• Title/Summary/Keyword: asymmetry

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Changes of Sedimentary Environment in the Tidal Flat of the Dammed Yeongsan River Estuary, Southwestern Coast of Korea (영산강 하구 갯벌의 퇴적환경 변화)

  • Kim, Young-Gil;Lee, Myong Sun;Chang, Jin Ho
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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    • v.25 no.6
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    • pp.687-697
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    • 2019
  • By monitoring sediment grain size and level variation of tidal flat surface for 6 years (2005-2011), and also by mooring TISDOS (tidal-flat sediment dynamics observation system) on the low intertidal flat in 2008, we investigated the sedimentary environment of tidal flat in the dammed Yeongsan River Estuary. The tidal flat of the Yeongsan River Estuary lost 82 % of its area because of coastal development projects, and a narrow tidal flat below mean sea level now remains. Most of the tidal flat sediments are composed of silt up to 70-94 %, and show the characteristics of clay deficiency and silt dominance. This is closely related with the coastal development, which led to the destruction of high tidal flats where most mud settled, and the modification of tidal current patterns. Moreover, the estuarine tidal-flat sediments reveal seasonal variation. They are coarse with abundant silt during windy autumn to spring, fine with abundant clay during the less-windy and high-discharge summer. This phenomenon indicates that the behavior of sediment particles on the low intertidal flats of the Yeongsan River Estuary is influenced by wind waves for silt and fresh water discharge and the tidal process for clay. Monitoring results of the altitude of tidal flat surface showed that the study area had eroded at an average rate of -2.6 cm/y during the period of 2005-2011, and also that an unusual deposition with a rate of 4 cm/y occurred in 2010. The erosion can be explained by an increased tidal amplitude and a strengthened ebb-dominant tidal asymmetry after the construction of an estuary dike and the Yeongam Kumho Seawall. The deposition in 2010 seems to have been closely related to the mass production of suspended materials from dredging of the estuary.

Effect of GB 34-GB 39 Electro-acupuncture on Regional Cerebral Blood Flow in Stroke Patients and Normal Volunteers Evaluated by $^{99m}Tc-ECD$ SPECT (양릉천-현종 전침치료가 뇌경색환자 및 정상인의 뇌혈류에 미치는 영향 - SPECT와 SPM을 이용한 연구 -)

  • Han, Jin-An;Jeong, Dong-Won;Bae, Hyung-Sup;Park, Sung-Uk;Jung, Woo-Sang;Park, Jung-Mee;Ko, Chang-Nam;Cho, Ki-Ho;Kim, Young-Suk;Kim, Deok-Yoon;Moon, Sang-Kwan
    • The Journal of Korean Medicine
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    • v.27 no.3 s.67
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    • pp.187-200
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    • 2006
  • Objectives: Acupuncture has been applied in Asia for thousands of years, especially to rehabilitation after stroke. It has been reported that acupuncture increased cerebral blood supply and stimulated the functional activity of brain nerve cells shown by using brain imaging techniques. This study was to evaluate the effect of GB 34-GB 39 electro-acupuncture (EA) on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in stroke patients and normal volunteers using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Methods: The study procedure was divided into two parts: patients and volunteers studies. For the patients study, ten ischemic stroke patients (3 males, 7 females, mean age $68.5{\pm}8.9$ years old) were selected. Baseline brain SPECT was done with triple head gamma camera (MultiSPECT3, Siemens, USA) after intravenous administration of 1,110 MBq of $^{99m}Tc-ECD$. Fifteen-minute EA at GB 34 and GB 39 were applied on the affected limb. The same dose of $^{99m}Tc-ECD$ was injected during the EA, and the second set of SPECT images wasobtained. Using the computer software (ICON 7.1, Siemens, USA), 3 SPECT slices (upper, middle, lower) surrounding the brain lesion were selected and each slice was divided into 10-16 brain regions. Asymmetry indexes (AI) were analyzed in each brain region. We regarded over 10% changes of AI between before and after EA as significance. For the volunteers study, 10 healthy human volunteers (5 males, 5 females, mean age $28.1{\pm}6$ years old) were selected. In the resting state, $^{99m}Tc-ECD$ brain SPECT scans were performed. On the 7th day after the resting examination, 15 minute EA was applied at GB 34 and GB 39 on the right side of the subjects. Immediately after EA, the second SPECT images were obtained inthe same manner as the resting state. Significant increases and decreases of rCBF after EA were estimated by comparing their SPECT images with those of the resting state using paired t statistics at every voxel, which were analyzed by statistical parametric mapping with a threshold of p = 0.01, uncorrected (extent threshold: k=100 voxels). Results: In stroke patients, six of the eight (75%) had significantly increased perfusion in post-acupuncture scans compared to their baseline state. In normal volunteers, GB 34-GB GB EA increased rCBF in both hemispheres including right ventral posterior cingulate (Brodmann area (BA) 23), left superior temporal, anterior transverse temporal (BA 22, 41), left parastriate, peristriate (BA 18, 19), right occipitotemporal, angular (BA 37, 39), left rostral postcentral, caudal postcentral and preparietal (BA 2, 3, 5). However GB 34-GB 39 EA decreased rCBF in the right hemisphere including triangular and middle frontal lobes. Conclusions: The results demonstrated that OB 34-GB 39 EA increased cerebral perfusion in ischemic stroke patients and increased rCBF grossly in temporal lobes of normal volunteers. It is also suggested that there may be a correlation between the GB meridian and the territory of the middle cerebral artery.

