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An Analytic Case Study on the Management of an Upper-level General Hospital(2010-2012)

  • Park, Hyun-Suk;Lee, Jung-Min;Baek, Hong-Suck;Lee, Jun-Ho;Park, Sang-Sub
    • Journal of Korean Clinical Health Science
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.1-16
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    • 2014
  • Purpose. For a more efficient hospital management, this study aims to provide basic data so that the hospital management and staff in charge of hospital administration may systematically classify and collect hospital information, by analyzing the ordinary characters of an upper-level general hospital system and its common-type balance sheet, common-type profit and loss statement and financial ratio. Methods. By using information about an upper-level general hospital in C Province, provided by Alio(www.alio.go.kr), a public organization information provision site, Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service(www.hira.or.kr) and Ministry of Health and Welfare(www.mw.go.kr), this study analyzed 3 year's data from 2010 to 2012 and provided basic data by analyzing the ordinary characters of an upper-level general hospital system, and its common-type balance sheet, common-type profit and loss statement and financial ratio. Results. After analyzing the ordinary characters, common-type balance sheet, common-type proft and loss statement and financial ration of this general hospital, based on the 2010 to 2012 data, this study came to the following conclusions. Firstly, out of all the 1,069 hospital staff, there were 272 doctors working for 24 medical departments, out of whom the majority was 33 physicians. Most of the nurses were third-class ones, and about 2,000 outpatients and 600 inpatients on average were treated per day. Secondly, as a result of analyzing the common-type balance sheet, this study discovered that intangible assets out of fixed assets accounted for 41%, the majority, out of which usable and profitable donation asset buildings were of great importance, and the liquid assets increased more in 2012 than 2011. In the financial structure, the ratio of liquid liabilities was over 50% out of all the liabilities in 2012, and the ratio of purchase payables was high as well. The ratio of fixed liabilities reached up to 40%, out of which the retirement benefit appropriation fund was quite high. The capital was over 80%, but the surplus was in a deficit state. Compared to the capital, the ratio of total liabilities was about 90%, which indicates the financial structure of this general hospital was vulnerable. Thirdly, as a result of analyzing the common-type profit and loss statement, this study found out that the medical profits from inpatients were higher than profits from outpatients. The material cost was related to the medical quality of this general hospital, and it was as high as 30% out of the total costs and was about 45% of the labor cost. This general hospital showed 10% in the ratio of non-medical profits, and it seemed because of government subsidies. The ratios of medical profits and current net income were gradually changing for the better in 2012, compared to 2011. Lastly, as a result of analyzing the financial ratio, it was found that the liquidity ratio kept decreasing, from 110.7% in 2010 and 102.0% in 2011 to 77.2% in 2012. Besides, it was analyzed that the liquidity ratio and the net working capital ratio greatly decreased, while the quick ratio and the liquid ratio kept decreasing. Conclusions. 1. It is necessary to take the risk management into more consideration, and particularly, it is needed to differentiate and manage the levels of risk in detail. 2. By considering the fact that investments into hospital infrastructures were mostly based on liabilities, it is needed to deal with the scale of losses when evaluating risks. 3. By reflecting the character that investments into hospital infrastructures were based on liabilities, it is necessary to consider the ratio of ordinary profits as well as the ratio of operating profits to sales, and it is also important to consider sales productivity factors, such as the sales amount per a sickbed, by comparing them with other hospitals. As for limitations of this study, there may be some problems in terms of data interpretation because of the lack of information about the number of inpatients and the number of outpatients per year, which are needed for the break-even point analysis. Besides, to suggest a direction for the improvement of hospital management through analyses, non-financial factors should be reflected, such as the trend of economy, medical policies, and politic backgrounds. However, this study only focused on the common-type balance sheet, common-type profit and loss statement and financial ratio, so this study is actually limited to generalizing all the factors by analyzing public data only.

