• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.41-45
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• 2006

This paper deals with human spatial cognition using visual and auditory stimulation. More specially, this investigation is to observe the relationship between the head and the eye motor system for the localization of visual target direction in space and to try to describe what is the role of right-side versus left-side pinna. In the experiment of visual stimulation, nineteen red LEDs (Luminescent Diodes, Brightness: $210\;cd/^2$) arrayed in the horizontal plane of the surrounding panel are used. Here the LEDs are located 10 degrees apart from each other. Physiological parameters such as EOG (Electro-Oculography), head movement, and their synergic control are measured by BIOPAC system and 3SPACE FASTRAK. In the experiment of auditory stimulation, one side of the pinna function was distorted intentionally by inserting a short tube in the ear canal. The localization error caused by right and left side pinna distortion was investigated as well. Since a laser pointer showed much less error (0.5%) in localizing target position than FASTRAK (30%) that has been generally used, a laser pointer was used for the pointing task. It was found that harmonic components were not essential for auditory target localization. However, non-harmonic nearby frequency components was found to be more important in localizing the target direction of sound. We have found that the right pinna carries out one of the most important functions in localizing target direction and pure tone with only one frequency component is confusing to be localized. It was also found that the latency time is shorter in self moved tracking (SMT) than eye alone tracking (EAT) and eye hand tracking (EHT). These results can be used in further study on the characterization of human spatial cognition.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.24-30
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• 2011

Tidal flats which are ecologically sensitive, are hard to remediate once they are contaminated by oil spill accidents. Traditional oil remediation measures focus on removal efficiency, and their improper implementation can adversely affect crude oil contaminated coastal areas and greatly disrupt the structure and functions of crude oil contaminated tidal flats. In this study, the oil degradation due to the implementation of remediation measures naturally enhanced using air and natural oil sorbents was evaluated in the lower strata of tidal flats. The effects of air and natural oil sorbents on oil degradation for two concentration levels (< 500 ppm and > 500 ppm) were tested at artificially contaminated tidal flats. Fifty days after these treatments, the natural oil sorbent treatment showed the lowest total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration ($4.46{\pm}1.47%$) at the low concentration level, whereas both air and natural oil sorbent treatments showed high degradation efficiencies at the high concentration level ($29.30{\pm}4.39%$). Although the phosphatase activity decreased for all treatments, there was no significant difference between the decreases for the different treatments; on the other hand, B-glucosidase activities were high for both air and natural oil sorbent treatments. Although degradation efficiencies decreased as the concentration increased, the air provision and natural oil sorbent treatment could be an effective ecological restoration measure for oil contaminated tidal flats while minimizing the environmental impact of the remediation efforts.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.893-898
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• 2011

Milk contains a number of nutrients required for human growth and development, such as disaccharide lactose which is significantly contained in milk and dairy products. About two thirds of world populations are reportedly suffering from lactose intolerance after drinking milk. Lactose intolerance is defined as a maldigestion of lactose in the human intestine with typical symptoms of abdominal pains, bloating, and diarrhea. In this study, incidence of lactose intolerance has been investigated for the elementary school children for 1 year from July, 2010 to June, 2011. It is found that about 70% of the total elementary students have joined the school milk program. Out of 636 total students that participated in this study, 449 were from the metropolis, 85 from middle-sized city, and 102 from the small town including rural areas (small town/rural areas). For distributions of lactose intolerance, 154 students (24.2%) were found to be positive among the total 636 subjects. Based on the size of the city, the symptoms were the most prevalent for the students in the small town/rural areas at 31.4% (32/102), followed by 30.6% (26/85) in middle-sized city, and 21.4% (96/449) in the metropolis. On the other hand, gender had no significant effect on the incidence of lactose intolerance, shown those for boys and girls were 24.8% (77/310), 23.6% (77/326), respectively. Further research is needed to confirm the correct incidence of lactose intolerance symptoms as the frequency is significantly affected by subject's digestive functions including irritable bowel syndrome.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.89-106
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• 2016

