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A Study on Emergence of Innovative Retailing and Its Development Process (혁신적인 소매업태의 출현과 발전과정에 관한 연구)

  • Park, Chul-Ju;Jeong, Tae-Seok
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.9 no.1
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    • pp.29-38
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    • 2011
  • Since a distribution market was opened in 1993 after the conclusion of the Uruguay Round (UR), various new businesses emerged in the Korean retail industry, such as convenience shops, supermarkets, specialty stores, non-store marketing methods, and cyber shopping malls, in addition to traditional markets and department stores. Competition among these retail businesses has intensified. According to the National Statistical Office (NSO), the growth rate of the total retail industry has shown a 32% increase in the past 5 years. While department stores, supermarkets, specialty stores, and other non-store retailing venues have shown signs of stagnation at a growth rate of 20-30%, which is similar to the growth rate of the entire retail industry, convenience shops and non-store marketing have shown 60-70% growth over the same period. By comparison, the growth rate of cyber shopping malls has nearly tripled. When applying development aspects of retail businesses through the competition to the retail life cycle, mom-and-pop stores and traditional markets have already entered the decline phase as specialty stores reach their maturity phase and demonstrate their limit of growth. Department stores are now in the latter part of the growth phase, which is still considered to have some growth potential. Big super markets are still in the early part of their growth stage although they were introduced 20 years ago. Meanwhile, retail businesses such as convenience stores, supermarkets, mail order houses, and warehouse stores are entering the middle growth phase and are expected to continue with their quantitative growth. At a time when most retail businesses in Korea are in a state of development or in the full growth stage, what kind of new innovative retailing will appear and develop? Moreover, what growth engine will drive it? This study analyzes the appearance of innovative retailing and its development process by establishing a discussable consumer's choice model through the interlocking mutual behavior of differentiated competitiveness and consumers' choice based on an awareness of this issue. The analysis of the results of this study can be summarized as follows. First, if a new vacuum zone emerges at the retail market level, innovative retailing such as low price/low service or high price/high service will emerge simultaneously. Second, if the number of new businesses in the vacuum zone increases, this will create competitiveness among the businesses, and each retailer will develop raising of level. Third, if a new business that raises the level develops, competition between the new and the existing retailer will occur, and an assimilation process between the existing retailing and the new retailing will be unfolded. Fourth, each retailing will promote distribution innovations in order to break the frontier of the existing distribution technology, and other retailing will follow the innovator. On the basis of an analysis of the abovementioned results, this study presents the following three suggestions. First, responding to the consumer's decision-making process on the attributes of retail shops that promote differentiation in strategies, this study established a consumer's choice model that can be discussed in relation to changes in market share. Second, this study provided an analysis of the emerging and developmental processes of innovative retail businesses using a more precise logical structure on the basis of the consumer's choice model described in this study. Third, the development process of retail businesses discussed in this study presented retailing solutions regarding management aspects on how to compose a strong retail mix that can help retail businesses gain competitive advantages in the market.

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Simulation and Feasibility Analysis of Aging Urban Park Refurbishment Project through the Application of Japan's Park-PFI System (일본 공모설치관리제도(Park-PFI)의 적용을 통한 노후 도시공원 정비사업 시뮬레이션 및 타당성 분석)

