• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.603-611
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• 2020

Potholes on the road directly affect drivers' safety, satisfaction, and vehicle damage. Thus, real-time detection and response are required. Increasing frequency of patrols allows for potholes to be detected and responded to quickly, but this takes much manpower, money, and time. In addition, potholes have different occurrence characteristics depending on the rain conditions, so it is necessary to consider the optimal frequency from an economic and road-service perspective. Therefore, a quantitative analysis was done on the effects of rainfall on the occurrence characteristics of potholes. Information on the persistence, impact of rainfall intensity, and weather information was collected over a long period. Based on the results, a risk-based, optimized, and changeable road-patrol strategy is presented. The analysis results show that the probability of pothole occurrence increases by 2.4 times in rainy weather. Furthermore, the impact continues for 3 days even after the rain stops. The probability of pothole occurrence increases by 0.46% per 1 mm of rainfall, and the occurrence characteristics react sensitively to even a small amount of rain of around 1 mm. It was concluded that road patrol is required at least once every three days for an effect-free period, while twice a day is needed for the "sphere of influence" period to achieve a 95% reliability level.ys for effect-free period, while twice a day for sphere of influence period to satisfy 95% reliability level.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.347-358
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to investigate the stage of concern and use level of early childhood teachers' STEAM, and to find out whether there is a difference in the stage of concern according to individual teachers' variables. The subjects were 242 teachers in charge of 3-5 years old kindergarten and daycare center in G city. The research tool was the stages of concern questionnaire (SoCQ). The collected data were converted to relative intensity by applying percentile conversion chart in the guidelines, and this was expressed as a concern profile graph, and t-test and ANOVA were performed to find out the difference in concern according to teacher's background variables. The research results are as follows. First, the stage of concern in early childhood teachers' STEAM was identified as a critical non-user profile. Second, the stage of concern in the teacher's STEAM was judged as a person who did not use, or was implemented for less than 2 years, and was a non-user or a novice. In addition, it was found that most of the teachers did not receive formal education for STEAM. third. There were differences in the educational background, career, current execution status of teachers, whether or not to take related courses in pre-service teacher education, and whether to plan for future implementation. And there were no differences in the majors and institution types of teachers. Based on these results, a support plan for changing the stage of concern of teachers about STEAM and improving the level of use was suggested.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.91-102
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• 2022

As virtual space activities become more common, human-virtual agents such as avatars are more frequently used instead of people, but the uncanny valley effect, in which people feel uncomfortable when they see artifacts that look similar to humans, is an obstacle. In this study, we explored the uncanny valley effect for celebrity avatars. We manipulated the degree of atypicality by adjusting the eye size in photos of celebrities, ordinary people, and their avatars and measured the intensity of the uncanny valley effect. As a result, the uncanny valley effect for celebrities and celebrity avatars appeared to be stronger than the effect for ordinary people. This result is consistent with previous findings that more robust facial representations are formed for familiar faces, making it easier to detect facial changes. However, with real faces of celebrities and ordinary people, as in previous studies, the higher the degree of atypicality, the greater the uncanny valley effect, but this result was not found for the avatar stimulus. This high degree of tolerance for atypicality in avatars seems to be caused by cartoon characters' tendency to have exaggerated facial features such as eyes, nose, and mouth. These results suggest that efforts to reduce the uncanny valley in the virtual space service using celebrity avatars are necessary.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.95-105
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• 2022

Busan, where the coastal ecosystem health is deteriorating due to high development pressure and intensity of use, needs ecosystem management that considers humans and the natural environment together for sustainable use and ecosystem preservation of the coastal areas. In this study, the InVEST model was applied to assess the habitat status of the coastal land and coastal sea to manage the ecosystem based on habitats. As a result of the assessment of the coastal land, the habitat quality of Gadeok-do, Igidae, and Sinseondae, Gijang-gun are high, and Seo-gu, Jung-gu, Dong-gu, and Suyeong-gu are low. In the case of the coastal sea, the habitat risk of the Nakdong river estuary is low, and some areas of Yeongdo-gu, Saha-gu, Gangseo-gu are high. Therefore, for the sustainable use and preservation of coastal ecosystems, it is necessary to prepare ecosystem-based management measures to improve damaged habitats and reduce threats. In addition, the impact on coastal seas should be fully considered when planning coastal land development. The results of the InVEST habitat quality model in coastal land show similar tendencies to the biotope and environmental conservation value assessment map. The results of the habitat risk assessment in the coastal sea are expected to be utilized to identify habitats in the coastal sea and management of threat factors.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.35-44
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• 2022

