• Title/Summary/Keyword: Indirect Method

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소설과 말기 암환자를 통해 본 한국인의 죽음의 의미

  • Jeon, Hye-Won;Kim, Bun-Han
    • Korean Journal of Hospice Care
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    • v.3 no.2
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    • pp.34-54
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    • 2003
  • Every one experiences death one day, however no one can knows exactly what it is because people can not experience death until it comes, it is therefore impossible to judge correctly on the phenomenon of the death. On the whole, man experiences indirect death through the mass communications such as TV drama, fiction, magazine etc because those methods can easily access by every one. In addition to this, people usually acquire the negative awareness of death through the dramatic change of story like dying of cancer for dramatic effect by giving scare and fear to the cancers. The purpose of this study is to provide basic information on the spiritual care that enables the facing death patients to accept death as a part of life and divert hope from scare about after death by comparing and analyzing of two aspects of death meaning I.e, Korean fiction and the end stage cancer patients. Additionally, for medical staff to understand the facing death cancer patients by making to aware patients correctly and provide the better quality of care. The study was performed from September 28, 2002 to February, 28 2003. The materials of this study were collected by direct data obtained from observation, interviews, note and diary of end stage of cancer patients and written materials acquired from Korean contemporary fiction. Participants of this study were 4 end stage cancer patients including 2 lung cancer patients, 1 liver cancer patient and 1 esophagus cancer patient. The methodology used in this study was divided into two types; Huberman & Miles methodology was used for fiction to find and categorize subject, and Colaizzi, one of phenomenological methodology was used for end stage cancer patients to find the major meaning, subject and categorization. 1.The death investigated in the fiction, was found as a progress of negative emotion, acceptance and sublimation, life related subjects in the negative emotion were tenacity for life, anxiety, lingering attachment, responsibility, abandonment and death related subjects were shock, isolation, fear, scare and rejection. Acceptance related subjects were acceptance, destiny, secularism, preparation and arrangement, and sublimation related subjects were sublimation through Christian and Buddhism. 2.The death showed in the participants was negative emotion, acceptance and sublimation, life related subjects were repentance, anxiety, responsibility and hopelessness, and death related subjects were dejection, solitude, anger, fear and scare. The acceptance was a type of religious acceptance that admitted instantly by reaching an understanding with the God, and death was accepted as a progress of preparation, arrangement, acceptance and hope. Sublimation related subjects were Christian sublimation and relief or destiny incurred from self-reflective sublimation through communications and thoughts. 3.The death in view of fiction and participants were positively accepted both death and negative emotion, and the study disclosed the fact that death was sublimated dependent on religion. 4.The progress of negative emotion, acceptance and sublimation was disclosed more complicated and various in the real end stage cancer patients and acceptance only found in the patients on the form of religious acceptance, according to the results compared with fiction and real end stage cancer patients. The death showed in the fiction was standardized, gradated and similar progress with psychological status of Kubler-Ross. However, death in the participants was showed complex and various feelings simultaneously, and sometimes they accepted death positively. The sublimation through religion was found in Buddhism and Christian in the fiction and mostly Christian in the participants due to a number of Hospice patients. It was found that negative emotion various types of death was more found in the participants than fiction. It is therefore necessary to study on the response of death in various types. In the participants death was incurred more systematic and variously, we knew that nursing practice focused on experience of participants is required and reality on death is much profound than we analyzed and presented, lots of situations and reactions should be premised because we can not completely rule out the negligence possibility of care mediation of participants. In caring for the facing death patients, we discovered and confirmed again through this study that the spiritual care should be needed as a mediation method.

