• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.33 no.5
• /
• pp.278-285
• /
• 2016

Epidemiological studies have shown the association between transportation of live animals and the potential transmission of infectious disease between premises. This finding was also observed in the 2014-2015 foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in Korea. Furthermore, slaughterhouses played a key role in the global spread of the FMD virus during the epidemic. In this context, in-depth knowledge of the structure of direct and indirect contact between slaughterhouses is paramount for understanding the dynamics of FMD transmission. But the social network structure of vehicle movements to slaughterhouses in Korea remains unclear. Hence, the aim of this study was to configure a social network topology of vehicle movements between slaughterhouses for a better understanding of how they are potentially connected, and to explore whether FMD outbreaks can be explained by the network properties constructed in the study. We created five monthly directed networks based on the frequency and chronology of on- and off-slaughterhouse vehicle movements. For the monthly network, a node represented a slaughterhouse, and an edge (or link) denoted vehicle movement between two slaughterhouses. Movement data were retrieved from the national Korean Animal Health Integrated System (KAHIS) database, which tracks the routes of individual vehicle movements using a global positioning system (GPS). Electronic registration of livestock movements has been a mandatory requirement since 2013 to ensure traceability of such movements. For each of the five studied networks, the network structures were characterized by small-world properties, with a short mean distance, a high clustering coefficient, and a short diameter. In addition, a strongly connected component was observed in each of the created networks, and this giant component included 94.4% to 100% of all network nodes. The characteristic hub-and-spoke type of structure was not identified. Such a structural vulnerability in the network suggests that once an infectious disease (such as FMD) is introduced in a random slaughterhouse within the cohesive component, it can spread to every other slaughterhouse in the component. From an epidemiological perspective, for disease management, empirically derived small-world networks could inform decision-makers on the higher potential for a large FMD epidemic within the livestock industry, and could provide insights into the rapid-transmission dynamics of the disease across long distances, despite a standstill of animal movements during the epidemic, given a single incursion of infection in any slaughterhouse in the country.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.38 no.6
• /
• pp.781-792
• /
• 2018

In modern society, as technology develops and industry diversifies, students can choose from a variety of career paths. Since science, technology, engineering, and mathematics require a longer education and experience than other fields, it is important to design science education policies based on the competencies required for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations. This study explores the definition of science and technology manpower and STEM occupations and identifies core competencies of STEM occupations using standard job information operated and maintained by the US Department of Labor ($O^*NET$). We specially analyzed ratings of the importance of skills (35 ratings), knowledge (33 ratings), and work activities (41 ratings) conducting descriptive analysis and principal component analysis (PCA). As a result, core competencies of STEM occupations consist of STEM problem-solving competency, Management competency, Technical competency, Social service competency, Teaching competency, Design competency, Bio-chemistry competency, and Public service competency, which accounts for 70% of the total variance. This study can be a reference for setting the curriculum and educational goals in secondary and college education by showing the diversity of science and technology occupations and the competencies required for STEM occupations.

• Korea Trade Review
• /
• v.42 no.4
• /
• pp.21-47
• /
• 2017

This study examines the effects of technological capability and domestic marketing capability of SMEs on the export market orientation, focusing on the moderating effect of market turbulence. This empirical analysis, based on surveys collected from 206 small and medium-sized firms located in Gwangju and Jeonnam provinces, yielded the following conclusions. First, technological capability of SMEs has a positive impact on export market orientation. This result not only is consistent with preceding studies but also suggests that when technological capability of SMEs is utilized as their own unique asset to reduce liability of smallness or liability of foreignness, the tendency to export might be increased. Second, domestic marketing capability of SMEs has a positive impact on export market orientation. This result suggests that as the domestic marketing capability of SMEs is used as prior knowledge reducing uncertainty to enter the overseas markets, the tendency to export might be increased. Third, as a result of examining moderating effect of market turbulence, it shows that market turbulence moderates the relationship between domestic marketing capability and export market orientation toward a negative(-) direction. That is, since market turbulence might weaken the relationship between domestic marketing capability and export market orientation, SMEs which belong to the industry considering marketing capability important need to develop strategy with consideration for market turbulence. This study provides theoretical and practical implications in that it reveals factors positively affecting export market orientation and market turbulence can be utilized as a moderator.

