• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.488-500
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• 2022

Most fungal infections by opportunistic yeast pathogens such as Candida spp. are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in patients with lowered immune. Previous studies have reported that some strains of Candida secret secondary metabolites play an important role in the decreasing of immunity in the infected patient. In this study, 110 Candida spp. were isolated from different clinical specimens from Baghdad hospitals. Candida isolates were identified by conventional methods, they were processed for Candida speciation on CHROMagar. The results of identification were confirmed by internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing. Phylogenetic trees were analyzed with reference strains deposited in GenBank. Antifungal susceptibility testing was evaluated by the disc diffusion method and performed as recommended by the Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) M44-A document. Candida isolates investigated produce secondary metabolites gliotoxin with HPLC technique and quantification. Out of 110 Candida isolates, C. albicans (66.36%) was the most frequent isolate, followed by the isolates of C. tropicalis (10.9%) and C. glabrata (6.36%) respectively. Concerning the antifungal susceptibility test, Candida isolates showed a high level of susceptibility to Miconazole (70.9%), Itraconazole (68.2%), and Nystatine (64.5%). The ability of obtained isolates of Candida spp. to produce gliotoxin on RPMI medium was investigated, only 28 isolates had the ability to secret this toxin in culture filtrates. The highest concentrations were detected in C. albicans (1.048 ㎍/ml). Gliotoxin productivity of other Candida species was significantly lower. The retention time for gliotoxin was approximately 5.08 min.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.668-679
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• 2023

Edwardsiella tarda is one of the most significant fish pathogens, causes edwardsiellosis in a variety of freshwater fish species, and its antibiotic resistance against multiple drugs has made it a health risk worldwide. In this study, we aimed to investigate the antibiotic resistance (ABR) genes of E. tarda and establish its antibiotic susceptibility. Thus, 540 fish (299 Oreochromis niloticus, 138 O. mossambicus, and 103 O. aureus) were collected randomly from twelve fish farms in three districts of Punjab in Pakistan. E. tarda was recovered from 147 fish showing symptoms of exophthalmia, hemorrhages, skin depigmentation, ascites, and bacteria-filled nodules in enlarged liver and kidney. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing proved chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, and streptomycin effective, but amoxicillin, erythromycin, and flumequine ineffective in controlling edwardsiellosis. Maximum occurrence of qnrA, blaTEM, and sul3 genes of E. tarda was detected in 45% in the liver, 58%, and 42% respectively in the intestine; 46.5%, 67.2%, and 55.9% respectively in O. niloticus; 24%, 36%, and 23% respectively in summer with respect to fish organs, species, and season, respectively. Motility, H₂S, indole, methyl red, and glucose tests gave positive results. Overall, E. tarda infected 27.2% of fish, which ultimately caused 7.69% mortality. The Chi-squared test of independence showed a significant difference in the occurrence of ABR genes of E. tarda with respect to sampling sites. In conclusion, the misuse of antibacterial agents has led to the emergence of ABR genes in E. tarda, which in association with high temperatures cause multiple abnormalities in infected fish and ultimately resulting in massive mortality.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.475-498
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• 2024

The prediction of the susceptibility of soil to liquefaction using a limited set of parameters, particularly when dealing with highly unbalanced databases is a challenging problem. The current study focuses on different ensemble learning classification algorithms using highly unbalanced databases of results from in-situ tests; standard penetration test (SPT), shear wave velocity (V_s) test, and cone penetration test (CPT). The input parameters for these datasets consist of earthquake intensity parameters, strong ground motion parameters, and in-situ soil testing parameters. liquefaction index serving as the binary output parameter. After a rigorous comparison with existing literature, extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), bagging, and random forest (RF) emerge as the most efficient models for liquefaction instance classification across different datasets. Notably, for SPT and V_s-based models, XGBoost exhibits superior performance, followed by Light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM) and Bagging, while for CPT-based models, Bagging ranks highest, followed by Gradient boosting and random forest, with CPT-based models demonstrating lower G_mean(error), rendering them preferable for soil liquefaction susceptibility prediction. Key parameters influencing model performance include internal friction angle of soil (ϕ) and percentage of fines less than 75 µ (F₇₅) for SPT and V_s data and normalized average cone tip resistance (q_c) and peak horizontal ground acceleration (a_max) for CPT data. It was also observed that the addition of V_s measurement to SPT data increased the efficiency of the prediction in comparison to only SPT data. Furthermore, to enhance usability, a graphical user interface (GUI) for seamless classification operations based on provided input parameters was proposed.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.303-311
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• 2002

