• Title/Summary/Keyword: Process monitoring

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A Study on the Changes in Functions of Ship Officer and Manpower Training by the Introduction of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (자율운항선박 도입에 따른 해기사 직능 변화와 인력양성에 관한연구)

  • Lim, Sung-Ju;Shin, Yong-John
    • Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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    • v.46 no.1
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    • pp.1-10
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    • 2022
  • This study aims to investigate changes in the demand for ship officers in response to changes in the shipping industry environment in which Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) emerge according to the application of the fourth industrial revolution technology to ships, and it looks into changes in the skill of ship officer. It also analyzes and proposes a plan for nurturing ship officers accordingly. As a result of the degree of recognition and AHP analysis, this study suggests that a new training system is required because the current training and education system may cover the job competencies of emergency response, caution and danger navigation, general sailing, cargo handling, seaworthiness maintenance, emergency response, and ship maintenance and management, but tasks such as remote control, monitoring diagnosis, device management capability, and big data analysis require competency for unmanned and shore-based control. By evaluating the importance of change factors in the duties of ship officers in Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships, this study provides information on ship officer educational institutions' response strategies for nurturing ship officers and prioritization of resource allocation, etc. The importance of these factors was compared and evaluated to suggest changes in the duties of ship officers and methods of nurturing ship officers according to the introduction of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships. It is expected that the findings of this study will be meaningful as it systematically derives the duties and competency factors of ship officers of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships from a practical point of view and analyzed the perception level of each relevant expert to diagnose expert-level responses to the introduction of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships.

Video Analysis System for Action and Emotion Detection by Object with Hierarchical Clustering based Re-ID (계층적 군집화 기반 Re-ID를 활용한 객체별 행동 및 표정 검출용 영상 분석 시스템)

  • Lee, Sang-Hyun;Yang, Seong-Hun;Oh, Seung-Jin;Kang, Jinbeom
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.28 no.1
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    • pp.89-106
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    • 2022
  • Recently, the amount of video data collected from smartphones, CCTVs, black boxes, and high-definition cameras has increased rapidly. According to the increasing video data, the requirements for analysis and utilization are increasing. Due to the lack of skilled manpower to analyze videos in many industries, machine learning and artificial intelligence are actively used to assist manpower. In this situation, the demand for various computer vision technologies such as object detection and tracking, action detection, emotion detection, and Re-ID also increased rapidly. However, the object detection and tracking technology has many difficulties that degrade performance, such as re-appearance after the object's departure from the video recording location, and occlusion. Accordingly, action and emotion detection models based on object detection and tracking models also have difficulties in extracting data for each object. In addition, deep learning architectures consist of various models suffer from performance degradation due to bottlenects and lack of optimization. In this study, we propose an video analysis system consists of YOLOv5 based DeepSORT object tracking model, SlowFast based action recognition model, Torchreid based Re-ID model, and AWS Rekognition which is emotion recognition service. Proposed model uses single-linkage hierarchical clustering based Re-ID and some processing method which maximize hardware throughput. It has higher accuracy than the performance of the re-identification model using simple metrics, near real-time processing performance, and prevents tracking failure due to object departure and re-emergence, occlusion, etc. By continuously linking the action and facial emotion detection results of each object to the same object, it is possible to efficiently analyze videos. The re-identification model extracts a feature vector from the bounding box of object image detected by the object tracking model for each frame, and applies the single-linkage hierarchical clustering from the past frame using the extracted feature vectors to identify the same object that failed to track. Through the above process, it is possible to re-track the same object that has failed to tracking in the case of re-appearance or occlusion after leaving the video location. As a result, action and facial emotion detection results of the newly recognized object due to the tracking fails can be linked to those of the object that appeared in the past. On the other hand, as a way to improve processing performance, we introduce Bounding Box Queue by Object and Feature Queue method that can reduce RAM memory requirements while maximizing GPU memory throughput. Also we introduce the IoF(Intersection over Face) algorithm that allows facial emotion recognized through AWS Rekognition to be linked with object tracking information. The academic significance of this study is that the two-stage re-identification model can have real-time performance even in a high-cost environment that performs action and facial emotion detection according to processing techniques without reducing the accuracy by using simple metrics to achieve real-time performance. The practical implication of this study is that in various industrial fields that require action and facial emotion detection but have many difficulties due to the fails in object tracking can analyze videos effectively through proposed model. Proposed model which has high accuracy of retrace and processing performance can be used in various fields such as intelligent monitoring, observation services and behavioral or psychological analysis services where the integration of tracking information and extracted metadata creates greate industrial and business value. In the future, in order to measure the object tracking performance more precisely, there is a need to conduct an experiment using the MOT Challenge dataset, which is data used by many international conferences. We will investigate the problem that the IoF algorithm cannot solve to develop an additional complementary algorithm. In addition, we plan to conduct additional research to apply this model to various fields' dataset related to intelligent video analysis.

