• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.61-79
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• 2018

Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine the effect of non-thermal dielectric barrier discharge(DBD) plasma on decontamination of Staphylococcus aureus(S. aureus) and Escherichia coli(E. coli) as common pathogens. Methods: This experiment was carried out in a chamber($0.64m^3$)designed by the authors. The plasma was continuously generated by a non-thermal DBD plasma generator(Model TB-300, Shinyoung Air tech, Korea). Suspensions of S. aureus and E. coli of 0.5 McFarland standard($1.5{\times}10^8CFU/mL$) were prepared using a Densi-Check photometer(bio $M{\acute{e}}rieux$, France). The suspensions were diluted1:1000 in sterile PBS solutions(approximately$10^{4-5}CFU/mL$) and inoculated on tryptic soy agar(TSA) in Petri dishes. The Petri dishes(80mm internal diameter)were exposed to the non -thermal DBD plasma in the chamber. Results: The results showed that 95% of S. aureus colonies were killed after a six-hour exposure to the DBD plasma. In the case of E. coli, it took two hours to kill 100% of the colonies. The gram-negative E. coli had a greater reduction than the gram-positive S. aureus. This difference may be due to the structure of their cell membranes. The thickness of gram-positive bacteria is greater than that of gram-negative bacteria. The S. aureus is more resistant to DBD plasma exposures than is E. coli. It should be noted that average concentrations of ozone, a byproduct of the DBD plasma generator, were monitored throughout the experiment and the results were well below the criteria, 50 ppb, recommended by the Korean Ministry of the Environment. Thus, non-thermal DBD plasma is deemed safe for use in hospital and public facilities. Conclusions: There was evidence that non-thermal DBD plasma can effectively kill S. aureus and E. coli. The results indicate that DBD plasma technology can greatly contribute to the control of infections in hospitals and other public and private facilities.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.41 no.8
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• pp.771-782
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• 2017

This paper describes the development of a wearable robot to assist ankle power for the elderly. Previously developed wearable robots have generally used motors and gears to assist muscle power during walking. However, the combination of motor and reduction gear is heavy and has limitations on the simultaneous control of stiffness and torque due to the friction of the gear reducer unlike human muscles. Therefore, in this study, Mckibben pneumatic muscle, which is lighter, safer, and more powerful than an electric motor with gear, was used to assist ankle joint. Antagonistic actuation using a pair of pneumatic muscles assisted the power of the soleus muscles and tibialis anterior muscles used for the pitching motion of the ankle joint, and the model parameters of the antagonistic actuator were experimentally derived using a muscle test platform. To recognize the wearer's walking intention, foot load and ankle torque were calculated by measuring the pressure and the center of pressure of the foot using force and linear displacement sensors, and the stiffness and the torque of the pneumatic muscle joint were then controlled by the calculated ankle torque and foot load. Finally, the performance of the developed ankle power assistive robot was experimentally verified by measuring EMG signals during walking experiments on a treadmill.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.89-93
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• 2018

High sodium dietary habits may cause various diseases, thereby threatening the public health. Various efforts have been made to control high sodium use in diets, but few studies have been conducted on health communication efforts to modify such habits. This study looks for suggestions for diet improvement education by examining whether or not high sodium dietary habits can be predicted by a consumer's perception on the threat and controllability of high sodium diets. In this study, a questionnaire was developed to measure the severity, vulnerability, efficiency, efficacy, and behavioral tendencies of the consumer, which were subscales of the protective motivation theory. The questionnaire was given to university students and their families in Chungnam Province. The results of a statistical analysis were as follows: First, more young people preferred high-sodium diets than older people. Second, the correlation analysis showed that older people knew that they were vulnerable to the negative effects of high sodium diets, but they would not change their dietary habits until they were confident that they could control the high-sodium diet. Third, the structural model analysis showed that the higher the coping perception was, the lower was the tendency to consume a high-sodium diet. These results suggest that in the effort to reduce high-sodium diets, it is more effective to provide viable information and improve efficacy.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.11
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• pp.4914-4923
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• 2011

