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In cities with high density, heat is often trapped between buildings which increases the frequency and intensity of heat events. Researchers have focused on developing strategies to mitigate the negative impacts of heat in cities. Adopting green infrastructure and cooling pavements are some of the many ways to promote thermal comfort against heat. The purpose of this study is to improve microclimate conditions and thermal comfort levels in high-density living conditions in Seoul, South Korea.

This study compares six design alternatives of an apartment complex with different paving and planting systems. It also examines the thermal outcome of the alternatives under normal and extreme heat conditions to suggest strategies to secure acceptable thermal comfort levels for the inhabitants. Each alternative is analyzed using ENVI-met, a software program that simulates microclimate conditions and thermal comfort features based on relationships among buildings, vegetation and pavements.

The results indicate that grass paving was more effective than stone paving in lowering air temperature and improving thermal comfort at the near-surface level. Coniferous trees were found to be more effective than broadleaf trees in reducing temperature. Thermal comfort levels were most improved when coniferous trees were planted in paired settings.

Landscape elements show promise for the improvement of thermal conditions because it is much easier to redesign landscape elements, such as paving or planting, than to change fixed urban elements like buildings and roads. The results identified the potential of landscape design for improving microclimate and thermal comfort in urban residential complexes.

The results contribute to the literature by examining the effect of tree species and layout on thermal comfort levels, which has been rarely investigated in previous studies.

This article uses a Kalman filter to fit yields of investment-grade corporate bonds to the model of instantaneous default risk, based on Duffee (1999. Review of Financial Studies. 12. PP. 197-226). The first part of this article fits the term structure of default-free interest rates to a translated two-factor square-root diffusion model. The parameters in the two-factor model are estimated by using a quasi-maxirnum-likelihood estimator in a state-space model in the Korean treasury bond market. A Kalman filter is used to estimate the unobservable factors.

The two-factor model successfully incorporates random variations in the slope of the term structure and the level of interest rates‘ After estimating the default-free term structure of interest rates, the second part of this article extends the model to noncallable corporate bonds‘ This is done by assuming that the probability of default follows a translated square-root diffusion process with the possibility of being correlated with default-free interest rates. The parameters of the process are estimated for investment-grade corporate bonds including AM. AA, A. and BBB. Empirical results show that the default risk is negatively correlated with default-free interest rates and confirm that the default risk is greater for lower grades. In addition, the estimated model successfully produces the term structures of credit spreads for corporate bonds and show that the credit spreads for lower grade bonds are more steeply sloped than those for higher grade bonds. These results show that Duffee's model can reasonably account for the observed corporate bond prices in the Korean bond market.

This paper proposes a method that estimates credit ratings by mapping empirical probability of default (PD) and standardized historical financial ratios. Unlike standard approaches such as the parametric logit model. discriminant analysis. neural network. and survival function model. the proposed approach has an advantage of offering a multiple credit rating categories. as opposed to either default or not default. of obligors. It would provide an useful information to practitioners because the probability of default for each credit rating category is a critical input under New Basel Capital Accord. Emoirical results based upon the historical PD and financial ratios of Korean savings bank industry from 2000 and 2003 suggest that the industry’s average credit rating belong to a speculative grade. that is BB and below.

In addition, the computed transition matrix indicates that volatility of transition matrix fluctuates substantially each year and the orobability of staying in the same rating category at the end of the year tended to be much smaller than the average reported by the rating agencies for the overall Korean companies. The proposed method can easily be applied to industries other than savings bank industry.

China is currently developing and promoting an industrial cluster policy at the government level. By enacting the ‘Opinion on promoting industrial cluster development’, China is supporting the development of industrial clusters. Building an industrial cluster is done by using a single factor but requires many additional factors like regional characteristics, competitiveness factors are also diversified. To evaluate the competitiveness of the Chinese automobile industry cluster, a competitiveness element index should be developed and a competitiveness evaluation method is needed to evaluate the importance of each element. To accomplish this objective, this research applied the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and focused on the importance of the competitiveness elements.

This research investigated the character is tics regarding cases of clusters and also analyzed the competitiveness of the Changchun automobile cluster located in northeastern China. The purpose of this research is to help Korean enterprises who enter China in the hopes that Korea will emerge as a top automobile production country.

New economic geography theorists, who have revived the importance of local roots and highlighted the significance of cities as a source of international competitiveness, have spurred the global marketing of Incheon. An examination of the new economic geography literature examines the nature of the new localism based on clusters, involving spatial proximity and concentrated face-to-face transaction, agglomeration economies and local knowledge networks. The territorial expression of these ideas is evident in competitive cities and knowledge cities. Both types of cities are embodied in civic attempts to market Incheon as an international city through the development of the international harbor and international airport and a knowledge city at Songdo. As there is no reference to Incheon in the place marketing literature there is a need to market it as Seoul-Incheon and itemize the Capital Region 's key assets and strategic advantages, including logistics and Pentaport - five ports in one - to build a presentation that attracts foreign direct investment and foreign expertise and provokes an energizing debate on the Korean Government's plan to position the country as the hub for international commerce in Northeast Asia. Critics of this place marketing approach designed to make Incheo'} a prosperously middle-class city suggest more evidence is needed before it can be assumed firms locate in cities as a base for export activities to boost their competitiveness. Perhaps there is need to give up the preoccupation with the local focus in cluster analysis and give equal attention to global connections.

“Internet of things” is a broad term used to describe network connectivity to physical objects. Called connectable or smart objects, they are embedded in electronic circuits and software that make them capable of detecting, collecting and transmitting data and information. This paper aims to examine the influence of the attributes of “internet of things” products in the functional and emotional experience of purchase intention.

The study used a model adapted from Yaping et al. (2014), with adjustment for the constructs “emotional experience”, “functional experience” and “purchase intention”. The survey consisted of a sample of 747 valid questionnaires regarding users of “internet of things” products, through a structured questionnaire with 36 assertions, which were answered based on the Likert scale. The quantitative research approach followed an exploratory descriptive phase followed by the application of structural equation modeling.

Results validated most of the relationships of the model, with high levels of significance. In addition, there was a greater influence of emotional experience than functional on purchase intention for the selected sample, which mainly consisted of young people.

In short, the study confirmed the statistical significance of the structural paths, indicating that the proposed model is consistent, and with an appropriate adjustment can be applied in future research.