• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.262-274
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• 2023

Objectives: This study examined the evaluation and potential improvements of 'Integrated Healthcare and Social Welfare service model' based on the experiences of practitioners from institutions participating in the 'Dalgubeol Health Doctor Services' and the service recipients. Methods: Qualitative research was conducted from September to November 2022 in this study, focusing on 4 providers from the dedicated Dalgubeol Health Doctor Services Team, 5 contact partners from affiliated organizations, and 6 service beneficiaries. The data gathered underwent thematic analysis. Results: The evaluation indicated that Dalgubeol Health Doctor Services has proven to be effective in addressing the complex needs of vulnerable populations. By providing integrated services through quick and simple beneficiary selection and resource linkage, it has contributed to the resolution of complex demands, recovery of positive attitudes towards life, and improvement in quality of life for users who have fear the use of medical and welfare services. Dalgubeol Health Doctor Services has established an integrated health care system involving not only public but also private organizations, from the referral agency to the service provider. Centered around Daegu Medical Center and involving five tertiary hospitals, it has established a model that supports treatment appropriate to the severity of the patient, from mild to severe. Conclusions: These findings indicate an enhancement in health equity, achieved through the active identification and subsequent health and welfare issue resolution of individuals marginalized from medical benefits.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.39.1-39.15
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• 2023

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination may non-specifically alter the host immune system. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of COVID-19 vaccination on hepatitis B surface Ag (HBsAg) titer and host immunity in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. Consecutive 2,797 CHB patients who had serial HBsAg measurements during antiviral treatment were included in this study. Changes in the HBsAg levels after COVID-19 vaccination were analyzed. The dynamics of NK cells following COVID-19 vaccination were also examined using serial blood samples collected prospectively from 25 healthy volunteers. Vaccinated CHB patients (n=2,329) had significantly lower HBsAg levels 1-30 days post-vaccination compared to baseline (median, -21.4 IU/ml from baseline), but the levels reverted to baseline by 91-180 days (median, -3.8 IU/ml). The velocity of the HBsAg decline was transiently accelerated within 30 days after vaccination (median velocity: -0.06, -0.39, and -0.04 log₁₀ IU/ml/year in pre-vaccination period, days 1-30, and days 31-90, respectively). In contrast, unvaccinated patients (n=468) had no change in HBsAg levels. Flow cytometric analysis showed that the frequency of NK cells expressing NKG2A, an NK inhibitory receptor, significantly decreased within 7 days after the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine (median, -13.1% from baseline; p<0.001). The decrease in the frequency of NKG2A⁺ NK cells was observed in the CD56^dimCD16⁺ NK cell population regardless of type of COVID-19 vaccine. COVID-19 vaccination leads to a rapid, transient decline in HBsAg titer and a decrease in the frequency of NKG2A⁺ NK cells.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.437-447
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• 2023

By actively adopting technologies from the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the port industry is trending toward new types of ports, such as automated and smart ports. However, behind the development of these ports, there is an increasing risk of cyber security incidents and threats within ports and container terminals, including information leakage through cargo handling equipment and ransomware attacks leading to disruptions in terminal operations. Despite the necessity of research to enhance cyber security within ports, there is a lack of such studies in the domestic context. This study focuses on Busan Port, a representative port in South Korea that actively incorporates technology from the Fourth Industrial Revolution, in order to discover variables for improving cyber security in container terminals. The research results categorized factors for enhancing cyber security in Busan Port's container terminals into network construction and policy support, standardization of education and personnel training, and legal and regulatory factors. Subsequently, multiple regression analysis was conducted based on these factors, leading to the identification of detailed factors for securing and enhancing safety, reliability, performance, and satisfaction in Busan Port's container terminals. The significance of this study lies in providing direction for enhancing cyber security in Busan Port's container terminals and addressing the increasing incidents of cyber security attacks within ports and container terminals.

