• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.173-178
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• 2010

A privately held, third generation family owned company, Boom Technologies, Inc. (BTI), a provider of products and services to the electric utility, telecommunications and contractor markets, continues to make progress in exporting. Although export sales only equaled 5% of total revenue in 2008, BTI has an entire export division. Their export division's Managing Director reveals the trial and errors of a privately held company and their quest for success overseas. From its inception, BTI has always believed its greatest asset is its employees. When export sales struggled due to lack of strategy and direction, BTI hired a Managing Director for its export division. With leadership and guidance from BTI's president and from the Managing Director, they utilized the department's skills and knowledge. Structural changes were made to expand their market presence abroad and increase export sales. As a result, export sales increased four-fold, area managers in new countries were added and distribution networks were successfully cultivated. At times, revenue generation was difficult to determine due to the structure of the company. Therefore, in 1996, the export division was restructured as a limited liability company. This allowed the company to improve the tracking of revenue and expenses. Originally, 80% of BTI's export sales came from two countries; therefore, the initial approach to selling overseas was not reaching their anticipated goals of expanding their foreign market presence. However, changes were made and now the company manages the details of selling to over 80 countries. There were three major export expansion challenges noted by the Managing Director: 1. Product and Shipping - The major obstacle for BTI was product assembly. Originally, the majority of the product was assembled in the United States, which increased shipping and packaging costs. With so many parts specified in the order, many times the order would arrive with parts missing. The missing parts could equate to tens of thousands of dollars. Shipping these missing parts separately in another shipment also cost tens of thousands of dollar, plus a delivery delay time of six to eight weeks; all of which came out of the BTI's pockets. 2. Product Adaptation - Safety and product standards varied widely for each of the 80 countries to which BTI exported. Weights, special licenses, product specification requirements, measurement systems, and truck stability can all differ from country to country and can serve as a type of barrier to entry, making it difficult to adapt products accordingly. Technical and safety standards are barriers that serve as a type of protection for the local industry and can stand in the way of successfully pursuing foreign markets. 3. Marketing Challenges - The importance of distribution creates many challenges for BTI as they attempt to determine how each country prefers to operate with regard to their distribution systems. Some countries have competition from a small competitor that only produces one competing product; whereas BTI manufactures over 100 products. Marketing material is another concern for BTI as they attempt to push marketing costs to the distributors. Adapting the marketing material can be costly in terms of translation and cultural differences. In addition, the size of paper in the United States differs from those in some countries, causing many problems when attempting to copy the same layout and With distribution being one of several challenges for BTI, the company claims their distribution network is one of their competitive advantages, as the location and names of their distributors are not revealed. In addition, BTI rotates two offerings yearly: training to their distributors one year and then the next is a distributor's meeting. With a focus on product and shipping, product adaptation, and marketing challenges, the intricacies of selling overseas takes time and patience. Another competitive advantage noted is BTI's cradle to grave strategy, where they follow the product from sale to its final resting place, whether the truck is leased or purchased new or used. They also offer service and maintenance plans with a detailed cost analysis provided to the company prior to purchasing or leasing the product. Expanding abroad will always create challenges for a company. As the Managing Director stated, "If you don't have patience (in the export business), you better do something else." Knowing how to adapt quickly provides BTI with the skills necessary to adjust to the changing needs of each country and its own unique challenges, allowing them to remain competitive.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.109-115
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• 2014

This study examined the uplift bearing capacity of spiral steel pegs according to the degree of soil compaction and embedded depth in a small-scaled lab test. As a result, their uplift bearing capacity increased according to the degree of soil compaction and embedded depth. The uplift bearing capacity under the ground condition of 85% compaction rate especially recorded 48.9 kgf, 57.9 kgf, 86.2 kgf and 116.6 kgf at embedded depth of 25 cm, 30 cm, 35 cm and 40 cm, respectively, being considerably higher than under other ground conditions. There were huge differences in the uplift bearing capacity of spiral steel pegs according to the compaction conditions of ground. Their maximum uplift bearing capacity was 116.6 kgf under the ground condition of 85% compaction rate and at embedded depth of 40 cm, and it is very high considering the data of spiral steel pegs. It is thus estimated that wind damage can be effectively reduced by careful maintenance of ground condition surrounding spiral steel pegs. In addition, spiral steel pegs will be able to make a contribution to greenhouse structural stability if proper installation methods are provided including the number and interval according to the types of greenhouse as well as fixation of plastic film. The findings of the study indicate that the optimal effects of spiral steel pegs for greenhouse can be achieved at embedded depth of more than 35cm and compaction degree of more than 85%. The relative density of the model ground in the test was 67% at compaction rate of 85%.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.1731-1741
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• 2014

