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Evaluation of the usefulness of the method according to changes in patient breathing during chest 4D CT imaging (흉부 4D CT에서 호흡 변화에 대한 일시 중지 및 재개 방법의 유용성 평가)

  • Heo, Sol;Shin, Chung Hun;Jeong, Hyun Sook;Yoo, Soon Mi;Kim, Jeong Mi;Yun, In Ha;Hong, Seung Mo;Back, Geum Mun
    • The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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    • v.33
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    • pp.47-54
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    • 2021
  • Purpose : In order to evaluate the usefulness of clinical application of the Pause & Resume methods by comparing and analyzing the data stability and dose reduction effect when repeat scan assuming irregular breathing and using the Pause & Resume method during chest 4D CT using QuasarTM Phantom. Materials and Methods : Using the QuasarTM Phantom, set the breathing rate per minute to 15 BPM and 7.5 BPM, and set the S15 point as an irregular breathing section, and then placed OSLD to this point and use the Pause & Resume method to measure the dose of S15. CTDIvol, DLP, and ALARA-CT were used for comparative analysis of radiation dose between Pause & Resume method and Repeat-scan. In order to evaluate the stability and usability of the data applying the Pause & Resume method, the captured images were sorted by Advanced Workstation Volume Share7 and then sent to EclipseTM, the diameter and volume were analyzed by forming a contour on the iron ball in the QuasarTM Phantom Results : When using Pause & Resume, the dose of OSLD measurement increased by 1.97 times in the section of S15. As a result of image evaluation, the average value of all volumes measured with and without the Pause & Resume method at 15 BPM and 7.5 BPM was 15.2 cm3±0.5%.Allthemeasuredvaluesfor the radius of iron ball were 3.1 cm regardless of whether Pause & Resume method was used or not. In the case of using Pause & Resume, 33% decreased from the lowest DLP value and 38% decreased from the highest DLP value of repeat scan, and the effective dose also decreased 32.1% from the minimum value and 37.6% from the maximum value. Conclusion: Irradiation dose was increased by Pause & Resume method because of the repeat scan on the S15 site where assuming irregular breathing occurred, However Pause & Resume method led to a significant reduction in dose on overall scan range. It also proved the usefulness of clinical application of the Pause & Resume method as a result of similar diameters and volumes of iron ball measurement.

Spatial Distribution of Macrozoobenthic Organisms along the Korean Coasts in Summer Season (한국 연안의 하계 대형저서동물의 공간분포)

  • LEE, JUNG-HO;LIM, HYUN-SIG;SHIN, HYUN CHOOL;RYU, JONGSEONG
    • The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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    • v.27 no.2
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    • pp.87-102
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    • 2022
  • To clarify the spatial distribution pattern of macrozoobenthos in Korean coastal waters in the summer season and investigate the relationship between community structure and benthic environmental factors, field surveys on community structure and benthic environmental factors were conducted at 117 stations in August 2017. A total of 613 macrobenthic species were identified, with the mean density of 1,228 ind./m2 and the mean biomass (wet weight) of 110.9 g WW/m2. Rich biodiversity was found at stations near Wando and along the coast of the East Sea, and there is a trend that stations with greater biodiversity also showed higher mean density as well. The dominant species in all the coastal areas in Korea was Heteromastus filiformis, which were found at most of the stations during the survey. The relatively deep areas in the East Sea were dominated by Magelona johnsoni and Maldane cristata, which were the third and ninth dominant species in the study areas, respectively. Pseudopolydora kempi and Rhynchospio sp. were observed only at the station located in the Nakdong River estuary. From the cluster analysis the stations could be clustered into three station groups with more similar faunal composition. Group A was located in the eastern coast, characterized with deep water depth and low levels of sand contents, while Group B was located in the southern coast, characterized by shallow depth of water and high content of mud and organic matter. Lastly, Group C was in the western coast, demonstrating low levels of mud content and organic matters. The biodiversity of macrobenthic species in the study area showed high positive correlation coefficients with benthic environmental factors such as sorting, clay, silt, and contents of organic matter in sediments, but negatively correlated with the sand contents. Major dominant species, Theora lata and Eriopisella sechellensis, both showed negative correlation coefficients with the sand contents, but a relatively high positive correlation with the levels of organic contents.It can be concluded that the spatial distribution patterns of macrobenthic organisms in Korean coastal waters are affected by depth, sediment type, and contents of organic matters.

