• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2023

As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emphasized the transition to a carbon-neutral society globally by 205 0, major countries such as Korea, Japan, and Europe declared carbon-neutral goals. The agricultural sector is a carbon-absorbing sector, and its importance has increased as the General Assembly of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention (COP 26) held in the UK in November 2021 emphasized the role of agriculture to discuss climate change. However, GHG reduction projects in the agricultural sector are not properly monitored considering the domestic situation, and a system for quantitative evaluation of the effectiveness or basis of implementing the project program is not in place. Therefore, a priori study is needed to understand the current status of existing policies and to review matters that need to be improved in order to facilitate policy design, implementation, and monitoring for GHG reduction in the agricultural sector. The purpose of this study is to examine the opinions of stakeholders by applying a semi-structured interview method to diagnose the current status of Korea's GHG reduction policy in the agricultural sector and identify factors that hinder policy implementation. As a result of the semi-structured interview, this study presented factors that hinder the promotion of GHG reduction policies in the agricultural sector according to four types of data and technology, finance, institutions, and perceptions. Some stakeholders also stressed that the pilot project could be helpful as a way to comprehensively consider the implications of this study, such as securing technology data, establishing a system for verifying effectiveness, and providing incentives and promoting them. Rather than drawing specific conclusions, this study is an exploratory study that diagnoses and reviews the progress of GHG reduction policies, and it can be used as useful basic data if it secures enough interview respondents and balances the number of samples by group.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.167-183
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• 2023

Gases originated from the final SNF (spent nuclear fuel) disposal site are very mobile in the barrier and they may also affect the migration of radioactive nuclides generated from the SNF. Mechanisms of gas-nuclide migration in the multi-barrier and their influences on the safety of the disposal site should be understood before the construction of the final SNF disposal site. However, researches related to gas-nuclide coupled movement in the multi-barrier medium have been very little both at home and abroad. In this study, properties of gas generation and migration in the SNF disposal environment were reviewed through previous researches and their main mechanisms were summarized on the hydrogeological evolution stage of the SNF disposal site. Gas generation in the SNF disposal site was categorized into five origins such as the continuous nuclear fission of the SNS, the Cu-canister corrosion, the oxidation-reduction reaction, the microbial activity, and the inflow from the natural barriers. Migration scenarios of gas in porous medium of the multi-barrier in the SNF repository site were investigated through reviews for previous studies and several gas migration types including ① the free gas phase flow including visco-capillary two-phase flow, ② the advection and diffusion of dissolved gas in pore water, ③ dilatant two-phase flow, and ④ tensile fracture flow, were presented. Reviewed results in this study can support information to design the further research for the gas-nuclide migration in the repository site and to evaluate the safety of the Korean SNF disposal site in view points of gas migration in the multi-barrier.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.217-227
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• 2023

The consumption of ready-to-eat side dishes is rapidly growing in South Korea. These foods are particularly vulnerable to microbiological contamination as they are often cooked without any treatment, such as heating or stored at room temperature after cooking. Hence, in 2022, we analyzed the ready-to-eat side dishes sold in Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea for microbiological contamination. We collected 100 samples from supermarkets in 7 cities, and then examined them for presence of food-borne pathogens and sanitary indicator bacteria. In the analysis of the food-borne pathogens, Bacillus cereus and Clostridium perfringens were isolated from 51 samples (51.0%) and 3 samples (3.0%), respectively. However, both quantitatively met the Korean Food Standards Codex. Genes of five different enterotoxins and one emetic toxin were analyzed from the 51 isolated B. cereus strains. We detected enterotoxin entFM (100.0%), nheA (94.1%), hblC (58.8%), cytK (56.9%), and bceT (41.2%) in 51 isolates, and emetic toxin gene, CER, in only one (2.0%) isolate. We did not detect C. perfringens toxin gene (cpe) that causes food poisoning in any one of the three C. perfringens isolates. In the case of sanitary indicator bacteria, Kimchi had the highest levels of total aerobic bacteria and coliforms, followed by Saengchae, Jeotgal, Jeolim, Namul, and Jorim, respectively. We counted total aerobic bacteria at two different storage temperatures (4℃ and 20℃) to determine the effect of storage temperature. When stored at 20℃, total aerobic bacteria count increased in most of the ready-to-eat side dishes, except for Jeotgal. This result conclusively shows the need for refrigerating the ready-to-eat side dishes after purchase. Further research is needed to assess the risk and safety of the ready-to-eat side dishes available in the market and determine appropriate safety management practices.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.363-370
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• 2023

