• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.495-501
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• 2014

The objective of this study was to evaluate the differences and reproducibility of Hounsfield unit (HU) value and volume measurements on different computed tomography (CT) scanner types and different collimations by using a gelatin phantom. The phantom consisting of five synthetic simulated calculus spanning diameters from 3.0 mm to 12.0 mm with 100 HU was scanned using a two-channel multi-detector row CT (MDCT) scanner, a four-channel MDCT scanner, and two 64-channel MDCT scanners. For all different scanner types, the thinnest possible collimation and the second thinnest collimation was used. The HU values and volumes of the synthetic simulated calculus were independently measured three times with minimum intervals of 2 weeks and by three experienced veterinary radiologists. ANOVA and Scheff$\acute{e}$ test for the multiple comparison were performed for statistical comparison of the HU values and volumes of the synthetic simulated calculus according to different CT scanner types and different collimations. The reproducibility of the HU value and volume measurements was determined by calculating Cohen's k. The reproducibility of HU value and volume measurements was very good. HU value varied between different CT scanner types, among different beam collimations. However, there was not statistically significant difference. The percent error (PE) decreased as the collimation thickness decreased, but the decrease was statistically insignificant. In addition, no statistically significant difference in the PEs of the different CT scanner types was found. It can be concluded that the CT scanner type insignificantly affects HU value and the volumetric measurement, but that a thinner collimation tends to be more useful for accurate volumetric measurement.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.113-137
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• 2021

According to the clear potential of mobile banking growth, many studies related to this are being conducted, but in Korea, it is concentrated on the analysis of technical factors or consumers' intentions, behaviors, and satisfaction. In addition, even though it has a strong customer base of 20s, there are few studies that have been conducted specifically for this customer group. In order for mobile banking to take a leap forward, a strategy to secure various perspectives is needed not only through research on itself but also through research on external factors affecting mobile banking. Therefore, this study analyzes impulsiveness, credit card use, and SNS addiction among various external factors that can significantly affect mobile banking in their 20s. This study examines whether the relationship between impulsiveness and mobile banking usage depends on whether or not a credit card is used, and checks whether a customer's impulsiveness is possible by examining whether a credit card is used. Based on this, it is possible to establish new standards for classification of marketing target groups of mobile banking. After finding out the static or unsuitable relationship between whether to use a credit card and impulsiveness, we want to indirectly predict the customer's impulsiveness through whether to use a credit card or not to use a credit card. It also verifies the mediating effect of SNS addiction in the relationship between impulsiveness and mobile banking usage. For this analysis, the collected data were conducted according to research problems using the SPSS Statistics 25 program. The findings are as follows. First, positive urgency has been shown to have a significant static effect on mobile banking usage. Second, whether to use credit cards has shown moderating effects in the relationship between fraudulent urgency and mobile banking usage. Third, it has been shown that all subfactors of impulsiveness have significant static relationships with subfactors of SNS addiction. Fourth, it has been confirmed that the relationship between positive urgency, SNS addiction, and mobile banking usage has total effect and direct effect. The first result means that mobile banking usage may be high if positive urgency is measured relatively high, even if the multi-dimensional impulsiveness scale is low. The second result indicates that mobile banking usage rates were not affected by the independent variable, negative urgency, but were found to have a significant static relationship with negative urgency when using credit cards. The third result means that SNS is likely to become addictive if lack of premeditation or lack of perseverance is high because it provides instant enjoyment and satisfaction as a mobile-based service. This also means that SNS can be used as an avoidance space for those with negative urgency, and as an emotional expression space for those with high positive urgency.

