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A Study on the Goal-Orientation of QI Performers in the Medical Centers (의료기관 QI 담당자의 목표추구몰입에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Mi-Sook;Park, Jae-Sung
    • The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.105-124
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    • 2008
  • The purpose of this research is to provide the data base for the activation of Quality Improvement operation through investigating the status of Quality Improvement operation, and finding out factors influencing on the goal-orientation of QI performers in the medical centers of more than one hundred beds where are practicing Quality Improvement operation. In order to reach the purpose, document study was carried out grounded on the proceeding researches and formulated statistical data in relation with the status of Quality Improvement performers, and proof study was carried out through questionnaire survey. The subjects of the survey were the Quality Improvement performers working in seventy three medical centers in Pusan-Gyeongnam, Daegu-Gyeongbuk, and Ulsan. Among eighty three Quality Improvement performers, fifty, five were questionnaire surveyed, on the result of which Reliability Analysis, Factor Analysis, and Multiple Regression Analysis were made, using statistical program. The the results of the proof analysis on this research are as follows. First, in the factors influencing the devoting to goal pursuit of QI performers, organization-goal contribution(0.44) had significant positive effects, while organization conflict(-0.25) had significant negative effects. In other words, the higher the organization-goal contribution was, the higher the devoting to goal pursuit was, while the less the organization conflict was, the higher the devoting to goal pursuit was, which was statistically significant.(p<0.05). Second, in the aspect of goal performance types of QI performers, the process-centered type showed high level of the devoting to goal pursuit, which was statistically significant.(p<0.05). Third, in the aspect of QI performance degree, the higher the devoting to goal pursuit was, the higher the QI performance degree was, which was statistically significant.(p<0.05). In addition, the performers who perceived their workplaces organic structure showed much higher QI performance degree, which statistically significant.(p<0.05). Generalizing the results of this research, it is possible to offer a few suggestions as follows. First, as the competition among the medical centers is more severe recently owing to medical center evaluation system, medical centers are practicing various Quality Improvement operation in all of medical services such as clinical performance and management performance, to reach the purpose of both cost-cutting and medical quality improvement. Thus in order to practice Quality Improvement operation more efficiently in medical centers, it is essential to nuke use of problem-solving methods and statistical members. This as the willingness of chief executives and positive attitude and recognition of organization members. This requires the installation of divisions in charge and disposition of persons in charge, not to speak of persistent training of Quality Improvement. Second, the divisions in charge of QI carry out Quality Improvement operation at the medical center level, and take the role of generalizing and adjusting QI performances of various departments. Owing to this role, the division in charge of QI is considered indispensable organization in the QI operation of medical centers along with medical QI committee, while it contributes to the government's goal of reducing quality level gaps among medical centers. Therefore it is necessary for government and QI organizations to give institutional support and resources for the sake of QI operation of medical centers, besides to supply systematic trainning and informations to the divisions and persons in charge of QI. Third, it is certain that disposition of persons in charge should be determined in view of the scale and the scope of QI operation in medical centers.

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A Study on the Development Strategy of Smart Learning for Public Education (스마트러닝의 공교육 정착을 위한 성공전략 연구)

  • Kim, Taisiya;Cho, Ji Yeon;Lee, Bong Gyou
    • Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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    • v.16 no.6
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    • pp.123-131
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    • 2015
  • Recently the development of ICT has a big impact on education field, and diffusion of smart devices has brought new education paradigm. Since people has an opportunity to use various contents anytime and communicate in an interactive way, the method of learning has changing. In 2011, Korean government has established the smart education promotion plan to be a first mover in the paradigm shift from e-learning to smart learning. Especially, government aimed to improve the quality of learning materials and method in public schools, and also to decrease the high expenditure on private education. However, the achievement of smart education policy has not emerged yet, and the refinement of smart learning policy and strategy is essential at this moment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to propose the successful strategies for smart learning in public education. First, this study explores the status of public education and smart learning environment in Korea. Then, it derives the key success factors through SWOT(Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) analysis, and suggests strategic priorities through AHP(Analytic Hierarchy Priority) method. The interview and survey were conducted with total 20 teachers, who works in public schools. As a results, focusing on weakness-threat(WT) strategy is the most prior goal for public education, to activate the smart learning. As sub-factors, promoting the education programs for teachers($W_2$), which is still a weakness, appeared as the most important factor to be improved. The second sub-factor with high priority was an efficient optimizing the capability of new learning method($S_4$), which is a strength of systematic public education environment. The third sub-factor with high priority was the extension of limited government support($T_4$), which could be a threat to other public schools with no financial support. In other words, the results implicate that government institution factors should be considered with high priority to make invisible achievement in smart learning. This study is significant as an initial approach with strategic perspective for public education. While the limitation of this study is that survey and interview were conducted with only teachers. Accordingly, the future study needs to be analyzed in effectiveness and feasibility, by considering perspectives from field experts and policy makers.

