• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.435-449
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• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Cheonggukjang is a traditional fermented soybean paste with significant health-promoting effects. On the other hand, there have been insufficient studies on the safety and efficacy of Cheonggukjang, which is produced using traditional methods containing toxins and biogenic amines (BAs). This study compared the laxative effect of Cheonggukjang, containing high or low levels of toxins and BAs (HTBC or LTBC) in a loperamide (Lop)-induced constipation mouse model. MATERIALS/METHODS: To induce constipation, Lop (5 mg/kg) was administered orally to ICR mice twice a day for 4 days, and the dose was increased to 8 mg/kg after a 3-day rest period. Cheonggukjang (500 mg/kg, HTBC, or LTBC respectively) was administered for four weeks before the Lop treatment. RESULTS: The number of stools, fecal weight, water contents, gastrointestinal transit, and histological alterations were recovered significantly in the HTBC or LTBC groups. HTBC and LTBC administration did not induce significant changes in body weight, dietary intake, and behavior. The opioid-receptor downstream signaling pathway in colon tissues was also evaluated. The c-Kit, stem cell kinase, and mitogen-activated protein kinases subfamilies, including extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2, c-Jun N-terminal kinases, and p38, were all downregulated in the HTBC or LTBC-administered mice colon compared to the Lop group. CONCLUSION: These results show that Cheonggukjang, containing high levels of toxins and BAs, have a similar laxative effect in a mouse model of Lop-induced constipation.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.82-103
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• 2023

The Zimbabwean healthcare sector faces huge challenges due to increased demands for improved services for a growing number of patients with fewer resources. The use of information and communications technologies, prevalent in many industries, but lacking in Zimbabwean healthcare, could increase productivity and innovation. The adoption of health management information systems (HMISs) can lead to improved patient safety and high-level patient care. These technologies can change delivery methods to be more patient focused by utilising integrated models and allowing for a continuum of care across healthcare providers. However, implementation of these technologies in the health care sector remains low. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the advantages to be attained by using HMISs in healthcare delivery and to ascertain the factors that influence the uptake of such systems in the public healthcare sector. A conceptual model, extending the technology, organization, and environment framework by means of other adoption models, underpins the study of adoption behavior. A mixed method methodology was used to conduct the study. For the quantitative approach, questionnaires were used to allow for regression analysis. For the qualitative approach, thematic analysis was used to analyse interview data. The results showed that the critical success factors (namely, relative advantage, availability, complexity, compatibility, trialability, observability, management support, information and communication technology expertise, communication processes, government regulation, infrastructure support, organizational readiness, industry and competitive support, external support, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude, and intention to use) influenced adoption of HMISs in public hospitals in Zimbabwe.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.509-527
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• 2024

Bonding carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates have been extensively employed in the restoration of steel constructions. In addition to the mechanical properties of the CFRP, the bond strength (P_U) between the CFRP and steel is often important in the eventual strengthened performance. Nonetheless, the bond behavior of the CFRP-steel (CS) interface is exceedingly complicated, with multiple failure causes, giving the P_U challenging to forecast, and the CFRP-enhanced steel structure is unsteady. In just this case, appropriate methods were established by hybridized Random Forests (RF) and support vector regression (SVR) approaches on assembled CS single-shear experiment data to foresee the P_U of CS, in which a recently established optimization algorithm named Aquila optimizer (AO) was used to tune the RF and SVR hyperparameters. In summary, the practical novelty of the article lies in its development of a reliable and efficient method for predicting bond strength at the CS interface, which has significant implications for structural rehabilitation, design optimization, risk mitigation, cost savings, and decision support in engineering practice. Moreover, the Fourier Amplitude Sensitivity Test was performed to depict each parameter's impact on the target. The order of parameter importance was t_c> L_c > E_A > t_A > E_c > b_c > f_c > f_A from largest to smallest by 0.9345 > 0.8562 > 0.79354 > 0.7289 > 0.6531 > 0.5718 > 0.4307 > 0.3657. In three training, testing, and all data phases, the superiority of AO - RF with respect to AO - SVR and MARS was obvious. In the training stage, the values of R² and VAF were slightly similar with a tiny superiority of AO - RF compared to AO - SVR with R² equal to 0.9977 and VAF equal to 99.772, but large differences with results of MARS.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.119-131
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• 2024