A Study on the Types of Jazz Performance Audiences Using Q Methodology (Q 방법론을 적용한 재즈공연 관객의 유형에 관한 연구)

  • Jeong, Woo Sik
    • Korean Association of Arts Management
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    • no.53
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    • pp.5-45
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    • 2020
  • This study aims to deeply analyze the subjective attitude of jazz performance audiences in Korea using Q methodology. In order to establish a population for the research, we decided 'People's mind about jazz performances' as the main topic and finally selected a Q model consist of 38 statements after having a depth interview with corresponding experts. Additionally, from January to February 2019, we implemented a Q-sorting and individual interview to total of 27 people including people majored in music, jazz club members and other citizens. The result were the following. First of all, a musical-interest oriented type. People of this type understood watching jazz performance as a daily leisure activity and went to watch a show more than once a month on overage. Those people obtained information of performances and actors before attending a show using social network such as SNS and jazz clubs. They also had a big desire to have an emotional interaction with jazz musicians while having a fan signing event or performance. Secondly, a general-interest oriented type. This type of people had a tendency of considering watching a jazz performance as a especial experience and not a daily life event. Attending a jazz performance was a novel experience which could be done with their close friends in a special day. Thirdly, people with self-value oriented type. This people were majored in jazz and classic in their universities. As they had a concrete perspective, professional knowledge and experiences, they were more sensitive on the general quality of the performances such as show's sound, light, video, sound system of the theater, player's ability, level of facilities, accessibility, etc. rather than the reputation of an artist. This research did not only revealed jazz audience's subjective tendency using Q methodology but also demonstrated the types of jazz audiences and their characteristics. Therefore, this could be a meaningful study for suggesting a significant implication for the marketing mix of performance planning on each jazz audience type.

Development of Rope Winding Device for Safety Fishing Operation of Small Trap Fishing Vessel (소형 통발어선의 안전조업을 위한 로프 권양장치 연구)

  • Kim, Dae-Jin;Jang, Duck-Jong;Park, Ju-Sam
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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    • v.28 no.1
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    • pp.19-29
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    • 2022
  • The result of a questionnaire survey conducted on fishermen using coastal fish traps shows that fall accidents during trap dropping and pulling constitute the highest proportion of accidents at 42.1 %, whereas slipping accidents on the deck or stricture accidents to the body due to the trap winding device constitute 21.1 % each. In addition, 53.2 % of all surveyed subjects responded that trap pulling is the most dangerous task, followed by fish sorting 33.8 %, and trap dropping 9.1 %. As for the main items requested by fishermen for improving the trap winding device, 36.8 % indicated a method to easily lift the trap from the water to the work deck, and 31.6 % indicated a method to overcome the rope tension and prevent slip when pulling the trap to reduce the accidents. The small trap fishing vessel winding device proposed herein can increase the winding force by strengthening the rope contact area and friction coefficient via an appropriate contact angle between the driving roller of the winding device and the rope. When the contact angles between the driving roller and the rope are 1°, 5°, 9°, 14° and 19°, the rope tension showed a difference according to each contact angle. When the contact angle is 9°, the rope tension is the highest at 392.62 kgf. Based on these experimental results, a prototype winding device is manufactured, and 25 traps are installed on a rope with a total length of 100 m at 4 m intervals in the sea, and then the rope tension is measured during trap pulling. As a result, the rope tension increases rapidly at the initial stage of trap pulling and shows the highest value of 31.89 kgf, which subsequently decreases significantly. Therefore, it is appropriate to design the winding force of a small trap fishing vessel winding device based on the maximum tension value of the rope specified at the beginning of the trap pulling operation.

