• Title/Summary/Keyword: Quantitative research

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Evaluation of Environmental and Economic Impacts of Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plants with Life Cycle Assessment (고도 하수처리장의 전과정평가에 따른 환경성 및 경제성 평가)

  • Pyo, SeHee;Kim, MinJeong;Lee, SeungChul;Yoo, ChangKyoo
    • Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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    • v.52 no.4
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    • pp.503-515
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    • 2014
  • A lot of existing wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are rebuilt or retrofitted for advanced wastewater treatment processes to cope with reinforced effluent criteria of nitrogen and phosphorous. Moreover, how to treat the wasted sludge from WWTPs has been also issued since the discharge of the wasted sludge into ocean is impossible from 2011 due to the London Convention 97 protocol. These trend changes of WWTPs get a motivation to assess environmental and economic impacts from the construction stage to the waste stage in WWTPs. Therefore, this study focuses on evaluation of environmental and economic impacts of the advanced wastewater treatment processes and waste sludge treatment process by using life cycle assessment. Four advanced wastewater treatment processes of Anaerobic/Anoxic/Oxic ($A_2O$), 5 stages-Bamard Denitrification Phosphate (Bardenpho), Virginia Initiative Plant (VIP), and Modified University of Cape Town (MUCT) are chosen to compare the conventional activated sludge (CAS) and three waste sludge treatment methods of land fill, incineration, and composting are used. To evaluate environmental and economic impacts of each advanced wastewater treatment processes, life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost (LCC) are conducted based on International organization for standardization (ISO) guidelines. The results clearly represent that the $A_2O$ process with composting shows 52% reduction in the environmental impact than the CAS process with landfill. On the other hand, the MUCT process with composting is able to save 62% of the life cycle cost comparing with the CAS process with landfill. This result suggested the qualitative and quantitative criteria for evaluating eco-environmental and economic technologies of advanced treatment processes and also sludge treatment method, where their main influence factors on environmental and economic impacts are analyzed, respectively. The proposed method could be useful for selecting the most efficient and eco-friendly wastewater treatment process and sludge treatment method when retrofitting the existing WWTPs to advanced treatments.

EFFECT OF ENAMEL MATRIX DERIVATIVE (EMD, $EMDOGAIN^{(R)}$) ON THE DIFFERENTIATION OF CULTURED HUMAN PERIODONTAL LIGAMENT CELLS AND MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS (배양된 사람 치주인대세포와 골수유래간엽줄기세포의 분화에 미치는 법랑기질유도체 (Enamel Matrix Derivative, EMD)의 영향)

