• Title/Summary/Keyword: efficiency factor

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Evaluation of the usefulness of Halcyon VMAT treatment plan through comparison with tomotherapy in bilateral breast cancer radiation therapy. (양측 유방암 방사선치료 시 토모테라피와의 비교를 통한 Halcyon VMAT 치료계획의 유용성 평가)

  • LIM JUN TAEK;PARK JU YOUNG;PARK SU YEON;JEON SEONG JIN;PARK TAE YANG;HWANG DA JIN
    • The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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    • v.34
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    • pp.83-92
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    • 2022
  • Purpose: To evaluate usefulness of Tomotherapy and Halcyon VMAT treatment in radiation therapy for bi-breast cancer Materials and Methods: For 10 patients with bi-breast cancer, volumetric modulated arc therapy(VMAT) treatment plan was established using helical Tomotherapy(Accuray. USA) with field width of 5.0-cm and pitch of 0.287, and Halcyon(Varian Medical System, Palo Alto, CA, Version 3.0 USA) of 6arc and 8arc. Prescribed dose was 42.4 Gy/16, and V 40.3Gy of Planning Target Volume(PTV) was 90%. The quality of plan was evaluated by comparing the dose to tumor and normal organs, and the efficiency was evaluated by comparing total MU and beam on time. Results: About three treatment plans(Tomotherapy, Halcyon 6Arc VMAT, Halcyon 8Arc VMAT) , the mean homogeneity index(H.I) of PTV were 1.07, 1.10, 1.11, and the mean conformity index(C.I) of PTV were 1.21, 1.16, 1.17, respectively. The average value of the dose assessment item for a normal organ is V 5Gy(%) of both lung was 36.3, 31.2, 29.7, and V 15Gy(%) were 18.6, 15.5, 14.6, respectively. The mean heart dose(Gy) were 4.17, 2.69, 2.51. Total MU were (7498.6, 2494.2, 2471.5), and beam on time(sec) were 462.5, 195.4, 198.0. Conclusion: Halcyon VMAT showed similar quality of treatment plan compared to helical Tomotherapy, while also protecting normal organs. In addition, the efficiency of radiotherapy increased due to a decrease in Beam On Time and MU.

Evaluation of Economic-Environmental Impact of Heat Exchanger Network in Naphtha Cracking Center (납사분해 공정 내 열 교환 네트워크 경제적-환경영향 평가)

  • Hyojin Jung;Subin Jung;Yuchan Ahn
    • Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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    • v.61 no.3
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    • pp.378-387
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    • 2023
  • Petrochemical is an energy consuming industry that consumes about 30% of total industrial energy consumption and is a representative carbon dioxide (CO2) emission source. Among them, the Naphtha Cracking Center (NCC), which produces ethylene, propylene, propane and mixed C4, consumes large amounts of energy and emits significant amounts of CO2. For this reason, an integrated techno economic- environmental impact assessment aimed at reducing energy consumption and environmental impact factors is necessary to ensure efficiency in terms of economics and environment. This study aims to analyze the efficiency of the heat exchanger network used in the existing NCC base on the pinch analysis and select an improvement plan that can reduced energy consumption. In order to reduces the utility consumption in the process, an optimal heat exchanger network considering the high-temperature and low-temperature stream was derived, and the economic evaluation was conducted by considering the trade-off between the reduction in utility consumption and the increase in heat exchanger installation cost. In addition, an environmental impact assessment was conducted on the reduced CO2 emission in consideration of the environmental aspect, and the economic environmental impact assessment used the payback period to recover the invested funds to come up with an energy saving plan that can be applied based on the actual process. As a result of considering the economic-environmental impact assessment, when the environmental impact assessment was not considered, it was 4.29 months, 3.21 months, and 3.39 months for each case, and when considering the environmental impact assessment, it was 4.24 months, 3.17 months, and 3.35 months for each case. These results appeared equally both when the environmental impact assessment was not include and when it was include. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was conducted for each case to determine how important factors affect the payback period. As a result of the sensitivity analysis, the cost of the heat exchanger was identified as a major factor influencing the overall cost.

