• Title/Summary/Keyword: network selection

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The Effect of Mutual Trust on Relational Performance in Supplier-Buyer Relationships for Business Services Transactions (재상업복무교역중적매매관계중상호신임대관계적효적영향(在商业服务交易中的买卖关系中相互信任对关系绩效的影响))

  • Noh, Jeon-Pyo
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.19 no.4
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    • pp.32-43
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    • 2009
  • Trust has been studied extensively in psychology, economics, and sociology, and its importance has been emphasized not only in marketing, but also in business disciplines in general. Unlike past relationships between suppliers and buyers, which take considerable advantage of private networks and may involve unethical business practices, partnerships between suppliers and buyers are at the core of success for industrial marketing amid intense global competition in the 21st century. A high level of mutual cooperation occurs through an exchange relationship based on trust, which brings long-term benefits, competitive enhancements, and transaction cost reductions, among other benefits, for both buyers and suppliers. In spite of the important role of trust, existing studies in buy-supply situations overlook the role of trust and do not systematically analyze the effect of trust on relational performance. Consequently, an in-depth study that determines the relation of trust to the relational performance between buyers and suppliers of business services is absolutely needed. Business services in this study, which include those supporting the manufacturing industry, are drawing attention as the economic growth engine for the next generation. The Korean government has selected business services as a strategic area for the development of manufacturing sectors. Since the demands for opening business services markets are becoming fiercer, the competitiveness of the business service industry must be promoted now more than ever. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the mutual trust between buyers and suppliers on relational performance. Specifically, this study proposed a theoretical model of trust-relational performance in the transactions of business services and empirically tested the hypotheses delineated from the framework. The study suggests strategic implications based on research findings. Empirical data were collected via multiple methods, including via telephone, mail, and in-person interviews. Sample companies were knowledge-based companies supplying and purchasing business services in Korea. The present study collected data on a dyadic basis. Each pair of sample companies includes a buying company and its corresponding supplying company. Mutual trust was traced for each pair of companies. This study proposes a model of trust-relational performance of buying-supplying for business services. The model consists of trust and its antecedents and consequences. The trust of buyers is classified into trust toward the supplying company and trust toward salespersons. Viewing trust both at the individual level and the organizational level is based on the research of Doney and Cannon (1997). Normally, buyers are the subject of trust, but this study supposes that suppliers are the subjects. Hence, it uniquely focused on the bilateral perspective of perceived risk. In other words, suppliers, like buyers, are the subject of trust since transactions are normally bilateral. From this point of view, suppliers' trust in buyers is as important as buyers' trust in suppliers. The suppliers' trust is influenced by the extent to which it trusts the buying companies and the buyers. This classification of trust using an individual level and an organization level is based on the suggestion of Doney and Cannon (1997). Trust affects the process of supplier selection, which works in a bilateral manner. Suppliers are actively involved in the supplier selection process, working very closely with buyers. In addition, the process is affected by the extent to which each party trusts its partners. The selection process consists of certain steps: recognition, information search, supplier selection, and performance evaluation. As a result of the process, both buyers and suppliers evaluate the performance and take corrective actions on the basis of such outcomes as tangible, intangible, and/or side effects. The measurement of trust used for the present study was developed on the basis of the studies of Mayer, Davis and Schoorman (1995) and Mayer and Davis (1999). Based on their recommendations, the three dimensions of trust used for the study include ability, benevolence, and integrity. The original questions were adjusted to the context of the transactions of business services. For example, a question such as "He/she has professional capabilities" has been changed to "The salesperson showed professional capabilities while we talked about our products." The measurement used for this study differs from those used in previous studies (Rotter 1967; Sullivan and Peterson 1982; Dwyer and Oh 1987). The measurements of the antecedents and consequences of trust used for this study were developed on the basis of Doney and Cannon (1997). The original questions were adjusted to the context of transactions in business services. In particular, questions were developed for both buyers and suppliers to address the following factors: reputation (integrity, customer care, good-will), market standing (company size, market share, positioning in the industry), willingness to customize (product, process, delivery), information sharing (proprietary information, private information), willingness to maintain relationships, perceived professionalism, authority empowerment, buyer-seller similarity, and contact frequency. As a consequential variable of trust, relational performance was measured. Relational performance