Many plant species have two modes of reproduction: sexual and asexual. Both modes of reproduction have often been viewed as adaptations to temporally or spatially variable environments. The plant should adjust partitioning to match changes in the estimated success of the two reproductive modes. Perennial plants showed that favorable habitats in soil nutrients or water content tend to promote clonal growth over sexual reproduction. In contrast, under high light-quantity conditions, clonal plants tend to allocate more biomass to sexual reproduction and less to clonal propagation. On the other hand, plants with chasmogamous and cleistogamous flowers provides with a greater tendency of the opportunity to ensure some seed set in any stressful environmental conditions such as low light, low soil nutrients, or low soil moisture. It is considered that vegetative reproduction has high competitive ability and is the major means to expand established population of perennial plants, whereas cleistogamous reproduction is insurance to persist in stressful sites due to being strong. Chasmogamous reproduction mainly enhances established and new population. Therefore, the functions of sexual and asexual propagules of perennial or annual plants differ from each other. These traits of propagule thus determine its success at a particular region of any environmental gradients. Eventually, if environmental resources or stress levels change in either space or time, species composition will probably also change. The reason based on which the plants differ with respect to favored reproduction modes in each environmental condition, may be involved in their specific realized niche.

• BMB Reports
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.415-434
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• 2008

Phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C is an effector molecule in the signal transduction process. It generates two second messengers, inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate and diacylglycerol from phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate. Currently, thirteen mammal PLC isozymes have been identified, and they are divided into six groups: PLC-$\beta$, -$\gamma$, -$\delta$, -$\varepsilon$, -$\zeta$ and -$\eta$. Sequence analysis studies demonstrated that each isozyme has more than one alternative splicing variant. PLC isozymes contain the X and Y domains that are responsible for catalytic activity. Several other domains including the PH domain, the C2 domain and EF hand motifs are involved in various biological functions of PLC isozymes as signaling proteins. The distribution of PLC isozymes is tissue and organ specific. Recent studies on isolated cells and knockout mice depleted of PLC isozymes have revealed their distinct phenotypes. Given the specificity in distribution and cellular localization, it is clear that each PLC isozyme bears a unique function in the modulation of physiological responses. In this review, we discuss the structural organization, enzymatic properties and molecular diversity of PLC splicing variants and study functional and physiological roles of each isozyme.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.40-50
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• 2005

A series of heavy section ductile cast iron ingots with the cube length of 250mm were systematically investigated as functions of casting parameters of sand casting. Abnormal graphite formation was specially observed with the variation of Si content and Bi or Sb addition. Effects of chilling during casting and adaptation of riserless system were also examined, and proved to be effective for the prevention of both shrinkage and abnormal graphite such as chunky one. The formation of chunky graphite was effectively prevented by low Si content despite the promotion of pearlite matrix structure. The ferritic matrix was encouraged to form by high Si content and chunky graphite formation was effectively suppressed by the addition of Bi and Sb. Bi addition, however, was not good enough to control the microstructure owing to the sensitive cooling rate dependent inoculation behavior and relative low ability of nodulization. Sb addition, on the other hand, was proved to be effective for the microstructural control and enhancement of various mechanical properties such as strength, elongation, and impact energy. It may be suggested that optimized casting parameters should be applied to produce heavy section ductile cast iron with reliability.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.239-251
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• 2012

The food web dynamics in a coastal ecosystem of Korea were predicted with Ecosim, a trophic flow model, under various scenarios of primary productivity due to ocean warming and ocean acidification. Changes in primary productivity were obtained from an earth system model 2.1 under A1B scenario of IPCC $CO_2$ emission and replaced for forcing functions on the phytoplankton group during the period between 2020 and 2100. Impacts of ocean acidification on species were represented in the model for gastropoda, bivalvia, echinodermata, crustacean and cephalopoda groups with effect sizes of conservative, medium and large. The model results show that the total biomass of invertebrate and fish groups decreases 5%, 11~28% and 14~27%, respectively, depending on primary productivity, ocean acidification and combined effects. In particular, the blenny group shows zero biomass at 2080. The zooplankton group shows a sudden increase at the same time, and finally reaches twice the baseline at 2100. On the other hand, the ecosystem attributes of the mean trophic level of the ecosystem, Shannon's H and Kempton's Q indexes show a similar reduction pattern to biomass change, indicating that total biomass, biodiversity and evenness shrink dynamically by impacts of climate change. It is expected from the model results that, after obtaining more information on climate change impacts on the species level, this study will be helpful for further investigation of the food web dynamics in the open seas around Korea.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2005

