• International Commerce and Information Review
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.341-366
• /
• 2013

The term, Mittelstand, has no exact english translation for the definition, but, today, Mittelstand refers to small and medium-sized enterprises(SME), mostly family-owned firms in Germany. The Mittelstand is called the backbone of the German economy because it drove the economic miracle after World War II. During the global recession and the euro zone's debt crisis in recent years, in which european businesses have faced the near-collapse of competitiveness particularly in manufacturing, the German exports are booming and exceeded exports of China in 2012. Most importantly, the Germany economic performance has been widely attributed to the strength of the Mittelstand. Many of countries, even some leading public companies are seeking to emulate the success of the Mittelstand. Investors evaluate that many of Germany's investable "hidden champions" are Mittelstand companies. The purpose of this study is to present some of answers to the following questions: Firstly, what makes the German Mittelstand so successful? Secondly, what does the success of the German Mittelstand mean for the Korean SMEs in global competitiveness? Thirdly, what Korean government has to do improve the global competitiveness of the Korean SMEs? Some discussions in this study mention the managerial implications for Korean exporting SMEs particularly in manufacturing. Several factors that account for the success of the German Mittelstand are technological excellence and the tradition of family-owned management, concentration on niche market and globalization, and institutional supports. There are some of important lessons to be learned from the German Mittelstand. If the purposes of Korean SMEs want to remain in the sustainable competitive advantage and withstand unforeseen economic turbulences in the future, they must be able to meet the followings: 1) Technology that meets the global standard or exceeding it 2) Competitiveness in price in the global market 3) Active involvement in the globalization process, utilizing various entry modes Innovative products at globally competitive price are a crucial point for Korean exporting SMEs to achieve their competitive edge over others in the target markets abroad. It is time for Korean SMEs to cultivate a core competence in manufacturing in order to position Korea as a global manufacturing hub with SMEs leading.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.70-76
• /
• 2006

Micro-droplet cell with free droplet as a micro-electrochemical technique has been limited to apply to electrochemical systems with high wetting properties such as an acidic solution and low grade stainless steels(Type 316L). By loading negative pressure to a droplet, control of droplet size, and use of hydrophobic gasket, the cell is modified to be allowed to use for electrochemical systems with high wetting properties. For giving the reliability of new cell, studies on local corrosion were conducted for three different systems-an acidic chloride solution and high chromium ferritic stainless steel, the other acidic chloride solution and type 316, and a neutral chloride solution and type 316. stainless steel. Firstly, the modified micro-droplet cell allows the anodic polarization curves in an acidic chloride solution to show the fact that the local corrosion of high chromium stainless steel near the $\alpha/\sigma$ interface is due to the Cr depleted zone. Secondly, the local anodic polarization test of type 316 L in the other acidic chloride solution can be successfully conducted in the cell. Furthermore, the local polarization curves help elucidating the corrosion of type 316 with $\delta-ferrite$ phase. Finally, the polarization curves of type 316 L in a neutral chloride solution indicates that the factor affecting the pitting corrosion resistance was inclusions rather than $\delta-ferrite$.

• Advances in pediatric surgery
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.162-169
• /
• 2010

The aim of this study is to review our clinical experience with patients with Hirschsprung's disease (HD) Medical records of 39 children who underwent definitive surgery for HD at Inha University Hospital from September 1996 to June 2008 were analyzed by age at presentation, sex, gestational age, birth weight, clinical presentation, diagnostic tools, level of aganglionosis, surgical procedures, postoperative complications, and postoperative bowel function. Twenty-five patients (64.1 %) were males and 14 (35.9 %) were females. Thirty patients (76.9 %) were diagnosed and treated in the neonatal period. The transitional zone was at the rectosigmoid region in 89.7 %. Twenty-seven patients (69 %) were treated by preliminary colostomy or ileostomy. Twenty-four patients had the Duhamel operation, 6 patients anorectal myectomy, and 9 patients had transanal endorectal pull-through (TEP). Five of 9 patients who had the TEP procedure did laparoscopic assistance. Postoperatively, seventeen patients (83 %) passed stool once or more times per day and 3 patients had stool soiling. This study demonstrated that the majority of the patients had good results. To determine which treatment is most effective comparative review by operation method would be required.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
• /
• v.39 no.6 s.105
• /
• pp.907-921
• /
• 2004

