• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.95-126
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• 2009

One of the controversial issues in investor-state investment arbitration is the interpretation of "umbrella clause" that is found in most BIT and FTAs. This treaty clause requires on Contracting State of treaty to observe all investment obligations entered into with foreign investors from the other Contracting State. This clause did not receive in-depth attention until SGS v. Pakistan and SGS v. Philippines cases produced starkly different conclusions on the relations about treaty-based jurisdiction and contract-based jurisdiction. More recent decisions by other arbitral tribunals continue to show different approaches in their interpretation of umbrella clauses. Following the SGS v. Philippines decision, some recent decisions understand that all contracts are covered by umbrella clause, for example, in Siemens A.G. v. Argentina, LG&E Energy Corp. v. Argentina, Sempra Energy Int'l v. Argentina and Enron Corp. V. Argentina. However, other recent decisions have found a different approach that only certain kinds of public contracts are covered by umbrella clauses, for example, in El Paso Energy Int'l Co. v. Argentina, Pan American Energy LLC v. Argentina and CMS Gas Transmission Co. v. Argentina. With relation to the exhaustion of domestic remedies, most of tribunals have the position that the contractual remedy should not affect the jurisdiction of BIT tribunal. Even some tribunals considered that there is no need to exhaust contract remedies before bringing BIT arbitration, provoking suspicion of the validity of sanctity of contract in front of treaty obligation. The decision of the Annulment Committee In CMS case in 2007 was an extraordinarily surprising one and poured oil on the debate. The Committee composed of the three respected international lawyers, Gilbert Guillaume and Nabil Elaraby, both from the ICJ, and professor James Crawford, the Rapportuer of the International Law Commission on the Draft Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, observed that the arbitral tribunal made critical errors of law, however, noting that it has limited power to review and overturn the award. The position of the Committee was a direct attack on ICSID system showing as an internal recognition of ICSID itself that the current system of investor-state arbitration is problematic. States are coming to limit the scope of umbrella clauses. For example, the 2004 U.S. Model BIT detailed definition of the type of contracts for which breach of contract claims may be submitted to arbitration, to increase certainty and predictability. Latin American countries, in particular, Argentina, are feeling collectively victims of these pro-investor interpretations of the ICSID tribunals. In fact, BIT between developed and developing countries are negotiated to protect foreign investment from developing countries. This general characteristic of BIT reflects naturally on the provisions making them extremely protective for foreign investors. Naturally, developing countries seek to interpret restrictively BIT provisions, whereas developed countries try to interpret more expansively. As most of cases arising out of alleged violation of BIT are administered in the ICSID, a forum under the auspices of the World Bank, these Latin American countries have been raising the legitimacy deficit of the ICSID. The Argentine cases have been provoking many legal issues of international law, predicting crisis almost coming in actual investor-state arbitration system. Some Latin American countries, such as Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, already showed their dissatisfaction with the ICSID system considering withdrawing from it to minimize the eventual investor-state dispute. Thus the disagreement over umbrella clauses in their interpretation is becoming interpreted as an historical reflection on the continued tension between developing and developed countries on foreign investment. There is an academic and political discussion on the possible return of the Calvo Doctrine in Latin America. The paper will comment on these problems related to the interpretation of umbrella clause. The paper analyses ICSID cases involving principally Latin American countries to identify the critical legal issues arising between developing and developed countries. And the paper discusses alternatives in improving actual investor-State investment arbitration; inter alia, the introduction of an appellate system and treaty interpretation rules.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.95-116
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• 2009

