• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.572-584
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the subjective experience of job stress among nurses working in long-term care hospitals. Methods: A phenomenological approach was used for the study. Data were collected from May to June, 2016 using open-ended questions during in-depth interviews. Participants were nurses working in long-term care hospitals and had reported experiences of stress. Six nurses participated in this study. Results: Six themes emerged from the analysis using Colaizzi's method: (a) Heavy workload and responsibility due to nurse shortage, (b) Getting exhausted by caring for cognitively impaired patients, (c) Feeling pressure due to conflict with patients' family, (d) compassion for patients who are getting worse, (e) Low value in being a long-term hospital nurse, and (f) Efforts to overcome stress. Conclusion: Sufficient labor supply, environmental improvements, program for improving interpersonal skills, education and counseling on end-of-life care, and recognition improvement about long term hospital are suggested to reduce the job stress of long-term hospital nurses.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.1148-1155
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• 2010

To suggest a modified shallow foundation design method which can be considered the scale effect of foundation on IGM(intermediate geomaterial) soil layer, the weathered soil layer that is uniformly formed up to 8m(2B) with over 50 N-value is selected and 3 times field loading tests are performed on several sized square-shaped shallow foundations with 30, 75, 150, 240 and 400cm in width respectively. Because the soil modulus of elasticity(Es) calculated by soil investigation and 1st field test(PBT) results showed an underestimated tendency, a modified correlation is required for the reasonable estimation of Es on the weathered soil. Also, the N-value was increased with an increasing in depth. However, the N-values around the test foundations showed the different values even though the foundations on the same level because the test site was arranged by excavation. Therefore, the more detail soil investigations are required for the each test foundations respectively. Since Es based on elasticity theory is determined by the stress distribution shape of the foundation and elasticity modulus of the soil, the scale effect considered pressure-settlement curve can be clearly derived from the correlation on stress distribution shape and the variation of soil elasticity modulus with depth. Therefore, the modified correlation will be suggested to estimate a reasonable Es on the weathered soil, and the scale effect considered shallow foundation design method is also developed based on the elastic theory and field tests in this research.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.26
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• pp.9.1-9.9
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• 2011

Objectives: In order to evaluate which temperature index is the best predictor for the health impact assessment of heat stress in Korea, several indexes were compared. Methods: We adopted temperature, perceived temperature (PT), and apparent temperature (AT), as a heat stress index, and changes in the risk of death for Seoul and Daegu were estimated with $^1{\circ}C$ increases in those temperature indexes using generalized additive model (GAM) adjusted for the non-temperature related factors: time trends, seasonality, and air pollution. The estimated excess mortality and Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) due to the increased temperature indexes for the $75^{th}$ percentile in the summers from 2001 to 2008 were compared and analyzed to define the best predictor. Results: For Seoul, all-cause mortality presented the highest percent increase (2.99% [95% CI, 2.43 to 3.54%]) in maximum temperature while AIC showed the lowest value when the all-cause daily death counts were fitted with the maximum PT for the $75^{th}$ percentile of summer. For Daegu, all-cause mortality presented the greatest percent increase (3.52% [95% CI, 2.23 to 4.80%]) in minimum temperature and AIC showed the lowest value in maximum temperature. No lag effect was found in the association between temperature and mortality for Seoul, whereas for Daegu one-day lag effect was noted. Conclusions: There was no one temperature measure that was superior to the others in summer. To adopt an appropriate temperature index, regional meteorological characteristics and the disease status of population should be considered.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.173-194
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• 2014

Laboratory and field data showed that deep mixed (DM) columns accelerated the rate of consolidation of the soft foundations. Most analyses of consolidation of DM column-improved foundations so far have been based on the elastic theory. In reality, the DM columns may yield due to the stress concentration from the soft soil and its limited strength. The influence of column yielding on the degree of consolidation of the soft foundation improved by DM columns has not been well investigated. A three-dimensional mechanically and hydraulically-coupled numerical method was adopted in this study to investigate the degree of consolidation of the DM column foundation considering column yielding. A unit cell model was used, in which the soil was modeled as a linearly elastic material. For a comparison purpose, the DM column was modeled as an elastic or elastic-plastic material. This study examined the aspects of stress transfer, settlement, and degree of consolidation of the foundations without or with the consideration of the yielding of the DM column. A parametric study was conducted to investigate the influence of the column yielding on the stress concentration ratio, settlement, and average degree of consolidation of the DM column foundation. The stress concentration ratio increased and then decreased to reach a constant value with the increase of the column modulus and time. A simplified method was proposed to calculate the maximum stress concentration ratios under undrained and drained conditions considering the column yielding. The simplified method based on a composite foundation concept could conservatively estimate the consolidation settlement. An increase of the column modulus, area replacement ratio, and/or column permeability increased the rate of consolidation.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.115-125
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• 2020

