• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.61-101
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• 2014

This study investigates when and how disagreements in online customer ratings prompt more favorable product evaluations. Among the three metrics of volume, valence, and variance that feature in the research on online customer ratings, volume and valence have exhibited consistently positive patterns in their effects on product sales or evaluations (e.g., Dellarocas, Zhang, and Awad 2007; Liu 2006). Ratings variance, or the degree of disagreement among reviewers, however, has shown rather mixed results, with some studies reporting positive effects on product sales (e.g., Clement, Proppe, and Rott 2007) while others finding negative effects on product evaluations (e.g., Zhu and Zhang 2010). This study aims to resolve these contradictory findings by introducing preference heterogeneity as a possible moderator and causal attribution as a mediator to account for the moderating effect. The main proposition of this study is that when preference heterogeneity is perceived as high, a disagreement in ratings is attributed more to reviewers' different preferences than to unreliable product quality, which in turn prompts better quality evaluations of a product. Because disagreements mostly result from differences in reviewers' tastes or the low reliability of a product's quality (Mizerski 1982; Sen and Lerman 2007), a greater level of attribution to reviewer tastes can mitigate the negative effect of disagreement on product evaluations. Specifically, if consumers infer that reviewers' heterogeneous preferences result in subjectively different experiences and thereby highly diverse ratings, they would not disregard the overall quality of a product. However, if consumers infer that reviewers' preferences are quite homogeneous and thus the low reliability of the product quality contributes to such disagreements, they would discount the overall product quality. Therefore, consumers would respond more favorably to disagreements in ratings when preference heterogeneity is perceived as high rather than low. This study furthermore extends this prediction to the various levels of average ratings. The heuristicsystematic processing model so far indicates that the engagement in effortful systematic processing occurs only when sufficient motivation is present (Hann et al. 2007; Maheswaran and Chaiken 1991; Martin and Davies 1998). One of the key factors affecting this motivation is the aspiration level of the decision maker. Only under conditions that meet or exceed his aspiration level does he tend to engage in systematic processing (Patzelt and Shepherd 2008; Stephanous and Sage 1987). Therefore, systematic causal attribution processing regarding ratings variance is likely more activated when the average rating is high enough to meet the aspiration level than when it is too low to meet it. Considering that the interaction between ratings variance and preference heterogeneity occurs through the mediation of causal attribution, this greater activation of causal attribution in high versus low average ratings would lead to more pronounced interaction between ratings variance and preference heterogeneity in high versus low average ratings. Overall, this study proposes that the interaction between ratings variance and preference heterogeneity is more pronounced when the average rating is high as compared to when it is low. Two laboratory studies lend support to these predictions. Study 1 reveals that participants exposed to a high-preference heterogeneity book title (i.e., a novel) attributed disagreement in ratings more to reviewers' tastes, and thereby more favorably evaluated books with such ratings, compared to those exposed to a low-preference heterogeneity title (i.e., an English listening practice book). Study 2 then extended these findings to the various levels of average ratings and found that this greater preference for disagreement options under high preference heterogeneity is more pronounced when the average rating is high compared to when it is low. This study makes an important theoretical contribution to the online customer ratings literature by showing that preference heterogeneity serves as a key moderator of the effect of ratings variance on product evaluations and that causal attribution acts as a mediator of this moderation effect. A more comprehensive picture of the interplay among ratings variance, preference heterogeneity, and average ratings is also provided by revealing that the interaction between ratings variance and preference heterogeneity varies as a function of the average rating. In addition, this work provides some significant managerial implications for marketers in terms of how they manage word of mouth. Because a lack of consensus creates some uncertainty and anxiety over the given information, consumers experience a psychological burden regarding their choice of a product when ratings show disagreement. The results of this study offer a way to address this problem. By explicitly clarifying that there are many more differences in tastes among reviewers than expected, marketers can allow consumers to speculate that differing tastes of reviewers rather than an uncertain or poor product quality contribute to such conflicts in ratings. Thus, when fierce disagreements are observed in the WOM arena, marketers are advised to communicate to consumers that diverse, rather than uniform, tastes govern reviews and evaluations of products.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.353-365
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• 2023

