• Resources Recycling
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.24-36
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• 2024

The lithium-ion battery recycling process has been classified into direct recycling, hydrometallurgical process, and pyrometallurgical process. The commercial process based on the hydrometallurgical process produces black mass through pretreatment processes consisting of dismantling, crushing and grinding, heat treatment, and beneficiation, and then each metal is recovered by hydrometallurgical processes. Since all lithium-ion battery recycling processes under development conducts hydrometallurgical processes such as leaching, after the pretreatment process, to produce precursor raw materials, this article suggests a classification method according to the pretreatment method of the recycling process. The processes contain sulfation roasting, carbothermic reduction roasting, and alloy manufacturing, and the economic feasibility of the lithium-ion battery recycling process can be enhanced using unused by-products in the pretreatment process.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.533-550
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• 2024

Peptides with bioactive effects are being researched for various purposes. However, there is a lack of overall research on pork-derived peptides. In this study, we reviewed the process of obtaining bioactive peptides, available analytical methods, and the study of bioactive peptides derived from pork. Pepsin and trypsin, two representative protein digestive enzymes in the body, are hydrolyzed by other cofactors to produce peptides. Bicinchoninic acid assay, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, chromatography, and in vitro digestion simulation systems are utilized to analyze bioactive peptides for protein digestibility and molecular weight distribution. Pork-derived peptides mainly exhibit antioxidant and antihypertensive activities. The antioxidant activity of bioactive peptides increases the accessibility of amino acid residues by disrupting the three-dimensional structure of proteins, affecting free radical scavenging, reactive oxygen species inactivation, and metal ion chelating. In addition, the antihypertensive activity decreases angiotensin II production by inhibiting angiotensin converting enzyme and suppresses blood pressure by blocking the AT1 receptor. Pork-derived bioactive peptides, primarily obtained using papain and pepsin, exhibit significant antioxidant and antihypertensive activities, with most having low molecular weights below 1 kDa. This study may aid in the future development of bioactive peptides and serve as a valuable reference for pork-derived peptides.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.69-86
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• 2021

As artificial intelligence technology advances, personalized recommendation systems using big data have attracted huge attention. In the case of beauty products, product preferences are clearly divided depending on customers' skin types and sensitivity along with individual tastes, so it is necessary to provide customized recommendation services based on accumulated customer data. Therefore, by employing deep learning methods, this study proposes a neural network-based recommendation model utilizing both product search history and context information such as gender, skin types and skin worries of customers. The results show that our model with context information outperforms collaborative filtering-based recommender system models using customer search history.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.69-89
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• 2019

Recently, consumers are increasingly interested in the sharing economy, which utilizes various resources by sharing unused or under-used products/services with others. This study focuses on Airbnb, a representative sharing economy platform, to identify the success factors of the sharing accommodation services. The key properties of sharing accommodation services are extensively surveyed from extant literature and are classified them into the three important factors (economic, convenience, and trust) that influence the success of room-sharing services. The research data include 1,673 Airbnb hosts who offered accommodations in New York City, USA, in June 2018. The research variables of economic-, convenience-, and trust-related factors are utilized in the empirical analyses. The results of this study show that the number of available facilities, flexibility of refunds, the response rate and time to customer requests, and the status of Super host are positively associated with guest satisfaction from sharing accommodation services. This study bears significant managerial implications by suggesting a set of practical guidelines to participants in sharing accommodation services.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.95-113
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• 2017

The advent of information communication technology or the Fourth Industrial Revolution facilitated the fusion of equipment and management systems, such as Manufacturing Execution System, Enterprise Resource Planning, and Product Lifecycle Management, in the successful implementation of smart factories. The government supports the early adoption of these systems in small and medium companies to enhance their global competitiveness in producing products that can be recognized in a dramatically changing manufacturing environment. This study introduces smart factories to improve company competitiveness and address influences from the government assistance, CEO leadership, external consultancy, and organizational participation. We analyzed 101 results received from the questionnaires circulated to small- and medium-sized manufacturing companies. Given a successful smart factory implementation, company competitiveness is the factor that mostly influences organizational participation, government assistance, external consultancy, and CEO leadership. This study suggests several perspectives to implement a smart factory, which is the most important aspect of company competitiveness.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.279-309
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• 2009

