• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.131-157
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• 2014

Special track systems used to divert a train to other directions or other tracks are generally called 'railway turnout'. A traditional turnout system consists of steel rails, switches, crossings, steel plates, fasteners, screw spikes, timber bearers, ballast and formation. The wheel rail contact over the crossing transfer zone has a dip-like shape and can often cause detrimental impact loads on the railway track and its components. The large impact also emits disturbing noises (either impact or ground-borne noise) to railway neighbors. In a brown-field railway track where an existing aged infrastructure requires renewal or maintenance, some physical constraints and construction complexities may dominate the choice of track forms or certain components. With the difficulty to seek for high-quality timbers with dimensional stability, a methodology to replace aged timber bearers in harsh dynamic environments is to adopt an alternative material that could mimic responses and characteristics of timber in both static and dynamic loading conditions. A critical review has suggested an application of an alternative material called fibre-reinforced foamed urethane (FFU). The full-scale capacity design makes use of its comparable engineering characteristics to timber, high-impact attenuation, high damping property, and a longer service life. A field trial to investigate in-situ behaviours of a turnout grillage system using an alternative material, 'fibre-reinforced foamed urethane (FFU)' bearers, has been carried out at a complex turnout junction under heavy mixed traffics at Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia. The turnout junction was renewed using the FFU bearers altogether with new special track components. Influences of the FFU bearers on track geometry (recorded by track inspection vehicle 'AK Car'), track settlement (based on survey data), track dynamics, and acoustic characteristics have been measured. Operational train pass-by measurements have been analysed to evaluate the effectiveness of the replacement methodology. Comparative studies show that the use of FFU bearers generates higher rail and sleeper accelerations but the damping capacity of the FFU help suppress vibration transferring onto other track components. The survey data analysis suggests a small vertical settlement and negligible lateral movement of the turnout system. The static and dynamic behaviours of FFU bearers appear to equate that of natural timber but its service life is superior.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.289-303
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• 2001

The online stock transactions are gaining popularity at an incredible speed these days as more and more investors are adopting Internet as a new and convenient way of handling such transactions. As a consequence, the market for online stock exchange services is getting increasingly competitive; measuring and managing the quality of such services have become a crucial issue to the survival and growth of the stock brokerage houses. Unfortunately, however, little research effort to date has been made as to developing a set of valid and reliable measures for assessing investor perceptions of the quality of the online stock exchange service. The present study generates and tests a new set of multi-item measures for the quality of the online stock exchange service from an investor's perspective. This set of measures can be used in various stages and aspects of formulating online marketing strategies for stock brokerage firms. Marketing implications of this instrument for service providers are discussed.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.105-119
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• 2010

SOA has become the focus of attention as it is perceived as a concept toward integrative service which helps companies respond quickly to the changes in market needs. This study is aimed to find out success factors for building SOA. We carried out two case studies on companies that adopted SOA successfully in Korea and conducted a survey to collect opinions from experts and experienced managers whose job is related to SOA. The critical successful factors found in this study include: 1) establishment of the SOA taskforce based on CIO's strong support, 2) formation of the corporate-wide consensus and the adoption of standards, 3) active user participation in defining services and obliterating duplication, 4) accomplishment of flexibility in services and business agility based on integrated infrastructure, and 5) securing project budget and consistent support by way of using measurement index for SOA investment effects.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.171-197
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• 2015

SNS provider's biggest interest lies in enhancing user satisfaction through user request analysis and developing services to induce continuous use of those devices. In particular, setting up management directions to develop SNS at maturity is important and it is also important to identify the functions which SNS users are pursuing for and identify what's considered unsatisfiable among the services currently provided in light of user expectations. To this end, this study further presents sociality quality and personal emotional quality reflecting the characteristics of SNS to the existing quality factors and expands to Expected Confirmation Model. This study further took into account of sociality quality and personal emotional quality reflecting the characteristics of SNS and approached to them from the perspective of quality in a comprehensive way, analyzed the degree of impact on recognition factors, and presented the factors that had an impact on the satisfaction with usage and intention to use continuously.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.93-115
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• 2015

Due to the dramatic increase in usage of smart phones, mobile applications offer a promising public communication channel to effect behavioral change in areas such as energy saving. For this, identifying relationships between applications and behavioral change would be useful for public institutions to formulate more effective public communication strategies. Based on a design science approach, this study examines the effect of design factors of public service-oriented mobile applications such as personalization, accessibility, and representation richness on users' cognitive and affective attitudes. Their effects on behavioral outcome are also investigated. The results of the analysis show that most design factors contribute significantly to the cognitive and affective attitudes of users. In turn, cognitive attitudes affect users' behavioral change in terms of energy saving, while affective attitudes are positively associated with the average usage time of mobile applications and behavioral changes in terms of energy saving.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop and implement the Hospice Smart Patient Program and to evaluate its effectiveness. Methods: It was quasi-experimental non-equivalent pre-post study. Breast cancer patients who underwent surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy, or who needed palliative care, participated in the study. Participants were divided into two groups, experimental and control groups based on their preferences. The program was developed after literature review and discussion among experts on hospice and palliative care. Participants who were in the experimental group received either face-to-face or phone "Hospice Smart Patient" Service at least once a week for 5 months. Results: There was a significant difference in quality of life and communication skill between the two groups after the service was provided. In addition, participants in experimental group showed improved decision making skills, mastery sense, and understanding of hospice and palliative care, which would be beneficial in improving their quality of life. Conclusion: We have concluded that the "Hospice Smart Patient" Program is useful for cancer patients in decision making, improving self-control and choosing hospice care to improve their quality of life.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.61-84
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• 2011

