• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.255-279
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• 2014

It is not too much to say that smartphones have become an essential part of our lives due to their versatility. Nevertheless, they still have less overall capabilities than their desktop counterparts. Specifically, they have small screens and low resolutions, which make their applications difficult to have a usable interface. To account for these limitations, the interface of smartphone applications should be designed carefully and properly. Good interface design to any application is critical. However, a comprehensive information systems (IS) literature review found that there has been little research on the user interface design of smartphone applications. More specifically, there has been little empirical evidence and understanding about how metaphors, an imaginative way of describing objects and concepts, in the user interface of smartphone applications affect users' intention to use the applications. Thereby, the research goals of this study are to examine 1) the effects of the metaphors in the user interface of smartphone applications on the interaction between users and applications and 2) the effects of mediating variables including the interaction between users and applications, users' beliefs and attitudes, on users' intention to use the applications. A survey was conducted to collect data. University students and practitioners participated in the survey. A 24-item questionnaire was developed on a 5-point Likert-type scale. The measurement items were mostly adapted from the previous studies in the IS literature and modified to fit the context of this study. First, a principal component factor analysis was performed to explore the inter-relationships among a set of variables. The analysis showed that most of the items loaded quite strongly on the six components. The analysis also revealed the six components with eigenvalues exceeding 1, explaining a total of 70.7 per cent of the variance. The reliabilities of the items were also checked. Most Cronbach alpha values were above 0.8, so the scales were considered reliable. In sum, the results of the analysis support the decision to retain the six factors for further investigation. Next, the structural model was analyzed with AMOS structural equation modeling. The values of GFI, AGFI, NFI, TLI, CFI, and RMSEA were checked. The values showed that the research model considerably have a good fit in general. Next, the convergent and discriminant validities of all constructs were examined. The values for the standardized regression weights and critical ration (CR) indicated sufficient convergent validity for all constructs. In addition, the square root of the average variance extracted (AVE) of each construct was compared with its correlations with all other constructs. The results supported discriminant validity for all constructs. In sum, the results of analysis demonstrated adequate convergent and discriminant validities for all constructs. Finally, path coefficients between the variables were examined. Methphor was found to have an impact on interaction (${\beta}$ = .457, p = .000). There were also significant effects of the interaction on perceived usefulness (${\beta}$ = .273, p = .000) and ease of use (${\beta}$ = .405, p = .000). User attitude was significantly influenced by these two beliefs, perceived usefulness (${\beta}$ = .386, p = .000) and ease of use (${\beta}$ = .347, p = .000) respectively. Further, the results of analysis found that users' intention to use smartphone applications was significantly influenced by user attitude (${\beta}$ = .567, p = .000). Based upon the analyses, all hypotheses were supported. This study found that the metaphors used in the interface of smartphone applications affect not only the interaction between users and applications, but also users' intention to use the applications through the mediating variables, perceived usefulness and ease of use. These findings imply that if the metaphors used in the user interface of application are easy enough to understand for smartphone users, then the application can be perceived useful and easy to use, which in turn make users to have an intention to use the application. In conclusion, this study contributed not only to validate and extend Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) partially, but also to develop the construct of metaphor in smartphone settings. However, since a single empirical study cannot be enough to validate the findings, some limitations should be considered.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.240-252
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• 2005

The relationships between wave and wind around the Korean Peninsula have been analyzed with the data from the buoys moored at five stations (Dugjug-do, Chilbal-do, Geomoon -do, Geoje-do, Donghae) by Korea Meteorological Administration. Generally, the relationship between wave and wind is the highest at the stations in the West Sea and the lowest at the stations in the South Sea, and the middle at the station in the East Sea. The characteristics shown at each station are as follows. Highest wave is developed at Chilbal-do with strong northwesterly wind in winter because the sea is opened in the wind direction and wave is amplified by shoaling effect. At Chilbal-do, wave directions coincide with wind directions relatively well. On the other hand, waves are not fully developed at Dugjug-do in winter due to limited fetch since the sea is blocked by Hwanghae-do in the northwest direction. The limitation in fetch is more serious at the stations in the South Sea. In the South Sea, the direction of dominant northerly wind is blocked by land so that wave heights are small even with very strong northerly wind. In the South Sea, whatever wind direction is, waves dominantly come in the direction from the East China Sea, which are from the south at Geomoon-do and the southwest at Geoje-do. At these directions, waves are coming even with weak wind. At the station in the East Sea, waves are highly developed due to vast area, but not so high as in Chilbal-do because wind and wave directions do not coincide in many cases. As shown, wind direction is important in the wave development as well as wind speed. The reason is that the fetch is determined by wind direction. In the case of long-lasted wind with fixed direction at Chilbal-do and Dugjug-do, wave directions are well coincident with wind directions and wave heights increase with response time, which is the duration between the highest wind and wave. However, in the case of disagreement between wind and wave directions at the station in the East Sea, wave heights do not increase as highly as at Chilbal-do and Dugjug-do in spite of strong wind and longer response time. The results show us that waves are highly developed with strong wind, long fetch, and long duration, and also show that wave development ratios are different at different stations due to environmental factors such as the direction towards sea or land, bottom topography, and the scales of adjacent seas.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.106-127
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• 1996

