• Title/Summary/Keyword: diffusion effect

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Selective Algicidal Effects of a Newly Developed GreenTD against Red Tide Harmful Alga (GreenTD 물질을 이용한 유해 적조 발생 종의 선택적 살조능 평가)

  • Lee, Minji;Shin, Juyong;Kim, Jin Ho;Lim, Young Kyun;Cho, Hoon;Baek, Seung Ho
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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    • v.36 no.3
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    • pp.359-369
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    • 2018
  • Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are a serious problem for public health and fisheries industries, thus there exists a need to investigate the possible ways for effective control of HABs. In the present study, we investigated the algicidal effects of a newly developed GreenTD against the HABs (Chattonella marina, Heterosigma akashiwo, Cochlodinium polykriokides, and Heterocapsa circularisquama) and non-HABs (Chaetoceros simplex, Skeletonema sp. and Tetraselmis sp.), which is focused on the different population density and concentration gradients of algicidal substances. The time series viability of target alga was assessed based on the activity of Chl. a photosynthetic efficiency in terms of $F_v/F_m$, and in vivo fluorescence (FSU). Effective control of Raphidophyta, C. marina and H. akashiwo was achieved at a GreenTD concentration of $0.5{\mu}gL^{-1}$ and $0.2{\mu}gL^{-1}$, respectively, and regrowth of both the species was not observed even after 14 days. The inhibitory ratio of the dinoflagellate, C. polykriokides was more than 80% at $0.2{\mu}gL^{-1}$ of GreenTD. H. circularisquama was constantly affected in the presence of $0.2{\mu}gL^{-1}$ of GreenTD in the high- and low-population density experimental groups. On the other hand, diatoms, C. simplex, and Skeletonema sp. were not significantly affected even in the presence of $0.2{\mu}gL^{-1}$ of GreenTD and exhibited re-growth activity with the passage of incubation time. In particular, green alga Tetraselmis sp. remained unaffected even in the presence of the highest concentration of GreenTD ($1.0{\mu}gL^{-1}$), implying that non-HABs were not greatly influenced by the algicidal substances. As a result, the algicidal activity of GreenTD on the harmful and nonharmful algae was as follows: raphidophyte>dinoflagellates>diatoms>green alga. Consequently, our results indicate that inoculation of GreenTD substances into natural blooms at a threshold concentration ($0.2{\mu}gL^{-1}$) can maximize the algicidal activity against HABs species. If we consider the dilution and diffusion rate in the field application, it is hypothesized that GreenTD will demonstrate economic efficiency, thus leading to effective control against the target HABs in the closed bay.

Physiological Activity of Supercritical Poria cocos back Extract and Its Skin Delivery Application using Epidermal Penetrating Peptide (초임계 복령피 추출물의 생리활성 및 경피투과 펩티드를 이용한 경피 약물전달의 응용)

  • Kim, Min Gi;Park, Su In;An, Gyu Min;Heo, Soo Hyeon;Shin, Moon Sam
    • Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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    • v.36 no.3
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    • pp.766-778
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    • 2019
  • In this study, Poria cocos bark were extracted by supercritical process, and anti-inflammatory, whitening, and antioxidant effects were measured in comparison with ethanol extract. Also, An effective percutaneous permeation method using a selected formulation of the extract and a drug delivery peptide was proposed. Pachymic acid, known as the anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory compound of the ventricle, is an indicator component and the HPLC analysis shows that the supercritical extract of the pericardium is more than twice that of the Poria cocos bark extract. In order to confirm antioxidative effect of Bombyx mori, DPPH scavenging ability and ABTS scavenging ability test showed that the ethanol extract of Poria cocos Back had lower concentration than the supercritical extract of Poria cocos back. However, RAW 264.7 Measurements of Nitric oxide (NO) production in cells showed lower NO production at the same concentration than the Poria cocos back ethanol extract. In addition, after 72 hours of processing of $20{\mu}g/mL$ of the Poria cocos back extract in B16 melanoma cells, both the intracellular and extracellular melanin extract were effective and the supercritical extract was lower melanin content. No toxicity was observed at the concentration of $800{\mu}g/mL$ in RAW 264.7 cells used in NO production experiments. However, in B16 melanoma cells, even at $50{\mu}g/mL$, both Poria cocos back ethanol extract and supercritical extract showed a survival rate of less than 60%. The liposome formulation and drug delivery peptides were shown to be useful for percutaneous permeation of Supercritical Extract of Poria cocos back using a liposome formulation and a drug delivery peptide. it is expected that there will be great potential for development as a variety of cosmetic materials for Poria cocos back.