A Study on Netwotk Effect by using System Dynamics Analysis: A Case of Cyworld (시스템 다이내믹스 기법을 이용한 네트워크 효과 분석: 싸이월드 사례)

  • Kim, Ga-Hye;Yang, Hee-Dong
    • Information Systems Review
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    • v.11 no.1
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    • pp.161-179
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    • 2009
  • Nowadays an increasing number of Internet users are running individual websites as Blog or Cyworld. As this type of personal media has a great influence on communication among people, business comes to care about Network Effect, Network Software, and Social Network. For instance, Cyworld created the web service called 'Minihompy' for individual web-logs, and acquired 2.4milion users in 2007. Although many people assumed that the popularity of Minihompy, or Blog would be a passing fad, Cyworld has improved its service, and expanded its Network with various contents. This kind of expansion reflects survival efforts from infinite competitions among ISPs (Internet Service Provider) with focus on enhancing usability to users. However, Cyworld's Network Effect is gradually diminished in these days. Both of low production cost of service vendors and the low searching/conversing costs of users combine to make ISPs hard to keep their market share sustainable. To overcome this lackluster trend, Cyworld has adopted new strategies and try to lock their users in their service. Various efforts to improve the continuance and expansion of Network effect remain unclear and uncertain. If we understand beforehand how a service would improve Network effect, and which service could bring more effect, ISPs can get substantial help in launching their new business strategy. Regardless many diverse ideas to increase their user's duration online ISPs cannot guarantee 'how the new service strategies will end up in profitability. Therefore, this research studies about Network effect of Cyworld's 'Minihompy' using System-Dynamics method which could analyze dynamic relation between users and ISPs. Furthermore, the research aims to predict changes of Network Effect based on the strategy of new service. 'Page View' and 'Duration Time' can be enhanced for the short tenn because they enhance the service functionality. However, these services cannot increase the Network in the long-run. Limitations of this research include that we predict the future merely based on the limited data. We also limit the independent variables over Network Effect only to the following two issues: Increasing the number of users and increasing the Service Functionality. Despite of some limitations, this study perhaps gives some insights to the policy makers or others facing the stiff competition in the network business.

A Study on the Impact of Employee's Person-Environment Fit and Information Systems Acceptance Factors on Performance: The Mediating Role of Social Capital (조직구성원의 개인-환경적합성과 정보시스템 수용요인이 성과에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구: 사회자본의 매개역할)

  • Heo, Myung-Sook;Cheon, Myun-Joong
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.19 no.2
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    • pp.1-42
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    • 2009
  • In a knowledge-based society, a firm's intellectual capital represents the wealth of ideas and ability to innovate, which are indispensable elements for the future growth. Therefore, the intellectual capital is evidently recognized as the most valuable asset in the organization. Considered as intangible asset, intellectual capital is the basis based on which firms can foster their sustainable competitive advantage. One of the essential components of the intellectual capital is a social capital, indicating the firm's individual members' ability to build a firm's social networks. As such, social capital is a powerful concept necessary for understanding the emergence, growth, and functioning of network linkages. The more social capital a firm is equipped with, the more successfully it can establish new social networks. By providing a shared context for social interactions, social capital facilitates the creation of new linkages in the organizational setting. This concept of "person-environment fit" has long been prevalent in the management literature. The fit is grounded in the interaction theory of behavior. The interaction perspective has a fairly long theoretical tradition, beginning with proposition that behavior is a function of the person and environment. This view asserts that neither personal characteristics nor the situation alone adequately explains the variance in behavioral and attitudinal variables. Instead, the interaction of personal and situational variables accounts for the greatest variance. Accordingly, the person-environment fit is defined as the degree of congruence or match between personal and situational variables in producing significant selected outcomes. In addition, information systems acceptance factors enable organizations to build large electronic communities with huge knowledge resources. For example, the Intranet helps to build knowledge-based communities, which in turn increases employee communication and collaboration. It is vital since through active communication and collaborative efforts can employees build common basis for shared understandings that evolve into stronger relationships embedded with trust. To this aim, the electronic communication network allows the formation of social network to be more viable to rapid mobilization and assimilation of knowledge assets in the organizations. The purpose of this study is to investigate: (1) the impact of person-environment fit(person-job fit, person-person fit, person-group fit, person-organization fit) on social capital(network ties, trust, norm, shared language); (2) the impact of information systems acceptance factors(availability, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use) on social capital; (3) the impact of social capital on personal performance(work performance, work satisfaction); and (4) the mediating role of social capital between person-environment fit and personal performance. In general, social capital is defined as the aggregated actual or collective potential resources which lead to the possession of a durable network. The concept of social capital was originally developed by sociologists for their analysis in social context. Recently, it has become an increasingly popular jargon used in the management literature in describing organizational phenomena outside the realm of transaction costs. Since both environmental factors and information systems acceptance factors affect the network of employee's relationships, this study proposes that these two factors have significant influence on the social capital of employees. The person-environment fit basically refers to the alignment between characteristics of people and their environments, thereby resulting in positive outcomes for both individuals and organizations. In addition, the information systems acceptance factors have rather direct influences on the social network of employees. Based on such theoretical framework, namely person-environment fit and social capital theory, we develop our research model and hypotheses. The results of data analysis, based on 458 employee cases are as follow: Firstly, both person-environment fit(person-job fit, person-person fit, person-group fit, person-organization fit) and information systems acceptance factors(availability perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use) significantly influence social capital(network ties, norm, shared language). In addition, person-environment fit is a stronger factor influencing social capital than information systems acceptance factors. Secondly, social capital is a significant factor in both work satisfaction and work performance. Finally, social capital partly plays a mediating role between person-environment fit and personal performance. Our findings suggest that it is vital for firms to understand the importance of environmental factors affecting social capital of employees and accordingly identify the importance of information systems acceptance factors in building formal and informal relationships of employees. Firms also need to reflect their recognition of the importance of social capital's mediating role in boosting personal performance. Some limitations arisen in the course of the research and suggestions for future research directions are also discussed.

