• Title/Summary/Keyword: Difference matrix

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Effects of specimens dimension on the flexural properties and testing reliability of dental composite resin (치과용 복합레진의 굽힘 특성과 시험 신뢰도에 미치는 시편 크기의 영향)

  • Im, Yong-Woon;Hwang, Seong-sig;Kim, Sa-hak;Lee, Hae-Hyoung
    • Korean Journal of Dental Materials
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    • v.44 no.3
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    • pp.273-280
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    • 2017
  • The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of specimen dimension on the flexural properties and testing reliability of dental composite resin. The composite resin was prepared experimentally by mixing a resin matrix with silanated micrometer glass filler at 50 vol%. Flexural specimens with various dimension in specimen's width were fabricated by light curing using a split metal mold; $25{\times}2{\times}2mm$, $25{\times}2{\times}4mm$, $25{\times}2{\times}6mm$ in length ${\times}$ height ${\times}$ width. The flexural strength and modulus were determined according to ISO 4049 test protocol at a span length of 20 mm (normal-flexural strength; NFS). Another flexural test was conducted using mini-sized specimens ($12{\times}2{\times}2mm$, $12{\times}2{\times}4mm$, $12{\times}2{\times}6mm$) from the broken specimens at a span length of 10 mm (mini-flexural strength; MFS). Data were analyzed with ANOVA and Duncan's post-hoc test and the test reliability was evaluated by Weibull analysis. Results showed that there are generally no significant difference in flexural strength with the increase in the specimen width in NFS and MFS tests. However, the test reliability of flexural strength based on Weibull analysis was largely changed with the variables in the dimension of width and span length. The flexural modulus of NFS was increased as the dimension of specimens width increased while there was no trend in flexural modulus of MFS test. Overall results recommend that the evaluation of flexural properties and the reliability of dental composite resins should be performed with more than one test method.

Effect of Halophilic Bacterium, Haloarcula vallismortis, Extract on UV-induced Skin Change (호염 미생물(Haloarcula vallismortis) 용해물의 자외선유발 피부변화에 대한 효과)

  • Kim, Ji Hyung;Shin, Jae Young;Hwang, Seung Jin;Kim, Yun Sun;Kim, Yoo Mi;Gil, So Yeon;Jin, Mu Hyun;Lee, Sang Hwa
    • Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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    • v.41 no.4
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    • pp.341-350
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    • 2015
  • Skin carrys out protective role against harmful outer environment assaults including ultraviolet radiation, heavy metals and oxides. Especially, ultraviolet-B (UVB) light causes inflammatory reactions in skin such as sun burn and erythma and stimulates melanin pigmentation. Furthermore, the influx of UVB into skin cells causes DNA damage in keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts, inhibition of extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis which leads to a decrease in elasticity of skin and wrinkle formation. It also damages dermal connective tissue and disrupts the skin barrier function. Prolonged exposure of human skin to UVB light is well known to trigger severe skin lesions such as cell death and carcinogenesis. Haloarcula vallismortis is a halophilic microorganism isolated from the Dead Sea, Its growth characteristics have not been studied in detail yet. It generally grows at salinity more than 10%, but the actual growth salinity usually ranges between 20 to 25%. Because H. vallismortis is found mainly in saltern or salt lakes, there could exist defense mechanisms against strong sunlight. One of them is generation of additional ATP using halorhodopsin which absorbs photons and produces energy by potential difference formed by opening the chloride ion channel. It often shows a color of pink or red because of their high content of carotenoid pigments and it is considered to act as a defense mechanism against intense UV irradiation. In this study, the anti-inflammatory effect of the halophilic microorganism, H. vallismortis, extract was investigated. It was found that H. vallismortis extract had protective effect on DNA damage induced by UV irradiation. These results suggest that the extract of halophilic bacterium, H. vallismortis could be used as a bio-sunscreen or natural sunscreen which ameliorate the harmful effects of UV light with its anti-inflammatory and DNA protective properties.

