• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.171-195
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• 2012

While noticing that there is insufficient interest in the assessment of EFL learners' vocabulary levels or sizes, the researchers developed two tests identical in form (Forms A and B) to assess the lexical knowledge of Korean university learners at the $1^{st}{\sim}10^{th}$ 1,000 word bands by adapting a pre-established vocabulary levels test (VLT). Of equal concern was to investigate if the VLT was equally a valid and reliable instrument to be used on measuring the lexical knowledge of EFL learners. The participants were 804 university freshmen enrolled in a General Education English Course from four different colleges. The learners were asked to respond to either Form A or B. While scores generally fell towards the lower frequency bands, multiple regression found the Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) to be a significant variable for predicting the learners' vocabulary sizes. From a methodological perspective, however, noticeable differences between Forms A and B could be found with item response theory analysis. The findings of the study provide suggestions on how future VLT for testing EFL learners may have to be redesigned.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.581-588
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• 2011

Objective: The objective of this study is to compare muscle activity levels of the lumbar and rectus femoris muscle when entering and exiting RV and passenger vehicles. Background: Three varieties of RVs and two varieties of passenger vehicles were selected for this study. Method: Twenty individual(10 male and 10 female) in their twenties and thirties with no chronic back pain or any other illness participated in this study. Participants performed entering and exiting the three models of RVs and two models of passenger cars. Appropriate rest time was given to participants between entering and exiting each vehicle in order to recover from muscle fatigue while performing their tasks. Results: Results from this study show that muscle activity levels were highest for entering RVs and exiting passenger vehicles. There were no significant differences in muscle activity levels for left and right side muscles in regards to entering and exiting vehicles. Application: These results can be used to provide baseline information for reduce muscle fatigue when getting in and out of vehicles.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.196-202
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• 2011

Background: B cell-activating factor belonging to the TNF family (BAFF) is primarily expressed by macrophages and dendritic cells, and stimulates B cell proliferation, differentiation, survival, and Ig production. In the present study, we explored the effect of activin A on BAFF expression by APCs. Methods: To investigate the effect of activin A on BAFF expression by mouse APCs, we measured the level of BAFF expression at the transcriptional and protein levels using RT-PCR and ELISA. Results: Activin A markedly enhanced BAFF expression in mouse macrophages and dendritic cells at both the transcriptional and protein levels. SB431542, an activin receptor-like kinase 4 (ALK4) inhibitor, completely abrogated activin A-induced BAFF transcription. Furthermore, overexpression of DN-Smad3 abolished activin-induced BAFF expression at the transcriptional and protein levels. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that activin A can enhance BAFF expression through ALK4-Smad3 pathway.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.145-152
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• 2013

This paper addresses the relationship between public housing tenure and social disadvantage. The research examines social capital levels among public tenants in Australia, concentrating on their level of interpersonal trust and confidence in a range of public institutions. Through multivariate analyses of national survey data it also profiles the social and political background of public housing tenants. Although public housing tenants have access to secure and affordable housing, they appear to be less trusting and 'happy' than private renters or homeowners, and exhibit less confidence in some institutions such as the Australian parliament, universities and the ABC (the Australian public television broadcaster). These results probably reflect the residualised nature of public housing in Australia and indicate that public tenants are likely to be 'alienated' from certain aspects of mainstream culture. However, public tenants have higher levels of confidence than homeowners in the Australian defence forces and trade unions. So public housing may 'shore up' confidence and social capital in some areas, and levels of trust would be lower if public housing was not available to disadvantaged citizens.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.30-34
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• 2014

Background: Myofascial pain dysfunction syndrome (MPDS), otherwise called myofascial pain is one of the most common temporomandibular disorders, which in turn is the most common cause of orofacial pain of non-dental origin. Its etiology is multifactorial and still poorly understood. Psychological factors have been shown to play a role in the etiology. The aim of the study was to evaluate the association between anxiety and salivary cortisol levels in patients with myofascial pain. Methods: Twenty patients suffering from myofascial pain were recruited as the study group. The same number of age and sex matched healthy individuals were taken as the control group. The salivary samples collected between 9-9:15 am from both groups were analyzed for cortisol levels with the competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Anxiety levels of 40 patients were measured using Hamilton's anxiety scale. Results: The mean serum cortisol level of the MPDS group showed a highly significant difference (P < 0.001) from the controls. The mean anxiety scores of the MPDS group showed a highly significant difference (P < 0.001) from the controls. A positive correlation was found between anxiety and the salivary cortisol levels in MPDS patients. Conclusions: These findings suggest that anxiety plays a vital role in the etio-pathogenesis of MPDS; thus, besides pharmacological treatment, psychological support is also needed.

