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Investigation and Processing of Seismic Reflection Data Collected from a Water-Land Area Using a Land Nodal Airgun System (수륙 경계지역에서 얻어진 육상 노달 에어건 탄성파탐사 자료의 고찰 및 자료처리)

  • Lee, Donghoon;Jang, Seonghyung;Kang, Nyeonkeon;Kim, Hyun-do;Kim, Kwansoo;Kim, Ji-Soo
    • The Journal of Engineering Geology
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    • v.31 no.4
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    • pp.603-620
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    • 2021
  • A land nodal seismic system was employed to acquire seismic reflection data using stand-alone cable-free receivers in a land-river area. Acquiring reliable data using this technology is very cost effective, as it avoids topographic problems in the deployment and collection of receivers. The land nodal airgun system deployed on the mouth of the Hyungsan River (in Pohang, Gyeongsangbuk Province) used airgun sources in the river and receivers on the riverbank, with subparallel source and receiver lines, approximately 120 m-spaced. Seismic data collected on the riverbank are characterized by a low signal-to-noise (S/N) and inconsistent reflection events. Most of the events are represented by hyperbola in the field records, including direct waves, guided waves, air waves, and Scholte surface waves, in contrast to the straight lines in the data collected conventionally where source and receiver lines are coincident. The processing strategy included enhancing the signal behind the low-frequency large-amplitude noise with a cascaded application of bandpass and f-k filters for the attenuation of air waves. Static time delays caused by the cross-offset distance between sources and receivers are corrected, with a focus on mapping the shallow reflections obscured by guided wave and air wave noise. A new time-distance equation and curve for direct and air waves are suggested for the correction of the static time delay caused by the cross-offset between source and receiver. Investigation of the minimum cross-offset gathers shows well-aligned shallow reflections around 200 ms after time-shift correction. This time-delay static correction based on the direct wave is found essential to improving the data from parallel source and receiver lines. Data acquisition and processing strategies developed in this study for land nodal airgun seismic systems will be readily applicable to seismic data from land-sea areas when high-resolution signal data becomes available in the future for investigation of shallow gas reservoirs, faults, and engineering designs for the development of coastal areas.

Forward Osmotic Pressure-Free (△𝜋≤0) Reverse Osmosis and Osmotic Pressure Approximation of Concentrated NaCl Solutions (정삼투-무삼투압차(△𝜋≤0) 법 역삼투 해수 담수화 및 고농도 NaCl 용액의 삼투압 근사식)

  • Chang, Ho Nam;Choi, Kyung-Rok;Jung, Kwonsu;Park, Gwon Woo;Kim, Yeu-Chun;Suh, Charles;Kim, Nakjong;Kim, Do Hyun;Kim, Beom Su;Kim, Han Min;Chang, Yoon-Seok;Kim, Nam Uk;Kim, In Ho;Kim, Kunwoo;Lee, Habit;Qiang, Fei
    • Membrane Journal
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    • v.32 no.4
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    • pp.235-252
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    • 2022
  • Forward osmotic pressure-free reverse osmosis (Δ𝜋=0 RO) was invented in 2013. The first patent (US 9,950,297 B2) was registered on April 18, 2018. The "Osmotic Pressure of Concentrated Solutions" in JACS (1908) by G.N. Lewis of MIT was used for the estimation. The Chang's RO system differs from conventional RO (C-RO) in that two-chamber system of osmotic pressure equalizer and a low-pressure RO system while C-RO is based on a single chamber. Chang claimed that all aqueous solutions, including salt water, regardless of its osmotic pressure can be separated into water and salt. The second patent (US 10.953.367B2, March 23, 2021) showed that a low-pressure reverse osmosis is possible for 3.0% input at Δ𝜋 of 10 to 12 bar. Singularity ZERO reverse osmosis from his third patent (Korea patent 10-22322755, US-PCT/KR202003595) for a 3.0% NaCl input, 50% more water recovery, use of 1/3 RO membrane area, and 1/5th of theoretical energy. These numbers come from Chang's laboratory experiments and theoretical analysis. Relative residence time (RRT) of feed and OE chambers makes Δ𝜋 to zero or negative by recycling enriched feed flow. The construction cost by S-ZERO was estimated to be around 50~60% of the current RO system.

