• Asia pacific journal of information systems
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.27-55
• /
• 2008

Due to the increasing and intensifying competition in the Internet shopping market, it has been recognized as very important to develop an effective policy and strategy for acquiring loyal customers. For this reason, web site designers need to know if a new Internet shopping mall(ISM) will be accepted. Researchers have been working on identifying factors for explaining and predicting user acceptance of an ISM. Some studies, however, revealed inconsistent findings on the antecedents of user acceptance of a website. Lack of consideration for individual differences in user ability is believed to be one of the key reasons for the mixed findings. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and several studies have suggested that individual differences in ability plays an moderating role on the relationship between the antecedents and user acceptance. Despite the critical role of user ability, little research has examined the role of user ability in the Internet shopping mall context. The purpose of this study is to develop a user acceptance model that consider the moderating role of user ability in the context of Internet shopping. This study was initiated to see the ability of the technology acceptance model(TAM) to explain the acceptance of a specific ISM. According to TAM. which is one of the most influential models for explaining user acceptance of IT, an intention to use IT is determined by usefulness and ease of use. Given that interaction between user and website takes place through web interface, the decisions to accept and continue using an ISM depend on these beliefs. However, TAM neglects to consider the fact that many users would not stick to an ISM until they trust it although they may think it useful and easy to use. The importance of trust for user acceptance of ISM has been raised by the relational views. The relational view emphasizes the trust-building process between the user and ISM, and user's trust on the website is a major determinant of user acceptance. The proposed model extends and integrates the TAM and relational views on user acceptance of ISM by incorporating usefulness, ease of use, and trust. User acceptance is defined as a user's intention to reuse a specific ISM. And user ability is introduced into the model as moderating variable. Here, the user ability is defined as a degree of experiences, knowledge and skills regarding Internet shopping sites. The research model proposes that the ease of use, usefulness and trust of ISM are key determinants of user acceptance. In addition, this paper hypothesizes that the effects of the antecedents(i.e., ease of use, usefulness, and trust) on user acceptance may differ among users. In particular, this paper proposes a moderating effect of a user's ability on the relationship between antecedents with user's intention to reuse. The research model with eleven hypotheses was derived and tested through a survey that involved 470 university students. For each research variable, this paper used measurement items recognized for reliability and widely used in previous research. We slightly modified some items proper to the research context. The reliability and validity of the research variables were tested using the Crobnach's alpha and internal consistency reliability (ICR) values, standard factor loadings of the confirmative factor analysis, and average variance extracted (AVE) values. A LISREL method was used to test the suitability of the research model and its relating six hypotheses. Key findings of the results are summarized in the following. First, TAM's two constructs, ease of use and usefulness directly affect user acceptance. In addition, ease of use indirectly influences user acceptance by affecting trust. This implies that users tend to trust a shopping site and visit repeatedly when they perceive a specific ISM easy to use. Accordingly, designing a shopping site that allows users to navigate with heuristic and minimal clicks for finding information and products within the site is important for improving the site's trust and acceptance. Usefulness, however, was not found to influence trust. Second, among the three belief constructs(ease of use, usefulness, and trust), trust was empirically supported as the most important determinants of user acceptance. This implies that users require trustworthiness from an Internet shopping site to be repeat visitors of an ISM. Providing a sense of safety and eliminating the anxiety of online shoppers in relation to privacy, security, delivery, and product returns are critically important conditions for acquiring repeat visitors. Hence, in addition to usefulness and ease of use as in TAM, trust should be a fundamental determinants of user acceptance in the context of internet shopping. Third, the user's ability on using an Internet shopping site played a moderating role. For users with low ability, ease of use was found to be a more important factors in deciding to reuse the shopping mall, whereas usefulness and trust had more effects on users with high ability. Applying the EML theory to these findings, we can suggest that experienced and knowledgeable ISM users tend to elaborate on such usefulness aspects as efficient and effective shopping performance and trust factors as ability, benevolence, integrity, and predictability of a shopping site before they become repeat visitors of the site. In contrast, novice users tend to rely on the low elaborating features, such as the perceived ease of use. The existence of moderating effects suggests the fact that different individuals evaluate an ISM from different perspectives. The expert users are more interested in the outcome of the visit(usefulness) and trustworthiness(trust) than those novice visitors. The latter evaluate the ISM in a more superficial manner focusing on the novelty of the site and on other instrumental beliefs(ease of use). This is consistent with the insights proposed by the Heuristic-Systematic model. According to the Heuristic-Systematic model. a users act on the principle of minimum effort. Thus, the user considers an ISM heuristically, focusing on those aspects that are easy to process and evaluate(ease of use). When the user has sufficient experience and skills, the user will change to systematic processing, where they will evaluate more complex aspects of the site(its usefulness and trustworthiness). This implies that an ISM has to provide a minimum level of ease of use to make it possible for a user to evaluate its usefulness and trustworthiness. Ease of use is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the acceptance and use of an ISM. Overall, the empirical results generally support the proposed model and identify the moderating effect of the effects of user ability. More detailed interpretations and implications of the findings are discussed. The limitations of this study are also discussed to provide directions for future research.

