• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.240-243
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• 2010

Objective : Radiofrequency (RF) medial branch neurotomy is an effective management of lumbar facet syndrome. However, pain may recur after period of time. When pain recurs, it can be repeated, but the successful outcome and duration of relief from repeated procedures are not clearly known. The objective of this study was to determine the success rate and duration of pain relief from repeated radiofrequency medial branch neurotomy for lumbar facet syndrome. Methods : A retrospective review of medical records was done on 60 consecutive patients, from March of 2006 to February of 2009, who had an initial successful RF neurotomy but subsequently underwent repeated procedures due to recurrence of pain. All procedures were done in carefully selected patients after at least two responsive medial branch nerve blocks. C-arm fluoroscopic guide, impedance, sensory and motor threshold monitoring tools were used for the precise placement of electrodes. Responses of repeated procedures were compared with initial radiofrequency neurotomy for success rates and duration of pain relief. Results : There were 48 females and 12 males. Mean age was 52.4 years (range, 26-83). RF medial branch neurotomy was done on one side in 38 and both sides in 22 patients, each covering at least three segments. Average visual analog scale at last procedure was 6.8. Twelve patients had previous lumbar operations, including 4 patients with instrumentations. Fifty-five patients had two procedures and five patients had three procedures. Mean duration of successful pain relief (> 50% of previous pain for at least 3 months period) after initial radiofrequency neurotomy was 10.9 months (range, 3-28) in 51 (85%) patients. From repeated procedures, successful pain relief was seen in 50 (91%) patients with average duration of 10.2 months (range, 3-24). Five patients had third procedure, which was successful in 4 (80%) patients with mean duration of 9.8 months (range, 5-16). This was not statistically different from initial results. There were no permanent neurological complications from the procedures. Conclusion : Results of this study indicate that the frequency of success and durations of relief from repeated RF medial branch neurotomy for lumbar facet syndrome are similar to initial results that provided relatively prolonged period of pain relief without major side effects Each procedure seems to provide successful pain relief for about 10 months in more than 85% of carefully selected patients when properly done.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.131-136
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• 2012

Growth, oxygen consumption, ammonia excretion, feeding and assimilation rate were examined from May 2010 to February 2011 in order to assess the physiological changes of Haliotis discus hannai in accordance with changes in season. The water temperature was in the range of $8-23.2^{\circ}C$ and the salinity in the range of 31.9-34.1psu during the examination period. The length of shell of Haliotis discus hannai grew from 36.3 mm to 66.1 mm in the 1 year old entities and from 60.6 mm to 66.1 mm for the 2 year old entities, while the weight of the meat increased from 3.16 g to 12.04 g and from 15.8 g to 21.5 g, respectively. The oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion rate displayed trend of increase in accordance with the increase in water temperature, while the feeding rate was high during the period from July to October. The assimilation rate was in the range of 68%-71% without significant difference between the age of the entities and seasons. SFG displayed +value throughout the year for the 1 year old entities of Haliotis discus hannai as well as for the 2 year old entities with the exception of the period of July, thereby showing that they are growing throughout the year. Therefore, there was no environmental effect including water temperature and salinity during the examination period.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.321-329
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• 2012

Laboratory tests for measuring absorption, porosity, P-wave velocity and uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) were performed to examine weathering characteristics of ilmenite by microorganism. Physical property changes were quantitatively estimated with comparing culture period on the condition of abiotic oxidation without microorganism and biooxidation with microorganism. As a result, the measured pH during 45 days was distributed in the range from 3.82 to 4.26, on the other hand, biooxidation showed the range from 2.20 to 2.57. The measured absorption according to microorganism and culture period represented 0.052% at final stage in the case of abiotic oxidation and 0.073% in the case of biooxidation. Porosity showed 0.206% at final stage in the case of abiotic oxidation and 0.281% in the case of biooxidation. In general, the values by biooxidation showed higher than that by abiotic oxidation. Change range of P-wave velocity with culture period showed that the measured value as 1410 m/s at final stage in the case of biooxidation was lower than 1886 m/s of that in the case of abiotic oxidation. The UCS was decreased with increasing culture period in all specimens and represented 241.1 MPa at final stage in the case of abiotic oxidation and 140.0 MPa in the case of bioxidation. In conclusion, it implies that influence of physical property on ilmenite by biooxidation related with microorganism was larger than that by abiotic oxidation.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.3-13
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• 2010

