• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.55-75
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• 1992

At the outset of import liberalization, most economists expected a significant drop in the prices of domestic goods that faced foreign competition. However, it is now generally acknowledge that a significant drop in prices of those goods has not occurred. A common claim is that the prices did not drop significantly because the major importers of many imported goods were also the domestic producers of competing goods. The objective of this paper is to analyze the welfare effect of importation by domestic firms that produce competing goods, to identify the factors that facilitate such business practices, and to formulate a policy that could improve the welfare. We proved that importation by competing domestic firms definitely raises the prices of both imported and domestic goods compared to the situation where foreign goods are imported by non-producers, ceteris paribus. The intuition behind this result is that since a producer-importer is essentially a cartel, its overall profit maximization requires reduced competition between the products that it sells. On the other hand, if a producer-importer is more efficient at distrinbution than a simple importer, the comparison between the two cases is a priori indeterminate. We also find that the industries in which domestic producers are actively involved in importing competing goods are the ones in which the distribution channels are tightly controlled by importer-producers. This finding suggests that exclusive dealing contracts, which work as an entry barrier, may be the source of importing by domestic producers. We argue that in a country such as Korea, where financial market is highly incomplete, tight control of the distribution channels by oligopolistic manufacturers is likely to be an effective entry barrier that leads to importing by domestic producers of similar goods. We further argue that seemingly superior distribution costs of importer-producers is likely to be a result of market foreclosure which would disappear once the entry barrier of exclusive dealing contracts is removed. Above findings suggest that market imperfections are the source of importation by domestic competitors, which in turn constitutes a market imperfection in itself and reduces consumer welfare. As potential remedies, we considered three alternatives; direct price control by the government over the imported goods sold by major domestic producers, regulation of trade itself between major producers, and regulation of exclusive dealing contracts. For reasons both theoretical and pratical, we find that the last alternative is the most attrative. Prohibiting exclusive contracts between manufacturers and dealers in industries where exclusive dealing contracts are a significant entry barrier is expected to break up the importer-producer cartel and improve the welfare.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.85-96
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• 2001

Experimental magnetization-temperature curves for melt-spun ribbons of amorphous alloys (Dy$\_$0.33/Fe$\_$0.67/)$\_$1-x/B$\_$x/(x=0 ,0.05, 0.1, and 0.15) and (Sm$\_$0.33/Fe$\_$0.67/)$\_$1-x/B$\_$x/(x=0, 0.01, 0.02, and 0.03) (in atomic fraction) are fitted with theoretical equations based on the mean field theory in order to calculate exchange couplings between constituent elements as a function of the B content. In the case of the DyFe$_2$-B system, the sign of the exchange coupling between Dy and Fe is negative, indicating that the magnetization direction of Dy is antiparallel to that of Fe. The sign of the other two couplings are positive indicating a parallel alignment. The exchange coupling between Fe ions are greatest, while that between Dy ions is negligible. In the case of the SmFe$_2$B alloys, the sign of all the couplings are positive, indicating ferromagnetic coupling between the spins. The exchange couplings between Fe ions, and Fe and Sm are comparable to each other, but they are much greater than that between Sm ions. The high exchange coupling between Fe and Sm, which is considered to occur indirectly, is rather unexpected, but it is considered to be unique characteristics of amorphous Sm-Fe alloys. In both alloy systems, the exchange coupling between Fe ions increases with increasing B content. and this may be explained by the increase of the Fe-Fe separation with increasing B content. The exchange coupling between Fe and RE also increases with increasing B content. As the B content increases, the magnetization decreases over the whole temperature range, and the Curie temperature also decreases.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.510-537
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• 1995

