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Diagnosis of Real Condition and Distribution of Protected Trees in Changwon-si, Korea (창원시 보호수의 분포현황과 실태진단)

  • You, Ju-Han;Park, Kyung-Hun;Lee, Young-Han
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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    • v.29 no.1
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    • pp.59-70
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    • 2011
  • The purpose of this study is to present raw data to systematically and rationally manage the protected trees located in Changwon-si, Korea. This study investigated about the present condition and the information of location, individual, management, health and soil. The results are as follows. The protected trees were located in 26 spots, and species of trees were 9 taxa; Zelkova serrata, Celtis sinensis, Aphananthe aspera, Ginkgo biloba, Carpinus tschonoskii, Pinus densiflora for. multicaulis, Quercus variabilis, Pinus densiflora and Salix glandulosa. In protected tree types, shade trees were the most, and the majority of theirs were 200 years or more in age. The range of altitude was 14~173m, and the number of trees located in flat fields was the most. For location types, village and field and mountain were presented in the order and, in land use, land for building was the most. The range of height was 8.0~30.0m, 0.6~5.1m in crown height, 240~700cm in diameter of breast and 210~800cm in diameter of root. In case of crown area, Zelkova serrata of No.5 was most large. The status boards were mostly installed except No.23 and No.26. The sites with fence were 9 spots, and the site with stonework were 14 spots. The sites with the support beam were 5 spots, and most sites were not covered up with soil. The materials of bottom were soil, gravel and vegetation in the order. The range of withering branch rate was 0~40%, and peeled bark rate was 0~60%. The sites made holes were 23 spots, and the hole size of Aphananthe aspera of No.12 was the largest. The sites disturbed by human trampling were 7 spots, the sites by disease and insects of 2 spots, the sites by injury of 23 spots and the sites by exposed roots of 13 spots. In the results of soil analysis, there showed that acidity was pH 4.5~8.0, organic matter content of 3.5~69.8g/kg, electrical conductivity(EC) of 0.11~2.87dS/m, available $P_2O_5$ of 3.0~490.6mg/kg, exchangeable K of 0.10~1.05cmol+/kg, exchangeable Ca of 1.41~16.45cmol+/kg, exchangeable Mg of 0.37~1.96cmol+/kg, exchangeable Na of 0.25~2.41cmol+/kg and cation exchange capacity(C.E.C) of 8.35~26.55cmol+/kg.

The Present Situation and Future Strategies of 4-Year Nursing Baccalaureate Program (한국 4년제 대학 간호교육의 현황과 발전방안)

