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Effect of Dietary Cadmium Level on Clinical Toxicity, Sperm Capacity and Histopathological Changes in Rats (카드뮴 투여수준이 흰쥐의 임상적인 중독증과 정자능력 및 장기조직에 미치는 영향)

  • 한찬규;노정해;이남형;채찬희;김광식;이복희
    • Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.1-12
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    • 1999
  • The present study was conducted to find the effects of different cadmium(Cd) levels in diets on clinical toxicity, sperm capacity and histopathological changes in rats. Thirty male rats of Sprague-Dawley weighing 125.3$\pm$15.2g were randomly blocked into five groups according to body weights. Five levels of Cd in AIN-76 purified diet(0, 25, 50, 100 and 250 ppm) had been fed for 8 weeks. Cadmium was supplemented with a form of CdCl$_2$. 1. After 8 weeks of Cd intake had resulted in apparent cadmium intoxication; reduced growth rate, enlarged kidney and testis, decreased hematocrit value and hemoglobin content in response to supplemented Cd levels in the diets. 2. Cadmium accumulation in liver and kidney showed a tendency to increase in cadmium-exposed groups. The levels of metallothionein were also significantly elevated in the tissues of liver in response to the levels of Cd supplemented(P<0.05). 3. Although sperm motility was not significantly different among treatments, rats fed Cd tended to have reduced sperm motility but sperm concentration of Cd supplemented groups were significantly lower than that of control(p<0.05). 4. Based on the findings from gross lesion, rats fed 250ppm of Cd were externally emaciated, had exposed penis and observed atrophies of kidney and testis. Histopathological observation seemed that the liver of groups feeding Cd supplemented diets showed cellular degeneration and accumulation of eosinophilic materials in the capillaries. In kidney, rats fed Cd diets had shown tubular epithelium degeneration and lesions of basophilic materials, while testes were weakened in numbers of spermatid and sporadically enlarged of giant cells.

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An Animated Documentary Study of Korean Youth Culture and Identity (한국 청소년들의 온라인 게임문화와 정체성에 관한 애니메이션 다큐멘터리 연구)

  • Park, Man
    • Cartoon and Animation Studies
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    • s.45
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    • pp.397-415
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    • 2016
  • This paper will investigate how animated practice can be a research form as practice-led research in an ethnography approach. This practice-led research will explore the issue of the construction of contemporary identities (based on the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) and in particular, the Korean youth culture and identity, exemplified, for example, creation of 'avatars' in the virtual characters of animated online games such as Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games (MMORPGs). In this proposed discussion, I will argue that the sudden period of change in contemporary Korea bears some resemblance to the Victorian era as explored in gothic fiction (e.g. Jekyll and Hyde). In this sense, my animation investigates the connection between the fictional Jekyll and Hyde and a real murder incident by a young Korean boy, which actually happened on the 16th November 2010, in SouthKorea.I will, therefore, construct this practice-led research to obtain the primary data consisted of online and offline practices in 'social ethnography'. These practices engage with specific Korean youth identity, comparing the 'avatar' with the real lives of participants. However, this paper will only focus on the (ethnographic) research process and strategy, using animated (visual) practices, rather than giving the meaning of the specific case of 'Korean-ness'. Eventually, I will explore the four different animated representations as it presents the distinctive animated realties or documentaries by online and offline practices. My intention is to visually interpret the issue of 'Korean-ness' within its socio-cultural context, adapting the convention and code of Jekyll and Hyde concept into an animated documentary in the 'virtual' world (auto-animated documentary by recording avatar interviews and online game footages) and the 'real' world (self-created animated documentary, based on real people and events).