Human health is an integral part of experience in the process of Human Becoming. Through continual interaction with the environment human beings freely choose experience and develop as responsible beings. The process of the health experience of patient with terminal cancer is a unique. he objective of this study is to understand the lived experience of patients with terminal cancer in order to provide basic information for nursing care in the clinical setting and to develop a theoretical background for clinical practice. This study is to de-scribe and define the lived experience of patients with terminal cancer in order to provide a foundation for nursing research and education. Data collection has been done between December 1993 and November 1994. The subjects included five persons -four females and one male : one who was in her sixties, one in his fifties, two in their forties, and one who was in her thirties. The researcher has met with these patients 35 times, but at eight times the patient was in a stuporous condition and not able to participate, so these were not included in the data analysis. Parse's "Human Becoming Methodology", an existential phenomenological research methodology is used for this study. Data has been collected using he dialogical engagement process of "I and You", the participant researcher and the participant subject. Dialogical engagement was discontinued when the data was theoretically saturated. Data was analyzed using the extraction - synthesis and heuristic interpretation. The criteria of Guba and Lincoln(1985). and Sandelo wski(1986) : credibility, auditability, fitness and objectivity were used to test the validity and reliability of the data. The following is a description of the structure of the lived experience of patients with terminal cancer as defined by this study : 1. Structure : 1) Suffering through the reminiscence of past experience 2) The appearance of complex emotions related to life and connectedness 3) The increasing importance of significant people and of the Absolute Being 4) The increasing realization of the importance of health and belief 5) Desire for a return to health and a peaceful life or for acceptance of dying and a comfortable death In summary the structure of the lived experience of these patients can be said to be : suffering comes through reminiscence of past experience, and there are complex emotions related to life and connectedness. Significant people and the Absolute Being become increasingly important along with a realization of the importance of health and faith. And finally there is a desire for either a return to health and a peaceful life or for the acceptance of dying and a comfortable death. 2. Heuristic Interpretation : Using Parse's Human Becoming Methodology, the structure of the lived experience of patients with terminal cancer identified in this research is interpreted as. The lived experience of patients with terminal cancer involves the solving of past conflicts, and the experience of the healing and valuing of sorrow and pain. Through the relation of life and health, and the complex emotions that arise, the lived experience of revealing - concealing is of paradoxical emotions. The increasing importance of significant others and of the Absolute Being shows Connecting and Separating an on- going process of nearness and farness. Revision of thoughts about health and faith is interpreted as transforming and desire for restoration to health and a peaceful life or acceptance of dying and a cowfortable death, as powering. In summary, it is possible to see, in the lived experience of patients with terminal cancer, the relationship of the five concepts of Parse's theory : valuing, revealing -concealing, connecting-separating, transforming, and powering. From Parse's theory, the results of this study show that meaning is related to valuing, rhythmicity to revealing-concealing and connect-ing-separating, and cotranscendence to transforming and powering.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.69-88
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• 2013

This study aimed to analyze the effects that the exchange relationship among employees engaged in the wedding industry in Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam area exerted on job satisfaction and voluntary service intentions. For this purpose, a theoretical model was presented based on previous studies and the relationship among variables was analyzed based on the analysis results through a survey. There have recently been great difficulties in the whole wedding industry due to the global economic depression and the low birthrate. Moreover, it is hard to optimize the future business environment. In particular, the low birthrate has weakened the demand base of the wedding industry. As a result, it is expected that the competition among companies will be more fierce in the wedding industry. Employees' voluntary service intention become much more important to overcome difficulties in this industry. Employees' voluntary service intentions can be possible when their job satisfaction is achieved. Many studies report the result that this job satisfaction can naturally be achieved when the high quality exchange relationship among a leader, team members (co-workers) and customers is formed. It is viewed that employees' voluntary service intentions should be induced through job satisfaction to improve the profitability through the efficient operation and management of the system. A leader of the organization should make an effort to form the high-quality exchange relationship with members, support so that team members(coworkers) and other employees can get along together and the teamwork can be improved and induce them to improve a high level of service quality with friendly customer services. In spite of the significance of the study discussed above, there are the following limitations in this study. There is a limit to a certain extent in generalizing study conclusions because the study was limited to the Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam area. If practical surveys which full- and part-time employees are included in the composition of samples are conducted for wedding suppliers in the country in the future, the quality of study will be able to improve.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.99-122
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• 2016

