• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.38 no.5 s.250
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• pp.323-334
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• 2005

Background: Gene therapy is a new and promising option for the treatment of severe myocardial ischemia by therapeutic angiogenesis. The goal of this study was to elucidate the efficacy of therapeutic angiogenesis by using VEGF165 in large animals. Material and Method: Twenty-one pigs that underwent ligation of the distal left anterior descending coronary artery were randomly allocated to one of two treatments: intramyocardial injection of pCK-VEGF (VEGF) or intramyocardial injection of pCK-Null (Control). Injections were administered 30 days after ligation. Seven pigs died during the trial, but eight pigs from VEGF and six from Control survived. Echo-cardiography was performed on day 0 (preoperative) and on days 30 and 60 following coronary ligation. Gated myocardial single photon emission computed tomography imaging (SPECT) with $^{99m}Tc-labeled$ sestamibi was performed on days 30 and 60. Myocardial perfusion was assessed from the uptake of $^{99m}Tc-labeled$ sestamibi at rest. Global and regional myocardial function as well as post-infarction left ventricular remodeling were assessed from segmental wall thickening; left ventricular ejection fraction (EF); end systolic volume (ESV); and end diastolic volume (EDV) using gated SPECT and echocardiography. Myocardium of the ischemic border zone into which pCK plasmid vector had been injected was also sampled to assess micro-capillary density. Result: Micro-capillary density was significantly higher in the VEGF than in Control ($386\pm110/mm^{2}\;vs.\;291\pm127/mm^{2};\;p<0.001$). Segmental perfusion increased significantly from day 30 to day 60 after intramyocardial injection of plasmid vector in VEGF ($48.4\pm15.2\%\;vs.\;53.8\pm19.6\%;\;p<0.001$), while no significant change was observed in the Control ($45.1\pm17.0\%\;vs.\;43.4\pm17.7\%;\;p=0.186$). This resulted in a significant difference in the percentage changes between the two groups ($11.4\pm27.0\%\;increase\;vs.\;2.7\pm19.0\%\;decrease;\;p=0.003$). Segmental wall thickening increased significantly from day 30 to day 60 in both groups; the increments did not differ between groups. ESV measured using echocardiography increased significantly from day 0 to day 30 in VEGF ($22.9\pm9.9\;mL\;vs.\;32.3\pm9.1\;mL;\; p=0.006$) and in Control ($26.3\pm12.0\;mL\;vs.\;36.8\pm9.7\;mL;\;p=0.046$). EF decreased significantly in VEGF ($52.0\pm7.7\%\;vs.\;46.5\pm7.4\%;\;p=0.004$) and in Control ($48.2\pm9.2\%\;vs.\;41.6\pm10.0\%;\;p=0.028$). There was no significant change in EDV. The interval changes (days $30\~60$) of EF, ESV, and EDV did not differ significantly between groups both by gated SPECT and by echocardiography. Conclusion: Intramyocardial injection of pCK-VEGF165 induced therapeutic angiogenesis and improved myocardial perfusion. However, post-infarction remodeling and global myocardial function were not improved.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.33-56
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• 2017

