• Title/Summary/Keyword: Evaluation Equation

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An Empirical Study on the Improvement of In Situ Soil Remediation Using Plasma Blasting, Pneumatic Fracturing and Vacuum Suction (플라즈마 블라스팅, 공압파쇄, 진공추출이 활용된 지중 토양정화공법의 정화 개선 효과에 대한 실증연구)

  • Jae-Yong Song;Geun-Chun Lee;Cha-Won Kang;Eun-Sup Kim;Hyun-Shic Jang;Bo-An Jang;Yu-Chul Park
    • The Journal of Engineering Geology
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    • v.33 no.1
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    • pp.85-103
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    • 2023
  • The in-situ remediation of a solidified stratum containing a large amount of fine-texture material like clay or organic matter in contaminated soil faces limitations such as increased remediation cost resulting from decreased purification efficiency. Even if the soil conditions are good, remediation generally requires a long time to complete because of non-uniform soil properties and low permeability. This study assessed the remediation effect and evaluated the field applicability of a methodology that combines pneumatic fracturing, vacuum extraction, and plasma blasting (the PPV method) to improve the limitations facing existing underground remediation methods. For comparison, underground remediation was performed over 80 days using the experimental PPV method and chemical oxidation (the control method). The control group showed no decrease in the degree of contamination due to the poor delivery of the soil remediation agent, whereas the PPV method clearly reduced the degree of contamination during the remediation period. Remediation effect, as assessed by the reduction of the highest TPH (Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons) concentration by distance from the injection well, was uncleared in the control group, whereas the PPV method showed a remediation effect of 62.6% within a 1 m radius of the injection well radius, 90.1% within 1.1~2.0 m, and 92.1% within 2.1~3.0 m. When evaluating the remediation efficiency by considering the average rate of TPH concentration reduction by distance from the injection well, the control group was not clear; in contrast, the PPV method showed 53.6% remediation effect within 1 m of the injection well, 82.4% within 1.1~2.0 m, and 68.7% within 2.1~3.0 m. Both ways of considering purification efficiency (based on changes in TPH maximum and average contamination concentration) found the PPV method to increase the remediation effect by 149.0~184.8% compared with the control group; its average increase in remediation effect was ~167%. The time taken to reduce contamination by 80% of the initial concentration was evaluated by deriving a correlation equation through analysis of the TPH concentration: the PPV method could reduce the purification time by 184.4% compared with chemical oxidation. However, the present evaluation of a single site cannot be equally applied to all strata, so additional research is necessary to explore more clearly the proposed method's effect.

THE EFFECT OF THE REPEATABILITY FILE IN THE NIRS EATTY ACIDS ANALYSIS OF ANIMAL EATS

  • Perez Marin, M.D.;De Pedro, E.;Garcia Olmo, J.;Garrido Varo, A.
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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    • 2001.06a
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    • pp.4107-4107
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    • 2001
  • Previous works have shown the viability of NIRS technology for the prediction of fatty acids in Iberian pig fat, but although the resulting equations showed high precision, in the predictions of new samples important fluctuations were detected, greater with the time passed from calibration development to NIRS analysis. This fact makes the use of NIRS calibrations in routine analysis difficult. Moreover, this problem only appears in products like fat, that show spectrums with very defined absorption peaks at some wavelengths. This circumstance causes a high sensibility to small changes of the instrument, which are not perceived with the normal checks. To avoid these inconveniences, the software WinISI 1.04 has a mathematic algorithm that consist of create a “Repeatability File”. This file is used during calibration development to minimize the variation sources that can affect the NIRS predictions. The objective of the current work is the evaluation of the use of a repeatability file in quantitative NIRS analysis of Iberian pig fat. A total of 188 samples of Iberian pig fat, produced by COVAP, were used. NIR data were recorded using a FOSS NIRSystems 6500 I spectrophotometer equipped with a spinning module. Samples were analysed by folded transmission, using two sample cells of 0.1mm pathlength and gold surface. High accuracy calibration equations were obtained, without and with repeatability file, to determine the content of six fatty acids: miristic (SECV$\sub$without/=0.07% r$^2$$\sub$without/=0.76 and SECV$\sub$with/=0.08% r$^2$$\sub$with/=0.65), Palmitic (SECV$\sub$without/=0.28 r$^2$$\sub$without/=0.97 and SECV$\sub$with/=0.24% r$^2$$\sub$with/=0.98), palmitoleic (SECV$\sub$without/=0.08 r$^2$$\sub$without/=0.94 and SECV$\sub$with/=0.09% r$^2$$\sub$with/=0.92), Stearic (SECV$\sub$without/=0.27 r$^2$$\sub$without/=0.97 and SECV$\sub$with/=0.29% r$^2$$\sub$with/=0.96), oleic (SECV$\sub$without/=0.20 r$^2$$\sub$without/=0.99 and SECV$\sub$with/=0.20% r$^2$$\sub$with/=0.99) and linoleic (SECV$\sub$without/=0.16 r$^2$$\sub$without/=0.98 and SECV$\sub$with/=0.16% r$^2$$\sub$with/=0.98). The use of a repeatability file like a tool to reduce the variation sources that can disturbed the prediction accuracy was very effective. Although in calibration results the differences are negligible, the effect caused by the repeatability file is appreciated mainly when are predicted new samples that are not in the calibration set and whose spectrum were recorded a long time after the equation development. In this case, bias values corresponding to fatty acids predictions were lower when the repeatability file was used: miristic (bias$\sub$without/=-0.05 and bias$\sub$with/=-0.04), Palmitic (bias$\sub$without/=-0.42 and bias$\sub$with/=-0.11), Palmitoleic (bias$\sub$without/=-0.03 and bias$\sub$with/=0.03), Stearic (bias$\sub$without/=0.47 and bias$\sub$with/=0.28), oleic (bias$\sub$without/=0.14 and bias$\sub$with/=-0.04) and linoleic (bias$\sub$without/=0.25 and bias$\sub$with/=-0.20).