In Korea, modern geomorphology has developed as one of main subjects in geography, such as in Europe. Geomorphology is one of the most advanced specialties in the geography dicipline, since foundation of Korean Geographical Society in 1945. Untill 1960's study, first generation of the Korean geomorphologists trained the younger ones, together with energetic research activities. Their great works in education and research established the base of ulterier development of the geomorphology in Korea. Since 1970s, research manpower and quality has incresed rapidly, partly due to the various international activities and cooperations of Korean geomorphologists. Owing to above development, Korean geomorphologist was able to found "The Geomorphological Association of Korea" in 1990 and publish "Journal of GAK", since 1994. Furthermore, geomorphologists are playing important roles in interdisciplinary academic societies, such as "The Korean Quaternary Assocition". Still 1960s, our research had focused on the identification and interpretation of erosional surfaces in Korea Peninsular. Of course, W.M. Davis's "Geographical Cycle Theory" and L.C. King's "Pedimentation Theory" had a great influence on the Koerans' works. After 1970s, the study of erosional surface played the important role in setting up the morphoclimatic viewpoint and methodology. Research scope tend to be notably broad and various than it was untill 1960's. Disposotion of the scientific methods and techniques become more and more apparent. These trends of research has settled precise descreption and interpretation of actual landforms, based on the careful field works, scientific measuring, and analisis, rather than methodology focused on the particular master theories. Recent geomorphological researches show the scope from climatic geomorphology and Quaternary geomorphology to granite and limestone weathering, pedo-geomorphogenic environment and periglacial landforms, focused on the small-to-medium scales. And then there have been new trying to interprete erosional surfaces such as hillslopes and terraces. Also, studies of coastal and plain landforms have been successfully developed. Recent new trends show the quantitative and analytic modelling using field measurement and laboratory work, and study on the human impacts on the natural landforms.y on the human impacts on the natural landforms.

• Clean Technology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.272-279
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• 2012

In this study, an environmental-friendly cleaning agent utilizing organic acids and various additives has been developed and applied to the field for removal of scale deposited on the cleaning beds or distribution reservoirs of the waterworks. As an analytical result of scale on the cleaning beds, we found that it consists of mainly metallic oxides such as $SiO_2$, $Al_2O_3$, $Fe_2O_3$, and MnO. Malic acid, malonic acid, and citric acid showed relatively better solvency on $Al_2O_3$, $Fe_2O_3$, and MnO except $SiO_2$ among various organic acids. Mixed organic acid solutions of malic acid, malonic acid, and citric acid were prepared with certain weight ratios and their solvencies on mixed metal oxides of $Al_2O_3$, $Fe_2O_3$, and MnO were investigated. The experimental results showed that an 10% mixed organic acid solution prepared with weight ratio of malic acid : malonic acid : citric acid = 6 : 2 : 2 were found to have best scale solvency power of about 29%. The formulated cleaning agents with a small amount of nonionic surfactant showed much better solvency on mixed oxides than mixed organic solution alone. Especially, the formulated cleaning agent with 0.2 wt% LA-7 surfactant appeared to have best scale removal efficiency of about 35%. However, the formulated cleaning agent with disinfectants such as NaClO, $H_2O_2$ and $Ca(ClO)_2$ showed poor solvency on mixed oxides. It is inferred that surfactants are able to improve scale removal efficiency due to their capability of emulsification, and disinfectants cause to degrade scale solvency in water because of their oxidation. Based on these basic experimental results, formulated cleaning agents have been prepared with mixed organic acid solution, nonionic surfactants, and disinfectants and successfully applied to removal of scales on the cleaning beds and distribution reservoir at city D waterworks.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.24-34
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• 2017

