Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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v.29
no.4
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pp.161-193
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2017
The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate pre-parenthood education program(PPEP) based on Home Economics(HE) subject for high school students. The development and evaluation of PPEP based on HE subject in this study followed ADDIE model except implementation through 4 processes such as analysis, design, development, and evaluation. First, program development directions were set in three aspects such as 'general development', 'contents', and 'teaching and learning methods'. Themes of the program are 11 in total such as '1. Parenting, what is being a parent', '2. Choosing your spouse, happy marital relationship, the best gift to your children', '3. Pregnancy and birth, a moving meeting with a new life', '4. Taking care of a new born infant for 24 hours', '5. Taking care of infants, relationship with my lovely baby, attachment', '6. Taking care of young children, my child from another planet', '7. Parents and children in healthy family', '8. Parent-child relationship, wise parents to make effective interaction with their children', '9. Parents safety manager at home,', '10. Practice to take care of infants', and '11. Practice of community nurturing support service development'. In particular, learning activities of the program have major characteristics such as 1) utilization of cases including practice problems related to parenting, 2) community exchange activities utilizing learned knowledge and techniques, 3) actual life project activities utilizing learning contents related with parenting, 4) activities inducing positive changes in current life of high school students, and 5) practice activities for the necessities of life such as food, clothing and shelter supporting development of children. Second, the program was developed according to the design. Teaching-learning plans and materials for 17 classes were developed according to 11 themes. The developed plans include class flow and teacher's reference. It starts with receiving a class-related message from a virtual child at the introduction stage and ended with replying to the message by summarizing contents of the class and making a promise as a parent-to-be. That is the basic frame of class flow. Learning materials included various plans and reports necessary for learning activities and they are prepared in details so that they can be play the role of textbooks in regular curriculum. Third, evaluation of developed program was executed by a 5 point Likert scale survey on 13 HE experts on two aspects of program development process and program development results. In the evaluation of development process, mean value was 4.61 and index of content validity was 97.4%. For development results, mean value was 4.37 and index of content validity was 86.9%. These values showed that validity in the development process and results in this study was highly secured and confirmed that PPEP based on HE was appropriate and valid to enhance parent qualifications of high school learners.
Background: Tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-$\alpha$ and Interleukin(lL)-$1{\beta}$ are thought to play a major role in the pathogenesis of the septic syndrome, which is frequently associated with adult respiratory distress syndrome(ARDS). In spite of many reports for the role of TNF-$\alpha$ in the pathogenesis of ARDS, including human studies, it has been reported that TNF-$\alpha$ is not sensitive and specific marker for impending ARDS. But there is a possibility that the results were affected by the diversity of pathogenetic mechanisms leading to the ARDS because of various underlying disorders of the study group in the previous reports. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the roles of TNF-$\alpha$ and IL-$1{\beta}$ as a predictable marker for development of ARDS in the patients with septic syndrome, in which the pathogenesis is believed to be mainly cytokine-mediated. Methods: Thirty-six patients of the septic syndrome hospitalized in the intensive care units of the Asan Medical Center were studied. Sixteens suffered from ARDS, whereas the remaining 20 were at the risk of developing ARDS(acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, AHRF). In all patients venous blood samples were collected in heparin-coated tubes at the time of enrollment, at 24 and 72 h thereafter. TNF-$\alpha$ and IL-$1{\beta}$ was measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). All data are expressed as median with interquartile range. Results: 1) Plama TNF-$\alpha$ levels: Plasma TNF-$\beta$ levels were less than 10pg/mL, which is lowest detection value of the kit used in this study within the range of the $mean{\pm}2SD$, in all of the normal controls, 8 of 16 subjects of ARDS and in 8 in 20 subjects of AHRF. Plasma TNF-$\alpha$ levels from patients with ARDS were 10.26pg/mL(median; <10-16.99pg/mL, interquartile range) and not different from those of patients at AHRF(10.82, <10-20.38pg/mL). There was also no significant difference between pre-ARDS(<10, <10-15.32pg/mL) and ARDS(<10, <10-10.22pg/mL). TNF-$\alpha$ levels were significantly greater in the patients with shock than the patients without shock(12.53pg/mL vs. <10pg/mL) (p<0.01). There was no statistical significance between survivors(<10, <10-12.92pg/mL) and nonsurvivors(11.80, <10-20.8pg/mL) (P=0.28) in the plasma TNF-$\alpha$ levels. 2) Plasma IL-$1{\beta}$ levels: Plasma IL-$1{\beta}$ levels were less than 0.3ng/mL, which is the lowest detection value of the kit used in this study, in one of each patients group. There was no significant difference in IL-$1{\beta}$ levels of the ARDS(2.22, 1.37-8.01ng/mL) and of the AHRF(2.13, 0.83-5.29ng/mL). There was also no significant difference between pre-ARDS(2.53, <0.3-8.34ngfmL) and ARDS(5.35, 0.66-11.51ng/mL), and between patients with septic shock and patients without shock (2.51, 1.28-8.34 vs 1.46, 0.15-2.13ng/mL). Plasma IL-$1{\beta}$ levels were significantly different between survivors(1.37, 0.4-2.36ng/mL) and nonsurvivors(2.84, 1.46-8.34ng/mL). Conclusion: Plasma TNF-$\alpha$ and IL-$1{\beta}$ level are not a predictable marker for development of ARDS. But TNF-$\alpha$ is a marker for shock in septic syndrome. These result could not exclude a possibility of pathophysiologic roles of TNF-$\alpha$ and IL-$1{\beta}$ in acute lung injury because these cytokine could be locally produced and exert its effects within the lungs.
