• Title/Summary/Keyword: Technical ways

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Personalized Recommendation System for IPTV using Ontology and K-medoids (IPTV환경에서 온톨로지와 k-medoids기법을 이용한 개인화 시스템)

  • Yun, Byeong-Dae;Kim, Jong-Woo;Cho, Yong-Seok;Kang, Sang-Gil
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.16 no.3
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    • pp.147-161
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    • 2010
  • As broadcasting and communication are converged recently, communication is jointed to TV. TV viewing has brought about many changes. The IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) provides information service, movie contents, broadcast, etc. through internet with live programs + VOD (Video on demand) jointed. Using communication network, it becomes an issue of new business. In addition, new technical issues have been created by imaging technology for the service, networking technology without video cuts, security technologies to protect copyright, etc. Through this IPTV network, users can watch their desired programs when they want. However, IPTV has difficulties in search approach, menu approach, or finding programs. Menu approach spends a lot of time in approaching programs desired. Search approach can't be found when title, genre, name of actors, etc. are not known. In addition, inserting letters through remote control have problems. However, the bigger problem is that many times users are not usually ware of the services they use. Thus, to resolve difficulties when selecting VOD service in IPTV, a personalized service is recommended, which enhance users' satisfaction and use your time, efficiently. This paper provides appropriate programs which are fit to individuals not to save time in order to solve IPTV's shortcomings through filtering and recommendation-related system. The proposed recommendation system collects TV program information, the user's preferred program genres and detailed genre, channel, watching program, and information on viewing time based on individual records of watching IPTV. To look for these kinds of similarities, similarities can be compared by using ontology for TV programs. The reason to use these is because the distance of program can be measured by the similarity comparison. TV program ontology we are using is one extracted from TV-Anytime metadata which represents semantic nature. Also, ontology expresses the contents and features in figures. Through world net, vocabulary similarity is determined. All the words described on the programs are expanded into upper and lower classes for word similarity decision. The average of described key words was measured. The criterion of distance calculated ties similar programs through K-medoids dividing method. K-medoids dividing method is a dividing way to divide classified groups into ones with similar characteristics. This K-medoids method sets K-unit representative objects. Here, distance from representative object sets temporary distance and colonize it. Through algorithm, when the initial n-unit objects are tried to be divided into K-units. The optimal object must be found through repeated trials after selecting representative object temporarily. Through this course, similar programs must be colonized. Selecting programs through group analysis, weight should be given to the recommendation. The way to provide weight with recommendation is as the follows. When each group recommends programs, similar programs near representative objects will be recommended to users. The formula to calculate the distance is same as measure similar distance. It will be a basic figure which determines the rankings of recommended programs. Weight is used to calculate the number of watching lists. As the more programs are, the higher weight will be loaded. This is defined as cluster weight. Through this, sub-TV programs which are representative of the groups must be selected. The final TV programs ranks must be determined. However, the group-representative TV programs include errors. Therefore, weights must be added to TV program viewing preference. They must determine the finalranks.Based on this, our customers prefer proposed to recommend contents. So, based on the proposed method this paper suggested, experiment was carried out in controlled environment. Through experiment, the superiority of the proposed method is shown, compared to existing ways.

A Study on Survey of Non Face to Face Realtime Education Focused on Firefighter in COVID-19 (코로나19 상황에서 소방공무원의 비대면 실시간 교육에 관한 의식조사연구)

