Many firms see organizational learning systems as critical to facilitating competitive advantage. However, until now, few tourism studies have empirically investigated and identified how the different characteristics of highly competitive organizations, such as travel agencies, influence competitive advantage in a dynamic environment. This study uses a mediation-moderation analysis for such an empirical examination. A total of 288 travel agencies from Taiwan were analysed. The authors found that travel agencies’ shared goals may influence competitive advantage through characteristics of dynamic capability development, differential strategy implication and social capital accumulation. Greater levels of organizational learning may positively strengthen the relationships between (a) shared goals and dynamic capability, (b) shared goals and social capital, and (c) social capital and competitive advantage. Implications of these findings for managerial and theoretical frameworks are also discussed.

In order to cope with the steady increase in social demand, the establishment of forest welfare facilities is being considered not only by the national or local governments but also in the private sector. However, just as there are varying types of facilities, there are varying regulations overseeing these facilities, as well as complex processes involving negotiations between related government agencies, designation, approvals for establishment plans, registration, and feasibility assessments. Forest welfare facilities are created through heavy investment, thus requiring a prudent approach. Therefore, this study has compared the procedures of forest welfare facilities, identified points of improvement in the planning procedures, and provided basic data on forest welfare facilities plans. This study has reviewed the existing literature relating to the concept of forest welfare facilities and site selection and identified related laws and regulations on which new establishments are based. Further, it has examined the procedure of establishment of forest welfare facilities specified in the relevant laws and regulations, finally arriving at implications that consider similarities in establishment procedures in forest welfare facilities. There have been ongoing studies to evaluate and determine appropriate sites for forest welfare facilities. In addition to common elements such as landscapes and natural (forest) environments, previous studies have suggested methods for selecting appropriate sites based on specific evaluation factors, according to the characteristics of individual facilities. Some research results have been legislated and are being utilized subsequently. In addition, in the case of woodland burial grounds, which are suffering from various civil complaints during the establishment process due to psychological rejection unlike other forest welfare facilities, this study found that there were no indications of procedures such as public hearings, feasibility assessments, and committee reviews.

Road construction and maintenance of deteriorated pavement has been continued since industrialization. Demand for aggregate with a good quality has been increasing from limited resources, but it is difficult to supply aggregates smoothly due to environmental protection regulations (Jo et al., 2015). Accordingly, efforts are being made in the road construction industry to utilize industrial products for the purpose of efficient use of resources and environmental preservation. Steel slag which contains a non-reactive CaO is used primarily as a material for embankment and soil covering depending on the expansion and environmental issues. On the other hand, steel slag shows a variety of performance improvements as including increased elasticity factors, increased indirect tensile strength, and improved plastic deformation resistance when handling the expansion issue with sufficient aging processing (Ali et al., 1991, Asi et al., 2007). In this study, the behavior characteristics of the slag asphalt concrete mixture were analyzed according to temperature to encourage the use of steel slag aggregate. Specimens with steel slag showed a higher initial strain than those with natural aggregates. But strain of specimens were nearly similar over the repeated temperature changes. The experimental results for specimens with these characteristics were less likely to cause the performance problems from temperature because the measured strains were relatively small than strain caused from other loads. In conclusion, it is necessary to design and construction process reflecting the behavior characteristics according to temperature to encourage the use of steel slag aggregate.