  • Kim, Yong-Gook;Kim, Young-Hyeon;Kim, Min-Seo
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.51 no.5
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    • pp.13-29
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    • 2023
  • Urban parks are social infrastructure supporting citizens' health, quality of life, and community formation. As the proportion of urban parks that have been established for more than 20 years is increasing, the need for refurbishment to improve the physical space environment and enhance the functions of aging urban parks is increasing. Since the government's refurbishment of aging urban parks has limitations in securing financial resources and promoting attractiveness, they must be promoted through public-private partnerships. Japan, which suffered from the problem of aging urban parks, has successfully promoted several park refurbishment projects by introducing the Park-PFI through the revision of the 「Urban Park Act」 in 2017. This study examines and analyzes the characteristics of the Japan Park-PFI as an alternative to improving the quality of aging domestic urban park services through public-private partnerships and the validity of the aging urban park refurbishment projects through Park-PFI. The main findings are as follows. First, it is necessary to start discussions on introducing Japan's Park-PFI according to the domestic conditions as a means of public-private partnership to improve the service quality and diversify the functions of aging urban parks. In order to introduce Park-PFI social discussions and follow-up studies on the deterioration of urban parks. Must be conducted. The installation of private capital and profit facilities and improvements of related regulations, such as the 「Parks and Green Spaces Act」 and the 「Public Property Act」, is required. Second, it is judged that the Park-PFI project is a policy alternative that can enhance the benefits to citizens, local governments, and private operators under the premise that the need to refurbish aging urban parks is high and the location is suitable for promoting the project. As a result of a pilot application of the Park-PFI project to Seyeong Park, an aging urban park located in Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, it was analyzed to be profitable in terms of the profitability index (PI), net present value (FNPV), and internal rate of return (FIRR). It is considered possible to participate in the business sector. At the local government level, private capital is used to improve the physical space environment of aging urban parks, as well as the refurbishment of the urban parks by utilizing financial resources generated by returning a portion of the facility usage fees and profits (0.5% of annual sales) of private operators. It was found that management budgets could be secured.

Comparative Analysis of Anti-Terrorism Act and its Enforcement Ordinance for Counter-Terrorism Activities (대테러 활동을 위한 테러 방지법과 시행령의 비교 분석)

  • Yoon, Hae-Sung
    • Korean Security Journal
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    • no.48
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    • pp.259-285
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    • 2016
  • As the need for anti-terrorism legislation has been continuously argued, Anti-terrorism act has been enacted and enforced. On the other hand, there still remain a lot of points to be discussed regarding the definition of the concept of terrorism, matters of human rights violations, strengthening authority of the investigation and intelligence agencies, and mobilization military forces for the suppression of terrorism. Also, reviewing Anti-terrorism act and its enforcement ordinance draft, this legislation seems to regulate terrorist groups like IS. If so, in the case of terrorism of North Korea or domestic anti-government organizations, whether this law would be applied could become an issue. In the case of terrorism of North Korea, Ministry of National Defense has a right of commandership in the military operations, however, it is also possible to apply the article 4 of Natural Security Act a crime of performing objective-or a crime of foreign exchange on Criminal law as legal grounds for not military terrorisms but general investigations. Therefore, it is necessary to involve consideration about this matter. Furthermore, in the view of investigation, Anti-terrorism act and its enforcement ordinance draft do not mention Supreme Prosecutors Office and Ministry of Justice that conduct investigations. In the case of terrorism, the police and prosecution should conduct to arrest criminals and determine crimes at the investigation stage, however, any explicit article related to this content in Anti-terrorism act and its enforcement ordinance draft was unable to be found. Although Anti-terrorism act is certainly toward preventive aspects, considering some matters such as prevention, actions on the scene, maneuver after terrorism, arresting terrorists, investigation direction, cooperation, and mutual assistance, it is necessary to reflect these contents in Anti-terrorism act. In other words, immediately after terrorists attacks, it is possible to mobilize the military operations by Integrated Defense act in order to arrest them in the case of military terrorism. Nevertheless, because both military terrorism and general one are included in the investigation stage, it needs to begin an investigation under the direction of the prosecution. Therefore, above all, a device for finding out the truth behind the case at the investigation stage is not reflected in the current Anti-terrorism act and its enforcement ordinance draft. Accordingly, if National Intelligence Service approaches information at the prevention level in this situation, it may be necessary to come up with follow-up measures of the police, the prosecution, and military units.

