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A Study on the Characteristics according to Sasangin - Targeting the Group of Ordinary Adolescents - (사상인(四象人)의 성격(性格) 특성(特性)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究) -정상(正常) 청소년(靑少年) 집단(集團)을 대상(對象)으로 -)

  • Whang, Man-Ki;Hwang, Ui-Wan;Kim, Jong-Woo
    • Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.71-88
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    • 2004
  • Objectives : The aims of this report are to examine the personal characteristics and to determine the different reactions against stress by constitutions. To achieve these goals, the statistical research was adopted. Methods : First of all, the total numbers of 398 middle school students were classified into three constitutions by QSCC II. According to each type of constitutions, both of the KPI Personality Test and Multidimensional Encountering Scale (MES) on how to deal with stress were conducted. Summary of the findings : 1. Based on the findings assessed by the QSCC II test, the constitutional distribution reveals the difference according to genders. In Chi-square test, the girl reveals significantly high (p<0.05) distribution in Soyangin. 2. In Independent T-test regarding KPI personality, the girl reveals high significance (p<0.05) in terms of 'Sociability', 'Responsibility', 'Synchronism' and 'Self-feminity' (or Feminization) while the boy reveals high significance in 'Goal-driven' (p<0.05). 3. In Independent T-test regarding the multidimensional encounter scaling, the girl reveals high significance (p<0.05) in D (expression of emotion). 4. In case of the boy, the Soeumin shows low significance (p<0.05) in 'Leadership' and 'Sociability' compared to the Taeumin or the Soyangin. On the other hand, the Soeumin reveals high significance (p<0.05) in 'Responsibility' and 'Self-control' compared to the Soyangin and additionally, shows high significance (p<0.05) in 'Self-feminity' (or Feminization) compared to the Taeumin or the Soyangin. Furthermore, the Soyangin shows high significance (p<0.05) in 'Self-confidence' compared to the Soeumin or the Taeumin. 5. In case of the girl, the Soyangin reveals high significance in 'Sociability' and 'Self-confidence' compared to the Soeumin or the Taeumin while the Soeumin has high significance in 'Synchronism' compared to the Taeumin or Soyangin. On the other hand, the Soeumin has high significance in terms of 'Responsibility', 'Self-control', and 'Self-feminity' (or Feminization) while showing low significance in 'Flexibility' compared to the Soyangin. 6. For boys, the Soeumin has low significance in 'Sociability' in comparison with both the Soyangin and the Taeumin, whereas for girls, the Soyangin reveals high significance in 'Sociability' in comparison with both the Soeumin and the Taeumin. As per the 'Self-confidence' and 'Responsibility', it has been proved that there is no notable difference between the boy and the girl, but to the contrary, as per the 'Self-confidence', both for the girl and the boy, the Soyangin has high significance (p<0.05) in comparison with the Soeumin and the Taeumin. In addition, in 'Responsibility' side, it is recognized that the Soeumin shows high significance (p<0.05) in comparison with the Soyangin both for boys and girls. Only the difference between genders, as to the 'Self-confidence', is that the Soeumin shows low distribution compared to the Taeumin in the case of boys, while the Taeumin shows low distribution compared to the Soeumin in the case of girls. In 'Self-feminity' (or Feminization), for boys the Soeumin shows high significance in comparison with both the Soeumin and the Taeumin, but to the contrary, for girls the Soeumin shows high significance (p<0.05) only against the Soyangin. 7. In case of boys, as to 'Conformability (compromise)', the Taeumin compared to the Soeumin reveals high significance (p<0.05), while for girls, the Soeumin compared to the Soyangin or the Taeumin reveals high significance (p<0.05). Consequently, it presents that the Soyangin has a tendency not to confirm (compromise) relatively in comparison with other constitutions regardless of the genders. Conclusions : In general, except that it shows some constitutional deviation by genders, the statistical findings of this report agree and comply with the personal characteristics of Sasangin presented by Je-Ma Lee.

