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The Effects of Consumer Value Cognition on Benefits and Attributes of Culture-Art Products (문화예술상품 소비자의 가치인식이 추구혜택과 상품속성에 미치는 영향)

  • Shin, Eun Joo;Rhee, Young Sun
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.177-207
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    • 2012
  • Today's consumers perceive consumption as a representation of themselves. It is not simply an act that fulfills a consumer's physical and practical needs. Even in terms of life quality, consumers increasingly want to achieve an emotional and sensible experience through consumption. Consumers now make decisions based on their need to express their position in relation to other people, pursue emotional satisfaction, and try to improve the quality of life. Culture-art products that meet such internal and external demands of consumers have made significant improvements in both quantity and quality, because of the social interest and policy support. The recognition of personal and social values of culture and arts has brought about interest in and need for culture-art products. Businesses have agilely embraced such change and actively implemented various marketing strategies utilizing culture and arts. For example, businesses began to sponsor artists who produce culture-art products while building facilities for cultural and art performances or exhibitions. Businesses have also provided performances and exhibitions free-of-charge or at affordable prices. As a result, the supply in the market has started to exceed its demand as is often the case in many of other markets. However, such imbalance has occurred not because of over-supply but because of a lack of demand. Given these circumstances, the government and culture and art related organizations, which had mainly concentrated on the supply side, started to recognize the importance of creating personal and social values in culture and arts. As a result, the government and various organizations are now creating various strategies that include policy measures to achieve their new found goal. Unfortunately however, such efforts are not meeting the expectations. Focusing on above-mentioned circumstances and problems, this study aims to find measures to create demand for culture-art products in the internal conditions of those who consume culture-art products. In other words, given that the demand for culture-art products has not increased despite all external conditions to encourage consumption, this study aims to find the reasons in consumers' value judgment on culture-art products. Though there were recent studies on culture-art products that applied consumer behavior on marketing theories, most of them focused on peripheral aspects such as people's motivation for or satisfaction from watching culture-art events. Hence, there is a need to understand what kind of value consumers perceive from culture-art products and how such value cognition leads to consumption in a comprehensive manner. This study acts as follow-up to a separate study entitled "Qualitative Study about Value Cognition and Benefits of Consumer on Culture-Art Products". The current study aims to extend practical implications that enhance the effectiveness of marketing strategies among the producing and policy agencies in the industry. The purpose of this study is to investigate dimensions of value cognition, benefits and attributes of culture-art products, and identify the effects of consumer value cognition on benefits and attributes. The questionnaire was developed based on the conceptual structure of qualitative research and previous researches. It was composed of value cognition, benefits, attributes of culture-art products and demographic variables. This survey was conducted on-line and off-line among a total of 662 persons ranging from their teens to their 50's who were living in Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, various metropolitan cities, and small and medium-sized cities. The data collected was analyzed by factor analysis and path analysis using SPSS WIN 18.0 and AMOS 16.0. This empirical study found that the dimensions of value cognition of culture-art products were categorized into personal goods, aesthetic goods and public property. This shows that the consumers perceive culture-art products as products that are worthy enough to pay the costs not just for personal benefits but also for their social values. Also the formation of value cognition for culture-art products requires special conditions unlike that for physical consumer goods and services, which simply require marketing stimuli. The dimensions of benefits pursued by consuming culture-art products were found to be composed of four types - pursuit of aesthetic benefits, pursuit of actual benefits, pursuit of emotional benefits, and pursuit of conspicuous character. This result implies that people consume culture-art products not just to pursue pleasure from emotional and intelligent satisfaction as well as social relations, but also to seek the needs and benefits embodied at a social level. The dimensions of attributes of culture-art products had seven different factors, - environmental, price, evaluation, people, artwork, composition, and personal relations - which is plentiful. This is because the attributes of culture-art products are very complicated compared to other consumer goods or services. Since culture-art products include not just cultural or artistic works but also all physical, human, environmental, and systemic elements of the products in a comprehensive manner, consumers perceive everything they experience in the process of consuming culture-art products as part of the products. The dimensions of value cognition was found to affect attributes of the products, mostly using pursued benefits as a mediating factors. This result is consistent with the result of qualitative research, and proves that applying the means-end chain theory in the reverse direction is reasonable. The result can be interpreted that consumers' value cognitions for culture-art products turns into actual benefits leading to consumers' decisions. Furthermore, this result reveals that when consumers choose culture-art products, they take into account the attributes of culture-art products depending on the benefits they pursue. These results confirm that despite their conceptual and abstract attributes, culture-art products have values that contribute to actual benefits for individual consumers and society. Hence, value cognition generates benefits to be pursued and this in turn affects the consumers' choices of attributes on products. Based on the conceptual structure of consumers' value cognitions on culture-art products and its dimensions, it is possible to find detailed methods to provide opportunities for education and training to form and reinforce positive value cognition on culture-art products. And through those methods, it will be possible to develop attributes of culture-art products according to the dimensions of pursued benefits, and allow conceptual products become the subject to valuable consumption in real life. These results provide theoretical understanding of consumer behavior in culture marketing and useful information to culture-art producers, companies that use culture and art, and government agencies that use culture-art as a mean to improve the public perception of quality of life. As a follow up on this study, there should be experimental studies that can develop criteria visualizing the demands of consumers who purchase culture-art products and identify their detailed attributes. Studies that compare characteristics of different areas within the culture-art product category and in-depth studies on a specific area or genre will also be needed. In order to develop marketing strategies for culture-art products, studies on the formation and reinforcement of positive value cognition on culture-art products and education for the development of consumer demand as well as on the development and differentiation of attributes of culture-art products depending on types of consumer groups should also follow.

