• Molecules and Cells
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.131-137
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• 2009

Plant defensins are small (5-10 kDa) basic peptides thought to be an important component of the defense pathway against fungal and/or bacterial pathogens. To understand the role of plant defensins in protecting plants against the brown planthopper, a type of insect herbivore, we isolated the Brassica rapa Defensin 1 (BrD1) gene and introduced it into rice (Oryza sativa L.) to produce stable transgenic plants. The BrD1 protein is homologous to other plant defensins and contains both an N-terminal endoplasmic reticulum signal sequence and a defensin domain, which are highly conserved in all plant defensins. Based on a phylogenetic analysis of the defensin domain of various plant defensins, we established that BrD1 belongs to a distinct subgroup of plant defensins. Relative to the wild type, transgenic rices expressing BrD1 exhibit strong resistance to brown planthopper nymphs and female adults. These results suggest that BrD1 exhibits insecticidal activity, and might be useful for developing cereal crop plants resistant to sap-sucking insects, such as the brown planthopper.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.157-162
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• 2015

In this study, an ultrasonic nanocrystalline surface modification (UNSM) technique is applied to tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co) to extend the service life of carbide parts used in press mold. The UNSM technique modifies the structure, reduces the surface roughness, increases the surface hardness, induces the compressive residual stress, and increases the wear resistance of materials by introducing severe plastic deformation. The surface roughness, hardness, and compressive residual stress of WC after UNSM treatment improve by about 42, 10, and 71%, respectively. A wear test under dry conditions is used to assess the effectiveness of the UNSM technique on the friction and wear behavior of WC. The UNSM technique is found to reduce the WC friction coefficient by approximately 21% and enhance the wear resistance by approximately 85%. The improved friction and wear behavior of WC may be mainly attributed to the increased hardness and compressive residual stress. Moreover, the WC specimen is treated by UNSM technique using three different WC, silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) and stainless steel (STS304) balls. The surface treated by WC balls shows the highest hardness when compared with treatment by stainless steel and silicon nitride balls. According to the obtained results, the UNSM technique is believed to increase the durability of the carbide component by improving the friction and wear behavior.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.251-257
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• 2017

Purpose: A chisel mounted on working implement, such as agricultural machinery used in irregular farming conditions, is subjected to highly variable fatigue loading during work. To ensure the safety of the chisel on a working implement for the duration of its service life, fatigue testing must be performed with the proper fatigue test load conditions. In this study, working loads for a chisel were developed by reconstructing loads from strain gage data collected during field tests and used to conduct fatigue tests on the chisel component. Methods: FE analysis with nCode software was utilized to select the proper quantity and locations of strain gages for load measurements. A fatigue test was performed to experimentally verify the fatigue strength of the chisel and to evaluate the validity of the load history developed with the load reconstruction technique. Results: A strain history for the chisel was obtained from data collected during field tests. The data was filtered for the 14-16 km/h speed range, connected, and merged. The chisel load history was developed using the load reconstruction technique. The resulting load history was expressed as a load spectrum using the rain-flow counting method. Conclusions: A fatigue test was conducted on a chisel under a constant load condition with an equivalent load amplitude and number of cycles, as calculated by Miner's Rule for linear damage accumulation. During the fatigue test, there were no cracks at any position. It is concluded that the fatigue test method proposed in this study can be utilized successfully as a durability evaluation method for the chisel.

• Biomaterials and Biomechanics in Bioengineering
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.97-109
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• 2015

A series of amphiphilic graft copolymers were synthesized by varying the number of graft chains and graft chain lengths. The polarity of the hydrophobic graft chain on the copolymers was varied their solution properties. The glass transition temperature of the copolymers was in the low-temperature region, because of the amorphous nature of poly (trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC). The surface morphology of the lyophilized colloid gel had a bundle structure, which was derived from the combination of poly(N-hydroxyethylacrylamide)( poly(HEAA)) and PTMC. The solution properties were evaluated using dynamic light scattering and fluorescence measurements. The particle size of the graft copolymers was about 30-300 nm. The graft copolymers with a higher number of repeating units attributed to the TMC (trimethylene carbonate) component and with a lower macromonomer ratio showed high thermal stability. The critical association concentration was estimated to be between $2.2{\times}10^{-3}$ and $8.9{\times}10^{-2}mg/mL$, using the pyrene-based fluorescence probe technique. These results showed that the hydrophobic chain of the graft copolymer having a long PTMC segment had a low polarity, dependent on the number of repeating units of TMC and the macromonomer composition ratio. These results demonstrated that a higher number of repeating units of TMC, with a lower macromonomer composition, was preferable for molecular encapsulation.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.2188-2208
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• 2023

