• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.45-76
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• 2000

The purposes of this study were to investigate and understand the present status of various types of "deserts", such as sand desert, gravel desert, rock desert, earth desert, salt desert, desert, rocky desert, gobi desert, sandy desert, clay desert, etc., and the general countermeasures for the combating "desertification" "desertization", and to develop the technologies on the revegetation and restoration for the combating desertification in China. The methods of this study were mainly composed of field surveys on the several experimental sites and research institutes related to combating desertification in China, and examinations on the various technologies for the combating desertification at the Daxing Experimental Station of Beijing Forestry University. The conclusion from this study may be summarized as follows; 1. Status and tendency of desertification in China : China is one of the countries seriously threatened by desertification. Desertification affected areas in China are mainly distributed in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas in China, covering the most regions of the Northeast China (eastern region of Inner-Mongolia), the northern part of the North China (middle and western region of Inner-Mongolia, Shaanxi, Ningsha, Gansu) and the western part of the Northwest China (Xinzang, Qinghai, Xizang). The total area affected by desertification in China is approximately 2.622 million $km^2$. It covers 27.3% of the total territory of China. Until recently, it is estimated that the annual spreading ratio of desertification in China is 2,460 $km^2$. Therefore, desertification is mostly serious problems facing to the Chinese people. 2. The causes and environmental effect of desertification : The desertification in China is mainly caused by compound factors, including natural condition and human activities. In China, the desertification is started by the decrease of precipitation, continuous dry and drought, strong wind, wind and water erosion, land degradation and loss of natural vegetation caused by climate variation, and accelerated by the human activities, such as over-cultivating, over-grazing, over-cutting of woods, irrational use of water resources. Because desertification has affected the geographical features, soil nutrients contents, salinity, vegetation coverage and the functions of ecosystem, the environmental deteriorations in the desertification affected areas are very seriously. 3. The fundamental strategies of combating desertification in China are the increase of education and awareness of people through various mass media, the revision of laws to guarantee operation of Desertification Combating Law and to improve many relating laws and regulations, the application of advanced technologies and training of experts, the establishment of discriminative policies, and increasing arrangement of budget-investment, and so on. China, as a signed country in UNCCD, has made efforts for the combating desertification. Korea is also signed country in UNCCD, so we should play an important role in the desertification combating projects of China for the northest asia and global environmental conservation as well as environmental conservation of Korea.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.123-137
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• 2007

The advent of the Internet and related Web technologies has created an easily accessible link between a firm and its customers, and has provided opportunities to a firm to use information technology to support supplementary after-sale services associated with a product or service. It has been widely recognized that supplementary services are an important source of customer value and of competitive advantage as the characteristics of the product itself. Many of these supplementary services are information-based and need not be co-located with the product, so more and more companies are delivering these services electronically. Net-based customer service, which is defined as an Internet-based computerized information system that delivers services to a customer, therefore, is the core infrastructure for supplementary service provision. The importance of net-based customer service in delivering supplementary after-sale services associated with product has been well documented. The strategic advantages of well-implemented net-based customer service are enhanced customer loyalty and higher lock-in of customers, and a resulting reduction in competition and the consequent increase in profits. However, not all customers utilize such net-based customer service. The digital divide is the phenomenon in our society that captures the observation that not all customers have equal access to computers. Socioeconomic factors such as race, gender, and education level are strongly related to Internet accessibility and ability to use. This is due to the differences in the ability to bear the cost of a computer, and the differences in self-efficacy in the use of a technology, among other reasons. This concept, applied to e-commerce, has been called the "e-commerce divide." High Internet penetration is not eradicating the digital divide and e-commerce divide as one would hope. Besides, to accommodate personalized support, a customer must often provide personal information to the firm. This personal information includes not only name and address, but also preferences information and perhaps valuation information. However, many recent studies show that consumers may not be willing to share information about themselves due to concerns about privacy online. Due to the e-commerce divide, and due to privacy and security concerns of the customer for sharing personal information with firms, limited numbers of customers adopt net-based customer service. The limited level of customer adoption of net-based customer service affects the firm profits and the customers' welfare. We use a game-theoretic model in which we model the net-based customer service system as a mechanism to enhance customers' loyalty. We model a market entry scenario where a firm (the incumbent) uses the net-based customer service system in inducing loyalty in its customer base. The firm sells one product through the traditional retailing channels and at a price set for these channels. Another firm (the entrant) enters the market, and having observed the price of the incumbent firm (and after deducing the loyalty levels in the customer base), chooses its price. The profits of the firms and the surplus of the two customers segments (the segment that utilizes net-based customer service and the segment that does not) are analyzed in the Stackelberg leader-follower model of competition between the firms. We find that an increase in adoption of net-based customer service by the customer base is not always desirable for firms. With low effectiveness in enhancing customer loyalty, firms prefer a high level of customer adoption of net-based customer service, because an increase in adoption rate decreases competition and increases profits. A firm in an industry where net-based customer service is highly effective loyalty mechanism, on the other hand, prefers a low level of adoption by customers.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.21-27
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• 2020

