• The Korean Nurse
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.77-96
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• 1997

The duty shifts of hospital nurses not only affect nurses' physical and mental health but also present various personnel management problems which often result in high turnover rates. In this context a study was carried out from October to November 1995 for a period of two months to find out the status of hospital nurses' duty shift patterns, and preferred duty hours and fixed duty shifts. The study population was 867 RNs working in five general hospitals located in Seoul and its vicinity. The questionnaire developed by the writer was used for data collection. The response rate was 85.9 percent or 745 returns. The SAS program was used for data analysis with the computation of frequencies, percentages and Chi square test. The findings of the study are as follows: 1. General characteristics of the study population: 56 percent of respondents was (25 years group and 76.5 percent were "single": the predominant proportion of respondents was junior nursing college graduates(92.2%) and have less than 5 years nursing experience in hospitals(65.5%). For their future working plan in nursing profession, nearly 50% responded as uncertain The reasons given for their career plan was predominantly 'personal growth and development' rather than financial reasons. 2. The interval for rotations of duty stations was found to be mostly irregular(56.4%) while others reported as weekly(16.1%), monthly(12.9%), and fixed terms(4.6%). 3. The main problems related to duty shifts particularly the evening and night duty nurses reported were "not enough time for the family, " "afraid of security problems after the work when returning home late at night." and "lack of leisure time". "problems in physical and physiological adjustment." "problems in family life." "lack of time for interactions with fellow nurses" etc. 4. The forty percent of respondents reported to have '1-2 times' of duty shift rotations while all others reported that '0 time'. '2-3 times'. 'more than 3 times' etc. which suggest the irregularity in duty shift rotations. 5. The majority(62.8%) of study population found to favor the rotating system of duty stations. The reasons for favoring the rotation system were: the opportunity for "learning new things and personal development." "better human relations are possible. "better understanding in various duty stations." "changes in monotonous routine job" etc. The proportion of those disfavor the rotating 'system was 34.7 percent. giving the reasons of"it impedes development of specialization." "poor job performances." "stress factors" etc. Furthermore. respondents made the following comments in relation to the rotation of duty stations: the nurses should be given the opportunity to participate in the. decision making process: personal interest and aptitudes should be considered: regular intervals for the rotations or it should be planned in advance. etc. 6. For the future career plan. the older. married group with longer nursing experiences appeared to think the nursing as their lifetime career more likely than the younger. single group with shorter nursing experiences ($x^2=61.19.{\;}p=.000;{\;}x^2=41.55.{\;}p=.000$). The reason given for their future career plan regardless of length of future service, was predominantly "personal growth and development" rather than financial reasons. For further analysis, the group those with the shorter career plan appeared to claim "financial reasons" for their future career more readily than the group who consider the nursing job as their lifetime career$(x^2$= 11.73, p=.003) did. This finding suggests the need for careful .considerations in personnel management of nursing administration particularly when dealing with the nurses' career development. The majority of respondents preferred the fixed day shift. However, further analysis of those preferred evening shift by age and civil status, "< 25 years group"(15.1%) and "single group"(13.2) were more likely to favor the fixed evening shift than > 25 years(6.4%) and married(4.8%)groups. This differences were statistically significant ($x^2=14.54, {\;}p=.000;{\;}x^2=8.75, {\;}p=.003$). 7. A great majority of respondents(86.9% or n=647) found to prefer the day shifts. When the four different types of duty shifts(Types A. B. C, D) were presented, 55.0 percent of total respondents preferred the A type or the existing one followed by D type(22.7%). B type(12.4%) and C type(8.2%). 8. When the condition of monetary incentives for the evening(20% of salary) and night shifts(40% of. salary) of the existing duty type was presented. again the day shift appeared to be the most preferred one although the rate was slightly lower(66.4% against 86.9%). In the case of evening shift, with the same incentive, the preference rates for evening and night shifts increased from 11.0 to 22.4 percent and from 0.5 to 3.0 percent respectively. When the age variable was controlled. < 25 yrs group showed higher rates(31.6%. 4.8%) than those of > 25 yrs group(15.5%. 1.3%) respectively preferring the evening and night shifts(p=.000). The civil status also seemed to operate on the preferences of the duty shifts as the single group showed lower rate(69.0%) for day duty against 83. 6% of the married group. and higher rates for evening and night duties(27.2%. 15.1%) respectively against those of the married group(3.8%. 1.8%) while a higher proportion of the married group(83. 6%) preferred the day duties than the single group(69.0%). These differences were found to be statistically all significant(p=.001). 9. The findings on preferences of three different types of fixed duty hours namely, B, C. and D(with additional monetary incentives) are as follows in order of preference: B type(12hrs a day, 3days a wk): day shift(64.1%), evening shift(26.1%). night shift(6.5%) C type(12hrs a day. 4days a wk) : evening shift(49.2%). day shift(32.8%), night shift(11.5%) D type(10hrs a day. 4days a wk): showed the similar trend as B type. The findings of higher preferences on the evening and night duties when the incentives are given. as shown above, suggest the need for the introductions of different patterns of duty hours and incentive measures in order to overcome the difficulties in rostering the nursing duties. However, the interpretation of the above data, particularly the C type, needs cautions as the total number of respondents is very small(n=61). It requires further in-depth study. In conclusion. it seemed to suggest that the patterns of nurses duty hours and shifts in the most hospitals in the country have neither been tried for different duty types nor been flexible. The stereotype rostering system of three shifts and insensitiveness for personal life aspect of nurses seemed to be prevailing. This study seems to support that irregular and frequent rotations of duty shifts may be contributing factors for most nurses' maladjustment problems in physical and mental health. personal and family life which eventually may result in high turnover rates. In order to overcome the increasing problems in personnel management of hospital nurses particularly in rostering of evening and night duty shifts, which may related to eventual high turnover rates, the findings of this study strongly suggest the need for an introduction of new rostering systems including fixed duties and appropriate incentive measures for evenings and nights which the most nurses want to avoid, In considering the nursing care of inpatients is the round-the clock business. the practice of the nursing duty shift system is inevitable. In this context, based on the findings of this study. the following are recommended: 1. The further in-depth studies on duty shifts and hours need to be undertaken for the development of appropriate and effective rostering systems for hospital nurses. 2. An introduction of appropriate incentive measures for evening and night duty shifts along with organizational considerations such as the trials for preferred duty time bands, duty hours, and fixed duty shifts should be considered if good quality of care for the patients be maintained for the round the clock. This may require an initiation of systematic research and development activities in the field of hospital nursing administration as a part of permanent system in the hospital. 3. Planned and regular intervals, orientation and training, and professional and personal growth should be considered for the rotation of different duty stations or units. 4. In considering the higher degree of preferences in the duty type of "10hours a day, 4days a week" shown in this study, it would be worthwhile to undertake the R&D type studies in large hospital settings.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2021