Strategy of Multistage Gamma Knife Radiosurgery for Large Lesions (큰 병변에 대한 다단계 감마나이프 방사선수술의 전략)

  • Hur, Beong Ik
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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    • v.13 no.5
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    • pp.801-809
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    • 2019
  • Existing Gamma Knife Radiosurgery(GKRS) for large lesions is often conducted in stages with volume or dose partitions. Often in case of volume division the target used to be divided into sub-volumes which are irradiated under the determined prescription dose in multi-sessions separated by a day or two, 3~6 months. For the entire course of treatment, treatment informations of the previous stages needs to be reflected to subsequent sessions on the newly mounted stereotactic frame through coordinate transformation between sessions. However, it is practically difficult to implement the previous dose distributions with existing Gamma Knife system except in the same stereotactic space. The treatment area is expanding because it is possible to perform the multistage treatment using the latest Gamma Knife Platform(GKP). The purpose of this study is to introduce the image-coregistration based on the stereotactic spaces and the strategy of multistage GKRS such as the determination of prescription dose at each stage using new GKP. Usually in image-coregistration either surgically-embedded fiducials or internal anatomical landmarks are used to determine the transformation relationship. Author compared the accuracy of coordinate transformation between multi-sessions using four or six anatomical landmarks as an example using internal anatomical landmarks. Transformation matrix between two stereotactic spaces was determined using PseudoInverse or Singular Value Decomposition to minimize the discrepancy between measured and calculated coordinates. To evaluate the transformation accuracy, the difference between measured and transformed coordinates, i.e., ${\Delta}r$, was calculated using 10 landmarks. Four or six points among 10 landmarks were used to determine the coordinate transformation, and the rest were used to evaluate the approaching method. Each of the values of ${\Delta}r$ in two approaching methods ranged from 0.6 mm to 2.4 mm, from 0.17 mm to 0.57 mm. In addition, a method of determining the prescription dose to give the same effect as the treatment of the total lesion once in case of lesion splitting was suggested. The strategy of multistage treatment in the same stereotactic space is to design the treatment for the whole lesion first, and the whole treatment design shots are divided into shots of each stage treatment to construct shots of each stage and determine the appropriate prescription dose at each stage. In conclusion, author confirmed the accuracy of prescribing dose determination as a multistage treatment strategy and found that using as many internal landmarks as possible than using small landmarks to determine coordinate transformation between multi-sessions yielded better results. In the future, the proposed multistage treatment strategy will be a great contributor to the frameless fractionated treatment of several Gamma Knife Centers.

Comparative Study on the Carbon Stock Changes Measurement Methodologies of Perennial Woody Crops-focusing on Overseas Cases (다년생 목본작물의 탄소축적 변화량 산정방법론 비교 연구-해외사례를 중심으로)

  • Hae-In Lee;Yong-Ju Lee;Kyeong-Hak Lee;Chang-Bae Lee
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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    • v.25 no.4
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    • pp.258-266
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    • 2023
  • This study analyzed methodologies for estimating carbon stocks of perennial woody crops and the research cases in overseas countries. As a result, we found that Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, and Japan are using the stock-difference method, while Austria, Denmark, and Germany are estimating the change in the carbon stock based on the gain-loss method. In some overseas countries, the researches were conducted on estimating the carbon stock change using image data as tier 3 phase beyond the research developing country-specific factors as tier 2 phase. In South Korea, convergence studies as the third stage were conducted in forestry field, but advanced research in the agricultural field is at the beginning stage. Based on these results, we suggest directions for the following four future researches: 1) securing national-specific factors related to emissions and removals in the agricultural field through the development of allometric equation and carbon conversion factors for perennial woody crops to improve the completeness of emission and removals statistics, 2) implementing policy studies on the cultivation area calculation refinement with fruit tree-biomass-based maturity, 3) developing a more advanced estimation technique for perennial woody crops in the agricultural sector using allometric equation and remote sensing techniques based on the agricultural and forestry satellite scheduled to be launched in 2025, and to establish a matrix and monitoring system for perennial woody crop cultivation areas in the agricultural sector, Lastly, 4) estimating soil carbon stocks change, which is currently estimated by treating all agricultural areas as one, by sub-land classification to implement a dynamic carbon cycle model. This study suggests a detailed guideline and advanced methods of carbon stock change calculation for perennial woody crops, which supports 2050 Carbon Neutral Strategy of Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs and activate related research in agricultural sector.