Increasingly the institutional theory has been an important theoretical view of decision making process and IT adoption in many academic researches. This study used the institutional theory as a lens through which we can understand the factors that enable the effective appropriation of advanced information technology. It posits that mimetic, coercive, and normative pressures existing in an institutionalized environment could influence the participation of top managers or decision makers and the involvement of users toward an effective use of IT in their tasks. Since the introduction of IT, organizational members have been using IT in their daily tasks, creating and recreating rules and resources according to their own methods and needs. That is to say, the adaptation process of the IT and outcomes are different among organizations. The previous studies on a diverse use of IT refer to the appropriation of technology from the social technology view. Users appropriate IT through not only technology itself, but also in terms of how they use it or how they make the social practice in their use of it. In this study, the concepts of institutional pressure, appropriation, participation of decision makers, and involvement of users toward the appropriation are explored in the context of the appropriation of the mobile electronic medical record system (M-EMRS) in particularly a hospital setting. Based on the conceptual definition of institutional pressure, participation and involvement, operational measures are reconstructed. Furthermore, the concept of appropriation is measured in the aspect of three sub-constructs-consensus on appropriation, faithful appropriation, and attitude of use. Grounded in the relevant theories to appropriation of IT, we developed a research framework in which the effects of institutional pressure, participation and involvement on the appropriation of IT are analyzed. Within this theoretical framework, we formulated several hypotheses. We developed a second order institutional pressure and appropriation construct. After establishing its validity and reliability, we tested the hypotheses with empirical data from 101 users in 3 hospitals which had adopted and used the M-EMRS. We examined the mediating effect of the participation of decision makers and the involvement of users on the appropriation and empirically validated their relationships. The results show that the mimetic, coercive, and normative institutional pressure has an effect on the participation of decision makers and the involvement of users in the appropriation of IT while the participation of decision makers and the involvement of users have an effect on the appropriation of IT. The results also suggest that the institutional pressure and the participation of decision makers influence the involvement of users toward an appropriation of IT. Our results emphasize the mediating effect of the institutional pressure on the appropriation of IT. Namely, the higher degree of the participation of decision makers and the involvement of users, the more effective appropriation users will represent. These results provide strong support for institutional-based variables as predictors of appropriation. These findings also indicate that organizations should focus on the role of participation of decision makers and the involvement of users for the purpose of effective appropriation, and these are the practical implications of our study. The theoretical contribution of this study is lies in the integrated model of the effect of institutional pressure on the appropriation of IT. The results are consistent with the institutional theory and support previous studies on adaptive structuration theory.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-23
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• 2008

As managing customer relationship gets more important, companies are strengthening information service using multi-channels to their customers as a part of their customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives. It means companies are now accepting such information services not as simple information -delivering tools, but as strategic initiatives for acquiring and maintaining customer loyalty. In this paper, we attempt to validate whether or not such various information services would impact on organizational performance in terms of CRM strategy. More specifically, our research objective is to answer the next three questions: first, how to construct the instruments to measure not information quality but information service quality?; second, which attributes of information service quality can influence corporate image and customer loyalty?; finally, does each information service type have unique characteristics compared with others in terms of influencing corporate image and customer loyalty? With respect to providing answers to those questions, the previous studies had been limited in that those studies failed to consider the variety of types of information service or restricted the quality of information service to information quality. An appropriate research model answering the above questions should consider the fact that most companies are utilizing multi channels for their information services, and include the recent strategic information service such as customer online community. Moreover, since corporate information service could be regarded as a type of products or services delivered to customer, it is necessary to adopt the criteria for assessing customer's perceived value when to measure the quality of information service. Therefore, considering both multi-channels and multi-traits may enable us to tell the detailed causal routes showing which quality attributes of which information service would affect corporate image and customer loyalty. As information service channels, we include not only homepage and DM (direct mail), which are the most frequently applied information service channels, but also online community, which is getting more strategic importance in recent years. With respect to information service quality, we abstract information quality, convenience of information service, and timeliness of information service through a wide range of relevant literature reviews. As our dependant variables, we consider corporate image and customer loyalty that both of them are the critical determinants of organizational performance, and also attempt to grasp the relationship between the two constructs. We conducted a huge online survey at the homepage of one of representative dairy companies in Korea, and gathered 367 valid samples from 407 customers. The reliability and validity of our measurements were tested by using Cronbach's alpha coefficient and principal factor analysis respectively, and seven hypotheses were tested through performing correlation test and multiple regression analysis. The results from data analysis demonstrated that timeliness and convenience of homepage have positive effects on both corporate image and customer loyalty. In terms of DM, its' information quality was represented to influence both corporate image and customer loyalty, but we found its' convenience have a positive effect only on corporate image. With respect to online community, we found its timeliness contribute significantly both to corporate image and customer loyalty. Finally, as we expected, corporate image was revealed to provide a great influence to customer loyalty. This paper provides several academic and practical implications. Firstly, we think our research reinforces CRM literatures by developing the instruments for measuring information service quality. The previous relevant studies have mainly depended on the measurements of information quality or service quality which were developed independently. Secondly, the fact that we conducted our research in a real situation may enable academics and practitioners to understand the effects of information services more clearly. Finally, since our study involved three different types of information service which are most frequently applied in recent years, the results from our study might provide operational guidelines to the companies that are delivering their customers information by multi-channel. In other words, since we found that, in terms of customer loyalty, the key areas would be different from each other according to the types of information services, our analysis would help to make decisions such as selecting strengthening points or allocating resources by information service channels.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.107-118
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• 2017

