• Title/Summary/Keyword: Value improvement

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Resolving the 'Gray sheep' Problem Using Social Network Analysis (SNA) in Collaborative Filtering (CF) Recommender Systems (소셜 네트워크 분석 기법을 활용한 협업필터링의 특이취향 사용자(Gray Sheep) 문제 해결)

  • Kim, Minsung;Im, Il
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.20 no.2
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    • pp.137-148
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    • 2014
  • Recommender system has become one of the most important technologies in e-commerce in these days. The ultimate reason to shop online, for many consumers, is to reduce the efforts for information search and purchase. Recommender system is a key technology to serve these needs. Many of the past studies about recommender systems have been devoted to developing and improving recommendation algorithms and collaborative filtering (CF) is known to be the most successful one. Despite its success, however, CF has several shortcomings such as cold-start, sparsity, gray sheep problems. In order to be able to generate recommendations, ordinary CF algorithms require evaluations or preference information directly from users. For new users who do not have any evaluations or preference information, therefore, CF cannot come up with recommendations (Cold-star problem). As the numbers of products and customers increase, the scale of the data increases exponentially and most of the data cells are empty. This sparse dataset makes computation for recommendation extremely hard (Sparsity problem). Since CF is based on the assumption that there are groups of users sharing common preferences or tastes, CF becomes inaccurate if there are many users with rare and unique tastes (Gray sheep problem). This study proposes a new algorithm that utilizes Social Network Analysis (SNA) techniques to resolve the gray sheep problem. We utilize 'degree centrality' in SNA to identify users with unique preferences (gray sheep). Degree centrality in SNA refers to the number of direct links to and from a node. In a network of users who are connected through common preferences or tastes, those with unique tastes have fewer links to other users (nodes) and they are isolated from other users. Therefore, gray sheep can be identified by calculating degree centrality of each node. We divide the dataset into two, gray sheep and others, based on the degree centrality of the users. Then, different similarity measures and recommendation methods are applied to these two datasets. More detail algorithm is as follows: Step 1: Convert the initial data which is a two-mode network (user to item) into an one-mode network (user to user). Step 2: Calculate degree centrality of each node and separate those nodes having degree centrality values lower than the pre-set threshold. The threshold value is determined by simulations such that the accuracy of CF for the remaining dataset is maximized. Step 3: Ordinary CF algorithm is applied to the remaining dataset. Step 4: Since the separated dataset consist of users with unique tastes, an ordinary CF algorithm cannot generate recommendations for them. A 'popular item' method is used to generate recommendations for these users. The F measures of the two datasets are weighted by the numbers of nodes and summed to be used as the final performance metric. In order to test performance improvement by this new algorithm, an empirical study was conducted using a publically available dataset - the MovieLens data by GroupLens research team. We used 100,000 evaluations by 943 users on 1,682 movies. The proposed algorithm was compared with an ordinary CF algorithm utilizing 'Best-N-neighbors' and 'Cosine' similarity method. The empirical results show that F measure was improved about 11% on average when the proposed algorithm was used

    . Past studies to improve CF performance typically used additional information other than users' evaluations such as demographic data. Some studies applied SNA techniques as a new similarity metric. This study is novel in that it used SNA to separate dataset. This study shows that performance of CF can be improved, without any additional information, when SNA techniques are used as proposed. This study has several theoretical and practical implications. This study empirically shows that the characteristics of dataset can affect the performance of CF recommender systems. This helps researchers understand factors affecting performance of CF. This study also opens a door for future studies in the area of applying SNA to CF to analyze characteristics of dataset. In practice, this study provides guidelines to improve performance of CF recommender systems with a simple modification.

  • Difference of Short Term Survival in Patients with ARDS According to Responsiveness to Alveolar Recruitment (급성호흡곤란증후군 환자에서 폐포모집술의 반응에 따른 초기 예후의 차이)

    • Kim, Ho Cheol;Cho, Dae Hyun;Kang, Gyoung Woo;Park, Dong Jun;Lee, Jong Deok;Hwang, Young Sil
      • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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      • v.56 no.3
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      • pp.280-288
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      • 2004
    • Background : Lung protective strategies, using low tidal volume in ARDS, improve survival rate in ARDS. However, low tidal volume ventilation may promote alveolar de-recruitment. Therefore, alveolar recruitment is necessary to maintain arterial oxygenation and to prevent repetitive opening and closure of collapsed alveoli in lung protective strategies. There has been a recent report describing improvement in arterial oxygenation with use of recruitment maneuver. However, impact of recruitment on outcome of ARDS is unknown. We evaluated whether short-term survival difference existed in patients with ARDS, who were performed alveolar recruitment maneuver(ARM) and prone position, according to response of alveolar recruitment or not. Methods : All patients who were diagnosed with ADRS and received mechanical ventilation were included. ARM were sustained inflation($35-45cmH_2O$ CPAP for 30-40 sec.) or increasing level of PEEP. If these methods were ineffective, alveolar recruitment with prone position was done for at least 10 hours. $P_aO_2/FiO_2$(P/F) ratio was determined before and at 0.5 and 2 hours after ARM. We defined a responder if the P/F ratio was increased over 50% of baseline value. We compared 10-days and 30-days survival rate between responders and non-responders. Results : 20 patients(M:F=12:8, $63{\pm}14age$) were included. Among them, 12 patients were responders and 8 patients were non-responders. In responders, P/F ratio was increased from $92{\pm}25mmHg$ to $244{\pm}85mmHg$. In non-responders, P/F ratio increased from $138{\pm}37mmHg$ to $163{\pm}60mmHg$. Among non-responders, P/F ratio was improved over 50% in 2 patients after prone position. Overall, 14 patients were responders after ARM and prone position. The 10-days and 30-days survival rate in responders was significantly higher than in non-responders(86%, 57% in responders and 33%, 0% in non-responders)(p<0.05). There was no significant difference between responders and non-responders in age($71{\pm}11$, $60{\pm}14$), lung injury score($2.8{\pm}0.2$, $2.9{\pm}0.45$), simplified acute physiology score(SAPS) II ($35{\pm}4.6$, $34{\pm}5.7$), positive end-positive pressure level($15.6{\pm}1.9cmH_2O$, $14.5{\pm}2.1cmH_2O$). Conclusion : ARM may improve arterial oxygenation in some patients with ARDS. These responders in patients with ARDS showed significant higher 10-days and 30-days survival rate than non-responders patients with alveolar recruitment.

