• The Korean Journal of Pain
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.1-15
• /
• 2009

Neuropathic pain is often refractory to intervention because of the complex etiology and an incomplete understanding of the mechanisms behind this type of pain. Glial cells, specifically microglia and astrocytes, are powerful modulators of pain and new targets of drug development for neuropathic pain. Glial activation could be the driving force behind chronic pain, maintaining the noxious signal transmission even after the original injury has healed. Glia express chemokine, purinergic, toll-like, glutaminergic and other receptors that enable them to respond to neural signals, and they can modulate neuronal synaptic function and neuronal excitability. Nerve injury upregulates multiple receptors in spinal microglia and astrocytes. Microglia influence neuronal communication by producing inflammatory products at the synapse, as do astrocytes because they completely encapsulate synapses and are in close contact with neuronal somas through gap junctions. Glia are the main source of inflammatory mediators in the central nervous system. New therapeutic strategies for neuropathic pain are emerging such as targeting the glial cells, novel pharmacologic approaches and gene therapy. Drugs targeting microglia and astrocytes, cytokine production, and neural structures including dorsal root ganglion are now under study, as is gene therapy. Isoform-specific inhibition will minimize the side effects produced by blocking all glia with a general inhibitor. Enhancing the anti-inflammatory cytokines could prove more beneficial than administering proinflammatory cytokine antagonists that block glial activation systemically. Research on therapeutic gene transfer to the central nervous system is underway, although obstacles prevent immediate clinical application.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.263-269
• /
• 2014

This study explored agroforestry strategies to achieve ecological and economic effects simultaneously for Elsentasarhai region in Mongolia under desertification, based on attitude survey with a questionnaire, field survey on planting sites, and literature review. The agrosilvopastoral approach was suggested as a type of agroforestry practices which combined tree planting for combatting desertification and wind damage to crops, agricultural crop production for income improvement, and livestock raising, a major industry in the study region. Populus sibirica and Ulmus pumila native to desert regions were selected for tree planting, and Hippophae rhamnoides, potato, and fodder appropriate for the short growing season were chosen for income crop production, reflecting residents' attitudes and growth environments. As a strategy of land allocation to satisfy multiple effects of the agrosilvopastoral approach, the alley cropping technique was recommended which arranged alternately strips of trees as windbreaks and income crops in multiple rows. The study also explored desirable planting techniques to improve conditions of income crop production and tree growth against drought and strong winds in the alley cropping. Study results will be useful as fundamental information to implement sustainable agroforestry in Mongolia and other semi-arid regions where knowledge concerned is lacking.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
• /
• 1999.11a
• /
• pp.80-101
• /
• 1999

Self-sufficiency ratio of food crops in Korea is estimated under $20{\%}$ in 2010 because total food consumption including feed will be increased. but food grain production will be decreased. It is necessary to maintain the optimum level of food self-sufficiency rate to secure national food demand/supply balance and non-trade and multiple function of agriculture in Korea. It will be possible to produce more food grains having the acceptable quality if the appropriate policy and cropping techniques are developed and practised in future. Breeding for high yielding varieties should be the first target to raise the production potential of food crops . Number of varieties developed during last 30 years is counted as 353 in food crops. New varieties developed in 1990s showed the higher yield potential and the improved agronomic characteristics compared with 1970s and 1980s varieties. But number of varieties planted on the farmer's field over $5{\%}$ of national planting area is less than one third of total varieties developed Breeding efforts to maintain planting area of main food crops should be focussed on consumer's demand and farmer's need. They are the best quality variety in each field of crop utilization, the newly designed variety adapting to changes of natural, rural and cropping environment, and the higher yielding variety. It is also needed to develop new quality crop varieties for inducing more consumption of crop grain produced in Korea for direct food or processing. Development of barley varieties for animal feed. high income soybean varieties, high quality wheat variety. and super yielding rice and barley varieties are also needed to keep or maximize national food production potential. In order to establish the appropriate cropping technique for domestic food security, the strong and continuous interest and financial support on crop breeding are required, and the inter-disciplinary and inter-institutionary researches should be strengthened for successful crop breeding.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.21-41
• /
• 2023

Decarbonization and energy transition can be considered as a main concern even for the oil industry. One of the initiatives to reduce emissions under studies considers the use of renewable energy as a complimentary supply of electric energy of the production platforms. Wind energy has a higher TRL (Technology Readiness Level) than other types of energy converters and has been considered in these studies. However, other types of renewable energy have potential to be used and hybrid concepts considering wind platforms can help to push the technological development of other types of energy converters and improve their efficiency. In this article, a preliminary hydrodynamic assessment of a new concept of hybrid wind and wave energy conversion platform was performed, in order to evaluate the potential of wave power extraction. A multiple OWCs (Oscillating Water Column) WEC (Wave Energy Converter) design was adopted for the analysis and some simplifications were adopted to permit using a frequency domain approach to evaluate the mean wave power estimation for the location. Other strategies were used in the OWC design to create resonance in the sea energy range to try to maximize the potential power to be extracted, with good results.

