• Title/Summary/Keyword: Utility

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Multi-objective Genetic Algorism Model for Determining an Optimal Capital Structure of Privately-Financed Infrastructure Projects (민간투자사업의 최적 자본구조 결정을 위한 다목적 유전자 알고리즘 모델에 관한 연구)

  • Yun, Sungmin;Han, Seung Heon;Kim, Du Yon
    • KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.28 no.1D
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    • pp.107-117
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    • 2008
  • Private financing is playing an increasing role in public infrastructure construction projects worldwide. However, private investors/operators are exposed to the financial risk of low profitability due to the inaccurate estimation of facility demand, operation income, maintenance costs, etc. From the operator's perspective, a sound and thorough financial feasibility study is required to establish the appropriate capital structure of a project. Operators tend to reduce the equity amount to minimize the level of risk exposure, while creditors persist to raise it, in an attempt to secure a sufficient level of financial involvement from the operators. Therefore, it is important for creditors and operators to reach an agreement for a balanced capital structure that synthetically considers both profitability and repayment capacity. This paper presents an optimal capital structure model for successful private infrastructure investment. This model finds the optimized point where the profitability is balanced with the repayment capacity, with the use of the concept of utility function and multi-objective GA (Generic Algorithm)-based optimization. A case study is presented to show the validity of the model and its verification. The research conclusions provide a proper capital structure for privately-financed infrastructure projects through a proposed multi-objective model.

Method for Flood Runoff Analysis of Main Channel Connected with Interior Floodplain : I. Application for Analysis of Inundation Area in Interior Floodplain (제내지와 하도를 연계한 하천유역의 홍수유출해석: I. 제내지 침수해석에의 적용)

  • Jang, Su Hyung;Yoon, Jae Young;Yoon, Yong Nam;Kim, Won Seok
    • KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.26 no.1B
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    • pp.79-88
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    • 2006
  • In this study, a methodology is developed for flood runoff analysis considering the interaction between interior floodplain and channel. Riparian lowland is modeled as storage areas by HEC-RAS and is connected with main channel through gravity drainage structure and pumping stations. As a result, we were able to compute the difference between runoff into the interior floodplain and delayed runoff to main channel from interior floodplain. This allowed us to compute the storage change in the interior floodplain and corresponding inundation areas. Furthermore, the levee is modeled as a lateral structure and the flood from the main channel to interior floodplain is modeled by installing a weir on top of it. In addition, levee breach is also modeled so that flooding from main channel to interior floodplain can be considered. Computed flooding depth in the storage areas are compared with elevation to identify the inundated areas and flood maps can then be produced for a desired time or for the extent of flooding given a flooding depth. Output from this modeling effort can provide many useful information for flood planning such as flow depth in main channel, flooding depth and area in interior floodplain. The method was applied to Sapgyo river basin and the comparison with observed flood events showed that it can reproduce the observation fairly well, hence proving the utility of the method.

Dynamic Nonlinear Prediction Model of Univariate Hydrologic Time Series Using the Support Vector Machine and State-Space Model (Support Vector Machine과 상태공간모형을 이용한 단변량 수문 시계열의 동역학적 비선형 예측모형)

  • Kwon, Hyun-Han;Moon, Young-Il
    • KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.26 no.3B
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    • pp.279-289
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    • 2006
  • The reconstruction of low dimension nonlinear behavior from the hydrologic time series has been an active area of research in the last decade. In this study, we present the applications of a powerful state space reconstruction methodology using the method of Support Vector Machines (SVM) to the Great Salt Lake (GSL) volume. SVMs are machine learning systems that use a hypothesis space of linear functions in a Kernel induced higher dimensional feature space. SVMs are optimized by minimizing a bound on a generalized error (risk) measure, rather than just the mean square error over a training set. The utility of this SVM regression approach is demonstrated through applications to the short term forecasts of the biweekly GSL volume. The SVM based reconstruction is used to develop time series forecasts for multiple lead times ranging from the period of two weeks to several months. The reliability of the algorithm in learning and forecasting the dynamics is tested using split sample sensitivity analyses, with a particular interest in forecasting extreme states. Unlike previously reported methodologies, SVMs are able to extract the dynamics using only a few past observed data points (Support Vectors, SV) out of the training examples. Considering statistical measures, the prediction model based on SVM demonstrated encouraging and promising results in a short-term prediction. Thus, the SVM method presented in this study suggests a competitive methodology for the forecast of hydrologic time series.