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The effect of bracket width on frictional force between bracket and arch wire during sliding tooth movement (치아의 활주 이동시 브라켓 폭이 브라켓과 호선 사이의 마찰력에 미치는 효과)

  • Choi, Won-Cheul;Kim, Tae-Woo;Park, Joo-Young;Kwak, Jae-Hyuk;Na, Hyo-Jeong;Park, Du-Nam
    • The korean journal of orthodontics
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    • v.34 no.3 s.104
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    • pp.253-260
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    • 2004
  • Frictional force between the orthodontic bracket and arch wire during sliding tooth movement is related to many factors, such as the size, shape and material of both the bracket and wire, ligation method and the angle formed between the bracket and wire. There have been clear conclusions drawn in regard to most of these factors, but as to the effect of bracket width on frictional force there are only conflicting studies. This study was designed to investigate the effect of bracket width on the amount of frictional forces generated during clinically simulated tooth movement. Three different widths of brackets $(0.018{\times}0.025'\;standard)$ narrow (2.40mm), medium (3.00mm) and wide (4.25mm) were used in tandem with $0.016{\times}0.022'$ stainless steel wire. Three bracket-arch wire combinations were drawn on for 4 minutes on a testing apparatus with a head speed of 0.5mm/min and tested 7 times each. To reproduce biological conditions, dentoalveolar models were designed with indirect technique using a material with similar elastic properties as periodontal ligament (PDL). In addition, to minimize the effect of ligation force, elastomer was used with added resin, which was attached to the bracket to make up for the discrepancies of bracket width. The results were as follows: 1. Maximum frictional force for each bracket-arch wire combination was: Narrow (2.40mm): $68.09\pm4.69gmf$ Medium (3.00mm): $72.75\pm4.98 gmf$ Wide (4.25mm): $72.59\pm4.54gmf$ 2. Frictional force was increased with more displacement of wire through the bracket slot. 3. The ANOVA psot-hoc test showed that the bracker width had no significant effect on frictional force when tested under clinically simulated conditions(p>0.05).

A Study on the Individual Issue and Organizational Issue of Organizational Innovation (개인혁신과 조직혁신의 이슈에 관한 연구)

  • Song Kyung-Soo;Kim Hye-Jung
    • Management & Information Systems Review
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    • v.16
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    • pp.59-76
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    • 2005
  • The inner and outer environment surrounding companies becomes more insecure and unpredictable due to sudden changes. Because the change of environment surrounding companies can deeply affect the existence of companies, continuous innovation of organization is required to develope management ability. Also, to conquer insecure present and future of companies effectively, organizations of companies have voluntarily coped with insecurities and intense competitions through endless organization innovation. Externally, globalization, openness, and relaxed regulation intensify competitions; consumers' requests get varied; consciousness of members of organizations have changed. Due to those factors, companies are placed in a situation that they should practice endless inner innovation. Internally, competitive power has weakened due to decline in productivity and inefficiency of indirect parts of company has increased. From those factors, managers increasingly request inner innovation and pursue organization innovation for the purpose of effective usage of extra resources and being prepared for the future. The managers who operate organization innovation think that systematized approach to organization innovation is the most practical, and actually operate the thought. However, the negative side of the thought is not neglectable. To minimize inner and outer resistance and to operate organization innovation successfully, some innovation strategies that properly reflect several issues related to organization innovation should be prepared. Another words, organization innovation should be operated differently by cases that if it focuses on personal perspective or on organization's. For many cases of our country, several techniques of organization innovation have been adopted in a short time and operated without making its original use. Therefore, this study looks into major Issues that should be considered for more successful operation of organization innovation, from both personal aspect and organizational aspect. When considering such aspects and operate organization innovation, there is more possibility to succeed on organization innovation. Now, Korean companies have overcame trial period and reborn as global companies. Take warnings by the ordeal under IMF administration, this is time to secure international competitive power by using developed innovation techniques and transform to superior company. Managers need to recognize that to try successful organization innovation is the shortcut to reborn as competitive company, and should take a continuous and profound search for decisive factors to succeed on organization innovation. To operate successful organization innovation, first, at the step of planning organization. innovation, the company should understand the company's capability, position in market and relationship with competitors. Then, the company should establish a distinguished innovation strategy which is of the whole company's aspect, so that the company can freely choose various technique of organization innovation that suits for the company's capability and needs, and unfold the organization innovation movement. Establishing strategy in the aspect of the total company is very important because it offers clear focus of the purpose of adopt, priority and distribution of resources. Second, at the step of operating organization innovation, the company should define concrete purpose and method to evaluate the results that are expected to obtain by adopting organization innovation in advance. While pushing forward, the company should set proper time of examination(milestone) and inspect if expected results are shown. Third, at the step of afterward management of operating organization innovation, the company requires a thorough afterwards verification if targeted results are obtained and of confirmation of successful or failure factors. Also, the company should cultivate specialists in the company who can accumulate and continuously spread the know-how learned during organization innovation promotion, so the know-how don't remain only in certain departments or to a few people in charge. The company should also give effort to maintain the accumulated innovation techniques to be continued.

