• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.143-151
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• 2014

In images degraded by bad weather, edges representing object boundaries become weak and faint. In this paper we present an image enhancement method, which increases image visibility by making edges as clear as possible. First, we choose edge candidate regions by finding local maxima and minima in an image intensity field, and then build a histogram using image intensities of pixels located at the two sides of candidate edges. Second, we decompose this histogram into multiple modes, which are determined by local minima in the histogram. Once modes are computed, we find modes connected by edges in the image intensity field and build link chains of connected modes. Finally we choose the longest link chain of modes and make the distances between every connected modes as large as possible. The darkest mode and the brightest mode should be within the image intensity range. This stretch makes edges clear and increases image visibility. Experiments show that the proposed method real-time enhances images degraded by bad weather as good as well known time-consuming methods.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.29-39
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• 2018

Vibrio vulnificus needs various responsive mechanisms to survive and transmit successfully in alternative niches of human and marine environments, and to ensure the acquisition of steady energy supply to facilitate such unique life style. The bacterium had genetic constitution very different from that of Escherichia coli regarding metabolism of glycogen, a major energy reserve. V. vulnificus accumulated more glycogen than other bacteria and at various levels according to culture medium and carbon source supplied in excess. Glycogen was accumulated to the highest level in Luria-Bertani (3.08 mg/mg protein) and heart infusion (4.30 mg/mg protein) complex media supplemented with 1% (w/v) maltodextrin at 3 h into the stationary phase. Regarding effect of carbon source, more glycogen was accumulated when maltodextrin (2.34 mg/mg protein) was added than when glucose or maltose (0.78.1-14 mg/mg protein) was added as an excessive carbon source to M9 minimal medium, suggesting that maltodextrin metabolism might affect glycogen metabolism very closely. These results were supported by the analysis using the malP (encoding a maltodextrin phosphorylase) and malQ (encoding a 4-${\alpha}$-glucanotransferase) mutants, which accumulated much less glycogen than wild type when either glucose or maltodextrin was supplied as an excessive carbon source, but at different levels (3.1-80.3% of wild type glycogen). Therefore, multiple pathways for glycogen metabolism were likely to function in V. vulnificus and that responding to maltodextrin might be more efficient in synthesizing glycogen. All of the glycogen samples from 3 V. vulnificus strains under various conditions showed a narrow side chain length distribution with short chains (G4-G6) as major ones. Not only the comparatively large accumulation volume but also the structure of glycogen in V. vulnificus, compared to other bacteria, may explain durability of the bacterium in external environment.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.8 no.spc1
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• pp.360-390
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• 2005

The paradigm of the corporate innovations has been changed from the intra-company innovations to the inter-company innovations. A prevalent approach to the inter-company innovations is the supply chain management. Three key words of the core concept of supply chain management are the long-term relationship, resource integration, and value creation. Specifically, it means that the supply chain management aims to make value creation through the resource integration for the supply chain entities, based on the long-term relationship between buyers and sellers. To make more effective long-term relationship among the supply chain entities, it is very important for the supply chain entities to analyze followings: i) What variables can influence the long-term relationship, ii) How these variables can influence to the long-term relationship. However, previous researches mostly deals the long-term relationship in the marketing area in fragment, and thus few research efforts have been done for the development of conceptual model using supply chain management theories. In contrast to previous studies, our research tried to develop and examine the integrative research model by introducing both the marketing theories and the supply chain management theories, and thus related hypotheses are derived. A multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the influence of the antecedents of the long-term relationship, for the 87 retailers of grocery supply chains. The empirical results confirm that cultural similarity, reputation, interdependency, and trust positively influence long-term relationship (i.e., partnership orientation and partnership symmetry). And results also confirm that the supply implementation factors such as organization integration, information system integration, and process integration playa moderating role between antecedents and long-term relationship. These findings suggest that companies should perceive the importance of managing the process, organization, information system integration in the long-term relationship implementation process as well as the factors such as cultural similarity, reputation, interdependency, and trust in the long-term relationship establishment process.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.127-138
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• 2007

