• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.159-189
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• 2012

What attracts consumers to bloggers' reviews? Consumers would be attracted both by the Bloggers' expertise (i.e., knowledge and experience) and by his/her unbiased manner of delivering information. Expertise and trustworthiness are both virtues of information sources, particularly when there is uncertainty in decision-making. Noting this point, we postulate that consumers' motives determine the relative weights they place on expertise and trustworthiness. In addition, our hypotheses assume that tie strength moderates consumers' expectation on bloggers' expertise and trustworthiness: with expectation on expertise enhanced for power-blog user-group (weak-ties), and an expectation on trustworthiness elevated for personal-blog user-group (strong-ties). Finally, we theorize that the effect of credibility on willingness to accept a review is moderated by tie strength; the predictive power of credibility is more prominent for the personal-blog user-groups than for the power-blog user groups. To support these assumptions, we conducted a field survey with blog users, collecting retrospective self-report data. The "gourmet shop" was chosen as a target product category, and obtained data analyzed by structural equations modeling. Findings from these data provide empirical support for our theoretical predictions. First, we found that the purposive motive aimed at satisfying instrumental information needs increases reliance on bloggers' expertise, but interpersonal connectivity value for alleviating loneliness elevates reliance on bloggers' trustworthiness. Second, expertise-based credibility is more prominent for power-blog user-groups than for personal-blog user-groups. While strong ties attract consumers with trustworthiness based on close emotional bonds, weak ties gain consumers' attention with new, non-redundant information (Levin & Cross, 2004). Thus, when the existing knowledge system, used in strong ties, does not work as smoothly for addressing an impending problem, the weak-tie source can be utilized as a handy reference. Thus, we can anticipate that power bloggers secure credibility by virtue of their expertise while personal bloggers trade off on their trustworthiness. Our analysis demonstrates that power bloggers appeal more strongly to consumers than do personal bloggers in the area of expertise-based credibility. Finally, the effect of review credibility on willingness to accept a review is higher for the personal-blog user-group than for the power-blog user-group. Actually, the inference that review credibility is a potent predictor of assessing willingness to accept a review is grounded on the analogy that attitude is an effective indicator of purchase intention. However, if memory about established attitudes is blocked, the predictive power of attitude on purchase intention is considerably diminished. Likewise, the effect of credibility on willingness to accept a review can be affected by certain moderators. Inspired by this analogy, we introduced tie strength as a possible moderator and demonstrated that tie strength moderated the effect of credibility on willingness to accept a review. Previously, Levin and Cross (2004) showed that credibility mediates strong-ties through receipt of knowledge, but this credibility mediation is not observed for weak-ties, where a direct path to it is activated. Thus, the predictive power of credibility on behavioral intention - that is, willingness to accept a review - is expected to be higher for strong-ties.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.95-132
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• 2009

Can money buy happiness? If not, what are the factors that influence happiness? What makes people happy? What are the factors that influence happiness among Korean adults? How can we better explain factors that influence happiness? These are the research questions that led to the analyses of psychological, relational, financial resources that influence happiness. To examine differences in socio-economic status, adults and elderly from three different districts that vary wealth and income were interviewed in their own home. A total of 313 respondents (male=133, female=180) between the ages of 20 through 80 completed a questionnaire that contained background information, emotional support scale and happiness scale developed by the present researcher and resiliency of efficacy developed by Bandura(1995). The results are as follows. First, monthly income influence happiness to some extent, but when the variable was excluded from the path analysis, the goodness-of-fit did not change significantly. Although those who have more money can be happier, those without much money can also be happy. These results indicate that financial resource has limited influence on happiness. In addition, monthly income did influence self-efficacy of respondents indicating that those with more money were not necessarily more confident about themselves. Second, an important factor influencing happiness is the relational resource. Emotional support was the most powerful predictor of happiness, four to five times more important than monthly income. Third, self-efficacy influenced happiness. Those respondents with higher resiliency of efficacy had higher happiness scores and the influence was two times greater than monthly income. Moreover, self-efficacy played a mediating role between emotional support and happiness. Fourth, those respondents with higher occupational achievement reported higher happiness score and the influence was two times greater than monthly income. Fifth, success of children influenced happiness score and the influence was 1.5 times greater than monthly income. Sixth, education did not directly influence happiness, but had an indirect influence through self-efficacy and occupational achievement. Seventh, age was not related to self-efficacy and happiness.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.83 no.3
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• pp.632-644
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• 2022

