• Title/Summary/Keyword: Critical Analysis

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Analysis on the Effect of Lessons with the GIS Application in Teaching and Learning of Geography of Elementary School (초등학교 지리학습에 있어서 GIS 활용수업의 효과분석)

  • Park, Soon-Ho;Jung, Eun-Ju
    • Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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    • v.14 no.3
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    • pp.269-278
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    • 2008
  • This research analyzed the effect of lessons with the GIS application as an alternative scheme of teaching and learning of geography in elementary school. Two classes in the third grade at Y elementary school in Andong were selected to conduct lessons on 'The Landscape of My Hometown' from March 6 through June 30, 2006. In the experimental class, the lessons were conducted with the GIS application; while, in a comparative class, the lessons were carried with usual teaching and learning method. To find out the effect of lessons with the GIS application, differences of spatial cognition of students were figured out between groups, and before and after lessons. The difference between the spatial concept development stages and materials on the textbook discouraged students to pursue their learning as well as made them hard to achieve the goals of lessons. The GIS application had been suggested as an alternative teaching and learning method to overcome the difference; however, it has been hard to find any empirical research to verify the effect of the lessons with GIS application in elementary school. The ability of spatial cognition of the third graders at an elementary school was very low as the result of that curricula in the first and second grades dealt with sketch maps as teaching and learning media. The map learning of third grader on the transitional stage would play the critical role to develop the spatial cognition ability in the future. The field study contributing to developing spatial cognition ability would not be conducted at school. It was required to have the alternative learning schemes such as lessons with GIS application. The lessons with GIS application verified effect of GIS application as the alternative method. The GIS application helped students to recognize landmarks, directions and distance effectively as well as reduced the spatial cognition difference among individuals and/or groups.

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A Study of Organic Matter Fraction Method of the Wastewater by using Respirometry and Measurements of VFAs on the Filtered Wastewater and the Non-Filtered Wastewater (여과한 하수와 하수원액의 VFAs 측정과 미생물 호흡률 측정법을 이용한 하수의 유기물 분액 방법에 관한 연구)

  • Kang, Seong-wook;Cho, Wook-sang
    • Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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    • v.17 no.1
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    • pp.58-72
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    • 2009
  • In this study, the organic matter and biomass was characterized by using respirometry based on ASM No.2d (Activated Sludge Model No.2d). The activated sludge models are based on the ASM No.2d model, published by the IAWQ(International Association on Water Quality) task group on mathematical modeling for design and operation of biological wastewater treatment processes. For this study, OUR(Oxygen Uptake Rate) measurements were made on filtered as well as non-filtered wastewater. Also, GC-FID and LC analysis were applied for the estimation of VFAs(Volatile Fatty Acids) COD(S_A) in slowly bio-degradable soluble substrates of the ASM No.2d. Therefore, this study was intended to clearly identify slowly bio-degradable dissolved materials(S_S) and particulate materials(X_I). In addition, a method capable of determining the accurate time to measure non-biodegradable COD(S_I), by the change of transition graphs in the process of measuring microbial OUR, was presented in this study. Influent fractionation is a critical step in the model calibrations. From the results of respirometry on filtered wastewater, the fraction of fermentable and readily biodegradable organic matter(S_F), fermentation products(S_A), inert soluble matter(S_I), slowly biodegradable matter(X_S) and inert particular matter(X_I) was 33.2%, 14.1%, 6.9%, 34.7%, 5.8%, respectively. The active heterotrophic biomass fraction(X_H) was about 5.3%.

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Exploratory Case Study for Key Successful Factors of Producy Service System (Product-Service System(PSS) 성공과 실패요인에 관한 탐색적 사례 연구)

