• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.219-231
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• 2004

The use of air diffuser system to ameliorate the reservoir by breaking stratification is now widespread. This study focuses on the hydrodynamic behavior of bubble plumes, which is the major mechanism of destratification and their combined effect of adjacent plumes on destratification efficiency. By introducing 2-phase Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD) technique, we could suggest the optimal diffuser spacing having optimal destratification efficiency by simply analyzing the complex destratification procedures varying with the seasonal stratification intensity and bubble flow rate. Lab experiments were also carried out to verify CFD model in thermally stratified fresh water which quite differs from former researches using salts. This study showed that the mixing efficiency strongly depends on the spacing of neighboring plumes. When diffuser spacing is lower than 1.5 times the depth, the combined effect is stronger; as Plume Number(PN) is increased, the efficiency is strongly affected by spacing. If the distance is shorter than the depth of water, the efficiency increases linearly in proportion to PN. Otherwise, the efficiency increases non-linearly. These findings suggest that the combined effect should be more quantitatively taken into consideration for design and operation of air-diffuser destratification system, and recommend that the optimal destratification efficiency will be when plume number is 1000 and the spacing between neighboring diffusers is 1.5 times the depth.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.53-64
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• 2009

MIRIS is the main payload of the STSAT-3 (Science and Technology Satellite 3) and the first infrared space telescope for astronomical observation in Korea. MIRIS space observation camera (SOC) covers the observation wavelength from $0.9{\mu}m$ to $2.0{\mu}m$ with a wide field of view $3.67^{\circ}\times3.67^{\circ}$. The PICNIC HgCdTe detector in a cold box is cooled down below 100K by a micro Stirling cooler of which cooling capacity is 220mW at 77K. MIRIS SOC adopts passive cooling technique to chill the telescope below 200 K by pointing to the deep space (3K). The cooling mechanism employs a radiator, a Winston cone baffle, a thermal shield, MLI (Multi Layer Insulation) of 30 layers, and GFRP (Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic) pipe support in the system. Optomechanical analysis was made in order to estimate and compensate possible stresses from the thermal contraction of mounting parts at cryogenic temperatures. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of mechanical structure was also conducted to ensure safety and stability in launching environments and in orbit. MIRIS SOC will mainly perform Galactic plane survey with narrow band filters (Pa $\alpha$ and Pa $\alpha$ continuum) and CIB (Cosmic Infrared Background) observation with wide band filters (I and H) driven by a cryogenic stepping motor.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.423-428
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• 2009

Selenium was investigated using human origin preadipocytes to see whether it possesses preventive or therapeutic effects for obesity. Unveiling the potential of selenium in the reduction of adipogenesis can help predict the therapeutic capabilities of selenium in obesity. In the present study, the molecular mechanism of the inhibition of adipogenesis by selenium was explored to unravel the involvement of the AMP-activated protein kinase. There is emerging evidence that AMPK, a sensor of cellular energy status, is a possible molecular target of controlling adipocyte differentiation on the basis of discovery that AMPK is responsible for the major metabolic responses to exercise, and integration of nutritional and hormonal signals to modulate feeding behavior or energy expenditure in the hypothalamus. Treatment of selenium resulted in inhibition of the adipocyte differentiation process and induction of mature apoptosis in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. We hypothesized that selenium may exert anti-adipogenic potential though modulating AMPK. We have found that selenium significantly activated AMPK and phosphorylated its substrate acetyl-CoA carboxylase ($ACC-serine^{79}$) during the inhibitory process of adipocytes. Also, the inhibition process of adipocyte differentiation by selenium was comparable to either reveratrol or a synthetic AMPK activator, AICAR (5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-${\beta}$-D-ribofuranoside). To evaluate the involvement of AMPK in anti-lipogensis, we applied AICAR and Compound C, an AMPK inhibitor, to 3T3-L1-adipocytes and found that AMPK is required for the adipocyte differentiation blocking process. These results suggest that selenium has a potential to control adipogenesis and that this effect is mediated by AMPK, an essential kinase for both inhibition of adipocyte differentiation and apoptosis of mature adipocytes.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.235-241
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• 2011

