• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.982-988
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• 2022

Licorice (Glycyrrhiza) has been used as preventive and therapeutic material for hyperpigmentation disorders. Previously, we isolated noble compounds including dehydroglyasperin C (DGC), dehydroglyasperin D (DGD) and isoangustone A (IAA) from licorice hexane/ethanol extracts. However, their anti-melanogenic effects and underlying molecular mechanisms are unknown. The present study compared effects of DGC, DGD and IAA on pigmentation in melan-a melanocytes and human epidermal melanocytes (HEMn). DGD exerted the most excellent anti-melanogenic effect, followed by DGC and IAA at non-cytotoxic concentrations. In addition, DGD significantly inhibited tyrosinase activity in vitro cell-free system and cell system. Western blot result showed that DGD decreased expression of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), tyrosinase and tyrosinase-related protein-1 (TRP-1) in melan-a cells and HEMn cells. DGD induced phosphorylation of MITF, ERK and Akt signal pathway promoting MITF degradation system. However, DGD did not influence p38 and cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA)/CREB signal pathway in melan-a cells. These result indicated that DGD inhibited melanogenesis not only direct regulation of tyrosinase but also modulating intracellular signaling related with MITF level. Collectively, these results suggested a protective role for DGD against melanogenesis.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.211-217
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• 2024

The growing significance of sustainable energy technologies underscores the need for safe and efficient management of spent nuclear fuels (SNFs), particularly via deep geological disposal (DGD). DGD involves the long-term isolation of SNFs from the biosphere to ensure public safety and environmental protection, necessitating materials with high corrosion resistance for DGD canisters. This study investigated the feasibility of a Cu-Ni film, fabricated via additive manufacturing (AM), as a corrosion-resistant layer for DGD canister applications. A wire-fed AM technique was used to deposit a millimeter-scale Cu-Ni film onto a carbon steel (CS) substrate. Electrochemical analyses were conducted using aerated groundwater from the KAERI underground research tunnel (KURT) as an electrolyte with an NaCl additive to characterize the oxic corrosion behavior of the Cu-Ni film. The results demonstrated that the AM-fabricated Cu-Ni film exhibited enhanced corrosion resistance (manifested as lower corrosion current density and formation of a dense passive layer) in an NaCl-supplemented groundwater solution. Extensive investigations are necessary to elucidate microstructural performance, mechanical properties, and corrosion resistance in the presence of various corroding agents to simplify the implementation of this technology for DGD canisters.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.226-232
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• 2018

We propose a triangular-multicore hollow optical fiber (TMC-HOF) design for uncoupled mode-division and space-division multiplexing. The TMC-HOF has three triangular cores, and each core has three modes: $LP_{01}$ and two split $LP_{11}$ modes. The asymmetric structure of the triangular core can split the $LP_{11}$ modes. Using the proposed structures, nine independent modes can propagate in a fiber. We use a fully vectorial finite-element method to estimate effective index, chromatic dispersion, differential group delay (DGD), and confinement loss by controlling the parameters of the TMC-HOF structure. We confirm that the proposed TMC-HOF shows flattened chromatic dispersion, low DGD, low confinement loss, low core-to-core crosstalk, and low crosstalk between adjacent modes. The proposed TMC-HOF can provide a common platform for MDM and SDM applications.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.427-443
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• 2009

Cretaceous intrusive and extrusive rocks in the southwestern part of the Yeongnam Massif are possibly the result of intensive magmatism which occurred in response to subduction of the Pacific plate beneath the northeast portion of the Eurasian plate. Geochemical and petrological study on the granitic rocks were carried out in order to constrain the petrogenesis of the granitic magma and to establish the paleotectonic environment of the area. Whole rock chemical data of the granitic rocks from the study area indicate that all the rocks have characteristics of calc-alkaline series in the subalkaline field. The overall geochemical features show systematic variations in each granitic body, but the source materials of each granitic body are thought to have been different in their chemical composition. The granodiorites distributed around Donggyori in the Bognae area (DGd) are different from other granitic rocks within the study area in the contents and differentiation trends of $Al_2O_3$ and MgO as well as in the contents of the trace elements such as Ba, Sr, Pb, Ni, Cr and Y DGd have geochemical features similar to slab-derived adakites such as high $Al_2O_3$, Sr contents and high Sr/Y, La/Yb ratios, but low Y and Yb contents. The major and trace element contents of the DGd fall well within the adakitic field, whereas other Cretaceous granites in the study area are plotted in the island arc ADR area in Sr/Y vs. Y diagram. On the ANK vs. A/CNK and tectonic discrimination diagrams, parental magma type of the granites corresponds to I-type and volcanic arc granite (VAG). Interpretations of the chemical characteristics of the granitic rocks favor their emplacement in a compressional tectonic regime at continental margin during the subduction of Pacific plate. The geochemical and tectonic features reveal that adakite-like signatures of the DGd were generated by the interaction of mantle peridotite and subducted slab-derived adakitic melts (caused by the thermal effect of ridge subduction), and which slightly modified by crustal contamination during emplacement.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.491-498
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• 2012