  • Park, A-Rum;Jin, Dong-Su;Lee, Kyoung-Jun
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.17 no.4
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    • pp.255-277
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    • 2011
  • Product Service System(PSS), which is an integrated combination of product and service, provides new value to customer and makes companies sustainable as well. The objective of this paper draws Critical Successful Factors(CSF) of PSS through multiple case study. First, we review various concepts and types in PSS and Platform business literature currently available on this topic. Second, after investigating various cases with the characteristics of PSS and platform business, we select four cases of 'iPod of Apple', 'Kindle of Amazon', 'Zune of Microsoft', and 'e-book reader of Sony'. Then, the four cases are categorized as successful and failed cases according to criteria of case selection and PSS classification. We consider two methodologies for the case selection, i.e., 'Strategies for the Selection of Samples and Cases' proposed by Bent(2006) and the seven case selection procedures proposed by Jason and John(2008). For case selection, 'Stratified sample and Paradigmatic cases' is adopted as one of several options for sampling. Then, we use the seven case selection procedures such as 'typical', 'diverse', 'extreme', 'deviant', 'influential', 'most-similar', and 'mostdifferent' and among them only three procedures of 'diverse', 'most?similar', and 'most-different' are applied for the case selection. For PSS classification, the eight PSS types, suggested by Tukker(2004), of 'product related', 'advice and consulancy', 'product lease', 'product renting/sharing', 'product pooling', 'activity management', 'pay per service unit', 'functional result' are utilized. We categorize the four selected cases as a product oriented group because the cases not only sell a product, but also offer service needed during the use phase of the product. Then, we analyze the four cases by using cross-case pattern that Eisenhardt(1991) suggested. Eisenhardt(1991) argued that three processes are required for avoiding reaching premature or even false conclusion. The fist step includes selecting categories of dimensions and finding within-group similarities coupled with intergroup difference. In the second process, pairs of cases are selected and listed. The second step forces researchers to find the subtle similarities and differences between cases. The third process is to divide the data by data source. The result of cross-case pattern indicates that the similarities of iPod and Kindle as successful cases are convenient user interface, successful plarform strategy, and rich contents. The differences between the successful cases are that, wheares iPod has been recognized as the culture code, Kindle has implemented a low price as its main strategy. Meanwhile, the similarities of Zune and PRS series as failed cases are lack of sufficient applications and contents. The differences between the failed cases are that, wheares Zune adopted an undifferentiated strategy, PRS series conducted high-price strategy. From the analysis of the cases, we generate three hypotheses. The first hypothesis assumes that a successful PSS system requires convenient user interface. The second hypothesis assumes that a successful PSS system requires a reciprocal(win/win) business model. The third hypothesis assumes that a successful PSS system requires sufficient quantities of applications and contents. To verify the hypotheses, we uses the cross-matching (or pattern matching) methodology. The methodology matches three key words (user interface, reciprocal business model, contents) of the hypotheses to the previous papers related to PSS, digital contents, and Information System (IS). Finally, this paper suggests the three implications from analyzed results. A successful PSS system needs to provide differentiated value for customers such as convenient user interface, e.g., the simple design of iTunes (iPod) and the provision of connection to Kindle Store without any charge. A successful PSS system also requires a mutually benefitable business model as Apple and Amazon implement a policy that provides a reasonable proft sharing for third party. A successful PSS system requires sufficient quantities of applications and contents.

Ginsenoside F2 attenuates chronic-binge ethanol-induced liver injury by increasing regulatory T cells and decreasing Th17 cells

  • Kim, Myung-Ho;Kim, Hee-Hoon;Jeong, Jong-Min;Shim, Young-Ri;Lee, Jun-Hee;Kim, Ye Eun;Ryu, Tom;Yang, Keungmo;Kim, Kyu-Rae;Jeon, Byeong-Min;Kim, Sun Chang;Jung, Jae-Kwang;Choi, Jae-Kap;Lee, Young-Sun;Byun, Jin-Seok;Jeong, Won-Il
    • Journal of Ginseng Research
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    • v.44 no.6
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    • pp.815-822
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    • 2020
  • Background: Recently, beneficial roles of ginsenoside F2 (GF2), a minor constituent of Panax ginseng, have been demonstrated in diverse inflammatory diseases. However, its roles in alcoholic liver inflammation and injury have not been clearly understood. Here, we investigated the underlying mechanism by which GF2 ameliorated alcoholic liver injury. Methods: To induce alcoholic liver injury, C57BL/6J wild type (WT) or interleukin (IL)-10 knockout (KO) mice were orally administered with ethanol (3 g/kg) or ethanol-containing GF2 (50 mg/kg) for 2 wk. Liver injury and infiltration of macrophages and neutrophils were evaluated by serum biochemistry and immunohistochemistry, respectively. The changes of hepatic immune cells were assessed by flow cytometry and polymerase chain reaction analysis. In vitro differentiation of naïve T cells was performed. Results: GF2 treatment significantly attenuated alcoholic liver injury, in which infiltrations of inflammatory macrophages and neutrophils were decreased. Moreover, the frequencies of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) increased but IL-17-producing T (Th17) cells decreased in GF2-treated mice compared to controls. Furthermore, the mRNA expression of IL-10 and Foxp3 was significantly increased, whereas IL-17 mRNA expression was suppressed in GF2-treated mice. However, these beneficial roles of GF2 were not observed in GF2-treated IL-10 KO mice, suggesting a critical role of IL-10. Similarly, GF2 treatment suppressed differentiation of naïve T cells into Th17 cells by inhibiting RORgt expression and stimulating Foxp3 expression. Conclusion: The present study suggests that GF2 treatment attenuates alcoholic liver injury by increasing IL-10 expression and Tregs and decreasing IL-17 expression and Th17 cells.