The effects of climate change on green infrastructure and environmental media remain uncertain and context-specific despite numerous climate projections globally. In this study, the extreme weather conditions in seven major cities in South Korea were characterized through statistical analysis of 20-year daily meteorological data extracted fro m the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). Additionally, the impacts of extreme weather on Nature-based Solutions (NbS) were determined through a comprehensive review. The results of the statistical analysis and comprehensive review revealed the studied cities are potentially vulnerable to varying extreme weather conditions, depending on geographic location, surface imperviousness, and local weather patterns. Temperature extremes were seen as potential threats to the resilience of NbS in Seoul, as both the highest maximum and lowest minimum temperatures were observed in the mentioned city. Moreover, extreme values for precipitation and maximum wind speed were observed in cities from the southern part of South Korea, particularly Busan, Ulsan, and Jeju. It was also found that extremely low temperatures induce the most impact on the resilience of NbS and environmental media. Extremely cold conditions were identified to reduce the pollutant removal efficiency of biochar, sand, gravel, and woodchip, as well as the nutrient uptake capabilities of constructed wetlands (CWs). In response to the negative impacts of extreme weather on the effectiveness of NbS, several adaptation strategies, such as the addition of shading and insulation systems, were also identified in this study. The results of this study are seen as beneficial to improving the resilience of NbS in South Korea and other locations with similar climate characteristics.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.39.1-39.15
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• 2023

DNA barcoding without assessing reliability and validity causes taxonomic errors of species identification, which is responsible for disruptions of their conservation and aquaculture industry. Although DNA barcoding facilitates molecular identification and phylogenetic analysis of species, its availability in clariid catfish lineage remains uncertain. In this study, DNA barcoding was developed and validated for clariid catfish. 2,970 barcode sequences from mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) and cytochrome b (Cytb) genes and D-loop sequences were analyzed for 37 clariid catfish species. The highest intraspecific nearest neighbor distances were 85.47%, 98.03%, and 89.10% for COI, Cytb, and D-loop sequences, respectively. This suggests that the Cytb gene is the most appropriate for identifying clariid catfish and can serve as a standard region for DNA barcoding. A positive barcoding gap between interspecific and intraspecific sequence divergence was observed in the Cytb dataset but not in the COI and D-loop datasets. Intraspecific variation was typically less than 4.4%, whereas interspecific variation was generally more than 66.9%. However, a species complex was detected in walking catfish and significant intraspecific sequence divergence was observed in North African catfish. These findings suggest the need to focus on developing a DNA barcoding system for classifying clariid catfish properly and to validate its efficacy for a wider range of clariid catfish. With an enriched database of multiple sequences from a target species and its genus, species identification can be more accurate and biodiversity assessment of the species can be facilitated.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.191-209
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• 2023

Amid rapid changes in technological innovation due to the influence of the 4th Industrial Revolution and COVID-19, research related to absorption capacity and patent activities to promote technological innovation of Korean technology start-ups is important in this uncertain environment. This study aims to examine the effects on entrepreneurial performance and patent activities by reconstructing absorptive capacity, an organizational capability, for technology-based startups in fields such as BT and ICT with less than seven years of establishment, distinguishing between potential absorptive capacity and realized absorptive capacity. The study also seeks to develop a theoretical research model. To accomplish this, data was collected from managerial executives, including CEOs of 215 technology startups. The following hypotheses were tested: Firstly, potential absorptive capacity had a significant impact on patent activities, while realized absorptive capacity did not. Secondly, potential absorptive capacity had a significant impact on technological performance, while realized absorptive capacity did not. Thirdly, both potential and realized absorptive capacity had a significant impact on financial and non-financial performance. Fourthly, patent activities indirectly influenced potential absorptive capacity and technological performance, but did not affect realized absorptive capacity. Fifthly, patent activities indirectly influenced potential absorptive capacity and financial performance, but did not affect realized absorptive capacity. Lastly, patent activities indirectly influenced potential absorptive capacity and non-financial performance, but did not affect realized absorptive capacity. The practical significance of this study lies in providing useful guidelines for building the core capabilities of organizations through absorptive capacity and patent activities. Furthermore, it is expected that startups that have not recognized the formation process of absorptive capacity for patent activities will perceive the formation mechanism of absorptive capability anew and show considerable interest in future potential and realized absorptive capacity as part of their management strategies. This is anticipated to play an important role in adapting to rapidly changing technological advancements, the startup ecosystem, and securing sustainable competitive advantages.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.120-128
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• 2024

