• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.241-253
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• 2003

Changes in chemical, microbiological quality of pan fried oak mushroom and meat, soy sauce glazed hair tail and roasted dodok in wrap packaging, top sealing, vacuum packaging were evaluated during storage 25$^{\circ}C$, 4$^{\circ}C$, -18$^{\circ}C$ for 5 days. The results were as follows: 1) The cases of chilled and frozen storage, there were small increases in the pH from the first day, with no differences between the different packaging methods, with the exception of the vacuum packaging, which was lower. The pH and Aw of the roasted dodok were lower than those of the other foods. The Aw for all three foods at room temperature significantly decreased in the wrap packaging and top sealing on day one, but the rate of reduction was lower when in chilled storage. The VBN increased with increasing length of storage, and temperatures, but the rate of increase was lower in the top sealing and vacuum packaging. The VBN of roasted dodok was considerably lower than with the other foods. The POV increased significantly on the first day or room temperature storage and the rate or increase was low in chilled End frozen storages, and in the vacuum packaging. 2) SPC of the roasted dodok at room temperature increased significantly within five days of storage. but was inhibited within five days in the vacuum packaging with chilled storage. The SPC of the soy sauce glazed hair tail was low in the top sealing and vacuum packaging when in chilled storage. The coliform of the pan fried oak mushroom and meat. on the fifth day of room temperature storage, was close to hazardous conditions for the wrap packaging. From the third day of chilled storage, few coliform were detected in the pan fried oak mushroom and meat, or the soy sauce glazed hair tail, but not in the vacuum packaging, within five days, for all three foods in frozen storage. The S. spp. had exceeded the standard in the wrap packaging and top sealing with the pan fried oak mushroom and meat on the third day at room temperature, but was not detected in the vacuum packaging within five days, and exceeded the standard in the wrap packaging on the fifth day of chilled storage. S. spp. was not detected in the soy sauce glazed hair tail within five days at all storage temperatures. S. spp. was not detected in the roasted dodok within five days of chilled and frozen storage, but was detected from the third day in the wrap packaging. and the fifth in the top sealing, at room temperature, which exceeded the standard. Sal. spp., V parahaemolyticus, E. coli O157:H7, L. monocytogenes were not detected. 3) The Aw was found to be influenced by storage temperature, period and packaging method, while the VBN was significantly influenced by the storage temperature and period. Regarding the SPC, the pan fried oak mushroom and meat was affected by the storage temperature and period, while the soy sauce glazed hair tail was influenced by the packaging method and storage period. The roasted dodok's microbiological quality was influenced by the method of packaging. The chemical, microbiological quality of home-delivered meals were preserved to be five days in the vacuum packaging, at. chilled and frozen storage.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.83-108
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• 1984

Out of a total of 58 species of helminthic and protozoan parasitic infections in Korea, so far 38 species were reported as intestinal parasites of man. Quite a few species of the intestinal parasitic infections have long been prevalent throughout the country and this has been a significant public health problem. In this paper, current status and transition of the intestinal parasitic infections in the past years were presented. Chronological reviewing of data show background and prospects of change in the prevalence of infections. In the national prevalence survey on parasitic infections conducted once every five years since 1971, stool examinations were done by both cellophane thick smear and brine flotation techniques. Every egg positive case of Ascaris lumbricoides and Clonorchis sinensis was further examined by Stoll's dilution egg counting technique. In 1981, perianal swab using adhesive cellulose tape was added for Enterobius infection. For protozoan cyst examination conducted by province and city in '81, fecal specimens were fixed in SAF solution and examined by the formalin-ether concentration technique. High prevalence of parasitic infection in ana before the 1960s can be easily understood from the data given by the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs in 1967. From a parasite control point of view, the 1960s was the preparatory period particularly for control of soil-transmitted helminthiasis. Several organizations which have contributed to parasite control were founded in this period and the prevention law of parasitic infections