• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2007.03a
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• pp.279-288
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• 2007

Attempts to achieve a higher productivity have led studies to focus on process improvement. Information has been found as an essential element for process improvement. This research has introduced and focused on two types of information, namely: related jobsite information along the process and feedback information. Related jobsite information along the process which needs to be processed and delivered in a timely manner, accurate, and real time is required to streamline the decision making process. Whereas feedback information about process' current practices which have to be captured and stored is a useful for continuous improvement in identifying the problem origin and determining corrective action. In the current practices, although these two types of information are essential for process improvement, construction process has faced barriers in obtaining that information. Therefore, this research will propose a new information system to overcome the aforementioned barriers. The new information system consists of RFID as an automatic identification and data collection device integrated with database to support construction processes. The new system attempts to provide related jobsite information along the process and feedback information to support decision making process and continuous process improvement respectively. A case study of prefabrication installation process in housing projects has been selected to be implemented in conceptual model of RFID application in construction industry. Conceptual model will be presented in this paper as an initial stage of this ongoing research. Expected outcomes of the new system and future works will be discussed briefly.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.399-409
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of virtual community participation and engagement in the brand decision by building community and brand trust. In this study, two theories (Social Capital Theory and Theory of Collective Action) were tested. Both theories were linked based on existing literature, and empirical evidence was obtained through testing hypotheses. Students from five prestigious Pakistani business schools provided a total of 849 replies. The measurement model and structural model were both analyzed using the partial least square (PLS) method. The findings show that virtual community engagement and participation have a positive and significant impact on virtual community trust. Although virtual community engagement has a positive effect on brand trust, we found no evidence of a link between virtual community participation and brand trust. Later, these trusts positively influence brand choice. This study has several managerial implications. The suggested model of this study helps managers to get customers' insight, choose the right target market, and set integrated marketing communication strategies besides social media marketing strategies. The study represents a new perspective of consumer behavior that helps to understand how a customer behaves in virtual communities to trust and take the final decision to purchase.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.1-15
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• 2023

With the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, propelled by digital technology, we are transitioning into an era of hyperconnectivity, where everything and objects are becoming interconnected. A smart supply chain refers to a supply chain system where various sensors and RFID tags are attached to objects such as machinery and products used in the manufacturing and transportation of goods. These sensors and tags collect and analyze process data related to the products, providing meaningful information for operational use and decision-making in the supply chain. Before the spread of COVID-19, the fundamental principles of supply chain management were centered around 'cost minimization' and 'high efficiency.' A smart supply chain overcomes the linear delayed action-reaction processes of traditional supply chains by adopting real-time data for better decision-making based on information, providing greater transparency, and enabling enhanced collaboration across the entire supply chain. Therefore, in this study, a hierarchical model for building a smart supply chain was constructed to systematically derive the importance of key factors that should be strategically considered in the construction of a smart supply chain, based on the major factors identified in previous research. We applied AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) techniques to identify urgent improvement areas in smart SCM initiatives. The analysis results showed that the external supply chain integration is the most urgent area to be improved in smart SCM initiatives.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.177-189
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• 2024

Accurately predicting the failure modes of reinforced concrete (RC) columns is essential for structural design and assessment. In this study, the challenges of imbalanced datasets and complex feature selection in machine learning (ML) methods were addressed through an optimized ML approach. By combining feature selection and oversampling techniques, the prediction of seismic failure modes in rectangular RC columns was improved. Two feature selection methods were used to identify six input parameters. To tackle class imbalance, the Borderline-SMOTE1 algorithm was employed, enhancing the learning capabilities of the models for minority classes. Eight ML algorithms were trained and fine-tuned using k-fold shuffle split cross-validation and grid search. The results showed that the artificial neural network model achieved 96.77% accuracy, while k-nearest neighbor, support vector machine, and random forest models each achieved 95.16% accuracy. The balanced dataset led to significant improvements, particularly in predicting the flexure-shear failure mode, with accuracy increasing by 6%, recall by 8%, and F1 scores by 7%. The use of the Borderline-SMOTE1 algorithm significantly improved the recognition of samples at failure mode boundaries, enhancing the classification performance of models like k-nearest neighbor and decision tree, which are highly sensitive to data distribution and decision boundaries. This method effectively addressed class imbalance and selected relevant features without requiring complex simulations like traditional methods, proving applicable for discerning failure modes in various concrete members under seismic action.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.129-136
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• 2012

BACKGROUND: The changes in the climatic conditions have brought potentially significant new challenges, most critical are likely to be its impact on local livelihoods, agriculture, biodiversity and environments. Water induced disasters such as landslides, floods, erratic rain etc., are very common in developing countries which lead to changes in biological, geophysical and socioeconomic elements. The extent of damages caused by natural disasters is more sever in least developing countries. However, disasters affect women and men differently. In most of the cases women have to carry more burden as compared to their male counterpart during the period of disasters. METHODS AND RESULTS: This study examines the impact of disasters on the local livelihood especially agriculture and income generating activities of women in three districts of Nepal. The study uses the primary data collected following an exploratory approach, based on an intensive field study. The general findings of the study revealed that women had to experience hard time as compared to their male counterpart both during and after the disaster happen. Women are responsible for caring their children, collecting firewood, fetching water, collecting grass for livestock and performing household chores. Whereas, men are mainly involved in out-migration and remained out-side home most of the time. After the disaster occurred, most of the women had to struggle to support their lives as well as had to work longer hours than men during reconstruction period. Nepal follows patriarchal system and men can afford more leisure time as compared to women. During the disaster period, some of the households lost their agricultural lands, livestock and other properties. These losses created some additional workload to women respondent, however at the same time; they learn to build confidence, self-respect, self-esteem, and self-dependency.Although Nepal is predominantly agriculture, majority of the farmers are at subsistence level. In addition, men and women have different roles which differ with the variation in agro-production systems. Moreover women are extensively involved in agricultural activities though their importances were not recognized. Denial of land ownership and denial of access to resources as well as migration of male counterparts are some of the major reasons for affecting the agricultural environments for women in Nepal. CONCLUSION: The shelter reconstruction program has definitely brought positive change in women's access to decision making. The gradual increase in number of women respondent in access to decision making in different areas is a positive change and this has also provided them with a unique opportunity to change their gendered status in society.Furthermore, the exodus out-flow of male counterparts accelerated the additional burden and workload on women.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.3-12
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• 2021

