• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.414-429
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• 1990

Numerous research reports have substantiated the role of stressful life events in relation to the onset of health changes. The relationship tends to hold across different age groups. Theoretically, adolescence has been considered a developmental crisis period of great stress, impoverished coping skills and high vulnerability to biological, social and psychological demands. The research problem addressed by this study was to examine the relationships between stressful life events and health symptom patterns, and the effect of two variables, coping and social, support, theoretically considered to mediate the relationship between stress and health symptoms in adolescents. The following five hypotheses were tested in this research : 1. Health symptoms are positively related to stressful life events in adolescents, 2. Health symptoms are negatively related to coping in adolescents, 3. Health symptoms are negatively related to social support in adolescents, 4. When coping is controlled, the relationship between health symptoms and stressful life events will decrease, and 5. When social support is controlled, the relationship between health symptoms and stressful life events will increase. The study subjects consisted of 1090 high school students of the metropolitan city of Seoul. The following sampling procedure was used : 1. Of the 169 high schools in nine school administrative districts in the city, a proportional sample of ten schools was selected. 2. One class from each of the freshman and sophomore was randomly selected and all the students who were in the sampled class were used as the study sample. The study was limited to freshman and sophomore adolescents, aged 15 to 18(mean＝16.6). Of the 1090 subjects 688(63%) were boys and 402(37%) were girls. An Adolescent Inventory of Stressful Life Events, a Health Symptom Questionnaire and an Adolescent Coping Inventory were adapted for this study. The Norbeck Social Support questionnaire was utilized to collect the data on perceived social support. Five high school teachers in the areas of school health and counselling reviewed the items of each questionnaire for content validity. A pilot study was undertaken to ascertain reliability. Fifty three high school students responded to the questionnaires and gave their opinions on the items. For stressful life events, health symptoms, coping, and social support, the Cronbach's alpha's on the study were .70, .94, .77, and .76, respectively. Research assistants attended all the sampled classes with the school proctor to explain the purpose and procedures of the study to the students. The questionnaires along with a ballpoint pen were distributed to the students who were asked to complete each item. The research assistants left the ballpoint pen with the students as a gift for their cooperation. An average of 50 minutes was required to complete the questionnaires. Using an SPSS, the first, three hypotheses were tested using Gamma, a measure of association for ordinal variables. Partial gamma was used to test the fourth and fifth hypotheses. Patterns of elaboration described by Babbie were selected to interpret the relationship of the three variable analyses. The significance of gamma was determined by Chisquare at a .05 level of significance. There was a positive relationship between health symptoms and stressful life events(Gamma＝.35, p＝.000). Thus the first hypothesis was supported. Unexpectedly, coping was positively related with health symptoms(Gamma＝.13, p＝.000). That is, the higher the coping levels, the greater number of health problems. The third hypothesis, the higher the level of social support, the fewer the health symptoms, was not accepted in this adolescent study group. When coping was controlled, under the condition of low coping the association between health symptoms and stressful life events increased significantly to a partial gamma of .39, and under the condition of high coping it was .30. According to the elaboration model, when one partial relationship is the same or greater than the original and the other is smaller, the control variable should be considered to be specifying the conditions. When social support was controlled the relationship between stressful life events and health symptoms increased under the condition of low social support, but with high social support, the relationship decreased. Both partial gamma were statistically significant at .05 level(.43 and .26 relatively). It can be interpreted that stressful life events are strongly and positively related to health symptoms under the condition of low social support, however this relationship can not be expected with high social support. Thus, the last two hypotheses were conditionally sustained. In this study, the relationships between stressful life events and health symptoms, and the specified me diating roles of coping and social support were found to have statistical interaction. This finding supports the theoretical position of this study. It suggests that stressful life events would create high susceptability to biological social and psychological health symptoms and coping and social support buffering the relationship between stressful life events and health symptom. The findings of this study have implications for nursing practice. When adolescents are confronted with non-developmental life events that are perceived as stressful, nurses should recognize the evidence of the stress-buffering effect of coping and social support on health symptoms and utilize the diverse sources of social support that are readily available to adolescents.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.167-174
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• 2013

