This study aimed to address the limitations of traditional plasma nitriding methods by implementing a short-term plasma oxy-nitriding treatment on the surface of AISI 420 martensitic stainless steel. This treatment involved the sequential formation of nitride and oxide layers, to enhance surface hardness and corrosion resistance, respectively. The process resulted in the formation of a 20 μm-thick nitride layer and a 3 μm-thick oxide layer on the steel surface. Initially, the hardness increased by 2.2 times after nitriding, followed by a subsequent decrease of approximately 31 % after oxidation. While the nitriding process reduced corrosion resistance, the subsequent oxidation process led to the formation of a passive oxide film, effectively resolving this issue. The pitting corrosion of the oxide passive film started at 82.6 mVssc, providing better corrosion resistance characteristics than the nitride layer. Consequently, the trade-off between surface hardness and corrosion resistance in plasma oxy-nitrided AISI 420 martensitic stainless steel is anticipated to be recognized as an innovative and comprehensive surface treatment process for biomedical components.

Many countries around the world are pursuing various support policies to foster start-ups national widely in order to secure new economic growth engines in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The South Korean government announced the diffusion strategy for the 2’nd round Start-up Boom in March 2019 and is promoting the support policies for start-up incubating by various programs. Many incubators and startup accelerators operate various kinds of programs to foster start-ups using government financial supports. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of entrepreneurship and technical capability of entrepreneurs as the internal factors of the technology-based start-ups and the effects of programs supported by the government as an external factor on the corporate performance of a start-up company, and the mediating effects of core competence of start-ups were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS. The results show that the entrepreneurship, technical capability and the programs supported by incubators or accelerators had no direct effects on the corporate performance of a start-up, but the core competence of the company had complete mediating effects. In addition, the type of program supported by the comprehensive accelerator programs or the marketing supports had effects on the core competence rather than simple financial supports. Lastly, the policy proposals for incubating program support and future research directions along with the limitation are suggested.

The South Korean government is actively assisting the supply of the smart factory solutions to SMEs (Small & Medium-sized Enterprises) according to its manufacturing innovation 3.0 policy for the smart manufacturing as the 4th industrial revolution era unfolds. This study analyzed the impacts of the smart factory solutions, which have been supplied by the government, on the companies performances. The effects of the level of smart factory and the operation capabilities for the smart factory solutions on company performances, and the mediating effects of manufacturing capabilities have been analyzed using SPSS and AMOS. The data for this survey-based study were collected from the SMEs which implemented the smart factory solutions since 2015. The results show that the level of smart factory solutions adopted and operation capabilities for the smart factories do not have direct effects on the company performances, but their mediating effects on the manufacturing capabilities matter and the manufacturing capabilities effect directly on the company performances. In addition significant factors boosting the operation capability for the smart factory and the levels of the smart factory solutions are identified. Finally, the policy direction for enhancing the smart factory effects is presented, and the future research directions along with the limitations are suggested.

The Ministry of Environment in Korea published 'The Compilation of National List of Indigenous Insect Species of the Korean Peninsula' in 1996 including 11,853 species. The National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR) originally compiled the national species list of insects to establish a national inventory of endemic biological assets with the joined efforts from all distinguished Korean taxonomists since 2008. For the convenience of scores of professional taxonomic groups participating in the project concurrently, the NIBR has developed the NIBR inventory description method and inventory system from 2008 to 2016. For nine years in this study, the NIBR has established the national insect inventory of 16,558 species including Collembola. The insect fauna of the Korean Peninsula comprises 565 families from 30 orders. The largest orders are Coleoptera (110 families, 4,318 species), Lepidoptera (67 families, 3,733 species), Hymenoptera (61 families, 3,151 species), Hemiptera (88 families, 2,013 species) and Diptera (79 families, 1,944 species). The fractions of the main insect orders in the fauna of the Korean peninsula correspond to those in the Holarctic temperate zone. And totally 13 volumes of national list of insect species in Korea were published.