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An Analysis of the Moderating Effects of User Ability on the Acceptance of an Internet Shopping Mall (인터넷 쇼핑몰 수용에 있어 사용자 능력의 조절효과 분석)

  • Suh, Kun-Soo
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.27-55
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    • 2008
  • Due to the increasing and intensifying competition in the Internet shopping market, it has been recognized as very important to develop an effective policy and strategy for acquiring loyal customers. For this reason, web site designers need to know if a new Internet shopping mall(ISM) will be accepted. Researchers have been working on identifying factors for explaining and predicting user acceptance of an ISM. Some studies, however, revealed inconsistent findings on the antecedents of user acceptance of a website. Lack of consideration for individual differences in user ability is believed to be one of the key reasons for the mixed findings. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and several studies have suggested that individual differences in ability plays an moderating role on the relationship between the antecedents and user acceptance. Despite the critical role of user ability, little research has examined the role of user ability in the Internet shopping mall context. The purpose of this study is to develop a user acceptance model that consider the moderating role of user ability in the context of Internet shopping. This study was initiated to see the ability of the technology acceptance model(TAM) to explain the acceptance of a specific ISM. According to TAM. which is one of the most influential models for explaining user acceptance of IT, an intention to use IT is determined by usefulness and ease of use. Given that interaction between user and website takes place through web interface, the decisions to accept and continue using an ISM depend on these beliefs. However, TAM neglects to consider the fact that many users would not stick to an ISM until they trust it although they may think it useful and easy to use. The importance of trust for user acceptance of ISM has been raised by the relational views. The relational view emphasizes the trust-building process between the user and ISM, and user's trust on the website is a major determinant of user acceptance. The proposed model extends and integrates the TAM and relational views on user acceptance of ISM by incorporating usefulness, ease of use, and trust. User acceptance is defined as a user's intention to reuse a specific ISM. And user ability is introduced into the model as moderating variable. Here, the user ability is defined as a degree of experiences, knowledge and skills regarding Internet shopping sites. The research model proposes that the ease of use, usefulness and trust of ISM are key determinants of user acceptance. In addition, this paper hypothesizes that the effects of the antecedents(i.e., ease of use, usefulness, and trust) on user acceptance may differ among users. In particular, this paper proposes a moderating effect of a user's ability on the relationship between antecedents with user's intention to reuse. The research model with eleven hypotheses was derived and tested through a survey that involved 470 university students. For each research variable, this paper used measurement items recognized for reliability and widely used in previous research. We slightly modified some items proper to the research context. The reliability and validity of the research variables were tested using the Crobnach's alpha and internal consistency reliability (ICR) values, standard factor loadings of the confirmative factor analysis, and average variance extracted (AVE) values. A LISREL method was used to test the suitability of the research model and its relating six hypotheses. Key findings of the results are summarized in the following. First, TAM's two constructs, ease of use and usefulness directly affect user acceptance. In addition, ease of use indirectly influences user acceptance by affecting trust. This implies that users tend to trust a shopping site and visit repeatedly when they perceive a specific ISM easy to use. Accordingly, designing a shopping site that allows users to navigate with heuristic and minimal clicks for finding information and products within the site is important for improving the site's trust and acceptance. Usefulness, however, was not found to influence trust. Second, among the three belief constructs(ease of use, usefulness, and trust), trust was empirically supported as the most important determinants of user acceptance. This implies that users require trustworthiness from an Internet shopping site to be repeat visitors of an ISM. Providing a sense of safety and eliminating the anxiety of online shoppers in relation to privacy, security, delivery, and product returns are critically important conditions for acquiring repeat visitors. Hence, in addition to usefulness and ease of use as in TAM, trust should be a fundamental determinants of user acceptance in the context of internet shopping. Third, the user's ability on using an Internet shopping site played a moderating role. For users with low ability, ease of use was found to be a more important factors in deciding to reuse the shopping mall, whereas usefulness and trust had more effects on users with high ability. Applying the EML theory to these findings, we can suggest that experienced and knowledgeable ISM users tend to elaborate on such usefulness aspects as efficient and effective shopping performance and trust factors as ability, benevolence, integrity, and predictability of a shopping site before they become repeat visitors of the site. In contrast, novice users tend to rely on the low elaborating features, such as the perceived ease of use. The existence of moderating effects suggests the fact that different individuals evaluate an ISM from different perspectives. The expert users are more interested in the outcome of the visit(usefulness) and trustworthiness(trust) than those novice visitors. The latter evaluate the ISM in a more superficial manner focusing on the novelty of the site and on other instrumental beliefs(ease of use). This is consistent with the insights proposed by the Heuristic-Systematic model. According to the Heuristic-Systematic model. a users act on the principle of minimum effort. Thus, the user considers an ISM heuristically, focusing on those aspects that are easy to process and evaluate(ease of use). When the user has sufficient experience and skills, the user will change to systematic processing, where they will evaluate more complex aspects of the site(its usefulness and trustworthiness). This implies that an ISM has to provide a minimum level of ease of use to make it possible for a user to evaluate its usefulness and trustworthiness. Ease of use is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the acceptance and use of an ISM. Overall, the empirical results generally support the proposed model and identify the moderating effect of the effects of user ability. More detailed interpretations and implications of the findings are discussed. The limitations of this study are also discussed to provide directions for future research.

