• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.446-457
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• 2009

Purpose: The aim of this study was to construct a structural equation model that would further explain the continuously increasing substance use disorder in Korean adolescents. Methods: Survey visits using a structured questionnaire were conducted with 3,885 students in 2 middle schools and 2 high schools in Busan. A total of 13 instruments were used in this model. The analysis of data was done with both SPSS 14.0 for descriptive statistics and AMOS 5.0 for covariance structure analysis. Results: Based on the constructed model, belief on substance use was found to have a significantly direct effect in influencing adolescent substance use. In addition, other factors such as family environment, satisfaction with school life, self-concept, social support, and personality vulnerability indirectly affected substance use. The final modified model yielded Chi-square=2,987(p<.001), df=121, ${\chi}^2$/df=22.1, GFI=.96, AGFI=.93, NFI=.91, PNFI=.72, PGFI=.72, RMSEA=.07 and exhibited fit indices. Conclusion: This study constructed a model that addresses the factors related to adolescent substance use and explains the relationship of these factors in influencing substance use among Korean adolescents. Findings from this study can contribute to designing appropriate prevention strategies to reduce substance related disorders in adolescents.

• Journal of Computing Science and Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.111-117
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• 2016

An accurate approach for diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is presented in this paper. The presented technique efficiently classifies three subtypes of ADHD (ADHD-C, ADHD-H, ADHD-I) and typically developing control (TDC) by using only structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The research examines structural MRI of the hippocampus from the ADHD-200 database. Each available MRI has been processed by a region-of-interest (ROI) to build a set of features for further analysis. The presented ADHD diagnostic approach unifies feature selection and classification techniques. The feature selection technique based on the proposed binary-coded genetic algorithm searches for an optimal subset of features extracted from the hippocampus. The classification technique uses a chosen optimal subset of features for accurate classification of three subtypes of ADHD and TDC. In this study, the famous Extreme Learning Machine is used as a classification technique. Experimental results clearly indicate that the presented BCGA-ELM (binary-coded genetic algorithm coupled with Extreme Learning Machine) efficiently classifies TDC and three subtypes of ADHD and outperforms existing techniques.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.486-490
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• 2008

This study demonstrates that preloading via the elastostatic compression imposed on amorphous alloys at room temperature induces homogeneous plastic strain associated with structural disordering. This structural disordering causes disorder, which at room temperature creates excess free volume and in turn enhances the plasticity. In this study, we investigated the effects of various parameters, such as stress level, flow rate and preloading time, on the degree of the structural disordering at room temperature. On the basis of the present findings, we proposed a method of enhancing the plasticity of amorphous alloys.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.70-77
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• 2016

Transposable elements are one of major sources to cause genomic instability through various mechanisms including de novo insertion, insertion-mediated genomic deletion, and recombination-associated genomic deletion. Among them is Alu element which is the most abundant element, composing ~10% of the human genome. The element emerged in the primate genome 65 million years ago and has since propagated successfully in the human and non-human primate genomes. Alu element is a non-autonomous retrotransposon and therefore retrotransposed using L1-enzyme machinery. The 'master gene' model has been generally accepted to explain Alu element amplification in primate genomes. According to the model, different subfamilies of Alu elements are created by mutations on the master gene and most Alu elements are amplified from the hyperactive master genes. Alu element is frequently involved in genomic rearrangements in the human genome due to its abundance and sequence identity between them. The genomic rearrangements caused by Alu elements could lead to genetic disorders such as hereditary disease, blood disorder, and neurological disorder. In fact, Alu elements are associated with approximately 0.1% of human genetic disorders. The first part of this review discusses mechanisms of Alu amplification and diversity among different Alu subfamilies. The second part discusses the particular role of Alu elements in generating genomic rearrangements as well as human genetic disorders.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.103-107
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• 2007

Magnetic field induced structural transition has been systematically investigated for $La_{1-x}Ba_xMnO_3$ with the fine control of carrier doping $(0.15{\leq}x{\leq}0.20)$. Application of a magnetic field results in the suppression of the rhombohedral-orthorhombic transition temperature $(T_s)$ and the increase of insulator-metal transition temperature $(T_{MI})$. Near x = 0.17, where $T_S$ is similar to $T_{MI}$ at zero magnetic field, we found that the $T_S$ smoothly decreased with magnetic field even though it intersected the $T_{MI}$ near 3 T. Also, the magnetostructural phase diagram obtained from the temperature sweep and from the magnetic field sweep is not significantly modified. By comparing the magnetostructural transition in $La_{1-x}Sr_xMnO_3$, we have suggested that the large disorder originated from ionic size differences between La and Ba may weaken the sensitivity of the kinetic energy of $e_g$ electrons on the degree of lattice distortion in $La_{1-x}Ba_xMnO_3$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.291.1-291.1
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• 2013

