Cheongju University

Enhancing green innovation is critical for governments addressing global environmental crises and accelerating energy transitions. Against this background, this paper selects 263 cities in China from 2010 to 2021 as the research sample and focuses on evaluating the policy effect of “new energy demonstration city” on urban green innovation. The empirical analysis using the difference-in-difference method shows that the policy significantly promotes urban green technological innovation. A series of robustness tests strengthened the reliability of this finding. The mediation analysis reveals that the “new energy demonstration city” policy can promote urban green innovation by increasing green total factor productivity, reducing land mismatch and alleviating resource dependence. In addition, heterogeneity analysis reveals that innovative cities, southern cities and cities with higher levels of industrialization respond more positively to this policy and can significantly promote green innovation.

Objectives This study aimed to introduce video‐recorded simulation‐based scenarios to facilitate case‐based learning discussions (CBLDs) and to evaluate the appropriateness of these educational videos for hands‐on training by conducting an expert validation process. Methods Following educational video topics were chosen based on their practicality and high demand from the dental infection control coordinators (DICC): “Reprocessing and Sterilization Monitoring of Reusable Instruments,” “Performance Monitoring of Infection Control Specialists,” “Hand Hygiene and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE),” and “Reporting System and Post‐Incident Management for Infection Exposures.” Scenario development involved five dental hygienists with > 10 years of experience. To evaluate the effectiveness of the video, surveys were conducted with 25 individuals with > 5 years of experience in the field. Construct validity was assessed using exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency with Cronbach's α. Results Ten educational videos were developed (2–3 videos per topic). Regarding internal consistency reliability, Cronbach's α values for each of the four topics were all greater than 0.9. Factor analysis of all 34 items yielded five factors that collectively explained 86.201% of the variance. Concerning the “overall educational satisfaction score,” high ratings were obtained for “extensive coverage of dental clinical infection control content within each topic” and “appropriateness of the educational material for training in dental infection control management.” Conclusion The developed videos for dental infection control were reliable and suitable for educating DICC. These videos are expected to hold significant importance in situations where face‐to‐face and hands‐on training pose difficulties.

Effortful swallowing (ES) is a promising exercise option for patients with dysphagia due to reduced tongue base retraction. However, studies confirming how exercise physiology changes when performing ES continuously over multiple sets in clinical practice are limited. This study aimed to determine the effect of visual biofeedback using the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument (IOPI) on the muscle activity of the floor-of-the-mouth (FOM) and oral swallowing pressure during ES exercise. Forty-five healthy older adults (mean age 76.1 ± 4.48y) participated in this randomized crossover study with two conditions. In the visual biofeedback condition using the IOPI, the participants were presented with a value corresponding to 80% of the maximum isometric pressure of the posterior oral tongue measured at baseline and asked to exceed the target value while performing ES. In the no-feedback condition, the IOPI screen was blocked to ensure that information regarding the swallowing pressure during ES was not provided. In the biofeedback condition, participants showed a significantly higher oral swallowing pressure from Sets 3–8 compared with the no-feedback condition (p < 0.05). In the no feedback condition, FOM muscle activity was significantly lower in Set 4 than in the Set 1 (p < 0.05). To improve the strength of the tongue and FOM muscles through ES exercise, providing biofeedback using the IOPI may be beneficial for maintaining a consistently high level of exercise intensity. Further research is required to enable the application of this study’s finding to patients with dysphagia.

Background Poor posture, particularly forward head posture and rounded shoulders, has become increasingly prevalent among adolescents due to prolonged screen use and sedentary behaviors. This study aimed to investigate the effects of a 6-week digital health corrective posture exercise (DHCPE) program on head and shoulder posture in adolescents. Methods A total of 36 subjects were recruited and randomly allocated to 3 groups: the DHCPE group, the face-to-face exercise (FTFE) group, and a control group. The DHCPE and FTFE groups participated in the same corrective posture exercise programs. The DHCPE group conducted the digital health intervention remotely through a monitored screen, while the FTFE group engaged in corrective posture exercises on-site with therapists. Each intervention lasted 50 minutes and was conducted 3 times a week over a period of 6 weeks for both groups. The outcome measurements included protracted head and shoulder distances, trunk lean (the angle of shoulder inclination relative to the pelvis), trunk deviation, shoulder and pelvic height levels, and the absolute differences and inequality ratios between both sides. All assessments were conducted both preintervention and postintervention. Results Both the DHCPE and FTFE groups demonstrated significant improvements in protracted head, left protracted shoulder, and trunk lean following the intervention. The interaction effect revealed that both the DHCPE and FTFE groups exhibited significant improvements in these measurements compared with the control group. Furthermore, no significant differences were found between the improvements observed in the DHCPE group and those in the FTFE group. Conclusion DHCPE and FTFE were effective in improving head and shoulder posture in adolescents. The improvements in the DHCPE group were comparable to those achieved in the FTFE group. DHCPE has the potential to serve as a viable alternative to FTFE for enhancing head and shoulder posture in this population.

