• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.113 no.1
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• pp.118-130
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• 2024

Rehabilitation of mining areas can reduce damage to ecosystems. However, the effects of rehabilitation on ecosystem services (ESs) and its contribution to local communities are not well known. Thus, the aims of this study were to clearly identify the ES beneficiaries affected by mining activities, to determine how the beneficiaries profit from surrounding areas in cooperation with local stakeholders, and to manage the rehabilitation areas for the ESs that the beneficiaries want. This study chose 18 ESs (4 provisioning, 7 regulating, 5 cultural, and 2 habitat services) based on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity. A semi-structured questionnaire survey using an 11-point Likert scale was conducted among 87 community residents to investigate social awareness and identify key ESs. The survey results from two local communities showed high awareness and demands mainly on cultural (mental and physical health, aesthetic appreciation, and recreation) and regulating services (local climate and air quality, and moderation of extreme events). These services were related to the daily lives of residents in local communities, provided positive benefits, and potentially improved the residents' future livelihoods. However, the average questionnaire scores were limited to 6-7 points, indicating that the benefits to local communities were meager. The residents' awareness of provisioning service was negative, even if it provided goods and profit opportunities. This indicated a disconnection between local communities and provisioning services due to forest rehabilitation that did not consider local communities that traditionally relied on specific provisioning services before the onset of mining activities. Future forest rehabilitation in abandoned mine areas must consider the welfare of local communities for sustainable use of rehabilitated forests and enhancing ESs. In this study, only a qualitative evaluation based on frequency analyses was conducted. The quantification and valuation of key ESs are warranted in the future to promote ESs from forest rehabilitation in abandoned mine areas. The study results would be useful for developing site-specific ES promotion strategies for reforesting mine areas.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.179-192
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• 2014

Keeping in line with the recent changes in the information technology environment, the online learning environment that supports multiple users' participation such as MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) has become important. One of the largest professional associations in Information Technology, IEEE Computer Society, announced that "Supporting New Learning Styles" is a crucial trend in 2014. Popular MOOC services, CourseRa and edX, have continued to build active learning environment with a large number of lectures accessible anywhere using smart devices, and have been used by an increasing number of users. In addition, collaborative web services (e.g., blogs and Wikipedia) also support the creation of various user-uploaded learning materials, resulting in a vast amount of new lectures and learning materials being created every day in the online space. However, it is difficult for an online educational system to keep a learner' motivation as learning occurs remotely, with limited capability to share knowledge among the learners. Thus, it is essential to understand which materials are needed for each learner and how to motivate learners to actively participate in online learning system. To overcome these issues, leveraging the constructivism theory and collective intelligence, we have developed a social bookmarking system called WeStudy, which supports learning material sharing among the users and provides personalized learning material recommendations. Constructivism theory argues that knowledge is being constructed while learners interact with the world. Collective intelligence can be separated into two types: (1) collaborative collective intelligence, which can be built on the basis of direct collaboration among the participants (e.g., Wikipedia), and (2) integrative collective intelligence, which produces new forms of knowledge by combining independent and distributed information through highly advanced technologies and algorithms (e.g., Google PageRank, Recommender systems). Recommender system, one of the examples of integrative collective intelligence, is to utilize online activities of the users and recommend what users may be interested in. Our system included both collaborative collective intelligence functions and integrative collective intelligence functions. We analyzed well-known Web services based on collective intelligence such as Wikipedia, Slideshare, and Videolectures to identify main design factors that support collective intelligence. Based on this analysis, in addition to sharing online resources through social bookmarking, we selected three essential functions for our system: 1) multimodal visualization of learning materials through two forms (e.g., list and graph), 2) personalized recommendation of learning materials, and 3) explicit designation of learners of their interest. After developing web-based WeStudy system, we conducted usability testing through the heuristic evaluation method that included seven heuristic indices: features and functionality, cognitive page, navigation, search and filtering, control and feedback, forms, context and text. We recruited 10 experts who majored in Human Computer Interaction and worked in the same field, and requested both quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the system. The evaluation results show that, relative to the other functions evaluated, the list/graph page produced higher scores on all indices except for contexts & text. In case of contexts & text, learning material page produced the best score, compared with the other functions. In general, the explicit designation of learners of their interests, one of the distinctive functions, received lower scores on all usability indices because of its unfamiliar functionality to the users. In summary, the evaluation results show that our system has achieved high usability with good performance with some minor issues, which need to be fully addressed before the public release of the system to large-scale users. The study findings provide practical guidelines for the design and development of various systems that utilize collective intelligence.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• no.36
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• pp.55-80
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• 2008