• 한국노년학
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.1003-1024
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• 2016

The human rights of older people have gotten more attention recently in South Korea, a country that is in transition to a super-aged society. This study aimed to systematically review studies on elder abuse and related factors among community-dwelling older adults in South Korea over twenty years (1994-2016). We searched major databases (Riss, DBpia, KISS, KMbase, and PubMed) and identified published studies relevant to the topic. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria related to study quality, a total of 31 studies were selected for this review. We examined types, measurements, and risk factors of elder abuse as well as study designs in the selected studies, guided by Johannesen's theoretical framework on elder abuse. All of the reviewed studies on elder abuse in Korea were cross-sectional studies, most of which focused on older people living in urban areas, using a non-random sampling method. All of the studies focused on certain types of elder abuse only. Some adopted elder-abuse instruments that were not validated, and others used self-developed instruments without psychometric tests. As for the risk factors of elder abuse in South Korea, the physical and mental health of the victims and aggressors impacted the risk of elder abuse, but general sociodemographic factors such as age, sex, and education were less likely to be related to the risk. In addition, decreasing caregiver burden and building elder-friendly communities are important for the prevention of elder abuse. Needed are further empirical studies on elder abuse with a theoretical framework that gives consideration to the unique sociocultural contexts of Korea. It is also recommended to develop instruments to measure elder abuse reflecting the sociocultural contexts of Korea, and to examine the multi-dimensional risk factors of elder abuse.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Therapy
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.57-72
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• 2018

Objective : This study aims to identify the self-reported driving abilities of elderly drivers and their correlations to the demographic factors that influence them, and to verify the adequacy of the hypothetical model, constructed based on vision, auditory, cognition, motor, and psychological factors, in order to present a path model on the self-reported driving abilities of elderly drivers. Methods : The participants in this study were 122 elderly drivers aged 65 years or older residing in the community. This study evaluated the following factors of the participants: Vision and hearing, motor ability, cognitive ability, depression, self-reported driving abilities. Results : The results of this study are as follows. In the case of men, the self-reported driving ability score was higher than for women, and those driving 6-7 days per week had higher scores than those driving 3 days or less. The period of holding a driver's license and driving experience positively correlated with self-reported driving abilities. The final model of factors influencing the self-reported driving abilities of elderly drivers had a p value (.911) exceeding .05; TLI (1.202), NFI (.949), and CFI (1.000) of over .90; and RMSEA (.000) of lower than 0.1, indicating that the hypothesis model fit the data well. First, the directly influential factors on the self-reported driving abilities of elderly drivers were depression, decreased hearing, and grip strength. Second, age was found to have a direct influence on depression and grip strength; moreover, depression and grip strength as a mediator indirectly influenced their self-reported driving abilities. Third, depression was found to have a direct influence on their delayed cognitive processing and grip strength. Conclusion : The significance of this study is in the identification of direct and indirect factors influencing the self-reported driving abilities of elderly drivers in regional communities, and in the verification of multi-dimensional effects of diverse factors influencing such abilities.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.69-76
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• 2019

This study aimed to investigate the effects of vocal aerobic treatment (VAT) on the improvement of voice in patients with voice disorders. Twenty patients (13 males, 7 females) were diagnosed with voice disorders on the basis of videostroboscopy and voice evaluations. Acoustic evaluation was performed with the Multidimensional voice program (MDVP) and Voice Range Profile (VRP) of Computerized Speech Lab (CSL), and aerodynamic evaluation with PAS (Phonatory Aerodynamic System). The changes in F0, Jitter, Shimmer, and NHR before and after treatment were measured by MDVP. F0 range and Energy range were measured with VRP before and after treatment, and the changes in Expiratory Volume (FVC), Phonation Time (PHOT), Mean Expiratory Airflow (MEAF), Mean Peak Air Pressure (MPAP), and Aerodynamic Efficiency (AEFF) with PAS. Videostroboscopy was