Earticle

본 연구는 2021년 베트남에서 처음으로 실시된 제 1회 베트남 대학 입학시험의 문항을 분석함으로써 베트남 내 한국어교육 및 평가가 나아가야 할 바람직한 방향을 모색하고자 하였다. 그 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 시험 신뢰도를 높이기 위해 일관성을 확보해야 한다. 본고에서는 시험지 간 일관성이 동일한 수준으로 유지되지 않았음을 몇 차례 확인하였다. 문항 출제 시에 가능한 같은 등급의 어휘와 문법 항목을 선정하는 것이 바람직할 것이다. 둘째, 중요도와 빈도에 따라 문항 수를 조절하는 것이 필요하다. 셋째, 학습자의 실제적인 의사소통 능력 확인을 위해 듣기나 말하기 등의 평가를 추가하는 방안을 고려해 볼 수 있다. 넷째, 교육부는 기출문제, 시험 결과, 응시자 통계 등의 시험 관련 정보를 구축하여 이를 교육과정 개발, 교재 개발 등 다방면에서 활용할 수 있도록 공개해야 한다. 본 시험은 한국어능력시험을 제외하고 베트남 내 최초이자 유일한 국가 단위 시험으로써의 의의를 갖는다. 본 시험에 대한 논의가 이번 연구를 시작으로 본격화되기를 기대한다.

This study seeks an advantageous direction for Korean language education and assessment in Vietnam by analyzing the questions in the first Vietnamese university entrance examination, held on 2021. The results are as follows. First, consistency must be ensured to increase the reliability of the test; however, this study confirmed that the test was not uniformly consistent. It is desirable that the vocabulary and grammar of the questions be at the same level. Second, it is necessary to adjust the number of items in accordance with their importance and frequency. Third, a listening test or speaking test may be added to assess the learner's actual communication skills. Fourth, the Ministry of Education should create and share a database of test-related information such as previous year questions, test results, and test taker statistics for use in various fields such as curriculum and textbook development. It is hoped that this study will inaugurate a discussion of this test, as it holds significance as the first and only national-level test in Vietnam other than the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK).

Emotional semantics are the highest level of semantics that can be extracted from an image. Constructing a system that can automatically recognize the emotional semantics from images will be significant for marketing, smart healthcare, and deep human-computer interaction. To understand the direction of image emotion recognition as well as the general research methods, we summarize the current development trends and shed light on potential future research. The primary contributions of this paper are as follows. We investigate the color, texture, shape and contour features used for emotional semantics extraction. We establish two models that map images into emotional space and introduce in detail the various processes in the image emotional semantic recognition framework. We also discuss important datasets and useful applications in the field such as garment image and image retrieval. We conclude with a brief discussion about future research trends.

Based on the field investigations in 91 investigation sites (counties) in southwest China between 2001 and 2019, the present paper reported the chigger mites on A. agrarius mice in southwest China for the first time by using a series of statistical methods. From 715 striped field mice captured in 28 of 91 investigated sites, only 255 chiggers were collected, and they were identified as 14 species, 6 genera in 3 subfamilies under 2 families. Of 715 A. agrarius mice, only 24 of them were infested with chigger mites with low overall prevalence (P_M=3.4%), overall mean abundance (M_A=0.36 mites/host) and overall mean intensity (M_I=10.63 mites/host). The species diversity and infestation of chiggers on A. agrarius were much lower than those previously reported on some other rodents in southwest China. On a certain species of rodent, A. agrarius mouse in southwest China seems to have a very low susceptibility to chigger infestations than in other geographical regions. Of 14 chigger species, there were 3 dominant species, Leptotrombidium sialkotense, L. rupestre and Schoengastiella novoconfuciana, which were of aggregated distribution among different individuals of A. agrarius hosts. L. sialkotense, one of 6 main vectors of scrub typhus in China, was the first dominant on A. agrarius. The species similarity of chigger mites on male and female hosts was low with C_SS=0.25, and this reflects the sex-bias of different genders of A. agrarius mice in harboring different chigger species.

