이 논문은 직전 연구인 메타버스의 함정을 극복하기 위한 게임화된 동적 습관 형성 모델의 후 속 연구다. 2022년 12월 논문 연구에서는 사용자 참여를 방해할 수 있는 일반적인 함정을 극 복하기 위해 메타버스 공간을 설계하는 데 초점을 맞춘 게이미피케이션 동적 습관 형성 모델 을 제안하였다. 당시 제안했던 4단계 접근법을 통합한 역학 모델은 낮은 상호작용(P4)의 온보 딩 접근법, 기본 상호작용(P3) 온보딩 접근법, 중간 상호작용(P2)의 온보딩 접근법, 높은 상호 작용(P1) 온보딩 접근법의 네 단계로 구성되었으며, 간단한 모델의 개요를 설명한 바 있다. 본 고에서는 4단계의 세부 연구에 집중하였는데, P4-튜토리얼, 시즌 이벤트, 소셜 이벤트 및 모 임, P3-기본 아바타, 가상경제 및 아이템 획득/거래, 소셜경쟁과 리더보드, 도전과 경쟁, 커뮤 니티 강화, P2-아바타 개인화, 사용자 제작 콘텐츠. 보상 메커닉스 강화, 피드백 및 진행 상황 추적, P1-대화형 튜토리얼, 사회적 상호작용, 내러티브 중심 퀘스트, 스토리 기반 업적, 인터 렉티브 스토리 요소 등의 습관형성 증진 방안을 제시하였다. 각 단계는 게이미피케이션 및 게 임디자인 기법과 사용자 중심 디자인 원칙을 통합하여 사용자의 참여를 유도하고, 습관 형성 을 촉진하는 방향에서의 온보딩 접근법을 제시하고자 하였다. 이 논문에서는 게이미피케이션 및 게임디자인 이론과 실무를 바탕으로 각 단계에 대한 예시와 전략을 제공하여 메타버스에서 학습환경을 구현하는 데 도움을 줄 것이다. 다만, ‘게임’과 ‘메타버스’와의 개념과 용어에서의 명확한 구분이 어려운 상황이어서, 게이미피케이션 및 게임디자인 분야의 기초적인 이론과 온 보딩 방법론을 다룰 수 밖에 없었다.

최근 이식에 강하고 도심 환경에서의 스트레스에 강한 저항성을 지니고 있으며 병해충이 많이 없는 것으로 알려진 대왕참나무가 가로수 및 조경수로 많이 식재되고 있다. 하지만 대왕참나무의 식재량이 증가하면서 일부 지역에서 해충 피해가 보고되고 있고 이들에 대한 관리 대책 마련이 시급해지고 있다. 따라서 본 연구는 대왕참나 무의 식재 환경에 따른 해충 발생 양상을 조사하기 위해 수행하였다. 2022년부터 2023년 동안 7~8월 중에 조사를 수행하였으며, 육안조사법과 고지 가위를 활용하여 줄기와 잎에서 해충의 종별 개체수를 조사하였다. 대왕참나 무의 식재 환경은 도로변과 공원으로 구분하였고, 서울, 성남, 춘천, 원주, 여수, 함안, 창원 지역을 대상으로 진행 하였다. 조사 결과 총 20과 34종 1,126개체가 관찰되었으며 그 중 가로수에서 15과 18종 699개체가 관찰되었고 공원 지역에서 17과 27종 427개체가 관찰되었다. 가로수에서 나비목과 노린재목 해충이 더 많았으며 공원에서는 딱정벌레목 해충이 더 많았다.