In the remodeling projects, clients without architectural expertise have limitations in presenting requirements accurately. In some cases, designers and contractors may not recognize their demands exactly, and deliver final products that are different from the clients' intentions. 3D modeling visualizing final products in previous has been regarded as a solution to enhance understanding and communication. However, this approach has the limitation that the final results are presented as a virtual outputs. In the remodeling project, an alternative, mixed-reality, is likely to reinforce the reality as it enables to present remain structure and the parts to be built together. This paper examines the mixed reality as a solution to support decision making of clients and practitioners in remodeling projects. The examinations is conducted in high-rise office remodeling projects by means of action-research. Clients and practitioners, overview product models presented in the format of 2D drawings, BIM and mixed reality asked to evaluate the effectiveness of each methods in 12 standards. The results have shown that mixed reality has improved the sense of reality, making it easier to predict results, but recognizing patterns is difficult in some areas such as the floor, and it caused dizziness.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.59-68
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• 2013

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to introduce a task complexity model combining task design aspects and complexity dimensions and to explain an approach to identifying and organizing task complexity factors based on the model. Background: Task complexity is a critical concept in describing and predicting human performance in complex systems such as nuclear power plants(NPPs). In order to understand the nature of task complexity, task complexity factors need to be identified and organized in a systematic manner. Although several methods have been suggested for identifying and organizing task complexity factors, it is rare to find an analytical approach based on a theoretically sound model. Method: This study regarded a task as a system to be designed. Three levels of design ion, which are functional, behavioral, and structural level of a task, characterize the design aspects of a task. The behavioral aspect is further classified into five cognitive processing activity types(information collection, information analysis, decision and action selection, action implementation, and action feedback). The complexity dimensions describe a task complexity from different perspectives that are size, variety, and order/organization. Combining the design aspects and complexity dimensions of a task, we developed a model from which meaningful task complexity factors can be identified and organized in an analytic way. Results: A model consisting of two facets, each of which is respectively concerned with design aspects and complexity dimensions, were proposed. Additionally, twenty-one task complexity factors were identified and organized based on the model. Conclusion: The model and approach introduced in this paper can be effectively used for examining human performance and human-system interface design issues in NPPs. Application: The model and approach introduced in this paper could be used for several human factors problems, including task allocation and design of information aiding, in NPPs and extended to other types of complex systems such as air traffic control systems as well.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.120-125
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• 2013

This paper proposes a goal oriented action planning method that plans the behaviors of computer generated forces and a replanning method that replans new actions when the situations are changed in war game. This new method provides good expression because it is flexible and can do more realized description unlike the conventional finite state machines. As a result, proposed method has an advantage that it can describe the behaviors of computer generated forces as those of real soldier. However, since it is not deterministic it has some difficulties in analysing the decision processing of behaviors and making the computer generated forces do some specific actions. We employed combat plane models of air forces in order to verify the feasibility of our method. Finally, we could find that our method produced very similar behaviors to those of a real soldier. This paper describes our planning method, experimental results, and future works.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.533-542
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• 2021

This study aims to develop an instrument for measuring high school students' action competence on climate change (ACoCC). The instrument is defined as the construct comprised of seven factors and thirty-five items and takes approximately 15 minutes to fill out. A panel of experts and students' content validation were undertaken to modify the items. Five hundred and twenty-eight first and second graders in Korean high schools participated in the instrument survey. To assess the reliability and validity of ACoCC instrument, item analysis (mean, skewness, kurtosis, item-total correlation), internal consistency estimate, and confirmatory factor analysis were used. It was appropriate to use the 7-dimensional ACoCC instrument (knowledge about climate change, climate change sensibility, reflection, communication, integrated thinking, willingness, decision making), with 35 items for high school students. The following instrument was self-report given in the 5-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree). The internal consistency coefficient was shown as a whole was shown as 0.953, and the subscale's internal consistency coefficient ranged from 0.786 to 0.862.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.525-534
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• 2019

The study was carried out by surveying 500 fostered teenagers at youth shelters in the Capital area via onsite visit over about three weeks from April 17 to May 10, 2018; 487 samples out of 500 questioned subjects were used for the final analysis. The results of this study are as follows. First, the career decision self-efficacy was verified to have a partial mediating effect between all of self-leadership variables and the career maturity of the fostered adolescents at youth shelters. Second, the career decision self-efficacy was verified to have a partial mediating effect between the action-oriented strategy, which is one of the self-leadership variables, and the career maturity of the fostered adolescents at youth shelters. Third, the career decision self-efficacy was verified to have a partial mediating effect between the natural compensation strategy, which is one of the self-leadership variables, and the career maturity of the fostered adolescents at youth shelters. Fourth, the career decision self-efficacy was verified to have a full mediating effect between the constructive thinking strategy, which is one of the self-leadership variables, and the career maturity of the fostered adolescents at youth shelters.