• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to obtain information of use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) and any reported adverse effects of them on vulnerable elders in a community. Methods: 1,837 elderly subjects aged 65 or higher with health problems were selected from those who were enrolled in a public health care center and received visiting health management services. A proportional stratified sampling method was used. Data collection was completed by face to face interviews using a structured questionnaire. The descriptive statistics and ${\chi}^2$-test were used to analyze the data. Results: The prevalence of CAM use last year was 57.5%, and 10.4% of the subjects reported adverse effects of the therapies. The mean score of the subjects' attitudes towards CAM was $4.1{\pm}3.44$ (range 1~10). The major sources of advice and exposure to CAM therapies were most likely to be from family and friends (72.5%). The primary reason for choosing CAM was to manage symptoms and relieve pain (86.6%). Conclusion: These findings suggest the need to develop nursing strategies for reducing and preventing adverse effects of CAM use by promoting awareness of using safe and appropriate CAM therapies.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.58-68
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• 2009

The increased use of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) has led to the development of alternative navigational methods that do not employ acoustic beacons and dead reckoning sensors. This paper describes a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) scheme that uses range sonars mounted on a small UUV. A SLAM scheme is an alternative navigation method for measuring the environment through which the vehicle is passing and providing the relative position of the UUV. A technique for a SLAM algorithm that uses several ranging sonars is presented. This technique utilizes an unscented Kalman filter to estimate the locations of the UUV and surrounding objects. In order to work efficiently, the nearest neighbor standard filter is introduced as the data association algorithm in the SLAM for associating the stored targets returned by the sonar at each time step. The proposed SLAM algorithm was tested by experiments under various three degrees of freedom motion conditions. The results of these experiments showed that the proposed SLAM algorithm was capable of estimating the position of the UUV and the surrounding objects and demonstrated that the algorithm will perform well in various environments.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.63-72
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• 2001

As construction cases on soft ground are increasing, the necessity of ground improvement is also increasing. Granular pile is one of the methods for soft clay and for loose sandy soil. In our country, SCP(Sand Compaction Pile) method using sand material has been mainly used to improve soft ground, but Granular pile with crushed-stone was not used much. However, alternative material such that crushed-stone is needed to substitute for sand due to the environmental and economical problems. In this study, staged load test and consolidation test were performed in the laboratory to observe the behavior of soft ground improved by Granular pile. In order to evaluate the characteristics such as bearing capacity, drainage, and settlement, sand and crushed-stone were applied as each pile material. The test results show that crushed-stone has higher bearing capacity and less settlement than those of sand under similar pore water pressure condition. Therefore, crushed-stone is determined to be appropriate as substitute for sand.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.89-92
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• 2012

PURPOSE. Adequate passive-fitting of one-piece cast 3-element implant-supported frameworks is hard to achieve. This short communication aims to present an alternative method for section of one-piece cast frameworks and for casting implant-supported frameworks. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Three-unit implant-supported nickel-chromium (Ni-Cr) frameworks were tested for vertical misfit (n = 6). The frameworks were cast as one-piece (Group A) and later transversally sectioned through a diagonal axis (Group B) and compared to frameworks that were cast diagonally separated (Group C). All separated frameworks were laser welded. Only one side of the frameworks was screwed. RESULTS. The results on the tightened side were significantly lower in Group C ($6.43{\pm}3.24{\mu}m$) when compared to Groups A ($16.50{\pm}7.55{\mu}m$) and B ($16.27{\pm}1.71{\mu}m$) ($P$ <.05). On the opposite side, the diagonal section of the one-piece castings for laser welding showed significant improvement in the levels of misfit of the frameworks (Group A, $58.66{\pm}14.30{\mu}m$; Group B, $39.48{\pm}12.03{\mu}m$; Group C, $23.13{\pm}8.24{\mu}m$) ($P$ <.05). CONCLUSION. Casting diagonally sectioned frameworks lowers the misfit levels. Lower misfit levels for the frameworks can be achieved by diagonally sectioning one-piece frameworks.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.359-362
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• 2016

Objectives: Loss of lumbar lordosis causing pain and curvature of the vertebral skeleton to one side is a relatively uncommon disease. To our knowledge, successful treatment of loss of lumbar lordosis with any potentized homeopathic drug diluted above Avogadro's limit (that is, above a potency of 12C) has not been documented so far. In this communication, we intend to document a relatively rare case of loss of lumbar lordosis with osteophytic lippings, disc desiccation, and protrusion, causing a narrowing of secondary spinal canal and a bilateral neural foramina, leading to vertebral column curvature with acute pain in an adolescent boy. Methods: The patient had undergone treatment with orthodox Western medicines, but did not get any relief from, or cure of, the ailment; finally, surgery was recommended. The patient's family brought the patient to the Khuda-Bukhsh Homeopathic Benevolent Foundation where a charitable clinic is run every Friday with the active participation of four qualified homeopathic doctors. A holistic method of homeopathic treatment was adopted by taking into consideration all symptoms and selecting the proper remedy by consulting the homeopathic repertory, mainly of Kent. Results: The symptoms were effectively treated with different potencies of a single homeopathic drug, Calcarea phos. X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) supported recovery and a change in the skeletal curvature that was accompanied by removal of pain and other acute symptoms of the ailment. Conclusion: Homeopathy can be a safe, much less expensive, non-invasive, and viable alternative for the treatment of such cases.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.716-721
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• 2014

