• Title/Summary/Keyword: critical means

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Inhibitory Effect of Biotransformed-Fucoidan on the Differentiation of Osteoclasts Induced by Receptor for Activation of Nuclear Factor-κB Ligand

  • Park, Bobae;Yu, Sun Nyoung;Kim, Sang-Hun;Lee, Junwon;Choi, Sung Jong;Chang, Jeong Hyun;Yang, Eun Ju;Kim, Kwang-Youn;Ahn, Soon-Cheol
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.32 no.8
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    • pp.1017-1025
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    • 2022
  • Bone homeostasis is regulated by constant remodeling through osteogenesis by osteoblasts and osteolysis by osteoclasts and osteoporosis can be provoked when this balance is broken. Present pharmaceutical treatments for osteoporosis have harmful side effects and thus, our goal was to develop therapeutics from intrisincally safe natural products. Fucoidan is a polysaccharide extracted from many species of brown seaweed, with valuable pharmaceutical activities. To intensify the effect of fucoidan on bone homeostasis, we hydrolyzed fucoidan using AMG, Pectinex and Viscozyme. Of these, fucoidan biotransformed by Pectinex (Fu/Pec) powerfully inhibited the induction of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) activity in osteoclasts differentiated from bone marrow macrophages (BMMs) by the receptor for activation of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL). To investigate potential of lower molecular weight fucoidan it was separated into >300 kDa, 50-300 kDa, and <50 kDa Fu/Pec fractions by ultrafiltration system. The effects of these fractions on TRAP and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities were then examined in differentiated osteoclasts and MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts, respectively. Interestingly, 50-300 kDa Fu/Pec suppressed RANKL-induced osteoclasts differentiation from BMMs but did not synergistically enhance osteoblasts differentiation induced by osteogenic agents. In addition, this fraction inhibited the expressions of NFATc1, TRAP, OSCAR, and RANK, which are all key transcriptional factors involved in osteoclast differentiation, and those of Src, c-Fos and Mitf, as determined by RT-PCR. In conclusion, enzymatically low-molecularized 50-300 kDa Fu/Pec suppressed TRAP by downregulating RANKL-related signaling, contributing to the inhibition of osteoclasts differentiation, and represented a potential means of inducing bone remodeling in the background of osteoporosis.

A Quantitative Study of the Effects of a Price Collar in the Korea Emissions Trading System on Emissions and Costs (배출권거래제 가격상하한제가 배출량 및 감축비용에 미치는 영향에 대한 정량적 연구)

  • Bae, Kyungeun;Yoo, Taejoung;Ahn, Young-Hwan
    • Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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    • v.31 no.2
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    • pp.261-290
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    • 2022
  • Although market stabilization measures have been triggered in the K-ETS, carbon price is still under uncertainty. Considering Korea's 2030 enhanced reduction target announced in October 2021, it is crucial to have practical stabilization measures to appropriately deal with price uncertainty. This study examines the quantitative effects of a price collar, which is considered as a means of alleviating price uncertainty, on expected cumulative emissions and abatement costs. There are three main scenarios: carbon tax, emissions trading system, and emissions trading system with a price collar. Monte Carlo simulation was conducted to reflect uncertainty in emission. There are several results as follows: 1) In a price collar, domestic emission target is likely to be achieved with a lower expected abatement cost than other scenarios. In addition, there is a small amount of excess emissions in this research and it would be not critical(0.1% excess than target); 2) Prohibiting banking increases the expected abatement cost. This is because firms can not intertemporally reallocate allowances to match the firm's optimal emissions path; 3) With the adoption of a price collar, government's net revenue can be positive even if the government's purchase volume of emissions allowances is more than sales volume. This is because the government sells them at price ceiling and purchases them at price floor.