Objectives : This study aimed to investigate quality of life, severity of depression, suicidality, subjective health and subjective stress of depression with subjective cognitive decline in Korean adults. Methods : We used the 7th KNHANES data to enroll 415 participants with a score of 10 or higher on Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), aged 20-64. Depression was divided into two groups based on the presence/absence of subjective cognitive decline. Demographic and psychological characteristics were compared between two groups. Correlation analysis of subjective cognitive decline, quality of life, depression, suicidal idea was carried out. To detect which variables influenced quality of life, a multiple regression analysis was carried out. Results : Among the 415 participants, 98 had depression with subjective cognitive decline. We identified significant differences in age, marital status, education, employment between the two groups. After adjusting for these variables, depression with subjective cognitive decline had lower EuroQol-5D index scores, more severe depressive symptoms without cognition and worse subjective health than depression without cognitive decline. There was a significant correlation between subjective cognitive decline and quality of life (r=-0.236, p<0.001), suicidal idea (r=0.182, p<0.001), depression score without cognition (r=0.108, p=0.028). Through multiple regression analysis, subjective cognitive decline was predictor of reduced quality of life (β=-0.178, p<0.001). Conclusions : Depression with subjective cognitive decline has poor quality of life and severe depression. Cognitive decline should be considered to improve treatment result in depression.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.1-16
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• 2012