The Study on the Factors of film's Processing Fluency Inducing Film's Preference Fluency (영화의 선호도 유창성에 영향을 미치는 영화의 처리 유창성 요인에 관한 연구)

  • Choi, Nak Hwan;Lim, Ahyoung
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.13 no.4
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    • pp.29-54
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    • 2012
  • Recently, as film has been admitted as the artistic merit and higher value-added business, the past studies on film have been lively carried on various fields. Especially, the film business is thought to be value-added business and has explored the causes of influencing spectators. However, there are no researches enough to explain what induces the choice and diffusion of the film. The film is not only hedonic products but also typical example of experiential products. So how to process film formation plays important roles in explaining the procedures of forming preference on the film and the movies spread more widely. But the great part of study of films has been concentrated on exploring hedonic factors of influencing spectator's choice. Until now there is not enough study for the relationship between experiential information processing and film preference. To explain film's preference, our study focuses on preference fluency and processing fluency that can provide an insight for our question about the relationship. In this article, to explain the procedures of processing experiential information and forming preference on the film, our study focuses on finding the relationship between film's processing fluency and film's preference fluency and explores the factors that affect film's processing fluency. To achieve the goal of this study, we distinguish factors of film's conceptual fluency from factors of film's perceptual fluency and explore the paths from the factors to film's preference fluency. The factors which have effects on perceptual fluency are hypothesized to be distinction of image expression, distinction of sound expression, correspondence between actors' image and their role. The factors which have effect on conceptual fluency are supposed to be well-organized story, suitability of lines expression. The experiments in which students were sampled at 'C' university were conducted in 2010 (december). Data collection was proceeded through questionnaires. We test the hypothesized model by using structural equation modeling(Amos 17.0). The fit indices for the model are as follows : x2=416.266(df=213, p=0.00), GFI=0.855, AGFI=0.812, RMSEA =0.069, IFI=O.925, CFI=0.920, TLI=0.905. According to the guidelines, there is evidence that our measurement model fits data. The results of empirical study are as follows. The path from film's perceptual fluency to film's preference fluency is supported(estimate: 0.223, C.R: 2.641). The path from film's conceptual fluency to film's preference fluency is supported(estimate: 0.397, C.R: 4.863). The path from distinction of image expression to film's perceptual fluency is not supported(estimate: 0.113, C.R: 1.665). The path from distinction of sound expression to film's perceptual fluency is supported (estimate: 0.190, C.R: 2.042). The path from correspondence between actors' image and their role to film's perceptual fluency is supported(estimate: 0.686, C.R: 5.566). The path from well-organized story to film's conceptual fluency is supported(estimate: 0.396, C.R: 4.023). The path from suitability of lines expression to film's conceptual fluency is supported(estimate: 0.536, C.R: 5.441). Concludingly, our study explored the influencing factors of film's processing fluency inducing film's Preference fluency. First, film's perceptual fluency and film's conceptual fluency have positive effects on film's preference fluency. Second, distinction of image expression is not significant on film's perceptual fluency, but distinction of sound expression and image's correspondence of actors' image and their role have positive effects on film's perceptual fluency. Lastly, well-organized story and suitability of lines expression have positive effects on film's conceptual fluency.

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A Study on Method of Citizen Science and Improvement of Performance as a Ecosystem Conservation and Management Tool of Wetland Protected Areas (Inland Wetland) - Focused on the Target of Conservation·Management·Utilization in Wetland Protected Area Conservation Plan - (내륙 습지보호지역의 생태계 보전·관리 도구로서 시민과학연구 방법론 및 성과 제고 방안 - 습지보호지역 보전계획의 보전·관리·이용 목표를 중심으로 -)