The westerly waves generation is described in the advanced earth science textbook used at high school as follows: as westerly wind approaches and blows over large mountains, the air flow shows wave motions in downwind side, which can be explained by the conservation of potential vorticity. However, there has been no case study showing the phenomena of the mesoscale westerly waves with observational data in the area of small mountains in Korea. And thus the wind speed and time persistency of westerly winds along with the width and length of mountains have never been studied to explain the generation of the westerly waves. As a first step, we assured the westerly waves generated in the downwind side of Sobaek mountains based on surface station wind data nearby. Furthermore, the critical or minimum wind velocity of the westerly wind over Sobaek mountains to generate the downwind wave were derived and calcuated tobe about $0.6m\;s^{-1}$ for Sobaek mountains, which means that the westerly waves could be generated in most cases of westerly blowing over the mountains. Using surface station data and 4-dimensional assimilation data of RDAPS (Regional Data Assimilation and Prediction System) provided by Korea Meteorological Agency, we also analyzed cases of westerly waves occurrence and life cycle in the downwind side of Sobaek mountains for a year of 2014. The westerly waves occurred in meso-${\beta}$ or -${\gamma}$ scales. The westerly waves generated by the mountains disappeared gradually with wind speed decreasing. The occurrence frequency of the vorticity with meso-${\beta}$ scale got to be higher when the stronger westerly wind blew. When we extended the spatial range of the analysis, phenomena of westerly waves were also observed in the downwind side of Yensan mountains in Northeastern China. Our current work will be a study material to help students understand the atmospheric phenomena perturbed by mountains.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.215-228
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• 1977

In order to provide good germplasm for developing good corn hybrids, a total of 948 Korean indigenous corn lines were collected from various parts of country and major morphological characterstics of ears were investigated. The results obtained were as follows; 1) Ear Type; From the east-north mountaionus region where more than 80% of total corn production is practiced, cylinder (type I) or similar types to cylinder corn were collected, and from the southern plain region, where rather small scales of corn is grown, cone type (type IV) or similar types to cone were prevalent. 2) Kernel color; In the ear colors of all the indigenous corn lines collected from ten regions, ears with mono color were 54.4%, ears with two color mixed were 39.0% and ears with three or more color mixed were 6.6%. In northern mountainous region, region A and region I, ear color was mostly white or white plus other colors, while in other regions ear color was yellow or yellow plus other colors. 3) Denting; Dent type was only 4.3% of Korean indigenous corn lines collected, and others were flint type. Dent type was collected from northern regions, where foreign corn varieties were introduced and grown. 4) Ear row number; Ear row numbers of indigenous corn lines collected were 12 to 16. There was no significant differences among the ear row numbers in a ear ciassified by regions. However, it was observed that ear row number was closely related to kernel size. For instance, the ears with 24 ear-rows were the smallest in kernel size. 5) Quality of starch; 70.9% of the indigenous corn lines collected were kernels with hard starch. Corn with soft starch was 26.0% and medium type was 3.1%. In region A and region I, where lot of corn is grown, corn with hard starch was more frequently collected. 6) Pop corn and waxy corn; In all the indigenous corn lines collected, popcorn was distributed uniformly through the regions except region I, and waxy corn was found more in the northern mountainous region. 7) Ear length; The mean ear length of indigenous corn lines collected was 13cm. In region A and region I ear length was larger than that in other regions. 8) Ear diameter; The mean ear diameter of indigenous corn lines collected was 3.3cm. In region A and region I ear diameter was larger than that in other regions. 9) Kernel length, kernel width and kernel thickness; The mean kernel length, kernel width and kernel thickness of indigenous corn lines collected were 0.82cm, 0.42cm, and 0.78cm, respectively. The kernel size in the region A and region I was larger than that in other regions. 10) Ear weight; The mean ear weight of indigenous corn lines collected was 58.04gr. Ear weight was remarkably heavier in region A and region I. The heaviest ear weighed 330gr, and the lightest ear weighed 5 gr. 11) Kernel weight of a ear and 100 kernel weight; Kernel weight of a ear and 100 kernel of indigenous corn lines collected were 47.07gr and 15.07gr, respectively. Kernel weights and 100 kernel weights were much heavier in region A and region I than other regions.

