• Human Ecology Research
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.217-231
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• 2024

The aims of this study were to identify (a) the social network contact frequency of the elderly with children, relatives, and friends; (b) the impact of contact frequency (face-to-face/non-face-to-face) on life satisfaction of the elderly; and (c) the moderating effect of digital capabilities of the elderly on the relationship between social contact frequency and life satisfaction. Data were obtained from the National Survey of Older Koreans 2020. The sample comprised 6,119 adults aged 65+ who were in single or couple households. The principal findings were as follows. First, couple households, higher levels of education, and better health status increased life satisfaction of the elderly. Second, the higher the frequency of face-to-face contact with children and the higher the frequency of non-face-to-face contact with friends, the more positive the effect on life satisfaction of the elderly. Third, the interaction effect of the digital capabilities of the elderly differed according to children, relatives and friends. There was a significant and positive moderating effect on the relationship between life satisfaction and the frequency of face-to-face/non-face-to-face contact with children and the frequency of face-to-face contact with relatives. Conversely, there was a significant negative effect on the relationship between life satisfaction and the frequency of face-to-face/non-face-to-face contact with friends. By examining the impact of non-face-to-face contact on life satisfaction of the elderly in the era of digital transformation, the findings have significance in that they provide basic data to support policies and education programs aimed at improving the digital capabilities of the elderly.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.261-278
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• 2024

This study aims to enhance the life satisfaction of the elderly population in South Korea by exploring their satisfaction levels and identifying influencing factors. Utilizing data from the 17th Korean Welfare Panel, which includes 6,260 individuals aged 65 and older, this study employs independent sample t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and hierarchical regression analysis. The results showed that, in general, the life satisfaction of the elderly population was somewhat lower than that of the general adult population in all areas, except for job satisfaction and satisfaction with housing. Key factors influencing life satisfaction among the elderly population include demographic characteristics (gender, age, economic activity, residence, education level), subjective health status factors, financial factors (disposable income, monthly living expenses), and psychological factors (depression, self-esteem). Notably, psychological factors, particularly self-esteem and depression, profoundly affect all life satisfaction domains. Enhancing life satisfaction necessitates fostering positive self-perception and capabilities in the elderly population, suggesting the need for programs focused on positive emotional experiences. Moreover, depression significantly reduces life satisfaction, underscoring the importance of policy interventions to address negative emotions in this demographic. This study is expected to provide basic data for establishing concrete and effective policies for improving the quality of life for the elderly population. Additionally, by highlighting the importance of positive psychological factors, it is anticipated that the study will offer a new direction for improving the life satisfaction of the elderly population.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.205-224
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• 2016

Nowadays technological instruments are advanced to measure brain waves called EEG. Also, it is important to find some facts that cause students to have mathematic anxiety (MA) and to provide remedy programs to lessen their MA in order to help students cure MA that could contribute to negative self-efficacy toward mathematics and mathematical learning. To find how they change the MA level, a small group of 11 high school students in Suwon city participated for ten weeks at the remedy program based on students' levels of MA diagnosed by MASS instrument (Ko, & Yi, 2011) and proofread by 8 advisors who worked in related research areas. The results showed that the remedy program was effective to lessen students' MA and it should provide a long term period since some negative experiences were accumulated for a long time of his or her past schooling by others such as teachers, peers, and parents. EEG showed that students got better scores on a percent of correct answers and a reaction time and some student' EEG from a group HMA became smaller heights and width in comparison of the other groups.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.66-83
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to learn both effects of the vocal psychotherapy on the self-consciousness and the variety of the self-consciousness on the vocal psychotherapy in return. The research for this study was performed to three subjects who were students of E university, Seoul, ten times for sixty minutes. The subjects were all volunteers for the advertisement on a music-therapy program searching for them on the web site of E university. The vocal psychotherapy program consists of four steps and each of them consists of two to four short terms again. Both before and after the experiment, examinations on self-consciousness were done to recognize the change of the subjects' self-consciousness which would be caused by the vocal psychotherapy activity. After every short term, the subjects were asked to write reports to closely analyze the change of self-consciousness according to the terms and the variety of the subjects. The effect of the vocal psychotherapy activity on the changes of scores in the self-consciousness examination is the first thing to point out on this study. There appeared some personal varieties on the total scores of the examination and scores of some sub-categories. Especially, there were different scores on the private self-consciousness, the public self-consciousness, and the social anxiety between before and after performing the vocal psychotherapy program. Subject A, who had got the best score of all on the scope of the private self-consciousness, showed the steepest decrease on the very scope. On the contrary, the subject showed decrease of scores of the public self-consciousness and the social anxiety in the relatively little rate. Subject B, who had got the highest score of the three on the public self-consciousness, showed the steepest decrease on that of all scopes and showed no difference on the social anxiety scope. In the case of the last one, subject C, who had relatively low scores on the private and public self-consciousness than the others, the private self-consciousness score increased but the public self-consciousness and the social anxiety scores decreased. The changes of the scores of each questions were examined in order to see possible other changes that had not been exposed on the changes of the total and sub-categories scores. As a result of that, of all twenty-eight questions, there were changes about one to two points. Subject A showed the difference with thirteen questions, subject B with sixteen and subject C with nineteen questions. The rate of change of subject C was relatively small but more questions changed and the change of score was wider than the others. Considering all those results, It can be possibly said that the vocal psychotherapy affects the changes of the scores of sub-categories in self-consciousness examination. The next thing to point out on this study is the change of recognition that was exposed on the subjects' report after every short term of the program. As a result of the close analyzing, according to the short terms and variety of self-consciousness, recognizing the way express subjects themselves by voice and recognizing their own voices appeared to be different. How much they cared about others and why they did so were also different. According to the self reports, subject A cared much about her inner thought and emotion and tended to concentrate herself as a social object. There appeared some positive emotional experiments such as emotional abundance and art curiosities on her reports but at the same time some negative emotions such as state-trait anxiety and neuroticism also appeared. Subject B, who showed high scores on the private and public self-consciousness like subject A, had a similar tendency that concentrates on herself as a social object but she showed more social anxiety than subject A. Subject C got relatively lower points in self-consciousness examination, tended to care about herself, and had less negative emotions such as state-trait anxiety than other subjects. Also, with terms going on, she showed changes in the way of caring about her own voice and others. This study has some unique significances in helping people who have problems caused by self-estimation activated with self-consciousness, using voices closely related to one's own self, performing the vocal skills discipline to solve the technical problems. Also, this study has a potentiality that the vocal psychotherapy activity can be effectively used as a way affects the mental health and developing personality.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.97-125
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• 2012