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A Study on the Impact of Venture Capital Investment Experience and Job Fit on Fund Formation and Investment Rate of Return (벤처캐피탈의 투자경험과 직무적합도가 펀드결성과 투자수익률에 미치는 영향력에 관한 연구)

  • Kim Dae-Hee;Ha Kyu-So
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.37-50
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    • 2023
  • Venture capital invests the necessary capital and supports management and technology in promising small and medium-sized venture companies in the early stages of start-up with promising technology and excellent manpower. It plays a role as a key player in the venture ecosystem that realizes profits by collecting the investment through various means after growth. Venture capital's job is to recruit various investors(LPs) to invest in small and medium-sized venture companies with growth potential through the formation of venture investment funds, and to collect investment as companies grow, distribute and reinvest. The main tasks of venture capitalists, which play the most important role in venture investment, are finding promising companies, corporate analysis and evaluation, investment screening, follow-up management, and investment recovery. Venture capital's success indicators are fund formation and return on investment, and venture capitalists are rewarded with annual salary, performance-based incentive, and promotion with work performance such as investment, exit, and fund formation. Compared to the recent rapidly growing venture investment market, investment manpower is insufficient, and venture capital is making great efforts to foster manpower and establish infrastructure and systems for long-term service, but research has been conducted mainly from a quantitative perspective. Accordingly, this study aims to empirically analyzed the impact of investment experience, delegation of authority, job fit, and peer relationships on fund formation and return on investment according to the characteristics of the venture capital industry. The results of these empirical studies suggested that future venture capital needs a job environment and manpower operation strategy so that venture capitalists with high job fit and investment experience can work for a long time.

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A Study on the Job Performance of Dental Coordinators and Their Perception (치과코디네이터의 업무수행 및 인식도에 관한 조사연구)

  • Kwon, Soon-Bok;Kim, Young-Nam;Moon, Hee-Jung;Shin, Myung-Suk;Han, Gyeong-Soon;Han, Su-Jin
    • Journal of dental hygiene science
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    • v.5 no.4
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    • pp.211-220
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    • 2005
  • The purpose of this study was to examine the job performance of dental coordinators and their perception of their job to lay the groundwork for utilizing dental personnels more efficiently. The subjects in this study were dental coordinators who worked at selected dental hospitals and clinics in Seoul, Gyeonggi province and Incheon. A survey was conducted to gather data from May 1 to August 8, 2005 and answer sheets from 108 respondents were analyzed. The findings of the study were as follows: 1. As for the length of service, 43.5 percent of the dental coordinators investigated had worked at dental institutes for five years or more, which was followed by less than two years(19.5%) and three years to less than five years(19.4%). Concerning the length of service as dental coordinators, 39.8 percent had served for less than two years, and 19.4 percent had worked for two years to less than three years and for five years or more respectively. Regarding the name of position, 38 percent were called team leaders, and 30.6 percent were called coordinators. As to duties, the largest group of them that stood at 30.6 percent were in charge of receiving, and in regard to department, the largest group, 57.4 percent, belonged to the treatment backup department. 2. Concerning education, the greatest number of them, 45.4 percent, had received education at private institutes, and 73.1 percent found it necessary for dental coordinators to take an authorized qualification test. 43.5 percent, the largest group, looked upon the central government as the best organization to authorize their qualifications and 70.8 percent believed that what they learned enabled them to perform their job successfully. As to the necessity of follow-up education as a means to improve job performance, 96.3 percent consented to it. As for the reason, 63.9 percent considered that necessary to enhance their own ability and 22.2 percent were in want of systematic education. Regarding educational expenses, 29.6 percent were subsidized by the dental institutes where they had worked and 25.9 percent had totally been responsible for that. Regarding a required course, medical service and marketing was most widely pointed out(66.7%), followed by theory and practice(65.7%) and introduction to dentistry(57.4%). As to what sort of education they wanted to receive more, dental service and marketing was selected the most, followed by practical health insurance(35.2%). 3. In regard to what type of job they performed as dental coordinators, 88.9 percent were in charge of appointment in the field of customer service, and 87.9 percent paid attention to having good manners as service providers in the area of self-management. In the field of hospital affairs, 81.3 percent were in charge of receiving. 4. As to their awareness of dental coordinator job, the largest group took pride in the job they performed ($3.99{\pm}0.76$), and the second largest group believed that dental coordinators made a great contribution to hospital management ($3.92{\pm}0.70$). The third largest group gave a great weight to their own job ($3.91{\pm}0.84$) in light of overall dental duties and the fourth largest group found themselves to get along with other employees regardless of position ($3.86{\pm}0.74$). The fifth largest group believed their job was of great use for promoting the oral health of patients ($3.76{\pm}0.75$), and the sixth largest group thought the future of dental coordinators was promising($3.74{\pm}0.86$). 5. In regard to their perception by age group, those who were older had a better opinion on every item of their job in general. Their age made a statistically significant difference to their view of the weight of dental coordinator job(P < 0.001) in light of overall dental duties, of being approved and trusted by managers(P < 0.01), of social awareness of dental coordinator, and of being understood and approved by other employees and dentists. Their pride in current job and their satisfaction with the name of their position were statistically significantly different according to their age as well. Besides, their age made a statistically significant difference to their opinion about whether or not there was an age limit to their occupation and about their contribution to hospital management (P < 0.05). 6. As for their perception by type of job, the dental hygienists were generally most satisfied with their job, followed by nursing aids and others. There was a statistically significant gap among their opinions about whether to make a job-related decision on their own(P < 0.001). the weight of their job in terms of overall dental duties, whether their job improved their ability, whether their job made a great contribution to enhancing the oral health of patients, whether their job was understood and approved by other employees(P < 0.01), social awareness of their job, whether they conflicted with other employees during job performance, and whether dental hospitals or clinics offered a self-development opportunity for them to take their ability to another level(P < 0.05). And their satisfaction with current pay was statistically significantly different as well.

