• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.148-156
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• 2008

Statement of problems: Self-etch adhesives exhibit some clinical benefits such as ease of manipulation and reduced technique-sensitivity. Nevertheless, some concern remains regarding the bonding effectiveness of self-etch adhesives to enamel, in particular when so-called 'mild' self-etch adhesives are employed. This study compared the microtensile bond strengths to ground enamel of the two-step self-etch adhesive Clearfil SE Bond (Kuraray) to the three-step etch-and- rinse adhesive Scotchbond Multi-Purpose (3M ESPE) and the one-step self-etch adhesive iBond (Heraeus Kulzer). Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a preceding phosphoric acid conditioning step on the bonding effectiveness of a two-step self-etch adhesive to ground enamel. Material and methods: The two-step self-etch adhesive Clearfil SE Bond non-etch group, Clearfil SE Bond etch group with prior 35% phosphoric acid etching, and the one-step self-etch adhesive iBond group were used as experimental groups. The three-step etch-and-rinse adhesive Scotchbond Multi-Purpose was used as a control group. The facial surfaces of bovine incisors were divided in four equal parts cruciformly, and randomly distributed into each group. The facial surface of each incisor was ground with 800-grit silicon carbide paper. Each adhesive group was applied according to the manufacturer's instructions to ground enamel, after which the surface was built up using Light-Core (Bisco). After storage in distilled water at $37^{\circ}C$ for 1 week, the restored teeth were sectioned into enamel beams approximately 0.8*0.8mm in cross section using a low speed precision diamond saw (TOPMET Metsaw-LS). After storage in distilled water at $37^{\circ}C$ for 1 month, 3 months, microtensile bond strength evaluations were performed using microspecimens. The microtensile bond strength (MPa) was derived by dividing the imposed force (N) at time of fracture by the bond area ($mm^2$). The mode of failure at the interface was determined with a microscope (Microscope-B nocular, Nikon). The data of microtensile bond strength were statistically analyzed using a one-way ANOVA, followed by Least Significant Difference Post Hoc Test at a significance level of 5%. Results: The mean microtensile bond strength after 1 month of storage showed no statistically significant difference between all adhesive groups (P>0.05). After 3 months of storage, adhesion to ground enamel of iBond was not significantly different from Clearfil SE Bond etch (P>>0.05), while Clearfil SE Bond non-etch and Scotchbond Multi-Purpose demonstrated significantly lower bond strengths (P<0.05), with no significant differences between the two adhesives. Conclusion: In this study the microtensile bond strength to ground enamel of two-step self-etch adhesive Clearfil SE Bond was not significantly different from three-step etch-and-rinse adhesive Scotchbond Multi-Purpose, and prior etching with 35% phosphoric acid significantly increased the bonding effectiveness of Clearfil SE Bond to enamel at 3 months.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.261-272
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• 2004

This study was conducted to investigate indices affecting composts maturity for swine manure compost produced in a commercial composting facility with air-forced from the bottom. The composting was made of swine manure mixed with puffing rice hull(6: 4) and turned by escalating agitator twice a day. Composting samples were collected periodically during a 45-d composting cycle at that system, showing that indices of Ammonium-N to Nitrate-N ratio were sensitive indicators of composting quality. Pile temperature maintained more than 62$^{\circ}C$ and water contents decreased about 20% for 25days of composting. A great variety and high numbers of aerobic thermophilic heterotropic microbes playing critical roles in stability of composts have been examined in the final composts, sbowing that they were detected $10^8$ to $10^{10}$ $CFUg^{-1}$ in mesophilic bacteria, $10^3$ - $10^4$ in fungi and $10^6$ - $10^8$ in actinomycetes, respectively. The results of this study for detennining a factor affecting compost stability evaluations based on composting steps were as follows; 1. Ammonium-N concentrations were highest at the beginning of composting, reaching approximately 421mg/kg. However Ammonium-N concentrations were lower during curing, reaching approximately l04mg/kg just after 45 day. The ratio between $NH_4-N$ and $NO_3-N$ was above II at the beginning of composting and less than 2 at the final step(45 day). 2. Seed germination Index was dependent upon the compost phytotoxicity and its nutrition. The phytotocity caused the GI to low during the period of active composting(till 25 days of composting time) depending on the value of the undiluted. After 25 days of composting time, the GI was dependent upon compost nutrition. The Gennination index of the final step was calculated at over 80 without regard to treatments. 3. E4: E6 ratio in humic acid of composts was correlatively decreased from 8.86 to 6.76 during the period of active composting. After 25 days of composting time, the E4: E6 was consistently decreased from 6.76 to 4.67($r^2$ of total composting period was 0.95). 4. Water soluble carbon had a tendency to increase from 0.54% to 0.78%during the period of active composting. After 25 days of composting time, it was consistently decreased from 0.78% to 0.42%. Water soluble nitrogen increased from 0.22% to 0.32% during the period of 15 days after initial composting while decreased from 0.32% to 0.21% after 15days of composting. In consequence, the correlation coefficient($r^2$) between water soluble carbon and water soluble nitrogen was 0.12 during the period of active composting mule was 0.50 after 25 days of composting time

