• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.95-118
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• 2017

Recent centrally the downtown area, the transaction between the row housing and multiplex housing is activated and platform services such as Zigbang and Dabang are growing. The row housing and multiplex housing is a blind spot for real estate information. Because there is a social problem, due to the change in market size and information asymmetry due to changes in demand. Also, the 5 or 25 districts used by the Seoul Metropolitan Government or the Korean Appraisal Board(hereafter, KAB) were established within the administrative boundaries and used in existing real estate studies. This is not a district classification for real estate researches because it is zoned urban planning. Based on the existing study, this study found that the city needs to reset the Seoul Metropolitan Government's spatial structure in estimating future housing prices. So, This study attempted to classify the area without spatial heterogeneity by the reflected the property price characteristics of row housing and Multiplex housing. In other words, There has been a problem that an inefficient side has arisen due to the simple division by the existing administrative district. Therefore, this study aims to cluster Seoul as a new area for more efficient real estate analysis. This study was applied to the hedonic model based on the real transactions price data of row housing and multiplex housing. And the K-Means Clustering algorithm was used to cluster the spatial structure of Seoul. In this study, data onto real transactions price of the Seoul Row housing and Multiplex Housing from January 2014 to December 2016, and the official land value of 2016 was used and it provided by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport(hereafter, MOLIT). Data preprocessing was followed by the following processing procedures: Removal of underground transaction, Price standardization per area, Removal of Real transaction case(above 5 and below -5). In this study, we analyzed data from 132,707 cases to 126,759 data through data preprocessing. The data analysis tool used the R program. After data preprocessing, data model was constructed. Priority, the K-means Clustering was performed. In addition, a regression analysis was conducted using Hedonic model and it was conducted a cosine similarity analysis. Based on the constructed data model, we clustered on the basis of the longitude and latitude of Seoul and conducted comparative analysis of existing area. The results of this study indicated that the goodness of fit of the model was above 75 % and the variables used for the Hedonic model were significant. In other words, 5 or 25 districts that is the area of the existing administrative area are divided into 16 districts. So, this study derived a clustering method of row housing and multiplex housing in Seoul using K-Means Clustering algorithm and hedonic model by the reflected the property price characteristics. Moreover, they presented academic and practical implications and presented the limitations of this study and the direction of future research. Academic implication has clustered by reflecting the property price characteristics in order to improve the problems of the areas used in the Seoul Metropolitan Government, KAB, and Existing Real Estate Research. Another academic implications are that apartments were the main study of existing real estate research, and has proposed a method of classifying area in Seoul using public information(i.e., real-data of MOLIT) of government 3.0. Practical implication is that it can be used as a basic data for real estate related research on row housing and multiplex housing. Another practical implications are that is expected the activation of row housing and multiplex housing research and, that is expected to increase the accuracy of the model of the actual transaction. The future research direction of this study involves conducting various analyses to overcome the limitations of the threshold and indicates the need for deeper research.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.20 no.1 s.21
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• pp.165-203
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• 1987

This project was a service-cum-research effort with a quasi-experimental study design to examine the health benefits of an integrated Family Planning (FP)/Maternal & Child health (MCH) Service approach that provides crucial factors missing in the present on-going programs. The specific objectives were: 1) To test the effectiveness of trained nurse/midwives (MW) assigned as change agents in the Health Sub-Center (HSC) to bring about the changes in the eight FP/MCH indicators, namely; (i)FP/MCH contacts between field workers and their clients (ii) the use of effective FP methods, (iii) the inter-birth interval and/or open interval, (iv) prenatal care by medically qualified personnel, (v) medically supervised deliveries, (vi) the rate of induced abortion, (vii) maternal and infant morbidity, and (viii) preinatal & infant mortality. 