• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.25-37
• /
• 2013

Open biomass burning (excluding biofuels) is an important contributor to air pollution in the Asian region. Estimation of emissions from fires, however, has been problematic, primarily because of uncertainty in the size and location of sources and in their temporal and spatial variability. Hence, more comprehensive tools to estimate wildfire emissions and that can characterize their temporal and spatial variability are needed. Furthermore, an emission processing system that can generate speciated, gridded, and temporally allocated emissions is needed to support air-quality modeling studies over Asia. For these reasons, a biomass-burning emissions modeling system based on satellite imagery was developed to better account for the spatial and temporal distributions of emissions. The BlueSky Framework, which was developed by the USDA Forest Service and US EPA, was used to develop the Asian biomass-burning emissions modeling system. The sub-models used for this study were the Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS), CONSUME, and the Emissions Production Model (EPM). Our domain covers not only Asia but also Siberia and part of central Asia to assess the large boreal fires in the region. The MODIS fire products and vegetation map were used in this study. Using the developed modeling system, biomass-burning emissions were estimated during April and July 2008, and the results were compared with previous studies. Our results show good to fair agreement with those of GFEDv3 for most regions, ranging from 9.7 % in East Asia to 52% in Siberia. The SMOKE modeling system was combined with this system to generate three-dimensional model-ready emissions employing the fire-plume rise algorithm. This study suggests a practicable and maintainable methodology for supporting Asian air-quality modeling studies and to help understand the impact of air-pollutant emissions on Asian air quality.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.35-55
• /
• 2013

Information technology is a critical resource necessary for any company hoping to support and realize its strategic goals, which contribute to growth promotion and sustainable development. The selection of information technology and its strategic use are imperative for the enhanced performance of every aspect of company management, leading a wide range of companies to have invested continuously in information technology. Despite researchers, managers, and policy makers' keen interest in how information technology contributes to organizational performance, there is uncertainty and debate about the result of information technology investment. In other words, researchers and managers cannot easily identify the independent factors that can impact the investment performance of information technology. This is mainly owing to the fact that many factors, ranging from the internal components of a company, strategies, and external customers, are interconnected with the investment performance of information technology. Using an agent-based simulation technique, this research extracts factors expected to affect investment performance on information technology, simplifies the analyses of their relationship with economic modeling, and examines the performance dependent on changes in the factors. In terms of economic modeling, I expand the model that highlights the way in which product quality moderates the relationship between information technology investments and economic performance (Thatcher and Pingry, 2004) by considering the cost of information technology investment and the demand creation resulting from product quality enhancement. For quality enhancement and its consequences for demand creation, I apply the concept of information quality and decision-maker quality (Raghunathan, 1999). This concept implies that the investment on information technology improves the quality of information, which, in turn, improves decision quality and performance, thus enhancing the level of product or service quality. Additionally, I consider the effect of word of mouth among consumers, which creates new demand for a product or service through the information diffusion effect. This demand creation is analyzed with an agent-based simulation model that is widely used for network analyses. Results show that the investment on information technology enhances the quality of a company's product or service, which indirectly affects the economic performance of that company, particularly with regard to factors such as consumer surplus, company profit, and company productivity. Specifically, when a company makes its initial investment in information technology, the resultant increase in the quality of a company's product or service immediately has a positive effect on consumer surplus, but the investment cost has a negative effect on company productivity and profit. As time goes by, the enhancement of the quality of that company's product or service creates new consumer demand through the information diffusion effect. Finally, the new demand positively affects the company's profit and productivity. In terms of the investment strategy for information technology, this study's results also reveal that the selection of information technology needs to be based on analysis of service and the network effect of customers, and demonstrate that information technology implementation should fit into the company's business strategy. Specifically, if a company seeks the short-term enhancement of company performance, it needs to have a one-shot strategy (making a large investment at one time). On the other hand, if a company seeks a long-term sustainable profit structure, it needs to have a split strategy (making several small investments at different times). The findings from this study make several contributions to the literature. In terms of methodology, the study integrates both economic modeling and simulation technique in order to overcome the limitations of each methodology. It also indicates the mediating effect of product quality on the relationship between information technology and the performance of a company. Finally, it analyzes the effect of information technology investment strategies and information diffusion among consumers on the investment performance of information technology.