We examined the temperature-dependent structural and magnetic properties of HgI2 in the temperature range of 300~400 K. HgI2 is a diamagnetic material and can be used for X-ray or γ-ray detectors. DCmagnetization measurements on HgI2 showed that there is a small but distinguishable change in its diamagnetic properties near 375 K. The magnetic property change is not expected because Hg and I are known as nonmagnetic elements. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements revealed a structural transition in the temperature of 350~400 K. Temperature-dependent x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) demonstrated that the chemical valence states of both Hg and I did not changed in the temperature range of 300~400 K. However, XAFS revealed that the bond-length disorder was slightly increased in the temperature range, particularly, near Hg atoms. The structural changes of HgI2 are likely related to its diamagnetic property change. We will discuss the relation between the diamagnetic properties and local structural properties of HgI2 in detail.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.10
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• pp.1038-1049
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• 2005

Asthma is characterized by a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways that leads to tissue injury and subsequent structural changes collectively called airway remodelling. Characteristic changes of airway remodelling in asthma include goblet cell hyperplasia, deposition of collagens in the basement membrane, increased number and size of microvessels, hypertrophy and hyperplasia of airway smooth muscle, and hypertrophy of submucosal glands. Apart from inflammatory cells, such as eosinophils, activated T cells, mast cells and macrophages, structural tissue cells such as epithelial cells, fibroblasts and smooth muscle cells can also play an important effector role through the release of a variety of mediators, cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors. Through a variety of inflammatory mediators, epithelial and mesenchymal cells cause persistence of the inflammatory infiltrate and induce airway structural remodelling. The end result of chronic airway inflammation and remodelling is an increased thickness of the airway wall, leading to a increased the bronchial hyperresponsiveness and fixed declined lung function.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.233-245
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• 2001

With the advent of super-conducting magnet, NMR spectroscopy becomes a very important tool in geology as well as in chemistry. $^{29}Si$ and $^{27}Al$ which are the main components of minerals and contain structural informations, are useful major targets for the NMR study in geology, but some other elements including alkali cations such as $^{23}Na$ are also one of them. NMR can be applied to many different fields. For example, it can be applied to study smaller range of structure (in molecular level) than XRD and TEM. NMR provides us with structural informations such as order-disorder in Al and Si distribution, oxygen coordination number, and distribution of other cations. Another important information that we can obtain from NMR is not only the static structural informations, but also the molecular dynamics. This dynamic informations of molecules also enable us to figure out the frequency of molecular motion and activation energy. Structure of amorphous minerals and chemistry and structure of natural organic materials are also studied by NMR.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.159-169
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze research trends and find whether Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) of refugees could affect structural or functional changes of brains of those under MRI, focusing on volumes, functional connectivities, and metabolites. Methods: A literature search was done using PubMed, Embase, RISS, and KMBase to identify studies that matched our research purpose. A total of eight studies were identified using Prisma flow diagram by two reviewers independently. Results: Eight studies were identified. Three studies were on North Korean defectors as subjects. The number of studies that observed structural changes, functional changes, and metabolite changes in brains was 2, 5, and 2, respectively. Although each study observed various parts of the brain, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was observed commonly in three studies. The PTSD group showed reduction of ACC volume and N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) metabolite in ACC compared to the non- PTSD group. When exposed to negative stimuli, the PTSD group showed higher neural activity than the non-PTSD group, but not vice versa. Conclusion: ACC showed significant difference in volume, neural activity, and NAA metabolite between the PTSD and the non-PTSD group, resulting in significant differences in structural changes, functional changes, metabolite changes, respectively. This study showed the need for conducting more research using various biomarkers to clarify the relationship between PTSD of refugees and their brain changes.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.107-114
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• 1995

This study was to investigate the anatomical evidence of anxiety. MRI was used to study 11 patients with panic disorder and 15 patients with complex partial seizure, and 21 controls. The regions of interest in the MRI were measured with computer-assisted planimetry using the AutoCad and digitizer. The following results were obtained ; 1) The mean age was 49.7(12.4) years in patients with panic disorder and 30.1(7.5) years in patients with complex partial seizure. 2) There were na signi ficant differences between 3 groups in the values of cerebral area, temporal lobe, caudate nucleus, hippocampus, parahippocampus, amygdala, third ventricle and VBR. The right parahippocampal region which attracted most attention in neurobiological studies regarding anxiety, tended to be larger in both study groups compared to the control group, but with no statistical significance. 3) There was lett-right reversal of temporal lobes in both study groups. And these are mainly due to asymmetrical increase in area of the temporal lobe on right side. These results suggest that temporal lobe, especially right temporal, is the anatomical correspondence of anxiety and functional activation of temporo-limbic system may be accompanied by the structural change of temporal lobe.