• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.206-216
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• 2022

This study sought to examine the sustainability criteria found in the global sourcing practices of global fashion retailers. Sustainable supply chain management, with a particular focus on the sustainability criteria of global sourcing, was analyzed. This qualitative study was based on a focus group interview and corporate social responsibility (CSR) annual reports. Eight master categories, 18 middle categories, and 37 bottom categories were extracted. The key categories and their middle categories were as follows: (1) Social compliance (working conditions, employment, safety); (2) Environment concerns (environmental pollution management, eco-friendly production, supply chain environment); (3) Energy efficiency (energy saving program, store environment); (4) Consumer protection (restricted substances management, consumer product safety improvement); (5) Management system (code of conduct, triangle audit system); (6) Community social activities (local community service, voluntary activities, charitable activities); (7) External stakeholder engagement (media & non-governmental organization management, maintenance of relationship with local authority); (8) Brand protection (respect for companies' intellectual property). The findings of this study offer academically significant insights into the sustainability criteria that can be encountered by companies under diverse global sourcing scenarios, revealing that global sourcing by fashion retailers is not merely a means of reducing costs, but a way of generating new jobs and making a social contribution to developing countries. The study's findings also have practical significance, offering guidelines for general CSR activities in the global sourcing process.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.659-666
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• 2023

Characterized by boom-and-bust cycles, low entry barriers, and an almost perfectly competitive structure, the construction industry presents a unique challenge for the survival and growth of its constituent companies. A crucial aspect of this challenge is the ongoing monitoring of their financial health and business performance. To understand the typical financial and operational status of construction companies, this study analyzes the financial statements of 6,252 such companies, all of which have undergone at least one external audit between 2000 and 2019. These statements were used to develop combined financial profiles and derive industry averages. The findings indicate that the construction industry experiences limited growth in sales and profitability. High leverage ratios can jeopardize financial stability, pushing companies to seek production efficiency, such as enhancing gross asset turnover. This tendency has been particularly noticeable in the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2008.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.107-115
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• 2007

Objective: A quality management system of international standardization organization (ISO) 9001:2000 has been proposed to properly evaluate and improve the quality of productions and services. The purpose of this article was to describe on successful introduction and application of the ISO system to human assisted reproductive technology (ART) center. Methods: Center for reproductive medicine and infertility of Cheil General Hospital started the action for ISO 9001:2000 certification at January-2004. The ISO system of our center was monitored by measuring the customer satisfaction index and periodical internal and external audit. Reports of non-conformity described corrective and preventive actions for problems and occurrences that were not consistent with the standard process and operation of our center. Continuous management and improvement were performed on the project of customer dissatisfaction. Results: Our center has got the certification of ISO 9001:2000 for "Research and development of IVF-ET program for infertility treatment" from Korean Foundation for Quality at June-2004. The policy of ISO was "To establish the best center of reproductive medicine and infertility" and "To establish the best quality management system". We found 140 cases and 7 cases of non-conformity in internal and external audit for three years, respectively, and performed corrective action. Conclusion: Improvement of customer satisfaction, systemic documentation and transparency and efficacy of working procedure were achieved by application and operation of the ISO system to our center. This ISO system could be used as a basic institutional management system for the national guideline to the human ART center.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.173-188
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• 2023

This paper analyzed the Earnings management of firms selected as preliminary Unicorn. If a manager is selected as a preliminary unicorn firm, he can receive financial support of up to 20 billion won, creating a factor in managing the manager's earnings. The motive for management's earnings management is related to the capital market. Accounting information is used by investors and financial analysts, and corporate profits affect corporate value. Therefore, if the accounting earning is adjusted upward, the corporate value will be raised and investment conditions will be favorable. In this paper, earnings quality was measured by the modified Jones model of Dechow et al.(1995) by the ROA control model of Kothari et al.(2005) among the discretionary accruals estimated using an alternative accrual prediction model. Competing similar companies in the same market as the selected companies were formed, and the discretionary accruals were mutually compared to verify the research hypotheses, and only the selected companies were analyzed for the audit year and after the audit year. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the companies selected as preliminary unicorns had higher earnings management compared to the corresponding companies in question, which had a negative impact on the quality of accounting profits. It was found that the companies selected as preliminary unicorns continued to receive incentives for management's earnings management even after being selected. These results indicate that the companies selected as prospective unicorns are recognized for their value in the market through external growth rather than internal growth, and thus, incentives for management's earnings management to attract investment from external investors under favorable conditions are continuing. In the future preliminary unicorn selection evaluation, it was possible to present what needs to be reviewed on the quality of accounting earning. The implication of this paper is that the factors of management's earnings management eventually hinder investors and creditors from judging the reliability of accounting information. It was suggested that a policy alternative for the K-Unicorn Project, which enhances reliability were presented by reflecting the evaluation of earnings quality through discretionary accruals.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.50-56
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• 2010

