Hedgehog (Hh) pathway plays a key role in development from invertebrate to vertebrate. It is known to be involved in cell differentiation, polarity, proliferation, including the development of vertebrate limb and the establishment of flies’ body plan. To investigate how the regulation of Hh pathway affects the development of parthenogenetic murine embryos, the parthenogenetically activated murine embryos were treated with either cyclopamine (Cyc), an antagonist of Hh pathway, or purmorphamine, an agonist of Hh pathway. While Cyc did not affect the blastocyst formation and its total cell number, the chemical reduced the hatching rate of embryos and the expression levels of Fn1 mRNA. The results of the present study show the possibility that Cyc may affect the development of embryos at blastocyst stage by blocking Hh pathway and this may cause detrimental effect to the embryos at peri-, and post-implantation stages.

Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) has been known to be a critical element in cell division including centrosome maturation, cytokinesis and spindle formation in somatic, cancer, and mammalian embryonic cells. In particular, Plk1 is highly expressed in cancer cells. Plk1 inhibitors, such as BI2536, have been widely used to prevent cell division as an anticancer drug. In this study, the fertilized murine oocytes were treated with BI2536 for 30 min after recovery from the oviduct to investigate the effect of down-regulation of Plk1 in the in vivo-fertilized murine embryos. Then, the localization and expression of Plk1 was observed by immunofluorescence staining. The sperm which had entered into the oocyte cytoplasm did not form male pronuclei in BI2536-treated oocytes. The BI2536-treated oocytes showed significantly lower expression of Plk1 than non-treated control group. In addition, alpha-tubulin and Plk1 gathered around sperm head in non-treated oocytes, while BI2536-treated oocytes did not show this phenomenon. The present study demonstrates that the Plk1 inhibitor, BI2536, hinders fertilization by inhibiting the formation of murine male pronucleus

The osmolarity of a medium that is commonly used for in vitro culture (IVC) of oocytes and embryos is lower than that of oviductal fluid in pigs. In vivo oocytes and embryos can resist high osmolarities to some extent due to the presence of organic osmolytes such as glycine and alanine. These amino acids act as a protective shield to maintain the shape and viability in high osmotic environments. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of glycine or/and alanine in medium with two different osmolarities (280 and 320 mOsm) during IVC on embryonic development after parthenogenesis (PA) and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) in pigs. To this end, IVC was divided into two stages; the 0-2 and 3-7 days of IVC. In each stage, embryos were cultured in medium with 280, 320, or 360 mOsm and their combinations with or without glycine or/and alanine according to the experimental design. Treatment groups were termed as, for example, "T(osmolarity of a medium used in 0-2 days of IVC)-(osmolarity of a medium used in 3-7 days of IVC)" T280-280 was served as control. When PA embryos were cultured in medium with various osmolarities, T320-280 showed a significantly higher blastocyst formation (29.0%) than control (22.2%) and T360-360 groups (6.9%). Glycine treatment in T320-280 significantly increased blastocyst formation (50.4%) compared to T320-280 only (36.5%) while no synergistic was observed after treatment with glycine and alanine together in T320-280 (45.7%). In contrast to PA embryonic development, the stimulating effect by the culture in T320-280 was not observed in SCNT blastocyst development (27.6% and 23.7% in T280-280 and T320-280, respectively) whereas the number of inner cell mass cells was significantly increased in T320-280 (6.1 cells vs. 9.6 cells). Glycine treatment significantly improved blastocyst formation of SCNT embryos in both T280-280 (27.6% vs. 38.0%) and T320-280 (23.7% vs. 35.3%). Our results demonstrate that IVC in T320-280 and treatment with glycine improves blastocyst formation of PA and SCNT embryos in pigs.

