• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.555-563
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• 2021

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the pancreatic fat fraction (PFF) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in children with and without obesity and to correlate PFF with body mass index (BMI) z-score, hepatic fat fraction (HFF), and ultrasonography-derived pancreato-perihepatic fat index (PPHFI). Methods: This prospective study included 45 children with obesity and 19 without obesity (control group). PFF and HFF were quantitatively assessed using the abdominal multi-echo Dixon method for MRI. The PPHFI was assessed using transabdominal ultrasonography. Anthropometric, MRI, and ultrasonographic characteristics were compared between the two groups. Correlations between PFF, HFF, PPHFI, and BMI z-scores in each group were also analyzed. Results: The PFF, HFF, PPHFI, and BMI z-score were higher in the group with obesity than in the control group (PFF: 6.65±3.42 vs. 1.78±0.55, HFF: 19.5±13.0 vs. 2.31±1, PPHFI: 3.65 ±1.63 vs. 0.94±0.31, BMI z-score: 2.27±0.56 vs. 0.42±0.54, p<0.01, respectively). PFF was correlated with BMI z-scores, PPHFI, and HFF in the obesity group, and multivariate analysis showed that PFF was strongly correlated with BMI z-score and PPHFI (p<0.05). The BMI z-score was strongly correlated with PFF in the control group (p<0.01). Conclusion: These results suggest that MRI-derived PFF measures are associated with childhood obesity. PFF and PPHFI were also highly correlated in the obesity group. Therefore, PFF may be an objective index of pancreatic fat content and has the potential for clinical utility as a non-invasive biomarker for the assessment of childhood obesity.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.824-832
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• 2021

Objective: This study aimed to estimate the genetic parameters and genetic correlations for related feed efficiency, growth, and carcass traits in Hanwoo cattle. Methods: Phenotypic data from 15,279 animals born between 1989 and 2015 were considered. The related feed efficiency traits considered were Kleiber ratio (KR) and relative growth rate (RGR). Carcass traits analyzed were backfat thickness (BT), carcass weight, eye muscle area, and marbling score. Growth traits were assessed by the average daily gain (ADG), metabolic body weight (MBW) at mid-test age from 6 to 24 months, and yearling weight (YW). Variance and covariance components were estimated using restricted maximum likelihood using nine multi-trait animal models. Results: The heritability estimates for related feed efficiency (0.28±0.04 for KR and RGR) and growth traits (0.26±0.02 to 0.33±0.04) were moderate, but the carcass traits tended to be higher (0.38±0.04 to 0.61±0.06). The related feed efficiency traits were positively genetically correlated with all the carcass traits (0.37±0.09 to 0.47±0.07 for KR, and 0.14±0.09 to 0.37±0.09 for RGR), except for BT, which showed null to weak correlation. Conversely, the genetic correlations of RGR with MBW (-0.36±0.08) and YW (-0.30±0.08) were negative, and those of KR with MBW and YW were close to zero, whereas the genetic correlations of ADG with RGR (0.40±0.08) and KR (0.70±0.05) were positive and relatively moderate to high. The genetic (0.92±0.02) correlations between KR and RGR were very high. Conclusion: Sufficient genetic variability and heritability were observed for traits of interest. Moreover, the inclusion of KR and/or RGR in Hanwoo cattle breeding programs could improve the feed efficiency without producing any unfavorable effects on the carcass traits.

• Journal of Clinical Nutrition
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.38-44
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• 2018

Purpose: Parenteral nutrition (PN) is known to provide therapeutic beneficial improvements in malnourished patients for whom enteral nutrition is not feasible. The objective of this study was to investigate the current clinical characteristics and utilization of PN in Korea. Methods: We analyzed the Health Insurance Review Agency National Inpatients Sample database from 2014 to 2016, which included 13% of all hospitalized patients in Korea. Adult patients aged 20 years or older and receiving premixed multi-chamber bag containing PN were included for this study. Patient characteristics, admission type, primary diagnosis, and hospital demographics were evaluated. SAS version 9.4 was used for data analysis. Results: From 2014 to 2016, 149,504 patients received premixed PN, with 226,281 PN prescriptions being written. The mean patient age was 65.0 years, and 81,876 patients (54.8%) were male. Premixed 3-chamber bag and 2-chamber bag PN solutions were utilized in 131,808 (88.2%) and 32,033 (21.4%) patients, respectively. The number of patients hospitalized through the emergency department were 70,693 (47.3%), whereas 43,125 patients (28.8%) were administered PN in intensive care units. In the adult PN patients, the highest primary diagnosis was malignant neoplasm of the stomach (8,911, 6.0%), followed by organism unspecified pneumonia (7,008, 4.7%), and gastroenteritis and colitis of unspecified origin (6,381, 4.3%). Overall, 34% of adult PN patients were diagnosed with malignancies, the most common being neoplasm of the stomach (17.7%), neoplasm of bronchus/lung (11.2%), neoplasm of colon (11.1%), and neoplasm of liver/intrahepatic bile ducts (10.0%). PN solutions were most frequently administered in the metropolitan area (55.0%) and in hospitals with more than 1,000 beds (23.6%). Conclusion: PN was commonly administered in older patients, with primary diagnosis of malignancy in a significant number of cases. This study is the first large-scale description of PN-prescribing patterns in real-world clinical practice in South Korea.

