• Molecules and Cells
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• v.41 no.7
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• pp.695-702
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• 2018

The inner ear is a complex sensory organ responsible for hearing and balance. Formation of the inner ear is dependent on tight regulation of spatial and temporal expression of genes that direct a series of developmental processes. Recently, epigenetic regulation has emerged as a crucial regulator of the development of various organs. However, what roles higher-order chromatin organization and its regulator molecules play in inner ear development are unclear. CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) is a highly conserved 11-zinc finger protein that regulates the three-dimensional architecture of chromatin, and is involved in various gene regulation processes. To delineate the role of CTCF in inner ear development, the present study investigated inner ear-specific Ctcf knockout mouse embryos (Pax2-Cre; $Ctcf^{fl/fl}$). The loss of Ctcf resulted in multiple defects of inner ear development and severely compromised otic neurogenesis, which was partly due to a loss of Neurog1 expression. Furthermore, reduced Neurog1 gene expression by CTCF knockdown was found to be associated with changes in histone modification at the gene's promoter, as well as its upstream enhancer. The results of the present study demonstrate that CTCF plays an essential role in otic neurogenesis by modulating histone modification in the Neurog1 locus.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Interior Design Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.116-122
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• 2008

As a model house has attempted a role change from a conceptual perspective as a housing cultural center starting from the 90ties, it began to direct the change into a high end building. In particular, large construction companies have recently invested on an unimagined scale, unlike in the past, in building a model house and pursued the construction of new attractions of cities as well as the upgrade of a brand image by hiring and implementing the designs of celebrity architects or designers. In addition, they have been in pursuit of a change by enhancing the satisfaction and pride of residents by offering spaces and programs for various cultural arts for apartment residents or potential customers and having them participate in those programs. This study aims to expound on the possibility of the utilization of a housing cultural center as a local complex community center by analyzing the spatial organization and the operational program of a housing cultural center appearing since the 90ties. With this aim, the study analyzed the cases of a complex community center and the program and the operational method of a housing cultural center within the case study in order to propose the possibilities for the utilization of a local complex community center. The elevation of the cultural and economic level of citizens and a rapid social change are shown as various demands for welfare, and the subsequent social physical change has led to the expansion of a space as a complex community. A housing cultural center is also directed to grow as a complex community center from the perspective of diverse demands and participations of consumers, and prepares a field for a broad spectrum of communications from the perspective of housing and cities.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Rural Architecture
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.11-18
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• 2012

Carlos Jimenez's 'House and Studio' was self-designed to fully function as both a home and workplace. Since its establishment in 1983, the installation has been continuously updated for almost 30 years solely under the guidance of the owner's life occurrences and routine needs. The additions and alterations succeeding the building's erection were executed to incorporate small yet symbolic fragments of the resident's memories and life episodes. The particularity of the 'House and Studio' can be compared with other residential remodeling and expansion projects in regards to certain key aspects. These means of comparison include, but are not limited to, building strictly under the direction of a master plan of development vs. allowing natural adaptations that comply with the resident's needs, rapid development vs. gradual advancement, the ornamenting by exposing showy features vs. the enhancing by addition of modest natural components, sustainability vs. sustenance, systematic room divisions vs. ambiguous spatial organization, possession as a materialized asset vs. preservation as a recollection of memories, and finally the recognition as one example of signature architecture vs. the witnessing of a maturing animated shelter. The given propositions can be further explained with the comprehension of Erich Fromm's theory of the 'Having' mode and 'Being' mode, two mechanisms that categorize the essence of human life. The 'Having' mode is described by the human greed for wealth, power, and influence, whereas the 'Being' mode is comprised of compassion, joy, and productivity. Fromm's thesis applies to the general sense of human life, but the ideas can be narrowed to accommodate the architectural standpoint. In architecture, the 'Having' mode can be translated to be the conspicuous form-oriented and self-contained object. The 'Being' mode, on the other hand, is transposed as the more natural form, incorporating the needs of the owner before commercialization. The growth of Jimenez's 'House and Studio' can be perceived as an architectural suggestion to the overcoming of human indifference caused by fixation on the 'Having' mode.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.38-50
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• 2010

