• International conference on construction engineering and project management
• /
• 2011.02a
• /
• pp.399-406
• /
• 2011

Various construction bonds and warranties critically burden the general contractor. Also, sporadic or cumulative delays of progress payment by the owner can further trap the contractor in a financial quagmire. Facing the possibility of cash flow deficiency and callous response from the banks, most construction firms may become financially incapable of market competition, and attractive project tenders become a bidding game among few deep-pocket players. The downside of such market environment is that the depth of pocket, rather than that of professional competency dictates the choice of market winners. In Taiwan, this has been a potential crisis to the construction industry after the financial crisis which started out since 2008. To encounter this problem, this research will examine the means to better manage the construction industry. Essentially, a credit guarantee system (CGS) is the prime solution to strengthen a bank's confidence in any particular construction firm. Thus establishing a national platform which evaluates and rewards a construction firm's overall credibility is pivotal, and this third-party rated credit can help a bank to render a loan more wisely. Finally, this paper will propose the ideal operating schemes of construction-specific CGS in Taiwan and a credit scoring prototype model for construction industry, as reference for the government and banks, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.61-68
• /
• 2024

In the context of the Ministry of Environment's 2022 Climate Change Adaptation Plan for Public Institutions, public sewage treatment plants are one of the important targets for climate change response aimed at sustainable water management. In this study, it is applied a modified methodology to four water regeneration centers (public sewage treatment facilities) in charge of sewage treatment in Seoul to analyze the impacts and risks of climate change and discuss priorities for adaptation measures. The results of the study showed that heavy rains, heat waves, and droughts will be the key impacts of climate change, and highlighted the need for measures to mitigate these risks, especially for facility managers.

• Korean Security Journal
• /
• no.13
• /
• pp.113-144
• /
• 2007

The entire world has lived in terror threatened by new-terrorism since the 9.11 terror. Having appeared since 9.11, new-terrorism is new kind of terror targeting victims at random. Bioterrorism is one good example. Since bioterrorism happens secretly, it's hard to identify. The case becomes even harder to detect if it takes the form of a new epidemic. This study set out to apply the four phases of crisis management regarding outbreak and measures of SARS, the latest new epidemic, and to prepare against bioterrorism taking the form of a new epidemic, It also shows the efforts to study what to prepare and what kind of actions to take in case of bioterrorism by applying the four phases. There results demonstrate that the preventive measures against bioterrorism include arranging terror-related laws and identifying and monitoring expected pathogenic organs. In the preparation phases, they should integrate the related agencies, prepare for the standard operating procedures(SOP), execute integrated training sessions among the related agencies, and secure the necessary resources such as vaccine, cures, and exploration devices. In the response phases, they need to set up a rapid diagnosis system, quarantine and then cure the patients, and pursue cooperation from the media and promotions and further an international cooperation system to take appropriate measures. And the final recovery phases should involve offering emergency support by checking the situations and engaging in activities to prevent another terror attack by providing counseling, exchanging information, and analyzing and evaluating the causes.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.281-298
• /
• 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has so far given the world a great shock and fear that cannot be compared to other infectious diseases, and local economies are experiencing a serious economic crisis accordingly. This paper examines the regional characteristics of economic recession and resilience due to the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the employment fluctuations in 85 cities nationwide. Although the overall trend is in line with national employment indicators, there are some differences in the shock response and the recovery of employment in individual cities. The difference between cities is somewhat greater in the resilience of the recovery stage than the resistance, which is the shock-response stage. In terms of resilience, cities in the capital area have relatively good condition compared to cities in the non-capital area. The weak resilience of large cities such as Seoul, which has a high population density, can be explained to be the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic of infectious diseases. Regarding the economic structure of the city, the ratio of service and sales workers, wholesalers and retailers, and food and lodging businesses are analyzed as valid explanatory variables for the resilience of cities.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.125-159
• /
• 2020

