• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1531-1540
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• 2016

This research was intended to provide a method to improve competitiveness, based on the integration of basic municipalities by assessing changes in their population and local industry Municipalities were integrated based on the addressing system 市(Shi), 町(Chome), 村(Village) of Japan. As a result, an actual increase of the population could not be seen in the new municipalities formed by the integration of the basic municipalities. It is also found that the shipping volumes, number of companies, and the number of people employed by local industry, attracted by such municipalities, has steadily decreased. However, even though the proportion of industry-sharing in the local municipalities is not significant, it was found that the number of tourists has increased. Therefore, it is concluded that the strengthening of the connectivity between local industry and the tourism industry can be one of the principal methods to strengthen the competitiveness of these municipalities. In addition, it has been found that scientific research from a variety of perspectives and verification of data related to the effectiveness of integration of local municipalities is necessary.

• Advances in Energy Research
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.11-30
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• 2015

The covenant of Mayors initiative includes the commitment of the municipalities-signatories to reduce voluntarily the greenhouse gas emissions over 20--- by 2020 within their boundaries and obligates them to develop and submit an energy consumption analysis and a sustainable energy action plan within a year from the adhesion. The present paper discusses the energy profile of three medium-sized north-eastern Greek Municipalities (Kavala-MoK, Alexandroupolis-MoA, Drama-MoD) through the analysis of their municipal energy balance. The results of the total final energy consumption per capita include 14.10MWh/capita, 14.24MWh/capita and 12.91MWh/capita for MoK, MoA and MoD respectively. The analysis highlighted the increased energy consumption of the private sectors, namely residential and tertiary building sand private transport. The assessment of the municipalities' energy profiles along with examination of national regulations and action plans and investigation of best available practices within the Covenant of Mayors shaped the development of the sustainable energy action plans of the examined municipalities that is presented in this paper. The proposed pathway towards low-carbon municipalities can be considered a representative case study and a starting point for other municipalities with similar characteristics.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.2607-2612
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• 2014

Background: Cancer screening rates in Japan are much lower than those in Western countries. This study evaluated the relationship between cancer screening rates and strategies used to improve screening rates, and determined which strategy is the most effective. Materials and Methods: All municipalities are responsible for conducting gastric, lung, colorectal, cervical, and breast cancer screenings in Japan. Of the 1,746 municipalities in total, 92-99% were included in the analyses for each cancer screening. Using national data in 2009, the correlations between cancer screening rates and strategies for improving screening rates of all municipalities, both large (populations of over 30,000) and small (populations of under 30,000), were determined. The strategies used were as follows: sending personal invitation letters, personal visits by community health workers, use of a clinical setting for screening, and free screening. Results: Of all four strategies used to improve cancer screening rates, sending personal invitation letters had the highest correlations with all screening rates, with the exception of breast cancer screening. The partial correlation coefficients linking this strategy with the screening rates in all municipalities were 0.28, 0.32, 0.30, and 0.26 for gastric, lung, colorectal, and cervical cancer screening, respectively. In large municipalities, the correlations between the number of examinees in a clinical setting and the screening rates were also relatively high, particularly for cervical cancer screening (r=0.41). Conclusions: Sending personal invitation letters appears to be particularly effective in improving cancer screening rates in all municipalities. All municipalities should implement a system that sends personal invitation letters for cancer screening. In large municipalities, increasing the availability of screening in a clinical setting is also effective in improving cancer screening rates.

• Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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• v.13 no.1 s.31
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• pp.89-96
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• 2005

As the number of the municipalities which have finished the phase I of their GIS system development projects increases, it is very natural that GIS system operation and maintenance rather than development itself has been a more important concern for these municipalities. It seems to me that these phenomena will be amplified as time goes by, and this is the right time for a series of proper guidelines regarding the GIS system maintenance to be supplied to the related municipalities. The subject which is called as 'GIS maintenance' is surely a very comprehensive area. It has been also founded that the necessity is widely agreed among the concerned people working for the municipalities which have already finished their first GIS projects. Nevertheless, it has been investigated that the studies done up to now in this area is in a very infant state from the quality and also quantity points of views. This paper, therefore, makes one of the very initial trials for the systematical GIS maintenance. Among the areas of GIS maintenance, the GIS database maintenance has been selected as the first trial area because of its natural characteristics of the basic element composing IS(Information System). For this, the present conditions of a variety of municipalities have been investigated as far as GIS maintenance is concerned, and the results are analyzed to produce a series of useful outcomes in terms of facing problems and accompanied plans. For each problem, a solution is defined and for each solution a detailed action plan (item) is derived. For each of the two kinds of GIS data given which are the fundamental map and the underground facilities map, an effective GIS data maintenance plan is suggested for the concerned municipalities.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.19
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• pp.8239-8244
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• 2014

The Cancer Control Act in Japan became effective in 2006. In Ibaraki, Toyama, and Hyogo prefectures, the Cancer Control Promoter (CCP) plan was created to strengthen partnerships for cancer prevention. This study aimed to examine the curre nt status of CCP utilization and analyze relationships with intersectoral collaboration, both within the government and with outside partners. In 2008, we mailed questionnaires to 100 administrators responsible for disease prevention and health promotion in municipal governments of the three prefectures. Ninety-one administrators responded (response rate, 91.0%). We analyzed responses to questions regarding whether or not the municipalities had used CCPs. Items assessing intersectoral collaboration examined municipality characteristics and relationships with outside partners and sectors specializing in areas other than community health. Among 90 administrators with valid data, 33 municipalities (36.7%) used CCPs while 57 (63.3%) did not. The Fisher's exact test revealed that intersectoral collaboration for using CCPs was associated with communication with all of the municipal government sectors not related to health. The present study indicated that CCPs were not consistently used in municipalities. However, we found that intersectoral collaborations, especially within the local government, may be related to the practical use of CCPs. This, in turn, may result in effective cancer control and prevention, as well as improvement in community health.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.101-107
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• 2018

We identified the main impacts, drivers, and restoration projects for Atlantic Forest in Northwest of the Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. The objective was to analyze the quantity, distribution, and causes of the environmental crimes in 2000-2014. To verify differences between degraded and restored areas, we performed a t-test; ANOVA for the municipalities with more quantity of crimes, simple linear regression analysis for the relationship between sizes of degraded areas and quantity of seedlings planted, and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for environmental damages categories and population of the municipalities. The main environmental damages found were deforestation outside permanent preservation area (20%) and those related to Permanent Preservation Area (37%). Environmental crimes in these areas fall into two categories: native and exotic vegetation removal (17%), and impediment to natural regeneration (20%). The average size of the degraded areas was $5,359{\pm}526m^2$, while for restored areas was $3,337{\pm}255m^2$. The sizes of the degraded fragments were similar among the five municipalities with the higher number of environmental crimes (ANOVA: p>0.05, F=1.24; df=241). The number of seedlings planted was positively related to the sizes of the degraded fragments (p<0.001, $R^2=0.53$). Segregation between the less and the most populous municipalities was found with the PCA analysis along PC1 (51.7%), while PC2 represented 19.2% of the total variation. The most populous municipalities showed the highest number of environmental crimes, and the majority of degraded areas were recovered by planting native seedlings. Atlantic Forest fragments need to be recognized and preserved as an ecosystem with a unique ecological function by the population and public administration.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.117-124
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• 2021

