• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.65-96
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• 2012

Brand has received much attention from considerable marketing research. When consumers consume product or services, they are exposed to a lot of brand related stimuli. These contain brand personality, brand experience, brand identity, brand communications and so on. A special kind of new crisis occasionally confronting companies' brand management today is the brand related rumor. An important influence on consumers' purchase decision making is the word-of-mouth spread by other consumers and most decisions are influenced by other's recommendations. In light of this influence, firms have reasonable reason to study and understand consumer-to-consumer communication such as brand rumor. The importance of brand rumor to marketers is increasing as the number of internet user and SNS(social network service) site grows. Due to the development of internet technology, people can spread rumors without the limitation of time, space and place. However relatively few studies have been published in marketing journals and little is known about brand rumors in the marketplace. The study of rumor has a long history in all major social science. But very few studies have dealt with the antecedents and consequences of any kind of brand rumor. Rumor has been generally described as a story or statement in general circulation without proper confirmation or certainty as to fact. And it also can be defined as an unconfirmed proposition, passed along from people to people. Rosnow(1991) claimed that rumors were transmitted because people needed to explain ambiguous and uncertain events and talking about them reduced associated anxiety. Especially negative rumors are believed to have the potential to devastate a company's reputation and relations with customers. From the perspective of marketer, negative rumors are considered harmful and extremely difficult to control in general. It is becoming a threat to a company's sustainability and sometimes leads to negative brand image and loss of customers. Thus there is a growing concern that these negative rumors can damage brands' reputations and lead them to financial disaster too. In this study we aimed to distinguish antecedents of brand rumor transmission and investigate the effects of brand rumor characteristics on rumor spread intention. We also found key components in personal acceptance of brand rumor. In contextualist perspective, we tried to unify the traditional psychological and sociological views. In this unified research approach we defined brand rumor's characteristics based on five major variables that had been found to influence the process of rumor spread intention. The five factors of usefulness, source credibility, message credibility, worry, and vividness, encompass multi level elements of brand rumor. We also selected product involvement as a control variable. To perform the empirical research, imaginary Korean 'Kimch' brand and related contamination rumor was created and proposed. Questionnaires were collected from 178 Korean samples. Data were collected from college students who have been experienced the focal product. College students were regarded as good subjects because they have a tendency to express their opinions in detail. PLS(partial least square) method was adopted to analyze the relations between variables in the equation model. The most widely adopted causal modeling method is LISREL. However it is poorly suited to deal with relatively small data samples and can yield not proper solutions in some cases. PLS has been developed to avoid some of these limitations and provide more reliable results. To test the reliability using SPSS 16 s/w, Cronbach alpha was examined and all the values were appropriate showing alpha values between .802 and .953. Subsequently, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted successfully. And structural equation modeling has been used to analyze the research model using smartPLS(ver. 2.0) s/w. Overall, R² of adoption of rumor is .476 and R² of intention of rumor transmission is .218. The overall model showed a satisfactory fit. The empirical results can be summarized as follows. According to the results, the variables of brand rumor characteristic such as source credibility, message credibility, worry, and vividness affect argument strength of rumor. And argument strength of rumor also affects rumor intention. On the other hand, the relationship between perceived usefulness and argument strength of rumor is not significant. The moderating effect of product involvement on the relations between argument strength of rumor and rumor W.O.M intention is not supported neither. Consequently this study suggests some managerial and academic implications. We consider some implications for corporate crisis management planning, PR and brand management. This results show marketers that rumor is a critical factor for managing strong brand assets. Also for researchers, brand rumor should become an important thesis of their interests to understand the relationship between consumer and brand. Recently many brand managers and marketers have focused on the short-term view. They just focused on strengthen the positive brand image. According to this study we suggested that effective brand management requires managing negative brand rumors with a long-term view of marketing decisions.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.160-167
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• 2015

