• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.1749-1759
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• 2018

Recombinant (rec) prion protein (PrP) is an extremely useful resource for studying protein misfolding and subsequent protein aggregation events. Here, we report mass production of high-purity rec-polypeptide encoding the C-terminal globular domain of PrP; (90-230) for human and (89-231) for murine PrP. These proteins were expressed as His-tagged fusion proteins in E. coli cultured by a high cell-density aerobic fermentation method. RecPrPs recovered from inclusion bodies were slowly refolded under reducing conditions. Purification was performed by a sequence of metal-affinity, cation-exchange, and reverse-phase chromatography. The current procedure yielded several dozens of milligrams of recPrP per liter with >95% purity. The purified recPrPs predominantly adopted an ${\alpha}$-helix-rich conformation and were functionally sufficient as substrates to measure the seeding activity of human and animal prions. Establishment of a procedure for high-level production of high-purity recPrP supports the advancement of in vitro investigations of PrP including diagnosis for prion diseases.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.123-144
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• 2009

Recently, a long strike by hospital labor union emerged as a serious social issue. During the Worldcup Games in June, 2002, labor strikes broke up at 'C', 'K' and other hospitals, and in 2007, 'Y' hospital suffered much from a strike. Such series of extreme labor disputes have awakened people of importance of a more stable labor-management relationship for the medical institutions responsible for people's health than any other business organization. The purpose of this study was to examine the labor-management disputes at 'Y' hospital in 2007 and 'C' and 'K' hospitals in 2002. The results of this study can be summarized as follows; First, requests of the labor union such as pay raise, reemployment of the irregular workers as regular employees and participation of the labor union in personnel affairs are the long-held or core issues suffered by the medical institutions. Such issues are not independent from each other but complicated with each other surrounding the pay raise. Accordingly, it is not easy to determine the genuine bone of issue for labor-management disputes. Second, the model type of disputes between labor and management at medical institutions may be strike. However, it is conceived that the type of disputes would be subject to change as the essential medical service area system began to be operated since 2008. Third, the common characteristic of the labor strike among the 3 sample hospitals was occupation of the hospital lobby for a sit-in strike to maximize the negative effects of strike. Article 42 (Prohibition of Violence) of Labor Union and Labor Relation Coordination Act prohibits occupation of production or other important business facilities. In addition, since Ministry of Labor interprets that the hospital lobby belongs to the important business facilities enumerated by Article 42 of the above act, occupation of the hospital lobby for a sit-in strike may be too controversial to be admitted as a fair act of labor dispute when its legitimacy should be judged. Fourth, the counter-measures taken by the hospitals against the strike were observance of the principle 'no labor no pay,' closure, legal action, accusation, claim for recovery of damage, provisional seizure, disciplinary punishment, etc., but the principle of 'no labor, no pay' was not applied in a fair manner by 'C' and 'K' hospitals. However, 'Y' hospital applied this principle thoroughly to the strike; the hospital conduced to correction of the wrong labor-management relationship by refusing inclusion in the labor collective agreement of a provision about payment of wage during the period of strike or labor union's request to that effect during a strike. In addition, 'Y' hospital took an effective measure to end the strike earlier by notifying the labor union of cancellation of the collective agreement and banning the unionists from entering the hospital.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.147-152
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• 2020

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of vaginal progesterone for luteal phase support (LPS) on the clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) in natural frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles via a meta-analysis. Methods: We performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and retrospective studies that met our selection criteria. Four online databases (PubMed, Embase, Medline, and the Cochrane Library) were searched between January 2017 and May 2017. Studies were selected according to predefined inclusion criteria and meta-analyzed using R software version 2.14.2. The main outcome measure was CPR. Results: A total of 18 studies were reviewed and assessed for eligibility. One RCT (n = 435) and three retrospective studies (n = 3,033) met the selection criteria. In a meta-analysis of the selected studies, we found no significant difference in the CPR (odds ratio [OR], 0.96; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.60-1.55) between the vaginal progesterone and control groups. An analysis of the two retrospective cohort studies that reported the live birth rate (LBR) following FET showed a significantly higher LBR in the vaginal progesterone group (OR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.21-2.46). A subgroup meta-analysis of FET conducted 5 days after injection of human chorionic gonadotropin showed no significant differences between the two groups with regard to the CPR (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 0.90-1.55) or miscarriage rate (OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.36-1.47). Conclusion: The results of this meta-analysis of the currently available literature suggest that LPS with vaginal progesterone in natural FET cycles does not improve the CPR.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.99 no.4
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• pp.517-527
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to investigate the causal relationship among perceived value, satisfaction and revisit intention for visitors of the Korea National Arboretum. Three hundred respondents were selected by quota sampling, and well-known measurement scales utilized in marketing field were adopted in order to measure three variables with some modification to apply for arboretum visitors. Results of structural equation model showed that perceived value affected visitors' satisfaction, which in turn influenced revisit intention. Specifically, "emotional value" had the most significant influence on satisfaction, followed by "value for money" and "novelty value"; however, "social value" was not an influential construct. Based on calibration results, several strategies were suggested for the effective management. Authors advised that (a)improvement of measurement scale of value, (b)inclusion of self-congruity as antecedent variable to satisfaction, (c)changing revisit intention to word-of-mouth communication as a post-purchase behavioral intention, and (d)implementation of market segmentation should be considered for future research.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.149-176
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• 2009

