• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.1
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• pp.147-162
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• 1989

The current status of the application and interpretation of the Warsaw Convention and its subsequent Protocols in Asian countries is in its fredgling stages compared to the developed countries of Europe and North America, and there is thus little published information about the various Asian governments' treatment and courts' views of the Warsaw System. Due to that limitation, the accent of this paper will be on Korea and Japan. As one will be aware, the so-called 'Warsaw System' is made up of the Warsaw Convention of 1929, the Hague Protocol of 1955, the Guadalajara Convention of 1961, the Guatemala City Protocol of 1971 and the Montreal Additional Protocols Nos. 1,2,3 and 4 of 1975. Among these instruments, most of the countries in Asia are parties to both the Warsaw Convention and the Hague Protocol. However, the Republic of Korea and Mongolia are parties only to the Hague Protocol, while Burma, Indonesia and Sri Lanka are parties only to the Warsaw Convention. Thailand and Taiwan are not parties only to the convention or protocol. Among Asian states, Indonesia, the Phillipines and Pakistan are also parties to the Guadalajara Convention, but no country in Asia has signed the Guatemala City Protocol of 1971 or the Montreal Additional Protocols, which Protocols have not yet been put into force. The People's Republic of China has declared that the Warsaw Convention shall apply to the entire Chinese territory, including Taiwan. 'The application of the Warsaw Convention to one-way air carriage between a state which is a party only to the Warsaw Convention and a state which is a party only to the Hague Protocol' is of particular importance in Korea as it is a signatory only to the Hague Protocol, but it is involved in a great deal of air transportation to and from the united states, which in turn is a party only to the Warsaw Convention. The opinion of the Supreme Court of Korea appears to be, that parties to the Warsaw Convention were intended to be parties to the Hague Protocol, whether they actually signed it or not. The effect of this decision is that in Korea the United States and Korea will be considered by the courts to be in a treaty relationship, though neither State is a signatory to the same instrument as the other State. The first wrongful death claim in Korea related to international carriage by air under the Convention was made in Hyun-Mo Bang, et al v. Korean Air Lines Co., Ltd. case. In this case, the plaintiffs claimed for damages based upon breach of contract as well as upon tort under the Korean Civil Code. The issue in the case was whether the time limitation provisions of the Convention should be applicable to a claim based in tort as well as to a claim based in contract. The Appellate Court ruled on 29 August 1983 that 'however founded' in Article 24(1) of the Convention should be construed to mean that the Convention should be applicable to the claim regardless of whether the cause of action was based in tort or breach of contract, and that the plaintiffs' rights to damages had therefore extinguished because of the time limitation as set forth in Article 29(1) of the Convention. The difficult and often debated question of what exactly is meant by the words 'such default equivalent to wilful misconduct' in Article 25(1) of the Warsaw Convention, has also been litigated. The Supreme Court of Japan dealt with this issue in the Suzuki Shinjuten Co. v. Northwest Airlines Inc. case. The Supreme Court upheld the Appellate Court's ruling, and decided that 'such default equivalent to wilful misconduct' under Article 25(1) of the Convention was within the meaning of 'gross negligence' under the Japanese Commercial Code. The issue of the convention of the 'franc' into national currencies as provided in Article 22 of the Warsaw Convention as amended by the Hague Protocol has been raised in a court case in Korea, which is now before the District Court of Seoul. In this case, the plaintiff argues that the gold franc equivalent must be converted in Korean Won in accordance with the free market price of gold in Korea, as Korea has not enacted any law, order or regulation prescribing the proper method of calculating the equivalent in its national currency. while it is unclear if the court will accept this position, the last official price of gold of the United States as in the famous Franklin Mint case, Special Drawing Right(SDR) or the current French franc, Korean Air Lines has argued in favor of the last official price of gold of the United States by which the air lines converted such francs into us Dollars in their General Conditions of Carriage. It is my understanding that in India, an appellate court adopted the free market price valuation. There is a report as well saying that if a lawsuit concerning this issue were brought in Pakistan, the free market cost of gold would be applied there too. Speaking specifically about the future of the Warsaw System in Asia though I have been informed that Thailand is actively considering acceding to the Warsaw Convention, the attitudes of most Asian countries' governments towards the Warsaw System are still wnot ell known. There is little evidence that Asian countries are moving to deal concretely with the conversion of the franc into their own local currencies. So too it cannot be said that they are on the move to adhere to the Montreal Additional Protocols Nos. 3 & 4 which attempt to basically solve many of the current problems with the Warsaw System, by adopting the SDR as the unit of currency, by establishing the carrier's absolute liability and an unbreakable limit and by increasing the carrier's passenger limit of liability to SDR 100,000, as well as permiting the domestic introduction of supplemental compensation. To summarize my own sentiments regarding the future, I would say that given the fact that Asian air lines are now world leaders both in overall size and rate of growth, and the fact that both Asian individuals and governments are becoming more and more reliant on the global civil aviation networks as their economies become ever stronger, I am hopeful that Asian nations will henceforth play a bigger role in ensuring the orderly and hasty development of a workable unified system of rules governing international commercial air carriage.