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A Study for Improvement of Nursing Service Administration (병원 간호행정 개선을 위한 연구)

  • 박정호
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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    • v.3 no.1
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    • pp.13-40
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    • 1972
  • Much has teed changed in the field of hospital administration in the It wake of the rapid development of sciences, techniques ana systematic hospital management. However, we still have a long way to go in organization, in the quality of hospital employees and hospital equipment and facilities, and in financial support in order to achieve proper hospital management. The above factors greatly effect the ability of hospitals to fulfill their obligation in patient care and nursing services. The purpose of this study is to determine the optimal methods of standardization and quality nursing so as to improve present nursing services through investigations and analyses of various problems concerning nursing administration. This study has been undertaken during the six month period from October 1971 to March 1972. The 41 comprehensive hospitals have been selected iron amongst the 139 in the whole country. These have been categorized according-to the specific purposes of their establishment, such as 7 university hospitals, 18 national or public hospitals, 12 religious hospitals and 4 enterprise ones. The following conclusions have been acquired thus far from information obtained through interviews with nursing directors who are in charge of the nursing administration in each hospital, and further investigations concerning the purposes of establishment, the organization, personnel arrangements, working conditions, practices of service, and budgets of the nursing service department. 1. The nursing administration along with its activities in this country has been uncritical1y adopted from that of the developed countries. It is necessary for us to re-establish a new medical and nursing system which is adequate for our social environments through continuous study and research. 2. The survey shows that the 7 university hospitals were chiefly concerned with education, medical care and research; the 18 national or public hospitals with medical care, public health and charity work; the 2 religious hospitals with medical care, charity and missionary works; and the 4 enterprise hospitals with public health, medical care and charity works. In general, the main purposes of the hospitals were those of charity organizations in the pursuit of medical care, education and public benefits. 3. The survey shows that in general hospital facilities rate 64 per cent and medical care 60 per-cent against a 100 per cent optimum basis in accordance with the medical treatment law and approved criteria for training hospitals. In these respects, university hospitals have achieved the highest standards, followed by religious ones, enterprise ones, and national or public ones in that order. 4. The ages of nursing directors range from 30 to 50. The level of education achieved by most of the directors is that of graduation from a nursing technical high school and a three year nursing junior college; a very few have graduated from college or have taken graduate courses. 5. As for the career tenure of nurses in the hospitals: one-third of the nurses, or 38 per cent, have worked less than one year; those in the category of one year to two represent 24 pet cent. This means that a total of 62 per cent of the career nurses have been practicing their profession for less than two years. Career nurses with over 5 years experience number only 16 per cent: therefore the efficiency of nursing services has been rated very low. 6. As for the standard of education of the nurses: 62 per cent of them have taken a three year course of nursing in junior colleges, and 22 per cent in nursing technical high schools. College graduate nurses come up to only 15 per cent; and those with graduate course only 0.4 per cent. This indicates that most of the nurses are front nursing technical high schools and three year nursing junior colleges. Accordingly, it is advisable that nursing services be divided according to their functions, such as professional, technical nurses and nurse's aides. 7. The survey also shows that the purpose of nursing service administration in the hospitals has been regulated in writing in 74 per cent of the hospitals and not regulated in writing in 26 per cent of the hospitals. The general purposes of nursing are as follows: patient care, assistance in medical care and education. The main purpose of these nursing services is to establish proper operational and personnel management which focus on in-service education. 8. The nursing service departments belong to the medical departments in almost 60 per cent of the hospitals. Even though the nursing service department is formally separated, about 24 per cent of the hospitals regard it as a functional unit in the medical department. Only 5 per cent of the hospitals keep the department as a separate one. To the contrary, approximately 12 per cent of the hospitals have not established a nursing service department at all but surbodinate it to the other department. In this respect, it is required that a new hospital organization be made to acknowledge the independent function of the nursing department. In 76 per cent of the hospitals they have advisory committees under the nursing department, such as a dormitory self·regulating committee, an in-service education committee and a nursing procedure and policy committee. 9. Personnel arrangement and working conditions of nurses 1) The ratio of nurses to patients is as follows: In university hospitals, 1 to 2.9 for hospitalized patients and 1 to 4.0 for out-patients; in religious hospitals, 1 to 2.3 for hospitalized patients and 1 to 5.4 for out-patients. Grouped together this indicates that one nurse covers 2.2 hospitalized patients and 4.3 out-patients on a daily basis. The current medical treatment law stipulates that one nurse should care for 2.5 hospitalized patients or 30.0 out-patients. Therefore the statistics indicate that nursing services are being peformed with an insufficient number of nurses to cover out-patients. The current law concerns the minimum number of nurses and disregards the required number of nurses for operation rooms, recovery rooms, delivery rooms, new-born baby rooms, central supply rooms and emergency rooms. Accordingly, tile medical treatment law has been requested to be amended. 2) The ratio of doctors to nurses: In university hospitals, the ratio is 1 to 1.1; in national of public hospitals, 1 to 0.8; in religious hospitals 1 to 0.5; and in private hospitals 1 to 0.7. The average ratio is 1 to 0.8; generally the ideal ratio is 3 to 1. Since the number of doctors working in hospitals has been recently increasing, the nursing services have consequently teen overloaded, sacrificing the services to the patients. 3) The ratio of nurses to clerical staff is 1 to 0.4. However, the ideal ratio is 5 to 1, that is, 1 to 0.2. This means that clerical personnel far outnumber the nursing staff. 4) The ratio of nurses to nurse's-aides; The average 2.5 to 1 indicates that most of the nursing service are delegated to nurse's-aides owing to the shortage of registered nurses. This is the main cause of the deterioration in the quality of nursing services. It is a real problem in the guest for better nursing services that certain hospitals employ a disproportionate number of nurse's-aides in order to meet financial requirements. 5) As for the working conditions, most of hospitals employ a three-shift day with 8 hours of duty each. However, certain hospitals still use two shifts a day. 6) As for the working environment, most of the hospitals lack welfare and hygienic facilities. 7) The salary basis is the highest in the private university hospitals, with enterprise hospitals next and religious hospitals and national or public ones lowest. 8) Method of employment is made through paper screening, and further that the appointment of nurses is conditional upon the favorable opinion of the nursing directors. 9) The unemployment ratio for one year in 1971 averaged 29 per cent. The reasons for unemployment indicate that the highest is because of marriage up to 40 per cent, and next is because of overseas employment. This high unemployment ratio further causes the deterioration of efficiency in nursing services and supplementary activities. The hospital authorities concerned should take this matter into a jeep consideration in order to reduce unemployment. 10) The importance of in-service education is well recognized and established. 1% has been noted that on the-job nurses. training has been most active, with nursing directors taking charge of the orientation programs of newly employed nurses. However, it is most necessary that a comprehensive study be made of instructors, contents and methods of education with a separate section for in-service education. 10. Nursing services'activities 1) Division of services and job descriptions are urgently required. 81 per rent of the hospitals keep written regulations of services in accordance with nursing service manuals. 19 per cent of the hospitals do not keep written regulations. Most of hospitals delegate to the nursing directors or certain supervisors the power of stipulating service regulations. In 21 per cent of the total hospitals they have policy committees, standardization committees and advisory committees to proceed with the stipulation of regulations. 2) Approximately 81 per cent of the hospitals have service channels in which directors, supervisors, head nurses and staff nurses perform their appropriate services according to the service plans and make up the service reports. In approximately 19 per cent of the hospitals the staff perform their nursing services without utilizing the above channels. 3) In the performance of nursing services, a ward manual is considered the most important one to be utilized in about 32 percent of hospitals. 25 per cent of hospitals indicate they use a kardex; 17 per cent use ward-rounding, and others take advantage of work sheets or coordination with other departments through conferences. 4) In about 78 per cent of hospitals they have records which indicate the status of personnel, and in 22 per cent they have not. 5) It has been advised that morale among nurses may be increased, ensuring more efficient services, by their being able to exchange opinions and views with each other. 6) The satisfactory performance of nursing services rely on the following factors to the degree indicated: approximately 32 per cent to the systematic nursing activities and services; 27 per cent to the head nurses ability for nursing diagnosis; 22 per cent to an effective supervisory system; 16 per cent to the hospital facilities and proper supply, and 3 per cent to effective in·service education. This means that nurses, supervisors, head nurses and directors play the most important roles in the performance of nursing services. 11. About 87 per cent of the hospitals do not have separate budgets for their nursing departments, and only 13 per cent of the hospitals have separate budgets. It is recommended that the planning and execution of the nursing administration be delegated to the pertinent administrators in order to bring about improved proved performances and activities in nursing services.

