• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.64-70
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• 2001

To verify the newly developed decision assisting expert system for nitrogen fertilizer application NES to Illinois cornfields, a couple of N rate studies from Dr. Howard and five Illinois Agricultural Experiment Stations were applied. Four types of recommendations including the current Illinois recommendation, Hoeft recommendation, NES, and maximum economic recommendation were compared with each other for the crop yields, profits, recovery rate, and N losses to cornfields. The N rate of NES recommendation, considering productivity index (PI), soil organic matter content (SOM), and pre-sidedressing nitrate concentration (PSNT) level, was the lowest in comparison to those of other recommendations. However, N recovery rate in NES was generally higher and the resulting N loss was lower than others. But, adherence to the recommendations may also reduce farmers income if environmental expense did not considered. Therefore, NES will be more effective by adding the factors including environmental expense, tillage systems, crop rotation, and other agricultural management parameters.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.55-63
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• 2001

N fertilizer recommendations to optimize with consideration to maximum crop yields, maximum profits, and minimum N losses to ground or runoff water, an advisory system. Nitrogen Expert System (NES), was developed. The system was to estimate the optimal rate of N fertilizer application cornfields in Illinois. NES was constructed using Smart Elements, a knowledge-based system that manages the expertise of human experts. NES was reinforced by addition of the effect of a productivity index (PI), soil organic matter content (SOM), and pre-sidedressing of nitrate concentration (PSNT) to the optimal N fertilizer recommendation. NES contains 49 rules, 1 class, 14 objects, and 2 properties. NES was successfully operated, showing N recommendations with inputs of three soil properties including PI, SOM, and PSNT. NES can reduce N loss to the environment, but adherence to the recommendations may also reduce farmers income. Therefore, NES will be more effective by evaluating both environmental damage assessment and other economic agricultural management parameters and other soil physico-chemical parameters.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.574-583
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• 2021

Predicting shipping markets is an important issue. Such predictions form the basis for decisions on investment methods, fleet formation methods, freight rates, etc., which greatly affect the profits and survival of a company. To this end, in this study, we propose a shipping freight rate prediction model for container ships using gated recurrent units (GRUs) and long short-term memory structure. The target of our freight rate prediction is the China Container Freight Index (CCFI), and CCFI data from March 2003 to May 2020 were used for training. The CCFI after June 2020 was first predicted according to each model and then compared and analyzed with the actual CCFI. For the experimental model, a total of six models were designed according to the hyperparameter settings. Additionally, the ARIMA model was included in the experiment for performance comparison with the traditional analysis method. The optimal model was selected based on two evaluation methods. The first evaluation method selects the model with the smallest average value of the root mean square error (RMSE) obtained by repeating each model 10 times. The second method selects the model with the lowest RMSE in all experiments. The experimental results revealed not only the improved accuracy of the deep learning model compared to the traditional time series prediction model, ARIMA, but also the contribution in enhancing the risk management ability of freight fluctuations through deep learning models. On the contrary, in the event of sudden changes in freight owing to the effects of external factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the accuracy of the forecasting model reduced. The GRU1 model recorded the lowest RMSE (69.55, 49.35) in both evaluation methods, and it was selected as the optimal model.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.367-375
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• 2021

The aim of this study was to identify the factors contributing to the auction price and total price of carcasses by using squared semi-partial correlation of carcass traits. The data used in this study were the carcass grades assigned to 7,145 head of Hanwoo slaughtered from 2013 to 2018 in Gyeonggi province and 106,779 head of Hanwoo slaughtered from 2013 to 2018 outside of Gyeonggi province. The rankings of the carcass traits contributing to the auction price were in the order of marbling score (86.70%), backfat thickness (10.42%), eye muscle area (1.40%), and carcass weight (0.92%) in Gyeonggi province. In Hanwoo slaughtered outside of Gyeonggi province, the rankings were in the order of marbling score (88.53%), backfat thickness (9.06%), eye muscle area (1.24%), and carcass weight (0.99%). The rankings of carcass traits contributing to the total price were in the order of marbling score (45.95%), carcass weight (45.60%), backfat thickness (6.49%) and eye muscle area (0.77%) in Gyeonggi province. In Hanwoo slaughtered outside Gyeonggi province, the rankings were in the order of marbling score (49.64%), carcass weight (43%), backfat thickness (5.86%), and eye muscle area (0.66%). Gyeonggi province Hanwoo had thinner backfat thickness than Hanwoo outside Gyeonggi, and it had a higher contribution to auction price and total price. Collectively, Hanwoo in Gyeonggi province showed higher contribution scores for backfat thickness. This study aimed to provide basic information to guide Hanwoo breeding and increase profits for Hanwoo farms through the analysis of each traits according to environmental factors.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.79-90
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• 2021