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Evaluation of Hemodynamic Failure with Acetazolamide Challenged $^{123}I-IMP$ Brain SEPCT and PET (PET과 Acetazolamide 부하 $^{123}I-IMP$ 뇌혈류 SPECT를 이용한 혈역학적 부전의 평가)

  • Chun, Kyung-Ah;Cho, In-Ho;Won, Kyu-Jang;Lee, Hyung-Woo;Hayashida, Kohei
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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    • v.37 no.2
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    • pp.94-102
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    • 2003
  • Purpose : Cerebral blood flow (CBF) reactivity to acetazolamide (ACZ) is useful to select patients with hemodynamic failure. However, it is still a matter of speculation that varying degrees of regional CBF increases after ACZ administration represent the severity or stage of regional hemodynamic failure as assessed by positron emission tomography (PET). We studied to elucidate whether ACZ challenge $^{123}I-IMP$ brain single photon emission tomography (SPECT) can accurately grade the seventy of regional hemodynamic failure. Materials and Methods: Eighteen patients (M: 16, F: 2, average age: 61 years) with unilateral occlusive disease of the internal carotid artery or the trunk of the middle cerebral artery (MCA). Patients undewent $^{123}I-IMP$ brain SPECT study with acetazolamide challenge and PET study was carried out within 2 weeks before and after SPECT study. Five healthy volunteers with a mean age of 48 years (range: 28-73 yr, M: 3, F: 2) underwent PET studies to determine normal values. In SPECT study, an asymmetry index (Al)-the percentage of radioactivity of region of interest (ROI) in the occlusive cerebrovascular lesion to the contralateral homologous ROI-was used for numerical evaluation of relative $^{123}I-IMP$ distribution. In PET study, regional CBF, oxygen extraction fraction (OEF), cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen ($CMRO_2$) and cerebral blood volume (CBV) values were measured with $^{15}O-labeled$ gas inhalation method and the values were used for comparison with Al (Al during acetazolamide challenge-Al of basal study) on the SPECT study. ROls were classified by severity into three groups (normal, stage I and stage II). Results: Mean values of Al in areas with normal, stage I and stage II hemodynamic failure were $6.25{\pm}7.77%\;(n=107),\;-10.38{\pm}10.41%\:(n=117)\;and\;13.30{\pm}10.51%\;(n=140)$, respectively. Al significantly differed with each groups (p<0.05). Correlation between Al and CBF, OEF and CBV/CBF in hemisphere with occlusive cerebrovascular lesion was 0.20 (p<0.01), -0.28 (p<0.01) and -0.28 (p<0.01), respectively. Conclusion: We concluded that $^{123}I-IMP$ brain SPECT with acetazolamide challenge could determine the severity ad stage of regional hemodynamic failure as assessed by PET.

