• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.2225-2229
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• 2013

Background: As data on the relation between obesity and lymph node ratio are missing in the literature, we here aimed to assess the impact of obesity on this parameter and other clinicopathological features of breast cancer cases and patient survival. Materials and Methods: Medical data of 646 patients, all referred to two centers in Tehran, Iran, were reviewed. Factors that showed significant association on univariate analysis were entered in a regression model. Kaplan-Meier and Cox-regression were employed for survival analysis. Results: Obesity was correlated with the expression of estrogen and progesterone receptor (p=0.004 and p=0.039, respectively), metastasis to axillary lymph nodes (p=0.017), higher lymph node rate (p<0.001) and larger tumor size (p<0.001). The effect of obesity was stronger in premenopausal women. There was no association between obesity and expression of human epidermal growth factor receptor. Three factors showed independent association with BMI on multivariate analysis; tumor size, estrogen receptor and lymph node ratio. Obesity was predictive of shorter disease-free survival with a hazard ratio of 3.324 (95%CI: 1.225-9.017) after controlling for the above-mentioned variables. Conclusions: The findings of this study support the idea that obese women experience more advanced disease with higher axillary lymph node ratio, and therefore higher stage at the time of diagnosis. Furthermore, obesity was associated with poorer survival independent of lymph node rate.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.264-274
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• 2012

Evaluation on the environmental noise is carried out by surveying subjective response of residents with physical measurement of noise during long period in field. Particularly field survey is used to make regulations from the analysis on how many people are annoyed for specific noise level, and laboratory test used to analyze the relationship between physical parameters of noise and subjective responses. In the laboratory controlling the variables is easy but the results could be biased because the condition in room would be different with field. Most of all noise exposure time is considered to be different with real situation, and this study aimed to evaluate the subjective response by exposure time of transportation noise, by applying three kinds of variable how much they give effects on the annoyance as the exposure time is operating condition, windows type and sound level. As a result there was somewhat difference between operating type and annoyance, which is caused by the sound characteristics operated in different condition. However the window type didn't give much effect to the annoyance as much as sound type. This means that the subjective response could give similar result by exposure time even for different window types. Most of all, the main factor affecting subjective response is considered to be the sound level and the exposure time.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.70-77
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• 2020

Configuration management is an important project management method. Configuration management is increasing daily and improving defense power as a management tool for technical data of power support systems. Configuration management work must be carried out properly from the beginning of development to acquire an excellent weapon system. In procurement, configuration management is a vital factor that can determine the cost of maintaining operations during the transfer of military supplies and carry out systematic management among operational support. Countries are making changes to policies and systems to manage R&D, standards, and patents in conjunction with each other from the beginning of research and execution, and it is important to establish the concept of managing and controlling the configuration as an efficient means of managing military resources. To identify the activity details during the entire life cycle from the beginning of acquisition to the end of disposal by linking munitions configuration control with the total life cycle, and redefine the appropriate work system, this study investigated and analyzed the U.S. configuration control procedures to identify the activity details and present areas to develop.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.773-787
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• 2020

In the injection molding process, the controlling stability of products quality is a very important factor in terms of productivity. Even when the optimum process conditions for the desired product quality are applied, uncontrollable external factors such as ambient temperature and humidity cause inevitable changes in the state of the melt resin, mold temperature. etc. Therefore, it is very difficult to maintain prodcut quality. In this study, a system that learns the correlation between process variables and product weight through artificial neural networks and predicts process conditions for the target weight was established. Then, when a disturbance occurs in the injection molding process and fluctuations in the weight of the product occur, the stability control of the product quality was performed by ANN predicting a new process condition for the change of weight. In order to artificially generate disturbance in the injection molding process, controllable factors were selected and changed among factors not learned in the ANN model. Initially, injection molding was performed with a polypropylene having a melt flow index of 10 g/10min, and then the resin was replaced with a polypropylene having a melt floiw index of 33 g/10min to apply disturbance. As a result, when the disturbance occurred, the deviation of the weight was -0.57 g, resulting in an error of -1.37%. Using the control method proposed in the study, through a total of 11 control processes, 41.57 g with an error of 0.00% in the range of 0.5% deviation of the target weight was measured, and the weight was stably maintained with 0.15±0.07% error afterwards.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.100-109
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• 2015

