• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.555-565
• /
• 2022

Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of ultrasound (US)-guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). Materials and Methods: This prospective study enrolled 39 participants (14 male, 25 female; mean age, 59.5 ± 15.3 [range, 18-87] years) between September 1, 2018, and January 31, 2021. All participants had parathyroid lesions causing PHPT, proven biochemically and through imaging. The imaging features of the PHPT nodules, including the shape, margin, size, composition, and location, were evaluated before treatment. Serum intact parathyroid hormone, calcium, and phosphorus levels; parathyroid nodule volume; and PHPT-related symptoms were recorded before and after treatment. We calculated the technical success, biochemical cure, and clinical cure rates for these patients. Complications were evaluated during and after the ablation. Results: Complete ablation was achieved in 38 of the 39 nodules in the 39 enrolled participants. All the patients were treated in one session. The technical success rate was 97.4% (38/39). The mean follow-up duration was 13.2 ± 4.6 (range, 6.0-24.9) months. At 6 and 12 months post-RFA, the biochemical cure rates were 82.1% (32/39) and 84.4% (27/32), respectively, and the clinical cure rates were 100% (39/39) and 96.9% (31/32), respectively. Only 2.6% (1/39) of the patients had recurrent PHPT. At 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after technically successful RFA, 44.7% (17/38), 34.3% (12/35), 15.8% (6/38), and 12.5% (4/32) of participants, respectively, had elevated eucalcemic parathyroid hormone levels. Recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis occurred in 5.1% (2/39) of the patients, who recovered spontaneously within 1-3 months. Conclusion: US-guided RFA was effective and safe for PHPT patients. RFA may be an alternative treatment tool for patients who cannot tolerate or refuse to undergo surgery.

• Information Systems Review
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.91-111
• /
• 2019

Around the end of 2017, the investment fever for cryptocurrencies-especially Bitcoin-has started all over the world. Especially, South Korea has been at the center of this phenomenon. Sinceit was difficult to find the profitable investment opportunities, people have started to see the cryptocurrency markets as an alternative investment objects. However, the cryptocurrency fever inSouth Korea is mostly based on psychological phenomenon due to expectation of short-term profits and social atmosphere rather than intrinsic value of the assets. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze influence of people's social sentiment on price movement of cryptocurrency. The data was collected for 181 days from Nov 1st, 2017 to Apr 30th, 2018, especially focusing on Bitcoin-related post in Twitter along with price of Bitcoin in Bithumb/UPbit. After the collected data was refined into neutral, positive and negative words through sentiment analysis, the refined neutral, positive, and negative words were put into regression model in order to find out the impacts of social sentiments on Bitcoin price. After examining the relationship by the regression analyses and Granger Causality tests, we found that the positive sentiments had a positive relationship with Bitcoin price, while the negative words had a negative relation with it. Also, the causality test results show that there exist two-way causalities between social sentiment and Bitcoin price movement. Therefore, we were able to conclude that the Bitcoin investors'behaviors are affected by the changes of social sentiments.

• Information Systems Review
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.27-42
• /
• 2017

With the rapid development in network, graphic technology, and digital technology, content industry is emerging as an important industry for new cultural development and economic development. The development in digital content technology has remarkably expanded the generation and distribution of contents, thereby creating new value and extending into a large distribution market. However, the ease of distribution and duplication, which characterizes digital technology, has increased the circulation of illegal contents due to illegal copying, theft, and alteration. The damage caused by this illegal content is severe. Currently, a copyright protection system targeting online sites is available. By contrast, no system has been established for offline companies that sell offline genuine content, which compete with online companies. The demand for content of overseas tourists is increasing due to the Korean wave craze. Nevertheless, many offline content providers have lost competitiveness due to illegal content distribution with online companies. In this study, we analyzed the case and status of similar copyright certification systems in Korea and overseas through previous research and studied a system to certify the offline genuine contents business. In addition to the case analysis, we focused on interviews obtained through in-depth interviews with the copyright stakeholders. We also developed a certification framework by establishing the certification domain, certification direction, and incentive of the certification system for offline businesses with genuine content. Selected certification direction is ethical, open, inward, store, and rigid (post evaluation). This study aimed to increase awareness among consumers about the use of genuine content and establish a transparent trading order in a healthy content market.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.35-40
• /
• 2024

