• Title/Summary/Keyword: Public Role

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Structural Properties of Social Network and Diffusion of Product WOM: A Sociocultural Approach (사회적 네트워크 구조특성과 제품구전의 확산: 사회문화적 접근)

  • Yoon, Sung-Joon;Han, Hee-Eun
    • Journal of Distribution Research
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    • v.16 no.1
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    • pp.141-177
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    • 2011
  • I. Research Objectives: Most of the previous studies on diffusion have concentrated on efficacy of WOM communication with the use of variables at individual level (Iacobucci 1996; Midgley et al. 1992). However, there is a paucity of studies which investigated network's structural properties as antecedents of WOM from the perspective of consumers' sociocultural propensities. Against this research backbone, this study attempted to link the network's structural properties and consumer' WOM behavior on cross-national basis. The major research objective of this study was to examine the relationship between network properties and WOM by comparing Korean and Chinese consumers. Specific objectives of this research are threefold; firstly, it sought to examine whether network properties (i.e., tie strength, centrality, range) affect WOM (WOM intention and quality of WOM). Secondly, it aimed to explore the moderating effects of cutural orientation (uncertainty avoidance and individuality) on the relationship between network properties and WOM. Thirdly, it substantiates the role of innovativeness as antecedents to both network properties and WOM. II. Research Hypotheses: Based on the above research objectives, the study put forth the following research hypotheses to validate. ${\cdot}$ H 1-1 : The Strength of tie between two counterparts within network will positively influence WOM effectivenes ${\cdot}$ H 1-2 : The network centrality will positively influence the WOM effectiveness ${\cdot}$ H 1-3 : The network range will positively influence the WOM effectiveness ${\cdot}$ H 2-1 : The consumer's uncertainty avoidance tendency will moderate the relationship between network properties and WOM effectiveness ${\cdot}$ H 2-2 : The consumer's individualism tendency will moderate the relationship between network properties and WOM effectiveness ${\cdot}$ H 3-1 : The consumer's innovativeness will positively influence the social network properties ${\cdot}$ H 3-2 : The consumer's innovativeness will positively influence WOM effectiveness III. Methodology: Through a pilot study and back-translation, two versions of questionnaire were prepared, one in Korean and the other in Chinese. The chinese data were collected from the chinese students enrolled in language schools in Suwon city in Korea, while Korean data were collected from students taking classes in a major university in Seoul. A total of 277 questionnaire were used for analysis of Korean data and 212 for Chinese data. The reason why Chinese students living in Korea rather than in China were selected was based on two factors: one was to neutralize the differences (ie, retail channel availability) that may arise from living in separate countries and the second was to minimize the difference in communication venues such as internet accessibility and cell phone usability. SPSS 12.0 and AMOS 7.0 were used for analysis. IV. Results: Prior to hypothesis verification, mean differences between the two countries in terms of major constructs were performed with the following result; As for network properties (tie strength, centrality and range), Koreans showed higher scores in all three constructs. For cultural orientation traits, Koreans scored higher only on uncertainty avoidance trait than Chinese. As a result of verifying the first research objective, confirming the relationship between network properties and WOM effectiveness, on Korean side, tie strength(Beta=.116; t=1.785) and centrality (Beta=.499; t=6.776) significantly influenced on WOM intention, and similar finding was obtained for Chinese side, with tie strength (Beta=.246; t=3.544) and centrality (Beta=.247; t=3.538) being significant. However, with regard to WOM argument quality, Korean data yielded only centrality (Beta=.82; t=7.600) having a significant impact on WOM, whereas China showed both tie strength(Beat=.142; t=2.052) and centrality(Beta=.348; t=5.031) being influential. To answer for the second research objective addressing the moderating role of cultural orientation, moderated regression anaylsis was performed and the result showed that uncertainty avoidance moderated between network range and WOM intention for both Korea and China, But for Korea, the uncertainty avoidance moderated between tie strength and WOM quality, while for China it moderated between network range and WOM intention. And innovativeness moderated between tie strength and WOM intention for Korea but it moderated between network range and WOM intention for China. As a result of analysing for third research objective, we found that for Korea, innovativeness positively influenced centrality only (Beta=.546; t=10.808), while for China it influenced both tie strength (Beta=.203; t=2.998) and centrality(Beta=.518; t=8.782). But for both countries alike, the innovativeness influenced positively on WOM (WOM intention and WOM quality). V. Implications: The study yields the two practical implications. Firstly, the result suggests that companies targeting multinational customers need to identify segments which are susceptible to the positive WOM and WOM information based on individual traits such as uncertainty avoidance and individualism and based on that, develop marketing communication strategy. Secondly, the companies need to divide the market on Roger's five innovation stages and based on this information, enforce marketing strategy which utilizes social networking tools such as public media and WOM. For instance, innovator and early adopters, if provided with new product information, will be able to capitalize upon the network advantages and thus add informational value to network operations using SNS or corporate blog.