Animation is an art form that utilizes the phenomenon of visual transience to produce dynamic images through continuous filming, and in modern animation production, the design and creation of animation characters are often related to the popularity of animation works. This study responds to the development needs of the digital era and investigates the application value of image generation networks in the creation of movie-level animation characters. Through the analysis of the process of generating and creating animated characters, this paper constructs a method based on the graphic generation network to assist the creation and optimizes the image generation network model on the basis of deep learning. For the generated animation character action behavior problem, this paper also optimizes the visual semantic feature extraction based on behavioral feature extraction, so as to detect and study the abnormal behavior of the animation character and realize the detection of abnormal behavior of the generated animation character, so as to provide a guarantee for the subsequent animation production. Through experiments, it is found that the node degree distribution, clustering coefficient distribution, and average track count distribution of this paper’s model on the COKK dataset are 0.178, 0.185, and 0.076, respectively, and all of them achieve the best results. The average recognition accuracy of abnormal behaviors in animated characters is as high as 96.76%. The experimental results verify that the methods for animated character generation and abnormal behavior detection in this paper have certain effectiveness and feasibility and provide a reference for modernizing the animation industry.

High‐performance lithium‐ion batteries and sodium‐ion batteries have been developed utilizing a hybrid anode material composed of zinc sulfide/sulfurized polyacrylonitrile. The in situ‐generated zinc sulfide nanoparticles serve as catalytic agents, significantly enhancing conductivity, shortening diffusion paths, and accelerating reaction kinetics. Simultaneously, the sulfurized polyacrylonitrile fibers form a three‐dimensional matrix that not only provides a continuous network for rapid electron transfer but also prevents zinc sulfide nanoparticle aggregation and mitigates volume changes during charge–discharge cycles. Moreover, the heterointerface structure at the junction of zinc sulfide nanoparticles and the sulfurized polyacrylonitrile matrix increases the availability of active sites and facilitates both ion adsorption and electron transfer. As an anode material for lithium‐ion batteries, the zinc sulfide/sulfurized polyacrylonitrile hybrid demonstrates a high reversible capacity of 1178 mAh g⁻¹ after 100 cycles at a current density of 0.2 A g⁻¹, maintaining a capacity of 788 mAh g⁻¹ after 200 cycles at 1 A g⁻¹. It also exhibits excellent sodium storage capabilities, retaining a capacity of 625 mAh g⁻¹ after 150 cycles at 0.2 A g⁻¹. Furthermore, ex‐situ X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, ⁷Li solid‐state magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance, and in situ Raman are employed to investigate the reaction mechanisms of the zinc sulfide/sulfurized polyacrylonitrile hybrid anode, providing valuable insights that pave the way for the advancement of hybrid anode materials in lithium‐ion batteries and sodium‐ion batteries.

Objectives: Lonely death is defined as "a person living in a state of social isolation, disconnected from family, relatives, and others, who dies from suicide, illness, or other causes." This study investigated the characteristics of individuals who die alone in Korea. Methods: We constructed a database of lonely death cases by linking data from the Korea Crime Scene Investigation Unit of the Korea National Police Agency with National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) records. A descriptive analysis was performed to evaluate the demographics, underlying diseases, and healthcare utilization patterns among lonely death cases. Results: Among the 3,122 individuals identified as lonely death cases, 2,621 (84.0%) were male and 501 (16.0%) were female. The most common age group was 50-59 years (n= 930; 29.8%). The NHIS covered 2,161 individuals (69.2%), whereas 961 individuals (30.8%) were enrolled in Medical Aid (MA). The highest number of lonely deaths occurred in Seoul areas, with 1,468 cases (47.0%). Mental and behavioral disorders were diagnosed in 1,606 individuals (51.4%), and various alcohol-related diseases, including alcoholic liver disease, were also observed. Outpatient visits increased leading up to death but declined in the final 3 months, while hospitalizations decreased and emergency room visits slightly increased. Conclusions: Most lonely death cases involved men in their 50s, with a disproportionately high number of MA beneficiaries compared to the general population. Many of these individuals also experienced mental health issues or alcohol-related disorders. Preventing social isolation and strengthening social safety nets are critical to reducing the occurrence of lonely deaths.