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.95-110
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• 2013

Recently, the amount of unstructured data being generated through a variety of social media has been increasing rapidly, resulting in the increasing need to collect, store, search for, analyze, and visualize this data. This kind of data cannot be handled appropriately by using the traditional methodologies usually used for analyzing structured data because of its vast volume and unstructured nature. In this situation, many attempts are being made to analyze unstructured data such as text files and log files through various commercial or noncommercial analytical tools. Among the various contemporary issues dealt with in the literature of unstructured text data analysis, the concepts and techniques of opinion mining have been attracting much attention from pioneer researchers and business practitioners. Opinion mining or sentiment analysis refers to a series of processes that analyze participants' opinions, sentiments, evaluations, attitudes, and emotions about selected products, services, organizations, social issues, and so on. In other words, many attempts based on various opinion mining techniques are being made to resolve complicated issues that could not have otherwise been solved by existing traditional approaches. One of the most representative attempts using the opinion mining technique may be the recent research that proposed an intelligent model for predicting the direction of the stock index. This model works mainly on the basis of opinions extracted from an overwhelming number of economic news repots. News content published on various media is obviously a traditional example of unstructured text data. Every day, a large volume of new content is created, digitalized, and subsequently distributed to us via online or offline channels. Many studies have revealed that we make better decisions on political, economic, and social issues by analyzing news and other related information. In this sense, we expect to predict the fluctuation of stock markets partly by analyzing the relationship between economic news reports and the pattern of stock prices. So far, in the literature on opinion mining, most studies including ours have utilized a sentiment dictionary to elicit sentiment polarity or sentiment value from a large number of documents. A sentiment dictionary consists of pairs of selected words and their sentiment values. Sentiment classifiers refer to the dictionary to formulate the sentiment polarity of words, sentences in a document, and the whole document. However, most traditional approaches have common limitations in that they do not consider the flexibility of sentiment polarity, that is, the sentiment polarity or sentiment value of a word is fixed and cannot be changed in a traditional sentiment dictionary. In the real world, however, the sentiment polarity of a word can vary depending on the time, situation, and purpose of the analysis. It can also be contradictory in nature. The flexibility of sentiment polarity motivated us to conduct this study. In this paper, we have stated that sentiment polarity should be assigned, not merely on the basis of the inherent meaning of a word but on the basis of its ad hoc meaning within a particular context. To implement our idea, we presented an intelligent investment decision-support model based on opinion mining that performs the scrapping and parsing of massive volumes of economic news on the web, tags sentiment words, classifies sentiment polarity of the news, and finally predicts the direction of the next day's stock index. In addition, we applied a domain-specific sentiment dictionary instead of a general purpose one to classify each piece of news as either positive or negative. For the purpose of performance evaluation, we performed intensive experiments and investigated the prediction accuracy of our model. For the experiments to predict the direction of the stock index, we gathered and analyzed 1,072 articles about stock markets published by "M" and "E" media between July 2011 and September 2011.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.30 no.1_2
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• pp.83-95
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• 2018