Automatic Interpretation of F-18-FDG Brain PET Using Artificial Neural Network: Discrimination of Medial and Lateral Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (인공신경회로망을 이용한 뇌 F-18-FDG PET 자동 해석: 내.외측 측두엽간질의 감별)

  • Lee, Jae-Sung;Lee, Dong-Soo;Kim, Seok-Ki;Park, Kwang-Suk;Lee, Sang-Kun;Chung, June-Key;Lee, Myung-Chul
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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    • v.38 no.3
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    • pp.233-240
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    • 2004
  • Purpose: We developed a computer-aided classifier using artificial neural network (ANN) to discriminate the cerebral metabolic pattern of medial and lateral temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Materials and Methods: We studied brain F-18-FDG PET images of 113 epilepsy patients sugically and pathologically proven as medial TLE (left 41, right 42) or lateral TLE (left 14, right 16). PET images were spatially transformed onto a standard template and normalized to the mean counts of cortical regions. Asymmetry indices for predefined 17 mirrored regions to hemispheric midline and those for medial and lateral temporal lobes were used as input features for ANN. ANN classifier was composed of 3 independent multi-layered perceptrons (1 for left/right lateralization and 2 for medial/lateral discrimination) and trained to interpret metabolic patterns and produce one of 4 diagnoses (L/R medial TLE or L/R lateral TLE). Randomly selected 8 images from each group were used to train the ANN classifier and remaining 51 images were used as test sets. The accuracy of the diagnosis with ANN was estimated by averaging the agreement rates of independent 50 trials and compared to that of nuclear medicine experts. Results: The accuracy in lateralization was 89% by the human experts and 90% by the ANN classifier Overall accuracy in localization of epileptogenic zones by the ANN classifier was 69%, which was comparable to that by the human experts (72%). Conclusion: We conclude that ANN classifier performed as well as human experts and could be potentially useful supporting tool for the differential diagnosis of TLE.

Differentiation of Parkinson's Disease and Essential Tremor on I-123 IPT(I-123-N-(3-iodopropen-2-yl)-$2{\beta}$-carbomethoxy- $3{\beta}$-(4-cholorophenyl) tropane) Brain SPECT (파킨슨병과 본태성 진전의 감별진단에서 I-123 IPT(I-123-N-(3-iodopropen-2-yl)-$2{\beta}$-carbomethoxy-$3{\beta}$-(4-cholorophenyl) tropane) 뇌 단일광전자방출 전산화단층촬영의 역할)

  • Pai, Moon-Sun;Choi, Tae-Hyun;Ahn, Sung-Min;Choi, Jai-Yong;Ryu, Won-Gee;Lee, Jae-Hoon;Ryu, Young-Hoon
    • Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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    • v.43 no.2
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    • pp.100-106
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    • 2009
  • Purpose: The study was to assess I-123-N-(3-iodopropen-2-yl)-2[beta]-carbomethoxy-3[beta]-(4-cholorophenyl) tropane(IPT) SPECT in differential diagnosis among early stage of Parkinson's disease(PD) and essential tremor(ET) and normal control(NL) groups quantitatively. Materials and Methods: I-123 IPT brain SPECT of 50 NL, 20 early PD, 30 advanced PD, and 20 ET were performed at 20 minutes and 2 hours. Specific/nonspecific binding of striatum was calculated by using right and left striatal specific to occipital non-specific uptake ratio(striatum-OCC/OCC). Results: Mean value of specific/nonspecific binding ratio was significantly different between advanced PD group and NL group. However, significant overlap of striatal specific/nonspecific binding ratio was observed between PD group and ET group. Bilateral striatal specific/nonspecific binding ratios were decreased in advanced PD. Lateralized differences in the striatal uptake of I-123 IPT correlated with asymmetry in clinical findings in PD group. Conclusion: I-123 IPT SPECT may be a useful method for the diagnosis of PD and objective evaluation of progress of clinical stages. Care should be made in the differential diagnosis of early stage of PD and other motor disturbances mimicking PD such as ET in view of significant overlap in striatal I-123 specific/nonspecific binding ratio.

