• Title/Summary/Keyword: Process assessment

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Freeze Risk Assessment for Three Major Peach Growing Areas under the Future Climate Projected by RCP8.5 Emission Scenario (신 기후변화시나리오 RCP 8.5에 근거한 복숭아 주산지 세 곳의 동해위험도 평가)

  • Kim, Soo-Ock;Kim, Dae-Jun;Kim, Jin-Hee;Yun, Jin-I.
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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    • v.14 no.3
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    • pp.124-131
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    • 2012
  • This study was carried out to evaluate a possible change in freeze risk for 'Changhowon Hwangdo' peach buds in three major peach growing areas under the future climate projected by RCP8.5 emission scenario. Mean values of the monthly temperature data for the present decade (2000s) and the future decades (2020s, 2050s, 2080s) were extracted for farm lands in Icheon, Chungju, and Yeongcheon-Gyeongsan region at 1km resolution and 30 sets of daily temperature data were generated randomly by a stochastic process for each decade. The daily data were used to calculate a thermal time-based dormancy depth index which is closely related to the cold tolerance of peach buds. Combined with daily minimum temperature, dormancy depth can be used to estimate the potential risk of freezing damage on peach buds. When the freeze risk was calculated daily for the winter period (from 1 November to 15 March) in the present decade, Icheon and Chungju regions had high values across the whole period, but Yeongcheon-Gyeongsan regions had low values from mid-December to the end of January. In the future decades, the frequency of freezing damage would be reduced in all 3 regions and the reduction rate could be as high as 75 to 90% by 2080's. However, the severe class risk (over 80% damage) will not disappear in the future and most occurrences will be limited to December to early January according to the calculation. This phenomenon might be explained by shortened cold hardiness period caused by winter warming as well as sudden cold waves resulting from the higher inter-annual climate variability projected by the RCP8.5 scenario.

PRESENT SITUATION AND PROSPECT OF PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY IN KOREA - FOCUSED ON MANAGEMENT OF DENTAL CARIES - (한국 소아치과의 현재와 전망 - 치아우식증관리 분야를 중심으로 -)

  • Lee, Sang-Ho
    • Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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    • v.39 no.2
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    • pp.206-225
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    • 2012
  • General status of pediatric dentistry in Korea is to conduct vigorous academic activities and specialized medical care centering the Korean Association of Pediatric Dentistry (KAPD) that has about 1,000 pediatric dentists as members, pediatric dentistry departments of 11 Colleges of Dentistry, numbers of pediatric dentistry training institutions and private clinics specialized in children. From 1996, the accredited pediatric dentists were produced by the KAPD and from 2008, the state began to produce the accredited pediatric dentists. Since then, doctors with expertise in pediatric care had opened private clinics in addition to the university hospitals, it became the basis of a momentum to deepen the specialty of pediatric dentistry. The Dentistry community of Korea is going through rapid and profound changes recently, and the underlying reasons for such changes can be classified largely into a few categories: (1) Decreasing population and structural changes in population (2) Increase in numbers of dentists, (3) Changes in the pattern of dental diseases and (4) Changes in medical environment. In Korea, the children population in the age range of 0 ~ 14 years old had been decreased by 2 million in 2010 compared to that of 2000 due to reduction of birth rate. The current population of children in the age range of 0 ~ 4 years old in 2010 takes up 16.2% of the total population, but it is estimated that such percentage would decrease to 8.0% by 2050. Such percentage is largely behind the estimated mean global population of 19.6% by 2050. On the other hand, the number of dentists had been largely increased from 18,000 in 2000 to 25,000 in 2010. And it is estimated that the number will be increased to 41,000 by 2030. In addition, the specialized personnel of Pediatric dentistry had been shown as increased by 2.5 times during past 10 years. For the changes in the pattern of dental diseases, including dental caries, each df rate of 5 years old children and 12 years old children had been decreased by 21.9% and 16.7% respectively in 2010 compared to 2000. Each df Index also had been decreased by 2.5 teeth and 1.2 teeth respectively. The medical expenditure of Korea is less than that of OECD and more specifically, the expenditure from the National Health Plan is less than OECD but the expenditure covered by households is larger than OECD. These facts indicate that it is considered as requiring the coverage of the national health plan to be reinforced more in the future and as such reinforcement needs continuous promotion. In medical examination pattern of Pediatric dentistry, the preventive and corrective treatment were increased whereas the restorative treatment was decreased. It is considered that such change is caused from decrease of dental caries from activation of the prevention project at national level. For the restorative treatment, the restorations in use of dental amalgam, pre-existing gold crowning and endodontic treatment had been decreased in their proportion while the restorative treatment in use of composite resin had been increased. It is considered that such changes is caused by the change of demands from patients and family or guardians as they desired more aesthetic improvement along with socio-economic growth of Korean society. Due to such changes in dentistry, the pediatric dentistry in Korea also attempts to have changes in the patterns of medical examination as follows; It tends to implement early stage treatment through early diagnosis utilizing various diagnostic tools such as FOTI or QLF. The early stage dental caries so called white spot had been included in the subjects for dental care or management and in order to do so, the medical care guidelines essentially accompanied with remineralization treatment as well as minimally invasive treatment is being generalized gradually. Also, centering the Pediatric dentists, the importance of caries risk assessment is being recognized, in addition that the management of dental caries is being changed from surgical approach to internal medicinal approach. Recently, efforts began to emerge in order to increase the target patients to be managed by dentists and to expand the application scope of Pediatric dentistry along with through such changes. The interest and activities of Pediatric dentists which had been limited to the medical examination room so far, is now being expanded externally, as they put efforts for participating in the preventive policy making process of the community or the state, and to support the political theories. And also opinions are being collected into the direction that the future- oriented strategic political tasks shall be selected and researches as well as presentations on the theoretical rationale of such tasks at the association level.