Companies recently introduce art collaborated products incorporating culture into a product. Art collaborated products include incorporating famous movies and/or design of an artist into a newly launched product. The introduction of art collaborated products are gradually increasing. However, research for this trend is relatively scarce. Although research concerning design has discussed a number of different factors as playing a role in influencing responses to design including culture, fashion, innate preferences, etc.), only limited attention has been paid to the processes by which consumers generate responses to product designs. People with different characteristics may respond differently. When people encounter these art products, they may become curious, may think that these products are unique, novel and innovative. People tend to show different levels of curiosity when they encounter new and novel objects, which they have rarely seen or experienced. Curiosity is defined as a desire for acquiring new knowledge and new sensory experience. Previous studies demonstrated that curiosity motivates individuals to engage in exploratory behaviors. People also show different levels of need for uniqueness, which is defined as being different from others or becoming distinctive among a larger group. Individual's need for uniqueness results from signals conveyed by the material objects that individuals choose to display. Recently, researcher have developed the need for uniqueness with three distinct constructs. These three concepts include creative choice, unpopular choice, and avoidance of similarity. Creative choice is a trait tendency of an individual by expressing or differentiating himself from others through consumptions of unique products. Unpopular choice is related to an individual's tendency to consume products, which deviates from group norms. Avoidance of similarity is linked to the avoidance of consumption behavior of products that are not famous. Past research implies that people with different levels of need for uniqueness show different motivational processes. Previous research also demonstrates that different customer emotions may be derived when consumers are exposed to these art collaborated products. Research tradition has been investigated three different emotional responses such as pleasure, arousal, and dominance. Pleasure is defined as the degree to which a person feels good, joyful, happy, or satisfied in a situation. Arousal is defined as the extent to which a person feels stimulated, active, or excited. Dominance is defined as the extent that a person feels powerful vis-a-vis the environment that surrounds him/her. Previous research show that complex, speedy, and surprising stimuli may excite consumers and thus make them more pleased and engaged in their approach behavior. However, the current study identified these emotional responses as positive emotion, negative emotion, and arousal. These derived emotions may lead consumers to approach and/or avoidance behaviors. In addition, males and females tend to respond differently when they are exposed to art collaboration products. Building on this research tradition, the current study aims to investigate the inter-relationships between individual traits such as curiosity and need for uniqueness and individual's emotional responses including positive and negative emotion and arousal when people encounter various art collaborated products. Emotional responses are proposed to influence purchase intention. Additionally, previous studies show that male and females respond differently to similar stimuli. Accordingly, gender difference are proposed to moderate the links between individual traits and emotional responses. These research aims of the current study may contribute to extending our knowledge in terms of (1) which individual characteristics are related to different emotions, and (2) how these different emotional responses inter-connected to future purchase intention of arts collaborated products. In addition, (3) the different responses to these arts collaborated products by males and females will guide managers how to concoct different strategies to these segments. The questionnaire for the present study was adopted from the previous literature and validated with a pilot test. The survey was conducted in Daegu, a third largest city in South Korea, for three weeks during June and July 2011. Most respondents were in their twenties and thirties. 350 questionnaires were distributed and among them 300 were proved to be valid (valid response rate of 85.7%). Survey questionnaires from valid 300 respondents are used to test hypotheses proposed. The structural equation model (SEM) was used to validate the research model. The measurement and structural model was tested using LISREL 8.7. The measurement model test demonstrated that consistency, convergent validity, and discriminat validity of the measurement items were acceptable. The results from the structural model demonstrate that curiosity has a positive impact on positive emotion, but not on negative emotion and arousal. Need for uniqueness has three different sub-concepts such as creative choice, unpopular choice, and avoidance of similarity. The results show that creative choice has a positive effect on arousal and positive emotion, but has a negative impact on negative emotion. Unpopular choice has a positive effect on arousal, but on neither positive nor negative emotions. Avoidance of similarity has no impact on neither emotions nor arousal. The results also demonstrated that gender has a moderating influence. Males show more negative emotion to creative and unpopular choices. Implications and future research directions are discussed in conclusion.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.66-94
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• 2004