In this paper, we validate the practicality of the OnePIC app implemented in the previous study by analyzing the execution and storage performance. The OnePIC app is a camera app that allows you to get a photo with a desired focus after taking photos focused on various places. To evaluate performance, we analyzed distance focus shooting time and object focus shooting time in detail. The performance evaluation was measured on actual smartphone. Distance focus shooting time for 5 photos was around 0.84 seconds, the object detection time was around 0.19 seconds regardless of the number of objects and object focus shooting time for 5 photos was around 4.84 seconds. When we compared the size of a single All-in-JPEG file that stores multi-focus photos to the size of the JPEG files stored individually, there was no significant benefit in storage space because the All-in-JPEG file size was subtly reduced. However, All-in-JPEG has the great advantage of managing multi-focus photos. Finally, we conclude that the OnePIC app is practical in terms of shooting time, photo storage size, and management.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.51-65
• /
• 2024

This study aims to understand positive changes in balance and gait function and difficulties in the instructor's guidance process through repetitive basic motor skill-based physical activities targeting people with cerebellar ataxia. For this purpose, five adults with cerebellar ataxia were selected as research subjects, and their three instructors participated as research participants. To collect quantitative data, the average and standard deviation were examined through pre-and post-evaluation of the research participants' physical activity classes for 16 weeks. The mean and standard deviation of the collected data were calculated using the Shapiro-Wilk test in the SAS 9.1 statistical program (p<.05). As a qualitative data collection method, the cultural description method of developmental research(DSR) proposed by Spradley(1980) was adopted, and the collected data were analyzed inductively according to the analysis method of Mertens(1990). Through this, 31 concepts, 10 subcategories, and 4 categories were discovered. As a result, the difficulties experienced by the research participants included insufficient guidance environment, dissatisfaction of consumers, difficulty in guidance, and non-cooperation of colleagues. Based on these research results, it was found that institutional, legal, and policy support should be provided not only to public institutions but also to private physical activity institutions that can use vouchers in order to maintain the balance of adults with cerebellar ataxia as well as to guide their physical activities.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.65-80
• /
• 2024

Objectives: This study aims to compare changes in physical factors, health behaviors, eating habits, and nutritional intake among Korean male and female adults over a period of three years (2019-2021) before and after the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: This study utilized raw data from the 8th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2019-2021). The participants in this study included 6,235 individuals in 2019, 5,865 individuals in 2020, and 5,635 individuals in 2021. Individuals whose daily energy intake was less than 500 kcal or exceeded 5,000 kcal were excluded from the study. Results: In comparison to 2019, overweight/obesity rates, weight, waist circumference, weekend sleep hours, and resistance exercise days/week increased in both male and female during the COVID-19 pandemic. Regarding eating habits, the proportions of people skipping breakfast, not eating out, consuming health supplements, and recognizing nutritional labels increased in 2020 and 2021, whereas the rate of skipping dinner decreased. Total energy intake has continued to decrease for the two years since 2019. A comparison of nutrient intake per 1,000 kcal before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 revealed that intake of nutrients, including protein, phosphorus, iron, vitamin A, riboflavin, and niacin increased, while folic acid intake decreased. In male, calcium, phosphorus, riboflavin, and niacin intakes increased, whereas iron, vitamin C, and folic acid intakes decreased. In female, phosphorus, iron, vitamin A, and riboflavin intake increased significantly, while protein and niacin intake decreased significantly. Conclusions: After COVID-19, the obesity rate, breakfast skipping rate, health supplement intake, and nutritional label use increased, while the frequency of eating out, dinner skipping rate, and total energy intake decreased. These environmental changes and social factors highlight the need for nutritional education and management to ensure proper nutritional intake and reduce obesity rates in the post-COVID-19 era.

