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Changes of Epilithic Diatom Communities according to Urbanization Influence in the Pocheon and Youngpyeong Streams (도시화 정도에 따른 포천천과 영평천의 돌 부착규조 군집 변화)

  • Kim, Yong-Jae
    • Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.40 no.3
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    • pp.468-480
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    • 2007
  • The urbanization is altering the hydrology, water quality, channel form of waterway and changing the composition of biological communities in the aquatic ecosystem. Recently, towns grew bigger by the drift of large numbers of people and the medium and small leather and dyeing industries around the Pocheon and Youngpyeong streams. The discharges of sewage were increased by them. The UII (urban intensity index) was 85 (st. P-3) and 91 (st. P-6) in the Pocheon stream and about 20 in the Youngpyeong stream. A total 141 taxa of epilithic diatoms which were composed of 2 order, 8 family, 30 genera. Dominant species were Navicula saprophila, N. subminuscula, Nitzschia palea, Gomphonema pseudoaugur in the Pocheon stream and Achnanthes alteragracillima, A. convergens, A. minutissima, N. minima, N. fonticola, N. frustulum and Cymbella minuta var. silesiaca in the Youngpyeong stream. It Showed the different composition of dominant species by the urbanization near two streams. In the relationships between UII and environmental factors such as EC, BOD, COD, TN, TP and DAIpo, UII showed the high relations $(r^2>0.8)$. It was the difference of organic pollution according to urbanization. It therefore, was higher the relative abundance and more the numbers of saprophilous taxa in the Pocheon stream than the Youngpyeong stream. The water quality of two streams by biological indicators(DAIpo) was polysaprobic state(st. P-3, P-4, P-5) in the Pocheon stream and was oligosaprobic (Y-1), mesosaprobic (Y-2, 3) and polysaprobic state (Y-4) in the Youngpyeong stream during the investigation periods.

Transition of Teachers' Perception and Improvement of Students' Perception on Food Additives through a Training Program (식품첨가물 바르게 알기 연수를 통한 교사들의 인식 전환과 학생들의 인식 개선 효과)

  • Kim, Jeong-Weon
    • Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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    • v.32 no.2
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    • pp.101-106
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    • 2017
  • Based on the previous reports that majority of teachers have negative perceptions on food additives, a teacher training program called 'Let's teach food additives correctly' was developed and applied to improve teachers' unbalanced perception on food additives and let them teach students with sound scientific background. The 15-hours training program consisted of understanding of food safety and food additives, education materials on food additives, development of teaching-learning plan, meeting with professionals from Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), visiting MFDS labs, application to school class, and evaluation. A total of 63 teachers participated in the training through 2 sessions conducted in August 2016. As a result, teachers showed high satisfaction rates (4.2~4.5 in 5.0-Likert scale) and 91.5% answered the training helpful for the school class. Although their initial intention to participate the training was to know the details of negative intake effects of food additives, their such perception was totally changed in addition, they suggested a continuous training for teachers and immediate correction of incorrect information in school textbooks. Also, post-training education for 1,172 students by these teachers appeared to improve the understanding of and the native perceptions on food additives significantly (p < 0.001). Above results showed that the training program could solve the problem of transmitting unbalanced information on food additives to students by training teachers, and such channel could be used to facilitate food-related risk communication.