  • Park, Jin Chan;Baek, Min Ho
    • Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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    • v.17 no.4
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    • pp.722-732
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    • 2021
  • Purpose: Due to the coronavirus infection-19 (COVID) pendemics, all educational institutions were required to provide full non-face-to-face real-time education, and fire officials were required to provide fire-fighting education by applying non-face-to-face education. In this difficult situation, the National Fire Service Academy tries to find the direction of the non-face-to-face real-time education and suggest ways to improve it through a survey of the status of non-face-to-face real-time education conducted by the NFSA to fire officials. Method: A survey was conducted on fire officials under the theme of "Consciousness Survey for Improving the Quality and Specialization of Non-face-to-face Real-Time Remote Education" and an in-depth analysis was conducted based on the results. Result & Conclusion: First, professors or educational operators shall actively utilize remote education programs suitable for educational characteristics by utilizing various programs. Second, a dedicated notebook for non-face-to-face training should be provided to provide an educational environment where all learners can participate in the training without difficulty. Third, in the case of education and training that requires the use of equipment due to the nature of fire officials' education and training, it is necessary to consider it as a non-face-to-face training place by arranging educational equipment at each fire station. Fourth, it is hard to expect a satisfactory educational effect to cope with practical education with theoretical education. Therefore, facilities and programs that enable non-face-to-face real-time hands-on training should be developed. It is worth considering the proper combination of face-to-face education while maintaining the social distance as much as possible until such non-face-to-face training is possible. Fifth, non-face-to-face education is considered to have high eye fatigue due to the light and electromagnetic waves of the computer screen, and as time goes by, the concentration level decreases. Therefore, it is necessary to form an education time to reduce the eye fatigue of learners and increase concentration through proper class and rest time. Finally, professors should operate a learner participation-oriented education that allows professors and learners to interact rather than one-sided knowledge transfer education. In addition, technical problems of non-face-to-face remote education should be thoroughly prepared through preliminary system checks to ensure that education is not disrupted.

A Data-based Sales Forecasting Support System for New Businesses (데이터기반의 신규 사업 매출추정방법 연구: 지능형 사업평가 시스템을 중심으로)

  • Jun, Seung-Pyo;Sung, Tae-Eung;Choi, San
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.1-22
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    • 2017
  • Analysis of future business or investment opportunities, such as business feasibility analysis and company or technology valuation, necessitate objective estimation on the relevant market and expected sales. While there are various ways to classify the estimation methods of these new sales or market size, they can be broadly divided into top-down and bottom-up approaches by benchmark references. Both methods, however, require a lot of resources and time. Therefore, we propose a data-based intelligent demand forecasting system to support evaluation of new business. This study focuses on analogical forecasting, one of the traditional quantitative forecasting methods, to develop sales forecasting intelligence systems for new businesses. Instead of simply estimating sales for a few years, we hereby propose a method of estimating the sales of new businesses by using the initial sales and the sales growth rate of similar companies. To demonstrate the appropriateness of this method, it is examined whether the sales performance of recently established companies in the same industry category in Korea can be utilized as a reference variable for the analogical forecasting. In this study, we examined whether the phenomenon of "mean reversion" was observed in the sales of start-up companies in order to identify errors in estimating sales of new businesses based on industry sales growth rate and whether the differences in business environment resulting from the different timing of business launch affects growth rate. We also conducted analyses of variance (ANOVA) and latent growth model (LGM) to identify differences in sales growth rates by industry category. Based on the results, we proposed industry-specific range and linear forecasting models. This study analyzed the sales of only 150,000 start-up companies in Korea in the last 10 years, and identified that the average growth rate of start-ups in Korea is higher than the industry average in the first few years, but it shortly shows the phenomenon of mean-reversion. In addition, although the start-up founding juncture affects the sales growth rate, it is not high significantly and the sales growth rate can be different according to the industry classification. Utilizing both this phenomenon and the performance of start-up companies in relevant industries, we have proposed two models of new business sales based on the sales growth rate. The method proposed in this study makes it possible to objectively and quickly estimate the sales of new business by industry, and it is expected to provide reference information to judge whether sales estimated by other methods (top-down/bottom-up approach) pass the bounds from ordinary cases in relevant industry. In particular, the results of this study can be practically used as useful reference information for business feasibility analysis or technical valuation for entering new business. When using the existing top-down method, it can be used to set the range of market size or market share. As well, when using the bottom-up method, the estimation period may be set in accordance of the mean reverting period information for the growth rate. The two models proposed in this study will enable rapid and objective sales estimation of new businesses, and are expected to improve the efficiency of business feasibility analysis and technology valuation process by developing intelligent information system. In academic perspectives, it is a very important discovery that the phenomenon of 'mean reversion' is found among start-up companies out of general small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as stable companies such as listed companies. In particular, there exists the significance of this study in that over the large-scale data the mean reverting phenomenon of the start-up firms' sales growth rate is different from that of the listed companies, and that there is a difference in each industry. If a linear model, which is useful for estimating the sales of a specific company, is highly likely to be utilized in practical aspects, it can be explained that the range model, which can be used for the estimation method of the sales of the unspecified firms, is highly likely to be used in political aspects. It implies that when analyzing the business activities and performance of a specific industry group or enterprise group there is political usability in that the range model enables to provide references and compare them by data based start-up sales forecasting system.

