• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.707-711
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• 2014

The $0.99Bi_{0.5}(Na_{0.78}K_{0.22})_{0.5}TiO_3-0.01LaAlO_3$, $0.01LaMnO_3$ or $0.01LaFeO_3$ (0.99BNKT-0.01LA, 0.01LM or 0.01LF) ceramics were prepared by a conventional mixed mothod. The structure and morphology of the lead free ceramics were characterized by XRD (X-ray diffraction) and FE-SEM (field emission scanning electron microscopy). XRD results indicated that the BNKT ceramics modified by LA, LM or LF induced a transition from a ferroelectric tetragonal to a non-polar pseudo-cubic phase, leading to decrease in the remnant polarization ($P_r$) and coercive field ($E_c$) in the P-E hysterisis loops. The effects of the BNKT ceramics modified by La-based $ABO_3$ pervskite structure on the electric-field induced strain were investigated, and the largest normalized unipolar strain ($S_{max}/E_{max}$) was found in BNKT-0.01LF ceramic.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.130-138
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• 2011

Purpose : To compare fMRIs of visual and auditory word generation tasks, and to evaluate the difference of its activated areas and lateralization according to the mode of stimuli. Materials and Methods : Eight male normal volunteers were included and all were right handed. Functional maps were obtained during auditory and visual word generation tasks in all. Normalized group analysis were performed in each task and the threshold for significance was set at p<0.05. Activated areas in each task were compared visually and statistically. Results : In both tasks, left dominant activations were demonstrated and were more lateralized in visual task. Both frontal lobes (Broca's area, premotor area, and SMA) and left posterior middle temporal gyrus were activated in both tasks. Extensive bilateral temporal activations were noted in auditory task. Both occipital and parietal activations were demonstrated in visual task. Conclusion : Modality independent areas could be interpreted as a core area of language function. Modality specific areas may be associated with processing of stimuli. Visual task induced more lateralized activation and could be a more useful in language study than auditory task.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.58 no.6
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• pp.211-217
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• 2015

Purpose: Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) infection is a major cause of respiratory infection in school-aged children. Extrapulmonary manifestations of MP infection are common, but liver involvement has been rarely reported. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical characteristics of MP-associated hepatitis. Methods: This prospective study included 1,044 pediatric patients with MP infection diagnosed serologically with MP IgM at one medical center from January 2006 to December 2012. Eighty of these patients had elevated levels of serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), each greater than 50 IU/L, without any other specific liver disorder and were compared with the 964 children without liver disorders. Results: In total, 7.7% of patients with MP infection had a diagnosis of hepatitis, especially in fall and winter. The ratio of male to female patients was 1.7:1, and the mean age of the patients was 5 years and 5 months. The most common symptoms were cough, fever, and sputum. Anorexia was the most common gastrointestinal symptom, followed by nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Mean levels of AST and ALT were 100.65 IU/L and 118.73 IU/L, respectively. Serum AST/ALT level was normalized within 7.5 days on average without complications. The mean duration of hospitalization (11.3 days) was longer for children with hepatitis than for those without hepatitis (P=0.034). Conclusion: MP-associated hepatitis is not uncommon and has a relatively good prognosis. Therefore, clinicians should be concerned about liver involvement in MP infection but avoid further unnecessary evaluation of hepatitis associated with MP.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.476-485
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• 2005

In this study, abiotic transformation of TNT reduction products via oxidative-coupling reaction was investigated using Mn oxide. In batch experiments, all the reduction products tested were completely transformed by birnessite, one of natural Mn oxides present in soil. Oxidative-coupling was the major transformation pathway, as confirmed by mass spectrometric analysis. Using observed pseudo-first-order rate constants with respect to birnessite loadings, surface area-normalized specific rate constants, $k_{surf}$, were determined. As expected, $k_{surf}$ of diaminonitrotoluenes (DATs) ($1.49{\sim}1.91\;L/m^2{\cdot}day$) are greater about 2 orders than that of dinitroaminotoluenes (DNTs) ($1.15{\times}10^{-2}{\sim}2.09{\times}10^{-2}\;L/m^2{\cdot}day$) due to the increased number of amine group. In addition, by comparing the value of $k_{surf}$ between DNTs or DATs, amino group on ortho position is likely to be more preferred for the oxidation by birnessite. Although cross-coupling of TNT in the presence of various mediator compounds was found not to be feasible, transformation of TNT by reduction using $Fe^0$ followed by oxidative coupling using Mn oxide was efficient, as evaluated by UV-visible spectrometry.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.199-207
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• 2008