Quality of Service (QoS) is a critical feature of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) with routing algorithms. Data packets are moved between cluster heads with QoS using a number of energy-efficient routing techniques. However, sustaining high scalability while increasing the life of a WSN's networks scenario remains a challenging task. Thus, this research aims to develop an energy-balancing component that ensures equal energy consumption for all network sensors while offering flexible routing without congestion, even at peak hours. This research work proposes a Gravitational Blackhole Search Optimised splay tree routing framework. Based on the splay tree topology, the routing procedure is carried out by the suggested method using three distinct steps. Initially, the proposed GBSO decides the optimal route at initiation phases by choosing the root node with optimum energy in the splay tree. In the selection stage, the steps for energy update and trust update are completed by evaluating a novel reliance function utilising the Parent Reliance (PR) and Grand Parent Reliance (GPR). Finally, in the routing phase, using the fitness measure and the minimal distance, the GBSO algorithm determines the best route for data broadcast. The model results demonstrated the efficacy of the suggested technique with 99.52% packet delivery ratio, a minimum delay of 0.19 s, and a network lifetime of 1750 rounds with 200 nodes. Also, the comparative analysis ensured that the suggested algorithm surpasses the effectiveness of the existing algorithm in all aspects and guaranteed end-to-end delivery of packets.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2016

Quantitative trait locus (QTL) is a particular region of the genome containing one or more genes associated with economically important quantitative traits. This study was conducted to identify QTL regions for body weight and growth traits in purebred Korean native chicken (KNC). F1 samples (n = 595) were genotyped using 127 microsatellite markers and 8 single nucleotide polymorphisms that covered 2,616.1 centi Morgan (cM) of map length for 26 autosomal linkage groups. Body weight traits were measured every 2 weeks from hatch to 20 weeks of age. Weight of half carcass was also collected together with growth rate. A multipoint variance component linkage approach was used to identify QTLs for the body weight traits. Two significant QTLs for growth were identified on chicken chromosome 3 (GGA3) for growth 16 to18 weeks (logarithm of the odds [LOD] = 3.24, Nominal p value = 0.0001) and GGA4 for growth 6 to 8 weeks (LOD = 2.88, Nominal p value = 0.0003). Additionally, one significant QTL and three suggestive QTLs were detected for body weight traits in KNC; significant QTL for body weight at 4 weeks (LOD = 2.52, nominal p value = 0.0007) and suggestive QTL for 8 weeks (LOD = 1.96, Nominal p value = 0.0027) were detected on GGA4; QTLs were also detected for two different body weight traits: body weight at 16 weeks on GGA3 and body weight at 18 weeks on GGA19. Additionally, two suggestive QTLs for carcass weight were detected at 0 and 70 cM on GGA19. In conclusion, the current study identified several significant and suggestive QTLs that affect growth related traits in a unique resource pedigree in purebred KNC. This information will contribute to improving the body weight traits in native chicken breeds, especially for the Asian native chicken breeds.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2020

The APEX model has been developed for assessing agricultural management efforts and their effects on soil and water at the field scale as well as more complex multi-subarea landscapes, whole farms, and watersheds. Recently, a key component of APEX application, named APEX-Paddy, has been modified for simulating water quality by considering paddy rice management practices. In this study, the performance of the APEX-Paddy model was evaluated using field data at Iksan experimental paddy sites in Korea. The discharge and pollutant load data during 2013 and 2014 were used to both manually and automatically calibrate the model. The APEX auto-calibration tool (APEX-CUTE 4.1) was used for model calibration and sensitivity analysis. Results indicate that APEX-Paddy reasonably performs in predicting runoff discharge rate and nitrogen yield. However, sediment and phosphorus yield is not correctly predicted due to the limitation of model schemes. With APEX-Paddy, the performance in reproducing the discharge and nitrogen yield is found to be a satisfactory level after manual calibration. The manually calibrated model performed better than the automatically calibrated model in nearly all comparisons. For runoff, manual calibration reduced PBIAS while R² and NSE values of the automatically calibrated model were the same as the manual calibration. For T-N, NSE and PBIAS were reduced when using manual calibration, whereas R² value was the same as manual calibration. The limitation of the APEX-Paddy model for predicting sediment, as well as the phosphorous yield, was discussed in this study.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.221-231
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• 1996