Radiation exposure from medical diagnostic imaging procedures to patients is one of the most significant interests in diagnostic x-ray system. A miniature x-ray intraoral tube was developed for the first time in the world which can be inserted into the mouth for imaging. Dose evaluation should be carried out in order to utilize such an imaging device for clinical use. In this study, dose evaluation of the new x-ray unit was performed by 1) using a custom made in vivo Pig phantom, 2) determining exposure condition for the clinical use, and 3) measuring patient dose of the new system. On the basis of DRLs (Diagnostic Reference Level) recommended by KDFA (Korea Food & Drug Administration), the ESD (Entrance Skin Dose) and DAP (Dose Area Product) measurements for the new x-ray imaging device were designed and measured. The maximum voltage and current of the x-ray tubes used in this study were 55 kVp, and 300 mA. The active area of the detector was $72{\times}72mm$ with pixel size of $48{\mu}m$. To obtain the operating condition of the new system, pig jaw phantom images showing major tooth-associated tissues, such as clown, pulp cavity were acquired at 1 frame/sec. Changing the beam currents 20 to $80{\mu}A$, x-ray images of 50 frames were obtained for one beam current with optimum x-ray exposure setting. Pig jaw phantom images were acquired from two commercial x-ray imaging units and compared to the new x-ray device: CS 2100, Carestream Dental LLC and EXARO, HIOSSEN, Inc. Their exposure conditions were 60 kV, 7 mA, and 60 kV, 2 mA, respectively. Comparing the new x-ray device and conventional x-ray imaging units, images of the new x-ray device around teeth and their neighboring tissues turn out to be better in spite of its small x-ray field size. ESD of the new x-ray device was measured 1.369 mGy on the beam condition for the best image quality, 0.051 mAs, which is much less than DRLs recommended by IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and KDFA, both. Its dose distribution in the x-ray field size was observed to be uniform with standard deviation of 5~10 %. DAP of the new x-ray device was $82.4mGy*cm^2$ less than DRL established by KDFA even though its x-ray field size was small. This study shows that the new x-ray imaging device offers better in image quality and lower radiation dose compared to the conventional intraoral units. In additions, methods and know-how for studies in x-ray features could be accumulated from this work.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.17-22
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• 2004

We studied the magnetotransport properties of tunnel junctions with AlO and AlN barriers fabricated using microwave-excited plasma. The plasma nitridation process provided wider controllability than the plasma oxidization for the formation of MTJs with ultra-thin insulating layer, because of the slow nitriding rate of metal Al layers, comparing with the oxidizing rate of them. High tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratios of 49 and 44% with respective resistance-area product $(R{\times}A) of 3 {\times} 10^4 and 6 {\times} 10^3 {\Omega}{\mu}m^2$ were obtained in the Co-Fe/Al-N/Co-Fe MTJs. We conclude that AlN is a hopeful barrier material to realize MTJs with high TMR ratio and low $R{\times}A$ for high performance MRAM cells. In addition, in order to clarify the annealing temperature dependence of TMR, the local transport properties were measured for Ta $50{\AA} /Cu 200 {\AA}/Ta 50 {\AA}/Ni_{76}Fe_{24} 20 {\AA}/Cu 50 {\AA}/Mn_{75}Ir_{25} 100 {\AA}/Co_{71}Fe_{29} 40 {\AA}/Al-O$ junction with $d_{Al}= 8 {\AA} and P_{O2}{\times}t_{0X}/ = 8.4 {\times} 10^4$ at various temperatures. The current histogram statistically calculated from the electrical current image was well in accord with the fitting result considering the Gaussian distribution and Fowler-Nordheim equation. After annealing at $340^{\circ}C$, where the TMR ratio of the corresponding MTJ had the maximum value of 44%, the average barrier height increased to 1.12 eV and its standard deviation decreased to 0.1 eV. The increase of TMR ratio after annealing could be well explained by the enhancement of the average barrier height and the reduction of its fluctuation.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.531-540
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• 2008

This study, based on the college life style and the courage to make that the purpose of the design process of finding out the correlation. Chinese students study the life style can be categorized into 4 kinds. The courage to top a crowded bottom with a broad form of courage prefer to be brought down, getting smaller and smaller. Regular and relevant inclination stores are independent of trust. 2 as a whole are crowded with smooth curves and the courage to the asymmetric shape is preferred. Active investment, emphasis on foreign languages, tends to prefer shopping on the Internet were related.3 outstanding courage, just a little crowded in the cylindrical form is preferred. Trust the big stores, stores see the taste, his taste for products that are relevant to the tendency of pursuing said. 4, a lot of the colony gradient technique Protruding prefer to be in the form of courage. Home will, that tends to emphasize the brand and design were related. Home will, that tends to emphasize the brand and design were related. To recap the contents of the consumer lifestyle, based on the characteristics of their favorite cosmetics containers vary designs. Different forms, depending on their courage to feel emotions that can see the image. Therefore, the design in courage cosmetics on the characteristics of these granular for consumer research, the granular form of product research and the relationship between the elements in their care are made. The marketing strategy is in the consumer market, but needs more fine-grained analysis methods that can tell people.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.139-152
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• 2013

