• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.88-92
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• 2023

Background: Aphthous stomatitis is a common disease of the oral mucosa and its pathogenesis is associated with several risk factors. Frequently, minor ulcers are idiopathic in nature and often resolve naturally. However, those ulcers are painful and sensibly compromise patients' eating. There are different treatment strategies for the clinical management of oral aphthae. Methods: The present study assessed the efficacy of a film-forming cream in accelerating the healing and diminishing the pain associated with minor aphthae in a randomized fashion design. The test product (AphtoFix^®) was compared with placebo cream in a cohort of patients with a diagnosis of minor recurrent stomatitis. Patients were randomly distributed into two groups and were followed for 10 days. The primary outcomes included the number of days until symptoms were relieved and the number of days to complete healing. Results: Thirty-six patients completed the follow-up, eighteen per group. All lesions eventually healed within day 10. However, patients in the test group experienced significantly less pain, already from day 1. Patients in the test group also showed a faster healing rate of the lesion with an average of 7 days against the 9 days required for patients in the control group. Conclusion: The present study supported the utility of a film-forming in cream in relieving the patient from symptoms associated with aphthous stomatitis already at day 1 of product use. Patients also displayed faster healing of the lesions when compared to the control group. Further studies with greater sample size and patient stratification according to age and risk factors are recommended to support the present findings.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.37.3-38
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• 2020

Ever since thick disk was proposed to explain the vertical distribution of the Milky Way disk stars, its origin has been a recurrent question. We aim to answer this question by inspecting 19 disk galaxies with stellar mass greater than 10^10 solar mass in recent cosmological high-resolution (>34 pc) zoom-in simulations: Galactica and New Horizon. The thin and thick disks are reproduced by the simulations with scale heights and luminosity ratios that are in reasonable agreement with observations. When we spatially classify the disk stars into thin and thick disks by their heights from the galactic plane, the "thick" disk stars are older, less metal-rich, kinematically hotter, and higher in accreted star fraction than the "thin" disk counterparts. However, we found that the the thick disk stars were spatially and kinematically thinner when they were born. Indeed, a large fraction of thick disk stars was born near the galactic plane at earlier times and get heated with time, eventually occupying high altitudes and exhibiting different population properties compared to the thin-disk stars. In conclusion, from our simulations, the thin and thick disk components are not entirely distinct at birth, but rather a result of the time evolution of the stars born in the main disk of the galaxy. (excerpted from the abstract of the upcoming paper submitted to Astrophysical Journal: Park, M.-J., Yi, S.K. et al. 2020)

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.62-72
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• 2023

Objective: Although balance training has been used as an effective ankle injury rehabilitation program to restore neuromuscular deficits in patients with chronic ankle instability, it is not effectively used in terms of motor learning. Attentional focusing can be an effective method for improving ankle kinematics to prevent recurrent ankle injuries. This study aimed to 1) evaluate the effects of attentional focus, including internal and external focus, and 2) determine a more effective focusing method for patients with chronic ankle instability to learn balance tasks. Method: Twenty-four patients with chronic ankle instability were randomly assigned to three groups (external focus, internal focus, and no feedback) and underwent four weeks of progressive balance training. The three-dimensional ankle kinematics of each patient were measured before and after training as the main outcomes. Ensemble curve analysis, discrete point analysis, and post hoc pairwise comparisons were performed to identify interactions between groups and time. Results: The results showed that (1) the external focus group was more dorsiflexed and everted than the internal focus group; (2) the external focus group was more dorsiflexed than the no feedback group; and (3) the no feedback group was more dorsiflexed than the internal focus group. Conclusion: Because dorsiflexion and eversion are ankle motions that oppose the mechanism of lateral ankle sprain, using the external focus method during balance training may be more effective in modifying these motions, thereby reducing the risk of ankle sprain.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.58.1-58.25
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• 2023

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) has posed significant financial threats to the domestic pig industry over the last three decades in South Korea. PEDV infection will mostly result in endemic persistence in the affected farrow-to-finish (FTF) herds, leading to endemic porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) followed by year-round recurrent outbreaks. This review aims to encourage collaboration among swine producers, veterinarians, and researchers to offer answers that strengthen our understanding of PEDV in efforts to prevent and control endemic PED and to prepare for the next epidemics or pandemics. We found that collaboratively implementing a PED risk assessment and customized four-pillar-based control measures is vital to interrupt the chain of endemic PED in affected herds: the former can identify on-farm risk factors while the latter aims to compensate for or improve weaknesses via herd immunity stabilization and virus elimination. Under endemic PED, long-term virus survival in slurry and asymptomatically infected gilts ("Trojan Pigs") that can transmit the virus to farrowing houses are key challenges for PEDV eradication in FTF farms and highlight the necessity for active monitoring and surveillance of the virus in herds and their environments. This paper underlines the current knowledge of molecular epidemiology and commercially available vaccines, as well as the risk assessment and customized strategies to control PEDV. The intervention measures for stabilizing herd immunity and eliminating virus circulation may be the cornerstone of establishing regional or national PED eradication programs.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2022.05a
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• pp.483-483
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• 2022