performed to evaluate the regularity, symmetry, mucosal wave, and amplitude changes of both vocal cords before and after treatment. Voice therapy was performed once a week for each patient using the VAT program in a holistic voice therapy approach. The average number of treatments per patient was 6.5. In the MDVP, Jitter, Shimmer, and NHR showed statistically significant decreases (p < .001, p < .01, p < .05). VRP results showed that Hz and semitones in the frequency range improved significantly after treatment (p < .01, p < .05), as did PAS, FVC, and PHOT (p < .01, p < .001). The results for videostroboscopy, functional voice disorder, laryngopharyngeal reflux, and benign vocal fold lesions were normal. Thus, the VAT program was found to be effective in improving the acoustic and aerodynamic aspects of the voice of patients with voice disorders. In future studies, the effect of VAT on the same group of voice disorders should be studied. It is also necessary to investigate subjective voice improvement and objective voice improvement. Furthermore, it is necessary to examine the effects of VAT in professional voice users.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.79-92
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• 2015

Knowledge map is widely used to represent knowledge in many domains. This paper presents a method of integrating the national R&D data and assists of users to navigate the integrated data via using a knowledge map service. The knowledge map service is built by using a lightweight ontology and a topic modeling method. The national R&D data is integrated with the research project as its center, i.e., the other R&D data such as research papers, patents, and reports are connected with the research project as its outputs. The lightweight ontology is used to represent the simple relationships between the integrated data such as project-outputs relationships, document-author relationships, and document-topic relationships. Knowledge map enables us to infer further relationships such as co-author and co-topic relationships. To extract the relationships between the integrated data, a Relational Data-to-Triples transformer is implemented. Also, a topic modeling approach is introduced to extract the document-topic relationships. A triple store is used to manage and process the ontology data while preserving the network characteristics of knowledge map service. Knowledge map can be divided into two types: one is a knowledge map used in the area of knowledge management to store, manage and process the organizations' data as knowledge, the other is a knowledge map for analyzing and representing knowledge extracted from the science & technology documents. This research focuses on the latter one. In this research, a knowledge map service is introduced for integrating the national R&D data obtained from National Digital Science Library (NDSL) and National Science & Technology Information Service (NTIS), which are two major repository and service of national R&D data servicing in Korea. A lightweight ontology is used to design and build a knowledge map. Using the lightweight ontology enables us to represent and process knowledge as a simple network and it fits in with the knowledge navigation and visualization characteristics of the knowledge map. The lightweight ontology is used to represent the entities and their relationships in the knowledge maps, and an ontology repository is created to store and process the ontology. In the ontologies, researchers are implicitly connected by the national R&D data as the author relationships and the performer relationships. A knowledge map for displaying researchers' network is created, and the researchers' network is created by the co-authoring relationships of the national R&D documents and the co-participation relationships of the national R&D projects. To sum up, a knowledge map-service system based on topic modeling and ontology is introduced for processing knowledge about the national R&D data such as research projects, papers, patent, project reports, and Global Trends Briefing (GTB) data. The system has goals 1) to integrate the national R&D data obtained from NDSL and NTIS, 2) to provide a semantic & topic based information search on the integrated data, and 3) to provide a knowledge map services based on the semantic analysis and knowledge processing. The S&T information such as research papers, research reports, patents and GTB are daily updated from NDSL, and the R&D projects information including their participants and output information are updated from the NTIS. The S&T information and the national R&D information are obtained and integrated to the integrated database. Knowledge base is constructed by transforming the relational data into triples referencing R&D ontology. In addition, a topic modeling method is employed to extract the relationships between the S&T documents and topic keyword/s representing the documents. The topic modeling approach enables us to extract the relationships and topic keyword/s based on the semantics, not based on the simple keyword/s. Lastly, we show an experiment on the construction of the integrated knowledge base using the lightweight ontology and topic modeling, and the knowledge map services created based on the knowledge base are also introduced.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.45 no.10