The Usefulness of Product Display of Online Store by the Product Type of Usage Situation - Focusing on the moderate effect of the product portability - (사용상황별 제품유형에 따른 온라인 점포 제품디스플레이의 유용성 - 제품 휴대성의 조절효과를 중심으로 -)

  • Lee, Dong-Il;Choi, Seung-Hoon
    • Journal of Distribution Research
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    • v.16 no.2
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    • pp.1-24
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    • 2011
  • 1. Introduction: Contrast to the offline purchasing environment, online store cannot offer the sense of touch or direct visual information of its product to the consumers. So the builder of the online shopping mall should provide more concrete and detailed product information(Kim 2008), and Alba (1997) also predicted that the quality of the offered information is determined by the post-purchase consumer satisfaction. In practice, many fashion and apparel online shopping malls offer the picture information with the product on the real person model to enhance the usefulness of product information. On the other virtual product experience has been suggested to the ways of overcoming the online consumers' limited perceptual capability (Jiang & Benbasat 2005). However, the adoption and the facilitation of the virtual reality tools requires high investment and technical specialty compared to the text/picture product information offerings (Shaffer 2006). This could make the entry barrier to the online shopping to the small retailers and sometimes it could be demanding high level of consumers' perceptual efforts. So the expensive technological solution could affects negatively to the consumer decision making processes. Nevertheless, most of the previous research on the online product information provision suggests the VR be the more effective tools. 2. Research Model and Hypothesis: Presented in

    , research model suggests VR effect could be moderated by the product types by the usage situations. Product types could be defined as the portable product and installed product, and the information offering type as still picture of the product, picture of the product with the real-person model and VR. 3. Methods and Results: 3.1. Experimental design and measured variables We designed the 2(product types) X 3(product information types) experimental setting and measured dependent variables such as information usefulness, attitude toward the shopping mall, overall product quality, purchase intention and the revisiting intention. In the case of information usefulness and attitude toward the shopping mall were measured by multi-item scale. As a result of reliability test, Cronbach's Alpha value of each variable shows more than 0.6. Thus, we ensured that the internal consistency of items. 3.2. Manipulation check The main concern of this study is to verify the moderate effect by the product type of usage situation. indicates that our experimental manipulation of the moderate effect of the product type was successful. 3.3. Results As
    indicates, there was a significant main effect on the only one dependent variable(attitude toward the shopping mall) by the information types. As predicted, VR has highest mean value compared to other information types. Thus, H1 was partially supported. However, main effect by the product types was not found. To evaluate H2 and H3, a two-way ANOVA was conducted. As
    indicates, there exist the interaction effects on the three dependent variables(information usefulness, overall product quality and purchase intention) by the information types and the product types. As predicted, picture of the product with the real-person model has highest mean among the information types in the case of portable product. On the other hand, VR has highest mean among the information types in the case of installed product. Thus, H2 and H3 was supported. 4. Implications: The present study found the moderate effect by the product type of usage situation. Based on the findings the following managerial implications are asserted. First, it was found that information types are affect only the attitude toward the shopping mall. The meaning of this finding is that VR effects are not enough to understand the product itself. Therefore, we must consider when and how to use this VR tools. Second, it was found that there exist the interaction effects on the information usefulness, overall product quality and purchase intention. This finding suggests that consideration of usage situation helps consumer's understanding of product and promotes their purchase intention. In conclusion, not only product attributes but also product usage situations must be fully considered by the online retailers when they want to meet the needs of consumers.

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  • Understanding User Motivations and Behavioral Process in Creating Video UGC: Focus on Theory of Implementation Intentions (Video UGC 제작 동기와 행위 과정에 관한 이해: 구현의도이론 (Theory of Implementation Intentions)의 적용을 중심으로)

