• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.6_3
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• pp.1777-1788
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• 2022

The reservoir is a major water supply source in the domestic agricultural environment, and the monitoring of water storage of reservoirs is important for the utilization and management of agricultural water resource. Remote sensing via satellite imagery can be an effective method for regular monitoring of widely distributed objects such as reservoirs, and in this study, image classification and image segmentation algorithms are applied to Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery for water body detection in 53 reservoirs in South Korea. Six algorithms are used: Neural Network (NN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest (RF), Otsu, Watershed (WS), and Chan-Vese (CV), and the results of water body detection are evaluated with in-situ images taken by drones. The correlations between the in-situ water surface area and detected water surface area from each algorithm are NN 0.9941, SVM 0.9942, RF 0.9940, Otsu 0.9922, WS 0.9709, and CV 0.9736, and the larger the scale of reservoir, the higher the linear correlation was. WS showed low recall due to the undetected water bodies, and NN, SVM, and RF showed low precision due to over-detection. For water body detection through SAR imagery, we found that aquatic plants and artificial structures can be the error factors causing undetection of water body.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.65 no.5
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• pp.719-729
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• 2022

Objective : The ossification of the ligamentum flavum (OLF) is one of the major causes of thoracic myelopathy. Surgical decompression with or without instrumented fusion is the mainstay of treatment. However, few studies have reported on the added effect of instrumented fusion. The objective of this study was to compare clinical and radiological outcomes between surgical decompression without instrumented fusion (D-group) and that with instrumented fusion (F-group). Methods : A retrospective review was performed on 28 patients (D-group, n=17; F-group, n=11) with thoracic myelopathy due to OLF. The clinical parameters compared included scores of the Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA), the Visual analogue scale of the back and leg (VAS-B and VAS-L), and the Korean version of the Oswestry disability index (K-ODI). Radiological parameters included the sagittal vertical axis (SVA), the pelvic tilt (PT), the sacral slope (SS), the thoracic kyphosis angle (TKA), the segmental kyphosis angle (SKA) at the operated level, and the lumbar lordosis angle (LLA; a negative value implying lordosis). These parameters were measured preoperatively, 1 year postoperatively, and 2 years postoperatively, and were compared with a linear mixed model. Results : After surgery, all clinical parameters were significantly improved in both groups, while VAS-L was more improved in the F-group than in the D-group (-3.4±2.5 vs. -1.3±2.2, p=0.008). Radiological outcomes were significantly different in terms of changes in TKA, SKA, and LLA. Changes in TKA, SKA, and LLA were 2.3°±4.7°, -0.1°±1.4°, and -1.3°±5.6° in the F-group, which were significantly lower than 6.8°±6.1°, 3.0°±2.8°, and 2.2°±5.3° in the D-group, respectively (p=0.013, p<0.0001, and p=0.037). Symptomatic recurrence of OLF occurred in one patient of the D-group at postoperative 24 months. Conclusion : Clinical improvement was achieved after decompression surgery for OLF regardless of whether instrumented fusion was added. However, adding instrumented fusion resulted in better outcomes in terms of lessening the progression of local and regional kyphosis and improving leg pain. Decompression with instrumented fusion may be a better surgical option for thoracic OLF.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.43-52
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• 2023

Objectives : The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences in the abdominal cavity between functional dyspepsia patients and healthy people using an algometer combined with an ultrasound device. Methods : A non-randomized, controlled, pilot trial was conducted. Thirty patients in the experimental group and fifteen participants in the control group were recruited. We collected demographical data, and measured abdominal circumference, height of the body cavity, subcutaneous fat thickness, visual analogue scale of dyspepsia symptoms in the experimental group, depth of algometer and pressure of algometer when pressure pain occurred, and the whole ultrasonic image from the beginning of pressurization to the time when pressure pain occurred. The measurements were carried out twice with the duration of 1 week. Generalized linear regression was conducted to adjust baseline characteristics. Results : A total of 45 participants (30 in experimental group, 15 in control group) were recruited and finished the trial. Females were recruited more in the experimental group than in the control group and it was statistically significant. The difference in thickness of abdominal cavity between a second before the pressure pain and at the time when pressure pain occurred was statistically significant on 1st visit, and other measurements were not statistically significant. From the results of the regression analysis, the difference between two groups was statistically significant in the differences in the thickness of stomach and up to abdominal aorta on 1st visit, and the thickness of stomach on 2nd visit, and other measurements were not statistically different. Conclusions : According to the results, there were not statistically significant differences in abdominal examination when pressure pain occurred between dyspepsia patients and healthy people. Further studies are warranted to assess the abdominal examination using devices including algometer and ultrasound devices, regarding the results of the present study.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.113-127
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• 2023