Recently, many overpasses, highway, and advanced transit systems have been constructed to distribute the traffic congestion, thus small size of curved bridges with small curvature such as ramp structures have been increasing. Many of early curved bridges had been constructed by using straight beams with curved slabs, but curved steel beams have replaced them due to the cost, aesthetic and the advantage in building the section form and manipulating the curvature of beams, thereby large portion of curved bridges were applied with steel box girders. However, steel box girder bridges needs comparatively high initial costs and continuous maintenance such as repainting, which is the one of the reason for increasing the cost. Moreover, I-type steel plate girder which is being studied by many researchers recently, seem to have problems in stability due to the low torsional stiffness, resulting from the section characteristics with thin plate used for web and open section forms. Therefore, in recent studies, researchers have proposed curved precast PSC girders with low cost and could secured safety which could replace the curved steel girder type bridges. Hence, this study developed a Smart Mold system to manufacture efficient curved precast PSC girders. And by using this mold system a 40 m 2-girder bridge was constructed for a static flexural test, to evaluate the safety and performance under ultimate load. At the manufacturing stage, each single girder showed problems in the stability due to the torsional moment, but after the girders were connected by cross beams and decks, the bridge successfully distributed the stress, thereby the stability was confirmed. The static loading test results show that the initial crack was observed at 1,400 kN when the design load was 450 kN, and the load at the allowable deflection by code was 1,800 kN, which shows that the safety and usability of the curved precast PSC bridge manufactured by Smart Mold system is secured.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.95-105
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• 2005

This study was carried out to file up using effect and requirement of energy for environmental design data of Pleurotus eryngii growing houses. Heating and cooling Degree-Hour (D-H) were calculated and compared for. some Pleurotus eryngii growing houses of sandwich-panel (permanent) o. arch-roofed(simple) type structures modified and suggested through field survey and analysis. Also thermal resistance (R-value) was calculated for the heat insulating and covering materials of the permanent and simple-type, which were made of polyurethane or polystyrene panel and $7\~8$ layers heat conservation cover wall. The variations of heating and cooling D-H simulated for Jinju area was nearly linearly proportional to the setting inside temperatures. The variations of cooling D-H was much more sensitive than those of heating D-H. Therefore, it was expected that the variations of required energy in accordance with setting temperature or actual temperature maintained inside of the cultivation house could be estimated and also the estimated results of heating and cooling D-H could be effectively used far the verification of environmental simulation as well as for the calculation of required energy amounts. When the cultivation floor areas are all equal, panel type houses to be constructed by various combinations of materials were found to by far more effective than simple type pipe house in the aspect of energy conservation maintenance except some additional cost invested initially. And also the energy effectiveness of multi-span house compared to single span together with the prediction of energy requirement depending on the level insulated for the wall and roof area could be estimated. Additionally, structural as well as environmental optimizations are expected to be possible by calculating periodical and/or seasonal energy requirements for those various combinations of insulation level and different climate conditions, etc.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.581-589
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• 2021

With the recent increase in the introduction of micro-electric vehicles in Korea, interest in micro-electric vehicle user satisfaction is increasing to revitalize related markets. In this paper, a basic study was conducted on the development of public services using micro-electric vehicle based on the constituent factors of user satisfaction. The survey includes: ① 'Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for selecting the priority factors of user satisfaction of micro-electric vehicles', ② 'A survey of micro-electric vehicles image' to collect data in advance for providing users' preferences and transportation services for micro-electric vehicles, ③ In order to investigate the user satisfaction level of users who actually operated micro-electric vehicles, the order of 'user satisfaction survey of micro-electric vehicle drivers' was conducted. In the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) analysis, it was found that users regarded as important in the order of 'user utilization data', 'vehicle movement data', and 'charging service data'. In the micro-electric vehicle image survey, users perceived micro-electric vehicles more positively in terms of "safety", 'durability', 'Ride comfort', 'design', 'MOOE (Maintenance and other operating expense)', and 'environment-friendly' when comparing micro-electric vehicles with electric motorcycles. In the survey on the user satisfaction of micro-electric vehicle drivers, the use of micro-electric vehicle did not directly affect work performance efficiency, and there was an experience of being disadvantaged on the road due to the size of the micro-electric vehicle, and driving in a cluster of micro-electric vehicle for outdoor advertisements. The city's public relations effect was great, but it was concerned about safety. In the future, based on the results of this study, we plan to build a user satisfaction structural equation model, preemptively discover feedback R&D for micro-electric vehicle utilization services in the public field, and actively seek to discover new public mobility support services.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.13-27
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• 2019