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Analysis on the trends and causes of inhabitant's behavioral changes in medical institutions's utilization after enforcement of regional medical insurance. (pilot-project area of regional medical insurance; mainly Kun-wi and Kwang-hwa county) (의료보험(醫療保險) 실시이후(實施以後) 지역주민(地域住民)의 의료기관이용행태(醫療機關利用行態) 변화(變化) 추이(推移)와 그 요인(要因)에 관한 조사연구(調査硏究))

  • Park, Jung-Yeon
    • Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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    • v.3 no.2
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    • pp.47-76
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    • 1989
  • The objectives of this study was to analyze the major causes of decreasing utilization rate of health care institutios in pilot-project area of regional medical insurance, Kwang-hwa and Kun-wi country. After the implementation of medical insurance, utilization rate of health institutions turned out' to be lower than it was estimated, when the pilot-project of regional medical insurance was planned. It might be due to changes in inhabitant's behavioral attitude toward medical insurance. So this study was made to find measures for financial stability by increasing utilization rate of health care institutions and to be available for basic demand-supply program of medical care. The hypothesis of this study was as follows; First. there is difference in understanding health care institutions between Kun-wi and Kwang-hwa. Second. respondesnts of inquiry survey have exact knowledge of their past experience of treatment taken prior to enforcement of medical insurance, Questionaire survey was made as to each 700 household among total 11, 884 households in Kun-wi and 20,919 households in Kwang-hwa. In case of Kun-wi, 70% of inquired households (491) gave their answers. In Kwang-hwa, the number was 560 households (80% of inquireds). Dollected data was processed and analyzed by way of using SPSS batch system. To evaluate facto rs distribution aspects of data and to make comparison between two area, percentage and $X^2$ distribution were applied. The results were as follows; L The utilization rate of health care institutions in Kun-wi and Kwang-hwa was lower than it was estimated. when pilot-project of medical insurance was planned. 2. Prior to the implementation of medical insurance. inhabitants in two area chose the medical institutions considering such factors. First was medical care fee cheap. second in habitant's residence, Third was the institutions conveniently easy of access. 3. After the implementation of medical insurance. 26.1% of inqurieds in Kun-wi and 41.6% in Kwang-hwa, changed medical institutions. In case of Kwn-wi, from health care institution (p 0.05), and in case of Kwang-hwa, vice versa, from general medical institutions to health care institutions. 4. Evaluation by factors were made such as follows. Inquired gave high marks to following facts: In case of Kun-wi, general medical institutions were difficult of access and relation between patients: was not friendly, but burden of medical expenditure was light. Effects of treatment and facilities was good. In case of Kwang-hwa, inquired gave high evaluation marks to the follow ing facts; facilities of medical institutions was not good, but the burden of medical expenditure was light. 5. After the implementation of medical insurance, the services was evaluated as good, but inquired hopec for lessening the burden of medical expenditure. 6. In case of exact understanding of cost-sharing, the evaluation rate in Kwang-hwa was higher than that of Kun-wi (p < 0.005). And positive attitude toward necessity of medical insurance was also good in Kwang-hwa (p < 0.05). 7. In case of inquired's attitude toward medical institutions, Kwang-hwa showed positive response (p < 0.05) 8. In the case of comparison between general medical institution and health care institution, two area showed similar positive response; medical manpower, facilities of medical institutions and effest: of treatement was good. 9. In comprehensive evaluation of benefit-service; the general medical institution's positiveness was higher than that of health care institutions in Kun-wi. But in Kwang-hwa vice-versa. 10. If the medical expenditure of general medical institution and health care institutions was equal 77% of inquireds in Kun-wi and 59.1% in Kwang-hwa answered that they chose general medical insurance. Considering results above mentioned, the conclusion of this study was made as follows. 1. In Kwang-hwa county, where the understanding of health care institutions's was good, the utilization's of health care institutions was shown high. Therefore, in case of Kwang-hwa, betterment: should be made to induce increasing utilization rate for negative factors of health care institutions. 2. In case of Kun-wi, where the understanding of health care institutions was on the decrease, measures for changing such negative factors should be taken by way of strengthening public relations. And cases of Kwang-hwa should also be studied. 3. On the side of financial stabilization and establishing health care delivery system, primary health care should be available. Therefore, the major cause of inhabitant's avoiding health care institutions should be known. And measures for activating that institutions have to be taken. So, the facilities of health care institution have to be improved up to the level of clinic. And supportive measures for securing equipment and improving health care services should also be taken. It is necessary that strategy for public relations should be employed with policy considerations and supports.

