• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.148-157
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• 2019

A 70% ethanol extract of Erigeron annuus (L.) Pers. was investigated for its whitening activity for application as a functional ingredient in cosmetic products. At the E. annuus extract concentration of $100{\mu}g/ml$, the electron-donating ability was found to be 67.83%, the tyrosinase inhibitory effect (related to skin-whitening) was 69%, the elastase inhibitory effect (related to skin-wrinkling) was 69%, and the astringent effect was 80%. The $ABTS^+$ radical-scavenging ability was 87% at the $500{\mu}g/ml$ concentration. In the cell viability test measured on melanoma cells, 96% of the cells treated with $100{\mu}g/ml$ of the extract were viable. According to the western blot results, the protein expression of the microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein (TRP)-1, and TRP-2 was decreased by 60.22%, 47.83%, 54.79%, and 67.88%, respectively, at the extract concentration of $100{\mu}g/ml$. The protein expression of phosphorylated extracellular signal regulated kinase (p-ERK) and phosphorylated cAMP response element-binding protein (p-CREB) was decreased with increasing concentrations of the extract. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction of the extract showed that the mRNA expression of MITF, tyrosinase, TRP-1, and TRP-2 was decreased by 86.51%, 85.22%, 74.26%, and 66.66%, respectively, at $100{\mu}g/ml$ extract concentration. The findings suggest that the 70% ethanol extract from E. annuus (L.) Pers. has potential as a cosmeceutical ingredient with whitening effect.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.18-28
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• 2019

Recent studies reported that obesity upregulated the expression of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and regulated particular behavior patterns in animal models. They also reported that ameliorated the increase in nNOS expression and decreased depression and anxiolytic effects. Thus, exercise seems to be an effective strategy for improving brain function by downregulating nNOS. However, the immune response differs greatly, depending on the exercise intensity. The aim of the present study was to investigate differences in brain nNOS expression in obese C57BL/6 mice that performed exercise of different intensities. Obesity was induced in 6-wks-old mice (n=35) by feeding a 60%-fat diet for 6-wks. A control (CON) group (n=14) was fed a normal diet. At the end of the induction 6-wks period of obesity, seven animals in the CON group and obesity-induced group were sacrificed to confirm obesity induction (preliminary experiments and confirmation of visceral fat accumulation). The remaining animals were then used in an 8-wks exercise intervention. Other than the CON (n=7), the obesity-induced animals were divided into the following groups: high-fat diet (HFD, n=7), HFD-low intensity (HFD-LI, n=7, 12 m/min for 75 min), HFD-moderate intensity (HFD-MI, n=7, 15 m/min for 60 min), and HFD-high intensity (HFD-HI, n=7, 18 m/min for 50 min). The exercise was performed on an animal treadmill. The expression of the nNOS protein in the hippocampus was significantly higher in the HFD group as compared with that in the CON group (p<0.01). However, there was no difference in the hippocampal expression of the nNOS protein in the other exercise groups as compared with that in the CON group. In contrast, nNOS expression in the HFD-HI group was significantly lower than that in the HFD-LI group (p<0.05). The expression of phosphorylated Akt (pAkt) was significantly higher in all the exercise groups as compared with that in the CON and HFD groups. There was no difference in the expression of pAkt in the cerebral cortex among groups, and the expression of pAkt in the cerebellum was significantly higher in the HFD-HI group as compared with that in the CON group (p<0.05). There were also no between-group differences in pAkt expression in the cerebellum among the various exercise groups. In conclusion, nNOS seems to be overexpressed in response to obesity, and it appears to be downregulated by exercise. Relatively high-intensity exercise may be effective in improving brain function by downregulating nNOS.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.478-484
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• 2018

A soybean cultivar "Chamol" for double cropping for use as soy-paste and tofu was developed using a pedigree method in 2011 as a cross between "Shinpaldal2" and "Keunol." A promising line, SS99502-2B-89-1-3-4-1-1, was selected and designated as "Milyang210". It was promising and showed good results from regional yield trials (RYTs) for 3 years from 2009 to 2011 and released with the name "Chamol." It has a determinate growth habit, white flowers, gray pubescence, yellow seed coat, yellow hilum, spherical seed shape, and large seeds (27.7 g per 100 seeds). The maturity date of "Chamol" was September 18 (100 day growing period) in RYT and it is suitable for double cropping with winter crops such as onion. "Chamol" was resistant to bacterial pustule and soybean mosaic virus and tolerant to lodging in fields. Furthermore, the average yield of "Chamol" was 2.51 ton/ha in the regional yield trials conducted for 3 years from 2009 to 2011.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.616-642
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• 2021