Isolation and identification of causative microorganisms and susceptibility testing are important in selecting appropriate antimicrobial agent. The purpose of this study was to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and identification of bacteria for the selection of a therapeutic antibiotic agent for treatment. Specimens were cultured aerobically from dog patients brought to the veterinary medical teaching hospital of Seoul National University between July 1999 and September 2000. A total of 157 isolates were from skin(63), urine(45), ear canal(31) and conjunctiva(18). The result is that the most common organisms isolated from dog patients were S. intermedius was the most common isolates from the skin, ear canal, and conjunctiva. E. coli was the most common isolated from urine. Most of gram-positive isolates were resistant to ampicillin(80.6%), erythromycin(68.8%), penicillin(86.2%), tetracycline(89.2%). Otherwise most of gam-negative isolates were resistant to ampicillin(73.4%), trimethoprim-sulfa(53.3%). E. coli was resistant to ciprofloxacin(61.5%), piperacillin (69.2%). Antimicrobial susceptibility pattern by the sampling site was not remarkably different except 5. aureus isolated from urine.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.67-74
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• 2019

Frost heave is one of the representative engineering characteristics in cold regions. In South Korea, which is located in seasonal frost area, structural damage caused by frost heave and thaw happens and the need for research on the frost heave is increasing. In this paper, newly developed transparent temperature-controllable cell is used to focus on the frost heave. Frost susceptible artificial soil is used to analyze water intake rate which is one of the important factors in frost susceptibility criteria. Frost heave rate and water intake rate have similar behavior after heave by freezing of pore water converges. O-ring installed in the upper pedestal to measure water intake rate generates side friction between the inner wall of the freezing cell and O-ring, thereby hindering frost heave. Therefore, the frost susceptibility criteria using the water intake rate is not reliable. It is appropriate to use frost heave rate which has similar behavior with water intake rate. Frost heave tests were performed under two different specimen heights. Overburden pressure, temperature gradient and dry unit weight were set under similar state. Based on laboratory testing results, frost heave is independent on the specimen height.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.67-73
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• 2012

Asphalt pavement waste can be recycled by crushing and heating methods with additional virgin materials and additives. In this study, a new additive using Sasol wax and Polyolefin elastomer was used for improving the quality of the Superior recycled asphalt pavement(SRP). Additive was added into the recycled mixture by 1.5% and 3% of binder content in order to have PG 70-22 and PG 76-22. Both mixtures were tested by Marshall apparatus, indirect strength testing methods, toughness testing methods, moisture susceptibility testing methods and wheel tracking testing methods. Test results met the standards of KS F 2349 and GR F 4005. Through research, it was found that these special recycled mixtures could be applied for the surface and base course of heavy traffic roads or equivalents. About 13,000 tons of the recycled mixture has been applied on Seoul Olympic road to provide new road to Hangang park for Seoul citizens.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.180-189
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• 2016