Objective : To investigate the current status of prescription drugs in Oriental medical institutes and to draw up a future plan for the revitalization of Oriental medical health insurance, this survey has been performed. Method : The survey has been made with 321 doctors working at Oriental medical institutes in Daegu and Kyungbuk areas for a period of 3 month from June 1, 2010 until September 1, 2010. Result : 1. When it comes to the current status of the use of herbal drugs in Oriental Health insurance, most of doctors surveyed prescribe insurance drugs, and they prescribe insurance drugs to patients, who are less than 20% of total patients visiting their clinics. 2. The awareness of Herbal Health Care Drugs is investigated. When it comes to the understanding of the difference between insurance drugs(powder type drugs) and granular type drugs, doctors admit that they differ only in one aspect, whether or not their being covered by health insurance. Based on the survey results on the understanding of insurance coverage of granular type drugs, doctors, even though they long for granular type drugs to be accepted as insurance drugs, are worrying whether the number of outpatients might dwindle due to increased insurance co-payments. They also point out that the biggest obstacles in the expansion of the granular type drugs as insurance drugs are the lack of understanding of the government and the objection of the Health Insurance Review and Assesment service (HIRA) for fear of increased insurance claims. 3. Upon investigation on Oriental medicine doctors' understandings of herbal pharmaceutical industry, it is found that doctors' responses on pharmaceutical industry are not all positive ones('new product development and neglect of R&D infrastructure' and 'smallness of industry'). When it is investigated what area needs the greatest improvement in herbal pharmaceutical industry, 'securing sufficient capital, good manufacturing, and strengthening quality control', is the highest. 4. When it is asked what are the most needed in order to improve herbal health insurance medicine, responses such as 'the increase in the accessibility to and the utilization of Oriental medical clinics through the diversification of the means of prescriptions', 'the improvement of insurance benefits(cap adjustments)', 'increase the proportion of high quality medicinal plants', 'the ceiling of co-payments(deductible) at 20,000 won or more', 'expansion of the choices of formulations', 'formulational expansions of tablets and pills', and finally 'admittance and expansion of granular type drug as insurance drug' are the highest. 5. Upon investigating the general characteristics of the current status of the usage of Oriental health care herbal drugs, the followings are observed. First, the frequency of use of health insurance drugs by the doctors who use health insurance with general characteristics shows similar differences in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.001), average number of daily patients (p<0.05). Secondly, as to the willingness of the expanded usage of insurance drugs, similar differences are observed in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.05). 6. Upon investigating the general characteristics of the perception of Herbal health care drugs, the followings are observed. First, inspecting general characteristics and insurance claims due to increased co-payments(deductible amount) reveals similar differences in case of working period (p<0.01) and in case of total monthly sales amount (p <0.01). Secondly, inspecting general characteristics and the obstacles that hinder granular type drugs from being accepted as health care insurance drugs shows similar differences in case of working period (p<0.05). 7. Upon investigating the general characteristics of the understanding of Oriental Herbal pharmaceutical companies, the followings are observed. First, opinions on the general characteristics of pharmaceutical companies, when examined with variance analysis, shows similar differences in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.05). Secondly, when opinions are examined on general characteristics and the problems of herbal pharmaceutical companies, similar differences are found in case of working period (p<0.01) and in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.001). Lastly, opinions on the general characteristics and reforms of pharmaceutical companies, similar differences are observed in case of working period (p<0.001). 8. Upon investigating the general characteristics of the improvement of insurance Herbal drugs, the followings are observed. First, regarding general characteristics and insurance benefits, similar differences are observed in case of working period (p<0.05), in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.05), and in case of average number of daily patients (p<0.01). Secondly, opinions on the general characteristics and the needs for the improvement of Herbal insurance drugs are examined in 5 different aspects, which are the approval of granular type drugs as insurance drugs, the expanded practices of the number of prescription insurance drugs, the needs of a variety of formulations, the needs of TFT of which numbers of Oriental medical doctors are members for the revision of the existing system, and the needs of adjusting the current ceiling of the fixed amount and the fixed rate. When processed by the analysis of variance, the results show similar differences in case of average number of daily patients (p<0.01). Conclusion : From the results of this study the first measures to take are, to reform overall insurance benefit system, including insurance co-payment system(fixed rate cap adjustment), to expand the number of the herbal drugs to be prescribed matching with insurance benefit accordingly, and to revitalize herbal medicine insurance system through the change of various formulations. In addition, it is recommended to improve the effectiveness of herbal medicine by making plans to enhance the efficacy of herbal medicine and by enabling small pharmaceutical companies to outgrow themselves.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.595-603
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• 2012

International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) will be constructed in 2019 according to the JIA (Joint Implementation Agreement) of 7 countries. The ITER fusion fuel cycle consists of fusion vacuum vessel, tritium plant and fuelling system. The tritium plant provides the functions of storage, delivery, separation, removal and recovery of the deuterium and tritium used as fusion fuels for the ITER. The tritium plant systems supply deuterium and tritium from external sources and treat all tritiated fluids from ITER operation through Storage and Delivery System (SDS), Tokamak Exhaust Processing (TEP), Isotope Separation System (ISS), Water Detritiation System & Atmosphere Detritiation System (WDS & ADS) and Analysis System (ANS). In this paper, the functions and design requirements of the major systems in the tritium plant and the status of R&D are described. Korean party is developing the SDS for ITER tritium plant and partially attaining the WDS technology through the construction and operation experience of the Wolsong Tritium Removal Facility (WTRF). Now it is expected that researchers in other fields such as chemical engineering take part in the development of upcoming technologies for ISS and TEP.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.229-239
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• 2015