Assessment of Visual Characteristics of Urban Bridges using Landscape Simulations - A Case Study of Yanghwaro in the Gyeongui Railroad Area - (경관시뮬레이션을 이용한 도시교량의 시각적 특성 평가 - 경의선 폐철구간 양화로 지역을 대상으로 -)

  • Chun, Hyun-Jin;Kim, Sung-Kyun
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.38 no.3
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    • pp.75-82
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    • 2010
  • This study formed an estimation of the visual characteristics of urban bridges in Yanghwaro in the Gyeongui Railroad Area using a landscape simulation. Existing theses have formerly only suggested directions for design based on visual preference, but there is as yet no research on the practical process of landscape design. As a result, it is difficult to directly apply this to bridge design. This study found a potential bridge site and presented a direction for bridge design in order to improve the image of the surrounding urban landscape by surveying the visual effects and landscape preferences of different bridge types. An urban landscape was produced using a landscape simulation model and was made the background for the survey. Five bridge types--Girder, Arch, Truss, Cable and Suspension--were selected and presented. The shapes of the bridges were selected based on the floor plan. The results of this study are as follows. In a preference analysis, every bridge except Girder was evaluated as a positive influence. When rating the image, 'artificial' was rated significantly higher than other traits when assessing the background image. When the Girder Bridge was introduced, 'stable' and 'orderly' were both rated highly while 'stable', 'beautiful', 'orderly' and 'interesting' were high with the introduction of the Arch Bridge. 'Beautiful', 'stable', and 'orderly' were given a high value in the introduction of the Truss Bridge and every image except 'natural', 'harmony' and 'orderly' were highly rated in the introduction of the Cable Bridge. Further, every image but 'natural' was highly rated with the introduction of the Suspension Bridge. Based on the analysis of the landscape, there is a difference in preference before and after modeling a bridge type, while the bridge itself is an influence when it is the main object of the simulated scene. This study researched only the shape of the bridge as a part of the landscape but other elements such as stability, economics, and construction are also factors in the design of a bridge. Stability, economics, construction and other factors must be considered when selecting a bridge type in the future.

