• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.23-33
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of walking on a treadmill while using dynamic functional electrical stimulation (Dynamic FES) on functional ability and gait in chronic stroke patients. This was a prospective, randomized controlled study. Twelve patients with chronic stroke (>24 months) who were under grade 3 in dorsiflexor strength with manual muscle test were included and randomized into intervention (Dynamic FES) ($n_1$=7) and control (FES) ($n_2$=5). Both the Dynamic FES group and FES group were given a neuromuscular development treatment. The Dynamic FES group has implemented a total of 60 minutes of exercise treatment and gait training with Dynamic FES application. The FES group, with the addition of applying FES while sitting, has also implemented a total of 90 minutes of gait training on treadmill after the exercise treatment. Both two groups accomplished the program, twice a week, for a total of 24 times in a 12-week period. Exercise treatment, gait training on treadmill, and both Dynamic FES and FES were implemented for 30 minutes each. Korean version activities-specific balance confidence scale (K-ABC) was measured to determine self-efficacy in balance function. Timed up and go (TUG) test was performed to evaluate the physical performance. K-ABC, TUG, Berg balance scale (BBS), modified physical performance test (mPPT) and G-walk were evaluated at baseline and at 12 weeks. After 12 weeks, statistically significant differences (p<.05) were apparent in the Dynamic FES group in the changes in K-ABC and BBS. mPPT, TUG, gait speed, stride length and stance phase duration (%) were compared with the FES group. K-ABC had higher correlation to BBS, along with mPPT to TUG. Our results suggest that walking with Dynamic FES in chronic stroke patients may be beneficial for improving their balance confidence, functional ability and gait.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.103 no.4
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• pp.564-573
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• 2014

The objective of this study was to select a representative coastal disaster prevention forest type for each coastal area. In this study, we used cluster analysis with the results obtained from investigation for density of growing stock, tree height, DBH, and forest width and length of major coastal disaster prevention forests distributed in the west, the south, and the east coasts. The results showed that the coastal disaster prevention forests for each coast were classified into two types: a forest type with small DBH and high growing stock density (W1) or with high tree height (W2) in the west coast, a forest type with small tree height (S1) or with large DBH (S2) in the south coast, and a forest type with small growing stock density (E1) or with small tree height and low DBH (E2) in the east coast. The coastal disaster prevention forests located in Gurye beach (Hwangchon-ri, Wonbuk-myeon, Taean-gun, Chungcheongnam-do) and in Gohsapo beach (Unsna-ri, Byeonsan-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do) were selected as the representative forests of W1 and W2, respectively. In addition, the coastal disaster prevention forests located in Namyang beach (Namyang-ri, Seolcheon-myeon, Namhae-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do) and in Donggo beach (Donggo-ri, Sinji-myeon, Wando-gun, Jeollanam-do) were selected as the representative forests of S1 and S2, respectively. Last, the coastal disaster prevention forests located in Bonggil beach (Bonggil-ri, Yangbuk-myeon, Gyeongju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do) and in Anmeok beach (Gyeonso-dong, Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do) were selected as the representative forests of E1 and E2, respectively. Our finding is expected to be used as baseline data in establishing the most appropriate coastal disaster prevention forest for each coast.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.373-382
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• 2000