There have long been debated whether Jeju king cherry in Korea and Punus x yedoensis (Yoshino cherry) in Japan are the same or not and its originality. Recent genomic approach among P. yedoensis and closed related varieties from Korea, Japan and USA confirms that P. yedoensis is F1 hybrid. The results also show that there are two types of Jeju king cherry in Mt. Halla, Jeju, Korea and one type is clearly different and the other type is the same grouping to Yoshino cherry in Japan and USA and the maternal texa of the two types in Jeju is the same of P. pendula. The search of paternal texa of the same type and further molecular genetic analysis and classification among newly found hundreds of Jeju King Trees in natural habitats of Mt. Halla including a 265 year-old tree along with previous findings would reveal the hypothesis that two independent F1 hybrid of P. yedoensis are evolved in Mt. Halla where is the only natural birth place of P. yedoensis in the world. Furthermore, policy agenda of king cherry tree eco-exploration among six countries including two divided Korea proposed. In terms of bio-diplomacy, it was amazing fact that Jeju King Cherry trees were sent USA under Japanese colony in 1912. In 1943, USA Congressman John Rankin of Mississippi confirms that they were Korean Cherry Trees. The first four of these trees were presented to the American University in 1943 by the Korean Women’s Relief Society of Honolulu according to notice of AU’s School authority. As Jeju NAtional University students and teachers confirmed the fact in April 2018, they suggest Jeju King Cherry Trees Eco- Exploration between the two universities at university level, hoping to extend a warming program of planting Jeju King Cherry trees at the Dalma tourism complex in Wonsan city of North Korea in April of 2020.

Nitric oxide (NO) has an important role in oocyte maturation and embryonic development in mammals. This study examined the effect of exogenous NO donor S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP) in a maturation medium on meiotic progression and embryonic development after parthenogenesis (PA) and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) in pigs. When oocytes were exposed to 0.1 μM SNAP for first 22 h of in vitro maturation (IVM) in Experiment 1, SNAP significantly improved blastocyst development in both defined and standard follicular fluid-supplemented media compared to untreated control (48.4 vs. 31.7-42.5%). SNAP treatment significantly arrested meiotic progression of oocytes at the germinal vesicle stage at 11 h of IVM (61.2 vs. 38.7%). However, there was no effect on meiotic progression at 22 h of IVM (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, when oocytes were treated with SNAP at 0.001, 0.1 and 10 μM during the first 22 h of IVM to determine a suitable concentration, 0.1 μM SNAP (54.2%) exhibited a higher blastocyst formation than 0 and 10 μM SNAP (36.6 and 36.6%, respectively). Time-dependent effect of SNAP treatment was evaluated in Experiment 4. It was observed that SNAP treatment for the first 22 h of IVM significantly increased blastocyst formation compared to no treatment (57.1% vs. 46.2%). Antioxidant effect of SNAP was compared with that of cysteine. SNAP treatment significantly improved embryonic development to the blastocyst stage (49.1-51.5% vs. 34.4-37.5%) irrespective of the presence or absence of cysteine (Experiment 5). Moreover, SNAP significantly increased glutathione (GSH) content and inversely decreased the reactive oxygen species (ROS) level and mitochondrial oxidative activity in IVM oocytes. SNAP treatment during IVM showed a stimulating effect on in vitro development of SCNT embryos (Experiment 7). These results demonstrates that SNAP improves developmental competence of PA and SCNT embryos probably by maintaining the redox homeostasis through increasing GSH content and mitochondrial quality and decreasing ROS in IVM oocytes.

