• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.111-123
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• 2021

Objective: Using domestic cats as a biomedical research model for fertility preservation, the present study aimed to characterize the influences of ovarian tissue encapsulation in biodegradable hydrogel matrix (fibrinogen/thrombin) on resilience to cryopreservation, and static versus non-static culture systems following ovarian tissue encapsulation and cryopreservation on follicle quality. Methods: In experiment I, ovarian tissues (n=21 animals; 567 ovarian fragments) were assigned to controls or hydrogel encapsulation with 5 or 10 mg/mL fibrinogen (5 or 10 FG). Following cryopreservation (slow freezing or vitrification), follicle viability, morphology, density, and key protein phosphorylation were assessed. In experiment II (based on the findings from experiment I), ovarian tissues (n=10 animals; 270 ovarian fragments) were encapsulated with 10 FG, cryopreserved, and in vitro cultured under static or non-static systems for 7 days followed by similar follicle quality assessments. Results: In experiment I, the combination of 10 FG encapsulation/slow freezing led to greater post-thawed follicle quality than in the control group, as shown by follicle viability (66.9%±2.2% vs. 61.5%±3.1%), normal follicle morphology (62.2% ±2.1% vs. 55.2%±3.5%), and the relative band intensity of vascular endothelial growth factor protein phosphorylation (0.58±0.06 vs. 0.42±0.09). Experiment II demonstrated that hydrogel encapsulation promoted follicle survival and maintenance of follicle development regardless of the culture system when compared to fresh controls. Conclusion: These results provide a better understanding of the role of hydrogel encapsulation and culture systems in ovarian tissue cryopreservation and follicle quality outcomes using an animal model, paving the way for optimized approaches to human fertility preservation.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.629-637
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• 2022

It is at risk of depletion of biodiversity due to indiscriminate overfishing of ecosystems and destruction of habitats. Intensive fertilizers or development of related facilities to increase agricultural production in poor indigenous areas devastate the soil. Preservation of biodiversity is now emerging as an important issue of global human coexistence. After the Post-2020 GBF Declaration, all governance in agricultural development in indigenous agricultural areas should be supported and promoted as biodiversity conservation measures. A compromise plan to reduce ecosystem development and biodiversity loss can help establish public governance policies. In this paper, a viability kernel used for viable control feedback analysis is introduced to solve conflicting economic and ecological problems in ecosystem conservation, and a mathematical model on biodiversity conservation by the viability kernel is examined. Because all species in the ecosystem are interdependent, if the balance is broken, biodiversity is depleted, which is irreversible and eventually leads to extinction. For sustainable use and harmony of biological resources, a lot of policy consideration is required, such as creative governance that can efficiently protect all species. Subsidies or tax incentives have a direct impact on biodiversity conservation. The recovery of species in a state of decreasing biodiversity can be said to be of great economic value. Biodiversity will allow indigenous producers to be proud of their unique traditional knowledge and have a positive impact on local tourism, thereby enhancing regional identity and greatly contributing to the survival and prosperity of mankind.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.102-114
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• 2021

India has recently experienced an acute crisis confronting the COVID-19 pandemic as confirmed cases exceeded 11.73 million in March 2021, which was the second worst scale only after the United States. The strict lockdown measures as well as the pandemic itself posed a serious threat of survival, in particular, to immigrant workers engaged in informal sectors, which triggered their reverse immigration. In case the COVID-19 pandemic continues in 2021, it is estimated that in the sector of tourism and service alone, more than 20 million jobs will disappear. The damage on industry is already being realized with the significant decrease of workforce. It is important to note, however, that jobless growth and labor polarization were observed even before the outbreak of COVID-19, and that the pandemic only served as one of the trigger catalysts that made those submerged problems burst out. In this study, we examine the structural problems in industry and labor market in India and consider the social context and efficacy of the "Make in India" or "Atmanirbhar Bhrat" policy. The latter initiative was presented in the trenches of the pandemic in 2020. While considering the complexity of problems, we would like to pursue a future-oriented approach and propose a direction in restructuring the labor market, attempted at reversing the critical conditions following the fourth industrial revolution and digitization into the shortcut to labor market restructuring.

