• Title/Summary/Keyword: applications

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Evaluation of a colloid gel(Slime) as a body compensator for radiotherapy (Colloid gel(Slime)의 방사선 치료 시 표면 보상체로서의 유용성 평가)

  • Lee, Hun Hee;Kim, Chan Kyu;Song, Kwan Soo;Bang, Mun Kyun;Kang, Dong Yun;Sin, Dong Ho;Lee, Du Heon
    • The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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    • v.30 no.1_2
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    • pp.191-199
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    • 2018
  • Purpose : In this study, we evaluated the usefulness of colloid gel(slime) as a compensator for irregular patient surfaces in radiation therapy. Materials and Methods : For this study, colloid gel suitable for treatment was made and four experiments were conducted to evaluate the applicability of radiation therapy. Trilogy(Varian) and CT(SOMATOM, Siemens) were used as treatment equipment and CT equipment. First, the homogeneity according to the composition of colloid gel was measured using EBT3 Film(RIT). Second, the Hounsfield Unit(HU) value of colloid gel was measured and confirmed by CRIS phantom, Eclipse RTP(Eclipse 13.1, Varian) and CT. Third, to measure the deformation and degeneration of colloid gel during the treatment period, it was measured 3 times daily for 2 weeks using an ion chamber(PTW-30013, PTW). The fourth experiment was compared the treatment plan and measured dose distributions using bolus, rice, colloid gel and additional, dose profiles in an environment similar to actual treatment using our own acrylic phantom. Result : First experiment, density of the colloid gel cases 1, 2 and 3 was $1.02g/cm^3$, $0.99g/cm^3$ and $0.96g/cm^3$. When the homogeneity was measured at 6 MV and 9 MeV, case 1 was more homogeneous than the other cases, as 1.55 and 1.98. In the second experiment, the HU values of case 1, 2, 3 were 15 and when the treatment plan was compared with the measured doses, the difference was within 1 % at all 9, 12 MeV and a difference of -1.53 % and -1.56 % within the whole 2 % at 6 MV. In the third experiment, the dose change of colloid gel was measured to be about 1 % for 2 weeks. In the fourth experiment, the dose difference between the treatment plan and EBT3 film was similar for both colloid gel and bolus, rice at 6 MV. But colloid gel showed less dose difference than bolus and rice at 9 MeV. Also, dose profile of colloid gel showed a more uniform dose distribution than the bolus and rice. Conclusion : In this study, the density of colloid gel prepared for radiation therapy was $1.02g/cm^3$ similar to the density of water, and alteration or deformation was not observed during the radiotherapy process. Although we pay attention to the density when manufacturing colloid gel, it is sufficient in that it can deliver the dose uniformly through the compensation of the patient's body surface more than the bolus and rice, and can be manufactured at low cost. Further studies and studies for clinical applications are expected to be applicable to radiation therapy.

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Evaluating efficiency of application the skin flash for left breast IMRT. (왼쪽 유방암 세기변조방사선 치료시 Skin Flash 적용에 대한 유용성 평가)