The object of this study was 200 patients who had been treated in the Oriental Medical Hospital at Dong Eui Medical Center during 9 months from Jan. 1999 to sept. 1999. We proceeded the judgment of Sasang Constitution according to 'Questionnaire of Sasang Constitution Classification (I)', and 'Questionnaire of Sasang Constitution Classification II(QSCCII)' and the diagnosis by a medical specialist. The following conclusion were made in comparison with Sasang Constitution and Questionnaire. 1. We selected the 84 subjects what had the statistical value out of the 196 subjects('Questionnaire of Sasang Constitution Classification (I)' had the 71 subjects and 'Questionnaire of Sasang Constitution Classification II(QSCCII)', had the 121 subjects). And we selected again the 73 subjects('Questionnaire of Sasang Constitution Classification (I)', had the 33 subjects and 'Questionnaire of Sasang Constitution Classification II (QSCC II)' had the 40 subjects) out of the 84 subjects, because it had a repeated subjects. 2. We made the Questionnaire what has the 85 subjects, including the subjects what was approved its statistical value by 'A CLINICAL STUDY OF THE JUDGMENT OF SASANG CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO QUESTIONNAIRE' and 'A CLINICAL STUDY OF THE TYPE OF DISEASE AND SYMPTOM ACCORDING TO SASANG CONSTITUTION CLASSIFICATION'. The subject what ask the physique and the body form was 7, the subject what ask the external appearance and the posture was 7, the subject what ask the habit and the character was 3, the subject what ask the physiology and the pathology was 3, the subject what ask the phenomenon that he has frequency was 4, the subject what ask the eating was 3, the subject what ask the symptom that he has frequency was 14, the subject what ask the work and the qualities-defects was 6, the subject what ask the friendly intercourse was 7, the subject what ask the usual mind was 5, the subject what ask the emotional inclination was I, the subject what ask the behavioral inclination was 10, the subject what ask the character was 15. 3. In the new Questionnaire, the subject what has relevance to Soyang was 84, the subject what has relevance to Soeum was 87, the subject what has relevance to Taeeum was 70. And we made the point of subject with the statistical ratio. The total point of Soyang was 7785.04, the total point of Soeum was 7742.80, the total point of Taeeum was 7746.60. 4. As a result of judgment of Sasang Constitution between the clinical diagnosis by a medical specialist and the new Questionnaire, the diagnostic accuracy of new Questionnaire was 73.33%. The diagnostic accuracy of Soyang was low, the others was high. And the Taeyang was excepted.