In this paper, we propose a new X-masking scheme for utilizing logic built-in self-test The new scheme exploits the phase-shifting network which is based on the shift-and-add property of maximum length pseudorandom binary sequences(m-sequences). The phase-shifting network generates mask-patterns to multiple scan chains by appropriately shifting the m-sequence of an LFSR. The number of shifts required to generate each scan chain mask pattern can be dynamically reconfigured during a test session. An iterative simulation procedure to synthesize the phase-shifting network is proposed. Because the number of candidates for phase-shifting that can generate a scan chain mask pattern are very large, the proposed X-masking scheme reduce the hardware overhead efficiently. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed X-masking technique requires less storage and hardware overhead with the conventional methods.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.63 no.8
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• pp.314-320
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• 2020

Background: The accumulation of unpaired α-globin chains in patients with β-thalassemia major may clinically create ineffective erythropoiesis, hemolysis, and chronic anemia. Multiple blood transfusions and iron overload cause cellular oxidative damage. However, α-tocopherol, an antioxidant, is a potent scavenger of lipid radicals in the membranes of red blood cells (RBCs) of patients with β-thalassemia major. Purpose: To evaluate the effects of α-tocopherol on hemolysis and oxidative stress markers on the RBC membranes of patients with β-thalassemia major. Methods: Forty subjects included in this randomized controlled trial were allocated to the placebo and α-tocopherol groups. Doses of α-tocopherol were based on Institute of Medicine recommendations: 4-8 years old, 200 mg/day; 9-13 years old, 400 mg/day; 14-18 years old, 600 mg/day. Hemolysis, oxidative stress, and antioxidant variables were evaluated before and after 4-week α-tocopherol or placebo treatment, performed before blood transfusions. Results: Significant enhancements in plasma haptoglobin were noted in the α-tocopherol group (3.01 mg/dL; range, 0.60-42.42 mg/dL; P=0.021). However, there was no significant intergroup difference in osmotic fragility test results; hemopexin, malondialdehyde, reduced glutathione (GSH), or oxidized glutathione (GSSG) levels; or GSH/GSSG ratio. Conclusion: Use of α-tocopherol could indirectly improve hemolysis and haptoglobin levels. However, it played no significant role in oxidative stress or as an endogen antioxidant marker in β-thalassemia major.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.992-999
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• 2014

This paper presents an extensive experimental comparison of a variety of multi-label learning methods for the accurate prediction of subcellular localization of proteins which simultaneously exist at multiple subcellular locations. We compared several methods from three categories of multi-label classification algorithms: algorithm adaptation, problem transformation, and meta learning. Experimental results are analyzed using 12 multi-label evaluation measures to assess the behavior of the methods from a variety of view-points. We also use a new summarization measure to find the best performing method. Experimental results show that the best performing methods are power-set method pruning a infrequently occurring subsets of labels and classifier chains modeling relevant labels with an additional feature. futhermore, ensembles of many classifiers of these methods enhance the performance further. The recommendation from this study is that the correlation of subcellular locations is an effective clue for classification, this is because the subcellular locations of proteins performing certain biological function are not independent but correlated.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1983-1993
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• 2017

Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium, one of the most common foodborne pathogens, is transmitted mainly through contaminated food derived from infected animals. In this study, S. Typhimurium ST1120, an isolate from pig feces in Korea, was subjected to whole-genome analysis to understand its genomic features associated with virulence. The genome of ST1120 was found to have a circular chromosome of 4,855,001 bp (GC content 52.2%) and a plasmid of 6,863 bp (GC content 46.0%). This chromosome was predicted to have 4,558 open reading frames (ORFs), 17 pseudogenes, 22 rRNA genes, and 86 tRNA genes. Its plasmid was predicted to have three ORFs. Comparative genome analysis revealed that ST1120 was phylogenetically close to S. Typhimurium U288, a critical isolate in piggery farms and food chains in Europe. In silico functional analysis predicted that the ST1120 genome harbored multiple genes associated with virulence and stress resistance, including Salmonella pathogenicity islands (SPIs containing SPI-1 to SPI-5, SPI-13, and SPI-14), C63PI locus, ST104 prophage locus, and various antibiotic resistance genes. In accordance with these analysis results, ST1120 showed competence in invasion and survival abilities when it was added to host cells. It also exhibited robust resistance against antibiotics in comparison with other S. Typhimurium strains. This is the first report of the complete genome sequence of S. Typhimurium isolated from swine in Korea. Comparative genome analysis between ST1120 and other Salmonella strains would provide fruitful information toward understanding Salmonella host specificity and developing control measures against S. Typhimurium infection.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.42 no.12
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• pp.850-857
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• 2019

The Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, has multiple multidrug efflux pumps. MexT, a LysR-type transcriptional regulator, functions as a transcriptional activator of the MexEF-OprN efflux system. MexT consists of an N-terminal DNA-binding domain and a C-terminal regulatory domain (RD). Little is known regarding MexT ligands and its mechanism of activation. We elucidated the crystal structure of the MexT RD at 2.0 Å resolution. The structure comprised two protomer chains in a dimeric arrangement. MexT possessed an arginine-rich region and a hydrophobic patch lined by a variable loop, both of which are putative ligand-binding sites. The three-dimensional structure of MexT provided clues to the interacting ligand structure. A DNase I footprinting assay of full-length MexT identified two MexT-binding sequence in the mexEF-oprN promoter. Our findings enhance the understanding of the regulation of MexT-dependent activation of efflux pumps.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.133-136
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• 2003

Background and Objectives: Kikuchi's disease or subacute necrotizing lymphadenitis is a cause of persistently enlarged lymph nodes unresponsive to antibiotic therapy. It affects predominantly young women under the age of 30, and it is seen primarily in the Asian population. Although this disease usually follows a benign course, all describing a clinical entity that has been mistaken for malignant lymphoma, lupus, and an assortment of infectious diseases. The purpose of this study is to report clinical characteristics and treatment outcome in order to contribute to the precise diagnosis and treatment. Materials and Methods: We reviewed 27 cases, who were diagnosed as subacute necrotizing lymphadenitis on excisional biopsy during the past 5 years from January 1998 to December 2002. Results: It occurred more often in females (20 cases ; 74%) than males (7cases ; 26%), and it was seen more frequently in the second and third decades (21 cases ; 78%). Cervical lymphadenopathy were usually multiple (24 cases, 89%) and measured less than 2cm (20 cases, 74%). The posterior cervical and deep jugular chains are the most common location(34 cases ; 81%). Leukopenia(18 cases, 67%) and elevated ESR(20 cases, 75%) were commonly noted in laboratory data. Conclusions: It is easy that Kikuchi's disease is mistaken for malignant lymphoma. So we should consider fine needle aspiration or open biosy of lymph node for histologic diagnosis in patients who have localized cervical lymphadenopathy unresponsive to antibiotic therapy.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.97-103
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• 2006

Phosphoinositides are critical regulators of ion channel and transporter activity. There are multiple isomers of biologically active phosphoinositides in the plasma membrane and the different lipid species are non-randomly distributed. However, the mechanism by which cells impose selectivity and directionality on lipid movements and so generate a non-random lipid distribution remains unclear. In the present study we investigated which structural elements of phosphoinositides are responsible for their subcellular location and movement. We incubated phosphatidylinositol (PI), phosphatidylinositol 4-monophosphate (PI(4)P) and phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate ($PI(4,5)P_2$) with short or long acyl chains in CHO and HEK cells. We show that phosphate number and acyl chain length determine cellular location and translocation movement. In CHO cells, $PI(4,5)P_2$ with a long acyl chain was released into the cytosol easily because of a low partition coefficient whereas long chain PI was released more slowly because of a high partition coefficient. In HEK cells, the cellular location and translocation movement of PI were similar to those of PI in CHO cells, whereas those of $PI(4,5)P_2$ were different; some mechanism restricted the translocation movement of $PI(4,5)P_2$, and this is in good agreement with the extremely low lateral diffusion of $PI(4,5)P_2$. In contrast to the dependence on the number of phosphates of the phospholipid head group of long acyl chain analogs, short acyl chain phospholipids easily undergo translocation movement regardless of cell type and number of phosphates in the lipid headgroup.