• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.149-154
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• 2016

Purpose: The aim of this study is to suggest an intervention method for clinical use in the future by analyzing the effect of breathing exercise on activity of sternocleidomastoid muscle and scalenus anterior muscle, which are respiratory synergist muscles, and pulmonary functions in patients with forward head posture. Methods: Prior to the experiment, 12 patients (experimental group) performed feedback exhalation exercise along with conventional deep neck exercise, and 11 subjects (control group) performed feedback deep neck exercise along with conventional deep neck exercise. The intervention programs were performed for 40 minutes once a day (three times a week for four weeks). Results: Before intervention, %RMS was measured for surface electromyography (sEMG), and FVC, FEV1, and FEV1/FVC were measured using a spirometer. After four weeks, these items were re-measured under the same condition and analyzed. In within-group comparison of the experimental group, activity of sternocleidomastoid muscle and scalenus anterior muscle showed a significant decrease (p<0.05)(p<0.001), and forced vital capacity (FVC) showed a significant increase (p<0.05). In within-group comparison of the control group, activity of sternocleidomastoid muscle and scalenus anterior muscle showed a significant decrease (p<0.05), and in between-group comparison, there were significant differences in activity of sternocleidomastoid muscle and FVC (p<0.05). Conclusion: Long-term forward head posture restrains exercise performance of the neck and leads to exercise avoidance of the neck during daily activities, thus restraint factors might be created even while breathing. To cut off this link, a constant effort is required and diversified research on the correlation between neck functions and breathing should be conducted.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2016

Rehabilitation for low-yielding wells resulting in improvement on groundwater quantity and quality is considered to be the most economic and ecofriendly method against the increasing demand to groundwater due to frequent drought and the increase in numbers of agricultural complex for growing horticultural crops. This study suggests standard, stepwise diagnostic fuctions consisting of four steps (Basic inspection, Specific inspection, Rehabilitation, and Management) for an optimal management to the wells. Basic inspection can provide information on current groundwater quantity and quality compared with those on its initial stage. Specific-inspection based on hydrogeology can scientifically demonstrate causes of deterioration on groundwater quantity and quality. Results of specific inspection can suggest an optimal rehabilitation method to solve deteriorating problems including clogging and corrosion for the wells. After rehabiliating the wells, an assessment on groundwater quantity and quality would be conducted to identify the suitability of the applied method and improvement of the wells. A short-term, periodic management to the wells is considered as the key to save a public management budget. Suggested diagnostic functions can possibly induce sustainable supply of agricultural groundwater to the farm land and finally contribute the increase on rural household income.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.473-484
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• 2018

Free vibration of cross-ply laminated plates using a higher-order shear deformation theory is studied. The arbitrary number of layers is oriented in symmetric and anti-symmetric manners. The plate kinematics are based on higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT) and the vibrational behaviour of multi-layered plates are analysed under simply supported boundary conditions. The differential equations are obtained in terms of displacement and rotational functions by substituting the stress-strain relations and strain-displacement relations in the governing equations and separable method is adopted for these functions to get a set of ordinary differential equations in term of single variable, which are coupled. These displacement and rotational functions are approximated using cubic and quantic splines which results in to the system of algebraic equations with unknown spline coefficients. Incurring the boundary conditions with the algebraic equations, a generalized eigen value problem is obtained. This eigen value problem is solved numerically to find the eigen frequency parameter and associated eigenvectors which are the spline coefficients.The material properties of Kevlar-49/epoxy, Graphite/Epoxy and E-glass epoxy are used to show the parametric effects of the plates aspect ratio, side-to-thickness ratio, stacking sequence, number of lamina and ply orientations on the frequency parameter of the plate. The current results are verified with those results obtained in the previous work and the new results are presented in tables and graphs.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.243-252
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• 1998