Comparison of Rice Growth and Yield in Different Direct Seeding Methods Following by Italian Ryegrass Harvest (사료작물 후작 벼 직파 방법별 생육 및 수량 비교)

  • Park, K.H.;Park, S.T.
    • Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
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    • v.21 no.1
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    • pp.49-59
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    • 2019
  • The field trial was performed to evaluate the rice growth and yield in different direct seeding methods after Italian Ryegrass Harvest The required time for seed emergence was for 7 ~ 8days in the tested direct seeding methods and there was high in seedling establishment in order of wet hill-seeding with iron-coated seeds > water seeding with iron-coated seeds > wet hill-seeding with soil coverage with pregerminated seeds. The rice plant height was shorter in the tested direct seeding methods than that of machine transplanting until 45day after seeding but there was not significant difference in terms of statistical analysis at 63day after seeding. The growth of tiller number in the rice plant was high in water seeding with iron-coated seeds and wet hill-seeding with soil coverage and low in wet hill-seeding with iron-coated seeds compared to machine transplanting. The yield component in the tested direct seeding methods was not significant difference in terms of statistical analysis. The milled rice yield in the tested direct seeding methods was higher 2 ~ 8% being with 4.94 ~ 5.24t/ha than that of machine transplanting but there was not significant difference in terms of statistical analysis. The percentage of head rice was low in the tested direct seeding methods compared to machine transplanting. The weedy rice was not occurred in the tested rice cultivation methods. In conclusion the direct seeding method would be recommended to be a suitable to in following by Italian ryegrass harvesting in southern area of Korea in terms of reduction in production cost and high income basis for rice growing farmers.

Research Trend Analysis Using Bibliographic Information and Citations of Cloud Computing Articles: Application of Social Network Analysis (클라우드 컴퓨팅 관련 논문의 서지정보 및 인용정보를 활용한 연구 동향 분석: 사회 네트워크 분석의 활용)

  • Kim, Dongsung;Kim, Jongwoo
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.20 no.1
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    • pp.195-211
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    • 2014
  • Cloud computing services provide IT resources as services on demand. This is considered a key concept, which will lead a shift from an ownership-based paradigm to a new pay-for-use paradigm, which can reduce the fixed cost for IT resources, and improve flexibility and scalability. As IT services, cloud services have evolved from early similar computing concepts such as network computing, utility computing, server-based computing, and grid computing. So research into cloud computing is highly related to and combined with various relevant computing research areas. To seek promising research issues and topics in cloud computing, it is necessary to understand the research trends in cloud computing more comprehensively. In this study, we collect bibliographic information and citation information for cloud computing related research papers published in major international journals from 1994 to 2012, and analyzes macroscopic trends and network changes to citation relationships among papers and the co-occurrence relationships of key words by utilizing social network analysis measures. Through the analysis, we can identify the relationships and connections among research topics in cloud computing related areas, and highlight new potential research topics. In addition, we visualize dynamic changes of research topics relating to cloud computing using a proposed cloud computing "research trend map." A research trend map visualizes positions of research topics in two-dimensional space. Frequencies of key words (X-axis) and the rates of increase in the degree centrality of key words (Y-axis) are used as the two dimensions of the research trend map. Based on the values of the two dimensions, the two dimensional space of a research map is divided into four areas: maturation, growth, promising, and decline. An area with high keyword frequency, but low rates of increase of degree centrality is defined as a mature technology area; the area where both keyword frequency and the increase rate of degree centrality are high is defined as a growth technology area; the area where the keyword frequency is low, but the rate of increase in the degree centrality is high is defined as a promising technology area; and the area where both keyword frequency and the rate of degree centrality are low is defined as a declining technology area. Based on this method, cloud computing research trend maps make it possible to easily grasp the main research trends in cloud computing, and to explain the evolution of research topics. According to the results of an analysis of citation relationships, research papers on security, distributed processing, and optical networking for cloud computing are on the top based on the page-rank measure. From the analysis of key words in research papers, cloud computing and grid computing showed high centrality in 2009, and key words dealing with main elemental technologies such as data outsourcing, error detection methods, and infrastructure construction showed high centrality in 2010~2011. In 2012, security, virtualization, and resource management showed high centrality. Moreover, it was found that the interest in the technical issues of cloud computing increases gradually. From annual cloud computing research trend maps, it was verified that security is located in the promising area, virtualization has moved from the promising area to the growth area, and grid computing and distributed system has moved to the declining area. The study results indicate that distributed systems and grid computing received a lot of attention as similar computing paradigms in the early stage of cloud computing research. The early stage of cloud computing was a period focused on understanding and investigating cloud computing as an emergent technology, linking to relevant established computing concepts. After the early stage, security and virtualization technologies became main issues in cloud computing, which is reflected in the movement of security and virtualization technologies from the promising area to the growth area in the cloud computing research trend maps. Moreover, this study revealed that current research in cloud computing has rapidly transferred from a focus on technical issues to for a focus on application issues, such as SLAs (Service Level Agreements).