The ASF, which originated in Africa and threatens the world, landed in Asia in 2018 in China, and became a stern threat to the security of the Korean Peninsula when North Korea officially reported the ASF to the OIE in May 2019. In 1921, Montgomery, a British veterinary pathologist, made headlines by naming the African swine fever "African Swine Fever," or ASF, a disease caused by a high fatality virus that existed in East Africa. The ASF, which was a pandemic of endemic diseases in Africa, landed in Portgal around 1957 and swept through farms in Lisbon, Portugal. The ASF continued to settle in Spain and Portugal, causing 40 years of damage until the end of the 1990s, and is now in progress after landing on the Italian island of Sardinia in 1978. The virus, which landed in Portiport of Georgia on the Black Sea coast of the Black Sea in 2007, spread to Russia and caused massive damage to China in 2018, then rapidly spread to Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar in May 2019 and spread across the country, causing massive damage to the pork industry and is now in progress. Just three months after confirming the outbreak in North Korea, the outbreak at farms in Paju and Yeoncheon was confirmed on Sept. 16, 2019, leaving South Korea with the stigma of ASF-causing countries, and although the ASF's nationwide expansion has been blocked, it is currently underway in wild boars. If the ongoing ASF in the two Koreas becomes indigenous, it would be a major disaster not only for the pork industry but also for the Korean Peninsula economy. Under the current circumstances, it is impossible to focus only on veterinary areas limited to South Korea, ruling out risk factors from the ASF outbreak. Currently, it is difficult to prevent damage to the pork industry due to the ASF outbreak due to the poor water defense reality in North Korea, and as it is adjacent to China, which has a high risk of developing various epidemic diseases, there is a need for the two Koreas to jointly conduct quarantine and quarantine on the border areas. First of all, I think rapid exchange of information and education on ASF and other diseases is necessary before establishing a joint defense system on the Korean Peninsula. It is important to conduct thorough quarantine and disinfection of ASF-generated areas in North Korea, and areas bordering China and Russia, and jointly conduct thorough quarantine and control of livestock and livestock products in circulation. Cooperation by the South and North Korean water defense industries to prevent the protracted ASF on the Korean Peninsula by all means and methods is essential.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.91-101
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of obesity on the expression of autophagy-related proteins in cardiac muscle. To this end, obesity was induced in rats through 20 weeks of high-fat diet, and the animals were then subjected to 8 weeks of treadmill exercise. Subsequently, the expression of proteins that regulate the induction of autophagy, formation of autophagosome, and fusion of autophagosome and lysosome was confirmed. Obesity was induced in the experimental animals (SD rats) through 20 weeks of high-fat diet (carbohydrate: 20%, fat: 60%, and protein: 20%), and they were subsequently subjected to 8 weeks of treadmill exercise (5 days/week, 30 min/day, 5 minutes; 8m/min, 5 minutes; 11m/min, 20 minutes; 14m/min). The experimental groups comprised the normal diet control group (ND-CON, n=10), high-fat diet comparison group (HFD-CON, n=10), and high-fat exercise group (HFD-TE, n=10). Oral glucose tolerance test was conducted before and after 8 weeks of treadmill exercise, and the area under the curve (AUC) was calculated. Through fasting insulin and fasting glucose levels, HOMA-IR, which is an index of insulin resistance, and abdominal visceral fat/body weight (AVF/BW) were calculated for comparison. Moreover, autophagy-related proteins were analyzed from cardiac tissue to investigate the effects of exercise training. Obesity was successfully induced in the HFD-CON group through long-term high-fat diet, and the HFD-CON group had higher body weight, AUC, HOMA-IR, and AVF/BW compared to the ND-CON group. The HFD-TE group, which underwent 8 weeks of treadmill exercise, showed improvements in AUC, HOMA-IR, and AVF/BW. Although the body weight tended to decrease as well, there was no statistically significant difference. mTOR and AMPK, which are involved in the induction of autophagy, both decreased in obesity but increased upon exercise. Beclin-1, BNIP3, ATG-7, p62, and LC3, which are related to the formation of autophagosomes, all increased in obesity and decreased after exercise. Cathepsin L and LAMP2, which regulate the fusion of autophagosome and lysosome, both decreased in obesity and increased upon exercise. Physical activity, including treadmill exercise, was found to induce normal autophagy and improve pathological phenomena observed in metabolic diseases. Therefore, the findings suggest the need to consider treadmill exercise as a primary means to achieve effective prevention and treatment of cardiac diseases.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.318-331
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• 2021