• Genes and Genomics
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• v.40 no.11
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• pp.1199-1211
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• 2018

Soil acidification is one of major problems limiting crop growth and especially becoming increasingly serious in China owing to excessive use of nitrogen fertilizer. Only the STOP1 of Arabidopsis was identified clearly sensitive to proton rhizotoxicity and the molecular mechanism for proton toxicity tolerance of plants is still poorly understood. The main objective of this study was to investigate the transcriptomic change in plants under the low pH stress. The low pH as a single factor was employed to induce the response of the wheat seedling roots. Wheat cDNA microarray was used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). A total of 1057 DEGs were identified, of which 761 genes were up-regulated and 296 were down-regulated. The greater percentage of up-regulated genes involved in developmental processes, immune system processes, multi-organism processes, positive regulation of biological processes and metabolic processes of the biological processes. The more proportion of down-regulation genes belong to the molecular function category including transporter activity, antioxidant activity and molecular transducer activity and to the extracellular region of the cellular components category. Moreover, most genes among 41 genes involved in ion binding, 17 WAKY transcription factor genes and 17 genes related to transport activity were up-regulated. KEGG analysis showed that the jasmonate signal transduction and flavonoid biosynthesis might play important roles in response to the low pH stress in wheat seedling roots. Based on the data, it is can be deduced that WRKY transcription factors might play a critical role in the transcriptional regulation, and the alkalifying of the rhizosphere might be the earliest response process to low pH stress in wheat seedling roots. These results provide a basis to reveal the molecular mechanism of proton toxicity tolerance in plants.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.53-67
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• 2018

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of parent- teacher communication on childcare teacher's job stress and turnover intention. This study also examined if the level of active stress coping used functions as a moderator in relationships among parent-teacher communication, childcare teacher's job stress, and their turnover intention. Methods: To achieve this, this study used data from 223 surveys from childcare teachers and analyzed the data with SEM and multi-group SEM analysis methods. Results: First, parent-childcare teacher communication influenced the teacher's turover intention through job stress. Second, the effect of parent-childcare teacher communication on job stress was not found in the higher-level of the active stress coping group. This was different from the significant effect in the lower-level of the active stress coping group. Also, parent-childcare teacher communication influenced teacher's turnover intention through job stress in the lower-level of the active stress coping group. In contrast, the mediation effect was not shown in the higher group. Conclusion/Implications: The results of this study show the effect of parent-childcare teacher communication on teacher's job stress and their turnover intention. Also, this study shows that the level of active stress coping could moderate the relationship among parent-childcare teacher communication, teacher's job stress, and their turnover intention.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.3412-3432
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• 2019

Recent advances in radio frequency (RF) power transfer provide a promising technology to power sensor nodes. Adoption of mobile chargers to replenish the nodes' energy has recently attracted a lot of attention and the mobility assisted energy replenishment provides predictable and sustained power service. In this paper, we study the joint optimization of mobile charging and data gathering in sensor networks. A wireless multi-functional vehicle (WMV) is employed and periodically moves along specified trajectories, charge the sensors and gather the sensed data via one-hop communication. The objective of this paper is to maximize the uplink throughput by optimally allocating the time for the downlink wireless energy transfer by the WMV and the uplink transmissions of different sensors. We consider two scenarios where the WMV moves in a straight line and around a circle. By time discretization, the optimization problem is formulated as a 0-1 programming problem. We obtain the upper and lower bounds of the problem by converting the original 0-1 programming problem into a linear programming problem and then obtain the optimal solution by using branch and bound algorithm. We further prove that the network throughput is independent of the WMV's velocity under certain conditions. Performance of our proposed algorithm is evaluated through extensive simulations. The results validate the correctness of our proposed theorems and demonstrate that our algorithm outperforms two baseline algorithms in achieved throughput under different settings.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.2277-2298
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• 2019