• Korean small business review
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.103-120
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• 2009

As business incubation centers (BICs) have been operating for more than 10 years in Korea, many early stage startups tend to use the services provided by the incubating centers. BICs in Korea have accumulated the knowledge and experience in the past ten years and their services have been considerably improved. The business incubating service has three facets : (1) business infrastructure service, (2) direct service, and (3) indirect service. The mission of BICs is to provide the early stage entrepreneurs with the incubating service in a limited period time to help them grow strong enough to survive the fierce competition after graduating from the incubation. However, the incubating services sometimes fail to foster the independence of new startup companies, and raise the dependence of many companies on BICs. Thus, the dependence on BICs is a very important factor to understand the survival of the incubated startup companies after graduation from BICs. The purpose of this study is to identify the main factors that influence the firm's dependence on BICs and to characterize the relationships among the identified factors. The business incubating service is a core construct of this study. It includes various activities and resources, such as offering the physical facilities, legal service, and connecting them with outside organizations. These services are extensive and take various forms. They are provided by BICs directly or indirectly. Past studies have identified various incubating services and classify them in different ways. Based on the past studies, we classify the business incubating service into three categories as mentioned above : (1) business infrastructure support, (2) direct support, and (3) networking support. The business infrastructure support is to provide the essential resources to start the business, such as physical facilities. The direct support is to offer the business resources available in the BICs, such as human, technical, and administrational resources. Finally, the indirect service was to support the resource in the outside of business incubation center. Dependence is generally defined as the degree to which a client firm needs the resources provided by the service provider in order to achieve its goals. Dependence is generated when a firm recognizes the benefits of interacting with its counterpart. Hence, the more positive outcomes a firm derives from its relationship with the partner, the more dependent on the partner the firm must inevitably become. In business incubating, as a resident firm is incubated in longer period, we can predict that her dependence on BICs would be stronger. In order to foster the independence of the incubated firms, BICs have to be able to manipulate the provision of their services to control the firms' dependence on BICs. Based on the above discussion, the research model for relationships between dependence and its affecting factors was developed. We surveyed the companies residing in BICs to test our research model. The instrument of our study was modified, in part, on the basis of previous relevant studies. For the purposes of testing reliability and validity, preliminary testing was conducted with firms that were residing in BICs and incubated by the BICs in the region of Gwangju and Jeonnam. The questionnaire was modified in accordance with the pre-test feedback. We mailed to all of the firms that had been incubated by the BICs with the help of business incubating managers of each BIC. The survey was conducted over a three week period. Gifts (of approximately ₩10,000 value) were offered to all actively participating respondents. The incubating period was reported by the business incubating managers, and it was transformed using natural logarithms. A total of 180 firms participated in the survey. However, we excluded 4 cases due to a lack of consistency using reversed items in the answers of the companies, and 176 cases were used for the analysis. We acknowledge that 176 samples may not be sufficient to conduct regression analyses with 5 research variables in our study. Each variable was measured through multiple items. We conducted an exploratory factor analysis to assess their unidimensionality. In an effort to test the construct validity of the instruments, a principal component factor analysis was conducted with Varimax rotation. The items correspond well to each singular factor, demonstrating a high degree of convergent validity. As the factor loadings for a variable (or factor) are higher than the factor loadings for the other variables, the instrument's discriminant validity is shown to be clear. Each factor was extracted as expected, which explained 70.97, 66.321, and 52.97 percent, respectively, of the total variance each with eigen values greater than 1.000. The internal consistency reliability of the variables was evaluated by computing Cronbach's alphas. The Cronbach's alpha values of the variables, which ranged from 0.717 to 0.950, were all securely over 0.700, which is satisfactory. The reliability and validity of the research variables are all, therefore, considered acceptable. The effects of dependence were assessed using a regression analysis. The Pearson correlations were calculated for the variables, measured by interval or ratio scales. Potential multicollinearity among the antecedents was evaluated prior to the multiple regression analysis, as some of the variables were significantly correlated with others (e.g., direct service and indirect service). Although several variables show the evidence of significant correlations, their tolerance values range between 0.334 and 0.613, thereby demonstrating that multicollinearity is not a likely threat to the parameter estimates. Checking some basic assumptions for the regression analyses, we decided to conduct multiple regression analyses and moderated regression analyses to test the given hypotheses. The results of the regression analyses indicate that the regression model is significant at p < 0.001 (F = 44.260), and that the predictors of the research model explain 42.6 percent of the total variance. Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3 address the relationships between the dependence of the incubated firms and the business incubating services. Business infrastructure service, direct service, and indirect service are all significantly related with dependence (β = 0.300, p < 0.001; β = 0.230, p < 0.001; β = 0.226, p < 0.001), thus supporting Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3. When the incubating period is the moderator and dependence is the dependent variable, the addition of the interaction terms with the antecedents to the regression equation yielded a significant increase in R2 (F change = 2.789, p < 0.05). In particular, direct service and indirect service exert different effects on dependence. Hence, the results support Hypotheses 5 and 6. This study provides several strategies and specific calls to action for BICs, based on our empirical findings. Business infrastructure service has more effect on the firm's dependence than the other two services. The introduction of an additional high charge rate for a graduated but allowed to stay in the BIC is a basic and legitimate condition for the BIC to control the firm's dependence. We detected the differential effects of direct and indirect services on the firm's dependence. The firms with long incubating period are more sensitive to indirect service positively, and more sensitive to direct service negatively, when assessing their levels of dependence. This implies that BICs must develop a strategy on the basis of a firm's incubating period. Last but not least, it would be valuable to discover other important variables that influence the firm's dependence in the future studies. Moreover, future studies to explain the independence of startup companies in BICs would also be valuable.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.51-61
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• 2012