The transformation and innovation of regional art characteristic elements in digital media art are faced with some problems, such as difficult technical realization, insufficient cultural expression, and imperfect copyright protection. It is urgent to promote its effective transformation and innovative application through advanced digital technology. Especially with the application of cutting-edge technologies such as generative adversarial networks (GAN) and blockchain, the digital expression and innovation of regional art elements have taken a new direction. Firstly, this paper systematically analyzes the definition of regional art characteristic elements and their expression forms in digital art, focusing on the extraction methods of texture, color, and composition and their technical realization. Through digital storage and management technology, the efficient storage and rapid query of regional art elements are ensured, and its application value in digital media art is further enhanced through parametric modeling and visual presentation. This paper introduces an artistic element generation method based on a generative adversarial network (GAN). The query response time averages 21% in all experiments, which is fast and effective. In the data integrity test, the integrity retention rate of images reaches 38.2%, which shows that the storage system can keep the original characteristics of regional art elements well. Blockchain technology is outstanding in copyright protection. The transaction delay of artistic works is 76 milliseconds, and the data security guarantee rate is as high as 55.6%. Regarding the evaluation of generated images, the emotional expressiveness of the generative adversarial network (GAN) model used in the experiment when generating artworks IS 48%, and the image quality IS high, with an FID of 19.3 and IS score of 84.7, which further verifies the application effect of digital technology in regional art innovation.

Objectives The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on admission and in-hospital mortality of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods We constructed a dataset of monthly hospitalizations and mortality of inpatients with AMI from January 2017 to December 2021 utilizing the National Health Insurance Claims Data which covers nearly the entire population. Using an interrupted time series (ITS), we investigated how COVID-19 affected hospitalizations and in-hospital deaths of patients with AMI. Results During the study period, the average age of patients with AMI was 65.2–65.8 years, and the ratio of men to women was higher, with 73.0–75.3% of patients being men and 24.7–27.0% being women. ITS analysis showed that admission rates of patients with AMI decreased one per 100,000 population due to COVID-19 (P<0.001). Reductions in admission rates were greatest among men, those aged 55 and older, and people with medical aid. COVID-19 did not affect inpatient mortality (p = 0.9608), but in-hospital mortality decreased from 12% to 7% in the medical aid group. Conclusion Overall, we found that COVID-19 had an impact on admission rates of patients with AMI but did not have a significant impact on in-hospital mortality. However, we also found differential impacts by sex, age, and socioeconomic status, indicating some may be more vulnerable. This highlights the importance of identifying and supporting these vulnerable populations to prevent poorer health outcomes.

Safety education is important for young athletes because it reduces injuries and serves as a stepping stone to becoming a professional athlete. Mandatory safety education and legislation for sports players are being discussed, but no progress has been made thus far. Therefore, this study investigated how young Korean athletes’ participation in sports safety education is related to sports injuries, sports safety awareness, and sports activity habits. We sourced all the data of 3262 professional athletes aged 13 to 18 years from the 2019 Sports Safety Accident Survey. We analyzed the data using SPSS for Windows (version 23.0; IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Frequency analysis, chi-square analysis, and multivariate logistic regression were performed. The results revealed that the more athletes participate in safety education, the less likely they are to have sports injuries and the more likely they are to develop safety awareness and beneficial activity habits such as managing accidents. Additionally, those who participate in safety education are more likely to carry enough water to stay hydrated during exercise than those who do not. Overall, the results suggest that safety education should be emphasized for athletes from a young age, as it helps prevent injuries and improve performance. A governance-based safety education system must be established so young athletes can participate in safety education. Furthermore, safety education must be regular and sports-specific.