Although the vegetable Angelica keiskei (AK) has widely been utilized for the purpose of general health improvement among Korean population, its functionalities are not very well defined. In this study, we examined the effects of methanol extract of AK in rats on the biochemical changes induced by two hepatotoxins, D-galactosamine (GalN) and carbon tetrachloride ($CCl_4$). AK was orally administered once daily for 7 days to male rats at 200 and 500 mg/kg, before hepatotoxins. Effects of AK were assessed 24 hr later. AK pretreatments at 200 and 500 mg/kg significantly blunted GalN-induced elevation in liver lipid peroxidation, plasma aspartate-transaminase (AST) and alanine-transaminase (ALT) activities. AK also prevented, after 500 mg/kg but not after 200 mg/kg, the GalN-induced elevation in triglyceride, total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels. Differently from against GalN-induced toxicity, AK did further elevate the $CCl_4$-induced rise in AST, ALT and lipid peroxidation. These results suggest that AK, when pre-administered prior to GalN, exerted protective effects against GalN-induced hepatotoxicity, in contrast however, AK exacerbated that induced by $CCl_4$. To explore possible mechanism for the toxicity-potentiating effects of AK on $CCl_4$, the activity of hepatic drug metabolism after AK treatment was assessed. It was observed that AK increased the activity of aniline hydroxaylase, a cytochrome P450 isoenzyme responsible for metabolic activation of $CCl_4$. This finding suggests that hepatoprotective effects of AK are not equally expected depending on hepatotoxins employed.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.253-257
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• 2013

This study examined the mechanism of action of a local anesthetic, lidocaine HCl. Energy transfer between the surface fluorescent probe, 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonic acid, and the hydrophobic fluorescent probe, 1,3-di(1-pyrenyl) propane, was used to determine the effect of lidocaine HCl on the thickness (D) of the synaptosomal plasma membrane vesicles (SPMV) isolated from the bovine cerebral cortex, and liposomes of the total lipids (SPMVTL) and phospholipids (SPMVPL) extracted from the SPMV. The thickness (D) of the intact SPMV, SPMVTL and SPMVPL were $1.044{\pm}0.008$, $0.914{\pm}0.005$ and $0.890{\pm}0.003$ (arbitrary units, n=5) at $37^{\circ}C$ (pH 7.4), respectively. Lidocaine HCl decreased the thickness of the neuronal and model membrane lipid bilayers in a dose-dependent manner with a significant decrease in the thickness, even at 0.1 mM. The decreasing effect of lidocaine HCl on the membrane thickness might be responsible for some, but not all of its anesthetic action.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.2430-2434
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• 2005

Automatic FPC punching instrument for the improvement of working condition and cost saving is introduced in this paper. FPC(flexible printed circuit) is used to detect the contact position of K/B and button like a cellular phone. Depending on the quality of the printed ink and position of reference punching point to the FPC, the resistance and current are varied to the malfunctioning values. The size of reference punching point is 2mm and the above. Because the punching operation is done manually, the accuracy of the punching degree is varied with operator's condition. Recently, The punching accuracy has deteriorated severely to the 2mm punching reference hall so that assembly of the K/B has hardly done. To improve this manual punching operation to the FPC, automatic FPC punching system is introduced. Precise mechanical parts like a 5-step stepping motor and ball screw mechanism are designed and tested and low cost PC camera is used for the sake of cost down instead of using high quality vision systems for the FA. 3D Mechanical design tool(Pro/E) is used to manage the exact tolerance circumstances and avoid design failures. Simulation is performed to make the complete vision based punching machine before assembly, and this procedure led to the manufacturing cost saving. As the image processing algorithms, dilation, erosion, and threshold calculation is applied to obtain an exact center position from the FPC print marks. These image processing algorithms made the original images having various noises have clean binary pixels which is easy to calculate the center position of print marks. Moment and Least square method are used to calculate the center position of objects. In this development circumstance, Moment method was superior to the Least square one at the calculation of speed and against noise. Main control panel is programmed by Visual C++ and graphical Active X for the whole management of vision based automatic punching machine. Operating modes like manual, calibration, and automatic mode are added to the main control panel for the compensation of bad FPC print conditions and mechanical tolerance occurring in the case of punch and die reassembly. Test algorithms and programs showed good results to the designed automatic punching system and led to the increase of productivity and huge cost down to law material like FPC by avoiding bad quality.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.99-104
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• 2018

Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the major pathogens in community-acquired diseases, and it contains several factors that promote its pathogenesis, including pneumolysin (PLY). PLY is a member of the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin family, which attacks cholesterol-containing membranes, thereby forming ring-shaped pores. Thus, it is a major key target for vaccines against pneumococcal disease. We cloned the PLY gene from S. pneumoniae D39 and inserted it into the pQE-30 vector. Recombinant PLY (rPLY) was overexpressed in Escherichia coli M15 and purified by $Ni^{2+}$ affinity chromatography. Similarly, a PLY-EGFP fusion gene was produced by inserting the EGFP gene at the 3' end of the PLY gene in the same vector, and the recombinant protein was purified. Sodium dodecyl sulfate - polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) showed that both recombinant proteins were purified. rPLY exhibited significant hemolytic activity against 1% human red blood cells (RBCs). Complete hemolysis was obtained at 500 ng/ml, and 50% hemolysis was found with a 240 ng/ml concentration. In contrast, rPLY-EGFP did not show hemolytic activity. However, rPLY-EGFP did bind the RBC membrane, indicating that rPLY-EGFP lost hemolytic activity via EGFP fusion, while retaining its membrane-binding ability. These data suggest that PLY's C terminus is important for its hemolytic activity. Therefore, these two recombinant proteins can be extremely useful for investigating the toxin mechanism of PLY and cell damage during pneumonia.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.483-488
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• 1998