Sediment bacterial communities are critical to the biogeochemical cycle in river ecosystems, but our understanding of the relationship between sediment bacterial communities and their specific input streams in rivers remains insufficient. In this study, we analyzed the sediment bacterial community structure in a local river receiving discharge of urban domestic sewage by applying Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that the bacterial communities of sediments samples of different pollution types had similar dominant phyla, mainly Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi and Firmicutes, but their relative abundances were different. Moreover, there were great differences at the genus level. For example, the genus Bacillus showed statistically significant differences in the hotel site. The clustering of bacterial communities at various sites and the dominant families (i.e., Nocardioidaceae, and Sphingomonadaceae) observed in the residential quarter differed from other sites. This result suggested that environmentally induced species sorting greatly influenced the sediment bacterial community composition. The bacterial co-occurrence patterns showed that the river bacteria had a nonrandom modular structure. Microbial taxonomy from the same module had strong ecological links (such as the nitrogenium cycle and degradation of organic pollutants). Additionally, PICRUSt metabolic inference analysis showed the most important function of river bacterial communities under the influence of different types of domestic sewage was metabolism (e.g., genes related to xenobiotic degradation predominated in residential quarter samples). In general, our results emphasize that the adaptive changes and interactions in the bacterial community structure of river sediment represent responses to different exogenous pollution sources.

Here, we report a highly water-soluble colorimetric and fluorescent pH probe that works in the pH range 0.2-3.0. The probe showed a rapid response, high stability, and excellent reversibility to acidity. Moreover, the fluorescence of probe was not influenced by the existence of high concentration of cations. The $pK_a$ of probe was calculated to be $2.25{\pm}0.06$. Furthermore, the pH test papers coated with the probe exhibited a distinct color change in acidic conditions.

This paper studies the Cauchy problem and blow-up phenomena for a new generalized Camassa-Holm equation with cubic nonlinearity in the nonhomogeneous Besov spaces. First, by means of the Littlewood-Paley decomposition theory, we investigate the local well-posedness of the equation in $B^s_{p,r}$ with s > $max\{{\frac{1}{p}},\;{\frac{1}{2}},\;1-{\frac{1}{p}}\},\;p,\;r{\in}[0,{\infty}]$. Second, we prove that the equation is locally well-posed in $B^s_{2,r}$ with the critical index $s={\frac{1}{2}}$ by virtue of the logarithmic interpolation inequality and the Osgood's Lemma, and it is shown that the data-to-solution mapping is $H{\ddot{o}}lder$ continuous. Finally, we derive two kinds of blow-up criteria for the strong solution by using induction and the conservative property of m along the characteristics.

Herein, a facile and enzyme-free CP sensor was fabricated by in situ electrochemical reduction strategy on the surface of glassy carbon electrode (GCE). Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) was chose as supporting materials for the distribution of platinum nanoparticles (Pt NPs) to obtain improved catalytic properties. The applicability and suitability of the obtained RGO-Pt/GCE for 4-CP detection were also evaluated. The results indicated that the RGO-Pt NPs modified electrode displayed much better catalysis and higher sensitivity for 4-CP oxidation. Under optimum conditions, the oxidation peak current was proportional to 4-CP concentration in the range from 0.1 to $500{\mu}M$ with a detection limit of 51 nM. Meanwhile, it is demonstrated that the prepared sensor is also characterized by excellent feasibility, satisfactory reproducibility, good stability and high specificity. The results suggested that RGO-Pt/GCE could be a facile, cost-effective, and rapid tool for the prospect on-line evaluation of 4-CP in drinking water samples.

