• Title/Summary/Keyword: Evidence Based Design

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Factors Influencing the Online Learning Behaviors of Middle School Students in South Korea (한국 중학생의 온라인 학습 행동에 영향을 미치는 요인)

  • Na, Kyoungsik;Jeong, Yongsun
    • Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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    • v.53 no.3
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    • pp.263-285
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    • 2022
  • This study presented the factor analysis on constructing the new factors affecting the middle school students' online learning behaviors from the questionnaires employed among middle school students. A total of 204 students participated and the data were collected in South Korea. The sample of middle school ninth-grade students was selected and used through purposive sampling. Findings from the factor analysis provided evidence for the eight-factor solution for the 35-items accounting for 66.15% of the shared variance. A wide range of factors has been considered to identify students' online learning behaviors. The appropriate experience and use of e-learning in the middle school period is also important as it will be a critical stepstone for future education. This research provides information that has been taken into account for advancing online learning to enhance the quality of e-learning systems for middle school students. The study results provided eight new factors affecting the middle school students' online learning behaviors; that is 1) communication using social media as a learning tool, 2) intention to share information using ICT, 3) addiction of technology, 4) adoption of technology, 5) seeking information using ICT, 6) use of social media learning, 7) information search using ICT, and 8) immersion of technology. This study confirmed that middle school students prefer communication using social media as a learning tool, and value intention to share information using ICT for the most part. The data obtained based on factor analysis can highlight the online learning behaviors towards a mixture of social media learning and ICT to ensure a new educational platform for the future of e-learning. This research expects to be useful for both middle schools of online learning to better understand students' online learning behaviors and design online learning environments and information professionals to better assist students who particularly need digital literacy.

Analysis of Occupational Therapy Intervention Studies for Improvement of Neglect: Single Subject Study (편측무시 개선을 위한 작업치료 중재 연구 분석: 국내 단일대상연구 중심으로)

  • Kim, Jin-Yeong;Youn, Sae-Woong;Choi, Yoo-Im
    • Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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    • v.12 no.2
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    • pp.9-23
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    • 2023
  • Objective : Among the studies using neglect interventions in the field of occupational therapy, this study was conducted to confirm the contents and characteristics of literature applying single-subject studies, and to analyze the intervention effect and quality level. Methods : This study is a systematic review, and the single subject study published in academic journals for the last 10 years. Results : As a result of the thesis analysis, it was conducted on stroke, and the removal design with seven studies, and two studies were multiple baseline designs. As a result of analyzing the size of the intervention effect applied to neglect, 'highly effective' was found seven times, 'fairly effective' 18 times, 'questionable effective' five times, and 'unreliable effective' six times. As a result of the quality level, there were no studies with low level, with six high level and three medium level. Conclusion : As a result of the study, various methods were applied to neglect interventions. It is thought that this study will provide basic data for evidence-based interventions.

FDI and the Evolution of Directed Technological Progress Bias: New Evidence from Korean Outward Investment

  • Boye Li;Xiang Li;Yaokun Wu
    • Journal of Korea Trade
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    • v.27 no.5
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    • pp.1-22
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    • 2023
  • Purpose - Southeast Asia has been the focus of Korea's foreign investment. Korea has been helping developing countries in Southeast Asia achieve economic growth and win-win cooperation through capital exports. FDI is an important channel for technology diffusion. However, the impact of FDI on the bias of technological progress in the host country is dependent on the host country's own endowment structure and capital-labor factor substitution elasticity. Therefore, the central issue of this paper is to accurately evaluate the impact of Korea's FDI to the four Southeast Asian countries in various industries on their bias of technological progress. Design/methodology - The paper uses macroeconomic data for Korea and four East Asian countries to estimate capital-labor factor elasticities of substitution using nonlinear, seemingly uncorrelated regressions (NLSUR). Then, the biased technological change index (BTCI) is calculated for each country. Finally, panel data analysis is used to explore the impact of Korean FDI in various industries in the four Southeast Asian countries on their own directed technological progress, and a robustness test is conducted. Findings - There is a substitution relationship between capital and labor factors based on their elasticity in Korea, Singapore and the Philippines. There is a complementary relationship between capital and labor factors in Indonesia and Malaysia. According to the BTCI, there is a trend toward labor-biased technological progress in all countries. Korean investments in manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade in the host country trigger capital-biased technological change in the host country; investments in the finance, insurance and information and communication sectors trigger labor-biased technological change. In addition, this paper also confirms that directed technological progress can enable cross-country transmission. Originality/value - The innovation of this paper lies in three aspects. First, we estimate the BTCI for five countries and explore the trend and situation of directed technological progress in each country from each country's own perspective. Second, we explore the impact of Korean FDI in the host country on the bias to its technological progress at the industry level. Second, we explore the impact of Korean FDI in various industries in the four Southeast Asian countries on the four countries' own directed technological progress from a national perspective. Finally, we propose corresponding countermeasures for technological progress from the perspective of inverse factor endowment. These innovative points not only expand the understanding of technological progress and cross-country technology transfer in East Asia but also provide practical references for policy-makers and business operators.

