Action recognition technology has many application fields including gaming, human-computer interaction, security, virtual reality, etc. The technology has recently advanced and simplified by the introduction of real time depth cameras. The most famous depth camera, Kinect, has shown its success in human action recognitions by supervised learning methods. However, those method require a large number of motion capture data as the ground truth of each skeleton points. This paper proposes a human skeleton extraction method without using reference data. The method extracts the minimum number of articulation points instead of full skeleton data. The articulation points are used as an real-time interface for 3D interaction games.

Brucella abortus is a well-known intracellular zoonotic pathogen. Despite significant research to understand the pathogenesis, underlying mechanisms of the bacterial infection are not yet understood. Thus, prevention and control of the B. abortus infection is problematic in animal and human. Therefore, several methods involving random mutation have been used to identify the mechanisms and provide a solution for control and prevention of Brucella infection. B. abortus mutants were generated by random insertion of a transposon, Ez-Tn5TM pMODTM-3 <R6Kγori/MCS> into a chromosome. Characteristics of these mutants were investigated using biochemical testing, growth features, determination of biovar, antibiotic resistance and detection of virulence factors, T4SS, PGK, and CGS. In biochemical testing, B. abortus mutants were categorized according to 7 groups with different condition of ILATk, SUTC, and ELLM. Different growth features were also observed between wild type and mutants. In addition, both B. abortus wild type and mutants were determined as biovar type 1 by biovar test. Three virulence factors, T4SS, PGK, and CGS were detected by PCR. Therefore, B. abortus mutants were characterized by analysis of phenotyping and it might be useful for further studies of known pathogenesis of B. abortus infection and for identification of diagnostic markers of brucellosis.

모던시의 특징 중의 하나는 서사 형태를 사용하고 있다는 점이다. 이는 모던시인들이 가장 높고 고귀한 형식의 시로 꼽는 서사시를 그들의 시대에 되살리려 했다는 사실을 입증한다. 그리고 학자들은 이 예로 에즈라 파운드의 캔토스와 티에 스 엘리엇의 황무지를 꼽는다. 나는 윌리엄 버틀러 예이츠도 이 모던시인의 그룹에 속해야 한다고 믿는다. 예이츠는 비록 캔토스나 황무지에 비견될만한 서사형태의 시를 쓰지는 않았지만 그가 쓴 많은 시들이 서사시의 요소를 갖고 있기 때문이다. 이 는 예이츠 역시 파운드나 엘리엇처럼 전통을 존중하고 그 전통에서 시적영감을 얻을 뿐만 아니라 시적 연속성을 지켜야 한다고 믿었기 때문이다.

Dextran is a generic term for a bacterial exopolysaccharide synthesized from sucrose and composed of chains of D-glucose units connected by α-1,6-linkages by using dextransucrases. Dextran could be used as vicosifying, stabilizing, emulsifying, gelling, bulking, dietary fiber, prebiotics, and water holding agents. We isolated new strain capable of producing dextran from Korean traditional kimchi and identified as Leuconostoc sp. strain JYY4. Batch fermentation was conducted in bioreactor with a working volume of 3 L. The media was MMY and 15% (w/v) sucrose. Mineral medium consisted of 3.0 g KH2PO4, 0.01 g FeSO4, H2O, 0.01 g MnSO4, 4H2O, 0.2 g MgSO4 7H2O, 0.01 g NaCl, 0.05 g CaCl2 per 1 liter deionized water. The pH of media was initially adjusted to 6.0. The inoculation rate was 1.0% (v/v) of the working volume. Temperature was maintained at 28oC. The agitation rate was 100 rpm. The production pattern of dextran was associated with the cell growth. After 24 hr dextran reached its highest concentration of 59.4 g/L. The sucrose was consumed completely after 40 hr. Growth reached stationery phase when sucrose became limiting, regardless of the presence of fructose or mannitol. When the specific growth rate was 0.54 hr-1, utilization averaged 5.8 g/L-hr. The yield and productivity of dextran were 80% and 2.0 g/L-hr, respectively. Dextrans produced by were separated to two different size by an alcohol fraction method. The size of high molecular weight dextran (45% alcohol, v/v), less soluble dextran, was between MW 500,000 and 2,000,000. Soluble dextran (55% alcohol, v/v) was between 70,000 and 150,000. The molecular weight average of total dextran (70% alcohol, v/v) was between 150,000 to 500,000. The enzymatic hydrolyzates of total dextran of ATCC 13146 showed branched dextrans by Penicillium dextranase contained of glucose, isomaltose, isomaltotriose, and isomaltooligosaccharides greater than DP4 (degree of polymerization) that had branch points. Compounds greater than DP4 were branched isomaltooligosaacharides. Hydrolysates by the Lipomyces dextranase produced the same composition of oligosaccharides as those by Penicillin dextranase.

