• Title/Summary/Keyword: consumer assessment

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Marine Ecotoxicological Assessment Using the Nauplius of Marine Harpacticoid Copepod Tigriopus japonicus (저서성 해산 요각류 harpacticoid Tigriopus japonicus 유생을 이용한 해양생태독성평가)

  • Yoon Sung-Jin;Park Gyung-Soo;Oh Jeong-Hwan;Park Soung-Yun
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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    • v.9 no.3
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    • pp.160-167
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    • 2006
  • Harpacticoid copepod Tigriopus japonicus is widely distributed in coastal waters of Korea and plays important role in marine trophic structure as a first consumer. In this study, a series of experiment were conducted to test the potential of the species as a standard test species for marine bioassay. Tolerance on salinity and pH, sensitivity on the reference materials(copper sulfate and cadmium chloride) and response on the ocean dumping materials(waste sludge) we re tested to identify if the species satisfy the basic criteria as standard species for marine bioassay. The nauplius of the species($100{\sim}200{\mu}m$) showed wide tolerance on salinity with >90.0% survival rates exposed to $5.0{\sim}35.0psu$ for 48 h. Wide adaptability on pH's were also observed from 6.3 to 8.2 with >90.0% survival rates during the test. $LC_{50}$ values for copper sulfate and cadmium chloride were $3.6{\pm}0.7ppm,\;1.7{\pm}0.8ppm$, respectively. The variations in mortality between replicates were less than 10.0%. Comparison of $LC_{50}$ values indicated that T. japonicus nauplius was lower sensitive to copper sulfate than the most marine crustaceans included copepods, however, the sensitivity of test animal to cadmium chloride higher than the adults of copepod T. japonicus, Paracalanus parvus, and marine rotifer Brachinonus plicatilis. There were significant concentration-response relationship in the mortality of T. japonicus nauplius using the elutriates of three ocean dumping materials(industrial waste sludge). 48 h $LC_{50}$ values we re $31.1{\pm}1.1%$ for the elutriate of sludge from leather processing company and $54.4{\pm}15.1%$ for that of dye production company. Based on the above experimental results, bioassay using benthic harpacticoid T. japonicus nauplius must be a good estimation tool for marine ecotoxicological assessment of waste or chemicals. Wide tolerance on the salinity and pH, and significant linear relationship between concentration and response(mortality) supported the high potential of the species as a standard test species.

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Analysis and Safety Assessment of Antioxidants Migrated from Polyethylene and Polypropylene Food Packaging Materials into Food Simulants (폴리에틸렌 및 폴리프로필렌 기구·용기·포장 유래 산화방지제 분석 및 안전성평가)

  • Choi, Heeju;Choi, Jae Chun;Bae, In-Ae;Park, Se-Jong;Kim, MeeKyung
    • Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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    • v.32 no.5
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    • pp.424-433
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    • 2017
  • Antioxidants are used in the manufacturing of commercial food packages made of polyolefin plastic such as polyethylene and polypropylene for the purpose to delay the oxidation reaction of the polymer due to oxygen or traces of ozone in the atmosphere. Additives in plastics may be migrated from the packaging materials into foods, thereby presenting a potential health risk to the consumer. Therefore, it is necessary to determine migration level of antioxidants from food packaging materials to foodstuffs in order to take proactive management. In this study, we have developed a method for the analysis of 10 antioxidants, which are butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), Cyanox 2246, 425 and 1790, Irgafos 168, and Irganox 1010, 1330, 3114 and 1076, migrated from the food packaging materials into four food simulants for aqueous, acidic, alcoholic and fatty foods. The antioxidants were determined by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatograph-ultraviolet detector with 276 nm after solid-phase extraction with a hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) cartridge or dilution with isopropanol. The analytical method showed a good linearity of coefficient ($R^2{\geq}0.99$), limits of detection (0.11~0.41 mg/L), and limits of quantification (0.34~1.24 mg/L). The recoveries of antioxidants spiked to four food simulants ranged from 71.3% to 109.4%. The migrated antioxidants in this study were within the safety levels that resulted from the safety assessment by the estimated daily intake to the tolerable daily intake.