A Study on Developing Customized Bolus using 3D Printers (3D 프린터를 이용한 Customized Bolus 제작에 관한 연구)

  • Jung, Sang Min;Yang, Jin Ho;Lee, Seung Hyun;Kim, Jin Uk;Yeom, Du Seok
    • The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.61-71
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    • 2015
  • Purpose : 3D Printers are used to create three-dimensional models based on blueprints. Based on this characteristic, it is feasible to develop a bolus that can minimize the air gap between skin and bolus in radiotherapy. This study aims to compare and analyze air gap and target dose at the branded 1 cm bolus with the developed customized bolus using 3D printers. Materials and Methods : RANDO phantom with a protruded tumor was used to procure images using CT simulator. CT DICOM file was transferred into the STL file, equivalent to 3D printers. Using this, customized bolus molding box (maintaining the 1 cm width) was created by processing 3D printers, and paraffin was melted to develop the customized bolus. The air gap of customized bolus and the branded 1 cm bolus was checked, and the differences in air gap was used to compare $D_{max}$, $D_{min}$, $D_{mean}$, $D_{95%}$ and $V_{95%}$ in treatment plan through Eclipse. Results : Customized bolus production period took about 3 days. The total volume of air gap was average $3.9cm^3$ at the customized bolus. And it was average $29.6cm^3$ at the branded 1 cm bolus. The customized bolus developed by the 3D printer was more useful in minimizing the air gap than the branded 1 cm bolus. In the 6 MV photon, at the customized bolus, $D_{max}$, $D_{min}$, $D_{mean}$, $D_{95%}$, $V_{95%}$ of GTV were 102.8%, 88.1%, 99.1%, 95.0%, 94.4% and the $D_{max}$, $D_{min}$, $D_{mean}$, $D_{95%}$, $V_{95%}$ of branded 1cm bolus were 101.4%, 92.0%, 98.2%, 95.2%, 95.7%, respectively. In the proton, at the customized bolus, $D_{max}$, $D_{min}$, $D_{mean}$, $D_{95%}$, $V_{95%}$ of GTV were 104.1%, 84.0%, 101.2%, 95.1%, 99.8% and the $D_{max}$, $D_{min}$, $D_{mean}$, $D_{95%}$, $V_{95%}$ of branded 1cm bolus were 104.8%, 87.9%, 101.5%, 94.9%, 99.9%, respectively. Thus, in treatment plan, there was no significant difference between the customized bolus and 1 cm bolus. However, the normal tissue nearby the GTV showed relatively lower radiation dose. Conclusion : The customized bolus developed by 3D printers was effective in minimizing the air gap, especially when it is used against the treatment area with irregular surface. However, the air gap between branded bolus and skin was not enough to cause a change in target dose. On the other hand, in the chest wall could confirm that dose decrease for small the air gap. Customized bolus production period took about 3 days and the development cost was quite expensive. Therefore, the commercialization of customized bolus developed by 3D printers requires low-cost 3D printer materials, adequate for the use of bolus.

