• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.15-29
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to establish an ecosystem model that can predict ecosystem fluctuations in the Nakdong estuary, and use this model to calculate total primary production and respiration. AQUATOX model was used as the ecosystem model, and the model was calibrated and verified using the measured data. For the calibration of the model, chlorophyll-a data measured at the Nakdong estuary were used, and the model verification was performed using DO, TN, and TP data. In general, the total primary production and respiration volume vary greatly depending on the season, but the total primary production and respiration in the Nakdong estuary were greatly influenced by the amount of water discharged from Nakdong estuary bank. When the amount of effluent increased, photosynthesis could not be performed due to the loss of phytoplankton living in the lower area, and the total primary production amounted to zero, whereas the respiration increased sharply due to the inflow of organic substances contained in the effluent. The increase in the inflow water means the inflow of organic substances contained in the inflow water, and the organic substances are decomposed by oxidation, reducing dissolved oxygen. Compared with other countries' estuaries, the Nakdong estuary shows the lowest total primary production and because the respiration is larger than the total primary production, the dissolved oxygen is depleted by the oxidation of organic matter.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.295-305
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• 2021

Objective: The objectives of this study were to compare the effects of normal and low protein content (PC) of starter diet supplemented or not with blends of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) on growth performance of broilers under summer conditions and to investigate whether these effects altered some quality traits and the characteristics of gastrointestinal tract. Methods: A total of 768 mixed-sex broiler chicks (Ross 308, one-d-old) with an average initial body weight (BW) of 47.6±1.03 g were allocated into six treatments with four replications in 2×3 factorial arrangement. Factors were: PC, normal (N, 22% to d 15); and low (L, 20% to d 15); and added BCAA blends, L-leucine, L-isoleucine, and L-valine at zero (0L:0I:0V); 1.0, 0.25, and 0.25 (4L:1I:1V); or 1.0, 0.25, 0.75 (4L:1I:3V) g/kg of diet. Hence, six dietary treatments were named as N0L:0I:0V, N4L:1I:1V, N4L:1I:3V, L0L:0I:0V, L4L:1I:1V, and L4L:1I:3V. Average indoor temperature and humidity were 32.8℃±1.7℃ and 61.1%±4.12%, respectively. Results: BW, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and carcass weight were not affected by PC, BCCA and their interaction (p>0.05). The L diets decreased the water holding capacity of the breast (p = 0.002) and thigh (p = 0.050) meats and dressing percentage (p = 0.005) compared to the N diets. The 4L:1I:1V diet decreased breast yield compared to the 0L:0I:0V diets (p = 0.041). The effect of PC on feed intake, mortality and gastrointestinal trait weight were depended on the L:I:V ratios under summer conditions due to interactions between factors (p<0.05). The FI and mortality of L4L:1I:1V broilers were lower than those of N4L:1I:1V birds (p<0.05). Conclusion: It was concluded that the blends of BCAAs used failed to improve performance and to promote breast yields, because diets with normal or with reduced protein supplemented or not with BCAAs up to d 15 produced a similar BW and FCR in broilers raised in hot-climate conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.3-23
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• 2020

This study aims to conceptualize the settlement inclusivity for overcoming social exclusion and the decline in quality of life of older people and to examine its effects on their mental health. The concept of the settlement inclusivity for older people focuses on the immediate environment around the place where they live. We proposed two domains for the conceptual framework; social domain that provides opportunities for community cohesion; spatial domain that provides security of residential area and access to basic services within walking distance. The social domain was represented by participation and interdependence, while the spatial domain by security and accessibility in the settlement inclusivity. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression model was constructed with 2017 National Survey of Older Koreans data to analyze the factors influencing depressive symptoms of older adults. The empirical results demonstrate that increased level of neighborhood network and social participation is associated with a decrease in the number of depressive symptoms. In addition, higher satisfaction in neighborhood environment and good accessibility to public transport/stores are associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Finally, housing condition and home ownership have a moderating effect on the relationship between social network/participation and depressive symptoms level, whereas they have no direct effects on depressive symptoms. This study demonstrates multi-dimensionally and mutually significant associations between settlement inclusivity and depressive symptoms for older people providing implications for urban planning and policies to improve mental well-being of older population.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.177-187
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• 2021

