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Compared with the standard operating microscope system, the digitally assisted vitreoretinal surgery system can reduce intraoperative muscle fatigue during surgery, which is more ergonomically advantageous to retinal surgeons.

This study investigated the effects of ombuoside on L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA)-induced neurotoxicity in PC12 cells. Ombuoside did not affect cell viability at concentrations of up to 50 µM for 24 h, and ombuoside (1, 5, and 10 µM) significantly inhibited L-DOPA-induced (100 and 200 µM) decreases in cell viability. L-DOPA (100 and 200 µM) induced sustained phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1/2) for 6 h, which were significantly decreased by cotreatments with ombuoside (1, 5, and 10 µM). L-DOPA (100 and 200 µM) alone significantly increased c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK1/2) phosphorylation for 6 h and cleaved-caspase-3 expression for 24 h, both of which were partially, but significantly, blocked by ombuoside (1, 5, and 10 µM). In addition, ombuoside (1, 5, and 10 µM) significantly restored the L-DOPA-induced (100 and 200 µM) decrease in superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity for 24 h. Taken together, these findings indicate that ombuoside protects against LDOPA- induced neurotoxicity by inhibiting L-DOPA-induced increases in sustained ERK1/2 and JNK1/2 phosphorylation and caspase-3 expression and L-DOPA-induced decrease in SOD activity in PC12 cells. Thus, ombuoside might represent a novel neuroprotective agent that warrants further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with Mark Tercek, chief of the Nature Conservancy, the largest environmental nonprofit in the U.S., is presented. Topics discussed include his work as investment manager in Goldman Sachs; things that inspired him to join Nature Conservancy; his interest working in conservation; and his views on trend amongst environmental organizations.

An interview with Kihl-jae Ryoo, former chief of South Korea's Ministry of Unification, is presented. Topics include difficulties he faced on being the only civilian in government to handle national security issues; impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's presidency on unification; and prediction made by Goldman Sachs that that a united Korea could potentially surpass France, Germany and Japan in terms of gross domestic product (GDP).

Purpose: This study aims to conduct socio-technical analysis of the rapidly evolving Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem and industry, including such factors as market growth and user experiences, policy and the impact of IoT on various areas. Design/methodology/approach: By applying a multi-level socio-technical framework to IoT in South Korea, this study seeks an ecological understanding of how IoT will evolve and stabilize in a smart environment. Findings: The study shows the values influencing potential users’ adoption of IoT by integrating cognitive motivations and user values as primary determining factors. Along with user modeling, the findings reveal the challenges of designing, deploying and sustaining the diverse components of IoT, and provides a snapshot of Korea’s current approach to meeting these challenges. Originality/value: The study’s findings offer a contextualized socio-technical analysis of IoT, providing insight into its challenges and opportunities. This insight helps to conceptualize how IoT can be designed and situated within human-centered contexts.

The article offers information on the alliance signed between North Korea and China on July 11, 1961. Topics discussed include the Sino-North Korean Treaty of Friendship, Beijing's alliance with Pyongyang and foreign relations between China and North Korea. It also mentions the views of the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao about Beijing, China alliance with Pyongyang, Korea.

The thermal characteristics of urban area was investigated in metropolitan city by measuring major temperature & humidities in several locations during day time in Incheon city. From the investigations, the temperatures were very high in rooftop with concrete material, but temperatures were very low in the same locations with planting such as roof-gardens. Theoretical analysis were made to explain such phenomena.

AbstractThis article examines U.S. policy shaping of personal information flow in its historical trajectory. The analysis newly draws on the notion of the marketplace ideal in privacy debate and analyses a regulatory continuum that an online information protection regime is the product of active formulation of a policy principle. Proxy regulation that attributes the function of privacy protection to discrete commercial domains is analysed in analogy with the diversity principle of broadcasting. Alternative Internet policy models are discussed beyond the oversimplified dichotomy between market and government. In a critique of the Federal Trade Commission’s latest proposal of “Do Not Track List,” a thesis is advanced to encourage a simplified user interface with a forceful measure that can intervene in the marketplace.