Individual genetic susceptibilities to cancers may result from several factors including differences in xenobiotics metabolism to chemical carcinogens, DNA repair, altered oncogenes and suppressor genes, and environmental carcinogen exposures. Among them, genetic polymorphisms of metabolizing enzymes to chemical carcinogens have been recognized as a major important host factors in human cancers. They have two main types of enzymes: the phase I cytochrome P-450 mediating enzymes (CYPs) and phase II conjugating enzymes. The purpose of this study is to determine the frequencies of genotypes of phase I (CYP1A1 and CYP2E1) and phase II (NAT2) metabolizing enzymes in healthy control and head and neck cancer patients of Korean and to identify the relative high risk genotypes of these metabolizing enzymes to head and neck cancer in Korean. The author has analyzed 132 head and neck cancer patients and 113 healthy controls using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The results were as following; 1. The frequencies of genotypes of CYP1A1, CYP2E1 and NAT2 in healthy control were as following; CYP1A1 exon 7 polymorphism; Ile/Ile: Ile/Val: Val/Val = 59.3%: 36.3%: 4.4% CYP2E1 Pst I polymorphism, C1/C1: C1/C2: C2/C2 = 61.1%: 32.1%: 6.2% NAT2 polymorphism; F/F: F/S: S/S = 43.4%: 48.7%: 8.0% 2. In analysis of phase I enzyme, Val/Val genotype in CYP1A1 exon 7 polymorphism and C2/C2 genotype in CYP2E1 Pst I polymorphism were associated with relative high risks to head and neck cancers (Odds' ratio: 2.09 and 1.37, respectively). 3. Among the genotypes of NAT2 enzyme polymorphism, S/S genotype of NAT2 enzyme had 1.03 times of relative risk to head and neck cancers. 4. In combined genotyping of CYP1A1, CYP2E1, and NAT2 enzymes polymorphisms, the patients with Val/Val and C1/C1, C2/C2 and fast acetylator, and Val/Val and fast acetylator had higher relative risks than the patients with each baseline of combined genotypes (Odds' ratio: 2.82, 1.98 and 2.1, respectively). These results suggest the combined genotypes of Val/Val and C1/C1, C2/C2 and fast acetylator, and Val/Val and fast acetylator were more susceptible to head and neck cancers in Korean. And genotyping of metabolizing enzymes could be useful for predicting individual susceptibility to head and neck cancer.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.85 no.1
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• pp.74-79
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• 2022

Background: The effect of underlying chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during a pandemic is controversial. The purpose of this study was to examine the prognosis of COVID-19 according to the underlying COPD. Methods: COVID-19 patients were assessed using nationwide health insurance data. Comorbidities were evaluated using the modified Charlson Comorbidity Index (mCCI) which excluded COPD from conventional CCI scores. Baseline characteristics were assessed. Univariable and multiple logistic and linear regression analyses were performed to determine effects of variables on clinical outcomes. Ages, sex, mCCI, socioeconomic status, and underlying COPD were selected as variables. Results: COPD patients showed older age (71.3±11.6 years vs. 47.7±19.1 years, p<0.001), higher mCCI (2.6±1.9 vs. 0.8±1.3, p<0.001), and higher mortality (22.9% vs. 3.2%, p<0.001) than non-COPD patients. The intensive care unit admission rate and hospital length of stay were not significantly different between the two groups. All variables were associated with mortality in univariate analysis. However, underlying COPD was not associated with mortality unlike other variables in the adjusted analysis. Older age (odds ratio [OR], 1.12; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.11-1.14; p<0.001), male sex (OR, 2.29; 95% CI, 1.67-3.12; p<0.001), higher mCCI (OR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.20-1.41; p<0.001), and medical aid insurance (OR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.03-2.32; p=0.035) were associated with mortality. Conclusion: Underlying COPD is not associated with a poor prognosis of COVID-19.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.24-33
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• 2001

this paper describes a baseline for an implementation of a corpus-based Korean TTS system. The conventional TTS systems using small-sized speech still generate machine-like synthetic speech. To overcome this problem we introduce the corpus-based TTS system which enables to generate natural synthetic speech without prosodic modifications. The corpus should be composed of a natural prosody of source speech and multiple instances of synthesis units. To make a phone level synthesis unit, we train a speech recognizer with the target speech, and then perform an automatic phoneme segmentation. We also detect the fine pitch period using Laryngo graph signals, which is used for prosodic feature extraction. For break strength allocation, 4 levels of break indices are decided as pause length and also attached to phones to reflect prosodic variations in phrase boundaries. To predict the break strength on texts, we utilize the statistical information of POS (Part-of-Speech) sequences. The best triphone sequences are selected by Viterbi search considering the minimization of accumulative Euclidean distance of concatenating distortion. To get high quality synthesis speech applicable to commercial purpose, we introduce a domain specific database. By adding domain specific database to general domain database, we can greatly improve the quality of synthetic speech on specific domain. From the subjective evaluation, the new Korean corpus-based TTS system shows better naturalness than the conventional demisyllable-based one.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.65-73
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• 2017

In this paper, we propose a stereo matching method to improve the image quality at the hole and the disparity discontinuity regions. The stereo matching method extracts disparity map finding corresponding points between stereo image pair. However conventional stereo matching methods have a problem about the tradeoff between accuracy and precision with respect to the length of the baseline of the stereo image pair. In addition, there are hole and disparity discontinuity regions which are caused by textureless regions and occlusion regions of the stereo image pair. The proposed method extracts initial disparity map improved at disparity discontinuity and miss-matched regions using modified AD-Census-Gradient method and adaptive weighted cost aggregation. And then we conduct the disparity map refinement to improve at miss-matched regions, while also improving the accuracy of the image. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method produces high-quality disparity maps by successfully improving miss-matching regions and accuracy while maintaining matching performance compared to existing methods which produce disparity maps with high matching performance. And the matching performance is increased about 3.22(%) compared to latest stereo matching methods in case of test images which have high error ratio.