For ex-vivo diabetic control, the voltammetric diagnosis of glucose (GU) was conducted with a modified carbon nanotube paste electrode, using handheld analytical circuits. The optimum analytical conditions were attained within the 0.5-4.0 ug/L working range and at the 0.06 ug/L detection limit, which system was interfaced to the feedback circuits and was applied to human urine for diabetic-patient diagnosis. It can be used for ex-vivo flow control analysis, vascular flow detection and other medicinal assays. The equations of the patients’ urine are y=36.65x+12.13 and R²=0.987, those of the healthy person of y= 2.5x+10.9 and R²=0.928 (patients: 118 ug/L; healthy person: 12.34 ug/L).

Oyster mushroom is one of mushrooms that are cultivated and consumed a lot in Korea. P. ostreatus 'Suhan(ASI2504)' is a popluar cultivar because of high quality. But it is difficult for farmers to cultivate, so an alternative cultivar of ‘Suhan’ is demanded continuously. To develop a new variety, parental strains were selected using cultivation characteristics of Pleurotus ostreatus collected home and abroad. P. ostreatus 'Gosol' was developed by the method of Di-Mon crossing between dikaryotic strain P. ostreatus 'Mongdol(ASI0633)' and monokaryotic strain derived from P. ostreatus ‘Yasan(ASI0635)' in 2014. Analysis of the genetic characteristics of the new cultivar 'Gosol' showed a different DNA profile as that of the control strain, 'Suhan’ but a similar DNA profile as those of the parental strains, ‘Yasan’ and　'Mongdol’, when RAPD(Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA) primer URP 3 was used. The optimum temperature for mycelial growth was 25°C for ‘Gosol’ and ‘Suhan’. 'Gosol' was appropriate for middle high temperature to grow, especially 13~18°C. Fruiting body production per bottle was about 124.2g. When compared to the control strain 'Suhan’, the stipe was longer and the individual weight was heavier. But the stipe and the pileus were a little thinner than those of the control strain. ‘Gosol’ was more resistant at high CO2 concentration than the control strain. This new cultivar ‘Gosol’ of Pleurotus ostreatus was characterized dark bluish gray cultivar of oyster mushroom in the color of pileus and higer yield compared to those of other cultivar ‘Suhan’. Therefore, it is suggested that this new cultivar ‘Gosol’ be substitute for ‘Suhan’ in oyster mushroom’s farms.

The purpose of this study was to parallel circuit training and circuit training with sonic systemic mechanism was to compare the differences in pulmonary function and chest expansion in adult men. This study was performed on 20 subjects. 20 subjects were divided into two groups; Circuit training group(n=10), Circuit training with sonic systemic mechanism(n=10). Both of the group performed the exercise 3 times a week for 5 weeks. The data was analyzed by the Repeated t-test for comparing before, during and after changes of factors in each group and the Independent t-test for comparing the between groups. The result are as follows. Circuit training group was statistically significant difference FVC, FEV1/FVC(p<.05), Circuit training with sonic systemic mechanism group was statistically significant difference PEF, VC in pulmonary function(p<.05). Circuit training group was statistically significant difference FEV1/FVC of between the two group in pulmonary function(p<.05). Circuit training group and circuit training with sonic systemic mechanism group was statistically significant difference in chest expansion(p<0.05) and there was no statistically significant difference of between the two group in chest expansion(p>.05).

This study examined the effects of stretching and sling stabilizing exercises on changes in the angle of the cervical spine in military neck patients. The subjects were 20 adults diagnosed with a military neck(male:10, female:10) and they were randomly and equally assigned to a stretching exercise group and a sling stabilization exercise group. The total study period was four weeks. The intervention was applied three times per week for 60 minutes per each time. Before conducting the exercise, X-ray of each group was photographed to measure craniospinal angle(CVA) and cranial rotation angle(CRA). According to the result of comparing the two groups in changes in the cervical spine angle, there was no significant difference, and the result of comparing pre- and post-intervention was that there was significant change in CVA and CRA in the stretching group (p<.05) but there was no significant change in CVA and CRA in the sling stabilization exercise. Such result suggests stretching exercise is good for improving a military neck and stretching is more effective than sling in the therapeutic intervention for a military neck.