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Design of Client-Server Model For Effective Processing and Utilization of Bigdata (빅데이터의 효과적인 처리 및 활용을 위한 클라이언트-서버 모델 설계)

  • Park, Dae Seo;Kim, Hwa Jong
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.22 no.4
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    • pp.109-122
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    • 2016
  • Recently, big data analysis has developed into a field of interest to individuals and non-experts as well as companies and professionals. Accordingly, it is utilized for marketing and social problem solving by analyzing the data currently opened or collected directly. In Korea, various companies and individuals are challenging big data analysis, but it is difficult from the initial stage of analysis due to limitation of big data disclosure and collection difficulties. Nowadays, the system improvement for big data activation and big data disclosure services are variously carried out in Korea and abroad, and services for opening public data such as domestic government 3.0 (data.go.kr) are mainly implemented. In addition to the efforts made by the government, services that share data held by corporations or individuals are running, but it is difficult to find useful data because of the lack of shared data. In addition, big data traffic problems can occur because it is necessary to download and examine the entire data in order to grasp the attributes and simple information about the shared data. Therefore, We need for a new system for big data processing and utilization. First, big data pre-analysis technology is needed as a way to solve big data sharing problem. Pre-analysis is a concept proposed in this paper in order to solve the problem of sharing big data, and it means to provide users with the results generated by pre-analyzing the data in advance. Through preliminary analysis, it is possible to improve the usability of big data by providing information that can grasp the properties and characteristics of big data when the data user searches for big data. In addition, by sharing the summary data or sample data generated through the pre-analysis, it is possible to solve the security problem that may occur when the original data is disclosed, thereby enabling the big data sharing between the data provider and the data user. Second, it is necessary to quickly generate appropriate preprocessing results according to the level of disclosure or network status of raw data and to provide the results to users through big data distribution processing using spark. Third, in order to solve the problem of big traffic, the system monitors the traffic of the network in real time. When preprocessing the data requested by the user, preprocessing to a size available in the current network and transmitting it to the user is required so that no big traffic occurs. In this paper, we present various data sizes according to the level of disclosure through pre - analysis. This method is expected to show a low traffic volume when compared with the conventional method of sharing only raw data in a large number of systems. In this paper, we describe how to solve problems that occur when big data is released and used, and to help facilitate sharing and analysis. The client-server model uses SPARK for fast analysis and processing of user requests. Server Agent and a Client Agent, each of which is deployed on the Server and Client side. The Server Agent is a necessary agent for the data provider and performs preliminary analysis of big data to generate Data Descriptor with information of Sample Data, Summary Data, and Raw Data. In addition, it performs fast and efficient big data preprocessing through big data distribution processing and continuously monitors network traffic. The Client Agent is an agent placed on the data user side. It can search the big data through the Data Descriptor which is the result of the pre-analysis and can quickly search the data. The desired data can be requested from the server to download the big data according to the level of disclosure. It separates the Server Agent and the client agent when the data provider publishes the data for data to be used by the user. In particular, we focus on the Big Data Sharing, Distributed Big Data Processing, Big Traffic problem, and construct the detailed module of the client - server model and present the design method of each module. The system designed on the basis of the proposed model, the user who acquires the data analyzes the data in the desired direction or preprocesses the new data. By analyzing the newly processed data through the server agent, the data user changes its role as the data provider. The data provider can also obtain useful statistical information from the Data Descriptor of the data it discloses and become a data user to perform new analysis using the sample data. In this way, raw data is processed and processed big data is utilized by the user, thereby forming a natural shared environment. The role of data provider and data user is not distinguished, and provides an ideal shared service that enables everyone to be a provider and a user. The client-server model solves the problem of sharing big data and provides a free sharing environment to securely big data disclosure and provides an ideal shared service to easily find big data.

