• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.139-166
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• 2010

The supply chain management (SCM) systems have emerged as strong managerial tools for manufacturing firms in enhancing competitive strength. Despite of large investments in the SCM systems, many companies are not fully realizing the promised benefits from the systems. A review of literature on adoption, implementation and success factor of IOS (inter-organization systems), EDI (electronic data interchange) systems, shows that this issue has been examined from multiple theoretic perspectives. And many researchers have attempted to identify the factors which influence the success of system implementation. However, the existing studies have two drawbacks in revealing the determinants of systems implementation success. First, previous researches raise questions as to the appropriateness of research subjects selected. Most SCM systems are operating in the form of private industrial networks, where the participants of the systems consist of two distinct groups: focus companies and vendors. The focus companies are the primary actors in developing and operating the systems, while vendors are passive participants which are connected to the system in order to supply raw materials and parts to the focus companies. Under the circumstance, there are three ways in selecting the research subjects; focus companies only, vendors only, or two parties grouped together. It is hard to find researches that use the focus companies exclusively as the subjects probably due to the insufficient sample size for statistic analysis. Most researches have been conducted using the data collected from both groups. We argue that the SCM success factors cannot be correctly indentified in this case. The focus companies and the vendors are in different positions in many areas regarding the system implementation: firm size, managerial resources, bargaining power, organizational maturity, and etc. There are no obvious reasons to believe that the success factors of the two groups are identical. Grouping the two groups also raises questions on measuring the system success. The benefits from utilizing the systems may not be commonly distributed to the two groups. One group's benefits might be realized at the expenses of the other group considering the situation where vendors participating in SCM systems are under continuous pressures from the focus companies with respect to prices, quality, and delivery time. Therefore, by combining the system outcomes of both groups we cannot measure the system benefits obtained by each group correctly. Second, the measures of system success adopted in the previous researches have shortcoming in measuring the SCM success. User satisfaction, system utilization, and user attitudes toward the systems are most commonly used success measures in the existing studies. These measures have been developed as proxy variables in the studies of decision support systems (DSS) where the contribution of the systems to the organization performance is very difficult to measure. Unlike the DSS, the SCM systems have more specific goals, such as cost saving, inventory reduction, quality improvement, rapid time, and higher customer service. We maintain that more specific measures can be developed instead of proxy variables in order to measure the system benefits correctly. The purpose of this study is to find the determinants of SCM systems success in the perspective of vendor companies. In developing the research model, we have focused on selecting the success factors appropriate for the vendors through reviewing past researches and on developing more accurate success measures. The variables can be classified into following: technological, organizational, and environmental factors on the basis of TOE (Technology-Organization-Environment) framework. The model consists of three independent variables (competition intensity, top management support, and information system maturity), one mediating variable (collaboration), one moderating variable (government support), and a dependent variable (system success). The systems success measures have been developed to reflect the operational benefits of the SCM systems; improvement in planning and analysis capabilities, faster throughput, cost reduction, task integration, and improved product and customer service. The model has been validated using the survey data collected from 122 vendors participating in the SCM systems in Korea. To test for mediation, one should estimate the hierarchical regression analysis on the collaboration. And moderating effect analysis should estimate the moderated multiple regression, examines the effect of the government support. The result shows that information system maturity and top management support are the most important determinants of SCM system success. Supply chain technologies that standardize data formats and enhance information sharing may be adopted by supply chain leader organization because of the influence of focal company in the private industrial networks in order to streamline transactions and improve inter-organization communication. Specially, the need to develop and sustain an information system maturity will provide the focus and purpose to successfully overcome information system obstacles and resistance to innovation diffusion within the supply chain network organization. The support of top management will help focus efforts toward the realization of inter-organizational benefits and lend credibility to functional managers responsible for its implementation. The active involvement, vision, and direction of high level executives provide the impetus needed to sustain the implementation of SCM. The quality of collaboration relationships also is positively related to outcome variable. Collaboration variable is found to have a mediation effect between on influencing factors and implementation success. Higher levels of inter-organizational collaboration behaviors such as shared planning and flexibility in coordinating activities were found to be strongly linked to the vendors trust in the supply chain network. Government support moderates the effect of the IS maturity, competitive intensity, top management support on collaboration and implementation success of SCM. In general, the vendor companies face substantially greater risks in SCM implementation than the larger companies do because of severe constraints on financial and human resources and limited education on SCM systems. Besides resources, Vendors generally lack computer experience and do not have sufficient internal SCM expertise. For these reasons, government supports may establish requirements for firms doing business with the government or provide incentives to adopt, implementation SCM or practices. Government support provides significant improvements in implementation success of SCM when IS maturity, competitive intensity, top management support and collaboration are low. The environmental characteristic of competition intensity has no direct effect on vendor perspective of SCM system success. But, vendors facing above average competition intensity will have a greater need for changing technology. This suggests that companies trying to implement SCM systems should set up compatible supply chain networks and a high-quality collaboration relationship for implementation and performance.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.155-165
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• 2014

