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Estimation Model for Simplification and Validation of Soil Water Characteristics Curve on Volcanic Ash Soil in Subtropical Area in Korea (난지권 화산회토양의 토색별 토양수분 특성곡선 및 단일화 추정모형)

  • Hur, Seung-Oh;Moon, Kyung-Hwan;Jung, Kang-Ho;Ha, Sang-Keun;Song, Kwan-Cheol;Lim, Han-Cheol;Kim, Geong-Gyu
    • Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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    • v.39 no.6
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    • pp.329-333
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    • 2006
  • Most of volcanic ash soils in South Korea are distributed in Jeju province which is an island placed on southern part of Korea and has steep slope mountain area. There are many soils containing high contents of organic matter (OM) derived from volcanic ash in Jejudo, also. Therefore, irrigation and drainage in volcanic ash soil different with general soil which has low OM content have to be applied with another management way, but studies searching appropriate methods for them are set on insufficient situation because the area of volcanic ash soil in South Korea is only 1.3% (130,000ha). This study was conducted for analysis of soil water content and irrigation quantity appropriate for crops cultivated in volcanic ash soil with high OM content. Although soils with different soil color have the same soil texture, soil water characteristics curve by soil color showed the difference of water retention capability by OM content. But, this characteristics classified with soil color could be unified by scaling technique with similitude analysis method which get dimensionless water content using a present water content, a residual water content and saturated water content (or water content at 10kPa). A relation of gravimetric soil water content (GSWC) and dimensionless water content by the results showed a form of power function. The dimensionless water content (DWC) express a relative saturation degree of present water content. This was also expressed by van Genuchten model which describe the relation between relative saturation degrees and matric potentials. These results on soil water characteristics curve (SWCC) of volcanic ash soil will be the basic of irrigation plan in area having high organic contents into soil.

Study on Basic Elements for Smart Content through the Market Status-quo (스마트콘텐츠 현황분석을 통한 기본요소 추출)

  • Kim, Gyoung Sun;Park, Joo Young;Kim, Yi Yeon
    • Korea Science and Art Forum
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    • v.21
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    • pp.31-43
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    • 2015
  • Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is one of the technologies which represent the core value of the creative economy. It has served as a vehicle connecting the existing industry and corporate infrastructure, developing existing products and services and creating new products and services. In addition to the ICT, new devices including big data, mobile gadgets and wearable products are gaining a great attention sending an expectation for a new market-pioneering. Further, Internet of Things (IoT) is helping solidify the ICT-based social development connecting human-to-human, human-to-things and things-to-things. This means that the manufacturing-based hardware development needs to be achieved simultaneously with software development through convergence. The essential element the convergence between hardware and software is OS, for which world's leading companies such as Google and Apple have launched an intense development recognizing the importance of software. Against this backdrop, the status-quo of the software market has been examined for the study of the present report (Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology: Professional Design Technology Development Project). As a result, the software platform-based Google's android and Apple's iOS are dominant in the global market and late comers are trying to enter the market through various pathways by releasing web-based OS and similar OS to provide a new paradigm to the market. The present study is aimed at finding the way to utilize a smart content by which anyone can be a developer based on OS responding to such as social change, newly defining a smart content to be universally utilized and analyzing the market to deal with a rapid market change. The study method, scope and details are as follows: Literature investigation, Analysis on the app market according to a smart classification system, Trend analysis on the current content market, Identification of five common trends through comparison among the universal definition of smart content, the status-quo of application represented in the app market and content market situation. In conclusion, the smart content market is independent but is expected to develop in the form of a single organic body being connected each other. Therefore, the further classification system and development focus should be made in a way to see the area from multiple perspectives including a social point of view in terms of the existing technology, culture, business and consumers.

The Crisis of AIDS and responses of South African Churches in the task of new national building (새로운 민주주의 국가건설의 과제 속에 직면한 AIDS와 이에 대한 교회의 반응과 과제: 남아프리카 공화국을 중심으로)