Comparative Study on Acoustic Characteristics of Vocal Fold Paralysis and Benign Mucosal Disorders of Vocal Fold (성대마비와 양성 성대점막질환의 음향학적 특성비교)

  • Kong, Il-Seung;Cho, Young-Ju;Lee, Myung-Hee;Kim, Jong-Seung;Yang, Yun-Su;Hong, Ki-Hwan
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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    • v.18 no.2
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    • pp.122-128
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    • 2007
  • This study aims to analyze the voices of the patients with voice disorders including vocal fold paralysis, vocal fold cyst and vocal nodule/polyp in the aspect of acoustic phonetics. This study intends to collect subsidiary acoustic data in order to make a speech treatment and an standardization of vocal disorders. Subjects and Methods: The subjects of this study were 64 adult patients who underwent indirect laryngoscopy and laryngostroboscopy, and were diagnosed as vocal fold paralysis, vocal fold cyst or vocal nodule/polyp. Experimental group consisted of 20 patients who were diagnosed as vocal fold paralysis, 21 patients who were diagnosed as vocal fold cyst and had the average age of 42.0 $({\pm}10.03)$ ; and 23 patients who were diagnosed as vocal nodule/polyp and had the average age of 40.9 $({\pm}13.75)$. For the methodology of this study, the patients listed above were asked to sit in a comfortable position at intervals of 10cm apart from the patient's mouth and a microphone, and subsequently to phonate a vowel sound /e/ for the maximum phonation time with natural tone and vocal volume then the sound was directly inputted on a computer. During recording, sampling rate was set to 44,100Hz and the 1-second area corresponding to stable zone except the first and the last stage of waveform of the vowel sound /e/ vocalized by the individual patients was analyzed. Results: First, there was no statistically significant difference in jitter and shimmer between vocal fold paralysis and vocal fold cyst, while there was highly statistically significant difference in them between vocal fold paralysis and vocal nodule/polyp. Second, looking into the mean values obtained from NNE, HNR and SNR results associated with noise ratio, the disease showing the most abnormal characteristics was vocal fold paralysis, followed by cyst and nodule/polyp in order. For NNE, there was statistically significant difference between vocal nodule/polyp, and cyst or paralysis. In other words, it was found that the NNE of vocal nodule/polyp was weaker than that of cyst or paralysis. Similarly, HNR and SNR also showed the same characteristics; there was statistically significant difference between vocal fold paralysis and vocal fold cyst or nodule/polyp, and HNR and SNR values of vocal fold paralysis were lower than those of vocal fold cyst or nodule/polyp. Conclusion: For vocal fold paralysis, the abnormal values of acoustic parameters associated with frequency, amplitude and noise ratio were statistically significantly higher than those of vocal fold cyst and nodule/polyp. This finding suggests that the voices of the patients with vocal fold paralysis are the most severely injured due to less stability of vocal fold movement, asymmetry and incomplete glottic closure. In addition, there was no statistically significant difference in the acoustic parameters of tremor among vocal fold paralysis, vocal fold cyst and vocal nodule/polyp. Further studies need to ascertain reasonable acoustic parameters with various vocal disorders as well as to clarify the correlation between acoustics-based objective tools and subjective evaluations.

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THE PRELIMINARY STUDY OF THE QUANTITATIVE MORPHOLOGIC ANALYSIS USING MRI OF THE LATERAL VENTRICLE IN EARLY-ONSET PSYCHOTIC DISORDER (조기 발병한 정신증적 장애에서 자기공명영상을 이용한 측뇌실에 대한 구조적인 예비연구)

  • Lee, Youn-Hee;Kang, Min-Hee;Kim, Chul-Eung;Bae, Jae-Nam;Hong, Kang-E;Lee, Jeong-Seop
    • Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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    • v.12 no.2
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    • pp.256-262
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    • 2001
  • Objective:The enlargement of the lateral ventricle is well established finding in adult-onset schizophrenia, but in the patients with early-onset psychotic disorder(EOPD) is still controversal. To identify structural abnormalities of the lateral ventricle in patients with EOPD and difference of the brain developmental course in EOPD group, planimetrical assessment of the lateral ventricle was conducted by means of retrospective quantitative neuroimaging. Methods:The brain MR images of 14 patients with EOPD(mean age $14.0{\pm}2.1$ years) who met the DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and 24 control subjects with simple headache(mean age $10.0{\pm}2.1$ years) were collected. Single best view for the lateral ventricle, one axial slice was selected for analysis. MR images were redigitalized with flatbed scanner and data were analyzed with NIH IMAGE software. Results:In the patients with EOPD, there were significant correlations between aging and lateral ventricular sizes and between aging and ventricular brain ratio(VBR). The statistical significance of normal asymmetry of the lateral ventricle was not observed for the EOPD group. The EOPD group had larger lateral ventricular sizes and VBR than control group, but these results were not statistically significant. Conclusion:These findings suggest that the brain abnormalities in patients with EOPD progress from the earlier course of the disorders and the course of brain development in EOPD group is different from control group.

