• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.161-170
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• 2017

Meningitis caused by Streptococcus suis serotype 2 (S. suis 2) is a great threat to the pig industry and human health. Virulence factors associated with the pathogenesis of meningitis have yet to be clearly defined, even though many potential S. suis 2 virulence factors have been identified. This greatly hinders the progress of S. suis 2 meningitis pathogenesis research. In this study, a co-culture blood-brain barrier (BBB) model was established using primary porcine brain microvascular endothelial cells and astrocytes, and the whole genome library of S. suis 2 was constructed using phage display technology. Finally, a total of 14 potential virulence factors contributing to S. suis 2 adherence to and invasion of the BBB were selected by analyzing the interactions between the phage library and the co-culture model. Twelve of these factors have not been previously reported in meningitis-related research. The data provide valuable insight into the pathogenesis of S. suis 2 meningitis and potential targets for the development of drug therapies.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.398-405
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• 2014

Salt accumulation at soil surface is one of the most detrimental factors for crop production in reclaimed tidal land. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of capillary barriers beneath the soil surface on dynamics of soil salts at coarse-textured reclaimed tidal land. A field experiment was conducted at Saemangeum reclaimed tidal land for two years (2012-2013). Capillary barriers ($3.5{\times}12m$) were treated with crushed-stone, oyster shell waste, coal briquette ash, coal bottom ash, rice hull and woodchip at 40-60 cm depth from soil surface. Silage corn (Zea mays) was cultivated during the experimental period and soil salinity was monitored periodically. Soil salinity was significantly reduced with capillary barrier compared to that of control. Oyster shell waste was one of the most effective capillary barrier materials to control soil salinity at Saemangeum reclaimed tidal land. At the first growing season capillary barrier did not influence on corn growth regardless of types of the material, but plant biomass and withering rate of corn were significantly improved with capillary barrier at the second growing season. The results of this study showed that capillary barrier was effective on the control of soil salinity and improvement of corn growth, which indicated that capillary barrier treatment can be considered one of the best management practices for stable crop production at Saemangeum reclaimed tidal land.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.1450-1460
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• 2008

The goal of this study was to investigate the impacts of service quality, customer satisfaction, and switching burier on store loyalty of the clothes shops at large-scale discount stores. The subjects were 357 female adults living in Suncheon City, Jeollanam Province. The questionnaires were conveniently sampled from June 1 to 30, 2006. The collected data were factor and reliability analyzed using the SPSS program. And Regression was used to verify the relationships between the variables. Among the six hypotheses set in the research model, total three were accepted through empirical analysis and the rest three were accepted partially. The empirical results showed the following managerial implications. First, consumer' perceived service quality has relationship with customer satisfaction and store loyalty. Second, service quality has a positive relationship with switch barrier. Third, customer satisfaction has significantly related with switch barrier. Fourth, switch barrier has positively related with store loyalty. Finally, 'sales people', 'VMD/atmosphere', and 'assortment' of the service quality factors have positive relationships with store loyalty, but 'policy' has a negative relationship with store loyalty.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.274-278
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• 2021

Road structures play an important role in collisions involving vehicles and wildlife. Our study aimed to determine the effect of various types of road structures on the risk associated with roadkill. We surveyed 50 previously identified roadkill hotspots, ranked from one to five according to roadkill density. We collected nine types of road structure data on each hotspot road section. Structures with similar characteristics were grouped together, resulting in five categories, namely, median barrier, high edge barrier, low edge barrier, speed, and visibility. We examined the existence of each road structure category at each hotspot rank. The cumulative link model showed that the absence of bottom blocked median barrier increased the roadkill hotspot rank. Our study concluded that a visual obstacle in the middle of roads by the median barrier decreases wildlife road crossing attempts and roadkill risk. We suggest that future roadkill mitigation plans should be established considering these characteristics.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.940-948
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• 2024

Codium fragile has been traditionally used in oriental medicine to treat enterobiasis, dropsy, and dysuria, and it has been shown to possess many biological properties. Atopic dermatitis (AD) is one of the types of skin inflammation and barrier disruption, which leads to chronic inflammatory skin diseases. In the current investigation, the protective effects of C. fragile extract (CFE) on anti-inflammation and skin barrier improvement were investigated. In LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells, nitric oxide generation and the expression levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-4, IL-6, iNOS, COX-2, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF)-α were reduced by CFE. CFE also inhibited the phosphorylation of NF-κB-p65, ERK, p-38, and JNK. Additionally, CFE showed inhibitory activity on TSLP and IL-4 expression in HaCaT cells stimulated with TNF-α/interferon- gamma (IFN-γ). Enhanced expression of factors related to skin barrier function, FLG, IVL, and LOR, was confirmed. These findings implied that CFE may be used as a therapeutic agent against AD due to its skin barrier-strengthening and anti-inflammatory activities, which are derived from natural marine products.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.91-101
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• 2008