The Effect of the Degree of Competition of the Hospital Market Regions on Clinic's Rate of Antibiotics Prescription (병원시장지역 내 경쟁 정도가 의원급 의료기관의 항생제 처방률에 미치는 영향)

  • Jo, Changik;Lim, Jae-Young;Lee, Soo Yeon
    • KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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    • v.30 no.2
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    • pp.129-155
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    • 2008
  • The rate of antibiotics prescription for an acute airway infection significantly varies depending upon the diagnosis type, specialty, and the location of the hospital along with many other related factors. The objective of this study is to empirically investigate the possible relationship between the antibiotics prescription rates for an acute airway infection and the degree of competition in the hospital market regions of mainly the providers of primary medical care services such as clinics, internal medicines, pediatrics and otorhinolaryngology department. Using the data from Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) regarding the hospitals' antibiotics prescription rates for the acute airway infection and controlling for selected variables of demand and supply sectors, this study tries to figure out that the degree of competition in the hospital market, regardless of what type of competition indexes we employed, has a statistically significant effect on the variations of antibiotics prescription rate of the clinics in local areas. This result implies that as an economic consideration itself, the change in the degree of competition in the hospital market can play a crucial role influencing the treatment behaviors of the medical doctors. More specifically, this study reveals that as the degree of competition increases the antibiotics prescription rate goes up. This result means that if the market becomes more competitive in a specific region so that it might cause a reduction in doctor's income, doctors with rational decision-making process, recognize that the benefit created from inducing patients' seemingly unnecessary demand for medical care (income effect) would be higher than the costs associated with sustaining their targeted income (substitution effect). It is because that the doctors are more likely to prescribe antibiotics which create relatively higher margins than other medical care services in order to sustain their targeted income when the hospital market competition becomes tighter. Even though this study empirically confirms that antibiotics prescription can be affected by the economic incentives, it still raises following issues as limitations of the study: first issue is about the representativeness of the hospital regions segregated for this study, which might be weak in explaining whether these regions are mutually exclusive in reality. Patients actually consider the quality of services, transportation cost, time costs, and any other related factors choosing the doctors or hospitals, and in that sense, this study rules out 'border-crossing' in using the medical care services. Second issue arises in capturing the data of antibiotics prescription rate. Since we use the average rate for each medical institution, we cannot figure out the average rate for each patient so that we are not able to control for the variation of patients' medical conditions. It is because of the unavailability of data regarding each patient's medical condition from HIRA. Thirdly, since this study mainly analyzes the medical institutions providing primary care such as clinics, internal medicines, pediatrics, and otorhinolaryngology department, it is skeptical of whether those institutions can represent the hospital market in respective regions and truly reflect the degree of competition. It needs to extend the study areas and disease types as well as any micro data for future studies.

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Development of a Critical Pathway for Patients with Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (관상동맥 우회술 환자를 위한 Critical Pathway개발)

  • 김기연
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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    • v.28 no.1
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    • pp.117-131
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    • 1998
  • The purpose of this study was to develop a critical pathway for case management for patients who have received Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) because of Ischemic Heart Disease(IHD) which is a factor of rising medical expenses. For this study. a conceptual framework was developed through a review of the literature including six critical pathways which are currently being used in USA. In order to identify the overall service contents required by these patients and to draw up a preliminary critical pathway, 30 cases of medical records of patients who had CABG because of IHD between January, 1995 to June. 1996 at the Cardiovascular Center of Yonsei Medical Center in Seoul were analyzed. An expert validity test was done for the preliminary critical pathway and clinical validity test was also done using seven IHD patients with CABG between November 11 and 23, 1996. After these processes. the final critical pathway was developed. The results of this study are summarized as follows : 1. The vertical axis of the critical pathway includes the following eight items : tests, nutrition, medications, consultations, activity, assessments, treatments, education discharge planning and the horizontal axis includes the time from the start of hospitalization to discharge. 2. Analysis of the 30 medical records indicated that the average length of stay was 20.2days with the average length of stay from hospitalization day to operation day being 6.2 days, and the average length of stay from operation day to discharge day was 13. 9 days. Analysis of the service contents showed that the horizontal axis of the preliminary critical pathway was set from hospitalization to the 14th post operation day and the vertical axis was set to include eight items, the contents which ought to have occurred, according to the time frames of the horizontal axis. 3. As a result of the experts validity, it was found that among the total of 571 items. there was over 83% agreement for 482 items, less than 83% for 89 items, which were then deleted and a revision of the critical pathway was done. 4. A clinical validity test was done using seven IHD patients with CABG. During the process, three patients were deleted because they were out of the criteria the investigator set. Finally, four patients were used. The result of study indicated that only one patient was discharged on the tenth post operation day, which was one day later than the expected day. Three patients were discharged later than the expected day from three days to nine days. All the cases progressed on schedule until the operation day and the first post operation day, but from the second post operation days, there were differences between the critical pathway and the actual practice. The differences came from tests, assessments, and treatments. 5. On the basis of the results of the clinical validity test. the following revisions in the final critical pathway were made : the transfer from ICU to step down ward would be the second post operation day, and the transfer to a general ward, the fifth post operation day, for patients who complained of lack of sleep from the fifth post operation day to discharge, a sleeping pill would be prescribed, skin observations would be performed routinely from immediately after the operation until the third post operation day, and would continue if there was a sign of skin injury on the fourth post operation day, and assessment of chest pain would be done from the third post operation day, and the “stairs climbing” item, expected to be done on the ninth post operation day would be deleted. In conclusion, this critical pathway is partially applicable to the care of patients with CABG but there are some parts needed to be further investigated.

