• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.147-153
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• 2015

Various adverse effects can occur due to direct exposure from toxic substances when toxic materials are used to restore river ecosystems. Thus, this study performed analysis on the development of toxicity in terms of survival and abnormality rates using embryos of Bombina orientalis living in Korea to analyze the toxicity of materials used in the river projects. The results showed that the toxicity in cement (C group) was the strongest whereas the toxicity in plant-based polyurethane (P1 group) was the weakest. Survival rates of B. orientalis embryos were 100%, 94 - 95%, 66 - 89% and 0% in control, P1, polyurethane (P2) and C groups, respectively. Abnormalities of embryos were 10.5%, 5.3 - 10.5%, 26.3 - 27.8% and 35.7% in control, P1, P2 and C groups, respectively. Furthermore, we verified that having a sufficient curing time reduced toxic substances that were extracted. The above result suggest that cement and polyurethane hamper the early development of amphibians. In conclusion, it is highly important to review biological safety with respect to the selection of materials used to restore rivers. This study shows the importance of the selection of eco-friendly materials and processes.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.75-87
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• 2014

This study describes about the spatio-temporal distributions in phytoplankton community such as species composition, standing crop and dominant species from May 2006 to February 2007 in the Jangsu bay and the northwestern parts of Gamak bay. Based on the principal component analysis (PCA) of the environmental factors as well as biological parameters, the bio-oceanographical characteristics were analysed. A total of 83 species of phytoplankton belonging to 47 genera were identified. Whereas diatoms and dinoflagellates occupied more than 65% and 30% of total species, respectively. The annual dominant species were Chaetoceros affinis, Paralia sulcata and Bacillaria paxillifera in spring, Chaetoceros didymus, Ch. affinis and Octactis octonaria in summer, Skeletonema costatum-like species and B. paxillifera in autumn. Moreover phytoplankton cell density was ranged between 3.1 $cells{\cdot}mL^{-1}$ in spring and 521.0 $cells{\cdot}mL^{-1}$ in winter. It fluctuated with an annual mean of 76.0 $cells{\cdot}mL^{-1}$ between the lowest value of 7.6 $cells{\cdot}mL^{-1}$ in spring and the highest value of 220.2 $cells{\cdot}mL^{-1}$ by Skeletonema costatum-like species in winter. Briefly, the phytoplankton cell density in the mixing seasons was higher in comparison with the other seasons. According to the PCA, the biological oceanographic characteristics of the Jangsu bay was affected by the introduction of outside seawater particularly in temperature increasing seasons, and the other seasons, it may be described the light intensity, and mix between inner and outer bay sea waters.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.313-318
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• 2016

Purpose: This study measured and analyzed the PTO (power take off) torque of a transplanter according to the planting conditions during field operation. Methods: A torque measurement system was constructed with torque sensors to measure the torque of a PTO shaft, a measurement device to acquire sensor signals, and a power controller to provide power for a laptop computer. The field operation was conducted at four planting distances (26, 35, 43, and 80 cm) and two planting depths using the transplanter on a field with similar soil conditions. One-way ANOVA with planting distance and Duncan's multiple range test at a significance level of 0.05 were used to analyze the PTO torque. The torque ratio was calculated based on the minimum torque using the average PTO torque measured under each planting condition. Results: The average torques on the PTO shaft for planting distances of 26, 35, 43, and 80 cm at a low planting depth were 11.05, 9.07, 7.04, and 3.75 Nm, respectively; the same for planting distances of 26, 35, 43, and 80 cm at a middle planting depth were 12.20, 9.86, 7.94, and 4.32 Nm, respectively. When the planting distance decreased by 43, 35, and 26 cm, the torque ratio at a low planting depth increased by 88, 142, and 195%, respectively. When the planting distance decreased by 43, 35, and 26 cm, the torque ratio at the middle planting depth increased by 84, 128, and 182%, respectively. Conclusions: PTO torque fluctuated by planting distance and depth. Moreover, the PTO torque increased for short planting distances. Therefore, farmers should determine the planting conditions of the transplanter by considering the load and durability of the machine. The results of this study provide useful information pertaining to the optimum PTO design of the transplanter considering the field load.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.46 no.9
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• pp.712-722
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• 2018

