• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.383-411
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• 2010

Climate change and related policies and regulations influence the performance of the firms in various ways. Climate change influences corporate competitiveness through physical impacts, GHG regulations, changes in asset values, demand shift, etc. Therefore, corporate competitiveness could be maintained by reducing vulnerability to climate change and adapting to new circumstances. Without effective responses to the challenges, the firms would have difficulties in maintaining their competitiveness in the market and the cost of national economy will significantly increase as well. Even though it seems fairly easy to understand the meaning of competitiveness, deriving the driving forces of and measuring changes in competitiveness are complicated and disputable processes. A common way to overcome it is to develop a 'competitiveness index'. The objective of this study is to derive the main factors influencing corporate competitiveness related to climate change and develop 'competitiveness index' reflecting those factors. The index will make contribution to enhance the response capacity of the firms to climate change and increase the effectiveness of climate change policies for the industry by providing a quantitative tool to measure the changes in corporate competitiveness related to climate change.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.253-257
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• 2013

Exposure assessment for three major active ingredients used for humidifier disinfectants, polyhexamethylene guanidine (PHMG), oligo(2-(2-ethoxy)ethoxyethyl guanidinium chloride (PGH), and 5-chloro-2-methylisothiazol-3(2H)-one/2-methylisothiazol-3(2H)-one (CMIT/MIT) mixture, was conducted in a bedroom using an air sampler for a refined risk assessment. The experimental site was selected to reflect consumer exposure conditions. Aerosols formed by a humidifier were sampled during 8 hr at 7.5 L/min. Absorbed PHMG and PGH by the sampler were quantified using a spectrophotometric method, and high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection was used for CMIT/MIT. Three exposure scenarios were assumed for adding humidifier disinfectants to the humidifier water at 1, 2, and 10 times the volume recommended by the product suppliers, and the humidifier was on at its maximum rate of producing aerosols in order to consider reasonable worst-cases. The sampled mass of PHMG and PGH ranged 200 to $2,800{\mu}g$ and 140 to $1,900{\mu}g$, respectively, under different exposure conditions, whereas the absorbed mass of CMIT/MIT was barely detected at the detection limit of 0.11/0.29 mg/L, only at 10 times the recommended level. The resulting risk quotients for PHMG and PGH ranged 1,400 to 20,000 and 1,000 to 13,000, indicating that health risks could be significant. For CMIT/MIT mixture, risk quotients were much smaller than estimated by assuming that they are conservative in the indoor environment, probably due to oxidative reactions. The refined exposure assessment presented here may provide a useful tool for assessing risks posed by active ingredients in spray-type biocidal products.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.446-457
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• 2016

The purpose of the study was to understand the various aspects of learning experiences of Korean university students on K-MOOC. Analyses on the major motivation of the enrollment in a certain MOOC class, the actual learning experiences in the class and the perception of the achievement of the class were the three main foci of the current study. The study employed inductive content analysis as a major analysis tool. Reflective journals from 94 students who enrolled in K-MOOC classes were collected and analyzed at the end of the semester. The result of this study indicated that most of students selected the specific K-MOOC classes based on their general interests on the topics the class offered. Other factors such as intellectual curiosity, practical reasons for their study or work and popularity were also influential on the selection of MOOC classes. Watching videos, taking quizzes and taking tests were the three major sources of the students' satisfaction. Most students felt that K-MOOC is technically satisfactory. However, some students reported on simple errors and absence of advanced functions in the platform. Students perceived positively on their academic achievements of obtaining knowledge(remembering and understanding), attitudes (receiving), and skills through K-MOOC. This study ultimately showed a new awareness of learning experiences around K-MOOC from the perspective of the students. Future research is needed to understand the relationships between the students' learning experience and the students' performance in MOOC classes.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.485-495
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• 2018

Background: The geographical origin of Panax ginseng Meyer, a valuable medicinal plant, is important to both ginseng producers and consumers in the context of economic profit and human health benefits. We, therefore, aimed to discriminate between the cultivation regions of ginseng using the stable isotope ratios of C, N, O, and S, which are abundant bioelements in living organisms. Methods: Six Korean ginseng cultivars (3-yr-old roots) were collected from five different regions in Korea. The C, N, O, and S stable isotope ratios in ginseng roots were measured by isotope ratio mass spectrometry, and then these isotope ratio profiles were statistically analyzed using chemometrics. Results: The various isotope ratios found in P. ginseng roots were significantly influenced by region, cultivar, and the interactions between these two factors ($p{\leq}0.001$). The variation in ${\delta}^{15}N$ and ${\delta}^{13}C$ in ginseng roots was significant for discriminating between different ginseng cultivation regions, and ${\delta}^{18}O$ and ${\delta}^{34}S$ were also affected by both altitude and proximity to coastal areas. Chemometric model results tested in this study provided discrimination between the majority of different cultivation regions. Based on the external validation, this chemometric model also showed good model performance ($R^2=0.853$ and $Q^2=0.738$). Conclusion: Our case study elucidates the variation of C, N, O, and S stable isotope ratios in ginseng root depending on cultivation region. Hence, the analysis of stable isotope ratios is a suitable tool for discrimination between the regional origins of ginseng samples from Korea, with potential application to other countries.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.10 no.11
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• pp.340-350
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• 2020