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Evaluation of HbA1c Levels Via the Latex Immunoturbidimetric Method by Using Chemistry Autoanalyzer (자동화학분석기에서의 라텍스 면역비탁법의 Autolab HbA1c 평가)

  • Jo, Yongjun;Lee, So-young;Park, Hae-il;Kim, YeongSic;Lee, Jehoon;Kim, Yonggoo;Han, Kyungja
    • Laboratory Medicine Online
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.10-14
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    • 2012
  • Background: Measurement of HbA1c levels is widely used to diagnose diabetes mellitus and to evaluate and monitor plasma-glucose concentrations over 6-8 weeks. In this study, we evaluated the diagnostic performance of the newly developed latex immunoturbidimetric method by using Autolab HbA1c. Methods: We analyzed and compared the diagnostic performance of Autolab HbA1c with that of Toshiba 200FR between April 2009 and July 2009. According to guidelines (EP5-A2, EP6-P, EP9-A2) of the clinical and laboratory standards institute (CLSI), we compared linearity, precision and correlation of Autolab HbA1c with those of G7 (Tosoh Corp., Kyoto, Japan) by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. Results: Data obtained using Autolab HbA1c showed good linearity in mixtures of samples with low (3.1%) and high (15.1%) levels of HbA1c (r2=0.9997). In the analysis of within-run precision of the samples with HbA1c levels of 5.1% and 12.1%, the SDs were 0.04 and 0.06 and covariances of these samples were 0.8% and 0.5%, respectively. In the Deming regression model, the regression equation was as follows: Autolab HbA1c=1.0859×Tosoh HPLC-0.6957. Conclusions: In this study, Autolab HbA1c method showed better performance characteristics than Tosoh G7 did. In reference review, there was no interference of variant hemoglobin. The data acquisition time of Autolab HbA1c was lower than that of Tosoh G7. The advantages of Autolab HbA1c are that it can be used as an autoanlyzer in routine chemical analysis, it does not require pre-analytical treatment, and the samples are automatically treated with distilled water for hemolysis.

An Exploratory Study on the Components of Visual Merchandising of Internet Shopping Mall (인터넷쇼핑몰의 VMD 구성요인에 대한 탐색적 연구)

