• Title/Summary/Keyword: Classification Framework

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Ecoclimatic Map over North-East Asia Using SPOT/VEGETATION 10-day Synthesis Data (SPOT/VEGETATION NDVI 자료를 이용한 동북아시아의 생태기후지도)

  • Park Youn-Young;Han Kyung-Soo
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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    • v.8 no.2
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    • pp.86-96
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    • 2006
  • Ecoclimap-1, a new complete surface parameter global database at a 1-km resolution, was previously presented. It is intended to be used to initialize the soil-vegetation- atmosphere transfer schemes in meteorological and climate models. Surface parameters in the Ecoclimap-1 database are provided in the form of a per-class value by an ecoclimatic base map from a simple merging of land cover and climate maps. The principal objective of this ecoclimatic map is to consider intra-class variability of life cycle that the usual land cover map cannot describe. Although the ecoclimatic map considering land cover and climate is used, the intra-class variability was still too high inside some classes. In this study, a new strategy is defined; the idea is to use the information contained in S10 NDVI SPOT/VEGETATION profiles to split a land cover into more homogeneous sub-classes. This utilizes an intra-class unsupervised sub-clustering methodology instead of simple merging. This study was performed to provide a new ecolimatic map over Northeast Asia in the framework of Ecoclimap-2 global database construction for surface parameters. We used the University of Maryland's 1km Global Land Cover Database (UMD) and a climate map to determine the initial number of clusters for intra-class sub-clustering. An unsupervised classification process using six years of NDVI profiles allows the discrimination of different behavior for each land cover class. We checked the spatial coherence of the classes and, if necessary, carried out an aggregation step of the clusters having a similar NDVI time series profile. From the mapping system, 29 ecosystems resulted for the study area. In terms of climate-related studies, this new ecosystem map may be useful as a base map to construct an Ecoclimap-2 database and to improve the surface climatology quality in the climate model.

Disappearance of Hysteria(Conversion Disorder) and the Evolutionary Brain Discord Reaction Theory (히스테리아(전환장애)의 소실과 진화적 뇌신경 부조화 반응 가설)

  • Song, Ji Young
    • Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.28-42
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    • 2016
  • Objectives : The author tried to find out reasons why and how hysteria(and conversion disorder) patient numbers, which were so prevalent even a few decades ago, have decreased and the phenotype of symptoms have changed. Methods : The number of visiting patients diagnosed with conversion disorder and their phenotype of symptoms were investigated through chart reviews in a psychiatric department of a University hospital for the last 12 years. Additionally, the characteristics of conversion disorder patients visiting the emergency room for last 2 years were also reviewed. Those results were compared with previous research results even if it seemed to be an indirect comparisons. The research relied on Briquet P. and Charcot JM's established factors of the vicissitudes of hysteria(and conversion disorder) which has been the framework for more than one hundred and fifty years since hysteria has been investigated. Results : The author found decreased numbers and changes of the phenotype of the hysteria patients(and conversion disorder) over the last several decades. The decreased numbers and changes of the symptoms of those seemed to be partly due to several issues. These issues include the development of the diagnostic techniques to identify organic causes of hysteria, repeated changes to the symptom descriptions and diagnostic classification, changes of the brain nervous functions in response to negative emotions, and the influence of human evolution. Conclusions : The author proposed that the evolutionary brain discord reaction theory explains the causes of disappearance of and changes to symptoms of hysteria(conversion disorder). Most patients with hysteria(conversion disorder) have been diagnosed in the neurological department. For providing more appropriate treatment and minimizing physical disabilities to those patients, psychiatrists should have a major role in cooperating not only with primary care physicians but with neurologists. The term 'hysteria' which had been used long ago should be revived and used as a term to describe diseases such as somatic symptom disorder, functional neurological symptoms, somatization, and somatoform disorders, all of which represent almost the same vague concept as hysteria.