Comparison of Bioconversion Ability and Biological Activities of Single and Multi-Strain Probiotics for an Active Molecule in Roasted Tartary Buckwheat (단일 및 복합 프로바이오틱스 균주에 의한 쓴메밀 내 Rutin의 Quercetin으로의 생물전환 및 이의 생리활성 비교)

  • Song-in Kim;Eunbee Cho;Kyohee Cho;Chang Kwon;Seok-hee Lim;Jong Won Kim;Myung Jun Chung;Su Jeong Kim;Sanghyun Lim
    • Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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    • v.51 no.4
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    • pp.465-473
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    • 2023
  • In this study, we aimed to evaluate the bioconversion ability of single (Lactiplantibacillus plantarum CBT LP3, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis CBT SL6, Streptococcus thermophilus CBT ST3) and multi-strain probiotics to convert rutin to quercetin in roasted tartary buckwheat, and to assess their biological activities. To evaluate the bioconversion efficiency, each strain was cultured for 24 h in MRS media with 5% roasted tartary buckwheat 'Hwangguem-Miso' powder. After then, rutin and quercetin contents were determined by HPLC. Additionally, the biological activities were compared before and after bioconversion of an ingredient. Anti-oxidant effects were measured by DPPH and ABTS assays. Anti-inflammatory effects were determined by measuring NO production, and levels of iNOS, TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-4 using an LPS-induced Raw 264.7 cell model. The bioconversion rate under the combination of three species of probiotics significantly increased more than single species. Antioxidant efficacy results showed the highest activity when the combination of three species of probiotics cultured. The pro-inflammatory factors such as nitric oxide, iNOS, TNF-a, and IL-6 were significantly decreased when the three types of probiotics were combined than single strain was cultured. In addition, level in the anti-inflammatory factor IL-4 was increased. The multi-strain probiotics showed increased bioconversion efficiency, effects of anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory compared to the single strain. These findings suggest that the fermentation of tartary buckwheat by probiotics may be a valuable candidate for developing functional foods with anti-oxidation and anti-inflammation.

Derivation and Empirical Analysis of Critical Factors that Facilitate Technology Transfer and Commercialization of Research Outcome (연구성과의 기술이전 및 사업화 촉진요인 도출 및 실증분석)

  • Ku, Bon Chul
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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    • v.9 no.5
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    • pp.69-81
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    • 2014
  • There is a growing interest in the technology transfer and commercialization both at home and abroad. Accordingly, this study looked at the concept of technology transfer and commercialization, identified the factors that should be taken into account in order to facilitate technology transfer and commercialization, and then performed a empirical analysis. As for the conventional technology transfer and commercialization, there was a tendency to limit its scope to the exploration, transfer and commercialization of technology itself. Here in this research, technology transfer and commercialization is defined the category to expand as various activities implemented in order to make sure that intellectual properties such as intangible technological developments, know-how, and knowledge are transferred between the relevant parties through a contract or negotiation, and the party to which the transfer is made can then further develop and exploit the technology into tangible products and other activities to obtain economic benefit out of that. In addition, the findings of the positive analysis of technology transfer and commercialization revealed that the focus of facilitating technology transfer has been on the technology itself, its management and securing efficiency of the systems and institutions involved in the technology transfer and commercialization. So there was lack of recognition as to the importance of financial support given to the phase of technology commercialization. This indicates that when it comes to the technology transfer and commercialization, quantitative performance has been the focus of interest such as patent application, registration, number of technology transfers, royalty, etc. So there was not enough understanding as to the issues of starting up a business, creating quality jobs through technology transfer and commercialization, which are directly related to the realization of the creative economy. In this regard, this research is expected to be used for the development for the future policies to boost technology transfer and commercialization as it suggests not only simply ensuring quantitative performance but also necessary to create the environment for the creation of the stable ecosystem for the parties involved in the technology transfer and commercialization and then to build circumstances in which creative economy can be realized.

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Variation of Pesticide Residues in Strawberries by Washing and Boiling Processes (딸기의 세척 및 가공 과정에 따른 농약 잔류량 변화)

  • Kwak, Se-Yeon;Lee, Sang-Hyeob;Jeong, Hye-Rin;Nam, Ae-Ji;Sarker, Aniruddha;Kim, Hyo-Young;Lim, Chae-Uk;Cho, Hyun-Jeong;Kim, Jang-Eok
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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    • v.38 no.4
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    • pp.281-290
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    • 2019
  • BACKGROUND: As the demand for strawberries increases, people are paying attention to food safety in strawberry, especially pesticide residues. To remove the pesticides from strawberry, various washing and processing technique in households are additionally required. METHODS AND RESULTS: Strawberries were washed with water, detergent, alcohol, and ultrasonication and processed to strawberry jam. The mean reduction efficiency according to the washing solvent and method was found to be higher in the order of detergent (42.5%) > alcohol (41.7%) > water (41.3%) > ultrasoniation with alcohol (40.2%) > ultrasoniation with water (38.6%) > ultrasoniation with detergent (36.9%), but there was no significant difference among the treatments. The residue levels of pesticides during processing to jam decreased by 11.9-94.4% for etoxazole, fluopyram, procymidone, spiromesifen, and prochloraz, while the other pesticides were concentrated by boiling, or rather increased by 11.8-40.2%. However, when the residue levels were converted to residual amounts in consideration of the change in weight after processing, the residual amounts of the tested pesticides were reduced by 59.8-98.4% during processing. The processing factor (PF) were different for each pesticide, but PFs were < 1 for all washing solvents and methods, and 0.06-1.40 when processed into jam. CONCLUSION: To ensure the consumption of pesticide-free strawberry, the most efficient washing method is to immerse the strawberry in fresh water for few minutes, followed by rinsing them under running water.