    • Kim, Hyung-Jin;Song, Se-Min;Lee, Ho-Geun
      • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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      • v.19 no.4
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      • pp.125-148
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      • 2009
    • UGC(User Generated Contents) is emerging as the center of e-business in the web 2.0 era. The trend reflects changing roles of users in production and consumption of contents on websites and helps us to understand new strategies of websites such as web portals and social network websites. Nowadays, we consume contents created by other non-professional users for both utilitarian (e.g., knowledge) and hedonic values (e.g., fun). Also, contents produced by ourselves (e.g., photo, video) are posted on websites so that our friends, family, and even the public can consume those contents. This means that non-professionals, who used to be passive audience in the past, are now creating contents and share their UGCs with others in the Web. Accessible media, tools, and applications have also reduced difficulty and complexity in the process of creating contents. Realizing that users create plenty of materials which are very interesting to other people, media companies (i.e., web portals and social networking websites) are adjusting their strategies and business models accordingly. Increased demand of UGC may lead to website visits which are the source of benefits from advertising. Therefore, they put more efforts into making their websites open platforms where UGCs can be created and shared among users without technical and methodological difficulties. Many websites have increasingly adopted new technologies such as RSS and openAPI. Some have even changed the structure of web pages so that UGC can be seen several times to more visitors. This mainstream of UGCs on websites indicates that acquiring more UGCs and supporting participating users have become important things to media companies. Although those companies need to understand why general users have shown increasing interest in creating and posting contents and what is important to them in the process of productions, few research results exist in this area to address these issues. Also, behavioral process in creating video UGCs has not been explored enough for the public to fully understand it. With a solid theoretical background (i.e., theory of implementation intentions), parts of our proposed research model mirror the process of user behaviors in creating video contents, which consist of intention to upload, intention to edit, edit, and upload. In addition, in order to explain how those behavioral intentions are developed, we investigated influences of antecedents from three motivational perspectives (i.e., intrinsic, editing software-oriented, and website's network effect-oriented). First, from the intrinsic motivation perspective, we studied the roles of self-expression, enjoyment, and social attention in forming intention to edit with preferred editing software or in forming intention to upload video contents to preferred websites. Second, we explored the roles of editing software for non-professionals to edit video contents, in terms of how it makes production process easier and how it is useful in the process. Finally, from the website characteristic-oriented perspective, we investigated the role of a website's network externality as an antecedent of users' intention to upload to preferred websites. The rationale is that posting UGCs on websites are basically social-oriented behaviors; thus, users prefer a website with the high level of network externality for contents uploading. This study adopted a longitudinal research design; we emailed recipients twice with different questionnaires. Guided by invitation email including a link to web survey page, respondents answered most of questions except edit and upload at the first survey. They were asked to provide information about UGC editing software they mainly used and preferred website to upload edited contents, and then asked to answer related questions. For example, before answering questions regarding network externality, they individually had to declare the name of the website to which they would be willing to upload. At the end of the first survey, we asked if they agreed to participate in the corresponding survey in a month. During twenty days, 333 complete responses were gathered in the first survey. One month later, we emailed those recipients to ask for participation in the second survey. 185 of the 333 recipients (about 56 percentages) answered in the second survey. Personalized questionnaires were provided for them to remind the names of editing software and website that they reported in the first survey. They answered the degree of editing with the software and the degree of uploading video contents to the website for the past one month. To all recipients of the two surveys, exchange tickets for books (about 5,000~10,000 Korean Won) were provided according to the frequency of participations. PLS analysis shows that user behaviors in creating video contents are well explained by the theory of implementation intentions. In fact, intention to upload significantly influences intention to edit in the process of accomplishing the goal behavior, upload. These relationships show the behavioral process that has been unclear in users' creating video contents for uploading and also highlight important roles of editing in the process. Regarding the intrinsic motivations, the results illustrated that users are likely to edit their own video contents in order to express their own intrinsic traits such as thoughts and feelings. Also, their intention to upload contents in preferred website is formed because they want to attract much attention from others through contents reflecting themselves. This result well corresponds to the roles of the website characteristic, namely, network externality. Based on the PLS results, the network effect of a website has significant influence on users' intention to upload to the preferred website. This indicates that users with social attention motivations are likely to upload their video UGCs to a website whose network size is big enough to realize their motivations easily. Finally, regarding editing software characteristic-oriented motivations, making exclusively-provided editing software more user-friendly (i.e., easy of use, usefulness) plays an important role in leading to users' intention to edit. Our research contributes to both academic scholars and professionals. For researchers, our results show that the theory of implementation intentions is well applied to the video UGC context and very useful to explain the relationship between implementation intentions and goal behaviors. With the theory, this study theoretically and empirically confirmed that editing is a different and important behavior from uploading behavior, and we tested the behavioral process of ordinary users in creating video UGCs, focusing on significant motivational factors in each step. In addition, parts of our research model are also rooted in the solid theoretical background such as the technology acceptance model and the theory of network externality to explain the effects of UGC-related motivations. For practitioners, our results suggest that media companies need to restructure their websites so that users' needs for social interaction through UGC (e.g., self-expression, social attention) are well met. Also, we emphasize strategic importance of the network size of websites in leading non-professionals to upload video contents to the websites. Those websites need to find a way to utilize the network effects for acquiring more UGCs. Finally, we suggest that some ways to improve editing software be considered as a way to increase edit behavior which is a very important process leading to UGC uploading.