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The Liability for Damage and Dispute Settlement Mechanism under the Space Law (우주법상 손해배상책임과 분쟁해결제도)

  • Lee, Kang-Bin
    • Journal of Arbitration Studies
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    • v.20 no.2
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    • pp.173-198
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    • 2010
  • The purpose of this paper is to research on the liability for the space damage and the settlement of the dispute with reference to the space activity under the international space treaty and national space law of Korea. The United Nations has adopted five treaties relating to the space activity as follows: The Outer Space Treaty of 1967, the Rescue and Return Agreement of 1968, the Liability Convention of 1972, the Registration Convention of 1974, and the Moon Treaty of 1979. All five treaties have come into force. Korea has ratified above four treaties except the Moon Treaty. Korea has enacted three national legislations relating to space development as follows: Aerospace Industry Development Promotion Act of 1987, Outer Space Development Promotion Act of 2005, Outer Space Damage Compensation Act of 2008. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 regulates the international responsibility for national activities in outer space, the national tort liability for damage by space launching object, the national measures for dispute prevention and international consultation in the exploration and use of outer space, the joint resolution of practical questions by international inter-governmental organizations in the exploration and use of outer space. The Liability Convention of 1972 regulates the absolute liability by a launching state, the faulty liability by a launching state, the joint and several liability by a launching state, the person claiming for compensation, the claim method for compensation, the claim period of compensation, the claim for compensation and local remedy, the compensation amount for damage by a launching state, the establishment of the Claims Commission. The Outer Space Damage Compensation Act of 2008 in Korea regulates the definition of space damage, the relation of the Outer Space Damage Compensation Act and the international treaty, the non-faulty liability for damage by a launching person, the concentration of liability and recourse by a launching person, the exclusion of application of the Product Liability Act, the limit amount of the liability for damage by a launching person, the cover of the liability insurance by a launching person, the measures and assistance by the government in case of occurring the space damage, the exercise period of the claim right of compensation for damage. The Liability Convention of 1972 should be improved as follows: the problem in respect of the claimer of compensation for damage, the problem in respect of the efficiency of decision by the Claims Commission. The Outer Space Damage Compensation Act of 2008 in Korea should be improved as follows: the inclusion of indirect damage into the definition of space damage, the change of currency unit of the limit amount of liability for damage, the establishment of joint and several liability and recourse right for damage by space joint launching person, the establishment of the Space Damage Compensation Review Commission. The 1998 Final Draft Convention on the Settlement of Disputes Related to Space Activities of 1998 by ILA regulates the binding procedure and non-binding settlement procedure for the disputes in respect of space activity. The non-binding procedure regulates the negotiation or the peaceful means and compromise for dispute settlement. The binding procedure regulates the choice of a means among the following means: International Space Law Court if it will be established, International Court of Justice, and Arbitration Court. The above final Draft Convention by ILA will be a model for the innovative development in respect of the peaceful settlement of disputes with reference to space activity and will be useful for establishing the frame of practicable dispute settlement. Korea has built the space center at Oinarodo, Goheung Province in June 2009. Korea has launched the first small launch vehicle KSLV-1 at the Naro Space Center in August 2009 and June 2010. In Korea, it will be the possibility to be occurred the problems relating to the international responsibility and dispute settlement, and the liability for space damage in the course of space activity. Accordingly the Korean government and launching organization should make the legal and systematic policy to cope with such problems.