This study was conducted on the assumption that bone age would be more effective when it comes to physique and physical fitness assessment for adolescents, and the purpose of this study was to identify the differences in physique and physical fitness for students in their adolescence through bone age and chronological age in order to contribute to the well-balanced physique and physical fitness development in adolescents and the health improvement in students. Total 874 adolescents(483 males, 391 females) aged 11~16 were selected as subjects out of the total population of 1100 adolescents aged 6~16 based on the PAPS(Physical Activity Promotion System) and age standards of the TW3 method; and skeletal maturation, which symbolize the indicators of biological maturation, were evaluated by using the TW3(Tanner-Whitehouse 3) method after hand-wrist radiographs, and birth date was used for chronological age. A stadiometer and InBody 270 (Biospace, Korea) were used to measure 2 components in physique. A total of 7 components in physical fitness, which included muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, power, cardiovascular endurance, balance, agility, were measured as well. A independent samples t-test was conducted for data processing using SPSS 25.0, and the significance level was set at p< .05. The study results are as follows. First, bone age and chronological age used for physique comparison in males aged 11 and 12, height and weight showed significant difference; in males aged 13, weight showed signicant difference. Weight and height in females aged 11, and height in females aged 12 showed significant difference. Second, bone age and chronological age used for physical fitness comparison in males aged 11, muscular strength, power, flexibility, cardiovascular endurance showed significant difference; in males aged 12, muscular strength. power, cardiovascular endurance; in males aged 13, flexibility showed significant difference. Muscular strength, power, flexibility, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance in females aged 11, and flexibility in females aged 14 showed significant difference. As a result, this study concluded that in a period of rapid skeletal growth, evaluating physique and physical fitness based on bone age is more accurate than evaluating based on chronological age.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.1-25
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• 2018

This research performed the empirical test for the effects of learning transfer on perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, self-efficacy and work environment using 390 employees who have experienced e-learning in domestic and foreign companies. Analyzed the mediating effects of self-efficacy and work environment in addition to direct effect of each factor on learning transfer. The results showed that perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use of e-learning learner had a positive(＋) effect on self-efficacy and a positive influence on supervisor and peer support and organizational climate. Self-efficacy showed a positive effect on learning transfer, and supervisor support, peer support and organizational climate had a positive influence on learning transfer as well. Perceived usefulness also had a positive effect on learning transfer. However, perceived ease-of-use had no significant effect on learning transfer. As a result of the mediating effect analysis, self-efficacy and work environment were analyzed to have mediating effects between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and learning transfer. The implications of this study are as follows. First, this study designed a new research model that reflects factors influencing the effect of learning transfer on acceptance of e-learning that is common in corporate education. It has derived a research model of perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use, which were used as mediating variables for external characteristics factors, as independent variables, using self-efficacy and work environment as mediating variables, which were studied as external factors. Second, most of the studies on technology acceptance model and learning transfer are conducted in a single country. The reliability was enhanced by testing the study models using different samples from 26 countries. Third, perceived usefulness and ease-of-use in existing studies have been considered as key determinants of acceptance intention and learning transfer. This study explored the mediating effects of learner and environmental factors on the accepted information technology and strengthened and supplemented the path of learning transfer of perceived usefulness and ease-of-use. In addition, based on the sample analysis of various countries used in this study, it is expected that future international comparative studies will be possible.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.685-698
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• 2023

