• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.17-26
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• 2010

Recently concerns have been raised due to the unbalanced supply of crops: the price of crops has been unstable and at one point the price went up so high that the word Agflation(agriculture+ inflation) was coined. Korea, in particular, is a small-sized country and needs to secure the stable supply of crops by investing in the produce importation at a national level. Investment in foreign produce importation is becoming more important as a measure for sufficient supply of crops, limited supply of domestic crops, weakened farming conditions worldwide, as well as recent changes in the use of crops due to the development of bio-fuels, influence of carbon emission on crops, the price increase in crops, and influx of foreign hot money. However, there are many problems with investing in foreign produce importation: lack of support from the government; lack of farming information and technology; difficulty in securing the capital; no immediate pay-off from the investment and insufficient management. Although foreign produce is originally more price-competitive than domestic produce, it loses its competiveness in the process of importation (due to high tariffs) and poor distribution system, which makes it difficult to sell in Korea. Therefore, investment in foreign produce importation is being questioned for feasibility; to make it possible, foreign produce must maintain the price-competitiveness. Especially, harvest of agricultural products depends on natural and geographical conditions of each country and those products have indigenous properties, so distribution system according to import and export of agricultural products should be treated more carefully than that of other industries. Distribution costs are differentiated into each item and include cost of sorting and wrapping, cost of wrapping materials, cost of domestic transport, cost of international transport and cost of clearing customs for import and export. So transporting and storing agricultural products generates considerable costs compared with other products. Also, due to upgrade of dietary life, needs for stability, taste and visible quality toward food including agricultural products are being raised and wrong way of storage causes decomposition of food and loss of freshness, making the storage more difficult than that in room temperature, so storage and transport in distribution of agricultural products needs specialty. In addition, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. However, existing distribution system of agricultural products is exposed to various problems including problems in distribution channel, making distribution and strategy for distribution and those problems are as follows. First, in case of investment in overseas agricultural industry, stable supply of the products is difficult because areas of production are dispersed widely and influenced by outer factors due to including overseas distribution channels. Also, at the aspect of quality, standardization of products is difficult, distribution system is quite complicated and unreasonable due to long distribution channels according to international trade and financial and institutional support is not enough. Especially, there are quite a lot of ineffective factors including multi level distribution process, dramatic gap between production cost and customer's cost, lack of physical distribution facilities and difficulties in storage and transport due to lack of wrapping containers. Besides, because import and export of agricultural products has been manages under the company's own distribution according to transaction contract between manufacturers and exporting company, efficiency is low due to excessive investment in fixed costs and lack of specialty in dealing with agricultural products causes fall of value of products, showing the limit to lose price-competitiveness. Especially, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. Second, among tangible and intangible services which promote the efficiency of the whole distribution, a function building distribution environment which includes distribution information, system for standard and inspection, distribution finance, system for diversification of risks, education and training, distribution administration and tax system is wanted. In general, such a function building distribution environment is difficult to be changed and supplement innovatively because its effect compared with investment does not appear immediately despite of its necessity. Especially, in case of distribution of agricultural products, as a function of collecting and distributing is performed individually through various channels, the importance of distribution information and standardization is getting more focus due to the problem of repetition of work and lack of specialty. Also, efficient management of distribution is quite difficult due to lack of professionals in distribution, so support to professional education is needed. Third, though effort to keep self-sufficiency ratio of staple food, rice is regarded as important at the government level, level of dependency on overseas of others crops is high. Therefore, plan for stable securing food resources aside from staple food is also necessary. Especially, governmental organizations of agricultural products distribution in Korea are production-centered and have unreasonable structure whose function at the aspect of distribution and consumption is quite insufficient. And development of new distribution channels which can deal with changes in distribution environment and they do not achieve actual results of strategy for distribution due to non-positive strategy for price distribution. That is, it implies the possibility that base for supply will become vulnerable because it does not mediate appropriate interests on total distribution channels such as manufacturers, wholesale dealers and vendors by emphasizing consumer protection excessively in the distribution of agricultural products. Therefore, this study examined fundamental concept and actual situation for our investment to overseas agriculture, drew necessities, considerations, problems, etc. of overseas agricultural investment and suggested improvements at the level of distribution for price competitiveness of agricultural products cultivated in overseas under five aspects; government's indirect support, distribution's modernization and distribution information function's strengthening, government's political support for distribution facility, transportation route, load and unloading works' improvement, price competitiveness' securing, professional manpower's cultivation by education and training, etc. Here are some suggestions for foreign produce importation. First, the government should conduct a survey on the current distribution channels and analyze the situation to establish a measure for long-term development plans. By providing each agricultural area with a guideline for planning appropriate production of crops, the government can help farmers be ready for importation, and prevent them from producing same crops all at the same time. Government can sign an MOU with the foreign government and promote the importation so that the development of agricultural resources can be stable and steady. Second, the government can establish a strategy for an effective distribution system by providing farmers and agriculture-related workers with the distribution information such as price, production, demand, market structure and location, feature of each crop, and etc. In order for such distribution system to become feasible, the government needs to reconstruct the current distribution system, designate a public organization for providing distribution information and set the criteria for level of produce quality, trade units, and package units. Third, the government should provide financial support and a policy to seek an efficient distribution channel for foreign produce to be delivered fresh: the government should expand distribution facilities (for selecting, packaging, storing, and processing) and transportation vehicles while modernizing old facilities. There should be another policy to improve the efficiency of unloading, and to lower the cost of distribution. Fourth, it is necessary to enact a new law covering exceptional cases for importing produce in order to maintain the price competitiveness; currently the high tariffs is keeping the imported produce from being distributed domestically. However, the new adjustment should be made carefully within the WTO regulations since it can create a problem from giving preferential tariffs. The government can also simplify the distribution channels in order to reduce the cost in the distribution process. Fifth, the government should educate distributors to raise the efficiency and to modernize the distribution system. It is necessary to develop human resources by educating people regarding the foreign agricultural environment, the produce quality, management skills, and by introducing some successful cases in advanced countries.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.87-95
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• 2008