Purpose: This study was conducted to evaluate the roughness and surface alternations of three differently blasted titanium discs treated by $Nd:YVO_4$ Laser irradiation in different conditions. Materials and methods: Thirty commercially pure titanium discs were prepared and divided into three groups. Each group was consisted of 10 samples and blasted by $ZrO_2$ (zirconium dioxide), $Al_2O_3$ (aluminum oxide), and RBM (resorbable blasted media). All the samples were degreased by ultrasonic cleaner afterward. Nine different conditions were established by changing scanning speed (100, 300, 500 mm/s) and repetition rate (5, 15, 35 kHz) of $Nd:YVO_4$ Laser (Laser Pro D-20, Laserval $Korea^{(R)}$, Seoul, South Korea). After laser irradiation, a scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction analysis, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopic analysis, and surface roughness analysis were used to assess the roughness and surface alternations of the samples. Results: According to a scanning electron microscope (SEM), titanium discs treated with laser irradiation showed characteristic patterns in contrast to the control which showed irregular patterns. According to the X-ray diffraction analysis, only $Al_2O_3$ group showed its own peak. The oxidation tendency and surface roughness of titanium were similar to the control in the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopic analysis. The surface roughness was inversely proportional to the scanning speed, whereas proportional to the repetition rate of $Nd:YVO_4$. Conclusion: The surface microstructures and roughness of the test discs were modified by the radiation of $Nd:YVO_4$ laser. Therefore, laser irradiation could be considered one of the methods to modify implant surfaces for the enhancement of osseointegration.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.71-96
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• 2011

Within the traditional medical delivery system, patients residing in medically vulnerable areas, those with body movement difficulties, and nursing facility residents have had limited access to good healthcare services. However, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provides us with a convenient and useful means of overcoming distance and time constraints. ICT is integrated with biomedical science and technology in a way that offers a new high-quality medical service. As a result, rapid technological advancement is expected to play a pivotal role bringing about innovation in a wide range of medical service areas, such as medical management, testing, diagnosis, and treatment; offering new and improved healthcare services; and effecting dramatic changes in current medical services. The increase in aging population and chronic diseases has caused an increase in medical expenses. In response to the increasing demand for efficient healthcare services, a telehealth service based on ICT is being emphasized on a global level. Telehealth services have been implemented especially in pilot projects and system development and technological research. With the service about to be implemented in earnest, it is necessary to study its overall acceptance by consumers, which is expected to contribute to the development and activation of a variety of services. In this sense, the study aims at positively examining the structural relationship among the acceptance factors for telehealth services based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Data were collected by showing audiovisual material on telehealth services to online panels and requesting them to respond to a structured questionnaire sheet, which is known as the information acceleration method. Among the 1,165 adult respondents, 608 valid samples were finally chosen, while the remaining were excluded because of incomplete answers or allotted time overrun. In order to test the reliability and validity of the assessment scale items, we carried out reliability and factor analyses, and in order to explore the causal relation among potential variables, we conducted a structural equation modeling analysis using AMOS 7.0 and SPSS 17.0. The research outcomes are as follows. First, service quality, innovativeness of medical technology, and social influence were shown to affect perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the telehealth service, which was statistically significant, and the two factors had a positive impact on willingness to accept the telehealth service. In addition, social influence had a direct, significant effect on intention to use, which is paralleled by the TAM used in previous research on technology acceptance. This shows that the research model proposed in the study effectively explains the acceptance of the telehealth service. Second, the research model reveals that information privacy concerns had a insignificant impact on perceived ease of use of the telehealth service. From this, it can be gathered that the concerns over information protection and security are reduced further due to advancements in information technology compared to the initial period in the information technology industry, and thus the improvement in quality of medical services appeared to ensure that information privacy concerns did not act as a prohibiting factor in the acceptance of the telehealth service. Thus, if other factors have an enormous impact on ease of use and usefulness, concerns over these results in the initial period of technology acceptance may become irrelevant. However, it is clear that users' information privacy concerns, as other studies have revealed, is a major factor affecting technology acceptance. Thus, caution must be exercised while interpreting the result, and further study is required on the issue. Numerous information technologies with outstanding performance and innovativeness often attract few consumers. A revised bill for those urgently in need of telehealth services is about to be approved in the national assembly. As telemedicine is implemented between doctors and patients, a wide range of systems that will improve the quality of healthcare services will be designed. In this sense, the study on the consumer acceptance of telehealth services is meaningful and offers strong academic evidence. Based on the implications, it can be expected to contribute to the activation of telehealth services. Further study is needed to assess the acceptance factors for telehealth services, such as motivation to remain healthy, health care involvement, knowledge on health, and control of health-related behavior, in order to develop unique services according to the categorization of customers based on health factors. In addition, further study may focus on various theoretical cognitive behavior models other than the TAM, such as the health belief model.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.22 no.7 s.78
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• pp.119-129
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• 2004