Low-income Female Single-Parent Families' Experience of Economic Burden and Its Improvement by COVID-19 (코로나19(COVID-19)로 인한 저소득 여성한부모가족의 경제적 부담경험과 개선방안)

  • Sung, Jung Hyeun
    • The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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    • v.22 no.8
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    • pp.527-541
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    • 2022
  • The purpose of this study is to explore the economic hardship experiences of low-income single-parent families by COVID-19 to find ways to improve after COVID-19. To this end, 10 single parents with children under the secondary school age were recruited through snowball sampling method and in-depth interviews with economic activities, income, expenditure, and economic life. As a result of the study, participants suffered from unemployment and the disappearance of extra income activities in the early stages of COVID-19, additional expenses incurred by children's food and increased utility bills. In addition, it was recognized that COVID-19 has come to be more difficult and unequal to single-parent families of low-income women. It was found that the temporary living difficulties were resolved with disaster support funds, and it was helpful in the short term by spending according to priorities such as overdue monthly rent, food expenses, children's academy expenses, and purchasing home appliances. However, it was recognized that disaster support funds were inappropriate for customized disaster support and long-term and selective support was necessary. In the conclusion, to improve economic problems after COVID-19, it proposed measures to improve social welfare policies and practices

Why Genuine Luxury Brands Are Consumed? Counterfeits? Examining Consumer Identification

  • Suh, Hyunsuk
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.14 no.3
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    • pp.69-102
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    • 2012
  • Owing to increased number of luxury brand users, both genuine and counterfeit luxury product consumption continues to increase every year. Luxury brand is defined as use or display of a particular branded products which brings the ownership prestige apart from its functional utility(Grossmand and Shapiro 1988). Some luxury brands have imitations sold in marketplace due to their popularity. These imitations or counterfeits have been jumping on the bandwagon of the upturn in sales of their originals. The purpose of our study is to understand consumer's underlying motives to consume luxury brands, genuine and or counterfeits. To do this, we propose functional theories of attitudes, decision-making styles, and life attitudes to form the determining causes for different consumption choices of luxury brands: genuine brands, counterfeit brands, both genuine and counterfeit brands, and no consumption on luxury brands types. In proposed causal pathways, we examine moderated effects of socio-psychological factors to further investigate if consumer profiles would exert influences in causal relationships. From the existing theories of functional attitudes: value-expressive and social-adjustive attitudes, we developed and introduced a new measure of rationality-consumptive attitude. From the existing eight decision-making characteristics of consumer styles inventory(CSI), three measures of high-quality, hedonic-shopping, and price-shopping styles were primarily applied in the study along with newly introduced measure of 'high-price' being added, which makes four total. Seven life attitude measures of life purpose, life control, will to meaning, goal seeking, future mean to fulfill, life satisfaction, and religiosity were applied. Finally, such socio-psychological measures as age, gender, marital status, income, and age-gap between couples were assumed to function as moderators. With 430 valid study samples, ages from 20s to 50s, with more females(316) than males(114), with average personal possessions of 5 genuine and 9 counterfeit luxury brands, we conducted questionnaire survey. Results indicated that social-adjustive function is totally disappeared in the relationship due to current social trend of widespread consumptions on both genuine and counterfeit brands which in turn, make consumers feel less special on wearing or carrying them unlike in the past. Self-expressive function and rationality-consumptive functions act as strong catalysts for genuine brand consumption and counterfeit brand consumption, respectively. On consumers' decision-making styles, high-price sublation is the most powerful indicator anticipating counterfeit consumption, even more powerful than personal incomes. In life attitude, the overall model fit was not validated, and only life control and life satisfaction are proven to be significant on both genuine and counterfeit product consumptions. Employment of socio-psychological factors in the model improved understanding of users further. Young consumers tend to go for genuine products over counterfeits. Consumers in different income groups; low, medium and high, all significantly consume genuine products for reasons of different decision-making styles. The results indicated that consumers whose personal disposition is predisposed to consume products in the form of reflection of his or her personality, go only for genuine brands for quality reason, while consumers who rationally consume products for its function or usability, go only for counterfeits for high-price sublation reason. Meanwhile, both product users support for high-price orientation who are not well off.

