• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.149-175
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• 2009

The purpose of this research is to analyze the overall problems at the moment of October 2008, and then to find the improvements of home-help services of the Long-Term Care Insurance(LTCI), which has been revealed many problems since it was released in July 2008. The research uses the literature survey which analyzes 2nd-hand materials studied by other people already, and survey research was executed from active social workers in the area of LTCI. Based on the policy analysis framework of Gilbert and Specht, all the data are analyzed in the scopes of client·benefit(service)·finance·transferring system. This research has found the problems in each scope of home-help services of the LTCI. Firstly, the client system has some problems in mismatching between registered and service clients, estimating client number, and judging service levels. Secondly, the service system reveals deficiency in professionality of social workers, service quality lowering by loose qualification criteria on workers, non-reasonable limitation of service time available, and the same fare system applied to visiting-help service in spite of different levels. Thirdly, in financing system, clients need to pay additional money to get extra services such as meal, hair cutting, bathing etc., due to government financial support stopped, some organizations have to reduce services and replace full-time workers to part-time ones, which makes the service quality worse. Lastly, in the transferring system, the management system for service quality is not well prepared. There are too much competion because of allowing too many home-help service organizations and care worker academies. The suggestions that this research has found to improve the policy are as follows. ① It is desirable to make the registered clients the service ones as many as possible in the long term perspective. ② The LTCI organization requires more workers and higher professionality. ③ Many elderly people who are not eligible now require connection system to be more served. ④ Management system and service manual for care worker are to be developed. ⑤ Laws related to the service contents and process should be modified, the proportion of client charge needs to adjust. ⑥ Home-help service organization licensed by the LTCI needs to be financially supported publicly. ⑦ Monitoring system to home-help service organization needs to be strengthened. ⑧ Evaluation tools to home-help service organization and workers is required. ⑨ Specification to open the home-help service organization needs to be more strict.

• 한국노년학
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.1359-1375
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• 2010

Expecting the expansion of the elderly population under long-term home care with the coming of the aged society, this study purposed to propose a prevention and self-reliance support model and to get practical implications for minimizing dependency on care benefits and enhancing the effectiveness of prevention and self-reliance support. Research methods employed for this study were: first, reviewing theoretical literature for clarifying the concept of prevention and self-reliance support in providing long-term care benefits for the elderly; second, identifying factors hindering prevention and self-reliance support through analyzing standard long-term care use plans and documents related to long-term care benefits at elderly welfare centers to which the research subjects belonged; and third, surveying care benefit users on factors hindering their use of prevention and self-reliance support and their needs in the use of care benefits. Based on the results of the three types of qualitative research, we proposed directions for prevention and self-reliance support modeling and suggested practical implications for enhancing the effectiveness of prevention and self-reliance support. For this study, we collected documentary materials and conducted in-depth interviews with the participants with the consents and cooperation of managers and professional social workers at day care centers and elderly welfare centers in D City. According to the results of this study, literature review suggested that long-term care prevention and self-reliance support should be provided in a way of 'strengthening user-centered support systems,' which support elderly long-term care beneficiaries' right to lead a life as the subject of their own life. Document analysis found the absence of benefits related to health and medicine and lack of social support systems for prevention and self-reliance support, and the results of in-depth interviews suggested the necessity to strengthen services related to elderly long-term care beneficiaries' prevention and self-reliance, and the keen needs of the long-term care elders for prevention and self-reliance included: ① loneliness, anxiety, fear; ② missing for and worry about children and people; ③ moving, outing; ④ health and medical services, rehabilitation programs; ⑤ desire to use day care; ⑥ inconvenience of house structure; ⑦desire for meal menus; and ⑧ the occurrence of disuse syndrome. Based on these results, we suggested the base of prevention and self-reliance support modeling with three axes: ① strengthening user-centered support systems; ② strengthening support systems connected to health and medicine; and ③ strengthening social support systems.