Background: The use of different methods for the processing of ginseng can result in alterations in its medicinal properties and efficacy. White ginseng (WG), frozen ginseng (FG), and red ginseng (RG) are produced using different methods. WG, FG, and RG possess different pharmacological properties. Methods: WG, FG, and RG extracts and pure ginsenosides were administered to rats to study the pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution characteristics of the following ginsenosides-DRg1, Re, Rb1, and Rd. The concentrations of the ginsenosides in the plasma and tissues were determined using UPLC-MS/MS. Results: The rate and extent of absorption of Rg1, Re, Rb1, and Rd appeared to be affected by the different methods used in processing the ginseng samples. The areas under the plasma drug concentration-time curves (AUCs) of Rg1, Re, Rb1, and Rd were significantly higher than those of the pure ginsenosides. In addition, the AUCs of Rg1, Re, Rb1, and Rd were different for WG, FG, and RG. The amounts of Rg1, Re, Rd, and Rb1 were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the tissues than those of the pure ginsenosides. The amounts of Re, Rb1, and Rd from the RG extract were significantly higher than those from the WG and FG extracts in the heart, lungs, and kidneys of the rats. Conclusion: Our results show that the use of different methods to process ginseng might affect the pharmacokinetics and oral bioavailability of ginseng as well as the tissue concentrations of Rg1, Re, Rd, and Rb1.

Wide band gap semiconductor devices such as SiC MOSFETs are becoming the preferred devices for high frequency and high power density converters due to their excellent performances. However, the proportion of the switching loss that accounts for the whole inverter loss is growing along with an increase of the switching frequency. In view of the third quadrant working characteristics of a SiC MOSFET, synchronous rectification discontinuous pulse-width modulation is proposed (SRDPWM) to further reduce system losses. The SRDPWM has been analyzed in detail. Based on a frequency domain mathematical model, a quantitative mathematical analysis of the harmonic characteristic is conducted by double Fourier transform. Meanwhile, a switching loss model and a conduction loss model of inverter for SRDPWM have been built. Simulation and experimental results verify the result of the harmonic analysis of the double Fourier analysis and the accuracy of the loss models. The efficiencies of the SRDPWM and the SVPWM are compared. The result indicates that the SRDPWM has fewer losses and a higher efficiency than the SVPWM under high switching frequency and light load conditions as a result of the reduced number of switching transitions. In addition, the SRDPWM is more suitable for SiC MOSFET converters.

In order to match the voltages between high voltage battery stacks and low voltage super-capacitors with a high conversion efficiency in hybrid energy sources electric vehicles (HESEVs), a high ratio bidirectional DC-DC converter with a synchronous rectification H-Bridge is proposed in this paper. The principles of high ratio step-down and step-up operations are analyzed. In terms of the bidirectional characteristic of the H-Bridge, the bidirectional synchronous rectification (SR) operation is presented without any extra hardware. Then the SR power switches can achieve zero voltage switching (ZVS) turn-on and turn-off during dead time, and the power conversion efficiency is improved compared to that of the diode rectification (DR) operation, as well as the utilization of power switches. Experimental results show that the proposed converter can operate bidirectionally in the wide ratio range of 3~10, when the low voltage continuously varies between 15V and 50V. The maximum efficiencies are 94.1% in the Buck mode, and 93.6% in the Boost mode. In addition, the corresponding largest efficiency variations between SR and DR operations are 4.8% and 3.4%. This converter is suitable for use as a power interface between the battery stacks and super-capacitors in HESEVs.

The time-consuming and high-cost preparation of soluble peptide-major histocompatibility complexes (pMHC) currently limits their wide uses in monitoring antigen-specific T cells. The single-chain trimer (SCT) of peptide-${\beta}2m$-MHC class I heavy chain was developed as an alternative strategy, but its gene fusion is hindered in many cases owing to the incompatibility between the multiple restriction enzymes and the restriction endonuclease sites of plasmid vectors. In this study, overlap extension PCR and one-step cloning were adopted to overcome this restriction. The SCT gene of the $OVA_{257-264}$ peptide-$(GS_4)_3-{\beta}2m-(GS_4)_4-H-2K^b$ heavy chain was constructed and inserted into plasmid pET28a by overlap extension PCR and one-step cloning, without the requirement of restriction enzymes. The SCT protein was expressed in Escherichia coli, and then purified and refolded. The resulting $H-2K^b/OVA_{257-264}$ complex showed the correct structural conformation and capability to bind with $OVA_{257-264}$-specific T-cell receptor. The overlap extension PCR and one-step cloning ensure the construction of single-chain MHC class I molecules associated with random epitopes, and will facilitate the preparation of soluble pMHC multimers.