Lots of characteristics such as dwelling, neighborhood, and accessibility characteristics affect to the housevalue. Many researches have been done to identify values of each characteristic using hedonic technique. However, there is a limit to identify interaction of each characteristic and variation of each characteristic among the accessibility context. This paper has implemented the Expansion Method research paradigm to model the housevalue determination process in the city of Seoul. The findings of this paper have revealed the presence of contextual variations in the housevalue determination process. The initial model for housevalue reveals that as $F_1$ increases (i.e., larger the number of rooms/bathrooms, larger parking space) and/or $F_2$ increases (i.e., higher owner occupied housing units, higher apartment housing units) and/or $F_3$ increases, (i.e., higher the ratio of higher than college graduated households, 8 school zone, older housing units) the estimated housevalue increases. However, the above relationships drift across their respective contexts. The houses which have negative $F_1$ value, the housevalue does not fluctuate according to the distance to the city center or subcenters. However, the houses which have positive $F_1$ value, the closer to the subcenters or shorter to the river, the higher the estimated housevalues. On the other hand, in areas far from the subcenters, the estimated housevalues does not fluctuate much according to the corresponding $F_2$ level. In areas close to the subcenters, the estimated housevalues vary tremendously according to the $F_2$ value. In the residual analysis, it is revealed that large apartment which are located in Kangnam, IchongDong, MokDong are underestimated. This paper has contributed to our understanding of the housevalue determination process by providing an alternative conceptualization to the traditional approach.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.7-20
• /
• 2004

This study was executed to find out how to improve the planting and use of landscaping plants in Chuncheon. The number of street trees was 17,877 in 2003. The major species of street trees were Ginkgo biloba(52.7％), Prunus sargentii(15.3％), Zelkova serrata(8.9％), Platanus occidentalis(7.3％). Salix babylonica and Platanus occidentalis were decreased, while Prunus sargentii and Zelkova serrata were increased. Salix babylonica is a good species for a lakeside city, but its seeds cause allergies to some people. Most of the trees have been removed in Chuncheon. The planting of Salix babylonica(♂) resulted in no problems, and it should be propagated to plant. The soil of several areas was analysed to investigate soil conditions. The outskirts of city had good conditions in pH, organic matter and minerals, but the downtown areas had high alkalic, due to alkali from footpath concrete blocks. Appropriate pruning adds to the aesthetic and prolongs the useful life; it also requires less managing of insects and diseases to maintain good healthy of street trees. Street trees were not properly pruned due to electric lines and shortage of pruning information. The pruning was controlled by Korea Electric Power Co, which has no pruning information. Pruning must be maintained by a professional landscape company to maintain good shape such as with Bonsai. The Shrubs planting zone between street trees and other trees, and preservation plates were established for healthy of street trees. They have to be repaired and maintained well to keep better environmental conditions. The number of tree and flower species of 68 schools in Chuncheon were 12 and 16, respectively. The species that showed high preference were Juniperus chinensis, Pinus koraiensis, Pinus densiflora, Rosa centifolia, Forsythia koreana, and Rhododendron schlippenbachii. The high frequency of the protection trees designated by Chuncheon were Pinus densiflora, Ginko biloba, Zelkova serrata, Quercus species. It was thought that the diversification of street tree species, the selection of street trees suitable to each space, the generalization of use of native species, the appropriate pruning and proper fertilization, the control of pests and diseases, and the opinions of citizens concerning landscape plants were needed to improve the planting, use and maintenance of landscaping plants in Chuncheon.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.562-572
• /
• 2011

This study is to examine the environmental characteristics of subpopulations of Ilex crenata var. microphyllla Max. distributed in the east-west slopes of Mt. Halla National Park based on analyzing the factors of environment, vegetation and soil. The result of the TWINSAPN analysis conducted on 56 study plots between the altitudes of 500 m and 1600 m of east-west slopes of Mt. Halla National Park can be divided into five communities-Prunus maximowiczii Rupr., Manshurian fullmoon Maple, Carpinus tschonoskii Max., Daphniphyllum macropodum Miq., Quercus serrata Thunb. ex Murray and Pinus thunbergil Parl. Among these communities, the plot with high importance percentage of the subpopulation of Ilex crenata var. microphyllla Max., is the Carpinus tschonoskii Max.-Daphniphyllum macropodum Miq. included in the altitude of 600m~1200m radius. The dominant species of the upper shrub layer was Carpinus tschonoskii Max.(I.P.: 29.82%) while the dominant species of the canopy layer was Daphniphyllum macropodum Miq.(I.P.: 26.76%). For the understory layer the dominant species was Ilex crenata var. microphyllla Max.. Species diversity index was on the low end with 0.7424, indicating the stably formed climax community of Carpinus tschonoskii Max.. The analysis of soil properties showed high concentrations of organic matters, available phosphate and Ca, Mg, the high importance percentage of the of Ilex crenata var. microphyllla Max. is found in altitude of 600m~800m on the eastern slope and the altitude of 800m~1,000m radius on the west slope. This region is included in the southern part of the cold/hot forest zone, its high importance percentage of Carpinus tschonoskii Max. and low in the species diversity index of 0.7424, and has formed stable climax community of Carpinus tschonoskii Max. in Mt. Halla.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.638-647
• /
• 2010