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Factors Influencing the Meaning of Life for Middle-aged Women (중년여성의 삶의 의미와 영향요인)

  • Park, Geum-Ja
    • Women's Health Nursing
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    • v.8 no.2
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    • pp.232-243
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    • 2002
  • The purpose of this study was to examine factors influencing the meaning of life for middle-aged women. The subjects for the study were 190 middle-aged women who live in Busan. Data were collected from May 25 to June 20, 1999. The instruments for this study were as follows : the meaning of life scale developed by Jung D. R(1978) ; the self-esteem scale developed by Ro, E. Y, Kwon, J. H.(1997) ; the volunteer activity scale developed by Park G. J.(1999), the marital satisfaction scale developed by Choi G. Y.(1999) ; and the health status scale developed by Kim S. Y. (1991). SPSS PC+ was utilized for data analysis. Data were analysed according to frequency and percentage, mean and standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, Sheffe' s test and Pearson' s correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression. The reliability of the tools was tested by Cronbach's $\alpha$ : and it showed reliability scores of 0.88(for the meaning of life tool), 0.81(for the self-esteem tool), 0.94(for the marital satisfaction tool) and 0.78(for the health status tool). The results were as follows: 1) The scores showed that middle-aged women had a moderate level of meaning of life, with a mean of 30.31 and standard deviation of 6.24 (with values ranging from 12.00 to 48.00). The scores showed that middle-aged women had a moderate levels of self-esteem, with a mean of 28.92 and standard deviation of 4.67 (with values ranging from 10.00 to 40.00). The scores showed that middle-aged women had a very low level of volunteer activity, with a mean of 0.87 and standard deviation of 0.93(with values ranging from 0.00 to 1.00). The scores showed that middle-aged women had a moderate level of satisfaction in their marriages, with a mean of 31.99 and standard deviation of 7.84(with values ranging from 12.00 to 48.00). The scores showed that middle-aged women had a moderate level of health status, with a mean of 6.63 and standard deviation of 1.57(with values ranging from 3.00 to 9.00). 2) There was a statistically significant difference of the meaning of life of middle-aged women according to their religion(F=8.930, p=.000), christian ($31.94{\pm}5.96$) had more meaning th life than buddhists ($28.40{\pm}6.23$). 3) There was a statistically significant correlations between the subject' s self-esteem and the her meaning of life(r=0.477, p=0.000), the subject' s level of volunteer activity and meaning of life(r=.428, p=.000), her level of marital satisfaction and meaning of life(r=.417, p=.000), and her level of health status and meaning of life(r=.261, p=.000) among these middle-aged women. 4) Self- esteem was the highest factor influencing the level of meaning of life in middle-aged women. 40.0% of the total variance of levels of meaning of life by was dependent on self-esteem, volunteer activity, marital satisfaction and health status. In conclusion, the higher the self-esteem and levels of volunteer activity, marital satisfaction, and health status of middle-aged women, the higher the meaning of life for them. Therefore, it is necessary to elevate levels of the self-esteem and volunteer activity, marital satisfaction and health status in order to help middle-aged women have more meaning of life.

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Corporate Bond Rating Using Various Multiclass Support Vector Machines (다양한 다분류 SVM을 적용한 기업채권평가)