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Preliminary Study on the Development of a Platform for the Optimization of Beach Stabilization Measures Against Beach Erosion III - Centering on the Effects of Random Waves Occurring During the Unit Observation Period, and Infra-Gravity Waves of Bound Mode, and Boundary Layer Streaming on the Sediment Transport (해역별 최적 해빈 안정화 공법 선정 Platform 개발을 위한 기초연구 III - 단위 관측 기간에 발생하는 불규칙 파랑과 구속모드의 외중력파, 경계층 Streaming이 횡단표사에 미치는 영향을 중심으로)

  • Chang, Pyong Sang;Cho, Yong Jun
    • Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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    • v.31 no.6
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    • pp.434-449
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    • 2019
  • In this study, we develop a new cross-shore sediment module which takes the effect of infra-gravity waves of bound mode, and boundary layer streaming on the sediment transport into account besides the well-known asymmetry and under-tow. In doing so, the effect of individual random waves occurring during the unit observation period of 1 hr on sediment transport is also fully taken into account. To demonstrate how the individual random waves would affect the sediment transport, we numerically simulate the non-linear shoaling process of random wavers over the beach of uniform slope. Numerical results show that with the consistent frequency Boussinesq Eq. the application of which is lately extended to surf zone, we could simulate the saw-tooth profile observed without exception over the surf zone, infra-gravity waves of bound mode, and boundary-layer streaming accurately enough. It is also shown that when yearly highest random waves are modeled by the equivalent nonlinear uniform waves, the maximum cross-shore transport rate well exceeds the one where the randomness is fully taken into account as much as three times. Besides, in order to optimize the free parameter K involved in the long-shore sediment module, we carry out the numerical simulation to trace the yearly shoreline change of Mang-Bang beach from 2017.4.26 to 2018.4.20 as well, and proceeds to optimize the K by comparing the traced shoreline change with the measured one. Numerical results show that the optimized K for Mang-Bang beach would be 0.17. With K = 0.17, via yearly grand circulation process comprising severe erosion by consecutively occurring yearly highest waves at the end of October, and gradual recovery over the winter and spring by swell, the advance of shore-line at the northern and southern ends of Mang-Bang beach by 18 m, and the retreat of shore-line by 2.4 m at the middle of Mang-Bang beach can be successfully duplicated in the numerical simulation.

Prosodic Phrasing and Focus in Korea

  • Baek, Judy Yoo-Kyung
    • Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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    • 1996.10a
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    • pp.246-246
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    • 1996
  • Purpose: Some of the properties of the prosodic phrasing and some acoustic and phonological effects of contrastive focus on the tonal pattern of Seoul Korean is explored based on a brief experiment of analyzing the fundamental frequency(=FO) contour of the speech of the author. Data Base and Analysis Procedures: The examples were chosen to contain mostly nasal and liquid consonants, since it is difficult to track down the formants in stops and fricatives during their corresponding consonantal intervals and stops may yield an effect of unwanted increase in the FO value due to their burst into the following vowel. All examples were recorded three times and the spectrum of the most stable repetition was generated, from which the FO contour of each sentence was obtained, the peaks with a value higher than 250Hz being interpreted as a high tone (=H). The result is then discussed within the prosodic hierarchy framework of Selkirk (1986) and compared with the tonal pattern of the Northern Kyungsang dialect of Korean reported in Kenstowicz & Sohn (1996). Prosodic Phrasing: In N.K. Korean, H never appears both on the object and on the verb in a neutral sentence, which indicates the object and the verb form a single Phonological Phrase ($={\phi}$), given that there is only one pitch peak for each $={\phi}$. However, Seoul Korean shows that both the object and the verb have H of their own, indicating that they are not contained in one $={\phi}$. This violates the Optimality constraint of Wrap-XP (=Enclose a lexical head and its arguments in one $={\phi}$), while N.K. Korean obeys the constraint by grouping a VP in a single $={\phi}$. This asymmetry can be resolved through a constraint that favors the separate grouping of each lexical category and is ranked higher than Wrap-XP in Seoul Korean but vice versa in N.K. Korean; $Align-x^{lex}$ (=Align the left edge of a lexical category with that of a $={\phi}$). (1) nuna-ka manll-ll mEk-nIn-ta ('sister-NOM garlic-ACC eat-PRES-DECL') a. (LLH) (LLH) (HLL) ----Seoul Korean b. (LLH) (LLL LHL) ----N.K. Korean Focus and Phrasing: Two major effects of contrastive focus on phonological phrasing are found in Seoul Korean: (a) the peak of an Intonatioanl Phrase (=IP) falls on the focused element; and (b) focus has the effect of deleting all the following prosodic structures. A focused element always attracts the peak of IP, showing an increase of approximately 30Hz compared with the peak of a non-focused IP. When a subject is focused, no H appears either on the object or on the verb and a focused object is never followed by a verb with H. The post-focus deletion of prosodic boundaries is forced through the interaction of StressFocus (=If F is a focus and DF is its semantic domain, the highest prominence in DF will be within F) and Rightmost-IP (=The peak of an IP projects from the rightmost $={\phi}$). First Stress-F requires the peak of IP to fall on the focused element. Then to avoid violating Rightmost-IP, all the boundaries after the focused element should delete, minimizing the number of $={\phi}$'s intervening from the right edge of IP. (2) (omitted) Conclusion: In general, there seems to be no direct alignment constraints between the syntactically focused element and the edge of $={\phi}$ determined in phonology; all the alignment effects come from a single requirement that the peak of IP projects from the rightmost $={\phi}$ as proposed in Truckenbrodt (1995).