Wavelength converting devices with a ridge-type waveguide in periodically poled $MgO:LiNbO_3$ are made and characterized. The experimental results are compared with theoretical analysis on the effects of waveguide dimension and duty ratio of the periodically poled structure. To show the relationship of the conversion efficiency to those factors, a new measurement system is configured. That experimental results show that the center wavelength, normalized conversion efficiency and full width half maximum of the conversion efficiency curve are 1067.45 nm, 90.7%/$Wcm^2$ and 0.17 nm, respectively. Also, the estimated results of the duty period and full width half maximum of the conversion efficiency from theoretical calculations agreed well with experimental results with the errors of 0.016 ${\mu}m$ and 0.01 nm.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.165-172
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• 2004

Rice plants were exposed to $I_2$ vapor for 80 min at different growth stages in an exposure box to investigate the parameters concerning direct plant contamination. Deposition velocity $(m\;s^{-1})$ of the $I_2$ vapor for the straws was in the range of $1.4{\times}10^{-5}-1.3{\times}10^{-4}$ depending on the exposure time, being comparatively low during the earlier part of the plant growth. Ear deposition velocity was in the range of $2.5{\times}10^{-5}-6.7{\times}10^{-5}$. Whole-plant deposition velocity was in the range of $1.4{\times}10^{-5}-1.8{\times}10^{-4}$ with the highest from the exposure performed on Aug. 18 (7 d after the start of heading). The time-dependent variation generally decreased when the deposition velocity was normalized to the biomass density No noteworthy tendency in the deposition velocity was observed with regard to the temperature, sunlight and humidity. Translocation factor for the hulled seeds was $3.3{\times}10^{-5}-4.7{\times}10^{-4}$ with the highest from the Aug. 23 exposure. It was found that a leaf deposition even before the ear emergence resulted in a considerable seed translocation.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.27-36
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• 2010

In this study, a series of flat dilatometer tests are performed for Busan sand reconstituted in a large calibration chamber to evaluate the state parameter ($\Psi$). Experimental result shows that the horizontal amplification factor ($K_D/K_0$) is linearly related with state parameter in semi-logarithmic space, but the $K_D/K_0$ of OC specimen is smaller than that of NC specimen because of the horizontal residual stress by stress history of OC specimen. The relation between the normalized dilatometer modulus ($E_D/\sigma_m'$) and the state parameter is also linearly expressed in semi-logarithmic space, and the effect of stress history is relatively insignificant in this relation. However, the variation in $E_D/\sigma_m'-\Psi$ relation of NC state is slightly higher than that of OC state due to the effect of the stress level, and the correlation curve is descending with increase of confining stress. The comparison of test result with previous results of Ticino and Toyoura sands shows that the $E_D/\sigma_m'-\Psi$ relation of Toyoura sand is located on upper side than that of Busan and Tieino sands due to the effect of the higher compressibility, whereas the $K_D/K_0-\Psi$ relation of each sand is irregularly distributed.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.107-127
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• 2018

