• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.427-436
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• 2021

Background: Pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies have been used to treat patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). However, the effect of therapies in cancer patients has yet to be investigated comprehensively. We hypothesized that cyclic thermal therapy would improve blood flow and microcirculation and improve the symptoms driven by CIPN. Methods: The criteria of assessment were blood volume in region of interest (ROI) in the images, and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer-Quality of Life Questionnaire-Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy 20 questionnaire scores. The blood volume was quantified by using red blood cell (RBC) scintigraphy. All patients were treated 10 times during 10 days. The thermal stimulations, between 15° and 41°, were repeatedly delivered to the patient's hands. Results: The total score of the questionnaires, the score of questions related to the upper limbs, the score of questions closely related to the upper limbs, and the score excluding the upper limbs questions was decreased. The blood volume was decreased, and the variance of blood volume was decreased. During cooling stimulation, the blood volume was decreased, and its variance was decreased. During warming stimulation, the blood volume was decreased, and its variance was decreased. Conclusions: We suggest that cyclic thermal therapy is useful to alleviate CIPN symptoms by blood circulation improvement. RBC scintigraphy can provide the quantitative information on blood volume under certain conditions such as stress, as well as rest, in peripheral tissue.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.173-199
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• 2021

As the use of smart devices such as smartphones and tablets has become common, the time to start using smart devices is getting earlier, such as using smart devices from the age of one. Also, the use of smart devices by infants and toddlers is continuously increasing. Smart devices have become convenient means of acquiring pleasure and knowledge, but the side effects of addiction and overdependence are becoming issues as much as the benefits of smart devices. This study pays attention to young children's overdependence on smart devices, and focuses on the aspects of parents' perception, control, and observational behavior about smart devices, which can have a profound effect on young children. This study examines how young children's overdependence on smart devices can consequently affect children's characteristics in terms of activity, emotional sensitivity, and social aspects. In particular, this study attempts to explore that the factors influencing children's overdependence on smart devices and the results can vary depending on the moderating variables (parents' control method for children's smart device use, supervision method, and type of contents mainly used). Based on the findings, this study can provide guidelines and implications for parents on how to effectively use smart devices for their young children.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.16-33
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• 2021

Objectives This study aims to provide directions for future Korean pediatric medicine treatment and researches by analyzing the characteristics of diseases of Korean pediatric outpatients before and after the COVID-19 epidemic. Methods We analyzed the medical records of 10,868 new patients aged 0-18 who visited the Korean pediatrics at Kyung Hee university hospital from January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2021. All patients were divided into 2 groups; patients who visited from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019, before the coronavirus epidemic, and patients who visited from January 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, after the coronavirus epidemic. Within the two groups, the diagnosis distribution was performed for the entire population, by gender and by age group. Diagnoses were classified as allergy, growth, gastrointestinal, respiratory, general body supplementation, neuropsychiatric, skin, urogenital, musculoskeletal, and other systems. Results According to the comparative analysis results of before and after the COVID epidemic, there was a decreasing trend of diagnoses in relates to allergy, respiratory, urogenital, musculoskeletal system. On the other side, there was an increasing trend in gastrointestinal, general body supplementation, growth, neuropsychiatric, skin and other system. Changes in diagnosis based on gender and age group will be described below. Conclusions This study analyzed the characteristics of diseases of Korean pediatric outpatients before and after the COVID-19 epidemic, and suggested the direction of future Korean medicine treatment and researches for pediatrics. Also, this study aimed to propose proper treatments for children by showing the role of Korean pediatric medicine related to growth and development of children during the epidemic. However, this study has limitations such as failure to track the long-term impact of COVID-19. Thus, long term follow-up studies are needed to show the effect of COVID-19 on Korean pediatric medicine.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.63 no.6
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• pp.1247-1264
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• 2021

