• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.188-198
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• 2010

This study attempts to examine the influence that negative WOM (NWOM) has in an online context. It specifically focuses on the impact of the service failure description and the perceived intention of the communication provider on consumer evaluations of firm competence, attitude toward the firm, positive word of mouth and behavioral intentions. Studies of communication persuasiveness focus on "who says what; to whom; in which channel; with what effect (Chiu 2007)." In this research study, we examine electronic web posting, particularly focusing on two aspects of "what": the level of service failure communicated and perceived intention of the individual posting. It stands to reason electronic NWOM that appears to be trying to damage a product’s or firm's reputation will be viewed as more biased and will thus be considered as less credible. According to attribution theory, people search for the causes of events especially those that are negative and unexpected (Weiner 2006). Hennig-Thurau and Walsh (2003) state "since the reader has only limited knowledge and trust of the author of an online articulation the quality of the contribution could be expected to serve as a potent moderator of the articulation-behavior relationship. We therefore posit the following hypotheses: H1. Subjects exposed to electronic NWOM describing a high level of service failure will provide lower scores on measures of (a) firm competence, (b) attitude toward the firm, (c) positive word of mouth, and (d) behavioral intention than will subjects exposed to electronic NWOM describing a low level of service failure. H2. Subjects exposed to electronic NWOM with a warning intent will provide lower scores on measures of (a) firm competence, (b) attitude toward the firm, (c) positive word of mouth, and (d) behavioral intention than will subjects exposed to electronic NWOM with a vengeful intent. H3. Level of service failure in electronic NWOM will interact with the perceived intention of the electronic NWOM, such that there will be a decrease in mean response on measures of (a) firm competence, (b) attitude toward the firm, (c) positive word of mouth, and (d) behavioral intention from electronic NWOM with a warning intent to a vengeful intent. The main study involved a2 (service failure severity) x2 (NWOM with warning versus vengeful intent) factorial experiment. Stimuli were presented to subjects online using a mock online web posting. The scenario described a service failure associated with non-acceptance of a gift card in a brick-and-mortar retail establishment. A national sample was recruited through an online research firm. A total of 113 subjects participated in the study. A total of 104 surveys were analyzed. The scenario was perceived to be realistic with 92.3% giving the scenario a greater than average response. Manipulations were satisfactory. Measures were pre-tested and validated. Items were analyzed and found reliable and valid. MANOVA results found the multivariate interaction was not significant, allowing our interpretation to proceed to the main effects. Significant main effects were found for post intent and service failure severity. The post intent main effect was attributable to attitude toward the firm, positive word of mouth and behavioral intention. The service failure severity main effect was attributable to all four dependent variables: firm competence, attitude toward the firm, positive word of mouth and behavioral intention. Specifically, firm competence for electronic NWOM describing high severity of service failure was lower than electronic NWOM describing low severity of service failure. Attitude toward the firm for electronic NWOM describing high severity of service failure was lower than electronic NWOM describing low severity of service failure. Positive word of mouth for electronic NWOM describing high severity of service failure was lower than electronic NWOM describing low severity of service failure. Behavioral intention for electronic NWOM describing high severity of service failure was lower for electronic NWOM describing low severity of service failure. Therefore, H1a, H1b, H1c and H1d were all supported. In addition, attitude toward the firm for electronic NWOM with a warning intent was lower than electronic NWOM with a vengeful intent. Positive word of mouth for electronic NWOM with a warning intent was lower than electronic NWOM with a vengeful intent. Behavioral intention for electronic NWOM with a warning intent was lower than electronic NWOM with a vengeful intent. Thus, H2b, H2c and H2d were supported. However, H2a was not supported though results were in the hypothesized direction. Otherwise, there was no significant multivariate service failure severity by post intent interaction, nor was there a significant univariate service failure severity by post intent interaction for any of the three hypothesized variables. Thus, H3 was not supported for any of the four hypothesized variables. This study has research and managerial implications. The findings of this study support prior research that service failure severity impacts consumer perceptions, attitude, positive word of mouth and behavioral intentions (Weun et al. 2004). Of further relevance, this response is evidenced in the online context, suggesting the need for firms to engage in serious focused service recovery efforts. With respect to perceived intention of electronic NWOM, the findings support prior research suggesting reader's attributions of the intentions of a source influence the strength of its impact on perceptions, attitude, positive word of mouth and behavioral intentions. The implication for managers suggests while consumers do find online communications to be credible and influential, not all communications are weighted the same. A benefit of electronic WOM, even when it may be potentially damaging, is it can be monitored for potential problems and additionally offers the possibility of redress.

