• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.147-165
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• 2009

Virtual community(VC) will increasingly be organized as commercial enterprises, with the objective of earning an attractive financial return by providing members with valuable resources and environment. For example, Cyworld.com in Korea uses several community services to enable customers of Cyworld to take control of their own value as potential purchasers of products and services. Although initial adoption is important for online network service success, it does not necessarily result in the desired managerial performance unless the initial usage is continuously related to the continuous usage and purchase. Particularly, the customer who receives relevant online services and is well equipped with online network services, will trust the online service provider and perceive less risk and experience more activities such as continuous usage and purchase. Thus, how to promote continued online service usage or, alternatively, how to prevent discontinuance is a critical issue for VC service providers to consider. By aggregating a wide range of information and online environments for customers and providing trust to its members, the service providers of virtual communities help to reduce the perceived risk of continuous usage and purchase. Drill down, online service managers realize that achieving strong and sustained customers who continuously use online service and purchase on it is crucial. Therefore, the research into this online service continuance will identify the relationship between the initial usage and the continuous usage and purchase. The research of continuous usage or post adoption has recently emerged as an important issue in the IS literature. Individuals' information systems(IS) continuous usage decisions are congruent with consumers' repeat purchase decisions. The TAM(Technology Acceptance Model) paradigm has been strongly confirmed across a wide range from product purchase on EC to online service usage contexts. The analysis of IS usage based on TAM has proven to be successful across almost online service contexts. However, most of previous studies have focused on only an area (i.e., VC or EC). Just little research has tried to analyze the relationship between VC and EC. The effect of some factors on user intention, captured through several theories such as TAM, has been demonstrated. Yet, few studies have explored the salient relationships of VC users' EC acceptance. To fill this gap between VC and EC research, this paper attempts to develop a research model that extends the TAM perspective in view of the additional contributions of trust in the service provider and trust in members on some factors that affect EC and VC adoption. In this extension, we applied the TAM-to-TAM(T2T) model, and analyzed the transfer effect of trust between these two TAMs. The research model was empirically tested on the context of a social network service. The model was to extend TAM with the trust concept for the virtual community environment from the perspective of tasks. By building an extended model of TAM and examining the relationships between trust and the existing variables of TAM, it is aimed to explain a user's continuous intention to use VC and purchase on EC. The unit of analysis in this paper is an individual user of a virtual community. The population of interest is the individual with the experiences in virtual community. The data for this paper was made available via a Web survey of VC users. In total, 281 cases were gathered for about one week, but there were some missing values in the sample and there were some inappropriate cases. Thus, only 248 cases were finally analyzed. We chose the structural equation analysis to test the hypotheses and it is better suited for explaining complex relationships than the other methods. In this test, AMOS was used to test the Structural Equation Model (SEM). Noticeable results have been found in the T2T model regarding the factors affecting the intention to use of virtual community and loyalty. Our result showed that trust transfer plays a key role in forming the two adoption beliefs. Overall, this study preliminarily confirms the salience of trust transfer in online service.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.443-454
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• 2008

Statement of problem: A clinically successful color match is one of the important factor to get an esthetic dental restoration. Dental shade guides are commonly used to evaluate tooth color in restorative procedure. But numerous reports have indicated that common shade guides do not provide sufficient spectral coverage of the natural tooth colors. To address issues associated with the shade guide, distinct avenues have been pursued objective spectrophotometric / colorimetric assessment. Purpose: This study compared the accuracy of tooth color selection of spectrophotometer with that of human visual determination. Three main factors were investigated, namely, the effect of light, the individual variation and the experience of the observer. Material and methods: At the first experiment, on ten patients, one operator independently selected the best matching shade to the unrestored maxillary central incisor, using a Vita Classical Shade Guide in the morning, at noon and in the afternoon. The same teeth were measured by means of a reflectance spectrophotometer. At the second experiment, on ten patients, ten operators (5 experts, 5 novices) selected and measured by the same method above at noon. At the third experiment, the results of the second experiment were divided into two groups, expert and novice, and analyzed. Results: 1. There was significant difference between visual and spectrophotometric assessment (mean ${\Delta}E$ values) in experiment 1, 2, 3 (P < .05). 2. There was no significant difference between experts and novices group, when comparing with each visual and spectrophotometric assessment (mean ${\Delta}E$ values). Conclusion: Spectrophotometer could be used to analyze the shade of natural tooth objectively. Thereby, this method offers the potential tominimize considerably the need for corrections or even remakesafter intraoral try-in of restoration. Furthermore, to achieve its advantage, both the shade-matching environment and communication between dentist and technician should be optimized with use of visual and instrumental shade-matching systems.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.43-54
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• 2007