Change in Concepts and Status of Park and Green Space in Urban Planning Documents of Gyeongseong (경성부 도시계획서 상의 공원녹지 개념과 현황의 변화 양상)

  • Cho, Seho;Kim, Youngmin
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.47 no.2
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    • pp.117-132
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    • 2019
  • The study examines the significance and limits of modern park planning by analyzing major planning documents of Gyeongseong in the Japanese colonial era. Among seven selected documents from 1925 to 1940, which show the contents related with park planning, documents of 1930 and 1940 presented the official park plan of Gyeongseong. By the 1920s, the park plan was not a major concern in urban planning of Gyeongseong; however, as the planning law as enacted in 1934, the park plan legally became a part of the official master planning process in the 1930s. In 1940, the most comprehensive park plan for Gyeongseong was published. In the beginning of modern urban planning, a park was mainly perceived as a sanitation utility. From the 1920s to the 1930s, the park planning system was significantly improved including systemic classification of parks, guideline development considering spatial planning, and introduction of a concept of infra-structural green space. Despite of the improvement in the park planning, the actual quantity of the overall green spaces barely changed and there was a huge discrepancy between the planning ideal and the reality. The Gyeongseong stadium was the only facility newly built in the 1920s, and only two parks were constructed in the 1930s. The plan to build 38 new parks in the 1930, and 140 in the 1940 was barely realized. However, there were efforts to improve parks and green spaces of Gyeongseong: Such as appropriating natural forest as parks, designating royal palaces as parks, and focusing on constructing smaller scale children's parks. Even though the ideal plan could not be fully implemented due to the war time situation and tight budget, the park system of Gyeongseong provided the framework of park planning of Seoul after the independence.

Exploring the 4th Industrial Revolution Technology from the Landscape Industry Perspective (조경산업 관점에서 4차 산업혁명 기술의 탐색)

  • Choi, Ja-Ho;Suh, Joo-Hwan
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.47 no.2
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    • pp.59-75
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    • 2019
  • This study was carried out to explore the 4th Industrial Revolution technology from the perspective of the landscape industry to provide the basic data necessary to increase the virtuous circle value. The 4th Industrial Revolution, the characteristics of the landscape industry and urban regeneration were considered and the methodology was established and studied including the technical classification system suitable for systematic research, which was selected as a framework. First, the 4th Industrial Revolution technology based on digital data was selected, which could be utilized to increase the value of the virtuous circle for the landscape industry. From 'Element Technology Level', and 'Core Technology' such as the Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Robot, 'Peripheral Technology', Virtual or Augmented Reality, Drones, 3D 4D Printing, and 3D Scanning were highlighted as the 4th Industrial Revolution technology. It has been shown that it is possible to increase the value of the virtuous circle when applied at the 'Trend Level', in particular to the landscape industry. The 'System Level' was analyzed as a general-purpose technology, and based on the platform, the level of element technology(computers, and smart devices) was systematically interconnected, and illuminated with the 4th Industrial Revolution technology based on digital data. The application of the 'Trend Level' specific to the landscape industry has been shown to be an effective technology for increasing the virtuous circle values. It is possible to realize all synergistic effects and implementation of the proposed method at the trend level applying the element technology level. Smart gardens, smart parks, etc. have been analyzed to the level they should pursue. It was judged that Smart City, Smart Home, Smart Farm, and Precision Agriculture, Smart Tourism, and Smart Health Care could be highly linked through the collaboration among technologies in adjacent areas at the Trend Level. Additionally, various utilization measures of related technology applied at the Trend Level were highlighted in the process of urban regeneration, public service space creation, maintenance, and public service. In other words, with the realization of ubiquitous computing, Hyper-Connectivity, Hyper-Reality, Hyper-Intelligence, and Hyper-Convergence were proposed, reflecting the basic characteristics of digital technology in the landscape industry can be achieved. It was analyzed that the landscaping industry was effectively accommodating and coordinating with the needs of new characters, education and consulting, as well as existing tasks, even when participating in urban regeneration projects. In particular, it has been shown that the overall landscapig area is effective in increasing the virtuous circle value when it systems the related technology at the trend level by linking maintenance with strategic bridgehead. This is because the industrial structure is effective in distributing data and information produced from various channels. Subsequent research, such as demonstrating the fusion of the 4th Industrial Revolution technology based on the use of digital data in creation, maintenance, and service of actual landscape space is necessary.