Research on the welfare state or income inequality has been concerned with variations in inequality between societies or families. These studies tend to view the family as a unit of shared interests where incomes are pooled and distributed equally. This study makes a theoretical and empirical case for why it is important to look at economic dependency within the family in comparative welfare state research. Using the Luxembourg Income Study data this study examined married women's dependency on their husbands' earnings in 16 western industrialized countries. The constructed measure for married women's level of economic dependency followed the procedure of Sørensen & McLanahan(1987), which stated : "her dependency is measured by the extent to which a woman's standard of living(as determined by her share of income) is derived from a transfer from her husband." The finding suggested that married women's economic dependence was lowest in Scandinavian countries. On the contrary, in Southern Europe countries most married women were dependent on husbands' earnings. In Netherlands, Austria, Germany where the share of part-time work among married women was high, married women's economic dependence was also high. This showed the women's labor force participation did not mean that the majority of couples were equal with respect to earnings, nor that a major shift in the sexual division of labour has taken place. This paper analysed the causal relationship between the married women's economic independence and the welfare state by using Ragin(2000)'s Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. This analysis considered the various conditions of the welfare state : namely, left power, union mobilization density, women's mobilization, public service sector employment and generous support on the family. The result showed that powerful union, high level of women's mobilization and the generous support on the family were necessary conditions for 'relatively high' level of married women's economic independence.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.6_1
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• pp.1181-1189
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• 2022

Clouds are composed of tiny water droplets, ice crystals, or mixtures suspended in the atmosphere and cover about two-thirds of the Earth's surface. Cloud detection in satellite images is a very difficult task to separate clouds and non-cloud areas because of similar reflectance characteristics to some other ground objects or the ground surface. In contrast to thick clouds, which have distinct characteristics, thin transparent clouds have weak contrast between clouds and background in satellite images and appear mixed with the ground surface. In order to overcome the limitations of transparent clouds in cloud detection, this study conducted cloud detection focusing on transparent clouds using machine learning techniques (Random Forest [RF], Convolutional Neural Networks [CNN]). As reference data, Cloud Mask and Cirrus Mask were used in MOD35 data provided by MOderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and the pixel ratio of training data was configured to be about 1:1:1 for clouds, transparent clouds, and clear sky for model training considering transparent cloud pixels. As a result of the qualitative comparison of the study, bothRF and CNN successfully detected various types of clouds, including transparent clouds, and in the case of RF+CNN, which mixed the results of the RF model and the CNN model, the cloud detection was well performed, and was confirmed that the limitations of the model were improved. As a quantitative result of the study, the overall accuracy (OA) value of RF was 92%, CNN showed 94.11%, and RF+CNN showed 94.29% accuracy.

• 한국노년학
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.801-821
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• 2020

There are a number of prior studies on the poverty experience of Korean women, but little is known about the poverty experience of Korean elderly women in the U.S. The purpose of this study is to examine the poverty experiences of Korean elderly women who immigrated to the U. S. Qualitative case study methods were used to achieve these research objectives. Three Korean elderly women living in Oakland of California who received Supplemental Security Income (SSI) from the U.S. federal government were included in the study. The data were collected by conducting a total of six meetings per participant, and the researcher read the consent form directly to the participants and obtained a hand-written signature. The analysis and interpretation began by repeating the interview transcript several times, and the repeated keywords were to be understood in the context, focusing on time, space, and relationships with other people. The contextual understanding of Korean elderly women's experiences in poverty was interpreted in three dimensions: extending poverty in their mother country, double torture as female immigrants, and limiting labor due to aging and diseases. Before moving to the U.S., they had a difficult livelihood by farming and one of them had to live in poverty due to the bereavement to her husband. But even after moving to the U.S., they have continued to live in poverty. As female immigrants with low education and no special skills, they were incorporated into the periphery of the labor market in the industrialized U.S. and were forced to make a living with low wages. Korean elderly women were unable to return to the labor market in the surrounding areas due to aging and diseases, and were continuing their impoverished lives relying on SSI. From the findings, we discussed the role of the Korean immigrants community as a way to improve the quality of life for Korean elderly women in the U.S.