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Effects of Evaporative Water-loss from Cultural Pots on Growth of Pot-grown Ornamental Plants (화분(花盆)의 수분증발(水分蒸發)이 분식화훼류(盆植花卉類)의 생육(生育)에 미치는 영향(影響))

  • Suh, Youn-gkyo
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.317-343
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    • 1977
  • This study was carried out to obtain the informations about evaporation from pot, soil temperature and soil atmosphere composition in pot, and the effect on the growth of nine ornamental species using seven different containers. The investigated containers were clay pot(CP), clay pot painted in green(CP-P), varnished clay pot(CP-V), polyethylene film inserting in clay pot(CP-PI), clay pot mulched with black polyethylene film(CP-PM), porcelain pot(POP), and plastic pot(PLP). Nine ornamental species were balsam(Impatiens balsamina), chrysanthemum(Chrysanthemum morifolium), cosmos(Cosmos bipinatus), English ivy(Hedera helix), geranium(Pelargonium zonale), kochia(Kochia scoparia var. trichophila), marigold(Tagetes patula), ornamental kale(Brassica oleraceae var. acephala), and salvia (Salvia splendens). The results obtained are summarized as follows: 1. Dry weight of all tested species grown in PLP, POP, CP-P, CP-V and CP-PI was heavier than that of CP. 2. Plant height in nine tested species grown in PLP, POP, CP-P, CP-V, and CP-PI was taller than that of CP. 3. Geranium grown in PLP, POP, CP-P, and CP-V gave more number of leaf than that of CP. 4. The number of flower in balsam grown in PLP, POP, CP-P, CP-V and CP-PI was more than that of CP. The result from marigold was very similar to this tendency. Spike length and floret number in salvia gave the same tendency, but its spike number was not different among containers used. 5. The average diurnal evaporation from PLP and POP was about 43% of that of CP. About two third of total evaporation from CP was through pot wall. 6. The evaporation rate from the slowest to the highest was PLP, POP, CP-P, CP-V, CP-PI, CP-PM and CP. Containers inhibiting evaporation through pot wall hold more soil moisture than CP from one day after water supply. 7. The more evaporative water-loss from containers gave the lower soil temperature. The variation of soil temperature among containers was higher during the day than the night. 8. The $O_2$ concentration of soil atmosphere in CP was higher than that of nonporous containers, and the difference between them was 0.40-1.12%. The range of the $O_2$ concentration 17.95~19.62%. The $CO_2$ concentration of soil atmosphere in CP was lower than that of nonporous containers, and its range was 0.59-1.76%. This deviation in soil atmosphere composition did not influenced on the growth of plants. 9. There was a possitive correlation between the amount of soil water and the plant growth. 10. Plant grown on CP gave more total nitrogen content in top growth than that on PLP. C/N ratio was somewhat low in plant on CP. From the above results, $O_2$ and $CO_2$ concentration in soil atmosphere did not gave enough deviation to the extent which affect the plant growth. The effect of soil moisture on the plant growth using different containers was the far-most significant factor from this investigation. Therefore, it was obious that the utilization of the nonporous container might save the cost for water supply and reduce the production cost of the pot-grown ornamental plant in Korea eventually.

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A Study on the Leakage Protection with Polypropylene Mat in Irrigation Canal (Polypropylene Mat에 의(依)한 용수로(用水路)의 누수방지(漏水防止)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究))

