• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.329-338
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• 2024

Background: Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is recognized as a safe and effective treatment modality for early-stage lung cancer and anterior mediastinal masses. Recently, novel articulating instruments have been developed and introduced to endoscopic surgery. Here, we share our early experiences with VATS major pulmonary resection and thymectomy performed using ArtiSential articulating instruments. Methods: At the Seoul Metropolitan Government-Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center, 500 patients underwent VATS pulmonary resection between July 2020 and April 2023, while 43 patients underwent VATS thymectomy between January 2020 and April 2023. After exclusion, 224 patients were enrolled for VATS major pulmonary resection, and 38 were enrolled for VATS thymectomy. ArtiSential forceps were utilized in 35 of the 224 patients undergoing pulmonary resection and in 12 of the 38 individuals undergoing thymectomy. Early clinical outcomes were retrospectively analyzed. Results: No significant differences were observed in sex, age, surgical approach, operation time, histological diagnosis, or additional procedures between the patients who underwent surgery using novel articulating instruments and the group treated with conventional endoscopic instruments for both VATS major pulmonary resection and thymectomy. However, the use of the novel articulating endoscopic forceps was associated with a significantly larger number of dissected lymph nodes (p=0.028) and lower estimated blood loss (p=0.009) in VATS major pulmonary resection. Conclusion: Major pulmonary resection and thymectomy via VATS using ArtiSential forceps were found to be safe and effective, with early clinical outcomes comparable to established methods. Further research into long-term clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness is warranted.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.221-228
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• 2016

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study measured the effects of a taste education program developed in Korea on food neophobia and willingness to try novel foods in school children. SUBJECTS/METHODS: One-hundred and twenty school children (aged 7-9 years) residing in Seoul participated in 12 sessions of a taste education program for 3 months. The Korean taste education program was adapted from "Les classes du gout" by J. Puisais and modified to suit a Korean education environment. The study subjected school children to pre- and post-programs on food neophobia and willingness to try novel foods (WTNF), in addition to children's food neophobia in their parents. A total of 101 survey data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0. RESULTS: Regarding the effects of taste education, scores of food neophobia significantly decreased (P < 0.01) in the posttest, mean (m) score ($4.10{\pm}1.19$) decreased compared to the pretest ($4.39{\pm}1.00$), and WTNF significantly increased (P < 0.001) in the pretest (m) score ($0.48{\pm}0.33$) compared to the pretest ($0.32{\pm}0.34$). This result indicates verification of the study hypothesis. CONCLUSIONS: Food neophobia scale (FNS), an index that measures personal food preference [1,2], showed a very weak correlation with behavioral willingness to taste novel foods (WTNF). Therefore, it is expected that the two scales measure different things. However, considering that the traits of food neophobia are not easily changed, the taste education program was administered in a remarkably effective manner.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.387-397
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• 2023

Cytochrome P450 (CYP) is a heme-containing enzyme that catalyzes hydroxylation reactions with various substrate molecules. Steroid hydroxylases are particularly useful for effectively introducing hydroxyl groups into a wide range of steroids in the pharmaceutical industry. This study reports a newly identified CYP steroid hydroxylase (BaCYP106A6) from the bacterium Bacillus sp. and characterizes it using an in vitro enzyme assay and structural investigation. Bioconversion assays indicated that BaCYP106A1 catalyzes the hydroxylation of progesterone and androstenedione, whereas no or low conversion was observed with 11β-hydroxysteroids such as cortisol, corticosterone, dexamethasone, and prednisolone. In addition, the crystal structure of BaCYP106A6 was determined at a resolution of 2.8 Å to investigate the configuration of the substrate-binding site and understand substrate preference. This structural characterization and comparison with other bacterial steroid hydroxylase CYPs allowed us to identify a unique Arg295 residue that may serve as the key residue for substrate specificity and regioselectivity in BaCYP106A6. This observation provides valuable background for further protein engineering to design commercially useful CYP steroid hydroxylases with different substrate specificities.