A Comparative Analysis of Teukyakmeip and Consignment (특약매입과 콘사인먼트 비교분석)

  • Kim, Dong-Ho;Kim, Sung-Soo;Jung, Myung-Hee;Youn, Myoung-Kil
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.12 no.4
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    • pp.5-9
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    • 2014
  • Purpose - The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast the applicability and effectiveness of both teukyakmeip contracts of Korea and consignment contracts of the United State to demonstrate the effectiveness and practicability of teukyakmeip in Korea. These are popular contract agreements between large retailers and their suppliers and vendors. In recent years, teukyakmeip was critically examined and scrutinized by the politicians, the media, and the public of Korea. Consequently, this paper focusesheavily on identifying and analyzing different types of contract agreements between large retailers and their suppliers that currently exist in Korea and compares and contrasts those analyzed contract agreements with teukyakmeip. The article also comparesand contrasts teukyakmeip with the consignment agreements of the United States to identify similarities and differences. Research design, data, and methodology - This study is a descriptive study and has used personal interviews to collect and analyze the data. This study also fits the definition of the case study wherein it is entirely focused on investigating a real-life event: analyzing and examining contract agreements in the distribution industry. Both randomly selected management and vendor representatives from the three major department stores, Lotte, Hyundai, and Shinsegae, in Korea were interviewed between July and September 2013. The analysis of the consignment agreement was conducted based on existing secondary data. Results - Although the evidence of the abuse of teukyakmeip and consignment by large retailers from both countries clearly exists, the findings suggestthat both contract agreements would remain as the most relevant and effective legal contracts between large retailers and their suppliers. Based on the comparisonanalysis of teukyakmeip and consignment, both contracts indicated that suppliers are fully responsible for inventory and inventory management. If sales person is necessary for promoting special product, then suppliers are responsible for providing a sales person and their wages under both contracts. However, American department stores, those located outside urban area, tend to use their own employees to perform special product and sales promotion. The retailersare fully responsible for any interior or floor design or redesign of the retail store to accommodate the products from vendors under consignment; however, both suppliers and retailers share the cost of designing and redesigning the interior to accommodate vendors'products under teukyakmeip. Suppliers are responsible for pricing and supplying the quantity of the products under both agreements. Both contracts allow special sales commission as long as vendors agreed. Vendors use this special commissionto introduce their new products or apply market penetration strategy. Conclusions -The findings of this study showed the changing pattern of contract agreements between large retailers and their suppliers from both countries. Furthermore, this study evidently generated policy implications of teukyakmeip which recently became the major social issue in Korea and attracted many policymakers to gain political points by criticizing the teukyakmeip system and the large retailers. The findings of the study would be valuable to policy makers in making appropriate decisions and to large retailers and vendors in making beneficial agreements. The major implication of this study is that teukyakmeip and consignment agreements include very similar or almost identical characteristics, and they are popular among department stores and suppliers. The issue of abolishing teukyakmeip in Korea needs to be examined cautiously because teukyakmeip is the best one available at the moment, and the study suggests that no one benefits from abolishing this system.