• Information Systems Review
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.89-112
• /
• 2023

In March 2020, as it was declared a COVID-19 pandemic, various quarantine measures were taken. Accordingly, many changes have occurred in the tourism and hospitality industries. In particular, quarantine guidelines, such as the introduction of non-face-to-face services and social distancing, were implemented in the restaurant industry. For decades, research on restaurant attributes has emphasized the importance of three attributes: atmosphere, service quality, and food quality. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, research on restaurant attributes considering the COVID-19 situation is insufficient. To respond to this call, this study attempted an exploratory approach to classify new restaurant attributes based on understanding environmental changes. This study considered 31,115 online reviews registered in Naverplace as an analysis unit, with 475 general restaurants located in Euljiro, Seoul. Further, we attempted to classify restaurant attributes by clustering words within online reviews through TF-IDF and LDA topic modeling techniques. As a result of the analysis, the factors of "prevention of infectious diseases" were derived as new attributes of restaurants in the context of COVID-19 situations, along with the atmosphere, service quality, and food quality. This study is of academic significance by expanding the literature of existing restaurant attributes in that it categorized the three attributes presented by existing restaurant attributes and further presented new attributes. Moreover, the analysis results have led to the formulation of practical recommendations, considering both the operational aspects of restaurants and policy implications.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.169-189
• /
• 2023

The study aims to synthesize the discussion of the innovation district and suggest an alternative to the governance system of the innovation district. Cluster policies that focus on industrial specialization, networking, value chains, and industrial ecosystems have shown some problems and limits in advanced industrial economies. The innovation district, suitable for the era of urban innovation, convergence of industry, housing, leisure, and related variety, emphasizes cooperation through the convergence of various innovations, workshops and industries, and communities. It is important to build a quintuple helix based on cooperative governance through public-private partnerships, integrate the physical and cultural atmosphere, and service industries that strengthen the place prestige. Beyond the industrial aspect, innovation districts can facilitate changes in urban amenities and lifestyles and creative atmosphere, such as diversity, lifestyle, charms, and openness, and promote social vitality and economic interactions. The governance of innovative districts can promote inter-organizational exchanges, and combinations. When knowledge is created through exchanges between companies, it also affects changes in the governance system, evolving from a rigid and centralized system to an open, dynamic, and organic system. Through the innovation policy, the existing Central Business Districts (CBD) can be able to be transformed into a Central Lifestyle Districts (CLD).

• Information Systems Review
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.33-57
• /
• 2020

Although cryptocurrency which can promote innovation in the blockchain ecosystem is published for many useful purposes, in Korea, cryptocurrency is recognized only as a means of investment for the profit. The fact emphasizes only the speculative nature of the cryptocurrency, so investor negates the fundamental purpose of cryptocurrency and hinders innovation in the blockchain ecosystem. The purpose of this study is to investigate the cause of cryptocurrency perception and speculative behavior of domestic cryptocurrency investors from an academic perspective. We use a model that reflects the traditional considerations and cryptocurrency's characteristics in investment. Using the model, we can explain the cause of misperception of cryptocurrency through the theory of bounded rationality. In building the research model, we use variables of venture and angel investor's consideration used in investment decisions and collect the keywords from indexes of whitepaper to reflect the properties of cryptocurrency. This study mentions that, due to the imitations presented by Simon, individuals are forced to perceive cryptocurrency as a means of speculation and to make irrational decisions that impair ecosystem health. We analyze whether there is a significant difference in rationality in decision made by the sample under limited knowledge and imperfect information constraints. As a result, imperfect information constraints led investors to consider only irrational criteria in decision making. From this result, this study suggests that information asymmetry needs to be relaxed so that investment can be pursued together with rational investment and development of blockchain ecosystem. In addition, the industry can capture strategic insights for successful financing through ICO by enabling better understanding of investor decision-making.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.79-99
• /
• 2015

