• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.215-227
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• 2018

Supplemental passive control devices are widely considered as an important tool to mitigate the dynamic response of a building under seismic excitation. Nevertheless, a systematic method for strategically placing dampers in the buildings is not prescribed in building codes and guidelines. Many deterministic and stochastic methods have been proposed by previous researchers to investigate the optimum distribution of the viscous dampers in the steel frames. However, the seismic performances of the retrofitted buildings that are under large earthquake intensity levels or near collapse state have not been evaluated by any seismic research. Recent years, an increasing number of studies utilize genetic algorithms (GA) to explore the complex engineering optimization problems. GA interfaced with nonlinear response history (NRH) analysis is considered as one of the most powerful and popular stochastic methods to deal with the nonlinear optimization problem of damper distribution. In this paper, the effectiveness and the efficiency of GA on optimizing damper distribution are first evaluated by strong ground motions associated with the collapse failure. A practical optimization framework using GA and NRH analysis is proposed for optimizing the distribution of the fluid viscous dampers within the moment resisting frames (MRF) regarding the improvements of large drifts under intensive seismic context. Both a 10-storey and a 20-storey building are involved to explore higher mode effect. A far-fault and a near-fault earthquake environment are also considered for the frames under different seismic intensity levels. To evaluate the improvements obtained from the GA optimization regarding the collapse performance of the buildings, Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) is conducted and comparisons are made between the GA damper distribution and stiffness proportional damping distribution on the collapse probability of the retrofitted frames.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.64 no.3
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• pp.347-352
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• 2017

The poor maintenance practice increases the possibility of system failure. Subsequently, the consequences of failure fall on the aspects of output, safety and healthy, environmental integrity, system quality, and customer satisfaction. Conditionbased maintenance is seen as a potential strategy to improve performance. Whereby, the key success factor of this maintenance strategy is identified as the system inspection. This study aims to investigate the association between system breakdown rate and frequency of inspection. A mixed method approach is implemented by distributing questionnaire and interviewing for data collection. Subsequently, descriptive analysis, correlation analysis and regression are adopted to analyse the collected data from 100 respondents and the results are validated with interview data of 10 interviewees. The research result establishes significant relationship between the system breakdown rate and the frequency of inspection. Additionally, the result of regression analysis confirms that the frequency of inspection is the significant predictor of system breakdown rate. Planning of accurate inspection frequency is crucial to secure the system performance. Hence, the research signifies the importance to carry out regular inspection towards the building systems and components. As a recommendation, the maintenance personnel should assess the risk criticality of the building systems. Then, continuously monitor the condition of critical building systems; regularly inspect the condition of non-critical building systems and randomly inspect all of them.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.435-443
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• 2005

Purpose: This study investigated the degree of fatigue of hemodialysis patients, and finds the relationship between fatigue and self-efficacy, family support, and sleep factor. Also, this study was purposed to provide fundamental data to help set up a nursing plan and intervention for recovery and mitigation of hemodialysis patient's fatigue. Method: The subjects in this study were patients treated as hemodialysis patients in Kwangjoo City. Data, subjects are 143 patients. Fatigue was measured using Lee's scale(1991), Self-efficacy using Kim's scale(1995), and Family support using Kim's scale(1993). For the analysis of collected data, Cronbach alpha, descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient, Stepwise multiple regression were used for statistical analysis by SPSSwin(version 11.0) program. Result: Fatigue degree of hemodialysis patients averaged 4.22. Among 143 hemodialysis patients, 70.63% patients answered that they had felt fatigue as noted in this study. The weariest time was after hemodialysis for 21.0% patients. There was significant difference according to the diagnosis period. The patients who were diagnosed over one year had felt more fatigue than ones who were diagnosed within one year. Fatigue was significantly associated with self-efficacy, family support, and sleep factor. Self-efficacy could explain 14.6% of fatigue. Conclusion: The fatigue degree relates with all, self-efficacy, family support, and sleep factor. Especially, it is affected by self-efficacy among them. Thus, the program should be developed to mitigate fatigue as the self-efficacy of hemodialysis is enhanced.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.4401-4408
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• 2015