Amid global pandemic of covid-19, Korean government's response has drawn wide attention among social scientists as well as medical studies. The role of Korean state and civil society has attracted particular attention among others. Yet, this paper criticizes extant studies on Korean case which focus on the extensive intervention of the strong state and subjective attitude of Korean citizens in coping with covid-19. The concept of the strong state lacks social scientific specification and subjective citizens do not match with Korean realities. This article argues that Korean state's capacity in collecting and mobilizing digital data may offer better understanding for the successful responses to the pandemic. First, Korean state is the ultimate coordinator in collecting, analyzing and applying big data about the expansion of covid-19 with its huge network of dataveillance. Also, such role has been largely based upon relevant legal framework and well prepared manuals and cooperation with civic actors and companies. In other words, Korean digital dataveillance had demonstrated its transparency and cooperative governance. Second, such dataveillance capacity has deep roots in the long-term development of Korean state's big data management. Korean state has evolved about thirty years while enhancing digital data network within governments, companies and private sectors. Third, the relationship between Korean state's dataveillance and civil society can be characterized as a state centered push model. This model demonstrates highly effective governmental responses to covid-19 crisis but fall short of building social consensus in balancing individual freedom, human rights and effective containment policies. It means communitarian solidarity among citizens has not been a major factor in Korea's successful response yet.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.1-31
• /
• 2008

Various opinions have been suggested to explain the slump in equipment investment, such as increased government regulations, shareholder-oriented management by expanded foreign equity investment, response against M&A threats, conservative investment trends seen after a series of bankruptcy of large conglomerates (amidst crumbling myth of "Too Big to Fail"), and financial restructuring. Some also argued that the increased uncertainty in business environment is mainly responsible for conservative management, though there are few domestic studies made regarding the situation. But, in other countries, including the U.S., studies have shown that more volatility is seen now surrounding stock prices, profitability, and sales growth rate reflecting business performance. Also, there are other studies showing such expanded volatility have led to conservative management by businesses. In this regard, this study reviews the volatility conditions of business performance of Korean companies based on profitability, and then attempts to analyze the impact on investment brought on by increased volatility. Each company's profitability volatility used here is from the standard deviation of companies for the past five years. As a profitability indicator, the ROA (= operating profit/total asset) is used. According to the analysis, profitability volatility has remarkably increased from the mid 3% in 1994 to low 5% in 2005. Profitability volatility of the Korean companies has expanded to a great extent since the financial crisis. The crisis might have served to raise the volatility in the macroeconomic conditions. If increased volatility observed during the economic crisis had gradually declined after the crisis, the situation could be interpreted as a temporary phenomenon, not to be too concerned over. But, this was not the case for Korea. The volatility level, after the crisis, has not dropped back to its pre-crisis level. Hence, in the Korea's case, high volatility cannot be explained by the impact of financial crisis. Not only that, the fact that such expansion is seen in every industrial sector indicates that this phenomenon cannot be explained by the composition change of industries alone. An undergoing study shows that with a rapid spread of globalization, industries fiercely competing with China experience more volatility. Such increased volatility tends to contract investment, and since the crisis the impact of volatility on investment has slightly increased. It is noteworthy that this study only includes a part of 'uncertainty' that could be measured statistically. For instance, the profitability volatility indicator used in this study is unable to reflect all the effects that the tacit reduction of protection by the government or regulations might have made. So, the result here also indicates that other 'uncertain' factors not mentioned in this study may have served to contract investment sentiment. It would be impossible for policies to completely remove uncertainties measured by profitability volatility, but at least it is necessary to put effort to reduce the macroeconomic volatility in the future economic management. Stabilized macroeconomic management may not be enough to diminish all volatility that occurs within each company, but it would make a meaningful contribution in encouraging investment.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
• /
• v.10 no.spc
• /
• pp.96-111
• /
• 2022