The V_S30 map is used as a key variable for site amplification in the ShakeMap, which predicts ground motion at any site. However, no V_S30 map considering Korean geology and geomorphology has been developed yet. To develop a proxy-based V_S30 map, we used 1,101 V_S profiles obtained from a geophysical survey and collected proxy layers of geological and topographical information for the Korean Peninsula. Then, V_S30 prediction models were developed using linear regression analysis for each geological age considering the distribution of V_S30. As a result, models depending on geomorphology were suggested per each geologic group, including Quaternary, Fill, Ocean, Mesozoic group and Precambrian. Resolution of map is doubled from that of V_S30 map by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Standard deviation of residual in natural log of proxy-based V_S30 map is 0.233, whereas standard deviation of slope-based USGS V_S30 map is 0.387. Therefore, the proxy-based V_S30 map developed in this study is expected to have less uncertainty and to contribute to predicting more accurately the ground motion amplitude.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.346-352
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• 2022

Mountain meteorology in South Korea that is covered mountains with complex terrain is important for understanding and managing the forest disaster and forest ecosystems. In particular, recent changes in dryness and/or rainfall intensity due to climate change may cause an increase in the possibility of forest disasters. Therefore, accurate monitoring of mountain meteorology is needed for efficient forest management. Korea Forest Service (KFS) is establishing the Automatic Mountain Meteorology Observation Stations (AMOS) in the mountain regions since 2012. 464 AMOSs are observing various meteorological variables such as air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, precipitation, soil temperature, and air pressure for every minute, which is conducted the quality control (QC) to retain data reliability. QC process includes the physical limit test, step test, internal consistency test, persistence test, climate range test, and median filter test. All of AMOS observations are open to use, which can be found from the Korean Mountain Meteorology Information System (KoMIS, http://mtweather.nifos.go.kr/) of the National Institute of Forest Science and the Public Data Portal (https://public.go.kr/). AMOS observations with guaranteed quality can be used in various forest fields including the public safety, forest recreation, forest leisure activities, etc., and can contribute to the advancement of forest science and technology. In this paper, a series of processes are introduced to collect and use the AMOS dataset in the mountain region in South Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.283-296
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• 2014

The distribution of heavy metals in the stormwater runoffs from industrial sites around Shihwa Lake that implements the total pollutant load management system (TPLMS) was studied to characterize the temporal changes of metal concentrations and to assess the ecological risk in dissolved and particulate phases of the selected metals. The dissolved Co and Ni concentration demonstrated first flush and tended to decrease with increasing of the duration of rainfall. The intensity of precipitation was found to be the main controlling factor of particulate metals in the stromwater runoffs. The particulate concentration of Pb accounted for 97.2% so the particulate phase was its main form. Other metals followed the sequence: Pb>Cu>Cd>Co>Zn>Ni. The particulate-dissolved partitioning coefficient ($K_d$) indicated that the $K_d$ of Pb were bigger than that of other metals because the metal Pb in the stormwater runoffs is quickly removed into the particulate phase. In a single day rainfall event, total runoff fluxes for total metals as the sum of dissolved and particulate forms through only two sewer outlets were 2.21 kg for Co, 30.5 kg for Ni, 278.3 kg for Cu, 398.3 kg for Zn, 0.39 kg for Cd and 40.0 kg for Pb, respectively. Given the annual rainfall, the number of rain days and the basin area for total pollutant load management system (TPLMS) of Shihwa area, enormous amount of non-point metal pollutants were entered into Lake with any treatment. The dissolved metals (e.g., Ni, Cu and Zn) in the stormwater runoffs exceeded the acute water quality criteria. Additionally, all metals were significantly enriched in the particulate phase and exceeded the PEL criteria of sediment quality guidelines (SQGs). These results indicated that the heavy metals in the stormwater runoffs may pose a very high ecological risk to the coastal environments and ecosystem.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.31-42
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• 2006

Drought indices, such as PDSI (palmer Drought Severity Index), SWSI (Surface Water Supply Index) and SPI (Standardized Precipitation Index), have been developed to assess and forecast an intensity of drought. To find the applicability of groundwater level data to a drought assessment, a correlation analysis between SPI and groundwater levels was conducted for each time series at a drought season in 2001. The comparative results between SPI and groundwater levels of shallow wells of three national groundwater monitoring stations, Chungju Gageum, Yangpyung Gaegun, and Yeongju Munjeong, show that these two factors are highly correlated. In case of SPI with a duration of 1 month, cross-correlation coefficients between two factors are 0.843 at Chungju Gageum, 0.825 at Yangpyung Gaegun, and 0.737 at Yeongju Munjeong. The time lag between peak values of two factors is nearly zero in case of SPI with a duration of 1 month, which means that groundwater level fluctuation is similar to SPI values. Moreover, in case of SPI with a duration of 3 month, it is found that groundwater level can be a leading indicator to predict the SPI values I week later. Some of the national groundwater monitoring stations can be designated as DIW (Drought Index Well) based on the detailed survey of site characteristics and also new DIWs need to be drilled to assess and forecast the drought in this country.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.29-39
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• 1999

