• Health Policy and Management
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.273-275
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• 2017

It has been forty years since the implementation of National Health Insurance (NHI) in South Korea. Following the 1977 legislature mandating medical insurance for employees and dependents in firms with more than 500 employees, South Korea expanded its health insurance to urban residents in 1989. Resultantly, total expenses of the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) have greatly increased from 4.5 billion won in 1977 to 50.89 trillion won in 2016. With multiple insurers merging into the NHI system in 2000, a single-payer healthcare system emerged, along with separation policy of prescribing and dispensing. Following such reform, an emerging financial crisis required injections from the National Health Promotion Fund. Forty years following the introduction of the NHI system, both praise and criticism have been drawn. In just 12 years, the NHI achieved the fastest health population coverage in the world. Current medical expenditure is not high relative to the rest of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The quality of acute care in Korea is one of the best in the world. There is no sign of delayed diagnosis and/or treatment for most diseases. However, the NHI has been under-insured, requiring high-levels of out-of-pocket money from patients and often causing catastrophic medical expenses. Furthermore, the current environmental circumstances of the NHI are threatening its sustainability. Low birth rate decline, as well as slow economic growth, will make sustainment of the current healthcare system difficult in the near future. An aging population will increase the amount of medical expenditure required, especially with the baby-boomer generation of those born between 1955 and 1965. Meanwhile, there is always the problem of unification for the Korean Peninsula, and what role the health insurance system will have to play when it occurs. In the presidential election, health insurance is a main issue; however, there is greater focus on expansion and expenditure than revenue. Many aspects of Korea's NHI system (1977) were modeled after the German (1883) and Japanese (1922) systems. Such systems were created during an era where infections disease control was most urgent and thus, in the current non-communicable disease (NCD) era, must be redesigned. The Korean system, which is already forty years old, must be redesigned completely. Although health insurance benefit expansion is necessary, financial measures, as well as moral hazard control measures, must also be considered. Ultimately, there are three aspects that we must consider when attempting redesign of the system. First, the health security system must be reformed. NHI and Medical Aid must be amalgamated into one system for increased effectiveness and efficiency of the system. Within the single insurer system of the NHI must be an internal market for maximum efficiency. The NHIS must be separated into regions so that regional organizers have greater responsibility over their actions. Although insurance must continue to be imposed nationally, risk-adjustment must be distributed regionally and assessed by different regional systems. Second, as a solution for the decreasing flow of insurance revenue, low premium level must be increased to an appropriate level. Likewise, the national reserve fund (No. 36, National Health Insurance Act) must be enlarged for re-unification preparation. Third, there must be revolutionary reform of benefit package. The current system built a focus on communicable diseases which is inappropriate in this NCD era. Medical benefits must not be one-time events but provide chronic disease management. Chronic care models, accountable care organization, patient-centered medical homes, and other systems that introduce various benefit packages for beneficiaries must be implemented. The reimbursement system of medical costs should be introduced to various systems for different types of care, as is the case with part C (Medicare Advantage Program) of America's Medicare system that substitutes part A and part B. Pay for performance must be expanded so that there is not only improvement in quality of care but also medical costs. Moreover, beneficiaries of the NHI system must be aware of the amount of their expenditure through a deductible payment system so that spending can be profiled and monitored. The Moon Jae-in Government has announced its plans to expand the NHI system; however, it is important that a discussion forum is created so that more accurate analysis of the NHI, its environments, and current status of health care system, can take place for reforming NHI.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.13 no.1 s.28
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• pp.9-20
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• 2007

PAHs(Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) are widespread contaminants in the marine environment. They are of mainly anthropogenic origin from urban runoff, oil spill and combustion of fossil fuels. Some PAHs are potentially carcinogenic and mutagenic to aquatic organism The contamination of PAHs in the coastal environments has not been well known yet in Korea. This study was carried out to survey the contamination of PAHs in sediments around Gwangyang bay. The Yeosu petrochemical industrial complex, POSCO(Pohang steel company) and Gwangyang container harbor are located around the bay. PAHs in sediment samples were extracted in soxhlet extractor and were identified and quantified by GC-MS(Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry) TOC(Total Organic carbon) and textural parameters in sediment samples were also analyzed 13 species of PAHs were detected at all of the surface sediments. Total PAHs concentrations in the surface sediments ranged from 171.40 to $1013.54{\mu}g/kg$ dry wt.. In most of the surface sediments, Naphthalene was the highest in the range of 14.08 to $691.39{\mu}g/kg$ dry wt. and Anthracene was the lowest in the range of 0.49 to $22.66{\mu}g/kg$ dry wt.. The correlation coefficients between individual PAHs and Total PAHs in the surface sediments were relatively higher in the low molecular compounds such as Naphthalene and Phenanthrene. In the relationship of the P/A(Phenanthrene/Anthracene) ratio and F/P(Fluoranthene/Pyrene) ratio, P/A ratio was generally above 10 and F/P ratio was shown to be above 1 in all sediment samples. These data indicate that PAHs in sediments around Gwangyang bay seem to be of both pyrolytic and petrogenic origin. Total PAHs in the surface sediments were correlated with TOC and textural parameters. The values of PAHs in the surface and core sediments were lower than the biological effect guidelines.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.1
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• pp.65-81
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• 1980

