• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.901-907
• /
• 2012

Objective: Cumulative evidence suggests that MLH1, the key component in the mismatch pathway, plays an important role in human cancers. Two potential functional polymorphisms (-93G>A and I219V) of MLH1 have been implicated in cancer risk. The aim of this meta-analysis was to summarize the evidence for associations. Methods: Eligible studies were identified by searching the electronic literature PubMed, ScienceDirect and Embase databases for relevant reports and bibliographies. Studies were included if of case-control design investigating MLH1 polymorphisms (-93G>A and I219V) and cancer risk with sufficient raw data for analysis. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were used to evaluate the strength of associations. Results: Our meta-analysis from 33 published case-control studies showed the variant A allele of -93G>A polymorphism to be associated with increased risk in all genetic models (AA vs. GG: OR = 1.22, 95% CI: 1.03-1.44), especially among non-Asians (AA vs. GG: OR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.04-1.58). For the I219V polymorphism, however, there was no main effect associated with overall cancer risk in any genetic model. Conclusions: The meta-analysis suggested that the MLH1 -93G>A polymorphism may be a biomarker of cancer susceptibility. Large sample association studies and assessment of gene-to-gene as well as gene-to-environment interactions are required to confirm these findings.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.115-126
• /
• 2013

The purpose of this study is to understand the utility of election campaign advertising by applying Q methodology that draw upon schematic model in subjectivity study. A survey was carried out among college students to classify the 16 selected Q-statements into a normal distribution using a 7 point scale. The collected data was analyzed using QUANL program, and principal component analysis using varimax rotation was used to identify the types of perceived utility of election campaign advertising. Type I can be categorized by a strong concern for the advertising technique improvement, Type II can be categorized by advocating for interest induction and Type III can be categorized by the truth inducement. The use of Q methodology provides insights into audience perceptions on the utility of election campaign advertising that would not be available through traditional methodologies and offers a foundation for audience involvement to address and overcome concerns about the utility of advertising for election campaign.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.690-705
• /
• 2000

This ethnography was based on Kleinman's explanatory model of a health care system. It is conducted to make thick discription of illness conception of the elderly in a sociocultural context. The basic assumptions were as follows. 1) A health care system is a cultural system, and as with any other cultural system, it is a system of symbolic meanings anchored in a particular arrangement of social institutions and patterns of interpersonal relationships; 2) In all societies health care activities are more or less interrelated. Therefore, they need to be in a holistic manner as socially organized responses to disease that constitute a special cultural system; health care system; 3) Health and illness experiences are the natural process of disease. Individuals who recognized a for state of health, their family, neighbors, and communities define the state, search for causes of the health problems, and response to it. According by, they proceed to search for healing stratagies. So, understanding of the illness experience is the starting point for health care. The study participants were 12 elders aged 60 or more. The fieldwork was conducted in an agricultural clan village of Namwon city. The data collection and analysis were cyclic, from descriptive observation, domain analysis, focused observation, taxanomic analysis, selected observation, componential analysis, and finally cultural themes were all analysed. Proxemic and text analysis techniques were used according to the characteristics of the data. The data of sociocultural context and descriptive data were collected from 1990 to 1992. Informations on illness concepts were collected during 1994 using focused observation. Data confirming and contrast observations were conducted from 1997 and 1999. Illness concepts of the elderly were taxonomized supernatural cause, non-supernatural cause, immediate cause, and ultimate cause. The supernatural ones were ancestors, god of home, god of village, and ghost such as 'sal(evil force of dead man)' and 'gagqui(ghost of begger)'. The non-supernatural ones were Ki, natural phenomenones, natural objects, foods, human and human behaviors. Immediate ones were insufficiency and overflows, discretion and consolidation, disorder and out of order, cloudness and contamination, and fluctuation and stagnation of supernatural cause and non-supernatural ones. Ultimate causes were intrusion and loss of supernatural and nonsupernatural ones. The cultural themes of illness concepts of the elderly are: 1) illness concepts are not based on causality principle, but on reciprocal principle; 2) illness concepts are affected by social level and charicteristics of the patients; 3) the causes of disease are recognized as imposed both positive and negative effects on health based on interpretation of the indiviuals; 4) illness concepts reflects on principles of everyday life of the society members such as hierachial structure and group cohesiveness; 5) illness concepts are ruled on principle of reciprocity and spread; 6) illness concepts are interrelated with physical environment of the participants. It can be concluded that the illness concepts of the elderly in a traditional clan village are a component of health care system as a cultural system based on these results. The these results can be a useful basis for gerontological nursing practice and education.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.722-729
• /
• 2010