Verification of Multi-point Displacement Response Measurement Algorithm Using Image Processing Technique (영상처리기법을 이용한 다중 변위응답 측정 알고리즘의 검증)

  • Kim, Sung-Wan;Kim, Nam-Sik
    • KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.30 no.3A
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    • pp.297-307
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    • 2010
  • Recently, maintenance engineering and technology for civil and building structures have begun to draw big attention and actually the number of structures that need to be evaluate on structural safety due to deterioration and performance degradation of structures are rapidly increasing. When stiffness is decreased because of deterioration of structures and member cracks, dynamic characteristics of structures would be changed. And it is important that the damaged areas and extent of the damage are correctly evaluated by analyzing dynamic characteristics from the actual behavior of a structure. In general, typical measurement instruments used for structure monitoring are dynamic instruments. Existing dynamic instruments are not easy to obtain reliable data when the cable connecting measurement sensors and device is long, and have uneconomical for 1 to 1 connection process between each sensor and instrument. Therefore, a method without attaching sensors to measure vibration at a long range is required. The representative applicable non-contact methods to measure the vibration of structures are laser doppler effect, a method using GPS, and image processing technique. The method using laser doppler effect shows relatively high accuracy but uneconomical while the method using GPS requires expensive equipment, and has its signal's own error and limited speed of sampling rate. But the method using image signal is simple and economical, and is proper to get vibration of inaccessible structures and dynamic characteristics. Image signals of camera instead of sensors had been recently used by many researchers. But the existing method, which records a point of a target attached on a structure and then measures vibration using image processing technique, could have relatively the limited objects of measurement. Therefore, this study conducted shaking table test and field load test to verify the validity of the method that can measure multi-point displacement responses of structures using image processing technique.

A Study on Problems and Improvement of Home-help Services of Long-term Care Insurance (노인장기요양보험 재가서비스의 문제점과 개선방안)

  • Lee, Jun Woo;Jin, Hee
    • 한국노년학
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    • v.29 no.1
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    • pp.149-175
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    • 2009
  • The purpose of this research is to analyze the overall problems at the moment of October 2008, and then to find the improvements of home-help services of the Long-Term Care Insurance(LTCI), which has been revealed many problems since it was released in July 2008. The research uses the literature survey which analyzes 2nd-hand materials studied by other people already, and survey research was executed from active social workers in the area of LTCI. Based on the policy analysis framework of Gilbert and Specht, all the data are analyzed in the scopes of client·benefit(service)·finance·transferring system. This research has found the problems in each scope of home-help services of the LTCI. Firstly, the client system has some problems in mismatching between registered and service clients, estimating client number, and judging service levels. Secondly, the service system reveals deficiency in professionality of social workers, service quality lowering by loose qualification criteria on workers, non-reasonable limitation of service time available, and the same fare system applied to visiting-help service in spite of different levels. Thirdly, in financing system, clients need to pay additional money to get extra services such as meal, hair cutting, bathing etc., due to government financial support stopped, some organizations have to reduce services and replace full-time workers to part-time ones, which makes the service quality worse. Lastly, in the transferring system, the management system for service quality is not well prepared. There are too much competion because of allowing too many home-help service organizations and care worker academies. The suggestions that this research has found to improve the policy are as follows. ① It is desirable to make the registered clients the service ones as many as possible in the long term perspective. ② The LTCI organization requires more workers and higher professionality. ③ Many elderly people who are not eligible now require connection system to be more served. ④ Management system and service manual for care worker are to be developed. ⑤ Laws related to the service contents and process should be modified, the proportion of client charge needs to adjust. ⑥ Home-help service organization licensed by the LTCI needs to be financially supported publicly. ⑦ Monitoring system to home-help service organization needs to be strengthened. ⑧ Evaluation tools to home-help service organization and workers is required. ⑨ Specification to open the home-help service organization needs to be more strict.

