• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.515-525
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• 2019

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a customized health promotion program (CHPP) on depression, cognitive functioning, and physical health of elderly women living alone in the community. Methods: A randomized comparison of pre-and post-test design was used with 62 participants assigned to either an intervention (n=32 in seven clusters) or a control group (n=30 in seven clusters) in 14 areas of a town. The final sample included 30 intervention participants who completed the CHPP for 10 weeks, and 26 control participants. The intervention group participated in the CHPP weekly; they were provided with instructions about coping with their chronic illnesses, lifestyle modification, risk management, providing emotional support to each other, and floor-seated exercise, which they were encouraged to do three times a week in their homes. Results: Significant group differences were found in depression (U=48.50, p<.001), cognitive functioning (U=2.50, p<.001), left arm flexibility (U=251.50, p=.023), right arm flexibility (U=225.00, p=.007), static balance (U=237.00, p=.012), and gait ability (U=190.50, p=.004). However, there were no significant differences in bothgrip strength and muscle mass between the two groups. Conclusion: The findings indicate that CHPP was overall effective at improving depression, cognitive functioning, and physical functioning of elderly women living alone, and could therefore be considered a positive program for community-dwelling elderly women living alone.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.304-310
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• 2019

Purpose: This study examined the work-related musculoskeletal pain and quality of life of hospital workers. Methods: Self-reported questionnaires were sent to 350 hospital workers at Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, of which 341 were returned. The questionnaire had four items that covered the demographic information, areas of musculoskeletal problems, pain rating scale, and quality of life. The analysis was completed using descriptive statistic, and the differences between pain and demographic variables were identified using a chi-square test. The differences between the type of occupation and quality of life were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance and a Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: The 12-month prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal pain was 86.1% of physical therapists, 86.5% of occupational therapists, 77.1% of dental hygienists, and 75.8% of nurses. A significant difference in the general and work related variables was observed between the subject with a physical burden and type of occupation. The most affected pain sites of the physical therapist included low back, hand and wrist, shoulder, and neck. The occupational therapists included the hand and wrist, shoulder, neck, but the nurses and dental hygienists reported the shoulder, back, hand and wrist. A significant difference in the quality of life was noted between the subjects in physical therapists and dental hygienists and the subjects in the nurses and occupational therapists (p=0.00). Conclusion: These findings show that hospital workers appear to be high risk for work-related musculoskeletal pain, and the quality of life of physical therapists and nurses was higher than that of dental hygienists and occupational therapists.

• Neonatal Medicine
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2021

Purpose: Meconium obstruction of prematurity (MOP) predisposes premature infants to intestinal perforation and prolonged hospitalization if not diagnosed and treated promptly. A standard contrast enema is less effective to treat infants with distal ileal obstructions because the contrast may not reach the obstructed areas. In an effort to avoid risky surgery, we administered oral contrast media to seven clinically diagnosed patients with MOP whose obstructions were not relieved via conventional sonography-guided contrast enema. We retrospectively evaluated whether oral nonionic water-soluble contrast media relieves MOP. Methods: Seven of 67 premature infants with MOP were administered oral contrast media from June 2015 to January 2019. Patients were followed-up radiographically for bowel distention and evacuation of contrast media after oral administration. We recorded radiographic improvements, meconium evacuation, time to first feeding after oral contrast media administration, maternal history, and neonatal clinical factors. Results: We evaluated five male and two female infants. The median gestational ages and body weights at birth were 27⁺⁵ weeks and 890 g, respectively. Radiography in five infants revealed multiple distended intestinal loops without air-fluid interfaces. Two infants had gasless abdomens, in which only stomach gas was visible. Oral contrast media (median, 2.5 mL) were administered at a median age of 7 days; five infants (5/7, 71.4%) responded to this treatment. The remaining two infants, who had ileal stenosis and hypoganglionosis, were surgically managed. Five infants (5/7, 71.4%) had maternal risk factors, and two (28.6%) were small for gestational age. Conclusion: Nonionic oral water-soluble contrast medium can serve as a valuable adjunct treatment in premature infants with meconium obstruction.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.37 no.12
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• pp.117-125
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• 2021

