• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.147-162
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• 2015

Objectives: The objective of this review was to summarize the primary role of three representative endocrine axes in aquatic vertebrates and discuss the effects on endocrine systems and their interactions in teleost fish after exposure to environmental contaminants. Methods: We summarized individual traits and mechanisms for hormonal and transcriptional interactions between the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonad (HPG), hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT), and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axes in fish. We also provided a brief discussion on the effects of nonylphenol-induced toxicity on endocrine systems and their interactions in fish as a demonstration of holistic explanation. Results: Currently-available data showed that thyroid dysfunction is associated with reproductive toxicity due to changes in steroidogenic gene expressions and sex hormone levels as well as gonad glands in fish. As an example, we demonstrated that exposure to nonylphenol could induce estrogenicity in male fish by decreasing thyroid hormones, which contributes to increased aromatase expression. Although the mechanisms are complicated and involved in multiple ways, a number of studies have shown that sex steroids influence the HPT axis or the HPA axis in fish, indicating bi-directional crosstalk. Critically missing is information on the primary target or toxicity mechanisms of environmental contaminants among the three endocrine axes, so further studies are needed to explore those possibilities. Conclusions: This review highlights the interactions between the HPG, HPT, and HPA axes in fish in order to better understand how these endocrine systems could interact with each other in situations of exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals.

• Korean System Dynamics Review
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.33-56
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• 2008

With emphasis on the importance of systems thinking for the establishment of learning organization, Senge in his famous book "The Fifth Discipline", explains in depth four disciplines such as personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, which are all geared up to the implementation of learning organization. However, two critical pitfalls are found: First, a holistic picture is absent in his presentation of learning organization, which just seems like a puzzle with linking pieces missing between disciplines. Secondly, as is often the case too much details are discussed in expense of insights on each discipline. This paper thus attempts to draw core metaphysical insights underlying Senge's learning organization disciplines by reinterpreting them from oriental perspectives; and to identify mechanisms depicting how they are working together as a whole, which is enabled by exploiting causal loop diagrams as a tool of systems thinking. In addition some thoughts on the implications of systems thinking on each of the learning organization disciplines.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.237-241
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• 2012

In wireless sensor networks, the importance of transporting data correctly with reliability is increasing gradually along with the need to support communications between the nodes and sink. Data flow from the sink to the nodes requires reliability for control or management that is very sensitive and intolerant of error; however, data flow from the nodes to the sink is relatively tolerant. In this paper, with emphasis on the data flow from the sink to the nodes, we propose a mechanism that considers accurate transport with reliability hop-by-hop. During the process of sending the data, if errors occur or data is missing, the proposed mechanism supports error recovery using a fixed window with selective acknowledgment. In addition, this mechanism supports congestion control depending on the buffer condition. Through the simulation, we show that this mechanism is accurate, reliable, and proper for transport in wireless sensor networks.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.38.1-38.3
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• 2018

Gene-gene interaction (GGI) analysis is known to play an important role in explaining missing heritability. Many previous studies have already proposed software to analyze GGI, but most methods focus on a binary phenotype in a case-control design. In this study, we developed "Hierarchical structural CoMponent analysis of Gene-Gene Interactions" (HisCoM-GGI) software for GGI analysis with a continuous phenotype. The HisCoM-GGI method considers hierarchical structural relationships between genes and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), enabling both gene-level and SNP-level interaction analysis in a single model. Furthermore, this software accepts various types of genomic data and supports data management and multithreading to improve the efficiency of genome-wide association study data analysis. We expect that HisCoM-GGI software will provide advanced accessibility to researchers in genetic interaction studies and a more effective way to understand biological mechanisms of complex diseases.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.11 no.7
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• pp.3747-3765
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• 2017

Existing authentication mechanisms in cellular mobile communication networks are realized in the upper layer by employing cryptographic techniques. Authentication data are broadcasted over the air in plaintext, enabling attackers to completely eavesdrop on the authentication and get some information about the shared secret key between legitimate nodes. Therefore, reusing the same secret key to authenticate several times results in the secret key's information leakage and high attacking rate. In this paper, we consider the most representative authentication mechanism, Authentication and Key Agreement (AKA), in cellular communication networks and propose an enhanced AKA scheme based on Physical Layer Authentication (AKA-PLA). Authentication responses generated by AKA are no longer transmitted in plaintext but masked by wireless channel characteristics, which are not available to adversaries, to generate physical layer authentication responses by a fault-tolerant hash method. The authenticator sets the threshold according to the authentication requirement and channel condition, further verifies the identity of the requester based on the matching result of the physical layer authentication responses. The performance analyses show that the proposed scheme can achieve lower false alarm rate and missing rate, which are a pair of contradictions, than traditional AKA. Besides, it is well compatible with AKA.

