• Proceedings of the Korea Inteligent Information System Society Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.294-301
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• 2002

The purpose of this research is to investigate the level of knowledge management in Korea small firms. The research scheme was experimented through a questionnaire survey answered by 150 firms. The research model was composed of five groups : 1) knowledge management and business strategic, 2) a culture and structure for knowledge management, 3) learning process and community 4) information technology to support knowledge management 5) a reward and performance measurement. The results of this research indicated that the level of knowledge management is different according to the characteristic of small firms. The result of the empirical analysis can be summarized as follows : First, the business culture for knowledge management is not performed pertinently. Second, the learning process for knowledge management and a reward and performance measurement is insufficient. Third, the characteristics of a firm should be considered for measuring the level of knowledge management.

• IE interfaces
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.658-667
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• 2000

Seasonal variation of natural gas demand coupled with rigid and stable import pattern of gas represents the characteristic feature of the Korean Liquified Natural Gas(LNG) industry. This attribute has required a huge amount of investment for the construction of storage facility. Thus, to minimize the supply cost, it is legitimate to reduce storage requirement itself. In this study, we combine three alternative methods to deal with the storage requirement to minimize the supply cost. Those are (1) adding additional storage tanks, (2) inducing large firm customers, and (3) constructing gas-turbine self generation facilities. Methodologically, we employ the mixed integer program (MIP) to optimize the system. The model also consider demand and price-setting scheme in separate modules. From the results, it is shown that if alternatives are combined optimally, a number of storage tanks can be reduced substantially compared with the original capacity plan set by the industry authorities. We perform various sensitivity analyses to check the robustness of the results. The methodology presented in this study can be applied to the other physical network industry, such as hydraulics. The empirical results will shed some light on the rationalization of capacity planning of the Korean natural gas industry.

• East Asian Journal of Business Economics (EAJBE)
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.69-80
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• 2021

Purpose - This study investigated the development process of the Chinese distribution industry and analyzed the current status of China's offline and online distribution industries under the development process of the Chinese distribution industry. In addition, the current status of offline distributors in China and representative companies were analyzed as case studies. Research design, data, and methodology - This study analyzed the overall environment of the Chinese distribution industry by using literature data. Then, this study conducted a case analysis using RT Mart and Jingdong, major companies in the distribution industry. Result -The main research results of this study show that the Chinese distribution market has already matured, and retailers are fiercely competing to secure sales and operating profits through various methods such as finding new management methods, improving awareness and customer loyalty by expanding the number of stores. Conclusion -Recently, the characteristic of China's distribution industry is that the boundaries of distribution are breaking down. Chinese retailers are taking strategies to expand the scope of services by erasing the boundaries of distribution. In other words, distribution companies are promoting a borderless distribution strategy in which consumers purchase products online and offline without restrictions on time and space. In addition, small stores in residential areas are on the rise compared to large-scale stores in the city center. The existing distribution industry operates various types of distribution stores to prepare for the post-COVID-19 crisis.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.419-428
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• 2024

Prefabricated partially-encased composite (PEC) structural component is widely used in construction industry due to its superior structural performance and easy assembly characteristic. However, the solid web in traditional PEC components tends to split concrete into two halves, thus potentially reduces structural integrity and requires double concrete pouring. To overcome the above disadvantages, a new PEC beam with open-web π-shaped steel is proposed in this paper. Four open-web PEC beams with varying sectional height, flange thickness and web void rate were constructed and tested under flexural loads. During experimental tests, all beams exhibited typical flexural failure modes with strong moment capacities and excellent ductility. Owing to the unique construction form of web opening, steel-concrete bonding properties were enhanced and very small relative steel-concrete slips were observed. Experimental results also showed that the flexural capacity of such PEC beams increased with the increase of the sectional height and flange thickness, while was not affected by the web void rate. At last, a flexural capacity formula of the open-web PEC beam was proposed based on the whole section plastic rule. The formula results agreed well with experimental results.

