• Title/Summary/Keyword: Key Player

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Endothelial Cell Products as a Key Player in Hypoxia-Induced Nerve Cell Injury after Stroke

  • Cho, Chul-Min;Ha, Se-Un;Bae, Hae-Rahn;Huh, Jae-Taeck
    • Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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    • v.40 no.2
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    • pp.103-109
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    • 2006
  • Objective : Activated endothelial cells mediate the cascade of reactions in response to hypoxia for adaptation to the stress. It has been suggested that hypoxia, by itself, without reperfusion, can activate the endothelial cells and initiate complex responses. In this study, we investigated whether hypoxia-induced endothelial products alter the endothelial permeability and have a direct cytotoxic effect on nerve cells. Methods : Hypoxic condition of primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells[HUVEC] was induced by $CoCl_2$ treatment in culture medium. Cell growth was evaluated by 3,4,5-dimethyl thiazole-3,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide [MTT] assay Hypoxia-induced products [$IL-1{\beta},\;TGF-{\beta}1,\;IFN-{\gamma},\;TNF-{\alpha}$, IL-10, IL-6, IL-8, MCP-l and VEGF] were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Endothelial permeability was evaluated by Western blotting. Results : Prolonged hypoxia caused endothelial cells to secrete IL -6, IL -8, MCP-1 and VEGF. However, the levels of IL -1, IL -10, $TNF-{\alpha},\;TGF-{\beta},\;IFN-{\gamma}$ and nitric oxide remained unchanged over 48 h hypoxia. Hypoxic exposure to endothelial cells induced the time-dependent down regulation of the expression of cadherin and catenin protein. The conditioned medium taken from hypoxic HUVECs had the cytotoxic effect selectively on neuroblastoma cells, but not on astroglioma cells. Conclusion : These results suggest the possibility that endothelial cell derived cytokines or other secreted products with the increased endothelial permeability might directly contribute to nerve cell injury followed by hypoxia.

Implementation of 3D mobile game using radiosity model and AI algorithm (Radiosity model과 AI 알고리즘을 이용한 모바일 게임 구현)

  • Kim, Seongdong;Chin, Seonga;Cho, Teresa
    • Journal of Korea Game Society
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    • v.17 no.1
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    • pp.7-16
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    • 2017
  • The 3D game graphic technology has become an important factor in the contents field with the game contents development. In particular, game character technology provides a realistic technique and visual pleasure, as well as an intermediate step in the immersion of the game in which the game might create an optical illusion that enables the player to enjoy heroic adventure in the game. The high expression level of characters in 3D games is a key factor in the development process, with details and carefulness of the character setting work [3]. In this paper, we propose a character representative technique applied to mobile games using mathematical model of radiosity energy, spectral radiance model, and ray tracing model method using 3D unity game engine with sensible AI algorithm for game implementation. As a practical application to the game contents, it was found that the projection of the surface in the rendering process and the game simulation might change according to the lighting condition of the game content environment, so that the high quality of game characters was simulated.

Making Levels More Challenging with a Cooperative Strategy of Ghosts in Pac-Man (고스트들의 협력전술에 의한 팩맨게임 난이도 제고)

  • Choi, Taeyeong;Na, Hyeon-Suk
    • Journal of Korea Game Society
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    • v.15 no.5
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    • pp.89-98
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    • 2015
  • The artificial intelligence (AI) of Non-Player Companions (NPC), especially opponents, is a key element to adjust the level of games in game design. Smart opponents can make games more challenging as well as allow players for diverse experiences, even in the same game environment. Since game users interact with more than one opponent in most of today's games, collaboration control of opponent characters becomes more important than ever before. In this paper, we introduce a cooperative strategy based on the A* algorithm for enemies' AI in the Pac-Man game. A survey from 17 human testers shows that the levels with our collaborative opponents are more difficult but interesting than those with either the original Pac-Man's personalities or the non-cooperative greedy opponents.

Water, Energy, Cooperation, and Conflict inthe Kura-Araks Basin of the South Caucasus

  • Campana, Michael E.
    • Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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    • 2011.05a
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    • pp.3-3
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    • 2011
  • After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Kra-Araks Basin (KAB) became an international river basin with respect to the South Caucasus states of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. However, there are no agreements regarding water allocation, water quality, or ecosystem maintenance among the aforementioned riparians. The main water problems in the basin include not only water quantity and quality, but also the lack of joint management. The aforementioned countries share many similar circumstances: location in a politically unstable but strategic region bureaucratic and structural issues; and more importantly, ongoing ethnic and related conflicts. Despite these obstacles, the countries recognize that they depend greatly on the basin, whose waters they must share. To that end, they proposed and participated in the joint NATO-OSCE South Caucasus River Monitoring (SCRMP) project between 2002 and 2009.The SCRMP sought to investigate and characterize the surface water quality in the KAB by providing equipment and training to all three countries. Several years' worth of water quality data were collected in the KAB: major ions; heavy metals; POPs (persistent organic pollutants); and radionuclides; The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (primary funder) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europesupported the SCRMP not only to build capacity but also to promote cooperation and minimize conflict over water and other resources, thus providing a measure of security for Europe and other regions. The South Caucasus is a strategically-important region, functioning as a bridge between Asia and Europe. Energy-rich Azerbaijan seeks to become a key player in trade by serving as a transportation and energy hub between the energy and mineral-rich Central Asian KUT countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan) and Western Asia, Europe, and other areas. The presentation will summarize the scientific results of the SCRMP, elucidate the regional water-energy-security nexus, discuss future work in the region, and explain why the world needs to be concerned about the KAB and the entire South Caucasus.