Extraction Conditions and Quality Stability of Carotenoprotein from Krill Processing Waste by Proteolytic Enzymes (크릴 가공폐기물을 이용한 Carotenoprotein의 추출조건 및 품질안정성에 관한 연구)

  • Kim Se-Kwon;KiM Yong-Tae;KWAK Dong-Chae;CHO Duck-Jae;LEE Eung-Ho
    • Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.40-50
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    • 1990
  • The purpose of this paper is to develop a colorant from krill, Euphausia superba, process wastes for use in food products. Carotenoproteins were extracted from preboiled krill processing offal(PKPO) and raw frozen krill processing offal(RKPO) with the aid of proteolytic enzymes. The long-term stability of the astaxanthin associated with the carotenoprotein by the addition of pretense inhibitor and antioxidant to the product were also investigated. Total astaxanthin contents of PKPO and RKPO were $35.1mg\%,\;22.1mg\%$ and those in carotenoproteins were $98.6mg\%,\;61.9mg\%$, respectively. The chitin contents of PKPO and RKPO were $6.9\%,\;4.5\%$, however, those of carotenoproteins were not determined. When $0.5\%$ trypsin was added to the extraction medium containing 0.5M $Na_3EDTA$ at $4^{\circ}C,\;74\%$ of astaxanthin and $83\%$ of the protein of PKPO were recovered as carotenoprotein in 24hrs. The amino acid profile in carotenoprotein was mainly composed of glutamic acid, methionine, aspartic acid and isoleurine. Their contents amounted to about 40% of the total amino acids, followed by alanine, phenylalanine, Iysine, leucine, threonine and tyrosine in that order, with a small amount of cysteine and tryptophan. The levels of essential amino acids were high as much as $38.3\%\~43.6\%$ of the total amino acids. The maximum observance of the carotenoid fraction from krill processing offal and from carotenoprotein was 469nm in petroleum ether. The separated components of carotenoprotein by TLC had Rfs $0.20\~0.23\;0.56\~0.60$ and $0.88\~0.91$. The carotenoids were comprised of astaxanthin, astaxanthin monoester and asthaxanthin diester in $25\~30\%\;,35\~40\%$and $40\~45\%$, respectively. The loss of carotenoids in the carotenoprotein can be prevented by the addition of pro-tease inhibitor(trasylol) and antioxidant(BHT) below $4^{\circ}C$.

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Managing Duplicate Memberships of Websites : An Approach of Social Network Analysis (웹사이트 중복회원 관리 : 소셜 네트워크 분석 접근)

