• Title/Summary/Keyword: Academic demand

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Introduction of the International Standardization of ISO in the Production and Quality of Herbal Medicines and a Review of Countermeasures (한약재 생산 및 품질부문의 ISO국제표준화 등재현황 소개 및 대응방안 고찰)

  • Kim, Yong Il;Kang, Young Min;Han, Sin-Hee;Hur, Mok;Kim, Young Guk;Chang, Jae Ki
    • Journal of the Korean Society of International Agriculture
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    • v.30 no.4
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    • pp.257-268
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    • 2018
  • Recently, the international standardization of ISO in the field of Oriental Herbal Medicine has been progressing rapidly under the direction of China's promotion. China's intention to promote international standardization is to extend its influence to the world and beyond the domestic market. The Oriental medicine system in East Asia has similar roots in academic terms, but the medicines that can be supplied and received in each country are different and have developed independently. The international standardization of medicinal herbs is expected to function in a direction that weakens such differentiation and independence. From a commercial point of view, international standardization is no different from creating evaluation criteria for oriental medicinal products, and it is expected that its potential impact on domestic and overseas markets and producers will be large. In particular, the international standardization centered on China can lead to favorable evaluation criteria for China, which may further negatively affect the market competitiveness of domestic raw materials, which have been pushed back by Chinese manufacturers. If the domestic production base is weakened, not only will the farmers suffer but the supply and demand of raw materials will also be manipulated, safety management control will be reduced, and the development of oriental herbal products using domestic raw materials will be hurt. Therefore, in the promotion of international standardization, it is necessary not only to reflect the value of Korean herbal medicine but also to provide strategic responses to protect the domestic production base. However, in the case of recent initiatives, there is no precedent in analyzing influence on the production partners and the related industries. In addition, there are few related papers and reports on the subject, so the publicity process has not been done sufficiently. In response to this, this study will examine the countermeasures against the international standardization of herbal medicines through reviewing its present status and evaluating the agenda of the Korean initiative.

Technical and Economical Assessment of Adsorption and Reverse Osmosis for Removal of Ammonia from Groundwater of Kathmandu, Nepal (네팔 카트만두 지하수에서 암모늄 제거를 위한 이온 교환 및 역삼투의 기술 및 경제 평가)

  • Kunwar, Pallavi;Ahn, Jaewuk;Baek, Youngbin;Yoon, Jeyong
    • Journal of Appropriate Technology
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    • v.6 no.2
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    • pp.174-182
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    • 2020
  • The permissible limit of ammonia concentration in drinking water recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) is 1.5 mg/L. However, in the case of groundwater in Kathmandu, Nepal, the concentration of ammonia fluctuates dramatically from 0 to 120 mg/L at different locations and groundwater depths (Chapagain et al., 2010). Such a high concentration of ammonia causes aesthetic problems in drinking water, such as bad taste and odor; hence, prior treatment is required. In Kathmandu, half of the population utilizes groundwater, which is also employed for drinking water, but owing to a lack of knowledge of household water filters, residents of Kathmandu tend to depend greatly on commercially available jar water than on the installation of a proper household filtration method. Thus, in our study, we employed adsorption and reverse osmosis (RO) as two of the most viable decentralized/household treatment options to address the issue of high contamination of ammonia in drinking water. We evaluated their performances from technical and the economic perspectives using synthetically prepared groundwater at varying ammonia concentrations (50 mg/L and 15 mg/L). Consequently, it was found that adsorption via ion exchange (IE) resin was a comparatively better ammonia removal technology than RO, with 100% ammonia removal even after regeneration; the removal by RO was limited to up to 90%. Furthermore, our study suggests that IE is the most suitable ammonia removal technology for places with lower water consumption (< 50 L/day), whereas RO seemed to be a cost-effective technology for places with higher water consumption, where the daily water demand exceeds 50 L/day. Lastly, these assessments suggest that installing a suitable household treatment system would be more efficient and sustainable from both technical and economic points of view than purchasing commercially bottled water.