Comparative Analysis of Community Health Practitioner's Activities and Primary Health Post Management Before and After Officialization of Community Health practitioner (보건진료원의 정규직화 전과 후의 보건진료원 활동 및 보건진료소 관리운영체계의 비교 분석)

  • Yun, Suk-Ok;Jung, Moon-Sook
    • Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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    • v.19 no.2
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    • pp.141-158
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    • 1994
  • To provide better health care services to the rural population, the government has made the Community Health Practitioner(CHP) a regular government official from April 1, 1992. This study was carried out to study the impact of officialization of CHP on the activities and management system of Primary Health Post(PHP). Fifty PHPs were selected by two stage sampling, cluster and simple random, from 595 PHPs in Kyungnam and Kyungpook provinces. Data were collected by a personal interview with CHPs and review of records and reports kept in the PHPs. The study was done for the periods of January 1-March 31, 1992 (before officialization) and January 1-March 31, 1993 (after officialization). Ninety-six percent of the CHPs wanted to become a regular government official in the hope of better job security and higher salary. The proportion of CHPs who were proud of their iob was increased from 24% to 46% after officialization. Those CHPs who felt insecure for their job decreased from 30% to 10%. Monthly salary was increased by 34% from 802,600 Won to 1,076,000 Won and 90% of the CHPs were satisfied with their salary, also more CHPs responded that they have autonomy in their work planning, implementation of plan, management of the post, and evaluation of their activity. There were no appreciable changes in such CHPs' activities as assessment of local health resources, drawing map for the catchment area, utilization of community organization, grasping the current population structure in the catchment area, keeping the family health records, individual and group health education, and school health service. However, the number of home visits was increased from 13.6 times on the average per month per CHP to 27.5 times. More mothers and children were referred to other medical facilities for the immunization and family planning services. Average number of patients of hypertension, cancer, and diabetes in three months period was decreased from 12.7 to 11.6, from 1.5 to 1.2, and 4.3 to 3.4, respectively. Records for the patient care, drug management, and equipment were well kept but not for other records. The level of record keeping was not changed after officialization. The proportion of PHPs which had support from the health center was increased for drug supply from 14.0% to 30.0%, for consumable commodities from 22.0% to 52.0%, for maintenance of PHP from 54.0% to 68.0%, for supply of health education materials from 34.0% to 44.0%, and supply of equipment from 54.0% to 58.0%. Total monthly revenue of a PHP was increased by about 50,000 Won; increased by 22,000 Won in patient care and 34,700 Won in the government subsidy but decreased in the membership due and donation. However, there was no remarkable changes in the expenditure. The proportion of PHPs which had received official notes from the health center for the purpose of guidance and supervision of the CHPs was increased from 20% to 38% during three months period and the average number of telephone call for supervision from the health center per PHP was increased from 1.8 to 2.1 times(p<0.01). However, the proportion of PHPs that had supervisory visit and conference was reduced from 79% to 62%, and from 88% to 74%, respectively. The proportion of CHPs who maintained a cooperative relationship with Myun Health Workers was reduced from 42% to 36%, that with the director of health center from 46% to 24%, that with the chief of public health administration section from 56% to 36%, and that with the chairman of PHP management council from 62% to 38%. Most of the CHPs (92% before and 82% after officialization) stated that the PHP management council is not helpful for the PHP. CHPs who considered the PHP management council unnecessary increased from 4% to 16%(p<0.05). Suggestions made by the CHPs for the improvement of CHP program included emphasis on health education, assurance of autonomy for PHP management, increase of the kind of drugs that can be dispensed by CHPs, and appointment of an experienced CHP in the health center as the supervisor of CHPs. The results of this study revealed that the role and function of CHPs as reflected in their activities have not been changed after officialization. However, satisfaction in job security and salary was improved as well as the autonomy. Support of health center to the PHP was improved but more official notes were sent to the PHPs which required the CHPs more paper works. Number of telephone calls for supervision was increased but there was little administrative and technical guidance for the CHP activities.