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Happiness is an important factor in life, and food literacy (FL) has been emphasized as a core concept for a happy and healthy life. This study examined the level of happiness of Seoul citizens according to their sociodemographic factors and their association with FL. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study used the data from the Seoul Food Survey, a cross-sectional study conducted on 4,039 Seoul citizens from September to October 2021. FL was measured using a validated questionnaire consisting of 33 items from 3 sub-domains: 14 items in the nutrition and safety domain, 8 items in the cultural and relational domain, and 11 items in the socio-ecological domain. Statistical analysis involved descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analysis. RESULTS: Various sociodemographic factors, such as household income, subjective health status, and food insecurity, were found to be associated with the level of happiness. The level of FL was also associated with the happiness scores. After adjusting for variables associated with happiness, the participants with the highest quartile FL scores were 7.32 times more likely to respond that they were happy than those with the lowest FL score. Three FL domains and total FL showed linear increases in overall happiness after controlling for subjective health status and sociodemographic factors (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: After adjusting for the related covariates, higher levels of FL were associated with higher scores in happiness. Based on this study, it would be meaningful to evaluate ways to intervene in FL to improve the level of happiness among the general population.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.124-137
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was factors affecting self-efficacy of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in adults. Therefore, the provide basic data for strategy development to improve the performance rate of bystander CPR. Methods: The data were collected from 164,165 adults of the 2016 Korean Community Health Survey. The survey method was 1:1 interview with households, and the survey period was from August 16, 2016 to October 31, 2016. The survey variables were as follows: self-efficacy of CPR, awareness of CPR, training experience of CPR, demographic characteristics, medical characteristics, health promoting behaviors, and safety practices. Results: The rate of self-efficacy of CPR in adults was 60.6%. Factors affecting self-efficacy of CPR were age, sex, residence, education level, occupation, marital status, any CPR training, CPR training within the last 2 years, CPR training with manikin within the last 2 years, emergency room visit within the last 1 year, physical activity status, drive a bicycle, seat belts on rear seat, seat belts when riding a bus were statistically significant. Conclusions: In conclusion, in order to improve the self-efficacy of CPR in adults, the recent experience rate of CPR education, the practice rate of health promotion behavior, and the practice rate of safety behavior should be improved. The government should expand the provision of education programs to improve the self-efficacy of CPR and actively prepare national-level public advertisements strategies.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.119-128
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• 2016

In a performance-based design, the structural safety is estimated from pre-defined damage states and corresponding damage indices. Both damage states and damage indices are well defined for above-ground structures, but very limited studies have been performed on underground structures. In this study, we define the damage states and damage indices of a cut-and-cover box tunnel which is one of typical structures used in metro systems, under a seismic excitation from a series of inelastic frame analyses. Three damage states are defined in terms of the number of plastic hinges that develop within the structure. The damage index is defined as the ratio of the elastic moment to the yield moment. Through use of the proposed index, the inelastic behavior and failure mechanism of box tunnels can be simulated and predicted through elastic analysis. In addition, the damage indices are linked to free-field shear strains. Because the free-field shear strain can be easily calculated from a 1D site response analysis, the proposed method can be readily used in practice. Further studies are needed to determine the range of shear strains and associated uncertainties for various types of tunnels and site profiles. However, the inter-linked platform of damage state - damage index - shear wave velocity - shear strain provides a novel approach for estimating the inelastic response of tunnels, and can be widely used in practice for seismic designs.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.567-576
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• 2017

In a performance-based design, the structural safety is estimated from pre- defined damage states and corresponding damage indices. Both damage states and damage indices are well defined for above-ground structures, but very limited studies have been performed on underground structures. In this study, we define the damage states and damage indices of a cut-and-cover box tunnel which is one of typical structures used in metro systems, under a seismic excitation from a series of inelastic frame analyses. Three damage states are defined in terms of the number of plastic hinges that develop within the structure. The damage index is defined as the ratio of the elastic moment to the yield moment. Through use of the proposed index, the inelastic behavior and failure mechanism of box tunnels can be simulated and predicted through elastic analysis. In addition, the damage indices are linked to free-field shear strains. Because the free-field shear strain can be easily calculated from a 1D site response analysis, the proposed method can be readily used in practice. Further studies are needed to determine the range of shear strains and associated uncertainties for various types of tunnels and site profiles. However, the inter-linked platform of damage state - damage index - shear wave velocity - shear strain provides a novel approach for estimating the inelastic response of tunnels, and can be widely used in practice for seismic designs.