was passed in '66. In the '70s, overall prevalence rates of the common intestinal parasitic infections, which were highly prevalent in the past were turned into reduction phase for the first time. The '80s can be said to be an active control period of parasitic infections. Intestinal helminths According to the reports of the national prevalence survey on parasitic infections, the prevalence of helminthic infections was 84.3%(number of person examined:24,887) in '71, 63.2%(27,178) in '76, and 41.1%(35,018) in '81. By area, the prevalence rate in '81 was 35.1%(20,569) in urban areas and 49.6%(14,447) in rural areas. Intestinal nematodes Ascaris lumbricoides The prevalence of Ascaris infection has decreased significantly in recent years. Among students, the prevalence was 55.4%, in '69 and decreased to 4.7% in '83. In the national prevalence surveys, the prevalence decreased to 13.0% in '81 from 54.9% in '71. By area, the prevalence decreased to 8.5% in '81 from 46.4% in '71 in urban area and 19.4% in '81 from 59.6% in '71 in rural area. By age, the prevalence has become in recent years relatively even in all age groups, although higher prevalence used to be seen in young age groups of around 10 years old, particulary in the highly prevalent rural areas. By sex, the prevalence was higher in the female than in the male. Unfertilized egg positive rates among the ascariasis cases increased gradually up to 55.4% on the average in '81. The intensity of the infection was also significantly decreased. Trichuris trichiura Trichuris infection had also decreased to 23.4% in '81 from 65.4% in '71. By area, the decreasing tendency of the prevalence became faster in urban areas than in the rural areas. The prevalence in urban and rural areas in '71 was 69.7%, and 63.1% respectively and decreased to 19.5% and 29.0% respectively in '81. By age, the prevalence reached a peak at the 10-14 age group and showed relatively even distribution throughout all age groups. By sex, the prevalence was close in young age groups, but in the 30s or over age group, especially in rural area, the prevalence was significantly higher in the female than in the male. The prevalence has much fluctuated depending in the area. The prevalence in rural areas surveyed in the '80s shows a range between 20.9% and 73.7% by locality. It is anticipated that the prevalence of Trichuris infection will drop more rapidly, when mass treatment is conducted. Hookworms Hookworm infection by mostly Ancylostoma duodenale and a few by Necator americanus has decreased to a negligible levels in recent years. In the national prevalence surveys, the prevalence was 10.7% in '71, 2.2% in '76, and 0.5% in '81. The prevalence was higher in rural areas than in urban areas. Wide application of multi-specific anthelminthics in the ascariasis control programmes conducted in the past decade appear to have been effective against hookworm infection. Trichostrongylus orientalis As in the case with hookworm infection, the prevalence of Trichostrongylus infection has reached a negligible levels. In the national prevalence surveys, the prevalence was 7.7% in '71, 1.0% in '76 and 0.2% in '81. Enterobius vermicularis In the national prevalence survey in '81, the egg positive rate was 12.0%. Higher prevalence is expected when examined repeatedly. The prevalence rate was 10.3% in urban area and 14.6% in rural area. In recent surveys conducted in rural areas among schoolchildren, the prevalence was 32.4% in Gimhae Gun in '82 and 64.1% in Yeongyang Gun in '83. By age, the egg positive rate was higher in young age groups of around 10 and sharply decreased in age groups of around 20 and then somewhat increased again in middle age groups. By sex, the prevalence was higher in the female than in the male. Strongyloides stercoralis Strongyloides stercoralis infection has rarely been found in Korea. Three cases were reported in 1914. And 0.1-0.5% were found infected out of 2,642 persons examined at the prisoner-of-war camp on Geojedo in 1956. One case was reported in '54 and '82, respectively. Anisakis spp. No systematic survey has been conducted for anisakiasis In Korea. So far, only several cases have been found 1 case in Seoul in '71, 5 cases in Busan in '81 and 1 case in Busan in '84. Intestinal trematodes Metagonimus yokogawai In the national prevalence survey conducted in 1981, the egg positive rate was 1.24% on the average. High endemic areas are located in the southwestern part of Korea. The prevalence in Hadong Gun was 29.1% on the average in '79. In a survey conducted in 76, the prevalence was 44.0% in Gwangyang, 55.0% in Gogseung and 29.0% in Gurye. The infection is closely correlated with raw sweetfish consumption in these areas. Other intestinal trematodes A human case of Heterophyes heterophyes was reported in 1914. Several species were reported in the '80s : 17 cases of Fibricola seoulensis, 9 cases of Pygidiopsis summa, 8 cases of Heterophyes heterophyes nocens, 1case of Heterophyopsis continua, 2 cases