Purpose: We report the results of an external audit on the absorbed dose of radiotherapy beams independently performed by third parties. For this effort, we developed a method to measure the absorbed dose to water in an easy and convenient setup of solid water phantom. Materials and Methods: In 2008, 12 radiotherapy centers voluntarily participated in the external auditing program and 47 beams of X-ray and electron were independently calibrated by the third party’s American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) task group (TG)-51 protocol. Even though the AAPM TG-51 protocol recommended the use of water, water as a phantom has a few disadvantages, especially in a busy clinic. Instead, we used solid water phantom due to its reproducibility and convenience in terms of setup and transport. Dose conversion factors between solid water and water were determined for photon and electron beams of various energies by using a scaling method and experimental measurements. Results: Most of the beams (74%) were within ${\pm}2%$ of the deviation from the third party's protocol. However, two of 20 X-ray beams and three of 27 electron beams were out of the tolerance (${\pm}3%$), including two beams with a >10% deviation. X-ray beams of higher than 6 MV had no conversion factors, while a 6 MV absorbed dose to a solid water phantom was 0.4% less than the dose to water. The electron dose conversion factors between the solid water phantom and water were determined: The higher the electron energy, the less is the conversion factor. The total uncertainty of the TG-51 protocol measurement using a solid water phantom was determined to be ${\pm}1.5%$. Conclusion: The developed method was successfully applied for the external auditing program, which could be evolved into a credential program of multi-institutional clinical trials. This dosimetry saved time for measuring doses as well as decreased the uncertainty of measurement possibly resulting from the reference setup in water.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.173-180
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• 2021

Although accounting is one of the core fields of corporate management, few studies have reported accounting phenomena involving shipping companies. In addition, although financial reporting is very important to shipping companies that use several financial tools such as ship finance and financial lease, it is difficult to identify studies investigating shipping companies' financial reporting, especially their earnings management. The purpose of this study is to analyze accrual earnings management behavior of shipping companies. Companies with high debt ratios and net losses are known to have incentives for earnings management. Due to the nature of the industry, shipping companies have a high debt ratio and often report net losses. Accordingly, shipping companies are expected to engage in substantial earnings management. Based on the analysis of KOSP I companies listed on the Korea Exchange from 2001 to 2020, it was found that shipping companies are engaged in higher levels of earnings management than non-shipping companies. Discretionary accrual was used as a proxy variable for earnings management. Discretionary accrual was measured using the modified Jones model of Dechow et al. (1995) and the performance matched model of Kothari et al.(2005). In this study, significant results were derived by comparatively analyzing the earnings management practices, which is one of the major accounting behaviors of shipping and non-shipping companies. Stakeholders such as external auditors, investors, financial institutions, analysts, and government authorities need to be aware of the earnings management behavior of listed shipping companies during their external audit, financial analysis, and supervision. Finally, listed shipping companies must conduct stricter accounting based on accounting principles.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.120-125
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• 2010

For the measurements of an absorbed dose using the standard dosimetry based on an absorbed dose to water the variety of factors, whether big, small, or tiny, may influence the accuracy of dosimetry. The beam quality correction factor ${\kappa}_{Q,Q_0}$ of an ionization chamber might also be one of them. The cylindrical type of ionization chamber, the PTW30013 chamber, was chosen for this work and 9 chambers of the same type were collected from several institutes where the chamber types are used for the reference dosimetry. They were calibrated from the domestic Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory with the same electrometer and cable. These calibrated chambers were used to measure absorbed doses to water in the reference condition for the photon beam of 6 MV and 10 MV and the electron beam of 12 MeV from Siemens ONCOR. The biggest difference among chambers amounts to 2.4% for the 6 MV photon beam, 0.8% for the 10 MV photon beam, and 2.4% for the 12 MeV electron beam. The big deviation in the photon of 6 MV demonstrates that if there had been no problems with the process of measurements application of the same ${\kappa}_{Q,Q_0}$ to the chambers used in this study might have influenced the deviation in the photon 6 MV and that how important an external audit is.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.5-14
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• 2018