This study is aimed at investigating the compensatory education which was already implemented or is being implemented in the U.S.A. and Japan; and at studying the types of programs and their characteristics; and at sounding out the possibilities of the application of such programs in family and social conditions is Korea. In order to achieve the above mentioned objectives, the established items for the study are as follows: (1) Various types of early children's education (2) Programs of compensatory education for the disadvantaged Children (3) Head Start Program, Early Training Project and Montessori School (4) Integrated Preschool Programs (5) Day-Care Center for employed mothers We investigated the various compensatory education programs for the preschool children who are in economically, socially, culturally disadvantaged conditions. Head Start Programs were federally supported programs for preschool children and opened as summer programs in 1965 for the first time. The purpose of Head Start has been to give preschool children the kinds of experiences they need in preparation for school. The Head Start children were found to be significantly better prepared for school than the normal children. However, after six to eight months, their initial advantages had virtually. disappeared and then the simple problem with Head Start and other such programs was that little long-term good could be evidenced unless the high quality educational environment was maintained. Therefore, to solve this problem, three other programs were funded as part of the overall Head Start. These three programs are the Parent-Child Center, Home Start, and the Child and Family Resources Program. The Early Training Project for disadvantaged children was implemented by Klaus and Gray of Peabody College in 1962. The program was a field research study concerned with the development and testing over time of procedures for improving the educability of young children from low income homes. Its major concern was to study whether it was possible to offset the progressive retardation observed in the public schooling careers of children, living in deprived circumstances. Children, who were trained through the Early Training Project were superior to control groups in the test of IQ and vocabulary as well as linguistic abilities, and preparation for reading. This project showed the possibilities which could prevent preschool children from being disadvantaged socially, culturally and mentally. In 1907, Montessori School was established by Maria Montessori in Italy and her school program has been introduced at present to several countries in the world as one compensatory educations. She first began her experimental methods with retarded children, followed by disadvantaged children from the tenements of Rome. The Montessori approach futures a prepared environment and carefully designed, self-correcting materials. The Montessori curriculum presents tastes that feature sequence, order, and regularity, in addition to those that develop motor and sensory skills. She was interested in children's intellectual development and in developing good work habits. One of the latest developed programs for disadvantaged children is "Integrated Preschool Program" which has successfully integrated handicapped and nonhandicapped children. Several studies have showed that handicapped children in integrated school environments are accepted by and interact with their nonhandicapped peers. In fact, this program provides a number of potential, and perhaps opportunities for nonhandicapped children to serve as valuable resources in fostering the development of their handicapped peers. Next we turn to Japanese programs which are divided into two different types. One is Day-Care Center which was established by Child Welfare Law and the other is kindergarten organized by School Education Law. The kindergarten opened in 1876 and it has been part of school systems since 1947 by the implementation of education law, and the Day-Care Center which started in 1890 for the employed mothers. was changed into Day-Nursery by the enactment of child welfare law in 1947. The laws and operational regulations for the Day-Nursery were set up and were put in effect by the establishment standard acts of children welfare facilities, and the Day-Nursery has been operated in various types by the increasing demand, chiefly because of the socio-economical changes of family structures in both urban and suburban areas. Nursery education for physically and mentally disadvantaged children is for those who are blind, deaf and dumb, mentally retarded; physically disadvantaged by accidents or diseases. Montessori education in Japan was started in 1968 and many research groups for studying Montessori were organized. In 1977, Montessori remedial education society was also organized in which they started a number of studies; a study for developing materials; in-service training for the remedial education; and seminars and lectures, etc It is strongly suggested that we study the early educations that are being implemented in Japan and a variety of compensatory educations that were already implemented in the U.S.A. and modify them for the organization of our own model and properly accommodate them to our social needs.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.257-271
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• 2002

