• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.45-72
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• 2019

Purpose - This study examines the mediating effect of switching costs (economic risk costs and setup costs) on the relationships of country image with product attitude and product attachment. Switching-cost effects for the Korean Wave, which are insufficiently addressed in the literature, were investigated using the country image of Korea as a proxy for the Korean Wave. Moreover, this study examined the economic effects of the Korean Wave and the negative effect of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) deployment on these economic effects. Design/methodology - A total of 302 Chinese consumers were surveyed using a questionnaire. Because this was an exploratory study and was not based on a classical model, the PLS-SEM method was employed to test the stability of the model and its hypotheses. Findings - Switching costs had mediating effects on the relationships of country image with product attitude and product attachment. The switching-cost effects for the Korean Wave were verified. However, neither the economic image nor cultural image of Korea had significant effects on the economic risk costs. Moreover, the economic image of Korea had no significant effect on the set-up costs. Originality/value - This study broadened the understanding of the relationships among country image, switching costs, product attitude, and product attachment and advanced the knowledge of relevant theories. The results contribute theoretically to the literature on switching-cost effects for the Korean Wave. The results confirmed the negative effect of THAAD deployment on the economic effects of the Korean Wave. In the rapidly developing international environment, these research results could serve as theoretical reference guidelines for suppliers when developing marketing strategies.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.39-45
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• 2022

Normal strategy of structure optimization procedure has been minimum cost or weight design. Minimum weight design satisfying an allowable stress has been used for the ship and offshore structure, but minimum cost design could be used for the case of high human cost. Natural frequency analysis and forced vibration one have been used for the strength estimation of marine structures. For the case of high precision experiment facilities in marine field, the structure has normally enough margin in allowable stress aspect and sometimes needs high natural frequency of structure to obtain very high precise experiment results. It is not easy to obtain a structure design with high natural frequency, since the natural frequency depend on the stiffness to mass ratio of the structure and increase of structural stiffness ordinary accompanies the increase of mass. It is further difficult at the grillage structure design using the profiles, because the properties of profiles are not continuous but discrete, and resource of profiles are limited at the design of grillage structure. In this paper, the grillage structure design system under the constraint of high natural frequency is introduced. The design system adopted genetic algorithm to realize optimization procedure and can be used at the design of the experimental facilities of marine field such as a towing carriage, PMM, test frame, measuring frame and rotating arm.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.32-36
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• 2007

We fabricated and tested a novel hybrid superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) of three-phase $24kV_{rms}/630A_{rms}$ rating. In order to apply conventional resistive SFCLs into electric power systems, the urgent issues to be settled are as follows, such as initial installation price of SFCL, operation and maintenance cost due to ac loss of superconductor and the life of cryostat, and high voltage and high current problems. The ac loss and high cost of superconductor and cryostat system are main bottlenecks for real application. Furthermore in order to increase voltage and current ratings of SFCL, a lot of superconductor components should be connected in series and parallel which resulted in extreme high cost. In addition, the method to quench all components at the same instant needs very sophisticated skill and careful operation. Due to these problems, the practical applications of SFCL were pending. Therefore, in order to make practical SFCL, the price of SFCL should be lowered and should meet the demand of utilities. We designed novel hybrid SFCL which combines superconductor and conventional electric equipment including vacuum interrupter, power fuse and current limiting reactor. The main purpose of hybrid SFCL is to drastically reduce total usage of superconductor by adopting current commutation method by use of superconductor and high fast switch. Consequently, it was possible to get the satisfactory test results using this method, and further works for field tests are in the process.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.99-117
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• 2021

In this study, the effect of reducing and increasing factors in relationship conflict on the relationship exit between auto parts suppliers and buyers was analyzed based on transaction cost theory and relational exchange theory. As a result of the hypothesis test, Hypothesis 1, which states that relationship commitment will hurt relationship exit, and Hypothesis 3 that replacement will harm relationship exit were supported. In addition, Hypothesis 2 which states that transaction-specific investment will positively affect relationship exit was not supported. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are as follows. This study has identified the antecedents of relationship exit by comprehensively applying the transaction cost theory and relational exchange theory. In addition, this study can identify what a company should manage specifically to lower conflict and relationship exit by identifying the antecedents of relationship exit. The limitations of this study and the directions for future studies are as follows. First, not all of the antecedents of relationship exits between auto parts suppliers and buyers have been extensively investigated in the viewpoint of the transaction cost theory and relational exchange theory. In the future, it is necessary to identify additional factors. Second, the study was conducted only from the supplier's viewpoint. In future studies, it is expected that more accurate research results can be obtained by simultaneously examining the supplier's point of view and the buyer's point of view.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.152-162
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• 2024