2007년 메타버스 로드맵에서 메타버스 정의가 공식 발표된 바 있으며, 당시 국내외 연구자들에 의해 많은 논문이 발표되면서 학문적 이론적으로 정립하려는 노력을 해왔다. 이와는 달리, 산업계에서는 ‘메타버스’키 워드가 비대면 장기화와 맞물려 과열 양상을 보이고 있다. 정작 언급되는 메타버스 성공사례는 '게임'이거나 '게이미피케이션' 또는 ‘게임융합’ 사례가 다수다. 따라서, '메타버스'영역에도 게이미피케이션 이론과 원리의 적용은 바람직하다. 이에, 필자가 발표했던 DMGL 모델을 확장하여, 메타버스 내 습관형성 위한 다이내믹 모델을 제시하였다. 저자는 플레이어 경험을 향상시키기 위해 메타월드 습관 형성을 위한 4가자 양상의 모 델을 제안했다. P1) 플레이어는 세계관에 따라 전개되는 배경스토리를 따르며, 유발된 호기심으로 탐험할 동 기가 생성되고 게임의 조작법을 익히고 게임의 목표를 향하는 여정이다. P2) 플레이어는 메타월드의 조작법 익히기 단계로 온보딩 한다. P3) 플레이어는 아바타 꾸미기,아이템 획득/거래,커뮤니티 활동 등을 수행하면 서, 점차 목적(표)를 향한다. P4) 플레이어는 목적기능을 바로 수행할 수 있는 방식으로 온보딩한다. 이 모델 은 게임의 원리와 요소의 융합(게이미피케이션)으로, 후속연구에서 보다 심도 있는 연구 모델을 제시할 예 정이다.

본 논문은 부상하고 있는 지역화폐를 중심으로 블록체인 기반 게이미피케이션의 대한 융합 연구이다. 먼저, 블 록체인과 지역화폐의 연대기와 본질적 의미에 대해 연구하였고 상관관계를 분석했다. 그리고 지역화폐와 게이미피케이션 간의 효과적인 융합에 필요한 게이미피케이션 루프와 게임 메커닉스를 도출하였다. 게이미피케이션 은 게임요소와 게임적 사고를 활용하여 게임 이외의 특정분야의 문제를 해결하는 기술이다. 본 연구는 게이미피케이션을 적용하여 지역화폐의 확산과 발전이라는 문제의 해결의 단초를 찾으려는 노력의 일환이다. 이 연구를 시작으로 바람직한 블록체인 기반의 지혁화폐 모델을 게이미피케이션 원리과 개념을 반영하여 제시하고자 하였다. 이러한 블록체인 게이미피케이션 융합 연구가 지역 사회와 구성원 모두에게 실질적인 도움이되는 창의적인 현지 화폐 실현에 기여할 수 있길 기대한다.

본 논문은 최신 기술의 변화와 전시환경의 급변에 대응하기 위한 바람직한 게임전시회의 발전방향에 대해 전시 개최지 결정 주요 이론과 게이미피케이션 전략방안을 제시하였다. 게이미피케이션은 문제해결의 방편으로 게임요소와 게임씽킹을 도입하여 플레이어들을 적극 참여시키는 개념으로, 플레이어 경험(PX)을 제공할 수 있다. 게임전시장 공간연출에 게이미피케이션 응용하여 기획하는 것이 중요하며, 나아가 전시 부대시설과 주변 인프라 시설들까지도 면밀하게 고려해야 한다. 전시개최지에 대한 이론과 선행연구를 종합해보면, 공항으로부터의 접근성, 전시/회의장 시설, 호텔의 객실, 지역이미지, 지리적 위치, 기후, 지역의 유용성, 관광적 특성, 여가 활동성, 교통, 편의, 시설 등은 공통적으로 중요한 요인들임을 알 수 있었다. 각국의 주요 게임전시회의 특징과 인프라의 비교분석을 바탕으로 기존의 게임전시회의 한계를 극복할 차별화된 전시경험 제공과 재방문률을 높일 방안으로 게임전시회 발전을 위한 특성화 전략 전시운영플랫폼 게이미피케이션 전략 및 전시공간의 게이미피케이션 전략 등을 제시하였다.

본 연구에서는 블록체인의 본질에 입각한 바람직한 ‘블록체인 교육방안’을 제시하고자 ‘게이미피케이션’원리와 개념을 접목하고자 한다. 다른 영역에 게임의 요소를 적용시키는 신기술이 ‘게이미피케이션’이다. 본고는 게이미피케이션을 블록체인 교육 분야에 적용하였는데, 블록체인의 탈중앙화 및 참여자간의 합의와 수익배분의 개념은 게이미피케이션 이론의‘플레이어 경험(Player Experience, PX)’의 핵심원리와 상통하기에 의미있는 첫 번째 기초연구다. 본고에서는 국내외 블록체인 교육과정의 분석과 커리큘럼을 비교 분석하였다. MIT, UC Berkely UCLA, 등의 해외대학과 고려대, 서강대, 동국대 등의 Extension 및 석사과정 커리큘럼의 비교분석하였다. 현행의 기술교육위주의 블록체인 교육과정에 게이미피케이션 원리와 개념을 적용하여 효과적이고 바람직한 블록체인 교육방안 제안하였다. 이를 바탕으로, 블록체인 분야에 게임요소를 융합한 ‘블록체인 게이미피케이션’연구가 활발해져, 국내 게임 산업의 글로벌 경쟁력 향상에 도움이 되었으면 한다. 본 연구는 블록체인 게이미피케이션 융합기술을 바람직한 방향으로 안착시키기 위한 학문적 연구이자, 게이미피케이션 분야의 본격적인 산업화 촉진에 기여할 수 있었으면 한다.

