• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.219-232
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• 2024

The aim of this study was to explore the impact of body mass index (BMI) and drumming exercise on autonomic nervous system function in adult women. Ten adult women (aged 30-50) were divided into two groups based on their BMI: a normal BMI group (Low BMI, LBMI < 23 kg/m²) and an overweight BMI group (High BMI, HBMI > 23 kg/m²). Both groups participated in a drumming exercise program, consisting of 50-minute sessions, three times a week, for a duration of 8 weeks. Body composition and heart rate variability were assessed before and after the 8-week exercise period. Heart rate variability was evaluated using linear analysis in the time domain and frequency domain. Additionally, non-linear analysis was conducted using a Poincaré plot. The autonomic nervous system index was determined by measuring parasympathetic nervous system index and sympathetic nervous system index. Following the 8-week intervention, the HBMI group exhibited a significant decrease in weight (p=0.034), BMI (p=0.044), body fat mass (p=0.032), and waist circumference (p=0.013) compared to the LBMI group. Furthermore, the HBMI group demonstrated significant increases in RMSSD (p=0.018) and TP (p=0.033) in linear analysis, as well as SD1 (p=0.018) in non-linear analysis and PNS Index (p=0.040) compared to the LBMI group. RMSSD, SD1, and PNS Index serve as indicators of parasympathetic nervous system activity in linear and non-linear analyses, respectively. These findings indicate that drumming exercise significantly enhances autonomic nervous system function in overweight women.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.68 no.4
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• pp.438-444
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• 2023

Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.; IRG) sowing season is delayed due to the autumn rainy season. Therefore, to address this problem, transplanting date and plant density were investigated. Transplant times investigated were October 20th, October 30th, and November 10th and planting densities were 50, 70, and 80 hills per 3.3 m². The plant height, leaf area index, and plant coverage rate were high in the following order: October 20th, October 30th, and November 10th. There was no significant difference among planting densities. In addition, the number of tillers and dry weight before and after wintering were high on October 20th. In terms of yield components, the number of tillers, dry weight, and seed yield per unit area were higher with the transplanting date of October 20th than with transplanting on November 10th. There was no difference in seed yield between the planting densities of 80 and 70 hills per 3.3 m². However, seed yield was low at 50 hills per 3.3 m². In conclusion, the transplanting time for stable seed production is late October, and optimal plant density is 70 and 80 hills per 3.3 m². A stable interplanting number before wintering will contribute to the seed yield.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.68 no.4
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• pp.371-382
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• 2023

This study aimed to estimate optimal treatment for enhancing the germination rate and disinfections effect of organic wheat varieties, Jokyung, Geumgang, Saegumgang, and Baekgang using hot water treatment and lime sulfur mixture. Before disinfection, the germination rates of the seeds averaged 86.3±2.5% to 87.5±2.9%, while the infection levels caused by fungi and bacteria were observed to be 22.5±2.9% to 38.3±2.5% and 18.8±4.8% to 23.8±2.5%, respectively. The germination rates of four wheat varieties under hot water treatments were either the same or higher compared to untreated seeds. As the temperature and treatment time of hot water treatment increased, the contamination levels of fungi and bacteria decreased. The optimal hot water treatment for the seeds was observed at 55℃ for 10 minutes, resulting in germination rates averaging 90.0±0.0% to 97.5±2.9%, which were either the same or higher than untreated seeds. The disinfection effectiveness against fungi and bacteria was high, averaging 83.3~93.5% and 100%, respectively. Additionally, an investigation was conducted on the germination rates and microbial disinfection efficacy of 0.2% and 0.4% lime-sulfur mixture with varying treatment times, 3 to10 minutes for each wheat variety. As the treatment time elapsed, no significant differences in germination rates were observed among four wheat varieties. However, the germination rates were higher compared to the untreated group (86.3~87.5%), and the optimal treatment time was found to be 7 minutes or 10 minutes, resulting in an average reduction of 90.0~96.0% in contamination levels of fungi and bacteria. Therefore, the germination rates and disinfection effects varied depending on the treatment conditions of hot water treatment and lime-sulfur mixture applied for the disinfection of the four varieties of organic wheat seeds. However, it is considered that treating the seeds with hot water treatment at 55℃ for 10 minutes or with 0.2% or 0.4% lime-sulfur compound for 10 minutes enhances germination rates and reduces the contamination rate of fungi and bacteria compared to untreated seeds. Thus, these environmentally friendly seed disinfection technologies are likely to be highly useful in agricultural fields.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.84 no.5
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• pp.1094-1109
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• 2023

