• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.6
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• pp.152-171
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• 2002

This study analyses the avatar service, which is recognized as an alternative strategy of animation industry. The research questions of this study are following: (1) How have the avatar services been developed and what are the present dominant types? (2) Which structural characteristics of e-business environment are needed for the success of avatar services? (3) What is the economic characteristics of avatar business model? To solve these research questions, the basic conditions and the structural characteristics of avatar services have been investigated. In the first place, two forms of avatar service are classified. One is the internet service site whole primary service is to provide chatting service based on avatar service. The other is the portal site in which many kinds of products and services are presented as bundles to meet the needs of internet users. So avatar service is one of bundles which those portal sites are providing with. In this study, the big five internet service sites are selected based on the profits they earned through the sales of avatar service. The result of analysis is that the pricing strategy of those big five sites is very different from those of traditional off-line markets. The pricing mechanism are based on the value which internet users endow with the avatar items, not based on the costs of making the products. Avatar is the representative informative goods. The informative goods have the original cost structures, constant fixed costs and zero marginal costs, so the providers of avatar services make much of the subjective values of consumers. The sayclub, which is the most successful avatar service site and earn the average sales of 3 billing won a month, takes the aggressive strategy of pricing avatar items at highest price in the industry. The avatar service providers which make lots of profits are planning of making differentiate the services, introducing well-known brand items and star-named items. Nevertheless, the fact that the members of the sayclub are not decreasing means that the network effect of the site is so strongly manifest. Moreover, the costs the members have paid for the avatar items are so big not as to switch from one site to the other site, it can be very costly. These switching costs are endemic in high-technology industries and digital contents industries. It can be so large that switching suppliers is virtually unthinkable, a situation known as 'lock-in'. When switching costs are substantial, competition can be intense to attract new customers, since, one they are locked in, they can be a substantial source of profit. The consumers of avatar items have switching costs if they subscribe for the new avatar service site. The switching costs can be subscription costs as well as the costs of giving up the items they already paid for. One common example of switching costs involves specialized supplies, as with inkjet printer cartridges. In this example, the switching cost is the purchase of a new printer. The market is competitive ex ante, but since cartridges are incompatible, it is monopolized dx post. So the providers of printer/cartridges set pricing printer so cheap and cartridges expensive. On the contrary, since the avatar service can be successful with the strong network effect, the providers of avatar services have to compete aggressively for new customers. So they allow the subscription at a low price(almost marginal cost) in the early market. The network effect can be maximized when the members are sufficiently growing. The providers which have the monopoly power with sufficient subscribers. begin to raise the prices over the lifetime of the product and make profits.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.1905-1919
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• 2000

The main motivation of this research is to develop an intelligent control strategy for Activated Sludge Process (ASP). ASP is a complex and nonlinear dynamic system because of the characteristic of wastewater, the change in influent flow rate, weather conditions, and etc. The mathematical model of ASP also includes uncertainties which are ignored or not considered by process engineer or controller designer. The ASP is generally controlled by a PID controller that consists of fixed proportional, integral, and derivative gain values. The PID gains are adjusted by the expert who has much experience in the ASP. The ASP model based on $Matlab^{(R)}5.3/Simulink^{(R)}3.0$ is developed in this paper. The performance of the model is tested by IWA(International Water Association) and COST(European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research) data that include steady-state results during 14 days. The advantage of the developed model is that the user can easily modify or change the controller by the help of the graphical user interface. The ASP model as a typical nonlinear system can be used to simulate and test the proposed controller for an educational purpose. Various control methods are applied to the ASP model and the control results are compared to apply the proposed intelligent control strategy to a real ASP. Three control methods are designed and tested: conventional PID controller, fuzzy logic control approach to modify setpoints, and fuzzy-PID control method. The proposed setpoints changer based on the fuzzy logic shows a better performance and robustness under disturbances. The objective function can be defined and included in the proposed control strategy to improve the effluent water quality and to reduce the operating cost in a real ASP.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.109-116
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• 2014