The Tsushima leopard cat, Prionailurus bengalensis euptilurus, a small felid, inhabits only the Tsushima Islands in Japan. Previous studies of the Tsushima leopard cat revealed that natural factors; including sex, reproductive activity, season, and prey distribution and abundance affect leopard cat home range variation and habitat use. In this study, we focused on clarifying how anthropogenic factors influenced home range variation and habitat use of a male Tsushima leopard cat living near a suburban area in January, March, May and September 2005 using radio-tracking. The home range size (100% MCP) of this cat was $0.78\;{\pm}\;0.26\;km^2$ (mean ${\pm}$ SD, n = 4 tracking sessions) across the whole study period. However, the cat did not use all parts of its home range uniformly; rather it used some habitat types selectively. The cat avoided agriculture areas and residential areas in all of the tracking-sessions. On the other hand, the cat showed a weak preference for artificial structures and a strong preference for baiting sites in January and March, while it avoided them in May, and no baiting site was included in its home range in September. These results suggest that anthropogenic factors influenced the ranging patterns and habitat use of the leopard cat living near a suburban area. Artificial structures might provided good resting spaces for the cat in bad weather. When the density of its main prey was low in the winter, the cat tended to rely on artificial prey and had a small home range size.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.115-127
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• 2023

Objectives Through this study, we investigated the effects of Korean medicine treatments on range of motion recovery and pain reduction in patients with Frozen shoulder. Methods In this study, the medical records of 26 patients diagnosed with frozen shoulder were retrospectively observed and analyzed through the IBM SPSS Statistics 25 program. We used range of motion to observe the patient's motion recovery and numeric rating scale to evaluate pain reduction. Results The shoulder range of motion increased statistically significantly from 160.0 (123.5~170.0) to 170.0 (160.0~180.0) (flexion), 115.0 (90.0~135.0) to 167.5 (130.0~178.8) (abduction), 40.8±22.1 to 58.3±16.0 (external rotation) (p<0.001). The average of numeric rating scale reduced statistically significantly from 6.7±2.0 to 3.2±1.4 (p<0.001). Depending on the period, the range of motion increased statistically significantly when visited within 3 months, also the pain score decreased 7.0 (5.4~8.0) to 3.0 (1.8~3.6) statistically significantly when visited within 3 months. In the treatment intervention, the increase in the range of motion and the decrease in pain were statistically significant, especially when the bee venom acupuncture and chuna manaul therapy were used together. Conclusions Korean medicine treatments was effective in improving the range of motion and reducing pain in frozen shoulders. In particular, when treated within 3 months of onset and when bee venom acupuncture and chuna manual therapy were used together, it was effective in recovering the range of motion and reducing pain.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Environment and Ecology Conference
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.136-142
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• 2007

The main aim of this study is to estimate home-range of the Korean raccoon dog(Nyctereutes procyonoides koreensis) at a rural area of Gurye in the southern part of South Korea. A radio-tracking was regularly carried out on 4 raccoon dogs for 2 days every 2 months in 2006. During the days, the radio-tracking was usually conducted every 1-3 hours through day-time to night-time. Among the 4 raccoon dogs, 2 individuals(a permanent breeding pair) could be extensively tracked for 5 to 7 months, including all 4 seasons. The result showed that total home-range sizes of the pair were 0.732 $km^2$ and 0.373 $km^2$ for 100% minimum convex polygons(MCP) and 100% kernel(K), respectively, during the monitoring period. Mean home-range sizes of the 2 raccoon dogs were 0.035-0,688 $km^2$ and 0.012-0.341 $km^2$ for MCP and K, respectively. Yearly home-range sizes of the male and female were similar to each other. However, home-range sizes of the raccoon dogs between day-time and night-time were quite different. Furthermore, the raccoon dogs showed a much broader home-range size in spring, summer and fall than in winter season. Finally, the pair had a broad overlapping home-range(about 70-95%), and 1 core area and 4 different feeding areas.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.220-224
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• 2011

