• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.79-91
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• 2015

Purpose - First, the study identifies and analyzes consumer preferences with regard to health foods and supplements. Second, it identifies and analyzes consumer preferences with regard to the properties of Vitamin C supplements. Third, in order to provide a basic data for the development of Vitamin C supplements and to measure how consumers value the properties of different Vitamin C products, a consumer survey was conducted through the choice-based conjoint model. Based on the results, the research estimates consumers' relative product-related priorities as well as price levels and willingness to pay (WTP) for different product types, and makes suggestions regarding consumer-oriented new product development and progressive directions for the successful launch of health foods and supplements. Research design, data, and methodology - This study aims to define the attributes of health foods and supplements based on several characteristics including their natural ingredients, product price, product originality, natural ingredient content, and additional functional ingredients, and makes suggestions regarding strategic market pricing and product development for health foods and supplements according to customer attitudes and characteristics. The research used choice-based conjoint analysis methodology based on the Multinomial Logic Model and collected 94 questionnaires filled out by users of Korean Vitamin C supplements. Results - Product price is the most influential factor among the five analyzed properties. When consumers buy Vitamin C products, the relative significance level of four of the examined properties is as follows: 40.9% for product price, 23.3% for product originality, 21.9% for natural ingredient content, and 13.9% for additional functional ingredients. Vitamin C content is excluded as it is not a statistically significant factor. It is interesting that supplement manufacturers and retailers consider Vitamin C content to be very important whereas consumers do not regard it as an important factor at the time of purchase. The results for the marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for each property of Vitamin C supplements show that consumers are willing to pay an additional 11,146 Korean won for a 50% increase in the natural ingredient content. With regard to product originality, consumers are willing to pay an additional 11,301 Korean won for products manufactured in Europe than for products manufactured in China. Moreover, consumers show a greater preference for products manufactured in Korea than in Europe. However, consumers are not willing to pay more for additional Vitamin C or additional functional ingredients added to Vitamin C products. Conclusions - According to the results of consumer research on Vitamin C supplements, which represent a popular health food supplement in Korea, most Korean health food and supplement companies are not consumer- or market-oriented when developing new products. Companies gather information from either R&D specialists or sales managers and their opinions are highly reflected in new product development. The study's results will help companies recognize the importance of understanding consumers' unmet needs in advance to develop new products in the future.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.340-344
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• 2020

A new chromone analogue (1) was isolated from an EtOAc-extract of Pleosporales sp. culture medium, together with five known chromones (2 - 6). The isolation workflow was guided by a Molecular Networking-based dereplication strategy. The chemical structure of the new compound was elucidated using NMR and MS spectroscopy, and the absolute configuration was established by the Mosher's method. All isolated compounds were evaluated for their inhibitory effects on lipopolysaccharide-induced nitirc oxide production in RAW 264.7 macrophages. Compound 1 showed marginal inhibitory activity with an IC50 value of 118.7 μM.

• Asia Pacific Journal of Business Review
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.19-44
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• 2021

Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) is receiving increased investments in the energy sector under the belt and road initiative (BRI) project since its inception in 2013. SSA has a worse energy efficiency ratio coupled with deficient electricity access, through analysis showed varied impacts on the SSA countries due to the BRI initiative. This study dilves into the influencing factors for Energy Efficiency (EE) in 38 SSA countries, applying the probit and logit approach for 2000-2018. The Multiple-regression model shows significant results of some variables such as foreign direct investment, gross domestic product, and port infrastructure quality being significant on EE under BRI initiative countries. However, the logit and probit models produce similar results and the marginal effect for the entire variable, except energy imports that do not likely impact EE. Furthermore, the interaction of quality of port infrastructure and foreign direct investment variables produces significant results, highlighting the increased investments SSA receives under the BRI initiative in the energy and transport sectors. The model Percent correctly predicted (PCP) value was about 84%, indicating it correctly classified the variables and about 16% not classified. The study recommends EE performance standards should be incorporated on energy projects in SSA to ensure that these projects are energy efficient and decouple SSA's energy demand from economic growth. The research proffers suggestions for policy regarding the BRI initiative in SSA and the implications on sustainable energy and building a community with a shared future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.523-530
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to develop a technology commercialization strategy by analyzing the consumer preference for low-sodium instant noodle ramen, which has a sodium content of 1,730 mg or less. For the commercialization of such low-sodium ramen, this study examined how much consumers would pay through an analysis of consumer preference by conjoint analysis. This study surveyed 1,004 men and women in their 20 s and 50 s between the ages of 20 and 50 years in Korea using an online survey. If the price of conventional instant noodle ramen is KRW 4,000 (approximately USD 3.57) per 5 packs for one pack of 5 servings in a supermarket, this study surveyed how much more they respondents would pay if the sodium was reduced by 10.0, 20.0, and 30.0%. The study found that if sodium was reduced by 10.0, 20.0, and 30.0%, the respondents would pay as much as KRW 4,180, KRW 4,307, and KRW 4,515, respectively. The attributes of low-sodium instant noodle ramen were examined according to the degree of sodium reduction, vegetable protein ingredients, brand, where to buy and price with each level. The Marginal Willingness To Pay (MWTP) was analyzed as follows. If the sodium content of ramen soup is reduced by 1.0%, the amount that can be paid would be KRW 105.78. Respondents could pay KRW 1,673 more for famous brand ramen than an unknown brand ramen. The study results indicated that when a new product is developed and released, it can be expected to increase sales of the new product by understanding the foreseeable value that consumers could pay for and realize the technological commercialization of the technology.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.24 no.68
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• pp.51-65
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• 2001

This study is to make LCIA(Life Cycle Impact Assessment) easier as a methodology of environmental scores(called E-score) that integrated environmental load of each emission substance based on environmental damage such as in human health, ecosystem and resources category. The concept is to analyzes the LCI(Life Cycle Inventory) and defines the level of environment damages for human health, ecosystem and resources to objective impact assessment standard, and makes the base of marginal damage to calculate the damage factor, which can present the indication that can establish the standard value of environmental impact. First, damages to human health are calculated by fate analysis, effect analysis and damage analysis to get the damage factor of health effect as a DALY(Disability Adjusted Life Years) unit. Second, damages to ecosystem are calculated by fate analysis, effect analysis and damage analysis to get the damage factor of the effect as a PDF(Potentially Disappeared Fraction) unit through linking potentially increased disappeared fraction. Third, damages to resources are carried out by resource analysis and damage analysis for linking the lower fate to surplus energy conception to get damage factor as a MJ(Mega Joule) unit. For the ranking of relative environment load level each other, LCIA can be carried out effectively by applying this E-score methodology to the particular emission substances. A case study has been introduced for the emission substances coming out of a tire manufacturer in Korea. It is to show how to work the methodology. Based on such study result, product-designers or producers now can apply the E-scores presented in this study to the substances of emission list, and then calculate the environment load of the product or process in advance at any time and can see the environment performance comparatively and expected to contribute to the environmental improvement in view of environmental pollution prevention.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.193-198
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• 2011

Polyester was prepared through the esterification reaction between watsepaper liquefied by ethylene glycol and carboxylic acid. Liquefaction was carried out at the previously determined condition of 100 minutes, $160^{\circ}C$, and 3% sulfuric acid, and the hydroxyl value of the liquefied product was 411 mg KOH/g. In order to remove bubbles produced during the curing step, the method to introduce a slight nitrogen stream into reaction vessel and/or the method to preheat a polyester film at $85^{\circ}C$ before curing step were used alone or in combination. But if curing temperature was $130^{\circ}C$, simple method to cure a film for 5 hours at $130^{\circ}C$ without using both methods was found to be most effective. The polyesters prepared with various carboxylic acids showed significant different physical properties, and maleic acid was best among them. Also, the effect of reaction time and temperature, C/H (carboxyl group/hydroxyl group) ratio, and type of additive on the crosslinkage of polyester was investigated. Lithium hydroxide or citric acid as additive was used to enhance the crosslinkage of polyester and citric acid was proved to be much more effective than lithium hydroxide. The effect of reaction temperature on the crosslinkage was marginal, but the crosslinkage decreased above $130^{\circ}C$. The crosslinkage was 86% when the polyester was prepared at an optimum condition such as $130^{\circ}C$ and 15 minutes of reaction condition, 1.5 of C/H ratio, $130^{\circ}C$ and 5 hours of curing condition, and 10% addition of citric acid.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.115-137
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• 2010

