The influence of water depth on kinematic and spatiotemporal gait parameters during aquatic treadmill walking

The purpose of this study was to investigate kinematic and spatiotemporal variables of aquatic treadmill walking at three different water depths. A total of 15 healthy individuals completed three two-minute walking trials at three different water depths. The aquatic treadmill walking was conducted at waist-depth, chest-depth and neck-depth, while a customised 3-D underwater motion analysis system captured their walking. Each participant’s self-selected walking speed at the waist level was used as a reference speed, which was applied to the remaining two test conditions. A repeated measures ANOVA showed statistically significant differences among the three walking conditions in stride length, cadence, peak hip extension, hip range of motion (ROM), peak ankle plantar flexion and ankle ROM (All p values < 0.05). The participants walked with increased stride length and decreased cadence during neck level as compared to waist and chest level. They also showed increased ankle ROM and decreased hip ROM as the water depth rose from waist and chest to the neck level. However, our study found no significant difference between waist and chest level water in all variables. Hydrodynamics, such as buoyancy and drag force, in response to changes in water depths, can affect gait patterns during aquatic treadmill walking.     

Creative labor as moral and ethical subjects and its limitation: Creative City Yokohama,Japan

This study aims to reconsider and re-evaluate the rapid circulation of global creative city policy from the viewpoint of its creative workforce by focusing on the case of Yokohama, Japan. To shed light on this workforce’s everyday experiences and labor subjectivity, this investigation draws ideas from recent research trends of “creative labor” from the field of media and cultural studies, sociology of work, and political economy of communication. Based on in-depth interviews and participant observations, this research focuses on how the ethical and moral dimensions of labor subjectivity in creative work are prominently important in explaining Yokohama workers’ everyday living and working experiences as creative labor. Unexpectedly, this study found that these moral and ethical sentiments and actions, which take on the role of retaining their labor motivation, actually limit the development of political subjects who can resist given precarious working conditions and thereby hinder them from building a collective solidarity as “workers.” Thus this investigation concludes that the creative worker’s subjectivity retreats to solely a moral dimension rather than to a political one. Through this finding, this study explores whether the articulation of moral-political and social values in the course of cultural work can evolve from creative workers’ moral and ethical sensitivities and actions.     

Kicking modality during erratic-dynamic and static condition effects the muscular co-activation of attacker

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of different kicking modality, i.e., erratic-dynamic target (EDT) versus static target (ST) on the performance of the roundhouse kick in two groups of taekwondo athletes of different skill level. Three-dimensional analysis and surface electromyography (SEMG) analysis were performed on 12 (Group A: six sub-elite, Group B: six elite) athletes to investigate muscle co-activation pattern under two conditions, i.e., EDT versus ST. In the results, the muscle recruitment ratio of the agonistic muscles was higher for Group A, whereas Group B had higher recruitment ratio for antagonist muscles. Overall, the co-activation index (CI) of hip joints appeared higher in the extensors for Group A, whereas higher CI was observed in flexor muscles for Group B with comparatively higher CI during EDT condition than ST condition. Higher value of CI was observed in flexor muscles of the knee joints among Group A during EDT conditions, in contrast, higher CI in the extensor muscles was observed among Group B during ST conditions. In conclusion, the study confirmed that erratic-dynamic movements of target could change the movement coordination pattern to maintain the joint stability of participants.     

The FCC and Indecency: Local Television General Managers' Perceptions

A number of factors have been suggested to help explain the success of broadband in Korea. However, whatever factors are mentioned, just as many questions are raised as to why comparable roll out of high-speed Internet access has not occurred in other countries with similar characteristics. This paper argues that supply-side push and demand-side pull, a synergistic process, are combined to make broadband Internet access in Korea particularly strong. With a new type of supply of broadband capacity in the market, and an intensely competitive environment, prices dropped drastically and new killer applications were continuously created. This resulted in a supporting responsive surge in demand and sky-rocketing numbers of new subscribers. This is a very clear case of a positive spiral generated by the synergistic process of the market: success breeds success.     