Development Process and Methods of Audit and Certification Toolkit for Trustworthy Digital Records Management Agency (신뢰성 있는 전자기록관리기관 감사인증도구 개발에 관한 연구)

  • Rieh, Hae-young;Kim, Ik-han;Yim, Jin-Hee;Shim, Sungbo;Jo, YoonSun;Kim, Hyojin;Woo, Hyunmin
    • The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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    • no.25
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    • pp.3-46
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    • 2010
  • Digital records management is one whole system in which many social and technical elements are interacting. To maintain the trustworthiness, the repository needs periodical audit and certification. Thus, individual electronic records management agency needs toolkit that can be used to self-evaluate their trustworthiness continuously, and self-assess their atmosphere and system to recognize deficiencies. The purpose of this study is development of self-certification toolkit for repositories, which synthesized and analysed such four international standard and best practices as OAIS Reference Model(ISO 14721), TRAC, DRAMBORA, and the assessment report conducted and published by TNA/UKDA, as well as MoRe2 and current national laws and standards. As this paper describes and demonstrate the development process and the framework of this self-certification toolkit, other electronic records management agencies could follow the process and develop their own toolkit reflecting their situation, and utilize the self-assessment results in-house. As a result of this research, 12 areas for assessment were set, which include (organizational) operation management, classification system and master data management, acquisition, registration and description, storage and preservation, disposal, services, providing finding aids, system management, access control and security, monitoring/audit trail/statistics, and risk management. In each 12 area, the process map or functional charts were drawn and business functions were analyzed, and 54 'evaluation criteria', consisted of main business functional unit in each area were drawn. Under each 'evaluation criteria', 208 'specific evaluation criteria', which supposed to be implementable, measurable, and provable for self-evaluation in each area, were drawn. The audit and certification toolkit developed by this research could be used by digital repositories to conduct periodical self-assessment of the organization, which would be used to supplement any found deficiencies and be used to reflect the organizational development strategy.

Current status and prospects of approval of the new technology-based food additives (신기술이용 식품첨가물 국내·외 심사 현황 및 전망)

  • Rhee, Jin-Kyu
    • Food Science and Industry
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    • v.52 no.2
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    • pp.188-201
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    • 2019
  • In the past, food additives were classified and managed as chemical synthetic and natural additives according to the manufacturing process, but it was difficult to confirm the purpose or function of food additives.CODEX, an internationalstandard, classifies food additives according to their practical use, based on scientific evidence on the technical effects of food additives, instead of classifying them as synthetic or natural. Therefore, very recently, the food additive standards in Korea have been completely revised in accordance with these global trends. Currently, the classification system of food additives is divided into 31 uses to specify their functions and purposes instead of manufacturing methods. Newer revision of the legislative framework for defining and expanding the scope of the Act as an enlarged area is required. Competition for preempting new food products based on bio-based technology is very fierce in order to enhance the safety of domestic people and maximize the economic profit of their own countries. In this age of infinite competition, it is very urgent to revise or supplement the current regulations in order to revitalize the domestic food industry and enhance national competitiveness through the development of food additives using new biotechnology. In this report, current laws on domestic food ingredients, food additives and manufacturing methods, and a comparison of domestic and foreign advanced countries' regulations and countermeasures strategies were reviewed to improve national competitiveness of domestic advanced biotechnology-based food additives industry.