  • Kim, Kwang-Seok;Shin, Jong-Kuk;Koo, Dong-Mo
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.18 no.2
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    • pp.19-45
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    • 2008
  • This study is to empirically examine the primary dimensions of visual merchandising (VMD) of internet shopping mall, namely store design, merchandise, and merchandising cues, to be a attractive virtual store to the shoppers. The authors reviewed the literature related to the major components of VMD from the perspective of the AIDA model, which has been mainly applied to the offline store settings. The major purposes of the study are as follows; first, tries to derive the variables related with the components of visual merchandising through reviewing the existing literatures, establish the hypotheses, and test it empirically. Second, examines the relationships between the components of VMD and the attitude toward the VMD, however, putting more emphasis on finding out the component structure of the VMD. VMD needs to be examined with the perspective that an online shopping mall is a virtual self-service or clerkless store, which could reduce the number of employees, help the shoppers search, evaluate and purchase for themselves, and to be explored in terms of the in-store persuasion processes of customers. This study reviewed the literatures related to store design, merchandise, and merchandising cues which might be relevant to the store, product, and promotion respectively. VMD is a total communication tool, and AIDA model could explain the in-store consumer behavior of online shopping. Store design has to do with triggering a consumer attention to the online mall, merchandise with a product related interest, and merchandising cues with promotions such as recommendation and links that induce the desire to pruchase. These three steps might be seen as the processes for purchase actions. The theoretical rationale for the relationship between VMD and AIDA could be found in Tyagi(2005) that the three steps of consumer-oriented merchandising are a store, a product assortment, and placement, in Omar(1999) that three types of interior display are a architectural design display, commodity display, and point-of-sales(POS) display, and in Davies and Ward(2005) that the retail store interior image is related to an atmosphere, merchandise, and in-store promotion. Lee et al(2000) suggested as the web merchandising components a merchandising cues, a shopping metaphor which is an assistant tool for search, a store design, a layout(web design), and a product assortment. The store design which includes differentiation, simplicity and navigation is supposed to be related to the attention to the virtual store. Second, the merchandise dimensions comprising product assortments, visual information and product reputation have to do with the interest in the product offerings. Finally, the merchandising cues that refer to merchandiser(MD)'s recommendation of products and providing the hyperlinks to relevant goods for the shopper is concerned with attempt to induce the desire to purchase. The questionnaire survey was carried out to collect the data about the consumers who would shop at internet shopping malls frequently. To select the subject malls, the mall ranking data announced by a mall rating agency was used to differentiate the most popular and least popular five mall each. The subjects was instructed to answer the questions after navigating the designated mall for five minutes. The 300 questionnaire was distributed to the consumers, 166 samples were used in the final analysis. The empirical testing focused on identifying and confirming the dimensionality of VMD and its subdimensions using a structural equation modeling method. The confirmatory factor analysis for the endogeneous and exogeneous variables was carried out in four parts. The second-order factor analysis was done for a store design, a merchandise, and a merchandising cues, and first-order confirmatory factor analysis for the attitude toward the VMD. The model test results shows that the chi-square value of structural equation is 144.39(d.f 49), significant at 0.01 level which means the proposed model was rejected. But, judging from the ratio of chi-square value vs. degree of freedom, the ratio was 2.94 which smaller than an acceptable level of 3.0, RMR is 0.087 which is higher than a generally acceptable level of 0.08. GFI and AGFI is turned out to be 0.90 and 0.84 respectively. Both NFI and NNFI is 0.94, and CFI 0.95. The major test results are as follows; first, the second-order factor analysis and structural equational modeling reveals that the differentiation, simplicity and ease of identifying current status of the transaction are confirmed to be subdimensions of store design and to be a significant predictors of the dependent variable. This result implies that when designing an online shopping mall, it is necessary to differentiate visually from other malls to improve the effectiveness of the communications of store design. That is, the differentiated store design raise the contrast stimulus to sensory organs to promote the memory of the store and to have a favorable attitude toward the VMD of a store. The results that navigation which means the easiness of identifying current status of shopping affects the attitude to VMD could be interpreted that the navigating processes via the hyperlinks which is characteristics of an internet shopping is a complex and cognitive process and shoppers are likely to lack the sense of overall structure of the store. Consequently, shoppers are likely to be alost amid shopping not knowing where to go. The orientation tool enhance the accessibility of information to raise the perceptive power about the store environment.(Titus & Everett 1995) Second, the primary dimension of merchandise and its subdimensions was confirmed to be unidimensional respectively, have a construct validity, and nomological validity which the VMD dimensions supposed to have a positive correlation with the dependent variable. The subdimensions of product assortment, brand fame and information provision proved to have a positive effect on the attitude toward the VMD. It could be interpreted that the more plentiful the product and brand assortment of the mall is, the more likely the shoppers to favor it. Brand fame and information provision as well affect the VMD attitude, which means that the more famous the brand, the more likely the shoppers would trust and feel familiar with the mall, and the plentifully and visually presented information could have the shopper have a favorable attitude toward the store VMD. Third, it turned out to be that merchandising cue of product recommendation and hyperlinks affect the VMD attitude. This could be interpreted that recommended products could reduce the uncertainty related with the purchase decision, and the hyperlinks to relevant products would help the shopper save the cognitive effort exerted into the information search and gathering, which could lead to a favorable attitude to the VMD. This study tried to sheds some new light on the VMD of online store by reviewing the variables mentioned to be relevant with offline VMD in the existing literatures, and tried to link the VMD components from the perspective of AIDA model. The effect size of the VMD dimensions on the attitude was in the order of the merchandise, the store design and the merchandising cues.It is said that an internet has an unlimited place for display, however, the virtual store is not unlimited since the consumer has a limited amount of cognitive ability to process the external information and internal memory. Particularly, the shoppers are likely to face some difficulties in decision making on account of too many alternative and information overloads. Therefore, the internet shopping mall manager should take into consideration the cost of information search on the part of the consumer, to establish the optimal product placements and search routes. An efficient store composition would be possible by reducing the psychological burdens and cognitive efforts exerted to information search and alternatives evaluation. The store image is in most part determined by the product category and its brand it deals in. The results of this study support this proposition that the merchandise is most important to the VMD attitude than other components, the manager is required to take a strategic approach to VMD. The internet users are getting more accustomed and more knowledgeable about the internet media and more likely to accept the internet as a shopping channel as the period of time during which they use the internet to shop become longer. The web merchandiser should be aware that the product introduction using a moving pictures and a bulletin board become more important in order to present the interactive product information visually and communicate with customers more actively, therefore leading to making the quantity and quality of product information more rich.