is classified into tangible effects, intangible effects, and side effects. Tangible effects include financial performance; intangible effects include improvements in relations, network developing, and internal employee satisfaction; side effects include those not included either in the tangible or intangible effects. Three hundred fifty pairs of companies were contacted, and one hundred five pairs of companies responded. After deleting five company pairs because of incomplete responses, one hundred five pairs of companies were used for data analysis. The response ratio of the companies used for data analysis is 30% (105/350), which is above the average response ratio in industrial marketing research. As for the characteristics of the respondent companies, the majority of the companies operate service businesses for both buyers (85.4%) and suppliers (81.8%). The majority of buyers (76%) deal with consumer goods, while the majority of suppliers (70%) deal with industrial goods. This may imply that buyers process the incoming material, parts, and components to produce the finished consumer goods. As indicated by their report of the length of acquaintance with their partners, suppliers appear to have longer business relationships than do buyers. Hypothesis 1 tested the effects of buyer-supplier characteristics on trust. The salesperson's professionalism (t=2.070, p<0.05) and authority empowerment (t=2.328, p<0.05) positively affected buyers' trust toward suppliers. On the other hand, authority empowerment (t=2.192, p<0.05) positively affected supplier trust toward buyers. For both buyers and suppliers, the degree of authority empowerment plays a crucial role in the maintenance of their trust in each other. Hypothesis 2 tested the effects of buyerseller relational characteristics on trust. Buyers tend to trust suppliers, as suppliers make every effort to contact buyers (t=2.212, p<0.05). This tendency has also been shown to be much stronger for suppliers (t=2.591, p<0.01). On the other hand suppliers trust buyers because suppliers perceive buyers as being similar to themselves (t=2.702, p<0.01). This finding confirmed the results of Crosby, Evans, and Cowles (1990), which reported that suppliers and buyers build relationships through regular meetings, either for business or personal matters. Hypothesis 3 tested the effects of trust on perceived risk. It has been found that for both suppliers and buyers the lower is the trust, the higher is the perceived risk (t=-6.621, p<0.01 for buyers; t=-2.437, p<0.05). Interestingly, this tendency has been shown to be much stronger for buyers than for suppliers. One possible explanation for this higher level of perceived risk is that buyers normally perceive higher risks than do suppliers in transactions involving business services. For this reason, it is necessary for suppliers to implement risk reduction strategies for buyers. Hypothesis 4 tested the effects of trust on information searching. It has been found that for both suppliers and buyers, contrary to expectation, trust depends on their partner's reputation (t=2.929, p<0.01 for buyers; t=2.711, p<0.05 for suppliers). This finding shows that suppliers with good reputations tend to be trusted. Prior experience did not show any significant relationship with trust for either buyers or suppliers. Hypothesis 5 tested the effects of trust on supplier/buyer selection. Unlike buyers, suppliers tend to trust buyers when they think that previous transactions with buyers were important (t=2.913 p<0.01). However, this study did not show any significant relationship between source loyalty and the trust of buyers in suppliers. Hypothesis 6 tested the effects of trust on relational performances. For buyers and suppliers, financial performance reportedly improved when they trusted their partners (t=2.301, p<0.05 for buyers; t=3.692, p<0.01 for suppliers). It is interesting that this tendency was much stronger for suppliers than it was for buyers. Similarly, competitiveness was reported to improve when buyers and suppliers trusted their partners (t=3.563, p<0.01 for buyers; t=3.042, p<0.01 for suppliers). For suppliers, efficiency and productivity were reportedly improved when they trusted buyers (t=2.673, p<0.01). Other performance indices showed insignificant relationships with trust. The findings of this study have some strategic implications. First and most importantly, trust-based transactions are beneficial for both suppliers and buyers. As verified in the study, financial performance can be improved through efforts to build and maintain mutual trust. Similarly, competitiveness can be increased through the same kinds of effort. Second, trust-based transactions can facilitate the reduction of perceived risks inherent in the purchasing situation. This finding has implications for both suppliers and buyers. It is generally believed that buyers perceive higher risks in a highly involved purchasing situation. To reduce risks, previous studies have recommended that suppliers devise risk-reducing tactics. Moving beyond these recommendations, the present study uniquely focused on the bilateral perspective of perceived risk. In other words, suppliers are also susceptible to perceived risks, especially when they supply services that require very technical and sophisticated manipulations and maintenance. Consequently, buyers and suppliers must solve problems together in close collaboration. Hence, mutual trust plays a crucial role in the problem-solving process. Third, as found in this study, the more authority a salesperson has, the more he or she can be trusted. This finding is very important with regard to tactics. Building trust is a long-term assignment; however, when mutual trust has not been developed, suppliers can overcome the problems they encounter by empowering a salesperson with the authority to make certain decisions. This finding applies to suppliers as well.