In light of the significant increase in the quantities of goods transported and the development of the shipping industry, the frequency of usage of port structures has increased; yet, the government's budget for the shipping & port of SOC has been reduced. Port structures require systematically effective maintenance and management trends that address their growing frequency of usage. In order to construct a productive maintenance system, it is essential to develop deterioration models of port structures that consider various characteristics, such as location, type, use, constructed level, and state of maintenance. Processes for developing such deterioration models include examining factors that cause the structures to deteriorate, collecting data on deteriorating structures, and deciding methods of estimation. The techniques used for developing the deterioration models are multiple regression analysis and Markov chain theory. Multiple regression analysis can reflect changes over time and Markov chain theory can apply status changes based on a probabilistic method. Along with these processes, the deterioration models of open-type and gravity-type wharfs were suggested.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.107-121
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• 2010

The number of nanotechnology based consumer products are growing rapidly. Thus, the customer likely to be exposed to such products continues to increase as the applications expand. This article describes the international and Korea's policies on the EHS(Environment, Safety and Health) issues of nanotechnologies. The strategic plan and coordination of OECD and ISO were summarized. This article also examines several new findings of Korean researchers as well as current and future challenges in the aerosol application study of EHS issues on the nanotechnologies.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.65-72
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• 2014

Purpose - Because of the emphasis on the necessity of academic-industrial cooperation between companies and universities, there are various ongoing academic-industrial cooperation programs led by the government. As government actively supports such cooperation as policy,and universities vitalize new technology development, academic-industrial cooperation between companies and universities is being recognized as an important growth engine for companies the competitiveness of academic-industrial cooperation is also attracting more interest. The government has vitalized human resource fostering, practical R&D, and technology transfer to companies since 2012 by executing a "leading university fostering project for academic-industrial cooperation." Based on an organic interlink among universities, industry, and research institutes, the government also created and is promoting several models of such cooperation between companies and universities to support shared growth of industry and local universities. The purpose of academic-industrial cooperation is growth and benefit fromtechnology development, technical cooperation, and technology transfer between companies and universities. Research design, data, and methodology - As more academic-industrial cooperation efforts are ledby companies due to the limitation in technology-focused commercialization cooperation, the academic-industrial cooperation system became fragmented and it is losing the potential for future advancement. Specifically, as differences between universities grow, academic-industrial cooperation between companies and universities based on new technology from universities is finding difficulty advancing,while systematic support from companies to enhance the performance of businesses created by academic-industrial cooperation is also insufficient. Accordingly, this study established a growth model for the advancement of academic-industrial cooperation between companies and universities and suggested a plan to strengthen the competitiveness and promote the future advancementof academic-industrial cooperation between companies and universities by analyzing the current situation of such cooperation and diagnosing its issues. Results - This study explored the concept and current status of academic-industrial cooperation relationships and analyzed related issues. For such cooperative organizations to be competitive, the employment environment of professional human resources for academic-industrial cooperation should be improved and measures to secure professional resources should be taken as early as possible. Though the academic-industrial cooperation now is being led by government, there is a limitation based on business models, which require creation of profit; however, an academic-industrial cooperation model still cannot stand alone without the support of government. This study also pointed out that a having only a plan to build competitiveness of companies and universities for academic-industrial cooperation is not sufficient. Conclusions - In order to increase the competitiveness of academic-industrial cooperation, a detailed growth-sharing model for academic-industrial cooperation should be developed, and there should be more joint development processes for the advancement of such cooperation in which the need for technology development can be verified in advance. In addition, beyond focusing on technology-focused academic-industrial cooperation, a network between companies and universities searching for ideas for academic-industrial cooperation in the fields of human and social aspects should be created. A new academic-industrial model linking current cooperation between companies and universities to the local area should be built based on such academic-industrial cooperation in human and social fields.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.47-59
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• 2016

