• Korea Trade Review
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.1-14
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• 2016

Consumers have been increasing their interests in firms' ethicality as well as in the features of the firms' products when they decide to purchase a certain product. Recently, fair trade is considered to be a type of ethical marketing in the business-to-consumer market. In this regard, the effects of fair trade-based marketing on firm performance have become the center of academic and managerial concerns. Despite this importance, few studies have investigated whether fair-trade is a source of competitive advantage or just a cost of doing business. The present research attempts to provide evidence of how fair trade-based marketing influences competitive advantage. Two experimental studies were conducted to explore consumers' purchase intention, which can be a proxy of competitive advantage, in a foreign product-consumption context. Drawing on the stakeholder theory, the first study was performed to examine the effects of fair trade marketing on consumers' purchase intention through a within-subjects design. In addition, building on the signal theory, the second study was executed to test the effects of a fair trade mark on consumers' purchase intention. The findings of the current research reveal that consumers prefer fair trade-based products to others and that when it comes to fair trade-certified products, consumers are more likely to purchase products with that certification than otherwise, even when those products are sold at higher costs than rival products. Interestingly, the results of this research present that there is a significant difference of consumers' purchase intention of a fair trade-based product between two different marketers. This implies that fair trade-based products should be differentially distributed and targeted at a certain type of consumers.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.103-114
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• 2023

Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate hand-arm vibration (HAV) exposure levels due to the use of power hand tools and to evaluate the determinants in the automobile assembly process. Methods: The exposure level to HAV was evaluated for 30 work lines in five assembly processes (body, engine, chassis, door, and design) that use air-powered tools and battery-powered tools and operate in circulation for two hours. The 2-hr equivalent energy vibration acceleration, A (2), of the task was measured. The 8-hr equivalent energy vibration acceleration, A (8), was estimated in consideration of the number of tasks that can be performed per day by each process. In addition, a survey on the working environment was conducted with workers exposed to vibration. Results: The geometric mean of the HAV exposure level, A (2), for a total of 30 tasks was 2.51 m/s², and one case was 10.30 m/s², exceeding TLV (2hr). The HAV exposure level of A (8) was evaluated from 1.03 m/s² to 5.36 m/s². A (2) showed a statistically significant difference (P<0.01) for each process, and the chassis process (GM=3.90 m/s²) was the highest. The larger the tool size and the longer the tool length, the higher was the vibration acceleration when using a battery-powered tool than an air-powered tool (P<0.01). Battery-powered tool users showed higher dissatisfaction on all items than did air-powered tool users. Conclusions: As a result of this study, it is necessary to implement a program to reduce the HAV exposure levels.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.115-125
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• 2023

Objectives: This study was conducted to measure the level of radon in the air at a highway tunnel construction site in a gneiss area using the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) and to evaluate exposure levels by occupation. Methods: Radon concentrations in the air were measured using E-PERM at points 300 m, 600 m, and 900 m from the tunnel entrance during the excavation and waterproofing work inside the tunnel. In addition, radon concentrations were measured during external excavation to compare with the inside of the tunnel. Personal exposure levels for major occupations including tunnel workers, construction equipment operators, waterproofers, shotcrete workers, and safety and health managers who participated in the construction were estimated using radon concentration measured in the work process area and working hours by occupation. Results: As a result of a total of 77 radon measurements, the geometric mean (GM) concentration was 71.1 Bq/m³, and the maximum concentration was 127.3 Bq/m³, which was below the indoor air quality criteria. Radon concentration by process decreased in the order of the tunnel excavation process (GM= Bq/m³, GSD=1.2), waterproofing process (GM=73.35 Bq/m³, GSD=1.2), and outside excavating process (GM=45.28 Bq/m³, GSD=1.2). Processes inside the tunnel were significantly higher than outside excavating processes (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in radon concentration measured inside by distance from the tunnel entrance, but the innermost point of the tunnel, 900 m (GM=79.24 Bq/m³, GSD=1.27), measured the highest. Conclusions: The occupation with the highest individual exposure to radon was tunnel worker (64.16 Bq/m³), followed by construction equipment driver (64.04 Bq/m³) and waterproofer (63.13 Bq/m³).