Various earth observation satellites need to provide accurate and high-quality data after launch. To maintain and enhance the quality of satellite data, it is crucial to employ a cross-calibration process that accounts for differences in sensor characteristics, such as the spectral band adjustment factor (SBAF). In this study, we utilized Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2A satellite imagery collected from desert sites in Libya4, Algeria3, and Mauritania2 among pseudo-invariant calibration sites to calculate and apply SBAF, thereby compensating the uncertainties arising from variations in bandwidths. We quantitatively compared the reflectance differences based on the similarity of bandwidths, including Blue, Green, Red, and both the near-infrared (NIR) narrow, and NIR bands of Sentinel-2A. Following the application of SBAF, significant results with reflectance differences of approximately 1% or less were observed for all bands except NIR. In the case of the Sentinel-2A NIR band, it exhibited a significantly larger bandwidth difference compared to the NIR narrow band. However, after applying SBAF, the reflectance difference fell within the acceptable error range (5%) of 1-2%. It indicates that SBAF can be applied even when there is a substantial difference in the bandwidths of the two sensors, particularly in situations where satellite utilization is limited. Therefore, it was determined that SBAF could be applied even when the bandwidth difference between the two sensors is large in a situation where satellite utilization is limited. It is expected to be helpful in research utilizing the quality and continuity of satellite data.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.167-183
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• 2023

In the recent field of recommendation systems, various studies have been conducted to model sparse data effectively. Among these, GLocal-K(Global and Local Kernels for Recommender Systems) is a research endeavor combining global and local kernels to provide personalized recommendations by considering global data patterns and individual user characteristics. However, due to its utilization of kernel tricks, GLocal-K exhibits diminished performance on highly sparse data and struggles to offer recommendations for new users or items due to the absence of side information. In this paper, to address these limitations of GLocal-K, we propose the GEase-K (Global and EASE kernels for Recommender Systems) model, incorporating the EASE(Embarrassingly Shallow Autoencoders for Sparse Data) model and leveraging side information. Initially, we substitute EASE for the local kernel in GLocal-K to enhance recommendation performance on highly sparse data. EASE, functioning as a simple linear operational structure, is an autoencoder that performs highly on extremely sparse data through regularization and learning item similarity. Additionally, we utilize side information to alleviate the cold-start problem. We enhance the understanding of user-item similarities by employing a conditional autoencoder structure during the training process to incorporate side information. In conclusion, GEase-K demonstrates resilience in highly sparse data and cold-start situations by combining linear and nonlinear structures and utilizing side information. Experimental results show that GEase-K outperforms GLocal-K based on the RMSE and MAE metrics on the highly sparse GoodReads and ModCloth datasets. Furthermore, in cold-start experiments divided into four groups using the GoodReads and ModCloth datasets, GEase-K denotes superior performance compared to GLocal-K.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.361-381
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• 2023

