Recipients\u27 Perception of Service Quality, Satisfaction and their Behavioral Intention in Home-delivered Meal Program

This study was conducted to evaluate the recipients’ perception of service quality, satisfaction, and behavioral intention in home delivery program. Using structural equation modeling, this paper shows that food quality and volunteer’s attitude stimuli that enhance satisfaction. Results also suggest that satisfaction mediate the relationship between food quality and behavioral intentions. The results are theoretically and practically meaningful because they address the relationships among three types of perceived quality (food, kindness, and responsiveness), satisfaction, and behavioral intentions in the meals-on-wheels program

Evaluation of the On-Campus Dining Service Using Importance-Performance Analysis

University foodservice is one of the largest sectors of the foodservice industry, and the college-student market is getting larger. Therefore, it is important that university foodservice needs to be monitored periodically and improved comprehensively in order to retain students as satisfied customers for on-campus foodservice. The objectives of the current study were to explore the importance and performance/satisfaction of on-campus dining service consumers, to investigate the importance-performance difference between patron and non-patron customers, and to examine the difference between gender groups. The study compared the respondents’ perceived importance and performance ratings of the dining service quality attributes using IPA. The IPA grid illustrated that food quality and sanitation fell into the Quadrant II (Keep up the Work); price into the Quadrant III (Low Priority); and service and environment into the Quadrant IV (Possible Overkill). However, according to IPA of comparison of patron versus non-patron groups and gender groups, the service attribute was allocated differently

Investigating key attributes in experience and satisfaction of hotel customer using online review data

© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. With the development of social media, customers are sharing their experiences, and it is rapidly spreading as a form of online review. That is why the online review has become a significant information source affecting customers\u27 purchase intention and behavior. Therefore, it is important to understand the customer\u27s experience shown in the online review in order to maintain sustainable customer satisfaction and loyalty. The purpose of this study is to investigate what are the key attributes and the structural relationship of those key attributes. To accomplish this purpose, a total of 6596 hotel reviews were collected from Google (google.com). A frequency analysis using text mining was performed to figure out the most frequently mentioned attributes. In addition, semantic network analysis, factor analysis, and regression analysis were applied to understand the experience and satisfaction of the hotel customer. As a result, the top 99 keywords were divided into four groups such as Intangible Service , Physical Environment , Purpose , and Location . The factor analysis reduced the dimension of the original 64 keywords to 22 keywords, and grouped them into five factors, which are Access , F&B (Food and Beverage) , Purpose , Tangibles , and Empathy . Based on these results, theoretical and practical implications for sustainable hotel marketing strategies are suggested

Prospective Multi-Center Trial for the Efficacy of Ecabet Sodium on the Relief of Dyspepsia in Korean Patients with Chronic Gastritis

Anti-peptic and anti-inflammatory actions of ecabet sodium might be beneficial in either improving gastritis or relieving dyspeptic symptoms. This study was designed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of ecabet sodium on dyspeptic symptoms and to elucidate the molecular mechanism attributable to symptom relief in patients with chronic gastritis. Two hundred and sixty eight chronic gastritis patients with persistent dyspepsia received ecabet sodium 1 g b.i.d. for 2 weeks, after which dyspeptic symptoms were reassessed with a questionnaires as before. The changes of interleukin-8 (IL-8), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in gastric juices were measured by ELISA. The changes of nitrotyrosine in gastric mucosa were measured by immunohistochemical staining. The most common dyspeptic symptom in Korean patients with chronic gastritis was epigastric soreness (76.8%), which was improved significantly after ecabet sodium treatment (81.7%, p<0.001). Ecabet sodium was more effective in patients with epigastric pain than vague abdominal discomfort (p = 0.02), especially in patients with old age. Complete relief of discomfort was more highly achieved in patients with positive Helicobacter pylori than without (p = 0.01). In spite of clear tendency that the decreased levels of IL-8, iNOS, and PGE2 and increased levels of VEGF were measured in gastric juices after ecabet sodium treatment, no statistical significance was noted, which might be due to high inter-individual variations. The nitrotyrosine expressions were significantly decreased after ecabet sodium treatment than before (p<0.01). In conclusion, ecabet sodium treatment was very useful for the relief of dyspeptic symptoms in chronic gastritis, to which both attenuated inflammatory and enhanced regenerative mechanisms were contributive

