• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.1-10
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• 2010

There have been studied with activity about color standard due to extention of digital contents' application area. Therefore the studies in relation to the standard are needed to represent image's feature as color. Also the methods to extract color's feature to be apt to various application are needed. In this paper, we set the base color as 50 colors from Munsell color system, get the color histogram to show the characteristics of colors's distribution of a image, and propose the method to extract representative colors from the histogram. Firstly, we convert a input image of RGB color space to a image of HSI color space and split the image into hue area and non-hue area. To split hue area and non-hue area, we use a fixed threshold and a perception-function of color area function to reflect the subjective vision of human-being. We compute histograms from each area and then make a total histogram from the histogram of hue area and the histogram of hue area, and extract the representative colors from the histogram. To evaluate the proposed method, we made 18 test images, applied conventional methods and proposed method to them Also the methods are applied to public images and the results are analyzed. The proposed method represents well the characteristics of the colors' distribution of images and piles up colors' frequency to representative colors. Therefore the representative colors can be applied to various applications

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.25-38
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• 2015

This study was conducted in an effort to identify the fluctuation of species according to space and time by collecting information on samples of Korean Sphingid moths housed in Korea. The number of Sphingidae moth species housed in Korea was found to be 53. As 48 species and 47 species were found in Gyeongsangnam-do and Gangwon-do, respectively, relatively diverse species were considered to be distributed in these areas. Comparatively, in Jeollabuk-do only 36 species were found, whereas in Chungcheongbuk-do and Jeju Island 39 species were found. The number of individual Sphingid moths surveyed in Korea was 21,414. With regard to the number of individuals per species, Ampelophaga rubiginosa was highest, at 2,483, followed by Theretra japonica (1,716), Callambulyx tatarinovii (1,457), Acosmeryx naga (1,340), Rhagastis mongoliana (1,191), Marumba sperchius (1,083), and Dolbina tancrei (1,072). By region, the largest number of individuals was surveyed in Gyeongsangnam-do (4,595), followed in order by Gangwon-do (3,648 individuals), Gyeonggi-do (3,011), Jeollanam-do (2,454), and Jeju Island (2,382). Over time, the highest numbers-in this case 9,498 individuals in 52 species-were identified after 2000. In the 1990s, there were 6,027 of 49 species identified; in 1980s, 4,332 individuals of 49 species were identified; and, in the 1970s, 937 individuals of 45 species were identified. It was confirmed that more species and individuals were identified as time passed. The appearance of Sphingid moths by month was found to be as relatively diverse, as they appeared from February to November. Overall, southern species, including M. saishiuana, Cephonodes hylas, Acosmeryx castanea, T. nessus, and T. clotho, which mainly inhabit Jeju Island and the southern part of Korea, have increased over time from the past to the present. Species inhabiting the middle or northern parts of the Korean Peninsula or the entire country of Korea, including Sphingulus mus, Ambulyx schauffelbergeri, and Mimas christophi, show decreases over time.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.174-182
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• 2011

This study analyzed visitors' behaviors in the viewpoint of Attraction Power and Holding Power of exhibits on the basis of exhibition layout of real science museums. Through the analysis, the study grasped efficiency of analysis index and exhibition environment elements which might have an effect on planning the exhibition space of a large-scale museum and producing detailed ranges of exhibition. The main indicators used are: 1. Attraction Power: it indicates the relative incidence of people who have stopped in front of an object/exhibit during the exhibition tour. It is calculated by dividing the number of people who stop by the total number of people who have visited the museum or gallery. 2. Holding Power: it measures the average time spent in front of an information/communication element. It is calculated by dividing the average time of stay by the time "necessary" to read an element. As a result of analyzing the exhibition areas of National Science Museum (Daejeon) and National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation(Tokyo), the Holding Power was found to be relatively lower than the Attracting Power. This means that 3.5 out of 10 visitors stop in front of the exhibit in 6 exhibition areas, and among these, only 1/10 is used when compared to the user required time of the exhibits. In other words, like the method of deriving an analysis index, the stage of viewing can be categorized as Attracting Power and Holding Power, and because the stage from Attracting Power to the stage of Holding Power are strongly linked, it shows that it is not easy to display a meaningful result. Except, the general distribution of Attracting Power was shown to be high from the entrance area of the exhibition hall based on the standard of viewing sequence. Also, the Holding Power became sequentially lower according to the sequence of exhibition viewing and displayed a meaningful interrelationship with the distribution ratio of island exhibits. In the case of island exhibition method, it is less influenced by the movement flow of visitors when compared to the wall type method of exhibition and can be understood as an exhibition method that provides spatial chances enabling stopping and viewing.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.15
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• pp.6411-6414
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• 2014