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Management and Use of Oral History Archives on Forced Mobilization -Centering on oral history archives collected by the Truth Commission on Forced Mobilization under the Japanese Imperialism Republic of Korea- (강제동원 구술자료의 관리와 활용 -일제강점하강제동원피해진상규명위원회 소장 구술자료를 중심으로-)

  • Kwon, Mi-Hyun
    • The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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    • no.16
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    • pp.303-339
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    • 2007
  • "The damage incurred from forced mobilization under the Japanese Imperialism" means the life, physical, and property damage suffered by those who were forced to lead a life as soldiers, civilians attached to the military, laborers, and comfort women forcibly mobilized by the Japanese Imperialists during the period between the Manchurian Incident and the Pacific War. Up to the present time, every effort to restore the history on such a compulsory mobilization-borne damage has been made by the damaged parties, bereaved families, civil organizations, and academic circles concerned; as a result, on March 5, 2004, Disclosure act of Forced Mobilization under the Japanese Imperialism[part of it was partially revised on May 17, 2007]was officially established and proclaimed. On the basis of this law, the Truth Commission on Forced Mobilization under the Japanese Imperialism Republic of Korea[Compulsory Mobilization Commission hence after] was launched under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister on November 10, 2004. Since February 1, 2005, this organ has begun its work with the aim of looking into the real aspects of damage incurred from compulsory mobilization under the Japanese Imperialism, by which making the historical truth open to the world. The major business of this organ is to receive the damage report and investigation of the reported damage[examination of the alleged victims and bereaved families, and decision-making], receipt of the application for the fact-finding & fact finding; fact finding and matters impossible to make judgment; correction of a family register subsequent to the damage judgement; collection & analysis of data concerning compulsory mobilization at home and from abroad and writing up of a report; exhumation of the remains, remains saving, their repatriation, and building project for historical records hall and museum & memorial place, etc. The Truth Commission on Compulsory Mobilization has dug out and collected a variety of records to meet the examination of the damage and fact finding business. As is often the case with other history of damage, the records which had already been made open to the public or have been newly dug out usually have their limits to ascertaining of the diverse historical context involved in compulsory mobilization in their quantity or quality. Of course, there may happen a case where the interested parties' story can fill the vacancy of records or has its foundational value more than its related record itself. The Truth Commission on Compulsory mobilization generated a variety of oral history records through oral interviews with the alleged damage-suffered survivors and puts those data to use for examination business, attempting to make use of those data for public use while managing those on a systematic method. The Truth Commission on compulsory mobilization-possessed oral history archives were generated based on a drastic planning from the beginning of their generation, and induced digital medium-based production of those data while bearing the conveniences of their management and usage in mind from the stage of production. In addition, in order to surpass the limits of the oral history archives produced in the process of the investigating process, this organ conducted several special training sessions for the interviewees and let the interviewees leave their real context in time of their oral testimony in an interview journal. The Truth Commission on compulsory mobilization isn't equipped with an extra records management system for the management of the collected archives. The digital archives are generated through the management system of the real aspects of damage and electronic approval system, and they plays a role in registering and searching the produced, collected, and contributed records. The oral history archives are registered at the digital archive and preserved together with real records. The collected oral history archives are technically classified at the same time of their registration and given a proper number for registration, classification, and keeping. The Truth Commission on compulsory mobilization has continued its publication of oral history archives collection for the positive use of them and is also planning on producing an image-based matters. The oral history archives collected by this organ are produced, managed and used in as positive a way as possible surpassing the limits produced in the process of investigation business and budgetary deficits as well as the absence of records management system, etc. as the form of time-limit structure. The accumulated oral history archives, if a historical records hall and museum should be built as regulated in Disclosure act of forced mobilization, would be more systematically managed and used for the public users.