• Korean small business review
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.67-93
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• 2009

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relations between financial constraints and dividend smoothing of innovative small and medium sized enterprises(SMEs) listed on Korea Securities Market and Kosdaq Market of Korea Exchange. The innovative SMEs is defined as the firms with high level of R&D intensity which is measured by (R&D investment/total sales) ratio, according to Chauvin and Hirschey (1993). The R&D investment plays an important role as the innovative driver that can increase the future growth opportunity and profitability of the firms. Therefore, the R&D investment have large, positive, and consistent influences on the market value of the firm. In this point of view, we expect that the innovative SMEs can adjust dividend payment faster than the noninnovative SMEs, on the ground of their future growth opportunity and profitability. And also, we expect that the financial unconstrained firms can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms, on the ground of their financing ability of investment funds through the market accessibility. Aivazian et al.(2006) exert that the financial unconstrained firms with the high accessibility to capital market can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms. We collect the sample firms among the total SMEs listed on Korea Securities Market and Kosdaq Market of Korea Exchange during the periods from January 1999 to December 2007 from the KIS Value Library database. The total number of firm-year observations of the total sample firms throughout the entire period is 5,544, the number of firm-year observations of the dividend firms is 2,919, and the number of firm-year observations of the non-dividend firms is 2,625. About 53%(or 2,919) of these total 5,544 observations involve firms that make a dividend payment. The dividend firms are divided into two groups according to the R&D intensity, such as the innovative SMEs with larger than median of R&D intensity and the noninnovative SMEs with smaller than median of R&D intensity. The number of firm-year observations of the innovative SMEs is 1,506, and the number of firm-year observations of the noninnovative SMEs is 1,413. Furthermore, the innovative SMEs are divided into two groups according to level of financial constraints, such as the financial unconstrained firms and the financial constrained firms. The number of firm-year observations of the former is 894, and the number of firm-year observations of the latter is 612. Although all available firm-year observations of the dividend firms are collected, deletions are made in the case of financial industries such as banks, securities company, insurance company, and other financial services company, because their capital structure and business style are widely different from the general manufacturing firms. The stock repurchase was involved in dividend payment because Grullon and Michaely (2002) examined the substitution hypothesis between dividends and stock repurchases. However, our data structure is an unbalanced panel data since there is no requirement that the firm-year observations data are all available for each firms during the entire periods from January 1999 to December 2007 from the KIS Value Library database. We firstly estimate the classic Lintner(1956) dividend adjustment model, where the decision to smooth dividend or to adopt a residual dividend policy depends on financial constraints measured by market accessibility. Lintner model indicates that firms maintain stable and long run target payout ratio, and that firms adjust partially the gap between current payout rato and target payout ratio each year. In the Lintner model, dependent variable is the current dividend per share(DPS_t), and independent variables are the past dividend per share(DPS_t-1) and the current earnings per share(EPS_t). We hypothesized that firms adjust partially the gap between the current dividend per share(DPS_t) and the target payout ratio(Ω) each year, when the past dividend per share(DPS_t-1) deviate from the target payout ratio(Ω). We secondly estimate the expansion model that extend the Lintner model by including the determinants suggested by the major theories of dividend, namely, residual dividend theory, dividend signaling theory, agency theory, catering theory, and transactions cost theory. In the expansion model, dependent variable is the current dividend per share(DPS_t), explanatory variables are the past dividend per share(DPS_t-1) and the current earnings per share(EPS_t), and control variables are the current capital expenditure ratio(CEA_t), the current leverage ratio(LEV_t), the current operating return on assets(ROA_t), the current business risk(RISK_t), the current trading volume turnover ratio(TURN_t), and the current dividend premium(DPREM_t). In these control variables, CEA_t, LEV_t, and ROA_t