Objectives: This study investigated the different perceptions of customers toward traditional and non-traditional fast-food restaurants regarding restaurant healthfulness, corporate reputation, and the impact of corporate reputation on loyalty intentions through corporate social responsibility (CSR) motive. Methods: An online survey was conducted on U.S. residents who were aware of fast food restaurants' CSR activities. Participants selected one fast food restaurant participating in CSR activities, coded as either traditional (n = 117) or non-traditional (n = 48), and answered questions about the selected restaurant's healthfulness, reputation, CSR motives, and loyalty intentions. The participants' perceptions of healthfulness and corporate reputation of the two types of fast-food restaurants were compared. A mediation path of corporate reputation - CSR motive - loyalty intention was analyzed. Results: Non-traditional fast-food restaurants (5.02 ± 1.26) were perceived to be more healthful than traditional ones (3.93 ± 1.72). The participants perceived that compared to traditional fast-food restaurants, non-traditional ones had a better overall corporate reputation (P = 0.037), were more concerned about their customers (P = 0.029), better workplaces (P = 0.007), more environmentally and socially responsible (P < 0.001), and offered higher quality products and services (P = 0.042). Significant positive correlations were shown between restaurant healthfulness and corporate reputation (P < 0.001 for all reputation items). The suggested mediation path was supported with 95% CIs excluding zero, implying that when fast-food restaurants had a better reputation overall, were customer oriented, good employers, strong companies with a good product and service quality, social and environmental responsibility, the participants were more likely to perceive their CSR activities to be sincere and were hence loyal to that restaurant. Conclusions: Overall, participants were more favorable towards non-traditional fast-food restaurants which had a healthier image and better reputation than traditional ones. Therefore, fast food restaurants need to consider offering healthy food and enhance their image, which would maximize the return on their investment in CSR.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.848-854
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• 2011

The objective of this research was to experimentally test the effect of rice straw mats on the reduction of runoff, sediment and discharge under a laboratory scale with different rainfall intensity and slopes. We used the small runoff plots of $1m{\times}1m{\times}0.65m$ ($L{\times}W{\times}H$) in size were filled with loamy sand. Experimental treatments were bare (control), rice straw mats + PAM(SP), rice straw mats + PAM + sawdust(SPS) and rice straw mats + PAM + rice husks(SPR); slope of 10% or 20%; and rainfall intensity of 30 or 60 mm/hr. Runoff volume and coefficient from covered plots were significantly lower than those from control plots. Under the 30 mm/hr and 10% simulations, average runoff coefficient of covered plots decreased more than 92%. Under 60 mm/hr and 20% simulations, the ratios were between 39.8~58.1%. Under the condition of 30 mm/hr rainfall and 10% slope, sediment discharge from covered plots was practically zero. And at 20% plots, sediment reduction ratio was more than 95%. Under the condition of 60 mm/hr rainfall, sediment reduction ratio of 10 and 20% plots ranged between 86.3~95.3% and between 79.8~86.5%, respectively. The differences in initial runoff time, runoff and sediment discharge among different cover materials were not significant. Rainfall intensity showed higher impact on initial runoff time, runoff, and sediment discharge than slope. It was also shown that even if runoff reduction by surface cover were low, sediment discharge reduction could be very significant and contribute to improve the water quality of streams in sloping agricultural regions. It was concluded that the use of straw mat and PAM on sloping agricultural fields could reduce soil erosion and muddy runoff significantly and help improve the water quality and aquatic ecosystem in receiving waters.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.1-6
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• 2021

In the field of speech recognition, as the DNN is applied, the use of speech recognition is increasing, but the amount of calculation for parallel training needs to be larger than that of the conventional GMM, and if the amount of data is small, overfitting occurs. To solve this problem, we propose an efficient method for robust voice feature extraction and voice signal noise removal even when the amount of data is small. Speech feature extraction efficiently extracts speech energy by applying the difference in frame energy for speech and the zero-crossing ratio and level-crossing ratio that are affected by the speech signal. In addition, in order to remove noise, the noise of the speech signal is removed by removing the noise of the speech signal with an average predictive improved LMS filter with little loss of speech information while maintaining the intrinsic characteristics of speech in detection of the speech signal. The improved LMS filter uses a method of processing noise on the input speech signal by adjusting the active parameter threshold for the input signal. As a result of comparing the method proposed in this paper with the conventional frame energy method, it was confirmed that the error rate at the start point of speech is 7% and the error rate at the end point is improved by 11%.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.281-289
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• 2020