• Journal of Distribution Research
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.111-137
• /
• 2010

The basic purpose of this study is to investigate perceived quality and service personal value affecting the result of long-term relationship between service buyers and suppliers. This research presented a constructive model(perceived quality affecting the service personal value and the moderate effect of NFC) in the on off line and then propose the research model base on prior researches and studies about relationships among components of service. Data were gathered from respondents who visit at the education service market. For this study, Data were analyzed by AMOS 7.0. We integrate the literature on services marketing with researches on personal values and perceived quality. The SERPVAL scale presented here allows for the creation of a common ground for assessing service personal values, giving a clear understanding of the key value dimensions behind service choice and usage. It will lead to a focus of future research in services marketing, extending knowledge in the field and stimulating further empirical research on service personal values. At the managerial level, as a tool the SERPVAL scale should allow practitioners to evaluate and improve the value of a service, and consequently, to define strategies and actions to address services for customers based on their fundamental personal values. Through qualitative and empirical research, we find that the service quality construct conforms to the structure of a second-order factor model that ties service quality perceptions to distinct and actionable dimensions: outcome, interaction, and environmental quality. In turn, each has two subdimensions that define the basis of service quality perceptions. The authors further suggest that for each of these subdimensions to contribute to improved service quality perceptions, the quality received by consumers must be perceived to be reliable, responsive, and empathetic. Although the service personal value may be found in researches that explore individual values and their consequences for consumer behavior, there is no established operationalization of a SERPVAL scale. The inexistence of an established scale, duly adapted in order to understand and analyze personal values behind services usage, exposes the need of a measurement scale with such a purpose. This need has to be rooted, however, in a conceptualization of the construct being scaled. Service personal values can be defined as a customer's overall assessment of the use of a service based on the perception of what is achieved in terms of his own personal values. As consumer behaviors serve to show an individual's values, the use of a service can also be a way to fulfill and demonstrate consumers'personal values. In this sense, a service can provide more to the customer than its concrete and abstract attributes at both the attribute and the quality levels, and more than its functional consequences at the value level. Both values and services literatures agree, that personal value is the highest-level concept, followed by instrumental values, attitudes and finally by product attributes. Purchasing behaviors are agreed to be the end result of these concepts' interaction, with personal values taking a major role in the final decision process. From both consumers' and practitioners' perspectives, values are extremely relevant, as they are desirable goals that serve as guiding principles in people's lives. While building on previous research, we propose to assess service personal values through three broad groups of individual dimensions; at the self-oriented level, we use (1) service value to peaceful life (SVPL) and, at the social-oriented level, we use (2) service value to social recognition (SVSR), and (3) service value to social integration (SVSI). Service value to peaceful life is our first dimension. This dimension emerged as a combination of values coming from the RVS scale, a scale built specifically to assess general individual values. If a service promotes a pleasurable life, brings or improves tranquility, safety and harmony, then its user recognizes the value of this service. Generally, this service can improve the user's pleasure of life, since it protects or defends the consumer from threats to life or pressures on it. While building upon both the LOV scale, a scale built specifically to assess consumer values, and the RVS scale for individual values, we develop the other two dimensions: SVSR and SVSI. The roles of social recognition and social integration to improve service personal value have been seriously neglected. Social recognition derives its outcome utility from its predictive utility. When applying this underlying belief to our second dimension, SVSR, we assume that people use a service while taking into consideration the content of what is delivered. Individuals consider whether the service aids in gaining respect from others, social recognition and status, as well as whether it allows achieving a more fulfilled and stimulating life, which might then be revealed to others. People also tend to engage in behavior that receives social recognition and to avoid behavior that leads to social disapproval, and this contributes to an individual's social integration. This leads us to the third dimension, SVSI, which is based on the fact that if the consumer perceives that a service strengthens friendships, provides the possibility of becoming more integrated in the group, or promotes better relationships at the social, professional or family levels, then the service will contribute to social integration, and naturally the individual will recognize personal value in the service. Most of the research in business values deals with individual values. However, to our knowledge, no study has dealt with assessing overall personal