• 한국초등상담교육학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.01a
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• pp.223-245
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in depression, irrational faith and the school adaptation of elementary school students by their sex and region, to provide basic materials to teach children with the likelihood to be depressed by analyzing the correlation of depression, irrational faith and school adaptation, and help them to have healthy emotion and behaviors. To achieve these goals, following agenda were set. First, what are the differences in the depression, the irrational faith and the school adaptation of elementary school students by their sex and region? Second, what is the relationship between the depression characteristics and the irrational faith of elementary school students? Third, what is the relationship between the irrational faith and the school adaptation of elementary school students? Fourth, what is the relationship between the depression characteristics and school adaptation of elementary school students? : To resolve these agenda, the subjects were selected from Grade 6 students from the elementary schools locatec in Suwon and Hwaseong. The jubjects were selected from the two schools in Suwon and three schools in Hwaseong which were randomly chosen. The subjects were 670 in total. 70 insincere answers were excluded from the analysis. Therefore the subjects used in the analysis were 600 in total(150 male and female students in city respectively and 150 male and female students in rural area respectively). The tools used for this study were Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), Irrational Faith Test (over-self-reliance, dichotomy, determinism, over-concern, evasive faith, over dependent faith), School Adaptation Test (Attitudes to teachers and school environments, hobbies and specialties, academic achievements, peer relationship). Materials were processed with the SPSS program for ANOVA and correlation analysis. All the statistical values were verified at .05 level. The followings are the results of the analysis of the collected data. First, in the analysis of depression, there was significant difference between male and female students (F=4.75, p<.05). Female students (X =56.93) showed a little higher value than male students (X =53.83). There was significant difference between regions (F=13.02, p<.001), too. Rural area students (X =57.93) showed higher value than city area students (X =52.82). When analyzing irrational faith, there was significant difference between male and female students (F=S.60, p<.05). Female students (X =81.32) showed a little higher value than male students (X =77.72). There was no significant difference according to regions. When analyzing the school adaptation, there was no significant difference according to either sex or region. Second, depression and irrational faith showed highly positive correlations in all areas. In particular, over concern and evasive faith showed the highest correlation with depression inclination (r=.68, p<.001). When looking into the results by sex and by region, female students (r=.70, p<.001) and the rural area students (r=.69, p<.001) showed higher correlation between depression and irrational faith than male students and city area students (r=.63, p<.001). Additionally, in all areas including by sex and by region, a positive correlation was shown. In all variables such as male students (r=.63, p<.001), female students (r=.72, p<.001), city area students (r=.66, p<.001), and rural area students (r=.69, p<.001), over concern and evasive faith showed the highest correlation with depression inclinations. Third, irrational faith (overall) and its sub factors such as over-self-reliance, dichotomy, determinism, over-concern and evasive faith had significant negative correlations with school adaptation (overall) and its sub factors in the scope of $r=-.27{\sim}-.52$. Determinism out of the sub factors of the irrational faith had the highest negative correlation with school adaptation (overall) and sub factors at the scope of $r=-.37{\sim}-.51$. However, over-self-reliance showed the negative correlation with school adaptation (overall) and its sub factors only partially. When looking into the results by gender, both genders showed significant negative correlation between irrational faith (overall) and its sub factors with school adaptation. Male students showed highly negative correlations with school adaptation (overall) and its sub factors in determinism ($r=-.35{\sim}-52$) and over-concern and evasive faith($r=-.31{\sim}-.51$), and fern ale students showed in over-self-reliance ($r=-.27{\sim}-.45$). However over-self-reliance showed negative correlation with school adaptation and its sub factors only partially. When looking into by region, both city and rural areas showed significant negative correlation between irrational faith (overall) and it sub factors, and school adaptation. Rural areas showed higher negative correlation in irrational faith (overall) ($r=-.39{\sim}-.53$) and over-self-reliance ($r=-.32{\sim}-.44$) and dichotomy ($r=-.28{\sim}-.39$) than city areas. However over-self-reliance showed negative correlation with school adaptation and its sub factors only partially. Fourth, depression and school adaptation showed the negative correlation in all areas. In particular, academic achievements and peer relationship showed the highest negative correlation with depression (r=-.53 p<.001). When looking into the results by sex and by region, female students (r=-.62, p<.001) and rural area students (r=-.61, p<.001) showed higher negative correlation with depression and school adaptation than female students (r=-.56, p<.001) and city area students (r=-.57, p<.001). Although there was negative correlation in all areas by sex and by region, male students (r=-.52, p<.001) and rural area students (r=-.56, p<.001) showed the highest negative correlation in peer relationship and female students (r=-.57, p<.001) and city area students (r=-.56, p<.001) showed the highest negative correlation in academic records. Based on the results of the study, it is proposed to provide elementary school students sho are likely to be depressed very easily with careful counselling and teaching based on the attention and love in school fields so that they can adapt themselves to home, school and society with positive and reasonable thinking.