  • Lim, Kyoung Dal;Seo, Seok Jin;Lee, Je Hee
    • The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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    • v.30 no.1_2
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    • pp.49-63
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    • 2018
  • Purpose : The purpose of this study is investigating the changes of treatment plan and comparing skin dose with or without the skin flash. To investigate optimal applications of the skin flash, the changes of skin dose of each plans by various thicknesses of skin flash were measured and analyzed also. Methods and Material : Anthropomorphic phantom was scanned by CT for this study. The 2 fields hybrid IMRT and the 6 fields static IMRT were generated from the Eclipse (ver. 13.7.16, Varian, USA) RTP system. Additional plans were generated from each IMRT plans by changing skin flash thickness to 0.5 cm, 1.0 cm, 1.5 cm, 2.0 cm and 2.5 cm. MU and maximum doses were measured also. The treatment equipment was 6MV of VitalBeam (Varian Medical System, USA). Measuring device was a metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor(MOSFET). Measuring points of skin doses are upper (1), middle (2) and lower (3) positions from center of the left breast of the phantom. Other points of skin doses, artificially moved to medial and lateral sides by 0.5 cm, were also measured. Results : The reference value of 2F-hIMRT was 206.7 cGy at 1, 186.7 cGy at 2, and 222 cGy at 3, and reference values of 6F-sIMRT were measured at 192 cGy at 1, 213 cGy at 2, and 215 cGy at 3. In comparison with these reference values, the first measurement point in 2F-hIMRT was 261.3 cGy with a skin flash 2.0 cm and 2.5 cm, and the highest dose difference was 26.1 %diff. and 5.6 %diff, respectively. The third measurement point was 245.3 cGy and 10.5 %diff at the skin flash 2.5 cm. In the 6F-sIMRT, the highest dose difference was observed at 216.3 cGy and 12.7 %diff. when applying the skin flash 2.0 cm for the first measurement point and the dose difference was the largest at the application point of 2.0 cm, not the skin flash 2.5 cm for each measurement point. In cases of medial 0.5 cm shift points of 2F-hIMRT and 6F-sIMRT without skin flash, the measured value was -75.2 %diff. and -70.1 %diff. at 2F, At -14.8, -12.5, and -21.0 %diff. at the 1st, 2nd and 3rd measurement points, respectively. Generally, both treatment plans showed an increase in total MU, maximum dose and %diff as skin flash thickness increased, except for some results. The difference of skin dose using 0.5 cm thickness of skin flash was lowest lesser than 20 % in every conditions. Conclusion : Minimizing the thickness of skin flash by 0.5 cm is considered most ideal because it makes it possible to keep down MUs and lowering maximum doses. In addition, It was found that MUs, maximum doses and differences of skin doses did not increase infinitely as skin flash thickness increase by. If the error margin caused by PTV or other factors is lesser than 1.0 cm, It is considered that there will be many advantages in with the skin flash technique comparing without it.

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Antimicrobial, Antioxidant and Cellular Protective Effects against Oxidative Stress of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bunge Extract and Fraction (지모 뿌리 추출물과 분획물의 항균활성과 항산화 활성 및 세포보호 연구)

  • Lee, Yun Ju;Song, Ba Reum;Lee, Sang Lae;Shin, Hyuk Soo;Park, Soo Nam
    • Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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    • v.46 no.4
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    • pp.360-371
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    • 2018
  • Extracts and fractions of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bunge were prepared and their physiological activities and components were analyzed. Antimicrobial activities of the ethyl acetate and aglycone fractions were $78{\mu}g/ml$ and $31{\mu}g/ml$, respectively, for Staphylococcus aureus and $156{\mu}g/ml$ and $125{\mu}g/ml$, respectively, for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging activities ($FSC_{50}$) of 50% ethanol extract, ethyl acetate fraction, and aglycone fraction of A. asphodeloides extracts were $146.2{\mu}g/ml$, $23.19{\mu}g/ml$, and $71.06{\mu}g/ml$, respectively. The total antioxidant capacity ($OSC_{50}$) in an $Fe^{3+}$-EDTA/hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) system were $17.5{\mu}g/ml$, $1.5{\mu}g/ml$, and $1.4{\mu}g/ml$, respectively. The cytoprotective effect (${\tau}_{50}$) in $^1O_2$-induced erythrocyte hemolysis was 181 min with $4{\mu}g/ml$ of the aglycone fraction. The ${\tau}_{50}$ of the aglycone fraction was approximately 4-times higher than that of (+)-${\alpha}$-tocopherol (${\tau}_{50}$, 41 min). Analysis of $H_2O_2$-induced damage of HaCaT cells revealed that the maximum cell viabilities for the 50% ethanol extract, ethyl acetate fraction, and aglycone fraction were 86.23%, 86.59%, and 89.70%, respectively. The aglycone fraction increased cell viability up to 11.53% at $1{\mu}g/ml$ compared to the positive control treated with $H_2O_2$. Analysis of ultraviolet B radiation-induced HaCaT cell damage revealed up to 41.77% decreased intracellular reactive oxygen species in the $2{\mu}g/ml$ aglycone fraction compared with the positive control treated with ultraviolet B radiation. The findings suggest that the extracts and fractions of A. asphodeloides Bunge have potential applications in the field of cosmetics as natural preservatives and antioxidants.