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Application of HHIE-S(Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly-Screening version) to screening test of noise-induced hearing loss (소음성 난청 선별검사에 HHIE-S(Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly-Screening version)의 적용)

  • Lee, Mi-Young;Suh, Suk-Kwon;Lee, Choong-Won
    • Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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    • v.29 no.3 s.54
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    • pp.539-553
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    • 1996
  • The study was conducted from May to September in 1994 to investigate applicability of the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly-Screening version(HHIE-S) in parallel with the pure-tone audiometer to the initial screening test of noise-induced hearing loss(NIHL) in some noise-exposed workers. Subjects were selected by systemic sampling that took every 10th person from 6, 700 workers taking the annual occupational health examination by the department of Health Maintenance of Dongsan Hospital Keimyung University in Taegu. The authors administered the pure-tone audiometric test and self-reported questionnaire of HHIE-S including items of sociodemographic and job-related variables concurrently. The final subjects analysed were 1,019(488 males and 531 females) excluding fourteen persons who had many missing values in their questionnaires. The reliability coefficients of HHIE-S scale by Cronbach's alpha were 0.84. In the univariate analysis of hearing handicap measured by the HHIE-S, work duration, military service and the hearing threshold loss at 1KHz and 4KHz by the initial audiometer were significant in males while age, work duration and hearing threshold loss at 1KHz and 4KHz were significant in females. In the stepwise linear regression analysis, hearing threshold loss at 1KHz and 4KHz, was the only selected variable explaining the hearing handicap in males and hearing threshold loss at 1KHz and 4KHz, age, and work duration were selected in females. In ROC curves for HHIE-S scores against NIHL as gold standard which was defined by the follow-up audiogram as more than 30dB of the average of 0.5/1/2KHz and 50dB at 4KHz, the optimal cutoff for the parallel HHIE-S appeared to be 8. The results suggest that HHIE-S appeared to have some reliability and validity in this data and might be used in screening NIHL in parallel with pure-tone audiometer in noise-exposed workers.