Synthesize and examine petrological characteristic and geochemical characteristic by weathering formation of rock and progress of weathering laying stress on stone cultural properties of Unjusa temple of Chonnam Hwasun county site in this research. Examine closely weathering element that influence mechanical, chemical, mineralogical and physical weathering of rocks that accomplish stone cultural properties and these do quantification, wish to utilize by a basic knowledge for conservation scientific research of stone cultural properties by these result. Enforced component analysis of rock and mineralogical survey about 18 samples (pyroclastic tuff; 7, ash tuff; 4, granite ; 4, granitic gneiss; 3) all to search petrological characteristic and geochemical characteristic by weathering of Unjusa temple precinct stone cultural properties and recorded deterioration degree about each stone cultural properties observing naked eye. Major rock that constitution Unjusa temple one great geological features has strike of N30-40W and dip of 10-20NE being pyroclastic tuff. This pyroclastic tuff is ranging very extensively laying center on Unjusa temple and stone cultural properties of precinct is modeled by this pyroclastic tuff. Stone cultural propertieses of present Unjusa temple precinct are accomplishing structural imbalance with serious crack, and because weathering of rock with serious biological pollution is gone fairly, rubble break away and weathering and deterioration phenomenon such as fall off of a particle of mineral are appearing extremely. Also, a piece of iron and cement mortar of stone cultural properties everywhere are forming precipitate of reddish brown and light gray being oxidized. About these stone cultural properties, most stone cultural propertieses show SD(severe damage) to MD(moderate damage) as result that record Deterioration degree. X-ray diffraction analysis result samples of each rock are consisted of mineral of quartz, orthoclase,plagioclase, calcite, magnetite etc. Quartz and feldspar alterated extremely in a microscopic analysis, and biotite that show crystalline form of anhedral shows state that become chloritization that is secondary weathering mineral being weathered. Also, see that show iron precipitate of reddish brown to crack zone of tuff everywhere preview rock that weathering is gone deep. Tuffs that accomplish stone cultural properties of study area is illustrated to field of Subalkaline and Peraluminous, $SiO_2$(wt.%) extent of samples pyroclastic tuff 70.08-73.69, ash tuff extent of 70.26-78.42 show. In calculate Chemical Index of Alteration(CIA) and Weathering Potential Index(WPI) about major elements extent of CIA pyroclastic tuff 55.05-60.75, ash tuff 52.10-58.70, granite 49.49-51.06 granitic gneiss shows value of 53.25-67.14 and these have high value gneiss and tuffs. WPI previews that is see as thing which is illustrated being approximated in 0 lines and 0 lines low samples of tuffs and gneiss is receiving esaily weathering process as appear in CIA. As clay mineral of smectite, zeolite that is secondary weathering produce of rock as result that pick powdering of rock and clothing material of stone cultural properties observed by scanning electron micrographs (SEM). And roots of lichen and spore of hyphae that is weathering element are observed together. This rock deep organism being coating to add mechanical weathering process of stone cultural properties do, and is assumed that change the clay mineral is gone fairly in stone cultural properties with these. As the weathering of rocks is under a serious condition, the damage by the natural environment such as rain, wind, trees and the ground is accelerated. As a counter-measure, the first necessary thing is to build the ground environment about protecting water invasion by making the drainage and checking the surrounding environment. The second thing are building hardening and extirpation process that strengthens the rock, dealing biologically by reducing lichens, and sticking crevice part restoration using synthetic resin. Moreover, it is assumed to be desirable to build the protection facility that can block wind, sunlight, and rain which are the cause of the weathering, and that goes well with the surrounding environment.
Kim, Tae-Hyung;Jeon, Yong-Gam;Shim, Tae-Sun;Lim, Chae-Man;Koh, Yun-Suck;Lee, Sang-Do;Kim, Woo-Sung;Kim, Won-Dong;Kim, Dong-Soon
Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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v.46
no.2
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pp.215-228
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1999