of Stellantchasmus falcatus, 1 case of Stictodora sp., 1 case of Echinostoma hortense, and 4 cases of Echinochasmus japonicus. As the intermediate hosts, snakes and frogs play a role for F.seoulensis and fish for the rest of the species. Intestinal cestodes Taenia saginata and T. solium Egg positive rates in the national prevalence survey were 0.7% in '76 and 1.1% in '81. The prevalence in '81 was 0.6% in urban area and 1.8% in rural area. The proglottid positive rate in Jeju Do was 19.2% on the average. On Udo, Jeju Do in 1983, the egg positive rate among the inhabitants was 2.9%. Hymenolepis nana In the national prevalence survey, egg positive rates were 0.6% in '76 and 0.4% in '81. No difference was seen in the prevalence by area and sex. Hymenolepis diminuta Infected cases were reported : 3 in '64 and I in '66. Egg positive rate in '81 was 0.01% in the national prevalence survey. Diphylobothrium latum So far, about 30 cases have been reported. The cases have been reported more frequently in recent surveys. Mesocestoides sp. A case was reported from a hospitalized patient in Seoul in '67. Spirometra erinacei Two cases were reported in '84 following reidentification of the adult worms collected in '74. Intestinal protozoa Out of a total of 23 species of human protozoan infections in Korea, 13 species were reported as intestinal protozoa : Entamoeba histolytica, E coli, Endolimax nana, Iodamoeba b$\ddot{u}$tschlii, Dientamoeba fragilis, Giardia lamblia, Chilomastix mesnilii, Embadomonas sp., Enteromonas hominis, Trichomonas hominis, Isospora belli, I. Hominis(Sarcocystis hominis), and Balantidium coli. Since the first report on intestinal protozoan infections in 1925, there have been quite a few survey data on the prevalence of the infection. It was found reviewing the data chronologically that up to the early '70s the infection was prevalent around a 30-50%. After that, the protozoan cyst positive rate has shown the tendency of gradual decrease throughout the country. Protozoan cyst survey conducted in Seoul and several provinces in 1981 revealed infection rates of 8.9%(1,310) in Gangweondo, 10.7%(1,703) in Gyenggi Do, 11.7%(1,032) in Jeonra Buk Do, 9.1%(4,116) in Jeonra Nam Do, and 1.4%(5,275) in Seoul. Entamoeba histolytica In the survey conducted by province in '81, the cyst positive rate was 0.8% in Gangweon-do, 0.3% in Gyeonggi Do, 1.4% in both Jeonra Buk Do and Jeonra Nam Do, and 0.2% in Seoul. Giardia lamblia In the survey by province in '81, cyst positive rates were 2.2% in both Gyeonggi Do and Jeonra Buk Do, 1.9% in Jeonra Nam Do, 0.5% in Gangweon Do, and 0.9% in Seoul. Balantidium coli Two cases were reported. One in 1930 and the other in '74. Isospora belli and I. Hominis(Sarcocystis hominis) Isospora belli was reported : 1 case in '56 and 3 cases in '66. I. Hominis, recently identified to be synonymous with Sarcocystis hominis, was reported : 3 cases in '66. Other intestinal protozoa The protozoan parasites other than the above mentioned are generally treated as commensal, although some of them are considered to be pathogenic. The data of '81 show that about 10% of the inhabitants are still infected with protozoa.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1-32
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• 2008

Brown and Dacin (1997) have investigated the relationship between corporate associations and product evaluations. Their study focused on the effects of associations with a company's corporate ability (CA) and its corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumers' product evaluations. Their study has found that both of CA and CSR influenced product evaluation but CA association has a stronger effect than CSR associations. Brown and Dacin (1997) have, however, claimed that there are few researches on how corporate association impacts product responses. Accordingly, some of researchers have found the variables to moderate or to mediate the relationship between the corporate association and the product responses. In particular, there has been existed a few of studies that tested the influence of the reputation on the product-relevant perceived risk, but the effects of two types of the corporate association on the product-relevant perceived risk were not identified so far. The primary goal of this article is to identify and empirically examine some variables to moderate the effects of CA association and CSR association on the perceived risk of the product. In this articles, we take the concept of the corporate associations that Brown and Dacin (1997) had proposed. CA association is those association related to the company's expertise in producing and delivering its outputs and CSR association reflected the organization's status and activities with respect to its perceived societal obligations. Also, this study defines the risk, which is the uncertainty or loss of the product and corporate that consumers have taken in a particular purchase decision or after having purchased. The