Although a series of studies shows the fact that a company's reputation could affect its sales rate and stock price, due to the increased use of SNS, the research related to the online measurement method for the corporate reputation has been relatively insufficient. This study explores a design for a method to quantify the corporate reputation value by reconstructing the discussions in literature review. Concretely, this study divides the corporate reputation value into the corporate identity information and the corporate awareness information, which includes the following five sub-categories: (1) the quality of product and service; (2) the employment environment; (3) the corporate vision; (4) the social responsibility; and (5) the business achievement. Additionally, for the corporate identity assessment, this study considers the following six factors: (1) Agreeableness (Goodness), (2)Capability (Ability), (3)Enterprise (Rise), (4)Chic (Class), (5) Ruthlessness (Authority), and (6)Informality. Based on these categories and factors, this study develops a technique quantifying the corporate reputation value by selecting 'word items' for the reputation search, and after conducting a frequency analysis in a survey. Also, to verify the result, this study exemplifies the reputation of three SI companies in Korea which could be utilized by using the commercialized reputation service. This study firstly attempts the corporate reputation measurement by classifying the identity and the awareness (corporate image and communication) upon a company in detail and enables its real applicabilities by proposing a formula to measure the reputation scores which can be utilized by verified word items from a frequency analysis.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.123-144
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• 2017

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate affection on how users perceive colors viewed from an automotive visual display according to cultural and radical differences including North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. This study especially aims to identify effects of the variation of tone and chroma of representative color groups by analyzing affection differences depending on cultural and racial differences targeting the colors constituted through variation of tone and chroma, centered on representative colors. Background: The colors of the menu, information display or background viewed through an automotive visual display are an important factor stimulating consumer's affection, and therefore an effort to express the vehicle's brand and product image through colors is made. The studies on colors focus only on the research on unique characteristics of colors, but an affective approach lacks according to cultural and racial differences on colors considering tone and chroma variation within a color from the currently used automotive visual displays. Method: To grasp the visual affection felt by users, this study extracted affective adjectives related with colors through existing literature and a dictionary for adjectives, and presented human affection dimensions on colors through evaluation of various colors. Prior to carrying out affection evaluation, the basic light sources, red (R), green (G), and blue (B) constituting the colors used for automotive visual displays were defined as a representative color group, respectively. When colors in a color group are constituted, the evaluation target of each color group consisted of the colors considering the variation of tone and chroma by changing color sense through RGB values of the remaining two light sources. And then, this study carried out affection evaluation on the constituted colors targeting the subjects with cultural and racial differences. Results: As a result of evaluating the constituted colors with representative affections, there were statistically significant differences between the groups having cultural and racial differences. As a result of S-N-K post-hoc analysis on the colors showing significant differences, North America and Europe were classified as heterogeneous groups. In some cases, Korea was classified as the homogeneous group with North America, but Korea was mainly classified as the homogenous group with Europe. Conclusion: The representative affections on colors from an automotive visual display was drawn as three affective dimensions: passionate, neat, and masculine. Based on these, the affection of Korea and Europe on the constituted colors showed significant differences from that of North America, as a result of affection evaluation on the constituted colors viewed through the visual display by reflecting cultural and racial factors. Regarding representative color groups, bigger cultural and racial differences were revealed in terms of affection on red and green colors than on blue color, and variation of affection was the biggest in the red color. Application: This study analyzed correlations of affection considering the colors constituted through variation of tone and chroma, and the culture and race in the representative color groups constituting a visual display. The results of this study are predicted to be utilized in coordination and selection of colors viewed from an automotive visual display taking into account culture and race.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2013