A Study on Industry-specific Sustainability Strategy: Analyzing ESG Reports and News Articles (산업별 지속가능경영 전략 고찰: ESG 보고서와 뉴스 기사를 중심으로)

  • WonHee Kim;YoungOk Kwon
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.29 no.3
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    • pp.287-316
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    • 2023
  • As global energy crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have emerged as social issues, there is a growing demand for companies to move away from profit-centric business models and embrace sustainable management that balances environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. ESG activities of companies vary across industries, and industry-specific weights are applied in ESG evaluations. Therefore, it is important to develop strategic management approaches that reflect the characteristics of each industry and the importance of each ESG factor. Additionally, with the stance of strengthened focus on ESG disclosures, specific guidelines are needed to identify and report on sustainable management activities of domestic companies. To understand corporate sustainability strategies, analyzing ESG reports and news articles by industry can help identify strategic characteristics in specific industries. However, each company has its own unique strategies and report structures, making it difficult to grasp detailed trends or action items. In our study, we analyzed ESG reports (2019-2021) and news articles (2019-2022) of six companies in the 'Finance,' 'Manufacturing,' and 'IT' sectors to examine the sustainability strategies of leading domestic ESG companies. Text mining techniques such as keyword frequency analysis and topic modeling were applied to identify industry-specific, ESG element-specific management strategies and issues. The analysis revealed that in the 'Finance' sector, customer-centric management strategies and efforts to promote an inclusive culture within and outside the company were prominent. Strategies addressing climate change, such as carbon neutrality and expanding green finance, were also emphasized. In the 'Manufacturing' sector, the focus was on creating sustainable communities through occupational health and safety issues, sustainable supply chain management, low-carbon technology development, and eco-friendly investments to achieve carbon neutrality. In the 'IT' sector, there was a tendency to focus on technological innovation and digital responsibility to enhance social value through technology. Furthermore, the key issues identified in the ESG factors were as follows: under the 'Environmental' element, issues such as greenhouse gas and carbon emission management, industry-specific eco-friendly activities, and green partnerships were identified. Under the 'Social' element, key issues included social contribution activities through stakeholder engagement, supporting the growth and coexistence of members and partner companies, and enhancing customer value through stable service provision. Under the 'Governance' element, key issues were identified as strengthening board independence through the appointment of outside directors, risk management and communication for sustainable growth, and establishing transparent governance structures. The exploration of the relationship between ESG disclosures in reports and ESG issues in news articles revealed that the sustainability strategies disclosed in reports were aligned with the issues related to ESG disclosed in news articles. However, there was a tendency to strengthen ESG activities for prevention and improvement after negative media coverage that could have a negative impact on corporate image. Additionally, environmental issues were mentioned more frequently in news articles compared to ESG reports, with environmental-related keywords being emphasized in the 'Finance' sector in the reports. Thus, ESG reports and news articles shared some similarities in content due to the sharing of information sources. However, the impact of media coverage influenced the emphasis on specific sustainability strategies, and the extent of mentioning environmental issues varied across documents. Based on our study, the following contributions were derived. From a practical perspective, companies need to consider their characteristics and establish sustainability strategies that align with their capabilities and situations. From an academic perspective, unlike previous studies on ESG strategies, we present a subdivided methodology through analysis considering the industry-specific characteristics of companies.

Anti-religious Movements in Contemporary Korea (현대 한국의 안티 종교운동)

  • Kang, Donku
    • Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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    • v.29
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    • pp.241-278
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    • 2017
  • This study aims to classify broadscale anti-religious movements in Korea based on critical public sentiment and analyze the meanings of these movements. To carry out the research, global religious changes that have occurred in modern times were closely looked into first. The world religions have had an influence on the world's religious awareness. As a result, they intend to acquire universality on their own individual grounds while keeping consistency with the past. This phenomenon used to appear to retain the identity, recreate tradition, transform itself to fit in the present times, pursue innovation, or even become overshadowed by other forms of thought such as when religions have collided with nationalism. How does Korean society perceive the changes that emerged in world religions? In general, the circumstances that Korea faces in this era tend to manifest themselves via the Internet, multimedia, and Youtube wherein they sound off on religion and this includes criticism of Christianity, demand for reformation, attack on minor religions, pro-reform academic circles and media, and the propagation of anti-theism. Criticism of religion is interpreted as an anti-religious movement. The secularism and anti-theism brought up by some Western scholars and critical theories of religion from scientific or historical perspectives are being spread through bookstores. Christianity is prone to reflecting on itself and trying to emphasizing a meta-religious spirituality. This in short, characterizes anti-religious movements in Korea. Indeed, criticism against particular religions has also emerged in the past. However, anti-religious movements that have recently come into existence in Korea are in some regards unprecedented when compared to that of the past in terms of their patterns and context. Especially, the active anti-Christianity movement in general is definitely a new phenomenon. This research mainly focused on Christianity, but on-going anti-religious movements will be a major topic for further research that aims to understand the religious changes unfolding in Korea.