Purpose To determine the incidence of atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) in needle biopsy and the upgrade rate to carcinoma, and to evaluate difference in findings between the upgrade and non-upgrade groups. Materials and Methods Among 9660 needle biopsies performed over 48 months, we reviewed the radiologic and histopathologic findings of ADH and compared the differences in imaging findings (mammography and breast US) and biopsy methods between the upgrade and non-upgrade groups. Results The incidence of ADH was 1.7% (169/9660). Of 112 resected cases and 30 cases followed-up for over 2 years, 35 were upgraded to carcinoma (24.6%, 35/142). The upgrade rates were significantly different according to biopsy methods: US-guided core needle biopsy (USCNB) (40.7%, 22/54) vs. stereotactic-vacuum-assisted biopsy (S-VAB) (16.0%, 12/75) vs. USguided VAB (US-VAB) (7.7%, 1/13) (p = 0.002). Multivariable analysis showed that only US-CNB (odds ratio = 5.19, 95% confidence interval: 2.16-13.95, p < 0.001) was an independent predictor for pathologic upgrade. There was no upgrade when a sonographic mass was biopsied by US-VAB (n = 7) Conclusion The incidence of ADH was relatively low (1.7%) and the upgrade rate was 24.6%. Surgical excision should be considered because of the considerable upgrade rate, except in the case of US-VAB.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.1501-1512
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• 2024

Plasma disruption in tokamak experiments is a challenging issue that causes damage to the device. Reliable prediction methods are needed, but the lack of full understanding of plasma disruption limits the effectiveness of physics-driven methods. Data-driven methods based on supervised learning are commonly used, and they rely on labelled training data. However, manual labelling of disruption precursors is a time-consuming and challenging task, as some precursors are difficult to accurately identify. The mainstream labelling methods assume that the precursor onset occurs at a fixed time before disruption, which leads to mislabeled samples and suboptimal prediction performance. In this paper, we present disruption prediction methods based on anomaly detection to address these issues, demonstrating good prediction performance on J-TEXT and EAST. By evaluating precursor onset times using different anomaly detection algorithms, it is found that labelling methods can be improved since the onset times of different shots are not necessarily the same. The study optimizes precursor labelling using the onset times inferred by the anomaly detection predictor and test the optimized labels on supervised learning disruption predictors. The results on J-TEXT and EAST show that the models trained on the optimized labels outperform those trained on fixed onset time labels.

• Journal of Venture Innovation
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.25-43
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• 2024

The rapid advancement of the 4th Industrial Revolution and the ongoing effects of COVID-19 significantly accelerated the adoption of smart work practices, especially in the financial sector. This study aimed to empirically investigate the impact of smart work on job satisfaction among employees in this industry. Specifically, the study examined the effects of time flexibility and workplace flexibility (as quantitative elements of smart work) and work autonomy (as a qualitative element) on job satisfaction. Additionally, the study explored the impact of technostress factors, including techno-overload, techno-invasion, and techno-complexity. Using data from 250 valid survey responses collected from financial sector employees, the study employed structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS to analyze the relationships. The findings revealed that time flexibility and work autonomy positively influenced job satisfaction, with work autonomy being the most significant predictor. Conversely, techno-overload and techno-invasion negatively affected job satisfaction. However, workplace flexibility and techno-complexity did not show a significant relationship with job satisfaction, possibly due to the already established norms in the financial sector, where remote work and high-level technology usage were standard practices. A critical aspect of the study was the examination of work-life balance as a mediating factor. The analysis confirmed that work-life balance mediated the relationship between work autonomy, techno-overload, techno-invasion, and job satisfaction. This suggested that maintaining a balance between work and personal life was crucial for enhancing job satisfaction in smart work environments, particularly in the financial sector. Effective management of technostress was essential to preserving this balance and improving overall employee satisfaction. These findings contributed to the academic understanding of how smart work practices and technostress impacted job satisfaction. They offered practical insights for financial sector organizations seeking to optimize smart work environments by emphasizing the importance of work-life balance and carefully managing technostress factors.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.135-148
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• 2010