Corporate Default Prediction Model Using Deep Learning Time Series Algorithm, RNN and LSTM (딥러닝 시계열 알고리즘 적용한 기업부도예측모형 유용성 검증)

  • Cha, Sungjae;Kang, Jungseok
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.24 no.4
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    • pp.1-32
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    • 2018
  • In addition to stakeholders including managers, employees, creditors, and investors of bankrupt companies, corporate defaults have a ripple effect on the local and national economy. Before the Asian financial crisis, the Korean government only analyzed SMEs and tried to improve the forecasting power of a default prediction model, rather than developing various corporate default models. As a result, even large corporations called 'chaebol enterprises' become bankrupt. Even after that, the analysis of past corporate defaults has been focused on specific variables, and when the government restructured immediately after the global financial crisis, they only focused on certain main variables such as 'debt ratio'. A multifaceted study of corporate default prediction models is essential to ensure diverse interests, to avoid situations like the 'Lehman Brothers Case' of the global financial crisis, to avoid total collapse in a single moment. The key variables used in corporate defaults vary over time. This is confirmed by Beaver (1967, 1968) and Altman's (1968) analysis that Deakins'(1972) study shows that the major factors affecting corporate failure have changed. In Grice's (2001) study, the importance of predictive variables was also found through Zmijewski's (1984) and Ohlson's (1980) models. However, the studies that have been carried out in the past use static models. Most of them do not consider the changes that occur in the course of time. Therefore, in order to construct consistent prediction models, it is necessary to compensate the time-dependent bias by means of a time series analysis algorithm reflecting dynamic change. Based on the global financial crisis, which has had a significant impact on Korea, this study is conducted using 10 years of annual corporate data from 2000 to 2009. Data are divided into training data, validation data, and test data respectively, and are divided into 7, 2, and 1 years respectively. In order to construct a consistent bankruptcy model in the flow of time change, we first train a time series deep learning algorithm model using the data before the financial crisis (2000~2006). The parameter tuning of the existing model and the deep learning time series algorithm is conducted with validation data including the financial crisis period (2007~2008). As a result, we construct a model that shows similar pattern to the results of the learning data and shows excellent prediction power. After that, each bankruptcy prediction model is restructured by integrating the learning data and validation data again (2000 ~ 2008), applying the optimal parameters as in the previous validation. Finally, each corporate default prediction model is evaluated and compared using test data (2009) based on the trained models over nine years. Then, the usefulness of the corporate default prediction model based on the deep learning time series algorithm is proved. In addition, by adding the Lasso regression analysis to the existing methods (multiple discriminant analysis, logit model) which select the variables, it is proved that the deep learning time series algorithm model based on the three bundles of variables is useful for robust corporate default prediction. The definition of bankruptcy used is the same as that of Lee (2015). Independent variables include financial information such as financial ratios used in previous studies. Multivariate discriminant analysis, logit model, and Lasso regression model are used to select the optimal variable group. The influence of the Multivariate discriminant analysis model proposed by Altman (1968), the Logit model proposed by Ohlson (1980), the non-time series machine learning algorithms, and the deep learning time series algorithms are compared. In the case of corporate data, there are limitations of 'nonlinear variables', 'multi-collinearity' of variables, and 'lack of data'. While the logit model is nonlinear, the Lasso regression model solves the multi-collinearity problem, and the deep learning time series algorithm using the variable data generation method complements the lack of data. Big Data Technology, a leading technology in the future, is moving from simple human analysis, to automated AI analysis, and finally towards future intertwined AI applications. Although the study of the corporate default prediction model using the time series algorithm is still in its early stages, deep learning algorithm is much faster than regression analysis at corporate default prediction modeling. Also, it is more effective on prediction power. Through the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the current government and other overseas governments are working hard to integrate the system in everyday life of their nation and society. Yet the field of deep learning time series research for the financial industry is still insufficient. This is an initial study on deep learning time series algorithm analysis of corporate defaults. Therefore it is hoped that it will be used as a comparative analysis data for non-specialists who start a study combining financial data and deep learning time series algorithm.

