• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.71-96
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• 2011

Within the traditional medical delivery system, patients residing in medically vulnerable areas, those with body movement difficulties, and nursing facility residents have had limited access to good healthcare services. However, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provides us with a convenient and useful means of overcoming distance and time constraints. ICT is integrated with biomedical science and technology in a way that offers a new high-quality medical service. As a result, rapid technological advancement is expected to play a pivotal role bringing about innovation in a wide range of medical service areas, such as medical management, testing, diagnosis, and treatment; offering new and improved healthcare services; and effecting dramatic changes in current medical services. The increase in aging population and chronic diseases has caused an increase in medical expenses. In response to the increasing demand for efficient healthcare services, a telehealth service based on ICT is being emphasized on a global level. Telehealth services have been implemented especially in pilot projects and system development and technological research. With the service about to be implemented in earnest, it is necessary to study its overall acceptance by consumers, which is expected to contribute to the development and activation of a variety of services. In this sense, the study aims at positively examining the structural relationship among the acceptance factors for telehealth services based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Data were collected by showing audiovisual material on telehealth services to online panels and requesting them to respond to a structured questionnaire sheet, which is known as the information acceleration method. Among the 1,165 adult respondents, 608 valid samples were finally chosen, while the remaining were excluded because of incomplete answers or allotted time overrun. In order to test the reliability and validity of the assessment scale items, we carried out reliability and factor analyses, and in order to explore the causal relation among potential variables, we conducted a structural equation modeling analysis using AMOS 7.0 and SPSS 17.0. The research outcomes are as follows. First, service quality, innovativeness of medical technology, and social influence were shown to affect perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the telehealth service, which was statistically significant, and the two factors had a positive impact on willingness to accept the telehealth service. In addition, social influence had a direct, significant effect on intention to use, which is paralleled by the TAM used in previous research on technology acceptance. This shows that the research model proposed in the study effectively explains the acceptance of the telehealth service. Second, the research model reveals that information privacy concerns had a insignificant impact on perceived ease of use of the telehealth service. From this, it can be gathered that the concerns over information protection and security are reduced further due to advancements in information technology compared to the initial period in the information technology industry, and thus the improvement in quality of medical services appeared to ensure that information privacy concerns did not act as a prohibiting factor in the acceptance of the telehealth service. Thus, if other factors have an enormous impact on ease of use and usefulness, concerns over these results in the initial period of technology acceptance may become irrelevant. However, it is clear that users' information privacy concerns, as other studies have revealed, is a major factor affecting technology acceptance. Thus, caution must be exercised while interpreting the result, and further study is required on the issue. Numerous information technologies with outstanding performance and innovativeness often attract few consumers. A revised bill for those urgently in need of telehealth services is about to be approved in the national assembly. As telemedicine is implemented between doctors and patients, a wide range of systems that will improve the quality of healthcare services will be designed. In this sense, the study on the consumer acceptance of telehealth services is meaningful and offers strong academic evidence. Based on the implications, it can be expected to contribute to the activation of telehealth services. Further study is needed to assess the acceptance factors for telehealth services, such as motivation to remain healthy, health care involvement, knowledge on health, and control of health-related behavior, in order to develop unique services according to the categorization of customers based on health factors. In addition, further study may focus on various theoretical cognitive behavior models other than the TAM, such as the health belief model.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.11-17
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• 2013

Objectives : This study was designed to investigate the prevalence of depressive symptoms in patients with breast cancer and to identify demographic variables and clinical characteristics impact on depressive symptoms and health related quality of life in patients with breast cancer in a university hospital. Methods : Fourty-one patients with breast cancer were selected, who had visited the department of General surgery of the Wonkwang University hospital with a diagnosis of breast cancer regularly during the period November, 2010-May, 2011. All of subjects were evaluated for the depression, anxiety and the health related quality of life with Beck Depression Inventory(BDI), anxiety subscale of Personality Assessment Inventory(PAI) and Short-Form 36 Health Survey-Korean version(SF-36-K). Patients were divided into depressive symptoms and non-depressive symptoms group according to the BDI score. We compared SF-36-K between two groups, and analized multiple regression with depression and health related quality of life as criterion variables and demographic and clinical characteristics. Results : The prevalence of depression in patients with breast cancer in a University hospital was 36.4%. Compared to the non-depression, depressed patients with breast cancer appeared significantly lower mean scores on six subscales in SF-36-K : Physical function(p<.01), Role-physical(p<.001), General health(p<.05), Social function(p<.001), Role-emotional(p<.001) and Mental health(p<.001). But there was no significant difference between two groups in Vitality and Bodily pain. Anxiety, level of education and presence of enforcement of chemotherapy(63.6%) were significant explanation variables for depressive symptoms. And type of surgery and age(55.8%) were significant explanation variables for health related quality of life. Conclusions : The prevalence of depressive symptoms in patients with breast cancer in a University hospital was 36%. The depressive symptoms had not only negative impact on the health related quality of life but also important explanation variable for health related quality of life. These results suggest that depressive symptoms in patients with breast cancer should be evaluated and treated for improving patient's health related quality of life.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.457-465
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• 2016

