• Food Science of Animal Resources
• /
• v.44 no.1
• /
• pp.103-118
• /
• 2024

The aim of this study is to compare the quality characteristics of dry-cured loins with different levels of proteolysis and lipid oxidation and to investigate the relationship between these factors on quality characteristics. The dry-cured loins were divided into four groups [proteolytic index (PI) and 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) of high levels (HH), PI of high level and TBARS of low level (HL), PI of low level and TBARS of high level (LH), and PI and TBARS of low levels (LL)] based on the proteolysis index and TBARS. Moisture, protein, and fat content were all significantly influenced by proteolysis and lipid oxidation (p<0.05). The total fatty acid content in the high proteolysis groups (HH and HL) was significantly lower than that in the low proteolysis groups (LH and LL; p<0.05). For total free amino acid content, HH was the highest, and LL was the lowest (p<0.05). On the other hand, there was no significant difference between HL and LH (p>0.05). In the amount of total volatile compounds, there was no significant difference between HH and HL (p>0.05), but LH and LL significantly differed (p<0.05). In conclusion, proteolysis and lipid oxidation can influence the quality characteristics of dry-cured loin. Additionally, proteolysis might be as influential in generating volatile compounds as lipid oxidation.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.41 no.3
• /
• pp.285-293
• /
• 2011

Purpose: In this study, the effects of laughter therapy on levels of depression, quality of life, resilience and immune responses in breast cancer survivors were examined. Methods: A quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group, pretest-posttest design was used. Participants (n=37) included breast cancer survivors who finished chemotheraphy and radiation therapy: 16 in the experiment group and 21 in the control group. Data were collected from August to November 2009. The experimental group participated in laughter therapy eight times, twice a week for 60 min per session. Questionnaires were used to me-asure pretest and posttest levels of depression, quality of life and resilience. A blood test was used to analyze changes in Total T cell, T helper, T suppressor, Th/Ts ratio, Total B cell, T cell/B cell ratio and NK cell for immune responses. Results: The results showed that laughter therapy was effective in increasing the quality of life and resilience in breast cancer survivors. but depression and immune responses did not differ significantly between the groups. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that laughter therapy may be an effective nursing intervention to improve quality of life and resilience in breast cancer survivors.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.299-312
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the price levels influence the relationships between consumers' perceived quality, risk, and value and purchase intention of restaurant menu. It analyzed questionnaire data from 406 consumers who had purchase experience of boned rib restaurant menu during the last 6 month period. The results showed that perceived risk had a negative impact on perceived quality and perceived risk had a negative impact on purchase intention. In addition, perceived quality had a positive impact on perceived value. However, perceived quality didn't have an impact on purchase intention and perceived risk didn't have an impact on perceived value.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.225-234
• /
• 1999

This study was performed as a basic research for establishing an objective quality evaluation method on whole bulbs of garlic. The size of a whole bulb of garlic, the number and the uniformity of complete individual garlics, and the existence of bad individual garlics in the whole bulb of garlic were selected as quality grading factors. Quality discrimination algorithms with machine vision techniques were developed and verified for the four factors based on morphological and physical features of whole bulbs of garlic. Based on the results, the size discrimination by the projected area of a whole bulbs of garlic suggested four grading levels and the algorithm for predicting the number of complete individual garlics based on the peaks on its projected boundary showed ${\pm}$0.78 prediction error. In addition, the uniformity represented by coefficient of variation could be divided into four levels, but the algorithm for discriminating the existence of bad individual garlics in a whole bulb of garlic was not effective.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
• /
• v.9 no.12
• /
• pp.7-14
• /
• 2018

Purpose - The core objective of the research is to explore the quality of services provided by the Nigerian health care sector that lead to know the satisfaction levels of the consumers. Research design, data, and methodology - After a meticulous literature review, the researchers administered a two part questionnaire to know the service gaps and satisfaction levels of the customers. The research carried out with a sample of 400 respondents but received only 150 responses from the residents around Adamawa state. The collected data was edited, coded, and analyzed with the SPSS latest version with the descriptive and inferential statistical tools. Results - Majority of the respondents expressed their discontentment over the responsiveness of the service providers when compared to tangibility and reliability quality variables. There is no relationship between the quality variable tangibility and overall satisfaction. Related to the overall satisfaction, 42 percent of respondents have neutral perspective indicated that they are either satisfied or dissatisfied as against the 43.3 percent of dissatisfied customers. Conclusions - This research proffers invaluable information to the entire Nigerian health-care sector to review their existing delivery of services to improve patient satisfaction. This research is first of its kind concentrated to know the quality of health-care services and customers overall satisfaction in Nigeria.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.189-198
• /
• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify levels of health literacy and examine the effects of health literacy and self-care activities on quality of life of patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: A cross sectional design was used. Questionnaires were administered via the Gallup to 500 Korean patients with diabetes in Seoul and Gyeonggi areas. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t tests, one way ANOVA, and hierarchical regression. Results: Of 500 patients, 12.4% (n=62) indicated 'inadequate' health literacy, and 43.8% (n=219) reported 'marginal' or 'adequate' health literacy. Levels of health literacy significantly differed by demographic characteristics, self-care activities, and quality of life. The factors that had a significant effect on quality of life included inadequate health literacy (B=3.63, p=.042) and marginal health literacy (B=3.84, p=.002); however, no significant relationship was found for self-care activities (B=0.01, p=.827). Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate a need for further research with large samples using Korean Health Literacy Scale for Diabetes Mellitus to establish the relationships between health literacy, diabetes self-care activities, and quality of life.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.24-36
• /
• 2016