2) To measure the integrative linkage (contacts) between MW & HSC workers and between HSC and clients. 3) To examine the organizational or administrative factors influencing integrative linkage between health workers. Study design; The above objectives called for quasi-experimental design setting up a study and control area with and without a midwife. An active intervention program (FP/MCH minimum 'package' program) was conducted for a 2 year period from June 1982-July 1984 in Seosan County and 'before and after' surveys were conducted to measure the change. Service input; This study was undertaken by the Soonchunhyang University in collaboration with WHO. After a baseline survery in 1981, trained nurses/midwives were introduced into two health sub-centers in a rural setting (Seosan county) for a 2 year period from 1982 to 1984. A major service input was the establishment of midwifery services in the existing health delivery system with emphasis on nurse/midwife's role as the link between health workers (nurse aids) and village health workers, and the referral of risk patients to the private physician (OBGY specialist). An evaluation survey was made in August 1984 to assess the effectiveness of this alternative integrated approach in the study areas in comparison with the control area which had normal government services. Method of evaluation; a. In this study, the primary objective was first to examine to what extent the FP/MCH package program brought about changes in the pre-determined eight indicators (outcome and impact measures) and the following relationship was first analyzed; b. Nevertheless, this project did not automatically accept the assumption that if two or more activities were integrated, the results would automatically be better than a non-integrated or categorical program. There is a need to assess the 'integration process' itself within the package program. The process of integration was measured in terms of interactive linkages, or the quantity & quality of contacts between workers & clients and among workers. Intergrative linkages were hypothesized to be influenced by organizational factors at the HSC clinic level including HSC goals, sltrurture, authority, leadership style, resources, and personal characteristics of HSC staff. The extent or degree of integration, as measured by the intensity of integrative linkages, was in turn presumed to influence programme performance. Thus as indicated diagrammatically below, organizational factors constituted the independent variables, integration as the intervening variable and programme performance with respect to family planning and health services as the dependent variable: Concerning organizational factors, however, due to the limited number of HSCs (2 in the study area and 3 in the control area), they were studied by participatory observation of an anthropologist who was independent of the project. In this observation, we examined whether the assumed integration process actually occurred or not. If not, what were the constraints in producing an effective integration process. Summary of Findings; A) Program effects and impact 1. Effects on FP use: During this 2 year action period, FP acceptance increased from 58% in 1981 to 78% in 1984 in both the study and control areas. This increase in both areas was mainly due to the new family planning campaign driven by the Government for the same study period. Therefore, there was no increment of FP acceptance rate due to additional input of MW to the on-going FP program. But in the study area, quality aspects of FP were somewhat improved, having a better continuation rate of IUDs & pills and more use of effective Contraceptive methods in comparison with the control area. 2. Effects of use of MCH services: Between the study and control areas, however, there was a significant difference in maternal and child health care. For example, the coverage of prenatal care was increased from 53% for 1981 birth cohort to 75% for 1984 birth cohort in the study area. In the control area, the same increased from 41% (1981) to 65% (1984). It is noteworthy that almost two thirds of the recent birth cohort received prenatal care even in the control area, indicating that there is a growing demand of MCH care as the size of family norm becomes smaller 3. There has been a substantive increase in delivery care by medical professions in the study area, with an annual increase rate of 10% due to midwives input in the study areas. The project had about two times greater effect on postnatal care (68% vs. 33%) at delivery care(45.2% vs. 26.1%). 