This paper reports a slim mobile lens design using a hybrid refractive/diffractive optical element. Conventionally a wide field of view (FOV) camera-lens design adopts a retrofocus type having a negative (-) lens at the forefront, so that it improves in imaging performance over the wide FOV, but with the sacrifice of longer total track length (TTL). However, we chose a telephoto type as a baseline design layout having a positive (+) lens at the forefront, to achieving slimness, based on the specification analysis of 23 reported optical designs. Following preliminary optimization of a baseline design and aberration analysis based on Zernike-polynomial decomposition, we applied a hybrid refractive/diffractive element to effectively reduce the residual chromatic spherical aberration. The optimized optical design consists of 6 optical elements, including one hybrid element. It results in a very slim telephoto ratio of 1.7, having an f-number of 2.0, FOV of 90°, effective focal length of 2.23 mm, and TTL of 3.7 mm. Compared to a comparable conventional lens design with no hybrid elements, the hybrid design improved the value of the modulation transfer function (MTF) at a spatial frequency of 180 cycles/mm from 63% to 71-73% at zero field (0 F), and about 2-3% at 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9 fields. It was also found that a design with a hybrid lens with only two diffraction zones at the stop achieved the same performance improvement.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.552-560
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• 2020

Listeria monocytogenes is a highly pathogenic gram-positive bacterium that is easily isolated from cheese, meat, processed meat products, and smoked salmon. A zero-tolerance (n=5, c=0, m=0/25 g) criteria has been applied for L. monocytogenes in cheese meaning that L. monocytogenes must not be detected in any 25 g of samples. However, there was a lack of scientific information behind this criteria. Therefore, in this study, we conducted a risk assessment based on literature reviews to provide scientific information supporting the baseline and to raise public awareness of L. monocytogenes foodborne illness. Quantitative risk assessment of L. monocytogenes for cheese was conducted using the following steps: exposure assessment, hazard characterization, and risk characterization. As a result, the initial contamination level of L. monocytogenes was -4.0 Log CFU/g in cheese. The consumption frequency of cheese was 11.8%, and the appropriate probability distribution for amount of cheese consumed was a Lognormal distribution with an average of 32.5 g. In conclusion, the mean of probabilities of foodborne illness caused by the consumption of cheese was 5.09×10-7 in the healthy population and 4.32×10-6 in the susceptible population. Consumption frequency has the biggest effect on the probability of foodborne illness, but storage and transportation times have also been found to affect the probability of foodborne illness; thus, management of the distribution environment should be considered important. Through this risk assessment, scientific data to support the criteria for L. monocytogenes in cheese could be obtained. In addition, we recommend that further risk assessment studies of L. monocytogenes in various foods be conducted in the future.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.103-112
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• 2022

A gold amalgam voltammetric microelectrode (GAVM) system was developed for the quantification of dissolved biogeochemical species, such as O₂, Fe²⁺, Mn²⁺, and HS^- in sediment porewater. Commercially available Ag/AgCl and platinum electrodes were used as the reference and counter electrode, respectively, and a gold amalgam microelectrode was fabricated in the laboratory using 150-um diameter gold wire and a borosilicate capillary tube with a 1.6-mm diameter. A portable potentiostat (Metrohm, DropSens) was used for the application of voltage sweeping and to acquire the electric current. For sediment profiling, a commercially available actuator was customized and modified. The analysis method used in the system used the most widely used analysis method among the electrochemical analysis currently used The GAVM system was successively calibrated with the species and applied to estuarine sediments. The porewater analysis showed that the oxygen concentration was decreased to zero at a depth of 0.6 mm, and maximum Mn²⁺ and Fe²⁺ concentrations of 50 uM and 20 uM were detected at 2 and 3-cm depths, respectively. Maximum HS^- concentrations of 10 uM were detected at 4 cm in the deeper sediments. The GAVM system was successfully developed and applied to the sediment and can be used to better understand biogeochemical reactions.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.33-43
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• 2022

The number of car crashes increases along with the increasing number of vehicles. Hence, diverse initiatives on traffic accidents have been implemented, targeting zero crash fatalities. According to the 3rd Traffic Safety Master Plan of 2016, the current standard selecting road accident black spots prioritizes locations with the high cumulative death toll. While this standard is suitable for roads that a city government manages to some extent, it is not suitable for roads less than 20 meters that a borough (Gu) handles. The roads under the supervision of a borough do not have enough death toll, and thus improvements on its road accident black spots are highly limited. In addition, discovering the causes of traffic accidents is not easy when the number of car accidents is obtained by considering only fatal accidents, which are relatively low in number. Therefore, including all traffic accidents might identify causes of accidents and result in better advancements. Therefore, this research follows rational decision-making and suggests new National Traffic Safety Master Plan standards. These new standards are obtained by comparing accident costs between the location of fatal crashes and road accident black spots. The analysis result shows that considering all types of accidents yields better results. For example, a Three-way Intersection in front of Zion Day Care Center, one of the selected spots under the current standard, has lower road crash costs than Sinchon Intersection, a selected spot under a new standard. Therefore, the study concludes that the standards to select road accident black spots need to include traffic accident severity and road crash costs.