The grain size of clastic sedimentary rocks classifies the rock types and also causes of anisotropy of the rock. The anisotropy is one of the most important factors that dominates the strength and weathering behavior of rocks. The anisotropy of clastic sedimentary and igneous rocks in the Gyeongsang Basin including Yeongju, Daegu, and Busan were analyzed by magnetic susceptibility expressed by the degree of anisotropy and shape parameter. As the results of the study, the sandstone deposited under lacustrine environment unaffected by the external force shows 1.03 degree of anisotropy. The degrees of anisotropy of the rocks affected by faults and fault rocks show 1.06 and 1.14, respectively. The magnetic susceptibility of rocks is to decrease with the distance from the fault. A fresh mudstone and shale formed by fines show a similar magnitude of the degree of anisotropy to fault rock and correspond to oblate shape parameter due to their sedimentary structure. Due to these reasons, we need attention in design, construction, and maintenance of a structure constructed in mudstone and shale.

• Korean small business review
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.1-24
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is verifying with corporate financial data that the required investment amount flow shows a similar pattern as times passed, in new product development by start-up company. In the previous paper, the same authors proposed the required investment amount flow as a 'New Product Investment Curve (NPIC)'. In this study, we have studied further in various types of companies. The samples used are accounting data of 462 companies selected from 5,873 Korean companies which were finished external audit in 2015. The results of this study are as follows; The average investment period was 3 years for the listed companies, while 6 years for the unlisted companies. The investment payback period was 6 years for listed companies, while 17 years for unlisted companies. The investment payback period of the company supported by big affiliate company (We call 'greenhouse company') was 14~15 years, while 17 years for real venture companies. When we divide all companies into 4 groups in terms of R&D cost and variable cost ratio, NPIC explanatory power of 'high R&D and high variable cost ratio group (Automobile Assembly Business) is best. Among the eight investment cost indexes proposed to estimate the investment amount, the 'cash 1' (operating cash flow+fixed asset excluding land & building+intangible asset, deferred asset change)/year-end total assets) turned out to be the most effective index to estimate the investment flow patterns. The conclusion is that NPIC explanatory power is somewhat reduced when we estimate all companies together. However, if we estimate the sample companies by characteristics such as listed, unlisted, greenhouse, and venture company, the proposed NPIC was verified to be effective by showing the required investment amount pattern.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.432-438
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• 2011

The purpose of the present thesis is to develop bankruptcy prediction models capable of being applied to the Korean construction industry and to deduce an optimal model through comparative evaluation of final developed models. A study population was selected as general contractors in the Korean construction industry. In order to ease the sample securing and reliability of data, it was limited to general contractors receiving external audit from the government. The study samples are divided into a bankrupt company group and a non-bankrupt company group. The bankruptcy, insolvency, declaration of insolvency, workout and corporate reorganization were used as selection criteria of a bankrupt company. A company that is not included in the selection criteria of the bankrupt company group was selected as a non-bankrupt company. Accordingly, the study sample is composed of a total of 112 samples and is composed of 48 bankrupt companies and 64 non-bankrupt companies. A financial ratio was used as early predictors for development of an estimation model. A total of 90 financial ratios were used and were divided into growth, profitability, productivity and added value. The MDA (Multivariate Discriminant Analysis) model and BLRA (Binary Logistic Regression Analysis) model were used for development of bankruptcy prediction models. The MDA model is an analysis method often used in the past bankruptcy prediction literature, and the BLRA is an analysis method capable of avoiding equal variance assumption. The stepwise (MDA) and forward stepwise method (BLRA) were used for selection of predictor variables in case of model construction. Twenty two variables were finally used in MDA and BLRA models according to timing of bankruptcy. The ROC-Curve Analysis and Classification Analysis were used for analysis of prediction performance of estimation models. The correct classification rate of an individual bankruptcy prediction model is as follows: 1) one year ago before the event of bankruptcy (MDA: 83.04%, BLRA: 93.75%); 2) two years ago before the event of bankruptcy (MDA: 77.68%, BLRA: 78.57%); 3) 3 years ago before the event of bankruptcy (MDA: 84.82%, BLRA: 91.96%). The AUC (Area Under Curve) of an individual bankruptcy prediction model is as follows. : 1) one year ago before the event of bankruptcy (MDA: 0.933, BLRA: 0.978); 2) two years ago before the event of bankruptcy (MDA: 0.852, BLRA: 0.875); 3) 3 years ago before the event of bankruptcy (MDA: 0.938, BLRA: 0.975). As a result of the present research, accuracy of the BLRA model is higher than the MDA model and its prediction performance is improved.