• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.23-35
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• 2009

A hypermarket as the one of the most globally standardized retailing format is also the type of store among various types of stores that the most active in expanding into other foreign markets. Recently, as several Korean retailing companies start to penetrate into Chinese market they differentiate themselves with modern facilities and customers service oriented high-end concept. China and Korea as Far East Asian countries share many common values, however precise and careful analysis should be carried out since there may also be critical differences in socio-economic aspects as well as in consumption patterns due to the level of development stages of retail industry among two countries. Even though precise and careful study is crucial on Chinese retailing market and consumers, none of researches and studies on 'how the quality of service dimensional structure is different between Korea and China', and 'what will be the most important and influential service dimensional factors for Chinese consuers compared to the hypermarkets customers in Korea' in order to improve the level of Chinese consumers satisfaction' have been fulfilled At this point of view, this study uses KD-SQS (Rho Eun Jung & Sir Yong Gu, 2008) which is a measure of Korean hypermarkets service quality to set up a hypothesis on Korean and Chinese consumers, and an empirical analysis is conducted. We try to get the answers about how the comparative importance of Service quality dimensions which decides the level of customer satisfaction is different depending on the cultural dimensions and socio-economic factors among two countries, Korea and China. Based upon the results, we try to give a valuable suggestion of what service dimensional factors should be reinforced to improve the level of CS in Chinese retailing market. Hypotheses for this study are as follows : H1. Each dimension of Service Quality significantly affects the level of CS H2. The effect of 'Basic Benefit' in service quality dimensions on the level of CS is greater in China than in Korea H3. The effect of 'Promotion' in service quality dimensions on the level of CS is greater in China than in Korea H4. The effect of 'Physical Aspects'in service quality dimensions on the level of CS is greater in Korea than in China. H5. The effect of 'Personal Interaction' in service quality dimensions on the level of CS is greater in China than in Korea H6. The effect of 'Policy' in service quality dimensions on the level of CS will be greater in Korean than in China H7. The effect of additional convenience in service quality dimensions on the level of CS will be greater in Korean than in China. More than 1,100 data were collected directly from the surveys of Chinese and Korean consumers in order to verify the hypotheses above. In Korea, stores which have floor space of over $9,000m^2$and opened later than year 2000 were selected for the samples, and thus Gayang, Wolgye, Sangbong, Eunpyeong, Suh-Suwon, Gojan stores and their customers were surveyed. In China, notable differences in the income levels and consumer behaviors between cities and regions were considered, and thus the research area was limited to the stores only in Shanghai. 6 stores which have the size of over $6,000m^2$ and opened later than 2000, such as Ruihong, Intu, Mudanjang, Sanrin, Raosimon, and Ranchao stores were selected for the survey. SPSS 12.0 and AMOS 7.0 were used as statistical tools, and exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and multi-group analysis were conducted. In order to carry out a multi group analysis that decides whether the structure variables which shows the different effects of 6 service dimensions in Korean and Chinese groups is statistically valid, configural invariance, metric invariance, and structural invariance are tested in order. At the results of the tests, 3 out of 7 hypotheses were supported and other 4 hypotheses were denied. According to the study, 4 dimensions (Basic Benefit, Physical Environment, Policy, and additional convenience) were positively correlated with CS in Korea, and 3 dimensions (i.e. basic benefit, policy, additional convenience) were significant in China. However, the significance of the service-dimensions was turned out to be partially different in Korea and China. The Basic Benefit is more influential in deciding the level of CS in china than Korea, however Physical Aspect is more important factor in Korea. 'Policy dimension' did not make significant difference between two countries. In the 'additional convenience dimension', the differences in 'socio-economic factors' than in'cultural background' were considered as more important in Chinese consumers than Korean. Overall, the improvement of Service quality will be crucial factors to increase the level of CS in Chinese market same as Korean market. In addition, more emphases need to be placed on the service qualities of 'Basic Benefit' and 'additional convenience' dimensions in China. In particular, 'low price' and 'product diversity' that constitute 'Basic Benefit' are proved to be comparatively disadvantageous and weak points of Korean companies compared to global players, and thus the prompt strengthening those dimensions would be urgent for Korean retailers. Moreover, additional conveniences such as various tenants and complex service and entertaining area will be more important in China than in Korea. Besides, Applying advanced Korean Hypermaret`s customer policy to Chinese consumers will help to get higher reliability and to differentiate themselves to other competitors. However, as personal interaction, physical aspect, promotions were proved as not significant for the level of CS in China, Korean companies need to reconsider the priority order of resource allocations when they tap into Chinese market.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.1-25