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A Study on the Problem and Improvement of CRM in Financial Institutions (금융기관의 CRM문제점과 개선방안에 관한연구)

  • Lee, Sang-Youn;Oh, Sung-Taek;Kim, Moon-Jung
    • The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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    • v.1 no.1
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    • pp.33-41
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    • 2010
  • In the age of globalization, effective and efficient corporate management is becoming more important as domestic and international business circumstances changes. In the middle of endless changes in business circumstances, fast reaction to customers and market, and offering customized goods and service became essential. In this respect, CRM designed to utilize customer information scientifically and systematically, has become an essential system and marketing strategy to enhance corporate competitiveness. CRM has placed the importance of customers in the front of marketing and has focused every process and business minds on customers. Recent change in the market and the trend of establishing and introducing CRM system has lead us to concentrate on the introduction of CRM in the financial institutions. This study searched for several views about CRM in academic and industrial papers. Through theoretical approach on CRM, the background of the introduction of CRM, the purpose of CRM, the characteristic and application of CRM, and the expected effect of CRM will be discussed. This study is focused on financial institutions where CRM is widely used. And through documents about examples of the introduction of CRM, the status of the establishment of domestic CRM and the necessity and trend of CRM will be discussed. Also the problem of CRM in the financial institutions and the improvement of CRM in domestic banks will be analyzed. When discussing CRM in the financial area, customers are the main source of corporate profit and through relationship management with the customers enhancing loyalty and maximizing profit can be obtained. Especially in CRM in financial institutions, maintaining existing customers makes higher profit ratio, so repurchasing and cross selling becomes important for obtaining lifetime value of existing customers who contribute to most of the profit of corporations. As a result, CRM should be completely customer oriented. CRM in financial institutions is not merely marketing work, but organizational competence which is made up of standardized work process through total process integration inside the corporation. Corporations which plan to introduce CRM should analyze the characteristics and conditions of corporations and establish purpose and strategy of CRM. And they need long term view to find out the factors which best fit for the introduction of CRM. To enable this, strategy composed of daily marketing activity and CRM concept is necessary. Also continued improvement through drill and training for operating organization should be followed to maintain CRM well. And corporate culture must settle customer as the center of corporate value. The race for introducing and improving CRM has already begun. CRM should not be regarded as a choice. It should be accepted as something essential. In this reality financial institutions should solve subdivision problem of customers and necessity of customers with the mind of 'customer's profit is my profit'. Customer focused management should not be emphasized only by words. Efforts like viewing from the customer's point must be nurtured to provide methods to help customers. That is, we should not just follow what is done in foreign countries. We should solve the problem of our customers according to the situation of our country, our industry, our corporation. Then we can gain the trust of customers, and the value derived from the customers will become the background of CRM which will lead the corporation to success.

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Nutritional Characteristics and Some Bioactive Components Contents of Sophorae fructus (괴각(槐角)의 식품영양학적 접근 및 몇 가지 생리활성물질 함량 분석)

  • Choi, Young-Su;Shin, Eon-Hwan;Park, Sung-Jin;Kim, Jong-Dai
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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    • v.37 no.9
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    • pp.1154-1161
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    • 2008
  • The purpose of this study is to determine the possibility of using Sophorae fructus as natural health food source. To accomplish this purpose, the contents of general and antioxidative nutrients of Sophora fructus were measured. The contents of carbohydrate, crude protein, crude lipid and ash are 75.9%, 16.4%, 2.41%, and 5.2%, respectively, while the calories of Sophora fructus was 337.3 kcal. Total dietary fiber was 15.07% of total carbohydrates. The percentages of water soluble dietary fiber to insoluble dietary fiber were 1.09% and 10.36%, respectively. The protein was composed of a total of 18 different kinds of amino acids. The contents of essential and non-essential amino acids were 2,310.91 mg and 5,218.52 mg. The K was the largest mineral followed by Ca, P and Mg, which means Sophorae fructus is alkali material. The contents of saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids were 24.94%, 32.40%, and 32.86%, respectively. Therefore, the amount of the total unsaturated fatty acid was higher than that of any other plant. The content of vitamin C in Sophorae fructus was higher than that of any other plant, which suggests that it could increase blood elasticity. The content of rutin, which is responsible for capillary vessel permeability, was 1.78%. The contents of water soluble antioxidative materials in 1 mL of water-extracted Sophorae fructus were $4.95\;{\mu}g$ which is comparable to 1,560.96 mmol of vitamin C in antioxidant effect. The general nutrients and other antioxidatant bioactive materials in Sophorae fructus were also potential materials for good health food. It is expected that a follow up study on Sophorae fructus through developing processed food and evaluation of their functional properties would provide useful information as a source of medicinal foods.

