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Microbial Influence on Soil Properties and Pollutant Reduction in a Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetland Treating Urban Runoff (도시 강우유출수 처리 인공습지의 토양특성 및 오염물질 저감에 따른 미생물 영향 평가)

  • Chiny. C. Vispo;Miguel Enrico L. Robles;Yugyeong Oh;Haque Md Tashdedul;Lee Hyung Kim
    • Journal of Wetlands Research
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    • v.26 no.2
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    • pp.168-181
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    • 2024
  • Constructed wetlands (CWs) deliver a range of ecosystem services, including the removal of contaminants, sequestration and storage of carbon, and enhancement of biodiversity. These services are facilitated through hydrological and ecological processes such as infiltration, adsorption, water retention, and evapotranspiration by plants and microorganisms. This study investigated the correlations between microbial populations, soil physicochemical properties, and treatment efficiency in a horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland (HSSF CW) treating runoff from roads and parking lots. The methods employed included storm event monitoring, water quality analysis, soil sampling, soil quality parameter analysis, and microbial analysis. The facility achieved its highest pollutant removal efficiencies during the warm season (>15℃), with rates ranging from 33% to 74% for TSS, COD, TN, TP, and specific heavy metals including Fe, Zn, and Cd. Meanwhile, the highest removal efficiency was 35% for TOC during the cold season (≤15℃). These high removal rates can be attributed to sedimentation, adsorption, precipitation, plant uptake, and microbial transformations within the CW. Soil analysis revealed that the soil from HSSF CW had a soil organic carbon content 3.3 times higher than that of soil collected from a nearby landscape. Stoichiometric ratios of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in the inflow and outflow were recorded as C:N:P of 120:1.5:1 and 135.2:0.4:1, respectively, indicating an extremely low proportion of N and P compared to C, which may challenge microbial remediation efficiency. Additionally, microbial analyses indicated that the warm season was more conducive to microorganism growth, with higher abundance, richness, diversity, homogeneity, and evenness of the microbial community, as manifested in the biodiversity indices, compared to the cold season. Pollutants in stormwater runoff entering the HSSF CW fostered microbial growth, particularly for dominant phyla such as Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Bacteroidetes, which have shown moderate to strong correlations with specific soil properties and changes in influent-effluent concentrations of water quality parameters.

Evaluation of zinc oxide and copper oxide nanoparticles as potential alternatives to antibiotics for managing fowl typhoid in broilers

  • Muhammad Atif Raza;Eungyung Kim;Muhammad Shakeel;Muhammad Fiaz;Lei Ma;Hyeonjin Kim;Chae Yeon Kim;Zhibin Liu;Ke Huang;Kanghyun Park;Muhammad Tariq Javed;Myoung Ok Kim
    • Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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    • v.66 no.5
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    • pp.962-980
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    • 2024
  • Antimicrobial resistance poses challenges to humans and animals, especially to the poultry sector in control of fowl typhoid with antibiotics, leading to increased mortality and food insecurity. Therefore, it is essential to develop more effective medications as alternatives to antibiotics. Currently, zinc oxide and copper oxide nanoparticles are of such significant interest due to their antibacterial properties. This study aimed to evaluate antimicrobial activity of zinc oxide and copper oxide nanoparticles against fowl typhoid in broilers. Ninety broiler chicks were raised under suitable management conditions. On day 10 of age, chicks were divided into six groups: control negative, control positive, T1, T2, T3, and T4. On day 19 of age, chicks in all groups except control negative were infected with Salmonella gallinarum (0.2 mL, 108 CFU/mL). After appearance of clinical signs, the treatments (Florfenicol; 50 mg/L drinking water [T1], and zinc oxide + copper oxide nanoparticles; 25 + 10 mg/kg/d [T2], 37.5 + 15 mg/kg/d [T3], and 50 + 20 mg/kg/d [T4]) were administered to chicks. Chicks were sacrificed on 26th and 30th day of age, and samples of blood and tissue were obtained. Hematological analysis with gross and histopathological examination of spleen, thymus and bursa of Fabricius was performed. Results revealed that there was no visible congestion in spleen and thymus of T3 and T4 at 11th day post infection. Antibody level against new castle's disease and lymphoproliferative response showed no significant difference in all groups. However, phagocytic response in nanoparticles treated groups exhibited a notable (p < 0.01) distinction compared to control positive. Notably, T3 demonstrated the highest level of phagocytic activity. Hematological parameters, including lymphocytes, heterophils, eosinophils, and heterophils/lymphocytes ratio in groups T2, T3, and T4, indicated significant (p < 0.01) difference compared to control positive. However, lymphocytes, heterophils, and heterophils/lymphocytes ratio in groups T2, T3, and T4 showed no significant difference when compared to T1. Nanoparticle treated groups showed decreased (p < 0.01) congestion of spleen and thymus as compared to control positive. Overall, zinc oxide and copper oxide nanoparticles have potential to serve as an alternative to florfenicol in treatment of fowl typhoid.

