• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.41-52
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• 2015

Purpose - Given globalization, the new niche market of medical tourism is likely to experience sustainable growth for various reasons, such as aging populations and a shift in the medical consumerism paradigm toward prevention. Importantly, understanding medical customers' behavior is necessary to benefit from a competitive advantage in this industry. The existing research primarily accessed the key factors of medical quality and costs to explain health customers' behavior but is limited in terms of enabling an understanding of the decision process. This limitation exists because, given the intangibility and greater associated risks in the highly professional industry of international medical tourism, most customers lack the knowledge and experience needed to evaluate the central factors-such as the medical competence of health care countries-before purchases. Therefore, they actively search for useful information through various distributions to reduce uncertainty and to make better choices. Interestingly, most of these information channels are associated with word-of-mouth (WOM). However, no evidence is found in the literature to estimate the effect of WOM in the medical tourism field. Thus, this study focuses on WOM to explore its interaction with key medical characteristic factors and the attractiveness of destinations referred to by sources. This study also affects customers' evaluations and, in turn, influences their intention to seek health care services abroad. Research design, data, and methodology - The literature review addressed an interesting research model for estimating the relations among WOM, medical characteristics, attractiveness, and customers' choice intention regarding international health care. In the key economic regions in China, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Guangdong, 2,500 survey questionnaires were distributed to potential customers of different ages, education, and income levels. A resulting 1,717 (68.68 percent of the original 2,500) usable surveys were obtained for analysis. Moderated regression analysis was used to determine the effects of WOM in the decision process regarding international health care destinations. Results - The results indicate that WOM is a good moderator of the relationships between the factors evaluated by sources and customers. More importantly, the WOM effects reflect the factors of tie strength, credibility, and vividness. The results also reveal that, given the moderating role of WOM, the intention of potential Chinese customers to seek the referred health care country varies according to the medical characteristics of medical competency and reputation as evaluated by customers. In contrast, the travel attractiveness of the attractions, facilities, accessibility, and social environment are critical determinants of destination choice intention. Conclusions - The moderating role of WOM has been confirmed through the international healthcare destination selection process. Medical tourism managers should user WOM as an effective marketing tool for industry development. Specially, marketers should consider the effects of WOM determinants, such as tie strength, credibility, and vividness, to develop an effective strategy. Furthermore, this study estimates the factors that affect customers' selection of medical tourism destinations. Health care managers or policy makers should consider a broad variety of variables that may attract more Chinese customers to international health care.

• The Journal of Korean Association of Computer Education
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2002

The development of information and communications technologies(ICT) is changing school education, which is a center of teaching/lession process. Information and communications technologies can not guarantee quality education appropriate for knowledge & information society. Interactions between ICT and educational environment, change in the role of teachers, and shift in teaching strategies for educational contents and learning method would be required. This paper has studied the relationship between school education and ICT, change in the role of teachers, and a direction in teaching strategies to take advantage of ICT in school education. For this purpose, it has endeavored to offer an ideal ICT environment by researching both some cases in the foreign countries and the seventh educational process in Korea. In conclusion, this study recommends the followings; First, interactive environment between school and ICT is necessary to make education appropriate to knowledge-information society; Secondly, in the structutive teaching/learing process based upon ICT classroom, teachers should not be the old role player, such as knowledge transfer and learning manager any longer; instead, they should stimulate more social and conversational thinking, and integrate ICT into teaching process; Thirdly, teaching strategies need to change for the purpose of promoting evaluative thinking productive thinking creative thinking.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.97-114
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• 2018

The East Asian region, an important part of Korea's imports and exports, is expected to grow further driven by the geographical, political, economic, social, and cultural complementarity. With the recent increase in imports and exports, the port trade volume between Korea and East Asian countries is also growing. However, due to various factors, such as economic size, growth rate, port infrastructure level, and geographical location of these countries, the volume of traffic with these ports is fluctuating. Despite much research on the volatility of port trade volume and changes in port network, this study tries to supplement the gap in a more detailed study of ports in Korea and East Asia since these kinds of studies are limited. The purpose of this study is to analyze the trend of distribution routes of export container cargo among ports in Korea and to present policy and practical implications of Korean trading companies, shipping companies, logistics companies, and port authorities. This study analyzes the variability of the trade volume between Korea's major ports and Daedong. Results show that Shanghai, Ningbo, Ho Chi Minh, and Haiphong were the most important factors in terms of size and volume increase. In terms of ports, the Busan port is the port responsible for trades with Yantai, Weihai, Hakata, Kobe, Ho Chi Minh, and Haiphong; Incheon port deals with Lianyungang, Tianjin, Osaka, Kobe, Ho Chi Minh, Haiphong; Gwangyang port trades with Tianjinxingang, Weihai, Yokohama, Mihn and Tanjong, and Ulsan port is strategically important for the Yantai, Lianyungang, Nagoya, Kobe, Ho Chi Minh and Portkelang ports. Therefore, the Korean government, port authorities, and shipping and logistics companies need to strengthen logistic network cooperation with these ports and actively promote investments in them.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.91-102
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• 2014