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

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

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.1-19
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• 2013

This study was carried out to analyze distribution situation of alien plants and to propose management plan in the 3 Folk village in Gyeongsangbuk-do which is Cultural property designated by the State; Hahoe, Yangdong and Hangae. This research is for improve of sincerity of historical site and provide basic information which use about administration of preservation. The results are as follows. 1. Overall flora and alien plants appearance The total flora in the 3 folk villages were listed total 752 taxa including 127 families, 430 genera, 614 species, 5 subspecies, 100 varieties and 33 forms. Among them, woody plants take 263 taxa(35.0%) and herbaceous plants take 489 taxa (65.0%). Flora in the Hahoe, Yangdong and Hangae village were total 534, 479 taxa and 408 taxa and exotic plant index was 30.1%, 38.2% and 37.0% respectively. In types of exotic plants, ornamental exotic plants were 135 taxa, deciduous exotic plants were 21 taxa, cultivating exotic plants were 64 taxa, and naturalized exotic plants were 80 taxa and those result lead that the ornamental exotic plants is the highest ratio. According to the villages, Hahoe village had 161 taxa(30.1%), Yangdong Village had 183 taxa(38.2%), and Hangae village had 151 taxa(37.0%) that Yangdong village showed the most number of exotic plants. 2. Planting of landscape exotic plants in the unit cultural assets Meanwhile, Ornamental exotic plants in old house's gardens in Andong Hahoe village which is designated as a unit assets, those are total 30 taxa; followed by the Okyeon house(8 taxa) is highest and the Yangjindang(7), the Hadong house(6) and the Chunghyodang(5). Magnolia denudata appears the most as for 4 times and Campsis grandiflora etc. each took 2 times. Based on the Yangdong village, Gyeongju, that are found total 51 taxa; followed by the Dugok house(16 taxa) the Sujoldang(14), the Mucheondang(13), and the Sangchunheon (12). High appearance rate of ornamental exotic plants were Viburnum opulus for. hydrangeoides, Lycoris squamigera, Caragagna sinica and Magnolia denudata etc. Based on the Hangae village, Seongju, that are designated total 62 taxa; followed by the Jinsa house(35 taxa), the Gyori house(25), the Hanju head family house(20), and the Hahoe house(16). Taxa with high appearance rates were Caragana sinica, Juniperus chinensis var. horizontalis, Magnolia denudata, Viburnum opulus for. hydrangeoides, Chaenomeles speciosa etc. 3. Problems of exotic plant landscapes in the outer spaces of the folk villages Problems of exotic plant landscapes in the outer spaces of the Hahoe village are as follows. In lower of the Mansongjeong forest, Ambrosia artemisifolia, which are ecosystem disturbance plants designated by the Ministry of Environment, live with high dominance value. This should be have a remove with Sicyos angulatus immediately. In the Nakdong river bed around the Mansongjeong forest is covered with a riparian vegetation forest belt of Robinia pseudoacacia L. forest, Populus nigra var. italic community, and Populus x tomentiglandulosa community colony. Based on the Yangdong village, the planted or naturally distributed Ailanthus altissima colony, sporadically distributed Robinia pseudoacacia as well as Amorpha fruticosa are detected all over the village and ecotones. Based on the Hangae village, Ailanthus altissima and Robinia pseudoacacia are sporadically distributed around the village and there is a sign of spreading. similarity of exotic plantsis 47.0% to 48.6% and a reason why this happened is all of research site in Gyeongsanbuk-do and that is why growth norm of plant is similar, exotic plant which is sales for ornamental and it infer to require related countermeasure of each villages and joint related countermeasure.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.53-65
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• 2001

