practical training got 7.20 points out of 13, students who took 1-3 lessons got 7.84 points out of 13, students who took 4-5 lessons got 7.87 points out of 13, and students who took more than 6 lessons got 8.14 points out of 13 on average. The more practical classes they took the higher acknowledge level they were. Therefore it needs to provide adequate practical lessons to them.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.121-136
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• 2000

This study reports on a comparison between the Korean diffusion of agricultural innovation or extension service and the cooperative extension service in the United States of America. It focuses on relevant differences between the two systems and provides recommendation for improvement of the Korean system to insure success in important areas related to the diffusion of agricultural innovations. After a comparative study on diffusion of innovations it is clear that: in order to have a productive agriculture that makes effective and efficient use of natural resources and helps achieve sustainability goals, a mechanism that delivers knowledge to agricultural communities must be established and maintained. This mechanism is clearly an agricultural extension service that is cooperatively funded by federal, state and local governments and that insures participation of constituents in the process of establishing priorities and evaluating achievements. The success of US agriculture, the most productive in the world, is to a large degree to the Cooperative Extension Service. Based on the results of this study and the differences of the United States and Korea, the following recommendations should be emphasized for more effective communication for agricultural innovation and rural development in Korea: 1) In order to insure that extension educators are high caliber professional individuals, it is important to establish a system that nationally recognizes these individuals as such, and that provides a professional development path. 2) The results of the decision of transfer of extension educators to local governments has not yielded positive outcomes, especially in terms of professional status. It is clearly demonstrable that valuable professionals are leaving the service, that local governments do not have the will and resources to implement a successful extension program. 3) Because of the critical importance of diffusing innovations to agricultural producers in order to insure and quality and steady food supply, it is of critical importance that these issues be addressed before the extension service is further deteriorated. Given the cement situation, it is clear that the extension service should become nationally supported again in cooperation with local and state governments and that extension professionals be given appropriate rank at the national level, commesurate with their peers in research and teaching. 4) The common current committee practice of lengthy reporting and short discussion needs to be changed to one that results in char, brief and substantive action oriented goals. Joint participation by researchers, extension educators and farmers should be encouraged in planning, implementation and evaluation of communication for agricultural innovations. Roles and functions of committees for institutional cooperation, and or agricultural extension committees should be enlarged. 5) Extension educators should be encouraged to adopt new communication technologies to improve their diffusion of innovations methods. Agricultural institutions and organizations should be encouraged to adopt farmer-first and or client-oriented approach in agricultural extension and diffusion of agricultural technologies. The number, complexity and rapid change of information in agricultural extension require the development of a computer based information and report system to support agricultural extension. 6) To facilitate and expand the further development of communication for agricultural innovation and rural development, agricultural communication programs in universities especially in colleges of agriculture and life sciences. 7) To strengthening the sense of national and social responsibility communication for agricultural innovation and rural development among students in agricultural colleges and universities through participation in learning activities by proactive recruitment. 8) To establish and reinforce a policy that insures participation in communication for agricultural innovation and regal development activities. 9) To improve further development of communication for agricultural innovation and rural development in Korea, more research activities should be encouraged.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.131-139
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to evaluate smoking patterns, oral health behavior and perception of dental healthcare of military personnel in the South Korea Army. All 367 subjects were surveyed by the structured questionnaires with convenience sampling method. The questionnaires were consisting of 22 items. Depending on the conditions of military training, the distribution and differences of smoking patterns and oral behaviors were evaluated by frequency test, Weighted Kappa, Paired t-test and ANOVA. The differences of oral health perception on smoking were demonstrated by Mantel-Haenszel Chi-square test. In addition, Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) was used to estimate the effects of oral behavior for the conditions of military training and smoking. The number of cigarette during military training period was similar to that during non-military training (p=0.109). The perception of smokers such as smoking effect on oral health, oral health and systemic health, and need of education for smoking cessation was significantly lower than non-smokers (p=0.0095, p=0.0007, and p<0.0001). The probability that toothbrush frequency per day was only one was associated with higher during military training period than non-military training (OR=9.29, 95% CI 5.05-17.07). Moreover, the probability that hours of toothbrush were less than one minute was associated with higher during military training than non-military training (OR=2.19, 95% CI 1.78-2.71). To improve knowledge, attitude, and behavior of oral health for the members, the army needs to develop oral health education and tobacco cessation programs. In particular, motivation and practice for oral health care are required to improve poor oral health behavior during the military training.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.684-693
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• 2016

