• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.2D
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• pp.249-258
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• 2008

Korean engineering firms need to improve their performance in order to stay competitive in the globalize environments which has been led by some international movements including World Trade Organization (WTO) and Free Trade Agreements (FTA). There have been various activities and researches focusing on how to improve competitiveness of Korean engineering firms and the out-of-fashion Engineering Project Delivery System (EPDS) has repetitively identified as one of main barriers to deter advancements of Korean engineering industry. Therefore, this research attempted to investigate global standards of EPDS such as International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC), American Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), Brooks Act, and so on. The procedures of international EPDSs along with a few case studies were comprehensively analyzed and compared with Korean EPDS in order to propose recommendations of improving Korean EPDS. Some major differences between international and Korean EPDS were identified and they includes emphasis on qualifications of engineers and/or firms rather than their proposed cost, extensive use of long and short-list, common use of negotiation process, etc. Research findings are envisioned to guide the Korean public engineering sector to innovate Korean EPDS.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.215-225
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• 2024

Predictive maintenance has been considered fundamental in the industrial applications in the last few years. It contributes to improve reliability, availability, and maintainability of the systems and to avoid breakdowns. These breakdowns could potentially lead to system shutdowns and to decrease the production efficiency of the manufacturing plants. The present article aims to study how predictive maintenance could be planed into the production scheduling, through a systematic review of literature. . The review includes the research articles published in international journals indexed in the Scopus database. 165 research articles were included in the search using #predictive maintenance# AND #production scheduling#. Press articles, conference and non-English papers are not considered in this study. After careful evaluation of each study for its purpose and scope, 50 research articles are selected for this review by following the 2020 Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA) statement. A benchmarking of predictive maintenance methods was used to understand the parameters that contributed to improve the production scheduling. The results of the comparative analysis highlight that artificial intelligence is a promising tool to anticipate breakdowns. An additional impression of this study is that each equipment has its own parameters that have to be collected, monitored and analyzed.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.27-51
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• 2001

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the productive efficiency of world container ports by using the DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) method and raw data from previous research in measuring the international competitiveness of world container ports. Ports have to cope with rapid changes in shipping environments. In order for a port to compete in the global market, it must provide port services promptly and accurately. Basically, there are two approaches to measuring the international competitiveness of a container port. First, there is the traditional productivity analysis method, which analyzes productivity based on the container port's facilities (efficiency, selectivity, land availability), and by its general capacity (handling ability, storage capacity, terminal productivity). Second there is multi-attribute utility analysis, which considers several elements including the reasons for selecting particular container ports and factors determining international competitiveness. This paper follows the first method (traditional productivity analysis) and extends the limitation of previous studies by using the DEA method newly, and suggesting: the relative productive efficiency of container ports. The main results of this paper are as follows: First, the results of the DEA analysis in terms of world container ports matches that of a previous study (Jun et al., 1993) at a level of 35%. The low ratio is due to the constrained set of input-output elements, the result of only twenty container ports being analyzed in this paper. Second, the result of the DEA analysis in terms of North-East Asia's container ports matches with that of a previous study (Ha, 1996) at a level of 100 percent. Therefore we can conclude that the DEA analysis is the best measurement method for international competitiveness. Policy implications for this study are as follows: First, when port authorities want to measure the international competition power of container ports and enhance their productive efficiency, they should consider the traditional method and newly introduce the DEA method. Second, according to the analysis results of the DEA method, pen authorities should recommend benchmarking ports as reference ports in order to enhance the productive efficiency of container ports that show an efficiency score of below 1.

• The Journal of Economics, Marketing and Management
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.73-81
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• 2024

Purpose: South Korea is a close ally of the US and an important partner of China. Caught between the two most powerful countries, South Korea's strategic directions are critical. This article emphasizes that the deeper core of the US-China trade war is to improve the business environment to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to boost the economy, rather than engaging in the trade war. Research design, data, and methodology: Considering the complexity of this issue, this article applies a systematic analytical tool, the ABCD (Agility, Benchmarking, Convergence, and Dedication) model, to provide strategic guidance for inducing investments into South Korea in the context of the ongoing US-China trade war. Results: Specifically, South Korea needs to provide a more attractive business environment along the four points: expedite commercial activities through deregulation (Agility); adopt global standards of the flexible labor markets and technological developments (Benchmarking); integrate various industries and connect them to global value chains (Convergence); and create more economy-friendly policies rather than politics-oriented ones such as protectionism (Dedication). Conclusion: This study stands out not just by utilizing the ABCD model but, also by providing more systematic analysis and practical implications, particularly within the context of the escalating US-China competition. Unlike many existing studies that analyze the broader impacts of this geopolitical rivalry, this research delves into specific strategic guidelines for South Korea to attract FDI. The findings also provide implications for multinational corporations (MNCs) in choosing the locations for their overseas operations, particularly in South Korea.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.12
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• pp.4367-4381
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• 2023

Nuclear power plants are increasingly being equipped with digital I&C systems. Although some probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) models for the digital I&C of nuclear power plants have been constructed, there is currently no specific internationally agreed guidance for their modeling. This paper presents an initiative by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency called "Digital I&C PSA - Comparative application of DIGital I&C Modelling Approaches for PSA (DIGMAP)", which aimed to advance the field towards practical and defendable modeling principles. The task, carried out in 2017-2021, used a simplified description of a plant focusing on the digital I&C systems important to safety, for which the participating organizations independently developed their own PSA models. Through comparison of the PSA models, sensitivity analyses as well as observations throughout the whole activity, both qualitative and quantitative lessons were learned. These include insights on failure behavior of digital I&C systems, experience from models with different levels of abstraction, benefits from benchmarking as well as major contributors to the core damage frequency and those with minor effect. The study also highlighted the challenges with modeling of large common cause component groups and the difficulties associated with estimation of key software and common cause failure parameters.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.143-175
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• 2013

