• Asia pacific journal of information systems
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.113-145
• /
• 2009

Recently, due to the globalization of the IT(Information Technology) market, devices and systems designed in one country are used in other countries as well. This phenomenon is becoming the key factor for increased interest on cross-cultural, or cross-national, research within the IT area. However, as the IT market is becoming bigger and more globalized, a great number of IT practitioners are having difficulty in designing and developing devices or systems which can provide optimal experience. This is because not only tangible factors such as language and a country's economic or industrial power affect the user experience of a certain device or system but also invisible and intangible factors as well. Among such invisible and intangible factors, the cultural characteristics of users from different countries may affect the user experience of certain devices or systems because cultural characteristics affect how they understand and interpret the devices or systems. In other words, when users evaluate the quality of overall user experience, the cultural characteristics of each user act as a perceptual lens that leads the user to focus on a certain elements of experience. Therefore, there is a need within the IT field to consider cultural characteristics when designing or developing certain devices or systems and plan a strategy for localization. In such an environment, existing IS studies identify the culture with the country, emphasize the importance of culture in a national level perspective, and hypothesize that users within the same country have same cultural characteristics. Under such assumptions, these studies focus on the moderating effects of cultural characteristics on a national level within a certain theoretical framework. This has already been suggested by cross-cultural studies conducted by scholars such as Hofstede(1980) in providing numerical research results and measurement items for cultural characteristics and using such results or items as they increase the efficiency of studies. However, such national level culture has its limitations in forecasting and explaining individual-level behaviors such as voluntary device or system usage. This is because individual cultural characteristics are the outcome of not only the national culture but also the culture of a race, company, local area, family, and other groups that are formulated through interaction within the group. Therefore, national or nationally dominant cultural characteristics may have its limitations in forecasting and explaining the cultural characteristics of an individual. Moreover, past studies in psychology suggest a possibility that there exist different cultural characteristics within a single individual depending on the subject being measured or its context. For example, in relation to individual vs. collective characteristics, which is one of the major cultural characteristics, an individual may show collectivistic characteristics when he or she is with family or friends but show individualistic characteristics in his or her workplace. Therefore, this study acknowledged such limitations of past studies and conducted a research within the framework of 'theoretically integrated model of user satisfaction and emotional attachment', which was developed through a former study, on how the effects of different experience elements on emotional attachment or user satisfaction are differentiated depending on the individual cultural characteristics related to a system or device usage. In order to do this, this study hypothesized the moderating effects of four cultural dimensions (uncertainty avoidance, individualism vs, collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, and power distance) as suggested by Hofstede(1980) within the theoretically integrated model of emotional attachment and user satisfaction. Statistical tests were then implemented on these moderating effects through conducting surveys with users of four digital devices (mobile phone, MP3 player, LCD TV, and refrigerator) in three countries (US, Germany, and Russia). In order to explain and forecast the behavior of personal device or system users, individual cultural characteristics must be measured, and depending on the target device or system, measurements must be measured independently. Through this suggestion, this study hopes to provide new and useful perspectives for future IS research.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.18
• /
• pp.8327-8333
• /
• 2016

Background: The recent epidemiologic transition in Thailand, with decreasing incidence of infectious diseases along with increasing rates of chronic conditions, including cancer, is a serious problem for the country. Breast cancer has the highest incidence rates among females throughout Thailand. Lampang is a province in the upper part of Northern Thailand. A study was needed to identify the current burden, and the future trends of breast cancer in upper Northern Thai women. Materials and Methods: Here we used cancer incidence data from the Lampang Cancer Registry to characterize and analyze the local incidence of breast cancer. Joinpoint analysis, age period cohort model and Nordpred package were used to investigate the incidences of breast cancer in the province from 1993 to 2012 and to project future trends from 2013 to 2030. Results: Age-standardized incidence rates (world) of breast cancer in the upper parts of Northern Thailand increased from 16.7 to 26.3 cases per 100,000 female population which is equivalent to an annual percentage change of 2.0-2.8%, according to the method used. Linear drift effects played a role in shaping the increase of incidence. The three projection method suggested that incidence rates would continue to increase in the future with incidence for women aged 50 and above, increasing at a higher rate than for women below the age of 50. Conclusions: The current early detection measures increase detection rates of early disease. Preparation of a budget for treatment facilities and human resources, both in surgical and medical oncology, is essential.

