Background: Core stability exercises are widely applied in rehabilitation and training programs, but evidence regarding the effects of activation strategies and surface conditions on abdominal muscle recruitment during plank exercise remains inconsistent. Objects: This study aimed to investigate how different activation strategies (hollowing vs. bracing) and surface conditions (stable vs. unstable) influence selective activation of abdominal muscles during the plank exercise. Methods: Thirty-six healthy male adults in their 20s participated. Ultrasound imaging was used to measure the relative thickness of the transversus abdominis (TrA), internal oblique (IO), and external oblique (EO) under four randomized conditions: stable-hollowing, stable-bracing, unstable-hollowing, and unstable-bracing. Relative thickness was calculated as [(contraction – rest) ÷ rest] × 100. Data were analyzed using three-way repeated-measures ANOVA with Bonferroni comparison. Results: No significant three-way interaction was found (p = 0.840). However, a significant muscle × surface interaction indicated that TrA thickness increased more on a stable surface (p < 0.05), while IO and EO showed no difference. A significant muscle × strategy interaction revealed that hollowing induced greater relative thickness in all muscles, particularly in TrA, compared with bracing (p < 0.001). No significant strategy × surface interaction was observed (p = 0.512). Conclusion: Abdominal hollowing and a stable surface independently enhanced TrA thickness during plank exercise. These findings suggest that stable-surface plank exercise with hollowing is an effective strategy for selectively recruiting deep abdominal muscles, providing practical implications for clinical and sports settings. These findings may be specific to anklesling– induced instability and may not extend to other types of unstable surfaces.

This study investigated rater effects in the ICNALE Global Rating Archives (GRA), which contain ratings from 160 raters on 140 speeches and 140 essays across 10 rating criteria. After cleaning the raw dataset, two separate three-facet partial credit models were fitted to the speech and essay datasets to examine rater consistency, and a bias analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between raters’ prior rating experience and severity. The results indicated that six raters in the speech ratings exhibited overly inconsistent rating patterns, but no rater in the essay ratings did. It was also found that raters’ prior rating experience was significantly associated with the complexity, involvement, and accuracy criteria in the speech ratings and with the complexity criterion in the essay ratings. However, the corresponding effect sizes for these interactions were trivial, indicating limited practical impact. The educational implication is that rigorous rater training could enhance rater consistency among both pre-service and less-experienced in-service English teachers in speaking and writing assessment.

본 연구는 지역 정주 및 취업에 대한 베트남인 유학생의 인식을 살펴 보는 것에 목적이 있다. 이에 따라 광주광역시 A대학 인문계열 베트남인 유학생 95명을 대상으로 지역 취업·정주에 대한 인식을 조사하였다. 조 사 결과, 베트남인 유학생들은 지역 취업 정보 부족, 접근성의 어려움, 취업에 필요한 역량 및 비자 제도에 대해 한계를 경험하고 있는 것으로 나타났으며, 정주 인식 역시 외국인 대상 프로그램 부족 등에 부정적 인 식을 가지고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 문제점을 개선하기 위해 취 업·정주에 대한 지자체의 홍보 방안, 지자체 협력 기반 지역민 공동체 프 로그램 개발, 취업역량강화를 위한 대학의 노력 등의 방안을 제안하였다. 결론적으로 광주 A대학 베트남인 유학생의 지역 취업·정주에 대한 인식을 개선하기 위해서는 단순히 유학생의 노력만으로 해결될 수 있는 문제가 아 닌, 지자체·대학·산업체가 공동으로 협력하여 정보 제공, 제도 개

본 연구는 베트남인 유학생이 실제 대학 생활 부적응으로 인해 겪고 있는 문제점을 토대로 대학 생활 이해 향상을 위한 PBL 기반 대학 생활 문화 수업의 구체적인 절차 및 수업 방안을 제시하는 데에 목적이 있다. 이를 위해 PBL의 개념 및 절차, 교육적 효과 등 이론적 배경을 살펴보 았고 이를 토대로 PBL의 문제를 개발하였다. 개발된 문제는 한국 대학 수업 환경과 운영 방식, 한국인과의 관계 형성, 목표어 의사소통 능력 향 상 등을 목표로 설정되었고 실제 문제를 해결하는 과정에서 학습이 이루 어질 수 있도록 PBL의 수업 절차를 제시하였다. 결론적으로 본 연구는 실제 대학 생활에서 겪고 있는 학습자의 ‘문제’를 PBL의 ‘문제’로 개발하 여 수업 절차를 마련하였고 실제 교육 현장에서 활용할 수 있는 교육 방 안을 마련하였다는 점에서 의의를 들 수 있지만 실제 수업에 적용하여 외국인 학습자의 한국 대학 생활 이해 능력 향상을 측정하지 못하였다는 점에서 한계를 가지고 있다.

About 1 billion cases of vector-borne infectious diseases occur every year, of which more than 1 million is dead in worldwide. Japanese encephalitis and malaria continue to occur, and infectious diseases such as dengue fever being imported aborad have been increasing significantly due to the increasing number of overseas travelers in Korea. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has established local centers to monitor pathogen vector population density related to chimate change at 16 locations. We collected 59,389 mosquitoes in traps at 36 collection sites in 30 urban regions and migratory bird habitats in 2023. The trap index was 34.6, and the predominant mosquito species were the Culex pipiens complex, Aedes albopictus, Armigeres subalbatus, Aedes vexans, and Ochlerotatus Koreacus. The mosquitoes were pooled into 4,371 pools to monitor flavivirus infection. In flavivirus dietection, no virus was detected.

