• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.5 s.85
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• pp.678-686
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• 2007

Human mesenchymal stem cells(hMSC), that have been reported to be present in bone marrow, adipose tissues, dermis, muscles and peripheral blood, have the potential to differentiate along different lineages including those forming bone, cartilage, fat, muscle and neuron. Therefore, hMSC are attractive candidates for cell and gene therapy. The optimal conditions for hMSC expansion require medium supplemented with fetal bovine serum(FBS). Some forms of cell therapy will involve multiple doses, raising a concern over immunological reactions caused by medium-derived FBS proteins. Previously, we have shown that hADSC can be cultured in human serum(HS) during their isolation and expansion, and that they maintain their proliferative capacity and ability for multilineage differentiation and promote engraftment of peripheral blood-derived CD34 cells mobilized from bone marrow in NOD/SCID mice. In this study we determined whether hADSC grown in HS maintain surface markers expression similar with cells grown in FBS during culture expansion and compared gene expression profile by Affymetrix microarray. Flow cytometry analysis showed that HLA-DR, CD117, CD29 and CD44 expression in HS-cultured hADSC during culture expansion were similar with that in FBS-cultured cells. However, the gene expression profile in HS-cultured hADSC was significantly different from that in FBS-cultured cells. Therefore, these data indicated that HS-cultured hADSC should be used in vivo animal study of hADSC transplantation for direct extrapolation of preclinical data into clinical application.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.197-206
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• 2013

The present study investigated whether leukemia-maintaining cells reside in a differentiation-resistant fraction using a megakaryocytic differentiation model of K562 cells. Treatment with phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA) significantly inhibited the colony-forming efficiency of the K562 cells. At a PMA concentration of 1 nM or higher, colony was not formed, but approximately 40% of K562 cells still survived in soft agar. Approximately 70% of colony-forming cells that were isolated following the removal of PMA after exposure to the agent were differentiated after treatment with 10 nM PMA for 3 days. The differentiation rate of the colony-forming cells was gradually increased and reached about 90% 6 weeks after colony isolation, which was comparable to the level of a PMA-treated K562 control. Meanwhile, imatinib-resistant variants from the K562 cells, including K562/R1, K562/R2, and K562/R3 cells, did not show any colony-forming activity, and most imatinib-resistant variants were CD44 positive. After 4 months of culture in drug-free medium, the surface level of CD44 was decreased in comparison with primary imatinib-resistant variants, and a few colonies were formed from K562/R3 cells. In these cells, Bcr-Abl, which was lost in the imatinib-resistant variants, was re-expressed, and the original phenotypes of the K562 cells were partially recovered. These results suggest that leukemia-maintaining cells might reside in a differentiation-resistant population. Differentiation therapy to eliminate leukemia-maintaining cells could be a successful treatment for leukemia if the leukemia-maintaining cells were exposed to a differentiation inducer for a long time and at a high dose.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.29-38
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• 2015

The Energy Storage System stores electricity for later use. This system can store electricity from legacy electric power systems or renewable energy systems into a battery device when demand is low. When there is high electricity demand, it uses the electricity previously stored and enables efficient energy usage and stable operation of the electric power system. It increases the energy usage efficiency, stabilizes the power supply system, and increases the utilization of renewable energy. The recent increase in the global interest for efficient energy consumption has increased the need for an energy storage system that can satisfy both the consumers' demand for stable power supply and the suppliers' demand for power demand normalization. In general, an energy storage system consists of a Power Conditioning System, a Battery Management System, a battery cell and peripheral devices. The specifications of the subsystems that form the energy storage system are manufacturer dependent. Since the core component interfaces are not standardized, there are difficulties in forming and operating the energy storage system. In this paper, the design of the profile structure for energy storage system and realization of private profiling system for energy storage system is presented. The profiling system accommodates diverse component settings that are manufacturer dependent and information needed for effective operation. The settings and operation information of various PCSs, BMSs, battery cells, and other peripheral device are analyzed to define profile specification and structure. A profile adapter software that can be applied to energy storage system is designed and implemented. The profiles for energy storage system generated by the profile authoring tool consist of a settings profile and operation profile. Setting profile consists of configuration information for energy device what composes energy saving system. To be more specific, setting profile has three parts of category as information for electric control module, sub system, and interface for communication between electric devices. Operation profile includes information in relation to the method in which controls Energy Storage system. The profiles are based on standard XML specification to accommodate future extensions. The profile system has been verified by applying it to an energy storage system and testing charge and discharge operations.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.325-331
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• 2015