Prediction problems are widely used in medical domains. For example, computer aided diagnosis or prognosis is a key component in a CDSS (Clinical Decision Support System). SVMs with nonlinear kernels like RBF kernels, have shown superior accuracy in prediction problems. However, they are not preferred by physicians for medical prediction problems because nonlinear SVMs are difficult to visualize, thus it is hard to provide intuitive interpretation of prediction results to physicians. Nomogram was proposed to visualize SVM classification models. However, it cannot visualize nonlinear SVM models. Localized Radial Basis Function (LRBF) was proposed which shows comparable accuracy as the RBF kernel while the LRBF kernel is easier to interpret since it can be linearly decomposed. This paper presents a new tool named VRIFA, which integrates the nomogram and LRBF kernel to provide users with an interactive visualization of nonlinear SVM models, VRIFA visualizes the internal structure of nonlinear SVM models showing the effect of each feature, the magnitude of the effect, and the change at the prediction output. VRIFA also performs nomogram-based feature selection while training a model in order to remove noise or redundant features and improve the prediction accuracy. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) can be used to evaluate the prediction result when the data set is highly imbalanced. The tool can be used by biomedical researchers for computer-aided diagnosis and risk factor analysis for diseases.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.39 no.6
• /
• pp.520-528
• /
• 2006

Free amino acids in epidermis function as a major component of Natural Moisturizing Factor (NMF), which maintains the optimal level of water in skin even at the low humidity. In fact, the depletion of free amino acids is reported in the epidermis of atopic dermatitis, the skin condition involving dryness. As an effort searching the dietary source for improving the level of water and free amino acid in epidermis, the dietary effects of silk protein, sericin (S) and fibroin (F) on trans epidermal water loss (TEWL), and plasma and epidermal levels of free amino acids were compared in this study. Thirty of male NC/Nga mice, an animal model of atopic dermatitis, were divided into three groups: group CA as an atopic control with control diet, group S: 1% sericin diet and group F: 1% fibroin diet. Ten of male BALB/c mice were served as group C (control group) with control diet. All mice were fed on diet and water ad libitum for 10weeks. Dry skin condition was established in group CA as TEWL was increased (148.7% of group C). In parallel, epidermal level of glutamate, one of major amino acids functioning as NMF, was dramatically decreased and epidermal levels of methionine and alanine were inversely elevated. Dietary supplementation of sericin (group S) reduced TEWL at the similar level with group C and increased epidermal levels of glutamate as well as serine and glycine, the other major amino acids as NMF. Despite a marked decrease of methionine and alanine, the reduction of TEWL and epidermal levels of glutamate, serine and glycine of group F were less than of group S. Furthermore, in contrast to similar levels of other free amino acids in plasma and epidermis of group S and group C, plasma and epidermal levels of other free amino acids, specifically phenylalanine, isoleucine, cysteine and tyrosine in epidermis of group F, were significantly higher than of group C. Together, our data demonstrate that dietary supplementation of sericin is more effective at improving dry skin condition that paralleled with the normalization of free amino acids in plasma and epidermis of NC/Nga mice.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.34 no.9
• /
• pp.1241-1248
• /
• 2010

