• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.10
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• pp.75-84
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• 2014

Purpose - This article aims to examine whether the stock issuance of firms in the retail industry follows Myers' (1984) pecking order theory, which is based on information asymmetry. According to the pecking order model, firms have a sequence of financing decisions, of which the first choice is to use retained earnings, the second one is to get into safe debt, the next involves risky debt, and the last involves finance with outside equity. Since the 2000s, the polarization of the LEs (Large enterprises) and SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) arose in the retail industry. The LEs exhibited an improvement in growth and profitability, whereas SMEs had a tendency to degenerate. This study contributes to corroborating the features of financing decisions in the retail industry distinguished from the other industries. Research design, data, and methodology - This study considers the stocks listed on the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets from 1991 to 2013, and is more concentrated on the stocks in the retail industry. The data were collected from the financial information company, WISEfn. The empirical analysis is conducted by employing two measures of net equity issues (and), which were introduced in Fama and French (2005), and can be calculated from firms' accounting information. All variables are generated as the aggregate value of the numerator divided by aggregate assets, which, in effect, treats the entire sample as a single firm. Substantially, the financing decisions of the firms were analyzed by examining how often and under what circumstances firms issue and repurchase equity. Then, this study compares the features of the retail industry with those of the other industries. Results - The proportion of sample firms that show annual net stock issues reaching the level of the year's average was 54.33% for the 1990s, and fell to 39.93% per year for the 2000s. In detail, the fraction of the small firms actually increases from 45.08% to 51.04%, whereas that of large firms shows a dramatic decline from 58.94% to 24.76%. Considering the fact that the large firms' rapid increase in growth after the 2000s may lead to an increase in equity issues, this result is rather surprising. Meanwhile, net stock repurchases of assets are considerably disproportionate between the large (-50.11%) and the small firms (-15.66%) for the 2000s. Conclusions - Stock issuance of retail firms is not in line with the traditional seasoned equity offering based on information asymmetry. The net stock issuance of the small firms in the retail industry can be interpreted as part of an effort to reorganize business and solicit new investment to resolve degenerating business performance. For large firms, on the other hand, the net repurchase can be regarded as part of an effort to rearrange business for efficiency and amplifying synergy across business sections through spin-off. These results can help the government establish a support policy on retail industry according to size.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.23-33
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• 2013

Purpose - Numerous studies have tried to assess the role of a warranty as an explanatory instrument for product quality. While one study argued that manufacturers signal their superior quality to consumers by extending the duration of a warranty, quality is not necessarily related to warranty and a warranty for a short duration is a sign of high product quality. However, there are limitations to measuring product quality in terms of a single variable such as a warranty. Some other studies have evaluated the influence of brand power or value and price on the supposed quality of a product while the influence of warranty was found to be insignificant. Research design, data, methodology - The study analyzes the influence of brand power and the country of origin effect on consumers' perception of product quality in line with warranty and establishes a priority strategy. Especially, consumer experience has a significant influence on state of the art technology products like applied home electronics as these goods are generally quite expensive and consumers expend significant energy in purchasing them, so the associated warranty and brand can have a critical role in the decision making process. The price of the product was excluded in this discussion as it continually varies with the market share of the product. Results - The results of the analysis are as follows: First, each of the factors such as the standard of the warranty, brand power, and country of origin effect influences the degree of satisfaction of an individual. Second, the factors brand power and quality of the warranty interact both complementarily and synergistically at a time, depending on the brand power. As brand power is more significant, the degree of satisfaction is greater in case of products with low quality warranty compared to those with high quality warranty. Third, the brand power and country of origin effect present a complementary interaction. Fourth, the country of origin effect and quality of a warranty interact synergistically. Conclusions - Thus, the higher the quality of warranty, greater is the increment in the degree of satisfaction. The comprehensive study on the effect of the country of origin on the purchase decision process and the degree of satisfaction compared to the other elements shows that in case of Japanese and Korean markets the brand power of a company is desirable in sustaining the quality of warranty to the industrial average. Also, there is no significant improvement in the perceived quality of the product when the quality of the warranty is lowered. Therefore, the warranty effect diminishes when the value of the brand is known, while it perishes when both the brand power and the country of origin effect are strong enough.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.73-84
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• 2017