An Analytical Approach Using Topic Mining for Improving the Service Quality of Hotels (호텔 산업의 서비스 품질 향상을 위한 토픽 마이닝 기반 분석 방법)

  • Moon, Hyun Sil;Sung, David;Kim, Jae Kyeong
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.21-41
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    • 2019
  • Thanks to the rapid development of information technologies, the data available on Internet have grown rapidly. In this era of big data, many studies have attempted to offer insights and express the effects of data analysis. In the tourism and hospitality industry, many firms and studies in the era of big data have paid attention to online reviews on social media because of their large influence over customers. As tourism is an information-intensive industry, the effect of these information networks on social media platforms is more remarkable compared to any other types of media. However, there are some limitations to the improvements in service quality that can be made based on opinions on social media platforms. Users on social media platforms represent their opinions as text, images, and so on. Raw data sets from these reviews are unstructured. Moreover, these data sets are too big to extract new information and hidden knowledge by human competences. To use them for business intelligence and analytics applications, proper big data techniques like Natural Language Processing and data mining techniques are needed. This study suggests an analytical approach to directly yield insights from these reviews to improve the service quality of hotels. Our proposed approach consists of topic mining to extract topics contained in the reviews and the decision tree modeling to explain the relationship between topics and ratings. Topic mining refers to a method for finding a group of words from a collection of documents that represents a document. Among several topic mining methods, we adopted the Latent Dirichlet Allocation algorithm, which is considered as the most universal algorithm. However, LDA is not enough to find insights that can improve service quality because it cannot find the relationship between topics and ratings. To overcome this limitation, we also use the Classification and Regression Tree method, which is a kind of decision tree technique. Through the CART method, we can find what topics are related to positive or negative ratings of a hotel and visualize the results. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the representation of an analytical approach for the improvement of hotel service quality from unstructured review data sets. Through experiments for four hotels in Hong Kong, we can find the strengths and weaknesses of services for each hotel and suggest improvements to aid in customer satisfaction. Especially from positive reviews, we find what these hotels should maintain for service quality. For example, compared with the other hotels, a hotel has a good location and room condition which are extracted from positive reviews for it. In contrast, we also find what they should modify in their services from negative reviews. For example, a hotel should improve room condition related to soundproof. These results mean that our approach is useful in finding some insights for the service quality of hotels. That is, from the enormous size of review data, our approach can provide practical suggestions for hotel managers to improve their service quality. In the past, studies for improving service quality relied on surveys or interviews of customers. However, these methods are often costly and time consuming and the results may be biased by biased sampling or untrustworthy answers. The proposed approach directly obtains honest feedback from customers' online reviews and draws some insights through a type of big data analysis. So it will be a more useful tool to overcome the limitations of surveys or interviews. Moreover, our approach easily obtains the service quality information of other hotels or services in the tourism industry because it needs only open online reviews and ratings as input data. Furthermore, the performance of our approach will be better if other structured and unstructured data sources are added.

Analysis of shopping website visit types and shopping pattern (쇼핑 웹사이트 탐색 유형과 방문 패턴 분석)