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• pp.1488-1496
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• 2016

The purposes of this study were to analyze mothers' eating, cooking, and exercise habits based on their demographic characteristics and to examine the relationship between those habits and their late school-aged children's Broca index. A total of 393 questionnaires were mailed to the mothers of late school-aged children who registered at four elementary schools in the Seoul area, of which 159 participants (40.0%) completed questionnaires. Statistical data analyses were performed using SPSS/Win 21.0 for descriptive statistics, t-test ANOVA, and Pearson's regression coefficient. There was a statistically significant difference in mothers' cooking habit (F=3.920, P=0.022) and exercise habit (F=3.211, P=0.043) according to their educational level. Interestingly, 82.4% of mothers had a Broca index of less than 90% of normal body mass level. A significant positive correlation of Broca index between mothers and their late school-aged children (r=0.345, P<0.001) indicated that children whose mothers had a low body mass level also tended to have a low body mass level. In this study, late school-aged children's Broca index was not significantly related with mother's eating (r=-0.072, P=0.367) or exercise habits (r=-0.010, P=0.897) but was significantly related with their mother's cooking habits (r=-0.157, P=0.048). Considering there are few studies examining the impacts of mother's cooking habits on their children's appropriate body mass, the results suggest that developing an effective educational program to cultivate mothers' healthy cooking habits to improve school-aged children's health status is very important. The findings of this study provide important data that could be used when developing health education programs tailored to the multi-dimensional impacts of mothers' life habits on their last school-aged children's developmental health status.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.73-85
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• 2015

This study investigated the extent and magnitude of the woodland edge effects on users' thermal environments according to distance from woodland border. A series of experiments to measure air temperature, relative humidity, wind velocity, MRT and UTCI were conducted over six days between July 31 and August 5, 2015, which corresponded with extremely hot weather, at the south-facing edge of Hadongsongrim(pure Pinus densiflora stands, tree age: $100{\pm}33yr$, tree height: $12.8{\pm}2.7m$, canopy closure: 75%, N $35^{\circ}03^{\prime}34.7^{{\prime}{\prime}}$, E $127^{\circ}44^{\prime}43.3^{{\prime}{\prime}}$, elevation 7~10m) and east-facing edge of Hamyangsangrim (Quercus serrata-Carpinus tschonoskii community, tree age: 102~125yr/58~123yr, tree height: tree layer $18.6{\pm}2.3m/subtree$ layer $5.9{\pm}3.2m/shrub$ layer $0.5{\pm}0.5m$, herbaceous layer coverage ratio 60%, canopy closure: 96%, N $35^{\circ}31^{\prime}28.1^{{\prime}{\prime}}$, E $127^{\circ}43^{\prime}09.8^{{\prime}{\prime}}$, elevation 170~180m) in rural villages of Hadong and Hamyang, Korea. The minus result value of depth means woodland's outside. The depth of edge influence(DEI) on the maximum air temperature, minimum relative humidity and wind speed at maximum air temperature time during the daytime(10:00~17:00) were detected to be $12.7{\pm}4.9$, $15.8{\pm}9.8$ and $23.8{\pm}26.2m$, respectively, in the mature evergreen conifer woodland of Hadongsongrim. These were detected to be $3.7{\pm}2.2$, $4.9{\pm}4.4$ and $2.6{\pm}7.8m$, respectively, in the deciduous broadleaf woodland of Hamyansangrim. The DEI on the maximum 10 minutes average MRT, UTCI from the three-dimensional environment absorbed by the human-biometeorological reference person during the daytime(10:00~17:00) were detected to be $7.1{\pm}1.7$ and $4.3{\pm}4.6m$, respectively, in the relatively sparse woodland of Hadongsongrim. These were detected to be $5.8{\pm}4.9$ and $3.5{\pm}4.1m$, respectively, in the dense and closed woodland of Hadongsongrim. Edge effects on the thermal environments of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, MRT and UTCI in the sparse woodland of Hadongsongrim were less pronounced than those recorded in densed and closed woodland of Hamyansangrim. The gradient variation was less steep for maximum 10 minutes average UTCI with at least $4.3{\pm}4.6m$(Hadongsongrim) and $3.5{\pm}4.1m$(Hamyansangrim) being required to stabilize the UTCI at mature woodlands. Therefore it is suggested that the woodlands buffer widths based on the UTCI values should be 3.5~7.6 m(Hamyansangrim) and 4.3~8.9(Hadongsongrim) m on each side of mature woodlands for users' thermal comfort environments. The woodland edge structure should be multi-layered canopies and closed edge for the buffer effect of woodland edge on woodland users' thermal comfort.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.57-73
