• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.75-82
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• 2010

This study formed an estimation of the visual characteristics of urban bridges in Yanghwaro in the Gyeongui Railroad Area using a landscape simulation. Existing theses have formerly only suggested directions for design based on visual preference, but there is as yet no research on the practical process of landscape design. As a result, it is difficult to directly apply this to bridge design. This study found a potential bridge site and presented a direction for bridge design in order to improve the image of the surrounding urban landscape by surveying the visual effects and landscape preferences of different bridge types. An urban landscape was produced using a landscape simulation model and was made the background for the survey. Five bridge types--Girder, Arch, Truss, Cable and Suspension--were selected and presented. The shapes of the bridges were selected based on the floor plan. The results of this study are as follows. In a preference analysis, every bridge except Girder was evaluated as a positive influence. When rating the image, 'artificial' was rated significantly higher than other traits when assessing the background image. When the Girder Bridge was introduced, 'stable' and 'orderly' were both rated highly while 'stable', 'beautiful', 'orderly' and 'interesting' were high with the introduction of the Arch Bridge. 'Beautiful', 'stable', and 'orderly' were given a high value in the introduction of the Truss Bridge and every image except 'natural', 'harmony' and 'orderly' were highly rated in the introduction of the Cable Bridge. Further, every image but 'natural' was highly rated with the introduction of the Suspension Bridge. Based on the analysis of the landscape, there is a difference in preference before and after modeling a bridge type, while the bridge itself is an influence when it is the main object of the simulated scene. This study researched only the shape of the bridge as a part of the landscape but other elements such as stability, economics, and construction are also factors in the design of a bridge. Stability, economics, construction and other factors must be considered when selecting a bridge type in the future.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.129-155
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• 2008

The rate of antibiotics prescription for an acute airway infection significantly varies depending upon the diagnosis type, specialty, and the location of the hospital along with many other related factors. The objective of this study is to empirically investigate the possible relationship between the antibiotics prescription rates for an acute airway infection and the degree of competition in the hospital market regions of mainly the providers of primary medical care services such as clinics, internal medicines, pediatrics and otorhinolaryngology department. Using the data from Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) regarding the hospitals' antibiotics prescription rates for the acute airway infection and controlling for selected variables of demand and supply sectors, this study tries to figure out that the degree of competition in the hospital market, regardless of what type of competition indexes we employed, has a statistically significant effect on the variations of antibiotics prescription rate of the clinics in local areas. This result implies that as an economic consideration itself, the change in the degree of competition in the hospital market can play a crucial role influencing the treatment behaviors of the medical doctors. More specifically, this study reveals that as the degree of competition increases the antibiotics prescription rate goes up. This result means that if the market becomes more competitive in a specific region so that it might cause a reduction in doctor's income, doctors with rational decision-making process, recognize that the benefit created from inducing patients' seemingly unnecessary demand for medical care (income effect) would be higher than the costs associated with sustaining their targeted income (substitution effect). It is because that the doctors are more likely to prescribe antibiotics which create relatively higher margins than other medical care services in order to sustain their targeted income when the hospital market competition becomes tighter. Even though this study empirically confirms that antibiotics prescription can be affected by the economic incentives, it still raises following issues as limitations of the study: first issue is about the representativeness of the hospital regions segregated for this study, which might be weak in explaining whether these regions are mutually exclusive in reality. Patients actually consider the quality of services, transportation cost, time costs, and any other related factors choosing the doctors or hospitals, and in that sense, this study rules out 'border-crossing' in using the medical care services. Second issue arises in capturing the data of antibiotics prescription rate. Since we use the average rate for each medical institution, we cannot figure out the average rate for each patient so that we are not able to control for the variation of patients' medical conditions. It is because of the unavailability of data regarding each patient's medical condition from HIRA. Thirdly, since this study mainly analyzes the medical institutions providing primary care such as clinics, internal medicines, pediatrics, and otorhinolaryngology department, it is skeptical of whether those institutions can represent the hospital market in respective regions and truly reflect the degree of competition. It needs to extend the study areas and disease types as well as any micro data for future studies.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.117-131
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• 1998

