• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1301-1315
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• 2018

We purified an antimicrobial peptide from the acidified hemocyte extract of Mytilus coruscus by $C_{18}$ reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The peptide was 4041.866 Da based on matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrophotometer (MALDI-TOF/MS) and the 25 amino acids of the N-terminus sequence were identified. Comparison of this sequence of the purified peptide with the N-terminus sequences of other antimicrobial peptides revealed 100% identity with the mytilin B precursor of Mytilus coruscus. We also identified a 312 bp open-reading frame (ORF) encoding 103 amino acids based on the obtained amino acid residues. The nucleotide sequence of this ORF and the amino acid sequence also revealed 100% identity with the mytilin B precursor of Mytilus coruscus. We synthesized two antimicrobial peptides with an alanine residue in the C-terminus, and designated them mytilin B1 and B2. These two antimicrobial peptides showed antimicrobial activity against gram-positive bacteria, including Bacillus cereus and Streptococcus parauberis (minimal effective concentration, MECs $41.6-89.7{\mu}g/ml$), gram-negative bacteria, including Enterobacter cloacae, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Providencia stuartii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Vibrio ichthyoenteri (MECs $7.4-39.5{\mu}g/ml$), and the fungus Candida albicans (MECs $26.0-31.8{\mu}g/ml$). This antimicrobial activity was stable under heat and salt conditions. Furthermore, the peptides did not exhibit significant hemolytic activity or cytotoxic effects. These results suggest that mytilin B could be applied as alternative antibiotic agent, and they add to the understanding of the innate immunity of hard-shelled mussels.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.424-431
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• 2018

Stormwater runoff containing considerable amounts of pollutants such as particulates, organics, nutrients, and heavy metals contaminate natural bodies of water. At present, best management practices (BMP) intended to reduce the volume and treat pollutants from stormwater runoff were devised to serve as cost-effective measures of stormwater management. However, improper design and lack of proper maintenance can lead to degradation of the facility, making it unable to perform its intended function. This study evaluated an infiltration trench (IT) that went through a series of maintenance operations. 41 monitored rainfall events from 2009 to 2016 were used to evaluate the pollutant removal capabilities of the IT. Assessment of the water quality and hydrological data revealed that the inflow volume was the most relative factor affecting the unit pollutant loads (UPL) entering the facility. Seasonal variations also affected the pollutant removal capabilities of the IT. During the summer season, the increased rainfall depths and runoff volumes diminished the pollutant removal efficiency (RE) of the facility due to increased volumes that washed off larger pollutant loads and caused the IT to overflow. Moreover, the system also exhibited reduced pollutant RE for the winter season due to frozen media layers and chemical-related mechanisms impacted by the low winter temperature. Maintenance operations also posed considerable effects of the performance of the IT. During the first two years of operation, the IT exhibited a decrease in pollutant RE due to aging and lack of proper maintenance. However, some events also showed reduced pollutant RE succeeding the maintenance as a result of disturbed sediments that were not removed from the geotextile. Ultimately, the presented effects of maintenance operations in relation to the pollutant RE of the system may lead to the optimization of maintenance schedules and procedures for BMP of same structure.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.255-263
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• 2019

Glycyrrhizae radix is one of the most frequently prescribed ingredients in Oriental medicine, and Glycyrrhizae radix extract has been shown to exert anti-cancer effects. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms of programed cell death (apoptosis) by Glycyrrhizae radix are poorly defined. In the present study, it was examined the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis by water extracts of Glycyrrhizae radix (GRW) in human bladder T24 cancer cells. It was found that GRW could inhibit the cell growth of T24 cells in a concentration-dependent manner, which was associated with the induction of apoptotic cell death, as evidenced by the formation of apoptotic bodies, DNA fragmentation and increased populations of annexin-V positive cells. The induction of apoptotic cell death by GRW was connected with an up-regulation of pro-apoptotic Bax protein expression and down-regulation of anti-apoptotic proteins (Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL), and inhibition of apoptosis family proteins (XIAP, cIAP-1 and cIAP-2). In addition, apoptosis-inducing concentrations of GRW induced the activation of caspase-9, an initiator caspase of the mitochondrial-mediated intrinsic pathway, and caspase-3, accompanied by proteolytic degradation of PARP. GRW also induced apoptosis via a death receptor-mediated extrinsic pathway by caspase-8 activation, resulting in the down-regulation of total Bid and suggesting the existence of cross-talk between the extrinsic and intrinsic pathways. Taken together, the present results suggest that GRW may be a potential chemotherapeutic agent for the control of human bladder cancer cells.