As Internet usage is becoming more common worldwide and smartphone become necessity in daily life, technologies and applications related to mobile Internet are developing rapidly. The results of the Internet usage patterns of consumers around the world imply that there are many potential new business opportunities for mobile Internet technologies and applications. The location-based service (LBS) is a service based on the location information of the mobile device. LBS has recently gotten much attention among many mobile applications and various LBSs are rapidly developing in numerous categories. However, even with the development of LBS related technologies and services, there is still a lack of empirical research on the intention to use LBS. The application of previous researches is limited because they focused on the effect of one particular factor and had not shown the direct relationship on the intention to use LBS. Therefore, this study presents a research model of factors that affect the intention to use and actual use of LBS whose market is expected to grow rapidly, and tested it by conducting a questionnaire survey of 330 users. The results of data analysis showed that service customization, service quality, and personal innovativeness have a positive effect on the intention to use LBS and the intention to use LBS has a positive effect on the actual use of LBS. These results implies that LBS providers can enhance the user's intention to use LBS by offering service customization through the provision of various LBSs based on users' needs, improving information service qualities such as accuracy, timeliness, sensitivity, and reliability, and encouraging personal innovativeness. However, privacy concerns in the context of LBS are not significantly affected by service customization and personal innovativeness and privacy concerns do not significantly affect the intention to use LBS. In fact, the information related to users' location collected by LBS is less sensitive when compared with the information that is used to perform financial transactions. Therefore, such outcomes on privacy concern are revealed. In addition, the advantages of using LBS are more important than the sensitivity of privacy protection to the users who use LBS than to the users who use information systems such as electronic commerce that involves financial transactions. Therefore, LBS are recommended to be treated differently from other information systems. This study is significant in the theoretical point of contribution that it proposed factors affecting the intention to use LBS in a multi-faceted perspective, proved the proposed research model empirically, brought new insights on LBS, and broadens understanding of the intention to use and actual use of LBS. Also, the empirical results of the customization of LBS affecting the user's intention to use the LBS suggest that the provision of customized LBS services based on the usage data analysis through utilizing technologies such as artificial intelligence can enhance the user's intention to use. In a practical point of view, the results of this study are expected to help LBS providers to develop a competitive strategy for responding to LBS users effectively and lead to the LBS market grows. We expect that there will be differences in using LBSs depending on some factors such as types of LBS, whether it is free of charge or not, privacy policies related to LBS, the levels of reliability related application and technology, the frequency of use, etc. Therefore, if we can make comparative studies with those factors, it will contribute to the development of the research areas of LBS. We hope this study can inspire many researchers and initiate many great researches in LBS fields.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.316-326
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• 2014

Determination of the late marginal heading date (LMHD), which would allow estimation of the late marginal seeding date and the late marginal transplanting date, would help identification of potential double cropping areas and, as a result, establishment of cropping systems. The objective of this study was to determine the LMHD at 51 sites in Korea. For these sites, weather data were obtained from 1971 to 2000 and from 1981 to 2010, which represent past and current normal climate conditions, respectively. To examine crop productivity on the LMHD, climatic yield potential (CYP) was determined to represent the potential yield under a given climate condition. The LMHD was calculated using accumulated temperature for 40 days with threshold values of $760^{\circ}C$, $800^{\circ}C$, $840^{\circ}C$ and $880^{\circ}C$. The value of CYP on a given LMHD was determined using mean temperature and sunshine duration for 40 days from the LMHD. The value of CYP on the LMHD was divided by the maximum value of CYP (CYPmax) in a season to represent the relative yield on the LMHD compared with the potential yield in the season. Our results indicated that the LMHD was delayed at most sites under current normal conditions compared with past conditions. Spatial variation of the LMHD differed by the threshold temperature. Overall, the minimum value of CYP/CYPmax was 81.8% under all of given conditions. In most cases, the value of CYP/CYPmax was >90%, which suggested that yield could be comparable to the potential yield even though heading would have occurred on the LMHD. When the LMHD could be scheduled later without considerable reduction in yield, the late marginal transplanting date could also be delayed accordingly, which would facilitate doublecropping in many areas in Korea. Yield could be affected by sudden change of temperature during a grain filling period. Yet, CYP was calculated using mean temperature and sunshine duration for 40 days after heading. Thus, the value of CYP/CYPmax may not represent actual yield potential due to change of the LMHD, which suggested that further study would be merited to take into account the effect of weather events during grain filling periods on yield using crop growth model and field experiments.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.41-53
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• 1997

Geochemical data of soil and water samples were presented in order to assess the environmental impart for drinking water sites. Microscopic observation of rock samples and physical and chemical analysis of soil and water samples were undertaken. The geology of study areas are classified into three groups such as granitic rocks, meta-sedimentary rocks and sedimentary rocks. Enrichment of heavy metals derived from those rocks is not found in this study areas. Soils were analyzed for Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd and Cr using AAS extracted by HNO$_3$+HClO$_4$ and 0.1 N HCl. Heavy metal concentrations in soils are within the range of those in uncontaminated soils. In comparison of metal contents extracted by 0.1 N HCl and HNO$_3$+HC1O$_4$, less than 10% of the heavy metals are present in the exchangeable fraction. In particular, an pollution index has been proposed to assess the degree of soil contamination. Pollution index in soils are between 0.03 and 0.47 therefore, soils are not polluted with heavy metals. Deep groundwaters within granitic rocks have been evolved into Na$\^$＋/-HCO$_3$$\^$-/ type, whereas other deep groundwaters evolved into Ca$\^$2＋/-HCO$_3$$\^$-/ type. The predominance of Na$\^$＋/ over Ca$\^$2＋/ in deep groundwaters within granitic rocks is a result of dissolution of plagioclase, but for sedimentary and meta-sedimentary rocks, dissolution of calcite is a dominant factor for their hydrogeochemistry. The pH, conductivity and contents of the most dissolved ions in the water increase with depth. Shallow groundwaters, however, are highly susceptible to pollution owing to agricultural activities, considering the fact that high contents of nitrate, chloride and potassium, and high K/Na ratio are observed in some shallow groundwaters. In a thermodynamic approach, most natural water samples are plotted within the stability fields of kaolinite and smectite. Therefore, microcline and other feldspars will alter to form clay minerals, such as kaolinite and smectite. From the modelling for water-rock interactions based on mass balance equation, models accord well with behavior of the ions and results of thermodynamic studies are derived.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.321-329
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• 2008