• 지역과문화
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.59-98
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• 2020

An empirical study utilizing data was performed with a variable called 'strategic planning' for festivals in order to look into the impact of a cultural tourism festival on urban regeneration. As a success factor of a festival, strategic festival planning was drawn up, and the following hypotheses were set: Seven strategic factors verified through an exploratory factor analysis will have a positive impact on festival satisfaction (festival success) and on urban regeneration, and festival satisfaction will have a positive impact on urban regeneration by having a mediating effect on it. For the analysis, the Gimje Horizon Festival was selected as it was considered as a typical case of urban regeneration through a festival, and the relationship between the festival and urban regeneration was understood by conducting a combined analysis of a quantitative analysis through a survey, a literature search, field investigations and in-depth interviews. The quantitative analysis indicates that strategic planning has a positive impact on festival satisfaction (festival success) and on urban regeneration and that festival satisfaction has a positive impact on urban regeneration. The same study result as the quantitative analysis result was obtained even through a qualitative analysis. This shows that the higher the path coefficient of strategic planning, the higher the path coefficient of festival satisfaction and urban generation and that with better strategic planning, the effects of festival satisfaction and urban regeneration are maximized. In other words, when planning and implementing a festival by actively incorporating the seven strategic planning factors which were suggested as festival success factors earlier in this study beginning from the stage of festival planning, it is likely to have a positive impact not only on the success of the festival but also on urban regeneration. This is an implication that gives a new alternative to software-based urban regeneration through festivals. It is meaningful to present the importance of festival planning and the direction of planning to maximize the effect of urban regeneration to festival planners and urban regeneration experts. This study is believed to serve as a momentum for people to take a new approach to studies on festivals and urban regeneration utilizing software in the future.

• 한국노년학
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.199-211
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to analyze leisure satisfaction and leisure performance according to whether elderly people are performing their preferred leisure activities. For the analysis, we used sample from the 6th (2015) panal data as Korean Retirement and Income Study(KReIS). The results of this study were as follows. First, the total data of 4,197 elderly (2,212 young-old and 1,985 old-old) were analyzed. As a result, weekday and weekend leisure time of the old-old (7.64 hours / 7.81 hours) than the young-old (6.83 hour / 7.39 hour) was increased and resting activites (over 70% of watching TV and listening to the radio) accounted for more than 80% of the both elderly leisure activities. Leisure performance were higher in old-old who did not perform preferred leisure activities during weekdays. Leisure performance on weekends was higher in old-old regardless of whether they had preferred leisure time. Average of leisure performance was high in both groups and they responded leisure satisfaction was moderate. In the case of need for leisure change, young-old was higher than oid-old regardless of preference leisure performance and day of the week. However, the responses of the both groups are closed to those that do not want to change. Based on the results of this study, it should be practiced such as develomenting program and introduction of health management system considering leisure constraints to improve leisure satisfaction and continuance of leisure activities for young-old and old-old. We also emphasize the need for a systematic survey scale that takes into account the qualitative aspects of leisure activities as well as the subjective factors influencing leisure participation.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.293-309
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• 2024

This study was conducted to provide basic data on the structure of the Carpinus turczaninowii community and the characteristics of the habitat environment for ex situ conservation. To identify the current ecological environment, 27 plots (each measuring 100m²) were selected for analyzing the detailed structure of plant communities in Anmyondo Isl.(Jungjangri San 14-217), Hwanggumsan Mt., Gayasan Mt.(Wonhyobong) and Palbongsan Mt.. The research methodology employed in this study was qualitative analysis. The TWINSPAN classification yielded a total of seven distinct communities. Group I represents the C. turczaninowii - Quercus mongolica community, Group II represents the C. turczaninowii - Pinus densiflora community, Group III represents the C. turczaninowii - P. densiflora community, Group IV represents the C. turczaninowii - Q. mongolica community, Group V represents the C. turczaninowii - Q. variabilis community, Group VI represents the C. turczaninowii - Prunus serrulata Lindl. var. pubescens community, and Group VII represents the C. turczaninowii - Styrax japonicus community. The species diversity ranged from 0.8056 to 1.1568, the importance value ranged from 0.1214 to 0.3024, and the similarity index ranged from 9.37% to 36.36%. Based on the correlation analysis of six environmental factors for the seven communities using RDA ordination, the results indicate that on the first axis, Altitude, Crown density, Bare rock, and Slope exhibited a positive correlation. In the C. turczaninowii - P. densiflora community (Group III) and C. turczaninowii - Q. mongolica community (Group IV), altitude, bare rock, and slope were analyzed as factors influencing vegetation distribution. In the C. turczaninowii - Q. variabilis community (Group V), C. turczaninowii - P. serrulata Lindl. var. pubescens community (Group VI), and C. turczaninowii - S. japonicus community (Group VII), crown density was analyzed as a factor influencing vegetation distribution.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.69-98
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• 2009

