• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.277-291
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• 2020

Background and objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of visitors' positive emotions on satisfaction and loyalty with the perception of restorative environment of a healing garden created in an urban agriculture expo. Methods: The psychological indicators to the images of the healing garden were analyzed by the visitors' demographic variables and the three factors of plant cultivation activity level: plant cultivation experience, plant preference, and plant-related event. Results: Between age groups and occupational groups, significant differences were found statistically. The Perceived Restorativeness Scale(PRS) showed significantly differences between age groups in repose, fascination and legibility. The Positive Affect & Negative Affect Schedule(PANAS) showed statistically significant differences between age groups in positive emotions. In addition, we investigated the correlation between the PANAS and the three factors of plant cultivation experience level, the four factors of the PRS, satisfaction and loyalty. The three factors of plant cultivation experience level, the four factors of the PRS, satisfaction and loyalty showed a positive correlation with positive emotions and were inversely correlated with negative emotions significantly. Multiple regression analysis with dummy variables was conducted to examine the effects of plant cultivation activity level, attention restoration, and the PANAS on healing garden visitors' satisfaction and loyalty. As a result, among the four factors of the PRS, fascination and positive affectivity were significant variables that affect healing garden visitors' satisfaction and loyalty. Conclusion: The results indicated that the higher the attention restoration of visitors due to the fascination of the healing garden and the higher their positive affectivity and the more they have plant-related memories, the higher their impact on healing garden visitors' satisfaction and loyalty. Therefore, fascinating natural environments or greenery landscapes like healing gardens where people can contact plants would reduce negative emotions such as anger and sadness but to increase positive emotions such as pleasure, joy and satisfaction.

• Architectural research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.105-111
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• 2022

During pandemic period, college students lost lots of such academic opportunities as extra-curriculum social activities, contact classes, and friendly socializing in university campus area, etc. Previous many studies have shown that physical environment has certain relevance on the well-being of human-beings. Recent public statistics on mental health had shown an increase in psychological distress and a decrease in college students and people's well-being during the lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, there were little evidence on what the college students in dormitory suffered from COVID-19 incident in relation with their physical environment. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between environmental factors and psychological well-being of dormitory students in university campus. In order to explore the impact of physical environment on students' psychological well-being, survey instrumentation consisted of 25 indices were employed to measure the level of awareness to each index. A Chi-square analysis on individual characteristics of 200 students found that number of students living in single dwelling unit was statistically significant to maintain their psychological well-being, except for number of students living in each dwelling unit (χ² =128.92, p= .004). Pearson correlation analysis also found that there exists statistically significant relationship between psychological well-being of students and environmental factors. Further, stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that the most prime predictor for psychological well-being of students residing in dorm was "use of furniture" (β= .281), implying careful design, lay-out and easy-access to interior furniture by facility planner. The study also demonstrated that as the level of positive perception of physical environmental features rose, overall psychological well-being of students also responded positively at specified rate. Finally, the findings reinforce a solid evidence that carefully well-coordinated physical environments play an important role in maintaining emotional stability of college students in dorm even in pandemic period.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.44-54
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• 2023

Purpose: Uncertainty and restrictions on daily life have increased fear, stress, and depression during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Depression is the most common mental health problem in pregnant women. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the levels of fear and stress related to COVID-19 experienced by pregnant women, as well as their levels of depression, and to examine the factors associated with depression during pregnancy. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, correlational study conducted among 153 pregnant women who visited a maternity hospital in Busan, South Korea. A self-reported questionnaire was used for data collection from December 18, 2021 to March 8, 2022. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression. Results: Pregnant women experienced a moderate level of fear related to COVID-19, with an average score of 21.55±4.90. The average score for depression during pregnancy was 14.86±11.10, with 50.3% of the participants experiencing depression (≥13). The factors associated with depression during pregnancy were fear of COVID-19, contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19, being in the third trimester of pregnancy, high stress levels due to difficulties experienced from social distancing measures, and unintended pregnancy. These five statistically significant factors explained 35.0% of variance in depression during pregnancy. Conclusion: Considering the prevalence of depression in pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to develop interventions to reduce anxiety by providing correct information and alleviating the stress of social distancing.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.363-373
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• 2023