Background: Resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) may aid in understanding the link between painmodulating brain regions and the descending pain modulatory system (DPMS) in fibromyalgia (FM). This study investigated whether the differences in rs-FC of the primary somatosensory cortex in responders and non-responders to the conditioned pain modulation test (CPM-test) are related to pain, sleep quality, central sensitization, and the impact of FM on quality of life. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 33 females with FM. rs-FC was assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Change in the numerical pain scale during the CPM-test assessed the DPMS function. Subjects were classified either as non-responders (i.e., DPMS dysfunction, n = 13) or responders (n = 20) to CPM-test. A generalized linear model (GLM) and a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were performed to check the accuracy of the rs-FC to differentiate each group. Results: Non-responders showed a decreased rs-FC between the left somatosensory cortex (S1) and the periaqueductal gray (PAG) (P < 0.001). The GLM analysis revealed that the S1-PAG rs-FC in the left-brain hemisphere was positively correlated with a central sensitization symptom and negatively correlated with sleep quality and pain scores. ROC curve analysis showed that left S1-PAG rs-FC offers a sensitivity and specificity of 85% or higher (area under the curve, 0.78, 95% confidence interval, 0.63-0.94) to discriminate who does/does not respond to the CPM-test. Conclusions: These results support using the rs-FC patterns in the left S1-PAG as a marker for predicting CPM-test response, which may aid in treatment individualization in FM patients.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.17-28
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• 2010

Vertical drains are commonly used to accelerate the consolidation process of soft soils, such as dredged materials, because they additionally provide a radial drainage path in a deep soil deposit. In practice, vertical drains are commonly installed in the process of self-weight consolidation of a dredged soil deposit. The absence of an appropriate analysis tool for this situation makes it substantially difficult to estimate self-weight consolidation behavior considering both vertical and radial drainage. In this paper, a new method has been proposed to take into account both vertical and radial drainage conditions during nonlinear finite strain self-weight consolidation of dredged soil deposits. For 1-D nonlinear finite strain consolidation in the vertical direction, the Morris (2002) theory and the PSDDF analysis are adopted, respectively. On the other hand, to consider the radial drainage, Barron's vertical drain theory (1948) is used. The overall average degree of self-weight consolidation of the dredged soil is estimated using the Carillo formula (1942), in which both vertical and radial drainage are assembled together. A series of large-scale self-weight consolidation experiments being equipped with a vertical drain have been carried out to verify the analysis method proposed in this paper. The results of the new analysis method were generally in agreement with those of the experiments.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.33-47
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• 2022

In this study, distribution of submarine sand ridges in the coastal waters of Korea was surveyed using multibeam echo sounder data, and the topographic characteristics of each region were identified. For this purpose, the DEM (Digital Elevation Model) data was generated using depth data obtained from the Yellow Sea and the South Sea by Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Agency, and then applied the TPI (Topographic Position Index) technique to precisely extract the boundary of the sand ridges. As a result, a total of 200 sand ridges distributed in the coastal waters were identified, and the characteristics of each region of the sedimentary sediments were analyzed by performing statistical analysis on the scale (width, length, perimeter, area, height) and shape (width/length ratio, height/width ratio, linear·branch type, exposure·non-exposure type). The results of this study are expected to be used not only for coastal navigational safety, but also for marine naming support, marine aggregate resource identification, and fisheries resource management.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.59-72
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• 2022

This study employed a 3-D numerical analysis based on the distinct element method to estimate the strength and deformability of a Cretaceous biotite granitic rock mass at Gijang, Busan, Korea. A workflow was proposed to evaluate the scale effect and the representative elementary volume (REV) of mechanical properties for fractured rock masses. Directional strength and deformability parameters such as block strength, deformation modulus, shear modulus, and bulk modulus were estimated for a discrete fracture network (DFN) in a cubic block the size of the REV. The size of the mechanical REV for fractured rock masses in the study area was determined to be a 15 m cube. The mean block strength and mean deformation modulus of the DFN cube block were found to be 52.8% and 57.7% of the intact rock's strength and Young's modulus, respectively. A constitutive model was derived for the study area that describes the linear-elastic and orthotropic mechanical behavior of the rock mass. The model is expected to help evaluate the stability of tunnels and underground spaces through equivalent continuum analysis.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.6A
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• pp.835-842
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• 2008