In large-scale production of hydrogen, a PHE (Process Heat Exchanger) is a key component because the heat required to carry out the Sulfur-Iodine chemical reaction that yields hydrogen is transferred from a VHTR (Very High Temperature Reactor) by the PHE. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute established a helium gas loop for conducting performance test of components that are used in the VHTR. In this study, as a part of high-temperature structural-integrity evaluation of a designed PHE prototype that is scheduled to be tested in the helium gas loop, we carried out high-temperature structural-analysis modeling, thermal analysis, and thermal-expansion analysis for the designed PHE prototype. An appropriate constraint condition is proposed at the end of the in-flow and out-flow pipelines of the primary and secondary coolants and the proposed constraint condition will be applied to the design of the performance-test loop setup for the designed PHE prototype.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2011

A chronic drought stress has been imposed during non-rainy season(from winter to spring) since 1990s. We faced the most significant water crisis in 2001, and the drought was characterized by sultry weather and severe drought on a national scale. It has been widely acknowledged that the drought related damage is 2-3 times serious than floods. In the list of the world's largest natural disaster compiled by NOAA, 4 of the top 5 disasters are droughts. And according to the analysis from the NDMC report, the drought has the highest annual average damage among all the disasters. There was a very serious impact on the economic such as rising consumer price during the 2001 spring drought in Korea. There has been flood prevention measures implemented at national-level but for mitigation of droughts, there are only plans aimed at emergency (short-term) restoration rather than the comprehensive preventive measures. In addition, there is a lack of a clear set of indicators to express drought situation objectively, and therefore it is important and urgent to begin a systematic study. In this study, a nonstationary downscaling model using RCM based climate change scenario was first applied to simulate precipitation, and the simulated precipitation data was used to derive Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). The SPI under climate change was used to evaluate the spatio-temporal variability of drought through principal component analysis at three different time scales which are 2015, 2045 and 2075. It was found that spatio-temporal variability is likely to modulate with climate change.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.32 no.2A
• /
• pp.123-130
• /
• 2012

A cooling system is indispensable for the fossil and nuclear power plants which produce electricity by rotating the turbines with hot steam. A cycle of the typical cooling system includes pumping of seawater at the intake pump house, exchange of heat at the condenser, and discharge of hot water to the sea. The cooling type of the nuclear power plants in Korea recently evolves from the conventional surface intake/discharge systems to the submerged intake/discharge systems that minimize effectively an intake temperature rise of the existing plants and that are beneficial to the marine environment by reducing the high temperature region with an intensive dilution due to a high velocity jet and density differential at the mixing zone. It is highly anticipated that the future nuclear power plants in Korea will accommodate the submerged cooling system in credit of supplying the lower temperature water in the summer season. This study investigates the approach flow patterns at the velocity caps and discharge flow patterns from diffusers using the 3-D computational fluid dynamics code of $FLOW-3D^{(R)}$. The approach flow test has been conducted at the velocity caps with and without a cap. The discharge flow from the diffuser was simulated for the single-port diffuser and multi-ports diffuser. The flow characteristics to the velocity cap with a cap demonstrate that fish entrainment can significantly be minimized on account of the low vertical flow component around the cap. The flow pattern around the diffuser is well agreed with the schematic diagram by Jirka and Harleman.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.45-52
• /
• 2015

