• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.7-29
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• 2012

Smartphone and its applications (i.e. apps) are increasingly penetrating consumer markets. According to a recent report from Korea Communications Commission, nearly 50% of mobile subscribers in South Korea are smartphone users that accounts for over 25 million people. In particular, the importance of smartphone has risen as a geospatially-aware device that provides various location-based services (LBS) equipped with GPS capability. The popular LBS include map and navigation, traffic and transportation updates, shopping and coupon services, and location-sensitive social network services. Overall, the emerging location-based smartphone apps (LBA) offer significant value by providing greater connectivity, personalization, and information and entertainment in a location-specific context. Conversely, the rapid growth of LBA and their benefits have been accompanied by concerns over the collection and dissemination of individual users' personal information through ongoing tracking of their location, identity, preferences, and social behaviors. The majority of LBA users tend to agree and consent to the LBA provider's terms and privacy policy on use of location data to get the immediate services. This tendency further increases the potential risks of unprotected exposure of personal information and serious invasion and breaches of individual privacy. To address the complex issues surrounding LBA particularly from the user's behavioral perspective, this study applied the privacy calculus model (PCM) to explore the factors that influence the adoption of LBA. According to PCM, consumers are engaged in a dynamic adjustment process in which privacy risks are weighted against benefits of information disclosure. Consistent with the principal notion of PCM, we investigated how individual users make a risk-benefit assessment under which personalized service and locatability act as benefit-side factors and information privacy risks act as a risk-side factor accompanying LBA adoption. In addition, we consider the moderating role of trust on the service providers in the prohibiting effects of privacy risks on user intention to adopt LBA. Further we include perceived ease of use and usefulness as additional constructs to examine whether the technology acceptance model (TAM) can be applied in the context of LBA adoption. The research model with ten (10) hypotheses was tested using data gathered from 98 respondents through a quasi-experimental survey method. During the survey, each participant was asked to navigate the website where the experimental simulation of a LBA allows the participant to purchase time-and-location sensitive discounted tickets for nearby stores. Structural equations modeling using partial least square validated the instrument and the proposed model. The results showed that six (6) out of ten (10) hypotheses were supported. On the subject of the core PCM, H2 (locatability ${\rightarrow}$ intention to use LBA) and H3 (privacy risks ${\rightarrow}$ intention to use LBA) were supported, while H1 (personalization ${\rightarrow}$ intention to use LBA) was not supported. Further, we could not any interaction effects (personalization X privacy risks, H4 & locatability X privacy risks, H5) on the intention to use LBA. In terms of privacy risks and trust, as mentioned above we found the significant negative influence from privacy risks on intention to use (H3), but positive influence from trust, which supported H6 (trust ${\rightarrow}$ intention to use LBA). The moderating effect of trust on the negative relationship between privacy risks and intention to use LBA was tested and confirmed by supporting H7 (privacy risks X trust ${\rightarrow}$ intention to use LBA). The two hypotheses regarding to the TAM, including H8 (perceived ease of use ${\rightarrow}$ perceived usefulness) and H9 (perceived ease of use ${\rightarrow}$ intention to use LBA) were supported; however, H10 (perceived effectiveness ${\rightarrow}$ intention to use LBA) was not supported. Results of this study offer the following key findings and implications. First the application of PCM was found to be a good analysis framework in the context of LBA adoption. Many of the hypotheses in the model were confirmed and the high value of $R^2$ (i.,e., 51%) indicated a good fit of the model. In particular, locatability and privacy risks are found to be the appropriate PCM-based antecedent variables. Second, the existence of moderating effect of trust on service provider suggests that the same marginal change in the level of privacy risks may differentially influence the intention to use LBA. That is, while the privacy risks increasingly become important social issues and will negatively influence the intention to use LBA, it is critical for LBA providers to build consumer trust and confidence to successfully mitigate this negative impact. Lastly, we could not find sufficient evidence that the intention to use LBA is influenced by perceived usefulness, which has been very well supported in most previous TAM research. This may suggest that more future research should examine the validity of applying TAM and further extend or modify it in the context of LBA or other similar smartphone apps.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.157-178
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• 2009