Effect of Milling on Reduction of Fusarium Mycotoxins in Barley (보리 도정이 Fusarium 곰팡이독소 저감에 미치는 효과)

  • Seul Gi Baek;Mi-Jeong Lee;Ju-Young Nah;Soo Bin Yim;Jung-Hye Choi;Jang Nam Choi;Ja Yeong Jang;Jung-Wook Yang;Theresa Lee
    • Research in Plant Disease
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    • v.29 no.4
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    • pp.384-389
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    • 2023
  • Milling can affect the distribution of mycotoxins in small grains. To investigate the effects on barley, seven hulled barley and three naked barley samples naturally contaminated with trichothecenes and zearalenone were obtained and milled at commonly used rates. Both barleys were simultaneously contaminated with deoxynivalenol and its acetyl derivatives (98.1-2,197.8 ㎍/kg), nivalenol and its acetyl derivative (468.5-3,965.1 ㎍/kg), and zearalenone (4.1-274.2 ㎍/kg). Milling hulled barleys at a rate of 67% reduced the mycotoxins in the grain by 90.9% for deoxynivalenol, 87.7% for nivalenol, and 93.2% for zearalenone. The reduction in naked barleys (milled at a rate of 70%) was slightly lower than in hulled barleys, with 88.6% for deoxynivalenol, 80.2% for nivalenol, and 70.1% for zearalenone. In both barleys, the acetyl derivatives of deoxynivalenol and nivalenol were reduced by 100%. However, barley bran had significantly higher mycotoxin concentrations than the pre-milled grains: bran from hulled barley had a 357% increase in deoxynivalenol, 252% increase in nivalenol, and 169% increase in zearalenone. Similarly, bran from naked barley had a 337% increase in deoxynivalenol, 239% increase in nivalenol, and 554% increase in zearalenone. These results show that mycotoxins present in the outer layers of barley grain can be effectively removed through the milling process. As milling redistributes mycotoxins from the grain into the bran, however, it shows that advance monitoring of barley bran is recommended when using barley bran for human or animal consumption.

Psychotherapy for Somatoform Disorder (신체형 장애의 정신치료)

  • Lee, Moo-Suk
    • Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.269-276
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    • 1996
  • A theroretical study was made on the psychodynamism of somatoform disorder. Somatoform disorder is caused by a defense mechanism of somatization. Somatization is the tendency to react to stimuli(drives, defenses, and conflict between them) physically rather than psychically(Moore, 1990). Ford(1983) said it is a way of life, and Dunbar(1954) said it is the shift of psychic energy toward expression in somatic symptoms. As used by Max Shur(1955), somatization links symptom formation to the regression that may occur in response to acute and chronic conflict. In the neurotic individual psychic conflict often provokes regressive phenomena that may include somatic manifestations characteristic of an earlier developmental phase. Schur calls this resomatization. Pain is the most common example of a somatization reaction to conflict. The pain has an unconscious significance derived from childhood experiences. It is used to win love, to punish misdeeds, as well as a means to amend. Among all pains, chest pain has a special meaning. Generally speaking, 'I have pain in my chest' is about the same as 'I have pain in my mind'. The chest represent the mind, and the mind reminds us about the heart. So we have a high tendency to recognize mental pain as cardiac pain. Kellner(1990) said rage and hostility, especially repressed hostility, are important factors in somatization. In 'Psychoanalytic Observation on Cardiac Pain', psychoanalyst Bacon(1953) presented clinical cases of patients who complained of cardiac pain in a psychoanalytic session that spread from the left side of their chests down their left arms. The pain was from rage and fear which came after their desire to be loved was frustrated by the analyet. She said desires related to cardiac pain were dependency needs and aggressions. Empatic relationship and therapeutic alliances are indispensable to psychotherapy in somatoform disorder. The beginning of therapy is to discover a precipitating event from the time their symptoms have started and to help the patient understand a relation between the symptom and precipitating event. Its remedial process is to find and interpret a intrapsychic conflict shown through the symptoms of the patient. Three cases of somatoform disorder patients treated based on this therapeutic method were introduced. The firt patient, Mr. H, had been suffering from hysterical aphasia with repressed rage as ie psychodynamic cause. An interpretation related to the precipitating event was given by written communication, and he recovered from his aphasia after 3 days of the session. The second patient was a dentist in a cardiac neurosis with agitation and hypochondriasis, whose psychodynamism was caused by a fear that he might lose his father's love. His symptom was also interpreted in relation to the precipitating event. It showed the patient a child-within afraid of losing his father's love. His condition improved after getting a didactic interpretation which told him, to be master of himself, The third patient was a lady transferred from the deparment of internal medicine. She had a frequent and violent fit of chest pains, whose psychodynamic cause was separation anxiety and a rage due to the frustration of dependency needs. Her symptom vanished dramatically when she wore a holler EKG monitor and did not occur during monitoring. By this experience she found her symptom was a psychogenic one, and a therapeutic alliance was formed. later in reguar psychotherapy sessions, she was told the relaton between symptoms and precipitating events. Through this she understood that her separation anxiety was connected to the symptom and she became less terrifide when it occurred. Now she can travel abroad and take well part in social activities.