Effects of Feeding and Processing Methods of Diets on Performance, Morphological Changes in the Small Intestine and Nutrient Digestibility in Growing-Finishing Pigs

  • Yang, J.S.;Jung, H.J.;Xuan, Z.N.;Kim, J.H.;Kim, D.S.;Chae, B.J.;Han, In K.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.14 no.10
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    • pp.1450-1459
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    • 2001
  • These experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of different feeding and processing methods of diets on performance, morphological changes in the small intestine and nutrient digestibility of growing-finishing pigs. One-hundred fifty growing pigs ($Yorkshire{\times}Landrace{\times}Duroc$; initial body weight of $23.33{\pm}0.75kg$) and one-hundred twenty finishing pigs ($Yorkshire{\times}Landrace{\times}Duroc$; initial body weight of $59.22{\pm}0.56kg$) were used in Exp. 1 and Exp. 2, respectively. Pigs were grouped on the basis of body weight and gender, and randomly allotted into 6 different treatments with 5 replications in each treatment in a $2{\times}3$ factorial arrangement. Treatments were 1) dry feeding with a mash diet (DM), 2) dry feeding with a pelleted diet (DP), 3) dry feeding with an expanded crumble diet (DEC), 4) dry/wet feeding with a mash diet (WM), 5) dry/wet feeding with a pelleted diet (WP), and 6) dry/wet feeding with an expanded crumble diet (WEC). In Exp. 1 (growing phase), there was no significant difference in average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) among treatments during the entire experimental period, but feed conversion ratio (FCR) was significantly (p<0.05) improved in pigs fed pelleted diets regardless of feeding method. FCR was best in pigs fed a DP diet and worst in pigs fed a WM diet. Pigs fed a pelleted diet showed a 6.2% or 4.0% improvement in FCR compared with those fed a mash diet or an expanded crumble diet. Water disappearance was not significantly affected by dry/wet feeding or feed processing. Significant differences in villus height were not found among treatments, but villus height tended to be improved by dry/wet feeding. Dry/wet feeding or feed processing did not affect crypt depth. Digestibilities of calcium and phosphorus were significantly (p<0.05) improved in pigs fed an expanded crumble diet compared with pigs fed mash diets. Especially, pigs fed a WEC diet digested 8.1% more P than those fed a DM diet. Feed cost per kg weight gain (FCG) tended to be increased by dry/wet feeding rather than dry feeding. In Exp. 2 (finishing phase), ADG and ADFI were not significantly different among treatments, but a significant difference in FCR was found among feed processing forms. The best FCR was obtained in pigs fed a pelleted diet. Pigs fed a DP diet showed a 11.3% improvement compared with those fed a DEC diet. Water disappearance was significantly (p=0.0408) decreased by feeding the mash diet. However, water disappearance was not affected by dry/wet feeding during the finishing period. The villus height and crypt depth were not significantly different among treatments. However, crypt depth tended to be decreased by dry/wet feeding at the mid part of the small intestine. Fat digestibility was improved by dry feeding rather than dry/wet feeding, and was improved by 4.8% by feeding pellet diets compared with expanded crumble diets. Except for carcass grade, carcass characteristics were not significantly (p<0.05) different among treatments. Carcass grade was the best in pigs fed a WP diet. Feed cost per kg weight gain (FCG) was significantly decreased in pigs fed a pelleted diet compared with those fed an expanded crumble diet, and tended to be decreased by dry/wet feeding. In conclusion, these studies suggest that feeding the pelleted diet to growing-finishing pigs can be beneficial in terms of FCR and production cost. Dry/wet feeding can be helpful for the maintenance of villus height, but may not be reflected in improved growth performance or reduction of production costs.