This study aims to investigate the factors influencing job satisfaction to job stress of physician assistant(PA) nurses. This research design was a descriptive study. The subjects in this study were 104 PA nurses. Data were collected from September 1, 2010 to January 10, 2011, and analyzed by SPSS PASW statistics 18.0 program. The mean score of men on the job stress was 43.47(${\pm}13.77$), The mean score of women was 45.07(${\pm}9.78$). The mean score of job satisfaction was 2.72(${\pm}0.30$). There was no statistical difference between general characteristics and job satisfaction. There were statistical difference between unmarried subjects and organizing system(p<.05), inadequate compensation(p<.01). In the results of multivariate regression analysis, adjusted $R^2$ value was 0.567. The model fit was 56.7%. Job satisfaction was low in the insufficient job control and inadequate organizing system. It is hospital policies for the reduction of job stress(particularly, insufficient job control, and organizing system stress).

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.677-683
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• 2009

This study measures the relative efficiency and productivity change of IT firms received policy fund using DEA model and Malmquist Index for 2006-2007. The main results of this study can by summarized as follows. First, in case of efficiency of CCR for 2006-2007, the number of efficient firms(CCR value is one) are six firms, six firms, respectively. Second, in case of efficiency of BCC for 2006-2007, the number of efficient firms(BCC value is one) are eleven firms, thirteen firms respectively. Third, In case of return to scale for 2006-2007, DRS are fifteen firms and fourteen firms respectively. IRS are two firms and one firm respectively. DRS firms can improve efficiency by the reduction of scale and IRS Firms can improve efficiency by the increase of scale. Fourth, Mean value of Malmquist Index representing productivity change for 2006-2007 are bigger than 1.00. This imply that productivity increase was achieved.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.3336-3344
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is small scale coagulation module is developed and demonstrated through a lab-scale test. Recent as a sewage treatment rate increases, have heightened the interest in the necessity on the nonpoint source and developing a small processing unit has been increased. Coagulation sedimentation module in this study is additional growth of floc through swirling in the outside zone, reduction of microstructure floc number and the internal settling zone through vertical/level flow complex sedimentation method after the coagulation process precipitation method as an effective high separation efficiency can be divided was also assessed. Coagulation sedimentation module can increase the load factor was 4.4 times compared to conventional clarifier base on the same volume and surface area through vertical/level flow. In this study, this process was selected formation and maintenance of swirling and uniform flow distribution in the internal settling zone as an important design factor, to derive its FLUENT was used to characteristics of the flow model. Through the simulation of swirling, influent velocity, dimensions of external basin, hopper depth of bottom cone was determined and through analysis of velocity distribution, flow distribution detailed specifications are derived like as diameter and number of effluent hole. Lab-scale($120{\ell}/hr$) test results, influent of 300~800 NTU to less than 10 NTU without polymer feeding was able to operate in the 20minutes retention time(surface loading rate $37.3m^3/m^2$-day), and through analysis FLUENT the possibility of using design parameters were derived.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.461-470
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• 2000

Objective : Many investigators have demonstrated the protective effects of hypothermia following traumatic brain injury(TBI) in both animals and humans. It has long been recognized that mild to moderate hypothermia improves neurologic outcomes as well as reduces histologic and biochemical sequelae after TBI. In this study, two immunohistochemical staining using terminal deoxynucleotidyl-transferase-mediated biotin dUTP nick end labeling(TUNEL), staining of apoptosis, and ${\beta}$-amyloid precursor protein(${\beta}$-APP), a marker of axonal injury, were done and the authors evaluated the protective effects of hypothermia on axonal and neuronal injury after TBI in rats. Material and Method : The animals were prepared for the delivery of impact-acceleration brain injury as described by Marmarou and colleagues. TBI is achieved by allowing of a weight drop of 450gm, 1 m height to fall onto a metallic disc fixed on the intact skull of the rats. Fourty Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 400 to 450g were subjected to experimental TBI induced by an impact-acceleration device. Twenty rats were subjected to hypothermia after injury, with their rectal temperatures maintained at $32^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour. After this 1-hour period of hypothermia, rewarming to normothermic levels was accomplished over 30-minute period. Following 12 hours, 24 hours, 1 week and 2 weeks later the animals were killed and semiserial sagittal sections of the brain were reacted for visualization of the apoptosis and ${\beta}$-APP. Results : The density of ${\beta}$-APP marked damaged axons within the corticospinal tract at the pontomedullary junction and apoptotic cells at the contused cerebral cortex were calculated for each animal. In comparison with the untreated controls, a significant reduction in ${\beta}$-APP marked damaged axonal density and apoptotic cells were found in all hypothermic animals(p<0.05). Conclusion : This study shows that the posttraumatic hypothermia result in substantial protection in TBI, at least in terms of the injured axons and neurons.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.88-96
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• 2020