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The Application of Make-up through Optical Illusion - Focused on Lineal Illusion -

  • Cho, Ko-Mi;Cho, Jin-A
    • Journal of Fashion Business
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    • v.7 no.6
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    • pp.57-66
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    • 2003
  • With the occurrence of interest in image-presentation that helps express one's individuality in several place in our society, it has affected make-up field. Now, make-up is getting to be recognized as a key role player that reflects our social and cultural concerns not only by presenting a appropriate one that is proper when to use and what for, but also presenting individualistic images that are able to express one's attractiveness free from a last plain concept that meant merely applying cosmetics to one's face is makeup. Like above, the reason that a change for consciousness of the function of make-up was possible is a noticeable outcome that results from the difference before and after make-up. In other word, with the help of Corrective Make-up that makes use of optical illusion, the analytic research for features could have been carried out systematically, therefore, women get to present their beauty of innate facial shape and features at their pleasure. The basic principles of the Corrective Make-up, which was introduced to satisfy the purpose of the existing make-up take advantage of lines and colors that are part of the optical illusion. The nature of direction and movement was expressed by the direction and angle of lines and the colors are also able to induce the variation of images depend on the whole color around them or contrastive color around. This thesis is mainly about optical illusion through lines that are part of elements that induce the optical illusion and deals with phenomena that occur when we apply lines that are part of design into the make-up. And this is written for the purpose of establishing the last basis of make-up more scientifically and systematically through the research for the variation when we apply the nature of lines into our features and deriving facial image variation from it. This is also for study into the role of make-up as for psychological effect that is able to make facial images look different when the optical illusion with possible visual errors is applied into it. In conclusion, we can say "Make-up is optical illusion through visual elements such as lines, surfaces, books, touch and so on."

A Study on the Contemporary Fashion based on Characteristics of Conceptual Art (컨셉추얼 아트의 조형적 특징이 반영된 현대패션에 관한 연구)

  • Kwon, Ja-Young;Geum, Key-Sook
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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    • v.57 no.7
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    • pp.70-83
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    • 2007
  • Contemporary fashion design has been made a new attempt to extend restricted expressions through fusion with other genres in art. The recognition of fashion has recently been changed not only product but as a piece of work in specific value, concept and meaning created by fashion designer. It is observed that the contemporary fashion design has a notion to persue formative intentions and manners of Conceptual Art in Post-modern era. This study is to define this region of fashion design represented in cultural phenomena as 'Conceptual Fashion', also analyze the formative feature of this from a point of view in Conceptual art. The results which are analyzed according to outward techniques and forms, meanings and elements immanent in aesthetic contemplation of conceptual fashion lead to four distinctive things in such as anti-form, intervention and appropriation, metaphor and detour, process and series. The intrinsic values in conceptual fashion through aesthetic contemplation are indicated the four significant values in the following: the pluralistic interpretation, the parody and amusement, the pursuit of essence and truth and the participation and interaction. Conceptual fashion design is appeared complex not doing separate through classified formative features previously. And It has been evolved as a indeterminate concept which is able to variable elucidation by a non-player, as a instrument for communication on fashion culture which is aggrandized. The purpose of this study is to present of theoretical foundation about Conceptual fashion design and also to make proper understanding about interrelationship between contemporary fashion and art.

The influence of anthropogenic disturbances and watershed morphological characteristics on Hg dynamics in Northern Quebec large boreal lakes

  • Moingt, M.;Lucotte, M.;Paquet, S.;Beaulne, J.S.
    • Advances in environmental research
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    • v.2 no.2
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    • pp.81-98
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    • 2013
  • Mercury (Hg) dynamics in the boreal environment have been a subject of concern in recent decades, due to the exposure of local populations to the contaminant. Land use, because of its impact on mercury inputs, has been highlighted as a key player in the sources and eventual concentrations of the heavy metal. In order to evaluate the impact of watershed disturbances on Hg dynamics in frequently fished, large boreal lakes, we studied sediment cores retrieved at the focal point of eight large lakes of Qu$\acute{e}$bec (Canada), six with watersheds affected by land uses such as logging and/or mining, and two with pristine watersheds, considered as reference lakes. Using a Geographical Information System (GIS), we correlated the recent evolution of land uses (e.g., logging and mining activities) and morphological characteristics of the watershed (e.g., mean slope of the drainage area, vegetation cover) to total Hg concentrations (THg) in sedimentary records. In each core, THg gradually increased over recent years with maximum values between 70 and 370 ng/g, the lowest mercury concentrations corresponding to the pristine lake cores. The Hg Anthropogenic Sedimentary Enrichment Factor (ASEF) values range from 2 to 15. Surprisingly, we noticed that the presence of intense land uses in the watershed does not necessarily correspond to noticeable increases of THg in lake sediments, beyond the normal increment that can be attributed to Hg atmospheric deposition since the beginning of the industrial era. Rather, the terrestrial Hg inputs of boreal lakes appear to be influenced by watershed characteristics such as mean slopes and vegetation cover.