Antecedents of Technological Innovation Orientation and Its Impact on Technological Innovation Performance: A Case of Korean IT SMEs (기술혁신지향성의 선행요인과 기술혁신성과에 미치는 영향: 국내 IT 중소기업 사례)

  • Moon, Chang-Ho;Kim, Si-Yeon
    • Journal of Technology Innovation
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.49-84
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    • 2016
  • The importance of technological innovation orientation, which denotes the firm's general direction of thought toward steadily pursuing and promoting technological innovation in the long run for its viability and competitiveness, is on the rise. Although the technological innovation orientation has conceptually and practically important implications for securing the firm's sustainable competitive advantage, to date there has been limited research systematically analyzing the role of the technological innovation orientation for the firm's successful technological innovation and performance. Recognizing such deficiency in previous research regarding technological innovation orientation, this study selected internal and external critical factors which might affect the technological innovation orientation, and proposed and empirically examined a research model and hypotheses demonstrating the contingency relationships among the antecedent factors, technological innovation orientation and technological innovation performance. In the proposed research model, the selected antecedents of technological innovation orientation included two internal factors of CEO's technical-function experience and cross-functional integration and two external factors of environmental uncertainty and intensity of competition, and eventually it was suggested that these antecedent factors affected the firm's technological innovation performance via the technological innovation orientation. In addition, the research model suggested that the two environmental factors of environmental uncertainty and intensity of competition had a positive moderation effect on the relationship between technological innovation orientation and technological innovation performance. Analysis of data on sample of 86 Korean IT SMEs showed that CEO's technical-function experience, cross-functional integration and environmental uncertainty had a positive impact on the firm's technological innovation orientation and that the technological innovation orientation positively influenced the firm's technological innovation performance. The results also revealed that environmental uncertainty positively moderated the relationship between the firm's technological innovation orientation and technological innovation performance. The theoretical and practical implications for the results of this study were discussed.

Matching Points Filtering Applied Panorama Image Processing Using SURF and RANSAC Algorithm (SURF와 RANSAC 알고리즘을 이용한 대응점 필터링 적용 파노라마 이미지 처리)

  • Kim, Jeongho;Kim, Daewon
    • Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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    • v.51 no.4
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    • pp.144-159
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    • 2014
  • Techniques for making a single panoramic image using multiple pictures are widely studied in many areas such as computer vision, computer graphics, etc. The panorama image can be applied to various fields like virtual reality, robot vision areas which require wide-angled shots as an useful way to overcome the limitations such as picture-angle, resolutions, and internal informations of an image taken from a single camera. It is so much meaningful in a point that a panoramic image usually provides better immersion feeling than a plain image. Although there are many ways to build a panoramic image, most of them are using the way of extracting feature points and matching points of each images for making a single panoramic image. In addition, those methods use the RANSAC(RANdom SAmple Consensus) algorithm with matching points and the Homography matrix to transform the image. The SURF(Speeded Up Robust Features) algorithm which is used in this paper to extract featuring points uses an image's black and white informations and local spatial informations. The SURF is widely being used since it is very much robust at detecting image's size, view-point changes, and additionally, faster than the SIFT(Scale Invariant Features Transform) algorithm. The SURF has a shortcoming of making an error which results in decreasing the RANSAC algorithm's performance speed when extracting image's feature points. As a result, this may increase the CPU usage occupation rate. The error of detecting matching points may role as a critical reason for disqualifying panoramic image's accuracy and lucidity. In this paper, in order to minimize errors of extracting matching points, we used $3{\times}3$ region's RGB pixel values around the matching points' coordinates to perform intermediate filtering process for removing wrong matching points. We have also presented analysis and evaluation results relating to enhanced working speed for producing a panorama image, CPU usage rate, extracted matching points' decreasing rate and accuracy.

