• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.86 no.4
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• pp.251-263
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• 2023

The stethoscope has long been used for the examination of patients, but the importance of auscultation has declined due to its several limitations and the development of other diagnostic tools. However, auscultation is still recognized as a primary diagnostic device because it is non-invasive and provides valuable information in real-time. To supplement the limitations of existing stethoscopes, digital stethoscopes with machine learning (ML) algorithms have been developed. Thus, now we can record and share respiratory sounds and artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted auscultation using ML algorithms distinguishes the type of sounds. Recently, the demands for remote care and non-face-to-face treatment diseases requiring isolation such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection increased. To address these problems, wireless and wearable stethoscopes are being developed with the advances in battery technology and integrated sensors. This review provides the history of the stethoscope and classification of respiratory sounds, describes ML algorithms, and introduces new auscultation methods based on AI-assisted analysis and wireless or wearable stethoscopes.

• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.179-187
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• 2023

In this study, we developed a microfiber-based flexible pressure sensor with high sensitivity and excellent skin breathability. A nonwoven fabric composed of microfibers was prepared by electrospinning, which resulted in excellent moisture permeability of the sensor (143 g∙m^-2∙h^-1). In particular, high-pressure sensitivity (0.36 kPa^-1) was achieved by introducing submicron structures on the microfiber surface by controlling the ambient humidity during electrospinning. The fabrication technology of the microfiber-based flexible pressure sensors reported in this study is expected to contribute to the commercialization of flexible pressure sensors applicable to long-term wearable health monitoring as well as virtual/augmented reality and electronic skin applications.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.421-428
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• 2019

This study includes services that require six professional guides - health care, exhibition performance, restaurant, shopping, business and daily life - as well as a trip-based tour, along with solving existing problems that may occur on domestic and overseas trips, and proposes services that connect users with proven professional guides. As a result of previous research, the most needed services among overseas travel were air tickets, accommodation, transportation, and guides, but as Korea enters an aging society, professional guide services are expected to increase daily demand. Based on this, the service technology, user scenarios and brand development were presented. This Service Proposal provides users with a personalized guide to knowledge or experience that they have not previously known, providing them with a wealth of experience. In addition, guides can help develop new fields of expertise and help improve professional guides' capabilities. Finally, the platform service is meaningful in that it enables the creation of jobs by enabling everyone to engage in economic activities, as it allows users to provide services through their own capabilities while at the same time being convenient for them.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.81-91
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• 2019

Recently, the nation has been suffering from a variety of problems, such as the rapid aging of the population and the weakening of the family's role due to rapid industrialization, such as the problem of supporting the elderly or the decline in the quality of supporting them. Among them, the issue of supporting the sentiment of the elderly is a major issue in terms of the quality of the stimulus. The best solution would be to resolve this issue of emotional support through various physical and human support. However, due to various limitations, access to efficient utilization of resources is being sought, among which support efforts through the convergence of digital technologies need to be noted. In this study, we took note of the problems of aging population shortage due to aging phenomenon and the problems of the emotional side of the problem of declining quality of the service, and analyzed the types of digital technology applied to support the emotional side through the convergence of digital technology. Among them, the Commission proposed emotional support through smart speakers, confirming the possibility of supporting the elderly through smart speakers. In addition, the Commission proposed guidelines for smart speaker communication systems to support the sentiment of older adults by conducting an in-depth interview with the In-Depth interview with the evaluation of the usability of smart speakers for older people. Based on the results of this study, it is expected that it will be the basic data for designing a communication system when developing smart speakers to support the emotions of the elderly.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.49-62
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• 2023

Due to social and cultural changes and the growth of aging people living as a single because of aging, lonely deaths are steadily increasing, and each local government has begun to define them as a social problem. The legal basis began to be established. In order to explore policy measures to prevent lonely deaths, this study examined cases of lonely death prevention policies using smart digital information technology (AI, IOT), which is being promoted by Daegu Metropolitan City to promote non-face-to-face policies to prevent lonely deaths. Policies related to lonely deaths are divided into two axes: lonely death prevention projects and post-excavation support projects. In order to operate these businesses efficiently, the provision of non-face-to-face services through artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things is recognized as a new service delivery system, so the importance and necessity of non-face-to-face services is increasing. It is time that multifaceted changes and preparations are needed, such as establishing a system to expand the non-face-to-face industry at the national level. In order to respond to another national disaster situation in the future, the non-face-to-face smart care system is being expanded in various welfare policies such as preventing lonely deaths. It will have to be activated.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.545-554
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• 2017

This study is concerned with the stability of liquid crystal forming emulsifier with localized depend on change of pH using liquid crystal forming agent of advanced company. The liquid crystal emulsifying agent was localized using Sugar Crystal-LC (bio-tech Co., Ltd., Korea), and comparative samples were measured by using Nikkomulese-LC (Nikko Camicarls, Japan) and Alacel-LC (Croda Camicarls, UK). Liquid crystal formation was confirmed microscopically to show the formation of liquid crystal structure at acidic (pH=4.2), neutral (pH=7.0) and alkaline (pH=11.7). The particles of the liquid crystal were observed with a polarizing microscope according to the stirring speed. The stirring time was all the same for 3 minutes with a homo-mixer, and the stirring speed was increased to 2500 rpm, 3500 rpm and 4500 rpm to observe the liquid crystal state. As a result, it was found that the Korean surfactant was more stable and clear liquid crystal structure was formed than the two foreign acids. In the case of the UK in acid zone, the emulsion particle size was uniform and unstable. In the case of Japanese surfactant, it has similar structure and performance to those of localized Korean. It was found that Korean surfactant had superior emulsifying performance in acid zone compared with foreign products. It is possible to develop various formulations such as liquid crystal cream, lotion, eye cream, etc. using Sugar Crystal-LC emulsifier as an application cosmetic field, and it is expected that it can be widely applied as emulsifying technology for skin care external application in the pharmaceutical industry and the pharmaceutical industry as well as the cosmetics industry.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.290-301
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• 2017