Revision of an iodine database for Korean foods and evaluation of dietary iodine and urinary iodine in Korean adults using 2013-2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (한국인 상용 식품의 요오드 데이터베이스 업데이트와 이를 활용한 한국 성인의 요오드 섭취량 및 배설량 평가: 2013-2015 국민건강영양조사자료를 이용하여)

  • Choi, Ji Yeon;Ju, Dal Lae;Song, YoonJu
    • Journal of Nutrition and Health
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    • v.53 no.3
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    • pp.271-287
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    • 2020
  • Purpose: Variations in the iodine contents of foods is critical for estimating the iodine intake. This study aimed to update the iodine database of common Korean foods and evaluated the iodine intake in Korean adults. Methods: A list of 855 Korean foods was selected for the updated iodine database. The updated database was established with Version 1 and 2 by applying an average or minimum value for the imputed values. The iodine intake was estimated in 5,927 Korean adults using the data from the 2013-2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Results: The analytical values in the updated database were 166 (19.4%), followed in order by 318 (37.2%), 247 (28.9%), and 124 (14.5%) for the adapted, imputed, and missing values, respectively. The median of dietary iodine intake was 352.1 ㎍/day (± 2,166.1) and 343.4 ㎍/day (± 2,161.9) in Version 1 and 2 among the total population. The contribution rates of each food group to the iodine intake were 55.7% for seaweeds, which showed a similar trend in Version 2. When subjects were divided by consumption of seaweeds, the median iodine intake was 495.7 ㎍ in the consumer group, which was almost double (241.2 ㎍) that of the non-consumer group. The proportion of subjects who consumed below the Estimated Average Requirement of iodine was 11.0% in the non-consumer group. In contrast, 11.6% in the consumer group of seaweed consumed above the Upper Level of iodine. When the dietary iodine and urinary iodine were examined, the regression coefficient was 0.11718 in Version 1 and 0.11512 in Version 2 after adjusting for age and sex. Conclusion: This study presented the variation of iodine intake in Korean adults by applying different versions of the iodine database. As the iodine intake can vary due to the highly variable concentrations in the major food sources, an iodine database is necessary to be monitored, and caution should be taken when the database is used in research.

Changes in the Hyperspectral Characteristics of Wheat Plants According to N Top-dressing Rates at Various Growth Stages (밀에서 질소 시비 조건에 따른 생육 단계별 초분광 특성 변화)

  • Jung, Jae Gyeong;Lee, Yeong Hun;Choi, Jae Eun;Song, Gi Eun;Ko, Jong Han;Lee, Kyung Do;Shim, Sang In
    • KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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    • v.65 no.4
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    • pp.377-385
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    • 2020
  • Recently, wheat consumption has been increasing in Korea, requiring increased production. Nitrogen fertilization is a critical determinant in crop yield; therefore, it is necessary to optimize the nitrogen fertilization regime with current trends that emphasize the minimum impact of nitrogen fertilizer on the environment. In this study, both nondestructive spectral analysis using a hyperspectral camera and growth analysis were performed to determine the optimal N top-dressing rates after heading. The nitrogen application regimes consisted of three conditions according to the secondary top-dressing rate: N4:3:0 (0 kg 10 a-1), N4:3:3 (2.73 kg 10 a-1), and N4:3:6 (5.46 kg 10 a-1). Subsequently, growth and physiological investigations were performed at the jointing, heading, and ripening stages of wheat, and spectral investigations were conducted. On April 29, as the nitrogen fertilization rate was increased to N4:3:3 and N4:3:6, plant height and grain yield increased by 4% and 8%, and 8% and 52%, respectively, compared to those under N4:3:0. Leaf area index and SPAD value also increased by 13% and 24%, and 32% and 43%, respectively. The R (red), G (green), and B (blue) of leaf color were lowered by 15, 11, and 4 in N4:3:3 and 44, 34, and 18 in N4:3:6, respectively, as compared to the control. Grain yield was the highest at high top-dressing (N4:3:6), however, there was no difference between no top-dressing (N4:3:0) and intermediat top-dressing (N4:3:3). The reflectance analyzed using a hyperspectral camera showed a difference in the near-infrared (NIR) region on March 19, and on April 29, there was a difference both in the visible light region greater than 550 nm and the NIR region. Vegetation indices differed according to fertilization regime, except for the greenness index (GI). The results of this study showed that not only growth and physiological analysis but also spectral indices can be used to optimize the nitrogen top-dressing rate.

