• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 1995

The reliable measurement of metal in biological media in human body is one of critical indicators for the proper evaluation of its toxic effect on human health. Recently in Korea the necessity of quality assurance of measurement in occupational health and occupational hygiene fields brought out regulatory quality control program. Lead is often used as a standard metal for the program in both fields of occupational health and hygiene. During last 20 years lead poisoning was prevalent in Korea and still is one of main heavy metal poisoning and the capability of the measurement of blood lead is one of prerequisites for institute of specialized occupational health in Korea. Furthermore blood lead is most important indicator to evaluate lead burden of human exposure to lead and the reliable and accurate analysis is most needed whenever possible. To evaluate the extent of the interlaboratory differences of blood lead measurement in several well-known institute specialized in occupational health in Korea, authors prepared 68 blood samples from two storage battery industries and all samples were divided into samples with 2 ml. One set of 68 samples were analyzed by authors's laboratory(Soonchunhyang University Institute of Industrial Medicine: SIIM) and 40 samples of other set were analyzed by C University Institute of Industrial Medicine(CIIM) and the rest 28 samples of other set were analyzed by Japanese institute(K Occupational Health Center:KOHC). Authors also prepared test bovine samples which were obtained from Japanese Federation of Occupational Health Organization (JFOHO) for quality control. Authors selected 2 other well-known occupational health laboratories and one laboratory specialized for instrumental analysis. A total of 6 laboratories joined the interlaboratory comparison of blood lead measurement and the results obtained were as follows: 1. There was no significant difference in average blood lead between SIIM and CIIM in different group of blood lead concentration, and the relative standard deviation of two laboratories was less than 3.0%. On the other hand, there was also no significant difference of average blood lead between SIIM and KOHC with relative standard deviation of 6.84% as maximum. 2. Taking less than 15% difference of mean or less than 6 ug/dl difference in below 40 ug/dl in whole blood as a criteria of agreement of measurement between two laboratories, agreement rates were 87.5%(35/40) and 78.6%(22/28) between SIIM and CIIM, SIIM and KOHC respectively. 3. The correlation of blood lead between SIIM and CIIM was 0.975 (p=0.0001) and the regression equation was SIIM = 2.19 + 0.9243 ClIM, whereas the correlation between SUM and KOHC was O.965(p=0.0001) with the equation of SIIM = 1.91 + 0.9794 KOHC. 4. Taking the reference value as a dependent variable and each of 6 laboratories's measurement value as a independent variable, the determination coefficient($R^2$) of simple regression equations of blood lead measurement for bovine test samples were very high($R^2>0.99$), and the regression coefficient(${\beta}$) was between 0.972 and 1.15 which indicated fairly good agreement of measurement results.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.29-36
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• 2012

Research on subjective well-being (SWB) has flourished in recent years. As SWB determines cognitive and motivational processes, including social comparison and cognitive dissonance, it determines how consumers make decisions, including the comparison and evaluation of alternatives. Considering that the comparison and evaluation of alternatives is related to social comparison and cognitive dissonance, the influence of SWB on the comparison and evaluation of alternatives needs to be investigated. This research aims to examine the effect of SWB on the comparison and evaluation of alternatives, especially when people acquire additional information about their chosen or non-chosen alternatives, leading to a change of absolute/relative value of alternatives. The reasonable price of an alternative as evaluated by individuals is used as a measure reflecting the perceived value of an alternative. Putting all of this together, the current study intended to investigate the influence of absolute and relative value on the reasonable price of an alternative depending on SWB. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two experiment groups (deterioration of non-chosen alternative vs. improvement of non-chosen alternative). After reading consumer report ratings of alternatives shown on monitor screens, participants chose one of the alternatives, followed by the change of the consumer report ratings (deterioration of non-chosen alternative vs. improvement of non-chosen alternative). Participants evaluated the reasonable price of their chosen alternative based on the provided price of the non-chosen alternative. Two weeks after the experiment, they were asked to answer survey questionnaire on SWB measures. A regression was performed on the reasonable price with experiment groups, mean-centered SWB, and their interaction. There was a significant simple effect of groups and SWB. More importantly, these effects were qualified by the predicted interaction of groups and SWB. To interpret this interaction further, simple slope tests were performed on the price when SWB was centered at one standard deviation above (i.e., happy people) and below (i.e., unhappy people) the mean. As predicted, happy people rated the reasonable price of the chosen alternative higher in the improvement of non-chosen alternative group than in the deterioration of non-chosen alternative group. Conversely, unhappy people showed no price difference between groups. These results show that happy people pay attention to the absolute value of the alternative, whereas unhappy people give more weight to the relative value as well as to the absolute value of a chosen alternative, indicating that unhappy people are more sensitive to the negative information of a non-chosen alternative compared to happy people. The present research expanded the existing research stream on SWB by showing the influence of SWB on the consumers' evaluation of alternatives. Furthermore, this study adds to previous research on SWB and social comparison by suggesting that unhappy people tend to be more sensitive to negative social comparison information of alternatives even when a target of social comparison is not explicitly present. Moreover, these results yield some managerial implications on how to provide product information based on SWB in order to make products more attractive among the alternatives available to consumers.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.25-31
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• 2007