Silicone hydrogel contact lenses developed as a continuous-wear modality are now used as a daily-wear contact lenses. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical performance in a group of successful long-term wearers of conventional hydrogel contact lenses when refitted with daily wear $O_2OPTIX$ silicone hydrogel lenses. Sixty-two wearers ($30.7{\pm}19.9$ months of prior lens wear) among sixty-five soft lens wearers refitted with $O_2OPTIX$ silicone hydrogel lenses were participated in this study finally. Subjective symptoms were scored and objective signs were graded using CCLRU scales during the study period. 98% of subjects were successfully refitted with the one base curve of $O_2OPTIX$, and 33.9% of subjects were needed more or less lens powers compared with their habitual lenses. Subjects reported a concurrent reduction in dryness, redness and tiredness compared with their habitual lenses and both subjective and objective evaluations showed that dryness, tiredness, itchiness, bulbar and limbal hyperemia were decreased and significantly decreased particularly for those subjects with greater baseline symptoms (p<0.0001). But corneal staining was increased and was seen in many subjects during the study (p<0.0001). Refitting existing soft contact lens wearers with silicone hydrogel contact lens could result in a decreased in dryness, redness and tiredness, particularly more effective for those subjects with greater baseline of those symptoms. When patients using conventional hydrogel materials switch to a silicone hydrogel material, the potential for increased corneal staining should be considered and over-refraction should be needed to give a best vision.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.37
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• pp.325-354
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• 2013

The concept of national security and the fundamental system for crisis management have departed from traditional methods and the importance of a national critical infrastructure crisis management has been emphasized. A national critical infrastructure crisis means a situation where human resource, material and functional system that may have a material effect on the critical functions of the government, the vitality and integrity of society, national economy and the safety of the public becomes disabled due to causes such as terrorism or major disasters. Although North Korea had been subject to numerous rounds of negotiations and sanctions as it continually developed nuclear weapons since the 1960s, it has also showed off its nuclear armaments through successful nuclear testings and missile launches. As the development and threat of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction becomes more noticeable and the range of its risk expands, this study focuses on the potential for an absence of leadership for national crisis management where the country's leadership, which should serve the critical role and function of handling national crises, becomes completely destroyed by the unexpected initial attacks by North Korea. As a result, the purpose of this study is to propose safety measures for the country's leadership in preparation for North Korea's threat of nuclear weapons by examining the concept and degree of risk of weapons of mass destruction with a focus on nuclear weapons, analyzing the substance of the threat of North Korean nuclear weapons and evaluating such threat. In conclusion, first, to ensure the normal functioning of a national crisis management system in the event of a national crisis, we must seek safety measures that conform to the scope and succession order of the leadership of the national crisis management for an Enduring Constitutional Government (ECG) and the Continuity Of Operations (COOP). Second, in the event of a national ceremony, the gathering of the country's leadership all together in an open place should be avoided. In unavoidable circumstances, the next in rank that will act on behalf of the current leader should be designated and relevant safety measures should be taken. Third, during time of peace, in preparation for national crises, the scope of protection for the country's leadership should be prescribed and specific security and safety measures should be implemented. Fourth, the succession order for acting president in the case of the death of the president pursuant to Articles 71 and 26(1) of the National Government Organization Act should reconsidered to see whether it is a reasonable provision that takes into consideration a national crisis management that corresponds to the threat of North Korean nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction. Pursuant to the Basic Guidelines for National Crisis Management set out under Presidential Directive No. 229, the Korean government is currently operating a case-by-case "crisis management standard manual" and its sub-manuals and has also prepared the Presidential Security Service's security and safety measure regulations regarding the acting president. Therefore, the Korean government should actualize the above points in the case-by-case crisis management standard manual and security and safety measure regulations regarding the acting president to implement and legislate them.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2009