Around the world, a lot of people are migrating to the urban areas, and new cities are continuously being constructed. Currently about 54 percent of the world's population live in the urban areas, and by 2050, it is expected to increase to 66 percent; thus, managing the urban areas is one of the most important challenges of sustainable development in the 21st century. The key to successful urban management is to preserve the urban green spaces, which provide aesthetic, psychological and health benefits to the urban citizens. However, the benefits of the urban green spaces are not fully appreciated within the societies due to the difficulty of economic valuation of the urban green spaces. This study examined whether the view of the Songdo Central Park has a positive influence on the prices of the surrounding apartments, using the hedonic pricing method. The results showed that a positive relation exists between the view of the Songdo Central Park and the price of apartment. The price of an apartment with the view of the Songdo Central Park was 5 percent higher than that of an apartment without the view. In addition, it was estimated that the proximity to the Songdo Central Park has an influence on the housing price as well.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.335-344
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• 2018

As the damage caused by the abnormal climate due to climate change is increasing, the interest in resilience is increasing as a countermeasure to this. In this study, the resilience of Suwon city was examined and the plan to improve the resilience were derived against climate impacts such as drought, heatwave, and heavy rain. Urban resilience is divided into social resilience (e.g. vulnerable groups, access to health services, and training of human resources), economic resilience (e.g. housing stability, employment stability, income equality, and economic diversity), urban infrastructure resilience (e.g.residential vulnerability, capacity to accommodate victims, and sewage systems), and ecological resilience (e.g. protection resources, sustainability, and risk exposure). The study evaluated the urban resilience according to the selected indicators in local level. In this study, the planning elements to increase the resilience in the urban dimension were derived and suggested the applicability. To be a resilient city, the concept and value of resilience should be included in urban policy and planning. It is critical to monitor and evaluate the process made by the actions in order to continuously adjust the plans.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.556-567
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• 2019

As the number of skyscrapers in micro water grid units such as green building and smart building is increasing in the world, the green building certification system is being implemented to solve problems such as increased demand for water resources and energy. However, researches on the use of sustainable water resources like water reuse and water conservation through linkage and continuous use of water resources, while the power and energy sectors are actively conducting R&D projects in the green building certification system on the micro water grid level. Therefore, this paper analyzes the characteristics and limitations of the water resources sector for the continuous utilization of multiple water sources in the green building certification system, due to the inadequate consideration of sustainability. Then investigates whether various water resources such as constants, nature, and alternative water resources are continuously used in and out of the green building or smart building and complex in the micro water grid unit to suggest evaluation methods and performance evaluation standards.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.291-304
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• 2023

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have become an increasing concern in terms of human health risks as well as aesthetic impairment due to their toxicity. The reduction of water pollutants, especially nutrients from non-point sources in a reservoir watershed, is fundamental for HABs prevention. We investigated the pollutant removal efficiencies of a constructed wetland to evaluate its feasibility as a method for controlling non-point sources located in the Annaecheon stream within the Daecheong Reservoir watershed. The overall removal efficiencies of pollutants were as follows: BOD 14.3%, COD 17.9%, SS 50.0%, T-N 19.0%, and T-P 35.4%. These results indicate that constructed wetlands are effective in controlling pollutants from non-point sources. The seasonal variation in removal efficiency depended on the specific pollutants. The removal efficiencies of BOD, COD, and T-N were stable throughout the year, except during winter, which might have been influenced by lower microorganism activity. In contrast, T-P showed a consistent removal efficiency even during the winter season, suggesting that the wetland can reduce external phosphorus loading to the reservoir. Regarding the effects of pollutant loadings on removal efficiency, the effluent concentrations of all pollutants were significantly decreased compared to those in the influent in case of middle and high loadings. This demonstrates that constructed wetlands can handle high pollutant loads, including the initial runoff during rainfall, to prevent reservoir eutrophication. Despite the various strengths of wetland water purification, there are limitations as passive treatment. Therefore, more case studies should be conducted to suggest optimum operational conditions for constructed wetlands, taking into consideration reservoir-specific characteristics.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.595-605
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• 2010