Application of Deep Learning for Classification of Ancient Korean Roof-end Tile Images (딥러닝을 활용한 고대 수막새 이미지 분류 검토)

  • KIM Younghyun
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.57 no.3
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    • pp.24-35
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    • 2024
  • Recently, research using deep learning technologies such as artificial intelligence, convolutional neural networks, etc. has been actively conducted in various fields including healthcare, manufacturing, autonomous driving, and security, and is having a significant influence on society. In line with this trend, the present study attempted to apply deep learning to the classification of archaeological artifacts, specifically ancient Korean roof-end tiles. Using 100 images of roof-end tiles from each of the Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla dynasties, for a total of 300 base images, a dataset was formed and expanded to 1,200 images using data augmentation techniques. After building a model using transfer learning from the pre-trained EfficientNetB0 model and conducting five-fold cross-validation, an average training accuracy of 98.06% and validation accuracy of 97.08% were achieved. Furthermore, when model performance was evaluated with a test dataset of 240 images, it could classify the roof-end tile images from the three dynasties with a minimum accuracy of 91%. In particular, with a learning rate of 0.0001, the model exhibited the highest performance, with accuracy of 92.92%, precision of 92.96%, recall of 92.92%, and F1 score of 92.93%. This optimal result was obtained by preventing overfitting and underfitting issues using various learning rate settings and finding the optimal hyperparameters. The study's findings confirm the potential for applying deep learning technologies to the classification of Korean archaeological materials, which is significant. Additionally, it was confirmed that the existing ImageNet dataset and parameters could be positively applied to the analysis of archaeological data. This approach could lead to the creation of various models for future archaeological database accumulation, the use of artifacts in museums, and classification and organization of artifacts.

A Time Series Graph based Convolutional Neural Network Model for Effective Input Variable Pattern Learning : Application to the Prediction of Stock Market (효과적인 입력변수 패턴 학습을 위한 시계열 그래프 기반 합성곱 신경망 모형: 주식시장 예측에의 응용)