Clinacal investigation of child sexual abuse (소아 성폭력에 관한 임상적 고찰)

  • Lee, Hyun Joo;Han, Hye Jung;Kim, Ji Hee;Lee, Hye Sun;Lee, In Sil
    • Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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    • v.50 no.1
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    • pp.20-27
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    • 2007
  • Purpose : Child sexual abuse is a significant and serious problem that affects public health and society. Pediatricians are responsible for preventing and detecting sexual abuse of children. The aim of this study was to examine clinical findings of child sexual abuse. Methods : The authors retrospectively studied 292 patients between the ages of 0 and 18 who were referred for evaluation of sexual abuse to the Emergency Department of the National Police Hospital from Oct 1, 2001 to May 5, 2005. Results : Sixty three (21.6 percent) of sexual abuse victims were younger than 6 years of age; 89 (30.5 percent) were 6-12 years of age; and 104 (47.9 percent) were 12-18 years of age. Attack time was the most common between noon and 6 pm. Victims were attacked in their home or nearby (51.4 percent). One hundred fifty six (53.6 percent) offenders were accquaitances, thirty nine (13.4 percent) of whom were family members. The disclosure of attack by parents with abnormal physical symptoms was more common in younger children than in adolescence. Eighty nine (30.5 percent) victims had no specific physical findings, 51 percent had injury to the hymen, 37.3% had injury to external genitalia, and 4 percent had anal injury. One case of gonorrhea and thirteen cases of chlamydia were found. Sperm was found in 19 cases and acid phosphatase was positive in 28 cases. The absence of physical findings and laboratory findings was more common in younger children than in those in adolescence. The time interval from attacks to hospital visits had a significant negative correlation with age. Conclusion : For younger victims, the time interval from attack to hospital visitis was more prolonged. Victims may have no physical evidence of sexual abuse. Therefore, a careful history should be obtained and a through physical examination should be performed. Pediatricians must play a leading role in evaluation and treatment of sexually abused children, considering children,s growth and development. Coordination with other professionals is necessary to provide consultation, medical treatment, and legal assistance for the sexually abused children and families.

Capacity and Value of Atmospheric Purification for Namsan Nature Park in Seoul (서울 남산 도시자연공원의 대기정화능과 가치)

  • 조현길;조용현;안태원
    • Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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    • v.16 no.2
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    • pp.172-178
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    • 2002
  • This study quantified $CO_2$, SO$_2$and NO$_2$uptake by vegetation for the Namsan Nature Park in Seoul, and explored values for the park to contribute to atmospheric purification. Broad-leaved forest accounted for about 54% of total forest area, and tree-age structure was dominated by a young, growing tree population. Tree density and basal area averaged 17.5 trees/100$m^2$ and 2,580$\textrm{cm}^2$/100$m^2$, respectively. Atmospheric purification per unit area by forest type and age class was greater in older age classes, associated with changes in basal area, and tended to be greater in broad-leaved or mixed forest than in coniferous forest for the same age classes. Mean $CO_2$storage per unit area for all the forest types and age classes was 293.8 t/ha and economic value of the $CO_2$storage was ₩ 147millions/ha. Annual uptake averaged 24.6t/ha/yr for $CO_2$, 17.1 kg/ha/yr for SO$_2$and 43.9 kg/ha/yr for NO$_2$, and economic value of the annual uptake was ₩ 13millions/ha/yr. Total forest area stored 72,100 t of $CO_2$, and annually sequestered 6,040 t/yr of $CO_2$, 4,200 kg/yr of SO$_2$and 10,770 kg/yr of NO$_2$. Economic value of atmospheric purification for the entire area amounted to approximately ₩ 36,100millions for the $CO_2$storage, and ₩ 3,100millions/yr for the annual $CO_2$, SO$_2$ and NO$_2$uptake. The park played an important role through annually offsetting $CO_2$emissions from fossil fuel consumption by 1,100 persons, SO$_2$emissions by 2,800 persons, and NO$_2$ emissions by 1,160 persons. The results from this study are expected to be useful not merely in informing the public of atmospheric purification values of urban nature parks, but in urging the necessity for replanting and management budgets.

