• Title/Summary/Keyword: Value Dissimilarity

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Lung Microbiome Analysis in Steroid-Naïve Asthma Patients by Using Whole Sputum

  • Jung, Jae-Woo;Choi, Jae-Chol;Shin, Jong-Wook;Kim, Jae-Yeol;Park, In-Won;Choi, Byoung Whui;Park, Heung-Woo;Cho, Sang-Heon;Kim, Kijeong;Kang, Hye-Ryun
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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    • v.79 no.3
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    • pp.165-178
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    • 2016
  • Background: Although recent metagenomic approaches have characterized the distinguished microbial compositions in airways of asthmatics, these results did not reach a consensus due to the small sample size, non-standardization of specimens and medication status. We conducted a metagenomics approach by using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of the induced whole sputum representing both the cellular and fluid phases in a relative large number of steroid $na{\ddot{i}}ve$ asthmatics. Methods: Induced whole sputum samples obtained from 36 healthy subjects and 89 steroid-$na{\ddot{i}}ve$ asthma patients were analyzed through T-RFLP analysis. Results: In contrast to previous reports about microbiota in the asthmatic airways, the diversity of microbial composition was not significantly different between the controls and asthma patients (p=0.937). In an analysis of similarities, the global R-value showed a statistically significant difference but a very low separation (0.148, p=0.002). The dissimilarity in the bacterial communities between groups was 28.74%, and operational taxonomic units (OTUs) contributing to this difference were as follows: OTU 789 (Lachnospiraceae), 517 (Comamonadaceae, Acetobacteraceae, and Chloroplast), 633 (Prevotella), 645 (Actinobacteria and Propionibacterium acnes), 607 (Lactobacillus buchneri, Lactobacillus otakiensis, Lactobacillus sunkii, and Rhodobacteraceae), and 661 (Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, and Leptotrichiaceae), and they were significantly more prevalent in the sputum of asthma patients than in the sputum of the controls. Conclusion: Before starting anti-asthmatic treatment, the microbiota in the whole sputum of patients with asthma showed a marginal difference from the microbiota in the whole sputum of the controls.

Comparison of nutrition, anti-nutritional factors of rice straw and microbial composition in soil according to GM and non-GM rice field

  • Im, Seon yeong;Jeon, Young ji;Mun, Se young;Han, Kyu dong;Ahn, Tae young;Lee, Dong jin
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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    • 2017.06a
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    • pp.350-350
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    • 2017
  • The study was conducted to evaluate differences of growth characteristics of rice cultivated in two different regions (Cheonan and Jeonju). It focused on nutritional composition and anti-nutritional factors of rice straw produced from 21 rice varieties including GM rice (Iksan 483). The range of general nutrition ingredient is that crude was 0.97 ~ 3.2 %, carbohydrate was 67.45 ~ 80.01 %, crude protein was 1.46 ~ 4.81 %, crude ash was 6.52 ~ 18.96 %, crude fiber was 25.77 ~ 40.02 %, NDF was 51.84 ~ 67.77 %, ADF was 27.11 ~ 40.44 %, calcium was 0.49 ~ 5.18 mg/g and phosphorous was 0.26 ~ 2.77 mg/g. The general nutritional contents of GM rice were included above range. The range of phytic acid of rice straws cultivated in Cheonan and Jeonju was 0 ~ 0.056 mg/ml and 0 ~ 0.059 mg/ml, respectively. The phytic acid content of GM was 0.033 mg/ml, which was in the range of the content of rice straw in Cheonan and Jeonju. The range of trypsin inhibitor of rice straws cultivated in Cheonan and Jeonju was 0.061 ~ 0.461 TIU/mg and 0 ~ 1.278 TIU/mg, respectively. The trypsin acid content of GM was 0.461 TIU/mg, which was in the range of the content of rice straw in Cheonan and Jeonju. In addition, we investigated microbial community from each soil sample by using metagenomics sequencing based on rRNA microbial diversity in order to inspect indirect changes of soil environment with cultivation of GM rice. Metagenomics analysis was carried out using soil samples cultivated with GM and non-GM rice for before transplanting, young panicle differentiation stage, heading stage, and ripening stage. Beta diversity of microbial community in both soil environments were calculated by using Bray-Curtis distance method and showed low value with an average of 0.24 (dissimilarity = 1). As a result, it was confirmed that the cultivation of GM does not give a significant effect on the change of microbial composition in soil. Therefore, Our study demonstrates that there is no difference in the composition of soil microorganism due to GM and non-GM rice.

