• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.23-33
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• 2013

Purpose - Numerous studies have tried to assess the role of a warranty as an explanatory instrument for product quality. While one study argued that manufacturers signal their superior quality to consumers by extending the duration of a warranty, quality is not necessarily related to warranty and a warranty for a short duration is a sign of high product quality. However, there are limitations to measuring product quality in terms of a single variable such as a warranty. Some other studies have evaluated the influence of brand power or value and price on the supposed quality of a product while the influence of warranty was found to be insignificant. Research design, data, methodology - The study analyzes the influence of brand power and the country of origin effect on consumers' perception of product quality in line with warranty and establishes a priority strategy. Especially, consumer experience has a significant influence on state of the art technology products like applied home electronics as these goods are generally quite expensive and consumers expend significant energy in purchasing them, so the associated warranty and brand can have a critical role in the decision making process. The price of the product was excluded in this discussion as it continually varies with the market share of the product. Results - The results of the analysis are as follows: First, each of the factors such as the standard of the warranty, brand power, and country of origin effect influences the degree of satisfaction of an individual. Second, the factors brand power and quality of the warranty interact both complementarily and synergistically at a time, depending on the brand power. As brand power is more significant, the degree of satisfaction is greater in case of products with low quality warranty compared to those with high quality warranty. Third, the brand power and country of origin effect present a complementary interaction. Fourth, the country of origin effect and quality of a warranty interact synergistically. Conclusions - Thus, the higher the quality of warranty, greater is the increment in the degree of satisfaction. The comprehensive study on the effect of the country of origin on the purchase decision process and the degree of satisfaction compared to the other elements shows that in case of Japanese and Korean markets the brand power of a company is desirable in sustaining the quality of warranty to the industrial average. Also, there is no significant improvement in the perceived quality of the product when the quality of the warranty is lowered. Therefore, the warranty effect diminishes when the value of the brand is known, while it perishes when both the brand power and the country of origin effect are strong enough.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.3D
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• pp.279-288
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• 2010

Recently, researches on the performance warranty contracting has been going on to improve construction quality in road pavement area. The performance warranty contracting gives construction companies opportunity to select materials and methods freely while asks them to maintain a certain level of performance during a given period. To introduce the performance warranty contracting in Korea, lots of research results on performance indicator and threshold value of asphalt pavement have been made to be included in the warranty specification. However, research effort on the performance indicator and threshold value of concrete pavement which is commonly constructed in expressway and national highway has not been enough. In this study, the warranty duration, performance indicator, and threshold value of the concrete pavement were investigated by reviewing literatures on cases of the performance warranty contracting in European countries and states of the US. Major distresses influencing the performance of jointed concrete pavement were investigated and analyzed to be compared to the warranty duration, performance indicator, and threshold value of foreign countries.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.6D
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• pp.793-801
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• 2011

Existing specifications of road pavement require contractors to meet only materials and construction conditions regardless of pavement life. There are limitation of developing road pavement technology and possibility causing dispute between ordering organization and contractor with this type of specification. Research efforts to introduce performance warranty contracting are in progress in the field of road pavement to improve the problems. The performance warranty contracting gives the contractors opportunity to select materials and construction methods as they like. But they should satisfy a certain level of performance during a given period. The performance indicator and threshold value of pavement which are main elements of the warranty specification should be defined first to introduce the performance warranty contracting successfully. In this study, the performance indicator, threshold value, and warranty duration of asphalt pavement were investigated by reviewing literatures on performance warranty contracting of some states of the US. Major distresses influencing the performance of the asphalt pavement were investigated at 24 national expressway lines and national highway lines in 16 regions, and the data were analyzed to be compared to the cases of the US. Development of rational performance warranty specification for domestic asphalt pavement is expected based on the research results.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.65-73
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• 2011

Recently, researches to introduce the performance warranty contract are in progress for quality improvement of road pavements. The performance warranty contract is a type of contract in which contractors guarantee to maintain certain level of performance during a period from completion of construction. The contract use in Europe and the U.S is being increased because it has been known to contribute to improvement of structure quality, reduction of life cycle cost, development of construction techniques, and etc. The research on performance indicators, threshold values, and warranty durations is essential to effectively introduce the contract in Korea. In this study, literatures on the performance warranty contract for concrete pavements of the Minnesota, Indiana, and Florida of the U.S. were reviewed. Major distresses influencing the pavement performance were investigated and analyzed in the jointed concrete pavement sections of 21 Korean expressway routes to be compared to the performance indicators, threshold values, and warranty durations of the states. More accurate comparison is expected by investigation in planned sections for a long time.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.487-492
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• 2006

This study estimated characteristics and genetic parameters for milking traits in Holstein dairy cattle. Daily records (12,561) were available from a hundred fifty four lactating cows with sixty six sires at National Livestock Research Institute from November, 2005 to April, 2006. The cows were fed same rations, and were milked twice daily using milking parlour equipped with Alpro-system?? to collect milking records automatically. The experimental cows have averaged 1.9 parities, 139.7 days in milk, and 13kg milk yield per milking. Average milk flow was 64% of peak milk flow. Milking duration, peak milk flow, average milk flow, and milk yield per milking were 5.57±1.67 minutes, 3.58±0.79kg/minute, 2.28±0.51kg/minute, and 13.02±4.09kg, respectively. All traits in the morning milking were higher than those of in the evening milking, and were also increased with parity. Heritabilities for milking duration, peak and average milk flow, and milk yield per time were 0.49, 0.70 0.58 and 0.36, respectively. The genetic correlations of milking duration with peak milk flow, average milk flow, and milk yield per time were 0.48, 0.54, and 0.41, respectively. The correlations of milk yield per milking with peak milk flow and average milk flow were 0.23 and 0.30, respectively. In conclusion, milk flow was increased with milk yield; however milk flow was opposite relationship with milk duration. Further studies are not only necessary to warranty genetic parameters, but pre-installation of automatic recording system to collect daily milking record is also necessary.