This paper is designed to report the results of development and validation procedures in relation to the Freeway Incident Management System (FIMS) prototype development as part of Intelligent Transportation Systems Research and Development program. The central core of the FIMS is an integration of the component parts and the modular, but the integrated system for freeway management. The whole approach has been component-orientated, with a secondary emphasis being placed on the traffic characteristics at the sites. The first action taken during the development process was the selection of the required data for each components within the existing infrastructure of Korean freeway system. After through review and analysis of vehicle detection data, the pilot site led to the utilization of different technologies in relation to the specific needs and character of the implementation. This meant that the existing system was tested in a different configuration at different sections of freeway, thereby increasing the validity and scope of the overall findings. The incident detection module has been performed according to predefined system validation specifications. The system validation specifications have identified two component data collection and analysis patterns which were outlined in the validation specifications; the on-line and off-line testing procedural frameworks. The off-line testing was achieved using asynchronous analysis, commonly in conjunction with simulation of device input data to take full advantage of the opportunity to test and calibrate the incident detection algorithms focused on APID, DES, DELOS and McMaster. The simulation was done with the use of synchronous analysis, thereby providing a means for testing the incident detection module.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.179-193
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• 2009

As the common saying attests, a publish-or-perish world, publishing is absolutely critical for academic researchers' successful careers. It is the most objectively-accepted academic performance criteria and the most viable way to attain public and academic recognition. Asia Pacific Journal of Information Systems(APJIS) has been recognized as the most influential domestic journal in Korean MIS field since July, 1991. Therefore, publishing in APJIS means your research is original, valid, and contributive. While most researchers learn how to publish an article in APJIS through a repetitive review process, thereby improving their chance of the' accepted' through their personal trial and error experiences, such valuable lessons and know-how tend to be kept personally and rarely shared. However, useful insights into research and publication skills could be also gained from sharing others' errors, neglect, and misjudgments which are equally critical in improving researchers' knowledge in the field (Murthy and Wiggins, 2002). For this reason, other academic disciplines make systematic efforts to examine the paper review process of major journals and share the findings from these studies with the rest of the research community members (Beyer et al., 1995; Cummings et al, 1985; Daft, 1995; Jauch and Wall, 1989; Murthy and Wiggins, 2002). Recognizing the urgent need to provide such type of information to MIS research community in Korea, we have chosen the most influential academic journal, APJIS with an intention to share the answer to the following research question: "What are the common problems found in the manuscripts either 'rejected' or 'required a major revision' by APJIS reviewers?" This study analyzes the review results of manuscripts submitted to APJIS (from January, 2006 to October, 2008), particularly those that were 'rejected' or required a 'major revision' at the first round. Based on Daft's(1995) study, twelve most-likelihood problems were defined and used to analyze the reviews. The twelve criteria for classification, or "twelve problems", are as follows: No theory, Concepts and operationalization not in alignment, Insufficient definition--theory, Insufficient rationale--design, Macrostructure--organization and flow, Amateur style and tone, Inadequate research design, Not relevant to the field, Overengineering, Conclusions not in alignment, Cutting up the data, and Poor editorial practice. Upon the approval of the editorial board of APJIS, the total 252 reviews, including 11 cases of 2005 and 241 cases from July, 2006 to October, 2008, were received without any information about manuscripts, authors, or reviewers. Eleven cases of 2005 were used in the pilot test because the data of 2005 were not in complete enumeration, and the 241 reviews (113 cases of 'rejection' and 128 ones of 'major revision') of 2006, 2007, and 2008 were examined in this study. Our findings show that insufficient rationale-design(20.25%), no theory(18.45%), and insufficient definition--theory(15.69%) were the three leading reasons of 'rejection' and 'major revision.' Between these two results, the former followed the same order of three major reasons as an overall analysis (insufficient rationale-design, no theory, and insufficient definition-theory), but the latter followed the order of insufficient rationale--design, insufficient definition--theory, and no theory. Using Daft's three major skills-- 'theory skills', 'design skills', and 'communication skills'-- twelve criteria were reclassified into 'theory problems', 'design problems', and 'communication problems' to derive more practical implications of our findings. Our findings show that 'theory problems' occupied 43.48%, 'design problems' were 30.86%, and 'communication problems' were 25.86%. In general, the APJIS reviewers weigh each of these three problem areas almost equally. Comparing to other disciplines like management field shown in Daft's study, the portion of 'design problems' and 'communication problems' are much higher in manuscripts submitted to the APJIS than in those of Administrative Science Quarterly and Academy of Management Journal even though 'theory problems' are the most predominant in both disciplines.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.456-463
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• 2006