The social networking services (SNSs) have become popular among smartphone users, and one of the most popular services. In order to explain users' motivations toward SNS, this study considers uses and gratification theory which can explain individuals' motivations to select certain media channels. The purposes of this study is to investigate the relationships between motivations and addiction of SNS, and between addiction of SNS and decline in the subjective wellbeing. We examine moderating effects of social tie based on the social capital theory in the relationships between SNS addiction and decline in the subjective wellbeing. The motivations of SNS are subdivided into emotional motive (entertainment and fantasy) and cognitive motive (information share burden and challenge burden) based on the use and gratifications theory. The addiction of SNS is subdivided into time tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, interruption, and barrier of living. The data used in this study were collected from 286 SNS users through surveys. The data analysis in this study was performed using AMOS 17.0, and we used SEM(Structural Equation Modeling) methods in order to test the research model. The result shows that the emotional motive(entertainment and fantasy) and cognitive motive(information share burden and challenge burden) have an effect on the addiction of SNS. Especially emotional motive such as entertainment and users' fantasy toward SNS is an important factor that can cause SNS addiction. The addiction of SNS such as time tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, interruption, and barrier of living has an effect on the decline in the subjective wellbeing. Our result show that social tie partially moderates the relationship SNS addiction and decline in the subjective wellbeing. In addition, social tie between interruption of SNS and decline in the subjective wellbeing is an important moderating factor. The results focuses on the understanding toward relationship between SNS addiction based on the online and decline in the subjective wellbeing in the real world. The findings of this study also provides theoretical as well as practical implications which reflect the major features of SNS, and moderating effects of social tie based on the social capital.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.693-718
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• 2010

This study investigated secondary school science teachers' experiences to explore the influencing factors in science teachers efficiency (STE). The participants, thirty three secondary school science teachers who have more than four years of teaching experience, were interviewed about describing each teacher's experience throughout one's years of teaching. The grounded theory introduced by Strauss and Corbin (1998) was used to analyze the data in this study. The results of paradigm analysis revealed that STE is influenced by 125 concepts, 38 sub-categories, and 16 categories. In a paradigm model, the central phenomenon was 'constructing STE', and the causal condition was 'want to be a teacher' as career choice motivation. The contextual conditions that have an affect on the central phenomenon were 'self awareness of the teacher' and 'social awareness of the teacher.' The mediate conditions, which facilitated or restrained the action/interaction strategies, were 'societal tendency', 'school climate', and 'personal context.' The action/interaction strategies to control the phenomenon were 'following the line,' 'identifying effective teaching strategies,' 'taking teacher education programs,' and 'contributing to school improvement.' The consequences were 'teacher's self awareness', 'challenge,' and 'stagnating in teaching.' The overall conclusion drawn from this research is that, the definition of STE is beliefs in science teachers' capabilities to set up objects in some school teaching context and, organize and execute the course of action required to attain these. Additionally, STE has three dimensions of teacher's behaviors: science instructional efficiency, efficiency in engaging students, and efficiency in managing school conditions. This study offers insight into the nature of STE and theoretical framework. These findings may give science teachers and teacher educators the practical knowledge necessary to build effective training programs and interventions that would help increase STE and facilitate effective teaching.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.51-69
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• 2009

This study is intended to provide fundamental information to improve the quality of student activities presented in the Clothing & Textiles How to Dress Appropriately' section of the current middle school 'Technology Home Economics' textbooks so that Home Economics may better reflect students' interests, making it applicable in real life. The survey was conducted to 154 male and 160 female students on their preferences regarding student activities. The results are as follows. First, students who like clothing & textiles section regard "Opportunities to take part in various kinds of practices and student activities" as the major reason for preference. And the single biggest reason why they dislike the unit was due to "Too much contents to be memorized." Among various contents regarding dress in the unit, "How to Wear Clothes That Look Good on Me, and the Right Ways to Wear Them" attracted the most attention, regardless of what contents they consider necessary, interesting, or helpful in real life. Second, as for the time of implementation of the activities, students preferred "End of each class". They also preferred small-group activities (group size), well-structured problems (type of problems) and tasks that require analysis based on theoretical principles through experiments and practices (methods of implementation). Third, the findings as to the actual experience of conducting the student activities indicated that, in most cases, student activities were conducted in accordance to what was suggested in the textbooks, but not to what the students preferred. Therefore, in order to make home economics more applicable to students, it is desirable to focus on their everyday lives as is favored by the students, and increase small-group activities. Also, suggesting various and comprehensive problematic situations such as non-structured, open-ended problems and encouraging diverse implementation would be helpful in improving students' critical and creative thinking abilities.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.739-746
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• 2010

