• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.302-307
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• 2014

Purpose: This study was conducted in order to determine the changes in pain and breathing function when kinesio taping is applied to patients with myofacial trigger points on sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle. Methods: The subjects were 25 males and females aged 20 to 30 years (male 10, female 15). They were randomly divided into the control group and the experimental group to be applied with kinesio taping. Kinesio taping was applied to SCM muscle three times per week for two weeks. Pain triggered when the taut band or nodule was palpated was measured. Pain intensity was measured using the visual analog scale (VAS). The breathing function was measured using forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), and FEV1/FVC ratio. In all subjects, VAS, breathing function was measured before and after intervention. Results: In the experimental group, pain in the SCM was relieved as VAS showed a significant decrease and FVC, FEV1, and FEV1/FVC ratio showed a significant increase. Comparison between the groups, showed significant differences in VAS and the FVC, FEV1, and FEV1/FVC ratio. Conclusion: These results suggest that myofascial pain on SCM muscle is thought a factor that affects the breathing function.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.145-154
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• 2017

Objectives : Bufalin is one of the bioactive component of 'Sum Su (蟾酥)', which is obtained from the skin and parotid venom gland of toad. Bufalin has been known to possess the inhibitory effects on cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis in various cancer cells. The tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) has concerned, because it can selectively induce apoptotic cell death in many types of malignant cells, while it is relatively non-toxic to normal cells. Here, we investigated whether bufalin can trigger TRAIL-induced apoptotic cell death in EJ human bladder cancer cells. Methods : Effects on the cell viability and apoptotic activity were quantified using MTT assay and flow cytometry analysis, respectively. To investigate the morphological change of nucleus, DAPI staining was performed. Protein expressions were measured by immunoblotting. Results : A combined treatment with bufalin (10 nM) and TRAIL (50 ng/ml) significantly promoted TRAIL-mediated growth inhibition and apoptosis in EJ cells. The apoptotic effects were associated with the up-regulation of death receptor proteins, and the down-regulation of cFLIP and XIAP. Moreover, our data showed that bufalin and TRAIL combination activated caspases and subsequently increased degradation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase. Conclusions : Taken altogether, the nontoxic doses of bufalin sensitized TRAIL-mediated apoptosis in EJ cells. Therefore, bufalin might be an effective therapeutic strategy for the safe treatment of TRAIL-resistant bladder cancers.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.603-611
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• 2016

Educational games offer an opportunity to engage and inspire students to take an interest in every subject material in school. The "fun" obtain when playing games become a trigger for the use of games in learning. However, there are doubts whether the players actually learn while they are having fun. Vidyanusa is an Online Mathematics Education Game being developed by Crayonpedia Education Ecosystem in Indonesia. The learning goal of Vidyanusa is to engage junior high school students in learning mathematics. In this paper, we design the Vidyanusa game material Functions and Relations by using Balanced Design Approach. This approach has three models in succession; the Content Model outlines the purpose of the game, the Task Model maps out the mission, and the Evidence Model outlines student measurement. This paper will then discusses the quality of games produced in term of Usability factor for effective results and objective. The measurement of the game was carried out based on International Standard ISO/IEC 9126-1 FDIS about Software Quality Product.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.874-887
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• 1987

The efficiency of a synchronous motor can be substantially improved by controlling armature voltage, field excitation, and load angle on optimum values which yield minimum input power at any specified torque and speed. This improvement is particularly noticeable in the case of light loads. In addition, the control of armature input voltage improves the power factor at which the motor operates. Employed in the analysis is a new equivalent circuit model of the motor which incorporates the frequency dependent nature of the motor parameters and the effects of iron loss. The stability of synchronous motor operation is studied by applying the Nyquist stability criterion to the linearized equations which describe the behavior of the motor as the motor loads perturb about a steady-state operating point. This investigation reveals that, in some cases, the stable region of the motor is delineated from the results of a computer simulation. With a view to reducing harmonic loss and improving torque pulsation from harmonic components, a very poweful pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) method using an 16-bit microcomputer has been developed. This method has the advantages of simplicity of control algorithms and requires small memory space for storing thyristor trigger angles for a three-phase PAM inverter. The method can be used for smooth control of both modulation depth and frequency over a wide range.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.9
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• pp.613-620
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• 2017

The most common form of senile dementia is Alzheimer's disease (AD), which is characterized by the extracellular deposition of amyloid ${\beta}-peptide$ ($A{\beta}$) plaques and the intracellular formation of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) in the cerebral cortex. Tau abnormalities are commonly observed in many neurodegenerative diseases including AD, Parkinson's disease, and Pick's disease. Interestingly, tau-mediated formation of NFTs in AD brains shows better correlation with cognitive impairment than $A{\beta}$ plaque accumulation; pathological tau alone is sufficient to elicit frontotemporal dementia, but it does not cause AD. A growing amount of evidence suggests that soluble $A{\beta}$ oligomers in concert with hyperphosphorylated tau (pTau) serve as the major pathogenic drivers of neurodegeneration in AD. Increased $A{\beta}$ oligomers trigger neuronal dysfunction and network alternations in learning and memory circuitry prior to clinical onset of AD, leading to cognitive decline. Furthermore, accumulated damage to mitochondria in the course of aging, which is the best-known nongenetic risk factor for AD, may collaborate with soluble $A{\beta}$ and pTau to induce synapse loss and cognitive impairment in AD. In this review, I summarize and discuss the current knowledge of the molecular and cellular biology of AD and also the mechanisms that underlie $A{\beta}-mediated$ neurodegeneration.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.113-118
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• 2005

