The purpose of this paper was to introduce positive psychology, to the fields of SLA and English education in Korea. Positive psychology investigates how people flourish and seeks the virtues and strengths of humans. It focuses on the factors enabling people and their communities to thrive, instead of focusing on psychological disorders and abnormalities, longstanding issues of general psychology. Its three main research topics include positive emotions, traits, and institutions, all of which have relevance to SLA and L2 education. This paper examined how these topics have been approached in SLA. Much attention has focused on positive emotions, particularly, enjoyment, which has gained momentum in recent years with publications. Empirical studies of the impacts of positive emotions on L2 learning were reviewed with discussion of enjoyment. The paper concludes by discussing directions for future research, applying positive psychology to Korean EFL contexts.

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a bioactive lipid messenger involved in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammation and various diseases. Recent studies have shown an association between periodontitis and neuroinflammatory diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, and multiple sclerosis. However, the mechanistic relationship between periodontitis and neuroinflammatory diseases remains unclear. The current study found that lysophosphatidic acid receptors 1 (LPAR1) and 6 (LPAR6) exhibited increased expression in primary microglia and astrocytes. The primary astrocytes were then treated using medium conditioned to mimic periodontitis through addition of Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharides, and an increased nitric oxide (NO) production was observed. Application of conditioned medium from human periodontal ligament stem cells with or without LPAR1 knockdown showed a decrease in the production of NO and expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and interleukin 1 beta. These findings may contribute to our understanding of the mechanistic link between periodontitis and neuroinflammatory diseases.

The mechanical safety of the container designed according to the IP-2 type technology standard was analyzed for the temporary storage and transportation of Very-Low-Level-Waste (VLLW) for liquid occurring at the nuclear facilities decommissioning site. The container was designed and manufactured as a composite shielding container with the effect of storing and shielding liquid radioactive waste using High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and eco-friendly shielding material (BaSO4) with corrosion and chemical resistance. The main material of the composite shielding container is HDPE and BaSO4, the material of the cover, cage and pallet is SUS304, and the angle guard is elastic rubber. The test and analysis requirements were analyzed for structural analysis of container drop and lamination test. As test requirements for IP-2 type transport containers should be verified by performing drop and lamination tests. There should be no loss or dispersion of contents through the 1.2 m high free-fall drop and lamination test for a load five times the amount of transported material. ABAQUS/Explicit, a commercial finite element analysis program, was used for structural analysis of the drop and lamination test of the transport and storage container. (Drop test) It was confirmed that the container was most affected when it falls from a 45-degree slope. Although plastic deformation was observed at the edge axis of the cover, it was evaluated that the range of plastic deformation was limited to the cover and cage, and stress within the elastic limit occurred in the inner container. In the analysis results for other falling direction conditions, it was evaluated that stress within the elastic limit was generated in the inner container except for minor plastic deformation. In the case of on-site simulation evaluation, deformation of the inner container and frame due to the drop impact occurred, but leakage and loss of contents, which are major evaluation indicators, did not occur. (Lamination test) The maximum stress was calculated to be 19.9 MPa under the lamination condition for a load 5 times the container weight, and the maximum stress point appeared at the corner axis of the pallet. The calculated value for the maximum stress is about 10%, assuming the conservative yield strength of SUS304 is 200 MPa. It was evaluated that stress within the limit occurred. In the case of on-site simulation evaluation, it was confirmed that there was no container deformation or loss of contents due to the load.

The amount of temporarily stored spent nuclear fuel in South Korea will be reaching saturation in a near future. Therefore, it is an urgent issue to construct a spent nuclear fuel storage system. In order to construct the storage system, some coastal environmental characteristics such as temperature, pH, and chemical composition of sea water in South Korea have to be evaluated and predicted because they can affect in deterioration of the storage system. However, in South Korea, the coastal environmental characteristics of area where the storage system is likely to be built are not well established until now. In this study, a time-series deep-learning algorithm is developed using the Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) algorithm to predict and evaluate the coastal environmental characteristics based on the wellestablished data from Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) and Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF). As a result, by developing the predictive model to evaluate the coastal environmental characteristics, we intend to apply it for site evaluation to construct the spent nuclear fuel storage system or many other applications related to the nuclear as well.

