• Title/Summary/Keyword: Biological Assets

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Laboratory Diagnosis of Invasive Candidiasis

  • Ellepola Arjuna N.B.;Morrison Christine J.
    • Journal of Microbiology
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    • v.43 no.spc1
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    • pp.65-84
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    • 2005
  • Invasive candidiasis is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Clinical diagnosis is complicated by a lack of specific clinical signs and symptoms of disease. Laboratory diagnosis is also complex because circulating antibodies to Candida species may occur in normal individuals as the result of commensal colonization of mucosal surfaces thereby reducing the usefulness of antibody detection for the diagnosis of this disease. In addition, Candida species antigens are often rapidly cleared from the circulation so that antigen detection tests often lack the desired level of sensitivity. Microbiological confirmation is difficult because blood cultures can be negative in up to 50% of autopsy-proven cases of deep-seated candidiasis or may only become positive late in the infection. Positive cultures from urine or mucosal surfaces do not necessarily indicate invasive disease although can occur during systemic infection. Furthermore, differences in the virulence and in the susceptibility of the various Candida species to antifungal drugs make identification to the species level important for clinical management. Newer molecular biological tests have generated interest but are not yet standardized or readily available in most clinical laboratory settings nor have they been validated in large clinical trials. Laboratory surveillance of at-risk patients could result in earlier initiation of antifungal therapy if sensitive and specific diagnostic tests, which are also cost effective, become available. This review will compare diagnostic tests currently in use as well as those under development by describing their assets and limitations for the diagnosis of invasive candidiasis.

Evaluation of Nondestructive Diagnosis and Material Characteristics of Stone Lantern at Damyang Gaeseonsaji Temple Site in Korea

  • Lee, Chan Hee;Araki, Naruto
    • Journal of Conservation Science
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    • v.35 no.4
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    • pp.279-293
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    • 2019
  • The stone lantern of the Damyang Gaeseonsaji temple site is a cultural heritage built during the Unified Silla period (AD 868). The reason for its value as a cultural property is due to wittern the background and the period created on inscription of the lamp stone engraved by letters. The stone lantern consists of two types of lithic tuffs for the 23 original properties, the replaced stones in 1991, and the biotite granite for its ground stones replaced in 2005. The lithic tuffs selected as the replacement parts in 1991 and 2017 have been examined and got to properties of hardly exposure moisture as well as very similar geochemical characteristics. There were various types of physical deterioration of the stone properties and structural cracks; in particular, on the northern side of the stylobates. Chemical and biological deterioration can be identified as black, white, and brown discolorations as well as by the presence of lichens, bryophytes, and herbaceous plants. In the evaluation of the physical properties of the stone lantern, the mean and maximum ultrasonic velocities were found to be similar in each direction. However, the lowest velocity on the east and south sides were found to be lower than those of other stone properties. It was found that physical damage to the stylobates resulted from water expansion in a freeze-to-thaw phenomena related to water content. Therefore, dismantling repair was carried out in the protection facility to restrict further water supply to the stone as much as possible.

Conservation Study of Stones by Using Acrylic Monomer (아크릴계 단량체를 이용한 석조물의 보존처리 연구)

  • Kang, Sang-Yong;Suh, Man-Cheol;Kim, Un-Young;Kim, Hyung-Joong
    • Polymer(Korea)
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    • v.32 no.3
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    • pp.213-218
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    • 2008
  • About 17% of historical properties in Korea were made of stones and most of them are exposed to weathering, as such that discoloring, cracking, and shattering occur from physical, chemical, mechanical, and biological effects due to outdoor placement. Proper treatments for conservation are necessary to prevent the weathering damage and to retain the original shape of stones. MMA, an acrylic monomer having low viscosity can be impregnated deep inside stones by consecutive compression and decompression process in a pressurized vessel. After the polymerization of MMA impregnate, the space inside of the stone was filled with PMMA. It is expected that water repellent and weather resistant properties will be improved because of the improved bonding of constituent materials in stones. In this study, moisture absorption, chemical resistance, and mechanical property of two domestic granites were examined after treating them with MMA for the purpose of determining the conservation value of this method that was possibly useful to the conservation of stone cultural assets.