Distributed stray inductance exerts a significant influence on the turn-off voltages of power switching devices. Therefore, the design of low stray inductance bus bars has become an important part of the design of high-power converters. In this study, we first analyze the operational principle and switching transient of a T-type converter. Then, we obtain the commutation circuit, categorize the stray inductance of the circuit, and study the influence of the different types of stray inductance on the turn-off voltages of switching devices. According to the current distribution of the commutation circuit, as well as the conditions for realizing laminated bus bars, we laminate the bus bar of the converter by integrating the practical structure of a capacitor bank and a power module. As a result, the stray inductance of the bus bar is reduced, and the stray inductance in the commutation circuit of the converter is reduced to more than half. Finally, a 10 kVA experimental prototype of a T-type converter is built to verify the effectiveness of the designed laminated bus bar in restraining the turn-off voltage spike of the switching devices in the converter.

Malignant tumors are often accompanied by increased risk of hematological abnormalities. However, few studies have reported any prognostic impact of preoperative thrombocytosis, leukocytosis and anemia in epithelia ovarian cancer (EOC). This study aimed to investigate preoperative hematological parameters for anemia, leukocytosis and thombocytosis in relation to established prognostic factors and survival in EOC cases. A total of 816 Chinese women treated for EOC were retrospectively included in the study focusing on the relationship between preoperative hemoglobin, leukocyte and platelet counts, and a panel of clinicopathologic characteristics and outcome. Preoperative anemia was present in 13.4%, leukocytosis in 16.7% and thrombocytosis in 22.8%. Additionally, EOC patients with low differentiation grade, advanced stage, lymph node (LN) metastasis, residual disease ${\geq}1cm$, ascites volume >1,000ml, serum cancer antigen 125 (CA125) >675U/ml, and disease recurrence had the higher prevalence of preoperative anemia, leukocytosis and thrombocytosis (all p<0.05). Moreover, EOC patients with older age or postmenopausal EOC patients had the higher prevalence of thrombocytosis (28.7% vs 17.3% or 26.0% vs 17.7%). Furthermore, in a Cox proportional hazard model, thrombocytosis was an independent factor for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) (p<0.001). Conclusively, preoperative anemia, leukocytosis or thrombocytosis in EOC patients is closely associated with more malignant disease phenotype and poorer prognosis. Significantly, thrombocytosis may independently predict the disease-specific survival for EOC patients.

The diverse microbial communities that colonize distinct segments of the gastrointestinal tract are intimately related to aspects of physiology and the pathology of human health. However, most recent studies have focused on the rectal or fecal microbiota, and the microbial signature of the duodenum is poorly studied. In this study, we compared the microbiota in duodenal and rectal samples to illustrate the characteristic microbial signatures of the duodenum in healthy adults. Nine healthy volunteers donated biopsies and luminal contents from the duodenum and rectum. To determine the composition and diversity of the microbiota, 454-pyrosequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA was performed and multiple bioinformatics analyses were applied. The α-diversity and phylogenetic diversity of the microbiota in the duodenal samples were higher than those of the rectal samples. There was higher biodiversity among the microbiota isolated from rectal biopsies than feces. Proteobacteria were more highly represented in the duodenum than in the rectum, both in the biopsies and in the luminal contents from the healthy volunteers (38.7% versus 12.5%, 33.2% versus 5.0%, respectively). Acinetobacter and Prevotella were dominant in the duodenum, whereas Bacteroides and Prevotella were dominant in the rectum. Additionally, the percentage of OTUs shared in biopsy groups was far higher than in the luminal group (43.0% versus 26.8%) and a greater number of genera was shared among the biopsies than the luminal contents. Duodenal samples demonstrated greater biological diversity and possessed a unique microbial signature compared with the rectum. The mucosa-associated microbiota was more relatively conserved than luminal samples.