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Study on the Adolescent′s Attitude Patterns toward the Meaning of Aging and the Elderly - Q-Methodology - (노인의 의미에 관한 청소년의 태도 유형 연구 - Q 방법론 적용 -)

  • Park In Sook;Lee Keum Jae
    • Child Health Nursing Research
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    • v.5 no.3
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    • pp.292-304
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    • 1999
  • The lengthened average span of human life by virtue of recent developments in medicine has caused the Population of elders to increase. The development of modern industrial society has transformed family structure from the large family system to that of a nuclear family. Due to the shift in family structure, the problem of support for the aged has surfaced as a nursing problem as well as a social problem. With regard to this problem, this study aims to investigate the adolescent's understanding of elders and aging. By identifying their understanding and classifying their attitude patterns, this study will help the nursing assessment of the support of elders in the family. This study employed Q-methodology and the research was conducted from December 1998 to May 1999. One method of the research included deep interviews with elders, those who are in their 50's. 40's or 30's. and the adolescent. 183 Q-Populations taken from literary works such as poems or novels were also formed as another method. Finally. 36 Q-cards were made after consultation with Professors of the nursing department. The subjects of the P- sample were 30 high sohoolboys/girls - who were in first, second, and third years. The result showed that 3 factors provided an explanation for 59.14% of the whole variables: the first factor, 41.37%; the second factor. 11.49%, and the third factor. 6.28%. These three factors were analyzed and categorized as three types. Twenty subjects out of the 30 were included in Type 1: Respecting Elders. The statements which showed the most positive consent were as follows: 'The declining age is a perfect time to prosper completing a worthy life' ; 'Getting old. one needs financial stability' and 'Elders wish the best for their children' The statements showing the most negative response were as follows: 'It is better to die than to live as an older person' ; 'Elders are insignificant' ; and 'Getting old is the worst unhappiness that tortures human.' Four subjects were included in Type 2. Resenting Elders. The statements which showed the most positive consent were as follows: 'Aging is a process of dying that nobody can escape from'. 'Elders should be concerned about his health and try to maintain their health' ; and 'When you set older. you regret about the life in the Past.' The statements showing the most negative response were as follows: 'When You get older. You should stand aloof greed and worldly things' 'When You got older, You become generous and gentle' ; and 'When You set he gets old. You change to become a comfortable and warm person.' Six out of 30 subject were included in Type 3 Caring Elders. The statements which showed the most positive consent were as follows: 'Elders should be concerned about his health and try to maintain their health' ; 'Elders wish the best for their children' ; and 'Elders deserve to be treated with filial respects.' The statements showing the most negative response were as follows 'Elders are insignificant' ; 'Elders have freedom and plenty of free time.' and 'Elders are alienated form and drove out of the society.' The above-mentioned results show that most adolescents in Korea recognize aging as the time of fruition and development: it is a time of benefiting and giving back to society. Aging can also be seen as a time of generosity and magnanimity and the time of respect and favorable treatment from society. despite the change of modern society and the ostensible transformation of a family system. Their recognition seems deeply rooted in the traditional confucian values and the dual family system which is Peculiar especially to the Korea - one which maintains both the superficial form of nuclear family and the substantial mode of the enlarged family system. In sum, many Korean adolescents attribute the meaning of the elderly and aging to the type of the respect with the elderly and the type of the elderly's caretaking.