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The Role of Social Capital and Identity in Knowledge Contribution in Virtual Communities: An Empirical Investigation (가상 커뮤니티에서 사회적 자본과 정체성이 지식기여에 미치는 역할: 실증적 분석)

  • Shin, Ho Kyoung;Kim, Kyung Kyu;Lee, Un-Kon
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.22 no.3
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    • pp.53-74
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    • 2012
  • A challenge in fostering virtual communities is the continuous supply of knowledge, namely members' willingness to contribute knowledge to their communities. Previous research argues that giving away knowledge eventually causes the possessors of that knowledge to lose their unique value to others, benefiting all except the contributor. Furthermore, communication within virtual communities involves a large number of participants with different social backgrounds and perspectives. The establishment of mutual understanding to comprehend conversations and foster knowledge contribution in virtual communities is inevitably more difficult than face-to-face communication in a small group. In spite of these arguments, evidence suggests that individuals in virtual communities do engage in social behaviors such as knowledge contribution. It is important to understand why individuals provide their valuable knowledge to other community members without a guarantee of returns. In virtual communities, knowledge is inherently rooted in individual members' experiences and expertise. This personal nature of knowledge requires social interactions between virtual community members for knowledge transfer. This study employs the social capital theory in order to account for interpersonal relationship factors and identity theory for individual and group factors that may affect knowledge contribution. First, social capital is the relationship capital which is embedded within the relationships among the participants in a network and available for use when it is needed. Social capital is a productive resource, facilitating individuals' actions for attainment. Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1997) identify three dimensions of social capital and explain theoretically how these dimensions affect the exchange of knowledge. Thus, social capital would be relevant to knowledge contribution in virtual communities. Second, existing research has addressed the importance of identity in facilitating knowledge contribution in a virtual context. Identity in virtual communities has been described as playing a vital role in the establishment of personal reputations and in the recognition of others. For instance, reputation systems that rate participants in terms of the quality of their contributions provide a readily available inventory of experts to knowledge seekers. Despite the growing interest in identities, however, there is little empirical research about how identities in the communities influence knowledge contribution. Therefore, the goal of this study is to better understand knowledge contribution by examining the roles of social capital and identity in virtual communities. Based on a theoretical framework of social capital and identity theory, we develop and test a theoretical model and evaluate our hypotheses. Specifically, we propose three variables such as cohesiveness, reciprocity, and commitment, referring to the social capital theory, as antecedents of knowledge contribution in virtual communities. We further posit that members with a strong identity (self-presentation and group identification) contribute more knowledge to virtual communities. We conducted a field study in order to validate our research model. We collected data from 192 members of virtual communities and used the PLS method to analyse the data. The tests of the measurement model confirm that our data set has appropriate discriminant and convergent validity. The results of testing the structural model show that cohesion, reciprocity, and self-presentation significantly influence knowledge contribution, while commitment and group identification do not significantly influence knowledge contribution. Our findings on cohesion and reciprocity are consistent with the previous literature. Contrary to our expectations, commitment did not significantly affect knowledge contribution in virtual communities. This result may be due to the fact that knowledge contribution was voluntary in the virtual communities in our sample. Another plausible explanation for this result may be the self-selection bias for the survey respondents, who are more likely to contribute their knowledge to virtual communities. The relationship between self-presentation and knowledge contribution was found to be significant in virtual communities, supporting the results of prior literature. Group identification did not significantly affect knowledge contribution in this study, inconsistent with the wealth of research that identifies group identification as an important factor for knowledge sharing. This conflicting result calls for future research that examines the role of group identification in knowledge contribution in virtual communities. This study makes a contribution to theory development in the area of knowledge management in general and virtual communities in particular. For practice, the results of this study identify the circumstances under which individual factors would be effective for motivating knowledge contribution to virtual communities.