Video Analysis System for Action and Emotion Detection by Object with Hierarchical Clustering based Re-ID (계층적 군집화 기반 Re-ID를 활용한 객체별 행동 및 표정 검출용 영상 분석 시스템)

  • Lee, Sang-Hyun;Yang, Seong-Hun;Oh, Seung-Jin;Kang, Jinbeom
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.28 no.1
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    • pp.89-106
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    • 2022
  • Recently, the amount of video data collected from smartphones, CCTVs, black boxes, and high-definition cameras has increased rapidly. According to the increasing video data, the requirements for analysis and utilization are increasing. Due to the lack of skilled manpower to analyze videos in many industries, machine learning and artificial intelligence are actively used to assist manpower. In this situation, the demand for various computer vision technologies such as object detection and tracking, action detection, emotion detection, and Re-ID also increased rapidly. However, the object detection and tracking technology has many difficulties that degrade performance, such as re-appearance after the object's departure from the video recording location, and occlusion. Accordingly, action and emotion detection models based on object detection and tracking models also have difficulties in extracting data for each object. In addition, deep learning architectures consist of various models suffer from performance degradation due to bottlenects and lack of optimization. In this study, we propose an video analysis system consists of YOLOv5 based DeepSORT object tracking model, SlowFast based action recognition model, Torchreid based Re-ID model, and AWS Rekognition which is emotion recognition service. Proposed model uses single-linkage hierarchical clustering based Re-ID and some processing method which maximize hardware throughput. It has higher accuracy than the performance of the re-identification model using simple metrics, near real-time processing performance, and prevents tracking failure due to object departure and re-emergence, occlusion, etc. By continuously linking the action and facial emotion detection results of each object to the same object, it is possible to efficiently analyze videos. The re-identification model extracts a feature vector from the bounding box of object image detected by the object tracking model for each frame, and applies the single-linkage hierarchical clustering from the past frame using the extracted feature vectors to identify the same object that failed to track. Through the above process, it is possible to re-track the same object that has failed to tracking in the case of re-appearance or occlusion after leaving the video location. As a result, action and facial emotion detection results of the newly recognized object due to the tracking fails can be linked to those of the object that appeared in the past. On the other hand, as a way to improve processing performance, we introduce Bounding Box Queue by Object and Feature Queue method that can reduce RAM memory requirements while maximizing GPU memory throughput. Also we introduce the IoF(Intersection over Face) algorithm that allows facial emotion recognized through AWS Rekognition to be linked with object tracking information. The academic significance of this study is that the two-stage re-identification model can have real-time performance even in a high-cost environment that performs action and facial emotion detection according to processing techniques without reducing the accuracy by using simple metrics to achieve real-time performance. The practical implication of this study is that in various industrial fields that require action and facial emotion detection but have many difficulties due to the fails in object tracking can analyze videos effectively through proposed model. Proposed model which has high accuracy of retrace and processing performance can be used in various fields such as intelligent monitoring, observation services and behavioral or psychological analysis services where the integration of tracking information and extracted metadata creates greate industrial and business value. In the future, in order to measure the object tracking performance more precisely, there is a need to conduct an experiment using the MOT Challenge dataset, which is data used by many international conferences. We will investigate the problem that the IoF algorithm cannot solve to develop an additional complementary algorithm. In addition, we plan to conduct additional research to apply this model to various fields' dataset related to intelligent video analysis.

A Data-based Sales Forecasting Support System for New Businesses (데이터기반의 신규 사업 매출추정방법 연구: 지능형 사업평가 시스템을 중심으로)