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• 2008

Ⅰ. Introduction Retailers in the 21st century are being told that future retailers are those who can execute seamless multi-channel access. The reason is that retailers should be where shoppers want them, when they want them anytime, anywhere and in multiple formats. Multi-channel access is considered one of the top 10 trends of all business in the next decade (Patricia T. Warrington, et al., 2007) And most firms use both direct and indirect channels in their markets. Given this trend, we need to evaluate a channel equity more systematically than before as this issue is expected to get more attention to consumers as well as to brand managers. Consumers are becoming very much confused concerning the choice of place where they shop for durable goods as there are at least 6-7 retail options. On the other hand, manufacturers have to deal with category killers, their dealers network, Internet shopping malls, and other avenue of distribution channels and they hope their retail channel behave like extensions of their own companies. They would like their products to be foremost in the retailer's mind-the first to be proposed and effectively communicated to potential customers. To enable this hope to come reality, they should know each channel's advantages and disadvantages from consumer perspectives. In addition, customer satisfaction is the key determinant of retail customer loyalty. However, there are only a few researches regarding the effects of shopping satisfaction and perceptions on consumers' channel choices and channels. The purpose of this study was to assess Korean consumers' channel choice and satisfaction towards channels they prefer to use in the case of electronic goods shopping. Korean electronic goods retail market is one of good example of multi-channel shopping environments. As the Korea retail market has been undergoing significant structural changes since it had opened to global retailers in 1996, new formats such as hypermarkets, Internet shopping malls and category killers have arrived for the last decade. Korean electronic goods shoppers have seven major channels : (1)category killers (2) hypermarket (3) manufacturer dealer shop (4) Internet shopping malls (5) department store (6) TV home-shopping (7) speciality shopping arcade. Korean retail sector has been modernized with amazing speed for the last decade. Overall summary of major retail channels is as follows: Hypermarket has been number 1 retailer type in sales volume from 2003 ; non-store retailing has been number 2 from 2007 ; department store is now number 3 ; small scale category killers are growing rapidly in the area of electronics and office products in particular. We try to evaluate each channel's equity using a consumer survey. The survey was done by telephone interview with 1000 housewife who lives nationwide. Sampling was done according to 2005 national census and average interview time was 10 to 15 minutes. Ⅱ. Research Summary We have found that seven major retail channels compete with each other within Korean consumers' minds in terms of price and service. Each channel seem to have its unique selling points. Department stores were perceived as the best electronic goods shopping destinations due to after service. Internet shopping malls were perceived as the convenient channel owing to price checking. Category killers and hypermarkets were more attractive in both price merits and location conveniences. On the other hand, manufacturers dealer networks were pulling customers mainly by location and after service. Category killers and hypermarkets were most beloved retail channel for Korean consumers. However category killers compete mainly with department stores and shopping arcades while hypermarkets tend to compete with Internet and TV home shopping channels. Regarding channel satisfaction, the top 3 channels were service-driven retailers: department stores (4.27); dealer shop (4.21); and Internet shopping malls (4.21). Speciality shopping arcade(3.98) were the least satisfied channels among Korean consumers. Ⅲ. Implications We try to identify the whole picture of multi-channel retail shopping environments and its implications in the context of Korean electronic goods. From manufacturers' perspectives, multi-channel may cause channel conflicts. Furthermore, inter-channel competition draws much more attention as hypermarkets and category killers have grown rapidly in recent years. At the same time, from consumers' perspectives, 'buy where' is becoming an important buying decision as it would decide the level of shopping satisfaction. We need to develop the concept of 'channel equity' to manage multi-channel distribution effectively. Firms should measure and monitor their prime channel equity in regular basis to maximize their channel potentials. Prototype channel equity positioning map has been developed as follows. We expect more studies to develop the concept of 'channel equity' in the future.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.29-53
