• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.34-42
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• 2017

Material defects in the Steam Generator Tubes (SGT) of sodium cooled fast breeder reactor (PFBR) can lead to leakage of water into sodium. The water and sodium reaction will lead to major accidents. Therefore, the examination of steam generator tubes for the early detection of defects is an important requirement for safety and economic considerations. In this work, the Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL) based Non Destructive Testing (NDT) technique is used to perform the defect detection process. The rectangular notch defects on the outer surface of steam generator tubes are modeled using COMSOL multiphysics 4.3a software. The obtained MFL images are de-noised to improve the integrity of flaw related information. Grey Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) features are extracted from MFL images and taken as input parameter to train the neural network. A comparative study on characterization have been carried out using feed-forward back propagation (FFBP) and cascade-forward back propagation (CFBP) algorithms. The results of both algorithms are evaluated with Mean Square Error (MSE) as a prediction performance measure. The average percentage error for length, depth and width are also computed. The result shows that the feed-forward back propagation network model performs better in characterizing the defects.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.145-148
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• 2008

Korea Aeronautics Research Institute (KARI) is developing a turbo pump that has 1-stage impulse turbine and relatively high tip clearance for safety. The objective of this research is to investigate the effect of reaction on tip clearance loss in axial turbines. Both cascades were tested in a subsonic wind tunnel. In each cascade, total pressure was measured for tip clearance ranging from 1% to 20% of chord. In results, increasing tip clearance, total pressure loss in reaction turbines is continually increased but impulse turbines keep almost same level of mass averaged total pressure loss. When tip clearance becomes more than 10% of chord, mass-averaged total pressure loss in impulse turbines is less than in reaction. This means that when tip clearance is more than 10% of chord, impulse turbines have better efficiency than reaction turbines.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.713-719
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• 2014

When multiple reactions of quaternary mixtures take place in a reactive distillation column, the behavior of composition trajectory is analyzed by a visual-aided method. By adding additional vectors of multiple reactions and visualizing them in composition space, the composition of each component and extent of each reaction on an arbitrary stage can be easily estimated in terms of the composition trajectory and reaction cascade difference points. Moreover, for a given operating conditions, the number of total stages and position of optimum reaction zone can be determined by the visual-aided method. In this study, ethylene glycol synthesis with a side reaction is taken as an example and analyzed by the proposed graphical method. Through this method, the quaternary reactive distillation with multiple reactions can be analyzed without numerous experiments and simulations.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1023-1030
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• 2008

NtMEK2, which is the tobacco MAPK kinase that is upstream of SIPK and WIPK, was identified using the dexamethasone (DEX)-inducible gain-of-function transgenic system. Expression of $NtNEK2^{DD}$, a constitutively active mutant of NtNEK2, leads to HR-like cell death, which indicates that the NtMEK2-SIPK/WIPK cascade controls defense responses in tobacco. However, little is known about the downstream target substrates or defense-related genes that are regulated by the NtMEK2-SIPK/ WIPK cascade. In this study, ACP-based differential display RT-PCR was used to isolate the downstream effectors mediated by the NtMEK2-SIPK/WIPK cascade in $NtNEK2^{DD}$ transgenic plants. The results identified 6 novel differentially expressed genes (DEGs). These included pathogen induced protein 2-4 (pI2-4), monoterpene synthase 2 (MTS2), seven in absentia protein (SINA), cell death marker protein 1 (CDM1), hydroxyproline-rich glycoprotein (HRGP) and unknown genes (DEG45). The induction of these genes was confirmed by RT-PCR of samples obtained from $NtNEK2^{DD}$ plants. Additionally, when compared with other isolated DEGs, the pI2-4, CDM1 and HRGP genes were significantly up-regulated in response to treatment with salicylic acid and tobacco mosaic virus. Taken together, these results suggest that three novel DEGs were regulated by the NtMEK2-SIPK/WIPK cascade involved in disease resistance in tobacco.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.74 no.6
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• pp.264-268
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• 2013

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a lethal pulmonary fibrotic disease. In general, the exaggerated activation of the coagulation cascade has been observed during initiation or maintenance of the fibrotic disease. In our recent study, immunohistochemical expression of protease-activated receptor-2 (PAR-2), which plays a key role in coagulation cascade, was observed in surgical specimen of IPF patients, and associated with poor clinical outcome. The aim of this study was to evaluate the overexpression of PAR-2 in inflammatory cells from peripheral blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in IPF patients. Methods: From May 2011 to March 2012, IPF patients and controls were enrolled in Seoul National University Hospital. Peripheral blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were collected for analysis of PAR-2 expression. Flow cytometry and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction were used for PAR-2 receptor and mRNA assessment. Results: Twelve IPF patients and 14 controls were included in this study. Among them, flow cytometry analysis was conducted from 26 peripheral blood (patient group, 11; control group, 13) and 7 bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (patient group, 5; control group, 2). The expression of PAR-2 receptor was not different between patient and control groups (p=0.074). Among all 24 population, PAR-2 mRNA assessment was performed in 19 persons (patient group, 10; control group, 9). The mRNA expression of PAR-2 was not significant different (p=0.633). Conclusion: In IPF patients, PAR-2 receptor and mRNA expression were not different from control group.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.89-93
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• 2008

