Brand equity is a valuable intangible asset for companies, yet is increasingly difficult in managing in an era with hard to control social media. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of social media usage characteristics on electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM), trust, and brand equity by dividing the characteristics to personality, social, and information. A survey was administered to 430 respondents who had experience of using airline social media and the collected data was analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results showed that the personality and informational characteristics from social media usage had statistically significant effects on e-WOM. It was found that the e-WOM had significant effects on trust and also on brand awareness. The trust was shown to have a statistically significant effect on brand awareness and brand image. Therefore, this study categorizes social media usage characteristics into three characteristics: personality characteristics, social characteristics, and information characteristics, and each of these usage characteristics present a strategy to improve actual brand equity of airline through e-WOM and trust in empirical methods. The findings of this study are expected to provide fundamental data for the development of strategies related to airline social media. In addition, this study has implications for suggesting to improve brand equity through e-WOM and trust.

To encourage sustainable development, engineers and scientists need to understand the interactions among social decision-making, development and redevelopment, land, energy and material use, and their environmental impacts. In this study, a framework that connects these interactions was proposed to guide more sustainable urban planning and construction practices. Focusing on the rapidly urbanizing setting of Phoenix, Arizona, complexity models and deterministic models were assembled as a metamodel, which is called Sustainable Futures 2100 and were used to predict land use and development, to quantify construction material demands, to analyze the life cycle environmental impacts, and to simulate future ground-level ozone formation.

Objectives The Sasang Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) measures the Yin-Yang temperament of Sasang typology with proven structural and clinical validity in adults, however it was not examined with teenagers. The purpose of this study was to validate the biopsychological structure of SPQ in middle school students. Methods 681 Korean high school students (356 boys and 325 girls) completed SPQ, Junior version of Temperament and Character Inventory (JTCI), and height and weight measures. The correlation between SPQ and JTCI subscales were examined, and the differences of SPQ and JTCI subscales, Body Mass Index (BMI) and Pondera Index (PI) among high (30%), middle (40%), and low (30%) SPQ total score groups were investigated with Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The profile analysis was also performed to compare JTCI subscale profiles of three SPQ total score groups. Results The SPQ score was significantly (p<0.001) correlated positively with JTCI Novelty-Seeking and negatively with JTCI Harm-Avoidance. The JTCI Novelty-Seeking score of high SPQ group was significantly (p<0.001) higher than that of low SPQ group, and the JTCI Harm-Avoidance score of low SPQ group was significantly higher than that of high SPQ group. The JTCI subscale profiles for three SPQ groups were significantly different for boys and girls. Significant correlations or differences for the PI and BMI among SPQ groups were not found. Conclusions This study presented that the biopsychological structure of SPQ is robust as shown in adults. The SPQ would be a useful clinical measures of Sasang typology in pediatric patients.

The ultimate purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of perceived waiting time for airport security screening service had on airport image through the medium of passengers’ psychological and emotional responses. For this purpose, a survey was conducted in passengers using Incheon International Airport and Gimpo International Airport. A total of 294 questionnaires were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Perceived waiting time was found to have statistically significant effects on wasted time, boredom, and neglect among the sub-factors for airline passengers’ psychological responses. Wasted time had a positive effect on negative emotional response and had a negative influence on acceptability. In addition, acceptability had a positive effect on airport image. The results of this study can be utilized not only as basic data for future airport security screening service research, but also have a positive impact on airport sustainability by increasing airport security and safety.

BackgroundWaist circumference is one of the key components of metabolic syndrome. Recent studies demonstrated that the reproductive profile was associated with metabolic syndrome in postmenopausal women. This study focused on the association between central obesity and age at first childbirth. It also considered other factors associated with central obesity in postmenopausal women.MethodsThis study was based on the 2013–2015 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and involved 3,143 naturally postmenopausal women. These women were divided into three groups according to their age at first childbirth: 19 years or younger (n=252), 20–29 years (n=2,695), and 30 years or older (n=196). Multivariate analysis using logistic regression was performed to evaluate the effects of various reproductive factors, including other confounding factors.ResultsDuring adjustment for confounding factors, in the early age at first childbirth group, odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for central obesity decreased. In the final model, younger age at first childbirth was not significantly related to central obesity (waist circumference more than 85 cm) in naturally postmenopausal women after adjusting for other confounding factors.ConclusionYounger age at first childbirth was not significantly associated with central obesity after adjustment for confounding factors.