• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.151-161
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• 2023

This paper presents an investigation of variables that cause spurious cracking in numerical modeling of concrete fracture. Spurious cracks appear due to the approximate nature of numerical modeling. They overestimate the dissipated energy, leading to divergent results with mesh refinement. This paper is limited to quasi-static loading regime, homogeneous models, cracking as the only nonlinear mode of deformation and cracking only due to tensile loading. Under these conditions, some variables that can be related to spurious cracking are: mesh alignment, ductility, crack band width, structure size, mesh refinement and load increment size. Case studies illustrate the effect of each variable and convergence analyses demonstrate that, after all, load-increment size is the most important variable. Theoretically, a sufficiently small load increment is able to eliminate or at least alleviate the detrimental influence of the other variables. Such load-increment size might be prohibitively small, rendering the simulation unfeasible. Hence, this paper proposes two alternatives. First, it is proposed an algorithm that automatically find such small load increment size automatically, which not necessarily avoid large computations. Then, it is proposed a double simulation technique, in which the crack is forced to propagate through the localization zone.

• Korean Management Science Review
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.65-74
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• 2016

The present study applies the TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) to investigate the factors that affect the intention to use the mobile payment services. For this purpose five potential variables (perceived usefulness, perceived convenience, ubiquity, innovativeness, and safety risk) that are expected to affect the intention to use the mobile payment services were selected. An online survey was administered, and 339 questionnaires were analyzed. Structure Equation Model (SEM) Analysis revealed that TAM variables (perceived usefulness and perceived convenience) partially influenced the attitude. The perceived usefulness predicted the attitude while perceived convenience did not predict the attitude toward the mobile payment service. Personal characteristics variable (innovativeness) and mobile nature variables (ubiquity, and security risk) were identified as the predictors of the attitude toward the mobile payment service. While innovativeness and ubiquity affected the attitude positively, security risk affected the attitude negatively. Finally, the analysis substantiated the influence of attitude toward the mobile payment services on the intention to use the services. On the basis of findings, managerial implications and suggestions for further studies were discussed.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to explore the variables of knowledge, acceptance of theory of evolution and epistemology that could be keys for teaching and learning the theory of evolution within school contexts, and to suggest instructional tips for teaching evolution in relation to the grade levels of education. This cross-sectional study examined the grade level differences (8th, 11th, and preservice teachers) of four variables: evolutionary knowledge; acceptance of theory of evolution; and both domain-specific epistemology (nature of science in relation to evolution) and context-specific epistemology (scientific epistemological views) and their relationships. This study, then, built conceptual models of each grade level students' acceptance of theory of evolution among the factors of evolutionary knowledge and epistemology (both domain-specific and context-specific). The results showed that the scores of evolutionary knowledge, evolution in relation to NOS, and scientific epistemology increased as the grade levels of education go up(p<.05) except the scores of acceptance of theory of evolution(p>.05). In addition, the 8th graders' and the 11th graders' acceptance of evolutionary theory was most explained by 'evolution in relation to NOS', while the preservice teachers' acceptance of evolutionary theory was most explained by evolutionary knowledge. Interestingly, 'scientific epistemological views' were only included for the 8th graders, while evolutionary knowledge and 'evolution in relation to NOS' (context-specific epistemology) were included in explaining all the level of students' acceptance of evolutionary theory. This study implicated that when teaching and learning of the theory of evolution in school contexts, knowledge, acceptance of evolutionary theory and epistemology could be considered appropriately for the different grade levels of students.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.127-132
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• 2015

In order to grasp the clear concepts and variables to treat Shanghan diseases which has complex meaning by each medical literature, several concepts and analytic method of structuralism from early to late stage encompassing Saussure and Derrida were used. Main concepts are langue and parole, signifiant and signifie, syntagme and paradigme, denotation and connotation, synchronie and diachronie, identity of structure and differance etc. and methods are substituting these concepts to historical Shanghan theories from Zhongjing to Ming-Qing dynasty and comparisons of synchronie about their era. Essential qualities of Shanghan diseases are pathologic phenomena under the order of unification of nature and man formed through concrescence between individual human body and geo-climatico-socio-cultural environmental conditions, neither injuries by cold pathogen nor five types of exopathogenic febrile diseases. The former environmental elements can be inferred from general traits of desires and public pathological aspects of social members, and the latter personal factors from corresponding features to those pathogenic variables. In addition, the concepts of Shanghan disease are added successively up to now via Jin-Yuan's four great masters and Wenbing masters, and thus the new concepts of denotation became another connotation obtaining new signifiant. In this way, for the treatment of Shanghan diseases, new theories should be made for ranging prescription over the wenbing field; reflecting not only climatical variables but also each patient's physio-pathological features and sociocultural variables. Thereby an appropriate and reasonable therapeutical systems can be designed and can guide research direction hereafter.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• no.1
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• pp.129-157
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• 1995