In domestic public construction, disputes are increasing due to differences among stakeholders regarding contract price adjustment. In particular, the actual cost-plus fee for overhead costs due to the schedule extension cannot be agreed upon at the administrative phase, and most of them seek judicial judgment. Thus, this study aims to propose a 'sufficiently satisfactory' alternative to reach an agreement before disputes in order to minimize disputes related to the calculation of additional overhead costs. To this end, this study proposes three alternatives based on the rate method. Firstly, when calculating additional overhead costs, it is not calculated as an actual cost-plus-fee method, but as a rate compared to direct labor costs among net direct costs. Secondly, the calculated indirect labor costs are compensated for up to the legal maximum of legal limit costs such as general management costs, profits and so on. Thirdly, it reflects overhead costs increased or decreased due to change orders. Risks were analyzed by collecting expert opinions on the proposed methods and applying actual cases. Finally, as a result of investigating the level of consensus for each stakeholder, it was confirmed that all stakeholders could agree regardless of the size of the company. The result of this study is expected to as a useful tool among stakeholders in the construction fields that can be able to easily agreed upon.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.57-74
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• 2021

Purpose - This study aims to analyze the characteristics of network construction by Norwegian Air and AirAsia X, which are recognized as leading airlines in the long-haul LCC market. Based on this analysis, this study intends to provide implications for networking strategies for Korean LCCs that seek to enter the long-haul market when the aviation market stabilizes again upon the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology - To conduct the network analysis on long-haul low-cost airlines, the Official Airline Guide (OAG) Schedule Analyzer was used to extract long-haul data of Norwegian Air and AirAsia X. To analyze the trend of the long-haul route network, we obtained the data from 3 separate years between 2011 and 2019. The network was analyzed using UCINET 6.0 in order to examine the network structure of long-haul low-cost airlines and the growth trend of each stage. Findings - Analyzing the network of long-haul routes by visualizing the network structure of low-cost carriers showed the following results. In its early years, Norwegian Air's long-haul route network, centering on regional airports in Spain and Sweden, connected European regions, the Middle East, and Africa. As time passed, however, the network expanded and became steadily strong as the airline connected airports in other European countries to North America and Asia. In addition, in 2011, AirAsia X showed links to parts of Europe, such as London and Paris, the Middle East and India, and Australia and Northeast Asia, centering on the Kuala Lumpur Airport. Although the routes in Europe were suspended, the network continued to expand while concentrating on routes of less than approximately 7,000 km. It was found that instead of giving up on ultra-long-haul routes such as Europe, the network was further expanded in Northeast Asia, such as the routes in Korea and Japan centering on China. Originality/value - Until the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, Norwegian Air actively expanded long-haul routes, resulting in the number of long-haul routes quintupling since 2011. The unfortunate circumstance, wherein the world aviation market was rendered stagnant due to the outbreak of COVID-19, hit Norwegian Air harder than any other low-cost carriers. However, in the case of AirAsia X, it was found that it did not suffer as much damage as Norwegian Air because it initially withdrew from unprofitable routes over 7,000 km and grew by gradually increasing profitable destinations over shorter distances. When the COVID-19 pandemic ends and the aviation market stabilizes, low-cost carriers around the world, including Korea, that enter the long-haul route market will need to employ strategies to analyze the marketability of potential routes and to launch the routes that yield the highest profits without being bound by distance. For stable growth, it is necessary to take a conservative stance; first, by reviewing the business feasibility of the operating a small number of highly profitable routes, and second, by gradually expanding these routes.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.73-85
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• 2019