  • Choi, Kyungbin;Nam, Kihwan
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.85-107
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    • 2019
  • Online consumers browse products belonging to a particular product line or brand for purchase, or simply leave a wide range of navigation without making purchase. The research on the behavior and purchase of online consumers has been steadily progressed, and related services and applications based on behavior data of consumers have been developed in practice. In recent years, customization strategies and recommendation systems of consumers have been utilized due to the development of big data technology, and attempts are being made to optimize users' shopping experience. However, even in such an attempt, it is very unlikely that online consumers will actually be able to visit the website and switch to the purchase stage. This is because online consumers do not just visit the website to purchase products but use and browse the websites differently according to their shopping motives and purposes. Therefore, it is important to analyze various types of visits as well as visits to purchase, which is important for understanding the behaviors of online consumers. In this study, we explored the clustering analysis of session based on click stream data of e-commerce company in order to explain diversity and complexity of search behavior of online consumers and typified search behavior. For the analysis, we converted data points of more than 8 million pages units into visit units' sessions, resulting in a total of over 500,000 website visit sessions. For each visit session, 12 characteristics such as page view, duration, search diversity, and page type concentration were extracted for clustering analysis. Considering the size of the data set, we performed the analysis using the Mini-Batch K-means algorithm, which has advantages in terms of learning speed and efficiency while maintaining the clustering performance similar to that of the clustering algorithm K-means. The most optimized number of clusters was derived from four, and the differences in session unit characteristics and purchasing rates were identified for each cluster. The online consumer visits the website several times and learns about the product and decides the purchase. In order to analyze the purchasing process over several visits of the online consumer, we constructed the visiting sequence data of the consumer based on the navigation patterns in the web site derived clustering analysis. The visit sequence data includes a series of visiting sequences until one purchase is made, and the items constituting one sequence become cluster labels derived from the foregoing. We have separately established a sequence data for consumers who have made purchases and data on visits for consumers who have only explored products without making purchases during the same period of time. And then sequential pattern mining was applied to extract frequent patterns from each sequence data. The minimum support is set to 10%, and frequent patterns consist of a sequence of cluster labels. While there are common derived patterns in both sequence data, there are also frequent patterns derived only from one side of sequence data. We found that the consumers who made purchases through the comparative analysis of the extracted frequent patterns showed the visiting pattern to decide to purchase the product repeatedly while searching for the specific product. The implication of this study is that we analyze the search type of online consumers by using large - scale click stream data and analyze the patterns of them to explain the behavior of purchasing process with data-driven point. Most studies that typology of online consumers have focused on the characteristics of the type and what factors are key in distinguishing that type. In this study, we carried out an analysis to type the behavior of online consumers, and further analyzed what order the types could be organized into one another and become a series of search patterns. In addition, online retailers will be able to try to improve their purchasing conversion through marketing strategies and recommendations for various types of visit and will be able to evaluate the effect of the strategy through changes in consumers' visit patterns.

Application and Analysis of Ocean Remote-Sensing Reflectance Quality Assurance Algorithm for GOCI-II (천리안해양위성 2호(GOCI-II) 원격반사도 품질 검증 시스템 적용 및 결과)

  • Sujung Bae;Eunkyung Lee;Jianwei Wei;Kyeong-sang Lee;Minsang Kim;Jong-kuk Choi;Jae Hyun Ahn
    • Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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    • v.39 no.6_2
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    • pp.1565-1576
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    • 2023
  • An atmospheric correction algorithm based on the radiative transfer model is required to obtain remote-sensing reflectance (Rrs) from the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager-II (GOCI-II) observed at the top-of-atmosphere. This Rrs derived from the atmospheric correction is utilized to estimate various marine environmental parameters such as chlorophyll-a concentration, total suspended materials concentration, and absorption of dissolved organic matter. Therefore, an atmospheric correction is a fundamental algorithm as it significantly impacts the reliability of all other color products. However, in clear waters, for example, atmospheric path radiance exceeds more than ten times higher than the water-leaving radiance in the blue wavelengths. This implies atmospheric correction is a highly error-sensitive process with a 1% error in estimating atmospheric radiance in the atmospheric correction process can cause more than 10% errors. Therefore, the quality assessment of Rrs after the atmospheric correction is essential for ensuring reliable ocean environment analysis using ocean color satellite data. In this study, a Quality Assurance (QA) algorithm based on in-situ Rrs data, which has been archived into a database using Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) Bio-optical Archive and Storage System (SeaBASS), was applied and modified to consider the different spectral characteristics of GOCI-II. This method is officially employed in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s ocean color satellite data processing system. It provides quality analysis scores for Rrs ranging from 0 to 1 and classifies the water types into 23 categories. When the QA algorithm is applied to the initial phase of GOCI-II data with less calibration, it shows the highest frequency at a relatively low score of 0.625. However, when the algorithm is applied to the improved GOCI-II atmospheric correction results with updated calibrations, it shows the highest frequency at a higher score of 0.875 compared to the previous results. The water types analysis using the QA algorithm indicated that parts of the East Sea, South Sea, and the Northwest Pacific Ocean are primarily characterized as relatively clear case-I waters, while the coastal areas of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea are mainly classified as highly turbid case-II waters. We expect that the QA algorithm will support GOCI-II users in terms of not only statistically identifying Rrs resulted with significant errors but also more reliable calibration with quality assured data. The algorithm will be included in the level-2 flag data provided with GOCI-II atmospheric correction.

