The development of thermoelectric (TE) materials to replace Bi2Te3 alloys is emerging as a hot issue with the potential for wider practical applications. In particular, layered Zintl-phase materials, which can appropriately control carrier and phonon transport behaviors, are being considered as promising candidates. However, limited data have been reported on the thermoelectric properties of metal-Sb materials that can be transformed into layered materials through the insertion of cations. In this study, we synthesized FeSb and MnSb, which are used as base materials for advanced thermoelectric materials. They were confirmed as single-phase materials by analyzing X-ray diffraction patterns. Based on electrical conductivity, the Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity of both materials characterized as a function of temperature, the zT values of MnSb and FeSb were calculated to be 0.00119 and 0.00026, respectively. These properties provide a fundamental data for developing layered Zintl-phase materials with alkali/alkaline earth metal insertions.

Periodontal disease is a chronic but treatable condition which often does not cause pain during the initial stages of the illness. Lack of awareness of symptoms can delay initiation of treatment and worsen health. The aim of this study was to develop and compare different risk prediction models for periodontal disease using machine learning algorithms. We obtained information on risk factors for periodontal disease from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) dataset. Principal component analysis and an auto-encoder were used to extract data on risk factors for periodontal disease. A synthetic minority oversampling technique algorithm was used to solve the problem of data imbalance. We used a combination of logistic regression analysis, support vector machine (SVM) learning, random forest, and AdaBoost to classify and compare risk prediction models for periodontal disease. In cases where we used principal component analysis (PCA) to extract risk factors, the recall was higher than the feature selection method in the logistic regression and support-vector machine learning models. AdaBoost’s recall was 0.98, showing the highest performance of both feature selection and PCA. The F1 score showed relatively high performance in Ada- Boost, logistic regression, and SVM learning models. By using the risk factors extracted from the research results and the predictive model based on machine learning, it will be able to help in the prevention and diagnosis of periodontal disease, and it will be used to study the relationship with various diseases related to periodontal disease.

최근 다양한 유기재배 작물의 뿌리를 가해하는 굼벵이류의 피해가 증가하고 있으나, 굼벵이류는 토양 내 발생하는 특징으로 인해 발생시기 및 그 종류에 대한 확인이 어려운 해충이다. 피해를 끼치는 굼벵이의 발생을 파악하기 위해 고구마 유기재배지에 페로몬 트랩을 이용하여 굼벵이의 성충의 종류 및 발생 동향을 조사하였다. 조사지는 무안 유기재배농가와 국립농업과학원 완주군 포장에서 이루어졌다. 3종의 풍뎅이 페로몬 루어를 유인제로 사용하였으 며 6월 초부터 8월 말까지 조사지에 트랩을 설치하여 포획된 풍뎅이를 수집하여 동정을 하였다. 유기재배포장에서 포획된 종은 큰검정풍뎅이, 콩풍뎅이, 청동풍뎅이, 녹색콩풍뎅이, 별줄풍뎅이 등의 풍뎅이와 흰점박이꽃무지 등이 주로 채집되었다. 유기재배 고구마포장에서 풍뎅이 발생소장을 조사한 결과 최대로 발생한 시기는 7월초였다.

Japanese pine sawyer beetle, Monochamus alternatus Hope (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) is considered as a serious pest in pine trees. To develop an eco-friendly strategy to manage this forest insect, we collected entomopathogenic fungi from Korean soil and assessed their virulence against the adults of the insect in laboratory conditions. As a result, two isolates with conidial suspension (1.0×107conidia/ml), showed 87% and 90% mortality 12 days after fungal treatment, respectively. We assessed the potential of the fungi-derived destruxin and protease as additives to the fungal isolates, and they showed insecticidal activity via feeding and spraying treatments. Finally, we produced fungal conidia in massive solid cultures and formulated wettable powders, and now studying optimal conditions of oil-based formulation with two isolates. Based on these results, we are evaluating the control efficacy of the fungal agents against M. alternatus in field conditions.

긴급하거나 광역으로 발생한 해상유류오염사고에는 방제정만으로 대응하기에는 한계가 있어서, 해양경찰청 경비함정도 방제 작업에 동원된다. 본 연구에서는 소형 경비함정에 적합한 유흡착장비를 개발하였다. 장비는 고정지지대, 폴대, 슬라이드고정부 3개 부속품으로 구성되어 용접 또는 추가 구조물 설치 없이 소형 경비함정 현측 추락방지봉에 간단하게 토글핀으로 결속하는 방식으로 장착 및 분리가 가능하다. 각 부속품의 무게는 고정지지대 약 9.2 kg, 폴대(2개) 약 6.5 kg, 슬라이드 고정부(4개) 약 3.5 kg이며, 좌·우 180°로 원활하게 움직이는 길이 3 m의 폴대는 갑판 방향으로 접어서 유흡착재 교체작업을 할 수 있다. 본 장비의 개발로 소형 경비함정에서 유흡착재의 투입 및 수거가 용이한 방법으로 개선되어 보다 효율적인 방제작업이 가능할 것으로 판단된다.

This study was carried out to investigate insect community structure from different habitats in Baengnyeong island.We performed day and night collection at two different habitats (mountain, rural area) of Baengnyeong island from Mayto September in 2015. A total of 2,879 individuals of 404 species, 81 families belonging to 10 orders were collectedand identified. A dominant species was Idisia ornata Pascoe (Tenebrionidae) despite a very low percentage (6.04%) ofthe species among the catches. Results of independent t-test showed a significant high (p<0.001) of species richness onmountain. Also, seasonal results of ANOVA (Analysis of variance) were significantly influential with species abundanceand species richness. The result of NMDS analysis showed that the community structure of the insects from the mountainis different with rural area.