Objectives : The present study investigated the anti-obese and blood flow improvement activities of aqueous extracts of ginseng berry (GBe) on the mild diabetic obese mice as compared with metformin. Methods : After end of 56 days of continuous oral administrations of GBe 150, 100 and 50 mg/kg, or metformin 250 mg/kg, anti-obese and blood flow improvement effects - the changes of body weights, body and abdominal fat density by in live dual-energy x-ray absorptionmetry (DEXA), tail bleeding time, prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein (LDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) levels, aorta and serum cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), nitric oxide (NO) and endothelin (ET)-1 levels, aorta phosphorylated PI3K (pPI3K), phosphorylated Akt (pAkt) and phosphorylated p38 MAPK (pp38 MAPK) levels were systemically analyzed. In addition, aorta vascular dilation and constriction related gene mRNA expressions - PI3K, Akt, eNOS, p38 MAPK and ET-1 were also analyzed by realtime RT-PCR. Results : The obesity and related blood flow impairment, induced by 84 days of continuous HFD supply, were significantly inhibited by 56 days of continuous oral treatment of GBe 150, 100 and 50mg/kg, dose-dependently, and they also dramatically normalized the changes of the aorta vascular dilation and constriction related gene mRNA expressions, also dose-dependently. Especially, GBe 150 mg/kg constantly showed favorable inhibitory activities against type II diabetes related obesity and vascular disorders through PI3K/Akt pathway and p38 MAPK mediated cGMP, NO and ET-1 expression modulatory activities, as comparable to those of metformin 250 mg/kg in HFD mice. Conclusion : By assessing the key parameters for anti-obese and blood flow improvement activities on the HFD-induced mild diabetic obese mice, the present work demonstrated that GBe 150, 100 and 50 mg/kg showed favorable anti-obese and blood flow improvement effects in HFD-induced type II diabetic mice, through PI3K/Akt pathway and p38 MAPK mediated cGMP, NO and ET-1 expression modulatory activities.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2015

A method is proposed to estimate groundwater usage for water curtain cultivation (WCC) using a rating curve, and it is applied to field measurements of groundwater discharge used for WCC in Wangjeon-ri, Nonsan. During the winter season, the hydraulic components of irrigation ditches in the study area consist mainly of direct run-off and groundwater discharged from nearby pumping wells. Changes in stage of the ditches were monitored, and a baseflow separation method was applied to remove increments in stage due to direct run-off. The resulting records of stage were translated to groundwater discharge by applying the-stage-discharge relation. The estimated average groundwater discharge for the WCC in Wangjeon-ri was 10,900 m³/d or 420 m³/d/ha when the estimation is normalized by the total area for WCC facilities of this region. Applying this estimation (420 m³/d/ha) to the entire area of the WCC in Korea (10,746 ha),and considering the number of pumping days for the WCC (120 days/year), the total ground water usage for the WCC nation-wide is estimated to be 0.54 billion m³. This is equivalent to 32% of the total groundwater discharge for agricultural use in Korea (1.7 billon m³).

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.111-117
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• 2004

Objectives: To investigate the effect of LH receptor in folliculogenesis, we confirm the expression level of LH receptor (LH-R) mRNA in human granulosa cells (GCs) and its expression levels were analyzed by comparison to embryo developmental rate and pregnancy rate. Materials and Methods: GCs were obtained at the time of oocyte retrieval from the patients undergoing IVF-ET program. The patients were divided into two groups: Group I (n=20) is poor responder (retrieved oocyte(s)$\leq$3ea), Group II (n=80) is normal responder (retrieved oocytes>3ea). After the extraction of total RNA, semiquantitative RT-PCR was performed and the expression level of LH-R mRNA was normalized by $\beta$-actin. Statistical analysis was performed by using $X^2$ test, Student's t-test and Pearson correlation. Results: In Group II, the relative values of LH-R mRNA (0.680 vs. 0.463, p<0.005) and pregnancy rate (54.7% vs. 23.1%, p<0.05) were significantly higher than in Group I. Number of retrieved oocyte(s) was gradually increased when the expression of LH-R mRNA was increased (p<0.05). But the quality of retrieved oocyte and transferred embryo were not related with the expression of LH-R mRNA. When the pregnancy rate was compared with FSH only group and FSH combined with hMG group in the ovarian stimulation protocol, FSH combined with hMG group was significantly higher than FSH only group in Group I (37.5% vs. 0%), and the expression of LH-R mRNA was significantly higher in hMG combined group than FSH only group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Expression level of LH-R mRNA has important role in ovarian function related with the response to gonadotrophin in human folliculogenesis. Furthermore these data might provide the evidence that additional use of hMG is helpful to poor responders.