Greenhouse gas emissions should be precisely forecast to reduce the emissions from industrial production processes. This study calculated the direct and indirect $CO_2$ emission intensities of 401 industries using the Input-Output tables 2003 and statistical data on the amount of energy use. This study had some limitations in drawing study findings because overseas data were used given the lack of domestic data. Other limiting factors included the oil distribution problems in the oil refinery sector, re-review of carbon neutral, and insufficient consideration of waste treatment. Nonetheless, this study is very meaningful since the direct and indirect $CO_2$ emission intensities of 401 industries were calculated. Specifically, this study considered from the zero-waste perspective the effects of waste, which attract interest worldwide since coke gas and gas from the steel industry are obtained as byproducts for the first time in Korea. According to the results of the analysis of $CO_2$ emission intensity per industry, typical industries whose indirect $CO_2$ emission intensity is high include crude steel making, Remicon, steel wire rods & track rail, cast iron, and iron reinforcing rods & bar steel. These industries produce products using the raw materials produced in the industrial sector whose $CO_2$ emission intensity is high. The representative industries whose direct $CO_2$ emission intensity is high include cement, pig iron, lime & plaster products, andcoal-based compounds. These industries extract raw ore from nature and refine them into raw materials that are useful in other industries. The findings in this study can be effectively used for the following case: estimation of target $CO_2$ emission reduction level reflecting each industrial sector's characteristics, calculation of potential emission reduction of each policy to reduce $CO_2$ emissions, identification of a firm's $CO_2$ emission level, and setting of the target level of emission reduction. Moreover, the findings in this study can be utilized widely in fields such as System of integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting(SEEA) and Material Flow Analysis(MFA) as the current topic of research in Korea.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.1030-1038
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• 2014

Platelet products are used to treat hemorrhagic or platelet dysfunction diseases. Plateletpheresis involves collecting the platelet components of blood using an apheresis blood-collection system. Various indicators are available for evaluating the qualities of the apheresis platelets. The productivity of platelet collection is evaluated through both the collection efficiency and collection rates. Platelet storage quality can be evaluated in vitro using several indicators, including visual appearance, metabolic activities, volume, platelet count, white blood cell count, microparticles, and various platelet activation markers. Platelet activation markers have been used as indicators of storage quality in various studies. Post-transfusion platelet quality can be evaluated based on the corrected count increment and the percentage of platelet recovery. Although various studies have investigated the aspects of plateletpheresis, no article has systemically presented assessments of the platelet products obtained from different plateletpheresis devices. The present study provides a review of plateletpheresis, including the specifics of the process, the types of devices employed, the platelet quality, the overall efficacy, and the evaluation indicator qualities. Furthermore, the differences in functionality among the different apheresis devices are discussed. Although adverse reactions to the citrate anti-coagulant have been reported, apheresis processing may provide a safer option for donors who are at a high risk for presyncopal or syncopal reactions related to whole blood collection.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.77-92
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• 2014

Fermented foods have often been implicated as causative agents in poisoning due to toxic levels of biogenic amines. Cheese, a milk-based fermented food, is the product most likely to contain potentially harmful levels of biogenic amines, such as tyramine, histamine, putrescine, and so on. Recently, the risk awareness of a dietary uptake of high loads of biogenic amines has increased. Hence, we here review the published literature on several factors known to affect the biosynthesis of biogenic amines and their accumulation in milk-based foods. Furthermore, with regard to risk analysis, we discuss the control of factors related to the synthesis and accumulation of biogenic amines as a means to reduce their incidence in milk-based products, and thus to increase food safety.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.49-62
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to develop an assessment index for the selection of promising start-ups, which will enhance the efficiency of program that support start-ups. In order to develop assessment models for selecting start-ups, three major research steps were conducted. First, this study attempted to theoretically redefine the assessment index from the perspective of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) through a literature review. Second, major assessment index were derived using Delphi technique for experts in start-up areas. Third, weights were derived by applying AHP technique to calculate the importance of each index. The results of this study are summarized as follows. First, this study attempted to apply the assessment model for selecting start-ups from the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) view through the previous study review. Second, the final major questions were derived with sufficient opinions collected and structured survey of leading start-up experts in areas related to research subjects and elicited the most representative questions. Third, the results of applying the weights of the main selected assessment index, commercialization viewpoint is the most priority, followed by market view, technology development viewpoint, and organizational capability viewpoint. In the middle section, th ability to make products in the commercialization viewpoint, market competitiveness in the market, product discrimination capacity in the technology development perspective, and the ability of the entrepreneur in the organizational capacity perspective were important. Overall important items were found to be in the order of the capabilities of entrepreneurs, market competitiveness, product fire capability, and product discrimination. The importance of small items was highest priority for comparative excellence of competing products, and the degree of marketability, capacity of entrepreneurship, ability to raise capital, desire for entrepreneurship, and passion were shown. The results of this study presented a conceptual alternative to the preceding study on the development of existing selection assessment indexes. And it provides meaningful and important implications as an attempt to develop more sophisticated indicators by overcoming the limitations of empirical research on only some of the evaluation metrics.