This paper shows a satellite battery cell voltage monitor system to make differential voltage measurements when one or both measurement points are beyond voltage range allowed by a conventional differential amplifier. This system is particularly useful for monitoring the individual cell voltage of series-connected cells that constitute a rechargeable satellite battery in which some cell voltages must be measured in the presence of high common mode voltage.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.21-29
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• 2018

In many companies handling flammable liquids, explosion-proof electrical equipment have been installed according to the Korean Industrial Standards (KS C IEC 60079-10-1). In these standards, hazardous area for explosive gas atmospheres has to be classified by the evaluation of the evaporation rate of flammable liquid leakage. The evaporation rate is an important factor to determine the zones classification and hazardous area distance. However, there is no systematic method or rule for the estimation of evaporation rate in these standards and the first principle equations of a evaporation rate are very difficult. Thus, it is really hard for industrial workplaces to employ these equations. Thus, this problem can trigger inaccurate results for evaluating evaporation range. In this study, empirical models for estimating an evaporation rate of flammable liquid have been developed to tackle this problem. Throughout the sensitivity analysis of the first principle equations, it can be found that main factors for the evaporation rate are wind speed and temperature and empirical models have to be nonlinear. Polynomial regression is employed to build empirical models. Methanol, benzene, para-xylene and toluene are selected as case studies to verify the accuracy of empirical models.

• BMB Reports
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• v.46 no.7
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• pp.364-369
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• 2013

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) plays an indispensable role in epidermal pigmentation in hyperpigmentary disorders due to a central role in melanogenesis. Nevertheless, precise mechanism involved in ET-1-induced hyperpigmentation is still undefined. Glycoprotein (transmembrane) non-metastatic melanoma protein b (GPNMB) is a key element in melanosome formation. Therefore, we speculated that GPNMB was correlated with ET-1-induced pigmentation. After culturing with ET-1, melanin synthesis was significantly up-regulated, accompanying with increased expression of GPNMB and microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF). Total number of melanosomes and melanin synthesis were sharply reduced via GPNMB-siRNA transfection, indicating ET-1-induced pigmentation by GPNMB-dependent manner. Furthermore, MITF-siRNA transfection strikingly inhibited GPNMB expression and the melanogenesis, and this suppression failed to be alleviated by ET-1 stimulation. All of these results demonstrated that ET-1 can trigger melanogenesis via the MITF-regulated GPNMB pathway. Taken together, these findings will provide a new explanation of how ET-1 induces hyperpigmentation, and possibly supply a new strategy for cosmetic studies.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.35-52
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• 2009

A significantly thick zone of steep slopes is commonly encountered above groundwater table and the soils within this zone are unsaturated with negative pore-water pressures (i.e., matric suction). Matric suction contributes significantly to the shear strength of soil and to the factor of safety of unsaturated slopes. However, infiltration during rainfall increases the pore-water pressure in soil resulting in a decrease in the matric suction and the shear strength of the soil. As a result, rainfall infiltration may eventually trigger a slope failure. Therefore, understanding of shear strength characteristics of saturated and unsaturated soils under shearing-infiltration (SI) conditions have direct implications in assessment of slope stability under rainfall conditions. This paper presents results from a series of consolidated drained (CD) and shearing-infiltration (SI) tests. Results show that the failure envelope obtained from the shearing-infiltration tests is independent of the infiltration rate. Failure envelopes obtained from CD and SI tests appear to be similar. For practical purposes the shear strength parameters from the CD tests can be used in stability analyses of slopes under rainfall conditions. The SI tests might be performed to obtain more conservative shear strength parameters and to study the pore-water pressure changes during infiltration.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.10
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• pp.119-128
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• 2021

In the era of industry 4.0 with the robust digital transformation, especially under the trigger of the Covid-19 pandemic, the process of transforming businesses to achieve the desired business performance depends much on the mindset transformation of each member of the organization, beginning with the thoughts of leadership and stakeholders. This study will evaluate the relationship between leadership's strategic reasoning perspectives on employee engagement or commitment and the company's reputation, thereby directly or indirectly affecting organizational performance. The study examines data from 382 companies out of 500 samples in typical industries in Vietnam using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) techniques. The results show that holistic thinking is closely related to employee retention and corporate reputation, thereby increasing the business outcomes of the organization, whereas there was no evidence to support analytical thinking in this study. As a consequence, transforming the business to achieve the desired business performance is heavily reliant on changing the mindset of each member of the organization, beginning with the top leaders and influencers of the business. This will assist Vietnamese leaders in gaining a comprehensive understanding of corporate governance and controlling the relationships between organizational constructs.