Problems of Water Use and Estimation of Water Right in North Han River Shared by North and South Korea (II) - Estimation of Water Right in Downstream Area (남북공유하천 북한강의 물이용 문제점 및 수리권 추정 (II) -하류유역 수리권 추정)

  • Ahn, Jong-Seo;Lee, Gwang-Man;Jung, Kwan-Sue
    • Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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    • v.44 no.4
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    • pp.315-325
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    • 2011
  • There are not many practical measures to solve a water conflict, when a hydromorphologically asymmetric situation in international rivers exists whereby downstream users may not affect upstream users but upstream users do cause downstream impacts. In taking advantage of this merit, North Korea has built Imnam Dam in upstream of North Han River and uses water for trans-basin hydropower generation. As an impact of this dam South Korean' area as a downstream user has been suffered from water deficit and dry river. It is very critical for South Korea to solve a key problem such as water allocation for water supply and river maintenance. Therefore, this study is aim to suggest alternatives for equitable water allocation in consideration of special circumstances between the South and the North. For this, reviewing the allocation methods of water rights is carried using lessons obtained from international river cases. The results show that the minimum desired streamflow is calculated at 7.3 $m^3/sec$; water budget analysis by the equitable distribution of streamflows at the border line of the North Han River, the difference in water supply deficiency is at 3.7 $m^3/sec$ before and after Imnam Dam; in the determined distribution method, the difference in water deficiency is at 11.38 $m^3/sec$. These results show that South Korea should be secured 11.38 $m^3/sec$ from North Korean's Imnam Dam in respective of water use right and sound river maintenance.

An effect on the Job-satisfaction and Service quality of the effect factor on Job-satisfaction of Family Restaurant Service Staff (외식업체 종사원의 직무만족 영향요인이 직무만족과 서비스품질에 미치는 영향)

  • 이형백;노진옥
    • Journal of Applied Tourism Food and Beverage Management and Research
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    • v.16 no.2
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    • pp.175-199
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    • 2005
  • Family Restaurant is a service business of a kind. The role of service operator is to improve a sales of service goods through maximizing the service value with customer satisfaction at the moment of MOT(moment of truth). Family Restaurant come to the great growth on the face of it. In future, it will place emphasis more and more on not hardware but software including service quality. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to research the effect on service quality of the job satisfaction of Family Restaurant's service staff. Data was collected from the employee who are working at Family Restaurant located in Taegu. The empirical research has been done over 50days from 1April, 2004 to 20May, 2004. In conclusion of empirical analysis, 4 hypotheses were significant among 7 hypotheses suggested in this study. The research showed as follows : First, the organic trait among the effect factor of job satisfaction perceived by Family Restaurant service staff showed positive influence on job satisfaction. Second, the personal trait among the effect factor of job satisfaction perceived by Family Restaurant service staff showed positive influence on service quality. Third, the official trait among the effect factor of job satisfaction perceived by Family Restaurant service staff showed negative influence on job satisfaction. Fourth, the organic trait among the effect factor of job satisfaction perceived by Family Restaurant service staff showed positive influence on service quality. Fifth, the personal trait among the effect factor of job satisfaction perceived by Family Restaurant service staff showed negative influence on service quality. Sixth, the organic trait among the effect factor of job satisfaction perceived by Family Restaurant service staff showed negative influence on service quality. Seventh, the job satisfaction of Family Restaurant service staff showed positive influence on service quality. Besides, the critical points of this study are as follows; First, we designated the subject of research to the employee of Family Restaurant only. Second, multi-situations(time, holiday) which can happen as service was offered, wasn't concerned. Third, as service quality was estimated by general service quality, the research in future should subdivide service quality more. I, finally, applied the pervious researches on job satisfaction and service quality in the employee of Family Restaurant. To extend more this research model in future, the variables like customer satisfaction should be added.

