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Messianism in Civilizational History: The Transformation of the Buddhist Messiah via Maitreya

  • DINH Hong Hai
    • Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
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    • v.3 no.2
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    • pp.71-92
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    • 2024
  • The world we live in is becoming more convenient thanks to the inventions of science and technology. Still, the world is also becoming more and more unpredictable with the current situation of VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity). The Covid-19 pandemic brought the biggest global disaster ever with 774,631,444 infected people and 7,031,216 deaths (WHO on February 11, 2024) but it seems that humanity is gradually forgetting this disaster. Meanwhile the economic stimulus packages worth trillions of dollars from governments after the pandemic have further caused the world debt bubble to swell. The bubble burst scenario is something that many economic experts fear. Apparently, in the transitional period of the early decades of the 21st century, the world's economic, cultural, political, social, natural, and environmental aspects have undergone profound transformations: from the real estate and finance crises in the United States since 2008; through the melting of the Arctic ice over the past several decades; to the double disaster of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011. Especially, in the context of the world economic crisis after the COVID-19 pandemic, the human achievements of the past thousands of years are in jeopardy of being wiped out in an instant. Many people are predicting a bad scenario for a chain collapse. Facing the signals of an imminent economic catastrophe based on the appearance of "the Gray Rhino, Black Swan and White Elephant," many drawn in by Eschatological thought declare that Doomsday will occur shortly. This is the time for many other people to hope for the incoming Messiah. The Messiah is said to appear when people feel despair or suffer a great disaster because faith in the Savior can help them overcome adversity mentally. This research will find out how adherents of Buddhism view and deal with civilizational crises by examining history via symbols associated with Maitreya as based upon the Buddhist Messiah, Maitreya.

Transmission Characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 That Hinder Effective Control

  • Seongman Bae;Joon Seo Lim;Ji Yeun Kim;Jiwon Jung;Sung-Han Kim
    • IMMUNE NETWORK
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    • v.21 no.1
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    • pp.9.1-9.8
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    • 2021
  • The most important characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission that makes it difficult to control are 1) asymptomatic and presymptomatic transmission, 2) low incidence or lack of dominant systemic symptoms such as fever, 3) airborne transmission that may need a high infectious dose, and 4) super-spread events (SSEs). Patients with COVID-19 have high viral loads at symptom onset or even a few days prior to symptom onset, and most patients with COVID-19 have only mild respiratory symptoms or merely pauci-/null-symptoms. These characteristics of the virus enable it to easily spread to the community because most patients are unaware of their potential infectivity, and symptom-based control measures cannot prevent this type of transmission. Furthermore, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is also capable of airborne transmission in conditions such as aerosol-generating procedures, under-ventilated indoor spaces, and over-crowded areas. In this context, universal mask-wearing is important to prevent both outward and inward transmission until an adequate degree of herd immunity is achieved through vaccination. Lastly, the SSEs of SARS-CoV-2 transmission emphasize the importance of reducing contacts by limiting social gatherings. The above-mentioned transmission characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 have culminated in the failure of long-lasting quarantine measures, and indicate that only highly effective vaccines can keep the communities safe from this deadly, multifaceted virus.

Accomplishment of canine cloning through in vitro matured oocytes: a pioneering milestone

