• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.27-55
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• 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 the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2018

Landscape architecture is an indispensable professional service in building sustainable land and urban environments. The landscape architecture industry is closely related to the promotion of the health and welfare of the people, urban revitalization and residential environment improvement as well as job creation. Despite various public interest values of landscape architecture, the growth engine of the landscape architecture industry, which is supposed to improve the quality of landscape services, has stagnated. In 2015, the Landscape Architecture Promotion Act was enacted to provide a landscape architectural promotion facility and complex system to support revitalization through the integration of the landscape architecture industry. The purpose of this study is to suggest an improvement plan to enhance the effectiveness of the landscape architectural promotion facility and complex system. The results of the analysis are as follows: First, workers and experts in landscape architecture recognized the need for policies and projects to promote the landscape architecture industry. Second, the industrial types suitable for the landscape architectural promotion facility were landscape design, landscape maintenance and management, and landscape construction industry. Meanwhile the industrial types suitable for a landscape architectural promotion complex were landscape trees and landscape facilities production and distribution. Third, the expected effect of the designation of the landscape architectural facility was 'the increase of the business opportunity through the expansion of the network'. On the other hand, that of the landscape architectural promotion complex was 'the activation of various information sharing'. Fourth, 'the size of the local government landscape architecture industry and the capacity to cultivate' was the most important among the designation criteria of the landscape architectural promotion facility. As for that of the landscape architectural promotion complex, the 'feasibility of promotion plan' was the most crucial. Fifth, 'tax benefit and deductible exemption' was considered as a necessary support method for the activation of the landscape architectural promotion facility, and 'maintenance and management fee support' was recognized in the case of the landscape architectural promotion complex.

• 대한공업교육학회지
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.142-162
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• 2015

The purpose of this study are to provide the basic data materials and implementations for successful performance of electric-work field representatives of South Korean firms by identifying their roles and competency and examining their educational need. For this research purposes, three phased analysis was followed on: (1) the roles of electric-work field representatives, (2) competency of electric-work field representatives and (3) educational need for their competency. This research method was to conduct a focus group interview for 10 expert field representatives along with survey. The collected data materials were processed by MS Excel and SPSS 21.0 for statistical analysis including average, standard deviation and other basic statistics; the gap in awareness of field representatives; and need values. For the needs analysis, the difference between significance of field representatives' competency and current status was examined by t test. And the awareness gap between competency importance and current status was identified based on the Borich equation. The Locus for Focus model was employed herein to identify the kinds of competency with high importance and high inconsistency to prioritize. As a result, this research has found as follows: first, the roles of field representatives were found to be in 13 different kinds of roles. Second, electric-work field representatives were found to need to have 16 different skills. Third, regarding the 16 abilities, the gap between current status and significance was analyzed herein. The results showed statistically significant differences in all cases. The Borich needs analysis found the first required ability was communication ability followed by power of execution, conflict management ability, analytical thinking and time management ability. Also, the results of Locus for Focus model analysis displayed that the first quadrant(HH) included 7 highly-demanded abilities of communication ability, analytical thinking, decision making ability, specialty, time management ability, power of execution and drive for work implementation. The top-priority group was found to have 5 items of communication ability, analytical thinking, time management ability, power of execution and drive for work implementation which were commonly seen in the Locus for Focus model outcomes. Based on these findings, this research could identify the roles and competency of electric-work field representatives and provide the basic data materials applicable to future personal management of electricity companies including recruitment, division of work, job description, evaluation, etc. Also this research offered guidelines on demanded abilities in the field and where to place priority. The kinds of abilities with high educational demand as found in this research must be considered in designing educational programs for the competency building of field representatives. This research is expected to provide useful information in developing such educational programs for field representatives.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.179-186
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• 2017

