• Title/Summary/Keyword: Uncertainty

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A Study on Relationships Between Environment, Organizational Structure, and Organizational Effectiveness of Public Health Centers in Korea (보건소의 환경, 조직구조와 조직유효성과의 관계)

  • Yun, Soon-Nyoung
    • Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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    • v.6 no.1
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    • pp.5-33
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    • 1995
  • The objective of the study are two-fold: one is to explore the relationship between environment, organizational structure, and organizational effectiveness of public health centers in Korea, and the other is to examine the validity of contingency theory for improving the organizational structure of public health care agencies, with special emphasis on public health nursing administration. Accordingly, the conceptual model of the study consisted of three different concepts: environment, organizational structure, and organizational effectiveness, which were built up from the contingency theory. Data were collected during the period from 1st of May through 30th of June, 1990. From the total of 249 health centers in the country, one hundred and five centers were sampled non proportionally, according to the geopolitical distribution. Out of 105, 73 health centers responded to mailed questionnaire. The health centers were the unit of the study, and a various statistical analysis techniques were used: Reliability analysis(Cronbach's Alpha) for 4 measurement tools; Shapiro-Wilk statistic for normality test of measured scores of 6 variables: ANOVA, Pearson Correlaion analysis, regressional analysis, and canonical correlation analysis for the test of the relationships and differences between the variables. The results were. as follows : 1. No significant differences between forma lization, decision-making authority and environmental complexity were found(F=1.383, P=.24 ; F=.801, P=.37). 2. Negative relationships between formalization and decision-making authority for both urban and rural health centers were found(r=-.470, P=.002 ; r=-.348, P=.46). 3. No significant relationship between formalization and job satisfaction for both urban and rural health centers were found (r=-.242, P=.132, r=-.060, P=.739). 4. Significant positive relationship between decision - making authority and job satisfaction were found in urban health centers (r=.504, P=.0009), but no such relationship was observed in rural health centers. Regression coefficient between them was statistically significant($\beta=1.535$, P=.0002), and accuracy of regression line was accepted (W=.975, P= .420). 5. No significant relationships among formalization and family planning services, maternal health services, and tuberculosis control services for both urban and rural health centers were found. 6. Among decision-making authority and family planning services, maternal health services, and tuberculosis control services, significant positive relationship was found between de cision-making authority and family planning services(r=.286, P=.73). 7. A significant difference was found in maternal health services by the type of health centers (F=5.13, P=.026) but no difference was found in tuberculosis control services by the type of health centers, formalization, and decision-making authority. 8. A significant positive relationships were found between family planning services and maternal health services and tuberculosis control services, and between maternal health services and tuberculosis control services (r=-.499, P=.001 ; r=.457, P=.004 ; r=.495, P=.002) in case of urban health centers. In case of rural health centers, relationships between family planning services and tuberculosis control services, and between maternal health services and tuberculosis control services were statistically significant (r=.534, P=.002 ; r=.389, P=.027). No significant relationship was found between family planning and maternal health services. 9. A significant positive canonical correlation was found between the group of independent variables consisted of formalization and de cision-making authority and the group of dependent variables consisted of family planning services, maternal health services and tuberculosis control services(Rc=.455, P=.02). In case of urban health centers, no significant canonical correlation was found between them, but significant canoncial correlation was found in rural health centers(Rc=.578, P=.069), 10. Relationships between job satisfaction and health care productivity was not found significant. Through these results, the assumed relationship between environment and organizational structure was not supported in health centers. Therefore, the relationship between the organizational effectiveness and the congruence between environment and organizational structure that contingency theory proposes to exist was not able to be tested. However decision-making authority was found as an important variable of organizational structure affecting family planning services and job satisfaction in urban health centers. Thus it was suggested that decentralized decision making among health professionals would be a valuable strategy for improvement of organizational effectiveness in public health centers. It is also recommended that further studies to test contingency theory would use variability and uncertainty to define environment of public health centers instead of complexity.

