• The Journal of Special Children Education
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.241-271
• /
• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the special school teachers' stages of concern(SoC) and level of use(LoU) on the 2015 Basic Curriculum of Special Education, and how those SoC & LoU differ by characteristics of the teacher. Method: The study conducted a survey of 141 special teachers from 9 special schools that were implementing the 2015 Basic Curriculum using CBAM's SoC questionnaire and LoU questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by using percentile(%lie) scores, SoC profile, descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA. Results: First, the special school teachers' SoC profile in the 2015 Special Education Basic Curriculum was similar to the nonuser profile. As well, there were statistically significant differences between the special school teachers' concerns according to the level of school, training experiences, operational experiences, teaching career etc. Second, most of special school teachers' LoU for 2015 Basic Curriculum showed three levels of mechanical use. There were statistically significant differences between the special school teachers' LoU in the 2015 Basic Curriculum according to the level of school, age and level of education. Third, as the result of analyzing the level of use according to the concern of special school teachers, the LoU of teachers in the stages of concern were higher than the teachers in the stage of unconcerned. Conclusion: Based on these results, the study discussed way to enhance the teachers' SoC and LoU in the 2015 Basic Curriculum in special schools.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
• /
• v.10 no.5
• /
• pp.445-452
• /
• 2024

Through the pandemic, the topography of dining culture is rapidly changing due to the advancement of the food delivery market. Competition in the domestic market is intensifying as Coupang Eats recently surpassed Yogiyo and jumped to second place, and Baedal Minjok(Baemin), the industry's No. 1 company, is also preparing to introduce a subscription system. While the growth of the delivery market is slowing, the use of takeout and pick-up services is increasing due to rising delivery costs and food prices. From Generation Z's perspective, the main factors influencing the active use of app services were identified through prior research as usability and convenience, cost sensitivity, and hedonic motivation. While, they are leading the trend of minimizing spending through 'stepping stone consumption' and delivery pot process instead of choosing a subscription system. Accordingly, we aim to provide customers with a better experience and help strengthen competitiveness by proposing ways to improve and revitalize new delivery apps that reflect the characteristics of Gen.Z. As a result of the expert Delphi survey, we will receive impact evaluation scores in the following order: direct view of accumulated discounts, addition of family benefits, coupon reinforcement, SNS promotion, pick-up walk, in-store promotion, and discount rate display, and review their application to practice. It presents academic and policy implications regarding the food tech market.

• Yonsei Medical Journal
• /
• v.63 no.3
• /
• pp.259-264
• /
• 2022

Purpose Neuroinflammation is considered an important pathway associated with several diseases that result in cognitive decline. ¹⁸F-THK5351 positron emission tomography (PET) signals might indicate the presence of neuroinflammation, as well as Alzheimer's disease-type tau aggregates. β-amyloid (Aβ)-negative (Aβ-) amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) may be associated with non-Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology. Accordingly, we investigated associations between ¹⁸F-THK5351 PET positivity and cognitive decline among Aβ- aMCI patients. Materials and Methods The present study included 25 amyloid PET negative aMCI patients who underwent a minimum of two follow-up neuropsychological evaluations, including clinical dementia rating-sum of boxes (CDR-SOB). The patients were classified into two groups: ¹⁸F-THK5351-positive and -negative groups. The present study used a linear mixed effects model to estimate the effects of ¹⁸F-THK5351 PET positivity on cognitive prognosis among Aβ- aMCI patients. Results Among the 25 Aβ- aMCI patients, 10 (40.0%) were ¹⁸F-THK5351 positive. The patients in the ¹⁸F-THK5351-positive group were older than those in the ¹⁸F-THK5351-negative group (77.4±2.2 years vs. 70.0±5.5 years; p<0.001). There was no difference between the two groups with regard to the proportion of apolipoprotein E ε4 carriers. Interestingly, however, the CDR-SOB scores of the ¹⁸F-THK5351-positive group deteriorated at a faster rate than those of the ¹⁸F-THK5351-negative group (B=0.003, p=0.033). Conclusion The results of the present study suggest that increased ¹⁸F-THK5351 uptake might be a useful predictor of poor prognosis among Aβ- aMCI patients, which might be associated with increased neuroinflammation (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02656498).

