• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.127-131
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• 2008

A refractometric glucose biosensor incorporating a vertically coupled microring resonator in polymers was proposed and realized. The ring was covered with a target analyte of glucose solution with a certain concentration, so that its effective refractive index could be altered and, as a result, the resonance wavelength of the sensor was shifted. Therefore the concentration of the glucose solution can be estimated by observing the shift in the resonance wavelength. Two schemes were exploited for enhancing the sensitivity of the sensor. First, the effective refractive index of the polymeric waveguide used for the resonator sensor was adjusted to approach that of the target analyte as best as possible. Second, the ring waveguide, which serves as a crucial sensing part, was appropriately over-etched to enlarge its contact area with the analyte. The proposed resonator sensor was designed with the beam propagation method. The refractive indices of the core and cladding polymer involved were 1.430 and 1.375 respectively, leading to the waveguide's effective refractive index of ${\sim}1.390$, which is faiirly close to that of the glucose solution of ${\sim}1.333$. The prepared ring resonator with the $400-{\mu}m$ radius exhibited the free spectral range of 0.66 nm, the bandwidth of 0.15 nm, and the quality factor of 10,000. For the sensor operating at 1,550 nm wavelength, the achieved sensitivity was as great as 0.28 pm/(mg/dL), which is equivalent to 200 nm/RIU.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 2015

Background: The recent change in pharmaceutical education system following the paradigm shift to patient-oriented pharmacy service requires an in-depth discussion to reorganize a future direction and establish a basis for maximizing social values of community pharmacy service. Objective: This study was conducted to review the current status of community pharmacy service provision in Korea based on published literatures. Methods: The electronic databases of National Digital Science Library and Electronic National Assembly Library were used to search the journal articles and dissertation papers. A search term "community pharmacy" was used and the published period was limited to papers published after year 2001, when the legal separation of prescribing and dispensing was implemented. Relevant study reports were also searched manually. Information about pharmacy service provision and study outcomes were retrieved from the selected papers, and classified by predefined individual service scope. Results: A total 33 papers reporting services provided by community pharmacies were selected (journal article 11, dissertation paper 17, and study report 5). Pharmacy services identified in these papers could be classified into prescription dispensing service, pharmaceutical care service, self medication service, other products service, and health promotion service. Twenty papers reported prescription dispensing services, three papers reported pharmaceutical care service, and only two papers reported health promotion service. Current community pharmacy services are highly dependent on prescription drugs while expanded services such as pharmaceutical care and health promotion are peripheral. Most prevalent research topic was medication counseling service (18 papers), reflecting that community pharmacists generally consider it to be the most important and fundamental service. Overall, current pharmacy services are very limited and focus on prescription dispensing service. Conclusion: At this point of time requiring expansion and quality improvement of community pharmacy services, we suggest further lively discussion to strengthen pharmacist's functional identity and set conditions for providing socially expected services.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.52-55
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• 2005

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of continuous lateral shoot pinching and gradual adjustment of drip irrigation lines in improving plant health as well as fruit yield and quality in white-spined cucumber grown in the greenhouse. Grafted white-spined cucumber seedlings were established at a density of 18,000 plants per ha in a greenhouse. Main stems were pinched at 21st node. Each of the lateral shoots was pinched at the 3rd node and 2-3 fruits per lateral shoot were harvested. Drip irrigation lines were gradually adjusted to provide water to the area of maximum root concentration. Plants grown with these combined treatments produced $55\%$ more lateral shoots and 38% more marketable yield, as compared to the control.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartB
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• v.10B no.2
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• pp.151-156
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• 2003