• 한국노년학
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.467-484
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to explore latent classes of longitudinal medical expenses of older people and to analyze its predictors and its effects on subjective health. Among participants of the Korean Health Panel, the sample of this study includes 1,119 people who is 65-year-old or older and reported their medical expenses for nine consecutive years. The analyses were conducted in three steps. First, Growth Mixture Model (GMM) was applied to find distinct subgroups showing similar patterns in medical expenses. The results showed four groups which were classified as high medical expenditure maintenance group, medical expenditure increase group, low medical expenditure maintenance group, and medical expenditure reduction group. Second, the multinominal logistic regression found that the presence of spouse, economic participation, the number of chronic diseases, and the type of health insurance were significant predictors of latent classes in medical expenses. In particular, the greater the number of chronic diseases, the higher the likelihood of belonging to the high medical expenditure maintenance group. In addition, medical benefit recipients are more likely to belong to the low medical cost maintenance and medical cost reduction groups. Third, multiple regression analysis revealed that the older people in the groups with low or reducing expenses reported better subjective health than people with higher expenses. This study has its meanings in exploring the heterogeneity in longitudinal medical expenses among older people and its predictors and its associations with health outcome. The results of this research provide background information in establishing public health policy for older people.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.78-86
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• 2024

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the specialty hospital system by comparing the medical use of inpatients who had artificial joint replacement surgery in specialty hospitals and non-specialty hospitals. Methods: This study utilized 2021-2022 healthcare benefit claims data provided by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. The dependent variable is inpatient medical use which is measured in terms of charges per case and length of stay. The independent variable was whether the hospital was designated as a specialty hospital, and the control variables were patient-level variables (age, gender, insurer type, surgery type, and Charlson comorbidity index) and medical institution-level variables (establishment type, classification, location, number of orthopedic surgeons, and number of nurses). Results: The results of the multiple regression analysis between charges per case and whether a hospital is designated as a specialty hospital showed a statistically significant negative relationship between charges per case and whether a hospital is designated as a specialty hospital. This suggests a significant low in charges per case when a hospital is designated as a specialty hospital compared to a non-specialty hospital, indicating that there is a difference in medical use outcomes between specialty hospitals and non-specialty hospitals inpatients. Conclusion: The practical implications of this study are as follows. First, the criteria for designating specialty hospitals should be alleviated. In our study, the results show that specialty hospitals have significantly lower per-case costs than non-specialty hospitals. Despite the cost-effectiveness of specialty hospitals, the high barriers to be designated for specialty hospitals have gathered the specialty hospitals in metropolitan and major cities. To address the regional imbalance of specialty hospitals, it is believed that ease the criteria for designating specialty hospitals in non-metropolitan areas, such as introducing "semi-specialty hospitals (tentative name)," will lead to a reduction in health disparities between regions and reduce medical costs. Second, it is necessary to determine the appropriateness of the size of hospitals' medical staff. The study found that the number of orthopedic surgeons and nurses varied in charges per case. Therefore, it is believed that appropriately allocating hospital medical staff can maximize the cost-effectiveness of medical services and ultimately reduce medical costs.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.209-237
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• 2012