values as well as their dimensions in a service context. Our final results show that the scales adapted from the Schwartz list were excluded. A possible explanation is that although Schwartz builds on Rokeach work in order to explore individual values, its dimensions might be especially focused on analyzing societal values. As we are looking for individual dimensions, this might explain why the values inspired by the Schwartz list were excluded from the model. The hierarchical structure of the final scale presented in this paper also presents theoretical implications. Although we cannot claim to definitively capture the dimensions of service personal values, we believe that we come close to capturing these overall evaluations because the second-order factor extracts the underlying commonality among dimensions. In addition to obtaining respondents' evaluations of the dimensions, the second-order factor model captures the common variance among these dimensions, reflecting the respondents' overall assessment of service personal values. Towards this fact, we expect that the service personal values conceptualization and measurement scale presented here contributes to both business values literature and the service marketing field, allowing for the delineation of strategies for adding value to services. This new scale also presents managerial implications. The SERPVAL dimensions give some guidance on how to better pursue a highly service-oriented business strategy. Indeed, the SERPVAL scale can be used for benchmarking purposes, as this scale can be used to identify whether or not a firms' marketing strategies are consistent with consumers' expectations. Managerial assessment of the personal values of a service might be extremely important because it allows managers to better understand what customers want or value. Thus, this scale allows us to identify what services are really valuable to the final consumer; providing knowledge for making choices regarding which services to include. Traditional approaches have focused their attention on service attributes (as quality) and service consequences(as service value), but personal values may be an important set of variables to be considered in understanding what attracts consumers to a certain service. By using the SERPVAL scale to assess the personal values associated with a services usage, managers may better understand the reasons behind services' usage, so that they may handle them more efficiently. While testing nomological validity, our empirical findings demonstrate that the three SERPVAL dimensions are positively and significantly associated with satisfaction. Additionally, while service value to social integration is related only with loyalty, service value to peaceful life is associated with both loyalty and repurchase intent. It is also interesting and surprising that service value to social recognition appears not to be significantly linked with loyalty and repurchase intent. A possible explanation is that no mobile service provider has yet emerged in the market as a luxury provider. All of the Portuguese providers are still trying to capture market share by means of low-end pricing. This research has implications for consumers as well. As more companies seek to build relationships with their customers, consumers are easily able to examine whether these relationships provide real value or not to their own lives. The selection of a strategy for a particular service depends on its customers' personal values. Being highly customer-oriented means having a strong commitment to customers, trying to create customer value and understanding customer needs. Enhancing service distinctiveness in order to provide a peaceful life, increase social recognition and gain a better social integration are all possible strategies that companies may pursue, but the one to pursue depends on the outstanding personal values held by the service customers. Data were gathered from 284 respondents in the korean discount store and online shopping mall market. This research proposed 3 hypotheses on 6 latent variables and tested through structural equation modeling. 6 alternative measurements were compared through statistical significance test of the 6 paths of research model and the overall fitting level of structural equation model. and the result was successful. and Perceived quality more positively influences service personal value when NFC is high than when no NFC is low in the off-line market. The results of the study indicate that service quality is properly modeled as an antecedent of service personal value. We consider the research and managerial implications of the study and its limitations. In sum, by knowing the dimensions a consumer takes into account when choosing a service, a better understanding of purchasing behaviors may be realized, guiding managers toward customers expectations. By defining strategies and actions that address potential problems with the service personal values, managers might ultimately influence their firm's performance. we expect to contribute to both business values and service marketing literatures through the development of the service personal value. At a time when marketing researchers are challenged to provide research with practical implications, it is also believed that this framework may be used by managers to pursue service-oriented business strategies while taking into consideration what customers value.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.115-132
• /
• 2008