Background: A dense breast not only reduces the sensitivity of mammography but also is a moderate independent risk factor for breast cancer. The percentage of Western women with fat breast tissue is higher aged 40 years or older. To a certain extent, mammography as a first choice of screening imaging method for Western women of this group is reasonable. Hitherto, the frequency and age distribution of mammographic breast density patterns among Chinese women had not been characterized. The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency and age distribution of mammographic breast density patterns among a group of Chinese screening women and breast cancer patients in order to provide useful information for age-specific guidelines for breast cancer screening in Chinese women. Methods: A retrospective review of a total of 3,394 screening women between August and December 2009 and 2,527 breast cancer patients between July 2011 and June 2012 was conducted. Descriptive analyses were used to examine the association between age and breast density. The significance of differences of breast density between the screening women and the breast cancer patients was examined using nonparametric tests. Results: There was a significant inverse relationship between age and breast density overall (r=-0.37, p< 0.01). Breast density of the breast cancer patients in the subgroups of 40-49 years old was greater compared with that of the screening women, the same in those aged 50-54 years and in those 55 years old or older, less than in the screening group. Conclusions: With regard to the Chinese women younger than 55 years old, the diagnostic efficiency of breast cancer screening imaging examinations may be potentially improved by combining screening mammography with ultrasound.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.107-118
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• 2016

Purpose - In today's markets, new technologies such as social network systems and user generated contents have provided consumers with access to unlimited amounts of information and an ability to communicate with other consumers in the world. Specially, the massive of the internet and the development of online communities and interactive platforms offer the potential to cocreate with a large number of consumers. Significant changes in marketplace suggest that simply being consumer oriented is not enough, so firms must learn from and collaborate with consumers to create values that meet their individual and dynamic needs. In these sense, emergent perspectives in marketing highlight new opportunities for co-opting consumers as a means to define and cocreate value through their engagement. Although the importance of consumer co-creation with firms, the current literature lacks the respond to two questions: (1) who are the most competent consumers for creating the values with firm? and (2) what are the stimulaters to help the consumers engage for co-creation? To this answer the question, this research investigate how to structure consumer motivations to encourage consumers to be more engaged for co-creation and what drives a consumer to get involved to respond to a call for co-creation. Research design, data, and methodology - To empirically test the hypotheses, a survey was conducted among consumers who had experienced the co-creation including upstream, downstream, autonomous, and sponsored co-creation with the firms. We collected a total of 343 responses. After we excluded 37 questionnaire because of incomplete responses, a total of 306 questionnaire remained. Working with a sample of 306 responses in Seoul and Kwangju, hierarchical moderated regression is employed to test research hypotheses. Results - The results indicated that consumer creativity and emergent nature are positively related to engagement in co-creation including upstream, downstream, autonomous, and sponsored co-creation. Also, the relationships between consumer creativity/emergent nature and engagement in co-creation were moderated by intrinsic motivation in case of upstream and downstream co-creation. Finally, interaction effects between consumer creativity/emergent nature and extrinsic motivation were not significant. Conclusions - These results suggest that marketing managers have to consider the consumer personality such as creativity and emergent nature and stimulate the intrinsic motivation of consumer to achieve the co-creation project successfully.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.71-81
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• 2016

Purpose - Because creativity, which is an intangible resource embedded within the company, can offer a competitive advantage, most companies have an interest in promoting creativity among their employees and division(e.g., marketing organization). Creativity renders a sustainable competitive advantage to a firm because it is a strategic resource that is valuable, flexible, rare, and imperfectly imitable or substitutable. Although most companies broadly recognize the importance of creativity, the methods for developing creativity remain elusive. Therefore, the present study investigates how to structure incentives to motivate employees to be more creative and how to develop tools to facilitate creativity. In detail, the present study aimed to examine the relationship between the regulatory focus of marketing organizations(e.g., promotion focus vs prevention focus) and creativity of marketing organizations. In addition, the present study set out to examine the moderating role of interaction of financial reward and creative training in addition to investigating the direct relationship between creativity and regulatory focus in New Product Development(NPD) context. Research design, data, and methodology - The data used to test the hypotheses are drawn from a survey of full time NPD project members(including project manager, designer, engineer, and marketer). The present study utilized data obtained mainly from a database compiled by the Korea Investors Service-Financial Analysis System which provides comprehensive corporate and financial information on firms listed on the Korea Stock Exchange. A study population comprising 1,000 South Korean firms was obtained from this database. We selected 864 firms from the database, and the firms have experiences of new product development project. We collected a total of 162 responses, for a 18.8% response rate. After we excluded 14 questionnaire because of incomplete responses, a total of 148 questionnaire remained(final response rate: 17.1%). Working with a sample of 148 responses in South Korea, hierarchical moderated regression is employed to test research hypotheses(

