• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.895-903
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• 2009

The penalized partial likelihood based on restricted maximum likelihood method has been widely used for the inference of frailty models. However, the standard-error estimate for frailty parameter estimator can be downwardly biased. In this paper we show that such underestimation can be corrected by using hierarchical likelihood. In particular, the hierarchical likelihood gives a statistically efficient procedure for various random-effect models including frailty models. The proposed method is illustrated via a numerical example and simulation study. The simulation results demonstrate that the corrected standard-error estimate largely improves such bias.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.143-154
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• 2012

As demand of water resources and attentions to changes in climate (e.g., due to ENSO) increase, long/short term prediction of precipitation is getting necessary in water planning. This research evaluated the ability of MM5 to predict precipitation in the Tampa Bay region over 23 year period from 1986 to 2008. Additionally MM5 results were statistically bias-corrected using observation data at 33 stations over the study area using CDF-mapping approach and evaluated comparing to raw results for each ENSO phase (i.e., El Ni$\tilde{n}$o and La Ni$\tilde{n}$a). The bias-corrected model results accurately reproduced the monthly mean point precipitation values. Areal average daily/monthly precipitation predictions estimated using block-kriging algorithm showed fairly high accuracy with mean error of daily precipitation, 0.8 mm and mean error of monthly precipitation, 7.1 mm. The results evaluated according to ENSO phase showed that the accuracy in model output varies with the seasons and ENSO phases. Reasons for low predictions skills and alternatives for simulation improvement are discussed. A comprehensive evaluation including sensitivity to physics schemes, boundary conditions reanalysis products and updating land use maps is suggested to enhance model performance. We believe that the outcome of this research guides to a better implementation of regional climate modeling tools in water management at regional/seasonal scale.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.1-11
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• 2020

Purpose : The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine the effects of microcurrent on inflammatory musculoskeletal diseases. Methods : Domestic databases (RISS, NDSL, KISS, DBpia, and Kmbase) were searched for studies that conducted clinical trials associated with microcurrent and its impact on inflammatory musculoskeletal diseases. A total of 606 studies published between 2002 and 2019 were identified, with 8 studies satisfying the inclusion data. The studies were classified according to patient, intervention, comparison, and outcome (PICO). The search outcomes were items associated with blood component, pain, and function. The 8 studies that were included in the study were evaluated using R meta-analysis (version 4.0). The quality of 7 randomized control trials was evaluated using Cochrane risk of bias (ROB). The quality of 1 non-randomized control trial was evaluated using risk of bias assessment tool for non-randomized studies (RoBANS). Effect sizes were computed as the corrected standard mean difference (SMD). A random-effect model was used to analyze the effect size because of the high heterogeneity among the studies. Egger's regression test was carried out to analyze the publishing bias. Results : The following factors had a large effect size involving microcurrent on inflammatory musculoskeletal diseases: blood component (Hedges's g=-2.46, 95 % CI=-4.20~-0.73), pain (Hedges's g=3.51, 95 % CI=2.44~4.77), and function (Hedges's g=3.06, 95 % CI: 1.53~4.58). Except for function (t=1.572, p=.191), Egger's regression test showed that the publishing bias had statistically significant differences. Conclusion : This study provides evidence for the effectiveness of microcurrent on inflammatory musculoskeletal diseases in terms of blood component, pain, and function. However, due to the small sample sizes used in the included studies, the results of our study should be interpreted cautiously, especially considering the publishing bias.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.37-52
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• 2022

Purpose : The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the effects of electrical stimulation on patients with non-specific low back pain. Methods : Domestic databases were gathered from studies that conducted clinical trials associated with electrical stimulation and its impact on pain of non-specific low back patients. A total of 681 studies were identified, with 12 studies satisfying the inclusion data. The studies consisted of patient, intervention, comparison, outcome, and study design (PICO-SD). The search outcomes were items associated with low back pain. Cochrane risk of bias 2 (RoB 2) was used to evaluate the quality of 12 randomized controlled trials. Effect sizes (Hedges's g) in this study were computed as the corrected standard mean difference (SMD). A random-effect model was used to analyze the effect size because of the high heterogeneity among the studies. Egger's regression and 'trim-and-fill' tests were carried out to analyze the publication bias. Cumulative meta-analysis and sensitivity analysis were conducted to analyze the effect according to the sample size and the consistency of the effect size. Results : The following factors had a large overall effect size (Hedges's g=1.28, 95 % CI=.20~2.36) involving electrical stimulation on non-specific low back pain. The subgroup analysis all showed a statistical difference in the types of study design, electrical stimulation, and assessment tool. No statistically significant difference was found in the meta-regression analysis. Publican bias was found in the data. Conclusion : The findings in this study indicate that electrical stimulation interventions have a positive effect on patients with non-specific low back pain. However, due to the low quality of studies and publication bias, the results of our study should be interpreted cautiously.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.916-930
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• 2019

