• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.175-184
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• 2016

In this study, we transplanted Chinese (Liaoning Dandong) and Chungnam (Taean) manila clam seeds to Gochang tidal flats in Jeonbuk province, and compared growth, mortality, and condition indices from May 2015 to August 2016. Within 2 months after transplantation, clam mortality of Chungnam and Chinese origin were $6.9{\pm}4.3%$, $16.9{\pm}7.9{\sim}21.0{\pm}6.3%$, respectively. We supposed that higher mortality of Chinese manila clams might be due to higher stress and weakening of physiological functions by air-exposure and unavailability of food intake for 5 days harvesting, transportation, quarantine procedures. Unlike the local clam farmer's opinion based on their field experience, growth of Chungnam clams in shell length and total weight were a little better than Chinese without statistical significant difference (P > 0.05). Condition indices of Chinese clams showed declining tendency after reaching a peak in May 2014, and in June 2015, respectively. Meanwhile, Chungnam clams has reached its peak of condition indices in May 2014 and in April 2015, respectively. From this result, we supposed that there might be at least one month difference in reproduction between the Chinese and Chungnam manila clams during the first-transplanted year. Because the mortality of adult clam have sharply increased from June 2015 (due to high temperature, few rainfall and spawning) in Gochang tidal flat, it would be recommendable that farmers harvest the clams before June when its shell length are larger than 40 mm. In conclusion, we could directly compare the productivity of Chinese and Chungnam manila clam at Gochang tidal flats by field experiment, and these results are also meaningful to manila clam farmers.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.829-838
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• 2015

Garlic (Allium sativum L.), one of the oldest cultivated crops, is the most widely used Allium species belonging to the family Lilliaceae. In this study, growth characteristics, photosystem II activity, and antioxidative enzyme activity were investigated in five temperatures ($10-30^{\circ}C$) during early growth stage of garlic to determine the optimum temperature for cultivation and assess the effects of high temperature on early growth of garlic. Vegetative growth (e.g., shoot height, number of leaves) of garlic plants was greater in the temperature ranges of $15-25^{\circ}C$. However, dry weight (of shoot, bulb, and total plant) of garlic was significantly greater at $20^{\circ}C$, compared to either below or above $20^{\circ}C$. $F_v/F_o$ and $F_v/F_m$ values were highest at $15-20^{\circ}C$, and decreased above $25^{\circ}C$. The chlorophyll a fluorescence induction OKJIP transient was also considerably affected by high temperature; the fluorescence yields $F_i$ and $F_P$ decreased considerably above $25^{\circ}C$, with the increase of $F_k$ and $W_k$. Activities of catalase and superoxide dismutase in leaves and peroxidase in roots were high in $20-25^{\circ}C$, and decreased significantly in $30^{\circ}C$. These results indicate that a growth temperature of $30^{\circ}C$ inhibits early growth of garlic and that it is desirable to culture garlic plants near $20^{\circ}C$. Fluorescence parameters such a $F_v/F_o$, $F_v/F_m$, $F_k$, $ET_o/CS_m$, and $PI_{abs}$ were significantly correlated with dry weight of whole garlic plants (p < 0.01), indicating that these fluorescence parameters can be used for early assessment of high temperature effects even though the damage to the plant is not very severe.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.1091-1097
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• 2015

We have isolated and characterized an ascorbate peroxidase (APx) gene, OsAPx1 from rice. Northern and Western blot analyses indicated that at young seedling stage, OsAPx1 mRNA was expressed highly in root, shoot apical meristem (SAM) and leaf sheath than leaf. In mature plant, OsAPx1 gene expressed highly in root, stem and flower but weakly in leaf. OsAPx1 gene and protein expression level was induced in leaves inoculated with Magnaporthe oryzae (M. oryzae) and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo). Phytohormones treatment showed that OsAPx1 was up-regulated by jasmonic acid (JA), but was down regulated by ABA and SA co-treatments with JA, resulting that they have antagonistic effect on pathogen responsive OsAPx1 expression. Phylogenetic analysis illustrated that Arabidopsis AtAPx1 has a close relationship with OsAPx1. In AtAPx1 knock out lines, the accumulation of O₂^- and H₂O₂ are all highly detected than wild type, revealing that the high concentration of exogenous H₂O₂ cause the intercellular superoxide anion and hydrogen peroxide accumulation in AtAPx1 knockout plant. These results suggested that OsAPx1 gene may be associated with the pathogen defense cascades as the mediator for balancing redox state by acting ROS scavenger and is associated with response to the pathogen defense via Jasmonic acid signaling pathway.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.479-488
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• 2014