Effects of Dietary Betaine and Protein Levels on Performance, Blood Composition, Abdominal Fat and Liver Amino Acid Concentration in Laying Hens (사료내 비태인과 단백질 수준이 산란계의 생산 능력, 혈액의 조성, 복강지방 및 간의 아미노산 함량에 미치는 영향)

  • Park J. H.;Park S. Y.;Ryu K. S.
    • Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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    • v.32 no.3
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    • pp.157-163
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    • 2005
  • An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary betaine and protein levels on performance, internal e99 Qualify, blood composition, abdominal fat and liver amino acid concentration in laying hens. A total of 432 ISA-Brown laying hens were randomly allotted to four treatments with six replications for twenty few weeks. Treatments were factorially designed with two levels of crude protein(14.5 and $16.5\%$) and two levels of betaine(0 and 600ppm). The egg production was increased by feeding $16.5\%$ protein-fed group compared to that of $14.5\%$ protein-fed groups(P<0.05), but was different from betaine supplementation. Increasing protein and betaine supplementation to diets improved egg weight, egg mass and fred conversion(P<0.05). Eggshell breaking strength, thickness and Haugh unit were not influenced by either dietary betaine or protein levels. Dietary betaine did not affect serum total protein, albumin and uric acid concentration, whereas uric acid concentration was increased in $16.5\%$ protein-fed groups(P<0.05). The deposition of abdominal fat was lower in 600ppm betaine groups compared to those fed on 0ppm betaine groups(P<0.05). Concentration of the most hepatic amino acids were affected by dietary protein levels and betaine supplementation. There were synergistic effect between dietary protein and betaine. These results suggested that dietary betaine can improve the egg weight, mass, feed conversion and decrease the abdominal fat, but increase the hepatic amino acid contents.

Effects of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) on the DNA Synthesis of Mouse Duodenal Mucosal Epithelial Cells Inoculated with Ehrlich Carcinoma Cells (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) 투여가 Ehrlich 종양세포를 이식한 생쥐 샘창자 상피세포의 DNA합성에 미치는 영향)

  • Ko, Jeong-Sik;Kim, Heung-No;Park, Kyung-Ho;Park, Dae-Kyoon;Kim, Duk-Soo
    • Applied Microscopy
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    • v.40 no.4
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    • pp.193-200
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    • 2010
  • This experiment was performed to evaluate the morphological responses of the duodenal epithelial cells of the mouse, inoculated with Ehrlich carcinoma cells in the inguinal area, following administration of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG). In the experimental groups, each mouse was inoculated with $1{\times}10^7$ Ehrlich carcinoma cells subcutaneously in the inguinal area. From next day after inoculations, 0.2 mL of saline or BCG (0.5 mL/25 g B.W.: $0.03{\times}10^8\sim0.32{\times}10^8$ CFU) were injected subcutaneously to the animals every other day, respectively. The day following the 7th injection of saline or BCG, each mouse was injected with a single dose of $0.7{\mu}Ci$/g of methyl-$^3H$-thymidine (25 Ci/mmol, Amersham Lab, England) through tail vein. Seventy minutes after the thymidine injection, animals were sacrificed, and duodenal tissues were taken and fixed in 10% neutral formalin. Deparaffinized sections were coated with autoradiographic emulsion EM-1 (Amersham Lab, England) in a dark room and dried and were placed in a light-tight box. The number of labeled epithelial cells in the duodenal mucosae (mean number of labeled epithelial cells per 3.5 mm length of mucosa) were observed and calculated. On the light microscopic study, duodenal mucosae had no severe morphological changes following the injection of BCG. In the tumor control and BCG treated groups, a number of small lymphocytes and eosinophile leucocytes are slightly increased as compared with those of the normal control ones. On the autoradiographic study, number of the labeled cells of normal control, tumor control and BCG-treated mice were 632.3 (${\pm}14.47$), 761.7 (${\pm}27.65$) and 505.0 (${\pm}17.09$) respectively. From the above results, BCG may suppress the DNA synthesis of the duodenal epithelial cells, but does not results severe structural defect on the duodenal mucosae. And it is suggested that BCG may greatly improve the anticancer therapy on certain kind of cancer.