I made a careful study of affective variables in foreign language learning Affective variables have not been adequately investigated in the study of second language acquisition. Egoism and inhibition are two egocentric factors which play important roles in foreign language learning. Three sociocultural variables. cultural factors, introversion / extroversion, and aggression may be keys to understanding the social nature of second language learning. And the emerging of cognition and affect in "cognitive styles", which vary within and among individuals, might account for varying degree of success in learning a second language. In the process of learning English. the students new to foreign language come to face the language barrier. though they express the deep interest and feel excited at the beginning stage. Of course, the several reasons can explain this fact. but more specially they can be explained in terms of such personal affective factors as age, aptitude, personality, and first of all, motivation. Also the socicultural factors between language and culture can be considered to the learner's aptitude toward the language. Affective factors of students are involved in personality. and personality and affective factors affect English learning. Affective variables of students affect the will to take part in English learning, and the rate of participation in English learning affect the fluency. If students feel inconvenience in English class, it is rarely that they run a risk. Students who do not run a risk in English class are short of spontaneous participation Consequently, it may have negative influence on the accuracy and the fluency of English. Therefore, teachers must be more influential in motivating students and specially attentive so that the students may not make the negative and inhibitive language learning attitude.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.33-59
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• 2008

This paper aims to analyse the preference for German farm tourism among the German population. For this reason, we conducted an empirical study in Germany during summer 2007 and we applieda structural equation model based on partial leasts quares(PLS) to analyse the data. In the following chapters we will introduce the literature review and our conceptual frame work. We will then outline the procedures we adopted and the results of the empirical analysis. In the final part so me conclusions will be presented and a discussion will follow in order to draw the future directions of our research. According to our hypotheses, the possibility that agri-tourism enters in the evoked set of an individual is higher: H1: The higher the information degree about it. H2: The lower the influence of the social stimuli. H3: The higher the physical exposure to it (experience). H4: The higher the wellness image of agri-tourism. H5: The higher the traditional image of agri-tourism. H6: The higher the exciting image of agri-tourism. H7: The higher the perceived value for money. Our further hypotheses affirm that the possibility that agri-tourism enters in the evoked set of an individual is higher: H8: The lower the perceived risk. H9: The higher the motive to enjoy a holiday in the nature. H10: The higher the motive to enjoy a sport holiday. H11: The lower the motive to have an organized holiday. H12: The lower the motive to have a holiday abroad. H13: The lower the motive of action and night life. H14: The higher the motive to spend a holiday with the family. H15: The lower the motive to spend a city holiday. Finally, our model has some socio-demographics data. As we mentioned before, German agri-tourism has traditionally been the travel destination of large-size families, with low-to-middle income. For that reason, our final hypothesises are the following: the possibility that agri-tourism enters in the evoked-set of an individual is higher: H16: The higher the number of family members. H17: The lower the family income. Since in this study we use a path model with a PLS approach, we are able to state some interrelations among the exogenous latent variables: H18: The motive of sport holiday has a positive influence towards nature motives. H19: The physical exposition to agri-tourism has a positive influence toward information. H20: The motive of family holiday has a negative influence toward the motive of action and night life. H21: Social stimuli have a positive influence towards individuals risk perceptions. H22: Social stimuli have negative influence towards experience. Data for this study were gathered via administrated questionnaires during the summer 2007 within the frame of an academic "marketing research" course. The corresponding t-values are assessed using the bootstrapping method with 500 re-samples. In our model 61% of the degree of appreciation of German agri-tourism (evoked set) is explained by five independent variables: value for money ($0.335^{{\ast}{\ast}{\ast}}$) (H7) experience ($0.267^{{\ast}{\ast}}$) (H3), exciting image ($0.204^{\ast}$) (H6) organisation ($-0.162^{\ast}$) (H11) and holiday abroad ($-0.156^{\ast}$) (H12). The variance explained ($R^2$) for the other endogenous variables are the following: nature 24.3%, information 14.1%, action holiday 13.8%, risk perception 5.8% and experience 2.4%. An overview can be inferred from table 5. The results also allow us to test each of the proposed hypotheses. With exception of organization and abroad, none of the others travel style factors (H9 to H15) seem to have any significant impact towards evoked set which leads to the rejection of the respective hypotheses. As expected, social stimuli have a significant influence on individuals' risk perception (H21 accepted), however neither the former nor the latter have a valuable impact on evoked set (rejection of H2 and H8). Besides, since the influence of social stimuli towards experience is not significant, also H22 has to be rejected. Experience influences information (H19 accepted) but the latter does not affect significantly the evoked set (H1 rejected). Both H4 as well as H5, referring respectively to the perceived images of German agri-tourism as a wellness destination and the traditional image of the German farm tourism have to be rejected. Finally, none of the demographic data included in the model explains significantly the variance of the factor evoked set. Therefore neither H16 nor H17 has been accepted. As far as the interrelation between sport and nature (H18) and family and action (H20) are concerned, the stated relationship among these variables has been statistically confirmed. Our path model based on partial least squares shows the factors influencing the preference for farm tourism in Germany. Among others value for money and experience are the most significant ones. Practical implications are discussed.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.313-342
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• 2016