댐과 저수지의 운영 최적화를 위한 수문학적 예보는 현재 수동적인 댐 운영이 주를 이루면서 활용도가 높지 않다. 불확실한 기후변화나 기후재난 상황에서 우리 사회에 악영향을 최소화하기 위해 선제적으로 대응/대비할 수 있는 댐 운영 방안이 불가피하다. 강우량 예측 기술은 기후변화로 인해 제한적인 상황이다. 실례로, 2020년 8월에 섬진강의 댐이 극심한 집중 강우로 인해 무너지는 사태가 발생하였고 이로 인해 지역사회에 막대한 경제적 피해가 발생하였다. 선제적 댐 방류량 운영 기술은 또한 환경적인 변화로 인한 영향을 완화하기 위해 필요한 것이다. 제한적인 기상 예보 기술을 극복하고자 심화학습이나 강화학습 같은 인공지능 모델들의 활용성에 대한 연구가 시도되고 있다. 따라서 본 연구는 섬진강 댐의 시간당 수문 데이터를 이용하여 댐 운영을 위한 심화학습 모델을 개발하고 그 활용도를 평가하였다. 댐 운영을 위한 심화학습 모델로서 시계열 데이터 예측에 적합한 Long Sort Term Memory(LSTM)과 Gated Recurrent Unit(GRU) 알고리즘을 구축하고 댐 수위를 예측하였다. 분석 자료는 WAMIS에서 제공하는 2000년부터 2021년까지의 시간당 데이터를 사용하였다. 입력 데이터로서 시간당 유입량, 강우량과 방류량을, 출력 데이터로서 시간당 수위 자료를 각각 사용하였으며. 결정계수(R2 Score)를 통해 모델의 예측 성능을 평가하였다. 댐 수위 예측값 개선을 위해 하이퍼파라미터의 '최적값'이 존재하는 범위를 줄여나가는 하이퍼파라미터 최적화를 두 가지 방법으로 진행하였다. 첫 번째 방법은 수동적 탐색(Manual Search) 방법으로 Sequence Length를 24, 48, 72시간, Hidden Layer를 1, 3, 5개로 설정하여 하이퍼파라미터의 조합에 따른 LSTM와 GRU의 민감도를 평가하였다. 두 번째 방법은 Grid Search로 최적의 하이퍼파라미터를 찾았다. 이 두가지 방법에서는 같은 하이퍼파라미터 안에서 GRU가 LSTM에 비해 더 높은 예측 정확도를 보였고 Sequence Length가 높을수록 정확도가 높아지는 경향을 보였다. Manual Search 방법의 경우 R2가 최대 0.72의 정확도를 보였고 Grid Search 방법의 경우 R2가 0.79의 정확도를 보였다. 본 연구 결과는 가뭄과 홍수와 같은 물 재해에 사전 대응하고 기후변화에 적응할 수 있는 댐 운영 개선에 도움을 줄 수 있을 것으로 판단된다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.264-266
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• 2022

In order to apply the RNN model to the radio fingerprint-based indoor path generation technology, the data set must be continuous and sequential. However, Wi-Fi radio fingerprint data is not suitable as RNN data because continuity is not guaranteed as characteristic information about a specific location at the time of collection. Therefore, continuity information of sequential positions should be given. For this purpose, clustering is possible through classification of each region based on signal data. At this time, the continuity information between the clusters does not contain information on whether actual movement is possible due to the limitation of radio signals. Therefore, correlation information on whether movement between adjacent clusters is possible is required. In this paper, a deep learning network, a recurrent neural network (RNN) model, is used to predict the path of a moving object, and it reduces errors that may occur when predicting the path of an object by generating continuous location information for path generation in an indoor environment. We propose a method of giving correlation between clustering for generating an improved moving path that can avoid erroneous path prediction that cannot move on the predicted path.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.216-218
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• 2022