In this study, the factors affecting the profitability of the oriental medicine hospitals of University to be analyzed. To do this, profitability indicators and current ratio, liquidity, turnover ratio, cost factors analysis and suggested ways to improve management. The results are as follows, the operating margin(1.17%). the return on assets(3.76%), the net profit to gross revenues(2.37%), and the net profit to total assets(-1.89) were lower than the average of the entire oriental medicine hospitals in Korea(respectively 8.9%, 8.7%, 2.6%, 2.5%). Current ratio(256.76%), quick ratio(231.17%), fixed ratio(121.02%), and total assets turnover(135.69%) were similar to the average of all oriental medicine hospitals in Korea. But growth rate of total assets(-2.21%), and growth rate of patient revenue(1.89%) is low. And salaries(53.39%), materials costs(16.62%), administrative expenses(28.58%) were different to the average of all oriental medicine hospitals in Korea(respectively 35.3%, 10.7%, 45.1%). Meanwhile, the cost ratio of the oriental medicine hospitals of University was 98.59%. It was 7.49% higher than the 91.1% of the average of all oriental medicine hospitals in 2011. Correlation analysis, growth rate of patient revenue and operating margin increased at the same time, and net profit to gross revenues and net profit to total assets with a growth rate of total assets increased. And administrative expenses and profitability indicators showed a negative correlation. It means, in order to improve the profitability of the oriental medicine hospitals of University should focus on reducing administrative expenses. Multiple regression analysis, growth rate of total assets, total assets turnover, administrative expenses, and salaries has affected the profitability. Therefore, in order to improve the profitability of the oriental medicine hospitals of University to increase the total capital and the total capital turnover, and to reduce administrative expenses effort.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.669-683
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• 2017

The objective of this study is to propose a modification of the previously proposed drainage system for catching the partial leakage of underground concrete structures. Two techniques were proposed for applying the drainage system only to the leaking parts. One was for conveying leaking groundwater to the collection point in the drainage system and the other was for conveying the collected groundwater to the primary drainage system of the underground concrete structure. Four waterproofing materials for conveying leaking groundwater to the catchment point of the drainage system, Durkflex made of porous rubber material, KE-45 silicone adhesive with super strong adhesion, Hotty-gel made of polymeric materials and general silicone adhesive were evaluated for waterproofing performance. Hotty-gel only showed perfect waterproof performance and the other three waterproof materials leaked. The modified drainage system with Hotty-gel and drainage pipe with fixed saddle to convey the leaking groundwater from the catchment point to the primary drainage system were tested on the concrete retaining wall. The waterproof performance and the drainage performance were evaluated by injecting 1,000 ml of water in the back of the modified drainage system at the 7-day, 14-day, 21-day, 28-day, 2-month and 3-month. There was no problem in waterproof performance and drainage performance of the modified drainage system during 3 months. In order to evaluate the construction period and construction cost of the modified drainage system, it was compared with the existing leaching repair method in surface cleaning stage, leakage treatment stage, and protective barrier stage. Total construction period and construction cost were compared in considering the contents of work, repair material, construction equipment, working time, and total number of workers. As a result of comparing and analyzing in each construction stage, it was concluded that the modified drainage system could save construction period and construction cost compared to the existing leaching repair method.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.6-13
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• 2018

Utilizing the heat of cooling water discharge of coal-fired power plant, pipeline investment costs for businesses that supply heat to agricultural facilities near power plants increase in proportion to installation distance. On one hand, the distance from the power plant is a factor that brings difficulties to secure economic efficiency. On the other, if the installation distance is short, there is a problem of securing the heating demands, facility houses, which causes economical efficiency to suffer. In this study, the economic efficiency of 1km length of standard heat pipeline was evaluated. The sensitivity of the heat pipe to the new length variation was analyzed at the level of government subsidy, amount of heating demand and the incremental rate of pipeline with additional government subsidy. As a result of the analysis, it was estimated that NPV 131 million won and IRR 15.73%. The sensitivity analysis showed that NPV was negative when the length of heat pipe facility exceeded 2.6 km. If the government supports 50% of the initial investment, the efficiency is secured within the estimated length of 5.3 km, and if it supports 80%, the length increases within 11.4 km. If the heat demand is reduced to less than 62% at the new length of the standard heat pipe, it is expected economic efficiency is not obtained. If the ratio of government subsidies to initial investment increases, the elasticity of the new bloc will increase, and the fixed investment, which is the cost of capital investment for one unit of heating demand, will decrease. This would result in a reduction in the cost of production per unit, and it would be possible to supply heat at a cheaper price level to the facility farming. Government subsidies will result in the increased economic availability of hot plumbing facilities and additional efficiencies due to increased demand. The greater government subsidies to initial investment, the less farms cost due to the decrease in the price per unit. The results of the study are significant in terms of the economic evaluation of the effectiveness of the government subsidy for the thermal power plant heat utilization project. The implication can be applied to any related pilot to come.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.377-388
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• 2022