  • Kukbin Ji;Kangsun Park;Dongern Kim;Eunyoung Kim;Taeyoung Kil;Minkyu Kim
    • Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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    • v.66 no.3
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    • pp.577-586
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    • 2024
  • The in vitro maturation (IVM) rate of canine oocytes remains low compared to other mammals due to their unique reproductive characteristics. This study aimed to explore the effect of hormone supplementation during the IVM of canine immature oocytes on nuclear maturation and subsequently assess its potential application in canine somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Immature oocytes were collected and cultured in an IVM medium supplemented with hormones (follicle-stimulating hormone [FSH] and progesterone [P4]) or without hormones (control) for 24 hours. The maturation rates of oocytes in the hormone-treated group (94.92 ± 3.15%) were significantly higher than those in the control group (61.01 ± 4.23%). Both in vitro and in vivo matured oocytes underwent NT to evaluate their utility, and the fusion rates were higher in the in vitro matured group than those in the vivo matured group, not significant between in vivo and in vitro matured group (73.28% and 82.35%, respectively). As a result, 14 fused embryos from the in vitro matured group were transferred into two surrogates, with one surrogate achieving a successful pregnancy and delivering four puppies. Whereas in the in vivo matured group, 85 fused embryos were transferred to 8 surrogate mothers, leading to three surrogates becoming pregnant and delivering one, four, and two puppies. The pregnancy rates were not significant between both groups (50% and 37.50%), but the number of offspring exhibited a significant difference (28.57% and 8.23%). In conclusion, we achieved a remarkable milestone by successfully producing cloned puppies using in vitro matured oocytes, underscoring the feasibility of canine cloning from in vitro recovered oocytes. It is important to note that this study focused only on immature oocytes after ovulation and only during the estrus stage. Further research targeting other stages of the estrous cycle could potentially enhance canine cloning efficiency.

A Study on the Factors Affecting Health Promoting Lifestyles of Some Workers (일부 직업인의 건강증진생활양식에 영향을 미치는 요인 연구)

  • Lee Eun-Kyoung;An Byung-Sang;Yu Taek-Su;Kim Seoung-Cheon;Jeung Jea-Yeal;Park Young-Shin;Jahng Doo-Sub;Song Yung-Sun;Lee Ki-Nam
    • Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.119-141
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    • 2000
  • The current industrial health service is shifting to health improvement business with 1st primary prevention-focused service from secondary and tertiary prevention-focused business, and Oriental medicine can provide such primary prevention-focused service due to the characteristics of its science. In particular, the advanced concept of health improvement can match the science of health care of Oriental medicine. Notably, what is most important in health improvement is our lifestyle, This does not underestimate the socio-environmental factors, which have lessened their importance due to modernism. The approach of Oriental medicine weighs more individuals' lifestyle and health care through self-cultivation. This matches the new model of advanced health business. Oriental medicine is less systemized than Western medicine, but it can provide ample contents that enhance health. If we conceive health-improvement program based on the advantages provided by these two medical systems, this will influence workers to the benefit of their health. Also, health Program needs to define factors that determine individual lives, and to provide information and technologies essential to our lives. The Oriental medicine approach puts more stress on a subject's capabilities than it does on the effect his surrounding environment can have. This needs to be supported theoretically by not only defining the relations between an individual's health state and his lifestyle, but also identifying the degree to which an individual in the industrial work place practices health improvement lifestyle . This is the first step toward initiating health-improvement business . In order to do this, this researcher conducted a survey by taking random samplings from workers, and can draw the following conclusions from it. 1 The sampled group is categorized into', by sender, female 6.6%, and male 93.4%, with males dominant; by marriage status , unmarried 43.9% and married 55.6%, with both similar percentage, and, by age, below 30, 48.4%, between 30 and 39, 27.4%, between 40 and 49, 18.2%, and over 50, 6.0%. The group further is categorized into; by education, middle school or under 1.7%, high school 30.5%, and junior college or higher 65.8% with high school and higher dominant: and by income, below 1.7 million won 24.2%, below 2.4 million won 14.8%, and above 2.4 million 6.3% Still, the group by job is categorized into collegians with 23.9%, office worker with 10.3%, and professionals with 65.8% , and this group does not include workers engaged in production that are needed for this research, but mostly office workers . 2. The subjects selected for this survey show their degree of practicing health-improvement lifestyle at an average of 2.63, health management pattern at 2.64, and health-related awareness at 2.62 The sub-divisions of health-improvement lifestyle show social emotion (2.87), food (2.66). favorite food (2.59), and leisure activities (2.52), in this order for higher points. It further shows health awareness (2.47) and safety awareness (2.40), lower points than those in health management pattern . 3. In the area of using leisure time for health-improvement, males, older people, married, and people with higher income earn higher marks. And, in the area of food management, the older and married earn higher marks . In the area of favorite food management, females, lower-income bracket, and lower-educated show higher degree of practice , while in the area of social emotion management, the older. married, and higher-income bracket show higher marks. In addition, in the area of health awareness, the older, married, and people with higher-income show higher degree of practice. 4. To look at correlation by overall and divisional health-improvement practice degree , this researcher has analyzed the data using Person's correlation coefficient. The lifestyle shows significant correlation with its six sub-divisions, and use of leisure time, food, and health awareness all show significant correlation with their sub-divisions. And. the social emotion and safety awareness show significant correlation with all sub-divisions except favorite food management.