    Developing the Process and Characteristics of Preservation of Area-Based Heritage Sites in Japan (일본 면형 유산 보존제도의 확산과정과 특성)

    • Sung, Wonseok;Kang, Dongjin
      • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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      • v.53 no.4
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      • pp.32-59
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      • 2020
    • South Korea's area-based heritage preservation system originates from the "Preservation of Traditional Buildings Act" enacted in 1984. However, this system was abolished in 1996. As there was a need for protection of ancient cities in the 1960s, Japan enacted the Historic City Preservation Act in 1966, and 'Preservation Areas for Historic Landscapes' and 'Special Preservation Districts for Historic Landscapes' were introduced. For the preservation of area-based heritage sites, the 'Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings' system introduced as part of the revision of the Cultural Heritage Protection Act in 1975 was the beginning. Then, in the early-2000s, discussions on the preservation of area-based heritage sites began in earnest, and the 'Important Cultural Landscape' system was introduced for protection of the space and context between heritage sites. Also, '33 Groups of Modernization Industry Heritage Sites' were designated in 2007, covering various material and immaterial resources related to the modernization of Japan, and '100 Beautiful Historic Landscapes of Japan' were selected for protection of local landscapes with historic value in the same year. In 2015, the "Japanese Heritage" system was established for the integrated preservation and management of tangible and intangible heritage aspects located in specific areas; in 2016, the "Japanese Agricultural Heritage" system was established for the succession and fostering of the disappearing agriculture and fishery industries; and in 2017, "the 20th Century Heritage," was established, representing evidence of modern and contemporary Japanese technologies in the 20th century. As a result, presently (in September 2020), 30 'Historic Landscape Preservation Areas', 60 'Historic Landscape Special Districts,' 120 'Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings," 65 'Important Cultural Landscapes,' 66 'Groups of Modernization Industry Heritage Sites,' 264 "100 Beautiful Historic Landscapes of Japan,' 104 'Japanese Heritage Sites,' and 15 'Japanese Agricultural Heritage Sites' have been designated. According to this perception of situations, the research process for this study with its basic purpose of extracting the general characteristics of Japan's area-based heritage preservation system, has sequentially spread since 1976 as follows. First, this study investigates Japan's area-based heritage site preservation system and sets the scope of research through discussions of literature and preceding studies. Second, this study investigates the process of the spread of the area-based heritage site preservation system and analyzes the relationship between the systems according to their development, in order to draw upon their characteristics. Third, to concretize content related to relationships and characteristics, this study involves in-depth analysis of three representative examples and sums them up to identify the characteristics of Japan's area-based heritage system. A noticeable characteristic of Japan's area-based heritage site preservation system drawn from this is that new heritage sites are born each year. Consequently, an overlapping phenomenon takes place between heritage sites, and such phenomena occur alongside revitalization of related industries, traditional industry, and cultural tourism and the improvement of localities as well as the preservation of area-based heritage. These characteristics can be applied as suggestions for the revitalization of the 'modern historical and cultural space' system implemented by South Korea.

    A Methodology of Customer Churn Prediction based on Two-Dimensional Loyalty Segmentation (이차원 고객충성도 세그먼트 기반의 고객이탈예측 방법론)

    • Kim, Hyung Su;Hong, Seung Woo
      • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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      • v.26 no.4
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      • pp.111-126
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      • 2020
    • Most industries have recently become aware of the importance of customer lifetime value as they are exposed to a competitive environment. As a result, preventing customers from churn is becoming a more important business issue than securing new customers. This is because maintaining churn customers is far more economical than securing new customers, and in fact, the acquisition cost of new customers is known to be five to six times higher than the maintenance cost of churn customers. Also, Companies that effectively prevent customer churn and improve customer retention rates are known to have a positive effect on not only increasing the company's profitability but also improving its brand image by improving customer satisfaction. Predicting customer churn, which had been conducted as a sub-research area for CRM, has recently become more important as a big data-based performance marketing theme due to the development of business machine learning technology. Until now, research on customer churn prediction has been carried out actively in such sectors as the mobile telecommunication industry, the financial industry, the distribution industry, and the game industry, which are highly competitive and urgent to manage churn. In addition, These churn prediction studies were focused on improving the performance of the churn prediction model itself, such as simply comparing the performance of various models, exploring features that are effective in forecasting departures, or developing new ensemble techniques, and were limited in terms of practical utilization because most studies considered the entire customer group as a group and developed a predictive model. As such, the main purpose of the existing related research was to improve the performance of the predictive model itself, and there was a relatively lack of research to improve the overall customer churn prediction process. In fact, customers in the business have different behavior characteristics due to heterogeneous transaction patterns, and the resulting churn rate is different, so it is unreasonable to assume the entire customer as a single customer group. Therefore, it is desirable to segment customers according to customer classification criteria, such as loyalty, and to operate an appropriate churn prediction model individually, in order to carry out effective customer churn predictions in heterogeneous industries. Of course, in some studies, there are studies in which customers are subdivided using clustering techniques and applied a churn prediction model for individual customer groups. Although this process of predicting churn can produce better predictions than a single predict model for the entire customer population, there is still room for improvement in that clustering is a mechanical, exploratory grouping technique that calculates distances based on inputs and does not reflect the strategic intent of an entity such as loyalties. This study proposes a segment-based customer departure prediction process (CCP/2DL: Customer Churn Prediction based on Two-Dimensional Loyalty segmentation) based on two-dimensional customer loyalty, assuming that successful customer churn management can be better done through improvements in the overall process than through the performance of the model itself. CCP/2DL is a series of churn prediction processes that segment two-way, quantitative and qualitative loyalty-based customer, conduct secondary grouping of customer segments according to churn patterns, and then independently apply heterogeneous churn prediction models for each churn pattern group. Performance comparisons were performed with the most commonly applied the General churn prediction process and the Clustering-based churn prediction process to assess the relative excellence of the proposed churn prediction process. The General churn prediction process used in this study refers to the process of predicting a single group of customers simply intended to be predicted as a machine learning model, using the most commonly used churn predicting method. And the Clustering-based churn prediction process is a method of first using clustering techniques to segment customers and implement a churn prediction model for each individual group. In cooperation with a global NGO, the proposed CCP/2DL performance showed better performance than other methodologies for predicting churn. This churn prediction process is not only effective in predicting churn, but can also be a strategic basis for obtaining a variety of customer observations and carrying out other related performance marketing activities.