  • Jun, Seung-Pyo;Sung, Tae-Eung;Choi, San
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.1-22
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    • 2017
  • Analysis of future business or investment opportunities, such as business feasibility analysis and company or technology valuation, necessitate objective estimation on the relevant market and expected sales. While there are various ways to classify the estimation methods of these new sales or market size, they can be broadly divided into top-down and bottom-up approaches by benchmark references. Both methods, however, require a lot of resources and time. Therefore, we propose a data-based intelligent demand forecasting system to support evaluation of new business. This study focuses on analogical forecasting, one of the traditional quantitative forecasting methods, to develop sales forecasting intelligence systems for new businesses. Instead of simply estimating sales for a few years, we hereby propose a method of estimating the sales of new businesses by using the initial sales and the sales growth rate of similar companies. To demonstrate the appropriateness of this method, it is examined whether the sales performance of recently established companies in the same industry category in Korea can be utilized as a reference variable for the analogical forecasting. In this study, we examined whether the phenomenon of "mean reversion" was observed in the sales of start-up companies in order to identify errors in estimating sales of new businesses based on industry sales growth rate and whether the differences in business environment resulting from the different timing of business launch affects growth rate. We also conducted analyses of variance (ANOVA) and latent growth model (LGM) to identify differences in sales growth rates by industry category. Based on the results, we proposed industry-specific range and linear forecasting models. This study analyzed the sales of only 150,000 start-up companies in Korea in the last 10 years, and identified that the average growth rate of start-ups in Korea is higher than the industry average in the first few years, but it shortly shows the phenomenon of mean-reversion. In addition, although the start-up founding juncture affects the sales growth rate, it is not high significantly and the sales growth rate can be different according to the industry classification. Utilizing both this phenomenon and the performance of start-up companies in relevant industries, we have proposed two models of new business sales based on the sales growth rate. The method proposed in this study makes it possible to objectively and quickly estimate the sales of new business by industry, and it is expected to provide reference information to judge whether sales estimated by other methods (top-down/bottom-up approach) pass the bounds from ordinary cases in relevant industry. In particular, the results of this study can be practically used as useful reference information for business feasibility analysis or technical valuation for entering new business. When using the existing top-down method, it can be used to set the range of market size or market share. As well, when using the bottom-up method, the estimation period may be set in accordance of the mean reverting period information for the growth rate. The two models proposed in this study will enable rapid and objective sales estimation of new businesses, and are expected to improve the efficiency of business feasibility analysis and technology valuation process by developing intelligent information system. In academic perspectives, it is a very important discovery that the phenomenon of 'mean reversion' is found among start-up companies out of general small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as stable companies such as listed companies. In particular, there exists the significance of this study in that over the large-scale data the mean reverting phenomenon of the start-up firms' sales growth rate is different from that of the listed companies, and that there is a difference in each industry. If a linear model, which is useful for estimating the sales of a specific company, is highly likely to be utilized in practical aspects, it can be explained that the range model, which can be used for the estimation method of the sales of the unspecified firms, is highly likely to be used in political aspects. It implies that when analyzing the business activities and performance of a specific industry group or enterprise group there is political usability in that the range model enables to provide references and compare them by data based start-up sales forecasting system.

Study on 3D Printer Suitable for Character Merchandise Production Training (캐릭터 상품 제작 교육에 적합한 3D프린터 연구)

  • Kwon, Dong-Hyun
    • Cartoon and Animation Studies
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    • s.41
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    • pp.455-486
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    • 2015
  • The 3D printing technology, which started from the patent registration in 1986, was a technology that did not attract attention other than from some companies, due to the lack of awareness at the time. However, today, as expiring patents are appearing after the passage of 20 years, the price of 3D printers have decreased to the level of allowing purchase by individuals and the technology is attracting attention from industries, in addition to the general public, such as by naturally accepting 3D and to share 3D data, based on the generalization of online information exchange and improvement of computer performance. The production capability of 3D printers, which is based on digital data enabling digital transmission and revision and supplementation or production manufacturing not requiring molding, may provide a groundbreaking change to the process of manufacturing, and may attain the same effect in the character merchandise sector. Using a 3D printer is becoming a necessity in various figure merchandise productions which are in the forefront of the kidult culture that is recently gaining attention, and when predicting the demand by the industrial sites related to such character merchandise and when considering the more inexpensive price due to the expiration of patents and sharing of technology, expanding opportunities and sectors of employment and cultivating manpower that are able to engage in further creative work seems as a must, by introducing education courses cultivating manpower that can utilize 3D printers at the education field. However, there are limits in the information that can be obtained when seeking to introduce 3D printers in school education. Because the press or information media only mentions general information, such as the growth of the industrial size or prosperous future value of 3D printers, the research level of the academic world also remains at the level of organizing contents in an introductory level, such as by analyzing data on industrial size, analyzing the applicable scope in the industry, or introducing the printing technology. Such lack of information gives rise to problems at the education site. There would be no choice but to incur temporal and opportunity expenses, since the technology would only be able to be used after going through trials and errors, by first introducing the technology without examining the actual information, such as through comparing the strengths and weaknesses. In particular, if an expensive equipment introduced does not suit the features of school education, the loss costs would be significant. This research targeted general users without a technology-related basis, instead of specialists. By comparing the strengths and weaknesses and analyzing the problems and matters requiring notice upon use, pursuant to the representative technologies, instead of merely introducing the 3D printer technology as had been done previously, this research sought to explain the types of features that a 3D printer should have, in particular, when required in education relating to the development of figure merchandise as an optional cultural contents at cartoon-related departments, and sought to provide information that can be of practical help when seeking to provide education using 3D printers in the future. In the main body, the technologies were explained by making a classification based on a new perspective, such as the buttress method, types of materials, two-dimensional printing method, and three-dimensional printing method. The reason for selecting such different classification method was to easily allow mutual comparison of the practical problems upon use. In conclusion, the most suitable 3D printer was selected as the printer in the FDM method, which is comparatively cheap and requires low repair and maintenance cost and low materials expenses, although rather insufficient in the quality of outputs, and a recommendation was made, in addition, to select an entity that is supportive in providing technical support.