Background: The phenomenon of tree dieback in forest ecosystems around the world, which is known to be associated with high temperatures that occur simultaneously with drought, has received much attention. Korea is experiencing a rapid rise in temperature relative to other regions. Particularly in the growth of evergreen conifers, temperature increases in winter and spring can have great influence. In recent years, there have been reports of group dieback of Pinus densiflora trees in Korea, and many studies are being conducted to identify the causes. However, research on techniques to diagnose and monitor drought stress in forest ecosystems on local and regional scales has been lacking. Results: In this study, we developed and evaluated an index to identify drought and high-temperature vulnerability in Pinus densiflora forests. We found the Drought Stress Index (DSI) that we developed to be effective in generally assessing the drought-reactive physiology of trees. During 2001-2016, in Korea, we refined the index and produced DSI data from a 1 × 1-km unit grid spanning the entire country. We found that the DSI data correlated with the event data of Pinus densiflora mass dieback compiled in this study. The average DSI value at times of occurrence of Pinus densiflora group dieback was 0.6, which was notably higher than during times of nonoccurrence. Conclusions: Our combination of the Standard Precipitation Index and growing degree days evolved and short- and long-term effects into a new index by which we found meaningful results using dieback event data. Topographical and biological factors and climate data should be considered to improve the DSI. This study serves as the first step in developing an even more robust index to monitor the vulnerability of forest ecosystems in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.125-135
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• 2008

Rigid-soft particle mixtures, which consist of sand and rubber, are investigated for the understanding of the stress-deformation and elastic moduli. Specimens are prepared with various size ratio sr between sand and rubber particles, and different volumetric sand fraction sf. Small strain shear waves are measured under $K_o$-loading condition incorporated with the stress-deformation test by using oedometer cell with bender elements. The stress-deformation and small strain shear wave characteristics of rigid-soft particle mixtures show the transition from a rigid particle behavior regime to a soft particle behavior regime under fixed size ratio. A sudden rise of $\Lambda$ factor and the maximum value of the $\zeta$ exponent in $G_{max}=\;{\Lambda}({\sigma}'_{o}/kPa)^{\zeta}$ are observed at $sf\;{\approx}\;0.4{\sim}0.6$ regardless of the size ratio sf. Transition mixture shows high sensitivity to confining stress. The volume fraction for the minimum porosity may depend on the applied stress level in the rigid-soft particle mixtures because the soft rubber particles easily distort under load. In this experimental study, the size ratio and volumetric sand fraction are the important factors which determine the behavior of rigid and soft particle mixtures.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.143-150
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• 2002

A strong oxidative stress-inducible peroxidase promoter (referred to as SWPA2 promoter) was cloned from tell cultures of sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas) and characterized in transgenic tobacco cultured cells in terms of biotechnological applications. Employing a transient expression assay in tobacco protoplasts, with five different 5'-deletion mutants of the SWPA2 promoter fused to the $\beta$-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene, the 1314 bp deletion mutant showed approximately 30 times higher GUS expression than the CaMV 35S promoter. The expression of GUS activity in suspension cultures of transgenic cells derived from transgenic tobacco leaves containing the -1314 bp SWPA2 promoter-GUS fusion was strongly expressed following 15 days of subculture compared to other deletion mutants, suggesting that the 1314 bp SWPA2 promoter will be biotechnologically useful for the development of transgenic cell lines engineered to produce key pharmaceutical proteins. In this respect, we developed transgenic cell lines such as tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. BY-2), ginseng (Panax ginseng) and Siberian ginseng (Acanthopanax senticosus) using a SWPA2 promoter to produce a human lactoferrin (hLf) and characterized the hLf production in cultured cells. The hLf production monitored by ELISA analysis in transgenic BY-2 cells was directly increased proportional to cell growth and reached a maximal level (up to 4.3% of total soluble protein) at the stationary phase in suspension cultures. The SWPA2 promoter should result in higher productivity and increased applications of plant cultured cells for the production of high-value recombinant proteins.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.135-142
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• 2003