An Analysis of Young Children's Play Behavior by the Characteristics of Environment in the Forest Experience Center for Children (유아숲체험장의 환경특성에 따른 유아놀이 행태분석)

  • Kang, Taesun;Lee, Myungwoo;Jeong, Moonsun
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.44 no.6
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    • pp.162-176
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    • 2016
  • The experience and play activities in forest spaces have played an effective role in children's growth and development, therefore, many studies and projects related to forest activity space have progressed actively. However, the focus of previous research has been merely on the effectiveness of forest activity but little on providing the basis for the spatial design of these types of forest activity spaces. Thus, this study aims to identify the relationship between children's developmental play activity and the physical characteristics of forest activity spaces for evidence-based design. First of all, indicators for Cognitive-Social play(CSP) was selected and forest spaces were categorize into play facility spaces and forest spaces. More detailed environmental characteristics of each space were 'play area' and 'paving materials' for play facilities and 'density of tree and shrub', 'slope', 'paving materials' and 'fixing and type of natural loose parts' for forest space. Through environmental inventory and behavior observation, the types of play behaviors and the occurrence frequency of children aged four to five were collected and analyzed. The results were as follows: 1) In play facility spaces, play behaviors occurred at a high frequency at the facility playground with play facilities and sand area. In terms of CSP, functional-solitary and functional-parallel plays occurred predominantly. 2) In forest spaces, various play behaviors occurred at high frequency in the environment with low density planting and various natural loose parts. For CSP, functional-group and symbolic-group plays occurred at a high frequency. 3) Symbolic-group play appeared to be highly affected by environmental characteristics like tree area of scatter density or less, 10~20 degree slope, and the presence of fixed large stumps. In conclusion, this study provides standards of physical environmental characteristics for forest activity space design through direct observation and analysis of children's play behaviors.

Consumer Responses to Retailer's Location-based Mobile Shopping Service : Focusing on PAD Emotional State Model and Information Relevance (유통업체의 위치기반 모바일 쇼핑서비스 제공에 대한 소비자 반응 : PAD 감정모델과 정보의 상황관련성을 중심으로)