The purposes of this study were to extract choice attributes of bakery cafe customers and to conduct important- performance analysis (IPA) of choice attributes perceived by bakery cafe customers. The questionnaire was developed through literature review and focus group interview, and modified after pilot test. The questionnaires for main survey were distributed to 320 males and females aged 20 and over in Seoul. A total of 275 questionnaires were used for analysis (85.9%) and the statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS Win (12.0) for descriptive analyses, exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, and correlation analyses. The main results were as follows. 'Products', 'convenience to use', 'services and price', 'interior environments' 'brand' and 'location' dimensions were extracted as choice attributes dimensions of bakery cafe customers and customers of bakery cafe regarded 'sanitation and cleanness', 'kindness of employees', 'quality of products', 'comfortable and pleasant facilities' and 'taste of bakery products' as more important than other attributes. In addition, the results of IPA showed that marketing managers of bakery cafes should focused on the dimension of 'services and price' in the reason that this dimension was low at performance although customers regarded it very important. Overall, researchers and managers of bakery cafes should understand unique choice attributes of bakery cafe customers, and make efforts to establish marketing strategies that meet bakery cafe customers' needs.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.77-86
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• 2002

Surfactant enhanced in-situ soil flushing was performed to remediate the soil and groundwater at an oil contaminated site, where had been used as a military vehicle repair area for 40 years. A section from the contaminated site (4.5 m $\times$ 4.5 m $\times$ 6.0 m) was selected for the research, which was composed of heterogeneous sandy and silt-sandy soils with average $K_d$ of 2.0$\times$$10^{-4}$cm/sec. Two percent of sorbitan monooleate (POE 20) and 0.07% of iso-prophyl alcohol were mixed for the surfactant solution and 3 pore volumes of surfactant solution were injected to remove oil from the contaminated section. Four injection wells and two extraction wells were built in the section to flush surfactant solution. Water samples taken from extraction wells and the storage tank were analyzed on a gas-chromatography (GC) for TPH concentration in the effluent with different time. Five pore volumes of solution were extracted while TPH concentration in soil and groundwater at the section were below the Waste Water Discharge Limit (WWDL). The effluent TPH concentration from wells with only water flushing was below 10 ppm. However, the effluent concentration using surfactant solution flushing increased to 1751 ppm, which was more than 170 times compared with the concentration with only water flushing. Total 18.5 kg of oil (TPH) was removed from the soil and groundwater at the section. The concentration of heavy metals in the effluent solution also increased with the increase of TPH concentration, suggesting that the surfactant enhanced in-situ flushing be available to remove not only oil but heavy metals from contaminated sites. The removal efficiency of surfactant enhanced in-situ flushing was investigated at the real contaminated site in Korea. Results suggest that in-situ soil flushing could be a successful process to remediate contaminated sites distributed in Korea.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.25-51
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• 2008

Researchers have been continuously interested in the adoption of information technology (IT) since it is of great importance to the information systems success and it is also an important stage to the success. Adoption alone, however, does not ensure information systems success because it does not necessarily lead to achieving organizational or individual objectives. When an organization or an individual decide to adopt certain information technologies, they have objectives to accomplish by using those technologies. Adoption itself is not the ultimate goal. The period after adoption is when users continue to use IT and intended objectives can be accomplished. Therefore, continued IT use in the post-adoption period accounts more for the accomplishment of the objectives and thus information systems success. Previous studies also suggest that continued IT use in the post-adoption period is one of the important factors to improve long-term productivity. Despite the importance there are few empirical studies focusing on the user behavior of continued IT use in the post-adoption period. User behavior in the post-adoption period is different from that in the pre-adoption period. According to the technology acceptance model, which explains well about the IT adoption, users decide to adopt IT assessing the usefulness and the ease of use. After adoption, users are exposed to new experiences and they shape new beliefs different from the thoughts they had before. Users come to make decisions based on their experiences of IT use whether they will continue to use it or not. Most theories about the user behaviors in the pre-adoption period are limited in describing them after adoption since they do not consider user's experiences of using the adopted IT and the beliefs formed by those experiences. Therefore, in this study, we explore user's experiences and beliefs in the post-adoption period and examine how they affect user's intention to continue to use IT. Through deep literature reviews on the construction of subjective beliefs by experiences, we draw three meaningful constructs which theoretically have great impacts on the continued use of IT: perceived habit, confirmation, and computer self-efficacy. Then, we examine the role of the subjective beliefs on the cognitive/affective attitudes and intention to continue to use that IT. We set up a research model and conducted survey research. Since IT use implies interactions among a user, IT, and a task, we carefully selected the sample of users using same/similar IT to perform same/similar tasks, to exclude unwanted influences of other factors than subjective beliefs on the IT use. We also considered that the sample of users were able to make decisions to continue to use IT volitionally or at least quasi-volitionally. For each construct, we used measurement items recognized for reliability and widely used in the previous research. We slightly modified some items proper to the research context and a pilot test was carried out for forty users of a portal service in a university. We performed a full-scale survey after verifying the reliability of the measurement. The results show that the intention to continue to use IT is strongly influenced by cognitive/affective attitudes, perceived habits, and computer self-efficacy. Confirmation affects the intention to continue indirectly through cognitive/affective attitudes. All the constructs representing the subjective beliefs built by the experiences of IT use have direct and/or indirect impacts on the intention of users. The results also show that the attitudes in the post-adoption period are formed, at least partly, by the experiences of IT use and newly shaped beliefs after adoption. The findings suggest that subjective beliefs built by the experiences have deep impacts on the continued use. The results of the study signify that while experiencing IT in the post-adoption period users form new beliefs, attitudes, and intentions which may be different from those of the pre-adoption period. The results of this study partly demonstrate that the beliefs shaped by the behaviors, those are the experiences of IT use, influence users' attitudes and intention. The results also suggest that behaviors (experiences) also change attitudes while attitudes shape behaviors. If we combine the findings of this study with the results of the previous research on IT adoption, we can propose a cycle of IT adoption and use where behavior shapes attitude, the attitude forms new behavior, and that behavior shapes new attitude. Different from the previous research, the study focused on the user experience after IT adoption and empirically demonstrated the strong influence of the subjective beliefs formed in the post-adoption period on the continued use. This partly confirms the differences between attitudes in the pre-adoption and in the post-adoption period. Users continuously change their attitudes and intentions while experiencing (using) IT. Therefore, to make users adopt IT and to make them use IT after adoption is a different problem. To encourage users to use IT after adoption, experiential variables such as perceived habit, confirmation, and computer self-efficacy should be managed properly.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.518-527
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• 2013