The Jurisdictional Precedent Analysis of Medical Dispute in Dental Field (치과임상영역에서 발생된 의료분쟁의 판례분석)

  • Kwon, Byung-Ki;Ahn, Hyoung-Joon;Kang, Jin-Kyu;Kim, Chong-Youl;Choi, Jong-Hoon
    • Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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    • v.31 no.4
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    • pp.283-296
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    • 2006
  • Along with the development of scientific technologies, health care has been growing remarkably, and as the social life quality improves with increasing interest in health, the demand for medical service is rapidly increasing. However, medical accident and medical dispute also are rapidly increasing due to various factors such as, increasing sense of people's right, lack of understanding in the nature of medical practice, over expectation on medical technique, commercialize medical supply system, moral degeneracy and unawareness of medical jurisprudence by doctors, widespread trend of mutual distrust, and lack of systematized device for solution of medical dispute. This study analysed 30 cases of civil suit in the year between 1994 to 2004, which were selected among the medical dispute cases in dental field with the judgement collected from organizations related to dentistry and department of oral medicine, Yonsei university dental hospital. The following results were drawn from the analyses: 1. The distribution of year showed rapid increase of medical dispute after the year 2000. 2. In the types of medical dispute, suit associated with tooth extraction took 36.7% of all. 3. As for the cause of medical dispute, uncomfortable feeling and dissatisfaction with the treatment showed 36.7%, death and permanent damage showed 16.7% each. 4. Winning the suit, compulsory mediation and recommendation for settlement took 60.0% of judgement result for the plaintiff. 5. For the type of medical organization in relation to medical dispute, 60.0% was found to be the private dental clinics, and 30.0% was university dental hospitals. 6. For the level of trial, dispute that progressed above 2 or 3 trials was of 30.0%. 7. For the amount of claim for damage, the claim amounting between 50 million to 100 million won was of 36.7%, and that of more than 100 million won was 13.3%, and in case of the judgement amount, the amount ranging from 10 million to 30 million won was of 40.0%, and that of more than 100 million won was of 6.7%. 8. For the number of dentist involved in the suit, 26.7% was of 2 or more dentists. 9. For the amount of time spent until the judgement, 46.7% took 11 to 20 months, and 36.7% took 21 to 30 months. 10. For medical malpractice, 46.7% was judged to be guilty, and 70% of the cases had undergone medical judgement or verification of the case by specialists during the process of the suit. 11. In the lost cases of doctors(18 cases), 72.2% was due to violence of carefulness in practice and 16.7% was due to missing of explanation to patient. Medical disputes occurring in the field of dentistry are usually of relatively less risky cases. Hence, the importance of explanation to patient is emphasized, and since the levels of patient satisfaction are subjective, improvement of the relationship between the patient and the dentist and recovery of autonomy within the group dentist are essential in addition to the reduction of technical malpractice. Moreover, management measure against the medical dispute should be set up through complement of the current doctors and hospitals medical malpractice insurance which is being conducted irrationally, and establishment of system in which education as well as consultation for medical disputes lead by the group of dental clinicians and academic scholars are accessible.