Naturally occurring asbestos (NOA) from disturbance of rocks and soils has been overlooked as a source of exposure that could potentially have a detrimental impact on human health. But, few researches on mineralogical characteristics of NOA occurred in soils have been reported in Korea. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the mineralogical characteristics of NOA occurred in soils at Daero-ri area, Seosan, Chungnam Province, Korea. Sedimentation method was used for particle size separation of the asbestos-containing soils. XRD and PLM analyses were used to characterize mineralogical characteristics and mineral assemblages in soils. SEM-EDS and TEM-EDS analyses were used to characterize mineral morphology and chemical composition. Particle size analyses of the asbestos-containing soils showed they were composed of 26-93% sand, 4-23% silt and 3-70% clay. Soil texture of the soils was mainly sand, sandy loam, sandy clay, and clay. PLM analyses of the soil showed that most of the soil contained asbestiform tremolite and actinolite. The average content of asbestos in the soil was 1.5 wt. %. Therefore, the soil can be classified into asbestos-contaminated soils based on U. S. Environmental Protection Agency classification (content of asbestos in contaminated soil > 1%). Morphologically different types of tremolite such as long fibrous, needle-like, fiber bundle, bladed and prismatic forms co-existed. Prismatic tremolite was dominant in sand fraction and asbestiform tremolite was dominant in silt fraction. This study indicates that the prismatic form of tremolite transform gradually into a fibrous form of tremolite due to soil weathering because tremolite asbestos was mainly existed in silt fraction rather than sand fraction.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.155-163
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• 2004

The aims of this study are 1) to test oocytes and embryos collected from in-vitro to achieving the valuable protocol by culturing, vitrifying and thawing of oocytes/embryos, and 2) to transfer them to recipient, and finally have resulted in pregnancies from recipient females after surgical or nonsurgical transfer. In vitro maturation and fertilization were performed according to Funahashi et al (1994). Glucose-free NCSU 23 supplemented with 5 mM sodium pyruvate, 0.5 mM sodium lactate and 4 mg/ml bovine serum albumin for 2 days at $39^{\circ}C$, and 10% fetal bovine serum albumin was added to the culture medium thereafter. Embryos were treated with 7.5 ${\mu}g/ml$ cytochalasin-B for 30 min, centrifuged at 13,000 rpm for 13 min and then exposed sequentially to an ethylene glycol(EG) vitrification solution, aspirated into OPS, and plunged/thawed into/from liquid nitrogen. In vivo embryos were surgically collected from three dornors after AI for control group. Forty-nine embryos were washed 3 times in mPBS + 10% FBS, followed treatments : cultured, centrifuged, vitrified, recovered and transferred to recipients as in vitro prepared embryos. Three recipients were transferred individually with 100, 100 frozen embryos derived from abattoir and 34 fresh embryos by surgically, and another three recipients were transferred individually with 150, 150 frozen embryos and 100 fresh embryos by nonsurgically, respectively. all recipient sows exhibited delayed returns to estrus. To our knowledge, theses results suggest that required an improved techniques, more vigorous embryos preparation and substitute to gilt with cleaner uterous condition.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.265-274
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• 2009

Objective: MicroRNAs (miR) are known to repress target genes at post-transcriptional level and play important roles in development and maturation of cell. However, the expression profiles of miR during ovarian follicle maturation have not been fully elucidated. Here, we designed this study to investigate the expression profiles of miR in oocytes and granulose cells (G-cells) after in vitro culture according to gonadotropins and adding hCG. Methods: Ovaries from 12-day-old mice (C57BL6) were removed and preantral follicles were isolated and cultured in $20\;{\mu}L$-drop of culture media with supplementation of either rFSH, rLH, or rFSH+rLH. After their full maturation, follicles were incubated with rhCG and rEGF. RNA was isolated from oocytes and G-cells, and real-time PCR were performed with primers of miR known to be expressed in the mouse ovary (mmu-miR-16, -miR-27a, -miR-126, -miR-721). Results: FSH+LH group showed the highest ovulation and MII rates among gonadotropin groups. The profiles of miRs in oocytes and G-cells differed according to gonadotropin groups and adding hCG. The profiles of miRs showed divergent changes between oocytes and G-cells. Conclusion: miR expression profiles are altered by gonadotropins and supplementation of hCG during in vitro maturation of murine follicles. Target gene study must be necessary to validate these findings.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.275-281
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• 2009

Objective: This study was performed to evaluate the effect of oxytocin antagonist on the outcome of IVF/ICSI cycles in infertile patients with repeated failure of IVF/ICSI treatment. Method: Forty patients who had experienced two or more failures of IVF/ICSI treatment without low ovarian reserve, were recruited for this prospective randomized study. All patients received controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) using GnRH antagonist multidose protocol (MDP). For the intervention group, intravenous administration of atosiban (mixed vasopressin $V_{1A}$/oxytocin antagonist) started with a bolus dose 6.75 mg one hour before embryo transfer (ET) and continued at an infusion rate of 18 mg/hour. After ET, administered atosiban was reduced to 6 mg/hour and continued for 2 hours. The main efficacy endpoints were clinical pregnancy rate and implantation rate. Results: Patients' characteristics were comparable in the intervention and control groups. COS parameters and IVF results were also similar. The number of uterine contractions for 3 minutes measured just before ET was significantly lower in the intervention group than control group ($3.5{\pm}1.4$ vs $8.7{\pm}2.2$, p<0.001). While there was no statistically significant difference in the clinical pregnancy rate between control group and intervention group (20.0% and 40.0%, p=0.168), the implantation rate was significantly higher in the intervention group, with 16.9% (11/65) compared with 6.0% (4/67) in the control group (p=0.047). There were no differences in ectopic pregnancy rate and miscarriage rate between the two groups. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that administration of oxytocin antagonist during ET can improve the implantation rate probably by decreasing the frequency of uterine contractions in infertile patients undergoing IVF/ICSI treatment.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.615-628
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• 2004