The purpose of this study was to develop a critical pathway for case management for patients who have received Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) because of Ischemic Heart Disease(IHD) which is a factor of rising medical expenses. For this study. a conceptual framework was developed through a review of the literature including six critical pathways which are currently being used in USA. In order to identify the overall service contents required by these patients and to draw up a preliminary critical pathway, 30 cases of medical records of patients who had CABG because of IHD between January, 1995 to June. 1996 at the Cardiovascular Center of Yonsei Medical Center in Seoul were analyzed. An expert validity test was done for the preliminary critical pathway and clinical validity test was also done using seven IHD patients with CABG between November 11 and 23, 1996. After these processes. the final critical pathway was developed. The results of this study are summarized as follows : 1. The vertical axis of the critical pathway includes the following eight items : tests, nutrition, medications, consultations, activity, assessments, treatments, education discharge planning and the horizontal axis includes the time from the start of hospitalization to discharge. 2. Analysis of the 30 medical records indicated that the average length of stay was 20.2days with the average length of stay from hospitalization day to operation day being 6.2 days, and the average length of stay from operation day to discharge day was 13. 9 days. Analysis of the service contents showed that the horizontal axis of the preliminary critical pathway was set from hospitalization to the 14th post operation day and the vertical axis was set to include eight items, the contents which ought to have occurred, according to the time frames of the horizontal axis. 3. As a result of the experts validity, it was found that among the total of 571 items. there was over 83% agreement for 482 items, less than 83% for 89 items, which were then deleted and a revision of the critical pathway was done. 4. A clinical validity test was done using seven IHD patients with CABG. During the process, three patients were deleted because they were out of the criteria the investigator set. Finally, four patients were used. The result of study indicated that only one patient was discharged on the tenth post operation day, which was one day later than the expected day. Three patients were discharged later than the expected day from three days to nine days. All the cases progressed on schedule until the operation day and the first post operation day, but from the second post operation days, there were differences between the critical pathway and the actual practice. The differences came from tests, assessments, and treatments. 5. On the basis of the results of the clinical validity test. the following revisions in the final critical pathway were made : the transfer from ICU to step down ward would be the second post operation day, and the transfer to a general ward, the fifth post operation day, for patients who complained of lack of sleep from the fifth post operation day to discharge, a sleeping pill would be prescribed, skin observations would be performed routinely from immediately after the operation until the third post operation day, and would continue if there was a sign of skin injury on the fourth post operation day, and assessment of chest pain would be done from the third post operation day, and the “stairs climbing” item, expected to be done on the ninth post operation day would be deleted. In conclusion, this critical pathway is partially applicable to the care of patients with CABG but there are some parts needed to be further investigated.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.292-304
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• 1999

The lengthened average span of human life by virtue of recent developments in medicine has caused the Population of elders to increase. The development of modern industrial society has transformed family structure from the large family system to that of a nuclear family. Due to the shift in family structure, the problem of support for the aged has surfaced as a nursing problem as well as a social problem. With regard to this problem, this study aims to investigate the adolescent's understanding of elders and aging. By identifying their understanding and classifying their attitude patterns, this study will help the nursing assessment of the support of elders in the family. This study employed Q-methodology and the research was conducted from December 1998 to May 1999. One method of the research included deep interviews with elders, those who are in their 50's. 40's or 30's. and the adolescent. 183 Q-Populations taken from literary works such as poems or novels were also formed as another method. Finally. 36 Q-cards were made after consultation with Professors of the nursing department. The subjects of the P- sample were 30 high sohoolboys/girls - who were in first, second, and third years. The result showed that 3 factors provided an explanation for 59.14% of the whole variables: the first factor, 41.37%; the second factor. 11.49%, and the third factor. 6.28%. These three factors were analyzed and categorized as three types. Twenty subjects out of the 30 were included in Type 1: Respecting Elders. The statements which showed the most positive consent were as follows: 'The declining age is a perfect time to prosper completing a worthy life' ; 'Getting old. one needs financial stability' and 'Elders wish the best for their children' The statements showing the most negative response were as follows: 'It is better to die than to live as an older person' ; 'Elders are insignificant' ; and 'Getting old is the worst unhappiness that tortures human.' Four subjects were included in Type 2. Resenting Elders. The statements which showed the most positive consent were as follows: 'Aging is a process of dying that nobody can escape from'. 'Elders should be concerned about his health and try to maintain their health' ; and 'When you set older. you regret about the life in the Past.' The statements showing the most negative response were as follows: 'When You get older. You should stand aloof greed and worldly things' 'When You got older, You become generous and gentle' ; and 'When You set he gets old. You change to become a comfortable and warm person.' Six out of 30 subject were included in Type 3 Caring Elders. The statements which showed the most positive consent were as follows: 'Elders should be concerned about his health and try to maintain their health' ; 'Elders wish the best for their children' ; and 'Elders deserve to be treated with filial respects.' The statements showing the most negative response were as follows 'Elders are insignificant' ; 'Elders have freedom and plenty of free time.' and 'Elders are alienated form and drove out of the society.' The above-mentioned results show that most adolescents in Korea recognize aging as the time of fruition and development: it is a time of benefiting and giving back to society. Aging can also be seen as a time of generosity and magnanimity and the time of respect and favorable treatment from society. despite the change of modern society and the ostensible transformation of a family system. Their recognition seems deeply rooted in the traditional confucian values and the dual family system which is Peculiar especially to the Korea - one which maintains both the superficial form of nuclear family and the substantial mode of the enlarged family system. In sum, many Korean adolescents attribute the meaning of the elderly and aging to the type of the respect with the elderly and the type of the elderly's caretaking.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.366-377
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• 2016