To determine the effect of diabetes on root resorption in periodontitis, we investigated odontoclast formation and root resorption in diabetic rats with periodontitis. Odontoclast formation was observed in three groups of F344 rats: Controls (C) were normal rats without diabetes or periodontitis; the periodontitis (P) group had mandibular first molars to be ligatured; the periodontitis with diabetes (PD) group was intravenously administered streptozotocin (50 mg/kg) to induce diabetes and had mandibular first molars to be ligatured. On days 3, 10, and 20 after ligature, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL) expression, odontoclast formation, and root resorption areas were evaluated by immunohistochemistry, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase staining, and hematoxylin and eosin staining, respectively. The PD group showed frequent urination, weight loss, and hyperglycemia. Numbers of TNF-α- and RANKL-positive cells were higher in the P and PD groups than in the C group. It was more prevalent in PD group on day 3. Odontoclast formation was greater in the P and PD groups than in the C group on days 3 and 10, then decreased to same level as the C group by day 20. Root resorption in the PD and P groups showed increases on days 3 and 10, respectively, compared to the C group. These results suggest that diabetes may transiently increase root resorption on day 3 with high expression of TNF-α and RANKL after periodontitis induction. This study could aid the understanding of root resorption in diabetic patients with periodontitis.

This paper investigated the use of of, the most frequently occurring preposition, in essays written by 416 matriculants at a Korean university. The learner corpus consisting of these essays contained 1,250 tokens of of, and these tokens were first analyzed according to their functions, i.e., integrative, separative, idiomatic, and others, adapted from Lindstromberg’s (2010) categorization of the functions of of. To ascertain what types of errors were made regarding of, the 46 tokens of of identified as errors were further categorized as addition, misordering, misformation, or wrong position. Of these four categories, addition was found to be the most frequently occurring type of error (31 of the 46 tokens), while wrong preposition and misformation accounted for ten and three tokens, respectively. No tokens of misordering were found, however. Also noteworthy is the finding that, albeit occurring mostly in simple constructions and basic functions, of was used accurately in over 95% of all the tokens found in the learner corpus.

Quality function deployment (QFD) is a useful method in product design and development to maximize customer satisfaction. In the QFD, the technical attributes (TAs) affecting the product performance are identified, and product performance is improved to optimize customer requirements (CRs). For product development, determining the optimal levels of TAs is crucial during QFD optimization. Many optimization methods have been proposed to obtain the optimal levels of TAs in QFD. In these studies, the levels of TAs are assumed to be continuous while they are often taken as discrete in real world application. Another assumption in QFD optimization is that the requirements of the heterogeneous customers can be generalized and hence only one house of quality (HoQ) is used to connect with CRs. However, customers often have various requirements and preferences on a product. Therefore, a product market can be partitioned into several market segments, each of which contains a number of customers with homogeneous preferences. To overcome these problems, this paper proposes an optimization approach to find the optimal set of TAs under multi-segment market. Dynamic Programming (DP) methodology is developed to maximize the overall customer satisfaction for the market considering the weights of importance of different segments. Finally, a case study is provided for illustrating the proposed optimization approach.

Selfie refers to self-portrait photography, which became widespread practice with handy digital photographing technologies and the proliferation of social media. There are only a few studies on selfie and most of them examine the psychological profiles of selfie takers. However, we conducted a qualitative study to understand diverse goals embedded in the selfie practice and meanings of the practice. Eighty one undergraduate students enrolled in a university in South Korea, who reported to take selfies frequently, were recruited for in-depth interviews. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for thirty minutes to an hour, asking their selfie-taking behaviors including general information (when, where, how, why), skills and techniques, related memories and experiences, and sharing and online posting. Transcripts and observations were analyzed through multiple steps of coding. Data revealed numerous strategies in selfie photography and statements about why those strategies are important, that is, goals of selfie practice. We present findings in the following structure: Operation of selective selves → Subordinate goals → Superordinate goals We abstract the essential feature of selfie as augmented control as a result of integrative and selective operation of the three selves as the one who photographs, the one who is photographed, and/or the one who owns and uses the selfie. Participants’ strategies reflect this complexity. For example, tips for camera angles and lighting are related to self as a subject who photographs. Knowledge on facial expressions reflects self as an object that is photographed. Photoshop skills are obtained as self who uses the photographs. Five goals at the subordinate level emerged: Attractive appearance, social activities, testimonial, fact check, and story-telling. These are the immediate goals gained through taking, using, and possessing selfies. Different goals are formed based on relatively different importance of each of the three selves. For example, to post a selfie that tells one’s feeling about new season, the photographer chooses to focus on the self as a subject who writes a story and portrays in photographing rather than the self as an object of the photograph. Superordinate goals are derived from the subordinate goals: Narcissism, self-discovery, self-expression, reminiscence, display, self-monitoring, and belongingness. As in the relations between selves and subordinate goals, some subordinate goals are related to more than one superordinate goal. Some superordinate goals also result from more than one subordinate goal. We conclude that selfie provides augmented control in producing and using pictures and the selective operation of the three selves enables consumers to obtain various individual and social values through the selfie practice.