Purpose : After planning the Respiratory Gated Radiotherapy for Lung cancer, the movement and volume change of sparing normal structures nearby target are not often considered during dose evaluation. This study carried out 4-D dose evaluation which reflects the movement of normal structures at certain phase of Respiratory Gated Radiotherapy, by using Deformable Image Registration that is well used for Adaptive Radiotherapy. Moreover, the study discussed the need of analysis and established some recommendations, regarding the normal structures's movement and volume change due to Patient's breathing pattern during evaluation of treatment plans. Materials and methods : The subjects were taken from 10 lung cancer patients who received Respiratory Gated Radiotherapy. Using Eclipse(Ver 13.6 Varian, USA), the structures seen in the top phase of CT image was equally set via Propagation or Segmentation Wizard menu, and the structure's movement and volume were analyzed by Center-to Center method. Also, image from each phase and the dose distribution were deformed into top phase CT image, for 4-dimensional dose evaluation, via VELOCITY Program. Also, Using $QUASAR^{TM}$ Phantom(Modus Medical Devices) and $GAFCHROMIC^{TM}$ EBT3 Film(Ashland, USA), verification carried out 4-D dose distribution for 4-D gamma pass rate. Result : The movement of the Inspiration and expiration phase was the most significant in axial direction of right lung, as $0.989{\pm}0.34cm$, and was the least significant in lateral direction of spinal cord, as -0.001 cm. The volume of right lung showed the greatest rate of change as 33.5 %. The maximal and minimal difference in PTV Conformity Index and Homogeneity Index between 3-dimensional dose evaluation and 4-dimensional dose evaluation, was 0.076, 0.021 and 0.011, 0.0 respectfully. The difference of 0.0045~2.76 % was determined in normal structures, using 4-D dose evaluation. 4-D gamma pass rate of every patients passed reference of 95 % gamma pass rate. Conclusion : PTV Conformity Index was more significant in all patients using 4-D dose evaluation, but no significant difference was observed between two dose evaluations for Homogeneity Index. 4-D dose distribution was shown more homogeneous dose compared to 3D dose distribution, by considering the movement from breathing which helps to fill out the PTV margin area. There was difference of 0.004~2.76 % in 4D evaluation of normal structure, and there was significant difference between two evaluation methods in all normal structures, except spinal cord. This study shows that normal structures could be underestimated by 3-D dose evaluation. Therefore, 4-D dose evaluation with Deformable Image Registration will be considered when the dose change is expected in normal structures due to patient's breathing pattern. 4-D dose evaluation with Deformable Image Registration is considered to be a more realistic dose evaluation method by reflecting the movement of normal structures from patient's breathing pattern.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.32
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• pp.93-109
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• 2020

Purpose: The radiochromic film (Gafchromic EBT3, Ashland Advanced Materials, USA) and 3-dimensional analysis system dosimetry checkTM (DC, MathResolutions, USA) were evaluated for patient-specific quality assurance (QA) of helical tomotherapy. Materials and Methods: Depending on the tumors' positions, three types of targets, which are the abdominal tumor (130.6㎤), retroperitoneal tumor (849.0㎤), and the whole abdominal metastasis tumor (3131.0㎤) applied to the humanoid phantom (Anderson Rando Phantom, USA). We established a total of 12 comparative treatment plans by the four geometric conditions of the beam irradiation, which are the different field widths (FW) of 2.5-cm, 5.0-cm, and pitches of 0.287, 0.43. Ionization measurements (1D) with EBT3 by inserting the cheese phantom (2D) were compared to DC measurements of the 3D dose reconstruction on CT images from beam fluence log information. For the clinical feasibility evaluation of the DC, dose reconstruction has been performed using the same cheese phantom with the EBT3 method. Recalculated dose distributions revealed the dose error information during the actual irradiation on the same CT images quantitatively compared to the treatment plan. The Thread effect, which might appear in the Helical Tomotherapy, was analyzed by ripple amplitude (%). We also performed gamma index analysis (DD: 3mm/ DTA: 3%, pass threshold limit: 95%) for pattern check of the dose distribution. Results: Ripple amplitude measurement resulted in the highest average of 23.1% in the peritoneum tumor. In the radiochromic film analysis, the absolute dose was on average 0.9±0.4%, and gamma index analysis was on average 96.4±2.2% (Passing rate: >95%), which could be limited to the large target sizes such as the whole abdominal metastasis tumor. In the DC analysis with the humanoid phantom for FW of 5.0-cm, the three regions' average was 91.8±6.4% in the 2D and 3D plan. The three planes (axial, coronal, and sagittal) and dose profile could be analyzed with the entire peritoneum tumor and the whole abdominal metastasis target, with planned dose distributions. The dose errors based on the dose-volume histogram in the DC evaluations increased depending on FW and pitch. Conclusion: The DC method could implement a dose error analysis on the 3D patient image data by the measured beam fluence log information only without any dosimetry tools for patient-specific quality assurance. Also, there may be no limit to apply for the tumor location and size; therefore, the DC could be useful in patient-specific QAl during the treatment of Helical Tomotherapy of large and irregular tumors.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.15-24
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• 2021