The Factors Influencing Intention to Use Bit Coin of Domestic Consumers (국내 소비자들의 비트코인 사용 의도에 영향을 미치는 요인 연구)

  • Shin, Dong-Hee;Kim, Yong-Moon
    • The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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    • v.16 no.1
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    • pp.24-41
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    • 2016
  • Study is about Bit Coin that is electronic cash that is received attention globally in recent. It is increasing domestically that uses bit coin for convenience of micro payment, and also bit coin is possible to exchange each countries' currency. In this point, we searched understanding degree and acceptance of bit coin. Also we applied transformed TAM(Technology Acceptance Model) to search factors that have an effect on consumers' intention to use it. In advance, we analyze features of bit coin, and extract factors through preceding researches for existing electronic cash, because studies for intention to use bit coin are weak in internal and external. First of results is that 'economic efficiency' which is a characteristic variable of bit coin influences 'intention to use,' a dependent variable through 'perceived usefulness,' a parameter. It was investigated that monetary and mental costs that was costed when we use bit coin were less than using other cash. Secondly, 'payment convenience' that is a characteristic variable affects 'intention to use', a dependent variable through 'perceived usefulness,' a parameter. It was measured that problems of inconvenience that include transaction process, cash management time shortage and exchange changes will be solved by using bit coin. Thirdly, 'reliability' that is a perceived risk variable of bit coin has a direct effect on 'intention to use,' a dependent variable. It was investigated that we could achieve purpose of payment because we weren't influenced by breakdown on system by processing distributed database in some computers. Fourthly, 'perceived usefulness,' a parameter of bit coin directly affects 'intention to use,' a dependent variable. Then consumers who want to use bit coin are fascinated bit coin for various usability. Moreover, we want to provide implications to all of finance corporations, companies related electronic cash and bit coin users based on these results.

Questionnaire-based analysis of growth-promoting attempts among children visiting a university growth clinic (대학병원 성장클리닉을 내원한 아동에서 설문 조사를 통한 키성장 관리 실태분석)

  • Huh, Kyoung;Park, Mi Jung
    • Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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    • v.52 no.5
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    • pp.576-580
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    • 2009
  • Purpose : Growth-promoting attempts are widespread in Korea, but little is known about their prevalence or associated factors. This study was designed to assess the prevalence of growth-promoting attempts among children visiting a university growth clinic. Methods : A questionnaire-based survey was carried out with 823 children (416 boys, 407 girls) who visited the growth clinic at Paik Hospital. Results : The mean age of the subjects was $10.4{\pm}2.6$ yr, and the height z-score was $-1.58{\pm}0.91$. Approximately 33.4% of the children had tried growth promotion. Among the height-gain methods, herbal medicine was the most frequently used (37.8%), followed by health-promoting supplements (37.1%), exercise or machine (3.0%), and growth hormone treatment (2.9 %). The mean age at which the parents began to worry about their children's height was 7.7 yr. The mean age at which they started height-gain methods was 8.9 yr for herbal medicine, 9.1 yr for health-promoting supplements, 9.4 yr for exercise or machine, and 9.9 yr for growth hormone treatment. Motivating factors included advice from relatives or friends (36.0%), advertisements in the Internet or newspaper (28.4%), advice from pharmacist (16.8%), and advice from their medical doctor (5.5%). The degree of satisfaction from the height-gain methods was 29.1% with growth hormone treatment, 6.6% with exercise or machine, 6.4% with herbal medicine, and 2.8% with growth-promoting supplements. Conclusion : Approximately one third of the children reported use of growth-promoting methods, but the satisfaction rate was not high. The benefits of growth-promoting methods should be carefully weighed against their costs and side effects.

