• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.128-138
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• 1998

Background : There is increased recognition that rigorous approach to functional assessment will complement the assessment of clinical status. This study is to develop the appropriate visual function index in Korean patients with cataracts by the assessment of the reliability, validity of visual function indexes including VF-14. Methods : An prospective study was performed with 92 patients who had undergone either one eye or both eye cataract surgery by 3 ophthalmologists practicing at a university hospital. Patients were interviewed. and clinical data were obtained. Doctors were questioned with self-entered questionnaire forms. Medical record was examined to understand surgery process. The survey was conducted at 1-2 days before cataract surgery. Results : We used following measures : 7 visual function indexes, global measures of patients' trouble and satisfaction with vision, and best-corrected visual acuity(VA) in each eye. 7 visual function indexes showed a high internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha coefficients ${\geq}$ 0.86). The better visual acuity(operated eye, better eye), the higher patient satisfaction with vision, the lower symptom score, the lower patient trouble with vision was correlated with preoperative visual function index scores. Among 7 indexes, VF-12 with the exclusion of 2 items drivings from VF-14 is a high Cronbach's alpha coefficient and correlation coefficient and the highest $R^2$. Conclusion : We conclude that VF-12 is reliable and valid in Korea. So we suggest that in Korea, all items of VF-14, the visual function index, which is in use internationally, ought to be surveyed and VF-12 which has been excluded by 2 items of drivings from VF-14 ought to be used for analysis.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.68-76
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• 2006

A thermal time-based two-step phenological model was used to project flowering dates of Japanese cherry in South Korea from 1941 to 2100. The model consists of two sequential periods: the rest period described by chilling requirement and the forcing period described by heating requirement. Daily maximum and minimum temperature are used to calculate daily chill units until a pre-determined chilling requirement for rest release is met. After the projected rest release date, daily heat units (growing degree days) are accumulated until a pre-determined heating requirement for flowering is achieved. Model calculations using daily temperature data at 18 synoptic stations during 1955-2004 were compared with the observed blooming dates and resulted in 3.9 days mean absolute error, 5.1 days root mean squared error, and a correlation coefficient of 0.86. Considering that the phonology observation has never been fully standardized in Korea, this result seems reasonable. Gridded data sets of daily maximum and minimum temperature with a 270 m grid spacing were prepared for the climatological years 1941-1970 and 1971-2000 from observations at 56 synoptic stations by using a spatial interpolation scheme for correcting urban heat island effect as well as elevation effect. A 25km-resolution temperature data set covering the Korean Peninsula, prepared by the Meteorological Research Institute of Korea Meteorological Administration under the condition of Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change-Special Report on Emission Scenarios A2, was converted to 270 m gridded data for the climatological years 2011-2040, 2041-2070 and 2071-2100. The model was run by the gridded daily maximum and minimum temperature data sets, each representing a climatological normal year for 1941-1970, 1971-2000, 2011-2040, 2041-2070, and 2071-2100. According to the model calculation, the spatially averaged flowering date for the 1971-2000 normal is shorter than that for 1941-1970 by 5.2 days. Compared with the current normal (1971-2000), flowering of Japanese cherry is expected to be earlier by 9, 21, and 29 days in the future normal years 2011-2040, 2041-2070, and 2071-2100, respectively. Southern coastal areas might experience springs with incomplete or even no Japanese cherry flowering caused by insufficient chilling for breaking bud dormancy.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.112-121
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• 2017

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is the serious and fatal drug-associated adverse effect, but its incidence is very low and individual variation in severity is substantial. Acetaminophen (APAP)-induced liver injury accounts for >50% of reported DILI cases but little is known for the cause of individual variations in the severity. Intrinsic genetic variation is considered a key element but the identity of the genes was not well-established. Here, pre-biopsy method and microarray technique was applied to uncover the key genes for APAP-induced liver injury in mice, and a cause and effect experiment employing quantitative real-time PCR was conducted to confirm the correlation between the uncovered genes and APAP-induced hepatotoxicity. We identified the innately and differentially expressed genes of mice susceptible to APAP-induced hepatotoxicity in the pre-biopsied liver tissue before APAP treatment through microarray analysis of the global gene expression profiles (Affymetrix $GeneChip^{(R)}$ Mouse Gene 1.0 ST for 28,853 genes). Expression of 16 genes including Gdap10, Lpl, Gabra3 and Ccrn4l were significantly different (t-test: FDR <10%) more than 1.5 fold in the susceptible animals than resistant. To confirm the association with the susceptibility to APAP-induced hepatotoxicity, another set of animals were measured for the expression level of selected 4 genes (higher two and lower two genes) in the liver pre-biopsy and their sensitivity to APAP-induced hepatotoxicity was evaluated by post hoc. Notably, the expressions of Gabra3 and Lpl were significantly correlated with the severity of liver injury (p<0.05) demonstrating that these genes may be linked to the susceptibility to APAP-induced hepatotoxicity.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.77-87
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• 2017