  • Park, Sang-Gyu;Jue, Seong-Suk;Kwon, Yong-Dae;Choi, Byung-Joon;Kim, Young-Ran;Lee, Baek-Soo
    • Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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    • v.31 no.4
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    • pp.281-286
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    • 2009
  • Introduction: Enamel matrix derivative (EMD) is a protein which is secreted by Hertwig root sheath and plays a major role in the formation of cementum and attachment of peridontium. Several studies have shown that EMD promoted the proliferation and differentiation of preosteoblasts, osteoblasts and periodontal ligament cells in vitro: however, reports showing the inhibition of osteogenic differentiation by EMD also existed. This study was designed to simultaneously evaluate the effect of EMD on the two cell lines (human mesenchymal stem cells: hMSC, human periodontal ligament derived fibroblasts: hPDLCs) by means of quantitative analysis of some bone related matrices (Alkaline phosphatase : ALP, osteopontin ; OPN, osteocalcin ; OC). Materials and Methods: hMSCs and hPDLCs were expanded and cells in the 4${\sim}$6 passages were adopted to use. hMSc and hPDLCs were cultured during 1,2,7, and 14 days with 0, 50 and 100 ${\mu}g/ml$ of EMD, respectively. ALP activity was assessed by SensoLyte ALP kit and expressed as values of the relative optical density. Among the matrix proteins of the bony tissue, OC and OPN were assessed and quantification of these proteins was evaluated by means of human OC immunoassay kit and human OPN assay kit, respectively. Results: ALP activity maintained without EMD at $1,2^{nd}$ day. The activity increased at $7^{th}$ day but decreased at $14^{th}$ day. EMD increased the activity at $14^{th}$ day in the hPDLCs culture. In the hMSCs, rapid decrease was noted in $7^{th}$ and $14^{th}$ days without regard to EMD concentrations. Regarding the OPN synthesis in hPDLCs, marked decrease of OPN was noted after EMD application. Gradual decrease tendency of OPN was shown over time. In hMSCs, marked decrease of OPN was also noted after EMD application. Overall concentration of OPN was relatively consistent over time than that in hPDLCs. Regarding the OC synthesis, in both of hPDLCs and hMSCs, inhibition of OC formation was noted after EMD application in the early stages but EMD exerted minimal effect at the later stages. Conclusion: In this experimental condition, EMD seemed to play an inhibitory role during the differentiation of hMSCs and hPDLCs in the context of OC and OPN formation. In the periodontium, there are many kinds of cells contributing to the regeneration of oral tissue. EMD enhanced ALP activity in hPDLCs rather than in hMSCs and this may imply that EMD has a positive effect on the differentiation of cementoblasts compared with the effect on hMSCs. The result of our research was consistent with recent studies in which the authors showed the inhibitory effect of EMD in terms of the differentiation of mineral colony forming cells in vitro. This in vitro study may not stand for all the charateristics of EMD; thus, further studies involving many other bone matrices and cellular attachment will be necessary.

Studies on the Antibacterial Activity of Enzymatic Hydrolyzates of Lactoferrin Derived from Bovine Colostrum (유우 Lactoferrin 효소가수분해물 항균 활성에 관한 연구)

  • Han, Su Yeon;Kim, Jong Woo
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.52-67
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    • 1998
  • The investigative research on the mammalian milk purely consisted of the physiological quality of lactoferrin was conducted to reveal the antimicrobial ativity of specifically functional foods with antibiotic characteristics as a basic data in food manufacturing. Bovine lactoferrin were isolated from raw milk samples, and was digested with pepsin, trypsin and chymotrypsin. It was necessary then to separate and purify lactoferrin from bovine raw milk, and in order to analyze the antimicrobial activity of the enzyme-treated bovine lactoferrin in their required quantitative fraction. Afterwards Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was incubated in it. It was that investigated to enzyme-treated fractions molecular weight and the peptide fragment with antimicrobial effect. 1. The purity of enzyme-treated bovine lactoferrin(BLF) was tested by SDS-PAGE. As a results of 12% SDS-PAGE assay, pepsin-treated LF did not exhibited band until if reaches 14 KDa, while trypsin and chymotrypsin treated LF, known to contain the non-digestive lactoferrin exhibited band at a molecular weight of 33 KDa. 2. Bovine lactoferrin was sucessfully purified through the use of Sephadex G-50 Column. In order to assay LF through the Sephadex G-50 column chromatography, the digestive bovine lactoferrin (BLFs) was eluted with a linear gradient of 0.05% Tris-HCl. When the gel-filtration analysis, pepsin, trypsin and chymotrypsin treatments of BLF fragments was showed 2, 3, and 2 peak, respectively. The results of the HPLC analysis confirmed that had a non-digestive lactoferrin receptor, and trypsin and chymotrypsin treated BLFs has an antimicrobial effect. 3. To measure the strength of the antimicrobial effect of enzyme treated lactoferrin it was compared to the antimicrobial activity taking place at the incubated Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. This might explain the resistance of the microorganisms for peptide fragment. The pepsin-treated of bovine lactoferrin was markedly reduced by incubation of the cells. Trypsin-treated of BLF was similar to chymotrypsin-treated of BLF. However, trypsin and chymotrypsin treatments of BLFs were showed the antimicrobial effect until eight hours incubation for native bovine lactoferrin. Therefore the enzyme-treated lactoferrin have an antimicrobial effect even non-digestive lactoferrin. 4. The digestive bovine lactoferrin fragments assay was carried out by the use of Sephadex G-50 column chromatography and SDS-PAGE. The pepsin and chymotrypsin-treated fragments has a low molecular weight and trypsin-treated lactoferrin was only showed a band. It was described that characteristics of digestive protein. It appeared that there may be a relation between virulence and resistance to enzyme-treated BLF.