Background: Sarcoidosis is a chronic granulomatous inflammatory disease of unknown etiology often involving the lungs and intrathoracic lymph nodes. The natural course of sarcoidosis is variable from spontaneous remission to significant morbidity or death. But, the mechanisms causing the variable clinical outcomes or any single parameter to predict the prognosis was not known. In sarcoidosis, the number and the activity of CD4 + lymphocytes are significantly increased at the loci of disease and their oligoclonality suggests that the CD4 + lymphocytes hyperreactivity may be caused by persistent antigenic stimulus. Recently, it has been known that CD4+ lymphocytes can be subdivided into 2 distinct population(Th1 and Th2) defined by the spectrum of cytokines produced by these cells. Th1 cells promote cellular immunity associated with delayed type hypersensitivity reactions by generating IL-2 and IFN-$\gamma$. Th2 cells playa role in allergic responses and immediate hypersensitivity reactions by secreting IL-4, IL-5, and IL-10. CD4+ lymphocytes in pulmonary sarcoidosis were reported to be mainly Th1 cells. IL-12 has been known to play an important role in differentiation of undifferentiated naive T cells to Th1 cells. And, Moller et al. observed increased IL-12 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF) in patients with sarcoidosis. So it is possible that the elevated level of IL-12 is necessary for the continuous progression of the disease in active sarcoidosis. This study was performed to test the assumption that IL-12 can be a marker of active pulmonary sarcoidosis. Methods: We measured the concentration of IL-12 in BALF and in conditioned medium of alveolar macrophage(AM) using ELISA(enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) method in 26 patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis(10 males, 16 females, mean age: $39.8{\pm}2.1$ years) and 11 normal control. Clinically, 14 patients had active sarcoidosis and 12 patients had inactive. Results: Total cells counts, percentage and number of lymhocytes, number of AM and CD4/CD8 lymphocyte ratio in BALF were significantly higher in patients with sarcoidosis than in control group. But none of these parameters could differentiate active sarcoidosis from inactive disease. The concentration of IL-12 in BALF was significantly increased in sarcoidosis patients ($49.3{\pm}9.2$ pg/ml) than in normal control ($2.5{\pm}0.4$ pg/ml) (p<0.001). Moreover it was significantly higher in patients with active sarcoidosis ($70.3{\pm}14.8$ pg/ml) than in inactive disease ($24.8{\pm}3.l$ pg/ml) (p=0.001). Also, the concentration of IL-12 in BALF showed significant correlation with the percentage of AM(p<0.001), percentage(p<0.001) and number of lymphocyte(p<0.001) in BALF, suggesting the close relationship between the level of IL-12 in BALF and the inflammatory cell infiltration in the lungs. Furthermore, we found a significant correlation between the level of IL-12 and the concentration of soluble ICAM-1 : in serum(p<0.001) and BALF (p=0.001), and also between IL-12 level and ICAM-1 expression of AM(p<0.001). The AM from patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis secreted significantly larger amount of IL-12 ($206.2{\pm}61.9$ pg/ml) than those of control ($68.3{\pm}43.7$ pg/ml) (p<0.008), but, there was no difference between inactive and active disease group. Conclusion : Our data suggest that the BALF IL-12 level can be used as a marker of the activity of pulmonary sarcoidosis.
Kim, D.C.;Lee, O.Y.;Lee, J.S.;Ahn, J.S.;Chang, Y.M;Son, S.C.;Moon, I.S.
Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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v.8
no.1
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pp.44-65
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1983
As a part of the epidemiological studies of clonorchiasis, this study was conducted to evaluate the current endemicity and the natural transition of the Clonorchis infection in Gimhae Gun and delta area a high endemic area in Korea in recent years, prior to the introduction of praziquantel which will eventually influence the status of the prevalence. The data obtained in this study in 1983 were evaluated for natural transition of the infection in comparison with those obtained 16 years ago in 1967 by the author(Kim, 1974). The areas of investigation, villages and schools surveyed, methods and techniques used in this study were the same as in 1967, except for the contents of the questionnaire for raw freshwater fish consumption by the local inhabitants. 1) The prevalence rate of clonorchiasis in the general population of the villages was 48.1% on the average out of a total of 484 persons examined. The average of those of the riverside-delta area was 65.2% and 43.0% in the inland area. Among the schoolchildren, the prevalence rate was 8.2% on the average out of a total of 1,423 examined. By area, the prevalence rate was 10.8% in the riverside delta area and 2.8% in the inland area. By sex, difference in the prevalence was seen only in the inhabitants of the inland area showing 52.4% in the male and 33.5% in the female. 2) In the natural transition of the infection, the prevalence rate among the inhabitants has decreased from 68.8% in 1967 to 48.1% in 1983, and in the schoolchildren from 56.4% in 1967 to 8.2% in 1983. The reduction rate was higher in the riverside-delta area than in the inland area. 3) In the prevalence rate by age, 11.9% was first seen in the 5-9 age group and the rate gradually increased up to 75.0% in the 50-59 age group. By sex, the rate was higher in the male than in the female in the 20-29 age group and over. 4) In the natural transition of the prevalence rate by age, the reduction rate of the infection during the past 16 years was greater in the younger age groups up to the 40-49 age group and reached the same level in the age group 50-59. Reduction was seen again in the age group over 60s. By sex, the reduction rate was greater in the female than in the male in the 20-29 age group and over. By area, the reduction rate was greater in the riverside delta area than in the inland area, particularly in the young age groups. 