• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.1153-1165
• /
• 2017

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a basic tool for testing theories in a variety of disciplines. A maximum likelihood (ML) method for parameter estimation is by far the most widely used in SEM. Alternatively, two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimator has been proposed as a more robust procedure to address model misspecification. A regularized extension of 2SLS, two-stage ridge least squares (2SRLS) has recently been introduced as an alternative to ML to effectively handle the small-sample-size issue. However, it is unclear whether and when misspecification and small sample sizes may pose problems in theory testing with 2SLS, 2SRLS, and ML. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the three estimation methods in terms of inferences errors as well as parameter recovery under two experimental conditions. We find that: 1) when the model is misspecified, 2SRLS tends to recover parameters better than the other two estimation methods; 2) Regardless of specification errors, 2SRLS produces small or relatively acceptable Type II error rates for the small sample sizes.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.90-96
• /
• 2019

The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of Diospyros malabarica stem extract, a natural materials, in oral health material. With this aim in mind, thin layer chromatography (TLC), TLC-bioautography, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and real-time qPCR were performed. The antibacterial activity of D. malabarica stem extract against Streptococcus mutans KCTC3065 was confirmed in an n-hexane fraction with low polarity. The molecular weight of the antibacterial compound was estimated to be 188 by ESI-MS analysis. The inhibitory effects of the extract on biofilm formation and gene expression related to biofilm formation of S. mutans were determined by SEM and real-time PCR analysis. The extract inhibited the formation of S. mutans biofilms at D. malabarica stem extract concentrations of 1 mg/ml, as shown by SEM. The real-time PCR analysis showed that the expression of the gtfC gene, which is associated with biofilm formation, was significantly decreased in a dose-dependent manner. Based on the above results, it can be concluded that D. malabarica stem extracts, a natural materials, can be used in oral health products to suppress the formation of biofilms by inhibiting tooth adhesion of S. mutans, a causative agent of dental caries.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.121-134
• /
• 2000

Root conditioning has introduced to dissolve the smear layer and to produce surface demineralization, resulting to exposure of dentin collagen fibril and opening of dentinal tubules. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of different concentration and application time of tetracycline-HCL on root conditioning. Total 40 root specimen were prepared from 20 periodontitis-prone human single rooted tooth. The specimen were treated with tetracycline-HCL solution(20mg/ml, 50mg/ml, 100mg/ml)for 20 sec, 3 min, 5 min., and saline for 30 sec. The application method was rubbing method with cotton pellet. Under the scanning electron microscopy(20KV), the extent of smear removal and opening of the dentinal tubules were examined at x 3000. The following results were obtained. 1. Treatment of root specimen with saline did not remove the smear layer and open the dentinal tubules. 2. Treatment of root specimen with different concentration of tetracycline-HCL for 20 sec also did not remove the smear layer completely. 3. Treatment of root specimen with different concentration of tetracycline-HCL for 3 min opened the dentinal tubules and removed smear layer. 4. Treatment of root specimen with 50mg/ml of tetracycline-HCL for 3 min showed collagen fibril within the opened dentinal tubules. In conclusion, the effect of root conditioning with tetracycline-HCL is more dependent on the application time than the application concentration. Root conditioning with 50mg/ml tetracycline-HCL for 3 min is enough for obtaining the periodontal regeneration.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.57 no.1
• /
• pp.11-16
• /
• 2019

$La_{0.6}Sr_{0.4}Ti_{0.3}Fe_{0.7}O_{3-{\delta}}$(LSTF) coated $Ba_{0.5}Sr_{0.5}Co_{0.8}Fe_{0.2}O_{3-{\delta}}$(BSCF) membranes which has properties of high oxygen permeability and stability to $CO_2$ were applied to a bench scale apparatus to conduct oxygen permeation experiments. Also, the membranes of the laboratory and the bench scale device were divided into three regions according to the temperature gradient in the membrane reactor for comparative analysis. While oxygen permeation experiment were conducted up to $900^{\circ}C$, temperature dependence of Cr deposition was investigated. As a result, it was confirmed that the oxygen permeability was $2.37ml/min{\cdot}cm^2$, which was significantly lower than $3.79ml/min{\cdot}cm^2$ measured in the laboratory apparatus. It was found through XRD and SEM/EDS analysis that the decrease in oxygen permeability was originated from the deposition of gaseous Cr on the membrane surface released from the alloy material of the housing. In particular, a large amount of Cr was found in the medium temperature region.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.56-62
• /
• 2022