Information technology (IT) outsourcing, the use of a third-party vendor to provide IT services, started in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Korea, and has increased rapidly since 2000. Recently, firms have increased their efforts to capture greater value from IT outsourcing. To date, there have been a large number of studies on IT outsourcing. Most prior studies on IT outsourcing have focused on outsourcing practices and decisions, and little attention has been paid to objectively measuring the value of IT outsourcing. In addition, studies that examined the performance of IT outsourcing have mainly relied on anecdotal evidence or practitioners' perceptions. Our study examines the contribution of IT outsourcing to economic growth in Korean industries over the 1990 to 2007 period, using a production function framework and a panel data set for 54 industries constructed from input-output tables, fixed-capital formation tables, and employment tables. Based on the framework and estimation procedures that Han, Kauffman and Nault (2010) used to examine the economic impact of IT outsourcing in U.S. industries, we evaluate the impact of IT outsourcing on output and productivity in Korean industries. Because IT outsourcing started to grow at a significantly more rapid pace in 2000, we compare the impact of IT outsourcing in pre- and post-2000 periods. Our industry-level panel data cover a large proportion of Korean economy-54 out of 58 Korean industries. This allows us greater opportunity to assess the impacts of IT outsourcing on objective performance measures, such as output and productivity. Using IT outsourcing and IT capital as our primary independent variables, we employ an extended Cobb-Douglas production function in which both variables are treated as factor inputs. We also derive and estimate a labor productivity equation to assess the impact of our IT variables on labor productivity. We use data from seven years (1990, 1993, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2007) for which both input-output tables and fixed-capital formation tables are available. Combining the input-output tables and fixed-capital formation tables resulted in 54 industries. IT outsourcing is measured as the value of computer-related services purchased by each industry in a given year. All the variables have been converted to 2000 Korean Won using GDP deflators. To calculate labor hours, we use the average work hours for each sector provided by the OECD. To effectively control for heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation present in our dataset, we use the feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) procedures. Because the AR1 process may be industry-specific (i.e., panel-specific), we consider both common AR1 and panel-specific AR1 (PSAR1) processes in our estimations. We also include year dummies to control for year-specific effects common across industries, and sector dummies (as defined in the GDP deflator) to control for time-invariant sector-specific effects. Based on the full sample of 378 observations, we find that a 1% increase in IT outsourcing is associated with a 0.012~0.014% increase in gross output and a 1% increase in IT capital is associated with a 0.024~0.027% increase in gross output. To compare the contribution of IT outsourcing relative to that of IT capital, we examined gross marginal product (GMP). The average GMP of IT outsourcing was 6.423, which is substantially greater than that of IT capital at 2.093. This indicates that on average if an industry invests KRW 1 millon, it can increase its output by KRW 6.4 million. In terms of the contribution to labor productivity, we find that a 1% increase in IT outsourcing is associated with a 0.009~0.01% increase in labor productivity while a 1% increase in IT capital is associated with a 0.024~0.025% increase in labor productivity. Overall, our results indicate that IT outsourcing has made positive and economically meaningful contributions to output and productivity in Korean industries over the 1990 to 2007 period. The average GMP of IT outsourcing we report about Korean industries is 1.44 times greater than that in U.S. industries reported in Han et al. (2010). Further, we find that the contribution of IT outsourcing has been significantly greater in the 2000~2007 period during which the growth of IT outsourcing accelerated. Our study provides implication for policymakers and managers. First, our results suggest that Korean industries can capture further benefits by increasing investments in IT outsourcing. Second, our analyses and results provide a basis for managers to assess the impact of investments in IT outsourcing and IT capital in an objective and quantitative manner. Building on our study, future research should examine the impact of IT outsourcing at a more detailed industry level and the firm level.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.278-293
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• 2019