In the recent e-learning environment, avatars are often used to help learners get familiar with the contents, which is ultimately to motivate them to study more. Therefore, it is important to investigate whether avatars have actually the desirable effect on users of e-learning materials. Surprisingly, however, no extensive study has been conducted on this crucial issue Accordingly, main objectives this study are summarized as follows. First, we need to gain better understanding of how much learners' trust towards avatars (termed as "avatar trust") is transferred to learners' trust towards e-learning contents (termed as "contents trust"). Second, we need to investigate how much learners' personal relationships with avatars as well as learning behaviors change depending on avatar types (attractive vs. professional) and contents complexity (easy vs. difficult). As described in the study objectives, in order for us to analyze empirical data more systematically, we classified avatar types into two: "attractive" and "professional;" the contents are categorized as either "easy" or "difficult." Therefore, it is essential for this study to build a prototype e-learning website on which our research purpose can be realized and tested effectively with proper avatar types and e-learning contents. For this purpose, we built a prototype e-learning website, in which avatars are invited from currently working avatar instructors used in real-world e-learning websites, and e-learning contents are adapted from real-world contents about Java programming topic, which have been proved to have shown high quality and reliability. Our research method includes questionnaire survey by inviting a number of valid respondents comprised of office workers who are believed to have high demands for the e-learning contents as well as those who have previous experience with avatar instructors. Respondents were given one of the four e-learning experiment conditions (2 avatar types x 2 contents types) on a random basis. Each experimental e-learning condition is framed to have the same quality but different avatar type and content complexity. Then the respondents are asked to fill out the survey form which has questions about avatar trust, contents trust, personal relationships with avatar, and learning behavior, among others. Regarding the constructs used in research model, we based them rigorously on previous studies. For example, we used six constructs such as behavior to give information (BGI), behavior to obtain information (BOI), need for inclusion wanted, need for control wanted, contents trust, and avatar trust. To measure them, 7-Likert scales were used in the questionnaire. E-learning performance was measured indirectly through two constructs such as BGI and BOI. Six constructs used in the research model were adopted and revised from the FIRO-B model suggested by Schutz. Empirical results are as follows: First, professional avatars are more effective for difficult contents, while attractive avatars were not as effective for easy contents. Second, our study results ascertained that avatar trust transfers to contents trust regardless of avatar types and contents complexity.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.1278-1295
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• 2014

The Sixteenth Meeting of the Conferences of Parties of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which was held in March 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand, listed five shark species and one genus, and uplisted one sawfish species. All new species listings will be come into force of the eighteen months delay, on the fourteenth of September, 2014. The purpose of the delay is to support the preparation of the domestic measures on shark trade by the parties, as there has been no previous experience in trading the commercially exploited aquatic species in the CITES. The CITES Secretary-General has visited several potential shark trade countries to encourage and facilitate the implementation of the new CITES listings. The newly listed sharks have been caught as a target or non-target species by Korean distant water fisheries and introduced into Korea. So the establishment or change of the domestic laws, regulations, and measures for the implementation of the new CITES species must be prepared before the effective entry date. This paper is prepared to assess the effects of the trade of the CITES listed shark species, and to suggest effective government service measures for the management of Korean distant water fisheries. The Ministry of Environment (MOE) is the general Management Authority of the CITES, and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) is in charge of the medical trade of CITES listed species in Korea. By law, all imported medicines and medical materials must be inspected by the MFDS during the customs examination; this kind of authority sharing is reasonable and effective way of providing government service. Similarly, the designation of new CITES Management Authority for the trade of commercially exploited aquatic CITES species is critical and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF), which is now in charge of the trade of fisheries products, is the most appropriate governing body for this purpose in Korea. The revision of the National Plan of Action for Conservation and Management of Sharks, initially submitted to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in 2011 as a practical guideline for shark conservation in all Korean fisheries, could be a effective measure to achieve unification of conservation of endangered species and sustainable use of fisheries stocks. The proper CITES measures for the trade of listed species, such as the establishment of the documenting system for Non-detriment Findings, domestic measures suitable for the "Introduction from the Sea" clause, species specific Harmonized System Codes for the customs service, and an effective shark catch data reporting system should be in place prior to the fourteenth of September 2014.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.47-72
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• 2019

This study reviewed and analyzed English-written studies using a rhythmic tapping task for motor control of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Inclusion criteria for the participants were children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children. The keywords used for the outcome variables included rhythmic tapping, timed movement, and synchronization. Ten studies were included in the final analysis. The included studies were analyzed in terms of target variables, auditory stimuli, and measurements. A meta-analysis was also conducted to examine how children with ASD performed rhythmic tapping tasks compared to children with TD. In the identified studies, five variables were used: timed movement control, timing reproduction, bimanual coordination, synchronization, and interpersonal synchronization. It was found that rhythmic tapping performance was analyzed in terms of accuracy and precision of the movement and reported as significantly correlated to social skills measures. The meta-analysis results showed that there were no significant differences between the ASD and TD groups in continuing rhythmic movements when the presented auditory stimuli ended, whereas there were significant group differences in their ability to maintain their motor performance consistently and to synchronize with auditory cue or with others. These results support the rhythmic tapping task as an effective measure for not only motor control but also social skills development in children with ASD.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.11 no.7
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• pp.273-282
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• 2022