Picophytoplankton, an important primary producer especially at the oligotrophic region, is known to contribute a significant portion of the total phytoplankton biomass in the East Sea of Korea. During autumn in the southwestern East Sea, frequent upwellings and oligotrophic conditions occur and annual variation of primary productivity is known to be significant. Moreover sea surface temperature (SST) of the East Sea is steeply increasing compared to global average increase, so various changes in marine ecosystem related with increase of SST are reported. Taking such circumstances into consideration, we measured the contribution from picophytoplankton fraction to total phytoplankton composition by size fraction of phytoplankton biomass during the autumn seasons from 2011, 2013 and 2015 and examined the variation of the phytoplankton composition. As a result of size fraction analyses, we found that the variation of contribution from picophytoplankton(<$3{\mu}m$) to total community of phytoplankton was high and the average fractions of picophytoplankton were measured as 38% (2011), 59% (2013), 7% (2015), respectively. The difference between measured SST and annual mean SST (${\Delta}T$) was highest ($+1.6^{\circ}C$) in autumn of 2013 and lowest ($-0.9^{\circ}C$) in autumn of 2015. The close positive correlation between ${\Delta}SST$ and fraction of picophytoplankton was confirmed($R^2$ > 0.9). The increase in SST at the southern East Sea was confirmed as one of the main environmental factors in the increase in the increase of the contribution from picophytoplankton. Monitoring of changes in the community structure of primary producers and the influences of the environmental factors including SST in the East Sea is necessary to understand the interactions of ecosystem of the East Sea and the climate change in the near future.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.307-316
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• 2008

The purpose of the study was to investigate nutritional status of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients and to find out the differences according to the stages of disease. From March to October, 2006, 41 stable male patients of mild to severe COPD patients were recruited from Seoul National University hospital. The patients' of body weight and fat free mass were assessed by bioelectrical impedance analysis. The nutritional status of the patients was also assessed by 3-day recall, index of nutritional quality (INQ), dietary diversity score (DDS), dietary variety score (DVS), food group index pattern and dietary quality index (DQI). The total of 41 patients were classified into three groups, stage I, stage II and stage III groups according to the classification of Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) standard. The mean age of the patients in each stage were 67.2-66.9 years showing no significant difference. The ratio of $FEV_1$/FVC were $57.5{\pm}7.3$, $46.9{\pm}7.6$ and $38.2{\pm}6.8%$, respectively showing significant differences according to the stages of disease. The fat free mass of the stage II ($48.2{\pm}4.7kg$) and III ($47.3{\pm}4.5kg$) was significantly lower than that of stage I ($53.1{\pm}6.9kg$) patients. There were significant correlation of fat free mass with $FEV_{1}$, and BMI (body mass index) with $FEV_{1}$/FVC ratio (p < 0.05). COPD patients showed the diet-related clinical symptoms of anorexia, dyspnea, dyspepsia, and chewing difficulty. Daily intakes of calorie, K, vitamin $B_2$ and folate of the patients were very low ($83.8{\pm}20.7%$, $58.9{\pm}14.4%$, $70.7{\pm}19.6%$ and $74.4{\pm}10.2%$, respectively) however, they did not significantly different according to the stages of disease. Daily intake of calcium was significantly lower in the stage III patients (p < 0.05). The mean scores of dietary variety score was significantly lower in the stage III patients (p < 0.001). Dietary quality index of the patients were not different among the stages of disease and the scores indicated poor quality of diet. As a summary, we found that body fat free mass, regularity of exercise, frequency of having snacks and dietary variety score were significantly associated with the severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2010