Anabolic steroids are frequently used to increase the growth rate of meat-producing animals. Exposure to an anabolic-androgenic steroid, nandrolone decanoate (ND), is associated with expressional reduction of testicular steroidogenic enzymes. However, the effect of withdrawal of ND exposure on the expression of these testicular molecules has not been thoroughly explored. The current research investigated expression changes of testicular steroidogenic enzymes in rats at several recovery periods (2, 6, and 12 weeks) after the stop of ND treatment with different doses (2 and 10 mg/kg body weight) for 12 weeks. Body and testis weights were recorded, and transcript levels of molecules were determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The immunohistochemistry was used to examine the changes of immuno-intensities of molecules. At 6 and 12 weeks of the recovery period, the 10 mg/kg ND-treated rats were lighter than other experimental groups. The interstitial compartment vanished by ND treatment filled up as the recovery period became longer. The expression of steroidogenic acute regulatory protein was returned to the control level at 12 weeks of the recovery period. Expression levels of cytochrome P450 side-chain cleavage and 17a-hydroxylase were increased in 2 mg/kg ND-treated group at 6 weeks of the recovery period, and transcript levels of these molecules in 2 and 10 mg/kg ND-treated groups at 12 weeks of the recovery period were significantly lower than the control. Expression levels of 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSD) type I and 17β-HSD type 3 in 2 mg/kg ND-treated group were comparable with those of control at 12 weeks of the recovery period, but not in 10 mg/kg ND-treated group. Expression of cytochrome P450 aromatase (Cyp19) was reverted to the control level at 2 weeks of the recovery period. Except for Cyp19, there was a visible increase of immuno-staining intensity of other testicular steroidogenic enzymes in the Leydig cells as the recovery period progressed. This research has demonstrated that the cease of ND administration could restore the expression of testicular steroidogenic enzymes close to the normal level. Nevertheless, a relatively long recovery period, compared to the ND-exposure period would be required to retrieve normal expression levels of testicular steroidogenic enzymes.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.62 no.5
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• pp.594-602
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• 2019

Objective : Although surgical intervention, such as percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP), is the standard treatment for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs), its effectiveness and safety are unclear. Therefore, this study compared the safety and efficacy of conservative treatment with that of PVP for acute OVCFs. Methods : Patients with single-level OVCFs who were treated conservatively with a transdermal fentanyl patch (TFP) or with PVP between March 2013 and December 2017 and followed-up for more than 1 year were retrospectively evaluated. Patients with pathologic fractures, fractures of more than two columns, or a history of PVP were excluded. Clinical outcomes (visual analog scale [VAS] scores) and radiographic factors were evaluated, including changes in the compression rate of the corresponding vertebral body at onset and after 12 months, sagittal Cobb angle at onset and after 6 and 12 months, and the incidence of adjacent compression fractures. Results : Of the 131 patients evaluated, 75 were treated conservatively using TFPs and 56 underwent PVP. We divided the patients into TFP and PVP groups. Their baseline characteristics (including sex, level of fracture, and bone mineral density T-scores) were similar, but the TFP group was significantly younger. The overall VAS score for pain showed a greater decrease during the first month (1 week after PVP) in the PVP group but remained similar in the two groups thereafter. The compression rate after 12 months increased in the TFP group but decreased in the PVP group. Five patients in the PVP group, but none in the TFP group, experienced adjacent compression fractures within 12 months. Conclusion : We compared clinical and radiological outcomes between the TFP and PVP groups. The immediate pain reduction effect was superior in the PVP group, but the final clinical outcome was similar. Although the PVP group had a better-preserved compression rate than the TFP group for 1 year, the development of adjacent fractures was significantly higher. Although TFPs seemed to be beneficial in reducing the failure rate of conservative treatment, the possibility of side effects (22.6%, 17 out of 75 patients, in this study) should be carefully monitored.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.828-833
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• 2018

It is well known that reflected waves and resonance affect phase distortion. In addition, phase delay can be distorted by antenna impedance. In this study, we analyze the phase delay variation caused by the antenna impedance, considering mutual coupling effects. In addition, we confirm the beam steering characteristics. When was -10 dB and -7 dB, the maximum phase delay error was $18.5^{\circ}$ and $26.5^{\circ}$, respectively. The Monte Carlo simulation with an eight-element linear array antenna demonstrated that the RMS error of the beam steering angle ranged from $0.19^{\circ}$ to $0.4^{\circ}$, and the standard deviation ranged from $0.14^{\circ}$ to $0.33^{\circ}$ when the beam steering angle was in the range of $0^{\circ}$ to $30^{\circ}$, with the uniformly distributed phase error of $18.5^{\circ}$ and $26.5^{\circ}$. The side lobe level increased from 0.74 dB to 1.21 dB by the phase error from the theoretical value of -12.8 dB, with a standard deviation of 0.31 dB to 0.51 dB. This is verified by designing an eight-element spiral array antenna.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.78-85
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• 2019