Perceptional Change of a New Product, DMB Phone

  • Kim, Ju-Young;Ko, Deok-Im
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.18 no.3
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    • pp.59-88
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    • 2008
  • Digital Convergence means integration between industry, technology, and contents, and in marketing, it usually comes with creation of new types of product and service under the base of digital technology as digitalization progress in electro-communication industries including telecommunication, home appliance, and computer industries. One can see digital convergence not only in instruments such as PC, AV appliances, cellular phone, but also in contents, network, service that are required in production, modification, distribution, re-production of information. Convergence in contents started around 1990. Convergence in network and service begins as broadcasting and telecommunication integrates and DMB(digital multimedia broadcasting), born in May, 2005 is the symbolic icon in this trend. There are some positive and negative expectations about DMB. The reason why two opposite expectations exist is that DMB does not come out from customer's need but from technology development. Therefore, customers might have hard time to interpret the real meaning of DMB. Time is quite critical to a high tech product, like DMB because another product with same function from different technology can replace the existing product within short period of time. If DMB does not positioning well to customer's mind quickly, another products like Wibro, IPTV, or HSPDA could replace it before it even spreads out. Therefore, positioning strategy is critical for success of DMB product. To make correct positioning strategy, one needs to understand how consumer interprets DMB and how consumer's interpretation can be changed via communication strategy. In this study, we try to investigate how consumer perceives a new product, like DMB and how AD strategy change consumer's perception. More specifically, the paper segment consumers into sub-groups based on their DMB perceptions and compare their characteristics in order to understand how they perceive DMB. And, expose them different printed ADs that have messages guiding consumer think DMB in specific ways, either cellular phone or personal TV. Research Question 1: Segment consumers according to perceptions about DMB and compare characteristics of segmentations. Research Question 2: Compare perceptions about DMB after AD that induces categorization of DMB in direction for each segment. If one understand and predict a direction in which consumer perceive a new product, firm can select target customers easily. We segment consumers according to their perception and analyze characteristics in order to find some variables that can influence perceptions, like prior experience, usage, or habit. And then, marketing people can use this variables to identify target customers and predict their perceptions. If one knows how customer's perception is changed via AD message, communication strategy could be constructed properly. Specially, information from segmented customers helps to develop efficient AD strategy for segment who has prior perception. Research framework consists of two measurements and one treatment, O1 X O2. First observation is for collecting information about consumer's perception and their characteristics. Based on first observation, the paper segment consumers into two groups, one group perceives DMB similar to Cellular phone and the other group perceives DMB similar to TV. And compare characteristics of two segments in order to find reason why they perceive DMB differently. Next, we expose two kinds of AD to subjects. One AD describes DMB as Cellular phone and the other Ad describes DMB as personal TV. When two ADs are exposed to subjects, consumers don't know their prior perception of DMB, in other words, which subject belongs 'similar-to-Cellular phone' segment or 'similar-to-TV' segment? However, we analyze the AD's effect differently for each segment. In research design, final observation is for investigating AD effect. Perception before AD is compared with perception after AD. Comparisons are made for each segment and for each AD. For the segment who perceives DMB similar to TV, AD that describes DMB as cellular phone could change the prior perception. And AD that describes DMB as personal TV, could enforce the prior perception. For data collection, subjects are selected from undergraduate students because they have basic knowledge about most digital equipments and have open attitude about a new product and media. Total number of subjects is 240. In order to measure perception about DMB, we use indirect measurement, comparison with other similar digital products. To select similar digital products, we pre-survey students and then finally select