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A Study Concerning Health Needs in Rural Korea (농촌(農村) 주민(住民)들의 의료필요도(醫療必要度)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究))

  • Lee, Sung-Kwan;Kim, Doo-Hie;Jung, Jong-Hak;Chunge, Keuk-Soo;Park, Sang-Bin;Choy, Chung-Hun;Heng, Sun-Ho;Rah, Jin-Hoon
    • Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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    • v.7 no.1
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    • pp.29-94
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    • 1974
  • Today most developed countries provide modern medical care for most of the population. The rural area is the more neglected area in the medical and health field. In public health, the philosophy is that medical care for in maintenance of health is a basic right of man; it should not be discriminated against racial, environmental or financial situations. The deficiency of the medical care system, cultural bias, economic development, and ignorance of the residents about health care brought about the shortage of medical personnel and facilities on the rural areas. Moreover, medical students and physicians have been taught less about rural health care than about urban health care. Medical care, therefore, is insufficient in terms of health care personnel/and facilities in rural areas. Under such a situation, there is growing concern about the health problems among the rural population. The findings presented in this report are useful measures of the major health problems and even more important, as a guide to planning for improved medical care systems. It is hoped that findings from this study will be useful to those responsible for improving the delivery of health service for the rural population. Objectives: -to determine the health status of the residents in the rural areas. -to assess the rural population's needs in terms of health and medical care. -to make recommendations concerning improvement in the delivery of health and medical care for the rural population. Procedures: For the sampling design, the ideal would be to sample according to the proportion of the composition age-groups. As the health problems would be different by group, the sample was divided into 10 different age-groups. If the sample were allocated by proportion of composition of each age group, some age groups would be too small to estimate the health problem. The sample size of each age-group population was 100 people/age-groups. Personal interviews were conducted by specially trained medical students. The interviews dealt at length with current health status, medical care problems, utilization of medical services, medical cost paid for medical care and attitudes toward health. In addition, more information was gained from the public health field, including environmental sanitation, maternal and child health, family planning, tuberculosis control, and dental health. The sample Sample size was one fourth of total population: 1,438 The aged 10-14 years showed the largest number of 254 and the aged under one year was the smallest number of 81. Participation in examination Examination sessions usually were held in the morning every Tuesday, Wenesday, and Thursday for 3 hours at each session at the Namchun Health station. In general, the rate of participation in medical examination was low especially in ages between 10-19 years old. The highest rate of participation among are groups was the under one year age-group by 100 percent. The lowest use rate as low as 3% of those in the age-groups 10-19 years who are attending junior and senior high school in Taegu city so the time was not convenient for them to recieve examinations. Among the over 20 years old group, the rate of participation of female was higher than that of males. The results are as follows: A. Publie health problems Population: The number of pre-school age group who required child health was 724, among them infants numbered 96. Number of eligible women aged 15-44 years was 1,279, and women with husband who need maternal health numbered 700. The age-group of 65 years or older was 201 needed more health care and 65 of them had disabilities. (Table 2). Environmental sanitation: Seventy-nine percent of the residents relied upon well water as a primary source of dringking water. Ninety-three percent of the drinking water supply was rated as unfited quality for drinking. More than 90% of latrines were unhygienic, in structure design and sanitation (Table 15). Maternal and child health: Maternal health Average number of pregnancies of eligible women was 4 times. There was almost no pre- and post-natal care. Pregnancy wastage Still births was 33 per 1,000 live births. Spontaneous abortion was 156 per 1,000 live births. Induced abortion was 137 per 1,000 live births. Delivery condition More than 90 percent of deliveries were conducted at home. Attendants at last delivery were laymen by 76% and delivery without attendants was 14%. The rate of non-sterilized scissors as an instrument used to cut the umbilical cord was as high as 54% and of sickles was 14%. The rate of difficult delivery counted for 3%. Maternal death rate estimates about 35 per 10,000 live births. Child health Consultation rate for child health was almost non existant. In general, vaccination rate of children was low; vaccination rates for children aged 0-5 years with BCG and small pox were 34 and 28 percent respectively. The rate of vaccination with DPT and Polio were 23 and 25% respectively but the rate of the complete three injections were as low as 5 and 3% respectively. The number of dead children was 280 per 1,000 living children. Infants death rate was 45 per 1,000 live births (Table 16), Family planning: Approval rate of married women for family planning was as high as 86%. The rate of experiences of contraception in the past was 51%. The current rate of contraception was 37%. Willingness to use contraception in the future was as high as 86% (Table 17). Tuberculosis control: Number of registration patients at the health center currently was 25. The number indicates one eighth of estimate number of tuberculosis in the area. Number of discharged cases in the past accounted for 79 which showed 50% of active cases when discharged time. Rate of complete treatment among reasons of discharge in the past as low as 28%. There needs to be a follow up observation of the discharged cases (Table 18). Dental problems: More than 50% of the total population have at least one or more dental problems. (Table 19) B. Medical care problems Incidence rate: 1. In one month Incidence rate of medical care problems during one month was 19.6 percent. Among these health problems which required rest at home were 11.8 percent. The estimated number of patients in the total population is 1,206. The health problems reported most frequently in interviews during one month are: GI trouble, respiratory disease, neuralgia, skin disease, and communicable disease-in that order, The rate of health problems by age groups was highest in the 1-4 age group and in the 60 years or over age group, the lowest rate was the 10-14 year age group. In general, 0-29 year age group except the 1-4 year age group was low incidence rate. After 30 years old the rate of health problems increases gradually with aging. Eighty-three percent of health problems that occured during one month were solved by primary medical care procedures. Seventeen percent of health problems needed secondary care. Days rested at home because of illness during one month were 0.7 days per interviewee and 8days per patient and it accounts for 2,161 days for the total productive population in the area. (Table 20) 2. In a year The incidence rate of medical care problems during a year was 74.8%, among them health problems which required rest at home was 37 percent. Estimated number of patients in the total population during a year was 4,600. The health problems that occured most frequently among the interviewees during a year were: Cold (30%), GI trouble (18), respiratory disease (11), anemia (10), diarrhea (10), neuralgia (10), parasite disease (9), ENT (7), skin (7), headache (7), trauma (4), communicable disease (3), and circulatory disease (3) -in that order. The rate of health problems by age groups was highest in the infants group, thereafter the rate decreased gradually until the age 15-19 year age group which showed the lowest, and then the rate increased gradually with aging. Eighty-seven percent of health problems during a year were solved by primary medical care. Thirteen percent of them needed secondary medical care procedures. Days rested at home because of illness during a year were 16 days per interviewee and 44 days per patient and it accounted for 57,335 days lost among productive age group in the area (Table 21). Among those given medical examination, the conditions observed most frequently were respiratory disease, GI trouble, parasite disease, neuralgia, skin disease, trauma, tuberculosis, anemia, chronic obstructive lung disease, eye disorders-in that order (Table 22). The main health problems required secondary medical care are as fellows: (previous page). Utilization of medical care (treatment) The rate of treatment by various medical facilities for all health problems during one month was 73 percent. The rate of receiving of medical care of those who have health problems which required rest at home was 52% while the rate of those who have health problems which did not required rest was 61 percent (Table 23). The rate of receiving of medical care for all health problems during a year was 67 percent. The rate of receiving of medical care of those who have health problems which required rest at home was 82 percent while the rate of those who have health problems which did not required rest was as low as 53 percent (Table 24). Types of medical facilitied used were as follows: Hospital and clinics: 32-35% Herb clinics: 9-10% Drugstore: 53-58% Hospitalization Rate of hospitalization was 1.7% and the estimate number of hospitalizations among the total population during a year will be 107 persons (Table 25). Medical cost: Average medical cost per person during one month and a year were 171 and 2,800 won respectively. Average medical cost per patient during one month and a year were 1,109 and 3,740 won respectively. Average cost per household during a year was 15,800 won (Table 26, 27). Solution measures for health and medical care problems in rural area: A. Health problems which could be solved by paramedical workers such as nurses, midwives and aid nurses etc. are as follows: 1. Improvement of environmental sanitation 2. MCH except medical care problems 3. Family planning except surgical intervention 4. Tuberculosis control except diagnosis and prescription 5. Dental care except operational intervention 6. Health education for residents for improvement of utilization of medical facilities and early diagnosis etc. B. Medical care problems 1. Eighty-five percent of health problems could be solved by primary care procedures by general practitioners. 2. Fifteen percent of health problems need secondary medical procedures by a specialist. C. Medical cost Concidering the economic situation in rural area the amount of 2,062 won per residents during a year will be burdensome, so financial assistance is needed gorvernment to solve health and medical care problems for rural people.