• STI Policy Review
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.113-156
• /
• 2017

Although technological progress is considered a key element for economic growth and development of a country, strong empirical evidence in this regard is not available yet. Therefore, to establish the empirical link between technology progress and economic development, it is advisable to carry out a time series analysis. In this regard, the Technology Achievement Index (TAI) of 100 top economies has been developed to examine the position of countries' technological progress for the 21 years spanning 1995 to 2015. Countries have been ranked on their TAI which is based on four pillars; technology creation, diffusion of older innovations, diffusion of recent innovations, and development of human skills. As well, this current study re-calculates the Humane Development Index (HDI) of 100 top economies for the 21 years from 1995 to 2015. Ranking of countries' HDI values reflects three dimensions: A long lifespan (life expectancy index), knowledge (Education Index) and a decent standard of living (Gross National Income Index, or GNI). The Standard Deviation (SD) technique has been used to investigate the technological gap between individual countries and groups of countries or regions. For a more meaningful assessment, technological gaps from the maximum achievement value (i.e., one of the countries under study) are presented as well. To investigate the impact of technological progress on economic development, this study introduces a model in which the HDI is used as the dependent variable and the TAI and Gross Capital Formation (GCF) are used as independent variables. The HDI, TAI and GCF are used in this model as proxy variables for economic development, technological progress and capital respectively. Econometric techniques have been used to show the impact of technological progress on economic development. The results show that long-term associations exist between technology progress and economic development; the impact of technology progress on economic development is 13.2% while the impact is 4.3% higher in eight selected East South Asian countries, at 13.5%, than in eight selected highly developed countries (9.2%).

• Journal of Platform Technology
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.63-69
• /
• 2021

Limited materials to make coins for countries and designs suitable for hand-carry make the shape, size, and color of coins similar. This similarity makes that it is difficult for visitors to identify each country's coins. To solve this problem, we propose the coin classification method using CNN effective to image processing. In our coin identification method, we collect the training data by using web crawling and use OpenCV for preprocessing. After preprocessing, we extract features from an image by using three CNN layers and classify coins by using two fully connected network layers. To show that our model designed in this paper is effective for coin classification, we evaluate our model using eight different coin types. From our experimental results, the accuracy for coin classification is about 99.5%.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.234-239
• /
• 2021

The purpose of this paper is to find out the nature of language variation by exploring the ways of the progress of the language variation that produces all English-lects, i.e., the World Englishes. The study of language variation in linguistics is a hybrid enterprise, so the study of World Englishes has led to the recognition of a highly diverse set of all English-lects, encompassing regional dialects, sociolects, ethnolects and (post-)colonial dialects of World Englishes. In this paper, we propose a hybrid language variation model with three interacting factors of social distancing, on/off-contact, and linguistic diversity to examine the characteristics of language variation. In the context of World Englishes, the social distance is typically low in terms of their local location (country/speech) for local purposes. The social distance also varies based on online/offline communication modes and other social factors like gender, age and ethnic groups, resulting in all English-lects. To clarify the nature of World Englishes, the core Englishes, BrE, AmE and CanE are discussed here.

• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.191-234
• /
• 2009

This study examined on the volatility feedback hypothesis through the use of threshold GARCH-in-Mean (GJR-GARCH-M) model developed by Glosten, Jaganathan, and Runkle (1993) in the stock markets of 14 emerging countries during the period of January, 1996 to May, 2009. On this study, I found successful evidences which can support the volatility feedback hypothesis through the following three estimation procedures. First, I found relatively strong positive relationship between the expected market risk premiums and their conditional standard deviations from the GARCH-M model in the basis of daily return on each representative stock market index, which is appropriate to investors' risk-averse preferences. Second, I can also identify the significant asymmetric time-varying volatility originated from the investors' differentiated reactions toward the unexpected market shocks by applying the GJR-GARCH-M model and further find the lasting positive risk aversion coefficient estimators. Third, I derived the negative signs of the regression coefficient of unpredicted volatility on the stock market return by re-applying the GJR-GARCH-M model after I controlled the positive effect of predicted volatility through including the conditional standard deviations from the previous GARCH-M model estimation as an independent explanatory variable in the re-applied new GJR-GARCH-M model. With these consecutive results, the volatility feedback effect was successfully tested to be effective also in the various emerging stock markets, although the leverage hypothesis turned out to be insufficient to be applied to another source of explaining the negative relationship between the unexpected volatility and the ex-post stock market return in the emerging countries in general.

• Analyses & Alternatives
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.5-29
• /
• 2018

Models of South-North Korean economic integration have the problem of circular reasoning. While many studies argue that South-North Korean economic integration would contribute to alleviate security risks in the Korean peninsular, they emphasize the success of any economic model of inter-Korean economic integration is subject to favorable geo-political and security environment. It is a failure in distinguishing between goals and constraints. After identifying three major goals of South-North Korean economic cooperation, this study shows the trilemma among the goals; they are 1) formation of a complete economic community, 2) maintaining independent sovereignty of the two Koreas, 3) promotion of mutual economic interests. The trilemma suggests that it is theoretically impossible to achieve the above three goals at the same time. Only two goals are achievable simultaneously. This study argues that the most practical option is to pursue the combination of goals 2) and 3) considering the complex political and security environment around the Korean peninsular. Recognizing that North Korea is the least developed country in the Northeast Asia region, South Korea's initiatives for inter-Korean economic cooperation should focus on assisting industrialization and integration of the North Korea economy into the Northeast Asian regional production sharing structure. In view of the 'flying geese model' of the sequential industrialization in the region, the least developed economic status of North Korea can partially be explained by its failure to participate in the production network in the region as well as lack of effective implementation of appropriate industrial policy. Therefore, promotion of industrialization of North Korea should be the immediate goal of economic cooperation between North and South Korea. It is an interesting fact that North Korea has rapidly expanded its apparel exports in recent years. It could mean that the North Korean economy is actively responding to the dynamics of international comparative advantage structure, although the production activities are limited to exports to China since the closure of the Gaesung Industrial Complex. The recent increase in apparel export is a starting point for incorporating the Easy Import Substitution fulfilling both domestic and neighboring regional demand of North Korea. It could help integrate North Korea's industry into the production network of Northeast Asia. An immediate policy implication is that the economic cooperation between the two Koreas should focus on facilitating this process and supporting North Korea's industrial policy through South Korea's contribution of capital, technology, and service intermediary inputs.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.128-136
• /
• 2007

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the current state of the home-based cancer patient management project of public health centers throughout the country. The results of the investigation is employed to identify obstacles to the execution of the program and, finally, to develop an efficient management program of home-based cancer patients. Methods: Data on the home-based cancer patient management project were collected and analyzed through visiting interviews or telephone interviews with 225 public health centers throughout the country for six months from July to December, 2006. Results: Obstacles to the present execution of the home-based cancer patient management project were identified. Some of them are : (1) patients' low trust in cancer patient management by local health centers, (2) absence of programs customized to local communities, (3) lack of personnel and vehicles for home-based cancer patient management, (4) lack of education program for personnel in charge of home-based cancer patient management, (5) problems in public health doctors, weak connection to private medical institutions, (6) absence of medical institutions and hospice facilities for cancer patients, and (7) non-standardized volunteer workers, so on. Considering all these problems, some effective management methods are proposed. The basic concept is to keep the autonomy and variety of the local helath centers. And based on this concept, three models of (1) public health center controlled model, (2) medical institutions and hospice facilities-entrusted model and (3) medical institutions and hospice facilities-cooperative model are developed. Conclusion: By adopting an adequate model among proposed three models, the public health centers are expected to achieve an efficient utilization of material resources and manpower. In addition, by inventing their own programs that are proper for the local societies, they can improve the home-based cancer patient management.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.15-25
• /
• 1984