Adaptive learning in e-learning has garnered researchers' interest. In it, learning resources could be recommended automatically to achieve a personalized learning experience. There are various ways to realize it. One of the realistic ways is adaptive learning path recommendation, in which learning resources are provided according to learners' requirements. This paper summarizes existing works and proposes an innovative approach. Firstly, a learner-centred concept map is created using graph theory based on the features of the learners and concepts. Then, the approach generates a linear concept sequence from the concept map using the proposed traversal algorithm. Finally, Learning Objects (LOs), which are the smallest concrete units that make up a learning path, are organized based on the concept sequences. In order to realize this step, we model it as a multi-objective combinatorial optimization problem, and an improved immune algorithm (IIA) is proposed to solve it. In the experimental stage, a series of simulated experiments are conducted on nine datasets with different levels of complexity. The results show that the proposed algorithm increases the computational efficiency and effectiveness. Moreover, an empirical study is carried out to validate the proposed approach from a pedagogical view. Compared with a self-selection based approach and the other evolutionary algorithm based approaches, the proposed approach produces better outcomes in terms of learners' homework, final exam grades and satisfaction.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.994-1014
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• 2018

The objective of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of the fashion narrative from the commercial and artistic viewpoints by identifying and evaluating the attributes of the fashion narrative and analyzing the fashion narrative focusing on various cases according to fashion media. Louis Vuitton, a brand of the Louis Vuitton $Mo{\ddot{e}}t$ Hennessy (LVMH) group that operates the entire fashion community platform, is recognized as an influential luxury company with enormous capital and capabilities. This study targeted Louis Vuitton to examine the fashion narrative. The common results of Louis Vuitton's fashion narrative according to the communication platform are as follows. First, it emphasizes well-designed craftsmanship and artistry to convey the value and meaning of the brand. Second, it expresses the lifestyle of the bourgeoisie using traveling for finding life purpose, nature, and freedom as common denominators. Louis Vuitton connects, shares, and engages with customers by crossing the communication platform and trying multi-sensory changes based on the fashion narrative of the 'artification' message encompassing craftsmanship, innovation, and travel. The fashion narrative of Louis Vuitton applies tools (e.g., design, direction, stage, and props) differently according to the nature of media. In other words, the fashion narrative in the form of transmedia storytelling is a marketing communication strategy that indicates the representation means and direction of a brand's goals by remediating the brand narrative in various ways through the communication platform.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.682-689
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• 2019

This study aims to spatialize the gap between obesity levels through the body mass index, an objective indicator of the level of health among vulnerable people. Thus, areas where the BMI showed cluster patterns with spatial high and low values were extracted and the characteristics of the region were analyzed. The analysis showed that the I statistics for the obesity rate were 0.07 and the z-score was 4.39, confirming spatial autocorrelation. For z-score, it was much larger than the maximum threshold of 2.57. This means that the rate of obesity among the socially vulnerable is regional, and this gap is spatially significant. The results of comparing and analyzing the local environment for these areas of obesity and health care were found to be areas with poor public transportation, less readily available parks, and a concentration of single and multi-generation housing. The analysis results of this study are meaningful in that they provide spatial implications for the health of the socially vulnerable class that previous studies have neglected.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.21-31
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• 2019

Objective: This study was performed to explore the effect of different bracket, archwire, and ligature combinations on resistance to sliding (RS) and rotational control in first-order angulation. Methods: Three types of brackets (multi-level low friction [MLF], self-ligating, and conventional brackets) coupled with four nickel-titanium archwires (0.012, 0.014, 0.016, and 0.018-inch diameter) and two stainless steel ligatures (0.20 and 0.25 mm) were tested in different first-order angulations ($0^{\circ}$, $2^{\circ}$, $4^{\circ}$, $6^{\circ}$, $8^{\circ}$, $10^{\circ}$, $15^{\circ}$, $20^{\circ}$) by using an Instron universal mechanical machine in the dry state at room temperature. RS value was evaluated and compared by one-way ANOVA. Results: Under the same angulation, the RS values showed the following order: conventional brackets > MLF brackets > self-ligating brackets. The RS was the highest for conventional brackets and showed a tendency to increase. The RS for MLF brackets coupled with thinner archwires and ligatures showed a similar tendency as the RS for the self-ligating bracket. In contrast, the RS for MLF brackets coupled with thicker archwires and ligatures increased like that for conventional brackets. MLF brackets showed the greatest range of critical contact angles in first-order angulation. Conclusions: The RS in first-order angulation is influenced by bracket design, archwire, and ligature dimension. In comparison with self-ligating and conventional brackets, MLF brackets could express low friction and rotational control with their greater range of critical contact angles.