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• 2012

As so many marketers get to use diverse sales promotion methods, manufacturer and retailer in a channel often use them too. In this context, diverse issues on sales promotion management arise. One of them is the issue of unplanned buying. Consumers' unplanned buying is clearly better off for the retailer but not for manufacturer. This asymmetric influence of unplanned buying should be dealt with prudently because of its possibility of provocation of channel conflict. However, there have been scarce studies on the sales promotion management strategy considering the unplanned buying and its asymmetric effect on retailer and manufacturer. In this paper, we try to find a better way for a manufacturer in a channel to promote performance through the retailer's sales promotion efforts when there is potential of unplanned buying effect. We investigate via game-theoretic modeling what is the optimal cost sharing level between the manufacturer and retailer when there is unplanned buying effect. We investigated following issues about the topic as follows: (1) What structure of cost sharing mechanism should the manufacturer and retailer in a channel choose when unplanned buying effect is strong (or weak)? (2) How much payoff could the manufacturer and retailer in a channel get when unplanned buying effect is strong (or weak)? We focus on the impact of unplanned buying effect on the optimal cost sharing mechanism for sales promotions between a manufacturer and a retailer in a same channel. So we consider two players in the game, a manufacturer and a retailer who are interacting in a same distribution channel. The model is of complete information game type. In the model, the manufacturer is the Stackelberg leader and the retailer is the follower. Variables in the model are as following table. Manufacturer's objective function in the basic game is as follows: ${\Pi}={\Pi}_1+{\Pi}_2$, where, ${\Pi}_1=w_1(1+L-p_1)-{\psi}^2$, ${\Pi}_2=w_2(1-{\epsilon}L-p_2)$. And retailer's is as follows: ${\pi}={\pi}_1+{\pi}_2$, where, ${\pi}_1=(p_1-w_1)(1+L-p_1)-L(L-{\psi})+p_u(b+L-p_u)$, ${\pi}_2=(p_2-w_2)(1-{\epsilon}L-p_2)$. The model is of four stages in two periods. Stages of the game are as follows. (Stage 1) Manufacturer sets wholesale price of the first period($w_1$) and cost sharing level of channel sales promotion(${\Psi}$). (Stage 2) Retailer sets retail price of the focal brand($p_1$), the unplanned buying item($p_u$), and sales promotion level(L). (Stage 3) Manufacturer sets wholesale price of the second period($w_2$). (Stage 4) Retailer sets retail price of the second period($p_2$). Since the model is a kind of dynamic games, we try to find a subgame perfect equilibrium to derive some theoretical and managerial implications. In order to obtain the subgame perfect equilibrium, we use the backward induction method. In using backward induction approach, we solve the problems backward from stage 4 to stage 1. By completely knowing follower's optimal reaction to the leader's potential actions, we can fold the game tree backward. Equilibrium of each variable in the basic game is as following table. We conducted more analysis of additional game about diverse cost level of manufacturer. Manufacturer's objective function in the additional game is same with that of the basic game as follows: ${\Pi}={\Pi}_1+{\Pi}_2$, where, ${\Pi}_1=w_1(1+L-p_1)-{\psi}^2$, ${\Pi}_2=w_2(1-{\epsilon}L-p_2)$. But retailer's objective function is different from that of the basic game as follows: ${\pi}={\pi}_1+{\pi}_2$, where, ${\pi}_1=(p_1-w_1)(1+L-p_1)-L(L-{\psi})+(p_u-c)(b+L-p_u)$, ${\pi}_2=(p_2-w_2)(1-{\epsilon}L-p_2)$. Equilibrium of each variable in this additional game is as following table. Major findings of the current study are as follows: (1) As the unplanned buying effect gets stronger, manufacturer and retailer had better increase the cost for sales promotion. (2) As the unplanned buying effect gets stronger, manufacturer had better decrease the cost sharing portion of total cost for sales promotion. (3) Manufacturer's profit is increasing function of the unplanned buying effect. (4) All results of (1),(2),(3) are alleviated by the increase of retailer's procurement cost to acquire unplanned buying items. The authors discuss the implications of those results for the marketers in manufacturers or retailers. The current study firstly suggests some managerial implications for the manufacturer how to share the sales promotion cost with the retailer in a channel to the high or low level of the consumers' unplanned buying potential.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.59-77
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• 2012