For more efficient and proactive safety control of imported food, new trend in U.S. is emerging, which assesses the food safety control systems of exporting countries using Systems Recognition Assessment Tool and helps ensure safety of imported foods. This study examines trends in development and application of assessmemnt tool and country assessment reports in U.S. where an active discussion on this issue is in progress. The expert interviews were also conducted. U.S. Systems Recognition Assessment Tool was developed by FDA to recognize the potential value in leveraging the expertise of foreign food safety systems and help ensure safety of imported food. The tool is comprised of ten standards and provides an objective framework for determining the robustness of trading partners' overall food safety systems. Using its own tool, the U.S. FDA conducted a preliminary assessment of the food safety control systems of New Zealand and Canada. According to the U.S.-New Zealand and the U.S.-Canada assessment reports, the overall structure of the systems was similar between the countries. In summarizing the opinions of experts, such a trend in National Food Safety Control System Assessment may be utilized in the sanitary assessment and the control of imported food border inspection frequency before importing food. It would contribute to more effective distribution of national budget and increased public trust. Additionally, international collaboration as well as securing of qualified experts and sufficient budget appear to be crucial to further increase the utility of National Food Safety Control Systems Assessment. In conclusion, firstly, it is critically important for the competent authority of South Korea to proactively respond to international trend in National Food Safety Control System Assessment by identifying the details of its background, assessment purpose, core assessment elements, and assessment procedures. Secondly, it is necessary to identify and complement the weaknesses of Korea's food safety control system by reviewing it with U.S. Systems Recognition Assessment Tool. Thirdly, by adapting the assessment results from imported countries' food safety control systems to the imported food inspection intensity, the resources previously used in inspecting the imported food from accredited countries can be redistributed to inspecting the imported food from unaccredited countries, and it would contribute to more efficient imported food safety control. Fourthly, the competent authority of South Korea should also consider developing its own assessment tool designed to reflect the unique characteristics of its food safety control system and international guidelines.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.62
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• pp.135-158
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• 2020

In casinos, security personnel who manage the safety of customers and employees play a very important role. In particular, there is a high percentage of female employees in casinos, and because the ratio of female and male employees is similar, the probability of female customers or female employees experiencing accidents may be similar to or higher than that of males. Women's security agents who handle women's case accidents can provide female customers and employees with a security service that only women can do. However, most of the agents doing security work at casinos are male, and the proportion of women is very low. Therefore, this research is about employees who are currently working as women in casinos and conducted qualitative research to find out about various experiences they experienced while working in the casino. A total of five study participants were interviewed three times to analyze and categorize the data collected. The first question is the professor's recommendation, his personal information search and his acquaintance's recommendation. The second question, the factors behind the necessary skills at work, are various athletic skills, good physical conditions and foreign language skills. In the third question, the satisfaction factors of the task are the scarcity value of the work, the satisfaction of the pay, the suitability of the individual and the expectation of the future, and the unsatisfactory factors of the work are the risk of the work, the stress on the customer, the discrimination against the sex, the gaze around, the tiredness of the shift work. In the fourth question, factors on the need for female casino security agents are providing differentiated services to female customers, protecting female employees and providing opportunities for women in related majors. The results of this study were interviewed by an expert of more than 20 years in the casino security business, and female casino security agents said that since it is a necessary requirement, they should seek a direction for development through institutional and cognitive improvement.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.31
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• pp.157-185
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• 2012

Today, the emergence of cyberspace and advancement of globalization caused not only the transformation of our productive and conventional life but also the revolutionary transition of use of destructive violence such as crime and warfare. This transition of environmental condition connects various security threats which separatedly existed in individual, local, national, and global levels in the past, and transformed the mechanical sum of all levels of security threats into the organic sum of multi-dimensional security threats. This article proposes that the sum of multi-dimensional security threats is caused by the interconnectivity of various different levels of security threats and the integrated interdisciplinary perspective is essential to properly understand the fundamental existence of today's security problem and the reality of fear that we face today. The holistic security, the concept proposed here, is to suggest the mode of networked response to multi-dimensional security threats. The holistic security is suggested to overcome the conventional divisional approach based on the principle of "division of labor" and bureaucratic principles, which means more concretely that national security and criminal justice are divided and intelligence, military, police, prosecution, fire-fighting, private security, and etc. are strictly separated into its own expertise and turf. Also, this article introduces integrated security approaches tried by international organization and major countries overseas with the respect of the holistic security. The author have spent some substantial experience of participant observation, meetings, seminar, conference, and expert interviews regarding the issues discussed in the article in various countries including the United States, Russia, Austria, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Israel, and Uzbekistan for the last ten years. Intelligence and information on various levels of security threats and security approaches introduced in this paper is obtained from such opportunities.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.145-155
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• 2019