The properties of cytosolic $Ca^{2+}$ level$([Ca^{2+}]_i)$ movement of high KCl, carbachol and oxytocin were examined with myometrium isolated from non-pregnant rat(estrus cycle). High concentration of KCl$({\leq}23.3mM)$ induced rhythmic increases in $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ and muscle contraction. However, sustained $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ and contracion were obtained at higher KCl concentration $({\geq}30.3mM)$ The rhythmic and sustained contraction closely associated with changes in $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ induced by high KCl. Carbachol $(3{\sim}30{\mu}M$ generated rhythmic increases with tonic component in $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ and muscle contraction. Myometrial contraction stimulated by carbachol was also closely correlated with change in $[Ca^{2+}]_i$. And the $[Ca^{2+}]_i/contraction$ relationships were similar when muscle strips were stimulated by high KCl and carbachol. Maximal concentration of carbachol $(10{\mu}M)$ and oxytocin(100 nM) increased $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ and contraction which were slightly greater than that of high KCl in non-pregnant myometrium, respectively. However, the $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ and contraction were strongly inhibited by verapamil $(10{\mu}M)$, a 1-type $Ca^{2+}$ channel blocker, as in the case of high KCl. Additionally, although carbachol further increased $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ and contraction induced by high KCl, these changes also strongly inhibited by application of verapamil. These results suggest that uterotonic agents, carbachol and oxytocin, induced contraction by increase in $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ through $Ca^{2+}$ influx than by a regulation of $Ca^{2+}-sensitization$ in non-pregnant myometrium.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.101-109
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• 2012

To investigate changes of components in salt-fermented anchovy sauce by long fermentation, various chemical properties were examined. The moisture, crude protein, crude lipid, and crude ash contents of the anchovy sauce by fermentation were 67.48~69.35%, 5.47~7.40%, 0.27~0.47% and 23.82~24.12%. The moisture and pH was decreased slightly, but the contents of crude protein, crude lipid, acidity and amino-N degree were increased gradually by long fermentation. And contents of crude ash, VBN and salinity showed almost no change. Total free amino acid contents of 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 year fermented samples were 8,762.2 mg%, 9,484.6 mg%, 10,085.8 mg%, 10,650.7 mg% and 10,123.7 mg% respectively. Major free amino acid of samples were glutamic acid, leucine, lysine, alanine, valine, isoleucine in ordor. The samples were caused by their composition of the free amino acids rations, in which were umami, sweet and bitter taste in the extracts of anchovy during long fermentation. In Hunter values, fermented samples were generally lower in L, b values whereas higher in a, ${\Delta}E$ values. And absorbance at 453 nm was increased gradually by fermentation. Sensory evaluation result of samples, 6 years sample was the highest than the others in overall acceptance.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.23-38
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• 2022

This study investigates the characteristics and physical habitat requirements for each Bufo gargarizans life history through a literature survey. After deriving variables for each component of Bufo gargarizans, in order to reduce regional deviations from eight previously studied literature research areas for deriving the criteria for variables, a total of 12 natural habitats of Bufo gargarizanss are selected as spatial ranges by selecting four additional sites such as Umyeonsan Ecological Park in Seoul, Wonheungibangjuk in Cheongju in the central region, Changnyeong Isan Reservoir in the southern region, and Mangwonji in Daegu. This study presents Bufo gargarizans SI, a species endemic to Korea, whose population is rapidly declining due to large-scale housing site development and road development, and develops a Bufo gargarizans HSI model accordingly to improve the function of the damaged Bufo gargarizans habitat and to present an objective basis for site selection of alternative habitat. At the same time, it provides basic data for adaptive management and follow-up monitoring. The three basic habitat requirements of amphibians, the physical habitat requirements of Bufo gargarizans, synthesized with shelter, food, and water, and the characteristics of each life history, are classified into five components by adding space and threats through literature research and expert advice. Variables are proposed by synthesizing and comparing the general characteristics of amphibians, among the previously studied single species of amphibians, the components of HSI of goldfrogs and Bufo gargarizans, and the ecological and physical environmental characteristics of Bufo gargarizans. Afterwards, through consultation with an amphibian expert, a total of 10 variables are finally presented by adjacent forest area(ha), the distance between spawning area and the nearest forest land(m), the soil, the distance from the wetland(m), the forest layered structure, the low grassland space, the permanent wetland area(ha), shoreline slope(%), PH, presence of predators, distance from road(m), presence or absence of obstacles. n order to derive the final criteria for each of the 10 variables, the criteria(alternative) for each variable are presented through geographic information analysis of the site survey area and field surveys of the previously studied literature research area. After a focus group interview(FGI) of 30 people related to the Bufo gargarizans colony in Cheongju, a questionnaire and in-depth interviews with three amphibians experts are conducted to verify and supplement the criteria for each final variable. Based on the finally developed Bufo gargarizans HSI, the Bufo gargarizans habitat model is presented through the SI graph model and the drawing centering on the Bufo gargarizans spawning area