We investigated what factors motivate gamers to participate in a guild and why they continue to be engaged as members of the guild. We find that, based on the result of focus group interviews with MMORPG gamers, social support and self-esteem factors play important roles. Considering both prior research and the focus group interviews we have conducted, we define social support and character control as independent variables. Character identity, guild identity, and self-esteem are proposed as mediating variables while guild flow and game loyalty as dependent variables. Accordingly, we develop the research model and hypotheses, and verify them empirically. Based on our experiences of playing the WoW game, we proposed a research model and conducted focus-group interviews (FGIs). FGIs involve formulating a hypothesis and then collecting some relevant data. FGIs were conducted face-to-face with students of C University in Korea. We formulated structured interview schedules, and the questions were based on our research variables and personal experiences. The questions for the interviews encompassed the following areas: (a) the demographic characteristics of the focus group; (b) the number of years for which respondents had played online games; (c) the motive for starting a game; (d) the number of game-characters assumed by each gamer; (e) the type of game played; and (f) other issues such as the reasons for involvement in the play, the willingness to reuse the game in case new versions were released, etc. On average, it took two hours to interview each of three groups. A primary set of FGIs was conducted with three groups on the premise that there would be some differences caused by character race (Horde vs. Alliance) or by playable server (Normal vs. Combat). With respect to the manner of playing, we found that guild members shared information, felt a sense of belonging, and played computer games for quite a long time through the guild; however, they did not undergo these experiences when playing alone. Gamers who belonged to a specific guild helped other players without expecting compensation for that, freely shared information about the game, gave away items for free, and more generous with other members who made mistakes. The guild members were aware of the existence other members and experienced a sense of belonging through interactions with, and evaluations from, other players. It was clear that social support was shown within the guild and that it played an important role as a major research variable. Based on the results of the first FGIs, a second set of in-depth FGIs was carried out with a focus on the psychology of the individual within the guild and the social community of the guild. The second set of FGIs also focused on the guild's offline meetings. Gamers, over all, recognize the necessity of joining a community, not only off-line but also online world of the guild. They admit that the guild is important for them to easily and conveniently enjoy playing online computer games. The active behavior and positive attitudes of existing guild members can motivate new members of the guild to adapt themselves to the guild environment. They then adopt the same behaviors and attitudes of established guild members. In this manner, the new members of the guild strengthen the bonds with other gamers while feeling a sense of belonging, and developing social identity, thereby. It was discovered that the interaction among guild members and the social support encouraged new gamers to quickly develop a sense of social identity and increase their self-esteem. The guild seemed to play the role of socializing gamers. Sometimes, even in the real world, the guild members helped one another; therefore, the features of the guild also spilled over to the offline environment. We intend to use self-esteem, which was found through the second set of FGIs, as an important research variable. To collect data, an online survey was designed with a questionnaire to be completed by WoW gamers, who belong to a guild. The survey was registered on the best three domestic game-sites: 'WoW playforum,' 'WoW gamemeca,' and 'Wow invent.' The selected items to be measured in the questionnaire were decided based on prior research and data from FGIs. To verify the content of the questionnaire, we carried out a pilot test with the same participants to point out ambiguous questions as a way to ensure maximum accuracy of the survey result. A total of 244 responses were analyzed from the 250 completed questionnaires. The SEM analysis was used to test goodness-of-fit of the model. As a result, we found important results as follows: First, according to the statistics, social support had statistically significant impacts on character control, character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Second, character control had significant effects on character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Third, character identity shows its clear impact on self-esteem and game loyalty. Fourth, guild identity affected self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Fifth, self-esteem had a positive influence on the guild flow. These days, the number of virtual community is rising along with its significance largely because of the nature of the online games. Accordingly, this study is designed to clarify the psychological relationship between gamers within the guild that has been generally established by gamers to play online games together. This study focuses on the relationships in which social support influences guild flow or game loyalty through character control, character identity, guild identity, and self-esteem, which are present within a guild in the MMORPG game environment. The study results are as follows. First, the effects of social support on character control, character identity, guild identity and self-esteem are proven to be statistically significant. It was found that character control improves character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Among the seven variables, social support, which is derived from FGIs, plays an important role in this study. With the active support of other guild members, gamers can improve their ability to develop good characters and to control them. Second, character identity has a positive effect on self-esteem and game loyalty, while guild identity has a significant effect on self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Self-esteem affects guild flow. It was found that the higher the character and guild identities become, the greater the self-esteem is established. Contrary to the findings of prior research, our study results indicate that the relationship between character identity and guild flow is not significant. Rather, it was found that character identity directly affects game players' loyalty. Even though the character identity had no direct effect on increasing guild flow, it has indirectly affected guild flow through self-esteem. The significant relationship between self-esteem and guild flow indicates that gamers achieve flow, i.e., a feeling of pleasure and excitement through social support. Several important implications of this study should be noted. First, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to conduct this study. Through FGIs, it was observed that both social support and self-esteem are important variables. Second, because guilds had been rarely studied, this research is expected to play an important role in the online community. Third, according to the result, six hypotheses (H1, H5, H6, H7, H8, and H11) setup based on FGIs, were statistically significant; thus, we can suggest the corresponding relationships among the variables as a guideline for follow-up research. Our research is significant as it has following implications: first, the social support of the guild members is important when establishing character control, character identity, guildidentity and self-esteem. It is also a major variable that affects guild flow and game loyalty. Second, character control when improved by social support shows notable influence on the development of character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Third, character identity and guild identity are major factors to help establish gamers' own self-esteem. Fourth, character identity affects guild flow through self-esteem and game loyalty. The gamers usually express themselves through characters; the higher character identity is, the more loyalty a gamer has. Fifth, guild identity, established within the guild, has clear effects on self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Sixth, qualitative and quantitative methods are employed to conduct this study. Based on the results of focus group interviews and SEM analysis, we find that the social support by guild members and psychological factors are significant in strengthening the flow of guild and loyalty to the game. As such, game developers should provide some extra functions for guild community, through which gamers can play online games in collaboration with one another. Also, we suggest that positive self-esteem which is built up through social support can help gamers achieve higher level of flow and satisfaction, which will consequently contribute to minimizing the possibility for the players to develop negative attitude toward the guild they belong to.