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"Improving women's and children's health in DPRK" project funded by the Republic of Korea (현재 진행되고 있는 남북한 의료협력사업 : 영유아 지원 사업을 중심으로)

  • Shin, Young-Jeon
    • Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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    • v.51 no.7
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    • pp.671-689
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    • 2008
  • The economic recession of North Korea has been prolonged, the need for humanitarian assistance for the women and children of DPRK has been raised. In March 2006, South Korean government signed MOU with World Health Organization (WHO) to financially support "Improving Women's and Children's Health in DPRK (IWCH)" project. The assistance projects through UNICEF and the non-government organizations of South Korea were also followed. IWCH project consists of three parts; nutrition, disease management, children and maternity care. The first term (2006-2007) of the project leading by WHO was finished, and the second term (2008-2010) is just begun. The projects driven by NGOs have relatively been delayed due to difficulties in negotiating on project contents and places with North Korea. Recently, however, re-modeling processes of an obstetric/gynecology hospital and a children hospital in Nampo were started. Up to recently, South Korean government has played only a limited role in the humanitarian assistance for North Korea. IWCH project is, however, a full-scale initiative driven by government based on a systematic review of need and priorities. A significant amount of budget and relatively long term (five year) project compare to the previous short term and small size programs were expected to make more meaningful achievement. Despite these positive aspects, the project remains a list of unsolved problems a lack of mutual trust, a different decision making process between South and North Korea, a lack of conflict management process, and unpredictability and complexity of international politics. In spite of such kind of political uncertainty, the health care sector will be a leading area in the process of improving relationship between South and North Korea, particularly, humanitarian assistance for women and children will play a crucial role in the process. The successful implementation of IWCH project, therefore, will contribute to provide the reference model in developing the mutually constructive relationship between South and North

A Study on the Relationship between Business Plan Components and Corporate Performance (사업계획서의 구성요소와 기업성과와의 관계에 관한 연구)

  • Koh, In-Kon;Lee, Sang-Seok;Kim, Dae-Ho
    • 한국벤처창업학회:학술대회논문집
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    • 2006.04a
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    • pp.45-75
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    • 2006
  • How much influence does a business plan have on a corporate performance? Whilst previous studies and literatures all assert a strong correlation between the two, very few have actually conducted practical analyses to support that. This study takes an empirical approach in its analysis of Korea' s small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) with the view to finding an answer to the question. A business plan' s components, which have to date been suggested only in theory and in concept, have been selected through the study of literatures and preliminary examination. The selected components were then narrowed down into five factors of productivity, implementation, operational direction, product/service and customer accessibility by applying factor analysis. With which items to measure corporate performance is also an important question as results differ depending on which measurement items were used. For the purpose of this study, corporate performance was classified into effectiveness, adaptability and efficiency to measure how greatly each is influenced by the components of a business plan. Results show that effectiveness and adaptability have a positive (+) influence on corporate performance. The regression model seems to explain effectiveness particularly well. However, different directions of influences were showed in explain power of the research model were not high. And it can be interpreted that implementation of the plan is as important as the establishment of it. Thus a good corporate performance is to be had only under an excellent plan and following an excellent implementation. In most of the companies surveyed, business plans were established regularly led by the intense involvement of the CEO. Such plans were then used in internal operations, such as guiding operational direction and measuring corporate performance. Unlike general expectations, relatively few companies used them in financing from external sources such as banks or venture capitals. These findings are different from previous studies conducted in this field. Also, as market uncertainty was pointed out as the biggest obstacle to business planning. a manager must pay more attention to acquiring external information and knowledge so as to minimize it.

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Warm Season Hydro-Meteorological Variability in South Korea Due to SSTA Pattern Changes in the Tropical Pacific Ocean Region (열대 태평양 SSTA 패턴 변화에 따른 우리나라 여름철 수문 변동 분석)

  • Yoon, Sun-kwon;Kim, Jong-Suk;Lee, Tae-Sam;Moon, Young-IL
    • KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.36 no.1
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    • pp.49-63
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    • 2016
  • In this study, we analyzed the effects of regional hydrologic variability during warm season (June-September) in South Korea due to ENSO (El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$-Southern Oscillation) pattern changes over the Tropical Pacific Ocean (TPO). We performed composite analysis (CA) and statistical significance test by Student's t-test using observed hydrologic data (such as, precipitation and streamflow) in the 113 sub-watershed areas over the 5-Major River basin, in South Korea. As a result of this study, during the warm-pool (WP) El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ year shows a significant increasing tendency than normal years. Particularly, during the cold-tongue (CT) El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ decaying years clearly decreasing tendency compared to the normal years was appeared. In addition, the La $Ni{\tilde{n}}a$ years tended to show a slightly increasing tendency and maintain the average year state. In addition, from the result of scatter plot of the percentage anomaly of hydrologic variables during warm season, it is possible to identify the linear increasing tendency. Also the center of the scatter plot shows during the WP El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ year (+17.93%, +26.99%), the CT El $Ni{\tilde{n}}a$ year (-8.20%, -15.73%), and the La $Ni{\tilde{n}}a$ year (+8.89%, +15.85%), respectively. This result shows a methodology of the tele-connection based long-range water resources prediction for reducing climate forecasting uncertainty, when occurs the abnormal SSTA (such as, El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ and La $Ni{\tilde{n}}a$) phenomenon in the TPO region. Furthermore, it can be a useful data for water managers and end-users to support long-range water-related policy making.