Structure or Predisposition? Exploring the Interaction Effect of Discussion Orientation and Discussion Heterogeneity on Political Participation

Past research on how discussions with non-like-minded others impacts political participation has focused mostly on structural attributes of discussion networks, and—as a result—has produced inconsistent findings. This study, therefore, introduced the concept of discussion orientation—one's willingness to express and listen in political discussion, even when disagreement exists—as a predispositional explanation of the impact of discussion heterogeneity on political participation. Based on the national telephone survey data, during the course of the 2004 election, we find a strong main effect of individual predisposition to express different opinions on political participation. In addition, the link between discussion heterogeneity and political participation is significantly stronger for those respondents who exhibit a willingness to express different opinions during those conversations.     

Virtuality,Technology Use,and Engagement Within Organizations

Multinational organizations are turning to collaborative technology to enable virtual organizational structures. While collaborative technology provides distributed workers with new affordances to form relationships and share knowledge, collaborative technology also has complex, interwoven implications for virtual organizing. To disentangle these concerns, this study considers four key dimensions of virtuality—spatial dispersion, temporal dispersion, dynamic structure, and functional diversity—in relation to technology use and engagement with peers within an organization. Survey data were collected in a multinational organization that facilitates work through extensive use of collaborative technology. The results of structural equation modeling reveal connections between two dimensions of virtuality, use of collaborative technology and peer engagement in the organization. Findings suggest that understanding interactions in virtual organizations requires a more nuanced approach to virtuality and active management of technology implementation. Moreover, the findings demonstrate that managers need to actively manage the deployment of new collaborative technology by focusing on specific characteristics of work groups.     

Televised violence and viewers’ perceptions of social reality: The Korean case

This study attempts to describe some possible elaborations of the cultivation hypothesis and present relevant evidence from a Korean student sample. Using the postulates and methodology of the cultivation analysis approach to mass communication, this investigation employs a two‐pronged research strategy: message system analysis and cultivation analysis. Message system analysis consisted of one‐week sample of Korean television programs from the three television networks in June 1991. For cultivation analysis, a questionnaire was administered to 1,200 Korean students attending eight junior and senior high schools from five different states in July, 1991. Within the clear limitations of measures, the results suggested that viewers differentially perceive the social reality of different content types. The findings seem to indicate that the degree of cultivation effects is not uniform across different kinds of television programming.     

Intentional self‐embarrassment

This research explored how and why people intentionally embarrass themselves and how observers react to these embarrassments. Self‐reports prom 566 students at the University of Hawai'i and non‐students indicated that, first, they do intentionally and strategically employ behaviors that cause themselves embarrassment to achieve a variety of goals. Second, self‐embarrassors’ goals affected their tactic choices. Third, embarrassors’ goals were associated with their successful achievement of these goals. Last, the tactics embarrassors used and the goals they attempted affected observers’ responses. Suggestions for modifying existing typologies of embarrassment situations/tactics and goals, as well as limitations and directions for future research are presented.     

Managing IT-enabled transformation in the public sector: A case study on e-government in South Korea

The implementation of e-government is a burgeoning phenomenon across the globe. It improves and enhances the infrastructures and services provided to the citizens. However, a review of the IS literature reveals that research on the implementation of e-government is rather limited, which could be due to the general misconception of the public sectors as rigid and risk-averse establishments. The shortage of studies on e-government’s implementation presents a knowledge gap that needs to be plugged. This gap is significantly amplified by the increasing number of e-government initiatives being implemented by governments in recent years. This paper describes and analyzes South Korea’s Supreme Court Registry Office, which has implemented e-government. The case study discusses practical implications and suggests future research areas. Findings of the study include the alignment of technology and business processes, integration of resources into core business activities, integrating stakeholders’ trust and commitment, and better understanding of the role of organizational learning, which can enhance the adoption and institutionalization of e-government initiatives.