Structural analysis models to develop live load distribution factors of simply supported prestressed concrete I-girder bridge should have the precision of the analysis results as well as modeling simplicity. This is due to the numerous frequency of structural analysis needed while developing live load distribution factors. In this study, an appropriate structural analysis model is selected by comparing previous researchs studies and models used in practical design. Also, the influence by the flexural stiffness of barrier and diaphragm on the live load distribution had been analyzed through comparing the numerical analysis and experimental tests. As a result, the model that the eccentric girder and the barrier and diaphragm are connected to the deck plate was appropriate in satisfying both accuracy and simplicity for structural analysis of simply supported prestressed concrete I-girder bridge. However, the barrier was analyzed to have insignificant influence on the live load distribution in spite of its variation of stiffness. The eccentric diaphragm showed little influence at 25% or higher of flexural stiffness. From the results, a model that the girder is rigidly connected to the deck plate in consideration of the eccentricity, the barrier is ignored and the whole section of diaphragm is supposed to be valid without eccentricity is decided as the most appropriate structural model to develop the live load distribution factors of simply supported prestressed concrete I-girder bridge in this study.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.199-221
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• 2018

The internationalization of venture firms is of importance resulting from the increased opportunities as well as the entry barriers faced in this process. This study is to investigate barrier factors affecting Korean venture firms' internationalization. Among these factors, we measured relative weights using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Literatures regarding global firm's internationalization was reviewed, and barriers were classified environment, corporate and CEO barriers. Multiple variables were used in order to measure their relative significance. We surveyed executives of venture firms comprising two groups: first, 15 global venture firms, and secondly, gradually internationalizing firms. The two groups show contradictory results as environment barriers are the primary for born-global ventures and corporate barriers are the primary for gradually internationalizing ventures. Concerning corporate barriers, the lack of marketing capability is the highest barrier for both groups. The CEO barrier is the lowest for both groups. Regarding corporate barriers, gradually internationalizing ventures considers the risk of business as highest, whereas born-global ventures features the lack of R&D capacity as highest Results of this paper imply that firms should consider priority and sequential approaches in facing environment, corporate and CEO barriers.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.121-134
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• 2010

Past studies in e-commerce loyalty were mostly focused on the effects of customer satisfaction and trust on loyalty toward online vendors. Few studies investigated the impacts of switching barriers, whilst they are widely proven to affect customer loyalty in offline commerce. Even in a handful of studies that did deal with switching barriers, their treatment of the subject remained at best superficial. This may have to do with the fact that switching costs in e-commerce could be comparatively negligible, as switching to another online vendor often involves one simple mouse click. In this study, we investigated the impact of switching barriers on loyalty under the e-commerce context. Furthermore, the extent of switching barriers which could be affected by those positive factors (most constructs were adopted from IDT) was also examined. The statistical testing results revealed that combined model which includes both the positive factors and the switching barriers explains the loyalty formation process more strongly ($R^2$ = 0.543) than each separated models ($R^2$ = 0.468 for positive factor only model, and $R^2$ = 0.365 for switching barrier only model). While only the two switching barriers such as convenience and emotional were shown to be statistically significant, we found that trust strongly influences customer's emotional barrier, let alone direct impact on loyalty, which thereby influences loyalty. The results offer insights for better understanding switching barriers in e-commerce related applications.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.39-51
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to examine the female marriage immigrants' social unification through their employment. The subjects of this study were 116 female marriage immigrants who lived in Kyungi-do. This study analyzed employment desire, barrier and volition differences of female marriage immigrants between their socio-demographic factors and effects of their employment desire and barrier to employment volition. Results of this study; First, desire of maintenance of livehood and self esteem to employment incresed with age. Second, there were differences in desire of maintenance of livehood and self esteem to employment between their countries of origins. Third, employment volition and self esteem to employment increased with level of education. Fourth, there were differences in employment volition and self esteem to employment between the length of residence in Korea. Fifth, employment desire and self esteem to employment increased with ability to Korean, but internal barrier of employment decreased by ability to Korean. Sixth, desire of identity from employment and self esteem to employment increased with the number of children. Seventh, employment desire influenced employment volition, self efficacy and self esteem to employment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.9-19
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• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to identify the factors affecting the practice of COVID-19 infection preventive behaviors in university students focusing on the extended health beliefs model (HBM) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Methods: Data was collected from November 1, 2021 to November 30, 2021. The participants were 180 university students at 3 universities. The data was analyzed through the independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple regression by using SPSS/WIN 24.0. Results: In the first stage of hierarchical regression analysis, it was shown that perceived barrier and self-efficacy, among the HBM variables, were significant factors, explaining 18.4% of the infection preventive behaviors (F=7.73, p<.001). In the 2nd stage, it was shown that self-efficacy, among the TPB variables, was a significant factor, explaining 15.3% of the infection preventive behaviors (F=11.80, p<.001). In the 3rd stage, it was shown that perceived barrier and self-efficacy, among the HBM and TPB variables, were significant factors, explaining 18.5% of the infection preventive behaviors (F=6.08, p<.001). Conclusion: When an effective infection preventive behavior program is developed and provided for students to improve their self-efficacy and reduce perceived barrier based on the results, it will contribute to the improvement of infection prevention behaviors among university students.