Characterizing the risk posed by a mixture of chemicals is a challenging task due to the chemical interactions of individual components that may affect their physical behavior and hence alter their exposure to receptors. In this study, cell tests that represent subsurface environment were carried out using benz[a]anthracene (BaA) and p-xylene focusing on phasetransforming interaction to verify increased mobility and risk of highly sorbed pollutants in the presence of less sorbed, mobile liquid pollutants. A transport model was also developed to interpret results and to simulate the same process on a field scale. The experimental results showed that BaA had far greater mobility in the presence of p-xylene than in the absence of that. The main transport mechanisms in the vadose zone were by dissolution to p-xylene or water. The transport model utilizing Defined Time Steps (DTS) was developed and tested with the experimental results. The predicted and observed values showed similar tendency, but the more work is needed in the future study for more precise modeling. The field-scale simulation results showed that transport of BaA to groundwater table was significantly faster in the presence of NAPL, and the oral carcinogenic risk of BaA calculated with the concentration in groundwater was 15${\sim}$87 times larger when mixed with NAPL than when solely contaminated. Since transport rate of PAHs is very slow in the subsurface without NAPL and no degradation of PAHs was considered in this simulation during the transport, the increase of risk in the presence of NAPL is expected to be greater for the actual contaminated site.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.271-279
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• 2018

Previous studies to elucidate the etiology of cyclosporine(Cs)-induced gingival overgrowth in children have not completely excluded all factors that may cause differences among individuals. This study examined the effect of cyclosporine on the metabolism of type 1 collagen(CoL-I) in experimental models that controlled the effects of biological variations on individuals. Five 5-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were administered Cs by gastric feeding for 6 weeks. Gingival specimens were harvested from the mandibular posterior area before beginning Cs administration and at 2, 4, and 6 weeks thereafter. Gingival fibroblasts were cultured from all the 20 biopsies collected from the gingiva. Half of the fibroblasts collected prior to the Cs administration were designated as Control. The other half of the fibroblasts were treated with Cs in vitro and called in vitro test group(Tt). The fibroblasts collected 2, 4, and 6 weeks after the Cs administration were called in vivo test groups : T2, T4, T6, respectively. Immunofluorescence microscopy was used to detect CoL-I in all the fibroblasts. CoL-I was analyzed at both the gene and protein expression levels by real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. Changes in CoL-I before and after Cs treatment were evaluated from the gingiva of each rat. There was no significant difference in gene expression of CoL-I in the control and test groups. CoL-I protein expression levels of fibroblasts increased in in vitro Cs treatment for each individual, and also increased in in vivo Cs treatment. In this study, the experimental method that control biological variations that can occur due to differences among individuals was useful. Subsequent studies on other factors besides CoL-I and in-depth studies in humans are needed.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.71-80
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• 2012

In order to verify exact dose distributions in the state-of-the-art radiation techniques, a newly designed three-dimensional dosimeter and technique has been took strongly into consideration. The main purpose of our study is to verify the optimized parameters of polymer gel as a real volumetric dosimeter in terms of the various study of MRI. We prepared a gel dosimeter by combing 8% of gelatin, 8% of MAA, and 10 mM of THPC. We used a Co-60 gamma-ray teletherapy unit and delivered doses of 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14 Gy to each polymer gel with a solid phantom. We used a fast spin-echo pulse to acquire the characterized T2 time of MRI. The signal noise ratio (SNR) of the head & neck coil was a relatively lower sensitivity than the body coil; therefore the dose uncertainty of head & neck coil would be lower than body coil's. But the dose uncertainty and resolution of the head & neck coil were superior to the body coil in this study. The TR time between 1,500 ms and 2,000 ms showed no significant difference in the dose resolution, but TR of 1,500 ms showed less dose uncertainty. For the slice thickness of 2.5 mm, less dose uncertainty of TE times was at 4 Gy, as well, it was the lowest result over 4 Gy at TE of 12 ms. The dose uncertainty was not critical up to 6 Gy, but the best dose resolution was obtained at 20 ms up to 8 Gy. The dose resolution shows the lowest value was over 20 ms and was an excellent result in the number of excitation (NEX) of three. The NEX of two was the highest dose resolution. We concluded that the better result of slice thickness versus NEX was related to the NEX increment and thin slice thickness.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Sensory Integration
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.41-49
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• 2010

Objective : Multisensory integration (MSI) is the essential process to use diverse sensory information for cognitive task or execution of motor action. Especially, visual and somatosensory integration is critical for motor behavior and coordination. This study was designed to explain spatial and temporal characteristics of visual and somatosensory integration by neurophysiological research method that identifies the time course and brain location of the SI process. Methods : Electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potential (ERP) is used in this study in order to observe neural activities when integrating visual and tactile input. We calculate the linear summation (SUM) of visual-related potentials (VEPs) and somatosensory-related potentials (SEPs), and compared the SUM with simultaneously presented visual-tactile ERPs(SIM) Results : There were significant differences between the SIM and SUM in later time epochs (about 200-300ms) at contralateral somatosensory areas (C4) and occipital cortices (O1&O2). The amplitude of the SIM was mathematically larger than the summed signals, implying that the integration made some extra neural activities. Conclusion : This study provides some empirical neural evidence of that multisensory integration is more powerful than just combing two unisensory inputs in the brain and ERP data reveals neural signature relating to multisensory integrative process. Since this study is preliminary pilot study, larger population and criteria are needed for level of the significance. Further study is recommended to consider issues including effect of internally-driven attention and laterality of interaction to make the evidence by this study solid.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.311-318
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• 2016