• Journal of the Korea Society for Simulation
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.65-75
• /
• 2009

The semiconductor manufacturing process normally includes a great number of complex sequential steps those are related with various types of equipment. Such equipments are installed with the mixed patterns of serial or parallel structures while considering a number of engineering or environmental factors at the same time. It is thus extremely difficult to change the layout after installation due to expensive costs and other related factors. Because of these reasons, a new investment or layout change, which is usually caused by the production policy such as product mix or production quantity, must be carefully considered. This case study introduces a simulation conducted in a semiconductor parts production company which produces the Board on Chip (BOC)-type of packaging substrate and has plans to change the facility layout. For this study, we used $QUEST^{(R)}$ for simulation modeling and evaluated various strategies which may cause layout changes. Further, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is applied to select the best strategy from several alternatives with multiple decision criteria.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.55-61
• /
• 2022

There is a major interest in diagnostic technology for multiple cancers worldwide. In order to reduce the difficulty of cancer diagnosis, a liquid biopsy technology based on a microfluidic device using trace amounts of biofluids such as blood is being studied. And optical biosensing, which measures the concentration of analytes through fluorescence imaging using biofluids, requires various strategies to improve sensitivity, and specialists and equipment are needed to carry out these strategies. This leads to an increase in diagnostic and production costs, and it is necessary to develop a technology to solve this problem. In this paper, we design and propose a fluorescent multi-cancer diagnostic sensing platform structure that implements passive self-separation technology and molecular recognition activation functions by fluid mixing, only with the geometry and microfluidic phenomena of microchannels based on self-driven flow by capillary force. In order to check the parameters affecting the performance of the plasma separation part of the designed sensor, the hydrodynamic diameter of the channel and the viscosity of the fluid were set as variables to confirm the formation of plasma separation flow through simulation. And finally, we propose an optimal sensor platform structure.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
• /
• no.1
• /
• pp.69-108
• /
• 1995

Listening comprehension can be defined as a process of an integrative, positive and creative activity through which listeners get the message of speakers' production using linguistic or non-linguistic redundancy as well as linguistic or non-linguistic knowledge. Compared with reading comprehension, it has many difficulties especially for foreigners. while it can be transferred to the other skills: speaking, reading, writing. With this said, listening comprehension can be taught effectively using the following teaching strategies. First. systematic and intensive instruction of segmental phonemes, suprasegmental phonemes and sound changes must be given to remove the difficulties of listening comprehension concerned with the identification of sounds. Second, vocabulary drill through various games and other activities is absolutely needed until words can be unconsciously recognized. Without this, comprehension is almost impossible. Third, instruction of sentence structures is thought to be essential considering grammar is supplementary to listening comprehension and reading comprehension for academic purpose. So grammar translation drills, mechanical drills, meaningful drills and communicative drills should be performed in succession with common or frequently used structures. Fourth, listening activities for overall comprehension should teach how to receive overall meaning of intended messages intact. Linguists and literatures have listed some specific activities as follows: Total Physical Response, dictation, role playing, singing songs, selective listening, picture recognition, list activities, completion, prediction, true or false choice, multiple choice, seeking of specific information, summarizing, problem-solving and decision-making, recognization of relationships between speakers, recognition of mood, attitude and behavior of speakers.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.39-52
• /
• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate if purchasing companies' efforts of supplier development activities to supplier companies have positive impacts on the purchasing companies' performance as the first step. In the second step, we tried to confirm if the concept of Supply Chain Corporate Social Responsibility activities and Coexistence activities take the roles of moderate variable on relationship between supplier development and three performances respectively. Methods: The collected data through survey were analysed using multiple regression for the first step of the study and moderate regression for the second one of it. Results: The results of this study are as follows; supplier development efforts effect on all three performances positively. Moreover, Supply Chain CSR has significant moderate effect on relationship between supplier management and corporate performances, while Coexistence does between supplier management and logistics performances. In the case of relationship between supplier management and production performances, both Supply Chain CSR and Coexistence show significant moderate effect. Conclusion: Manufacturing companies in Korea need to make effort of supplier development in selective way when they want to practice Supply Chain CSR and Coexistence concurrently considering strategies and objectives.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.75-98
• /
• 2000

This study applied Data Envelopment Analysis(DEA) and Ratio Analysis and Regression Analysis to a set of Korean Public Corporation Medical Centers to evaluate their relative human resource efficiencies. The output measure used in this study was based on health insurance system which was used in both in-patient departments and out-patient departments. Inputs included working time of the doctors, nurses, technicians, and managerial department staff. Based on the data provided on the inputs and outputs, the analysis showed 23 of the 34 hospitals to be relatively inefficient. Each hospital with an efficiency rating of less than 1 was considered relatively inefficient. In addition, managerial strategies based on dual variables were constructed to indicate the manner In which inefficient hospitals may be made efficient. A subsequent analysis of t-test revealed that the bed occupancy rate, medical revenue per 100beds, value added revenue per staff, medical revenue per staff were statistically significant. The results of this study suggest the DEA is a promising tool for evaluating relative human resource efficiency in hospitals which have multiple inputs and outputs and where the efficient production function is not specifiable with any precision. But it is considered that efficiency evaluations may be most effective]y accomplished by Incorporating a combination of methodologies such as ratio analysis and regression analysis.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.117-124
• /
• 2011

Supplier selection is one of the most important activities of a company. This importance is increased even more by new strategies in a supply chain, because of the key role suppliers perform in terms of quality, costs and services which affect the outcome in the buyer's company. In addition, green production has become an important issue for almost every manufacturer and will determine the sustainability of a manufacturer. Therefore a performance evaluation system for supplier and green suppliers is necessary to determine the suitability of suppliers to cooperate with the company. Supplier and green supplier selection is a multiple criteria decision making problem in which the objectives are not equally important. In practice, vagueness and imprecision of the goals, constraints and parameters in these problems make the decision making complicated. The objective of this study is to construct a decision-making process using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and balanced scorecard (BSC) for evaluating supplier and green suppliers in the manufacturing industry. The BSC concept is applied to define the hierarchy with four major perspectives and performance indicators are selected for each perspective. FAHP is then proposed in order to tolerate vagueness and ambiguity of information. Finally, FAHP is applied to facilitate the solving process. With the proposed approach, manufacturers can have a better understanding of the capabilities that supplier and green supplier must possess and can evaluate and select the most suitable supplier for cooperation.