  • Kim, Dae-Yoong
    • Journal of the Korean Association of African Studies
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    • v.29
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    • pp.27-53
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    • 2009
  • At the start of the new century, South Africa probably had the largest number of HIV-infected people of any country in the world. The only nation that comes close is India with a population of one billion people compared to South Africa's figure of 57 million. The tragedy is that this did not have to happen. South Africa was aware of the dangers posed by AIDS as early as 1985. In 1991, the national survey of women attending antenatal clinics found that only 0.8percent were infected. In 1994, when the new government took power, the figure was still comparatively low at 7.6 %. The 2004 figure which has been published is 26.5%. This article tracks the epidemic globally, in the region and in South Africa. I explain some of the basic concepts around the disease and look at what may happen with respect to numbers. The situation is bad, and the number of people falling ill, dying and leaving families will rise over next few years. This will impact on South Africa in a number of important ways. This article assesses the demographic, economic and social consequences of the epidemic. It disposes of a number of myths and present the real facts. The AIDS in South Africa is not related to individuals only. It warns that AIDS in Africa is becoming a community and systemic problem. The acuteness of the problem does not stem merely from the fact that communities are affected, or could even be wipe out by the end of this decade, but from the fact that AIDS will place incredible burdens and obligations upon medical services, health care and religious communities such as churches. The facts confront churches' mission with the important question: who is going to take care of all the patients and where? The reality is that people dying of AIDS will have to be cared for at home by relatives and friends. A further question that arises is whether our people are prepared for this. AIDS was considered to be a homo-plague and the hunt was on for a scapegoat in the light of the fatal implication of the disease. At present we are in the strategic phase where we all realize that it will be of no avail to scare people with the ominous threat of AIDS AIDS destroys the optimism of our achievement ethics. This exposure of the culture of optimism is also an exposure of the so-called 'human basic fear which accuses Christianity that their concept of sin is a damper on man's search for liberation and basic need to be freed from all Imitation. AIDS is also a test for our ecclesiastical genuineness and the sincerity of our mission sensibility. It poses the question: How unconditional is Christian love? Is there room for the AIDS sufferer in the community of believers, despite the fact he is an acknowledged homosexual? The question to put to the church is whether the community of believers is an exclusive to put to the koinonia which excludes homosexuals. They may be welcome on principle, but in actual fact are not acceptable to the church community. As South Africa enters the new century, it is clear that the epidemic is not having a measurable impact. However, the impact of AIDS is gradual, subtle and incremental. The author's proposal of what is currently most needed in South Africa is that the little things will make a difference. It's about doing lots of little things better at grassroots level, with the emphasis on doing. There are so many community, churches and NGOs initiatives worth building on and intensifying. One must not underestimate the therapeutic value of working together in small groups to overcome a problem

Bibliographic Study on 『ChungMinKongKeicho (忠愍公啓草)』 by YI Sun-sin (이순신의 『충민공계초(忠愍公啓草)』에 대한 서지적 고찰)

  • Ro, Seung-Suk
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.49 no.2
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    • pp.4-19
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    • 2016
  • Jangkei(狀啓) made to the Royal Court by Yi Sun-sin during the Japanese invasions of Korea is handed down under the names of Jangcho(狀草), Keicho(啓草), Keibon(啓本) and others depending on copying patterns of those times and later times as it was copied out by a third person. In particular, "YimjinJangcho(壬辰狀草)" which Yi drew up during his service as the director of the naval forces in Jeolla Jwasooyeong is known as the most popular Jangkei. "ChungMinKongKeicho" which has been re-located recently after loss is a national treasure level cultural property as valuable as "YimjinJangcho" and should be treated as a model of Yi Sun-sin's other Jangkeis by next generations. As of now, however it is not confirmed if it is a totally new book related to Yi Sun-sin or is supplementary to the lost Jangkei, this study decided to ascertain relevant information through a bibliographic discussion on the question. "Chungmin(忠愍)" was the title that was used after the death of Yi Sun-sin, and "ChungMinKongKeicho" was completed when Jangkei was copied in 1662. 12 books that would not be found in YimjinJangcho are included in the book and such books are also present in the Jangkei supplement which has been known lost so far. What should be especially focused on here is that the forms and contents of these (11) photographs that Japanese shot from "ChungMinKongKeicho" in 1928 turned out to be completely identical to those of the original copy. The point that Korean History Compilation Committee added the 12 books to Jangkei as referring to the book as "One Keicho(啓草) partially copied(抄寫) in separation" and that Cho Sung-do categorized the 12 books into a supplement and others can be solid proofs to make the Jangkei supplement called "ChungMinKongKeicho". In terms of "ChungMooKongKeicho", since it consists of 62 books in total, it is not reasonable to see the book as Jangkei supplement which has the extra 12 more books for itself. "ChungMooKongKeibon" in "ChungMooKongYusa" was written with a total of 16 books. In the body, Yidumun is only clearly present, and the three books in the later part are same with the original copy of "ChungMooKongKeicho". "YimjinJangcho" by Korean History Compilation Committee has been the only book in which Yidumun was observed so far but now, it is assumed that the publication date of "ChungMooKongKeibon" goes before that of the former. The counterargument to the opinion that "ChungMinKongKeicho" is the supplement to Jangkei is based on Lee Eun-sang's comment "One page of a log in the Jangkei copy supplement." At first Seol Ui-sik introduced a piece photo of the rough draft of "MoosulIlki" in a drawing form through "Nanjung Ilkicho by Yi Sun-sin" in 1953. Lee Eun-sang also added two pages of the handwritten Yilkicho in the Jangkeichobon supplement to "MoosulIlki" and for the second time, the phrase "One page of a log written during the last 10 days after the Jangkei copy supplement" and "Supplement" were used. Those views are originated from the comment "One photograph of the rough draft of "MoosulIlki"" which Seol Ui-sik introduced without knowledge of the exact source. Lee Eun-sang said, "One page of a log in the Jangkei copy supplement" because Lee mistook "ChungMooKongYusa" for a book related to Jangkei. Since it is the wrong argument different from the actual situation of the original copy, if it has to be corrected, it should be rephrased "One page of a log in ChungMooKongYusa." After all, the source of the counterargument is the mistake because there has never been the Jangkei supplement with one page of a log included. All the Jangkeis other than "YimjinJangcho" can be said as the Jangkei supplements but still, they are separated from the other Jangkeis for the extra 12 more books are present in the commonly-called Jangkei supplement. Due to that reason, the argument on how "ChungMinKongKeicho" with the 12 books added is the popular Jangkei supplement should be considered more reasonable.