Background: We investigated changes in the International Normalized Ratio (INR) and its measurement interval in patients with thromboembolic events who were treated by low intensity anticoagulation therapy after isolated mechanical aortic valve replacement. Materials and Methods: Seventy-seven patients who underwent surgery from June 1990 to September 2006 were enrolled in the study and observed until August 2008. The patients were followed up at 4~8 week intervals and their warfarin (Coumadin)$^{(R)}$ dosage was adjusted aiming for a target range of INR 1.5~2.5. The rate of thromboembolic events was obtained. Changes in the mean INR and INR measurement interval were comparatively analyzed between the normal group (event free group, N=52) who had no anticoagulation-related complications and the thromboembolic group (N=10). Hospital records were reviewed retrospectively. Results: The observation period was 666.75 patient-years. Thromboembolic events occurred in 10 patients. The linearized occurrence rate of thromboembolism was 1.50%/patient-years. Actuarial thromboembolism-free rates were $97.10{\pm}2.02%$ at 5 years, $84.30{\pm}5.22%$ at 10 years, and $67.44{\pm}12.14%$ at 15 years. The percentages of INR within the target range and mean INR were not statistically significantly different for the normal and thromboembolic groups. However, the mean INR during the segmented period just before the events showed a significantly lower level in the thromboembolic group (during a 4 month period: normal group, $1.86{\pm}0.14$ vs. thromboembolic group, $1.50{\pm}0.28$, p<0.001). The mean intervals of INR measurement during the whole observation period showed no significant differences between groups, but in the segmented period just before the events, the interval was significantly longer in thromboembolic group (during a 6 month period: normal group, $49.04{\pm}9.47$ days vs. thromboembolic group, $65.89{\pm}44.88$ days, p<0.01). Conclusion: To prevent the occurrence of thromboembolic events in patients who receive isolated aortic valve replacement and low intensity anticoagulation therapy, we suggest that it would be safe to maintain an INR level above 1.8 and to measure the INR at least every 7~8 weeks.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.300-306
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• 2020

This study analyzes the distributor's inventory model in a two-stage supply chain consisting of the supplier, the distributor and the end customer. The supplier will allow a credit period before the distributor settles the account with him in order to stimulate the demand for the product he produces. It is also assumed that the distributor pays the shipping cost for the order and hence, the distributor's ordering cost consists of a fixed ordering cost and the shipping cost that depend on the order quantity. The availability of the delay in payments from the supplier enables discount of the distributor's selling price from a wider range of the price option in anticipation of increased customer's demand. As a result, the availability of a credit transaction leads to an increase in inventory levels. On the other hand, in the case of deteriorating products in which the utility of the product perish over time, the deterioration rate with time plays a role in reducing inventory levels. In this regard, we analyze the effect of the length of the credit period and the degree of product deterioration on the distributor's inventory level. For the analysis, we formulate the distributor's annual net profit and analyze the effect of the length of credit period and deterioration rate of the product on inventory policy numerically.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.112-123
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• 1994

At present, no appropriate drying conditions can be found for the heated-air drying of mushroom in Korea. Usually, mushroom is being dried at the temperature range of 40 to $50^{\circ}C$ until the moisture content reaches 10~13% (wb). However, drying characteristics of the mushroom should be investigated for quality improvement and efficient drying operation of the mushroom. The results of this study may be summarized as follows ; 1. The effect of air temperature on the rate of drying was greater than that of relative humidity for drying of mushroom, and the rate of drying was increased with increase in the air temperature. 2. Drying rate for Shiitake mushroom showed falling-rate period of drying without constant-rate period of drying. Drying rate for Oyster mushroom showed a short constant-rate period at the initial stage of drying process, and followed by falling-rate period of drying. 3. Exponential and App.-Diffusion models were found to describe well the drying process of Shiitake mushroom. Exponential and Thompson models for Oyster mushroom in which Thompson model was the most suitable for Oyster mushroom. 4. The equilibrium moisture content of the mushroom decreased with decrease in the air temperature and increase in the relative humidity. In room condition($20^{\circ}C$, 54% RH), the calculated values of the equilibrium moisture content showed 11.17% for Shiitake mushroom and 13.19% for Oyster mushroom, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.20 no.3 s.71
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• pp.143-151
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• 2005

In this study, it is demonstrated that how the effect of the Near Fault Ground Motion affects the response of the structure. Considering the general characteristic of Near Fault Ground Motion the characteristics of Near Fault Ground Motions is analysed by elastic response spectrums, and the inelastic response spectrum is evaluated with the ductility and the yield strength to consider the inelastic behavior which couldn't be simulated through the elastic response spectrum. The result of this study shows that the effect of Near Fault Ground Motion should be considered in the long period range of long span structures but the domestic seismic design code was developed based on Far Fault Ground Motions, so the effects of Near Fault Ground Motions, which is very serious especially in large structures with a long period, are not considered. Therefore, the effect of the Near Fault Ground Motion has to be examined especially in the seismic performance evaluation of long period structure.