Correlation Analysis of Meteorological Factors for Wooden Building in Beopjusa and Seonamsa Temples by Statistical Model (통계적 모형을 통한 법주사와 선암사 목조건축물의 기상인자에 대한 상관성 분석)

  • Kim, Young Hee;Kim, Myoung Nam;Lim, Bo A;Lee, Jeung Min;Park, Ji Hee
    • Journal of Conservation Science
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    • v.34 no.5
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    • pp.387-396
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    • 2018
  • Exposure to the natural environment can cause damage to domestic wooden cultural assets, such as temples. Deterioration is accelerated by biological damage and various environmental factors. In this study, meteorological factors were monitored by equipment installed at Beopjusa temple of Boeun province and Seonamsa temple of Suncheon province. A statistical model was applied to these data to predict the meteorological factors and to compare the predictive performance of each meteorological factor. The resulting correlation coefficient between air and dew point temperatures was highest, at 0.95, while the correlation coefficient for relative humidity had a moderate value(0.65) at both the Beopjusa and Seonamsa temples. Thus, a general linear model was found to be suitable for predicting air and dew point temperatures. An analysis of correlation between meteorological factors showed that there was strong positive correlation between air temperature and dew point temperature, and between solar radiation and evaporation at both sites. There was a weak positive correlation between air temperature and evaporation at Beopjusa temple. Wind speed was negatively correlated with both air temperature and relative humidity at Seonamsa temple. The wind speed at this location is higher than average in winter and lower than average in summer, and it was hypothesized that the low wind speed plays a role in reducing water evaporation in summer, when both air temperature and relative humidity are high. As a result, damage to the wooden buildings of Seonamsa temple is accelerated.

A Study on Plant Symbolism Expressed in Korean Sokwha (Folk Painting) (한국 속화(俗畵)(민화(民畵))에 표현된 식물의 상징성에 관한 연구)

  • Gil, Geum-Sun;Kim, Jae-Sik
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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    • v.29 no.2
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    • pp.81-89
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    • 2011
  • The results of tracking the symbolism of plants in the introduction factors of Sokhwa(folk painting) are as the following. 1. The term Sokhwa(俗畵) is not only a type of painting with a strong local customs, but also carries a symbolic meaning and was discovered in "Donggukisanggukjip" of Lee, Gyu-Bo(1268~1241) in the Goryo era as well as the various usage in the "Sok Dongmunseon" in the early Chosun era, "Sasukjaejip" of Gang, Hee-mang(1424~1483), "Ilseongrok(1786)" in the late Chosun era, "Jajeo(自著)" of Yoo, Han-joon(1732~1811), and "Ojuyeonmunjangjeonsango(五洲衍文長箋散稿)" of Lee, Gyu-gyung(1788~?). Especially, according to the Jebyungjoksokhwa allegation〈題屛簇俗畵辯證說〉in the Seohwa of the Insa Edition of Ojuyeonmunjangjeonsango, there is a record that the "people called them Sokhwa." 2. Contemporarily, the Korean Sokhwa underwent the prehistoric age that primitively reflected the natural perspective on agricultural culture, the period of Three States that expressed the philosophy of the eternal spirits and reflected the view on the universe in colored pictures, the Goryo Era that religiously expressed the abstract shapes and supernatural patterns in spacein symbolism, and the Chosun Era that established the traditional Korean identity of natural perspective, aesthetic values and symbolism in a complex integration in the popular culture over time. 3. The materials that were analyzed in 1,009 pieces of Korean Sokhwa showed 35 species of plants, 37 species of animals, 6 types of natural objects and other 5 types with a total of 83 types. 4. The shape aesthetics according to the aesthetic analysis of the plants in Sokhwa reflect the primitive world view of Yin/yang and the Five Elements in the peony paintings and dynamic refinement and biological harmonies in the maehwado; the composition aesthetics show complex multi-perspective composition with a strong noteworthiness in the bookshelf paintings, a strong contrast of colors with reverse perspective drawing in the battlefield paintings, and the symmetric beauty of simple orderly patterns in nature and artificial objects with straight and oblique lines are shown in the leisurely reading paintings. In terms of color aesthetics, the five colors of directions - east, west, south, north and the center - or the five basic colors - red, blue, yellow, white and black - are often utilized in ritual or religious manners or symbolically substitute the relative relationships with natural laws. 5. The introduction methods in the Korean Sokhwa exceed the simple imitation of the natural shapes and have been sublimated to the symbolism that is related to nature based on the colloquial artistic characteristics with the suspicion of the essence in the universe. Therefore, the symbolism of the plants and animals in the Korean Sokhwas is a symbolic recognition system, not a scientific recognition system with a free and unique expression with a complex interaction among religious, philosophical, ecological and ideological aspects, as a identity of the group culture of Koreans where the past and the future coexist in the present. This is why the Koran Sokhwa or the folk paintings can be called a cultural identity and can also be interpreted as a natural and folk meaningful scenic factor that has naturally integrated into our cultural lifestyle. However, the Sokhwa(folk paintings) that had been closely related to our lifestyle drastically lost its meaning and emotions through the transitions over time. As the living lifestyle predominantly became the apartment culture and in the historical situations where the confusion of the identity has deepened, the aesthetic and the symbolic values of the Sokhwa folk paintings have the appropriateness to be transmitted as the symbolic assets that protect our spiritual affluence and establish our identity.