• 한국프랑스학논집
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• v.108
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• pp.1-45
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• 2019

The objective of this work is to study the rebirth of the French baroque opera and to analyze Atys of Quinault and Lully. Accordingly, it can appear interesting to take into account not only the reception of Atys in the 17th century in France, but also its representations in 1987. Then, it seems important to us to examine the studies on the modification of the myth in Atys, while questioning the legitimacy of the Fasti of Ovid as a primary source. Lastly, we will endeavor to emphasize the influence of Natale Conti's Mythologies on Atys, and that of Michel de Marolles's the Tableaux du Temple des Muses on the scene of the sleep of the hero. In a general way, in regard to the influence of the sources in Atys, these two works drew until now only very little the attention of criticism. The difficulties which Louis XIV crosses at the time of the genesis of Atys, such as the death of the marshal of Turenne or the departure of Louise de La Vallière to the convent, seem to have nourished the choices of Quinault and Lully. Atys is an admirable spectacle with the changes at sight of the decorations, the varied machines and the splendid costumes, but in spite of the immense success of this opera, he is forgotten after the representation given at Fontainebleau in 1753. Two centuries later, les Arts Florissants' production of Atys in 1987 - with its triumph which one knows - seems to announce a rebirth of the French baroque opera. William Christie and Jean-Marie Villégier still succeed in presenting their production in 2011 thanks to Ronald Stanton, American fortunate who was impressed by the representation of Atys in 1987. Villégier and his artistic team choose a single decoration and remove the machines in order to place work at the court plunged into mourning of Louis XIV twenty years after the premiere of Atys. The "classicism" of their dramatic presentation emphasizes the classical dramaturgy and the tragic side of this opera. Criticisms often stress the importance of Ovid's Fasti as a primary source, while adding his Metamorphoses as a secondary source (the metamorphosis of Atys in pine and the scene of his sleep). Quinault borrows indeed from the Fasti some elements : in love with Atys, Cybele entrusts the responsibility to him of keep her temple ; the reciprocal love between Atys and Sangaride causes the revenge on the goddess. However he borrows more from the French translation of Natale Conti's Mythologies which present the Phrygian version of the myth of Atys. In the first three accounts of this version, one finds common points with the opera : 1) Atys refuses the physical desire of Cybele ; the goddess makes Atys insane instead of making die Sangaride ; 2) the lover of the hero is daughter of the river of Sangar ; Cybele makes change into pine Atys who committed suicide (or ready to commit suicide) ; 3) the goddess discovers the physical relation of the young couple. Natale Conti's Mythologies also present the Lydian version of the myth : a furious wild boar sent by irritated Zeus kill Atys and several people. One can suppose that this part undoubtedly influences the "monster" and its "dreadful howls" evoked by Atys in a fit of insanity. Moreover, the dreams make discover in Atys the intentions of Cybele, which is not without relationship with the translated text of Natale Conti : the Mythologies indicate that sweet Sleep reveals "the intentions & the plans of the Gods." To manufacture the famous scene of the sleep of the hero, Quinault and Lully make use of the annotations of the "Palace of the Sleep" located at the end of the Tableaux du Temple des Muses : Michel de Marolles translates and explains the texts of Catullus (the sleep of Atys), of Ovid (the Sleep and his three sons), and of Ausonius (good dreams / bad dreams). In spite of the important influence of these sources, Quinault and Lully modify some elements of the myth : the theme of castration is removed because of the proprieties ; the suicide of Atys is at the same time an act of love and an act of revolt against Cybele ; the cruel goddess is also a desperate and weak lover; the invention of the character of Celenus returns the love of the young prohibited and tragic. Quinault fascinate the contemporary public with the interior movements of complex characters and the music of Lully emphasizes this quality of the libretto.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.31-68
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• 1990

The concentration of economic power takes the form of one or a few firms controlling a substantial portion of the economic resources and means in a certain economic area. At the same time, to the extent that these firms are owned by a few individuals, resource allocation can be manipulated by them rather than by the impersonal market mechanism. This will impair allocative efficiency, run counter to a decentralized market system and hamper the equitable distribution of wealth. Viewed from the historical evolution of Western capitalism in general, the concentration of economic power is a paradox in that it is a product of the free market system itself. The economic principle of natural discrimination works so that a few big firms preempt scarce resources and market opportunities. Prominent historical examples include trusts in America, Konzern in Germany and Zaibatsu in Japan in the early twentieth century. In other words, the concentration of economic power is the outcome as well as the antithesis of free competition. As long as judgment of the economic system at large depends upon the value systems of individuals, therefore, the issue of how to evaluate the concentration of economic power will inevitably be tinged with ideology. We have witnessed several different approaches to this problem such as communism, fascism and revised capitalism, and the last one seems to be the only surviving alternative. The concentration of economic power in Korea can be summarily represented by the "jaebol," namely, the conglomerate business group, the majority of whose member firms are monopolistic or oligopolistic in their respective markets and are owned by particular individuals. The jaebol has many dimensions in its size, but to sketch its magnitude, the share of the jaebol in the manufacturing sector reached 37.3% in shipment and 17.6% in employment as of 1989. The concentration of economic power can be ascribed to a number of causes. In the early stages of economic development, when the market system is