Purpose: Amendment to the Act on Decisions on Life-sustaining Treatment was recently enacted to designate long-term care hospitals as providers of hospice and palliative care. Despite its benefit of providing improved accessibility to end-of-life care, the amendment has raised concerns about its effect on quality of service. This study aimed to use information obtained from an expert group interview and previous studies to compare how cancer patients, family caregivers, physicians, and the general Korean population perceive the potential benefits and risks of this amendment. Methods: We conducted a multicenter cross-sectional study from July to October 2016. The included participants answered a structured questionnaire regarding the extent to which they agree or disagree with the questionnaire items indicating the potential benefits and risks of the amendment. Chi-square tests and univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Results: Compared with the general population, physicians agreed more that long-term care hospitals are currently not adequately equipped to provide quality hospice and palliative care. Family caregivers found improved access to long-term care hospitals more favorable but were more likely to agree that these hospitals might prioritize profits, thereby threatening the philosophy of hospice care, and that families might cease to fulfill filial responsibilities. Compared with the general population, cancer patients were more concerned about the potentially decreased service quality in this setting. Conclusion: Although potential service beneficiaries and providers expected improved accessibility of hospice and palliative care services, they were also concerned whether the system can provide adequate quality of end-of-life care.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.83-97
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• 1983

The present study is to provide information for the improvement of school health services through research on the current condition of its organization and practice in universities, colleges and junior colleges. The scope of this study is consisted of four components including health organizations/units, school health services, environmental sanitation and health education for the 30 universities, the 20 colleges and the 32 junior colleges in Korea. The major findings are summarized as follows: (1) Among the sampled schools, around 73% of them have the health service organization/unit. When we break down health service organization/unit into the types by the level of school, around 73% of the universities have formal organization called "health center" and 20.0% of them have an informal organization called "health room". For the colleges level, 30.0% of them have the "health center" and 40.0% of them have the "health room". The figure of junior colleges is a quite different from universities and colleges, 56.3% of junior colleges have the "health room" only but the other have no service organization at all. (2) It was found that only 22.0% of 82 schools have the health committee for the school health services. It might be necessary to have a kind of expert committee to establish an annual health service program, budget and health policy in the school. (3) Approximately 29% of those schools having formal health organizations/units appointed directors as a medical persons. 13.4% of the sampled schools are appointed doctors (including the dentists) at health service organization/unit, 9.8% are appointed pharmacist and 65.9% are appointed nurses. Therefore, the data imply that the school health services are depending mainly on nurses. (4) The major activities of school health services are covering primary medical care (84.1%), health counseling (72.0%), physical examination (68.3%), vaccination (58.5%), tuberculosis control (54.9%), parasite control (29.3%) and dental health case(9.8%). Also 69.5% of the schools have the program on the environmental sanitation and the health education program. (5) In regard to health budget taking account of 34 schools, approximately 92% of them have less than 5,000 won per students and only 8.8% of them have more 10,000 won per students. At the average health budget per students is 4089.8 won in universities, 1617.1 won in colleges and 475.0 won in junior colleges. (6) The students enjoy the benifit of medical insurance at 11.0% of 82 schools surveyed. They are all universities. (7) The study found that 56 universities, colleges and junior colleges provide the annual physical examination. Only 21.4% of them have provided it for all students and school employees. (8) 64.3% of the 56 schools surveyed keep a record of the regular physical examinations. Records must be utilized as the basic data for the evaluation of the student's health condition and so the individual student is encouraged to take care of his own health. (9) At the 59 schools which practice health counseling, the main concerns of the counsellees are venereal disease, tuberculosis and psychoneurosis. This shows the need to practice health education in the area of preventive medicine. (10) 69.5% of the 82 universities, colleges and junior colleges surveyed are concerned with supervision of the environmental sanitation in their school, but non-professionals are in charge at 70.1% of them. This indicates negligence in environmental sanitation. (11) 53.7% of the 82 schools responded that they have no special instructive measure for the students' health and 54.9% are found to be negative in the use of a health education method. This reveals a problem. They are not positive to the recognition of their function as the initiative organization for the students' health. (12) The supplementary education for the faculty of the school health services is executed only at 8.5% of all the schools surveyed.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.28
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• pp.79-99
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• 2012