This study shows the changes in the space created by the planning and leisure activities of Hangang River Park, focusing on the Yeouido portion of the Hangang River Park, which has the most users and the greatest degree of planning. The relationship between planning, behavior, and space changes are explained based on Giddens's Structural Theory. As research material, Hangang River Park plans and satellite photos were interpreted and newspaper articles were used to identifying the space changes and their causes, and a model of the space changes was derived through the application of the theory. The flow of space change in the Yeouido portion of the Hangang River Park due to planning and leisure activities is as follows. In the 1970s, the first sports spaces are made due to need from residents near the riverside, but huge plans for the utilization of the entire space were not realized. In the 1980s, leisure spaces were planned and developed through a comprehensive plan. Various sports spaces were built, but the environment of the spaces became a slum. In the 1990s, various leisure activities were revitalized due to the revision of the legal system, regulations on the usage of space, and space maintenance, and from the late 1990s, ecological issues arose along the Hangang River. In the 2000s, there was an overall space improvement project directed by two comprehensive plans, and cultural and ecological issues appeared in the Hangang River Park plans. However, actual leisure spaces were developed along with the promotion of large-scale activities. Regarding the structuration theory, elements of interaction, modality, and structure are the aspects of space changes in the Yeouido portion Hangang River Park. As the flow of the space change, the proportions of the comprehensive plan and the individual plans were similar. The comprehensive plan was influenced by the change of public businesses and the proliferation of large-scale activities. Individual plans were influenced by the user's activities and opinions. However, both plans were influenced by the users and suppliers. The leisure space of the Hangang River Park can be viewed as a social space, in terms of the structuring as a theory due to the user repeatedly changing the use of the space. The purpos of this study is to investigate the changes in the Hangang River Park space through planning and leisure activities. Through this study, we can understand the characteristics of the Hangang River Park in planning the leisure activity space.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.3A
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• pp.297-307
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• 2010

Recently, maintenance engineering and technology for civil and building structures have begun to draw big attention and actually the number of structures that need to be evaluate on structural safety due to deterioration and performance degradation of structures are rapidly increasing. When stiffness is decreased because of deterioration of structures and member cracks, dynamic characteristics of structures would be changed. And it is important that the damaged areas and extent of the damage are correctly evaluated by analyzing dynamic characteristics from the actual behavior of a structure. In general, typical measurement instruments used for structure monitoring are dynamic instruments. Existing dynamic instruments are not easy to obtain reliable data when the cable connecting measurement sensors and device is long, and have uneconomical for 1 to 1 connection process between each sensor and instrument. Therefore, a method without attaching sensors to measure vibration at a long range is required. The representative applicable non-contact methods to measure the vibration of structures are laser doppler effect, a method using GPS, and image processing technique. The method using laser doppler effect shows relatively high accuracy but uneconomical while the method using GPS requires expensive equipment, and has its signal's own error and limited speed of sampling rate. But the method using image signal is simple and economical, and is proper to get vibration of inaccessible structures and dynamic characteristics. Image signals of camera instead of sensors had been recently used by many researchers. But the existing method, which records a point of a target attached on a structure and then measures vibration using image processing technique, could have relatively the limited objects of measurement. Therefore, this study conducted shaking table test and field load test to verify the validity of the method that can measure multi-point displacement responses of structures using image processing technique.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.132-158
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• 2023

The five-story and seven-story stone pagodas at Cheongnyangsaji temple site in Gongju are located under the Sambulbong peak of Gyeryongsan mountain, and are known to have been built of the middle in Goryeo dynasty. As the two pagodas in which two types of Baekje stone pagoda coexist in one era, their historical and academic value are recognized. The seven-story pagoda was overturned by robbery in 1944, and as a result, the five-story pagoda was tilted. Although the two pagodas were restored in 1961, structural instability was continuously raised. In this study, measurement data accumulated from May 2021 to March 2022, and seasonal characteristics were reviewed, and the micro behavior of pagodas were analyzed according to temperature and precipitation during the same period. As a result, the micro thermoelastic behavior was repeated according to the daily temperature change in all sensors, and both the slope and the displacement showed microscale behavior. In the inclinometer, moisture containing the surface and inside of the stones repeated expansion and contraction due to temperature change, showing the micro movements. In particular, the upper part of the five-story pagoda moved up to 3.89° to the northwest, and the seven-story pagoda tilted up to 0.078° to the northeast. The maximum displacements were recorded as 0.127 and 0.149 mm in the five-story and the seven-story pagoda, respectively. These values tended to return to the original position at the end of the measurement, but did not recover completely, indicating a state requiring precise monitoring. The result obtained through the study can be used as basic data for the stable conservation of the two stone pagodas. Based on the behavioral characteristics considering various environmental factors should be analyzed, and the preventive conservation through the maintenance of measurement system built this time should be continued.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.99-123
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• 2019

