• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.86-95
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• 2006

The ethanol extract of the Crotalaria juncea seeds, which showed promising antispermatogenic and antiandrogenic activities in albino mice, was taken up further for the isolation of the active fractions present in it. Two fractions that were obtained from thin layer chromatography were subjected for testing to know their antispermatogenic and antiandrogenic activities. After preliminary trials the fraction I showed maximum antifertility activity at the dose level of 200 mg/kg body weight when administered orally to the rats for 50 days. The fraction I was found to affect spermatogenesis as well as the endocrine functions of the testis as indicated by gravimetric, histopathological and biochemical changes. Further this fraction has caused degenerative changes in the seminiferous tubules and Leydig cells of the testis. The accessory reproductive organs like epididymis, seminal vesicles, vas deferens, prostrate, Cowper's gland and Levator Ani muscle showed significant malfunction. Cauda epididymal sperm count and sperm motility were reduced significantly. The treatment has also resulted in increase in the cholesterol level and alkaline phosphatase activity, and decrease in protein, glycogen, sialic acid contents and acid phosphatase activity in testis. It is noteworthy that RIA studies have shown significant reduction in serum FSH, LH and testosterone. Scanning electron microscopic observations revealed abnormalities in sperm structure.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2003

Purpose : The objective of this study was the development and validation of a scale to measure the self-care of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) in Korea. Method: Self-care scale was developed based on the self-care activities patients had to carry out in order to manage their COPD. The original scale contained 34 items rated along a five-point Likert scale and was reviewed by 18 professional nurses and 10 Korean patients with COPD for content validity. Subsequently, patients with COPD were asked to complete this 23-item scale and further tests were done with the 125 useable responses. Result: Factor analysis identified eight factors-'maintaining a clean air way', 'taking medication', 'support from family', 'preventing infection', 'managing symptoms', 'breathing exercising', and 'taking in nutrition'. The internal consistency of the total scale was Cronbach's α=0.7226. These eight factors explained 60.8% of total variance. There was correlation among Korean Self-Care Scale score, administration level, and knowledge level but there was no correlation to patients' satisfaction with medical services. Conclusion: The 23 item questionnaire positively identified 8 areas defined important for COPD patients. Further studies are required to see how these can be integrated into patient education.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.119-133
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• 2009

Objective: The aim of this study was to asses individual, organizational and environmental capacity for members of Healthy Cities Partnership (KHCP) and exploring advanced suggestions for further developing. Methods: Participants were 27. The questionnaire was developed based on Health Promotion Capacity Checklist and it analyze capacity in 3 lelvels including individual, organizational and environmental. Each level is consist of 4 sections, individual: 'Knowledge', 'Skills', 'Commitment' and 'Resources', organizational; 'Commitment', 'Culture', 'Structure' and 'Resources', environment:'Public opinion', 'Political will', 'Supportive organizations' and 'Ideas and other resources'. Each section was assessed in 4 point rating scale and cross analyzed with basic information. Results: The mean score of 3 levels were 2.57. Among the 3 levels, 'Individual' marks 2.78 point which were top and 'Organizational' marks 2.59 and 'Environmental' marks 2.33. There were no significant factors affecting Healthy cities capacity of 'Individual' and 'Organizational' level, but just 'specialization' of 'Environmental' had significance. Conclusion: Above the results, this study suggested that just 'Individual' capacity is above median point and other levels were lower. Further efforts for developing Healthy cities capacity, especially focused on 'Organizational' and 'Environmental' levels, is strongly required.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.219-224
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• 2012

Understanding how the b-wave of the electroretinogram (ERG) is generated by full-field light stimulation is still a challenge in visual neuroscience. To understand more about the origin of the b-wave, we studied the contributions of gap junctions to the ERG b-wave. Many types of retinal neurons are connected to similar and different neighboring neurons through gap junctions. The photopic (cone-dominated) ERG, stimulated by a small light beam, was recorded from goldfish (Carassius auratus) using a corneal electrode. Data were obtained before and after intravitreal injection of agents into the eye under a photopic illumination level. Several agents were used to affect gap junctions, such as dopamine D1 and D2 receptor agonists and antagonists, a nitric oxide (NO) donor, a nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor, the gap junction blocker meclofenamic acid (MFA), and mixtures of these agents. The ERG b-waves, which were enhanced by MFA, sodium nitroprusside (SNP), SKF 38393, and sulpiride, remained following application of a further injection of a mixture with MFA. The ERG b-waves decreased following $N^G$-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), SCH 23390, and quinpirole administration but were enhanced by further injection of a mixture with MFA. These results indicate that gap junction activity influences b-waves of the ERG related to NO and dopamine actions.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.90-94
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• 2013