A Study on Jeju High School Students' Health Perception and Health Promotion Behavior (제주지역 고등학생의 건강지각과 건강증진 행위에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Ok-Sun;Choi, In-Sook
    • The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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    • v.3
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    • pp.79-110
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    • 2002
  • The purpose of this study was to provide basic data necessary for creating a more successful health enhancement program, health education and health policy which can enhance health management abilities and enable a healthy school life by examining relations between high school students' health perception, who are in early adolescence, and their health promotion behavior. The subjects in this study were 813 students from 8 high schools on Jeju Island. The collected data were analyzed with t-test and one-way ANOVA through questionnaires by researcher on the basis of advance research. The findings of this study were as belows : 1. When general characteristics were considered, health perception was more significantly affected by those who were boys, whose family income was on a higher level, who scored better in school, whose parents were more concerned about their children's health, and who had experiences of being hospitalized. Especially, the more parents were concerned about their children's health, the higher the child's self-confidence on health(p<.05), anxiety on health(p<.05), practicality on disease prevention(p<.05), self-confidence on future health(p<.01), health care ability(p<.01), and family roles on health(p<.05). The less parents were concerned about their children's health, the higher the child's anxiety on disease(p<.01) and uncertainty on future health(p<.01). 2. When students' health promotion behavior was concerned, in the area of Eating Habits, having regular meals(72.9%), moderate consumption of meat(89.7%) and a balanced diet(64%) were common, whereas having a regular breakfast(37.4%) and eating vegetables and fruits(43.6%) were rare. In the area of Exercise, all subareas such as exercising 3 or 4 times a week(76.7%), more than one hour of exercise at a time(74.9%), a short distance walk(51.8%), exercise within one hour after meals(87%), and whether wanning up or not(88.6%) were above average. In the area of Personal Hygiene, all subareas such as drinking boiled water(57.3%), washing hands after using the bathroom(71%), brushing teeth after eating(42.4%), washing up after going out(50.3%), and washing hair and taking a frequent bath(77.2%) were rare. In the area of Control of Personal Relations, consulting personal problems with family(78.7%) had a positive response, whereas meeting someone new(59.8%), maintaining sound relations with the opposite sex(47.3%), having respect for one's opinion(51.5%), and maintaining peaceful relations with people(58.4%) had rare negative results. In the area of Stress Management, not being competitive(69.4%), releasing problems(62.4%) and sleeping soundly(66.2%) were common, whereas having your own ways to relieve stress(46.8%) and having your own dreams and hopes(58.5%) were rare. 3. When general characteristics were considered, as far as relations of health promotion behavior were concerned, the boys were significantly different in the area of Eating Habits(p<0.01) and Exercise(p<0.01), and the girls were in the area of Personal Hygiene. As family economic status was high and parents were concerned about their children's health, the entire areas of health promotion behavior were significantly different. Whether or not they were hospitalized made no significant difference in statistics. 4. When their regions were considered, it comparing city to town, there was no statistically significant difference in health perception and relations of health promotion behavior according to general characteristics. As seen in the results above, high school students' level of health perception and level of practicing health promotion behavior were generally low. In conclusion, by enhancing health perception, a plan for activating health education, which can implement positive health promotion behavior, should be made.

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Study on the Methodology of the Microbial Risk Assessment in Food (식품중 미생물 위해성평가 방법론 연구)