  • Kang, Eun-Young;Kwahk, Kee-Young
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.17 no.1
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    • pp.153-169
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    • 2011
  • Today using Internet environment is considered absolutely essential for establishing corporate marketing strategy. Companies have promoted their products and services through various ways of on-line marketing activities such as providing gifts and points to customers in exchange for participating in events, which is based on customers' membership data. Since companies can use these membership data to enhance their marketing efforts through various data analysis, appropriate website membership management may play an important role in increasing the effectiveness of on-line marketing campaign. Despite the growing interests in proper membership management, however, there have been difficulties in identifying inappropriate members who can weaken on-line marketing effectiveness. In on-line environment, customers tend to not reveal themselves clearly compared to off-line market. Customers who have malicious intent are able to create duplicate IDs by using others' names illegally or faking login information during joining membership. Since the duplicate members are likely to intercept gifts and points that should be sent to appropriate customers who deserve them, this can result in ineffective marketing efforts. Considering that the number of website members and its related marketing costs are significantly increasing, it is necessary for companies to find efficient ways to screen and exclude unfavorable troublemakers who are duplicate members. With this motivation, this study proposes an approach for managing duplicate membership based on the social network analysis and verifies its effectiveness using membership data gathered from real websites. A social network is a social structure made up of actors called nodes, which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency. Social networks represent the relationship between the nodes and show the direction and strength of the relationship. Various analytical techniques have been proposed based on the social relationships, such as centrality analysis, structural holes analysis, structural equivalents analysis, and so on. Component analysis, one of the social network analysis techniques, deals with the sub-networks that form meaningful information in the group connection. We propose a method for managing duplicate memberships using component analysis. The procedure is as follows. First step is to identify membership attributes that will be used for analyzing relationship patterns among memberships. Membership attributes include ID, telephone number, address, posting time, IP address, and so on. Second step is to compose social matrices based on the identified membership attributes and aggregate the values of each social matrix into a combined social matrix. The combined social matrix represents how strong pairs of nodes are connected together. When a pair of nodes is strongly connected, we expect that those nodes are likely to be duplicate memberships. The combined social matrix is transformed into a binary matrix with '0' or '1' of cell values using a relationship criterion that determines whether the membership is duplicate or not. Third step is to conduct a component analysis for the combined social matrix in order to identify component nodes and isolated nodes. Fourth, identify the number of real memberships and calculate the reliability of website membership based on the component analysis results. The proposed procedure was applied to three real websites operated by a pharmaceutical company. The empirical results showed that the proposed method was superior to the traditional database approach using simple address comparison. In conclusion, this study is expected to shed some light on how social network analysis can enhance a reliable on-line marketing performance by efficiently and effectively identifying duplicate memberships of websites.

Development of Eimeriu tenezla in MDEK cell culture with a note on enhancing effeet of preincubation with chicken spleen cells (MDBK 세포 배양에서 Eimeria tenella 발육 상황 및 닭 비장세포에 의한 발육 항진 효과)

  • 채종일;이순형
    • Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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    • v.27 no.2
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    • pp.87-100
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    • 1989
  • Eimeria tenella, an intracellular protozoan parasite infecting the epithelial cells of the ceca of chickens, causes severe diarrhea and bleeding that can lead its host to death. It is of interest that 2. tenezla first penetrate into the mucosal intraepithelial Iymphocytes (IEL) before they parasitize crypt or villous epithelial cells. This in vitro study was undertaken to know whether the penetration of E. tenella into such a lymphoid cell is a beneficial step for the parasite survival and development. Three sequential experiments were performed. First, the in vitro established bovine kidney cell line, MDBK cells, were evaluated for use as host cells for E. tenella, through morphological observation. Second, the degree of parasite development and multiplication in MDBK cells was quantitatively assayed using radioisotope labelled uracil ($^3H-uracil$) . Third, the E. tenella sporozoites viability was assayed after preincubation of them with thicken spleen cells. E. tenella oocysts obtained from the ceca of the infected chickens were used for the source of the sporozoites. Spleen cells (I) obtained from normal chickens (FP strain) were preincubated with the sporozoites (T) at the E:T ratio of 100:1, 50:1 or 25:1 for 4 or 12 hours, and then the mixture was inoculated into the MDBK cell monolayer. Morphologically the infected MDBK cells revealed active schisogonic cycle of E. tenella in 3~4 days, which was characterized by the appearance of trophozoites, and immature and mature schizonts containing merogoites. The 3H-uracil uptake by E. tenella increased gradually in the MDBK cells, which made a plateau after 48~60 hours, and decreased thereafter. The uptake amount of $^3H-uracil$ depended not only upon the inoculum sixte of the sporozoites but also on the degree of time delay (preincubation; sporozoites only) from excystation to inoculation into MDBK cells. The 3H-uracil uptake became lower as the preincubation time was prolonged. In comparison, after preincubation of sporozoites with spleen cells for 4 or 12 hours, the 3H-uracil uptake was significantly increased compared with that of control group. From the results, it was inferred that, although the penetration of E. tenella sporozoites into the lymphoid cells such as IEL is not an essential step, it should be at least a beneficial one for the survival and development of sporozoites in the chicken intestine.