A Study on the Management of Manhwa Contents Records and Archives (만화기록 관리 방안 연구)

  • Kim, Seon Mi;Kim, Ik Han
    • The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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    • no.28
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    • pp.35-81
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    • 2011
  • Manhwa is a mass media (to expose all faces of an era such as politics, society, cultures, etc with the methodology of irony, parody, etc). Since the Manhwa records is primary culture infrastructure, it can create the high value-added industry by connecting with fancy, character, game, movie, drama, theme park, advertising business. However, due to lack of active and systematic aquisition system, as precious Manhwa manuscript is being lost every year and the contents hard to preserve such as Manhwa content in the form of electronic records are increasing, the countermeasure of Manhwa contents management is needed desperately. In this study, based on these perceptions, the need of Manhwa records management is examined, and the characteristics and the components of Manhwa records were analyzed. And at the same time, the functions of record management process reflecting the characteristics of Manhwa records were extracted by analyzing various cases of overseas Cartoon Archives. And then, the framework of record-keeping regime was segmented into each of acquisition management service areas and the general Manhwa records archiving strategy, which manages the Manhwa contents records, was established and suggested. The acquired Manhwa content records will secure the context among records and warrant the preservation of records and provide diverse access points by reflecting multi classification and multi-level descriptive element. The Manhwa records completed the intellectual arrangement will be preserved after the conservation in an environment equipped with preservation facilities or preserved using digital format in case of electronic records or when there is potential risk of damaging the records. Since the purpose of the Manhwa records is to use them, the information may be provided to diverse classes of users through the exhibition, the distribution, and the development of archival information content. Since the term of "Manhwa records" is unfamiliar yet and almost no study has been conducted in the perspective of records management, it will be the limit of this study only presenting acquisition strategy, management and service strategy of Manhwa contents and suggesting simple examples. However, if Manhwa records management strategy are possibly introduced practically to Manhwa manuscript repositories through archival approach, it will allow systematic acquisition, preservation, arrangement of Manhwa records and will contribute greatly to form a foundation for future Korean culture contents management.

Digital Archives of Cultural Archetype Contents: Its Problems and Direction (디지털 아카이브즈의 문제점과 방향 - 문화원형 콘텐츠를 중심으로 -)

  • Hahm, Han-Hee;Park, Soon-Cheol
    • Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.23-42
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    • 2006
  • This is a study of the digital archives of Culturecontent.com where 'Cultural Archetype Contents' are currently in service. One of the major purposes of our study is to point out problems in the current system and eventually propose improvements to the digital archives. The government launched a four-year project for developing the cultural archetype content sources and establishing its related business with the hope of enhancing the nation's competitiveness. More specifically, the project focuses on the production of source materials of cultural archetype contents in the subjects of Korea's history. tradition, everyday life. arts and general geographical books. In addition, through this project, the government also intends to establish a proper distribution system of digitalized culture contents and to control copyright issues. This paper analyzes the digital archives system that stores the culture content data that have been produced from 2002 to 2005 and evaluates the current system's weaknesses and strengths. The summary of our findings is as follows. First. the digital archives system does not contain a semantic search engine and therefore its full function is 1agged. Second, similar data is not classified into the same categories but into the different ones, thereby confusing and inconveniencing users. Users who want to find source materials could be disappointed by the current distributive system. Our paper suggests a better system of digital archives with text mining technology which consists of five significant intelligent process-keyword searches, summarization, clustering, classification and topic tracking. Our paper endeavors to develop the best technical environment for preserving and using culture contents data. With the new digitalized upgraded settings, users of culture contents data will discover a world of new knowledge. The technology we introduce in this paper will lead to the highest achievable digital intelligence through a new framework.