This study examined the causal relationship among the leadership type, organizational commitment, and job performance, and to improve the organizational performance and effective methods of human resource management in hospital organizations. The survey period was from October 6, 2016 to October 20, and 375 employees working in hospitals were selected for the final survey. To analyze the validity of the measurement variables, reliability and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted, and the covariance structure equation analysis was conducted to grasp the causal relationship among leadership, organizational commitment, and job performance. In conclusion, leadership, organizational commitment, and job performance were significantly different according to the occupation(p<0.05), age(p<0.05), and working period(p<0.05), and individual care(p<0.001) and conditional reward(p<0.001) showed a high causal relationship with the organizational commitment and job performance. In the future, leadership that can take care of the individual characteristics of the members of the organization and ability to demonstrate their competence will be needed, and it will be necessary to establish a reasonable compensation system after measuring the degree of achievement of work. In addition, leadership needs to be in place to promote organizational performance considering the job type, gender, age, and duration of work. Managers should make efforts to form an organizational culture and provide related education programs to improve loyalty and attachment of members to the organization.

• The Korean Journal of Urological Oncology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.110-118
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• 2018

Purpose: The aim of this study is to confirm the detection rate of transperineal biopsy after multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) and compared it to that of transrectal biopsy. We also examined the role of mpMRI and the rate of complications for each method. Materials and Methods: In a retrospective study, we analyzed 147 patients who underwent mpMRI before prostate biopsy because of elevated serum prostate-specific antigen and/or abnormal digital rectal examination findings at Korea University Hospital, Seoul, Korea from March 2017 to April 2018. Regions on the mpMRI that were suggestive of prostate cancer were categorized according to the Prostate Imaging-Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS v2). For transperineal biopsy, a 20-core saturation biopsy was performed by MRI-TRUS cognitive or fusion techniques and a 12-core biopsy was performed in transrectal biopsy. Results: Sixty-three and 84 patients were enrolled in transperineal group and transrectal group, respectively. The overall detection rate of prostate cancer in transperineal group was 27% higher than that in transrectal group. Classification according to PI-RADS score revealed a significant increase in detection rate in all patients, as the PI-RADS score increased. Frequency of complications using the Clavien-Dindo classifications revealed no significant differences in the total complications rate, but two patients in transrectal group received intensive care unit care due to urosepsis. Conclusions: Our results confirmed that transperineal biopsy is superior to transrectal biopsy for the detection of prostate cancer. From the complication point of view, this study confirmed that there were fewer severe complications in transperineal biopsy.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.1-7
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• 2019

The medical environment, combined with IT technology, is changing the paradigm for medical services from treatment to prevention. In particular, as ICT convergence digital healthcare technology is applied to hospital medical systems, infrastructure technologies such as big data, Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence are being used in conjunction with the cloud. In particular, as medical services are used with IT devices, the quality of medical services is increasingly improving to make them easier for users to access. Medical institutions seeking to incorporate IoT services into cloud health care environment services are trying to reduce hospital operating costs and improve service quality, but have not yet been fully supported. In this paper, a patient information collection model from hospital IoT system, which has established a cloud environment, is proposed. The proposed model prevents third parties from illegally eavesdropping and interfering with patients' biometric information through IoT devices attached to the patient's body at hospitals in cloud environments that have established hospital IoT systems. The proposed model allows clinicians to analyze patients' disease information so that they can collect and treat diseases associated with their eating habits through IoT devices. The analyzed disease information minimizes hospital work to facilitate the handling of prescriptions and care according to the patient's degree of illness.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.243-252
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• 2023

This paper aims to introduce Korea's total current health expenditure (CHE) and National Health Accounts of the year 2021 and their 2022 preliminary figures constructed on the basis of the System of Health Accounts 2011. As CHE includes expenditures for prevention, tracking, and treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and compensation for losses to medical institutions from 2020, the details are also introduced. Korea's total CHE in 2021 is 193.3 trillion won, which is 9.3% of gross domestic product (GDP). The preliminary figure in 2022, 209.0 trillion won, exceeded the 200 trillion won line for the first time, and its "ratio to GDP" of 9.7% is expected to exceed the average of Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development member countries for the first time. Korea's health expenditures, which were well controlled until the end of the 20th century, have increased at an alarming rate since the beginning of the 21st century, threatening the sustainability of national health insurance. The increase in health expenditure after 2020 is partly due to a temporary increase in response to COVID-19. However, when considering the structure of Korea's health insurance price hike, where the ratchet effect of increased medical expenses works particularly strongly, it is unlikely that the accelerating growth trend that has lasted for more than 20 years will stop easily. More aggressive policies to control medical expenses are required in the national health insurance which not only constitutes the main financing sources of the Korean health system but also has the most powerful policy means in effect for changes in the health care provision.