• Korean small business review
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.19-37
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• 2009

The purpose of this research is to explore differences between small and medium-sized companies and large-sized companies in the impact of human resource innovativeness(HRI), learning orientation(LO), and HRI-LO interaction on innovation effect and business performance. Although learning orientation has long been considered as a key factor influencing good performance of a business, little research was devoted to exploring the effect of HRI-LO interaction on innovation effect and business performance. In this study, it is investigated whether there is a synergy effect between innovative human workforce and learning orientation corporate culture, in addition to each by itself, to generate good business performance as well as a success of new innovations in the market. Research hypotheses were as follows, including H1) human resource innovativeness(HRI), learning orientation(LO), and interactions of HRI and LO(HRI-LO interaction) positively affect innovation effect, H2) there is a difference of the effect of HRI, LO, and HRI-LO interaction on innovation effect between large-sized and small-sized companies, H3) HRI, LO, HRI-LO interaction, innovation effect positively affect business performance, and H4) there is a difference of the effect of HRI, LO, HRI-LO interaction, and innovation effect on business performance between large-sized and small-sized companies. Data were obtained from 479 practitioners through a web survey since the web survey is an efficient method to collect a national data at a variety of fields. A single respondent from a company was allowed to participate in the study after checking whether they have more than 5-year work experiences in the company. To check whether a common source bias is existed in the sample, additional data from a convenient sample of 97 companies were gathered through the traditional survey method, and were used to confirm correlations between research variables of the original sample and the additional sample. Data were divided into two groups according to company size, such as 352 small and medium-sized companies with less than 300 employees and 127 large-sized companies with 300 or more employees. Data were analyzed through t-test and regression analyses. HRI which is the innovativeness of human resources in the company was measured with 9 items assessing the innovativenss of practitioners in staff, manager, and executive-level positions. LO is the company's effort to encourage employees' development, sharing, and utilizing of knowledge through consistent learning. LO was measured by 18 items assessing commitment to learning, vision sharing, and open-mindedness. Innovation effect which assesses a success of new products/services in the market, was measured with 3 items. Business performance was measured by respondents' evaluations on profitability, sales increase, market share, and general business performance, compared to other companies in the same field. All items were measured by using 6-point Likert scales. Means of multiple items measuring a construct were used as variables based on acceptable reliability and validity. To reduce multi-collinearity problems generated on the regression analysis of interaction terms, centered data were used for HRI, LO, and Innovation effect on regression analyses. In group comparison, large-sized companies were superior on annual sales, annual net profit, the number of new products/services in the last 3 years, the number of new processes advanced in the last 3 years, and the number of R&D personnel, compared to small and medium-sized companies. Also, large-sized companies indicated a higher level of HRI, LO, HRI-LO interaction, innovation effect and business performance than did small and medium-sized companies. The results indicate that large-sized companies tend to have more innovative human resources and invest more on learning orientation than did small-sized companies, therefore, large-sized companies tend to have more success of a new product/service in the market, generating better business performance. In order to test research hypotheses, a series of multiple-regression analysis was conducted. In the regression analysis examining the impact on innovation effect, important results were generated as : 1) HRI, LO, and HRI-LO affected innovation effect, and 2) company size indicated a moderating effect. Based on the result, the impact of HRI on innovation effect would be greater in small and medium-sized companies than in large-sized companies whereas the impact of LO on innovation effect would be greater in large-sized companies than in small and medium-sized companies. In other words, innovative workforce would be more important in making new products/services that would be successful in the market for small and medium-sized companies than for large-sized companies. Otherwise, learning orientation culture would be more effective in making successful products/services for large-sized companies than for small and medium-sized companies. Based on these results, research hypotheses 1 and 2 were supported. In the analysis of a regression examining the impact on business performance, important results were generated as : 1) innovation effect, LO, and HRI-LO affected business performance, 2) HRI by itself did not have a direct effect on business performance regardless of company size, and 3) company size indicated a moderating effect. Specifically, an effect of the HRI-LO interaction on business performance was stronger in large-sized companies than in small and medium-sized companies. It means that the synergy effect of innovative human resources and learning orientation culture tends to be stronger as company is larger. Referring to these result, research hypothesis 3 was partially supported whereas hypothesis 4 was supported. Based on research results, implications for companies were generated. Regardless of company size, companies need to develop the learning orientation corporate culture as well as human resources' innovativeness together in order to achieve successful development of innovative products and services as well as to improve sales and profits. However, the effectiveness of the HRI-LO interaction would be varied by company size. Specifically, the synergy effect of HRI-LO was stronger to make a success of new products/services in small and medium-sized companies than in large-sized companies. However, the synergy effect of HRI-LO was more effective to increase business performance of large-sized companies than that of small and medium-sized companies. In the case of small and medium-sized companies, business performance was achieved more through the success of new products/services than much directly affected by HRI-LO. The most meaningful result of this study is that the effect of HRI-LO interaction on innovation effect and business performance was confirmed. It was often ignored in the previous research. Also, it was found that the innovativeness of human workforce would not directly influence in generating good business performance, however, innovative human resources would indirectly affect making good business performance by contributing to achieving the development of new products/services that would be successful in the market. These findings would provide valuable managerial implications specifically in regard to the development of corporate culture and education program of small and medium-sized as well as large-sized companies in a variety of fields.