5) In the intensity of the infection among the cases, the mean egg out-put per mg feces per infected cases(EPmg) in the inhabitants was 6.3. EPmg of those of the river-side-delta area was 15.4 and that of the in-land was 2.8. On the other hand, in the schoolchildren, EPmg was 3.2, and no difference was seen between the two areas, the river-side-delta area and the inland area. 6) In the transition of the intensity of the infection by area, EPmg among the inhabitants inexplically increased from 7.8 in 1967 to 15.4 in 1983. This was probably caused by uneven specimen collection in the process of sampling the population. EPmg of the inhabitants in the inland area and those of the schoolchildren of both riverside delta and inland areas showed a similar decrease in the past 16 years. 7) The intensity of the infection by age showed a relatively low level in the 20-29 age group and below, and EPmg 5.1-9.5 was seen in the 30-39 age group and over. Sex, Epmg was 5.8 in the male and 4.7 the female. By in 8) In the transition of the intensity of the infection, EPmg decreased from 6.2 in 1967 to 5.4 in 1983. By age, in contrast to the figures of 1967 in which EPmg gradually increased with some fluctuation from 1.1 in the 0-4 age group to peak 10.5 in the 50-59 age group, in 1983 lower intensity of the infection was seen in the age group from 10-14 to 20-29 with the EPmg range of 0.6-2.7. 9) In the distribution of the clonorchiasis cases by the range of EPmg value, 43.2% of the cases were in 0.1 0.9 and 34.6% in 1.0-4.9. As a whole by cumulative percent, 44.6% of them were under 0.9 as light infection and 86.1% of them under 9.9 up to moderate infection. By sex, no difference was seen in Epmg. 10) In the transition of the distribution by the range of Epmg, the cases were distributed up to the range 80.0-99.9 in 1967 and to 60.0-79.9 in 1983. By cumulative percent, in the range of 0.1-0.9 and less, light infection, 34.3% of them were distributed in 1967 and 44.6% in 1983 with about 10% increase. In the range of 5.0-9.9 and less, up to moderate infection, 83.2% in 1967 and 86.1% in 1983 of the cases were seen, respectively. 11) The practice of raw freshwater fish consumption among the inhabitants seems to have decreased in recent years. Those who admitted to raw freshwater fish consumption in the last two years among the infected inhabitants were 59.3%, although 86.8% of them professed to have experience with raw freshwater fish consumption. 31.7% of those who have had experience of the raw freshwater fish consumption denied any further consumption in recent years. From an interview of 543 school-children, 24.1% of them admitted to an experience of raw freshwater fish consumption. However, those who have practised in the past two years comprized 17.9%. Those who denied raw freshwater fish consumption in recent years among those who had such experience were 26.0% out of 131 interviewed. The rate of raw freshwater fish consumption in both inhabitants and schoolchildren were higher in the male than in the female. On the contrary, the rate of those who did not practise in recent years among those who had experience of raw freshwater fish consumption was higher in the female than in the male. 12) The major reason for the reduction of raw freshwater fish consumption among the local inhabitants was the risk of the fluke infection. However, it has become apparent that such change of taste has resulted from water pollution impact which has affected throughout the areas of the freshwater systems in this locality since last several years. 13) In animal survey, Clonorchis infection was seen in 14.8% of 88 dogs examined and 3.7% of 27 house rats examined. It was noted that populations of dogs and cats have increased in the villages surveyed. Although the prevalence rate was lower in the present survey than those of 1967, the significance of the animals as the reservoir host has not changed. 14) Prevalence rate of Clonorchis infection by cercariae in the first intermediate host, Parafossarulus manchouricus, was 0.6% out of 517 snails examined. The infection rate was lower in comparison with 2.3% out of 2,124 examined in 1967. Moreover, sharp decreases in number and distribution of the intermediate host snails in many watershed areas of the huge freshwater systems in this locality seemed to reduce transmission of Clonorchis in connection with the intermediate host stage of its life cycle. 15) Clonorchis infection in the second intermediate fish hosts was relatively low. The mean number of Clonorchis metacercaria per fish in Pseudorasbora parva was 517 in 1983, whereas it was 1943 in 1968 through 1969. Environmental water pollution has also caused the decreased fish population density in these areas, and this has also apparently affected to the practice of raw freshwater fish consumption among the local inhabitants. 16) In conclusion, endemicity of Clonorchis infection in Gimhae Gum and delta area of the Nagdong River has sharply decreased during the past 16 years. The major cause of the regressive transition of the infection was the water pollution of the land water systems of this locality. The pollution has upset the ecosystems comprizing of the intermediate hosts of Clonorchis in many areas, and also affected to a significant extent to the discontinuance of the local inhabitants for raw freshwater fish consumption.