1. Research Purpose Consumers rely on various clues to evaluate their decision to patronize a retail store, and store brand is one of them (Dodds 1991; Grewal et al. 1998). As consumers find ever increasing variety of contact points connecting them to specific store, the value of experiential shopping as a means of increasing store's brand equity warrants greater attention from scholars of retail management. Retail shopping values are credited for creating not only cognitive experiences like brand knowledge but also emotional experiences such as shopping pleasure and pride (Schmitt 1999). This may be because today's consumers place emphasis on emotional values associated with shopping pleasure, lifestyle brought to life, brand relationship, and store atmosphere more than utilitarian values such as product quality and price. Many previous literature found this to be true (Ahn and Lee 2011; Mathwick et al. 2001). This brings forth important research issues and questions regarding the roles of shopping experiential values and brand equity with regard to consumer's retail patronage choice. However, despite this importance, research on this area remains quite inadequate (Hwang 2010). For this reason, this study aims to verify the relationships among experiential shopping values, retail store brand equity and tries to link that with customer loyalty by surveying large-scale discount store shoppers in Korea and China. 2. Research Contents In order to carry out the research objective, this study conducted comprehensive literature survey on previous literature by discussing major findings and implications with regard to shopping values and retail brand equity and store loyalty. For data collection, researcher employed survey-based research method where data were collected in two major cities of Korea (Seoul) and China (Bejing) and sampling frame was based on patrons of large discount stores in both countries. Specific research questions raised in this study are as follows; RQ1: How do Korean and Chinese consumers differently perceive of shopping values regarding shopping at large-sclae discount stores? RQ2: Are there differences in consumers' emotional consumption propensities? RQ3: Do Korean and Chinese consumers display different perceptions of brand equity towards large-scale discount stores? RQ4: Are there differences in relationships between shopping values and brand equity for Korean and Chinese consumers? For statistical analysis, SPSS17.0, AMOS17.0 and SmartPLS were employed. 3. Research Results The data collected through face-to-face survey conducted in Seoul and Bejing revealed appropriate data validity and reliability as a result of exploratory/confirmatory factor analysis and reliability tests, andh SEM model yielding satisfactory model fitness. The result of the study may be summarized by three main points. First, as a result of testing differences in consumption dispositions, Chinese consumers showed higher scores in aesthetic and symbolic dispositions, whereas Korean consumers scored higher in hedonic disposition. Second, testing on perceptions toward brand equity of large discount stores showed that Korean consumers exhibited more positive perceptions of brand awareness and brand image than Chinese counterparts. Third, the result of exploratory factor analysis on the experiential shopping values revealed different factors for each country. On Korean side, consumer interest value, aesthetic value, and hedonic value were prominent, whereas on Chinese side, hedonic value, aesthetic value, consumer interest value, and service excellence value were found salient. 4. Research Implications While many previous studies on inter-country differences in retailing area mainly focused on cultural dispositions or orientations to explain the differences, this study sets itself apart by specifically targeting individual consumer's shopping values from an experiential viewpoint. The study result provides important theoretical as well as practical implications for large-scale discount store, especially the impotance of fully exploring the linkage between shopping values and brand equity, which has significant influence on loyalty. Therefore, the specific implications deriving from the result shed some important insights upon the consumption values based on shopping experiences and brand equity. The differences found in store shoppers between the two countries may also provide useful insights for Korean and Chinese retailers who plan to expand their operations globally. Related strategic implications derived from this study is the importance of localizing retail strategy which is based on the differences found in experiential shopping values between the two country groups. Especially the finding that Chinese consumers value consumer interest and service excellence, whereas Koreans place importance on hedonic or aesthetic values indicates the need to differentiate the consumer's psychographical profiles when it comes to expanding retail operations globally. Particularly important will be to pursue price-orienated strategy in China in consideration of the high emphasis on consumer interests and service excellence, but to emphasize the symbolic aspects of brand equity in Korea by maximizing the brand equity associated with aesthetic values and hedonic orientations. 5. Recommendations This study focused on generic retail branded discount stores in both countries, thus making it difficult to tease out store-specific strategies based on specific retail brands. Future studies may benefit fro employing actual brand names in survey questionnaire to verify relationship between shopping values and brand-based store strategy. As with other studies of this nature, this study needs to strengthen the result's generalizability by selecting respondents from a wider spectrum of respondents.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.139-161
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• 2009