This paper reports the results obtained for there flection and transmission coefficients on rubble mound breakwaters in Busan Yacht Harbor. A2D physical model test was conducted in the wave flume at the Coastal Engineering Research Laboratory at Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea. In this study, physical model tests were completed to further our understanding of the hydrodynamic processes that surround a rubble mound structure subjected to irregular waves. In particular, the reflection and transmission coefficients, as well as the spectrum transformation, were analyzed. This analysis suggests that with an increase in wave height around a rubble mound, the reflection coefficient drastically increases at each water level (HHW or MSL or LLW). Moreover, when the water level changes from HHW to LLW, the reflection coefficient is suddenly reduced. A further result of the analysis is that the transmission coefficient strongly drops away from the rear of the structure. Finally, in regard to the rubble mound breakwater in Busan Yacht Harbor, a consideration of the reflection and transmission coefficients plays an important role in the design.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.117-126
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• 2021

Microfinance focuses on economic development at a minute level. Microfinance is adopted to reduce the poverty level in the economic system. This study is conducted to investigate the microfinance institutions' outreach, its growth, and challenges faced by the Microfinance Banks (MFBs) and Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). Data is collected from MFBs and MFIs working in Muzaffarabad as well as from interviews and focus group discussions. Findings are based upon lending, headcount ratio, offers, the value of their offer, and the possible growth chances of microfinance in Muzaffarabad. In addition to this, the challenges associated with microfinance outreach have been highlighted during analysis and guidelines have been provided to the MFBs and MFIs to increase their outreach. The sector is financially unstable which is attributable to its reliance on conventional sources of funding. The industry faces several endogenous as well as exogenous challenges from its environment which obstructs its growth. Further, it helps the policymakers to work on the development of the region and provide the base for further future research work.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.45-73
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• 2022

The research in the literature review on Internet of Things (IoT) adoption from an individual consumer viewpoint is minimal and has not yet been fully investigated. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to analyze the growth of IoT in recent years and to conduct a weight analysis of the factors that affect acceptance intentions and real usage of IoT-enabled services. For the review, we analyzed 87 publications from 13 conferences and 54 journals published during the period 2014-2020 about consumer adoption of IoT. Following the study, we discovered an unprecedented increase in the number of articles published in the last seven years, which points to an emerging area with an enormous prospect. Furthermore, the weight analysis outcome was associated with the diagrammatic representation in this study. After that, this research developed a generalized consumer IoT adoption model based on the 12 best predictors derived from frequency count and weight analysis, which had the highest predictive power for calculating IoT adoption. This paper further acknowledges the study's theoretical and practical contributions, as well as its shortcomings, and proposes further research directions for future researchers.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.1258-1275
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• 2023

Cloud computing is a new technology that has adapted to the traditional way of service providing. Service providers are responsible for managing the allocation of resources. Selecting suitable containers and bandwidth for job scheduling has been a challenging task for the service providers. There are several existing systems that have introduced many algorithms for resource allocation. To overcome these challenges, the proposed system introduces an Optimized Task Scheduling Algorithm with Deep Learning (OTS-DL). When a job is assigned to a Cloud Service Provider (CSP), the containers are allocated automatically. The article segregates the containers as' Long-Term Container (LTC)' and 'Short-Term Container (STC)' for resource allocation. The system leverages an 'Optimized Task Scheduling Algorithm' to maximize the resource utilisation that initially inquires for micro-task and macro-task dependencies. The bottleneck task is chosen and acted upon accordingly. Further, the system initializes a 'Deep Learning' (DL) for implementing all the progressive steps of job scheduling in the cloud. Further, to overcome container attacks and errors, the system formulates a Container Convergence (Fault Tolerance) theory with high-level security. The results demonstrate that the used optimization algorithm is more effective for implementing a complete resource allocation and solving the large-scale optimization problem of resource allocation and security issues.

• Educational Technology International
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.59-79
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to measure the impact of motivation on academic achievement and satisfaction of adult learners in an e-Learning environment, and to come up with strategies to improve the effectiveness of e-Learning for adult learners. In order to find answer, devices were developed, tested for validity and reliability, and use for testing variables for 289 adult learners. To measure the impact of achievement motivation on learning in job training, a multiple regression analysis was performed. The analysis results show that achievement motivation has an impact on academic achievement with significance level .001, but does not have an impact on a learner's satisfaction. Further analyses on the subcategories of achievement motivation show that individual-oriented motivation affects achievement with significance level of .001, while social-oriented motivation does not. From this finding, some strategies to boost individual-oriented motivation are suggested to enhance effectiveness of job training in e-Learning environment. Further strategies to boost individual-oriented motivation should be developed by studying various aspects of e-Learning such as learning environments, learning culture, learning modes and methods, and evaluation.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.139-160
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to examine the difference in perception among parents of preschoolers, parents of school aged children, teachers of child care centers and elementary school teachers regarding testing on the level of preparation for attending elementary school. Firstly, the results of the study revealed that elementary school teachers had notions regarding the level of preparation for entering school that were more specific than day care teachers and parents. Second, it was shown that effort and a sense of responsibility were most important for the improvement of the level of preparation for elementary school level studies. Third, the results of this study revealed that many respondents thought that there needs to be some form of testing of the level of preparation for school and the respondents further stated that this testing needed to be conducted by child care center teachers or experts in the field. Finally, it was shown that such a test of the level of preparation for school attendance should be developed by including questions on different areas of the intelligence, adaptability, function, tendencies and regulations in relation to the needs of preschoolers.