Metal industry is one of the most representative heavy industries and the median sales volume of steel and nonferrous metal companies is over one billion dollars in the case America [Forbes 2006]. As seen in the recent business market situation, an increasing number of industrial manufacturers and suppliers are moving from adversarial to cooperative exchange attitudes that support the long-term relationships with their customers. This article presents the results of an empirical study of the antecedent factors of business relationships in metal industry of the United States. Commitment has been reviewed as a significant and critical variable in research on inter-organizational relationships (Hong et al. 2007, Kim et al. 2007). The future stability of any buyer-seller relationship depends upon the commitment made by the interactants to their relationship. Commitment, according to Dwyer et al. [1987], refers to "an implicit or explicit pledge of relational continuity between exchange partners" and they consider commitment to be the most advanced phase of buyer-seller exchange relationship. Bonds are made because the members need their partners in order to do something and this integration on a task basis can be either symbiotic or cooperative (Svensson 2008). To the extent that members seek the same or mutually supporting ends, there will be strong bonds among them. In other words, the principle that affects the strength of bonds is 'economy of decision making' [Turner 1970]. These bonds provide an important idea to study the causes of business long-term relationships in a sense that organizations can be mutually bonded by a common interest in the economic matters. Recently, the framework of structural bonding has been used to study the buyer-seller relationships in industrial marketing [Han and Sung 2008, Williams et al. 1998, Wilson 1995] in that this structural bonding is a crucial part of the theoretical justification for distinguishing discrete transactions from ongoing long-term relationships. The major antecedent factors of buyer commitment such as technology, CLalt, transaction-specific assets, and importance were identified and explored from the perspective of structural bonding. Research hypotheses were developed and tested by using survey data from the middle managers in the metal industry. H1: Level of technology of the relationship partner is positively related to the level of structural bonding between the buyer and the seller. H2: Comparison level of alternatives is negatively related to the level of structural bonding between the buyer and the seller. H3: Amount of the transaction-specific assets is positively related to the level of structural bonding between the buyer and the seller. H4: Importance of the relationship partner is positively related to the level of structural bonding between the buyer and the seller. H5: Level of structural bonding is positively related to the level of commitment to the relationship. To examine the major antecedent factors of industrial buyer's structural bonding and long-term relationship, questionnaire was prepared, mailed out to the sample of 400 purchasing managers of the US metal industry (SIC codes 33 and 34). After a follow-up request, 139 informants returnedthe questionnaires, resulting in a response rate of 35 percent. 134 responses were used in the final analysis after dropping 5 incomplete questionnaires. All measures were analyzed for reliability and validity following the guidelines offered by Churchill [1979] and Anderson and Gerbing [1988]., the results of fitting the model to the data indicated that the hypothesized model provides a good fit to the data. Goodness-of-fit index (GFI = 0.94) and other indices ( chi-square = 78.02 with p-value = 0.13, Adjusted GFI = 0.90, Normed Fit Index = 0.92) indicated that a major proportion of variances and covariances in the data was accounted for by the model as a whole, and all the parameter estimates showed statistical significance as evidenced by large t-values. All the factor loadings were significantly different from zero. On these grounds we judged the hypothesized model to be a reasonable representation of the data. The results from the present study suggest several implications for buyer-seller relationships. Theoretically, we attempted to conceptualize the antecedent factors of buyer-seller long-term relationships from the perspective of structural bondingin metal industry. The four underlying determinants (i.e. technology, CLalt, transaction-specific assets, and importance) of structural bonding are very critical variables of buyer-seller long-term business relationships. Our model of structural bonding makes an attempt to systematically examine the relationship between the antecedent factors of structural bonding and long-term commitment. Managerially, this research provides industrial purchasing managers with a good framework to assess the interaction processes with their partners and, ability to position their business relationships from the perspective of structural bonding. In other words, based on those underlying variables, industrial purchasing managers can determine the strength of the company's relationships with the key suppliers and its state of preparation to be a successful partner with those suppliers. Both the supplying and customer companies can also benefit by using the concept of 'structural bonding' and evaluating their relationships with key business partners from the structural point of view. In general, the results indicate that structural bonding gives a critical impact on the level of relationship commitment. Managerial implications and limitations of the study are also discussed.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.125-148
• /
• 2009

