A Study on the Major Problems of U.S. Women-Owned Small Businesses

This paper investigates the types of problems women-owned businesses face and the relative significance of these problems. The 800 U.S. women business owners were drawn at random from the membership directory of NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners). This paper analyzed the differences of major problems across each growth stage (that is, start-up, early growth, later growth and maturity) and in terms of the type of entrepreneur (that is, general/opportunistic or technical/craftsman) in U.S. women-owned businesses. The findings indicated there were significant differences in the problems faced by women-owned businesses who were in various growth stages of their business life (start up to the maturity stage). Finally, significant differences were found by entrepreneur type (technical/craftsman or general/opportunistic) within these women-owned businesses

Gyrotropic linear and nonlinear motions of a magnetic vortex in soft magnetic nanodots

The authors investigated the gyrotropic linear and nonlinear motions of a magnetic vortex in soft magnetic cylindrical nanodots under in-plane oscillating magnetic fields of different frequencies and amplitudes, by employing both micromagnetic simulations and the numerical solutions of Thiele's equation of motion [Phys. Rev. Lett. 30, 230 (1973)]. Not only noncircular elliptical vortex-core orbital trajectories in the linear regime but also complex trajectories including stadiumlike shape in the nonlinear regime were observed from the micromagnetic simulations and were in excellent agreement with the numerical solutions of the analytical equations of motion. It was verified that the numerical solutions of Thiele's equation are promisingly applicable in order to predict and describe well such complex vortex gyrotropic linear and nonlinear motions in both the initial transient and later steady states. These results enrich the fundamental understanding of the linear and nonlinear motions of vortices in confined magnetic elements in response to oscillating driving forces.open352

Start-Up Success Factors Perceived as Important by USA and Korean Consultants

This study evaluates the determinants for  the start-up process  of successful  businesses in the USA and Korea. In particular, this study focuses on  the personal background of the consultants for start-up businesses from the two countries. How consultants perceive the determinants for start-up and the different factors between the two countries are examined

Progressive Processing of Continuous Range Queries in Hierarchical Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper, we study the problem of processing continuous range queries in a hierarchical wireless sensor network. Contrasted with the traditional approach of building networks in a "flat" structure using sensor devices of the same capability, the hierarchical approach deploys devices of higher capability in a higher tier, i.e., a tier closer to the server. While query processing in flat sensor networks has been widely studied, the study on query processing in hierarchical sensor networks has been inadequate. In wireless sensor networks, the main costs that should be considered are the energy for sending data and the storage for storing queries. There is a trade-off between these two costs. Based on this, we first propose a progressive processing method that effectively processes a large number of continuous range queries in hierarchical sensor networks. The proposed method uses the query merging technique proposed by Xiang et al. as the basis and additionally considers the trade-off between the two costs. More specifically, it works toward reducing the storage cost at lower-tier nodes by merging more queries, and toward reducing the energy cost at higher-tier nodes by merging fewer queries (thereby reducing "false alarms"). We then present how to build a hierarchical sensor network that is optimal with respect to the weighted sum of the two costs. It allows for a cost-based systematic control of the trade-off based on the relative importance between the storage and energy in a given network environment and application. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves a near-optimal control between the storage and energy and reduces the cost by 0.989~84.995 times compared with the cost achieved using the flat (i.e., non-hierarchical) setup as in the work by Xiang et al.Comment: 41 pages, 20 figure

이탈리아 한국어 교육의 현황과 과제 -베네치아 카포스카리 대학교를 중심으로- Current Status and Tasks of Korean Language Education in Italy -Focus on Ca’Foscari University of Venice-

This study aims to examine the current status and tasks of Korean language education in Italy, with a focus on Ca’Foscari University of Venice. Among the Italian universities that offer a Korean language major, Ca’Foscari University has shown the most growth, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in recent years. This study examines the current state of Ca’Foscari University and issues that need to be addressed, the most important being the establishment of master’s and doctorate programs that would allow Korean language majors to study the language in greater depth and help solve the problem of shortages of professional researchers. Ca’Foscari University is currently exerting great effort to open graduate programs for the Korean language, and expects to open a master’s program in the near future in the hope of further developing Korean language education in Italy

Reliability Improvement For Reciprocating Compressor Valve In CCR Reformer (Case Study)

Case Studypg. 269-290Background: After revamp of reformer CCR process where all three compressors are running without stand-by, compressor valve life decreased drastically from 1 year to a few(2~3) months. Troubleshooting: Whole entire factors were investigated from process condition change, piping layout, separating drum size and valve design. Very viscous and sticky heavy hydrocarbon called `Green Oil’ was found at the valves & cylinder could cause valve late closing and consequential excessive impact stress during valve closing. Increased colder spill-back by-pass flow could cool down gas after separator drum made easy formation of heavy hydrocarbon condensate. Moreover liquid condensate could exist as slug at low point of suction manifold piping directly connected to compressor suction. Valve dynamics and pulsation after revamp was acceptable but plate type valve seemed to be not good choice under service including sticky liquid showing bouncing at edge of plate during late closing. Solution implementation and Result: Low point drain of compressor suction manifold piping was added for liquid removal and spill-back flow was reduced by running compressors at partial load to reduce condensation by colder by-pass flow. Valve type was changed to poppet type which is known as relatively better for very viscous and sticky liquid service. Detail study and investigation on suction separator showed nothing bad. After all improvement implementation valve life increased to over 1 year. Lesson Learned: This is a case study for valve failure where entire relevant factors were investigated and any failure of each parameter or its combination can reduce valve life. Mechanical engineer should have relevant knowledge(from mechanical even more to process) and capability to organize the knowledge even process to find root cause