Background/Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the analytical validity of micro-computed tomography (µCT) and compare it with quantitative light-induced fluorescence digital (QLFD) for assessing early dental caries (EDC) lesion depth (LD). This study was conducted in a destructive in vitro setting. Methods: EDC lesions were artificially induced in 28 bovine tooth specimens for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 days, respectively. The lesions were analyzed using µCT and QLFD, with grayscale intensity thresholds set at 90% and 95%. A Pearson correlation analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship between lesion depths measured using micro-computed tomography (LDµCT) and quantitative light-induced fluorescence digital (LDQLFD) across different demineralization periods. Additionally, a Bland–Altman analysis was conducted to assess agreement between the two methods and identify systematic differences and potential bias. A regression analysis was further conducted with LDQLFD as the independent variable and LDµCT as the dependent variable. Results: LDµCT was consistently lower than LDQLFD across all demineralization periods. The Pearson correlation analysis demonstrated a strong correlation between LDµCT and LDQLFD (r = 0.898–0.977, p < 0.001). The Bland–Altman analysis demonstrated a high level of agreement, with most data points falling within the 95% limit of agreement. Furthermore, the regression analysis suggested that QLFD may serve as a reliable complementary tool for lesion depth assessment. Conclusions: Although µCT and QLFD operate based on different principles, the findings of this study, along with the cost-effectiveness and ease of use of QLFD, suggest that QLFD may serve as a complementary tool to µCT in experimental research.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of client-centered occupational therapy intervention on the mental health, activities of daily living (ADL), and community participation of older adults with depression. Methods: This study was a single-blind, randomized controlled study conducted on older adults with depression, and those who met the selection and exclusion criteria were randomly divided into an experimental group of 15 people and a control group of 15 people. The experimental group performed client-centered occupational therapy intervention using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) and Barth Time Construction (BTC), and the control group performed case management and a strength-brain exercise program. Both groups underwent intervention twice a week for 60 min, for a total of 16 sessions. Before and after the intervention, depression, anxiety, stress, ADL, and community partitioning were measured using assessment tools with proven reliability and validity in both the experimental group and the control group. Results: The experimental group exhibited significant changes after the intervention in depression, anxiety, stress, social integration, and community integration scores (p<0.05 and p<0.01), while the control group showed significant changes only in depression scores (p < 0.05). As a result of comparing the amount of change between the experimental and control groups, significant differences were found in social integration among the areas of depression, stress, and community integration (p<0.05 and p<0.01). Conclusion: These results suggest that client-centered occupational therapy intervention could serve as an effective intervention for improving mental health, ADL, and community participation in older adults with depression. Trial Registration: Korea Clinical Research Information Service (CRIS): KCT0009358

The present study examined how consumer awareness of seafood safety in different countries influences their concerns about radioactivity in seafood, focusing on the moderating impact of interest in food safety issues. Data from the 2021 Food Consumption Behavior Survey conducted by the 2021 Korea Rural Economic Institute were analyzed. The survey targeted 3318 primary food purchasers in households with members aged 19–75 years old. Lower safety awareness of Japanese seafood and European seafood correlated with higher levels of concern about radioactivity. Additionally, regarding the moderating effect of interest in food safety issues, lower safety awareness of European seafood correlated with greater concern about radioactivity. However, a positive moderating effect of interest in food safety issues was observed for the interaction between safety awareness of European seafood and concerns about radioactivity in seafood. The findings suggest that consumers’ safety awareness about seafood was associated with their concerns about radioactivity in seafood. Thus, it is necessary to reduce consumers’ concerns about radioactivity and elevate their safety awareness of seafood. The strategies would be suggested to elevate consumers’ perception of seafood safety awareness. The seafood industry invests in the production process to enhance the safety of seafood. The government applies new technologies to analyze seafood safety and radioactivity levels in seafood, which, thus, assures consumers’ seafood consumption.

After the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea, residential buildings are equipped with an energy recovery ventilator for ventilation and building energy efficiency. During summer, it is required to operate both the ERV system and air conditioners to maintain thermal comfort as well as ensure indoor air quality. The ventilation efficiency of the ERV system can be varied by various layouts of the inlet and outlet vents. Moreover, cooling can be wasted through the exhaust of the ERV system. Considering this, the present study assessed thermal comfort by applying various layouts of the supply and exhaust of ERV systems with different supply air temperatures and air volumes of the air conditioners. Using CFD (computational fluid dynamics) simulation, the ventilation and thermal performance with the PMV (predicted mean vote) were analyzed. As a result, the PMV was highly affected by the supply air temperature and ventilation flow rates of the air conditioners. While additional installations of the inlet or outlet vents showed improved ventilation performance, the PMV index presented “slightly cold” or “cold”. Considering energy saving, this proves that it can provide an opportunity to reduce cooling energy consumption through the intermittent operation mode of the air conditioners.