Objective: To investigate the relationships of T₂^*-corrected 6-echo Dixon volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination (VIBE) imaging-based fat fraction (FF) and R₂^* values with bone mineral density (BMD); determine their associations with sex, age, and menopause; and evaluate the diagnostic performance of the FF and R₂^* for predicting osteopenia and osteoporosis. Materials and Methods: This study included 153 subjects who had undergone magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, including MR spectroscopy (MRS) and T₂^*-corrected 6-echo Dixon VIBE imaging. The FF and R₂^* were measured at the L4 vertebra. The male and female groups were divided into two subgroups according to age or menopause. Lin's concordance and Pearson's correlation coefficients, Bland-Altman 95% limits of agreement, and the area under the curve (AUC) were calculated. Results: The correlation between the spectroscopic and 6-echo Dixon VIBE imaging-based FF values was statistically significant for both readers (p_c = 0.940 [reader 1], 0.908 [reader 2]; both p < 0.001). A small measurement bias was observed for the MRS-based FF for both readers (mean difference = -0.3% [reader 1], 0.1% [reader 2]). We found a moderate negative correlation between BMD and the FF (r = -0.411 [reader 1], -0.436 [reader 2]; both p <0.001) with younger men and premenopausal women showing higher correlations. R₂^* and BMD were more significantly correlated in women than in men, and the highest correlation was observed in postmenopausal women (r = 0.626 [reader 1], 0.644 [reader 2]; both p < 0.001). For predicting osteopenia and osteoporosis, the FF had a higher AUC in men and R₂^* had a higher AUC in women. The AUC for predicting osteoporosis was highest with a combination of the FF and R₂^* in postmenopausal women (AUC = 0.872 [reader 1], 0.867 [reader 2]; both p < 0.001). Conclusion: The FF and R₂^* measured using T₂^*-corrected 6-echo Dixon VIBE imaging can serve as predictors of osteopenia and osteoporosis. R₂^* might be useful for predicting osteoporosis, especially in postmenopausal women.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.203-217
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine the high-level evidence of the effects of manual therapy on musculoskeletal diseases. Methods: Domestic databases were searched for studies that conducted clinical trials associated with manual therapy on chronic musculoskeletal diseases. A total of 591 studies published between 2005 and 2018 were identified, with 18 studies satisfying the inclusion data. The studies were classified according to patient, intervention, comparison, and outcome (PICO). The search outcomes were items associated with pain and physical function. The 18 studies included in the study were evaluated by using the R meta-analysis (version 4.0). The quality of 18 randomized control trials was evaluated by using the Cochrane risk of bias (ROB). The effect sizes were computed as the corrected standardized mean difference (SMD). Subgroup and meta-regression analyses were also used. Egger's regression test was carried out in order to analyze the publication bias. Cumulative meta-analysis and sensitivity analysis were also conducted in order to analyze the data error. Results: The following factors showed the large effect size of manual therapy on chronic musculoskeletal diseases: pain (Hedges's g = 2.66; 95% CI = 1.47 ~ 3.85), and physical function (Hedges's g = 2.15; 95% CI: 1.22 ~ 3.08). The subgroup analysis only showed a statistical difference in the type of manual therapy (pain) and outcome (physical function). No statistically significant difference was found in the meta-regression analysis. Publication bias was found in the data, but the results of the trim-and-fill method showed that such bias did not largely affect the obtained data. Furthermore, there were no data errors in the cumulative meta-analysis and sensitivity analysis. Conclusion: This study provides evidence for the effectiveness of manual therapy on chronic musculoskeletal diseases in pain and physical function. Subgroup analysis suggests that only the type of manual therapy for pain and the type of outcome for physical function differed in effect size.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.87-97
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• 2021

