• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.67 no.2
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• pp.202-208
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• 2024

Objective : Failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) is a common long-term complication following spine surgeries characterized by chronic persistent pain; different strategies of management were employed to deal with it. This clinical trial aims to compare the efficacy of Pregabalin and Gabapentin in the management of this condition. Methods : A double-blind, randomized, comparative study (clinical trial registry NCT05324761 on 11th April 2022) with two parallel arms with Pregabalin and Gabapentin were used in arms one and two, respectively. Visual analog scale was used for basal and endpoint assessment of pain. T-test and analysis of covariance were used to deal with different variables. A pairwise test was used to compare pairs of means. Results : Of 66 patients referred to the trial, 64 were eligible, with 60 patients completing the 30 days trial. Both pregabalin and gabapentin effectively reduce pain, with significant p-values of 0.001 for each group. However, the pregabalin group was superior to gabapentin in pain reduction (p=0.001). Gender was an insignificant factor (p=0.574 and p=0.445 for the pregabalin and gabapentin groups, respectively, with a non-significant reduction (p=0.393) for both groups in total. Location of stenosis before surgery and type of surgery performed show non-significant effect on pain reduction for both groups. Conclusion : Both pregabalin and gabapentin effectively and safely relieve neuropathic pain associated with FBSS; pregabalin was significantly more effective irrespective of the patients' gender.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.523-532
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• 2013

This study investigates risk reduction behavior with risk perception in outdoor wear purchase situations. Data were collected via a questionnaire from 400 consumers between the ages of 20 to 50 residing in Seoul and Kyonggi-do. Data analysis were conducted with SPSS 20 program on the reliability test, factor analysis, cluster analysis, t-test, ANOVA, and Duncan's multiple range test. Factor analyses were employed for the participation motivation of mountain climbing activities, risk reduction behavior and risk perception. Five factors were for the participation motivation of mountain climbing activities (health and fitness, external ostentation, achievement and excitement, improvement of climbing skills, and society). Five factors were for risk perception (fashionability loss and social risk, time and convenience loss, economic risk, performance risk, and psychological risk). Five factors were for the risk reduction behavior (interpersonal information sources use, marketer-dominated information sources use, professional information sources use, pre-purchase deliberation/observation/experience, and brand dependence). Three clusters were identified based on the motivation of outdoor activities (the affiliation/display, the health/internal informativeness and low motivation). The participation motivation for mountain climbing activities were varied. Manufacturers should increase efforts to develop products with good qualities at a reasonable cost as well as establish new marketing strategies since the risk of product performance and economic efficiency in the purchase of outdoor wear was a significant consumer perception.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.130-139
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• 2015

Korea country was set up over 30% greenhouse gas reduction target in comparision with BAU(Business as usal) at the national level, depending on climate change, which have been promoted as several technical and policy planning in order to reduce national greenhouse gas reduction. In this study, we derived the policies and technologies of power plant sector that is a high rate of reduction and public interest, we established a model for a common evaluation indicators and each of the evaluation factors between policy and technology priorities based on appropriate subject experts using analytic hierarchy process(AHP). Further we suggest insight to electricity company to establish the investment strategies of the technology and the associated policy by applying a weight evaluation index presenting a comprehensive priority.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.422-432
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• 2019

Objectives: The purposes of the study were to assess wastes generated in school foodservice and to identify factors influencing the generation of plate waste. Methods: A survey was administered from November 18-30 in 2015 to dietitians and nutrition teachers that were employed in schools located in Gyeonggi province. A questionnaire file and on-line survey site link were sent to the dietitians and nutrition teachers by e-mail. A total of 622 dietitians and nutrition teachers responded and 594 responses were used for data analysis after excluding 28 responses with significant missing data. Results: Plate waste was the major part of food waste generated in school foodservice. Vegetable menus and soup/stews were discarded the most as plate waste. The dietitians and nutrition teachers perceived students' unbalanced diet and lack of appreciation of food as causes of the plate waste. Regarding waste management, they were concerned about environmental contamination by food waste and felt uncomfortable about discarding food. No plate waste day was the most frequently used plate waste reduction activity, followed by newsletters on plate waste reduction. Difficulty in getting teachers' support for dietary education during meal time was rated the greatest barrier to implementing the activities. To reduce plate waste, they perceived that students should understand the importance of environment conservation, teachers should supervise students' eating during meal time, students should be educated about proper portion, and foodservice staff should improve food quality. Conclusions: To improve students' intake and reduce plate waste in school foodservice, foodservice staff need to involve students in school foodservice and improve the palatability of meals, especially vegetable dishes. School nutrition teachers and dietitians should educate students about healthy eating and environment conservation and the school community needs to understand and support plate waste reduction and healthy eating in schools.