Assessment of Estimated Daily Intakes of Artificial Sweeteners from Non-alcoholic Beverages in Children and Adolescents (어린이와 청소년의 비알콜성음료 섭취에 따른 인공감미료 섭취량 평가)

  • Kim, Sung-Dan;Moon, Hyun-Kyung;Lee, Jib-Ho;Chang, Min-Su;Shin, Young;Jung, Sun-Ok;Yun, Eun-Sun;Jo, Han-Bin;Kim, Jung-Hun
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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    • v.43 no.8
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    • pp.1304-1316
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    • 2014
  • The aims of this study were to estimate daily intakes of artificial sweeteners from beverages and liquid teas as well as evaluate their potential health risks in Korean children and adolescents (1 to 19 years old). Dietary intake assessment was conducted using actual levels of aspartame, acesulfame-K, and sucralose in non-alcoholic beverages (651 beverages and 87 liquid teas), and food consumption amounts were drawn from "The Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007~2009)". To estimate dietary intake of non-alcoholic beverages, a total of 6,082 children and adolescents (Scenario I) were compared to 1,704 non-alcoholic beverage consumption subjects (Scenario II). The estimated daily intake of artificial sweeteners was calculated based on point estimates and probabilistic estimates. The values of probabilistic artificial sweeteners intakes were presented by a Monte Carlo approach considering probabilistic density functions of variables. The level of safety for artificial sweeteners was evaluated by comparisons with acceptable daily intakes (ADI) of aspartame (0~40 mg/kg bw/day), acesulfame-K (0~15 mg/kg bw/day), and sucralose (0~15 mg/kg bw/day) set by the World Health Organization. For total children and adolescents (Scenario I), mean daily intakes of aspartame, acesulfame-K, and sucralose estimated by probabilistic estimates using Monte Carlo simulation were 0.09, 0.01, and 0.04 mg/kg bw/day, respectively, and 95th percentile daily intakes were 0.30, 0.02, and 0.13 mg/kg bw/day, respectively. For consumers-only (Scenario II), mean daily intakes of aspartame, acesulfame-K, and sucralose estimated by probabilistic estimates using Monte Carlo simulation were 0.52, 0.03, and 0.22 mg/kg bw/day, respectively, and 95th percentile daily intakes were 1.80, 0.12, and 0.75 mg/kg bw/day, respectively. For scenarios I and II, neither aspartame, acesulfame-K, nor sucralose had a mean and 95th percentile intake that exceeded 5.06% of ADI.

Attitudes to Safety of Genetically Modified Foods in Korea -Focus on Consumers- (유전자재조합 식품의 안전성에 대한 기본인식 조사 -일반 소비자를 중심으로 _)

  • 김영찬;박경진;김성조;강은영;김동연
    • Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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    • v.16 no.1
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    • pp.66-75
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    • 2001
  • A survey was conducted to investigate consumers'attitudes toward the foods developed by gene recombination techniques from December, 1999 to April, 2000. The questionnaires were mailed to 1,500 people, and the 1,101 people responded. The consumers were asked about knowledge, acceptance, intention of purchasing, and labeling information. Although the portion of the consumers (88.8%) knowing the genetically modified floods (GMF) was lower than that of the flood expert group (98.7%), many consumers had some knowledge on the GMF, which may be influenced by news released from mass media. Seventy-nine percent of the consumers responded that gene recombination technology is necessary in food production, which is similar to the findings on the survey of the expert group. The portion of the consumers responding that these foods are potentially hazard was 88.1%, which is a little higher than the data (80.9%) from the expert group. The consumers having greater knowledge less worried about a potential hazard of the gene recombinant foods (p<0.01). Although 62.9% of the consumers responded to be willing to purchase those foods, only 16.2% of them responded to purchase the foods with no conditions, which is lower to that from the expert group (23.5%). There was no statistically significant relationship between the knowledge and the intention of purchasing. The ninety point three percent of the consumers wanted the information on gene recombination to be labeled on the foods. The data from this survey suggest that knowledge of the consumers on the GMF are not accurate, so proper strategy for consumer education may need to be developed. In addition, it is necessary to improve safety assessment system and analytical techniques for genetically modified foods (GMF) and to build pre- and post-market surveillance system fur efficient implementation of the GMF labeling.