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A Study on the Forest Yield Regulation by Systems Analysis (시스템분석(分析)에 의(依)한 삼림수확조절(森林收穫調節)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究))

  • Cho, Eung-hyouk
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.344-390
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    • 1977
  • The purpose of this paper was to schedule optimum cutting strategy which could maximize the total yield under certain restrictions on periodic timber removals and harvest areas from an industrial forest, based on a linear programming technique. Sensitivity of the regulation model to variations in restrictions has also been analyzed to get information on the changes of total yield in the planning period. The regulation procedure has been made on the experimental forest of the Agricultural College of Seoul National University. The forest is composed of 219 cutting units, and characterized by younger age group which is very common in Korea. The planning period is devided into 10 cutting periods of five years each, and cutting is permissible only on the stands of age groups 5-9. It is also assumed in the study that the subsequent forests are established immediately after cutting existing forests, non-stocked forest lands are planted in first cutting period, and established forests are fully stocked until next harvest. All feasible cutting regimes have been defined to each unit depending on their age groups. Total yield (Vi, k) of each regime expected in the planning period has been projected using stand yield tables and forest inventory data, and the regime which gives highest Vi, k has been selected as a optimum cutting regime. After calculating periodic yields and cutting areas, and total yield from the optimum regimes selected without any restrictions, the upper and lower limits of periodic yields(Vj-max, Vj-min) and those of periodic cutting areas (Aj-max, Aj-min) have been decided. The optimum regimes under such restrictions have been selected by linear programming. The results of the study may be summarized as follows:- 1. The fluctuations of periodic harvest yields and areas under cutting regimes selected without restrictions were very great, because of irregular composition of age classes and growing stocks of existing stands. About 68.8 percent of total yield is expected in period 10, while none of yield in periods 6 and 7. 2. After inspection of the above solution, restricted optimum cutting regimes were obtained under the restrictions of Amin=150 ha, Amax=400ha, $Vmin=5,000m^3$ and $Vmax=50,000m^3$, using LP regulation model. As a result, about $50,000m^3$ of stable harvest yield per period and a relatively balanced age group distribution is expected from period 5. In this case, the loss in total yield was about 29 percent of that of unrestricted regimes. 3. Thinning schedule could be easily treated by the model presented in the study, and the thinnings made it possible to select optimum regimes which might be effective for smoothing the wood flows, not to speak of increasing total yield in the planning period. 4. It was known that the stronger the restrictions becomes in the optimum solution the earlier the period comes in which balanced harvest yields and age group distribution can be formed. There was also a tendency in this particular case that the periodic yields were strongly affected by constraints, and the fluctuations of harvest areas depended upon the amount of periodic yields. 5. Because the total yield was decreased at the increasing rate with imposing stronger restrictions, the Joss would be very great where strict sustained yield and normal age group distribution are required in the earlier periods. 6. Total yield under the same restrictions in a period was increased by lowering the felling age and extending the range of cutting age groups. Therefore, it seemed to be advantageous for producing maximum timber yield to adopt wider range of cutting age groups with the lower limit at which the smallest utilization size of timber could be produced. 7. The LP regulation model presented in the study seemed to be useful in the Korean situation from the following point of view: (1) The model can provide forest managers with the solution of where, when, and how much to cut in order to best fulfill the owners objective. (2) Planning is visualized as a continuous process where new strateges are automatically evolved as changes in the forest environment are recognized. (3) The cost (measured as decrease in total yield) of imposing restrictions can be easily evaluated. (4) Thinning schedule can be treated without difficulty. (5) The model can be applied to irregular forests. (6) Traditional regulation methods can be rainforced by the model.

