• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.39-42
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• 2018

Background: Venipuncture pain is an uncomfortable suffering to the patient. It creates anxiety, fear and dissatisfaction. The ketoprofen transdermal patch is a proven treatment for musculoskeletal and arthritic pain. We planned this study to evaluate the efficacy of the ketoprofen patch to reduce venipuncture pain. Methods: Two hundred adult patients, aged 18-60 years, of either sex, ASA grade I or II, were enrolled. Presuming that therapy would decrease venipuncture pain by 30%, a power calculation with ${\alpha}=0.05$ and ${\beta}=0.80$ required enrollment of at least 24 patients into each group. However, 100 patients in each group were recruited. Group I (Control) received a placebo patch; Group II (Ketoprofen) received a 20 mg ketoprofen patch. A selected vein on the dorsum of the patient's non-dominant hand was cannulated with 18 g intravenous cannula 1 h after the application of the respective patch. Assessment of pain was done by a 10 cm visual analogue scale (VAS) of 0-10, where 0 depicts "no pain" and 10 is "the worst imaginable pain". The venipuncture site was assessed for the presence of skin erythema, swelling and rashes at 12 h, 24 h and at the time of decannulation. Results: Incidence of pain was 100% (94/94) in the control group as compared to 93% (85/91) in the ketoprofen group. The severity of the venipuncture pain was 6 (2) and 2 (2) for control and ketoprofen groups respectively (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Application of a ketoprofen patch at the proposed site of venipuncture one hour before the attempt is effective and safe for attenuating venipuncture pain.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.85-99
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• 2006

Objectives : Proper acupuncture stimulation is associated with a characteristic set of sensation usually referred to as 'De-Qi'. In order to develop the appropriate sham acupuncture, various sensations to each stimulation should be considered through analysis of the profiles of acupuncture sensation. It was therefore investigated to compare the acupuncture sensation scale (ASS) of two types of sham acupuncture to that of the real acupuncture. Methods : Ninety-four participants (mean age 26.4, range 26-49) were asked to complete five point-Likert scale ASS developed by Vincent et al. after real or two-kinds of sham acupuncture stimulation: blunted tip sham acupuncture (BT) and round tip sham acupuncture (RT). Needling was done at LI4 acupoint on non-dominant hand and stimulated for 30 seconds with real or two-kinds of sham needle. Finger withdrawal latency (FWL) of each group was also measured to evaluate the pain sensitivity to noxious heat stimuli. Results : BT acupuncture significantly less produced penetrating, numb, intense, hurting, pulling, shock, tingling, throbbing sensation than real acupuncture stimulation. RT acupuncture significantly less produced penetrating, burning, electric, numb, intense, hurting, pulling, aching, shasharp, shock, stinging, tingling, throbbing sensation than real acupuncture. Each group did not demonstrate the differences of pain sensitivity to noxious stimuli. Conclusions : These results indicated that types of tip of acupuncture produced different kinds of acupuncture sensation. Our finding provides a general information of sensations to two kinds of sham acupuncture for development of ideal placebo sham needle.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.651-659
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• 2021

Background Many surgical specialties have had pioneering influences from plastic surgeons. However, many of these areas of practice have evolved to include surgeons from diverse training backgrounds. This raises the question as to whether the prominence of other specialties in clinical practice translates to greater research productivity in these areas. The objective of this paper is to investigate the publication volumes of plastic surgeons in selected areas of practice compared to surgeons from other disciplines. Methods PubMed was used to examine publication trends in areas associated with plastic surgery. Searches for the following topics were performed: head and neck reconstruction, hand surgery, breast reconstruction, ventral hernia repair, abdominal component separation, brachial plexus injury, craniofacial surgery, and aesthetic surgery. Affiliation tags were used to examine contributions from nine specialties. Web of Science was used to identify the top cited articles for the last 10 years in each area. Results Articles by non-plastic surgeons comprise the majority of the literature for all areas of practice studied except for breast reconstruction and aesthetic surgery. Despite this, plastic surgeons contributed the greatest number of top cited articles over the last 10 years for five of the areas of practice. Conclusions While plastic surgeons do not contribute the greatest proportion of articles published each year in several of the selected areas of practice, they do publish a larger number of articles that are the most cited. Plastic surgeons remain the dominant academic force in terms of volume and citations for both breast and aesthetic surgery.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.161-169
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• 2022