Background: Cancer is a primary source of concern in Thailand and other countries around the world, including the Asian-Pacific region. Evidence supports that an important contributing cause of cancer and other chronic illnesses such as stroke, diabetes, and hypertension is excessive alcohol consumption. Studies conducted in Thailand reveal a worrisome rise in the number of new and regular drinkers in communities. Therefore, actions for primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of problem drinking are necessary. In recent years nurses in North East Thailand have been developing and implementing the Khon Kaen Family Health Nursing model to embed disease prevention in communities through the actions of family health nurses and local family health leaders. Aim: The aim of this qualitative research was to better understand the experiences of the local family health leaders using this model and to synthesize lessons learned. Materials and Methods: As part of a participatory action research approach involving analysis of focus group discussions and individual interviews, the experiences of 45 family health leaders were synthesized. Results: Four main themes were identified, namely: i) Family first: role modeling beginning at the personal and family level. ii) Local leverage: using village community forums to reduce alcohol drinking. iii) Gentle growth: making the first step and treading gently; and iv) Respect, Redemption, Rehabilitation: valuing the person to re-integrate them in the village society. Conclusions: As alcohol consumption in the village declined significantly following the prevention program, these findings illuminate how low-tech integrated prevention approaches may be very useful, particularly in rural communities. The lessons learned may have relevance not only in Thailand but in other countries seeking to prevent and mitigate behavior that conduces to diseases such as cancer.

• The Journal of Art Theory & Practice
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• no.14
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• pp.217-245
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• 2012

The aim of this paper is to show how the paradigm of disaster resilience may help reorienting urban planning policies in order to mitigate various types of risks, thanks to carefully thought action on heritage and conservation practices. Resilience is defined as the "capacity of a social system to proactively adapt to and recover from disturbances that are perceived within the system to fall outside the range of normal and expected disturbances." It relies greatly on risk perception and the memory of catastrophes. States, regions, municipalities, have been giving territorial materiality to collective memory for centuries, but this trend has considerably increased in the second half of the 20th century. This is particularly true regarding the memory of disasters: for example, important traces of catastrophes such as urban ruins have been preserved, because they were supposed to maintain some awareness and hence foster urban resilience - Berlin's Gedachtniskirche is a well-known example of this policy. Yet, in spite of preserved traces of catastrophes and various warnings and heritage policies, there are countless examples of risk mismanagement and urban tragedies. Using resilience as a guiding concept might change the results of these failed risk mitigation policies and irrelevant disaster memory processes. Indeed, the concept of resilience deals with the complexity of temporal and spatial scales, and with partly emotional and qualitative processes, so that this approach fits the issues of urban memory management. Resilience might help underlining the complexity and the subtlety of remembrance messages, and lead to alternative paths better adapted to the diversity of risks, places and actors. However, when it is given territorial materiality, memory is almost always symbolically and politically framed and interpreted; Vale and Campanella had already outlined this political aspect of remembrance and resilience as a discourse. Resilience and the territorialization of memory are not ideologically neutral, but urban risk mitigation may come at that price.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.347-354
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• 2010

Rapidly increasing aged population provides an ample market opportunity for the Korean travel industry, and from national policy perspective, it poses an fortified demands for welfare tourism. In the fierce competition, this emerging market can serve as a lucrative target market for tourism & travel industry in Korea. In addition, using tourism for the aged as a social welfare policy can be a potentially viable means to mitigate the increase social pressure due to rapid population aging. This rationale is based on the assumption that tourism contributes to higher level of perceived life satisfaction compared to other leisure activities among the aged. In this study, using empirical data collected from 185 respondents aged 55 and above in Cheong Ju area, the effect of demographic factors and trip-related behaviors on life satisfaction was tested. The results indicate that economic and health conditions affect life satisfaction positively, while trip-related behaviors did not exert any significant effect on life satisfaction. In light of the results, practical implications for marketing and policy-making were presented in detail.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.79-87
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• 2016