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors affecting the enactment of local municipalities' ordinance for supporting Korean Medicine infertility treatment in the metropolitan area. Methods : For Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province, data on the enactment of Korean Medicine infertility treatment and socio-demographic data of the local municipalities were collected through the Enhanced Local laws and regulations Information System and on-line statistical database. Logistic regression analysis was performed to analyze the factors affecting the enactment of the ordinance, The enactment of the ordinance was dependent variable, and the budgeting of local municipalities, the number of population, the number of births, the number of Korean Medicine doctors, and the total fertility rate were used as independent variables. Results : Up to 2000, the ordinances for supporting Korean Medicine infertility treatment were enacted in 16 local municipalities and the budget for that was supported by 18 local municipalities. Regarding the effect on the enactment of the ordinances, it was found that budgeting of Korean Medicine infertility treatment had a positive (+) effect, and the metropolitan government's budgeting and the total fertility rate had a negative (-) effect. Conclusions : This study suggests that the ordinance for Korean Medicine infertility treatment is a policy tool derived based on the problem of low fertility faced by each local municipality rather than the political influence of health provider's groups.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.139-147
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• 2019

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the linkage between Si-Jeong-Chon (municipalities of Japan) catastrophic disaster recovery-regeneration plan (DRRP) and regional comprehensive plan (RCP), each of which was made after the Great East Japan Earthquake, and to make implications on establishment of a disaster recovery plan of Korea. In order to explore the relationship between the two plans, the DRRPs and RCPs of 30 municipalities are collected and categorized according to their characteristics. The results show that DRRPs of the municipalities are not always in a consistent form and contents because regulations and guidelines on DRRP are not definite and specific. The relationship between DRRP and RCP in terms of its form and contents can be divided into 3 categories; Reflective Type (RT), Complementary Type (CT), and Substitutive Type (ST). The 22 RT plans as the majority of those DRRPs appear to reflect the development strategies of municipalities' RCPs. Both 3 CT plans and 5 ST plans seem to be integrated with RCPs in some way. The plan in CT of a municipality supplements its RCP by adding some new strategies to its recovery section and the plan in ST of a municipality appears to replace its RCP. Finally the influential factors which are considered to determine linkage type are identified as remaining time which is legally required to re-establish its RCP, the extent of damage, and socioeconomic condition changes.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.352-359
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• 2021

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the geographic distribution of diabetes mortality in Japan and identify socioeconomic factors affecting differences in municipality-specific diabetes mortality. Methods: Diabetes mortality data by year and municipality from 2013 to 2017 were extracted from Japanese Vital Statistics, and the socioeconomic characteristics of municipalities were obtained from government statistics. We calculated the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of diabetes for each municipality using the empirical Bayes method and represented geographic differences in SMRs in a map of Japan. Multiple linear regression was conducted to identify the socioeconomic factors affecting differences in SMR. Statistically significant socioeconomic factors were further assessed by calculating the relative risk of mortality of quintiles of municipalities classified according to the degree of each socioeconomic factor using Poisson regression analysis. Results: The geographic distribution of diabetes mortality differed by gender. Of the municipality-specific socioeconomic factors, high rates of single-person households and unemployment and a high number of hospital beds were associated with a high SMR for men. High rates of fatherless households and blue-collar workers were associated with a high SMR for women, while high taxable income per-capita income and total population were associated with low SMR for women. Quintile analysis revealed a complex relationship between taxable income and mortality for women. The mortality risk of quintiles with the highest and lowest taxable per-capita income was significantly lower than that of the middle-income quintile. Conclusions: Socioeconomic factors of municipalities in Japan were found to affect geographic differences in diabetes mortality.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.494-506
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• 2009

This paper tests whether or not manufacturing specialization, employment growth, establishment size, employment size, industrial mix in manufacturing, regional difference between the Capital region and the others and so on are empirically related to manufacturing employment volatility levels across 203 municipalities called shi-gun-gu during the period 1990~2006. Using the spatial econometric analysis of cross sectional data, the municipalities tending to be more volatile are more specialized; they have higher-than-average employment growth rates, smaller establishment and employment sizes, regardless of any industrial mix in manufacturing; and they tend to be located in the Capital region. Unlike existing foreign literature based upon the spatial econometric analysis of cross sectional data, this paper finds that volatility of growth in a municipality is negatively rather than positively influenced by volatility of growth in its neighboring municipalities.