• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.19-22
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• 2017

Purpose - To control exorbitant interest rates, implementation of an interest rate ceiling is a standard practice in microfinance. However, there are pros and cons of such market intervention. Hence, the aim of this short note is to highlight issues and challenges regarding the interest rate cap in microfinance, both from the perspective of clients and institutions. Research design, data, and methodology - While the nature of this short note is explanatory and descriptive, the research methodology used relevant data from the MixMarket and Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) annual reports in Bangladesh. Results - We argue that an interest rate ceiling is detrimental both for the clients and microfinance institutions (MFIs). This market intervention substantially reduces the outreach of MFIs and clients are most likely to pay a higher price in the long-run. Additionally, an interest rate cap also puts severe pressure on new-born and high-cost MFIs to cope with the interest rate ceiling. Conclusions - Although market intervention may be necessary in the short-run, it should not be the ultimate solution to abate high interest in microfinance. Understanding the operational dynamics of MFIs, as well as promoting productivity, efficiency and competition could help to lower the interest rates.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.177-198
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• 2018

Recently, as economic property it has become necessary to acquire and utilize the framework for water resource measurement and performance management as the property of water resources changes to hold "public property". To date, the evaluation of water technology has been carried out by feasibility study analysis or technology assessment based on net present value (NPV) or benefit-to-cost (B/C) effect, however it is not yet systemized in terms of valuation models to objectively assess an economic value of technology-based business to receive diffusion and feedback of research outcomes. Therefore, K-water (known as a government-supported public company in Korea) company feels the necessity to establish a technology valuation framework suitable for technical characteristics of water resources fields in charge and verify an exemplified case applied to the technology. The K-water evaluation technology applied to this study, as a public interest goods, can be used as a tool to measure the value and achievement contributed to society and to manage them. Therefore, by calculating the value in which the subject technology contributed to the entire society as a public resource, we make use of it as a basis information for the advertising medium of performance on the influence effect of the benefits or the necessity of cost input, and then secure the legitimacy for large-scale R&D cost input in terms of the characteristics of public technology. Hence, K-water company, one of the public corporation in Korea which deals with public goods of 'water resources', will be able to establish a commercialization strategy for business operation and prepare for a basis for the performance calculation of input R&D cost. In this study, K-water has developed a web-based technology valuation model for public interest type water resources based on the technology evaluation system that is suitable for the characteristics of a technology in water resources fields. In particular, by utilizing the evaluation methodology of the Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japan to match the expense items to the expense accounts based on the related benefit items, we proposed the so-called 'K-water's proprietary model' which involves the 'cost-benefit' approach and the FCF (Free Cash Flow), and ultimately led to build a pipeline on the K-water research performance management system and then verify the practical case of a technology related to "desalination". We analyze the embedded design logic and evaluation process of web-based valuation system that reflects characteristics of water resources technology, reference information and database(D/B)-associated logic for each model to calculate public interest-based and profit-based technology values in technology integrated management system. We review the hybrid evaluation module that reflects the quantitative index of the qualitative evaluation indices reflecting the unique characteristics of water resources and the visualized user-interface (UI) of the actual web-based evaluation, which both are appended for calculating the business value based on financial data to the existing web-based technology valuation systems in other fields. K-water's technology valuation model is evaluated by distinguishing between public-interest type and profitable-type water technology. First, evaluation modules in profit-type technology valuation model are designed based on 'profitability of technology'. For example, the technology inventory K-water holds has a number of profit-oriented technologies such as water treatment membranes. On the other hand, the public interest-type technology valuation is designed to evaluate the public-interest oriented technology such as the dam, which reflects the characteristics of public benefits and costs. In order to examine the appropriateness of the cost-benefit based public utility valuation model (i.e. K-water specific technology valuation model) presented in this study, we applied to practical cases from calculation of benefit-to-cost analysis on water resource technology with 20 years of lifetime. In future we will additionally conduct verifying the K-water public utility-based valuation model by each business model which reflects various business environmental characteristics.

• IE interfaces
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.31-43
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• 1995

This study is intended to develop a technology cost model (TCM) which treats technology costs appropriately under present advanced manufacturing technology environment. TCM is composed of two elements : cost classification system and cost allocation model. It is proposed to include technology-related department expenses as well as technology investment in the categories of technology costs. For the cost allocation, technology activities are divided into four homogeneous groups. Costs are accumulated into one of the four cost pools and allocated to the cost object using the pool's unique allocation base. It is also proposed to use the capital recovery costs including interest expense rather than the depreciation costs for an invested capital. A case study is performed to verify the applicability of the developed model.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.150-159
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• 2012

In this paper, we propose a cost-aware Rapidly-exploring Random Tree (RRT) path planning algorithm for mobile robots. A mobile robot is presented with a cost map of the field of interest and assigned to move from one location to another. As a robot moves, the robot is penalized by the cost at its current location according to the cost map. The overall cost of the robot is determined by the trajectory of the robot. The goal of the proposed cost-aware RRT algorithm is to find a trajectory with the minimal cost. The cost map of the field can represent environmental parameters, such as temperature, humidity, chemical concentration, wireless signal strength, and stealthiness. For example, if the cost map represents packet drop rates at different locations, the minimum cost path between two locations is the path with the best possible communication, which is desirable when a robot operates under the environment with weak wireless signals. The proposed cost-aware RRT algorithm extends the basic RRT algorithm by considering the cost map when extending a motion segment. We show that the proposed algorithm gives an outstanding performance compared to the basic RRT method. We also demonstrate that the use of rejection sampling can give better results through extensive simulation.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2024