immature, entrepreneurship must fill the gap inherent in the market in addition to performing its customary managerial function. Entrepreneurship of this sort is a scarce resource and becomes even more valuable as the target rate of economic growth gets higher. Entrepreneurship can neither be readily obtained in the market nor exhausted despite repeated use. Because of these peculiarities, economic power is bound to be concentrated in the hands of a few entrepreneurs and their business groups. It goes without saying, however, that the issue of whether the full exercise of money-making entrepreneurship is compatible with social mores is a different matter entirely. The rapidity of the concentration of economic power can also be traced to the diversification of business groups. The transplantation of advanced technology oriented toward mass production tends to saturate the small domestic market quite early and allows a firm to expand into new markets by making use of excess capacity and of monopoly profits. One of the reasons why the jaebol issue has become so acute in Korea lies in the nature of the government-business relationship. The Korean government has set economic development as its foremost national goal and, since then, has intervened profoundly in the private sector. Since most strategic industries promoted by the government required a huge capacity in technology, capital and manpower, big firms were favored over smaller firms, and the benefits of industrial policy naturally accrued to large business groups. The concentration of economic power which occured along the way was, therefore, not necessarily a product of the market system. At the same time, the concentration of ownership in business groups has been left largely intact as they have customarily met capital requirements by means of debt. The real advantage enjoyed by large business groups lies in synergy due to multiplant and multiproduct production. Even these effects, however, cannot always be considered socially optimal, as they offer disadvantages to other independent firms-for example, by foreclosing their markets. Moreover their fictitious or artificial advantages only aggravate the popular perception that most business groups have accumulated their wealth at the expense of the general public and under the behest of the government. Since Korea stands now at the threshold of establishing a full-fledged market economy along with political democracy, the phenomenon called the concentration of economic power must be correctly understood and the roles of business groups must be accordingly redefined. In doing so, we would do better to take a closer look at Japan which has experienced a demise of family-controlled Zaibatsu and a success with business groups(Kigyoshudan) whose ownership is dispersed among many firms and ultimately among the general public. The Japanese case cannot be an ideal model, but at least it gives us a good point of departure in that the issue of ownership is at the heart of the matter. In setting the basic direction of public policy aimed at controlling the concentration of economic power, one must harmonize efficiency and equity. Firm size in itself is not a problem, if it is dictated by efficiency considerations and if the firm behaves competitively in the market. As long as entrepreneurship is required for continuous economic growth and there is a discrepancy in entrepreneurial capacity among individuals, a concentration of economic power is bound to take place to some degree. Hence, the most effective way of reducing the inefficiency of business groups may be to impose competitive pressure on their activities. Concurrently, unless the concentration of ownership in business groups is scaled down, the seed of social discontent will still remain. Nevertheless, the dispersion of ownership requires a number of preconditions and, consequently, we must make consistent, long-term efforts on many fronts. We can suggest a long list of policy measures specifically designed to control the concentration of economic power. Whatever the policy may be, however, its intended effects will not be fully realized unless business groups abide by the moral code expected of socially responsible entrepreneurs. This is especially true, since the root of the problem of the excessive concentration of economic power lies outside the issue of efficiency, in problems concerning distribution, equity, and social justice.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.79-111
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• 2011

Digital economy has grown rapidly so that the new business area called 'Internet business' has been dramatically extended as time goes on. However, in the case of Internet business, market shares of individual companies seem to fluctuate very extremely. Thus marketing managers who operate the Internet sites have seriously observed the competition structure of the Internet business market and carefully analyzed the competitors' behavior in order to achieve their own business goals in the market. The newly created Internet business might differ from the offline ones in management styles, because it has totally different business circumstances when compared with the existing offline businesses. Thus, there should be a lot of researches for finding the solutions about what the features of Internet business are and how the management style of those Internet business companies should be changed. Most marketing literatures related to the Internet business have focused on individual business markets. Specifically, many researchers have studied the Internet portal sites and the Internet shopping mall sites, which are the most general forms of Internet business. On the other hand, this study focuses on the entire Internet business industry to understand the competitive circumstance of online market. This approach makes it possible not only to have a broader view to comprehend overall e-business industry, but also to understand the differences in competition structures among Internet business markets. We used time-series data of Internet connection rates by consumers as the basic data to figure out the competition patterns in the Internet business markets. Specifically, the data for this research was obtained from one of Internet ranking sites, 'Fian'. The Internet business ranking data is obtained based on web surfing record of some pre-selected sample group where the possibility of double-count for page-views is controlled by method of same IP check. The ranking site offers several data which are very useful for comparison and analysis of competitive sites. The Fian site divides the Internet business areas into 34 area