• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 2001

Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effective role of living-related liver transplantation (LRLT) on posttransplant linear growth in children. Methods: Thirty six children were enrolled who received LRLT at Asan Medical Center from December, 1994 to February, 1999 and showed more than one-year postoperative survival. Mean height standard deviation score (zH) was analyzed according to medical records including heights during pretransplant and posttransplant follow-up periods. Results: zH of total children showed significant linear growth after LRLT from -1.58 to 0.33 at 24 posttransplant month (p<0.05). zH in children under 6 years of age, to exclude the effect of adolescent linear growth spurt, showed increment in height (p<0.05). Linear growth of children with liver cirrhosis improved and that with fulminant hepatitis was matained same. While stunted children (mean zH=-2.30) achieved good catch-up growth after transplantation, children with normal growth remained same. Children with significant hepatic dysfunction after LRLT such as chronic rejection or posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder showed retarded posttrasplant linear growth. There was no statistical difference according to the type of immunosuppressants. Conclusion: LRLT resulted in adequate or catch-up linear growth in children with acute, chronic and metabolic liver disease. Successful LRLT suggested to be a promising option not only in long term survival but also in normal linear growth.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.56-66
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• 2020

Objectives: In this study, the clinical characteristics of OSA patients and the quality of life before and after CPAP use were compared to determine the degree of improvement in quality of life according to CPAP use. Methods: Age, sex, height, weight, body mass index, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Modified Mallampatti Score, Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Korean, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index were compared between men and women through medical records. To understand the degree of improvement in quality of life resulting from use of CPAP, a personal telephone call was made to compare the VAS scores for quality of life before and after CPAP use. Results: In height (HT) (Z = -4.525, p < 0.001), weight (BW) (Z = -2.844, p < 0.05), sleep quality (PSQI) (Z = -2.671, p < 0.05), and arousal index (AI) (Z = -2.105, p < 0.05), there was a difference between men and women (p < 0.05). There was no difference in the remaining variables. Cross-analysis (Chi-square test) confirmed a difference between severity and sex of OSA. It has been found that there is no statistically significant order in size according to level-specific severity of OSA for PreCPAP QOL, PostCPAP QOL, CPAPUse Months, and CPAP4Hr/d (%) (p > 0.05). The difference between AHI before and after CPAP was 36.48 ± 21.54 (t = 11.609, p < 0.001) and the difference between QOL before and after CPAP was -25.43 ± 22.06 (t = -7.901, p < 0.001), both of which were significant (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Among OSA patients, there were differences in height (HT), weight (BW), sleep quality (PSQI), arousal index (AI), and severity of OSA between men and women, but the quality of life before and after CPAP was different. However, there was no difference between men and women in quality of life before and after CPAP. In addition, quality of life in OSA patients improved after using CPAP.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.35-48
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• 2014