Oxidative Stress Induced Damage to Paternal Genome and Impact of Meditation and Yoga - Can it Reduce Incidence of Childhood Cancer?

  • Dada, Rima;Kumar, Shiv Basant;Chawla, Bhavna;Bisht, Shilpa;Khan, Saima
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.17 no.9
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    • pp.4517-4525
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    • 2016
  • Background: Sperm DNA damage is underlying aetiology of poor implantation and pregnancy rates but also affects health of offspring and may also result in denovo mutations in germ line and post fertilization. This may result in complex diseases, polygenic disorders and childhood cancers. Childhood cancer like retinoblastoma (RB) is more prevalent in developing countries and the incidence of RB has increased more than three fold in India in the last decade. Recent studies have documented increased incidence of cancers in children born to fathers who consume alcohol in excess and tobacco or who were conceived by assisted conception. The aetiology of childhood cancer and increased disease burden in these children is lin ked to oxidative stress (OS) and oxidative DNA damage( ODD) in sperm of their fathers. Though several antioxidants are in use to combat oxidative stress, the effect of majority of these formulations on DNA is not known. Yoga and meditation cause significant decline in OS and ODD and aid in regulating OS levels such that reactive oxygen speues meditated signal transduction, gene expression and several other physiological functions are not disrupted. Thus, this study aimed to analyze sperm ODD as a possible etiological factor in childhood cancer and role of simple life style interventions like yoga and meditation in significantly decreasing seminal oxidative stress and oxidative DNA damage and thereby decreasing incidence of childhood cancers. Materials and Methods: A total of 131 fathers of children with RB (non-familial sporadic heritable) and 50 controls (fathers of healthy children) were recruited at a tertiary center in India. Sperm parameters as per WHO 2010 guidelines and reactive oxygen species (ROS), DNA fragmentation index (DFI), 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxy guanosine (8-OHdG) and telomere length were estimated at day 0, and after 3 and 6 months of intervention. We also examined the compliance with yoga and meditation practice and smoking status at each follow-up. Results: The seminal mean ROS levels (p<0.05), sperm DFI (p<0.001), 8-OHdG (p<0.01) levels were significantly higher in fathers of children with RB, as compared to controls and the relative mean telomere length in the sperm was shorter. Levels of ROS were significantly reduced in tobacco users (p<0.05) as well as in alcoholics (p<0.05) after intervention. DFI reduced significantly (p<0.05) after 6 months of yoga and meditation practice in all groups. The levels of oxidative DNA damage marker 8-OHdG were reduced significantly after 3 months (p<0.05) and 6 months (p<0.05) of practice. Conclusions: Our results suggest that OS and ODD DNA may contribute to the development of childhood cancer. This may be due to accumulation of oxidized mutagenic base 8OHdG, and elevated MDA levels which results in MDA dimers which are also mutagenic, aberrant methylation pattern, altered gene expression which affect cell proliferation and survival through activation of transcription factors. Increased mt DNA mutations and aberrant repair of mt and nuclear DNA due to highly truncatred DNA repair mechanisms all contribute to sperm genome hypermutability and persistant oxidative DNA damage. Oxidative stress is also associated with genome wide hypomethylation, telomere shortening and mitochondrial dysfunction leading to genome hypermutability and instability. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report decline in OS and ODD and improvement in sperm DNA integrity following adoption of meditation and yoga based life style modification.This may reduce disease burden in next generation and reduce incidence of childhood cancers.