This study was investigated to evaluate the potential of Stewartia koreana Nakai as an oral healthcare material. The inhibitory effects of extracts on the biofilm formation and fimbriae genes expression of Porphyromonas gingivalis were determined by minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC), biofilm biomass staining, SEM, and qRT-PCR analysis. The S. koreana Nakai branch was extracted into 70% ethanol, and bacteriostatic MIC of extracts against P. gingivalis were 0.6 mg/ml. In P. gingivalis cultures treated with 0.2-2.0 mg/ml of extract, biofilm production rate was significantly decreased in a concentration-dependent manner. The morphology of treated and untreated samples was observed by SEM, and cell aggregation and biofilm were only observed in those treated with extract. Subsequently, qRT-PCR analysis showed that the mRNA expression on fimbriae genes fimA and fimB was suppressed in a concentration-dependent manner. Based on these results, it can be suggested that S. koreana branch extract has the potential to be used as naturally derived oral healthcare material because of its bacteriostatic action and inhibition of P. gingivalis biofilm formation.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.273-279
• /
• 2009

$SF_6$, which has a high global warming potential, can be decomposed to sulfur and fluorine compounds through hydrolysis by $H_2O$ or oxidation by $O_2$ over solid acid catalysts. In this study ${\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ was employed as the solid acid catalyst for the abatement of $SF_6$ and its catalytic activity was investigated with respect to the reaction temperature and the space velocity. The catalytic activity for $SF_6$ decomposition by the hydrolysis reached the maximum at and above 973 K with the space velocity of $20,000\;ml/g_{-cat}{\cdot}h$, exhibiting a conversion very close to 100%. When the space velocity was lower than $45,000\;ml/g_{-cat}{\cdot}h$, the conversion was maintained at the maximum value. On the other hand, the conversion of $SF_6$ by the oxidation was about 20% under the same conditions. The SEM and XRD analyses revealed that the ${\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ was transformed to ${\alpha}-Al_2O_3$ during the hydrolysis and to $AlF_3$ during the oxidation, respectively. The size of $AlF_3$ after the oxidation was over $20\;{\mu}m$, and its catalytic activity was low due to the low surface area. Therefore, it was concluded that the hydrolysis over ${\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ was much more favorable than the oxidation for the catalytic decomposition of $SF_6$.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.599-611
• /
• 2007

The present study was performed to evaluate the surface roughness and effect of Tetracycline-HCI on the change of implant surface microstructure according to application time. Ti$O_2$ surface Implant was utilized. Implant surface was rubbed with 50mg/ml Tetracycline-HCI solution for 0.5min, 1min, 1.5min, 2min, 2.5min and 3min respectively in the Tetracycline-HCI group. Then, specimens were measured surface roughness and processed for scanning electron microscopic observation. The results of this study were as follows. 1. Ti$O_2$ blast implant surface showed increased surface roughness 1.5 minute after treatment with Tetracycline-HCI. But, there were not significant differences in saline group after treatment. 2. Tetracycline-HCI group showed changed surface micro-morphology in SEM after 1.5 minute. There were not significant differences in saline group after treatment. 3. Between Tetracycline-HCI group and saline group, there were difference in surface roughness change and SEM micro-morphology. Tetracycline-HCI have influence on Ti$O_2$ blast implant surface. In conclusion, the detoxification with 50mg/ml Tetracycline-HCI must be applied respectively with different time according to various implant surfaces.

