• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.42.1-42.20
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• 2022

Vaccination with tumor peptide epitopes associated with MHC class I molecules is an attractive approach directed at inducing tumor-specific CTLs. However, challenges remain in improving the therapeutic efficacy of peptide epitope vaccines, including the low immunogenicity of peptide epitopes and insufficient stimulation of innate immune components in vivo. To overcome this, we aimed to develop and test an innovative strategy that elicits potent CTL responses against tumor epitopes. The essential feature of this strategy is vaccination using tumor epitope-loaded nanoparticles (NPs) in combination with polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly-IC) and anti-PD1 mAb. Carboxylated NPs were prepared using poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) and poly(ethylene/maleic anhydride), covalently conjugated with anti-H-2K^b mAbs, and then attached to H-2K^b molecules isolated from the tumor mass (H-2^b). Native peptides associated with the H-2K^b molecules of H-2K^b-attached NPs were exchanged with tumor peptide epitopes. Tumor peptide epitope-loaded NPs efficiently induced tumor-specific CTLs when used to immunize tumor-bearing mice as well as normal mice. This activity of the NPs significantly was increased when co-administered with poly-IC. Accordingly, the NPs exerted significant anti-tumor effects in mice implanted with EG7-OVA thymoma or B16-F10 melanoma, and the anti-tumor activity of the NPs was significantly increased when applied in combination with poly-IC. The most potent anti-tumor activity was observed when the NPs were co-administered with both poly-IC and anti-PD1 mAb. Immunization with tumor epitope-loaded NPs in combination with poly-IC and anti-PD1 mAb in tumor-bearing mice can be a powerful means to induce tumor-specific CTLs with therapeutic anti-tumor activity.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.89-96
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• 2024

This is a descriptive research study to confirm the mediating effect of empathy in the relationship between communication skills and interpersonal relationship of MZ generation nursing students. The subjects of this study were 129 nursing students born in 1981 to 2006, corresponding to the MZ generation, and the data collection period was from May 20 to July 30, 2023. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS 25.0 program, and the mediating effect of empathy was tested by Baron and Kenny's three-step mediating effect verification procedure, and Sobel test was conducted to test the statistical significance of the mediating effect. As a result of the analysis, communication skills (β=.45, p<.001) and empathy (β=.18, p=.008) had a significant effect on interpersonal relationship. These variables were found to have 48.4% explanatory power for interpersonal relationship. Empathy had a partial mediating effect (z=2.39, p=.016) in the relationship between communication skills and interpersonal relationship. Based on the results of this study, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of the MZ generation familiar with the non-face-to-face culture that will be in charge of future nursing and to develop effective programs to improve their interpersonal relationship.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.147-157
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• 2023

This paper investigates the financial factors affecting angel investors' investment decisions for 818 firms from 2009 to 2018 in the Korean venture investment market. We construct a quasi-experimental design using propensity scoring matching and compare the investment determinants between investment firms and matching firms. The main empirical findings are as follows. First, we find that angel investors are more likely to choose firms based on a firm's growth such as profit and assets rather than profitability or financial stability. In addition, we identify that they prefer the firm not only higher intangible assets but also higher R&D expenditures. Second, we find that angel investors consider both growth and activity ratios in the firms for over three years and have entered the mid-stage of startups. Overall, we confirm that the investment decision of angel investors mainly focuses on the venture startups' growth trend or future growth potential rather than the realized profitability or financial stability. We also infer that the possibility of performance creation is an important investment factor along with growth for the mid-stage startup.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.51-59
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• 2024