4. The study area had better reproductive efficiency (wanted pregancies with FP practice & healthy live births survived by one year old) than the control area, especially among women under 30 (14.1% vs. 9.6%). The proportion of women who preferred the 1st trimester for their first prenatal care rose significantly in the study area as compared to the control area (24% vs 13%). B) Effects on Interactive Linkage 1. This project made a contribution in making several useful steps in the direction of service integration, namely; i) The health workers have become familiar with procedures on how to work together with each other (especially with a midwife) in carrying out their work in FP/MCH and, ii) The health workers have gotten a feeling of the usefulness of family health records (statistical integration) in identifying targets in their own work and their usefulness in caring for family health. 2. On the other hand, because of a lack of required organizational factors, complete linkage was not obtained as the project intended. i) In regards to the government health worker's activities in terms of home visiting there was not much difference between the study & control areas though the MW did more home visiting than Government health workers. ii) In assessing the service performance of MW & health workers, the midwives balanced their workload between 40% FP, 40% MCH & 20% other activities (mainly immunization). However, $85{\sim}90%$ of the services provided by the health workers were other than FP/MCH, mainly for immunizations such as the encephalitis campaign. In the control area, a similar pattern was observed. Over 75% of their service was other than FP/MCH. Therefore, the pattern shows the health workers are a long way from becoming multipurpose workers even though the government is pushing in this direction. 3. Villagers were much more likely to visit the health sub-center clinic in the study area than in the control area (58% vs.31%) and for more combined care (45% vs.23%). C) Organization factors (admistrative integrative issues) 1. When MW (new workers with higher qualification) were introduced to HSC, it was noted that there were conflicts between the existing HSC workers (Nurse aids with less qualification than MW) and the MW for the beginning period of the project. The cause of the conflict was studied by an anthropologist and it was pointed out that these functional integration problems stemmed from the structural inadequacies of the health subcenter organization as indicated below; i) There is still no general consensus about the objectives and goals of the project between the project staff and the existing health workers. ii) There is no formal linkage between the responsibility of each member's job in the health sub-center. iii) There is still little chance for midwives to play a catalytic role or to establish communicative networks between workers in order to link various knowledge and skills to provide better FP/MCH services in the health sub-center. 2. Based on the above findings the project recommended to the County Chief (who has power to control the administrative staff and the technical staff in his county) the following ; i) In order to solve the conflicts between the individual roles and functions in performing health care activities, there must be goals agreed upon by both. ii) The health sub·center must function as an autonomous organization to undertake the integration health project. In order to do that, it is necessary to support administrative considerations, and to establish a communication system for supervision and to control of the health sub-centers. iii) The administrative organization, tentatively, must be organized to bind the health worker's midwive's and director's jobs by an organic relationship in order to achieve the integrative system under the leadership of health sub-center director. After submitting this observation report, there has been better understanding from frequent meetings & communication between HW/MW in FP/MCH work as the program developed. Lessons learned from the Seosan Project (on issues of FP/MCH integration in Korea); 1) A majority or about 80% of the couples are now practicing FP. As indicated by the study, there is a growing demand from clients for the health system to provide more MCH services than FP in order to maintain the achieved small size of family through FP practice. It is fortunate to see that the government is now formulating a MCH policy for the year 2,000 and revising MCH laws and regulations to emphasize more MCH care for achieving a small size family through family planning practice. 2) Goal consensus in FP/MCH shouBd be made among the health workers It administrators, especially to emphasize the need of care of 'wanted' child. But there is a long way to go to realize the 'real' integration of FP into MCH in Korea, unless there is a structural integration FP/MCH because a categorical FP is still first priority to reduce the rate of population growth for economic reasons but not yet for health/welfare reasons in practice. 