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To Compare and Analyze Costumes in the Film "The Great Gatsby" and Y&Kei Collection (영화 "The Great Gatsby" 의상과 Y&Kei 컬렉션 비교 분석)

  • O, Ji-Hye;Lee, In-Seong
    • The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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    • v.16 no.6
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    • pp.1050-1063
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    • 2008
  • A movie is a fiction made on a basis of an author's and a writer's imagination, but all sorts of properties mixed with each other and most realistically expresses the era which becomes the background of a movie and acts as a carrier that connects designers with consumers. Thus, this study was carried out to review how the fashion products that designer's intention and commercial value added are expressed in collections by comparing and analysing the costumes in the movie "The Great Gatsby" that described the life of America's upper-class in 1920s and the 04 S/S Y&Kei collection which were proceeding after getting inspiration from this movie. For this, literature materials were inspected in order to make a theoretical review on social and cultural background and costumes history background in 1920s and the photo materials on movie costume were collected and analysed using DVD video captures, as well as the photo materials on 04 S/S Y&Kei were collected and analyzed through the institute providing domestic fashion information. The following conclusion was deduced through this study. First, in 1920s which becomes the background of this study, the slim shape of Flapper which looks like a young and boy became an ideal figure condition and the straight silhouette with low waist line and the short skirt that rose to knee was popular. Second, as a result of analysing movie costume by classifying it in silhouette, colors, and materials, straight silhouette of low waistline with a near colored - tone seen in the pastel series, including white, beige, pink, and gray was mainly constituted and the metal colors like silver and gold were used. As a material, chiffon, satin, velvet, flower patterned prints, and beads were used, which represented luxurious life of women in the upper classes. Third, as a result of comparing and analysing, it turned out that there was a similarity. However, in dress collection for a heroine, some dissimilarity differentiated from a movie costumes was found out in that the dresses in collection expressed moderate beauty and modernism and elegant beauty at the same time by matching a variety of materials and using black color.

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WordNet-Based Category Utility Approach for Author Name Disambiguation (저자명 모호성 해결을 위한 개념망 기반 카테고리 유틸리티)

  • Kim, Je-Min;Park, Young-Tack
    • The KIPS Transactions:PartB
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    • v.16B no.3
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    • pp.225-232
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    • 2009
  • Author name disambiguation is essential for improving performance of document indexing, retrieval, and web search. Author name disambiguation resolves the conflict when multiple authors share the same name label. This paper introduces a novel approach which exploits ontologies and WordNet-based category utility for author name disambiguation. Our method utilizes author knowledge in the form of populated ontology that uses various types of properties: titles, abstracts and co-authors of papers and authors' affiliation. Author ontology has been constructed in the artificial intelligence and semantic web areas semi-automatically using OWL API and heuristics. Author name disambiguation determines the correct author from various candidate authors in the populated author ontology. Candidate authors are evaluated using proposed WordNet-based category utility to resolve disambiguation. Category utility is a tradeoff between intra-class similarity and inter-class dissimilarity of author instances, where author instances are described in terms of attribute-value pairs. WordNet-based category utility has been proposed to exploit concept information in WordNet for semantic analysis for disambiguation. Experiments using the WordNet-based category utility increase the number of disambiguation by about 10% compared with that of category utility, and increase the overall amount of accuracy by around 98%.

Physicochemical Characteristics of Korean Folk Sojues (전통민속소주의 물리화학적 특성)

  • Lee, Dong-Sun;Park, Hye-Seong;Kim, Kun;Lee, Taik-Soo;Noh, Bong-Soo
    • Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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    • v.26 no.5
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    • pp.649-654
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    • 1994
  • In order to provide a quality index of Korean folk sojues, physicochemical properties of Korean folk sojues (Andong soju, Moonbaesul, Leekangju, Jindo Hongju, Chebiwon soju, Yethyang (rice) and Yethyang (barley)), Paekrosul, Chinese kaoliangchiews (Moutaichiew, Ergoutoutiu, Chuyehchingchiew, Zhikukaoliangchiew and Paigal), Japanese Senbatanuki shochu and two whiskies were determined. The pH of sojues ($3.43{\sim}5.85$) were mainly influenced by total acidity which was described as acetic acid. The conductivities of Paekrosul and Leekangju showed relatively high value of $246\;and\;122.7{\mu}S/cm$, respectively. Korean folk sojues and Paekrosul showed maximum absorption at 274 or $278{\sim}280nm$ in the spectrometric study. We performed principal components analysis (PCA) of physicochemical properties and spectrometric data to extract representative characteristics and to compare the similarity or the dissimilarity. The PCA plot showed the distinguished cluster of Korean folk sojues comparing with Chinese kaoliangchiew or Paekrosul etc.