A Study on the Effects of factor of Service Quality, Service Guarantee and Service Value in General Super Market. (종합슈퍼마켓(GSM)에서 서비스품질, 보증 및 서비스가치의 영향요인에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Jong-Lak
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.13 no.1
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    • pp.93-103
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    • 2015
  • Purpose - This study plans to adopt a more sophisticated approach toward service recognition by customers in general supermarkets in order to revise the service quality measurement methods that suit the context of Korean distribution channels. In particular, in general supermarkets, where much of the shopping process is in the form of self-service, there is high reliance on the service recognized by the consumers; therefore, it is highly likely that consumers would make their purchasing decisions based on their recognition of service quality or guarantees. It also utilized service quality elements of a basic level in the KD-SQS development model in order to indicate that the quality recognized by consumers impacts their loyalty to the stores with financial value and abstract value. Research design, data, and methodology - The study suggested a theoretical model comprising 13 hypotheses on relations between theoretic variables, and conducted surveys with consumers using discount stores in Seoul and Gyunggi Metropolitan area in order to verify the hypotheses, while using SPSS 20.0, AMOS 21.0 as the verification program. The survey sheets used amounted to 332, and a structural equation model was used to analyze the reliability and validity of constituent elements and to verify the suggested hypothesis. Therefore, this study analyzes the interrelations between service quality and guarantee factors in the distribution channel and their relations with the loyalty to stores as a dependent variable. Results - First, the results of the hypotheses tests helped identify the relations between service quality, service guarantees, service value, and customer loyalty, providing an opportunity to define the relations between constituent elements. In particular, service convenience in service quality has no impact on financial values. Further, stores' service policy had no impact on abstract values. Service recognition by service convenience has an impact on abstract values such as good image, comfort, and usability, while mileage systems promote financial values for consumers. In order to improve consumer values in service quality and values, general supermarkets should improve their service convenience, membership, and mileage programs using various strategies. Conclusion - In order to improve consumer values in service quality and values, general supermarkets should improve their service convenience, membership, and mileage programs using various strategies. Further, as service guarantee systems have a significant and direct impact on customer loyalty, rather than customer value recognition, service guarantees should be used to encourage customers to re-visit the stores. Finally, this study applied the findings of preceding studies in terms of service quality measurement; it had limitations in referencing preceding studies in a comprehensive manner. It also had limits in expanding upon various preceding studies because it was difficult to apply new measurement tools due to the lack of service quality measurement tools for general supermarkets. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct more studies on service quality to measure service quality and develop measurement tools by incorporating various industry characteristics.

Pulse Broadening and Intersymbol Interference of the Optical Gaussian Pulse Due to Atmospheric Turbulence in an Optical Wireless Communication System (광 무선통신시스템에서 대기 교란으로 인한 광 가우시안 펄스의 펄스 퍼짐과 부호 간 간섭에 관한 연구)

  • Jung, Jin-Ho
    • Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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    • v.16 no.5
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    • pp.417-422
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    • 2005
  • When an optical pulse propagates through the atmospheric channel, it is attenuated and spreaded by the atmospheric turbulence. This pulse broadening produces the intersymbol interference(ISI) between adjacent pulses. Therefore, adjacent pulses are overlapped, and the bit rates and the repeaterless transmission length are limited by the ISI. In this paper, the ISI as a function of the refractive index structure constant that presents the strength of atmospheric turbulence is found using the temporal momentum function, and is numerically analyzed fer the basic SONET transmission rates. The numerical results show that ISI is gradually increasing at the lower transmission rate than the OC-192(9.953 Gb/s) system and is slowly converging after rapid increasing at the higher transmission rate than the OC-768(39.813 Gb/s) system as the turbulence is stronger. Also, we know that accurate information transmission is possible to 10[km] at the OC-48(2.488 Gb/s) system under any atmospheric turbulence, but is impossible under the stronger turbulence than $10^{-14}[m^{-2/3}]$ at the 100 Gb/s system, $10^{-13}[m^{-2/3}]$ at the OC-768 system, and $10^{-12}[m^{-2/3}]$ at the OC-192 system, because the ISI is seriously induced.

Association between High Diffusion-Weighted Imaging-Derived Functional Tumor Burden of Peritoneal Carcinomatosis and Overall Survival in Patients with Advanced Ovarian Carcinoma

  • He An;Jose AU Perucho;Keith WH Chiu;Edward S Hui;Mandy MY Chu;Siew Fei Ngu;Hextan YS Ngan;Elaine YP Lee
    • Korean Journal of Radiology
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    • v.23 no.5
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    • pp.539-547
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    • 2022
  • Objective: To investigate the association between functional tumor burden of peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) derived from diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and overall survival in patients with advanced ovarian carcinoma (OC). Materials and Methods: This prospective study was approved by the local research ethics committee, and informed consent was obtained. Fifty patients (mean age ± standard deviation, 57 ± 12 years) with stage III-IV OC scheduled for primary or interval debulking surgery (IDS) were recruited between June 2016 and December 2021. DWI (b values: 0, 400, and 800 s/mm2) was acquired with a 16-channel phased-array torso coil. The functional PC burden on DWI was derived based on K-means clustering to discard fat, air, and normal tissue. A score similar to the surgical peritoneal cancer index was assigned to each abdominopelvic region, with additional scores assigned to the involvement of critical sites, denoted as the functional peritoneal cancer index (fPCI). The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the largest lesion was calculated. Patients were dichotomized by immediate surgical outcome into high- and low-risk groups (with and without residual disease, respectively) with subsequent survival analysis using the Kaplan-Meier curve and log-rank test. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression was used to evaluate the association between DWI-derived results and overall survival. Results: Fifteen (30.0%) patients underwent primary debulking surgery, and 35 (70.0%) patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by IDS. Complete tumor debulking was achieved in 32 patients. Patients with residual disease after debulking surgery had reduced overall survival (p = 0.043). The fPCI/ADC was negatively associated with overall survival when accounted for clinicopathological information with a hazard ratio of 1.254 for high fPCI/ADC (95% confidence interval, 1.007-1.560; p = 0.043). Conclusion: A high DWI-derived functional tumor burden was associated with decreased overall survival in patients with advanced OC.

