• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.629-637
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• 2005

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) were investigated in soil and pine needle samples taken from 16 sites of industrial and residential areas in Changwon, Korea to assess their distribution levels and to suggest the influence of industrial activities, PCDDs/DFs levels in the soil samples ranged from 0.57 to 20.79 pg I-TEQ/g dry weight with a mean value of 4.20 pg I-TEQ/g dry weight. PCDDs/DFs levels in the pine needle samples ranged from 0.39 to 8.75 pg I-TEQ/g dry weight with a mean value of 4.09 pg I-TEQ/g dry weight. In both soil and pine needle samples, the PCDDs/DFs concentrations in the industrial area sites were higher than those in the residential area sites. Homologue profiles in pine needle samples showed different patterns compared with soil samples. Based on the results of principal component analysis (PCA), it was confirmed that pine needles reflected a direct influence from local potential sources of PCDDs/DFs, showing a much higher degree of reflection than in soils. Pine needles are very useful as an indicator for monitoring or estimating the contamination of PCDDs/DFs in other areas which have been impacted by point pollution sources.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.1207-1215
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• 2008

To investigate the occurrence and species diversity of mycobacteria in waters, surface water samples were collected monthly from the Han River and tap water samples at the terminal sites of the distribution system. Mycobacteria in each water sample were isolated by decontamination using cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) and cultivation on Middlebrook 7H10 agar, and then identified by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (PRA) and sequencing of the 65-kDa heat-shock protein gene (hsp65 gene). Mycobacteria were detected in 59% of the surface water samples and 26% of the tap water samples. Over half of the 158 isolates could not be identified by hsp65 PRA and gene sequencing, and several identification discrepancies were observed between the two methods. The most frequently isolated species was Mycobacterium gordonae in surface water and M. lentiflavum in tap water. M. avium complex (MAC), the most important pathogen among environmental mycobacteria, was detected in the surface water samples but not found in the tap water samples. The result demonstrated that water is an important environmental source of mycobacteria and the combined application of hsp65 PRA and sequencing was more reliable than hsp65 PRA alone to accurately identify mycobacteria present in water.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.371-380
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• 2022

Objectives: To ensure that employers handling petroleum compounds understand whether petroleum-based UVCB (unknown or variable composition, complex reaction products, or biological materials) substances contain hazardous substances and comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Act, petroleum-based UVCB substances were analyzed and the results from samples were compared with MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) contents. Methods: Twenty-one petroleum samples were analyzed using GC-MS (Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry), targeting ten volatile organic compounds regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Results: The target chemicals were detected in 13 out of 21 samples. All 13 samples were in the naphtha (low boiling point naphthas (gasolines)) group. There were also naphtha group samples containing 2% benzene. Some naphtha samples used as solvents contained about 1% benzene. Conclusions: This study shows that naphtha group petroleum substances contain hazardous chemicals in many cases. In particular, if benzene, n-hexane, and toluene with low occupational exposure limits are contained above the limit concentration. Such information should be delivered in the article on MSDS legal regulations.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.83-92
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• 2019

Advertising signboards are designed for the visibility to affects recall and recognition of costumers. It is well know that the visibility from images is created by the value difference among colors. The research defines whether the background color combination of outdoor signboards is configured to maximize visibility, by a series of color value variation in complex commercial facilities. The subject of study is to examine how the visibility is made by the color combination since visibility cannot be obtained independently. Two steps of analysis were performed to confirm that the color composition of signboards was based on the color value difference. The first is to analyze that the entire colors of signboards are clearly categorized as different value groups. All components of colors, hue, value and chroma had been analyzed by color aesthetic measures to prove that the value variation has the only regularity and the principle of composition. The second step is a further verification with an ample amount of samples to determine whether series of signboards create a value altering pattern. The data for analysis is gained by colorimetric survey and the color data are used for exponentializing the degree of combining, which shows selective affinity between each pair colors.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics A
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• v.30A no.4
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• pp.11-19
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• 1993

The complex permittivity and the linewidth of microwave ferrites are measured using the well known cavity perturbation method. The cavity perturbation method has been widely used for the measurement of complex permittivity and conductivity of low loss magnetic and dielectric materials at microwave frequencies. TT1-2000, TT73-2200, and G-113 samples ordered from Trans-Tech Inc, are tested. TE$_{103}$ and TE$_{106}$ rectangular waveguide cavities are fabricated and the ferrite sample of cylidrical rod and sphere shapes are prepared. The error between the measurement values and the supplier's data is less than 1 percent in case of $\varepsilon$’ and about 10 percent in case of linewidth ($\Delta$H). Worst case error analysis shows that our measured results are well within the error bound calculated from the accuracy specification of the measuring instruments.