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Spatial Distribution Pattern of the Populations of Cephalanthera erecta at Mt. Ahop in Busan (부산시 아홉산의 은난초 집단의 공간적 분포 양상)

  • Huh, Man Kyu
    • Journal of Life Science
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    • v.26 no.8
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    • pp.881-886
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    • 2016
  • Cephalanthera erecta (Thunb. ex, Murray) is an herbaceous and a member of the genus Cephalanthera in the family Orchidaceae. The species is an herbaceous and has reputed Chinese medicinal value. It has been investigated the population density and spatial distribution of this species at Mt. Ahop in Korea during 2015. The spatial pattern of C. erecta was analyzed according to several patchiness indexes, population uniformity or aggregation under different sizes of plots by dispersion indices, and spatial autocorrelation. The mean crowding (M*) and patchiness index (PAI) showed positive values except one small plot (2 m × 2 m). Most natural individuals of C. erecta for plots were not uniformly distributed in the forest community. The small plots (2 m × 2 m, to 8 m × 16 m) of C. erecta were uniformly distributed in the forest community and large plots (16 m × 16 m and 16 m × 32 m) were aggregately distributed. Significant aggregations by Moran's I of C. erecta were partially observed within IV classes (12 m). Dissimilarity among pairs of individuals could found by more than 18.0 m. In conclusion, the geographic distribution of C. erecta is not even with varying degrees of size of plots and human activities give rise to density effects in the plots at Mt. Ahop in Korea.

The Structure of Vegetation in Chamaecyparis obtusa Plantations (편백인공림(人工林)의 식생구조(植生構造)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究))

  • Goo, Gwan Hyo;Lee, Kang Young
    • Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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    • v.80 no.4
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    • pp.393-407
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    • 1991
  • The vegetation structure within Chamaecyparis obtusa plantation was analyzed for the purpose of applying the effective forestation method for Chmaecyparis obtusa plantation, tending and regeneration in the southern districts of korea. The results were as follows ; 1. The importance percentage was high in the order of Eurya japonica, Rhus verniciflua, Chamaecyparis obtusa, Lindera erythrocarpa, Carpinus laxiflora, Styrax japonica, Viburnum dilatatum, Zanthoxylum piperitum and Smilax china among the vegetation of Chamaecyparis obtusa. Importance percentage of natural seedling of Chamaecyparis obtusa was high in lower story but gradually decreased in middle story. 2. The basal area of upper trees had a negative correlation with the density of natural seedlings in the middle and lower story, and it represents that the basal area of upper trees had some effect on the density of natural seedlings within understories. 3. The rate of the A and B class by Raunkiaer's frequency was higher in the vegetation of middle story than that of lower story. 4. By Morisita's index, the species of Chamaecyparis obtusa, Rhus verniciflua, Lindera erythrocarpa, Smilax china. Callicarpa japonica and Lindera obtusiloba were randomly distributed at lower story, but they were aggregatively distributed at middle story. At all of middle and lower story, Eurya japonica and Viburum dilatatum were randomly distributed, and Carpinus laxiflora, Zanthoxylum piperitum and Picrasma quassioides were aggregatively distributed. 5. The number of appearance species and the value of species diversity in western survey area were more than that of eastern survey area. 6. The value of species diversity at lower story was higher than that of middle story, and it represents that the number of individuals of appearance species was composed more even at lover story than middle story. 7. According to cluster analysis by similarity index, the survey areas were separated from inland and seacoast districts. 8. Judging from each stories ordination analysis by dissimilarity index, the vegetation was separated from lower and middle story, and the vegetation of lower story was more progressed succession stage than that of middle story. 9. In Chamaecyparis obtusa stands, Eurya japonica had a positive correlation with Sorbus alnifolia, Hex macropoda. Ficus erecta and Trachelospermum asiaticum, but it had a negative correlation with Zanthoxylum piperitum, Carpinus laxiflora and Parthenocissus tricuspidata. 10. In estimation of the productivity of Chamaecyparis obtusa stands, the value of SC (Conic surface) and VP (Parabolic volume) for upper trees was 94.5% and 99.63%, respectively and SC and VP of middle story was 5.49% and 0.37%, respectively. In the species of middle story, material productivity was high in order of Eurya japonica. Lindera eryhrocarpa, Rhus verniciflua. Carpinus laxiflora and Styrax japonica.

