• Journal of Life Science
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.903-910
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• 2003

Phospholipase D (PLD) plays an important role as a signaling molecule in the activation of neutrophils. In this study, effect of nitric oxide (NO) and cGMP on the activation of PLD in human neutrophils was investigated. Sodium nitroprusside (SNP), an agent to produce NO spontaneously in cells, alone increased PLD activity and the maximal activation was obtained with 0.5 mM SNP. Dibutyryl-cAMP, an agent to increase an intracellular cAMP concentration inhibited formyl-Met-Leu-Phe (fMLP)-stimulated PLD activity but 8-bromo-cGMP (300 $\mu$M), an agent to increase an intracellular cGMP concentration did not affect basal and fMLP-stimulated PLD activity. NO-induced activation of PLD was not blocked by KT 5823, an inhibitor of cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG), suggesting that NO-induced PLD activation is not mediated by cGMP. NO also stimulated p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) in human neutrophils, indicated by increased phosphorylation of p38 MAPK in Western blotting. NO-induced phosphorylation of p38 MAPK was not inhibited by KT 5823 or n-butanol. RhoA, an regulatory factor of PLD activation was trans-located from cytosolic fraction to plasma membranes by fMLP or phorbol ester, and fMLP-stimulated but not phorbol ester-stimulated translocation of RhoA was inhibited by cGMP. These results suggest that NO stimulates PLD activity through other unidentified facto.(s) than cGMP even though cGMP inhibits the artivation of RhoA.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.6 s.86
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• pp.859-866
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• 2007

The main objective of this study was to investigate the effects of exercise on serum insulin and leptin levels and GLUT-4 and VAMP-2 in skeletal muscles from the pregnant rats. F344 rats were randomly divided into four groups (n = 15 in each group): control group (CG), pregnant group (PG), pregnant running group (PR), and pregnant swimming group (PS). From the 15th day of pregnancy, animals in the running group were forced to run on treadmill for 30 min with a light intensity, while those in the swimming group were forced to swim in swimming pool for 10 min once a day for 6 consecutive days. The present result demonstrated that in pregnant rat group, serum insulin levels significantly in-creased and leptin levels significantly decreased. Skeletal GLUT-4 and VAMP-2 protein expression was significantly decreased in pregnant rats compared to non-pregnant rats. However, matenal running during gestational period alleviated pregnancy-induced changes in plasma insulin and leptin levels, and it significantly enhanced skeletal GLUT-4 and VAMP-2 protein expression. From those results, it can be suggested that running exercise during gestational period may improve glycemic control by up-regulating GLUT-4 and VAMP-2 protein expression.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.20 no.1 s.90
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• pp.21-25
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• 2005

Paraquat, a widely used herbicide, has been suggested as a potential risk factor for Parkinson's disease. Heme oxygenase-1(HO-1), a marker for oxidative stress and endoplasmic reticulum(ER) stress, is known to catalyze heme to biliverdin, carbon monoxide and free iron in response to various stimuli. Here we show that paraquat activates HO-1 expression in a time-and dose-dependent manner in substantia nigra(SN) dopaminergic neuronal cells. Activation of Ho-1 by paraquat was regulated primarily at the level of gene transcription. Deletion analysis of the promoter and the 5' distal enhancers, E1 and E2, of the HO-1 gene revealed that the E2 enhancer is a potent inducer of the paraquat-dependent Ho-1 gene expression in dopamninergic neuronal cells. Mutational analysis of the E2 enhacer further demonstrated that the transcription factor activator protein-1(AP-1) plays an important role in mediating paraquat-induced HO-1 gene transcription. Moreover, using specific inhibitors of the mitogen-activated protein kinases(MAPKs), we investigated the role of paraquat and MAPKs for HO-1 gene regulation in dopaminergic cells. The c-Jun N-terminal kinase(JNK) inhibitor SP600125 significantly suppressed the expression of HO-1 by paraquat. All these results demonstrate that induction of HO-1 by paraquat requies the activation of the AP-1 and JNK pathway.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.249-256
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• 2008