Engagement is an important factor in the field of rehabilitation as it is a known factor that have a positive influence on functional gaining in people who receive rehabilitation therapy. Although a number of measurements for engagement have been recently developed, investigation of possible factors that may have influence on engagement is not well established. Currently available evidence suggests that engagement is affected by mood and it is hypothesized that a personal factor may contribute to engagement. Therefore, this study aims to test the hypothetical relationship between mood and engagement while performing a manual dexterity task through an experiment in healthy participants prior to investigation on people with medical condition who requires rehabilitation therapy. After inducing target mood (positive or negative mood) for study participants by asking them to recall autobiographical memories, change in muscle activity, which was operationalized as an indicator of engagement, was investigated. Electromyogram (EMG) was recorded from four muscle areas in non-dominant hand side to quantify muscle activity. The results show that the target moods were appropriately induced with the method. Although there were subtle differences in the level of engagement between different moods, certain variables derived from muscle activity were significantly different; mean amplitude for wrist extensor EMG showed significant difference between different moods (Z = -2.023, p < .05) indicating that muscle activities in the wrist extensor are greater for positive mood than negative mood region during manual dexterity task. Meanwhile, performance outcomes of Minnesota Manual Dexterity Test (MMDT), such as mean completion time and number of errors, between moods showed no significant difference in two different moods, resulting in MMDT administration may not be useful task in distinguishing the level of rehabilitation engagement.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.103-110
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• 2022

Ultrafine Particle number and size distributions were simultaneously measured at rural area around the power plant in Dangjin, South Korea. New Particle formation and growth events were frequently observed during January, 2021 and classified based on their strength and persistence as well as the variation in geometric mean diameter(GMD) on January 12, 21 and 17. In this study, we investigated mechanisms of new particle growth based on measurements using a high resolution time of flight aerosol mass spectrometer(HR-ToF-AMS) and a scanning mobility particle sizer(SMPS). On Event days(Jan 12 and 21), the total average growth rate was found to be 8.46 nm/h~24.76 nm/hr. These growth rate are comparable to those reported for other urban and rural sites in South Korea using different method. Comparing to the Non-Event day(Jan 17), New Particle Growth mostly occurred when solar radiation is peaked and relative humidity is low in daytime, moreover enhanced under the condition of higher precusors, NO₂ (39.9 vs 6.2ppb), VOCs(129.5 vs 84.6ppb), NH₃(11 vs 4.7ppb). The HR-ToF-AMS PM_1.0 composition shows Organic and Ammoniated nitrate were dominant species effected by emission source in domestic. On the other hand, The Fraction of Ammoniated sulfate was calculated to be approximately 16% and 31% when air quality is inflow from China. Longer term studies are needed to help resolve the relative contributions of each precusor species on new particle growth characteristics.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.135-151
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• 2003

This study compared the effect of Polaroid$^{(R)}$ lenses on binocular vision by assessing visual acuity, stereopsis, and visual evoked potential(VEP), through Polaroid$^{(R)}$, CR 39 and sunglass lenses. The spectral absorptions of Polaroid$^{(R)}$, CR 39 and sunglass lenses were measured using a spectrophotometer (Hitachi. U-3501). The VEP were recorded by the Nicolet system. Thirty normal adult(fifteen males, fifteen females, mean=21.9 years, range=20 to 25) subjects were recorded. The subjects were provided a history including : general health, family health, medication, genetics, allergy and disease. All had normal or corrected to normal acuity with no history of visual disorders. Corrected visual acuity, colour vision and stereopsis were recorded for each subject monocularly and binocularly. Each test was repealed through the sunglass, CR 39, and Polaroid$^{(R)}$ lenses. Subjects viewed the VEP stimulus both monocularly and binocularly through the test lenses while the VEPs were recorded. The results suggest that the binocular visual acuity and stereoacuity is better than with monocular vision. On other hand, the analysis of VEP suggests that the amplitude of wave is smaller when the monocular eye receives the VEP stimulus compared with that when the binocular eye is stimulated by the VEP target with the sunglass, CR 39, and Polaroid$^{(R)}$ lens. But, the latency period of each eye was similar to results between the dominant eye and the non-dominant eye by the CR 39, sunglass, and polaroid lens. In conclusion, this study indicates that the binocular vision appears to be better through the brown Polaroid$^{(R)}$ lens than through the other test lenses.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.221-228
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• 2013

An experimental study was carried out to investigate the effects of the injection timing on the spray and combustion characteristics in a spray-guided direct-injection spark-ignition (DISI) engine under lean stratified operation. An in-cylinder pressure analysis, exhaust emissions measurement, and visualization of the spray and combustion were employed in this study. The combustion in a stratified DISI engine was found to have both lean premixed and diffusion controlled flame combustion characteristics. The injection timing condition corresponding to the stratified mixture characteristics was verified to be a dominant factor for these flame characteristics. For the early injection timing, a non-luminous blue flame and low combustion efficiency were observed as a result of the lean homogeneous mixture formation. On the other hand, a luminous sooting flame was shown at the late injection timing because of an under-mixed mixture formation. In addition, the smoke emission and incomplete combustion products were increased at the late injection timing as a result of the increased locally rich area. On the other hand, the NOx emissions decreased and IMEP increased as the injection timing retarded. The combustion phasing produced by the injection timing was verified as the reason for this observation.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.101-109
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• 2001