3) There should be more financial allocation: (i) a midwife should be made available to help to promote the MCH program and coordinate services, (in) there should be a health sub·center director who can provide leadership training for managing the integrated program. There is a need for 'organizational support', if the decision of integration is made to obtain benefit from both FP & MCH. In other words, costs should be paid equally to both FP/MCH. The integration slogan itself, without the commitment of paying such costs, is powerless to advocate it. 4) Need of management training for middle level health personnel is more acute as the Government has already constructed 90 MCH centers attached to the County Health Center but without adequate manpower, facilities, and guidelines for integrating the work of both FP and MCH. 5) The local government still considers these MCH centers only as delivery centers to take care only of those visiting maternity cases. The MCH center should be a center for the managment of all pregnancies occurring in the community and the promotion of FP with a systematic and effective linkage of resources available in the county such as i.e. Village Health Worker, Community Health Practitioner, Health Sub-center Physicians & Health workers, Doctors and Midwives in MCH center, OBGY Specialists in clinics & hospitals as practiced by the Seosan project at primary health care level.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.1-18
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• 1990

This is a study which attempt to analyze changing patierns of economic active popu-lation, t o estimato- future patterns, and exa- mine vartons problems arises by changing c ire u mst ances of t he labor force market in- clunging soici al, economic ic, heathl th and demoi-graph ic aspects. We have constructed series of wotking life table which are useful in syt uiolyioig the lirocess of growth and structural change of labor force. Work i ng life tables represent ihie life eyele of econrmic' activity in hi ypothetical cohorts, that is. gen-erat i on of men Sn bject at eat' b period ot f their lives th given ra to's o mor tali it y and of par-- tici pation in economic activities. The tabloes prot' ide measorues of the alvet'age he ng t able of economically aeti \- e life. and agespecific rates of en trannee' into and retirement from the hahn' force. In const routing working life tables, age-specific activity rates and life tabole popula- titoto which represents contemporary condi-tions of moortality in Korea au'e the basic' maltoerials. We have derived the age-specific rates foorm economically active population survey, whoich were conducted by the Bureau of Statistics, Economic Planning Borard of the Korean government. Working life tables are constructed for men wtable these materi- als in the year of 1970, 1980 and 1988 by a modified Wolfbein-Wool's method. Some of the findings may be summerized as follow : 1) A central part of constructing working life table is calculation of stationary' economic active population, which represents the number of men in the stationtary population extoected to be in the labor force at each age group in the life span. The stationary economic active population by age have generally a universal pattern, where they rise sharply in the early twenties, approach its' peak in the thirties decline thereafter. at first graolually and then more rapidly at an advanced age. Korean men show the same general pa ttern of age distribution of stationary eco-- nomic active population with sharp increase hegining from the age interval of 20 to 24, reaching to maximum level at older age. The population. however, presumably, increased substantially due to increaseing school atte endance rates. Another difference exiSts in the youngest age groups, that is the activity rate in the year of 1988 is lower than that of Japan. The table shows an analysis of changes in the age distrihution of labor force between 1970, 1980 and 1988. 2) It was shown an analysis of changes in the age distribution and cause of separation from labor force. The entrance rate to labor force has increased from 18~\5 persons to 299 persons per 1000 head of stationary population between that of 1980 than that of 1988 for Korean men in 20~24 age group. The entrace rate to labor force shows a rapid entrance appearance concentrated on the 15~24 age group. The separation rate from labor force by retirment in Korea in the year of 1988 shows a great difference of the about four times as much as that of Japan. 3) The functions of table illustrate the patterns of working life of males in Korea in 1970, 1980 and 1988. The average remaining number of economically active years, e at age 15 in 1988 is 46.39 which is 2.12 years of increase compared with that of at age 15 in 1970,1980 and 1988 are 43.90,44.27 and 46.39 respectively, showing steadily increase dur- ing the past double decade the increase in the length of economically active life various age may be considered to have come both from extention of general life expectancy and from increasing entrance rate to economic activity in high age that of working is far greater in 1988 than that of 1980. The gaps between expectation of life and average remaining years of economically active widened due to rapid improvement of mortality level in Ko- rea. This observation together with the population pressure by the appearance of a group of younger population implies that constant increase of economically inactive population among older age group.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.105-117