• Journal of Rhinology
• /
• v.59 no.2
• /
• pp.173-180
• /
• 2021

Background: Neutrophils present as major inflammatory cells in refractory chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP), regardless of the endotype. However, their role in the pathophysiology of CRSwNP remains poorly understood. We investigated factors predicting the surgical outcomes of CRSwNP patients with focus on neutrophilic localization. Methods: We employed machine-learning methods such as the decision tree and random forest models to predict the surgical outcomes of CRSwNP. Immunofluorescence analysis was conducted to detect human neutrophil elastase (HNE), Bcl-2, and Ki-67 in NP tissues. We counted the immunofluorescence-positive cells and divided them into three groups based on the infiltrated area, namely, epithelial, subepithelial, and perivascular groups. Results: On machine learning, the decision tree algorithm demonstrated that the number of subepithelial HNE-positive cells, Lund-Mackay (LM) scores, and endotype (eosinophilic or non-eosinophilic) were the most important predictors of surgical outcomes in CRSwNP patients. Additionally, the random forest algorithm showed that, after ranking the mean decrease in the Gini index or the accuracy of each factor, the top three ranking factors associated with surgical outcomes were the LM score, age, and number of subepithelial HNE-positive cells. In terms of cellular proliferation, immunofluorescence analysis revealed that Ki-67/HNE-double positive and Bcl-2/HNE-double positive cells were significantly increased in the subepithelial area in refractory CRSwNP. Conclusion: Our machine-learning approach and immunofluorescence analysis demonstrated that subepithelial neutrophils in NP tissues had a high expression of Ki-67 and could serve as a cellular biomarker for predicting surgical outcomes in CRSwNP patients.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.541-549
• /
• 2024

The various structures of artificial neural networks, such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and recurrent neural networks (RNNs), have been extensively studied and served as the backbone of numerous models. Among these, a transformer architecture has demonstrated its potential for natural language processing and become a subject of in-depth research. Currently, the techniques can be adapted for image processing through the modifications of its internal structure, leading to the development of Vision transformer (ViT) models. The ViTs have shown high accuracy and performance with large data-sets. This study aims to develop a ViT-based model for detecting pneumonia using chest X-ray images and quantitatively evaluate its performance. The various architectures of the ViT-based model were constructed by varying the number of encoder blocks, and different patch sizes were applied for network training. Also, the performance of the ViT-based model was compared to the CNN-based models, such as VGGNet, GoogLeNet, and ResNet. The results showed that the traninig efficiency and accuracy of the ViT-based model depended on the number of encoder blocks and the patch size, and the F1 scores of the ViT-based model ranged from 0.875 to 0.919. The training effeciency of the ViT-based model with a large patch size was superior to the CNN-based models, and the pneumonia detection accuracy of the ViT-based model was higher than that of the VGGNet. In conclusion, the ViT-based model can be potentially used for pneumonia detection using chest X-ray images, and the clinical availability of the ViT-based model would be improved by this study.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.43 no.5
• /
• pp.536-546
• /
• 2024

Music has a close connection with human emotions, and this relationship has been explored in various fields. Recently, research has been attempted to quantify these subjective emotions based on biosignals such as brain signals. However, emotional changes when listening to music, as measured by heart rate, which can be easily measured in daily life, are not sufficiently known. In this study, we investigated how changing emotions are expressed through variations in heart rate during music listening. The electrocardiogram (ECG) was measured while participants listened to music, and the emotional characteristics of preference, familiarity, arousal, and valence after listening were evaluated using Likert scale scores to analyze the correlation between changes in heart rate and emotional characteristics. The study confirmed that smaller changes in heart rate were associated with lower preference, higher arousal, and more negative emotional valence, while larger heart rate differences were associated with higher preference, lower arousal, and more positive emotional valence. This study demonstrates that heart rate can be used to objectively predict emotional changes due to music listening, and it is expected to have applications in various music-related industries in the future.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.202-213
• /
• 2024

