• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.87-101
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• 2022

In addition to administering a questionnaire (J-survey), which questions individuals on subjective vocal fatigue, voice samples were collected before and after speech-language pathology sessions from 50 female speech-language pathologists in their 20s and 30s in the Daejeon and Chungnam areas. We identified significant differences in Korean Vocal Fatigue Index scores between the fatigue and non-fatigue groups, with the most prominent differences in sections one and two. Regarding acoustic phonetic characteristics, both groups showed a pattern in which low-frequency band energy was relatively low, and high-frequency band energy was increased after the treatment sessions. This trend was well reflected in the low-to-high ratio of vowels, slope LTAS, energy in the third formant, and energy in the 4,000-8,000 Hz range. A difference between the groups was observed only in the vowel energy of the low-frequency band (0-4,000 Hz) before treatment, with the non-fatigue group having a higher value than the fatigue group. This characteristic could be interpreted as a result of voice abuse and higher muscle tonus caused by long-term voice work. The perturbation parameter and shimmer local was lowered in the non-fatigue group after treatment, and the noise-to-harmonics ratio (NHR) was lowered in both groups following treatment. The decrease in NHR and the fall of shimmer local could be attributed to vocal cord hypertension, but it could be concluded that the effective voice use of speech-language pathologists also contributed to this effect, especially in the non-fatigue group. In the case of the non-fatigue group, the rhamonics-to-noise ratio increased significantly after treatment, indicating that the harmonic structure was more stable after treatment.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.241-250
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• 2009

Objectives : To study autonomic nervous system dysfunction of Low Back Pain(LBP) patients, using spectral analysis of Heart Rate Variability(HRV). Methods : HRV of 190 patients was measured and seperated into two groups, those with LBP(n=95) and healthy controls(n=95). HRV was measured by SA-6000(Medicore, Korea) for 5 minutes after 5 minutes' resting. Results : 1. Mean heart rate(MHRT) of the experimental group was slightly higher than that of the control group, but did not show significant difference(P=0.428). The square root of the mean squared differences of successive normal-to-normal intervals(RMSSD), logarithmic very low frequency power(Ln VLF) and low frequency power/high frequency power ratio(LH/HF ratio) were not significantly low between experimental group and control group(P=0.16, 0.130, 0.537). 2. The standard deviation of all the normal-to-normal intervals(SDNN), logarithmic total power(Ln TP), logarithmic low frequency power(Ln LF) and logarithmic high frequency power(Ln HF) were significantly low between experimental group and control group(P=0.03, 0.005, 0.001, 0.007). 3. Ln LF of acute group was significantly low compared with those of chronic group(P= 0.039). Conclusions : This study suggests the activity and imbalance of autonomic nervous system in LBP is low. Also sympathetic nervous system of acute LBP is lower than that of chronic LBP. Further study of HRV related to LBP is needed in the clinical medicine.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.125-130
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• 1993

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) patients have a characteristic of high leuteinizing hormone (LH) to follicle -stimulating hormone (FSH) ratio. Usually, human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) is used to induce ovulation in clomiphene citrate-resistant PCOS patients. However, HMG contains two components, namely, LH and FSH, with 50%, respectively. Therefore, FSH is theoretically recommended to stimulate follicular maturation. From the pituitary, LH is secreted by pulsatile pattern. So, we have been using intermittent subcutaneous injection of pure FSH for ovulation induction in 10 PCOS patients from March, 1990 to August, 1992. We obtained good results by intermittent subcutaneous injection of pure FSH. Ovulation is 100% per patient, and 88.2% per cycle. Pregnancy rate is 80% per patient, and 23.5% per cycle. Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) is 50% per patient, 41.2% per all cycles, and 46.7% per all ovulated cycles. In comparison with HMG, pregnancy rate per cycle is relatively low. But, ovulation rate and pregnacy rate per person is higher than HMG. Because of the strict check of ovaries by the vaginal ultrasonography, OHSS rate is relatively high.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.419-427
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• 2007