This study aimed to identify binge-eating behavior and food addiction in Korean population and to determine their associations with obesity, eating behaviors, mental health and cognitive characteristics. We collected clinical questionnaire scores related to eating problems (e.g. binge eating, food addiction, food cravings), mental health (e.g. depression), and cognitive functions (e.g. impulsivity, emotion regulation) in 257 Korean adults in the normal and the obese weight ranges. Binge-eating and food addiction were most frequent in obese women (binge-eating: 46.6%, food addiction: 29.3%) when we divided the participants into 4 groups depending on gender and obesity status. The independence test using the data with propensity score matching confirmed that binge-eating and food addiction were more prevalent in obese individuals. Finally, we constructed the logistic regression models using forward selection method to evaluate the influence of various clinical questionnaire scores on binge-eating and food addiction respectively. Binge-eating was significantly associated with the clinical scales of eating disorders, food craving, state anxiety, and emotion regulation (cognitive reappraisal) as well as food addiction. Food addiction demonstrated the significant effect of food craving, binge-eating, the interaction of obesity and age, and years of education. In conclusion, we found that binge-eating and food addiction are much more frequent in females and obese individuals. Both binge-eating and food addiction commonly involved eating problems (e.g. food craving), but there was difference in mental health and cognitive risk factors. Therefore, it is required to distinguish food addiction from binge-eating and investigate intrinsic and environmental risk factors for each pathology.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.105-130
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• 2008

Consumers of e-learning market differ from those of other markets in that they are replaced in a specific time scale. For example, e-learning contents aimed at highschool senior students cannot be consumed by a specific consumer over the designated period of time. Hence e-learning service providers need to attract new groups of students every year. Due to lack of information on products designed for continuously emerging consumers, the consumers face difficulties in making rational decisions in a short time period. Increased uncertainty of product purchase leads customers to herding behaviors to obtain information of the product from others and imitate them. Taking into consideration of these features of e-learning market, this study will focus on the online herding behavior in purchasing e-learning contents. There is no definite concept for e-learning. However, it is being discussed in a wide range of perspectives from educational engineering to management to e-business etc. Based upon the existing studies, we identify two main view-points regarding e-learning. The first defines e-learning as a concept that includes existing terminologies, such as CBT (Computer Based Training), WBT (Web Based Training), and IBT (Internet Based Training). In this view, e-learning utilizes IT in order to support professors and a part of or entire education systems. In the second perspective, e-learning is defined as the usage of Internet technology to deliver diverse intelligence and achievement enhancing solutions. In other words, only the educations that are done through the Internet and network can be classified as e-learning. We take the second definition of e-learning for our working definition. The main goal of this study is to investigate what factors affect consumer intention to purchase e-learning contents and to identify the differential impact of the factors between consumers with purchase experience and those without the experience. To accomplish the goal of this study, it focuses on herding behavior and perceived usefulness as antecedents to behavioral intention. The proposed research model in the study extends the Technology Acceptance Model by adding herding behavior and usability to take into account the unique characteristics of e-learning content market and e-learning systems use, respectively. The current study also includes consumer experience with e-learning content purchase because the previous experience is believed to affect purchasing intention when consumers buy experience goods or services. Previous studies on e-learning did not consider the characteristics of e-learning contents market and the differential impact of consumer experience on the relationship between the antecedents and behavioral intention, which is the target of this study. This study employs a survey method to empirically test the proposed research model. A survey questionnaire was developed and distributed to 629 informants. 528 responses were collected, which consist of potential customer group (n = 133) and experienced customer group (n = 395). The data were analyzed using PLS method, a structural equation modeling method. Overall, both herding behavior and perceived usefulness influence consumer intention to purchase e-learning contents. In detail, in the case of potential customer group, herding behavior has stronger effect on purchase intention than does perceived usefulness. However, in the case of shopping-experienced customer group, perceived usefulness has stronger effect than does herding behavior. In sum, the results of the analysis show that with regard to purchasing experience, perceived usefulness and herding behavior had differential effects upon the purchase of e-learning contents. As a follow-up analysis, the interaction effects of the number of purchase transaction and herding behavior/perceived usefulness on purchase intention were investigated. The results show that there are no interaction effects. This study contributes to the literature in a couple of ways. From a theoretical perspective, this study examined and showed evidence that the characteristics of e-learning market such as continuous renewal of consumers and thus high uncertainty and individual experiences are important factors to be considered when the purchase intention of e-learning content is studied. This study can be used as a basis for future studies on e-learning success. From a practical perspective, this study provides several important implications on what types of marketing strategies e-learning companies need to build. The bottom lines of these strategies include target group attraction, word-of-mouth management, enhancement of web site usability quality, etc. The limitations of this study are also discussed for future studies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.487-495
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• 1996