Purpose : To improve the local control of patients with nasopharyngeal cancer, we have implemented 3-D conformal radiotherapy and forward intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) to used of compensating filters. Three dimension conformal radiotherapy with intensity modulation is a new modality for cancer treatments. We designed 3-D treatment planning with 3-D RTP (radiation treatment planning system) and evaluation dose distribution with tumor control probability (TCP) and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP). Material and Methods : We have developed a treatment plan consisting four intensity modulated photon fields that are delivered through the compensating tilters and block transmission for critical organs. We get a full size CT imaging including head and neck as 3 mm slices, and delineating PTV (planning target volume) and surrounding critical organs, and reconstructed 3D imaging on the computer windows. In the planning stage, the planner specifies the number of beams and their directions including non-coplanar, and the prescribed doses for the target volume and the permissible dose of normal organs and the overlap regions. We designed compensating filter according to tissue deficit and PTV volume shape also dose weighting for each field to obtain adequate dose distribution, and shielding blocks weighting for transmission. Therapeutic gains were evaluated by numerical equation of tumor control probability and normal tissue complication probability. The TCP and NTCP by DVH (dose volume histogram) were compared with the 3-D conformal radiotherapy and forward intensity modulated conformal radiotherapy by compensator and blocks weighting. Optimization for the weight distribution was peformed iteration with initial guess weight or the even weight distribution. The TCP and NTCP by DVH were compared with the 3-D conformal radiotherapy and intensitiy modulated conformal radiotherapy by compensator and blocks weighting. Results : Using a four field IMRT plan, we have customized dose distribution to conform and deliver sufficient dose to the PTV. In addition, in the overlap regions between the PTV and the normal organs (spinal cord, salivary grand, pituitary, optic nerves), the dose is kept within the tolerance of the respective organs. We evaluated to obtain sufficient TCP value and acceptable NTCP using compensating filters. Quality assurance checks show acceptable agreement between the planned and the implemented MLC(multi-leaf collimator). Conclusion : IMRT provides a powerful and efficient solution for complex planning problems where the surrounding normal tissues place severe constraints on the prescription dose. The intensity modulated fields can be efficaciously and accurately delivered using compensating filters.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2004