The Innovation Ecosystem and Implications of the Netherlands. (네덜란드의 혁신클러스터정책과 시사점)

  • Kim, Young-woo
    • Journal of Venture Innovation
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    • v.5 no.1
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    • pp.107-127
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    • 2022
  • Global challenges such as the corona pandemic, climate change and the war-on-tech ensure that the demand who the technologies of the future develops and monitors prominently for will be on the agenda. Development of, and applications in, agrifood, biotech, high-tech, medtech, quantum, AI and photonics are the basis of the future earning capacity of the Netherlands and contribute to solving societal challenges, close to home and worldwide. To be like the Netherlands and Europe a strategic position in the to obtain knowledge and innovation chain, and with it our autonomy in relation to from China and the United States insurance, clear choices are needed. Brainport Eindhoven: Building on Philips' knowledge base, there is create an innovative ecosystem where more than 7,000 companies in the High-tech Systems & Materials (HTSM) collaborate on new technologies, future earning potential and international value chains. Nearly 20,000 private R&D employees work in 5 regional high-end campuses and for companies such as ASML, NXP, DAF, Prodrive Technologies, Lightyear and many others. Brainport Eindhoven has a internationally leading position in the field of system engineering, semicon, micro and nanoelectronics, AI, integrated photonics and additive manufacturing. What is being developed in Brainport leads to the growth of the manufacturing industry far beyond the region thanks to chain cooperation between large companies and SMEs. South-Holland: The South Holland ecosystem includes companies as KPN, Shell, DSM and Janssen Pharmaceutical, large and innovative SMEs and leading educational and knowledge institutions that have more than Invest €3.3 billion in R&D. Bearing Cores are formed by the top campuses of Leiden and Delft, good for more than 40,000 innovative jobs, the port-industrial complex (logistics & energy), the manufacturing industry cluster on maritime and aerospace and the horticultural cluster in the Westland. South Holland trains thematically key technologies such as biotech, quantum technology and AI. Twente: The green, technological top region of Twente has a long tradition of collaboration in triple helix bandage. Technological innovations from Twente offer worldwide solutions for the large social issues. Work is in progress to key technologies such as AI, photonics, robotics and nanotechnology. New technology is applied in sectors such as medtech, the manufacturing industry, agriculture and circular value chains, such as textiles and construction. Being for Twente start-ups and SMEs of great importance to the jobs of tomorrow. Connect these companies technology from Twente with knowledge regions and OEMs, at home and abroad. Wageningen in FoodValley: Wageningen Campus is a global agri-food magnet for startups and corporates by the national accelerator StartLife and student incubator StartHub. FoodvalleyNL also connects with an ambitious 2030 programme, the versatile ecosystem regional, national and international - including through the WEF European food innovation hub. The campus offers guests and the 3,000 private R&D put in an interesting programming science, innovation and social dialogue around the challenges in agro production, food processing, biobased/circular, climate and biodiversity. The Netherlands succeeded in industrializing in logistics countries, but it is striving for sustainable growth by creating an innovative ecosystem through a regional industry-academic research model. In particular, the Brainport Cluster, centered on the high-tech industry, pursues regional innovation and is opening a new horizon for existing industry-academic models. Brainport is a state-of-the-art forward base that leads the innovation ecosystem of Dutch manufacturing. The history of ports in the Netherlands is transforming from a logistics-oriented port symbolized by Rotterdam into a "port of digital knowledge" centered on Brainport. On the basis of this, it can be seen that the industry-academic cluster model linking the central government's vision to create an innovative ecosystem and the specialized industry in the region serves as the biggest stepping stone. The Netherlands' innovation policy is expected to be more faithful to its role as Europe's "digital gateway" through regional development centered on the innovation cluster ecosystem and investment in job creation and new industries.