  • Inae Yeo;Changsu Lee;Ji Hyun Kang
    • Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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    • v.32 no.6
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    • pp.450-462
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    • 2023
  • This study suggested methodology of Citizen Science as a tool of ecosystem conservation and management to achieve Wetland Protected Area (WPA) Conservation Plan and examined whose applicability in 3 WPAs (Jangrok of Gwangju metropolitan city, Madongho of Goseong in South Gyeongsang Province, and Incheongang estuary of Gochang in North Jeolla Province). It consists of a) figuring out main interests and stakeholder or beneficiaries of WPA and their information demand based on conservation, utilization, and management target in the WPA Conservation Plan, b) conducting research activities to gain outcome to address stakeholder's demand, and c) returning the research outcome to citizen scientists and making diffusion to the society. Based on the suggested method and process, citizen scientists conducted ecosystem monitoring (plants including Invasive Alien Plants, terrestrial insects, traces of mammals, discovering unknown wetland). As a result, citizen scientists contributed to collecting species information of 16 plans, 43 species of terrestrial insects, 5 mammals including Lutra lutra (Endangered Species I) and Prionailurus bengalensis (Endangered Species II). The authors constructed and provided distribution map of Invasive Alien Plants, which included information of location and density which citizen scientists registered, for Environment Agencies and local governments who manage 3 WPAs to aid data-based ecosystem policy, In further studies, not only accumulating research data and outcomes acquired from citizen science to suffice the policy demands but also deliberate reviewing policy applicability and social·economic ripple effect should be processed for the suggested Citizen Science in WPA to be settled down as a tool of ecosystem conservation and management.

Analysis of the Effect of the Etching Process and Ion Injection Process in the Unit Process for the Development of High Voltage Power Semiconductor Devices (고전압 전력반도체 소자 개발을 위한 단위공정에서 식각공정과 이온주입공정의 영향 분석)

  • Gyu Cheol Choi;KyungBeom Kim;Bonghwan Kim;Jong Min Kim;SangMok Chang
    • Clean Technology
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    • v.29 no.4
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    • pp.255-261
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    • 2023
  • Power semiconductors are semiconductors used for power conversion, transformation, distribution, and control. Recently, the global demand for high-voltage power semiconductors is increasing across various industrial fields, and optimization research on high-voltage IGBT components is urgently needed in these industries. For high-voltage IGBT development, setting the resistance value of the wafer and optimizing key unit processes are major variables in the electrical characteristics of the finished chip. Furthermore, the securing process and optimization of the technology to support high breakdown voltage is also important. Etching is a process of transferring the pattern of the mask circuit in the photolithography process to the wafer and removing unnecessary parts at the bottom of the photoresist film. Ion implantation is a process of injecting impurities along with thermal diffusion technology into the wafer substrate during the semiconductor manufacturing process. This process helps achieve a certain conductivity. In this study, dry etching and wet etching were controlled during field ring etching, which is an important process for forming a ring structure that supports the 3.3 kV breakdown voltage of IGBT, in order to analyze four conditions and form a stable body junction depth to secure the breakdown voltage. The field ring ion implantation process was optimized based on the TEG design by dividing it into four conditions. The wet etching 1-step method was advantageous in terms of process and work efficiency, and the ring pattern ion implantation conditions showed a doping concentration of 9.0E13 and an energy of 120 keV. The p-ion implantation conditions were optimized at a doping concentration of 6.5E13 and an energy of 80 keV, and the p+ ion implantation conditions were optimized at a doping concentration of 3.0E15 and an energy of 160 keV.

A Study on Public Interest-based Technology Valuation Models in Water Resources Field (수자원 분야 공익형 기술가치평가 시스템에 대한 연구)

