• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.50 no.7
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• pp.81-96
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to understand consumer values derived from products by the contemporary consumers, as the meaning of a product is extended from the functional utilities to the mediums of fulfilling consumer values. Consumer values have been researched from the marketers' perspectives and, thus, the scales to measure consumer values tend to be too abstract and not always reflective of the consumers' perspectives. Holbrook's typology of consumer values is utilized and the products are classified into four groups according to the product characteristic of the utilitarian versus hedonic, and the consumption spaces of the indoor and outdoor. The findings are as follows. First, the values of efficiency, excellence, ethics, and spirituality are more likely derived from utilitarian products, while the value of play is more likely derived from the hedonic products. Second, the values of efficiency, excellence, and ethics are more likely derived from the indoor products, and values of playfulness, esthetics, status, and respect are more likely derived from the outdoor products. Third, the most frequently mentioned values are the efficiency, playfulness, and status. Fourth, the list of products answered as being representative for four types of products are short to include obvious products such as TV, mobile phone, computer, car, refrigerator, and MP3 player. Both the utilitarian and hedonic values are derived from TV, computer, and mobile phone, while the utilitarian value from refrigerator and car, and the hedonic value from MP3 player, digital camera, and game consoles. The results imply that consumer values should be carefully understood and reflected in developing new products in order to successfully fulfill consumers' underlying needs and requirements.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.747-754
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• 2012

The objective of this study was to investigate free amino acid composition, antioxidant activity, alcohol dehydrogenase activity and the sensory quality attributes for the development of functional soy sauce using Hutgae (Hovenia dulcis Thunb) fruit, which is well-known for improving liver function and alleviating various negative physiological effects following heavy consumption of alcoholic beverages. Soy sauces adding six types of extract from Hutgae fruit (HF) were prepared (SSH1: HF 20%, SSH2: HF 10%, SSH3: HF 20%/40 days NaCl extract, SSH4: HF 20%/20 days NaCl extract, SSH5: HF 20% water bath extract, SSH6: freeze-drying powder from HF 20% aqueous extract), compared with soy sauce using the conventional method. These soy sauces were used for determining alcohol dehydrogenase activity by NADH absorbance, the antioxidant effect by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity and sensory evaluation by sensory scaling. Total free amino acid contents for most samples were in the range of 327.3 to 375.5 mg%, and then, aspartic acid and glutamic acid content of SSH1 and SSH5 were higher than that of others. DPPH radical scavenging activity was shown to be the highest in SSH4, also SSH1, SSH5 and SSF6 were shown to be higher than the control group. Alcohol dehydrogenase activity was shown to be the highest in SSH5. In sensory evaluation, the highest intensity of roast smell was observed in SSH4 while sweet taste was shown to be the highest in SSH5, and SSH3 and SSH5 revealed higher overall acceptability. From these results, Hutgae fruit soy sauces demonstrated antioxidant activity and alcohol dehydrogenase activity. In conclusion, soy sauces containing the water bath extract of Hutgae fruit may be used as a functional seasoning.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.355-365
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• 2020

Background: This study is aimed to verify individual and regional-level factors affecting the depression of Koreans and to develop social programs for improving the depressive status. Methods: This study used individual-level variables from the Korean Community Health Survey (2018) and used the e-regional index of the Korean Statistical Information Service as the regional-level variable. A multi-level logistic regression was executed to identify individual and regional-level variables that were expected to affect the extent of depressive symptoms and to draw the receiver operating characteristic curve to compare the volume of impact between variables from both levels. Results: The results of the multi-level logistic regression analysis in regards to individual-level factors showed that older age, female gender, a lower income level, a lower education level, not having a spouse, the practice of walking, the consumption of breakfast higher levels of stress, and having high blood pressure or diabetes were associated with a greater increase in depressive symptoms. In terms of regional factors, areas with fewer cultural facilities and fewer car registration had higher levels of depressive symptoms. The comparison of area under the curve showed that individual factors had a greater influence than regional factors. Conclusion: This study showed that while both, individual and regional-level factors affect depression, the influence of the latter was relatively weaker as compared to the first. In this sense, it is necessary to develop programs focused on the individual, such as social prescribing at the local or community-level, rather than the city and nation-level approach that are currently prevalent.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.609-620
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• 2017

This study set out to examine the effects of usage characteristics of web novels, which have recently gained popularity in the Internet and mobile platforms, on the satisfaction and continued usage intention of users. For that purpose, the investigator conducted a survey with 333 web novel users. The survey results show that web novel users recorded a high level of flow when they had a challenging spirit and proficiency in the process of using the content. Their high level of flow in web novels had positive impacts on their satisfaction and continued usage intention for web novels. When they were highly satisfied with web novels, they intended to use the content continuously. Those findings indicate that web novel users should be encouraged to have a challenging spirit and proficiency in the content consumption process so that they can develop flow in the content. In addition, it is suggested that there should be efforts to increase their flow and satisfaction to promote their continued usage of web novels.

• Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.342-358
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• 2007

Ubiquitous Computing System (UCS) is a system where the user can get information through computer network anytime and anywhere regardless of the places. Since UCS is a personalized system, it should interact with other systems. UCS will bring a remarkable change in production, consumption, politics, economy, community, culture, and other areas related to our daily life. That is, a high-quality UCS results in high-quality services provided to users. Hence, this paper proposes a systematic quality model based on ISO/lEC 9126 in order to evaluate the ubiquitous computing system, based on ISO/lEC 9126. And, we identify key characteristics of UCS and derive the set of quality attributes based on identified characteristics. We define metrics for each quality attribute and Ubiquitous Computing Quality Model CUCQM) so that we can evaluate overall environment and important characteristics of UCS.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.204-210
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• 2009

This study investigated consumer grape recognition and preference, to improve grape quality. The questionnaire explored consumption frequency, purchasing locations, amounts purchased, general preferences, seedless/seeded preference, and external/internal quality factors. Answers to 519 questionnaires were analyzed both descriptively and quantitatively using SPSS for Windows(Version 14.0). The principal results were as follows: 46.1% of respondents purchased at wholemarket; 38.5% purchased 3-5 bunches at any one time; 76% preferred grapes to other fruits; and 49.8% purchased bigger(and not smaller) grapes. Most customers preferred seedless grapes. The most important external quality factor was bunch fullness and the most significant internal factor was sweetness.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1-30
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• 2005

Currently, attentions toward the Chinese market have been growing rapidly. Economical values of China are highly appreciated. The current shift of economical environments in China leads to changes in the way of consumers' consumption. The purpose of this study is to identify the Chinese consumers' brand purchasing behavior according to their lifestyle. Questionnaires developed by researcher were distributed and collected from 118 Chinese consumers living in metropolitan areas of China. In research, five different lifestyles were identified; which are the vogue pursuing group, the social intercourse group, the traditional conservative group, the achievement pursuit group, and the passive stagnated group. These groups differed in the perception of cosmetic prices, purchase motivations, post-acquisitional satisfaction, and their demographics. For example, the vogue pursuing group consumers turned out to consider price as the most important element when they purchase cosmetics, while the social intercourse group valued recommendation from others more. Meanwhile the traditional conservative group and the achievement group each used past experience and attributes as their criterion.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.34 no.12B
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• pp.1349-1358
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• 2009

Because of the limitation of supporting power, the current WSN(Wireless Sensor Network) Technologies whose one of the core attributes is low power consumption are the best solution for shipping container networking in stack environment such as on vessel. So it is effective to use the Wireless Sensor Network Technology. In this case, many nodes join in the network through a sink node because there are difficulties to get big money and efforts to set up a lot of sink node. It needs clustering-based proactive protocol to manage many nodes. But it shows low reliability because they have effect on radio frequency in metal obstacle environments(interference, distortion, reflection, and etc) like the intelligent container. In this paper, we proposed an improved Modified LEACH Protocol for stableness radio frequency environment. In the proposed protocol, we tried to join the network and derived stable topology composition after the measuring of link quality. Finally, we verified that the proposed protocol is composing more stable topology than previously protocol in metal obstacle environment.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.516-524
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• 2012

K-pop has gained its popularity all over the world, and its popularity is mostly concentrated in Asian countries. Korean wave which has started from Korean dramas has expanded its horizon to K-pop, which centers around idol singers since 2005. The K-pop's popularity is evident from fans imitating singers' dance moves, makeup, appearance, and even trying to learn Korean. This study tries to explore consuming behaviors of Asian K-pop consumers from China, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam, and the main reasons Asian consumers prefer K-pop over their own countries' pop. The study also analyzes on how K-pop influences K-pop consumers to build positive feeling toward Korea and give them intention to visit Korea. The results showed the differences among K-pop consuming behaviors, relationship among attributes of K-pop, positive feeling toward Korea, and intention to visit Korea among four Asian countries. Findings would be the stepping stone that could support K-pop to expand its market to other foreign countries.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.511-529
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• 2016

The current study aims to segment Chinese female consumers using their lifestyle dimensions in the cosmetics market, and analyze their cosmetics purchasing behavior based on that segmentation. Specifically, lifestyle groups were examined to see if there is any group difference(s) in consumer behavior for Korean cosmetics. Lifestyle groups were examined based on: consumers' demographic characteristics, perceived brand attributes, loyalty toward Korean cosmetics, usage of Korean cosmetics products, preferred stores of shopping for Korean cosmetics, and use of information sources in purchase decisions. An online survey was administered to female consumers who live in Beijing and Shanghai. A total of 493 surveys were used for data analyses. The results of the study were as follows: First, factor analysis revealed 11 significant lifestyle dimensions. Second, using these 11 lifestyle dimensions, cluster analysis was conducted, which revealed four distinct groups of consumers: (1) "timid inactive group," characterized by having low scores in most lifestyle dimensions; (2) "showcase goers," who tend to be highly fashion/appearance-conscious and brand-oriented; (3) "practical buyers," who tend to be price-conscious, sensitive and timid; and (4) "sensible buyers," who enjoy finer meals and wellbeing lifestyles, as well as hardworking in everything and impulse-buy things. Third, consumer behavior of purchasing Korean cosmetics brands were examined; significant differences among the four lifestyle groups were found. The study concludes with a discussion of the results and practical implications.