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Genetic Analysis of Quantitative Characters of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) by Diallel Cross (이면교배(二面交配)에 의한 수도량적(水稻量的) 형질(形質)의 유전분석(遺傳分析)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究))

  • Jo, Jae-seong
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.254-282
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    • 1977
  • To obtain information on the inheritance of the quantitative characters related with the vegetative and reproductive growth of rice, the $F_1$ seeds were obtained in 1974 from the all possible combinations of the diallel crosses among five leading rice varieties : Nongbaek, Tongil, Palgueng, Mangyeong and Gimmaze. The $F_1$'s including reciprocals and parents were grown under the standard cultivation method at Chungnam Provincial Office of Rural Development in 1975. The arrangement of experimental plots was randomized block design with 3 replications and 12 characters were used for the analysis. Analytical procedure for genetic components was followed the Griffing's and Hayman's methods and the results obtained are summarized as follows. 1. In all $F_1$'s of Tongil crosses, the longer duration to heading was due to dominant effect of Tongil and each $F_1$ showed high heterosis in delaying the heading time. It was assumed that non-allelic gene action besides dominant gene effect might be involed in days to heading character. However, in all $F_1$'s from the crosses among parents excluding Tongil the shorter duration was due to dominant gene action and the degree of dominance was partial, since dominance effects were not greater than the additive effect. The non-allelic gene interaction was not significant. Considering the results mentioned above, it was regarded that there were two kinds of Significantly different genetic systems in the days to heading. 2. The rate of heterosis was significantly different depending upon the parents used in the crosses. For instance, the $F_1$'s from Togil cross showed high rate of heterosis in longer culm. Compared to short culm, longer culm was due to recesive gene action and short culm was due to recesive gene action. The dominant gene effect was greater than the additive gene effect in culm length. The narrow sense of heretability was very low and the maternal effects as well as reciprocal effects were significantly recognized. 3. The lenght of the of the uppermost internode of each $F_1$ plant was a little lorger than these of respective parental means or same as those of parents having long internodes, indicating partial dominance in the direction of lengthening the uppermost internodes. The additive gene effects on the uppermost internode was greater than the dominance gene effect. The narrow as well as broad sense of heritabilities for the character of the uppermost internode were very high. There were significant maternal and reciprocal effect in the uppermost internode. 4. The gene action for the flag leaf angle was rather dominance in a way of getting narrower angle. However, in the Palgueng combinations, heterosis of $F_1$ was observed in both narrow and wide angles of the flag leaf. The dominant effects were greater than the additive effects on the flag leaf angle. There were observed also a great deal of non-allelic gene interacticn on the inheritance of the flag leaf angle. 5. Even though the dominant gene action on the length and width of flag leaf was effective in increasing the length or width of the flag leaf, there were found various degrees of hetercsis depending upon the cross combination. Over-dominant gene effect were observed in the inheritance of length of the flag leaf, while additive gene effects was found in the inheritance of the width of the flag leaf. High degree of heretabilities, either narrow or broad sense, were found in both length and width of the flag leaf. No maternal and reciprocal effect were found in both characters. 6. When Tongil was used as one parent in the cross, the length of panicle of $F_1$'s was remarkedly longer than that of parents. In other cross comination, the length of panicle of $F_1$'s was close to the parental mean values. Rather greater dominent gene effect than additive gene effect was observed in the inheritance of panicle length and the dominant gene was effective in increasing the panicle length. 7. The effect of dominant genes was effective in increasing the number of panicles. The degree of heterosis was largely dependent on the cross combination. The effect of dominant gene in the inheritance of panicle number was a little greater than that of additive genes, and the inheritance of panicle number was assumed to be due to complete dominant gene effects. Significantly high maternal and reciprocal effects were found in the character studied. 8. There were minus and plus values of heterosis in the kernel number per panicle depending upon the cross combination. The mean dominant effect was effective in increasing the kernel number per panicle, the degree of dominant effect varied with cross combination. The dominant gene effect and non-allelic gene interaction were found in the inheritance of the kernel number per panicle. 9. Genetic studies were impossible for the maturing ratio, because of environmental effects such as hazards delaying heads. The dominant gene effect was responsible for improving the maturing ratio in all the cross combinations excluding Tongil 10. The heavier 1000 grain weight was due to dominant gene effects. The additive gene effects were greater than the dominant gene effect in the 1000 grain weight, indicating that partial dominance was responsible for increasing the 1000 grain weight. The heritabilites, either narrow or broad sense of, were high for the grain weight and maternal or reciprocal effects were not recognized. 11. When Tongil was used as parent, the straw weight was showing high heterosis in the direction of increasing the weight. But in other crosses, the straw weight of $F_1$'s was lower than those of parental mean values. The direction of dominant gene effect was plus or minus depending upon the cross combinations. The degree of dominance was also depending on the cross combination, and apparently high nonallelic gene interaction was observed.