One of the most important national tasks of the current administration is to realize social value and boost the economy. In the road sector, it is particularly important to ensure the road sectors public good and create jobs based on the Framework Act on the Realization of Public Institutions’ Social Value (Proposal). In regard to job creation in the road sector, however, there has so far been a lack of career management for construction engineers. In this regard, this study used Monte Carlo simulation and analyzed how to estimate the amount of manpower required to efficiently manage engineering human resources in the road sector. Monte Carlo simulation uses random numbers for prediction and estimation, extracts values repeatedly from a probability distribution predefined by the user, and performs tasks on various scenarios. This study made the following assumptions for the analysis: (a) researchers’ abilities were identical; (b) the research project was analyzed on a 1 year basis while technical advice was analyzed on a 9-week basis to reflect the characteristics of the road sector; (c) technical advice had the same probability from Week 1 to Week 52; (d) the amount of manpower required for a project carried over to the next year was input at the beginning of the year; and (e) the largest amount of manpower required at any particular time in a year was calculated and estimated as required manpower. The input variables were an estimated number of project and technical advice in each research field while the output variables were the amount of manpower and technical advice required for each research project. Simulation was performed 10,000 times. An analysis found that required number of manpower for case analysis was 75 as opposed to the current number of 66, assuming that 57 research projects were undertaken and technical advice was provided 223 times. Every sector is making efforts to create social value through various means. The field of construction social overhead capital is no exception. It has undertaken a very important task to ensure the role of roads in public good and create jobs. However, there is still a lack of objective approach to estimate the required amount of manpower. Thus, as done in this study, calculating required manpower through the simulation method would be useful as an objective evidence for job creation.

The government focuses the innovation paradigm of public institutions on the realization of social value through national tasks. Efforts are now being made to legislate the Framework Act on the Realization of Public Institutions’ Social Value, which allows public institutions to serve as the foundation and check the progress of social value realization plans every year. According to this Act, the government performance review must also reflect efforts and outcomes made to create social value. Traditional public institutions in the road sector are trying to convert social responsibility, job creation and related activities into indicators of social value realization. Social value refers to a “value that can contribute to public interests and community development in all areas including social, economic, environmental, and cultural ones.” This definition commonly used in government policy includes the concept of public institutions’ social responsibility and shared value creation. Here, social responsibility refers to the returning of corporate profits to society for the continued development of a community while shared value creation refers to the solving of a social problem by a company pursuing both economic and social value creation. The performance sharing scheme in particular is regarded as an important tool for companies to create social value. In this regard, this study examines how public institutions in the road sector used the performance sharing scheme. The purpose of this study is also to discover more cases based on this analysis. The analysis so far found the following 5 types of performance sharing schemes in the road sector: (a) service improvement, (b) technology development, (c) conditional purchasing, (d) technology transfer, and (e) performance sharing between multiple parties. Notably, technology transfer or performance sharing between multiple parties means that public institutions provide support to the private sector so that it can take the lead and develop required technology. These instances can be good examples of public institutions serving as the foundation and creating social value by removing new technology entry barriers for small and medium-sized enterprises and supporting the development of the latest prioritized technology or product. Accordingly, there needs to be established a cooperative ecosystem between small, medium, and large companies in a win-win approach to increase the adoption rate of SME support projects and provide more technical advice in the road sector and thereby, to expand the cases of shared growth where outcomes are shared in the road sector.

As mobile shopping has increased in the new media age, fashion consumers’ decision making and product consumption processes have changed. The volume of consumer-driven information has expanded since media and social networking sites have enabled consumers to share information they obtain. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors affecting information searching strategies and information sharing about fashion products. An online survey collected data from 466 respondents, relating to the influence of product price level and consumer SNS commitment level on information search and information sharing. Experimental design of three product price level and two consumer SNS commitment level was used. Analysis of the data identified factors in fashion information searching as ongoing searching, prepurchase web portal information search, and prepurchase marketing information search. For low-price fashion products, prepurchase product-detail influenced intention to share information. For mid-priced products, ongoing search significantly affected intention to share information. Both ongoing search and prepurchase marketing information search showed significant effects for high-price products. Consumers who are more committed to SNS engaged in significantly more searching in all aspects of information search factors. Significant interaction effect was detected for consumer SNS commitment level and product price level. When consumers with low consumer SNS commitment search for information on lower-priced fashion products, they are less likely do a prepurchase web portal information search.