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Analysis of Local Government Social Welfare Finance - A case study of GuRoGu budget(2000~2007) - (기초지방자치단체 사회복지 재정 분석 - 서울시 구로구 예산서(2000년~2007년) 사례 -)

  • Joung, Won-Oh;Kim, Sung-Kee
    • Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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    • v.40 no.2
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    • pp.33-58
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    • 2009
  • The main purpose of this study is to explore the structure of local government social welfare finance and tendency of changing structure and what affects the change. We select GuRoGu budget from 2000 to 2007 as one of local governments in Korea to perform the study goal. After we analyzed the contents of the budget, we have developed the framework of analysis for reclassifying local government welfare budget. First of all, we find utility of the framework of analysis which classify local government social welfare budget as target groups, properties, and the source of the finance. Secondly, the structure of local government welfare finance has changed for 8 years. The rate of finance for direct service has risen more than that for indirect service, and the rate of finance providing material(or service) type has risen more than that of providing monetary type. The rate of the finance from central government has grown up rapidly, whereas that from local government has fallen off. The hypotheses that the rate of financial self-reliance and the increase rate of social welfare expenditure to the previous year play a significant role to the rate of social welfare expenditure are not clear in our study. But we find the central government's effects to the local government welfare budget has grown up. So, we propose if we analyze the hypothesis of incrementalism, we must divide the effects of the previous year expenditure from the effects of central government's policy.

A Study on the Implementation of Urban Senior Multi-Carezon for the Elderly (고령화에 따른 도시형 노인 시니어 멀티 케어존 실효성에 관한연구)

  • Lee, Jong-Sik
    • Journal of the Korea Knowledge Information Technology Society
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    • v.13 no.2
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    • pp.273-286
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    • 2018
  • Korean government has taken various population policy so far According to demographic results, The aging population is rapidly aging and it is expected to deepen in the future. However, many senior citizens are also exposed to poor economic conditions and inconsistent health care risks Most seniors suffer from mental illness and chronic diseases. seniors in traditional cities feel very alienated as they change from large family to small family. As the number of elderly people living alone grows, social problems increase. At present, the health care for the elderly who live alone is not being taken properly, and they are under a very poor management system, both physically and mentally. Every human being has to be old, and we aim to spend our old age processes physically and mentally healthy. As the basic age of the elderly increases, it is necessary to consider various aspects of the welfare policies and medical policies that are followed. In this study, 100 elderly people over the age of 65 were surveyed for economic situations and physical and mental health conditions, and specially performed study on utility of 'urban senior multi care zone' to prove the necessity of introducing the latest digital devices to resolve these problems more effectively by analyzing serious feelings of alienation, loneliness, and emotional situations. Lastly, We conducted this research to find ways to help the elderly through customized health care.

The Philippines Coconut Genomics Initiatives: Updates and Opportunities for Capacity Building and Genomics Research Collaboration