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Enhancing Predictive Accuracy of Collaborative Filtering Algorithms using the Network Analysis of Trust Relationship among Users (사용자 간 신뢰관계 네트워크 분석을 활용한 협업 필터링 알고리즘의 예측 정확도 개선)

  • Choi, Seulbi;Kwahk, Kee-Young;Ahn, Hyunchul
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.22 no.3
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    • pp.113-127
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    • 2016
  • Among the techniques for recommendation, collaborative filtering (CF) is commonly recognized to be the most effective for implementing recommender systems. Until now, CF has been popularly studied and adopted in both academic and real-world applications. The basic idea of CF is to create recommendation results by finding correlations between users of a recommendation system. CF system compares users based on how similar they are, and recommend products to users by using other like-minded people's results of evaluation for each product. Thus, it is very important to compute evaluation similarities among users in CF because the recommendation quality depends on it. Typical CF uses user's explicit numeric ratings of items (i.e. quantitative information) when computing the similarities among users in CF. In other words, user's numeric ratings have been a sole source of user preference information in traditional CF. However, user ratings are unable to fully reflect user's actual preferences from time to time. According to several studies, users may more actively accommodate recommendation of reliable others when purchasing goods. Thus, trust relationship can be regarded as the informative source for identifying user's preference with accuracy. Under this background, we propose a new hybrid recommender system that fuses CF and social network analysis (SNA). The proposed system adopts the recommendation algorithm that additionally reflect the result analyzed by SNA. In detail, our proposed system is based on conventional memory-based CF, but it is designed to use both user's numeric ratings and trust relationship information between users when calculating user similarities. For this, our system creates and uses not only user-item rating matrix, but also user-to-user trust network. As the methods for calculating user similarity between users, we proposed two alternatives - one is algorithm calculating the degree of similarity between users by utilizing in-degree and out-degree centrality, which are the indices representing the central location in the social network. We named these approaches as 'Trust CF - All' and 'Trust CF - Conditional'. The other alternative is the algorithm reflecting a neighbor's score higher when a target user trusts the neighbor directly or indirectly. The direct or indirect trust relationship can be identified by searching trust network of users. In this study, we call this approach 'Trust CF - Search'. To validate the applicability of the proposed system, we used experimental data provided by LibRec that crawled from the entire FilmTrust website. It consists of ratings of movies and trust relationship network indicating who to trust between users. The experimental system was implemented using Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and UCINET 6. To examine the effectiveness of the proposed system, we compared the performance of our proposed method with one of conventional CF system. The performances of recommender system were evaluated by using average MAE (mean absolute error). The analysis results confirmed that in case of applying without conditions the in-degree centrality index of trusted network of users(i.e. Trust CF - All), the accuracy (MAE = 0.565134) was lower than conventional CF (MAE = 0.564966). And, in case of applying the in-degree centrality index only to the users with the out-degree centrality above a certain threshold value(i.e. Trust CF - Conditional), the proposed system improved the accuracy a little (MAE = 0.564909) compared to traditional CF. However, the algorithm searching based on the trusted network of users (i.e. Trust CF - Search) was found to show the best performance (MAE = 0.564846). And the result from paired samples t-test presented that Trust CF - Search outperformed conventional CF with 10% statistical significance level. Our study sheds a light on the application of user's trust relationship network information for facilitating electronic commerce by recommending proper items to users.

Recent Progress in Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Research : A Review of Papers Published in the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering in 2016 (설비공학 분야의 최근 연구 동향 : 2016년 학회지 논문에 대한 종합적 고찰)