This study explored the effects of dietary calcium level and Hijikia fusiforme supplementation on bone indices and serum lipid levels using 36 female Sprague-Dawley rats as a model. Rats received low Ca diet for 3 weeks after ovariectomy. The rats were then divided into six dietary groups and fed low (0.1% Ca), normal (0.5% Ca) and high (1.5% Ca) Ca diets (CaL, CaN, CaH) and low, normal, high Ca diets with Hijikia fusiforme supplementation (CaLH, CaNH, CaHH) for 3 weeks. After each experimental periods, 24 hour urine and/or blood samples, left and right femurs were collected for analysis. Serum Ca concentration showed no significant difference by dietary Ca levels and Hijikia fusiforme supplementation. Alkaline phosphatase activity was significantly higher in normal and high Ca group compared to low Ca group. Serum total cholesterol, triglyceride and total lipid were not significantly different among groups. HDL-cholesterol showed no significant difference by Hijikia fusiforme supplementation. However, the normal and high Ca groups showed significantly higher HDL-cholesterol compared to the low Ca group. Urinary hydroxyproline and hydroxyproline/creatinine ratio were not significantly different among groups. The wet weight of the femur was significantly higher in low Ca group compared to normal or high Ca group. The dry weight, wet weight/body weight, length and breaking force of the femur were not significantly different among groups. Ash contents/wet weight of the femur was significantly increased as dietary Ca levels up and significantly higher in Hijikia fusiforme supplementation groups. The Ca content of the femur were significantly higher in the normal and high Ca groups than the low Ca group. However, there was no significant difference in Ca content by Hijikia fusiforme supplementation.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.2 no.8
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• pp.579-588
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• 2013

This paper proposes an effective watermarking approach for copyright protection of fire video images. The proposed watermarking approach efficiently utilizes the inherent characteristics of fire data with respect to color and texture by using a gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) and fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering. GLCM is used to generate a texture feature dataset by computing energy and homogeneity properties for each candidate fire image block. FCM is used to segment color of the fire image and to select fire texture blocks for embedding watermarks. Each selected block is then decomposed into a one-level wavelet structure with four subbands [LL, LH, HL, HH] using a discrete wavelet transform (DWT), and LH subband coefficients with a gain factor are selected for embedding watermark, where the visibility of the image does not affect. Experimental results show that the proposed watermarking approach achieves about 48 dB of high peak-signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and 1.6 to 2.0 of low M-singular value decomposition (M-SVD) values. In addition, the proposed approach outperforms conventional image watermarking approach in terms of normalized correlation (NC) values against several image processing attacks including noise addition, filtering, cropping, and JPEG compression.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.87-93
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• 2013

The efficiency of artificial insemination (AI) for horses remains unsatisfactory. It is mainly because each process of AI causes a detrimental effect on semen quality. To sustain quality of semen properly, several factors including libido of stallions and sperm damage during sperm processing and preservation should be considered. Stallions with decent libido produce a high ratio of sperm to seminal plasma in their ejaculates, which is the ideal semen composition for maintaining sperm quality. Thus, to maximize the fertility rate upon AI, stallions should be appropriately managed to enhance their libido. Seminal plasma should have a positive effect on horse fertility in the case of natural breeding, whereas the effects of seminal plasma on both sperm viability and quality in the context of AI remain controversial. Centrifugation of semen is performed during semen processing to remove seminal plasma and to isolate fine quality sperm from semen. However, the centrifugation process can also result in sperm loss and damage. To solve this problem, several different centrifugation techniques such as Cushion Fluid along with dual and single Androcoll-E$^{TM}$ were developed to minimize loss of sperm and to damage at the bottom of the pellet. Most recently, a new technique without centrifugation was developed with the purpose of separating sperm from semen. AI techniques have been advanced to deliver sperm to optimal region of female reproductive tract at perfect timing. Recombinant equine luteinizing hormone (reLH) and low dose insemination techniques have been developed to maximize both fertility rate and the efficiency of AI. Horse breeders should consider that the entire AI procedure should be optimized for each stallion due to variation in individual horses for a uniformed AI protocol.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.195-203
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• 2006

An antagonistic strain, Burkholderia MP-1, showed antimicrobial activity against various filamentous plant pathogenic fungi, yeasts and food borne bacteria (Gram-positive and Gram-negative). The nucleotide sequence of the 16S rRNA gene (1491 pb) of strain MP-1 exhibited close similarity (99-100%) with other Burkholderia 16S rRNA genes. Isolation of the antibiotic substances from culture broth was fractionated by ethyl acetate (EtOAc) solvent and EtOAc-soluble acidic fraction. The antibiotic substances were purified through a silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, ODS column chromatography, and high performance liquid chromatography, respectively. Four active substances were identified as phenylacetic acid, hydrocinnamic acid, 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid and 4-hydroxyphenylacetate methyl ester by gas chromatographic-mass spectrum analysis. The minimum inhibition of concentration (MIC) of each active compound inhibited the growth of the microorganisms tested at 250 to $2500{\mu}g\;ml^{-1}$. The antimicrobial activity of crude acidic fraction at 1 mg of dry weight per 6 mm paper disc was more effective than authentic standard mixture (four active substances were mixed with the same ratio as acidic fraction) over a wide range of bacterial test.