A Deep Learning Based Approach to Recognizing Accompanying Status of Smartphone Users Using Multimodal Data (스마트폰 다종 데이터를 활용한 딥러닝 기반의 사용자 동행 상태 인식)

  • Kim, Kilho;Choi, Sangwoo;Chae, Moon-jung;Park, Heewoong;Lee, Jaehong;Park, Jonghun
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.163-177
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    • 2019
  • As smartphones are getting widely used, human activity recognition (HAR) tasks for recognizing personal activities of smartphone users with multimodal data have been actively studied recently. The research area is expanding from the recognition of the simple body movement of an individual user to the recognition of low-level behavior and high-level behavior. However, HAR tasks for recognizing interaction behavior with other people, such as whether the user is accompanying or communicating with someone else, have gotten less attention so far. And previous research for recognizing interaction behavior has usually depended on audio, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi sensors, which are vulnerable to privacy issues and require much time to collect enough data. Whereas physical sensors including accelerometer, magnetic field and gyroscope sensors are less vulnerable to privacy issues and can collect a large amount of data within a short time. In this paper, a method for detecting accompanying status based on deep learning model by only using multimodal physical sensor data, such as an accelerometer, magnetic field and gyroscope, was proposed. The accompanying status was defined as a redefinition of a part of the user interaction behavior, including whether the user is accompanying with an acquaintance at a close distance and the user is actively communicating with the acquaintance. A framework based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) recurrent networks for classifying accompanying and conversation was proposed. First, a data preprocessing method which consists of time synchronization of multimodal data from different physical sensors, data normalization and sequence data generation was introduced. We applied the nearest interpolation to synchronize the time of collected data from different sensors. Normalization was performed for each x, y, z axis value of the sensor data, and the sequence data was generated according to the sliding window method. Then, the sequence data became the input for CNN, where feature maps representing local dependencies of the original sequence are extracted. The CNN consisted of 3 convolutional layers and did not have a pooling layer to maintain the temporal information of the sequence data. Next, LSTM recurrent networks received the feature maps, learned long-term dependencies from them and extracted features. The LSTM recurrent networks consisted of two layers, each with 128 cells. Finally, the extracted features were used for classification by softmax classifier. The loss function of the model was cross entropy function and the weights of the model were randomly initialized on a normal distribution with an average of 0 and a standard deviation of 0.1. The model was trained using adaptive moment estimation (ADAM) optimization algorithm and the mini batch size was set to 128. We applied dropout to input values of the LSTM recurrent networks to prevent overfitting. The initial learning rate was set to 0.001, and it decreased exponentially by 0.99 at the end of each epoch training. An Android smartphone application was developed and released to collect data. We collected smartphone data for a total of 18 subjects. Using the data, the model classified accompanying and conversation by 98.74% and 98.83% accuracy each. Both the F1 score and accuracy of the model were higher than the F1 score and accuracy of the majority vote classifier, support vector machine, and deep recurrent neural network. In the future research, we will focus on more rigorous multimodal sensor data synchronization methods that minimize the time stamp differences. In addition, we will further study transfer learning method that enables transfer of trained models tailored to the training data to the evaluation data that follows a different distribution. It is expected that a model capable of exhibiting robust recognition performance against changes in data that is not considered in the model learning stage will be obtained.

The Effect of Mutual Trust on Relational Performance in Supplier-Buyer Relationships for Business Services Transactions (재상업복무교역중적매매관계중상호신임대관계적효적영향(在商业服务交易中的买卖关系中相互信任对关系绩效的影响))

