• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2016

Objectives : Liver is one of the largest organs in the human, and has a function of detoxification and energy sensing to prevent severe disease. Paeoniae radix has been used to treat a variety of liver diseases such as hepatitis and chronic hepatic failure. Although P. radix has been used as an medicinal herb for a long time, the effects of P. radix on severe oxidative stress and its action mechanism on the liver was not clearly verified.Methods : This study investigated the protective effects of P. radix extract (PRE), and the underlying mechanism of its action in the liver. tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP) and carbon tetrachlroride (CCl₄) were used to induce oxidative stress in the HepG2 hepatocyte cell line and Sprague-Dawley rats, respectively.Results : t-BHP significantly induced cell death and ROS production in HepG2 cell, as indicated by MTT and FACS analysis. However, pretreatment of PRE inhibited a decrease in cell viability and H₂O₂ production in the HepG2 cells. PRE also blocked the ability of t-BHP to damage in mitochondrial membrane transition. More importantly, PRE induced Nrf2 activation and antioxidant Phase II enzyme, which may have a role in the effects of PRE. In mice, PRE inhibited the liver damage induced by CCl₄.Conclusions : PRE inhibited oxidative stress and hepatic damages as mediated with Nrf2 activation. This study unveil, in part, the effect and mechanism of old medicinal herb, P. radix.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.6 no.8
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• pp.1352-1357
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• 2002

This Paper describes algorithm to extract license plates in vehicle images. Conventional methods perform preprocessing on the entire vehicle image to produce the edge image and binarize it. Hough transform is applied to the binary image to find horizontal and vertical lines, and the license plate area is extracted using the characteristics of license plates. Problems with this approach are that real-time processing is not feasible due to long processing time and that the license plate area is not extracted when lighting is irregular such as at night or when the plate boundary does not show up in the image. This research uses the gray level transition characteristics of license plates to verify the digit area by examining the digit width and the level difference between the background area the digit area, and then extracts the plate area by testing the distance between the verified digits. This research solves the problem of failure in extracting the license plates due to degraded plate boundary as in the conventional methods and resolves the problem of the time requirement by processing the real time such that practical application is possible. This paper Presents a power automated license plate recognition system, which is able to read license numbers of cars, even under circumstances, which are far from ideal. In a real-life test, the percentage of rejected plates wan 13%, whereas 0.4% of the plates were misclassified. Suggestions for further improvements are given.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.61-81
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• 2007

Types of agricultural policy can be catagorized into two general cases: price and income supports. Income supports are any government program designed to provide farmers with higher incomes than they would receive otherwise. These direct cash payments to farmers are known as "deficiency payment" or "direct payment" because they compensate the farmer for the failure of the market to provide farmers with adequate prices. The direct payment to environment-friendly agriculture is a form of income supports for the agriculture production using less pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Because no significant regulation exists on the use of fertilizers substituting chemical fertilizers for crop, the role of the payment on reducing environmental impacts of agriculture is not entirely clear. This uncertainty is likely to be particularly severe in the case that farmers with low-quality land showing greater demand for fertiliser have an incentive to transition to environment-friendly agriculture. The paper shows the case of the current payment system in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• no.39
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• pp.365-393
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• 2008

This research examnied the roles, the strategies and the influence of labor unions on the pension reform. In Italia labor unions were important actors in pension reform politics during 1990s, but in 2004 labor union was excluded from the pension reform. This difference is not only related with diffusion of the leftist party but also the experience of pension benefit retrenchment of the pension reform in 1995 in which labor unions had initiatives. Labor unions choose their strategies, social dialogue or mass struggle, depending on the attitudes of government. After change of government following the failure of the pension reform in 1994 Italian government tried social dialogue. In Dini reform in 1995, laborunions had initiative in making pension reform plan. Labor unions obtained member's approval using membership vote. It had repressed opposition from militant sectors effectively. However Labor unions concentrated on the issues of transition measures and protecting vested rights in seniority pension ignoring problems of contribution evasion of small-firm workers and benefit adequacy of young workers. Even when labor unions leaded social concertation processes and pursued union democracy, labor unions' influences on the pension reform had fundamental limitations.

• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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• v.116
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• pp.155-180
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• 2010

The three means of listening, reflection and meditation (${\acute{s}}raava{\d{n}}a$, manana and $nididhy{\bar{a}}sana$) which are central devices of practice in $Ved{\bar{a}}nta$ philosophy should be understood not as a continuative step but as a methodological extension on condition of having one and the same purpose. In other words, the three means should be interpreted in a listening-oriented manner, in which the process has to be methodologically extended to reflection and meditation only when the direct knowledge on the reality is not gained in listening. This kind of interpretation can be more justified by displaying significant characteristics of Indian philosophy implied in the three means. It can be easily said that $Ved{\bar{a}}nta$ belonging to the liberation-centric tradition is a project of 'regaining essential self' through which the self becomes essential self by knowing that self. In this case the listening-oriented interpretation coincides with the basic teachings of $Ved{\bar{a}}nta$, since listening alone can be a sufficient means for obtaining knowledge of the original self. Further, as the project of 'regaining essential self' is carried out by the three means, these can be called a sort of 'event' that is carried out according to the scenario of $Ved{\bar{a}}ntic$ metaphysics. In this case listening is a course of comprehending the scenario of event participated by oneself, and that participant can accomplish the project by way of listening the scenario alone judged as somewhat more effective for liberation. However, in the later $Ved{\bar{a}}nta$ there arises a meditation-oriented interpretation of which three means are regarded not as a methodological extension but as a continuative step, because of the emphasis on meditation under the lasting influence of other philosophical systems. This is a result of epistemic desire that tries to convert what is heard to what is specially perceived or what is given to what is accepted. It may be said that this interpretation emphasizing the phased transition from the indirect to the direct of knowledge is an attempt to rationalize the repetitive delay of event as the actual failure of project. Furthermore, an assertion of the later $Ved{\bar{a}}nta$ which refers the fourth means called $sam{\bar{a}}dhi$ is based on the logic that the self-realization is possible apart from and outside the text, and accordingly it is incompatible with an assertion of the early $Ved{\bar{a}}nta$ that the self-realization is a reproduction as it is of the scenario guided by the absolute text. After all, the standard interpretation on the three means in $Ved{\bar{a}}nta$ have to be the listening-oriented, but not be the meditation-oriented or the $sam{\bar{a}}dhi$-oriented.