• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.175-182
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• 2022

Heavy metals can be intentionally or unintentionally introduced into plastic food utensils, containers, and packaging (PFUCP) as additives or contaminants, which can be ingested with food by humans. Here, seven-heavy metals (lead, cadmium, nickel, chromium, antimony, copper, and manganese) with toxicity concerns were selected, and risk assessment was done by establishing their migration from 137 PFUCP products made of 16 materials distributed in Korea. Migration of heavy metals was examined by applying 4% acetic acid as a food simulant (70℃, 30 minutes) to the PFUCP products. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was employed for the analysis of migrated heavy metals, and the reliability of quantitative results was confirmed by checking linearity, LOD, LOQ, recovery, precision, and expanded uncertainty. As a result of monitoring, heavy metals were detected at a level of non-detection to 8.76 ± 11.87 ㎍/L and most of the heavy metals investigated were only detected at trace amounts of less than 1 ㎍/L on average. However, antimony migrated from PET products was significantly higher than other groups. Risk assessment revealed that all the heavy metals investigated were safe with a margin of exposure above 311. Collectively, we demonstrated that heavy metals migrated from PFUCP products distributed in Korea appear to be within the safe range.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.865-871
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• 2022

Tenebrio molitor larvae is well known as edible insect. Then, although it has been widely studied that Tenebrio molitor larvae has various bioactive functions such as antioxidant, anti-wrinkle, and anticancer. Nevertheless, antioxidant effects of Tenebrio molitor larvae water extract (TMH) has not been well described in Adult Retina Pigment Epithelial cell line (ARPE-19). In this study, we demonstrated that antioxidant effects of TMH against H₂O₂-induced oxidative stress in ARPE-19. Thus, we selected for our studies and performed a series of dose-response assay to determine the working concentration that lead to a consistent and high degree of cytotoxicity, which we defined as the level of H₂O₂ that killed 40% of the ARPE-19 cells. ARPE-19 cells were pre-treated with various concentrations of TMH (0.1 up to 2 mg/ml) before exposure to 300 µM H₂O₂. As we expected, TMH effectively prevented ARPE-19 cells from 300 µM H₂O₂-induced cell death in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, TMH inhibited the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) such as extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and p38. Overall, the inhibitory effects of TMH on H₂O₂-induced apoptosis and oxidative stress were associated with the protection cleaved caspase-3, Bax, Bcl-2, and HO-1. The TMH suppressed H₂O₂-induced cell membrane leakage and oxidative stress in ARPE-19 cells. Thus, these results suggest that the TMH plays an important role in antioxidant effect in ARPE-19.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.285-299
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• 2022

The aim of this study is to investigate the awareness and perception of pediatric dentists regarding dental health insurance (DHI) system in Korea. Online surveys were sent to the members of the Korean Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (KAPD), and the responses were collected. The survey, consisting of 41 questions, was subdivided into 'general background of the respondents', 'the awareness on national health insurance (NHI) and DHI', 'the awareness on DHI pertaining to pediatric dentistry', 'issues that need improvement on DHI pertaining to pediatric dentistry', 'DHI claims', and 'the roles of KAPD in DHI'. In total, 302 responded, with a response rate of 28.9%. Excluding 2 questionnaires with insufficient answers, a total of 300 survey results were analyzed. According to the analysis, pediatric dentists thought that the coverage of DHI was not as sufficient compared to that of NHI, but were expecting its scope to broaden in the future. The satisfaction rate was higher in pit and fissure sealant and composite resin filling than in caries-detecting quantitative light-induced fluorescence. Pediatric dentists considered permanent tooth composite resin filling (65.7%) needed an increase in insurance copayment, while topical fluoride application (74.7%) to require insurance coverage. DHI claims were generally handled by dental hygienists and/or nursing assistants. Approximately half of the respondents answered that they have had experiences on appealing for insurance denials. Lastly, pediatric dentists generally had a positive attitude towards providing information for the DHI. This study is expected to be used as a sound dataset for the DHI policy development concerning pediatric dentistry.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.469-484
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• 2021

Rock mass classification results have a great influence on construction schedule and budget as well as tunnel stability in tunnel design. A total of 3,526 tunnels have been constructed in Korea and the associated techniques in tunnel design and construction have been continuously developed, however, not many studies have been performed on how to assess rock mass quality and grade more accurately. Thus, numerous cases show big differences in the results according to inspectors' experience and judgement. Hence, this study aims to suggest a more reliable rock mass classification (RMR) model using machine learning algorithms, which is surging in availability, through the analyses based on various rock and rock mass information collected from boring investigations. For this, 11 learning parameters (depth, rock type, RQD, electrical resistivity, UCS, V_p, V_s, Young's modulus, unit weight, Poisson's ratio, RMR) from 13 local tunnel cases were selected, 337 learning data sets as well as 60 test data sets were prepared, and 6 machine learning algorithms (DT, SVM, ANN, PCA & ANN, RF, XGBoost) were tested for various hyperparameters for each algorithm. The results show that the mean absolute errors in RMR value from five algorithms except Decision Tree were less than 8 and a Support Vector Machine model is the best model. The applicability of the model, established through this study, was confirmed and this prediction model can be applied for more reliable rock mass classification when additional various data is continuously cumulated.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.310-317
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• 2022