Liver transplantation is definitive treatment for the patients suffering from hepatitis, severe liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. In these patients, systemic infections under immunosuppression may occur easily. Therefore, primary object of dental treatments before liver transplantation is absolute removal of oral infection source. In addition, comprehensive dental management plan is essential for success of liver transplantation. The present study has been performed to investigate decayed, missing and filled permanent teeth index(DMFT index), degree of oral hygiene, past medical history, need of dental treatment, completion of dental treatment need and time interval between dental visit and operation date of liver transplantation in liver transplant candidates. Obtained results were as follows; 1. Decayed teeth of the patients were 2.68, missing teeth were 4.02 and filled teeth were 3.42. DMFT index was 10.12. 2. Twenty percents of patients showed moderate to severe food impactions, 42.2% of patients had moderate to heavy calculus and 37.8% of patients displayed gingival inflammation with swelling. 3. Patients needed periodontal treatments more than any other dental treatments. Periodontal treatments were needed for 88.9% of patients, operative & endodontic treatments were 46.7% of patients and 33.3% of patients needed for oral & maxillofacial surgical treatments. 4. Among 90 patients, time interval between scheduled operation date of liver transplantation and dental visit was within 2 weeks for 32.2% of patients, within 1 week for 20.0% of patients. In conclusion, most liver transplant candidates needed dental treatments for removal of potential infection sources. However because of insufficient interval between dental visit and operation date, they had taken liver transplantation procedures without comprehensive dental management. Development of preventive and comprehensive dental management program is mandatory for these patients. Cooperative interdisciplinary management will play a positive role for successful liver transplantation.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.29-41
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• 2001

Background : The appearance of multiple-drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains has been seriously compromising successful control of tuberculosis. Rifampin-resistance, caused by mutations in the rpoB gene, can be indicative of multiple-drug-resistance, and its detection is of great importance. The present study aimed to develop an oligonucleotide chip for accurate and convenient screening of drug-resistance. Methods : In order to detect point mutations in the rpoB gene, an oligonucleotide chip was prepared by immobilizing specific probe DNA to a microscopic slide glass by a chemical reaction. The probe DNA that was selected from the 81 bp core region of the rpoB gene was designed to have mutation sites at the center. A total of 17 mutant probes related to rifampin-resistance including 8 rifabutin-sensitive mutant probes were used in this study. For accurate determination, wild type probes were prepared for each mutation position with an equal length, which enabled a direct comparison of the hybridization intensities between the mutant and wild type. Results : Mycobacterial genomic DNA from clinical samples was tested with the oligonucleotide chip and the results were compared with those of the drug-susceptibility test in addition to sequencing and INNO-LiPA Rif. TB kit test in some cases. Out of 15 samples, the oligonucleotide chip results of 13 samples showed good agreement with the rifabutin-sensitivity results. The two samples with conflicting result also showed a discrepancy between the other tests, suggesting such possibilities as existence of mixed strains and difference in drug-sensitivity. Further verification of these samples in addition to more case studies are required before the final evaluation of the oligonucleotide chip can be made. Conlcusion : An oligonucleotide chip was developed for the detection of rpoB gene mutations related to drugsusceptibility. The results to date show the potential for using the oligonucleotide chip for accurate and convenient screening of drug-resistance to provide useful information in antituberculosis drug therapy.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.95-120
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• 1990