The vergence control method is presented for a parallel-axls stereo camera (PASC) using a signal processing technique such as shift, (rotation), and scaling. The PASC is considered as the simplest one of binocular stereo cameras. However, its major limitation lies in the controllability of vergence since its left and right imaging sensors of CCDs are fixed. On the other hand, a horizontal-moving-axis stereo camera (HMASC) with movable imaging sensors is able to control the vergence by moving its CCDs horizontally. In spite of its vergence controllability, there is a major drawback in the implementation because of complicated mechanical structure and the additional cost. To overcome the vergence control problem of the PASC, an operational principle of the HMASC is applied to the PASC. To be specific, without any additional hardware the vergence control problem of the PASC is solved with the signal processing technique. Assuming the virtual displacement between CCD's, a disappearing part of acquired images is removed and the original image site is recovered via interpolation. Experimental results show that the vergence control between stereo images captured by the PASC it possible with an acceptable degradation of the image quality defending on the virtual displacement of CCDs.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.689-705
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to examine the geographical distribution and the clustering characteristics as an industrial cluster in order to provide alternative fundamental data for the preparation of the policies to facilitate the development of the Green Energy Industry. The main source of the data in this study is the outcome of a survey conducted to the firms and environment specialist from June 21st, 2010 to July 23rd, 2010. The Green Energy related companies in Daegyeong region are clustered around Pohang and Gumi, Gyeongbuk, and Dalseo District of Daegu Metropolitan City. The core element of the sustainability of the Green Energy Industry in the region is the inducement of the large-scale corporate presence in the region as well as the technical and geographical proximity. That is, the fact that there are sister companies established by the large scale corporate Daegyeong region as they have chosen this field for their new drive for growth. The major location factors are proximity, higher quality expectations from the local demands, technical availability, and competition with other companies of the same industry in the region, rather than the availability of the raw material. And the choke points for these companies are the financial support of R&D and the policy support of specialist training. The policy to facilitate the development of the industry in question in Daegyeong region, therefore, should shift from its previous focuses on infrastructure building and taxation benefits to financial supports for the technical research, human resource development in response to the needs of the companies. Also, programs to support the proficiency training for the already-hired work forces and development of new policies for the Green Energy Industry are needed to be introduced for the development of the Green Energy Industry in Daegyeong region.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2017

Objectives: By the end of the 2000s, the economic situation in many European countries started to deteriorate, generating financial uncertainty, social insecurity and worse health status. The aim of the present study was to investigate how the recent financial crisis has affected the lifestyle health determinants and behaviours of older adults living in the Mediterranean islands. Methods: From 2005 to 2015, a population-based, multi-stage convenience sampling method was used to voluntarily enrol 2749 older adults (50% men) from 20 Mediterranean islands and the rural area of the Mani peninsula. Lifestyle status was evaluated as the cumulative score of four components (range, 0 to 6), that is, smoking habits, diet quality (MedDietScore), depression status (Geriatric Depression Scale) and physical activity. Results: Older Mediterranean people enrolled in the study from 2009 onwards showed social isolation and increased smoking, were more prone to depressive symptoms, and adopted less healthy dietary habits, as compared to their counterparts participating earlier in the study (p<0.05), irrespective of age, gender, several clinical characteristics, or socioeconomic status of the participants (an almost 50% adjusted increase in the lifestyle score from before 2009 to after 2009, p<0.001). Conclusions: A shift towards less healthy behaviours was noticeable after the economic crisis had commenced. Public health interventions should focus on older adults, particularly of lower socioeconomic levels, in order to effectively reduce the burden of cardiometabolic disease at the population level.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.183-188
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• 2002

In the present study AI$(CH_3)_3)$films were deposited by the ALD technique using trimethylaluminum(TMA) and ozone to improve the quality of the AI$(CH_3)_3)$ films, since the $OH^-$ radicals existing in the AI$(CH_3)_3)$ films deposited using TMA and $H_2O$ degrade the physical and the dielectric properties of the AI$(CH_3)_3)$ film. The XPS analysis results indicate that the $OH^-$ radical concentration in the AI$(CH_3)_3)$film deposited using $O_3$is lower than that using $H_2O$. The etch rate of the AI$(CH_3)_3)$film deposited using $O_3$is also lower than that using $H_2O$, suggesting that the chemical inertness of the former is better than the latter. The MIS capacitor fabricated with the TiN conductor and the $Al_2$O$_3$dielectrics formed using $O_3$offers lower leakage current, better insulating property and smaller flat band voltage shift $({\Delta}V_{FB})$.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.1097-1103
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• 2017