One of the main interests in relation to heavily contaminated gully-pot sediment in urban area is the short term mobility of heavy metals, which depends on the pH of acidic rainwater and on the buffering effects of carbonate minerals. The buffering effects of carbonates are determined by titration (acid addition). Leaching experiments are carried out in solutions with variable initial HN03 contents for 24h. The gully-pot sediment appears to be predominantly buffered by calcite and dolomite. In case of sediment samples, which highly contain carbonates, pH decreases more slowly with increasing acidity. On the other hand, for the sediment samples, which less contain carbonate minerals, pH rapidly drops until it reaches about 2 then it decreases slowly. The leaching reactions are delayed until more acid is added to compensate for the buffering effects of carbonates. The Zn, Cu, Pb and Mn concentrations of leachate rapidly increase with decreased pH, while Cd, Co, Ni, Cr and Fe dissolutions are very slow and limited. The solubility of heavy metals depends not only on thc pH values of leachatc but also on the speciation in which metals are associated with sediment particles. In slightly to moderately acid conditions, Zn, Cd, Co, Ni and Cu dissolutions become increasingly important. As deduced from leaching runs, the relative mobility of heavy metals at pH of 5 is found to be: Zn > Cd > Co > Ni > Cu » Pb > Cr, suggesting that moderately acid rainwater leach Zn, Cd, Co, Ni and Cu from thc contaminated gully-pot sediment, while Pb and Cr would remain fixed. The buffering effects of Ca- and Mg-carbonates play an important role in delaying as well as limiting the leaching reactions of heavy metals from highly contaminated gully-pot sediment. The extent of such a secondary environmental pollution will thus depends on how well the metals in sediment can be leached by somewhat acidic rain water. Changes in the physicochemical environments may result in the severe environmental pollution of heavy metals. These results are to be taken into account in the management of contaminated sediments during rainstorms.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.496-513
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• 2004

This study was carried out to evaluate the performance of sampling and analytical methodology used for the measurement of toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the ambient air. VOCs were determined by the adsorbent tube sampling and automatic thermal desorption coupled with GC/MSD analysis. Target analytes were 33 compounds including major aromatic compounds such as BTEX, and halogenated compounds. The methodology was investigated with a wide range of different adsorbents which are commercially available and have been frequently adopted for the VOC measurement. A total of 10 adsorbents were tested in this study: 6 carbon-based adsorbents such as Carbotrap, Carbopack B, Carbosieve S-III, Carboxen 1000, Carbotrap C, Activated Charcoal; and 4 polymer-based adsorbents including Tenax, Porapak Q, Chromosorb 102, and Chromosorb 106. The sampling performance was evaluated with respect to the sampling capacity of VOCs with single-adsorbent and multiple-adsorbents methods for standard samples and field samples. As a result, the best adsorbents for single-adsorbent method in the sampling of toxic organic compounds (including benzene, toluene, xylenes etc.) appeared to be Carbotrap, Carbopack B and Tenax TA. On the other hand, Chromosorb 102, Chromosorb 106 and Porapak Q were found to be unsuitable adsorbents for VOC measurement based on thermal desorption method. Multi-adsorbent packings were evaluated with 4 carbon-based adsorbents, which classified by 3 combination sets of double adsorbents and 2 combination sets of triple adsorbents. The results indicated that the most suitable combination for toixc VOC measurements is Carbotrap C with Carbotrap. Multi-sorbents tubes packed with a strong adsorbent such as Carbosieve S-III or Carboxen 1000 were found to be relatively unsuitable for several compounds, not only owing to the effect of migration of adsorbed compounds from weaker adsorbent to stronger adsorbent, but to hydrophobic nature of the adsorbents. Therefore, it should be addressed that selection of a proper adsorbent (or combination of multi sorbents) is extremely important to obtain reliable data for the concentrations of toxic VOCs in indoor and outdoor environments.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.256-268
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• 2016