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A Model for Health Promoting Behaviors in Late-middle Aged Woman (중년후기 여성의 건강증진행위 모형구축)

  • Park, Chai-Soon
    • Women's Health Nursing
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    • v.2 no.2
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    • pp.298-331
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    • 1996
  • Recent improvements in living standard and development in medical care led to an increased interest in life expectancy and personal health, and also led to a more demand for higher quality of life. Thus, the problem of women's health draw a fresh interest nowadays. Since late-middle aged women experience various physical and socio-psychological changes and tend to have chronic illnesses, these women have to take initiatives for their health control by realizing their own responsibility. The basic elements for a healthy life of these women are understanding of their physical and psychological changes and acceptance of these changes. Health promoting behaviors of an individual or a group are actions toward increasing the level of well-being and self-actualization, and are affected by various variables. In Pender's health promoting model, variables are categorized into cognitive factors(individual perceptions), modifying factors, and variables affecting the likelihood for actions, and the model assumes the health promoting behaviors are affected by cognitive factors which are again affected by demographic factors. Since Pender's model was proposed based on a tool broad conceptual frame, many studies done afterwards have included only a limited number of variables of Pender's model. Furthermore, Pender's model did not precisely explain the possibilities of direct and indirect paths effects. The objectives of this study are to evaluate Pender's model and thus propose a model that explains health promoting behaviors among late-middle aged women in order to facilitate nursing intervention for this group of population. The hypothetical model was developed based on the Pender's health promoting model and the findings from past studies on women's health. Data were collected by self-reported questionnaires from 417 women living in Seoul, between July and November 1994. Questionnaires were developed based on instruments of Walker and others' health promotion lifestyle profile, Wallston and others' multidimensional health locus of control, Maoz's menopausal symptom check list and Speake and others' health self-rating scale. IN addition, items measuring self-efficacy were made by the present author based on past studies. In a pretest, the questionnaire items were reliable with Cronbach's alpha ranging from .786 to .934. The models for health promoting behaviors were tested by using structural equation modelling technique with LISREL 7.20. The results were summarized as follows : 1. The overall fit of the hypothetical model to the data was good (chi-square=4.42, df=5, p=.490, GFI=.995, AGFI=.962, RMSR=.024). 2. Paths of the model were modified by considering both its theoretical implication and statistical significance of the parameter estimates. Compared to the hypothetical model, the revised model has become parsimonious and had a better fit to the data (chi-square =4.55, df=6, p=.602, GFI=.995, AGFI=.967, RMSR=.024). 3. The results of statistical testing were as follows : 1) Family function internal health locus of control, self-efficacy, and education level exerted significant effects on health promoting behaviors(${\gamma}_{43}$=.272, T=3.714; ${\beta}_[41}$=.211, T=2.797; ${\beta}_{42}$=.199, T=2.717; ${\gamma}_{41}$=.136, T=1.986). The effect of economic status, physical menopausal symptoms, and perceived health status on health promoting behavior were insignificant(${\gamma}_{42}$=.095, T=1.456; ${\gamma}_{44}$=.101, T=1.143; ${\gamma}_{43}$=.082, T=.967). 2) Family function had a significance direct effect on internal health locus of control (${\gamma}_{13}$=.307, T=3.784). The direct effect of education level on internal health locus of control was insignificant(${\gamma}_{11}$=-.006, T=-.081). 3) The directs effects of family functions & internal health locus of control on self-efficacy were significant(${\gamma}_{23}$=.208, T=2.607; ${\beta}_{21}$=.191, T=2.2693). But education level and economic status did not exert a significant effect on self-efficacy(${\gamma}_{21}$=.137, T=1.814; ${\beta}_{22}$=.137, T=1.814; ${\gamma}_{22}$=.112, T=1.499). 4) Education level had a direct and positive effect on perceived health status, but physical menopausal symptoms had a negative effect on perceived health status and these effects were all significant(${\gamma}_{31}$=.171, T=2.496; ${\gamma}_{34}$=.524, T=-7.120). Internal health locus and self-efficacy had an insignificant direct effect on perceived health status(${\beta}_{31}$=.028, T=.363; ${\beta}_{32}$=.041, T=.557). 5) All predictive variables of health promoting behaviors explained 51.8% of the total variance in the model. The above findings show that health promoting behaviors are explained by personal, environmental and perceptual factors : family function, internal health locus of control, self-efficacy, and education level had stronger effects on health promoting behaviors than predictors in the model. A significant effect of family function on health promoting behaviors reflects an important role of the Korean late-middle aged women in family relationships. Therefore, health professionals first need to have a proper evaluation of family function in order to reflect the family function style into nursing interventions and development of strategies. These interventions and strategies will enhance internal health locus of control and self-efficacy for promoting health behaviors. Possible strategies include management of health promoting programs, use of a health information booklets, and individual health counseling, which will enhance internal health locus of control and self-efficacy of the late-middle aged women by making them aware of health responsibilities and value for oneself. In this study, an insignificant effect of physical menopausal symptoms and perceived health status on health promoting behaviors implies that they are not motive factors for health promoting behaviors. Further analytic researches are required to clarify the influence of physical menopausal symptoms and perceived health status on health promoting behaviors with-middle aged women.