UGC(User Generated Contents) is emerging as the center of e-business in the web 2.0 era. The trend reflects changing roles of users in production and consumption of contents on websites and helps us to understand new strategies of websites such as web portals and social network websites. Nowadays, we consume contents created by other non-professional users for both utilitarian (e.g., knowledge) and hedonic values (e.g., fun). Also, contents produced by ourselves (e.g., photo, video) are posted on websites so that our friends, family, and even the public can consume those contents. This means that non-professionals, who used to be passive audience in the past, are now creating contents and share their UGCs with others in the Web. Accessible media, tools, and applications have also reduced difficulty and complexity in the process of creating contents. Realizing that users create plenty of materials which are very interesting to other people, media companies (i.e., web portals and social networking websites) are adjusting their strategies and business models accordingly. Increased demand of UGC may lead to website visits which are the source of benefits from advertising. Therefore, they put more efforts into making their websites open platforms where UGCs can be created and shared among users without technical and methodological difficulties. Many websites have increasingly adopted new technologies such as RSS and openAPI. Some have even changed the structure of web pages so that UGC can be seen several times to more visitors. This mainstream of UGCs on websites indicates that acquiring more UGCs and supporting participating users have become important things to media companies. Although those companies need to understand why general users have shown increasing interest in creating and posting contents and what is important to them in the process of productions, few research results exist in this area to address these issues. Also, behavioral process in creating video UGCs has not been explored enough for the public to fully understand it. With a solid theoretical background (i.e., theory of implementation intentions), parts of our proposed research model mirror the process of user behaviors in creating video contents, which consist of intention to upload, intention to edit, edit, and upload. In addition, in order to explain how those behavioral intentions are developed, we investigated influences of antecedents from three motivational perspectives (i.e., intrinsic, editing software-oriented, and website's network effect-oriented). First, from the intrinsic motivation perspective, we studied the roles of self-expression, enjoyment, and social attention in forming intention to edit with preferred editing software or in forming intention to upload video contents to preferred websites. Second, we explored the roles of editing software for non-professionals to edit video contents, in terms of how it makes production process easier and how it is useful in the process. Finally, from the website characteristic-oriented perspective, we investigated the role of a website's network externality as an antecedent of users' intention to upload to preferred websites. The rationale is that posting UGCs on websites are basically social-oriented behaviors; thus, users prefer a website with the high level of network externality for contents uploading. This study adopted a longitudinal research design; we emailed recipients twice with different questionnaires. Guided by invitation email including a link to web survey page, respondents answered most of questions except edit and upload at the first survey. They were asked to provide information about UGC editing software they mainly used and preferred website to upload edited contents, and then asked to answer related questions. For example, before answering questions regarding network externality, they individually had to declare the name of the website to which they would be willing to upload. At the end of the first survey, we asked if they agreed to participate in the corresponding survey in a month. During twenty days, 333 complete responses were gathered in the first survey. One month later, we emailed those recipients to ask for participation in the second survey. 185 of the 333 recipients (about 56 percentages) answered in the second survey. Personalized questionnaires were provided for them to remind the names of editing software and website that they reported in the first survey. They answered the degree of editing with the software and the degree of uploading video contents to the website for the past one month. To all recipients of the two surveys, exchange tickets for books (about 5,000~10,000 Korean Won) were provided according to the frequency of participations. PLS analysis shows that user behaviors in creating video contents are well explained by the theory of implementation intentions. In fact, intention to upload significantly influences intention to edit in the process of accomplishing the goal behavior, upload. These relationships show the behavioral process that has been unclear in users' creating video contents for uploading and also highlight important roles of editing in the process. Regarding the intrinsic motivations, the results illustrated that users are likely to edit their own video contents in order to express their own intrinsic traits such as thoughts and feelings. Also, their intention to upload contents in preferred website is formed because they want to attract much attention from others through contents reflecting themselves. This result well corresponds to the roles of the website characteristic, namely, network externality. Based on the PLS results, the network effect of a website has significant influence on users' intention to upload to the preferred website. This indicates that users with social attention motivations are likely to upload their video UGCs to a website whose network size is big enough to realize their motivations easily. Finally, regarding editing software characteristic-oriented motivations, making exclusively-provided editing software more user-friendly (i.e., easy of use, usefulness) plays an important role in leading to users' intention to edit. Our research contributes to both academic scholars and professionals. For researchers, our results show that the theory of