The consumer perception on health and food habit, the experience of health food use and the discrimination between health food and drug of Korean consumer were surveyed by using a questionnaire containing 20 items in order to obtain the basic data for the assessment of the benefit and risk of health foods in Korea. A total of 1,000 people over 20 years of age living in Seoul and the vicinities were interviewed and asked to fill out the questionnaire during the period from the October 1995 to the February 1996. Among the 882 answers collected 23 was incomplete data, and 859 answers were used for the statistical analysis by using SAS program. The survey revealed a strong interest of the consumer on health food by showing that more than a half of the subjects (58.8%) had the experience of actual use of health food, and 68.2% believed the effectiveness. What the consumer expect most from health food was to have beneficial effect to maintain overall health condition (59.8%), and the most negative aspect of health food was the overstatement on the effectiveness by the producers (52.1%). The most important source of information for the purchase of health food was the suggestion of friends and relatives (30.6%). Among the health foods registered and regulated by the food law, royal jelly (22.7%), squalene (16.0%), refined fish oil (15.1%), lactic acid bacteria (10.6%) and aloe (8.8%) were relatively well aware. Although 84% of the subjects perceived that health food is different from drug or traditional medicine, the largest percentage of the subject selected ginseng as the most well known type of health food (22.7%) as well as the most well known drug (or traditional medicine) (41.7%). Ginseng was also chosen as the most frequently used health food (17.0%), and vitamin tablets the third (13.0%). The vague definition of health food and unambiguous discrimination of it from medicine by the consumers were problematic for the correct use and reasonable purchasing behavior. The clear definition and proper regulation on the manufacture and distribution of health food, more strict control of labelling and advertisement, and a wide consumer education on health food were recommended.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.245-259
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• 2020

The development of technology and the advent of a non-face-to-face society are expected to have a direct impact on job problems. In line with this phenomenon, the government and education and training institutions are coping with job problems through the start-up support policy while at the same time inducing the creation of innovative companies. In particular, youth start-up support can be expected not only to compensate for market failures, but also to promote high-growth start-ups. Based on this background of research, this study examined the competency of young entrepreneurs to start their own businesses, their entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and their impact on success and satisfaction of start-ups. Based on the theoretical research, the research theory and research model were derived by setting entrepreneurial self-efficacy as a mediating variable after reviewing the relation between the main elements of start-up competency of young start-up entrepreneurs and start-up performance. The Youth Entrepreneurship Competency was divided into four categories: Entrepreneurial Competencies, Technical Competencies, Management Competencies, and Creative Competencies, and the hypothesis was that each had a significant impact on the start-up performance through the mediating effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy. A survey was conducted on young entrepreneurs in their 20s and 30s in Korea for empirical research, and the analysis results were as follows. First of all, the competency of young entrepreneurs to start their own businesses affects the success of start-ups and the satisfaction of start-ups. There are differences in the competencies, and both technical and management competencies can be seen through the entrepreneurial self-efficacy to enhance the success of start-ups and the satisfaction of start-ups. Entrepreneurial competency was fully mediated to start-up success and partially mediated to start-up satisfaction. In the case of creative competency, there were only direct effects on successful start-ups, and the satisfaction of start-ups showed partial mediating effects. Thus, seven of the eight detailed hypotheses were supported and one was rejected. Based on the above findings, the implications were presented.