Arab boycotts of Danish products, Australian boycotts of French products and Chinese consumer aversion toward Japanese products are all examples of how adverse actions at the country level might impact consumers' behavior. The animosity literature has examined how consumers react to the adverse actions of other countries, and how such animosity impacts consumers' attitudes and preferences for products from the transgressing country. For example, Chinese consumers are less likely to buy Japanese products because of Japanese atrocities during World War II and the unjust economic dealings of the Japanese (Klein, Ettenson and Morris 1998). The marketing literature, however, has not examined how consumers react to adverse actions committed by their own country against other countries, and whether such actions affect their attitudes towards purchasing products that originated from the adversely affected country. The social psychology literature argues that consumers will experience a feeling called collective guilt, in response to such adverse actions. Collective guilt stems from the distress experienced by group members when they accept that their group is responsible for actions that have harmed another group (Branscombe, Slugoski, and Kappenn 2004). Examples include Americans feeling guilty about the atrocities committed by the U.S. military at Abu Ghraib prison (Iyer, Schamder and Lickel 2007), and the Dutch about their occupation of Indonesia in the past (Doosje et al. 1998). The primary aim of this study is to examine consumers' perceptions of adverse actions by members of one's own country against another country and whether such perceptions affected their attitudes towards products originating from the country transgressed against. More specifically, one objective of this study is to examine the perceptual antecedents of collective guilt, an emotional reaction to adverse actions performed by members of one's country against another country. Another objective is to examine the impact of collective guilt on consumers' perceptions of, and preference for, products originating from the country transgressed against by the consumers' own country. If collective guilt emerges as a significant predictor, companies originating from countries that have been transgressed against might be able to capitalize on such unfortunate events. This research utilizes the animosity model introduced by Klein, Ettenson and Morris (1998) and later expanded on by Klein (2002). Klein finds that U.S. consumers harbor animosity toward the Japanese. This animosity is experienced in response to events that occurred during World War II (i.e., the bombing of Pearl Harbor) and more recently the perceived economic threat from Japan. Thus this study argues that the events of Word War II (i.e., bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) might lead U.S. consumers to experience collective guilt. A series of three hypotheses were introduced. The first hypothesis deals with the antecedents of collective guilt. Previous research argues that collective guilt is experienced when consumers perceive that the harm following a transgression is illegitimate and that the country from which the transgressors originate should be responsible for the adverse actions. (Wohl, Branscombe, and Klar 2006). Therefore the following hypothesis was offered: H1a. Higher levels of perceived illegitimacy for the harm committed will result in higher levels of collective guilt. H1b. Higher levels of responsibility will be positively associated with higher levels of collective guilt. The second and third hypotheses deal with the impact of collective guilt on the preferences for Japanese products. Klein (2002) found that higher levels of animosity toward Japan resulted in a lower preference for a Japanese product relative to a South Korean product but not a lower preference for a Japanese product relative to a U.S. product. These results therefore indicate that the experience of collective guilt will lead to a higher preference for a Japanese product if consumers are contemplating a choice that inv olves a decision to buy Japanese versus South Korean product but not if the choice involves a decision to buy a Japanese versus a U.S. product. H2. Collective guilt will be positively related to the preference for a Japanese product over a South Korean product, but will not be related to the preference for a Japanese product over a U.S. product. H3. Collective guilt will be positively related to the preference for a Japanese product over a South Korean product, holding constant product judgments and animosity. An experiment was conducted to test the hypotheses. The illegitimacy of the harm and responsibility were manipulated by exposing respondents to a description of adverse events occurring during World War II. Data were collected using an online consumer panel in the United States. Subjects were randomly assigned to either the low levels of responsibility and illegitimacy condition (n=259) or the high levels of responsibility and illigitemacy (n=268) condition. Latent Variable Structural Equation Modeling (LVSEM) was used to test the hypothesized relationships. The first hypothesis is supported as both the illegitimacy of the harm and responsibility assigned to the Americans for the harm committed against the Japanese during WWII have a positive impact on collective guilt. The second hypothesis is also supported as collective guilt is positively related to preference for a Japanese product over a South Korean product but is not related to preference for a Japanese product over a U.S. product. Finally there is support for the third hypothesis, since collective guilt is positively related to the preference for a Japanese product over a South Korean product while controlling for the effect of product judgments about Japanese products and animosity. The results of these studies lead to several conclusions. First, the illegitimacy of harm and responsibility can be manipulated and that they are antecedents of collective guilt. Second, collective guilt has an impact on a consumers' decision when they face a choice set that includes a product from the country that was the target of the adverse action and a product from another foreign country. This impact however disappears from a consumers' decision when they face a choice set that includes a product from the country that was the target of the adverse action and a domestic product. This result suggests that collective guilt might be a viable factor for company originating from the country transgressed against if its competitors are foreign but not if they are local.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.204-214
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• 1999