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The Effect of Retailer-Self Image Congruence on Retailer Equity and Repatronage Intention (자아이미지 일치성이 소매점자산과 고객의 재이용의도에 미치는 영향)

  • Han, Sang-Lin;Hong, Sung-Tai;Lee, Seong-Ho
    • Journal of Distribution Research
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.29-62
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    • 2012
  • As distribution environment is changing rapidly and competition is more intensive in the channel of distribution, the importance of retailer image and retailer equity is increasing as a different competitive advantages. Also, consumers are not functionally oriented and that their behavior is significantly affected by the symbols such as retailer image which identify retailer in the market place. That is, consumers do not choose products or retailers for their material utilities but consume the symbolic meaning of those products or retailers as expressed in their self images. The concept of self-image congruence has been utilized by marketers and researchers as an aid in better understanding how consumers identify themselves with the brands they buy and the retailer they patronize. Although self-image congruity theory has been tested across many product categories, the theory has not been tested extensively in the retailing. Therefore, this study attempts to investigate the impact of self image congruence between retailer image and self image of consumer on retailer equity such as retailer awareness, retailer association, perceived retailer quality, and retailer loyalty. The purpose of this study is to find out whether retailer-self image congruence can be a new antecedent of retailer equity. In addition, this study tries to examine how four-dimensional retailer equity constructs (retailer awareness, retailer association, perceived retailer quality, and retailer loyalty) affect customers' repatronage intention. For this study, data were gathered by survey and analyzed by structural equation modeling. The sample size in the present study was 254. The reliability of the all seven dimensions was estimated with Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability values and average variance extracted values. We determined whether the measurement model supports the convergent validity and discriminant validity by Exploratory factor analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. For each pair of constructs, the square root of the average variance extracted values exceeded their correlations, thus supporting the discriminant validity of the constructs. Hypotheses were tested using the AMOS 18.0. As expected, the image congruence hypotheses were supported. The greater the degree of congruence between retailer image and self-image, the more favorable were consumers' retailer evaluations. The all two retailer-self image congruence (actual self-image congruence and ideal self-image congruence) affected customer based retailer equity. This result means that retailer-self image congruence is important cue for customers to estimate retailer equity. In other words, consumers are often more likely to prefer products and retail stores that have images similar to their own self-image. Especially, it appeared that effect for the ideal self-image congruence was consistently larger than the actual self-image congruence on the retailer equity. The results mean that consumers prefer or search for stores that have images compatible with consumer's perception of ideal-self. In addition, this study revealed that customers' estimations toward customer based retailer equity affected the repatronage intention. The results showed that all four dimensions (retailer awareness, retailer association, perceived retailer quality, and retailer loyalty) had positive effect on the repatronage intention. That is, management and investment to improve image congruence between retailer and consumers' self make customers' positive evaluation of retailer equity, and then the positive customer based retailer equity can enhance the repatonage intention. And to conclude, retailer's image management is an important part of successful retailer performance management, and the retailer-self image congruence is an important antecedent of retailer equity. Therefore, it is more important to develop and improve retailer's image similar to consumers' image. Given the pressure to provide increased image congruence, it is not surprising that retailers have made significant investments in enhancing the fit between retailer image and self image of consumer. The enhancing such self-image congruence may allow marketers to target customers who may be influenced by image appeals in advertising.

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The Determination of Trust in Franchisor-Franchisee Relationships in China (중국 프랜차이즈 시스템에서의 본부와 가맹점간 신뢰의 영향요인)