    Development of a Stock Trading System Using M & W Wave Patterns and Genetic Algorithms (M&W 파동 패턴과 유전자 알고리즘을 이용한 주식 매매 시스템 개발)

    • Yang, Hoonseok;Kim, Sunwoong;Choi, Heung Sik
      • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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      • v.25 no.1
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      • pp.63-83
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      • 2019
    • Investors prefer to look for trading points based on the graph shown in the chart rather than complex analysis, such as corporate intrinsic value analysis and technical auxiliary index analysis. However, the pattern analysis technique is difficult and computerized less than the needs of users. In recent years, there have been many cases of studying stock price patterns using various machine learning techniques including neural networks in the field of artificial intelligence(AI). In particular, the development of IT technology has made it easier to analyze a huge number of chart data to find patterns that can predict stock prices. Although short-term forecasting power of prices has increased in terms of performance so far, long-term forecasting power is limited and is used in short-term trading rather than long-term investment. Other studies have focused on mechanically and accurately identifying patterns that were not recognized by past technology, but it can be vulnerable in practical areas because it is a separate matter whether the patterns found are suitable for trading. When they find a meaningful pattern, they find a point that matches the pattern. They then measure their performance after n days, assuming that they have bought at that point in time. Since this approach is to calculate virtual revenues, there can be many disparities with reality. The existing research method tries to find a pattern with stock price prediction power, but this study proposes to define the patterns first and to trade when the pattern with high success probability appears. The M & W wave pattern published by Merrill(1980) is simple because we can distinguish it by five turning points. Despite the report that some patterns have price predictability, there were no performance reports used in the actual market. The simplicity of a pattern consisting of five turning points has the advantage of reducing the cost of increasing pattern recognition accuracy. In this study, 16 patterns of up conversion and 16 patterns of down conversion are reclassified into ten groups so that they can be easily implemented by the system. Only one pattern with high success rate per group is selected for trading. Patterns that had a high probability of success in the past are likely to succeed in the future. So we trade when such a pattern occurs. It is a real situation because it is measured assuming that both the buy and sell have been executed. We tested three ways to calculate the turning point. The first method, the minimum change rate zig-zag method, removes price movements below a certain percentage and calculates the vertex. In the second method, high-low line zig-zag, the high price that meets the n-day high price line is calculated at the peak price, and the low price that meets the n-day low price line is calculated at the valley price. In the third method, the swing wave method, the high price in the center higher than n high prices on the left and right is calculated as the peak price. If the central low price is lower than the n low price on the left and right, it is calculated as valley price. The swing wave method was superior to the other methods in the test results. It is interpreted that the transaction after checking the completion of the pattern is more effective than the transaction in the unfinished state of the pattern. Genetic algorithms(GA) were the most suitable solution, although it was virtually impossible to find patterns with high success rates because the number of cases was too large in this simulation. We also performed the simulation using the Walk-forward Analysis(WFA) method, which tests the test section and the application section separately. So we were able to respond appropriately to market changes. In this study, we optimize the stock portfolio because there is a risk of over-optimized if we implement the variable optimality for each individual stock. Therefore, we selected the number of constituent stocks as 20 to increase the effect of diversified investment while avoiding optimization. We tested the KOSPI market by dividing it into six categories. In the results, the portfolio of small cap stock was the most successful and the high vol stock portfolio was the second best. This shows that patterns need to have some price volatility in order for patterns to be shaped, but volatility is not the best.