Improving public awareness of wood is essential for achieving the goal of establishing wood culture by expanding the use of wood. This study presents a basic examination of the strategy of revitalizing wood culture and a survey of its current status and requirements. The survey was divided into seven categories: awareness of wood culture; use characteristics of wood culture; preference and demand for wood culture; awareness of sub-fields of wood culture; awareness of the cultural resources of wood; trends of wood utilization; and wood-related living environment. Based on the survey results, the study analyzed four items: awareness of wood and cultural experience; awareness of the cultural resources of wood; wood-related living environment and trends of wood utilization; and preference and demand for wood culture. In this study, the public awareness of wood and cultural experiences, the first of four items, was analyzed using the survey results. Generally, wood and wood culture are viewed as materials and a cultural heritage, respectively. Moreover, wood is ecofriendly. However, no substantial difference was observed between the two perceptions. Forty-five percent of the respondents reported that using wood exerts a positive effect on the body and mind. However, such use also destroys forests. Additionally, the recognition of wood-related workers, such as engineers or skilled workers, was relatively low compared with educators, such as wood education experts. Moreover, less than 50% of the respondents answered that major projects related to wood culture are well-known, whereas 30% participated in wood education, such as woodworking experience, where the majority required hand tools. Furniture, wooden accessories, and wooden buildings were among the objects that individuals intended to make through the wood culture program. Approximately 23% of the respondents were aware about the wood culture experience center, while approximately 50% had visited it. The response rate to woodworking technology was 73%, where the highest response was found for wood education experts. To improve public awareness about wood, the importance of entertainment factors over educational factors should be considered in the experience of individuals. To provide opportunities to experience wood culture for more individuals, developing and actively promoting various contents, including entertainment elements, are necessary.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.33-41
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• 2021

This study identified the scale that traditional landscape design has taken up by analyzing a total of 1037 services for design of cultural heritage that had been ordered by the government agencies from 2018 to 2020, and has drawn characteristics of traditional landscape design focusing on major cases. The results are as follows. First, the number of order cases for traditional landscape design has shown differences annually in the services of design of cultural heritage, but the design amount has been found to have the similar average annually, which confirmed that the same level has been maintained each year. It was found that the number of cases of traditional landscape design requiring responsibilities or participations of landscape engineers for 3 years in the entire design had a high proportion of approximately 26%. Second, the traditional landscape design has required professional knowledge and experiences of landscape engineers that could not be replaced by the business operator for design of cultural heritage consisting of architects. The expertise has been shown differently depending on types of construction. First, the topographical design for the work to build a foundation has required understanding of ground shapes and its elevations and professional knowledge on calculation of the amount of the earth work and the remains maintenance technique etc. The plantation design has required basic knowledge on growth characteristics of trees and the environment for growth and understanding of the vegetation landscape of the past. Meanwhile, the design for traditional pavement and traditional landscape structures and facilities has required the expertise on traditional materials that are different from the modern ones and their processing and construction methods. The understanding of changes to water paths and ecosystem, the principles of fluids, and characteristics of each type of fluid was essential for the design for the ecological landscape work including the maintenance of a water system such as rivers etc. As such, the traditional landscape design has a scale accounting for approximately one fourth of the entire cultural heritage design and requires the expertise differentiated from other fields. This improves the provisions of the current law on limiting the actual design, suggesting the need for the establishment of a traditional landscape design company so that all traditional landscape designs can be carried out by landscape engineers.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.168-191
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• 2021

