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Role of CopA to Regulate repABC Gene Expression on the Transcriptional Level (전사 수준에서 repABC 유전자 발현을 조절하는 CopA 단백질의 역할)

  • Sam Woong Kim;Sang Wan Gal;Won-Jae Chi;Woo Young Bang;Tae Wan Kim;In Gyu Baek;Kyu Ho Bang
    • Journal of Life Science
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    • v.34 no.2
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    • pp.86-93
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    • 2024
  • Since replication of plasmids must be strictly controlled, plasmids that generally perform rolling circle replication generally maintain a constant copy number by strictly controlling the replication initiator Rep at the transcriptional and translational levels. Plasmid pJB01 contains three orfs (copA, repB, repC or repABC) consisting of a single operon. From analysis of amino acid sequence, pJB01 CopA was homologous to the Cops, as a copy number control protein, of other plasmids. When compared with a CopG of pMV158, CopA seems to form the RHH (ribbon-helix-helix) known as a motif of generalized repressor of plasmids. The result of gel mobility shift assay (EMSA) revealed that the purified fusion CopA protein binds to the operator region of the repABC operon. To examine the functional role of CopA on transcriptional level, 3 point mutants were constructed in coding frame of copA such as CopA R16M, K26R and E50V. The repABC mRNA levels of CopA R16M, K26R and E50V mutants increased 1.84, 1.78 and 2.86 folds more than that of CopA wt, respectively. Furthermore, copy numbers owing to mutations in three copA genes also increased 1.86, 1.68 and 2.89 folds more than that of copA wt, respectively. These results suggest that CopA is the transcriptional repressor, and lowers the copy number of pJB01 by reducing repABC mRNA and then RepB, as a replication initiator.

The Interpretation of a Korean Folk Tale from the Perspective of Analytical Psychology (민담 <외쪽이>의 분석심리학적 해석)

  • Ji Youn Kim
    • Sim-seong Yeon-gu
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    • v.32 no.2
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    • pp.122-168
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    • 2017
  • I tried to understand a folk tale "The half-boy" in terms of analytical psychology. In the story, a lady without children prayed to the Buddha. The white old man came and gave three fishes, but the cat ate half of it. So, she ate two and a half. She gave birth to two perfect sons. The third son had one arm, one leg, and one eye. They grew well. Brothers went to take the civil service examinations, and the half-boy followed. But two brothers did not like the half-boy coming along. So, brothers tied the half-boy to the rocks and trees, and he picked them up with force and gave them down to the yard of the house. And the half-boy followed his brothers again, and brothers tied him with kudzu and put him in front of the tiger. The half-boy won the tiger by betting with cutting kudzu. The half-boy stripped off the tiger's skin. The host coveted the tiger skin and they played with janggi. The half-boy won the game and was permitted to take host's daughter. The half-boy went with a string, a drum, a flea, and a bedbug. He teased host's people with these. The half-boy brought a virgin and lived well. "The Half-Boy" folktale is an old story spread throughout the country. There are similar stories in India and Africa. Unilateral figures are universally distributed archetypal images. In numerous cultures gods and spirits are being portrayed as unilateral figures. In the creation mythology, half-figure beings have immortality. In Indonesian and African folk tales, the half-born boy goes to heaven and merges with its half and becomes perfect. Some of one-sided spirits are harmful to humans but some of one-sided birds, chickens, and spirits are helpful to people. Sometimes half being is a cultural hero who steals grain from heaven or gets some advice how to use bamboo. There are stories that half body becomes a whole body afterwards. But in this folktale and most of the similar folktales, half-figure does not change and maintains half-figure to the end. And as a half-figure he does various great things and marries a virgin. The half-boy symbolizes a psychic experience born in the unconscious. The unconscious contents may seem strange and weird at first and the collective consciousness does not want to accept them. But the unconscious exerts greater power and brings vitality and creativity to consciousness. This folk tale seems to have compensated for the stubborn collective consciousness of our society, which was a Confucian class society. It also allows people to change their attitude toward disabled people and recognize strengths and creativity of the handicapped.