and offers market shares of big 5 sites which are on high rank in each category daily. We collected the daily market share data about Internet sites on each area from April 22, 2008 to August 5, 2008, where some errors of data was found and 30 business area data were finally used for our research after the data purification. This study performed several empirical analyses in focusing on market shares of each site to understand the competition among sites in Internet business of Korea. We tried to perform more statistically precise analysis for looking into business fields with similar competitive structures by applying the cluster analysis to the data. The research results are as follows. First, the leading sites in each area were classified into three groups based on averages and standard deviations of daily market shares. The first group includes the sites with the lowest market shares, which give more increased convenience to consumers by offering the Internet sites as complimentary services for existing offline services. The second group includes sites with medium level of market shares, where the site users are limited to specific small group. The third group includes sites with the highest market shares, which usually require online registration in advance and have difficulty in switching to another site. Second, we analyzed the second place sites in each business area because it may help us understand the competitive power of the strongest competitor against the leading site. The second place sites in each business area were classified into four groups based on averages and standard deviations of daily market shares. The four groups are the sites showing consistent inferiority compared to the leading sites, the sites with relatively high volatility and medium level of shares, the sites with relatively low volatility and medium level of shares, the sites with relatively low volatility and high level of shares whose gaps are not big compared to the leading sites. Except 'web agency' area, these second place sites show relatively stable shares below 0.1 point of standard deviation. Third, we also classified the types of relative strength between leading sites and the second place sites by applying the cluster analysis to the gap values of market shares between two sites. They were also classified into four groups, the sites with the relatively lowest gaps even though the values of standard deviation are various, the sites with under the average level of gaps, the sites with over the average level of gaps, the sites with the relatively higher gaps and lower volatility. Then we also found that while the areas with relatively bigger gap values usually have smaller standard deviation values, the areas with very small differences between the first and the second sites have a wider range of standard deviation values. The practical and theoretical implications of this study are as follows. First, the result of this study might provide the current market participants with the useful information to understand the competitive circumstance of the market and build the effective new business strategy for the market success. Also it might be useful to help new potential companies find a new business area and set up successful competitive strategies. Second, it might help Internet marketing researchers take a macro view of the overall Internet market so that make possible to begin the new studies on overall Internet market beyond individual Internet market studies.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.26-42
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to examine and understand the area and the original outer boundaries of Hamchunwon(含春苑), which was the outer royal garden of Gyeonghuigung Palace, which existed before the site of the Russian legation. The results of the study are as follows. First, examining the 3 types of drawings prepared for securing the Russian legation's site and constructing a new building, it was confirmed that two low peaks, which appear to be the original terrain of Hamchunwon, existed in the north and south directions inside the site. According to the initial plan of the of the legation's site, it appears that the entrance of the legation building is connected to the Saemunan-ro in the northwest. However, according to the report made at the time when the Russian temporary minister Veber purchased the legation's site, it was recorded that the site already had a narrow entrance and a dirt road in place, and hence, it was connected to Saemunan-ro. This fact makes it possible to learn that the line of movement for officials and the original gate were located to the northwest of the site planned as the entrance of the legation building towards Hamchunwon. Second, the site was created by cutting the top of the high hill at the time of the construction of the legation building, and as a result, a two tiered staircase typed terrace was built. The ground on which the main building and the secretary's building, etc., were erected was made by cutting the highest peak and solidifying it flat, and a large quantity of soil was used for grading. In the case of the northern area of the main building, the traces of leveling the terrain by cutting the mountains are apparent, and an observation typed garden with a walking path and pavilion was formed by utilizing the physical environment equipped with an easy view. This may be considered as a use which is consistent with the topographical conditions of creating an outer royal garden to block the civilian views on a high terrain overlooking the palace. Third, Hamchunwon's fences were partially exposed in the photos from the 1880s through the 1890s, which demonstrate the spatial changes made around the US, UK, and the Russian legations. As a result of the photo analysis performed, Hamchunwon occupies the northern area of the Russian legation's site, and it is estimated that the north, west, and east walls of the legation resembled those of Hamchunwon. The area to the south of the Russian legation was originally a place made available for civilian houses, and it was possible to examine the circumstances of purchasing dozens of civilian houses and farmlands according to various materials. Fourth, Hamchunwon, which was formed as the outer royal garden of Gyeongdeokgung Palace of Lord Gwanghaegun, lost its sense of place as an outer royal garden when the entire building of Gyeonghuigung Palace was torn down and used as a construction members during the reconstruction of Gyeongbokgung Palace, and faded away as the site was sold to Russia around 1885. The area where Hamchunwon used to be located transformed into a core space of the Russian legation where the main building and garden were located after the construction of the new building. Hence, Hamchunwon, which was limited to the northern area of the Russian legation, does not carry the temporal and spatial context with Gyeongungung Palace and Seonwonjeon which were constructed after 1897, and it is determined that the view of Seonwonjeon as Baehoorim or Baegyeongrim is not valid.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.33-58