The structural safety of prototype transport and storage containers for very low-level radioactive liquid waste was experimentally estimated for its localization development. Transport containers for radioactive liquid waste have been researched and developed, however, there are no standardized commercial containers for very low-level radioactive waste in Korea. In this study, the structural safety of the designated IP-2 type container capable of transporting and temporarily storing large amounts of very low-level liquid waste, which is generated during the operation and decommissioning of nuclear power plants, was demonstrated. The stacking and drop tests, which were conducted to determine the structural integrity of the container, verified that there was no external leakage of the contents in spite of its structural deformation due to the drop impact. This study shows the effort required for the localization of the technology used in manufacturing transport and storage containers for very low-level radioactive liquid waste, and the additional structural reinforcement of the container in which the commercial intermediate bulk container (IBC) external frame was coupled.

The aim of this study was to provide data to enable the development of skateboarding pants. From the Chinese skateboard club SNS, 126 skateboarders in their 20s and 30s were chosen to participate in a survey. Data was gathered using a questionnaire from May 14 to May 28, 2021, and then analyzed using SPSS 23. The results concerning production were as follows: clothing sizes are generally divided into six stages: XS, S, M, L, XL, and 2XL. The silhouette is wide, and most pants have e-bands and normal hems. The pants are made from cotton-blend fabric, which is mostly moistureabsorbing and quick-drying. Baggy pants are preferred by skateboarders, with cotton being the most common fabric. The crotch, knees, and buttocks of pants are the least satisfying for skateboarders. When they skateboard, their ankles sustain the most injuries, followed by their knees and wrists. In the survey of consumers’ preferences for skateboarding pants, different styles were rated in the following order: straight pant silhouette, ribbed knit and string waistband design; full-rise waist height, string hemline design; and ankle-high pants length (fit), fabric and design. The hygroscopicity and ventilation of the fabric are crucial considerations when purchasing pants. In terms of color, chromatic and pastel colors are most popular. In addition, some people expect new fibers to be used and expect protective equipment and pants to be integrated.

We investigated the effect of a synthetic complement peptide C3a on the outcome of Brucella abortus 544 infection in a murine macrophage cell line RAW264.7 cell. First, we determined the highest non-cytotoxic concentration of the peptide in the cell line. We also found that the peptide significantly increased the growth of the bacteria at 8 and 24 h. Although the number of bacterial CFU was also elevated at 48 and 72 h, the increases were not significant as compared to controls. We further investigated the effect of C3a peptide on the growth of Brucella by pre-incubating the peptide at various temperatures and found that the effect was reversed at 24 h post-incubation suggesting that incubation of peptide at high temperatures including 65°C or 95°C could inactivate its action. This also could indicate the beneficial effect of high temperature during infection. Although several studies reported the inhibitory effect of different antimicrobial peptides including C3a, the present study preliminarily revealed that it had no positive contribution on the control of B. abortus 544 infection in vitro and indirectly to its receptor, CD88, which belongs to GPCR. Moreover, the encouraged further exploration of the effect of other similar peptides would be performed for the purpose of finding Brucella-host cell interaction for the control of disease progression.

This study aims to investigate the effects of exogenous succinic acid (SCA) on Brucella (B.) abortus infection in macrophage RAW 264.7 cells and ICR mice. Firstly, the in vitro experiment was conducted by MTT cytotoxicity and bacterial internalization assay to evaluate the uptake of B. abortus into macrophage cells. Two non-cytotoxic concentrations of SCA demonstrated attenuated invasion of Brucella into macrophages at 30 and 45 min post- infection (pi). Secondly, ICR mice were treated with SCA and infected with B. abortus. On day-14 pi, spleen and blood serum were collected to evaluate the bacterial burden and total spleen weight as well as the production of cytokine/chemokine, respectively. The results showed that SCA treatment promoted bacterial growth and reduced the total spleen weight in mice. Furthermore, SCA treatment increased the level of IL-10 cytokine in the sera, while dampening the production of MCP-1 chemokine compared to the control. The results of bacterial load in spleen and spleen weight together with cytokine/chemokine production profile in the sera indicated that SCA induced the host anti-inflammatory response which is beneficial for the survival of Brucella. Therefore, these findings suggest that SCA contributed to host immunity against Brucella infection and the emerging potential topic-immunometabolism should be invested for further investigations.