Recently, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NTproBNP) has been widely used in the areas of diagnosis, monitoring treatment efficiency, and prognosis for various heart diseases, especially heart failure (HF). In this paper, we try to estimate the prognostic significance of NT-proBNP as a risk evaluation marker in Non-ST-segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (NSTEMI) patients. We selected NSTEMI patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) primarily using a drug-eluting stent within 24 h after the onset of chest pain. We compared incidences of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) including death, myocardial infarction (MI), stent thrombosis (ST), and target vessel revascularization (TVR) in two patient groups according to a high or low serum concentration of NT-proBNP, which was measured in the emergency room (ER). We intend to minimize selection bias selecting comparing groups, considering covariate of observed variables together using propensity score matching (PSM) and propensity score weighting (PSW) based on propensity score (PS) to control the difference in baseline characteristics between high- and low NT-proBNP groups. We found that as the log NT-proBNP value increases by 1 through a hazard function of COX’s analysis, the risk of MACE increases by 1.312 times. This result indicated that the NT-proBNP level on ER admission can be used as a significant prognostic indicator to estimate 1 year of MACE in NSTEMI patients who were treated with PCI within 24 h after the onset of chest pain.

Fe-Si-Cr ferroalloy is predominantly produced by carbothermic reduction. In this study, silicothermic and carbothermic mixed reduction of chromite ore to produce Fe-Si-Cr alloy is suggested. As reductants, silicon and silicon carbide are evaluated by thermochemical calculations, which prove that silicon carbide can be applied as a raw material. Considering the critical temperature of the change from the carbide to the metallic form of chromium, thereduction experiments were carried out. In these high temperature reactions, silicon and silicon carbide act as effective reductants to produce Fe-Si-Cr ferroalloy. However, at temperatures lower than the critical temperature, silicon carbide shows a slow reaction rate for reducing chromite ore. For the proper implementation of a commercial process that uses silicon carbide reductants, the operation temperature should be kept above the critical temperature. Using equilibrium calculations for chromite ore reduction with silicon and silicon carbide, the compositions of reacted metal and slag were successfully predicted. Therefore, the mass balance of the silicothermic and carbothermic mixed reduction of chromite ore can be proposed based on the calculations and the experimental results.

The seroprevalence of major infectious abortion agents was investigated in native Korean goats from Jeonnam province using ELISA. A total of 98 blood samples were collected from goats. Overall, 48 (49.0%), 11 (11.2%), and 1 (1.0%) serum samples tested positive for C. burnetii, T. gondii, and C. abortus, respectively, while none of the samples were positive for B. abortus or N. caninum. Moreover, a PCR assay conducted to detect C. burnetii antigens in goats with a history of abortion revealed 18 (38.3%) of 47 goats were C. burnetii positive by both the ELISA and PCR assay.

The spotted-wing drosophila Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) is an Asian species introduced into North America and Europe. It damages a wide variety of thin-skinned fruits. We sequenced the complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of D. suzukii to better understand the mitogenomic characteristics of this species and understand phylogentic relationships of Drosophila. The 16,230-bp complete mitogenome of the species consists of a typical set of genes, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two rRNA genes, and 22 tRNA genes, and one major non-coding A+T-rich region, with an arrangement typical of insects. Twelve PCGs began with the typical ATN codon, whereas the COI began with TCG, which has been designated as the start codon for other Drosophila species. The 1,525-bp A+T-rich region is the second longest in Drosophila species for which the whole mitogenome has been sequenced, after D. melanogaster. Phylogenetic analysis with the 13 PCGs of the Drosophila species using Bayesian Inference and Maximum likelihood methods both placed D. suzukii at the basal lineage of the previously defined Melanogaster group, with a strong support.

Previous studies suggested that myelinated axons innervating rat molar pulps undergo morphological changes in their peripheral course. However, little information is available on the morphological feature of the parent axons at the site of origin. We therefore investigated the size of the myelinated parent axons and their morphological features at the proximal sensory root of the trigeminal ganglion by horseradish peroxidase (HRP) injection into rat upper molar pulps and subsequent light and electron microscopy. A total of 248 HRP-labeled myelinated axons investigated were highly variable in the size. Fiber area, fiber diameter, axon area (axoplasm area), axon diameter (axoplasm diameter), and myelin thickness were 11.32 ± 8.36 μm2 (0.80~53.17 μm2), 3.99 ± 1.53 μm (1.08~9.26 μm), 8.70 ± 6.30 μm2 (0.70~41.83 μm2), 3.13 ± 1.13 μm (0.94~7.20 μm) and 0.43 ± 0.23 μm (0.07~1.06 μm), respectively. The g-ratio (axon diameter / fiber diameter) of the labeled axons was 0.79 ± 0.05 (0.61~0.91). Axon diameter was highly correlated with myelin thickness (correlation coefficients, r=0.83) but little correlated with g-ratio (r=−0.33) of individual myelinated parent axons. These results indicate that myelin thickness of the myelinated parent axons innervating rat molar pulps increase with increasing axon diameter, thus maintaining a constant g-ratio.