A Study on the Freedom of the Press and the Remedy for Defamation (언론의 자유와 명예훼손 구제방법에 관한 연구)

  • Jeon, Chan-Hui;Ji, Yong-Soo
    • The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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    • v.12 no.10
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    • pp.159-168
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    • 2012
  • Freedom of speech is indispensable in Democracy. It is a rink among government agencies. Mass media as institutionalized means which forms public opinion impacts quite a few to a society. Mass media as a life media in our daily lives has characteristics of speed and prompt report. It is difficult to measure the effect on a society. Mass media is a lifeline in democracy because it has freedom of opinion for seeing, listening, speaking, and criticizing about the people's right to know in an information society. Our Constitution also guarantees freedom of the press, information(peoples's right to know), report, the collection of news, and edition. Because an unnecessary thing about a privacy is reported by mass media, it can violate defamation. This study seeks to be unbiased in reporting and what the principles of the Constitution for minimizing an invasion of a person's privacy is. This study also seeks freedom of speech and the right to know. In case that a personal honor is invaded by a mass media and a publication, this study provides the Constitution basis, Criminal Law basis, and Civic Law basis for remedy violation. A report for apology on newspaper and by television was widely used as "a proper punishment for honor recovery in the past". The constitutional court had decided that including the report of apology for "a proper punishment of honor recovery" in the article 764 of the Civic Law as a reason of freedom of conscience and the violation of personal rights was against the Constitution. Therefore, this study examples what is a legal remedy in practical?, where is legal basis of special remedy in the Civic Law, and what is a method by the Press Arbitration Law compared with the examples of other countries. On the other hand, because a mass media may injure a person's honor and infringe a person's privacy, if the report is categorized as a malicious press, the true role which mass media has to do may not demonstrated. In conclusion, this study was to minimalize infringement of mass media to a person and to seek a realistic alternative of a legal remedy.

Evolutionary Explanation for Beauveria bassiana Being a Potent Biological Control Agent Against Agricultural Pests