The key step in a strategy for the synthesis of (+)-lactacystin involving photocyclization reaction of a cyclopenta-fused pyridinium salt has been probed by using a model substrate. Observations made in this effort led to the discovery of a highly unusual cascade process that leads to stereoselective formation of an interesting tricyclic carbamate. The results of this study are presented and discussed in the context of a (+)-lactacystin synthetic approach.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.171-176
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• 1993

Protein kinase C, a protein related in PI cascade, was partially purified from the cytosol protein of etiolated plants of Glycine max by DEAE-52 cellulose chromatography and phenylsepharose chromatography. When the DEAE column was eluted with 0-0.8 M linear gradient KCl, tow fractions were found that increased the phosphorylation of histon H1 about five and nine-fold in the presence of 5 $\mu\textrm{g}$/mL phosphatidylserine and 0.5 $\mu\textrm{g}$/mL diolein, respectively. These fractions were used as DEAE pool. The reaction eluted with relatively high concentration of KCl was loaded on phyenylsepharose column with 5 mM CaCl2 and eluted with 1 mM EGTA. A fraction contained the protein kinase C, which increased the phosphorylation of the histon H1 was fractionated. To determine the molecular weight of PKC, the fraction eluted from phenylsepharose column was analyzed by 5~15% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis after concentrated with the Amicon membrane (YM10). That revealed two bands corresponding to 60 and 65 kGy by silver staining of the gel, respectively.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.154-159
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• 2018

Intentional releases occur frequently during maintenance in gas supplying companies, which may result in unpleasant odors, and the possible mistaken belief of a gas accident. Therefore, this study developed a chemical process for effective odorant removal in natural gas using an active chemical that is released intentionally during maintenance and inspection. To develop an effective treatment process for removing the odorant from released natural gas, the effluent concentrations of the odorant in the released gas were measured after a chemical oxidation reaction with a sodium hypochlorite solution in a compact gas scrubbing equipment newly devised in this study. The device was based on a mixed gas vent after the solution inject odorant in the gas through the energy of the venting gas. The cascade combination of a venturi pipe and mixing chamber was developed to remove the odorant effectively from the purposely-released natural gas using an oxidative reaction between the mercaptan compounds (odorant) and the sodium hypochlorite solution. On the other hand, the developed method could be applied limitedly to a relatively small gas release from a low-pressure source. Further studies will be needed to apply the developed process to a large-scale gas release from a high-pressure source.

• BMB Reports
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.544-550
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• 2001

In pre-transplant total-body irradiation (TBI), the lung is a critical dose-limiting organ. Also, the possible role of oxidative stress was suggested in the development of TBI-induced lung damage. This study explores the association between TBI-induced oxidative stress and the induction of lung pathogenesis by investigating TBI-induced oxidative stress in the lungs of male C57BL/6 mice after a single dose of 10 Gy TBI. We showed significant increases of reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation and lipid peroxidation, and also a depletion and oxidation of glutathione after TBI. There is evidence that pretreatment with 1,10-phenanthroline (o-phen) significantly reduces oxidative stress in the lung. This indicates that the TBI-induced ROS generation involves a metal-catalyzed Fenton-type reaction. A pretreatment of buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) augmented the glutathione depletion and oxidation, but had no effect on the ROS formation and lipid peroxidation up to 6 h after TBI. Histopathological features that are consistent with pneumonitis were observed in the BSO pretreated-mice 1 week after irradiation. The results suggest that TBI-induced oxidative stress in the lung involves a generation of ROS through a Fenton-type reaction. Also, glutathione plays an important inhibitory role in the radiation-induced lung pathogenesis by participating in the self-amplifying cascade subsequent to the ROS generation by irradiation.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.1608-1612
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• 2012

Singlet oxygen ($^1O_2$) is an important species for oxidation in biological processes. $^1O_2$ is implicated in the genotoxic effect, and plays an important role in the cell-signaling cascade and in the induction of gene expression. However, the rapid detection of $^1O_2$ in biological environments with sufficient specificity and sensitivity is hampered by its extremely low emission probability. Here, a layer-by-layer (LbL) film of CdTe quantum dots (QDs), polymers, and ascorbate have been designed as a rapid, highly selective, and sensitive fluorescence probe for $^1O_2$ detection. Upon reaction with $^1O_2$, the probe exhibits a strong photoluminescence (PL) response even at trace levels. This remarkable PL change should enable the probe to be used for $^1O_2$ detection in many chemical and biological systems and as an environmental sensor.