A novel type of steel fiber with a rounded-end shape is presented to improve the bonding behavior of fibers with Carbon Nanotubes (CNT)-reinforced Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) matrix. For this purpose, by performing a parametric study and using the nonlinear finite element method, the impact of geometric characteristics of the fiber end on its bonding behavior with UHPC has been studied. The cohesive zone model investigates the interface between the fibers and the cement matrix. The mechanical properties of the cohesive zone model are determined by calibrating the finite element results and the experimental fiber pull-out test. Also, the results are evaluated with the straight steel fibers outcomes. Using the novel presented fibers, the bond strength has significantly improved compared to the straight steel fibers. The new proposed fibers increase bond strength by 1.1 times for the same diameter of fibers. By creating fillet at the contact area between the rounded end and the fiber, bond strength is significantly improved, the maximum fiber capacity is reachable, and the pull-out occurs in the form of fracture and tearing of the fibers, which is the most desirable bonding mode for fibers. This also improves the energy absorbed by the fibers and is 4.4 times more than the corresponding straight fibers.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.85-93
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• 2023

Membrane separation is widely used for several applications such as water treatment, membrane reactors and climate change. Cross-linked organic-inorganic hybrid polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) / Tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) was adopted for the preparation of optimized hollow membrane (HFM) for membrane distillation or other low pressure separators for mechanical properties and permeability under varying pretreatment schemes. HFMs were prepared on semi-pilot membrane fabrication system. Novel adopted post-treatment schemes involved soaking in glycerol, magnesium sulphate (MgSO₄), sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), and isopropanol for different durations. All fibers were characterized for morphology using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), surface roughness using atomic force microscope (AFM), elemental composition by examining Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), water contact angle (CA°) and porosity. The performance of the fibers was evaluated for pure water permeation flux (PWF). Post-treatment with MgSO₄ gave the highest both tensile modulus and flux. Assessment of properties and performance revealed comparable results with other organic-inorganic separators, HF or flat. In spite of few reported data on post treatment using MgSO₄ in presence of TEOS, this proves the potential of low cost treatment without negative impact on other membrane properties. The flux is also comparable with hypochlorite which manifests substantial precaution requirements in actual industrial use.The relatively high values of flux/bar for sample treated with TEOS, post treated with MgSO₄ and hypochlorite are 88 and 82 LMH/bar respectively.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.87 no.2
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• pp.151-164
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• 2023

The latest earthquake's costly repairs and economic disruption were brought on by excessive residual drift. Self-centering systems are one of the most efficient ways in the current generation of seismic resistance system to get rid of and reduce residual drift. The mechanics and behavior of the self-centering system in response to seismic forces were impacted by a number of important factors. The amount of post-tensioning (PT) force, which is often employed for the standing posture after an earthquake, is the first important component. The energy dissipater element is another one that has a significant impact on how the self-centering system behaves. Using the damper as a replaceable and affordable tool and fuse in self-centering frames has been recommended to boost energy absorption and dampening of structural systems during earthquakes. In this research, the self-centering steel moment frame connections are equipped with cushion flexural dampers (CFDs) as an energy dissipator system to increase energy absorption, post-yielding stiffness, and ease replacement after an earthquake. Also, it has been carefully considered how to reduce permanent deformations in the self-centering steel moment frames exposed to seismic loads while maintaining adequate stiffness, strength, and ductility. After confirming the FE model's findings with an earlier experimental PT connection, the behavior of the self-centering connection using CFD has been surveyed in this study. The FE modeling takes into account strands preloading as well as geometric and material nonlinearities. In addition to contact and sliding phenomena, gap opening and closing actions are included in the models. According to the findings, self-centering moment-resisting frames (SF-MRF) combined with CFD enhance post-yielding stiffness and energy absorption with the least amount of permeant deformation in a certain CFD thickness. The obtained findings demonstrate that the effective energy dissipation ratio (β), is increased to 0.25% while also lowering the residual drift to less than 0.5%. Also, this enhancement in the self-centering connection with CFD's seismic performance was attained with a respectable moment capacity to beam plastic moment capacity ratio.