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APPLICATION OF FUZZY SET THEORY IN SAFEGUARDS

  • Fattah, A.;Nishiwaki, Y.
    • Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems Conference
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    • 1993.06a
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    • pp.1051-1054
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    • 1993
  • The International Atomic Energy Agency's Statute in Article III.A.5 allows it“to establish and administer safeguards designed to ensure that special fissionable and other materials, services, equipment, facilities and information made available by the Agency or at its request or under its supervision or control are not used in such a way as to further any military purpose; and to apply safeguards, at the request of the parties, to any bilateral or multilateral arrangement, or at the request of a State, to any of that State's activities in the field of atomic energy”. Safeguards are essentially a technical means of verifying the fulfilment of political obligations undertaken by States and given a legal force in international agreements relating to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The main political objectives are: to assure the international community that States are complying with their non-proliferation and other peaceful undertakings; and to deter (a) the diversion of afeguarded nuclear materials to the production of nuclear explosives or for military purposes and (b) the misuse of safeguarded facilities with the aim of producing unsafeguarded nuclear material. It is clear that no international safeguards system can physically prevent diversion. The IAEA safeguards system is basically a verification measure designed to provide assurance in those cases in which diversion has not occurred. Verification is accomplished by two basic means: material accountancy and containment and surveillance measures. Nuclear material accountancy is the fundamental IAEA safeguards mechanism, while containment and surveillance serve as important complementary measures. Material accountancy refers to a collection of measurements and other determinations which enable the State and the Agency to maintain a current picture of the location and movement of nuclear material into and out of material balance areas, i. e. areas where all material entering or leaving is measurab e. A containment measure is one that is designed by taking advantage of structural characteristics, such as containers, tanks or pipes, etc. To establish the physical integrity of an area or item by preventing the undetected movement of nuclear material or equipment. Such measures involve the application of tamper-indicating or surveillance devices. Surveillance refers to both human and instrumental observation aimed at indicating the movement of nuclear material. The verification process consists of three over-lapping elements: (a) Provision by the State of information such as - design information describing nuclear installations; - accounting reports listing nuclear material inventories, receipts and shipments; - documents amplifying and clarifying reports, as applicable; - notification of international transfers of nuclear material. (b) Collection by the IAEA of information through inspection activities such as - verification of design information - examination of records and repo ts - measurement of nuclear material - examination of containment and surveillance measures - follow-up activities in case of unusual findings. (c) Evaluation of the information provided by the State and of that collected by inspectors to determine the completeness, accuracy and validity of the information provided by the State and to resolve any anomalies and discrepancies. To design an effective verification system, one must identify possible ways and means by which nuclear material could be diverted from peaceful uses, including means to conceal such diversions. These theoretical ways and means, which have become known as diversion strategies, are used as one of the basic inputs for the development of safeguards procedures, equipment and instrumentation. For analysis of implementation strategy purposes, it is assumed that non-compliance cannot be excluded a priori and that consequently there is a low but non-zero probability that a diversion could be attempted in all safeguards ituations. An important element of diversion strategies is the identification of various possible diversion paths; the amount, type and location of nuclear material involved, the physical route and conversion of the material that may take place, rate of removal and concealment methods, as appropriate. With regard to the physical route and conversion of nuclear material the following main categories may be considered: - unreported removal of nuclear material from an installation or during transit - unreported introduction of nuclear material into an installation - unreported transfer of nuclear material from one material balance area to another - unreported production of nuclear material, e. g. enrichment of uranium or production of plutonium - undeclared uses of the material within the installation. With respect to the amount of nuclear material that might be diverted in a given time (the diversion rate), the continuum between the following two limiting cases is cons dered: - one significant quantity or more in a short time, often known as abrupt diversion; and - one significant quantity or more per year, for example, by accumulation of smaller amounts each time to add up to a significant quantity over a period of one year, often called protracted diversion. Concealment methods may include: - restriction of access of inspectors - falsification of records, reports and other material balance areas - replacement of nuclear material, e. g. use of dummy objects - falsification of measurements or of their evaluation - interference with IAEA installed equipment.As a result of diversion and its concealment or other actions, anomalies will occur. All reasonable diversion routes, scenarios/strategies and concealment methods have to be taken into account in designing safeguards implementation strategies so as to provide sufficient opportunities for the IAEA to observe such anomalies. The safeguards approach for each facility will make a different use of these procedures, equipment and instrumentation according to the various diversion strategies which could be applicable to that facility and according to the detection and inspection goals which are applied. Postulated pathways sets of scenarios comprise those elements of diversion strategies which might be carried out at a facility or across a State's fuel cycle with declared or undeclared activities. All such factors, however, contain a degree of fuzziness that need a human judgment to make the ultimate conclusion that all material is being used for peaceful purposes. Safeguards has been traditionally based on verification of declared material and facilities using material accountancy as a fundamental measure. The strength of material accountancy is based on the fact that it allows to detect any diversion independent of the diversion route taken. Material accountancy detects a diversion after it actually happened and thus is powerless to physically prevent it and can only deter by the risk of early detection any contemplation by State authorities to carry out a diversion. Recently the IAEA has been faced with new challenges. To deal with these, various measures are being reconsidered to strengthen the safeguards system such as enhanced assessment of the completeness of the State's initial declaration of nuclear material and installations under its jurisdiction enhanced monitoring and analysis of open information and analysis of open information that may indicate inconsistencies with the State's safeguards obligations. Precise information vital for such enhanced assessments and analyses is normally not available or, if available, difficult and expensive collection of information would be necessary. Above all, realistic appraisal of truth needs sound human judgment.