With consideration of the ongoing construction of high-rise buildings, it is becoming increasingly important to be able to accurately predict the behavior of them on the stage of design, construction and service. Even though many researchers have developed the analysis method to predict the behavior of high-rise buildings, their studies were based on the two dimensional frame structures composed of line elements such as beams and columns. Recently the high-rise buildings with flat-plate system is widely used because of its advantages. In this study a three dimensional analysis method is developed to analyze the behavior of the high-rise buildings with flat-plate system since it is difficult to model the structural systems reasonably with the existing two dimensional analysis method. The analysis method considered the construction sequence including the temporary work such as installation of form, removal of form, installation of shore, and removal of shore. Line elements were used to describe columns, beams, and shores and plate elements were used to model slabs. The creep and drying shrinkage of concrete were also considered to account for the inelastic behavior of concrete.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.26 no.11A
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• pp.1827-1840
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• 2001

In digital data transmission/storage systems, the compensation for channel distortion is conducted normally using a training sequence that is known a priori to both the sender and receiver. The use of the training sequences results in inefficient utilization of channel bandwidth. Sometimes, it is also impossible to send training sequences such as in the burst-mode communication. As such, a great deal of attention has been given to the approach requiring no training sequences, which has been called the blind equalization technique. On the other hand, to utilize the limited bandwidth effectively, the concept of partial response (PR) signaling has widely been adopted in both the high-speed transmission and high-density recording/playback systems such as digital microwave, digital subscriber loops, hard disk drives, digital VCRs and digital versatile recordable disks and so on. This paper is concerned with blind adaptive equalization of partial response channels whose transfer function zeros are located on the unit circle, thereby causing some problems in performance. Specifically we study how the problems of blind channel equalization associated with the PR channels can be improved. In doing so, we first discuss the existing methods and then propose new structures for blind PR channel equalization. Our structures have been extensively tested by computer simulation and found out to be encouraging in performance. The results seem very promising as well in terms of the implementation complexity compared to the previous approach reported in literature.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.28 no.4C
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• pp.413-423
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• 2003

The CMA algorithmis most widely investigated blind algorithm and the most widely used one in practice. But, since nonlinear CM cost function have not closed form solution about the optimum weight. There have been difficultiesto analyze the CMA equalizer's theoretical performance. Recently, Zeng presents the notable theoretical resultabout the MSE of CM-minimizing estimators for the FIR linear channel in the presence of AWGN. Through this method, It wouldbe possible to campare the theoretical performance between CMA and Wiener equalizer in terms of MSE. In this paper, based on Zeng's method, we first calculate the theoretical MSE bound of CMA equalizer in partial response channel which is widely used in HDD, digital VCR such as high-density digital recording.playback systems. We confirmedthis result withthe computer simulation. Except this, we also performedthe theoretical and simulation analysis about the modified CMA equalizer, which was proposed to improve the performance of CMA equalizer in partial response channel. Finally, we compare and evaluate the performance analysis results between CMA and Modified CMA equalizer.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.28 no.8B
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• pp.661-673
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• 2003

To prevent performance degradation of TCP due to packet losses in the smooth handoff by the route optimization extension of Mobile IP protocol, a buffering of packets at a base station is needed. A buffering of packets at a base station recovers those packets dropped during handoff by forwarding buffered packets at the old base station to the mobile user. But, when the mobile user moves to a congested base station in a new foreign subnetwork, those buffered packets forwarded by the old base station are dropped and TCP transmission performance of a mobile user in the congested base station degrades due to increased congestion by those forwarded burst packets. In this paper, considering the general case that a mobile user moves to a congested base station, we propose a Priority Packet Forwarding to improve TCP performance in mobile networks. In the proposed scheme, without modification to Mobile IP protocol, the old base station marks a buffered packet as a priority packet during handoff. And priority queue at the new congested base station schedules the priority packet firstly. Simulation results show that proposed Priority Packet Forwarding can improve TCP transmission performance more than Implicit Priority Packet Forwarding and RED (Random Early Detection) schemes.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.617-637
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• 2011