  • Shin, Geon-Cheol;Ma, Yaokun
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.18 no.2
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    • pp.65-88
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    • 2008
  • Since the implementation of economic reforms in 1978, the Chinese economy grows rapidly at an average annul growth rate of 9% over the post two decades. Franchising has been widely recognized as an important source of entrepreneurial activity. Trust is important in that it facilitates relational exchanges by permits partners to transcend short-run inequities or risks to concentrate on long-term profits or gains. In the relationship between the franchisors and franchisees, trust has been described as an important source of competitive advantage. However, little research has been done on the factors affecting trust in Chinese franchisor-franchisee relationships. The purpose of this study is to investigate what factors affect the trust in the franchise system in China, and to provide guidelines and insights to franchisors which enter Chinese market. In this study, according to Morgan and Hunt (1994), trust is defined as the extending when one party has confidence in an exchange partner's reliability and integrity. We offered a conceptual model of the empirical study. The model shows that the factors affecting the trust include franchisor's supports, communication, satisfaction with previous outcome and conflict. We also suggested the franchisor's supports and communication like to enhance the franchisee's satisfaction with previous outcome, and the franchisor's supports, communication and he franchisee's satisfaction with previous outcome tend to decrease conflict. Before the formal study, a pretest involving exploratory interviews with owners from three franchisees was conducted to make sure the questionnaire was relevant and clear to the respondents. The data were collected using trained interviewers to carry out personal interviews with the aid of an unidentified, muti-page, structured questionnaire. The respondents comprised of owners, managers, and owner managers of franchisee-owned food service franchises located in Beijing, China. Even though a total of 256 potential franchises were initially contacted, the finally usable sample consisted of 125 respondents. As expected, the sampling method was successful in soliciting respondents with waried personal and firm characteristics. Self-administrated questionnaires were used for all measures. And established scales were used to measure the latent constructs in this study. The measures tapped the franchisees' perceptions of the relationship with the referent franchisor. Five-point Likert-type scales ranging from "strongly disagree" (=1) to "strongly agree" (=7) were used throughout the constructs (trust, eight items; support, five items; communication, four items; satisfaction, six items; conflict, three items). The reliability measurements traditionally employed, such as the Cronbach's alpha, were used. All the reliabilities were greater than.80. The proposed measurement model was estimated using SPSS 12.0 and AMOS 5.0 analysis package. We conducted A series of exploratory factor analyses and confirmatory factor analyses to assess the convergent validity, discriminant validity, and reliability. The results indicate reasonable overall fits between the model and the observed data. The overall fit of measurement model were $X^2$= 159.699, p=0.004, d.f. = 116, GFI =.879, NFI =.898, CFI =.969, IFI =.970, TLI =.959, RMR =.058. The results demonstrated that the data reasonably fitted the model. We also examined construct reliability and reliability and average variance extracted (AVE). The construct reliability of each construct was greater than.80 and the AVE of each construct was greater than.50. According to the analysis of Structure Equation Modeling (SEM), the results of path model indicated an adequate fit of the model: $X^2$= 142.126, p = 0.044, d.f. = 115, GFI =.892, NFI =.909, CFI =.981, IFI =.981, TLI =.974, RMR =.057. As hypothesized, the results showed that it is strategically important to establish trust in a franchise system, and the franchisor's supports, communication and satisfaction with previous outcome tend to reinforce franchisee's trust. The results also showed trust seems to decrease as the experience of conflict episodes increases. And we also noticed that franchisor's supports and communication tend to enhance the franchisee's satisfaction with previous outcome, and communication tend to decrease conflict. If the trust between the franchisor and franchisee can be established in a franchise system, franchising offers many benefits and reduces many costs. To manage a mutual trust of relationship with their franchisees, franchisor's should provide support effectively to their franchisees. Effective assistant services have direct effect on franchisees' satisfaction with previous outcome and trust in franchisor. Especially, franchise sales process, orientation, and training in the start-up period are key elements for success of the franchise system. Franchisor's support is an accumulated separate satisfaction evaluation with different kind of service provided by the franchisor. And providing support definitely can improve the trustworthy image of the franchisor. In the franchise system, conflicts of interests and exertions of different power sources are very common. The experience of conflict episodes seems to negatively relate to trust. Therefore, it is important to reduce the negative side of the relationship conflicts. Communication actually plays a broader role in reducing conflict and establish mutual trust in franchisor-franchisee relationship. And effective communication between franchisors and franchisees can improve franchisees' satisfaction toward the franchise system. As the diversification of Chinese markets, both franchisors and franchisees must keep the relevant, timely, and reliable communication. And it is very important to improve the quality of communication. Satisfaction with precious outcomes seems to positively relate to trust. Franchisors and franchisees that are highly satisfied with the previous outcomes that flow from their relationship will perceive their partner as advancing their goal achievement. Therefore, it is necessary for both franchisor and their franchisees to make the welfare of partner with effort. Little literature has focused on what factors affect the trust between franchisors and their franchisees in China. This study developed the hypotheses regarding the factors affecting trust in the transaction relationship. The results of data analysis supported the hypotheses strongly. There are certain limitations in this study. First, we may point out that some other factors missed in this study could be significantly important. Second, the context of this study, food service industry, limits its potential generalizability for all franchise systems. More studies in different categories of franchise system are needed to broaden its generalizability. Third, the model was tested empirically in a sample in Beijing, more empirical tests of the proposed model in other Chinese areas are needed. Finally, the analysis in this study was solely based on the perception of franchisees and the opinions of franchisors were not included.

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Dose Planning of Forward Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy for Nasopharyngeal Cancer using Compensating Filters (보상여과판을 이용한 비인강암의 전방위 강도변조 방사선치료계획)