The relationship between promotion focus and creativity of marketing organization,

The relationship between prevention focus and creativity of marketing organization,

The moderating effect of joint influences(interaction between financial rewards and creativity training) on the relationship between promotion focus creativity of marketing organization,

The moderating effect of joint influences(interaction between financial rewards and creativity training) on the relationship between prevention focus creativity of marketing organization). SPSS 18.0 and AMOS software were used in the data analysis. Results - The empirical study confirmed that promotion focus of marketing organization is positively related to creativity of marketing organization. Also, prevention focus of marketing organization is positively affected to creativity of marketing organization. In addition, the interaction between financial rewards and creativity training moderated the relationship between regularity focus(e.g.), promotion focus vs prevention focus) and creativity of marketing organization. These results suggest that managers can improve the performances of their creative efforts by providing the use of financial rewards and creativity training in combination. Conclusion - Based on results of this study that examine the effects of regulatory focused creative efforts on creativity of marketing organization, promotion focus is helpful with marketing organizations to enhance their service innovation and performance. Prevention focused organization should allow monetary rewards and creativity training to increase their creativity for innovation of new products.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.51-60
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• 2015

Purpose - Among potential marketing strategies, the most efficient method to encourage purchase intention is through sales promotions. Sales promotions also serve to enhance customer satisfaction, which is closely related to the incidence of repurchases. Therefore, the success of retail stores greatly depends on the effectiveness of their promotional activities. The present study aimed to obtain the necessary information for apparel stores to establish more effective promotional activities. To this end, the study's specific research questions were to examine 1) consumer satisfaction with the recent sales promotions of retail apparel stores, 2) the levels of consumer preferences for different types of sales promotions (cash discounts, promotional gifts, prize drawings, discount coupons, stamp cards, or mileage cards), and 3) the differences in purchase intention according to preference levels for different types of sales promotions. Research design, data, and methodology - The research employed a descriptive survey method using a self-administered questionnaire. The sample consisted of 700 men (n=234) and women (n=466) ranging in age from their 20s to their 50s and residing in the Seoul area. Data were analyzed through methods including factor analysis as well as Cronbach's α coefficients, the t-test, ANOVA, and the Duncan test. Results - Differences among consumer preferences were identified for each type of sales promotion according to the purchase amount and the customer's age. In relation to purchase amounts below 500,000 won, participants in their 50s have lower preferences for price discounts than those in their 20s or 30s, whereas participants in their 40s or 50s have lower preferences for stamp cards and mileage cards than those in their 20s. When the purchase amount is greater than 500,000 won, housewives have higher preferences for promotional gifts than respondents with other occupations. However, no gender differences were found with regard to preference levels for the different types of sales promotions. Respondents generally exhibited mediocre satisfaction with the sales promotion events of retail apparel stores. They also expressed negative opinions about sales promotions when such promotions lead to high prices, as well as dissatisfaction with the poor quality of promotional gifts. It was also found that, regardless of the purchase amount, the groups with higher preferences for discount coupons and mileage cards displayed higher purchase intentions. Only when the purchase amount is greater than 200,000 won did the group with higher preferences for lottery system promotional gifts express higher purchase intentions. On the other hand, for all purchase amount sizes, there were no differences in purchase intentions according to preferences for cash discounts, promotional gifts, or stamp cards. Conclusions - The results revealed that greater effort must be devoted to enhancing consumers' satisfaction levels with the promotional activities performed by apparel retail stores. The results also showed that it is necessary to differentiate among sales promotion strategies according to preference levels for different types of sales promotions, purchase amounts, and target consumer ages.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.65-76
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• 2015