  • Park Jeong-Sook
    • The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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    • v.1 no.1
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    • pp.17-23
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    • 1995
  • One of the biggest problems of Nursing Education in Korea is the division among nursing education programs of the last 3 and 4 years. To solve this problem, Nursing community must do variable trials to achieve the unity of a 4-year educational program. With this, we need to observe the phenomena and reality of the present 4-year nursing educational program that we have. The object of this study is to analyse and discuss that we have. The object of this study is to analyse and discuss the problems and future strategies of 4-year Nursing Baccalaureate program. 1. Problems as nursing department in Medical School. 1) Many 4-year nursing baccalaureate programs are operating under the medical school as nursing department. So the academic development in nursing department is unprogressive and is not approved as unique discipline. 2) The operating system between nursing and medical department are different even though they are in the same school. 3) Inequality between nursing and medical department : In many case, the nursing professor can not attend administraion committees to discuss the medical school's operation because of many differences between nursing and medical organization. 4) Weakness of the leadership and the student activities in nursing student : The nursing student involvement is usually passive because of the difference of curriculum, less number than medical students and the difference between 4-year and 6-year education program. 5) There is the obscurity of the relationship between department of nursing and other departments in whole university. 2. Problems in nursing itself 1) We need to reconstruct nursing discipline. We must change from the disease centered model to health centered model and life cycle centered model so that we can be distinguished from medicine. We also must change from hospital centered nursing to all population centered nursing, 2) The improvement of curriculum ; When the independent framework of nursing discipline become established, we need to improve the curriculum. 3) The education of clinical practice ; Most nursing school programs are divided into professors who are lecturing the theory and clinical teachers who are teaching the nursing technique in the clinic. So, what is needed in nursing discipline is that the professors have a dual position. In America, The professor is required to be a clinical specialist and to have his or her clinic so that the professor become a good role model, teach the clinical practice effectively, and give the student the practice field. 4) To extend fields of nursing : At first, the school nurse must become the school health educator, a real teacher. The nurse must establish and operate a childern's wellbeing center or nursery school, a disabled people's house or senile's wellbeing center, a mental health center, and a health promotion clinic for healthy people. 5) The name 'nursing department' need to be considered. When the focus is to be changed from the disease model to health improvement model, we take into consideration change 'nursing college', 'nursing department' and 'nursing profession' to 'health science college' or 'health wellbeing college'. 6) We must have highly qualified academic students. Each Nursing educational faculties must have the high qualified students through the development of nursing educational program and the increment of scholarship. The Korean Nurses Association and The Korean Clinical Nurses Association need to make an endeavor for the improvement of work condition and payment of clinical nurses of hospitals who consist of 70% of all nursing manpower. 3. Improvement Strategy 1) All nursing educational program must be changed 4-year program gradually. 2) Nursing department need to try to become nursing college. 3) We need to study many researches for improvement of the problem in nursing discipline and nursing education. We need more interdisciplinary researches, and we need to be granted for that research. 4) We need to have many seminars and workshops thoughout the whole country to expand a sense of nursing education. 5) Drawing up a policies plan for the nursing educational improvement : The Korean Nurses Association, The Korean Academic Nursing Association, Korea Nursing College and department President's Committee, and Korea Academic Society of Nursing Education must try for the development of nursing educational improvement and ask for government frame the policy to develop nursing education.

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Impacts of Urban High Temperature Events on Physiology of Apple Trees: A Case Study of 'Fuji'/M.9 Apple Trees in Daegu, Korea (도심지역 고온현상이 사과나무 생육과정에 미치는 영향: 대구광역시 '후지'/M.9을 사례로)

  • Sagong, Dong-Hoon;Kweon, Hun-Joong;Park, Moo-Yong;Song, Yang-Yik;Ryu, Su-Hyun;Kim, Mok-Jong;Choi, Kyung-Hee;Yoon, Tae-Myung
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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    • v.15 no.3
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    • pp.130-144
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    • 2013
  • In this study, we examined the effect of high temperature of urban area on the physiological response of apple tree including the photosynthesis, shoot growth, and fruit quality of 'Fuji'/M.9 apple trees planted at Daegu urban area (DUA) and Gunwi rural area (GRA) for 2 years (2009-2010). During the apple growing season (April-October), the average air temperature of DUA was about $3.0^{\circ}C$ higher than that of GRA and the total rainfall of DUA was 130 mm more than that of GRA. During fruit enlargement stage (June-August), the number of days that recorded daily mean temperature of over $30^{\circ}C$ were ten on DUA in 2010, but there was no day when such temperature was experienced in 2009. Average air temperature of DUA during the maturation stage (September-October) was $19.8^{\circ}C$, which was $4.0^{\circ}C$ higher than that of GRA. The higher temperature of over $30^{\circ}C$ during fruit enlargement stage decreased the photosynthetic rate, shoot growth, fruit weight, and soluble solid content of 'Fuji'/M.9 apple tree. The moderate temperature of about $20^{\circ}C$ during maturation stage increased the photosynthetic rate and soluble solid content of 'Fuji'/M.9 apple tree, but decreased fruit red color. In regional comparison with GRA, photosynthetic rate of DUA was changed from lower before rainy season to higher after rainy season. Fruit weight was higher in DUA than that of GRA. However, fruit weight between DUA and GRA did not show the difference when accumulated days that recorded daily maximum temperature over $35^{\circ}C$ of DUA was increased. Compared to the GRA, soluble solid content of DUA was higher, but fruit red color of DUA was less. These results indicate that the poor red coloring is the most problematic in 'Fuji'/M.9 apple tree by global warming and urbanization.