Water use efficiency (WUE) is considered as an important ecological indicator which may provide information on the process-structure relationships associated with energy-matter-information flows in ecosystem. The WUE at ecosystem-level can be defined as the ratio of gross primary productivity (GPP) to evapotranspiration (ET). In this study, KoFlux's long-term (2007-2015) eddy covariance measurements of $CO_2$ and water vapor fluxes were used to examine the WUE of needle fir plantation in Korea National Arboretum. Our objective is to ascertain the seasonality and inter-annual variability in WUE of this needle fir plantation so that the results may be assimilated into the development of a holistic ecological indicator for resilience assessment. Our results show that the WUE of needle fir plantation is characterized by a concave seasonal pattern with a minimum ($1.8-3.3g\;C{\cdot}(kg\;H_2O)^{-1}$) in August and a maximum ($5.1-11.4g\;C{\cdot}(kg\;H_2O)^{-1}$) in February. During the growing season (April to October), WUE was on average $3.5{\pm}0.3g\;C\;(kg\;H_2O)^{-1}$. During the dormant seasons (November to March), WUE showed more variations with a mean of $7.4{\pm}1.0g\;C{\cdot}(kg\;H_2O)^{-1}$. These values are in the upper ranges of WUE reported in the literature for coniferous forests in temperate zone. Although the growing season was defined as the period from April to October, the actual length of the growing season (GSL) varied each year and its variation explained 62% of the inter-annual variability of the growing season WUE. This is the first study to quantify long-term changes in ecosystem-level WUE in Korea and the results can be used to test models, remote-sensing algorithms and resilience of forest ecosystem.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.812-820
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• 2011

This study was conducted to characterize $CO_2$ biomineralization on several minerals (i.e., CaO, MgO, $SiO_2$) by bottle test in an aqueous solution and solidified sludge using different aerobic bacterial strains like Bacillus megaterium and Bacillus pasteurii by batch test. These bacteria promote the formation of microenvironments that facilitate the precipitation of mineral phases that were unsaturated in the bulk solution. For one type of mineral solely amended, the $CO_2$ was reduced at the highest of 4.0 mmol for MgO while it was not that much lower for CaO and $SiO_2$ showing 1.1 and 0.3 mmol $CO_2$2, respectively. For two types of minerals simultaneously amended, the $CO_2$ was reduced at the greater extent for both Ca + Mg and Mg + Si showing 2.7 and 2.3 mmol, respectively whereas it was less for Ca + Si at 1.8 mmol. For solidified sludge, the $CO_2$ reduction rate changed depending on the volume of solidified sludge placed in the medium and the input $CO_2$ concentration.. The reduction rate of $CO_2$ was increased with increasing the volume of solidified sludge. Results of XRD analysis indicate that $CaCO_3$ (Calcite) was dominantly formed among others (e.g., Aragonite, Dolomite). SEM analysis showed that the sample with Bacillus pasteurii, could more form minerals rather than control. As demonstrated in this study, $CO_2$ would be effectively sequestered in biomineralization process.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.53-64
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• 2006

A study on the restoration process of a stream ecosystem and the water quality renovation technique by removing algae, vegetation and fish monitoring as evaluating the removal of the algae by dietetic characteristics of fishes were performed on Sangdong stream in the B city after stream restoration it to the artificial stream as the cases, restoring urban stream into close-to-nature stream are being increased domestically with the aim of ecological city. As a result, restoration and rehabilitation of the fundamental stream ecosystem was well maintained 4 years later the reclamation at the moment and total 93 diagnosis which were all vascular plant phylum including 44 families, 73 genuses, 79 species and 14 varieties in flora and vegetation community were observed. 3 families, 8 species and 354 populations in total among Fishes were found and Pseudorasbora Parva, Cyprinus Carpic and Carassius Auratus strongly resistant to water pollution were dominantly appeared in order of 50.5% of Pseudorasbora Parva 21.2% of Cyprinus Carpic, 20.9% of Carassius Auratus, 7.1% of Macropodus chinensis and 0.3% of Misqurnus anguillicaudatus according to relative richness index. It turned out to be that Cyprinus Carpic ingests algae over 90% and Carassius Auratus takes it over 30% according to the analysis about the alimentary object of the fishes as a consequences of algae's excrescent from characteristics of the tested experimental stream. It is reported that a Cyprinus Carpic, about 34 cm in length, ingested wet-weight 43.2g algae on the rough analysis toward the sample which makes us recognize how effective a macro community Cyprinus Carpic is for removing algae.As a consequence of this research, the effect of stream ecosystem characteristics and water quality purification could not be expected by aquatic plants and trees which were eliminated at experimental stream. From now on, a close-to-nature stream should be formed of ecological hydraulic and hydrologic engineered modeling from the beginning so that it can perform the water quality purifying function. It is determined that the structure of food chain will be abundantly influenced by the induction of oversized macro community like Cyprinus Carpic because a biomass of a consumer of higher order is increased. It is estimated that the removal algae by fishes is not effective despite in some cases of dietetic characteristics so much more studies should be executed in the future.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.22-31
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• 2010