This study focuses on predicting which firms will increase capital by issuing new stocks in the near future. Many stakeholders, including banks, credit rating agencies and investors, performs a variety of analyses for firms' growth, profitability, stability, activity, productivity, etc., and regularly report the firms' financial analysis indices. In the paper, we develop predictive models for rights issues using these financial analysis indices and data mining techniques. This study approaches to building the predictive models from the perspective of two different analyses. The first is the analysis period. We divide the analysis period into before and after the IMF financial crisis, and examine whether there is the difference between the two periods. The second is the prediction time. In order to predict when firms increase capital by issuing new stocks, the prediction time is categorized as one year, two years and three years later. Therefore Total six prediction models are developed and analyzed. In this paper, we employ the decision tree technique to build the prediction models for rights issues. The decision tree is the most widely used prediction method which builds decision trees to label or categorize cases into a set of known classes. In contrast to neural networks, logistic regression and SVM, decision tree techniques are well suited for high-dimensional applications and have strong explanation capabilities. There are well-known decision tree induction algorithms such as CHAID, CART, QUEST, C5.0, etc. Among them, we use C5.0 algorithm which is the most recently developed algorithm and yields performance better than other algorithms. We obtained data for the rights issue and financial analysis from TS2000 of Korea Listed Companies Association. A record of financial analysis data is consisted of 89 variables which include 9 growth indices, 30 profitability indices, 23 stability indices, 6 activity indices and 8 productivity indices. For the model building and test, we used 10,925 financial analysis data of total 658 listed firms. PASW Modeler 13 was used to build C5.0 decision trees for the six prediction models. Total 84 variables among financial analysis data are selected as the input variables of each model, and the rights issue status (issued or not issued) is defined as the output variable. To develop prediction models using C5.0 node (Node Options: Output type = Rule set, Use boosting = false, Cross-validate = false, Mode = Simple, Favor = Generality), we used 60% of data for model building and 40% of data for model test. The results of experimental analysis show that the prediction accuracies of data after the IMF financial crisis (59.04% to 60.43%) are about 10 percent higher than ones before IMF financial crisis (68.78% to 71.41%). These results indicate that since the IMF financial crisis, the reliability of financial analysis indices has increased and the firm intention of rights issue has been more obvious. The experiment results also show that the stability-related indices have a major impact on conducting rights issue in the case of short-term prediction. On the other hand, the long-term prediction of conducting rights issue is affected by financial analysis indices on profitability, stability, activity and productivity. All the prediction models include the industry code as one of significant variables. This means that companies in different types of industries show their different types of patterns for rights issue. We conclude that it is desirable for stakeholders to take into account stability-related indices and more various financial analysis indices for short-term prediction and long-term prediction, respectively. The current study has several limitations. First, we need to compare the differences in accuracy by using different data mining techniques such as neural networks, logistic regression and SVM. Second, we are required to develop and to evaluate new prediction models including variables which research in the theory of capital structure has mentioned about the relevance to rights issue.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.59-78
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• 2001

Data on reported cancer mortality in the Gyeongsangbuk- do province from 1991 to 1998 were collected and analyzed using the existing mortality reporting system as well as the public health network to furnish accurate data on reported cancer death and to collect data to establish a high quality district health plan. The overall crude death rate in Gyeongsangbuk province in 1991 was 74.56 deaths per 100,000-person but this rate increased to 79.22 in 1998. Among the deaths, the overall death rate of cancer was 16.7% in 1991, which increased to 19.3% in 1998; specifically the death rate of men increased from 19.4% in 1991 to 22.3% in 1998 while that of women increased from 12.4% in 1991 to 15.5% in 1998, showing a more increase among women. The types of cancer and associated death rates in 1991 were gastric cancer(41.5%), followed by liver cancer (28.8%), and lung and bronchogenic carcinoma(8.7%) and in 1998, gastric cancer (24.7%), followed by liver cancer(22.7%), lung and bronchogenic carcinoma(19.3%), showing the same order. For men and women, gastric cancer(40.2% and 44.7%, respectively) was the most common cancer death, followed by liver cancer(33.7% and 16.7%, respectively), and lung and bronchogenic carcinoma(10.2% and 