Introduction: Acknowledging the global issue of diseases potentially caused by overwork, this study aims to develop an AI model to help workers understand the connection between cerebrocardiovascular diseases and their work environment. Materials and methods: The model was trained using medical and legal expertise along with data from the 2021 occupational disease adjudication certificate by the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance and Prevention Service. The Polyglot-ko-5.8B model, which is effective for processing Korean, was utilized. Model performance was evaluated through accuracy, precision, sensitivity, and F1-score metrics. Results: The model trained on a comprehensive dataset, including expert knowledge and actual case data, outperformed the others with respective accuracy, precision, sensitivity, and F1-scores of 0.91, 0.89, 0.84, and 0.87. However, it still had limitations in responding to certain scenarios. Discussion: The comprehensive model proved most effective in diagnosing work-related cerebrocardiovascular diseases, highlighting the significance of integrating actual case data in AI model development. Despite its efficacy, the model showed limitations in handling diverse cases and offering health management solutions. Conclusion: The study succeeded in creating an AI model to discern the link between work factors and cerebrocardiovascular diseases, showcasing the highest efficacy with the comprehensively trained model. Future enhancements towards a template-based approach and the development of a user-friendly chatbot webUI for workers are recommended to address the model's current limitations.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.113-133
• /
• 2024

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a community-based group singing program on the quality of life, loneliness, and depression among older adults living alone in the community. The study employed a one-group pretest-posttest design with 27 older adults who utilized community social welfare services. Participants took part in the community-based group singing program for a total of 12 sessions, each lasting 50 minutes, at a frequency of 1 to 2 times per week. Pre- and post-intervention assessments were conducted to measure changes in quality of life, loneliness, and depression. The program was structured into three stages based on the participatory process model of community music therapy. Stage 1 focused on fostering sense of community through music participation, Stage 2 aimed at developing group attachment through musical cooperation and mutual emotional support, and Stage 3 sought to enhance self-efficacy and self-actualization within the musical community. The results showed a significant improvement in the participants' quality of life scores (p < .001) and a statistically significant reduction in loneliness (p < .001) and depression levels (p = .001) after the program. These findings suggest that community-based music therapy program can be beneficial in enhancing quality of life and alleviating social isolation among older adults in an era of rapid population aging. The current study also presents evidence of the effectiveness of community-based music therapy programs for older adults in South Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.18 no.6
• /
• pp.663-671
• /
• 2024

This study aims to evaluate the effects of Arm Height Angle (Arm Heiht Angle : AHA) on patient effective dose and image quality in lateral chest radiography, and to propose the optimal arm positioning for minimizing radiation exposure while ensuring diagnostic efficacy. Using consistent X-ray equipment with Automatic Exposure Control (AEC), examinations were performed on 10 patients at AHA settings of 90°, 120°, and 150°. For each angle, Dose-Area Product (DAP) values were measured, and effective dose was calculated using the Monte Carlo simulation-based software PCXMC 2.0. The findings revealed a 53% increase in effective dose when AHA was adjusted from 150° to 120°, although this difference was not statistically significant (p=0.3). However, setting the AHA to 90° resulted in an approximately 140% increase in effective dose, a statistically significant change (p=0.00). Quantitative assessment showed no statistically significant differences in image quality metrics across the 90°, 120°, and 150° groups, as measured by TT SNR (p=0.1), TT CNR (p=0.6), AA SNR (p=0.2), AA CNR (p=0.8), LA SNR (p=0.2), and LA CNR (p=0.8). Visual assessments indicated that the 150° AHA setting received the highest scores, suggesting that an arm height angle of 150° or greater may optimize image quality while reducing patient radiation exposure. Based on these results, this study recommends an AHA of 150° or higher as the optimal positioning for lateral chest radiography, providing an effective balance between radiation dose minimization and diagnostic image quality.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.59-69
• /
• 2010