Controlling balance between T-helper type 1 (Th1) and T-helper type 2 (Th2) plays a pivotal role in maintaining the biological rhythm of Th1/Th2 and circumventing diseases caused by Th1/Th2 imbalance. Interleukin 4 (IL-4) is a Th2-type cytokine and often associated with hypersensitivity-related diseases such as atopic dermatitis and allergies when overexpressed. In this study, we have tried to elucidate the function of 1-palmitoyl-2-linoleoyl-3-acetyl-rac-glycerol (EC-18) as an essential modulator of Th1/Th2 balance. EC-18 has showed an inhibitory effect on the production of IL-4 in a dose-dependent manner. RT-PCR analysis has proved EC-18 affect the transcription of IL-4. By analyzing the phosphorylation status of Signal transducer and activator of transcription 6 (STAT6), which is a transcriptional activator of IL-4 expression, we discovered that EC-18 induced the decrease of STAT6 activity in several stimulated cell lines, which was also showed in STAT6 reporter analysis. Co-treatment of EC-18 significantly weakened atopy-like phenotypes in mice treated with an allergen. Collectively, our results suggest that EC-18 is a potent Th2 modulating factor by regulating the transcription of IL-4 via STAT6 modulation, and could be developed for immune-modulatory therapeutics.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.155-162
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• 2011

Background: Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) recognizes double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) and induces inflammation. In this study we attempted to ascertain if there are endogenous host molecules controlling the production of cytokines and chemokines. Two candidates, ribosomal protein L19 and L22, were analyzed to determine if they influence cytokine production followed by TLR3 activation. In this study we report that L19 acts upon production of IP-10 or IL-8 differently in glioblastoma cells. Methods: L19 or L22 was transfected into HEK293-TLR3, A549 or A172 cells. After treatment with several inhibitors of NF-${\kappa}B$, PI3K, p38 or ERK, production of IL-8 or IP-10 was measured by ELISA. siRNA was introduced to suppress expression of L19. After Vesicular stomatitis virus infection, viral multiplication was measured by western blot. Results: L19 increased ERK activation to produce IL-8. In A172 cells, in which TLR3 is expressed at endosomes, L19 inhibited interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) activation and IP-10 production to facilitate viral multiplication, whereas L19 inhibited viral multiplication in A549 cells bearing TLR3 on their cell membrane. Conclusion: Our results suggest that L19 regulates TLR3 signaling, which is cell type specific and may be involved in pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases and chronic inflammatory diseases.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.679-688
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the major trends in research studies in the Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration from 2010 to 2012. Methods: A review using analysis criteria developed by researchers was done of 132 studies published between 2010 and 2012. Research design, participants, research domain, and keywords were analyzed from the Journal of Korean Nursing Administration. Results: Job satisfaction, stress, organizational commitment, safety, turnover, nursing education, and performance were found to be major keywords. Of the research in the Journal, quantitative methods were used in 93.2% of studies. The major setting and participants were hospitals (58.2%) and nurses (65.5%) respectively. Prevalent analysis methods used were t-test, ANOVA, correlation, regression, chi-square, AMOS, and factor analysis. Major domains in the articles were: controlling, directing, staffing, nursing management education, and professionalism & legal principles. Conclusion: Through this study, the research trends in nursing administration were identified, but there is a need to include more of the following topics in future research: new concepts in nursing policy, enhanced deliberations of IRB, rationalization of the effects in sample size calculations, theoretical development of planning and organizing, and development of interventions for management support of the nursing management process.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.29-38
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• 2020