Research on corporate bankruptcy prediction has been focused on financial information. Since the company's financial information is updated quarterly, there is a problem that timeliness is insufficient in predicting the possibility of a company's business closure in real time. Evaluated companies that want to improve this need a method of judging the soundness of a company that uses information other than financial information to judge the soundness of a target company. To this end, as information technology has made it easier to collect non-financial information about companies, research has been conducted to apply additional variables and various methodologies other than financial information to predict corporate bankruptcy. It has become an important research task to determine whether it has an effect. In this study, we examined the impact of electronic payment-related information, which constitutes non-financial information, when predicting the closure of business operators using electronic payment service and examined the difference in closure prediction accuracy according to the combination of financial and non-financial information. Specifically, three research models consisting of a financial information model, a non-financial information model, and a combined model were designed, and the closure prediction accuracy was confirmed with six algorithms including the Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP) algorithm. The model combining financial and non-financial information showed the highest prediction accuracy, followed by the non-financial information model and the financial information model in order. As for the prediction accuracy of business closure by algorithm, XGBoost showed the highest prediction accuracy among the six algorithms. As a result of examining the relative importance of a total of 87 variables used to predict business closure, it was confirmed that more than 70% of the top 20 variables that had a significant impact on the prediction of business closure were non-financial information. Through this, it was confirmed that electronic payment-related information of non-financial information is an important variable in predicting business closure, and the possibility of using non-financial information as an alternative to financial information was also examined. Based on this study, the importance of collecting and utilizing non-financial information as information that can predict business closure is recognized, and a plan to utilize it for corporate decision-making is also proposed.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.179-191
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• 2023

The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and patterns of congenitally missing teeth in permanent teeth excluding third molars, in patients aged 8 to 16 years who visited Pusan National University Dental Hospital from January 2010 to February 2021. This retrospective study evaluated tooth agenesis and the pattern of missing teeth represented by the tooth agenesis code by reviewing panoramic radiographs and electronic medical records of 11,759 patients, including 5,548 females and 6,211 males. The prevalence of congenitally missing teeth was 10.74% (females 11.95%, males 9.66%, p < 0.0001). Patients with tooth agenesis had an average of 2.22 missing teeth, and congenitally missing teeth occurred more frequently in the mandible (8.39%) than in the maxilla (4.52%, p < 0.0001). The mandibular second premolar (58.19%) was the most frequently missing tooth. The second premolar was the most frequently missing tooth in all quadrants (30.10%, 31.67%, 43.14%, and 35.59%) when a single tooth was absent, while the first and second premolars were the most commonly absent teeth (11.69%, 11.47%, 5.94%, and 5.24%) when two or more teeth were missing. In the relationship between maxillary-mandibular antagonistic quadrants and full mouth, the 1st to 4th place of the missing patterns were all involved with the 1st and 2nd premolars. This study can be clinically helpful in establishing a treatment plan for patients with missing teeth. In addition, it can be used as basic data for molecular biological research to find out the relationship between tooth agenesis and specific genes.

• Journal of Korean Dental Hygiene Science
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.37-50
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• 2023

Background: This study investigated the structural relationships among justice, test anxiety, and school reliability s non-face-to-face tests of dental hygiene students. Methods: A survey was conducted with 267 dental hygiene students. The survey items included general characteristics, opinions on evaluation, the fairness of non-face-to-face tests (distributive, procedural, and interactional justice), school satisfaction, and school reliability. For statistical analysis, independent-sample t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and structural modeling analyses were performed. Results: Among factors that directly affected distributive justice and reliability towards non-face-to-face tests, the higher the interactional justice (β=0.401, p<0.001) and distributive justice (β=0.232, p=0.002) levels, the higher the school satisfaction. The higher the school satisfaction (β=0.606, p<0.001) and procedural justice (β=0.299, p<0.001) levels, the higher the perceived reliability of the school. Factors that indirectly affected school reliability included interactional justice (β=0.243, p=0.010) and distributive justice (β=0.141, p=0.010). Interactional justice (β=0.592, p=0.010) and distributive justice (β=0.208, p=0.010) were the factors affecting school satisfaction. Moreover, factors that influenced school reliability were distributive justice (β=0.56, p=0.010), interactional justice (β=0.332, p=0.010), procedural justice (β=0.229, p=0.010), and distributive justice (β=0.116, p=0.010). Conclusions: Students will trust and be satisfied with schools when schools and professors sufficiently provide information on face-to-face tests and ensure proper procedures to achieve reasonable grades as rewards for exerted time and effort. Furthermore, this study provides a reference base for developing a variety of content for fair, non-face-to-face tests, thereby allowing students to trust their schools.