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

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.42 no.1
• /
• pp.46-53
• /
• 2024

The common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina), which is native to North America, started to be imported into South Korea as pets in the 1990s. The turtle was sold in supermarkets and pet shops nationwide at low prices such as 20 USD. These non-native turtles, with their large size and strong predatory nature, have been consistently discovered in the wild in South Korea beginning in 2014, and they were designated as an ecosystem-disturbing species (EDS) in October 2022. Until June 30, 2023, a collection system was implemented to reduce the abandonment problem of C. serpentina due to their designation as an EDS. In this study, we analyzed the impacts of the legal designation as an ecologically disturbing species and the collection system of C. serpentina on their abandonment and surrender. Our findings showed that designation as EDS did not affect the abandonment of C. serpentina. Meanwhile, the collection system led to cases of immediate surrender. Within 3 years of post-purchase, 41.8% of the turtles were surrendered, and 67.5% were surrendered when they reached 3kg. Determining the impact of the legal designation as an EDS may be currently limited due to the difficulty of detecting C. serpentina in the wild. On the other hand, cases of surrender through the collection system are considered to be effective as they have been shown to reduce the abandonment of this newly designated ecosystem-disturbing species.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.213-224
• /
• 2024

Betta rubra, classified as endangered fish species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), has been successfully bred and raised in captivity for two generations under laboratory conditions. This study aimed to provide comprehensive information on the captive breeding of B. rubra, focusing on various parameters crucial for ex-situ conservation and domestication. The research involved breeding trials, embryo and larvae observation, first feeding experiments, larva and fry rearing trials, and the evaluation of growth and reproduction in two generations. The study revealed that the female B. rubra, with an average total length of 5.17 ± 0.15 cm and weight of 1.61 ± 0.06 g, produced an average of 73.67 ± 7.09 eggs, 34.33 ± 5.13 total larvae, and exhibited a hatching rate of 46.67 ± 5.77%. The embryogenesis process commenced on the day of spawning (dps) and continued until the eggs hatched at 6 dps. Larvae development and yolk absorption occurred from 0 to 6 days post-hatching (dph). The study also examined the impact of different initial feeding options, with chopped Tubifex resulting in the most significant in- crease (p < 0.05) in length. The growth pattern of B. rubra larvae showed slow initial growth during the first seven days, followed by a rapid exponential growth phase from day 8 to day 39. Two generations of B. rubra (G1 and G2) were successfully bred in captivity, with G2 showing a better tendency for growth in length and weight compared to G1. Notably, there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in reproductive success between the wild-origin broodstock (G0), G1, or G2. This research contributes valuable insights into the captive breeding of B. rubra and its early life stages, offering critical information for the conservation and sustainable management of this endangered species. Further research is needed to explore the long-term effects of domestication on behavior, physiology, and phenotypic diversity.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.60-75
• /
• 2024

Research on health outcomes of environmental factors has been implemented by multiple and interacting factors, including environmental, socio-demographic, economic, and traffic aspects. There are still significant challenges and limitations in constructing databases for the connections between contributing factors and an integrated approach to environmental health research even though there has been a dramatic increase in data availability and incredible technological advance in data storage and processing. This study emphasizes the necessity of establishing a geospatial data pipeline to analyze the impact of environmental factors on health. It also highlights the difficulties and solutions related to the construction and utilization of a geospatial database. Key challenges include diverse data sources and formats, different spatio-temporal data structures, and coordinate system inconsistencies over time within the same geospatial data. To address these issues, a data pipeline was constructed with pre-processing and post-processing for the data, resulting in refined datasets that could be used for calculating geographic variables. In addition, an AWS-based relational database and shared platform were established to provide an efficient environment for data storage and analysis. Guidelines for each step of the process, including data management and analysis, were developed to enable future researchers to effectively use the data pipeline.