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A Study on the Growth Diagnosis and Management Prescription for Population of Retusa Fringe Trees in Pyeongji-ri, Jinan(Natural Monument No. 214) (진안 평지리 이팝나무군(천연기념물 제214호)의 생육진단 및 관리방안)

  • Rho, Jae-Hyun;Oh, Hyun-Kyung;Han, Sang-Yub;Choi, Yung-Hyun;Son, Hee-Kyung
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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    • v.36 no.3
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    • pp.115-127
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    • 2018
  • This study was attempted to find out the value of cultural assets through the clear diagnosis and prescription of the dead and weakness factors of the Population of Retusa Fringe Trees in Pyeongji-ri, Jinan(Natural Monument No. 214), The results are as follows. First, Since the designation of 13 natural monuments in 1968, since 1973, many years have passed since then. In particular, despite the removal of some of the buried soil during the maintenance process, such as retreating from the fence of the primary school after 2010, Second, The first and third surviving tree of the designated trees also have many branches that are dead, the leaves are dull, and the amount of leaves is small. vitality of tree is 'extremely bad', and the first branch has already been faded by a large number of branches, and the amount of leaves is considerably low this year, so that only two flowers are bloomed. The second is also in a 'bad'state, with small leaves, low leaf density, and deformed water. The largest number 1 in the world is added to the concern that the s coverd oil is assumed to be paddy soils. Third, It is found that the composition ratio of silt is high because it is known as '[silty loam(SiL)]'. In addition, the pH of the northern soil at pH 1 was 6.6, which was significantly different from that of the other soil. In addition, the organic matter content was higher than the appropriate range, which is considered to reflect the result of continuous application for protection management. Fourth, It is considered that the root cause of failure and growth of Jinan pyeongji-ri Population of Retusa Fringe Trees group is chronic syndrome of serious menstrual deterioration due to covered soil. This can also be attributed to the newly planted succession and to some of the deaths. Fifthly, It is urgent to gradually remove the subsoil part, which is estimated to be the cause of the initial damage. Above all, it is almost impossible to remove the coverd soil after grasping the details of the soil, such as clayey soil, which is buried in the rootstock. After removal of the coverd soil, a pestle is installed to improve the respiration of the roots and the ground with Masato. And the dead 4th dead wood and the 5th and 6th dead wood are the best, and the lower layer vegetation is mown. The viable neck should be removed from the upper surface, and the bark defect should undergo surgery and induce the development of blindness by vestibule below the growth point. Sixth, The underground roots should be identified to prepare a method to improve the decompression of the root and the respiration of the soil. It is induced by the shortening of rotten roots by tracing the first half of the rootstock to induce the generation of new roots. Seventh, We try mulching to suppress weed occurrence, trampling pressure, and soil moisturizing effect. In addition, consideration should be given to the fertilization of the foliar fertilizer, the injection of the nutrients, and the soil management of the inorganic fertilizer for the continuous nutrition supply. Future monitoring and forecasting plans should be developed to check for changes continuously.