Purpose To investigate whether CT-based tumor regression grade (ctTRG) can be used to predict the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in colon cancer. Materials and Methods A total of 53 patients were enrolled. Two radiologists independently assessed the ctTRG using the length, thickness, layer pattern, and luminal and extraluminal appearance of the tumor. Changes in tumor volume were also analyzed using the 3D Slicer software. We evaluated the association between pathologic TRG (pTRG) and ctTRG. Patients with Rödel's TRG of 2, 3, or 4 were classified as responders. In terms of predicting responder and pathologic complete remission (pCR), receiver operating characteristic was compared between ctTRG and tumor volume change. Results There was a moderate correlation between ctTRG and pTRG (ρ = -0.540, p < 0.001), and the interobserver agreement was substantial (weighted κ = 0.672). In the prediction of responder, there was no significant difference between ctTRG and volumetry (Az = 0.749, criterion: ctTRG ≤ 3 for ctTRG, Az = 0.794, criterion: ≤ -27.1% for volume, p = 0.53). Moreover, there was no significant difference between the two methods in predicting pCR (p = 0.447). Conclusion ctTRG might predict the response to NAC in colon cancer. The diagnostic performance of ctTRG was comparable to that of CT volumetry.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.407-416
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• 2024

Over the past 20 years, there has been a rapid increase in the number and size of subway stations and underground structures worldwide, and the importance of safety for subway users has also continuously grown. Subway stations, due to their structural characteristics, have limited visibility and escape routes in disaster situations, posing a high risk of human casualties and economic losses. Therefore, an analysis of disaster vulnerabilities is essential not only for existing subway systems but also for deep underground facilities like GTX. This paper presents a case study applying a betweenness centrality-based disaster vulnerability analysis framework to the case of Gwanggyo Central Station. The analysis of Gwanggyo Central Station's base model and various disaster scenarios revealed that the betweenness centrality distribution is symmetrical, following the symmetrical spatial structure of the station, with high centrality concentrated in the central areas of basement levels one and two. These areas exhibited values more than 220% above the average, indicating a high likelihood of bottleneck phenomena during evacuation in disaster situations. To mitigate this vulnerability, scenarios were proposed to distribute evacuation flows concentrated in the central areas, enhancing the usability of peripheral areas as evacuation routes by connecting staircases continuously. This modification, when considered, showed a decrease in centrality concentration, confirming that the proposed addition of evacuation paths could effectively contribute to dispersing the flow of evacuation in Gwanggyo Central Station. This case study demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed framework for assessing evacuation vulnerability in enhancing subway station user safety and can be effectively applied in disaster response and management plans for major underground facilities.

• KOMUNHWA
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• no.93
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• pp.153-184
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• 2019

The Yunggimuntogi(Treasure No. 597) has been known to be recovered at Yeongseondong Shell Mounds, Busan in 1933 during the Japanese colonial period. This artifact is characterized by a short spout attached to one side of the mouth rim as well as a V-shaped clay stripe on the upper body part, which is the only earthenware designated as national cultural heritage from the prehistoric period. In order to prepare for the earthquakes that have recently become more frequent, this study has precisely diagnosed the conservation status and stabilized the artifact through scientific conservation treatment. As a result of the precise diagnosis of the preservation status, cracks and losses were observed in the spout, the mouth rim, and the base. In some portion of the raised pattern decorations, loss of fine pieces raised concerns over the secondary damage. The C·T image analysis has shown that the earthenware had been once glued and restored from dozens of broken pieces. From the sites restored in the past, the peeling of surface colored layer and the fine cracks between the restoration material and the earthenware clay were observed due to the aging of the restoration material. Furthermore, the inherent color and texture of the earthenware was altered by excessive color matching. The damaged and restored sites were concentrated on the left side, the rear side, and the right side. The damages were more severe on the base than the body portion. In the past, gypsum(CaSO4) had been mainly used as restoration material, and synthetic resin had been partially used for joining and reinforcing the pieces. On the surface of the restoration sites, it is presumed that lead chromate(PbCrO4) yellow modern pigment was used for color matching. The precise diagnosis has revealed that the restoration material in the past has been stabilized by interlocking with the earthenware clay for a long time. Therefore, in this conservation treatment, the coloring layer of the excessively painted surface was washed to recover the original color and texture of the earthenware, and the physically vulnerable parts of the sites restored in the past were mainly targeted for joining and restoration. The conservation treatment has proceeded in the order of cleaning, joining and restoration, and color matching, and materials and methods suitable for the artifacts were selected and applied through a preliminary experiment. The survey on conservation status before the treatment as well as the conservation treatment process have been systematically recorded and documented to provide basic data for further continuous conservation and maintenance by collecting institutions.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.418-434
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• 2024