The Microalgal Attachment and its Growth on the Artificial Surfaces Immersed in Seawater: I. Attachment and Micro-succession (해수에 잠긴 인공기질 표면에서 미세조류의 부착과 성장: I. 부착 및 천이)

  • Shim, Jae-Hyung;Kang, Jung-Hoon;Cho, Byung-Cheol;Kim, Woong-Seo
    • The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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    • v.3 no.4
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    • pp.249-260
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    • 1998
  • To understand the attachment of micro algae and their subsequent growths on artificial surfaces immersed in seawater, the relationship between attachment of diatoms on the immersed artificial substrates and species pool in the surrounding water was investigated. We used acryl slides for the study of diatom attachment and examined the surrounding water samples collected in Incheon Harbour from July 1995 to February 1997. Variations of species composition and abundances by exposure time in seawater were investigated during the early phase of biofilm formation on various substrates, e.g. glass, acryl, titanium, copper and antifouling paint-treated slides. Immigration rates of diatoms to acryl slides during spring and winter were significantly correlated with the abundance of benthic diatoms in surrounding water ($r^2$=0.78, p<0.01, n=42), suggesting that immigration rates were affected by variations of benthic diatom abundances in surrounding water. Immigration coefficient of monoraphid diatoms was 5 times higher than that of biraphid diatoms, but relative abundance of monoraphid diatoms was 3 times lower than that of biraphid diatoms on acryl slides in spring. In winter, immigration coefficient and relative abundance of centric diatoms were higher compared to other raphe forms. These results suggest that the attachment of diatoms seems to be caused by the abundance and immigration coefficients of benthic diatoms in surrounding water. Pennate diatoms predominantly attached to all artificial surfaces throughout all experimental periods. Interestingly, centric diatoms predominantly attached to all artificial surfaces in winter. Hantzschia virgata, Licmophora abbreviata and Melosira nummuloides appeared dominantly on antifouling paint-treated slides, probably being tolerant of the antifouling paint. During incubations, the abundance of attached diatoms increased exponentially on glass, titanium and acryl slides with exposure time. The maximum abundance was highest on glass slide, followed by acryl, titanium, copper and antifouling paint-treated slides. The growth rates of attached diatom community on all artificial surfaces were higher at temperature of $24-25^{\circ}C$ than that of $2-3^{\circ}C$. The growth rate of attached diatoms on glass slide was generally higher compared to other slides during the study period. Dominant morphotypes of observed species with exposure time in seawater were prostrate form Amphora coffeaeformis, fan shape Synedra tabulata, stalk type Licmophora paradoxa and chain type M. nummuloides. A micro-succession in the attached microalgal community was observed. The composition of dominant species seems to be the result of species-specific response to gradually limited space with development of microalgal film.

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A New Forma of Acanthopanax Species(I) (신품종(新品種)을 포함한 한국산(韓國産) Acanthopanax속(屬)의 분류(分類)(I))