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Analysis of Stromal Cells Developed from Cord Blood CD34+ Cells (제대혈 CD34+ 세포에서 유래된 지지세포의 분석)

  • Ryu, Kyung-Ha;Park, Se-Jin;Kim, Kyung Hyo;Seoh, Ju-Young;Khan, Mohammad;Shin, Hee-Young;Ahn, Hyo-Seop
    • IMMUNE NETWORK
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    • v.1 no.1
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    • pp.87-94
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    • 2001
  • Background: Cytokine-mediated ex vivo expansion has been proposed as a means of increasing the number of cord blood (CB) hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation. As well as stem cell number, stromal cells are necessary for functional maturation of hematopoiesis. The purpose of this study was to analyze the development of stromal cells during ex vivo expansion of CB $CD34^+$ cells. Methods : $CD34^+$ cells were purified from CB by magnetic bead selection. The levels of of interleukin-3, interleukin-$1{\beta}$, interleukin-6, granulocyte macrophagecolony stimulating factor and tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ were measured in culture supernatants on 0, 1, 2, and 3 weeks, using ELISA techniques. CB $CD34^+$ cells were expanded in Iscoves modified Dulbeccos medium in the presence of several cytokines. The expression of E-selectin, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, intercellular adhesion molecule-1, platelet/endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1, von Willebrand factor, vimentin, and CD14 in newly developed stromal cells was examined by immunocytochemical method. Relevant extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and proper cytokines were also assayed for the most suitable condition for expansion of stromal cells. Results: Several cytokines were found to have been produced by CB $CD34^+$ cells as well as bone marrow-derived $CD34^+$ cells. During ex vivo expansion of CB $CD34^+$ cells, stromal cells appeared in the culture by day 4 and expanded over the following 7-10 days before being confluent by day 2 1. These cells expressed surface markers characteristic of cells of endothelial lineage. Furthermore, these stroaml cells also expanded effectively when treated with thrombopoietin+flt-3 ligand+stem cell factor+leukemia inhibitory factor or 0.1% poly-L-lysine-coated wells. Conclusion: Stromal cells were developed during ex vivo expansion of CB $CD34^+$ cells and that this development could be enhanced further by treating the stromal cells with cytokines or ECM.

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Effects for kangaroo care: systematic review & meta analysis (캥거루 케어가 미숙아와 어머니에게 미치는 효과 : 체계적 문헌고찰 및 메타분석)

  • Lim, Junghee;Kim, Gaeun;Shin, Yeonghee
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.17 no.3
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    • pp.599-610
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    • 2016
  • This paper reports the results of a systematic review (SR) and meta-analysis research to compare the effect of Kangaroo care, targeting mothers and premature infants. A randomized clinical trial study was performed until February 2015. The domestic literature contained the non-randomized clinical trial research without restriction according to the level of the study design. A search of the Ovid-Medline, CINAHL, PubMed and KoreaMed, the National Library of KOREA, the National Assembly Library, NDSL, KISS and RISS. Through the KMbase we searched and combined the main term ((kangaroo OR KC OR skin-to-skin) AND (care OR contact)) AND (infant OR preterm OR Low Birth Weight OR LBW), ((kangaroo OR kangaroo OR kangaroo) AND (care OR nursing care OR management OR skin contact)) was made; these were all combined with a keywords search through the selection process. They were excluded in the final 25 studies (n=3051). A methodology checklist for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) designed by SIGN (Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network) was utilized to assess the risk of bias. The overall risk of bias was regarded as low. In 16 studies that were evaluated as a grade of "++", 9 studies were evaluated as a grade of "+". As a result of meta-analysis, kangaroo care regarding the effects of premature mortality, severe infection/sepsis had an insignificant effect. Hyperthermia incidence, growth and development (height and weight), mother-infant attachment, hypothermia incidence, length of hospital days, breast feeding rate, sleeping, anxiety, confidence, and gratification of mothering role were considered significant. In satisfaction of the role performance, depression and stress presented contradictory research results for individual studies showing overall significant difference. This study has some limitations due to the few RCTs comparing kangaroo care in the country. Therefore, further RCTs comparing kangaroo care should be conducted.