Purpose : This study was performed to evaluate the relationship between glomerular basement membrane (GBM) alterations to epithelial cell (EpC) structure and renal function in Alport Syndrome (AS) patients. Methods : Fifteen patients diagnosed with AS (4-26yrs) were examined. The GBM in AS was categorized as : C1) normal, C2) minor alterations (widening of lamina rara interna or externa without lamina densa change), C3) nonspecific splitting of lamina densa, C4) basket-weaving pattern of lamina densa splitting. The length of each GBM portion along the epithelial side was measured on the systematically obtained electron microscopic photographs. Furthermore to obtain an objective assessment of the degree of glomerular EpC foot process change, the number of slit pores along $10\;{\mu}m$ of peripheral GBM in each category was obtained. Results : The percentage of normal GBM portion (C1) correlated inversely with daily protein excretion (g/day/$m^2$, P<0.05) and sum of the percentage of abnormal GBM portion (C2+C3+C4) had direct correlation with daily protein excretion (g/day/$m^2$, P<0.05). There were no significant relationships between the percentages of other categories of GBM alterations and creatinine clearance or protein excretion. There were no significant relationships between of creatinine clearance in relation to normal GBM(C1) portion as well as that in relation to sum of the percentage of abnormal GBM portion (C2+C3+C4). GBM abnormality did not correlate with age at biopsy. Conclusion : The extent of GBM structural abnormality is related to proteinuria in AS but the epithelial response is uniform even though the GBM ultrastructural lesions are not.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.57-68
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• 2005

Purpose: The objective of this study was to assess attenuation correction algorithms with the $^{137}Cs$ point source for the brain positron omission tomography (PET) imaging process. Materials & Methods: Four different types of phantoms were used in this study for testing various types of the attenuation correction techniques. Transmission data of a $^{137}Cs$ point source were acquired after infusing the emission source into phantoms and then the emission data were subsequently acquired in 3D acquisition mode. Scatter corrections were performed with a background tail-fitting algorithm. Emission data were then reconstructed using iterative reconstruction method with a measured (MAC), elliptical (ELAC), segmented (SAC) and remapping (RAC) attenuation correction, respectively. Reconstructed images were then both qualitatively and quantitatively assessed. In addition, reconstructed images of a normal subject were assessed by nuclear medicine physicians. Subtracted images were also compared. Results: ELEC, SAC, and RAC provided a uniform phantom image with less noise for a cylindrical phantom. In contrast, a decrease in intensity at the central portion of the attenuation map was noticed at the result of the MAC. Reconstructed images of Jaszack and Hoffan phantoms presented better quality with RAC and SAC. The attenuation of a skull on images of the normal subject was clearly noticed and the attenuation correction without considering the attenuation of the skull resulted in artificial defects on images of the brain. Conclusion: the complicated and improved attenuation correction methods were needed to obtain the better accuracy of the quantitative brain PET images.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.405-412
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• 1999

Purpose: It is important to evaluate the healing process of avascular necrosis (AVN) involving femoral head after treatment. The purpose of this study was to assess the usefulness of pinhole bone scintigraphy in the AVN of femoral head after surgery. Materials and Methods: We analyzed the changing pattern of pinhole bone scintigram in 21 femoral heads of 16 patients (14 lesions/11 male, 7 lesions/5 female, mean age: 39.4 yrs) before and after multiple drilling or vascularized bone grafting for AVN of the femoral head. In all patients, pre-operative scintigrams were obtained at 1 to 3 months before treatment and the first post-operative scintigrams were obtained at 1 to 3 months after treatment. All patients were followed for 2 to 4 years after operation. Results: The findings of the pinhole scintigrams were divided into three patterns: 1) curvilinear, 2) scattered spotty and 3) undetermined. The 10 of 11 lesions with curvilinear pattern had good postoperative clinical and radiological follow-up findings. However, all 6 lesions with scattered spotty pattern showed poor postoperative findings, which necessitated total hip joint replacement. Of the 4 lesions with undetermined pattern, 2 required total hip joint replacement. There was significant difference in postoperative prognosis between the curvilinear and scattered spotty patterns (p<0.05). Conclusion: We conclude that the pattern of pinhole bone scintigram obtained within 1 to 3 months after multiple drilling or vascularized bone graft operation is a useful prognostic indicator in the AVN of femoral head.