본 연구는 금잔화를 꽃차로 이용하기 위해 열풍 건조 처리 시간에 따른 항산화 물질함량 및 항산화 활성을 분석하고, 최적 처리 시간을 구명하기 위해 수행하였다. 식용꽃 금잔화를 60℃에서 5시간, 10시간, 15시간 열풍건조 한 뒤 Hunter value를 측정하고 95% 에탄올을 용매로 하여 추출하였다. 항산화 물질인 총 폴리페놀, 총 플라보노이드, 총 카로티노이드 함량과 DPPH radical 소거 활성을 통한 항산화 활성, 이를 통한 항산화 물질 함량과 항산화 활성 간의 상관관계를 분석하였다. 처리시간이 증가함에 따라 Hunter value L 값과 +b값이 모두 감소하는 경향을 보였으며, 15시간 처리구에서 다소 많이 감소하였다. 또한, 항산화 물질 함량을 조사한 결과, 총 폴리페놀 함량은 처리 시간에 따른 차이는 없었으나 총 플라보노이드 함량과 총 카로티노이드 함량은 5시간과 10시간 처리시 함량이 다소 높았으며, 처리 시간이 증가함에 따라 감소하여 15시간 처리시 대조구와 차이가 없는 것으로 조사되었다. DPPH radical 소거 활성 분석 결과, 5시간과 10시간 처리시 대조구보다 활성이 높았으며, 총 카로티노이드가 DPPH radical 소거 활성 간의 상관관계가 높은 것으로 나타났다(p≤0.01, r=0.610). 따라서, 열풍건조한 금잔화는 총 카로티노이드가 항산화 활성에 기여하며, 5시간 및 10시간 열풍건조 처리가 금잔화의 항산화 물질 함량 및 활성 증가에 효과적인 것으로 판단되나 식물의 열처리 가공에 있어 오랜 시간은 내부 조직 및 항산화 물질 파괴에 영향을 미칠 수 있기 때문에 금잔화 열풍 건조 처리 시 5시간이 효과적일 것으로 판단된다.

본 연구는 국내에서 절화국화를 재배하고 있는 27개 농가를 선정하여 시설과 재배현황, 수확 후 관리 및 유통 실태를 조사하였다. 재배농가들의 60%는 PE필름 비닐하우스에서 토양 관비재배 방법으로 절화국화를 재배하고 있었으며, 전남과 부산은 스탠다드 국화를 주로 재배하고 있었다. 자가채취 또는 업체에서 구매한 삽수를 플러그 육묘하여 발근묘를 생산하고 있었으며, 전남지역에서는 주로 재배상에 직접 삽목하고 있었다. 절화국화를 수확한 후 전처리로 열탕처리 또는 수돗물로 물올림을 실시하는 농가가 66.6%로 나타났다. 예냉은 70.4% 농가에서 실시하지 않았으며, 예냉하는 농가들은 주로 2~4℃에서 실시하고 있었다. 절화국화를 수확한 후 유통 물량을 조절하기 위해 70.4%의 농가에서 저장을 하고 있었으며, 2~4℃에서 48시간 이상 저장하고 있었다. 절화국화를 출하 전에 주로 개인별로 선별하고 있었으며, 일부 수출 농가에서만 공동선별을 하고 있었다. 유통에 있어서 모든 농가들은 국내로 출하하고 있었으며, 이들 농가 중 44.4%는 수출을 겸하고 있었다. 국내 시장으로 출하하는 경우, 63.0%의 농가에서 화훼경매장을 이용하고 있었다.

Recently, blockchain technology has been recognized as one of the most important issues for the 4th Industrial Revolution which can be represented by Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things. Cryptocurrency, named Bitcoin, was the first successful implementation of blockchain, and it triggered the emergence of various cryptocurrencies. In addition, blockchain technology has been applied to various applications such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, logistics as well as public services. Distributed consensus algorithm is an essential component in blockchain, and it enables all nodes belonging to blockchain network to make an agreement, which means all nodes have the same information. For example, Bitcoin uses a consensus algorithm called Proof-of-Work (PoW) that gives possession of block generation based on the computational volume committed by nodes. However, energy consumption for block generation in PoW has drastically increased due to the growth of computational performance to prove the possession of block. Although many other distributed consensus algorithms including Proof-of-Stake are suggested, they have their own advantages and limitations, and new research works should be proposed to overcome these limitations. For doing this, above all things, we need to establish an evaluation method existing distributed consensus algorithms. Based on this motivation, in this work, we suggest and analyze assessment items by classifying them as efficiency and safety perspectives for investigating existing distributed consensus algorithms. Furthermore, we suggest new assessment criteria and their implementation methods, which can be used for a baseline for improving performance of existing distributed consensus algorithms and designing new consensus algorithm in future.