Deep Learning OCR based document processing platform and its application in financial domain (금융 특화 딥러닝 광학문자인식 기반 문서 처리 플랫폼 구축 및 금융권 내 활용)

  • Dongyoung Kim;Doohyung Kim;Myungsung Kwak;Hyunsoo Son;Dongwon Sohn;Mingi Lim;Yeji Shin;Hyeonjung Lee;Chandong Park;Mihyang Kim;Dongwon Choi
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.29 no.1
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    • pp.143-174
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    • 2023
  • With the development of deep learning technologies, Artificial Intelligence powered Optical Character Recognition (AI-OCR) has evolved to read multiple languages from various forms of images accurately. For the financial industry, where a large number of diverse documents are processed through manpower, the potential for using AI-OCR is great. In this study, we present a configuration and a design of an AI-OCR modality for use in the financial industry and discuss the platform construction with application cases. Since the use of financial domain data is prohibited under the Personal Information Protection Act, we developed a deep learning-based data generation approach and used it to train the AI-OCR models. The AI-OCR models are trained for image preprocessing, text recognition, and language processing and are configured as a microservice architected platform to process a broad variety of documents. We have demonstrated the AI-OCR platform by applying it to financial domain tasks of document sorting, document verification, and typing assistance The demonstrations confirm the increasing work efficiency and conveniences.

Archaeometric Significant and Manufacturing Characteristics of Comb-Pattern Pottery from the Daejuk-ri Shell Midden, Seosan, Korea (서산 대죽리 패총 출토 빗살무늬토기의 제작특성과 고고과학적 의미)

  • AN Deogim;LEE Chan Hee
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.55 no.4
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    • pp.138-164
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    • 2022
  • The Neolithic shell midden in Daejuk-ri, Seosan, is distributed on the gentle slope of a low hill close to the west coast. The bedrock of the area consists mainly of schist with various mafic minerals, but shows a partial gneiss pattern. The site consists of loamy topsoil and clay loam subsoil, and the degree of siallization is relatively low. Although the pottery excavated from the shell midden shares mostly similar features, a variety of shapes and patterns coexist. The surface colors, thickness and physical properties are slightly different. The pottery can be subdivided into three types (IA, IB and II) according to the composition of the body clay, the temper and the existence of a black core. Types IA and IB are colorless mineral pottery with a non-black or black core respectively. TypeII is colored mineral pottery with a non-black core. Type I pottery also contains non-plastic colored minerals, but type II contains a large amount of biotite, chlorite, talc, amphibole, diopside and tremolite, which include a large amount of Mg and Fe. The studied pottery contains a small amount of organic matter. Considering the grain size and relatively poor sorting and roundness of the non-plastic particles, the pottery appears to be made by adding coarse non-plastic tempers for special purposes to the untreated weathered soil around the site. The three types of pottery seem to have been incompletely fired in general. While type IB has the lowest degree of oxidation, typeII shows the highest degree of redness and oxidation. It can be interpreted that these differences depend on the firing temperature and the ratio of non-plastic particles. Through a synthesis of the minerals, geochemical data and thermal history, it can be determined that the firing temperature ranged from 600 to 700℃. The pottery types of the Daejuk-ri Shell Midden have slightly different production conditions, mineral compositions, and physical properties, but have undergone similar production processes with basically the same clay materials. The clay is almost identical to the composition of the bedrock and weathered soil distributed in the Daejuk-ri area. Currently, there is an industrial complex in the area, so it is difficult to confirm the soil and geological distribution of the site. However, it is highly probable that the area around the site was self-sufficient for the clay and tempers required for the production of the Neolithic pottery. Therefore, it can be interpreted that the group that left the shell midden in Daejuk-ri lived near the site, visited the site for the purpose of collecting and processing shellfish, and discarded the broken pottery along with shells.