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• 2021

Maintenance and prevention of failure through anomaly detection of ICT infrastructure is becoming important. System monitoring data is multidimensional time series data. When we deal with multidimensional time series data, we have difficulty in considering both characteristics of multidimensional data and characteristics of time series data. When dealing with multidimensional data, correlation between variables should be considered. Existing methods such as probability and linear base, distance base, etc. are degraded due to limitations called the curse of dimensions. In addition, time series data is preprocessed by applying sliding window technique and time series decomposition for self-correlation analysis. These techniques are the cause of increasing the dimension of data, so it is necessary to supplement them. The anomaly detection field is an old research field, and statistical methods and regression analysis were used in the early days. Currently, there are active studies to apply machine learning and artificial neural network technology to this field. Statistically based methods are difficult to apply when data is non-homogeneous, and do not detect local outliers well. The regression analysis method compares the predictive value and the actual value after learning the regression formula based on the parametric statistics and it detects abnormality. Anomaly detection using regression analysis has the disadvantage that the performance is lowered when the model is not solid and the noise or outliers of the data are included. There is a restriction that learning data with noise or outliers should be used. The autoencoder using artificial neural networks is learned to output as similar as possible to input data. It has many advantages compared to existing probability and linear model, cluster analysis, and map learning. It can be applied to data that does not satisfy probability distribution or linear assumption. In addition, it is possible to learn non-mapping without label data for teaching. However, there is a limitation of local outlier identification of multidimensional data in anomaly detection, and there is a problem that the dimension of data is greatly increased due to the characteristics of time series data. In this study, we propose a CMAE (Conditional Multimodal Autoencoder) that enhances the performance of anomaly detection by considering local outliers and time series characteristics. First, we applied Multimodal Autoencoder (MAE) to improve the limitations of local outlier identification of multidimensional data. Multimodals are commonly used to learn different types of inputs, such as voice and image. The different modal shares the bottleneck effect of Autoencoder and it learns correlation. In addition, CAE (Conditional Autoencoder) was used to learn the characteristics of time series data effectively without increasing the dimension of data. In general, conditional input mainly uses category variables, but in this study, time was used as a condition to learn periodicity. The CMAE model proposed in this paper was verified by comparing with the Unimodal Autoencoder (UAE) and Multi-modal Autoencoder (MAE). The restoration performance of Autoencoder for 41 variables was confirmed in the proposed model and the comparison model. The restoration performance is different by variables, and the restoration is normally well operated because the loss value is small for Memory, Disk, and Network modals in all three Autoencoder models. The process modal did not show a significant difference in all three models, and the CPU modal showed excellent performance in CMAE. ROC curve was prepared for the evaluation of anomaly detection performance in the proposed model and the comparison model, and AUC, accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score were compared. In all indicators, the performance was shown in the order of CMAE, MAE, and AE. Especially, the reproduction rate was 0.9828 for CMAE, which can be confirmed to detect almost most of the abnormalities. The accuracy of the model was also improved and 87.12%, and the F1-score was 0.8883, which is considered to be suitable for anomaly detection. In practical aspect, the proposed model has an additional advantage in addition to performance improvement. The use of techniques such as time series decomposition and sliding windows has the disadvantage of managing unnecessary procedures; and their dimensional increase can cause a decrease in the computational speed in inference.The proposed model has characteristics that are easy to apply to practical tasks such as inference speed and model management.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.51-89
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• 2007