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Regulation of Professional Advertising: Focusing on Physician Advertising (전문직 표시·광고규제의 몇 가지 쟁점: 의료광고를 중심으로)

  • Lee, Dongjin
    • The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.177-219
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    • 2016
  • A commercial advertisement is not only a way of competition but also a medium of communication. Thus, it is under the constitutional protection of the freedom of business (article 15 of the Constitution) as well as the freedom of press [article 21 (1) of the Constitution]. In terms of the freedom of business or competition, it should be noted that an unfair advertising (false or misleading advertisement) can be regulated as an unfair competition, while any restraint on advertising other than unfair one might be doubted as an unjustifiable restraint of trade. In terms of the freedom of press or communication, it is important that article 21 (2) of the Constitution forbids any kind of (prior) censorship, and the Constitutional Court applies this restriction even to commercial advertising. In this article, the applicability of these schemes to advertising of the so-called learned professions, especially physician, are to be examined, and some proposals for the reformation of the current regulatory regime are to be made. Main arguments of this article can be summarized as follows: First, the current regime which requires advance review of physician advertising as prescribed in article 56 (2) no. 9 of Medical Act should be reformed. It does not mean that the current interpretation of article 21 of the Constitution is agreeable. Though a commercial advertising is a way of communication and can be protected by article 21 (1) of the Constitution, it should not be under the prohibition of censorship prescribed by article 21 (2) of the Constitution. The Constitutional Court adopts the opposite view, however. It is doubtful that physician advertising needs some prior restraint, also. Of course, there exists severe informational asymmetry between physicians and patients and medical treatment might harm the life and health of patients irrevocably, so that medical treatment can be discerned from other services. It is civil and criminal liability for medical malpractice and duty to inform and not regulation on physician advertising, to address these differences or problems. Advance review should be abandoned and repelled, or substituted by more unproblematic way of regulation such as an accreditation of reviewed advertising or a self-regulation preformed by physician association independently from the Ministry of Health and Welfare or any other governmental agencies. Second, the substantive criteria for unfair physician advertising also should correspond that of unfair advertising in general. Some might argue that a learned profession, especially medical practice, is totally different from other businesses. It is performed under the professional ethics and should not persue commercial interest; medical practice in Korea is governed by the National Health Insurance system, the stability of which might be endangered when commercial competition in medical practice be allowed. Medical Act as well as the condition of medical practice market do not exclude competition between physicians. The fact is quite the opposite. Physicians are competing even though under the professional ethics and obligations and all the restrictions provided by the National Health Insurance system. In this situation, regulation on physician advertising might constitute unjustifiable restraint of competition, especially a kind of entry barrier for 'new physicians.'

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