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The Effect of Vision Sharing at Social Enterprise on Organizational Socialization - Focusing on Mediation Effects of Organizational Health - (사회적기업 종사자의 비전공유가 조직사회화에 미치는 영향 -조직건강을 매개로-)

  • Cheon, Han-Seul;Cho, Young-Bohk;Lee, Na-Young
    • Management & Information Systems Review
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    • v.37 no.1
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    • pp.75-101
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    • 2018
  • Social enterprise in Korea has faced with many problems such as small size, management capability, lack of technology and weak ability to obtain resources despite its quantitative growth, raising concern over sustainability of social enterprises. Despite such tough environment, unique feature of social enterprise, differentiated from commercial enterprise is that it has clear social mission. In addition, social enterprise has the organizational feature in that vulnerable social group of workers coexists with ordinary workers, and plays a role of helping independence of vulnerable social group. Due to this feature, successful organizational socialization of members in social enterprise is a very important feature. Based on assumption that social mission of social enterprise can be utilized as the unique competitiveness of social enterprise through vision-sharing in the organization, and may give positive effects on successful organizational socialization of organization members, this study aims to conduct empirical research on relationship between vision-sharing and organizational socialization and to explore mediation effects of organizational health as organizational environmental element in relationship between vision sharing and organizational socialization. This study was conducted on 156 employees working at social enterprises. As a result of study, first, vision sharing is found to have positive effects on organizational socialization at social enterprises. Second, vision sharing in social enterprise has positive effects on organizational health. Third, vitality and community-oriented in social enterprise are found to have mediation effects among lower elements of organizational health in relationship between vision sharing and organizational socialization. In conclusion, it is confirmed that the more visions of organization are shared, the more members recognize their organization healthy, resulting in successful organizational socialization. This study is meaningful in that it presents the plans for successful organizational socialization of members of social enterprise including vulnerable groups and that it is the empirical study on plans of social enterprise on human resource management.

Evaluation of Setup Errors for Tomotherapy Using Differently Applied Vacuum Compression with the Bodyfix Immobilization System (토모테라피 치료 시 Bodyfix System에서 진공압박에 따른 환자 위치잡이오차(Setup errors)의 평가)

  • Jung, Jae-Hong;Cho, Kwang-Hwan;Lee, Jeong-Woo;Kim, Min-Joo;Lim, Kwang-Chae;Moon, Seong-Kwon;Kim, Yong-Ho;Suh, Tae-Suk
    • Progress in Medical Physics
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    • v.22 no.2
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    • pp.72-78
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    • 2011
  • The aim of this study is to evaluate the patient's setup errors in TomoTherapy (Hi-Art II, TomoTherapy, USA) Bodyfix system (Medical Intelligence, Ele-kta, Schwabmuchen, Germany) pressure in the vacuum compression, depending on and were evaluated. Bodyfix immobilization system and vacuum pressure was compression applied to the patients who received Tomotherapy thoracic and abdominal area, 21 patients were selected and TomoTehpay treatment total 477 of MVCT images were obtained. The translational (medial-lateral: ML, anterior-posterior: AP, superior-inferior: SI directions) and rolling were recorded and analyzed statistically. Using Pearson's product-moment coefficient and One-way ANOVA, the degree of correlation depending on the different vacuum pressure levels were statistically analyzed for setup errors from five groups (p<0.05). The largest average and standard deviation of systematic errors were 6.00, 5.95 mm in the AP and SI directions, respectively. The largest average of random errors were 4.72 mm in the SI directions. The correlation coefficients were 0.485, 0.244, and 0.637 for the ML-Roll, AP-Vector, and SI-Vector, respectively. SI-Vector direction showed the best relationship. In the results of the different degree of vacuum pressure in five groups (Pressure range: 30~70 mbar), the setup errors between the ML, SI in both directions and Roll p=0.00 (p<0.05) were shown significant differences. The average errors of SI direction in the vacuum pressure of 40 mbar and 70 mbar group were 4.78 mm and -0.74 mm, respectively. In this study, the correlation between the vacuum pressure and the setup-errors were statistically analyzed. The fact that setup-errors in SI direction is dependent in vacuum pressure considerly setup-errors and movement of interal organs was identified. Finally, setup-errors, and it, based on the movement of internal organs in Bodyfix system we should apply more than 50 mbar vacuum pressure. Based on the results of this study, it is suggested that accuracy of the vacuum pressure and the quantitative analysis of movement of internal organs and the tumor should be studied.