한국어 교육을 위한 추측 표현 연구 = A study on conjecture expressions for Korean language education

This study aims to examine the problems related to the teaching of conjecture expressions, analyze their features, and suggest educational methods to systematically and effectively teach Korean conjecture expressions. There are different conjecture expressions in Korean. A conjecture expression is an indication of the speaker's psychological attitude toward the situation. Communication results may vary depending on how appropriately conjecture expressions are used in situations. The importance of conjecture expressions is well recognized in Korean language education and treated as an essential grammatical feature in the curriculum. Despite their importance, they are not taught systematically in the classroom. This study analyzed four different Korean textbooks to identify the problems related to teaching conjecture expressions and examine how conjecture expressions are taught in the classroom. The following material in the textbooks were examined: the conjecture expressions presented in each textbook, the order and steps of the presentation, and the grammatical explanation. We made the following observations. First, there were differences in the expressions presented in each textbook. Although 10 to 15 expressions were given as representative, there were only seven expressions were common to all four textbooks: -은/는/을 것 같-, -은/는/을지 모르-, -을 터이-, -은/는가 보-, -나 보-, -을까 보-, -겠-. Second, there was a difference in the order and level of the conjecture expressions presented in the textbooks. Not only did the conjecture expression first presented in each textbook differ, the stage at which it was presented was different too. Moreover, their order of presentation and level-setting was different. Third, the meaning of the conjecture expressions was not clearly presented in the textbooks. In general, it was not easy to accurately understand the meaning of the expression because their meaning was only described briefly, and the important qualities of individual conjecture expressions were not appropriately presented in the textbooks. Thus, it was difficult to accurately understand the meaning and usage of the expressions purely based off the grammatical explanations. To identify the difference between the conjecture expressions given in Korean textbooks and those used in everyday life, this study analyzed the use frequency of spoken corpora. A total of 25 conjecture expressions were analyzed from the spoken corpora. Of these, the use frequency of -은/는/을 것 같-, -겠-, and -을 것이- was 40.23%, 28.65%, and 10.68% respectively. Compared to the Korean textbooks, of the high-frequency expressions -은/는/을 것 같-, -겠-, -을 것이- those that were common to the textbooks were -은/는/을 것 같-과 -겠-. However, -을 것이-, which was used frequently, was not common to the textbooks. This seems to show that actual language use is not being reflected in Korean language education. This study also presented a step-by-step teaching method to address these problems and effectively teach conjecture expressions. To teach such expressions step-by-step, the study selected 13 essential conjecture expressions based on an analysis of spoken corpora, Korean textbooks, and the National Institute of Korean Language's "Korean Language Education Grammar and Expression Content Development." In addition, the study also analyzed the morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic features of the selected expressions and examined their significant qualities. Moreover, the teaching level for the expressions was divided into three stages to provide a balanced education. The study suggests using frequency, difficulty, and the practicality of learning as criteria for determining the stages. Finally, the study presented a step-by-step teaching model and content to teach conjecture expressions based on methods and contents suitable for the beginner, intermediate, and advanced stages. Since conjecture expressions are presented for the first time at the beginner level, it is essential to learn their grammatical meanings accurately. Hence, the study proposes a bottom-up teaching method in which teachers clearly present the rules of grammar and learners learn the sentence form through practice. Since many conjecture expressions are presented at the intermediate level, it is important to understand the differences between expressions and help students choose the expressions appropriate to the context. Intermediate Korean learners have significantly improved from the beginner level but are not yet able to speak Korean proficiently. Thus, elements of the bottom-up method were retained given their level of Korean in a blended method that partially incorporates top-down methods. Since learners can accurately use conjecture expressions at the advanced level due to their understanding of the subtle differences in the meaning and the patterns used in spoken and written Korean, the study proposes a top-down teaching method in which the teacher gives a story or a text and have the students learn the grammatical forms through the assignment

Remarkable enhancement of domain-wall velocity in magnetic nanostripes

Remarkable reductions in the velocity of magnetic-field (or electric current)-driven domain-wall (DW) motions in ferromagnetic nanostripes have typically been observed under magnetic fields stronger than the Walker threshold field [N. L. Schryer and L. R. Walker, J. Appl. Phys. 45, 5406 (1974)]. This velocity breakdown is known to be associated with an oscillatory dynamic transformation between transverse- and antivortex (or vortex)-type DWs during their propagations. The authors propose, as the result of numerical calculations, a simple means to suppress the velocity breakdown and rather enhance the DW velocities, using a magnetic underlayer of strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. This underlayer plays a crucial role in preventing the nucleation of antivortex (or vortex)-type DWs at the edges of nanostripes, in the process of periodic dynamic transformations from the transverse into antivortex- or vortex-type wall. The present study not only offers a promising means of the speedup of DW propagations to levels required for their technological application to ultrafast information-storage or logic devices, but also provides insight into its underlying mechanism.open383