Background: Resting pulmonary function tests(PFTs) are routinely used in the evaluation of pulmonary impairment/disability. But the significance of the cardiopulmonary exercise test(CPX) in the evaluation of pulmonary impairment is controvertible. Many experts believe that dyspnea, though a necessary part of the assessment, is not a reliable predictor of impairment. Nevertheless, oxygen requirements of an organism at rest are different from at activity or exercising, and a clear relationship between resting PFTs and exercise tolerance has not been established in patients with chronic pulmonary disease. As well, the relationship between resting PFTs and dyspnea is complex. To investigate the relationship of dyspnea, resting PFTs, and CPX, we evaluated the patients of stabilized chronic pulmonary disease with clinical dyspnea rating(baseline dyspnea index, BDI), resting PFTs, and CPX. Method: The 50 patients were divided into two groups: non-severe and severe group on basis of results of resting PFTs(by criteria of ATS), CPX(by criteria of ATS or Ortega), and dyspnea rating(by focal score of BDI). Groups were compared with respect to pulmonary function, indices of CPX, and dyspnea rating. Results: 1. According to the criteria of pulmonary impairment with resting PFTs, $VO_2$max, and focal score of BDI were significantly low in the severe group(p<0.01). According to the criteria of $VO_2$max(ml/kg/min) and $VO_2$max(%), the parameters of resting PFTs, except $FEV_1$ were not significantly different between non-severe and severe(p>0.05). According to focal score($FEV_1$(%), FVC(%), MW(%), $FEV_1/FVC$, and $VO_2$max were significantly lower in the severe group(p<0.01). However, in the more severe dyspneic group(focal score<5), only $VO_2$max(ml/kg/min) and $VO_2$max(%) were low(p<0.01). $FEV_1$(%) was correlated with $VO_2$max(%)(r=0.52;p<0.01), but not predictive of exercise performance. The focal score had the correlation with max WR(%) (r=0.55;p<0.01). Sensitivity and specificity analysis were utilized to compare the different criteria used to evaluate the severity of pulmonary impairment, revealed that the classification would be different according to the criteria used. And focal score for dyspnea showed similar sensitivity and specificity. Conclusion : According to these result, resting PFTs were not superior to rating of dyspnea in prediction of exercise performance in patients with chronic pulmonary diseases and less correlative with focal score for dyspnea than $VO_2$max and max WR. Therefore, if not contraindicated, CPX would be considered to evaluate the severity of pulmonary impairment in patients with chronic pulmonary diseases, including with severe resting PFTs. Current criteria used to evaluate the severity of impairment were insufficient in considering the degree of dyspnea, so new criteria, including the severity of dyspnea, may be necessary.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.335-344
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• 2001

Purpose : The aim of this study was to clarify the role of VEGF expression as an independent prognostic factor and to identify the patients at high risk for poor prognosis in stage IB cervical cancer. Materials and methods : A total of 118 patients with stage IB cervical cancer who had radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection were included in the study. All known high risk factors of the patients were pathologically confirmed from the surgical specimen. Of the 118 patients, n patients were treated with postoperative radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. VEGF expression was examined using immunohistochemistry in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens of post-hysterectomy surgical materials. A semiquantitative analysis was made using a scoring system of 0, +, ++, and +++ for increasing intensity of stain. We classified the patients with scores from 0 to ++ as low VEGF expression and the patients with a score of +++ as high VEGF expression. Results : Of the 118 patients, 35 patients $(29.7\%)$ showed high VEGF expression. Strong correlations were found between the high VEGF expression and both deep stromal invasion (p=0.01) and the positive pelvic node (p=0.03). The 5-year overall and disease-free survival rates for all 118 patients were $95.5\%\;and\;93.8\%$. The 5-year overall (p=0.03) and disease-free survival (p<0.001) rates were $98.5\%\;and\;100%$ for low VEGF expression (0, +, and ++) and $85.5\%\;and\;79.7\%$ for high VEGF expression, respectively. Pelvic and distant failures for low versus high VEGF expression were $1.2\%$ versus $17.1\%$, (p=0.001) and $0\%$ versus $14.3\%$ (p<0.001), respectively. In a Cox multivariate analysis of survival, the high VEGF expression (p=0.02) and the bulky mass (p=0.02) were significant prognostic factors for overall survival. The high VEGF expression (p=0.002), and bulky mass (p=0.01) demonstrated as significant prognostic indicators for disease free survival. Conclusion : These results showed that VEGF expression was a highly significant predictor for pelvic and distant failure and the most significant prognostic factor of overall and disease free survival for the patients with stage IB cervix cancer treated with radical surgery. We strongly suggest that the immune-histochemistry for VEGF expression be performed in a routine clinical setting in order to identify the patients at high risk for poor prognosis in early stage cervical cancer. Furthermore, postoperative and/or chemotherapy did not reduce the pelvic failure and distant metastasis. To improve the cure rate for the patients with high VEGF expression in stage IB cervical cancer, antiangiogenic therapy including anti-VEGF Ab may be new treatment option.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.237-246
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• 2008