    A Survey of Nutritional Status on Pre-School Children in Korea (학영기전아동(學齡期前兒童)의 영양실태조사(營養實態調査))

    • Ju, Jin-Soon;Oh, Seoung-Ho
      • Journal of Nutrition and Health
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      • v.9 no.2
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      • pp.68-86
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      • 1976
    • The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate the correct nutritional status on pre-school children in Korea. Furthermore, it made an attempt to find and define nutrional problems, and assist in establishment on their nutritional improvement plan. For this, food intake and health condition (physical, clinical, biochemical and parasitological) survey on 109 Pre-school children in both sexes, randomly selected from Yang-Gu area in Gang-Won province and Rea-ju area in Kyong-gy Province, were conducted by means of three-day records, during the two periods of Spring and Fall season in 1975. The results obtained are summerized as follows: 1. The food intake; Average food intake of the subjects per day were $508{\sim}647g$ ($83{\sim}91%$ in vegetable foods and $5.5{\sim}11.7%$ in animal foods) in Yang-gu area, and $587{\sim}698g$ ($88{\sim}89%$ in vegetable foods and $6.3{\sim}7.6%$ in animal foods) in Rea-ju area. 2. The intake of energy and nutrients; a) Calory intake. Average energy intake of subjects per day in Yang-gu area$(1120{\sim}1415kcal)$ were all lower than the Korean Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) in either Spring and Fall survey, whereas the subjects in Rea-ju area were lower intake $(1213{\sim}1418kcal)$ than the RDA in the Spring but higher intake$(1516{\sim}1755kcal)$ than the RDA in the Fall, and the average intake were similar level with that of RDA. b) Protein intake. Average protein intake of the subjects per day in Yang-gu area $(33{\sim}43g)$ girl subjects in Rea-ju area $(35{\sim}39g)$ were lower than the RDA in either Spring and Fall survey, whereas the boy subjects in Rea-ju area$(36{\sim}38g)$ were lower in Spring and higher $(49{\sim}57g)$ in the Fall than that of the RDA, but the average $(43{\sim}47g)$ were similar level with the RDA. The protein intake from animal sources in all subjects were much lower $(5.5{\sim}11.7\;of\;total\;protein)$ than the RDA. c) Fat intake. Average fat intake were very lower in all subjects of both area $(14{\sim}24g\;in\;Yang-gu,\;10{\sim}12g\;in\;Rea-ju)$ than that of RDA which is recommended $12{\sim}14%$ of total energy to be supplied from fat. d) Calcium intake. Average calcium intake were very low in all subjects of both area $(264{\sim}355mg\;in\;Yang-gu\;and\;283{\sim}429mg\;in\;Rea-ju)$, especially, these in Spring were about a half level of the RDA, and it was much increased in the Fall due to increased intake of milk, but it was still not enough than the RDA. e) Vitamin A intake. Average intake of V.A ($703{\sim}1465\;IU$ in Ynag-gu and $750{\sim}1521\;IU$ in Rea-ju) were also lower than the RDA, moreover their V-A sources were mainly vegetable, so that the V-A supply might be critical one for the subjected. f) Riboflavin intake. Average riboflavin intake on all subjects in both area except boys in Rea-ju area in Fall, were very lower than the RDA. 3. The physical status; a) Average weight and height of boys aged 4 and 5 in Yang-gu area and girls of aged 5 in Rea-ju area were lower than those of Korean Standard of 1967 report, but those by age of girls in Yang-gu area and boys in Rea-ju area were a little heigher than the Korean Standard. It is, hower, present Korean standard of physical status might be somehow heigher than the 1967, since the socio-economical situation has been much improved during past a decade. So that, if one considered on this sense, the physical status of the subjects on this survey might be somehow lower than those of present Korean standard. b) Average upper arm circumference in both area were no difference each other, and their mean values of age 4, 5 and 6 in boy and girl were 15.6, 16.5, 16.4 and 15.5, 16.5, 16.4cm respectively. c) Average chest girth of boys were similar to those of Korean standard whereas the girls were smaller than the Korea standard. The average head circumference also showed similar tendency with the chest girth. 4. The clinical findings; The most popular clinical signs were angular stomatitis and dental caries, and boys had more heigher incidence then the girls. 5. The biochemical findings; a) Hemoglobin and anemia Average Hb value of boys and girls were 11.4 and 10.9g per 100 ml of blood respectively. The incidence of anemia (Hb value below 11 g/100 ml, by WHO) was increased by age, and girls had more heigher incidence than the boy (34% : 48%). The incidence of anemia in age of 4,5, and 6 in boys and girls were 28%, 41% 34%, and 33%, 50%, 49% respectively. The degree of the anemia was not severe, and the anemia of there subjects may be caused mainly low intake of better quality protein and low iron intake as well. b) Hematocrit. Average Ht value of whole subject were $39.9{\sim}41.6%$. c) Blood plasma protein. Average blood plasma protein contents of whole subjects were $6.6{\sim}7.4gm$ per 100 ml. The incidence of deficient range (<6.0g%, by ICNND) was only one girl of age 4 in yang Gu area. 6. Parasitological findgs; The most popular parasitism were asicris lumbicoides and trichocephalus trichiura, and about 2/3 of the whole subjects were suffering one or more of these parasitism.