  • Lee, Mo-Se;Ahn, Hyunchul
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.167-181
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    • 2018
  • Over the past decade, deep learning has been in spotlight among various machine learning algorithms. In particular, CNN(Convolutional Neural Network), which is known as the effective solution for recognizing and classifying images or voices, has been popularly applied to classification and prediction problems. In this study, we investigate the way to apply CNN in business problem solving. Specifically, this study propose to apply CNN to stock market prediction, one of the most challenging tasks in the machine learning research. As mentioned, CNN has strength in interpreting images. Thus, the model proposed in this study adopts CNN as the binary classifier that predicts stock market direction (upward or downward) by using time series graphs as its inputs. That is, our proposal is to build a machine learning algorithm that mimics an experts called 'technical analysts' who examine the graph of past price movement, and predict future financial price movements. Our proposed model named 'CNN-FG(Convolutional Neural Network using Fluctuation Graph)' consists of five steps. In the first step, it divides the dataset into the intervals of 5 days. And then, it creates time series graphs for the divided dataset in step 2. The size of the image in which the graph is drawn is $40(pixels){\times}40(pixels)$, and the graph of each independent variable was drawn using different colors. In step 3, the model converts the images into the matrices. Each image is converted into the combination of three matrices in order to express the value of the color using R(red), G(green), and B(blue) scale. In the next step, it splits the dataset of the graph images into training and validation datasets. We used 80% of the total dataset as the training dataset, and the remaining 20% as the validation dataset. And then, CNN classifiers are trained using the images of training dataset in the final step. Regarding the parameters of CNN-FG, we adopted two convolution filters ($5{\times}5{\times}6$ and $5{\times}5{\times}9$) in the convolution layer. In the pooling layer, $2{\times}2$ max pooling filter was used. The numbers of the nodes in two hidden layers were set to, respectively, 900 and 32, and the number of the nodes in the output layer was set to 2(one is for the prediction of upward trend, and the other one is for downward trend). Activation functions for the convolution layer and the hidden layer were set to ReLU(Rectified Linear Unit), and one for the output layer set to Softmax function. To validate our model - CNN-FG, we applied it to the prediction of KOSPI200 for 2,026 days in eight years (from 2009 to 2016). To match the proportions of the two groups in the independent variable (i.e. tomorrow's stock market movement), we selected 1,950 samples by applying random sampling. Finally, we built the training dataset using 80% of the total dataset (1,560 samples), and the validation dataset using 20% (390 samples). The dependent variables of the experimental dataset included twelve technical indicators popularly been used in the previous studies. They include Stochastic %K, Stochastic %D, Momentum, ROC(rate of change), LW %R(Larry William's %R), A/D oscillator(accumulation/distribution oscillator), OSCP(price oscillator), CCI(commodity channel index), and so on. To confirm the superiority of CNN-FG, we compared its prediction accuracy with the ones of other classification models. Experimental results showed that CNN-FG outperforms LOGIT(logistic regression), ANN(artificial neural network), and SVM(support vector machine) with the statistical significance. These empirical results imply that converting time series business data into graphs and building CNN-based classification models using these graphs can be effective from the perspective of prediction accuracy. Thus, this paper sheds a light on how to apply deep learning techniques to the domain of business problem solving.

A Study on the Prediction Model of Stock Price Index Trend based on GA-MSVM that Simultaneously Optimizes Feature and Instance Selection (입력변수 및 학습사례 선정을 동시에 최적화하는 GA-MSVM 기반 주가지수 추세 예측 모형에 관한 연구)

  • Lee, Jong-sik;Ahn, Hyunchul
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.147-168
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    • 2017
  • There have been many studies on accurate stock market forecasting in academia for a long time, and now there are also various forecasting models using various techniques. Recently, many attempts have been made to predict the stock index using various machine learning methods including Deep Learning. Although the fundamental analysis and the technical analysis method are used for the analysis of the traditional stock investment transaction, the technical analysis method is more useful for the application of the short-term transaction prediction or statistical and mathematical techniques. Most of the studies that have been conducted using these technical indicators have studied the model of predicting stock prices by binary classification - rising or falling - of stock market fluctuations in the future market (usually next trading day). However, it is also true that this binary classification has many unfavorable aspects in predicting trends, identifying trading signals, or signaling portfolio rebalancing. In this study, we try to predict the stock index by expanding the stock index trend (upward trend, boxed, downward trend) to the multiple classification system in the existing binary index method. In order to solve this multi-classification problem, a technique such as Multinomial Logistic Regression Analysis (MLOGIT), Multiple Discriminant Analysis (MDA) or Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) we propose an optimization model using Genetic Algorithm as a wrapper for improving the performance of this model using Multi-classification Support Vector Machines (MSVM), which has proved to be superior in prediction performance. In particular, the proposed model named GA-MSVM is designed to maximize model performance by optimizing not only the kernel function parameters of MSVM, but also the optimal selection of input variables (feature selection) as well as instance selection. In order to verify the performance of the proposed model, we applied the proposed method to the real data. The results show that the proposed method is more effective than the conventional multivariate SVM, which has been known to show the best prediction performance up to now, as well as existing artificial intelligence / data mining techniques such as MDA, MLOGIT, CBR, and it is confirmed that the prediction performance is better than this. Especially, it has been confirmed that the 'instance selection' plays a very important role in predicting the stock index trend, and it is confirmed that the improvement effect of the model is more important than other factors. To verify the usefulness of GA-MSVM, we applied it to Korea's real KOSPI200 stock index trend forecast. Our research is primarily aimed at predicting trend segments to capture signal acquisition or short-term trend transition points. The experimental data set includes technical indicators such as the price and volatility index (2004 ~ 2017) and macroeconomic data (interest rate, exchange rate, S&P 500, etc.) of KOSPI200 stock index in Korea. Using a variety of statistical methods including one-way ANOVA and stepwise MDA, 15 indicators were selected as candidate independent variables. The dependent variable, trend classification, was classified into three states: 1 (upward trend), 0 (boxed), and -1 (downward trend). 70% of the total data for each class was used for training and the remaining 30% was used for verifying. To verify the performance of the proposed model, several comparative model experiments such as MDA, MLOGIT, CBR, ANN and MSVM were conducted. MSVM has adopted the One-Against-One (OAO) approach, which is known as the most accurate approach among the various MSVM approaches. Although there are some limitations, the final experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model, GA-MSVM, performs at a significantly higher level than all comparative models.