• Clean Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.134-144
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• 2024

In this study, the mechanical stability of red mud was improved for its commercial use as a catalyst to effectively decompose HFC-134a, one of the seven major greenhouse gases. Red mud is an industrial waste discharged from aluminum production, but it can be used for the decomposition of HFC-134a. Red mud can be manufactured into a catalyst via the crushing-preparative-compression molding-firing process, and it is possible to improve the catalyst performance and secure mechanical stability through calcination. In order to determine the optimal heat treatment conditions, pellet-shaped compressed red mud samples were calcined at 300, 600, 800 ℃ using a muffle furnace for 5 hours. The mechanical stability was confirmed by the weight loss rate before and after ultra-sonication after the catalyst was immersed in distilled water. The catalyst calcined at 800 ℃ (RM 800) was found to have the best mechanical stability as well as the most catalytic activity. The catalyst performance and durability tests that were performed for 100 hours using the RM 800 catalyst showed thatmore than 99% of 1 mol% HFC-134a was degraded at 650 ℃, and no degradation in catalytic activity was observed. XRD analysis showed tri-calcium aluminate and gehlenite crystalline phases, which enhance mechanical strength and catalytic activity due to the interaction of Ca, Si, and Al after heat treatment at 800 ℃. SEM/EDS analysis of the durability tested catalysts showed no losses in active substances or shape changes due to HFC-134a abasement. Through this research, it is expected that red mud can be commercialized as a catalyst for waste refrigerant treatment due to its high economic feasibility, high decomposition efficiency and mechanical stability.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Food Science of Animal Resources Conference
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• 1998.05a
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• pp.37-54
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• 1998

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of mugwort extracts on the blood ethanol concentration, liver function and low level of cadmuim(Cd) in rats. The effects of mugwort extracts on the blood ethanol concentration was studied in Sprague-Dawley rats (10 weeks old) administered p.o. with 25% ethanol (5g/1kg body weight) and then injected with mugwort extracts (at the 2% levels of daily feed consumption compared with the concentration of catechins level in mugwort extracts) in caudal vein. SD rats were divided into five groups : control group (CON-E, only ethanol and 0.85% saline sol'n treated instead of each extracts), water extracts of mugwort treated to the control (MDW-E), ethanol extracts of mugwort treated to the control (POH-E). And then rat plasma of each time (0hr, 1hr, 2hr, 3hr) was investigated ethanol concentration by gas chromatography. Another rats were measured at the time of 0 and 5hr for the test of GOD(Glutamic Oxaloacetic Transaminase) and GPT(Glutamic Pyruvic Transaminase). Components of each extracts were analyzed by using high performance liquid chromatography. The effects of mugwort extracts on the liver function were studied in culture of rat hepatocyte composed of three groups : Control group and two groups treated with each extracts (1% & 2% MDW, 1% & 2% MOH). Condition of rat hepatocytes cultured for 36hr at $37^{\circ}C$(5% $CO_2$ incubator), number of cells, GOT and GPT activity were investigated. The results obtained were summarized as follows ; 1. Catechins level of mugwort extracts was $8{\sim}10mg/100g(MDW)$, $3{\sim}4mg/100g(MOH)$ 2. The contents of (-)-Epigallocatechin was high in MDW 3. The effects of mugwort extracts on the blood ethanol concentration were as follows; 1) The order in ethanol degradation efficiency was MDW-E > MOH-E > CON-E. 2) Ethanol concentration significantly decreased (p<0.05) in MDW-E and MOH-E. 4. The effects of mugwort extracts on the liver function were as follows; (rat hepatocytes cultured for 36hr at $37^{\circ}C$) 1) Cells condition of MDW-L was better than other groups. 2) The order in number of cells (rat hepatocytes) was 2% MDW-L >1% MDW-L >1% MOH-L > Con-L > 2% MOH-L 5. Cd treatment increased concentrations of hepatic GSH level, and decreased GOT activity in plasma. Therefore, this results suggest that the effects of mugwort extracts may an important rols in degradation ethanol and recovery liver function in body. Also, Mugwort extracts may modify the toxicities of Cd in Cd-treated rats and play an important roles in preventing the liver from various toxicants including Cd in Cd treated rats.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2008

