• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.95-115
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• 2012

The e-Book market has rapidly grown as an innovative product which is mixed its traditional and technological characteristics. However, decreasing user resistance to the e-Book is very important to continually keeping up its market growth. Previous studies for user resistance have been studied as a negative barrier for various innovative products with importance of user resistance. Nevertheless, the factors for user' resistance to the e-Book field have not been found out considering both perceived value and switching cost. Especially, both innovative technology and user specifics should be considered when explaining user resistance to adopting e-Books. Thus, the purpose of this study is to understand the process for user resistance to the e-book and find out its antecedents with perceived value and switching cost at the same time. As a result, it appeared that triability, uncertainty and complexity affected perceived value and switching cost. The user-based antecedents like social norm and perceived value increased the effect of self-efficacy. Also, self-efficacy and perceived value decreased user resistance whereas switching cost increase user resistance to the e-Book perspective.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.252-261
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• 2017

Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs) increase radiation exposure to the public as these materials are concentrated through artificial manufacturing processes by human activities. This study focuses on the development of a method for the quantitative analysis of $^{232}Th$, $^{235}U$, and $^{238}U$ in building materials. The accuracy and precision of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for determination of digestion processes was evaluated for certified reference materials (CRMs) digested using various mixed acid (e.g., aqua regia, hydrofluoric acid, and perchloric acid) digestions and a $LiBO_2$ fusion method. The method validation results reveal that a $LiBO_2$ fusion and $Fe(OH)_3$ co-precipitation should be applied as the optimal sample digestion process for the quantitative analysis of radionuclides in building materials. The radioactivity of $^{232}Th$, $^{235}U$, and $^{238}U$ in a total of 51 building material (e.g., board, brick, cement, paint, tile, and wall paper) samples was quantitatively analyzed using an established process. Finally, the values of $^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$ radioactivity were comprehensively compared with those from the indirect method using ${\gamma}$-spectrometry.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.3-51
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• 2017

From a historical point of view, while the Warsaw Convention was passed in 1924 to regulate the unified judicial responsibility in the global air transportation industry, protection of airline consumers was somewhat lacking in protecting air carriers. In principle, the air carrier does not bear any obligation or liability when the aircraft is not operated normally due to natural disasters such as typhoon or heavy snowfall. However, in recent years, in developed countries such as the US and Europe, there has been a movement in which regulates the air carriers' obligation to protect their passengers even if there is no misconduct or negligence. Furthermore, the legislation of such advanced countries imposes an obligation on the airlines to compensate the loss separately from damages in case the abnormal operation of the aircraft is not caused by force majeure but caused by their negligence. Under this historical and international context, Korea is also modifying the system of aviation consumer protection by referring to other foreign legislation. However, when compared with foreign countries, our norm has a few drawbacks. First, the airline's protection or care obligations are mixed with the legal liability for damages in the provision, which seems to be due to the lack of understanding of the airline's passenger protection obligation. The liability for damages, which is governed by the International Convention or the Commercial Act, shall be determined by judging the cause of the airline's liability in respect of the damage of the individual passenger in the course of the air transportation. However, the duty to care and the burden for compensation shall be granted to all passengers who feel uncomfortable with the abnormal operation regardless of the cause of the accident. Also, our compensation system for denied boarding due to oversale is too low compared to the case of foreign countries, and setting the compensation amount range differently based on the time for the re-routing is somewhat unclear. Regarding checked-baggage claim, it will be necessary to refund the fee only from the fact that the baggage is delayed without asking whether there is any damage occurred from the delayed baggage. This is the content of the duty to care, which is different from the current Commercial Act or the international convention, in which responsibility is different depending on whether the airline takes all the necessary measures in order to prevent delaying of the baggage. The content of force majeure, which is a requirement for exemption from the obligation to care passengers on the airplane, shall be reconsidered. Maintenance for safe navigation is not considered to be included in force majeure, and connection to airplanes, airport conditions are disputable. According to the EC Regulation, if the cause of the abnormal operation of the airline is force majeure, the airline's compensation obligation is exempted but the duty to care of airline company is still meaningful. Furthermore, even if the main role of aviation consumer protection is on an airline, it is the responsibility of government agencies to supervise the fulfillment of such protection obligations. Therefore, it is necessary for the Korean government to actively take measures such as enforcing incentives for airlines that faithfully fulfill their obligation to care and imposed penalties on the contrary.