• Analyses & Alternatives
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.31-69
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• 2018

This study examines the role of science in resolving trade disputes. After the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011 that not only jeopardized the people of Japan, but also put the safety of an entire region at risk, the Republic of Korea (Korea) has imposed import bans as well as increased testing and certification requirements for radioactive material on Japanese food products. Japan has challenged these restrictions at the World Trade Organizations Dispute Settlement Body (DSB). This study aims to explain how international trade agreements and previous DSB rulings have dealt with different scientific viewpoints provided by confronting parties. In doing so, it will contrast the viewpoints espoused by Korean and Japanese representatives, and then analyzes the most similar case studies previously ruled on by the DSB, including the case of beef hormones and the case of genetically modified crops including biotech corn, both between the United States and the European Communities (EC). This study finds that science is largely subordinate to national interests in the case of state decision-making within the dispute settlement processes, and science has largely been relegated to a supportive role. Due to the ambiguity and lack of truly decisive decisions in the Appellate Body in science-based trade disputes, this study concludes that the Appellate Body avoids taking a firm scientific position in cases where science is still inconclusive in any capacity. Due to the panel's unwillingness to establish expert review boards as it has the power to do, instead favoring an individual-based system so that all viewpoints can be heard, it has also developed a system with its own unique weaknesses. Similar to any court of law in which each opposing party defends its own interests, each side brings whatever scientific evidence it can to defend its position, incentivizing them to disregard scientific conclusions unfavorable to their position. With so many questions that can arise, combined with the problems of evolving science, questions of risk, and social concerns in democratic society, it is no wonder that the panel views scientific information provided by the experts as secondary to the legal and procedural issues. Despite being ruled against the EC on legal issues in two previous cases, the EC essentially won both times because the panel did not address whether its science was correct or not. This failure to conclusively resolve a debate over whose science is more scientific enabled the EC to simply fix the procedural issues, while continuing to enforce trade restrictions based on their scientific evidence. Based on the analysis of the two cases of disputes, Korea may also find itself guilty of imposing an unwarranted moratorium on Japan's fish exports, only to subsequently pass new restrictions on labelling and certification requirements because Japan may have much scientific evidence at its disposal. However, Korea might be able to create enough uncertainty in the panel to force them to rule exclusively on the legal issues of the case. This will then equip Korea, like the EC in the past, with a way of working around the ruling, by changing whatever legal procedure they need to while maintaining some, if not most, of its restrictions when the panel fails to address its case on scientific grounds.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.278-287
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• 2023

This study aims to analyze and evaluate the structural strength of a 53ft Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) tank container according to International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 1496-3, amidst growing global demand for LNG transportation. The research was conducted in two main stages: structural analysis using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) under various load conditions, and structural strength tests following ISO 1496-3 test procedures. The structural analysis was performed considering different loading conditions to assess the structural safety of the tank container. Calculated stresses were compared with allowable stress under specified load conditions. The structural strength tests were conducted at Mokpo National University's Subsea Umbilical cable Riser Flowline R&D Center, which provided a suitable testing environment. The study found that calculated stresses met the allowable stress under specified load conditions, confirming the structural safety of the tank container. Additionally, the maximum deformation and permanent deformation satisfied the design criteria for all test cases, indicating the container's structural strength meets requirements. The research also contributed valuable data for future structural strength tests of similar products and facilitated the development of safe and efficient LNG transportation solutions by developing effective test procedures in accordance with ISO 1496-3 standards.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.39-54
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• 2012

Franchise system in Korea has been developed in different way compared with American way of franchising based on mutual contract and intellectual property context. Korean franchising is mostly based on product distribution franchise concept rather than business format franchise in which franchisor makes revenue sources from providing their products as much as possible thru group purchasing and logistics rather than receiving royalty. Many franchise enterprises from Korea drive to enter into global franchise market based on the successful performance of Korean way of franchising. Korean enterprises are required to prepare completely for research and survey regarding local culture, custom, way of life and legal matters etc. when entering into global franchise market to gain a substantial performance. CaffeBene recently entered into American franchise business with success, and many other Korean franchise enterprises have a deep interest in proceeding with global franchise business modeling CaffeBene case. There is no Korean franchise enterprise in United Kingdom in which service franchise area in particular with personal service is considered to become a promising and potential franchise business and many people show a great interest in Oriental foods and beverages with well-being trend. Korean franchise enterprises have now access to United Kingdom easier because IT industry including internet of the country have been developed by leaps and bounds since London Olympic in 2012. The purpose of this study is to suggest key success factors and basic strategy such as situation analysis, selecting business format, and marketing strategy for successful launching of franchise business in United Kingdom.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.593-604
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• 2023