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    Pipetting Stability and Improvement Test of the Robotic Liquid Handling System Depending on Types of Liquid (용액에 따른 자동분주기의 분주능력 평가와 분주력 향상 실험)

    • Back, Hyangmi;Kim, Youngsan;Yun, Sunhee;Heo, Uisung;Kim, Hosin;Ryu, Hyeonggi;Lee, Guiwon
      • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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      • v.20 no.2
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      • pp.62-68
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      • 2016
    • Purpose In a cyclosporine experiment using a robotic liquid handing system has found a deviation of its standard curve and low reproducibility of patients's results. The difference of the test is that methanol is mixed with samples and the extractions are used for the test. Therefore, we assumed that the abnormal test results came from using methanol and conducted this test. In a manual of a robotic liquid handling system mentions that we can choose several setting parameters depending on the viscosity of the liquids being used, the size of the sampling tips and the motor speeds that you elect to use but there's no exact order. This study was undertaken to confirm pipetting ability depending on types of liquids and investigate proper setting parameters for the optimum dispensing ability. Materials and Methods 4types of liquids(water, serum, methanol, PEG 6000(25%)) and $TSH^{125}I$ tracer(515 kBq) are used to confirm pipetting ability. 29 specimens for Cyclosporine test are used to compare results. Prepare 8 plastic tubes for each of the liquids and with multi pipette $400{\mu}l$ of each liquid is dispensed to 8 tubes and $100{\mu}l$ of $TSH^{125}I$ tracer are dispensed to all of the tubes. From the prepared samples, $100{\mu}l$ of liquids are dispensed using a robotic liquid handing system, counted and calculated its CV(%) depending on types of liquids. And then by adjusting several setting parameters(air gap, dispense time, delay time) the change of the CV(%)are calcutated and finds optimum setting parameters. 29 specimens are tested with 3 methods. The first(A) is manual method and the second(B) is used robotic liquid handling system with existing parameters. The third(C) is used robotic liquid handling system with adjusted parameters. Pipetting ability depending on types of liquids is assessed with CV(%). On the basis of (A), patients's test results are compared (A)and(B), (A)and(C) and they are assessed with %RE(%Relative error) and %Diff(%Difference). Results The CV(%) of the CPM depending on liquid types were water 0.88, serum 0.95, methanol 10.22 and PEG 0.68. As expected dispensing of methanol using a liquid handling system was the problem and others were good. The methanol's dispensing were conducted by adjusting several setting parameters. When transport air gap 0 was adjusted to 2 and 5, CV(%) were 20.16, 12.54 and when system air gap 0 was adjusted to 2 and 5, CV(%) were 8.94, 1.36. When adjusted to system air gap 2, transport air gap 2 was 12.96 and adjusted to system air gap 5, Transport air gap 5 was 1.33. When dispense speed was adjusted 300 to 100, CV(%) was 13.32 and when dispense delay was adjusted 200 to 100 was 13.55. When compared (B) to (A), the result increased 99.44% and %RE was 93.59%. When compared (C-system air gap was adjusted 0 to 5) to (A), the result increased 6.75% and %RE was 5.10%. Conclusion Adjusting speed and delay time of aspiration and dispense was meaningless but changing system air gap was effective. By adjusting several parameters proper value was found and it affected the practical result of the experiment. To optimize the system active efforts are needed through the test and in case of dispensing new types of liquids proper test is required to check the liquid is suitable for using the equipment.

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    Research Framework for International Franchising (국제프랜차이징 연구요소 및 연구방향)