Gas flux across the air-sea interface is often determined by the product of gas transfer velocity k) and the difference of concentrations in water and air. k is primarily controlled by wind stress on the air-sea interface, thus all parameterizations ofk involve wind speed, a rough indicator of wind stress, as one of the independent variables. We attempted to explore the spatial and temporal variations of k in the East (Japan) Sea using a database from Naet al. (1992). Three different parameterizations were employed: those of Liss and Merlivat (1986), Wanninkhof(1992), and Wanninkhofand McGillis (1999). The strong non-linear dependence of k on wind speed in all parameterizations leads us to examine the effect of time resolution, in which the binned wind speeds are averaged, on the estimation ofk. Two time resolutions of 12 hours (short-term) and one month (long-term) were chosen. The mean wind speeds were fed into the given parameterizations, resulting in six different transfer velocities of $CO_2$ ranging from 12 to 32 cm/h. In addition to the threefold difference depending on the choice of parameterization, the long-term average of wind speed results in a value ofk up to 20% higher than the short-term (12 hours) average of wind speed due to the non-Rayleigh wind distribution in the East (Japan) Sea. While it is not known which parameterization is more reliable, this study proposes that the time-averaged wind speed should not be used in areas where non-Ralyleigh wind distribution prevails such as the East (Japan) Sea. The net annual $CO_2$ flux was estimated using the value of k described above and the monthly ${\Delta}fCO_2$ of Oh et al. (1999); this ranges from 0.034 to 0.11 Gt-C/yr.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.310-316
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• 2009

Some environmental chemicals have been shown to cause liver-toxicity as the result of bioaccumulation. Particularly, fungicides have been shown to cause varying degrees of hepatictoxicity and to disrupt steroid hormone homeostasis in in vivo models. The principal objective of this study was to evaluate the liver-toxic responses of environmental chemicals-in this case selected fungicides and parasiticides-in order to determine whether or not this agent differentially affected its toxicogenomic activities in hepatic tumor cell lines. To determine the gene expression profiles of 3 fungicides (triadimefon, myclobutanil, vinclozolin) and 1 parasiticide (dibutyl phthalate), we utilized a modified HazChem human array V2. Additionally, in order to observe the differential alterations in its time-dependent activities, we conducted two time (3 hr, 48 hr) exposures to the respective IC20 values of four chemicals. As a result, we analyzed the expression profiles of a total of 1638 genes, and we identified 70 positive significant genes and 144 negative significant genes using four fungicidic and parasiticidic chemicals, using SAM (Significant Analysis of Microarray) methods (q-value<0.5%). These genes were analyzed and identified as being related to apoptosis, stress responses, germ cell development, cofactor metabolism, and lipid metabolism in GO functions and pathways. Additionally, we found 120 genes among those time-dependently differentially expressed genes, using 1-way ANOVA (P-value<0.05). These genes were related to protein metabolism, stress responses, and positive regulation of apoptosis. These data support the conclusion that the four tested chemicals have common toxicogenomic effects and evidence respectively differential expression profiles according to exposure time.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.12
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• pp.1737-1746
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• 2013

IbMYB1, a transcription factor (TF) for R2R3-type MYB TFs, is a key regulator of anthocyanin biosynthesis during storage of sweet potatoes. Anthocyanins provide important antioxidants of nutritional value to humans, and also protect plants from oxidative stress. This study aimed to increase transgenic potatoes' (Solanum tuberosum cv. LongShu No.3) tolerance to environmental stress and enhance their nutritional value. Transgenic potato plants expressing IbMYB1 genes under the control of an oxidative stress-inducible peroxidase (SWPA2) promoter (referred to as SM plants) were successfully generated through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Two representative transgenic SM5 and SM12 lines were evaluated for enhanced tolerance to salinity, UV-B rays, and drought conditions. Following treatment of 100 mM NaCl, seedlings of SM5 and SM12 lines showed less root damage and more shoot growth than control lines expressing only an empty vector. Transgenic potato plants in pots treated with 400 mM NaCl showed high amounts of secondary metabolites, including phenols, anthocyanins, and flavonoids, compared with control plants. After treatment of 400 mM NaCl, transgenic potato plants also showed high DDPH radical scavenging activity and high PS II photochemical efficiency compared with the control line. Furthermore, following treatment of NaCl, UV-B, and drought stress, the expression levels of IbMYB1 and several structural genes in the flavonoid biosynthesis such as CHS, DFR, and ANS in transgenic plants were found to be correlated with plant phenotype. The results suggest that enhanced IbMYB1 expression affects secondary metabolism, which leads to improved tolerance ability in transgenic potatoes.