implementation intentions is well applied to the video UGC context and very useful to explain the relationship between implementation intentions and goal behaviors. With the theory, this study theoretically and empirically confirmed that editing is a different and important behavior from uploading behavior, and we tested the behavioral process of ordinary users in creating video UGCs, focusing on significant motivational factors in each step. In addition, parts of our research model are also rooted in the solid theoretical background such as the technology acceptance model and the theory of network externality to explain the effects of UGC-related motivations. For practitioners, our results suggest that media companies need to restructure their websites so that users' needs for social interaction through UGC (e.g., self-expression, social attention) are well met. Also, we emphasize strategic importance of the network size of websites in leading non-professionals to upload video contents to the websites. Those websites need to find a way to utilize the network effects for acquiring more UGCs. Finally, we suggest that some ways to improve editing software be considered as a way to increase edit behavior which is a very important process leading to UGC uploading.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
• /
• v.27
• /
• pp.135-169
• /
• 2016

While examining the religious ideas implied by Jeungsan's Great Works of the Reordering of Universe, we find special ideas which cannot be found in any other religions, and these ideas are presented in diverse ways. Most of all, the representative idea is that of human nobility; a distinctive idea which makes Daesoonjinrihoe different from other religions. Thus, this research focuses on the following questions: when was Human Nobility concretely realized? What kind of organic relationship does human nobility have between the divine world and the world of humanity? In light of the forthcoming Era of Human Nobility, what are some concrete images which can be drawn from the interaction between the realms of heaven and humanity wherein preordinations are plotted in heaven and then carried out by humankind? Prior to formulating my own sense of the subject matter, I consulted 43 previous discussions and dissertations and arranged them chronologically so as to examine their correlation. From these sources and my own insights, I was able to gain a sense of the starting point of the era of human nobility and its tenor. I have found the following problems in previous research on the uniqueness and distinctness of human nobility: ①The conceptual undertones of human nobility have not been adequately gleaned. ②There do not seem to be any dissertations which examine the way in which human nobility is connected with the doctrines of the creative conjunction between yin and yang, the harmonious union of divine beings and human beings, and the resolution of grievances for mutual beneficence. ③In most dissertations, not only is the starting point of the Era of Human Nobility regarded as concurrent with the start of the 50,000 years of earthly paradise in the Later World, but also the point of division between the former world and the later world is widely disputed. ④In-depth and fully realized studies dealing with the subject of human nobility are not easily found. ⑤There is little sense of progression in the research on human nobility because scholars are not sufficiently engage with one another to achieve common consensus. Therefore, in this dissertation, I have provided answers to the problems I discovered in previous research. I have developed my own tenor as follows: ①By giving priority to the Jeongyeong, I have closely investigated the period which divides the Former World and the Later World. Then, I produced a chronological timeline to demonstrate the progression: the Former World → the Era of the Resolution of Grievances → the Later World. This aids in the comprehension of human nobility. ②The Era of Human Nobility was preceeded by the opening of the Era of the Resolution of Grievances of human world which began in 1901. Human nobility is stipulated as a regulatory system for the universe set in motion by the opening the Era of Resolution of Grievances. ③While synthetically examining the aspects of transition which enable the Ear of Human Nobility to be realized, the period to be studied is stipulated as beginning from 1901 and ending at the start of the Later World. The subjects are defined as the flowing from Jeungsan, the first leader of human nobility, to the noble individuals empowered by Dao and the noble populace. In the Era of Human Nobility, studying the transition process by which human nobility is realized requires delving into the resolution of grievances. Although this method is essential to understanding Daesoon ideas, in actuality it does not hinge upon speculative exegetical theorizing but instead it was gained through eisegetical rigor.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
• /
• v.3
• /
• pp.89-98
• /
• 1965