• Korean small business review
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.147-164
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• 2021

This study focuses on succession in a family business which is the crucial factor affecting future and survival of a family business. Especially, the study concentrate a successor's view which is regarded as a key-player during the succession. In this study, we used AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) methodology to identify priorities of factors influencing succession. We divided into two-tier level. The first-tier is defined as 1) the relationship with an incumbent CEO, 2) a successor 's management ability, 3) a successor' s self-efficacy and 4) succession plan. For the second-tier of each first-tier have 3 sub-factors ; 1) the relationship with an incumbent CEO is set as level of mutual trust, sharing the vision of a company, and level of communication each other. 2) A successor 's management ability is based on business competence, education and training and interpersonal management ability, 3) a successor 's self-efficacy was set as successor' s willingness of succession, confidence of overcoming crisis and confidence of achieving objectives. Lastly, 4) a succession plan is set as finance plan, leadership transformation plan and human-organization management plan. A total of 93 questionnaires is distributed and retrieved, and 88 questionnaires are used for the study, excluding those with missing data. As a result of this study, successors selected 1) the relationship with an incumbent C.E.O. as the most important priority in the first-tier. The second is 2) a successor 's management ability, the third is 3) a successor' s self-efficacy, and the last priority is 4) a succession plan. In particular, 3 sub-factors that make up the relationship with an incumbent are the most important factors. These factors rank the first to the third in the final result.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.327-332
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• 2022

In the age of population cliff, an aggressive entrance exam strategy for the development of excellent human resources for beauty is very important for the survival of beauty departments and universities. Therefore, for the purpose of in-depth trend analysis of department names and affiliated departments that reflect department characteristics as well as external department promotion tools, we investigated and analyzed department affiliated departments and department titles in 2020 targeting the Beauty Department of Central University. As a result of the study, the departments belonging to each of the four regions had the most beauty arts department (28.57%) and health department (50.00%). In Daejeon, beauty design (37.5%) was the most, and in Chungcheong, beauty care, beauty cosmetics, and medical beauty care (11.11%) were the most. Through this study, it will be possible to analyze the overall characterization trend of the Department of Beauty, and it will be used as an important basic data to suggest the future direction of the department when the departments are merged or separated in the future. In addition, I believe that it will provide a foothold for follow-up research on the curriculum for each department or the change of department name by year.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.1120-1128
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• 2022

In the event of a marine accident, the longer the exposure time to the sea increases, the faster the chance of survival decreases. However, because the search area of the sea is extremely wide compared to that of land, marine object detection technology based on the sensor mounted on a satellite or an aircraft must be applied rather than ship for an efficient search. The purpose of this study was to rapidly detect an object in the ocean using a hyperspectral image sensor mounted on an aircraft. The image captured by this sensor has a spatial resolution of 8,241 × 1,024, and is a large-capacity data comprising 127 spectra and a resolution of 0.7 m per pixel. In this study, a marine object detection model was developed that combines a seawater identification algorithm using DBSCAN and a density-based land removal algorithm to rapidly analyze large data. When the developed detection model was applied to the hyperspectral image, the performance of analyzing a sea area of about 5 km² within 100 s was confirmed. In addition, to evaluate the detection accuracy of the developed model, hyperspectral images of the Mokpo, Gunsan, and Yeosu regions were taken using an aircraft. As a result, ships in the experimental image could be detected with an accuracy of 90 %. The technology developed in this study is expected to be utilized as important information to support the search and rescue activities of small ships and human life.

• Composites Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.281-287
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• 2023

Environmental pollution from waste and the climate crisis, due to rising global average temperatures, are reaching critical levels threatening human survival. Research is ongoing across various fields to solve this problem, with a key focus on developing eco-friendly, carbon-neutral materials. Our study aimed to integrate natural fibers, known for their environmentally friendly properties and lower carbon emissions, with carbon fibers. In general, combining high-strength and low-strength materials results in intermediate properties. However, we found that certain properties in our study exceeded those of typical carbon fiber composite materials. To validate this, we produced both carbon fiber composite materials and carbon fiber/natural fiber hybrid composite materials. We then compared their mechanical properties using a range of specific tests. Our results revealed that the hybrid composite material exhibited superior bending strength and fracture toughness compared to the carbon fiber composite material. We also identified the underlying mechanisms contributing to this strength enhancement. This breakthrough suggests that the use of hybrid composite materials may allow the production of stronger structures. Moreover, this can play a significant role in mitigating environmental pollution and the climate crisis by reducing carbon emissions, a major contributing factor to these global challenges.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.620-632
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• 2022