The widespread occurrence of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis places importance on the detection of TB (tuberculosis) drug susceptibility. Conventional drug susceptibility testing (DST) is a lengthy process. We developed a rapid enzymatic color-reaction-based biochip assay. The process included asymmetric multiplex PCR/templex PCR, biochip hybridization, and an enzymatic color reaction, with specific software for data operating. Templex PCR (tem-PCR) was applied to avoid interference between different primers in conventional multiplex-PCR. We applied this assay to 276 clinical specimens (including 27 sputum, 4 alveolar lavage fluid, 2 pleural effusion, and 243 culture isolate specimens; 40 of the 276 were non-tuberculosis mycobacteria specimens and 236 were M. tuberculosis specimens). The testing process took 4.5 h. A sensitivity of 50 copies per PCR was achieved, while the sensitivity was 500 copies per PCR when tem-PCR was used. Allele sequences could be detected in mixed samples at a proportion of 10%. Detection results showed a concordance rate of 97.46% (230/236) in rifampicin resistance detection (sensitivity 95.40%, specificity 98.66%) and 96.19% (227/236) in isoniazid (sensitivity 93.59%, specificity 97.47%) detection with those of DST assay. Concordance rates of testing results for sputum, alveolar lavage fluid, and pleural effusion specimens were 100%. The assay provides a potential choice for TB diagnosis and treatment.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.129-138
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to report the instrument modification and validation processes to make existing health belief model scales culturally appropriate for Korean Americans (KAs) regarding colorectal cancer (CRC) screening utilization. Methods: Instrument translation, individual interviews using cognitive interviewing, and expert reviews were conducted during the instrument modification phase, and a pilot test and a cross-sectional survey were conducted during the instrument validation phase. Data analyses of the cross-sectional survey included internal consistency and construct validity using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Results: The main issues identified during the instrument modification phase were (a) cultural and linguistic translation issues and (b) newly developed items reflecting Korean cultural barriers. Cross-sectional survey analyses during the instrument validation phase revealed that all scales demonstrate good internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha=.72~.88). Exploratory factor analysis showed that susceptibility and severity loaded on the same factor, which may indicate a threat variable. Items with low factor loadings in the confirmatory factor analysis may relate to (a) lack of knowledge about fecal occult blood testing and (b) multiple dimensions of the subscales. Conclusion: Methodological, sequential processes of instrument modification and validation, including translation, individual interviews, expert reviews, pilot testing and a cross-sectional survey, were provided in this study. The findings indicate that existing instruments need to be examined for CRC screening research involving KAs.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.12
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• pp.819-827
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• 2009

This work is concerned with a statistical analysis of factors affecting the irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC) of austenitic stainless steels for core internals of pressurized water reactors (PWR). The microstructural and environmental factors were reviewed and critically evaluated by the statistical analysis. The Cr depletion at grain boundary was determined to have no significant correlation with the IASCC susceptibility. The threshold irradiation fluence of IASCC in a PWR was statistically calculated to decrease from 5.799 to 1.914 DPA with increase of temperature from 320 to $340^{\circ}C$. From the analysis of the relationship between applied stress and time-to-failure of stainless steel components based on an accelerated life testing model, it was found that B2 life of a baffle former bolt exposed to neutron fluence of 20 and 75 DPA was at least 2.5 and 0.4 year, respectively, within 95% confidence interval.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.110 no.4
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• pp.610-621
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• 2021

The soil creep, primarily caused by earthquakes and torrential rainfall events, has widely occurred across the country. The Korea Forest Service attempted to quantify the soil creep susceptible areas using a discriminant value table to prevent or mitigate casualties and/or property damages in advance. With the advent of advanced computer technologies, machine learning-based classification models have been employed for managing mountainous disasters, such as landslides and debris flows. This study aims to quantify the soil creep susceptibility using several classifiers, namely the k-Nearest Neighbor (k-NN), Naive Bayes (NB), Random Forest (RF), and Support Vector Machine (SVM) models. To develop the classification models, we downscaled 292 data from 4,618 field survey data. About 70% of the selected data were used for training, with the remaining 30% used for model testing. The developed models have the classification accuracy of 0.727 for k-NN, 0.750 for NB, 0.807 for RF, and 0.750 for SVM against test datasets representing 30% of the total data. Furthermore, we estimated Cohen's Kappa index as 0.534, 0.580, 0.673, and 0.585, with AUC values of 0.872, 0.912, 0.943, and 0.834, respectively. The machine learning-based classifications for soil creep susceptibility were RF, NB, SVM, and k-NN in that order. Our findings indicate that the machine learning classifiers can provide valuable information in establishing and implementing natural disaster management plans in mountainous areas.