Retrospective Evaluation of Discrepancies between Radiological and Pathological Size of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Masses

  • Tian, Fei;Wu, Jian-Xiong;Rong, Wei-Qi;Wang, Li-Ming;Wu, Fan;Yu, Wei-Bo;An, Song-Lin;Liu, Fa-Qiang;Feng, Li;Liu, Yun-He
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.15 no.21
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    • pp.9487-9494
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    • 2014
  • Background: The size of a hepatic neoplasm is critical for staging, prognosis and selection of appropriate treatment. Our study aimed to compare the radiological size of solid hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) masses on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with the pathological size in a Chinese population, and to elucidate discrepancies. Materials and Methods: A total of 178 consecutive patients diagnosed with HCC who underwent curative hepatic resection after enhanced MRI between July 2010 and October 2013 were retrospectively identified and analyzed. Pathological data of the whole removed tumors wereassessed and differences between radiological and pathological tumor size were identified. All patients were restaged using a modified Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) staging system postoperatively according to the maximum diameter alteration. The lesions were classified as hypo-staged, iso-staged or hyper-staged for qualitative assessment. In the quantitative analysis, the relative pre and postoperative tumor size contrast ratio ($%{\Delta}size$) was also computed according to size intervals. In addition, the relationship between radiological and pathological tumor diameter variation and histologic grade was analyzed. Results: Pathological examination showed 85 (47.8%) patients were overestimated, 82 (46.1%) patients underestimated, while accurate measurement by MRI was found in 11 (6.2%) patients. Among the total subjects, 14 (7.9%) patients were hypo-staged and 15 (8.4%) were hyper-staged post-operatively. Accuracy of MRI for calculation and characterized staging was related to the lesion size, ranging from 83.1% to 87.4% (<2cm to ${\geq}5cm$, p=0.328) and from 62.5% to 89.1% (cT1 to cT4, p=0.006), respectively. Overall, MRI misjudged pathological size by 6.0 mm (p=0.588 ), and the greatest difference was observed in tumors <2cm (3.6 mm, $%{\Delta}size=16.9%$, p=0.028). No statistically significant difference was observed for moderately differentiated HCC (5.5mm, p=0.781). However, for well differentiated and poorly differentiated cases, radiographic tumor maximum diameter was significantly larger than the pathological maximum diameter by 3.15 mm and underestimated by 4.51 mm, respectively (p=0.034 and 0.020). Conclusions: A preoperative HCC tumor size measurement using MRI can provide relatively acceptable accuracy but may give rise to discrepancy in tumors in a certain size range or histologic grade. In pathological well differentiated subjects, the pathological tumor size was significantly overestimated, but underestimated in poorly differentiated HCC. The difference between radiological and pathological tumor size was greatest for tumors <2 cm. For some HCC patients, the size difference may have implications for the decision of resection, transplantation, ablation, or arterially directed therapy, and should be considered in staging or selecting the appropriate treatment tactics.

Evaluation on the Implementation of Girl Friendly Science Activity (여학생 친화적 과학활동 프로그램의 운영 평가)

  • Jhun, Young-Seok;Shin, Young-Joon
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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    • v.24 no.3
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    • pp.442-458
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    • 2004
  • This study was conducted to develop a plan for a large-scale implementation of the Girl Friendly Science Program based on the results of analysis and investigation of its current pilot implementation, Girl Friendly Science Program materials, which was first developed in 1999 with the support from Ministry of Gender Equality, consist of 1) five theme-based units that are specifically targeted individual students' unique ability, aptitude, and career choice, and 2) differentiated learning materials for 7th through 10th grade female students. All the materials are available at the homepage (http://tes.or.kr/gfsp.cgi) of 'Teachers for Exciting Science(the organization of science teachers in Seoul area)'. Since the materials are well organized by topic and grade level and presented in both Korean word process document and html format, anyone can easily access to the materials for their own instructional use. Ever since its launch the number of visitors to the homepage has been constantly increasing. The evaluation results of the current pilot implementation of the materials that targeted individual students' ability and aptitude showed that it scored high in terms of its alignment to the original purpose, content, level, and effectiveness to implement in classrooms. However, its evaluation scores were low in terms of the convenience for teachers to guide the materials, and its organization and operation. The results also showed a significant change in students' perception of science, and students' positive experiences of science through various interdisciplinary activities. On the other hand, the evaluation of students' experiences with the materials showed that students' assessment about an activity was largely depending on a success or failure of their experiences. Overall, students' evaluation of activities scores were low for simple activities such as cutting off or pasting papers. According to students' achievement test results, differences between pre and post test scores in the Affective Domain was statistically significant (p<0.05), but not in Inquiry Domain. Based on teachers observations, numerous schools where have run this program reported that students' abilities to cooperate, discuss, observe and reason with evidences were improved. In order to implement this program in a larger scale, it is critical to have a strong support of teachers and induce them to change their teaching strategy through building a community of teachers and developing ongoing teacher professional development programs. Finally, there still remain strong needs to develop more programs, and actively discover and train more domestic woman scientists and engineers and collaborate with them to develop more educational materials for girls in all ages.