• Atmosphere
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.27-34
• /
• 2005

High quality meteorological information is the typical product of service business industry which can offer the investment initiative by reducing the uncertainty and by activating other related industries. It requires a high level of meteorological technology and of ability to transform such technology as merchandising products. According to the analysis of the WMO data, the level of Korean meteorological technology is comparable to that of the nation with $17,500, GDP per head. However, the income of the meteorological business agent earns in Korea is 8 billion 4 hundred million won which is less than a tenth of that made by the US or Japan. The potential for such business field in Korea will be strong enough, if one can overcome such weak points. In addition, the efforts made by the government to advance the meteorological technology have been actualized gradually. Korean government will have a chance that is comparable to offering jobs for 20,000 unemployed by creating incomes of 40 billion won by meteorological technology as a sustained economic growth engine. It is proposed that government stimulate demand and supply by focusing on sales quantity than the price. The key points for creating the new demand are marketing and outsourcing of weather and climate information by maintaining the cooperative relationship between private and public sector.

• Asian Journal of Business Environment
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.35-39
• /
• 2012

Purpose - Today's world is rapidly changing due to swift changes in organization's infrastructures and supply chain is becoming an important factor which affects the organization's global competitiveness. Research design / data / methodology - Researchers indicated that environment uncertainty is considered an external driving force to establish a unique supply chain. Market competition, reducing the gap of performance and quality between the products are compelling the practitioners and researcher to change the paradigm of managing the business processes effectively and efficiently. Results - In old times, supply chain of any organization was measured on the basis of inventory turns, defect rats, lead times, stock buffering and service level. But, Lee H.L. in 2004, published an article in Harvard Business Review who proposed three A (Adaptable, Agile and Aligned) termed as "Triple-A" of successful supply chain. Conclusions - He claimed that organizations can compete through the creation of Triple-A supply chain. Hence, the basic aim of this review paper is to develop basic insights regarding what is Triple-A of supply chain, its importance and functioning in today's competitive world.

• Journal of Communications and Networks
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.183-192
• /
• 2014

This paper proposes a payment-based power control scheme using non-cooperative game with a novel pricing function in cognitive radio networks (CRNs). The proposed algorithm considers the fairness of power control among second users (SUs) where the value of per SU' signal to noise ratio (SINR) or distance between SU and SU station is used as reference for punishment price setting. Due to the effect of uncertainty fading environment, the system is unable to get the link gain coefficient to control SUs' transmission power accurately, so the quality of service (QoS) requirements of SUs may not be guaranteed, and the existence of Nash equilibrium (NE) is not ensured. Therefore, an alternative iterative scheme with sliding model is presented for the non-cooperative power control game algorithm. Simulation results show that the pricing policy using SUs' SINR as price punishment reference can improve total throughput, ensure fairness and reduce total transmission power in CRNs.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.397-411
• /
• 2009

The use of local product foods and fresh-cut products, the dietitian's recognition, the required items and the quality for school foodservice was investigated to increase the consumption of high-quality agricultural products. Data from 578 elementary schools, 228 middle schools and 116 high schools were collected by school foodservice personnels in each regional Education Administration in Gyeong-gi province. The first criteria of buying food materials was reliability/safety for all school foodservice. The second criteria were the origin of the product and freshness/ripeness for elementary and middle schools and high school, respectively. The most important consideration for selecting a supplier was the quality of the material. The appearance/status of the food was the first factor for buying food materials. The origin and the seasonality were very important for buying farm products. Dietitians in Gyeong-gi province recognized the local products, and used them weekly. The advantages of using local products were the quick supply, freshness and safety. On the other hand, the disadvantages were the lack of information and the uncertainty of supply. Sixty eight percent of the subjects had experienced the high-quality agricultural products in school meals, but the frequency was low. The main reasons for not servicing high-quality agricultural products were the high cost and the lack of trust on the quality. Among fresh-cut products, seasonings and root vegetables were purchased most frequently, but leaf vegetables was 5.7% only. The purchase of fresh-cut products was not frequent, but usually satisfied. The advantages of fresh-cut products were the reduced workload and waste, but the reason for not using them were poor hygiene and the high price. The diverse supply system and the promotion of the local product foods would be necessary since the most food materials were purchased through suppliers. In addition, the problems related to the high cost and distrust should be resolved to expand the consumption of the high-quality agricultural products and the fresh-cut vegetables. The institutions for certifying the quality should be needed to increase the confidence of these products.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
• /
• v.13 no.6
• /
• pp.3199-3218
• /
• 2019