  • Han, Jae-Gu
    • 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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    • 2014.05a
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    • pp.27-28
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    • 2014
  • Beauveria bassiana (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales, Ascomycota) is an anamorphic fungus having a potential to be used as a biological control agent because it parasitizes a wide range of arthropod hosts including termites, aphids, beetles and many other insects. A number of bioactive secondary metabolites (SMs) have been isolated from B. bassiana and functionally verified. Among them, beauvericin and bassianolide are cyclic depsipeptides with antibiotic and insecticidal effects belonging to the enniatin family. Non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) play a crucial role in the synthesis of these secondary metabolites. NRPSs are modularly organized multienzyme complexes in which each module is responsible for the elongation of proteinogenic and non-protein amino acids, as well as carboxyl and hydroxyacids. A minimum of three domains are necessary for one NRPS elongation module: an adenylation (A) domain for substrate recognition and activation; a tholation (T) domain that tethers the growing peptide chain and the incoming aminoacyl unit; and a condensation (C) domain to catalyze peptide bond formation. Some of the optional domains include epimerization (E), heterocyclization (Cy) and oxidation (Ox) domains, which may modify the enzyme-bound precursors or intermediates. In the present study, we analyzed genomes of B. bassiana and its allied species in Hypocreales to verify the distribution of NRPS-encoding genes involving biosynthesis of beauvericin and bassianolide, and to unveil the evolutionary processes of the gene clusters. Initially, we retrieved completely or partially assembled genomic sequences of fungal species belonging to Hypocreales from public databases. SM biosynthesizing genes were predicted from the selected genomes using antiSMASH program. Adenylation (A) domains were extracted from the predicted NRPS, NRPS-like and NRPS-PKS hybrid genes, and used them to construct a phylogenetic tree. Based on the preliminary results of SM biosynthetic gene prediction in B. bassiana, we analyzed the conserved gene orders of beauvericin and bassianolide biosynthetic gene clusters among the hypocrealean fungi. Reciprocal best blast hit (RBH) approach was performed to identify the regions orthologous to the biosynthetic gene cluster in the selected fungal genomes. A clear recombination pattern was recognized in the inferred A-domain tree in which A-domains in the 1st and 2nd modules of beauvericin and bassianolide synthetases were grouped in CYCLO and EAS clades, respectively, suggesting that two modules of each synthetase have evolved independently. In addition, inferred topologies were congruent with the species phylogeny of Cordycipitaceae, indicating that the gene fusion event have occurred before the species divergence. Beauvericin and bassianolide synthetases turned out to possess identical domain organization as C-A-T-C-A-NM-T-T-C. We also predicted precursors of beauvericin and bassianolide synthetases based on the extracted signature residues in A-domain core motifs. The result showed that the A-domains in the 1st module of both synthetases select D-2-hydroxyisovalerate (D-Hiv), while A-domains in the 2nd modules specifically activate L-phenylalanine (Phe) in beauvericin synthetase and leucine (Leu) in bassianolide synthetase. antiSMASH ver. 2.0 predicted 15 genes in the beauvericin biosynthetic gene cluster of the B. bassiana genome dispersed across a total length of approximately 50kb. The beauvericin biosynthetic gene cluster contains beauvericin synthetase as well as kivr gene encoding NADPH-dependent ketoisovalerate reductase which is necessary to convert 2-ketoisovalarate to D-Hiv and a gene encoding a putative Gal4-like transcriptional regulator. Our syntenic comparison showed that species in Cordycipitaceae have almost conserved beauvericin biosynthetic gene cluster although the gene order and direction were sometimes variable. It is intriguing that there is no region orthologous to beauvericin synthetase gene in Cordyceps militaris genome. It is likely that beauvericin synthetase was present in common ancestor of Cordycipitaceae but selective gene loss has occurred in several species including C. militaris. Putative bassianolide biosynthetic gene cluster consisted of 16 genes including bassianolide synthetase, cytochrome P450 monooxygenase, and putative Gal4-like transcriptional regulator genes. Our synteny analysis found that only B. bassiana possessed a bassianolide synthetase gene among the studied fungi. This result is consistent with the groupings in A-domain tree in which bassianolide synthetase gene found in B. bassiana was not grouped with NRPS genes predicted in other species. We hypothesized that bassianolide biosynthesizing cluster genes in B. bassiana are possibly acquired by horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from distantly related fungi. The present study showed that B. bassiana is the only species capable of producing both beauvericin and bassianolide. This property led to B. bassiana infect multiple hosts and to be a potential biological control agent against agricultural pests.

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Evaluation of Social Nicotine Dependence Using the Kano Test for Social Nicotine Dependence (KTSND-K) Questionnaire in Korea (Kano Test for Social Nicotine Dependence(KTSND-K) 설문지를 통한 한국인의 사회적 니코틴의존성의 평가)