Studies for Antibiotic Free Chicken Production Using Water Extracts from Artemisia capillaris and Camellia sinensis (인진쑥 및 녹차 추출물을 이용한 무항생제 닭고기 생산 연구)

  • Kim, Dong-Wook;Kim, Ji-Hyuk;Kang, Geun-Ho;Kang, Hwan-Ku;Park, Sung-Bok;Park, Jae-Hong;Bang, Han-Tae;Kim, Min-Ji;Na, Jae-Cheon;Chae, Hyun-Suk;Choi, Hee-Chul;Suh, Ok-Suk;Kim, Sang-Ho;Kang, Chang-Won
    • Food Science of Animal Resources
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    • v.30 no.6
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    • pp.975-988
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    • 2010
  • Two experiments were conducted to determine whether water extracts from Artemisia capillaries (A. capillaries) and Camellia sinensis (C. sinensis) could be used as alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters in broiler feed. The experiment 1 was verified their chemical composition, extracts yields, total phenolic compounds concentration, antioxidant activity, antimicrobial activity, and chicken splenocytes proliferation through in vitro test. The extract yields of A. capillaries and C. sinensis were 26.5 and 16.8%, respectively. Total phenolic compounds concentrations of them expressed as gallic acid equivalent were 15.28 and 26.74 mg/mL, respectively. Electron donating abilities of them expressed as $SC_{50}$ showing 50% DPPH radical scavenging were 0.30 and 0.06 mg, respectively. Bacterial inhibitory rates of them against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella Typhimurium were ranged from 42.1 to 52.3% and from 21.6 to 33.7%, respectively. And, these extracts increased proliferation of chicken splenocytes. Especially, A. capillaris was more excellent than Echinacea and Concanavalin A known as T-cell stimulator. The experiment 2 was investigated their effects on growth performance, relative organ weight, cecal microflora, blood biochemical parameters, and splenic cytokines mRNA expression in broiler chicks. Four hundred eighty 1-day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were divided in to 4 treatment groups with 4 replicates of 30 birds in each group: NC (control, no antibiotics), PC (avilamycin, 10 ppm; salinomycin, 60 ppm), AC (A. capillaries, 100 ppm), and CS (C. sinensis, 100 ppm); treatments were administered through water supplementation. Final body weight was significantly higher in all treated groups than in NC (p<0.05). Cecal Salmonella numbers were significantly or somewhat decreased in all treated groups than in NC (p<0.05). The relative weights and lengths of the small intestine were more significantly decreased in the PC and AC groups than in the other groups. Cecal Salmonella numbers were significantly or somewhat decreased in all treated groups than in the NC group (p<0.05). The contents of total cholesterol, aspatate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase in blood serum were more significantly decreased in all treated groups than in NC (p<0.05). In conclusion, these results suggested the possibility that these extracts could serve as alternatives for antibiotic growth promoters.