Corporate credit rating is a very important factor in the market for corporate debt. Information concerning corporate operations is often disseminated to market participants through the changes in credit ratings that are published by professional rating agencies, such as Standard and Poor's (S&P) and Moody's Investor Service. Since these agencies generally require a large fee for the service, and the periodically provided ratings sometimes do not reflect the default risk of the company at the time, it may be advantageous for bond-market participants to be able to classify credit ratings before the agencies actually publish them. As a result, it is very important for companies (especially, financial companies) to develop a proper model of credit rating. From a technical perspective, the credit rating constitutes a typical, multiclass, classification problem because rating agencies generally have ten or more categories of ratings. For example, S&P's ratings range from AAA for the highest-quality bonds to D for the lowest-quality bonds. The professional rating agencies emphasize the importance of analysts' subjective judgments in the determination of credit ratings. However, in practice, a mathematical model that uses the financial variables of companies plays an important role in determining credit ratings, since it is convenient to apply and cost efficient. These financial variables include the ratios that represent a company's leverage status, liquidity status, and profitability status. Several statistical and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have been applied as tools for predicting credit ratings. Among them, artificial neural networks are most prevalent in the area of finance because of their broad applicability to many business problems and their preeminent ability to adapt. However, artificial neural networks also have many defects, including the difficulty in determining the values of the control parameters and the number of processing elements in the layer as well as the risk of over-fitting. Of late, because of their robustness and high accuracy, support vector machines (SVMs) have become popular as a solution for problems with generating accurate prediction. An SVM's solution may be globally optimal because SVMs seek to minimize structural risk. On the other hand, artificial neural network models may tend to find locally optimal solutions because they seek to minimize empirical risk. In addition, no parameters need to be tuned in SVMs, barring the upper bound for non-separable cases in linear SVMs. Since SVMs were originally devised for binary classification, however they are not intrinsically geared for multiclass classifications as in credit ratings. Thus, researchers have tried to extend the original SVM to multiclass classification. Hitherto, a variety of techniques to extend standard SVMs to multiclass SVMs (MSVMs) has been proposed in the literature Only a few types of MSVM are, however, tested using prior studies that apply MSVMs to credit ratings studies. In this study, we examined six different techniques of MSVMs: (1) One-Against-One, (2) One-Against-AIL (3) DAGSVM, (4) ECOC, (5) Method of Weston and Watkins, and (6) Method of Crammer and Singer. In addition, we examined the prediction accuracy of some modified version of conventional MSVM techniques. To find the most appropriate technique of MSVMs for corporate bond rating, we applied all the techniques of MSVMs to a real-world case of credit rating in Korea. The best application is in corporate bond rating, which is the most frequently studied area of credit rating for specific debt issues or other financial obligations. For our study the research data were collected from National Information and Credit Evaluation, Inc., a major bond-rating company in Korea. The data set is comprised of the bond-ratings for the year 2002 and various financial variables for 1,295 companies from the manufacturing industry in Korea. We compared the results of these techniques with one another, and with those of traditional methods for credit ratings, such as multiple discriminant analysis (MDA), multinomial logistic regression (MLOGIT), and artificial neural networks (ANNs). As a result, we found that DAGSVM with an ordered list was the best approach for the prediction of bond rating. In addition, we found that the modified version of ECOC approach can yield higher prediction accuracy for the cases showing clear patterns.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.341-351
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• 2014