Benthic Environments and Macrobenthic Polychaete Community Structure in the winter of 2005-2006 in Gamak Bay, Korea (가막만의 2005년과 2006년 동계 저서환경 및 대형저서다모류군집구조)

  • Yoon, Sang-Pil;Kim, Youn-Jung;Jung, Rae-Hong;Moon, Chang-Ho;Hong, Sok-Jin;Lee, Won-Chan;Park, Jong-Soo
    • The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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    • v.13 no.1
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    • pp.67-82
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    • 2008
  • This study was performed to investigate changes in benthic environment and macrobenthic polychaete communities in Gamak Bay where various environmental quality improvement projects have been implemented in recent years. Field surveys were carried out in February, 2005 and February, 2006 and twenty stations were selected to explore whether or not there were between-year differences in biotic and abiotic variables. Of 10 environmental variables measured, only three variables including dissolved oxygen (DO), total ignition loss (IL), acid volatile sulfide (AVS) showed significant between-year differences. Specifically, IL and AVS were, on average, 1.5 and 3 times lower in 2006 compared to those in 2005, respectively, which was more pronounced in the northern part of the bay. A total of 95 polychaete species was sampled from the two sampling occasions. Between-year differences in the number of species, abundance, and diversity were varied from place to place. In the northern part of the bay, fewer species were found in 2006 rather than in 2005, but diversity increased in 2006 due to the reduction in dominance of a few species. On the contrary, in the central part of the bay, the number of species, abundance and diversity prominently increased in 2006. In the southern part of the bay, all the biological indices maintained similarly during the two years. Dominant species in 2005 were such opportunistic or organic pollution indicator species as Lumbrineris longifolia, Capitella capitata, Mediomastus californiensis, Pseudopolydora paucibranchiata, etc. and most of them were mainly distributed in the northern part of the bay and in the proximity of it. In 2006, however, Euchone alicaudata, L. longifolia, Paraprionospio pinnata, Flabelligeridae sp., etc. were dominant and distributed mainly in the central part of the bay. Multivariate analyses showed that the whole polychaete community could be divided into 5 groups reflecting the geographical positions of the sampling stations and temporal variation particularly in the northern part of the bay. According to the results of BIO-ENV procedure, TOC (${\rho}=0.52$) and AVS (${\rho}=0.49$) as a single variable best explained the polychaete community structure. The best combination was made by such variables as TOC, AVS, sorting coefficient, and water temperature (${\rho}=0.60$). In conclusion, between-year differences in biotic and abiotic variables imply that recent efforts for the environmental improvement produced positive influences on the benthic environment of Gamak Bay, particularly the northern part of the bay.

한강하류지형면의 분류와 지형발달에 대한 연구 (양수리에서 능곡까지)