Effects of Blended Essential Oil(CRINA®) Supplementation on the Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, Small Intestinal Microflora and Fatty Acid Composition of Meat in Broiler Chickens (사료중 Blended Essential Oil(CRINA®) 첨가가 육계의 생산성과 영양소 이용률, 소장 내 미생물 균총 및 계육내 지방산 조성에 미치는 영향)

  • Suk, J.C.;Lim , H.S.;Paik, I.K.
    • Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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    • v.45 no.5
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    • pp.777-786
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    • 2003
  • An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of supplementary Blended essential oil(CRINA$^{\circledR}$) on the performance, nutrient availability, fatty acid composition of leg muscle, small intestinal microflora and blood parameters in broiler chickens. One thousand unsexed day-old broiler chickens were assigned to five treatments : control(T1), 5ppm avilamycin(starter diet) & 5ppm flavomycin(grower diet) T2, 5ppm avilamycin(starter diet) & 50ppm CRINA$^{\circledR}$(grower diet) T3, 50ppm CRINA$^{\circledR}$(starter & grower diet) T4, 50ppm CRINA$^{\circledR}$+ 500ppm lactic acid$^{\circledR}$ (starter & grower diet) T5. Each treatment had four replications of 50 birds each. Growth performance was significantly improved by dietary supplements(T2-T5). There were no significant differences among treatment T2, T3, T4 and T5. Feed intake was not significantly different among treatments. Dietary supplementation of CRINA$^{\circledR}$(T3, T4, T5) resulted in significant(p〈0.05) improvement in feed/gain(F/G) during finishing period (4-5weeks). The birds fed CRINA$^{\circledR}$ supplemented diet(T4) showed significantly(p〈0.05) higher availability of crude fat, methionine and methionine + cystine than those fed antibiotics supplemented diet(T2). Mortality was not significantly affected by treatments. The colony forming unit(CFU) of E.coli in small intestinal content was significantly lower in antibiotics & CRINA$^{\circledR}$(T3) compared to CRINA$^{\circledR}$ treatment(T4)(P〈0.05). CFU of Cl. perfringens was low in CRINA$^{\circledR}$(T4) but not different significantly with other treatments. Serum triglyceride level of birds fed CRINA$^{\circledR}$ + lactic acid diet(T5) was significantly lower(p〈0.05) than those fed antibiotics supplemented diet(T2). Cholesterol level of the birds fed antibiotics(T2) or CRINA$^{\circledR}$ + lactic acid supplemented diet(T5) was significantly higher(p〈0.05) than other treatments. HDL level of birds fed control diet was significantly lower(p〈0.05) than that of others. The levels of serum IgG were not significantly different among treatments. Major fatty acids composition of leg muscle fat was significantly influenced by treatments. Control group showed significantly higher palmitic acid(C$_{16:0}$) and steraric acid(C$_{18:0}$) content than other treatments(p〈0.05). Content of oleic acid(C$_{18:1}$), however, was significantly lower in the control than others treatments. Content of linolenic acid(C$_{18:3}$) was significantly higher in CRINA$^{\circledR}$+ lactic acid(T5) than antibiotics & CRINA$^{\circledR}$(T3) treatments. Total saturated fatty acids content was higher and total unsaturated fatty acids were lower in the leg muscle fat of the control than that of other treatments. It is concluded that CRINA$^{\circledR}$ supplementation improved growth rate and F/G ratio in broilers. The combination of CRINA$^{\circledR}$ with either antibiotics or lactic acid did not show any additive or synergistic effects in broiler chickens .

A study on Development Process of Fish Aquaculture in Japan - Case by Seabream Aquaculture - (일본 어류 양식업의 발전과정과 산지교체에 관한 연구 : 참돔양식업을 사례로)