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.47-56
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• 2009

Rock bolts and shotcrete play a crucial role as a main support system in the underground space. Thus, the safety of the underground space may be affected by the defect of rock bolts. In order to evaluate the rock bolt integrity by using non-destructive technique, the transmission method of the guided ultrasonic waves, which are generated by using the piezo disk elements has been successfully performed. The energy generated by the piezo disk elements, however, is not enough for the rock bolts in the field. In addition, the piezo disk elements should be installed at the end of the steel bar during construction of the rock bolts. The purpose of this study is the devolvement of the reflection method, which may generate enough energy, and the application in the field rock bolts. Both laboratory and field tests are carried out. The guided ultrasonic waves with high energy are generated by the hammer impact with the center punch, and the AE sensor is used to measure the reflected guided waves. The received guided waves are analyzed by the wavelet transform. The peak value of the wavelet transform produces the energy velocity, which is used for the evaluation of the rock bolt integrity. The energy velocity increases with an increase in the defect ratio in both laboratory and field rock bolts. This study demonstrates that the hammer-impact reflection method may be a suitable method for the evaluation of the rock bolt in the field.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2023

Purpose: Although ionization chambers are widely used to measure beam commissioning data, point-by-point measurements of all the profiles with various field size and depths are time-consuming tasks. As an alternative, we investigated the feasibility of a linear diode array for commissioning a treatment planning system. Methods: The beam data of a Varian TrueBeam^® radiotherapy system at 6 and 10 MV with/without a flattening filter were measured for commissioning of an Eclipse Analytical Anisotropic Algorithm (AAA) ver.15.6. All of the necessary beam data were measured using an IBA CC13 ionization chamber and validated against Varian "Golden Beam" data. After validation, the measured CC13 profiles were used for commissioning the Eclipse AAA (AAA_CC13). In addition, an IBA LDA-99SC linear diode array detector was used to measure all of the beam profiles and for commissioning a separate model (AAA_LDA99). Finally, the AAA_CC13 and AAA_LDA99 dose calculations for each of the 10 clinical plans were compared. Results: The agreement of the CC13 profiles with the Varian Golden Beam data was confirmed within 1% except in the penumbral region, where ≤2% of a discrepancy related to machine-specific jaw calibration was observed. Since the volume was larger for the CC13 chamber than for the LDA-99SC chamber, the penumbra widths were larger in the CC13 profiles, resulting in ≤5% differences. However, after beam modeling, the penumbral widths agreed within 0.1 mm. Finally the AAA_LDA99 and AAA_CC13 dose distributions agreed within 1% for all voxels inside the body for the 10 clinical plans. Conclusions: In conclusion, the LDA-99SC diode array detector was found to be accurate and efficient for measuring photon beam profiles to commission treatment planning systems.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2010

Until now, the evaluation method of spalling depth using Martin et al. (1999)'s linear regression relations has long been known applicable. However, it is not likely that the proposed equation is applicable to the openings other than circular type and mostly overpredict the spalling depth in comparison with actual spalling cases. Moreover, the evaluation method to estimate the spalling width has not been presented yet; it is essential to evaluate the spalling width in addition to the spalling depth, because the shape of the spalled region influences the choice of suitable rock reinforcement. In this study, linear regression equations, in which normalized spalling depth ($d_f/W_D$) and normalized spalling width ($w_f/W_D$) are functions of three spalling evaluation indices, ${\sigma}_1/{\sigma}_c,\;D_{is}(={\sigma}_{max}/{\sigma}_c)$ and ${\sigma}_{dev}/{\sigma}_{cm}$, are established based on in-situ spalling observations and CWFS simulation results. Confidence intervals of 95% using the statistical inference theory are used in verifying the reliability of linear regression equations. Spalling depth ($d_f$) and spalling width ($w_f$) predicted from the proposed linear regression relations, which take three spalling evaluation indices into account, showed reasonable match with in-situ observations by adopting weighting factors considering the degree of variance of linear regression relations.