  • Lee, Hyun-Hwa;Moon, Hee-Kang
    • Journal of Distribution Research
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.63-92
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    • 2012
  • This study investigated consumer intention to use a location-based mobile shopping service (LBMSS) that integrates cognitive and affective responses. Information relevancy was integrated into pleasure-arousal-dominance (PAD) emotional state model in the present study as a conceptual framework. The results of an online survey of 335 mobile phone users in the U.S. indicated the positive effects of arousal and information relevancy on pleasure. In addition, there was a significant relationship between pleasure and intention to use a LBMSS. However, the relationship between dominance and pleasure was not statistically significant. The results of the present study provides insight to retailers and marketers as to what factors they need to consider to implement location-based mobile shopping services to improve their business performance. Extended Abstract : Location aware technology has expanded the marketer's reach by reducing space and time between a consumer's receipt of advertising and purchase, offering real-time information and coupons to consumers in purchasing situations (Dickenger and Kleijnen, 2008; Malhotra and Malhotra, 2009). LBMSS increases the relevancy of SMS marketing by linking advertisements to a user's location (Bamba and Barnes, 2007; Malhotra and Malhotra, 2009). This study investigated consumer intention to use a location-based mobile shopping service (LBMSS) that integrates cognitive and affective response. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship among information relevancy and affective variables and their effects on intention to use LBMSS. Thus, information relevancy was integrated into pleasure-arousal-dominance (PAD) model and generated the following hypotheses. Hypothesis 1. There will be a positive influence of arousal concerning LBMSS on pleasure in regard to LBMSS. Hypothesis 2. There will be a positive influence of dominance in LBMSS on pleasure in regard to LBMSS. Hypothesis 3. There will be a positive influence of information relevancy on pleasure in regard to LBMSS. Hypothesis 4. There will be a positive influence of pleasure about LBMSS on intention to use LBMSS. E-mail invitations were sent out to a randomly selected sample of three thousand consumers who are older than 18 years old and mobile phone owners, acquired from an independent marketing research company. An online survey technique was employed utilizing Dillman's (2000) online survey method and follow-ups. A total of 335 valid responses were used for the data analysis in the present study. Before the respondents answer any of the questions, they were told to read a document describing LBMSS. The document included definitions and examples of LBMSS provided by various service providers. After that, they were exposed to a scenario describing the participant as taking a saturday shopping trip to a mall and then receiving a short message from the mall. The short message included new product information and coupons for same day use at participating stores. They then completed a questionnaire containing various questions. To assess arousal, dominance, and pleasure, we adapted and modified scales used in the previous studies in the context of location-based mobile shopping service, each of the five items from Mehrabian and Russell (1974). A total of 15 items were measured on a seven-point bipolar scale. To measure information relevancy, four items were borrowed from Mason et al. (1995). Intention to use LBMSS was captured using two items developed by Blackwell, and Miniard (1995) and one items developed by the authors. Data analyses were conducted using SPSS 19.0 and LISREL 8.72. A total of usable 335 data were obtained after deleting the incomplete responses, which results in a response rate of 11.20%. A little over half of the respondents were male (53.9%) and approximately 60% of respondents were married (57.4%). The mean age of the sample was 29.44 years with a range from 19 to 60 years. In terms of the ethnicity there were European Americans (54.5%), Hispanic American (5.3%), African-American (3.6%), and Asian American (2.9%), respectively. The respondents were highly educated; close to 62.5% of participants in the study reported holding a college degree or its equivalent and 14.5% of the participants had graduate degree. The sample represents all income categories: less than $24,999 (10.8%), $25,000-$49,999 (28.34%), $50,000-$74,999 (13.8%), and $75,000 or more (10.23%). The respondents of the study indicated that they were employed in many occupations. Responses came from all 42 states in the U.S. To identify the dimensions of research constructs, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using a varimax rotation was conducted. As indicated in table 1, these dimensions: arousal, dominance, relevancy, pleasure, and intention to use, suggested by the EFA, explained 82.29% of the total variance with factor loadings ranged from .74 to .89. As a next step, CFA was conducted to validate the dimensions that were identified from the exploratory factor analysis and to further refine the scale. Table 1 exhibits the results of measurement model analysis and revealed a chi-square of 202.13 with degree-of-freedom of 89 (p =.002), GFI of .93, AGFI = .89, CFI of .99, NFI of .98, which indicates of the evidence of a good model fit to the data (Bagozzi and Yi, 1998; Hair et al., 1998). As table 1 shows, reliability was estimated with Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability (CR) for all multi-item scales. All the values met evidence of satisfactory reliability in multi-item measure for alpha (>.91) and CR (>.80). In addition, we tested the convergent validity of the measure using average variance extracted (AVE) by following recommendations from Fornell and Larcker (1981). The AVE values for the model constructs ranged from .74 through .85, which are higher than the threshold suggested by Fornell and Larcker (1981). To examine discriminant validity of the measure, we again followed the recommendations from Fornell and Larcker (1981). The shared variances between constructs were smaller than the AVE of the research constructs and confirm discriminant validity of the measure. The causal model testing was conducted using LISREL 8.72 with a maximum-likelihood estimation method. Table 2 shows the results of the hypotheses testing. The results for the conceptual model revealed good overall fit for the proposed model. Chi-square was 342.00 (df = 92, p =.000), NFI was .97, NNFI was .97, GFI was .89, AGFI was .83, and RMSEA was .08. All paths in the proposed model received significant statistical support except H2. The paths from arousal to pleasure (H1: ${\ss}$=.70; t = 11.44), from information relevancy to intention to use (H3 ${\ss}$ =.12; t = 2.36), from information relevancy to pleasure (H4 ${\ss}$ =.15; t = 2.86), and pleasure to intention to use (H5: ${\ss}$=.54; t = 9.05) were significant. However, the path from dominance to pleasure was not supported. This study investigated consumer intention to use a location-based mobile shopping service (LBMSS) that integrates cognitive and affective responses. Information relevancy was integrated into pleasure-arousal-dominance (PAD) emotional state model as a conceptual framework. The results of the present study support previous studies indicating that emotional responses as well as cognitive responses have a strong impact on accepting new technology. The findings of this study suggest potential marketing strategies to mobile service developers and retailers who are considering the implementation of LBMSS. It would be rewarding to develop location-based mobile services that integrate information relevancy and which cause positive emotional responses.