Site Monitoring System of Earthquake, Fault and Slope for Nuclear Power Plant Sites (원자력발전소의 부지감시시스템의 운영과 활용)

  • Park, Donghee;Cho, Sung-il;Lee, Yong Hee;Choi, Weon Hack;Lee, Dong Hun;Kim, Hak-sung
    • Economic and Environmental Geology
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    • v.51 no.2
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    • pp.185-201
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    • 2018
  • Nuclear power plants(NPP) are constructed and operated to ensure safety against natural disasters and man-made disasters in all processes including site selection, site survey, design, construction, and operation. This paper will introduce a series of efforts conducted in Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. Ltd., to assure the safety of nuclear power plant against earthquakes and other natural hazards. In particular, the present status of the earthquake, fault, and slope safety monitoring system for nuclear power plants is introduced. A earthquake observatory network for the NPP sites has been built up for nuclear safety and providing adequate seismic design standards for NPP sites by monitoring seismicity in and around NPPs since 1999. The Eupcheon Fault Monitoring System, composed of a strainmeter, seismometer, creepmeter, Global Positioning System, and groundwater meter, was installed to assess the safety of the Wolsung Nuclear Power Plant against earthquakes by monitoring the short- and long-term behavioral characteristics of the Eupcheon fault. Through the analysis of measured data, it was verified that the Eupcheon fault is a relatively stable fault that is not affected by earthquakes occurring around the southeastern part of the Korean peninsula. In addition, it was confirmed that the fault monitoring system could be very useful for seismic safety analysis and earthquake prediction study on the fault. K-SLOPE System for systematic slope monitoring was successfully developed for monitoring of the slope at nuclear power plants. Several kinds of monitoring devices including an inclinometer, tiltmeter, tension-wire, and precipitation gauge were installed on the NPP slope. A macro deformation analysis using terrestrial LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) was performed for overall slope deformation evaluation.

Distribution Model of the Wintering Red-crowned Crane and White-naped Crane in Cheorwon, Korea (철원지역에서 월동하는 두루미와 재두루미의 서식밀도모델)

  • Yoo, Seung-Hwa;Lee, Ki-Sup;Kim, Hwa-Jung;Hur, Wee-Haeng;Kim, Jin-Han;Park, Chong-Hwa
    • Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.47 no.4
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    • pp.282-291
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    • 2014
  • This study was conducted to make distribution model of the Red-crowned Crane and the White-naped Crane according to the anthropogenic and natural factors affecting distribution of crane in Cheorwon, Korea. It was investigated that the impact power and its range of the indirect anthropogenic influence to feeding flock density in cranes from the road, residential area, military facilities, civilian control zone (CCZ), greenhouse and natural influence such as roosting site and available feeding area. Available feeding area is the most important factor for the crane's feeding site selection. The feeding flock density of the cranes near the residential area was lower than that of area far from the area, and tended to increase within 2.5 km distance. The increasing tendencies of feeding flock density from military facilities and high traffic volume road were similar, but the density in military facilities increased within 800 m, and the density from high traffic volume road increased within 2 km. These results suggested that residential area, military facilities and the road with high traffic volume had significant effect on foraging densities to the certain range. As the distance from the road with low traffic volume and roosting site increased, feeding flock density tended to decrease. The density of Red-crowned crane and White-naped crane inside the CCZ were respectively higher than those of outside the CCZ, especially for the Red-crowned crane. As a result, density of Red crowned cranes inside the CCZ was 5.2 times higher than that of outside, while that of white-naped cranes was 2.2 times bigger. If the density of greenhouse is lower than $40km^{-2}$, crane's feeding flock density in the low greenhouses density area was higher than that of high greenhouses density area. However, there was no difference in the feeding flock density if the density of the green houses is higher than $40km^{-2}$. The model for the Red-crowned Crane was related with available feeding area, distance from residential area, civilian control zone and distance from high traffic road. The model of the White-naped Crane was related with available feeding area, distance from roosting site and distance from lake. Finally, the estimated feeding flock density of cranes significantly correlated with density model according to the natural and anthropogenic factors.