The purpose of this study is to develop a practical and ideal model of science laboratory enrolled 48-60 students by studying optimal facilities such as laboratory tables and chairs proper to elementary school settings. The science laboratory model was figured out in terms of the following six procedures; (1) Current status as well as problems of science laboratory and its facilities was identified by means of the questionnaires conducted to 201 elementary schools, using stratified cluster sampling tehnique, under the consideration of the school size and the regional characteristics across the country. (2) Collected were the anthropometric data with respect to sitting height, popliteal height, buttock popliteal length, elbow rest height, and back width from the 747 students, 4th-6th grade, in Seoul area. (3) It was measured the work apace necessary for individual student to perform his experiment. (4) Using the data of the process (2), we determined the optimal sizes of laboratory tables and chairs fitted for Korean elementary school students. (5) The optimal area of science laboratory for 48-60 students is determined in terms of the data obtained in (3) for individual work space in addition to the appropriate table size figured out by (4). (6) A practical and ideal model for a science laboratory in elementary school was designed according to the above procedures. For the optimal model of science laboratory, the results of this study can be summarized as follows: The sizes of chair and table are categorized into three groups such as small, medium, and large depending on students' physical outfit. The small size base on the 12.5th percentile point of students' sitting height is used for students of the 0-25th percentile ranks. The medium size base on the 50th percentile point of students' sitting height is used for students of the 26-75th percentile ranks. The large size base on the 87.5th percentile point of students' sitting height is used for students of the 76-100th percentile ranks. (1) Sizes of chairs: The small size is 28cm in width and 33cm in height. The medium size is 31cm in width and 36cm in height. The large size is 35cm in width and 38cm in height. (2) Sizes of laboratory tables: The small size is 120cm in length, 86cm in width, and 60cm in height. The large size is 120cm in length, 86cm in width, and 60cm in height. The large size is 120cm in length, 86cm in width, and 65cm in height. (3) Size of science laboratory: The optimal science laboratory for 48-60 elementary school students, which can install the 12 laboratory tables, is 12m in length and 10m in width.

• International Area Studies Review
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.3-18
• /
• 2018

In this study, I examined capital market shock reaction effects of 29 OECD countries with the past 24 years sample period consisting of daily stock market return using T-GARCH model focused on volatility feedback hypothesis. US daily stock market return is used as a unique independent variable in this model in consideration of its characteristics of biggest market share and as an origin country of Global Financial Crisis. As a result, France, Finland, and Mexico in order are shown to be the strongest countries in the aspect of return spillovers from US. Canada, Mexico, and France are shown to be the highest countries in the aspect of explanatory power of model. The degrees of shock reaction are proved to be higher in order in Germany, Chile, Switzerland, and Denmark and those of downside shock reaction are seen higher in order in Greece, Great Britain, Australia, and Japan. Canada and Mexico belonging to NAFTA are shown to be higher in the return spillover from US and in the model explanatory power, but they are shown to be lower in the impact of shock reaction, suggesting that regional distance effect or gravity theory cannot be applied to financial spillovers any longer. In the analysis of subsample period of Global Financial Crisis, north American three countries do not show any consistent results as in the full sample period but shock reaction in the European countries are shown to record stronger, suggesting that shocks from US in the Crisis Times are transferred mainly to European region.