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Factors Influencing the Adoption of Location-Based Smartphone Applications: An Application of the Privacy Calculus Model (스마트폰 위치기반 어플리케이션의 이용의도에 영향을 미치는 요인: 프라이버시 계산 모형의 적용)

  • Cha, Hoon S.
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.22 no.4
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    • pp.7-29
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    • 2012
  • Smartphone and its applications (i.e. apps) are increasingly penetrating consumer markets. According to a recent report from Korea Communications Commission, nearly 50% of mobile subscribers in South Korea are smartphone users that accounts for over 25 million people. In particular, the importance of smartphone has risen as a geospatially-aware device that provides various location-based services (LBS) equipped with GPS capability. The popular LBS include map and navigation, traffic and transportation updates, shopping and coupon services, and location-sensitive social network services. Overall, the emerging location-based smartphone apps (LBA) offer significant value by providing greater connectivity, personalization, and information and entertainment in a location-specific context. Conversely, the rapid growth of LBA and their benefits have been accompanied by concerns over the collection and dissemination of individual users' personal information through ongoing tracking of their location, identity, preferences, and social behaviors. The majority of LBA users tend to agree and consent to the LBA provider's terms and privacy policy on use of location data to get the immediate services. This tendency further increases the potential risks of unprotected exposure of personal information and serious invasion and breaches of individual privacy. To address the complex issues surrounding LBA particularly from the user's behavioral perspective, this study applied the privacy calculus model (PCM) to explore the factors that influence the adoption of LBA. According to PCM, consumers are engaged in a dynamic adjustment process in which privacy risks are weighted against benefits of information disclosure. Consistent with the principal notion of PCM, we investigated how individual users make a risk-benefit assessment under which personalized service and locatability act as benefit-side factors and information privacy risks act as a risk-side factor accompanying LBA adoption. In addition, we consider the moderating role of trust on the service providers in the prohibiting effects of privacy risks on user intention to adopt LBA. Further we include perceived ease of use and usefulness as additional constructs to examine whether the technology acceptance model (TAM) can be applied in the context of LBA adoption. The research model with ten (10) hypotheses was tested using data gathered from 98 respondents through a quasi-experimental survey method. During the survey, each participant was asked to navigate the website where the experimental simulation of a LBA allows the participant to purchase time-and-location sensitive discounted tickets for nearby stores. Structural equations modeling using partial least square validated the instrument and the proposed model. The results showed that six (6) out of ten (10) hypotheses were supported. On the subject of the core PCM, H2 (locatability ${\rightarrow}$ intention to use LBA) and H3 (privacy risks ${\rightarrow}$ intention to use LBA) were supported, while H1 (personalization ${\rightarrow}$ intention to use LBA) was not supported. Further, we could not any interaction effects (personalization X privacy risks, H4 & locatability X privacy risks, H5) on the intention to use LBA. In terms of privacy risks and trust, as mentioned above we found the significant negative influence from privacy risks on intention to use (H3), but positive influence from trust, which supported H6 (trust ${\rightarrow}$ intention to use LBA). The moderating effect of trust on the negative relationship between privacy risks and intention to use LBA was tested and confirmed by supporting H7 (privacy risks X trust ${\rightarrow}$ intention to use LBA). The two hypotheses regarding to the TAM, including H8 (perceived ease of use ${\rightarrow}$ perceived usefulness) and H9 (perceived ease of use ${\rightarrow}$ intention to use LBA) were supported; however, H10 (perceived effectiveness ${\rightarrow}$ intention to use LBA) was not supported. Results of this study offer the following key findings and implications. First the application of PCM was found to be a good analysis framework in the context of LBA adoption. Many of the hypotheses in the model were confirmed and the high value of $R^2$ (i.,e., 51%) indicated a good fit of the model. In particular, locatability and privacy risks are found to be the appropriate PCM-based antecedent variables. Second, the existence of moderating effect of trust on service provider suggests that the same marginal change in the level of privacy risks may differentially influence the intention to use LBA. That is, while the privacy risks increasingly become important social issues and will negatively influence the intention to use LBA, it is critical for LBA providers to build consumer trust and confidence to successfully mitigate this negative impact. Lastly, we could not find sufficient evidence that the intention to use LBA is influenced by perceived usefulness, which has been very well supported in most previous TAM research. This may suggest that more future research should examine the validity of applying TAM and further extend or modify it in the context of LBA or other similar smartphone apps.