Daemyung retarding basin located near the confluence floodplain of the Nakdong and Kumho River is a large spawning site for the endangered Kaloula borealis, and needs for protecting the habitat of the endangered species are increasing. However, scientific studies are rarely conducted on the population characteristics and ecological knowledge on the species in the basin. This paper aims to estimate the population size and spatial distribution of the species that inhabited at the Daemyung retarding basin, using the capture-recapture method. Also, pitfall traps were installed in each habitat types classified with micro-topographic features, slope aspects, and vegetation communities to identify the spatial distribution characteristics of the Kaloula borealis of each habitat in the retarding basin. Field survey on the species was conducted from May 2013 to October 2014, showing that the species emerged in May, became more active during July and August and started to hibernate at the end of October. Using capture-recapture method, the first survey was carried out from July to August, 2014. Ninety-eight toads were captured, marked, and released back into the site. In the second survey, 68 toads including 5 marked toads of the previous survey were captured. Based on these two-sample surveys, around 535-2,131 individual toads are estimated to inhabit the Daemyung retarding basin. Fifty-seven pitfall traps were installed in four habitat types: mounded and vegetated flatland, lowland swamps, and slope areas of both the southern and western parts of the basin in order to delineate spatial abundance of the endangered Kaloula borealis during the rainy season when the species is actively spawning. Pitfall traps at the spatially explicit array indicated that the species gradually move to the slope areas near the Daemyung stream, showing high occurrence density of the Kaloula borealis compared to the lowland swamps after the spawning season. The emergence of Kaloula borealis in the lowland swamps appeared to be comparatively higher during the spawning season. However, after the spawning season the toads species rapidly moved into the neighboring land of relatively high elevation such as the slope area towards the Dalsung protected wetlands and Daemyung River. These results are closely related to the migration patterns that toads tend to return to the sheltering sites and/or hibernating grounds after the spawning season. Also, the Kaloula borealis moved to the nearest high-level vegetated areas as the lowland swamps of their spawning grounds deteriorated with the expansion of permanent ponds due to the rise in the groundwater level.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 1997.11a
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• pp.3-31
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• 1997

Water has always played a significant role in the lives of people. In urbanised Rome, with its million people. sophisticated supply systems developed and then fled with the empire. only to be rediscovered later But it was the industrial Revolution commencing in the eighteenth century that ushered in major paradigm shifts In use and altitudes towards water. Rapid and concentrated urbanisation brought problems of expanded demands for drinking supplies, waste management and disease. The strategy of using water from local streams, springs and village wells collapsed under the onslaughts of rising urban demands and pollution due to poor waste disposal practices. Expanding travel (railways. and steamships) aided the spread of disease. In England. public health crises peaks, related to water-borne typhoid and the three major cholera outbreaks occurred in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century respectively. Technological, engineering and institutional responses were successful in solving the public health problem. it is generally accepted that the putting of water into pipe networks both for a clean drinking supply, as well as using it as a transport medium for removal of human and other wastes, played a significant role in towering death rates due to waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid towards the end of the nineteenth century. Today, similar principles apply. A recent World Bank report Indicates that there can be upto 76％ reduction in illness when major water and sanitation improvements occur in developing countries. Water management, technology and thinking in Australia were relatively stable in the twentieth century up to the mid to late 1970s. Groundwater sources were investigated and developed for towns and agriculture. Dams were built, and pipe networks extended both for supply and waste water management. The management paradigms in Australia were essentially extensions of European strategies with the minor adaptions due to climate and hydrogeology. During the 1970s and 1980s in Australia, it was realised increasingly that a knowledge of groundwater and hydrogeological processes were critical to pollution prevention, the development of sound waste management and the problems of salinity. Many millions of dollars have been both saved and generated as a consequence. This is especially in relation to domestic waste management and the disposal of aluminium refinery waste in New South Wales. Major institutional changes in public sector water management are occurring in Australia. Upheveals and change have now reached ail states in Australia with various approaches being followed. Market thinking, corporatisation, privatisation, internationalisation, downsizing and environmental pressures are all playing their role in this paradigm shift. One casualty of this turmoil is the progressive erosion of the public sector skillbase and this may become a serious issue should a public health crisis occur such as a water borne disease. Such crises have arisen over recent times. A complete rethink of the urban water cycle is going on right now in Australia both at the State and Federal level. We are on the threshold of significant change in how we use and manage water, both as a supply and a waste transporter in Urban environments especially. Substantial replacement of the pipe system will be needed in 25 to 30 years time and this will cost billions of dollars. The competition for water between imgation needs and environmental requirements in Australia and overseas will continue to be an issue in rural areas. This will be especially heightened by the rising demand for irrigation produced food as the world's population grows. Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation in the emerging S.E Asian countries are currently producing considerable demands for water management skills and Infrastructure development. This trend e expected to grow. There are also severe water shortages in the Middle East to such an extent that wars may be fought over water issues. Environmental public health crises and shortages will help drive the trends.