Effects of the Type of Exchanged Ions and Carbon Precursors on Methane Adsorption Behavior in Zeolite Templated Carbons Synthesized Using Various Ion-Exchanged Faujasite Zeolites (이온교환된 Faujasite 제올라이트를 이용한 제올라이트 주형 탄소체 합성 시 이온 교환 금속과 탄소 전구체가 메탄 흡착 거동에 미치는 영향)

  • Ki Jun Kim;Churl-hee Cho;Dong-Woo Cho
    • Clean Technology
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    • v.30 no.2
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    • pp.123-133
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    • 2024
  • Zeolite template carbon (ZTC) was synthesized as an adsorbent to remove low-concentration CH4 from the atmosphere. The synthesis of ZTC was performed using CH4 and C2H2 as carbon precursors and their impact on adsorption was investigated. ZTC was also synthesized using Y zeolite ion-exchanged with CaCl2 and LiCl as templates to investigate the effect of using metals in ion exchange. The comparison of the carbon precursors revealed that C2H2 had a higher carbon yield than CH4. The synthesized ZTC exhibited developed micropores due to carbon deposition deep inside the micropores of the zeolite template. The kinetic diameter of C2H2 (0.33 nm) is smaller than that of CH4 (0.38 nm), which allowed for its deposition. The study compared metal precursors used for ion exchange and confirmed that the CaCl2-based ZTC developed more micropores compared to the LiCl-based ZTC. The ion-exchanged Ca inhibited pore blocking by the carbon precursor, allowing it to enter the pores. The ability of synthesized ZTC to adsorb N2 and CH4 at 298 K was investigated. The results showed that CH4 had a higher overall adsorption amount than N2. The sample synthesized using C2H2 and CaY exhibited the highest N2 and CH4 adsorption capacity. However, the sample synthesized with CH4 had the highest CH4/N2 gas uptake ratio, which is a crucial factor in designing an adsorption process. The observed difference was likely caused by the underdevelopment of ultrafine pores that are associated with N2 adsorption. This resulted in a reduction of N2 adsorption, leading to an increase in CH4/N2 separation.

A Study of the Health Promoting Life Style in Rural Area (일부 농촌주민의 건강증진 생활양식 수행정도)

  • Jung, Young-Ok;Kim, Sang-Soon
    • Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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    • v.20 no.2
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    • pp.133-148
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    • 1995
  • This study was to identify the factors affecting the performance in health promoting lifestyle and measuring health promoting lifestyle. The subjects for this study were all adult in rural area, Kakbuk Nyun, Chung-do Gun, Kyungpook, Korea. The data were collected during the period from April 1 to April 30, 1995. The instruments used for this study were the health promoting lifestyle by Park(1995). The results of this study are as follows. Health condition felt by the subjects was worse in female group and was getting worse according as the age increase. According to health promoting life style implementation questionnaire, more than half of the subjects responded "never" in deep breathing 3 times a day item and non-smoking item; more than half of the subjects responded "yes" in 3 meal a day item, home-cooked meals item, never to omit breakfast item and frequent wearing of cotton underwear item. Health promoting life style implementation by health condition is higher in healthy group and frequency of consulting a specialist is higher in unhealthy group. Health promoting life style implementation by sex is higher in male group. Frequency, of consulting a specialist and non-excessive drinking are higher in female group. Health promoting life style implementation by age showed that the implementation of never omitting breakfast, keeping early hours and proper sleeping is higher in old age group ; that of enjoying hobby, pastime, cleaning as well as reading health books is higher in young age group. Health promoting life style implementation by religion showed that the implementation of deep breathing 3 times more a day, regular checking of blood pressure, never having non-healthful food and keeping right posture in sitting and standing is higher in religion group. Health promoting life style implementation by education is higher in highly-educated group ; the implementation of keeping early hours is higher in low-educated group. Health promoting life style implementation by marriage state showed that the implementation of deep breathing 3 times more a day, twenty minutes of brisk physical movement three or four times a week, enjoying his or her own time, relaxation to relieve from tension and pressure and equalized movement of each part of body is higher in unmarred group ; that of having elaborately cooked food, never omitting three meals a day and keeping early hours is higher in married group. Health promoting life style implementation by the number of family members showed that more-member-group has more plans and objectives for their future. Health promoting life style implementation by family type showed that the implementation of reading health books and articles, living with positive way of thinking and enjoying favorite hobby in pastime is higher in nuclear families ; that of having three meals a day never omitting breakfast is higher in large families.