    • Kim, Ju-Young;Lim, Young-Kyun;Shim, Jae-Duck
      • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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      • v.18 no.4
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      • pp.61-118
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      • 2008
    • The purpose of this research is to construct research framework for international franchising based on existing literature and to identify research components in the framework. Franchise can be defined as management styles that allow franchisee use various management assets of franchisor in order to make or sell product or service. It can be divided into product distribution franchise that is designed to sell products and business format franchise that is designed for running it as business whatever its form is. International franchising can be defined as a way of internationalization of franchisor to foreign country by providing its business format or package to franchisee of host country. International franchising is growing fast for last four decades but academic research on this is quite limited. Especially in Korea, research about international franchising is carried out on by case study format with single case or empirical study format with survey based on domestic franchise theory. Therefore, this paper tries to review existing literature on international franchising research, providing research framework, and then stimulating new research on this field. International franchising research components include motives and environmental factors for decision of expanding to international franchising, entrance modes and development plan for international franchising, contracts and management strategy of international franchising, and various performance measures from different perspectives. First, motives of international franchising are fee collection from franchisee. Also it provides easier way to expanding to foreign country. The other motives including increase total sales volume, occupying better strategic position, getting quality resources, and improving efficiency. Environmental factors that facilitating international franchising encompasses economic condition, trend, and legal or political factors in host and/or home countries. In addition, control power and risk management capability of franchisor plays critical role in successful franchising contract. Final decision to enter foreign country via franchising is determined by numerous factors like history, size, growth, competitiveness, management system, bonding capability, industry characteristics of franchisor. After deciding to enter into foreign country, franchisor needs to set entrance modes of international franchising. Within contractual mode, there are master franchising and area developing franchising, licensing, direct franchising, and joint venture. Theories about entrance mode selection contain concepts of efficiency, knowledge-based approach, competence-based approach, agent theory, and governance cost. The next step after entrance decision is operation strategy. Operation strategy starts with selecting a target city and a target country for franchising. In order to finding, screening targets, franchisor needs to collect information about candidates. Critical information includes brand patent, commercial laws, regulations, market conditions, country risk, and industry analysis. After selecting a target city in target country, franchisor needs to select franchisee, in other word, partner. The first important criteria for selecting partners are financial credibility and capability, possession of real estate. And cultural similarity and knowledge about franchisor and/or home country are also recognized as critical criteria. The most important element in operating strategy is legal document between franchisor and franchisee with home and host countries. Terms and conditions in legal documents give objective information about characteristics of franchising agreement for academic research. Legal documents have definitions of terminology, territory and exclusivity, agreement of term, initial fee, continuing fees, clearing currency, and rights about sub-franchising. Also, legal documents could have terms about softer elements like training program and operation manual. And harder elements like law competent court and terms of expiration. Next element in operating strategy is about product and service. Especially for business format franchising, product/service deliverable, benefit communicators, system identifiers (architectural features), and format facilitators are listed for product/service strategic elements. Another important decision on product/service is standardization vs. customization. The rationale behind standardization is cost reduction, efficiency, consistency, image congruence, brand awareness, and competitiveness on price. Also standardization enables large scale R&D and innovative change in management style. Another element in operating strategy is control management. The simple way to control franchise contract is relying on legal terms, contractual control system. There are other control systems, administrative control system and ethical control system. Contractual control system is a coercive source of power, but franchisor usually doesn't want to use legal power since it doesn't help to build up positive relationship. Instead, self-regulation is widely used. Administrative control system uses control mechanism from ordinary work relationship. Its main component is supporting activities to franchisee and communication method. For example, franchisor provides advertising, training, manual, and delivery, then franchisee follows franchisor's direction. Another component is building franchisor's brand power. The last research element is performance factor of international franchising. Performance elements can be divided into franchisor's performance and franchisee's performance. The conceptual performance measures of franchisor are simple but not easy to obtain objectively. They are profit, sale, cost, experience, and brand power. The performance measures of franchisee are mostly about benefits of host country. They contain small business development, promotion of employment, introduction of new business model, and level up technology status. There are indirect benefits, like increase of tax, refinement of corporate citizenship, regional economic clustering, and improvement of international balance. In addition to those, host country gets socio-cultural change other than economic effects. It includes demographic change, social trend, customer value change, social communication, and social globalization. Sometimes it is called as westernization or McDonaldization of society. In addition, the paper reviews on theories that have been frequently applied to international franchising research, such as agent theory, resource-based view, transaction cost theory, organizational learning theory, and international expansion theories. Resource based theory is used in strategic decision based on resources, like decision about entrance and cooperation depending on resources of franchisee and franchisor. Transaction cost theory can be applied in determination of mutual trust or satisfaction of franchising players. Agent theory tries to explain strategic decision for reducing problem caused by utilizing agent, for example research on control system in franchising agreements. Organizational Learning theory is relatively new in franchising research. It assumes organization tries to maximize performance and learning of organization. In addition, Internalization theory advocates strategic decision of direct investment for removing inefficiency of market transaction and is applied in research on terms of contract. And oligopolistic competition theory is used to explain various entry modes for international expansion. Competency theory support strategic decision of utilizing key competitive advantage. Furthermore, research methodologies including qualitative and quantitative methodologies are suggested for more rigorous international franchising research. Quantitative research needs more real data other than survey data which is usually respondent's judgment. In order to verify theory more rigorously, research based on real data is essential. However, real quantitative data is quite hard to get. The qualitative research other than single case study is also highly recommended. Since international franchising has limited number of applications, scientific research based on grounded theory and ethnography study can be used. Scientific case study is differentiated with single case study on its data collection method and analysis method. The key concept is triangulation in measurement, logical coding and comparison. Finally, it provides overall research direction for international franchising after summarizing research trend in Korea. International franchising research in Korea has two different types, one is for studying Korean franchisor going overseas and the other is for Korean franchisee of foreign franchisor. Among research on Korean franchisor, two common patterns are observed. First of all, they usually deal with success story of one franchisor. The other common pattern is that they focus on same industry and country. Therefore, international franchise research needs to extend their focus to broader subjects with scientific research methodology as well as development of new theory.

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    Studies on the Rice Yield Decreased by Ground Water Irrigation and Its Preventive Methods (지하수 관개에 의한 수도의 멸준양상과 그 방지책에 관한 연구)