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The Variation of Natural Population of Pinus densiflora S. et Z. in Korea (III) -Genetic Variation of the Progeny Originated from Mt. Chu-wang, An-Myon Island and Mt. O-Dae Populations- (소나무 천연집단(天然集團)의 변이(變異)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究)(III) -주왕산(周王山), 안면도(安眠島), 오대산(五臺山) 소나무집단(集團)의 차대(次代)의 유전변이(遺傳變異)-)

  • Yim, Kyong Bin;Kwon, Ki Won
    • Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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    • v.32 no.1
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    • pp.36-63
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    • 1976
  • The purpose of this study is to elucidate the genetic variation of the natural forest of Pinus densiflora. Three natural populations of the species, which are considered to be superior quality phenotypically, were selected. The locations and conditions of the populations are shown in table 1 and 2. The morphological traits of tree and needle and some other characteristics were presented already in our first report of this series in which population and family differences according to observed characteristics were statistically analyzed. Twenty trees were sampled from each populations, i.e., 60 trees in total. During the autumn of 1974, matured cones were collected from each tree and open-pollinated seeds were extracted in laboratory. Immediately after cone collection, in closed condition, the morphological characteristics were measured. Seed and seed-wing dimensions were also studied. In the spring of 1975, the seeds were sown in the experimental tree nursery located in Suweon. And in the April of 1976, the 1-0 seedlings were transplanted according to the predetermined experimental design, randomized block design with three replications. Because of cone setting condition. the number of family from which progenies were raised by populations were not equal. The numbers of family were 20 in population 1. 18 in population 2 and 15 in population 3. Then, each randomized block contained seedlings of 53 families from 3 populations. The present paper is mainly concerned with the variation of some characteristics of cone, seed, needle, growth performance of seedlings, and chlorophyll and monoterpene compositions of needles. The results obtained are summerized as follows. 1. The meteorological data obtained by averaging the records of 30 year period, observed from the nearest station to each location of populations, are shown in Fig. 3, 4, and 5. The distributional pattern of monthly precipitation are quite similar among locations. However, the precipitation density on population 2, Seosan area, during growing season is lower as compared to the other two populations. Population 1. Cheong-song area, and population 3, Pyong-chang area, are located in inland, but population 2 in the western seacoast. The differences on the average monthly air temperatures and the average monthly lowest temperatures among populations can hardly be found. 2. Available information on the each mother trees (families) studied, such as age, stem height, diameter at breast height, clear-bole-length, crown conditions and others are shown in table 6,7, and 8. 3. The measurements of fresh cone weight, length and the widest diameter of cone are given in Tab]e 9. All these traits arc concerned with the highly significant population differences and family differences within population. And the population difference was also found in the cone-index, that is, length-diameter ratio. 4. Seed-wing length and seed-wing width showed the population differences, and the family differences were also found in both characteristics. Not discussed in this paper, however, seed-wing colours and their shapes indicate the specificity which is inherent to individual trees as shown in photo 3 on page 50. The colour and shape are fully the expression of genetic make up of mother tree. The little variations on these traits are resulted from this reason. The significant differences among populations and among families were found in those characteristics, such as 1000-seed weight, seed length, seed width, and seed thickness as shown in table 11. As to all these dimensions, the values arc always larger in population 1 which is younger in age than that of the other two. The population differences evaluated by cone, seed and seed-wing sizes could partly be attributed to the growth vigorousity. 5. The values of correlation between the characteristics of cone and seed are presented in table 12. As shown, the positive correlations between cone diameter and seed-wing width were calculated in all populations studied. The correlation between seed-wing length and seed length was significantly positive in population 1 and 3 but not in population 2, that is, the r-value is so small as 0.002. in the latter. The correlation between cone length and seed-wing length was highly significant in population 1, but not in population 2. 6. Differences among progenies in growth performances, such as 1-0 and 1-1 seedling height and root collar diameter were highly singificant among populations as well as families within population(Table 13.) 7. The heritability values in narrow sense of population characteristics were estimated on the basis of variance components. The values based on seedling height at each age stage of 1-1 and 1-0 ranged from 0.146 to 0.288 and the values of root collar diameter from 0.060 to 0.130. (Table 14). These heritability values varied according to characteristics and seedling ages. Here what must be stated is that, for calculation of heritability values, the variance values of population was divided by the variance value of environment (error) and family and population. The present authors want to add the heritability values based on family level in the coming report. It might be considered that if the tree age is increased in furture, the heritability value is supposed to be altered or lowered. Examining the heritability values studied previously by many authors, in pine group at age of 7 to 15, the values of height growth ranged from 0.2 to 0.4 in general. The values we obtained are further below than these. 8. The correlation between seedling growth and seed characteristics were examined and the values resulted are shown in table 16. Contrary to our hypothetical premise of positive correlation between 1-0 seedling height and seed weight, non-significance on it was found. However, 1-0 seedling height correlated positively with seed length. And significant correlations between 1-0 and 1-1 seedling height are calculated. 9. The numbers of stomata row calculated separately by abaxial and adaxial side showed highly significant differences among populations, but not in serration density. On serration density, the differences among families within population were highly significant. (Table 17) A fact must be noted is that the correlation between stomata row on abaxial side and adaxial side was highly significant in all populations. Non-significances of correlation coefficient between progenies and parents regarding to stomata row on abaxial side were shown in all populations studied.(Table 18). 10. The contents of chhlorophyll b of the needle were a little more than that of chlorophyll a irrespective of the populations examined. The differences of chlorophyll a, b and a plus b contents were highly significant but not among families within populations as shown in table 20. The contents of chlorophyll a and b are presented by individual trees of each populations in table 21. 11. The occurrence of monoterpene components was examined by gas liquid chromatography (Shimazu, GC-1C type) to evaluate the population difference. There are some papers reporting the chemical geography of pines basing upon monoterpene composition. The number of populations studied here is not enough to state this problem. The kinds of monoterpene observed in needle were ${\alpha}$-pinene, camphene, ${\beta}$-pinene, myrcene, limonene, ${\beta}$-phellandrene and terpinolene plus two unknowns. In analysis of monoterpene composition, the number of sample trees varied with population, I.e., 18 families for population 1, 15 for population 2 and 11 for population3. (Table 22, 23 and 24). The histograms(Fig. 6) of 7 components of monoterpene by population show noticeably higher percentages of ${\alpha}$-pinene irrespective of population and ${\beta}$-phellandrene in the next order. The minor Pinus densiflora monoterpene composition of camphene, myrcene, limonene and terpinolene made up less than 10 percent of the portion in general. The average coefficients of variation of ${\alpha}$-pinene and ${\beta}$-phellandrene were 11 percent. On the contrary to this, the average coefficients of variation of camphene, limonene and terpinolene varied from 20 to 30 percent. And the significant differences between populaiton were observed only in myrcene and ${\beta}$-phellandrene. (Table 25).