Revisiting the Social Class: Focusing on the Conceptualization and Measurement in Psychology (사회계층에 대한 재조명: 심리학에서 개념화 및 측정을 중심으로)

  • Sang-Wu Pyun
    • Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.101-130
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    • 2018
  • Social class has become a major focus of research in the field of Western psychology due to its critical impact on human life. The Korean scholarship in psychology, however, has paid very little attention to the issue of social class despite the deepening of social stratification in the country; and the concepts and measurement they used were typically borrowed from sociology. In this study, I discussed what social class means and how it should be measured in order to emphasize the importance of the concept and its related issues. To this end, I examined a variety of theoretical backgrounds on the measurement of social class and the concept of socioeconomic status (SES)-a term commonly used as a synonym for social class. This study divided the method of measuring social class into objective social class and subjective social class, and outlined the characteristics of each approach and their main indicators. Finally, I assessed the recent trend in the Korean psychology on social class measurement. Among the 23 studies I have found, 65.2% used the objective social class index; and education was the objective indicator they most frequently employed, followed by income and occupation. Social stratification identity was used in all seven studies that applied subjective social class. And seven different words to describe social class was found. Based on these results, I concluded that there should be a call for more direct research on social class variables. In addition, I suggest that 'social class', instead of socioeconomic status, should be used as a preferred term in the future studies and propose a few notes on how to use the objective indicators and subjective social class measurement.

Humanistic Study on the Balance between Work and Life (워라밸의 인문학적 성찰)

  • Cho, Yong-Ki
    • Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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    • v.13 no.1
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    • pp.121-138
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    • 2019
  • A term 'Wolabal' which is an abbreviation of the words, in South Korea means the balance between work and life. The term reflects on people's thoughts to seek for their happiness these days. In fact, they think that the quality of the life is more valuable than any other things on their lives, reflecting on the issues caused by modern societies. 'Wolabal' has emerged as an alternatives to solve the social issues like economic recession, high unemployment rate, aging society, low birth rate and etc. However, in order to establish 'Wolabal' as a culture the comprehensive agreement between an individual and society should be considered first. In society, the system or policies to forster cultural business should be settled while in individual, it is necessary to change the way they think about their work and the qualities of their lives. From this view we have to focus on the relationship between their work and leisure. On the relationship between their work and leisure we should understand that the relationship is not conflicted but co-exists and understanding the real meaning of the relationship is critical in balancing between work and life. The recognition to the labor which has been from the past would give not only the meaning of individual survival but the one of their whole lives. Despite this, modern society has faded away the real meaning of labor because it has focused on the mass manufacturing and sometimes the long-termed economic sluggish has emerged. This trend has made people think about their lives and seek for their lives' real value.

Study on Optimum Design for Embankment Construction on Soft Ground Treated by SCP (SCP개량지반상에 성토시공 시 최적설계에 관한 연구)

  • Chae, Jong-gil;Park, Yeong-Mog;Jung, MinSu
    • KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.29 no.6C
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    • pp.251-258
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    • 2009
  • In this study, the optimum design conditions for embankment construction on soft clay layer improved by soil compaction pile (SCP) are discussed by comparing the practical design method to the reliability design which is based on the loss function and advanced first order second moment (AFOSM) method. The results are summarized as follows; 1) the relationship between safety factor and failure probability becomes heavy exponentially, failure probability decreases rapidly till 1% approximately until safety factor is smaller than 1.2 and after then, failure probability decrease gradually along the increase of the safety factor. The design safety factor of 1.2 may be the critical value that has been established on considering both relationships appropriately, 2) the safety factor of 1.15 at the minimum expected total cost is a little smaller than the design safety factor of 1.2 and the failure probability is about 1%, 3) the sensitivities of the ratio of stress share and the internal friction angle of sand is larger than the variables related the undrained shear strength of soft layer. This result means that the distribution characteristic of n and ${\phi}$ influences on the stability analysis considerably and they should be considered necessarily on stability analysis of embankment on soft layer improved by SCP, 4) new failure points of the input variables at the design safety factor of 1.2(below failure probability of 0.1~0.3%) is far 1~2 times of standard deviation from the initial design values of themselves.

A Study on Aspects of Vital Capitalism Represented on Film Contents (영상 콘텐츠에 나타난 생명자본주의적 관점에 관한 연구)