  • Hayde Flandez-Galvez;Darlon V. Lantican;Anand Noel C. Manohar;Maria Luz J. Sison;Roanne R. Gardoce;Barbara L. Caoili;Alma O. Canama-Salinas;Melvin P. Dancel;Romnick A. Latina;Cris Q. Cortaga;Don Serville R. Reynoso;Michelle S. Guerrero;Susan M. Rivera;Ernesto E. Emmanuel;Cristeta Cueto;Consorcia E. Reano;Ramon L. Rivera;Don Emanuel M. Cardona;Edward Cedrick J. Fernandez ;Robert Patrick M. Cabangbang;Maria Salve C. Vasquez;Jomari C. Domingo;Reina Esther S. Caro;Alissa Carol M. Ibarra;Frenzee Kroeizha L. Pammit;Jen Daine L. Nocum;Angelica Kate G. Gumpal;Jesmar Cagayan;Ronilo M. Bajaro;Joseph P. Lagman;Cynthia R. Gulay;Noe Fernandez-Pozo;Susan R. Strickler;Lukas A. Mueller
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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    • 2022.10a
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    • pp.30-30
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    • 2022
  • Philippines is the second world supplier of coconut by-products. As its first major genomics project, the Philippine Genome Center program for Agriculture (PGC-Agriculture) took the challenge to sequence and assemble the whole coconut genome. The project aims to provide advance genetics tools for our collaborating coconut researchers while taking the opportunity to initiate local capacity. Combination of different NGS platforms was explored and the Philippine 'Catigan Green Dwarf' (CATD) variety was selected with the breeders to be the crop's reference genome. A high quality genome assembly of CATD was generated and used to characterize important genes of coconut towards the development of resilient and outstanding varieties especially for added high-value traits. The talk will present the significant results of the project as published in various papers including the first report of whole genome sequence of a dwarf coconut variety. Updates will include the challenges hurdled and specific applications such as gene mining for host insect resistance and screening for least damaged coconuts (thus potentially insect resistant varieties). Genome-wide DNA markers as published and genes related to coconut oil qualitative/quantitative traits will also be presented, including initial molecular/biochemical studies that support nutritional and medicinal claims. A web-based genome database is currently built for ease access and wider utility of these genomics tools. Indeed, a major milestone accomplished by the coconut genomics research team, which was facilitated with the all-out government support and strong collaboration among multidisciplinary experts and partnership with advance research institutes.

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The Effect of Perceived Customer Value on Customer Satisfaction with Airline Services Using the BERTopic Model (BERTopic 모델을 이용한 항공사 서비스에서 지각된 고객가치가 고객 만족도에 미치는 영향 분석)

  • Euiju Jeong;Byunghyun Lee;Qinglong Li;Jaekyeong Kim
    • Knowledge Management Research
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    • v.24 no.3
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    • pp.95-125
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    • 2023
  • As the aviation industry has rapidly been grown, there are more factors for customers to consider when choosing an airline. In response, airlines are trying to increase customer value by providing high-quality services and differentiated experiential value. While early customer value research centered on utilitarian value, which is the trade-off between cost and benefit in terms of utility for products and services, the importance of experiential value has recently been emphasized. However, experiential value needs to be studied in a specific context that fully represents customer preferences because what constitutes customer value changes depending on the product or service context. In addition, customer value has an important influence on customers' decision-making, so it is necessary for airlines to accurately understand what constitutes customer value. In this study, we collected customer reviews and ratings from Skytrax, a website specializing in airlines, and utilized the BERTopic technique to derive factors of customer value. The results revealed nine factors that constitute customer value in airlines, and six of them are related to customer satisfaction. This study proposes a new methodology that enables a granular understanding of customer value and provides airlines with specific directions for improving service quality.

A Study on the Predictability of Moist Convection during Summer based on CAPE and CIN (대류가용잠재에너지와 대류억제도에 입각한 여름철 습윤 대류 예측성에 대한 연구)

  • Doyeol Maeng;Songlak Kang
    • Journal of the Korean earth science society
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    • v.44 no.6
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    • pp.540-556
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    • 2023
  • This study analyzed rawinsonde soundings observed during the summer and early fall seasons (June, July, August and September) on the Korean peninsula to examine the utility of the Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) and Convective Inhibition (CIN) in predicting the occurrence of deep moist convection and precipitation. Rawinsonde soundings are categorized into two groups based on thermodynamic criteria: high CAPE and low CIN represent a high potential for deep moist convection; low CAPE and high CIN indicate conditions unfavorable for deep convection. A statistical hypothesis test is conducted to determine whether the two groups are significantly different in terms of 12-hour cumulative precipitation, 12-hour mean cloud base, and 12-hour mean mid-level cloud cover. The results, in the case of no-precipitation, reveal statistically significant differences between the two groups, except for the 12-hour mean cloud base during the 21:01-09:00 KST time period. This suggests that the group characterized by high CAPE and low CIN is more conducive to the occurrence of deep moist convection and precipitation than the group with low CAPE and high CIN.