This study was performed in order to analyze influences the actual vegetation between the communities of Pinus densiflora and Quercus mongolica in southern Korea to the species composition of the seed bank in the top soil. The soil samples were collected from the studied plots and transported to the Experimental Glasshouse at Department of Landscape Architecture, Yeungnam University and examined the germinated species individual numbers with species composition and germinated individual numbers by species. The overall germination status was the highest in the herbaceous layers than the layers of tree, sub-tree and shrub, respectively. There were no significantly different between numbers of species and individuals and between actual vegetation and seed bank in the two communities. The woody species marked in the seed bank as a pioneer or edge species than in the two communities which are in the stage of mid or late successional species. Although the plant species in the herbaceous layers was highly influenced to the species composition of the seed bank, but no significantly different was showed within the same forest zone and latitudes of Korean peninsula. As the pioneer or edge species of the actual vegetation possibly will be higher the buried in the top soil layer and this phenomenon will influence overall species composition in the seed bank population.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.665-669
• /
• 2015

The Kepler mission has shown that small planets are extremely common. It is likely that nearly every star in the sky hosts at least one rocky planet. We just need to look hard enough-but this requires vast amounts of telescope time. MINERVA (MINiature Exoplanet Radial Velocity Array) is a dedicated exoplanet observatory with the primary goal of discovering rocky, Earth-like planets orbiting in the habitable zone of bright, nearby stars. The MINERVA team is a collaboration among UNSW Australia, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Penn State University, University of Montana, and the California Institute of Technology. The four-telescope MINERVA array will be sited at the F.L. Whipple Observatory on Mt Hopkins in Arizona, USA. Full science operations will begin in mid-2015 with all four telescopes and a stabilised spectrograph capable of high-precision Doppler velocity measurements. We will observe ~100 of the nearest, brightest, Sun-like stars every night for at least five years. Detailed simulations of the target list and survey strategy lead us to expect $15{\pm}4$ new low-mass planets.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.247-258
• /
• 2014

To evaluate the influence of the external force components on the littoral currents in the Gusipo beach, Jeonbuk, West Coast of Korea where a wide tidal sand flat developed, a coupled hydrodynamic model considered real time tidal currents and wave-induced currents was constructed in which the EFDC for tides and tidal currents, the SWAN for waves and the SHORECIRC for wave-induced currents were used as the hindcasting models. A series of field observations for tides, tidal currents and incident waves were carried out and especially to observe the littoral currents in the tidal sand flat, the GPS mounted and light weight drogues were used. Also wind data were collected from the adjacent weather station. To analyze the littoral current components, the numerical drogue tracking results considered real time winds, tides and waves were compared with the field drogue data. The drift speed of numerical drogues was reproduced as the range of 68.0~105.2% compared with the field data and the velocity error of main direction component showed a good result as -16.7~10.0%. As a result, in the mild slope tidal flat including wide surf zone, the tides and winds were the major affection component of the littoral currents, on the other hand, the wave-induced currents seemed the minor component when the incident wave heights were relatively small.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.605-611
• /
• 2006

To investigate the possible use of probiont in fish farming industry, a bacterium with inhibitory effect against Vibrio anguillarum was isolated from gastrointestinal tract of the marine fish of yellow tail. It was identified to be Bacillus amyloliquefaciens H41 based on biochemical and physiological characterization. The optimal growth conditions of the isolated strain were 1% peptone, 1.5% yeast extract, 1% sucrose, 0.5% NaCl, 0.05% $MgSO_4{\cdot}7H_20$, pH 7.0-8.0, and 20 hr of incubation between $28-35^{\circ}C$ under aeration. The culture supernatant of the isolated strain showed inhibition activity against V. anguillarum. Inhibition activity was cleared by forming a clear zone by a paper-disk method. The maximal production of growth inhibition factor was induced by cultivation under 1% peptone, 1.5% yeast extract, 1% sucrose, 1% NaCl, 0.05% $MgSO_4{\cdot}7H_20$, pH 7.5 and at $35^{\circ}C$. The highest growth inhibition factor production was observed after 16-24 hr cultivation under aeration. The culture supernatant of the isolated strain showed inhibition activity whereas no inhibition activity was shown from the standard B. amyloliquefaciens KCTC 1724 strain. The growth inhibition affected only against V. anguillarum among other pathogenic Vibrios tested here.