In order to prepare for the Anthropocene, this study aims to provide basic data on the direction of the Anthropocene liberal arts education by sharing experiences on anthropocene perception for undergraduates using the FGI analysis method. Interviews were conducted on 14 people who participated in liberal arts tutoring for about four months from October 2021 to January 2022, and as a result of confirming meaningful concepts according to qualitative analysis methods, a total of three topics, eight subcategories, and 16 sub-units were derived. "The advent of the new geological age" recognized that the anthrop tax was close to our lives, and it was time to predict the future through the meaning, seriousness, and development potential of the anthrop tax, and "Anthropocene Reorganization and Responsibility" emphasized the reorganization and responsibility of individuals, companies, and governments. The Direction of Human Tax Liberal Education proposed future basic liberal arts education, action practice for climate change, measures to overcome the anthropology using ICT technology, and various liberal arts education contents for a positive anthropology. In this regard, this study raised perception of the survival of mankind by in-depth exploration of the anthropocene in terms of liberal arts education, suggested the direction of future liberal arts education necessary in the anthropocene era, and suggested implications for the educational content and method.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.169-176
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• 2023

In this study, stem cells were extracted from the callus derived from the aloe cambium, and the antioxidant activity and effect of skin elasticity improvement were assessed. The aloe cambium-derived stem cell extract, AloStem and callus showed the survival rate of each 98.27% and 71.31%. In the results of the DPPH antioxidant activity of AloStem and aloe extract, it was confirmed that the antioxidant effect of AloStem was more than twice that of Aloe extract. AloStem did not affect the cytotoxicity of normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDF) cells up to 0.25% concentration. Also, AloStem increased elastin, COL1A1 and HAS2 mRNA expression levels dose-dependently. Furthermore, to examine lifting effect of skin elasticity using a sheet mask containing AloStem, 21 adult men and women applied the sheet mask in the face, once a day for 2 weeks. As a result, after 2 weeks the skin length was 116.75 ± 5.58 mm before the use of the sheet mask, but after 2 weeks of use, it was confirmed that 0.59% increased to 117.44 ± 5.17 mm. Thus, we concluded that the sheet mask containing AloStem can help the lifting effect of skin elasticity.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.54.1-54.16
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• 2020

Objectives: This study aimed to synthesize nanocrystals (NCs) of zinc oxide (ZnO) and calcium ion (Ca²⁺)-doped ZnO with different percentages of calcium oxide (CaO), to evaluate cytotoxicity and to assess the effects of the most promising NCs on cytotoxicity depending on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation. Materials and Methods: Nanomaterials were synthesized (ZnO and ZnO:xCa, x = 0.7; 1.0; 5.0; 9.0) and characterized using X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, and methylene blue degradation. SAOS-2 and RAW 264.7 were treated with NCs, and evaluated for viability using the MTT assay. NCs with lower cytotoxicity were maintained in contact with LPS-stimulated (+LPS) and nonstimulated (-LPS) human dental pulp cells (hDPCs). Cell viability, nitric oxide (NO), and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production were evaluated. Cells kept in culture medium or LPS served as negative and positive controls, respectively. One-way analysis of variance and the Dunnett test (α = 0.05) were used for statistical testing. Results: ZnO:0.7Ca and ZnO:1.0Ca at 10 ㎍/mL were not cytotoxic to SAOS-2 and RAW 264.7. +LPS and -LPS hDPCs treated with ZnO, ZnO:0.7Ca, and ZnO:1.0Ca presented similar NO production to negative control (p > 0.05) and lower production compared to positive control (p < 0.05). All NCs showed reduced ROS production compared with the positive control group both in +LPS and -LPS cells (p < 0.05). Conclusions: NCs were successfully synthesized. ZnO, ZnO:0.7Ca and ZnO:1.0Ca presented the highest percentages of cell viability, decreased ROS and NO production in +LPS cells, and maintenance of NO production at basal levels.