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A Study on the Establishment of Management Methods about Occupational Dermatoses (직업성 피부질환에 대한 현황 파악 및 관리 대책 수립을 위한 연구)

  • Lim, Hyun-Sul;Cheong, Hae-Kwan;Choi, Byung-Soon;Kim, Ji-Yong;Sung, Yeol-Oh;Kim, Yang-Ho
    • Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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    • v.29 no.3 s.54
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    • pp.617-637
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    • 1996
  • Occupational dermatosis is one of the most prevalent occupational disorders. However, the extent of the occupational dermatoses including incidences and prevalencies of each disease entity, and etiologic materials are not yet welt stated in Korea. Authors reviewed the literatures on the statistic data and reports on the occupational dermatoses, and surveyed on the occupational dermatoses in two factories, and surveyed the physicians responsible to the occupational dermatoses with formed questionnaire. The results are as follows; 1. Among medical journals published since 1964, there were 31 articles on the occupational dermatoses. Of 31 articles, 18 were case reports and all others were review articles. Of 18 case reports, 9 were epidemiologic survey. The Workers' Periodic Health Examinations revealed that prevalence of the occupational dermatoses was highest(4.36 per 10,000 workers) in 1974, but number of the cases reported were decreased sharply since 1978 with some tendency to increase since 1981. There were 2,240 reported cases of occupational dermatoses between 1966 and 1992, which is 1.90% of all the reported occupational diseases. Skin infection and injuries due to chemicals were most frequent and there were 6 cases of skin cancer. 2. In an epidemiological survey on the dermatoses among 995 workers in a metal product manufacturing factory and 225 workers in a coal chemical factory, there were 794 with dermatomycosis, 296 workers with acne, 130 workers with scar, 123 workers with deformity of toe nails. Scars, photosensitivity dermatitis, deformity of finger and toe nails, and acne were more prevalent in the metal product manufacturing factory(p<0.05). In the metal prouct manufacturing factory, workers treating organic solvents and oils had more dermatoses than those without treating the materials(p<0.05). On the skin patch performed on 16 workers in the metal product manufacturing factory, there were 8 cases of irritation dermatitis and 5 cases of contact dermatitis. Prevalence of contact dermatitis in the metal product manufacturing factory was 1.3%. 3. On the questionnaire survey, 34 dermatologists, 29 doctors of preventive medicine, and 22 family physician replied. The proportion of occupational etiology among all dermatoses assumed by the physicians were below 9%, and the most important occupational dermatosis in Korea was contact dermatitis. Main etiologic materials related to the occupational dermatosis were organic solvent, acid and alkali, and metals. The reason for the scarcity of report of occupational dermatoses were difficulty in diagnosis and physician's ignorance of the occupational etiology. They replied that to prevent the occupational dermatoses in the workplace, the use of protective devices was most important, and development of diagnostic criteria on the occupational dermatoses is urgent. Above results shows us that there is many workers with occupational dermatoses, but they are mostly unreported. Measures to prevent and manage the occupational dermatoses are not satisfactory at present. Hence, authors suggest measures for the precise diagnosis, report and prevention of the occupational dermatoses. a. Dermatologist, preventive physician, and industrial hygienist should work as a team to examine the high risk group and establish the preventive measures. b. Disease entities, diagnostic criteria of occupational dermatoses should be listed, criteria for the compensation and job fitting at recruitment should be established, and manual for the proper treatment and effective prevention of each occupational dermatosis should be developed. c. Patch test antigens against each occupational category should be developed and it should be available to any physicians responsible. d. To facilitate the diagnosis of occupational dermatoses by the doctors responsible for the Workersr Periodic Health Examination, development of standardized questionnaire, education on the techniques of the patch test, and cooperation with the dermatologist in diagnosis of occupational dermatoses is essential.

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A Study on the Factors Affecting Health Promoting Lifestyles of Some Workers (일부 직업인의 건강증진생활양식에 영향을 미치는 요인 연구)