The occurrence of ground subsidence and sinkhole in downtown areas, which threatens the safety of citizens, has been frequently reported. Among the various mechanisms of a sinkhole, soil erosion through the damaged part of the sewer pipe was found to be the main cause in Seoul. In this study, a random forest model for predicting the occurrence of sinkholes caused by damaged sewer pipes based on sewage pipe information was trained using the information on the sewage pipe and the locations of the sinkhole occurrence case in Seoul. The random forest model showed excellent performance in the prediction of sinkhole occurrence after the optimization of its hyperparameters. In addition, it was confirmed that the sewage pipe length, elevation above sea level, slope, depth of landfill, and the risk of ground subsidence were affected in the order of sewage pipe information used as input variables. The results of this study are expected to be used as basic data for the preparation of a sinkhole susceptibility map and the establishment of an underground cavity exploration plan and a sewage pipe maintenance plan.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.71.1-71.12
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• 2021

Background: African swine fever (ASF) is a hemorrhagic fever occurring in wild boars (Sus scrofa) and domestic pigs. The epidemic situation of ASF in South Korean wild boars has increased the risk of ASF in domestic pig farms. Although basic reproduction number (R₀) can be applied for control policies, it is challenging to estimate the R₀ for ASF in wild boars due to surveillance bias, lack of wild boar population data, and the effect of ASF-positive wild boar carcass on disease dynamics. Objectives: This study was undertaken to estimate the R₀ of ASF in wild boars in South Korea, and subsequently analyze the spatiotemporal heterogeneity. Methods: We detected the local transmission clusters using the spatiotemporal clustering algorithm, which was modified to incorporate the effect of ASF-positive wild boar carcass. With the assumption of exponential growth, R₀ was estimated for each cluster. The temporal change of the estimates and its association with the habitat suitability of wild boar were analyzed. Results: Totally, 22 local transmission clusters were detected, showing seasonal patterns occurring in winter and spring. Mean value of R₀ of each cluster was 1.54. The estimates showed a temporal increasing trend and positive association with habitat suitability of wild boar. Conclusions: The disease dynamics among wild boars seems to have worsened over time. Thus, in areas with a high elevation and suitable for wild boars, practical methods need to be contrived to ratify the control policies for wild boars.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.1411-1416
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• 2018

Currently, most of the industrial areas like chemistry, manufacturing, shipbuilding, and steel, perform the work related to gas, and the staffs who are in charge of this work have a risk of suffocation without cognizing incidents like gas leak. For example, when the nitrogen gas leaked in 2015 at Paju, two people were killed and four people were injured. In 2018 at Pohang, four workers were suffocated to death from nitrogen gas. In order to solve this problem, this study realized the system in which workers could immediately cognize the gas leak and also deliver the situation to the staff in charge of safety at the same time, by installing the IoT device composed of gas sensor and communication module on the safety helmet that should be worn by field workers. This study is expected to be able to reduce the casualties caused by gas leak in industrial sites.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.41-46
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• 2019