The primary objective of the present study is the characterization of the hybrids of dikaryon-monokaryon(di-mono) and monokaryon-monokaryon(mono-mono) crosses in mushroom breeding. We employed this technique for developing develop superior species from Pleurotus spp. varieties with 56 Di-mono intraspecific hybrids of 14 combinations and 85 mono-mono intraspecific hybrids of 7 combinations between six Pleurotus ostreatus varieties and one Pleurotus florida variety. In this study, the results of analysis on hybridization rate, nuclear and mitochondrial DNA patterns, and colors and yields of fruit-bodies, are presented as follows. In di-mono crosses, hybrids between Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus florida showed 100% of crossability as seen in those between Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus ostreatus indicating that nuclei and mitochondria of a dikaryon migrated to a recipient of monokaryon. The mitochondrial DNA patterns of the hybrid strain were composed of 75% dikaryon donors and 25% monokaryon recipient. The crossability between mono-mono crossing ranges between 50 and 93.75%. 82.4% of the hybrid strain showed mitochondrial DNA patterns predominated by either parent, while the remaining 17.6% had recombinant or half-and-half combined patterns of both parents.

This study explores a possibility to expend the scope of Traditional Korean-style ** ** House, or Hanok through including North Korea's Modem Korean-style building. As Korean traditional architecture is gaining more attention, we should think over how contemporary Hanok should be and establish the concept of Hanok for future generations to come. In order to do that, the traditional Hanok design techniques should be understood. Based on this, the appropriate Hanok Design and construction techniques for contemporary buildings could be found out. This study, therefore, aims at finding basic data of design techniques which can be applied to modern Hanok in South Korea and provi%Bng clues for the future Hanok design through studying Korean-style modern buildings in North Korea.