Framework of Stock Market Platform for Fine Wine Investment Using Consortium Blockchain (공유경제 체제로서 컨소시엄 블록체인을 활용한 와인투자 주식플랫폼 프레임워크)

  • Chung, Yunkyeong;Ha, Yeyoung;Lee, Hyein;Yang, Hee-Dong
    • Knowledge Management Research
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    • v.21 no.3
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    • pp.45-65
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    • 2020
  • It is desirable to invest in wine that increases its value, but wine investment itself is unfamiliar in Korea. Also, the process itself is unreasonable, and information is often forged, because pricing in the wine market is done by a small number of people. With the right solution, however, the wine market can be a desirable investment destination in that the longer one invests, the higher one can expect. Also, it is expected that the domestic wine consumption market will expand through the steady increase in domestic wine imports. This study presents the consortium block chain framework for revitalizing the wine market and enhancing transparency as the "right solution" of the nation's wine investment market. Blockchain governance can compensate for the shortcomings of the wine market because it guarantees desirable decision-making rights and accountability. Because the data stored in the block chain can be checked by consumers, it reduces the likelihood of counterfeit wine appearing and complements the process of unreasonably priced. In addition, digitization of assets resolves low cash liquidity and saves money and time throughout the supply chain through smart contracts, lowering entry barriers to wine investment. In particular, if the governance of the block chain is composed of 'chateau-distributor-investor' through consortium blockchains, it can create a desirable wine market. The production process is stored in the block chain to secure production costs, set a reasonable launch price, and efficiently operate the distribution system by storing the distribution process in the block chain, and forecast the amount of orders for futures trading. Finally, investors make rational decisions by viewing all of these data. The study presented a new perspective on alternative investment in that ownership can be treated like a share. We also look forward to the simplification of food import procedures and the formation of trust within the wine industry by presenting a framework for wine-owned sales. In future studies, we would like to expand the framework to study the areas to be applied.

A Study for the Evaluation of Container Modules; The Technology of Korean Container Tree Production Model (한국형 컨테이너 조경수 생산기술로서 컨테이너 모듈의 성능 평가)

  • Jung, Yong-Jo;Lim, Byung-Eul;Oh, Jang-keun
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.44 no.5
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    • pp.59-67
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    • 2016
  • In landscape design by public institutions, although the costs and species of landscape trees stipulated by the Korean Public Procurement Service(PPS) are generally adhered to, the PPS regulations about planting trees with well-developed rootlets are almost entirely neglected. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of buried container modules, which are a new technology and product in landscape production that is able to reduce the defect rate while complying with regulations. To this end, this study measured rootlet density, rootlet development length, rootlet survival rate on excavation, and impairments of tree growth for 3 months after root pruning, and compared these variables for the container modules with those for trees that underwent root pruning in bare ground, and those that were cultivated in a container above ground. The results were as follows: First, the rootlet density was 88% for the trees in container modules, which was very high. Trees that underwent standard root pruning in bare ground had a somewhat lower density of 64%. Meanwhile, the trees that were cultivated in pots above ground died, invalidating measurement. Second, in terms of rootlet development and rootlet survival rate, the trees in container modules showed a mean length of 10.4cm, and 100% survival rate, indicating that there was no rootlet damage caused by excavation. For the trees that only underwent root pruning in bare ground, the mean length was 25.6cm and the rootlet survival rate was only half that of the trees in container modules, at 56%, demonstrating considerable damage. Rootlet development did not occur at all in the trees grown in pots. Third, the trees in container modules and those that underwent root pruning in bare ground did not show any deaths during the root pruning process, or any impairments such as stunted leaf growth. Conversely, the trees grown in pots nearly all died, and severe impairments of tree growth were observed. As shown by the results above, when we evaluated the performance of buried container modules, they showed the most outstanding performance of the three models tested in this study. The container modules prevent defects by stimulating early rooting in environments that with poor conditions for growth, or in trees that are not suited to the summer environment Therefore, it is expected that they would be an optimal means by which to enable compliance with rules such as the regulation presented by the PPS.