Azorubine is a synthetic tar color containing azo-bond in the molecular structure. This food colorant has been allowed to be used for beverages, cheese and dried fruits in the European Union and for some food in Australia. Even though it is applicable as a food color in many countries, this compound has not been permitted in Korea so far as a food additive. Thus, this study was performed to establish an analysis method for azorubine in Korea by comparison of three HPLC analysis methods for azorubine and other azo-compounds which are officially used in the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA, EU), the Food Standard Agency (FSA, England) and the National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation (NIFDS, Korea). The analysis method of the FSA for azorubine showed the best linearity ($r^2=0.999$), limit of detection (LOD, $0.07{\mu}g/mL$), limit of quantification (LOQ, $0.20{\mu}g/mL$), precision (0~0.5%) and accuracy (98.6~100.7%) among tested HPLC methods using a C-18 column and diode array detector (DAD) with ammonium acetate solution and acetonitrile as an eluent solution. Finally selected method of FSA was further verified by inter-day and intra-day experiments with linearity, LOD, LOQ, precision and accuracy. Recovery test showed the recover ratios of 97~103%, 95~101%, and 93~102% in beverages, breads/snacks and other foods, respectively. Inter-laboratory test represented the absolute value of z-score of less than 2 which means satisfactory levels in this test. Selected method of FSA showed reliable analytical results in application test using food samples collected in commercial markets in Europe.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.326-333
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• 2015

A tidal sandshoal, called 'Puldeung' in the Daeijackdo Marine Protected Area(DMPA), is facing erosion due to sand mining in the nearby coastal region. To monitor the morphologic change and erosion of Puldeung, a camera monitoring system was established at the top of Song-Ee Mountain in Daeijack Island. The system consists of 2 Cannon digital cameras, Eye-fi memory card/Long-Term Evolution wireless network, and solar power supply. The acquired camera images were analyzed to obtain the area of Puldeung by the following methods: geometric correction of image, identification of shoreline, areal measurement of Puldeung and its error estimation. To compare the Puldeung area with previously measured area of 1.79 km2 at tidal height of 137 cm in 2008 and of 1.59 km2 at tidal height of 148 cm in 2010, we selected images with same tidal heights. The Puldeung area was 1.37 and 1.23 km2 at the tidal height of 137 and 148 cm, respectively. The erosion at DMPA is very severe and thus it is imperative to initiate the morphodynamical study on the seasonal variation and long-term evolution of Puldeung as well as the causes and measures of Puldeung erosion.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.107-114
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• 1997

Recent reports indicate that the clinical usefulness of prostate specific antigen (PSA), particulary in the differentiation of benign prostate hyperplasia from prostate cancer, can be improved by measuring the amount of free PSA in serum. Measuring free PSA is especially useful in attempts to improve diagnositc performance of PSA in the diagnostic gray zone of total PSA. The objective of this study was to develop free PSA assay kit using sandwich microplate enzyme immunoassay format. We chose a test format with polyclonal anti-PSA antibodies coated on the wells and monoclonal anti-free PSA antibodies for quantification to gain higher test sensitivity. We adpoted 10 uL of specimen and 2 hours of first incubation time with detecting antibody for free PSA EIA format using microplate. The within-day and between-day precision (%CV) in the high and low concentration ranges were below 4%. The correlation coefficient between in-house free PSA assay and commercial assay kit was r=0.9965 (slope=0.0984, y intercept=0.0173, N=27). No hook effect was found by 40 ng/mL and correlation coefficient (r) value of the fitted linear regression was over 0.995. The recovery tests were in the range of 98.9∼104.1％ for free PSA. In conclusion, in-house free PSA enzyme immune assay is cost effective, simple and rapid and could be useful for the prognosis after theraphy as well as for the differential diagnosis between prostate cancer and benign prostate hyperplasia.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 2009

This research is about the inherent optical properties(IOPs) of algae which is collected from Nam-Hae for basic research of red tide remote sensing technique development. 21 kinds of red tide organisms were cultivated to investigate IOPs of them in the level of laboratory, and specific absorption coefficient of phytoplankton($a^*$) and backscattering coefficient of phytoplankton(${b_b}^*$) are estimated by using spectrophotometer. Absorption spectrums according to species appeared to range from 0.005 to 0.06 ($m^2{\cdot}mg^{-1}$), and the shapes of spectrums were also different. The range of ${b_b}^*$ appeared to be $10^{-2}{\sim}10^{-4}\;m^2{\cdot}mg^{-1}$, which had about 100 times differences between species, and the shape of spectrum have significant difference between species. These results will input as a remote sensing reflectance model input parameter from ocean color.