This article examines the shape, iconography, and creation date of the Four Buddhist Heavenly Kings (Sacheonwang 四天王) enshrined in the Heavenly Kings' Gate (Cheonwangmun 天王門) of Hoeamsa in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province during the early Joseon Dynasty. First, small fragments of clay decoration excavated from a fourth-platform gate site of the Hoeamsa Temple Site in Yangju Gyeonggi Province were analyzed and compared to other Four Heavenly Kings enshrined in the (Cheonwangmun gates) during the Joseon Dynasty. In addition, the size and shape of the gate were compared to other Cheonwangmun gates constructed during the Joseon Dynasty. Results revealed that the excavated fragments were part of the armor of Sacheonwang, and the clay-standing statues enshrined in the fourth-platform gate of Hoeamsa Temple would be proportional in size to those of Beopjusa Temple in Boeum, South Chungcheong Province. The flame-type pieces, which decorated the Heavenly King's crown in the Joseon Dynasty, and the rectangular-type pieces were not found in artifacts from the Goryeo Dynasty. Therefore, the Sacheonwang sculptures of the Hoeamsa Temple were likely made in the late 15th century in the early Joseon Dynasty. A detailed iconography of the Sacheonwang of Hoeamsa is presumedly based on the Buddhist paintings and illustrations of Buddhist scriptures (Gyeongbyeonsangdo 經變相圖)from the late Goryeo and early Joseon. During the late Goryeo Dynasty and early Joseon Dynasty, Traditional iconography from Goryeo and new iconography from Ming coexisted. However, in the late 15th century, the Sacheonwang statues of the early Joseon Dynasty had many different elements from those of the Goryeo Dynasty and were similar to those enshrined in Cheonwangmun Gate during the Joseon Dynasty. The Four Heavenly Kings of Hoeamsa Temple, believed to have been produced in the late 15th century, has historical significance in the following points. They were the first Joseon Sacheonwang statues example enshrined in the Cheonwangmun gate. In addition, they were established as a new tradition that influenced the iconography of the Four Heavenly Kings during the Joseon Dynasty.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.61-75
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• 2021

Recently, as the occurrence frequency of sudden floods due to climate change increased and the aging of the existing spillway, it is necessary to establish a plan to utilize an auxiliary spillway to minimize the flood damage of downstream rivers. Most studies have been conducted on the review of flow characteristics according to the operation of auxiliary spillway through the hydraulic experiments and numerical modeling. However, the studies on examination of flood damage in the downstream rivers and the stability of the revetment according to the operation of the auxiliary spillway were relatively insufficient in the literature. In this study, the stability of the revetment on the downstream river according to the outflow conditions of the existing and auxiliary spillway was examined by using 3D numerical model, FLOW-3D. The velocity, water surface elevation and shear stress results of FLOW-3D were compared with the permissible velocity and shear stress of design criteria. It was assumed the sluice gate was fully opened. As a result of numerical simulations of various auxiliary spillway operations during flood season, the single operation of the auxiliary spillway showed the reduction effect of maximum velocity and the water surface elevation compared with the single operation of the existing spillway. The stability of the revetment on downstream was satisfied under the condition of outflow less than 45% of the design flood discharge. However, the potential overtopping damage was confirmed in the case of exceeding the 45% of the design flood discharge. Therefore, the simultaneous operation with the existing spillway was important to ensure the stability on design flood discharge condition. As a result of examining the allocation ratio and the total allowable outflow, the reduction effect of maximum velocity was confirmed on the condition, where the amount of outflow on auxiliary spillway was more than that on existing spillway. It is because the flow of downstream rivers was concentrated in the center due to the outflow of existing spillway. The permissible velocity and shear stress were satisfied under the condition of less than 77% of the design flood discharge with simultaneous operation. It was found that the flood damage of downstream rivers can be minimized by setting the amount allocated to the auxiliary spillway to be larger than the amount allocated to the existing spillway for the total outflow with simultaneous operation condition. However, this study only reviewed the flow characteristics around the revetment according to the outflow of spillway under the full opening of the sluice gate condition. Therefore, the various sluice opening conditions and outflow scenarios will be asked to derive more efficient utilization of the auxiliary spillway in th future.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.46-54
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• 2021

The biological activities of non-edible extracts of asparagus stems and roots were investigated using hot water and ethanol. The highest contents of rutin and total polyphenol were 31.74 mg/g and 20.14 mg GAE/g, respectively, in the stem hot water extract. ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging activities were 541.1±21.0 and 649.5±6.6 ㎍/mL, respectively, in stem hot water extract. All extracts were non-cytotoxic in HepG2 cells, but 200 ㎍/mL stem extracts tended to decrease the viability of RAW 264.7 cells. The highest xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity was 43.68% in the root hot water extract at 200 ㎍/mL. The expression level of MMP-9 was significantly decreased in the asparagus extracts. The highest GGT, AST, and LDH activities showed a concentration-dependent decrease in the stem ethanol extract. In conclusion, the presence of bioactive substances in the non-edible extracts of asparagus was confirmed for the development of extracts with antioxidant, hepatoprotective and anti-gout activities.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 2021