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Combination Effect of Various Freezing and Thawing Techniques on Quality and Nutritional Attributes of Onions (다양한 냉·해동 방법에 따른 양파의 이화학적 특성 및 영양성분 변화)

  • Jung, You-Kyoung;Jang, Min-Young;Hwang, In-Guk;Yoo, Seon-Mi;Min, Sang-Gi;Jo, Yeon-Ji;Chun, Ji-Yeon;Choi, Mi-Jung
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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    • v.44 no.10
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    • pp.1492-1503
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    • 2015
  • This study evaluated the combination effect of various freezing and thawing techniques on the quality and nutritional aspects of onions. Onions were frozen by natural air convection freezing (NCF), air blast freezing (ABF), and liquid nitrogen freezing (LNF). Onions were frozen for 76 min by NCF, 9 min by ABF, and 9 min by LNF. The freezing treatment was stopped when the core temperature reached $-12^{\circ}C$ for NCF and ABF, and $-120^{\circ}C$ for LNF. Frozen samples were thawed through natural air convection thawing, running water thawing, sonication thawing (ST), or microwave thawing. The quality and nutritional aspects of frozen-thawed onions were evaluated by measuring thawing loss, pH, texture, water content, color, and SEM image. ST was found to cause the least loss in onion sample among the tested thawing methods, whereas the freezing methods did not cause any significant loss. In our experiment, thawing is found to be a more critical technique when compared to that of freezing. There were no clear quantifications or trends of pH and water content among different freezing and thawing techniques. The highest total color difference (${\Delta}E$) was observed in the NCF sample. For morphological observation, ABF gave the smallest ice crystal size, as well as minimum cell collapse. Loss of vitamin C, free sugar, and organic acid content was lower in the ABF and ST sample, when compared to other trials. In our study, we found that combination of ABF and ST could preserve the quality and nutritional aspects of frozen-thawed onions better than other methods.

Sequence and Time Interval in Combination of Irradiation and Cis-Diamminedichloroplatinum in C3H Mouse Fibrosarcoma (C3H 마우스 섬유육종에 있어서 방사선 조사와 Cis-diamminedichloroplatinum의 병용시 순서 및 시간간격의 영향)

  • Ha, Sung-Whan;Choi, Eun-Kyung;Park, Charn-Il
    • Radiation Oncology Journal
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    • v.11 no.1
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    • pp.29-34
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    • 1993
  • Experiments have been carried out with C3H mouse fibrosarcoma (FSa II) to determine the effect of different sequence and time intervals between irradiation and administration of cis-diammihedichloroplatinum (cis-DDP) with gross tumors (6 mm in diameter), microscopic tumors (3 days after transplantation of $10^3$ cells) and cells in culture. The drug was administered either 24, 12, 8, 4, 2, 1, 0.5 hour before irradiation, immediately before irradiation, or 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 24 hours after irradiation. In case of in vivo studies, tumor growth delay was used as an end point. Clonogenic cell surviving fraction was used for in vitro studies. Tumor growth delay for gross tumor after 10 Gy radiation plus 10 mg/kg cis-DDP ranged from 6.3 to 10.66 days and the enhancement ratio ranged from 1.37 to 2.23. The most effective combination was when cis-DDP was given 4 hours before irradiation. Tumor growth delay for microscopic tumor after 5 Gy of radiation and 5 mg/kg of cis-DDP ranged from 3.55 to 11.98 days with enhancement ratio from 2.05 to 6.92. Microscopic tumors showed response significantly greater than additive in every time interval and the most effective treatments were when cis-DDP was given 2 and 1 hour before irradiation. In in vitro experiment, the surviving fraction after 6 Gy of radiation and 1 hour exposure to 4 ${\mu}M$ cis-DDP fluctuated as a function of time between treatments, but the difference between maximum and minimum surviving fractions was very small. According to the above results the sequence and time interval between irradiation and chemotherapy is very critical especially for the management of microscopic tumors as in the case of postoperative adjuvant treatment.