    • 한욱동
      • Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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      • v.16 no.1
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      • pp.3225-3262
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      • 1974
    • The purposes of this thesis are to clarify experimentally the variation of ground water temperature in tube wells during the irrigation period of paddy rice, and the effect of ground water irrigation on the growth, grain yield and yield components of the rice plant, and, furthermore, when and why the plant is most liable to be damaged by ground water, and also to find out the effective ground water irrigation methods. The results obtained in this experiment are as follows; 1. The temperature of ground water in tube wells varies according to the location, year, and the depth of the well. The average temperatures of ground water in a tubewells, 6.3m, 8.0m deep are $14.5^{\circ}C$ and $13.1^{\circ}C$, respercively, during the irrigation period of paddy rice (From the middle of June to the end of September). In the former the temperature rises continuously from $12.3^{\circ}C$ to 16.4$^{\circ}C$ and in the latter from $12.4^{\circ}C$ to $13.8^{\circ}C$ during the same period. These temperatures are approximately the same value as the estimated temperatures. The temperature difference between the ground water and the surface water is approximately $11^{\circ}C$. 2. The results obtained from the analysis of the water quality of the "Seoho" reservoir and that of water from the tube well show that the pH values of the ground water and the surface water are 6.35 and 6.00, respectively, and inorganic components such as N, PO4, Na, Cl, SiO2 and Ca are contained more in the ground water than in the surface water while K, SO4, Fe and Mg are contained less in the ground water. 3. The response of growth, yield and yield components of paddy rice to ground water irrigation are as follows; (l) Using ground water irrigation during the watered rice nursery period(seeding date: 30 April, 1970), the chracteristics of a young rice plant, such as plant height, number of leaves, and number of tillers are inferior to those of young rice plants irrigated with surface water during the same period. (2) In cases where ground water and surface water are supplied separately by the gravity flow method, it is found that ground water irrigation to the rice plant delays the stage at which there is a maximum increase in the number of tillers by 6 days. (3) At the tillering stage of rice plant just after transplanting, the effect of ground water irrigation on the increase in the number of tillers is better, compared with the method of supplying surface water throughout the whole irrigation period. Conversely, the number of tillers is decreased by ground water irrigation at the reproductive stage. Plant height is extremely restrained by ground water irrigation. (4) Heading date is clearly delayed by the ground water irrigation when it is practised during the growth stages or at the reproductive stage only. (5) The heading date of rice plants is slightly delayed by irrigation with the gravity flow method as compared with the standing water method. (6) The response of yield and of yield components of rice to ground water irrigation are as follows: \circled1 When ground water irrigation is practised during the growth stages and the reproductive stage, the culm length of the rice plant is reduced by 11 percent and 8 percent, respectively, when compared with the surface water irrigation used throughout all the growth stages. \circled2 Panicle length is found to be the longest on the test plot in which ground water irrigation is practised at the tillering stage. A similar tendency as that seen in the culm length is observed on other test plots. \circled3 The number of panicles is found to be the least on the plot in which ground water irrigation is practised by the gravity flow method throughout all the growth stages of the rice plant. No significant difference is found between the other plots. \circled4 The number of spikelets per panicle at the various stages of rice growth at which_ surface or ground water is supplied by gravity flow method are as follows; surface water at all growth stages‥‥‥‥‥ 98.5. Ground water at all growth stages‥‥‥‥‥‥62.2 Ground water at the tillering stage‥‥‥‥‥ 82.6. Ground water at the reproductive stage ‥‥‥‥‥ 74.1. \circled5 Ripening percentage is about 70 percent on the test plot in which ground water irrigation is practised during all the growth stages and at the tillering stage only. However, when ground water irrigation is practised, at the reproductive stage, the ripening percentage is reduced to 50 percent. This means that 20 percent reduction in the ripening percentage by using ground water irrigation at the reproductive stage. \circled6 The weight of 1,000 kernels is found to show a similar tendency as in the case of ripening percentage i. e. the ground water irrigation during all the growth stages and at the reproductive stage results in a decreased weight of the 1,000 kernels. \circled7 The yield of brown rice from the various treatments are as follows; Gravity flow; Surface water at all growth stages‥‥‥‥‥‥514kg/10a. Ground water at all growth stages‥‥‥‥‥‥428kg/10a. Ground water at the reproductive stage‥‥‥‥‥‥430kg/10a. Standing water; Surface water at all growh stages‥‥‥‥‥‥556kg/10a. Ground water at all growth stages‥‥‥‥‥‥441kg/10a. Ground water at the reproductive stage‥‥‥‥‥‥450kg/10a. The above figures show that ground water irrigation by the gravity flow and by the standing water method during all the growth stages resulted in an 18 percent and a 21 percent decrease in the yield of brown rice, respectively, when compared with surface water irrigation. Also ground water irrigation by gravity flow and by standing water resulted in respective decreases in yield of 16 percent and 19 percent, compared with the surface irrigation method. 4. Results obtained from the experiments on the improvement of ground water irrigation efficiency to paddy rice are as follows; (1) When the standing water irrigation with surface water is practised, the daily average water temperature in a paddy field is 25.2$^{\circ}C$, but, when the gravity flow method is practised with the same irrigation water, the daily average water temperature is 24.5$^{\circ}C$. This means that the former is 0.7$^{\circ}C$ higher than the latter. On the other hand, when ground water is used, the daily water temperatures in a paddy field are respectively 21.$0^{\circ}C$ and 19.3$^{\circ}C$ by practising standing water and the gravity flow method. It can be seen that the former is approximately 1.$0^{\circ}C$ higher than the latter. (2) When the non-water-logged cultivation is practised, the yield of brown rice is 516.3kg/10a, while the yield of brown rice from ground water irrigation plot throughout the whole irrigation period and surface water irrigation plot are 446.3kg/10a and 556.4kg/10a, respectivelely. This means that there is no significant difference in yields between surface water irrigation practice and non-water-logged cultivation, and also means that non-water-logged cultivation results in a 12.6 percent increase in yield compared with the yield from the ground water irrigation plot. (3) The black and white coloring on the inside surface of the water warming ponds has no substantial effect on the temperature of the water. The average daily water temperatures of the various water warming ponds, having different depths, are expressed as Y=aX+b, while the daily average water temperatures at various depths in a water warming pond are expressed as Y=a(b)x (where Y: the daily average water temperature, a,b: constants depending on the type of water warming pond, X; water depth). As the depth of water warning pond is increased, the diurnal difference of the highest and the lowest water temperature is decreased, and also, the time at which the highest water temperature occurs, is delayed. (4) The degree of warming by using a polyethylene tube, 100m in length and 10cm in diameter, is 4~9$^{\circ}C$. Heat exchange rate of a polyethylene tube is 1.5 times higher than that or a water warming channel. The following equation expresses the water warming mechanism of a polyethylene tube where distance from the tube inlet, time in day and several climatic factors are given: {{{{ theta omega (dwt)= { a}_{0 } (1-e- { x} over { PHI v })+ { 2} atop { SUM from { { n}=1} { { a}_{n } } over { SQRT { 1+ {( n omega PHI) }^{2 } } } } LEFT { sin(n omega t+ { b}_{n }+ { tan}^{-1 }n omega PHI )-e- { x} over { PHI v }sin(n omega LEFT ( t- { x} over {v } RIGHT ) + { b}_{n }+ { tan}^{-1 }n omega PHI ) RIGHT } +e- { x} over { PHI v } theta i}}}}{{{{ { theta }_{$\infty$ }(t)= { { alpha theta }_{a }+ { theta }_{ w'} +(S- { B}_{s } ) { U}_{w } } over { beta } , PHI = { { cpDU}_{ omega } } over {4 beta } }}}} where $\theta$$\omega$; discharged water temperature($^{\circ}C$) $\theta$a; air temperature ($^{\circ}C$) $\theta$$\omega$';ponded water temperature($^{\circ}C$) s ; net solar radiation(ly/min) t ; time(tadian) x; tube length(cm) D; diameter(cm) ao,an,bn;constants determined from $\theta$$\omega$(t) varitation. cp; heat capacity of water(cal/$^{\circ}C$ ㎥) U,Ua; overall heat transfer coefficient(cal/$^{\circ}C$ $\textrm{cm}^2$ min-1) $\omega$;1 velocity of water in a polyethylene tube(cm/min) Bs ; heat exchange rate between water and soil(ly/min)