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A Cross-Temporal Meta-Analysis of Korean College Students' Self-Efficacy, 1999-2022 (한국 대학생들의 자기효능감에 대한 시교차적 메타분석, 1999-2022)

  • Sujin Cho;Hyekyung Park
    • Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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    • v.29 no.3
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    • pp.361-404
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    • 2023
  • This study utilized a cross-temporal meta-analysis to explore shifts in self-efficacy levels among Korean college students from 1999 to 2022. We expected that increases in authoritative parenting styles, narcissism levels among students, and individualism in Korea might have positively influenced the self-efficacy of college students over the years. Conversely, growing economic disparities, decreasing class mobility, and the increasing instability of job markets might have had negative effects on self-efficacy. To investigate this, we analyzed 293 self-efficacy studies involving Korean college students published between 1999 and 2022, encompassing a total of 88,904 participants. Our criteria included studies that used the three most prevalent self-efficacy scales in Korea, focused solely on Korean college students, were cross-sectional with a one-time self-efficacy measurement, and provided essential statistics for our analysis. The results indicated no significant change in the self-efficacy levels of Korean college students over the observed period from 1999 to 2022. Additionally, we examined correlations between self-efficacy and various social indicators from different time points (20, 15, 10, and 5 years prior, as well as the year of data collection). Findings revealed that both birth rate and consumer price fluctuation rate were consistently negatively correlated with self-efficacy, while gross national income was positively correlated. This study is the first to assess Korean college students' self-efficacy levels using a cross-temporal meta-analysis, offering foundational knowledge for implementing such analytical methods for subsequent research and providing an indirect assessment of the generational gap theory. Finally, the limitations of the study and the direction for future research were discussed.

Hospice Medicine and Nursing Ethics (호스피스의료와 간호윤리)

  • Moon, Seong-Jea
    • The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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    • v.9 no.1
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    • pp.385-411
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    • 2008
  • The goal of medicine is to contribute to promoting national health by preventing diseases and providing treatment. The scope of modern medicine isn't merely confined to disease testing, treatment and prevention in accordance to that, and making experiments by using the human body is widespread. The advance in modern medicine has made a great contribution to valuing human dignity and actualizing a manly life, but there is a problem that has still nagged modern medicine: treatment and healing for terminal patients including cancer patients. In advanced countries, pain care and hospice medicine are already universal. Offering a helping hand for terminal patients to lead a less painful and more manly life from diverse angles instead of merely focusing on treatment is called the very hospice medicine. That is a comprehensive package of medical services to take care of death-facing terminal patients and their families with affection. That is providing physical, mental and social support for the patients to pass away in peace after living a dignified and decent life, and that is comforting their bereaved families. The National Hospice Organization of the United States provides terminal patients and their families with sustained hospital care and home care in a move to lend assistance to them. In our country, however, tertiary medical institutions simply provide medical care for terminal patients to extend their lives, and there are few institutional efforts to help them. Hospice medicine is offered mostly in our country by non- professionals including doctors, nurses, social workers, pastors or physical therapists. Terminal patients' needs cannot be satisfied in the same manner as those of other patients, and it's needed to take a different approach to their treatment as well. Nevertheless, the focus of medical care is still placed on treatment only, which should be taken seriously. Ministry for Health, Welfare & Family Affairs and Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service held a public hearing on May 21, 2008, on the cost of hospice care, quality control and demonstration project to gather extensive opinions from the academic community, experts and consumer groups to draw up plans about manpower supply, facilities and demonstration project, but the institutions are not going to work on hospice education, securement of facilities and relevant legislation. In 2002, Ministry for Health, Welfare & Family Affairs made an official announcement to introduce a hospice nurse system to nurture nurse specialists in this area. That ministry legislated for the qualifications of advanced nurse practitioner and a hospice nurse system(Article 24 and 2 in Enforcement Regulations for the Medical Law), but few specific plans are under way to carry out the regulations. It's well known that the medical law defines a nurse as a professional health care worker, and there is a move to draw a line between the responsibilities of doctors and those of nurses in association with medical errors. Specifically, the roles of professional hospice are increasingly expected to be accentuated in conjunction with treatment for terminal patients, and it seems that delving into possible problems with the job performance of nurses and coming up with workable countermeasures are what scholars of conscience should do in an effort to contribute to the development of medicine and the realization of a dignified and manly life.