The prediction of bankruptcy has been extensively studied in the accounting and finance field. It can have an important impact on lending decisions and the profitability of financial institutions in terms of risk management. Many researchers have focused on constructing a more robust bankruptcy prediction model. Early studies primarily used statistical techniques such as multiple discriminant analysis (MDA) and logit analysis for bankruptcy prediction. However, many studies have demonstrated that artificial intelligence (AI) approaches, such as artificial neural networks (ANN), decision trees, case-based reasoning (CBR), and support vector machine (SVM), have been outperforming statistical techniques since 1990s for business classification problems because statistical methods have some rigid assumptions in their application. In previous studies on corporate bankruptcy, many researchers have focused on developing a bankruptcy prediction model using financial ratios. However, there are few studies that suggest the specific types of bankruptcy. Previous bankruptcy prediction models have generally been interested in predicting whether or not firms will become bankrupt. Most of the studies on bankruptcy types have focused on reviewing the previous literature or performing a case study. Thus, this study develops a model using data mining techniques for predicting the specific types of bankruptcy as well as the occurrence of bankruptcy in Korean small- and medium-sized construction firms in terms of profitability, stability, and activity index. Thus, firms will be able to prevent it from occurring in advance. We propose a hybrid approach using two artificial neural networks (ANNs) for the prediction of bankruptcy types. The first is a back-propagation neural network (BPN) model using supervised learning for bankruptcy prediction and the second is a self-organizing map (SOM) model using unsupervised learning to classify bankruptcy data into several types. Based on the constructed model, we predict the bankruptcy of companies by applying the BPN model to a validation set that was not utilized in the development of the model. This allows for identifying the specific types of bankruptcy by using bankruptcy data predicted by the BPN model. We calculated the average of selected input variables through statistical test for each cluster to interpret characteristics of the derived clusters in the SOM model. Each cluster represents bankruptcy type classified through data of bankruptcy firms, and input variables indicate financial ratios in interpreting the meaning of each cluster. The experimental result shows that each of five bankruptcy types has different characteristics according to financial ratios. Type 1 (severe bankruptcy) has inferior financial statements except for EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) to sales based on the clustering results. Type 2 (lack of stability) has a low quick ratio, low stockholder's equity to total assets, and high total borrowings to total assets. Type 3 (lack of activity) has a slightly low total asset turnover and fixed asset turnover. Type 4 (lack of profitability) has low retained earnings to total assets and EBITDA to sales which represent the indices of profitability. Type 5 (recoverable bankruptcy) includes firms that have a relatively good financial condition as compared to other bankruptcy types even though they are bankrupt. Based on the findings, researchers and practitioners engaged in the credit evaluation field can obtain more useful information about the types of corporate bankruptcy. In this paper, we utilized the financial ratios of firms to classify bankruptcy types. It is important to select the input variables that correctly predict bankruptcy and meaningfully classify the type of bankruptcy. In a further study, we will include non-financial factors such as size, industry, and age of the firms. Thus, we can obtain realistic clustering results for bankruptcy types by combining qualitative factors and reflecting the domain knowledge of experts.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.24-41
• /
• 2008

This research is aimed at analyzing and understanding the perception and attitudes of inpatients in a general hospital in Seoul towards the activation of private health insurance. Survey was conducted against 231 inpatients, results of which were analyzed in the methods of frequency analysis, chi square test, and logistic regression. The results are summarized as follows; First, better-educated population who finished college education at least, higher-income population, and people who had more knowledge about private health insurance showed more perception about activation of private health insurance. Second, better-educated population who finished college education at least, higher-income population, those who are insured in existing private insurance, oncological patients, and people who had more knowledge about private health insurance showed more positive attitude towards private health insurance paying for actual damages, long-term care insurance, and income security insurance. Third, age and education were the factors affecting perception about activation of private health insurance. The older the age is, perception was 1.035 times positive towards activation of private health insurance, and those who finished college education or above showed 3.148 times positive perception towards the same. Forth, surgical patients showed 1.087 times more positive attitude towards private health insurance paying for actual damages than internal medicine patients, while oncological patients showed 2.314 times more positive attitude than internal medicine patients. Further, understanding on the activation of private health insurance was 6.014 times higher in the higher understanding group than in the lower understanding group. Intention to use long-term care insurance was 2.692 times stronger in the male group than in the female group, and 3.616 times stronger in the oncological patients group than in internal medicine patients group. Further, understanding on the activation of private health insurance was 3.881 times deeper in the higher understanding group than in the lower understanding group. Intention to use income security insurance was 3.185 times stronger in those who have academic background of under the high school than those over the college, and 4.175 times higher in the group those whose monthly average income is over 4 million won than those under 4 million won. Also, intention to use income security insurance was 4.323 times higher in the group those who are insured by existing private insurances than those who are not insured by those insurances and it was 5.234 times higher in the group of oncological patients than in the group of internal medicine patients. Further, intention to use income security insurance was 3.559 times higher in the group those who thought that out-of-pocket money of the National Health Insurance is too much to bear than those it is quite endurable. Understanding on the activation of private health insurance was 4.875 times deeper in the higher understanding group than in the lower understanding group. There were some suggestions could be made based on the results of this research. First, reinforced publicity and education is needed for the low-educated or low-income group, as there are gaps in the understanding on the activation of private health insurance depending on the degree of education and income. Second, government should prepare administrative complementary measures to solve the problem of adverse selection by the consumer which is foreseen when private health insurances are activated. Third, government should suggest the desirable course of development of private health insurance items to ensure efficient use of enormous fund of private insurance market for health security of the people. Further, institutional complementary measures are needed to convert existing cancer insurances or specific disease insurances to private health insurances paying for actual damages guaranteeing against every kind of disease. Forth, it judged that, not only private health insurances paying for actual damages, but also long-term care insurances and income security insurances are prospective as fields to create fresh demand for insurance industry.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.11 no.5
• /
• pp.77-90
• /
• 2016