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    Comparison of the Physicochemical Properties of Meat and Viscera of Dried Abalone (Haliotis discus hannai) Prepared using Different Drying Methods (건조방법에 따른 건조 전복 (Haliotis discus hannai)의 이화학적 특성 비교)

    • Park, Jeong-Wook;Lee, Young-Jae;Park, In-Bae;Shin, Gung-Won;Jo, Yeong-Cheol;Koh, So-Mi;Kang, Seong-Gook;Kim, Jeong-Mok;Kim, Hae-Seop
      • Food Science and Preservation
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      • v.16 no.5
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      • pp.686-698
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      • 2009
    • We sought basic data for product development and storage improvement of abalone. We explored drying methodologies, such as shade drying, cold air drying, and vacuum freeze drying. We also examined various physicochemical features of both meat and viscera. Raw abalone meat had $78.88{\pm}1.01%$ moisture, $9.24{\pm}0.27%$ crude protein, and $10.05{\pm}0.81%$ carbohydrate (all w/w). The moisture level of dried abalone meat was highest after cold air drying, at $18.38{\pm}0.91%$, and lowest after vacuum freeze drying, at $1.05{\pm}0.05%$. The total amino acid content of raw abalone meat was $17,124.05{\pm}493.18\;mg%$, and fell after shade-drying to $12,969.92{\pm}583.65\;mg%$, and to $13,328.78{\pm}653.11\;mg%$ after cold air drying. The total free amino acid content of raw abalone meat was $4,261.99{\pm}106.55\;mg%$, and rose after shade-drying to $6,336.50{\pm}285.15\;mg%$, to $5,072.04{\pm}248.53\;mg%$ after cold air drying, and to $4,638.85{\pm}218.03\;mg%$ after vacuum freeze drying. The fatty acid proportions in raw abalone meat were $47.00{\pm}0.99%$ saturated, $22.18{\pm}1.05%$ monounsaturated, and $30.82{\pm}1.45%$ polyunsaturated. In the viscera, however, the proportions were $36.72{\pm}0.74%$ saturated, $25.44{\pm}1.12%$ monounsaturated, and $37.84{\pm}1.67%$ polyunsaturated. The contents of chondroitin sulfate in raw abalone were $11.95{\pm}0.35%$ in meat and $7.71{\pm}0.19%$ in viscera (both w/w). After shade-drying, the chondroitin sulfate content was $16.57{\pm}0.90%$ in meat and $9.24{\pm}0.50%$ in viscera. The figures after cold air drying were $16.17{\pm}0.79%$ and $12.44{\pm}0.61%$, and those after vacuum freeze drying $25.17{\pm}1.16%$ and $15.22{\pm}0.70%$ (thus including the highest meat content). The level of collagen in raw abalone was $69.80{\pm}3.07\;mg/g$ in meat and $40.62{\pm}1.79\;mg/g$ in viscera. Meat and viscera dried in the shade had $144.05{\pm}7.78\;mg/g$ and $44.16{\pm}2.39\;mg/g$ collagen, respectively, whereas the figures after cold air drying were $133.29{\pm}6.53\;mg/g$ and $69.20{\pm}3.39\;mg/g$, and after vacuum freeze drying $137.51{\pm}6.33\;mg/g$ and $60.61{\pm}2.79\;mg/g$. Volatile basic nitrogen values of raw abalone showed a higher content in viscera, at $19.01{\pm}0.84\;mg%$, compared to meat ($10.10{\pm}0.44\;mg%$). The value for shade-dried abalone meat was $136.77{\pm}7.37\;mg%$ and that of viscera $197.97{\pm}10.69\;mg%$. After cold air drying the meat and visceral values were $27.32{\pm}1.34\;mg%$ and $71.37{\pm}3.50\;mg%$, respectively.

    The Influence of Store Environment on Service Brand Personality and Repurchase Intention (점포의 물리적 환경이 서비스 브랜드 개성과 재구매의도에 미치는 영향)