A Proposal of Bus Stop Park for the Improvement of Urban Street Environment (도시 가로환경 개선을 위한 버스정류장 소공원화 방안)

  • Sim, Woo-Kyung;Kim, Soo-Jin;Choi, Young-Jin;Jung, Hae-Joon
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.36 no.2
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    • pp.1-13
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    • 2008
  • Bus stops are places that a variety of things happen including waiting, meeting and taking breaks. Therefore, these locations need to be made to meet the usage demands. They should be landscaped to provide a comfortable and satisfying environment for users. At present, bus stops are made with artificial materials and are all unified in form without consideration to landscape, ecology and other characteristics. Users are exposed to the poor surroundings. However, if small urban parks, which are of vital importance as well as extremely convenient, were connected to bus stops, the results would be a quantitative increase in the leisure locations and a qualitative change in the form of improved landscape and various forms of parks. The research was carried out to determine the effects of connecting bus stops and small parks, and the results are as follows. First, small parks provide resting areas for waiting passengers and buses. Second, it provides presently insufficient rest areas with convenience facilities and makes it more comfortable to take buses and use the park. Third, it provides a multi-functional efficient use of space that functions as both bus stop and park. Fourth, it can be a symbolic landmark that can represent the color of the area by adding a cultural element. Fifth, the existing green space in the park can contribute to the natural environment of the city. This study deduced general problems surrounding bus stops on the basis of selected indices and researched bus stops which are being used as parks and the places which have the potential for such purposes, in order to suggest a plan of attack. In addition, this proposal can create a new form of space, the bus stop park, and try to create a module of cases to establish it.

An Influence of the Korean Wave on Chinese Tourism to South Korea (중국인의 방한관광에 대한 한류의 영향)

  • Choi, Kyung-Eun
    • Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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    • v.42 no.4
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    • pp.526-539
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    • 2007
  • The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of the Korean Wave on Chinese tourism to South Korea through a behavioral analysis of Chinese tourists in the general group package tours. China suppressed the needs of the Chinese people's geographical movement and imposed restrictions on information about the outside world with the use of a policy of "closure" for a long time. But since reforms and open-door policies were introduced in China, especially in the context of relaxation of control policies over Chinese outbound tourism after the mid-1990's, more and more Chinese make trips abroad including visits to South Korea. In this situation, the recent Korean Wave(especially, drama/film) describes the Korean national image by forming a bridge between fiction and reality and plays a pivotal role in broadening or reconstructing the geographical imagination of the Chinese people who have been historically isolated from the outside world. Although Chinese have imagined the Korean nationscape on the basis of geopolitical or economic factors in the past, they have currently broadened or reconstructed their geographical imagination to include socio-cultural factors related closely to the Korean way of life due to the recent Korean Wave. This newly constructed geographical imagination led by the Korean Wave functions as an important pulling factor in Chinese destination choices, affecting Chinese tourists' motivation formation and the recommendation of main attractions. The more influential the Korean Wave is on their destination choice, the more the respondents select the cultural factors in both their motivation for tourism to South Korea and their recommendations of tourism attractions to other people. Through the analysis results of both satisfaction and intention to revisit, the more influential the Korean Wave is on their destination choice, the higher is the degree of both satisfaction and intention to revisit. In other words, although Chinese tourism to South Korea is chiefly in the general group package tours, Chinese tourists who are influenced by Korean Wave on their destination choice have more attachment to(or affection for) Korea as a tourism destination. This result suggests that the Korean Wave affects qualitative change - that is, change of attitude - as well as quantitative change in Chinese demand for tourism to South Korea.