Purpose SPECT/CT was noted for its excellent correction method and qualitative functions based on fusion images in the early stages of dissemination, and interest in and utilization of quantitative functions has been increasing with the recent introduction of companion diagnostic therapy(Theranostics). Unlike PET/CT, various conditions like the type of collimator and detector rotation are a challenging factor for image acquisition and reconstruction methods at absolute quantification of SPECT/CT. Therefore, in this study, We want to find out the effect on the radioactivity concentration estimate by the increase or decrease of the total acquisition time according to the number of projections and the acquisition time per projection among SPECT/CT imaging conditions. Materials and Methods After filling the 9,293 ml cylindrical phantom with sterile water and diluting 99mTc 91.76 MBq, the standard image was taken with a total acquisition time of 600 sec (10 sec/frame × 120 frames, matrix size 128 × 128) and also volume sensitivity and the calibration factor was verified. Based on the standard image, the comparative images were obtained by increasing or decreasing the total acquisition time. namely 60 (-90%), 150 (-75%), 300 (-50%), 450 (-25%), 900 (+50%), and 1200 (+100%) sec. For each image detail, the acquisition time(sec/frame) per projection was set to 1.0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 15.0 and 20.0 sec (fixed number of projections: 120 frame) and the number of projection images was set to 12, 30, 60, 90, 180 and 240 frames(fixed time per projection:10 sec). Based on the coefficients measured through the volume of interest in each acquired image, the percentage of variation about the contrast to noise ratio (CNR) was determined as a qualitative assessment, and the quantitative assessment was conducted through the percentage of variation of the radioactivity concentration estimate. At this time, the relationship between the radioactivity concentration estimate (cps/ml) and the actual radioactivity concentration (Bq/ml) was compared and analyzed using the recovery coefficient (RC_Recovery Coefficients) as an indicator. Results The results [CNR, radioactivity Concentration, RC] by the change in the number of projections for each increase or decrease rate (-90%, -75%, -50%, -25%, +50%, +100%) of total acquisition time are as follows. [-89.5%, +3.90%, 1.04] at -90%, [-77.9%, +2.71%, 1.03] at -75%, [-55.6%, +1.85%, 1.02] at -50%, [-33.6%, +1.37%, 1.01] at -25%, [-33.7%, +0.71%, 1.01] at +50%, [+93.2%, +0.32%, 1.00] at +100%. and also The results [CNR, radioactivity Concentration, RC] by the acquisition time change for each increase or decrease rate (-90%, -75%, -50%, -25%, +50%, +100%) of total acquisition time are as follows. [-89.3%, -3.55%, 0.96] at - 90%, [-73.4%, -0.17%, 1.00] at -75%, [-49.6%, -0.34%, 1.00] at -50%, [-24.9%, 0.03%, 1.00] at -25%, [+49.3%, -0.04%, 1.00] at +50%, [+99.0%, +0.11%, 1.00] at +100%. Conclusion In SPECT/CT, the total coefficient obtained according to the increase or decrease of the total acquisition time and the resulting image quality (CNR) showed a pattern that changed proportionally. On the other hand, quantitative evaluations through absolute quantification showed a change of less than 5% (-3.55 to +3.90%) under all experimental conditions, maintaining quantitative accuracy (RC 0.96 to 1.04). Considering the reduction of the total acquisition time rather than the increasing of the image acquiring time, The reduction in total acquisition time is applicable to quantitative analysis without significant loss and is judged to be clinically effective. This study shows that when increasing or decreasing of total acquisition time, changes in acquisition time per projection have fewer fluctuations that occur in qualitative and quantitative condition changes than the change in the number of projections under the same scanning time conditions.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.83-110
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• 2010

Dissatisfied customers may express their dissatisfaction behaviorally. These behavioral responses may impact the firms' profitability. How do we model the impact of self regulatory orientation on emotions and subsequent customer behaviors? Obviously, the positive and negative emotions experienced in these situations will influence the overall degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the service(Zeelenberg and Pieters 1999). Most likely, these specific emotions will also partly determine the subsequent behavior in relation to the service and service provider, such as the likelihood of complaining, the degree to which customers will switch or repurchase, and the extent of word of mouth communication they will engage in(Zeelenberg and Pieters 2004). This study investigates the antecedents, consequences of negative consumption emotion and the moderate effect of attribution processing in an integrated model(self regulatory mode → specific emotions → behavioral responses). We focused on the fact that regret and disappointment have effects on consumer behavior. Especially, There are essentially two approaches in this research: the valence based approach and the specific emotions approach. The authors indicate theoretically and show empirically that it matters to distinguish these approaches in services research. and The present studies examined the influence of two regulatory mode concerns(Locomotion orientation and Assessment orientation) with making comparisons on experiencing post decisional regret and disappointment(Pierro, Kruglanski, and Higgins 2006; Pierro