Purpose - This article aims to present and test a model regarding franchisors' supporting activities that may positively influence franchisees' attitude toward the franchising headquarter and their own business performance. Moreover, the authors examine the moderating effect of competitive intensity between franchisee attitude and business performance. Most previous research focused on behavioral performance measurements such as satisfaction, trust, and commitment. There are few empirical studies that focus on financial performance data because it is difficult to determine a relational mechanism between behavioral and financial performance. Moreover, financial data is confidential and difficult to collect in many cases. However, this study measures financial performance (e.g., sales revenue per square meter) differently than most previous research, which is mostly focused on the behavioral performance measurements. Research design, data, and methodology - To test our hypotheses, we selected 137 franchisee managers who are running chains of one of the foremost bakery franchise brands in South Korea. This study carefully investigated the reliability, content validity, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the proposed instrument by analyzing the data obtained from the samples. The data was analyzed using the AMOS structural equation modeling program. Results - The results indicated that: non-financial support activities (e.g., information exchange and communication) had a positive impact on the franchisee attitude toward the franchising headquarter. The franchisee attitude in turn had a positive effect on the headquarters' business performance. Furthermore, competitive intensity could enhance the relationship between franchisee attitude toward franchising headquarter and business performance in a local franchise market. However, financial support activities (e.g., rewards and promotional support) and training had no relationship with either franchisee attitude or business performance. Conclusions - This study provides some practical implications to franchisors in terms of franchise operation and store opening strategies. With respect to the franchise operation strategy, franchisors need to focus on non-financial rather than financial support. Most franchisees consider the necessity of financial support activities and not their sufficiency because these activities are specified in their franchise contract. In addition, it is important for franchisees to maintain a positive attitude for the franchise headquarters. The franchisees with a positive attitude for the franchisor can show a high degree of solidarity for various support activities, and it consequently determines franchisees' sales performance. In terms of franchise store opening strategy, this study suggests an additional criterion that can be considered in determining the location of direct and non-direct management stores (e.g., franchisees' stores). In this research, franchise stores located within high level of competitive intensity are shown to have a high relationship between franchisee attitudes of franchisor support activities and business performance compared to the franchisees located within low competitive intensity level. This result shows that opening non-direct franchise stores is more effective than direct stores in higher competitive market situations. Research contribution, implications, and further research directions are discussed at the end of the paper.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.141-169
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• 2011

This study compares the business performances and the socioeconomic and sociopsychological characteristics of franchisees and independent business owners (IBOs). On the basis of extant theoretical arguments and empirical evidences it was expected that franchisees are different from IBOs in these aspects because unlike IBOs they are using franchising as their way of businesses and should satisfy the requirements imposed by franchisors. Analyzed in the current study was a national survey database of 424 franchisees and 5,690 IBOs compiled by the Small Enterprise Development Agency in 2011. As expected, it was found that franchisees were significantly different from IBOs in such traits as financial and managerial capabilities, business experiences, demographic and socio-psychological characteristics, information searching efforts, business performances, and their perceptions of business obstacles. It was also found that the effects of these traits on business performances were quite different between franchisees and IBOs. The findings of the current study provide some meaningful suggestions for government agencies. Given that franchises and IBOs have different traits, their demands for governmental policy should be different, and consequently, it might be argued that government agencies should treat the two groups separately and should increase their efforts to develop appropriate supporting policies for each group. With respect to franchisor's practices for franchisee selection, it is also argued that in order to enhance franchisee performances franchisors need to examine thoroughly the traits of prospect franchisees. This study concludes with discussion of several theoretical and methodological limitations for future research.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.69-77
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• 2015

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to examine whether the cash policies of retail firms listed on Korean stock markets are consistent with the evidence provided in the study of Almeida et al. (2004). Liquidity management is an important issue for financially constrained firms relative to financially unconstrained firms. Because there are few sources of external funding, the optimal liquidity policies of financially constrained firms should reflect their own earnings or cash inflows to create opportunities for current and future real investments. According to this simple idea, we estimate the sensitivity of cash to cash flows and simply check whether the estimated sensitivity to cash flows of the cash retained by constrained retail firms is greater than that of the cash retained by unconstrained retail firms. Through this work, we aim to explain why the cash policies of the retail firms listed on the Korean stock markets differ from those of listed manufacturing enterprises. Research design, data, and methodology - To explain a firm's cash holdings, we use only three explanatory variables: earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), Tobin's q, and size. All the variables are defined as the value of the numerator divided by aggregate assets. Thanks to this definition, it is possible to treat all the sample firms as a single large firm. The sample financial data for this study are collected from the retail enterprises listed on the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets from 1991 to 2013. We can obtain these data from WISEfn, the financial information company. This study's methodology has its origin in Keynes's simple idea of precautionary liquidity demand: When a firm faces financial constraints, cash savings from earnings or cash inflows become important from the corporate finance perspective. Following this simple idea, Almeida et al. (2004) developed their theoretical model and found empirical evidence that the sensitivity of cash to cash flows varies systematically according to different types of financing frictions. To find more empirical evidence for this idea, we examined the cash flow sensitivity of the cash held by Korean retail firms. Results - Through several robustness tests, we empirically showed that financially constrained Korean retail firms display significant positive propensity to save cash from earnings before interest and taxes, while the estimated cash flow sensitivity of the cash held by unconstrained retail firms is not significant. Despite the relatively low earnings of retail firms, their sensitivity is three times greater than that of manufacturing enterprises. This implies that Korean retail firms have greater intentions of facilitating future investments rather than current investments. Conclusions - The characteristics of the cash policies of Korean retail firms differ from those of manufacturing firms. This contrast may be attributable to industry-oriented policy planning, regulations, and institutional differences. However, the industrial policymakers should observe signals of the long-term growth options of retail firms based on their high propensity to save from their cash inflows.