The objective of this study is to examine how to maximize the efficiency of hospital management by minimizing the unit cost of hospital operation. For this purpose, this paper proposes to develop a model of the profit maximization based on the cost minimization dictum using the statistical tools of arriving at the maximum likelihood values. The preliminary survey data are collected from the annual statistics and their analyses published by Korea Health Industry Development Institute and Korean Hospital Association. The maximum likelihood value statistical analyses are conducted from the information on the cost (function) of each of 36 hospitals selected by the random stratified sampling method according to the size and location (urban or rural) of hospitals. We believe that, although the size of sample is relatively small, because of the sampling method used and the high response rate, the power of estimation of the results of the statistical analyses of the sample hospitals is acceptable. The conceptual framework of analyses is adopted from the various models of the determinants of hospital costs used by the previous studies. According to this framework, the study postulates that the unit cost of hospital operation is determined by the size, scope of service, technology (production function) as measured by capacity utilization, labor capital ratio and labor input-mix variables, and by exogeneous variables. The variables to represent the above cost determinants are selected by using the step-wise regression so that only the statistically significant variables may be utilized in analyzing how these variables impact on the hospital unit cost. The results of the analyses show that the models of hospital cost determinants adopted are well chosen. The various models analyzed have the (goodness of fit) overall determination (R2) which all turned out to be significant, regardless of the variables put in to represent the cost determinants. Specifically, the size and scope of service, no matter how it is measured, i. e., number of admissions per bed, number of ambulatory visits per bed, adjusted inpatient days and adjusted outpatients, have overall effects of reducing the hospital unit costs as measured by the cost per admission, per inpatient day, or office visit implying the existence of the economy of scale in the hospital operation. Thirdly, the technology used in operating a hospital has turned out to have its ramifications on the hospital unit cost similar to those postulated in the static theory of the firm. For example, the capacity utilization as represented by the inpatient days per employee tuned out to have statistically significant negative impacts on the unit cost of hospital operation, while payroll expenses per inpatient cost has a positive effect. The input-mix of hospital operation, as represented by the ratio of the number of doctor, nurse or medical staff per general employee, supports the known thesis that the specialized manpower costs more than the general employees. The labor/capital ratio as represented by the employees per 100 beds is shown to have a positive effect on the cost as expected. As for the exogeneous variable's impacts on the cost, when this variable is represented by the percent of urban 100 population at the location where the hospital is located, the regression analysis shows that the hospitals located in the urban area have a higher cost than those in the rural area. Finally, the case study of the sample hospitals offers a specific information to hospital administrators about how they share in terms of the cost they are incurring in comparison to other hospitals. For example, if his/her hospital is of small size and located in a city, he/she can compare the various costs of his/her hospital operation with those of other similar hospitals. Therefore, he/she may be able to find the reasons why the cost of his/her hospital operation has a higher or lower cost than other similar hospitals in what factors of the hospital cost determinants.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1989-1992
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• 2014

