• International Journal of Knowledge Content Development & Technology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.49-65
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• 2018

Are the benefits derived from ICT based reference and information service worth the financial and other commitments devoted to it? In an attempt to answer this, this study delved into finding out the perceived benefits; the rational for ICT based reference services in Nigerian university libraries. The main objectives were to find out the purposes for using ICT facilities in reference services delivery and the perceived benefits derived from using ICT resources in reference and information services. Being a survey, questionnaire was used to collect data from the librarians of twelve (12) universities; two (2) each sampled from the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Data was analyzed using frequencies, mean scores and standard deviations. ANOVA statistical analysis was used to test the hypothesis of no significance difference in the benefits derived from ICT based reference services using p-value of 0.05 to calculate the level of significance. Findings showed that librarians and library users made use of ICT facilities for different reference purposes especially to obtain information they need using the internet. Other reference needs for which patrons used the ICT facilities included: - access to current e-books and e - journals, user education and access to global information in other libraries. Provision of current awareness services (CAS) and selective dissemination of information services (SDI), on-line searching using workstations in the library, provision of on-line public access catalogue (OPAC) services, keeping statistics of users of the reference section and compilation of bibliographies. Further findings showed that the librarians and library users derive a lot of benefits from their use of ICT facilities in reference services. The results showed that easy retrieval and dissemination of information to patrons were ranked highest by the librarians amongst others.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.61-74
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• 2011

The author analyses the challenging activities of Japanese libraries in this decade by launching two keywords; "product-sharing" and "outcome generation." "Product-sharing" means that libraries share knowledge, skills, and records which are produced as the result of the services or in the process of activities. And "outcome generation" means that libraries generate any efficiency or effectiveness through their services to users. Using these concepts, reported are the current situation and aspects of Japanese libraries which try to make various contributions to the society; research and learning of the people, and education and training for professional librarians, and so on. In the analysis, the author shows some examples of "product-sharing" at first, including the records of reference transaction and the multi-functioned online public access catalogue. Especially, focused is on the various possibility and adoptability of the Collaborative Reference Database System of the National Diet Library of Japan. This system is one of digital reference service in Japan, and the database of reference transaction records is expected to be useful for research and academic studyies as knowledge-base of professional librarians. And the system is also expected to be a platform for LIS education and professional development in the e-learning environment. Secondly, as the examples of "outcome generation", explained are the problem-solving-type activities, and provision of the collection about books on struggling against disease and illness. A few examples of outcome in the problem-solving-type activities are these; increase of sales in the services for shop managers, business persons, and entrepreneurs, contribution to affluent daily life by providing the local information services to residents and neighbourhoods, and etc. And for both the patients with serious cases and their family or those who nurse them, books about other persons' notes or memorandum are the greatest support, and sometime healing. The author discuss the 'raison d'etre' of these activities focusing on public libraries in Japan.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.97-113
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• 2005

This paper designed and implemented(programmed) a comparative shopping agent that helps consumers to shop at on-line shopping malls over Internet. At offline stores, as consumers usually tell a sales clerk about a manufacturer, functions and price range of an item they want to purchase, the sales clerk will show the products or relevant catalogues. Then the consumer will compare functions, design and prices of the product and buy it with the lowest price. PriceMeter, a comparative shopping agent, introduced in this paper, is designed best geared to this consumers' buying behavior. Basically, as consumers enter a manufacturer's name, price, features and etc. at a search window, PriceMeter will search the web and provide a list of product informations such as features and prices that meet the search conditions. Consumers can see the information in either a form of catalogue or a printing format. As consumers click specific items to examine closely, it will show prices and information about shopping malls that sell the requested items. Clicking a 'Buy' icon, the consumers will be transferred to the right web page at the linked shopping mall. The emergence of the comparative shopping agent will expedite a consumer-centered retailing economy in the age of e-commerce. As consumers are provided with a better set of product and shopping mall information, they can make better purchasing decisions and gain more bargaining power shifted from manufacturers(sellers). The presentation of this comparative shopping agent is intended to promote the consumer-centered B2C e-commerce.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.387-394
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• 2011

This study was performed to investigate the contents and leaching characteristics of hazardous wastes from the paint industry. In order to establish a hazardous waste list, samples from industrial discharge have been analyzed for 8 non-regulated inorganic hazardous substances (i.e., Sb, Ni, F, V, Ba, Zn, Be, Se). In more detail, hazardous waste samples from a total of 64 workplaces, e.g. manufacture, formulation, supply and use (MFSU) of coatings, adhesives, sealants and printing inks processing, have been chosen and analyzed. Contents and leaching tests for inorganic metal species in samples show that the non-regulated hazardous substances satisfy all the criteria, while quantitative analyses reveal that some samples of the discharged wastes exceeded the criteria proposed by NIER (National Instituted of Environmental Research). In conclusion, we expect the outcome of this study to align the classification system of hazardous waste management in South Korea with international legislations, and consequently contribute to reduce environmental pollution as well as health risks by toxic wastes.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.276-286
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• 2013

This study was performed to investigate the contents characteristics of hazardous oil wastes and wastes of liquid fuels from different industrial process. In order to establish a hazardous waste list, samples of various industrial discharge have been analyzed for 16 non-regulated inorganic hazardous substances (i.e., Cu, Pb, Cd, CN, Hg, As, T-Cr, $Cr^{6+}$, Sb, Ni, F, V, Ba, Zn, Be, Se). In more detail, hazardous waste samples including waste hydraulic oils, waste engine, gear and lubricating oils, waste insulating and heat transmission oils, bilge oils, oil/water separator contents processing were collected from 37 workplaces and analyzed. We observed that the most of the inorganic substances exceeded the proposed criteria in many samples. Especially the concentration of Sb in heat transmission oil, bilge oil and gear & lubricating oils were ranged from 6 to 419 mg/kg whereas the proposed criteria is 50 mg/kg. The assessment result of hazardous waste in Korea according to the EWC showed that the out of 24 processes, 16 belongs to absolute entry and 8 belongs to mirror entry. In conclusion, we expect the outcome of this study to align the classification system of hazardous waste management in South Korea with international legislations, and consequently contribute to reduce environmental pollution as well as health risks by toxic wastes.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.47-63
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• 2021

Variability is one of the major characteristics of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), and it is used for understanding the energy generation mechanism in the center of AGN and/or related physical phenomena. It it known that there exists a time lag between AGN light curves simultaneously observed at different wavelengths, which can be used as a tool to estimate the size of the area that produce the radiation. In this paper, We present long term near-infrared variability of optically bright type 1 AGN using the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer data. From the Milliquas catalogue v6.4, 73 type 1 QSOs/AGN and 140 quasar candidates are selected that are brighter than 18 mag in optical and located within 5 degree around the ecliptic poles. Light curves in the W1 band (3.4 ㎛) and W2 band (4.6 ㎛) during the period of 2010-2019 were constructed for these objects by extracting multi-epoch photometry data from WISE and NEOWISE all sky survey database. Variability was analyzed based on the excess variance and the probability P_var. Applying both criteria, the numbers of variable objects are 19 (i.e., 26%) for confirmed AGN and 12 (i.e., 9%) for AGN candidates. The characteristic time scale of the variability (τ) and the variability amplitude (σ) were derived by fitting the DRW model to W1 and W2 light curves. No significant correlation is found between the W1/W2 magnitude and the derived variability parameters. Based on the subsample that are identified in the X-ray source catalog, there exists little correlation between the X-ray luminosity and the variability parameters. We also found four AGN with changing W1-W2 color.