Laboratory-scale experiments were performed to identify the As removal mechanism of the residual slag generated after the mineral carbonation process. The residual slags were manufactured from the steelmaking slag (blast oxygen furnace slag: BOF) through direct and indirect carbonation process. RDBOF (residual BOF after the direct carbonation) and RIBOF (residual BOF after the indirect carbonation) showed different physicochemical-structural characteristics compared with raw BOF such as chemical-mineralogical properties, the pH level of leachate and forming micropores on the surface of the slag. In batch experiment, 0.1 g of residual slag was added to 10 mL of As-solution (initial concentration: 203.6 mg/L) titrated at various pH levels. The RDBOF showed 99.3% of As removal efficiency at initial pH 1, while it sharply decreased with the increase of initial pH. As the initial pH of solution decreased, the dissolution of carbonate minerals covering the surface was accelerated, increasing the exposed area of Fe-oxide and promoting the adsorption of As-oxyanions on the RDBOF surface. Whereas, the As removal efficiency of RIBOF increased with the increase of initial pH levels, and it reached up to 70% at initial pH 10. Considering the PZC (point of zero charge) of the RIBOF (pH 4.5), it was hardly expected that the electrical adsorption of As-oxyanion on surface of the RIBOF at initial pH of 4-10. Nevertheless it was observed that As-oxyanion was linked to the Fe-oxide on the RIBOF surface by the cation bridge effect of divalent cations such as Ca²⁺, Mn²⁺, and Fe²⁺. The surface of RIBOF became stronger negatively charged, the cation bridge effect was more strictly enforced, and more As can be fixed on the RIBOF surface. However, the Ca-products start to precipitate on the surface at pH 10-11 or higher and they even prevent the surface adsorption of As-oxyanion by Fe-oxide. The TCLP test was performed to evaluate the stability of As fixed on the surface of the residual slag after the batch experiment. Results supported that RDBOF and RIBOF firmly fixed As over the wide pH levels, by considering their As desorption rate of less than 2%. From the results of this study, it was proved that both residual slags can be used as an eco-friendly and low-cost As remover with high As removal efficiency and high stability and they also overcome the pH increase in solution, which is the disadvantage of existing steelmaking slag as an As remover.

• Journal of KIISE:Computing Practices and Letters
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.293-299
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• 2007

Intelligent pipeline inspection gauges (PIGs) are inspection vehicles that move along within a (gas or oil) pipeline and acquire signals (also called sensor data) from their surrounding rings of sensors. By analyzing the signals captured in intelligent PIGs, we can detect pipeline defects, such as holes and curvatures and other potential causes of gas explosions. There are two major data access patterns apparent when an analyzer accesses the pipeline signal data. The first is a sequential pattern where an analyst reads the sensor data one time only in a sequential fashion. The second is the repetitive pattern where an analyzer repeatedly reads the signal data within a fixed range; this is the dominant pattern in analyzing the signal data. The existing PIG software reads signal data directly from the server at every user#s request, requiring network transfer and disk access cost. It works well only for the sequential pattern, but not for the more dominant repetitive pattern. This problem becomes very serious in a client/server environment where several analysts analyze the signal data concurrently. To tackle this problem, we devise a fast in-memory cache manager, called T-Cache, by considering pipeline sensor data as multiple time-series data and by efficiently caching the time-series data at T-Cache. To the best of the authors# knowledge, this is the first research on caching pipeline signals on the client-side. We propose a new concept of the signal cache line as a caching unit, which is a set of time-series signal data for a fixed distance. We also provide the various data structures including smart cursors and algorithms used in T-Cache. Experimental results show that T-Cache performs much better for the repetitive pattern in terms of disk I/Os and the elapsed time. Even with the sequential pattern, T-Cache shows almost the same performance as a system that does not use any caching, indicating the caching overhead in T-Cache is negligible.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.446-455
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• 2015