This study analyzed what premium features significantly affect customer satisfaction and their recommendation, and what factors significantly affect product attributes. In the process, first, the loyalty program and the customer compensation program were studied to determine the impact of the customer satisfaction and recommendation. The study analyzed that quality and design of product properties had significant effects on all factors, but the brand was not significantly affected. Second, while superiority, differentiation and scarcity of luxury items are significant to customer satisfaction but superiority is only significant in relation to recommendation intention. Third, the preceding study shows that the customer compensation program has a significant impact on sales growth, but the study found that it was not for imported luxury car customers. Fourth, if the royalties program is low in awareness, it has been analyzed that the scarcity and customer satisfaction relationships among luxury goods have been adjusted. On the contrary, if there is a high level of awareness, it is analyzed that there is a control effect customer satisfaction and differentiation among luxury brands. In the conclusion, in order to satisfy customers at the import luxury car market, the differentiation of luxury goods by standard index must be strengthened and the brand must be strengthened among the attributes of the product. In addition, by raising awareness of the royalties program, the relationship between differentiation and customer satisfaction can be enhanced.

The private sector is currently reviewing the feasibility of the project or deciding economic policies by analyzing the economic ripple effects. However, the arms acquisition project focuses on the need for the national defense weapons system by analyzing the costs and the effectiveness of the analysis and reviewing the necessity and feasibility of the project. In order to analyze the economic ripple effects, KB (the Bank of Korea) prepares and publishes an analysis table of industrial associations in a given unit. IAAR (the industrial association analysis report) is difficult to apply directly to the defense weapons system. Therefore, research on the economic ripple effects applicable to the defense arms procurement project was needed. In this study, we propose the generic methodology for estimating economical and technical ripple effects resulted in acquiring new weapon systems. Based on the analysis of inter-industrial relations, economical ripple effects are estimated with production inducing effects, value-induced effects, employment-induced effects and export-induced effects. Also, the technological ripple effects are estimated with technological intensity represented by investment cost in research and development. To show the validity of proposed methodology, a case study of acquiring new weapon systems such as GR (guided rocket), destroyer, and helicopter is accomplished. From the case study, it is concluded that these economical & technological ripple effects can be used as a reference to decision making in the course of acquiring major future defense weapons systems.

The setting of values on door hinge mounting compensation for door assembly tolerance is a constant quality issue in vehicle production. Generally, heuristic methods are used in satisfying appropriate door gap and level difference, flushness to improve quality. However, these methods are influenced by the engineer's skills and working environment and result an increasement of development costs. In order to solve these problems, the system which suggests hinge mounting compensation value using CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) analysis is proposed in this study. A structural analysis model was constructed to predict the door gap and level difference, flushness through CAE based on CAD (Computer Aided Design) data. The deformations of 6-degrees of freedom which can occur in real vehicle doors was considered using a stiffness model which utilize an analysis model. The analysis model was verified using 3D scanning of real vehicle door hinge deformation. Then, system model which applying the structural analysis model suggested the final adjustment amount of the hinge mounting to obtain the target door gap and the level difference by inputting the measured value. The proposed system was validated using the simulation and showed a reliability in vehicle hinge mounting compensation process. This study suggests the possibility of using the CAE analysis for setting values of hinge mounting compensation in actual vehicle production.