Objective: This study was conducted to analyze the effect of wearable Electromyography-controlled functional electrical stimulation (EMG-controlled FES) System on Gait Function and cardiopulmonary metabolic efficiency during walking in older adults. Design: Cross-section study Methods: Total 22 older adult participants suitable to selection criteria of this study participated in this study. The EMG-controlled FES System, which functions as a wearable physical activity assist FES system was used. All participations performed randomly assigned two conditions (Non-FES assist [NFA], FES assist [FA]) of walking. In all conditions, spatio-temporal parameters and kinematics and kinetics parameters during walking was collected via 3D motion capture system and 6 minutes walking test (6MWT) and metabolic cost during walking and stairs climbing was collected via a portable metabolic device (COSMED K5, COSMED Srl, Roma, Italy). Results: In Spatio-temporal parameters aspects, The EMG-controlled FES system significantly improved gait functions measurements of older adults with sarcopenia at walking in comparison to the NFA condition (P<0.05). Hip, knee and ankle joint range of motion increased at walking in FA condition compared to the NFA condition (P<0.05). In the FA condition, moment and ground reaction force was changed like normal gait during walking of older adults in comparison to the NFA condition (P<0.05). The EMG-controlled FES system significantly reduced net cardiopulmonary metabolic energy cost, net energy expenditure measurement at stairs climbing (P<0.05). Conclusions: This study demonstrated that EMG-controlled FES is a potentially useful gait-assist system for improving gait function by making joint range of motion and moment properly.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.91-116
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• 2003

This study empirically analyzes the relationships among small and medium-sized stores' competitive strategies, marketing capabilities, and retail performance to cope with hostile environments like mass merchandisers' threats. To accomplish the proposed research objectives, data were collected from 325 small and medium-sized stores scattered nationwide. Three types of competitive strategies were significantly classified as follows cost leadership, merchandise differentiation, and service differentiation. Also, several strategic groups such as doing-nothing type, service differentiation type, cost leadership type, and merchandiser differentiation type were recognized through the cluster analysis. The test results show that the small and medium-sized stores perceiving hostile environments less importantly marked the high retail performance among clusters like cost leadership type, merchandise differentiation type, and even doing-nothing type. On the other hand, the moderating effects resulted from the interaction between strategic groups and environmental hostility did not have significant influence on retail performance. Additionally, merchandise differentiation cluster obtains and accumulates marketing capability most efficiently and the cluster like cost leadership, service differentiation, and doing-nothing follows next in order. Finally, merchandise differentiation cluster shows the most highest retail performance among the clusters while there was no difference between cost leadership and service differentiation cluster in terms of retail performance.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.47-58
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• 2015

Purpose - This study aims to seek determinants of department store sales commission rates under consignment contracts based on transaction cost theory, the power-dependence view, and the resource-based view. A consignment contract is a unique contract where the retailer, over a given period, takes possession of goods owned by a supplier, promotes the sales of these goods, and receives a profit share from their sales. Under this contract, the supplier owns the goods until they are sold. In department stores in South Korea, over 70% of overall sales comes through consignment contracts. In other words, this is the most popular contract agreement between large retailers and vendors in South Korea. Consignment contracts yield high profits to department stores with minimal sales uncertainty, stock cost, and marketing investment. Many suppliers believe the consignment contract commission rates are too high. However, department stores disagree. They state that the commissions are not high as they generate new value for the suppliers by accumulating up-to-date merchandise and supporting various marketing programs on their behalf. Recently, consignment contracts have been critically examined and scrutinized by politicians, mass media, and the public of Korea. This study further intends to derive implications reflecting both buyer and seller perspectives as well as offer insights to policy makers in making appropriate decisions. Research design, data, and methodology - To verify the proposed research model and test hypotheses, the authors selected 164 suppliers, which currently have relationships with department stores. This study carefully investigated the reliability, content validity, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the proposed model. The data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 and AMOS structural equation modeling program Results - For the transaction cost theory and the power-dependence view, the results indicated that product diversity and demand volatility had a positive impact on the sales dependence on a department store. Dependence in turn had a positive effect on the sales commission under the consignment contract. Based on the resource-based view, the department store's marketing capability, the supplier's perception toward merchandising, and supporting activities could enhance the department store's channel leadership in the buyer-seller relationship. Subsequently, the channel leadership had a positive effect on the sales commission. However, product complexity had no relationship with department store dependence. Conclusions - This is the first empirical research that investigates the determinants of sales commissions under consignment contracts in the domestic retail industry. This study reveals several theoretical and practical implications for both marketing scholars and marketers. In terms of theoretical implication, this study integrated and enlarged certain theoretical background, such as transaction cost theory, the power-dependence view, and the resource-based view, to explain the determinants of sales commissions under consignment contracts that include sales revenue. From a business management viewpoint, this research offers useful insights for policy makers by applying two different perspectives, both the manufacturer and the retailer, in terms of the sales commission issue under a consignment contract.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.2430-2434
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• 2005