This article reviews the papers published in the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering during 2015. It is intended to understand the status of current research in the areas of heating, cooling, ventilation, sanitation, and indoor environments of buildings and plant facilities. Conclusions are as follows. (1) The research works on the thermal and fluid engineering were carried out in the areas of flow, heat and mass transfer, cooling and heating, and air-conditioning, the renewable energy system and the flow inside building rooms. Research issues dealing with air-conditioning machines and fire and exhausting smoke were reduced. CFD seems to be spreading to more research areas. (2) Research works on heat transfer area were carried out in the categories of heat transfer characteristics, pool boiling and condensing heat transfer and industrial heat exchangers. Researches on heat transfer characteristics included the economic analysis of GHG emission, micro channel heat exchanger, effect of rib angle on thermal performance, the airside performance of fin-and-tube heat exchangers, theoretical analysis of a rotary heat exchanger, heat exchanger in a cryogenic environment, the performance of a cross-flow-type, indirect evaporative cooler made of paper/plastic film. In the area of pool boiling and condensing, the bubble jet loop heat pipe was studied. In the area of industrial heat exchangers, researches were performed on fin-tube heat exchanger, KSTAR PFC and vacuum vessel at baking phase, the performance of small-sized dehumidification rotor, design of gas-injection port of an asymmetric scroll compressor, effect of slot discharge-angle change on exhaust efficiency of range hood system with air curtain. (3) In the field of refrigeration, various studies were carried in the categories of refrigeration cycle, alternative refrigeration/energy system, system control. In the refrigeration cycle category, a cold-climate heat pump system, $CO_2$ cascade systems, ejector cycles and a PCM-based continuous heating system were investigated. In the alternative refrigeration/energy system category, a polymer adsorption heat pump, an alcohol absorption heat pump and a desiccant-based hybrid refrigeration system were investigated. In the system control category, turbo-refrigerator capacity controls and an absorption chiller fault diagnostics were investigated. (4) In building mechanical system research fields, eighteen studies were reported for achieving effective design of the mechanical systems, and also for maximizing the energy efficiency of buildings. The topics of the studies included energy performance, HVAC system, ventilation, and renewable energies, piping in the buildings. Proposed designs, performance tests using numerical methods and experiments provide useful information and key data which can improve the energy efficiency of the buildings. (5) The field of architectural environment was mostly focused on indoor environment and building energy. The main researches of indoor environment were related to the user and location awareness technology applied dimming lighting control system, the lighting performance evaluation for light-shelves, the improvement evaluation of air quality through analysis of ventilation efficiency and the evaluation of airtightness of sliding and LS window systems. The subjects of building energy were worked on the energy saving estimation of existing buildings, the developing model to predict heating energy usage in domestic city area and the performance evaluation of cooling applied with economizer control. The studies were also performed related to the experimental measurement of weight variation and thermal conductivity in polyurethane foam, the development of flame spread prevention system for sandwich panels, the utilization of heat from waste-incineration facility in large-scale horticultural facilities.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.47-59
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• 2021

This study aims to review the trends of the population outflows in the metropolitan area of Busan and to investigate the factors that affect population out-migration to the Seoul metropolitan area. The following variables are considered for analysis: traditional population movement variables and quality of life variables, such as population, society, employment, housing, culture, safety, medical care, greenery, education, and childcare. The 'domestic population movement data', provided by the MDIS of the National Statistical Office, was used for this research. Out of the total of 57 million population movement data in the period 2012 - 2017, population outmigration from Busan to the Seoul metropolitan area was extracted. Independent variables were drawn from public data sources in accordance with the temporal and spatial settings of the study. The multiple linear regression model was specified based on the dataset, and the fit of the model was measured by the p-value, and the values of Adjusted R2, Durbin-Watson analysis, and F-statistics. The results of the analysis showed that the variables that have a significant effect on population movement from Busan to the Seoul metropolitan area were as follows: 'single-person households', 'the elderly population', 'the total birth rate', 'the number of companies', 'the number of employees', 'the housing sales price index', 'cultural facilities', and 'the number of students per teacher'. More positive (+) influences of the population out-movement were observed in areas with higher numbers of single-person households, lowers proportions of the elderly, lower numbers of businesses, higher numbers of employees, higher numbers of housing sales, lower numbers of cultural facilities, and lower numbers of students. The findings suggest that policies should enhance the environments such as quality jobs, culture, and welfare that can retain young people within Busan. Improvements in the quality of life and job creation are critical factors that can mitigate the outflows of the Busan residents to the Seoul metropolitan area.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.60-70
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• 2019