5.0%, respectively) in 1991. However, in 1998, gastric cancer(27.8%) was still the most common type among both men and women, followed by liver cancer (18.5%) and lung and bronchogenic carcinoma(12.7%), showing the most decrease in gastric cancer but most increase in lung and bronchogenic carcinoma. The age- adjusted mortality rates by gastric cancer, hepatoma, laryngeal carcinoma were decreased in both male and female, and also uterine cancer was decreased in female. The age- adjusted mortality rates by lung and bronchogenic carcinoma, pancreatic cancer, rectal cancer were increased in both male and female, and also breast cancer was increased in female. The calculated overall age-adjusted death rate based on the 1995 population was 84.25 in 1991, which decreased to 77.67 in 1998. Male death rate decreased significantly from 119.81 in 1991 to 101.82 in 1998 while the female death rate increased from 48.64 in 1991 to 53.80 in 1998. A census of cancer death rate using accurate death records is important for the establishment of proper and high-quality district health and medical plan and policy. The effort to improve the accuracy of death reports using the health facility network, as had been attempted by this study, can be continued. Furthermore, there must be a way for the Health and Welfare Department to use the death reports to improve the present reporting system. Lastly, additional studies need to be conducted to investigate how much the accuracy was improved by the supplemented death reports in this study.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.206-211
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• 1983

This study was carried out to compare the feed utilization between pelleted and all-mash diet of similar composition by growing chickens. Day-old broilers (Hubbard) and egg-type chickens(Hy-line) of commercial strain were employed in this experiment. The results obtained were summarized as follows. 1. The chickens fed pelleted diets were heavier than those of birds fed all-mash diets. The Hubbard broilers and Hy-line chickens fed pelleted diets weighed 2,702g and 812g respectively, at 9 weeks of age. In comparison, the Hubbard broilers and Hy-line chickens fed all-mash diets weighed 2,571g and 777g respectively, at 9 weeks of age. 2. The pellet-fed chickens consumed more feeds than birds fed all-mash diets in both types of strain. Feed efficiencies (gain/feed) of Hubbard and Hy-line chickens were 0.38 and 0.26 in pellet feeding groups, and 0.36 and 0.25 in all-mash feeding groups, respectively. The Hy-line chickens fed pelleted diets drank more water than birds fed all-mash diets. 3. Pellet feeding groups produced more dry matter excreta as compared with all-mash feeding groups, reflecting the pattern of feed consumption by these chickens. Nitrogen retention ratio of the Hubbard and Hy-line chickens were 57-67% and 65-73%, respectively. Chickens fed pelleted diets showed 1-4% higher nitrogen retention than chickens fed all-mash diets. 4. The ME/GE ratio of the Hubbard and the Hy-line at 8 weeks of age were 73.4-74.3% and 82.8-83.8%, respectively. Pellet feeding groups showed 1% higher ME/GE ratio than all-mash feeding groups. 5. The dietary productive energy calculated from respiratory quotient was $94.1-102.6kca/kg^{\frac{3}{4}}$ BW/day in pellet feeding groups. The ratios of PE/GE were 41.3-48.9% in pellet feeding groups and 39.0-45.8% in all-mash feeding groups. 6. It appears that pelleting the all-mash diet increases feed consumption and body weight gain of growing chickens. Feed efficiency and energy utilization were also improved by pelleting process. More research work should be done to establish the relationship clearly between feed pelleting and heat increments.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.218-230
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• 2010

This study was conducted to survey isoflavone intake among adult women in menopause with diseases such as metabolic syndrome and osteoporosis and to analyze the relationship between each of these chronic diseases followed by isoflavone intake and the related health risk index. The average age of the subjects was 49.97 years old, while that of the pre-menopausal subjects was 45.14 years, and the post-menopausal subjects was 55.99 years. The average body mass index (BMI), waist-hip circumference, body fat percentage, blood pressure, blood sugar and blood lipid content of the post-menopausal subjects were higher in significant difference than those of the pre-menopausal subjects. The bone density of the hip and spine in post-menopausal subjects was lower in significant difference than that of the pre-menopausal subjects. After menopause, the subjects had a lower ratio of individuals at risk of anemia when compared with the subjects before menopause, but had higher health risk ratio related to each type of chronic disease, including obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol and osteoporosis than the subjects before menopause. The intake frequency of each soybean food was similar among subjects before/after menopause. The most common soybean based foods consumed by the subjects were soybean, soybean curd and soybean paste. The average daily intake level of isoflavone among subjects before menopause was 25.48 