The purposes of this study are 1) to develop an advanced chamber system within ${\pm}10%$ of air velocity at the particulate matter (PM) collection area, 2) to research theoretical characteristics of PM10 and PM2.5 samplers, 3) to assess the performance characteristics of PM10 and PM2.5 samplers through chamber experiments. The total six one-hour experiments were conducted using the cornstarch with an mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) of $20\;{\mu}m$ and an geometric standard deviation of 2.0 at the two different air velocity conditions of 0.67 m/s and 2.15 m/s in the chamber. The aerosol samplers used in the present study are one APM PM10 and one PM2.5 samplers accordance with the US federal reference methods and specially designed three mini-volume aerosol samplers (two for PM10 and one for PM2.5). The overall results indicate that PM10 and PM2.5 mini-volume samplers need correction factors of 0.25 and 0.39 respectively when APM PM samplers considered as reference samplers and there is significant difference between two mini-volume aerosol samplers when a two-way analysis of variance is tested using the measured PM10 mass concentrations. The PM10 and PM2.5 samplers with the cutpoints and slopes (PM10: $10{\pm}0.5\;{\mu}m$ and $1.5{\pm}0.1$, PM2.5: $2.5{\pm}0.2\;{\mu}m$ and $1.3{\pm}0.03$) theoretically collect the ranges of 86~114% and 64~152% considering the cornstarch characteristics used in this research. Furthermore, the calculated mass concentrations of PM samplers are higher than the ideal mass concentrations when the airborne MMADs for the cornstarch used are smaller than the cutpoints of PM samplers and the PM samplers collected less PM in another case. The chamber experiment also showed that PM10 and PM2.5 samplers had the bigger collection ranges of 37~158% and 55~149% than the theocratical calculated mass concentration ranges and the relatively similar mass concentration ranges were measured at the air velocity of 2.15 m/s comparing with the 0.67 m/s.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.611-635
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• 2014

Information systems (IS) have become ubiquitous and changed every aspect of how people live their lives. While some IS have been successfully adopted and widely used, others have failed to be adopted and crowded out in spite of remarkable progress in technologies. Both the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the IS Success Model (ISSM), among many others, have contributed to explain the reasons of success as well as failure in IS adoption and usage. While the TAM suggests that intention to use and perceived usefulness lead to actual IS usage, the ISSM indicates that information quality, system quality, and service quality affect IS usage and user satisfaction. Upon literature review, however, we found a significant void in theoretical development and its applications that employ either of the two models, and we raise research questions. First of all, in spite of the causal relationship between intention to use and actual usage, in most previous studies, only intention to use was employed as a dependent variable without overt explaining its relationship with actual usage. Moreover, even in a few studies that employed actual IS usage as a dependent variable, the degree of actual usage was measured based on users' perceptual responses to survey questionnaires. However, the measurement of actual usage based on survey responses might not be 'actual' usage in a strict sense that responders' perception may be distorted due to their selective perceptions or stereotypes. By the same token, the degree of system quality that IS users perceive might not be 'real' quality as well. This study seeks to fill this void by measuring the variables of actual usage and system quality using 'fact' data such as system logs and specifications of users' information and communications technology (ICT) devices. More specifically, we propose an integrated research model that bring together the TAM and the ISSM. The integrated model is composed of both the variables that are to be measured using fact as well as survey data. By employing the integrated model, we expect to reveal the difference between real and perceived degree of system quality, and to investigate the relationship between the perception-based measure of intention to use and the fact-based measure of actual usage. Furthermore, we also aim to add empirical findings on the general research question: what factors influence actual IS usage and how? In order to address the research question and to examine the research model, we selected a mobile campus application (MCA). We collected both fact data and survey data. For fact data, we retrieved them from the system logs such information as menu usage counts, user's device performance, display size, and operating system revision version number. At the same time, we conducted a survey among university students who use an MCA, and collected 180 valid responses. A partial least square (PLS) method was employed to validate our research model. Among nine hypotheses developed, we found five were supported while four were not. In detail, the relationships between (1) perceived system quality and perceived usefulness, (2) perceived system quality and perceived intention to use, (3) perceived usefulness and perceived intention to use, (4) quality of device platform and actual IS usage, and (5) perceived intention to use and actual IS usage were found to be significant. In comparison, the relationships between (1) quality of device platform and perceived system quality, (2) quality of device platform and perceived usefulness, (3) quality of device platform and perceived intention to use, and (4) perceived system quality and actual IS usage were not significant. The results of the study reveal notable differences from those of previous studies. First, although perceived intention to use shows a positive effect on actual IS usage, its explanatory power is very weak ($R^2$=0.064). Second, fact-based system quality (quality of user's device platform) shows a direct impact on actual IS usage without the mediating role of intention to use. Lastly, the relationships between perceived system quality (perception-based system quality) and other constructs show completely different results from those between quality of device platform (fact-based system quality) and other constructs. In the post-hoc analysis, IS users' past behavior was additionally included in the research model to further investigate the cause of such a low explanatory power of actual IS usage. The results show that past IS usage has a strong positive effect on current IS usage while intention to use does not have, implying that IS usage has already become a habitual behavior. This study provides the following several implications. First, we verify that fact-based data (i.e., system logs of real usage records) are more likely to reflect IS users' actual usage than perception-based data. In addition, by identifying the direct impact of quality of device platform on actual IS usage (without any mediating roles of attitude or intention), this study triggers further research on other potential factors that may directly influence actual IS usage. Furthermore, the results of the study provide practical strategic implications that organizations equipped with high-quality systems may directly expect high level of system usage.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.1-28
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• 2013