It were found that the heavyweight waste glass can be used as a construction materials including concrete from previous experimental studies. In this study, in order to evaluate the structural behavior of RC members using heavyweight waste glass as fine aggregate, a flexural behavior test was performed. And then, its results were compared with those obtained from non-linear finite element model analysis. From the results, when the heavyweight waste glass as fine aggregate in RC member, the area of compressive crushing and the number of cracks increased, however, the mean of cracking spacing decreased. Also it had reduced the ductility at high loading stage. For this reason, the same analysis method about the RC member using natural sand as fine aggregate did not predict the initial stiffness, yield load and maximum load on the flexural behavior of the RC members using heavyweight waste glass as fine aggregate. On the other hand, when it is analytically implemented the reduction of neutral axis depth due to developed compression crushing, the results of non-linear finite element analysis could be predicted the experimental results, relatively well.

• Experimental and Molecular Medicine
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• v.50 no.12
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• pp.3.1-3.14
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• 2018

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is a pathological condition associated with osteopenia. $WNT/{\beta}$-catenin signaling is implicated in this process. Trabecular and cortical bone respond differently to $WNT/{\beta}$-catenin signaling in healthy mice. We investigated whether this signaling has different effects on trabecular and cortical bone in T1DM. We first established a streptozotocin-induced T1DM mouse model and then constitutively activated ${\beta}$-catenin in osteoblasts in the setting of T1DM (T1-CA). The extent of bone loss was greater in trabecular bone than that in cortical bone in T1DM mice, and this difference was consistent with the reduction in the expression of ${\beta}$-catenin signaling in the two bone compartments. Further experiments demonstrated that in T1DM mice, trabecular bone showed lower levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) than the levels in cortical bone, leading to lower $WNT/{\beta}$-catenin signaling activity through the inhibition of the IGF-1R/Akt/glycogen synthase kinase $3{\beta}$ ($GSK3{\beta}$) pathway. After ${\beta}$-catenin was activated in T1-CA mice, the bone mass and bone strength increased to substantially greater extents in trabecular bone than those in cortical bone. In addition, the cortical bone of the T1-CA mice displayed an unexpected increase in bone porosity, with increased bone resorption. The downregulated expression of WNT16 might be responsible for these cortical bone changes. In conclusion, we found that although the activation of $WNT/{\beta}$-catenin signaling increased the trabecular bone mass and bone strength in T1DM mice, it also increased the cortical bone porosity, impairing the bone strength. These findings should be considered in the future treatment of T1DM-related osteopenia.

• Journal of Korean Medical Science
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• v.33 no.51
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• pp.325.1-325.10
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• 2018

Background: To evaluate survival outcomes and prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) who received sunitinib (SU) and pazopanib (PZ) as first-line therapy in real-world Korean clinical practice. Methods: Data of 554 patients with mRCC who received SU or PZ at eight institutions between 2012 and 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. Based on the targeted therapy, the patients were divided into SU (n = 293) or PZ (n = 261) groups, and the clinicopathological variables and survival rates of the two groups were compared. A multivariable Cox proportional hazard model was used to determine the prognostic factors for OS. Results: The median follow-up was 16.4 months (interquartile range, 8.3-31.3). Patients in the PZ group were older, and no significant difference was observed in the performance status (PS) between the two groups. In the SU group, the dose reduction rate was higher and the incidence of grade 3 toxicity was more frequent. The objective response rates were comparable between the two groups (SU, 32.1% vs. PZ, 36.4%). OS did not differ significantly between the two groups (SU, 36.5 months vs. PZ, 40.2 months; log-rank, P = 0.955). Body mass index, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group PS > 2, synchronous metastasis, poor Heng risk criteria, and liver and bone metastases were associated with a shorter OS. Conclusion: Our real-world data of Korean patients with mRCC suggested that SU and PZ had similar efficacies as first-line therapy for mRCC. However, PZ was better tolerated than SU in Korean patients.