PDA, Car-TV, Cellular Phone, MP3 player, TV, and PSP. Quasi experiment is done at several classes under instructor's allowance. After brief introduction, prior knowledge, awareness, and usage about DMB as well as other digital instruments is asked and their similarities and perceived characteristics are measured. And then, two kinds of manipulated color-printed AD are distributed and similarities and perceived characteristics for DMB are re-measured. Finally purchase intension, AD attitude, manipulation check, and demographic variables are asked. Subjects are given small gift for participation. Stimuli are color-printed advertising. Their actual size is A4 and made after several pre-test from AD professionals and students. As results, consumers are segmented into two subgroups based on their perceptions of DMB. Similarity measure between DMB and cellular phone and similarity measure between DMB and TV are used to classify consumers. If subject whose first measure is less than the second measure, she is classified into segment A and segment A is characterized as they perceive DMB like TV. Otherwise, they are classified as segment B, who perceives DMB like cellular phone. Discriminant analysis on these groups with their characteristics of usage and attitude shows that Segment A knows much about DMB and uses a lot of digital instrument. Segment B, who thinks DMB as cellular phone doesn't know well about DMB and not familiar with other digital instruments. So, consumers with higher knowledge perceive DMB similar to TV because launching DMB advertising lead consumer think DMB as TV. Consumers with less interest on digital products don't know well about DMB AD and then think DMB as cellular phone. In order to investigate perceptions of DMB as well as other digital instruments, we apply Proxscal analysis, Multidimensional Scaling technique at SPSS statistical package. At first step, subjects are presented 21 pairs of 7 digital instruments and evaluate similarity judgments on 7 point scale. And for each segment, their similarity judgments are averaged and similarity matrix is made. Secondly, Proxscal analysis of segment A and B are done. At third stage, get similarity judgment between DMB and other digital instruments after AD exposure. Lastly, similarity judgments of group A-1, A-2, B-1, and B-2 are named as 'after DMB' and put them into matrix made at the first stage. Then apply Proxscal analysis on these matrixes and check the positional difference of DMB and after DMB. The results show that map of segment A, who perceives DMB similar as TV, shows that DMB position closer to TV than to Cellular phone as expected. Map of segment B, who perceive DMB similar as cellular phone shows that DMB position closer to Cellular phone than to TV as expected. Stress value and R-square is acceptable. And, change results after stimuli, manipulated Advertising show that AD makes DMB perception bent toward Cellular phone when Cellular phone-like AD is exposed, and that DMB positioning move towards Car-TV which is more personalized one when TV-like AD is exposed. It is true for both segment, A and B, consistently. Furthermore, the paper apply correspondence analysis to the same data and find almost the same results. The paper answers two main research questions. The first one is that perception about a new product is made mainly from prior experience. And the second one is that AD is effective in changing and enforcing perception. In addition to above, we extend perception change to purchase intention. Purchase intention is high when AD enforces original perception. AD that shows DMB like TV makes worst intention. This paper has limitations and issues to be pursed in near future. Methodologically, current methodology can't provide statistical test on the perceptual change, since classical MDS models, like Proxscal and correspondence analysis are not probability models. So, a new probability MDS model for testing hypothesis about configuration needs to be developed. Next, advertising message needs to be developed more rigorously from theoretical and managerial perspective. Also experimental procedure could be improved for more realistic data collection. For example, web-based experiment and real product stimuli and multimedia presentation could be employed. Or, one can display products together in simulated shop. In addition, demand and social desirability threats of internal validity could influence on the results. In order to handle the threats, results of the model-intended advertising and other "pseudo" advertising could be compared. Furthermore, one can try various level of innovativeness in order to check whether it make any different results (cf. Moon 2006). In addition, if one can create hypothetical product that is really innovative and new for research, it helps to make a vacant impression status and then to study how to form impression in more rigorous way.