Multiple thermal energy storage (TES) caverns can be used for storing thermal energy on a large scale and for a high-aspect-ratio heat storage design to provide good thermal performance. It may also be necessary to consider the use of multiple caverns with a reduced length when a single, long tunnel-shaped cavern is not suitable for connection to aboveground heat production and injection equipments. When using multiple TES caverns, the separation distance between the caverns is one of the significant factors that should be considered in the design of storage space, and the optimal separation distance should be determined based on a quantitative stability criterion. In this paper, we described a numerical approach for determining the optimal separation distance between multiple caverns for large-scale TES utilization. For reliable stability evaluation of multiple caverns, we employed a probabilistic method which can quantitatively take into account the uncertainty of input parameters by probability distributions, unlike conventional deterministic approaches. The present approach was applied to the design of a conceptual TES model to store hot water for district heating. The probabilistic stability results of this application demonstrated that the approach in our work can be effectively used as a decision-making tool to determine the optimal separation distance between multiple caverns. In addition, the probabilistic results were compared to those obtained through a deterministic analysis, and the comparison results suggested that care should taken in selecting the acceptable level of stability when using deterministic approaches.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.393-404
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• 2008

The approaches in many design codes for the estimation of the deflection of flexural reinforced concrete (RC) members utilize the concept of the effective moment of inertia which considers the reduction of flexural rigidity of RC beams after cracking. However, the effective moment of inertia in design codes are primarily based on the ratio of maximum moment and cracking moment of beam subjected to loading without proper consideration on many other possible influencing factors such as span length, member end condition, sectional size, loading geometry, materials, sectional properties, amount of cracks and its distribution, and etc. In this study, therefore, an experimental investigation was conducted to provide fundamental test data on the effective moment of inertia of RC beams for the evaluation of flexural deflection, and to develop a modified method on the estimation of the effective moment of inertia based on test results. 14 specimens were fabricated with the primary test parameters of concrete strength, cover thickness, reinforcement ratio, and bar diameters, and the effective moments of inertia obtained from the test results were compared with those by design codes, existing equations, and the modified equation proposed in this study. The proposed method considered the effect of the length of cracking region, reinforcement ratio, and the effective concrete area per bar on the effective moment of inertia, which estimated the effective moment of inertia more close to the test results compared to other approaches.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.273-286
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• 2018