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of aroma therapy on anxiety and pain before and after tooth extraction. The subjects in this study were 60 patients who felt severe anxiety and pain due to tooth extraction. The experiment was conducted from January through March, 2004, by organizing an experimental group and a control group with 30 patients each. The experimental group was asked to keep wearing lavender-containing necklaces from two days before tooth extraction to inhale lavender, and no such an action was taken to the control group. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS 10.0 program to obtain statistical data. and ${\times}2$ test and t-test were implemented. The findings of this study were as follows: 1. Regarding whether or not the experimental and control groups were homogeneous, men outnumbered women, and the largest number of the patients were in their 30s. Those who were married were more than the others who were unmarried in number, and those who lived with their spouses under the same roof together outnumbered the others who didn't, as the rate of the former stood at 65 percent in the experimental group and 86.4 percent in the control group. They expressed high satisfaction at their spouses, since 45 percent of the experimental group and 31 percent of the control group did it, but the difference between them and those who were unsatisfied was insignificant (pE0.347). By occupation, the largest number of people in the experimental group, which numbered 16.7 percent, were self-employed, and lots of patients in the control group were government workers. As for blood type, type A was most prevailing, which recorded 43.3 percent. By religion, 43 percent of the experimental group had no religion, whereas 36.7 percent of the control group were Christian. The most common monthly income ranged from 2 million to 2.5 million won. 2. There was little disparity in past pain experience between the two groups before aroma therapy was applied. The experimental group underwent more pain (6.15) than the control group (5.78), but the difference wasn't significant. The experimental group (90%) experienced more anxiety and fear than the control group(83%), but the difference was insignificant. This fact showed that there was little gap between the two groups in anxiety and fear caused by tooth extraction. Contrary to earlier expectation that pre-anxiety might not be the same. little significant difference was found. 3. After aroma therapy was applied, 50 percent of the experimental group and 23.3 percent of the control group suffered significantly less anxiety and fear about tooth extraction(${\times}2$=4.59, pE.05). And the experimental group exposed to aroma therapy was less nervous(3.0) than the control group(4.39), and the gap between the two was significant (t=13.37, pE.001). Therefore, aroma therapy had a good effect on alleviating their anxiety. During tooth extraction. 73.3 percent of the experimental group and 93.3 percent of the control group felt pain. The former group suffered Significantly less pain(${\times}2$=4.32, PE.05). Concerning the extent of pain, the experimental group(2.53) found it less painful to have their teeth extracted than the control group(5.50), and the gap between the two was significant(t=5.89, PE.05). 4. As to the effect of aroma therapy on alleviating anxiety or fear, the experimental group(33.3%) felt that aroma therapy let them more relieved. Every member of that group was willing to use aroma therapy again in the future, and 86.7 percent of that group perceived that aroma therapy made a difference to dental treatment. The experimental group responded to aroma therapy favorably, as every member of it had an intention to advise others to use that therapy.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.263-268
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to monitor and compare the contamination levels of total aerobic bacteria, coliform groups and Escherichia coli from fruit-vegetable salad (FS), aquatic hard-boiled food (AF) and salt-fermented fishery product with spices (SP). The samples of ready-to-eat food were 25 FS, 11 AF and 7 SP. The contamination levels of total aerobic bacteria in FS, AF and SP were $4.56\sim7.45\;log_{10}$ CFU/g (FS), $2.43\sim7.03\;log_{10}$ CFU/g (AF), respectively. The contamination levels of coliform groups were $4.51\sim6.71\;log_{10}$ CFU/g (SP). $4.00\sim6.66\;log_{10}$ CFU/g (FS), $1.70\sim5.20\;log_{10}$ CFU/g (AF), respectively. The contamination levels of E. coli were $2.50\sim4.42\;log_{10}$ CFU/g (SP), $0\sim3.58\;log_{10}$ CFU/g (FS), $1.11\sim4.68\;log_{10}$ CFU/g (AF), respectively. The difference of completed packaging salad and instant packaging salad are not different about contamination levels. In conclusion, the results of this study indicated that the hygienic levesl of salads, hard-boiled foods and salted fishes were very poor. So our government need to improve the control plan for food safety from manufacturing process to market.