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Metamorphic Evolution of the central Ogcheon Metamorphic Belt in the Cheongju-Miwon area, Korea (청주-미원지역 중부 옥천변성대의 변성진화과정)

  • 오창환;권용완;김성원
    • The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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    • v.8 no.2
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    • pp.106-124
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    • 1999
  • In the Cheongju-Minwon area which occupies the middle part of the Ogcheon Metamorphic Belt, three metamorphic events(M1, M2, M3) had occurred. Intermediate P/T type M2 regional metamorphism formed prevailing mineral assemblages in the study area. Low PIT type M3 contact metamorphism occurred due to the intrusion of granites after M2 metamorphism. M1 metamorphism is recognized by inclusions within garnet. During M2 metamorphism, the metamorphic grade increased from the biotite zone in the southeastern part to the garnet zone in the northwestern part of the study area. This result is similar to the metamorphic evolution of the southwestern part of the Ogcheon Metamorphic Belt. Garnets in the garnet zone are classified into two types; Type A garnet has inclusions whose trail is connected to the foliation in the matrix and Type B garnet has inclusion rich core and inclusion poor rim. Type A garnet formed in the mica rich part with crenulation cleavage whereas Type B garnet formed in the quartz rich part with weak crenulation cleavage. In some outcrops, two types garnets are found together. Compared to the rim of Type A garnet, the rim of Type B garnet is lower in grossular and spessartine contents but higher in almandine and pyrope contents. In some Type B garnets, the inclusion poor part is rimmed by muddy colored or protuberant new overgrowth. In the inclusion poor part and new overgrowth, a rapid increase in grossular and decrease in spessartine is observed. However, the compositional patterns of Type A and B are similar; Ca increases and Mn decreases from core to rim. Two types garnets formed mainly due to the difference of bulk chemistry instead of metamorphic and deformational differences. The metamorphic P-T conditions estimated from Type A garnets are 595-690 OC15.7-8.8 kb, which indicates M2 metamorphism is intermediate P/T type metamorphism. On the other hand, a wide range of P-T conditions is calculated from Type B garnets. The P-T conditions from most Type B garnet rims are 617-690 OC16.2-8.9 kb which also indicates an intermediate P/T type metamorphism. However, at the rim part with flat end or weak overgrowth, grossular content is low and 573-624OC14.7-5.8 kb are estimated. The P-T conditions calculated from plagioclase and biotite inclusions in garnet are 460-500 0C/1.9-3.0 kb. The P-T conditions from rim part with weak overgrowth and inclusions within garnet, indicate that low P/T type M1 regional metamorphism might have occurred before intermediate P/T type M2 regional metamorphism. The P-T conditions estimated from samples which had undergone low PIT type M3 metamorphism strongly, are 547-610 0C/2.1-5.0 kb.

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Utility of Wide Beam Reconstruction in Whole Body Bone Scan (전신 뼈 검사에서 Wide Beam Reconstruction 기법의 유용성)

  • Kim, Jung-Yul;Kang, Chung-Koo;Park, Min-Soo;Park, Hoon-Hee;Lim, Han-Sang;Kim, Jae-Sam;Lee, Chang-Ho
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.83-89
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    • 2010
  • Purpose: The Wide Beam Reconstruction (WBR) algorithms that UltraSPECT, Ltd. (U.S) has provides solutions which improved image resolution by eliminating the effect of the line spread function by collimator and suppression of the noise. It controls the resolution and noise level automatically and yields unsurpassed image quality. The aim of this study is WBR of whole body bone scan in usefulness of clinical application. Materials and Methods: The standard line source and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) reconstructed spatial resolution measurements were performed on an INFINA (GE, Milwaukee, WI) gamma camera, equipped with low energy high resolution (LEHR) collimators. The total counts of line source measurements with 200 kcps and 300 kcps. The SPECT phantoms analyzed spatial resolution by the changing matrix size. Also a clinical evaluation study was performed with forty three patients, referred for bone scans. First group altered scan speed with 20 and 30 cm/min and dosage of 740 MBq (20 mCi) of $^{99m}Tc$-HDP administered but second group altered dosage of $^{99m}Tc$-HDP with 740 and 1,110 MBq (20 mCi and 30 mCi) in same scan speed. The acquired data was reconstructed using the typical clinical protocol in use and the WBR protocol. The patient's information was removed and a blind reading was done on each reconstruction method. For each reading, a questionnaire was completed in which the reader was asked to evaluate, on a scale of 1-5 point. Results: The result of planar WBR data improved resolution more than 10%. The Full-Width at Half-Maximum (FWHM) of WBR data improved about 16% (Standard: 8.45, WBR: 7.09). SPECT WBR data improved resolution more than about 50% and evaluate FWHM of WBR data (Standard: 3.52, WBR: 1.65). A clinical evaluation study, there was no statistically significant difference between the two method, which includes improvement of the bone to soft tissue ratio and the image resolution (first group p=0.07, second group p=0.458). Conclusion: The WBR method allows to shorten the acquisition time of bone scans while simultaneously providing improved image quality and to reduce the dosage of radiopharmaceuticals reducing radiation dose. Therefore, the WBR method can be applied to a wide range of clinical applications to provide clinical values as well as image quality.