  • Ryu, Seung-Mi;Sung, Tae-Eung
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.24 no.3
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    • pp.177-198
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    • 2018
  • Recently, as economic property it has become necessary to acquire and utilize the framework for water resource measurement and performance management as the property of water resources changes to hold "public property". To date, the evaluation of water technology has been carried out by feasibility study analysis or technology assessment based on net present value (NPV) or benefit-to-cost (B/C) effect, however it is not yet systemized in terms of valuation models to objectively assess an economic value of technology-based business to receive diffusion and feedback of research outcomes. Therefore, K-water (known as a government-supported public company in Korea) company feels the necessity to establish a technology valuation framework suitable for technical characteristics of water resources fields in charge and verify an exemplified case applied to the technology. The K-water evaluation technology applied to this study, as a public interest goods, can be used as a tool to measure the value and achievement contributed to society and to manage them. Therefore, by calculating the value in which the subject technology contributed to the entire society as a public resource, we make use of it as a basis information for the advertising medium of performance on the influence effect of the benefits or the necessity of cost input, and then secure the legitimacy for large-scale R&D cost input in terms of the characteristics of public technology. Hence, K-water company, one of the public corporation in Korea which deals with public goods of 'water resources', will be able to establish a commercialization strategy for business operation and prepare for a basis for the performance calculation of input R&D cost. In this study, K-water has developed a web-based technology valuation model for public interest type water resources based on the technology evaluation system that is suitable for the characteristics of a technology in water resources fields. In particular, by utilizing the evaluation methodology of the Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japan to match the expense items to the expense accounts based on the related benefit items, we proposed the so-called 'K-water's proprietary model' which involves the 'cost-benefit' approach and the FCF (Free Cash Flow), and ultimately led to build a pipeline on the K-water research performance management system and then verify the practical case of a technology related to "desalination". We analyze the embedded design logic and evaluation process of web-based valuation system that reflects characteristics of water resources technology, reference information and database(D/B)-associated logic for each model to calculate public interest-based and profit-based technology values in technology integrated management system. We review the hybrid evaluation module that reflects the quantitative index of the qualitative evaluation indices reflecting the unique characteristics of water resources and the visualized user-interface (UI) of the actual web-based evaluation, which both are appended for calculating the business value based on financial data to the existing web-based technology valuation systems in other fields. K-water's technology valuation model is evaluated by distinguishing between public-interest type and profitable-type water technology. First, evaluation modules in profit-type technology valuation model are designed based on 'profitability of technology'. For example, the technology inventory K-water holds has a number of profit-oriented technologies such as water treatment membranes. On the other hand, the public interest-type technology valuation is designed to evaluate the public-interest oriented technology such as the dam, which reflects the characteristics of public benefits and costs. In order to examine the appropriateness of the cost-benefit based public utility valuation model (i.e. K-water specific technology valuation model) presented in this study, we applied to practical cases from calculation of benefit-to-cost analysis on water resource technology with 20 years of lifetime. In future we will additionally conduct verifying the K-water public utility-based valuation model by each business model which reflects various business environmental characteristics.

Electronic Word-of-Mouth in B2C Virtual Communities: An Empirical Study from CTrip.com (B2C허의사구중적전자구비(B2C虚拟社区中的电子口碑): 관우휴정려유망적실증연구(关于携程旅游网的实证研究))

