• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.15-38
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• 2014

This paper explores the influence of pursuing goals on customer channel preference in Chinese rural market. With the rapid change in distribution channels and increase in multi-channels, it is necessary to understand the preference for channel choice as well as product choice. This study empirically validated the conceptual framework of the relationship between the pursuing goals and customer channel choice proposed by Balasubramanian, Raghunathan, and Mahajan (2005). Based on the survey data of 232 fertilizer customers in Chinese rural market, this study explores how economic, social, and psychological pursuing goals can impact customer channel preference by mediating variables of product utility and process utility. The results indicate that pursuing goals positively related with product utility and process utility, and product / process utility can mediate the relationship between pursuing goals and customer channel preference positively. Consequently, we can conclude that customers' economic-social-psychological pursuing goals can directly influence customer channel preference via their purchase process utility and product utility. This result also implies that product utility is effective on process utility during consumer's buying decision making, and process utility and product utility are not mutually independent. Therefore, purchase process utility is a "latent driving force" on customer's channel choice decision.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.92-99
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• 2021

The ever-growing demand for enhanced competitiveness of engineered systems require designing in quality strategies that can efficiently incorporate multiple design attributes into a system. In a robust design, there must be consideration for any uncontrollable factors that should not be disregarded in the design process. Studies on multi-attribute design challenges usually assume mutual utility independence amongst the design attributes. However, mutual utility independence does not exist in every design situation. In this study, a new robust design methodology that has two utility-dependent attributes are presented. The proposed method was then compared with a traditional robust design that utilizes a wave soldering process design. The results of this case study indicate that the proposed method yields a better solution than the traditional method.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.77-84
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• 2017

Purpose: In terms of the flexibility in hospital architecture, there are fixed elements of hospital architecture: mechanical, electrical, aeration rooms and shafts, which are the main utility spaces. Thus, it is necessary to recognize the utility space as a system that helps internal functions and flexible internal changes. This study analyzes the notion of the main utility space in hospital architecture and the architectural planning features of the main utility spaces as the system in the design process of the recently built hospitals. Methods: The design factors are extracted comparing two hospitals' plans in each stage and the systematic characteristics of utility spaces are analyzed accordingly. The opinions gathered from interviews of practitioners, architects and facility planning experts directly involved in the architecture design process are analyzed and reflected in the results. Results: Planning for utility spaces should be accompanied by the architectural plan from the basic design process, and proceeded with recognizing utility spaces as a system, which is a fixed element. Utility spaces are highly organically connected. Horizontal and vertical distribution of air chambers can reduce the length and number of ducts, and thus save story height, and reduce the number of shafts, the vertical connection passage. This is advantageous in securing the variable area, which is the ultimate objective of the system-centered hospital architecture plan. Implications: Thereby aims to provide fundamental data on systematic utility space planning in the hospital architecture planning.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.19-33
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• 2001

This study was performed to make suggestions for improving consumer welfare in public utility pricing. The consumer related issues in the process of public utility pricing and the consumers' burden on expenditures for public utility were reviewed. Due to the large proportions of the expenditures for public utility to total consumption expenditures, the poor and the younger consumers had more disadvantages in rising consumer price on public utility than the rich and the older. Finally, four kinds of alternatives were suggested to solve the consumer problems in public utility pricing.

• Journal of the Korean Operations Research and Management Science Society
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.66-71
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• 1988

Let B be present value of some sequence. This paper concerns the maximization of the expected utility of the present value B when the utility function is exponential.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.125-136
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• 2012

Wrinkle and fracture are two major defects frequently found in the sheet metal forming process. In this process there are more than one design attributes to optimize and several uncontrollable factors which cannot be ignored in determining the optimal values of design variables. Therefore, attempts to reduce defects through a traditional optimization technique are often led to failures. In this research, a new design method for reducing the wrinkle and fracture under uncontrollable factors is presented by using decision-making theory. To avoid the psychological difficulties in determining the scaling constants of the multi-attribute utility function by using the ordinary lottery questions, a pair-wise comparison procedure is adapted to avoid this problem. The effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated through a robust design of sheet metal forming process of a side member of an automotive body.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.241-251
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• 2021

Purpose - Drawing on the content-process approach, this study examines the effect of employees' perceived utility of education and training in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on their satisfaction. In addition, this study investigates how the human resource management department' activities moderate the relationship between employees' perceived utility of education and training and satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach - This study predicts the positive relationship between employees' perceived utility of education and training and satisfaction, and HR activities strengthens this positive relationship. To test these hypotheses, this study utilized Human Capital Corporate Panel (HCCP) datasets, especially 2017 data at the individual level. The number of the final sample is 425 for the test. Moreover, this study used the hierarchical regression model with SPSS. Finding - As predicted, the analytical results with the hierarchical regression model showed that employees' percieved utility of education and training and satisfaction were positively related. In addition, HR activities strengthened this relationship between employees' percieved utility of education and training and satisfaction. Research implications or Originality - This study will provide academic and practical implications for future research on human resource development, especially SMEs by deepening an understanding of the important factors in order to increase employees' satisfaction of education and training. the number of viewers is found in most American films released in Korea.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.54-59
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• 2017

A study for process design to curtail the utility consumption during residual styrene monomer recovery in an ABS polymerization process was carried out. Among different techniques for residual monomer recovery, the steam stripping is dominantly employed in industries. The existing process, however, consumes a large amount of utility (steam and cooling water), and this study focused on the design of a new process that can substantially spare the utility consumption. A new process was configured to utilize the latent heat of the stripping steam, which is condensed with the monomer using cooling water after exiting the stripper. The condenser was modified to use vacuum state water as coolant and to generate vacuum state steam using the latent heat of the stripping steam. The steam is injected to the stripper as the stripping steam after upgrading using a compressor. Through this modification, consumption of steam and also cooling water could be significantly reduced at some expense of electricity for compressor operation.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.147-155
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• 2008

The economics of most chemical plants are heavily dependent upon the management of the utilities used in the plants. The utilities are supplied by the centralized utility system of the plant. Among the various utilities the steam is by far the most important energy source and the management of the electricity and the process water are greatly affected by the steam. Therefore it is necessary to educate students and new employees the basic concepts about the effective distribution of the utilities and the fundamental strategies to apply the concepts in actual plant operations. The OOUS (Optimal Operation of Utility System) is an GUI educational system designed to educate the effective generation of the steam and the optimal steam distribution schemes within short period. The OOUS deals with various utility equipments and processes and shows how to save operation costs by displaying the optimal operation conditions based on the process models and the operational knowledgebase.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.171-181
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• 2002

As the result of the analysis of the underground utility map made before, we could have divided the kind of errors into the two types, position error of geometric data and attribute error and knew the fact that mainly position error is derived from the process of detecting and surveying the underground utility, and attribute is inputting data. In this study we showed the way improving accuracy in detecting and surveying underground utility by field test, and the way to reduce attribute error by process refinement.