This study investigated the antidiabetic effect of amaranth grain ethanol extract (AEE) in a diabetic animal model, db/db mouse. The mice were divided into 4 groups: normal control mice (C57BL/6J), diabetic mice (C57BL/6J db/db), diabetic mice fed a lower concentration of AEE (0.3 mg/kg), and diabetic mice fed a higher concentration of AEE (0.5 mg/kg). After 10 weeks of treatment, body weights, blood insulin levels and blood glucose levels of each group were compared. At the end of treatment, the results showed that both AEE supplemented groups had lower body weights than those in the diabetic groups although higher than those in the normal groups. Moreover, in both AEE supplemented groups, serum insulin levels were higher and blood glucose levels were lower than those in the diabetic groups although both values were higher than those in the normal groups. The results of this study suggest that AEE can alleviate many of the common symptoms of diabetes in diabetic mice and, therefore, has potential as a therapeutic supplement for normalization of blood glucose and insulin levels in humans.

Backed by the rapidly-growing economy, China sends the most tourists to Korea. Accordingly, growing consumption of Chinese tourists is strongly drawing attention of the Korean retail industry. Academia has conducted more relevant researches, such as effective branding of Korean Wave, and services to attract tourists. Despite a series of efforts, including specialized tour products and language services, there have been an increasing number of Chinese visitors complaining about their experience in Korea and Chinese tourists are urgently demanding improvements. Hence, comprehending sophisticated consumption behavior of Chinese tourists is becoming more important than ever before. Also, it needs to explore how shopping experiential value that they experience while purchasing fashion goods in Korea affects their satisfaction of the store and product. Previous literature has shown that perceived shopping value has a positive effect on customer satisfaction and behavioral intention (Mathwick et al., 2001). Previous domestic studies that targeted Chinese tourists have focused on investigating the shopping motivation and satisfaction (Ko, 2011) and market segmentation of Chinese tourist shoppers (Oh, 2014). Previous studies have approached this problem mainly from its cognitive aspect and few studies have focused on the emotional aspect during shopping. This study suggests that emotional behavior mediates the relationship between shopping experiential value and consumer attitude toward products and stores. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, the ratio of male to female Chinese tourists visiting Korea changed from 69:31 in 1995 to 59:41 in 2005. In 2013, female Chinese tourists outnumbered males at a ratio of 41:59. The number of Chinese female tourists continues to increase. Females are known to be more involved in fashion consumption. Hence, this study is conducted on 550 Chinese female tourists who have shopping experiences during their visit to Korea. The ages of the respondents range from 20 to over 50 years old, with a mean age of 33.5 years. Their shopping experiential value is measured by visual appeal, crowding, economic benefits, and service excellence, and is expected to trigger emotions of entertainment and escapism. Variables including entertainment and escapism are measured using the Experiential Value Scale developed by Mathwick et al. (2001). This study finds that three experiential values (visual appeal, crowding, and service excellence) have positive influences on entertainment. For example, customers feel greater entertainment when visual appeal, service excellence and/or the number of customers in the store is greater. The emotion of entertainment turns out to have positive impacts on both store satisfaction and product satisfaction. According to the examination of how shopping experiential values affect escapism, crowding and economic benefits have a positive impact, whereas visual appeal and service excellence have a negative impact on escapism. Previous studies define escapism as an emotion of which customers are absorbed by entertaining activities and satisfied with shopping. This study assumes that all the shopping experiential values may have a positive impact on escapism. Escapism is a status where customers are deeply occupied with shopping without thinking of anything as if they were in another world, and a much stronger emotion of entertainment than usual pleasure from shopping. This study finds that the higher visual appeal and service excellence tends to generate the lower the escapism. This may be attributable to the fact that the survey was examined only on Chinese tourists. The respondents were asked to recall the most memorable item among the fashion products that they purchased during their visit to Korea. Their shopping experiences varied widely from well-organized malls, like department stores and duty free shops, to crowded environments, like Dongdaemun, traditional markets and subway stores. As a result, different experiential values have different impacts on escapism. Economic benefits and crowding which are experienced during shopping help to absorb in shopping, and these are likely to have positive impacts on escapism. On the other hand, visual appeal and service excellence may have different influences on escapism according to the shopping environment that Chinese consumers experienced. For example, Dongdaemun or subway stores are less visually appealing than department stores or duty free shops, but trigger stronger sense of escapism. Because survey questions to measure service excellence include Chinese (language) proficiency of sales staff, it is expected that higher language proficiency level of sales staff tends to generate lower degree of escapism, the sense of feeling that one is indeed in foreign country like Korea, for customers. Escapism has negative impacts on both product and store attitudes. Escapism is a status of absorption in which customers are emotionally occupied with pleasant feelings, and purchases along with a high escapism are likely to be less rational and more impulsive. In particular, this study examines tourist shoppers, and the respondents evaluate products they purchased in another country after they return home, and this may have caused the negative attitude toward products and shops. In fact, some previous studies found that overly positive emotions have negative impacts on purchase behavior (Liljander &Standvik, 1997; Andrade, 2005). This study confirms that the shopping experiential values perceived by Chinese tourists affect their product and store attitudes through the emotions of entertainment and escapism. It is particularly notable that this study verifies diverse roles of different emotions such as entertainment and escapism in the context of tourist shopping. This study employs empirical analysis on tourists, and provides practical implications including the importance of shopping experiential values for developing retail strategies.