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A Study on the Yousang-Dae Goksuro(Curve-Waterway) in Gangneung, Yungok-Myun, Yoodung Ri (강릉 연곡면 유등리 '유상대(流觴臺)' 곡수로(曲水路)의 조명(照明))

  • Rho, Jae-Hyun;Shin, Sang-Sup;Lee, Jung-Han;Huh, Jun;Park, Joo-Sung
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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    • v.30 no.1
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    • pp.14-21
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    • 2012
  • The object of the study, Yousang-Dae(流觴臺) and engraved Go broad text on the flat rock in Gangneung-si Yungok-myun Yoodung-ri Baemgol, reveals that the place was for appreciating arts like Yusang Goksu and Taoist hermit's games. three times of detail reconnaissance survey brought about the results as follows. There is a the text, Manwolsan(滿月山) Baegundongcheon(白雲洞天), engraved on the rock in Baegunsa(白雲寺) that had been built by Doun at the first year of King Hungang(in 875) of the United Shilla, became in ruins in the middle of Joseon, and then was rebuilt in 1954. The text is an invaluable evidence indicating that the tradition of Taoist hermit and Sunbee(classical scholars) culture has been generated in Baemgol Valley. According to the 2nd vol. of Donghoseungram(東湖勝覽), the chronicle of Gangneung published by Choi Baeksoon in 1934, there is a record saying that 'Baegunsa in Namjeonhyeon is the classroom where famous teachers like Yulgok Lee Yi or Seongje Choi Ok were teaching' that verifies the historic property of the place. In addition, the management of Nujeong(樓亭) and Dongcheon can be traced through Baegunjeong(白雲亭) constructed by Kim Yoonkyung(金潤卿) in Muo year, the 9th year of Cheoljong(1858) according to Donghoseungram and the completed version of Jeungboyimyoungji(增補臨瀛誌). Also, Baegundongdongcheon(白雲亭洞天), the text engraved on the standing stone across the stream from Yousang-Dae stone, was created 3 years after the Baegunjeong construction in the 12th year of Cheoljong(1861), which refers a symbolic sign closely related with Yousang-Dae. Based on this premise and circumstance, with careful studying the remains of 'Yusang-dae' Goksuro, we discovered that the Sebun-seok(細分石) controling the amount and the speed of moving water and the remains of furrows of Keumbae-soek(擒盃石) and Yubae-gong(留盃孔) containing water stream with cups through the mountain stream and rocks around Yusang-Dae. In addition, as 21 people's names engraved under the statement of 'Oh-Seong(午星)' were discovered on the bottom of the rock, this clearly confirms that the place was one of the main cultural footholds of tasting the arts which have characteristics of Yu-Sang-Gok-Su-Yeon(流觴曲水宴) until the middle of the 20th century. It implies that the arts tasting culture of Sunbees had been inherited centering on Yusang-dae in this particular place until the middle of the 20th century. It is necessary to be studied in depth because the place is a historic and unique cultural place where 'Confucianism, Buddhism, and Zen'were combined together. Based on the result of the study, the identification of 23 people as well as the writer of Yusang-Dae text should be carefully studied in depth in terms of the characteristics of the place through gathering data about appreciation of arts like Yusanggoksu. Likewise, we should make efforts to discover the chess board engraved on the rock described on the documents, thus we should consider to establish plans to recover the original shape of the place, for example, breaking the cement pavement of the road, additional excavation, changing the existing route, and so fourth.

