• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.95-101
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• 2013

Alternative sources of water are sought in some water stressed communities in the study area. The study focuses on the Aguata-Awka area of southeastern Nigeria. Aquifers occur at great depths, and surface waters may be far from homesteads. The scarcity of water has necessitated the people to adopt various local technologies for harvesting rainfall. The local technology includes collecting rainwater from roofs and channeling the water into large underground tanks, shallow wells and surface reservoirs. Large concrete tanks of $6m{\times}6m{\times}4m$ dimensions are often built underground and can store $144m^3$ of water. Surface reservoirs built on 4 m concrete pillar supports having dimensions of $10m{\times}10m{\times}4m$ and have a storage capacity of $400m^3$. Water samples were collected at 3 different locations of Agulu, Ekwulobia, and Awka and were analyzed for their physical, chemical, and bacteriological parameters. Results indicate a range of values for pH, 5.9 to 7.1; turbidity, 0.9 to 2.7; total dissolved solids, 80 to 170 mg/L; total hardness, 4.5 to 6.4 mg/L; magnesium, 1.2 to 1.4 mg/L; bicarbonate, 19.4 to 83.6 mg/L; and sulfate, 3.6 to 6.4 mg/L. Bacteriological analysis results were negative for fecal and total coliform counts. All parameters, with the exception of pH where aluminum and galvanized iron roofs are used for collection, fall within the recommended guidelines for drinking water quality of the World Health Organization, and the Standard Organization of Nigeria, new Nigerian standards for drinking water quality. Magnesium is above the maximum permitted level for consumer acceptability of the Nigerian standards for drinking water quality. The water can be classified as fresh moderately hard and soft. The water can be described as a calcium and bicarbonate type.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.81-89
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• 2016

Purpose - Prior researches have empirically focused on the effect of management consulting quality and consultant capability on entrepreneurial firms' performance. This study, however, focused on investigating the moderating role of absorptive capacity and resource capability between management consulting and entrepreneurial firms' performance. So, this study investigated the relationship among consulting quality, consultant capability, absorptive capacity, resource capability, and entrepreneurial firms' performance from the resource based view (RBV). Especially, this study focused on the mediating role of absorptive and resource capability in relational structure of entrepreneurial firms' dimensions. Research design, data, and methodology - In this study, research hypotheses and model are established by the prior researches from the fields of strategic management and entrepreneurial behavior. Concretely, H1~H4 are the relationship between consulting (consulting quality, consultant capability) and innovation (absorptive capacity, resource capability); H5 is the relationship between absorptive capacity and resource capability; and H6~H7 are the relationship between innovation (absorptive capacity, resource capability) and management performance. The data was collected 207 copies from entrepreneurial firms in South Korea. These firms were established in January 2014 and maintained by November 2015 in high-tech industry. The questionnaire was consisted of five dimensions; consulting quality, consultant capability, absorptive capacity, resource capability, and management performance. Each dimension measured multi items on a 5-point Likert scale. The hypotheses and research model are analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS 22. Results - The results of this study are as follows. 1) Consulting quality significantly influenced on the absorptive capacity of entrepreneurial firms. 2) But, consultant capability did not influence on the absorptive capacity of entrepreneurial firms. 3) Consulting quality and consultant capability significantly influenced on the resource capability of entrepreneurial firms. 4) Absorptive capacity significantly influenced on the resource capability of entrepreneurial firms; 5) Absorptive capacity did not significantly influence on the management performance of entrepreneurial firms. 6) Resource capability, however, significantly influenced on the management performance of entrepreneurial firms. By these results, absorptive capacity of entrepreneurial firms had a mediating role partly among consulting quality, consultant capability, and management capability. The resource capability of entrepreneurial firms had a mediating role among consulting quality, consultant capability, and management capability, perfectly. Conclusions - According to this study, the high level of consulting quality and consultant capability may enforce the resource capability of entrepreneurial firms. It means, practically, that external knowledge is a driver for innovation, and then the innovation effects on the management performance of entrepreneurial firms. So, at the initial stage, the management consulting programs are very important to entrepreneurial firms and should be conceived as an essential element. This study may contribute to the advancement of academic in field of new start business, small business, or venture business based on resources, especially the role of absorptive capacity and resource capability between consulting programs and management performance. However, this study has some limitations. They are the measurement of consulting quality's items, cross-sectional research, and the limitation of concept and industry.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.51-62
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• 2013