Although alternative test methods based on the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement) are being developed to replace animal testing in reproductive and developmental toxicology, they are still in an early stage. Consequently, we aimed to develop alternative test methods in male animals using mouse spermatogonial stem cells (mSSCs). Here, we modified the OECD TG 489 and optimized the in vitro comet assay in our previous study. This study aimed to verify the validity of in vitro tests involving mSSCs by comparing their results with those of in vivo tests using C57BL/6 mice by gavage. We selected hydroxyurea (HU), which is known to chemically induce male reproductive toxicity. The 50% inhibitory concentration ($IC_{50}$) value of HU was 0.9 mM, as determined by the MTT assay. In the in vitro comet assay, % tail DNA and Olive tail moment (OTM) after HU administration increased significantly, compared to the control. Annexin V, PI staining and TUNEL assays showed that HU caused apoptosis in mSSCs. In order to compare in vitro tests with in vivo tests, the same substances were administered to male C57BL/6 mice. Reproductive toxicity was observed at 25, 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg/day as measured by clinical measures of reduction in sperm motility and testicular weight. The comet assay, DCFH-DA assay, H&E staining, and TUNEL assay were also performed. The results of the test with C57BL/6 mice were similar to those with mSSCs for HU treatment. Finally, linear regression analysis showed a strong positive correlation between results of in vitro tests and those of in vivo. In conclusion, the present study is the first to demonstrate the effect of HU-induced DNA damage, ROS formation, and apoptosis in mSSCs. Further, the results of the current study suggest that mSSCs could be a useful model to predict male reproductive toxicity.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.33 no.10B
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• pp.946-961
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• 2008

This study aims to provide guidelines on future policy for restructuring the scheme of aid programs associated with If small and medium-sized enterprises (i.e. SME) in Korea. For this purpose, we investigate an empirical dataset of recent aid programs deployed by Ministry of Information and Communication (i.e. MIC) for the last four years First, it is examined that the programs are practiced in accordance with their own policy objective by comparing matching samples between two groups such as program beneficiary and non-beneficiary companies. Second, positioning transition of programs within a same category is visualized in terms of two business portfolio analysis matrices. Third, an affiliation network matrix of (he programs is newly developed and then we attempt to analyze the programs relationship by the application of multidimensional scaling method to the affiliation network matrix. The empirical dataset is composed of two different kinds of corporate datasets. One is a corporate dataset of 8,994 beneficiary companies that are aided by MIC during the year of '03-'06. The other is also a corporate dataset of 18,354 non-beneficiary companies that have no records of the program supports during the years at all. Particularly, the matching samples of non-beneficiary companies are prepared in order to have comparable corporate age years (i.e. CAY) against beneficiary companies' CAY. Results show that; 1) up-to-date, the programs are properly assigned to IT SME conforming to their own policy objective; 2) however, as the year goes on, the following two distinct positioning transitions are revealed such as (1) both CAY and corporate sales (i.e. SAL) are increased simultaneously, (2) ratio of intangible assets (i.e. RIA) is decreased and ratio of operating gain to revenue (i.e. ROR) is increased. Hence, the role of the programs gets weakened with regard to providing seed money to technology innovation-typed IT SME so that a managerial adjustment of the programs is required consequently; 3) even though the model adequacy is not satisfactory through the analysis of multidimensional scaling method, the relationship of indirect-typed programs can relatively be stronger than that of direct-typed programs.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.41-52
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• 2010