et al. 2008). When contemplating a decision with a negative outcome, it was predicted that high (vs low) locomotion would induce more disappointment than regret, whereas high (vs low) assessment would induce more regret than disappointment. The validity of the measurement scales was also confirmed by evaluations provided by the participating respondents and an independent advisory panel; samples provided recommendations throughout the primary, exploratory phases of the study. The resulting goodness of fit statistics were RMR or RMSEA of 0.05, GFI and AGFI greater than 0.9, and a chi-square with a 175.11. The indicators of the each constructs were very good measures of variables and had high convergent validity as evidenced by the reliability with a more than 0.9. Some items were deleted leaving those that reflected the cognitive dimension of importance rather than the dimension. The indicators were very good measures and had convergent validity as evidenced by the reliability of 0.9. These results for all constructs indicate the measurement fits the sample data well and is adequate for use. The scale for each factor was set by fixing the factor loading to one of its indicator variables and then applying the maximum likelihood estimation method. The results of the analysis showed that directions of the effects in the model are ultimately supported by the theory underpinning the causal linkages of the model. This research proposed 6 hypotheses on 6 latent variables and tested through structural equation modeling. 6 alternative measurements were compared through statistical significance test of the paths of research model and the overall fitting level of structural equation model and the result was successful. Also, Locomotion orientation more positively influences disappointment when internal attribution is high than low and Assessment orientation more positively influences regret when external attribution is high than low. In sum, The results of our studies suggest that assessment and locomotion concerns, both as chronic individual predispositions and as situationally induced states, influence the amount of people's experienced regret and disappointment. These findings contribute to our understanding of regulatory mode, regret, and disappointment. In previous studies of regulatory mode, relatively little attention has been paid to the post actional evaluative phase of self regulation. The present findings indicate that assessment concerns and locomotion concerns are clearly distinct in this phase, with individuals higher in assessment delving more into possible alternatives to past actions and individuals higher in locomotion engaging less in such reflective thought. What this suggests is that, separate from decreasing the amount of counterfactual thinking per se, individuals with locomotion concerns want to move on, to get on with it. Regret is about the past and not the future. Thus, individuals with locomotion concerns are less likely to experience regret. The results supported our predictions. We discuss the implications of these findings for the nature of regret and disappointment from the perspective of their relation to regulatory mode. Also, self regulatory mode and the specific emotions(disappointment and regret) were assessed and their influence on customers' behavioral responses(inaction, word of mouth) was examined, using a sample of 275 customers. It was found that emotions have a direct impact on behavior over and above the effects of negative emotions and customer behavior. Hence, We argue against incorporating emotions such as regret and disappointment into a specific response measure and in favor of a specific emotions approach on self regulation. Implications for services marketing practice and theory are discussed.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.17-27
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• 2009

Price promotion typically reduces the price for a given quantity or increases the quantity available at the same price, thereby enhancing value and creating an economic incentive to purchase. It often is used to encourage product or service trial among nonusers of products or services. Thus, it is important to understand the effects of price promotions on quality perception made by consumer who do not have prior experience with the promoted brand. However, if consumers associate a price promotion itself with inferior brand quality, the promotion may not achieve the sales increase the economic incentives otherwise might have produced. More specifically, low qualitative perception through price promotion will undercut the economic and psychological incentives and reduce the likelihood of purchase. Thus, it is important for marketers to understand how price promotional informations about a brand have impact on consumer's unfavorable quality perception of the brand. Previous literatures on the effects of price promotions on quality perception reveal inconsistent explanations. Some focused on the unfavorable effect of price promotion on consumer's perception. But others showed that price promotions didn't raise unfavorable perception on the brand. Prior researches found these inconsistent results related to the timing of the price promotion's exposure and quality evaluation relative to trial. And, whether the consumer has been experienced with the product promotions in the past or not may moderate the effects. A few studies considered differences among product categories as fundamental factors. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of price promotional informations on consumer's unfavorable quality perception under the different conditions. The author controlled the timing of the promotional exposure and varied past promotional patterns and information presenting patterns. Unlike previous researches, the author examined the effects of price promotions setting limit to pretrial situation by controlling potentially moderating effects of prior personal experience with the brand. This manipulations enable to resolve possible controversies in relation to this issue. And this manipulation is meaningful for the work sector. Price promotion is not only used to target existing consumers but also to encourage product or service trial among nonusers of products or services. Thus, it is important for marketers to understand how price promotional informations about a brand have impact on consumer's unfavorable quality perception of the brand. If consumers associate a price promotion itself with inferior quality about unused brand, the promotion may not achieve the sales increase the economic incentives otherwise might have produced. In addition, if the price promotion ends, the consumer that have purchased that certain brand will likely to display sharply decreased repurchasing behavior. Through a literature review, hypothesis 1 was set as follows to investigate the adjustive effect of past price promotion on quality perception made by consumers; The influence that price promotion of unused brand have on quality perception made by consumers will be adjusted by past price promotion activity of the brand. In other words, a price promotion of an unused brand that have not done a price promotion in the past will have a unfavorable effect on quality perception made by consumer. Hypothesis 2-1 was set as follows : When an unused brand undertakes price promotion for the first time, the information presenting pattern of price promotion will have an effect on the consumer's attribution for the cause of the price promotion. Hypothesis 2-2 was set as follows : The more consumer dispositionally attribute the cause of price promotion, the more unfavorable the quality perception made by consumer will be. Through test 1, the subjects were given a brief explanation of the product and the brand before they were provided with a $2{\times}2$ factorial design that has 4 patterns of price promotion (presence or absence of past price promotion * presence or absence of current price promotion) and the explanation describing the price promotion pattern of each cell. Then the perceived quality of imaginary brand WAVEX was evaluated in the scale of 7. The reason tennis racket was chosen is because the selected product group must have had almost no past price promotions to eliminate the influence of average frequency of promotion on the value of price promotional information as Raghubir and Corfman (1999) pointed out. Test 2 was also carried out on students of the same management faculty of test 1 with tennis racket as the product group. As with test 1, subjects with average familiarity for the product group and low familiarity for the brand was selected. Each subjects were assigned to one of the two cells representing two different information presenting patterns of price promotion of WAVEX (case where the reason behind price promotion was provided/case where the reason behind price promotion was not provided). Subjects looked at each promotional information before evaluating the perceived quality of the brand WAVEX in the scale of 7. The effect of price promotion for unfamiliar pretrial brand on consumer's perceived quality was proved to be moderated with the presence or absence of past price promotion. The consistency with past promotional behavior is important variable that makes unfavorable effect on brand evaluations get worse. If the price promotion for the brand has never been carried out before, price promotion activity may have more unfavorable effects on consumer's quality perception. Second, when the price promotion of unfamiliar pretrial brand was executed for the first time, presenting method of informations has impact on consumer's attribution for the cause of firm's promotion. And the unfavorable effect of quality perception is higher when the consumer does dispositional attribution comparing with situational attribution. Unlike the previous studies where the main focus was the absence or presence of favorable or unfavorable motivation from situational/dispositional attribution, the focus of this study was exaus ing the fact that a situational attribution can be inferred even if the consumer employs a dispositional attribution on the price promotional behavior, if the company provides a persuasive reason. Such approach, in academic perspectih sis a large significance in that it explained the anchoring and adjng ch approcedures by applying it to a non-mathematical problem unlike the previous studies where it wis ionaly explained by applying it to a mathematical problem. In other wordn, there is a highrspedency tmatispositionally attribute other's behaviors according to the fuedach aal attribution errors and when this is applied to the situation of price promotions, we can infer that consumers are likely tmatispositionally attribute the company's price promotion behaviors. Ha ever, even ueder these circumstances, the company can