mg, while that of subjects after menopause was 32.25 mg. Evaluation of the distribution of the isoflavone level revealed that the pre-menopausal subjects consumed 3.29~78.36 mg and the post-menopausal subjects consumed 3.18~116.59 mg. The intake level by each individual varied greatly. The pre-menopausal subjects had a low BMI index and systolic blood pressure as much as their isoflavone intake level was high. Additionally, the post-menopausal subjects had a low menarche age and high menopause age when their isoflavone intake level was high, the BMI index and waist-hip circumference ratio was highest among individuals with lowest isoflavone intake level. This study showed that there was a possible relationship between soybean isoflavone intake and health problems such as obesity, high cholesterol, and osteoporosis in women after menopause with diseases such as metabolic syndrome and osteoporosis, even if this relationship was not great.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.99-116
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• 2016

We herein performed animal safety assessment in accordance with Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) regulations with the aim of developing sialic acid from glycomacropeptide (hereafter referred to as "GMP") as an index ingredient and functional component in functional foods. GMP is a type of whey protein derived from milk and a safe food, with multiple functions, such as antiviral activity. A test substance was produced containing 7% (w/w) sialic acid and mostly-hydrolyzed whey protein (hereafter referred to as "7%-GNANA") by enzymatic treatment of substrate GMP. The maximum intake test dose level was selected based on 5,000 mg/kg/day dose set for male NOEL (no-observed-effect-level) and female NOAEL (no-observed-adverse-effect-level) determined by a dose-range finding (DRF) test (GLP Center of Catholic University of Daegu, Report No. 15-NREO-001) that was previously conducted with the same test substance. To evaluate the toxicity of a repeated oral dose of the test substance in connection with the previous DRF study, 1,250, 2,500, and 5,000 mg/kg of the substance were administered by a probe into the stomachs of 6-week-old SPF Sprague-Dawley male and female rats for 90 d. Each test group consisted of 10 male and 10 female rats. To determine the toxicity index, all parameters, such as observation of common signs; measurements of body weight and food consumption; ophthalmic examination; urinalysis, electrolyte, hematological, and serum biochemical examination; measurement of organ weights during autopsy; and visual and histopathological examinations were conducted according to GLP standards. After evaluating the results based on the test toxicity assessment criteria, it was determined that NOAEL of the test substance, 7%-GNANA, was 5,000 mg/kg/day, for both male and female rats. No animal death was noted in any of the test groups, including the control group, during the study period, and there was no significant difference associated with test substance, as compared with the control group, with respect to general symptoms, body weight changes, food consumption, ophthalmic examination, urinalysis, hematological and serum biochemical examination, and electrolyte and blood coagulation tests during the administration period (P<0.05). As assessed by the effects of the test substance on organ weights, food consumption, autopsy, and histopathological safety, change in kidney weight as an indicator of male NOAEL revealed up to 20% kidney weight increase in the high-dose group (5,000 mg/kg/day) compared with the change in the control group. However, it was concluded that this effect of the test substance was minor. In the case of female rats, reduction of food consumption, increase of kidney weight, and decrease of thymus weight were observed in the high-dose group. The kidney weight increased by 10.2% (left) and 8.9% (right) in the high-dose group, with a slight dose-dependency compared with that of the control group. It was observed that the thymus weight decreased by 25.3% in the high-dose group, but it was a minor test substance-associated effect. During the autopsy, botryoid tumor was detected on the ribs of one subject in the high-dose group, but we concluded that the tumor has been caused by a naturally occurring (non-test) substance. Histopathological examination revealed lesions on the kidney, liver, spleen, and other organs in the low-dose test group. Since these lesions were considered a separate phenomenon, or naturally occurring and associated with aging, it was checked whether any target organ showed clear symptoms caused by the test substance. In conclusion, different concentrations of the test substance were fed to rats and, consequently, it was verified that only a minor effect was associated with the test substance in the high-dose (5,000 mg/kg/day) group of both male and female rats, without any other significant effects associated with the test substance. Therefore, it was concluded that NOAEL of 7%-GNANA (product name: Helicobactrol) with male and female rats as test animals was 5,000 mg/kg/day, and it thus was determined that the substance is safe for the ultimate use as an ingredient of health functional foods.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.53-68