Skin is exposed to sunlight or artificial indoor light on a daily. The reached solar light on the earth surface consist of 50% visible light and 45% infrared (IR) except for ultra violet (UV). The negative effects of UV including UVB and UVA have been steadily investigated within the last decades. However, little is known about the effects of visible or IR light. In this study, we irradiated human dermal fibroblasts using light emitting diode (LED) to investigate the optimal parameter for enhancing cell growth and collagen synthesis. We found that red of 630 nm and green of 520 nm enhance the cell proliferation, but irradiation with purple and blue light exerts toxic effects. To examine the response of irradiation time and light intensity on the fibroblasts, cells were exposed to red or green light with intensities from 0.05 to $0.75mW/cm^2$. Procollagen secretion was increased of 1.4 fold by 10 min irradiation, while 30 min treatment decreased the collagen synthesis of dermal fibroblasts. Treatment with red of $0.3mW/cm^2$ and green of 0.15 and $0.3mW/cm^2$ resulted in enhancement of collagen mRNA. Lastly, we investigated the combinatorial effect of red and green light on dermal fibroblasts. The sequential irradiation of red and green light is an efficient way for the purpose of the increase in the number of fibroblasts than single light treatment. On the other hand, the exposure of red light alone was more effective method for enhancing of collagen secretion. Our study showed that specific light parameters accelerated cell proliferation, gene expression and collagen secretion on human dermal fibroblasts. In conclusion, we demonstrate that light exposure with specific parameter has beneficial effects on the function of dermal fibroblasts, and suggests the possibility of its cosmetically and clinical application.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.848-857
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• 2018

Recently, around the world, active development of new renewable energy sources including solar power, waves, and fuel cells, etc. has taken place. Particularly, floating offshore wind farms have been developed for saving costs through large scale production, using high-quality wind power and minimizing noise damage in the ocean area. The development of floating wind farms requires an evaluation of the Maritime Safety Audit Scheme under the Maritime Safety Act in Korea. Floating wind farms shall be assessed by applying the line and area concept for systematic development, management and utilization of specified sea water. The development of appropriate evaluation methods and standards is also required. In this study, proper standards for marine traffic surveys and assessments were established and a systemic treatment was studied for assessing marine spatial area. First, a marine traffic data collector using AIS or radar was designed to conduct marine traffic surveys. In addition, assessment methods were proposed such as historical tracks, traffic density and marine traffic pattern analysis applying the line and area concept. Marine traffic density can be evaluated by spatial and temporal means, with an adjusted grid-cell scale. Marine traffic pattern analysis was proposed for assessing ship movement patterns for transit or work in sea areas. Finally, conceptual design of a Marine Traffic and Safety Assessment Solution (MaTSAS) was competed that can be analyzed automatically to collect and assess the marine traffic data. It could be possible to minimize inaccurate estimation due to human errors such as data omission or misprints through automated and systematic collection, analysis and retrieval of marine traffic data. This study could provides reliable assessment results, reflecting the line and area concept, according to sea area usage.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.283-295
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• 2011

Many actions against climate change have been taken to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions at home and abroad. As of 2007, the GHGs emitted from buildings accounted for about 23 % of Korea's total GHGs emission, which is the second largest GHG reduction potential following industry. In this study, we introduced Carbon Zero Building (CZB), which was constructed by the National Institute of Environmental Research to cut down GHGs from buildings in Korea, and evaluated the main applied technologies, the amount of energy load and reduced energy, and economic values for CZB to provide data that could be a basis in the future construction of this kind of carbon-neutral buildings. A total of 66 technologies were applied for this building in order to achieve carbon zero emissions. Applied technologies include 30 energy consumption reduction technologies, 18 energy efficiency technologies, and 5 eco-friendly technologies. Out of total annual energy load ($123.8kWh/m^2$), about 40% of energy load ($49kWh/m^2$) was reduced by using passive technologies such as super insulation and use of high efficiency equipments and the other 60% ($74.8kWh/m^2$) was reduced by using active technologies such as solar voltaic, solar thermal, and geothermal energy. The construction cost of CZB was 1.4 times higher than ordinary buildings. However, if active technologies are excluded, the construction cost is similar to that of ordinary buildings. It was estimated that we could save annually about 102 million won directly from energy saving and about 2.2 million won indirectly from additional saving by the reduction in GHGs and atmospheric pollutants. In terms of carbon, we could reduce 100 ton of $CO_2$ emissions per year. In our Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis, the Break Even Point (BEP) for the additional construction cost was estimated to be around 20.6 years.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.39-48
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• 2019

This research is based on the analysis of in-depth interviews of designers who participated in the design of the Yeonnam-dong section, which was completed in 2016. The case study site has received many domestic and foreign awards and is receiving very positive reviews from actual users. 53 concepts were derived from the open coding of the ground theory methodology. Thirty-four higher categories incorporated the concepts and 18 higher categories that reintegrated them. Later, the six categories of the ground theory were interpreted as the paradigm, and it was determined that the aspects of 'will of client' and 'work efficiency', 'site resources' and 'field manager's specialty' were the categories that had the greatest positive impact on the park construction. The key category of this park's construction was interpreted as "a park-construction model with active empathy and communication." The results of the study and are linked to the following research proposals. First, the need to improve the trust between the client and the landscape designer and the need to improve the customary administrative procedures; second, the importance of the input of landscape experts into the park construction process; third, the importance of all efforts to develop the design; fourth, the importance of on-site circular resources and landscape preservation; and fifth active social participation to increase the opportunity. This study, which seeks to grasp the facts that existed behind the park's construction, which received excellent internal and external evaluations, and has a qualitative, objective and structural interpretation of the social network related to the park's construction, in contrast to the conventional quantitative post-evaluation. It is expected that the administration and system improvements related to landscaping will be further improved through the continuation of in-depth post-evaluation studies.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.710-718
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• 2021

Placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells (PD-MSCs) are promising candidates for cell-based therapy in regenerative medicine. The migration and homing potential of PD-MSCs to injured sites is a critical property of MSC engraftment. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have recently been shown to regulate the critical functions of MSCs, such as proliferation, survival, and migration. The objective of the present study was to identify the miRNA and target genes involved in PD-MSCs homing in a bile duct ligation (BDL) rat model. We selected candidate miRNAs targeting genes for PD-MSCs homing based on microarray analysis. PD-MSC engraftment in BDL-injured rat liver was identified by immunofluorescence assay and human-specific Alu gene expression by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) one week after transplantation. Compared with migrated naïve PD-MSCs under hypoxic and normoxic conditions (Hyp/Nor), the transplanted group with PD-MSCs (Tx) showed distinct differences in miRNA expressions in BDL-injured rat liver. We also validated the miRNAs and their target genes for PD-MSCs homing. The expressions of integrin α4 (ITGA4) and integrin α5 (ITGA5) target genes for miR-199a-5p and miR-148a-3p were significantly upregulated in the Tx group (p<0.05). In addition, integrin β1 (ITGB1) and integrin β8 (ITGB8) were upregulated by suppressing miR-183-5p and miR-145-5p, respectively. These results demonstrated that PD-MSCs regulate miRNA expression related to the integrin family for their homing effects on the BDL-injured rat liver. The findings further suggest that miRNA-mediated regulation of the integrin family contributes to the therapeutic efficacy of PD-MSCs in the rat hepatic fibrosis model by BDL.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.198-204
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• 2021

This study focused on a two-step process using heterogeneous catalysts to produce biodiesel using Nepalese jatropha oil as a raw material. As a first step, the effect of the repetitive regeneration number of Amberlyst-15 on the esterification reaction of FFA in jatropha oil was investigated. Second, the possibility of a transesterification reaction scale-up using a dolomite bead catalyst was tested. Using 120 kg of jatropha seeds from Nepal, 30 L (27 kg) of jatropha oil was obtained, and the jatropha oil yield from the seeds was about 25.0 wt%. The acid value and FFA content of jatropha oil were measured to be 11.3 mgKOH g^-1 and 5.65%, respectively. As a result of the esterification reaction of jatropha oil using the Amberlyst-15 catalyst in the form of beads, the acid value of the reaction product could be lowered to 0.26 mgKOH g^-1 when the fresh Amberlyst-15 catalyst was used. As the regeneration of the Amberlyst-15 catalyst is repeated, the catalyst has been deactivated, and the esterification reaction performance has deteriorated. The cause of the deactivation seems to be due to the catalyst being broken and impurities being deposited. It was confirmed that the Amberlyst-15 catalyst could be reused up to 5 times for the esterification reaction of jatropha oil. In the second step, the transesterification reaction, a dolomite catalyst, was mass-produced and used in the form of beads. By transesterifying the pretreated jatropha oil in a spinning catalyst basket reactor equipped with 90 g of dolomite bead catalyst, 89.1 wt% of biodiesel yield was obtained in 2 hours after the start of the reaction, which was similar to the transesterification of soybean oil under the same conditions.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.21-31
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• 2024

Macromia daimoji Okumura, 1949 was designated as an endangered species and also categorized as Class II Endangered wildlife on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List in Korea. The spatial distribution of this species ranged within a region delimited by northern latitude from Sacheon-si(35.1°) to Yeoncheon-gun(38.0°) and eastern longitude from Yeoncheon-gun(126.8°) to Yangsan-si(128.9°). They generally prefer microhabitats such as slowly flowing littoral zones of streams, alluvial stream islands and temporarily formed puddles in the sand-based lowland streams. The objectives of this study were to analyze the similarity of benthic macroinvertebrate communities in M. daimoji habitats, to predict the current potential distribution patterns as well as the changes of distribution ranges under global climate change circumstances. Data was collected both from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and by field surveys from April 2009 to September 2022. We adopted MaxEnt model to predict the current and future potential distribution for M. daimoji using downloaded 19 variables from the WorldClim database. The differences of benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in the mainstream of Nakdonggang were smaller than those in its tributaries and the other streams, based on the surrounding environments and stream sizes. MaxEnt model presented that potential distribution displayed high inhabiting probability in Nakdonggang and its tributaries. Applying to the future scenarios by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), SSP1 scenario was predicted to expand in a wide area and SSP5 scenario in a narrow area, comparing with current potential distribution. M. daimoji is not only directly threatened by physical disturbances (e.g. river development activities) but also vulnerable to rapidly changing climate circumstances. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the habitat environments and establish conservation strategies for preserving population of M. daimoji.