A Study for Drying of Sewage Sludge through Immersion Frying Using Used Oil (폐유를 이용한 하수슬러지 유중 건조 연구)

  • Shin, Mi-Soo;Kim, Hey-Suk;Hong, Ji-Eun;Jang, Dong-Soon;Ohm, Tae-In
    • Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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    • v.30 no.7
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    • pp.694-699
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    • 2008
  • Considering the severe regulation associated with sludge treatment such as direct landfill and ocean dumping, there is no doubt in that an advanced study for the proper treatment of sludge is urgently needed in near feature. As one of viable method for sludge treatment, fry-drying of sludge by waste oil has been investigated in this study. The fundamental mechanism of this drying method lies in the phenomenon of rapid moisture escape in the sludge pore toward oil media. This is caused by the severe pressure gradient formed by the rapid oil heating between sludge and oil. As part of research effort of fry-drying using waste oil, a series of basic study has been made experimentally to obtain typical drying curves as function of important parameters such as drying temperature, drying time, oil type and geometrical shape of sludge formed. Based on this study, a number of useful conclusion can be drawn as following. The fry-drying method by oil immersion was found quite effective in the removal efficiency of sludge moisture, in general, the moisture content decreases significantly after 10 minutes and the whole moisture content was less than 5% after 14 minutes regardless of the drying temperature. The increase of oil temperature up to 140$^{\circ}C$ favors significantly for the removal of moisture but there was no visible difference above 140$^{\circ}C$. As expected, the decrease of diameter in sludge was efficient in drying due to the increased surface area per unit volume. Further, the effect of oil property by the change of oil type was noted. To be specific, for the case of engine oil the efficiency was found to be remarkably delayed in moisture evaporation compared with that of vegetable oil due to the increased viscosity of engine oil. It produced a result of increasing the evaporation of moisture largely relatively high in the drying temperature over 140$^{\circ}C$ compared with the drying temperature 120$^{\circ}C$ drying temperature as the drying time passed. Accordingly, the drying temperature is considered desirable as keeping over 140$^{\circ}C$ regardless of a sort of used oil.

The Prediction of DEA based Efficiency Rating for Venture Business Using Multi-class SVM (다분류 SVM을 이용한 DEA기반 벤처기업 효율성등급 예측모형)

