• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.171-185
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• 2017

${\gamma}$-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a non-proteinogenic amino acid biosynthesized through decarboxylation of L-glutamic acid by glutamic acid decarboxylase. GABA is believed to play a role in defense against stress in plants. In humans, it is known as one of the major inhibitory neurotransmitters in the central nervous system, exerting anti-hypertensive and anti-diabetic effects. In this report, we wanted to enhance the GABA production from the barley leaf and corn silk by culturing them with lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The barley leaf and corn silk were mixed with various weight combinations and were fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum in an incubator at $30^{\circ}C$ for 48 h. After extracting the fermented mixture with hot water, we evaluated the GABA production by thin layer chromatography and GABase assay. We found that the fermented mixture of the barley leaf and corn silk in a nine to one ratio contained a higher level of GABA than other ratios, meaning that the intermixture and fermentation technique was effective in increasing the GABA content. We also tested several biological activities of the fermented extracts and found that the extracts of the fermented mixture showed improved antioxidant activities than the non-fermented extracts and no indication of cytotoxicity. These results suggest that our approach on combining the barley leaf and corn silk and its fermentation with LAB could lead to the possibility of the development of functional foods with high levels of GABA content and improved biological activities.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.209-217
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• 2021

This paper investigates the effect of high strength hooked-end steel fiber content and aspect ratio on the compressive and flexural performance of concrete. A total of ten mixtures were prepared and tested. Concretes with specific compressive strength of 30 MPa were reinforced with three different aspect ratios (l/d) of steel fibers 64, 67, and 80 and three different percentages of steel fibers 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75% by volume of concrete. Tensile strengths of steel fibers with l/d of 64, 67, and 80 are 2,000, 2,400, and 2,100 MPa, respectively. The compressive and flexural properties of plain and steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) mixtures were evaluated and compared. The experimental results indicated that the incorporation of high-strength hooked-end steel fibers had significant effects on the compressive and flexural performance of concrete. With the increase of steel fiber content, compressive performances, such as Poisson's ratio and toughness, of concrete were improved. The steel fibers with the least l/d of 67 resulted in a larger enhancement of compressive performances. The residual flexural strength, that is, post-cracking flexural resistance and toughness, of concrete is mainly depended on the dosage and aspect ratio of steel fibers. The residual flexural strength at serviceability (SLS) and ultimate limit state (ULS) defined in fib Model Code 2010 (MC2010) is increased as the fiber content and aspect ratio increase.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.107-115
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• 2023

High turbidity in source water can have adverse effects on water treatment plant operations and aquatic ecosystems, necessitating turbidity management. Consequently, research aimed at predicting river turbidity continues. This study developed a multi-class classification model for prediction of turbidity using LightGBM (Light Gradient Boosting Machine), a representative ensemble machine learning algorithm. The model utilized data that was classified into four classes ranging from 1 to 4 based on turbidity, from low to high. The number of input data points used for analysis varied among classes, with 945, 763, 95, and 25 data points for classes 1 to 4, respectively. The developed model exhibited precisions of 0.85, 0.71, 0.26, and 0.30, as well as recalls of 0.82, 0.76, 0.19, and 0.60 for classes 1 to 4, respectively. The model tended to perform less effectively in the minority classes due to the limited data available for these classes. To address data imbalance, the SMOTE (Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique) algorithm was applied, resulting in improved model performance. For classes 1 to 4, the Precision and Recall of the improved model were 0.88, 0.71, 0.26, 0.25 and 0.79, 0.76, 0.38, 0.60, respectively. This demonstrated that alleviating data imbalance led to a significant enhancement in Recall of the model. Furthermore, to analyze the impact of differences in input data composition addressing the input data imbalance, input data was constructed with various ratios for each class, and the model performances were compared. The results indicate that an appropriate composition ratio for model input data improves the performance of the machine learning model.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.9-14
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• 2022

Silica aerogel is a porous material with a very low density and high specific surface area. Still, its application is limited due to its weak mechanical properties due to structural features. To solve this problem, a method of complexing it with various polymers has been proposed. We synthesized polyimide cross-linked silica aerogel by the sol-gel process to obtain high mechanical properties. Tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) was used as a precursor to make silica aerogel, and 3- aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) was used as a coupling agent for cross-linking polyimide. Polyimide was synthesized using pyromellitic dianhydride and 3,5-diaminobenzoic acid, and mechanical properties were improved by crosslinking polyimide with 10 repeating units in the polyimide chain using the reaction formula ${\frac{n_1}{n_2}}={\frac{n}{n+1}}$ To realize silica aerogel, polyimide having various weight ratios was added before gelation, resulting in a 19-fold or greater increase in maximum compressive strength compared to pure silica aerogel. From this study, an enhancement of silica aerogel could be enhanced through polymer cross-linking bonds.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.91-107
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• 2024