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Adsorption of Arsenic onto Two-Line Ferrihydrite (비소의 Two-Line Ferrihydrite에 대한 흡착반응)

  • Jung, Young-Il;Lee, Woo-Chun;Cho, Hyen-Goo;Yun, Seong-Taek;Kim, Soon-Oh
    • Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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    • v.21 no.3
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    • pp.227-237
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    • 2008
  • Arsenic has recently become of the most serious environmental concerns, and the worldwide regulation of arsenic fur drinking water has been reinforced. Arsenic contaminated groundwater and soil have been frequently revealed as well, and arsenic contamination and its treatment and measures have been domestically raised as one of the most important environmental issues. Arsenic behavior in geo-environment is principally affected by oxides and clay minerals, and particularly iron (oxy)hydroxides have been well known to be most effective in controlling arsenic. Among a number of iron (oxy)hydroxides, for this reason, 2-line ferrihydrite was selected in this study to investigate its effect on arsenic behavior. Adsorption of 2-line ferrihydrite was characterized and compared between As(III) and As(V) which are known to be the most ubiquitous species among arsenic forms in natural environment. Two-line ferrihydrite synthesized in the lab as the adsorbent of arsenic had $10\sim200$ nm for diameter, $247m^{2}/g$ for specific surface area, and 8.2 for pH of zero charge, and those representative properties of 2-line ferrihydrite appeared to be greatly suitable to be used as adsorbent of arsenic. The experimental results on equilibrium adsorption indicate that As(III) showed much stronger adsorption affinity onto 2-line ferrihydrite than As(V). In addition, the maximum adsorptions of As(III) and As(V) were observed at pH 7.0 and 2.0, respectively. In particular, the adsorption of As(III) did not show any difference between pH conditions, except for pH 12.2. On the contrary, the As(V) adsorption was remarkably decreased with increase in pH. The results obtained from the detailed experiments investigating pH effect on arsenic adsorption show that As(III) adsorption increased up to pH 8.0 and dramatically decreased above pH 9.2. In case of As(V), its adsorption steadily decreased with increase in pH. The reason the adsorption characteristics became totally different depending on arsenic species is attributed to the fact that chemical speciation of arsenic and surface charge of 2-line ferrihydrite are significantly affected by pH, and it is speculated that those composite phenomena cause the difference in adsorption between As(III) and As(V). From the view point of adsorption kinetics, adsorption of arsenic species onto 2-line ferrihydrite was investigated to be mostly completed within the duration of 2 hours. Among the kinetic models proposed so for, power function and elovich model were evaluated to be the most suitable ones which can simulate adsorption kinetics of two kinds of arsenic species onto 2-line ferrihydrite.

Policy Direction for The Farmland Sizing Suitable to Regional Trait (지역특성을 반영한 영농규모화사업의 발전방향-충남지역을 중심으로-)