  • Li, Guoxin;Elliot, Statia;Choi, Chris
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.262-268
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    • 2010
  • Virtual communities (VCs) have developed rapidly, with more and more people participating in them to exchange information and opinions. A virtual community is a group of people who may or may not meet one another face to face, and who exchange words and ideas through the mediation of computer bulletin boards and networks. A business-to-consumer virtual community (B2CVC) is a commercial group that creates a trustworthy environment intended to motivate consumers to be more willing to buy from an online store. B2CVCs create a social atmosphere through information contribution such as recommendations, reviews, and ratings of buyers and sellers. Although the importance of B2CVCs has been recognized, few studies have been conducted to examine members' word-of-mouth behavior within these communities. This study proposes a model of involvement, statistics, trust, "stickiness," and word-of-mouth in a B2CVC and explores the relationships among these elements based on empirical data. The objectives are threefold: (i) to empirically test a B2CVC model that integrates measures of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors; (ii) to better understand the nature of these relationships, specifically through word-of-mouth as a measure of revenue generation; and (iii) to better understand the role of stickiness of B2CVC in CRM marketing. The model incorporates three key elements concerning community members: (i) their beliefs, measured in terms of their involvement assessment; (ii) their attitudes, measured in terms of their satisfaction and trust; and, (iii) their behavior, measured in terms of site stickiness and their word-of-mouth. Involvement is considered the motivation for consumers to participate in a virtual community. For B2CVC members, information searching and posting have been proposed as the main purpose for their involvement. Satisfaction has been reviewed as an important indicator of a member's overall community evaluation, and conceptualized by different levels of member interactions with their VC. The formation and expansion of a VC depends on the willingness of members to share information and services. Researchers have found that trust is a core component facilitating the anonymous interaction in VCs and e-commerce, and therefore trust-building in VCs has been a common research topic. It is clear that the success of a B2CVC depends on the stickiness of its members to enhance purchasing potential. Opinions communicated and information exchanged between members may represent a type of written word-of-mouth. Therefore, word-of-mouth is one of the primary factors driving the diffusion of B2CVCs across the Internet. Figure 1 presents the research model and hypotheses. The model was tested through the implementation of an online survey of CTrip Travel VC members. A total of 243 collected questionnaires was reduced to 204 usable questionnaires through an empirical process of data cleaning. The study's hypotheses examined the extent to which involvement, satisfaction, and trust influence B2CVC stickiness and members' word-of-mouth. Structural Equation Modeling tested the hypotheses in the analysis, and the structural model fit indices were within accepted thresholds: ${\chi}^2^$/df was 2.76, NFI was .904, IFI was .931, CFI was .930, and RMSEA was .017. Results indicated that involvement has a significant influence on satisfaction (p<0.001, ${\beta}$=0.809). The proportion of variance in satisfaction explained by members' involvement was over half (adjusted $R^2$=0.654), reflecting a strong association. The effect of involvement on trust was also statistically significant (p<0.001, ${\beta}$=0.751), with 57 percent of the variance in trust explained by involvement (adjusted $R^2$=0.563). When the construct "stickiness" was treated as a dependent variable, the proportion of variance explained by the variables of trust and satisfaction was relatively low (adjusted $R^2$=0.331). Satisfaction did have a significant influence on stickiness, with ${\beta}$=0.514. However, unexpectedly, the influence of trust was not even significant (p=0.231, t=1.197), rejecting that proposed hypothesis. The importance of stickiness in the model was more significant because of its effect on e-WOM with ${\beta}$=0.920 (p<0.001). Here, the measures of Stickiness explain over eighty of the variance in e-WOM (Adjusted $R^2$=0.846). Overall, the results of the study supported the hypothesized relationships between members' involvement in a B2CVC and their satisfaction with and trust of it. However, trust, as a traditional measure in behavioral models, has no significant influence on stickiness in the B2CVC environment. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on B2CVCs, specifically addressing gaps in the academic research by integrating measures of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors in one model. The results provide additional insights to behavioral factors in a B2CVC environment, helping to sort out relationships between traditional measures and relatively new measures. For practitioners, the identification of factors, such as member involvement, that strongly influence B2CVC member satisfaction can help focus technological resources in key areas. Global e-marketers can develop marketing strategies directly targeting B2CVC members. In the global tourism business, they can target Chinese members of a B2CVC by providing special discounts for active community members or developing early adopter programs to encourage stickiness in the community. Future studies are called for, and more sophisticated modeling, to expand the measurement of B2CVC member behavior and to conduct experiments across industries, communities, and cultures.

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.

A Study on Market Expansion Strategy via Two-Stage Customer Pre-segmentation Based on Customer Innovativeness and Value Orientation (고객혁신성과 가치지향성 기반의 2단계 사전 고객세분화를 통한 시장 확산 전략)

  • Heo, Tae-Young;Yoo, Young-Sang;Kim, Young-Myoung
    • Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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    • v.10 no.1
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    • pp.73-97
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    • 2007
  • R&D into future technologies should be conducted in conjunction with technological innovation strategies that are linked to corporate survival within a framework of information and knowledge-based competitiveness. As such, future technology strategies should be ensured through open R&D organizations. The development of future technologies should not be conducted simply on the basis of future forecasts, but should take into account customer needs in advance and reflect them in the development of the future technologies or services. This research aims to select as segmentation variables the customers' attitude towards accepting future telecommunication technologies and their value orientation in their everyday life, as these factors wilt have the greatest effect on the demand for future telecommunication services and thus segment the future telecom service market. Likewise, such research seeks to segment the market from the stage of technology R&D activities and employ the results to formulate technology development strategies. Based on the customer attitude towards accepting new technologies, two groups were induced, and a hierarchical customer segmentation model was provided to conduct secondary segmentation of the two groups on the basis of their respective customer value orientation. A survey was conducted in June 2006 on 800 consumers aged 15 to 69, residing in Seoul and five other major South Korean cities, through one-on-one interviews. The samples were divided into two sub-groups according to their level of acceptance of new technology; a sub-group demonstrating a high level of technology acceptance (39.4%) and another sub-group with a comparatively lower level of technology acceptance (60.6%). These two sub-groups were further divided each into 5 smaller sub-groups (10 total smaller sub-groups) through two rounds of segmentation. The ten sub-groups were then analyzed in their detailed characteristics, including general demographic characteristics, usage patterns in existing telecom services such as mobile service, broadband internet and wireless internet and the status of ownership of a computing or information device and the desire or intention to purchase one. Through these steps, we were able to statistically prove that each of these 10 sub-groups responded to telecom services as independent markets. We found that each segmented group responds as an independent individual market. Through correspondence analysis, the target segmentation groups were positioned in such a way as to facilitate the entry of future telecommunication services into the market, as well as their diffusion and transferability.