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• 1981

Most clays under sustained load exhibit time-dependent deformation because of creep movement of soil particles and many investigators have attempted to relate their findings to the creep behavior of natural ground and to the long-term stability of slopes. Since the creep behavior of clays may assume a variety of forms depending on such factors as soil plasticity, activity and water content, it is difficult and complicated to analyse the creep behavior of clays. Rheological models composed of linear springs in combination with linear or nonlinear dashpots and sliders, are generally used for the mathematical description of the time-dependent behavior of soils. Most rheological models, however, have been proposed to simulate the behavior of secondary compression for saturated clays and few definitive data exist that can evaluate the behavior of non-saturated clays under the action of sustained stress. The clays change gradually from a solid state through plastic state to a liquid state with increasing water content, therefore, the rheological models also change. On the other hand, creep is time-dependent, and also the effect of thixotropy is time-function. Consequently, there may be certain correlations between creep behavior and the effects of thixotropy in compacted clays. In addition, the states of clay depend on water content and hence the height of the specimen under drained conditions. Futhermore, based on present and past studies, because immediate elastic deformation occurs instantly after the pressure increment without time-delayed behavior, the factor representing immediate elastic deformations in the rheological model is necessary. The investigation described in this paper, based on rheological model, is designed to identify the immediate elastic deformations and the effects of thixotropy and height of clay specimens with varing water content and stress level on creep deformations. For these purposes, the uniaxial drain-type creep tests were performed. Test results and data for three compacted clays have shown that a linear top spring is needed to account for immediate elastic deformations in the rheological model, and at lower water content below the visco-plastic limit, the effects of thixotropy and height of clay specimens can be represented by the proposed rheological model not considering the effects. Therefore, the rheological model does not necessitate the other factors representing these effects. On the other hand, at water content higher than the visco-plastic limit, although the state behavior of clays is visco-plastic or viscous flow at the beginning of the test, the state behavior, in the case of the lower height sample, does not represent the same behavior during the process of the test, because of rapid drainage. In these cases, the rheological model does not coincide with the model in the case of the higher specimens.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.25-53
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• 2013

This study analyzes the effect of Computer Aided Innovation (CAI) to improve R&D Capabilities empirically. Survey was distributed by e-mail and Google Docs, targeting CTO of 235 SMEs. 142 surveys were returned back (rate of return 60.4%) from companies. Survey results from 119 companies (83.8%) which are effective samples except no-response, insincere response, estimated value, etc. were used for statistics analysis. Companies with less than 50billion KRW sales of entire researched companies occupy 76.5% in terms of sample traits. Companies with less than 300 employees occupy 83.2%. In terms of the type of company business Partners (called 'partners with big companies' hereunder) who work with big companies for business occupy 68.1%. SMEs based on their own business (called 'independent small companies') appear to occupy 31.9%. The present status of holding IT system according to traits of company business was classified into partners with big companies versus independent SMEs. The present status of ERP is 18.5% to 34.5%. QMS is 11.8% to 9.2%. And PLM (Product Life-cycle Management) is 6.7% to 2.5%. The holding of 3D CAD is 47.1% to 21%. IT system-holding and its application of independent SMEs seemed very vulnerable, compared with partner companies of big companies. This study is comprised of IT infra and IT Utilization as CAI capacity factors which are independent variables. factors of R&D capabilities which are independent variables are organization capability, process capability, HR capability, technology-accumulating capability, and internal/external collaboration capability. The highest average value of variables was 4.24 in organization capability 2. The lowest average value was 3.01 in IT infra which makes users access to data and information in other areas and use them with ease when required during new product development. It seems that the inferior environment of IT infra of general SMEs is reflected in CAI itself. In order to review the validity used to measure variables, Factors have been analyzed. 