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Broadening the Understanding of Sixteenth-century Real Scenery Landscape Painting: Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion (16세기(十六世紀) 실경산수화(實景山水畫) 이해의 확장 : <경포대도(鏡浦臺圖)>, <총석정도(叢石亭圖)>를 중심으로)

  • Lee, Soomi
    • MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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    • v.96
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    • pp.18-53
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    • 2019
  • The paintings Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion were recently donated to the National Museum of Korea and unveiled to the public for the first time at the 2019 special exhibition "Through the Eyes of Joseon Painters: Real Scenery Landscapes of Korea." These two paintings carry significant implications for understanding Joseon art history. Because the fact that they were components of a folding screen produced after a sightseeing tour of the Gwandong regions in 1557 has led to a broadening of our understanding of sixteenth-century landscape painting. This paper explores the art historical meanings of Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion by examining the contents in the two paintings, dating them, analyzing their stylistic characteristics, and comparing them with other works. The production background of Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion can be found in the colophon of Chongseokjeong Pavilion. According to this writing, Sangsanilro, who is presumed to be Park Chung-gan (?-1601) in this paper, and Hong Yeon(?~?) went sightseeing around Geumgangsan Mountain (or Pungaksan Mountain) and the Gwandong region in the spring of 1557, wrote a travelogue, and after some time produced a folding screen depicting several famous scenic spots that they visited. Hong Yeon, whose courtesy name was Deokwon, passed the special civil examination in 1551 and has a record of being active until 1584. Park Chung-gan, whose pen name was Namae, reported the treason of Jeong Yeo-rip in 1589. In recognition of this meritorious deed, he was promoted to the position of Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Punishments, rewarded with the title of first-grade pyeongnan gongsin(meritorious subject who resolved difficulties), and raised to Lord of Sangsan. Based on the colophon to Chongseokjeong Pavilion, I suggest that the two paintings Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion were painted in the late sixteenth century, more specifically after 1557 when Park Chung-gan and Hong Yeon went on their sightseeing trip and after 1571 when Park, who wrote the colophon, was in his 50s or over. The painting style used in depicting the landscapes corresponds to that of the late sixteenth century. The colophon further states that Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion were two paintings of a folding screen. Chongseokjeong Pavilion with its colophon is thought to have been the final panel of this screen. The composition of Gyeongpodae Pavilion recalls the onesided three-layered composition often used in early Joseon landscape paintings in the style of An Gyeon. However, unlike such landscape paintings in the An Gyeon style, Gyeongpodae Pavilion positions and depicts the scenery in a realistic manner. Moreover, diverse perspectives, including a diagonal bird's-eye perspective and frontal perspective, are employed in Gyeongpodae Pavilion to effectively depict the relations among several natural features and the characteristics of the real scenery around Gyeongpodae Pavilion. The shapes of the mountains and the use of moss dots can be also found in Welcoming an Imperial Edict from China and Chinese Envoys at Uisungwan Lodge painted in 1557 and currently housed in the Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies at Seoul National University. Furthermore, the application of "cloud-head" texture strokes as well as the texture strokes with short lines and dots used in paintings in the An Gyeon style are transformed into a sense of realism. Compared to the composition of Gyeongpodae Pavilion, which recalls that of traditional Joseon early landscape painting, the composition of Chongseokjeong Pavilion is remarkably unconventional. Stone pillars lined up in layers with the tallest in the center form a triangle. A sense of space is created by dividing the painting into three planes(foreground, middle-ground, and background) and placing the stone pillars in the foreground, Saseonbong Peaks in the middle-ground, and Saseonjeong Pavilion on the cliff in the background. The Saseonbong Peaks in the center occupy an overwhelming proportion of the picture plane. However, the vertical stone pillars fail to form an organic relation and are segmented and flat. The painter of Chongseokjeong Pavilion had not yet developed a three-dimensional or natural spatial perception. The white lower and dark upper portions of the stone pillars emphasize their loftiness. The textures and cracks of the dense stone pillars were rendered by first applying light ink to the surfaces and then adding fine lines in dark ink. Here, the tip of the brush is pressed at an oblique angle and pulled down vertically, which shows an early stage of the development of axe-cut texture strokes. The contrast of black and white and use of vertical texture strokes signal the forthcoming trend toward the Zhe School painting style. Each and every contour and crack on the stone pillars is unique, which indicates an effort to accentuate their actual characteristics. The birds sitting above the stone pillars, waves, and the foam of breaking waves are all vividly described, not simply in repeated brushstrokes. The configuration of natural features shown in the above-mentioned Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion changes in other later paintings of the two scenic spots. In the Gyeongpodae Pavilion, Jukdo Island is depicted in the foreground, Gyeongpoho Lake in the middle-ground, and Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Odaesan Mountain in the background. This composition differs from the typical configuration of other Gyeongpodae Pavilion paintings from the eighteenth century that place Gyeongpodae Pavilion in the foreground and the sea in the upper section. In Chongseokjeong Pavilion, stone pillars are illustrated using a perspective viewing them from the sea, while other paintings depict them while facing upward toward the sea. These changes resulted from the established patterns of compositions used in Jeong Seon(1676~1759) and Kim Hong-do(1745~ after 1806)'s paintings of Gwandong regions. However, the configuration of the sixteenth-century Gyeongpodae Pavilion, which seemed to have no longer been used, was employed again in late Joseon folk paintings such as Gyeongpodae Pavilion in Gangneung. Famous scenic spots in the Gwandong region were painted from early on. According to historical records, they were created by several painters, including Kim Saeng(711~?) from the Goryeo Dynasty and An Gyeon(act. 15th C.) from the early Joseon period, either on a single scroll or over several panels of a folding screen or several leaves of an album. Although many records mention the production of paintings depicting sites around the Gwandong region, there are no other extant examples from this era beyond the paintings of Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion discussed in this paper. These two paintings are thought to be the earliest works depicting the Gwandong regions thus far. Moreover, they hold art historical significance in that they present information on the tradition of producing folding screens on the Gwandong region. In particular, based on the contents of the colophon written for Chongseokjeong Pavilion, the original folding screen is presumed to have consisted of eight panels. This proves that the convention of painting eight views of Gwangdong had been established by the late sixteenth century. All of the existing works mentioned as examples of sixteenth-century real scenery landscape painting show only partial elements of real scenery landscape painting since they were created as depictions of notable social gatherings or as a documentary painting for practical and/or official purposes. However, a primary objective of the paintings of Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion was to portray the ever-changing and striking nature of this real scenery. Moreover, Park Chung-gan wrote a colophon and added a poem on his admiration of the scenery he witnessed during his trip and ruminated over the true character of nature. Thus, unlike other previously known real-scenery landscape paintings, these two are of great significance as examples of real-scenery landscape paintings produced for the simple appreciation of nature. Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion are noteworthy in that they are the earliest remaining examples of the historical tradition of reflecting a sightseeing trip in painting accompanied by poetry. Furthermore, and most importantly, they broaden the understanding of Korean real-scenery landscape painting by presenting varied forms, compositions, and perspectives from sixteenth-century real-scenery landscape paintings that had formerly been unfound.