A study of the Patent-related Activities affecting the Early Stage Company Performance of Technology-based Start-ups (기술창업기업의 특허활동이 초기기업 성과에 미치는 영향에 대한 연구)

  • Lee, Hyeong-Mo;Kim, Myeong-Sook;Kim, Eung-Kyu
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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    • v.7 no.3
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    • pp.45-53
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    • 2012
  • This study is about the impact of a technology-based start-ups' patent-related activities on early stage company performance. Technology-based start-ups are closely related to the intellectual property rights, particularly patents that they aim the pursuit of new products or production methods and pioneer the introduction of market based on innovative technology, and that is a key role in such companies established and operating, hence the research of patent-related activities in technology-based start-ups has important implications. In most previous studies, the impact of the company's patent related activities on the performance of corporate management is determined by using quantitative patent indicators. Therefore, through this study, causal relationships leading to business performance through the development of new products, which includes technology performance and product performance, and the patent-related activities including the company's patented technology support activities, creating the right activities, infringement response activities, base activities validated as follows. First, the patent-related activities have a positive impact on technological and products achievements. In other words, the various activities involved in the acquisition and utilization of the patent have a positive impact on the performance of company's new product development, particularly developing new technologies or patent acquisition rate. Second, the technology have a positive impact on the performance of the products, not on the business performance. However, the empirical results shows that it has indirectly impacts on business performance through the product performance. Third, product performance have a positive impact on business performance. In conclusion, patent-related activities affects the performance of the company's management, and the maintenance of the company's business performance depends on the developing and selling product based on the customers needs, besides the technology performance such as the patents and the development of technology.

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Effects of Brassica rapa SHI-RELATED SEQUENCE overexpression on petunia growth and development (배추 SHI-RELATED SEQUENCE 유전자 발현이 페튜니아 생장 발달에 미치는 영향)

  • Hong, Joon Ki;Suh, Eun Jung;Lee, Su Young;Song, Cheon Young;Lee, Seung Bum;Kim, Jin A;Lee, Soo In;Lee, Yeon-Hee
    • Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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    • v.42 no.3
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    • pp.204-214
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    • 2015
  • SHI-RELATED SEQUENCE (SRS) genes are plant-specific transcription factors that contain a zinc-binding RING finger motif, which play a critical role in plant growth and development. Among Brassica rapa SRS genes, BrSRS7 and BrLRP1 genes, isolated from shoot apical regions are important regulators of plant growth and development. In order to explore the function of BrSRS genes in horticultural plant growth and development, two constructs containing BrSRS7 and BrLRP1 under the control of a cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter were introduced into petunia by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The resulting transgenic plants were dwarf and compact plants with reduced plant height and diameter. Additionally, these transgenic plants had upward-curled leaves of narrow width and short internodes. Interestingly, the flower shapes of petunia were different among transgenic plants harboring different kinds of SRS genes. These phenotypes were stably inherited through generations $T_2$ and $T_3$. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analyses of transgenic plants revealed that BrSRS7 and BrLRP1 regulate expression of gibberellin (GA)- and auxinrelated genes, PtAGL15- and PtIAMT1-related, involved in shoot morphogenesis. These results indicate that the overexpression of BrSRS7 and BrLRP1 genes suppressed the growth and development of petunia by regulating expression of GA- and auxin-related genes. From these data, we deduce that BrSRS7 and BrLRP1 genes play an important role in the regulation of plant growth and development in petunia. These findings suggest that transformation with the BrSRS genes can be applied to other species as a tool for growth retardation and modification of plant forms.