• Journal of Korea Game Society
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.161-166
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• 2011

In this paper, we propose a novel background segmentation and feature point extraction method of a human motion for the augmented reality game. First, our method transforms input image from RGB color space to HSV color space, then segments a skin colored area using double threshold of H, S value. And it also segments a moving area using the time difference images and then removes the noise of the area using the Hessian affine region detector. The skin colored area with the moving area is segmented as a human motion. Next, the feature points for the human motion are extracted by calculating the center point for each block in the previously obtained image. The experiments on various input images show that our method is capable of correct background segmentation and feature points extraction 12 frames per second.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.583-598
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• 2011

This study was intended to outline the characteristics of the food culture in the area of Kyungsangnamdo and its modernization by interpretation and analysis of the novel Toji, which was set in Hadong, Jinjoo in the area of Kyungsangnamdo in the early 20th century. The characteristics of the Kyungsangnamdo area's native dish during the Japanese ruling era in the latter half of the Choson dynasty are as follows. In the first part of the novel, which spans from 1897 to 1908, vegetable and grain food development can be seen in the area of Hadong, the interior plains of Kyungsangnamdo, where there is a typical farming village in the mountains. The second part of the novel, which spans from 1911 through 1917, includes some mentions of the properties of Kyungsangnamdo area's native dishes through the lens of emigrated Koreans living on Gando island. Gando island is in China, and is where Seohee, the heroine, escapes from her homeland and remains for a period of years. There is a unique type of seafood in the Gando area using fresh marine products, exactly the same as in the Kyungsangnamdo area. The third part of the novel spans 1919 through 1929, after Seohee returns to her own country and regains her house. There is a noticeable description of food culture in the area of Jinjoo in Kyungsangnamdo through the description of Seohee focusing on the education of her children. The well-described features of Jinjoo are boiled rice with soup of beef leg bones and Jinjoo bibimbob, with vegetables and a variety of foods using cod. Cod are caught in large quantities in Kyunjgsangnamdo, and cities in the area grow to medium size as the area became traffic-based. The fourth part of the novel spans from 1929 through 1938, and includes very detailed descriptions of characters and background locations. Salted fish combined with the wild ingredients of Mt. Jiri feature prominently in the Kyungsangnamdo's area descriptions. The fifth part spans from 1940 through 1945, and as the Japanese colonization era ends, the foods described in Kyungsangnamdo seem to develop the usage of soybean paste. With abundant fish and shellfish Kyungsangnamdo, the dishes that evolve to use soybean paste include mussel soybean paste soup, picked bean leaves in soybean paste, chaitgook - cold soup from soybean paste, and seolchigook used with seaweed and sea laver.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.558-570
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• 2009

Background : Since March 2009, when the first patient of novel influenza A (H1N1) was reported, many deaths have occurred in North and Central America. The start of the 2009 influenza pandemic was declared by WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan on 11 June 2009, and the level of influenza pandemic alert raised from phase 5 to phase 6. There was no vaccine yet developed, and many experts worried that the novel H1N1 virus could kill as many or more as did the influenza pandemic in 1918-1919. Objective : To evaluate the possibility of treatment for 2009 novel influenza A (H1N1) using herbal remedies and other non-conventional therapies. Methods : We researched the clinical studies for novel H1N1 influenza virus-related herbal medicine or non-conventional medicine treatment using internet search engines including PubMed and CNKI. In addition, we reviewed many reports and clinical practice guidelines (CPG) for influenza A (H1N1). Results : Two case series were selected after reviewing 701 papers, and two CPG published by the Chinese government and Jilin province identified. They reported that the clinical symptoms were no more significant than seasonal influenza, and the condition of patients more than 45 years old was milder than those less than 45 years old. There are no patients with gastric problems, and oseltamivir has been used at the same time in all patients. Conclusion : The efficacy and effectiveness of herbal medicine and other non-conventional treatments for the novel influenza A (H1N1) is questionable, and more studies are needed to draw a firm conclusion. However, in the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) experience in 2002/2003, it was demonstrated that herbal medicine can relieve all symptoms of SARS patients, promote absorption of lung inflammation, improve the degree of blood oxygen saturation, regulate immunological functions, reduce the required dosage of glucocorticoid and other medicines, and reduce case fatality rate. In light of the current situation that there is no vaccine or conventional treatment yet available, the study of herbal medicine and other non-conventional therapies are also necessary for appropriate evaluation.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.718-728
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• 2017