Purpose: Three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT) and intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) were found to reduce the incidence of acute and late rectal toxicity compared with conventional radiation therapy (RT), although acute and late urinary toxicities were not reduced significantly. Acute urinary toxicity, even at a low-grade, not only has an impact on a patient's quality of life, but also can be used as a predictor for chronic urinary toxicity. With bladder filling, part of the bladder moves away from the radiation field, resulting in a small irradiated bladder volume; hence, urinary toxicity can be decreased. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of bladder volume on acute urinary toxicity during RT in patients with prostate cancer. Materials and Methods: Forty two patients diagnosed with prostate cancer were treated by 3DCRT and of these, 21 patients made up a control group treated without any instruction to control the bladder volume. The remaining 21 patients in the experimental group were treated with a full bladder after drinking 450 mL of water an hour before treatment. We measured the bladder volume by CT and ultrasound at simulation to validate the accuracy of ultrasound. During the treatment period, we measured bladder volume weekly by ultrasound, for the experimental group, to evaluate the variation of the bladder volume. Results: A significant correlation between the bladder volume measured by CT and ultrasound was observed. The bladder volume in the experimental group varied with each patient despite drinking the same amount of water. Although weekly variations of the bladder volume were very high, larger initial CT volumes were associated with larger mean weekly bladder volumes. The mean bladder volume was $299{\pm}155\;mL$ in the experimental group, as opposed to $187{\pm}155\;mL$ in the control group. Patients in experimental group experienced less acute urinary toxicities than in control group, but the difference was not statistically significant. A trend of reduced toxicity was observed with the increase of CT bladder volume. In patients with bladder volumes greater than 150 mL at simulation, toxicity rates of all grades were significantly lower than in patients with bladder volume less than 150 mL. Also, patients with a mean bladder volume larger than 100 mL during treatment showed a slightly reduced Grade 1 urinary toxicity rate compared to patients with a mean bladder volume smaller than 100 mL. Conclusion: Despite the large variability in bladder volume during the treatment period, treating patients with a full bladder reduced acute urinary toxicities in patients with prostate cancer. We recommend that patients with prostate cancer undergo treatment with a full bladder.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.57-67
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• 1998

Purpose : This study was undertaken to determine the preoperative predictors of mortality and morbidity after lung cancer resection. Method: During the period from October 1, 1995 to August 31, 1996, a prospective study was conducted in 92 lung resection candidates diagnosed as lung cancer. For preoperative predictors of nonpulmonary factors, we considered age, sex, weight loss, hematocrit, serum albumin, EKG and concomitant illness, and for those of pulmonary factors, smoking history, presence of pneumonia, dyspnea scale(1 to 4), arterial blood gas analysis with room air breathing, routine pulmonary function test. And predicted postoperative(ppo) pulmonary factors such as PPO-$FEV_1$, ppo-diffusing capacity(DLco), predicted postoperative product(PPP) of ppo-$FEV_1%{\times}ppo$-DLco% and ppo-maximal $O_2$ uptake($VO_2$max) were also considered. Results: There were 78 men and 14 women with a median age of 62 years(range 42 to 82) and a mean $FEV_1$ of $2.37\pm0.06L$. Twenty nine patients had a decreased $FEV_1$ less than 2.0L. Pneumonectomy was performed in 26 patients, bilobectomy in 12, lobectomy in 54. Pulmonary complications developed in 10 patients, cardiac complications in 9, other complications(empyema, air leak, bleeding) in 11, and 16 patients were managed in intensive care unit for more than 48hours. Three patients died within 30 days after operation. The ppo-$VO_2$max was less than 10ml/kg/min in these three patients, but its statistical significance could not be determined due to small number of patients. In multivariate analysis, the predictor related to postoperative death was weight loss(p<0.05), and as for pulmonary complications, weight loss, dyspnea scale, ppo-DLco and extent of resection(p<0.05). Conclusions: Based on this study, preoperative nonpulmonary factors such as weight loss and dyspnea scale are more important than the pulmonary factors in the prediction of postoperative mortality and/or morbodity in lung resection candidates, but exercise pulmonary fuction test may be useful Our study suggests that ppo-$VO_2$max value less than 10ml/kg/min is associated with death after lung cancer resection but further studies are needed to validate this result.