The software industry is a high value-added industry in the knowledge information age, and its importance is growing as it not only plays a key role in knowledge creation and utilization, but also secures global competitiveness. Among various SW available in today's business environment, Open Source Software(OSS) is rapidly expanding its activity area by not only leading software development, but also integrating with new information technology. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to empirically examine and analyze the effect of factors on the switching behavior to OSS. To accomplish the study's purpose, we suggest the research model based on "Push-Pull-Mooring" framework. This study empirically examines the two categories of antecedents for switching behavior toward OSS. The survey was conducted to employees at various firms that already switched OSS. A total of 268 responses were collected and analyzed by using the structural equational modeling. The results of this study are as follows; first, continuous maintenance cost, vender dependency, functional indifference, and SW resource inefficiency are significantly related to switch to OSS. Second, network-oriented support, testability and strategic flexibility are significantly related to switch to OSS. Finally, the results show that willingness to secures SW competitiveness has a moderating effect on the relationships between push factors and pull factor with exception of improved knowledge, and switch to OSS. The results of this study will contribute to fields related to OSS both theoretically and practically.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-31
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• 2008

Trust is central to human relationships, at all times and places. The importance of trust is fundamental in all areas of human life, not only in the area of business administration. 2,500 years ago in China, Confucius taught that the foundation of politics was the trust of the people, more important even than military strength or the supply of food. Shakespeare's play, "Much Ado about Nothing' is about trust and deception. These days, trust and transparency in a commercial organization's business culture form the basis of the 'social capital' by which that organization increases its productivity. A successful company raises productivity by the accumulation of social capital, derived from a trust relationship between business partners, and between the company and consumers. Trust is the crucial factor. At the national level, building trust determines a nation's competitiveness. For a company, long term trust relationships with customers are essential for its survival in a business environment of rapid change. Such relationships, based on trust, are important assets to ensure a company's competitive advantage, and need to be organic to that company's business culture. Because of this importance, trust relationships have been studied in diverse areas within business administration, and especially within marketing, where they form the basis of a successful relationship between producer and consumer. However, what has been lacking is a unified definition of trust. Research has been conducted on the basis of various definitions and models. The majority of researchers have not considered the multidimensional character of the concept of trust until now. Approaches based on a one dimensional model have undermined the value of research results. Furthermore, researchers have only considered trust and trustworthiness as a single component. The majority of research has explored the consequences of perceived trust for outcomes such as loyalty or cooperation, but has neglected the effects of trustworthiness upon the mechanisms of consumer trust. This study focuses on the dimension of trust from such a perspective. It seeks to verify the effect of trust on customer intentions by breaking it down into three separate components: 1) the salesperson, 2) the product/service, and 3) the company. The purposes of this paper are as follows: Firstly, we review the multidimensional nature of trust objects: the salesperson, the product/service, and the company. Secondly, we analyze the relationship between multidimensional trust and trustworthiness. Thirdly, we analyze the connection between trust and repeat purchase intentions for the maintenance of long term relationships. For these purposes the author has developed several hypotheses as follows: H1-1: The competence of a salesperson is positively associated with the trust given by the consumer to the salesperson. H1-2: The benevolence of a salesperson is positively associated with the trust given by the consumer to the salesperson. H2-1: The competence of product/service is positively associated with the trust given by the consumer to the product/service. H2-2: The benevolence of product/service is positively associated with the trust given by the consumer to the product/service. H3-1: The reputation of a company is positively associated with the trust given by the consumer to the company. H3-2: The physical environment of a company is positively associated with the trust given by the consumer to the company. H4-1: Trust in a salesperson is positively associated with repeat purchase intentions. H4-2: Trust in a product/service is positively associated with repeat purchase intentions. H4-3: Trust in a company is positively associated with repeat purchase intentions. The data was compiled from 366 questionnaires. 500 questionnaires were collected, but some of the data was considered unsuitable and inappropriate. The subjects of the survey were male and female customers purchasing products at department stores in Seoul, Daegu and Gyeongbuk. It was carried out between Oct. 25 and 29, 2007. The data was analyzed by frequency analysis using SPSS 12.0 and structural equation modeling using LISREL 8.7. The result of the overall model analysis is as follows: Chi-Square=445.497, d.f.=185, p-value=0.0, GFI=.901, RMSEA=.0617, NNFI=.986, NFI=.981, CFI=.989, AGFI=.864, RMR=.0872. The results of the overall model analysis were coherent. It was found that trust is a multi-dimensional construct, that each of the dimensions of trust are meaningful influences on customer's repurchase intention. Trust in a company may be the most relevant, while trust in a product/service and a salesperson may be less relevant to repurchase intentions. The effective factors in determining trust in a salesperson and a company's product/service were found to be competence and benevolence. Factors in determining trust in a company were its reputation and physical environment, and the relationship of each effective trust factor has been verified in this research. As a result, it was found that competence and benevolence have a meaningful influence on trust in a salesperson and in product/service. It was also found that a company's reputation influences the overall trust in the company significantly but a company's physical environment does not have much effect.