A Preliminary Study for Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of EEG in Patients with Dementia of Alzheimer's Type Using Lyapunov Exponent (리아프노프 지수를 이용한 알쯔하이머형 치매 환자 뇌파의 비선형 역동 분석을 위한 예비연구)

  • Chae, Jeong-Ho;Kim, Dai-Jin;Choi, Sung-Bin;Bahk, Won-Myong;Lee, Chung Tai;Kim, Kwang-Soo;Jeong, Jaeseung;Kim, Soo-Yong
    • Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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    • v.5 no.1
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    • pp.95-101
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    • 1998
  • The changes of electroencephalogram(EEG) in patients with dementia of Alzheimer's type are most commonly studied by analyzing power or magnitude in traditionally defined frequency bands. However because of the absence of an identified metric which quantifies the complex amount of information, there are many limitations in using such a linear method. According to the chaos theory, irregular signals of EEG can be also resulted from low dimensional deterministic chaos. Chaotic nonlinear dynamics in the EEG can be studied by calculating the largest Lyapunov exponent($L_1$). The authors have analyzed EEG epochs from three patients with dementia of Alzheimer's type and three matched control subjects. The largest $L_1$ is calculated from EEG epochs consisting of 16,384 data points per channel in 15 channels. The results showed that patients with dementia of Alzheimer's type had significantly lower $L_1$ than non-demented controls on 8 channels. Topographic analysis showed that the $L_1$ were significantly lower in patients with Alzheimer's disease on all the frontal, temporal, central, and occipital head regions. These results show that brains of patients with dementia of Alzheimer's type have a decreased chaotic quality of electrophysiological behavior. We conclude that the nonlinear analysis such as calculating the $L_1$ can be a promising tool for detecting relative changes in the complexity of brain dynamics.

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Studies on the Desertification Combating and Sand Industry Development(IV) - Technology Development for Sanddune Fixation and Sandy Land Conservation in China - (사막화방지(沙漠化防止) 및 방사기술개발(防沙技術開發)에 관한 연구(硏究)(IV) - 중국(中國)의 사구고정(沙丘固定) 및 방사공법분석(防沙工法分析) -)

  • Woo, Bo-Myeong;Lee, Kyung-Joon;Choi, Hyung-Tae;Lee, Sang-Ho;Park, Joo-Won;Wang, Lixian;Zhang, Kebin;Sun, Baoping
    • Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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    • v.90 no.3
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    • pp.277-294
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    • 2001
  • This study is aimed to analyze and to evaluate the technology development for sanddune fixation and sandy land conservation in China, resulting from the project of "Studies on the desertification combating and sand industry development". There are various types of sanddunes, including shrub-bunch type, dendritic, honey combed lattice, crescentic, parabolic, pyramid, complex and irregular types, domed, and so on. The height distribution ratios of these sanddunes are 13% of less than 5m, 17% of 6~10m, 18% of 11~25m, 14% of 26~50m, 28% of 51~100m, 10% of more than 100m, and so on. In dry land of China, shifting direction of the sanddune is mainly varying with main direction of wind, but types of shifting sanddunes have many differences in accordance with region, topography, size and shape of sanddunes. The main sanddune fixation technologies could be divided into the bio-ecological measures, physical measures and chemical measures. The bio-ecological measures include such vegetation measures as shrub-grasses measures, sandbreaks between sand dunes, sand fixation shelterblets and establishment of farmland shelterbelts, etc. The physical measures include establishment of high-sanddune stabilization walls and low-sanddune stabilization walls, sanddune fixation levees and coverage method with sediment clay, etc. The chemical measures include fixation-materials spraying and synthetical liquid spraying methods, etc. Besides, irrigation and sand settlement measures, shifting sand trapping channel, ditchsand fixation measures, etc. have been effectively applied.