The underpricing of new shares of a firm that are offered to the public for the first time (initial offerings) is well known and has puzzled financial economists for a long time since it seems at odds with the optimal behavior of the owners of issuing firms. Past attempts by financial economists to explain this phenomenon have not been successful in the sense that the explanations given by them are either inconsistent with the equilibrium theory or implausible. Approaches by such authors as Welch or Allen and Faulhaber are no exceptions. In this paper, we develop a signalling model of capital investment to explain the underpricing phenomenon and also analyze the efficiency of investment. The model focuses on the information asymmetry between the owners of issuing firms and general investors. We consider a firm that has been owned and operated by a single owner and that has a profitable project but has no capital to develop it. The profit from the project depends on the capital invested in the project as well as a profitability parameter. The model also assumes that the financial market is represented by a single investor who maximizes the expected wealth. The owner has superior information as to the value of the firm to investors in the sense that it knows the true value of the parameter while investors have only a probability distribution about the parameter. The owner offers the representative investor a fraction of the ownership of the firm in return for a certain amount of investment in the firm. This offer condition is equivalent to the usual offer condition consisting of the number of issues to sell and the unit price of a share. Thus, the model is a signalling game. Using Kreps' criterion as the solution concept, we obtained an essentially unique separating equilibrium offer condition. Analysis of this separating equilibrium shows that the owner of the firm with high profitability chooses an offer condition that raises an amount of capital that is short of the amount that maximizes the potential profit from the project. It also reveals that the fraction of the ownership of the firm that the representative investor receives from the owner of the highly profitable firm in return for its investment has a value that exceeds the investment. In other words, the initial offering in the model is underpriced when the profitability of the firm is high. The source of underpricing and underinvestment is the signalling activity by the owner of the highly profitable firm who attempts to convince investors that his firm has a highly profitable project by choosing an offer condition that cannot be imitated by the owner of a firm with low profitability. Thus, we obtained two main results. First, underpricing is a result of a signalling activity by the owner of a firm with high profitability when there exists information asymmetry between the owner of the issuing firm and investors. Second, such information asymmetry also leads to underinvestment in a highly profitable project. Those results clearly show the underpricing entails underinvestment and that information asymmetry leads to a social cost as well as a private cost. The above results are quite general in the sense that they are based upon a neoclassical profit function and full rationality of economic agents. We believe that the results of this paper can be used as a basis for further research on the capital investment process. For instance, one can view the results of this paper as a subgame equilibrium in a larger game in which a firm chooses among diverse ways to raise capital. In addition, the method used in this paper can be used in analyzing a wide range of problems arising from information asymmetry that the Korean financial market faces.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.177-192
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• 2012

This is a study of match-making systems that considers the mutual satisfaction of matching partners. Recently, recommendation systems have been applied to people recommendation, such as recommending new friends, employees, or dating partners. One of the prominent domain areas is match-making systems that recommend suitable dating partners to customers. A match-making system, however, is different from a product recommender system. First, a match-making system needs to satisfy the recommended partners as well as the customer, whereas a product recommender system only needs to satisfy the customer. Second, match-making systems need to include as many participants in a matching pool as possible for their recommendation results, even with unpopular customers. In other words, recommendations should not be focused only on a limited number of popular people; unpopular people should also be listed on someone else's matching results. In product recommender systems, it is acceptable to recommend the same popular items to many customers, since these items can easily be additionally supplied. However, in match-making systems, there are only a few popular people, and they may become overburdened with too many recommendations. Also, a successful match could cause a customer to drop out of the matching pool. Thus, match-making systems should provide recommendation services equally to all customers without favoring popular customers. The suggested match-making system, called Mutually Beneficial Matching (MBM), considers the reciprocal satisfaction of both the customer and the matched partner and also considers the number of customers who are excluded in the matching. A brief outline of the MBM method is as follows: First, it collects a customer's profile information, his/her preferable dating partner's profile information and the weights that he/she considers important when selecting dating partners. Then, it calculates the preference score of a customer to certain potential dating partners on the basis of the difference between them. The preference score of a certain partner to a customer is also calculated in this way. After that, the mutual preference score is produced by the two preference values calculated in the previous step using the proposed formula in this study. The proposed formula reflects the symmetry of preferences as well as their quantities. Finally, the MBM method recommends the top N partners having high mutual preference scores to a customer. The prototype of the suggested MBM system is implemented by JAVA and applied to an artificial dataset that is based on real survey results from major match-making companies in Korea. The results of the MBM method are compared with those of the other two conventional methods: Preference-Based Matching (PBM), which only considers a customer's preferences, and Arithmetic Mean-Based Matching (AMM), which considers the preferences of both the customer and the partner (although it does not reflect their symmetry in the matching results). We perform the comparisons in terms of criteria such as average preference of the matching partners, average symmetry, and the number of people who are excluded from the matching results by changing the number of recommendations to 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25. The results show that in many cases, the suggested MBM method produces average preferences and symmetries that are significantly higher than those of the PBM and AMM methods. Moreover, in every case, MBM produces a smaller pool of excluded people than those of the PBM method.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.199-209
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• 2019