  • 이효민;최시내;윤은경;한지연;김창민;김길생
    • Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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    • v.14 no.4
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    • pp.319-326
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    • 1999
  • Recently, it is continuously rising to concern about the health risk being induced by microorganisms in food such as Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes. Various organizations and regulatory agencies including U.S.FPA, U.S.DA and FAO/WHO are preparing the methodology building to apply microbial quantitative risk assessment to risk-based food safety program. Microbial risks are primarily the result of single exposure and its health impacts are immediate and serious. Therefore, the methodology of risk assessment differs from that of chemical risk assessment. Microbial quantitative risk assessment consists of tow steps; hazard identification, exposure assessment, dose-response assessment and risk characterization. Hazard identification is accomplished by observing and defining the types of adverse health effects in humans associated with exposure to foodborne agents. Epidemiological evidence which links the various disease with the particular exposure route is an important component of this identification. Exposure assessment includes the quantification of microbial exposure regarding the dynamics of microbial growth in food processing, transport, packaging and specific time-temperature conditions at various points from animal production to consumption. Dose-response assessment is the process characterizing dose-response correlation between microbial exposure and disease incidence. Unlike chemical carcinogens, the dose-response assessment for microbial pathogens has not focused on animal models for extrapolation to humans. Risk characterization links the exposure assessment and dose-response assessment and involve uncertainty analysis. The methodology of microbial dose-response assessment is classified as nonthreshold and thresh-old approach. The nonthreshold model have assumption that one organism is capable of producing an infection if it arrives at an appropriate site and organism have independence. Recently, the Exponential, Beta-poission, Gompertz, and Gamma-weibull models are using as nonthreshold model. The Log-normal and Log-logistic models are using as threshold model. The threshold has the assumption that a toxicant is produce by interaction of organisms. In this study, it was reviewed detailed process including risk value using model parameter and microbial exposure dose. Also this study suggested model application methodology in field of exposure assessment using assumed food microbial data(NaCl, water activity, temperature, pH, etc.) and the commercially used Food MicroModel. We recognized that human volunteer data to the healthy man are preferred rather than epidemiological data fur obtaining exact dose-response data. But, the foreign agencies are studying the characterization of correlation between human and animal. For the comparison of differences to the population sensitivity: it must be executed domestic study such as the establishment of dose-response data to the Korean volunteer by each microbial and microbial exposure assessment in food.

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Sensitivity of Aerosol Optical Parameters on the Atmospheric Radiative Heating Rate (에어로졸 광학변수가 대기복사가열률 산정에 미치는 민감도 분석)

  • Kim, Sang-Woo;Choi, In-Jin;Yoon, Soon-Chang;Kim, Yumi
    • Atmosphere
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.85-92
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    • 2013
  • We estimate atmospheric radiative heating effect of aerosols, based on AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) and lidar observations and radiative transfer calculations. The column radiation model (CRM) is modified to ingest the AERONET measured variables (aerosol optical depth, single scattering albedo, and asymmetric parameter) and subsequently calculate the optical parameters at the 19 bands from the data obtained at four wavelengths. The aerosol radiative forcing at the surface and the top of the atmosphere, and atmospheric absorption on pollution (April 15, 2001) and dust (April 17~18, 2001) days are 3~4 times greater than those on clear-sky days (April 14 and 16, 2001). The atmospheric radiative heating rate (${\Delta}H$) and heating rate by aerosols (${\Delta}H_{aerosol}$) are estimated to be about $3\;K\;day^{-1}$ and $1{\sim}3\;K\;day^{-1}$ for pollution and dust aerosol layers. The sensitivity test showed that a 10% uncertainty in the single scattering albedo results in 30% uncertainties in aerosol radiative forcing at the surface and at the top of the atmosphere and 60% uncertainties in atmospheric forcing, thereby translated to about 35% uncertainties in ${\Delta}H$. This result suggests that atmospheric radiative heating is largely determined by the amount of light-absorbing aerosols.

Changes in Resident Soil Bacterial Communities in Response to Inoculation of Soil with Beneficial Bacillus spp. (유용한 바실러스의 토양 접종에 따른 토착 세균 군집의 변화)

  • Kim, Yiseul;Kim, Sang Yoon;An, Ju Hee;Sang, Mee Kyung;Weon, Hang-Yeon;Song, Jaekyeong
    • Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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    • v.46 no.3
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    • pp.253-260
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    • 2018
  • Beneficial microorganisms are widely used in the forestry, livestock, and, in particular, agricultural sectors to control soilborne diseases and promote plant growth. However, the industrial utilization of these microorganisms is very limited, mainly due to uncertainty concerning their ability to colonize and persist in soil. In this study, the survival of beneficial microorganisms in field soil microcosms was investigated for 13 days using quantitative PCR with B. subtilis group-specific primers. Bacterial community dynamics of the treated soils were analyzed using 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene amplicon sequencing on the Illumina MiSeq platform. The average 16S rRNA gene copy number per g dry soil of Bacillus spp. was $4.37{\times}10^6$ after treatment, which was 1,000 times higher than that of the control. The gene copy number was generally maintained for a week and was reduced thereafter, but remained 100 times higher than that of the control. Bacterial community analysis indicated that Acidobacteria ($26.3{\pm}0.9%$), Proteobacteria ($24.2{\pm}0.5%$), Chloroflexi ($11.1{\pm}0.4%$), and Actinobacteria ($9.7{\pm}2.5%$) were abundant phyla in both treated and non-treated soils. In the treated soils, the relative abundance of Actinobacteria was lower, whereas those of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were higher compared to the control. Differences in total relative abundances of operational taxonomic units belonging to several genera were observed between the treated and non-treated soils, suggesting that inoculation of soil with the Bacillus strains influenced the relative abundances of certain groups of bacteria and, therefore, the dynamics of resident bacterial communities. These changes in resident soil bacterial communities in response to inoculation of soil with beneficial Bacillus spp. provide important information for the use of beneficial microorganisms in soil for sustainable agriculture.