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Study on Factors Determining Labor Force Participation Rate of Older males : The Elderly Poverty Labor Hypothesis and Skill-Biased Technological Change Hypothesis (고령남성의 경제활동참가 결정요인 연구 - 노후빈곤노동가설 및 숙련편향기술진보설을 중심으로 -)

  • Ji, Eun-Jeong
    • Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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    • v.60 no.3
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    • pp.31-58
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    • 2008
  • This study examines applying the elderly poverty labor hypothesis and skill-biased technological change hypothesis to labor force participation rate(LFPR) of older males in Korea. These hypotheses have hardly been examined on the this group. The analysis is based on the data "Summary of economically active population($1965{\sim}2007$)", "Population projection($1965{\sim}2007$)", "Report on wage structure survey($1993{\sim}2005$)" and "Korea Labor and Income Panel Study($1998{\sim}2006$)". The method employed for this study is logistic regression. The main results from this analysis are summarized in five points. Firstly, Korean older males' LFPR have been increasing since 1965 when industrialization was expanding at full steam. This trend has been different from the decreasing trend of industrialized countries. The second finding is that poor older males' LFPR is, on the average, 5.2% higher than that of non-poor older males from 1998 to 2005. The third result is that the non-elderly man has been increasingly positioned at higher grade occupations, while the elderly man has been held at lower grade occupations. The fourth is that labor demand for highly educated workers has exceeded the increased labor supply of the group, while the demand for low educated workers has decreased far beyond the declined labor supply. As a result, college premium has increased from 139% in 1993 to 157.8% in 2005. The final main implication of this study is that the industrialization theory and modernization hypothesis still holds for the LFPR of Korean older males. However, the elderly affluence hypothesis of the LFPR of older males are hardly persuasive in explaining Korean phenomenon. Especially, we find that the elderly poverty is the main mechanism in determining the Korean LFPR in old ages. This supports the elderly poverty labor hypothesis presented in this study. Skill-biased technological change hypothesis partially explains the LFPR of older man. However, we believe that other factors; human capital specially high school education rather than university education and skill required in less skill biased occupations or the poverty; also have taken effect.

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The knowledge and human resources distribution system for university-industry cooperation (대학에서 창출하는 지적/인적자원에 대한 기업연계 플랫폼: 인문사회계열을 중심으로)