Automatic FPC punching instrument for the improvement of working condition and cost saving is introduced in this paper. FPC(flexible printed circuit) is used to detect the contact position of K/B and button like a cellular phone. Depending on the quality of the printed ink and position of reference punching point to the FPC, the resistance and current are varied to the malfunctioning values. The size of reference punching point is 2mm and the above. Because the punching operation is done manually, the accuracy of the punching degree is varied with operator's condition. Recently, The punching accuracy has deteriorated severely to the 2mm punching reference hall so that assembly of the K/B has hardly done. To improve this manual punching operation to the FPC, automatic FPC punching system is introduced. Precise mechanical parts like a 5-step stepping motor and ball screw mechanism are designed and tested and low cost PC camera is used for the sake of cost down instead of using high quality vision systems for the FA. 3D Mechanical design tool(Pro/E) is used to manage the exact tolerance circumstances and avoid design failures. Simulation is performed to make the complete vision based punching machine before assembly, and this procedure led to the manufacturing cost saving. As the image processing algorithms, dilation, erosion, and threshold calculation is applied to obtain an exact center position from the FPC print marks. These image processing algorithms made the original images having various noises have clean binary pixels which is easy to calculate the center position of print marks. Moment and Least square method are used to calculate the center position of objects. In this development circumstance, Moment method was superior to the Least square one at the calculation of speed and against noise. Main control panel is programmed by Visual C++ and graphical Active X for the whole management of vision based automatic punching machine. Operating modes like manual, calibration, and automatic mode are added to the main control panel for the compensation of bad FPC print conditions and mechanical tolerance occurring in the case of punch and die reassembly. Test algorithms and programs showed good results to the designed automatic punching system and led to the increase of productivity and huge cost down to law material like FPC by avoiding bad quality.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.511-514
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• 2013

Background: A small but significant proportion of cases with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) may harbour CIN 2-3, or even invasive carcinoma. Although immediate colposcopy, HPV-DNA testing or expectant management are three recommended options in ASCUS triage, a consensus does not currently exist on which one of these approaches is the most efficient. In this study, we aimed to compare the performance and cost of immediate colposcopy and colposcopy based on the human papillomavirus (HPV) testing for detecting histologically confirmed high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) in women with ASCUS. Materials and Methods: Records of 594 women with an index Papanicolaou smear showing ASCUS were retrospectively analyzed. Women in the immediate colposcopy arm were referred directly to colposcopy (immediate colposcopy group, n=255) and those in the HPV triage arm were proceeded to colposcopy if the high-risk HPV (hrHPV) test was positive (HPV triage group, n=339). High grade CIN (CIN2+) detection rate and treatment costs were compared between the groups. Results: The detected rate of CIN2+ was higher in the HPV triage group compared to immediate colposcopy group (8% vs. 1.6%, p=0.011). In the HPV triage group, the total cost, cost per patient, and the cost for detecting one case of high grade CIN were higher than the immediate colposcopy group (p<0.001). Conclusions: In women with ASCUS cytology, HPV DNA testing followed by colposcopy is more costly than immediate colposcopy, but this approach is associated with a higher rate of CIN2+ detection. This findings suggest that HPV DNA testing combined with cervical cytology could reduce the referral rate to colposcopy.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.111-118
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• 2008

Purpose: Neonatal screening tests are increasingly being used forearly diagnosis of inborn errors of metabolism (IEM) in the hope of avoiding the severe developmental delay, acute illness, and death that may result from these diseases. In this study, a cost-benefit analysis was performed on the neonatal screening of maple syrup urine disease, homocystinuria, galactosemia, and congenital adrenal hyperplasia in Korea. Materials and Methods: This study included 1,259,220 Korean newborns born between January 2005 to December 2007, who were screened for maple syrup urine disease, homocystinuria, galactosemia, and congenital adrenal hyperplasia. We calculated and compared the total costs in cases where these four screening tests were implemented, and those where they were not. Results: There were no benefits to screening for maple syrup urine disease or homocystinuria due to their low prevalence for these two tests, the costs exceeded the benefits at benefit:cost ratios of 0.5:1 and 0.6:1, respectively. In contrast, benefits far exceed costs at a ratio of 4.1:1 for galactosemia and 2.9:1 for congenital adrenal hyperplasia. The average benefit:cost ratio for all four tests was 2.0:1. Conclusion: Neonatal screening tests for maple syrup urine disease, homocystinuria, galactosemia, and congenital adrenal hyperplasia are financially viable.