• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.113-121
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• 2018

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to identify a more effective intervention in sling and resistance exercise for chronic low back pain patients. METHODS: Seventy (70) subjects were randomly divided into the sling group (SG) and resistance exercise group (REG). Muscular activity of the internal oblique (IO), external oblique (EO), rectus abdominis (RA), and pelvic rotation angle during active straight leg raise (ASLR), a pressure pain threshold (PPT) and a visual analog scale (VAS) were measured. Sling and resistance exercises were conducted for 12 weeks. Intermediate measurements were taken after 8 weeks and final measurements were taken after 12 weeks. RESULTS: Both groups showed significantly decreased RA muscle activity and significantly increased IO muscle activity (p<.05). Additionally, EO muscle activity was significantly decreased in the REG, but significantly increased in the SG (p<.05), while the pelvic rotation angle and VAS were significantly decreased in the SG (p<.05). The pressure pain threshold was significantly increased in both groups (p<.05). CONCLUSION: Based on the results of this study, a 12-week intervention seems to be effective at improving back pain in both groups. However, a lower VAS was seen in the sling group after 8 weeks of intervention. Therefore, it is recommended that the sling be applied first when establishing a chronic back pain treatment program to shorten the treatment period and reduce the pain period.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.162-169
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• 2019

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the conditions for the application of various plank exercises to people who require trunk stabilization by comparing trunk muscle activity according to the degree of hip abduction in the plank exercise. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: Twenty healthy participants voluntarily participated in this study and the plank exercise was performed under 5 conditions (two-legged support plank [TSP] with hip abduction, TSP with hip abduction of 15 degrees, TSP with hip abduction of 30, one-legged support plank [OSP] with hip abduction of 15 degrees, OSP with hip abduction of 30 degrees). In order to measure the trunk muscle activity according to the 5 conditions, surface electromyography was used. The electrical activities of the rectus abdominis (RA), external oblique (EO), and internal oblique (IO) muscles were measured during the 5 plank exercises. Subjects practiced each of the 5 conditions three times in random order and the average values were obtained. Results: In the OSP condition with 15/30 degrees of hip abduction, activities of the RA, EO, and IO were significantly greater than during the TSP (p<0.05). In the OSP with 30 degrees of hip abduction condition, activities of the left EO, IO were significantly greater than other plank exercise conditions (p<0.05). Conclusions: The plank exercise with hip abduction of 30 degrees and the OSP exercise can be suggested as an effective method to enhance the activity of the trunk oblique muscles.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.111-121
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• 2021

PURPOSE: This study examined the effects of core stability exercise on the strength, activation of the trunk muscle, and pulmonary function in a Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) patient. METHODS: A 38-year-old male with GBS was enrolled in the study. A core stability exercise program was implemented for four weeks with a duration of 30 min/day and a frequency of three days/week. The program consisted of abdominal crunch, Swiss ball crunch, bicycle crunch, medicine ball sit-up with a toss, medicine ball rotational chest pass, raised upper body and lower body, and dead bug. Measurements of the strength of the trunk muscle (trunk flexion and hip flexion), activation of trunk muscles (rectus femoris; RA, external oblique abdominal; EOA, internal oblique abdominal; IOA, erector spinae; ES), and pulmonary function (forced expiratory capacity; FVC, forced expiratory volume at one second; FEV1) were taken before and after four weeks of core stability exercise. RESULTS: The strength of trunk muscles increased in the trunk and hip flexion after four weeks of core stability exercise, respectively, compared to the baseline levels. Activation of the trunk muscles increased in RA, EOA, and IOA after four weeks of core stability exercise compared to baseline levels, but decreased in ES after four weeks of core stability exercise compared to the baseline levels. The pulmonary function increased in FVC and FEV1 after four weeks of core stability exercise compared to the baseline levels. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that core stability exercise improves strength, Activation of the trunk muscle, And pulmonary function in patients with GBS.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.3-12
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• 2019

Current risk assessment methods typically determine accident risks embedded in construction projects by combining severity and frequency; however, they do not reflect the characteristics of construction projects. To solve the problem, this study aims to develop a novel risk assessment method that combines severity, frequency, and disaster influence factors (i.e., weather conditions and worker's characteristics) for assessing risks of activities occurring on a construction site actually. In this study, a severity was estimated by death against victims, and a frequency was estimated by the victim rate. The frequency was then converted to probability taking disaster influence factors into account. Thus, instead of considering severity and frequency for assessing the original risks (RO), the proposed method uses severity and probability to yield adjusted risks (RA) for each activity. A case study was conducted to determine if the proposed method works as intended in a real setting. The results show that RA is more sensitive to disaster influence factors than RO and, therefore, is able to assess the actual risks reflecting the working environment and conditions of a construction site. This study contributes to risk management of construction projects by offering a risk assessment method that measures a possibility of potential disasters from the probabilistic perspective. This method would help project managers assess accident risks in a more systematic and quantitative manner.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.542-558
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• 2023