According to the 2013 construction market outlook report, the liquidation of construction companies is expected to continue due to the ongoing residential construction recession. Bankruptcies of construction companies have a greater social impact compared to other industries. However, due to the different nature of the capital structure and debt-to-equity ratio, it is more difficult to forecast construction companies' bankruptcies than that of companies in other industries. The construction industry operates on greater leverage, with high debt-to-equity ratios, and project cash flow focused on the second half. The economic cycle greatly influences construction companies. Therefore, downturns tend to rapidly increase the bankruptcy rates of construction companies. High leverage, coupled with increased bankruptcy rates, could lead to greater burdens on banks providing loans to construction companies. Nevertheless, the bankruptcy prediction model concentrated mainly on financial institutions, with rare construction-specific studies. The bankruptcy prediction model based on corporate finance data has been studied for some time in various ways. However, the model is intended for all companies in general, and it may not be appropriate for forecasting bankruptcies of construction companies, who typically have high liquidity risks. The construction industry is capital-intensive, operates on long timelines with large-scale investment projects, and has comparatively longer payback periods than in other industries. With its unique capital structure, it can be difficult to apply a model used to judge the financial risk of companies in general to those in the construction industry. Diverse studies of bankruptcy forecasting models based on a company's financial statements have been conducted for many years. The subjects of the model, however, were general firms, and the models may not be proper for accurately forecasting companies with disproportionately large liquidity risks, such as construction companies. The construction industry is capital-intensive, requiring significant investments in long-term projects, therefore to realize returns from the investment. The unique capital structure means that the same criteria used for other industries cannot be applied to effectively evaluate financial risk for construction firms. Altman Z-score was first published in 1968, and is commonly used as a bankruptcy forecasting model. It forecasts the likelihood of a company going bankrupt by using a simple formula, classifying the results into three categories, and evaluating the corporate status as dangerous, moderate, or safe. When a company falls into the "dangerous" category, it has a high likelihood of bankruptcy within two years, while those in the "safe" category have a low likelihood of bankruptcy. For companies in the "moderate" category, it is difficult to forecast the risk. Many of the construction firm cases in this study fell in the "moderate" category, which made it difficult to forecast their risk. Along with the development of machine learning using computers, recent studies of corporate bankruptcy forecasting have used this technology. Pattern recognition, a representative application area in machine learning, is applied to forecasting corporate bankruptcy, with patterns analyzed based on a company's financial information, and then judged as to whether the pattern belongs to the bankruptcy risk group or the safe group. The representative machine learning models previously used in bankruptcy forecasting are Artificial Neural Networks, Adaptive Boosting (AdaBoost) and, the Support Vector Machine (SVM). There are also many hybrid studies combining these models. Existing studies using the traditional Z-Score technique or bankruptcy prediction using machine learning focus on companies in non-specific industries. Therefore, the industry-specific characteristics of companies are not considered. In this paper, we confirm that adaptive boosting (AdaBoost) is the most appropriate forecasting model for construction companies by based on company size. We classified construction companies into three groups - large, medium, and small based on the company's capital. We analyzed the predictive ability of AdaBoost for each group of companies. The experimental results showed that AdaBoost has more predictive ability than the other models, especially for the group of large companies with capital of more than 50 billion won.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.220-227
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• 2013