The idea of establishing an International Court of Air and Space Law (hereinafter referred to ICASL) is only my academic and practical opinion as first proposal in the global community. The establishment of the International Court of Air and Space Law can promote the speed and promote fairness of the trial in air and space law cases. The creation of an ICASL would lead to strengthening of the international cooperation deemed essential by the global community towards joint settlement in the transnational air and space cases, claims and would act as a catalyst for the efforts and solution on aircraft, satellite and space shuttle's accidents and cases and all manpower, information, trial and lawsuit to be centrally managed in an independent fashion to the benefit of global community. The aircraft, satellite and spacecraft's accidents attributes to the particular and different features between the road, railway and maritime's accidents. These aircraft, satellite and spacecraft's accidents have incurred many disputes between the victims and the air and space carriers in deciding on the limited or unlimited liability for compensation and the appraisal of damages caused by the aircraft's accidents, terror attack, satellite, space shuttle's accidents and space debris. This International Court of Air and Space Law could hear any claim growing out of both international air and space crash accidents and transnational accidents in which plaintiffs and defendants are from different nations. This alternative would eliminate the lack of uniformity of decisions under the air and space conventions, protocols and agreements. In addition, national courts would no longer have to apply their own choice of law analysis in choosing the applicable liability limits or un-limit for cases that do not fall under the air and space system. Thus, creation of an International Court of Air and Space Law would eliminate any disparity of damage awards among similarly situated passengers and shippers in nonmembers of air and space conventions, protocols, agreements and cases. Furthermore, I would like to explain the main items of the abovementioned Draft for the Convention or Statute of the International Court of Air and Space Law framed in comparison with the Statute of the International Court of Justice, the Statue of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the Statute of the International Criminal Court. First of all, in order to create the International Court of Air and Space Law, it is necessary for us to legislate a Draft for the Convention on the Establishment of the International Court of Air and Space Law. This Draft for the Convention must include the elected method of judges, term, duty and competence of judge, chambers, jurisdiction, hearing and judgment of the ICASL. The members of the Court shall be elected by the General Assembly and Council of the ICAO and by the General Assembly and Legal Committee of the UNCOPUOS from a list of persons nominated by the national groups in the six continent (the North American, South American, African, Oceania and Asian Continent) and two international organization such as ICAO and UNCOPUOS. The members of the Court shall be elected for nine years and may be re-elected as one time. However, I would like to propose a creation an International Court of Air and Space Law in extending jurisdiction to the International Court of Justice at the Hague to in order to decide the air and space convention‘s cases. My personal opinion is that if an International Court on Air and Space Law will be created in future, it will be settled quickly and reasonably the difficulty and complicated disputes, cases or lawsuit between the wrongdoer and victims and the injured person caused by aircraft, satellite, spacecraft's accidents or hijacker and terrorists etc. on account of deciding the standard of judgment by judges of that’s court. It is indeed a great necessary and desirable for us to make a new Draft for the Convention on a creation of the International Court of Air and Space Law to handle international air and space crash litigation. I shall propose to make a new brief Draft for the Convention on the Creation of an International Court of Air and Space Law in the near future.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.115-132
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• 2008

Metal industry is one of the most representative heavy industries and the median sales volume of steel and nonferrous metal companies is over one billion dollars in the case America [Forbes 2006]. As seen in the recent business market situation, an increasing number of industrial manufacturers and suppliers are moving from adversarial to cooperative exchange attitudes that support the long-term relationships with their customers. This article presents the results of an empirical study of the antecedent factors of business relationships in metal industry of the United States. Commitment has been reviewed as a significant and critical variable in research on inter-organizational relationships (Hong et al. 2007, Kim et al. 2007). The future stability of any buyer-seller relationship depends upon the commitment made by the interactants to their relationship. Commitment, according to Dwyer et al. [1987], refers to "an implicit or explicit pledge of relational continuity between exchange partners" and