To clarify the role of surface protective antigen A (SpaA) in the pathogenesis of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae C43065 (serotype 2), the spaA deletion mutant of E. rhusiopathiae ${\Delta}spaA$ was constructed by homologous recombination. The virulence of the ${\Delta}spaA$ mutant decreased more than 76-fold compared with that of the wild-type strain C43065 in mice. The mutant strain was sensitive to the bactericidal action of swine serum, whereas the wild-type strain was resistant. The adhesion of wild-type strain to MEF cells was inhibited significantly by treatment with rabbit antiserum against recombinant SpaA (rSpaA) as compared with the treatment with normal rabbit serum, but the mutant strain was not affected. The mutant strain was readily taken up by mouse peritoneal macrophages in the normal rabbit serum, whereas the wild-type strain was resistant. Whereas the rabbit antiserum against rSpaA promoted the phagocytosis of wild-type strain by macrophages, the mutant strain was not affected. In addition, mice vaccinated with the formalin-killed mutant strain were provided 40% protection against challenge by the homologous virulent strain as compared with those with wild-type strain, NaOH-extracted antigen, or rSpaA, which provided more than 80% protection against the same infection. These suggested that SpaA has an important role in the pathogenesis of E. rhusiopathiae infection and could be a target for vaccination against swine erysipelas.

Goose fatty liver is one of the most delicious and popular foods in the world, but there is no reliable genetic marker for the early selection and breeding of geese with good liver-producing potential. In our study, one hundred and twenty-four 78-day-old Landes geese bred in Shunda Landes goose breeding farm, Jiutai, Jilin, China were selected randomly. The fatty livers were sampled each week after overfeeding during a three week period. Polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism and DNA sequencing were used to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of fatty acid synthase (FAS), which is an important enzyme involved in the synthesis of fat under both physiological and pathological conditions. Least-squares correlation was established between these SNPs and fatty liver weight, abdominal fat weight, and intestinal fat weight of the overfed Landes geese, respectively. The results showed that fatty liver weight of geese with EF and FF genotypes (amplified by primer P1) was significantly higher than that of the EE genotype (p<0.05), and liver weight of CD and DD genotypes (amplified by primer P2) was significantly higher than that of the CC genotype (p<0.05). Different genotype combinations showed different liver weights, and from highest to lowest were ABDD, DDEF, DDFF, DDEE, ABEF, ABFF, AADD, and CDEF. Further analysis of DNA sequencing showed that there were two SNPs within the 5' promoter region the FAS gene. The geese of EF and FF genotypes carried a change of T to C, and the geese of CD and DD genotypes carried a change of A to G. The changes of the bases could potentially influence the binding of some transcription factors to this region as to regulate FAS gene. To our knowledge, this is the first report of SNPs found within the 5' promoter region of the Landes goose FAS gene, and our data will provide an insight for early selection of geese for liver production.