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Cellular activities of osteoblast-like cells on alkali-treated titanium surface (알칼리 처리된 타이타늄 표면에 대한 골아 유사세포의 세포 활성도)

  • Park, Jin-Woo;Lee, Deog-Hye;Yeo, Shin-Il;Park, Kwang-Bum;Choi, Seok-Kyu;Suh, Jo-Young
    • Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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    • v.37 no.sup2
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    • pp.427-445
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    • 2007
  • To improve osseointegration at the boneto-implant interface, several studies have been carried out to modify titanium surface. Variations in surface texture or microtopography may affect the cellular response to an implant. Osteoblast-like cells attach more readily to a rougher titanium surface, and synthesis of extracellular matrix and subsequent mineralization were found to be enhanced on rough or porous coated titanium. However, regarding the effect of roughened surface by physical and mechanical methods, most studies carried out on the reactions of cells to micrometric topography, little work has been performed on the reaction of cells to nanotopography. The purpose of this study was to examme the response of osteoblast-like cell cultured on blasted surfaces and alkali treated surfaces, and to evaluate the influence of surface texture or submicro-scaled surface topography on the cell attachment, cell proliferation and the gene expression of osteoblastic phenotype using ROS 17/2.8 cell lines. In scanning electron micrographs, the blasted, alkali treated and machined surfaces demonstrated microscopic differences in the surface topography. The specimens of alkali treatment had a submicro-scaled porous sur-face with pore size about 200 nm. The blasted surfaces showed irregularities in morphology with small(<10 ${\mu}m$) depression and indentation among flatter-appearing areas of various sizes. Based on profilometry, the blasted surfaces was significantly rougher than the machined and the alkali treated surfaces (p$TiO_2$) were observed on alkali treated surfaces, whereas not observed on machined and blasted surfaces. The attachment morphology of cells according to time was observed by the scanning electron microscope. After 1 hour incubation, the cells were in the process of adhesion and spreading on the prepared surfaces. After 3 hours, the cells on all prepared surfaces were further spreaded and flattened, however on the blasted and alkali treated surfaces, the cells exhibited slightly irregular shapes and some gaps or spaces were seen. After 24 hours incubation, most cells of the all groups had a flattened and polygonal shape, but the cells were more spreaded on the machined surfaces than the blasted and alkali treated surfaces. The MTT assay indicated the increase on machined, alkali treated and blasted surfaces according to time, and the alkali treated and blasted surfaces showed significantly increased in optical density comparing with machined surfaces at 1 day (p<0.01). Gene expression study showed that mRNA expression level of ${\alpha}\;1(I)$ collagen, alkaline phosphatase and osteopontin of the osteoblast-like cells showed a tendency to be higher on blasted and alkali treated surfaces than on the machined surfaces, although no siginificant difference in the mRNA expression level of ${\alpha}\;1(I)$ collagen, alkaline phosphatase and osteopontin was observed among all groups. In conclusion, we suggest that submicroscaled surfaces on osteoblast-like cell response do not over-ride the one of the surface with micro-scaled topography produced by blasting method, although the microscaled and submicro-scaled surfaces can accelerate osteogenic cell attachment and function compared with the machined surfaces.

Categorizing Quality Features of Franchisees: In the case of Korean Food Service Industry (프랜차이즈 매장 품질요인의 속성분류: 국내 외식업을 중심으로)