• Convergence Security Journal
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2024

Although industrial control systems (ICSs) recently keep evolving with the introduction of Industrial IoT converging information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT), it also leads to a variety of threats and vulnerabilities, which was not experienced in the past ICS with no connection to the external network. Since various control command messages are sent to field devices of the ICS for the purpose of monitoring and controlling the operational processes, it is required to guarantee the message integrity as well as control center authentication. In case of the conventional message integrity codes and signature schemes based on symmetric keys and public keys, respectively, they are not suitable considering the asymmetry between the control center and field devices. Especially, compromised node attacks can be mounted against the symmetric-key-based schemes. In this paper, we propose message authentication scheme based on double hash chains constructed from cryptographic hash function without introducing other primitives, and then propose extension scheme using Merkle tree for multiple uses of the double hash chains. It is shown that the proposed scheme is much more efficient in computational complexity than other conventional schemes.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.16.1-16.20
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• 2022

The gastrointestinal tract is the first organ directly affected by fasting. However, little is known about how fasting influences the intestinal immune system. Intestinal dendritic cells (DCs) capture antigens, migrate to secondary lymphoid organs, and provoke adaptive immune responses. We evaluated the changes of intestinal DCs in mice with short-term fasting and their effects on protective immunity against Listeria monocytogenes (LM). Fasting induced an increased number of CD103⁺CD11b^- DCs in both small intestinal lamina propria (SILP) and mesenteric lymph nodes (mLN). The SILP CD103⁺CD11b^- DCs showed proliferation and migration, coincident with increased levels of GM-CSF and C-C chemokine receptor type 7, respectively. At 24 h post-infection with LM, there was a significant reduction in the bacterial burden in the spleen, liver, and mLN of the short-term-fasted mice compared to those fed ad libitum. Also, short-term-fasted mice showed increased survival after LM infection compared with ad libitum-fed mice. It could be that significantly high TGF-β2 and Aldh1a2 expression in CD103⁺CD11b^- DCs in mice infected with LM might affect to increase of Foxp3⁺ regulatory T cells. Changes of major subset of DCs from CD103⁺ to CD103^- may induce the increase of IFN-γ-producing cells with forming Th1-biased environment. Therefore, the short-term fasting affects protection against LM infection by changing major subset of intestinal DCs from tolerogenic to Th1 immunogenic.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.395-404
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• 2024

Background: Ginsenoside Rg₁ (Rg₁) is one of the main active components in Chinese medicines, Panax ginseng and Panax notoginseng. Research has shown that Rg₁ has a protective effect on the cardiovascular system, including anti-myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury, anti-apoptosis, and promotion of myocardial angiogenesis, suggesting it a potential cardiovascular agent. However, the protective mechanism involved is still not fully understood. Methods: Based on network pharmacology, ligand-based protein docking, proteomics, Western blot, protein recombination and spectroscopic analysis (UV-Vis and fluorescence spectra) techniques, potential targets and pathways for Rg₁ against myocardial ischemia (MI) were screened and explored. Results: An important target set containing 19 proteins was constructed. Two target proteins with more favorable binding activity for Rg₁ against MI were further identified by molecular docking, including mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 (MAPK1) and adenosine kinase (ADK). Meanwhile, Rg₁ intervention on H9c2 cells injured by H₂O₂ showed an inhibitory oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) pathway. The inhibition of Rg₁ on MAPK1 and OXPHOS pathway was confirmed by Western blot assay. By protein recombination and spectroscopic analysis, the binding reaction between ADK and Rg₁ was also evaluated. Conclusion: Rg₁ can effectively alleviate cardiomyocytes oxidative stress injury via targeting MAPK1 and ADK, and inhibiting oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) pathway. The present study provides scientific basis for the clinical application of the natural active ingredient, Rg₁, and also gives rise to a methodological reference to the searching of action targets and pathways of other natural active ingredients.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.458-476
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• 2023

This study analyzes previous research on 'The Self-Governance of the Commons' to overcome 'The Tragedy of the Commons', and derives elements for successful commons management. These factors are compared and analyzed with the social and economic attributes of the Jeju Haenyeo community, a successful community self-governance model. In addition, in the recently changing environment, it is revealed whether this internal community mechanism can be useful in the future. The goal is to reveal what social and economic factors will help the sustainability of the Jeju haenyeo community in the future. As a result of analyzing the internal operating mechanism of the Jeju haenyeo community, the production and distribution system that improves trust and reciprocity, the inherent sense of community, the division of roles between formal and informal organizations, and the institutionalized explicit and implicit norms within the organization served as internal and external strengths of community sustainability. However, the closure of the network, the crisis of productivity, the weakening of homogeneity, and the emergence of new subjects acted as internal and external weaknesses. In conclusion, for the sustainability of the Jeju Haenyeo community, it is necessary to reorganize the reproductive function of labor using the haenyeo school, to maintain clarity on the subject of livelihood and cultural transmission, and guarantee the income of Haenyeo.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.139-155
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• 2024

