Background: The influences of demographics, culture, language, and environmental changes on Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores are considerable.

Methods: Using a sample of 7452 healthy, community-dwelling elderly Koreans, aged 55 to 94 years, who participated in the four ongoing geriatric cohorts in Korea, we investigated demographic influences on MMSE scores and derived normative data for this population. Geropsychiatrists strictly excluded subjects with cognitive disorders according to the protocol of the Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Packet (CERAD-K) Clinical Assessment Battery (CERAD-K-C).

Results: Education (standardized β = 0.463), age (standardized β = −0.303), and gender (standardized β = −0.057) had significant effects on MMSE scores (p < 0.001). The score of MMSE increase 0.379 point per 1-year education, decrease 0.188 per 1-year older, and decrease 0.491 in women compared to men. Education explained 30.4% of the scores’ total variance, which was much larger than the variances explained by age (8.4%) or gender (0.3%). Accordingly, we present normative data for the MMSE stratified by education (0, 1–3, 4–6, 7–9, 10–12, and ≥ 13 years), age (60–69, 70–79, and 80–89 years), and gender.

Conclusions: We provide contemporary education-, age-, and gender-stratified norms for the MMSE, derived from a large, community-dwelling elderly Korean population sample, which could be useful in evaluating individual MMSE scores.

Stream restoration is an important process affecting the ecological health of stream ecosystems. There have been numerous cases of restoration, dealing with either structural or biological changes. In Korea, most restoration projects have merely dealt with improving hydrological characteristics or water quality; however, in recent years the improvement of ecological characteristics has been an increasing focus for restoration projects. In this study, we utilized data collected from 5675 stream sites in May 2007 to discover general patterns of anthropogenic modification in Korean streams. The survey results after application of the stream modification index (SMI; presence or absence type; high scores indicate more disturbed) provided a general distribution of disturbed/undisturbed streams or rivers in the watershed. We then compared the level of modification with the socio-geographical patterns (population, land coverage, elevation, and slope) for the watershed. The results show that streams in highly populated areas suffered from human modification compared with other well-preserved stream sites. In metropolitan cities, urbanized areas had positive relationship as identified by a high SMI. On the other hand, agricultural land cover identified an SMI increase for lowland river area. In general, mountainous streams possessed a better status in stream morphology due to different land-cover patterns (i.e., mainly forested area); however, some mountainous areas were impacted by concentrated summer rainfall. We could distinguish the forcing variables (i.e., land use pattern) for the disturbed streams through a comparison between the SMI and geographical information; the SMI application was able to identify areas of high necessity for restoration.

Both luminous efficiency and lifetime in blue fluorescence organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) have been improved by modified HTMs with higher LUMO energy levels. The LUMO energy levels of HTM were increased by modifying substituent in HTM molecules. Two HTMs containing ortho and meta biphenyl substituent and one HTM containing thiophene substituent were synthesized via palladium catalyzed amine coupling reactions to compare with a para biphenyl substituent HTM-1 as a standard molecule. According to TDDFT calculations, these three modified HTMs showed 0.05-0.15 eV higher LUMO energy levels compared to the para biphenyl substituent HTM-1. The luminous efficiency and the lifetime (LT90) of OLEDs using HTM-2 at 500 cd/m2 have been enhanced up to 20 % and 52 %, respectively, compared to the standard device using HTM-1.

Decision making in an emotionally conflicting situation is important in social life. We aimed to address the similarity and disparity of neural correlates involved in processing ambivalent stimuli in patients with schizophrenia and patients with depression. Behavioral task-related hemodynamic responses were measured using [15O]H2O positron emission tomography (PET) in 12 patients with schizophrenia and 12 patients with depression. The task was a modified word-stem completion task, which was designed to evoke ambivalence in forced and non-forced choice conditions. The prefrontal cortex and the cerebellum were found to show increased activity in the healthy control group. In the schizophrenia group, activity in these two regions was negligible. In the depression group, the pattern of activity was altered and a functional compensatory recruitment of the inferior parietal regions was suggested. The prefrontal cortex seems to be associated with the cognitive control to resolve the conflict toward the ambivalent stimuli, whereas the cerebellum reflects the sustained working memory to search for compromise alternatives. The deficit of cerebellar activation in the schizophrenia group might underlie the inability to search and consider compromising responses for conflict resolution. (JINS, 2009, 15, 990–1001.)

Metal matrix composites (MMC's) are known to have wide applications in parts of transportation devices such as automobiles and aircraft. Al matrix composites using SiC particles as reinforcements are especially spotlighted because of low cost, superior specific modulus, specific strength, wear resistance and high temperature stability. However, Al4C3 formed by the interfacial reaction between Al and SiC weakens the interfacial bonding strength. It is also known to be unstable in the water-soluble atmosphere.

In this study, the passive oxidation of SiC powder is used as protective layer against the reaction between the Al matrix and the SiC particle. We investigated the changes in interfacial product of the composites and mechanical properties such as interfacial bonding strength, and tensile strength in terms of the oxidized layer thickness of the reinforcement.

We fabricated the high performance a-Si:H TFT using the N2 plasma treated APCVD SiO2 as a gate insulator. The effects of N2 plasma treatment on the APCVD SiO2 were investigated by XPS and SIMS Measurements. And the formation of the oxynitride interface layer between a-Si:H and APCVD SiO2 was found in the a-Si:H TFT. From our experimental results, It May be concluded that most nitrogen atoms, which were incorporated by the exposure of SiO2 layer to N2 plasma, exist, not bonded to other atoms, near the surface of the SiO2 layer and during the sequential deposition of a-Si:H on the N2 plasma treated APCVD SiO2 layer Si-N bonds are formed, resulting in the oxynitride layer in the interface region. This explains the high performance a-Si:H TFT with the N2 plasma treated APCVD SiO2 gate insulator.

We fabricated the high performance a-Si:H TFT using the N2 plasma treated APCVD SiO2 as a gate insulator. The effects of N2 plasma treatment on the APCVD SiO2 were investigated by XPS and SIMS measurements. And the formation of the oxynitride interface layer between a-Si:H and APCVD SiO2 was found in the a-Si:H TFT. From our experimental results, It may be concluded that most nitrogen atoms, which were incorporated by the exposure of SiO2 layer to N2 plasma, exist, not bonded to other atoms, near the surface of the SiO2 layer and during the sequential deposition of a-Si:H on the N2 plasma treated APCVD SiO2 layer Si-N bonds are formed, resulting in the oxynitride layer in the interface region. This explains the high performance a-Si:H TFT with the N2 plasma treated APCVD SiO2 gate insulator.