  • Park, Ji-Young;Hong, Tae-Ho
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.19 no.2
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    • pp.139-155
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    • 2009
  • For the last few decades, many studies have tried to explore and unveil venture companies' success factors and unique features in order to identify the sources of such companies' competitive advantages over their rivals. Such venture companies have shown tendency to give high returns for investors generally making the best use of information technology. For this reason, many venture companies are keen on attracting avid investors' attention. Investors generally make their investment decisions by carefully examining the evaluation criteria of the alternatives. To them, credit rating information provided by international rating agencies, such as Standard and Poor's, Moody's and Fitch is crucial source as to such pivotal concerns as companies stability, growth, and risk status. But these types of information are generated only for the companies issuing corporate bonds, not venture companies. Therefore, this study proposes a method for evaluating venture businesses by presenting our recent empirical results using financial data of Korean venture companies listed on KOSDAQ in Korea exchange. In addition, this paper used multi-class SVM for the prediction of DEA-based efficiency rating for venture businesses, which was derived from our proposed method. Our approach sheds light on ways to locate efficient companies generating high level of profits. Above all, in determining effective ways to evaluate a venture firm's efficiency, it is important to understand the major contributing factors of such efficiency. Therefore, this paper is constructed on the basis of following two ideas to classify which companies are more efficient venture companies: i) making DEA based multi-class rating for sample companies and ii) developing multi-class SVM-based efficiency prediction model for classifying all companies. First, the Data Envelopment Analysis(DEA) is a non-parametric multiple input-output efficiency technique that measures the relative efficiency of decision making units(DMUs) using a linear programming based model. It is non-parametric because it requires no assumption on the shape or parameters of the underlying production function. DEA has been already widely applied for evaluating the relative efficiency of DMUs. Recently, a number of DEA based studies have evaluated the efficiency of various types of companies, such as internet companies and venture companies. It has been also applied to corporate credit ratings. In this study we utilized DEA for sorting venture companies by efficiency based ratings. The Support Vector Machine(SVM), on the other hand, is a popular technique for solving data classification problems. In this paper, we employed SVM to classify the efficiency ratings in IT venture companies according to the results of DEA. The SVM method was first developed by Vapnik (1995). As one of many machine learning techniques, SVM is based on a statistical theory. Thus far, the method has shown good performances especially in generalizing capacity in classification tasks, resulting in numerous applications in many areas of business, SVM is basically the algorithm that finds the maximum margin hyperplane, which is the maximum separation between classes. According to this method, support vectors are the closest to the maximum margin hyperplane. If it is impossible to classify, we can use the kernel function. In the case of nonlinear class boundaries, we can transform the inputs into a high-dimensional feature space, This is the original input space and is mapped into a high-dimensional dot-product space. Many studies applied SVM to the prediction of bankruptcy, the forecast a financial time series, and the problem of estimating credit rating, In this study we employed SVM for developing data mining-based efficiency prediction model. We used the Gaussian radial function as a kernel function of SVM. In multi-class SVM, we adopted one-against-one approach between binary classification method and two all-together methods, proposed by Weston and Watkins(1999) and Crammer and Singer(2000), respectively. In this research, we used corporate information of 154 companies listed on KOSDAQ market in Korea exchange. We obtained companies' financial information of 2005 from the KIS(Korea Information Service, Inc.). Using this data, we made multi-class rating with DEA efficiency and built multi-class prediction model based data mining. Among three manners of multi-classification, the hit ratio of the Weston and Watkins method is the best in the test data set. In multi classification problems as efficiency ratings of venture business, it is very useful for investors to know the class with errors, one class difference, when it is difficult to find out the accurate class in the actual market. So we presented accuracy results within 1-class errors, and the Weston and Watkins method showed 85.7% accuracy in our test samples. We conclude that the DEA based multi-class approach in venture business generates more information than the binary classification problem, notwithstanding its efficiency level. We believe this model can help investors in decision making as it provides a reliably tool to evaluate venture companies in the financial domain. For the future research, we perceive the need to enhance such areas as the variable selection process, the parameter selection of kernel function, the generalization, and the sample size of multi-class.

The Effect of Antifibrinolytic Therapy in Prevention of Rebleeding before Early Aneurysm Surgery (뇌동맥류의 조기수술 전 재출혈 방지를 위한 항섬유소용해제 투여의 효과)

  • Lee, Chang Young;Yim, Man Bin;Lee, Jang Chull;Son, Eun Ik;Kim, Dong Won;Kim, In Hong
    • Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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    • v.30 no.9
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    • pp.1065-1071
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    • 2001
  • Object : This study was conducted to evaluate whether short-term intravenous infusion of tranexamic acid (AMCA) was able to improve the management outcome by preventing rebleeding without increasing vasospasm and hydrocephalus associated with the long-term administration of this agent in the patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage(SAH) who were planned for the early surgery. Methods : During the period from June, 1996 to May, 1998, 137 patients admitted within 3 days of their SAH and planned for early surgical intervention were subject to study population. Of these, 60 patients who had been treated with AMCA were classified as AMCA treated group and 77 patients without AMCA treatment as AMCA untreated group. Initially, prognostic factors for rebleeding, vasospasm, hydrocephalus and outcome following SAH including age, sex, clinical grade, CT grade, site of ruptured aneurysms, admission day after SAH, surgery day after SAH, number of aneurysms and hypertension history, were analyzed and compared between AMCA treated group and untreated group. Secondly, the incidence of rebleeding, symptomatic vasospasm and hydrocephalus were compared between the two groups. Also, the management outcome of the patients was compared between the two groups. Results : There were no significant differences in prognostic factors between the two groups. The rebleeding rate was 0% in the AMCA treated group whereas the rate was 7.8% in the untreated group. This difference was statistically significant. The incidences of symptomatic vasospasm and hydrocephalus were found not to be significantly different between the two groups. Of the treated group, 31.7% of patients developed hydrocephalus compared to 32.5% of those at the untreated group. Fourteen(23.3%) patients in treated group developed symptomatic vasospasm and 6 of them(10%) suffered stroke whereas incidences of these in untreated group were 25.9% and 11.7%, respectively. The AMCA treated group showed more favorable outcome than that of untreated group. There was no case of death by rebleeding in the AMCA treated group while one of the main causes of death in the untreated group was rebleeding. Conclusion : Short-term high-dose AMCA administration is considered beneficial in improving outcome and diminishing the risk of rebleeding in the patients who suffer from an aneurysmal SAH prior to early surgical intervention.

