• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.13-18
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• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of posterior oblique sling activation on the muscle activities of the gluteus maximus (GM), multifidus (MF), and biceps femoris (BF) during three different prone hip extension exercises in healthy male individuals. Methods: Twenty healthy subjects participated in this study. An electromyography device was used to measure the muscle activities of the GM, MF, and BF. Each subject was asked to perform three different prone hip extensions as follows: [1) Prone hip extension with knee flexion + hip abduction 30°; PHE1, 2) Prone hip extension with knee flexion + hip abduction 30° and shoulder abduction 125°; PHE2, 3) Prone hip extension with knee flexion + hip abduction 30° and shoulder abduction 125° with 1kg loading; PHE3, in random order. A one-way repeated measures analysis of the variance and a Bonferroni post hoc test were used to analyze the results. The statistical significance was set at α=0.01. Results: The muscle activity of the GM was significantly different between the three positions (P_adj<0.01). The muscle activity of the GM was significantly greater during PHE3 compared with PHE1 and PHE2 (P_adj<0.01). The BF muscle activity was significantly lower during PHE3 compared with PHE1 and PHE2 (P_adj< 0.01). There was no significant difference in the muscle activity of the MF (P_adj<0.01). The ratio of the muscle activity (ratio=GM/BF) during PHE3 was significantly greater compared to PHE1 and PHE2 (P_adj< 0.01). Conclusion: The GM activity and GM/BF ratio during the PHE3 exercise were significantly greater compared to that during PHE1 and PHE2. Therefore, the PHE3 exercise could be recommended as a selectively effective GM activation exercise while decreasing the muscle activity of the BF.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.63-88
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• 2016

K-Pop is hugely promoted offline/online in East Asia, while efforts to promote it elsewhere are kept to a minimum. Whilst addressing the role of digital marketing in the promotion of K-Pop in the Brazilian music industry this study aims to demonstrate that K-pop will provide its audience with a unique and engaging experience if it thinks globally and acts locally in its marketing and communication strategies. A survey of K-Pop's world fan base was carried out online with 1,074 fans to determine the validity of the hypothesis. The results have demonstrated the need to adapt global and intercultural strategies to local markets with increasing brand awareness through utilizing digital marketing. For example, to increase K-Pop's popularity and market share in Brazil, it is not required to sing in Brazilian Portuguese, contrary to what might be perceived but fully singing in English would help breaking into the market dominated by domestic music as songs would have a higher probability to be included in the international soundtrack of a Brazilian telenovela and promote the K-Pop artist not only across Brazil but also give the artist exposure in all the markets the Brazilian telenovela is exported to, opening an entry door to those markets. K-Pop audience segmentation and psychographic profiling is crucial to the understanding of each market's consumer's preferences, likes, dislikes and their buying habits as it was proven through Brazil's digital media, social media, digital music market and K-Pop market analysis within the global context of the study. It should be also considered that brand extensions are not standard everywhere and that there are cultures where different product categories are not directly associated with its main corporate owner which requires extensive local market knowledge to succeed. The primary and secondary data research that we conducted for this study intended to demonstrate that K-Pop can be successful in Brazil and in Latin America and increase their local and regional market share if digital marketing and communication strategies are tailored to each individual market.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.103-113
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• 2023

This study focused on understanding the relationship between the design of a tunnel boring machine disc cutter ring and its rock-breaking efficiency, as well as the applicable conditions of different cutter ring types. The discrete element method was used to establish a numerical model of the rock-breaking process using disc cutters with different ring types to reveal the development of rock damage cracks and variation in cutter penetration load. The calculation results indicate that a sharp-edged (V-shaped) disc cutter penetrates a rock mass to a given depth with the lowest load, resulting in more intermediate cracks and few lateral cracks, which leads to difficulty in crack combination. Furthermore, the poor wear resistance of a conventional V-shaped cutter can lead to an exponential increase in the penetration load after cutter ring wear. In contrast, constant-cross-section (CCS) disc cutters have the highest quantity of crack extensions after penetrating rock, but also require the highest penetration loads. An arch-edged (U-shaped) disc cutter is more moderate than the aforementioned types with sufficient intermediate and lateral crack propagation after cutting into rock under a suitable penetration load. Additionally, we found that the cutter ring wedge angle and edge width heavily influence cutter rock-breaking efficiency and that a disc cutter with a 16 to 22 mm edge width and 20° to 30° wedge angle exhibits high performance. Compared to V-shaped and U-shaped cutters, the CCS cutter is more suitable for soft or medium-strength rocks, where the penetration load is relatively small. Additionally, two typical case studies were selected to verify that replacing a CCS cutter with a U-shaped or optimized V-shaped disc cutter can increase cutting efficiency when encountering hard rocks.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.336-345
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• 2023