In recent years, significant progress has been made in developing design rules for stainless steel members, while the investigation on bolted connections is relatively limited, in particular at elevated temperatures. In this paper, experimental and numerical investigations on stainless steel bolted connections at ambient and elevated temperatures from the literature were reviewed. Firstly, the research program that focused on structural behavior of cold-formed stainless steel (CFSS) bolted connections at elevated temperatures carried out by the authors were summarized. Over 400 CFSS single shear and double shear bolted connection specimens were tested. The tests were conducted in the temperature ranged from 22 to $950^{\circ}C$ using both steady state and transient state test methods. It is shown that the connection strengths decrease as the temperature increases in the similar manner for the steady state test results and the transient state test results. Generally, the deterioration of the connection strengths showed a similar tendency of reduction to those of the material properties for the same type of stainless steel regardless of different connection types and different configurations. It is also found that the austenitic stainless steel EN 1.4571 generally has better resistance than the stainless steel EN 1.4301 and EN 1.4162 for bolted connections at elevated temperatures. Secondly, extensive parametric studies that included 450 specimens were performed using the verified finite element models. Based on both the experimental and numerical results, bearing factors are proposed for bearing resistances of CFSS single shear and double shear bolted connections that subjected to bearing failure in the temperature ranged from 22 to $950^{\circ}C$. The bearing resistances of bolted connections obtained from the tests and numerical analyses were compared with the nominal strengths calculated from the current international stainless steel specifications, and also compared with the predicted strengths calculated using the proposed design equations. It is shown that the proposed design equations are generally more accurate and reliable than the current design rules in predicting the bearing resistances of CFSS (EN 1.4301, EN 1.4571 and EN 1.4162) bolted connections at elevated temperatures. Lastly, the proposed design rules were further assessed by the available 58 results of stainless steel bolted connections subjected to bearing failure in the literature. It is found that the proposed design rules are also applicable to the bearing resistance design of other stainless steel grades, including austenitic stainless steel (EN 1.4306), ferritic stainless steel (EN 1.4016) and duplex stainless steel (EN 1.4462).

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.359-365
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• 2007

Freezing and thawing cycle is one of the major weathering-induced factors in the mechanical weathering of the rock mass. This natural process accelerates rock weathering process by breaking down the parent rock materials and makes soil or weathered rock formation in a rock slope surface zone. It can also cause reduction of the shear strength in slopes. It is important to calculate the deterioration depth caused by freezing-thawing for a slope stability analysis. In this study, deterioration depths of rock slope due to freezing-thawing were calculated using the 1-D heat conductivity equation. The temperature distribution analysis was also carried out using collected temperature distribution data for last five years of several major cities in Korea. The analysis was performed based on the distributed rock types in study areas. Thermal conductivities, specific heats and densities of the calculation rocks are tested in the laboratory. They are thermal properties of rocks as input parameters for calculating deterioration depths. Finally, the paper is showing the calculated deterioration depths of each rock type slopes in several major cities of Korea.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.119-128
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• 1998

This paper describes a filtering algorithm which employs apriori information of SPECT lesion detectability potential for the filtering of degraded projection images prior to the backprojection reconstruction. In this algorithm, we determined m minimum detectable lesion sized(MDLSs) by assuming m object contrasts uniformly-chosen in the range of 0.0-1.0, based on a signal/noise model which provides the capability potential of SPECT in terms of physical factors. A best estimate of given projection image is attempted as a weighted combination of the subimages from m optimal filters whose design is focused on maximizing the local S/N ratios for the MDLS-lesions. These subimages show relatively larger resolution recovery effect and relatively smaller noise reduction effect with the decreased MDLS, and the weighting on each subimage was controlled by the difference between the subimage and the maximum-resolution-recovered projection image. The proposed filtering algoritym was tested on SPECT image reconstruction problems, and produced good results. Especially, this algorithm showed the adaptive effect that approximately averages the filter outputs in homogeneous areas and sensitively depends on each filter strength on contrast preserving/enhancing in textured lesion areas of the reconstructed image.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2021

Concrete structures gradually age due to deterioration of materials or excess loads and environmental factors, and their performance decreases, affecting the usability and safety of structures. Although external tension construction methods are widely used among the reinforcement methods of old bridges, it is insufficient to identify the effects and effects of reinforcement depending on the level of aging. Therefore, in this study, a four-point loading experiment was conducted on the subject with the non-reinforced and external tensioning method to confirm the reinforcement effect of the external tensioning method, assuming the aging of the structure as a reduction in the compressive strength and tensile reinforcement of concrete, to analyze the behavior of the reinforcement and confirm the reinforcement effect. As a result of the experiment, it was difficult to identify the amount of reinforcement in the extreme condition due to early elimination of the anchorage. Therefore, compliance with the regulations on anchor bolts is required when applying the external tension reinforcement method. Crack load and yield load increased depending on whether external tension was reinforced, but before the crack, the stiffness before and after reinforcement was similar, making it difficult to confirm the reinforcement effect.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.6C
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• pp.321-329
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• 2008