Neural stem/precursor derived from pluripotent human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) has considerable therapeutic potential due to their ability to generate various neural cells which can be used in cell-replacement therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. However, production of neural cells from hESCs remains technically very difficult. Understanding neural-tube like rosette characteristic neural precursor cells from hESCs may provide useful information to increase the efficiency of hESC neural differentiation. Generally, neural rosettes were derived from differentiating hEBs in attached culture system, however this is time-consuming and complicated. Here, we examined if neural rosettes could be formed in suspension culture system by bypassing attachment requirement. First, we tested whether the size of hESC clumps affected the formation of human embryonic bodies (hEBs) and neural differentiation. We confirmed that hEBs derived from $500{\times}500\;{\mu}m$ square sized hESC clumps were effectively differentiated into neural lineage than those of the other sizes. To induce the rosette formation, regular size hEBs were derived by incubation of hESC clumps($500{\times}500\;{\mu}m$) in EB medium for 1 wk in a suspended condition on low attachment culture dish and further incubated for additional $1{\sim}2$ wks in neuroectodermal sphere(NES)-culture medium. We observed the neural tube-like rosette structure from hEBs after $7{\sim}10$ days of differentiation. Their identity as a neural precursor cells was assessed by measuring their expressions of neural precursor markers(Vimentin, Nestin, MSI1, MSI2, Prominin-1, Pax6, Sox1, N-cadherin, Otx2, and Tuj1) by RT-PCR and immunofluorescence staining. We also confirmed that neural rosettes could be terminally differentiated into mature neural cell types by additional incubation for $2{\sim}6$ wks with NES medium without growth factors. Neuronal(Tuj1, MAP2, GABA) and glial($S100{\beta}$ and GFAP) markers were highly expressed after $2{\sim}3$ and 4 wks of incubation, respectively. Expression of oligodendrocyte markers O1 and CNPase was significantly increased after $5{\sim}6$ wks of incubation. Our results demonstrate that rosette forming neural precursor cells could be successfully derived from suspension culture system and that will not only help us understand the neural differentiation process of hESCs but also simplify the derivation process of neural precursors from hESCs.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2008

Specific protocols to increase the differentiation of neuronal cells from embryonic stem (ES) cells have been well established, such as retinoic acid induction and lineage selection of neuronal cells. For the neuropathological studies, ES-derived neurons (ES neurons) must show normal physiological characteristics related to cell death and survival and should be maintained in vitro for a sufficient time to show insults-specific cell death without spontaneous death. When mouse ES cells were plated onto astrocytes monolayer after retinoic acid induction, most ES cells differentiated into neuronal cells, which were confirmed by the presence of specific neuronal markers, and the cultures were viable for at least four weeks. When these cultures were examined for vulnerability to glutamate excitotoxicity, ES neurons were vulnerable to excitotoxic insults mediated by agonist-specific receptors. The vulnerability to excitotoxic death increased with developmental age of ES neurons in vitro. Specific receptors for Neurotrophin and GDNF family ligands were present in ES neurons. GDNF and NT-3 could modulate the survival and excitotoxic vulnerability of ES neurons. The vulnerability and resistance to toxic insults, which are essential requirements of model culture systems for neuropathological studies, make ES neurons to a useful model culture system. Especially ES cell are highly amenable to genetic modification unlikely to primary neuronal cells, which will give us a chance to answer more complicated neurophysiological questions. Recently there was an outstanding attempt to explore the cellular toxicity using human ES cells (Schrattenholz & Klemm, 2007) and it suggested that ES cells could be a new model system for neurophysiological studies soon and go further a large-scale screening system for pharmacological compounds in the future.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartD
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• v.14D no.6
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• pp.573-584
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• 2007