  • Noh, Jeon-Pyo
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.19 no.4
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    • pp.32-43
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    • 2009
  • Trust has been studied extensively in psychology, economics, and sociology, and its importance has been emphasized not only in marketing, but also in business disciplines in general. Unlike past relationships between suppliers and buyers, which take considerable advantage of private networks and may involve unethical business practices, partnerships between suppliers and buyers are at the core of success for industrial marketing amid intense global competition in the 21st century. A high level of mutual cooperation occurs through an exchange relationship based on trust, which brings long-term benefits, competitive enhancements, and transaction cost reductions, among other benefits, for both buyers and suppliers. In spite of the important role of trust, existing studies in buy-supply situations overlook the role of trust and do not systematically analyze the effect of trust on relational performance. Consequently, an in-depth study that determines the relation of trust to the relational performance between buyers and suppliers of business services is absolutely needed. Business services in this study, which include those supporting the manufacturing industry, are drawing attention as the economic growth engine for the next generation. The Korean government has selected business services as a strategic area for the development of manufacturing sectors. Since the demands for opening business services markets are becoming fiercer, the competitiveness of the business service industry must be promoted now more than ever. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the mutual trust between buyers and suppliers on relational performance. Specifically, this study proposed a theoretical model of trust-relational performance in the transactions of business services and empirically tested the hypotheses delineated from the framework. The study suggests strategic implications based on research findings. Empirical data were collected via multiple methods, including via telephone, mail, and in-person interviews. Sample companies were knowledge-based companies supplying and purchasing business services in Korea. The present study collected data on a dyadic basis. Each pair of sample companies includes a buying company and its corresponding supplying company. Mutual trust was traced for each pair of companies. This study proposes a model of trust-relational performance of buying-supplying for business services. The model consists of trust and its antecedents and consequences. The trust of buyers is classified into trust toward the supplying company and trust toward salespersons. Viewing trust both at the individual level and the organizational level is based on the research of Doney and Cannon (1997). Normally, buyers are the subject of trust, but this study supposes that suppliers are the subjects. Hence, it uniquely focused on the bilateral perspective of perceived risk. In other words, suppliers, like buyers, are the subject of trust since transactions are normally bilateral. From this point of view, suppliers' trust in buyers is as important as buyers' trust in suppliers. The suppliers' trust is influenced by the extent to which it trusts the buying companies and the buyers. This classification of trust using an individual level and an organization level is based on the suggestion of Doney and Cannon (1997). Trust affects the process of supplier selection, which works in a bilateral manner. Suppliers are actively involved in the supplier selection process, working very closely with buyers. In addition, the process is affected by the extent to which each party trusts its partners. The selection process consists of certain steps: recognition, information search, supplier selection, and performance evaluation. As a result of the process, both buyers and suppliers evaluate the performance and take corrective actions on the basis of such outcomes as tangible, intangible, and/or side effects. The measurement of trust used for the present study was developed on the basis of the studies of Mayer, Davis and Schoorman (1995) and Mayer and Davis (1999). Based on their recommendations, the three dimensions of trust used for the study include ability, benevolence, and integrity. The original questions were adjusted to the context of the transactions of business services. For example, a question such as "He/she has professional capabilities" has been changed to "The salesperson showed professional capabilities while we talked about our products." The measurement used for this study differs from those used in previous studies (Rotter 1967; Sullivan and Peterson 1982; Dwyer and Oh 1987). The measurements of the antecedents and consequences of trust used for this study were developed on the basis of Doney and Cannon (1997). The original questions were adjusted to the context of transactions in business services. In particular, questions were developed for both buyers and suppliers to address the following factors: reputation (integrity, customer care, good-will), market standing (company size, market share, positioning in the industry), willingness to customize (product, process, delivery), information sharing (proprietary information, private information), willingness to maintain relationships, perceived professionalism, authority empowerment, buyer-seller similarity, and contact frequency. As a consequential variable of trust, relational performance was measured. Relational performance is classified into tangible effects, intangible effects, and side effects. Tangible effects include financial performance; intangible effects include improvements