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Ecological Changes of Insect-damaged Pinus densiflora Stands in the Southern Temperate Forest Zone of Korea (I) (솔잎혹파리 피해적송림(被害赤松林)의 생태학적(生態学的) 연구(研究) (I))

  • Yim, Kyong Bin;Lee, Kyong Jae;Kim, Yong Shik
    • Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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    • v.52 no.1
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    • pp.58-71
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    • 1981
  • Thecodiplosis japonesis is sweeping the Pinus densiflora forests from south-west to north-east direction, destroying almost all the aged large trees as well as even the young ones. The front line of infestation is moving slowly but ceaselessly norhwards as a long bottle front. Estimation is that more than 40 percent of the area of P. densiflora forest has been damaged already, however some individuals could escapes from the damage and contribute to restore the site to the previous vegetation composition. When the stands were attacked by this insect, the drastic openings of the upper story of tree canopy formed by exclusively P. densiflora are usually resulted and some environmental factors such as light, temperature, litter accumulation, soil moisture and offers were naturally modified. With these changes after insect invasion, as the time passes, phytosociologic changes of the vegetation are gradually proceeding. If we select the forest according to four categories concerning the history of the insect outbreak, namely, non-attacked (healthy forest), recently damaged (the outbreak occured about 1-2 years ago), severely damaged (occured 5-6 years ago), damage prolonged (occured 10 years ago) and restored (occured about 20 years ago), any directional changes of vegetation composition could be traced these in line with four progressive stages. To elucidate these changes, three survey districts; (1) "Gongju" where the damage was severe and it was outbroken in 1977, (2) "Buyeo" where damage prolonged and (3) "Gochang" as restored, were set, (See Tab. 1). All these were located in the south temperate forest zone which was delimited mainly due to the temporature factor and generally accepted without any opposition at present. In view of temperature, the amount and distribution of precipitation and various soil factor, the overall homogeneity of environmental conditions between survey districts might be accepted. However this did not mean that small changes of edaphic and topographic conditions and microclimates can induce any alteration of vegetation patterns. Again four survey plots were set in each district and inter plot distance was 3 to 4 km. And again four subplots were set within a survey plot. The size of a subplot was $10m{\times}10m$ for woody vegetation and $5m{\times}5m$ for ground cover vegetation which was less than 2 m high. The nested quadrat method was adopted. In sampling survey plots, the followings were taken into account: (1) Natural growth having more than 80 percent of crown density of upper canopy and more than 5 hectares of area. (2) Was not affected by both natural and artificial disturbances such as fire and thinning operation for the past three decades. (3) Lower than 500 m of altitude (4) Less than 20 degrees of slope, and (5) Northerly sited aspect. An intensive vegetation survey was undertaken during the summer of 1980. The vegetation was devided into 3 categories for sampling; the upper layer (dominated mainly by the pine trees), the middle layer composed by oak species and other broad-leaved trees as well as the pine, and the ground layer or the lower layer (shrubby form of woody plants). In this study our survey was concentrated on woody species only. For the vegetation analysis, calculated were values of intensity, frequency, covers, relative importance, species diversity, dominance and similarity and dissimilasity index when importance values were calculated, different relative weights as score were arbitrarily given to each layer, i.e., 3 points for the upper layer, 2 for the middle layer and 1 for the ground layer. Then the formula becomes as follows; $$R.I.V.=\frac{3(IV\;upper\;L.)+2(IV.\;middle\;L.)+1(IV.\;ground\;L.)}{6}$$ The values of Similarity Index were calculated on the basis of the Relative Importance Value of trees (sum of relative density, frequency and cover). The formula used is; $$S.I.