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Long-term variation of nitrate in the East Sea was monitored in order to investigate impact of Three Gorges Dam (TGD) in the Changjiang River's upstream, China and Nakdong River's estuary dam, Korea. Tracing source of nitrate was another objective in this study. For this study, nutrient data were collected for 20 years from 1999 to 2018 in the East Sea, and divided into 4 sections, and evaluated whether a significant difference exists among the averages of nitrate concentrations. The concentrations of nitrate were affected by the major rivers (the Nakdong and the Taehwa Rivers) and Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) which diverged from the Kuroshio Current passing through East China Sea (ECS). Our results also indicated that long-term nitrate concentrations decreased and its reasons. First, the construction of TGD in the upstream of the Changjiang River may have resulted in the decrease of the nitrate supply in the river and ECS which is carried by TWC, toward the East Sea. Second, decrease in the nitrate flux of the Nakdong River's estuary due to the construction of the estuary dam and sewer treatment plant could also be a factor for the nitrate decrease in the East Sea. Therefore, anthropogenic activities from the Nakdong River and Changjiang River had a long-term effect on the East Sea's nitrate concentrations. The amount of nitrate runoff reduced by the anthropogenic activities influenced the nitrate levels over a long period by the flow of currents in the East Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study attempts to evaluate the accessibility of government and public agency healthcare Web sites in Korea through user testing. The study recruited blind (24 participants) and second-level sight-impaired people (1 participant), and evaluated ten healthcare Web sites of Korean government and public institutions. These Web sites revealed problems across four principles of accessibility, i.e., perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. First, according to principle 1, perceivable, the main errors occurred in providing adequate alternate texts and clear instructions. Second, five errors were predominant with regard to principle 2, operable. These are keyboard operation errors, focus order errors, bypass blocks errors, page title errors, and the lack of appropriate link text. Third, with respect to principle 3, understandable, most problems were found in user responses, content sequence, tables, and labels. Finally, based on principle 4, robust, problems regarded markup correctness and Web application accessibility. The problems identified in the study can be simply resolved; however, similar accessibility issues have recurred. Therefore, future research needs to investigate whether government and public agencies or their Web developers are aware of the importance of accessibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to investigate the effects of smartphone use by college students on their perceived academic performance. Using five hypotheses derived from the literature related to smartphone use, the initial model was set up for path analysis to reveal the relationships among variables regarding college students' smartphone use in the academic setting. Moreover, multiple group analyses were additionally conducted to verify whether students exhibited different relationships in the hypothesized model depending on their majors. The results from path analyses showed that all path coefficients were positive and statistically significant, which indicated that all five hypothesized paths were supported. Above all, the results from multiple group analysis showed that one path (from Behavioural Intention to Use Smartphone to Academic Performance) differed significantly across groups. The findings from the current study provide educational policymakers and educators with information on how smartphone utilization in learning activities influences students' academic performance. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Smartphones foster interaction with people and multitasking.College students use smartphones as learning aids in e‐learning and web‐based learning.College students have high smartphone self‐efficacy.Smartphones have both positive and negative effects on academic performance.What this paper adds: College students' interaction competency influences behavioural intention for using smartphones for academic activities.College students' smartphone self‐efficacy has positive impacts on their behavioural intention for using smartphones for academic purposes.College students' behavioural intention to use smartphones positively influences perceived academic performances.Students' behavioural intention to use smartphones presents distinct impacts on academic performances depending on their major fields: natural science and humanities.Implications for practice and/or policy: Educational policymakers and educators may benefit information on how smartphone utilization in learning activities influences students' academic performances.The instrument developed in the present study could be used for future studies on smartphone use and students' psychological factors such as self‐efficacy and behavioural intention to use smartphones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health disparities are a significant source of inequity between immigrants and native people in South Korea. The present study investigated how immigrants seek health information for their different purposes according to their health literacy ability and sociodemographic backgrounds. The study assessed immigrants' health literacy skills with the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM) and conducted surveys (N = 310) in districts with high immigrant populations. Overall, there were significant associations between health literacy ability, sociodemographic characteristics, and health information-seeking behavior among participants. The findings of the study extend the literature by addressing the association between health literacy and health information-seeking behavior in diverse sociodemographic contexts. Understanding the dynamics between the three factors provides insights for developing effective health information services and public policies to mitigate health disparities experienced by immigrants, ensuring the critical roles of online health information and health professionals as preferred or credible sources. • REALM tests for health literacy ability and the survey questions were translated into seven different languages. • Health literacy and sociodemographic characteristics were associated with immigrants' health information-seeking behaviors. • Participants with higher health literacy were more likely to look to healthcare professionals for their first searches. • Nationality was significant in seeking personal sources from their home country for quality information or actual use. • Quality health information search is different from first searches, or searches for preferred sources, and actual use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]