• The Journal of the Korean Institute of Forest Recreation
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.11-22
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• 2018

This study analyzes the economic feasibility on the transition of production structure to increase income for a local forest village in Laos PDR. The study area was the Nongboua village in Sangthong district where the primary product is rice from rice paddy. Possible strategies were considered to increase the villagers' revenue, and Noni (Morinda citrifolia) was production in the short-term. We assumed that the project period was for 20 years for the analysis, and a total of 1,100 Noni tree was planted in 1 ha by $3m{\times}3m$ spacing. This study classified basic scenario one, scenario two, scenario three by the survival rate and purchase pirce of Noni. Generally Noni grows well. However, the seedlings' average survival rate (= production volume) was set up conservatively in this study to consider potential risks such as no production experience of Noni and tree disease. The scenario one assumed that the survival rate of Noni seedlings was 50% for 0-1 years, 60% for 0-2 years, and 70% for 3-20 years; the scenario two, 10% less, i.e., 40%, 50%, and 60%; and the scenario three, 10% less, i.e., 40%, 50%, 60% and purchase price 10% less, i.e., $0.29 to $0.26, respectively. Our analysis showed that all 3 scenarios resulted in economically-feasible IRR (internal rate of return) of 24.81%, 19.02%, and 16.30% of with a discounting rate of 10%. The B/C (benefit/cost) ratio for a unit area (1ha) was also analyzed for the three scenarios with a discounting rate of 10%, resutling in the B/C ratio of 1.71, 1.47, and 1.31. The study results showed that the Nongboua village would have a good opportunity to improve its low-income structure through planting and managing alternative crops such as Noni. Also the results can be used as useful decision-making information at a preliminary analysis level for planning other government and public investment projects for the Nonboua village.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.151-162
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• 2020

Education is one of the priority sectors specified in Tanzania, and it has committed to provide 11 years of compulsory free basic education for all from pre-primary to lower secondary level. Despite the Government's efforts to provide free basic education to all children, there are 2.0 million (23.2 per cent) out of 8.5 million children at the primary school age of 7-13, who are out of school in Tanzania. The ICT class should be offered as a regular class in all secondary schools in Tanzania, recommended by the ministry of education. However, many schools are struggling to implement this mandate. Most of schools offer the ICT class with theory without any real hardware. Some schools were given with computers but they were not maintained for operation. There is a huge task to make ICT education universal. Main issues include: remoteness (off-grid area), lack of ICT teachers, lack of resources such as hardware, infrastructure, and lack of practical lessons or projects to be used at schools. An innovative blended ICT/STEM education program is being conducted not only for Tanzanian public and private/international schools, but also for out-of-school adolescents through institutions, NGO centers, home visits and at the E3 Empower academy center. For effective STEM education to take place and remain sustainable, more practical curriculum, and close-up teacher support need to be accompanied concurrently. Practical, project-based simple coding lessons have been developed and employed that students experience true learning. The effectiveness of the curriculum has been demonstrated in various project centers, and it showed that students are showing new interests in exploring new discovery, even though this was a totally new area for them. It has been designed for an easy replication, thus students who learned can repeat the lessons themselves to other students. The ultimate purpose of this project is to have IT education offered as universally as possible throughout the whole Tanzania. Quality education for all children is a key for better future for all. Previously it was hoped that education with discipline will improve the active learning. But now more than ever, we believe that children have the ability to learn on their own with given proper STEM education tools, guidelines and environment. This gives promising hope to all of us, including those in the developing countries.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.118-143
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• 2023

Space is becoming more commercialized. Despite of its delayed start-up, space activities in Korea are attracting more nation-wide supports from both investors and government. May 25, 2023, KSLV II, also called Nuri, successfully transported, and inserted seven satellites to a sun-synchronous orbit of 550 km altitude. However, Starlink has over 4,000 satellites around this altitude for its commercial activities. Hence, it is necessary for us to constantly monitor the collision risks of these satellites against resident space objects including Starlink. Here we report a quantitative research output regarding the conjunctions, particularly between the Nuri satellites and Starlink. Our calculation shows that, on average, three times everyday, the Nuri satellites encounter Starlink within 1 km distance with the probability of collision higher than 1.0E-5. A comparative study with KOMPSAT-5, also called Arirang-5, shows that its distance of closest approach distribution significantly differs from those of Nuri satellites. We also report a quantitative analysis of collision-avoiding maneuver cost of Starlink satellites and a strategy for Korea, being a delayed starter, to speed up to position itself in the space leading countries. We used the AstroOne program for analyses and compared its output with that of Socrates Plus of Celestrak. The two line element data was used for computation.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.312-323