The purpose of the paper is to suggest government policies that are practically helpful to small business owners in pandemic situations such as COVID-19. To this end, keyword frequency analysis and word cloud analysis of text mining analysis were performed by crawling news articles centered on the keywords "COVID-19 Support for Small Businesses", "The Impact of Small Businesses by Response System to COVID-19 Infectious Diseases", and "COVID-19 Small Business Economic Policy", and major issues were identified through LDA topic modeling analysis. As a result of conducting LDA topic modeling, the support policy for small business owners formed a topic label with government cash and financial support, and the impact of small business owners according to the COVID-19 infectious disease response system formed a topic label with a government-led quarantine system and an individual-led quarantine system, and the COVID-19 economic policy formed a topic label with a policy for small business owners to acquire economic crisis and self-sustainability. Focusing on the organized topic label, it was intended to provide basic data for small business owners to understand the damage reduction policy for small business owners and the policy for enhancing market competitiveness in the future pandemic situation.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.81-88
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to provide academic basic data by identifying the effects of active seniors' online video physical activity on physical self-perception and successful aging. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, 10 active seniors in D city were selected, and after receiving consent to participate in online video physical activity, it was divided into pre and post, and from March 14 to April 22, 2022, Kakao Talk group chat was opened to watch online physical activity videos during the 12th session, download 2 videos a week, and exercise from Monday to Friday. To solve the research problem, frequency analysis and paired t-test were conducted using the SPSS Ver20.0 statistical program. As a result, first, as a result of analyzing the pre- and post-tests of physical self-perception through physical activity of active seniors, all of face satisfaction, body satisfaction, change in physical strength, and change in disease increased on average. Second, as a result of pre- and post-analysis of active seniors' successful aging through physical activity, acceptance of others, orientation toward self-fulfillment, self-acceptance, and satisfaction with children increased, but autonomous life and active participation in life decreased. Through these results, in the COVID-19 period, when activities were restricted due to social distancing, active seniors' online video physical activity has a positive effect on physical self-perception and successful aging, and various programs that can be active on their own should be developed in the future.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.137-142
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• 2024

Recently, deep learning technology has become those methods as de facto standards in the area of medical data representation. But, deep learning inherently requires a large amount of training data, which poses a challenge for its direct application in the medical field where acquiring large-scale data is not straightforward. Additionally, brain signal modalities also suffer from these problems owing to the high variability. Research has focused on designing deep neural network structures capable of effectively extracting spectro-spatio-temporal characteristics of brain signals, or employing self-supervised learning methods to pre-learn the neurophysiological features of brain signals. This paper analyzes methodologies used to handle small-scale data in emerging fields such as brain-computer interfaces and brain signal-based state prediction, presenting future directions for these technologies. At first, this paper examines deep neural network structures for representing brain signals, then analyzes self-supervised learning methodologies aimed at efficiently learning the characteristics of brain signals. Finally, the paper discusses key insights and future directions for deep learning-based brain signal analysis.

• Industry Promotion Research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2024

In the rapidly advancing information society, electronic devices, including smartphones and tablets, are increasingly digitized and equipped with high-performance features such as flexible displays. This study focused on optimizing the manufacturing process for Transparent Conductive Films (TCF) by using the cost-effective conductive polymer PEDOT and transparent substrate PET as alternatives to expensive materials in flexible display technology. The variables considered are production speed (m/min), coating maximum temperature (℃), and PEDOT supply speed (rpm), with surface resistivity (Ω/□) as the response parameter, using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Optimization results indicate the ideal conditions for production: a speed of 22.16 m/min, coating temperature of 125.28℃, and PEDOT supply at 522.79 rpm. Statistical analysis validates the reliability of the results (F value: 18.37, P-value: < 0.0001, R²: 0.9430). Under optimal conditions, the predicted surface resistivity is 145.75 Ω/□, closely aligned with the experimental value of 142.97 Ω/□. Applying these findings to mass production processes is expected to enhance production yields and decrease defect rates compared to current practices. This research provides valuable insights for the advancement of flexible display manufacturing.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.83 no.5
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• pp.1032-1045
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• 2022

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is common in elderly patients. Lower-extremity CT angiography (LE-CTA) can be useful for detecting PAD and planning its treatment. PAD can also be accurately evaluated on reconstructed monoenergetic images (MEIs) from low kiloelectron volt (keV) to high keV images using dual-energy CT. Low keV images generally provide higher contrast than high keV images but also feature more severe image noise. The noise-reduced virtual MEI reconstruction algorithm, called the Mono+ technique, was recently introduced to overcome such image noise. Therefore, this pictorial review aimed to present the imaging findings of PAD on LE-CTA and compare low and high keV images with those subjected to the Mono+ technique. We found that, in many cases, the overall and segmental image qualities were better and metal artifacts and venous contamination were decreased in the high keV images.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.529-540
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• 2023