The response surface method (RSM) is widely adopted for the structural reliability analysis because of its numerical efficiency. However, the RSM is still time consuming for large-scale applications and sometimes shows large errors in the calculation of sensitivity of reliability index with respect to random variables. Therefore, this study proposes a new RSM in which moving least squares (MLS) approximation is applied. Least squares approximation generally used in the common RSM gives equal weight to the coefficients of the response surface function (RSF). On the other hand, The MLS approximation gives higher weight to the experimental points closer to the design point, which yields the RSF more similar to the limit state at the design point. In the procedure of the proposed method, a linear RSF is constructed initially and then a quadratic RSF is formed using the axial experimental points selected from the reduced region where the design point is likely to exist. The RSF is updated successively by adding one more experimental point to the previously sampled experimental points. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, mathematical problems and ten-bar truss are considered as numerical examples. As a result, the proposed method shows better accuracy and computational efficiency than the common RSM.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.7-19
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• 2018

Purpose - Recently, global management in Korea franchise industry is becoming an important keyword. As an important branch market, Chinese market plays a major role not only by making experience of the competitiveness among global brands which offers a foothold to become a top global brand, but also by actualizing an economies of scale in production, sales, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to identify key successful factor influencing customer evaluation and responses of Korean franchise restaurant targeting Chinese consumers in China context. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects for Korean franchise restaurant selection attributes on perceived value, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in Chinese context with SmartPLS 3 and Artifical Neural Network(ANN). Research design, data, and methodology - For these purposes, the authors developed several hypotheses. A questionnaire survey was conducted on the panel of online survey companies for Chinese consumers who have visited Korean franchise restaurants. A total of 404 data were analyzed using structural equation modeling(SEM) and artifical neural network(ANN) with SPSS 22.0 and SmartPLS 3.0. Result - The findings of this study are as follows: First, the alternative model findings show that facilities & atmosphere, employee service, and menu influenced on utilitarian value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty directly. Second, employee service influenced on customer satisfaction. Third, menu influenced on hedonic value. Fourth, brand reputation influenced on utilitarian value. Fifth, hedonic value increase customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Sixth, hedonic value increase customer loyalty. Seventh, customer increase customer loyalty. And, the ANN analysis shows that utilitarian value is the first most important factor influencing customer satisfaction, followed by hedonic value, facilities & atmosphere, menu and employee service. However, the ANN analysis shows that customer satisfaction is the first most important factor influencing customer loyalty, followed by utilitarian value, hedonic value, brand reputation, menu, and employee service. Conclusions - This study provides practical implications for enhancing customer satisfaction and customer loyalty by applying the ANN technique that complements the limitations of the linear structural relationship analysis using the proposed model and the alternative model. In other words, the SEM-ANN model provides guidelines on how Korean franchise restaurants should formulate facilities & atmosphere, employee service, and menu mix strategies in China. In addition, ANN 's analysis shows that restaurant brand reputation plays a pivotal role in increasing customer loyalty. The fact suggests that Korean franchise companies should establish their domestic brand reputation prior to their entry into overseas markets such as China.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.199-208
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• 2023

Taguchi method is one of the most popular approaches for design optimization such that performance characteristics become robust to uncontrollable noise variables. However, most previous Taguchi method applications have addressed a single-characteristic problem. Problems with multiple characteristics are more common in practice. The multi-criteria decision making(MCDM) problem is to select the optimal one among multiple alternatives by integrating a number of criteria that may conflict with each other. Representative MCDM methods include TOPSIS(Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution), GRA(Grey Relational Analysis), PCA(Principal Component Analysis), fuzzy logic system, and so on. Therefore, numerous approaches have been conducted to deal with the multi-characteristic design problem by combining original Taguchi method and MCDM methods. In the MCDM problem, multiple criteria generally have different measurement units, which means that there may be a large difference in the physical value of the criteria and ultimately makes it difficult to integrate the measurements for the criteria. Therefore, the normalization technique is usually utilized to convert different units of criteria into one identical unit. There are four normalization techniques commonly used in MCDM problems, including vector normalization, linear scale transformation(max-min, max, or sum). However, the normalization techniques have several shortcomings and do not adequately incorporate the practical matters. For example, if certain alternative has maximum value of data for certain criterion, this alternative is considered as the solution in original process. However, if the maximum value of data does not satisfy the required degree of fulfillment of designer or customer, the alternative may not be considered as the solution. To solve this problem, this paper employs the desirability function that has been proposed in our previous research. The desirability function uses upper limit and lower limit in normalization process. The threshold points for establishing upper or lower limits let us know what degree of fulfillment of designer or customer is. This paper proposes a new design optimization technique for multi-characteristic design problem by integrating the Taguchi method and our desirability functions. Finally, the proposed technique is able to obtain the optimal solution that is robust to multi-characteristic performances.