Objective : This study compared the psychological stresses of depressed patients' families with those of schizophrenic patients' families. We investigated the influence of depressive patients' clinical features and their families' demographic characteristics on the families' depressive symptoms and stresses. Methods : Participants were 23 family members of depressed patients and 20 family members of schizophrenic patients. We measured the patients' clinical features (duration of illness, number of previous hospitalizations, and satisfaction with medication), and each family member's socioeconomic status and psychological characteristics (depressive mood, anxiety, family stress, and stress response), analyzing the data via independent t-test, chi-square test, and correlation and hierarchical multiple regression analyses. Results : The depressed patients' average clinical global impression (CGI) was significantly higher than that of the schizophrenic patients. The depressed patients' family members showed stress responses significantly higher than those of schizophrenic patients' family members. Furthermore, in depressed patients, frequency of hospitalization was positively correlated with family members' stat anxiety. For both patient types, family stress was positively correlated with the patient's severity of illness and the family's state anxiety, trait anxiety, and stress response ; socioeconomic status was positively correlated with the family's depressive symptoms ; the family's state anxiety positively correlated with the family's trait anxiety and stress response ; and the family's trait anxiety positively correlated with the family's stress response. Socioeconomic status predicted the family's depressive symptoms, and socioeconomic, illness severity and stress response predicted family stress. Conclusion : These findings suggest that both depressed patients' families and schizophrenic patients' families suffer from psychological stress. The study data also have important clinical implications, in that families of depressed patients need psychiatric intervention, as well as the patients themselves. In particular, family intervention should focus on psycho-education and stress coping strategies.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.109-119
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• 2021

Global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions has rapidly increased abnormal climate events and geotechnical engineering hazards in terms of their size and frequency accordingly. Biopolymer-based soil treatment (BPST) in geotechnical engineering has been implemented in recent years as an alternative to reducing carbon footprint. Furthermore, thermo-gelating biopolymers, including agar gum, gellan gum, and xanthan gum, are known to strengthen soils noticeably. However, an explicitly detailed evaluation of the correlation between the factors, that have a significant influence on the strengthening behavior of BPST, has not been explored yet. In this study, machine learning regression analysis was performed using the UCS (unconfined compressive strength) data for BPST tested in the laboratory to evaluate the factors influencing the strengthening behavior of gellan gum-treated soil mixtures. General linear regression, Ridge, and Lasso were used as linear regression methods; the key factors influencing the behavior of BPST were determined by RMSE (root mean squared error) and regression coefficient values. The results of the analysis showed that the concentration of biopolymer and the content of clay have the most significant influence on the strength of BPST.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.55-76
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• 2010

This paper analyses interaction between yen/dollar exchange rates and NIKKEI index using bivariate GJR-GARCH(1,1) model. The data employed for the study is daily data series for the period of Jan. 4, 1995 through Aug. 30, 2009. One of main findings is that market inefficiency appears in the periods of financial crisis. Second, the volatility of exchange rates and stock returns has more increased in the wake of the volatility shock of the previous period during financial crisis than during non-financial crisis. Third, interestingly, the asymmetric volatility shock by bad news in those markets is bigger in financial crisis period than in non financial crisis. Fourth, in the period of current global financial crisis triggered by subprime mortgage crisis in U.S, volatility shock at the previous period is bigger than that of Asian financial crisis that happened in 1997. Lastly, the correlation between both returns of exchange rates and stock prices turns up positive according to the empirical estimation. This result may come from the fact that Japanese stock market does not have much attraction for international financial investment compared to stock markets of neighbouring countries like China, Korea and so on, while real sector's contribution to the economy is considered more importantly.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.509-519
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• 2019

The size of the global game market, including Korea, is gradually expanding, there are about 80,000 people in the game industry in Korea, and it has maintained a steady increase. As the domestic game has become more influential, games have become a means of helping people to communicate with each other in everyday life. Despite these changes, There is a lack of positive perspectives such as game use and interpersonal interactivity or communication enhancement. Therefore, this study analyzed the correlation of psychological and environmental factors of adolescents, game leadership, and social capital in order to understand the positive effects of games. As a result of research, psychological factors such as social motivation, game efficacy, and game norms have a statistically significant effect on game leadership. Parental supervision has a negative effect on game leadership and a statistically influenced positive effect on social capital. Overprotective parenting has a negative effect on both game leadership and social capital. Finally, game leadership has a statistically influenced positive effect on social capital. This paper is meaningful in that the research on the positive aspect of the game was conducted for the adolescent.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.221-233
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• 2013

Due to the fact that the speed of climate change in Republic of Korea exceeds the global average speed, sound conservation and tourism strategies should be prepared based on the comparison between the meteorological factors and the number of tourists. In this context, almost 70 percent of the industries in Ulleung-do are closely related to tourism; hence the significance of tourism is increasing. The annual precipitation variation does not show remarkable fluctuation, and most precipitation has a tendency to fall in summer and autumn However, for the years 2010 and 2011, a different trend was exhibited with higher winter precipitation than any other periods. Precipitation intensity is usually stronger in May (in the morning), June (in the afternoon), and no big difference is shown between morning and afternoon precipitation from July to September. The number of tourist is compared to both the precipitation at Ulleung-do and the number of advisories and warnings in the East Sea of Korea using correlation analysis. The results demonstrate that the meteorological factors that reduce the number of tourist are precipitation and the number of advisories and warnings.