Adding new attributes is the main strategy firms use to attract consumers in many industries, but the impact of new attributes may be ambiguous, as indicated by the results of several studies (Bertini, Ofek and Ariely, 2009; Griffin and Broniarczyk, 2010; Nam, Wang and Lee, 2012; Sun, Keh and Lee, 2012; Zhang and Fitzimons, 1999; Zhang, Kardes and Cronley, 2002). The demand for innovative, upgraded, and integrated products is higher than ever before, and firms’ ability to meet this demand is tenuous in many cases. Take the example of the iPhone, where the touch pad option is the new feature that overcomes the disadvantages of a regular keypad, and where other options such as SIRI and other convenient software technologies provide good reasons to purchase or upgrade a smart phone. Although the transition from keypad to touch screen is occurring rapidly in the technology market, many consumers still opt to utilize their old phones rather than upgrading. The alignability of the attributes of the smart phone may affect their decision-making. Self-regulatory factors moderate decision-making based on alignable and non-alignable attributes. Promotion and prevention self-regulation systems managed across separate mental accounts are involved consumer information flow process in the sense that alignable attributes engender risk aversion, whereas non-alignable attributes engender risk seeking (Zhou and Pham, 2004). More cognitive effort may be required to evaluate non-alignable attributes due to the absence of inferential references inherent in the newness of features (Nam et al., 2012; Sun et al., 2012). Accordingly, if there is no significant difference in alignable attributes between products, consumers will put more weight on non-alignable attributes (Brown and Carpenter, 2000). For high-technology products, if alignable attributes satisfy consumers’ perceived utility as weighed against the cost incurred, consumers may compare non-alignable attributes in order to justify their purchases. Even if non-alignable attributes are trivial, they may be important to the final decision. Based on evaluations of the latter, consumers can justify the purchase (Brown and Carpenter, 2000). Although non-alignable attributes may seem peripheral and complementary, they may contribute to the success of a product due to their novelty, uniqueness and role in simplifying the purchase choice (Carpenter, Glazer and Nakamoto, 1994). However, if consumers perceive that non-alignable attributes fundamentally affect product quality, they may infer that its alignable attributes are relatively inferior. This thinking process may result in a negative evaluation of the product (Simonson, Nowlis and Simonson, 1993). As mentioned earlier, consumers may associate non-alignable attributes with unnecessary costs (Brown and Carpenter, 2000). In the experiment of Bertini et al. (2009), consumers preferred the MP3 player with the BOSS earphone over the one with no other option, which led to a decrease in the willingness to upgrade the product. They do not evaluate non-alignable attributes in isolation, but may use those instrumentally. In the case of high technology products, when information about non-alignable attributes becomes available, ambiguity arises from the integration of distinctive features and functionalities, which are non-alignable attributes, and moreover from the integration of non-alignable attributes with alignable attributes. Consumer beliefs and attitude resulted from the mediating role of this ambiguity are formed holistically by non-selective attention for integral stimuli (alignable and non-alignable attributes) (Nosofsky, 1986, 1987). When consumers ambiguous towards a bundle of attributes, which is nothing but the product, they are inclined to interpret it positively (Bar-Hill and Budescu, 1995; Goldsmith and Amir, 2010). Consumers are hypothesized to exhibit innate optimism, being biased towards unforeseen benefits. They are even sensitive to the specific types of non-alignable attributes: central vs. peripheral attributes. Thus, in strategizing for product marketing purposes, non-alignable attributes should be positioned as peripheral factors rather than as central factors, especially in the early stages of product introduction. Hypothesis Development Consumers make judgments about the obsolescence of the products they currently use. Various factors influence the decision to upgrade. Obsolescence is a loss in value since the launch of a product, not because the product has become less useful, but because a new product with upgraded features and designs has become available to consumers (Bayus, 1991; Chung, Han and Sohn, 2012; Levinthal and Purohit, 1989). Consumers’ expectations about improvement in the new version are based upon two types of obsolescence that influence their willingness to upgrade (pay) for the new product: technological obsolescence and psychological obsolescence. Much research has been done (Bayus, 1991; Chung et al., 2012; Levinthal and Purohit, 1989); however, consumers’ strategic decision-making has not always been clearly understood. They may not know in advance what product to choose, or they may lack information to utilize during the buying process. In addition, technological progress is so rapid and uncertain that consumers may not be able to keep up with the novelty of new technologies. They may have difficulty selecting among alternatives that will be standard later in the market. Accordingly, although they may perceive the technological obsolescence of the product, they may not replace it until they feel psychologically justified in doing so. They may not intend to replace the product only for reasons of technological obsolescence due to loss of the sunk cost incurred by its replacement (Okada, 2006). While alignable attributes are more likely to be deterministic, functional and important, non-alignable attributes are more likely to be marginal, hedonic and trivial. Accordingly, consumers may form cognitive attitudes toward alignable attributes and expectations as to how these should change to become more useful. In other words, they may develop their own ideal level (point) for each alignable attribute as they become familiar with them. Thus, consumers experience uncertainty within a range unique to each individual. They judge the feasibility of a purchase insofar as it corresponds to their own ideal points. For example, when Microsoft upgraded from MS Office 2002 to MS Office 2007, the text menu-driven UI (user interface) was changed to become ribbon menu-driven (graphic). Many users of MS Office 2002 had difficulty using the upgraded functions of MS Office 2007. Frequently used features and options in the previous version, even such as cut and paste, were suddenly not easy to use, and consumers who upgraded to the next version were puzzled at the fact that they were unable to properly use the function they got used to. Complexity may be detrimental to ease-of-use judgment with inferred learning costs. Although consumers make inferences based upon their ideal points, the uncertainty involved in this process relates to cognitive referral. Since alignable attributes are representative of prevention, these engender risk aversion for consumers. Consumers who are primed with prevention-focus may prefer not to exert effort to find out how to use features which were easy to use in the previous version just for the sake of upgrading to the new product. Accordingly, uncertainty about ease of use of alignable attributes has a negative effect on consumers’ willingness to replace a product As more information on a product’s non-alignable attributes becomes available, consumers’ ambiguity about the updated product will decrease and their likelihood of replacement will decrease (Smith and Amir, 2010; Norton, Frost and Ariely, 2007: Bar-Hillel and Budescu, 1995; Krizan and Windschitl, 2007). In addition to technological obsolescence, curiosity and self-regulation in terms of the newness and novelty of a product may motivate consumers to replace a product. Existing consumers may be very curious about new information and