  • Shim, Jae-Sung
    • The Journal of Natural Sciences
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.83-121
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    • 2004
  • This study was carried out to examine how solid the production foundation of rice in Chung-Nam Province is, and, if not, to probe alternative measures through the size of farms specializing in rice, of which direction would be a pivot of rice industry-oriented policy. The results obtained can be summarized as follows : 1. The amount of rice production in Chung-Nam Province is highest in Korea and the size of paddy field area is the second largest : This implying that the probability that rice production in Chung-Nam Province would be severely influenced by a global trend of market conditions. The number of farms specializing in rice becoming the core group of rice farming account for 7.7 percent of the total number of farm household in Korea. Average field area financial support which had been input to farm household by Government had a noticeable effect on the improvement of the policy of farm-size program. 2. Farm-size program in Chung-Nam Province established from 1980 to 2002 in creased the cultivation size of paddy field to 19,484 hectares, and this program enhanced the buying and selling of farmland and the number of farmland bargain reached 6,431 household and 16,517 hectares, respectively, in 1995-2002. Meanwhile, long-term letting and hiring of farmland appeared so active that the bargain acreage reached 6,970 hectares, and farm involved was 7,059 households, however, the farm-exchange-and-unity program did not satisfy our expectation, because the retirement farm operators reluctantly participated to sell their farms. Another reason that had delayed the bargain of farms rested on the general category of social complication attendant upon the exchange and unity operation for scattered farm. Such difficulties would work negative effects out to carry on the target of farm-size work in general. 3. The following measures were presented to propel the farm-size promotion program : a. Occupation shift project, followed by the social security program for retirement and elderly farm operators, should be promptly established and also a number of types of incentives for promoting the letting and hiring work and farm-exchange-and-unity program would also be set up. b. To establish the effective key system of rice production, all the farm operators should increase the unit area yield of rice and lower the production cost. To do so, a great deal of production teams of rice equipped with managerial techniques and capabilities need to be organized. And, also, there should be appropriate arrays of facilities including information system. This plan is desirable to be in line with a diversity of the structural implement of regional integration based on farm system building. c. To extend the size of farm and to improve farm management, we have to devise the enlargement of individual size of farm for maximized management and the utilization of farm-size grouping method. In conclusion, it can be said that the farm-size project in Chung-Nam Province which has continued since the 1980s was satisfactorily achieved. However, we still have a lot of problems to be solved to break down the barrier for attainment of the desirable farm-size operation work.. Farm-size project has fairly close relation with farm specialization in rice and, thus, the positive support for farm household including the integrated program for both retirement farmers and off-farm operators should be considered to pursue the progressive development of the farm-size program, which is key means to successful achievement of rice farming enforcement in Chung-Nam Province.

