• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.291-301
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that affect the perceived awareness and the intention of continuous use by FinTech users and system characteristics. Data collection was carried out by targeting and surveying 600 people living in Gwangju, and office workers using smartphones. As a result, first, self-efficacy, innovation, and fitness for Fin-Tech services were found to influence the degree of perceptual awareness and intent to use of Fin-tech service users. Second, the system characteristics have a positive effect on perceived awareness and intention of using FinTech service. Third, the hypothesis about the dangers in the user attributes and system properties were dismissed. It seems that the priority concern was regarding the leakage of personal information and security as privacy and the increasing damage cases of financial fraud by electronic financial transactions spill. Therefore, in order to spread FinTech services, it would be effective if a Fin-Tech service strategy could eliminate inconveniences such as the risk of hindering convenience and intention to use by the marketing strategy established by the company.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.466-485
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• 2023

Crop productivity can be obstructed by various biotic and abiotic stresses and thus these stresses are a threat to universal food security. The information on the use of viruses providing efficacy to plants facing growth challenges owing to stress is lacking. The role of induction of pathogen-related genes by microbes is also colossal in drought-endurance acquisition. Studies put forward the importance of viruses as sustainable means for defending plants against dual stress. A fundamental part of research focuses on a positive interplay between viruses and plants. Notably, the tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) and tomato chlorosis virus (ToCV) possess the capacity to safeguard tomato host plants against severe drought conditions. This study aims to explore the combined effects of TYLCV, ToCV, and drought stress on two tomato cultivars, Money Maker (MK, UK) and Shalala (SH, Azerbaijan). The expression of pathogen-related four cellulose synthase gene families (CesA/Csl) which have been implicated in drought and virus resistance based on gene expression analysis, was assessed using the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction method. The molecular tests revealed significant upregulation of Ces-A2, Csl-D3,2, and Csl-D3,1 genes in TYLCV and ToCV-infected tomato plants. CesA/Csl genes, responsible for biosynthesis within the MK and SH tomato cultivars, play a role in defending against TYLCV and ToCV. Additionally, physiological parameters such as "relative water content," "specific leaf weight," "leaf area," and "dry biomass" were measured in dual-stressed tomatoes. Using these features, it might be possible to cultivate TYLCV-resistant plants during seasons characterized by water scarcity.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.123-137
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• 2007

The advent of the Internet and related Web technologies has created an easily accessible link between a firm and its customers, and has provided opportunities to a firm to use information technology to support supplementary after-sale services associated with a product or service. It has been widely recognized that supplementary services are an important source of customer value and of competitive advantage as the characteristics of the product itself. Many of these supplementary services are information-based and need not be co-located with the product, so more and more companies are delivering these services electronically. Net-based customer service, which is defined as an Internet-based computerized information system that delivers services to a customer, therefore, is the core infrastructure for supplementary service provision. The importance of net-based customer service in delivering supplementary after-sale services associated with product has been well documented. The strategic advantages of well-implemented net-based customer service are enhanced customer loyalty and higher lock-in of customers, and a resulting reduction in competition and the consequent increase in profits. However, not all customers utilize such net-based customer service. The digital divide is the phenomenon in our society that captures the observation that not all customers have equal access to computers. Socioeconomic factors such as race, gender, and education level are strongly related to Internet accessibility and ability to use. This is due to the differences in the ability to bear the cost of a computer, and the differences in self-efficacy in the use of a technology, among other reasons. This concept, applied to e-commerce, has been called the "e-commerce divide." High Internet penetration is not eradicating the digital divide and e-commerce divide as one would hope. Besides, to accommodate personalized support, a customer must often provide personal information to the firm. This personal information includes not only name and address, but also preferences information and perhaps valuation information. However, many recent studies show that consumers may not be willing to share information about themselves due to concerns about privacy online. Due to the e-commerce divide, and due to privacy and security concerns of the customer for sharing personal information with firms, limited numbers of customers adopt net-based customer service. The limited level of customer adoption of net-based customer service affects the firm profits and the customers' welfare. We use a game-theoretic model in which we model the net-based customer service system as a mechanism to enhance customers' loyalty. We model a market entry scenario where a firm (the incumbent) uses the net-based customer service system in inducing loyalty in its customer base. The firm sells one product through the traditional retailing channels and at a price set for these channels. Another firm (the entrant) enters the market, and having observed the price of the incumbent firm (and after deducing the loyalty levels in the customer base), chooses its price. The profits of the firms and the surplus of the two customers segments (the segment that utilizes net-based customer service and the segment that does not) are analyzed in the Stackelberg leader-follower model of competition between the firms. We find that an increase in adoption of net-based customer service by the customer base is not always desirable for firms. With low effectiveness in enhancing customer loyalty, firms prefer a high level of customer adoption of net-based customer service, because an increase in adoption rate decreases competition and increases profits. A firm in an industry where net-based customer service is highly effective loyalty mechanism, on the other hand, prefers a low level of adoption by customers.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.54-67
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• 2020

Purpose: This study examined the relationship between job stress, attributes of health functional food (HFF) selection, and consumption values for information technology (IT) workers, and analyzed the factors influencing the selection of HFF to improve health by making the right choice of HFFs. Methods: Three hundred forty IT workers in Gyeonggi area participated in the study. The participants were divided into low or high job stress group. The differences in participants' general characteristics, attributes of HFF selection, and HFF consumption values were investigated, and the mediating effects of HFF consumption values on the relationship between job stress levels and the HFF selection attributes were analyzed. Results: Job stress levels were high in those IT workers with a length of service < 5 years (p = 0.013). The group with lower job stress levels had a higher tendency to consider the ingredients contained in HFF products (p < 0.001), and their efficacy (p = 0.047). They also showed greater emotional value for a sense of security from consuming HFFs to stay healthy (p = 0.047). The group with higher job stress levels had greater epistemic value in that their choice of HFFs differentiated them from the other workers (p = 0.036). Higher job stress was associated with less consideration of the intrinsic attributes such as ingredients and efficacy of the HFF selection attributes (p = -0.113), emotional value of the HFF consumption values (p = -0.136), and the functional value such as practicality, price, and safety (p = -0.134). The job stress level influenced the intrinsic attributes through the functional and emotional values, demonstrating that the functional and emotional values had appropriate mediating effects on the relationship between job stress levels and intrinsic attributes. Conclusion: Education needs to be provided for workers to relieve job stress and improve the functional and emotional values, which contributes to choosing the appropriate HFFs.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Dental Administration
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.39-43
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• 2019

Smartphone usage has become so common that it has reached 2 billion people in the last year. As a result of this, hospitals have started making use of smartphones at various medical sites and research services for patients. This study aimed to establish support for developing a long distance program for patients with implants who have difficulty visiting clinics or with busy modern lives, by using smartphones for oral hygiene management instruction. The data were collected for 12 weeks, from July 24 to October 21, 2015, for patients who agreed to participate in the study. Although the subjects found the process of transferring photos via smartphone to be cumbersome (75%), the satisfaction level of the oral hygiene management program was excellent for all participating patients, and they all wanted to continue with further management using this process. The results from the phone satisfaction survey showed that oral hygiene self-management after oral hygiene control training by smartphones was mostly equal to previous habits (87.5%) or had partially increased but had not decreased. The need for data on more varied age groups and the issues of protecting the security of personal information on smartphones require further study. However, our study confirmed the efficacy of using electronic media (smartphones) for oral hygiene management in patients with a dental implant due to their improvement of oral hygiene performance as evidenced by less bleeding from probing on post-program visit.