  • 송정헌
    • The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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    • v.34 no.2
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    • pp.75-90
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    • 2003
  • When we think of fundamental problems of the aquaculture industry, there are several strict conditions, and consequently the aquaculture industry is forced to change. Fish aquaculture has a structural supply surplus in production, aggravation of fishing grounds, stagnant low price due to recent recession, and drastic change of distribution circumstances. It is requested for us to initiate discussion on such issue as “how fish aquaculture establishes its status in the coastal fishery\ulcorner, will fish aquaculture grow in the future\ulcorner, and if so “how it will be restructured\ulcorner” The above issues can be observed in the mariculture of yellow tail, sea scallop and eel. But there have not been studied concerning seabream even though the production is over 30% of the total production of fish aquaculture in resent and it occupied an important status in the fish aquaculture. The objectives of this study is to forecast the future movement of sea bream aquaculture. The first goal of the study is to contribute to managerial and economic studies on the aquaculture industry. The second goal is to identify the factors influencing the competition between production areas and to identify the mechanisms involved. This study will examine the competitive power in individual producing area, its behavior, and its compulsory factors based on case study. Producing areas will be categorized according to following parameters : distance to market and availability of transportation, natural environment, the time of formation of producing areas (leaderㆍfollower), major production items, scale of business and producing areas, degree of organization in production and sales. As a factor in shaping the production area of sea bream aquaculture, natural conditions especially the water temperature is very important. Sea bream shows more active feeding and faster growth in areas located where the water temperature does not go below 13∼14$^{\circ}C$ during the winter. Also fish aquaculture is constrained by the transporting distance. Aquacultured yellowtail is a mass-produced and a mass-distributed item. It is sold a unit of cage and transported by ship. On the other hand, sea bream is sold in small amount in markets and transported by truck; so, the transportation cost is higher than yellow tail. Aquacultured sea bream has different product characteristics due to transport distance. We need to study live fish and fresh fish markets separately. Live fish was the original product form of aquacultured sea bream. Transportation of live fish has more constraints than the transportation of fresh fish. Death rate and distance are highly correlated. In addition, loading capacity of live fish is less than fresh fish. In the case of a 10 ton truck, live fish can only be loaded up to 1.5 tons. But, fresh fish which can be placed in a box can be loaded up to 5 to 6 tons. Because of this characteristics, live fish requires closer location to consumption area than fresh fish. In the consumption markets, the size of fresh fish is mainly 0.8 to 2kg.Live fish usually goes through auction, and quality is graded. Main purchaser comes from many small-sized restaurants, so a relatively small farmer and distributer can sell it. Aquacultured sea bream has been transacted as a fresh fish in GMS ,since 1993 when the price plummeted. Economies of scale works in case of fresh fish. The characteristics of fresh fish is as follows : As a large scale demander, General Merchandise Stores are the main purchasers of sea bream and the size of the fish is around 1.3kg. It mainly goes through negotiation. Aquacultured sea bream has been established as a representative food in General Merchandise Stores. GMS require stable and mass supply, consistent size, and low price. And Distribution of fresh fish is undertook by the large scale distributers, which can satisfy requirements of GMS. The market share in Tokyo Central Wholesale Market shows Mie Pref. is dominating in live fish. And Ehime Pref. is dominating in fresh fish. Ehime Pref. showed remarkable growth in 1990s. At present, the dealings of live fish is decreasing. However, the dealings of fresh fish is increasing in Tokyo Central Wholesale Market. The price of live fish is decreasing more than one of fresh fish. Even though Ehime Pref. has an ideal natural environment for sea bream aquaculture, its entry into sea bream aquaculture was late, because it was located at a further distance to consumers than the competing producing areas. However, Ehime Pref. became the number one producing areas through the sales of fresh fish in the 1990s. The production volume is almost 3 times the production volume of Mie Pref. which is the number two production area. More conversion from yellow tail aquaculture to sea bream aquaculture is taking place in Ehime Pref., because Kagosima Pref. has a better natural environment for yellow tail aquaculture. Transportation is worse than Mie Pref., but this region as a far-flung producing area makes up by increasing the business scale. Ehime Pref. increases the market share for fresh fish by creating demand from GMS. Ehime Pref. has developed market strategies such as a quick return at a small profit, a stable and mass supply and standardization in size. Ehime Pref. increases the market power by the capital of a large scale commission agent. Secondly Mie Pref. is close to markets and composed of small scale farmers. Mie Pref. switched to sea bream aquaculture early, because of the price decrease in aquacultured yellou tail and natural environmental problems. Mie Pref. had not changed until 1993 when the price of the sea bream plummeted. Because it had better natural environment and transportation. Mie Pref. has a suitable water temperature range required for sea bream aquaculture. However, the price of live sea bream continued to decline due to excessive production and economic recession. As a consequence, small scale farmers are faced with a market price below the average production cost in 1993. In such kind of situation, the small-sized and inefficient manager in Mie Pref. was obliged to withdraw from sea bream aquaculture. Kumamoto Pref. is located further from market sites and has an unsuitable nature environmental condition required for sea bream aquaculture. Although Kumamoto Pref. is trying to convert to the puffer fish aquaculture which requires different rearing techniques, aquaculture technique for puffer fish is not established yet.