Objective: To compare the diagnostic performance and clinical outcomes of 2-mSv computed tomography (CT) and conventional-dose CT (CDCT), following radiology residents' interpretation of CT examinations for suspected appendicitis. Materials and Methods: Altogether, 3074 patients with suspected appendicitis aged 15-44 years (28 ± 9 years, 1672 females) from 20 hospitals were randomly assigned to the 2-mSv CT (n = 1535) or CDCT (n = 1539) groups in a pragmatic trial from December 2013 and August 2016. Overall, 107 radiology residents participated in the trial as readers in the form of daily practice after online training for 2-mSv CT. They made preliminary CT reports, which were later finalized by attending radiologists via addendum reports, for 640 and 657 patients in the 2-mSv CT and CDCT groups, respectively. We compared the diagnostic performance of the residents, discrepancies between preliminary and addendum reports, and clinical outcomes between the two groups. Results: Patient characteristics were similar between the 640 and 657 patients. Residents' diagnostic performance was not significantly different between the 2-mSv CT and CDCT groups, with a sensitivity of 96.0% and 97.1%, respectively (difference [95% confidence interval {CI}], -1.1% [-4.9%, 2.6%]; P = 0.69) and specificity of 93.2% and 93.1%, respectively (0.1% [-3.6%, 3.7%]; P > 0.99). The 2-mSv CT and CDCT groups did not significantly differ in discrepancies between the preliminary and addendum reports regarding the presence of appendicitis (3.3% vs. 5.2%; -1.9% [-4.2%, 0.4%]; P = 0.12) and alternative diagnosis (5.5% vs. 6.4%; -0.9% [-3.6%, 1.8%]; P = 0.56). The rates of perforated appendicitis (12.0% vs. 12.6%; -0.6% [-4.3%, 3.1%]; P = 0.81) and negative appendectomies (1.9% vs. 1.1%; 0.8% [-0.7%, 2.3%]; P = 0.33) were not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusion: Diagnostic performance and clinical outcomes were not significantly different between the 2-mSv CT and CDCT groups following radiology residents' CT readings for suspected appendicitis.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.1151-1163
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• 2023

Objective: To develop a deep-learning-based bone age prediction model optimized for Korean children and adolescents and evaluate its feasibility by comparing it with a Greulich-Pyle-based deep-learning model. Materials and Methods: A convolutional neural network was trained to predict age according to the bone development shown on a hand radiograph (bone age) using 21036 hand radiographs of Korean children and adolescents without known bone development-affecting diseases/conditions obtained between 1998 and 2019 (median age [interquartile range {IQR}], 9 [7-12] years; male:female, 11794:9242) and their chronological ages as labels (Korean model). We constructed 2 separate external datasets consisting of Korean children and adolescents with healthy bone development (Institution 1: n = 343; median age [IQR], 10 [4-15] years; male: female, 183:160; Institution 2: n = 321; median age [IQR], 9 [5-14] years; male: female, 164:157) to test the model performance. The mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE), and proportions of bone age predictions within 6, 12, 18, and 24 months of the reference age (chronological age) were compared between the Korean model and a commercial model (VUNO Med-BoneAge version 1.1; VUNO) trained with Greulich-Pyle-based age as the label (GP-based model). Results: Compared with the GP-based model, the Korean model showed a lower RMSE (11.2 vs. 13.8 months; P = 0.004) and MAE (8.2 vs. 10.5 months; P = 0.002), a higher proportion of bone age predictions within 18 months of chronological age (88.3% vs. 82.2%; P = 0.031) for Institution 1, and a lower MAE (9.5 vs. 11.0 months; P = 0.022) and higher proportion of bone age predictions within 6 months (44.5% vs. 36.4%; P = 0.044) for Institution 2. Conclusion: The Korean model trained using the chronological ages of Korean children and adolescents without known bone development-affecting diseases/conditions as labels performed better in bone age assessment than the GP-based model in the Korean pediatric population. Further validation is required to confirm its accuracy.