• Journal of Cadastre & Land InformatiX
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.23-38
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• 2021

In this paper, we analyzed the possibility of utilizing LX-PPS GNSS permanent stations whose antennas are installed on the building rooftop for the purpose of high-precision GNSS positioning services. We picked 15 pairs of adjacent GNSS permanent stations operated by LX-PPS and NGII, and then produced 3-year-long time series using the high-precision data processing software called GIPSY. Patterns and trends of position estimates were compared and analyzed. Horizontal and vertical deviations including the linear velocities coincide with the well-known crustal deformation rates of the Korean peninsula. We also observed almost the same annual or seasonal patterns from those nearby sites. After detrending the linear velocity, the amplitude and phase of annual signals almost perfectly match each other within the baseline length of 2 km. By subtracting seasonal signals, the RMS and standard deviations in LX-PPS PPGR with respect to NGII KANR are about 1, 2, and 5 mm in the north-south, east-west, and vertical directions, respectively. From this analysis it can be concluded that the rooftop-installed LX-PPS sites show similar level of stability and positioning performance comparable to those ground-mounted NGII stations.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.6_1
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• pp.1527-1539
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• 2022

As coastal erosion of the east coast is accelerating, the need for scientific and quantitative coastal erosion monitoring technology for a wide area increases. The traditional method for observing changes in the coast was precision monitoring based on field surveys, but it can only be applied to a small area. The airborne bathymetric Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) system is a technology that enables economical surveying of coastal and seabed topography in a wide area. In particular, it has the advantage of constructing topographical data for the intertidal zone, which is a major area of interest for coastal erosion monitoring. In this study, time series analysis of coastal seabed topography acquired in Aug, 2021 and Mar. 2022 on the littoral cell GW36 in Gangwon was performed using the Seahawk Airborne Bathymetric LiDAR (ABL) system. We quantitatively monitored the topographical changes by measuring the baseline length, shoreline and Digital Terrain Model (DTM) changes. Through this, the effectiveness of the ABL surveying technique was confirmed in coastal erosion monitoring.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.23-42
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• 2015

This study investigated the harmonic preference of children and adolescents depending on age and musical training. A total of 684 primary and secondary school students participated in this study. For this study, a four-measure melody was composed and constructed in four levels of harmonic complexity, determined by the rate of nonharmonic notes used and immediacy of harmonic resolution. Participants rated the degree of their perceived complexity and their preferences after listening to each musical stimulus. Ratings from the participants were analyzed in terms of the effect of age and the length of musical training. The results showed that younger students demonstrated little to no change in their preference regardless of the complexity level. Middle and high school students showed significantly decreased preference with increased harmonic complexity. High school students with more musical instrument training perceived changes in harmonic complexity more sensitively and showd higher level of optimal complexity. Younger students was affected by musical training relatively less than older students. This study presents the baseline data to be considered when determining the appropriate level of harmonic complexity for music appreciation of young population.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2018

The activity period and feeding ecology of the Iksookimia yongdokensis were investigated to obtain baseline data for its ecological characteristics in the Chuksan Stream and Gokgang Stream, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea from 2015 to 2016. I. yongdokensis were active on cobble, pebble and sand bottom from March to November when the water temperature exceeded $10^{\circ}C$, but tended to overwinter in cobble and pebble during the winter months (December~February) when the water temperature was lower than $10^{\circ}C$. During the day from 9 am to 15 pm, individuals of I. yongdokensis were highly active with a high rate of food consumption. I. yongdokensis activley fed on the surface of stone, pebble and sand as a filter feeder. Their main food sources analyzed with an index of relative importance (IRI) include Chironomidae (54.7%), Branchiopoda (10.1%), Rotatoria (8.7%), Arcellidae (8.6%), Chlorophyceae (6.5%) and Bacillariophyceae (5.1%). Juveniles of I. yongdokensis (total length 20~39 mm) fed on small-sized preys such as Rotatoria, Branchiopoda and Arcellidae, but they exhibited a transition in their prey-size markedly dominated by large-sized preys such as Chironomidae and Ephemeroptera as they grow.