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between individual values, nature-relatedness, and happiness in a sample of Korean university students(N=224). Specially, we used Schwartz's PVQ, life satisfaction, positive affect, psychological well-being, social well-being, and Korean Happiness scale to measure values and happiness. According to the bivariate correlational analysis, generally, there were positive correlation between benevolence, self-direction, universalism, stimulation and one of 5 happiness measurements and there was negative correlation between achievement and life satisfaction. Nature-relatedness were positively related with five types of happiness measurements. According to the hierarchical regression, demographic variables(sex, religion, economic levels), value types, and nature-relatedness explained 25%~36% of variance in happiness. Value was more related with psychological well-being than life satisfaction, positive affect, social well being, Korean happiness scale. This results emphasize the importance of healthy value(benevolence, self-direction) and provision of opportunities contact with nature to promote human happiness.

• Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.103-130
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• 2018

It is generally understood that clusters are the promoters of innovation and therefore, the attention of researchers has been increasingly to discern the factors driving innovation among the firms in a cluster, especially in a high-tech cluster. In this study, we identify the variables capturing the nature of a firm that possibly impact the absorptive capacity of a firm and subsequently ascertain their impact on the degree of interactions between a firm, and other firms and associated institutions within and outside a cluster, respectively. Furthermore, we probe the influence of these interactions as a whole on firm-level innovation. The study was carried out in the context of Bengaluru, which houses the densely interconnected network of innovation-intensive high-tech manufacturing firms forming a high-tech manufacturing cluster. Data were drawn from 101 high-tech manufacturing firms belonging to electronics, machine tools, electrical and pharmaceutical industries. Based on the cluster analysis and subsequent graphical analysis on each of the three profiled clusters, it was found that size and origin of a firm have significant impact on the degree of firm's interactions. In turn, higher dynamism of firms in terms of degree of interactions led to higher innovation performance.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.153-171
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• 2022

The present study aimed to find a way to create forms that can simultaneously meet several architectural requirements by applying generative design methods specifically focused on cellular automata. In other words, it is tried to find various forms of architecture that all have common features. Because of the useful features of cellular automata, we decided to use it to generate various forms, but make a relation between the discrete nature of cellular automata and the continuous nature of architecture, was the major problem of our project. To achieve this goal, three consecutive stages were designed. In the first stage, independent variables including the location of the building, the height of the building, and the building area were considered as the inputs of the model. In the second stage, after locating the building, the building's main shell was designed as a hidden geometry for the cellular automata and then the cellular automata were determined based on this shell. The main result of this research is establishing a logical relationship between the discrete geometry of the cellular automata and the continuous search space such that it creates various optimized forms. Although we specify the site plan of this project at Iran-Tehran, this research can be generalized to various design sites as well as different projects, allowing the architectsto alter the cell dimensions, cell density, etc., based on their opinion and project needs.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.89-104
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• 2024

Cloud-based e-learning (CBEL) represents a promising technological frontier. Existing literature has presented a diverse array of findings regarding the determinants that influence the adoption of CBEL. The primary objective of this study is to conduct an exhaustive examination of the available literature, aiming to determine the key predictors of CBEL utilization by employing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology. A comprehensive review of 35 articles was undertaken, shedding light on the status of CBEL as an evolving field. Notably, there has been a discernible downturn in related research output during the COVID-19 pandemic, underscoring the temporal dynamics of this subject. It is noteworthy that a significant portion of this research has emanated from the Asian continent. Furthermore, the dominance of the technology acceptance model (TAM) in research frameworks is affirmed by our findings. Through a rigorous thematic analysis, our study identified five overarching themes, each encompassing a diverse range of sub-themes. These themes encompass 1) technological factors, 2) individual factors, 3) organizational factors, 4) environmental factors, and 5) security factors. This categorization provides a structured framework for understanding the multifaceted nature of CBEL adoption determinants. Our study serves as a compass, guiding future research endeavours in this domain. It underscores the imperative for further investigations utilizing diverse theoretical frameworks, contextual settings, research methodologies, and variables. This call for diversity and expansion in research efforts reflects the dynamic nature of CBEL and the evolving landscape of e-learning technologies.