• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.242-247
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• 2002

Background: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-$\alpha$) is known to play an important role in various conditions such as inflammation, autoimmunity, apoptosis, insulin resistance and sleep induction. Five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been known to affect the transcriptional activities of TNF-$\alpha$: -1,031T/C, -863C/A, -857C/T, -308G/A and -238G/A. Methods: We have investigated 5 SNPs of the promoter region of TNF-$\alpha$ gene, the distribution of 5-locus TNF-$\alpha$ haplotypes, and their haplotypic associations with previously typed HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 loci in 107 healthy unrelated Koreans. TNF-$\alpha$ SNPs were typed using PCR-single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) methods. Results: The allele frequencies of -1,031C, -863A, -857T, -308A, and-238A, which are known as the high-producer-type, were 19.3%, 15.9%, 14.0%, 5.9%, and 2.9%, respectively. The frequency of -308A allele, known to be associated with autoimmune diseases, was 5.9% in Koreans which was lower than Caucasians (14~17%) and somewhat higher than Japanese (1.7%). Five most common TNF-$\alpha$ haplotypes (-1,031/-863/-857/-308/-238) comprised over 95% of total haplotypes: TCCGG (58.4%), CACGG (14.8%), TCTGG (13.7%), TCCAG (5.3%), and CCCGA (3.1%). Strong positive associations (P<0.001) were observed between TCCGG and B62; between CACGG and B51, $DRB1^*0901$; between TCTGG and B35, B54, B59, $DRB1^*1201$; and between TCCAG and A33, B58, $DRB1^*0301$, $DRB1^*1302$. Five most common extended haplotypes (>3%) comprised around 16% of total haplotypes: A33-B58-TCCAG-$DRB1^*1302$, A24-B52-TCCGG-$DRB1^*1502$, A33-B44-TCCGG-$DRB1^*1302$, A24-B7-TCCGG-$DRB1^*0101$, and A11-B62-TCCGG-$DRB1^*0406$. The distribution of extended HLA and TNF-$\alpha$ haplotypes showed that most of HLA haplotypes were almost exclusively associated with particular TNF-$\alpha$ haplotypes. Conclusion: The results obtained in this study would be useful as basic data for anthropologic studies and disease association studies in Koreans.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.18-28
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• 2008

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are the most abundant forms of human genetic variations and resources for mapping complex genetic traits and disease association studies. We have constructed a linkage disequilibrium (LD) map of chromosome 22 in Korean samples and compared it with those of other populations, including Yorubans in Ibadan, Nigeria (YRI), Centre d'Etude du Polymorphisme Humain (CEPH) reference families (CEU), Japanese in Tokyo (JPT) and Han Chinese in Beijing (CHB) in the HapMap database. We genotyped 4681 of 111,448 publicly available SNPs in 90 unrelated Koreans. Among genotyped SNPs, 4167 were polymorphic. Three hundred and five LD blocks were constructed to make up 18.6% (6.4 of 34.5 Mb) of chromosome 22 with 757 tagSNPs and 815 haplotypes (frequency $\geq$ 5.0%). Of 3430 common SNPs genotyped in all five populations, 514 were monomorphic in Koreans. The CHB + JPT samples have more than a 72% overlap with the monomorphic SNPs in Koreans, while the CEU + YRI samples have less than a 38% overlap. The patterns of hot spots and LD blocks were dispersed throughout chromosome 22, with some common blocks among populations, highly concordant between the three Asian samples. Analysis of the distribution of chimpanzee-derived allele frequency (DAF), a measure of genetic differentiation, Fst levels, and allele frequency difference (AFD) among Koreans and the HapMap samples showed a strong correlation between the Asians, while the CEU and YRI samples showed a very weak correlation with Korean samples. Relative distance as a quantitative measurement based upon DAF, Fst, and AFD indicated that all three Asian samples are very proximate, while CEU and YRI are significantly remote from the Asian samples. Comparative genome-wide LD studies provide useful information on the association studies of complex diseases.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.239-242
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• 2004

An automatic pronunciation correction system provides users with correction guidelines for each pronunciation error. For this purpose, we propose a speech recognition system which automatically classifies pronunciation errors when Koreans speak a foreign language. In this paper, we also propose machine scoring methods for automatic assessment of pronunciation quality by the speech recognizer. Scores obtained from an expert human listener are used as the reference to evaluate the different machine scores and to provide targets when training some of algorithms. We use a log-likelihood score and a normalized log-likelihood score as machine scoring methods. Experimental results show that the normalized log-likelihood score had higher correlation with human scores than that obtained using the log-likelihood score.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 2000.07a
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• pp.7-16
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• 2000

It is a great honour for me to speak to you today on the Korean's problems in learning English pronunciation. First of all I would like to thank Prof. H. B. Lee, President of the Phonetic Society of Korea for calling upon me to make a keynote speech at this International Conference on Phonetic Sciences. The year before last when the 1 st Joint Summit on English Phonetics was held at Aichi Gakuin University in Japan, the warm hospitality given to me and my colleagues by the English Phonetic Society of Japan was so great that I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the members of the English Phonetic Society of Japan and especially to Prof. Masaki Tsuzuki, President of the Society. Korean learners of English have a lot of problems in learning English pronunciation. Some vowel problems seem to be shared by Japanese learners but other problems, especially in consonants, are peculiar to Koreans owing to the nature of phonological rules peculiar to the Korean language. Of course, there are other important problems like speech rhythm and intonation besides vowels and consonants. But they will not be included here because of limited time.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.208-215
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• 2014