  • Park, Yoon-Joo
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.133-149
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    • 2014
  • One of the main purposes of universities is to create new intellectual resources that will increase social values. These intellectual resources include academic research papers, lecture notes, patents, and creative ideas produced by both professors and students. However, intellectual resources in universities are often not distributed to the actual users or companies; and moreover, they are not even systematically being managed inside of the universities. Therefore, it is almost impossible for companies to access the knowledge created by university students and professors to utilize them. Thus, the current level of knowledge sharing between universities and industries are very low. This causes a great extravagant with high-quality intellectual and human resources, and it leads to quite an amount of social loss in the modern society. In the 21st century, the creative ideas are the key growth powers for many industries. Many of the globally leading companies such as Fedex, Dell, and Facebook have established their business models based on the innovative ideas created by university students in undergraduate courses. This indicates that the unconventional ideas from young generations can create new growth power for companies and immensely increase social values. Therefore, this paper suggests of a new platform for intellectual properties distribution with university-industry cooperation. The suggested platform distributes intellectual resources of universities to industries. This platform has following characteristics. First, it distributes not only the intellectual resources, but also the human resources associated with the knowledge. Second, it diversifies the types of compensation for utilizing the intellectual properties, which are beneficial for both the university students and companies. For example, it extends the conventional monetary rewards to non-monetary rewards such as influencing on the participating internship programs or job interviews. Third, it suggests of a new knowledge map based on the relationships between key words, so that the various types of intellectual properties can be searched efficiently. In order to design the system platform, we surveyed 120 potential users to obtain the system requirements. First, 50 university students and 30 professors in humanities and social sciences departments were surveyed. We sent queries on what types of intellectual resources they produce per year, how many intellectual resources they produce, if they are willing to distribute their intellectual properties to the industries, and what types of compensations they expect in returns. Secondly, 40 entrepreneurs were surveyed, who are potential consumers of the intellectual properties of universities. We sent queries on what types of intellectual resources they want, what types of compensations they are willing to provide in returns, and what are the main factors they considered to be important when searching for the intellectual properties. The implications of this survey are as follows. First, entrepreneurs are willing to utilize intellectual properties created by both professors and students. They are more interested in creative ideas in universities rather than the academic papers or educational class materials. Second, non-monetary rewards, such as participating internship program or job interview, can be the appropriate types of compensations to replace monetary rewards. The results of the survey showed that majority of the university students were willing to provide their intellectual properties without any monetary rewards to earn the industrial networks with companies. Also, the entrepreneurs were willing to provide non-monetary compensation and hoped to have networks with university students for recruiting. Thus, the non-monetary rewards are mutually beneficial for both sides. Thirdly, classifying intellectual resources of universities based on the academic areas are inappropriate for efficient searching. Also, the various types of intellectual resources cannot be categorized into one standard. This paper suggests of a new platform for the distribution of intellectual materials and human resources, with university-industry cooperation based on these survey results. The suggested platform contains the four major components such as knowledge schema, knowledge map, system interface, and GUI (Graphic User Interface), and it presents the overall system architecture.

Antimicrobial Activity of Sodium chlorate and Korean Herbal Extracts against Mice infected with Escherichia coli O157:H7 (Escherichia coli O157:H7에 감염된 마우스에 대한 염소산나트륨과 한약재 복합추출물 합제의 항균효과)

  • Cha, Chun-Nam;Lee, Yeo-Eun;Son, Song-Ee;Park, Eun-Kee;Choi, Hyun-Ju;Kim, Suk;Lee, Hu-Jang
    • Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.81-86
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    • 2012
  • The present study was evaluated the antibacterial effect of the combination of $Coptidis$ $rhizoma$, $Glycyrrhiza$ $uralensis$ Fischet, $Schizandra$ $chinensis$ and $Corni$ $Fructus$(1:1:1) extracts(CGSC10). Furthermore, the effectiveness of CGSC10, sodium chlorate, and the combination of CGSC10 and sodium chlorate(CGSCS10) against $E.$ $coli$ O157:H7 infection was studied using ICR female mice. During the incubation period, the dose of 5, 10, and 20% CGSC10 was inhibited the growth of $E.$ $coli$ O157:H7 by 34.7, 60.2, and 76.4%, respectively. For 7 days after single challenge with $E.$ $coli$ O157:H7, forty female ICR mice were divided into four experimental groups which were administered in drinking water with saline, 10% CGSC10, 15 mM sodium chlorate, and CGSCS10, respectively. On the 3rd day, the number of $E.$ $coli$ O157:H7 in mouse feces was significantly decreased by administration of CGSC10, 15 mM sodium chlorate, and CGSCS10 ($p$ < 0.001). On the 7th day-after administration, CGSC10, sodium chlorate, and CGSCS10 were decreased the number of $E.$ $coli$ O157:H7 by 27.1, 67.7, and 83.3%, respectively. According to the results of the present study, administration of CGSCS10 to mice can reduce the severity of $E.$ $coli$ O157:H7 infection. In addition, it is suggested that CGSCS10 represents a good candidate for the treatment of enteric infections in domestic animals.