Purpose - Over recent years, O2O and shared economy have been an eye-catching topic. Many researches on O2O and shared economy have been published gradually. The emerging enterprise of chauffeured car services developed rapidly in the past two years. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the influencing factors of use intention of the chauffeured car services users. Through active use of O2O and shared economy, put up with operation strategy in line with their use intention. Research design, data, and methodology - After collecting 324 respondents in China with questionnaires, this study begin the empirical research with users of Chauffeured Car Services, and analyzes data with IBM SPSS 24.0 and IBM AMOS 24.0. Results - Personal Propensity to Trust significantly affects the Initial Trust of chauffeured car services users. Firm Reputation significantly affects the Initial Trust and use intention of chauffeured car services users. Initial Trust significantly affects the use intention of chauffeured car services users. Performance Expectancy and Effort Expectancy significantly affect chauffeured car services users' use intention. Social Influence also significantly affects the use intention of chauffeured car services users. Conclusions - First, Initial Trust significantly affects the use intention of chauffeured car services users. Thus, the enterprise should make efforts to improve users' initial trust in order to attract their attention. For this reason, chauffeured car services enterprises should conduct questionnaires to deeply explore what needs can improve users' initial trust. Second, performance expectancy and effort expectancy significantly affect chauffeured car services users' use intention. When users enjoy chauffeured car services, they attach great importance to the convenience, simplicity and efficiency, which reflects that chauffeured car services' desire for greater development in the O2O and shared economy market. Therefore, they need to grasp users' needs (convenience, simplicity and efficiency) and carefully improve the quality of chauffeured car services. Finally, social influence also significantly affects the use intention of chauffeured car services users. It means friend recommendation or mass media influences users' intention. So, it is more important to increase differentiated benefits, advertising and publicity of chauffeured car services.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.89-101
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• 2001

The conventional pattern-methods for discrimination of acupoint, meridian line which is the basic object of diagnosis and medical treatment in oriental medicine is discriminated the conduction point by the stimulation in body skin with DC. But, it is not sufficient to truth in discrimination ratio, coincident ratio, body effect, reproductivity. Therefore, this paper is extracting the optimal parameter of frequency and waveform in order to improve the conventional pattern, and proposing the SPAC(Single Power Alternative Current) stimulus pattern applying that. Also, this algorithm proposes to be able to discriminate with low pressure of the electrode by displaying in the level meter both the absolution and relation value of the skin current. It is able to decrease pain and body effect by electrode pressure and discriminate acupoint regardless of skin current in difficult discrimination spot. It is compared the performance of system applying the extracted optimal parameter and algorithm, and it is confirmed that there is difference in discrimination parameter of acupoint reacted to the individual and the meridian. It is compared that discrimination, coincident ratio of the traditional acupoints as the acupoint stimulation pattern. It is confirmed truth of optimal parameter and discrimination algorithm. Keyword: Meridian, Discrimination, Coincident, Body effect, Reproductivity, SPAC, Optimal parameter.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.503-507
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• 2007

In this paper, the ultra-widebend, microstrip patch antenna with the bandwidth of 3 GHz was implemented for ultra-wideband(UWB) wireless communication applications. In order to cover the very wide bandwidth of 3 GHz, a multi-resonance antenna was designed, each resonance frequency was separated into five frequency bend, 7.5, 8.1, 8.7, 9.3, and 9.9GHz with the interval of 600MHz BW. And for wideband characteristics of each antenna, U-slot antennas were designed at each center frequency. Designed five U-slot antennas were connected in series for multi-resonance of 3GHz BW and wideband matching was also designed for impedance matching transmission line calculated. The relative dielectric constant, the height, the loss tangent of the PCB substrate were ${\epsilon}_r=4.8,\;h=0.6$ and loss tangent=0.0009 respectively. The implemented antenna's radiation patterns and gain were directivity characteristics and $1.46{\sim}4.08dBi$ at the five separated center frequency.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.51-56
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• 2016

In this paper, we propose an Arduino-based plant monitoring system. The proposed system is based on the Arduino platform, using an environmental sensor and a pressure sensor for measuring temperature, humidity and illuminance in order to monitor the state of the environment and the facilities of the plant. Monitoring data are transmitted to a ZigBee coordinator connected to a server through a radio frequency transceiver. When using a pressure sensor and the environment sensor data stored on the host server, checking the pressure in the environment of the plant and equipment is intended to report any alarm status to the administrator. Using a grid line-based key distribution scheme, the authentication node dynamically generates a data key to protect the monitoring information. Applying a ZigBee wireless sensor network does not require additional wiring for the actual implementation of a plant monitoring system. Possible working-environment monitoring of an efficient plant can help analyze the cause of any failure by backtracking the working environment when a failure occurs. In addition, it is easy to expand or add a sensor function using the Arduino platform and an expansion board.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.93-99
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• 2014