The article offers information on the many applications of sheetlike microplasma arrays. It notes that the microscopic dimensions of plasmas would yield thin light-emitting sheets ideal for displays and lighting. It adds that commercial applications of plasmas include water purification, manufacturing and integrated circuits, and curing polymers.

The article offers multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) imaging for detecting a variety of abdominal hernias. MDCT reveals the exact anatomic location of a hernia sac, identify the contents of the sac, and show any complications related to the hernia. The hernias that MDCT can accurately diagnose are abdominal wall hernias which include femoral hernias, inguinal hernias, obturator hernias, ventral hernias, and incisional hernias. It can also diagnose for internal hernias which include paraduodenal hernias and transmesenteric hernias, among others.

To assess the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals on the expression and activity of aromatase in the gonads of Bombina orientalis, a common amphibian, we intraperitoneally injected nonylphenol or bisphenol-A and then examined aromatase mRNA levels by RT-PCR as well as aromatase enzymatic activity by tritiated water release assays. To design primers for the RT-PCR, we cloned the B. orientalis aromatase gene using RT-PCR and degenerate primers. The full-length cDNA was obtained by 5'- and 3'-RACE PCR. The complete sequence of the B. orientalis aromatase gene revealed an open reading frame of 1500 bp encoding a deduced protein of 500 amino acids. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR indicated that nonylphenol or bisphenol-A injection did not significantly affect the expression of B. orientalis aromatase mRNA. However, a 48-hr treatment with nonyphenol or bisphenol A reduced aromatase activity to 47% and 32% of the control, respectively. These results suggest that endocrine disruptors can effectively modulate the activity of B. orientalis aromatase without affecting its mRNA levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To facilitate the analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences from highly degraded skeletal remains, a modified mini-primer set was designed to overcome the limitations of the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) mini-primer set. This modified mini-primer set is less affected by nucleotide variability and PCR amplification conditions than the AFDIL mini-primer set, and was able to amplify the mtDNA sequences of 55-year-old skeletal remains with high efficiency, indicating that it is a useful tool for analyzing mtDNA control region sequences from highly degraded forensic samples.

Discrete-event systems (DESs) are often controlled by remote supervisors through communication networks and thereby the sensor messages or the control commands can experience nonnegligible transmission delays depending on the network traffic. A series of uncontrollable events can then unexpectedly occur before a proper control action is actually applied to the DES for an observed event sequence. For such supervised systems with bounded communication delays, we present in this note a notion of delay-nonconflictingness for a language specification and based on this notion we further investigate the existence conditions of a delay-robust nonblocking supervisor that can achieve the given language specification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper seeks to support prior findings that women and men process accounting information differently. Certified public accountants and financial analysts in South Korea, both men and women, were studied to assess the financial position and performance of each of five different reporting entities, both in situations of remote, immaterial, contingent loss and in those of reasonably possible and somewhat material contingent loss. They were also required to assess the amount of effort expended on tasks with increased uncertainty on decision-making. The results show significant gender differences. Men, compared to women, did not rate a task as significantly more difficult with increased uncertainty. These results imply that women assigned more importance to the increase in uncertainty and evaluated both confirming and disconfirming information as comprehensive processors, whereas men concentrated on confirming information as selective processors.

This work describes a 10 b 70 MHz CMOS digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) for video applications. The proposed DAC is composed of a unit decoded matrix for 7 MSBs and a binary weighted array for 3 LSBs, considering linearity, power consumption, routing area and glitch energy. A new switching scheme for the unit decoded matrix is developed to further improve the linearity. Cascode current sources and differential switches with a new deglitching circuit improve the dynamic performance.

This article discusses the results of surveys on whether cellular telephone masts are unacceptable signs of urbanisation in the countryside, or vital signs of technological progress. In surveys in the Peak District National Park in England, 71% of respondents indicated that mobile phone masts are signs of urbanisation that do not belong in rural landscapes. Almost four-fifths of the respondents said the natural environment should be conserved for its intrinsic value.