A digital focus index (DFI) is a value used to determine image focus in scientific apparatus and smart devices. Automatic focus (AF) is an iterative and time-consuming procedure; however, its processing time can be reduced using a general processing unit (GPU) and a multi-core processor (MCP). In this study, parallel architectures of a minimax search algorithm (MSA) are applied to two DFIs: range algorithm (RA) and image contrast (CT). The DFIs are based on a histogram; however, the parallel computation of the histogram is conventionally inefficient because of the bank conflict in shared memory. The parallel architectures of RA and CT are constructed using parallel reduction for MSA, which is performed through parallel relative rating of the image pixel pairs and halved the rating in every step. The array size is then decreased to one, and the minimax is determined at the final reduction. Kernels for the architectures are constructed using open source software to make it relatively platform independent. The kernels are tested in a hexa-core PC and an embedded device using Lenna images of various sizes based on the resolutions of industrial cameras. The performance of the kernels for the DFIs was investigated in terms of processing speed and computational acceleration; the maximum acceleration was 32.6× in the best case and the MCP exhibited a higher performance.

• Journal of Ceramic Processing Research
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• v.13 no.spc2
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• pp.328-331
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• 2012

With the recent development of super-precision optical instruments, camera modules for devices, such as portable terminals and digital camera lenses, are increasingly being used. Since an optical lens is usually produced by high-temperature compression molding methods using tungsten carbide (WC) alloy molding cores, it is necessary to develop and study technology for super-precision processing of molding cores and coatings for the core surface. In this study, Rhenium-Iridium (Re-Ir) thin films were deposited onto a WC molding core using a sputtering system. The Re-Ir thin films were prepared by a multi-target sputtering technique, using iridium, rhenium, and chromium as the sources. Argon and nitrogen were introduced through an inlet into the chamber to be the plasma and reactive gases. The Re-Ir thin films were prepared with targets having a composition ratio of 30 : 70, and the Re-Ir thin films were formed with a 240 nm thickness. Re-Ir thin films on WC molding core were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), and Ra (the arithmetical average surface roughness). Also, adhesion strength and coefficient friction of Re-Ir thin films were examined. The Re-Ir coating technique has received intensive attention in the coating processes field because of promising features, such as hardness, high elasticity, abrasion resistance and mechanical stability that result from the process. Re-Ir coating technique has also been applied widely in industrial and biomedical applications. In this study, WC molding core was manufactured, using high-performance precision machining and the effects of the Re-Ir coating on the surface roughness.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea CI
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.54-68
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• 2011

As the prediction accuracy of conditional branch instruction is increased highly, the importance of prediction accuracy for unconditional branch instruction is also increased accordingly. Except the case of RAS(Return Address Stack) overflow, the prediction accuracy of function return address should be 100% theoretically. However, there exist some possibilities of miss-predictions for RAS return addresses, when miss-speculative execution paths are invalidated, in case of modern speculative microprocessor environments. In this paper, we propose the RAS rename technique to prevent RAS pollution, results in the reduction of RAS miss-prediction. We divide a RAS stack into a soft-stack and a hard-stack and we handle the instructions for speculative execution in the soft-stack. When some overwrites happen in the soft-stack, we move the soft-stack data into the hard-stack. In addition, we propose an enhanced version of RAS rename scheme. In simulation results, our solution provide 1/90 reduction of miss-prediction of function return address, results in up to 6.85% IPC improvement, compared to normal RAS method. Furthermore, it reduce miss-prediction ratio as 1/9, compared to previous technique.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.41-52
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• 2011