Background: The aims of this study are to verify the result of the surgical treatment of ALCAPA and to identify the postoperative changes of left ventricular dimensions and mitral regurgitation (MR), Material and Method: Fifteen patients operated on since 1985 were included in the study. The patients operated on before 1998 (n=9) showed heterogeneous properties with various surgical strategies and cardiopulmonary bypass techniques. However, six patients were operated on with the established surgical strategy since 1998; 1) Dual perfusion and dual cardioplegic solution delivery through ascending aorta and main pulmonary artery, 2) Coronary transfer by rolled-conduit made of pulmonary artery wall flap, and 3) Additional mitral valvular procedure was not peformed. Result: Median age of the study group was 6 months (1 month to 34 years). The operative methods were left subclavian artery to left coronary artery anastomosis in 1, simple ligation in 2, Takeuchi operation in 2, and coronary reimplantation in 10 patients. The mean follow up period was 5.5<5.8 years (2 months 14 years), There were one early death (6.7%) and one late death. Overall 5-year survival rate was 85.6$\pm$9.6%. The Z-value of left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic dimensions were 6.4$\pm$3.0 and 5.1 $\pm$3.6 preoperatively, and decreased to 1.7$\pm$ 1.9 and 0.8$\pm$ 1.6 in 3 months (p<0.05). Significant preoperative MR was identified in 6 patients (40%) and all the patients showed immediate improvement of MR within f month postoperatively. There were 3 cases of reoperation due to coronary anastomosis site stenosis and recurrence of MR. However, there was no mortality nor late reoperation in the patients operated on after 1998. Conclusion: The surgical treatment of ALCAPA showed favorable survival and early recovery of ventricular dimensions and mitral valvular function. Although long-term reintervention was required in some cases of earlier period, all the cases after 1998 showed excellent surgical outcome without long-term problem.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.137-148
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• 2014

Recommender system has become one of the most important technologies in e-commerce in these days. The ultimate reason to shop online, for many consumers, is to reduce the efforts for information search and purchase. Recommender system is a key technology to serve these needs. Many of the past studies about recommender systems have been devoted to developing and improving recommendation algorithms and collaborative filtering (CF) is known to be the most successful one. Despite its success, however, CF has several shortcomings such as cold-start, sparsity, gray sheep problems. In order to be able to generate recommendations, ordinary CF algorithms require evaluations or preference information directly from users. For new users who do not have any evaluations or preference information, therefore, CF cannot come up with recommendations (Cold-star problem). As the numbers of products and customers increase, the scale of the data increases exponentially and most of the data cells are empty. This sparse dataset makes computation for recommendation extremely hard (Sparsity problem). Since CF is based on the assumption that there are groups of users sharing common preferences or tastes, CF becomes inaccurate if there are many users with rare and unique tastes (Gray sheep problem). This study proposes a new algorithm that utilizes Social Network Analysis (SNA) techniques to resolve the gray sheep problem. We utilize 'degree centrality' in SNA to identify users with unique preferences (gray sheep). Degree centrality in SNA refers to the number of direct links to and from a node. In a network of users who are connected through common preferences or tastes, those with unique tastes have fewer links to other users (nodes) and they are isolated from other users. Therefore, gray sheep can be identified by calculating degree centrality of each node. We divide the dataset into two, gray sheep and others, based on the degree centrality of the users. Then, different similarity measures and recommendation methods are applied to these two datasets. More detail algorithm is as follows: Step 1: Convert the initial data which is a two-mode network (user to item) into an one-mode network (user to user). Step 2: Calculate degree centrality of each node and separate those nodes having degree centrality values lower than the pre-set threshold. The threshold value is determined by simulations such that the accuracy of CF for the remaining dataset is maximized. Step 3: Ordinary CF algorithm is applied to the remaining dataset. Step 4: Since the separated dataset consist of users with unique tastes, an ordinary CF algorithm cannot generate recommendations for them. A 'popular item' method is used to generate recommendations for these users. The F measures of the two datasets are weighted by the numbers of nodes and summed to be used as the final performance metric. In order to test performance improvement by this new algorithm, an empirical study was conducted using a publically available dataset - the MovieLens data by GroupLens research team. We used 100,000 evaluations by 943 users on 1,682 movies. The proposed algorithm was compared with an ordinary CF algorithm utilizing 'Best-N-neighbors' and 'Cosine' similarity method. The empirical results show that F measure was improved about 11% on average when the proposed algorithm was used