Empirical modeling of wireless fading channels using common schemes such as autoregression and the finite state Markov chain (FSMC) is investigated. The conceptual background of both channel structures and the establishment of their mutual dependence in a confined manner are presented. The novel contribution lies in the proposal of a new approach for deriving the state transition probabilities borrowed from economic disciplines, which has not been studied so far with respect to the modeling of FSMC wireless fading channels. The proposed approach is based on equal portioning of the received signal-to-noise ratio, realized by using an alternative probability construction that was initially highlighted by Tauchen. The associated statistical procedure shows that a first-order FSMC with a limited number of channel states can satisfactorily approximate fading. The computational overheads of the proposed technique are analyzed and proven to be less demanding compared to the conventional FSMC approach based on the level crossing rate. Simulations confirm the analytical results and promising performance of the new channel model based on the Tauchen approach without extra complexity costs.

• Journal of Korean Classical Literature and Education
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• no.33
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• pp.45-82
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• 2016

Class, the fundamental unit of school education and the meeting place of teacher and students, plays an important role in study of the subject matter of education. Class criticism is material to the theory or method that helps researchers deeply understand and analyze class phenomena or teachers' actions during a class. In this study, I make a critique on the features of a classic novel class as attempt to expand on new prospects in the field of research on classical literature education. The classic novel class in this class criticism is typical one, which reads the work analytically. Nevertheless, the teacher turns the students' vague repulsion into empathy and helps them appreciate and internalize the work. Students' empathy and response are reflected in the interpreting-centered class because the teacher's insights about the work and experience, knowledge, and method of literature education are projected during the class. Especially, a situation in which the teacher spends a relatively long time narrating the background of the work clearly shows the value and meaning disseminated in a classic novel class. Based on the aforementioned, attempts to collect a variety of cases of a classic novel class and to understand the meaning of these cases have to be part of future research. The research on the attributes of a class such as criticism of classic novels enables us to renew introspection to discover classical literature education.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.1058-1062
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• 2008

In clinical decision support system(CDSS), unlike rule-based expert method, appropriate data-driven machine learning method can easily provide the information of individual feature(clinical test) for disease classification. However, currently developed methods focus on the improvement of the classification accuracy for diagnosis. With the analysis of feature importance in classification, one may infer the novel clinical test sets which highly differentiate the specific diseases or disease states. In this background, we introduce a novel CDSS that integrate a classifier and feature selection module together. Random forest algorithm is applied for the classifier and the feature importance measure. The system selects the significant clinical tests discriminating the diseases by examining the classification error during backward elimination of the features. The superior performance of random forest algorithm in clinical classification was assessed against artificial neural network and decision tree algorithm by using breast cancer, diabetes and heart disease data in UCI Machine Learning Repository. The test with the same data sets shows that the proposed system can successfully select the significant clinical test set for each disease.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.349-356
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• 2004

The automatic recognition of transport containers using image processing is very hard because of the irregular size and position of identifiers, diverse colors of background and identifiers, and the impaired shapes of identifiers caused by container damages and the bent surface of container, etc. In this paper we propose and evaluate a novel recognition algorithm for container identifiers that effectively overcomes these difficulties and recognizes identifiers from container images captured in various environments. The proposed algorithm, first, extracts the area containing only the identifiers from container images by using CANNY masking and bi-directional histogram method. The extracted identifier area is binarized by the fuzzy binarization method newly proposed in this paper. Then a contour tracking method is applied to the binarized area in order to extract the container identifiers which are the target for recognition. In this paper we also propose and apply a novel ART2-based hybrid network for recognition of container identifiers. The results of experiment for performance evaluation on the real container images showed that the proposed algorithm performs better for extraction and recognition of container identifiers compared to conventional algorithms.