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Seasonal and Inter-annual Variability of Water Use Efficiency of an Abies holophylla Plantation in Korea National Arboretum (국립수목원의 전나무(Abies holophylla) 조림지의 물 이용 효율의 계절 및 경년 변동)

  • Thakuri, Bindu Malla;Kang, Minseok;Zhang, Yonghui;Chun, Junghwa;Kim, Joon
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.366-377
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    • 2016
  • Water use efficiency (WUE) is considered as an important ecological indicator which may provide information on the process-structure relationships associated with energy-matter-information flows in ecosystem. The WUE at ecosystem-level can be defined as the ratio of gross primary productivity (GPP) to evapotranspiration (ET). In this study, KoFlux's long-term (2007-2015) eddy covariance measurements of $CO_2$ and water vapor fluxes were used to examine the WUE of needle fir plantation in Korea National Arboretum. Our objective is to ascertain the seasonality and inter-annual variability in WUE of this needle fir plantation so that the results may be assimilated into the development of a holistic ecological indicator for resilience assessment. Our results show that the WUE of needle fir plantation is characterized by a concave seasonal pattern with a minimum ($1.8-3.3g\;C{\cdot}(kg\;H_2O)^{-1}$) in August and a maximum ($5.1-11.4g\;C{\cdot}(kg\;H_2O)^{-1}$) in February. During the growing season (April to October), WUE was on average $3.5{\pm}0.3g\;C\;(kg\;H_2O)^{-1}$. During the dormant seasons (November to March), WUE showed more variations with a mean of $7.4{\pm}1.0g\;C{\cdot}(kg\;H_2O)^{-1}$. These values are in the upper ranges of WUE reported in the literature for coniferous forests in temperate zone. Although the growing season was defined as the period from April to October, the actual length of the growing season (GSL) varied each year and its variation explained 62% of the inter-annual variability of the growing season WUE. This is the first study to quantify long-term changes in ecosystem-level WUE in Korea and the results can be used to test models, remote-sensing algorithms and resilience of forest ecosystem.

Assessment for $CO_2$ Biomineralization Characteristics and its Applicability for Solidified Sludge (이산화탄소 생광물화 특성 및 슬러지 고화물 적용성 평가)

  • Min, Dong-Hee;Ahn, Chang-Min;Han, Ji-Sun;Yoon, Soon-Uk;Jeon, Eun-Jeong;Won, Jong-Choul;Chun, Seung-Kyu;Kim, Chang-Gyun
    • Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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    • v.33 no.11
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    • pp.812-820
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    • 2011
  • This study was conducted to characterize $CO_2$ biomineralization on several minerals (i.e., CaO, MgO, $SiO_2$) by bottle test in an aqueous solution and solidified sludge using different aerobic bacterial strains like Bacillus megaterium and Bacillus pasteurii by batch test. These bacteria promote the formation of microenvironments that facilitate the precipitation of mineral phases that were unsaturated in the bulk solution. For one type of mineral solely amended, the $CO_2$ was reduced at the highest of 4.0 mmol for MgO while it was not that much lower for CaO and $SiO_2$ showing 1.1 and 0.3 mmol $CO_2$2, respectively. For two types of minerals simultaneously amended, the $CO_2$ was reduced at the greater extent for both Ca + Mg and Mg + Si showing 2.7 and 2.3 mmol, respectively whereas it was less for Ca + Si at 1.8 mmol. For solidified sludge, the $CO_2$ reduction rate changed depending on the volume of solidified sludge placed in the medium and the input $CO_2$ concentration.. The reduction rate of $CO_2$ was increased with increasing the volume of solidified sludge. Results of XRD analysis indicate that $CaCO_3$ (Calcite) was dominantly formed among others (e.g., Aragonite, Dolomite). SEM analysis showed that the sample with Bacillus pasteurii, could more form minerals rather than control. As demonstrated in this study, $CO_2$ would be effectively sequestered in biomineralization process.