In this study, a series of column test as a way in order to make up for the weakness point of the conventional acceleration method were conducted to both propose the suction board drain method and grapes the specific improvement character of this method as a result of a sort of plastic drain board and a phase of vacuum pressure conditions. On this occasion, the study focused on computing the effective factors of the fittest Suction board drain method affected by each condition through confirming the settlement generated during the test, the water content reduction and stress increase effect occurred arising from the test, and the ratio of consolidation related to the improvement period. In accordance with the shape of core and that whether the core is attached to the filter(pocket or adhesion), the castle type of adhesion and the column type of pocket are more efficient than the others as a consequence of the test to find out the improvement effect depending on each drainage such as a castle type, coil type, harmonica type, column type of pocket and a castle of the adhesion. In case of the step suction pressure, the shorter the period of $-0.8\;kg/cm^2$ as a final step of the suction pressure is, the better the improvement is. In addition, the correlation between degree of consolidation per each suction pressure level and duration of application was drawn as a curve and the point of inflection on this curve was provided to determine the duration period to maximize the consolidation.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.247-258
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• 2004

Climatological, hydrological and planktonical research studies, measurements of primary production and photosynthetic efficiency from December 1976 to December 1978 have been carried out in two brackish lakes: Lake Etang de Berre and Lake Etang de Vaine located in the French Mediterranean coast, in the region of Carry-le-Rouet located on the north-west Mediterranean near Marseilles, and in fresh water inflows from 4 Rivers (Touloubre, Durance, Arc, Durancole) to Lake Etang de Berre. Physico-chemical parameters were measured for this study: water temperature, salinity, density, pH, alcalinity, dissolved oxygen (% saturation), phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, silicate etc. Diverse biological parameters were also studied: photosynthetic pigments, phaeopigments, specific composition and biomass of phytoplankton, primary pelagic production etc. Climatical factors were studied: air-temperature, solar-radiation, evaporation, direction (including strength) of winds, precipitation and freshwater volume of the four rivers. The changes in Lake ‘Etang de Berre’ ecosystem depend on the quality of the water in the Durance River, and on the effects of seawater near the entrance of the Caronte Canal. The water quality of the lake varies horizontally and vertically as a result of atmospheric phenomena, maritime currents and tides. The distribution of water temperatures is generally heterogeneous. Southeasterly winds and the Northeasterly Mistral wind are important in the origins of circulated and mixed water masses. These winds are both frequent and strong. They have, as a result, a great effect on the water environment of Lake Etang de Berre. In theory, the annual precipitation in this region is well over eight times the water mass of the lake. The water of the Durance River flows into Lake Etang de Berre through the EDF Canal, amounting to 90% of the precipitation. However, reduction of rainfall in dry seasons has a serious effect on the hydrological characteristics of the lake. The temperature in the winter is partially caused by the low temperature of fresh water, particularly that of the Durance River. The hydrological season of fresh and brackish water is about one month ahead of the hydrological season of sea water in its vicinity. The salinity of Lake Etang de Berre runs approximately 3$\textperthousand$, except at lower levels and near the entrance to the Caronte Canal. However, when the volume of the Durance River water is reduced in the summer and fall, the salinity rises to 15$\textperthousand$. In the lake, the ratio of fresh water to sea water is six to one (6:1). The large quantities of seston conveyed by rivers, particularly the Durance diversion, strongly reduce the transparency in the brackish waters. Although the amount of sunshine is also notable, transparency is slight because of the large amount of seston, carried chiefly by Tripton in the fresh water of the Durance River. Therefore, photosynthesis generally occurs only in the surface layer. The transparency progressively increases from freshwater to open seawater, as mineral particles sink to the bottom (about 1.7kg $m^{-2}a^{-1}$ on the average in brackish lakes). The concentration of dissolved oxygen and the rate of oxygen saturation in seawater (Carry-le-Rouet) ranged from 5.0 to 6.0 $m\ell$ㆍ.