An earlier study of the effect of rain found that the capacity of freeway systems was reduced, but did not address the effects of rain on the nature of traffic flows. Indeed, the substantial variation due to the intensity of adverse weather conditions is entirely rational so that its effects must be considered in freeway facility design. However, all of the data in Highway Capacity Manual(HCM) have come from ideal conditions. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the effect of rain on urban freeway traffic flows in Seoul. To do so, the relations between three key traffic variables(flow rates, speed, occupancy), their threshold values between congested and uncontested traffic flow regimes, and speed distribution were investigated. The traffic data from Olympic Expressway in Seoul were obtained from Imagine Detection System (Autoscope) with 30 seconds and 1 minute time periods. The slope of the regression line relating flow to occupancy in the uncongested regime decreases when it is raining. In essence, this result indicates that the average service flow rate (it may be interpreted as a capacity of freeway) is reduced as weather conditions deteriorate. The reduction is in the range between 10 and 20%, which agrees with the range proposed by 1994 US HCM. It is noteworthy that the service flow rates of inner lanes are relatively higher than those of other lanes. The average speed is also reduced in rainy day, but the flow-speed relationship and the threshold values of speed and occupancy (these are called critical speed and critical occupancy) are not very sensitive to the weather conditions.

• Korean small business review
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.67-93
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• 2009

