• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.213-226
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• 2003

Kongsfjorden near Korean Arctic Station, Dasan, is a glacial fjord in the Svalbard archipelago, Arctic that is influenced by both Atlantic and Arctic water masses. During the Arctic field season August 2002, surface temperature, salinity, density, and phytoplankton biomass (chi a) was measured in Kongsfjorden. A total of 15 surface samples were collected for the phytoplankton related measurements. Chl a values ranged from 0.08 to 1.4mg chi a $m^{-3}$ (mean of 0.53mg chl a $m^{-3}$) in the overall surface stations. The highest values of the chi a concentrations (> 1.0mg chi a $m^{-3}$) were found near glacier in the northeastern part of Kongsfjorden. Nanoplanktonic (< $20{\mu}m$) phytoflagellates were important contributors for the increase of the chi a. The nano-sized phytoflagellates accounted for more than 90% of the total chi a biomass in the study area. Surface temperatures and salinities ranged from 2.5 to $7.18^{\circ}C$ (mean of $4.65^{\circ}C$) and from 22.55 to 32.97 psu (mean of 30.16 psu), respectively. The physical factors were not highly correlated with phytoplankton distribution. The character of surface water due to down-fjord wind was highly similar to phytoplankton distribution. Drifting ice, freshwater, and semdiment inputs from large tidal glaciers located in the inner part of Konsfjorden create steep physico- and biogeochemical environmental gradients along the length of this ford. The glacial inputs cause reduced biodiversity biomass and productivity in the pelagic community in the inner fjord. Primary production of benthic and pelagic microalgae is reduced due to the limited light levels in the turbid and mixed inner waters. The magnitude of glacial effects diminishes towards the outer fjord. Kongsfjorden is an important feeding ground fer marine mammals and seabirds. Especially, seabirds play the largest energy intake and also export nutrients for primary production of the marine microalgae. Kongsfjorden has received a lot of research attention as a site for exploring the impacts of climate changes. Dasan Station in Kongsfjorden will be an important Arctic site for monitoring and detecting future environmental changes.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.10-21
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• 2001

Background : The Clostridium difficile is the most important identifiable cause of nosocomial infectious diarrhea and colitis, which lengthens hospital stay. Recently incidence of C. difficile has been increasing in an university hospital, and an intervention for prevention and control of C. difficile associated diarrhea (CDAD) was in prompt need. Methods : Subjects were the patients in the neurosurgical intensive care unit(NCU) where C. difficile was most frequently isolated. To increase participation of various departments, we used the CQI method, because management of CDAD requires a wholistic approach including control of antibiotics, barrier precaution and environmental cleaning and disinfection. Duration of the CQI activities was 9 months from April to December 1999. Results : The identified problems were misuse and overuse of antibiotics, lack of consciousness of medical personnels and the possibility of transmission from the contaminated environment and tube feeding. Education for proper use of antibiotics and management of C. difficile infection, use of precaution stickers, supplement of handwashing equipments, emphasis on environmental disinfection, and the change of the process of tube feeding were done. The CDAD rate in NCU was significantly decreased after the CQI program (8.6 case per 1,000 patient days from January to April 1999 vs 4.8 from May to December 1999). The distribution of neurosurgical wards including NCU among the total number of isolated C. difficile from the clinical specimens dropped from 49.4% in January to April to 33,7% in May to December. The average hospital stay of the neurosurgical department changed from 19.6 days to 15.2 days. Also, the effect of the CQI activities for C. difficile may have affected the incidence of vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE). Duration and dosage of certain antibiotics used in the NS department were decreased. The distribution of neurosurgical department in the number of VRE isolated patients declined from 18.4% to 11.1%. Conclusion : Infection control of resistant organisms such as C. difficile is likely to be successful when management of environmental contamination an collaborative efforts of decreasing the patients' risk factors such as antibiotics management and decreasing the length of hospital stay come simultaneously. For this work, related departments need to actively participate in the entire process under a common target through discussions for identifying problems and bringing up solutions. In this respect, making use of a CQI team is an efficient method of infection control for gathering participation and cooperation of related departments.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.337-345
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• 2008

There are accumulating evidences that high levels of dietary iron may play a role in colon carcinogenesis. Elevated iron status has been associated with oxidative stress. Phytic acid (PA) functions as an antioxidant by chelating divalent cations and prevents formation of reactive oxygen species responsible for cell injury and carcinogenesis. The protective effect of PA was investigated on formation of aberrant crypt foci (ACF) induced by azoxymethane (AOM) in iron-overloaded male F344 rats. After acclimation with AIN-93G purified diet (35 ppm Fe, normal control diet) for one week, animals were fed iron-overloaded diet (350 ppm Fe) and PA (0.5% or 2% PA in water) for 8 weeks. Animals received two (1st and 2nd week) injections of AOM (15 mg/kg b.w.) to induce colonic ACF. The colonic mucosa was examined for the total numbers of aberrant crypt (AC) and ACF after staining with methylene blue. The blood and serum were analyzed with a blood cell differential counter and an automatic serum analyzer. Iron-overloaded diet increased the concentration of iron in liver of the rats. But iron-related parameters in blood were not changed among experimental groups. The numbers of ACF per colon and AC per colon were $178.8{\pm}33.2$ and $448.4{\pm}110.2$ in the iron-overloaded F344 rats. The total AC was significantly increased, compared with normal-diet AOM control group (p < 0.05). The treatments of PA at the dose of 0.5% slightly decreased the number of ACF and AC per colon to $153.6{\pm}29.5$ and $396.3{\pm}107.5$. However, there were no significant differences in the total numbers of ACF and AC between the AOM control group and PA (0.5% or 2%)-treated groups. These results suggest that PA may not affect the formation of ACF or AC induced by AOM in ironoverloaded F344 rats.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.181-209
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• 2012