Retail Product Development and Brand Management Collaboration between Industry and University Student Teams (산업여대학학생단대지간적령수산품개발화품패관리협작(产业与大学学生团队之间的零售产品开发和品牌管理协作))

  • Carroll, Katherine Emma
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.239-248
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    • 2010
  • This paper describes a collaborative project between academia and industry which focused on improving the marketing and product development strategies for two private label apparel brands of a large regional department store chain in the southeastern United States. The goal of the project was to revitalize product lines of the two brands by incorporating student ideas for new solutions, thereby giving the students practical experience with a real-life industry situation. There were a number of key players involved in the project. A privately-owned department store chain based in the southeastern United States which was seeking an academic partner had recognized a need to update two existing private label brands. They targeted middle-aged consumers looking for casual, moderately priced merchandise. The company was seeking to change direction with both packaging and presentation, and possibly product design. The branding and product development divisions of the company contacted professors in an academic department of a large southeastern state university. Two of the professors agreed that the task would be a good fit for their classes - one was a junior-level Intermediate Brand Management class; the other was a senior-level Fashion Product Development class. The professors felt that by working collaboratively on the project, students would be exposed to a real world scenario, within the security of an academic learning environment. Collaboration within an interdisciplinary team has the advantage of providing experiences and resources beyond the capabilities of a single student and adds "brainpower" to problem-solving processes (Lowman 2000). This goal of improving the capabilities of students directed the instructors in each class to form interdisciplinary teams between the Branding and Product Development classes. In addition, many universities are employing industry partnerships in research and teaching, where collaboration within temporal (semester) and physical (classroom/lab) constraints help to increase students' knowledge and experience of a real-world situation. At the University of Tennessee, the Center of Industrial Services and UT-Knoxville's College of Engineering worked with a company to develop design improvements in its U.S. operations. In this study, Because should be lower case b with a private label retail brand, Wickett, Gaskill and Damhorst's (1999) revised Retail Apparel Product Development Model was used by the product development and brand management teams. This framework was chosen because it addresses apparel product development from the concept to the retail stage. Two classes were involved in this project: a junior level Brand Management class and a senior level Fashion Product Development class. Seven teams were formed which included four students from Brand Management and two students from Product Development. The classes were taught the same semester, but not at the same time. At the beginning of the semester, each class was introduced to the industry partner and given the problem. Half the teams were assigned to the men's brand and half to the women's brand. The teams were responsible for devising approaches to the problem, formulating a timeline for their work, staying in touch with industry representatives and making sure that each member of the team contributed in a positive way. The objective for the teams was to plan, develop, and present a product line using merchandising processes (following the Wickett, Gaskill and Damhorst model) and develop new branding strategies for the proposed lines. The teams performed trend, color, fabrication and target market research; developed sketches for a line; edited the sketches and presented their line plans; wrote specifications; fitted prototypes on fit models, and developed final production samples for presentation to industry. The branding students developed a SWOT analysis, a Brand Measurement report, a mind-map for the brands and a fully integrated Marketing Report which was presented alongside the ideas for the new lines. In future if the opportunity arises to work in this collaborative way with an existing company who wishes to look both at branding and product development strategies, classes will be scheduled at the same time so that students have more time to meet and discuss timelines and assigned tasks. As it was, student groups had to meet outside of each class time and this proved to be a challenging though not uncommon part of teamwork (Pfaff and Huddleston, 2003). Although the logistics of this exercise were time-consuming to set up and administer, professors felt that the benefits to students were multiple. The most important benefit, according to student feedback from both classes, was the opportunity to work with industry professionals, follow their process, and see the results of their work evaluated by the people who made the decisions at the company level. Faculty members were grateful to have a "real-world" case to work with in the classroom to provide focus. Creative ideas and strategies were traded as plans were made, extending and strengthening the departmental links be tween the branding and product development areas. By working not only with students coming from a different knowledge base, but also having to keep in contact with the industry partner and follow the framework and timeline of industry practice, student teams were challenged to produce excellent and innovative work under new circumstances. Working on the product development and branding for "real-life" brands that are struggling gave students an opportunity to see how closely their coursework ties in with the real-world and how creativity, collaboration and flexibility are necessary components of both the design and business aspects of company operations. Industry personnel were impressed by (a) the level and depth of knowledge and execution in the student projects, and (b) the creativity of new ideas for the brands.