Self-Tour Service Technology based on a Smartphone (스마트 폰 기반 Self-Tour 서비스 기술 연구)

  • Bae, Kyoung-Yul
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.16 no.4
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    • pp.147-157
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    • 2010
  • With the immergence of the iPhone, the interest in Smartphones is getting higher as services can be provided directly between service providers and consumers without the network operators. As the number of international tourists increase, individual tourists are also increasing. According to the WTO's (World Tourism Organization) prediction, the number of international tourists will be 1.56 billion in 2020,and the average growth rate will be 4.1% a year. Chinese tourists, in particular, are increasing rapidly and about 100 million will travel the world in 2020. In 2009, about 7.8 million foreign tourists visited Korea and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is trying to attract 12 million foreign tourists in 2014. A research institute carried out a survey targeting foreign tourists and the survey results showed that they felt uncomfortable with communication (about 55.8%) and directional signs (about 21.4%) when they traveled in Korea. To solve this inconvenience for foreign tourists, multilingual servicesfor traffic signs, tour information, shopping information and so forth should be enhanced. The appearance of the Smartphone comes just in time to provide a new service to address these inconveniences. Smartphones are especially useful because every Smartphone has GPS (Global Positioning System) that can provide users' location to the system, making it possible to provide location-based services. For improvement of tourists' convenience, Seoul Metropolitan Government hasinitiated the u-tour service using Kiosks and Smartphones, and several Province Governments have started the u-tourpia project using RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) and an exclusive device. Even though the u-tour or u-tourpia service used the Smartphone and RFID, the tourist should know the location of the Kiosks and have previous information. So, this service did not give the solution yet. In this paper, I developed a new convenient service which can provide location based information for the individual tourists using GPS, WiFi, and 3G. The service was tested at Insa-dong in Seoul, and the service can provide tour information around the tourist using a push service without user selection. This self-tour service is designed for providing a travel guide service for foreign travelers from the airport to their destination and information about tourist attractions. The system reduced information traffic by constraining receipt of information to tourist themes and locations within a 20m or 40m radius of the device. In this case, service providers can provide targeted, just-in-time services to special customers by sending desired information. For evaluating the implemented system, the contents of 40 gift shops and traditional restaurants in Insa-dong are stored in the CMS (Content Management System). The service program shows a map displaying the current location of the tourist and displays a circle which shows the range to get the tourist information. If there is information for the tourist within range, the information viewer is activated. If there is only a single resultto display, the information viewer pops up directly, and if there are several results, the viewer shows a list of the contents and the user can choose content manually. As aresult, the proposed system can provide location-based tourist information to tourists without previous knowledge of the area. Currently, the GPS has a margin of error (about 10~20m) and this leads the location and information errors. However, because our Government is planning to provide DGPS (Differential GPS) information by DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) this error will be reduced to within 1m.

Aquatic exercise for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review & meta analysis (무릎 골관절염 환자를 대상으로 한 수중 운동과 지상운동 비교: 체계적 문헌고찰 및 메타분석)

  • Kim, Young-il;Choi, Hyo-Shin;Han, Jung-haw;Kim, Juyoung;Kim, Gaeun
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.16 no.9
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    • pp.6099-6111
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    • 2015
  • This study was a systematic review and meta-analysis comparing the effects of aquatic exercise and land-based exercise in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. 7 studies (n=449) met selection and exclusion criteria out of 287 potential studies obtained from the literature search via Ovid-Medline, Cochrane Library CENTRAL, CINAHL, RISS and KISS. The overall risk of bias of selected studies using SIGN (Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network) checklist for randomized controlled trials (RCT) was regarded as low. As a result of meta analysis, Standardized Mean Difference (SMD) for pain was -0.26(95% CI -0.49, -0.03, p=0.03, $I^2=14%$), which implies that aquatic exercise groups had significant less pain than land-based exercise groups. On the other hand, there was no significant difference between aquatic exercise groups and land based exercise groups for flexion Range of Motion (ROM) (-0.12, 95% CI -0.51, 0.27, p=0.53, $I^2=0%$), extension ROM (-0.04, 95% CI -0.55, 0.48, p=0.89, $I^2=43%$), physical function (-0.12, 95% CI -0.44, 0.19, p=0.44, $I^2=0%$), Quality of Life (QOL) (-0.15, 95% CI -0.54, 0.24, p=0.46, $I^2=0%$). This study has some limitations due to few RCTs comparing aquatic exercise groups and land-based exercise groups in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. Therefore, further RCTs should be conducted along with long-term outcomes.