Twice Daily Radiation Therapy Plus Concurrent Chemotherapy for Limited-Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer (국한성병기 소세포폐암에서 하루 두 번 분할조사와 동시 화학방사선치료)

  • Yeo Seung-Gu;Cho Moon-June;Kim Sun-Young;Kim Ki-Whan;Kim Jun-Sang
    • Radiation Oncology Journal
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.96-102
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    • 2006
  • Purpose: A retrospective study was performed to evaluate the efficiency and feasibility of twice daily radiation therapy plus concurrent chemotherapy for limited-stage small cell lung cancer in terms of treatment response, survival, patterns of failure, and acute toxicities. Materials and Methods: Between February 1993 and October 2002, 76 patients of histologically proven limited-stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC) were treated with twice daily radiation therapy and concurrent chemotherapy. Male was in 84% (64/76), and median age was 57 years (range, 32-75 years). Thoracic radiation therapy consisted of 120 or 150 cGy per fraction, twice a day at least 6 hours apart, 5 days a week. Median total dose was 50.4 Gy (range, 45-51 Gy). Concurrent chemotherapy consisted of CAV ($cytoxan\;1000mg/m^2,\;adriamycin\;40mg/m^2,\;vincristine\;1mg/m^2$) alternating with PE ($cisplatin\;60mg/m^2,\;etoposide\;100mg/m^2$) or PE alone, every 3 weeks. The median cycle of chemotherapy was six (range, 1-9 cycle). Prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) was recommended to the patients who achieved a complete response (CR). PCI scheme was 25 Gy/10 fractions. Median follow up was 18 months (range, 1-136 months). Results: Overall response rate was 86%; complete response in 39 (52%) and partial response in 26 (34%) patients. The median overall survival was 23 months. One, two, and three year overall survival rate was 72%, 50% and 30%, respectively. In univariate analysis, the treatment response was revealed as a significant favorable prognostic factor for survival (p<0.001). Grade 3 or worse acute toxicities were leukopenia in 46 (61%), anemia in 5 (6%), thrombocytopenia in 10 (13%), esophagitis in 5 (6%), and pulmonary toxicity in 2 (2%) patients. Of 73 evaluable patients, 40 (55%) patients subsequently had disease progression. The most frequent first site of distant metastasis was brain. Conclusion: Twice daily radiation therapy plus concurrent chemotherapy produced favorable response and survival for LS-SCLC patients with tolerable toxicities. To improve the treatment response, which proved as a significant prognostic factor for survival, there should be further investigations about fractionation scheme, chemotherapy regimens and compatible chemoradiotherapy schedule.

The Effect of Information Protection Control Activities on Organizational Effectiveness : Mediating Effects of Information Application (정보보호 통제활동이 조직유효성에 미치는 영향 : 정보활용의 조절효과를 중심으로)

  • Jeong, Gu-Heon;Jeong, Seung-Ryul
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.17 no.1
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    • pp.71-90
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    • 2011
  • This study was designed to empirically analyze the effect of control activities(physical, managerial and technical securities) of information protection on organizational effectiveness and the mediating effects of information application. The result was summarized as follows. First, the effect of control activities(physical, technical and managerial securities) of information protection on organizational effectiveness showed that the physical, technical and managerial security factors have a significant positive effect on the organizational effectiveness(p < .01). Second, the effect of control activities(physical, technical and managerial securities) of information protection on information application showed that the technical and managerial security factors have a significant positive effect on the information application(p < .01). Third, the explanatory power of models, which additionally put the information protection control activities(physical, technical and managerial securities) and the interaction variables of information application to verify how the information protection control activities( physical, technical and managerial security controls) affecting the organizational effectiveness are mediated by the information application, was 50.6%~4.1% additional increase. And the interaction factor(${\beta}$ = .148, p < .01) of physical security and information application, and interaction factor(${\beta}$ = .196, p < .01) of physical security and information application among additionally-put interaction variables, were statistically significant(p < .01), indicating the information application has mediated the relationship between physical security and managerial security factors of control activities, and organizational effectiveness. As for results stated above, it was proven that physical, technical and managerial factors as internal control activities for information protection are main mechanisms affecting the organizational effectiveness very significantly by information application. In information protection control activities, the more all physical, technical and managerial security factors were efficiently well performed, the higher information application, and the more information application was efficiently controlled and mediated, which it was proven that all these three factors are variables for useful information application. It suggested that they have acted as promotion mechanisms showing a very significant result on the internal customer satisfaction of employees, the efficiency of information management and the reduction of risk in the organizational effectiveness for information protection by the mediating or difficulty of proved information application.