Expressways are often upgraded by widening the lanes and/or by reshaping the roads to be more linear for faster travel time. However, during the process of improving the route of the expressways, the areas where the old expressways used to be are often unused and abandoned. When these neglected sites are left alone, they often become dump sites causing pollution and impacting the surrounding environment. Therefore, it is important to restore the abandoned expressway sites to its full natural beauty. In this study, the abandoned expressway at the Soksa interchange in Pyungchang county, located in Kangwon province was studied for establishing the model of ecological restoration project. Considering the characteristics of the site, the target flora species was chosen to be Quercus species and the target fauna species as amphibians. After the target species were carefully chosen, each species' habitat requirements were studied in order to figure out the appropriate methods toward habitat restoration specifically for these species. In addition, to determine the most efficient method toward restoration of abandoned expressways, the study utilized the planting hole techniques, the crack techniques, and the colonization techniques. In terms of the spatial organization, public education program is incorporated at the main entrance area and the programs for experimenting, and developing vegetation and habitat restoration techniques are placed in the vicinity. In the master plan-to provide natural ecosystem at the site-ASCON (asphalt concrete) was removed first, then plans for restoration including species' habitat restoration were established. Furthermore, the project included plans for improving water quality polluted through non-point source considering the surrounding nearby road and farm lands. Finally, the study established a planning process that will experimentally apply to the abandoned expressway restoration method. In the future, there will be a continuous monitoring of the methods applied to verify if the restoration methods are effective. Also, new restoration techniques should be available according to a variety of abandoned expressways' characteristics.

• Archives of design research
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• v.19 no.2 s.64
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• pp.217-228
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• 2006

It is obvious that the characteristics of the media are related with the visual expression found in film and video shots. It can be assumed that there would be unavoidable distortion when the space and objects are being framed into an image by the camera and that unavoidable distortion can be utilized for creative expression. Therefore the relationship among the shape of filming zone, the structure of the image, and the strategies of disposition of camera, actors, and objects were studied in accordance with expressional attempts found in film and video images. The classified cases of the expressions found in film and video was studied from the view of the dispositions and movements of the physical elements such as camera, actors, and objects which made the designated expression possible. Finally the organization of method to arrange of the elements used for film within film zone was resulted as the expressional directing methods for filming. Later the usefulness of the method was tested by the application of the method in educational procedure and the evaluation of the analysis of the students' results.

• Journal of KIISE
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.54-60
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• 2016

Brain gene expression information is closely related to the structural and functional characteristics of the brain. Thus, extensive research has been carried out on the relationship between gene expression patterns and the brain's structural organization. In this study, Principal Component Analysis was used to extract features of gene expression patterns, and genes were automatically classified by spatial distribution. Voxels were then clustered with classified specific region expressed genes. Finally, we visualized the clustering results for mouse hippocampal region gene expression with the Allen Brain Atlas. This experiment allowed us to classify the region-specific gene expression of the mouse hippocampal region and provided visualization of clustering results and a brain atlas in an integrated manner. This study has the potential to allow neuroscientists to search for experimental groups of genes more quickly and design an effective test according to the new form of data. It is also expected that it will enable the discovery of a more specific sub-region beyond the current known anatomical regions of the brain.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.312-322
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• 2019