Changes in Agricultural Extension Services in Korea (한국농촌지도사업(韓國農村指導事業)의 변동(變動))

  • Fujita, Yasuki;Lee, Yong-Hwan;Kim, Sung-Soo
    • Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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    • v.7 no.1
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    • pp.155-166
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    • 2000
  • When the marcher visited Korea in fall 1994, he was shocked to see high rise apartment buildings around the capitol region including Seoul and Suwon, resulting from rising demand of housing because of urban migration followed by second and third industrial development. After 6 years in March 2000, the researcher witnessed more apartment buildings and vinyl house complexes, one of the evidences of continued economic progress in Korea. Korea had to receive the rescue finance from International Monetary Fund (IMF) because of financial crisis in 1997. However, the sign of recovery was seen in a year, and the growth rate of Gross Domestic Products (GDP) in 1999 recorded as high as 10.7 percent. During this period, the Korean government has been working on restructuring of banks, enterprises, labour and public sectors. The major directions of government were; localization, reducing administrative manpower, limiting agricultural budgets, privatization of public enterprises, integration of agricultural organization, and easing of various regulations. Thus, the power of central government shifted to local government resulting in a power increase for city mayors and county chiefs. Agricultural extension services was one of targets of government restructuring, transferred to local governments from central government. At the same time, the number of extension offices was reduced by 64 percent, extension personnel reduced by 24 percent, and extension budgets reduced. During the process of restructuring, the basic direction of extension services was set by central Rural Development Administration Personnel management, technology development and supports were transferred to provincial Rural Development Administrations, and operational responsibilities transferred to city/county governments. Agricultural extension services at the local levels changed the name to Agricultural Technology Extension Center, established under jurisdiction of city mayor or county chief. The function of technology development works were added, at the same time reducing the number of educators for agriculture and rural life. As a result of observations of rural areas and agricultural extension services at various levels, functional responsibilities of extension were not well recognized throughout the central, provincial, and local levels. Central agricultural extension services should be more concerned about effective rural development by monitoring provincial and local level extension activities more throughly. At county level extension services, it may be desirable to add a research function to reflect local agricultural technological needs. Sometimes, adding administrative tasks for extension educators may be helpful far farmers. However, tasks such as inspection and investigation should be avoided, since it may hinder the effectiveness of extension educational activities. It appeared that major contents of the agricultural extension service in Korea were focused on saving agricultural materials, developing new agricultural technology, enhancing agricultural export, increasing production and establishing market oriented farming. However these kinds of efforts may lead to non-sustainable agriculture. It would be better to put more emphasis on sustainable agriculture in the future. Agricultural extension methods in Korea may be better classified into two approaches or functions; consultation function for advanced farmers and technology transfer or educational function for small farmers. Advanced farmers were more interested in technology and management information, while small farmers were more concerned about information for farm management directions and timely diffusion of agricultural technology information. Agricultural extension service should put more emphasis on small farmer groups and active participation of farmers in these groups. Providing information and moderate advice in selecting alternatives should be the major activities for consultation for advanced farmers, while problem solving processes may be the major educational function for small farmers. Systems such as internet and e-mail should be utilized for functions of information exchange. These activities may not be an easy task for decreased numbers of extension educators along with increased administrative tasks. It may be difficult to practice a one-to-one approach However group guidance may improve the task to a certain degree.