  • Lee, Dae-Young;Kim, Sa Ryang;Kim, Hyun-Jung;Kim, Dong-Seon;Park, Jun-Seok;Ihm, Pyeong Chan
    • Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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    • v.29 no.6
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    • pp.327-340
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    • 2017
  • This article reviews the papers published in the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering during 2016. It is intended to understand the status of current research in the areas of heating, cooling, ventilation, sanitation, and indoor environments of buildings and plant facilities. Conclusions are as follows. (1) The research works on the thermal and fluid engineering have been reviewed as groups of flow, heat and mass transfer, the reduction of pollutant exhaust gas, cooling and heating, the renewable energy system and the flow around buildings. CFD schemes were used more for all research areas. (2) Research works on heat transfer area have been reviewed in the categories of heat transfer characteristics, pool boiling and condensing heat transfer and industrial heat exchangers. Researches on heat transfer characteristics included the results of the long-term performance variation of the plate-type enthalpy exchange element made of paper, design optimization of an extruded-type cooling structure for reducing the weight of LED street lights, and hot plate welding of thermoplastic elastomer packing. In the area of pool boiling and condensing, the heat transfer characteristics of a finned-tube heat exchanger in a PCM (phase change material) thermal energy storage system, influence of flow boiling heat transfer on fouling phenomenon in nanofluids, and PCM at the simultaneous charging and discharging condition were studied. In the area of industrial heat exchangers, one-dimensional flow network model and porous-media model, and R245fa in a plate-shell heat exchanger were studied. (3) Various studies were published in the categories of refrigeration cycle, alternative refrigeration/energy system, system control. In the refrigeration cycle category, subjects include mobile cold storage heat exchanger, compressor reliability, indirect refrigeration system with $CO_2$ as secondary fluid, heat pump for fuel-cell vehicle, heat recovery from hybrid drier and heat exchangers with two-port and flat tubes. In the alternative refrigeration/energy system category, subjects include membrane module for dehumidification refrigeration, desiccant-assisted low-temperature drying, regenerative evaporative cooler and ejector-assisted multi-stage evaporation. In the system control category, subjects include multi-refrigeration system control, emergency cooling of data center and variable-speed compressor control. (4) In building mechanical system research fields, fifteenth studies were reported for achieving effective design of the mechanical systems, and also for maximizing the energy efficiency of buildings. The topics of the studies included energy performance, HVAC system, ventilation, renewable energies, etc. Proposed designs, performance tests using numerical methods and experiments provide useful information and key data which could be help for improving the energy efficiency of the buildings. (5) The field of architectural environment was mostly focused on indoor environment and building energy. The main researches of indoor environment were related to the analyses of indoor thermal environments controlled by portable cooler, the effects of outdoor wind pressure in airflow at high-rise buildings, window air tightness related to the filling piece shapes, stack effect in core type's office building and the development of a movable drawer-type light shelf with adjustable depth of the reflector. The subjects of building energy were worked on the energy consumption analysis in office building, the prediction of exit air temperature of horizontal geothermal heat exchanger, LS-SVM based modeling of hot water supply load for district heating system, the energy saving effect of ERV system using night purge control method and the effect of strengthened insulation level to the building heating and cooling load.

Accuracy evaluation of microwave water surface current meter for measurement angles in middle flow condition (전자파표면유속계의 측정 각도에 따른 평수기 유속 측정 정확도 분석)

  • Son, Geunsoo;Kim, Dongsu;Kim, Kyungdong;Kim, Jongmin
    • Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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    • v.53 no.1
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    • pp.15-27
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    • 2020
  • Streamflow discharge as a fundamental riverine quantity plays a crucial role in water resources management, thereby requiring accurate in-situ measurement. Recent advances in instrumentations for the streamflow discharge measurement has complemented or substituted classical devices and methods. Among various potential methods, surface current meter using microwave has increasingly begun to be applied not only for flood but also normal flow discharge measurement, remotely and safely enabling practitioners to measure flow velocity postulating indirect contact. With minimized field preparedness, this method facilitated and eased flood discharge measurement in the difficult in-situ conditions such as extreme flood in active ways emitting 24.125 GHz microwave without relying on natural lights. In South Korea, a rectangular shaped instrument named with Microwave Water Surface Current Meter (MWSCM) has been developed and commercially released around 2010, in which domestic agencies charging on streamflow observation shed lights on this approach regarding it as a potential substitute. Considering this brand-new device highlighted for efficient flow measurement, however, there has been few noticeable efforts in systematic and comprehensive evaluation of its performance in various measurement and riverine conditions that lead to lack in imminent and widely spreading usages in practices. This study attempted to evaluate the MWSCM in terms of instrumen's monitoring configuration particularly regarding tilt and yaw angle. In the middle of pointing the measurement spot in a given cross-section, the observation campaign inevitably poses accuracy issues related with different tilt and yaw angles of the instrument, which can be a conventionally major source of errors for this type of instrument. Focusing on the perspective of instrument configuration, the instrument was tested in a controlled outdoor river channel located in KICT River Experiment Center with a fixed flow condition of around 1 m/s flow speed with steady flow supply, 6 m of channel width, and less than 1 m of shallow flow depth, where the detailed velocity measurements with SonTek micro-ADV was used for validation. As results, less than 15 degree in tilting angle generated much higher deviation, and higher yawing angle proportionally increased coefficient of variance. Yaw angles affected accuracy in terms of measurement area.