The purpose of the present study is to provide exercises, together with music, that are helpful for elderly people’s balancing ability, and to determine their effects in order to provide data for the promotion of elderly persons’health. Thirty elderly persons were randomly assigned to a balance training group(BTG) of 15 subjects, or a music and balance training group (music therapy + balance training [MTBTG]) of 15 subjects; intervention was implemented three times per week for six weeks. To measure the changes in their balancing ability before and after the experiment, the limit of stability, the“Timed Up and Go”(TUG) test, and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) were measured. Changes in the limit of stability before and after the experiment were shown to be significant in both the BTG and the MTBTG. Changes in the limit of stability of the right side before and after the experiment showed statistically significant differences between the BTG and the MTBTG. Changes in the TUG test and the BBS before and after the experiment were shown to be statistically significant in both the BTG and the MTBTG. The application of music during balance training thus is considered to have a positive effect on elderly persons’balancing ability.

The purpose of this study is to observe the effect of elasticity of taping on ankle muscles’activity and endurance after plyometric training that easily causes ankle injury, and provide baseline data for physical therapy intervention methods. The study subjects are 24 male students in their 20s who attend N University in Choongnam. They were divided into three groups; 8 subjects in the elastic taping group, 8 in the non-elastic taping group, and 8 in the non-taping group(control group). They had plyometric training for 6 weeks. After the training, this study measured their maximum voluntary isometric contraction(MVIC) and muscle endurance of the muscles around ankle joint. The experiment result is as follows. After the training, all three groups showed improvement in muscle strength and endurance. The elastic taping group showed insignificant improvement in muscle strength but significant increase in muscle endurance in plantarflexion. In dorsiflexion, both muscle strength and endurance increased significantly. The non-elastic taping group showed insignificant improvement in muscle strength but significant increase in muscle endurance in plantarflexion. Taping during plyometric training had a little or insignificant effect on muscle endurance and strength compared to the non-taping group.

Despite that porcine spermatogonial stem cells (pSSCs) have been regarded as a practical tool for preserving eternally genetic backgrounds derived from pigs with high performance in the economic traits or phenotypes of specific human diseases, there were no reports about precise definition of niche conditions promoting proliferation and maintenance of pSSCs. Accordingly, we tried to determine niche conditions supporting proliferation and maintenance of undifferentiated pSSCs for short-term. For these, undifferentiated pSSCs were progressively cultured in different composition of culture medium, seeding density of pSSCs, type of feeder cells and concentration of growth factors, and then total number of and alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity of pSSCs were investigated at post-6 day culture. As the results, the culture of 4x105 pSSCs on mitotically in activated 2x105 STO cells in the mouse embryonic stem cell culture medium (mESCCM) supplemented with 30 ng/ml glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) was identified as the best niche condition supporting effectively the short-term maintenance of undifferentiated pSSCs. Moreover, the optimized short-term culture system will be a basis for developing long-term culture system of pSSCs in the following researches.