Purpose : In this study, the medication effects of Milnacipran and Pregabalin, as well known as fibromyalgia treatment medicine, in fibromyalgia syndrome patients were compared through the change of BOLD signal in pain related functional MRI. Materials and Methods: Twenty fibromyalgia syndrome patients were enrolled in this study and they were separated into two groups according to the treatment medicine: 10 Milnacipran (MLN) treatment group and 7 Pregabalin (PGB) treatment group. For accurate diagnosis, all patients underwent several clinical tests. Pre-treated and post-treated fMRI image with block-designed pressure-pain stimulation for each group were obtained to conduct the statistical analysis of paired t-test and two sample t-test. All statistical significant level was less than 0.05. Results: In clinical tests, the clinical scores of the two groups were not significantly different at pre-treatment stage. But, PGB treatment group had lower Widespread Pain Index (WPI) and Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI) score than those of MLN treatment group at post-treatment stage. In functional image analysis, BOLD signal of PGB treatment group was higher BOLD signal at several regions including anterior cingulate and insula than MLN treatment group at post-treatment stage. Also, paired t-test values of the BOLD signal in MLN group decreased in several regions including insula and thalamus as known as 'pain network'. In contrast, size and number of regions in which the BOLD signal decreased in PGB treatment group were smaller than those of MLN treatment group. Conclusion: This study showed that MLN group and PGB group have different medication effects. It is not surprising that MLN and PGB have not the same therapeutic effects since these two drugs have different medicinal mechanisms such as antidepressants and anti-seizure medication, respectively, and different detailed target of fibromyalgia syndrome treatment. Therefore, it is difficult to say which medicine will work better in this study.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.324-329
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• 2009

Purpose : Acute interstitial pneumonia (AIP) is a rare disease, but its prognosis is fatal because of lack of efficient treatment modality. Recently, it has been reported that there was epidemic AIP in Korea. This study aims to investigate the past and current status of AIP in Korea. Methods : We performed a nationwide survey and a prospective study. From August 6 to 15, 2008, a questionnaire survey was conducted to identify the prevalence, local distribution, and response to current treatments. The questionnaire was answered by pediatrician working in 23 referral centers in Korea. In addition, 5 referral centers in Seoul performed a preliminary prospective observational study by obtaining clinical data and specimens from appropriate patients. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed the samples for possible pathogens. Results : The survey showed 78 AIP cases had occurred and 36 patients had died. Lung biopsy was performed only on 20 patients. In 2008, 9 AIP cases developed. In a prospective study, 9 (M:F=5:4) patients developed AIP in spring and 7 (78%) died, with the mean rate of death occurring 46 days after diagnosis. Human corona virus 229E, cytomegalovirus, influenza A virus, influenza B virus, and parainfluenza virus were isolated from the respiratory specimens. Conclusion : This study showed nationwide prevalence of AIP in Korea. In addition, because of the high mortality rate and rapid progress, pediatricians need to be aware of the disease. Further studies and a nationwide network are required for reducing the morbidity and mortality rates related to AIP.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.94 no.4 s.161
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• pp.214-225
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• 2005

The mountain village development program in Korea started in the mountain villages, the 45.9% of total land and one of the typical marginal region, from 1995 to achieve the equilibrium development of national land and the sustainable mountain development in Chapter 13 in Agenda 21, and it has been accelerated to increase the happiness and the quality of life of mountain community residents through the expansion by province and the improvement of related laws and regulations. This study has been aimed to analyze the response of main stakeholder's -mountain village residents and local government officials - on mountain villages development, and to provide the future plan as community development. The survey and interview data were collected from the mountain villages which already developed 59 villages and developing 15 villages in 2003. The mountain village development program has achieved the positive aspects as community development plan in the several fields, - the voluntary participation of residents, the establishment of self-support spirit as the democratic civilians, the development of base of income increasement, the creation of comfortable living environment, the equilibrium development with the other regions. Especially the mountain residents and local government officials both highly satisfy with the development of base of income increasement and the creation of comfortable living environment which are the main concerns to both stakeholder. However through the mountain development program, it is not satisfied to increase the maintenance of local community and the strengthening of traditional value of mountain villages. Also to improve the sustainable income improvement effects, it is necessary to develop the income items and technical extension which good for the each region. In the decentralization era, it is necessary for local government should have the more active and multilateral activities for these. With this, the introduction of methods which the mountain community people and the local government officials could co-participate in the mountain villages' development from the initial stages and the renovation of related local government organizations and the cooperatives will be much helpful to the substantiality of mountain development program. Also it is essential for the assistance of central government to establish the complex plan and the mountain villages network for all mountain area and the exchange of information, the education and training of mountain villages leader who are the core factor for the developed mountain villages maintenance, the composition of national mountain villages representatives. In case the development proposals which based on the interests of the main stakeholder's on mountain community could be positively accepted, then the possibility of the mountain village development as one of community development will be successfully improved in future.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.127-139
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• 2012