This study tested the relationship between servant leadership and intrinsic motivation. And, the mediating role of intrinsic motivation between servant leadership and individual performance was also investigated. Based on related theory and literature review, 4 hypotheses were developed and tested. Questionnaires were distributed to 280 employees of 3 service enterprises. Among returned questionnaires, 214 samples were used for empirical study. According to results, listening behavior of supervisor had significant positive effects on intrinsic motivation of subordinate. But, sympathy behavior and service behavior of supervisor had no significant effects on intrinsic motivation of subordinate. Also, intrinsic motivation of subordinate had significant positive effects on job satisfaction and organization commitment. Finally, the results suggest that intrinsic motivation mediate the relationship between servant leadership and individual performance. The mediating role of intrinsic motivation between servant leadership and individual performance was partly or fully supported. Implications and directions for future research are discussed in conclusion.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.11-20
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• 2015

To make provision for the super-aged society, the senior welfare facility which is a kind of typical physical environment of the nursing service would be expected to perform a very important role in local community. This study was conducted to identify the constructs of the servicescapes of senior welfare facility and to draw analysis indicators of it. For this, we performed literature review based on domestic & foreign government guide, service marketing theory and interior architectural results concerning the physical environment of the senior welfare facility. The result of this study showed as follows: servicescapes of the senior welfare facility could be explained as "a whole set of physical environment to support a variety of services provided by the senior welfare facility for the elderly or services of the kind of tangible clues". Analysis indicators of the senior welfare facility's servicescape could be explained as five factors: safety factor, functional factor, aesthetic factor, ambient factor and social factor. In addition we developed 37 pieces of detailed factors referred to five factors. The evaluation and verification of analysis indicators was carried out through 8 experts in-depth interviews. We inspected importance factor using a 5-point Likert scale, therefore safety factor was 4.41, functional factor was 4.27, aesthetic factor was 3.66, ambient factor was 4.20 and social factor was 4.25. More than anything else, in this study, there is a sense that it has established the concept of servicescape adapted to the senior welfare facility and contained a social element between the employees and the physical environment. Theoretical and practical implications of findings are discussed, and future research directions are proposed. we expect to be a little or benefits to the senior welfare facility corresponding to the future of the super-aged society.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.93-110
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• 2014

With the explosive proliferation of smart devices that may be connected to the fast Internet, virtual desktop interfaces(VDI) are being implemented in enterprises allowing employees to work anywhere anytime in the same technological environment. As this kind of systems are intended to raise the work performance, a research model is constructed from the review of research literature on service quality and work design. The model consists of VDI system service quality (ubiquity, availability, compatibility, security and ease of use), system satisfaction, task performance and job satisfaction. As VDI is designed as a support system for cooperative work, the task interdependence adopted from the work design theory is postulated here as moderating the effect of user satisfaction on task performance and job satisfaction. 147 data points were collected by a survey of VDI users in a global firm and subjected to PLS analysis. Interestingly, ubiquity and compatibility seem to be not statistically significant for user satisfaction while availability, security and ease of use of VDI system are statistically significant. Task interdependence is found to be a relatively strong mediator between system user satisfaction and task performance, however, interestingly, the coefficient come out as negative. This may indicate that the influence of VDI user satisfaction on task performance would not be high in highly interdependent tasks. Considering that VDI is intended for supporting 'interdependence' in cooperative work, this finding is a bit surprising. In-depth discussions are made in the discussion followed by future research directions.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.419-455
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• 2008

This paper analyses the Night Thermal-storage Power Service(NTPS) from the perspective of sustainability. It investigates the economic, environmental and social aspects of NTPS, thereby reveals that NTPS triggers the inefficient use of fuel, the increase of carbon dioxide emission and the increase of cross subsidy between consumers. This paper also analyses NTPS from the perspective of energy security. It investigates how NTPS makes LNG demand volatile in winter, thus threatens our energy security. According to the analysis, NTPS directly violates two basic principles of national energy policy; Sustainability and Energy Security. To solve these problems, not only the harmonized adjustment of Heating Oil Tax and Electric Power Rates is needed to curb the rapier increase of NTPS, but also another separate policy is necessary for converting the electric heating system based on NTPS into the one based on Heating Oil.