Given that smartphone-based social network services (SNS), such as KakaoStory is now being widely used as a way for people to connect and communicate with each other, this study examines key factors leading to the continued use of SNS. People have been using PC-based SNS, such as Cyworld, for years are now using smartphone-based SNS, such as KakaoStory. KakaoStory developed by KakaoTalk has rapidly grown up as the largest smartphone-based SNS in Korea as smartphone penetration increases. It is more difficult for firms to maintain their current users over time in that alternative SNSs satisfying people's new needs are constantly emerging and evolving. In this sense, one of the most challenging issues for SNS firms is how to retain their current users in the long run. However, there are few empirical studies on this issue. Applying the IS continuance model proposed by Bhattacherjee [2001], this study explores key determinants of users' smartphone-based SNS continuance intention. The model suggests that perceived usefulness and user satisfaction are the key determinants of IS continuance intention. However, the model includes only the utilitarian value that users can obtain through the use of smartphone-based SNS, by considering perceived usefulness. Therefore, the study attempts to extend the IS continuance model by considering hedonic and social values simultaneously. More specifically, we consider subjective norms as social value that are proposed by the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior. We also consider perceived enjoyment as hedonic value that is emphasized as a key factor influencing users' behavior intention and actual behavior, particularly in the context of hedonic IS use. By considering the three values in our model simultaneously, we could offer a deeper understanding of smartphone-based SNS continuance. That is, this study could offer an explanation of how each value is associated with user satisfaction and SNS continuance intention. The customer value-satisfaction-loyalty model can strengthen the assertion that smartphone-based SNS continuance intention is determined by various different types of customer values, such as utilitarian, hedonic, and social ones. Moreover, the model provides a theoretical basis for the assertion that customer values lead to increased loyalty via customer satisfaction. In this regard, we theorize that SNS continuance intention is influenced by users' various values, namely perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, and subjective norms, via user satisfaction. To test the proposed research model and hypotheses, we conducted a partial least squares analysis using a total of 253 data collected on the users of smartphone-based SNS (i.e., KakaoStory). The key findings are as follows: First, it has been found that SNS continuance intention considerably depends on user satisfaction. Second, user satisfaction is determined by confirmation, perceived usefulness, and perceived enjoyment. Third, concerning the effects of the three values on SNS continuance intention, only perceived enjoyment regarded as hedonic value was statistically significant. That is, perceived usefulness considered as utilitarian value and subjective norms considered as social value had no effect on SNS continuance intention. Finally, our results indicate that confirmation increases perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, and user satisfaction. The results reconfirm the effectiveness of IS continuance model in predicting smartphone-based SNS continuance intention. Moreover, the results demonstrate that perceived enjoyment reflecting hedonic value is the most important predictor of SNS continuance intention. Therefore, it is imperative for firms to meet SNS users' hedonic value to retain them in the long run. Meanwhile, we could not find any empirical evidence to support the assertion that subjective norms are associated with user satisfaction and SNS continuance intention. The results lead us to conclude that when users have enough direct experience in SNS use, subjective norms have no effect on SNS continuance intention. Discussions and implications of the results are provided.