A study on the Greeting's Types of Ganchal in Joseon Dynasty (간찰(簡札)의 안부인사(安否人事)에 대한 유형(類型) 연구(硏究))

  • Jeon, Byeong-yong
    • (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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    • no.57
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    • pp.467-505
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    • 2014
  • I am working on a series of Korean linguistic studies targeting Ganchal(old typed letters in Korea) for many years and this study is for the typology of the [Safety Expression] as the part. For this purpose, [Safety Expression] were divided into a formal types and semantic types, targeting the Chinese Ganchal and Hangul Ganchal of modern Korean Language time(16th century-19th century). Formal types can be divided based on whether Normal position or not, whether Omission or not, whether the Sending letter or not, whether the relationship of the high and the low or not. Normal position form and completion were made the first type which reveal well the typicality of the [Safety Expression]. Original position while [Own Safety] omitted as the second type, while Original position while [Opposite Safety] omitted as the third type, Original position while [Safety Expression] omitted as the fourth type. Inversion type were made as the fifth type which is the most severe solecism in [Safety Expression]. The first type is refers to Original position type that [Opposite Safety] precede the [Own Safety] and the completion type that is full of semantic element. This type can be referred to most typical and normative in that it equipped all components of [Safety Expression]. A second type is that [Safety Expression] is composed of only the [Opposite Safety]. This type is inferior to the first type in terms of set pattern, it is never outdone when it comes to the appearance frequency. Because asking [Opposite Safety] faithfully, omitting [Own Safety] dose not greatly deviate politeness and easy to write Ganchal, it is utilized. The third type is the Original position type showing the configuration of the [Opposite Safety]+Own Safety], but [Opposite Safety] is omitted. The fourth type is a Original position type showing configuration of the [Opposite Safety+Own Safety], but [Safety Expression] is omitted. This type is divided into A ; [Safety Expression] is entirely omitted and B ; such as 'saving trouble', the conventional expression, replace [Safety Expression]. The fifth type is inversion type that shown to structure of the [Own Safety+Opposite Safety], unlike the Original position type. This type is the most severe solecism type and real example is very rare. It is because let leading [Own Safety] and ask later [Opposite Safety] for face save is offend against common decency. In addition, it can be divided into the direct type that [Opposite Safety] and [Own Safety] is directly connected and indirect type that separate into the [story]. The semantic types of [Safety Expression] can be classified based on whether Sending letter or not, fast or slow, whether intimate or not, and isolation or not. For Sending letter, [Safety Expression] consists [Opposite Safety(Climate+Inquiry after health+Mental state)+Own safety(status+Inquiry after health+Mental state)]. At [Opposite safety], [Climate] could be subdivided as [Season] information and [Climate(weather)] information. Also, [Mental state] is divided as receiver's [Family Safety Mental state] and [Individual Safety Mental state]. In [Own Safety], [Status] is divided as receiver's traditional situation; [Recent condition] and receiver's ongoing situation; [Present condition]. [Inquiry after health] is also subdivided as receiver's [Family Safety] and [Individual Safety], [Safety] is as [Family Safety] and [Individual Safety]. Likewise, [Inquiry after health] or [Safety] is usually used as pairs, in dimension of [Family] and [Individual]. This phenomenon seems to have occurred from a big family system, which is defined as taking care of one's parents or grand parents. As for the Written Reply, [Safety Expression] consists [Opposite Safety (Reception+Inquiry after health+Mental state)+Own safety(status+Inquiry after health+Mental state)], and only in [Opposite safety], a difference in semantic structure happens with Sending letter. In [Opposite Safety], [Reception] is divided as [Letter] which is Ganchal that is directly received and [Message], which is news that is received indirectly from people. [Safety] is as [Family Safety] and [Individual Safety], [Mental state] also as [Family Safety Mental state] and [Individual Safety Mental state].