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Comparison of Three- and Four-dimensional Robotic Radiotherapy Treatment Plans for Lung Cancers (폐암환자의 종양추적 정위방사선치료를 위한 삼차원 및 사차원 방사선치료계획의 비교)

  • Chai, Gyu-Young;Lim, Young-Kyung;Kang, Ki-Mun;Jeong, Bae-Gwon;Ha, In-Bong;Park, Kyung-Bum;Jung, Jin-Myung;Kim, Dong-Wook
    • Radiation Oncology Journal
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    • v.28 no.4
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    • pp.238-248
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    • 2010
  • Purpose: To compare the dose distributions between three-dimensional (3D) and four-dimensional (4D) radiation treatment plans calculated by Ray-tracing or the Monte Carlo algorithm, and to highlight the difference of dose calculation between two algorithms for lung heterogeneity correction in lung cancers. Materials and Methods: Prospectively gated 4D CTs in seven patients were obtained with a Brilliance CT64-Channel scanner along with a respiratory bellows gating device. After 4D treatment planning with the Ray Tracing algorithm in Multiplan 3.5.1, a CyberKnife stereotactic radiotherapy planning system, 3D Ray Tracing, 3D and 4D Monte Carlo dose calculations were performed under the same beam conditions (same number, directions, monitor units of beams). The 3D plan was performed in a primary CT image setting corresponding to middle phase expiration (50%). Relative dose coverage, D95 of gross tumor volume and planning target volume, maximum doses of tumor, and the spinal cord were compared for each plan, taking into consideration the tumor location. Results: According to the Monte Carlo calculations, mean tumor volume coverage of the 4D plans was 4.4% higher than the 3D plans when tumors were located in the lower lobes of the lung, but were 4.6% lower when tumors were located in the upper lobes of the lung. Similarly, the D95 of 4D plans was 4.8% higher than 3D plans when tumors were located in the lower lobes of lung, but was 1.7% lower when tumors were located in the upper lobes of lung. This tendency was also observed at the maximum dose of the spinal cord. Lastly, a 30% reduction in the PTV volume coverage was observed for the Monte Carlo calculation compared with the Ray-tracing calculation. Conclusion: 3D and 4D robotic radiotherapy treatment plans for lung cancers were compared according to a dosimetric viewpoint for a tumor and the spinal cord. The difference of tumor dose distributions between 3D and 4D treatment plans was only significant when large tumor movement and deformation was suspected. Therefore, 4D treatment planning is only necessary for large tumor motion and deformation. However, a Monte Carlo calculation is always necessary, independent of tumor motion in the lung.

Effect of Magnesium on the Contractility of the Isolated Guinea-Pig Aortic and Rat Smooth Muscles (마그네슘이온이 적출한 기니피그 대동맥평활근과 흰쥐 자궁평활근의 수축성에 미치는 효과에 관한 연구)