Forecasting Hourly Demand of City Gas in Korea (국내 도시가스의 시간대별 수요 예측)

  • Han, Jung-Hee;Lee, Geun-Cheol
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.87-95
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    • 2016
  • This study examined the characteristics of the hourly demand of city gas in Korea and proposed multiple regression models to obtain precise estimates of the hourly demand of city gas. Forecasting the hourly demand of city gas with accuracy is essential in terms of safety and cost. If underestimated, the pipeline pressure needs to be increased sharply to meet the demand, when safety matters. In the opposite case, unnecessary inventory and operation costs are incurred. Data analysis showed that the hourly demand of city gas has a very high autocorrelation and that the 24-hour demand pattern of a day follows the previous 24-hour demand pattern of the same day. That is, there is a weekly cycle pattern. In addition, some conditions that temperature affects the hourly demand level were found. That is, the absolute value of the correlation coefficient between the hourly demand and temperature is about 0.853 on average, while the absolute value of the correlation coefficient on a specific day improves to 0.861 at worst and 0.965 at best. Based on this analysis, this paper proposes a multiple regression model incorporating the hourly demand ahead of 24 hours and the hourly demand ahead of 168 hours, and another multiple regression model with temperature as an additional independent variable. To show the performance of the proposed models, computational experiments were carried out using real data of the domestic city gas demand from 2009 to 2013. The test results showed that the first regression model exhibits a forecasting accuracy of MAPE (Mean Absolute Percentage Error) around 4.5% over the past five years from 2009 to 2013, while the second regression model exhibits 5.13% of MAPE for the same period.

consumers' purchasing behavior of functional cosmetics and Inula based functional cosmetics merchandising research (국내 소비자의 기능성화장품 구매행태 및 선복화 활용 기능성화장품 상품화를 위한 연구)

  • Han, Do-Kyung;Lee, Hyun-Jun;Lee, Eun-Hee;Paik, Hyun-Dong;Shin, Dong-Kyoo;Park, Dae-Sub;Hwang, Hye-Seon;Hong, Wan-Soo
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.17 no.8
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    • pp.236-250
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    • 2016
  • This study was conducted to provide baseline data regarding functional cosmetics so that Inula. based cosmetics can increase its competitiveness in the market as well as to understand current trends to enable anticipation of demands for future product development. For this research, general consumers over the age of 20 residing in Seoul and the Gyeonggi district were surveyed. The results show consumers preferred serum-type products among various types of cosmetics, and that they purchased these once every 1-3 months. Consumers also preferred these products in less than 10-30ml capacity, and at costs of less than 30,000-50,000 KRW. For whitening, functional cosmetics consumers also preferred the serum type, in less than 30-50ml capacity and priced less than 30,000-50,000 KRW. Consumers preferred to purchase functional cosmetics in single units. The major purchasing location, with a high preference rate, was cosmetic stores, and the major sources of information, also with high preference rates, were 'experienced reviews from family, friends and acquaintances' and 'TV advertisements'. Respondents selected 'over 50,000 KRW' the most for all items when responding to 'Purchase Intent for Functional Cosmetics containing Inula', and responded that they were willing to pay 10%-30% more for functional cosmetics containing Inula compared to standard functional cosmetics. These results show that businesses in the cosmetics industry need to take consumer demand into account when developing new functional cosmetic products, as well as establish plans to create specialized spaces that provide better quality service and increase word of mouth effect through better utilization of various types of offline media, social media, and blogs. The study also shows a need for businesses to develop products fully utilizing the Inula flower, which has been shown to be effective as a natural skin whitener, wrinkle reducer and skin moisturizer, to appeal to the increasing number of customers interested in health and beauty.