Objectives : A precedent research has documented that occupational stress is closely associated with increased the risk of fatigue and decreased in job satisfaction. This study was conducted in an effort to assess the relationship of occupational stress to self-perceived fatigue and job satisfaction by using job strain model. Methods : The number of respondents was 122 dental hygienist who work in dental clinic and period of the investigation was July 2009 through september 2009. A structured questionnaire was employed to evaluate the participants' sociodemographics, job-related factors, health-related behaviors, occupational stress, job satisfaction and self-perceived fatigue. Occupational stress and self-perceived fatigue were assessed using the Korean Occupational Stress Scale-Short form (KOSS-SF) and the Multidimensional Fatigue Scale (MFS), respectively. Results : In job strain model, the ratio of Q2(High Strain Job) group that more susceptible to disease by stress than other group was 16% and the proportion of high fatigue group(Q3, Q4 group) and low job satisfaction group(Q3, Q4 group) was 48%, 45% respectively. In logistic regression analyses, a High Strain Job group was associated with higher odds of react factor(fatigue, job satisfaction) and the odds was down by 3.3%~7.5% after adjustment for age, smoking, alcohol drinking, regular exercise. So the effective strategy for fatigue, job satisfaction reduction for dental hygienist requires additional program focusing on innovated work environment that provide a enough leisure time and exercise program considering the personality traits. Conclusions : The results of this study suggest that occupational stress is a determinant predictor of self perceived fatigue and job satisfaction. Thus, a stress management program for the reduction of occupational stress, and the promotion of dental hygienist impact assessment health and quality of life is strongly recommended.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.401-408
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• 2015

Conventional model updating methods for the structures have used global structural responses which are modal parameters obtained through vibration measurements. Although models updated by modal parameters estimate global structural responses accurately, they have difficulties to predict local responses for safety assesment of structural members. The safety of structural members in the structures has been evaluated through the stress estimation based on strain measurements. Thus, this study additionally uses measured strain responses of structural members to perform model updating besides modal parameters. In the proposed method, the objective functions are set to the differences of the global and local responses obtained from updated model and measurement and those functions are minimized by NSGA-II, one of the multi-objective optimization techniques. The strain responses predicted from updated model are used for safety assessment of the steel frame structures. The proposed method are verified by numerical and experimental studies through the impact hammer tests for a steel frame specimen.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.292-297
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• 2020

Background: Ankle sprain is one of the most common musculoskeletal injuries in the sports population or during usual daily life activities. The sprain can cause functional ankle instability (FAI), and it is very important to treat FAI. However, the optimum intervention method for FAI has yet to be determined. Objects: This study investigated the impact that virtual reality (VR) training program on balance with ankle kinesio taping for FAI. Methods: Twenty-two people were selected for the study and randomly divided into the experimental (n = 11) and the control group (n = 11). The experimental group had attached kinesio taping on the ankle and then implemented a virtual reality exercise program for 30 minutes a day. Nintendo Wii Fit Plus was used for the VR intervention three times a week for four weeks. The control group performed only two measurements without intervention. Results: There were no statistically significant differences in overall, anterior-posterior (AP), medial-lateral (ML) index of the static balance, and significant differences in overall, AP, ML index of the dynamic balance when taping and VR exercise were applied at the same time (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in overall and ML index of static and dynamic balance compared with before and after assessment between the experimental and the control group, and found differences in AP index of static and dynamic balance (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Kinesio taping may not influence the balance of FAI as great as people expected. VR approach does not affect the static balance of FAI, but it influences dynamic balance in overall, AP, ML index. The authors suggest that VR-based exercises can be used as an additional concept in clinicians for FAI or as part of a home program because the exercises still have limitations.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1333-1340
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• 2012

Epithelial ovarian cancer represents the most lethal gynecological cancer, and the high mortality rate makes this malignancy a major health concern. Poor prognosis results from an inability to detect ovarian cancers at an early, curable stage, as well as from the lack of an effective therapy. Thus, effective and novel strategies for prevention and treatment with non-toxic agents merit serious consideration. Resveratrol, obtained from grapes, berries, peanuts and red wine, has been shown to have a potent growth-inhibitory effect against various human cancer cells as well as in in vivo preclinical cancer models. The objective here was to evaluate potential antitumor effects of resveratrol in both in vitro and in vivo NuTu-19 ovarian cancer models. In vitro an invasion assay was performed. After 48 h, the numbers of viable cells that invaded the extracellular matrix layer were reduced by 94% with resveratrol in comparison to control. For the in vivo anti-tumor assessment, 10 rats were injected with NuTu-19 cells into the ovarian bursa. Thereafter, half were provided with a diet mixed with a dose of 100 mg resveratrol/kg body weight/day for 28 days. Following sacrifice, anticancer effects were assessed by histological evaluation of ovarian as well as surrounding tissues, and immunohistochemical detection of cell proliferation and apoptosis, but there were no observable differences between the control and resveratrol-treated groups for any of the biological endpoints. While resveratrol is effective in suppressing the in vitro cellular invasion of NuTu-19 ovarian cancer cells, these effects do not appear to impact on in vivo NuTu-19 ovarian cancers in rats.