• Knowledge Management Research
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.137-150
• /
• 2020

This study analyzes not only the direct impact of R&D investment on corporate growth for 578 private firms in 2007-2016, but also whether corporate innovation activities play a role as a mediating parameter between R&D investment and corporate growth. For this purpose, we classify companies into IT and non-IT companies and measure the mediating effect by dividing innovation activities into the number of registered patents, applied patents, and sum of them. In addition, this study is based on both the systemGMM which is considered to be effective in solving the endogenous problems caused by the cross-sectional analysis in previous studies and ML-SEM which is a new method recently, and then compares two results. According to the empirical results, innovation activities has a role as partly mediating parameter on sales growth in non-IT companies. On the other hands, in IT companies, the increase in R&D investment leads to a decrease in sales of the company, and the increase in innovation activities increases the sales of the company. However, it was confirmed that IT companies also had positive effects by adjusting the lag of the R&D. In other words, this suggests that securing patents is more important than R&D investment for direct sales growth of IT companies. It is also evidence that immediate introduction of technology is necessary to respond to the speed of technological change since the cycle time of technologies of the IT field is relatively shorter compared to that of other fields.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.279-285
• /
• 2005

Ground CS-891 (N-[1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1-methylethyl]-3-oxo-4-aza-5a-androst-1-ene-$17{\beta}$-carboxamide) of poorly water soluble drug was obtained using a Heiko Seisakusho model TI-100 vibration mill, and samples with different crystallinity were prepared at mixture ratios of 10:0, 7:3, 5:5, 3:7 and 0:10 (intact;ground CS-891). Physicochemical characterizations were obtained using qualitative and quantitative X-ray diffractometry, different scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Quantasorb surface area analyzer, and controlled atmosphere microbalance. With increase of amorphous CS-891 in mixture ratios, the intensities of X-ray diffraction peaks of crystalline CS-891 were decreased, whereas surface area, water absorption, and exothermic peaks in DSC were increased. The apparent solubility of ground CS-891 was $4.4\;{\mu}g/ml$ and the solubility of intact CS-891 was $3.1\;{\mu}g/ml$ at $37{\pm}1^{\circ}C$. The apparent precipitation rates of CS-891 in a supersaturated solution during the solubility test were increased with an increase of amorphous CS-891, and a crystalline form of CS-891 transformed from amorphous CS-891 after the solubility test was found by X-ray diffraction analysis, DSC and SEM. The dissolution profiles of CS-891 with different crystallinity at $37{\pm}1^{\circ}C$ by the USP paddle method were investigated, and the apparent dissolution rate constant of ground CS-891 was about 5.9-fold higher than that of intact CS-891. A linear relationships between the crystallinity of CS-891 and the apparent dissolution rate constant (r>0.96) were obtained.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.439-446
• /
• 2021

Quercus infectoria (nutgall) has been reported to possess antimicrobial activities against a wide range of pathogens. Nevertheless, the biofilm removal effect of nutgall extract has not been widely investigated. In this study, we therefore evaluated the effect of nutgall extract in combination with cetrimonium bromide (CTAB) against preformed biofilm of Salmonella Typhimurium on polypropylene (PP) and stainless steel (SS) coupons in comparison with other sanitizers. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of nutgall extract and surfactants (CTAB and sodium dodecyl sulfate; SDS) were assessed. CTAB showed a more efficient antimicrobial activity than SDS and was selected to use in combination with nutgall extract for removing biofilm. To determine the biofilm removal efficacy, the PP and SS coupons were individually submerged in 2x MBC of nutgall extract (256 mg/ml) + 2x MBC of CTAB (2.5 mg/ml), nutgall extract alone (256 mg/ml), CTAB alone (2.5 mg/ml), distilled water, and 100 ppm sodium hypochlorite for 5, 15, and 30 min. The remaining sessile cells in biofilm were determined. Overall, the greatest biofilm removal efficacy was observed with nutgall extract + CTAB; the biofilm removal efficacy of sanitizers tended to increase with the exposure time. The SEM analysis demonstrated that S. Typhimurium biofilm on PP and SS coupons after exposure to nutgall extract + CTAB for 30 min displayed morphological alterations with wrinkles. This study suggests nutgall extract + CTAB may be an alternative to commonly used sanitizers to remove biofilm from food contact surfaces in the food industry and household.