Background: Since 2003, Korea has consistently shown the highest suicide rate among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, and suicide remains the major cause of death. In particular, men are 2-3 times more likely to commit suicide than women, which called the 'gender paradox of suicide.' The areas with frequent suicide have spatially clustered patterns because suicide with a social contagion spreads around the neighborhood. The purpose of this study was twofold. The first was to estimate the hotspot areas of age-standardized male suicide mortality from 2008 to 2015. The second was to analyze the relationship between the hotspot areas and the regional characteristics for study years. Methods: The data was collected through the Korean Statistical Information Service. The study areas were 227 si gun gu administrative districts in Korea. The hotspot area was used as a dependent variable. Socio-demographic variables (number of marriages per 1,000 population, number of divorces per 1,000 population, and urbanization rate), financial variables (financial independence and social security budget), and health behaviors (EuroQol-5 dimension [EQ-5D], and depression experience rate) were used as independents variables. Results: The hotspot areas were commonly located in Gangwon-do, Chungcheongnam-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and Chungceongbuk-do. According to the results of panel logit regression, the number of divorces per 1,000 population, social security budget, and EQ-5D were statistically significant variables. Conclusion: The results of hotspot analysis showed the need for establishing a prevention zone of suicide using hotspot areas. Also, medical resources could be considered to be preferentially placed in the prevention zone of suicide. This study could be used as basic data for health policymakers to establish a suicide-related policy.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.517-526
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• 2011

Soil structure plays an important role in ecological system, since it controls transport and storage of air, gas, nutrients and solutions. The study of soil structure requires an understanding of the interrelations and interactions between the diverse soil components at various levels of organization. Investigations of the spatial distribution of pore/particle arrangements and the geometry of soil pore space can provide important information regarding ecological or crop system. Because of conveniences in image analyses and accuracy, these investigations have been thrived for a long time. Image analyses from soil sections through impregnated blocks of undisturbed soil (2 dimensional image analyses) or from 3 dimensional scanned soils by computer tomography allow quantitative assessment of the pore space. Image analysis techniques can be used to classify pore types and quantify pore structure without inaccurate or hard labor in laboratory. In this paper, the last 50 years of the soil image analyses have been presented and measurements on various soil scales were introduced, as well. In addition to history of image analyses, a couple of examples for soil image analyses were displayed. The discussion was made on the applications of image analyses and techniques to quantify pore/soil structure.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.531-543
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• 2018

Historically, Plasmodium vivax malaria has been one of the most highly endemic parasitic diseases in the Korean Peninsula. Until the 1970s, vivax malaria was rarely directly lethal and was controlled through the Korean Government Program administered by the National Malaria Eradication Service in association with the World Health Organization's Global Malaria Eradication Program. Vivax malaria has re-emerged in 1993 near the Demilitarized Zone between South and North Korea and has since become an endemic infectious disease that now poses a serious public health threat through local transmission in the Republic of Korea. This review presents major lessons learned from past and current malaria research, including epidemiological and biological characteristics of the re-emergent disease, and considers some interesting patterns of diversity. Among other features, this review highlights temporal changes in the genetic makeup of the parasitic population, patient demographic features, and spatial distribution of cases, which all provide insight into the factors contributing to local transmission. The data indicate that vivax malaria in Korea is not expanding exponentially. However, continued surveillance is needed to prevent future resurgence.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.137-149
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• 2019

Accurate estimation of reference evapotranspiration (RET) is important to quantify crop evapotranspiration for sustainable water resource management in hydrological, agricultural, and environmental fields. It is estimated by different methods from direct measurements with lysimeters, or by many empirical equations suggested by numerous modeling using local climatic variables. The potential to use some such equations depends on the availability of the necessary meteorological parameters for calculating the RET in specific climatic conditions. The objective of this study was to determine the proper RET equations using limited climatic data and to analyze the temporal and spatial trends of the RET in South Korea. We evaluated the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith equation (FAO-56 PM) by comparing several simple RET equations and observed small fan evaporation. In this study, the modified Penman equation, Hargreaves equation, and FAO Penman-Monteith equation with missing solar radiation (PM-Rs) data were tested to estimate the RET. Nine weather stations were considered with limited climatic data across South Korea from 1973 - 2017, and the RET equations were calculated for each weather station as well as the analysis of the mean error (ME), mean absolute error (MAE), and root mean square error (RMSE). The FAO-56 PM recommended by the Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) showed good performance even though missing solar radiation, relative humidity, and wind speed data and could still be adapted to the limited data conditions. As a result, the RET was increased, and the evapotranspiration rate was increased more in coastal areas than inland.