=\frac{2C}{S_1+S_2}{\times}100=\frac{2C}{100+100}{\times}100=C(%)$$ Where: C = The sum of the lower of the two quantitative values for species shared by the two communities. $S_1$ = The sum of all values for the first community. $S_2$ = The sum of all values for the second community. In Tab. 3, the species composition of each plot by layer and by district is presented. Without exception, the species formed the upper layer of stands was Pinus densiflora. As seen from the table, the relative cover (%), density (number of tree per $500m^2$), the range of height and diameter at brest height and cone bearing tendency were given. For the middle layer, Quercus spp. (Q. aliena, serrata, mongolica, accutissina and variabilis) and Pinus densiflora were dominating ones. Genus Rhodedendron and Lespedeza were abundant in ground vegetation, but some oaks were involved also. (1) Gongju district The total of woody species appeared in this district was 26 and relative importance value of Pinus densiflora for the upper layer was 79.1%, but in the middle layer, the R.I.V. for Quercus acctissima, Pinus densiflora, and Quercus aliena, were 22.8%, 18.7% and 10.0%, respectively, and in ground vegetation Q. mongolica 17.0%, Q. serrata 16.8% Corylus heterophylla 11.8%, and Q. dentata 11.3% in order. (2) Buyeo district. The number of species enumerated in this district was 36 and the R.I.V. of Pinus densiflora for the uppper layer was 100%. In the middle layer, the R.I.V. of Q. variabilis and Q. serrata were 8.6% and 8.5% respectively. In the ground vegetative 24 species were counted which had no more than 5% of R.I.V. The mean R.I.V. of P.densiflora ( totaling three layers ) and averaging four plots was 57.7% in contrast to 46.9% for Gongju district. (3) Gochang-district The total number of woody species was 23 and the mean R.I.V. of Pinus densiflora was 66.0% showing greater value than those for two former districts. The next high value was 6.5% for Q. serrata. As the time passes since insect outbreak, the mean R.I.V. of P. densiflora increased as the following order, 46.9%, 57.7% and 66%. This implies that P. densiflora was getting back to its original dominat state again. The pooled importance of Genus Quercus was decreasing with the increase of that for Pinus densiflora. This trend was contradict to the facts which were surveyed at Kyonggi-do area (the central temperate forest zone) reported previously (Yim et al, 1980). Among Genus Quercus, Quercus acutissina, warm-loving species, was more abundant in the southern temperature zone to which the present research is concerned than the central temperate zone. But vice-versa was true with Q. mongolica, a cold-loving one. The species which are not common between the present survey and the previous report are Corpinus cordata, Beltala davurica, Wisturia floribunda, Weigela subsessilis, Gleditsia japonica var. koraiensis, Acer pseudosieboldianum, Euonymus japonica var. macrophylla, Ribes mandshuricum, Pyrus calleryana var. faruiei, Tilia amurensis and Pyrus pyrifolia. In Figure 4 and Table 5, Maximum species diversity (maximum H'), Species diversity (H') and Eveness (J') were presented. The Similarity indices between districts were shown in Tab. 5. Seeing Fig. 6, showing two-dimensional ordination of polts on the basis of X and Y coordinates, Ai plots aggregate at the left site, Bi plots at lower site, and Ci plots at upper-right site. The increasing and decreasing patterns as to Relative Density and Relative Importance Value by genus or species were given in Fig. 7. Some of the patterns presented here are not consistent with the previously reported ones (Yim, et al, 1980). The present authors would like to attribute this fact that two distinct types of the insect attack, one is the short war type occuring in the south temperate forest zone, which means that insect attack went for a few years only, the other one is a long-drawn was type observed at the temperate forest zone in which the insect damage went on continuously for several years. These different behaviours of infestation might have resulted the different ways of vegetational change. Analysing the similarity indices between districts, the very convincing results come out that the value of dissimilarity index between A and B was 30%, 27% between B and C and 35% between A and C (Table 6). The range of similarity index was obtained from the calculation of every possible combinations of plots between two districts. Longer time isolation between communities has brought the higher value of dissimilarity index. The main components of ground vegetation, 10 to 20 years after insect outbreak, become to be consisted of mainly Genus Lespedeza and Rhododendron. Genus Quercus which relate to the top dorminant state for a while after insect attack was giving its place to Pinus densiflora. It was implied that, provided that the soil fertility, soil moisture and soil depth were good enough, Genus Quercuss had never been so easily taken ever by the resistant speeies like Pinus densiflora which forms the edaphic climax at vast areas of forest land. Usually they refer Quercus to the representative component of the undisturbed natural forest in the central part of this country.