in relations, network developing, and internal employee satisfaction; side effects include those not included either in the tangible or intangible effects. Three hundred fifty pairs of companies were contacted, and one hundred five pairs of companies responded. After deleting five company pairs because of incomplete responses, one hundred five pairs of companies were used for data analysis. The response ratio of the companies used for data analysis is 30% (105/350), which is above the average response ratio in industrial marketing research. As for the characteristics of the respondent companies, the majority of the companies operate service businesses for both buyers (85.4%) and suppliers (81.8%). The majority of buyers (76%) deal with consumer goods, while the majority of suppliers (70%) deal with industrial goods. This may imply that buyers process the incoming material, parts, and components to produce the finished consumer goods. As indicated by their report of the length of acquaintance with their partners, suppliers appear to have longer business relationships than do buyers. Hypothesis 1 tested the effects of buyer-supplier characteristics on trust. The salesperson's professionalism (t=2.070, p<0.05) and authority empowerment (t=2.328, p<0.05) positively affected buyers' trust toward suppliers. On the other hand, authority empowerment (t=2.192, p<0.05) positively affected supplier trust toward buyers. For both buyers and suppliers, the degree of authority empowerment plays a crucial role in the maintenance of their trust in each other. Hypothesis 2 tested the effects of buyerseller relational characteristics on trust. Buyers tend to trust suppliers, as suppliers make every effort to contact buyers (t=2.212, p<0.05). This tendency has also been shown to be much stronger for suppliers (t=2.591, p<0.01). On the other hand suppliers trust buyers because suppliers perceive buyers as being similar to themselves (t=2.702, p<0.01). This finding confirmed the results of Crosby, Evans, and Cowles (1990), which reported that suppliers and buyers build relationships through regular meetings, either for business or personal matters. Hypothesis 3 tested the effects of trust on perceived risk. It has been found that for both suppliers and buyers the lower is the trust, the higher is the perceived risk (t=-6.621, p<0.01 for buyers; t=-2.437, p<0.05). Interestingly, this tendency has been shown to be much stronger for buyers than for suppliers. One possible explanation for this higher level of perceived risk is that buyers normally perceive higher risks than do suppliers in transactions involving business services. For this reason, it is necessary for suppliers to implement risk reduction strategies for buyers. Hypothesis 4 tested the effects of trust on information searching. It has been found that for both suppliers and buyers, contrary to expectation, trust depends on their partner's reputation (t=2.929, p<0.01 for buyers; t=2.711, p<0.05 for suppliers). This finding shows that suppliers with good reputations tend to be trusted. Prior experience did not show any significant relationship with trust for either buyers or suppliers. Hypothesis 5 tested the effects of trust on supplier/buyer selection. Unlike buyers, suppliers tend to trust buyers when they think that previous transactions with buyers were important (t=2.913 p<0.01). However, this study did not show any significant relationship between source loyalty and the trust of buyers in suppliers. Hypothesis 6 tested the effects of trust on relational performances. For buyers and suppliers, financial performance reportedly improved when they trusted their partners (t=2.301, p<0.05 for buyers; t=3.692, p<0.01 for suppliers). It is interesting that this tendency was much stronger for suppliers than it was for buyers. Similarly, competitiveness was reported to improve when buyers and suppliers trusted their partners (t=3.563, p<0.01 for buyers; t=3.042, p<0.01 for suppliers). For suppliers, efficiency and productivity were reportedly improved when they trusted buyers (t=2.673, p<0.01). Other performance indices showed insignificant relationships with trust. The findings of this study have some strategic implications. First and most importantly, trust-based transactions are beneficial for both suppliers and buyers. As verified in the study, financial performance can be improved through efforts to build and maintain mutual trust. Similarly, competitiveness can be increased through the same kinds of effort. Second, trust-based transactions can facilitate the reduction of perceived risks inherent in the purchasing situation. This finding has implications for both suppliers and buyers. It is generally believed that buyers perceive higher risks in a highly involved purchasing situation. To reduce risks, previous studies have recommended that suppliers devise risk-reducing tactics. Moving beyond these recommendations, the present study uniquely focused on the bilateral perspective of perceived risk. In other words, suppliers are also susceptible to perceived risks, especially when they supply services that require very technical and sophisticated manipulations and maintenance. Consequently, buyers and suppliers must solve problems together in close collaboration. Hence, mutual trust plays a crucial role in the problem-solving process. Third, as found in this study, the more authority a salesperson has, the more he or she can be trusted. This finding is very important with regard to tactics. Building trust is a long-term assignment; however, when mutual trust has not been developed, suppliers can overcome the problems they encounter by empowering a salesperson with the authority to make certain decisions. This finding applies to suppliers as well.

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