  • Park, No-Sik
    • Journal of the Speleological Society of Korea
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    • no.68
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    • pp.23-73
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    • 2005
  • Purpose of study; The purpose of this study is specifically classified as two parts. The one is to attempt the chronological annals of Quaternary topographic surface through the study over the formation process of alluvial surfaces in our country, setting forth the alluvial surfaces lower-parts of Han River area, as the basic deposit, and comparing it to the marginal landform surfaces. The other is to attempt the classification of micro morphology based on the and condition premising the land use as a link for the regional development in the lower-parts of Han river area. Reasons why selected the Lower-parts of Han river area as study objects: 1. The change of river course in this area is very serve both in vertical and horizontal sides. With a situation it is very easy to know about the old geography related to the formation process of topography. 2. The component materials of gravel, sand, silt and clay are deposited in this area. Making it the available data, it is possible to consider about not oかy the formation process of topography but alsoon the development history to some extent. 3. The earthen vessel, a fossil shell fish, bone, cnarcoal and sea-weed are included in the alluvial deposition in this area. These can be also valuable data related to the chronological annals. 4. The bottom set conglometate beds is also included in the alluvial deposits. This can be also valuable data related to the research of geomorphological development. 5. Around of this area the medium landform surface, lower landform surface, pediment and basin, are existed, and these enable the comparison between the erosion surfaces and the alluvial surfaces. Approach : 1. Referring to the change of river beds, I have calculated the vertical and horizontal differences comparing the topographic map published in 1916 with that published in 1966 and through the field work 2. In classifying the landform, I have applied the method of micro morphological classification in accordance with the synthetic index based upon the land conditions, and furthermore used the classification method comparing the topographic map published in 1916 and in that of 1966. 3. I have accorded this classification with the classification by mapping through appliying the method of classification in the development history for the field work making the component materials as the available data. 4. I have used the component materials, which were picked up form the outcrop of 10 places and bored at 5 places, as the available data. 5. I have referred to Hydrological survey data of the ministry of Construction (since 1916) on the overflow of Han-river, and used geologic map of Seoul metropolitan area. Survey Data, and general map published in 1916 by the Japanese Army Survbey Dept., and map published in 1966 by the Construction Research Laboratory and ROK Army Survey Dept., respectively. Conclusion: 1. Classification of Morphology: I have added the historical consideration for development, making the component materials and fossil as the data, to the typical consideration in accordance with the map of summit level, reliefe and slope distribution. In connection with the erosion surface, I have divided into three classification such as high, medium and low-,level landform surfaces which were classified as high and low level landform surfaces in past. furthermore I have divided the low level landform surface two parts, namely upper-parts(200-300m) and bellow-parts(${\pm}100m$). Accordingly, we can recognize the three-parts of erosion surface including the medium level landform surface (500-600m) in this area. (see table 22). In condition with the alluvial surfaces I have classified as two landform surfaces (old and new) which was regarded as one face in past. Meamwhile, under the premise of land use, the synthetic, micro morphological classification based upon the land condition is as per the draw No. 19-1. This is the quite new method of classification which was at first attempted in this country. 2. I have learned that the change of river was most severe at seeing the river meandering rate from Dangjung-ni to Nanjido. As you seee the table and the vertical and horizontal change of river beds is justly proportionable to the river meandering rate. 3. It can be learned at seeing the analysis of component materials of alluvial deposits that the component from each other by areas, however, in the deposits relationship upper stream, and between upper parts and below parts I couldn't always find out the regular ones. 4. Having earthern vessel, shell bone, fossil charcoal and and seaweeds includen in the component materials such as gravel, clay, sand and silt in Dukso and Songpa deposits area. I have become to attempt the compilation of chronicle as yon see in the table 22. 5. In according to hearing of basemen excavation, the bottom set conglomerate beds of Dukso beds of Dukso-beds is 7m and Songpa-beds is 10m. In according to information of dredger it is approx. 20m in the down stream. 6. Making these two beds as the standard beds, I have compared it to other beds. 7 The coarse sand beds which is covering the clay-beds of Dukso-beds and Nanjidobeds is shown the existence of so-called erosion period which formed the gap among the alluvial deposits of stratum. The former has been proved by the sorting, bedding and roundness which was supplied by the main stream and later by the branch stream, respectively. 8. If the clay-beds of Dukeo-bed and Songpa-bed is called as being transgressive overlap, by the Eustatic movement after glacial age, the bottom set conglomerate beds shall be called as being regressive overlap at the holocene. This has the closest relationship with the basin formation movement of Seoul besides the Eustatic movement. 9. The silt-beds which is the main component of deposits of flood plain, is regarded as being deposited at the Holocene in the comb ceramic and plain pottery ages. This has the closest relationship with the change of river course and river beds.

Structural and Functional Changes of The Brain in The Patient with Schizophrenia, Paranoid type : Correlation among Brain MRI Findings, Neurocognitive Function and Psychiatric Symptoms (편집형 정신분열병 환자에서 뇌의 구조적 변화와 기능적 변화 : 뇌자기공명영상소견, 신경인지기능 및 정신증상간의 상관관계)