  • Kang, Sin-Up;Kang, Yea-Mook;Cho, Seung-Seup
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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    • v.6 no.2
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    • pp.166-184
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    • 1979
  • In order to prevent the water loss in the irrigation canal constructed on the sandy gravel layer or on the other highly permeable ground layer, lining has been practiced. Many studies have been done so far on the lining method to prevent the water loss in the irrigation canal and recently studies on the lining with plastic film or polyethylene film were also reported. However, the plastic film or polyethylene film has low strength and is liable to break, and water loss from pin hole caused by contacting with sand or gravel is highly predicted. This study was then conducted to find proper lining and buring method in canal construction of polypropylene mat after coated with vinyl, as one way to overcome the shortcoming frequently observed when plastic or usual polyehtylene film were used. Eventhough rather longer periods of experiments are needed to attain reliable and accurate results on the variation of durability, the durability of asphalt coated area, or on the damage due to freeze after burial or exposure of polypropylene mat, the experiemental results obtained during one year of period are summarized as follows: 1. The curvature at the area between canal bottom and side slope had increased stability and saved consruction cost. The relationship among the variation of curvature, the reduction of polypropylene mat and the reduced amount of soil cutting at each side slope was presented in Fig. 7 through 9. 2. The depth of covering material to protect polypropylene mat was desired to be over 30cm, considering the water depth, side slope, canal cleaning practices, traffic, or back pressure of irrigation period. 3. In order to increase the canal stability and to prevent slope erosion, sandy soil was required, to be placed under ground, and coarse gravel should cover the surface area of canal. 4. The studies on the stability of side slope in the canal should consider the passive area on the bottom and the slope should be about 1 to 2, considering the slope stability, allowable velocity and tractive force. 5. When compared with earth lining, the lining with polypropylene mat coated with vinyl was responsible to save 28% and 37% of canal lining cost, when the soil carrying distances were 500 and 700m. respectively. 6. The water interception was almost completely attained when the polypropylene mat coated with vinyl was used for lining. But further studies were assumed to be necessary for the use of asphalt since the strength of polypropylene mat connected with asphalt will vary with duration.

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The Role of Camera-Based Coincidence Positron Emission Tomography in Nodal Staging of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (비소세포폐암의 림프절 병기 결정에서 Coincidence PET의 역할)

  • Lee, Sun-Min;Choi, Young-Hwa;Oh, Yoon-Jung;Cheong, Seong-Cheoll;Park, Kwang-Joo;Hwang, Sung-Chul;Lee, Yi-Hyeong;Park, Chan-H;Hahn, Myung-Ho
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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    • v.47 no.5
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    • pp.642-649
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    • 1999
  • Background: It is very important to determine an accurate staging of the non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) for an assessment of operability and it's prognosis. However, it is difficult to evaluate tumor involvement of mediastinal lymph nodes accurately utilizing noninvasive imaging modalities. PET is one of the sensitive and specific imaging modality. Unfortunately PET is limited use because of prohibitive cost involved with it's operation. Recently hybrid SPECT/PET(single photon emission computed tomography/positron emission tomography) camera based PET imaging was introduced with relatively low cost. We evaluated the usefulness of coincidence detection(CoDe) PET in the detection of metastasis to the mediastinal lymph nodes in patients with NSCLC. Methods: Twenty one patients with NSCLC were evaluated by CT or MRI and they were considered operable. CoDe PET was performed in all 21 patients prior to surgery. Tomographic slices of axial, coronal and sagittal planes were visually analysed. At surgery, mediastinal lymph nodes were removed and histological diagnosis was performed. CoDe PET findings were correlated with histological findings. Results: Twenty of 21 primary tumor masses were detected by the CoDe PET. Thirteen of 21 patients was correctly diagnosed mediastinal lymph node metastasis by the CoDe PET. Pathological N0 was 14 cases and the specificity of N0 of CoDe PET was 64.3%. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of N1 node was 83.3%, 73.3%, 55.6%, 91.7%, and 76.2% respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of N2 node was 60.0%, 87.5%, 60.0%,87.5%, and 90.0% respectively. There were 3 false negative cases but the size of the 3 nodes were less than 1cm. The size of true positive nodes were 1.1cm, 1.0cm, 0.5cm respectively. There were 1 false positive among the 12 lymph nodes which were larger than 1cm. False positive cases consisted of 1 tuberculosis case, 1 pneumoconiosis case and 1 anthracosis case. Conclusion: CoDe PET has relatively high negative predictive value in the enlarged lymph node in staging of mediastinal nodes in patients with NSCLC. Therefore CoDe PET is useful in ruling out metastasis of enlarged N3 nodes. However, further study is needed including more number of patients in the future.