are the determinants suggested by the residual dividend theory and the agency theory, ROA_t and RISK_t are the determinants suggested by the dividend signaling theory, TURN_t is the determinant suggested by the transactions cost theory, and DPREM_t is the determinant suggested by the catering theory. Furthermore, we thirdly estimate the Lintner model and the expansion model by using the panel data of the financial unconstrained firms and the financial constrained firms, that are divided into two groups according to level of financial constraints. We expect that the financial unconstrained firms can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms, because the former can finance more easily the investment funds through the market accessibility than the latter. We analyzed descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, and median to delete the outliers from the panel data, conducted one way analysis of variance to check up the industry-specfic effects, and conducted difference test of firms characteristic variables between innovative SMEs and noninnovative SMEs as well as difference test of firms characteristic variables between financial unconstrained firms and financial constrained firms. We also conducted the correlation analysis and the variance inflation factors analysis to detect any multicollinearity among the independent variables. Both of the correlation coefficients and the variance inflation factors are roughly low to the extent that may be ignored the multicollinearity among the independent variables. Furthermore, we estimate both of the Lintner model and the expansion model using the panel regression analysis. We firstly test the time-specific effects and the firm-specific effects may be involved in our panel data through the Lagrange multiplier test that was proposed by Breusch and Pagan(1980), and secondly conduct Hausman test to prove that fixed effect model is fitter with our panel data than the random effect model. The main results of this study can be summarized as follows. The determinants suggested by the major theories of dividend, namely, residual dividend theory, dividend signaling theory, agency theory, catering theory, and transactions cost theory explain significantly the dividend policy of the innovative SMEs. Lintner model indicates that firms maintain stable and long run target payout ratio, and that firms adjust partially the gap between the current payout ratio and the target payout ratio each year. In the core variables of Lintner model, the past dividend per share has more effects to dividend smoothing than the current earnings per share. These results suggest that the innovative SMEs maintain stable and long run dividend policy which sustains the past dividend per share level without corporate special reasons. The main results show that dividend adjustment speed of the innovative SMEs is faster than that of the noninnovative SMEs. This means that the innovative SMEs with high level of R&D intensity can adjust dividend payment faster than the noninnovative SMEs, on the ground of their future growth opportunity and profitability. The other main results show that dividend adjustment speed of the financial unconstrained SMEs is faster than that of the financial constrained SMEs. This means that the financial unconstrained firms with high accessibility to capital market can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms, on the ground of their financing ability of investment funds through the market accessibility. Futhermore, the other additional results show that dividend adjustment speed of the innovative SMEs classified by the Small and Medium Business Administration is faster than that of the unclassified SMEs. They are linked with various financial policies and services such as credit guaranteed service, policy fund for SMEs, venture investment fund, insurance program, and so on. In conclusion, the past dividend per share and the current earnings per share suggested by the Lintner model explain mainly dividend adjustment speed of the innovative SMEs, and also the financial constraints explain partially. Therefore, if managers can properly understand of the relations between financial constraints and dividend smoothing of innovative SMEs, they can maintain stable and long run dividend policy of the innovative SMEs through dividend smoothing. These are encouraging results for Korea government, that is, the Small and Medium Business Administration as it has implemented many policies to commit to the innovative SMEs. This paper may have a few limitations because it may be only early study about the relations between financial constraints and dividend smoothing of the innovative SMEs. Specifically, this paper may not adequately capture all of the subtle features of the innovative SMEs and the financial unconstrained SMEs. Therefore, we think that it is necessary to expand sample firms and control variables, and use more elaborate analysis methods in the future studies.

• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.1-32
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• 2008

This study examines the changes and determinants of cash to assets ratios(cash ratios) by analyzing 14,016 Korean manufacturing firms sample for the period of $1999{\sim}2004$. The major findings can be summarized as follows. First, the average cash ratios for Korean manufacturing firms have increased from 4.7 percent of 1999 to 5.2 percent of 2004. In addition, the average cash holdings per firm also have increased from 4.3 billion Won to 8.0 billion Won during the same period. However, the capital expenditures relative to cash ratios or operating cash flow have decreased significantly, confirming the notion that physical investment of Korean manufacturing sector has been shrinking recently. Second, in regression tests with panel data, the coefficients of target adjustment variables show the expected negative signs, but coefficients of the deficit of fund variables show the unexpected positive signs. Thus, the evidence seems to be supportive of static tradeoff model of cash holdings. Third, in regression tests to find the determinants of cash ratios, most of the variables show similar results as the previous studies. However, in terms of adjusted coefficient of determination and F-statistic, the firm-characteristic variables suggested by static trade-off theory have more explanatory power than the variables suggested by pecking order theory.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.396-398
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• 2012

Pink mold rot of tomato occurred very severly on tomato farm in Paju, Gyounggi Province, Korea, in July 2005. The infected fruits were dropped and abandoned and the symptoms were similar to calcium deficient tomatoes. But symptom was a slight water-soaked area on or near the blossom end of the fruit and firm greyish-brown lesions were most found at the blossom-end of affected fruits. lesions caused by the pink mold fungus possess a water soaked margin and rise to characteristic orange-pink spores. Also when the diseased tomato was cut, the inside of tomatoes showed completely rotted with pink mold. The causal fungus was identified as Trichothecium roseum based on mycological characteristics. This is the first report of T. roseum infecting greenhouse tomatoes in Korea.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.157-162
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• 1996

Fine needle aspiration(FNA) is an effective tool in diagnosing mammary carcinoma. We experienced 7 cases of histologically confirmed mammary mucinous carcinoma among 3,052 aspirated cases of breast from 1992 to 1996 in Asan Medical Center. The average age of the patient was 48(33-64) years. The mean size of the lesions was $1.6(0.7{\sim}3)cm$, and they were palpated as well-defined, firm to hard masses. The cytologic features that may be useful in making a FNA diagnosis of mucinous carcinoma of the breast were analysed. Mucinous background and tumor cell clusters with occasional single cells were observed in all cases. Among them, two cases showed abundant scattered single cells, whereas only few single cells were seen in the other two cases. Tumor cells exhibited mild pleomorphism in four cases and moderate pleomorphism in three cases. Nucleoli tended to be not prominent and are observed in three cases, rarely noted in other three cases and not seen in one. There was microcalcification in four cases(57%). In conclusion, mucinous background and clustered tumor cells showing mild to moderate pleomorphism with characteristic clinical findings allow us to diagnose mucinous carcinoma of the breast.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.9
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• pp.3119-3124
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• 2010

The purpose of this paper is to analyze dynamic behaviors of the oil film thickness and engine bearings in both aligned and misaligned operation conditions of a crankshaft using computer simulation techniques. A crankshaft as an elastic body is modeled for a misaligned crankshaft which is very important design parameter of the film thickness and engine bearings. In this analysis, a dynamic characteristic of a minimum oil film is analyzed based on the elastohydrodynamic lubrication theory. The boundary conditions for analyzing the film behaviors include non-linear constraint forces and bending moments in engine bearings. The more expedient model of an engine bearing is extended to consider the effect of crankshaft misalignment. The computed results indicate that the minimum oil film thickness that causes a major influence on the performance of engine bearings has showed a decrease of 16% to 24% for the misaligned crankshaft compared with an aligned crankshaft. The computed results show that the misalignment of a crankshaft inevitably brings the reduction of minimum oil film thickness and this may increase the failure of a bearing. These results as design parameters are very useful for a bearing designer as a firm reference data of an automotive engine.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.93-116
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• 2016

Knowledge, as a source of firm's competitive edges, has been drawing attention, while numerous enterprises are investing huge amount of assets to foster the right environments for executing knowledge management (KM). As a practical way of such KM, knowledge management systems (KMS) support the creation, diffusion, and utilization of knowledge, which are the tools for practicing such management style. Recently, the customer centers which make the closest contact with the customers are being concerned about the establishment of KMS. Considering the characteristics of real-time problem solving in customer centers during the consultation with the customers, the importance of KMS is paramount to the centers. This study analyzes major factors influencing the success and utilization of the customer center KMS's reestablishment, as an exploratory case study of the reestablishment of KMS in the customer center of K insurance company. First, the characteristic differences between the customer center's KMS and the traditional KMS are discussed, and the triangulation technique is applied to secure objectivity of this case study's findings. Major results of the case study state that, for the success of KMS and improvement of utilization, the followings should be considered preferentially: excellent system quality (accessibility, user convenience, easy searching, speed/menus); high information quality (accuracy, usefulness, timeliness, task-relevance, diversity, degree of specification); appropriate operation strategy and process for the utilization of system (education, training opportunity, appropriate personnel, speed and procedure of approval, compensation/evaluation); and change management via the support from the CEO's level (concern and participation of CEO, will to propel the project, investment, advertisement, etc.). This study provides practical suggestions with respect to factors which should be more carefully dealt with, since still many customer centers have hard time establishing and operating KMS due to lack of previous studies.