• Applied Microscopy
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.53-64
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• 1995

This study was designed to investigate the morphological alterations of zonula occludens, macula adherences and gap junctions between the hepatocytes in the fasting conditions. Animals (Sprague Dawley, $250{\sim}280g$) were divided into two groups: normal and fasting. The latter were fasted for eight days prior to sampling. Liver tissues were sectioned and replicated after freeze fracturing for the transmission electron microscopy. In the normal rat liver, the interhepatocellular space at the area of some zonula occludens appeared to be widened in thin sections. On the freeze fracture replicas., the zonula occludens appeared as an anastomosing network of $2{\sim}4$ strands or grooves on P or E faces. Free ends and fragments of the strands were observed. In the rat fasted for eight days, the hepatocytes were diminished in size and the organelles were decreased in number and size. The intercellular space was wide at many areas of zonula occludens in thin section. On the freeze fracture replicas, the zonula occludens showed diminution or disappearence of anastomosing network of strands or grooves. Free ends and small fragments of the strands or grooves were frequently encountered. The macula adherens was markedly increased in number in thin sections, although they could not be found on the freeze fracture replicas. The gap junctions were increased in number in thin sections. Small aggregations of the intramembranous particles appeared with larger ones on the freeze fracture replica. The evidences may suggest the followings: (1) The disassembly of zonula occludens in the fasting states is led from the diminished mechanical stress on the luminal surface of bile canaliculus with the impaired secretion of bile components from the hepatocytes. (2) The increase of macula adherens is necessary to maintain the liver parenchyma integrity in the fasting state which leads the hepatocyte to be diminished and finally the intercellular space to be separated. (3) The rise in both number and size of gap junctions is owing to the need of increasing intercellular communication between the hepatocytes during the fasting. (4) The alteration of zonula occludens is easily led by the physiological condition of hepatocytes even in the normal ones.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-23
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• 2016

Purpose Self-congruity deals with the effect of symbolic value-expressive attributes on consumer decision and behavior, which is the theoretical foundation of the "non-utilitarian destination positioning". Functional congruity refers to utilitarian evaluation of a product or service by consumers. In addition, recent years, social network services, especially mobile social network services have created many opportunities for e-WOM communication that enables consumers to share personal consumption related information anywhere at any time. Moreover, self-construal is a hot and popular topic that has been discussed in the field of modem psychology as well as in marketing area. This study aims to examine the moderating effect of self-construal on the relationship between self-congruity, functional congruity and tourists' positive electronic word of mouth (e-WOM). Design/methodology/approach In order to verify the hypotheses, we developed a questionnaire with 32 survey items. We measured all the items on a five-point Likert-type scale. We used Sojump.com to collect questionnaire and gathered 218 responses from whom have visited Korea before. After a pilot test, we analyzed the main survey data by using SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 18.0, and employed structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses. We first estimated the measurement model for its overall fit, reliability and validity through a confirmatory factor analysis and used common method bias test to make sure that whether measures are affected by common-method variance. Then we tested the hypotheses through the structural model and used regression analysis to measure moderating effect of self-construal. Findings The results reveal that the effect of self-congruity on tourists' positive e-WOM is stronger for tourists with an independent self-construal compared with those with interdependent self-construal. Moreover, it shows that the effect of functional congruity on tourists' positive e-WOM becomes salient when tourists' self-construal is primed to be interdependent rather than independent. We expect that the results of this study can provide important implications for academic and practical perspective.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.208-220
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• 2016