This study was conducted to present comprehensive professionalism measurement tools suitable for hospital administration staffs. The study used measurement tools related to the psychological and behavioral characteristics of individuals used in prior studies for administration staffs at general hospitals and hospitals. Factor analysis and reliability analysis were conducted to verify the validity and internal relevance. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that composed of 5 factors, and that the total reliability was 94.4%, which was very reasonable as a comprehensive professionalism measurement tool. Therefore, each component was defined as Confidence of Job performance, Salary Adequacy, Pride in Duties, Ability to achieve work goals, and Work Autonomy in order to provide a clear meaning. Professionalism from a modern perspective is a broader concept than traditional professionalism, including the subjective perceptions of job values and individuals' their abilities. Therefore, comprehensive professionalism measurement tools presented in this study will be very suitable and useful for hospital administration staffs.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.229-239
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• 2016

The aim of this paper is to extend the TOPSIS(Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution) to the fuzzy environment for solving the new professor selection problem in a university. In order to achieve the goal, the rating of each candidate and the weight of each criterion are described by linguistic terms which can be expressed in trapezoidal fuzzy numbers. In this paper, a vertex method is proposed to calculate the distance between two trapezoidal fuzzy numbers. According to the concept of the TOPSIS, a closeness coefficient is defined to determine the ranking order of all candidates. This research derived; 1) 4 evaluation criteria(research results, education and research competency, personality, major suitability) for new professor selection, 2) the 5 step procedure of the proposed fuzzy TOPSIS method for the group decision, 3) priorities of 4 candidates in the new professor selection case. The results of this paper will be useful to practical expert who is interested in analyzing fuzzy data and its multi-criteria decision-making tool for personal selection problem in personal management. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of the findings were discussed and the directions for future research were suggested.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.351-356
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• 2018

Changes in vocal cords due to aging can change the frequency of speech, and the speech signals of the elderly can be automatically distinguished from normal speech signals through various analyzes. The purpose of this study is to provide a tool that can be easily accessed by the elderly and disabled people who can be excluded from the rapidly changing technological society and to improve the voice recognition performance. In the study, the gender of the subjects was reported as sex analysis, and the number of female and male voice samples was used equally. In addition, the gender analysis was applied to set the voices of the elderly without using voices of all ages. Finally, we applied a review methodology of standards and reference models to reduce gender difference. 10 Korean women and 10 men aged 70 to 80 years old are used in this study. Comparing the F0 value extracted directly with the waveform and the F0 extracted with TF32 and the Wavesufer speech analysis program, Wavesufer analyzed the F0 of the elderly voice better than TF32. However, there is a need for a voice analysis program for elderly people. In conclusions, analyzing the voice of the elderly will improve speech recognition and synthesis capabilities of existing smart medical systems.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2013

Purpose: This study was done to develop a scenario and evaluate student performance in simulation learning of care for children with respiratory distress syndrome in neonatal intensive care units. Methods: To test the application effect, a one group pre-test design was applied. The scenario based on actual patients and textbook material was developed through several meetings of experts. The scenario was used with 17 groups of 55 senior nursing students who participated voluntarily. Results: Contents were organized focusing on the nursing process for simulation learning. In the application of knowledge and skills, nursing students had high scores in the contents of observation of oxygen saturation, and care to relieve dyspnea. Participants' ability, especially in suction and oxygen supply in the evaluation of objective structured clinical examination was not adequate. There was a significant positive correlation between problem-solving ability and satisfaction in learning. Conclusion: The respiratory distress syndrome simulation scenario developed in this study was an effective tool to give students experience in problem solving and critical thinking ability under conditions similar to reality. The development of various scenarios for child nursing care is needed.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.423-431
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• 2011

Recentincreasing awareness of the environmental damage caused by the $CO_2$ emission of fossil fuelsstimulated the interest in alternative and renewable sources of energy. Fuel cell is a representative example of hydrogen energy utilization. In this study, Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell system is simulated by using $Aspen^{TM}$. Stack model is consisted of equilibrium reaction equations using $ACM^{TM}$(Aspen Custom Modeler). Balance of process of fuel cell system is developed in Aspen $Plus^{TM}$ and simulated at steady-state. Analysis of performance of the system is carried out by using sensitivity analysis tool with main operating parameters such as current density, S/C ratio, and fuel utilization and recycle ratio.In Aspen $Dynamics^{TM}$, dynamics of MCFC system is simulated with PID control loops. From the simulation, we proposed operation range which generated maximum power and efficiency in MCFC power plant.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.129-136
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• 2020

In this study, we develop a sampling-based seismic probabilistic risk assessment (SPRA) quantification technique that can accurately consider a partially dependent condition of component seismic fragility information. Specifically, the SPRA quantification method is proposed by combining the advantages of two representative methodologies: EPRI seismic fragility and JAERI seismic fragility input-based quantification. The most important feature of the proposed method is that it performs a SPRA using a sampling technique by transforming the EPRI seismic fragility input into JAERI seismic fragility input. When the proposed sampling-based approach was applied to an example of simple system and to a SPRA problem of a nuclear power plant, it was observed that the proposed method yields approximately similar system seismic fragility and seismic risk results as those of the exact solution. Therefore, it is believed that the approach proposed in this study can be used as a useful tool for accurately assessing seismic risks, considering the partial seismic dependence among the components; the existing SPRA method cannot handle such partial dependencies.