Study on the effect of small and medium-sized businesses being selected as suitable business types, on the franchise industry (중소기업적합업종선정이 프랜차이즈산업에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구)

  • Kang, Chang-Dong;Shin, Geon-Chel;Jang, Jae Nam
    • Journal of Distribution Research
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    • v.17 no.5
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    • pp.1-23
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    • 2012
  • The conflict between major corporations and small and medium-sized businesses is being aggravated, the trickle down effect is not working properly, and, as the controversy surrounding the effectiveness of the business limiting system continues to swirl, the plan proposed to protect the business domain of small and medium-sized businesses, resolve polarization between these businesses and large corporations, and protect small family run stores is the suitable business type designation system for small and medium-sized businesses. The current status of carrying out this system of selecting suitable business types among small and medium-sized businesses involves receiving applications for 234 items among the suitable business types and items from small and medium-sized businesses in manufacturing, and then selecting the items of the consultative group by analyzing and investigating the actual conditions. Suitable business type designation in the service industry will involve designation with priority on business types that are experiencing social conflict. Three major classifications of the service industry, related to the livelihood of small and medium-sized businesses, will be first designated, and subsequently this will be expanded sequentially. However, there is the concern that when designated as a suitable business type or item, this will hinder the growth motive for small to medium-sized businesses, and designation all cause decrease in consumer welfare. Also it is highly likely that it will operate as a prior regulation, cause side-effects by limiting competition systematically, and also be in violation against the main regulations of the FTA system. Moreover, it is pointed out that the system does not sufficiently reflect reverse discrimination factor against large corporations. Because conflict between small to medium sized businesses and large corporations results from the expansion of corporations to the service industry, which is unrelated to their key industry, it is necessary to introduce an advanced contract method like a master franchise or local franchise system and to develop local small to medium sized businesses through a franchise system to protect these businesses and dealers. However, this method may have an effect that contributes to stronger competitiveness of small to medium sized franchise businesses by advancing their competitiveness and operational methods a step further, but also has many negative aspects. First, as revealed by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the franchise industry is contributing to the strengthening of competitiveness through the economy of scale by organizing existing individual proprietors and increasing the success rate of new businesses. It is also revealed to be a response measure by the government to stabilize the economy of ordinary people and is emphasized as a 'useful way' to revitalize the service industry and improve the competitiveness of individual proprietors, and has been involved in contributions to creating jobs and expanding the domestic market by providing various services to consumers. From this viewpoint, franchises fit the purpose of the suitable business type system and is not something that is against it. Second, designation as a suitable business type may decrease investment for overseas expansion, R&D, and food safety, as well negatively affect the expansion of overseas corporations that have entered the domestic market, due to the contraction and low morale of large domestic franchise corporations that have competitiveness internationally. Also because domestic franchise businesses are hard pressed to secure competitiveness with multinational overseas franchise corporations that are operating in Korea, the system may cause difficulty for domestic franchise businesses in securing international competitiveness and also may result in reverse discrimination against these overseas franchise corporations. Third, the designation of suitable business type and item can limit the opportunity of selection for consumers who have up to now used those products and can cause a negative effect that reduces consumer welfare. Also, because there is the possibility that the range of consumer selection may be reduced when a few small to medium size businesses monopolize the market, by causing reverse discrimination between these businesses, the role of determining the utility of products must be left ot the consumer not the government. Lastly, it is desirable that this is carried out with the supplementation of deficient parts in the future, because fair trade is already secured with the enforcement of the franchise trade law and the best trade standard of the Fair Trade Commission. Overlapping regulations by the suitable business type designation is an excessive restriction in the franchise industry. Now, it is necessary to establish in the domestic franchise industry an environment where a global franchise corporation, which spreads Korean culture around the world, is capable of growing, and the active support by the government is needed. Therefore, systems that do not consider the process or background of the growth of franchise businesses and harm these businesses for the sole reason of them being large corporations must be removed. The inhibition of growth to franchise enterprises may decrease the sales of franchise stores, in some cases even bankrupt them, as well as cause other problems. Therefore the suitable business type system should not hinder large corporations, and as both small dealers and small to medium size businesses both aim at improving competitiveness and combined growth, large corporations, small dealers and small to medium sized businesses, based on their mutual cooperation, should not include franchise corporations that continue business relations with them in this system.

