Digital Divide and Growth Gap: A Cumulative Relationship

IT, growth gap, cumulative relationship

An Empirical Investigation of Smart Product Adoption

The advance of information technologies and the Internet have been enabling the transformation of physical products into smart products by embedding information technologies into the products and thereby making them intelligent. The movement to the ‘Internet of Things’ is accelerating connection of the products to the net. While those changes could enhance value propositions of products, they might also cause consumer privacy concerns, which might hinder smart product adoption, because the smartness of the product mainly takes advantage of personal information about the users. This study aims to investigate consumers’ intention to adopt smart products. Building on previous studies on smart products and privacy literature, we propose a research model that explains factors influencing consumers’ intention to adopt smart products. The proposed research model is empirically tested using data from an online survey of consumers. The overall results validate the proposed research model of smart product adoption. Specifically, perceived personalization is found to positively affect consumers’ intention to adopt smart products, whereas information privacy risk decreases the intention. We also find that the attributes of personal information are critical antecedents of consumers’ risk-benefit assessment. The sensitivity of information increases information privacy risk while the congruency of information enhances perceived personalization. Based on the results, theoretical and managerial implications are discussed

Fragility Analysis of Space Reinforced Concrete Frame Structures with Structural Irregularity in Plan

Because significant damages to structures having structural irregularity in their plans were repeatedly observed during many past earthquakes, there have been great research efforts to evaluate their seismic vulnerability. Although most of the previous studies used simplified structural representations such as one-dimensional or two-dimensional models in the fragility analysis of plan-irregular structures, simple analytical models could not represent true seismic behavior from the complicated nonlinear coupling between lateral and torsional responses as the degree of irregularity increased. For space structures with high irregularity, more realistic representations such as three-dimensional models are needed for proper seismic assessment. However, the use of computationally expensive models is not practically feasible with existing approaches of fragility analysis. Thus, in this study, a different approach is adopted that can produce vulnerability curves efficiently, even with a three-dimensional model. In this approach, an integrated computational framework is established that combines reliability analysis and structural analysis. This enables evaluation of the limit-state faction without constructing its explicit formula, and the failure probability is calculated with the first-order reliability method (FORM) to deal with the computational challenge. Under the integrated framework, this study investigates the seismic vulnerability of space reinforced concrete frame structures with varying plan irregularity. Material uncertainty is considered, and more representative seismic fragility curves are derived with their three-dimensional analytical models. The effectiveness of the adopted approach is discussed, and the significant effect of structural irregularity on seismic vulnerability is highlighted

Transient receptor potential canonical type 3 channels control the vascular contractility of mouse mesenteric arteries

Transient receptor potential canonical type 3 (TRPC3) channels are non-selective cation channels and regulate intracellular Ca2+ concentration. We examined the role of TRPC3 channels in agonist-, membrane depolarization (high K+)-, and mechanical (pressure)-induced vasoconstriction and vasorelaxation in mouse mesenteric arteries. Vasoconstriction and vasorelaxation of endothelial cells intact mesenteric arteries were measured in TRPC3 wild-type (WT) and knockout (KO) mice. Calcium concentration ([Ca2+]) was measured in isolated arteries from TRPC3 WT and KO mice as well as in the mouse endothelial cell line bEnd.3. Nitric oxide (NO) production and nitrate/nitrite concentrations were also measured in TRPC3 WT and KO mice. Phenylephrine-induced vasoconstriction was reduced in TRPC3 KO mice when compared to that of WT mice, but neither high K+- nor pressure-induced vasoconstriction was altered in TRPC3 KO mice. Acetylcholine-induced vasorelaxation was inhibited in TRPC3 KO mice and by the selective TRPC3 blocker pyrazole-3. Acetylcholine blocked the phenylephrine-induced increase in Ca2+ ratio and then relaxation in TRPC3 WT mice but had little effect on those outcomes in KO mice. Acetylcholine evoked a Ca2+ increase in endothelial cells, which was inhibited by pyrazole-3. Acetylcholine induced increased NO release in TRPC3 WT mice, but not in KO mice. Acetylcholine also increased the nitrate/nitrite concentration in TRPC3 WT mice, but not in KO mice. The present study directly demonstrated that the TRPC3 channel is involved in agonist-induced vasoconstriction and plays important role in NO-mediated vasorelaxation of intact mesenteric arteries.Fil: Yeon, Soo-In. Yonsei University College of Medicine; Corea del SurFil: Kim, Joo Young. Yonsei University College Of Medicine; . Yonsei University College of Medicine; Corea del SurFil: Yeon, Dong-Soo. Kwandong University College of Medicine; Corea del SurFil: Abramowitz, Joel. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Birnbaumer, Lutz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Muallem, Shmuel. National Institutes of Health; Estados UnidosFil: Lee, Young-Ho. Yonsei University College of Medicine; Corea del Su

Stability of wheat germ oil obtained by supercritical carbon dioxide associated with lipase ethanolysis

Wheat germ oil was extracted using an environmental friendly solvent, supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2) at a semi-batch flow extraction process. The supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) extraction was carried out to extract oil at temperature of 40°C and pressure of 25 MPa. Ethanolysis was performed with 1,3-regiospecific lipase at different temperatures (40 to 70°C) to produce diglycerides and monoglycerides containing fatty acid ethyl esters. For determination of stability, wheat germ oil obtained by ethanolysis reactants was characterized by measuring the acid value, peroxide value, free fatty acid contents, thiocyanate method, DPPH radical scavenging effect and rancimat test. The optimized condition of 40°C shows the highest oil stability among the various conditions.Keywords: Supercritical carbon dioxide, wheat germ oil, ethanolysis, immobilized lipases, oil stabilityAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(22), pp. 3570-357

Cancer Statistics in Korea: Incidence, Mortality, Survival, and Prevalence in 2008

PURPOSE: This paper overviews the nationwide cancer statistics including incidence, mortality, survival and prevalence, and their trends in Korea based on the year 2008 cancer incidence data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Incidence data from 1993 to 2008 were obtained from the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database, and the vital status was followed through December 31, 2009. Mortality data from 1983 to 2008 were obtained from the Korea National Statistics Office. Crude rates and age-standardized rates for incidence, mortality, prevalence and relative survival were calculated. RESULTS: There were 178,816 cancer cases and 68,912 cancer deaths observed during year 2008 and 724,663 10-year cancer prevalent cases as of January 1, 2009 in Korea. The incidence rate for all cancer combined showed an annual increase of 3.1% from 1999 to 2008. CONCLUSION: With significantly increasing cancer incidence, Korea faces a large cancer burden and efficient cancer control programs are essential.ope