  • Ahn, Hyun-Chul;Kim, Kyoung-Jae
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.19 no.2
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    • pp.157-178
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    • 2009
  • Corporate credit rating is a very important factor in the market for corporate debt. Information concerning corporate operations is often disseminated to market participants through the changes in credit ratings that are published by professional rating agencies, such as Standard and Poor's (S&P) and Moody's Investor Service. Since these agencies generally require a large fee for the service, and the periodically provided ratings sometimes do not reflect the default risk of the company at the time, it may be advantageous for bond-market participants to be able to classify credit ratings before the agencies actually publish them. As a result, it is very important for companies (especially, financial companies) to develop a proper model of credit rating. From a technical perspective, the credit rating constitutes a typical, multiclass, classification problem because rating agencies generally have ten or more categories of ratings. For example, S&P's ratings range from AAA for the highest-quality bonds to D for the lowest-quality bonds. The professional rating agencies emphasize the importance of analysts' subjective judgments in the determination of credit ratings. However, in practice, a mathematical model that uses the financial variables of companies plays an important role in determining credit ratings, since it is convenient to apply and cost efficient. These financial variables include the ratios that represent a company's leverage status, liquidity status, and profitability status. Several statistical and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have been applied as tools for predicting credit ratings. Among them, artificial neural networks are most prevalent in the area of finance because of their broad applicability to many business problems and their preeminent ability to adapt. However, artificial neural networks also have many defects, including the difficulty in determining the values of the control parameters and the number of processing elements in the layer as well as the risk of over-fitting. Of late, because of their robustness and high accuracy, support vector machines (SVMs) have become popular as a solution for problems with generating accurate prediction. An SVM's solution may be globally optimal because SVMs seek to minimize structural risk. On the other hand, artificial neural network models may tend to find locally optimal solutions because they seek to minimize empirical risk. In addition, no parameters need to be tuned in SVMs, barring the upper bound for non-separable cases in linear SVMs. Since SVMs were originally devised for binary classification, however they are not intrinsically geared for multiclass classifications as in credit ratings. Thus, researchers have tried to extend the original SVM to multiclass classification. Hitherto, a variety of techniques to extend standard SVMs to multiclass SVMs (MSVMs) has been proposed in the literature Only a few types of MSVM are, however, tested using prior studies that apply MSVMs to credit ratings studies. In this study, we examined six different techniques of MSVMs: (1) One-Against-One, (2) One-Against-AIL (3) DAGSVM, (4) ECOC, (5) Method of Weston and Watkins, and (6) Method of Crammer and Singer. In addition, we examined the prediction accuracy of some modified version of conventional MSVM techniques. To find the most appropriate technique of MSVMs for corporate bond rating, we applied all the techniques of MSVMs to a real-world case of credit rating in Korea. The best application is in corporate bond rating, which is the most frequently studied area of credit rating for specific debt issues or other financial obligations. For our study the research data were collected from National Information and Credit Evaluation, Inc., a major bond-rating company in Korea. The data set is comprised of the bond-ratings for the year 2002 and various financial variables for 1,295 companies from the manufacturing industry in Korea. We compared the results of these techniques with one another, and with those of traditional methods for credit ratings, such as multiple discriminant analysis (MDA), multinomial logistic regression (MLOGIT), and artificial neural networks (ANNs). As a result, we found that DAGSVM with an ordered list was the best approach for the prediction of bond rating. In addition, we found that the modified version of ECOC approach can yield higher prediction accuracy for the cases showing clear patterns.

Assessment of the Hydration Effect on In Vitro Human Skin by $^1H$ MRS at 14.1T System (고자장 14.1 T MRI/MRS 시스템에서 양성자 자기공명분광법을 이용한 생체 외 인체피부 보습효과에 대한 연구)

  • Choi Chi-Bong;Hong Sung-Tak;Woo Dong-Chul;Yoon Seong-Ik;Yoon Moon-Hyun;Cho Ji-Hyun;Lee Chul-Hyun;Cheong Chae-Joon;Park Sang-Yong;Oh Chil-Hwan;Choe Bo-Young
    • Progress in Medical Physics
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.83-88
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    • 2006
  • Purpose: We Investigated to achieve high resolution magnetic resonance (MR) Imaging and spectra of human skin in vitro with using a 14.1 T MRI/MRS system, and to evaluate the hydration effect of a moisturizer by measuring the skin's water concentration. Materials and Methods: We used the Brukrer 14.1 T MRI/MRS system with a vertical standard bore that was equipped with a DMX spectrometer gradient system (200 G/cm at a maximum 40 A), RF resonators (2, 5 and 10 mm) and Para Vision software. Spin echo and fast spin echo pulse sequences were employed for obtaining the high resolution MR images. The 3D-localized point resolved spectroscopy (PRESS) method was used to acquire the MR spectra. Results: The high resolution MR images and spectra of human skin in vitro were successfully obtained on a 14.IT system. The water concentration of human skin after applying a moisturizer was higher than that before applying a moisturizer. Conclusions: The present study demonstrated that the high-resolution MR images and spectra of human skin from a high field MRS instrument could be applicable to evaluating the hydration state of the stratum corneum.

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Weed-Ecological Classification of the Collected Barnyardgrass [Echinochloa crus-galli(L.) Beauv.] in Korea - III. Intra-specific variation of collected barnyardgrass species and accessions to herbicides response (한국산(韓國産) 피(Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) Beauv.) 수집종(蒐集種)의 잡초생태학적(雜草生態學的) 분류(分類)에 관(關한) 연구(硏究) - 제(第)III보(報) 수집종(蒐集種) 피의 제초제(除草劑) 반응(反應)에 대(對)한 종내변이(種內變異))