• Korean Educational Research Journal
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.25-57
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to analyze the characteristics of beginning teachers in elementary school as they experience the lifecycle of teachers, to analyze and comprehend the difficulties of these teachers based on their characteristics, and to propose a resolution strategy. The study is intended to assist beginning teachers in adapting well to their work and profession as teachers in order to contribute to the growth in quality of education; it is also intended to prepare beginning teachers to utilize their time in elementary school as a period of self-improvement to become proficient teachers. The difficulties in human relations that beginning teachers experience in school can be divided into three major categories: relations with administrators and fellow teachers, relations with parents of students, and relations with students. The standardized and uniform culture of a school and the administrators and fellow workers imposing such a culture are the reason for the difficulties that beginning teachers face, and the question of what kind of fellow teachers the beginning teachers will encounter in their first school exerts a serious influence on the growth of these teachers, who have just begun their career in education. Furthermore, the lack of skills to discipline students eventually leads beginning teachers to face difficulties in controlling students in the classroom, and the process of encountering and resolving various classroom problems contributes to the growth of teachers' proficiency. Moreover, the attitude of students' parents who behave toward them as novice teachers serves as the reason for beginning teachers to lose their confidence or face difficulties in their careers, and exerts an influence on student counseling and guidance. The resolution strategy that beginning teachers apply as they encounter such problems with the entities in the educational field is as follows: imitation, listening, and accepting the thoughts and to renounce. To resolve the difficulties that beginning teachers experience, it is necessary to allocate space and time to discuss their difficulties and possible plans for resolution during the beginning teachers' training period and initiate a mentoring system in schools. Lastly, it is necessary that the offices of education continuously conduct qualitative research on beginning teachers and publish casebooks on such studies.