Identification of Variables as the Effects of Integrated Education Using the Delphi Method (통합교육의 효과변인 추출을 위한 델파이 연구)

  • Yoon, Heojoeng;Kim, Jiyoung;Bang, Dami
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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    • v.36 no.6
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    • pp.959-968
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    • 2016
  • In this study, the Delphi Method was conducted to extract variables as effects of integrated education. Forty-six experts engaged in both the integrated education and research fields participated in this study. The Delphi survey was conducted for three rounds. In the first round, an open questionnaire was given asking variables possibly considered as effects of integrated education. In the second round, variables induced from analysis of the first survey results were given and the degree of agreement for each variable was determined according to the Likert scale. In the third round of the survey, mean, standard deviation, and the first and third quartile calculated using the results of the second survey were given to experts to determine their degree of assent. In addition, categories for variables were suggested. The degree of agreement for appropriateness of categorization and relative importance were determined As a result, a total of 18 variables were chosen except for career awareness. They were categorized according to their definition and properties into five categories: 'creativity' (flexible thinking, associative thinking, intuitive thinking, creative thinking), 'problem solving' (meta-cognition, problem recognition and solving, critical thinking, decision making ability, ability of knowledge application, knowledge and information processing skills), 'integrative perception and sensitivity' (concern and interest in various disciplines, understanding and acceptance of difference, integrative thinking), 'interpersonal relations' (communication skills, cooperation), and 'disciplinary literacy' (humanistic imagination, basic knowledge and literacy of each discipline, academic motivation). The degree of agreement was high in variables included in 'creativity' and 'problem solving' categories and the frequency of choosing the importance was high in variables included in 'integrative perception and sensitivity'. The educational implication related to implementation and practice of integrated education were discussed on the basis of results.

An Evaluation of the Use of Statistical Methods in the Journal of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases ([결핵 및 호흡기질환] 게재 논문의 통계적 기법 활용에 대한 평가)

  • Koh, Won-Jung;Lee, Seung-Joon;Kang, Min Jong;Lee, Hun Jae
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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    • v.57 no.2
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    • pp.168-179
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    • 2004
  • Background : The statistical analysis is an essential procedure ensuring that the results of researches are based on evidences rather than opinion. The purpose of this study is to evaluate which statistical techniques are used and whether these statistical methods are used appropriately or not in the journal of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases. Materials and Methods : We reviewed 185 articles reported in the journal of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases in 1999. We evaluated the validity of used statistical methods based upon the checklist that was developed on the basis of the guideline for statistical reporting in articles for medical journals by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Results : Among 185 articles, original articles and case reports were 110 (59.5%) and 61 (33.0%) respectively. In 112 articles excluding case reports and reviews, statistical techniques were used in 107 articles (95.5%). In 94 articles (83.9%) descriptive and inferential methods were used, while in 13 (11.6%) articles only descriptive methods were used. With the types of inferential statistical techniques, comparison of means was most commonly used (64/94, 68.1%), followed by contingency table (43/94, 45.7%) and correlation or regression (18/94, 19.1%). Among the articles in which descriptive methods were used, 83.2% (89/107) showed inappropriate central tendency and dispersion. In the articles in which inferential methods were used, improper methods were applied in 88.8% (79/89) and the most frequent misuse of statistical methods was inappropriate use of parametric methods (35/89, 39.3%). Only 14 articles (13.1%) were satisfactory in utilization of statistical methodology. Conclusion : Most of the statistical errors found in the journal were misuses of statistical methods related to basic statistics. This study suggests that researchers should be more careful when they describe and apply statistical methods and more extensive statistical refereeing system would be needed.