The joint distribution of wave height and period has been maltreated despite of its great engineering value due to the absence of any analytical model for wave period, and as a result, no consensus has been reached about the effect of nonlinearity on these joint distribution. On the other hand, there was a great deal of efforts to study the effects of non-linearity on the wave height distribution over the last decades, and big strides has been made. However, these achievements has not been extended to the joint distribution of wave height and period. In this rationale, we first express the joint distribution of wave height and period as the product of the marginal distribution of wave heights with the conditional distribution of associated periods, and proceed to derive the joint distribution of wave heights and periods utilizing the models of Longuet-Higgins (1975, 1983), and Cavanie et al. (1976) for conditional distribution of wave periods, and height distribution derived in this study. The verification was carried out using numerically simulated data based on the Wallops spectrum, and the nonlinear wave data obtained via the numerical simulation of random waves approaching toward the uniform beach of 1:15 slope. It turns out that the joint distribution based on the height distribution for finite banded nonlinear waves, and Cavanie et al.'s model (1976) is most promising.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.155-162
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• 2018

This study attempts to analyze the consumers' preference on Korean Red Ginseng Tonic, which is an essential product to revitalize Korean ginseng industry, using choice experiment method. The attributes used in the choice experiment were the ginseng age, good agricultural products(GAP), sugar, and price. A total of 1,796 experiments were collected and the value of each preferred attributes was estimated using a multinomial logistic model. The result shows that the products made from six-year-old and GAP(Good Agriculture Practice) approved Korean ginseng with less sugar were preferred. These estimated monetary values of marginal willingness to pay were about 94,000 KRW, 89,000 KRW, 5,000 KRW, respectively. Thus, the efforts to introduce and advertize GAP approved ginseng while developing new products with preferred attributes by general publics are necessary in the short run. In addition, we may need to consider developing the way to promote products using 4- and 5-year-old ginsengs, which are relatively underestimated in their health effectiveness but highly productive for farmers in the long run.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.6
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• pp.152-171
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• 2002

This study analyses the avatar service, which is recognized as an alternative strategy of animation industry. The research questions of this study are following: (1) How have the avatar services been developed and what are the present dominant types? (2) Which structural characteristics of e-business environment are needed for the success of avatar services? (3) What is the economic characteristics of avatar business model? To solve these research questions, the basic conditions and the structural characteristics of avatar services have been investigated. In the first place, two forms of avatar service are classified. One is the internet service site whole primary service is to provide chatting service based on avatar service. The other is the portal site in which many kinds of products and services are presented as bundles to meet the needs of internet users. So avatar service is one of bundles which those portal sites are providing with. In this study, the big five internet service sites are selected based on the profits they earned through the sales of avatar service. The result of analysis is that the pricing strategy of those big five sites is very different from those of traditional off-line markets. The pricing mechanism are based on the value which internet users endow with the avatar items, not based on the costs of making the products. Avatar is the representative informative goods. The informative goods have the original cost structures, constant fixed costs and zero marginal costs, so the providers of avatar services make much of the subjective values of consumers. The sayclub, which is the most successful avatar service site and earn the average sales of 3 billing won a month, takes the aggressive strategy of pricing avatar items at highest price in the industry. The avatar service providers which make lots of profits are planning of making differentiate the services, introducing well-known brand items and star-named items. Nevertheless, the fact that the members of the sayclub are not decreasing means that the network effect of the site is so strongly manifest. Moreover, the costs the members have paid for the avatar items are so big not as to switch from one site to the other site, it can be very costly. These switching costs are endemic in high-technology industries and digital contents industries. It can be so large that switching suppliers is virtually unthinkable, a situation known as 'lock-in'. When switching costs are substantial, competition can be intense to attract new customers, since, one they are locked in, they can be a substantial source of profit. The consumers of avatar items have switching costs if they subscribe for the new avatar service site. The switching costs can be subscription costs as well as the costs of giving up the items they already paid for. One common example of switching costs involves specialized supplies, as with inkjet printer cartridges. In this example, the switching cost is the purchase of a new printer. The market is competitive ex ante, but since cartridges are incompatible, it is monopolized dx post. So the providers of printer/cartridges set pricing printer so cheap and cartridges expensive. On the contrary, since the avatar service can be successful with the strong network effect, the providers of avatar services have to compete aggressively for new customers. So they allow the subscription at a low price(almost marginal cost) in the early market. The network effect can be maximized when the members are sufficiently growing. The providers which have the monopoly power with sufficient subscribers. begin to raise the prices over the lifetime of the product and make profits.