• Electronics and Telecommunications Trends
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.41-51
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• 2023

Heat dissipation technology for semiconductors and electronic packaging has a substantial impact on performance and lifespan, but efficient heat dissipation is currently facing limited improvement. Owing to the high integration density in electronic packaging, heat dissipation components must become thinner and increase their performance. Therefore, heat dissipation materials are being devised considering conductive heat transfer, carbon-based directional thermal conductivity improvements, functional heat dissipation composite materials with added fillers, and liquid-metal thermal interface materials. Additionally, in heat dissipation structure design, 3D printing-based complex heat dissipation fins, packages that expand the heat dissipation area, chip embedded structures that minimize contact thermal resistance, differential scanning calorimetry structures, and through-silicon-via technologies and their replacement technologies are being actively developed. Regarding dry cooling using single-phase and phase-change heat transfer, technologies for improving the vapor chamber performance and structural diversification are being investigated along with the miniaturization of heat pipes and high-performance capillary wicks. Meanwhile, in wet cooling with high heat flux, technologies for designing and manufacturing miniaturized flow paths, heat dissipating materials within flow paths, increasing heat dissipation area, and reducing pressure drops are being developed. We also analyze the development of direct cooling and immersion cooling technologies, which are gradually expanding to achieve near-junction cooling.

• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.88-94
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• 2023

The seating postures of passengers in the automated driving vehicle are possible in atypical forms such as rear-facing and lying down. It is necessary to improve devices such as airbags and seat belts to protect occupants from injury in accidents of the automated driving vehicle, and collision safety evaluation tests must be newly developed. The purpose of this study is to define representative types of head-on collision accidents to develop collision standards for autonomous vehicles that take into account changes in driving behavior and occupants' postures. 150 frontal collision cases remained by filtering (accident videos, images, AIS 2+, passenger car, etc…) and random sampling from approximately 320,000 accidents claimed by a major insurance company over the past 5 years. The most frequent accident type is a head-on collision between a vehicle going straight and a vehicle turning left from the opposite side, accounting for 54.7% of all accidents, and most of these accidents occur in permissive left turns. The next most common frontal collision is the center-lane violation by drowsy driving and careless driving, accounting for 21.3% of the total. For the two types above, data such as vehicle speed, contact point/area, and PDOF at the moment of impact are obtained through accident reconstruction using PC-Crash. As a result, two types of autonomous vehicle crash safety test scenarios are proposed: (1) a frontal oblique collision test based on the accident types between a straight vehicle and a left-turning vehicle, and (2) a small overlap collision test based on the head-on accidents of center-lane violation.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.236-244
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• 2024

This research was conducted to determine the performance of a two-stage vortex turbine with a free water surface. The performance of the two-stage runner was studied by varying the flow rate and the position of the runner in the cylindrical vortex chamber. The experimental results showed that the performance parameters such as torque, voltage, current, and rotational speed increased with increasing flow rate. The runner depth ratio has a significant impact on the performance of the two-stage vortex turbine. The highest power generated by the two-stage runner occurred in the range of 0.054 to 0.162 runner depth ratio near the orifice. The power output of the two-stage runner was higher than that of the single runner due to more vortex and blade contact area in the flow range of 7.2 to 7.7 L/s.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.280-291
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate whether new-onset periodontitis or apical periodontitis in the adjacent teeth affects osseointegrated dental implants in a beagle dog model. Methods: One control group and 2 experimental groups (periodontitis and apical periodontitis groups) were defined based on the presence of experimental periodontitis or apical periodontitis, with 1 beagle dog randomly assigned to each group. The mandibular second and fourth premolars on both sides of the 3 beagles were extracted. Eight weeks after extraction, 4 bone-level implant fixtures, 2 on both sides of each mandible, were placed in each beagle. Six weeks after implant surgery, healing abutments were connected. After sufficient osseointegration, plaque control was performed in the control group, while periodontitis and apical periodontitis were induced in the experimental groups. The beagles were euthanized for histological analyses 20 weeks after induction of experimental periodontitis. Statistical analyses were performed using the Kruskal-Wallis test with the Bonferroni correction to compare the 3 groups. Results: The implants in the control and apical periodontitis groups were well-maintained, while those in the periodontitis group showed clinical signs of inflammation with bone resorption. The bone-to-implant contact (BIC) and bone area values in the periodontitis group were lower than those in the other groups. The distance between the implant shoulder and the first BIC was significantly greater in the periodontitis group than in the control group (P<0.05). Conclusions: The presence of periodontitis in adjacent teeth can pose a risk to dental implants, potentially resulting in peri-implantitis. However, this was not observed for apical periodontitis. Within the limitations of this study, periodontal care is necessary to reduce the impact of periodontitis in adjacent teeth on osseointegrated implants.