  • Kang, Byoung-Ho
    • Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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    • v.13 no.8
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    • pp.117-130
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    • 2019
  • After Marx, the issues regarding human labour have been the alienation towards production means and the distributive justice. Fourth industrial revolution and development of AI(Artificial Intelligence) opened the possibility of a independent production and economy system absolutely excluding against human nature and labour. Using robots and AI will deepen demarcation between living things and one not having life, separating the intelligence from the consciousness. At present, so called pre-stage of post human, seeking interests for life, new social relationship and new community will be increased as well. We can understand that interests for small community, self-sufficiency, dailiness, food and body in this context is increasing too. Representative trend towards this cultural phenomena is called as the 'Kinfolk culture.' Work-life balance, 'Aucalme', 'Hygge', 'So-Hwak-Haeng'(a small but reliable happiness) are the similar culture trends as. Vital capitalism, presented by O-Yong Lee, seeks focusing onto living things principles, e.g. 'topophilia', 'neophilia', and 'biophilia' as the dynamics looking for the history substructure, not class struggle and conflicts. He also argues the 'Vital Capitalism' be regarded as a new methodology to anticipate a social system after post human era. G. Deleuze said "arts is another expression method for existential philosophy. It gives a vitality onto philosophy and gives a role to letting abstract concept into definite image." We can find a lot cases arts' imagination overcomes critical point of scientific prediction power in the future prediction. This paper reviews ideas and issues of 'vital capitalism' in detail and explorers imaginating initial ideas of vital capitalism in the film 'Little Forest.'

Comparison between South Korean and Taiwanese college culture: Focusing on the Hierarchical Sexist Influence of Military Culture (한국과 대만의 대학문화 비교 : 위계와 성차별, 폭력의 군대적 징후를 중심으로)

  • Kwon, Insook;Nah, Yoonkyeong;Moon, Hyona
    • Women's Studies Review
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.145-183
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    • 2010
  • This study has compared South Korea with Taiwan, a society which has an almost non-hierarchical college culture in spite of its social and historical similarities to Korea, including the recruit system. By the means of quantitative and qualitative comparative studies and analysis, it has tried to clarify the reasons behind the hierarchical and sexist military culture of Korean universities. According to the comparative studies, Taiwan's college culture is less hierarchical than that of South Korea, and support for the necessity of hierarchy is weaker. Hierarchy had a greater influence on the payment of meals, appellations and society admissions in South Korea. Elements of military culture such as violence or group discipline were usually only present in South Korean college culture. Male-centered drinking and prostitution culture was also found to be stronger in South Korea. The historical and social reason for these differences is that Taiwan has a weaker basis for nationalism and militarism, both essential factors in the founding of hierarchical and collective culture. The most direct reason for the lack of hierarchy in Taiwanese college culture is the period of recruitment. In South Korea, young men usually apply for military service during the first or second year or college, and return to school as second or third-year studies. In Taiwan, however, men are usually recruited after having graduated from college. Students who have served in the army have proved to have a significant influence on violence, hierarchy and drinking culture in Korea's college culture. South Korea's college culture has two main problems. The first is that South Korean college students are not able to be critical towards the harms of South Korea's oppressively hierarchical collective culture, and therefore do not develop the strength to fight against it. This is all the more problematic because they are the future components of South Korea's main institutions. The second is that it roots male-centeredness even further into the South Korean mentality.

Religious, Ethical, and Political Idealism in Middle Milton: Focusing on the Relationship between His Heroic Sonnets and Prose Works (중기 밀턴의 종교적, 윤리적, 정치적 이상주의 -그의 영웅적 소네트와 산문의 관련성을 중심으로)

  • Choi, Jae-Hun
    • Journal of English Language & Literature
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    • v.56 no.1
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    • pp.135-156
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    • 2010
  • In the 1640's and 1650's, Milton wrote many prose works on a variety of topics such as education, church polity, divorce, censorship, regicide, tithing, civil liberty, and blindness. Much of his prose shows us turbulent decades of English history. In this period, he also published his first collection of poems and wrote sonnets. He wrote 23 sonnets in his life, and many sonnets Milton wrote after he had become Latin secretary are occasional poems in historical time. Milton's sonnets, as Annabel Patterson says, are a marker in his personal development, in his life, in his career as a writer, and in the history of his time. Four sonnets (15, 16, 17, 23), written between 1648 and 1655, were not published in the collected edition of Milton's poem in 1673. These sonnets, addressed to leaders of the Parliamentary party during the English revolution, Thomas Fairfax, Oliver Cromwell, and Henry Vane, and to his friend Cyriack Skinner, have been known as "commonwealth" sonnets. They are also called as "heroic sonnets" because they have the common style and theme with his later heroic epic poems. These sonnets were finally published in 1694 by Milton's nephew John Phillips. Milton was interested in religious, domestic, and political liberty for his lifetime, and his heroic sonnets also deal with these ideas of liberty. Milton asks civil liberty from Fairfax, freedom in religion from Cromwell, and from Vane for the reconciliation of both. The aim of this article is to examine how the rhetorical strategies of his "left-handed" prose interact with those of his "right-handed" poetry. This paper explores the relationship between Milton's heroic sonnets and his prose works, such as The Second Defense of the People of England, A Treatise of Civil Power, and The Likeliest Means to Remove Hirelings. Milton deals with the critical issues of religious tolerance, the separation of church and state, liberty of conscience and defense of his blindness, and attempts to define the statesman's role in peacetime England in these heroic sonnets and prose works.