Using the cytb gene region of the mitochondrial DNA of eight populations of Sarcocheilichthys nigripinnis morii and five populations of S. variegatus wakiyae, which belong to the genus Sarcocheilichthys from Korea, the genetic diversity and molecular phylogenetic relationships of each population were examined. As a result of the analysis, it was confirmed that the S. variegatus wakiyae population had higher genetic diversity than the S. nigripinnis morii population. In the phylogenetic tree of genus Sarcocheilichthys fish in Korea based on the cytb gene, the Yeongsan River (YSR) population of S. variegatus wakiyae forms a clade with the Tamjin River (TJR), Yeongsan River (YSR), and Seomjin River (SJR) population of S. nigripinnis morii, and genetic relationships that do not align with the current classification system were observed. Meanwhile, on the nuclear DNA phylogenetic tree, S. variegatus wakiyae and S. nigripinnis morii could be clearly distinguished, showing mitonuclear inconsistency where mitochondrial and nuclear DNA conflicted on the phylogenetic tree. The Seomjin River (SJR) population of S. nigripinnis morii was translocated to the Dongjin River (DJR) population, haplotype from which crossbreeding was presumed to have occurred was confirmed. Among the rivers flowing into the East Sea, the S. nigripinnis morii population is known to have been introduced and inhabit only the Hyeongsan River (HSR), and it is presumed to be a population formed by translocation from the Han River (HR) population, with a haplotype representing a unique genetic group also confirmed. The Han River (HR), Geum River (GR), and Mangyeong River (MGR) populations of S. nigripinnis morii formed a genetically identical population with S. czerskii and S. soldatovi distributed north of the Yalu River, and accordingly, a taxonomic reexamination was required through morphological and molecular phylogenetic studies by securing various specimens.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.199-205
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aims to improve the recognition rate of Auto People Counting (APC) in accurately identifying and providing information on remaining evacuees in disaster-vulnerable facilities such as nursing homes to firefighting and other response agencies in the event of a disaster. Methods: In this study, a baseline model was established using CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) models to improve the algorithm for recognizing images of incoming and outgoing individuals through cameras installed in actual disaster-vulnerable facilities operating APC systems. Various algorithms were analyzed, and the top seven candidates were selected. The research was conducted by utilizing transfer learning models to select the optimal algorithm with the best performance. Results: Experiment results confirmed the precision and recall of Densenet201 and Resnet152v2 models, which exhibited the best performance in terms of time and accuracy. It was observed that both models demonstrated 100% accuracy for all labels, with Densenet201 model showing superior performance. Conclusion: The optimal algorithm applicable to APC among various artificial intelligence algorithms was selected. Further research on algorithm analysis and learning is required to accurately identify the incoming and outgoing individuals in disaster-vulnerable facilities in various disaster situations such as emergencies in the future.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.222-231
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• 2024

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to study how to activate the use of public transportation by identifying the main factors that reduce the use of public transportation due to external influences such as COVID-19 infectious diseases. Method: This study analyzed the connection between the traffic behavior and the characteristics of public transportation use in the metropolitan area changed by COVID-19 with COVID-19 indicators, and analyzed social and environmental factors affecting traffic. Results: It was analyzed that the traffic behavior in the metropolitan area moves from commercial areas to tourist resort areas, the number of COVID-19 deaths affects the use of public transportation, and the lower the deviation between population density, agricultural and forestry areas, and gender ratios due to social and environmental factors, the more significant differences are shown. Conclusion: In the future, it will be able to be activated as a basic analysis model for revitalizing the city's transportation system, regional bases, and various social and economic indicators, such as quarantine of public transportation and social distancing, and can be used as basic data for establishing public transport policy directions according to major influencing factors.