  • Byun, Sook-Eun;Cho, Eun-Seong
    • Journal of Distribution Research
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    • v.16 no.1
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    • pp.95-115
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    • 2011
  • Food service is the major part of franchise business in Korea, accounting for 69.9% of the brands in the market. As the food service industry becomes mature, many franchisees have struggled to survive in the market. In general, consumers have higher levels of expectation toward service quality of franchised outlets compared that of (non-franchised) independent ones. They also tend to believe that franchisees deliver standardized service at the uniform food price, regardless of their locations. Such beliefs seem to be important reasons that consumers prefer franchised outlets to independent ones. Nevertheless, few studies examined the impact of qualify features of franchisees on customer satisfaction so far. To this end, this study examined the characteristics of various quality features of franchisees in the food service industry, regarding their relationship with customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The quality perception of heavy-users was also compared with that of light-users in order to find insights for developing differentiated marketing strategy for the two segments. Customer satisfaction has been understood as a one-dimensional construct while there are recent studies that insist two-dimensional nature of the construct. In this regard, Kano et al. (1984) suggested to categorize quality features of a product or service into five types, based on their relation to customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction: Must-be quality, Attractive quality, One-dimensional quality, Indifferent quality, and Reverse quality. According to the Kano model, customers are more dissatisfied when Must-be quality(M) are not fulfilled, but their satisfaction does not arise above neutral no matter how fully the quality fulfilled. In comparison, customers are more satisfied with a full provision of Attactive quality(A) but manage to accept its dysfunction. One-dimensional quality(O) results in satisfaction when fulfilled and dissatisfaction when not fulfilled. For Indifferent quality(I), its presence or absence influences neither customer satisfaction nor dissatisfaction. Lastly, Reverse quality(R) refers to the features whose high degree of achievement results in customer dissatisfaction rather than satisfaction. Meanwhile, the basic guidelines of the Kano model have a limitation in that the quality type of each feature is simply determined by calculating the mode statistics. In order to overcome such limitation, the relative importance of each feature on customer satisfaction (Better value; b) and dissatisfaction (Worse value; w) were calculated following the formulas below (Timko, 1993). The Better value indicates how much customer satisfaction is increased by providing the quality feature in question. In contrast, the Worse value indicates how much customer dissatisfaction is decreased by providing the quality feature. Better = (A + O)/(A+O+M+I) Worse = (O+M)/(A+O+M+I)(-1) An on-line survey was performed in order to understand the nature of quality features of franchisees in the food service industry by applying the Kano Model. A total of twenty quality features (refer to the Table 2) were identified as the result of literature review in franchise business and a pre-test with fifty college students in Seoul. The potential respondents of our main survey was limited to the customers who have visited more than two restaurants/stores of the same franchise brand. Survey invitation e-mails were sent out to the panels of a market research company and a total of 257 responses were used for analysis. Following the guidelines of Kano model, each of the twenty quality features was classified into one of the five types based on customers' responses to a set of questions: "(1) how do you feel if the following quality feature is fulfilled in the franchise restaurant that you visit," and "(2) how do you feel if the following quality feature is not fulfilled in the franchise restaurant that you visit." The analyses revealed that customers' dissatisfaction with franchisees is commonly associated with the poor level of cleanliness of the store (w=-0.872), kindness of the staffs(w=-0.890), conveniences such as parking lot and restroom(w=-0.669), and expertise of the staffs(w=-0.492). Such quality features were categorized as Must-be quality in this study. While standardization or uniformity across franchisees has been emphasized in franchise business, this study found that consumers are interested only in uniformity of price across franchisees(w=-0.608), but not interested in standardizations of menu items, interior designs, customer service procedures, and food tastes. Customers appeared to be more satisfied when the franchise brand has promotional events such as giveaways(b=0.767), good accessibility(b=0.699), customer loyalty programs(b=0.659), award winning history(b=0.641), and outlets in the overseas market(b=0.506). The results are summarized in a matrix form in Table 1. Better(b) and Worse(w) index indicate relative importance of each quality feature on customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction, respectively. Meanwhile, there were differences in perceiving the quality features between light users and heavy users of any specific franchise brand in the food service industry. Expertise of the staffs was labeled as Must-be quality for heavy users but Indifferent quality for light users. Light users seemed indifferent to overseas expansion of the brand and offering new menu items on a regular basis, while heavy users appeared to perceive them as Attractive quality. Such difference may come from their different levels of involvement when they eat out. The results are shown in Table 2. The findings of this study help practitioners understand the quality features they need to focus on to strengthen the competitive power in the food service market. Above all, removing the factors that cause customer dissatisfaction seems to be the most critical for franchisees. To retain loyal customers of the franchise brand, it is also recommended for franchisor to invest resources in the development of new menu items as well as training programs for the staffs. Lastly, if resources allow, promotional events, loyalty programs, overseas expansion, award-winning history can be considered as tools for attracting more customers to the business.