We previously found that a potent gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist, buserelin, decreases GnRH promoter activity together with GnRH mRNA level, providing evidence for an autoregulatory mechanism operating at the level of GnRH gene transcription in immortalized GT1-1 neuronal cells. To examine whether agonist-induced decrease in GnRH mRNA level requires the continuous presence of buserelin, we performed a pulse-chase experiment of buserelin treatment. Short-term exposure (15 min) of GT1-1 neuronal cells to buserelin ($10{\mu}M$) was able to decrease GnRH mRNA levels when determined 24 h later. When GT1-1 cells were treated with buserelin ( $10{\mu}M$) for 30 min and then incubated for 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h after buserelin removal, a significant decrease in GnRH mRNA levels was observed after the 12 h incubation period. These data indicate that inhibitory signaling upon buserelin treatment may occur rapidly, but requires a long time (at least 12 h) to significantly decrease the GnRH mRNA level. To examine the possible involvement of de novo synthesis and/or mRNA stability in buserelin-induced decrease in GnRH gene expression, actinomycin D ($5{\mu}m/ml$), a potent RNA synthesis blocker, was co-treated with buserelin. Actinomycin D alone failed to alter basal GnRH mRNA Revel, but blocked the buserelin-induced decrease in GnRH mRNA level at 12 h of post-treatment. These data suggest that buserelin may exert its inhibitory action by altering the stability of GnRH mRNA. Moreover, a polvsomal RNA separation by sucrose gradient centrifugation demonstrated that buserelin decreased the translational efficiency of the transcribed GnRH mRNA. Taken together, these results clearly indicate that GnRH agonist buserelin acts as an inhibitory signal at multiple levels such as transcription mRNA stability, and translation.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.87-98
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• 2005

The purpose of present study was to investigate the effects of physiologically active compound (SD62-122) from Phlomidis Radix on the cell cycle progression and its molecular mechanism in human gingival fibroblasts(HGFs). For this purpose, fibroblasts were isolated and cultured from excisioned gingiva during crown lengthening procedure in healthy adult. The following parameter were evaluated that there are cell number counting, MIT assay, cell cycle progression, western blot analysis. The cell number and MIT assay of primary cultured fibroblast was not increased at 2 days but significant increased compare to negative control at 3days(p<0.05). S phase was increased and G1 phase decreased in both $10^{-8}M$ and $10^{-9}M$ of SD62-122 in cell cycle analysis. The cell cycle regulation protein levels of Cyclin $D_1$, Cyclin E, cdk 2, cdk 4 and cdk 6 were increased compare to control in both $10^{-8}M$ and $10^{-9}M$ of SD62-122. The protein levels of p21 and p53 were decreased compare to control, but the level of pRb was not changed compare to control in $10^{-9}M$ of SD2-122. These results suggested that physiologically active compound (SD62-122) isolated from Phlomidis Radix increases the cell proliferation and cell cycle progression in HGFs, which is linked to increased cell cycle regulation protein levels of Cyclin $D_1$, Cyclin E, cdk 2, cdk 4 and cdk 6, and decreased the levels of p21, p53.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Resources Recycling Conference
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• 2004.12a
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• pp.3-11
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• 2004

The power loss analysis was carried out for Ni-Cu-Zn ferrite samples with different content of NiO and ZnO. The power loss, Pcv decreases monotonically wi increasing temperature and attains to a certain value at around $100\~120$ degrees Celsius. The frequency dependence of Pcv can be explained by $Pcv\~f^n$', and n is independent of the frequency, f up to 1MHz. The Pcv decreases with an increase in ZnO/NiO. The Pcv was separated to hysteresis loss, Ph and residual loss, (Pcv-Ph). The temperature characteristics and compositional dependence of Pcv can be attributed to the Ph, while (Pcv-Ph) is not affected by both temperature and ZnO/NiO. By analyzing temperature and composition dependence of Ph and initial permeability, ${\mu}^i$ following equations could be formularized. $${\mu}_i{\mu}o=I_x\;^2/(K_1+bs_ol_s)\;\;\;\;(1)$$ $Wh=13.5(I_s\;^2/{\mu}_i{\mu}_o)\;\;\;\;(2)$$ Were ${\mu}_o$ is permeability of vacuum, $I_s$ saturation magnetization, $K_1$ anisotropy constant, $S_o$ internal heterogeneous stress, $I_s$, magnetostriction constant, b unknown constant. Wh hysteresis loss per one cycle of excitation (Ph: Wh*f). Steinmetz constant of Ni-Cu-Zn ferrites, $m=1.64\~2.2$ is smaller than the one of Mn-Zn ferrites, which suggests the difference of loss mechanism between these materials.