• 재활복지
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.339-370
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• 2013

This study is to suggest necessary improvements of inconvenient elements as well as the ergonomic design standard to develop disabled cars by evaluating the types of needs and observing the behavior characteristics on their car use and the survey on the complaints of the disabled drivers and their guardians in the use of disabled car. The results of this study are as follows. First, both the disabled drivers and their guardians are found to feel high inconvenience and low satisfaction with the cars they use now. Second, the disabled owner-drivers also answered in a same way as guardians. They find the most difficulty in moving the supporting equipment to get into and out of a car. Both the owner-drivers with disabilities and guardians complained of lack of handiness they face when they wear the seat belts and sitting on the seats. In view of this, a disabled car to be developed should have ergonomic design for its seats and the safety of the seatbelt as well as trouble-free supporting equipment helping them move. Third, rather than owner-drivers with handicaps, guardians expressed more difficulties and less contentment with the cars for the disabled, which is reckoned to lead to the changes of perspectives on development of cars for the disabled breaking away from existing viewpoints focusing on the accessibility to the vehicles. Fourth, both owner-drivers and guardians showed higher interests in driving and other safety and convenience measures than in using supporting equipment to get into and out of vehicles, implying that rather than the accessibility to get into and out of a car, convenience should primarily be taken into account for the design of the disabled car. Fifth, the auto-manufacturer is to give prior thought to user convenience when developing a car in practice. For this, the developer may have the disabled car users join the process of development as well as asking experts for help and participation.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.320-335
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• 2024

Purpose: This study examined the impact of adolescents' dietary behavior on their quality of life using the nutrition quotient for adolescents (NQ-A) for some high school students in Seoul. Methods: The subjects were 176 high school students living in Seoul. The NQ-A was used to assess the dietary quality, and the quality of life was assessed by categorizing it into life satisfaction, environment, health, participation and safety, leisure activities, and emotional factors using survey questions validated through previous studies. Results: The NQ score of the survey subjects was 49.30 points. Based on the NQ scores, 7.4%, 46.6%, and 46.0% of participants were categorized as the 'high', 'medium', and 'low' groups, respectively. The total NQ score and balance, diversity, and practice factor scores were positively correlated with life satisfaction, environment, health, participation and safety, and leisure activities among the quality of life subscales. Regression analysis showed that the total NQ score was positively associated with life satisfaction, health, leisure activities, and emotions; the moderation factor was negatively associated with life satisfaction and health. The balance factor was positively associated with the environmental factor. The practice factor was positively associated with health, leisure activities, and emotions, and the environment factor was negatively associated with emotions. Conclusion: These results show that adolescents' quality of life is closely related to their diet, so it is necessary to maintain a balanced and varied food intake and desirable eating behaviors to improve adolescents' quality of life. Furthermore, adolescents' quality of life is influenced by other factors. Therefore, further research is needed to assess the quality of life, including dietary factors, as well as physical, emotional, psychological, and social development.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.18 no.1 s.91
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• pp.3-12
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• 2006

The behavior of concrete structures subject to fire is complex, depending on many factors. The factors usually considered in research include the level and endurance of temperatures in concrete and reinforcing bars, the mechanical properties of the steel and concrete, moisture contents, cover thickness, existence of eccentricity, and member geometry among others. Although there are a few sophisticated numerical models which can trace the effects of these important parameters on the residual capacity of reinforced concrete columns damaged by fire, practical predictive formulas are in need for rapid yet reasonable assessment in practice. The practical formulas are developed in this study for fire-damaged normal strength reinforced concrete square columns, which can approximate the predictions of those sophisticated numerical models with ease in use. The formulas take into account the effects of exposure time to fire, concrete strength, reinforcement ratio and sectional area. The developed formulas are seen to correlate with the predictions of numerical model in a reasonable agreement. Some examples are also presented in determining the residual strength, safety and additionally needed strengths for a fire-damaged reinforced concrete column.