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Variation Analysis of Medical Service Utilization in Oriental Medicine Frequent Disease of Rural Area (농어촌지역 한방 외래 다빈도 상병의 의료이용 변이분석)

  • Jang, Yong-Myung
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.713-720
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    • 2013
  • The objectives of this study are to identify whether the small area variation also exists in the oriental medicine and, if it exists, what causes, to expand our boundary of research interests on the small area variation observed at the western medicine toward the oriental medicine as one of the fundamental research foundations and to provide any fundamental findings from this study results to the healthcare politicians to promote consumer's rational behaviors for the use of healthcare. This study analyzed the health insurance claim data (2010, 2011) which were the patients of western medicine and the outpatients of the oriental medicine with the top 10 most frequent diseases and looked into the variation of healthcare utilization among the areas after grouping resident area into an 86-area category. The study result shows that the small area variation was also observed at the part of the oriental medicine in which the characteristics of patients critically affect the healthcare expenditure per visit day rather than those of providers and the characteristics of both patients and providers equally affect the healthcare expenditure per patient. Therefore, this study suggests that government set up healthcare policies on the standardization of oriental medicine to prevent its over-utilization and unmet need, enforcing the roles of oriental medicine in the markets, enhancing the appropriate health care utilization, and expanding provision and sharing the health care information to reduce unnecessary health care utilization.

Assessment of VOCs Emission Characteristics from Building Materials such as Wall Paper, Paints, and Adhesives Using Small Chamber Method (소형챔버법을 이용한 건축자재 중 벽지, 페인트 및 접착제의 VOCs 방출특성 평가)

  • Lee Suk-Jo;Jang Seong-Ki;Cho Yong-Sung;Jung Kyung- Mi;Jeong Gi-Ho
    • Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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    • v.21 no.2
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    • pp.191-204
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    • 2005
  • Building and furnishing materials and consumer product are important sources of volatile organic compounds(VOCs) and other aldehydes in the indoor environment. Some available evidence indicates that VOCs can cause adverse health effects to the building occupants and contribute to some of the symptoms of what we call, 'Sick House Syndrome' in Korea. The aims of this study were to evaluate the efficiency of emission system and to investigate comparison of the emission characteristics of different building materials such as wall-papers, paints, and adhesives. The emission of VOCs from building materials were determined in the small chambers defining the temperature, relative humidity, and ventilation rate in this study. VOCs were sampled for 20 minutes using Tenax-TA tubes and analysed by GC-MS with thermal desorption. The stability of conditions for temperature and relative humidity in this small chamber system showed that the fluctuation of temperature was between 25.4$\pm$0.3$^{\circ}C$ and that of relative humidity was 50.2$\pm$0.6$\%$ under the airflow rate of 167 mL/min. The emission tests from building materials resulted in TVOC emission rates of 0.011 $\~$ 3.108 mg/m$^{2}$h after 7 days. The general wall-papers emitted toluene abundantly and the natural wall-papers mainly emitted n-butanol and a minor amount of alkanes compound such as n -tetradecane. The remainder consisted of toluene, m,p -xylene, and styrene. The paints mainly emitted toluene and the adhesives mainly emitted chloroform as well as toluene. As a result, this study is expected to suggest meaningful data for future studies in exposure control through selecting healthy building materials and for the establishment of guidelines for various building materials in Korea.

A Study on the Establishment of Corporate and Product Image Alignment (기업 이미지에 정합적(整合的)인 제품 이미지 구축 방법)

  • Kim, Hyun
    • Archives of design research
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    • v.14 no.4
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    • pp.77-85
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    • 2001
  • In order to sustain competitive advantage through strategic product differentiation in global market, this research aims to establishment of strategic design conditions for domestic manufacturing firms through the means of product image alignment and positioning, using visual character of product as the foundation for establishing corporate image. Case studies on how globally successful multinational companies manage design strategy and corporate culture uniformly for coherent product image management are reviewed. To establish product image alignment methodology for manufacturing firms, the criteria for product image positioning and aligned product image development process are developed in three stages. First, in image positioning stage, it is important to set the direction for corporate image and design strategy by identifying consumer needs through market trends analysis and forecasting as well as comparative positioning of the analysis results of the firms's own corporate image and that of the competitor's. Second, in awareness building stage, before building the product image alignment, firm-wide shared awareness of differentiated corporate and product image, establishment of designer's role as the consolidated manager of product image, sharing form language, and building the infrastructure for defining form information should be preceded. Third, in managing the aligned product image stage, the condition for setting up image information management guideline, management of decision making process for arriving at logical decisions on product form, development of guideline for increasing efficiency and its evaluation system, and co-development of related design should be induced. Further research on the product image alignment with corporate image should be conducted through various empirical studies on image and form, building an information system of related design language, and continuous assessment and management of applied solutions.

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