Both carcass yield and meat quality are important indices for beef grade, and consequently they are crucial factors for determining beef consumption and price. However, an optimal slaughter time for satisfying high carcass yield and meat quality has not been systemically evaluated, and identifying the time requires their relationship. Therefore, the objective of this study is 1) to examine the distribution of carcass yield by quality index, and 2) to investigate correlation between factors for judging grades of carcass yield and meat quality. We applied statistical analysis (ANOVA and correlation) for the data of Hanwoo (892 data points: bulls=311, cows=163, steers=418) slaughtered from 1995 to 2006. As a result of ANOVA, the mean difference of carcass yield in quality grade 3 was different with grade 1+, 1, and 2(p<0.05). In the correlation analysis, the meat quality grade showed a positive weak correlation with carcass yield (r=0.259, p<0.05), but was negatively correlated to carcass weight and back-fat thickness which were factors for carcass yield index calculation (-0.225 and -0.154, respectively, p<0.05). The results provide an initial idea for relating carcass yield and quality so that we can use it for determining the optimal time for slaughting.

고염식식습관은 다양한 질병을 일으키고 공중보건을 위협할 수 있다. 그 동안 고염식식습관을 통제하기 위한 다양한 시도가 이루어져 왔으나 건강커뮤니케이션을 통해 고염식식습관을 변화시킬 수 있는지에 대한 연구는 아직 이루어지지 못하였다. 본 연구는 고염식의위험성과 식습관의 통제가능성에 대한 인식이 고염식식습관을 얼마나 예측하는지를 검토함으로써 식습관 개선 교육을 위한 시 사점을 찾고자 하였다. 이러한 연구목적을 달성하기 위해 보호동기 이론의 하위요인인심각성, 취약성, 효율성, 효능 및 행동 경향을 측정하기 위한 설문지를 개발하였으며 설 문지를 충남소재 대학의 대학생들과 그들의 가족을 대상 으로 배포하였다. 설문결과를 SPSS프로그램으로 분석한 결과를 보면 다음과 같다. 첫째, 청년층은 장년층보다 나 트륨섭취가 더 많았다. 둘째, 상관관계분석에서 장년층은 고염식으로 인한 위험에 취약하다는 것을 알고 있지만 고 염식을 억제할 수 있다고 확신할 때 까지는 식습관을 바꾸지 않는다. 셋째, 구조모델분석에 따르면 대처지각이 높을수록 고염식식습관의 경향성이 낮아지는 경향을 보인다. 이 결과는 고염식식습관을 줄이기 위해서는 실행 가능한 정보를 제공하고 저염식을 하였을 때 어떤 변화가 발생하는지를 인식 시킴으로써 대처지각을 높이는 방안이 더 효과적임을 시사한다.

Methyl benzoate (MB) is a natural compound in many plants and shows insecticidal toxicity against various insect pests. We determined contact, fumigant, and repellent activities of MB against the sweetpotato whitefly Bemisia tabaci and the greenhouse whitefly Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae). Complete contact mortality was obtained by 4% MB. Contact mortality at 2% MB into eggs, 4th instar nymphs and adults were 69.4%, 91.6% and 80%, respectively. Fumigation of 2% MB killed 95% of adults. In addition, treatment of 4% MB repelled 60% adults. There was no significant different between two species. Our results suggest that MB has high potential as an natural pesticide for sustainable pest management in crop production.

Fungus gnat, Bradysia impatiens is the most serious pest of different vegetable crops, mushroom and ornamental crops. In this study, we compared the control efficacy of two entomopathogenic nematode; Steinernema carpocapsae and Heterorhabdistis indica in Bradysia impatiens last instar maggots at 25℃ in laboratory. Our present study shows that, nematode infection and reproduction both were higher in the warm adapted nematode H. indica than the cold adapted S. carpocapsae. Therefore, entomopathogenic nematode H. indica can be use for control the Badysia impatiens as the efficient biological control agent.