The present study was designed to evaluate changes in neuromuscular properties and the structural and qualitative characteristics of muscles during submaximal isometric contractions at low-to-relatively vigorous target forces and to determine their influence on force steadiness (FS). Thirteen young adult males performed submaximal isometric knee extensions at 10, 20, 50, and 70% of their maximal voluntary isometric contraction using their non-dominant legs. During submaximal contractions, we recorded force, EMG signals from vastus medialis (VM), vastus lateralis (VL), and rectus femoris (RF), and ultrasound images from the distal RF (dRF). Force and EMG standard deviation (SD) and coefficient of variation (CV) values were used to measure FS and EMG steadiness, respectively. Muscle thickness (MT), pennation angle (PA), echo intensity (EI), and texture features were calculated from ultrasound images to assess the structural and qualitative characteristics of the muscle. FS, neuromuscular properties, and texture features showed significant differences across different force levels. Additionally, there were significant differences in EMG_CV among the quadriceps at the 50% and 70% force levels. The results of correlation analysis revealed that FS had a significant relationship with EMG_CV in VM, VL, and RF, as well as with the texture features of dRF. This study's findings demonstrate that EMG steadiness and texture features are influenced by the magnitude of the target force and are closely related to FS, indicating their potential contribution to force output control.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.157-176
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• 2024

Integrative analysis for better understanding of complex biological systems gains more attention. Observing subjects from various perspectives and conducting integrative analysis of those multiple datasets enables a deeper understanding of the subject. In this paper, we compared two methods that simultaneously consider two datasets gathered from the same objects, canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and co-inertia analysis (CIA). Since CCA cannot handle the case when the data exhibit high-dimensionality, two strategies were considered instead: Utilization of a ridge constant (CCA-ridge) and substitution of covariance matrices of each data to identity matrix and then applying penalized singular value decomposition (CCA-PMD). To illustrate CIA and CCA, both extensions of CCA and CIA were applied to NCI60 cell line data. It is shown that both methods yield biologically meaningful and significant results by identifying important genes that enhance our comprehension of the data. Their results shows some dissimilarities arisen from the different criteria used to measure the relationship between two sets of data in each method. Additionally, CIA exhibits variations dependent on the weight matrices employed.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.139-150
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• 2024

PURPOSE. The purpose of this diagnostic study was to assess the accuracy and time efficiency of a digital method to draw the denture foundation extension outline on preliminary casts compared with the conventional technique. MATERIALS AND METHODS. A total of 28 preliminary edentulous casts with no anatomical landmarks were digitized using a laboratory scanner. The outlining of the entire basal seat of the denture was performed on preliminary casts and digitized. Casts with no extension outline were digitized and outlines were drawn using software (DWOS, Straumann). The accuracy of the extension outlined between both techniques was evaluated in the software (GOM Inspect; GOM GmbH) by file superimposition. Specificity and sensitivity tests were applied to measure accuracy. The paired t-test (95% CI) was used to compare the mean total area and the working time. RESULTS. The accuracy ranged from 0.57 to 0.92. The buccal and labial frenulum showed a lower value in the maxilla (0.57); while the area between the retromolar pad and buccal frenulum (0.64) showed a lower score in the mandible. The maxillary denture foundation and the working time for both arches were significantly longer for the digital method (P < .001). CONCLUSION. The denture foundation extension outline exhibited a sufficiently excellent accuracy for the digital method, except for the maxillary anterior region. However, the digital method required a longer working time.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.81 no.3
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• pp.707-713
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• 2020