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A Study on Developing a VKOSPI Forecasting Model via GARCH Class Models for Intelligent Volatility Trading Systems (지능형 변동성트레이딩시스템개발을 위한 GARCH 모형을 통한 VKOSPI 예측모형 개발에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Sun-Woong
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.16 no.2
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    • pp.19-32
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    • 2010
  • Volatility plays a central role in both academic and practical applications, especially in pricing financial derivative products and trading volatility strategies. This study presents a novel mechanism based on generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) models that is able to enhance the performance of intelligent volatility trading systems by predicting Korean stock market volatility more accurately. In particular, we embedded the concept of the volatility asymmetry documented widely in the literature into our model. The newly developed Korean stock market volatility index of KOSPI 200, VKOSPI, is used as a volatility proxy. It is the price of a linear portfolio of the KOSPI 200 index options and measures the effect of the expectations of dealers and option traders on stock market volatility for 30 calendar days. The KOSPI 200 index options market started in 1997 and has become the most actively traded market in the world. Its trading volume is more than 10 million contracts a day and records the highest of all the stock index option markets. Therefore, analyzing the VKOSPI has great importance in understanding volatility inherent in option prices and can afford some trading ideas for futures and option dealers. Use of the VKOSPI as volatility proxy avoids statistical estimation problems associated with other measures of volatility since the VKOSPI is model-free expected volatility of market participants calculated directly from the transacted option prices. This study estimates the symmetric and asymmetric GARCH models for the KOSPI 200 index from January 2003 to December 2006 by the maximum likelihood procedure. Asymmetric GARCH models include GJR-GARCH model of Glosten, Jagannathan and Runke, exponential GARCH model of Nelson and power autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (ARCH) of Ding, Granger and Engle. Symmetric GARCH model indicates basic GARCH (1, 1). Tomorrow's forecasted value and change direction of stock market volatility are obtained by recursive GARCH specifications from January 2007 to December 2009 and are compared with the VKOSPI. Empirical results indicate that negative unanticipated returns increase volatility more than positive return shocks of equal magnitude decrease volatility, indicating the existence of volatility asymmetry in the Korean stock market. The point value and change direction of tomorrow VKOSPI are estimated and forecasted by GARCH models. Volatility trading system is developed using the forecasted change direction of the VKOSPI, that is, if tomorrow VKOSPI is expected to rise, a long straddle or strangle position is established. A short straddle or strangle position is taken if VKOSPI is expected to fall tomorrow. Total profit is calculated as the cumulative sum of the VKOSPI percentage change. If forecasted direction is correct, the absolute value of the VKOSPI percentage changes is added to trading profit. It is subtracted from the trading profit if forecasted direction is not correct. For the in-sample period, the power ARCH model best fits in a statistical metric, Mean Squared Prediction Error (MSPE), and the exponential GARCH model shows the highest Mean Correct Prediction (MCP). The power ARCH model best fits also for the out-of-sample period and provides the highest probability for the VKOSPI change direction tomorrow. Generally, the power ARCH model shows the best fit for the VKOSPI. All the GARCH models provide trading profits for volatility trading system and the exponential GARCH model shows the best performance, annual profit of 197.56%, during the in-sample period. The GARCH models present trading profits during the out-of-sample period except for the exponential GARCH model. During the out-of-sample period, the power ARCH model shows the largest annual trading profit of 38%. The volatility clustering and asymmetry found in this research are the reflection of volatility non-linearity. This further suggests that combining the asymmetric GARCH models and artificial neural networks can significantly enhance the performance of the suggested volatility trading system, since artificial neural networks have been shown to effectively model nonlinear relationships.

Christian Educational Proposals for Revitalizing Research on North Korea's 'education' (북한 '교육' 연구 활성화를 위한 기독교교육적 제언)

  • Ham, Seung su
    • Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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    • v.71
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    • pp.305-340
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    • 2022
  • This study was started to suggest the direction of Christian educational development to revitalize North Korea's 'education' research. Since the two Koreas have experienced heterogeneity in almost all elements of society, such as politics, economy, society, culture, and education, during the period of division in 1977, true unification depends on laying the foundation for social integration that can overcome the sense of heterogeneity between the two Koreas. This is why North Korea's "education" research is needed. Education is the foundation for transferring culture and history, and for bringing about the survival, transformation, and community of society and since it is the mission of Korean churches and Christian educators to establish the direction of North Korean "education" research, North Korean "education" research is very important. Despite this importance, 'North Korean research' in the field of Christian education has not been properly conducted. Research on the "Christian Unification Education Program" that can be used in churches is actively taking place, but research on the macro level of presenting post-unification education blueprints is rare. This study was started to suggest the direction of Christian educational development to revitalize North Korea's 'education' research. For the study, the characteristics of 'North Korea Research' were analyzed according to generational classification. As a result of the study, recent research on North Korea has been expanding in research topics and methodologies, and recent studies have been differentiated into microscopic studies that deviate from existing research trends at a macro level and view North Korea's daily life. The characteristics of 'North Korean education research' are summarized by period. The research on North Korean education, which began in earnest in the 1970s, was divided into the period of start(70s), transition(80s), leap(90s), expansion(2000s), and development(2010s~). and research characteristics for each period were analyzed. Through this, early North Korean education research was also conducted in the policy aspect of the country, and the characteristics of political and social studies were strong, but recent studies have confirmed that the subjects and contents are diversifying. Based on these studies, the pending issues and issues of North Korean education research in the field of Christian education were analyzed. The study of North Korea in the field of Christian education, which began in the 1980s, has been conducted in the engineering aspect of 'development of unification education programs for churches'. However, studies on Christian unification education and North Korean education itself, which can be used in public education sites including Christian schools, have yet to be sufficient. Nevertheless, the diversification of research in the field of Christian education can be evaluated as a positive change. Based on these studies, it was proposed to establish a de-ideological research foundation, secure primary research data(Raw Data), activate research topics and research methodologies, and strengthen research capabilities in the direction of development to revitalize North Korean research in the field of Christian education. I hope this study will trigger various follow-up studies and help Korean churches that must achieve unification.