The purpose of this study is to observe how balance exercise on an unstable platform and on a stable platform affects balance ability. The subjects were 35 adults in their 20s and were randomly assigned to a stable platform group and an unstable platform group. They performed balance exercise three times per week for six weeks. Balance exercise introduced by previous research was modified and complemented for use in this study. Balance ability of the subjects was measured through center of pressure(COP) area, medial-lateral displacement, and anterior-posterior displacement using a portable balance platform BT4. There was significant difference in the COP area between the unstable platform exercise group and the stable platform exercise group. In comparison in differences between the unstable platform exercise group and the stable platform exercise group after the exercise, there was significant difference in anteriorposterior movement. Therefore, exercise on an unstable platform is more effective than exercise on a stable platform in strengthening balance ability.

The purpose of this study was to test the effect of Gastrocnemius and Low Back-muscle isotonic exercise on static•dynamic standing balance during the period of 4 weeks. This study was two groups pretest-posttest design. Nineteen subjects who were over 22 years old were randomly assigned to either the experimental group that received the Gastrocnemius muscle exercise(n=9) or the low back muscle exercise(n=10) : The former group performed isotonic exercise(plantar flexion), the latter group performed isotonic exercise(trunk extension) a total of 18 times for three times per week for four weeks. Two groups also performed static and dynamic balance before the exercise and 4weeks after the exercise. The data were analyzed by using the paired t-test and independent t-test. The results were as follows: As compared with change of dynamic balance performance capacity at two groups, a significant difference was shown in the test(p<.05), but not in static balance(p>.05). Also, a significant difference of balance between groups was not shown in the test. In this study indicated that gastrocnemius and low back muscle isotonic exercise will have positive impact on standing balance.