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• 2008

Previous research has presupposed that the evaluation of consumer who received any recovery after experiencing product failure should be better than the evaluation of consumer who did not receive any recovery. The major purposes of this article are to examine impacts of product defect failures rather than service failures, and to explore effects of recovery on postrecovery product attitudes. First, this article deals with the occurrence of severe and unsevere failure and corresponding service recovery toward tangible products rather than intangible services. Contrary to intangible services, purchase and usage are separable for tangible products. This difference makes it clear that executing an recovery strategy toward tangible products is not plausible right after consumers find out product failures. The consumers may think about backgrounds and causes for the unpleasant events during the time gap between product failure and recovery. The deliberation may dilutes positive effects of recovery efforts. The recovery strategies which are provided to consumers experiencing product failures can be classified into three types. A recovery strategy can be implemented to provide consumers with a new product replacing the old defective product, a complimentary product for free, a discount at the time of the failure incident, or a coupon that can be used on the next visit. This strategy is defined as "a rewarding effort." Meanwhile a product failure may arise in exchange for its benefit. Then the product provider can suggest a detail explanation that the defect is hard to escape since it relates highly to the specific advantage to the product. The strategy may be called as "a strengthening effort." Another possible strategy is to recover negative attitude toward own brand by giving prominence to the disadvantages of a competing brand rather than the advantages of its own brand. The strategy is reflected as "a weakening effort." This paper emphasizes that, in order to confirm its effectiveness, a recovery strategy should be compared to being nothing done in response to the product failure. So the three types of recovery efforts is discussed in comparison to the situation involving no recovery effort. The strengthening strategy is to claim high relatedness of the product failure with another advantage, and expects the two-sidedness to ease consumers' complaints. The weakening strategy is to emphasize non-aversiveness of product failure, even if consumers choose another competitive brand. The two strategies can be effective in restoring to the original state, by providing plausible motives to accept the condition of product failure or by informing consumers of non-responsibility in the failure case. However the two may be less effective strategies than the rewarding strategy, since it tries to take care of the rehabilitation needs of consumers. Especially, the relative effect between the strengthening effort and the weakening effort may differ in terms of the severity of the product failure. A consumer who realizes a highly severe failure is likely to attach importance to the property which caused the failure. This implies that the strengthening effort would be less effective under the condition of high product severity. Meanwhile, the failing property is not diagnostic information in the condition of low failure severity. Consumers would not pay attention to non-diagnostic information, and with which they are not likely to change their attitudes. This implies that the strengthening effort would be more effective under the condition of low product severity. A 2 (product failure severity: high or low) X 4 (recovery strategies: rewarding, strengthening, weakening, or doing nothing) between-subjects design was employed. The particular levels of product failure severity and the types of recovery strategies were determined after a series of expert interviews. The dependent variable was product attitude after the recovery effort was provided. Subjects were 284 consumers who had an experience of cosmetics. Subjects were first given a product failure scenario and were asked to rate the comprehensibility of the failure scenario, the probability of raising complaints against the failure, and the subjective severity of the failure. After a recovery scenario was presented, its comprehensibility and overall evaluation were measured. The subjects assigned to the condition of no recovery effort were exposed to a short news article on the cosmetic industry. Next, subjects answered filler questions: 42 items of the need for cognitive closure and 16 items of need-to-evaluate. In the succeeding page a subject's product attitude was measured on an five-item, six-point scale, and a subject's repurchase intention on an three-item, six-point scale. After demographic variables of age and sex were asked, ten items of the subject's objective knowledge was checked. The results showed that the subjects formed more favorable evaluations after receiving rewarding efforts than after receiving either strengthening or weakening efforts. This is consistent with Hoffman, Kelley, and Rotalsky (1995) in that a tangible service recovery could be more effective that intangible efforts. Strengthening and weakening efforts also were effective compared to no recovery effort. So we found that generally any recovery increased products attitudes. The results hint us that a recovery strategy such as strengthening or weakening efforts, although it does not contain a specific reward, may have an effect on consumers experiencing severe unsatisfaction and strong complaint. Meanwhile, strengthening and weakening efforts were not expected to increase product attitudes under the condition of low severity of product failure. We can conclude that only a physical recovery effort may be recognized favorably as a firm's willingness to recover its fault by consumers experiencing low involvements. Results of the present experiment are explained in terms of the attribution theory. This article has a limitation that it utilized fictitious scenarios. Future research deserves to test a realistic effect of recovery for actual consumers. Recovery involves a direct, firsthand experience of ex-users. Recovery does not apply to non-users. The experience of receiving recovery efforts can be relatively more salient and accessible for the ex-users than for non-users. A recovery effort might be more likely to improve product attitude for the ex-users than for non-users. Also the present experiment did not include consumers who did not have an experience of the products and who did not perceive the occurrence of product failure. For the non-users and the ignorant consumers, the recovery efforts might lead to decreased product attitude and purchase intention. This is because the recovery trials may give an opportunity for them to notice the product failure.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.115-132