The Literary Investigation On Types and Cooking Method of Bap (Boiled Rice) During Joseon Dynasty($1400's{\sim}1900's$) (조선시대 밥류의 종류와 조리방법에 대한 문헌적 고찰(1400년대${\sim}1900$년대까지))

  • Bok, Hye-Ja
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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    • v.22 no.6
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    • pp.721-741
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    • 2007
  • 1. For the types of boiled rice, there were 1 type of bap, 1 type of jebap cooked with glutinous rice, 13 types of boiled rice cooked by mixing grains and nuts such as daemakban, somakban, jobap, cheongryangmiban, jobap, gijangbap, yulmubap, hyeonmibap, boribap and patmulbap as well as patbap, congbap, byeolbap and bambap etc as ogokbap. Also, there were 12 types of bap cooked by mixing herb medicinal ingredients such as cheongjeong, oban, boksungabap, gumeunsaekbap, hwanggukgamchobap, yeongeunbap, okjeongbap, gogumabap, dububap, samssibap, dorajibap, gamjabap, songibap and jukshilbap. There were 7 types bap cooked as unique one bowl dish at the present as bapby mixing fish, meat, shellfish and milk as ingredients are hwangtang, gyejanggukbap, janggukbap, gulbap, kimchibap, chusaban and bibimbap, etc and the types of bap that have been analyzed are 34 total. 2. For the food ingredients used in bap types 23 types of miscellaneous grains, 5 types of nuts and 11 types of meat, 6 types of fish, 35 types of vegetables, 2 types of fruit including pears or peaches were used. Garlic wasn't used perhaps because of it being boiled rice 3. Types of Sap by Cooking Methods. (1) The ssalbap was cooked by first boiling water, putting in rice grains and boiling hard to be cooked as overcooked bap (rice). (2) The japgokbap (boiled cereals) has used buckwheat, barley job's tear, etc to be boiled down by soaking the ones with large grains (beans) first in advance to be boiled down or cooked by crushing into fine pieces. The red bean, etc was boiled down in advance or placed at the bottom of pot by cutting into two pieces while jujube or nut was cut into three pieces to cook the bap by pouring a lot of water and mixing other ingredients. (3) The gukbap (soup boiled rice), etc were cooked by squeezing out the yellow chrysanthemum that has dried chrysanthemum to cook the boiled rice by putting in rice and gukbap, meat or bones, etc were boiled down for a long time and decorated with meat or wild greens by mixing the bap in the meat juice. For gulbap (oyster boiled rice), etc, it was cooked as ingredients were stir fried in advance or washed and put in when the bap was about half cooked. (4) For bibimbap (mixed boiled rice), after the bap was overcooked first with rice, the wild greens were mixed lightly with bap beforehand, then the wild greens, decorations and garnishings were laid above rice and red pepper powder was sprinkled. (5) Namchok leaves, etc were boiled to cook the boiled rice with rice after being cooled while namchok stem and leaves were pounded to make juice and cooked the bap with rice. The peach, lotus root and yams were cut into fine pieces to be put in together when rice was about half done. The bellflower was soaked in water to be boiled down for a long time while potatoes and pine mushrooms, etc were cut into fine pieces to cook the bap (boiled rice) with rice.