Assessing Future Climate Change Impact on Hydrologic Components of Gyeongancheon Watershed (기후변화가 경안천 유역의 수문요소에 미치는 영향 평가)

  • Ahn, So-Ra;Park, Min-Ji;Park, Geun-Ae;Kim, Seong-Joon
    • Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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    • v.42 no.1
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    • pp.33-50
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    • 2009
  • The impact on hydrologic components considering future potential climate, land use change and vegetation cover information was assessed using SLURP (Semi-distributed Land-Use Runoff Process) continuous hydrologic model. The model was calibrated (1999 - 2000) and validated (2001 - 2002) for the upstream watershed ($260.4\;km^2$) of Gyeongancheon water level gauging station with the coefficient of determination and Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency ranging from 0.77 to 0.60 and 0.79 to 0.60, respectively. Two GCMs (MIROC3.2hires, ECHAM5-OM) future weather data of high (A2), middle (A1B) and low (B1) emission scenarios of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) were adopted and the data was corrected by 20C3M (20th Century Climate Coupled Model) and downscaled by Change Factor (CF) method using 30 years (1977 - 2006, baseline period) weather data. Three periods data of 2010 - 2039 (2020s), 2040 - 2069 (2050s), 2070 - 2099 (2080s) were prepared. To reduce the uncertainty of land surface conditions, future land use and vegetation canopy prediction were tried by CA-Markov technique and NOAA NDVI-Temperature relationship respectively. MIROC3.2 hires and ECHAM5-OM showed increase tendency in annual streamflow up to 21.4 % for 2080 A1B and 8.9 % for 2050 A1B scenario respectively. The portion of future predicted ET about precipitation increased up to 3 % in MIROC3.2 hires and 16 % in ECHAM5-OM respectively. The future soil moisture content slightly increased compared to 2002 soil moisture.

TNF-α in the Pleural Fluid for the Differential Diagnosis of Tuberculous and Malignant Effusion (결핵성 및 악성흉수의 감별에 있어 흉수 내 TNF-α의 유용성)

  • Kim, Hye Jin;Shin, Kyeong Cheol;Lee, Jae Woong;Kim, Kyu Jin;Hong, Yeong Hoon;Chung, Jin Hong;Lee, Kwan Ho
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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    • v.59 no.6
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    • pp.625-630
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    • 2005
  • Background : Determining the cause of an exudative pleural effusion is sometimes quite difficult, especially between malignant and tuberculous effusions. Twenty percent of effusions remain undiagnosed even after a complete diagnostic evaluation, including pleural biopsy. The activity of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-${\alpha}$), which is the one of proinflammatory cytokines, is increased in both infectious and malignant effusions. The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic efficiency of TNF-${\alpha}$ activity in distinguishing tuberculous from malignant effusions. Methods : 46 patients (13 with malignant pleural effusion, 33 with tuberculous pleural effusion) with exudative pleurisy were included. TNF-${\alpha}$ concentrations were measured in the pleural fluid and serum samples using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In addition, TNF-${\alpha}$ ratio (pleural fluid TNF-${\alpha}$ : serum TNF-${\alpha}$) was calculated. Results : TNF-${\alpha}$ concentration and TNF-${\alpha}$ ratio in the pleural fluid were significantly higher in the tuberculous effusions than in the malignant effusions (p<0.05). However, the serum levels of TNF-${\alpha}$ in the malignant and tuberculous pleural effusions were similar (p>0.05). The cut off points for the pleural fluid TNF-${\alpha}$ level and TNF-${\alpha}$ ratio were found to be 136.4 pg/mL and 6.4, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve were 81%, 80% and 0.82 for the pleural fluid TNF-${\alpha}$ level (p<0.005) and 76%, 70% and 0.72 for the TNF-${\alpha}$ ratio (p<0.05). Conclusion : We conclude that pleural fluid TNF-${\alpha}$ level and TNF-${\alpha}$ ratio can distinguish a malignant pleural effusion from a tuberculous effusion, and can be additional markers in a differential diagnosis of tuberculous and malignant pleural effusion. The level of TNF-${\alpha}$ in the pleural fluid could be a more efficient marker than the TNF-${\alpha}$ ratio.