Objectives : This study aims to investigate the clinical characteristics and neuropsychological profiles of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and their siblings. Methods : Eighteen children (age $8.2{\pm}1.7$ years, 12 boys) with ADHD and their 18 siblings (age $7.8{\pm}1.6$ years, 8 boys) completed Continuous Performance (CPT), Stroop, Children's Trail Making, Rey-Kim Memory, and Kim's Frontal Executive Function tasks. The parents of these subjects underwent the Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Rating Scale (ARS), 10-item Parent General Behavior Inventory (P-GBI), and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). Paired t-tests were used. Results : The inattention (p=.020), and hyperactivity-impulsivity (p=.001), scores of the ARS and the P-GBI score (p=.004) were significantly higher in children with ADHD than in their siblings. Deficits in social communication and motivation on SRS were higher in children with ADHD than in their siblings (p=.017 and p=.011, respectively). Z-scores of omission and commission errors as well as response time variability on visual CPT and omission errors on auditory CPT were in clinically significant range, and z-score of omission errors on auditory CPT was in borderline range in siblings. Omission (p=.018) and commission errors on Visual CPT (p=.007) were significantly higher in children with ADHD compared to their siblings. Recognition efficiency on Kim's Frontal Executive Function Task was lower in children with ADHD compared to their siblings, but in normal range in both groups. Stroop interference and figure fluency on Kims Frontal Executive Function Task were in borderline range in ADHD group, and figure fluency was in borderline range in siblings. Conclusion : Our results support a preliminary evidence for mild degree of attention deficit in ADHD siblings. Further studies are needed to examine the cognitive functions of siblings with ADHD in larger samples.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.117-126
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to analyze the spatial distribution characteristics and spatial changes of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) in mountainous areas with altitude more than 200 meters in South Korea. In order to analyze the spatial distribution patterns, spatial analysis was performed on 203 Automatic Mountain Meteorology Observation Station (AMOS) points from 2012 to 2016 by Euclidean distance analysis, nearest neighbor index analysis, and Kernel density analysis methods. As a result, change of the average distance between 2012 and 2016 decreased up to 16.4km. The nearest neighbor index was 0.666632 to 0.811237, and the result of Z-score test was -4.372239 to -5.145115(P<0.01). The spatial distributions of AMOSs through Kernel density analysis were analyzed to cover 129,719ha/a station in 2012 and 50,914ha/a station in 2016. The result of a comparison between 2012 and 2016 on the spatial distribution has decreased about 169,399ha per a station for the past 5 years. Therefore it needs to be considered the mountainous regions with low density when selecting the site of AMOS.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.123-132
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to compare the nutritional status of children aged 5 or under and women aged 20 to 34 years between the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea (DPRK: North Korea). For the source of nutritional status of North Koreans, the DPRK 2004 Nutrition Assessment-Report of Survey Results was used. As the comparable data of South Koreans, the anthropometric data for children and women were obtained from the reports of the Korean Pediatric Society and the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards, respectively. The blood hemoglobin data of South Korean women were obtained from the data file of the 2001 National Health and Nutrition Survey and analyzed. In regard to the North Korea, the Prevalence of underweight (weight for age Z-score < -2.0) in children under 12 months was about $10\sim15%$, and thereafter progressively increased until 30 to 35 months reaching 30%. In South Korea, the prevalence of underweight was less than 3% in most age groups both in boys and girls. In North Korea, the prevalence of stunting (height for age Z-score < -2.0) reached 20% in children under 12 months and increased with age over the level of 50% in children aged 54 to 59 months. In South Korea, the prevalence of stunting was less than 3% in children under 12 months and was less than 10% throughout the age groups. Maternal protein-energy malnutrition and anemia were assessed for the women aged 20 to 34 years using mid-upper arm circumference (< 22.5 cm) and blood hemoglobin level (< 12g/DL), respectively. The prevalence of protein-energy malnutrition was 39.6%, 30.7%, 31.7% in North Korea and 12.5%, 5.0%, 1.5% in South Korea fir the women in $20\sim24,\;25\sim29,\;30\sim34$ years, respectively. The prevalence of anemia in the North Korean women was about $34\sim36%$ while that in the South Korean women was $15\sim18%$. In conclusion, the disparity of nutritional status in early childhood and maternity between South Korea and North Korea is so huge that active and well-planned nutrition support policy and programs for women and children in North Korea is imperative to prepare for the future unified nation.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.540-545
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• 2005

This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of high a)z pre-treatment (60, $100\%$ for 3, 6, 12 hr) on quality of 'Hikawa Hakuho' peach fruits. High a)z treatment inhibited the respiration and ethylene production, especially with long tenn treatment for more than 6 hr. Discoloration of peel, softening and decay were reduced by high $CO_2$ treatment $CO_2$ concentration of $60\~100\%$ did not affect soluble solids content and titratable acidity of fruits. $CO_2$ treated fruits, however, showed higher sweetness score compared with control. As the $CO_2$ concentration and treatment duration increased from 60 to $100\%$ and from 3 to 12 hr, respectively, the efficacy on quality increased. Fruits treated with $100\%\;CO_2$ for 3 hr and $60\%\;CO_2$ for 12 hr, however, showed very low flavor score due to the residual $CO_2$ in flesh. High $CO_2$ injury was not noted at any $CO_2$ levels tested in this study. Above results suggest that $60\%\;CO_2$ treatment for 6 hr resulted in as good control of respiration, ethylene production, decay, discoloration and softening without off-order.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.311-318
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• 2016