  • Im, I.B.;Guh, J.O.;Lee, D.J.
    • Korean Journal of Weed Science
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    • v.9 no.1
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    • pp.16-27
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    • 1989
  • The six barnyardgrass [Echinochloa oryzicola (vasing.) Vasing.] and seventeen barnyardgrass [Echinochloa crus-gadli (L.) Beauv.] accessions, which were collected national widely in 1986 and selected two times through 1987. To study different growth response due to herbicide, pyrazolate, bifenox, quinclorac, the experiment was conducted with herbicide agar culture without nutrients, 1. Albinistic discoloration due to pyrazolate was more sensitive in E, crus-galli than E. oryzicola and among barnyardgrass accessions, Kumi, Ichon-A, Ichon-B, Boun-B and Kwangju-B were rather susceptible than Gyongju, Ansong, Boun-A, Jongju-A and Kwangju-A. 2. Twisting and growth retardation due to bifenox was less sensitive in E. oryzicola with less intra-specific variations than in E. crus-galli. Among E. crus-galli accessions, Boun-B, Ansong, Ichon-A, Ichon-B, Wonju and Kwangju-B were particulary susceptible, and Jinyang, Jongju-B, Jongju-A, Daejon, Kurye and Kwangju-A were tolerant as much as E. oryzicola. 3. Growth retardation and withering to dead due to quinclorac was more sensitive in E. oryzicola with less intra-specific variations than in E. crus-galli. Among accessions of E. curs-galli, Boun-A, Iri, Jongju-A, Jongju-B, Kwangju-A and Kwangju-B were rather similar suseptible to E, oryzicola than kimhae, Gyongju, Kumi, Wonju, Ichon-A, Ichon-B and Ansong. 4. Most accession of E. oryzicola was tolerant to both pyrazolate and bifenox, while susceptible to quinclorac. Among other accessions of E. crus-galli, Kurye, Kimhae, and Daejon were tolerant to all experimented herbicides, and Iri, Jongju-A, Jongju-B, and Kwangju-A were only tolerant to both pyrazolate and bifenox, while Kumi, Wonju, Ichon-A, Ichon-B, Boun-B and Kwangju-B were only tolerant to quinclorac.

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Characteristics and Immunomodulating Activity of Lactic Acid Bacteria for the Potential Probiotics (Probiotics로서의 젖산균주의 특성 및 면역활성)

  • Seo, Jae-Hoon;Lee, Ho
    • Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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    • v.39 no.6
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    • pp.681-687
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    • 2007
  • This study was designed to examine the suitable characteristics of potential probiotic bacteria. Possible probiotic bacteria, including Lactobacillus acidophilus DDS-1, Lb. acidophilus B-3208, Bifidobacterium bifidum KCTC 3357, Lb. plantarum, Leuconostoc mesenteroides ssp. mesenteroides ATCC 8293, and Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis ATCC 7962 were selected. We then measured their acid and bile tolerances, adhesion properties in the gastrointestinal tract, antimicrobial activity against pathogenic bacteria, and immunomodulation activity. The acid tolerances of Lb. acidophilus DDS-1, Lb. acidophilus B-3208, Lb. plantarum, and Leu. mesenteroides ssp. mesenteroides ATCC 8293, in PBS (pH 2.5) for 2 hr, were high enough that 50% of the inocula survived. The bile tolerances of all bacteria, except Lc. lactis ssp. lactis ATCC 7962, were also observed at a 3% oxgall concentration in MRS broth. The results of the adhesion property assay showed that the total binding affinities of Lb. acidophilus DDS-1, Lb. acidophilus B-3208, and B. bifidum were about three times higher than those of the other bacteria. In testing their antimicrobial activities against pathogens, Lb. acidophilus B-3208, B. bifidum KCTC 3357, and Lb. plantarum inhibited the growth of pathogenic bacteria. For their immunomodulation activity, the cell wall fractions from Lb. acidophilus DDS-1 and Lb. acidophilus B-3208 showed the highest bone marrow cell proliferation activities. However, the cell wall fractions of Lb. acidophilus DDS-1 and B. bifidum, and the cytosol fraction of Lc. lactis ssp. lactis ATCC 7962 showed higher macrophage stimulation activities than those of the other bacteria. Since Lb. acidophilus DDS-1 and Lb. acidophilus B-3208 satisfy the requirements for probiotics, they can be considered suitable probiotic bacteria.