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Measuring Consumer-Brand Relationship Quality (소비자-브랜드 관계 품질 측정에 관한 연구)

  • Kang, Myung-Soo;Kim, Byoung-Jai;Shin, Jong-Chil
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.111-131
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    • 2007
  • As a brand becomes a core asset in creating a corporation's value, brand marketing has become one of core strategies that corporations pursue. Recently, for customer relationship management, possession and consumption of goods were centered on brand for the management. Thus, management related to this matter was developed. The main reason of the increased interest on the relationship between the brand and the consumer is due to acquisition of individual consumers and development of relationship with those consumers. Along with the development of relationship, a corporation is able to establish long-term relationships. This has become a competitive advantage for the corporation. All of these processes became the strategic assets of corporations. The importance and the increase of interest of a brand have also become a big issue academically. Brand equity, brand extension, brand identity, brand relationship, and brand community are the results derived from the interest of a brand. More specifically, in marketing, the study of brands has been led to the study of factors related to building of powerful brands and the process of building the brand. Recently, studies concentrated primarily on the consumer-brand relationship. The reason is that brand loyalty can not explain the dynamic quality aspects of loyalty, the consumer-brand relationship building process, and especially interactions between the brands and the consumers. In the studies of consumer-brand relationship, a brand is not just limited to possession or consumption objectives, but rather conceptualized as partners. Most of the studies from the past concentrated on the results of qualitative analysis of consumer-brand relationship to show the depth and width of the performance of consumer-brand relationship. Studies in Korea have been the same. Recently, studies of consumer-brand relationship started to concentrate on quantitative analysis rather than qualitative analysis or even go further with quantitative analysis to show effecting factors of consumer-brand relationship. Studies of new quantitative approaches show the possibilities of using the results as a new concept of viewing consumer-brand relationship and possibilities of applying these new concepts on marketing. Studies of consumer-brand relationship with quantitative approach already exist, but none of them include sub-dimensions of consumer-brand relationship, which presents theoretical proofs for measurement. In other words, most studies add up or average out the sub-dimensions of consumer-brand relationship. However, to do these kind of studies, precondition of sub-dimensions being in identical constructs is necessary. Therefore, most of the studies from the past do not meet conditions of sub-dimensions being as one dimension construct. From this, we question the validity of past studies and their limits. The main purpose of this paper is to overcome the limits shown from the past studies by practical use of previous studies on sub-dimensions in a one-dimensional construct (Naver & Slater, 1990; Cronin & Taylor, 1992; Chang & Chen, 1998). In this study, two arbitrary groups were classified to evaluate reliability of the measurements and reliability analyses were pursued on each group. For convergent validity, correlations, Cronbach's, one-factor solution exploratory analysis were used. For discriminant validity correlation of consumer-brand relationship was compared with that of an involvement, which is a similar concept with consumer-based relationship. It also indicated dependent correlations by Cohen and Cohen (1975, p.35) and results showed that it was different constructs from 6 sub-dimensions of consumer-brand relationship. Through the results of studies mentioned above, we were able to finalize that sub-dimensions of consumer-brand relationship can viewed from one-dimensional constructs. This means that the one-dimensional construct of consumer-brand relationship can be viewed with reliability and validity. The result of this research is theoretically meaningful in that it assumes consumer-brand relationship in a one-dimensional construct and provides the basis of methodologies which are previously preformed. It is thought that this research also provides the possibility of new research on consumer-brand relationship in that it gives root to the fact that it is possible to manipulate one-dimensional constructs consisting of consumer-brand relationship. In the case of previous research on consumer-brand relationship, consumer-brand relationship is classified into several types on the basis of components consisting of consumer-brand relationship and a number of studies have been performed with priority given to the types. However, as we can possibly manipulate a one-dimensional construct through this research, it is expected that various studies which make the level or strength of consumer-brand relationship practical application of construct will be performed, and not research focused on separate types of consumer-brand relationship. Additionally, we have the theoretical basis of probability in which to manipulate the consumer-brand relationship with one-dimensional constructs. It is anticipated that studies using this construct, which is consumer-brand relationship, practical use of dependent variables, parameters, mediators, and so on, will be performed.