The Effects of Self-regulatory Resources and Construal Levels on the Choices of Zero-cost Products (자아조절자원 및 해석수준이 공짜대안 선택에 미치는 영향)

  • Lee, Jinyong;Im, Seoung Ah
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.13 no.4
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    • pp.55-76
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    • 2012
  • Most people prefer to choose zero-cost products they may get without paying any money. The 'zero-cost effect' can be explained with a 'zero-cost model' where consumers attach special values to zero-cost products in a different way from general economic models (Shampanier, Mazar and Ariely 2007). If 2 different products at the regular prices of ₩200 and ₩400 simultaneously offer ₩200 discounts, the prices will be changed to ₩0 and ₩200, respectively. In spite of the same price gap of the two products after the ₩200 discounts, people are much more likely to select the free alternative than the same product at the price of ₩200. Although prior studies have focused on the 'zero-cost effect' in isolation of other factors, this study investigates the moderating effects of a self-regulatory resource and a construal level on the selection of free products. Self-regulatory resources induce people to control or regulate their behavior. However, since self-regulatory resources are limited, they are to be easily depleted when exerted (Muraven, Tice, and Baumeister 1998). Without the resources, consumers tend to become less sensitive to price changes and to spend money more extravagantly (Vohs and Faber 2007). Under this condition, they are also likely to invest less effort on their information processing and to make more intuitive decisions (Pocheptsova, Amir, Dhar, and Baumeister 2009). Therefore, context effects such as price changes and zero cost effects are less likely in the circumstances of resource depletion. In addition, construal levels have profound effects on the ways of information processing (Trope and Liberman 2003, 2010). In a high construal level, people tend to attune their minds to core features and desirability aspects, whereas, in a low construal level, they are more likely to process information based on secondary features and feasibility aspects (Khan, Zhu, and Kalra 2010). A perceived value of a product is more related to desirability whereas a zero cost or a price level is more associated with feasibility. Thus, context effects or reliance on feasibility (for instance, the zero cost effect) will be diminished in a high level construal while those effects may remain in a low level construal. When people make decisions, these 2 factors can influence the magnitude of the 'zero-cost effect'. This study ran two experiments to investigate the effects of self-regulatory resources and construal levels on the selection of a free product. Kisses and Ferrero-Rocher, which were adopted in the prior study (Shampanier et al. 2007) were also used as alternatives in Experiments 1 and 2. We designed Experiment 1 in order to test whether self-regulatory resource depletion will moderate the zero-cost effect. The level of self-regulatory resources was manipulated with two different tasks, a Sudoku task in the depletion condition and a task of drawing diagrams in the non-depletion condition. Upon completion of the manipulation task, subjects were randomly assigned to one of a decision set with a zero-cost option (i.e., Kisses ₩0, and Ferrero-Rocher ₩200) or a set without a zero-cost option (i.e., Kisses ₩200, and Ferrero-Rocher ₩400). A pair of alternatives in the two decision sets have the same price gap of ₩200 between a low-priced Kisses and a high-priced Ferrero-Rocher. Subjects in the no-depletion condition selected Kisses more often (71.88%) over Ferrero-Rocher when Kisses was free than when it was priced at ₩200 (34.88%). However, the zero-cost effect disappeared when people do not have self-regulatory resources. Experiment 2 was conducted to investigate whether constual levels influence the magnitude of the 'zero-cost effect'. To manipulate construal levels, 4 different 'why (in the high construal level condition)' or 'how (in the low construal level condition)' questions about health management were asked. They were presented with 4 boxes connected with downward arrows. In a box at the top, there was one question, 'Why do I maintain good physical health?' or 'How do I maintain good physical health?' Subjects inserted a response to the question of why or how they would maintain good physical health. Similar tasks were repeated for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th responses. After the manipulation task, subjects were randomly assigned either to a decision set with a zero-cost option, or to a set without it, as in Experiment 1. When a low construal level is primed with 'how', subjects chose free Kisses (60.66%) more often over Ferrero-Rocher than they chose ₩200 Kisses (42.19%) over ₩400 FerreroRocher. On contrast, the zero-cost effect could not be observed any longer when a high construal level is primed with 'why'.

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