This paper conducts parametric studies on flapping wing design, one of the most important design parameters of insect-mimicking aerial vehicles. Experimental study on wing shape was done through comparison and analysis of thrust, pitching moment, power consumption, and thrust-to-power ratio. A two-axis balance and hall sensor measure force and moment, and flapping frequency, respectively. Wing configuration is biplane configuration which can develop clap and fling effect. A reference wing shape is a simplified dragonfly's wing and studies on aspect ratio and wing area were implemented. As a result, thrust, pitching moment, and power consumption tend to increase as aspect ratio and area increase. Also, it is found that the flapping mechanism was not normally operated when the main wing has an aspect ratio or area more than each certain value. Finally, the wing shape is determined by comparing thrust-to-power ratio of all wings satisfying the required minimum thrust. However, the stability is not secured due to moment generated by disaccord between thrust line and center of gravity. To cope with this, aerodynamic dampers are used at the top and bottom of the fuselage; then, indoor flight test was attempted for indirect performance verification of the parametric study of the main wing.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.3-10
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• 2017

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Sargassum horneri is an edible brown alga that grows in the subtidal zone as an annual species along the coasts of South Korea, China, and Japan. Recently, an extreme amount of S. horneri moved into the coasts of Jeju Island from the east coast of China, which made huge economic and environmental loss to the Jeju Island. Thus, utilization of this biomass becomes a big issue with the local authorities. Therefore, the present study was performed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory potential of crude polysaccharides (CPs) extracted from S. horneri China strain in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. MATERIALS/METHODS: CPs were precipitated from S. horneri digests prepared by enzyme assistant extraction using four food-grade enzymes (AMG, Celluclast, Viscozyme, and Alcalase). The production levels of nitric oxide (NO) and pro-inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$ and interleukin (IL)-$1{\beta}$ were measured by Griess assay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. The levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), nuclear factor (NF)-${\kappa}B$, and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) were measured by using western blot. The IR spectrums of the CPs were recorded using a fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectrometer. RESULTS: The polysaccharides from the Celluclast enzyme digest (CCP) showed the highest inhibition of NO production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells ($IC_{50}$ value: $95.7{\mu}g/mL$). Also, CCP dose-dependently down-regulated the protein expression levels of iNOS and COX-2 as well as the production of inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-$1{\beta}$, compared to the only LPS-treated cells. In addition, CCP inhibited the activation of NF-${\kappa}B$ p50 and p65 and the phosphorylation of MAPKs, including p38 and extracellular signal-regulated kinase, in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Furthermore, FT-IR analysis showed that the FT-IR spectrum of CCP is similar to that of commercial fucoidan. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that CCP has anti-inflammatory activities and is a potential candidate for the formulation of a functional food ingredient or/and drug to treat inflammatory diseases.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.4125-4130
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• 2015

This paper presents the communication performance for the radiation pattern reconfigurable antenna in the wearable device measuring bio signal (temperature, blood pressure, pulse etc.) of human body. The operational frequency is 2.4 - 2.5 GHz, which covers Bluetooth communication bandwidth. The maximum gain of the antennas is 1.96 dBi. The proposed antenna is efficiently transmitting and receiving signal by generating two opposite beam directions using two RF switches (PIN diode). Also, we investigated how radiation pattern changes according to three angles ($30^{\circ}$, $90^{\circ}$, $150^{\circ}$) of Top Loading. In this paper, we measured and compared the SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) and BER (Bit Error Rate) performances of the proposed antennas in the condition between an ideal environment of anechoic chamber and smart house existing practical electromagnetic interferences (Universal Software Radio Peripheral, USRP). Throughout the comparing the results of the measurement of two cases, we found that the SNR is degraded over 5dB in average and BER is increased over ten times in maximum, therefore, it is confirmed that the error rate of receiving signal is increased. The measured results of SNR and BER value in this paper able to expect the performance degrading by the interference from the electromagnetic devices.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.4021-4030
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• 2015

Pulse wave is the physiological responses through the autonomic nervous system such as ECG. It is relatively convenient because it can measure the signal just by applying a sensor on a finger. So, it can be usefully employed in the field of U-Healthcare. The objects of this study are acquiring the PPG (Photoplethysmography) one of the way of measuring the pulse waves in non-invasive way using the CMOS image sensor on a smartphone camera, developing the portable system judging stressful or not, and confirming the applicability in the field of u-Healthcare. PPG was acquired by using image data from smartphone camera without separate sensors and analyzed. Also, with that image signal data, HRV (Heart Rate Variability) and stress index were offered users by just using smartphone without separate host equipment. In addition, the reliability and accuracy of acquired data were improved by developing additional hardware device. From these experiments, we can confirm that measuring heart rate through the PPG, and the stress index for analysis the stress degree using the image of a smartphone camera are possible. In this study, we used a smartphone camera, not commercialized product or standardized sensor, so it has low resolution than those of using commercialized external sensor. However, despite this disadvantage, it can be usefully employed as the u-Healthcare device because it can obtain the promising data by developing additional external device for improvement reliability of result and optimization algorithm.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.323-335
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• 2015