Glycyrrhiza uralensis (or licorice) is a widely used Oriental herbal medicine from which the phenylflavonoids dehydroglyasperin C (DGC), dehydroglyasperin D (DGD), and isoangustone A (IsoA) are derived. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the antioxidant properties of DGC, DGD, and IsoA. The three compounds showed strong ferric reducing activities and effectively scavenged DPPH, $ABTS^+$, and singlet oxygen radicals. Among the three compounds tested, DGC showed the highest free radical scavenging capacity in human hepatoma HepG2 cells as assessed by oxidant-sensitive fluorescent dyes dichlorofluorescein diacetate and dihydroethidium bromide. In addition, all three compounds effectively suppressed lipid peroxidation in rat tissues as well as $H_2O_2$-induced ROS production in hepatoma cells. This study demonstrates that among the three phenylflavonoids isolated from licorice, DGC possesses the most potent antioxidant activity, suggesting it has protective effects against chronic diseases caused by reactive oxygen species as well as potential as an antioxidant food additive.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.65-93
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• 2023

Several countries have been operating radioactive waste disposal (RWD) programs to construct their own repositories and have used natural analogues (NA) studies directly or indirectly to ensure the reliability of the long-term safety of deep geological disposal (DGD) systems. A DGD system in Korea has been under development, and for this purpose a generic NA study is necessary. The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute has just launched the first national NA R&D program in Korea to identify the role of NA studies and to support the safety case in the RWD program. In this article, we review some cases of NA studies carried out in advanced countries considering crystalline rocks as candidate host rocks for high-level radioactive waste disposal. We examine the differences among these case studies and their roles in reflecting each country's disposal repository design. The legal basis and roadmap for NA studies in each country are also described. However because the results of this analysis depend upon different environmental conditions, they can be only used as important data for establishing various research strategies to strengthen the NA study environment for domestic disposal system research in Korea.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.304-309
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• 2012

Size verification of small and large bubbles in a bubble column was investigated by employing the dynamic gas disengagement (DGD) method and dual electrical resistivity probe (DRP) method, simultancously. The holdups of large and small bubbles in the bubble column in a given operating condition were obtained by means of the DGD method by measuring the pressure drop variation in the column with a variation of time after stopping the gas input into the column. The size and frequency of bubbles were measured by the DRP method in the same operating condition, from which the bubble holdup of each range of size was obtained. The verification of size in determining the large or small bubbles was decided by comparing the holdups of large or small bubbles measured by the DGD method with that measured by the DRP method. Filtered compressed air and tap water were used as a gas and a continuous liquid medium. The diameter and height of the bubble column were 0.102 m and 1.5 m, respectively. The demarcation size between the large and the small bubbles in the bubble column was 4.0~5.0 mm; the demarcation size was about 5.0 mm when the gas velocity was in the relatively low range, but about 4.0 mm when the gas velocity was in the relatively high range, within this experimental conditions.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.121-126
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• 1984

A new approach to texture classification for quantitative ultrasound liver diagnosis using run difference matrix was developed. The run difference matrix comprised the gray level difference along with a distances. From this run difference matrix, we defined several vectors and parameters such as DOD, DGD, DAD vector, SHP, SMO, SMG, LDE, LDEL etc.Each parameter values calculated in fatty, cirrhotic, normal and chronic hepatitic liver images were plotted in a plane and we found that RDM method was more sensitive to small structural changes than the conventional run length method and showed improved classification ability between the diseases.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.75-88
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• 2019

With Kori nuclear power plant unit 1 as a beginning in April 1978, 24 nuclear power plants have been operated in Korea and two more plants are under construction. As the nuclear power plants being operated, radioactive wastes from the plants have been accumulated so that various methods for disposing them have been proposed. In Korea, researches have been conducted, being focused on DGD (Deep Geological Disposal), however, DBD (Deep Borehole Disposal) method needs considering as an alternative. In this technical note, element technologies for DBD were analyzed by compiling previous researches and their applicability on domestic cases were investigated. Conceptual studies regarding relevant designs were conducted and finally, technical challenges for actual disposal were described.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 1992

A new approach to texture classification for quantitative ultrasound liver diagnosis using run difference matrix was developed. The run difference matrix comprised the gray level difference along with a distances. From this run difference matrix, we defined several vectors and parameters such as DOD, DGD, DAD vector, SHP, SMO, SMG, LDE, LDEL etc. Each parameter values calculated in fatty, cirrhotic, normal and chronic hepatitic liver images were plotted in a plane and we found that RDM method was more sensitive to small structural changes than the conventional run length method and showed improved classification ability between the diseases.