Employment form and gender as stratification factors may generate health disparities in Korea. Previous studies have examined the existence of health disparities by employment form and gender. However, few studies examined how the health disparities can be reduced effectively. This study intends to confirm the existence of health disparities between employment-gender groups and explore the effective health resources which can reduce the possible disparities. Using a national probability sample of Korean adults collected in 2011, we attempts to test the interaction effects between employment-gender groups and health resources on self-rated health. For health resources, 24 variables of five dimensions(social relationship, psychological resource, activity factor, health behavior, and usage of medical service) are taken into account. In results, first, the health levels of the other three employment-gender groups are worse than that of male-regular workers. Second, the effective health resources which can reduce the health disparities are different across the employment-gender groups. An effective health resource for female-nonregular workers is a peaceful relationship with her children. Effective health resources for male-nonregular workers are peaceful relationships with his parents and siblings, low stress, religious activity, and exercise. An effective health resource for female-regular workers is interpersonal trust. These results imply that personal or social interventions for health of specific disadvantaged groups need to focus on specific resources which are more effective for the groups.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.6 no.4 s.26
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• pp.101-112
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• 2005

Recently, a curtain wall construction is a exterior finishing components which is most used for shortening time in high-rise building as well as the class of key management factors in cost and schedule control. Also, it is recognized that an effective management for curtain wall process is a major subject to accomplish the project successfully. However, as the current management for curtain wall construction is focused on the construction stage, it makes problems such as errors in business performance, rework by mistakes and duplications, errors and omissions by ineffective information management and there has never been any efficient management from a view of the entire Curtain Wall Life-cycle process. Therefore, the aim of this study is to suggest a stage check point for process improvement in the curtain wall Life-cycle process through current curtain wall process analysis, and then to investigate the cause of waste factors using the Muda method from the Toyota Production System and extract the weighted effects of the waste factors using the analytical hierarchy process method. According to the result, Most of the inefficient factors happened in architectural design stage of the entire curtain wall Life-cycle process and my research identified that detail factors of them are a delay of decision making and an approval in changes, a deficit of engineering capacity and a delay of approval in architectural design drawings by owner, etc.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2015

Lightweight Foamed Soil (LWFS) is a useful material for underground pipe backfill because of reusability of excavated soil and no compaction effect. In this research, a pilot test is carried out and monitoring results are analyzed to investigate behaviors of a flexible pipe, when LWFS is applied as a backfill material. Simultaneously, they are compared with another test case which is backfilled with Saemangeum dredged soil. As a result, the vertical earth pressure of the case backfilled with LWFS slurry presents that decreases as much as 25.6% in comparison with dredged soil and it is only within 10% after solidification. In case backfilled with dredged soil, the horizontal earth pressure is more than 3.6 times of the case used by LWFS and the vertical and horizontal deformation is more than 3.2 and 2.6 times of the case, respectively. It presents excellent effects on earth pressure and deformation reduction of LWFS. The stresses measured at the upper side of the pipe generally present compressive aspects in case backfilled with dredged soil. However, they present tensile aspects in case of LWFS. It is because of negative moment occurred at the center of the pipe due to the buoyancy from LWFS slurry. Conclusively, LWFS using Saemangeum dredged soil is very excellent material to use near the area in comparison with the dredged soil. However, the countermeasure to prevent the buoyancy is required.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.120-125
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• 2009

Alaria esculenta is a brown seaweed found in the Arctic. This study investigated the protective effect of A. esculenta extract (AEE) against oxidant-mediated injury and its mode of action in RAW264.7 macrophages. The methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay showed that $H_2O_2$ treatment reduced cell viability, whereas AEE protected cells from $H_2O_2$-mediated cytotoxicity in a dose-dependent manner. Because heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is known to protect cells against oxidative damage, we investigated the effect of AEE on HO-1 gene expression and HO enzyme activity. The protective effect of AEE against $H_2O_2$-induced injury was correlated with increased HO enzyme activity. AEE also induced HO-1 mRNA and protein expression, as determined RT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. To characterize the mechanisms by which AEE induces HO-1 gene expression, we examined the effect of AEE on the nuclear translocation of NF-E2-related factor-2 (Nrf2) and Akt phosphorylation. AEE treatment activated upstream signaling for HO-1 gene expression, including the nuclear translocation of Nrf2 and Akt phosphorylation. Collectively, these results suggest that AEE has anti-oxidant activity that is mediated, at least in part, via the activation of Nrf2 and Akt and the subsequent induction of HO-1 gene expression.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.1207-1211
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• 2008

The pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-$\alpha$ (TNF-$\alpha$) is an important mediator of the immune response in hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Since the production of TNF-$\alpha$ is mostly regulated at the transcriptional level and polymorphisms in the TNF-$\alpha$ promoter alter its expression, TNF-$\alpha$ promoter polymorphisms could affect the pathogenesis of chronic HBV infection. In this study, we investigated the potential association of TNF-$\alpha$ promoter polymorphisms with chronic HBV infection. The study included 181 patients with chronic HBV infection, 201 persons who had been spontaneously recovered from hepatitis B, and 170 unrelated healthy controls. The -308G/A and -238G/A polymorphisms in the TNF-$\alpha$ promoter were analyzed by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism. The distribution of both the -308 and -238 genotypes in the patient group was not statistically different from that in the spontaneous recovery and control groups (p>0.05). There was also no significant difference in the allele frequency between the groups (p>0.05). The results suggest that the TNF-$\alpha$ -308 and -238 promoter polymorphisms are not associated with the development of chronic HBV infection in the Korean population.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.82-91
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• 1996

The housewives living in the rural area of Kangwondo were asked by using the questionaires about Korean traditional food, traditional fermented food, and traditional seasonal food enjoyed during traditional holidays. The results obtained are as follows; 1. Among Korean traditional foods, boiling rice, especially boiling rice and boiling mixed rice(70%) was the most frequently enjoyed. Hobakjook(17.1%) and popjook(10.5%) were enjoyed the most among jook. However, jook was not enjoyed as much as bah due to the difficulty of cooking method. 2. Doenjangkuk(94%) and mijokkuk(84.1%) which could be made easily and quickly were enjoyed most frequently among kuk, doenjangchigae(86.1%) and kimchichigae(78.1%) were enjoyed a lot among tchigae. 3. Gui was enjoyed a lot generally and kimgui(82.4%) and fishgui(78.1%) were enjoyed frequently. Especially, ojingogui was enjoyed most frequently compared with other areas. It is because squid is easily available in KangwonDo area. Hobakchon(51.8%) was enjoyed the most among Chon. 4. Pugochim(30.2%) among chim and kamjajorim(77.1%) among jorim were enjoyed the most due to the availability of pugo and kamja in the area. 5. Kongnamul(83.4%) and shigmuchinamul(66.3%) were enjoyed the most among namul. Chuinamul (28.7%) was the most frequently enjoyed among sannamul. 6. Kalkuksoo(69.8%) was the most frequently enjoyed ilpumfood. In addition, kalkuksoo(30.3%) and kamja ongsim(11.4%) which are traditional KangwonDo food, were enjoyed a lot. 7. For home party, Songp'yon(25.3%) and shik'ye(27.8%) were the most frequently enjoyed ricecake and korean beverage, respectively. 8. Korean traditional holidays in which traditional seasonal food was enjoyed, were in order of the New Yea.'s Day(97.9%), Chusok(95.6%), Sangwan(First Full moon day)(70.8%), Dong-ji(49.5%), Sambok (27.7%), Danoh(22.6%), and Hanshik(14.1%). Generally, Ipchun, Sam Jin's day, Yudu, and Chilsok were not enjoyed. 9. Korean traditional fermented food enjoyed were in order of kimchi(98.2%), koch'ujang(96.4%), toenjang(89.4%), kanjang(86.8%), makjang(74.5%), and jang-a-chi(66.4%). Especially, Koch'ujang was made by themselves in almost all homes. The Korean traditional foods frequently enjoyed were investigated. We have to keep and develop our traditional food and its cooking method for our offsprings.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.13-24
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• 1996

The following results were obtained by analyzing the displacement, strain and stability of ground at the soft ground excavation using sheet pile. 1. Before setting the strut, the horizontal displacement was large on the upper part of excavated side, but after setting the strut, it showed concentrated phenomenon while being moved to go down to the excavated side. 2. After setting the strut, the displacement of sheet pile was rapidly decreased about a half compared with before setting the strut. The limitation of excavation depth was shown approximately GL-8m after setting double stair strut. 3. Maximum shear strain was gradually increased with depth of excavation, and local failure possibility due to shear deformation at the bottom of excavation was decreased by reinforcement of strut. 4. Maximum horizontal displacement of sheet pile at GL-7.5m was shown 0.2% of excavation depth in elasto-plastic method, and 0.6% in finite-element methods, and the maximum displacement was occurred around the bottom of excavation. 5. To secure the safety factor about penetration depth in the ground of modeling, D/H should be more than 0.89 in the case of one stair strut, and more than 0.77 in the case of double stair strut. 6. The relation of safety factor and D/H about the penetration depth was appeared, Fs=0.736(D/H) + 0.54 in the case of one stair strut, and Fs=0.750(D/H) + 0.62 in the case of double stair strut.