Mobile healthcare is a fusion of information technology and biotechnology and is a new type of health management service to keep people's health at anytime and anywhere without regard to time and space. The WBAN(Wireless Body Area Network) technology that collects bio signals and the data analysis and monitoring technology using mobile devices are essential for serving mobile healthcare. WBAN consisting of users with mobile devices meet another WBAN during movement, WBANs transmit data to the other media. Because of WBAN conflict, several nodes transmit data in same time slot so a collision will occur, resulting in the data transmission being failed and need more energy for re-transmission. In this thesis, we proposed a MAC protocol for WBAN with mobility to solve these problems. First, we proposed a superframe structure for WBAN. The proposed superframe consists of a TDMA(Time Division Muliple Access) based contention access phase with which a node can transmit data in its own time slot and a contention phase using CSMA/CA algorithm. Second, we proposed a network merging algorithm for conflicting WBAN based on the proposed MAC protocol. When a WBAN with mobility conflicts with other WBAN, data frame collision is reduced through network reestablishment. Simulations are performed using a Castalia based on the OMNeT++ network simulation framework to estimate the performance of the proposed superframe and algorithms. We estimated the performance of WBAN based on the proposed MAC protocol by comparing the performance of the WBAN based on IEEE 802.15.6. Performance evaluation results show that the packet transmission success rate and energy efficiency are improved by reducing the probability of collision using the proposed MAC protocol.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.146-151
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• 2010

A total of 167,955 microorganisms were isolated from 366,661 clinical specimens. Among them, 6,517 strains of the Candida spp. were isolated from the department of laboratory medicine in "C" hospital from Jan. 1, 2005 to Dec. 31, 2009. All clinical specimens were reviewed by the medical records of patients with Candida by the method of retrospectiveness. From this, we got the some isolated pure cultured yeasts. We identified these yeast by the identification kit system of VITEKII and VITEKII-ID-YST card. The isolation frequencies of Candida spp. were as follows. 56.4%,of C. albicans, 17.7% C tropicalis, 10.7% C glabrata and 9.5% C parapsilosis. The isolated frequency of Candida spp. in 2009 was 1.9 times higher than that in 2005. The clinical materials showing over 10.0% isolation rate were in sputum (30.1%), random urine (25.0%), 15.8% blood (15.8%) and catheterized urine (13.5%) in Candida spp.. The clinical department of showing over 7.0% isolation rate were in pulmonary medicine (20.5%), renal medicine (11.0%), infection disease medicine (10.4%), critical care medicine (10.0%), hematooncology (9.6%), general surgery (7.5%) and gastrointestinal medicine (7.4%) in Candida spp.. In monthly analysis, Candida spp. were most friquency isolated in July (10.6%), but lowest one in February (6.1%). Candida spp. were most frequently isolated in patient of over 50 years old (16.7-40.1%) than those isolated from the patients under the age of 0-49 (1.3-7.5%).

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.255-261
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• 2005

A 6.7kb DNA fragment containing the sprT gene encoding Streptomyces griseus trypsin (SGT) was cloned from Streptomyces griseus ATCC 10137, and the complete nucleotide sequence was determined. Nucleotide sequence and deduced amino acid or the EcoRI-HindIII fragment revealed the presence or the six complete ORFs containing the sprT gene and one incomplete ORF, which were named ORF1, SGT, ORF2, ORF3, ORF4, ORF5, and ORF6, respectively. ORF1 has homology with the oxidoreductases from several organisms. ORF2 and ORF3 show similarity with unknown proteins and transcription regulator that belongs to the ArsR family, respectively. ORF4 and ORF5 show homology with the peptidoglycan bound protein with LPXTG motif from Listeria monocytogenes and the membrane protein with transmembrane helix from several organisms, respectively. The last ORF, ORF6, shows homology with the lipoprotein from Streptomyces avermitilis.