This study aims to figure out the main agent of management in the 69 recently constructed neighborhood parks in Busan, and to analyze the present status of the main agents. For this purpose, the work resources on park and landscape management, interview to related staff, and the budget on urban parks were found as the main agents of management. In case the parks were managed by consignment or by other separate organization, this study collected resources through the homepage or personal visits. As a result for the management method on parks, about 48 parks(69.6%) were under direct management by the local governments' main office and its business offices. Eighteen parks(26.1%) were commissioned to corporation or private organizations and three parks(4.3%) were operated by both direct and commissioned management. Because of the overall management result on urban parks, the company under outsourced management is not sufficient for a comprehensive management. Such is mainly focused on the maintenance like landscape or cleaning, but have fewer programs for the users. Forty-six parks cared by the local governments are mainly small sized neighborhood parks. For the management, contract workers or short-term workers are hired. It demonstrates an urgent need to improve professional personnel and organizational system for park management. In addition, any educational or cultural facility in the park is managed by separate institutions. Thus, it is not controlled as a park facility but an independent facility with separate controls. Moreover, to solve such problems, it needs legalization on the proper employment for parks, institutional improvement, cooperative network with NGO, planning and development of the program used according to the change of time, and customer oriented program management.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.23-34
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• 2012

This Study is about the "Comprehensive Landscape Improvement Plan for Gu-ryoung Seaside Village that was one of most exhibited projects for developing sea villages." The formulations of the plan were supervised by the Ministry of Land, Transport, and Maritime Affairs and were executed by the Goheung Country. Rather than proposing renovations for the landscape, this study maintains the existing order and attempts to examine the plan by scrutinizing the vernacular design language of the landscape. In the study, community members had the opportunity to express their opinions and ideas about the community through workshops composed of community participation programs, and participated in the decision-making process through consultation meetings. The conclusion of this study was relevant to the activities of the committee on landscape improvement. The Comprehensive Landscape Improvement Plan has three objectives: (1) resorting and modifying the natural landscape, (2) restructuring the roadways, and (3) modifying key spaces. In the end, the role of Gu-ryong Mountain as a background of the landscape was focused on tree planting drives that were undertaken, and accessibility to the sea front was improved. Second, in restructuring the roadways, rough roads were restored and unconnected roads were connected to ensure a network of roads along the sea front, inner roads in the village, roads at the Fringes Mountains, and stone roads on the mud flat. In addition, roads were named according to the character of the landscape and signs were installed. Finally, the existing key spaces, in which community members came together, were restored and new key spaces were created for the outdoor activities of the inhabitants and the diverse experience of visitors. A guideline was also created to regulate private areas such as roofs, walls, fences of residential buildings, and private container boxes and fishing gear along the sea front. The strength of this study is that it is seeking to determine the greatest potential of the landscape and set the plan by examining the lives of community members. Some problems were found during the development of this study. Further, there were problems in the community's understanding as elaborated below. First is the gap between community members' awareness and practice. Even though they were aware of the problems with the village landscape, they hesitated to implement improvements. Second, community members have misunderstandings about the landscape the improvement plan. The local government and the residents have understood this plan as a development project; for example, new building construction or the extension of roads. Third, residents are not aware that continuous attention and improvements are required for the upkeep of the landscape in the sea village. The plan to improve the landscape should promote a balance between making the area as a tourist attraction and maintaining the lives and cultural activities, because the sea village system incorporates settlements, economy, and culture.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.64-74
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• 2010