Purpose - Since 1990, the sudden stop in capital flows has caused the economic crisis. The purpose of this research is to suggest the policy measures to mitigate the risk of the sudden stop in capital flows. To this end, we examine the theoretical framework and analyze the case study for countries which are faced with the sudden stop. Also we examine the structural problems of the foreign exchange market in Korea and derive the policy implications to prevent the sudden stop. Research design, data, and methodology - The criteria of whether the sudden stop in capital flows occurs are based upon Calvo et al. (2008). In case the proxy variable for the balance of capital account decreases from the average by over twice standard deviation, we determine that the sudden stop occurs for that country. The sample period is from January 1990 to December 2008, as in Calvo (2014). The sample countries are 17 developed countries and 19 emerging market countries, which are different from those of the previous papers as Agosin and Huaita (2012), and Calvo (2014). When the exchange market pressure index(EMPI) is deviated from the average by over three times standard deviation, we determine that the foreign exchange market is unstable for that country. Results - We find that the characteristics of the sudden stop in capital flows are the bunching or contagion among countries, the rapid drop in real effective exchange rate, and the huge decrease in foreign exchange reserves. Many countries tried to increase foreign exchange reserves and regulate capital flows. Also the foreign exchange market in Korea are found to be the volatile exchange rate, the vulnerable external debt and careless management of the foreign exchange derivatives transaction risk. Conclusions - To lessen the risk in the sudden stop of capital flows, this research suggests the some useful policy measures. To enhance the foreign exchange and distribution market stability, we should improve the price mechanism of exchange rate, hold the appropriate level of foreign exchange reserves, prevent excessive inflows of foreign exchange and promote sound transactions of foreign exchange derivatives.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.53
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• pp.49-74
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• 2012

This study primarily concerns the seller's right to require performance under the United Nations Convention on International Sale of Goods(1980) (here-in-after the CISG). By virtue of art. 62 of the CISG, the seller may require to pay the purchase price, take delivery or perform his other obligations. The right is known as a process whereby the aggrieved seller obtains as nearly as possible the actual subject-matter of his bargain, as opposed to compensation in money for failing to obtain it. The study describes and analyzes the provisions of the CISG as to the seller's right to require performance, focusing on the questions of what the seller can require the buyer to perform, and what the restrictions of his right to require performance are. It particularly deals with main controversial issues among scholars as to whether art. 28 of the CISG is applied to the seller's action for the price and so that it opens the door domestic traditions and national preconditions that prevent judges and enforcement authorities in some contracting states, and whether the seller's to require performance is subject to the duty to mitigate loss within the meaning of art. 77 of the CISG. On the basis of the analysis, the study puts forward the author's arguments criticizing various the existing scholars' views. In addition, this study provides legal and practical advice to the contracting parties when it is expected that the CISG is applicable as the governing law.

• Journal of KIISE:Computing Practices and Letters
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.341-345
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• 2010

WMN is one of efficient solutions to provide Internet services for users by forming wireless backbone networks with wireless links. The dominant technology for WMNs is the IEEE 802.11, which provides multi-channel and multi-rate capabilities. One of important issues in WMNs is the network capacity and it is essential to design a multi-channel protocol that leverages the network capacity. However, when wireless links that use different data rates operate on the common channel, the performance of high-rate links is severely degraded by the presence of the low-rate links, which is often referred as performance anomaly. In this paper, we propose a Tree-based Channel Assignment (TreeCA) protocol to mitigate the performance anomaly problem by distributing data rates over multiple channels. TreeCA performs channel assignments based on the tree WMN architecture to accommodate the Internet traffics efficiently. Parent nodes on the tree distribute their child nodes over multiple channels so that the performance anomaly is reduced. Through simulations, we observed that the proposed TreeCA outperforms the existing multi-channel protocols for WMNs.

• KIISE Transactions on Computing Practices
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.74-79
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• 2017

The Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI), the world's first ocean color sensor operated in a geostationary orbit, can be utilized to mitigate damages by monitoring marine disasters in real time such as red tides, green algae, sargassum, cold pools, typhoons, and so on. In this paper, we described a methodology and procedure for processing GOCI data in order to maximize its utilization potential. The GOCI data processing procedure is divided into data reception, data processing, and data distribution. The kinds of GOCI data are classified as raw, level 1, and level 2. "Raw" refers to an unstructured data type immediately generated after reception by satellite communications. Level 1 is defined as a radiance data type of two dimensions, generated after radiometric and geometric corrections for raw data. Level 2 indicates an ocean color data type from level-1 data using ocean color algorithms.