7 factors which have over 1.0 pure value of their dependent and independent variables were extracted. These factors appear to explain 71.167% in total of total variances. From the result of factor analysis about measurable variables in this study, reliability of each item was checked by Cronbach's Alpha coefficient. All measurable factors at least over 0.611 seemed to acquire reliability. Next, correlation has been done to explain certain phenomenon by correlation analysis between variables. As R&D capabilities factors which are arranged as dependent variables, organization capability, process capability, HR capability, technology-accumulating capability, and internal/external collaboration capability turned out that they acquire significant correlation at 99% reliability level in all variables of IT infra and IT Utilization which are independent variables. In addition, correlation coefficient between each factor is less than 0.8, which proves that the validity of this study judgement has been acquired. The pair with the highest coefficient had 0.628 for IT utilization and technology-accumulating capability. Regression model which can estimate independent variables was used in this study under the hypothesis that there is linear relation between independent variables and dependent variables so as to identify CAI capability's impact factors on R&D. The total explanations of IT infra among CAI capability for independent variables such as organization capability, process capability, human resources capability, technology-accumulating capability, and collaboration capability are 10.3%, 7%, 11.9%, 30.9%, and 10.5% respectively. IT Utilization exposes comprehensively low explanatory capability with 12.4%, 5.9%, 11.1%, 38.9%, and 13.4% for organization capability, process capability, human resources capability, technology-accumulating capability, and collaboration capability respectively. However, both factors of independent variables expose very high explanatory capability relatively for technology-accumulating capability among independent variable. Regression formula which is comprised of independent variables and dependent variables are all significant (P<0.005). The suitability of regression model seems high. When the results of test for dependent variables and independent variables are estimated, the hypothesis of 10 different factors appeared all significant in regression analysis model coefficient (P<0.01) which is estimated to affect in the hypothesis. As a result of liner regression analysis between two independent variables drawn by influence factor analysis for R&D capability and R&D capability. IT infra and IT Utilization which are CAI capability factors has positive correlation to organization capability, process capability, human resources capability, technology-accumulating capability, and collaboration capability with inside and outside which are dependent variables, R&D capability factors. It was identified as a significant factor which affects R&D capability. However, considering adjustable variables, a big gap is found, compared to entire company. First of all, in case of partner companies with big companies, in IT infra as CAI capability, organization capability, process capability, human resources capability, and technology capability out of R&D capacities seems to have positive correlation. However, collaboration capability appeared insignificance. IT utilization which is a CAI capability factor seemed to have positive relation to organization capability, process capability, human resources capability, and internal/external collaboration capability just as those of entire companies. Next, by analyzing independent types of SMEs as an adjustable variable, very different results were found from those of entire companies or partner companies with big companies. First of all, all factors in IT infra except technology-accumulating capability were rejected. IT utilization was rejected except technology-accumulating capability and collaboration capability. Comprehending the above adjustable variables, the following results were drawn in this study. First, in case of big companies or partner companies with big companies, IT infra and IT utilization affect improving R&D Capabilities positively. It was because most of big companies encourage innovation by using IT utilization and IT infra building over certain level to their partner companies. Second, in all companies, IT infra and IT utilization as CAI capability affect improving technology-accumulating capability positively at least as R&D capability factor. The most of factor explanation is low at around 10%. However, technology-accumulating capability is rather high around 25.6% to 38.4%. It was found that CAI capability contributes to technology-accumulating capability highly. Companies shouldn't consider IT infra and IT utilization as a simple product developing tool in R&D section. However, they have to consider to use them as a management innovating strategy tool which proceeds entire-company management innovation centered in new product development. Not only the improvement of technology-accumulating capability in department of R&D. Centered in new product development, it has to be used as original management innovative strategy which proceeds entire company management innovation. It suggests that it can be a method to improve technology-accumulating capability in R&D section and Dynamic capability to acquire sustainable competitive advantage.