As a type of mass media, cartoon has been changed by political, economic, and social cultural influences. Certainly, sports cartoon also has been influenced by them. Ever since Park Ki Jung's cartoon came out, which was assumed as the first sports cartoon in Korea, sports cartoons had been used as a means of vicarious satisfaction until 1980s. Sometimes they reflected the phases of the era that struggled to overcome poverty, and adversity followed by war. Sometimes they showed people's suppressed feelings against their society. However, in modern society, the perspective of readers changes in various ways because of the influence by postmodernism. They put more weight on individualism rather than on group, they consider individual tastes very important since personal tastes and diversity has been one of significant factors. For these reasons, sport cartoons were no more what they had used to be. By 1990s, sports cartoons had attracted readers' attention again by presenting distinctive characters, and describing fancy sports skills in cartoons trying to escape from cliche story plots such as stories about rivals, competitions, winners-losers composition, and characters' diligence. Moreover, some sports cartoons contained professional contents focusing on expert sport knowledges, and deepen information of sports. From the point of cultural industries view, these tendencies are heavily affected on sportainment industry which stands out as an emerging industry recently. The ultimate purpose of sportainment industries is making a profit by providing entertainment and amusement for their readers beyond sports games. This study focused on influences that the transition of sports cartoons affects sportainment through concrete cases in context of cultural industries since 90s. The study will analyze the concept of sportainment industries, and discuss the process of sports cartoons' transition. Once sports cartoons keep trying to challenge, and make a progress with aggressive changes, it would give great influences not only to sportainment industries but also to other kinds of pop cultural industries.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.61-75
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• 2007

The method used in this descriptive study is the survey. The purpose of the study is to investigate performances of middle school home economics(HE) teachers regarding the HE subject. Respondents in this study were 177 HE teachers. Questionnaires from HE teachers were collected through e-mails. With the operation of the SPSS/Win (ver10.1) program, the analyses such as mean, standard deviation, frequencies, percents, t-test and ANOVA are done to see the relations between the related variables. The results of this study were as follows. First, the middle school HE teachers performed well above the standards in terms of planning, execution, and evaluation about self supervision related to HE. Second, the HE teachers collected materials for instruction by using literary (books) survey, Internet and mass media. They mainly focused on improving ways of "teaching and learning" and deepening the studies related to contents of textbooks. Third, the HE teachers used various ways to improve self supervision in the following order: mass media, literary (books) survey, participation in societies for researches, meetings, various training and field trip More than half of the middle school HE teachers proceeded to graduate schools, joined meetings for researches and had experiences of taking classes in private institutes. They also made a field trip once or twice a year and depended much on TV programs and education broadcasting programs as ways of improving their performances related to self supervision. While they were actively sharing information with their peer group, they made little effort at analyzing and evaluating their classes and utilizing expert group for their classes. The main problems as to self supervision were that only the half of the HE teachers responded that they were performing self supervision related to their classes well above the standards and the area where they heavily focused on has been "teaching and learning" and "the studies related to contents of textbooks". Therefore, to motivate incentives of the HE teachers for self supervision, meetings for researches should be activated and various training programs should be developed. In addition, government should give administrative and institutional support through a publication of books introducing detailed ways of self supervision and an establishment of centers and institutions for supporting self supervision.