  • Kang, Cheol-Min;Lee, Young-Ho;Jung, Young-Jo;Lee, Jung-Heum;Kim, Su-Ji;Park, Hyun-Jin
    • Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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    • v.5 no.1
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    • pp.54-70
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    • 1998
  • Objectives : The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of structural and functional changes of the brain in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Methods : The authors measured the regions of interest on the magnetic resonance imaging of the brain in 20 patients with paranoid schizophrenia(15 men and 5 women) and 23 control subjects(15 men and 8 women). We also assessed the neurocognitive functions with the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Benton Neuropsychological Assessment, and the Weschler IQ test-Korean version, soft neurologic signs, and psychiatric symptoms in the patient group. Results : In the patient group, all ventricles and basal ganglia including caudate nucleus and globus pallidus were significantly enlarged. Although there were no significant differences between the two groups in the values of right frontal lobe and left temporal lobe, there was a tendency of decrease in the values of right frontal lobe and left temporal lobe. There were significant positive correlations between the values of ventricles and the frequency of previous hospitalization. However, there were no significant correlations between other values of regions of interest and clinical data. The value of the right frontal lobe was significantly correlated with the score of soft neurologic signs, which is suggestive of the neurodevelopmental abnormalities. There were significant correlations between the value of frontal lobe and the scores of the various subscales of Benton Neuropsychiatric Inventory. In contrast, the value of left amygdala and putamen showed significant correlation with the score of verbal IQ on the Weschler IQ test. Structural changes of the temporal lobe areas were related with the positive and general symptom scores on PANSS, while those of the basal ganglia were related with the negative symptom scores. Conclusions : These results suggest that the structural changes of the brain in the patients with schizophrenia show the dual process, which is suggestive that the enlarged ventricle show the neurodegenerative process, while enlarged basal ganglia, and shrinked right frontal and left temporal lobe show the neurodevelopmental abnormalities. Among these changes, structural changes of the frontal lobe related with various neuropsychological deficits, while those of left temporal lobe related with language abnormality. Relative to the relation between structural changes and psychiatric symptoms, structural changes of the temporal lobe areas were related with the positive and general symptoms, while those of the basal ganglia were related with the negative symptoms.

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A study on the improvement of distribution system by overseas agricultural investment (해외농업투자에 따른 유통체계 개선방안에 관한 연구)

