Korean ESL learners' pragmatic competence: motivation, amount of contact, and length of residence

This study examined the motivation for learning English, the amount of contact with English, and length of residence in the target language area that affects Korean graduate students’ English pragmatic skills studying at Texas A&M University in the U.S. The study attempted to account for differential pragmatic development among 50 graduate-level Korean students in a target speech community in regards to functions of their level of motivation, amount of contact with English, as well as length of residence in the target language community. Compared to other studies of second-language acquisition (SLA) which have examined variation among individuals with respect to L2 language learning for quite some time, there has been relatively little inquiry into how second language learners acquire L2 pragmatics and which factors affect learners’ acquisition of L2 pragmatics. Based on the need for more research on the individual difference factors that affect developmental outcomes in L2 pragmatics, the following research questions were investigated: 1) How are differences in the Korean ESL learners’ degree of motivation related with their achievement of pragmatic competence? 2) How is the reported amount of contact with English related with the Korean ESL learners’ pragmatic competence? 3) How are differences in the Korean ESL learners’ length of residence related with their achievement of pragmatic competence? 4) To what extent does student motivation relate to the likelihood of pursuing contact with English? The data for the present study were collected using three types of elicitation instruments: a written background questionnaire, a discourse completion test, and the mini- Attitude/Motivation Test Battery. Analyses in the present study proceeded in three stages: descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients, and multiple regressions. The findings of the study provided that (a) the levels of motivation examined demonstrated a positive and moderate relationship to the Korean ESL learners’ L2 pragmatic competence; (b) overall, the amount of L2 contact appeared to have only a weak and insignificant impact on the participants’ pragmatic competence; (c) despite (b), one exception was that productive, more interactive type of language contact moderately influenced the participants’ level of pragmatic competence; (d) the participants’ length of residence moderately influenced the participants’ level of pragmatic competence; and (e) the participants’ level of motivation moderately affected their likelihood of pursuing contact with English

Investigating the effect of online service quality of internet duty-free shops on trust and behavioral intention

Purpose: This study seeks to identify the effect of service quality in internet duty-free shops on a customer’s trust and behavioral intention. Design/methodology: For this analysis, a survey was executed targeting customers who have used an internet duty-free shop. A total of 210 questionnaires were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings: The results revealed that a high online service quality experience using an internet duty-free shop had a positive effect on the customers’ trust. In addition, trust also had a positive effect on the customers’ behavioral intention. Originality/value: This study is the first paper that examines the effect of online service quality in internet duty-free shops in Korea. Results of this study could be used as basic data to help establish day to day management strategies for internet duty-free shops.Peer Reviewe

Cosimulation of MBD (Multi Body Dynamics) and DEM of many spheres using GPU technology

In this paper, dynamic simulation model which have many sphere particles and MBD (Multi Body Dynamics) entities, i.e. bodies, joints, forces, is built and simulated. Many sphere particles are solved with DEM (Discrete Element Method) and simulated with GPU technology. Fast algorithm is applied to calculate hertzian contact forces between many sphere particles (from 100,000 to 1,000,000) and NVIDIA’s CUDA is used to accelerate the calculation. Explicit integration method is applied to solve the many spheres. MBD (Multi Body Dynamics) entities are simulated with recursive formulation. Constraints are reduced by recursive formulation and implicit generalized alpha method is applied to solve dynamic model. Many sphere particles and MBD (Multi Body Dynamics) entities are co-simulated within commercial software RecurDyn. The interaction forces between many sphere particles and rigid body mesh are calculated and applied to each body to simulate two parts simultaneously. These models are built and simulated; fork lifter with sand model, oil in oil tank model, oil filled engine system and water filled washing machine model. All models are simulated with NVIDIA’s GPU and the result is shown

Cell type–dependent variation in paracrine potency determines therapeutic efficacy against neonatal hyperoxic lung injury