Recent trends in urban policies show the increasing importance of urban parks. Moreover the park policy and planning are increasingly important for the good urban park system. Comparative studies in the operational system and planning contents of the parks and green space plans of the major cities would be timely and meaningful. This study aims to provide a comparative study in operational system and planning contents of the Parks and Green Space Master Plan at urban scale. Sites include London, New York, Berlin, Sydney and Seoul. Analyses are focused on the master plans and strategy reports of each city. Frameworks for analysis are divided into operational system and planning contents. The results are as follows. First, the Parks and Green Space Plans as an open space planning linked to related resources would contribute to both integrated resources management and practice of the fairness. Second, evolution from quantity to quality of the parks and green space plan enhances revitalization and regeneration. Third, shift from the 'supply oriented plan' to 'need based plan' model provides flexible planning model to meet the demographic change, trend change, preference and use. Fourth, planning agents, enlarged opportunities for participation within each phase, diversified of the participants lead the changes from the passive participation to active one. In order to improve the practicability of the parks and green space master plan, a flexible planning strategy including social awareness changes and park governance is required.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.138-160
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• 2009

The urban housing market in Korea, especially in Seoul and the Capital region, has been revitalized with massive urban (re)developments and expanding real estate finance after the IMF crisis. This brought about a boom of housing price during the mid-2000s, which has been virtually stabilized by strong regulation policies of the previous government. But with impacts of the recent international financial crisis together with some inherent problems, the housing market of Korea faces with a worry of collapse in relation with the financial market volatility and the serious depression of real economy, and hence the current government attempts to implement strong deregulation policies on the housing market. In this paper it is argued that this kind of volatility of urban housing market seems to be caused by strategies of capital which involve continuous massive urban (re)development, residential segregation and appropriation of monopoly rent(or capital gain), and fictitious capitalization of real estates and integration of real estate market and financial market. In these reasons, the current tendency of urban housing price shows a slow downward, which seems to give the current neoliberal government a rationale for deregulation policies to prevent the downward tendency. But this paper suggests that such a slow downward of housing price shift would have positive effects on the housing market in particular and social and economic situations in general, and hence an alternative housing policy is required to realize such positive effects.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 2020

In the present paper, as a way of reducing heavyweight impact sounds, in particular, among floor impact sounds which have come to the forefront as a social issue recently, a floor joist slab is proposed that is expected to bring an effect of reducing heavyweight impact sounds through a shift in the natural frequency by installing a floor joist on a flat-type slab to increase the rigidity of the floor slab, differently from the existing method that increases the thickness of floor slab, and the heavyweight impact sound characteristics depending on the floor joist height and interval are interpretively analyzed. As a result of the analysis, though a trend is shown where the sound pressure level decreases as the slab thickness of floor joist increases, and as no difference is shown when thickness is above a certain value, it is thought that there is a threshold for the effect of an increase in floor thickness on blockage of heavyweight impact sounds. Also, as an increase in floor rigidity resulting from an increase in the floor joist height and a decrease in the interval does not lead to a consistent increase in the performance of blocking heavyweight impact sounds, it is thought that a different floor joist height and interval should be applied to each type of house to expect optimum performance of blocking heavyweight impact sounds, and an increase of 100mm in the floor joist height or a decrease of about 100mm in the interval is expected to bring an effect of reducing heavyweight impact sounds by about 1dB to 2dB.

• Korean Journal of Child Education & Care
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.123-143
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• 2018