Recently, new methods have been developed for estimating the current and recent changes in effective population sizes. Based on the methods, the effective population sizes of Korean populations were estimated using data from the Korean Association Resource (KARE) project. The overall changes in the population sizes of the total populations were similar to CHB (Han Chinese in Beijing, China) and JPT (Japanese in Tokyo, Japan) of the HapMap project. There were no differences in past changes in population sizes with a comparison between an urban area and a rural area. Age-dependent current and recent effective population sizes represent the modern history of Korean populations, including the effects of World War II, the Korean War, and urbanization. The oldest age group showed that the population growth of Koreans had already been substantial at least since the end of the 19th century.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.143-149
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• 2002

There are a lot of differences in the Eastern and Western space culture. Especially, Comparing to Japanese, Koreans are not good at utilizing the small space and react effectively. Therefore, the interior space of public transportation needs to be relatively developed to highly reasonable level in Korea. The purpose of this paper is to propose the concept of Korean tradition in urban transit interior layout, which means vernacular design. The interior layout should be made in terms of the emotional aspect not functional one. In order to study the notion of national character, this study refers the concept of interior layout of the public transportation to the layout of traditional architecture and modern office. The research of vernacular design can provide national character and traditional design and can make a success in a practical use and a visual effect. This study based on the national differences of space will be proposed the outline of interior layout and the shape of interior trims in the public transportation in Korea.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.20
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• pp.183-201
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• 2010

Based on case studies from Japan and South Korea, this review paper explores the hidden costs of English language learning (ELL). In a context where English has become a commodity and ELL a form of consumption, we focus on the personal and social costs of (a) studying abroad as a much-touted path to "native-like" proficiency and (b) sexualization of language teaching materials in order to reach new niche markets. The hidden costs of ELL are embedded in language ideologies which set English up as a magical means of self-transformation and, at the same time, an unattainable goal for most Japanese and Koreans. We end with the call to expose debilitating language ideologies in order to shed light on the hidden costs of ELL.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.2476-2483
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• 2014

This study aims to review the characteristics of specialized classrooms for governmental secondary schools in the Japanese Colonial Era by analyzing architectural drawings collected by National Archives of Korea. The results of this study are summarized as follows 1) Under the influence of Japanese science promotion of that time, specialized classrooms for science were considered as one of essential facilities. Typically exclusive specialized classrooms were assigned to two major science subjects : physics-chemistry and biology. 2) To science specialized classrooms, ancillary rooms for preparation, experiment equipment and specimen were attached and science lecture room with stepped floor was planned additionally only for the lecture on theories and the demonstration of experiment. 3) Specialized classrooms for science were zoned independently of other facilities because of the special equipments and safety. 4) Art rooms were common to both boys' and girls' schools but concerning music rooms, girls' schools had special concerns, whereas boys' schools did not. 5) Specialized classrooms for homemaking subject of girls' school were as much important as those for science subjects of boys' school. 6) Some early-established Korean boys' schools had handicraft rooms which were the symbol of vocational education-oriented, unequal policy on Koreans. Though not general cases, specialized classrooms for geography-history were planned for Japanese boys' school. Restricted to governmental secondary schools but considering the uncommon state of specialized classrooms of that time, these characteristics show conditions of early time when special classrooms were introduced into Korea.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.655-664
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• 2013

The Korean film has not been on the board of Korean waves due to the limitation of the media accessibility. However, N-screen gives Korean films the chance of being on the board of Korean waves, especially in Asian country which have shared cultural codes. This study aims to demonstrate the possibility of Korean films in asia based on the analysis of Korean film viewers' motivation and media usage. For this purpose the 330 data were collected among Korean, Japanese and Chinese from Feb, 23rd through April, 5th in 2013. The results show the followings; 1) Korean viewers have the strong preference of cinema theater to other media such as PC, VCR/DVD player, tablet PC and mobile phones. Whereas, Japanese viewers prefer VCR or DVD players and Chinese viewers prefer PC and mobile phones. 2) In terms of viewing motivation, social utility is most important to Korean viewers while diversion to Japanese and Chinese viewers.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.52
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• pp.223-251
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• 2018

This paper comparatively considered how Korea and Japan address the concept of 'postwar' in descriptions of their literary history. In Japan, 'postwar' refers to the period after World War II (Asia-Pacific War). This word implies a variety of contexts such as collapse, poverty, confusion, calendar reform, reconstruction and restoration as well as a series of historical events such as war, war defeat, and American occupation; and so it has been treated in Japanese society a significant period. In the history of Korean literature, it is after national liberation that the word 'postwar' appeared; however, it has usually indicated 'the period after the Korean War.' The question is that although the term of postwar refers to periods after different wars, Koreans used the term of postwar also in the same way as Japan, and their concept of postwar overlaps with the concept of prewar or postwar used in Japan, and accordingly, side effects are produced that fail to grasp properly the independent characteristics and significance of the Korean War. In conclusion, the Korean War brought about contrasting effects on the history of Korean and Japanese literature. While the Korean War meant a start after the war in Korean literature, it became a turning point marking the end of postwar in Japanese literature. Such different perceptions on postwar also have major implications in that perceptions represent postwar discourses in today's Korea and Japan.