Osteoporosis is a major worldwide public health problem that poses a great economic burden to society. Puerariae Radix, the dried root of Pueraria lobata (Wild.) Ohwi, has been widely used in Asia. This study investigated the effects of Puerariae Radix (PR) on bone loss in ovariectomized (OVX) mice. C3H/HeN mice (10 weeks old) were divided into sham and OVX groups. The OVX mice were treated with vehicle, 17β-estradiol (E2), PR (oral administration, 250 mg/ kg/day) or PR (intraperitoneal administration, 50 mg/ kg/every other day) for 6 weeks. Grip strength, uterus weight, serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP), estradiol concentration and osteoclast surface levels were measured. Tibiae were analyzed using microcomputed tomography. There were no significant differences in the degree of grip strength, body weight and uterine weight between OVX group and PR-treated group. As compared with the OVX group, the serum estradiol levels were significantly increased in the PR-treated group. PR (i.p.) significantly preserved trabecular bone volume, trabecular bone number, structure model index and bone mineral density of proximal tibiae metaphysic. The administration of PR lowered serum ALP and osteoclast surface levels in OVX mice, suggesting that PR can reduce the bone turnover rate in mice. The results indicate that the supply of PR can prevent OVX-induced bone loss in mice.

In this study, an empirical relationship between the energy band gap of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and synthesis parameters in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor using factorial design of experiment was established. A bimetallic (Fe-Ni) catalyst supported on CaCO3 was synthesized via wet impregnation technique and used for MWCNT growth. The effects of synthesis parameters such as temperature, time, acetylene flow rate, and argon carrier gas flow rate on the MWCNTs energy gap, yield, and aspect ratio were investigated. The as-prepared supported bimetallic catalyst and the MWCNTs were characterized for their morphologies, microstructures, elemental composition, thermal profiles and surface areas by high-resolution scanning electron microscope, high resolution transmission electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, thermal gravimetry analysis and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller. A regression model was developed to establish the relationship between band gap energy, MWCNTs yield and aspect ratio. The results revealed that the optimum conditions to obtain high yield and quality MWCNTs of 159.9% were: temperature (700ºC), time (55 min), argon flow rate (230.37 mL min–1) and acetylene flow rate (150 mL min–1) respectively. The developed regression models demonstrated that the estimated values for the three response variables; energy gap, yield and aspect ratio, were 0.246 eV, 557.64 and 0.82. The regression models showed that the energy band gap, yield, and aspect ratio of the MWCNTs were largely influenced by the synthesis parameters and can be controlled in a CVD reactor.

본 논문은 골프 스윙 자세 학습자를 위하여 골프 스윙의 참조 모델인 3D 모델과 학습자의 골프 스윙을 촬영한 동영상을 대상으로 스윙 동작 시 각각의 위치 및 시간에서 각 동작을 정밀하게 비교 분석하기 위해 3D 모델의 골프 스윙 동작과 학습자의 스윙 동작을 동기화 시키는 방법을 제안하고 구현한 결과를 제시한다. 3D 모델과 학습자의 스윙 동영상을 동기화시켜 재생하기 위해서 먼저 학습자의 골프 스윙 동영상을 촬영하고, 촬영한 동영상으로부터 어드레스 자세부터 피니쉬 자세까지 골프 클럽의 위치에 따라 상대적 시간 정보를 추출한다. 고품질 모션 캡쳐 장비를 통해 초당 120프 레임으로 캡처된 골프 전문가의 움직임 정보를 3D 모델에 리깅한 3D 참조 모델에 학습자 스윙 동영상으로부터 추출한 골프 클럽의 위치별 시간 정보를 적용하여 3D 참조 모델과 학습자의 스윙 동 영상을 동기화시켜 재생함으로 학습자는 골프 스윙의 각 위치에서 참조 모델과 자신의 자세를 정밀 하게 비교함으로 자세를 교정하거나 학습할 수 있다. 동기화된 재생을 통하여 기존의 수동적으로 위치를 조정하며 참조 모델과 학습자의 스윙을 비교 분석하는 시스템의 기능을 편리하게 사용할 수 있도록 개선할 수 있으며, 골프 자세의 각 위치를 검출하는 영상 처리 기술을 적용한 부분을 제외 하고, 동기화시키기 위해 동영상에서 자동적으로 각 위치의 시간 정보를 추출하여 동기화시켜 재생 하는 방법은 일반적인 생활 스포츠 분야로 확대하여 활용할 수 있을 것으로 기대한다.