The ocean accounts for over 70% of the Earth's surface and is a space of largely unexplored unknowns and opportunities. Korea is a peninsula surrounded by the sea on three sides, emphasizing the importance of marine research. The ocean has an extremely complex environment with immense biological diversity. In terms of microbiology, the marine environment has varying factors like extreme temperature, pressure, solar radiation, salt concentration, and pH, providing ecologically unique habitats. Due to this variety, marine organisms have very different phylogenetic classifications compared with terrestrial organisms. Although various microorganisms inhabit the ocean, studies on the diversity, isolation, and cultivation of marine microorganisms and the secondary metabolites they produce are still insufficient. Research on bioactive substances from marine microorganisms, which were rarely studied until the 1990s, has accelerated in terms of natural products from marine Actinomycetes since the 2000s. Since then, industries for bioplastic and biofuel production, carbon dioxide capture, probiotics, and pharmaceutical discovery and development of antibacterial, anticancer, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory drugs using bacteria, archaea, and algae have significantly grown. In this review, we introduce current research findings and the latest trends in life science and biotechnology using marine microorganisms. Through this article, we hope to create consumer awareness of the importance of basic and applied research in various natural product-related discovery fields other than conventional pharmaceutical drug discovery. The article aims to suggest pathways that may boost research on the optimization and application of future marine-derived materials.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.538-548
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• 2023

The research has been conducted on the isolation of antimicrobial compounds from plant natural extracts and their potential application in oral health care products. This study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial mechanism by analyzing the changes in gene expression of Streptococcus mutans, a major oral pathogen, in response to complex compounds extracted from Aralia continentalis and Arctii Semen using organic solvents. Transcriptome analysis (RNA-seq) revealed that both natural extracts commonly upregulated or downregulated the expression of various genes associated with different metabolic and physiological activities. Three genes (SMU_1584c, SMU_2133c, SMU_921), particularly SMU_921 (rcrR), known as a transcription activator of two sugar phosphotransferase systems (PTS) involved in sugar transport and biofilm formation, exhibited consistent high expression levels. Additionally, component analysis of the A. continentalis extract was performed to compare its effects on gene expression changes with the A. Semen extract, and two active compounds were identified through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of the active fraction. The n-hexane fraction (ACEH) from the A. continentalis extract exhibited antibacterial specificity against S. mutans, leading to a significant reduction in the viable cell counts of Streptococcus sanguinis and Streptococcus gordonii among the tested multi-species bacterial communities. These findings suggest the broad-spectrum antibacterial activity of the A. continentalis extract and provide essential foundational data for the development of customized antimicrobial materials by elucidating the antibacterial mechanism of the identified active compounds.

• The Journal of Bigdata
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.131-156
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• 2023

The traditional retail industry significantly changed over the past decade due to the mobile and online technologies. This change has been accompanied by a shift in consumer behavior regarding purchasing patterns. Despite the rise of online shopping, there are still specific categories of products, such as "Processed food" in Mongolia, for which traditional shopping remains the preferred purchase method. To prepare for the inevitable future of retail businesses, firms need to closely analyze the performance of their offline stores to plan their further actions in a new multi-channel environment. Retailers must integrate diverse channels into their operations to stay relevant and adjust to the shifting market. In this research, we have analyzed the performance data such as sales, profit, and amount of sales of offline stores by using clustering approach. From the clustering, we have found the several distinct insights by comparing the circumstances and performance of retail stores. For the certain retail stores, we have proposed three different strategies: a fulfillment hub store between online and offline channels, an experience store to elongate customers' time on the premises, and a merge between two non-related channels that could complement each other to increase traffic based on the store characteristics. With the proposed strategies, it may enhance the user experience and profit at the same time.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.290-300
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• 2006