INTRODUCTION Due to the high broadband internet penetration rate and its group-oriented culture, various types of online communities operate in Korea. This study use 'Uses and Gratification Approach, and argue that members' usage-needs satisfaction with brand community is an important factor for promoting community commitment. Based on previous studies identifying the effect of brand image on consumers' responses to various marketing stimuli, this study hypothesizes that brand image can be a moderate variable affecting the relationship between usage-needs satisfaction with brand community and members' commitment to brand community. This study analyzes the influence of usage-needs satisfaction on brand community commitment and how apparel brand image affects the relationships between usage-needs satisfactions and community commitments. The hypotheses of this study are proposed as follows. H1-3: The usage-needs satisfaction of apparel brand community (interest, transaction, relationship needs) influences emotional (H1), continuous (H2), and normative (H3) commitments to apparel brand communities. H4-6: Apparel brand image has a moderating effect on the relationship between usage-needs satisfaction and emotional (H4), continuous (H5), and normative (H6) commitments to apparel brand communities. METHODS Brand communities founded by non-company affiliates were excluded and emphasis was placed instead on communities created by apparel brand companies. Among casual apparel brands registered in 6 Korean portal sites in August 2003, a total of 9 casual apparel brand online communities were chosen, depending on the level of community activity and apparel brand image. Data from 317 community members were analyzed by exploratory factor analysis, moderated regression analysis, ANOVA, and scheffe test. Among 317 respondents answered an online html-type questionnaire, 80.5% were between 16 to 25 years old. There were a total of 150 respondents from apparel brand communities(n=3) recording higher-than-average brand image scores (Mean > 3.75) and a total of 162 respondents from apparel brand communities(n=6) recording lower-than-average brand image scores(Mean < 3.75). In this study, brand community commitment was measured by a 5-point Likert scale: emotional, continuous and normative commitment. The degree of usage-needs satisfaction (interest, transaction, relationship needs) was measured on a 5-point Likert scale. The level of brand image was measured by a 5-point Likert scale: strength, favorability, and uniqueness of brand associations. RESULTS In the results of exploratory factor analysis, the three usage-needs satisfactions with brand community were classified as interest, transaction, and relationship needs. Brand community commitment was also divided into the multi-dimensional factors: emotional, continuous, and normative commitments. The regression analysis (using a stepwise method) was used to test the influence of 3 independent variables (interest-needs satisfaction, transaction-needs, and relationship-needs satisfactions) on the 3 dependent variables (emotional, continuous and normative commitments). The three types of usage-needs satisfactions are positively associated with the three types of commitments to apparel brand communities. Therefore, hypothesis 1, 2, and 3 were significantly supported. Moderating effects of apparel brand image on the relationship between usage-needs satisfaction and brand community commitments were tested by moderated regression analysis. The statistics result showed that the influence of transaction-needs on emotional commitment was significantly moderated by apparel brand image. In addition, apparel brand image had moderating effects on the relationship between relationship-needs satisfaction and emotional, continuous and normative commitments to apparel brand communities. However, there were not significant moderate effects of apparel brand image on the relationships between interest-needs satisfaction and 3 types of commitments (emotional, continuous and normative commitments) to apparel brand communities. In addition, the influences of transaction-needs satisfaction on 2 types of commitments (continuous and normative commitments) were not significantly moderated by apparel brand image. Therefore, hypothesis 4, 5 and 6 were partially supported. To explain the moderating effects of apparel brand image, four cross-tabulated groups were made by averages of usage-needs satisfaction (interest-needs satisfaction avg. M=3.09, transaction-needs satisfaction avg. M=3.46, relationship-needs satisfaction M=1.62) and the average apparel brand image (M=3.75). The average scores of commitments in each classified group are presented in Tables and Figures. There were significant differences among four groups. As can be seen from the results of scheffe test on the tables, emotional commitment in community group with high brand image was higher than one in community group with low brand image when transaction-needs satisfaction was high. However, when transaction-needs satisfaction was low, there was not any difference between the community group with high brand image and community group with low brand image regarding emotional commitment to apparel brand communities. It means that emotional commitment didn't increase significantly without high satisfaction of transaction-needs, despite the high apparel brand image. In addition, when apparel brand image was low, increase in transaction-needs did not