Parcel service is to deliver goods from one place to the designated destination requested according to user request. Parcel operations such as sorting, distributing, etc. or the managed information are heterogeneous by the companies. Additionally, it is impossible to support interoperability between companies with unformatted data of manual processing. Most parcel package boxes attached to paper typed waybill is attached is delivered to consignee. So, security problems such as personal information leaking are occurred, or extra processing time and logistics costs are needed due to wrong or the damaged information. Business environment of parcel service is rapidly changed as introducing unmanned delivery or the advanced technology such as Internet of Things. User want to know the accurate status or steps from parcel service request to delivery. To provide these requirements, the unified and integrated waybill information for reliable transportation of parcel service is needed. This information will provide to pickup or delivery carrier, warehouse or terminal, and parcel service user per pickup, transport, and delivery stage of parcel delivery service. Therefore, this paper defines the simplified and unified information model for parcel service waybill by analyzing information systems used for logistics unit processes that is occurred to parcel service, and manual work processes, and developing the relevant information of work flows occurred between business processes or transactions with the collected or processed information by from parcel service's stages. It is possible to share these standard model between business entities, and replacing paper typed waybill will improve national life safety as preventing security threats by paper typed waybill. As a result, it will promote the public interest from the stakeholder's perspective.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.95-108
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• 2020

The development of 5G technology, which is a next-generation communication technology capable of processing large amounts of data in real-time and solving delays, is drawing attention. Not only in the United States but also Korea, 5G is focused on supporting R&D as a national strategic technology. The strategy for the smart factory, one of the core services of the 5G, aims to increase the flexibility of manufacturing production lines. The existing wired communications devices can be replaced into wireless ones with the ultra-low-delay and ultra-high-speed characteristics of 5G. For the efficient development of 5G technology, it is necessary to keep abreast of the status and trend. In this study, based on the collected data of 1517 Korea patents and 1928 US patents, 5G technologies trend was analyzed and key technologies were identified by network analysis and topic modeling. We expect that it will be used for decision making for policy establishment and technology strategy of related industries to provide the trends of technology development related to the introduction of 5G technology to smart factories.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.18 no.2 s.23
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• pp.65-66
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• 2004

There have been groves, in many cases, along with hedgerows and remnant forests around a traditional Korean village. A village grove is very closely connected to the life of residents. Sometimes it was a holy place where important village festivals were held, and became a resting place for farmers, especially in sunny summer. As a matter of fact, it is noted that traditional Korean village groves had been fostered for many purpose as religion, Confucianism, scenery, sanitation, traffic guard, public security, agriculture, hunting, and military and public uses were included in Chosun Govemor General(1938). Village groves were usually located at the outlet of watershed inside which a village was built. In addition, village groves used to be established along part of mountain ranges, streams and streets. A unique type of village grove, called bibosoop was fostered especially where the outlet of watershed was largely opened. In other cases, it was placed where a part of mountain range was relatively low, or where village residents were likely to see ugly objects such as a huge cliff, stony upland with an unvegetated area and the like(Kim and Jang 1994). In a sense, a sheltebelt is a sort of bibosoop as it is a landscape element to complement places that are exposed to strong winds. However, it is comparable to other typical bibosoop that is situated at a topographically very specific zone of watershed. In this paper, we will address potential functions of Korean village groves from a perspective of modern landscape ecology and show current status of some remnants, based on preliminary surveys. A village grove functions as barrier or filter of objects such as water, nutrients, and other elements and habitat of wildlife (park et al. 2003, Lee 2004). The village grove slows down the flow of water and air, maintains soil moisture an hinders soil erosion, enabling cultivation of crops and bringing up creatures nearby. It contributes to enhancing biodiversity. Birds rest on shrubby and woody trees of the element. Presumably, other organisms may also inhabit the village groves and take advantage of it when those move from a forest patch to others. Emerging insects acclimate themselves in the shade of the green space before they fly to sunny air. Besides the village grove acts as a component of agroforestry system as leaf litter is shed from a grove to an asjacent agricultural area, and transformed into green manure(Lee 2004). By the way, many of the landscape elements were destroyed or declined in Koea during the past several decades. The losses have been parallel or linked to environmental degradation. Unfortunately, we have a little reliable data as for how many groves have disappeared in Korea until now. There has been no complete census on the village groves in Korea, and the viewpoints of survey were to a degree different depending on surveyors. So, it is difficult to analyze the temporal and spatial change of village groves. Currently, national inventory data of Korean village groves are available in three reports. We reviewed the locations of village groves and arranged those according to the present administrative units, DONG. With the limited data, we found that at least 484 of village groves were recorded in South Korea. Among all provinces, village groves were most in Gyeongsanbuk-Do Province and least in Chungcheongbuk-Do Province(Table 1). This is a preliminary report prepared while some quantitative data regarding functions and lossers of the village groves are being collected. More detailed data will be introduced in the near future.