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An Empirical Study on the Determinants of Supply Chain Management Systems Success from Vendor's Perspective (참여자관점에서 공급사슬관리 시스템의 성공에 영향을 미치는 요인에 관한 실증연구)

  • Kang, Sung-Bae;Moon, Tae-Soo;Chung, Yoon
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.139-166
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    • 2010
  • The supply chain management (SCM) systems have emerged as strong managerial tools for manufacturing firms in enhancing competitive strength. Despite of large investments in the SCM systems, many companies are not fully realizing the promised benefits from the systems. A review of literature on adoption, implementation and success factor of IOS (inter-organization systems), EDI (electronic data interchange) systems, shows that this issue has been examined from multiple theoretic perspectives. And many researchers have attempted to identify the factors which influence the success of system implementation. However, the existing studies have two drawbacks in revealing the determinants of systems implementation success. First, previous researches raise questions as to the appropriateness of research subjects selected. Most SCM systems are operating in the form of private industrial networks, where the participants of the systems consist of two distinct groups: focus companies and vendors. The focus companies are the primary actors in developing and operating the systems, while vendors are passive participants which are connected to the system in order to supply raw materials and parts to the focus companies. Under the circumstance, there are three ways in selecting the research subjects; focus companies only, vendors only, or two parties grouped together. It is hard to find researches that use the focus companies exclusively as the subjects probably due to the insufficient sample size for statistic analysis. Most researches have been conducted using the data collected from both groups. We argue that the SCM success factors cannot be correctly indentified in this case. The focus companies and the vendors are in different positions in many areas regarding the system implementation: firm size, managerial resources, bargaining power, organizational maturity, and etc. There are no obvious reasons to believe that the success factors of the two groups are identical. Grouping the two groups also raises questions on measuring the system success. The benefits from utilizing the systems may not be commonly distributed to the two groups. One group's benefits might be realized at the expenses of the other group considering the situation where vendors participating in SCM systems are under continuous pressures from the focus companies with respect to prices, quality, and delivery time. Therefore, by combining the system outcomes of both groups we cannot measure the system benefits obtained by each group correctly. Second, the measures of system success adopted in the previous researches have shortcoming in measuring the SCM success. User satisfaction, system utilization, and user attitudes toward the systems are most commonly used success measures in the existing studies. These measures have been developed as proxy variables in the studies of decision support systems (DSS) where the contribution of the systems to the organization performance is very difficult to measure. Unlike the DSS, the SCM systems have more specific goals, such as cost saving, inventory reduction, quality improvement, rapid time, and higher customer service. We maintain that more specific measures can be developed instead of proxy variables in order to measure the system benefits correctly. The purpose of this study is to find the determinants of SCM systems success in the perspective of vendor companies. In developing the research model, we have focused on selecting the success factors appropriate for the vendors through reviewing past researches and on developing more accurate success measures. The variables can be classified into following: technological, organizational, and environmental factors on the basis of TOE (Technology-Organization-Environment) framework. The model consists of three independent variables (competition intensity, top management support, and information system maturity), one mediating variable (collaboration), one moderating variable (government support), and a dependent variable (system success). The systems success measures have been developed to reflect the operational benefits of the SCM systems; improvement in planning and analysis capabilities, faster throughput, cost reduction, task integration, and improved product and customer service. The model has been validated using the survey data collected from 122 vendors participating in the SCM systems in Korea. To test for mediation, one should estimate the hierarchical regression analysis on the collaboration. And moderating effect analysis should estimate the moderated multiple regression, examines the effect of the government support. The result shows that information system maturity and top management support are the most important determinants of SCM system success. Supply chain technologies that standardize data formats and enhance information sharing may be adopted by supply chain leader organization because of the influence of focal company in the private industrial networks in order to streamline transactions and improve inter-organization communication. Specially, the need to develop and sustain an information system maturity will provide the focus and purpose to successfully overcome information system obstacles and resistance to innovation diffusion within the supply chain network organization. The support of top management will help focus efforts toward the realization of inter-organizational benefits and lend credibility to functional managers responsible for its implementation. The active involvement, vision, and direction of high level executives provide the impetus needed to sustain the implementation of SCM. The quality of collaboration relationships also is positively related to outcome variable. Collaboration variable is found to have a mediation effect between on influencing factors and implementation success. Higher levels of inter-organizational collaboration behaviors such as shared planning and flexibility in coordinating activities were found to be strongly linked to the vendors trust in the supply chain network. Government support moderates the effect of the IS maturity, competitive intensity, top management support on collaboration and implementation success of SCM. In general, the vendor companies face substantially greater risks in SCM implementation than the larger companies do because of severe constraints on financial and human resources and limited education on SCM systems. Besides resources, Vendors generally lack computer experience and do not have sufficient internal SCM expertise. For these reasons, government supports may establish requirements for firms doing business with the government or provide incentives to adopt, implementation SCM or practices. Government support provides significant improvements in implementation success of SCM when IS maturity, competitive intensity, top management support and collaboration are low. The environmental characteristic of competition intensity has no direct effect on vendor perspective of SCM system success. But, vendors facing above average competition intensity will have a greater need for changing technology. This suggests that companies trying to implement SCM systems should set up compatible supply chain networks and a high-quality collaboration relationship for implementation and performance.