Purpose - A pre-study on service quality-based customer value is conducted with the path structure (perceived value of service quality→customer satisfaction→behavior intention) based on the hierarchical model of service quality including interaction and outcome quality, physical environment quality and the SERVQUAL model of process quality, namely, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles. In addition, customer value in the service industry is studied by dividing into the two-way structure of utilitarian and emotional values. This study classifies customer values of family restaurants through the customer value model based on the 4×4 matrix needs system of Jeon and Kim (2009). It illustrates the path structure of customer value→customer satisfaction→behavior intention targeting college students in order to generalize the customer value system of family restaurants. Research design, data, and methodology - This study established seven hypotheses based on the relationship between each type of customer value (food quality, convenience, social, emotional, interior quality, service encounter, and purchasing) and customer satisfaction, and the relationship between customer satisfaction and behavior intention. The study data were collected from students in the Department of Business and Tourism at Kimpo University. In all, 294 survey papers were returned of the 300 distributed: 253 pieces were used in the final analysis excluding 41 with insufficient and less effective answers. For statistical analysis, the statistics software package SPSS 15.0 was used. Results - The results of the analysis are as follows: first, the customer values of family restaurants are classified by seven customer values: goods quality value, emotional value, convenience value, social value, purchasing value, service encounter value, and inner quality value. Second, emotional value, purchasing value, service encounter value, and inner quality value had positive impact on customer satisfaction. In particular, purchasing value through being included in functional value was not classified in the previous study; however, this study could classify and generalize this value in a new way. Finally, customer satisfaction had a positive impact on behavior intention. This showed that college students had behavior intention - repurchase intention and word-of-mouth - because they could be content with the food items on the menu and the service provided by employees. Conclusions - The main points based on the above-mentioned results are as follows. This study with college students as study subjects could be classified into four dimensions, namely, generic value, usage value, purchasing value, and physical value and seven sub-dimensions on customer values of family restaurants based on a 4×4 matrix needs system. Then, to confirm its generalization, the path structure of customer value→customer satisfaction→behavior intention was verified. While existing pre-studies used simplified values by classifying restaurant values largely as utilitarian value and hedonic value, this study classified various forms of customer value, and that customer value especially could be expanded by adding purchasing value. As a result, it is shown that marketers need to diversify their customer services because this study proved that customer values can be classified in various ways based on customer needs.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.535-550
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• 2016

Objective: To enhance user experience of the product by using "wow" materials and parts, a framework for participatory emotional design and evaluation was proposed and validated through a case study in this paper. Background: Customers in recent days value a product which provides new feeling and images they want to get while interacting with it beyond its function, quality, and usability. Since the product consists of various parts and materials, "wow" materials and parts which can affect the customer's feeling and emotions are the essential components for changing the user experience. Method: A framework for participatory and human sensibility ergonomic design was considered and applied on developing the aesthetically and emotionally affecting glass panels of changing colors. Design experts defined a target market for this multicolor glass panels and modified the existing designing goal. Constraints for this design modification were identified by market trend research and consulting with the company which owns the technology for checking out its feasibility. The company developed and provided prototype samples as well as their competing materials. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the emotional quality was conducted to validate whether the design goal was achieved successfully. Results: The target market for the developing materials was defined as finishing for the buildings. The designing goal was set as to feed new visual sensation of clean and colorful images. The emotional quality of two different types of multicolor glass panels and an ordinary unicolor panel were evaluated quantitatively with semantic differential method. Results showed that the emotion of the subjects for the multicolor glass panels can be abstracted into two dimensions; named 'colorfulness' and 'harmony'. It was found that the developed samples got higher scores in emotional quality for both dimensions compared to the ordinary one. Age was found to be a significant factor for evaluating the emotional quality of colorfulness. Conclusion and Applications: The proposed framework is a valid approach for enhancing the user experience of the product by participatory design of emotional materials and parts. This framework can be applied easily on the emotional design and evaluation of different materials and components.