Metals are recognized as electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials owing to their high electrical conductivity. However, the need for light and flexible EMI shielding materials has emerged, owing to the heavyweight and inflexible nature of metals. Carbon nanotube (CNT)/polymer composites have been studied as promising flexible EMI shielding materials because of their lightweight nature due to the low density of CNTs and their high electrical conductivity. CNTs evenly dispersed in the polymer form an electrically conductive network, and the aspect ratio of the CNTs, which are one-dimensional nanofillers, is an important factor affecting electrical conductivity. In this study, we prepared three types of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) with different aspect ratios and fabricated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/MWNT composites. Subsequently, the electrical conductivities and electrical percolation thresholds of the three PDMS/MWNT composites with different MWNT aspect ratios were measured to analyze the behavior of electrically conducting network formation according to the aspect ratio. Furthermore, the total EMI shielding effectiveness of each composite was determined to evaluate the effect of the MWNT aspect ratio on the EMI shielding. Reflection and absorption of electromagnetic wave were measured for the PDMS/MWNT composite with the largest aspect ratio to analyze the EMI shielding mechanism of the composite. Additionally, the effects of the MWNT content on the conductivity and EMI shielding performance were examined. The results provide valuable guidance for designing polymer MWNT composites with good electrical conductivity and EMI shielding performance under different aspect ratios of MWNTs.

대파(Allium fistulosum L.)는 동양에서 옛날부터 중요한 식재료로 재배되어온 중국 원산지의 향신 채소이다. 적어도 통일신라시대부터 재배되어 온 기록이 있으며 현재에도 식재료로 수요가 많아 전국적으로 재배면적이 넓어지고 있고, 종자의 유통량 또한 많다. 대파에는 파굴파리(Liriomyza chinensis), 파좀나방(Acrolepiopsis sapporensis), 파밤나방(Spodoptera exigua) 등이 주요 해충으로 알려져 있다. 전남 진도군은 국내 대파 주산단지로 파밤나방의 발생이 많고 다이아마이드 계통 농약의 저항성이 발현되고 있어 계대사육에 따른 저항성 감소를 실험하고자 한다. 실험은 진도군의 대파밭에서 파밤나방 개체를 채집하여 실내에서 약제처리를 통해 살충률과 섭식률을 검정, 몇세대에 걸쳐 저항성이 감소되는지 알고자 한다.

In this study, the fatigue properties of press die steel, such as SKD11, and three high-durability die steel for the cold forming of ultra-high-strength steel sheets are evaluated. Specimens for fatigue, tensile, and hardness tests are manufactured through the heat treatment recommended by steelmakers and ultra-high precision processing. The general mechanical properties and fatigue properties are derived from hardness, tensile, and fatigue tests for four die steel. The tensile and fatigue properties of die steel derived through the tests are compared and analyzed. In particular, the correlation between the fatigue limit and the general mechanical properties such as tensile strength and elongation is analyzed, which allows relational expressions to be obtained through regression analysis. Finally, the study confirms that applying high-durability die steel is necessary for improving the die life in the manufacturing of press dies for ultra-high-strength steel sheets.

Grammatical complexity constitutes an indispensable subconstruct of L2 writing ability. Nonetheless, rating scale descriptors for grammatical complexity have heavily relied on degree modifiers or adjectives. Thus, this study attempts to explore the potential for the use of nominal modifiers as discriminators for adjacent levels of L2 writers in the context of an English Placement Test. This study analyzed 374 argumentative essays written by international undergraduates. Seven nominal modifiers in the developmental stages of grammatical complexity were examined and a cumulative ordinal logistic regression model with proportional odds was fitted to explore the relative effects of those grammar features on placement decisions. Four nominal modifiers were found to be positively associated with placement decisions, after adjusting for the effects of other variables. One educational implication is for the use of nominal modifiers to be incorporated into rating scale descriptors as discriminators for L2 writers who are not advanced enough to be exempted from an English Placement Test.

Usage-based approaches to language acquisition explain language development as a gradual process of generalizing constructions through language experience. This study investigated second language learners’ development of constructional knowledge from the perspective of usage-based language development. A total of 169 Korean EFL students at five grade levels completed a sentence-sorting and a translation task. Results of the sorting task showed stronger constructional sorting as the learners’ grade level increased. Additionally, the sorting of intermediate-level learners was influenced by verb semantics such that the sentences including light verbs were more strongly clustered according to constructions than the sentences with heavy verbs, suggesting learners’ reliance on light verbs in the early stages of constructional development. Results of the translation task demonstrated a higher translation accuracy with increasing proficiency, but with a significant amount of variation across individual constructions contingent on the constructions’ syntactic and semantic complexity. Overall, our findings confirm the usage-based development of L2 learning.

Given the important status of students as major stakeholders of the National English Curriculum, this study investigated specific needs of curriculum-takers for an English curriculum and compared the results with analyses of curriculum evaluation from curriculum-completers. We implemented a needs assessment survey targeting 68 elementary school students (current curriculum-takers) and an evaluation survey targeting 27 high school students (curriculum-completers) in Korean EFL context. Results showed similarities between students’ needs and evaluation in terms of the ideal time for starting English education and time allotments. However, we found significant gaps between the two groups in several domains related to their specific goals of learning English. While the current curriculum-takers showed a high motivation to learn English for both instrumental purposes and integrative purposes, the curriculum-completers were strongly biased toward instrumental purposes. Our findings provide useful insight into curriculum development and improvement for seeking educational effectiveness in EFL settings. This study also provides helpful resources for conducting needs and evaluation analyses.