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Identification of New, Old and Mixed Brown Rice using Freshness and an Electronic Eye (신선도와 전자눈을 이용한 현미 신곡, 구곡 및 혼합곡의 판별)

  • Hong, Jee-Hwa;Park, Young-Jun;Kim, Hyun-Tae;Oh, Sang Kyun
    • KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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    • v.63 no.2
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    • pp.98-105
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    • 2018
  • The sale of brown rice batches composed of rice produced in different years is prohibited in Korea. Thus, new methods for the identification of the year of production are critical for maintaining the distribution of high quality brown rice. Here, we describe the exploitation of an enzyme that can be used to discriminate between freshly harvested and one-year-old brown rice. The degree of enzyme activity was visualized through freshness test with Guaiacol, Oxydol, and p-phenylenediamine reagents. With electronic eye equipment, we selected 29 color codes for identifying new brown rice and old brown rice. The discrimination power of selected color codes showed a minimum of 0.263 to a maximum of 0.922 and an average value of 0.62. The accuracy with which new brown rice and old brown rice could be identified was 100% in principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant function analysis (DFA). The DFA analysis had greater discriminatory power than did the PCA analysis. A verification test using new brown rice, old brown rice, or a mixture of the two was then performed to validate our method. The accuracy of identification of new and old brown rice was 100% in both cases, whereas mixed brown rice samples were correctly classified at a rate of 96.9%. Additionally, in order to test whether the discriminant constructed in winter can be applied to samples collected in summer, new and old brown rice stored for 8 months were collected and tested. Both new and old brown rice collected in summer were classified as old brown rice and showed 50% identification accuracy. We were able to attribute these observations to changes in enzyme content over time, and therefore we conclude, it will be necessary to develop discriminants that are specific to distinct storage periods in the near future.

A study on the factors associated with treatment compliance in adolescent orthodontic patients (청소년기 교정환자의 치료 협조도와 연관된 요소에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Jin-Ee;Cha, Bong-Kuen;Lee, Nam-Ki
    • The korean journal of orthodontics
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    • v.34 no.2 s.103
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    • pp.177-188
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    • 2004
  • This study is aimed at providing the variables associated with adolescent compliance In orthodontic treatment, and identifies the salient predictors of cooperative behaviors over the course of treatment. Orthodontic attitude scale, orthodontic locus of control scale and demographics data were obtained for 60 adolescent orthodontic patients who had been in treatment a minimum of 10 months. This data was then analyzed in relation to their sex, school age and treatment compliance. The following results were obtained. 1. The scoring of external-powerful others-parents, subscale of the Orthodontic Locus of Control scale, found a statistically significant difference between sex differences (p<0.05). The score of boys was higher than that of girls. 2. The external-powerful others-parents score from the Orthodontic Locus of Control scale showed a significantly positive correlation (p<0.05) with the level of compliance. 3. The salient factors associated with compliance were the adolescent patients' own cognition and decisions. 4. There was a statistically significant correlation between the length of treatment and patient compliance (p<0.05). Thus, there was a substantial decrease in the cooperation of orthodontic patients over time. 5. Other independent variables including age, sex, family environment, religion, academic standing, parents' occupation and education, and brushing frequency were investigated and did not yield any significant relationships. Patient compliance is a critical factor in the efficacy of orthodontic treatment. Individuals vary greatly in their perceptions and attitudes of orthodontic treatment, sociodemographic environments and personality characteristics. In assessing the level of compliance attainable by each individual patient it is advisable To pay sufficient attention not only to the technical matters but also to the psychologic aspects of the treatment progress.

Assessment of Productivity and Vulnerability of Climate Impacts of Forage Corn (Kwangpyeongok) Due to Climate Change in Central Korea (국내 중부지역에 있어서 기후변화에 따른 사료용 옥수수의 생산성 및 기후영향취약성 평가)

  • Chung, Sang Uk;Sung, Si Heung;Zhang, Qi-Man;Jung, Jeong Sung;Oh, Mirae;Yun, Yeong Sik;Seong, Hye Jin;Moon, Sang Ho
    • Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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    • v.39 no.2
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    • pp.105-113
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    • 2019
  • A two-year study was conducted from 2017 to 2018 by the establishment of a test field at Chungju-si and Cheongyang-gun. Plant height, number of leaves, insects and diseases, and fresh and dry matter yields for corn hybrid('Kwangpyeongok') were investigated. Daily average, maximum, and minimum temperature, monthly average temperature, daily precipitation, and sunshine duration during the growing season were investigated. We selected climate-critical factors to corn productivity and conducted an evaluation of vulnerability to climate change from 1999 to 2018 for both regions. In 2018, the dry matter yield of forage corn was 6,475 and 7,511 kg/ha in Chungju and Cheongyang, respectively, which was half of that in 2017. The high temperature and drought phenomenon in the 2018 summer caused the corn yield to be low. As well as temperature, precipitation is an important climatic factor in corn production. As a result of climate impact vulnerability assessment, the vulnerability has increased recently compared to the past. It is anticipated that if the high temperature phenomenon and drought caused by climate change continues, a damage in corn production will occur.