Automatic Mountain Meteorology Observation System (AMOS) is an important ingredient for several climatological and forest disaster prediction studies. In this study, we select the optimal sites for AMOS in the mountain areas of Honam and Jeju in order to prevent forest disasters such as forest fires and landslides. So, this study used spatial dataset such as national forest map, forest roads, hiking trails and 30m DEM(Digital Elevation Model) as well as forest risk map(forest fire and landslide), national AWS information to extract optimal site selection of AMOS. Technical methods for optimal site selection of the AMOS was the firstly used multifractal model, IDW interpolation, spatial redundancy for 2.5km AWS buffering analysis, and 200m buffering analysis by using ArcGIS. Secondly, optimal sites selected by spatial analysis were estimated site accessibility, observatory environment of solar power and wireless communication through field survey. The threshold score for the final selection of the sites have to be higher than 70 points in the field assessment. In the result, a total of 159 polygons in national forest map were extracted by the spatial analysis and a total of 64 secondary candidate sites were selected for the ridge and the top of the area using Google Earth. Finally, a total of 26 optimal sites were selected by quantitative assessment based on field survey. Our selection criteria will serve for the establishment of the AMOS network for the best observations of weather conditions in the national forests. The effective observation network may enhance the mountain weather observations, which leads to accurate prediction of forest disasters.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.705-713
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• 2024

Purpose: Currently, the only routes that enter Yeongjong Island are Yeongjong Bridge and Incheon Bridge, which are private roads. The purpose of this study is to predict and study changes in transportation demand for new routes and two existing routes according to the plan to open the 3rd Bridge, a new route, in December 2025. Method: The basic data for traffic demand forecast were O/D and NETWORK data from 2021.08, KOTI. In order to examine the reliable impact of Yeongjong Bridge and Incheon Bridge on the opening of the 3rd Bridge, it is necessary to correct the traffic distribution of Yeongjong Island and Incheon International Airport to suit reality, and in this study, the trip distribution by region was corrected and applied using Mobile Big Data. Result: As of 2026, the scheduled year of the opening of the 3rd Bridge, two alternatives, Alternative 1 (2,000 won) and Alternative 2 (4,000 won), were established and future transportation demand analysis was conducted, In the case of Alternative 1, which is similar to the existing private road toll restructuring, the traffic volume of the 3rd Bridge was predicted to be 42,836 out of 199,101 veh/day in the Yeongjong area in 2026, and the traffic volume reduction rate of the existing road was analyzed as 21.5%. Conlclusion: As a result of the review (based on Alternative 1), the proportion of convertted traffic on the 3rd Yanji Bridge was estimated to be 70% of Yeongjong Bridge and 30% of Incheon Bridge, and 21.5% of the predicted traffic reduction on the existing road when the 3rd Yanji Bridge was opened is considered appropriate considering the results of the case review and changes in conditions. It is judged that it is a way to secure the reliability of the prediction of traffic demand because communication big data is used to reflect more realistic traffic distribution when predicting future traffic demand.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.53-74
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• 2012

A challenge in fostering virtual communities is the continuous supply of knowledge, namely members' willingness to contribute knowledge to their communities. Previous research argues that giving away knowledge eventually causes the possessors of that knowledge to lose their unique value to others, benefiting all except the contributor. Furthermore, communication within virtual communities involves a large number of participants with different social backgrounds and perspectives. The establishment of mutual understanding to comprehend conversations and foster knowledge contribution in virtual communities is inevitably more difficult than face-to-face communication in a small group. In spite of these arguments, evidence suggests that individuals in virtual communities do engage in social behaviors such as knowledge contribution. It is important to understand why individuals provide their valuable knowledge to other community members without a guarantee of returns. In virtual communities, knowledge is inherently rooted in individual members' experiences and expertise. This personal nature of knowledge requires social interactions between virtual community members for knowledge transfer. This study employs the social capital theory in order to account for interpersonal relationship factors and identity theory for individual and group factors that may affect knowledge contribution. First, social capital is the relationship capital which is embedded within the relationships among the participants in a network and available for use when it is needed. Social capital is a productive resource, facilitating individuals' actions for attainment. Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1997) identify three dimensions of social capital and explain theoretically how these dimensions affect the exchange of knowledge. Thus, social capital would be relevant to knowledge contribution in virtual communities. Second, existing research has addressed the importance of identity in facilitating knowledge contribution in a virtual context. Identity in virtual communities has been described as playing a vital role in the establishment of personal reputations and in the recognition of others. For instance, reputation systems that rate participants in terms of the quality of their contributions provide a readily available inventory of experts to knowledge seekers. Despite the growing interest in identities, however, there is little empirical research about how identities in the communities influence knowledge contribution. Therefore, the goal of this study is to better understand knowledge contribution by examining the roles of social capital and identity in virtual communities. Based on a theoretical framework of social capital and identity theory, we develop and test a theoretical model and evaluate our hypotheses. Specifically, we propose three variables such as cohesiveness, reciprocity, and commitment, referring to the social capital theory, as antecedents of knowledge contribution in virtual communities. We further posit that members with a strong identity (self-presentation and group identification) contribute more knowledge to virtual communities. We conducted a field study in order to validate our research model. We collected data from 192 members of virtual communities and used the PLS method to analyse the data. The tests of the measurement model confirm that our data set has appropriate discriminant and convergent validity. The results of testing the structural model show that cohesion, reciprocity, and self-presentation significantly influence knowledge contribution, while commitment and group identification do not significantly influence knowledge contribution. Our findings on cohesion and reciprocity are consistent with the previous literature. Contrary to our expectations, commitment did not significantly affect knowledge contribution in virtual communities. This result may be due to the fact that knowledge contribution was voluntary in the virtual communities in our sample. Another plausible explanation for this result may be the self-selection bias for the survey respondents, who are more likely to contribute their knowledge to virtual communities. The relationship between self-presentation and knowledge contribution was found to be significant in virtual communities, supporting the results of prior literature. Group identification did not significantly affect knowledge contribution in this study, inconsistent with the wealth of research that identifies group identification as an important factor for knowledge sharing. This conflicting result calls for future research that examines the role of group identification in knowledge contribution in virtual communities. This study makes a contribution to theory development in the area of knowledge management in general and virtual communities in particular. For practice, the results of this study identify the circumstances under which individual factors would be effective for motivating knowledge contribution to virtual communities.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.97-122
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• 2007