From February to now 2024, there continues to be controversy over the expansion of admission number to medical school. Some of the controversy arises from a mix of present and future time points. In the present time point, the controversy over whether physicians are some shortages or not has various aspects. Some aspects are presented as evidence of the physician shortage and others as non-shortage. Also, the presenting evidence of shortage is being disputed, and so is the evidence of the contrary. This controversy over whether there is a shortage or not in the present time point makes it difficult to reach a consensus. In 10 years, the shortage of doctors will increase due to the rapid increase in the elderly population, so the admission number of medical schools will need to be increased. However, the increase must be such that there is minimal deterioration in the quality of medical education. More admission numbers should be allocated to medical schools with a high quality of medical education. This study suggests that large-scale medical schools increase the admission number by 20%-30%, and small-scale medical schools increase the admission number by 40%-50%, if so, the total increasing number is 760 to 1,066. If the 2,000-person increase is enforced, the quality of medical education must be carefully evaluated and the results should be reflected in adjusting the admission number of medical schools. In 20 years later, the admission number of medical schools will have to be reduced. This is because the physician supply is changing to a linear function and the physician demand (medical care demand) is changing to a quadratic function. Even if the current number is maintained, there will be an excess of doctors from 2048, so the medical school admission number must be reduced and its size will be reduced to about 2,000, a 30% reduction from the current number. Because the same reduction rate for all medical schools will result in many small-scale medical schools, the M&A (mergers and acquisitions) strategy should be considered with 40 medical schools and 12 Korean medical schools. In Korea, the main contributor to estimating physician demand is the change in population structure. Due to the rapid decrease in the total fertility rate, future population projections are uncertain. The recent rapid increase in healthcare utilization should be reexamined in the forecasting of physician demand. Since the various factors that affect the estimate of doctor supply and demand are unclear, the estimate of physician supply and demand must be continuously conducted every five years, and the Health Care Workforce Committee must be established and operated. The effects of increasing the admission number of medical schools should be evaluated and adjusted annually.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.42-55
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• 2008

To evaluate the accuracy of currents measured by HF radar in the coastal sea off Keum River estuary, we compared the facing radial vectors of two HF radars, and HF radar-derived currents with in-situ measurement currents. Principal component analysis was used to extract regression line and RMS deviation in the comparison. When two facing radar's radial vectors at the mid-point of baseline are compared, RMS deviation is 4.4 cm/s in winter and 5.4 cm/s in summer. When GDOP(Geometric Dilution of Precision) effect is corrected from the RMS deviations that is analyzed from the comparison between HF radar-derived and current-metermeasured currents, the error of velocity combined by HF radar-derived current is less than 5.1 cm/s in the stations having moderate GDOP values. These two results obtained from different method suggest that the lower limit of HF radar-derived current's accuracy is 5.4 cm/s in our study area. As mentioned in previous researches, RMS deviations become large in the stations located near the islands and increase as a function of mean distance from the radar site due to decrease of signal-to-noise level and the intersect angle of radial vectors. We found that an uncertain error bound of HF radar-derived current can be produced from the separation process of RMS deviations using GDOP value if GDOP value for each component is very close and RMS deviations obtained from current component comparison are also close. When the current measured in the stations having moderate GDOP values is separated into tidal and subtidal current, characteristics of tidal current ellipses analyzed from HF radar-derived current show a good agreement with those from current-meter-measured current, and time variation of subtidal current showed a response reflecting physical process driven by wind and density field.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.45-61
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• 2024

This study looked in-depth at the importance of cultivating and manifesting entrepreneurship, which is emphasized for companies to gain a competitive advantage and promote innovation in the uncertain environment that organizations face and in the development of technology due to recent industrial advancement, the following innovative performance, and the mechanisms in the performance process. Entrepreneurship is emphasized as a key factor in inducing creative work performance, creation and application of new ideas, and innovative performance at various levels within the organization in various global companies. In particular, this study examined the influence of the CEO's cultivation and expression of entrepreneurship as an organizational leader on the innovative behavior of organizational members, which is a leading factor in the organization's innovative performance, and the role of creative self-efficacy as a mechanism. Through this, the study was to verify the importance of creativity and cultivating a sense of self-efficacy for demonstrating innovative performance within an organization. Additionally, it was to confirm the role of organizational commitment of organizational members as a situational factor. For the empirical analysis, a total of 247 office workers were surveyed, sampled from 10 venture companies engaged in the manufacturing industry in industrial complexes in Daejeon, Korea. As the result of empirical analysis showed, it was confirmed that each sub-factor of the CEO's entrepreneurship had a positive effect on the innovative behavior of organizational members. And in the process, the importance of the creative self-efficacy of members to demonstrate innovative performance was verified by confirming positively significant mediating effect of creative self-efficacy. Furthermore, in the case of organizational commitment, it was found that the innovativeness and proactiveness of the CEO strengthened the positive influence on the creative efficacy of the organization members. Based on the results of empirical analysis, theoretical and practical implications were provided to improve the importance of cultivating and manifesting the CEO's entrepreneurship to demonstrate innovation within the organization.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.139-153
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• 2024