A Store Recommendation Procedure in Ubiquitous Market for User Privacy (U-마켓에서의 사용자 정보보호를 위한 매장 추천방법)

  • Kim, Jae-Kyeong;Chae, Kyung-Hee;Gu, Ja-Chul
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.18 no.3
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    • pp.123-145
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    • 2008
  • Recently, as the information communication technology develops, the discussion regarding the ubiquitous environment is occurring in diverse perspectives. Ubiquitous environment is an environment that could transfer data through networks regardless of the physical space, virtual space, time or location. In order to realize the ubiquitous environment, the Pervasive Sensing technology that enables the recognition of users' data without the border between physical and virtual space is required. In addition, the latest and diversified technologies such as Context-Awareness technology are necessary to construct the context around the user by sharing the data accessed through the Pervasive Sensing technology and linkage technology that is to prevent information loss through the wired, wireless networking and database. Especially, Pervasive Sensing technology is taken as an essential technology that enables user oriented services by recognizing the needs of the users even before the users inquire. There are lots of characteristics of ubiquitous environment through the technologies mentioned above such as ubiquity, abundance of data, mutuality, high information density, individualization and customization. Among them, information density directs the accessible amount and quality of the information and it is stored in bulk with ensured quality through Pervasive Sensing technology. Using this, in the companies, the personalized contents(or information) providing became possible for a target customer. Most of all, there are an increasing number of researches with respect to recommender systems that provide what customers need even when the customers do not explicitly ask something for their needs. Recommender systems are well renowned for its affirmative effect that enlarges the selling opportunities and reduces the searching cost of customers since it finds and provides information according to the customers' traits and preference in advance, in a commerce environment. Recommender systems have proved its usability through several methodologies and experiments conducted upon many different fields from the mid-1990s. Most of the researches related with the recommender systems until now take the products or information of internet or mobile context as its object, but there is not enough research concerned with recommending adequate store to customers in a ubiquitous environment. It is possible to track customers' behaviors in a ubiquitous environment, the same way it is implemented in an online market space even when customers are purchasing in an offline marketplace. Unlike existing internet space, in ubiquitous environment, the interest toward the stores is increasing that provides information according to the traffic line of the customers. In other words, the same product can be purchased in several different stores and the preferred store can be different from the customers by personal preference such as traffic line between stores, location, atmosphere, quality, and price. Krulwich(1997) has developed Lifestyle Finder which recommends a product and a store by using the demographical information and purchasing information generated in the internet commerce. Also, Fano(1998) has created a Shopper's Eye which is an information proving system. The information regarding the closest store from the customers' present location is shown when the customer has sent a to-buy list, Sadeh(2003) developed MyCampus that recommends appropriate information and a store in accordance with the schedule saved in a customers' mobile. Moreover, Keegan and O'Hare(2004) came up with EasiShop that provides the suitable tore information including price, after service, and accessibility after analyzing the to-buy list and the current location of customers. However, Krulwich(1997) does not indicate the characteristics of physical space based on the online commerce context and Keegan and O'Hare(2004) only provides information about store related to a product, while Fano(1998) does not fully consider the relationship between the preference toward the stores and the store itself. The most recent research by Sedah(2003), experimented on campus by suggesting recommender systems that reflect situation and preference information besides the characteristics of the physical space. Yet, there is a potential problem since the researches are based on location and preference information of customers which is connected to the invasion of privacy. The primary beginning point of controversy is an invasion of privacy and individual information in a ubiquitous environment according to researches conducted by Al-Muhtadi(2002), Beresford and Stajano(2003), and Ren(2006). Additionally, individuals want to be left anonymous to protect their own personal information, mentioned in Srivastava(2000). Therefore, in this paper, we suggest a methodology to recommend stores in U-market on the basis of ubiquitous environment not using personal information in order to protect individual information and privacy. The main idea behind our suggested methodology is based on Feature Matrices model (FM model, Shahabi and Banaei-Kashani, 2003) that uses clusters of customers' similar transaction data, which is similar to the Collaborative Filtering. However unlike Collaborative Filtering, this methodology overcomes the problems of personal information and privacy since it is not aware of the customer, exactly who they are, The methodology is compared with single trait model(vector model) such as visitor logs, while looking at the actual improvements of the recommendation when the context information is used. It is not easy to find real U-market data, so we experimented with factual data from a real department store with context information. The recommendation procedure of U-market proposed in this paper is divided into four major phases. First phase is collecting and preprocessing data for analysis of shopping patterns of customers. The traits of shopping patterns are expressed as feature matrices of N dimension. On second phase, the similar shopping patterns are grouped into clusters and the representative pattern of each cluster is derived. The distance between shopping patterns is calculated by Projected Pure Euclidean Distance (Shahabi and Banaei-Kashani, 2003). Third phase finds a representative pattern that is similar to a target customer, and at the same time, the shopping information of the customer is traced and saved dynamically. Fourth, the next store is recommended based on the physical distance between stores of representative patterns and the present location of target customer. In this research, we have evaluated the accuracy of recommendation method based on a factual data derived from a department store. There are technological difficulties of tracking on a real-time basis so we extracted purchasing related information and we added on context information on each transaction. As a result, recommendation based on FM model that applies purchasing and context information is more stable and accurate compared to that of vector model. Additionally, we could find more precise recommendation result as more shopping information is accumulated. Realistically, because of the limitation of ubiquitous environment realization, we were not able to reflect on all different kinds of context but more explicit analysis is expected to be attainable in the future after practical system is embodied.