Use of geothermal energy has been increased for its economical application and environmentally friendly utilization. Particularly, for energy piles, a spiral coil type ground heat exchanger (GHE) is more preferred than line type GHEs such as U and W shaped GHEs. A PHC energy pile with spiral coil type GHE was installed in an area of partially saturated dredged soil deposit, and a thermal response test (TRT) was conducted for 240 hours under a continuous operation condition. Besides, remolded soil samples from different layers were collected in the field, and soil specimens were reconstructed according to the field ground condition. Non-steady state probe methods were conducted in the lab, and ground thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity were measured for the different soil layers. An equivalent ground thermal conductivity was calculated from the lab test results and it was compared with the field TRT result. The difference was less than 5%, which advocates the use of an equivalent ground thermal conductivity for the multi-layered ground. Furthermore, this paper also represents an equivalent ground thermal diffusivity evaluation method which is another very important design parameter.

• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.199-215
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• 2015

As a way of identifying users' image needs for improved effectiveness of image search, there have been recent research approaches to examine contextual factors in image needs with multiple perspectives. In this line of research, this study examined a total of 70 unsuccessful image searches for the purpose of investigating users' image needs. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, in particular, the characteristics of image needs, contextual factors on image needs, and image queries were investigated. The findings of this study demonstrated that information needs from the failed image searches are categorized primarily into specific and general/nameable categories. More importantly, these information needs are embedded with multiple contextual factors, primarily, task purpose and use purpose. With an analysis of detailed use purposes for image, illustration use was found most in this data set. For query analysis, the type of unique/refined image query was revealed primarily. As the results of this study were found similar to the findings of previous studies, it is possible to characterize the image needs from the failed image searches. In addition, the findings of this study are expected to be useful to the design and service of image retrieval.

• Journal of The Korean Association of Information Education
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.427-436
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• 2008

It is more than 10 years since ICT training learning was introduced to educational curriculum, and it is now time for overall consideration about the result of the education. The most important difficulties that the teachers have are that there are big differences in the level of learning ability. The characteristics of ICT curriculum are its tool and stepwise progress. The main problem of a curriculum with such characteristics is with underachivers. To distinguish ICT underachivers, the present study was developed a distinction tool for investigation: The objects were the students in the 6th grade of the 4 elementary schools in Gyeonggi-do, and inquires were made to find out characteristics. Inquires were also made to the elementary school teachers in Goyang-city to find out the actual instructional situation. A teaching-learning system will be suggested to prevent the occurring of ICT underachivers by analyzing their characteristics. The system consists of a distinction examination module, a teaching-learning module and a feedback module, which are web-based, as well as an off-line actual class module. The purpose of the system is to prevent underachivers in ICT classes, so that the students' ability to utilize computer will be improved to a higher level.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.41 no.12
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• pp.1677-1685
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• 2012

The autolysate and hydrolysate of a common squid liver, Todarodes pacificus, were prepared. Autolysis (liver ratio, pH, temperature) and Protamex-treated hydrolysis (pH, temperature, ratio of protease to liver) conditions were optimized by response surface methodology using central composite design for under 1 hr of hydrolysis time. The desirability profile indicated that maximum DH could be achieved at a squid liver of 93.5%, pH 6.4, and $47^{\circ}C$ in autolysis, while that of Protamex-treated hydrolysis did at a Protamex-to-squid liver level of 0.33%, pH 6.0, and $55^{\circ}C$. Three amino acids, proline, cysteine, and methionine, were not detected in the total amino acid composition of the Protamex-treated hydrolysate, while they were detected in the free amino acid composition. Cadmium was $8.32{\pm}0.03$ mg/100 g-powder for raw, $3.56{\pm}0.02$ mg/100 g-powder for the autolysate, and $13.26{\pm}0.04$ mg/100 g powder for the Protamex-treated hydrolysate. The major molecular weight ranged from 1.0 to 1.5 kDa for the autolysate and from 210 to 470 Da for the Protamex-treated hydrolysate. Food functionalities of the autolysate, such as surface hydrolphobicity, emulsion activity index, emulsion stability, water, and fat adsorption, were similar to the Protamex-treated hydrolysate. Both the autolysate and Protamex-hydrolysate showed high inhibitory activities on the angiotensin-I converting enzyme. Cell toxicity against the HepG2 cell line was not detected in the autolysate or the Protamex-treated hydrolysate by 200 ${\mu}g/mL$.