$1^{-1}$, and from 95 to 105%, respectively. The amount of dissolved oxygen in Etang de Berre oscillated between 2.9 and 268.3%. The monographs of phosphate, nitrate, nitrite and silicate were published as a part of a study on the ecology of phytoplankton in these environments. Horizontal and vertical distributions of these nutriments were studied in detail. The recent diversion of the Durance River into Lake Etang de Berre has effected a fundamental change in this formerly marine environment, which has had a great impact in its plankton populations. A total of 182 taxa were identified, including 111 Bacillariophyceae, 44 Chlorophyceae, and 15 Cyanophyceae. The most abundant species are small freshwater algae, mainly Chlorophyceae. The average density is about $10^{8}$ cells $1^{-1}$ in Lake Etang de Berre, and about double that amount in Lake Etang de Vaine. Differences in phytoplankton abundance and composition at the various stations or at various depths are slight. Cell biovolume V (equivalent to true biomass), plasma volume VP (‘useful’ biomass) and, simultaneously. the cell surface area S and S/V ratio through the measurement of cell dimensions were computed as the parameters of phytoplankton productivity and metabolism. Pigment concentrations are generally very high on account of phytoplankton blooms by Cyanophyceae, Chlorophyceae and Cryptophyceae. On the other hand, in freshwaters and marine waters, pigment concentrations are comparatively low and stable, showing slight annual variation. The variations of ATP concentration were closely related to those of chlorophyll a and phytoplankton blooms only in marine waters. The carbon uptake rates ranged between 38 and 1091 mg$Cm^{-2}d^{-1}$, with an average surface value of 256 mg; water-column carbon-uptake rates ranged between 240 and 2310 mg$Cm^{-2}d^{-1}$, with an average of 810, representing 290 mg$Cm^{-2}$, per year 45 000 tons per year of photosynthetized carbon for the whole lake. Gross photosynthetic production measured by the method of Ryther was studied over a 2-year period. The values obtained from marine water(Carry-le-Rouet) ranged from 23 to 2 337 mg$Cm^{-2}d^{-1}$, with a weighted average of 319, representing about 110 gCm$^{-2}$ per year. The values in brakish water (Etang de Berre) ranged from 14 to 1778 mg$Cm^{-2}d^{-1}$, with a weighted average of 682, representing 250 mg$Cm^{-2}$ per year and 38 400 tons per year of photosynthesized carbon for the whole lake.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.1120-1133
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to validate the failure attribution factors affecting emotional changes after a failed service by local restaurant users, and the relapse effects of the perceived failure of a customer's brand relationship. In this study, the implications of this study can be divided into the null theory and the homogenous theory, in which the study of the relationship between individual belief that influences the null theory and the post-gender emotional response is minimal. The independence of the crash response (angerous VS compassion) has been equally validated as building a belief-gathering-emotion three-step model. First, emotional BRQ (intimate and love) has a reduction effect on controllable geeks, and behavioral BRQ (relative existence) has an extended effect on controllable geeks. From a management perspective, restaurant managers should be less aware of the repeatability of a customer's service failure and call for customer sympathy. Integratedly, restaurant managers must control the customer's perception of service failure and restore the impact of the customer's BRQ on emotional reactions. A variety of service recovery measures should be established and the cerumen should be controlled. In addition, since BRQs have different effects on anger and sympathy (extended VS), different service failure recovery plans should be presented depending on the characteristics of the customer BRQ. For example, measures such as monetary compensation or fair dealing, emotional distribution to close and loving customers, and persuasion of reciprocal benefits to interdependent customers should be developed according to circumstances. This study explored the effectiveness of the geeks after a service failure and has limitations that do not take into account the various regulatory factors in the BRQ-return-Empression process. Thus, in further studies, the effects of adjusting service failure strength should be considered and a more complete model should be built.