they consider commitment to be the most advanced phase of buyer-seller exchange relationship. Bonds are made because the members need their partners in order to do something and this integration on a task basis can be either symbiotic or cooperative (Svensson 2008). To the extent that members seek the same or mutually supporting ends, there will be strong bonds among them. In other words, the principle that affects the strength of bonds is 'economy of decision making' [Turner 1970]. These bonds provide an important idea to study the causes of business long-term relationships in a sense that organizations can be mutually bonded by a common interest in the economic matters. Recently, the framework of structural bonding has been used to study the buyer-seller relationships in industrial marketing [Han and Sung 2008, Williams et al. 1998, Wilson 1995] in that this structural bonding is a crucial part of the theoretical justification for distinguishing discrete transactions from ongoing long-term relationships. The major antecedent factors of buyer commitment such as technology, CLalt, transaction-specific assets, and importance were identified and explored from the perspective of structural bonding. Research hypotheses were developed and tested by using survey data from the middle managers in the metal industry. H1: Level of technology of the relationship partner is positively related to the level of structural bonding between the buyer and the seller. H2: Comparison level of alternatives is negatively related to the level of structural bonding between the buyer and the seller. H3: Amount of the transaction-specific assets is positively related to the level of structural bonding between the buyer and the seller. H4: Importance of the relationship partner is positively related to the level of structural bonding between the buyer and the seller. H5: Level of structural bonding is positively related to the level of commitment to the relationship. To examine the major antecedent factors of industrial buyer's structural bonding and long-term relationship, questionnaire was prepared, mailed out to the sample of 400 purchasing managers of the US metal industry (SIC codes 33 and 34). After a follow-up request, 139 informants returnedthe questionnaires, resulting in a response rate of 35 percent. 134 responses were used in the final analysis after dropping 5 incomplete questionnaires. All measures were analyzed for reliability and validity following the guidelines offered by Churchill [1979] and Anderson and Gerbing [1988]., the results of fitting the model to the data indicated that the hypothesized model provides a good fit to the data. Goodness-of-fit index (GFI = 0.94) and other indices ( chi-square = 78.02 with p-value = 0.13, Adjusted GFI = 0.90, Normed Fit Index = 0.92) indicated that a major proportion of variances and covariances in the data was accounted for by the model as a whole, and all the parameter estimates showed statistical significance as evidenced by large t-values. All the factor loadings were significantly different from zero. On these grounds we judged the hypothesized model to be a reasonable representation of the data. The results from the present study suggest several implications for buyer-seller relationships. Theoretically, we attempted to conceptualize the antecedent factors of buyer-seller long-term relationships from the perspective of structural bondingin metal industry. The four underlying determinants (i.e. technology, CLalt, transaction-specific assets, and importance) of structural bonding are very critical variables of buyer-seller long-term business relationships. Our model of structural bonding makes an attempt to systematically examine the relationship between the antecedent factors of structural bonding and long-term commitment. Managerially, this research provides industrial purchasing managers with a good framework to assess the interaction processes with their partners and, ability to position their business relationships from the perspective of structural bonding. In other words, based on those underlying variables, industrial purchasing managers can determine the strength of the company's relationships with the key suppliers and its state of preparation to be a successful partner with those suppliers. Both the supplying and customer companies can also benefit by using the concept of 'structural bonding' and evaluating their relationships with key business partners from the structural point of view. In general, the results indicate that structural bonding gives a critical impact on the level of relationship commitment. Managerial implications and limitations of the study are also discussed.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.82-93
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• 2003