Conventional networking and telecommunications infrastructure characterized by wires, fixed location, and inflexibility is giving way to mobile technologies. Numerous research reports point to the ultimate domination of wireless communication. With the increasing prevalence of advanced cell-phones, various mobile data services (hereafter MDS) are gaining popularity. Although cellular networks were originally introduced for voice communications, statistics indicate that data services are replacing the matured voice service as the growth engine for telecom service providers. For example, SK Telecom, the Korea's largest mobile service provider, reported that 25.6% of revenue and 28.5% of profit came from MDS in 2006 and the share is growing. Statistics also indicate that, in 2006, the average revenue per user (ARPU) for voice didn't change but MDS grew seven percents from the previous year, further highlighting its growth potential. MDS is defined "as an assortment of digital data services that can be accessed using a mobile device over a wide geographic area." A variety of MDS have been deployed, with a few reaching the status of killer applications. Many of them need to access the Internet through the cellular-phone infrastructure. In the past, when the cellular network didn't have acceptable bandwidth for data services, SMS (short messaging service) dominated MDS. Now, Internet-ready, next-generation cell-phones are driving rich digital data services into the fabric of everyday life, These include news on various topics, Internet search, mapping and location-based information, mobile banking and gaming, downloading (i.e., screen savers), multimedia streaming, and various communication services (i.e., email, short messaging, messenger, and chaffing). The huge economic stake MDS has on its stakeholders warrants focused research to understand associated dynamics behind its adoption. Lyytinen and Yoo(2002) pointed out the limitation of traditional adoption models in explaining the rapid diffusion of innovations such as P2P or mobile services. Also, despite the increasing popularity of MDS, unexpected drop in its usage is observed among some people. Intrigued by these observations, an exploratory study was conducted to examine decision factors of MDS usage. Data analysis revealed that the increase and decrease of MDS use was influenced by different forces. The findings of the exploratory study triggered our confirmatory research effort to validate the uni-directionality of studied factors in affecting MDS usage. This differs from extant studies of IS/IT adoption that are largely grounded on the assumption of bi-directionality of explanatory variables in determining the level of dependent variables (i.e., user satisfaction, service usage). The research goal is, therefore, to examine if increase and decrease in the usage of MDS are explained by two separate groups of variables pertaining to information quality and system quality. For this, we investigate following research questions: (1) Does the information quality of MDS increase service usage?; (2) Does the system quality of MDS decrease service usage?; and (3) Does user motivation for subscribing MDS moderate the effect information and system quality have on service usage? The research questions and subsequent analysis are grounded on the two factor theory pioneered by Hertzberg et al(1959). To answer the research questions, in the first, an exploratory study based on 378 survey responses was conducted to learn about important decision factors of MDS usage. It revealed discrepancy between the influencing forces of usage increase and those of usage decrease. Based on the findings from the exploratory study and the two-factor theory, we postulated information quality as the motivator and system quality as the de-motivator (or hygiene) of MDS. Then, a confirmative study was undertaken on their respective role in encouraging and discouraging the usage of mobile data service.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.147-157
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• 2010