Recently Digital TV industry has drastically been moving the illuminating system, which causes an obvious product change from PDP and LCD to LED model to provide high-definition image. Due to strong competition in the digital industry, TV manufacturers make a great efforts to reduce production cost by using low-priced materials such as steels instead of aluminum and plastic etc. In this paper we have developed a new low-priced electrogalvanized steel sheet, which has a black resin composite layer, to substitute conventional high-priced PCM steel and plastic mold for rear cover panel in the digital TV. The black resin composite was prepared by mechanical dispersion of the mixture solution that consists of high solid polyester resin, melamine hardener, black pigment, micronized silica paste, polyacrylate texturing particle and miscellaneous additives. The composite solution was coated on the steel sheet using roll coater followed by induction furnace curing and cooling. Although the coated layer has a half thickness compared to the conventional PCM steels having $23{\mu}m$ thickness, it exhibits excellent quality for the usage of rear cover panel. The new steel sheet was applied to test products to get quality certification from worldwide electronic appliance customers. Detailed discussion provides in this paper including preparation of composite solution, roll coating technology, induction curing technology and quality evaluation from customers.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.106-118
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• 2009

Satellite imagery with high resolution of about one meter is used widely in commerce and government applications ranging from earth observation and monitoring to national digital mapping. Due to the expensiveness of IKONOS Pro and Precision products, it is attractive to use the low-cost IKONOS Geo product with vendor-provided rational polynomial coefficients (RPCs), to produce highly accurate mapping products. The imaging geometry of IKONOS high-resolution imagery is described by RFs instead of rigorous sensor models. This paper presents four different polynomial models, that are the offset model, the scale and offset model, the Affine model, and the 2nd-order polynomial model, defined respectively in object space and image space to improve the accuracies of the RF-derived ground coordinates. Not only the algorithm for RF-based ground coordinates but also the algorithm for accuracy improvement of RF-based ground coordinates are developed which is based on the four models, The experiment also evaluates the effect of different cartographic parameters such as the number, configuration, and accuracy of ground control points on the accuracy of geopositioning. As the result of a experimental application, the root mean square errors of three dimensional ground coordinates which are first derived by vendor-provided Rational Function models were averagely 8.035m in X, 10.020m in Y and 13.318m in Z direction. After applying polynomial correction algorithm, those errors were dramatically decreased to averagely 2.791m in X, 2.520m in Y and 1.441m in Z. That is, accuracy was greatly improved by 65% in planmetry and 89% in vertical direction.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.16-28
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• 2016

Advancing geo-spatial web technologies and their applications require compatible and interoperable heterogeneous browsers and platforms. Reduction of common or supporting components for web-based system development is also necessary. If properly understood and applied, OGC-based standards can be utilized as effective solutions for these problems. Thus, OGC standards are central to the design and development of web-based geo-spatial systems, and are particularly applicable to web services, which contain data processing modules. However, the application for OGC WPS 2.0 is at an early stage as compared with other OGC standards; thus, this study describes a test implementation of a web-based geo-spatial processing system with OGC WPS 2.0 focused on asynchronous processing functionality. While a binary thresholding algorithm was tested in this system, further experiments with other processing modules can be performed on requests for many types of processing from multiple users. The client system of the implemented product was based on open sources such as jQuery and OpenLayers, and server-side running on Spring framework also used various types of open sources such as ZOO project, and GeoServer. The results of geo-spatial image processing by this system implies further applicability and extensibility of OGC WPS 2.0 on user interfaces for practical applications.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1772-1783
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• 2007

This study aimed to investigate differences in the purchasing patterns of and the levels of satisfaction with cosmetic products, and the method of disposing dissatisfied cosmetics for female university students among China, Japan and Korea. Survey was conducted with 1,200 female coeducational university students in Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul and 1,115 were used for the data analysis. Data were analysed by frequency analysis, Cronbach's ${\alpha}$, chi-square analysis, analysis of variance, Duncan's Multiple Range test. The results showed significant differences in purchasing behaviors in China, Japan and Korea. Japanese students mainly got information through objective sources, while Koreans did so through human network. Regrading the evaluative criteria for basic care items, function and effect were the most important criteria for Chinese and Korean consumers and skin compatibility for Japanese. For color make-up, Chinese, Japanese and Korean respondents respectively cared the most on brand image, convenience of purchase and the current trend. Chinese tended to shop cosmetics at department stores due to store reputation, Japanese preferred supermarkets and pharmacies and Koreans shopped at discount stores for low price. The most influential human sources were friends and colleagues for Chinese and Korean, and models on advertisements and magazines for Japanese. Korean respondents displayed the highest level of satisfaction with cosmetics followed by Japanese and Chinese. As for the methods of disposing dissatisfactory cosmetics, Chinese were the most active in exchanging for other product; Japanese and Korean were not likely to use or throw the products away.