  • Sun, Il-Suck;Lee, Dong-Ok
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.8 no.3
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    • pp.17-26
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    • 2010
  • Recently concerns have been raised due to the unbalanced supply of crops: the price of crops has been unstable and at one point the price went up so high that the word Agflation(agriculture+ inflation) was coined. Korea, in particular, is a small-sized country and needs to secure the stable supply of crops by investing in the produce importation at a national level. Investment in foreign produce importation is becoming more important as a measure for sufficient supply of crops, limited supply of domestic crops, weakened farming conditions worldwide, as well as recent changes in the use of crops due to the development of bio-fuels, influence of carbon emission on crops, the price increase in crops, and influx of foreign hot money. However, there are many problems with investing in foreign produce importation: lack of support from the government; lack of farming information and technology; difficulty in securing the capital; no immediate pay-off from the investment and insufficient management. Although foreign produce is originally more price-competitive than domestic produce, it loses its competiveness in the process of importation (due to high tariffs) and poor distribution system, which makes it difficult to sell in Korea. Therefore, investment in foreign produce importation is being questioned for feasibility; to make it possible, foreign produce must maintain the price-competitiveness. Especially, harvest of agricultural products depends on natural and geographical conditions of each country and those products have indigenous properties, so distribution system according to import and export of agricultural products should be treated more carefully than that of other industries. Distribution costs are differentiated into each item and include cost of sorting and wrapping, cost of wrapping materials, cost of domestic transport, cost of international transport and cost of clearing customs for import and export. So transporting and storing agricultural products generates considerable costs compared with other products. Also, due to upgrade of dietary life, needs for stability, taste and visible quality toward food including agricultural products are being raised and wrong way of storage causes decomposition of food and loss of freshness, making the storage more difficult than that in room temperature, so storage and transport in distribution of agricultural products needs specialty. In addition, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. However, existing distribution system of agricultural products is exposed to various problems including problems in distribution channel, making distribution and strategy for distribution and those problems are as follows. First, in case of investment in overseas agricultural industry, stable supply of the products is difficult because areas of production are dispersed widely and influenced by outer factors due to including overseas distribution channels. Also, at the aspect of quality, standardization of products is difficult, distribution system is quite complicated and unreasonable due to long distribution channels according to international trade and financial and institutional support is not enough. Especially, there are quite a lot of ineffective factors including multi level distribution process, dramatic gap between production cost and customer's cost, lack of physical distribution facilities and difficulties in storage and transport due to lack of wrapping containers. Besides, because import and export of agricultural products has been manages under the company's own distribution according to transaction contract between manufacturers and exporting company, efficiency is low due to excessive investment in fixed costs and lack of specialty in dealing with agricultural products causes fall of value of products, showing the limit to lose price-competitiveness. Especially, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. Second, among tangible and intangible services which promote the efficiency of the whole distribution, a function building distribution environment which includes distribution information, system for standard and inspection, distribution finance, system for diversification of risks, education and training, distribution administration and tax system is wanted. In general, such a function building distribution environment is difficult to be changed and supplement innovatively because its effect compared with investment does not appear immediately despite of its necessity. Especially, in case of distribution of agricultural products, as a function of collecting and distributing is performed individually through various channels, the importance of distribution information and standardization is getting more focus due to the problem of repetition of work and lack of specialty. Also, efficient management of distribution is quite difficult due to lack of professionals in distribution, so support to professional education is needed. Third, though effort to keep self-sufficiency ratio of staple food, rice is regarded as important at the government level, level of dependency on overseas of others crops is high. Therefore, plan for stable securing food resources aside from staple food is also necessary. Especially, governmental organizations of agricultural products distribution in Korea are production-centered and have unreasonable structure whose function at the aspect of distribution and consumption is quite insufficient. And development of new distribution channels which can deal with changes in distribution environment and they do not achieve actual results of strategy for distribution due to non-positive strategy for price distribution. That is, it implies the possibility that base for supply will become vulnerable because it does not mediate appropriate interests on total distribution channels such as manufacturers, wholesale dealers and vendors by emphasizing consumer protection excessively in the distribution of agricultural products. Therefore, this study examined fundamental concept and actual situation for our investment to overseas agriculture, drew necessities, considerations, problems, etc. of overseas agricultural investment and suggested improvements at the level of distribution for price competitiveness of agricultural products cultivated in overseas under five aspects; government's indirect support, distribution's modernization and distribution information function's strengthening, government's political support for distribution facility, transportation route, load and unloading works' improvement, price competitiveness' securing, professional manpower's cultivation by education and training, etc. Here are some suggestions for foreign produce importation. First, the government should conduct a survey on the current distribution channels and analyze the situation to establish a measure for long-term development plans. By providing each agricultural area with a guideline for planning appropriate production of crops, the government can help farmers be ready for importation, and prevent them from producing same crops all at the same time. Government can sign an MOU with the foreign government and promote the importation so that the development of agricultural resources can be stable and steady. Second, the government can establish a strategy for an effective distribution system by providing farmers and agriculture-related workers with the distribution information such as price, production, demand, market structure and location, feature of each crop, and etc. In order for such distribution system to become feasible, the government needs to reconstruct the current distribution system, designate a public organization for providing distribution information and set the criteria for level of produce quality, trade units, and package units. Third, the government should provide financial support and a policy to seek an efficient distribution channel for foreign produce to be delivered fresh: the government should expand distribution facilities (for selecting, packaging, storing, and processing) and transportation vehicles while modernizing old facilities. There should be another policy to improve the efficiency of unloading, and to lower the cost of distribution. Fourth, it is necessary to enact a new law covering exceptional cases for importing produce in order to maintain the price competitiveness; currently the high tariffs is keeping the imported produce from being distributed domestically. However, the new adjustment should be made carefully within the WTO regulations since it can create a problem from giving preferential tariffs. The government can also simplify the distribution channels in order to reduce the cost in the distribution process. Fifth, the government should educate distributors to raise the efficiency and to modernize the distribution system. It is necessary to develop human resources by educating people regarding the foreign agricultural environment, the produce quality, management skills, and by introducing some successful cases in advanced countries.

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