Today, Deoksugung Doldam-gil, which is a well-known area in Seoul, has become a mixed place as many places reaching a critical age have been converted into parks. However, the previous research on the Deoksugung Doldam-gil was deficient in that the user, an essential variable, was not considered when assessing the place. Based on that, this study aims to analyze and interpret the perception of the places in Deoksugung Doldam-gil and to analyze factors to further enrich the place to visitors. According to the research, the representative idea of Deoksugung Doldam-gil is "the distance you want to go" and that has influencing factors, such as vehicle restrictions and the improvement of the walking environment. The analysis of classifying the variables that make up the perception of the place, physical environments, activities and meanings showed high awareness in, "streets of green (3.95)" and "stone walls of curves (3.88)." In the category of activities, "walking activities in the inner city (4.01)" and "love and romance (3.57)" were high. These results seem to reflect the spatial characteristics of the streets and the familiar image of the place were important. Five factors were extracted from the factor analysis to provide a more detailed understanding of the place perception, the correlation between each factor, and the place atmosphere of Deoksugung Doldam-gil. These factors confirmed a high correlation between 'green landscape' and 'historicity.' This can be attributed to the fact that the analysis reflects vital space, visual experience, and free walking conditions to be important, and these variables are present in urban parks. It also indicates the long-accumulated image and behavior near the site of Deoksugung Palace, including the historical and cultural heritage. It was confirmed that the factors related to the cognitive perception of Deoksugung Doldam-gil and the formation of the atmosphere of the place were strongly recognized. It found that there was a need to reflect the value and importance of 'green' in the future as culture or in the use of preservation and management related to heritage. This study presented a direction to be noted from the perspective of a user's place awareness, but considered only a fraction of the variables that affect the multidimensional sense of place and location recognition, and thus must be supplemented in the future.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.33-45
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• 2021

Due to recent changes in government policy, officetels have received attention as alternative assets, along with the uplift of office and apartment prices in Seoul. However, the current officetel price indexes use small-size samples and, thus, there is a critique on their accuracy. They rely on valuation prices which lag the market trend and do not properly reflect the volatile nature of the property market, resulting in 'smoothing'. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to create the officetel price index using transaction data. The data, provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport from 2005 to 2020, includes sales prices and rental prices - Jeonsei and monthly rent (and their combinations). This study employed a repeat sales model for sales, jeonsei, and monthly rent indexes. It also contributes to improving conversion rates (between deposit and monthly rent) as a supplementary indicator. The main findings are as follows. First, the officetel price index and jeonsei index reached 132.5P and 163.9P, respectively, in Q4 2020 (1Q 2011=100.0P). However, the rent index was approximately below 100.0. Sales prices and jeonsei continued to rise due to high demand while monthly rent was largely unchanged due to vacancy risk. Second, the increase in the officetel sales price was lower than other housing types such as apartments and villas. Third, the employed approach has seen a potential to produce more reliable officetel price indexes reflecting high volatility compared to those indexes produced by other institutions, contributing to resolving 'smoothing'. As seen in the application in Seoul, this approach can enhance accuracy and, therefore, better assist market players to understand the market trend, which is much valuable under great uncertainties such as COVID-19 environments.

• Korea Science and Art Forum
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• v.20
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• pp.255-265
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• 2015

When it comes to how to define history·culture streets, people think of the streets as street environments that would create local identity in association with this local community's particular historical and cultural resources as well as urban streets. In order to build such streets, any relevant fields first need to apply some original design based on understanding on historical and cultural resources. With Street of Gaya in Gimhae selected as a research subject, this study aims to look into components and color characteristics of the history·culture street and finds ways to create other streets of that kind. As a frame to understand the history·culture streets, what this study would come up with is considered significant in that it helps the value to be re-recognized and promoted. In order to achieve the research goal, the study (1) extracted components of streetscapes referring to relevant previous researches and then, (2) analyzed a current status of these components of Street of Gaya via field investigation. (3) The study examined color characteristics of each of the components. Findings of the research are summarized as follows. (1) From a comprehensive point of view, the study categorized and subdivided the components of the history·culture street into nonphysical and physical elements. (2) After analyzing the current status of the components, the study learned that Street of Gaya basically consists of historical and cultural remains and sculptures as well as street facilities. (3) Results of the color investigation reported that the plan on designing of Street of Gaya had been processed with a focus laid on harmony of historical remains and cultural remains which are told to be natural components. However, the study also figured out that as long as relevant fields want to create different identity in each section and to efficiently deliver information, they should first prepare this smart design system to integrate each pieces of a streetscape as a whole.