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Effect of Rice Bran and Barley Bran Application on Growth and Yield of Chinese Chive (Allium tuberosum Rottler) and Taro (Colocasia esculenta) and Weed Control (쌀겨, 보릿겨 처리가 부추와 토란의 생육과 수량 및 잡초방제에 미치는 영향)

  • Ryu, Deok-Kyo;Yun, Young-Beom;Kwon, Oh-Do;Shin, Dong-Young;Hyun, Kyu-Hwan;Lee, Do-Jin;Kuk, Yong-In
    • Korean Journal of Weed Science
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    • v.31 no.3
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    • pp.260-270
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    • 2011
  • This study was carried out to examine the effect of rice bran, barley bran, burned rice bran, and burned barley bran on the growth and yield of Chinese chive (Allium tuberosum Rottler), taro (Colocasia esculenta), and weed control. When the above 4 brans were examined 13, 27, 41 and 57 days respectively after application, the plant height of Chinese chive applied with burned barley bran was significantly higher than non-treated control, whereas the other brans did not have any distinct effect on the plant height or population number of Chinese chive. However, when examined 57 days after the application of the above 4 brans, all the plants applied with brans showed more than twice the improvement in shoot fresh weight compared with non-treated control. A chemical analysis of soil 57 days after the application of the above 4 brans showed that the soils were richer in available phosphate and organic matter. Shoot fresh weight of Chinese chive at 2 weeks after cutting was significantly higher in barely bran treated plot than in non-treated plot. In the case of taro, only taro plots transplanted when 10 cm tall and applied with barley bran showed an improvement in growth increment of both the underground and above parts. However, when sowed seeds after the application of the 4 brans, the yield of taro was reduced by the brans. Thus this research indicates that the effect of brans is differ based on the amount of bran application as well as crops. The effect of weed control on Echinochloa crus-galli, Digitaria clliaris, Chenopodium album, and Solanum nigrum as affected by brans was very low in pot conditions. Weed efficacy of the brans was also very low in field conditions. Growth of Chinese cabbage and garland chrysanthemum was inhibited 63% and 37% by rice bran at $4,000kg\;ha^{-1}$, respectively, but other crops such as maize, squash, cucumber, and Chinese chive were inhibited by 0-20%. These results were similar to that of barley bran except for Chinese cabbage.

The Landscape Components Illustrated in Tea-drinking Pictures of the Joseon Dynasty (조선시대 다화(茶畵)에 나타나는 경관요소)