Green or an environmental consciousness has been a major issue for businesses and government offices, as well as consumers, worldwide. In response to this movement, the Korean government announced, in the early 2000s, the era of "Green Growth" as a way to encourage green-related business activities. The Korean fashion industry, in various levels of involvement, presents diverse eco-friendly products as a part of the green movement. These apparel products include organic products and recycled clothing. For these companies to be successful, they need information about who are the consumers who consider green issues (e.g., environmental sustainability) as part of their personal values when making a decision for product purchase, use, and disposal. These consumers can be considered as eco-sumers. Previous studies have examined consumers' purchase intention for or with eco-friendly products. In addition, studies have examined influential factors used to identify the eco-sumers or green consumers. However, limited attention was paid to eco-sumers' disposal or recycling behavior of clothes in comparison with their green product purchases. Clothing disposal behaviors are ways that consumer can get rid of unused clothing and in clue temporarily lending the item or permanently eliminating the item by "handing down" (e.g., giving it to a younger sibling), donating, exchanging, selling, or simply throwing it away. Accordingly, examining purchasing behaviors of eco-friendly fashion items in conjunction with clothing disposal behaviors should improve understanding of a consumer's clothing consumption behavior from the environmental perspective. The purpose of this exploratory study is to provide descriptive information about Korean eco-sumers who have ecologically-favorable lifestyles and behaviors when buying and disposing of clothes. The objectives of this study are to (a) categorize Koreans on the basis of clothing disposal behaviors; (b) investigate the differences in demographics, lifestyles, and clothing consumption values among segments; and (c) compare the purchase intention of eco-friendly fashion items and influential factors among segments. A self-administered questionnaire was developed based on previous studies. The questionnaire included 10 items of clothing disposal behavior, 22 items of LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) characteristics, and 19 items of consumption values, measured by five-point Likert-type scales. In addition, the purchase intention of two eco-friendly fashion items and 11 attributes of each item were measured by seven-point Likert type scales. Two polyester fleece pullovers, made from fabric created from recycled bottles with the PET identification code, were selected from one Korean brand and one US imported brand among outdoor sportswear brands. A brief description of each product with a color picture was provided in the survey. Demographic variables (i.e., gender, age, marital status, education level, income, occupation) were also included. The data were collected through a professional web survey agency during May 2009. A total of 600 final usable questionnaires were analyzed. The age of respondents ranged from 20 to 49 years old with a mean age of 34 years. Fifty percent of the respondents were males and about 58% were married, and 62% reported having earned university degrees. Principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation was used to identify the underlying dimensions of the clothing disposal behavior scale, and three factors were generated (i.e., reselling behavior, donating behavior, non-recycling behavior). To categorize the respondents on the basis of clothing disposal behaviors, k-mean cluster analysis was used, and three segments were obtained. These consumer segments were labeled as 'Resale Group', 'Donation Group', and 'Non-Recycling Group.' The classification results indicated approximately 98 percent of the original cases were correctly classified. With respect to demographic characteristics among the three segments, significant differences were found in gender, marital status, occupation, and age. LOHAS characteristics were reduced into the following five factors: self-satisfaction, family orientation, health concern, environmental concern, and voluntary service. Significant differences were found in the LOHAS factors among the three clusters. Resale Group and Donation Group showed a similar predisposition to LOHAS issues while the Non-Recycling Group presented the lowest mean scores on the LOHAS factors compared to the other segments. The Resale and Donation Groups described themselves as enjoying or being satisfied with their lives and spending spare-time with family. In addition, these two groups cared about health and organic foods, and tried to conserve energy and resources. Principal components factor analysis generated clothing consumption values into the following three factors: personal values, social value, and practical value. The ANOVA test with the factors showed differences primarily between the Resale Group and the other two groups. The Resale Group was more concerned about personal value and social value than the other segments. In contrast, the Non-Recycling Group presented the higher level of social value than did Donation Group. In a comparison of the intention to purchase eco-friendly products, the Resale Group showed the highest mean score on intent to purchase Product A. On the other hand, the Donation Group presented the highest intention to purchase for Product B among segments. In addition, the mean scores indicated that the Korean product (Product B) was more preferable for purchase than the U.S. product (Product A). Stepwise regression analysis was used to identify the influence of product attributes on the purchase intention of eco product. With respect to Product A, design, price and contribution to environmental preservation were significant to predict purchase intention for the Resale Group, while price and compatibility with my image factors were significant for the Donation Group. For the Non-Recycling Group, design, price compatibility with the factors of my image, participation to eco campaign, and contribution to environmental preservation were significant. Price appropriateness was significant for each of the three clusters. With respect to Product B, design, price and compatibility with my image factors were important, but different attributes were associated significantly with purchase intention for each of the three groups. The influence of LOHAS characteristics and clothing consumption values on intention to purchase Products A and B were also examined. The LOHAS factor of health concern and the personal value factor were significant in the relationships with the purchase intention; however, the explanatory powers were low in the three segments. Findings showed that each group as classified by clothing disposal behaviors showed differences in the attributes of a product, personal values, and the LOHAS characteristics that influenced their purchase intention of eco-friendly products. Findings would enable organizations to understand eco-friendly behavior and to design appropriate strategic decisions to appeal eco-sumers.