The Effects of Service Employee's Surface Acting on Counterproductive Work Behavior: The Mediating Roles of Emotional Exhaustion (서비스 종업원의 표면행위가 반생산적 과업행동에 미치는 효과에 관한 연구: 감정소모의 매개효과를 중심으로)

  • Kang, Seong-Ho;Chay, Jong-Hak;Lee, Ji-Ae;Hur, Won-Moo
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.73-82
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    • 2016
  • Purpose - Counterproductive work behavior(CWB) was typically categorized according to the behavior whether it targets other people(i.e., interpersonal CWB: I-CWB). Employing organizations(i.e., organizational CWB: O-CWB) has emerged as major concerns among researchers, managers, and the general public. An abundance of researches has informed us about the understanding for the antecedents of CWB, whereas little is known about the antecedents of CWB directed distribution service in employee's emotional labor. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to propose a research model in which surface acting enhances emotional exhaustion as an emotional labor strategy, which eventually increases counterproductive work behavior(including I-CWM and O-CWB). Research design, data, and methodology - This empirical research data were gathered from the samples of full time frontline hotel employees(including front office, call center, food/beverage, concierge, and room service) in South Korea. Six hotels were selected ranged from four to five stars, including privately owned and joint-venture properties. A convenience sampling method was used to select hotels. Full time frontline hotel employees from the six hotels were surveyed using a self-administered instrument for data collection. With the strong support of hotel managers, a total of 300 questionnaires were distributed, and 252 responses were collected indicating a response rate of 84.0%. In the process of working with the 252 samples, structural equation modeling is employed to test research hypotheses(H1: The relationship between surface acting and Interpersonal counterproductive work behavior(I-CWB) is mediated by emotional exhaustion, H2: The relationship between surface acting and organizational counterproductive work behavior(O-CWB) is mediated by emotional exhaustion). SPSS 18.0 and M-Plus 7.31 software were used for the data analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the distribution of the employee profiles and correlations between factors. M-Plus 7.31 software was used to test the model fit, validity, and reliability of the factors, significance of the relationship between factors, and the effects of factors in the model. Results - To test our mediation hypotheses, we used an analytical strategy suggested by Preacher & Hayes (2008) and Shrout & Bolger (2002). This mediation approach directly tests the indirect effect between the predictor and the criterion variables through the mediator via a bootstrapping procedure. Thus, it addresses some weaknesses associated with the Sobel test. We found that surface acting was positively related to emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, emotional exhaustion was a significant predictor from the two kinds of counterproductive work behavior. In addition, surface acting was not significantly associated with the two kinds of counterproductive work behavior. These results indicated that the surface acting by frontline hotel employees was associated with higher emotional exhaustion, which is related with higher interpersonal counterproductive work behavior(I-CWB) and organizational counterproductive work behavior(O-CWB). In sum, we confirmed that the positive relationship between surface acting and the two kinds of counterproductive work behavior was fully mediated by emotional exhaustion. Conclusions - The current research broadens the conceptual work and empirical studies in counterproductive work behavior literature by representing a fundamental mechanism that how surface acting affects counterproductive work behavior.