  • Ahn, Hyuk;Hwang, Sang-Ik
    • Journal of Chest Surgery
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    • v.23 no.3
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    • pp.452-464
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    • 1990
  • It is well known that extracellular Calcium plays a very important role in several steps of smooth muscle excitability and contractility, and there have been many concerns about factors influencing the distribution of extracellular Ca++ and the Ca++ flux through the cell membrane of the smooth muscle. Based on the assumption that Mg++ may also play an important role in the excitation and contraction processes of the smooth muscle by taking part in affecting Ca++ distribution and flux, many researches are being performed about the exact role of Mg++, especially in the vascular smooth muscle. But yet the effect of Mg++ in the smooth muscle activity is not clarified, and moreover the mechanism of Mg++ action is almost completely unknown. Present study attempted to clarify the effect of Mg++ on the excitability and contractility in the multiunit and unitary smooth muscle, and the mechanism concerned in it. The preparations used were the guinea-pig aortic strip as the experimental material of the multiunit smooth muscle and the rat uterine strip as the one of the unitary smooth muscle. The tissues were isolated from the sacrificed animal and were prepared for recording the isometric contraction. The effects of Mg++ and Ca++ were examined on the electrically driven or spontaneous contraction of the preparations. And the effects of these ions were also studied on the K+ or norepinephrine contracture. All experiments were performed in tris-buffered Tyrode solution which was aerated with 100% 02 and kept at 35oC. The results obtained were as follows: 1] Mg++ suppressed the phasic contraction induced by electrical field stimulation dose-dependently in the guinea-pig aortic strip, while the high concentration of Ca++ never recovered the decreased tension. These phenomena were not changed by the a - or b - adrenergic blocker. 2]Mg++ played the suppressing effect on the low concentration [20 and 40 mM] of K+-contracture in the aortic muscle, but the effect was not shown in the case of 100mM K+-contracture. 3] Mg++ also suppressed the contracture induced by norepinephrine in the aortic preparation. And the effect of Mg++ was most prominent in the contracture by the lowest [10 mM] concentration of norepinephrine. 4] In both the spontaneous and electrically driven contractions of the uterine strip, Mg++ decreased the amplitude of peak tension, and by the high concentration of Ca++ the amplitude of tension was recovered unlike the aortic muscle. 5] The frequency of the uterine spontaneous contraction increased as the [Ca++] / [Mg++] ratio increased up to 2, but the frequency decreased above this level. 6] Mg++ decreased the tension of the low[20 and 40mM] K+-contracture in the uterine smooth muscle, but the effect did not appear in the 100mM K+-contracture. From the above results, the following conclusion could be made. 1] Mg++ seems to suppress the contractility directly by acting on the smooth muscle itself, besides through the indirect action on the nerve terminal, in both the aortic and uterine smooth muscles. 2] The fact that the depressant effect of Mg++ on the K+-contracture is in inverse proportion to an increase of K+ concentration appears resulted from the extent of the opening state of the Ca++ channel. 3] Mg++ may play a depressant role on both the potential dependent and the receptor-operated Ca++ channels. 4] The relationship between the actions of Mg++ and Ca++ seems to be competitive in uterine muscle and non-competitive in aortic strip.

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Effect of Halophilic Bacterium, Haloarcula vallismortis, Extract on UV-induced Skin Change (호염 미생물(Haloarcula vallismortis) 용해물의 자외선유발 피부변화에 대한 효과)

  • Kim, Ji Hyung;Shin, Jae Young;Hwang, Seung Jin;Kim, Yun Sun;Kim, Yoo Mi;Gil, So Yeon;Jin, Mu Hyun;Lee, Sang Hwa
    • Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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    • v.41 no.4
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    • pp.341-350
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    • 2015
  • Skin carrys out protective role against harmful outer environment assaults including ultraviolet radiation, heavy metals and oxides. Especially, ultraviolet-B (UVB) light causes inflammatory reactions in skin such as sun burn and erythma and stimulates melanin pigmentation. Furthermore, the influx of UVB into skin cells causes DNA damage in keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts, inhibition of extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis which leads to a decrease in elasticity of skin and wrinkle formation. It also damages dermal connective tissue and disrupts the skin barrier function. Prolonged exposure of human skin to UVB light is well known to trigger severe skin lesions such as cell death and carcinogenesis. Haloarcula vallismortis is a halophilic microorganism isolated from the Dead Sea, Its growth characteristics have not been studied in detail yet. It generally grows at salinity more than 10%, but the actual growth salinity usually ranges between 20 to 25%. Because H. vallismortis is found mainly in saltern or salt lakes, there could exist defense mechanisms against strong sunlight. One of them is generation of additional ATP using halorhodopsin which absorbs photons and produces energy by potential difference formed by opening the chloride ion channel. It often shows a color of pink or red because of their high content of carotenoid pigments and it is considered to act as a defense mechanism against intense UV irradiation. In this study, the anti-inflammatory effect of the halophilic microorganism, H. vallismortis, extract was investigated. It was found that H. vallismortis extract had protective effect on DNA damage induced by UV irradiation. These results suggest that the extract of halophilic bacterium, H. vallismortis could be used as a bio-sunscreen or natural sunscreen which ameliorate the harmful effects of UV light with its anti-inflammatory and DNA protective properties.