• Journal of International Area Studies (JIAS)
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.77-106
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• 2010

As for the matter of guardianship-benefit network which has been at the heart of the discussion of power elites and clan politics in Kazakhstan, it has been often maintained that it is basically formed by the framework of the regional and descent connection net called Zhuz or at least it has been heavily under Zhuz's influence. But it is pointed out that the controversy of Zhuz suffers from a lot of limitations in explaining the surface of power elites in the recent process of political changes and the rearrangement of power relations. Consequently, this paper tried to take a closer look at the matter focusing on the social backgrounds of elites from Junior zhuz, who have been estimated to be relatively pushed back in terms of the advancement into the central power. As a result, it was found that the backgrounds of clan and tribe origin within Zhuz couldn't have any foundation to be seen as a decisive element through which they could grow into power elites. The phenomenon of Kazakhstani elites is a legacy of concrete historic situations. The important consideration points for analyzing the emergence of elites which could be applied to a nomadic and traditional society can hardly be an invariable framework for analyzing modern elites since independence. Since 2000, Kazakhstan has experienced economic changes including privatization due to the absolute strengthening of presidential influence which turned into a foundation for a new authoritarian system, the rearrangement of the inner circle of power, and their decisions. These changes in situations have had profound effects on the character of power elites. The phenomenon that clandestine connections have shown their appearances as they have gotten intertwined with various factors, in particular, in the economic field which has been heavily under Junior zhuz makes us convinced that the elite organization in Kazakhstan has always been the product of political and economic changes. In reality, the behaviors of elites were the outcome continuously reflecting environmental situations surrounding them, and those situations lie in a complicated and multiple-layered connection net. Therefore, it is believed that having interests in elites' social backgrounds and maintaining many pieces of information on them will be able to be a more useful approach to analyzing the elite society in the future in that interests in their social backgrounds become an informant of various network formation nets which reflect real situations.

• Economic Analysis
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-33
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• 2020

Recent discussions about a minimum wage increase (MWI) and its influence on the economy have mainly focused on the quantitative aspects, such as labor costs and employment. However, concerning the qualitative aspects, an MWI could have positive effects by enhancing firm productivity and crowding out marginal firms from the market. These positive effects of an MWI can offset, to some extent, its potential negative effects - increasing labor costs and decreasing employment, among others. In this regard we empirically examine the impact of an MWI on firm productivity (total factor productivity). Using firm level panel data from the manufacturing industry in Korea, we calculate the influence rates of a minimum wage by sector and by firm size (number of workers), and analyze its effects on firm productivity. In particular, the production functions of the firms are estimated by taking into account endogeneity among the input factors, in order to resolve the drawbacks of existing studies - underestimating the capital factor coefficient and overestimating the labor factor coefficient. This study finds that the influences of an MWI on wages, employment, and productivity are substantially different across sectors and firm sizes. While an MWI has shown to have positive influences on productivity growth in the manufacturing industry as a whole, each sector demonstrates a different direction of effect, and the degree of productivity change also varies by sector. The impacts of an MWI on firm productivity are generally estimated to be more negative for smaller firms, but in some sectors the effects are found to be positive. In addition, the wage increases resulting from an MWI seem to cause a productivity enhancement across all sectors in the manufacturing industry. The policy implications of this study are as follows. Considering the empirical findings that an MWI causes an increase in productivity in many sectors of the manufacturing industry, it would be desirable to take into consideration not only the negative side effects but also the positive effects of an MWI when designing any future minimum wage policy. Moreover, in spite of there being a uniform minimum wage, this study finds that the diverse influence rates of a minimum wage across firms have different impacts on wages, employment, and productivity across sectors or firm size. This finding could be conducive to discussions about differentiation among minimum wage schemes by sector or firm size.