By using PCR with nirS gene primers, three nirSharboring denitrifying bacteria (strain N6, strain N23, and strain R13) were newly isolated from activated sludge of a weak municipal wastewater treatment plant. Small-subunit rRNA gene-based analysis indicated that strain N6, strain N23, and strain R13 were closely related to Arthrobacter sp.,Staphylococcus sp., and Bacillus sp., respectively. In an attempt to identify their roles in biological nitrate and nitrite removal from sewage, we investigated their specific denitrification rates (SDNRs) for $NO_-^3$ - and $NO_-^2$ - in various cultures. All purecultures of each isolated nirS-harboring bacterial strain could remove $NO_-^3$ - and $NO_-^2$ - simultaneously in high efficiency, and the carbon requirements for $NO_-^3$ - removal of strain N6 and strain R13 were effectively low at 3.1 and 4.1 g COD/g $NO_3N$, respectively. In the case of mix-cultures of the strains (N6+N23, N6+R13, N23+R13, and N6+N23+R13), their SDNRs for $NO_-^3$ - were also effective, and their carbon requirements for $NO_-^3$ - removal were also effective at 3.0- 3.8 g COD/g NO3N. However, all tested mix-cultures accumulated $NO_-^2$ - in their culture media. On the other hand, the continuous culture of activated sludge mixed with strain N6 showed no significant increase of $NO_-^3$ - removal in comparison with strain N6's pure culture. These results suggest that nitrate and nitrite removal in biological wastewater treatment might be dependent on complicated bacterial interactions, including several effective denitrifying bacteria isolated in this study, rather than the specific bacterial types present and the number of bacterial types in activated sludge.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.48-54
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• 2006

Roxarsone (3-nitro-4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid) has been used as feed additives in poultry industries to improve production and control coccidiosis. The effect of high dietary levels of Roxarsone (ROX) on the performance and function of internal organs and the kinetics of recovery as well as its after-effects were examined in laying hens. The inclusion rates of ROX were 0, 100, 200, 300, and 400 mg per kg feed. Inclusion up to 200 mg did not show any adverse effects (p>0.05), whereas in the 300 and 400 mg groups, significant effects, particularly in the latter, were observed for three weeks after ROX addition (p<0.05). Recovery of the physical appearance occurred soon after ROX addition was withdrawn. Recovery of performance and internal organs, however, appeared to be dependent on the amount of residual ROX in the body; as the amount of ROX decreased, the toxic effect of ROX also decreased. In the third week after the withdrawal of ROX, complete recovery was observed in the lower dosage groups (100 or 200 mg groups) (p>0.05), whereas in the higher dosage groups (300 or 400 mg groups), recovery took at least five weeks; when complete recovery was observed in egg production and in liver weight (p>0.05). On the other hand, ROX might have damaged the liver and other tissues. The recovery of liver weight was probably due to accumulation of fatty particles rather than repair. It appeared, therefore, there were little after-effects of ROX on the hen's physical appearance, but some internal organs were probably damaged.

• The Journal of Art Theory & Practice
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• no.13
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• pp.133-156
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• 2012

This paper briefly charts the history of excrement as part of the late 20th-century art and explores ways in which excrement functions in the realms of 'High' art. From Piero Manzoni's to David Hammons' performance , excrement has taken a small yet distinctively important part in the development of contemporary art. In an attempt to challenge the hegemony of 'high' art, on the one hand, and resist the commercialization and fetishization of art, on the other, Manzoni allegedly offered his own "shit" preserved in a tin can and sold it at the price of gold of the same weight. Andy Warhol took the legendary Abstract-Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock as the object of parody, simulating Pollock's dripping action by pissing onto the canvas that had been primed with copper-based paint. Warhol's urination produced splashes and stains of iridescent colors just as the patterns on ordinary abstract paintings. In contrast to Pollock's masculine action, Warhol's pissing alludes to the artist's homosexuality. Excrements in art also provoked controversies, debates, and even acts of vandalism against the artworks. The works of Andres Serrano and Chris Ofili infuriated many Christians for the blasphemous use of excrement with religious icons. Politicians engaged in the heated debates on the use of public and national funds in support of some of the 'politically incorrect' contemporary art. In the midst of media sensation and criticisms, these works challenged the conventional understanding of artistic beauty. The preexisting artworks were also targeted. African-american artist Hammons assumed the role of spectator in by urinating on Richard Serra's sculpture in the street of New York City. It was an act condemnation levelled at the racist pattern of the way in which large portions of funds and commisions of "public" art tended to promote established 'white' artists, whose work or creative process often failed to reflect the actual public. The use of excrement in art is not unusual in contemporary art practices. With its subversive power, excrement plays an important critical roles in the shaping of contemporary art.