Single-channel seismic exploration has proven effective in delineating subsurface geological structures using small-scale survey systems. The seismic data acquired through zero- or near-offset methods directly capture subsurface features along the vertical axis, facilitating the construction of corresponding seismic sections. However, substantial noise in single-channel seismic data hampers precise interpretation because of the low signal-to-noise ratio. This study introduces a novel approach that integrate noise reduction and signal enhancement via matrix rank optimization to address this issue. Unlike conventional rank-reduction methods, which retain selected singular values to mitigate random noise, our method optimizes the entire singular value spectrum, thus effectively tackling both random and erratic noises commonly found in environments with low signal-to-noise ratio. Additionally, to enhance the horizontal continuity of seismic events and mitigate signal loss during noise reduction, we introduced an adaptive weighting factor computed from the eigenimage of the seismic section. To access the robustness of the proposed method, we conducted numerical experiments using single-channel Sparker seismic data from the Chukchi Plateau in the Arctic Ocean. The results demonstrated that the seismic sections had significantly improved signal-to-noise ratios and minimal signal loss. These advancements hold promise for enhancing single-channel and high-resolution seismic surveys and aiding in the identification of marine development and submarine geological hazards in domestic coastal areas.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.53-58
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• 2003

Annealing effects of exchange bias fields ($H_{2ex}$(top), $H_{lex}$ (bottom)) on composite type NiFe/[FeMn/Mn]$_{80}$/NiFe multilayers have been studied. Three samples with ultra-thin Mn inserted layers on glass/Ta(50 $\AA$)/NiFe(150 $\AA$)/[F $e_{53}$M $n_{47}$(1.25 $\AA$)/Mn(0 $\AA$, 0.11 $\AA$, 0.3 $\AA$)]$_{80}$/NiFe(90 $\AA$)/Ta(50 $\AA$) were prepared by ion beam sputtering. The average x-ray diffraction peak ratios NiFe(111) of FeMn (111) fcc textures for the Mn inserted total thicknesses of 0 $\AA$, 9 $\AA$, and 24 $\AA$ were about 0.65, 0.90, and 1.5, respectively. For the sample without Mn inserted layer, the $H_{2ex}$ of 260 Oe up to 300 $^{\circ}C$ disappeared at 350 $^{\circ}C$. For two multilayer samples with ultra-thin Mn layers of 0.11 $\AA$ and 0.3 $\AA$, the $H_{2exs}$ of 310 Oe and 180 Oe up to 300 $^{\circ}C$ endured of 215 Oe and 180 Oe at 350 $^{\circ}C$, respectively. The $H_{ex}$ (bottom)s of three samples decreased from 100 Oe to 70 Oe up to 250 $^{\circ}C$, while these values increased beyond 300 $^{\circ}C$. This observation can be attributed to less diffusive path of Mn atoms in bottom NiFe than top NiFe layer. The top and bottom coercive fields slightly varied about 5 Oe∼10 Oe. From these results, we could obtain the enhancement of exchange coupling intensity and thermal stability by an ultra-thin Mn inserted layer on NiFe/[FeMn/Mn]$_{80}$/NiFe Multilayers.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.58-64
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• 2011

Objective: The 3-dimensional reconstruction method with resolution recovery modeling has advantages of high spatial resolution and contrast because of its precise modeling of spatial blurring according to the distance from detector plane. The aim of this study was to evaluate one of the resolution recovery reconstruction methods (Astonish, Philips Medical), compare it to other iterative reconstructions, and verify its clinical usefulness. Materials and Methods: NEMA IEC PET body phantom and Flanges Jaszczak ECT phantom (Data Spectrum Corp., USA) studies were performed using Skylight SPECT (Philips) system under four different conditions; short or long (2 times of short) radius, and half or full (40 kcts/frame) acquisition counts. Astonish reconstruction method was compared with two other iterative reconstructions; MLEM and 3D-OSEM which vendor supplied. For quantitative analysis, the contrast ratios obtained from IEC phantom test were compared. Reconstruction parameters were determined by optimization study using graph of contrast ratio versus background variability. The qualitative comparison was performed with Jaszczak ECT phantom and human myocardial data. Results: The overall contrast ratio was higher with Astonish than the others. For the largest hot sphere of 37 mm diameter, Astonish showed about 27.1% and 17.4% higher contrast ratio than MLEM and 3D-OSEM, in short radius study. For long radius, Astonish showed about 40.5% and 32.6% higher contrast ratio than MLEM and 3D-OSEM. The effect of acquired counts was insignificant. In the qualitative studies with Jaszczak phantom and human myocardial data, Astonish showed the best image quality. Conclusion: In this study, we have found out that Astonish can provide more reliable clinical results by better image quality compared to other iterative reconstruction methods. Although further clinical studies are required, Astonish would be used in clinics with confidence for enhancement of images.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.63-70
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• 1992

