[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of smartphones by university students in selected areas, their musculoskeletal symptoms, and the associated hazard ratio. [Subjects and Methods] This involved the completion of a self-administered questionnaire by dental hygiene students in Seoul, Gyeonggido, and Gyeongsangbukdo. The 292 completed copies of the questionnaire were then analyzed. [Results] The most painful body regions after the use of smartphones were found to be the shoulders and neck. In the musculoskeletal system, back pain was found to have a positive correlation with the size of the smartphone’s liquid crystal display (LCD) screen, and pain in legs and feet were found to have a negative correlation with the length of time that the smartphone was used. As a result, it was revealed that the use of a smartphone was correlated with musculoskeletal symptoms. [Conclusion] Therefore, in today’s environment, where the use of smartphones is on the rise, it is necessary to improve the ways that they are used and to develop a preventive program to alleviate the symptoms of musculoskeletal damage.

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The therapeutic effect may be further enhanced in the kinesthetic locomotor imagery training than in the visual locomotor imagery training. The auditory step rhythm together with the locomotor imagery training produces a greater positive effect in improving the walking performance of patients with post-stroke hemiparesis.

The quantity of radioactive waste will grow significantly with an increasing interest and use of nuclear-generated energy. There will always be inevitable radioactive waste residues that require disposal, even using an advanced nuclear fuel cycle in the future. Deep geological disposal, one of the most promising final disposal methods, should be validated for its long-term performance and safety assessment. Geotechnical issues related to the deep geological disposal are critical for the sustainable development of nuclear energy. They play challenging roles especially under extreme circumstances that result from deep geological conditions of a repository, extremely long containment time, and the characteristics of nuclear waste itself such as high decay heat, which may primarily affect thermo-hydro-mechanical and geochemical-coupled behavior of a repository for geologic time scales. This paper introduces an overview of deep geological disposal concepts based on Finnish, Korean, Spanish, and Swedish disposal programs, discusses the outstanding research issues in disposal from the aspect of geological and geotechnical engineering, such as ExcavationDamaged Zone (EDZ), cementitious material, long-term gas migration, and self-sealing/healing of fractured rocks with a focus on the state of the art in-situ validation experiments, and additionally presents a numerical modeling of the coupled THMG process in the repository near field, which is one of the major factors concerning the fuel canisters.

[Purpose] This study aimed to examine the effects of abdominal ultrasound accompanied by complex exercise in shift work employees working in industry. [Subjects and Methods] Thirty shift work employees were randomly assigned to either a complex exercise group (control group) or a complex exercise and ultrasound treatment group (experimental group). The control group carried out complex exercise five times per week for 4 weeks, while the experimental group performed complex exercise twice per week and received deep ultrasound three times per week for 4 weeks. [Results] The results showed that there were no significant differences in body composition between the two groups. There were significant changes in weight, lean body mass, body fat mass, and body mass index in the control group; meanwhile, significant changes in weight and body fat mass were observed in the experimental group. There were no significant differences in blood lipids between the two groups. There was a significant decrease in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in the control group; furthermore, a significant decrease in total cholesterol was observed in the experimental group, along with significant increases in HDL-C and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. [Conclusion] According to the results of this study concerning short-term obesity management programs, complex exercise was effective for improving of body composition and weight loss, while complex exercise combined with abdominal ultrasound had a good effect on blood lipids and secondary complication prevention.