  • Yook, Chang-Soo;Lee, Dong-Ho;Seo, Yoon-Kyo
    • Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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    • v.7 no.3
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    • pp.179-190
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    • 1976
  • 1. The Korean Acanthopanax genus includes 12 kinds consisting of 9 species and 3 forma. 2. The Korean Oga-pi which is on market sale has been used as bark for the medicinal purpose, and Oga-pi shall use Radicis Cortex. That is why it is basic rule that herbalogy shall use Radicis Cortex. 3. The origin of Oga-pi on sale is Acanthopanax sessiliflorum forma chungbunensis C.S. Yook. 4. $C_{HUNG}\;and\;N_AKAI'S}$ report on A. koreanum told us that there are brown hair on the mid-leaf junction, but in addition to it, our investigation was resulted in the fact that there are thorn along mid-rib sometimes. 5. 2 kinds of new forma are similar to A. sessiliflorum, but are different in the view-point of chemotaxonomy, compared with A. sessiliflorum. In its morphology, we can find some difference between 2 kinds of new forma and A. sessiliflorum. Our effort of examination on documents tell us that the all plants growing in the central part of our country is A. sessiliflorum forma chungbunensis C.S. Yook. The one which has thorn on both side among the plants collected in Mt. Dukyu, is called A. sessiliflorum forma nambunensis C.S. Yook. 6. A. sessiliflorum is growing in the southern part in Korea, and most Chungbu Oga-pi A. sessiliflorum forma chungbunensis in the central part of our country. For the convenience of our study, the key of Korean Acanthopanax plant is classified into, I-IV, as shown on the following items: I. No hair on both side of leaf A. Flower stalk is longer than petiole, and there are thorn under the petiole (5-7 stigma).${\cdots}A.\;sieboldianum$. B. Flower stalk is longer than petiole, or same length. The serration lie down, and the stem has short thorn (stigma is divided into 3 part).${\cdots\;\cdots}A.\;seoulense$ II. There are a lot of thorn or hair on back of leaf. A. A lot of thorn and hair on the vein of leaf back, and a number of small thorn on petiole.${\cdots}A.\;chiisanensis$. B. There are thorn on the vein of leaf back.${\cdots\;\cdots}A.\;sessiliflorum\;forma\;chungbunensis.$ III. There are hairs on both side of leaf. A. There are small hairs on the back of leaf.${\cdots\;\cdots}A.\;sessiliflorum.$ B. There are small hairs on both side of leaf.${\cdots\;\cdots}A.\;sessiliflorum\;f.\;nambunensis.$ C. There are thick hairs on junction of main vein on back of leaf.${\cdots\;\cdots}A.\;koreanum.$ D. There are brown hairs on vein of leaf back, and brown hairs on small petiole.${\cdots\;\cdots}A.\;rufinerve.$ E. There are shrunk hairs in grey-brown on back of leaf, and tense hairs on new branch (one stigma).${\cdots\;\cdots}A.\;divaricatum.$ IV. There are long thorn, just like needles, on the stem and petiole. A. Long needle grows on whole stem tensely, and long needles on petiole.${\cdots\;\cdots}A.\;senticosus.$ B. There are no needles, just like needles aid hairs on petiole, and needles grow on the stem thinly.${\cdots\;\cdots}A.\;asperatus.$ C. There are no needle on small brarch, leaf and inflorescence are larger than A. senticosus. ${\cdots\;\cdots}A.\;senticosus\;forma\;inermis.$.

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Comparative Study on Biological Activities and Ingredient Contents of Different Solvent Extracts of Samchulkunbi-tang (삼출건비탕의 추출용매에 따른 성분 함량 및 효능 비교 연구)

  • Jin, Seong Eun;Seo, Chang-Seob;Ha, Hyekyung;Lim, Hye-Sun;Kim, Yeji;Jeon, Woo-Young;Yoo, Sae-Rom;Kim, Jung-Hoon;Shin, In-Sik;Kim, Seong-Sil;Shin, Na Ra;Lee, Mee-Young;Jeong, Soo-Jin;Kim, Ohn Soon;Shin, Hyeun-Kyoo
    • Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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    • v.43 no.4
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    • pp.328-337
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    • 2012
  • In order to investigate anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic and anti-obesity activities of Samchulkunbi-tang (SCT; Shen zhu jian pi-tang) water and 70% ethanol (EtOH) extracts, in vitro inhibitory activities against nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin $E_2$ $PGE_2$), interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$ production in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells, and macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC/CCL22) and regulated on activation of normal T-cell-expressed and -secreted (RANTES/CCL5) production in TNF-${\alpha}$/interferon-${\gamma}$-stimulated HaCaT and BEAS-2B cells as well as glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH) activity and leptin production in 3T3-L1 cells were determined. A HPLC was used for quantification of the seven marker components (albiflorin, paeoniflorin, liquiritin, naringin, hesperidin, poncirin and glycyrrhizin) of SCT water and 70% EtOH extracts. SCT showed inhibitory effects against MDC and RANTES production in HaCaT cells, as well as RANTES production in BEAS-2B cells. In addition, SCT reduced not only NO, $PGE_2$, IL-6 and TNF-${\alpha}$ production in RAW 264.7 cells, but also GPDH activity and leptin production in 3T3-L1 cells. Furthermore, the biological activities and the contents of six compounds (except paeoniflorin) were higher in 70% EtOH extract than water extract. These results suggest that SCT has anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic and anti-obesity activities. These efficacies of 70% EtOH extract are relatively higher than that of water extract.