adjng the consumer's anchoring tmareduce the po wibiliute thdispositional attribution. Furthermore, unlike majority of previous researches on short/long-term effects of price promotion that only considered the effect of price promotions on consumer's purchasing behaviors, this research measured the effect on perceived quality, one of man elements that affects the purchasing behavior of consumers. These results carry useful implications for the work sector. A guideline of effectively providing promotional informations for a new brand can be suggested through the outcomes of this research. If the brand is to avoid false implications such as inferior quality while implementing a price promotion strategy, it must provide a clear and acceptable reasons behind the promotion. Especially it is more important for the company with no past price promotion to provide a clear reason. An inconsistent behavior can be the cause of consumer's distrust and anxiety. This is also one of the most important factor of risk of endless price wars. Price promotions without prior notice can buy doubt from consumers not market share.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.500-518
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• 1996

Background : The solitary pulmonary nodule(SPN) presents a diagnostic dilemma to the physician and the patient. Many clinical characteristics(i.e. age, smoking history, prior history of malignancy) and radiological characteristics( i.e. size, calcification, growth rate, several findings of computed tomography) have been proposed to help to determine whether the SPN was benign or malignant. However, most of these diagnostic guidelines are based on the data collected before computed tomography(CT) has been introduced and lung cancer was not as common as these days. Moreover, it is not well established whether these guidelines from western populations could be applicable to Korean patients. Methods : We had a retrospective analysis of the case records and radiographic findings in 114 patients presenting with SPN from Jan. 1994 to Feb. 1995 in Seoul National University Hospital, a tertiary referral hospital. Results : We observed the following results ; (1) Out of 113 SPNs, the etiology was documented in 94 SP IS. There were 34 benign SP s and 60 malignant SPNs. Among which, 49 SPNs were primary lung cancers and the most common hi stologic type was adenocarcinoma. (2) The average age of patients with benign and malignant SPNs was $49.7{\pm}12.0$ and $58.1{\pm}10.0$ years, respectively( p=0.0004), and the malignant SPNs had a striking linear propensity to increase with age. (3) No significant difference in the hi story of smoking was noted between the patients with benign SPNs($13.0{\pm}17.6$ pack- year) and those with malignant SPNs($18.6{\pm}25.1$ pack-year) (p=0.2108). (4) 9 out of 10 patients with prior history of malignancy had malignant SPNs. 5 were new primary lung cancers with no relation to prior malignancy. (5) The average size of benign SPNs($3.01{\pm}1.20cm$) and malignant SPNs($2.98{\pm}0.97cm$) was not significantly different(p=0.8937). (6) The volume doubling time could be calculated in 22 SPNs. 9 SPNs had the volume doubling time longer than 400 days. Out of these, 6 were malignant SPNs. (7) The CT findings suggesting malignancy included the lobulated or spiculated border, air- bronchogram, pleural tail, and lymphadenopathy. In contrast, calcification, central low attenuation, cavity with even thickness, well-marginated border, and peri nodular micronodules were more suggestive for benign nodule. (8) The diagnostic yield of percutaneous needle aspiration and biopsy was 57.6%(19/33) of benign SPNs and 81.0%(47/58) of malignant SPNs. The diagnostic value of sputum analysis and bronchoscopic evaluations were relatively very low. (9) 42.3%(11/26) of SPNs of undetermined etiology preoperatively turned out to be malignant after surgical resection. Overall, 75.4%(46/61) of surgically resected SPNs were malignant. Conclusions : We conclude that the likelihood of malignant SPN correlates the age of patient, prior history of malignancy, some CT findings including lobulated or spiculated border, air-bronchogram, pleural tail and lymphadenopathy. However, the history of smoking, the size of the nodule, and the volume doubling time are not helpful to determent whether the SPN is benign or malignant, which have been regarded as valuable clinical parameters previously. We suggest that aggressive diagnostic approach including surgical resection is necessary in patient with SPNs.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.65-93
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• 2011