Bactericidal Efficacy of a Fumigation Disinfectant with Ortho-phenylphenol as an Active Ingredient Against Pseudomonas Aeruginosa and Enterococcus Hirae (Ortho-phenylphenol을 주성분을 하는 훈증소독제의 Pseudomonas aeruginosa와 Enterococcus hirae에 대한 살균효과)

  • Cha, Chun-Nam;Park, Eun-Kee;Kim, Yongpal;Yu, Eun-Ah;Yoo, Chang-Yeol;Hong, Il-Hwa;Kim, Suk;Lee, Hu-Jang
    • Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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    • v.29 no.1
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    • pp.60-66
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    • 2014
  • This test was performed to evaluate the bactericidal efficacy of a fumigation disinfectant containing 20% ortho-phenylphenol against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) and Enterococcus hirae (E. hirae). In preliminary tests, P. aeruginosa and E. hirae working culture suspension number (N value) were $2.8{\times}10^8$ and $4.0{\times}10^8CFU/mL$, respectively. And all the colony numbers on the carriers exposed to the fumigant (n1, n2, n3) were higher than 0.5N1 (the number of bacterial test suspentions by pour plate method), 0.5N2 (the number of bacterial test suspentions by filter membrane method) and 0.5N1, respectively. In addition, the mean number of P. aeruginosa and E. hirae recovered on the control-carriers (T value) was $2.8{\times}10^8$ and $3.4{\times}10^6CFU/mL$, respectively. In the bactericidal effect of the fumigant, the reduction number of $2.8{\times}10^8$ (d value) was 6.46 and 5.19 logCFU/mL, respectively. According to the French standard for the fumigant, the d value for the effective bactericidal fumigant should be over than 5 logCFU/mL. With the results from this study, the fumigation disinfectant containing 20% ortho-phenylphenol has an effective bactericidal activity, then the fumigant can be applied to disinfect food materials and kitchen appliances contaminated with the pathogenic bacteria.

Neutron Activation Analysis of Human Hair for Human Health Assessment (인체보건 환경평가를 위한 모발의 중성자방사화분석)

  • Chung, Young-Sam;Kang, Sang-Hoon;Moon, Jong-Hwa;Kang, Young Hwan;Cho, Seung-Yon
    • Analytical Science and Technology
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.131-139
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    • 2001
  • There is personal difference in the concentrations of trace elements in human hair according to human life or history suck as occupation, race, sex, age, food habit, social condition and so on. It is also found that the individual's deviation of elemental concentrations is reflecting the degree of environmental pollutants exposure to human body, intakes of food and metabolism. To compare the degree of accumulation in the hair tissue, human hair samples were collected from five positions of head and analyzed by non-destructive neutron activation analysis with and without washing according to IAEA's recommended method. Analytical quality control is performed using the certified reference material. The relative error of Cu, Cr, Na, Co, Mg, As, Se, Zn and those of Mn, Ca, Fe, Sr are within ${\pm}5%$ and ${\pm}10%$, respectively and the relative standard deviation of elements are within ${\pm}10%$. The deviations between the individuals and hair sampling positions were estimated. The deviation of individual was seven times more than that of positions. Under the defined condition, the difference and the correlation of elemental concentrations were compared with two different groups, office and factory workers. The result can be used as a fundamental data for human health and environment assessment.

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Analysis of Psychology Based on Network and Informatic Algorithm (네트워크 및 정보 알고리즘 기반 심리학 분석)

  • Kim, Yuree;An, Sammy;Kim, Hak Yong
    • The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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    • v.15 no.7
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    • pp.567-577
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    • 2015
  • In the period of spirit revolution, psychology for studying human mind is one of the important fields with humanities. To analyze for correct understanding of popularization of psychology, for future psychology research trends, and for correlation of the psychological sub-fields as a linker between natural and social sciences, we employed network technology and informatic algorithm to be more objective. By elucidating core key words from bipartate network that consists of terms and their explaining words in psychological glossary, we provide psychological contents for understanding psychology. As analyzing lots articles obtained from Korean Journal of Psychology and Annual Review of Psychology, it was possible to observe research trends of the psychological sub-fields. To analyze the correlation among sub-fields of the psychology, we extracted and compared title words of the articles that had published on Psychological Review over the past fifteen years. We also employed a pair-wise comparison matrix algorithm and then elucidated the correlation among sub-fields of the psychology. By this research, we expect to contribute not only providing information about popularization of psychology, analysis of research trends, and correlation among sub-fields of the psychology, but also providing convergent contents that conflate the psychology and the informatic technologies.