T-RFLP Analysis of Microbial Community Structure in Leachate from Landfill Sites (폐기물매립장 침출수내 미생물군집 구조 해석을 위한 T-RFLP의 활용)

  • Yu, Jae-Cheul;Ishigaki, Tomonori;Kamagata, Yoichi;Lee, Tae-Ho
    • Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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    • v.32 no.4
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    • pp.369-378
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    • 2010
  • Microorganisms are key-role player for stabilization of landfill sites. In order to evaluate the availability of T-RFLP(Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism) for monitoring microbial community variations during stabilization of landfill sites, the phylogenic diversity of microbial community in the leachate from 4 different full-scale landfills was characterized by T-RFLP based on bacterial 16S rDNA. Main population of microbial community analyzed by T-RFLP was significantly similar with that of microbial community analyzed by clone library analysis. The results of T-RFLP analysis for main population of microbial community in the leachate from landfills with different landfill structures, waste types and landfill ages showed apparently different microbial diversity and structures. Therefore, long-term monitoring of microbial community in leachate from landfill sites by using T-RFLP is expected to be available for evaluation of landfill stability.

FXRα Down-Regulates LXRα Signaling at the CETP Promoter via a Common Element

  • Park, Sung-Soo;Choi, Hojung;Kim, Seung-Jin;Kim, Ok Jin;Chae, Kwon-Seok;Kim, Eungseok
    • Molecules and Cells
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    • v.26 no.4
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    • pp.409-414
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    • 2008
  • The cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP), a key player in cholesterol metabolism, has been shown to promote the transfer of triglycerides from very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) to high density lipoprotein (HDL) in exchange for cholesterol ester. Here we demonstrate that farnesoid X receptor ${\alpha}$ ($FXR{\alpha}$; NR1H4) down-regulates CETP expression in HepG2 cells. A $FXR{\alpha}$ ligand, chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), suppressed basal mRNA levels of the CETP gene in HepG2 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Using gel shift and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays, we found that $FXR{\alpha}$ could bind to the liver X receptor ${\alpha}$ ( $LXR{\alpha}$; NR1H3) binding site (LXRE; DR4RE) located within the CETP 5' promoter region. $FXR{\alpha}$ suppressed $LXR{\alpha}$-induced DR4RE-luciferase activity and this effect was mediated by a binding competition between $FXR{\alpha}$ and $LXR{\alpha}$ for DR4RE. Furthermore, the addition of CDCA together with a $LXR{\alpha}$ ligand, GW3965, to HepG2 cells was shown to substantially decrease mRNA levels of hepatic CETP gene, which is typically induced by GW3965. Together, our data demonstrate that $FXR{\alpha}$ down-regulates CETP gene expression via binding to the DR4RE sequence within the CETP 5' promoter and this $FXR{\alpha}$ binding is essential for $FXR{\alpha}$ inhibition of $LXR{\alpha}$-induced CETP expression.

Implementation of Ring Topology Interconnection Network with PCIe Non-Transparent Bridge Interface (PCIe Non-Transparent Bridge 인터페이스 기반 링 네트워크 인터커넥트 시스템 구현)

  • Kim, Sang-Gyum;Lee, Yang-Woo;Lim, Seung-Ho
    • KIPS Transactions on Computer and Communication Systems
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    • v.8 no.3
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    • pp.65-72
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    • 2019
  • HPC(High Performance Computing) is the computing system that connects a number of computing nodes with high performance interconnect network. In the HPC, interconnect network technology is one of the key player to make high performance systems, and mainly, Infiniband or Ethernet are used for interconnect network technology. Nowadays, PCIe interface is main interface within computer system in that host CPU connects high performance peripheral devices through PCIe bridge interface. For connecting between two computing nodes, PCIe Non-Transparent Bridge(NTB) standard can be used, however it basically connects only two hosts with its original standards. To give cost-effective interconnect network interface with PCIe technology, we develop a prototype of interconnect network system with PCIe NTB. In the prototyped system, computing nodes are connected to each other via PCIe NTB interface constructing switchless interconnect network such as ring network. Also, we have implemented prototyped data sharing mechanism on the prototyped interconnect network system. The designed PCIe NTB-based interconnect network system is cost-effective as well as it provides competitive data transferring bandwidth within the interconnect network.