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• 2008

Metal industry is one of the most representative heavy industries and the median sales volume of steel and nonferrous metal companies is over one billion dollars in the case America [Forbes 2006]. As seen in the recent business market situation, an increasing number of industrial manufacturers and suppliers are moving from adversarial to cooperative exchange attitudes that support the long-term relationships with their customers. This article presents the results of an empirical study of the antecedent factors of business relationships in metal industry of the United States. Commitment has been reviewed as a significant and critical variable in research on inter-organizational relationships (Hong et al. 2007, Kim et al. 2007). The future stability of any buyer-seller relationship depends upon the commitment made by the interactants to their relationship. Commitment, according to Dwyer et al. [1987], refers to "an implicit or explicit pledge of relational continuity between exchange partners" and they consider commitment to be the most advanced phase of buyer-seller exchange relationship. Bonds are made because the members need their partners in order to do something and this integration on a task basis can be either symbiotic or cooperative (Svensson 2008). To the extent that members seek the same or mutually supporting ends, there will be strong bonds among them. In other words, the principle that affects the strength of bonds is 'economy of decision making' [Turner 1970]. These bonds provide an important idea to study the causes of business long-term relationships in a sense that organizations can be mutually bonded by a common interest in the economic matters. Recently, the framework of structural bonding has been used to study the buyer-seller relationships in industrial marketing [Han and Sung 2008, Williams et al. 1998, Wilson 1995] in that this structural bonding is a crucial part of the theoretical justification for distinguishing discrete transactions from ongoing long-term relationships. The major antecedent factors of buyer commitment such as technology, CLalt, transaction-specific assets, and importance were identified and explored from the perspective of structural bonding. Research hypotheses were developed and tested by using survey data from the middle managers in the metal industry. H1: Level of technology of the relationship partner is positively related to the level of structural bonding between the buyer and the seller. H2: Comparison level of alternatives is negatively related to the level of structural bonding between the buyer and the seller. H3: Amount of the transaction-specific assets is positively related to the level of structural bonding between the buyer and the seller. H4: Importance of the relationship partner is positively related to the level of structural bonding between the buyer and the seller. H5: Level of structural bonding is positively related to the level of commitment to the relationship. To examine the major antecedent factors of industrial buyer's structural bonding and long-term relationship, questionnaire was prepared, mailed out to the sample of 400 purchasing managers of the US metal industry (SIC codes 33 and 34). After a follow-up request, 139 informants returnedthe questionnaires, resulting in a response rate of 35 percent. 134 responses were used in the final analysis after dropping 5 incomplete questionnaires. All measures were analyzed for reliability and validity following the guidelines offered by Churchill [1979] and Anderson and Gerbing [1988]., the results of fitting the model to the data indicated that the hypothesized model provides a good fit to the data. Goodness-of-fit index (GFI = 0.94) and other indices ( chi-square = 78.02 with p-value = 0.13, Adjusted GFI = 0.90, Normed Fit Index = 0.92) indicated that a major proportion of variances and covariances in the data was accounted for by the model as a whole, and all the parameter estimates showed statistical significance as evidenced by large t-values. All the factor loadings were significantly different from zero. On these grounds we judged the hypothesized model to be a reasonable representation of the data. The results from the present study suggest several implications for buyer-seller relationships. Theoretically, we attempted to conceptualize the antecedent factors of buyer-seller long-term relationships from the perspective of structural bondingin metal industry. The four underlying determinants (i.e. technology, CLalt, transaction-specific assets, and importance) of structural bonding are very critical variables of buyer-seller long-term business relationships. Our model of structural bonding makes an attempt to systematically examine the relationship between the antecedent factors of structural bonding and long-term commitment. Managerially, this research provides industrial purchasing managers with a good framework to assess the interaction processes with their partners and, ability to position their business relationships from the perspective of structural bonding. In other words, based on those underlying variables, industrial purchasing managers can determine the strength of the company's relationships with the key suppliers and its state of preparation to be a successful partner with those suppliers. Both the supplying and customer companies can also benefit by using the concept of 'structural bonding' and evaluating their relationships with key business partners from the structural point of view. In general, the results indicate that structural bonding gives a critical impact on the level of relationship commitment. Managerial implications and limitations of the study are also discussed.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.31-59
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• 2007