In 2011, South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare started a national tooth brushing room program without a pilot project. This study aimed to assess the effect of the implementation of this program in Gangneung, Korea. One-year outcomes of oral health behavior and self-reported oral symptoms in the study group after installation of the tooth brushing room were evaluated and compared with those of the control group using chi-square test. The prevalence rate of good self-rated oral health in grade 1-3 students increased from 35.7% immediately after installation to 48.9% after 6 months (p=0.031) compared to 37.3% in the control group (p=0.051). Immediately after installation of the tooth brushing room, 53.5% of grade 1-3 students in the study group brushed their teeth every day, but after 6 months, only 35.5% of students brushed daily (p<0.001) compared to 28.6% in the control group (p=0.007). The prevalence rate of bad breath in grade 1-3 students was 26.2% for the study group immediately after installation compared to 25.5% in the control group (p=0.065), but it declined 16.5% after 6 months (p=0.055). The prevalence rate of bad breath in grade 4~6 students was 14.7% for the study group after 6 months compared to 25.3% in the control group (p=0.016). We recommend the creation of a healthy school environment through a school-based tooth brushing program under the active supervision of classroom teachers and the continuous monitoring of program processes in order to promote children's oral health.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.414-420
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• 2012

In an effort to commercialization of energy saving aeration apparatus, panel-type aeration membranes were prepared from polyurethane sheet of J company in Korea having tensile strength higher than $400kg_f/cm^2$ with thickness of 0.5mm. Micropores of 100 m size were made by poring technique utilizing needles. From lab-tests in 450 L water tank at temperature of $20^{\circ}C$, the performance of aeration panels at 40 L/min aeration rate showed 5 mg/L DO in less than 3 minutes approaching saturation point of 8 mg/L within 8 minutes. The results show very high efficiency with $K_{La(15)}$ ($16.34hr^{-1}$), Standard oxygen transfer efficiency (SOTE 54.7%) and Standard aeration efficienct (SAE 7.88 kg/kwh). Other pilot scale test in a $2m^3$ water tank with water temperature ($19^{\circ}C$) and aeration rate (30 L/min) showed DO exceeding 5 mg/L within 8 minutes along with $K_{La(15)}$ ($5.8hr^{-1}$), SOTE (42.1%) and SAE (6.41 kg/kwh). These efficiencies represent 2~2.5 times higher than conventional aeration devices. Especially, the achievement of higher Oxygen Transfer Rate indicate higher commercial viability. Conventional aeration devices when applied to clean water and wastewater frequently cause problems due to differences in actual Oxygen Transfer Rate. Our actual tests with $40^{\circ}C$ animal farm wastewater resulted very high efficiencies with Oxygen transfer efficiency ($OTE_f$ 22.1%) and $OTE_{pw40}$ (39.6%).