Linear carbon chains (LCCs) encapsulated inside the hollow cores of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been experimentally synthesized and structurally characterized by Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. However, in terms of electronic conductivity, their transportation mechanism has not been investigated theoretically or experimentally. In this study, the density of states and quantum conductance spectra were simulated through density functional theory combined with the non-equilibrium Green function method. The encapsulated LCCs inside (5,5), (6,4), and (9,0) single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) exhibited a drastic change from metallic to semiconducting or from semiconducting to metallic due to the strong charge transfer between them. On the other hand, the electronic change in the conductance value of LCCs encapsulated inside the (7,4) SWCNT were in good agreement with the superposition of the individual SWCNTs and the isolated LCCs owing to the weak charge transfer.

PURPOSES: Using recyclable materials in asphalt pavement industry is one of the essential tasks not only for saving construction budgets but also for mitigating environmental pollutions. Over the past decades, several efforts have been made by road maintenance agencies to incorporate various recyclable materials into virgin asphalt paving mixtures. As a result, reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), which consists of old pavement material was selected as one of most widely used recyclable materials. In this paper, the effects of using different amounts of single-recycled RAP (SRRAP) and double-recycled RAP (DRRAP) on the low-temperature characteristics of asphalt mixtures were investigated. METHODS: To evaluate the low-temperature characteristics of SRRAP and DRRAP mixtures, two experiments, the bending beam mixture creep test and semicircular bending fracture test were performed. The experimental parameters: creep stiffness, m-value, thermal stress, critical cracking temperature, fracture energy, and fracture toughness were computed then compared. RESULTS : RAP mixtures (SRRAP or DRRAP) showed lower mechanical performance compared with conventional asphalt mixtures. The differences became distinct with increased RAP addition. However, the performance differences between SRRAP and DRRAP mixtures were not significant in all cases, which indicate the possible application of re-recycling technology (DRRAP) in the asphalt pavement industry. CONCLUSIONS : The addition of RAP to virgin asphalt can mitigate low-temperature performance despite the improvement in fracture performance observed in some cases. Therefore, using RAP (SRRAP or DRRAP) mixtures on inter or sublayer construction, but not on the surface layer, is recommended. Moreover, the possibility of applying double-recycling technology in asphalt pavement industry can be introduced in this study because not significant performance differences were found between SRRAP and DRRAP mixtures especially at low temperature.

Place memory is a new way of seeing as a new concept of cultural landscape research. Various research works and discussions have recently spread in landscape studies. In particular, the, which is visible and material, is a medium in which collective memory is embedded in place memory. The purpose of this study is to extract places of memory from the collective memory of residents of Janghang, Korea, and to visualize it through semantic relations. For this purpose, semi-standardized interviews (34 persons) were conducted with residents, and frequency analysis and semantic network analysis were used. As a result, the interviewees recalled only 127 places in Janghang that existed between 1920 and 2010. Locals remember the city based on places of memory. This means that the city could be illustrated according to specific places that are frequently mentioned. For instance, the top 25 places (top 20%) explain 65.6% of all the places in the city, and the top 39 places (top 30.8%) could describe 78.7% of the places. Some places are referred to more frequently when they are in the city’s symbolic landscape, and the city’s identity is projected on them. Some places were mentioned only infrequently but were nevertheless very important places by which to understand Janghang. These places of memory have not appeared in the documentary records before, which shows the value of the collective memory of the locals and the effectiveness of the interviewing method. In the clustering of the semantic network, six groups of places appeared. The local residents remembered the modern industrial city and recalled it in connection with the sites of daily life. This shows the possibility of looking not only at public memory and famous heritage as a macro history but also at daily life and meaningful places as a micro history about locals. This study has significance as an initial research that identified and visualized places of memory from the perspective of local residents. Such an approach could be useful in the study of everyday life and the conservation of modern heritage.

