The Digital Divide and Increasing Returns: Contradictions of Informational Capitalism

The spectacular growth of the Internet in Korea has propelled her to the very top of the international rankings based on technology peneration statistics. The resulting international attention and national pride have fostered the notion of “Korea—a strong Internet nation.” The ready embrace of this idea by officials and the public at large has made a critical evaluation almost an anathema. This article reviews the published critiques, which have been rare and scattered, and opens up the “what next” question for an unbounded discussion.     

A mixed methods approach to electronic word-of-mouth in the open-market context

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has been identified as a key factor affecting online sales. However, the factors leading to eWOM in the open-market context are not fully understood. Since many Internet vendors have adopted the open-market business model, it is essential to understand the factors for eWOM leading to the success of open-market business. This study investigates factors affecting eWOM in the open-market context based on a sequential combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. The exploratory findings in the qualitative study form the basis for the quantitative study survey research. The findings from this mixed methods study indicate the significance of three new factors (information-sharing desire, self-presentation desire, and open-market reward) and two established factors (open-market satisfaction and open-market loyalty) affecting eWOM directly and indirectly. This study makes a useful contribution to the broader literature on eWOM. These findings also inform open-market providers as to how to promote and manage eWOM for online business success.     

A sequence-based filtering method for exhibition booth visit recommendations

As exhibitions are known to play important roles in marketing and sales promotion, the exhibition industry has grown significantly not only in the exhibition event size and frequency but also in the number of participating firms and visitors. While the challenge in assessing economic returns from exhibitions is being studied, it is agreed that the eventual success of an exhibition resides largely in its ability to meet the visitors’ needs. Visitors use an exhibition as a source of information when searching for products or services. Though an exhibition provides an information-rich environment, however, visitors often get lost in the abundance of information. A specialized recommender system can be a good solution to information overload as it can guide visitors to right exhibition booths and help them collect necessary information. Traditional collaborative-filtering recommender systems, however, use only customers’ rating or purchase records so that they do not capture exhibition visitors’ temporal visit sequences and dynamic preferences. Moreover, due to the computation overhead, they cannot generate real-time recommendation in ubiquitous environments for exhibitions. In order to overcome these drawbacks, this study proposes a booth recommendation procedure that takes into consideration not only booth visit records but also visit sequences. Experiment results show that the proposed procedure achieves higher recommendation accuracy, faster computation, and more diversity than a typical collaborative-filtering recommender system. From the results, we conclude that the proposed booth recommendation procedure is suitable for real-time recommendation in ubiquitous exhibition environments.     

The role of governance effectiveness in explaining IT outsourcing performance

Recent studies on IT outsourcing have examined the effect of contract specification and relationship strength on IT outsourcing performance in a separate manner. Previous studies, however, ignored the importance of the governance effectiveness that bonds contractual control and relationship strength together to deliver expected outcomes in IT outsourcing exchange. In this paper, we propose a model of IT outsourcing management where governance effectiveness mediates the effect of both contractual control and relationship strength on IT outsourcing performance. We collected data from 143 client companies of IT outsourcing and analyzed it using the PLS method. Our findings show that both contract specification and relationship strength significantly influence governance effectiveness, although contract specification carries the more effect on governance effectiveness than relationship strength does. The governance effectiveness in turn mediates the effect of contract specification and relationship strength on three sub-dimensions of outsourcing performance: cost efficiency, performance improvement, and overall satisfaction. The results and implications are further discussed.     

East Reflects on West,East Meets West!: South Korean Media Responses to London 2012

London 2012 was a contradiction of Kipling's meretricious couplet about East and West. What was the response of the East, specifically the South Korean media, to London's selection as the host city of the 2012 Olympics? Furthermore, what were the various viewpoints of the South Korean media regarding the significance of London hosting the Olympic Games hard on the heels of the Beijing Olympics? Answers to these questions can provide insights into the geopolitics and politics of modern South Korea, which has very different relationships with China and Britain. An analysis, macroscopic and microscopic, in terms of politics, economics and culture, of media reactions in South Korea to the Olympics of the two nations can provide illuminating insights into a sports mega-event as an instrument of soft power.     

Postural tremor and control of the upper limb in air pistol shooters

Abstract

A postural tremor appears whenever someone attempts to maintain a steady position against gravity. We examined the postural tremor that occurred while air pistol shooters were taking aim so as to compare the coordinative control of the shooters and to identify the features critical to successful shooting. Ten elite and ten pre-elite athletes participated in pistol shooting at 10 m, and the postural tremors in the pistol and upper limb were recorded with lightweight accelerometers. Exploratory analysis showed that the elite shooters had smaller tremor amplitudes than the pre-elite shooters in the pistol and distal arm segments. Compared with the pre-elite shooters, the elite shooters had a smaller tremor amplitude in the lateral direction relative to that in the vertical direction, together with weaker tremor coupling in the lateral direction and stronger vertical coupling of the pistol–hand complex. The resulting shot performance was inversely related to the amplitude of the tremor and to the 8–12 Hz spectral peak of the lateral tremor in the pistol–hand complex. We conclude that the postural tremors of air pistol shooters are associated with the skill of the shooters, and that the elite shooters could optimize the control of the pistol–hand complex, which strongly determined success in shooting.     