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate visitor satisfaction(VS) in waterfront parks in terms of resources, facilities, embodiment of theme(ET), site composition(SC), relaxation activity space(RAS), and dynamic activity space(DAS), which are supply-side components in the planning process of waterfront parks, in order to answer the research question; 'How is visitor satisfaction of waterfront parks determined?' After reviewing the literature on parks and the building process of waterfront parks in Korea, we constructed a conceptual framework and have ascertained a research hypothesis. We had obtained data through a questionnaire survey from 327 visitors at waterfront parks, based on the quota sampling method. We have analyzed the data using the path analysis method. We found that: 1) The direct effects of resources and facilities on VS turned out to be 0.273 and 0.306, respectively while the indirect effects are 0.114, 0.170, respectively. 2) The direct effects of SC, as a component of the planning process on VS, turned out to be 0.243 while that of ET had no affect on VS. The indirect effect of ET and SC on VS turned out to be 0.059 and 0.018, respectively. 3) The direct effects of RAS on VS turned out to be 0.129 while the indirect effects of RAS and DAS on VS turned out to be 0.002 and 0.017, respectively. 4) The size of causal effect, in order, were facilities, resources, SC, RAS, ET, and DAS. 5) Resources and facilities, as a park foundation, compose 64.84 percent of total causal effect while ET and SC have 24.04 percent and RAS and DAS have 11.12 percent, respectively. These research results imply that: 1) Existing waterfront parks should be regenerated with the embodiment of water related theme and with improved facilities for RAS and visitor programs and/or facilities for DAS. 2) The relationship among ET, SC, RAS and DAS should be increased for a significant improvement of VS, and 3) A process-oriented approach turned out to be highly useful for the development of substantive theory and methodology. It is recommended that a structural equation model on waterfront parks be developed using more empirical data and this approach be widely applied for testing its validity.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.485-516
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• 2011

Republic of Korea is small nation that is comprised of 0.7% of the world population and occupying just 0.07% of the world territory. Despite this, Republic of Korea once again proved herself to be as the world's major economic powerhouse by becoming the world's 7th largest exporter in 2010. However, the reality is that Republic of Korea is still significantly concerned about the volatile economic nature and anxiety that is spread across the globe since the global depression that began at the end of 2008 and the financial crisis that has been threatening the Euro-Zone recently. This has resulted in the nation reaching the limitation in significant economic growth and limited creation of jobs within the nation and due to such circumstances, the nation is becoming more aware of the fact that she needs to pay more attention on the service sector and service exports if she was to see a more positive economic outlook in the upcoming future. This research is aimed to analyse the cost that is associated with the service export sector, by examining a number of enterprises in relation to the MICE(Meeting Incentives Convention Exhibition) industry which certainly has both direct and indirect influences on the service exports of the nation Further, the prime goal of the research is to encourage the SMEs of Korea, who have substandard experience associated to foreign exports, to intensify and increase service exports and also the goal extends to the degree to suggest appropriate assistance measures to aid these enterprises to achieve such goals. This research is fundamentally designed and based on the literature research associated with the MICE industry and also, this research is premeditated through the analysis of the case of exports to Vietnam. As the result of research, it has been found out that SMEs in the MICE industry and those of in service export sector are reluctant or even feel insecure to attempt any kind of export of their services mainly due to; the lack of foreign market information and also the lack of experience associated with service exports. Furthermore, it has also been revealed that the difficulty to estimate the validity and profitability of service the export is a significant factor withholding those enterprises from attempting any service export to the foreign markets. Henceforth, in order to aid and stimulate service export to the foreign markets by these SMEs (including those in association with the MICE industry), it is imperative to prepare an one-stop service export assistance program which would provide the information associated with marketing, law and legislation, taxation system and financial area in regard to the global markets.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.389-398
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• 2012

Virtual worlds have pursued reality as if they actually exist. In order to evaluate the sense of reality in the computer-simulated worlds, several subjective questionnaires, which include specific independent variables, have been proposed in the literature. However, the questionnaires lack reliability and validity necessary for defining and measuring the virtual realization. Few studies have been conducted to investigate the effect of visual factors on the sense of reality experienced by exposing to a virtual environment. Therefore, this study was aimed at reinvestigating the variables and proposing a more reliable and advisable questionnaire for evaluating the virtual realization, focusing on visual factors. Twenty-one questions were gleaned from the literature and subjective interviews with focused groups. Exploratory factor analysis with oblique rotation was performed on the data obtained from 200 participants(females: 100) after exposing to a virtual character image described in an extreme way. After removing poorly loading items, remained subsets were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis on the data obtained from the same participants. As a result, 3 significant factors were determined to efficiently measure the virtual realization. The determined factors included visual presence(3 subset items), visual immersion(7 subset items), and visual interactivity(4 subset items). The proposed factors were verified by conducting a subjective evaluation in which participants were asked to evaluate a 3D virtual eyeball model based on the visual presence. The results implicated that the measurement method was suitable for evaluating the degree of the virtual realization. The proposed method is expected to reasonably measure the degree of the virtual realization.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.42
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• pp.7-36
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• 2015