For the artificial induction of the sexual maturation of Anguilla japonica, salmon pituitary extract (SPE) is continuously injected into females, and the eggs obtained from artificial sexual maturation are artificially fertilized with sperms and hatched. However, repeated injection of SPE in the abdominal cavity causes tremendous stress in females, which may prevent their complete sexual maturation and reduce the immune system function, ultimately resulting in death. In addition, the poor quality of the ovulated eggs can reduce the hatching and survival rate of larvae. In the present study, sexual maturation of females was induced by inserting an osmotic (OS) pump containing hormone analogs known to effectively induce sexual maturation into the abdominal cavity of female eels, and the effect of the OS pump on the induced sexual maturation was investigated. Our study results showed that the gonadosomatic index (GSI) was significantly higher in the fish subjected to SPE injection than those subjected to human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog (GnRHa), and methyl testosterone (MT) injections, either separately or in combination. In addition, a histological analysis showed that the oocytes in the SPE OS pump groups were more mature (entered the nuclear shift stage) than those in the other groups. These results suggest that an osmotic pump containing hormone analogs can be used to induce sexual maturation in female A. japonica artificially.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.709-727
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• 2013

Recently, "aging in place" has become the principle philosophy of elderly housing policy in many countries. However, since there is ambiguity surrounding the universal definition of it, the meaning of AIP has been defined by political expediency. This study aims to discuss the meaning of AIP by examining the transition of elderly housing issues and policy in Japan. During the last two decades, the Japanese government has tried to launch a new elderly welfare system to shift the responsibility of elderly care from the family to the society and from the society to the region. And the focus of elderly housing policy has shifted from the promotion of three-generation dwellings to supporting the development of private residences. However, since the main goal has been limiting the welfare budgets rather than enhancing the quality of life, elderly housing issues have been reduced to a matter of choosing either elderly care facilities frequently located in suburbs or not. This paper suggest that we should pursue the true AIP idea in housing policy, and argues that to do so we need to consider AIP from diverse aspects such as temporal continuity, the range of space, the dynamics of place experience and the capability of communities.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.41-52
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• 2015

Purpose - Given globalization, the new niche market of medical tourism is likely to experience sustainable growth for various reasons, such as aging populations and a shift in the medical consumerism paradigm toward prevention. Importantly, understanding medical customers' behavior is necessary to benefit from a competitive advantage in this industry. The existing research primarily accessed the key factors of medical quality and costs to explain health customers' behavior but is limited in terms of enabling an understanding of the decision process. This limitation exists because, given the intangibility and greater associated risks in the highly professional industry of international medical tourism, most customers lack the knowledge and experience needed to evaluate the central factors-such as the medical competence of health care countries-before purchases. Therefore, they actively search for useful information through various distributions to reduce uncertainty and to make better choices. Interestingly, most of these information channels are associated with word-of-mouth (WOM). However, no evidence is found in the literature to estimate the effect of WOM in the medical tourism field. Thus, this study focuses on WOM to explore its interaction with key medical characteristic factors and the attractiveness of destinations referred to by sources. This study also affects customers' evaluations and, in turn, influences their intention to seek health care services abroad. Research design, data, and methodology - The literature review addressed an interesting research model for estimating the relations among WOM, medical characteristics, attractiveness, and customers' choice intention regarding international health care. In the key economic regions in China, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Guangdong, 2,500 survey questionnaires were distributed to potential customers of different ages, education, and income levels. A resulting 1,717 (68.68 percent of the original 2,500) usable surveys were obtained for analysis. Moderated regression analysis was used to determine the effects of WOM in the decision process regarding international health care destinations. Results - The results indicate that WOM is a good moderator of the relationships between the factors evaluated by sources and customers. More importantly, the WOM effects reflect the factors of tie strength, credibility, and vividness. The results also reveal that, given the moderating role of WOM, the intention of potential Chinese customers to seek the referred health care country varies according to the medical characteristics of medical competency and reputation as evaluated by customers. In contrast, the travel attractiveness of the attractions, facilities, accessibility, and social environment are critical determinants of destination choice intention. Conclusions - The moderating role of WOM has been confirmed through the international healthcare destination selection process. Medical tourism managers should user WOM as an effective marketing tool for industry development. Specially, marketers should consider the effects of WOM determinants, such as tie strength, credibility, and vividness, to develop an effective strategy. Furthermore, this study estimates the factors that affect customers' selection of medical tourism destinations. Health care managers or policy makers should consider a broad variety of variables that may attract more Chinese customers to international health care.