• Clean Technology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.141-153
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• 2016

Numerous stationary NO_x emission sources have employed a suitable deNO_x technology that is typically selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO_x by NH₃ over V₂O₅/TiO₂-based catalysts with on-demand monolithic structures. These structured catalysts undergo a time-on-deterioration of deNO_xing activity on site. Thus, we need more efficient, more deactivation-tolerant, more economic deNO_x systems and for which, their performance management is essential. This review has covered details of strategies to successfully manage the performance of SCR catalysts and timely replace them to new or rejuvenated ones. Key considerations to maintain the catalyst activity will be reviewed. Details of the sequential addition of new catalysts and the replacement of life-end catalysts and their regeneration will be discussed with general guidances to determine the time for such a replacement. Finally, a better way to get more economic approaches to deNO_x system management will be proposed here.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.699-713
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• 2020

The aerodynamic performance of long-span cable-stayed bridges is much dependent on its geometrical configuration and countermeasure strategies. In present study, the aerodynamic performance of three composite cable-stayed bridges with different tower configurations and passive aerodynamic countermeasure strategies is systematically investigated by conducting a series of wind tunnel tests in conjunction with theoretical analysis. The structural characteristics of three composite bridges were firstly introduced, and then their stationary aerodynamic performance and wind-vibration performance (i.e., flutter performance, VIV performance and buffeting responses) were analyzed, respectively. The results show that the bridge with three symmetric towers (i.e., Bridge I) has the lowest natural frequencies among the three bridges, while the bridge with two symmetric towers (i.e., Bridge II) has the highest natural frequencies. Furthermore, the Bridge II has better stationary aerodynamic performance compared to two other bridges due to its relatively large drag force and lift moment coefficients, and the improvement in stationary aerodynamic performance resulting from the application of different countermeasures is limited. In contrast, it demonstrates that the application of both downward vertical central stabilizers (UDVCS) and horizontal guide plates (HGP) could potentially significantly improve the flutter and vortex-induced vibration (VIV) performance of the bridge with two asymmetric towers (i.e., Bridge III), while the combination of vertical interquartile stabilizers (VIS) and airflow-depressing boards (ADB) has the capacity of improving the VIV performance of Bridge II.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.7 no.2 s.30
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• pp.109-117
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• 2006

Recent rapid changes such as construction market reduction, lowest bidding system of construction cost, five days per week system, and post-construction sale system are inevitably accelerating the competitiveness between construction companies. Those rapid changes of construction environment require construction companies, which are main participants of construction industry, to adapt to the changes and more to lead new construction environment. However, there are many construction uncertainties which could delay construction completion. Without the proper identification of construction uncertainties, structured strategy establishment and management of construction schedule, the competitive advantages of construction duration could not be made. Thus this paper limited the research boundary to construction duration competitiveness instead of general strategy establishment. Recognizing the importance of proper calculation of construction duration, requirements of construction duration reduction and limited researches related to construction schedule strategy, we established the 25 strategies for construction duration competitivenss by internal and external construction environment analysis and SWOT analysis, and then elicited the first considerations to accomplish the strategies through concensus of all the staffs by questionnaire, brainstroming and face-to-face interviews.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.7-13
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• 2022

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a causative agent for a subset of oropharyngeal cancer (OPC). The current standard of care (SOC) for locally advanced OPC is 70 Gy definitive radiotherapy (RT) concurrent with cisplatin, which entails significant proportions of acute and late grade 3 or higher toxicities. Accordingly, discovery of favorable prognosis of HPV-related OPC has led to enthusiasm to attenuate subspecialties therapy in multidisciplinary treatment. Diverse deintensification strategies were investigated in multiple phase 2 trials with an assumption that attenuated treatments result in comparable oncologic outcome and less toxicities compared with SOC. Several trials on chemotherapy deintensification revealed that concomitant administration of cisplatin is not to be omitted or substituted for cetuximab without compromising progression-free survival or local control. A transoral robotic surgery (TORS) is investigated as alternative local treatment, but TORS plus SOC or mild deintensified adjuvant RT showed similar toxicities and inferior oncologic outcomes compared with SOC definitive RT or moderately deintensified RT. However, it has been reported that TORS plus deintensified 30-36 Gy adjuvant RT results in excellent outcome and less late toxicity compared with SOC adjuvant RT. Several phase 2 trials reported apparently equivalent progression-free survival and local control and similar adverse effects with moderately deintensified 60 Gy RT compared with SOC 70 Gy RT. Further dose reduction below 60 Gy has been investigated using biology-directed approaches, which use response to induction chemotherapy or metabolic images to triage HPV-positive OPC for deintensified RT. In summary, these trials provide valuable insights for future directions. Available evidence consistently showed that moderately deintensified RT is effective and safe for HPV-positive OPC in both definitive and adjuvant settings. Concurrent cisplatin remains an essential component without which progression-free survival is significantly compromised for advanced HPV-positive OPC. A simple incorporation of TORS to SOC may be detrimental for oncologic outcome without anticipated toxicity reduction. Given the lack of level 1 evidence, it is prudent to curb an unjustified deviation from the current SOC and limit any deintensified strategies to clinical trials and adhere to the current SOC.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.733-741
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• 2021