Differential Effects of Recovery Efforts on Products Attitudes (제품태도에 대한 회복노력의 차별적 효과)

  • Kim, Cheon-GIl;Choi, Jung-Mi
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.18 no.1
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    • pp.33-58
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    • 2008
  • Previous research has presupposed that the evaluation of consumer who received any recovery after experiencing product failure should be better than the evaluation of consumer who did not receive any recovery. The major purposes of this article are to examine impacts of product defect failures rather than service failures, and to explore effects of recovery on postrecovery product attitudes. First, this article deals with the occurrence of severe and unsevere failure and corresponding service recovery toward tangible products rather than intangible services. Contrary to intangible services, purchase and usage are separable for tangible products. This difference makes it clear that executing an recovery strategy toward tangible products is not plausible right after consumers find out product failures. The consumers may think about backgrounds and causes for the unpleasant events during the time gap between product failure and recovery. The deliberation may dilutes positive effects of recovery efforts. The recovery strategies which are provided to consumers experiencing product failures can be classified into three types. A recovery strategy can be implemented to provide consumers with a new product replacing the old defective product, a complimentary product for free, a discount at the time of the failure incident, or a coupon that can be used on the next visit. This strategy is defined as "a rewarding effort." Meanwhile a product failure may arise in exchange for its benefit. Then the product provider can suggest a detail explanation that the defect is hard to escape since it relates highly to the specific advantage to the product. The strategy may be called as "a strengthening effort." Another possible strategy is to recover negative attitude toward own brand by giving prominence to the disadvantages of a competing brand rather than the advantages of its own brand. The strategy is reflected as "a weakening effort." This paper emphasizes that, in order to confirm its effectiveness, a recovery strategy should be compared to being nothing done in response to the product failure. So the three types of recovery efforts is discussed in comparison to the situation involving no recovery effort. The strengthening strategy is to claim high relatedness of the product failure with another advantage, and expects the two-sidedness to ease consumers' complaints. The weakening strategy is to emphasize non-aversiveness of product failure, even if consumers choose another competitive brand. The two strategies can be effective in restoring to the original state, by providing plausible motives to accept the condition of product failure or by informing consumers of non-responsibility in the failure case. However the two may be less effective strategies than the rewarding strategy, since it tries to take care of the rehabilitation needs of consumers. Especially, the relative effect between the strengthening effort and the weakening effort may differ in terms of the severity of the product failure. A consumer who realizes a highly severe failure is likely to attach importance to the property which caused the failure. This implies that the strengthening effort would be less effective under the condition of high product severity. Meanwhile, the failing property is not diagnostic information in the condition of low failure severity. Consumers would not pay attention to non-diagnostic information, and with which they are not likely to change their attitudes. This implies that the strengthening effort would be more effective under the condition of low product severity. A 2 (product failure severity: high or low) X 4 (recovery strategies: rewarding, strengthening, weakening, or doing nothing) between-subjects design was employed. The particular levels of product failure severity and the types of recovery strategies were determined after a series of expert interviews. The dependent variable was product attitude after the recovery effort was provided. Subjects were 284 consumers who had an experience of cosmetics. Subjects were first given a product failure scenario and were asked to rate the comprehensibility of the failure scenario, the probability of raising complaints against the failure, and the subjective severity of the failure. After a recovery scenario was presented, its comprehensibility and overall evaluation were measured. The subjects assigned to the condition of no recovery effort were exposed to a short news article on the cosmetic industry. Next, subjects answered filler questions: 42 items of the need for cognitive closure and 16 items of need-to-evaluate. In the succeeding page a subject's product attitude was measured on an five-item, six-point scale, and a subject's repurchase intention on an three-item, six-point scale. After demographic variables of age and sex were asked, ten items of the subject's objective knowledge was checked. The results showed that the subjects formed more favorable evaluations after receiving rewarding efforts than after receiving either strengthening or weakening efforts. This is consistent with Hoffman, Kelley, and Rotalsky (1995) in that a tangible service recovery could be more effective that intangible efforts. Strengthening and weakening efforts also were effective compared to no recovery effort. So we found that generally any recovery increased products attitudes. The results hint us that a recovery strategy such as strengthening or weakening efforts, although it does not contain a specific reward, may have an effect on consumers experiencing severe unsatisfaction and strong complaint. Meanwhile, strengthening and weakening efforts were not expected to increase product attitudes under the condition of low severity of product failure. We can conclude that only a physical recovery effort may be recognized favorably as a firm's willingness to recover its fault by consumers experiencing low involvements. Results of the present experiment are explained in terms of the attribution theory. This article has a limitation that it utilized fictitious scenarios. Future research deserves to test a realistic effect of recovery for actual consumers. Recovery involves a direct, firsthand experience of ex-users. Recovery does not apply to non-users. The experience of receiving recovery efforts can be relatively more salient and accessible for the ex-users than for non-users. A recovery effort might be more likely to improve product attitude for the ex-users than for non-users. Also the present experiment did not include consumers who did not have an experience of the products and who did not perceive the occurrence of product failure. For the non-users and the ignorant consumers, the recovery efforts might lead to decreased product attitude and purchase intention. This is because the recovery trials may give an opportunity for them to notice the product failure.