We frequently use search engines to find relevant information in the Web but still end up with too much information. In order to solve this problem of information overload, ranking algorithms have been applied to various domains. As more information will be available in the future, effectively and efficiently ranking search results will become more critical. In this paper, we propose a ranking algorithm for the Semantic Web resources, specifically RDF resources. Traditionally, the importance of a particular Web page is estimated based on the number of key words found in the page, which is subject to manipulation. In contrast, link analysis methods such as Google's PageRank capitalize on the information which is inherent in the link structure of the Web graph. PageRank considers a certain page highly important if it is referred to by many other pages. The degree of the importance also increases if the importance of the referring pages is high. Kleinberg's algorithm is another link-structure based ranking algorithm for Web pages. Unlike PageRank, Kleinberg's algorithm utilizes two kinds of scores: the authority score and the hub score. If a page has a high authority score, it is an authority on a given topic and many pages refer to it. A page with a high hub score links to many authoritative pages. As mentioned above, the link-structure based ranking method has been playing an essential role in World Wide Web(WWW), and nowadays, many people recognize the effectiveness and efficiency of it. On the other hand, as Resource Description Framework(RDF) data model forms the foundation of the Semantic Web, any information in the Semantic Web can be expressed with RDF graph, making the ranking algorithm for RDF knowledge bases greatly important. The RDF graph consists of nodes and directional links similar to the Web graph. As a result, the link-structure based ranking method seems to be highly applicable to ranking the Semantic Web resources. However, the information space of the Semantic Web is more complex than that of WWW. For instance, WWW can be considered as one huge class, i.e., a collection of Web pages, which has only a recursive property, i.e., a 'refers to' property corresponding to the hyperlinks. However, the Semantic Web encompasses various kinds of classes and properties, and consequently, ranking methods used in WWW should be modified to reflect the complexity of the information space in the Semantic Web. Previous research addressed the ranking problem of query results retrieved from RDF knowledge bases. Mukherjea and Bamba modified Kleinberg's algorithm in order to apply their algorithm to rank the Semantic Web resources. They defined the objectivity score and the subjectivity score of a resource, which correspond to the authority score and the hub score of Kleinberg's, respectively. They concentrated on the diversity of properties and introduced property weights to control the influence of a resource on another resource depending on the characteristic of the property linking the two resources. A node with a high objectivity score becomes the object of many RDF triples, and a node with a high subjectivity score becomes the subject of many RDF triples. They developed several kinds of Semantic Web systems in order to validate their technique and showed some experimental results verifying the applicability of their method to the Semantic Web. Despite their efforts, however, there remained some limitations which they reported in their paper. First, their algorithm is useful only when a Semantic Web system represents most of the knowledge pertaining to a certain domain. In other words, the ratio of links to nodes should be high, or overall resources should be described in detail, to a certain degree for their algorithm to properly work. Second, a Tightly-Knit Community(TKC) effect, the phenomenon that pages which are less important but yet densely connected have higher scores than the ones that are more important but sparsely connected, remains as problematic. Third, a resource may have a high score, not because it is actually important, but simply because it is very common and as a consequence it has many links pointing to it. In this paper, we examine such ranking problems from a novel perspective and propose a new algorithm which can solve the problems under the previous studies. Our proposed method is based on a class-oriented approach. In contrast to the predicate-oriented approach entertained by the previous research, a user, under our approach, determines the weights of a property by comparing its relative significance to the other properties when evaluating the importance of resources in a specific class. This approach stems from the idea that most queries are supposed to find resources belonging to the same class in the Semantic Web, which consists of many heterogeneous classes in RDF Schema. This approach closely reflects the way that people, in the real world, evaluate something, and will turn out to be superior to the predicate-oriented approach for the Semantic Web. Our proposed algorithm can resolve the TKC(Tightly Knit Community) effect, and further can shed lights on other limitations posed by the previous research. In addition, we propose two ways to incorporate data-type properties which have not been employed even in the case when they have some significance on the resource importance. We designed an experiment to show the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm and the validity of ranking results, which was not tried ever in previous research. We also conducted a comprehensive mathematical analysis, which was overlooked in previous research. The mathematical analysis enabled us to simplify the calculation procedure. Finally, we summarize our experimental results and discuss further research issues.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.31 no.1 s.84
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• pp.25-38