Purpose: Micro-pinhole SPECT system with conventional multiple-head gamma cameras has the advantage of high magnification factor for imaging of rodents. However, several geometric factors should be calibrated to obtain the SPECT image with good image quality. We developed a simplified geometric calibration method for rotating triple-head pinhole SPECT system and assessed the effects of the calibration using several phantom and rodent imaging studies. Materials and Methods: Trionix Triad XLT9 triple-head SPECT scanner with 1.0 mm pinhole apertures were used for the experiments. Approximately centered point source was scanned to track the angle-dependent positioning errors. The centroid of point source was determined by the center of mass calculation. Axially departed two point sources were scanned to calibrate radius of rotation from pinhole to center of rotation. To verify the improvements by the geometric calibration, we compared the spatial resolution of the reconstructed image of Tc-99m point source with and without the calibration. SPECT image of micro performance phantom with hot rod inserts was acquired and several animal imaging studies were performed. Results: Exact sphere shape of the point source was obtained by applying the calibration and axial resolution was improved. Lesion detectibility and image quality was also much improved by the calibration in the phantom and animal studies. Conclusion: Serious degradation of micro-pinhole SPECT images due to the geometric errors could be corrected using a simplified calibration method using only one or two point sources.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.423-429
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• 2008

Currently, Ash-free clean coal producing process by solvent extraction is under development. The produced ash-free clean coal can be directly combusted in a gas turbine which results in substantial improvement of power generation efficiency. However, the clean coal produced by the solvent extraction still contain trace amount of alkali metal which may cause corrosion on turbine blades during the direct combustion. In present work ${\alpha},{\beta}$-metal (Zr and Ti) phosphates and H-Y zeolite were synthesized and their ion exchange characterizations were investigated for the application on alkali metal removal for clean coal production. $Na^+$ ion removal capacities of the metal phosphates and H-Y zeolite were measured and compared in both aqueous solution (100 ppmw, $Na^+$) and coal dissolved N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP, 12 ppmw $Na^+$) at elevated temperature. In aqueous solution, the ${\beta}$ form metal phosphates showed very high ion exchange capacities compared to ${\alpha}$ form. ${\beta}$ form metal phosphates also showed higher $Na^+$ removal capacities than H-Y zeolite. In ion exchange medium of NMP, all the ${\alpha}$ form metal phosphates showed over 90% of $Na^+$ ion removal efficiency in the temperature range of 200 to 400 while that of H-Y zeolite decreased as a half when the temperature was over 350. In addition, the regenerated metal phosphates by acid treatment showed no sign of degradation in $Na^+$ removal efficiency. Among the metal phosphates used, $Zr_{0.75}Ti_{0.25}(HPO_4)_2$ showed the best performance in $Na^+$ removal and is expected to be the most suitable inorganic ion exchanger for the alkali metal removal process.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.243-264
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• 2018