Globally, in accordance with the goals set forth in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, each country has established and declared a reduction target for carbon neutrality by 2050. The roadmaps for establishing long-term greenhouse gas emissions development strategies and setting reduction targets have been announced. As the international community accelerates the transition to the net-zero society, 128 countries have declared net-zero by the end of 2020, and the net-zero declaration continues to expand around G20 member states. In December 2020, Korea announced the "2050 Net-zero Strategy" to establish a foundation for simultaneously achieving carbon reduction, economic growth, and improved quality of life for the people through active response to the net-zero, and pursuing policy tasks in stages to do this. Comprehensive carbon management is insufficient due to the lack of comprehensive carbon management due to the departure from the areas of mandatory reduction, such as the GHG energy target management system and the GHG emissions trading offset system implemented to reduce greenhouse gases in Korea. Currently, there is no cases for estimation or calculation of carbon dioxide emissions for the Mine Reclamation projects. It is reviewed the standard methods proposed by domestic and foreign carbon emission calculation methods and proposed appropriate carbon emission estimation methods for the Mine Reclamation projects in this study.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.375-383
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• 2023

Objectives: Coal-fired power plants feature diverse working conditions, including multi-layered employment structures and irregular work cycles due to outsourcing and non-standardized tasks. The current uniform occupational environment measurement systems have limitations in accurately assessing and evaluating these varied conditions. This study aims to propose alternative measurement and assessment strategies to supplement existing methods. Methods: Major domestic coal-fired power plants were selected as the study targets. To prepare for the study and establish strategies, work processes were identified and existing occupational environment measurement results were compared and analyzed. The study proceeded by employing three strategies: specific exposure groups (SEGs) measurement, continuous monitoring, and supplementary measurements, which were then compared and discussed. Results: Previous exposure index evaluations (5,268 cases) indicated that crystalline silica, a type of respirable particulate matter, had detection limits below the threshold (non-detectable) in 82.6% (4,349 cases) of instances. Exposures below 10% of the exposure limit were observed at a very low concentration of 96.1%. Similar exposure group measurements yielded results where detection limits were below the threshold in 38.2% of cases, and exposures below 10% of the limit were observed in 70.6%. Continuous monitoring indicated detection limits below the threshold in 12.6% of cases, and exposures below 10% of the limit were observed in 75.6%. Instances requiring active workplace management accounted for more than 30% of cases, with SEGs at 11.8% (four cases), showing a higher proportion compared to 3.0% (four cases) in continuous monitoring. For coal dust, exposures below 10% of the limit were highest in legal measurements at 90.2% (113 cases), followed by 74.0% (91 cases) in continuous monitoring, and 47.0% (16 cases) in SEGs. Instances exceeding 30% were most prevalent in SEGs at 14.7% (five cases), followed by legal measurements at 5.0% (eight cases), and continuous monitoring at 2.4% (three cases). When examining exposure levels through arithmetic means, crystalline silica was found to be 104.7% higher in SEGs at 0.0088 mg/m³ compared to 0.0043 mg/m³ in continuous monitoring. Coal dust measurements were highest in SEGs at 0.1247 mg/m³, followed by 0.1224 mg/m³ in legal measurements, and 0.0935 mg/m³ in continuous monitoring. Conclusions: Strategies involving SEGs measurement and continuous monitoring can enhance measurement reliability in environments with irregular work processes and frequent fluctuations in working conditions, as observed in coal-fired power plants. These strategies reduce the likelihood of omitting or underestimating processes and enhance measurement accuracy. In particular, a significant reduction in detection limits below the threshold for crystalline silica was observed. Supplementary measurements can identify worker exposure characteristics, uncover potential risks in blind spots of management, and provide a complementary method for legal measurements.