A Study on Profitability of the Allianced Discount Program with Credit Cards and Loyalty Cards in Food & Beverage Industry (제휴카드 할인프로그램이 외식업의 수익성에 미치는 영향)

  • Shin, Young Sik;Cha, Kyoung Cheon
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.12 no.4
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    • pp.55-78
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    • 2011
  • Recently strategic alliance between business firms has become prevalent to overcome increasing competitive threats and to supplement resource limitation of individual firms. As one of allianced sales promotion activities, a new type of discount program, so called "Alliance Card Discount", is introduced with the partnership of credit cards and loyalty cards. The program mainly pursues short-term sales growth by larger discount scheme while spends less through cost share among alliance partners. Thus this program can be regarded as cost efficient discount promotion. But because there is no solid evidence that it can really deliver profitable sales growth, an empirical study for its effects on sales and profit should be conducted. This study has two basic research questions concerning the effects of allianced discount program ; 1)the possibility of sales increase 2) the profitability of the discount driven sales. In F&B industry, sales increase mainly comes from increased guest count. Especially in family restaurants, to increase the number of guests we need to enlarge the size of visitor group (number of visitors for one group) because customers visit by group in a special occasion. And because they pay the bill by group(table), the increase of sales per table is a key measure for sales improvement. The past researches for price & discount sensitivity and reference discount rate explain that price sensitive consumers have narrow reference discount zone and make rational purchase decision. Differently from all time discount scheme of regular sales promotions, the alliance card discount program only provides the right to get discount like discount coupon. And because it is usually once a month opportunity given by the past month usage level, customers tend to perceive alliance card discount as a rare chance to get. So that we can expect customers try to maximize the discount effect when they use the limited discount opportunity. Considering group visiting practice and low visit frequency of family restaurants, the way to maximize discount effect should be the increase the size of visit group. And their sensitivity to discount and rational consumption behavior defer the additional spending for ordering high price menu, even though they get considerable amount of savings from the discount. From the analysis of sales data paid by alliance discount cards for four months, we found the below. 1) The relation between discount rate and number of guest per table is positive : 25% discount results one additional guest 2) The relation between discount rate and the spending per guest is negative. 3) However, total profit amount per table is increased when discount rate is increased. 4) Reward point accumulation & redemption did not show any significant relationship with the increase of number of guests. These results suggest that the allianced discount program substantially contributes to sales increase and profit improvement by increasing the number of guests per table. Though the spending per guest is decreased by discount rate increase, the total amount of profit per table is improved. It seems the incremental profit by increased guest count offsets the profit decrease. Additional intriguing finding is the point reward system does not have any significant impact on the increase of number of guest, even if the point accumulation & redemption of loyalty program are usually regarded as another saving offers by customers. In sum, because it is proved that allianced discount program with credit cards and loyalty cards is effective to both sales drive and profit increase, the alliance card program could be recommended as strategically buyable program.

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