  • Jeong, Jae Hee;Choi, Sang Bong;Jung, Wou Young;Byun, Min Gwang;Park, Moo Suk;Kim, Young Sam;Kim, Se Kyu;Chang, Joon;Yoshii, Chiharu;Kim, Sung Kyu
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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    • v.62 no.5
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    • pp.365-373
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    • 2007
  • Background: Smoking is one of the most important leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Smoking habit is recognized as nicotine dependence, which consists of physical and psychosocial dependence. To evaluate social nicotine dependence, the Kano Test for Social Nicotine Dependence (KTSND) working group developed a new questionnaire, which consists of 10 questions with a total score of 30 in Japan. We examined the social nicotine dependence among healthy adults using the new KTSND questionnaire and evaluated validity of the KTSND questionnaire in Korea. Method: We applied Korean KTSND questionnaire version 2 to employees of hospital, university students and people for medical examination and promotion test. Complete data obtained from the 741 responders were analyzed. Result: The mean age of responders was 31.8 years. Among them, males were 57.8%. Current smokers, ex-smokers, and non-smokers were 13.8%, 12.8%, and 73.4% respectively. According to smoking status, the total KTSND scores of current smokers were significantly higher than those of ex-smokers, and of non-smokers ($17.1{\pm}5.4$ versus $14.3{\pm}5.5$, and $12.3{\pm}5.5$, $p{\leq}0.001$). The total KTSND scores of males were higher than those of females, suggesting that males have a propensity for depending nicotine socially much more than females ($14.3{\pm}5.7$ and $11.7{\pm}5.4$ respectively, p<0.001). Eight of ten questions produced significantly different scores among three different smoking groups. When current smokers were sub-classified by heavy smoking index (HSI) that represented physical nicotine dependence, we did not find a significant difference of KTSND score between low HSI group (<4) and high HSI group (${\geq}4$), This finding suggested that the psychosocial dependence might play a different role from physical nicotine dependence in smoking. Most of the non-smokers (62.5%) had an experience of harmful passive smoking especially in public place. Conclusion: Our study suggested that the KTSND questionnaire could be a useful method to evaluate psychosocial aspects of smoking.

The Analysis of Patients in Oral Medicine and the Evaluation of Oral Medicine as a Special Field (내원경로 분석을 통한 전문과목으로서의 구강내과의 역할)

  • Chung, Tae-Yong;Ryu, Ji-Won;Kang, Jin-Kyu;Ahn, Hyung-Joon;Choi, Jong-Hoon
    • Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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    • v.30 no.4
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    • pp.391-400
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    • 2005
  • Special Practitioner exists based on the need for special fields that are required to manage difficult patients with specialized skills distinguished from General practitioner. The purpose of dental specialist system is to manage patients who are not treatable by general practitioner by training doctors specializing in one specific field, thereby, enhancing health of the public. Oral Medicine deals with orofacial pain, oral soft tissue disease, forensic dentistry, oral diagnosis. In these days, living environments of city life bring about increase in stress which ultimately lead to increase in prevalence of temporomandibular disorder, oral soft tissue disease, neuropathies such as trigeminal neuralgia, and hence, the number of patients seeking help of those symptoms tend to increase. The purpose of this study was to analyze the rate of referrals and the routes of patients seeking help by investigating 3,707 patients who visited Department of Oral Medicine, College of Dentistry, Yonsei University, from August, 2004 to April, 2005. The results were as follows: 1. The types of disease referred to the Department of Oral Medicine were orofacial pain, oral soft tissue disease, forensic dentistry, oral diagnosis. 2. The rate of referrals was 58.51% which implies that more than half of the patients visiting the Department of Oral Medicine were referred. 3. The types of institution which made referrals were analyzed, and as a result, dental clinics made most of the referrals with the rate of 83.23%, while that from medical or oriental medical institutions was 16.78%. 4. Among the patients who visited the Department of Oral Medicine on their own, 30.52% gained the information about the Department of Oral Medicine from internet and mass media, and from neighbors. From the above results, most of the patients visiting the Department of Oral Medicine were found to be referred not only from the field of dentistry but also from the field of medicine. These suggest that Oral Medicine manages patients who are not treatable by general dental practitioners, and medical specialists tend to cooperate with the Department of Oral Medicine to manage diseases associated with Oral Medicine. Therefore, the role of Oral Medicine can be considered to be important as a special field, and the results of this study should be considered when working out a policy of Dental specialist system on demand and supply of residents in the future.