The aims of this study is to investigate the status of nursing care delivery systems and nurse staffing levels and to analyze differences in the quality of nursing care by the type of nursing care delivery system. This research was based on data from 723 nurses working in 55 medical and surgical units in 26 general hospitals. Descriptive statistics on nurse staffing levels and the nursing care delivery system, and multi-level logistic regression were used to estimate the determinants of quality of nursing care. The number of patients per nurse is 17.74 patients in functional nursing care and 15.56 patients in total nursing care. In comparison to hospitals adopting total nursing care, hospitals with functional nursing care had greater patients. The nurses rated units using total nursing care as significantly better quality of nursing care than the units with functional nursing care. Total nursing care or modified total nursing care, rather than functional nursing care, could lead to improvement in the quality of care(total nursing care OR=3.895, modified total nursing care OR=2.475). Patient-centered approaches under proper circumstances can be successfully implemented and the positive effects demonstrated.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.550-555
• /
• 2012

Among the various elements affecting a customer's evaluation of automobile quality, buzz, squeak and rattle(BSR) have been considered to be major factors. In most vehicle manufacturers, the BSR problems are solved by find-fix method with the vehicle road test, mainly due to various excitation sources, complex generation mechanism and subjective response. To systematically tackle the BSR problems in early stage of the vehicle development cycle, these difficulties should be resolved. The aim of the present paper is to characterize the sound quality property of BSR noise that can be used to assess the subjective responses to BSR. The four sound metrics from Zwicker's sound quality parameter are computed for the signals recorded for eight BSR noise source regions localized by using the acoustic-field visualized results. Then, the jury test of BSR noise are performed. On the basis of the computed sound metrics and jury test result is evaluated to represent the harshness of BSR noise. It is expected that the developed BSR measuring system and sound quality properties can be used to reduce the automotive interior BSR noise in terms of subjective levels as well as objective levels.

• Asia Pacific Journal of Business Review
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.35-44
• /
• 2019

Service quality is a competitive weapon in the banking industry. Better understanding of customer's perception of service quality in the banking industry and the drivers of such perceptions will be a sound basis for continuous improvement in the quality of service offered to customers, customer satisfaction and customer retention in the industry. An earlier study by the same authors (Ibrahim and Bokkasam, 2016) revealed that the six SERVQUAL determinants are significantly related to and explain about 84% of overall customer satisfaction. It was also observed that the female customers perceived higher level of positive perception towards SERVQUAL determinants. The present study carries out a micro-analysis of the influence of gender on the constituents of the service quality and customer satisfaction for all the six dimensions of the SERVQUAL: Access, Communication, Competence, Tangibility, Empathy and Reliability, in Saudi banking sector. The study also analyses gender-wise levels of satisfactions with regard to individual components constituting various factors of the constituents of SERVQUAL. It was observed that the male customers have significantly low levels of satisfactions with regard to promptness in solving conflicting issues and comfort during waiting time in the bank.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.673-684
• /
• 2021

Background and objective: This study seeks to investigate domestic agro-healing farm resources so that preliminary data can be obtained on the systematic provisions for agro-healing programs in order to improve service quality and to identify the quality of agro-healing policy services. Methods: For this study, owners of agro-healing facilities were asked 24 questions via an online survey. An importance-performance analysis (IPA) was conducted to identify service quality for each policy sector. Results: Respondents' satisfaction levels were low when compared to agro-healing farm owners' perceptions of the above-average importance of each sector. The results from the resource analysis of domestic agro-healing farms indicated that the main operational purposes of farms were, in descending order, experience (90.0%), healing (86.7%), and education (84.0%). With respect to the type of program that was operated, cultivating crops (horticultural therapy) was identified most frequently at 83.3%. Conclusion: As a result of this study, the resources possessed by agro-healing farms were identified. In addition, the results of the IPA analysis in terms of service quality are not as good as expected, and performance levels should be increased to improve this. The results of this study are expected to provide useful information not only to improve the quality of agro-healing services, but also to revitalize the agro-healing industry while developing a systematic agro-healing program.