Azorubine is a synthetic tar color containing azo-bond in the molecular structure. This food colorant has been allowed to be used for beverages, cheese and dried fruits in the European Union and for some food in Australia. Even though it is applicable as a food color in many countries, this compound has not been permitted in Korea so far as a food additive. Thus, this study was performed to establish an analysis method for azorubine in Korea by comparison of three HPLC analysis methods for azorubine and other azo-compounds which are officially used in the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA, EU), the Food Standard Agency (FSA, England) and the National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation (NIFDS, Korea). The analysis method of the FSA for azorubine showed the best linearity ($r^2=0.999$), limit of detection (LOD, $0.07{\mu}g/mL$), limit of quantification (LOQ, $0.20{\mu}g/mL$), precision (0~0.5%) and accuracy (98.6~100.7%) among tested HPLC methods using a C-18 column and diode array detector (DAD) with ammonium acetate solution and acetonitrile as an eluent solution. Finally selected method of FSA was further verified by inter-day and intra-day experiments with linearity, LOD, LOQ, precision and accuracy. Recovery test showed the recover ratios of 97~103%, 95~101%, and 93~102% in beverages, breads/snacks and other foods, respectively. Inter-laboratory test represented the absolute value of z-score of less than 2 which means satisfactory levels in this test. Selected method of FSA showed reliable analytical results in application test using food samples collected in commercial markets in Europe.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.1427-1435
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• 2010

The present study was conducted to examine the effect of a stair-stepped feed intake pattern on growth, feed efficiency, and meat quality of Hanwoo steers. Twenty-seven 11-month-old Hanwoo steers were randomly divided into three groups. The control group was fed according to the Korean steer feeding program, and the other two groups were fed according to an alternated feeding schedule of 3-2-4-2 months. During the first three months of the experiment, treatment group 1 (T1) and treatment group 2 (T2) were fed 20% and 30% less than the control group, respectively. For the following two months, the T1 group was fed 20% more than the control group while the T2 group was fed 20% less than the control group. In the third step, T1 and T2 groups were fed 20% and 10% less, respectively, than the control group for four months. In the last two months, T1 and T2 groups were fed 20% more than the control group. After the stair-step feeding trial, steers were fed concentrated feed ad libitum for five months. The altered feed intake pattern did not affect daily body weight gain. However, daily feed intake tended to decrease and growth efficiency tended to increase in the two treatment groups compared to the control group. Altered feed intake also affected blood metabolite levels. The serum glucose and BUN level of the T1 group increased in the first re-fed period compared to the T2 and control groups. The serum cholesterol level of the T2 group decreased in the first restricted-re-fed growth period compared to the T1 and control groups. The serum NEFA levels of the two treatment groups increased from the first restricted period compared to the controls. The serum insulin level of the T2 group increased in the last period compared to the T1 and control groups. Regarding meat yield index, the control group was significantly higher than the T2 group (p<0.05). Regarding meat yield grade, the carcass back fat thickness of the T2 group was significantly higher than the control group (p<0.05). In marbling score, the T1 group was the highest (4.9), followed by the control group (4.1) and the T2 group (4.0). These results indicate that using a stair-stepped growth pattern (T1) can contribute to improvements in growth efficiency and muscle marbling.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.629-633
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• 2008

Purpose : This study was designed to investigate normal domestic values for the diameter of the left main coronary artery (LCA), the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) and the right coronary artery (RCA). These data are necessary to define dilatation of coronary arteries in Kawasaki disease cases. Methods : Study subjects were 43 normal healthy children whose ages ranged from 3 months to 6 years. They children visited Konkuk University hospital for echocardiograph examination between March 2005 and November 2007. Measurements of coronary arterial diameters at each branch were done by off-line analyses of recorded images. Simple regression analysis of each the measurements were performed using the body size (body surface area, etc.) as the independent variable. Results : Body surface area was significantly related to the diameters of LCA ($r^2=0.20$, P=0.0038), of LAD ($r^2=0.41$, P<0.0001), and of RCA ($r^2=0.30$, P=0.0002). In the regression model, the estimates of the y-intercept were 1.703, 1.058, and 1.007; the estimates of the regression coefficient were 0.971, 1.175, and 1.177; and the estimates of the standard deviation were 0.315, 0.221, and 0.282 with respect to the three coronary arteries. Conclusion : A the linear regression model of the diameters of three coronary arteries adjusted for body surface area was produced. With these results, the Z-score calculation of the diameter of three coronary arteries, based on normal domestic data, will be possible.