As multimedia information recently increases fast, various types of retrieval of multimedia data are becoming issues of great importance. For the efficient multimedia data processing, semantics based retrieval techniques are required that can extract the meaning contents of multimedia data. Existing retrieval methods of multimedia data are annotation-based retrieval, feature-based retrieval and annotation and feature integration based retrieval. These systems take annotator a lot of efforts and time and we should perform complicated calculation for feature extraction. In addition. created data have shortcomings that we should go through static search that do not change. Also, user-friendly and semantic searching techniques are not supported. This paper proposes to develop S-MARS(Semantic Metadata-based Multimedia Annotation and Retrieval System) which can represent and extract multimedia data efficiently using MPEG-7. The system provides a graphical user interface for annotating, searching, and browsing multimedia data. It is implemented on the basis of the semantic metadata model to represent multimedia information. The semantic metadata about multimedia data is organized on the basis of multimedia description schema using XML schema that basically comply with the MPEG-7 standard. In conclusion. the proposed scheme can be easily implemented on any multimedia platforms supporting XML technology. It can be utilized to enable efficient semantic metadata sharing between systems, and it will contribute to improving the retrieval correctness and the user's satisfaction on embedding based multimedia retrieval algorithm method.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.634-643
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• 2012

Job stress is emerging as one of major issues related to oral health in modern society that has increasingly been complicated and diversified. The purpose of this study was to examine the job stress and dry mouth of workers and their self-diagnosed oral symptoms in an attempt to determine the relationship between job stress and dry mouth. The subjects in this study were 366 workers, and a survey was conducted to June 1 to 20, 2012. Whether there would be any differences in dry mouth and self-diagnosed oral symptoms according to job stress was analyzed, and it's found that there were significant differences in dry mouth according to organizational climate. And oral symptoms made significant differences to job demand, interpersonal conflicts, organizational system, lack of reward and job stress. There was a positive correlation between dry mouth and organizational climate, and oral symptoms had a significant correlation to job demand, interpersonal conflicts, job insecurity, organizational system, job stress and dry mouth. Organizational climate and lack of reward had a significant impact on dry mouth, and oral symptoms were under the significant influence of dry mouth, job insecurity and organizational system.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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• no.39
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• pp.281-318
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• 2014

This article aims to inquire into the decision making system and the sources of the original documents made by means of it in Imperial Japan, the colonial Chosun, GHQ, and the occupied Japan in terms of the post-war treatments of compensation on the Japanese colonial rules. It deals with them from 1910 to 1952 in the perspective of history and archivistics. This article attempts to establish the foundation on which the perception of the documents made in the Imperial Japan, its colony, and the occupied territory would be widened by placing the colonial rules and the compensation on them into a continuous line. The records of Japan's forced occupation of Korea during 1910-1945, and the original records documenting the decision making process of post-war compensation under GHQ, 1945-1952, have been dispersed in Korea, Japan and the United States. This dispersed preservation was mainly due to the complicated decision-making process among Governor-General of Chosun, the Japanese Imperial government, and the GHQ. It was the top-down styled, dual decision making system, in which the critical policies, personnel, and budget had been decided in Imperial homeland, while their implementations were made in the colonies. As a result, the records documenting the whole process of domination have been preserved dispersedly in Japan and its colonies. In particular, the accounts of not yet paid Korean workers that was forced to mobilize in Japan's colonial periods, which is emerging as the diplomatic conflict between Korea and Japan, had been dealt in the decrees of the Japanese government and policy-making of GHQ. It has already been changed to the problem as 'economic cooperation' from the 'debt'. Also, the critical records for post-war compensation were preserved dispersedly in the United States and Japan under the top-down decision making process of GHQ-Japan. Therefore, the dispersed records of 1910-1952 about the colonial rules by the Imperial Japan and the post-war compensation on them must be re-investigated for the adequate documentation in the context of time and space.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.3-35
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• 2005