Value of Information Technology Outsourcing: An Empirical Analysis of Korean Industries (IT 아웃소싱의 가치에 관한 연구: 한국 산업에 대한 실증분석)

  • Han, Kun-Soo;Lee, Kang-Bae
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.115-137
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    • 2010
  • Information technology (IT) outsourcing, the use of a third-party vendor to provide IT services, started in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Korea, and has increased rapidly since 2000. Recently, firms have increased their efforts to capture greater value from IT outsourcing. To date, there have been a large number of studies on IT outsourcing. Most prior studies on IT outsourcing have focused on outsourcing practices and decisions, and little attention has been paid to objectively measuring the value of IT outsourcing. In addition, studies that examined the performance of IT outsourcing have mainly relied on anecdotal evidence or practitioners' perceptions. Our study examines the contribution of IT outsourcing to economic growth in Korean industries over the 1990 to 2007 period, using a production function framework and a panel data set for 54 industries constructed from input-output tables, fixed-capital formation tables, and employment tables. Based on the framework and estimation procedures that Han, Kauffman and Nault (2010) used to examine the economic impact of IT outsourcing in U.S. industries, we evaluate the impact of IT outsourcing on output and productivity in Korean industries. Because IT outsourcing started to grow at a significantly more rapid pace in 2000, we compare the impact of IT outsourcing in pre- and post-2000 periods. Our industry-level panel data cover a large proportion of Korean economy-54 out of 58 Korean industries. This allows us greater opportunity to assess the impacts of IT outsourcing on objective performance measures, such as output and productivity. Using IT outsourcing and IT capital as our primary independent variables, we employ an extended Cobb-Douglas production function in which both variables are treated as factor inputs. We also derive and estimate a labor productivity equation to assess the impact of our IT variables on labor productivity. We use data from seven years (1990, 1993, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2007) for which both input-output tables and fixed-capital formation tables are available. Combining the input-output tables and fixed-capital formation tables resulted in 54 industries. IT outsourcing is measured as the value of computer-related services purchased by each industry in a given year. All the variables have been converted to 2000 Korean Won using GDP deflators. To calculate labor hours, we use the average work hours for each sector provided by the OECD. To effectively control for heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation present in our dataset, we use the feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) procedures. Because the AR1 process may be industry-specific (i.e., panel-specific), we consider both common AR1 and panel-specific AR1 (PSAR1) processes in our estimations. We also include year dummies to control for year-specific effects common across industries, and sector dummies (as defined in the GDP deflator) to control for time-invariant sector-specific effects. Based on the full sample of 378 observations, we find that a 1% increase in IT outsourcing is associated with a 0.012~0.014% increase in gross output and a 1% increase in IT capital is associated with a 0.024~0.027% increase in gross output. To compare the contribution of IT outsourcing relative to that of IT capital, we examined gross marginal product (GMP). The average GMP of IT outsourcing was 6.423, which is substantially greater than that of IT capital at 2.093. This indicates that on average if an industry invests KRW 1 millon, it can increase its output by KRW 6.4 million. In terms of the contribution to labor productivity, we find that a 1% increase in IT outsourcing is associated with a 0.009~0.01% increase in labor productivity while a 1% increase in IT capital is associated with a 0.024~0.025% increase in labor productivity. Overall, our results indicate that IT outsourcing has made positive and economically meaningful contributions to output and productivity in Korean industries over the 1990 to 2007 period. The average GMP of IT outsourcing we report about Korean industries is 1.44 times greater than that in U.S. industries reported in Han et al. (2010). Further, we find that the contribution of IT outsourcing has been significantly greater in the 2000~2007 period during which the growth of IT outsourcing accelerated. Our study provides implication for policymakers and managers. First, our results suggest that Korean industries can capture further benefits by increasing investments in IT outsourcing. Second, our analyses and results provide a basis for managers to assess the impact of investments in IT outsourcing and IT capital in an objective and quantitative manner. Building on our study, future research should examine the impact of IT outsourcing at a more detailed industry level and the firm level.