Recently, interest in the harmful factors of particulate matter (PM), a major component of air pollution, has been increasing. In particular, PM_2.5 with a diameter of less than 2.5 ㎛ is well known to induce oxidative stress accompanied by autophagy in human lung epithelial cells. However, studies on whether PM_2.5 increases autophagy under oxidative stress and whether this process is reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent are insufficient. Therefore, in this study, we investigated whether PM_2.5 promotes autophagy through the generation of ROS in human alveolar epithelial A594 cells. According to our results, cells co-treated with PM_2.5 and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) showed a lower cell viability than cells treated with each alone, which was associated with increased total and mitochondrial ROS production. The co-treatment of PM_2.5 and H₂O₂ also increased autophagy induction, which was confirmed through Cyto-ID staining, and the expression of autophagy biomarker proteins increased. However, when ROS generation was artificially blocked by N-acetyl-L-cysteine pretreatment, the reduction in cell viability and induction of autophagy by PM_2.5 and H₂O₂ co-treatment were markedly attenuated. Therefore, the present results suggest that PM_2.5-induced ROS generation may play a critical role in autophagy induction in A549 cells.

• Korean Association of Arts Management
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• no.58
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• pp.5-47
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• 2021

This paper is a story about five middle-aged men in their 50s who suddenly began their photographic activities as they reached middle age. In the perspective of Borudieu's cultural capital theory, this study observes five men in their 50s by implementing in-depth interviews about the motivation behind taking photographs, the experience of photography activities, and the rewards of these activities. The theory has undergone a theoretical revision with the criticism that factors other than the class can be influential. Based on these ideas, I have proceeded my study by preferentially grasping the notion of the 'field' in accordance with the specific history of Korean society. Therefore, this study sought to more specifically understand the various photographic activities of middle-class men in their 50s by referring Coskuner-Balli and Thompson's argument(2013), which revised 2018's cultural captial theory and proposed the concept of 'subordinate cultural capital' and 'leisure capital' who proposed by Backlund, E. A. & Kuentzel, W. F.(2013). As a middle-class men in their 50s, research participants have grown up and worked in a social atmosphere where economic capital is recognized as an individual's ability. However, they are faced with the value that the knowledge and taste towards culture and arts is one's identity. In addition to the subjective deprivation that arises from this situation, the lifespan characteristic of their age that it is on the brink of the old age appeared to have influenced them to put their psychological motivation immediately into practice. Economic capital was the main conversion terms to move form interest to practice, which includes 'time' as a resource as well as money. With the cultural practices being expanded since their creation of photographs, the reason that these expansions can be maintained more actively lies in their identity as 'cultural artist' that is consolidated in new relationships in the sharing of photographic activities. In this way, photographic activities grant a symbolic status of 'a middle-aged man who actively builds and expresses his identity' through the conversion of accumulating cultural capital and the conversion into social capital. Furthermore, the recognized scope of the symbolic capital acquired by the research participants is in the domain of the private life that is family and acquaintance. Especially, they were gaining a great psychological reward from their children's recognition that they are not just a 'breadwinner' but 'dad who cultivates himself with a culture and arts'. Accordingly, by considering that 'generation' other than class can be a meaningful discussion point when understanding Korea society from the perspective of cultural theory, this study is meaningful that a more flexible understanding of cultural theory can give a glimpse into the possibility of a more specific and diverse approach that will arise in the discussion of culture and arts education.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.113-118
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• 2022

The feeding habits of sandfish, Arctoscopus japonicus were studied using 781 specimens collected by Eastern Sea Danish and gill net from January 2020 to December 2021 in the coastal waters of East Sea, Korea. The size of the specimens ranged from 14.8 to 25.4 cm in total length. A. japonicus were fed mainly on amphipods that constituted 54.7% in IRI. Cephalopods were the second largest prey component. The diets also include small quantities of euphausiids, crabs, shrimps, fishes, and worms. The diet composition of A. japonicus showed changes in season. The cephalopods feeding rate was highest in summer, whereas the proportion of euphausiids was higher in spring than in other seasons. The proportion of cephalopods has increased as the body size of A. japonicus increased, whereas the proportion of amphipods and euphausiids decreased gradually. As the body size of A. japonicus increased the mean weight of prey per the stomach (mW/ST) tended to increase significantly (One-way ANOVA, P<0.05).