The meaning of Online ADR lies in the prompt and economical resolution of disputes by applying the information/communication element (Internet) to existing ADR. However, if the promptness and economical efficiency are overemphasized, the fairness and appropriateness of dispute resolution may be compromised and consequently Online ADR will be belittled and criticized as second-class trials. In addition, as communication is mostly made using texts in Online ADR it is difficult to investigate cases and to create atmosphere and induce dynamic feelings, which are possible in the process of dispute resolution through face-to-face contact. Despite such difficulties, Online ADR is expanding its area not only in online but also in offline due to its advantages such as promptness, low expenses and improved resolution methods, and is expected to develop rapidly as the electronic government decided to adopt it in the future. Accordingly, the following points must be focused on for the continuous First, in the legal and institutional aspects for the development of Online ADR, it is necessary to establish a framework law on ADR. A framework law on ADR comprehending existing mediation and arbitration should be established and it must include contents of Online ADR, which utilizes electronic communication means. However, it is too early to establish a separate law for Online ADR because Online ADR must develop based on the theoretical system of ADR. Second, although Online ADR is expanding rapidly, it may take time to be settled as a tool of dispute resolution. As discussed earlier, additionally, if the amount of money in dispute is large or the dispute is complicated, Online ADR may have a negative effect on the resolution of the dispute. Thus, it is necessary to apply Online ADR to trifle cases or domestic cases in the early stage, accumulating experiences and correcting errors. Moreover, in order to settle numerous disputes effectively, Online ADR cases should be analyzed systematically and cases should be classified by type so that similar disputes may be settled automatically. What is more, these requirements should reflected in developing Online ADR system. Third, the application of Online ADR is being expanded to consumer disputes, domain name disputes, commercial disputes, legal disputes, etc., millions of cases are settled through Online ADR, and 115 Online ADR sites are in operation throughout the world. Thus Online ADR requires not temporary but continuous attention, and mediators and arbitrators participating in Online ADR should be more intensively educated on negotiation and information technologies. In particular, government-led research projects should be promoted to establish Online ADR model and these projects should be supported by comprehensive researches on mediation, arbitration and Online ADR. Fourth, what is most important in the continuous development and expansion of Online ADR is to secure confidence in Online ADR and advertise Online ADR to users. For this, incentives and rewards should be given to specialists such as lawyers when they participate in Online ADR as mediators and arbitrators in order to improve their expertise. What is more, from the early stage, the government and public institutions should have initiative in promoting Online ADR so that parties involved in disputes recognize the substantial contribution of Online ADR to dispute resolution. Lastly, dispute resolution through Online ADR is performed by organizations such as Korea Institute for Electronic Commerce and Korea Consumer Protection Board and partially by Korean Commercial Arbitration Board. Online ADR is expected to expand its area to commercial disputes in offline in the future. In response to this, Korean Commercial Arbitration Board, which is an organization for commercial dispute resolution, needs to be restructured.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2017

'The worstest environment disaster', 'World's first biocide massacre', 'Home-based Sewol ferry disaster' are all phrases attached to the recent humidifier disinfectant disaster. In the spring of 2011, four of 8 pregnant women including 1 adult man passed away at a university hospital in Seoul due to breathing failure. Epidemiologic investigation conducted by the Korean CDC soon revealed the inhalation of humidifier disinfectant, which had been widely used in Korea during the winter, to be responsible for the disease. As well as lung fibrosis hardening of the lungs, other diseases including asthma, rhinitis, skin disease, liver disease, fetal disease or cancers have been researched for their relation with exposure to the products. By February 9, 2017, 5,342 cases had registered for health problems and 1,131 of them were already dead (20.8% mortality rate). Based on studies by government agencies and a telephone survey of the general population by Seoul National University and civic groups, around 20% of the general public of Korea has used these products. Since the market release of the first product by SK Chemical in 1994, over 7.1 million items from around 20 brands were sold up to 2011. Most of the products were manufactured by well-known large conglomerates such as SK, Lotte, Samsung, Shinsegye, LG, and GS, as well as some European companies including UK-based Reckitt Benckiser and TESCO, the German firm Henkel, the Danish firm KeTox, and an Irish company. Even though this disaster was unveiled in 2011 by the Korean government, the issue of the victims was neglected for over five years. In 2016, an unexpected but intensive investigation by prosecutors found that Reckitt Benckiser manipulated and concealed animal tests for its own brand and brought several university experts and company employees to court. The matter was an intense social issue in Korea from May to June with a surge in media coverage. The prosecutor's investigation and a nationwide boycott campaign organized by victims and environmental groups against Reckitt Benckiser, whose product had been used by more than 70% of victims, led to the producer's official apology and a compensation scheme. A legislative investigation organized after the April 2016 national election revealed the producers' faults and the government's responsibility, but failed to meet expectations. A special law for the victims passed the National Assembly in January 2017 and a punitive system together with a massive environmental epidemiology investigation are expected to be the only solutions for this tragedy. Sciences of medicine, toxicology and environmental health have provided decisive evidence so far, but for the remaining problems the perspectives of social sciences such as sociology and jurisprudence are highly necessary, similar to with the Minamata disease and Wonjin Rayon events. It may not be easy to follow this issue using unfamiliar terminology from medical and chemical science and the long, complicated history of the event. For these reasons the author has attempted to write this article in a question and answer format to render it easier to follow. The 17 questions are: Q1 What is humidifier disinfectant? Q2 What kind of health problems are caused by humidifier disinfectant? Q3 How many victims are there? Q4 What is the analysis of the 1,112 cases of death? Q5 What is the problem with the government's diagnostic criteria and the solution? Q6 Who made what brands? Q7 Has there been a recall? What is still on sale? Q8 Was safety not checked by any producers? Q9 What are the government's responsibilities? Q10 Is it true that these products were sold only in Korea? Q11 Why and how was it unveiled only in 2011 after 17 years of sales? Q12 What delayed the resolution of the victim issue? Q13 What is the background of the prosecutor's investigation in early 2016? Q14 Is it possible to report new victim cases without evidence of product purchase? Q15 What is happening with the victim issue? Q16 How does it compare with the cases of Minamata disease and Wonjin Rayon? Q17 Are there prevention measures and lessons?