The purpose of this paper is to show the clustering trend by using the variable group benchmarking(VGB) and categorical variable(CV) models for 38 Asian ports during 9 years(2001-2009) with 4 inputs(birth length, depth, total area, and number of crane) and 1 output(container TEU). The main empirical results of this paper are as follows. First, clustering results by using VGB show that Shanghai, Qingdao, and Ningbo ports took the core role for clustering. Second, CV analysis focusing on the container throughputs indicated that Singapore, Keelong, Dubai, and Kaosiung ports except Chinese ports are appeared as the center ports of clustering. Third, Aqaba, Dubai, Hongkong, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Ningbo ports are recommended as the efficient ports for the target of clustering. Fourth, when the ports are classified by the regional location, Dubai, Khor Fakkan, Shanghai, Hongkong, Keelong, Ningbo, and Singapore ports are the core ports for clustering. On the whole, other ports located in Asia should be clustered to Dubai, Khor Fakkan, Shanghai, Hongkong, Ningbo, and Singapore ports. The policy implication of this paper is that Korean port policy planner should introduce the VGB model, and CV model for clustering among the international ports for enhancing the efficiency of inputs and outputs.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.46
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• pp.351-380
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• 2010

Multinational Enterprises set the prices for transactions between affiliates based principally on their global interest. But the customs authority in Korea wants to set the arm's length price as high as possible to get higher dutiable value for customs purpose, while the internal tax authority in Korea prefers lower arm's length price to get higher value for corporation tax purpose by cutting costs. Problem caused by the inconsistent valuation methods on the same imported goods of the two tax authorities is the single most important tax issue facing multinational enterprises. In the meantime, the customs authority in Korea has thought that it is a universal trend worldwide for the Customs and Internal tax authorities to adopt different methods of valuation on transfer prices between related parties, so KCS couldn't accept APA prices. But the internal tax authority in Korea has taken the initiative in APA program so NTS provided taxpayer with safe-harbor. Recently, KCS created the Advance Customs Valuation Arrangement(ACVA) provisions in the 2008 revision bill of the Customs Act through benchmarking APAs program. Can APAs work for customs? Neither WCO or OECD presents any recommendation on the integration of the valuation methods, but calls for close cooperation between two authorities, which still leaves taxpayers very unstable. We will start to seek ways to integrate the customs valuation and transfer pricing in this study.

• Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.16-23
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• 2015

In this paper, a survey related to excavation construction activities among national and international construction companies was conducted to evaluate site productivity in construction industry. To analyze the respective productivity levels of each construction company, a benchmarking measures analysis that featured calculations of the performance ratio (PR) and performance management index (PMI) was performed. As a result of these analyses, it has been found that the work performed by local companies was marked by lower productivity and that of international companies was characterized by good productivity. Further analysis of construction workforce resources P% revealed that a construction company's productivity is largely dependent on production capacity and consumption resources, which means that the retention of skilled workers and utilization of high-quality resources yields the highest level of productivity. These results suggest that for a local construction company to be competitive in the construction work market, it must retrain skilled craftspeople, foremen, engineers, and project managers, and strengthen its building capability by leveraging new equipment and technologies.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.81-85
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• 2021

The purpose of this paper is to measure the relative efficiency of the police agencies in Korea with data collected from 2018 to 2020, using data envelopment analysis (DEA), as put forward by Charnes et al., which is used to construct a scalar measure of efficiency for all police agencies. The results of this study can be used to assist police agencies in delivering better and more efficient services to the community. The analytical results based on DEA identify potentially weak and strong police agencies on policing performance, their efficient benchmarking, and the levels of clear-ups that would make inefficient police agencies efficient. We could suggest that higher levels of the police force are associated with higher performance efficiency against crimes. But, it is a little hard to say that higher levels of the police force can keep the local police agencies efficient without explaining the contribution of other input variables to criminal arrest and prevention. On the other hand, our analysis presents that differences in operating environments and socioeconomic factors do not have a significant influence on the efficiency of local police agencies. But, it is necessary to note that we need to examine the effect of environments and socioeconomic factors on crime to create the better-policing performance.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.93-98
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• 2021

To develop policies regarding fertility and pregnancy that will be effective in preventing further declines in fertility rates in the context present-day Korea, current policies in Japan were analyzed and compared with those now being implemented in Korea. This study was structured to involve (a) comparison of maternal health projects in Korea and Japan, and (b) comparison of infertility support policies based in regional cities in Korea and Japan. Korea's Health Plan 2030 emphasizes strengthening healthcare for high-risk pregnant women, expanding investments to benefit vulnerable groups, and establishing a support system for infertile couples. In Japan, government programs involving treatment targeting infertility specifically were implemented nationwide in 2006. Wide dissemination of accurate knowledge related to pregnancy is emphasized. Also, counseling centers specializing in infertility were established by 67 local governments. We have confirmed that Korean policies include decentralization, while Japan is implementing the central government's infertility policy uniformly in all regions. Japan also adjusted its policy out of concern that problems related to infertility and childbirth will worsen due to the social disaster of COVID-19. The results indicate that providing additional support for psychological counseling may be preferable to increasing the number of in-vitro fertilization procedures. The physical burden on women may be minimized by benchmarking policies in Japan. Step-by-step application of these procedures should be systematically supported to achieve the best results.