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Consumer's Negative Brand Rumor Acceptance and Rumor Diffusion (소비자의 부정적 브랜드 루머의 수용과 확산)

  • Lee, Won-jun;Lee, Han-Suk
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.65-96
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    • 2012
  • Brand has received much attention from considerable marketing research. When consumers consume product or services, they are exposed to a lot of brand related stimuli. These contain brand personality, brand experience, brand identity, brand communications and so on. A special kind of new crisis occasionally confronting companies' brand management today is the brand related rumor. An important influence on consumers' purchase decision making is the word-of-mouth spread by other consumers and most decisions are influenced by other's recommendations. In light of this influence, firms have reasonable reason to study and understand consumer-to-consumer communication such as brand rumor. The importance of brand rumor to marketers is increasing as the number of internet user and SNS(social network service) site grows. Due to the development of internet technology, people can spread rumors without the limitation of time, space and place. However relatively few studies have been published in marketing journals and little is known about brand rumors in the marketplace. The study of rumor has a long history in all major social science. But very few studies have dealt with the antecedents and consequences of any kind of brand rumor. Rumor has been generally described as a story or statement in general circulation without proper confirmation or certainty as to fact. And it also can be defined as an unconfirmed proposition, passed along from people to people. Rosnow(1991) claimed that rumors were transmitted because people needed to explain ambiguous and uncertain events and talking about them reduced associated anxiety. Especially negative rumors are believed to have the potential to devastate a company's reputation and relations with customers. From the perspective of marketer, negative rumors are considered harmful and extremely difficult to control in general. It is becoming a threat to a company's sustainability and sometimes leads to negative brand image and loss of customers. Thus there is a growing concern that these negative rumors can damage brands' reputations and lead them to financial disaster too. In this study we aimed to distinguish antecedents of brand rumor transmission and investigate the effects of brand rumor characteristics on rumor spread intention. We also found key components in personal acceptance of brand rumor. In contextualist perspective, we tried to unify the traditional psychological and sociological views. In this unified research approach we defined brand rumor's characteristics based on five major variables that had been found to influence the process of rumor spread intention. The five factors of usefulness, source credibility, message credibility, worry, and vividness, encompass multi level elements of brand rumor. We also selected product involvement as a control variable. To perform the empirical research, imaginary Korean 'Kimch' brand and related contamination rumor was created and proposed. Questionnaires were collected from 178 Korean samples. Data were collected from college students who have been experienced the focal product. College students were regarded as good subjects because they have a tendency to express their opinions in detail. PLS(partial least square) method was adopted to analyze the relations between variables in the equation model. The most widely adopted causal modeling method is LISREL. However it is poorly suited to deal with relatively small data samples and can yield not proper solutions in some cases. PLS has been developed to avoid some of these limitations and provide more reliable results. To test the reliability using SPSS 16 s/w, Cronbach alpha was examined and all the values were appropriate showing alpha values between .802 and .953. Subsequently, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted successfully. And structural equation modeling has been used to analyze the research model using smartPLS(ver. 2.0) s/w. Overall, R2 of adoption of rumor is .476 and R2 of intention of rumor transmission is .218. The overall model showed a satisfactory fit. The empirical results can be summarized as follows. According to the results, the variables of brand rumor characteristic such as source credibility, message credibility, worry, and vividness affect argument strength of rumor. And argument strength of rumor also affects rumor intention. On the other hand, the relationship between perceived usefulness and argument strength of rumor is not significant. The moderating effect of product involvement on the relations between argument strength of rumor and rumor W.O.M intention is not supported neither. Consequently this study suggests some managerial and academic implications. We consider some implications for corporate crisis management planning, PR and brand management. This results show marketers that rumor is a critical factor for managing strong brand assets. Also for researchers, brand rumor should become an important thesis of their interests to understand the relationship between consumer and brand. Recently many brand managers and marketers have focused on the short-term view. They just focused on strengthen the positive brand image. According to this study we suggested that effective brand management requires managing negative brand rumors with a long-term view of marketing decisions.

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