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Diagnostic Approach to the Solitary Pulmonary Nodule : Reappraisal of the Traditional Clinical Parameters for Differentiating Malignant Nodule from Benign Nodule (고립성 폐결절에 대한 진단적 접근 : 악성결절과 양성결절의 감별 지표에 대한 재검토)

  • Kho, Won Jung;Kim, Cheol Hyeon;Jang, Seung Hun;Lee, Jae Ho;Yoo, Chul Gyu;Chung, Hee Soon;Kim, Young Whan;Han, Sung Koo;Shim, Young-Soo
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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    • v.43 no.4
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    • pp.500-518
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    • 1996
  • Background : The solitary pulmonary nodule(SPN) presents a diagnostic dilemma to the physician and the patient. Many clinical characteristics(i.e. age, smoking history, prior history of malignancy) and radiological characteristics( i.e. size, calcification, growth rate, several findings of computed tomography) have been proposed to help to determine whether the SPN was benign or malignant. However, most of these diagnostic guidelines are based on the data collected before computed tomography(CT) has been introduced and lung cancer was not as common as these days. Moreover, it is not well established whether these guidelines from western populations could be applicable to Korean patients. Methods : We had a retrospective analysis of the case records and radiographic findings in 114 patients presenting with SPN from Jan. 1994 to Feb. 1995 in Seoul National University Hospital, a tertiary referral hospital. Results : We observed the following results ; (1) Out of 113 SPNs, the etiology was documented in 94 SP IS. There were 34 benign SP s and 60 malignant SPNs. Among which, 49 SPNs were primary lung cancers and the most common hi stologic type was adenocarcinoma. (2) The average age of patients with benign and malignant SPNs was $49.7{\pm}12.0$ and $58.1{\pm}10.0$ years, respectively( p=0.0004), and the malignant SPNs had a striking linear propensity to increase with age. (3) No significant difference in the hi story of smoking was noted between the patients with benign SPNs($13.0{\pm}17.6$ pack- year) and those with malignant SPNs($18.6{\pm}25.1$ pack-year) (p=0.2108). (4) 9 out of 10 patients with prior history of malignancy had malignant SPNs. 5 were new primary lung cancers with no relation to prior malignancy. (5) The average size of benign SPNs($3.01{\pm}1.20cm$) and malignant SPNs($2.98{\pm}0.97cm$) was not significantly different(p=0.8937). (6) The volume doubling time could be calculated in 22 SPNs. 9 SPNs had the volume doubling time longer than 400 days. Out of these, 6 were malignant SPNs. (7) The CT findings suggesting malignancy included the lobulated or spiculated border, air- bronchogram, pleural tail, and lymphadenopathy. In contrast, calcification, central low attenuation, cavity with even thickness, well-marginated border, and peri nodular micronodules were more suggestive for benign nodule. (8) The diagnostic yield of percutaneous needle aspiration and biopsy was 57.6%(19/33) of benign SPNs and 81.0%(47/58) of malignant SPNs. The diagnostic value of sputum analysis and bronchoscopic evaluations were relatively very low. (9) 42.3%(11/26) of SPNs of undetermined etiology preoperatively turned out to be malignant after surgical resection. Overall, 75.4%(46/61) of surgically resected SPNs were malignant. Conclusions : We conclude that the likelihood of malignant SPN correlates the age of patient, prior history of malignancy, some CT findings including lobulated or spiculated border, air-bronchogram, pleural tail and lymphadenopathy. However, the history of smoking, the size of the nodule, and the volume doubling time are not helpful to determent whether the SPN is benign or malignant, which have been regarded as valuable clinical parameters previously. We suggest that aggressive diagnostic approach including surgical resection is necessary in patient with SPNs.

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