non-alignable attributes, making every effort to process available information (Alba and Hutchinson, 1987; Maheswaran and Sternthal, 1990; Nam et al., 2012; Sujan, 1985). When non-alignable attributes become available, consumers do not look at them separately from the alignable ones with which the upgraded product is already equipped; instead, they evaluate the product holistically (Bertini et al., 2009). In an identification–classification task, subjects that were able to attend selectively to the relevant dimension and filter the irrelevant one for separable stimuli were unable to do so for integral stimuli. Non-alignable attributes directly affect consumers’ willingness (likelihood) to replace a product. Therefore, a mediating role of ambiguity is evident between non-alignable attributes and consumers’ willingness to replace the product. Thus, we present the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1-1: When information on alignable attributes becomes available, consumers will be primed with prevention-focus. Hypothesis 1-2: When information on non-alignable attributes is available, consumers will be primed with promotion-focus. Hypothesis 2-1: If consumers are uncertain about the alignable attributes of a product, they will less likely purchase the updated version of the product. Hypothesis 2-2: If consumers are uncertain (ambiguous) about the non-alignable attributes of a product, they will more likely purchase the updated version of the product. Each individual tries to minimize the distance from a current state to a desired state by means of self-regulation (Higgins, Kruglanski and Pierro, 2003). The mode of self-regulation may be either locomotive or assessable. Assessment is a self-regulatory mode in which some objects and states are critically and analytically judged relative to desired means and goals in order to select the best among many alternatives (Kluglanski et al., 2000). Assessors intend to minimize the distance from the current state to the desired state by means of comparative processes to measure, construe and evaluate among alternatives (Higgins et al., 2003). Accordingly, they make cognitive efforts to compare and analyze the alternatives prior to the choice behavior. The other self-regulatory mode, locomotion, involves judging of objects and states with reference to a particular goal in the process of selecting alternatives (Kruglanski et al., 2000; Pierro et al., 2006). Because locomotors emphasize behavior and progress, they are quick to analyze the alternatives and direct in their selection. Locomotors are different from assessors, who select the best alternative via comparative processes. Locomotors try to select the best alternative realistically and heuristically to achieve their goals. They may not commit to analytical assessment of all possible problems in the process. In the process of evaluating alternatives, assessors focus on all attributes rather than on some particular attributes. They continuously try to assess both alignable and non-alignable attributes. By contrast, locomotors want to achieve a particular goal rapidly. When they perceive technological obsolescence, they may rely on information about alignable attributes because they are eager to benefit from improved features and functions. In the same vein, when they perceive psychological obsolescence, they may rely on information about non-alignable attributes because of the differences in value of these attributes from those of the existing product. Therefore, we offer the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 3: When assessors evaluate an updated product, they will put more weight on non-alignable attributes than on alignable attributes. Hypothesis 4: When locomotors evaluate an updated product, they will depend upon attribute information corresponding to the two types of obsolescence. EXPERIMENT 1 Method Experiment 1 explores consumers’ regulatory focus which would be differently primed either with alignable attributes or with nonalignable attributes (H1 and H2). And it explores consumers’ purchase intention via the amount of information (low-information vs. high-information) and regulatory modes (locomotion vs. assessment. A pretest was conducted with a separate sample (n=64) to ensure that the product profile used in the experiment matched the situation where participants perceive alignable attributes to be deterministic, functional and salient, and where they perceive nonalignable attributes to be peripheral, hedonic and novel. We picked the external HDD that participants associated with salience and newness. In the main experiment, two hundred seventy one participants read information about the external HDD and then answers on the alignable and nonalignable attributes of this product. The between-subject experimental design consists of information type (alignable vs. nonalignable attributes) x information amount (low-information vs. high-information). Results We examined that consumers will be primed with different regulatory focus (H1 and H2) upon the type of information via a gap analysis and a mediated regression analysis. The test results were that respondents exposed to the information type of alignable attributes would be primed with prevention-focus (4.60) than with promotion-focus (4.20) (t = -3.180, p < .001), and that respondents exposed to the information type of nonalignable attributes would be primed with promotion-focus (4.44) than with prevention-focus (3.99) (t = -2.746, p < .05). Next, the type of information was treated as a dummy variable, where it takes values of “0” for nonalignable attributes and of “1” for alignable attributes. Respondents’ dominant regulatory focus was set to be the value of prevention which was subtracted from the value of promotion. The primed regulatory focus fully mediates between the type of information and purchase intention (Sobel Z-score = -3.827, p < .01). That is, if consumers are exposed to the information type of alignable attributes, they will be primed with prevention-focus, which will negatively affect consumers’ purchase intention. Accordingly, Hypothesis 1-1 and 1-2 were supported. Furthermore, we examined the differential effect on purchase intention via a 2 (type of information) × 2(amount of information) between-subjects ANOVA (H1-2 and H2-2) as in Figure 2. In the case of respondents exposed to alignable attributes, the purchase intention was higher for certain information (3.75) than for uncertain information (3.20) (t = 2.077, p < .05), whereas in the case of respondents exposed to nonalignable attributes, the purchase intention was higher for uncertain information (4.48) than for certain information (3.81) (t = 2.478, p < .05). Prior knowledge and involvement on the stimulus were controlled as covariates, and respondents were divided into groups by means of the information type and the information amount. The interaction between the variables was investigated (F(1, 271) = 13.413, p < .01). Accordingly, H2-1 and 2-2 were supported. Finally, we examined the differential effect on purchase via 2 (regulatory mode) × 2 (type of information) between-subjects ANOVA (H4 and H5) as in Figure 3. Regulatory mode was dichotomized into locomotion and assessment by the median of values of assessment subtracted from those of locomotion. In the assessors’ case, a difference between the purchase intentions by means of the type of information – alignable attributes (3.60) and nonalignable attributes (3.73), was not found (t=-.533, p > .10). Hypothesis 3 was rejected. On the other hand, in the locomotors’ case, the purchase intention of respondents exposed to the information type of nonalignable attributes (4.53) would be higher than that of those exposed to the information type of alignable attributes (3.38) (t = 3.826, p < .01). Accordingly, hypothesis 4 was supported. Prior knowledge and involvement on the stimulus were controlled as covariates, respondents were divided into groups by means of regulatory mode and the information type. The interaction among purchase intention, regulartory mode and the information type (F(1,271) = 7.647, p < 0.01).