The aim of this research is to obtain a basic quantitative understanding of the effect of a noncondensable gas on the absorption of water vapor by a $H_2O$ / LiBr combination with n-octanol as the surfactant. Nonflowing aqueous solutions of LiBr (40,45,50 mass％) were exposed to saturated water vapor following the addition of an n-octanol sufactant (0.01 and 0.6 mass％). A small amount of a noncondensable gas (air) was allowed into the absorber (0.03 volume％) and its effect was analyzed by measuring the amount of water vapor absorbed. This study will aid to predict the performance of heat pump and safety operating condition when the noncondensable gas is not allowed in the absorber The results indicate that, in the presence of small amounts of a noncondensable gas, vapor absorption enhancement ratios are less than half o( those obtained under the same experimental conditions when a noncondensable gas is not present (1). The presence of a noncondensable gas causes the partial vapor pressure of air to increase at the vapor / liquid interface, which results in an instability of vapor absorption rate nd. hence, in an inhibition of interfacial disturbance.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.436-447
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• 2006

Recently, there is increasing demand on enhancing the efficiency of hydro-seed spraying in afforestation for damaged or degraded land including forest road slopes. In this study, we focus on how seed coating and molding may affect seed germination and seedling growth. Plant species used in the study are Lespedeza cyrtobotrya, Indigofera pseudotinctoria, Arudineila hirta, Poa pratensis, and Lolium perenne. The results of seed germination and seedling growth with and without seed coating and molding are analyzed as follows: 1. For all the species and in both seeding with molding covered with soil and seeding without molding in which seeds were over sown, the increment of germination ratio by seed coating method is greater than by non·coating one. Seed coating increases average germination ratios observed in seeding with molding and without molding by 11.2% and 21.4%, respectively. Germination force may decrease from 0.8 to 3.7 days depending on the plant species and the treatments. The $LD_{50}$ decreased by $0.8{\sim}2.6$ days. However, seed coating delays the start of germination by approximate 1 day for all of the observed plants. 2. Seed coating may have the effect of accelerating the growth of stem and leaf and root. The experimental result shows that seed coating leads to 21.7% and 34.8% increment of average stem and leaf growth by seeding with molding and without molding, respectively. In terms of root growth, seeding with molding results in 22.0% increment while seeding without molding produces 26.2% increased root growth. 3: Compared to seeding without molding, germination starts on an average of 1.3 days later in seeding coated seeds with molding. However. the germination ratio is increased by 5%, and germination force and $LD_{50}$ are observed to shorten by 1.0 day and 1.4 days, respectively. Meanwhile, whether seeds are coated or not may be more related with germination and seedling growth in seeding without molding than with those in seeding with molding. 4. In this study, coating materials are examined to look at which ones are better in each treatment. Coating with Vermiculite+Talcum is the most effective in germination and seedling growth for overall plants. Seed coating using Bentonite, Calcium Carbonate, and Calcium Hydroxide shows better results than non-coating does. 5. When seeds are coated, the greatest enhancement of seed germinations was observed in Indigofera pseudotinctoria and, in the case of seedling growth, Lespedeza cyrtobotrya has the most increasing observation value among the 5 examined species. These results may indicate that woody plant seeds, having greater sizes of seeds than ones of grass seeds, may have greater relation with seed coating than grass plant seeds may have. 6. Therefore, if seeds cannot be molded up after hydro-seeding on forest road slopes, it is recommended that seeds for restoration be pre-coated with Vermiculite+Talcum and then be sowed, in order to quickly stabilize the damaged slope and achieve successful afforestation.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.96-103
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• 1998

Purpose : To assess the clinical utility of turbo contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography(CE MRA) in the evaluation of the aortic arch and its major branches and to compare the image quality of CE MRA among different coils used. Materials and Methods : Turbo three-phase dynamic CE MRA encompassing aortic arch and its major branches was prospectively performed after manual bolus IV injection of contrast material in 29 patients with suspected cerebrovascular diseases at 1.0T MR unit. the raw data were obtained with 3-D FISH sequence (TR 5.4ms, TE 2.3ms, flip angle 30, slab thickness 80nm, effective slice thickness 4.0mm, matrix size $100{\times}256$, FOV 280mm). Total data acquisition time was 4. to 60 seconds. We subjectively evaluated the imge quality with three-rating scheme : "good" for unequivocal normal finding, "fair" for relatively satisfactory quality to diagnose 'normal' despite intravascular low signal, and "poor" for equivocal diagnosis or non-visualization of the origin or segment of the vessels due to low signal or artifacts which needs catheter angiography. At the level of the carotid bifurcation, it was compared with conventional 2D-TOF MRA image. Overall image quality was also compared visually and quantitatively by measuring signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of the ascending aorta, the innominate artery and both common carotid arteries among the three different coils used(CP body array(n=12), CP neck array(n=9), and head-and-neck(n=8). Results : Demonstration of the aortic arch and its major branches was rated as "good" in 55% (16/29) and "fair" in 34%(10/29). At the level of the carotid bifurcation, image quality of turbo CE MRA was same as or better than conventional 2D-TOF MRA in 65% (17/26). Overall image quality and SNR were significantlygreater with CP body array coil than with CP neck array or head-and-neck coil. Conclusions : Turbo CE MRA can be used as a screening exam in the evaluation of the major branches of the aortic arch from their origin to the skull base. Overall imagequality appears to be better with CP body array coil than with CP neck array coil or head-and-neck coil.