Based on comparative studies on standards and grading procedures of machine graded lumber in Korea and other countries, this study proposed a procedure of determining the grade classification and design strengths of domestic machine graded lumber. Differences between machine stress rated lumber and E-rated laminations were detailed in order to clarify the need for the procedure improvement. To this improvement the use of average MOE requirement for grading was introduced instead of the fixed minimum MOE requirement which is currently used in the Korean standards. It was found that the fixed minimum MOE requirement method was easier for an inspector to grade but, less efficient as a strength predictor than the average MOE requirement method. The advantage of average MOE requirement method is statistically MOR-MOE regression-based MOR prediction and highly efficient in quality control though it requires a computer-aided operation system in an initial setup. A major weakness of the current Korean grading system was found that different strength characteristics depending on wood species were not reflected on the grade classification and the tabulated allowable design stress. The proposed procedures were developed taking advantages of respective merits of both methods and based on MOR-MOE regression analysis. Through this procedure, the grades of machine stress rated lumber should be revised to become interchangeable with E-rated lamination, which would be beneficial to the cost competitiveness of domestic machine graded lumber and glued laminated timber industry.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.81-93
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• 2022

Since 2008, China's shipping industry has been in a slump, with shipbuilding orders falling sharply, and high-growth excess capacity has become increasingly apparent, leaving many firms with sharply reduced orders at risk of bankruptcy and shutdown. To ensure the development of the shipbuilding industry and enhance the international competitiveness of the shipbuilding industry, it is necessary to analyze the present situation of the shipbuilding industry and the financial situation of the shipbuilding enterprises. And analyzing the problems faced by enterprises from the perspective of capital structure is very meaningful to the shipbuilders with high capital operation. We are trying to analyze the determinants of capital structure of China's shipbuilding listed companies. 30 listed Chinese shipbuilding and listed companies have been designated as sample companies that can obtain financial statements for 13 consecutive years. They also divided 30 sample companies into shipbuilding, shipbuilding-related manufacturing, and shipbuilding-related transportation. Dependent variable is the debt level of the year, independent variable includes the debt level of the previous year, fixed asset ratio, profitability ratio, depreciation cost ratio and asset size. The regression model of the panel used to analyze determinants is capital structure. The results of the empirical analysis are as follows. First, a fixed-effect model for the entire entity showed that the debt-to-equity ratio and the size of the asset in the previous period had a positive effect on the debt-to-equity ratio in the current period. Second, the impact of the profitability ratio on the debt level in the prior term also supports the capital procurement ranking theory rather than the static counter-conflict theory. Third, it was shown that the ratio of the depreciation of the prior term, which replaces the non-liability tax effect, affects the debt-to-equity ratio in the current period.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.107-114
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• 1993

The structure change in the broiler industry of Korea has been taking place very rapidly toward the direction of integrated production and marketing system. During the course of the evolution into the integrated structure, however, a number of small business entities, uncountable nationally but a minimum of a dozen, that previously engaged in the supply of production factors or live bird transaction also tended to get involved in the new system as a disguised or pseudo-integrator, having brought a lot of problems not only to the farmers but also to the development of integrated structure. The pseudo-integrator is generally characterized by limited functions in such a way of supplying chicks and feeds to and collecting grown birds from farmers under the contract at a fixed farmer's payment in practically the same pattern as a partial or quasi-integration, which intends to act as if an integrator in a stratagem to simply enjoy a margin simply from selling supplies and buying products for a certain period of time. The grower making a contract with appears to be a farmer who used to be an Independent and speculating but not able to join in the normal system of evolving integration. The problems of a pseudo-integrator center on the financial loss to a contract farmer, because the falsified integrator has to become easily bankrupt and run away when the price of live broiler continually stays below the cost of production, even though he is able to make a tremendous profit otherwise which is the real purpose of the operation for. It is true that the volatile market, fluctuating the price up more than doubled in a month and down to a half in a few weeks, makes the pseudo-integrator find the room for such a fraudulence. In addition, its activity also adversely affect the evolution of the integration due to rather negative image on structure change in general. It is recommended that the farmers need to better understand the real picture of the integrated system so as not to be swindled by a disguised, small scale agribusiness agent. By the same token, it is also equally required to have the whole industry integrated completely as early as possible. The Joint effort to get rid of pseudo-integrators' problems shall be put for the industry development moving toward the integration. No doubt a pseudo-integrator must be a temporary player for chance emerging during the course of structure change into the integrated, though.