  • Choi, Mi-Young;Hong, Kwang-Pyo
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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    • v.30 no.1
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    • pp.39-45
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    • 2012
  • The purpose of this research is to look into the tea-drinking pictures of the Joseon Dynasty in order to find the unique landscape traits of tea-drinking spaces of the era. A number of tea-drinking pictures were drawn during the Joseon Dynasty period and in most cases, the names of the painters are stated as well. These factors make tea-drinking pictures a seminal source that illustrates the landscape traits of the last Dynasty of Korea. For those pictures contain the main components of landscape such as the tastes of 'Yangban'(noblemen), natural characters, and space traits. Since tea was first introduced in Korea during the Three Kingdom Period, tea-drinking culture has a long history in the country. There have been various studies about tea and many study results have been presented. Few research, however, have looked into tea culture from the point of landscape. Under the premise that tea-drinking pictures of Joseon Dynasty can be a cultural code that explains Korean tea-drinking culture, this thesis looked into those pictures from various angles and analyzed them in order to elucidate the attributes of scenery components of tea-drinking spaces that Koreans have forged and developed, and following results could be found. The Landscape components illustrated in tea-drinking pictures of the Joseon Dynasty can be divided into the element of architecture, the element of water, stone and plants. First, for the element of architecture, it was found that tea-drinking took place in anywhere in Korea without specific tea-drinking buildings or gardens unlike the case of Japan. This has to do with traits of Koreans who were not bound by formality and truly loved nature. Second, for the element of water, water contributed to making harmonious landscape. Third, for the element of stone, it was clear that stone had a practical role in providing comfortable place for lying and enjoying tea-drinking and scenery. Fourth, plants made elegant figure in the landscape and were planted in accordance with their inner meaning. Tea-drinking pictures of the Joseon Dynasty elucidates that when it comes to tea-drinking, Koreans were not obsessed with a formality of tea-drinking, or a set of tea ceremony, which is profoundly different with Japanese, and Koreans did not put a limit on a place for tea-drinking because for Koreans any place they sat could be a great place for tea-drinking.

A Study on the Spatial Control Effect of Panjang in Donggwoldo (동궐도(東闕圖) 판장(板墻)의 공간통제 효과에 관한 연구)

  • HA Yujeong;KIM Choongsik
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.55 no.4
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    • pp.196-209
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    • 2022
  • This study compared and analyzed the spatial division function and role of partitions by comparing the entire space and the spatial changes before and after the installation of partitions in <Donggwoldo>, which was manufactured in the late Joseon Dynasty. As a research method, a set standard was prepared to decompose the space of <Donggwoldo> into a unit space, and the standard was set according to the role and height of the space by classifying it into a main space, sub space, and transition space. Two convex maps were prepared according to before and after the installation of the Panjang, and the values of connectivity, control, and integration, which are spatial syntax variables, were calculated and analyzed. The results of the study are as follows. First, the partition in <Donggwoldo(東闕圖)> did not affect the overall spatial arrangement and control or connection of Donggwol, but the movement and access of space is limited to specific areas. Second, the partition was a facility intensively distributed in Naejeon(內殿) and Donggung(東宮) to be used actively in the way of space utilization. It shows that the unit space increased rapidly due to the installation of the partition. Since the partition was installed in the spaces that were open and under high control in the case of Naejeon(內殿), it helped to secure private spaces as closed ones under low control. On the other hand, for Donggung(東宮), the spaces were compartmented and divided with the partition to guide the movement path through narrow gates of the partition and increase the depth of the space. This helped to create spaces that are free and can be hidden as it increased the number of spaces coming through. Third, In addition to the functions of "eye blocking, space division, and movement path control" revealed in prior research, the partition has created a "space that is easy to control" within a specific area. The installation of the partition reduced the scale through the separation of spaces, but it occurred the expansion of the movement path and space. Also, the partition functioned to strengthen hiding and closure or increase openness as well through space division. This study is significant in that it revealed the value of the spatial control function of panjang through the analysis of spatial control and depth by analyzing the function of the partition with a mathematical model in addition to the analysis and study of the function and role of panjang. In addition, it is valuable in that it has prepared a framework for analysis tools that can be applied to traditional residential complexes similar to palaces by applying space syntax to <Donggungdo> to create convex spaces according to unit space division and connection types of palace architecture and landscape elements.

Corporate Bond Rating Using Various Multiclass Support Vector Machines (다양한 다분류 SVM을 적용한 기업채권평가)

  • Ahn, Hyun-Chul;Kim, Kyoung-Jae
    • 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.