We created an environmental forest on the basis of ecological design around the incineration plant of Jindo Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd., which is located in Jeongwang-dong, Siheung-si, Kyunggi-do. To get ecological information of this site, physico-chemical properties of soil on salt marsh, which is located close to the syudy site and of forest soil transported from other sites for ecological restoration were analyzed. Texture of salt marsh and transported soils were loam and sandy loam, respectively. pH, organic matter, T-N, available P, and exchangeable K and Na contents of salt marsh and transported forest soils were 6.7 and 5.4, 4.1 and 0.4%, 1.0 and 0.3mg/g, 46.7 and 6.8ppm, 521 and 207ppm, and 3.8 and 0.5mg/g, respectively. Introduced plants were selected among the dominant species of forests and the species composing the potential natural vegetation around the present study site. Those plants were selected again by considering the tolerances to air pollution and to salt, and their availability. Selected trees were Pinus thunbergii, Sophora japonica, Celtis sinensis, Quercus aliena, Q. serrata, Q. dentata, and Q. acutissima. Selected sub-trees were Albizzia julibrissin, Koelreuteria poniculata, and Styrax japonica and shrubs were Rhododendron yedoense var. poukhanense, R. mucronulatum, Callicarpa japonica, Euonymus alatus, E. japonica, and R. schlippenbachii. On the other hand, introduction of herbs was not considered except for Liriope platyphylla, which was ornamentally planted in one site. Planting bed of mound type was adopted to provide the fine drainage system. Mound was designed to furnish litter, A, B, and C layers simuating the profile of forest soil. Slope of mound was mulched by rice straw of 2cm in thickness to prevent for sliding of litter and soil in cases of strong wind or heavy rain. Height of mound was designed to secure more than 1 m by combining A and B layers. Narrow zones, in which mound with stable slope degree cannot be prepared, was designed to equip the standard soil depth with the introduction of stone for supporting. On the other hand, plants with shallow root system were arranged in some zones, in which satisfactory soil depth cannot be ensured. Plants were arranged in the order of tree, sub-tree, and shrub from center to edge on the mound to make a mature forest of a dome shape in the future. Dispersion of plants was designed to be random pattern rather than clumped one. Problems on creation of the environmental forest by such ecological design were found to be management or inspection by non-specialized project operators and inspecting officers, and regulations for construction without ecological background. Alternative plans to solve such problems were suggested.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.743-767
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• 2020

Due to the impressive flexural performance, enhanced compressive strength and more constrained crack propagation, Fibre-reinforced concrete (FRC) have been widely employed in the construction application. Majority of experimental studies have focused on the seismic behavior of FRC columns. Based on the valid experimental data obtained from the previous studies, the current study has evaluated the seismic response and compressive strength of FRC rectangular columns while following hybrid metaheuristic techniques. Due to the non-linearity of seismic data, Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) has been incorporated with metaheuristic algorithms. 317 different datasets from FRC column tests has been applied as one database in order to determine the most influential factor on the ultimate strengths of FRC rectangular columns subjected to the simulated seismic loading. ANFIS has been used with the incorporation of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Genetic algorithm (GA). For the analysis of the attained results, Extreme learning machine (ELM) as an authentic prediction method has been concurrently used. The variable selection procedure is to choose the most dominant parameters affecting the ultimate strengths of FRC rectangular columns subjected to simulated seismic loading. Accordingly, the results have shown that ANFIS-PSO has successfully predicted the seismic lateral load with R² = 0.857 and 0.902 for the test and train phase, respectively, nominated as the lateral load prediction estimator. On the other hand, in case of compressive strength prediction, ELM is to predict the compressive strength with R² = 0.657 and 0.862 for test and train phase, respectively. The results have shown that the seismic lateral force trend is more predictable than the compressive strength of FRC rectangular columns, in which the best results belong to the lateral force prediction. Compressive strength prediction has illustrated a significant deviation above 40 Mpa which could be related to the considerable non-linearity and possible empirical shortcomings. Finally, employing ANFIS-GA and ANFIS-PSO techniques to evaluate the seismic response of FRC are a promising reliable approach to be replaced for high cost and time-consuming experimental tests.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.24 no.1 s.33
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• pp.93-97
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• 1991

The time honoured tuning fork at present widely available for examining vibration sensation is brought about the problem of great interobserver variation. To resolve t his problem, author developed a divice using electric magnet that stimulates constantly tuning fork. The perception time of vibration from tunung fork by this device was tested on the index finger of dominant hand of twenty eight subjects. It was 12.44 seconds on average and ranged from 9.47 to 17.25. Coefficient of variation of it was 16.89 percent. Correlation coefficient between test and retest after 30 minutes was 0.957(p<0.01). This device is portable. Test procedure in non-invasive, non-aversive and simple, can be performed within one minute, and does not require the skilled technician. It is felt that this device testing vibration perception time is suitable as screening tool for early detection of occupational peripheral neuropathy.