LIM Implementation Method for Planning Biotope Area Ratio in Apartment Complex - Focused on Terrain and Pavement Modeling - (공동주택단지의 생태면적률 계획을 위한 LIM 활용방법 - 지형 및 포장재 모델링을 중심으로 -)

  • Kim, Bok-Young;Son, Yong-Hoon;Lee, Soon-Ji
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.46 no.3
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    • pp.14-26
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    • 2018
  • The Biotope Area Ratio (BAR) is a quantitative pre-planning index for sustainable development and an integrated indicator for the balanced development of buildings and outdoor spaces. However, it has been pointed out that there are problems in operations management: errors in area calculation, insufficiency in the underground soil condition and depth, reduction in biotope area after construction, and functional failure as a pre-planning index. To address these problems, this study proposes implementing LIM. Since the weights of the BAR are mainly decided by the underground soil condition and depth with land cover types, the study focused on the terrain and pavements. The model should conform to BIM guidelines and standards provided by government agencies and professional organizations. Thus, the scope and Level Of Detail (LOD) of the model were defined, and the method to build a model with BIM software was developed. An apartment complex on sloping ground was selected as a case study, a 3D terrain modeled, paving libraries created with property information on the BAR, and a LIM model completed for the site. Then the BAR was calculated and construction documents were created with the BAR table and pavement details. As results of the study, it was found that the application of the criteria on the BAR and calculation became accurate, and the efficiency of design tasks was improved by LIM. It also enabled the performance of evidence-based design on the terrain and underground structures. To adopt LIM, it is necessary to create and distribute LIM library manuals or templates, and build library content that comply with KBIMS standards. The government policy must also have practitioners submit BIM models in the certification system. Since it is expected that the criteria on planting types in the BAR will be expanded, further research is needed to build and utilize the information model for planting materials.

A Study on the Characteristics of Design and Acculturation of Planting of 'Guǐ(槐)' in Chirinjeong Wonlim of Pohang (포항 칠인정원림(七印亭園林)의 조영특성과 '괴목(槐木)' 식재(植栽)의 문화변용(文化變容))

  • Rho, Jae-Hyun;Han, Sang-Yup;Kim, Jeong-Moon;Jeong, Poo-Reum
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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    • v.35 no.3
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    • pp.22-31
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    • 2017
  • The purpose of this study is to illuminate historical sensitivity and design in the days of the Joseon era and examines the phenomenon of acculturation as revealed in the planting of Sophora japonica and Zelkova serrata in the garden grove by looking into the purpose underlying the construction, formative intention and the process of change in Pohang's Chirinjeong wonlim. Chirinjeong, also called Sanggaejeong(雙槐亭) after the fact that two Zelkova serrata trees were planted there, is a hermit pavilion in Sa-il village, Chogok-ri, built in the 9th year of King Taejong(1409) by Jang, Pyo(張彪, 1349~?) of an officer of bureaucratic origin toward the end of the Goryeo Dynasty, the Chirinjeong garden grove is an element essential to Chogok, the 3rd Gok of Sanggaegoogok(雙溪九曲). The wonlim of Chirinjeong is divided into the pavilion section composed of the entrance area, Chirinjeong, composed of Zelkova serrata and Sophora japonica, and the pond section composed of a quadrangular pond and island(方池方島), and Lagerstroemia indica. In view of the intent of the name Chirinjeong or of the fact that the pavilion was named based on that the royal seal string was hung on the Sanggwaesoo(雙槐樹) or two Zelkova serrata trees, it is reasonable to view it as Zelkova serrata trees having been planted early in the days of the Joseon Dynasty and those additionally planted later on that symbolizes the position of the three nobles and the Sophora japonica. In addition, in spite of the fact that the type of trees supplementarily planted in the 21st year of King Yeongjo(1745) is known as Sophora japonica, it is impossible to rule out the possibility of the tree planted outside of Chirinjeong being Zelkova serrata. In short, the three Zelkova serrata trees planted along with Sophora japonica must certainly be evidence that Zelkova serrata planted along with Sophora japonica in Chirinjeong wonlim indicates that the off spring of the Indong Jang family could tell the difference between Sophora japonica and Zelkova serrata. In the recognition process of Zelkova serrata trees finding their way into Korea, it was known as Zelkova serrata on the one hand and as Sophora japonica on the other, and the former, which enjoys a comparative advantage over in terms of the easiness with which to purchase, growth speed and possibility of growing into a long-lived tree was interchanged with Zelkova serrata, a case of acculturation as manifested in the planting of Sophora japonica in the Chirinjeong garden grove.