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.64 no.1
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• pp.199-223
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to clarify the mechanism and essence of problems by understanding the whole structure of the complicated problems that exist in the social welfare field with DEMATEL method, one of structural models. This paper consists of (1) What kind of social welfare problems exist in the community that is related to welfare? (2) What kind of thoughts do people who work in social welfare field have related to these problems? (3) Are there any differences in structure of thoughts among social welfare civil servants who take charge of planning and dividing budgets for community welfare, social workers who provide services personally and civic activists who criticize and keep watch on behalf of civilians? In order to achieve the purpose of this study, data were collected in Busan Busanjingu and the survey was conducted from the year of 2005 when community welfare plan was first established up to now. The major structural problems of the community welfare of the Pusan Jin-gu, Korea, are: 1) welfare budget allocation procedure is not logical, 2) the outskirts of the Pusan Jin-gu are isolated as poor areas, 3) geographic imbalance is severe among communities, and 4) the social welfare response system to support future population structure needs to be more developed. All of these problems are the fundamental origin to the social resource disparity within communities. The major problems of the community social welfare in Pusan Jin-gu, Korea were recognized by different perspective in terms of professional career such as social welfare civil servants, social workers, and civic activists. Majority of the social welfare civil servants thought "severe geographic imbalance"; majority of the social workers believed "lack of the social welfare response system to support the structure of the population in the future" and "disparity in social resources within the communities"; and majority of the civic activists said "limitation for understanding various social welfare needs because of short term need assessments" as main issues of the community social welfare. It seems that this paper is able to be used as a framework to establish community welfare plans and individual programs in Busan Busanjingu.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.40 no.2 s.183
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• pp.153-170
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• 2007

Loading time and loading environment of the Dokdo seamounts were studied from flexure model and VGP(Virtual Geomagnetic Pole) determined by gravity and magnetic data. In spite of their similarity in size. a large difference about 50 mGal between gravity anomaly peaks of Dokdo and the Isabu Tablemount suggests different compensation degrees. Flexural modeling results show that the flexural rigidity(effective elastic thickness) of lithosphere for Dokdo is stronger(thicker) than that for the Isabu Tablemount. Also, it implies that the age of lithosphere at the time of loading of the Isabu Tablemount may be younger than that of Dokdo. Magnetic anomalies occur complicated over the Dokdo seamounts. Paleomagnetism was studied from VGP estimated by the least square and the seminorm magnetization methods with 1500 m upward continued magnetic anomalies. Age dating of Dokdo from previous study, flexural modeling, VGP, and geomagnetic polarity time scale suggest that after the cease of spreading in the Ulleung Basin, the Isabu Tablemount was formed first in normal polarity interval and followed by Dokdo. Also, they indicate that the fist large eruption of Dokdo was in normal polarity interval and the second large eruption in reversed polarity interval. The Simheungtaek Tablemount was formed in normal polarity interval between the formations of the Isabu Tablemount and Dokdo. These loading times for the Dokdo seamounts show a good coherence with the compressive stress period after the end of the opening of the East Sea. The Dokdo seamounts probably was caused by volcanism associated with the compressive stress.