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the response rates (clinical and pathological ) with docetaxel and epirubicin combination chemotherapy and its effect on outcome. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analysed locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) patients who received NACT from January 2008 to December 2012 in our tertiary care centre. LABC constituted 37% of all breast cancer cases and 120 patients fulfilled the eligibility criteria. The regimens used for NACT were, six cycles of DEC (docetaxel $75mg/m^2$, epirubicin $75mg/m^2$, cyclophosphamide $50mg/m^2$ on Day 1, 3 weekly) and a sequential regimen (4 cycles of FEC, 5-flurouracil $600mg/m^2$, epirubicin $75mg/m^2$, cyclophosphamide $600mg/m^2$ followed by 4 cycles of docetaxel $85mg/m^2$). Results: The median age was 47 years (range 23-72). Ninety six ( 80 %) had T4 disease and 90% had clinically palpable lymph nodes at diagnosis. The median size of primary tumor at presentation was 5.9 cm. Hormone receptor positivity was seen in 55% and HER2/neu positivity, in 25%. Triple negative breast cancers constituted 25 % of the cases. The overall clinical response rate (complete or partial ) was 85% and pathological complete responses were obtained in 15%. Four cases defaulted, 5 patients died of treatment related toxicity and 15% developed febrile neutropenia on DEC. The median duration of follow up was 22 months. The median time to relapse was 20 months and the 3 year relapse free and overall survival rates were 50% and 70% respectively. Conclusions: LABC constituted 37% of all breast cancer cases at our institute. With NACT, pCR was seen in 15% of the cases. Sequential chemotherapy was better tolerated than concurrent anthracyline and taxane chemotherapy with a similar pCR.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.119-133
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• 2020

Recently, as famous YouTubers produce and broadcast videos that receive sponsorship and advertising such as indirect advertising (PPL), a so-called 'back advertising' controversy continues, and not only famous YouTubers but also entertainers are caught up in the issue. It is causing confusion among the public in Korea. This study attempts to find out the public's reaction before and after the controversy of 'back advertising' by YouTubers through comment analysis. Specifically, among text analysis using R programs, we intend to analyze the issue through various methods such as word cloud, qgraph analysis, LDA, and word2vec analysis, a deep learning technique. The target of the analysis was to analyze the channels of three YouTubers who belonged to the controversy of the 'back advertising' YouTuber and uploaded the 'Apology video'. The 5 most recent videos of Muk-bang YouTuber Moon Bok-hee, who has a similar content disposition to SussTV's Han Hye-yeon stylist, which was controversial, and Yang Pang, a YouTuber who showed various contents (August 09, 2020) Criterion and her first 5 videos uploaded were reviewed. As a result of the study, most of the comments that showed positive reactions before the controversy, but after the controversy, it was found that negative reactions accounted for most of the comments. Therefore, this study examines the degree of change of the public about influencers through comments after the controversy over 'back advertising' through various analysis using R program. This research also devises various measures to prevent the occurrence of back advertising of influencers in the future.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.65 no.3
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• pp.239-263
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• 2013

This research was carried out in order to develop and validate the Korean Version of Working Relationship Scale for Mentally Disabled Persons, which measures the working relationship between a mentally disabled person and his or her case manager. The first step taken to develop this scale was to construct sample items for the Working Relationship Scale using literature research and three focus group interviews of mentally disabled persons who use local mental health services. Secondly, mentally disabled people were surveyed with these sample items and two professors from the department of social work who specialize in mental health social work and two licensed mental health social workers working in the community mental health field reviewed these sample items to select and compile a final version of the scale. Lastly, the scale's reliability and validity was verified through an empirical study of 569 mentally disabled persons who surveyed the final selection of items. An explanatory factor analysis showed that the sample items can be grouped into three factors. Factor 1 is 'Professional Contribution Factor,' which is related to the professional practice of the case manager; Factor 2 is 'Negative Working Relationship Factor'; and Factor 3 is 'Emotional Bond Factor,' which measures the intimacy between the case manager and the mentally disabled person. A confirmatory analysis of the three-factor format that was discovered in the explanatory factor analysis was carried out with the rest of the randomly divided data, which showed that the model demonstrated a goodness-of-fit. The convergence validity between similar concepts appeared to be appropriate as well. Based on these results, the Korean Version of Working Relationship Scale for Mentally Disabled Persons consisting of a final 33 items is developed and proposed and its implications in social work are discussed.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.65-70
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• 2017

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is one of the most common congenital infections. The first case of discordant congenital CMV infection in twins occurred in Korea. A 31-year-old woman became pregnant with twins (dichorionic-diamniotic). An elective caesarean section was performed at 37 weeks. The first baby was male, weighing 2,410 g with an Apgar score of 8/9. The second baby was female, weighing 1,380 g with an Apgar score of 5/8. She had experienced intrauterine growth retardation, and presented with microcephaly, micrognathia, and joint stiffness. During the work-up for discordant twins, the second baby's serum test was positive for CMV immunoglobulin M. Her urine, blood, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were CMV polymerase chain reaction positive. The first baby's CMV tests were negative. Ophthalmologic exam and audiometry performed on the second baby showed CMV retinitis and bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. She was treated with intravenous ganciclovir. Currently, she is bed-ridden and has significant developmental delay. Although the causes of discordant congenital CMV infection in twins are unclear, this case shows that discordant congenital CMV infection should be considered in twins with significant differences in intrauterine growth or clinical symptoms after birth.