• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.305-314
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine quality of life (QOL) related factors in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) members based on PRECEDE Model. Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted with participants (N=203) from AA meeting in 11 alcohol counsel centers all over South Korea. Data were collected using a specially designed questionnaire based on the PRECEDE model and including QOL, epidemiological factors (including depression and perceived health status), behavioral factors (continuous abstinence and physical health status and practice), predisposing factors (abstinence self-efficacy and self-esteem), reinforcing factors (social capital and family functioning), and enabling factors. Data were analyzed using t-test, one way ANOVA, Tukey HSD test and hierarchical multiple regression analysis with SPSS (ver. 21.0). Results: Of the educational diagnostic variables, self-esteem (${\beta}=.23$), family functioning (${\beta}=.12$), abstinence self-efficacy (${\beta}=.12$) and social capital (${\beta}=.11$) were strong influential factors in AA members' QOL. In addition, epidemiological diagnostic variables such as depression (${\beta}=-.44$) and perceived health status (${\beta}=.35$) were the main factors in QOL. Also, physical health status and practice (${\beta}=.106$), one of behavioral diagnostic variables was a beneficial factor in QOL. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed the determinant variables accounted for 44.0% of the variation in QOL (F=25.76, p<.001). Conclusion: The finding of the study can be used as a framework for planning interventions in order to promote the quality of life of AA members. It is necessary to develop nursing intervention strategies for strengthening educational and epidemiological diagnostic variables in order to improve AA members' QOL.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.213-220
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• 2013

This research paper examined to the influencing factors to adopt national policies of international organization's environment. For this a multivariate regression model has been used to examine cross-national differences in environmental policy adoption. The data analysis was conducted by regression analysis, the indexed point of international environmental agreements were ratified by each nation on the measure of independent variables for a sample of 130 countries in all parts of the world. From analysis results, overall, the regression analysis illustrates that the regression model generally fits our predictions for independent variables. The finding has revealed that external determinants are stronger than internal ones in explaining the level of national environmental policy adoption in relation to international environmental cooperation. Namely, All international environmental organizations, international nongovernmental organizations, and regional multinational institutes proved to function in a positive way in influencing number nations to have a favorable attitude toward international environmental policies. The findings of this study will provide helpful information on how to improve the efficacy of the Korean environmental policy system.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.399-414
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to test the structural model for the effect on abnormal eating behavior targeting 493 nurses. Results, The direct effects of variables affecting abnormal eating behavior were in the order of eating abstinence and socially imposed perfectionism, and these variables explained 85% of abnormal eating behavior. Explicit narcissism had a significant effect on abnormal eating behavior through socially imposed perfectionism and eating restraint, and sociocultural attitude toward appearance through eating restraint. In the multi-group moderating effect, the path coefficients between job stress and abnormal eating behavior, socially imposed perfectionism and abnormal eating behavior were different between groups. Therefore, it is necessary to find a way to lower the socially-imposed perfectionism and nursing intervention that can escape excessive eating abstinence.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.250-257
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• 2017

Vitamin D is a cofactor responsible for autoimmune disorders. There is no agreement in the studies investigating the association between vitamin D and fibromyalgia. This study aims to combine the conflicting results of the primary studies which compared these patients with control groups regarding the serum concentration of vitamin D. This meta-analysis has been designed based on PRISMA guidelines. Relevant keywords were searched in PubMed, Science direct, Scopus, Cochrane, and Google scholar and primary studies were selected. After screening the eligible studies according to inclusion/exclusion criteria, we investigated the risk of bias in the selected studies and also the heterogeneity between the primary results using Cochrane (Q) and I-squared ($I^2$) indices. The primary results were combined using inverse variance method and Cohen statistics as well as a random effects model. Publication bias was assessed using Egger test. Sensitivity analysis was applied to investigate the influence of each primary study on the final result of the meta-analysis. Suspected factors in the heterogeneity were assessed using meta-regression models. We entered 12 eligible studies in the meta-analysis including 851 cases compared with 862 controls. The standardized mean difference of Vitamin D between the two groups was -0.56 (95% confidence interval: -1.05, -0.08). Our meta-analysis showed that vitamin D serum levels of patients with fibromyalgia was significantly lower than that of control group.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2018

Objectives: To identify the associations of characteristics of the neighborhood environment with substance abuse among clients receiving treatment for drug abuse in Thailand. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted of 1128 drug addicts from 28 neighborhoods who were receiving treatment at all 7 compulsory drug detention centers in Thailand. A trained interviewer conducted structured interviews with the subjects about substance use and the perceived neighborhood environment in their community. A multilevel logistic regression model was applied to estimate the effects of the neighborhood environment on substance use. Results: The majority of participants, 53.8% only used methamphetamine pills, 31.3% used other illicit drugs as well as methamphetamine pills, and 14.9% used an illicit drug other than methamphetamine. Three neighborhood characteristics were associated with substance use. A 1-unit increase in the perceived neighborhood cohesion score was associated with a 15% reduction in methamphetamine pill use and an 11% reduction of the use of both methamphetamine pills and another illicit drug. Conversely, a 1-unit increase in perceived neighborhood crime predicted 19 and 14% increases in the use of methamphetamine pills and the use of both methamphetamine pills and another illicit drug, respectively. In addition, a 1-unit increase in the scores for stigma surrounding addiction corresponded to a 25% increase of the use of methamphetamine pills and a 12% increase in the use of both methamphetamine pills and another illicit drug. Conclusions: Substance use among drug addicts was influenced by characteristics of the neighborhood environment. Therefore, prevention and intervention strategies should be designed based on a consideration of the impact of neighborhood context on substance use behaviors.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.68 no.3
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• pp.105-125
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• 2016