AbstractBackground aimsThe aim of this study was to determine the optimal cell type for transplantation to protect against neonatal hyperoxic lung injury. To this end, the in vitro and in vivo therapeutic efficacies and paracrine potencies of human umbilical cord blood–derived mesenchymal stromal cells (HUMs), human adipose tissue–derived mesenchymal stromal cells (HAMs) and human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells (HMNs) were compared.MethodsHyperoxic injury was induced in vitro in A549 cells by challenge with H2O2. Alternatively, hyperoxic injury was induced in newborn Sprague-Dawley rats in vivo by exposure to hyperoxia (90% oxygen) for 14 days. HUMs, HAMs or HMNs (5 × 105 cells) were given intratracheally at postnatal day 5.ResultsHyperoxia-induced increases in in vitro cell death and in vivo impaired alveolarization were significantly attenuated in both the HUM and HAM groups but not in the HMN group. Hyperoxia impaired angiogenesis, increased the cell death and pulmonary macrophages and elevated inflammatory cytokine levels. These effects were significantly decreased in the HUM group but not in the HAM or HMN groups. The levels of human vascular endothelial growth factor and hepatocyte growth factor produced by donor cells were highest in HUM group, followed by HAM group and then HMN group.ConclusionsHUMs exhibited the best therapeutic efficacy and paracrine potency than HAMs or HMNs in protecting against neonatal hyperoxic lung injury. These cell type-dependent variations in therapeutic efficacy might be associated or mediated with the paracrine potency of the transplanted donor cells

Primary malignant melanoma of the vagina in a postmenopausal woman

Primary malignant melanoma of the vagina, a very rare malignancy, is very aggressive and highly metastatic. Primary vaginal melanoma usually has a poor clinical prognosis, because it is often diagnosed at an advanced stage. We present a case of an 80-year-old postmenopausal woman with pigmented lesion of the vagina. The histopathology of the lesion revealed malignant melanoma. The patient was treated surgically, with wide local excision of the vaginal lesion. Left inguinal lymphadenectomy, based on the positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) images, found metastatic melanoma. We present a case report of postmenopausal woman with primary vaginal melanoma

Retrieval of NO2 Column Amounts from Ground-Based Hyperspectral Imaging Sensor Measurements

Total column amounts of NO2 (TCN) were estimated from ground-based hyperspectral imaging sensor (HIS) measurements in a polluted urban area (Seoul, Korea) by applying the radiance ratio fitting method with five wavelength pairs from 400 to 460 nm. We quantified the uncertainty of the retrieved TCN based on several factors. The estimated TCN uncertainty was up to 0.09 Dobson unit (DU), equivalent to 2.687 ?? 1020 molecules m???2) given a 1?? error for the observation geometries, including the solar zenith angle, viewing zenith angle, and relative azimuth angle. About 0.1 DU (6.8%) was estimated for an aerosol optical depth (AOD) uncertainty of 0.01. In addition, the uncertainty due to the NO2 vertical profile was 14% to 22%. Compared with the co-located Pandora spectrophotometer measurements, the HIS captured the temporal variation of the TCN during the intensive observation period. The correlation between the TCN from the HIS and Pandora also showed good agreement, with a slight positive bias (bias: 0.6 DU, root mean square error: 0.7 DU)

Retrospective Analysis of Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation for the Treatment of High-Risk Neuroblastoma

Disease relapse after autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (APBSCT) is the main cause of treatment failure in high-risk neuroblastoma (NBL). To reduce relapse, various efforts have been made such as CD34+ selection and double APBSCT. Here the authors reviewed the clinical features and outcomes of high-risk NBL patients and analyzed their survival. The medical records of 36 patients with stage III or IV NBL who underwent APBSCT at Seoul National University Children's Hospital between May 1996 and May 2004 were reviewed. Total 46 APBSCTs were performed in 36 patients. Disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival of all patients were 47.7% and 68.8%, respectively. The patients were allocated to three groups according to the APBSCT type. The DFS of CD34+ non-selected single APBSCT patients (N=13), CD34+ selected single APBSCT patients (N=14), and CD34+ selected double APBSCT patients (N=9) were 55.6%, 40.6%, and 50.0%, respectively, which were not significantly different. Thus the survival was not found to be affected by CD34+ selection or transplantation number. To improve long-term survival, various efforts should be made such as chemotherapy dose intensification, more effective tumor purging, and control of minimal residual disease via the use of differentiating and immune-modulating agents