The experimental studies were intended to clarify the effects of selection, and also aimed at estimating the heritabilities, the genotypic correlations among some agronomic characters, and at calculating the selection index on some selective characters for the selection of desirable lines, under different climatic conditions. Finally practical implications of these studies, especially on the selection index, were discussed. Twenty-two varieties, determinate growing habit type, were selected at random from the 138 soybean varieties cultivated the year before, were grown in a randomized block design with three replicates at Chinju, Korea, under May and June sowing conditions. The method of estimating heritabilities for the eleven agronomic characters-flowering date, maturity date, stem length, branch numbers per plant, stem diameter, plant weight, pod numbers per plant, grain numbers per plant and 100 grain weight, shown in Table 3, was the variance components procedures in a replicated trial for the varieties. The analysis of covariance was used to obtain the genotypic correlations and phenotypic correlations among the eight characters, and the selection indexes for some agronomic characters were calculated by Robinson's method. The results are summarized as follows: Heritabilities : The experiment on the genotype-environment interaction revealed that in almost all of the characters investigated the interaction was too large to be neglected and materially affected the estimates of various genotypic parameters. The variation in heritability due to the change of environments was larger in the characters of low heritability than in those of high heritability. Heritability values of flowering date, fruiting period (days from flowering to maturity), stem length and 100 grain weight were the highest in both environments, those of yield(grain weight) and other characters were showed the lower values(Table 3). These heritability values showed a decreasing trend with the delayed sowing in the experiments. Further, all calculated heritability values were higher than anticipated. This was expected since these values, which were the broad sense heritability, contain the variance due to dominance and epistasisf in addition to the additive genetic variance. Genotypic correlations : Genotypic correlations were slightly higher than the corresponding phenotypic correlations in both environments, but the variation in values due to the change of environment appeared between grain weight and some other characters, especially an increase between grain weight and flowering date, and the total growing period(Table 6). Genotypic correlations between grain weight and other characters indicated that high seed yield was genetically correlated with late flowering, late maturity, and the other five characters namely branch numbers per plant, stem diameter, plant weight, pod numbers per plant and grain numbers per plant, but not with 100 grain weight of soybeans. Pod numbers and grain numbers per plant were more closely correlated with seed yields than with other characters. Selection index : For the comparison and the use of selection indexes in the selection, two kinds of selection indexes were calculated, the former was called selection index A and the later selection index B as shown in Table 7. Selection index A was calculated by the values of grain weight per plant as the character of yield(character Y), but the other, selection index B, was calculated by the values of pod numbers per plant, instead of grain weight per plant, as the character of yield'(character Y'). These results suggest that selection index technique is useful in soybean breeding. In reality, however, as the selection index varies with population and environment, it must be calculated in each population to which selection is applied and in each environment in which the population is located. In spite of the expected usefulness of selection index technique in soybean breeding, unsolved problems such as the expense, time and labor involved in calculating the selection index remain. For these reasons and from these experimental studies, it was recognized that in the breeding of self-fertilized soybean plants the selection for yield should be based on a more simple selection index such as selection index B of these experiments rather than on the complex selection index such as selection index A. Furthermore, it was realized that the selection index for the selection should be calculated on the basis of the data of some 3-4 agronomic characters-maturity date(X$_1$), branch numbers per plant(X$_2$), stem diameter(X$_3$) and pod numbers per plant etc. It must be noted that it should be successful in selection to select for maturity date(X$_1$) which has high heritability, and the selection index should be calculated easily on the basis of the data of branch numbers per plant(X$_2$), stem diameter(X$_3$) and pod numbers per plant, directly after the harvest before drying and threshing. These characters should be very useful agronomic characters in the selection of Korean soybeans, determinate growing habit type, as they could be measured or counted easily thus saving time and expense in the duration from harvest to drying and threshing, and are affected more in soybean yields than the other agronomic characters.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.74-82
• /
• 2011

Objective:The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between sustained attention deficits in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD) children and short-term Heart Rate Variability(HRV) parameters. In addition, we evaluate the relationship between The ADHD rating scale(ARS), the computerized ADHD diagnostic system(ADS) and Parenting stress index- short form(PSI-SF). Methods:This study was performed in the department of children and Adolescent psychiatry, Korea university Guro hospital from august 2008 to January 2009. We evaluated HRV parameters by short-term recordings of 5 minutes. K-ARS and ADS are used for screening and identifying ADHD children. Intelligence was measured using Korean educational Developmental Institute-wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. The caregivers Complete Parenting Stress Index scale for evaluation parent stress. Results:The low frequency(LF) was significantly correlated with response variability of ADS. However, the other variables of ARS and ADS were not significantly correlated with LF. Hyperactivity subscale of ARS was significantly correlated with parental distress subscale and difficult child subscale of PSI-SF and inattention subscale of ARS was also significantly correlated with dysfunctional interaction and difficult child subscale of PSI-SF. Conclusion:The LF, 0.10-Hz component of HRV is known to measure effort allocation. This study shows that the LF component of HRV is significantly correlated with the response variability of ADS. This means that more severe symptoms of ADHD were correlated with the increase in the LF that means decreased effort allocation. These results also support the clinical usability of HRV in the assessment of ADHD. Furthermore, PSI-SF is correlated with hyperactivity and inattention variables of ARS.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.768-775