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• 2003

This writer absolutely agrees with the government that regional disequilibrium is severe enough to consider moving the administrative capital. Pursuing this course solely to establish a balanced development, however, is not a convincing enough reason. The capital city is directly related to not only the social and economic situation but, much more importantly, to the domestic political situation as well. In the mid-1970s, the proposal by the Third Republic to move the capital city temporarily was based completely on security reasons. At e time, the then opposition leader Kim, Dae-jung said that establishing a safe distance from the demilitarized zone(DMZ) reflected a typically military decision. His view was that retaining the capital city close to the DMZ would show more consideration for the will of the people to defend their own country. In fact, independent Pakistan moved its capital city from Karachi to Islamabad, situated dose to Kashmir the subject of hot territorial dispute with India. It is regrettable that no consideration has been given to the urgent political situation in the Korean peninsula, which is presently enveloped in a dense nuclear fog. As a person requires health to pursue his/her dream, a country must have security to implement a balanced territorial development. According to current urban theories, the fate of a country depends on its major cities. A negligently guarded capital city runs the risk of becoming hostage and bringing ruin to the whole country. In this vein, North Koreas undoubted main target of attack in the armed communist reunification of Korea is Seoul. For the preservation of our state, therefore, it is only right that Seoul must be shielded to prevent becoming hostage to North Korea. The location of the US Armed Forces to the north of the capital city is based on the judgment that defense of Seoul is of absolute importance. At the same time, regardless of their different standpoints, South and North Korea agree that division of the Korean people into two separate countries is abnormal. Reunification, which so far has defied all predictions, may be realized earlier than anyone expects. The day of reunification seems to be the best day for the relocation of the capital city. Building a proper capital city would take at least twenty years, and a capital city cannot be dragged from one place to another. On the day of a free and democratic reunification, a national agreement will be reached naturally to find a nationally symbolic city as in Brazil or Australia. Even if security does not pose a problem, the governments way of thinking would not greatly contribute to the balanced development of the country. The Chungcheon region, which is earmarked as the new location of the capital city, has been the greatest beneficiary of its proximity to the capital region. Not being a disadvantaged region, locating the capital city there would not help alleviate regional disparity. If it is absolutely necessary to find a candidate region at present, considering security, balanced regional development and post-reunification scenario of the future, Cheolwon area located in the middle of the Korean peninsula may be a plausible choice. Even if the transfer of capital is delayed in consideration of the present political conflict between the South and the North Koreas, there is a definite shortcut to realizing a balanced regional development. It can be found not in the geographical dispersal of the central government, but in the decentralization of power to the provinces. If the government has surplus money to build a new symbolic capital city, it is only right that it should improve, for instance, the quality of drinking water which now everyone eschews, and to help the regional subway authority whose chronic deficit state resoled in a recent disastrous accident. And it is proper to time the transfer of capital city to coincide with that of the reunification of Korea whenever Providence intends.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.59-69
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• 2010

Green or an environmental consciousness has been a major issue for businesses and government offices, as well as consumers, worldwide. In response to this movement, the Korean government announced, in the early 2000s, the era of "Green Growth" as a way to encourage green-related business activities. The Korean fashion industry, in various levels of involvement, presents diverse eco-friendly products as a part of the green movement. These apparel products include organic products and recycled clothing. For these companies to be successful, they need information about who are the consumers who consider green issues (e.g., environmental sustainability) as part of their personal values when making a decision for product purchase, use, and disposal. These consumers can be considered as eco-sumers. Previous studies have examined consumers' purchase intention for or with eco-friendly products. In addition, studies have examined influential factors used to identify the eco-sumers or green consumers. However, limited attention was paid to eco-sumers' disposal or recycling behavior of clothes in comparison with their green product purchases. Clothing disposal behaviors are ways that consumer can get rid of unused clothing and in clue temporarily lending the item or permanently eliminating the item by "handing down" (e.g., giving it to a younger sibling), donating, exchanging, selling, or