A Study on the Regional Characteristics of Broadband Internet Termination by Coupling Type using Spatial Information based Clustering (공간정보기반 클러스터링을 이용한 초고속인터넷 결합유형별 해지의 지역별 특성연구)

  • Park, Janghyuk;Park, Sangun;Kim, Wooju
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.23 no.3
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    • pp.45-67
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    • 2017
  • According to the Internet Usage Research performed in 2016, the number of internet users and the internet usage have been increasing. Smartphone, compared to the computer, is taking a more dominant role as an internet access device. As the number of smart devices have been increasing, some views that the demand on high-speed internet will decrease; however, Despite the increase in smart devices, the high-speed Internet market is expected to slightly increase for a while due to the speedup of Giga Internet and the growth of the IoT market. As the broadband Internet market saturates, telecom operators are over-competing to win new customers, but if they know the cause of customer exit, it is expected to reduce marketing costs by more effective marketing. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between the cancellation rates of telecommunication products and the factors affecting them by combining the data of 3 cities, Anyang, Gunpo, and Uiwang owned by a telecommunication company with the regional data from KOSIS(Korean Statistical Information Service). Especially, we focused on the assumption that the neighboring areas affect the distribution of the cancellation rates by coupling type, so we conducted spatial cluster analysis on the 3 types of cancellation rates of each region using the spatial analysis tool, SatScan, and analyzed the various relationships between the cancellation rates and the regional data. In the analysis phase, we first summarized the characteristics of the clusters derived by combining spatial information and the cancellation data. Next, based on the results of the cluster analysis, Variance analysis, Correlation analysis, and regression analysis were used to analyze the relationship between the cancellation rates data and regional data. Based on the results of analysis, we proposed appropriate marketing methods according to the region. Unlike previous studies on regional characteristics analysis, In this study has academic differentiation in that it performs clustering based on spatial information so that the regions with similar cancellation types on adjacent regions. In addition, there have been few studies considering the regional characteristics in the previous study on the determinants of subscription to high-speed Internet services, In this study, we tried to analyze the relationship between the clusters and the regional characteristics data, assuming that there are different factors depending on the region. In this study, we tried to get more efficient marketing method considering the characteristics of each region in the new subscription and customer management in high-speed internet. As a result of analysis of variance, it was confirmed that there were significant differences in regional characteristics among the clusters, Correlation analysis shows that there is a stronger correlation the clusters than all region. and Regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between the cancellation rate and the regional characteristics. As a result, we found that there is a difference in the cancellation rate depending on the regional characteristics, and it is possible to target differentiated marketing each region. As the biggest limitation of this study and it was difficult to obtain enough data to carry out the analyze. In particular, it is difficult to find the variables that represent the regional characteristics in the Dong unit. In other words, most of the data was disclosed to the city rather than the Dong unit, so it was limited to analyze it in detail. The data such as income, card usage information and telecommunications company policies or characteristics that could affect its cause are not available at that time. The most urgent part for a more sophisticated analysis is to obtain the Dong unit data for the regional characteristics. Direction of the next studies be target marketing based on the results. It is also meaningful to analyze the effect of marketing by comparing and analyzing the difference of results before and after target marketing. It is also effective to use clusters based on new subscription data as well as cancellation data.

Understanding User Motivations and Behavioral Process in Creating Video UGC: Focus on Theory of Implementation Intentions (Video UGC 제작 동기와 행위 과정에 관한 이해: 구현의도이론 (Theory of Implementation Intentions)의 적용을 중심으로)