  • Chu Sung Sil;Lee Sang-wook;Suh Chang Ok;Kim Gwi Eon
    • Radiation Oncology Journal
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    • v.19 no.1
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    • pp.53-65
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    • 2001
  • Purpose : To improve the local control of patients with nasopharyngeal cancer, we have implemented 3-D conformal radiotherapy and forward intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) to used of compensating filters. Three dimension conformal radiotherapy with intensity modulation is a new modality for cancer treatments. We designed 3-D treatment planning with 3-D RTP (radiation treatment planning system) and evaluation dose distribution with tumor control probability (TCP) and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP). Material and Methods : We have developed a treatment plan consisting four intensity modulated photon fields that are delivered through the compensating tilters and block transmission for critical organs. We get a full size CT imaging including head and neck as 3 mm slices, and delineating PTV (planning target volume) and surrounding critical organs, and reconstructed 3D imaging on the computer windows. In the planning stage, the planner specifies the number of beams and their directions including non-coplanar, and the prescribed doses for the target volume and the permissible dose of normal organs and the overlap regions. We designed compensating filter according to tissue deficit and PTV volume shape also dose weighting for each field to obtain adequate dose distribution, and shielding blocks weighting for transmission. Therapeutic gains were evaluated by numerical equation of tumor control probability and normal tissue complication probability. The TCP and NTCP by DVH (dose volume histogram) were compared with the 3-D conformal radiotherapy and forward intensity modulated conformal radiotherapy by compensator and blocks weighting. Optimization for the weight distribution was peformed iteration with initial guess weight or the even weight distribution. The TCP and NTCP by DVH were compared with the 3-D conformal radiotherapy and intensitiy modulated conformal radiotherapy by compensator and blocks weighting. Results : Using a four field IMRT plan, we have customized dose distribution to conform and deliver sufficient dose to the PTV. In addition, in the overlap regions between the PTV and the normal organs (spinal cord, salivary grand, pituitary, optic nerves), the dose is kept within the tolerance of the respective organs. We evaluated to obtain sufficient TCP value and acceptable NTCP using compensating filters. Quality assurance checks show acceptable agreement between the planned and the implemented MLC(multi-leaf collimator). Conclusion : IMRT provides a powerful and efficient solution for complex planning problems where the surrounding normal tissues place severe constraints on the prescription dose. The intensity modulated fields can be efficaciously and accurately delivered using compensating filters.

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Electronic Word-of-Mouth in B2C Virtual Communities: An Empirical Study from CTrip.com (B2C허의사구중적전자구비(B2C虚拟社区中的电子口碑): 관우휴정려유망적실증연구(关于携程旅游网的实证研究))

  • Li, Guoxin;Elliot, Statia;Choi, Chris
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.262-268
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    • 2010
  • Virtual communities (VCs) have developed rapidly, with more and more people participating in them to exchange information and opinions. A virtual community is a group of people who may or may not meet one another face to face, and who exchange words and ideas through the mediation of computer bulletin boards and networks. A business-to-consumer virtual community (B2CVC) is a commercial group that creates a trustworthy environment intended to motivate consumers to be more willing to buy from an online store. B2CVCs create a social atmosphere through information contribution such as recommendations, reviews, and ratings of buyers and sellers. Although the importance of B2CVCs has been recognized, few studies have been conducted to examine members' word-of-mouth behavior within these communities. This study proposes a model of involvement, statistics, trust, "stickiness," and word-of-mouth in a B2CVC and explores the relationships among these elements based on empirical data. The objectives are threefold: (i) to empirically test a B2CVC model that integrates measures of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors; (ii) to better understand the nature of these relationships, specifically through word-of-mouth as a measure of revenue generation; and (iii) to better understand the role of stickiness of B2CVC in CRM marketing. The model incorporates three key elements concerning community members: (i) their beliefs, measured in terms of their involvement assessment; (ii) their attitudes, measured in terms of their satisfaction and trust; and, (iii) their behavior, measured in terms of site stickiness and their word-of-mouth. Involvement is considered the motivation for consumers to participate in a virtual community. For B2CVC members, information searching and posting have been proposed as the main purpose for their involvement. Satisfaction has been reviewed as an important indicator of a member's overall community evaluation, and conceptualized by different levels of member interactions with their VC. The formation and expansion of a VC depends on the willingness of members to share information and services. Researchers have found that trust is a core component facilitating the anonymous interaction in VCs and e-commerce, and therefore trust-building in VCs has been a common research topic. It is clear that the success of a B2CVC depends on the stickiness of its members to enhance purchasing potential. Opinions communicated and information exchanged between members may represent a type of written word-of-mouth. Therefore, word-of-mouth is one of the primary factors driving the diffusion of B2CVCs across the Internet. Figure 1 presents the research model and hypotheses. The model was tested through the implementation of an online survey of CTrip Travel VC members. A total of 243 collected questionnaires was reduced to 204 usable questionnaires through an empirical process of data cleaning. The study's hypotheses examined the extent to which involvement, satisfaction, and trust influence B2CVC stickiness and members' word-of-mouth. Structural Equation Modeling tested the hypotheses in the analysis, and the structural model fit indices were within accepted thresholds: ${\chi}^2^$/df was 2.76, NFI was .904, IFI was .931, CFI was .930, and RMSEA was .017. Results indicated that involvement has a significant influence on satisfaction (p<0.001, ${\beta}$=0.809). The proportion of variance in satisfaction explained by members' involvement was over half (adjusted $R^2$=0.654), reflecting a strong association. The effect of involvement on trust was also statistically significant (p<0.001, ${\beta}$=0.751), with 57 percent of the variance in trust explained by involvement (adjusted $R^2$=0.563). When the construct "stickiness" was treated as a dependent variable, the proportion of variance explained by the variables of trust and satisfaction was relatively low (adjusted $R^2$=0.331). Satisfaction did have a significant influence on stickiness, with ${\beta}$=0.514. However, unexpectedly, the influence of trust was not even significant (p=0.231, t=1.197), rejecting that proposed hypothesis. The importance of stickiness in the model was more significant because of its effect on e-WOM with ${\beta}$=0.920 (p<0.001). Here, the measures of Stickiness explain over eighty of the variance in e-WOM (Adjusted $R^2$=0.846). Overall, the results of the study supported the hypothesized relationships between members' involvement in a B2CVC and their satisfaction with and trust of it. However, trust, as a traditional measure in behavioral models, has no significant influence on stickiness in the B2CVC environment. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on B2CVCs, specifically addressing gaps in the academic research by integrating measures of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors in one model. The results provide additional insights to behavioral factors in a B2CVC environment, helping to sort out relationships between traditional measures and relatively new measures. For practitioners, the identification of factors, such as member involvement, that strongly influence B2CVC member satisfaction can help focus technological resources in key areas. Global e-marketers can develop marketing strategies directly targeting B2CVC members. In the global tourism business, they can target Chinese members of a B2CVC by providing special discounts for active community members or developing early adopter programs to encourage stickiness in the community. Future studies are called for, and more sophisticated modeling, to expand the measurement of B2CVC member behavior and to conduct experiments across industries, communities, and cultures.