Purpose: Understanding which product types of overseas travel (free independent travel vs. package travel) consumers will choose is one of the key issues of marketing and consumer behavior in travel agency management. Prior studies on overseas travel type preferences mainly focused on comparing regional differences (e.g., Asian vs. Westerner, or Korean vs. Australian, or Korean vs. Japanese, or American, French, Italian vs. Japanese) influencing the choice of overseas travel type. Another researchers focused on comparing cultural differences (e.g., individualism vs. collectivism, or individualistic culture vs. collectivistic culture), subcultural difference (e.g., acculturation; Koreans living in Republic of Korea vs. Koreans living in Australia), travel lifestyle, and socio-demographics (e.g., age, gender, income level, education level, marital status, occupation etc.). However, there are few studies that identify individual psychological differences (i.e., individual psychological differences within the same culture) influencing the choice of overseas travel type. Self-construal is a psychological factors that greatly influences choice behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of self-construal as an antecedent variable influencing choice of overseas travel product type. Research design, data and methodology: To achieve the purpose of this study, the questionnaire survey method was used. Self-construal items composed of independent self-construal items and interdependent self-construal items. Product types of overseas travel were free independent travel (FIT) type versus package travel type. In this study, the correlation coefficient between independent self-construal and interdependent self-construal was nonsignificant. It meant that the relationship between independent self-construal and interdependent self-construal was orthogonal. Therefore it was analyzed that independent self-construal and interdependent self-construal separately. Reliability analysis, factor analysis, and logistic regression analysis (controlling gender and age) was used as the data analysis method. Results: According to the results of this study, the stronger independent self-construal, the more preference for the free independent travel type rather than package travel, and the stronger interdependent self-construal, the more preference for the package travel type rather than free independent travel. Conclusions: Self-construal is an antecedent variable influencing the choice of travel type. Travel agencies must consider the consumer's self-construal (independent self-construal vs. interdependent self-construal) before planning and designing overseas travel products.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.39.1-39.1
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• 2009

NiTi alloy is widely used innumerous biomedical applications (orthodontics, cardiovascular, orthopaedics, etc.) for its distinctive thermomechanical and mechanical properties such as shape memory effect, super elasticity, low elastic modulus and high damping capacity. However, NiTi alloy is still a controversial biomaterial because of its high Ni content which can trigger the risk of allergy and adverse reactions when Ni ion releases into the human body. In order to improve the corrosion resistance of the TiNi alloy and suppress the release of Ni ions, many surface modification techniques have been employed in previous literature such as thermal oxidation, laser surface treatment, sol-gel method, anodic oxidation and electrochemical methods. In this paper, the NiTi was electrochemically etched in various electrolytes to modify surface. The microstructure, element distribution, phase composition and roughness of the surface were investigatedby scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry(EDS), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Systematic controlling of nano and submicron surface features was achieved by altered density of hydro fluidic acid in etchant solution. Nanoscale surface topography, such as, pore density, pore width, pore height, surface roughness and surface tension were extensively analyzed as systematical variables.Importantly, bone forming cell, osteoblast adhesion was increased in high density of hydro fluidic treated surface structures, i.e., in greater nanoscale surface roughness and in high surface areas through increasing pore densities.All results delineate the importance of surface topography parameter (pores) inNiTi to increase the biocompatibility of NiTi in identical chemistry which is crucial factor for determining biomaterials.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.17-27
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• 2003

In this study, a phenomenon of saltwater intrusion was monitored under various conditions regarding recharge and pumping rate using time domain reflectometry for a laboratory scale unconfined aquifer to verify the basic theory behind seawater intrusion and to investigate movement of salt-freshwater interface in accordance with the ratio of pumping and recharge rate. Results showed that a thick mixing zone was formed at the boundary instead of a sharp salt-freshwater interface that was assumed by Ghyben and Herzberg who derived an equation relating the water table depth $(H_f)$ to the depth to the interface $(H_s)$. Therefore our experimental results did not agree with the calculated values obtained from the Ghyben and Herzberg equation. Position of interface which was adopted as 0.5 g/L isochlor moved rapidly as the Pumping rate $(Q_p)$ increased for a given recharge rate $(Q_r)$. In addition, interface movement was found to be about 7 times the ratio of $Q_p/Q_r$ in our experimental condition. This indicates that Pumping rate becomes an important factor controlling the seawater intrusion in coastal aquifer.