Tumor thrombus in the portal vein without any liver parenchymal abnormality is extremely rare. In the liver, the primary tumor most frequently presenting with intravascular tumor thrombi is hepatocellular carcinoma and lymphoma is rarely considered. Even though thrombosis occurs quite often in lymphoma, cases of tumor thrombus are rare and cases of tumor thrombus in the portal vein are even rarer. Only four cases of lymphoma with portal vein tumor thrombosis have been reported to date and all cases were the result of direct extensions of a dominant nodal or extra-nodal mass. To our knowledge, there has been no report on diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) presenting only within the lumen of the portal vein and not intravascular B-cell lymphoma. We present the first case of DLBCL presenting only within the lumen of the portal vein in an immunocompetent patient.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.315-318
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• 2024

The HeartWare Ventricular Assist Device (HVAD) was widely used for mechanical circulatory support in patients with end-stage heart failure. However, there have been reports of a critical issue with HVAD pumps failing to restart, or experiencing delays in restarting, after being stopped. This case report describes 2 instances of HVAD failure-to-restart during heart transplantation surgery and routine outpatient care. Despite multiple attempts to restart the pump using various controllers and extensions, the HVAD failed to restart, triggering a hazard alarm for pump stoppage. In one case, the patient survived after receiving a heart transplantation, while in the other, the patient died immediately following the controller exchange. These cases highlight the rare but life-threatening complication of HVAD failure-to-restart, underscoring the importance of awareness among clinicians, patients, and caregivers, and adherence to the manufacturer's guidelines and recommendations for HVAD management.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.351-361
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• 2024

Accurate measurement of K_IC values for gas pipeline steels is important for assessing pipe safety using failure assessment diagrams. As direct measurement of K_IC was impossible for the API X70 pipeline steel, multi-specimen fracture tests were conducted to measure J_IC using three-point bend geometry. The J values were calculated from load-displacement (F-δ) plots, and the associated crack extensions were measured from the fracture surface of test specimens. Valid data points were found for the constructed J-Δa plot resulting in J_IC=356kN/m. More data points were added analytically to the J-Δa plot to increase the number of data points without performing additional experiments for different J-Δa zones where test data was unavailable. Consequently, displacement (δ) and crack-growth (Δa) from multi-specimen tests (with small displacements) were used simultaneously, resulting in the variation of Δa-δ (crack growth law) and δ-Δa obtained for this steel. For new Δa values, corresponding δ values were first calculated from δ-Δa. Then, corresponding J values for the obtained δ values were calculated from the area under the F-δ record of a full-fractured specimen (with large displacement). Given Δa and J values for new data points, the developed J-Δa plot with extra data points yielded a satisfactory estimation of J_IC=345kN/m with only a -3.1% error. This is promising and showed that the developed technique could ease the estimation of J_IC significantly and reduce the time and cost of expensive extra fracture toughness tests.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2024.07a
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• pp.1315-1315
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• 2024

In recent years, the building industry has seen a fundamental transition due to Digitalization Transformation (DX), with the aim of improving efficiency, productivity, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness. In particular, literature has significantly emphasized Smart Buildings (SBs), which are expected to grow in the global marketplace in the coming years. The most noticeable benefits include energy efficiency, increased occupant comfort and productivity, and a reduction in the building's impact on the environment. Most importantly, the shift to SBs has resulted in major changes to how traditional business practices are carried out. The Facility Asset Management (FAM) domain is one key area undergoing considerable changes to meet the needs of managing functional SBs. Despite this shifting landscape, the changes and prospective extensions to the business areas of FAM in the context of SBs remain largely unexplored. Thus, to address this limitation, this paper aims to investigate the potential changes (i.e., either the addition of a new function or the expansion of an existing function) of the FAM domain from the context of SBs. To achieve this objective, • First, based on a generic model of FAM proposed by Jin et al. (2024), a three-level hierarchical classification of FAM business functions for a conventional building is proposed. • Second, the concept of SBs is thoroughly discussed, including its drivers, features, enablers, and improvement areas. • Finally, a new FAM business function for SB is proposed, aligning with the distinct characteristics of SBs. As there are no established functional taxonomies of FAM, the comprehensive breakdown of FAM business functions presented in this study can be used as a standardized functional breakdown of the FAM domain. Moreover, it can also be used to facilitate robust and integrated information management practices throughout the whole lifecycle of SB facilities.