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A Study on Perception and Attitudes of Health Workers Towards the Organization and Activities of Urban Health Centers (도시보건소 직원의 보건소 업무에 대한 인식 및 견해)

  • Lee, Jae-Mu;Kang, Pock-Soo;Lee, Kyeong-Soo;Kim, Cheon-Tae
    • Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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    • v.12 no.2
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    • pp.347-365
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    • 1995
  • A survey was conducted to study perception and attitudes of health workers towards health center's activities and organization of health services, from August 15 to September 30, 1994. The study population was 310 health workers engaged in seven urban health centers in Taegu City area. A questionnaire method was used to collect data and response rate was 81.3 percent or 252 respondents. The following are summaries of findings: Profiles of study population: Health workers were predominantly female(62.3%); had college education(60.3%); and held medical and nursing positions(39.6%), technicians(30.6%) and public health/administrative positions(29.8%). Perceptions on health center's resources: Slightly more than a half(51.1%) of respondents expressed that physical facilities of the centers are inadequate; equipments needed are short(39.0%); human resource is inadequate(44.8%); and health budget allocated is insufficient(38.5%) to support the performance of health center's activities. Decentralization and health services: The majority revealed that the decentralization of government system would affect the future activities of health centers(51.9%) which may have to change. However, only one quarter of respondents(25.4%) seemed to view the decentralization positively as they expect that it would help perform health activities more effectively. The majority of the respondents(78.6%) insisted that the function and organization of the urban health centers should be changed. Target workload and job satisfaction: A large proportion (43.3%) of respondents felt that present target setting systems for various health activities are unrealistic in terms of community needs and health center's situation while only 11.1 percent responded it positively; the majority(57.5%) revealed that they need further training in professional fields to perform their job more effectively; more than one third(35.7%) expressed that they enjoy their professional autonomy in their job performance; and a considerable proportion (39.3%) said they are satisfied with their present work. Regarding the personnel management, more worker(47.3%) perceived it negatively than positive(11.5%) as most of workers seemed to think the personnel management practiced at the health centers is not fair or justly done. Health services rendered: Among health services rendered, health workers perceived the following services are most successfully delivered; they are, in order of importance, Tb control, curative services, and maternal and child health care. Such areas as health education, oral health, environmental sanitation, and integrated health services are needed to be strengthening. Regarding the community attitudes towards health workers, 41.3 percent of respondents think they are trusted by the community they serve. New areas of concern identified which must be included in future activities of health centers are, in order of priority, health care of elderly population, home health care, rehabilitation services, and such chronic diseases control programs as diabetes, hypertension, school health and mental health care. In conclusion, the study revealed that health workers seemed to have more negative perceptions and attitudes than positive ones towards organization and management of health services and activities performed by the urban health centers where they are engaged. More specifically, the majority of health workers studied revealed to have the following areas of health center's organization and management inadequate or insufficient to support effective performance of their health activities: Namely, physical facilities and equipments required are inadequate; human and financial resources are insufficient; personnel management is unsatisfactory; setting of service target system is unrealistic in terms of the community needs. However, respondents displayed a number of positive perceptions, particularly to those areas as further training needs and implementation of decentralization of government system which will bring more autonomy of local government as they perceived these change would bring the necessary changes to future activities of the health center. They also displayed positive perceptions in their job autonomy and have job satisfactions.