Disinfection by-products(DBPs), such as volatile trihalomethanes and the nonvolatile organochlorine acids, created by chlorination have been extensively studied. However MX which contributes 20-50% of the mutagenic activity in drinking water began to people's attention since 1990. Its chemical name is 3-chloro-4-dichloromethyl-5-hydroxy-2(5H)-furanone. According to WHO guidelines its concentration should be controlled, but its value has not been set up. Due to analytical difficulties in measuring this compound at such a low concentrations and lack of information on toxicity to human. Because concentration (ng/L) of MX in drinking water is low traditional testing methods are ineffective. Therefore this study compared LLE and SPE and have chosen SPE to improve preconcentration. MX has been identified in chlorinated drinking water samples in several countries but not in korea Therefore this study analyzed concentration of MX in different water sources and in spring water. This study examined the causes of changing MX content. Chlorine dosage, seasons, water temperature and distance from the source was all discoverd to be relavant. MX was analyzed in various treatment to find optimum disinfection methods. The outcome was that the concentration of MX was minimized when using biological activated carbon-O3 and granular activated carbon.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.505-508
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• 2022

Artificial intelligence itself has the value of advancing technology, and it is used in various industrial fields to enhance the added value of products and services produced in various industries. Therefore, regulations and policies related to artificial intelligence should be considered from a broader perspective. However, researchers have different understandings, and there is no agreement on how to regulate artificial intelligence. Therefore, we will examine the direction of government regulation on artificial intelligence technology in an exploratory manner. First, accountability, transparency, stability, and fairness are derived as the goals of artificial intelligence regulation, and the system itself, development process, and utilization process are set as the scope of regulation, and users and developers are subject to regulation. The academic significance of this study can be seen as analyzing the current level of artificial intelligence technology and laying the foundation for consistent discussions on artificial intelligence regulations in the future. Considering the life cycle from AI development to application, what is important is the balance of promotion policies to promote the artificial intelligence industry and regulatory policies to respond to the resulting risks. The goal of law related to artificial intelligence is to establish a system in which artificial intelligence can be accommodated in a positive direction to all participants, including developers, companies, and users.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.125-151
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• 2008

Both companies and consumers are highly interested in on-line customer reviews which enable consumers to share their experience and knowledge about products. In this study, after classifying real reviews into context units and deriving categories, we analyzed differences between categories based on channel(manufacturers' homepage/ shopping mall), product attribute(search/experience) and price(high/low). The method to derive categories is based on roughly adopting constructs of ACSI model and elaborate and repetitive classification of real reviews. We set up the classification category with 3 levels. Level 1 consists of product and service, level 2 consists of function, design, price, purchase motive, suggestion/user-tip and recommendation/repurchase in product and AS/up-grade and delivery/others in service and level 3 is composed of details of level 2 of category. We could find remarkable differences between channels in all 8 items of level 2 of category. As the number of context units in homepage is more than in shopping mall, we found reviews in homepage is more concrete. Moreover, overall satisfaction in review was higher at homepage's. Also, in product attribute dimension, we found different patterns of reviews in design, purchase motive, suggestion/user-tip, recommendation/repurchase, AS/up-grade and delivery/others and no difference in overall customer's satisfaction. In price dimension, we found differences between high and low price in design, price and AS/up-grade and no difference in overall customer's satisfaction.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.30-30
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• 2022

Philippines is the second world supplier of coconut by-products. As its first major genomics project, the Philippine Genome Center program for Agriculture (PGC-Agriculture) took the challenge to sequence and assemble the whole coconut genome. The project aims to provide advance genetics tools for our collaborating coconut researchers while taking the opportunity to initiate local capacity. Combination of different NGS platforms was explored and the Philippine 'Catigan Green Dwarf' (CATD) variety was selected with the breeders to be the crop's reference genome. A high quality genome assembly of CATD was generated and used to characterize important genes of coconut towards the development of resilient and outstanding varieties especially for added high-value traits. The talk will present the significant results of the project as published in various papers including the first report of whole genome sequence of a dwarf coconut variety. Updates will include the challenges hurdled and specific applications such as gene mining for host insect resistance and screening for least damaged coconuts (thus potentially insect resistant varieties). Genome-wide DNA markers as published and genes related to coconut oil qualitative/quantitative traits will also be presented, including initial molecular/biochemical studies that support nutritional and medicinal claims. A web-based genome database is currently built for ease access and wider utility of these genomics tools. Indeed, a major milestone accomplished by the coconut genomics research team, which was facilitated with the all-out government support and strong collaboration among multidisciplinary experts and partnership with advance research institutes.