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A Study on Interactions of Competitive Promotions Between the New and Used Cars (신차와 중고차간 프로모션의 상호작용에 대한 연구)

  • Chang, Kwangpil
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.83-98
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    • 2012
  • In a market where new and used cars are competing with each other, we would run the risk of obtaining biased estimates of cross elasticity between them if we focus on only new cars or on only used cars. Unfortunately, most of previous studies on the automobile industry have focused on only new car models without taking into account the effect of used cars' pricing policy on new cars' market shares and vice versa, resulting in inadequate prediction of reactive pricing in response to competitors' rebate or price discount. However, there are some exceptions. Purohit (1992) and Sullivan (1990) looked into both new and used car markets at the same time to examine the effect of new car model launching on the used car prices. But their studies have some limitations in that they employed the average used car prices reported in NADA Used Car Guide instead of actual transaction prices. Some of the conflicting results may be due to this problem in the data. Park (1998) recognized this problem and used the actual prices in his study. His work is notable in that he investigated the qualitative effect of new car model launching on the pricing policy of the used car in terms of reinforcement of brand equity. The current work also used the actual price like Park (1998) but the quantitative aspect of competitive price promotion between new and used cars of the same model was explored. In this study, I develop a model that assumes that the cross elasticity between new and used cars of the same model is higher than those amongst new cars and used cars of the different model. Specifically, I apply the nested logit model that assumes the car model choice at the first stage and the choice between new and used cars at the second stage. This proposed model is compared to the IIA (Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives) model that assumes that there is no decision hierarchy but that new and used cars of the different model are all substitutable at the first stage. The data for this study are drawn from Power Information Network (PIN), an affiliate of J.D. Power and Associates. PIN collects sales transaction data from a sample of dealerships in the major metropolitan areas in the U.S. These are retail transactions, i.e., sales or leases to final consumers, excluding fleet sales and including both new car and used car sales. Each observation in the PIN database contains the transaction date, the manufacturer, model year, make, model, trim and other car information, the transaction price, consumer rebates, the interest rate, term, amount financed (when the vehicle is financed or leased), etc. I used data for the compact cars sold during the period January 2009- June 2009. The new and used cars of the top nine selling models are included in the study: Mazda 3, Honda Civic, Chevrolet Cobalt, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Elantra, Ford Focus, Volkswagen Jetta, Nissan Sentra, and Kia Spectra. These models in the study accounted for 87% of category unit sales. Empirical application of the nested logit model showed that the proposed model outperformed the IIA (Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives) model in both calibration and holdout samples. The other comparison model that assumes choice between new and used cars at the first stage and car model choice at the second stage turned out to be mis-specfied since the dissimilarity parameter (i.e., inclusive or categroy value parameter) was estimated to be greater than 1. Post hoc analysis based on estimated parameters was conducted employing the modified Lanczo's iterative method. This method is intuitively appealing. For example, suppose a new car offers a certain amount of rebate and gains market share at first. In response to this rebate, a used car of the same model keeps decreasing price until it regains the lost market share to maintain the status quo. The new car settle down to a lowered market share due to the used car's reaction. The method enables us to find the amount of price discount to main the status quo and equilibrium market shares of the new and used cars. In the first simulation, I used Jetta as a focal brand to see how its new and used cars set prices, rebates or APR interactively assuming that reactive cars respond to price promotion to maintain the status quo. The simulation results showed that the IIA model underestimates cross elasticities, resulting in suggesting less aggressive used car price discount in response to new cars' rebate than the proposed nested logit model. In the second simulation, I used Elantra to reconfirm the result for Jetta and came to the same conclusion. In the third simulation, I had Corolla offer $1,000 rebate to see what could be the best response for Elantra's new and used cars. Interestingly, Elantra's used car could maintain the status quo by offering lower price discount ($160) than the new car ($205). In the future research, we might want to explore the plausibility of the alternative nested logit model. For example, the NUB model that assumes choice between new and used cars at the first stage and brand choice at the second stage could be a possibility even though it was rejected in the current study because of mis-specification (A dissimilarity parameter turned out to be higher than 1). The NUB model may have been rejected due to true mis-specification or data structure transmitted from a typical car dealership. In a typical car dealership, both new and used cars of the same model are displayed. Because of this fact, the BNU model that assumes brand choice at the first stage and choice between new and used cars at the second stage may have been favored in the current study since customers first choose a dealership (brand) then choose between new and used cars given this market environment. However, suppose there are dealerships that carry both new and used cars of various models, then the NUB model might fit the data as well as the BNU model. Which model is a better description of the data is an empirical question. In addition, it would be interesting to test a probabilistic mixture model of the BNU and NUB on a new data set.

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