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Taste perception is influenced by both nutritional factors and psychological factors. This study was undertaken to measure the 4 basic taste perceptions, nutrient intake, and mental health, and to examine the factors that affect insensitive taste perception in young Japanese women. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Young women in their late teens and twenties were enrolled as subjects. Taste perception was measured by applying the filter-paper disc method over areas of the chorda tympani nerve. Nutritional status was evaluated using brief, self-administered diet history questionnaires. The index of nutritional status was based on the 2015 Japanese dietary reference intakes. Mental health was assessed using the Japanese translation of the Profile of Mood States short version. This study was approved by the ethical committee at Osaka University. RESULTS: The normal taste perception group (four basic tastes [sweet, salty, sour, and bitter] identified as normal taste perception) comprised 55.4% of the subjects, while the abnormal taste perception group (more than 1 abnormal taste perception was perceived, regardless of flavor) comprised 44.6% of the subjects. There were no significant differences in nutrient intake (except manganese) and mental health between the normal and abnormal taste perception groups. Subjects who took 5 mg to less than 7.1 mg zinc per day were at significantly decreased risk of insensitive taste perception compared to subjects who consumed less than 5 mg zinc per day [Regression coefficient 0.831, 95% confidence interval 0.694-0.996]. CONCLUSION: The present results suggest that insensitive taste perception could be associated with zinc deficiency in young women in their late teens and twenties.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.233-242
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• 2019

Detailed description of malaria in low transmission areas is crucial for elimination. The current study aimed to provide a comprehensive description for malaria transmission in Jazan, a low transmission district, southwestern Saudi Arabia. Patients at a tertiary care hospital were recruited in our study between August 2016 and September 2018. Malaria diagnosis was performed through a species-specific nested polymerase chain reaction (nested PCR), microscopy and Paramax-$3^{TM}$ rapid detection test (RDT). Malaria was detected in 30 patients by the PCR, with point prevalence of 10.9%. Of these malaria infections, 80% was imported, 26.6% was asymptomatic and 23.3% was sub-microscopic. Malaria was reported throughout the year, with February/March and September/October peaks. Infection was significantly more in males than in females (P=0.01). Likewise, infections were detected more in febrile than in non-febrile patients (P=0.01). Adult aged 15-24 years, fever and travel were identified as high-risk factors. Malaria was primarily attributed to Plasmodium falciparum mono-infections, followed by P. vivax mono-infections and lastly to falciparum/vivax mixed infections accounting 76.6%, 16.6%, and 6.6% of PCR-confirmed malaria cases, respectively. The nested PCR was superior to the smear microscopy (sensitivity 76.6%; specificity 100%) and the RDT (sensitivity 83.3%, specificity 94.2%). The overall percent agreement between microscopy and the RDT was 92.7% (kappa=0.63). High proportion of imported malaria including sub-microscopic and sub-patent cases were described. We suggest that incorporation of molecular tool into the conventional malaria diagnosis is beneficial in Jazan district.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.285-292
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• 2019

With the popularization of PC, SNS and IoT, a lot of data is generated and the amount is increasing exponentially. Artificial neural network learning is a topic that attracts attention in many fields in recent years by using huge amounts of data. Artificial neural network learning has shown tremendous potential in speech recognition and image recognition, and is widely applied to a variety of complex areas such as medical diagnosis, artificial intelligence games, and face recognition. The results of artificial neural networks are accurate enough to surpass real human beings. Despite these many advantages, privacy problems still exist in artificial neural network learning. Learning data for artificial neural network learning includes various information including personal sensitive information, so that privacy can be exposed due to malicious attackers. There is a privacy risk that occurs when an attacker interferes with learning and degrades learning or attacks a model that has completed learning. In this paper, we analyze the attack method of the recently proposed neural network model and its privacy protection method.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.16-27
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• 2018

Since 2014, the Korean government has begun distributing LPG pipelines and LPG tankers to mountainous or island areas where it is difficult to open urban gas supply chains. When installing LPG supply facilities at village level and county level, it supplied consumers with 10 times higher quasi-low pressure (25 kPa to 100 kPa) than conventional gas supply pressure, increasing the risk of gas accident. Due to the pressure that is 10 times higher than the conventional gas supply pressure, large amounts of gas are released at a faster rate when leaked. In order to secure safety of quasi-low-pressure gas pipes, excess flow valves for quasi-low-pressure gas pipes are not developed and are not supplied in Korea. Therefore, Korea Gas Safety Corporation is investigating the performance standards and products of the excess flow valves in order to localize the excess flow valves.