Purpose - Augmented reality (AR) content used in mobile media today can accommodate a wide variety of contextual information. This indicates that making people experience a sense of presence and flow is a very significant factor in augmented reality content. Flow represents a rich immersion potential as representing the progress of emotion and the means to facilitate the operation of the smart phone. Therefore, users will have friendly relational continuance behavior with products and brands that supply this experience. Based on that, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among smart phone AR application traits, presence, flow experience, and relational continuance behavior. First, AR application traits are defined as three categories sensory immersion, navigation, and manipulation, based on preceding studies. This study then examines the influence of AR application traits on the presence and flow experience and looks into the relation among presence, flow experience, and relational continuance behavior. This analysis suggests more detailed and concentrated strategic implications. Research design, data, and methodology - A research model is designed to examine the relation among AR application traits, presence, flow experience, and relational continued behavior. For data collection, questionnaire surveys were composed of multi-items for each component and the direct interview method was used for the interviews. To collect the data, after running the smart phone AR applications, the consumer behaviors of the respondents were generally determined. The questionnaire surveys were conducted for one month, October 2014. A total of 300 questionnaires were distributed with 278 questionnaires used for analysis, excluding the unanswered and insincere questionnaires. The data were analyzed using SPSS ver. 20.0 and LISREL ver. 8.51. Results - The following results are found: First, AR application traits have a significantly positive effect on presence with sensory immersion, navigation, and manipulation all having a significantly positive effect. Second, sensory immersion and manipulation among the AR application traits have a significantly positive effect on flow. However, navigation did not have a significantly positive effect on flow. Third, presence has a significantly positive effect on flow and has a significantly positive effect on relational continuance behavior. Moreover, flow also has a significantly positive effect on relational continuance behavior. This behavior tends to be formed since brands want to encourage relational continuance behavior and positive emotions with the brands being used. Relational continuance behavior accompanies repeat purchasing, positive word-of-mouth and recommendation activities, and forms of trust with the brand. Conclusions - The research results showed that smart phone AR traits had significantly positive effect on presence, flow, and relational continuance behavior. Based on this, smart phone AR application providers should establish an aggressive marketing strategy to accommodate more realistic problems in order to positively influence user behavior. Additionally, the marketers should make efforts to provide fun or convenience in the AR application operation process of the user.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.11 no.10
• /
• pp.81-92
• /
• 2013

Purpose - This study empirically analyzes the effect of improvements in the quality of service management performance of college education on traders' conscious change of business management innovation and diverse sales expertise for a year. The use of traders' conscious changes and sales expertise as variables for the verification of the effects of parameters related to the active trader's traditional education market is a desirable direction. The method of research reflects the quality of education service, management result, traders' conscious changes, and sales expertise to understand the precise essence and definition of teaching quality at merchant colleges through theoretical consideration. Moreover, its impact on traders' conscious changes and sales expertise in empirical analysis acts as an intermediary. Research design, data, methodology - The hypothesis of this study leverages the SPSS statistical program. To gather actual proof, sample survey for theoretical research examined 262 valid papers of the 300 papers written by 10 merchants who graduated from merchant's university. First, using the SERVQUAL model, Parasuraman et al. (1996) indicated that for quality of education service, the configuration of factors is the same as the sympathetic performance, that is, responsiveness and empathy, and traders are aware of these elements. However, our preliminary investigation revealed that traders' university education has been excluded as a component of quality of service in the earlier studies. Moreover, we found that certainty of knowledge, reliability, and sympathy are influenced by challenges and by the changing intentions of merchant consciousness. In addition, our study confirms that improvements in convincing abilities and sales technique have a positive impact. Second, merchants' and traders' expertise are proven to affect business performance. In other words, university education of traders and merchants affects the consciousness of consumers, and changes patterns of sales. Third, the quality of service management education and change in the consciousness has a considerable impact on the trader, thereby maximizing business performance and acting as an intermediary for verification. Fourth, the quality of service management education affects the trader's sales expertise to maximize business performance. Results - To summarize, the quality of college educational services relates to the improvement of business performance and the role of the resulting virtuous cycle. Consequently, we can look for suggestions in the traditional markets, where the Government pays attention to the exterior environmental factors as well as to the changing business environment. However, the most important aspect is the merchant awareness. That is, a merchant should understand the distribution environment. Several competitor and trend analyses should be conducted to meet customers' expectations positively and proactively cope with any challenges related to changes. Further, expertise in sales and marketing skills need to be acquired to improve customer convincing abilities and develop a customer-oriented mindset. Conclusions - According to the changes in consumption trends of business enterprises, new management techniques are required to survive competition by improving traditional markets, which will necessitate more competitive education programs in merchant universities.