A Study on the Various Attributes of E-Sport Influencing Flow and Identification (e-스포츠의 다양한 속성이 유동(flow)과 동일시에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구)

  • Suh, Mun-Shik;Ahn, Jin-Woo;Kim, Eun-Young;Um, Seong-Won
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.18 no.1
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    • pp.59-80
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    • 2008
  • Recently, e-sports are growing with potentiality as a new industry with conspicuous profit model. But studies that dealing with e-sports are not enough. Hence, proposes of this paper are both to establish basic model that is for the design of e-sport marketing strategy and to contribute toward future studies which are related to e-sports. Recently, the researches to explain sports-sponsorship through the identification theory have been discovered. Many researches say that somewhat proper identification is a requirement for most sponsors to improve the their images which is essential to sponsorship activity. Consequently, the research for sponsorship associated with identification in the e-sports, not in the physical sports is the core sector of this study. We extracted the variables from online's major characteristics and existing sport sponsorship researches. First, because e-sports mean the tournaments or leagues in the use of online game, the main event of the game is likely to call it online game. Online media's attributes are distinguished from those of offline. Especially, interactivity, anonymity, and expandibility as a e-sport game attributes are able to be mentioned. So, these inherent online attributes are examined on the relationship with flow. Second, in physical sports games, Fisher(1998) revealed that team similarity and team attractivity were positively related to team identification. Wann(1996) said that the result of former game influenced the evaluation of the next game, then in turn has an effect on the identification of team supporters. Considering these results in the e-sports side, e-sports gamer' attractivity, similarity, and match result seem to be important precedent variables of the identification with a gamer. So, these e-sport gamer attributes are examined on the relationship with both flow and identification with a gamer. Csikszentmihalyi(1988) defined the term flow as feeling status for him to be making current positive experience optimally. Hoffman and Novak(1996) also said that if a user experienced the flow he would visit a website without any reward. Therefore flow might be positively associated with user's identification with a gamer. And, Swanson(2003) disclosed that team identification influenced the positive results of sponsorship, which included attitude toward sponsors, sponsor patronage, and satisfaction with sponsors. That is, identification with a gamer expect to be connected with corporation identification significantly. According to the above, we can design the following research model. All variables used in this study(interactivity, anonymity, expandibility, attractivity, similarity, match result, flow, identification with a gamer, and identification with a sponsor) definitely were defined operationally underlying precedent researches. Sample collection was carried out to the person who has an experience to have enjoyed e-sports during June 2006. Much portion of samples is men because much more men than women enjoy e-sports in general. Two-step approach was used to test the hypotheses. First, confirmatory factor analysis was committed to guarantee the validity and reliability of variables. The results showed that all variables had not only intensive and discriminant validity, but also reliability. Then, research model was examined with fully structural equation using LISREL 8.3 version. The fitness of the suggested model mostly was at the acceptable level. Shortly speaking about the results, first of all, in e-sports game attributes, only interactivity which is called a basic feature in online situation affected flow positively. Secondly, in e-sports gamer's attributes, similarity with a gamer and match result influenced flow positively, but there was no significant effect in the relationship between the attractivity of a gamer and flow. And as expected, similarity had an effect on identification with a gamer significantly. But unexpectedly attractivity and match result did not influence identification with a gamer significantly. Just the same as the fact verified in the many precedent researches, flow greatly influenced identification with a gamer, and identification with a gamer continually had an influence on the identification with a sponsor significantly. There are some implications in these results. If the sponsor of e-sports supports the pro-game player who absolutely should have the superior ability to others and is similar to the user enjoying e-sports, many amateur gamers will feel much of the flow and identification with a pro-gamer, and then after all, feel the identification with a sponsor. Such identification with a sponsor leads people enjoying e-sports to have purchasing intention for products produced by the sponsor and to make a positive word-of-mouth for those products or the sponsor. For the future studies, we recommend a few ideas. Based on the results of this study, it is necessary to find new variables relating to the e-sports, which is not mentioned in this study. For this work to be possible, qualitative research seems to be needed to consider the inherent e-sport attributes. Finally, to generalize the results related to e-sports, a wide range of generations not a specific generation should be researched.

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