A Study on Developing a Model for Cancer Damage Cost Due to Risk from Benzene in Ulsan Metropolitan City (울산 지역에서 대기중 벤젠으로 인한 암 사망 손실비용 추정 모형에 관한 연구)

  • Lee, Yong-Jin;Kim, Ye-Shin;Shin, Dong-Chun;Shin, Young-Chul
    • Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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    • v.13 no.1
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    • pp.49-82
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    • 2004
  • The study aimed to evaluate cancer damage cost due to risk from benzene inhalation. We performed health risk assessment based on US EPA guideline to estimate annual population risk in Ulsan metropolitan city. Also, we estimated a willingness-to-pay amount for reducing a cancer mortality rate to evaluate a value of statistical life. We combined the annual population risk and the value of statistical life to calculate the cancer damage cost. In the health risk assessment, we applied the benzene unit risk ($2.2{\times}10^{-6}{\sim}7.8{\times}10^{-6}$) in the US EPA'S Integrated Risk Information System to assess the annual population risk. Average concentration of benzene in ambient air is $7.88{\mu}g/m^3$(min: 1.16~max: $23.32{\mu}g/m^3$). We targeted an exposure population of 516,641 persons who aged over 30 years old. Using a Monte-Carlo simulation for uncertainty analysis, we evaluated that the population risk of benzene during ten years in Ulsan city is 2.90 persons (5 percentile: 0.32~95 percentile: 9.11persons). And the monthly average WTP for 5/1,000 cancer mortality reduction during ten years is 14,852 Won(95% C.I: 13,135~16,794 Won) and the implied VSL is 36 million Won(95% C.I: 30~40 million Won). Cancer damage cost due to risk from benzene inhalation during 10 years in Ulsan city is about 104 million Won(5 percentile: 13~95 percentile: 328 million Won). Health benefit cost to reduce a cancer mortality risk of benzene is about 50 million Won is Ulsan metropolitann city. But, it is very important that this cost is not for all health damage cost of cancer mortality in some area. We just recommended a model for evaluating a cancer risk reduction, so we must re-evaluate an integrated application of total VOCs damage cost including benzene.

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Detection of Irrigation Timing and the Mapping of Paddy Cover in Korea Using MODIS Images Data (MODIS 영상자료를 이용한 관개시기 탐지와 논 피복지도 제작)

  • Jeong, Seung-Taek;Jang, Keun-Chang;Hong, Seok-Yeong;Kang, Sin-Kyu
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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    • v.13 no.2
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    • pp.69-78
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    • 2011
  • Rice is one of the world's staple foods. Paddy rice fields have unique biophysical characteristics that the rice is grown on flooded soils unlike other crops. Information on the spatial distribution of paddy fields and the timing of irrigation are of importance to determine hydrological balance and efficiency of water resource management. In this paper, we detected the timing of irrigation and spatial distribution of paddy fields using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor onboard the NASA EOS Aqua satellite. The timing of irrigation was detected by the combined use of MODIS-based vegetation index and Land Surface Water Index (LSWI). The detected timing of irrigation showed good agreement with field observations from two flux sites in Korea and Japan. Based on the irrigation detection, a land cover map of paddy fields was generated with subsidiary information on seasonal patterns of MODIS enhanced vegetation index (EVI). When the MODISbased paddy field map was compared with a land cover map from the Ministry of Environment, Korea, it overestimated the regions with large paddies but underestimated those with small and fragmented paddies. Potential reasons for such spatial discrepancies may be attributed to coarse pixel resolution (500 m) of MODIS images, uncertainty in parameterization of threshold values for discarding forest and water pixels, and the application of LSWI threshold value developed for paddy fields in China. Nevertheless, this study showed that an improved utilization of seasonal patterns of MODIS vegetation and water-related indices could be applied in water resource management and enhanced estimation of evapotranspiration from paddy fields.