Radiographic contrast agents are used for diagnostic purposes and are one of the factors affecting measured values in bone density tests. They are absorbed into tissues and have an effect of increasing the measured values of bone density, so they are avoided as much as possible before performing a bone density test. MRI contrast agents, which have different physical properties and mechanisms of action than radiographic contrast agents, are based on gadolinium, a metal element. They have radiopacity characteristics, so MRI are generally performed prior to examination using radiation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of MRI contrast agents on bone mineral density examination using dual energy X-ray absorption. Two types of gadolinium based MRI contrast agents were injected into an acrylic water tank for each volume, and the humanoid spine phantom was inserted and the BMD and T-score from (L1-L4) were analyzed by scanning a total of 30 times, 5 times for each injection type. The average value of the measured total (L1-L4) bone density for each of the two contrast agents was 0.952±0.052, 0.957±0.050, and 0.956±0.05g/㎠, respectively, for the Gadoterate Meglumine component 0mL, 7.5mL and 15mL, when the gadobutrol components were 0mL, 5mL, and 10mL, there was no statistically significant difference at all sites at 0.953±0.001, 0.954±0.001, and 0.945±0.001g/㎠, respectively(p>0.05). The average value of total T-score was -0.46±0.05, -0.4±0, -0.42±0.04 when the Gadoterate Meglumine component was 0mL, 7.5mL and 15mL, respectively. When the Gadobutrol ingredients were 0mL, 5mL and 10mL, there was no statistically significant difference in all areas, with -0.46±0.05, -0.46±0.05, and 0.5±0.00, respectively. In this experiment, the MRI contrast agent was found to have no effect on bone density tests, using the dual-energy X-ray absorption method. There is a limitation in that physical conditions such as kidney and health conditions etc. were not taken into consideration, so further clinical research is expected to be conducted in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.27-39
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• 2011

The study on Musan twelve peaks of Yongho garden in Jinju, Gyeongnam was anticipated to provide data and implication for reproducing similar spaces and modern changes in terms of design factor since it is the prototype of traditional mount for overcoming monotonous geographical features and intriguing changes and interests. The study analyzed and interpreted the symbolism of twelve peaks, principles of space composition and function and effect of visual construction that were pursued by the builder in terms of landscape view, which results are as following. The center of Yongho garden, Yonghoji(龍虎池) is a typical man-made pond for a supportive feng shui feature. It is a supporting equipment to complete the state of feng shui, and the result of strengthening the completion through the connection with the dragon-related name of the place. The shape of Musan twelve peaks looks like an oval form of Geumseongsan(金星山), 2~3.5m in height and 6~12m in diameter. Peaks are estimated as 1.5~3.7m(2.4m in average) in height, $35{\sim}138m^2$($73.4m^2$ in average) in area, and $30.7{\sim}115.0m^3$($62.5m^3$ in average) in volume. Given that Yonghojeong(龍虎亭), Soseon(小船), the site of main building and Yongsanjae(龍山齋) stand in line, Yonghoji was presumed as the state of enlightenment through ascribing the meaning to virtue and secularity. For the intention of realizing Musan twelve peaks, the builder probably had mounted twelve peaks forming the body of dragons with crossing the point corresponding to a head of tiger, and located Musan twelve peaks and Yonghojeong with a representation of dragons holding Cintamani rising into the sky in the center. The middle area near Musan twelve peaks surrounded by peaks like Geumseongsan running north and south shows a multi-structure of multilayer, maintaining the similarity centering on Yonghoji. It is considered the intention of mount planned at the time of Musan twelve peaks construction, caused by similar form harmony. Internalization of progressive realization through concealment and exposure, enframement effect and spatial order like prospect-refuge theory in the mount of Musan twelve peaks is considered the reflection of the intention to increase depth of the view and expectancy through the various degree of exposure and surroundings of each peak and the colorful combination of viewing and shutting. The "closed view" by Musan twelve peaks creates interesting, vivid and attractive recognition of the view, which is more effective in bringing depth of the view and interests in terms of the geographical design, particularly the area around Yonghoji. Moreover, it was identified that the combination of peaks can be formed resulted from the view configuration concerning the location through multilayer effect reveals an island through the other one when viewed from Yonghojeong.