This study was conducted to investigated the short-term effects of early weaning and protein intake on organ and cell growth, nitrogen metabolism and physiological functions of rats. Five groups of early weaned rats separated from the dam on the 15th day postpartum were each given one five diets consisting of either one of the three levels of casein-low(8%), -normal (16%), and -high(32%), or a normal level (16%) of isolated soy protein(ISP) or egg yolk protein, for 7 days. The normal weaned rats were fed maternal breast milk for three weeks from birth. On the 22nd day postpartum , all the rats were sacrificed . The weight gain of the early weaned rats, especially the ones fed high protein, was observed to be significantly lower than that of the normal weaned rats. By the 15th day, of early weaning and especially in the ISP-fed rats, the total DNA contents of liver and kidney, which may be said to represent an index of cell numbers, significantly decreased, but their fresh and dry weight and protein/DNA ratio, allegedly representing an index of cell size, significantly increased , not affecting the cell number and cell size of brain. There were no differences in total serum protein and albumin concentrations between early and normal weaned rats. In the early weaned rats observed , the serum urea N and $\alpha$-amino N concentrations significantly increased in high protein-fed rats, and decreased in low protein-fed rats. Another observation was that no significant difference was noticed as regards to serum GOT activity, total bilirubin, uric acid, and creatinine concentration, which may represent indices of liver and kidney functions, among rat groups, GPT activity was an exception . These results suggest that premature weaning and the quality and quantity of dietary protein significantly affect organ and cell growth and nitrogen metabolism but does not seriously affect physiological functions in the neonatal development of rats.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.161-168
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• 2020

Local decentralization is a rational allocation of power and responsibilities between the state and local governments, but it is not just a transfer of administrative affairs and transfer of funds. In order to look at the task of moving administrative affairs to the districts, this paper first considered the relevant prior study. Next, we looked at the assessment of the level of function transfer and direction of transfer for government employees. Finally, the task for the transfer of functions has been drawn. Revitalizing functions or affair transfers requires the president's firm will and continued support, efforts to divide roles between central and local governments, increased responsibilities of local governments, revitalizing civic participation and establishing democracy. In addition, in order to expand the function transfer problem, the affair allocation system must be newly established. The discussion of such a system should take into account the issue of regional equity as well as financial transfers. Localization through transfer of functions requires, among other things, a change in perception of the relevant groups. Local decentralization requires long-term time and the participation and cooperation of not only the central but also related stakeholders are important, as seen in existing studies and in the nation's experience.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.453-461
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• 1996

We compared the effects of two different systems of collagen matrix protein application on the survival and the biological functions of cultured primary hepatocytes. The rat liver primary hepatocytes were grown for approximately 40 days in vitro either on single collagen gel or between collagen sandwich gels. The morphological changes were observed for this culture period. While the hepatocytes grown on single gel began to die around at 7 days of culture, the cells grown between collagen gels still maintained their viability and began to die after 15 days. As markers for liver hepatic functions, we determined the biochemical activities of hepatocytes such as the secretions of albumin, fibronectin, fibrinogen, urea, and the reduction of secreted ammonia. We found that the rat hepatocytes cultured between collagen gels maintained fairly good biochemical functions than the hepatocytes cultured on single gel did. Therefore, the application of an extracellular matrix protein, collagen, in sandwich form was confirmed as a better choice for maintaining the functional hepatocytes culture for long term in vitro.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.463-469
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• 2016

In this study, a virtual specimen with a linear continuous gradient of void ratio (FGM: Functional Graded Material) is constructed using low-order probability functions of two real cement paste specimens. Two real specimens with difference void ratios are taken from X-ray CT to construct the virtual specimen. A virtual specimen with a gradient void distribution, whose average void ratio is between void ratios of two homogeneous real specimens, is constructed using a stochastic optimization approach. The void ratio distribution is assumed to be linear, and continuously varies in the vertical direction. In this study, a gradient term of void ratio is incorporated into the objective function as well as low-order probability functions from the previous research. To confirm the effect of gradient void distribution on the material response, air permeability is evaluated using finite element analysis. The analysis results are compared with experimental results, and confirm the effect of gradient void distribution on permeability.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.7-12
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• 2011