The State Hermitage Museum·Northwest University for Nationalities·Shanghai Chinese Classics Publishing House Kuche Art Relics Collected in Russia Shanghai Chinese Classics Publishing House, 2018 (아라사국립애이미탑십박물관(俄羅斯國立艾爾米塔什博物館)·서북민족대학(西北民族大學)·상해고적출판사(上海古籍出版社) 편(編) 『아장구자예술품(俄藏龜玆藝術品)』, 상해고적출판사(上海古籍出版社), 2018 (『러시아 소장 쿠차 예술품』))

  • Min, Byung-Hoon
    • MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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    • v.98
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    • pp.226-241
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    • 2020
  • Located on the right side of the third floor of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the "Art of Central Asia" exhibition boasts the world's finest collection of artworks and artifacts from the Silk Road. Every item in the collection has been classified by region, and many of them were collected in the early twentieth century through archaeological surveys led by Russia's Pyotr Kozlov, Mikhail Berezovsky, and Sergey Oldenburg. Some of these artifacts have been presented around the world through special exhibitions held in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Korea, Japan, and elsewhere. The fruits of Russia's Silk Road expeditions were also on full display in the 2008 exhibition The Caves of One Thousand Buddhas - Russian Expeditions on the Silk Route on the Occasion of 190 Years of the Asiatic Museum, held at the Hermitage Museum. Published in 2018 by the Shanghai Chinese Classics Publishing House in collaboration with the Hermitage Museum, Kuche Art Relics Collected in Russia introduces the Hermitage's collection of artifacts from the Kuche (or Kucha) region. While the book focuses exclusively on artifacts excavated from the Kuche area, it also includes valuable on-site photos and sketches from the Russian expeditions, thus helping to enhance readers' overall understanding of the characteristics of Kuche art within the Buddhist art of Central Asia. The book was compiled by Dr. Kira Samosyuk, senior curator of the Oriental Department of the Hermitage Museum, who also wrote the main article and the artifact descriptions. Dr. Samosyuk is an internationally renowned scholar of Central Asian Buddhist art, with a particular expertise in the art of Khara-Khoto and Xi-yu. In her article "The Art of the Kuche Buddhist Temples," Dr. Samosyuk provides an overview of Russia's Silk Road expeditions, before introducing the historical development of Kuche in the Buddhist era and the aspects of Buddhism transmitted to Kuche. She describes the murals and clay sculptures in the Buddhist grottoes, giving important details on their themes and issues with estimating their dates, and also explains how the temples operated as places of worship. In conclusion, Dr. Samosyuk argues that the Kuche region, while continuously engaging with various peoples in China and the nomadic world, developed its own independent Buddhist culture incorporating elements of Gandara, Hellenistic, Persian, and Chinese art and culture. Finally, she states that the culture of the Kuche region had a profound influence not only on the Tarim Basin, but also on the Buddhist grottoes of Dunhuang and the central region of China. A considerable portion of Dr. Samosyuk's article addresses efforts to estimate the date of the grottoes in the Kuche region. After citing various scholars' views on the dates of the murals, she argues that the Kizil grottoes likely began prior to the fifth century, which is at least 100 years earlier than most current estimates. This conclusion is reached by comparing the iconography of the armor depicted in the murals with related materials excavated from the surrounding area (such as items of Sogdian art). However, efforts to date the Buddhist grottoes of Kuche must take many factors into consideration, such as the geological characteristics of the caves, the themes and styles of the Buddhist paintings, the types of pigments used, and the clothing, hairstyles, and ornamentation of the depicted figures. Moreover, such interdisciplinary data must be studied within the context of Kuche's relations with nearby cultures. Scientific methods such as radiocarbon dating could also be applied for supplementary materials. The preface of Kuche Art Relics Collected in Russia reveals that the catalog is the first volume covering the Hermitage Museum's collection of Kuche art, and that the next volume in the series will cover a large collection of mural fragments that were taken from Berlin during World War II. For many years, the whereabouts of these mural fragments were unknown to both the public and academia, but after restoration, the fragments were recently re-introduced to the public as part of the museum's permanent exhibition. We look forward to the next publication that focuses on these mural fragments, and also to future catalogs introducing the artifacts of Turpan and Khotan. Currently, fragments of the murals from the Kuche grottoes are scattered among various countries, including Russia, Germany, and Korea. With the publication of this catalog, it seems like an opportune time to publish a comprehensive catalog on the murals of the Kuche region, which represent a compelling mixture of East-West culture that reflects the overall characteristics of the region. A catalog that includes both the remaining murals of the Kizil grottoes and the fragments from different parts of the world could greatly enhance our understanding of the murals' original state. Such a book would hopefully include a more detailed and interdisciplinary discussion of the artifacts and murals, including scientific analyses of the pigments and other materials from the perspective of conservation science. With the ongoing rapid development in western China, the grotto murals are facing a serious crisis related to climate change and overcrowding in the oasis city of Xinjiang. To overcome this challenge, the cultural communities of China and other countries that possess advanced technology for conservation and restoration must begin working together to protect and restore the murals of the Silk Road grottoes. Moreover, centers for conservation science should be established to foster human resources and collect information. Compiling the data of Russian expeditions related to the grottoes of Kuche (among the results of Western archaeological surveys of the Silk Road in the early twentieth century), Kuche Art Relics Collected in Russia represents an important contribution to research on Kuche's Buddhist art and the Silk Road, which will only be enhanced by a future volume introducing the mural fragments from Germany. As the new authoritative source for academic research on the artworks and artifacts of the Kuche region, the book also lays the groundwork for new directions for future studies on the Silk Road. Finally, the book is also quite significant for employing a new editing system that improves its academic clarity and convenience. In conclusion, Dr. Kira Samosyuk, who planned the publication, deserves tremendous praise for taking the research of Silk Road art to new heights.