Since the beginning of a new century, many Korean construction and engineering companies are facing a very dynamic and fast changing business environment which includes severe competition, higher risk, economic depression, declining revenues and profits, etc. In order to cope with these challenges, they need to secure special capabilities to actively adapt to the paradigm changes. One of those capabilities could be project management capability which allows us to manage organizational resources dynamically and integratively based on project portfolio management concept. The objective of this study is to investigate how the dynamic capability of a project-based organization to control the resource affects the firm performance and the competitive advantages. Data was collected from the construction and engineering companies in South Korea by using survey questionnaire, and analyzed for empirical tests by using statistical methods such as structural equation modelling and path analysis. The results showed that the organizational resources, if they had the VRIN characteristics, would have positive impacts on creating the dynamic capabilities for project organization. In turn, the dynamic capabilities of a project organization would have impacts on improving business performance and creating competitive advantages. Also, it was found that the organizational resources may have direct impact on business performance and competitive advantages. The academic contribution of this study is that it attempts to integrate resource based view and the dynamic capability theory about creating competitive advantages for project based organization. This study also provided practical implications to the companies in construction industry by showing how to use organizational resources strategically to create competitive advantages.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.221-254
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• 2010

This study is for analyzing the mgmt performances of Korean tourism firms, operating as preparing strategically against FTA, one of the most importantly external environment in int'l mgmt since in the mid of 1990s. The main purpose can be mentioned to test empirically some relations between the mgmt performances of Korean tourism ones and the economic effects originated from FTA. The dependent variables of mgmt performances are classified with sales, profits and mgmt satisfaction, while the independent one regarding with economic effects from FTA are sorted based on the previous studies with the 2 following factors like direct with inbound/outbound and indirect effects. This study is conducted in two stages. Firstly, the research model is designed by the reviewing relevant theories and previous studies. Secondly, the survey of Korean tourism firms engaging in mgmt activities is implemented by collecting questionnaires. And for testing the hypothesis, the analyzing tools are used for correlation, reliability, validity and multi-regression on SPSS 12.0 and the path analysis of structural equation modeling is activated with AMOS 11.0.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.261-269
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to present the effective management strategy of RI based on the results of research on the causal relationship between the regional medical care capacity and the hospital management performance by calculating the RI of the general hospitals in Korea, This research has significance. The results of this study are as follows: First, statistically significant differences were found in Number of beds and recurring profits in urban areas by the general characteristics. Second, the correlations between the RI and the variables of the regional medical use are as follows: Recurring profit ratio, New Outpatient Visits, Operating Margin, Daily Outpatient Visits per 100 Beds, Daily Inpatient Days per 100 Beds, and Average Charge per Inpatient Day. Based on the results of this study, the significance of this study is as follows. First, we calculated the affinity for local medical use, which is the index of local medical utilization. Secondly, it is analyzed according to internal and external environmental factors such as city size, hospital size, etc. It can be said that the hospital provided basic data for establishment of hospital management strategy to increase the utilization rate of local medical care.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.123-140
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• 2018

This paper analyzes herd behavior observed in the loan market from 2001 to 2014 using a panel data on commercial banks including state-owned banks, domestic private banks, foreign banks, and Islamic banks. The paper finds evidence that herd behaviors of domestic private and foreign banks have been pronounced and long-lasting around the 2008 global financial crisis when state-owned banks did not show such a behavior. This result shows that since private banks tend to be keen on maximizing profits and avoid financial risks exposed by lending during a financial crisis, their lending decisions are not independent but dependent on whether other banks increase loans or not. On the other hand, Islamic banks do not show herd behavior during the financial crisis. This finding is consistent with earlier studies that Islamic banks have different characteristics, such as profit and operation mechanisms, from other private banks. Another interesting finding is that when it comes to rural loans, all the banks' herd behavior is short-lived and the herding indexes are quite volatile. This finding is attributable to distinct features of rural loans. Usually maturities of rural loans are shorter than city loans and related to the cycle of farming. Agricultural production is heavily dependent on unpredicted factors, such as floods and droughts, not previous year's production. Lastly, the paper finds a herding across bank type that state-owned, foreign, and Islamic banks follow domestic private banks'lending decisions.