Recently, there has been a growing interest in integrating physical toys into video gaming within the game content business. This paper introduces a novel method that leverages low-cost camera as an alternative to using sensor attachments to meet this rising demand. We address the limitations associated with low-cost cameras and propose an optical design tailored to the specific environment of model car recognition. We overcome the inherent limitations of low-cost cameras by proposing an optical design specifically tailored for model car recognition. This approach primarily focuses on recognizing the underside of the car and addresses the challenges associated with this particular perspective. Our method employs a transfer learning model that is specifically trained for this task. We have achieved a 100% recognition rate, highlighting the importance of collecting data under various camera exposures. This paper serves as a valuable case study for incorporating low-cost cameras into vision systems.

• Journal of KSNVE
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.738-746
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• 1999

The performance of muffler can be improved for a frequency range of interest by moving inlet and outlet locations. And optimal location of inlet and outlet can be determined to improve the acoustic performance. The optimum design using FEM, however, may take a very long time and be very hard to take inlet and outlet locations as design variables. In this paper, the acoustic performance of reactive type single expansion chamber muffler is predicted using higher order mode theory. The sensitivity analysis of transmission loss with respect to the location of inlet and outlet is suggested. And the acoustic power transmission coefficient for a frequency of interest is used as cost function. Optimum location of inlet and outlet is determined to minimize cost function by using SUMT algorithm.

• IE interfaces
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.184-192
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• 2005

In recent research there has been intense interest in understanding how real option valuation (ROV) approaches might usefully complement conventional discounted cash flow (DCF) techniques. However, investment decision makers in a real world have been worried about adopting the ROV approaches mainly because of difficulty in technically understanding the theory of the ROV approaches as indicated by many researchers. With this difficulty in mind, we propose the opportunity cost model as another discrete-time model to value a deferral option. The main advantage of observing a real options value in terms of the opportunity cost concept is to provide a technique for practitioners to estimate a wide range of real options values without sticking to a financial option modelling. The fundamental ground for developing the opportunity cost model proposed in this paper lies in the work of dissecting the structure of the real options value into three categories: capital gain, expected opportunity loss, and expected opportunity gain. At the end of the paper, we will present a short illustrative example to demonstrate the applicability of the model.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.505-523
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• 2009

We study the cost of capital of Islamic enterprise using the Capital Asset Pricing Model(CAPM). When there exists no risk-free interest rate, the security market line(SML) of Islamic enterprise shows an upward slope starting from the origin. The slope is bigger than that of SML with risk-free interest rate. This is because the cost of capital of Islamic enterprise is higher than that of western firms for the same level of systematic risk. When the effect of zakat is considered, the risk-free interest rate is replaced by minimum required rate of return. The SML of Islamic enterprise reveals an upward slope but it does not pass through the origin. This is because Islamic enterprise cannot invest on risk-free asset. In order to overcome the theoretic limits of CAPM, we propose to use multi-factor approach such as arbitrage pricing model instead of single-factor model for future study.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.135-144
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• 2001

The capital cost of the company is one that must be paid to the money owner as the price by using the money. The capital cost according to the source of money supply can be estimated by the expected profit rate undertaken by the use of the capital. But in the area of pre-existent economic evaluation, the evaluation of the company investment has been treated by the profit rate of the capital after considering the repayment conditions of the other's money or the interest. Thus in this study, in case the company makes an investment on various kinds of the capital at the same time, not make use of the capital as a one source, the economic evaluation of an investment should be handled by taking the weighted average cost of capital into consideration in proportion to the constitution of the capital cost by the sources of money supply, Especially, as the cost of the private money is very much connected with the profit rate through the stock market, the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) will be applied. This kind of economic evaluation method can be said to have much to do with the Economic Value Added : EVA) as well as to be highly thought as a standard to estimate the company' value recently To certify the usefulness of this approach, the case study of the output of the capital cost will be made for the purse of the economic evaluation of the alternative investment by using the financial statements of a motor company H.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers B
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.294-300
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• 1999

There is a growing interest in hybrid electric vehicles due to environmental concerns. Recent efforts are directed toward developing an improved main component systems for the hybrid electric vehicle applications. Soon after the introduction of electric starter for internal combustion engine early this century, despite being energy efficient and nonpolluting, electric vehicle lost the battle completly to internal combustion engine due to its limited range and inferior performance. Hybrid Electric vehicles offer the most promising solutions to reduce the emission of vehicles. This paper describes a method for cost reduction estimation of parallel hybrid electric vehicle. We used a cost reduction structure that consisted of five major subsystems (three-type and two-type motor) for parallel hybrid electric vehicle. Especially, we estimated the potential for cost reductions in parallel hybrid electric vehicle as a function of time using the learning curve. Also, we estimated the potentials of cost by depreciation.