In the present study, embryoid bodies (EBs) obtained from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were induced to differentiate into germ lineage cells by treatment with bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) and retinoic acid (RA). The results were compared to the results for embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and multipotent spermatogonial stem cells (mSSCs) and quantified using immunocytochemical analysis of germ cell-specific markers (integrin-${\alpha}6$, GFR-${\alpha}1$, CD90/Thy1), fluorescence activating cell sorting (FACS), and real time-RT-PCR. We show that the highest levels of germ cell marker-expressing cells were obtained from groups treated with 10 ng/$m{\ell}$ BMP4 or 0.01 ${\mu}M$ RA. In the BMP4-treated group, GFR-${\alpha}1$ and CD90/Thy-1 were highly expressed in the EBs of iPSCs and ESCs compared to EBs of mSSCs. The expression of Nanog was much lower in iPSCs compared to ESCs and mSSCs. In the RA treated group, the level of GFR-${\alpha}1$ and CD90/Thy-1 expression in the EBs of mSSCs Induced pluripotent stem cells, Mouse embryonic stem cells, Multipotent spermatogonial stem cells, Germ cell lineage, Differentiation potential. was much higher than the levels found in the EBs of iPSCs and similar to the levels found in the EBs of ESCs. FACS analysis using integrin-${\alpha}6$, GFR-${\alpha}1$, CD90/Thy1 and immunocytochemistry using GFR-${\alpha}1$ antibody showed similar gene expression results. Therefore our results show that iPSC has the potential to differentiate into germ cells and suggest that a protocol optimizing germ cell induction from iPSC should be developed because of their potential usefulness in clinical applications requiring patient-specific cells.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.607-622
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• 2004

Recently epidemiologic studies have indicated that the patients with periodontitis may have increased risk of ischemic cardiovascular events, and have suggested the important roles of blood cytokines and acute reactant proteins in the systemic infection and inflammatory response. Periodontitis and coronary heart disease (CHD) may share the common risk factors and the genetic mechanism associated with interleukin(IL)-1A, B and RA genotype may be involved in the production of IL-1. This study was aimed to investigate the relationship between angiographically defined CHD and periodontitis as chronic Gram-negative bacterial infection and to determine whether the IL-1 gene polymorphism is associated in both diseases. Patients under the age of 60 who had undergone diagnostic coronary angiography were enrolled in this study. Subjects were classified as positive CHD (+CHD, n=37) with coronary artery stenosis more than 50% in at least one of major epicardial arteries, and negative CHD (-CHD, n=30) without significant stenosis. After recording the number of missing teeth, periodontal disease severity was measured by means of plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), bleeding on probing (BOP), probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL), and radiographic bone loss around all remaining teeth. Gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) was collected from the 4 deepest periodontal pockets and assessed for cytokine ($IL-1{\beta}$, IL-6, IL-1ra, tumor necrosis $factor-{\alpha}$, and prostaglandin $E_2$). Additionally, blood CHD markers, lipid profile, and blood cytokines were analyzed. IL-1 gene cluster genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction and enzyme restriction using genomic DNA from buccal swab, and allele 2 frequencies of IL-1A(+4845), IL-1B(+3954), IL-B(-511), and IL-1RA(intron 2) were compared between groups. Even though there was no significant difference in the periodontal parameters between 2 groups, GCF level of $PGE_2$ was significantly higher in the +CHD group(p<0.05). Correlation analysis showed the positive relationship among PD, CAL and coronary artery stenosis(%) and blood $PGE_2$. There was also significant positive relationship between the periodontal parameters (PI, PD, CAL) and the blood CHD markers (leukocyte count, C-reactive protein, and lactic dehyrogenase). IL-1 gene genotyping showed that IL-1A(+3954) allele 2 frequency was significantly higher in the +CHD group compared with the -CHD group (15% vs. 3.3%, OR 5.118,p=0.043). These results suggested that periodontal inflammation is related to systemic blood cytokine and CHD markers, and contributes to cardiovascular disease via systemic inflammatory reaction. IL-1 gene polymorphism might have an influence on periodontal and coronary heart diseases in Korean patients.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.519-524
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to construct basic data for efficient technical training by investigating the difference in muscle activity during badminton technical movements involving jump motions similar to game situations. Seven male badminton players were randomly assigned to perform smash, drop, and clear techniques, and electromyograms were measured during the implementation of three technical movements. Measured EMG was calculated by RMS and one-way ANOVA was performed. The muscle activity of the smashing motion did not show any significant difference according to the site. In drop motion, activity of PM in the upper extremity muscles was lower than that of BC and ECR, and FCR activity was lower than that of EC. The activity of ECR was higher than that of PM and FCR. The activity of ES in trunk muscles was lower than that of RF and GM. RF activity of lower extremity muscles was higher than that of ES and BF. In clear motion, the activity of TC in upper extremity muscle was higher than FCR. The activity of ES in trunk muscles was lower than that of BF. RF activity of lower extremity muscles was higher than that of BF, and BF activity was lower than that of RF and GM. The activity of GM was higher than that of BF. As for muscle activity according to badminton skills, smash and drop motions were higher than clear motions in FCR, and clear motions were higher than smash and drop motions in RA. In conclusion, it is considered that muscle activity during the badminton game is different according to the characteristics of each skill, and FCR can affect the smash and drop, and RA can affect the clear motion.