    • Kim, Hyoung-Gil;Kim, Jung-Hee;Kim, Youn-Jeong
      • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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      • v.17 no.4
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      • pp.141-173
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      • 2007
    • The study examines how the environmental factors of store influence service brand personality and repurchase intention in the service environment. The service industry has been experiencing the intensified competition with the industry's continuous growth and the influence from rapid technological advancement. Under the circumstances, it has become ever more important for the brand competitiveness to be distinctively recognized against competition. A brand needs to be distinguished and differentiated from competing companies because they are all engaged in the similar environment of the service industry. The differentiation of brand achievement has become increasingly important to highlight certain brand functions to include emotional, self-expressive, and symbolic functions since the importance of such functions has been further emphasized in promoting consumption activities. That is the recent role of brand personality that has been emphasized in the service industry. In other words, customers now freely and actively express their personalities or egos in consumption activities, taking an important role in construction of a brand asset. Hence, the study suggests that it is necessary to disperse the recognition and acknowledgement that the maintenance of the existing customers contributes more to boost repurchase intention when it is compared to the efforts to create new customers, particularly in the service industry. Meanwhile, the store itself can offer a unique environment that may influence the consumer's purchase decision. Consumers interact with store environments in the process of,virtually, all household purchase they make (Sarel 1981). Thus, store environments may encourage customers to purchase. The roles that store environments play are to provide informational cues to customers about the store and goods and communicate messages to stimulate consumers' emotions. The store environments differentiate the store from competing stores and build a unique service brand personality. However, the existing studies related to brand in the service industry mostly concentrated on the relationship between the quality of service and customer satisfaction, and they are mostly generalized while the connective studies focused on brand personality. Such approaches show limitations and are insufficient to investigate on the relationship between store environment and brand personality in the service industry. Accordingly, the study intends to identify the level of contribution to the establishment of brand personality made by the store's physical environments that influence on the specific brand characteristics depending on the type of service. The study also intends to identify what kind of relationships with brand personality exists with brand personality while being influenced by store environments. In addition, the study intends to make meaningful suggestions to better direct marketing efforts by identifying whether a brand personality makes a positive influence to induce an intention for repurchase. For this study, the service industry is classified into four categories based on to the characteristics of service: experimental-emotional service, emotional -credible service, credible-functional service, and functional-experimental service. The type of business with the most frequent customer contact is determined for each service type and the enterprise with the highest brand value in each service sector based on the report made by the Korea Management Association. They are designated as the representative of each category. The selected representatives are a fast-food store (experimental-emotional service), a cinema house (emotional-credible service), a bank (credible-functional service), and discount store (functional-experimental service). The survey was conducted for the four selected brands to represent each service category among consumers who are experienced users of the designated stores in Seoul Metropolitan City and Gyeonggi province via written questionnaires in order to verify the suggested assumptions in the study. In particular, the survey adopted 15 scales, which represent each characteristic factor, among the 42 unique characteristics developed by Jennifer Aaker(1997) to assess the brand personality of each service brand. SPSS for Windows Release 12.0 and LISREL were used in the analysis of data verification. The methodology of the structural equation model was used for the study and the pivotal findings are as follows. 1) The environmental factors ware classified as design factors, ambient factors, and social factors. Therefore, the validity of measurement scale of Baker et al. (1994) was proved. 2) The service brand personalities were subdivided as sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness, which makes the use of the brand personality scales by Jennifer Aaker(1997) appropriate in the service industry as well. 3) One-way ANOVA analysis on the scales of store environment and service brand personality showed that there exist statistically significant differences in each service category. For example, the social factors were highest in discount stores, while the ambient factors and design factors were highest in fast-food stores. The discount stores were highest in the sincerity and excitement, while the highest point for banks was in the competence and ruggedness, and the highest point for fast-food stores was in the sophistication, The consumers will make a different respond to the physical environment of stores and service brand personality that are inherent to the corresponding service interface. Hence, the customers will make a different decision-making when dealing with different service categories. In this aspect, the relationships of variables in the proposed hypothesis appear to work in a different way depending on the exposed service category. 4) The store environment factors influenced on service brand personalities differently by category of service. The factors of store's physical environment are transferred to a brand and were verified to strengthen service brand personalities. In particular, the level of influence on the service brand personality by physical environment differs depending on service category or dimension, which indicates that there is a need to apply a different style of management to a different service category or dimension. It signifies that there needs to be a brand strategy established in order to positively influence the relationship with consumers by utilizing an appropriate brand personality factor depending on different characteristics by service category or dimension. 5) The service brand personalities influenced on the repurchase intention. Especially, the largest influence was made in the sophistication dimension of service brand personality scale; the unique and characteristically appropriate arrangement of physical environment will make customers stay in the service environment for a long time and will lead to give a positive influence on the repurchase intention. 6) The store environment factors influenced on the repurchase intention. Particularly, the largest influence was made on the social factors of store environment. The most intriguing finding is that the service factor among all other environment factors gives the biggest influence to the repurchase intention in most of all service types except fast-food stores. Such result indicates that the customers pay attention to how much the employees try to provide a quality service when they make an evaluation on the service brand. At the same time, it also indicates that the personal factor is directly transmitted to the construction of brand personality. The employees' attitude and behavior are the determinants to establish a service brand personality in the process of enhancing service interface. Hence, there should be a reinforced search for a method to efficiently manage the service staff who has a direct contact with customers in order to make an affirmative improvement of the customers' brand evaluation at the service interface. The findings suggest several managerial implications. 1) Results from the empirical study indicated that store environment factors have a strong positive impact on a service brand personality. To increase customers' repurchase intention of a service brand, the management is required to effectively manage store environment factors and create a friendly brand personality based on the corresponding service environment. 2) Mangers and researchers must understand and recognize that the store environment elements are important marketing tools, and that brand personality influences on consumers' repurchase intention. Based on such result of the study, a service brand could be utilized as an efficient measure to achieve a differentiation by enforcing the elements that are most influential among all other store environments for each service category. Therefore, brand personality established involving various store environments will further reinforce the relationship with customers through the elevated brand identification of which utilization to induce repurchase decision can be used as an entry barrier. 3) The study identified the store environment as a component of service brand personality for the store's effective communication with consumers. For this, all communication channels should be maintained with consistency and an integrated marketing communication should be executed to efficiently approach to a larger number of customers. Mangers and researchers must find strategies for aligning decisions about store environment elements with the retailers' marketing and store personality objectives. All ambient, design, and social factors need to be orchestrated so that consumers can take an appropriate store personality. In this study, the induced results from the previous studies were extended to the service industry so as to identify the customers' decision making process that leads to repurchase intention and a result similar to those of the previous studies. The findings suggested several theoretical and managerial implications. However, the situation that only one service brand served as the subject of analysis for each service category, and the situation that correlations among store environment elements were not identified, as well as the problem of representation in selection of samples should be considered and supplemented in the future when further studies are conducted. In addition, various antecedents and consequences of brand personality must be looked at in the aspect of the service environment for further research.

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