The Effects of Metaphors in the Interface of Smartphone Applications on Users' Intention to Use (사용자환경의 메타포가 스마트폰 애플리케이션 사용의도에 미치는 영향)

  • Jung, Wonjin;Hong, Suk-Ki
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.24 no.3
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    • pp.255-279
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    • 2014
  • It is not too much to say that smartphones have become an essential part of our lives due to their versatility. Nevertheless, they still have less overall capabilities than their desktop counterparts. Specifically, they have small screens and low resolutions, which make their applications difficult to have a usable interface. To account for these limitations, the interface of smartphone applications should be designed carefully and properly. Good interface design to any application is critical. However, a comprehensive information systems (IS) literature review found that there has been little research on the user interface design of smartphone applications. More specifically, there has been little empirical evidence and understanding about how metaphors, an imaginative way of describing objects and concepts, in the user interface of smartphone applications affect users' intention to use the applications. Thereby, the research goals of this study are to examine 1) the effects of the metaphors in the user interface of smartphone applications on the interaction between users and applications and 2) the effects of mediating variables including the interaction between users and applications, users' beliefs and attitudes, on users' intention to use the applications. A survey was conducted to collect data. University students and practitioners participated in the survey. A 24-item questionnaire was developed on a 5-point Likert-type scale. The measurement items were mostly adapted from the previous studies in the IS literature and modified to fit the context of this study. First, a principal component factor analysis was performed to explore the inter-relationships among a set of variables. The analysis showed that most of the items loaded quite strongly on the six components. The analysis also revealed the six components with eigenvalues exceeding 1, explaining a total of 70.7 per cent of the variance. The reliabilities of the items were also checked. Most Cronbach alpha values were above 0.8, so the scales were considered reliable. In sum, the results of the analysis support the decision to retain the six factors for further investigation. Next, the structural model was analyzed with AMOS structural equation modeling. The values of GFI, AGFI, NFI, TLI, CFI, and RMSEA were checked. The values showed that the research model considerably have a good fit in general. Next, the convergent and discriminant validities of all constructs were examined. The values for the standardized regression weights and critical ration (CR) indicated sufficient convergent validity for all constructs. In addition, the square root of the average variance extracted (AVE) of each construct was compared with its correlations with all other constructs. The results supported discriminant validity for all constructs. In sum, the results of analysis demonstrated adequate convergent and discriminant validities for all constructs. Finally, path coefficients between the variables were examined. Methphor was found to have an impact on interaction (${\beta}$ = .457, p = .000). There were also significant effects of the interaction on perceived usefulness (${\beta}$ = .273, p = .000) and ease of use (${\beta}$ = .405, p = .000). User attitude was significantly influenced by these two beliefs, perceived usefulness (${\beta}$ = .386, p = .000) and ease of use (${\beta}$ = .347, p = .000) respectively. Further, the results of analysis found that users' intention to use smartphone applications was significantly influenced by user attitude (${\beta}$ = .567, p = .000). Based upon the analyses, all hypotheses were supported. This study found that the metaphors used in the interface of smartphone applications affect not only the interaction between users and applications, but also users' intention to use the applications through the mediating variables, perceived usefulness and ease of use. These findings imply that if the metaphors used in the user interface of application are easy enough to understand for smartphone users, then the application can be perceived useful and easy to use, which in turn make users to have an intention to use the application. In conclusion, this study contributed not only to validate and extend Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) partially, but also to develop the construct of metaphor in smartphone settings. However, since a single empirical study cannot be enough to validate the findings, some limitations should be considered.