This study is to examine the importance of site selection and service quality in franchise business as food service franchise became one of the fastest-growing service industries today. The chief finding of this study is as follows: First, a survey in locational and service quality factors affecting food service franchise shows that responders are more concerned with hygiene and visibility of the store than proximity and transportation advantages which reflects low statistical significance, thus the distance did not seem to be a big problem for the responders in the context that they mostly visit nearby food franchise. Second, the examination of the influence by the service quality factors and customer satisfaction shows significant positive relation with customer response, speed and accuracy, and accuracy factors which reveals that the responders prefer prompt response and swift judgment toward the customer's needs and expectations, professional knowledge services to the credibility factors in which little correlation with the customer satisfaction were found. Third, the examination of the influence by the service quality factors, locational factors, and re-visit reveals that customer response and specialty showed statistically significant correlation with intention of WOM (Word of Mouth) and revisit, which suggests that swift judgment and response toward the customer's needs and expectations, professional knowledge services is of great importance to both customer satisfaction and revisit. The study on the aspects of locational and service quality factors affecting franchise industry's customer satisfaction was conducted as above, an investigation in both factors' influence on the customer satisfaction was made, and based on the results of the analysis, this research seeks an optimal operation strategy of a franchise business. Food service franchise are relatively very competent to business adminstration and reaction capability to consumption changes due to the already established market, and there are stores springing up everywhere inspired by the founders who are too confident of their success in the franchise business. However, it is necessary for the franchise beginners to figure out a zone oriented, regular customer oriented business strategy than just complying with the head office manual. Owing to an increasing trend of opening medium to large sized stores and investments in the wake of converting to multiple business type Korean food franchise, there is growing need to set up new concept of store development and operational management strategy in order to overcome the excessive competition and limited sales volume of the old-fashioned small sized, small capital franchise stores. Furthermore, as most business category of food service franchise serve very similar menus, from a product differentiation point of view, it is required to map out flexible sales concept including the adoption of competitive and low-price strategy. In conclusion, as is shown in the analytical research, the customers' optimal choice fluctuate over their preferences like customer convenience and circumstances rather than insisting on specific brand, thus it will be necessary for the franchise stores to draw up aggressive strategy and planning in running food service franchise to maximize their profits.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.40 no.6
• /
• pp.454-468
• /
• 2014

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the actual condition of the farm work environment and personal protective equipment as part of the effort to improve livestock work for the safety and health of poultry farmers and provide basic data for establishing plans to improve and develop personal protective equipment. Methods: For this purpose, a questionnaire survey on general information about stables, the poultry work environment, accidents, the wearing of work clothes and personal protective equipment, and the level of awareness related to personal protective equipment was conducted among 148 poultry farmers. Results: As a result, it was found that poultry workplace environment was exposed to such risks as fine dusts; organic dusts; poisonous gases; odorous substances; chicken excrement; contact with chickens, bacteria or viruses; and accidents related to machine operation. Thirteen percent of respondents suffered severe respiratory diseases, and the most frequently injured sites due to accidents were the hands (25.7%), knees (23.8%), arms (17.3%), and head (10.9%). The most frequent type of accident was collisions between the body and obstacles or machinery during movement (36.4%), followed by erroneous machine operation such as feeders and electric shocks (8.5%). Regarding the wearing of work clothes and personal protective equipment, 51.7% of the respondents wore worn-out clothing or everyday clothes, whereas only 32.0% wore work clothes. The percentage of farmers who wore proper protective equipment for the work environment during poultry work was 48.4%. The most frequently used type of protective equipment was boots (38.9%), followed by mask (36.7%), gloves (36.3%), appropriate work clothes (22.6%), quarantine clothes (17.6%), helmets (13.4%), and goggles (12.6%). The rate of wearing goggles was low because they were considered inconvenient and lowered work efficiency. Furthermore, they purchased everyday products available on the market for their personal protective equipment which were not appropriate for maintaining safety in an actual harmful environment and its consequent risks. As a result of the survey of the awareness level related to personal protective equipment, their levels of awareness of accidents and attitude proved to be average or higher, but the practice of wearing protective equipment and the level of knowledge and management of personal protective equipment were lower. Conclusion: This survey found that the wearing status of personal protective equipment among poultry farmers was insufficient even though they were exposed to risks. Most respondents were aware of the necessity of wearing personal protective equipment and of the potential for accidents, but they did not wear proper protective equipment. Their wearing rate was low due to a lack of knowledge about protective equipment, as well as the inconvenience of wearing it. Therefore there is a need to improve and develop specialized personal protective equipment for respiration, hands, and eyes, as well as work clothes that can protect farmers from major harmful matter that is generated in the poultry workplace. Based on the results of this investigation, we will conduct further studies on the required performance and design directions of personal protective equipment while collecting more objective data through field-oriented assessments.