School absenteeism is considered one of the early predictors of school drop-out and serious delinquency or criminal behavior. The primary goal of the current study was to explore the protective and risk factors related to changing school absenteeism over time based on the ecological-systemic perspective. The data was derived from the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS) using the 2011 and 2012 survey waves collected from 2,378 elementary school students. Using this data, Panel Fixed Effects Analysis was conducted. Major findings indicated that daily computer usage, parental abuse, school activity attendance, and school grades had an effect on students missing school days over time. Specifically, high levels of computer usage and parental abuse were related to increased school absenteeism, while high levels of school activity attendance and school grades were associated with decreased school absenteeism. These findings emphasized the importance of predictive intervention for children and suggested the need to construct a school absenteeism monitoring system in South Korea.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.717-724
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• 2020

Due to the important role played by emotion in human interaction, affective computing is dedicated in trying to understand and regulate emotion through human-aware artificial intelligence. By understanding, emotion mental diseases such as depression, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and game addiction will be better managed as they are all associated with emotion. Various studies for emotion recognition have been conducted to solve these problems. In applying machine learning for the emotion recognition, the efforts to reduce the complexity of the algorithm and improve the accuracy are required. In this paper, we investigate emotion Electroencephalogram (EEG) feature reduction and classification using Stack AutoEncoder (SAE) and Long-Short-Term-Memory/Recurrent Neural Networks (LSTM/RNN) classification respectively. The proposed method reduced the complexity of the model and significantly enhance the performance of the classifiers.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.2039-2044
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• 2016

This study aims to investigate the safety instrument to prepare the policy alternative for social web-board game which will be developed to base on social network in the future although social casino game is not available in Korea now. We reviewed several literature about responsible game system applied to especially U.S. New Jersey, responsible gambling system acted in the being advanced all countries. Game experts built up user protection model as previous work to prepare the law and policy which such a responsible game system will apply for current web-board gaem and future social casino game. As a result, this research revealed that standard of judgement which can identify four kind of addiction danger user group are raised. We expect to help this user protection alternative to provide the law and policy instrument for future social casino game and complement the problem of current web-board enforcement.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.361-365
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• 2021

Background Pain in the postoperative body contouring patient has traditionally been managed with narcotic medication. In an effort to minimize side effects and prevent addiction, plastic surgeons are searching for novel ways to provide adequate analgesia, one of which is nerve blocks. This study was conducted with a meta-analysis that evaluates the efficacy of these blocks for patients who undergo breast surgery. Methods A search of the PubMed/MEDLINE database for articles including the terms "post-operative analgesia" OR "postoperative pain management" AND "in plastic surgery" OR "in cosmetic surgery" OR "in elective surgery" in February 2019 generated five studies on elective breast augmentation and reduction mammoplasty that reported pain scores and quantities of opioids consumed. Independent samples t-tests, one-way analysis of variance, and a random effects model were implemented for evaluation. Results A total of 317 patients were identified as having undergone body contouring of the breast, about half of which received a nerve block. Pain scores on a 1-10 scale and opioid dose-equivalents were calculated. Those who were blocked had an average score of 2.40 compared to 3.64 for those who did not (P<0.001), and required an average of 5.20 less narcotic doses (P<0.001). Pain relief following subpectoral augmentation was best achieved with type-II blocks as opposed to type-I and type-II with serratus plane (P<0.001). Conclusions The opioid epidemic has extended to all surgical specialties. Implementation of a nerve block seems to be an efficacious and cost-effective mechanism to not only help with post-operative pain, but also lower the need for narcotics, especially in subpectoral augmentation.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.411-416
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• 2023

Methamphetamine (METH) is a powerful neurotoxic psychostimulant affecting dopamine transporter (DAT) activity and leading to continuous excess extracellular dopamine levels. Despite recent advances in the knowledge on neurobiological mechanisms underlying METH abuse, there are few effective pharmacotherapies to prevent METH abuse leading to brain damage and neuropsychiatric deficits. α-Pinene (APN) is one of the major monoterpenes derived from pine essential oils and has diverse biological properties including anti-nociceptive, anti-anxiolytic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory actions. In the present study, we investigated the therapeutic potential of APN in a METH abuse mice model. METH (1 mg/kg/day, i.p.) was injected into C57BL/6 mice for four alternative days, and a conditioned place preference (CPP) test was performed. The METH-administered group exhibited increased sensitivity to place preference and significantly decreased levels of dopamine-related markers such as dopamine 2 receptor (D2R) and tyrosine hydroxylase in the striatum of the mice. Moreover, METH caused apoptotic cell death by induction of inflammation and oxidative stress. Conversely, APN treatment (3 and 10 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly reduced METH-mediated place preference and restored the levels of D2R and tyrosine hydroxylase in the striatum. APN increased the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 to pro-apoptotic Bax ratio and decreased the expression of inflammatory protein Iba-1. METH-induced lipid peroxidation was effectively mitigated by APN by up-regulation of antioxidant enzymes such as manganese-superoxide dismutase and glutamylcysteine synthase via activation of nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2. These results suggest that APN may have protective potential and be considered as a promising therapeutic agent for METH-induced drug addiction and neuronal damage.