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The Value and Growing Characteristics of the Dicentra Spectabilis Community in Daea-ri, Wanju-gun, Jeollabuk-do as a Nature Reserve (전북 완주군 대아리 금낭화 Dicentra spectabilis 군락지의 천연보호구역적 가치와 생육특성)

  • Lee, Suk Woo;Rho, Jae Hyun;Oh, Hyun Kyung
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.44 no.1
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    • pp.72-105
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    • 2011
  • This study explores the value of the Dicentra spectabilis community as a nature reserve in provincial forests at San 1-2, Daea-ri, Dongsang-myeon, Wanju-gun, Jellabuk-do, also known as Gamakgol, while defining the appropriateness of its living environment and eventually providing basic information to protect this area. For these reasons, we investigated 'morphological and biological features of Dicentra spectabilis' and the 'present situation and problems of designing a herbaceous nature reserve in Korea.' Furthermore, we researched and analyzed the solar, soil and vegetation condition here through a field study in order to comprehend its nature reserve value. The result is as follows. According to the analytic result for information on the domestic wild Dicentra spectabilis community, it is evenly spread throughout mountainous areas, and there is one particularly outstanding in size in Wanju Gamakgol. Upon the findings from literature and the field study about its dispersion, Gamakgol has been discovered as an ideal district for Dicentra spectabilis since it meets all the conditions this plant requires to grow vigorously, such as a quasi-high altitude and rich precipitation during its period of active growth duration in May. Dicentra spectabilis grows in rocky soil ranging from 300~375m above sea level, 344.5m on average, towards the north, northwest and dominantly in the northeast. The mean inclination degree is $19.5^{\circ}$. Also, upon findings from analyzing solar conditions, the average light intensity during its growth duration, from Apr. to Aug., is 30,810lux on average and it tends to increase, as it gets closer to the end. This plant requires around 14,000~18,000lux while growing, but once bloomed, fruits develop regardless of the degree of brightness. The soil pH has shown a slight difference between the topsoil, at 5.2~6.1, and subsoil, at 5.2~6.2. Its mean pH is 5.54 for topsoil and 5.58 for subsoil. These results are very typical for Dicentra spectabilis to grow in, and other comparative areas also present similar conditions. Given the facts, the character of the soil in Gamakgol has been evaluated to have high stability. Analysis of its vegetation environment shows a wide variation of taxa numbering from 13 to 52 depending on area. The total number of taxa is 126 and they are a homogenous group while showing a variety of species as well. The Dicentra spectabilis community in the Daea-ri Arboretum is an herbaceous community consisting of dominantly Dicentra spectabilis, Cardamine leucantha, Boehmeria tricuspi and Impatiens textori while having many differential species such as Impatiens textori, Pueraria thunbergiana, Rubus crataegifolius vs Staphylea bumalda, Securinega suffruticosa, and Actinidia polygama. It suggests that it is a typical subcolony divided by topographic features and soil humidity. Considering the above results on a comprehensive level, this area is an excellent habitat for wild Dicentra spectabilis providing beautiful viewing enjoyment. Additionally, it is the largest wild colony of Dicentra spectabilis in Korea whose climate, topography, soil conditions and vegetation environment can secure sustainability as a wild habitat of Dicentra spectabilis. Therefore, We have determined that the Gamakgol community should be re-examined as natural asset owing to its established habitat conditions and sustainability.