lead to the increase in emotional commitment. Therefore, the significant relationship between transaction-needs satisfaction and emotional commitment was found in only brand communities with high apparel brand image, and the moderating effect of apparel brand image on this relationship between two variables was found in the communities with high satisfaction of transaction-needs only. Statistics results showed that the level of emotional commitment is related to the satisfaction level of transaction-needs, while overall response is related to the level of apparel brand image. We also found that the role of apparel brand image as a moderating factor was limited by the level of transaction-needs satisfaction. In addition, relationship-needs satisfaction brought significant increase in emotional commitment in both community groups (high and low levels of brand image), and the effect of apparel brand image on emotional commitment was significant in both community groups (high and low levels of relationship-needs satisfaction). Especially, the effect of brand image was greater when the level of relationship-needs satisfaction was high. in contrast, increase in emotional commitment responding to increase in relationship-needs satisfaction was greater when apparel brand image is high. The significant influences of relationship-needs satisfaction on community commitments (continuous and normative commitments) were found regardless of apparel brand image(in both community groups with low and high brand image). However, the effects of apparel brand image on continuous and normative commitments were found in only community group with high satisfaction level of relationship-needs. In the case of communities with low satisfaction levels of relationship needs, apparel brand image marginally increases continuous and normative commitments. Therefore, we could not find the moderating effect of apparel brand image on the relationship between relationship-needs satisfaction and continuous and normative commitments in community groups with low satisfaction levels of relationship needs, CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS From the results of this study, we draw several conclusions; First, the increases in usage-needs satisfactions through apparel brand communities result in the increases in commitments to apparel brand communities, wheres the degrees of such relationship depends on the level of apparel brand image. That is, apparel brand image is a moderating factor strengthening the relationship between usage-needs satisfaction and commitment to apparel brand communities. In addition, the effect of apparel brand image differs, depending on the level and types of community usage-needs satisfactions. Therefore, marketers of apparel brand companies must determine the appropriate usage-needs, depending on the type of commitment they wish to increase and the level of their apparel brand image, to promote member's commitments to apparel brand communities. Especially, relationship-needs satisfaction was very important factor for increasing emotional, continuous and normative commitments to communities. However the level of relationship-needs satisfaction was lower than interest-needs and transaction-needs. satisfaction. According to previous study on apparel brand communities, relationship-need satisfaction was strongly related to member's intention of participation in their communities. Therefore, marketers need to develope various strategies in order to increase the relationship- needs as well as interest and transaction needs. In addition, despite continuous commitment was higher than emotional and normative commitments, all types of commitments to apparel brand communities had scores lower than 3.0 that was mid point in 5-point scale. A Korean study reported that the level of members' commitment to apparel brand community influenced customers' identification with a brand and brand purchasing behavior. Therefore, marketers should try to increase members' usage-needs satisfaction and apparel brand image as the necessary conditions for bringing about community commitments. Second, marketers should understand that they should keep in mind that increasing the level of community usage needs (transaction and relationship) is most effective in raising commitment when the level of apparel brand image is high, and that increasing usage needs (transaction needs) satisfaction in communities with low brand image might not be as effective as anticipated. Therefore, apparel companies with desirable brand image such as luxury designer goods firms need to create formal online brand communities (as opposed to informal communities with rudimentary online contents) to satisfy transaction and relationship needs systematically. It will create brand equity through consumers' increased emotional, continuous and normative commitments. Even though apparel brand is very famous, emotional commitment to apparel brand communities cannot be easily increased without transaction-needs satisfaction. Therefore famous fashion brand companies should focus on developing various marketing strategies to increase transaction-needs satisfaction.