An Empirical Study on the Importance of Psychological Contract Commitment in Information Systems Outsourcing (정보시스템 아웃소싱에서 심리적 계약 커미트먼트의 중요성에 대한 연구)

  • Kim, Hyung-Jin;Lee, Sang-Hoon;Lee, Ho-Geun
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.49-81
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    • 2007
  • Research in the IS (Information Systems) outsourcing has focused on the importance of legal contracts and partnerships between vendors and clients. Without detailed legal contracts, there is no guarantee that an outsourcing vendor would not indulge in self-serving behavior. In addition, partnerships can supplement legal contracts in managing the relationship between clients and vendors legal contracts by itself cannot deal with all the complexity and ambiguity involved with IS outsourcing relationships. In this paper, we introduce a psychological contract (between client and vendor) as an important variable for IS outsourcing success. A psychological contract refers to individual's mental beliefs about his or her mutual obligations in a contractual relationship (Rousseau, 1995). A psychological contract emerges when one party believes that a promise of future returns has been made, a contribution has been given, and thus, an obligation has been created to provide future benefits (Rousseau, 1989). An employmentpsychological contract, which is a widespread concept in psychology, refers to employer and employee expectations of the employment relationship, i.e. mutual obligations, values, expectations and aspirations that operate over and above the formal contract of employment (Smithson and Lewis, 2003). Similar to the psychological contract between an employer and employee, IS outsourcing involves a contract and a set of mutual obligations between client and vendor (Ho et al., 2003). Given the lack of prior research on psychological contracts in the IS outsourcing context, we extend such studies and give insights through investigating the role of psychological contracts between client and vendor. Psychological contract theory offers highly relevant and sound theoretical lens for studying IS outsourcing management because of its six distinctive principles: (1) it focuses on mutual (rather than one-sided) obligations between contractual parties, (2) it's more comprehensive than the concept of legal contract, (3) it's an individual-level construct, (4) it changes over time, (5) it affects organizational behaviors, and (6) it's susceptible to organizational factors (Koh et al., 2004; Rousseau, 1996; Coyle-Shapiro, 2000). The aim of this paper is to put the concept, psychological contract commitment (PCC), under the spotlight, by finding out its mediating effects between legal contracts/partnerships and IS outsourcing success. Our interest is in the psychological contract commitment (PCC) or commitment to psychological contracts, which is the extent to which a partner consistently and deeply concerns with what the counter-party believes as obligations during the IS project. The basic premise for the hypothesized relationship between PCC and success is that for outsourcing success, client and vendor should continually commit to mutual obligations in which both parties believe, rather than to only explicit obligations. The psychological contract commitment playsa pivotal role in evaluating a counter-party because it reflects what one party really expects from the other. If one party consistently shows high commitment to psychological contracts, the other party would evaluate it positively. This will increase positive reciprocation efforts of the other party, thus leading to successful outsourcing outcomes (McNeeley and Meglino, 1994). We have used matched sample data for this research. We have collected three responses from each set of a client and a vendor firm: a project manager of the client firm, a project member from the vendor firm with whom the project manager cooperated, and an end-user of the client company who actually used the outsourced information systems. Special caution was given to the data collection process to avoid any bias in responses. We first sent three types of questionnaires (A, Band C) to each project manager of the client firm, asking him/her to answer the first type of questionnaires (A).