Effects of Organic Salts Fortified with Seaweed Components on Blood Pressure, Serum Minerals, and Hematochemicals in Spontaneously Hypertensive and Normotensive Rats (해조성분 강화염이 본태성 고혈압쥐와 정상혈압쥐의 혈압, 혈청 중 미네랄 함량 및 생화학적 특성에 미치는 영향)

  • Kim, Young-Myoung;Byun, Jee-Young;Han, Chan-Kyu;Sung, Ki-Seung;Namgung, Bae
    • Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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    • v.41 no.2
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    • pp.196-202
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    • 2009
  • The effects of the salts fortified with seaweed functional components on blood pressure, serum minerals, and hematochemicals in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR/NCrj) and normotensive rats (WKY/NCrj) were investigated. SHR and WKY rats were assigned to four groups, with 8 and 6 rats in each group: laver salt (A), fucoidan+laver high salt (B), fucoidan + laver low salt (C) and refined salt as a control (D). The final blood pressure (BP) of SHR and WKY species in contrast with reference BP were low in groups A and C as compared with control group. In terms of serum mineral content, $Na^+$ levels were similar in SHR and WKY, but $K^+$ levels were higher in the group B in SHR. Serum triglyceride levels were lower in groups A and C, but the levels of HDL- and LDL- cholesterol were significantly higher and lower in group A than those of controls, respectively (p<0.05). These results demonstrated that the salts fortified with laver might suppress blood pressure in rats, and also may improve mineral and lipid metabolism.

Half a cenury of the rural geography in Korea(1945-1995):review and prospect (촌락지리학 50년(1945-1995)의 회고와 전망)

  • ;Lee, Moon-Jong
    • Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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    • v.31 no.2
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    • pp.213-254
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    • 1996
  • The Korean Geographical Society was founded in 1945, when Korea was liberated from the Japanese rule. And The Journal of the Korean Geography activated academic studies of geography by publishing research papers in it. Professor Kang, Dae-Hyun wrote the first two specialized papers of rural geography in 1966: " Flood Plain Settlements on the Han River" and "The Location and Form of the Dispersed Villages around Dae-Cwan-Ryung". The early studies of rural geography were not based on serious academic foundations, such as the adjustment of theoretical notions and a good grasp of subjects. After choosing subjects that came to hand without academic consideration. they simply enumerated generalized items of the results of the field work investigation such as the location the landscape and the process of formation of the settlements. In the 1970s and 1980s, however, rural settlement studies progressed remarkably in Korea. More than 80% of 318 dissertations, theses, or papers collected for this review were written in the late 1980s, and the subjects and methodology became diversified. As may be expected, recent studies are found very systematic and problem-solving in the various fields - contexual understanding spatial structure, the development of clan villages according to the socialization process, the effects of rural-out migration on the change of villages etc. Such a trend can be understood as a reaction to the circumstances under which, as the Western society already experienced, rural villages become washed out by the waves of industralization and urbanization and hardly continue to exist. In this paper, geographical studies of rural settlement which have been carried out in Korea last fifty years will be reviewed under the four headings on the studies related to a) farming villages; b) fishing villages; c) mountain villages: and d) special function villages. Studies of farming villages and related ones are very diverse. The results of the studies carried out last fifty years can be classified into sixteen subjects. Just as, in the West, studies of rural settlement have been mainly concerned with farming villages since rural geography came into being, so, in Korea, they have been centred on farming villages. It is a natural result considering the history of human life. Even in Korea, however the rural settlement is no more an isolated life space which keeps unique traditions of old life style, but it begins to form a dynamic life space connected to big cities by heavy traffic. Because the modern farming villages of Korea have an undetachable connection with the cities, special methodology to solve new problems has been posed in the studies of rural settlement. Many scholars have produced a lot of studies of farming villages, and three of them are prominent: Oh. Hong-Seok, Choi, Ki-Yeop, and Lee, Moon-Jong. Oh, Hong-Seok is a versatile and hard-working scholar who has published more papers than anyone else in the various fields of rural geography such as farming villages, fishing villages, mountain villages, and reclamation villages. And he has expanded his concerns to environment issues in recent years. Choi, Ki-Yeop has maintained that the prototype of Korean rural villages is clan villages continuing to write a series of good papers in which he pursues their regionalizion in the process of socialization. Lee, Moon-Jong divides the spatial organization of side settlement, sahachon (settlement near the temple), religion settlement, orchard settlement, settlement near the foreign military camp, displaced people's settlement. Chung Gam Lok settlement, etc. Though The Korean Geographical Society has half a century's history, academic activties in the field of rural settlement have been performed no more than thirty years. We cannot help saying that it is admirable that in such a rather short time we have five academical schools of the rural geography in Korea. geography in Korea.