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relations between financial constraints and dividend smoothing of innovative small and medium sized enterprises(SMEs) listed on Korea Securities Market and Kosdaq Market of Korea Exchange. The innovative SMEs is defined as the firms with high level of R&D intensity which is measured by (R&D investment/total sales) ratio, according to Chauvin and Hirschey (1993). The R&D investment plays an important role as the innovative driver that can increase the future growth opportunity and profitability of the firms. Therefore, the R&D investment have large, positive, and consistent influences on the market value of the firm. In this point of view, we expect that the innovative SMEs can adjust dividend payment faster than the noninnovative SMEs, on the ground of their future growth opportunity and profitability. And also, we expect that the financial unconstrained firms can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms, on the ground of their financing ability of investment funds through the market accessibility. Aivazian et al.(2006) exert that the financial unconstrained firms with the high accessibility to capital market can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms. We collect the sample firms among the total SMEs listed on Korea Securities Market and Kosdaq Market of Korea Exchange during the periods from January 1999 to December 2007 from the KIS Value Library database. The total number of firm-year observations of the total sample firms throughout the entire period is 5,544, the number of firm-year observations of the dividend firms is 2,919, and the number of firm-year observations of the non-dividend firms is 2,625. About 53%(or 2,919) of these total 5,544 observations involve firms that make a dividend payment. The dividend firms are divided into two groups according to the R&D intensity, such as the innovative SMEs with larger than median of R&D intensity and the noninnovative SMEs with smaller than median of R&D intensity. The number of firm-year observations of the innovative SMEs is 1,506, and the number of firm-year observations of the noninnovative SMEs is 1,413. Furthermore, the innovative SMEs are divided into two groups according to level of financial constraints, such as the financial unconstrained firms and the financial constrained firms. The number of firm-year observations of the former is 894, and the number of firm-year observations of the latter is 612. Although all available firm-year observations of the dividend firms are collected, deletions are made in the case of financial industries such as banks, securities company, insurance company, and other financial services company, because their capital structure and business style are widely different from the general manufacturing firms. The stock repurchase was involved in dividend payment because Grullon and Michaely (2002) examined the substitution hypothesis between dividends and stock repurchases. However, our data structure is an unbalanced panel data since there is no requirement that the firm-year observations data are all available for each firms during the entire periods from January 1999 to December 2007 from the KIS Value Library database. We firstly estimate the classic Lintner(1956) dividend adjustment model, where the decision to smooth dividend or to adopt a residual dividend policy depends on financial constraints measured by market accessibility. Lintner model indicates that firms maintain stable and long run target payout ratio, and that firms adjust partially the gap between current payout rato and target payout ratio each year. In the Lintner model, dependent variable is the current dividend per share(DPS_t), and independent variables are the past dividend per share(DPS_t-1) and the current earnings per share(EPS_t). We hypothesized that firms adjust partially the gap between the current dividend per share(DPS_t) and the target payout ratio(Ω) each year, when the past dividend per share(DPS_t-1) deviate from the target payout ratio(Ω). We secondly estimate the expansion model that extend the Lintner model by including the determinants suggested by the major theories of dividend, namely, residual dividend theory, dividend signaling theory, agency theory, catering theory, and transactions cost theory. In the expansion model, dependent variable is the current dividend per share(DPS_t), explanatory variables are the past dividend per share(DPS_t-1) and the current earnings per share(EPS_t), and control variables are the current capital expenditure ratio(CEA_t), the current leverage ratio(LEV_t), the current operating return on assets(ROA_t), the current business risk(RISK_t), the current trading volume turnover ratio(TURN_t), and the current dividend premium(DPREM_t). In these control variables, CEA_t, LEV_t, and ROA_t are the determinants suggested by the residual dividend theory and the agency theory, ROA_t and RISK_t are the determinants suggested by the dividend signaling theory, TURN_t is the determinant suggested by the transactions cost theory, and DPREM_t is the determinant suggested by the catering theory. Furthermore, we thirdly estimate the Lintner model and the expansion model by using the panel data of the financial unconstrained firms and the financial constrained firms, that are divided into two groups according to level of financial constraints. We expect that the financial unconstrained firms can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms, because the former can finance more easily the investment funds through the market accessibility than the latter. We analyzed descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, and median to delete the outliers from the panel data, conducted one way analysis of variance to check up the industry-specfic effects, and conducted difference test of firms characteristic variables between innovative SMEs and noninnovative SMEs as well as difference test of firms characteristic variables between financial unconstrained firms and financial constrained firms. We also conducted the correlation analysis and the variance inflation factors analysis to detect any multicollinearity among the independent variables. Both of the correlation coefficients and the variance inflation factors are roughly low to the extent that may be ignored the multicollinearity among the independent variables. Furthermore, we estimate both of the Lintner model and the expansion model using the panel regression analysis. We firstly test the time-specific effects and the firm-specific effects may be involved in our panel data through the Lagrange multiplier test that was proposed by Breusch and Pagan(1980), and secondly conduct Hausman test to prove that fixed effect model is fitter with our panel data than the random effect model. The main results of this study can be summarized as follows. The determinants suggested by the major theories of dividend, namely, residual dividend theory, dividend signaling theory, agency theory, catering theory, and transactions cost theory explain significantly the dividend policy of the innovative SMEs. Lintner model indicates that firms maintain stable and long run target payout ratio, and that firms adjust partially the gap between the current payout ratio and the target payout ratio each year. In the core variables of Lintner model, the past dividend per share has more effects to dividend smoothing than the current earnings per share. These results suggest that the innovative SMEs maintain stable and long run dividend policy which sustains the past dividend per share level without corporate special reasons. The main results show that dividend adjustment speed of the innovative SMEs is faster than that of the noninnovative SMEs. This means that the innovative SMEs with high level of R&D intensity can adjust dividend payment faster than the noninnovative SMEs, on the ground of their future growth opportunity and profitability. The other main results show that dividend adjustment speed of the financial unconstrained SMEs is faster than that of the financial constrained SMEs. This means that the financial unconstrained firms with high accessibility to capital market can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms, on the ground of their financing ability of investment funds through the market accessibility. Futhermore, the other additional results show that dividend adjustment speed of the innovative SMEs classified by the Small and Medium Business Administration is faster than that of the unclassified SMEs. They are linked with various financial policies and services such as credit guaranteed service, policy fund for SMEs, venture investment fund, insurance program, and so on. In conclusion, the past dividend per share and the current earnings per share suggested by the Lintner model explain mainly dividend adjustment speed of the innovative SMEs, and also the financial constraints explain partially. Therefore, if managers can properly understand of the relations between financial constraints and dividend smoothing of innovative SMEs, they can maintain stable and long run dividend policy of the innovative SMEs through dividend smoothing. These are encouraging results for Korea government, that is, the Small and Medium Business Administration as it has implemented many policies to commit to the innovative SMEs. This paper may have a few limitations because it may be only early study about the relations between financial constraints and dividend smoothing of the innovative SMEs. Specifically, this paper may not adequately capture all of the subtle features of the innovative SMEs and the financial unconstrained SMEs. Therefore, we think that it is necessary to expand sample firms and control variables, and use more elaborate analysis methods in the future studies.