• 대한공업교육학회지
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.312-324
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• 2008

To improve the newly designed HKS(hinge kit system) in common refrigerators, it was investigated the new robust methodologies. There were the study of failure modes, mechanisms in the marketplace, and the design parameters of HKS with various improvements using accelerated life testing. Based on the claimed marketplace product returns and 1st ALT reproduction, the fracturing and cracking occur in the housing of the HKS. The missing design parameters of the failed HKS in the design phase of the refrigerator was the housing hinge kit structure. The corrective action plans are the modifications of the housing hinge kit structure from the open supporting to all supporting structure. Based on 2nd ALTs, the fracturing and cracking occur in the torsion shaft. The missing design parameter was the roundness of torsion shaft. After a sequence of ALT testing, the levels of the missing design parameters were setup. The yearly failure rate and B1 life of the redesigned HKS, based on the results of ALT, were over 0.01 percent and 10 years, respectively. The parameter design through the inspection of the failed product, load analysis, and three rounds of ALT, was very effective in the new robust design methodologies of the mechanical system and this method can be applied to other design system.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.580-586
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• 2007

To enhance the reliability of a newly designed reciprocating compressor applied in a domestic compressor, accelerated life tests were developed using new definitions of the sample size and the $B_1$ life index. In $1^{st}$ accelerated life testing, the compressor was locked due to the fracture of the suction reed valve. The failure modes and mechanisms of the suction reed valve in the accelerated tests were found to be similar to that of the failed product in the field. The root cause of the failure was the overlap between the suction reed valve and the valve plate in the suction port. The missing parameters in the design phase were modified by expanding the trespan size, introducing tumbling process, changing the material and thickness for the valve, introducing a ball peening and brushing process for the valve plate. In $2^{nd}$ accelerated life testing, the compressor was locked due to the interference between the crank shaft and thrust washer. The corrective plan was to heat treat the crank shaft. The $B_1$ life of the compressor improved from 1.5 to 12.9 years.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.117-126
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• 2007

Ginseng, the root of Panax species, a well-known herbal medicine has been used as a traditional medicine for thousands of years and is now a popular and worldwide used natural medicine. Ginseng has been used primarily as a tonic to invigorate weak bodies to help the restoration of homeostasis in a wide range of pathological conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, immune deficiency and hepatotoxicity. Although conclusive clinical data in humans is still missing, recent research results have suggested that some of the active ingredients ginseng exert beneficial effects on central nervous system (CNS) disorders and neurodegenerative diseases, suggesting it could be used in treatment of psychotic disorders. Data from neural cell cultures and animal studies contribute to the understanding of these mechanisms that involve inhibitory effects on stress-induced corticosterone level increasing and modulating of neurontransmitters, reducing $Ca^{2+}$ over-influx, scavenging of free radicals and counteracting excitotoxicity. In this review, we focused on recently reported medicinal effects of ginseng and summarized the possibility of its applications on psychotic disorders.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.206-221
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• 2019

Source localization in three-dimensional (3-D) wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is becoming a major research focus. Due to the complicated air-ground environments in 3-D positioning, many of the traditional localization methods, such as received signal strength (RSS) may have relatively poor accuracy performance. Benefit from prior learning mechanisms, fingerprinting-based localization methods are less sensitive to complex conditions and can provide relatively accurate localization performance. However, fingerprinting-based methods require training data at each grid point for constructing the fingerprint database, the overhead of which is very high, particularly for 3-D localization. Also, some of measured data may be unavailable due to the interference of a complicated environment. In this paper, we propose an efficient kernel based 3-D localization algorithm via tensor completion. We first exploit the spatial correlation of the RSS data and demonstrate the low rank property of the RSS data matrix. Based on this, a new training scheme is proposed that uses tensor completion to recover the missing data of the fingerprint database. Finally, we propose a kernel based learning technique in the matching phase to improve the sensitivity and accuracy in the final source position estimation. Simulation results show that our new method can effectively eliminate the impairment caused by incomplete sensing data to improve the localization performance.

• Korean Circulation Journal
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.273-293
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• 2023

Pulsed field ablation (PFA) was recently rediscovered as an emerging treatment modality for the ablation of cardiac arrhythmias. Ultra-short high voltage pulses are leading to irreversible electroporation of cardiac cells subsequently resulting in cell death. Current literature of PFA for pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) consistently reported excellent acute and long-term efficacy along with a very low adverse event rate. The undeniable benefit of the novel ablation technique is that cardiac cells are more susceptible to electrical fields whereas surrounding structures such as the pulmonary veins, the phrenic nerve or the esophagus are not, or if at all, minimally affected, which results in a favorable safety profile that is expected to be superior to the current standard of care without compromising efficacy. Nevertheless, the exact mechanisms of electroporation are not yet entirely understood on a cellular basis and pulsed electrical field protocols of different manufactures are not comparable among one another and require their own validation for each indication. Importantly, randomized controlled trials and comparative data to current standard of care modalities, such as radiofrequency- or cryoballoon ablation, are still missing. This review focuses on the "pearls" and "pitfalls" of PFA, a technology that has the potential to become the future leading energy source for PVI and beyond.