It has been demonstrated in a previous study that carbon nanotube (CNT)/epoxy/basalt composites produce better flexural properties than epoxy/basalt composites. In this study, mode I fracture tests were conducted using CNT/epoxy/basalt composites with and without seawater absorption in order to investigate the effect of the seawater absorption on the mode I fracture toughness (GIC) of the CNT/epoxy/basalt composites. The results demonstrated that the compliance of the seawater-absorbed specimen was larger than that of the dry specimen at the same crack length, while the opposite result was obtained for the fracture load. The GIC value of the seawater-absorbed CNT/epoxy/basalt composites was approximately 20% lower than that of the dry CNT/epoxy/basalt composites.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) have been known to affect to cell migration, proliferation, morphogenesis and apoptosis by degrading the extracellular matrix. In the previous studies, undifferentiated mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) were successfully proliferated inside the extracellular matrix (ECM) analog-conjugated three-dimensional (3D) poly ethylene glycol (PEG)-based hydrogel. However, there is no report about MMP secretion in ESCs, which makes it difficult to understand and explain how ESCs enlarge space and proliferate inside 3D PEG-based hydrogel constructed by crosslinkers containing MMP-specific cleavage peptide sequence. Therefore, we investigated what types of MMPs are released from undifferentiated ESCs and how extracellular signals derived from various niche conditions affect MMP expression of ESCs at the transcriptional level. Results showed that undifferentiated ESCs expressed specifically MMP2 and MMP3 mRNAs. Transcriptional up-regulation of MMP2 was caused by the 3D scaffold, and activation of integrin inside the 3D scaffold upregulated MMP2 mRNAs synergistically. Moreover, mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) on 2D matrix and 3D scaffold induced upregulation of MMP3 mRNAs, and activation of integrins through conjugation of extracellular matrix (ECM) analogs with 3D scaffold upregulated MMP3 mRNAs synergistically. These results suggest that successful proliferation of ESCs inside the 3D PEG-based hydrogel may be caused by increase of MMP2 and MMP3 expression resulting from 3D scaffold itself as well as activation of integrins inside the 3D PEG-based scaffold.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the correlation between the stature and the muscle performance ratings and the subjective discomfort rations at performing lower arm's pronation and supination according to change sin the height of working table for more efficient performance at designing a working table and performing a work. For the purpose, this study conducted an experiment targeting 40 people in their 20s, who were classified into 4 groups each group composing 10 people at intervals of 5cm from the standard stature of 166.5cm. The experiment measured the maximum isometric pronation and the supination muscular power, and at measuring the factors, the heights of working tables were set as 800mm, 850mm, and 900mm. From the measurement results, it was found that the stature and the maximum muscular power was correlated. That is, as the experiment groups's average stature is higher, the maximum muscular power was higher. For the correlation between the motion patterns(pronation and supination) and the maximum muscular power, it was seen that the maximum muscular power was higher at performing the pronation than the supination. In the correlation between motion patterns and the subjective discomfort ratings, it was seen that the subjective discomfort rating was higher at performing the supination than the pronation. For the correlation between height adjustment and the subjective discomfort ratings, as the height of working table was lower, the subject discomfort rating was lower. Therefore there was no difference in the maximum muscular power according to the height changes of working table, but it was found that as the working table was higher, the user felt more comfortable.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), generated by the overexpression of transcription factors Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c‐Myc in somatic cells, are pluripotent. iPSCs reprogrammed from differentiated cells get through a epigenetic modification during reprogramming and finally have the similar epigenetic state to embryonic stem cells (ESCs). In this study, these epigenetic changes were observed in reprogramming of uni‐parental parthenogenetic somatic cells. Furthermore, we have shown that parthenogenetic pattern of imprinted genes were changed during pluripotential reprogramming. Parthenogenetic neural stem cells (pNSCs) containing only maternal alleles regain the biparental imprinting patterns after reprogramming. However, we have yet to define whether the changed imprinted genes are maintained or reverted to the parthenogenetic state when the reprogrammed cells are differentiated into specialized cell types. To address this question, we compared genome‐wide expression profiles of biparental female neural stem cells (fNSCs), parthenogenetic neural stem cells (pNSCs), and NSCs differentiated from parthenogenetic maternal iPSC (miPS‐NSCs). Furthermore, this study establishes the correlation between the alteration of genome methylation and activation of imprinting genes in the parthenogenetic cells and reports for the first time that the silenced PWS‐related imprinted genes are activated in miPS‐NSCs. Our data demonstrated that pluripotential reprogramming of parthenogenetic somatic cells were able to reset the parthenogenetic imprinting patterns; reprogrammed miPSCs showed erasure of maternal methylation imprints and acquisition of methylation in paternally imprinted genes. Furthermore, the changed imprinting patterns were maintained when the reprogrammed cells are differentiated into specialized cell type. * This work was supported by the Next‐Generation BioGreen 21 program (Grant PJ008- 009) funded by the Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

Pluripotent stem cells can be derived from both pre- and post-implantation embryos. Embryonic stem cells (ES cells), derived from inner cell mass (ICM) of blastocyst are naïve pluripotent and epiblast stem cells (EpiSCs) derived from post-implantation epiblast are primed pluripotent. The phenotypes and gene expression patterns of the two pluripotent stem cells are different each other and EpiSCs thought to be in a more advanced pluripotent (primed pluripotent state) than mouse ES cells (naïve pluripotent state). Therefore, we questioned whether EpiSCs are less potential to be differentiated into specialized cell types in vitro. EpiSCs were isolated from 5.5～6.5 day post coitum mouse embryos of the post-implantation epiblast. The EpiSCs could differentiate into all tree germ layers in vivo, and expressed pluripotency markers (Oct4, Nanog). Interestingly, EpiSCs also were able to efficiently differentiate into neural stem cells (NSCs). The NSCs differentiated from EpiSCs (EpiSC-NSCs) expressed NSC markers (Nestin, Sox2, and Musasi), self-renewed over passage 20, and could differentiate into two neural subtypes, neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Next, we compared global gene expression patterns of EpiSC-NSCs with that of NSCs differentiated from ES cells and brain tissue. Gene expression pattern of brain tissue derived NSCs were closer to ES cell-derived NSCs than EpiSC-NSCs, indicating that the pluripotent stem cell-derived somatic cells could have different characteristics depending on the origin of pluripotent stem cell types. * This work was supported by the Next Generation Bio-Green 21 Program funded by the Rural Development Administration (Grant PJ 008009).