Purpose: The cane is one of the most popular assistive devices for stroke patients. Clinical complaints of sensorimotor functions on the ipsilateral upper limb were appealed in stroke patients who had used a cane for a long period. Therefore, we investigated whether cane usage for a long-term period affected sensoriomotor dysfunctions on the non-affected upper limb, in terms of pain presence, shoulder joint sense, a nine-hole pegboard test, and a tracking task. Methods: We recruited 12 stroke patients, who were divided into the cane-using (CU) group or the non-cane using (NCU) group, according to cane usage experience. We evaluated joint position sense for the integrity of proprioceptive reposition sense in the shoulder joint, used a nine-hole pegboard test for upper limb dexterity evaluation, and a tracking task for visuomotor coordination. Results: Four patients in the CU group had complained of shoulder pain none did in the NCU group. In addition, the CU group showed more reposition errors on the shoulder joint than the NCU group did. In addition, the CU group had more difficulty in proprioceptive sense perception and in performance of the nine-hole pegboard teat and tracking task, compared with the NCU group. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that cane usage for a long period in stroke patients could give rise to trigger joint pain and decrease proprioceptive sense. In addition, complex motor performance in the ipsilateral upper limb could deteriorate. In stroke patients who had used acane for long period, careful observation and proper intervention will be necessary.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.88-95
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• 2015

For the frequency-domain spectral fatigue analysis, the probability density function of stress range needs to be estimated based on the stress spectrum only, which is a frequency domain representation of the response. The probability distribution of the stress range of the narrow-band spectrum is known to follow the Rayleigh distribution, however the PDF of wide-band spectrum is difficult to define with clarity due to the complicated fluctuation pattern of spectrum. In this paper, efforts have been made to figure out the links between the probability density function of stress range to the structural response of wide-band Gaussian random process. An artificial neural network scheme, known as one of the most powerful system identification methods, was used to identify the multivariate functional relationship between the idealized wide-band spectrums and resulting probability density functions. To achieve this, the spectrums were idealized as a superposition of two triangles with arbitrary location, height and width, targeting to comprise wide-band spectrum, and the probability density functions were represented by the linear combination of equally spaced Gaussian basis functions. To train the network under supervision, varieties of different wide-band spectrums were assumed and the converged probability density function of the stress range was derived using the rainflow counting method and all these data sets were fed into the three layer perceptron model. This nonlinear least square problem was solved using Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm with regularization term included. It was proven that the network trained using the given data set could reproduce the probability density function of arbitrary wide-band spectrum of two triangles with great success.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.611-619
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• 2019

This study was conducted to investigate changes in the mental functions of the elderly in nursing facilities affected by a horticultural therapy program based on validation therapy. To meet the purpose, we conducted a horticultural therapy program based on validation therapy with 58 elderly participants (average age 79.12±6.84, men and women) once a week, 50 minutes per session, in a total of 10 sessions. Participants were divided into the control and experimental group with convenience sampling. The program was carried out from March 15 to November 22, 2018. Vibraimage 8 pro(ELSYS, 2014) is a recent, psychologically based, emotional-recognition visual imaging technology that measures pixels microvibration in terms of digital frequency and amplitude parameters. To examine the effects of the horticultural therapy program based on validation therapy, Vibraimage was used to assess aggression, stress, tension, suspect, balance, charm, energy, self-regulation, inhibition, neuroticism and positive, negative, physiological domains of mental functions before and after program. As a result, the mean score of the positive domain in the control group significantly decreased from 63.89±5.09 to 60.74±5.48, but it decreased without statistical significance in the experimental group from 63.98±5.45 to 61.39±6.02. The mean score of neuroticism in the experimental group significantly decreased from 31.64±10.94 to 22.87±13.79. Moreover, the mean score of the physiological domain in the experimental group also significantly decreased from 25.08±6.27 to 19.42±8.80. Accordingly, horticultural therapy program based on validation therapy can be utilized as a program to promote mental health, especially maintaining positive mental health function of the eldery, helping those who live in long-term care facilities enjoy a happier life more happier.