In order to elucidate seasonal sedimentary characteristics and depositional environment after construction of seawall on macrotidal flat, a seasonal observations of surface sediments (total 450) and sedimentation rates on 4 transects have been investigated for 2 years. The eastern area of Iwon tidal flat, has been changed from semi-closed coast to open coast by construction of seawall, shows general seasonal changes similar to characteristics of open coast type, which represented both fining and bad sorted distribution due to deposition of fine sediments under low energy condition in the summer, and relatively coarser and better sorted distribution because of erosion of fine sediments in the winter. In considering angles of transects, distribution patterns of surface sediments, the northern and southern parts of eastern tidal flat are dominantly influenced by wave and tidal effects, respectively. As time goes by, the eastern tidal flat shows coarsening-trend of surface sediments caused by direct effect of tidal current, were and typhoon. Meanwhile the western area of seawall, which has been re-formed by construction seawall, is sheltered from northwesterly seasonal wind. The seasonal change pattern of western area of seawall is slightly different from that of eastern tidal flat. Mean grain size and sorting of surface sediments during spring is finer and worse than those during summer. This seasonal change pattern maybe influenced by topographic effects caused from the construction of seawall. In consideration of all result, the transport of fine sediments in the study area, which is supplied to limited sediments, shows clockwise circulation pattern that fine sediments are transported from the eastern tidal flat to the western area of seawall because of blocking of seawall in the winter and are transported reversed direction the summer. As a result, many changes have been observed in the study area after construction of seawall; however, this change is still in progress and is expected to need continuous monitoring.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.59-68
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• 1998

Digital hearing aids offer many advantages over conventional analog hearing aids. With the advent of high speed digital signal processing chips, new digital techniques have been introduced to digital hearing aids. In addition, the evaluation of new ideas in hearing aids is necessarily accompanied by intensive subject-based clinical tests which requires much time and cost. In this paper, we present an objective method to evaluate and predict the performance of hearing aid systems without the help of such subject-based tests. In the hearing impairment simulation(HIS) algorithm, a sensorineural hearing impairment medel is established from auditory test data of the impaired subject being simulated. Also, the nonlinear behavior of the loudness recruitment is defined using hearing loss functions generated from the measurements. To transform the natural input sound into the impaired one, a frequency sampling filter is designed. The filter is continuously refreshed with the level-dependent frequency response function provided by the impairment model. To assess the performance, the HIS algorithm was implemented in real-time using a floating-point DSP. Signals processed with the real-time system were presented to normal subjects and their auditory data modified by the system was measured. The sensorineural hearing impairment was simulated and tested. The threshold of hearing and the speech discrimination tests exhibited the efficiency of the system in its use for the hearing impairment simulation. Using the HIS system we evaluated three typical hearing aid algorithms.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.19-36
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• 2010

The objective of this study was to measure the critical thinking level of activity tasks included in home economics textbooks published under the 2007 Revised National Curriculum. For this purpose, we sampled 3 kinds of Technology-Home Economics textbooks for 7th graders, selected activity tasks contained in the textbooks, and classified them by type. A total of 93 activity tasks were extracted, and they were analyzed using 9 questions on critical thinking prepared based on Kim Young-jung's '9 Elements and 9 Standards of Critical Thinking.' The results of this study were as follows. First, the total score of the critical thinking level of activity tasks in the home economics textbooks was 66.8, which was not high enough to induce learners' critical thinking. Among the sub-categories of critical thinking, the score was high in order of argumentative thinking(83.9), analytical thinking(78.1), and dialectic thinking(38.3). As in the results, the activity tasks were particularly inadequate for inducing dialectic thinking. Second. in the results of analyzing difference in the critical thinking level according to unit, significant difference was observed among the units. Activity tasks in Units 'Adolescents' Self-management'(77.8), 'Adolescents' Consumption life'(75.2), and 'Adolescents' Sex and Peer Relationship'(71.1) induced critical thinking more effectively than those in other units, but activity tasks in Units 'Clothing and Self-expression' (61. 4), 'Adolescents' Development'(60.0), and 'Adolescents' Nutrition and Meals'(59.6) were inadequate for inducing critical thinking. Third, in the results of analyzing difference in the critical thinking level according to activity task type, the level was high in order of 'Inquiry Activities' (75.7), 'Discussions' (74.6), 'Practical Activities'(65.4), and 'Trials' (50.7), and the differences were significant. That is, among activity task types, 'Inquiry Activities' were most effective in inducing learners' critical thinking and 'Trials' were least effective.