With the immergence of the iPhone, the interest in Smartphones is getting higher as services can be provided directly between service providers and consumers without the network operators. As the number of international tourists increase, individual tourists are also increasing. According to the WTO's (World Tourism Organization) prediction, the number of international tourists will be 1.56 billion in 2020,and the average growth rate will be 4.1% a year. Chinese tourists, in particular, are increasing rapidly and about 100 million will travel the world in 2020. In 2009, about 7.8 million foreign tourists visited Korea and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is trying to attract 12 million foreign tourists in 2014. A research institute carried out a survey targeting foreign tourists and the survey results showed that they felt uncomfortable with communication (about 55.8%) and directional signs (about 21.4%) when they traveled in Korea. To solve this inconvenience for foreign tourists, multilingual servicesfor traffic signs, tour information, shopping information and so forth should be enhanced. The appearance of the Smartphone comes just in time to provide a new service to address these inconveniences. Smartphones are especially useful because every Smartphone has GPS (Global Positioning System) that can provide users' location to the system, making it possible to provide location-based services. For improvement of tourists' convenience, Seoul Metropolitan Government hasinitiated the u-tour service using Kiosks and Smartphones, and several Province Governments have started the u-tourpia project using RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) and an exclusive device. Even though the u-tour or u-tourpia service used the Smartphone and RFID, the tourist should know the location of the Kiosks and have previous information. So, this service did not give the solution yet. In this paper, I developed a new convenient service which can provide location based information for the individual tourists using GPS, WiFi, and 3G. The service was tested at Insa-dong in Seoul, and the service can provide tour information around the tourist using a push service without user selection. This self-tour service is designed for providing a travel guide service for foreign travelers from the airport to their destination and information about tourist attractions. The system reduced information traffic by constraining receipt of information to tourist themes and locations within a 20m or 40m radius of the device. In this case, service providers can provide targeted, just-in-time services to special customers by sending desired information. For evaluating the implemented system, the contents of 40 gift shops and traditional restaurants in Insa-dong are stored in the CMS (Content Management System). The service program shows a map displaying the current location of the tourist and displays a circle which shows the range to get the tourist information. If there is information for the tourist within range, the information viewer is activated. If there is only a single resultto display, the information viewer pops up directly, and if there are several results, the viewer shows a list of the contents and the user can choose content manually. As aresult, the proposed system can provide location-based tourist information to tourists without previous knowledge of the area. Currently, the GPS has a margin of error (about 10~20m) and this leads the location and information errors. However, because our Government is planning to provide DGPS (Differential GPS) information by DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) this error will be reduced to within 1m.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.666-674
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to examine the job-related characteristics of dental hygienists affecting their job satisfaction and turnover possibility. The subjects in this study were 297 dental hygienists who worked in dental hospitals and clinics in the metropolitan area. The dental hygienists who worked for three to less than five years, who were unmarried and who didn't benefit from any incentive systems expressed a greater satisfaction, and those who were married, whose workplaces were established jointly with other dental institutions in the form of a network and whose workplaces offered incentives were more likely to change their employment. As for influential factors for job satisfaction and turnover possibility, the respondents whose workplaces were established jointly with other dental institutions were less satisfied, and a larger number of patients and better communication led to higher satisfaction. Those who worked in general hospitals were more likely to change their employment, and better welfare benefits, more appropriate length of working hours and a larger number of patients led to lower turnover responsibility. The findings of the study ascertained that working environments were one of the factors to impact on job satisfaction and turnover possibility, and both of hospitals and dental hygienists should make an effort to improve working environments.