Bioinformatic Analysis of the Canine Genes Related to Phenotypes for the Working Dogs (특수 목적견으로서의 품성 및 능력 관련 유전자들에 관한 생물정보학적 분석)

  • Kwon, Yun-Jeong;Eo, Jungwoo;Choi, Bong-Hwan;Choi, Yuri;Gim, Jeong-An;Kim, Dahee;Kim, Tae-Hun;Seong, Hwan-Hoo;Kim, Heui-Soo
    • Journal of Life Science
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    • v.23 no.11
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    • pp.1325-1335
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    • 2013
  • Working dogs, such as rescue dogs, military watch dogs, guide dogs, and search dogs, are selected by in-training examination of desired traits, including concentration, possessiveness, and boldness. In recent years, genetic information has been considered to be an important factor for the outstanding abilities of working dogs. To characterize the molecular features of the canine genes related to phenotypes for working dogs, we investigated the 24 previously reported genes (AR, BDNF, DAT, DBH, DGCR2, DRD4, MAOA, MAOB, SLC6A4, TH, TPH2, IFT88, KCNA3, TBR2, TRKB, ACE, GNB1, MSTN, PLCL1, SLC25A22, WFIKKN2, APOE, GRIN2B, and PIK3CG) that were categorized to personality, olfactory sense, and athletic/learning ability. We analyzed the chromosomal location, gene-gene interactions, Gene Ontology, and expression patterns of these genes using bioinformatic tools. In addition, variable numbers of tandem repeat (VNTR) or microsatellite (MS) polymorphism in the AR, MAOA, MAOB, TH, DAT, DBH, and DRD4 genes were reviewed. Taken together, we suggest that the genetic background of the canine genes associated with various working dog behaviors and skill performance attributes could be used for proper selection of superior working dogs.

Wintering Population Change of the Cranes according to the Climatic Factors in Cheorwon, Korea: Effect of the Snow Cover Range and Period by Using MODIS Satellite Data (기후요인에 의한 철원지역 두루미류 월동개체수 변화 - MODIS 위성영상을 이용한 눈 덮임 범위와 지속기간의 영향 -)

  • Yoo, Seung-Hwa;Lee, Ki-Sup;Jung, Hwa-Young;Kim, Hwa-Jung;Hur, Wee-Haeng;Kim, Jin-Han;Park, Chong-Hwa
    • Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.48 no.3
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    • pp.176-187
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    • 2015
  • In this study, we hypothesized that the size of wintering crane population would change due to the climate factors. We assumed that wintering population size would differ by climate values in January, which is the coldest period in year. Especially, White-naped cranes were able to choose wintering site between Cheorwon and other alternative place where snow coverage had low influence, differing from Red crowned cranes. For this reason, we predicted the population size of White-naped cranes would fluctuate according to the extent of snow coverage in Cheorwon. Therefore we used snow coverage data based on MODIS and climate data from KMA (Korea Meteorological Administration) that are generally used. We analyzed the crane's population size in Cheorwon in January from 2002 to 2014. The temperature in the Cheorwon increased from 2002 to wintering period in 2007~ 2008 and went down, showing the lowest temperature in 2011~ 2012. With this phenomenon, warmth index showed the similar pattern with temperature. Amount of newly accumulated snow (the amount of snow that fallen from 0:01 am to 11:29 pm in a day) was low after 2002, but rapidly increased in 2010~ 2011 and 2011~ 2012. The area of snow coverage rapidly declined from 2002 to 2005~ 2006 but suddenly expanded in wintering period in 2009~ 2010 and 2010~ 2011. Wintering population size of the White-naped cranes decreased as snow coverage area increased in January and the highest correlation was found between them, compared to the other climatic factors. However, the number of individuals of Red crowned cranes had little relationship with general climate factors including snow cover range. Therefore it seems that population size of the Red crowned crane varied by factors related with habitat selection such as secure roosting site and area of foraging place, not by climatic factors. In multiple regression analysis, wintering population of White-naped cranes showed significant relationship with logarithmic value of snow cover range and its period. Therefore, it suggests that the population size of the White-naped crane was affected by snow cover range n wintering period and this was because it was hard for them to find out rice grains which are their main food items, buried in snow cover. The population size variation in White-naped cranes was caused by some individuals which left Cheorwon for Izumi where snow cover had little influence on them. The wintering population in Izumi and Cheorwon had negative correlation, implying they were mutually related.