This study examines the determinants of the member customer’s decision of redeeming versus accumulating loyalty program (LP) points by focusing on the effects of the different channels of transaction (online versus offline) and the demographic information of member customers. Our study is based on customer-level demographic and transaction data on a major partnership LP in Korea, the OK Cashbag (OCB) program. This study differs from the existing literature in three aspects. First, the dataset employed for this study enables us to compare member customers’ point redemption behavior between online and offline channels, whereas previous studies demonstrate coupon redemption behavior either in an online (Chiou-Wei and Inman 2008) or an offline setting (e.g., Cronovich 1997; Kwon and Kwon 2007; Mittal 1994; Reibstein and Traver 1982; Ward and Davis 1978). Second, the current study investigates not only the main effects of demographic variables, but also a series of interaction effects between the online channel and each demographic variable. Clear empirical evidence of an interaction effect would provide an LP provider with significant managerial implications. Third, rich data on customers’ transaction behavior with matching demographic information for each member customer enable us to conduct both transaction-level and individual customer-level analyses. Therefore, an individual customer’s transaction behavior can be analyzed in more detail for robust results and richer implications. We find that transactions that occur through online channels and those made by younger customers demonstrate a greater tendency of redeeming LP points as opposed to accumulating them. We also find that online channels exhibit a moderating role by mitigating the demographic effects on member customers’ point redemption behavior. These findings allow the LP provider to predict the future LP point balance by analyzing its main channel of transaction and the demographic profiles of its member customers.

This study applied regression analysis to evaluate the impact of hourly average congestion calculated by bumper model in the congested area of each passage of each port on the peak time congestion, to suggest the model formula that can predict the peak time congestion. This study conducted regression analysis of hourly average congestion and peak time congestion based on the AIS survey study of 20 ports in Korea. As a result of analysis, it was found that the hourly average congestion has a significant impact on the peak time congestion and the prediction model formula was derived. This formula(Cp = 4.457Ca + 29.202) can be used to calculate the peak time congestion based on the predicted hourly average congestion.