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate daycare center director's awareness of male teacher recruitment and need for effective male teacher recruitment. Methods: To this end, eight directors of child care centers with male teachers were selected as subjects of study. The data collection method was applied to the Focus Group Interview method, and a four interviews were conducted for two to two and a half hours. Results: After the interview data was analyzed, the contents were categorized into two major themes and six sub themes in awareness of male teacher recruitment by director of daycare center. The two major themes were (1) A vague fear of upcoming difficulties (2) The light and darkness of male teachers in the organization culture of childcare. Looking at the results, in a vague fear of upcoming difficulties theme includes administrative disadvantages, gender-related social atmosphere, and uncertainty about their role performance. Second, in the light and darkness theme includes women-centered organizational culture and adaptation, the vision of child care sites, and the role of male teachers at childcare sites. Next the contents were categorized into one major theme and four sub themes in need for effective male teacher recruitment by director of daycare center. The major theme was a male teacher's way into the daycare site, and sub five themes were expanding opportunities for child care experience and practices, a shift in the perception that it's not a man, it's an individual problem, maximizing the strengths of men, and improving the system. Conclusion/Implications: Based on these results, several specific implications of need for effective male teacher recruitment were suggested.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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• no.37
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• pp.3-39
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to analyze the present stage of community archives movement in the UK. By doing so, it draws some implications of the UK case for the community archives movement in Korea. The UK's 'Independent' community archives as a part of grassroots movement are characterized by participation, autonomy, and self-help of community members. Along with the appearance of the concept of 'community', the UK has experienced the revitalization period of community archives in the social context of community-based urban regeneration project. Recently, the UK's community archives have transformed themselves into building a 'governance model' relying on the partnership with mainstream archives. In particular, the UK model of community archives is based 'on their own ways' with their autonomy as a product of intrinsic development initiated by communities themselves. The character of the model of this type is very analogous to the nature of maul' community archives movement in Korea. Since the early 2000s, however, the UK model of community archives has been evolving into a way of building governance through their appropriation of the skills and methodologies from mainstream archives without endangering the autonomous essences of community archives themselves. We need to note the point of local researchers' view in archival science who have tried to seek out the methodology for building maul community archives with regard to openness and collaboration. In this respect, a shift in archival principle in the UK would give significant implications in regenerating the locally based community model.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.13-31
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• 2019

Green spaces are recognised for the benefits. They bring to the quality of people's lives. However, since the 1980s there has been a general increase in poorly-managed green spaces. In an attempt to address this issue, green space policy has changed its focus on green space management through the gradual introduction of green space evaluation tools, such as the Green Flag Award (GFA). The GFA, as an established green space evaluation tool in the UK, reflects a shift in policy drivers of green spaces management. However, there is a lack of research investigating the contextualisation between a wide range of policy contexts and such green space evaluation tools (the GFA in this study). The aims of this study are therefore to explore the development of green space evaluation since the late 1990s, with respect to the growth of the GFA and its impact on other evaluation tools across the UK and several countries. To address the aims, this study employs in-depth literature reviews on UK green space policy mainly conducted by government. In addition, case studies are presented, focusing on the GFA and independent green space evaluation tools intrinsically derived from the GFA in the UK's cities and Nordic countries. Results show that based on the awareness of the severity of declining standards of green spaces, newly emerging policy arrangements have been adopted to address negative issues, which affect the standard of green spaces such as the transfer of responsibility for green space management, the implementation of Compulsory Competitive Tendering and ongoing budget cuts. Significantly, the GFA's indicators reflect the emerging changes of economic and social contexts associated with green spaces management where, in particular, the prospect of continuous budget cuts, which encourages communities to become involved in green space management. The GFA has widely contributed to leading such UK's cities and other countries to be able to create their independent green space evaluation tools in different approaches based on stakeholders' (mainly community) involvement in the decision-making process of green space evaluation. In conclusion, this study implies that successful green space evaluation tools do embody the value of green spaces and address drivers of emerging green space management with correspondence to the context of policy arrangements. Importantly, stakeholders have an opportunity to be involved in a partnership in the decision-making process through some green space evaluation tools. It is hoped that for well-managed green spaces this study will contribute valuable knowledge to our existing understanding of green space management in an era of austerity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.15-34
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• 2019

Today, there is increasing recognition of the importance of urban regeneration for better public places. Urban parks as a public area play an important role in harnessing its positive impact on people's well-being: where the standards and funding of/for the parks are getting worse. There is however less a focus on policy approach to park regeneration in the country. Neverthless, a few UK's cases of such innovative park management(PM) has shown successful park regeneration based on policy support. Therefore, the aim of this research is to draw policy implications by exploring a case of successful park regeneration. To address the aim, this research conducts an in-depth case study of 'Manor Fields Park, UK', digging into its PM structure and PM body 'Green Estate Ltd' in relation to relevant policy. The data is mainly collected by interviews including a group interview. The analytical framework 'Place-keeping(PK)' and its six dimensions are employed to determine the characteristics of MFP's PM structure. Resultingly, there is a significant shift in the approach to PM which stresses the principle of long-term and self-sustaining structure led by a non-profit organisation and strong impacts of policy. In this context, PK highlights significant drivers for parks regeneration particularly in terms of policy implications: 1)providing policy support to encourage non-profit organisations in PM, 2)extending community involvement in decision-making processes, 3)promoting income generation by community groups, 4)shifting public awareness of shared responsibility for PM, 5)completing regular park maintenance assessment by community groups, and 6)delivering low-maintenance approaches to PM. To support these implications, PM structure for successful parks regeneration does meet a holistic and multi-dimensional approach of place-keeping underlined by understanding policy contexts and rethinking current status quo of PM. Addressing these implications will shed light on urban PM in an era of austerity and ultimately contribute to improving people's well-being.