The purpose of this research is to evaluate Seoullo 7017 based on Universal Design (UD) principles and guidelines. To derive UD principles applicable to the site context, we used the 2017 Seoul Universal Design Guideline and assessment index provided by the Universal Design Research Center and established 11 evaluation criteria. With respect to research methods, a literature review and on-site field survey were applied, through which we derived UD principles and evaluation criteria to identify UD problems. The 11 evaluation criteria consist of pedestrian space, facilities, access, main entrance, parking lots, trails, restrooms, convenience facilities, information facilities, rest areas, and playgrounds, and these were associated with UD principles for evaluation. As a result, the main entrance had the highest UD score, while parking lots had the lowest in terms of equity, safety, simplicity, and accessibility. Restrooms received a lower UD score because of poor conditions of security and alert systems. Rest areas were found to be uncomfortable for disabled people. With respect to the internal trails, we found the lack of braille block and irregular placement of planting pots made blind people uncomfortable when walking. In terms of UD principles, flexibility received the highest score, followed by amenity, equity, simplicity, tolerance, accessibility, and safety. Flexibility received the highest score, owing to the provision of proper information about convenience facilities and trails, while safety received the lowest, based on poor access to parking lots, inadequate paving materials and colors, and a lack of 24-hour security systems. We hope this research contributes to improving the universal design, so that people are not discriminated against in the use of the park in terms of age, sex, or physical disability. We expect the study to help facilitate empirical studies to verify UD principles and provide improved quality of UD for Seoullo 7017.

Background: We developed a novel integrative lumbar stabilization technique that combines lumbar extension (LE) exercise with abdominal drawing-in maneuver (ADIM) to ameliorate low back pain (LBP) associated with neuromuscular imbalance and instability, based on the collective evidence of contemporary spinal rehabilitation. Objects: The specific aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of LE exercise with and without ADIM on core muscle strength, lumbar spinal instability, and pain, as well as functional characteristics in individuals with LBP using advanced radiographic imaging techniques. Methods: patients with mechanical LBP (N = 40, 6 males; 35.1±7.6 years) were recruited and randomly assigned either to the combined LE and ADIM (experimental group) or the LE alone (control group). Outcome measures included the visual analog scale, the modified Oswestry Disability Index, muscle strength imbalance (MSI), and radiographic imaging. The lumbar intervertebral displacement (LID), intervertebral (IV) and total lumbar extension (TLE) angles were calculated to evaluate the lumbar segmental instability. Results: The experimental group showed significant differences in the L3-L4, L5-S1 LIDs, L4-L5 and L5-S1 IV angles, and TLE angle as compared to the controls (p<.05). Immediate pain reduction and muscle strength imbalance ratio were significantly different between the groups (p<.05). Conclusion: These results suggest that the addition of ADIM significantly increased lumbar spinal stabilization in individuals with LBP, thereby reducing pain associated with functional lumbar flexion during daily activities.

In South Korea, Jeju Island has a role as a test bed for electric vehicles (EVs). All conventional cars on the island are supposed to be replaced with EVs by 2030. Accordingly, how to effectively set up EV charging stations (EVCSs) that can charge EVs is an urgent research issue. In this paper, we present a case study on planning the locations of EVCS for Jeju Island, South Korea. The objective is to determine where EVCSs to be installed so as to balance the load of EVCSs while satisfying demands. For a public service with EVCSs by some government or non-profit organization, load balancing between EVCS locations may be one of major measures to evaluate or publicize the associated service network. Nevertheless, this measure has not been receiving much attention in the related literature. Thus, we consider the measure as a constraint and an objective in a mixed integer programming model. The model also considers the maximum allowed distance that drivers would detour to recharge their EV instead of using the shortest path to their destination. To solve the problem effectively, we develop a heuristic algorithm. With the proposed heuristic algorithm, a variety of numerical analysis is conducted to identify effects of the maximum allowed detour distance and the tightness of budget for installing EVCSs. From the analysis, we discuss the effects and draw practical implications.