The importance of sustainable growth and cost reduction has increased globally, leading to the expansion of outsourcing by companies. Additionally, the spread of the platform economy has brought changes in the way we work, and the online outsourcing market, where tasks are mediated through platforms, is growing. Academically, while research on general outsourcing is actively conducted, studies on online outsourcing are relatively insufficient compared to its actual utilization. This study aims to analyze the factors and performance factors of online outsourcing utilization by startups, to identify the effects and concerns of using online outsourcing from multiple perspectives, and to suggest the roles of various stakeholders for effective utilization and industry development. For the research, a survey was conducted with 281 employees of startups who have experience in using online outsourcing, and the main findings are as follows. First, the enhancement of efficiency, profitability, and innovation through the use of online outsourcing positively affects organizational commitment and job satisfaction of startup members. Especially, the improvement of efficiency due to the use of online outsourcing has a significant effect on enhancing job satisfaction. Second, concerns about the burden of online outsourcing fees or uncertain outcomes negatively affect organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Third, there are perceptual differences in the motivations and performance regarding the utilization of online outsourcing depending on the job position. Practitioners perceive that the use of online outsourcing increases organizational commitment, whereas managers have relatively higher concerns about the uncertainty of outsourced task outcomes and information security. Through this study, the possibility that human resource shortages and employee management issues in startups can be improved through online outsourcing was confirmed. By verifying the influence of various factors of online outsourcing utilization, this study also provides meaningful implications for establishing business strategies for online outsourcing intermediary platform companies and for formulating startup support policies by government and other startup support organizations.

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.54-66
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• 2024

Background and Purpose: Dementia subtypes, including Alzheimer's dementia (AD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), pose diagnostic challenges. This review examines the effectiveness of ¹⁸F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography (¹⁸F-FDG PET) in differentiating these subtypes for precise treatment and management. Methods: A systematic review following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines was conducted using databases like PubMed and Embase to identify studies on the diagnostic utility of ¹⁸F-FDG PET in dementia. The search included studies up to November 16, 2022, focusing on peer-reviewed journals and applying the goldstandard clinical diagnosis for dementia subtypes. Results: From 12,815 articles, 14 were selected for final analysis. For AD versus FTD, the sensitivity was 0.96 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.88-0.98) and specificity was 0.84 (95% CI, 0.70-0.92). In the case of AD versus DLB, ¹⁸F-FDG PET showed a sensitivity of 0.93 (95% CI 0.88-0.98) and specificity of 0.92 (95% CI, 0.70-0.92). Lastly, when differentiating AD from non-AD dementias, the sensitivity was 0.86 (95% CI, 0.80-0.91) and the specificity was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.80-0.91). The studies mostly used case-control designs with visual and quantitative assessments. Conclusions: ¹⁸F-FDG PET exhibits high sensitivity and specificity in differentiating dementia subtypes, particularly AD, FTD, and DLB. This method, while not a standalone diagnostic tool, significantly enhances diagnostic accuracy in uncertain cases, complementing clinical assessments and structural imaging.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.151-163
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• 2024

This study sought to confirm the impact of analytical methods and behavioral economic theory factors on decision-making when making chartering decisions in the dry bulk shipping market. This study on chartering decision-making model was began to verify why shipping companies do not make rational decision-making and behavior based on analytical methods such as freight prediction and process of alternative selection in the same market situation. To understand the chartering decision-making model, it is necessary to study the impact of behavioral economic theory such as heuristics, loss aversion, and herding behavior on chartering decision-making. Through AHP analysis, the importance of the method factors relied upon in chartering decision-making. The dependence of the top factors in chartering decision-making was in the following order: market factors, heuristics, internal factors, herding behavior, and loss aversion. Market factors, heuristics, and internal factors. As for detailed factors, spot freight index and empirical intuition were confirmed as the most important factors relied on when making decisions. It was confirmed that empirical intuition is more important than internal analysis, which is an analytical method. This study can be said to be meaningful in that it academically researched and proved the bounded rationality of humans, which cannot be fully rational, and sometimes relies on experience or psychological tendencies, by applying it to the chartering decision-making model in the dry bulk shipping market. It also suggests that in the dry bulk shipping market, which is uncertain and has a high risk of loss due to decision-making, the experience and insight of decision makers have a very important impact on the performance and business profits of the operation part of shipping companies. Even though chartering are a decision-making field that requires judgment and intuition based on heuristics, decision-makers need to be aware of this decision-making model in order to reduce repeated mistakes of deciding contrary to market situation. It also suggests that there is a need to internally research analytical methods and procedures that can complement heuristics such as empirical intuition.