The Effect of the Serum Progesterone and Estradiol Levels of hCG Administration Day on the Pregnancy and Fertilization Rate in IVF-ET Patients (체외수정 과배란 유도에서 hCG 주사 당일의 혈청 Progesterone과 Estradiol 농도가 수정율 및 임신율에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구)

  • Lee, Eun-Sook;Lee, Sang-Hoon;Bae, Do-Hwan
    • Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.51-59
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    • 1996
  • Controlled Ovarian hyperstimulation(COH) is generally used to obtain synchronous high quality oocytes in in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer(IVF-ET). Many investigators have studied the relationship between serum hormone levels and outcomes of IVF-ET because there is no accurate estimation method of oocyte quality. Early premature luteinization of follicles before oocyte retrieval is the most troublesome problem in COH for IVF-ET. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists(GnRH-a) are used as adjuncts with gonadotropins for COH in patients undergoing in IVF. The possible benefits of GnRH-a pretreatment include improving oocyte quality, allowing a more synchronous cohort of follicles to be recruited, and preventing premature lueinization hormone surges. In COH of IVF cycles, we investigated whether an elevated progesterone(P4) level on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin(hCG) administration indicates premature luteinization and is associated with a lower fertilization rate. Many investigators have studied that the lower fertilization rates seen in patients with elevated P4 levels might result from an adverse effect of P4 on the oocytes. We hypothesizes that serum P4 levels around the day of hCG may be helpful prediction of out come in IVF-ET cycles. Success rates after COH of IVF-ET cycles are dependent upon many variable factors. Follicular factors including the number of follicles, follicular diameters and especially serum estradiol(E2) levels as an indirect measurement of follicular function and guality have been thought to influence the outcomes of IVF-ET. To assess whether serum P4 and E2 levels affect the fertilization and pregnancy rate, we reviewed the stimulation cycles of 113 patients (119 cycles) undergoing IVF-ET with short protocol with GnRH-a, from March 1993 to August 1994 retrospectively. The serum P4 and E2 levels were compared on the day of hCG in the pregnant group, 45 patients(47 cycles) and in the non-pregnant group, 68 patients (72 cycles) respectively. The serum E2 level in non-pregnant group was $1367{\pm}875.8$ pg/ml which was significantly lower than that of pregnant group, $1643{\pm}987.9$ pg/ml( p< 0.01 ). And the serum P4 level in non-pregnant group was $2.1{\pm}1.4$ ng/ml which was significantly higher than that of pregnant group, $1.0{\pm}0.7$ ng/ml( p< 0.001 ). The fertilization rate was $61.3{\pm}21.3%$ in pregnant group which was higher than that of non-pregnant group, $41.1{\pm}20.2%$ (p< 0.01). We suggest that the serum levels of P4 and E2 on the day of hCG administration are additional parameters that predict the outcomes of IVF-ET cycles.

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Autometallography for Zinc Detection in the Central Nervous System (중추신경계통내 분포하는 Zinc의 조직화학적 동정)

  • Jo, Seung-Mook;Gorm, Danscher;Kim, Sung-Jun;Park, Seung-Kook;Kang, Tae-Cheon;Won, Moo-Ho
    • Applied Microscopy
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    • v.30 no.4
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    • pp.347-355
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    • 2000
  • Zinc is one of the most abundant oligoelements in the living cell. It appears tightly bound to some metalloproteins and nucleic acids, loosely bound to some metallothioneins or even as free ion. Small amounts of zinc ions (in the nanomolar range) regulate a plentitude of enzymatic proteins, receptors and transcription factors, thus rolls need accurate homeostasis of zinc ions. Zinc is an essential catalytic or structural element of many proteins, and a signaling messenger that is released by neural activity at many central excitatory synapses. Growing evidences suggest that zinc may also be a key mediator and modulator of the neuronal death associated with transient global ischemia and sustained seizures, as well as perhaps other neurological disease stoles. Some neurons have developed mechanisms to accumulate zinc in specific membrane compartment ('vesicular zinc') which can be evidenced using histochemical techniques. Substances giving a bright colour or emitting fluorescence when in contact with divalent metal ions are currently used to detect them inside cells; their use leads to the so called 'direct' methods. The fixation and precipitation of metal ions as insoluble salt precipitates, their maintenance along the histological process and, finally, their demonstration after autometallographic development are essential steps for other methods, the so called 'indirect methods'. This study is a short report on the autometallograhical approaches for zinc detection in the central nervous system (CNS) by means of a modified selenium method.

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