This study targets SFRC hollow members with small depth under shear force and bending. To evaluate the effect of web width on shear strength of SFRC members, experiment and finite element analysis were conducted and compared with existing equations. The web width was planned to be 1/2 times and 2/3 times, and the shear span ratio was planned to be 1.5 times. In the shear test results, the maximum shear strength increased by 10.3 to 28.0% with the web width increased by 33%. When the overall depth of specimens was increased by 1.5 times, the shear strength of the specimen with a web width of 100mm was increased by 29.2%. On the other hand, specimen with the 150mm only increased by 11.3%. These results indicate that the smaller the web width, the greater the shear strength increase with the increase of depth. Also, the smaller the web width, the greater the contribution of steel fiber. It has been shown that the KCI code evaluates the shear strength of experiments as very safe side, and that the proposed formula of Shin et al. predicts the experimental strength relatively well. As the web width increases by 2, 3, and 6 times, the mean shear strength by FEA appears to be 1.18, 1.80, and 2.19 times respectively. This indicates that the shear strength does not increase in proportion to the increase in web width.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.219-224
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• 2019

Purpose: The image registration of radiographic image and digital surface data is essential in the computer-guided implant guide system. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of using micro-screw on the working time and convenience of operators in the process of image matching for guided implant surgery. Materials and methods: A mandibular dental model was prepared in partial edentulism for Kennedy class I classification. Two micro-screws were placed on the each side of retromolar area. Radiographic and scan images were taken using computed-tomography and digital scanning. The images were superimposed by 12 operators in software in two different conditions: using remaining teeth image alone and using teeth and micro-screws images. Working time, operator convenience and satisfaction were obtained, and analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test (${\alpha}=.05$). Results: The working time was not statistically different between image registration conditions (P>.05); however, operator convenience and satisfaction were higher in the teeth and micro-screw assisted condition than in the teeth-alone assisted condition (P<.001). Conclusion: The use of micro-screw for the image registration has no effect in working time reduction, but improves operator convenience and satisfaction.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.111-117
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• 2019

Shear experiments were carried out to evaluate shear performance of SFRC deep beams with end-anchorage of SD600 high strength headed reinforcing tensile bars. The experimental variables include the end-anchorage methods of tensile bars (headed bar, straight bar), the end-anchorage lengths, and the presence of shear reinforcement. Specimens with a shear span ratio of 1 showed a pattern of the shear compression failure with the slope cracks progressed after the initial bending crack occurred. Specimens with end-anchorage of headed bars (H-specimens) showed a larger shear strengths of 5.6% to 22.4% compared to straight bars (NH-specimens). For H-specimens, bearing stress reached 0.9 to 17.2% of the total stress of tensile bars up to 75% of the maximum load, and reached 22.4% to 46%. This shows that the anchorage strength due to the bearing stress of headed bars has a significant effect on shear strength. The experimental shear strength was 2.68 to 4.65 times the theoretical shear strength by the practical method, and the practical method was evaluated as the safety side.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.141-160
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• 2019

Agile methodologies in software development, including the development of artificial intelligence software, have been widespread over the past several years. In spite of the popularity of agile methodologies in practice, there is a lack of empirical evidence to identify determinants of success of software projects in which agile methods are used. To understand the role of clients in software project where agile methods are used, we examine the effect of client-side factors, including lack of user involvement, unrealistic client expectations, and constant changes of requirements on project success from practitioners' perspective. Survey methods are used in this study. Data were collected by means of online survey to IT professionals who have experience with software development methodologies, and ordered logit regression is used to analyze the survey data. Results of our study imply the following managerial findings. First, user involvement is critical to project success to take advantage of agile methods. Second, it is interesting that, with an agile method, constant changes of client's requirements is not a negative factor but a positive factor of project success. Third, unrealistic client expectations do negatively affect project success even with agile methods.