risk is classified into product-relevant performance risk and financial risk. Performance risk is the possibility or the consequence of a product not functioning at some expected level and financial risk is the monetary loss one perceives to be incurring if a product does not function at some expected level. In relation to consumer's knowledge, expert consumers have much of the experiences or knowledge of the product in consumer position and novice consumers does not. The model tested in this article are shown in Figure 1. The model indicates that both of CA association and CSR association influence on performance risk and financial risk. In addition, the effects of CA and CSR are moderated by product category knowledge (product knowledge) and product category involvement (product involvement). In this study, the relationships between the corporate association and product-relevant perceived risk are hypothesized as the following form. For example, Hypothesis 1a($H_{1a}$) is represented that CA association has a positive influence on the performance risk of consumer. Also, the hypotheses that identified some variables to moderate the effects of two types of corporate association on the perceived risk of the product are laid down. One of the hypotheses of the interaction effect is Hypothesis 3a($H_{3a}$), it is described that consumer's knowledges of the product moderates the negative relationship between CA association and product-relevant performance risk. A field experiment was conducted in order to examine our model. The company tested was not real but imagined to meet the internal validity. Water purifiers were used for our study. Four scenarios have been developed and described as the imaginary company: Type A with both of superior CA and CSR, Type B with superior CSR and inferior CA, Type C with superior CA and inferior CSR, and Type D with both inferior of CA and CSR. The respondents of this study were classified into four groups. One type of four scenarios (Type A, B, C, or D) in its questionnaire was given to the respondent who filled out questions. Data were collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire to the respondents, chosen in convenience. A total of 300 respondents filled out the questionnaire but 207 were used for further analysis. Table 1 indicates that the scales in this study are reliable because the range of coefficients of Cronbach's $\alpha$ are from 0.85 to 0.92. The composite reliability is in the range of 0,85 to 0,92 and average variance extracted is in 0.72-0.98 range that is higher than the base level of 0.6. As shown in Table 2, the values for CFI, NNFI, root-mean-square error approximation (RMSEA), and standardized root-mean-square residual (SRMR) are acceptably close to the standards suggested by Hu and Bentler (1999):.95 for CFI and NNFI,.06 for RMSEA, and.08 for SRMR. We also tested discriminant validity provided by Fornell and Larcker (1981). As shown in Table 2, we found strong evidence for discriminant validity between each possible pair of latent constructs in all samples. Given that these batteries of overall goodness-of-fit indices were accurate and that the model was developed on theoretical bases, and given the high level of consistency across samples, this enables us to proceed the previously defined scales. We used the moderated hierarchical regression analysis to test the influence of the corporate association(CA and CSR associations) on product-relevant perceived risk(performance and financial risks) and to identify the variables moderating the relationship between the corporate association and product-relevant performance risk. In this study, dependent variables are performance and financial risk. CA and CSR associations are described the independent variables. The moderating variables are product category knowledge and product category involvement. The results are, as expected, found that CA association has statistically a significant influence on the perceived risk of the product, but CSR association does not. Product category knowledge and involvement moderate the relationship between the CA association and the perceived risk of the product. However, the effect of CSR association on the perceived risk of the product is not moderated by the consumers' knowledge and involvement. For this result, it is necessary for a corporate to inform its customers CA association more than CSR association so that they could be felt to be the reduction of the perceived risk. The important theoretical contribution of this research is the meanings that two types of corporate association that Brown and Dacin(1997), and Brown(1998) have proposed replicated the difference of the effects on product evaluation. According to Hunter(2001), it was an important affair to accomplish the validity of a particular study and we had to take about ten studies to deduce a strict study. Next, there is the contribution of the this study to find that the effects of corporate association on the perceived