An Empirical Study on the Influencing Factors of Perceived Job Performance in the Context of Enterprise Mobile Applications (업무성과에 영향을 주는 업무용 모바일 어플리케이션의 주요 요인에 관한 연구)

  • Chung, Sunghun;Kim, Kimin
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.31-50
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    • 2014
  • The ubiquitous accessibility of information through mobile devices has led to an increased mobility of workers from their fixed workplaces. Market researchers estimate that by 2016, 350 million workers will be using their smartphones for business purposes, and the use of smartphones will offer new business benefits. Enterprises are now adopting mobile technologies for numerous applications to increase their operational efficiency, improve their responsiveness and competitiveness, and cultivate their innovativeness. For these reasons, various organizational aspects concerning "mobile work" have received a great deal of recent attention. Moreover, many CIOs plan to allocate a considerable amount of their budgets mobile work environments. In particular, with the consumerization of information technology, enterprise mobile applications (EMA) have played a significant role in the explosive growth of mobile computing in the workplace, and even in improving sales for firms in this field. EMA can be defined as mobile technologies and role-based applications, as companies design them for specific roles and functions in organizations. Technically, EMA can be defined as business enterprise systems, including critical business functions that enable users to access enterprise systems via wireless mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets. Specifically, EMA enables employees to have greater access to real-time information, and provides them with simple features and functionalities that are easy for them to complete specific tasks. While the impact of EMA on organizational workers' productivity has been given considerable attention in various literatures, relatively little research effort has been made to examine how EMA actually lead to users' job performance. In particular, we have a limited understanding of what the key antecedents are of such an EMA usage outcome. In this paper, we focus on employees' perceived job performance as the outcome of EMA use, which indicates the successful role of EMA with regard to employees' tasks. Thus, to develop a deeper understanding of the relationship among EMA, its environment, and employees' perceived job performance, we develop a comprehensive model that considers the perceived-fit between EMA and employees' tasks, satisfaction on EMA, and the organizational environment. With this model, we try to examine EMA to explain how job performance through EMA is revealed from both the task-technology fit for EMA and satisfaction on EMA, while also considering the antecedent factors for these constructs. The objectives of this study are to address the following research questions: (1) How can employees successfully manage EMA in order to enhance their perceived job performance? (2) What internal and/or external factors are important antecedents in increasing EMA users' satisfaction on MES and task-technology fit for EMA? (3) What are the impacts of organizational (e.g. organizational agility), and task-related antecedents (e.g., task mobility) on task-technology fit for EMA? (4) What are the impacts of internal (e.g., self-efficacy) and external antecedents (e.g., system reputation) for the habitual use of EMA? Based on a survey from 254 actual employees who use EMA in their workplace across industries, our results indicate that task-technology fit for EMA and satisfaction on EMA are positively associated with job performance. We also identify task mobility, organizational agility, and system accessibility that are found to be positively associated with task-technology fit for EMA. Further, we find that external factor, such as the reputation of EMA, and internal factor, such as self-efficacy for EMA that are found to be positively associated with the satisfaction of EMA. The present findings enable researchers and practitioners to understand the role of EMA, which facilitates organizational workers' efficient work processes, as well as the importance of task-technology fit for EMA. Our model provides a new set of antecedents and consequence variables for a TAM involving mobile applications. The research model also provides empirical evidence that EMA are important mobile services that positively influence individuals' performance. Our findings suggest that perceived organizational agility and task mobility do have a significant influence on task-technology fit for EMA usage through positive beliefs about EMA, that self-efficacy and system reputation can also influence individuals' satisfaction on EMA, and that these factors are important contingent factors for the impact of system satisfaction and perceived job performance. Our findings can help managers gauge the impact of EMA in terms of its contribution to job performance. Our results provide an explanation as to why many firms have recently adopted EMA for efficient business processes and productivity support. Our findings additionally suggest that the cognitive fit between task and technology can be an important requirement for the productivity support of EMA. Further, our study findings can help managers in formulating their strategies and building organizational culture that can affect employees perceived job performance. Managers, thus, can tailor their dependence on EMA as high or low, depending on their task's characteristics, to maximize the job performance in the workplace. Overall, this study strengthens our knowledge regarding the impact of mobile applications in organizational contexts, technology acceptance and the role of task characteristics. To conclude, we hope that our research inspires future studies exploring digital productivity in the workplace and/or taking the role of EMA into account for employee job performance.