As relationship between buyer and seller has been brought closer and long-term relationship has been more important in B2B markets, the importance of service and service convenience increases as well as product. In homogeneous markets, where service offerings are similar and therefore not key competitive differentiator, providing greater convenience may enable a competitive advantage. Service convenience, as conceptualized by Berry et al. (2002), is defined as the consumers' time and effort perceptions related to buying or using a service. For this reason, B2B customers are interested in how fast the service is provided and how much save non-monetary cost like time or effort by the service convenience along with service quality. Therefore, this study attempts to investigate the impact of service convenience on relationship factors such as relationship satisfaction, relationship commitment, and relationship performance. The purpose of this study is to find out whether service convenience can be a new antecedent of relationship quality and relationship performance. In addition, this study tries to examine how five-dimensional service convenience constructs (decision convenience, access convenience, transaction convenience, benefit convenience, post-benefit convenience) affect customers' relationship satisfaction, relationship commitment, and relationship performance. The service convenience comprises five fundamental components - decision convenience (the perceived time and effort costs associated with service purchase or use decisions), access convenience(the perceived time and effort costs associated with initiating service delivery), transaction convenience(the perceived time and effort costs associated with finalizing the transaction), benefit convenience(the perceived time and effort costs associated with experiencing the core benefits of the offering) and post-benefit convenience (the perceived time and effort costs associated with reestablishing subsequent contact with the firm). Earlier studies of perceived service convenience in the industrial market are none. The conventional studies that have dealt with service convenience have usually been made in the consumer market, or they have dealt with convenience aspects in the service process. This service convenience measure for consumer market can be useful tool to estimate service quality in B2B market. The conceptualization developed by Berry et al. (2002) reflects a multistage, experiential consumption process in which evaluations of convenience vary at each stage. For this reason, the service convenience measure is good for B2B service environment which has complex processes and various types. Especially when categorizing B2B service as sequential stage of service delivery like Kumar and Kumar (2004), the Berry's service convenience measure which reflect sequential flow of service deliveries suitable to establish B2B service convenience. For this study, data were gathered from respondents who often buy business service and analyzed by structural equation modeling. The sample size in the present study is 119. Composite reliability values and average variance extracted values were examined for each variable to have reliability. We determine whether the measurement model supports the convergent validity by CFA, and discriminant validity was assessed by examining the correlation matrix of the constructs. For each pair of constructs, the square root of the average variance extracted exceeded their correlations, thus supporting the discriminant validity of the constructs. Hypotheses were tested using the Smart PLS 2.0 and we calculated the PLS path values and followed with a bootstrap re-sampling method to test the hypotheses. Among the five dimensional service convenience constructs, four constructs (decision convenience, transaction convenience, benefit convenience, post-benefit convenience) affected customers' positive relationship satisfaction, relationship commitment, and relationship performance. This result means that service convenience is important cue to improve relationship between buyer and seller. One of the five service convenience dimensions, access convenience, does not affect relationship quality and performance, which implies that the dimension of service convenience is not important factor of cumulative satisfaction. The Cumulative satisfaction can be distinguished from transaction-specific customer satisfaction, which is an immediate post-purchase evaluative judgment or an affective reaction to the most recent transactional experience with the firm. Because access convenience minimizes the physical effort associated with initiating an exchange, the effect on relationship satisfaction similar to cumulative satisfaction may be relatively low in terms of importance than transaction-specific customer satisfaction. Also, B2B firms focus on service quality, price, benefit, follow-up service and so on than convenience of time or place in service because it is relatively difficult to change existing transaction partners in B2B market compared to consumer market. In addition, this study using partial least squares methods reveals that customers' satisfaction and commitment toward relationship has mediating role between the service convenience and relationship performance. The result shows that management and investment to improve service convenience make customers' positive relationship satisfaction, and then the positive relationship satisfaction can enhance the relationship commitment and relationship performance. And to conclude, service convenience management is an important part of successful relationship performance management, and the service convenience is an important antecedent of relationship between buyer and seller such as the relationship commitment and relationship performance. Therefore, it has more important to improve relationship performance that service providers enhance service convenience although competitive service development or service quality improvement is important. Given the pressure to provide increased convenience, it is not surprising that organizations have made significant investments in enhancing the convenience aspect of their product and service offering.