Purpose : To reduce the Irradiation dose to the lungs and heart in the case of chest wail irradiation using an oppositional electron beam, we used an Individualized custom bolus, which was precisely designed to compensate for the differences In chest wall thickness. The benefits were evaluated by comparing the normal tissue complication probablilties (NTCPS) and dose statistics both with and without boluses. Materials and Methods : Boluses were made, and their effects evaluated in ten patients treated using the reverse hockey-stick technique. The electron beam energy was determined so as to administer 80% of the irradiation prescription dose to the deepest lung-chest wall border, which was usually located at the internal mammary lymph node chain. An individualized custom bolus was prepared to compensate for a chest wall thinner than the prescription depth by meticulously measuring the chest wall thickness at 1 emf intervals on the planning CT Images. A second planning CT was obtained overlying the individuailzed custom bolus for each patient's chest wall. 3-D treatment planning was peformed using ADAC-Pinnacle$^{3}$ for all patients with and without bolus. NTCPS based on 'the Lyman-Kutcher' model were analyzed and the mean, maximum, minimum doses, V$_{50}$ and V$_{95}$ for 4he heari and lungs were computed. Results .The average NTCPS in the ipsliateral lung showed a statistically significant reduction (p<0.01), from 80.2${\pm}$3.43% to 47.7${\pm}$4.61%, with the use of the individualized custom boluses. The mean lung irradiation dose to the ipsilateral iung was also significantly reduced by about 430 cGy, Trom 2757 cGy to 2,327 cGy (p<0.01). The V$_{50}$ and V$_{95}$ in the ipsilateral lung markedly decreased from the averages of 54.5 and 17.4% to 45.3 and 11.0%, respectively. The V$_{50}$ and V$_{95}$ In the heart also decreased from the averages of 16.8 and 6.1% to 9.8% and 2.2%, respectively. The NTCP In the contralateral lung and the heart were 0%, even for the cases with no bolus because of the small effective mean radiation volume values of 4.4 and 7.1%, respectively Conclusion : The use of an Individualized custom bolus in the radiotherapy of postrnastectorny chest wall reduced the NTCP of the ipsilateral lung by about 24.5 to 40.5%, which can improve the complication free cure probability of breast cancer patients.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.311-323
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• 1998

Purpose : Prospective, single arm, Phase I/II clinical trial was performed to assess the efficacy and toxicity of the concurrent chemotherapy and definitive radiotherapy (RT) in patients with previously untreated locally advanced carcinoma of the uterine cervix. Methods and Materials : From Mar 1992 to January 1997, a total of 73 patients with advanced cervical carcinoma were entered on the protocol but 5 patients were excluded in analysis because of patients' refusal of treatment. Their ages ranged from 31 to 77 years, median 58 years. The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage distribution was as follows: IIB 46, IIIA 2, IIIB 15 and IVA 5. RT consisted of external beam irradiation to 4,140-5,040 cGy/23-28 fractions plus high dose rate intracavitary treatments to deliver a dose of 30-35 Gy to point A in 6-7 fractions. During the intracavitary treatments parametrial boost was delivered for point B dose of 60 Gy in stage IIB and 65 Gy in stage IIIB. Two cycles of concurrent 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin (FP) chemotherapy (5-fluorouracil 1,000 mg/$m^2$/day continuous infusion for 4 days, day 1-4, 29-32 and cisplatin 20 mg/$m^2$/day intravenous bolus for 3 days day 1-3, 29-31) administered starting on day 1 of RT. Results : The median follow-up was 24 months (range 4-68+). Sixty-four patients were evaluable for survival rate in this protocol: The 5-year actuarial and disease-free survival rate were 52$\%$ and 64$\%$, respectively. The 5-rear actuarial survival for stage IIB and III+IVA patients were 58$\%$ and 36$\%$, respectively The 5-year disease-free survival rate for stage IIB and III+IVA patients were 71$\%$ and 40$\%$, respectively. Of the 68 patients evaluated for patterns of failure, overall recurrence rate was 27.9$\%$ (19/68) : local failure in 5.9$\%$ (4/68), distant metastasis in 10.3$\%$ (7/68) and both in 11.8$\%$ (8/68). Of the 64 patients evaluated for response at one month after the completion of treatment the complete response rate was 78$\%$ (50/64). Concurrent chemoradiation appear to be a well-tolerated regimen but there were two treatment-related deaths. Conclusion : Concurrent chemotherapy of FP with high-dose definitive RT in locally advanced carcinoma of the uterine cervix is feasible and effective with acceptable toxicities. This chemoradiation regimen may offer a modest survival benefit for advanced stage. Further follow-up of these patients will evaluate the impact of this regimen on the long-term local control and their survival.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.239-248
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• 2010