This study employs qualitative approaches to examining geographical characteristics and patients' determinants of online referrals in terms of regionalization. In this light, I conducted interviews with 20 patients receiving online referrals in Choongbook, Korea, and investigated their behaviors regarding these referrals between July and August 2009. I found that many patients who suffered from various levels of illness preferred tertiary care centers outside of Choongbook and did not enjoy their experience with the local medical institutions as the online referral service sites. This result might be because patients choose online referrals for psychological considerations such as quality and level of health care services, personal stakes in online referral service sites, acceptability and credibility of good tertiary care centers, and easy access to and use of medical institutions. Meanwhile, immediate benefits with regard to the technological value of online referrals, such as convenience, utility, and original purpose associated with regionalization, did not influence patients' decision-making. Therefore, the social and public networks affiliated with online referrals plus the effect of Korean medical laws play hostage to private decisions made by citizens, who prefer high-level medical institutions. Accordingly, the technological contribution of online referrals does not halt the outflow of patients from local, tertiary care centers. Especially, the existing health care system and patients' behaviors are deeply related to referrals in the online system. To protect regionalization, the improvement of health care services from the present state of affairs is required.

• Archives of design research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.373-382
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• 2004

Large sized buildings have proliferated in the modern world in order to solve problems caused by the growth of cities, and this trend has lead to diversity in style and utilization of interiors. In particular, wayfinding within the shopping mall for a customer is a common problem, so if customers do not have to face these navigational problems and could find the way more easily, then shopping mall or the store can expect much better profits. Therefore, directional sign system that can provide accurate and speedy information for customers with diversified ages, gender and knowledge is necessary. Firstly, the definition and element of all directional sign are analyzed through the existing literature survey. The elements are based on the practical elements and six categories such as type, pictogram, color, layout, form, and location were considered. Secondly, directional signs in large underground shopping mall was considered, and the speciality of the underground shopping mall was investigated, and finally top three underground shopping malls was analyzed. Thirdly, through the questionnaire, an objective appraisal of directional signs and problems was developed, and following possible improvement was suggested. This study has its own limitations since it is only applicable to the specific locations, however, directional designs will be useful in other types of buildings as well. Through the continuous studies of the users' psychology, these kinds of studies will be related to the environmental characteristics of various places.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.66-74
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• 1997

Influence of the axial dispersion on immobilized enzyme catalytic bed was investigated in order to examine the kinetic behavior of the biocatalysis. The enzyme employed in this study was the tyrosinase(EC 1.14.18.1) immobilized on carbon support : this system requires two substrates of phenol and oxygen. This enzyme has potential application for phenol degradation in waste water. A simulated reactor was a packed-bed reactor of 2.54cm in diameter and 10cm long, loaded with the immobilized carbon particle with an average diameter of $550{\mu}m$. A phenol feed in the strength of 55.5mM(5220ppm) was used to observe the behavior of the immobilized enzyme column at three different dissolved oxygen levels of 0.08445mM(2.7ppm), 0.1689mM(5.4ppm) and 0.3378mM(9.5ppm) with the flow rates in the range of 60(1mL/s) to 180mL/min(3mL/s). Examination of the Biot number and Damkolher numbers of the immobilized system enables us to eliminate the contribution of external mass transfer to set of differential equations derived from the dispersion model. Solution of the equation was finally obtained numerically with the application of the Danckwert boundary conditions and the assumed zero-and first order rates on the non-linear two substrate enzyme kinetics. Higher conversion of phenol was observed at the low flow rates and at the higher oxygen concentration. Comparison of axial dispersion and plug flow model showed that no detectable difference was observed in the column outlet conversion between the axial and the plug flow models which was in complete agreement with the previous studies.