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to compare the force, the displacement and the stress distribution on the maxillary first molars altered by the application of various asymmetric head-gear. For this study, the finite element models of unilateral Cl II maxillary dental arch was made. Also, the finite element models of asymmetric face-bow was made. Three types of asymmetric face-bow were made : each of the right side 15mm, 25mm and 35mm shorter than the left side. We compared the forces, the displacement and the distribution of stress that were generated by application of various asymmetric head-gear, The results were as follows. 1. The total forces that both maxillary first molars received were similar in all groups. But the forces that mesially positioned tooth received were increased as the length of the outer-bow shortened, and the forces that normally positioned tooth received were decreased as the length of the outer-bow shortened. 2. In lateral force comparison, the buccal forces that normally positioned tooth received were increased as the length of the outer-bow shortened, and the buccal fortes that mesially positioned tooth received were decreased as the length of the outer-bow shortened. Though the net lateral force moved to the buccal side of normally positioned tooth as the length of the outer-bow shortened, both maxillary first molars received the buccal force. That showed 'Avchiai Expansion Effect' 3. The distal forces, the extrusion forces and the magnitudes of the crown distal tipping that mesially positioned tooth received were increased as the length of the outer-bow shortened, and the forces that normally positioned tooth received were decreased as the length of the outer-bow was shortened. 4. The magnitude of the distal-in rotation that normally positioned tooth received were increased as the length of the outer-bow was shortened. But, mesially positioned tooth show two different results. For the outer-bow 15mm shortened, mesially positioned tooth showed the distal-in rotation, hut for the outer-bow 25mm and 35mn shortened, mesially positioned tooth showed the distal-out rotation. Thus, the turning point exists between 15mm and 25mm. 5. This study of the initial stress distribution of the periodontal ligament at slightly inferior of the furcation area revealed that the compressive stress in the distobuccal root of the normally positioned tooth moved from the palatal side to the distal side and the buccal side successively as the length of the outer-bow shortened. 6. This study of the initial stress distribution of the periodontal ligament at slightly inferior of the furcation area revealed that the magnitudes of stress were altered but the total stress distributions were not altered in the mesiobuccal root and the palatal root of normally positioned tooth, and also three roots of mesially positioned tooth as the length of the outer-bow shortened.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Fire Investigation
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.103-121
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• 2006

We are living in more comfortable circumstances with the social developments and the improvement of the standard of living, but, on the other hand, we are exposed to an increase of the occurrences of tires on account of large-sized, higher stories, deeper underground building and the use of various energy resources. The materials of the floor in a residence modern society have been going through various alterations in accordance with the uses of a residence and are now used as final goods in interioring the bottom of apartments, houses and shops. There are so many kinds of materials you usually come in contact with, but in the first place, we need to make an experiment on the spread of the fire with the hypocaust used as the floors of apartments, etc. and the floor covers you usually can get easily. We, scientific investigators, can get in contact with the accidents caused by incendiarism or an accidental fire closely connected with petroleum stuffs on the floor materials that give rise to lots of problems. on this account, I'd like to propose that we conduct an experiment on fire shapes by each petroleum stuff and that discriminate an accidental tire from incendiarism. In an investigation, it seems that finding a live coal could be an essential part of clearing up the cause of a tire but it could not be the cause of a fire itself. And besides, all sorts of tire cases or fire accidents have some kind of legislation and standard to minimize and at an early stage cope with the damage by tires. That is to say, we are supposed to install each kind of electric apparatus, automatic alarm equipment, automatic fire extinguisher in order to protect ourselves from the danger of fires and check them at any time and also escape urgently in case of fire-outbreaking or build a tire-proof construction to prevent flames from proliferating to the neighboring areas. Namely, you should take several factors into consideration to investigate a cause of a case or an accident related to fire. That means it's not in reason for one investigator or one investigative team to make clear of the starting part and the cause of a tire. accordingly, in this thesis, explanations would be given set limits to the judgement and verification on the cause of a fire and the concrete tire-spreading part through investigation on the very spot that a fire broke out. The fire-discernment would also be focused on the early stage fire-spreading part fire-outbreaking resources, and I think the realities of police tire investigations and the problems are still a matter of debate. The cause of a fire must be examined into by logical judgement on the basis of abundant scientific knowledge and experience covering the whole of fire phenomena. The judgement of the cause should be made with fire-spreading situation at the spot as the central figure and in case of verifying, you are supposed to prove by the situational proof from the traces of the tire-spreading to the fire-outbreaking sources. The causal relation on a fire-outbreak should not be proved by arbitrary opinion far from concrete facts, and also there is much chance of making mistakes if you draw deduction from a coincidence. It is absolutely necessary you observe in an objective attitude and grasp the situation of a tire in the investigation of the cause. Having a look at the spot with a prejudice is not allowed. The source of tire-outbreak itself is likely to be considered as the cause of a tire and that makes us doubt about the results according to interests of the independent investigators. So to speak, they set about investigations, the police investigation in the hope of it not being incendiarism, the fire department in the hope of it not being problems in installments or equipments, insurance companies in the hope of it being any incendiarism, electric fields in the hope of it not being electric defects, the gas-related in the hope of it not being gas problems. You could not look forward to more fair investigation and break off their misgivings. It is because the firing source itself is known as the cause of a fire and civil or criminal responsibilities are respected to the firing source itself. On this occasion, investigating the cause of a fire should be conducted with research, investigation, emotion independent, and finally you should clear up the cause with the results put together.