This study seeks to understand how the choice of a coffee shop is related to a customer's loyalty and which characteristics of a shop influence this choice. It considers large-sized coffee shops brands whose market scale has gradually grown. The users' choice of shop is determined by price, employee service, shop location, and shop atmosphere. The study investigated the effects of these four properties on the brand attitudes of coffee shops. The effects were found to vary depending on users' characteristics. The properties with the largest influence were shop atmosphere and shop location Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine the properties that could help coffee shops get loyal customers, and the choice properties that could satisfy consumers' desires The study examined consumers' perceptions of shop properties at selection of coffee shop and the difference between perceptual difference and coffee brand in order to investigate customers' desires and needs and to suggest ways that could supply products and service. The research methodology consisted of two parts: normative and empirical research, which includes empirical analysis and statistical analysis. In this study, a statistical analysis of the empirical research was carried out. The study theoretically confirmed the shop choice properties by reviewing previous studies and performed an empirical analysis including cross tabulation based on secondary material. The findings were as follows: First, coffee shop choice properties varied by gender. Price advantage influenced the choice of both men and women; men preferred nearer coffee shops where they could buy coffee easily and more conveniently than women did. The atmosphere of the coffee shop had the greatest influence on both men and women, and shop atmosphere was thought to be the most important for age analysis. In the past, customers selected coffee shops solely to drink coffee. Now, they select the coffee shop according to its interior, menu variety, and atmosphere owing to improved quality and service of coffee shop brands. Second, the prices of the brands did not vary much because the coffee shops were similarly priced. The service was thought to be more important and to elevate service quality so that price and employee service and other properties did not have a great influence on shop choice. However, those working in the farming, forestry, fishery, and livestock industries were more concerned with the price than the shop atmosphere. College and graduate school students were also affected by inexpensive price. Third, shop choice properties varied depending on income. The shop location and shop atmosphere had a greater influence on shop choice. The customers in an income bracket of less than 2 million won selected low-price coffee shops more than those earning 6 million won or more. Therefore, price advantage had no relation with difference in income. The higher income group was not affected by employee service. Fourth, shop choice properties varied depending on place. For instance, customers at Ulsan were the most affected by the price, and the ones at Busan were the least affected. The shop location had the greatest influence among all of the properties. Among the places surveyed, Gwangju had the least influence. The alternate use of space in a coffee shop was thought to be important in all the cities under consideration. The customers at Ulsan were not affected by employee service, and they selected coffee shops according to quality and preference of shop atmosphere. Lastly, the price factor was found to be a little higher than other factors when customers frequently selected brands according to shop properties. Customers at Gwangju reacted to discounts more than those in other cities did, and the former gave less priority to the quality and taste of coffee. Brand preference varied depending on coffee shop location. Customers at Busan selected brands according to the coffee shop location, and those at Ulsan were not influenced by employee kindness and specialty. The implications of this study are that franchise coffee shop businesses should focus on customers rather than aggressive marketing strategies that increase the number of coffee shops. Thus, they should create an environment with a good atmosphere and set up coffee shops in places that customers have good access to. This study has some limitations. First, the respondents were concentrated in metropolitan areas. Secondary data showed that the number of respondents at Seoul was much more than that at Gyeonggi-do. Furthermore, the number of respondents at Gyeonggi-do was much more than those at the six major cities in the nation. Thus, the regional sample was not representative enough of the population. Second, respondents' ratio was used as a measurement scale to test the perception of shop choice properties and brand preference. The difficulties arose when examining the relation between these properties and brand preference, as well as when understanding the difference between groups. Therefore, future research should seek to address some of the shortcomings of this study: If the coffee shops are being expanded to local areas, then a questionnaire survey of consumers at small cities in local areas shall be conducted to collect primary material. In particular, variables of the questionnaire survey shall be measured using Likert scales in order to include perception on shop choice properties, brand preference, and repurchase. Therefore, correlation analysis, multi-regression, and ANOVA shall be used for empirical analysis and to investigate consumers' attitudes and behavior in detail.