This study analyzed product conditions in terms of “size system,” “clothing construction depending on fit,” “details,” “colors,” and “prices,” with an emphasis on young contemporary brands for spring/summer 2021, in order to provide basic data for the development of small-sized women’s jackets. Out of 96 domestic and foreign brands, the study analyzed 254 small-sized jacket products from 23 brands that produce size-XS jackets. First, when examining the sizes for women’s jackets, we found that 8 out of the 23 brands offer a size-XXS option. After conducting tree analysis to analyze the factors affecting the production of size-XXS, the study found significant results in the areas of “distinction between domestic and foreign brands” and “product price.” Second, after categorizing small-sized women’s jackets into 3 categories— fit-slim, basic, and straight—the study analyzed clothing construction elements depending on fit. This seasons mainly feature straight-fit’s hip-line length jacket, a 4-panel pattern, and a panel without a waist dart. Third, the study, through the analysis of the colors of small-sized women’s jackets, found a higher frequency of colors in the order of black (23.0%), white (13.3%), and beige tones (10.1%), with additional colors such as sky blue, rose pink, and aquamarine in production, which exhibit the senses of the seasons. Price analysis revealed that small-sized jackets constituted a price range at the mid-to-low end, as in ₩50,000-100,000 (30.3%), ₩100,000- 150,000 (19.3%), and ₩150,000-200,000 (11.8%).

In this study, the sales status of female ball-jointed dolls and their parts were investigated and analyzed. Baseline data from 194 products and 54 brands on domestic and international Internet sites was gathered for the manufacture of ball-jointed dolls and the development of prototype costumes for them. The results are as follows. First, the sizes used for ball-jointed dolls are SD, USD, MSD, 13SD, and 70SD together with height. This study analyzed 39 sizes (15~70cm) by classifying them into numbered groups: 1 (15~22cm), 2 (23~33cm), 3 (35~51cm), 4 (53~62cm), and 5 (63~70cm). The price varied depending on the size; for example, 50cm dolls were approximately 45,000 won, while limited editions were sold at high prices, regardless of their size. They were classified into designs according to their body proportions and facial features as follows: 7- or 8-head-figure, 5-head figure, and 3-head figure, and were presented proportionally as images of women, adolescents, and infants. Second, the head was incised so that the top could be removed horizontally or the facial region vertically, allowing attachment of the eyeballs (which were either glass, resin, or acrylic) to the inside. More than 30 different colors were sold. Various wig styles were provided, including cut, short hair, and perm. These were made from human hair, heat-resistant fiber, and artificial hair. For the hands, there was a design expressing human hand gestures. For the feet, heels were in the form of wearing either high-heels or flat soles.

The fruit stalk of Hovenia dulcis (H.dulcis) is traditionally used to relieve hangovers in Korea. Theracurmin is a highly absorbable curcumin preparation which increases the bioavailability of curcumin. Curcumin is known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. However, the role of this combination in lowering alcohol levels in the body, thereby alleviating the severity of alcohol-induced hangover has not been investigated. Therefore, we conducted a study to investigate the eliminatory effects of a health drink containing the extract of the H. dulcis fruit stalk and theracurmin (theracurmin drink) on ethanol-induced hangover in rats. The theracurmin drink delivered orally to rats 30 mins before the administration of 40% ethanol (5 g/kg body weight), lowered the concentration of ethanol and acetaldehyde in the blood samples collected 1, 3, and 5 h after ethanol administration. Furthermore, the theracurmin drink increased the activities of alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase enzymes. The effectiveness of the theracurmin drink was thus superior to that of other health drink products, suggesting that its consumption may alleviate or prevent an alcohol-induced hangover.