Purpose : The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on the lower extremity function of stroke patients. Methods : Domestic data were gathered from studies that conducted clinical trials associated with transcranial direct current stimulation and its impact on lower extremity function of stroke patients. A total of 592 studies published between 2012 and 2020 were identified, with 7 studies satisfying the inclusion data. The studies consisted of patient, intervention, comparison, and outcome (PICO) data. The search outcomes were items associated with muscle activity, balance, muscle strength and walking ability. Cochrane risk of bias (ROB) was used to evaluate the quality of 3 randomized control trials. The quality of 4 non-randomized control trials was evaluated using risk of bias assessment tool for non-randomized studies (RoBANS). Effect sizes in this study were computed as the corrected standard mean difference (SMD). A random-effect model was used to analyze the effect size because of the high heterogeneity among the studies. Egger's regression and 'trim-and-fill' tests were carried out to analyze the publishing bias. Results : The following factors had a large total effect size (Hedges's g=2.10, 95 %CI=1.54~2.66) involving transcranial direct current stimulation on stroke patients: muscle activity (Hedges's g=2.38, 95 %CI=1.08~3.68), balance (Hedges's g4=2.41, 95 %CI=1.33~3.60), walking ability (Hedges's g=1.54, 95 %CI=0.49~2.59), and muscle strength (Hedges's g=2.45, 95 % CI: 0.85~4.05). Egger's regression test showed that the publishing bias had statistically significant differences but 'trim-and-fill' test showed that there was still statistical difference. Conclusion : This study provides evidence for the effectiveness of transcranial direct current stimulation on the lower extremity in terms of muscle activity, balance, walking ability, and muscle strength in stroke patients. However, due to the low quality of studies and high heterogeneity factors, the results of our study should be interpreted cautiously.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.351-361
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• 2014

Leaf area ($A_0$) and leaf biomass ($M_0$) estimation are significant prerequisites to studying tree physiological processes and modeling in the forest ecosystem. The objective of this study was to develop allometric models for estimating $A_0$ and $M_0$ of Swietenia mahagoni L. from different tree parameters such as DBH and tree height of mahogany plantations in the northeastern region of Bangladesh. A total of 850 healthy and well formed trees were selected randomly for sampling in the five study sites. Then, twenty two models were developed based on different statistical criteria that propose reliable and accurate models for estimating the $A_0$ and $M_0$ using non-destructive measurements. The results exposed that model iv and xv were selected on a single predictor of DBH and showed more statistically accuracy than other models. The selected models were also validated with an additional test data set on the basis of linear regression and t-test for mean difference between observed and predicted values. After that, a comparison between the best logarithmic and non-linear allometric model shows that the non-linear model produces systematic biases and underestimates $A_0$ and $M_0$ for larger trees. As a result, it showed that the bias-corrected logarithmic model iv and xv can be used to help quantify forest structure and functions, particularly valuable in future research for estimating $A_0$ and $M_0$ of S. mahagoni in this region.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.273-282
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• 2020

This study analyzed the physiological effects of silkworms and silkworm pupae on the reduction of serum lipid levels. Research data specific to silkworms and their pupae published over the last 10 years were collected and analyzed. A large effect size of 0.852 was observed in the overall results and the range of 95% confidence intervals was 0.662 to 0.999. The Q value was 23.264, the Higgin's I² value was 92.217, indicating that each study was heterogeneous. There was no publication bias, as the corrected observed number of statistically significant effect sizes and the expected number of statistically significant effect sizes were both 0.654. The silkworm study showed a large effect size with respect to blood sugar and blood lipid reduction at 0.801 and 0.948, respectively, and LDL-cholesterol reduction at 1.371, showing a very large effect size. Aspartate transaminase / glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (AST/GOT) was 0.768, alanine transaminase /glutamate-pyruvate transaminase (ALT/GPT) was 0.788, which was a medium effect size. The experiment period had a very large effect size of 1.170 for five to eight weeks and 1.020 for an intake of 1 to 50 mg/kg. The silkworm pupae had a large effect size of 0.991 and 0.951, respectively on blood lipids and total cholesterol reduction. The experimental period showed a very large effect size at 1.103 for more than nine weeks, and the intake showed a large effect size at 0.855 for 5001 mg/kg.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.56 no.12
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• pp.955-967
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• 2023

Climate change is expected to amplify the future flooding risks in rural areas which could have devastating implications for the sustainability of the agricultural sector and food security in South Korea. In this study, spatially disaggregated and statistically bias-corrected outputs from three global circulation models (GCMs) archived in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phases 5 and 6 (CMIP5 and 6) were used to project the future climate by 2100 under medium and extreme scenarios. A hydrological model was developed to simulate the flood phenomena at the Shindae experimental site located in the Chungcheongbuk Province, South Korea. Hourly rainfall, inundation depth, and discharge data collected during the two extreme events that occurred in 2021 and 2022 were used to calibrate and validate the hydrological model. Probability analysis of extreme rainfall data suggested a higher likelihood of intense and unprecedented extreme rainfall events, which would be particularly notable during 2051-2100. Consequently, the flooded area under an inundation depth of >700 mm increased by 13-36%, 54-74%, and 71-90% during 2015-2030, 2031-2050, and 2051-2100, respectively. Severe flooding probability was notably higher under extreme CMIP6 scenarios than under their CMIP5 counterparts.