• /
• 2012

Alginate, obtained from the seaweeds, is a widely used biomaterial for cell transplantation, since its positive effect on viability of capsulized cells and its easier encapsulation capability of living cells. Demineralized bone powder (DBP), derived from the natural bone tissue, is widely applied for clinical trials for its low rate of reaction and antigenicity. A chondrocyte was seeded into an alginate with DBP of different contents, and a microcapsule was produced. The adhesion and proliferation of cells was observed through the MTT analysis, and the PCR was applied to estimate the content of the glycosaminoglycan (sGAG) and collagen, and confirm the specific genetic pattern of the chondrocytes. Also, the alginate microcapsule where the chondrocyte is seeded was extracted after transplantation under the skin of a nude mouse, and was immunochemically stained. The experimental result confirmed that the alginate microcapsule containing 1% of DBP not only showed the highest proliferation of cell but had a positive effect of chondrocytes by the interaction between the alginates and the growth factor in DBP. It can be expected that the microcapsule with application of the alginates and DBP might be an appropriate scaffold for tissue engineering.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.557-563
• /
• 2017

Gastrodia elata (Orchidaceae) is a perennial parasitic plant that has a unique lifestyle of being in a symbiotic interaction with fungi. The underground root of Gastrodia is used for medicinal treatment to cure high blood pressure, stroke, leukemia, headaches, and especially neurasthenia. This study is intended to investigate the effect of the global warming on the ecological responses of Gastrodia. We cultivated the small tuber of Gastrodia with the oak wood lot and mulberry fungus under control (ambient $CO_2$ concentration + ambient temperature, ACAT), temperature treatment (ambient $CO_2$ concentration+elevated temperature, ACET), and $CO_2$+temperature treatment (elevated $CO_2$ concentration+elevated temperature, ECET). The elevated $CO_2$ concentration was about twice in the ambient air while the elevated temperature was about $2^{\circ}C$ higher than the control group. And then we observed the growth and production of reproductive organs and the underground root. The observation showed that the number of flower stalk was highest at ACET and lowest at ECET. The flower stalk was longest at ACET and shortest at ECET. The inflorescence was longest at ACAT and shortest at ECET. The seed capsule was heaviest at ACET and lightest at ECET. The aboveground biomass was highest at ACET and lowest at ECET. The number of rhizomes was highest at ACET and lowest at ECET. The total rhizome biomass was highest at ACET and lowest at ECET. The average rhizome biomass was highest at ACET and lowest at ECET. The results showed that the growth of Gastrodia increased because of more active growth of Gastrodia elata when only the temperature increased and decreased when both $CO_2$ concentration and temperature increased, indicating the poor growth of Gastrodia elata under the global warming condition. Therefore, the Gastrodia elata plantation should be maintained at the temperature of $20-25^{\circ}C$ and not be exposed to a high $CO_2$ concentration.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.38 no.6 s.175
• /
• pp.675-687
• /
• 2005

The rocks of the five storied stone pagoda in the Jeongrimsaji temple site are 149 materials in total with porphyritic biotite granodiorite. They include pegmatite veinlet, basic xenolith and evenly developed plagioclase porphyry. This stone pagoda has comparably small fracture and cracks which are farmed in the times of rock properties, but surface exfoliation and granular decomposition are in process actively since the rocks are generally weakened from the influence of air contaminants and acid rain. Structural instability of constituting rocks in the 4th roof materials are observed to occur from distortion and tilt. Such instability is judged to threat stability of the upper part of the stone pagoda. Also, chemical weathering is operating even more as the contaminants, ferro-manganese hydroxides eluted from water-rock interaction on the rock surface. Most of the rock surface is covered with yellowish brown, dark black and light gray contaminants, and especially occur in the lower part of the roof rocks on each floor. The roof underpinning rocks are severe in surface pigmentation from manganese hydroxides and light gray contaminants. The surface of rocks lives bacteria. algae, lichen, or moss and diverse productions in colors of light gray, dark Bray and dark green. Grayish white crustose lichen grows thick on the surface with darkly discolored by fungi and algae in the first stage on basement rocks, and weeds grows wild on the upper part of each roof rocks. This stone pagoda must closely observe the movements of the upper part rock materials through minute safety diagnosis and long term monitoring for structural stability. Especially since the surface discoloration of rocks and pigmentation of secondary contaminants are severe, establishment of general restoration and scientific conservation treatment are necessary through more detailed study for this stone pagoda.