Location-based services (LBSs) have become popular in recent years due to the ever-increasing usage of smart mobile devices and mobile applications through networks. Although LBS application provides great benefits to mobile users, it also raises a sever privacy concern of users due to the untrusted service providers. In the lack of privacy enhancing mechanisms, most applications of the LBS may discourage the user's acceptance of location services in general, and endanger the user's privacy in particular. Therefore, it is a great interest to discuss on the recent privacy-preserving mechanisms in LBSs. Many existing location-privacy protection-mechanisms (LPPMs) make great efforts to increase the attacker's uncertainty on the user's actual whereabouts by generating a multiple of fake-locations together with user's actual positions. In this survey, we present a study and analysis of existing LPPMs and the state-of-art privacy measures in service quality aware LBS applications. We first study the general architecture of privacy qualification system for LBSs by surveying the existing framework and outlining its main feature components. We then give an overview of the basic privacy requirements to be considered in the design and evaluation of LPPMs. Furthermore, we discuss the classification and countermeasure solutions of existing LPPMs for mitigating the current LBS privacy protection challenges. These classifications include anonymization, obfuscation, and an encryption-based technique, as well as the combination of them is called a hybrid mechanism. Finally, we discuss several open issues and research challenges based on the latest progresses for on-going LBS and location privacy research.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.21-36
• /
• 2014

Forest ecosystem provides variety goods and services for human being. Unlike goods, forest ecosystem services could not be easily priced by market mechanism. This uncertainty has been caused to conflict in decision-making related forest ecosystem services. Quantification of forest ecosystem services is required to understand the importance of ecosystem services and their contribution to decision-making. As a growing concern of climate change, it is necessary to quantify and calculate carbon storage and sequestration in forest. In this study, for quantifying carbon storage and sequestration, we compared scale, output, input data availability of the models and analyzed the applicability of the models to Korea. The results of this study show that most models are applicable for quantifying carbon storage and sequestration. However, relatively few models are applicable for other regulating services (air quality regulation, flood mitigation, erosion control, water quality, etc.) of forest. This study would be helpful for quantifying regulating services of forest ecosystem research.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
• /
• v.18 no.7
• /
• pp.1347-1356
• /
• 2017

In order to strengthen the competitiveness of small business startups with insufficient internal and external resources, the government has implemented SMEs consulting support projects. However, as an intangible knowledge service, consulting services also have their own shortcomings such as the risk of time, effort and quality uncertainty. And all kinds of risks will be borne by the companies which receive consulting services. Therefore, many companies which receive consulting services in Korea are questioning the reliability of the consulting results and have a negative attitude on this industry. In addition, they consider the cost-effectiveness of consulting is relatively low. Finally, this study performed an empirical study on recommendation intention of small business startups which received consulting and also focused on the comparison between Korean and Chinese startups.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.267-298
• /
• 2024

Childcare support for working mothers is crucial for women's smooth transition into society, career development, and well-being. Based on interviews with 10 Korean working mothers with children aged 0-2, this paper explores the process of utilizing childcare support services, psychological experiences, and plans for work-life balance using the grounded theory analysis method. The analysis revealed three categories: the decision-making process before using the childcare services (past), experiences during the use of childcare support (present), and future plans for work-life balance (future). The decision-making process before using childcare support services consisted of the following categories: seeking information about childcare support services, having family discussions during the decision-making process, the proposer and decision-maker of the services, and the final decision on childcare support services. Experiences during the use of services included economic burdens, changes in postnatal career paths, disparities between expectations and the reality of pre- and post-childbirth, discrepancies between expectations and reality in work-family balance, factors affecting of quality of life, and the division of household and childcare responsibilities with husbands. Plans for future work-life balance included categories such as the desire for career advancement, the desire to maintain a career, the desire for temporary or reduced career commitment, and uncertainty regarding future career plans. Finally, the study investigated whether there were differences in the past and present service usage processes and experiences based on plans for future work-life balance. This research suggests the need for multidimensional support for working mothers' work-family balance and well-being, and highlights the need to reduce uncertainty about women's future careers.