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Conceptualization of an SSI-PCK Framework for Teaching Socioscientific Issues (과학기술 관련 사회쟁점 교육을 위한 교과교육학적 지식(SSI-PCK) 요소에 대한 탐색)

  • Lee, Hyunju
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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    • v.36 no.4
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    • pp.539-550
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    • 2016
  • The purpose of the study is to conceptualize SSI-PCK by identifying major components and sub-components to promote science teachers' confidence and knowledge on teaching SSIs. To achieve this, I conducted extensive literature reviews on teachers' perceptions on SSI, case studies of teachers addressing SSIs, SSI instructional strategies, etc. as well as PCK. Results indicate that SSI-PCK include six major components: 1) Orientation for Teaching SSI (OTS), 2) Knowledge of Instructional Strategies for Teaching SSI (KIS), 3) Knowledge of Curriculum (KC), 4) Knowledge of Students' SSI Learning (KSL), 5) Knowledge of Assessment in SSI Learning (KAS), and 6) Knowledge of Learning Contexts (KLC). OTS refers to teachers' instructional goals and intentions for teaching SSIs. Teachers often present a) activity-driven, b) knowledge and higher order thinking skills, c) application of science in everyday life, d) nature of science and technology, e) citizenship and f) activism orientations for teaching SSIs. KIS indicates teachers' instructional knowledge required for effectively designing and implementing SSI lessons. It includes a) SSI lesson design, b) utilizing progressive instructional strategies, and c) constructing collaborative classroom cultures. KC refers to teachers' knowledge on a) connection to science curriculum (horizontal/vertical) and b) connection to other subject matters. KSL refers to teachers' knowledge on a) learner experiences in SSI learning, b) difficulties in SSI learning, and c) SSI reasoning patterns. KAS indicates teachers' knowledge on a) dimensions of SSI learning to assess, and b) methods of assessing SSI learning. Finally, KLC refers to teachers' knowledge on the cultures of a) classrooms, b) schools, and c) community and society where they are located when teaching SSIs.

Does the Layman Understand "the Whistling Sounds when Breathing out" as Real Wheezing? (일반인들은 숨쉴 때 "쌕쌕하는 소리"를 천명음으로 이해하는가?)

  • Jang, Seung-Hun;Jung, Seung-Hyun;Eom, Kwang-Seok;Shin, Taerim;Kim, Chul-Hong;Bahn, Joon-Woo;Kim, Dong-Gyu;Park, Myung-Jae;Hyun, In-Gyu;Jung, Ki-Suck
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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    • v.54 no.4
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    • pp.378-385
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    • 2003
  • Background : Wheezing is an important clue in the diagnosis of asthma. Previously, a Korean National asthma survey used a written questionnaire, containing the question, "Have you ever experienced a breathing sound-like 'sack-sack' or a flute sound (the Korean description for wheezing) during the last 12 months?" The response to this question showed a large discrepancy between the prevalence of wheezing and physician diagnosed asthma. This might have resulted partly from a misunderstanding of the question, due to an inadequate description for wheezing. This study was aimed at finding how well the layman understands the term "wheezing" when described as a breathing sound-like 'sack-sack', a whistle or a flute. Subjects and method : Sixty subjects, without experience of wheezing(group I), and 45 subjects, with chronic cough alleging wheezing(group II), were recruited from the Hallym University's Sacred Heart Hospital, in Anyang, Korea. Four different breathing sounds; vesicular, wheezing, tracheobronchial and crackle, were played for the subjects, without any experience with wheezing, and they were asked "which sound is most like that you would imagine when asked about a breathing sound-like 'sack-sack', a whistle or a flute?" This was followed by replaying the true wheezing sound, and then a global assessment was requested for the concordance between the real wheezing sound and the imagined wheezing sound. The wheezing sound was played for those subjects alleging wheezing, and they were asked, "have you really experienced that sound". Results : Only 46.7% of group I answered correctly, with 13.3% choosing the vesicular sound, 16.7% the tracheobronchial sound, 5.0% the crackle and 18.3% failed to answer. The concordance between their imagined wheezing and the real sound was $69.3{\pm}22.4%(mean{\pm}S.D.)$. 77.8% of group II recognized the correct sound as the one they had experienced. Conclusions : Language is not sufficient to the layman for describing natural sounds, such as wheezing.