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Prediction of fertilizer demands up to the year of 2,000 from agronomic view points - Review and Discussion - (농경학적(農耕學的) 입장(立場)에서 본 서기(西紀) 2,000년(年)까지의 비료수요(肥料需要) 전망(展望) - 종합고찰(綜合考察) -)

  • Hong, Chong-Woon;Shin, Yong-Hwa
    • Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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    • v.9 no.3
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    • pp.211-220
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    • 1976
  • The objective of this paper is to summarize and disicuss the results of studies for the prediction of fertilizer demands up to the year of 2000, from the agromic biew points. 1. The approximated demands of fertilizers figured out from the view point of nutrient requirement and fertilizer efficiency of major crops are 1,162,000M/T (N;554,100 M/T, $P_2O_5$; 360,100 M/T and $K_2O$, 247,000 M/T) at 1980, 1,471,400 M/T (N: 694,800 M/T, $P_2O_5$;465,400M/T and $K_2O$ ;311,200 M/T) at 1990 and 1,764,00 M/T (N;812,500 M/T, $P_2O_5$; 592,300 M/T and $K_2O$;359,200 M/T) at 2000${\cdots}{\cdots}$ (Approximation I) 2. Upon the basis of approximation on the yield levels of major crops per unit area and on the expansion of arable land, the demands of fertilizers at the years of 1980, 1990 and 2000 are predicted as 1,149,300 M/T (N;603,700 M/T $P_2O_5$; 305,500 M/T and $K_2O$, 240,100 M/T) 1,551,100 M/T(N:814,700M/T, $P_2O_5$;412,300 M/T and $K_2O$;324,00 M/T) and 2,253,800 M/T (N;1,183,800M/T, $P_2O_5$; 586,400M/T and $K_2O$, 470,900 M/T), respectively${\cdots}{\cdots}$(Approximation II) 3. When the recent relationships between the increases in yeid of major crops and the amounts of fertilizers for those crops per unit area are brought into consideration for the estimation of future demands of fertilizers, the predicted demands at the years of 1980, 1990 and 2000 are 1,287.600 M/T (N;677,100 M/T, $P_2O_5$; 342,000 M/T, and $K_2O$;268,500 M/T), 2,085,600M/T (N;1,096,700 M/T, $P_2O_5$;533,900 M/T, and $K_2O$;435,000 M/T and 3,380,600 M/T (N;1,777,800M/T, $P_2O_5$;897,800M/T and $K_2O$;705,000M/T) respectively (Approximation III) 4. Approximation I will be closer estimate under such condition that only rice will maintain self suficiency and other food crops will be covered by domestic production by around 50 percent, which is not desirable situation. 5. When higher self suficiency leveles of major food crops are sought through the introduction of improved varieties and expansion of cropping area and arable land by increased land utilization and reclamation of hillside land and tidal land, the Approximations II and III will become close to reality, If improved fertilizers and improved method of fertilizer applications are widely applied at the farmers fields to increase the fertilizer efficiency the former will be closer figure, if not, the latter may be better estimates.

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