simply throwing it away. Accordingly, examining purchasing behaviors of eco-friendly fashion items in conjunction with clothing disposal behaviors should improve understanding of a consumer's clothing consumption behavior from the environmental perspective. The purpose of this exploratory study is to provide descriptive information about Korean eco-sumers who have ecologically-favorable lifestyles and behaviors when buying and disposing of clothes. The objectives of this study are to (a) categorize Koreans on the basis of clothing disposal behaviors; (b) investigate the differences in demographics, lifestyles, and clothing consumption values among segments; and (c) compare the purchase intention of eco-friendly fashion items and influential factors among segments. A self-administered questionnaire was developed based on previous studies. The questionnaire included 10 items of clothing disposal behavior, 22 items of LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) characteristics, and 19 items of consumption values, measured by five-point Likert-type scales. In addition, the purchase intention of two eco-friendly fashion items and 11 attributes of each item were measured by seven-point Likert type scales. Two polyester fleece pullovers, made from fabric created from recycled bottles with the PET identification code, were selected from one Korean brand and one US imported brand among outdoor sportswear brands. A brief description of each product with a color picture was provided in the survey. Demographic variables (i.e., gender, age, marital status, education level, income, occupation) were also included. The data were collected through a professional web survey agency during May 2009. A total of 600 final usable questionnaires were analyzed. The age of respondents ranged from 20 to 49 years old with a mean age of 34 years. Fifty percent of the respondents were males and about 58% were married, and 62% reported having earned university degrees. Principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation was used to identify the underlying dimensions of the clothing disposal behavior scale, and three factors were generated (i.e., reselling behavior, donating behavior, non-recycling behavior). To categorize the respondents on the basis of clothing disposal behaviors, k-mean cluster analysis was used, and three segments were obtained. These consumer segments were labeled as 'Resale Group', 'Donation Group', and 'Non-Recycling Group.' The classification results indicated approximately 98 percent of the original cases were correctly classified. With respect to demographic characteristics among the three segments, significant differences were found in gender, marital status, occupation, and age. LOHAS characteristics were reduced into the following five factors: self-satisfaction, family orientation, health concern, environmental concern, and voluntary service. Significant differences were found in the LOHAS factors among the three clusters. Resale Group and Donation Group showed a similar predisposition to LOHAS issues while the Non-Recycling Group presented the lowest mean scores on the LOHAS factors compared to the other segments. The Resale and Donation Groups described themselves as enjoying or being satisfied with their lives and spending spare-time with family. In addition, these two groups cared about health and organic foods, and tried to conserve energy and resources. Principal components factor analysis generated clothing consumption values into the following three factors: personal values, social value, and practical value. The ANOVA test with the factors showed differences primarily between the Resale Group and the other two groups. The Resale Group was more concerned about personal value and social value than the other segments. In contrast, the Non-Recycling Group presented the higher level of social value than did Donation Group. In a comparison of the intention to purchase eco-friendly products, the Resale Group showed the highest mean score on intent to purchase Product A. On the other hand, the Donation Group presented the highest intention to purchase for Product B among segments. In addition, the mean scores indicated that the Korean product (Product B) was more preferable for purchase than the U.S. product (Product A). Stepwise regression analysis was used to identify the influence of product attributes on the purchase intention of eco product. With respect to Product A, design, price and contribution to environmental preservation were significant to predict purchase intention for the Resale Group, while price and compatibility with my image factors were significant for the Donation Group. For the Non-Recycling Group, design, price compatibility with the factors of my image, participation to eco campaign, and contribution to environmental preservation were significant. Price appropriateness was significant for each of the three clusters. With respect to Product B, design, price and compatibility with my image factors were important, but different attributes were associated significantly with purchase intention for each of the three groups. The influence of LOHAS characteristics and clothing consumption values on intention to purchase Products A and B were also examined. The LOHAS factor of health concern and the personal value factor were significant in the relationships with the purchase intention; however, the explanatory powers were low in the three segments. Findings showed that each group as classified by clothing disposal behaviors showed differences in the attributes of a product, personal values, and the LOHAS characteristics that influenced their purchase intention of eco-friendly products. Findings would enable organizations to understand eco-friendly behavior and to design appropriate strategic decisions to appeal eco-sumers.