• Korean Business Review
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.261-274
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• 2006

Airline business operates in the 21st century within fast changing market environment and fierce competition. Management of airline companies has faced the need for vast adaptation to new trends in the growth of world economy that are cardinal changes in marketing environment due to quick development of Internet and IT, transport price competition and, as a consequence, low profit margin, diversified customer wants and needs, lack of investment needed for new aircraft equipped with the latest high tech innovations, unpredictable oil price changes, and exchange rate fluctuations. This study is aimed to evaluate the quality performance of cabin service, to analyse, further, the issues that appeared to be the most significant among customers' answers to questionnaire, to explore the relationships between these issues and customer satisfaction, to highlight the essential questions to address, and to provide some practical suggestions. The five dimensions (such as tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy) were adopted to examine the relationship between the service quality and customer satisfaction of Mongolian and non-Mongolian passengers travelling by the MIAT. According to findings of analysis made with use of the SERVPERF model, it can be concluded that Mongolian travellers' satisfaction was effected by 'Tangible' and 'Responsiveness' dimensions of service quality, whereas the 'Empathy' dimension has more impact on the satisfaction of non-Mongolian.

• Journal of the Korean Society for information Management
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.131-154
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• 2015

Users tend to perceive differently the service quality of library depending on the advance of digital information technologies. It is necessary to analyze the cumulative results of LibQUAL+ in order to identify the suggestions for improvement of library services. This study aims to comparatively analyze the results of LibQUAL+ and demonstrate the trends and changes for the services of university library. To achieve the purpose of this study, two university libraries were selected for analysis. The library of McGill University in Canada was selected with the six years' results of LibQUAL+. Another library located in Seoul was selected with the 2012 result of LibQUAL+ and a new LibQUAL+ in 20015 was conducted for this study. The results were analyzed with three dimensions and 22 items in terms of circular chart, bar chart, and graph. Findings of this study indicated that there were substantial differences in terms of years of LibQUAL+ survey and user groups with undergraduate/graduate students in three dimensions. In particular, the results of A library showed that users were likely to expect more from the university library, but they perceived low service quality. In addition, there was found considerable differences among users groups in terms of undergraduate and graduate students. The improvements for library services need to focus on three dimensions such as staff, resources, and facilities as well as customized services for individual user groups.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.362-365
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• 2000

Rapid Prototyping(RP) techniques have revolutionized traditional manufacturing methods. These techniques allow the user to fabricate a part directly from a conceptual model before investing in production tooling and help develop new models with significant short time. This paper suggests to new process to manufacture large size hollow shape parts for prototype-car using Rapid Prototyping technology and Vacuum Molding with the reduction of delivery time. In addition, This paper introduces the dividing and combining method to make large size RP master model in spite of the limit of the build chamber dimensions of commercialized RP system and post-processing method to achieve sufficient surface quality.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.251-256
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• 2000

This report analyzes the Source Qualification Test which is composed of main functional and environmental tests for the localizing avionics(electronic subsystem for aircrafts and spacecraft) and high performance mechanical subsystem. Especially the detail test approaches of integrated servo actuators which is the main part to supply the power to the main and other flying control panel. Nowadays this subsystem works with mechanical and electrical engineering technique. In detail, electrical signal is used as input and transferring tool and mechanical part is the output as a power and manufacture the physical dimensions and functions. Finally in this review, the new test procedure to prove the function by the new manufacturer is established.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.3-15
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• 2003

Many researches have concluded that product advantage or superiority is the most important factor for the commercial success of new products. However, the specific dimensions of product advantage have not been studied as yet. In order to know what kind of product attributes have been major determinants of commercial success, telecommunications winning products from 1985 to 1997 in the Korean market were examined. As results of the analysis, the determinants are classified into function, aesthetics, economy, safety, usability, reliability, brand image, assurance, distribution channel, advertisement, DEF(design for the environment). This study augmented the data set through questionnaire survey to marketing professor in University. The results will be a cue to future of new product development.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Educational Facilities
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.11-18
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• 2009

This study examines the issue of space management of university facilities by an assessment model as part of efforts to deal with the crisis of universities. To this end, the study addressed efficiency issue and structural problems using assessment model factors, with the aim of figuring out legitimacy and allocating methods for this purpose. Selected model factors included utilization ratio, residual ratio, vacancy ratio, and occupancy ratio, while for the latter, we investigated into the present situations of space use, focusing on construction, design, and living dimensions. As a result, the study suggested that in the future universities will resort to extension and rebuilding or new building for their facilities. To ensure space efficiency without conflict, we should follow legitimacy of space allocation and composition, building quality university facilities, creating quality environment, preventing tuition from rising or Improving welfare to keep pace with the new era.