Purpose: The nutritional status of folate in Korean adults was evaluated using the newly established folate database (DB) and data from the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Methods: This study analyzed the folate intake of 15,054 people (6,278 men and 8,776 women) and the relationship with serum folate concentration of 5,260 people (2,272 men and 2,988 women). Results: The average daily folate intake among Korean adults was lowest in the 19 to 29-year age group and highest in those in their 50s. Folate intake was higher in groups with higher education and household income, non-smokers, participants in aerobic physical activity, and dietary supplement users regardless of sex. Among men, office workers consumed more folate than physical workers. Vegetables and grains were the first and second most contributing food groups to folate intake. The serum folate levels were higher in women than men and lowest in the 19-29 year age group for both sexes. After adjusting for energy intake, age, income, smoking, physical activity, and dietary supplement intake, serum folate concentration increased significantly as intake increased (p < 0.001). The explanatory power (R²) of folate intake on the blood folate concentration was 0.183 and 0.141 in men and women, respectively. Conclusion: The proportion of participants consuming less than the estimated average requirement was 48.1% and 65.3% in men and women, respectively. In particular, the folate intake and serum levels of young men aged 19-29 years were the lowest. Therefore, it is necessary to improve their folate nutritional status through a balanced diet. In addition, the newly established folate DB may be useful for evaluating the folate nutritional status of Koreans.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.434-441
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• 2023

Determining the size or area of a plant's leaves is an important factor in predicting plant growth and improving the productivity of indoor farms. In this study, we developed a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based model to accurately predict the length and width of lettuce leaves using photographs of the leaves. A callback function was applied to overcome data limitations and overfitting problems, and K-fold cross-validation was used to improve the generalization ability of the model. In addition, ImageDataGenerator function was used to increase the diversity of training data through data augmentation. To compare model performance, we evaluated pre-trained models such as VGG16, Resnet152, and NASNetMobile. As a result, NASNetMobile showed the highest performance, especially in width prediction, with an R_squared value of 0.9436, and RMSE of 0.5659. In length prediction, the R_squared value was 0.9537, and RMSE of 0.8713. The optimized model adopted the NASNetMobile architecture, the RMSprop optimization tool, the MSE loss functions, and the ELU activation functions. The training time of the model averaged 73 minutes per Epoch, and it took the model an average of 0.29 seconds to process a single lettuce leaf photo. In this study, we developed a CNN-based model to predict the leaf length and leaf width of plants in indoor farms, which is expected to enable rapid and accurate assessment of plant growth status by simply taking images. It is also expected to contribute to increasing the productivity and resource efficiency of farms by taking appropriate agricultural measures such as adjusting nutrient solution in real time.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.210-219
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• 2024

This study investigates various ionospheric and thermospheric disturbances around the Korean Peninsula during the G5 geomagnetic storm occurred on May 10, 2024. This level of storm was the first of its magnitude in 21 years, resulting in auroras visible even in South Korea and severe space weather worldwide. The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute has been providing ionospheric information over Korea through total electron content (TEC) measurements from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and monitoring the impact of ionospheric disturbances on GNSS signals by operating five GNSS scintillation stations in Korea and other countries. During this storm period, large amplitudes of TEC variations were observed over South Korea, along with anomalous TEC enhancements accompanied by strong scintillations at night and persistent TEC depletion on the dayside during the storm's recovery phase. Such daytime TEC depletion disturbances are quite rare, typically occurring only a few times throughout the 11-year solar cycle. While the association of persistent TEC depletion during the daytime with neutral composition disturbances was identified through observations, the causes of TEC enhancement and strong scintillation at night remain unclear. We speculate that the uplift of the ionosphere by storm-induced electric fields is responsible for the TEC enhancement and scintillation, but this hypothesis requires validation based on additional observational data.

• Clean Technology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.276-286
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• 2024

Since the Paris Agreement and the surge in global interest in climate change, the importance of measuring and managing national-level resource productivity has steadily grown. However, concerns about the reliability of productivity indicators persist due to inherent uncertainties. This study estimated the metal and non-metal resource productivities of 38 OECD countries through multiple regression analysis and conducted a comparative analysis of their ranking changes according to their current resource productivities. The study results revealed that the 38 OECD countries could be classified into four categories. First, countries with low overall resource productivities due to a high economic dependence on low-value metal resources by weight exhibited a substantial rise in their non-metal resource productivity rankings. Second, countries that have minimal metal industries in their national economies but generate high value-added from these sectors showed a notable increase in their metal resource productivity rankings. Third, countries with a low proportion of metal industry in their economies and low metal resource productivities experienced significant declines in their metal resource productivity rankings. Fourth, countries with a small disparity between their metal and non-metal resource productivities showed minimal changes in their rankings for both categories. These results highlight that changes in metal resource productivity rankings were more pronounced than those for non-metal resources, which implies that the influence of non-metal resources (biomass, fossil fuels, non-metallic minerals) dominates national-level resource productivity because their economic value is higher than metal resources. These findings suggest that it is necessary to manage the economic value of each resource type as distinct statistical data to provide a more nuanced understanding of national resource productivity.