Development of BIM and Augmented Reality-Based Reinforcement Inspection System for Improving Quality Management Efficiency in Railway Infrastructure (철도 인프라 품질관리 효율성 향상을 위한 BIM 기반 AR 철근 점검 시스템 구축)

  • Suk, Chaehyun;Jeong, Yujeong;Jeon, Haein;Yu, Youngsu;Koo, Bonsang
    • Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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    • v.24 no.6
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    • pp.63-65
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    • 2023
  • BIM and AR technologies have been assessed as a means of enhancing productivity within the construction industry, through the provision of effortless access to critical data on site, achieved via the projection of 3D models and associated information onto actual structures. However, most of the previous researches for applying AR technology in construction quality management has been performed for construction projects in general, resulting in only overall on-site management solutions. Also, a few previous researches for the application of AR in the quality management of specific elements like reinforcements focused only on simple projection, so conducting specific quality inspection was impossible. Hence, this study aimed to develop a practically applicable BIM-based AR quality management system targeted for reinforcements. For the development of this system, the reinforcement inspection items on the quality checklist used at railway construction sites were analyzed, and four types of AR functions that can effectively address these items were developed and installed. The validation result of the system for the actual railway bridge showed a degradation of projection stability. This problem was solved through model simplification and enhancement of the AR device's hardware performance, and then the normal operation of the system was validated. Subsequently, the final developed reinforcement quality inspection system was evaluated for practical applicability by on-site quality experts, and the efficiency of inspection would significantly increase when using the AR system compared to the current inspection method for reinforcements.

Association between High Diffusion-Weighted Imaging-Derived Functional Tumor Burden of Peritoneal Carcinomatosis and Overall Survival in Patients with Advanced Ovarian Carcinoma

  • He An;Jose AU Perucho;Keith WH Chiu;Edward S Hui;Mandy MY Chu;Siew Fei Ngu;Hextan YS Ngan;Elaine YP Lee
    • Korean Journal of Radiology
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    • v.23 no.5
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    • pp.539-547
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    • 2022
  • Objective: To investigate the association between functional tumor burden of peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) derived from diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and overall survival in patients with advanced ovarian carcinoma (OC). Materials and Methods: This prospective study was approved by the local research ethics committee, and informed consent was obtained. Fifty patients (mean age ± standard deviation, 57 ± 12 years) with stage III-IV OC scheduled for primary or interval debulking surgery (IDS) were recruited between June 2016 and December 2021. DWI (b values: 0, 400, and 800 s/mm2) was acquired with a 16-channel phased-array torso coil. The functional PC burden on DWI was derived based on K-means clustering to discard fat, air, and normal tissue. A score similar to the surgical peritoneal cancer index was assigned to each abdominopelvic region, with additional scores assigned to the involvement of critical sites, denoted as the functional peritoneal cancer index (fPCI). The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the largest lesion was calculated. Patients were dichotomized by immediate surgical outcome into high- and low-risk groups (with and without residual disease, respectively) with subsequent survival analysis using the Kaplan-Meier curve and log-rank test. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression was used to evaluate the association between DWI-derived results and overall survival. Results: Fifteen (30.0%) patients underwent primary debulking surgery, and 35 (70.0%) patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by IDS. Complete tumor debulking was achieved in 32 patients. Patients with residual disease after debulking surgery had reduced overall survival (p = 0.043). The fPCI/ADC was negatively associated with overall survival when accounted for clinicopathological information with a hazard ratio of 1.254 for high fPCI/ADC (95% confidence interval, 1.007-1.560; p = 0.043). Conclusion: A high DWI-derived functional tumor burden was associated with decreased overall survival in patients with advanced OC.