A STUDY ON THE FACTORS INFLUENCING THE INTENTION OF BLOG USAGE

Blogs are a new type of media that have recently become popular users on the World Wide Web and have influence throughout society. The purpose of this study is to examine social motivations influencing intention of blog usage. Based on Technology Acceptance Model and Motivation Theory, This study considered perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, reputation, reciprocity, enjoyment of helping, social identity as the determinants of influencing the intention of blog usage. The purposed model was empirically evaluated using online survey data collected from 342 user of popular blog site in Korea (NAVER Blog , cyworld mihompy, daum blog, yahoo blog etc) The results revealed that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, reciprocity, social identity affected directly the intention of blog usage. Also social identity has moderate effect via reciprocity and enjoyment of helping on blog usage. This study contributes to a theoretical understanding of the factors as social motivation that affect the usage of blogs. Practically this study results provide blog service providers useful strategic insights and service guideline to enhance user\u27s intention of blogs

"Teaching to beat" in a Korean Academic High School

1994This paper presents the results of an intensive two-year ethnographic study focusing on what teachers do when they teach in college preparatory academic high schools in Korea. The main concern is how they select, organize, and present classroom knowledge, while keeping order in the classes. Usually the teaching practices in academic high schools have been characterized as rote memory oriented, and this has become the major strategy to prepare the students for the College Entrance Examination (hereafter C.E.E.). This study, however, reveals that the practices are more than teaching students how and what to memorize. The teachers select what they judge important out of the nationally standardized textbooks, break it down, restucture it in a way that makes classroom knowledge readily "digestible stuffs", and "put it into their mouths" so that the students can easily transfer welldigested bits of knowledge into scores on the C.E.E.. This teaching method is prevalent only among "competent" teachers across the school subjects

Anatomic variations of the T2 nerve root (including the nerve of Kuntz) and their implications for sympathectomy

AbstractObjective: The aim of this study was to clarify the anatomic variations of the intrathoracic nerve of Kuntz, and this should help delineate the resection margins during video-assisted thoracic sympathectomy. Methods: Sixty-six thoracic sympathetic chains of 39 adult Korean cadavers were dissected on both sides of the thorax in 27 cadavers (54 sides) and on one side in 12 cadavers (12 sides). Results: The intrathoracic nerve was observed in 45 (68.2%) sides and was present bilaterally in 48.1% of cadavers. No intrathoracic nerve or ascending ramus communicans arising from the second thoracic nerve was observed in only 5 (7.6%) sides. The diameter of the intrathoracic nerve was 1.25 ± 0.55 mm on average. The arising point of the intrathoracic nerve from the second thoracic nerve was 7.3 mm on average from the sympathetic trunk. Presence of the stellate ganglion was noted in 56 (84.8%) sides, and 6 (9.1%) sides showed a single large ganglion formed by the stellate and the second thoracic sympathetic ganglia. The second thoracic sympathetic ganglion was most commonly located (50%) in the second intercostal space. Conclusion: The anatomic variations of the intrathoracic nerve of Kuntz and the second thoracic sympathetic ganglion were characterized in human cadavers. It is hoped that this study will help to improve the recurrence of symptoms caused by the intrathoracic nerve in an upper thoracic sympathectomy for hyperhidrosis.J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2002;123:498-50

Improvement of Mechanical Properties of UV-curable Resin for High-aspect Ratio Microstructures Fabricated in Microstereolithography

Recently, microstructures fabricated using microstereolithography technology have been used in the biological, medical and mechanical fields. Microstereolithography can fabricate real 3D microstructures with fine features, although there is presently a limited number of materials available for use in the process. Deformation of the fine features on a fabricated microstructure remains a critical issue for successful part fabrication, and part deformation can occur during rinsing or during fabrication as a result of fluid flow forces that occur during movement of mechanical parts of the system. Deformation can result in failure to fabricate a particular feature by breaking the feature completely, spatial deflection of the feature, or attaching the feature to neighboring microstructures. To improve mechanical strength of fabricated microstructures, a clay nanocomposite can be used. In particular, a high-aspect ratio microstructure can be fabricated without distortion using photocurable liquid resin containing a clay nanocomposite. In this paper, a clay nanocomposite was blended with a photocurable liquid resin to solve the deformation problem that occurs during fabrication and rinsing. An optimal mixture ratio of a clay nanocomposite was found through tensile testing and the minimal allowable distance between microstructures was found through fabrication experimentation. Finally, using these results, high-aspect ratio microstructures were fabricated using a clay nanocomposite resin without distortion

Fabrication of Complex 3D Micro-Scale Scaffolds and Drug Delivery Devices using Dynamic Mask Projection Microstereolithography

Microstereolithography (μSL) technology can fabricate three-dimensional (3D) tissue engineered scaffolds with controlled biochemical and mechanical micro-architectures. A μSL system for tissue engineering was developed using a Digital Micromirror Device (DMDTM) for dynamic pattern generation and an ultraviolet (UV) lamp filtered at 365 nm for crosslinking the photoreactive polymer solution. The μSL system was designed with x-y resolution of ~2 μm and a vertical (z) resolution of ~1 μm. To demonstrate the use of μSL in tissue engineering, poly(propylene fumarate) (PPF) was synthesized with a molecular weight of ~1200 Da. The viscosity of the PPF was reduced to ~150 cP (at 50 o C) by mixing with diethyl fumarate (DEF) in the ratio of 7:3 (w/w). Finally, ~2 % (w/w) of (bis(2,4,6- trimethylbenzoyl) phenylphosphine oxide (BAPO) was added to the solution to serve as a photoinitiator. Cure depth experiments were performed to determine the curing characteristics of the synthesized PPF, and the resulting system and photopolymer were used to construct a variety of 3D porous scaffolds with interconnected pores between 100 and 150 μm and a micro-needle array with height of ~800 μm and individual tip diameters of ~20 μm. SEM and microscope images of the micro-architectures illustrate that the developed μSL system is a promising technology for producing biodegradable and biocompatible microstructures.Mechanical Engineerin

Effects of Dietary Protein and Fat Contents on Renal Function and Inflammatory Cytokines in Rats with Adriamycin-Induced Nephrotic Syndrome

The effects of dietary protein and fat on renal function-related blood and urine parameters, such as albumin, urinary protein,and inflammatory cytokines were investigated in adriamycin- (ADR) induced nephrotic syndrome rats. ADR (2 mg/kg BW) was injected i.p. weekly for six weeks to develop nephrotic syndrome; thereafter rats were fed low-protein/high-fat (LPHF) or high-protein/low-fat (HPLF) diets for five weeks. Renal function-related blood and urine parameters were measured before and after dietary intervention. Serum levels of albumin, TG, and creatinine were significantly higher in the LPHF group than in the HPLF group. Serum levels of albumin were low and urinary protein excretion protein was high in HPLF group. BUN and UUN levels were higher in the HPLF group than in the LPHF. Urinary excretion of creatinine was significantly higher in the HPLF group than in the LPHF group. Serum inflammatory cytokine levels did not differ between the two groups, however the levels of IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-13 in splenocyte supernatants were significantly higher in the LPHF group than in the HPLF group. We confirmed that protein and fat contents in diet affect renal function-related blood and urine parameters and splenocyte inflammatory cytokine levels in ADR-induced nephrotic syndrome rats