    The Aspects of Change of Sijo (시조의 변이 양상)

    • Kang Myeoung-Hye
      • Sijohaknonchong
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      • v.24
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      • pp.5-46
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      • 2006
    • Korean verse has flexibly changed its form and contents according to the historical background of the times. This fact arouses reader sympathy because it has reflected ideas, historical aspects and realities of the times. However, korean verse has kept its own characteristics in some ways, allowing it to exist today. It holds its form as 3 verses of three by three or four meter and three letters of the last of three verses. It makes every different version which has specific aspects of each times in the same 'sijo' area. 'Sijo' in Korean poems, is the first form that has been changed from formal to private functionally. As a result of that common verses in the Goryeo to Joseon eras were going with the stream of the times. Verse was the plate for justice so that there was no double meaning, symbols, or technical sentences. It had to show the idea of Myungchundo Jwonginryun. The theme was commonly fitted within certain areas. such as blessings, fidelity, devotion, etc. Around the end of the Joseon era, there was activation of private verses - a form of sijo with no restrictions on the length of the first two verses. Some ideas had been changed because Sarimpa gained power, domestic conflict, and the introduction of practical science. These things had an effect on the form of Sijo. After all, it shows the ideas of collapsing feudalism, resistance of confucian ideas, equality of the sexes, and opposition to the group who rule the government. Thus Sasul Sijo seems to have the tendency of resistance to reality. It was a specialty of realism poetry It explained our life in detail and reflected real life by being an intermediary of realism. This met and represented the demand of a reader's expectations. After 1905, there was new form of sijo that is very different, in form and content, from the previous versions. It was even different in areas of what people accepted. They started to think sijo was not the form of lyrical verse that is once was. It became a 'record of reading'. The form changed to 'hung or huhung' that satirized the times and the ending of a word in the last verse. Although this form could deliver the tension in statement, it was too iu from the original form. Therefore, it didn't last long, and its position got smaller because of the free verse that had western influence and was emerging in the times. In the middle of 1920, there was a movement of Sijo revival. It was lead by Choinamsun. He wrote poems and Sijo which were effected by western ideas in his early works. Although he worked with that, he took the lead in the movement of Sijo revival. He published the collection of Sijo $\ulcorner$Baekpalbunnwoi$\lrcorner$ that has one major theme-patriotic sentiment. He thought an ancient poem was a part of racial characteristics so that he expressed the main theme which represented the times and situations of his era. Modern Sijo is difficult. Sijo has to have modern and Korean verse characteristics at the same time. If it considers a modern aspect too much, it could not be distinguished from sijo and free verse. If it overly leans toward Sijo. it would seem to be too conservative which it then could be said to have no real charm of a poem. In spite of these problems, it is written constantly, because it has its own specialty. It has been focused on some works because they reflect awareness of modern times, the democratic idea, and realism. Overall, the authors of Modern Sijo express various themes by using different forms. The more what we can guess in this work, Sijo will exist permanently because of its flexibility. Furthermore, one special characteristic-flexibility of the korean verse will make it last forever and it will be a genre in Korean poetry.

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    A Study on Startups' Dependence on Business Incubation Centers (창업보육서비스에 따른 입주기업의 창업보육센터 의존도에 관한 연구)