An Examination of Knowledge Sourcing Strategies Effects on Corporate Performance in Small Enterprises (소규모 기업에 있어서 지식소싱 전략이 기업성과에 미치는 영향 고찰)

  • Choi, Byoung-Gu
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.57-81
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    • 2008
  • Knowledge is an essential strategic weapon for sustaining competitive advantage and is the key determinant for organizational growth. When knowledge is shared and disseminated throughout the organization, it increases an organization's value by providing the ability to respond to new and unusual situations. The growing importance of knowledge as a critical resource has forced executives to pay attention to their organizational knowledge. Organizations are increasingly undertaking knowledge management initiatives and making significant investments. Knowledge sourcing is considered as the first important step in effective knowledge management. Most firms continue to make an effort to realize the benefits of knowledge management by using various knowledge sources effectively. Appropriate knowledge sourcing strategies enable organizations to create, acquire, and access knowledge in a timely manner by reducing search and transfer costs, which result in better firm performance. In response, the knowledge management literature has devoted substantial attention to the analysis of knowledge sourcing strategies. Many studies have categorized knowledge sourcing strategies into intemal- and external-oriented. Internal-oriented sourcing strategy attempts to increase firm performance by integrating knowledge within the boundary of the firm. On the contrary, external-oriented strategy attempts to bring knowledge in from outside sources via either acquisition or imitation, and then to transfer that knowledge across to the organization. However, the extant literature on knowledge sourcing strategies focuses primarily on large organizations. Although many studies have clearly highlighted major differences between large and small firms and the need to adopt different strategies for different firm sizes, scant attention has been given to analyzing how knowledge sourcing strategies affect firm performance in small firms and what are the differences between small and large firms in the patterns of knowledge sourcing strategies adoption. This study attempts to advance the current literature by examining the impact of knowledge sourcing strategies on small firm performance from a holistic perspective. By drawing on knowledge based theory from organization science and complementarity theory from the economics literature, this paper is motivated by the following questions: (1) what are the adoption patterns of different knowledge sourcing strategies in small firms (i,e., what sourcing strategies should be adopted and which sourcing strategies work well together in small firms)?; and (2) what are the performance implications of these adoption patterns? In order to answer the questions, this study developed three hypotheses. First hypothesis based on knowledge based theory is that internal-oriented knowledge sourcing is positively associated with small firm performance. Second hypothesis developed on the basis of knowledge based theory is that external-oriented knowledge sourcing is positively associated with small firm performance. The third one based on complementarity theory is that pursuing both internal- and external-oriented knowledge sourcing simultaneously is negatively or less positively associated with small firm performance. As a sampling frame, 700 firms were identified from the Annual Corporation Report in Korea. Survey questionnaires were mailed to owners or executives who were most erudite about the firm s knowledge sourcing strategies and performance. A total of 188 companies replied, yielding a response rate of 26.8%. Due to incomplete data, 12 responses were eliminated, leaving 176 responses for the final analysis. Since all independent variables were measured using continuous variables, supermodularity function was used to test the hypotheses based on the cross partial derivative of payoff function. The results indicated no significant impact of internal-oriented sourcing strategies while positive impact of external-oriented sourcing strategy on small firm performance. This intriguing result could be explained on the basis of various resource and capital constraints of small firms. Small firms typically have restricted financial and human resources. They do not have enough assets to always develop knowledge internally. Another possible explanation is competency traps or core rigidities. Building up a knowledge base based on internal knowledge creates core competences, but at the same time, excessive internal focused knowledge exploration leads to behaviors blind to other knowledge. Interestingly, this study found that Internal- and external-oriented knowledge sourcing strategies had a substitutive relationship, which was inconsistent with previous studies that suggested complementary relationship between them. This result might be explained using organizational identification theory. Internal organizational members may perceive external knowledge as a threat, and tend to ignore knowledge from external sources because they prefer to maintain their own knowledge, legitimacy, and homogeneous attitudes. Therefore, integrating knowledge from internal and external sources might not be effective, resulting in failure of improvements of firm performance. Another possible explanation is small firms resource and capital constraints and lack of management expertise and absorptive capacity. Although the integration of different knowledge sources is critical, high levels of knowledge sourcing in many areas are quite expensive and so are often unrealistic for small enterprises. This study provides several implications for research as well as practice. First this study extends the existing knowledge by examining the substitutability (and complementarity) of knowledge sourcing strategies. Most prior studies have tended to investigate the independent effects of these strategies on performance without considering their combined impacts. Furthermore, this study tests complementarity based on the productivity approach that has been considered as a definitive test method for complementarity. Second, this study sheds new light on knowledge management research by identifying the relationship between knowledge sourcing strategies and small firm performance. Most current literature has insisted complementary relationship between knowledge sourcing strategies on the basis of data from large firms. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, this study identifies substitutive relationship between knowledge sourcing strategies using data from small firms. Third, implications for practice highlight that managers of small firms should focus on knowledge sourcing from external-oriented strategies. Moreover, adoption of both sourcing strategies simultaneousiy impedes small firm performance.