  • Lee Eun-Kyoung;An Byung-Sang;Yu Taek-Su;Kim Seoung-Cheon;Jeung Jea-Yeal;Park Young-Shin;Jahng Doo-Sub;Song Yung-Sun;Lee Ki-Nam
    • Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.119-141
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    • 2000
  • The current industrial health service is shifting to health improvement business with 1st primary prevention-focused service from secondary and tertiary prevention-focused business, and Oriental medicine can provide such primary prevention-focused service due to the characteristics of its science. In particular, the advanced concept of health improvement can match the science of health care of Oriental medicine. Notably, what is most important in health improvement is our lifestyle, This does not underestimate the socio-environmental factors, which have lessened their importance due to modernism. The approach of Oriental medicine weighs more individuals' lifestyle and health care through self-cultivation. This matches the new model of advanced health business. Oriental medicine is less systemized than Western medicine, but it can provide ample contents that enhance health. If we conceive health-improvement program based on the advantages provided by these two medical systems, this will influence workers to the benefit of their health. Also, health Program needs to define factors that determine individual lives, and to provide information and technologies essential to our lives. The Oriental medicine approach puts more stress on a subject's capabilities than it does on the effect his surrounding environment can have. This needs to be supported theoretically by not only defining the relations between an individual's health state and his lifestyle, but also identifying the degree to which an individual in the industrial work place practices health improvement lifestyle . This is the first step toward initiating health-improvement business . In order to do this, this researcher conducted a survey by taking random samplings from workers, and can draw the following conclusions from it. 1 The sampled group is categorized into', by sender, female 6.6%, and male 93.4%, with males dominant; by marriage status , unmarried 43.9% and married 55.6%, with both similar percentage, and, by age, below 30, 48.4%, between 30 and 39, 27.4%, between 40 and 49, 18.2%, and over 50, 6.0%. The group further is categorized into; by education, middle school or under 1.7%, high school 30.5%, and junior college or higher 65.8% with high school and higher dominant: and by income, below 1.7 million won 24.2%, below 2.4 million won 14.8%, and above 2.4 million 6.3% Still, the group by job is categorized into collegians with 23.9%, office worker with 10.3%, and professionals with 65.8% , and this group does not include workers engaged in production that are needed for this research, but mostly office workers . 2. The subjects selected for this survey show their degree of practicing health-improvement lifestyle at an average of 2.63, health management pattern at 2.64, and health-related awareness at 2.62 The sub-divisions of health-improvement lifestyle show social emotion (2.87), food (2.66). favorite food (2.59), and leisure activities (2.52), in this order for higher points. It further shows health awareness (2.47) and safety awareness (2.40), lower points than those in health management pattern . 3. In the area of using leisure time for health-improvement, males, older people, married, and people with higher income earn higher marks. And, in the area of food management, the older and married earn higher marks . In the area of favorite food management, females, lower-income bracket, and lower-educated show higher degree of practice , while in the area of social emotion management, the older. married, and higher-income bracket show higher marks. In addition, in the area of health awareness, the older, married, and people with higher-income show higher degree of practice. 4. To look at correlation by overall and divisional health-improvement practice degree , this researcher has analyzed the data using Person's correlation coefficient. The lifestyle shows significant correlation with its six sub-divisions, and use of leisure time, food, and health awareness all show significant correlation with their sub-divisions. And. the social emotion and safety awareness show significant correlation with all sub-divisions except favorite food management.

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Effects of Elevated Air Temperature on Yield and Yield Components of Rice (온도 상승 조건이 벼의 수량 및 수량구성요소에 미치는 영향)

  • Lee, Kyu-Jong;Nguyen, Duc-Nhuan;Choi, Doug-Hwan;Ban, Ho-Young;Lee, Byun-Woo
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.156-164
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    • 2015
  • High temperature stress would affect rice production in the future as heat wave is expected to occur frequently under climate change conditions. The objective of this study was to obtain rudimentary information to assess the impact of heat stress on rice yield and its yield component in Korea. Two rice cultivars "Hwaseongbyeo" (Japonica) and "Dasanbyeo" (Tongil-type) were grown at different nitrogen fertilization levels in two seasons. These cultivars were grown in 1/5000a Wagner pot placed within four plastic houses where temperature was controlled at ambient, ambient$+1.5^{\circ}C$, ambient$+3^{\circ}C$ and ambient$+5^{\circ}C$ throughout the rice growing season in Suwon ($37^{\circ}16^{\prime}N$, $128^{\circ}59^{\prime}E$), Korea. The degree of temperature change affected grain yield whereas the level of nitrogen had little impact on grain yield. The number of panicle per pot and spikelet per panicle were not significantly different among temperature treatments in both cultivars tested. In contrast, 1000-grain weight and ripened grain ratio were decreased significantly under the treatments raising the air temperature to the level of $5.0^{\circ}C$ and $1.5^{\circ}C$ above the ambient air temperature in Dasanbyeo and Hwaseongbyeo, respectively. Reduction of 1000-grain weight and ripened grain ratio under the temperature treatments of $3.0^{\circ}C$ and $5.0^{\circ}C$ above the ambient air temperature resulted in significantly less grain yield for Dasanbyeo and Hwaseongbyeo, respectively. The greater sensitivity of grain yield to temperature increase in Dasanbyeo was attributable to the sharp decrease of 1000-grain weight and ripened grain ratio with the temperature rise above $23^{\circ}C$ during ripening period. On the other hand, Hwaseongbyeo had little variation of them in the temperature range of $23-27^{\circ}C$. These results suggested that grain yield would decrease under future climate conditions due to grain weight decreased by shorter grain filling period as well as the ripened grain ratio reduced by spikelet sterility and early abortion of rice kernel development. Thus, it would be essential to use cultivars tolerant to heat stress for climate change adaptation, which merits further studies for developing varieties that have traits to avoid spikelet sterility and early abortion of rice kernel, e.g., early morning flowering, under heat wave.