Internet commerce has been growing at a rapid pace for the last decade. Many firms try to reach wider consumer markets by adding the Internet channel to the existing traditional channels. Despite the various benefits of the Internet channel, a significant number of firms failed in managing the new type of channel. Previous studies could not cleary explain these conflicting results associated with the Internet channel. One of the major reasons is most of the previous studies conducted analyses under a specific market condition and claimed that as the impact of Internet channel introduction. Therefore, their results are strongly influenced by the specific market settings. However, firms face various market conditions in the real worlddensity and disutility of using the Internet. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of various market environments on a firm's optimal channel strategy by employing a flexible game theory model. We capture various market conditions with consumer density and disutility of using the Internet.
shows the channel structures analyzed in this study. Before the Internet channel is introduced, a monopoly manufacturer sells its products through an independent physical store. From this structure, the manufacturer could introduce its own Internet channel (MI). The independent physical store could also introduce its own Internet channel and coordinate it with the existing physical store (RI). An independent Internet retailer such as Amazon could enter this market (II). In this case, two types of independent retailers compete with each other. In this model, consumers are uniformly distributed on the two dimensional space. Consumer heterogeneity is captured by a consumer's geographical location (ci) and his disutility of using the Internet channel (${\delta}_{N_i}$).
shows various market conditions captured by the two consumer heterogeneities.
(a) illustrates a market with symmetric consumer distributions. The model captures explicitly the asymmetric distributions of consumer disutility in a market as well. In a market like that is represented in
(c), the average consumer disutility of using an Internet store is relatively smaller than that of using a physical store. For example, this case represents the market in which 1) the product is suitable for Internet transactions (e.g., books) or 2) the level of E-Commerce readiness is high such as in Denmark or Finland. On the other hand, the average consumer disutility when using an Internet store is relatively greater than that of using a physical store in a market like (b). Countries like Ukraine and Bulgaria, or the market for "experience goods" such as shoes, could be examples of this market condition.
summarizes the various scenarios of consumer distributions analyzed in this study. The range for disutility of using the Internet (${\delta}_{N_i}$) is held constant, while the range of consumer distribution (${\chi}_i$) varies from -25 to 25, from -50 to 50, from -100 to 100, from -150 to 150, and from -200 to 200.
summarizes the analysis results. As the average travel cost in a market decreases while the average disutility of Internet use remains the same, average retail price, total quantity sold, physical store profit, monopoly manufacturer profit, and thus, total channel profit increase. On the other hand, the quantity sold through the Internet and the profit of the Internet store decrease with a decreasing average travel cost relative to the average disutility of Internet use. We find that a channel that has an advantage over the other kind of channel serves a larger portion of the market. In a market with a high average travel cost, in which the Internet store has a relative advantage over the physical store, for example, the Internet store becomes a mass-retailer serving a larger portion of the market. This result implies that the Internet becomes a more significant distribution channel in those markets characterized by greater geographical dispersion of buyers, or as consumers become more proficient in Internet usage. The results indicate that the degree of price discrimination also varies depending on the distribution of consumer disutility in a market. The manufacturer in a market in which the average travel cost is higher than the average disutility of using the Internet has a stronger incentive for price discrimination than the manufacturer in a market where the average travel cost is relatively lower. We also find that the manufacturer has a stronger incentive to maintain a high price level when the average travel cost in a market is relatively low. Additionally, the retail competition effect due to Internet channel introduction strengthens as average travel cost in a market decreases. This result indicates that a manufacturer's channel power relative to that of the independent physical retailer becomes stronger with a decreasing average travel cost. This implication is counter-intuitive, because it is widely believed that the negative impact of Internet channel introduction on a competing physical retailer is more significant in a market like Russia, where consumers are more geographically dispersed, than in a market like Hong Kong, that has a condensed geographic distribution of consumers.