Effects of small-sided game and change-of-direction training on reactive agility and change-of-direction speed

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of training change-of-direction speed and small-sided games on performance in the Planned-AFL agility test and reactive agility. Twenty-five elite-standard U-18 Australian Rules football players were randomly allocated either to a change-of-direction group or a small-sided games group. Players participated in one or two 15-min sessions per week with 11 sessions conducted over a 7-week period during the season. Tests conducted immediately before and after the training period included the Planned-AFL agility test and a video-based reactive agility test specific to Australian Rules football. The reactive agility test variables were total time, decision time and movement response time. The small-sided games group improved total time (P = 0.008, effect size = 0.93), which was entirely attributable to a very large reduction in decision time (P < 0.001, effect size = 2.32). Small-sided games produced a trivial change in movement response time as well as in the Planned-AFL agility test (P > 0.05). The change-of-direction training produced small to trivial changes in all of the test variables (P > 0.05, effect size = 0–0.2). The results suggest that small-sided games improve agility performance by enhancing the speed of decision-making rather than movement speed. The change-of-direction training was not effective for developing either change-of-direction speed as measured by the Planned-AFL test or reactive agility.     

Haptic perception accuracy depending on self-produced movement

Abstract

This study measured whether self-produced movement influences haptic perception ability (experiment 1) as well as the factors associated with levels of influence (experiment 2) in racket sports. For experiment 1, the haptic perception accuracy levels of five male table tennis experts and five male novices were examined under two different conditions (no movement vs. movement). For experiment 2, the haptic afferent subsystems of five male table tennis experts and five male novices were investigated in only the self-produced movement-coupled condition. Inferential statistics (ANOVA, t-test) and custom-made devices (shock & vibration sensor, Qualisys Track Manager) of the data were used to determine the haptic perception accuracy (experiment 1, experiment 2) and its association with expertise. The results of this research show that expert-level players acquire higher accuracy with less variability (racket vibration and angle) than novice-level players, especially in their self-produced movement coupled performances. The important finding from this result is that, in terms of accuracy, the skill-associated differences were enlarged during self-produced movement. To explain the origin of this difference between experts and novices, the functional variability of haptic afferent subsystems can serve as a reference. These two factors (self-produced accuracy and the variability of haptic features) as investigated in this study would be useful criteria for educators in racket sports and suggest a broader hypothesis for further research into the effects of the haptic accuracy related to variability.     

Index for Volume 59 (1988)

Abstract

Numerous epidemiological investigations have shown that low physical fitness and low physical activity are related to the incidence of coronary artery disease (CAD). Most studies, however, have not examined both variables concurrently to determine which has the strongest association with CAD risk. The purpose of the investigation was to cross-sectionally examine the relationships among physical fitness, physical activity, and risk factors for CAD. Male law enforcement officers (N = 412) from the City of Austin, Texas, were subjects for this study. Physical fitness, physical activity, and risk factors for CAD were assessed through health screenings and from data collected as part of an annual physical fitness assessment. Multivariate analysis of covariance revealed that physical fitness, but not physical activity, was related to several single CAD risk factors. Percent body fat, smoking habits, and Type A behavior score were negatively related to physical fitness level, and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol was positively related to physical fitness level. Univariate analysis of variance found both physical fitness and physical activity to be significantly related to a composite CAD risk score. Low physical fitness and low physical activity were associated with a high CAD risk score. These data suggest that physical activity must be sufficient to influence physical fitness before statistically significant risk-reducing benefits on single CAD risk factors are obtained, although minimal engagement in weekly vigorous activity provides a significant benefit for the composite CAD risk score. It is plausible, however, that physical fitness is a stronger measure than physical activity and optimally characterizes the relationship among physical activity and CAD risk factors.     

The British Olympic Association's Position Statement on Athlete Confidentiality

Abstract

In this study, we determined the specificity of a low frequency taekwondo training programme on physical fitness levels in adolescent females who receive limited physical education instruction (i.e. 2 days per week). Major components of physical fitness assessed were: skeletal muscle fitness (hand grip strength, bent arm hang, standing long jump, and isokinetic strength), flexibility (sit-and-reach test), speed and agility (10 × 5-m shuttle run), and cardiovascular fitness ([Vdot]O _2max and 20-m shuttle run). Changes in body composition were also assessed (dual X-ray absorptiometry, DXA). Participants were divided into two groups, a taekwondo training group (n = 21), which trained 50 min a day, 2 days per week for 12 weeks, and a control group (n = 10). Taekwondo training improved isokinetic strength, standing long jump, and sit-and-reach performance. Body fat mass and percent body fat were reduced. No changes in grip strength, bent arm hang time, speed and agility, or cardiorespiratory fitness were observed. Results indicate that low frequency taekwondo training in adolescent females produces beneficial changes in skeletal muscle fitness, flexibility, and body composition in a relatively short period of time. Consequently, this specific type of training can be useful to female adolescents in structured school environments where physical education classes are limited and there is little free time for physical activity.