The importance of business strategy for successful social media engagement has quickly increased as more businesses engage in social media. The importance is even greater for startup companies because startup companies are genuinely new to business, and they need to increase their presence in the market, and quickly access future customers. The objective of this paper lies in exploring key indicators of social media engagements by selected startup companies. The key indicators include two aspects of social media usages by the companies: i) overall social media activities, and ii) properties of network structure of the information flow platform provided by social media service. To better assess and evaluate the key indicators of social media usages by startup companies, the indicators will be compared with those of selected large established companies. Twitter is selected as a social media service for the analysis of this paper, and using Twitter REST API, data regarding the key indicators of overall Twitter activities and the Twitter follower-network of each company in the sample are collected. Then, the data are analyzed using social network analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis to examine the characteristics of the follower-network structures and to compare the characteristics between startup companies and established companies. The results show that most indicators are significantly different across startup companies and established companies. One key interesting finding is that the startup companies have proportionally more influencers in their follower-networks than the established companies have. Another interesting finding is that the follower-networks of startup companies in the sample have higher modularity and higher transitivity, suggesting that the startup companies tend to have a proportionally larger number of communities of users in their follower-networks, and the users in the networks are more tightly connected and cohesive internally. The key business implication for the future social media engagement efforts by startup companies in general is that startup companies may need to focus on getting more attention from influencers and promoting more cohesive communities in their follower-networks to appreciate the potential benefits of social media in the early stage of business of startup companies.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.151-176
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• 2021

As the information technology industry develops, various kinds of data are being created, and it is now essential to process them and use them in the industry. Analyzing and utilizing various digital data collected online and offline is a necessary process to provide an appropriate experience for customers in the industry. In order to create new businesses, products, and services, it is essential to use customer data collected in various ways to deeply understand potential customers' needs and analyze behavior patterns to capture hidden signals of desire. However, it is true that research using data analysis and UX methodology, which should be conducted in parallel for effective service development, is being conducted separately and that there is a lack of examples of use in the industry. In thiswork, we construct a single process by applying data analysis methods and UX methodologies. This study is important in that it is highly likely to be used because it applies methodologies that are actively used in practice. We conducted a survey on the topic to identify and cluster the associations between factors to establish customer classification and target customers. The research methods are as follows. First, we first conduct a factor, regression analysis to determine the association between factors in the happiness data survey. Groups are grouped according to the survey results and identify the relationship between 34 questions of psychological stability, family life, relational satisfaction, health, economic satisfaction, work satisfaction, daily life satisfaction, and residential environment satisfaction. Second, we classify clusters based on factors affecting happiness and extract the optimal number of clusters. Based on the results, we cross-analyzed the characteristics of each cluster. Third, forservice definition, analysis was conducted by correlating with keywords related to happiness. We leverage keyword analysis of the thumb trend to derive ideas based on the interest and associations of the keyword. We also collected approximately 11,000 news articles based on the top three keywords that are highly related to happiness, then derived issues between keywords through text mining analysis in SAS, and utilized them in defining services after ideas were conceived. Fourth, based on the characteristics identified through data analysis, we selected segmentation and targetingappropriate for service discovery. To this end, the characteristics of the factors were grouped and selected into four groups, and the profile was drawn up and the main target customers were selected. Fifth, based on the characteristics of the main target customers, interviewers were selected and the In-depthinterviews were conducted to discover the causes of happiness, causes of unhappiness, and needs for services. Sixth, we derive customer behavior patterns based on segment results and detailed interviews, and specify the objectives associated with the characteristics. Seventh, a typical persona using qualitative surveys and a persona using data were produced to analyze each characteristic and pros and cons by comparing the two personas. Existing market segmentation classifies customers based on purchasing factors, and UX methodology measures users' behavior variables to establish criteria and redefine users' classification. Utilizing these segment classification methods, applying the process of producinguser classification and persona in UX methodology will be able to utilize them as more accurate customer classification schemes. The significance of this study is summarized in two ways: First, the idea of using data to create a variety of services was linked to the UX methodology used to plan IT services by applying it in the hot topic era. Second, we further enhance user classification by applying segment analysis methods that are not currently used well in UX methodologies. To provide a consistent experience in creating a single service, from large to small, it is necessary to define customers with common goals. To this end, it is necessary to derive persona and persuade various stakeholders. Under these circumstances, designing a consistent experience from beginning to end, through fast and concrete user descriptions, would be a very effective way to produce a successful service.