Amorphous silica nanoparticles are among the most fundamental $SiO_2$ compounds, having implications in diverse geological processes and technological applications. Here, we explore structural details of amorphous silica nanoparticles with varying particle sizes (7 and 14 nm) using $^{29}Si$ and $^{1}H$ MAS NMR spectroscopy together with quantum chemical calculations to have better prospect for their size-dependent atomic structures. $^{29}Si$ MAS NMR spectra at 9.4 T resolve $Q^2,\;Q^3$ and $Q^4$ species at -93 ppm, -101 ppm, -110 ppm, respectively. The fractions of $Q^2,\;Q^3,\;O^4$ species are $7{\pm}1%,\;27{\pm}2%$, and $66{\pm}2%$ for 7 nm amorphous silica nanoparticles and $6{\pm}1%,\;21{\pm}2%$, and $73{\pm}2%$ for 14 nm amorphous silica nanoparticles. Whereas it has been suggested that $Q^2$ and $Q^3$ species exist on particles surfaces, the difference in $Q^{2}\;+\;Q^{3}$ fraction in both 7 and 14 nm particles is not significant, suggesting that $Q^2$ and $Q^3$ species could exist inside particles. $^{1}H$ MAS NMR spectra at 11.7 T shows diverse hydrogen environments, including physisorbed water, hydrogen bonded silanol, and non-hydrogen bonded silanol with varying hydrogen bond strength. The hydrogen contents in the 7nm silica nanoparticles (including water and hydroxyl groups) are about 3 times of that of 14 nm particles. The larger chemical shills for proton environments in the former suggest stronger hydrogen bond strength. The fractions of non-hydrogen bonded silanols in the 14 nm amorphous silica nanoparticles are larger than those in 7 nm amorphous silica nanoparticles. This observation suggests closer proximity among hydrogen atoms in the nanoparticles with smaller diameter. The current results with high-resolution solid-state NMR reveal previously unknown structural details in amorphous silica nanoparticles with particle size.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.24-38
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• 2019

Due to the dramatic spatial changes caused by industrialization, environmental problems such as air pollution and urban heat island phenomenon, etc. are occurring in cities. In this case, the wind corridor, which is a passage through which fresh and cool air generated in forests outside cities move to the downtown, can be used as a spatial planning method for improving urban environmental problems. Cold air is determined by the characteristics of the flow depending on the topography and land use of cities, and based on this, the medium- and long-term plan should be established. Therefore, this study analyzed the flow of cold air at night through the KLAM_21 model in Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, to prepare the basic data required to apply the wind corridors. As a result, it turned out that cold air of Suwon-si was mainly generated from Gwanggyo Mountain that is a large mountain area in the north, and flowed into the urbanization promotion area, and about three hours after sunset, cold air flowed into the downtown. By district, the depth, wind speed, and direction of the cold air layer were formed differently according to the characteristics of the topography and land use. In the areas where large forests were adjacent, the flow of cold air was active. There are three main wind corridors where cold air flows to the downtown of Suwon-si, all of which are formed around rivers. Especially, if the connection between rivers and the surrounding green areas is high, the effect of wind corridors is found to be significant. In order to utilize the wind corridors of Suwon-si, based on the results of this study, it is necessary to make climate maps through actual survey and complex analysis of cold air flow and establish mid-to-long-term plans for the conservation and expansion of major wind corridors.