risk of the product are varied by the moderator variables. In particular, the moderating effect of knowledge on the relationship between corporate association and product-relevant perceived risk has not been tested in Korea. In the managerial implications of this research, we suggest the necessity to stress the ability that corporate manufactures the product well(CA association) than the accomplishment of corporate's social obligation(CSR association). This study suffers from various limitations that imply future research directions. The moderating effects of product category knowledge and involvement on the relationship between corporate association and perceived risk need to be replicated. Next, future research could explore whether the mediated effects of the perceived risk has the relationship between corporate association and consumer's product purchase. In addition, to ensure the external validity of the study will be needed to use realistic company, not artificial.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.360-378
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• 1997

Background : Severe acute lung injury(ALI), also known as the adult respiratory distress syndrome(ARDS), is a heterogenous nature of dynamic and explosive clinical synrome that exacts a mortality of approximately 50%. Endotoxin(ETX) is an abundant component of the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria capable of inducing severe lung injury in gram-negative sepsis and gram-negative bacterial pneumonia, which are among the most common predisposing causes of ARDS. The influx of PMNs into airway tissue is a pathological hallmark of LPS-induced lung injury. And there is a substantial evidence suggesting that cytokines are important mediators of lung injury in gram-negative sepsis. However, the kinetics of phagocytes and cytokines by an exact time sequence and their respective pathogenic importance remain to be elucidated. This study was performed to investigate the role of phagocytes and proinflammatory cytokines in ETX-induced ALI through a time course of changes in the concentration of protein, $TNF{\alpha}$ and IL-6, and counts of total and its differential cells in BALF. The consecutive histologic findings were also evaluated. Method : The experimental animals, healthy male Sprague-Dawley, weighted $200{\pm}50g$, were divided into control- and ALI- group. ALI was induced by an intravenous administration of ETX, 5mg/kg. Above mentioned all parameters were examined at 0(control), 3, 6, 24, 72 h after administration of ETX. $TNF{\alpha}$ and IL-6 cone. in BALF were measured by a bioassay. Results : The protein concentration and total leukocyte count(TC) in BALF was significantly increased at 3h compared to controls(p < 0.05). The protein conc. was significantly elavated during observation period, but TC was significantly decreased at 72h(p < 0.05 vs. 24h). There was a close relationship between TC and protein cone. in BALF(r = 0.65, p < 0.001). The PMN and monocyte count was well correlated with TC in BALF, and the correlation of PMN(r = 0.97, p < 0.001) appeared to be more meaningful than that of monocyte(r = 0.61, p < 0.001). There was also a significant correlation between protein cone. and PMN or monocyte count in BALF(PMN vs. monocyte : r = 0.55, p < 0.005 vs. r = 0.64, p < 0.001). The count of monocyte was significantly elavated during observation period though a meaningful reduction of PMN count in BALF at 72h, this observation suggested that monocyte may, at least, partipate in the process of lung injury steadly. In this study, there was no relationship between IL-6 and $TNF{\alpha}$ cone., and $TNF{\alpha}$ but not IL-6 was correlated with TC(r = 0.61, p < 0.05) and monocyte(r = 0.67, p < 0.05) in BALF only at 3, 6h after ETX introduced. In particular, the IL-6 cone. increased earlier and rapidly peaked than $TNF{\alpha}$ cone. in BALF. In histologic findings, the cell counts of lung slices were increased from 3 to 72h(p < 0.001 vs. NC). Alveolar wall-thickness was increased from 6 to 24h(p < 0.001 vs. NC). There was a significant correlation between the cell counts of lung slices and alveolar wall-thickness(r= 0.61, p < 0.001). This result suggested that the cellular infiltrations might be followed by the alterations of interstitium, and the edematous change of alveolar wall might be most rapidly recovered to its normal condition in the process of repair. Conclusion : We concluded that although the role of PMN is partly certain in ETX-induced ALI, it is somewhat inadequate to its known major impact on ALL Alveolar macrophage and/or non-immune cells such as pulmonary endothelial or epithelial cells, may be more importantly contributed to the initiation and perpetual progression of ETX-induced ALI. The IL-6 in ETX-induced ALI was independent to $TNF{\alpha}$, measured by a bioassay in BALF. The early rise in IL-6 in BALF implies multiple origins of the IL-6.

• 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.