• Journal of Internet of Things and Convergence
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.59-68
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• 2024

China's huge population and industrial diversification have driven increased demand for IoT, and in a social environment where IoT technology is changing all aspects of personal and family life, including smart shopping, this study was conducted in Changchun, China. The study aimed to find ways to meet the Fashion needs of female college students living in the country and promote the development of the fashion product industry by improving the service quality of Chinese fashion product live commerce. The analysis results are as follows. First, the service quality characteristics of Chinese fashion product live commerce had a positive effect on customer satisfaction. Second, the service quality characteristics of Chinese fashion product live commerce had a positive effect on reuse intention. Third, customer satisfaction had a positive effect on reuse intention. Based on these results, it can be concluded that improving the service quality of live commerce can directly promote product sales and create direct economic benefits. In addition, based on the results of the study, which show that the service quality of fashion product live commerce affects customer satisfaction and reuse intention, it is judged that it will provide useful information in establishing marketing strategies for live commerce platforms by region and target.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.330-338
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• 2023

To investigate the impact of forestry projects on the carbon stocks of forests, we estimated the carbon stock change of above-ground and soil before and after forestry projects using forest type maps, forestry project information, and soil information. First, we selected six map sheet with large areas and declining age class based on forest type map information. Then, we collected data such as forest type maps, growth coefficients, soil organic matter content, and soil bulk density of the estimated areas to calculate forest carbon storage. As a result, forest carbon stocks decreased by about 34.1~70.0% after forestry projects at all sites. In addition, compared to reference studies, domestic forest soils store less carbon than the above-ground, so it is judged that domestic forest soils have great potential to store more carbon and strategies to increase carbon storage are needed. It was estimated that the amount of carbon stored before forestry projects is about 1.5 times more than after forestry projects. The study estimated that it takes about 27 years for forests to recover to their pre-thinning carbon stocks following forestry projects. Since it takes a long time for forests to recover to their original carbon stocks once their carbon stocks are reduced by physical damage, it is necessary to plan to preserve them as much as possible, especially for highly conservative forests, so that they can maintain their carbon storage function.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.720-734
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• 2023

In Korea, Korea Proven Bulls (KPN) program has been well-developed. Breeding and evaluation of cows are also an essential factor to increase earnings and genetic gain. This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of cow breeding value by using three methods (pedigree index [PI], pedigree-based best linear unbiased prediction [PBLUP], and genomic-BLUP [GBLUP]). The reference population (n = 16,971) was used to estimate breeding values for 481 females as a test population. The accuracy of GBLUP was 0.63, 0.66, 0.62 and 0.63 for carcass weight (CWT), eye muscle area (EMA), back-fat thickness (BFT), and marbling score (MS), respectively. As for the PBLUP method, accuracy of prediction was 0.43 for CWT, 0.45 for EMA, 0.43 for MS, and 0.44 for BFT. Accuracy of PI method was the lowest (0.28 to 0.29 for carcass traits). The increase by approximate 20% in accuracy of GBLUP method than other methods could be because genomic information may explain Mendelian sampling error that pedigree information cannot detect. Bias can cause reducing accuracy of estimated breeding value (EBV) for selected animals. Regression coefficient between true breeding value (TBV) and GBLUP EBV, PBLUP EBV, and PI EBV were 0.78, 0.625, and 0.35, respectively for CWT. This showed that genomic EBV (GEBV) is less biased than PBLUP and PI EBV in this study. In addition, number of effective chromosome segments (M_e) statistic that indicates the independent loci is one of the important factors affecting the accuracy of BLUP. The correlation between M_e and the accuracy of GBLUP is related to the genetic relationship between reference and test population. The correlations between M_e and accuracy were -0.74 in CWT, -0.75 in EMA, -0.73 in MS, and -0.75 in BF, which were strongly negative. These results proved that the estimation of genetic ability using genomic data is the most effective, and the smaller the M_e, the higher the accuracy of EBV.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.638-646
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• 2023

Recently, active research has been conducted to enhance the power characteristics and thermal stability of lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) by modifying separators using a ceramic coating method. However, since the thermal properties and surface features of the separator vary depending on the characteristics of the ceramic powders applied to the separator, it is crucial to manufacture ceramic powders optimized for the separator's performance. In this study, we evaluated the characteristics of three types of α-alumina (A-1, A-2, and A-3) produced with varying dispersant contents and milling times, in addition to commercial α-alumina (AES-11). Subsequently, the optimized powders (A-3) were coated onto the separator using an aqueous binder for comparison with the characteristics of an AES-11 coated separator and an uncoated PE separator. The A-3 coated separator improved electrolyte wettability with a low contact angle (44.69°) and increased puncture strength (538 gf). Furthermore, it exhibited excellent thermal stability, with a shrinkage value of 5.64% when exposed to 140℃ for 1 hour, compared to the AES11 coated separator (6.09%) and the bare PE separator (69.64%).