This paper describes a collaborative project between academia and industry which focused on improving the marketing and product development strategies for two private label apparel brands of a large regional department store chain in the southeastern United States. The goal of the project was to revitalize product lines of the two brands by incorporating student ideas for new solutions, thereby giving the students practical experience with a real-life industry situation. There were a number of key players involved in the project. A privately-owned department store chain based in the southeastern United States which was seeking an academic partner had recognized a need to update two existing private label brands. They targeted middle-aged consumers looking for casual, moderately priced merchandise. The company was seeking to change direction with both packaging and presentation, and possibly product design. The branding and product development divisions of the company contacted professors in an academic department of a large southeastern state university. Two of the professors agreed that the task would be a good fit for their classes - one was a junior-level Intermediate Brand Management class; the other was a senior-level Fashion Product Development class. The professors felt that by working collaboratively on the project, students would be exposed to a real world scenario, within the security of an academic learning environment. Collaboration within an interdisciplinary team has the advantage of providing experiences and resources beyond the capabilities of a single student and adds "brainpower" to problem-solving processes (Lowman 2000). This goal of improving the capabilities of students directed the instructors in each class to form interdisciplinary teams between the Branding and Product Development classes. In addition, many universities are employing industry partnerships in research and teaching, where collaboration within temporal (semester) and physical (classroom/lab) constraints help to increase students' knowledge and experience of a real-world situation. At the University of Tennessee, the Center of Industrial Services and UT-Knoxville's College of Engineering worked with a company to develop design improvements in its U.S. operations. In this study, Because should be lower case b with a private label retail brand, Wickett, Gaskill and Damhorst's (1999) revised Retail Apparel Product Development Model was used by the product development and brand management teams. This framework was chosen because it addresses apparel product development from the concept to the retail stage. Two classes were involved in this project: a junior level Brand Management class and a senior level Fashion Product Development class. Seven teams were formed which included four students from Brand Management and two students from Product Development. The classes were taught the same semester, but not at the same time. At the beginning of the semester, each class was introduced to the industry partner and given the problem. Half the teams were assigned to the men's brand and half to the women's brand. The teams were responsible for devising approaches to the problem, formulating a timeline for their work, staying in touch with industry representatives and making sure that each member of the team contributed in a positive way. The objective for the teams was to plan, develop, and present a product line using merchandising processes (following the Wickett, Gaskill and Damhorst model) and develop new branding strategies for the proposed lines. The teams performed trend, color, fabrication and target market research; developed sketches for a line; edited the sketches and presented their line plans; wrote specifications; fitted prototypes on fit models, and developed final production samples for presentation to industry. The branding students developed a SWOT analysis, a Brand Measurement report, a mind-map for the brands and a fully integrated Marketing Report which was presented alongside the ideas for the new lines. In future if the opportunity arises to work in this collaborative way with an existing company who wishes to look both at branding and product development strategies, classes will be scheduled at the same time so that students have more time to meet and discuss timelines and assigned tasks. As it was, student groups had to meet outside of each class time and this proved to be a challenging though not uncommon part of teamwork (Pfaff and Huddleston, 2003). Although the logistics of this exercise were time-consuming to set up and administer, professors felt that the benefits to students were multiple. The most important benefit, according to student feedback from both classes, was the opportunity to work with industry professionals, follow their process, and see the results of their work evaluated by the people who made the decisions at the company level. Faculty members were grateful to have a "real-world" case to work with in the classroom to provide focus. Creative ideas and strategies were traded as plans were made, extending and strengthening the departmental links be tween the branding and product development areas. By working not only with students coming from a different knowledge base, but also having to keep in contact with the industry partner and follow the framework and timeline of industry practice, student teams were challenged to produce excellent and innovative work under new circumstances. Working on the product development and branding for "real-life" brands that are struggling gave students an opportunity to see how closely their coursework ties in with the real-world and how creativity, collaboration and flexibility are necessary components of both the design and business aspects of company operations. Industry personnel were impressed by (a) the level and depth of knowledge and execution in the student projects, and (b) the creativity of new ideas for the brands.