This study aims at analyzing difference of social Security network, Community unity and local government trust according to socio-demographical features, exploring the relation of social Security network, Community unity and local government trust according to socio-demographical features, presenting results between each variable as a model and verifying the property of mutual ones. This study sampled general citizens in Gwangju for about 15 days Aug. 15 through Aug. 30, 2014, distributed total 450 copies using cluster random sampling, gathered 438 persons, 412 persons of whom were used for analysis. This study verified the validity and credibility of the questionnaire through an experts' meeting, preliminary test, factor analysis and credibility analysis. The credibility of questionnaire was ${\alpha}=.809{\sim}{\alpha}=.890$. The inout data were analyzed by study purpose using SPSSWIN 18.0, as statistical techniques, factor analysis, credibility analysis, correlation analysis, independent sample t verification, ANOVA, multi-regression analysis, path analysis etc. were used. the findings obtained through the above study methods are as follows. First, building a social Security network has an effect on Community institution. That is, the more activated a, the higher awareness on institution. the more activated street CCTV facilities, anti-crime design, local government Security education, the higher the stability. Second, building a social Security network has an effect on trust of local government. That is, the activated local autonomous anti-crime activity, anti-crime design. local government's Security education, police public oder service, the more increased trust of policy, service management, busines performance. Third, Community unity has an effect on trust of local government. That is, the better Community institution is achieved, the higher trust of policy. Also the stabler Community institution, the higher trust of business performance. Fourth, building a social Security network has a direct or indirect effect on Community unity and local government trust. That is, social Security network has a direct effect on trust of local government, but it has a higher effect through Community unity of parameter. Such results showed that Community unity in Gwangju Region is an important factor, which means it is an important variable mediating building a social Security network and trust of local government. To win trust of local residents, we need to prepare for various cultural events and active communication space and build a social Security network for uniting them.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.113-123
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• 2018

The purpose of this research is to develop evaluation indicators forperformance improvement of horticultural therapy garden. In order to achieve a therapeutic purpose, the gardening activity held by the trained horticultural therapist. Moreover, horticultural therapy is 'a medical model' for the treatment and basic premise of the research was set, as horticultural therapy garden is characterized area to support activities of patients and horticultural therapist functionally and efficiently. For this study, three times of Delphi and AHP techniques were proceeded to export panels who were recruited by purposive sampling. Through these techniques, it was possible to deduct the evaluation indicator which maximizes the performance of the horticultural therapy garden. The evaluation items were prioritized by typing and stratification of the indicator. The results and discussions were stated as followings. Firstly, a questionnaire of experts was conducted to horticultural therapists and civil servants who were in charge of horticultural therapy. As results(horticultural therapists: 87.8%, civil servants: 75.2%), It is possible to conclude that both positions have the high recognition and agreed on the necessity of horticultural therapy. Secondly, Delphi investigation was conducted three times in order to develop the evaluation indicator for performance evaluation. After Delphi analysis, total 34 of evaluation elements to improve the performance of the horticultural therapy garden by reliability and validity analysis results. Thirdly, AHP analysis of each evaluation indicator was conducted on the relative importance and weighting. Moreover, the results showed 'interaction between nature and human' as the most important element, and in order of 'plan of the program', 'social interaction', 'sustainable environmental', and 'universal design rule', respectively. On the other hand, the exports from the university and research institute evaluated the importance of 'interaction between nature and human', while horticultural therapists chose 'plan of the program' as the most important element. Fourthly, the total weight was used to develop weight applied evaluation indicator for the performance evaluation of the horticultural therapy garden. The weight applying to evaluation index is generally calculated multiply the evaluation scores and the total weight using AHP analysis. Finally, 'the evaluation indicator and evaluation score sheet for performance improvement of the horticultural therapy garden' was finally stated based on the relative order of priority between evaluation indicators and analyzing the weight. If it was deducted the improvement points for the efficiency of already established horticultural therapy garden using the 'weight applied evaluation sheet', it is possible to expand it by judging the importance with the decision of the priority because the item importance decided by experts was reflected. Moreover, in the condition of new garden establishment, it is expected to be helpful in suggesting ways for performance improvement and in setting the guidelines by understanding the major indicators of performance improvement in horticultural therapy activity.