Rapid and Quantitative Detection of Zoonotic Influenza A Virus Infection Utilizing Coumarin-derived dendrimer-based Fluorescent Immunochromatographic Strip Test (FICT)

Great efforts have been made to develop robust signal-generating fluorescence materials which will help in improving the rapid diagnostic test (RDT) in terms of sensitivity and quantification. In this study, we developed coumarin-derived dendrimer-based fluorescent immunochromatographic strip test (FICT) assay with enhanced sensitivity as a quantitative diagnostic tool in typical RDT environments. The accuracy of the proposed FICT was compared with that of dot blot immunoassay techniques and conventional RDTs. Through conjugation of coumarin-derived dendrimers with latex beads, fluorescent emission covering broad output spectral ranges was obtained which provided a distinct advantage of easy discrimination of the fluorescent emission of the latex beads with a simple insertion of a long-pass optical filter away from the excitation wavelength. The newly developed FICT assay was able to detect 100 ng/10 μL of influenza A nucleoprotein (NP) antigen within 5 minutes, which corresponded to 2.5-fold higher sensitivity than that of the dot blot immunoassay or conventional RDTs. Moreover, the FICT assay was confirmed to detect at least four avian influenza A subtypes (H5N3, H7N1, H7N7, and H9N2). On applying the FICT to the clinical swab samples infected with respiratory viruses, our FICT assay was confirmed to differentiate influenza H1N1 infection from other respiratory viral diseases. These data demonstrate that the proposed FICT assay is able to detect zoonotic influenza A viruses with a high sensitivity, and it enables the quantitation of the infection intensity by providing the numerical diagnostic values; thus demonstrating enhanced detectability of influenza A viruses

A Survey on Ubiquitous Healthcare Service Demand among Diabetic Patients

BackgroundAdvanced information technology can be used when developing diagnostic and treatment strategies to provide better care for diabetic patients. However, the levels of need and demand for the use of technological advances have not been investigated in diabetic patients. We proposed and developed an individualized, ubiquitous (U)-healthcare service using advanced information technology for more effective glucose control. Prior to our service initiation, we surveyed patient needs and other pertinent information.MethodsDuring August 2009, we conducted a 34-item questionnaire survey among patients with diabetes who were older than 40 years in two certain hospitals in Korea.ResultsThe mean age of the 228 participants was 61.2±9 years, and males made up 49.1% of the sample. Seventy-one percent replied that they wanted individualized healthcare service, and they also wanted their health information to be delivered through mobile devices such as a cellular phone or a personal digital assistant (40.4%). Most patients had never heard of U-healthcare services (81.1%); however, after explaining the concept, 71.1% of participants responded that they would use the service if it was provided. Despite their willingness, participants were concerned about technical difficulty in using the service (26.3%) as well as the cost of the service (29.8%).ConclusionThe current study suggests that more than 70% of diabetic patients are interested in using U-healthcare services. To encourage widespread use, the application program or device of U-healthcare services should be simple, easy to use and affordable while also including a policy for the protection of private information

Service quality, satisfaction, and behavioral intention in home delivered meals program

This study was conducted to evaluate recipients' perception of service quality, satisfaction, and behavioral intention in home delivered meals program in the US. Out of 398 questionnaires, 265 (66.6%) were collected, and 209 questionnaires (52.5%) were used for the statistical analysis. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) with a maximum likelihood was first conducted to estimate the measurement model by verifying the underlying structure of constructs. The level of internal consistency in each construct was acceptable, with Cronbach's alpha estimates ranging from 0.7 to 0.94. All of the composite reliabilities of the constructs were over the cutoff value of 0.50, ensuring adequate internal consistency of multiple items for each construct. As a second step, a Meals-On-Wheels (MOW) recipient perception model was estimated. The model's fit as indicated by these indexes was satisfactory and path coefficients were analyzed. Two paths between (1) volunteer issues and behavioral intention and (2) responsiveness and behavioral intention were not significant. The path for predicting a positive relationship between food quality and satisfaction was supported. The results show that having high food quality may create recipient satisfaction. The findings suggest that food quality and responsiveness are significant predictors of positive satisfaction. Moreover, satisfied recipients have positive behavioral intention toward MOW programs