• Journal of Acupuncture & Meridian Studies
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.375-379
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• 2018

Background and aim: Heavy metals have been recognized as toxins for centuries. Cupping therapy has been shown to aid in the excretion of accumulated fluids and toxins from the interstitial fluid. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of wet cupping therapy on blood levels of heavy metals. Methods: Thirteen healthy male individuals [mean age ${\pm}$ standard deviation, $28.47{\pm}6.18$] participated in this study. Venous blood samples were collected 5 min before and 30 days after the wet cupping therapy. Five points of the posterior neck and bilateral perispinal areas of the neck and thoracic spine were selected for cupping therapy. The levels of aluminium (Al), zinc (Zn), and cadmium (Cd) were measured using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Results: The levels of heavy metals (Al, Zn, and Cd) after cupping therapy were significantly lower than the levels before therapy. Conclusions: These results suggest that wet cupping therapy has an excretory effect on the kidney. Wet cupping therapy may clear blood from excess heavy metals.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.90-94
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• 2013

Background: This study was conducted to examine if basal luteinizing hormone (LH) levels could be useful for screening central precocious puberty (CPP) in girls. Methods: A total of 90 girls under the age of 8 years were included in this study. They underwent the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) stimulation test at Good Gang-An Hospital from March 2008 to December 2012 for evaluation of premature sexual development. Patients were classified into two groups: the pubertal response group of patients who had 5 IU/L peak LH levels in the GnRH stimulation test, and the prepubertal response group of patients who had LH levels <5 IU/L. Chronological and bone ages, height, weight, body mass index, gonadotropin response to GnRH stimulation, and basal levels of LH, follicle-stimulating hormone, and estradiol were studied in both groups. The relationship between basal LH and peak-stimulated LH was evaluated using Spearman's correlation. To determine the optimal cut-off values of basal LH levels for differentiating between two groups, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were analyzed. Results: When the correlation between basal LH levels and peak LH after GnRH stimulation was analyzed in all subjects (N=90), basal LH levels had a statistically significant positive correlation with peak stimulated LH levels (rs=0.493, p<0.001). The cut-off level of optimal basal LH was 0.1 IU/L, according to the ROC curves. Its sensitivity was 73.3%, and its specificity was 77.8%. Conclusion: The study results showed that serum basal LH levels are useful for screening CPP in girls.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.357-363
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• 2003

The objective of this study is to investigate background levels of As and heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn) and their dietary intakes from white rice produced at various provinces in Korea during 2000. Except Jeju-do, sixty-three rice grain samples were taken at 8 provinces and analyzed for the elements using ICP-AES after acid digestion. The average contents of hi, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in the samples were 0.126, 0.040, 1.96, 0.361 and 16.6 mg/kg(DW), respectively. These levels are within the ranges of worldwide average concentrations in rice grains reported by various research. Assuming the rice consumption of 256 g/day by overall households in Korea, the amount of daily intake of As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn by the rice were estimated to be 32.3, 10.2, 502, 92.4 and 4,250 ${\mu}g$/day, respectively. Those amount of daily intakes of the elements by the rice are within the WHO's guide for trace elements, however, rice consumption is one of the most important sources of dietary intake of As and some heavy metals in Korean population.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.23-32
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• 2013

Korean groundwater quality standards were established in 1994, and revised in 2003 and 2010. The substances for which standards have been developed are classified into two groups, general pollutants, 4, and specific pollutants, 15. The standards have been applied to household water use, agriculture, aquaculture, and industrial use. However, there is no systematic methodology for either selecting candidate substances or establishing groundwater standards. We investigated various derivation methodologies for groundwater standards used by the European Commission and 27 member states and compared their methods for determining threshold values. The European Commission presented to their member states groundwater standards for two substances and a list of required substances for derivation of threshold values along with the member states. Interestingly, they first considered national background levels and then considered other criteria for water protection, such as drinking water standards, environmental quality standards, and irrigation standards. We suggest that Korean background levels in groundwater should be included in the methodology for establishing groundwater quality standards. These results may be useful in developing a systematic methodology for establishing Korean groundwater quality standards.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.102-109
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• 2006

In this paper, we improve the performance of bidirectional TCP connection over end-to-end network that uses transfer rate-based flow and congestion control. The sharing of a common buffer by TCP packets and acknowledgement has been known to result in an effect called ack compression, where acks of a connection arrive at the source bunched together, resulting in unfairness and degraded throughput. The degradation in throughput due to bidirectional traffic can be significant. For example, even in the simple case of symmetrical connections with adequate window size, the connection efficiency is improved about 20% for three levels of background traffic 2.5Mbps, 5.0Mbps and 7.5Mbps. Otherwise, the throughput of jitter is reduced about 50% because round trip delay time is smaller between source node and destination node. Also, we show that throughput curve is improved with connection rate algorithm which is proposed for TCP congestion avoidance as a function of aggressiveness threshold for three levels of background traffic 2.5Mbps, 5Mbps and 7.5Mbps.