• ALGAE
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.235-243
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• 2006

Benthic sediment samples ranging from poorly aggregated sand to complex, stratified mats were collected from six hypersaline ponds from March and July 1995 in the British Virgin Islands. Assemblages were analyzed with respect to species composition and abundance within visibly distinct layers in each mat sample. In individual ponds there was no apparent association between changing depth and the development of the benthic mats. Some species were present in all samples (e.g. Oscillatoria sp.) while others were restricted to single sites (e.g. Johannesbaptistia pellucida). Primary species included Microcoleus chthonoplastes, Phormidium spp., Coccochloris stagnina, and purple sulfur bacteria. Quantitative analysis of community structure included cluster and principal component analysis. Samples from individual ponds were often clustered; however, this was subject to seasonal variation. Mats collected in March were generally thicker and contained more layers than those in July. Variation among sites was not explained by the measured variation in environmental factors such as average pond salinity, depth, and oxygen concentration (mg/L). This study provides a detailed analysis of mat communities in hypersaline ponds and compares them with similar mat communities from other areas.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.693-703
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• 2010

High spectral resolution of hyperspectral data enables analysis of complex natural phenomena that is reflected on the data nonlinearly. Although many manifold learning methods have been developed for such problems, most methods do not consider the spatial correlation between samples that is inherent and useful in remote sensing data. We propose a manifold learning method which directly combines the spatial proximity and the spectral similarity through kernel PCA framework. A gain factor caused by spatial proximity is first modelled with a heat kernel, and is added to the original similarity computed from the spectral values of a pair of samples. Parameters are tuned with intelligent grid search (IGS) method for the derived manifold coordinates to achieve optimal classification accuracies. Of particular interest is its performance with small training size, because labelled samples are usually scarce due to its high acquisition cost. The proposed spatial kernel PCA (KPCA) is compared with PCA in terms of classification accuracy with the nearest-neighbourhood classification method.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.1118-1124
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• 2014

Porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC) is a common respiratory disease in nursery and grow-finishing pigs. A complex of viral and bacterial agents is known to be involved in the etiology of PRDC. The purpose of this study was to investigate common etiologic agents associated with PRDC in the field and compare detection methods for identifying these agents. To understand the mechanism of polymicrobial infection in PRDC, changes in the expression of cytokines were investigated. In 461 pig samples examined, most of the affected pigs ranged from 3 to 10 weeks old (73.4%), and 348 (75.4%) samples were confirmed as polymicrobial infection. Of the polymicrobial-infected cases, two (50.3%), three (32.2%), four (13.8%), five (3.2%), and six (0.5%) agents were detected. Two- or three-agent infections were the most common, with PRRSV/PCV-2 (44.6%) the most common two-agent infection. PRRSV/PCV-2/H. parasuis (11.0%) was the most common three-agent infection. Comparison of two detection methods (PCR and IHC) in the polymicrobial cases showed that 78.4% were PCV-2 positive with the PCR method, and 26.2% were PCV-2 positive with IHC. SIV was 7.8% by the PCR method and 3.7% positive by the IHC. This result indicates that the PCR method is more useful than IHC for detecting causative agents in PRDC. In the analysis of cytokines in the two- and three-agent infected samples, interleukin (IL)-$1{\alpha}$, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, and INF-${\alpha}$ showed the same expression pattern. All cytokines were suppressed, except IL-6. These findings indicate that changes in cytokine expression could be used to understand the mechanism of polymicrobial infection in PRDC.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.259-267
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• 2015

Objectives: This study evaluated the regional and seasonal concentrations of ambient hazardous heavy metals in an industrial complex area in Daegu City. Methods: A total of 64 SPM (Suspended Particulate Matter) samples were collected in non-industrial and industrial areas during 2014 and were analyzed for hazardous heavy metals elements (As, Cd, Mn, Ni, Pb) with ICP after acid extraction. Results: SPM and hazardous heavy metals concentrations showed regional (industrial complex area>non-industrial complex area) and seasonal (spring, winter>fall, summer) variations. All of the hazardous heavy metals were influenced by anthropogenic sources. The pollution index of hazardous heavy metals was very low, showing roughly one-quarter of the level of the air quality guidelines of WHO. The correlation analysis among SPM and hazardous heavy metals indicated that components of non-industrial complex areas were more related to each other than those of industrial complex areas, and the correlation in the winter was higher than in other seasons. Conclusion: It is necessary to control air pollution sources and establish related policy because hazardous heavy metals from industrial areas can influence residential areas.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.41-50
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• 2019

Sugarcane bacilliform viruses (SCBV), which belong to the genus Badnavirus, family Caulimoviridae, are an important DNA virus complex that infects sugarcane. To explore the genetic diversity of the sugarcane-infecting badnavirus complex in China, we tested 392 sugarcane leaf samples collected from Fujian, Yunnan, and Hainan provinces for the occurrence of SCBV by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays using published primers SCBV-F and SCBV-R that target the reverse transcriptase/ribonuclease H (RT/RNase H) regions of the viral genome. A total of 111 PCR-amplified fragments (726 bp) from 63 SCBV-positive samples were cloned and sequenced. A neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree was constructed based on the SCBV sequences from this study and 34 published sequences representing 18 different phylogroups or genotypes (SCBV-A to -R). All SCBV-tested isolates could be classified into 20 SCBV phylogenetic groups from SCBV-A to -T. Of nine SCBV phylogroups reported in this study, two novel phylogroups, SCBV-S and SCBV-T, that share 90.0-93.2% sequence identity and show 0.07-0.11 genetic distance with each other in the RT/RNase H region, are proposed. SCBV-S had 57.6-92.2% sequence identity and 0.09-0.66 genetic distance, while SCBV-T had 58.4-90.0% sequence identity and 0.11-0.63 genetic distance compared with the published SCBV phylogroups. Additionally, two other Badnavirus species, Sugarcane bacilliform MO virus (SCBMOV) and Sugarcane bacilliform IM virus (SCBIMV), which originally clustered in phylogenetic groups SCBV-E and SCBV-F, respectively, are first reported in China. Our findings will help to understand the level of genetic heterogeneity present in the complex of Badnavirus species that infect sugarcane.