Purpose: We developed and evaluated a regimen including fotemustine, teniposide and dexamethasone (FTD) for treating patients with central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma based on pharmacokinetic properties of individual agents and in combination. Patients and Methods: In a comparison study, 8 patients with primary CNS lymphoma (PCNSL) and 8 with secondary CNS lymphoma (SCNSL) were treated with FTD (comprising fotemustine 100 mg/m2, 1h infusion, day 1; teniposide 60 mg/m2, >0.5 h infusion, on day 2, 3, 4; dexamethasone 40 mg, 1h infusion, on day 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5; and methotrexate 12 mg, cytosine arabinoside 50 mg plus dexamethasone 5 mg intrathecally, on day 2 and 7). Cycles were repeated every 3 weeks. After response assessment, patients received whole brain radiotherapy. Results: Of the 8 PCNSL patients, 4 (50%) achieved CR and 3 (38%) PR, an overall response rate of 88%. Four patients (50%) were in continuing remission at the end of this study after a median follow-up of 30 months (range 10 to 56 months). Of the 8 SCNSL patients the overall response rate was 63% (CR+PR: 38%+25%). All responses were achievable with predictable toxicity mainly reflecting reversible myelosuppression. Conclusion: This study suggests that FTD could be an effective treatment for CNS lymphoma, and is worthy of further evaluation.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to evaluate the correlation of ultrasound features with breast cancer molecular status. Materials and Methods: A retrospective review was performed of ultrasound findings in 263 patients diagnosed with breast invasive ductal carcinoma for comparison with immunohistochemistric results were obtained from each lesion. Relationships between ultrasound findings and molecular status were investigated by using multiple regression analysis by means of stepwise logistic regression. Differences in ultrasound criteria were assessed among women with different molecular status. Results: ER positivity was associated with small size, lobulate, angular or spiculated margin contours, absence of calcification, posterior tumor shadowing and low elasticity score; PR positivity was associated with small size, lobulate or angular or spiculated margin contours and absence of calcification; HER2 positivity was associated with presence of calcification and absence of any echogenic halo. The calculated models of predicted molecular status were accurate and discriminating with AUCs of 0.78, 0.74, and 0.74, respectively. Conclusions: Breast cnacer ultrasound features show some correlation with the molecular status. These models may help to expand the scope of ultrasound in predicting tumor biology.

The effects of microbial iron reduction and oxidation on the immobilization and mobilization of copper were investigated in a high concentration of sulfate with synthesized Fe(III) minerals and red earth soils rich in amorphous Fe (hydr)oxides. Batch microcosm experiments showed that red earth soil inoculated with subsurface sediments had a faster Fe(III) bioreduction rate than pure amorphous Fe(III) minerals and resulted in quicker immobilization of Cu in the aqueous fraction. Coinciding with the decrease of aqueous Cu, $SO_4{^{2-}}$ in the inoculated red earth soil decreased acutely after incubation. The shift in the microbial community composite in the inoculated soil was analyzed through denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Results revealed the potential cooperative effect of microbial Fe(III) reduction and sulfate reduction on copper immobilization. After exposure to air for 144 h, more than 50% of the immobilized Cu was remobilized from the anaerobic matrices; aqueous sulfate increased significantly. Sequential extraction analysis demonstrated that the organic matter/sulfide-bound Cu increased by 52% after anaerobic incubation relative to the abiotic treatment but decreased by 32% after oxidation, indicating the generation and oxidation of Cu-sulfide coprecipitates in the inoculated red earth soil. These findings suggest that the immobilization of copper could be enhanced by mediating microbial Fe(III) reduction with sulfate reduction under anaerobic conditions. The findings have an important implication for bioremediation in Cu-contaminated and Fe-rich soils, especially in acid-mine-drainage-affected sites.

Pyruvate kinase isozyme type M2 (PKM2) was first found in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and its expression has been thought to correlate with prognosis. A large number of studies have demonstrated that epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a crucial event in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and associated metastasis, resulting in enhanced malignancy of HCC. However, the roles of PKM2 in HCC EMT and metastasis remain largely unknown. The present study aimed to determine the effects of PKM2 in EGF-induced HCC EMT and elucidate the molecular mechanisms in vitro. Our results showed that EGF promoted EMT in HCC cell lines as evidenced by altered morphology, expression of EMT-associated markers, and enhanced invasion capacity. Furthermore, the present study also revealed that nuclear translocation of PKM2, which is regulated by the ERK pathway, regulated ${\beta}$-catenin-TCF/LEF-1 transcriptional activity and associated EMT in HCC cell lines. These discoveries provide evidence of novel roles of PKM2 in the progression of HCC and potential therapeutic target for advanced cases.