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.601-612
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• 2021

This study was conducted to evaluate the appropriate sowing method and mixture seeding rate on germination of Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) and white clover (Trifolium repens L.). The experimental design includes two sowing methods and six mixed seeding per each method: BT₁:BP₀ (broadcast seeding; B, Trifolium repens; T, Poa pratensis; P), BT₁:BP₂, BT₁:BP₃, BT₃:BT₁, BT₂:BP₁, BT₀:BP₁ and ST₁:SP₀ (spot seeding; S), ST₁:SP₂, ST₁:SP₃, ST₃:ST₁, ST₂:SP₁, ST₀:SP₁. The germination was the highest for both species when the seeding rate was higher than other species. In overall, the germination of white clover was higher and faster than Kentucky bluegrass. Two plots, BT₂:BP₁, ST₁:ST₂, were retained the balanced proportion of the germination rate. Therefore, It was suggested, for maintaining the balanced field, it is better to seed white clover twice Kentucky bluegrass on broadcast seeding and Kentucky bluegrass twice white clover on spot seeding. In regard of sowing method, broadcast seeding is better than spot seeding in terms of increasing the germination. It is necessary to supplement the result for real application by long-term monitoring.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.479-490
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• 2021

As a part of Korean accounting reforms through the improvement of the accounting and audit related systems, the amendment bill of 'Act on External Audit of Stock Compamies's was passed in the Natinal Assembly plenary session in 2017, the amended act has been enforced except some regulations since the business year on November 1, 2018, and all the amended matters will be applied from the business year of 2024. The reasons for auditor designation in 2019 are 'pre-IPO' 331 companies, 220 periodic designation companies, 197 companies that had operating loss for three consecutive years, 112 companies with issues for administration, 108 companies with excessive debt ratio and 66 companies with no auditors. Regarding the reasons for the increase of auditor designation, 475 companies were increased in accordance with the new designation standard by the amended bill of Act on External Audit of Stock Companies, 114 companies were increased due to the abolition of the considered designation system of companies to be listed, and 90 companies were increased based on the increase of listed companies incorporated to issues for administration. In 2020, 462 companies had periodical designation (434 listed, 28 non-listed), adding 242 companies (110%) over a year. In terms of direct designation, 'pre-IPO' accounted for the most (362 companies), followed by '3 consecutive years of operating loss' (245 companies), then by companies with administration issues (133 companies), and CEO & largest sharholder replacement. Regarding the designation of auditors according to accounting firms in 2020, A group that includes(top 4) accounting firms(Samil, Samjeong, Hanyeong, Anjin) had 526 companies(34.6%), which ia an incease of 72 companies from the previous year(454 companies, 37.1%), but the weight decreased by 2.5%.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.111 no.3
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• pp.365-373
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• 2022

We compared carbon stocks in tree biomass and soils of Quercus acutissima, Q. mongolica, Q. serrata, and Q. variabilis stands. A total of 531 plots (Q. acutissima: 110 plots, Q. mongolica: 177 plots, Q. serrata: 96 plots, Q. variabilis: 148 plots) were examined between 2016 and 2021 to determine the tree biomass and soil carbon stocks throughout the country. The carbon stocks of tree biomass were significantly higher in Q. mongolica (mean stand age, 57 years, 144.9 Mg C ha^-1) than in Q. variabilis (mean stand age, 43 years, 123.7 Mg C ha^-1), Q. serrata (mean stand age, 43 years, 120.1 Mg C ha^-1), and Q. acutissima (mean stand age, 36 years, 113.2 Mg C ha^-1) stands. The soil carbon concentration was significantly higher in Q. mongolica (A: 43.1 mg C g-1) than in Q. serrata (31.0 mg C g-1), Q. variabilis (25.31 mg C g-1), and Q. acutissima (24.4 mg C g-1) stands. The soil carbon stocks were significantly higher in Q. mongolica (116.8 Mg C ha^-1) than in Q. acutissima (49.3 Mg C ha^-1) stands. Total carbon stocks of tree biomass and soil were highest in Q. mongolica (262 Mg C ha^-1), followed by Q. serrata (218 Mg C ha^-1), Q. variabilis (211 Mg C ha^-1), and Q. acutissima (163 Mg C ha^-1) stands. Multiple linear regressions were performed to estimate the total carbon stocks of the four Quercus spp., and results showed that total carbon stocks increased with increasing elevation, mean diameter at breast height, and basal areas. Basal area and elevation of Quercus spp. stands were important explanatory variables based on multiple linear regressions for estimating carbon stocks.