The study is based on an urban park design that is designed in consideration of the characteristics of Uijeongbu City, applied with adequate functions for the environment and showcasing the unique scenery in relation to the relocation of the US Air Force Camp Falling Water. The bases of the design are: the reasonable convergence of the square and park in consideration of the site characteristics; the application of an urban context as the park is located near a station; and the realization of an eco-friendly space. This study is based on foundation research regarding a review of urban square patterns, particular items in planning in relation to modern urban parks and the adaptability of the park in the future. Regarding space usage, the design is applied with notable ideas that allow the space to make its own characteristics through voluntary user activity in conjunction with the environment that will allow the park to cope with changes in the future, as opposed to a space that users experience through pre-determined programs. Below are the focal points of the design. First, the park is designed as an empty space which may accommodate the urban structural context of and usage patterns for being a field of the city ecology that changes and develops, beyond a passively-created square pattern. Such open spaces have a continuity which allows it to adapt to the development of the city. In addition, the design facilitates spontaneous processes through changes in usage pattern and time. Second, the design includes the message that the park and the city, natural things and artificial things, must communicate and network with each other. Hence the park shall not be an isolated green island within the city, but is an open space accommodating the demands for open area from nearby commercial, public and residential facilities; the park shall include a field that can accommodate a variety of programs. Third, the park is designed to encourage the effect of direct and indirect practical education by reflecting a physical plan as well as interesting experience design methods to lower carbon emissions and to create and maintain an eco-friendly space, the basis of a zero-emissions city.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.43-54
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• 2009

This study attempted to develop a model for selecting sites for ecologically effective, multi-functional wetlands during the environmental and ecological planning stage, prior to land use Planning. This model was developed with an emphasis upon the creation of a water circulation system for a newly-created city, dispersing and retaining the run-off that is increased due to urbanization and securing spaces to create wetlands that can promote urban biodiversity. A series of Precesses for selecting sites for wetland restoration and creation - watershed analysis, selection of evaluation items, calculation of weights, reparation of thematic maps and synthesis - were incorporated into the model. Its potentials and limitations were examined by applying it to the recently-planned WiRae New Community Development Area, which is located in the Seoul metropolitan region. At the watershed analysis stage, the site was divided into 13 sub-catchment areas. Inflow to watersheds including the area was $3,020,765m^3$ Run-off before and after development is estimated as $1,901,969m^3$ and $1,970,735{\sim}2,039,502m^3$, respectively. The total storage capacity required in the development area amounts to $68,766{\sim}137,533m^3$. When thematic maps were overlapped during the selection stage for wetland sites, 13 sub-catchment areas were prioritized for wetland restoration and creation. The locations and areas for retaining run-off showed that various types of wetlands, including retaining wetlands (area wetlands), riverine wetlands (linear wetlands) and pond wetlands (point wetlands), can be created and that they can be systematically connected. By providing a basic framework for the water circulation system plan of an entire city, it may be used effectively in the space planning stage, such as planning an urban eco-network through integration with greet areas. In order to estimate reasonable run-off and create an adequate water circulation system however, a feedback process following land use planning is required. This study strived to promote urban changes in a positive direction while minimizing urban changes in negative forms.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.158-170
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• 2013

With the recent 'Creative economy' and 'Cultural prosperity' coming to the fore as a new code to build up a city or a region, it is necessary to focus on strengthening the regional creative capacity as well as developing spontaneous regional culture. In such trend this research aims to explore the Kyunglidan-gil, Seoul, Korea in which creative-class are appearing autogenously in clusters and forming new cultural landscape, to identify the factors of their accumulation and changing aspect of cultural landscape. This study has the following purposes: First, Investigating the historical context of the Kyunglidan-gil's landscape. Second, considering the process of the creative-class being flowed into the Kyunglidan-gil as the subject leading to the modification of the region. Third, their activity was analyzed to consider the unique aspect of forming the cultural landscape at the Kyunglidan-gil. Regarding why the creative-class should flow in, results of the study drew five factors including region in issue compared to inexpensive rents, coexistence with nature, quiet atmosphere seeming isolated from the urban confusion, location possible to test and share individual materials one likes, and a site with synergy effect of activity through the network with acquaintances. Also, five characteristics of cultural landscape forming by the people's activity were drawn - space of communication for increasing creativity, temporary and flexible spatial use, expression of one's identity and taste, distinguishing, and positive use of the existing facilities. Like this, by exposing the 'creative-class', a subject of the leader in changing process of the Kyunglidan-gil, this research identified the aspect of forming cultural landscape.