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The Study on the Debris Slope Landform in the Southern Taebaek Mountains (태백산맥 남부산지의 암설사면지형)

  • Jeon, Young-Gweon
    • Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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    • v.28 no.2
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    • pp.77-98
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    • 1993
  • The intent of this study is to analyze the characteristics of distribution, patter, and deposits of the exposed debris slope landform by aerial photography interpretation, measure-ment on the topographical maps and field surveys in the southern part Taebaek mountains. It also aims to research the arrangement types of mountain slope and the landform development of debris slopes in this area. In conclusion, main observations can be summed up as follows. 1. The distribution characteristics 1)From the viewpoint of bedrocks, the distribution density of talus is high in case of the bedrock with high density of joints, sheeting structures and hard rocks, but that of the block stream is high in case of intrusive rocks with the talus line. 2)From the viewpoint of bedrocks, the distribution density of talus is high in case of the bedrock with high density of joints, sheeting structures and hard rocks, but that of the block stream is high in case of inrtusive rocks with the talus line. 2) From the viewpoint of distribution altitude, talus is mainly distributed in the 301~500 meters part above the sea level, while the block stream is distributed in the 101~300 meters part. 3) From the viewpoint of slope oriention, the distribution density of talus on the slope facing the south(S, SE, SW) is a little higher than that of talus on the slope facing the north(N, NE, NW). 2. The Pattern Characteristics 1) The tongue-shaped type among the four types is the most in number. 2) The average length of talus slope is 99 meters, especially that of talus composed of hornfels or granodiorite is longer. Foth the former is easy to make free face; the latter is easdy to produce round stones. The average length of block stream slope is 145 meters, the longest of all is one km(granodiorite). 3) The gradient of talus slope is 20~45${^\circ}$, most of them 26-30${^\croc}$; but talus composed of intrusive rocks is gentle. 4) The slope pattern of talus shows concave slope, which means readjustment of constituent debris. Some of the block stream slope patterns show concave slope at the upper slope and the lower slope, but convex slope at the middle slope; others have uneven slope. 3. The deposit characteristics 1) The average length of constituent debris is 48~172 centimeters in diameter, the sorting of debris is not bad without matrix. That of block stream is longer than that of talus; this difference of debris average diameter is funda-mentally caused by joint space of bedrocks. 2) The shape of constituent debris in talus is mainly angular, but that of the debris composed of intrusive rocks is sub-angular. The shape of constituent debris in block stream is mainly sub-roundl. 3) IN case dof talus, debris diameter is generally increasing with downward slope, but some of them are disordered and the debris diameter of the sides are larger than that of the middle part on a landform surface. In block stream, debris diameter variation is perpendicularly disordered, and the debris diameter of the middle part is generally larger than that of the sides on a landform surface. 4)The long axis orientation of debris is a not bad at the lower part of the slope in talus (only 2 of 6 talus). In block stream(2 of 3), one is good in sorting; another is not bad. The researcher thinks that the latter was caused by the collapse of constituent debris. 5) Most debris were weathered and some are secondly weathered in situ, but talus composed of fresh debris is developing. 4. The landform development of debris slopes and the arrangement types of the mountain slope 1) The formation and development period of talus is divided into two periods. The first period is formation period of talus9the last glacial period), the second period is adjustment period(postglacial age). And that of block stream is divided into three periods: the first period is production period of blocks(tertiary, interglacial period), the second formation period of block stream(the last glacial period), and the third adjustment period of block stream(postglacialage). 2) The arrangement types of mountain slope are divided into six types in this research area, which are as follows. Type I; high level convex slope-free face-talus-block stream-alluvial surface Type II: high level convex slope-free face-talus-alluvial surface Type III: free face-talus-block stream-all-uvial surface Type IV: free face-talus-alluval surface Type V: talus-alluval surface Type VI: block stream-alluvial surface Particularly, type IV id\s basic type of all; others are modified ones.

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