An Assessment on Vegetation and Fish Diversity in Natural Urban Stream (자연형 도시하천의 식생 및 어류 다양성과 특성 평가)

  • Kim, hong bae;Ahn, kyung soo
    • Journal of Wetlands Research
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    • v.8 no.2
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    • pp.53-64
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    • 2006
  • A study on the restoration process of a stream ecosystem and the water quality renovation technique by removing algae, vegetation and fish monitoring as evaluating the removal of the algae by dietetic characteristics of fishes were performed on Sangdong stream in the B city after stream restoration it to the artificial stream as the cases, restoring urban stream into close-to-nature stream are being increased domestically with the aim of ecological city. As a result, restoration and rehabilitation of the fundamental stream ecosystem was well maintained 4 years later the reclamation at the moment and total 93 diagnosis which were all vascular plant phylum including 44 families, 73 genuses, 79 species and 14 varieties in flora and vegetation community were observed. 3 families, 8 species and 354 populations in total among Fishes were found and Pseudorasbora Parva, Cyprinus Carpic and Carassius Auratus strongly resistant to water pollution were dominantly appeared in order of 50.5% of Pseudorasbora Parva 21.2% of Cyprinus Carpic, 20.9% of Carassius Auratus, 7.1% of Macropodus chinensis and 0.3% of Misqurnus anguillicaudatus according to relative richness index. It turned out to be that Cyprinus Carpic ingests algae over 90% and Carassius Auratus takes it over 30% according to the analysis about the alimentary object of the fishes as a consequences of algae's excrescent from characteristics of the tested experimental stream. It is reported that a Cyprinus Carpic, about 34 cm in length, ingested wet-weight 43.2g algae on the rough analysis toward the sample which makes us recognize how effective a macro community Cyprinus Carpic is for removing algae.As a consequence of this research, the effect of stream ecosystem characteristics and water quality purification could not be expected by aquatic plants and trees which were eliminated at experimental stream. From now on, a close-to-nature stream should be formed of ecological hydraulic and hydrologic engineered modeling from the beginning so that it can perform the water quality purifying function. It is determined that the structure of food chain will be abundantly influenced by the induction of oversized macro community like Cyprinus Carpic because a biomass of a consumer of higher order is increased. It is estimated that the removal algae by fishes is not effective despite in some cases of dietetic characteristics so much more studies should be executed in the future.

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Relationship of Glomerular Basement Membrane Alterations to Epithelial Cell Structure and Clinical Parameters in Alport Syndrome (Alport 증후군에서 사구체 기저막의 형태학적 변화와 사구체 상피세포의 구조 및 임상지표와의 관계)

  • Eom, Hye-Jin;Hong, Seung-Jin;Lee, Jae-Seung;Jeong, Hyeon-Joo;Kim, Young-Ki;Kim, Kee-Hyuck
    • Childhood Kidney Diseases
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.22-31
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    • 2010
  • Purpose : This study was performed to evaluate the relationship between glomerular basement membrane (GBM) alterations to epithelial cell (EpC) structure and renal function in Alport Syndrome (AS) patients. Methods : Fifteen patients diagnosed with AS (4-26yrs) were examined. The GBM in AS was categorized as : C1) normal, C2) minor alterations (widening of lamina rara interna or externa without lamina densa change), C3) nonspecific splitting of lamina densa, C4) basket-weaving pattern of lamina densa splitting. The length of each GBM portion along the epithelial side was measured on the systematically obtained electron microscopic photographs. Furthermore to obtain an objective assessment of the degree of glomerular EpC foot process change, the number of slit pores along $10\;{\mu}m$ of peripheral GBM in each category was obtained. Results : The percentage of normal GBM portion (C1) correlated inversely with daily protein excretion (g/day/$m^2$, P<0.05) and sum of the percentage of abnormal GBM portion (C2+C3+C4) had direct correlation with daily protein excretion (g/day/$m^2$, P<0.05). There were no significant relationships between the percentages of other categories of GBM alterations and creatinine clearance or protein excretion. There were no significant relationships between of creatinine clearance in relation to normal GBM(C1) portion as well as that in relation to sum of the percentage of abnormal GBM portion (C2+C3+C4). GBM abnormality did not correlate with age at biopsy. Conclusion : The extent of GBM structural abnormality is related to proteinuria in AS but the epithelial response is uniform even though the GBM ultrastructural lesions are not.