Background The aim of this study was to review the recipient vessels used in our cases of facial reanimation with free functional muscle transfer and to identify patient variables that may predict when the facial vessels are absent. From this we present a protocol for vessel selection in cases when the facial artery and/or vein are absent. Methods Patients were identified from November 2006 to October 2013. Data was collected on patient demographics, facial palsy aetiology, history of previous facial surgery/trauma and flap/recipient vessels used. A standard operative approach was adopted and performed by a single surgeon. Results Eighty-seven eligible patients were identified for inclusion amongst which 98 hemifaces were operated upon. The facial artery and vein were the most commonly used recipient vessels (90% and 83% of patients, respectively). Commonly used alternative vessels were the transverse facial vein and superficial temporal artery. Those with congenital facial palsy were significantly more likely to lack a suitable facial vein (P=0.03) and those with a history of previous facial surgery or trauma were significantly more likely to have an absent facial artery and vein (P<0.05). Conclusions Our algorithm can help to guide vessel selection cases of facial reanimation with free functional muscle transfer. Amongst patients with congenital facial palsy or in those with a previous history of facial surgery or trauma, the facial vessels are more likely to be absent and so the surgeon should then look towards the transverse facial vein and superficial temporal artery as alternative recipient structures.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2018

Molecular techniques have been introduced for malaria diagnosis because they offer greater sensitivity and specificity than microscopic examinations. Therefore, DNA isolation methods have been developed for easy preparation and cost effectiveness. The present study described a simple protocol for Plasmodium DNA isolation from EDTA-whole blood. This study demonstrated that after heating infected blood samples with Tris-EDTA buffer and proteinase K solution, without isolation and purification steps, the supernatant can be used as a DNA template for amplification by PCR. The sensitivity of the extracted DNA of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax was separately analyzed by both PCR and semi-nested PCR (Sn-PCR). The results revealed that for PCR the limit of detection was $40parasites/{\mu}l$ for P. falciparum and $35.2parasites/{\mu}l$ for P. vivax, whereas for Sn-PCR the limit of detection was $1.6parasites/{\mu}l$ for P. falciparum and $1.4parasites/{\mu}l$ for P. vivax. This new method was then verified by DNA extraction of whole blood from 11 asymptomatic Myanmar migrant workers and analyzed by Sn-PCR. The results revealed that DNA can be extracted from all samples, and there were 2 positive samples for Plasmodium (P. falciparum and P. vivax). Therefore, the protocol can be an alternative method for DNA extraction in laboratories with limited resources and a lack of trained technicians for malaria diagnosis. In addition, this protocol can be applied for subclinical cases, and this will be helpful for epidemiology and control.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2012

Cut-off sampling that discards a part of the population from the sampling frame, is a widely used method for a business survey. Usually, to the estimate of population total, an accurate estimate of the total of the take-nothing stratum is required. Many estimators have been developed to estimate the total of the take-nothing stratum. Recently Kim and Shin (2011) suggested a composite estimator and showed the superiority of that estimator. In this paper, we suggest an alternative composite estimator obtained by combining BLUP estimator and a ratio estimator obtained by the small samples from the take-nothing stratum. Small simulation studies are performed for a comparison of the estimators and we confirm that the new suggested estimator is superior.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.35.1-35.1
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• 2011

New photovoltaic (PV) materials and manufacturing approaches are needed for meeting the demand for lower-cost solar cells. The prototypal thin-film photovoltaic absorbers (CdTe and $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$) can achieve solar conversion efficiencies of up to 20% and are now commercially available, but the presence of toxic (Cd,Se) and expensive elemental components (In, Te) is a real issue as the demand for photovoltaics rapidly increases. To overcome these limitations, there has been substantial interest in developing viable alternative materials, such as $Cu_2ZnSnS_4$ (CZTS) is an emerging solar absorber that is structurally similar to CIGS, but contains only earth abundant, non-toxic elements and has a near optimal direct band gap energy of 1.4~1.6 ev and a large absorption coefficient of ${\sim}10^4\;cm^{-1}$. The CZTS absorber layers are grown and investigated by various fabrication methods, such as thermal evaporation, e-beam evaporation with a post sulfurization, sputtering, non-vacuum sol-gel, pulsed laser, spray-pyrolysis method and electrodeposition technique. In the present work, we report an alternative method for large area deposition of CZTS thin films that is potentially high throughput and inexpensive when used to produce monolithically integrated solar panel modules. Specifically, we have developed an aqueous chemical approach based on chemical bath deposition (CBD) with a subsequent sulfurization heat treatment. Samples produced by our method were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, absorbance and photoluminescence. The results show that this inexpensive and relatively benign process produces thin films of CZTS exhibiting uniform composition, kesterite crystal structure, and good optical properties. A preliminary solar cell device was fabricated to demonstrate rectifying and photovoltaic behavior.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.129-133
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• 2010

Objective : The use of segmental instrumentation technique using pedicle screw has been increasingly popular in recent years owing to its biomechanical stability. Recently, intralaminar screws have been used as a potentially safer alternative to traditional fusion constructs involving fixation of C2 and the cervicothoracic junction including C7. However, to date, there have been few clinical series of C7 laminar screw fixation in the literature. Thus, the purpose of this study is to report our clinical experiences using C7 laminar screw and the early clinical outcome of this rather new fixation technique. Methods : Thirteen patients underwent C7 intralaminar fixation to treat lesions from trauma or degenerative disease. Seventeen intralaminar screws were placed at C7. The patients were assessed both clinically and radiographically with postoperative computed tomographic scans. Results : There was no violation of the screw into the spinal canal during the procedure and no neurological worsening or vascular injury from screw placement. The mean clinical and radiographic follow up was about 19 months, at which time there were no cases of screw pull-out, screw fracture or non-union. Complications included two cases of dorsal breech of intralaminar screw and one case of postoperative infection. Conclusion : Intralaminar screws can be potentially safe alternative technique for C7 fixation. Even though this technique cannot be used in the cases of C7 laminar fracture, large margin of safety and the ease of screw placement create a niche for this technique in the armamentarium of spine surgeons.