  • Kim, Hyung-Jin;Song, Se-Min;Lee, Ho-Geun
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.19 no.4
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    • pp.125-148
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    • 2009
  • UGC(User Generated Contents) is emerging as the center of e-business in the web 2.0 era. The trend reflects changing roles of users in production and consumption of contents on websites and helps us to understand new strategies of websites such as web portals and social network websites. Nowadays, we consume contents created by other non-professional users for both utilitarian (e.g., knowledge) and hedonic values (e.g., fun). Also, contents produced by ourselves (e.g., photo, video) are posted on websites so that our friends, family, and even the public can consume those contents. This means that non-professionals, who used to be passive audience in the past, are now creating contents and share their UGCs with others in the Web. Accessible media, tools, and applications have also reduced difficulty and complexity in the process of creating contents. Realizing that users create plenty of materials which are very interesting to other people, media companies (i.e., web portals and social networking websites) are adjusting their strategies and business models accordingly. Increased demand of UGC may lead to website visits which are the source of benefits from advertising. Therefore, they put more efforts into making their websites open platforms where UGCs can be created and shared among users without technical and methodological difficulties. Many websites have increasingly adopted new technologies such as RSS and openAPI. Some have even changed the structure of web pages so that UGC can be seen several times to more visitors. This mainstream of UGCs on websites indicates that acquiring more UGCs and supporting participating users have become important things to media companies. Although those companies need to understand why general users have shown increasing interest in creating and posting contents and what is important to them in the process of productions, few research results exist in this area to address these issues. Also, behavioral process in creating video UGCs has not been explored enough for the public to fully understand it. With a solid theoretical background (i.e., theory of implementation intentions), parts of our proposed research model mirror the process of user behaviors in creating video contents, which consist of intention to upload, intention to edit, edit, and upload. In addition, in order to explain how those behavioral intentions are developed, we investigated influences of antecedents from three motivational perspectives (i.e., intrinsic, editing software-oriented, and website's network effect-oriented). First, from the intrinsic motivation perspective, we studied the roles of self-expression, enjoyment, and social attention in forming intention to edit with preferred editing software or in forming intention to upload video contents to preferred websites. Second, we explored the roles of editing software for non-professionals to edit video contents, in terms of how it makes production process easier and how it is useful in the process. Finally, from the website characteristic-oriented perspective, we investigated the role of a website's network externality as an antecedent of users' intention to upload to preferred websites. The rationale is that posting UGCs on websites are basically social-oriented behaviors; thus, users prefer a website with the high level of network externality for contents uploading. This study adopted a longitudinal research design; we emailed recipients twice with different questionnaires. Guided by invitation email including a link to web survey page, respondents answered most of questions except edit and upload at the first survey. They were asked to provide information about UGC editing software they mainly used and preferred website to upload edited contents, and then asked to answer related questions. For example, before answering questions regarding network externality, they individually had to declare the name of the website to which they would be willing to upload. At the end of the first survey, we asked if they agreed to participate in the corresponding survey in a month. During twenty days, 333 complete responses were gathered in the first survey. One month later, we emailed those recipients to ask for participation in the second survey. 185 of the 333 recipients (about 56 percentages) answered in the second survey. Personalized questionnaires were provided for them to remind the names of editing software and website that they reported in the first survey. They answered the degree of editing with the software and the degree of uploading video contents to the website for the past one month. To all recipients of the two surveys, exchange tickets for books (about 5,000~10,000 Korean Won) were provided according to the frequency of participations. PLS analysis shows that user behaviors in creating video contents are well explained by the theory of implementation intentions. In fact, intention to upload significantly influences intention to edit in the process of accomplishing the goal behavior, upload. These relationships show the behavioral process that has been unclear in users' creating video contents for uploading and also highlight important roles of editing in the process. Regarding the intrinsic motivations, the results illustrated that users are likely to edit their own video contents in order to express their own intrinsic traits such as thoughts and feelings. Also, their intention to upload contents in preferred website is formed because they want to attract much attention from others through contents reflecting themselves. This result well corresponds to the roles of the website characteristic, namely, network externality. Based on the PLS results, the network effect of a website has significant influence on users' intention to upload to the preferred website. This indicates that users with social attention motivations are likely to upload their video UGCs to a website whose network size is big enough to realize their motivations easily. Finally, regarding editing software characteristic-oriented motivations, making exclusively-provided editing software more user-friendly (i.e., easy of use, usefulness) plays an important role in leading to users' intention to edit. Our research contributes to both academic scholars and professionals. For researchers, our results show that the theory of implementation intentions is well applied to the video UGC context and very useful to explain the relationship between implementation intentions and goal behaviors. With the theory, this study theoretically and empirically confirmed that editing is a different and important behavior from uploading behavior, and we tested the behavioral process of ordinary users in creating video UGCs, focusing on significant motivational factors in each step. In addition, parts of our research model are also rooted in the solid theoretical background such as the technology acceptance model and the theory of network externality to explain the effects of UGC-related motivations. For practitioners, our results suggest that media companies need to restructure their websites so that users' needs for social interaction through UGC (e.g., self-expression, social attention) are well met. Also, we emphasize strategic importance of the network size of websites in leading non-professionals to upload video contents to the websites. Those websites need to find a way to utilize the network effects for acquiring more UGCs. Finally, we suggest that some ways to improve editing software be considered as a way to increase edit behavior which is a very important process leading to UGC uploading.