Nitrification of the Soil Applied Urea for Winter Barley as Basal Dressing and Following Nitrate Release to the Environment (추파대맥(秋播大麥) 재배시 기비(基肥)로 시용(施用)한 요소(尿素)의 질산화(窒酸化)및 그에 따른 질산태질소(窒酸態窒素)의 환경(環境)에의 방출(放出))

  • Kim, Sok-Dong;Soh, Chang-Ho;Kwon, Yong-Woong;Lim, Ung-Kyu
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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    • v.12 no.2
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    • pp.112-120
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    • 1993
  • The use of fertilizer N is essential for maximum economic yield of crops. Meanwhile, enrichment of $NO_3^-$in the environment has to be avoided. Winter barley crop has a short duration of growth before winter, but is used to receive N greater than 60 kg/ha at seeding. Experiments were performed to determine the quantitative aspect of the fate of soil applied urea N among the residual, leached, and uptaken by winter barley (cv. Olbori), and to evaluate the effect of soil temperature on nitrification. Four levels of urea (0, 40, 80, and 120 kg N/ha) was basal-dressed to Olbori. $NH_4^+$ appeared dominant in the soil until 40 days after seeding, whereas $NO_3^-$ did thereafter. Nitrification rate at $5^{\circ}C$ of soil temperature was 40 to 50% of that at $15^{\circ}C. Linear increases in the number of ammonia oxidizing and nitrite oxidizing bacteria of the soil was present as the level of urea fertilization was higher. Less than 60% of N applied at seeding was uptaken by winter barley until mid-March but 50% was lost from death of older barley leaves during overwintering. Thereby only 10% of the applied N remained in the barley in spring. Only 15% of the applied N was present in the rhizosphere. The 17 to 20% of the soil applied N leached out as $NO_3^-$ the rhizosphere. Nitrogen leaching during winter was estimated to be 16 and 20 kg/ha when the basal application level of urea fertilization was 80 and 120 kg/ha, respectively.

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A Clinical and Radiologic Study of Acute Focal Bacterial Nephritis in Children (소아에서의 급성 국소성 세균성 신장염의 임상 및 방사선학적 고찰)

  • Song, Kum Ho;Huh, Kwon Hoe;Cho, Ok Yeon;Sim, Jae Hoon;Cho, Do Jun;Kim, Dug Ha;Min, Ki Sik;Yoo, Ki Yang;Lee, Kwan Seop
    • Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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    • v.46 no.4
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    • pp.351-357
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    • 2003
  • Purpose : To raise awareness of the clinical importance of, and the need for proper management of acute focal bacterial nephritis(AFBN), we analyzed 22 AFBN patients and 22 other upper urinary tract infection patients by use of comparative studies. Methods : From January 2000 to May 2002, 22 AFBN patients aged from 1 month to 12 months were selected. As a control group, 22 UTI patients with no radiologic abnormalities were selected and matched by age and sex. Results : The incidence of AFBN was more common in boys than in girls. Since both groups had similar symptoms, it was difficult to diagnose AFBN by clinical presentations alone. ESR and CRP were significantly higher in AFBN patients. The most common causative organism was E. coli in both groups. On the sonographic findings, the most lesions were seen on the upper lobe of the kidney; more frequently, on left kidney. The lesions showed globular or wedge-shaped increased echogenecity. $^{99m}Tc-DMSA$ scan showed the complete coincidence of the location, size and shape in all cases compared to the findings of renal sonography. Conclusion : The roles of renal sonography and DMSA scan were very important, and ultrasonography was an excellent initial tool in diagnosing AFBN. Since the degree of infection in AFBN is more severe than other urinary tract infections and evollution into a renal abscess is possible, early diagnosis and appropriate antibiotics therapy is essential.