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The Characteristics and Performances of Manufacturing SMEs that Utilize Public Information Support Infrastructure (공공 정보지원 인프라 활용한 제조 중소기업의 특징과 성과에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Keun-Hwan;Kwon, Taehoon;Jun, Seung-pyo
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.25 no.4
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    • pp.1-33
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    • 2019
  • The small and medium sized enterprises (hereinafter SMEs) are already at a competitive disadvantaged when compared to large companies with more abundant resources. Manufacturing SMEs not only need a lot of information needed for new product development for sustainable growth and survival, but also seek networking to overcome the limitations of resources, but they are faced with limitations due to their size limitations. In a new era in which connectivity increases the complexity and uncertainty of the business environment, SMEs are increasingly urged to find information and solve networking problems. In order to solve these problems, the government funded research institutes plays an important role and duty to solve the information asymmetry problem of SMEs. The purpose of this study is to identify the differentiating characteristics of SMEs that utilize the public information support infrastructure provided by SMEs to enhance the innovation capacity of SMEs, and how they contribute to corporate performance. We argue that we need an infrastructure for providing information support to SMEs as part of this effort to strengthen of the role of government funded institutions; in this study, we specifically identify the target of such a policy and furthermore empirically demonstrate the effects of such policy-based efforts. Our goal is to help establish the strategies for building the information supporting infrastructure. To achieve this purpose, we first classified the characteristics of SMEs that have been found to utilize the information supporting infrastructure provided by government funded institutions. This allows us to verify whether selection bias appears in the analyzed group, which helps us clarify the interpretative limits of our study results. Next, we performed mediator and moderator effect analysis for multiple variables to analyze the process through which the use of information supporting infrastructure led to an improvement in external networking capabilities and resulted in enhancing product competitiveness. This analysis helps identify the key factors we should focus on when offering indirect support to SMEs through the information supporting infrastructure, which in turn helps us more efficiently manage research related to SME supporting policies implemented by government funded institutions. The results of this study showed the following. First, SMEs that used the information supporting infrastructure were found to have a significant difference in size in comparison to domestic R&D SMEs, but on the other hand, there was no significant difference in the cluster analysis that considered various variables. Based on these findings, we confirmed that SMEs that use the information supporting infrastructure are superior in size, and had a relatively higher distribution of companies that transact to a greater degree with large companies, when compared to the SMEs composing the general group of SMEs. Also, we found that companies that already receive support from the information infrastructure have a high concentration of companies that need collaboration with government funded institution. Secondly, among the SMEs that use the information supporting infrastructure, we found that increasing external networking capabilities contributed to enhancing product competitiveness, and while this was no the effect of direct assistance, we also found that indirect contributions were made by increasing the open marketing capabilities: in other words, this was the result of an indirect-only mediator effect. Also, the number of times the company received additional support in this process through mentoring related to information utilization was found to have a mediated moderator effect on improving external networking capabilities and in turn strengthening product competitiveness. The results of this study provide several insights that will help establish policies. KISTI's information support infrastructure may lead to the conclusion that marketing is already well underway, but it intentionally supports groups that enable to achieve good performance. As a result, the government should provide clear priorities whether to support the companies in the underdevelopment or to aid better performance. Through our research, we have identified how public information infrastructure contributes to product competitiveness. Here, we can draw some policy implications. First, the public information support infrastructure should have the capability to enhance the ability to interact with or to find the expert that provides required information. Second, if the utilization of public information support (online) infrastructure is effective, it is not necessary to continuously provide informational mentoring, which is a parallel offline support. Rather, offline support such as mentoring should be used as an appropriate device for abnormal symptom monitoring. Third, it is required that SMEs should improve their ability to utilize, because the effect of enhancing networking capacity through public information support infrastructure and enhancing product competitiveness through such infrastructure appears in most types of companies rather than in specific SMEs.