A Mutual P3P Methodology for Privacy Preserving Context-Aware Systems Development (프라이버시 보호 상황인식 시스템 개발을 위한 쌍방향 P3P 방법론)

  • Kwon, Oh-Byung
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.18 no.1
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    • pp.145-162
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    • 2008
  • One of the big concerns in e-society is privacy issue. In special, in developing robust ubiquitous smart space and corresponding services, user profile and preference are collected by the service providers. Privacy issue would be more critical in context-aware services simply because most of the context data themselves are private information: user's current location, current schedule, friends nearby and even her/his health data. To realize the potential of ubiquitous smart space, the systems embedded in the space should corporate personal privacy preferences. When the users invoke a set of services, they are asked to allow the service providers or smart space to make use of personal information which is related to privacy concerns. For this reason, the users unhappily provide the personal information or even deny to get served. On the other side, service provider needs personal information as rich as possible with minimal personal information to discern royal and trustworthy customers and those who are not. It would be desirable to enlarge the allowable personal information complying with the service provider's request, whereas minimizing service provider's requiring personal information which is not allowed to be submitted and user's submitting information which is of no value to the service provider. In special, if any personal information required by the service provider is not allowed, service will not be provided to the user. P3P (Platform for Privacy Preferences) has been regarded as one of the promising alternatives to preserve the personal information in the course of electronic transactions. However, P3P mainly focuses on preserving the buyers' personal information. From time to time, the service provider's business data should be protected from the unintended usage from the buyers. Moreover, even though the user's privacy preference could depend on the context happened to the user, legacy P3P does not handle the contextual change of privacy preferences. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to propose a mutual P3P-based negotiation mechanism. To do so, service provider's privacy concern is considered as well as the users'. User's privacy policy on the service provider's information also should be informed to the service providers before the service begins. Second, privacy policy is contextually designed according to the user's current context because the nomadic user's privacy concern structure may be altered contextually. Hence, the methodology includes mutual privacy policy and personalization. Overall framework of the mechanism and new code of ethics is described in section 2. Pervasive platform for mutual P3P considers user type and context field, which involves current activity, location, social context, objects nearby and physical environments. Our mutual P3P includes the privacy preference not only for the buyers but also the sellers, that is, service providers. Negotiation methodology for mutual P3P is proposed in section 3. Based on the fact that privacy concern occurs when there are needs for information access and at the same time those for information hiding. Our mechanism was implemented based on an actual shopping mall to increase the feasibility of the idea proposed in this paper. A shopping service is assumed as a context-aware service, and data groups for the service are enumerated. The privacy policy for each data group is represented as APPEL format. To examine the performance of the example service, in section 4, simulation approach is adopted in this paper. For the simulation, five data elements are considered: $\cdot$ UserID $\cdot$ User preference $\cdot$ Phone number $\cdot$ Home address $\cdot$ Product information $\cdot$ Service profile. For the negotiation, reputation is selected as a strategic value. Then the following cases are compared: $\cdot$ Legacy P3P is considered $\cdot$ Mutual P3P is considered without strategic value $\cdot$ Mutual P3P is considered with strategic value. The simulation results show that mutual P3P outperforms legacy P3P. Moreover, we could conclude that when mutual P3P is considered with strategic value, performance was better than that of mutual P3P is considered without strategic value in terms of service safety.