Although the worldwide battery market is recently spurring the development of lithium secondary battery, lead acid batteries (rechargeable batteries) which have good-performance and can be reused are consumed in a wide range of industry fields. However, lead-acid batteries have a serious problem in that deterioration of a battery makes progress quickly in the presence of that degradation of only one cell among several cells which is packed in a battery begins. To overcome this problem, previous researches have attempted to identify the mechanism of deterioration of a battery in many ways. However, most of previous researches have used data obtained in a laboratory to analyze the mechanism of deterioration of a battery but not used data obtained in a real world. The usage of real data can increase the feasibility and the applicability of the findings of a research. Therefore, this study aims to develop a model which predicts the battery deterioration using data obtained in real world. To this end, we collected data which presents change of battery state by attaching sensors enabling to monitor the battery condition in real time to dozens of golf carts operated in the real golf field. As a result, total 16,883 samples were obtained. And then, we developed a model which predicts a precursor phenomenon representing deterioration of a battery by analyzing the data collected from the sensors using machine learning techniques. As initial independent variables, we used 1) inbound time of a cart, 2) outbound time of a cart, 3) duration(from outbound time to charge time), 4) charge amount, 5) used amount, 6) charge efficiency, 7) lowest temperature of battery cell 1 to 6, 8) lowest voltage of battery cell 1 to 6, 9) highest voltage of battery cell 1 to 6, 10) voltage of battery cell 1 to 6 at the beginning of operation, 11) voltage of battery cell 1 to 6 at the end of charge, 12) used amount of battery cell 1 to 6 during operation, 13) used amount of battery during operation(Max-Min), 14) duration of battery use, and 15) highest current during operation. Since the values of the independent variables, lowest temperature of battery cell 1 to 6, lowest voltage of battery cell 1 to 6, highest voltage of battery cell 1 to 6, voltage of battery cell 1 to 6 at the beginning of operation, voltage of battery cell 1 to 6 at the end of charge, and used amount of battery cell 1 to 6 during operation are similar to that of each battery cell, we conducted principal component analysis using verimax orthogonal rotation in order to mitigate the multiple collinearity problem. According to the results, we made new variables by averaging the values of independent variables clustered together, and used them as final independent variables instead of origin variables, thereby reducing the dimension. We used decision tree, logistic regression, Bayesian network as algorithms for building prediction models. And also, we built prediction models using the bagging of each of them, the boosting of each of them, and RandomForest. Experimental results show that the prediction model using the bagging of decision tree yields the best accuracy of 89.3923%. This study has some limitations in that the additional variables which affect the deterioration of battery such as weather (temperature, humidity) and driving habits, did not considered, therefore, we would like to consider the them in the future research. However, the battery deterioration prediction model proposed in the present study is expected to enable effective and efficient management of battery used in the real filed by dramatically and to reduce the cost caused by not detecting battery deterioration accordingly.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.3-9
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• 2017

Recently, in 3rd Generation Partnership Project(3GPP), there is a study of the Long Term Evolution(LTE) based vehicle communication which has been actively conducted to provide a transport efficiency, telematics and infortainment. Because the vehicle communication is closely related to the safety, it requires a reliable communication. Because vehicle speed is very fast, unlike the movement of the user, radio channel is rapidly changed and generate a number of problems such as transmission quality degradation. Therefore, we have to continuously updates the channel estimates. There are five types of conventional channel estimation scheme. Least Square(LS) is obtained by pilot symbol which is known to transmitter and receiver. Decision Directed Channel Estimation(DDCE) scheme uses the data signal for channel estimation. Constructed Data Pilot(CDP) scheme uses the correlation characteristic between adjacent two data symbols. Spectral Temporal Averaging(STA) scheme uses the frequency-time domain average of the channel. Smoothing scheme reduces the peak error value of data decision. In this paper, we propose the novel channel estimation scheme in LTE based Vehicle-to-Vehicle(V2V) environment. In our Hybrid Reliable Channel Estimation(HRCE) scheme, DDCE and Smoothing schemes are combined and finally the Linear Minimum Mean Square Error(LMMSE) scheme is applied to minimize the channel estimation error. Therefore it is possible to detect the reliable data. In simulation results, overall performance can be improved in terms of Normalized Mean Square Error(NMSE) and Bit Error Rate(BER).

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.279-287
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• 2018

Sealants are an important element of modern architecture and serve as a building protection against weathering by providing barriers against ingress of moisture, air, and other materials. Exposure to a variety of environments often reduces lifespan due to changes in physical, chemical and mechanical characteristics, and UV, humidity, and temperature expansion are important issues that are directly related to durability. In this study, a combined deterioration test chamber was developed to simulate the environment of the open air as an instrument for verifying the durability of structural sealing materials indoors. In order to replicate special weather conditions, such as yellow dust, acid rain, and contamination by microorganisms, it was deemed impossible to replicate the outdoor environment by 100 %, and the results of the results of the results of the external exposure test of the structural sealant and the combined deterioration testing device. As a result of the displacement test of the outdoor exposure test, it was determined that the sealant was breaking apart and that it would be smooth, and the displacement would be up to three times greater than the initial material value of 1 year. The displacement test results of the combined deterioration test device show the tendency to deteriorate, decreasing the elasticity and tensile characteristics. In the case of denatured silicon, the current 400 cycles have been completed to confirm 12 months of degradation of the external exposure. The deformation of the test specimen cannot be verified with the naked eye, so it is considered that the conditions of the specimen are more stable than the silicon sealant. As a result of the outdoor exposure test, if the combined deterioration test device is structured and proposed in the relevant guidance or specification, the anticipated lifespan of 12 months in the actual use environment can be verified indoors and below 3 months later, economically.