Natural disasters caused by abnormal climates are continuously increasing, and the types of natural disasters that cause the most damage are flood damage caused by heavy rains and typhoons. Therefore, in order to reduce flood damage, this paper proposes a system that can predict the water level, a major parameter of flood, in real time using LSTM and GRU. The input data used for flood prediction are upstream and downstream water levels, temperature, humidity, and precipitation, and real-time prediction is performed through the pre-trained LSTM-GRU model. The input data uses data from the past 20 hours to predict the water level for the next 3 hours. Through the system proposed in this paper, if the risk determination function can be added and an evacuation order can be issued to the people exposed to the flood, it is thought that a lot of damage caused by the flood can be reduced.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.661-692
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• 2009

From the Darwinian perspective, all the human behaviors and thoughts are operated by "the selfish gene," the term coined by Richard Dawkins, which has long been evolving to survive by utilizing the limited quality and quantity of resources. And an organism which fails to regenerate by creating its "replicator" is doomed to extinction, for gene combinations which help an organism to survive and reproduce tend to also improve the gene's own chances of being passed on through generations. Dawkins also coins the term "meme" for a unit of human cultural evolution analogous to the gene, suggesting that such selfish replication may also be the principle for human culture. Ian McEwan is not only a controversial but more importantly influential writer in the 21st century academic world. His 1997 book Enduring Love is not exceptional in that it draws both literary and scientific attention. Intentionally set up with the dynamic conflict between the two cultures, namely art and science, the book explores the way in which the state of the modern minds is misinterpreted and estranged by each other. In this novel, the three main protagonists, Joe, Clarissa, and Jed, each representing the very important three elements of human civilization-cognition/science, emotion/art, and faith/religion-meet an unexpected peril of life. The author of the novel employs the narrative of evolutionary science-in particular the narratives of gene and meme-to provoke the question of the two cultures famously addressed by Snow in the mid 20th century and the further discussions followed by the later Darwinian scholars such as Richard Dawkins. In this paper I aim to illustrate the way in which the author develops the idea of gene science and literature and how he proceeds to provide a sophisticated bridge between the two cultures and induce a kind of consilience by the recurrent name of love in the story of Enduring Love.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.50.1-50.11
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• 2020

Objectives: In this study, we investigated the potential of amoxicillin-loaded polymeric microspheres to be delivered to tooth root infection sites via a bioactive reparative cement. Materials and Methods: Amoxicillin-loaded microspheres were synthesized by a spray-dray method and incorporated at 2.5% and 5% into a mineral trioxide aggregate cement clinically used to induce a mineralized barrier at the root tip of young permanent teeth with incomplete root development and necrotic pulp. The formulations were modified in liquid:powder ratios and in composition by the microspheres. The optimized formulations were evaluated in vitro for physical and mechanical eligibility. The morphology of microspheres was observed under scanning electron microscopy. Results: The optimized cement formulation containing microspheres at 5% exhibited a delayed-release response and maintained its fundamental functional properties. When mixed with amoxicillin-loaded microspheres, the setting times of both test materials significantly increased. The diametral tensile strength of cement containing microspheres at 5% was similar to control. However, phytic acid had no effect on this outcome (p > 0.05). When mixed with modified liquid:powder ratio, the setting time was significantly longer than that original liquid:powder ratio (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Lack of optimal concentrations of antibiotics at anatomical sites of the dental tissues is a hallmark of recurrent endodontic infections. Therefore, targeting the controlled release of broad-spectrum antibiotics may improve the therapeutic outcomes of current treatments. Overall, these results indicate that the carry of amoxicillin by microspheres could provide an alternative strategy for the local delivery of antibiotics for the management of tooth infections.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.268-268
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• 2022

Protein is a major nutrient of food and has long been studied for nutritional and utility value. Among them, rice protein is attracting attention because of its hypoallergenic characteristics and nutritional value. Mutant DM225 with increased protein content was selected by EMS treatment on the weed rice Dharial. QTL analysis of Protein content was carried out using BC₂F₂ populations derived from a cross between "Hanareum2" as a recurrent parent and "DM225" as a donor parent. The protein content of populations was between 5~11%, with an average of 7.7%. To identify QTLs related to Protein content, 117 KASP markers(polymorphic ratio: 15%) showing polymorphisms between the parents were genotyped for the BC₂F₂ population. One QTL was detected between markers SK07 06 and SK07_10 on chromosome 7(LOD: 28.1). This QTL explained 71.4% of the phenotypic variance for Protein content. This QTL will be useful for protein-related rice breeding program.