With the rapid development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and digital transformation, scientific and technological innovation measures are being devised to overcome Korea's low-growth, high-cost structure. Accordingly, by examining the R&D investment evaluation system of R&D PIE (R&D Platform for Investment and Evaluation), which has been promoted by the Korean government in response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, from the perspective of R&D transformation, this study aims to explore a new path for a sustainable national science and technology innovation system following digital transformation. In particular, from the perspective of R&D PIE, a MLP (Multi-level Perspective), which had been conducted as an abstract theoretical study, was attempted with specific cases and analysis for each of the three layers: niche, landscape, and regime. In conclusion, R&D PIE was intended to elevate the abstract R&D investment evaluation system to a platform that leads innovation in the digital space of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In addition, it was confirmed that the R&D PIE could be replaced or enhanced as a platform for innovation in response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, thereby providing an alternative to job creation and an escape from economic crisis.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.435-441
• /
• 2023

Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGLs) may secrete hormones or bioactive neuropeptides such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), which can mask the clinical manifestations of catecholamine hypersecretion. We report the case of a patient with delayed diagnosis of paraganglioma due to the development of IL-6-mediated systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). A 58-year-old woman presented with dyspnea and flank pain accompanied by SIRS and acute cardiac, kidney, and liver injuries. A left paravertebral mass was incidentally observed on abdominal computed tomography (CT). Biochemical tests revealed increased 24-hour urinary metanephrine (2.12 mg/day), plasma norepinephrine (1,588 pg/mL), plasma normetanephrine (2.27 nmol/L), and IL-6 (16.5 pg/mL) levels. ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/CT showed increased uptake of FDG in the left paravertebral mass without metastases. The patient was finally diagnosed with functional paraganglioma crisis. The precipitating factor was unclear, but phendimetrazine tartrate, a norepinephrine-dopamine release drug that the patient regularly took, might have stimulated the paraganglioma. The patient's body temperature and blood pressure were well controlled after alpha-blocker administration, and the retroperitoneal mass was surgically resected successfully. After surgery, the patient's inflammatory, cardiac, renal, and hepatic biomarkers and catecholamine levels improved. In conclusion, our report emphasizes the importance of IL-6-producing PPGLs in the differential diagnosis of SIRS.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.263-280
• /
• 2011

The global financial crisis, triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis in 2007, has put the world economy into the recession with financial market turmoil. I tested whether variables were cointegrated or whether there was an equilibrium relationship. Also, Generalized impulse-response function (GIRF) and accumulation impulse-response function (AIRF) may be used to understand and characterize the time series dynamics inherent in economical systems comprised of variables that may be highly interdependent. Moreover, the IRFs enables us to simulate the response in freight to a shock in the USD/JPY exchange rate, Dow Jones industrial average index, Dow Jones volatility, Chinese Import volatility. The result on the cointegration test show that the hypothesis of no cointergrating vector could be rejected at the 5 percent level. Also, the empirical analysis of cointegrating vector reveals that the increases of USD/JPY exchange rate have negative relations with freight. The result on the impulse-response analysis indicate that freight respond negatively to volatility, and then decay very quickly. Consequently, the results highlight the potential usefulness of the multivariate time series techniques accounting to behavior of Freight.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.35 no.5
• /
• pp.335-349
• /
• 2021

As the frequency of seismic disasters in Korea has increased rapidly since 2016, interest in systematic maintenance and crisis response technologies for structures has been increasing. A data-based leading management system of Lifeline facilities is important for rapid disaster response. In particular, the water supply network, one of the major Lifeline facilities, must be operated by a systematic maintenance and emergency response system for stable water supply. As one of the methods for this, the importance of the structural health monitoring(SHM) technology has emerged as the recent continuous development of sensor and signal processing technology. Among the various types of SHM, because all machines generate vibration, research and application on the efficiency of a vibration-based SHM are expanding. This paper reviews a vibration-based pipeline SHM system for seismic disaster response of water supply pipelines including types of vibration sensors, the current status of vibration signal processing technology and domestic major research on structural pipeline health monitoring, additionally with application plan for existing pipeline operation system.