    • Park, JaeSung;Lee, Chul;Kim, JaeJon
      • Korean small business review
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      • v.31 no.2
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      • pp.103-120
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      • 2009
    • As business incubation centers (BICs) have been operating for more than 10 years in Korea, many early stage startups tend to use the services provided by the incubating centers. BICs in Korea have accumulated the knowledge and experience in the past ten years and their services have been considerably improved. The business incubating service has three facets : (1) business infrastructure service, (2) direct service, and (3) indirect service. The mission of BICs is to provide the early stage entrepreneurs with the incubating service in a limited period time to help them grow strong enough to survive the fierce competition after graduating from the incubation. However, the incubating services sometimes fail to foster the independence of new startup companies, and raise the dependence of many companies on BICs. Thus, the dependence on BICs is a very important factor to understand the survival of the incubated startup companies after graduation from BICs. The purpose of this study is to identify the main factors that influence the firm's dependence on BICs and to characterize the relationships among the identified factors. The business incubating service is a core construct of this study. It includes various activities and resources, such as offering the physical facilities, legal service, and connecting them with outside organizations. These services are extensive and take various forms. They are provided by BICs directly or indirectly. Past studies have identified various incubating services and classify them in different ways. Based on the past studies, we classify the business incubating service into three categories as mentioned above : (1) business infrastructure support, (2) direct support, and (3) networking support. The business infrastructure support is to provide the essential resources to start the business, such as physical facilities. The direct support is to offer the business resources available in the BICs, such as human, technical, and administrational resources. Finally, the indirect service was to support the resource in the outside of business incubation center. Dependence is generally defined as the degree to which a client firm needs the resources provided by the service provider in order to achieve its goals. Dependence is generated when a firm recognizes the benefits of interacting with its counterpart. Hence, the more positive outcomes a firm derives from its relationship with the partner, the more dependent on the partner the firm must inevitably become. In business incubating, as a resident firm is incubated in longer period, we can predict that her dependence on BICs would be stronger. In order to foster the independence of the incubated firms, BICs have to be able to manipulate the provision of their services to control the firms' dependence on BICs. Based on the above discussion, the research model for relationships between dependence and its affecting factors was developed. We surveyed the companies residing in BICs to test our research model. The instrument of our study was modified, in part, on the basis of previous relevant studies. For the purposes of testing reliability and validity, preliminary testing was conducted with firms that were residing in BICs and incubated by the BICs in the region of Gwangju and Jeonnam. The questionnaire was modified in accordance with the pre-test feedback. We mailed to all of the firms that had been incubated by the BICs with the help of business incubating managers of each BIC. The survey was conducted over a three week period. Gifts (of approximately ₩10,000 value) were offered to all actively participating respondents. The incubating period was reported by the business incubating managers, and it was transformed using natural logarithms. A total of 180 firms participated in the survey. However, we excluded 4 cases due to a lack of consistency using reversed items in the answers of the companies, and 176 cases were used for the analysis. We acknowledge that 176 samples may not be sufficient to conduct regression analyses with 5 research variables in our study. Each variable was measured through multiple items. We conducted an exploratory factor analysis to assess their unidimensionality. In an effort to test the construct validity of the instruments, a principal component factor analysis was conducted with Varimax rotation. The items correspond well to each singular factor, demonstrating a high degree of convergent validity. As the factor loadings for a variable (or factor) are higher than the factor loadings for the other variables, the instrument's discriminant validity is shown to be clear. Each factor was extracted as expected, which explained 70.97, 66.321, and 52.97 percent, respectively, of the total variance each with eigen values greater than 1.000. The internal consistency reliability of the variables was evaluated by computing Cronbach's alphas. The Cronbach's alpha values of the variables, which ranged from 0.717 to 0.950, were all securely over 0.700, which is satisfactory. The reliability and validity of the research variables are all, therefore, considered acceptable. The effects of dependence were assessed using a regression analysis. The Pearson correlations were calculated for the variables, measured by interval or ratio scales. Potential multicollinearity among the antecedents was evaluated prior to the multiple regression analysis, as some of the variables were significantly correlated with others (e.g., direct service and indirect service). Although several variables show the evidence of significant correlations, their tolerance values range between 0.334 and 0.613, thereby demonstrating that multicollinearity is not a likely threat to the parameter estimates. Checking some basic assumptions for the regression analyses, we decided to conduct multiple regression analyses and moderated regression analyses to test the given hypotheses. The results of the regression analyses indicate that the regression model is significant at p < 0.001 (F = 44.260), and that the predictors of the research model explain 42.6 percent of the total variance. Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3 address the relationships between the dependence of the incubated firms and the business incubating services. Business infrastructure service, direct service, and indirect service are all significantly related with dependence (β = 0.300, p < 0.001; β = 0.230, p < 0.001; β = 0.226, p < 0.001), thus supporting Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3. When the incubating period is the moderator and dependence is the dependent variable, the addition of the interaction terms with the antecedents to the regression equation yielded a significant increase in R2 (F change = 2.789, p < 0.05). In particular, direct service and indirect service exert different effects on dependence. Hence, the results support Hypotheses 5 and 6. This study provides several strategies and specific calls to action for BICs, based on our empirical findings. Business infrastructure service has more effect on the firm's dependence than the other two services. The introduction of an additional high charge rate for a graduated but allowed to stay in the BIC is a basic and legitimate condition for the BIC to control the firm's dependence. We detected the differential effects of direct and indirect services on the firm's dependence. The firms with long incubating period are more sensitive to indirect service positively, and more sensitive to direct service negatively, when assessing their levels of dependence. This implies that BICs must develop a strategy on the basis of a firm's incubating period. Last but not least, it would be valuable to discover other important variables that influence the firm's dependence in the future studies. Moreover, future studies to explain the independence of startup companies in BICs would also be valuable.


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