Testing approaches for configurable software product lines differs significantly from a single software testing, as it requires consideration of common parts used by all member products of a product line and variable parts shared by some or a single product. Test coverage is a measure of the adequacy of testing performed. Test coverage measurements are important to evaluate the adequacy of testing at the software product line level, as there can be hundreds of member products produced from configurable software product lines. This paper proposes a method for measuring code coverage at the product line level in configurable software product lines. The proposed method tests the member products of a product line after hierarchizing member products based on the inclusion relationship of the selected features, and quantifies SPL(Software Product Line) test coverage by synthesizing the test coverage of each product. As a result of applying the proposed method to 11 configurable software product line cases, we confirmed that the proposed method could quantitatively visualize how thoroughly the SPL testing was performed to help verify the adequacy of the SPL testing. In addition, we could check whether the newly performed testing for a member product covers the newly added code parts of a feature.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.64 no.1
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• pp.84-96
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• 2022

The current study was conducted to evaluate the effect of calcium-enriched fatty acid supplementation on the growth performance, blood metabolites, intestinal morphology, carcass traits, and nutrient digestibility of broilers subjected to chronic heat stress. A total of 210 one-day-old broiler chicks (40.12 ± 0.25 g) were randomly allocated to one of five dietary treatments, to obtain six replicates per treatment. Broilers were subjected to chronic heat stress from day 21 to day 35, post-hatching, at 34℃ for 9 h per day. The body weight (BW) and feed intake of the experimental broilers were recorded weekly, and the average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were calculated accordingly. Rectal temperature was measured to compare the basal body temperatures between individuals, and blood samples were collected on days 21 and 35 to evaluate basal body temperature, serum total cholesterol, and the triglyceride content of the broilers. On days 21 and 35, one broiler from each cage (n=6) was euthanized to measure carcass trait parameters, nutrient digestibility in digesta, and intestinal morphology. On days 14, 28, and 35, the broilers fed 2.0% calcium-enriched fatty acids had higher BW (p < 0.05) than those fed the other diets. However, no differences (p > 0.05) were found in the average daily feed intake (ADFI) between dietary treatments over the 35 experimental days. On the other hand, on day 21, post-hatching, the broilers fed the 2.0% calcium-enriched fatty acid diet had improved (p < 0.05) dietary feed efficiencies compared to the other treatments. On day 28, the broilers fed the 5.0% of calcium-enriched fatty acid diet also had higher (p < 0.05) dietary feed efficiencies than those fed with the other dietary treatments. No effects (p > 0.05) on carcass weight, nutrient digestibility, intestinal morphology, or blood parameters were found between broilers fed with dietary treatments. This study demonstrated that the inclusion of an additive, containing 2.0% calcium-enriched fatty acid, to broiler diet could ameliorate the negative growth performance of broilers; and no interaction (p > 0.05) was observed between the calcium-enriched fatty acid and nutrient digestibility, digestive anatomy, blood metabolism, and carcass traits of broilers subjected to chronic heat stress conditions for 35 days post-hatching.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.187-197
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• 2022

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the changes in the muscle activity of the trunk stabilizer muscles before and after incorporating Pilates breathing during three types of Pilates chair exercises. Methods: This study included 33 healthy men and women in their 20's; they were recruited according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. sEMG was used to measure the changes in the muscle activity in the internal oblique/transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, and erector spinae during the three types of Pilates chair movements (footwork, twist footwork, and bridging) without and with the Pilates breathing integration. The muscle activities of the trunk stabilizers between without and with Pilates breathing were statistically analyzed and compared. Results: The internal oblique/transverse abdominis showed an increase and a significant difference in the muscle activity in all three movements of footwork, twist footwork, and bridging after the Pilates breathing integration (p<.001). The muscle activity of the rectus abdominis (p<.05) and the erector spinae (p<.05) also increased and showed a significant difference after the Pilates breathing incorporation, except in the bridging movement for the erector spinae. The increase in the rate after integrating Pilates breathing was relatively greater in internal oblique/transverse abdominis than in other muscles. Conclusion: When Pilates breathing was applied, the activities of the trunk stabilizer muscles increased significantly and immediately in all three movements of Pilates chair footwork, twist footwork, and bridging. This means that the use of breathing is expected to have a positive and immediate effect on the activation of trunk stabilizers, thus indicating that it can possibly be an effective re-enforcing tool to promote trunk stability when it is integrated to the Pilates chair exercise. Incorporating Pilates breathing also seemed to have a tendency to activate the deep trunk stabilizer muscles more than the superficial stabilizer muscles.