• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.199-212
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• 2023

In contrast to the short-term nature of lunar missions in the past, lunar missions in new space era aim to extend the presence on the lunar surface and to use this capability for the Mars exploration. In order to realize extended human presence on the Moon, production and use of consumables and fuels required for the habitation and transportation using in-situ resources is an important prerequisite. The Global Exploration Roadmap presented by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG), which reflects the space exploration plans of participating countries, shows the phases of progress from lunar surface exploration to Mars exploration and relates in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) capabilities to each phase. Based on the ISRU Gap Assessment Report from the ISECG, ISRU technology is categorized into in-situ propellant and consumable production, in-situ construction, in-space manufacturing, and related areas such as storage and utilization of products, power systems required for resource utilization. Among the lunar resources, leading countries have prioritized the utilization of ice water existing in the permanent shadow region near the lunar poles and the extraction of oxygen from the regolith, and are preparing to investigate the distribution of resources and ice water near the lunar south pole through unmanned landing missions. Resource utilization technologies such as producing hydrogen and oxygen from water by hydroelectrolysis and extracting oxygen from the lunar regolith are being developed and tested in relevant lunar surface analogue environments. It is also observed that each government emphasizes the use and development of the private sector capabilities for sustainable lunar surface exploration by purchasing lunar landing services and providing opportunities to participate in resource exploration and material extraction.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.73-82
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• 2023

Purpose : Cymbopogon citratus, also known as lemongrass, has widely spread around the world and its essential oil is usually applied in food, perfume, and other industrial purposes. In addition, C. citratus has also been used for the treatment of inflammation, digestive disorders, and diabetes in traditional medicine. In this study, the antioxidative activity of C. citratus ethanol extract (CCEE) was analyzed in RAW 264.7 cells through the induction of one of phase II enzymes, heme oxygenase (HO)-1 by nuclear factor-erythroid 2 p45-related factor (Nrf)2, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt. Methods : The antioxidative activity of CCEE against oxidative stress and its underlying molecular mechanisms were analyzed by the cell viability assay, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation assay, and Western blot analysis in RAW 264.7 cells. Results : The results exhibited that CCEE potently attenuated tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP) induced intracellular ROS levels in a dose-dependent manner without any cytotoxicity. CCEE treatment significantly induced the expression of HO-1 which is known for its antioxidative capacity. In addition, CCEE treatment significantly upregulated the expression of Nrf2, a corresponding transcription factor for the regulation of antioxidative enzymes, which was in accordance with the HO-1 overexpression. MAPK and PI3K/Akt were also evaluated for their important roles in the regulation of cellular redox homeostasis against oxidative damage. As a result, the potent HO-1 expression was mediated by not extracellular regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun NH2 terminal kinase (JNK), p38, but phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) phosphorylation. To confirm the antioxidative activity of CCEE-induced HO-1 expression, oxidative damage was initiated by t-BHP and attenuated by CCEE treatment, which was identified by HO-1 selective inhibitor and inducer. Conclusion : Consequently, CCEE potently induced the HO-1-mediated antioxidative potential through the modulation of Nrf2 and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways in RAW 264.7 cells. These results suggest that CCEE could be a promising strategy for the mitigation against cellular oxidative damage.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.325-343
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• 2023

Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) have been attracting attention as energy conversion devices that can directly supply methanol liquid fuel without a fuel reforming process. The commercial polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) currently applied to DMFC are perfluorosulfonic acid ionomer-based PEMs, which exhibit high proton conductivity and physicochemical stability during the operation. However, problems such as high methanol permeability and environmental pollutants generated during decomposition require the development of PEMs for DMFCs using novel ionomers. Recently, studies have been reported to develop PEMs using hydrocarbon-based ionomers that exhibit low fuel permeability and high physicochemical stability. This review introduces the following studies on hydrocarbon-based PEMs for DMFC applications: 1) synthesis of grafting copolymers that exhibit distinct hydrophilic/hydrophobic phase-separated structure to improve both proton conductivity and methanol selectivity, 2) introduction of cross-linked structure during PEM fabrication to reduce the methanol permeability and improve dimensional stability, and 3) incorporation of organic/inorganic composites or reinforcing substrates to develop reinforced composite membranes showing improved PEM performances and durability.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.291-298
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• 2023

In this study, a quantitative analysis method was developed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to analyze the content of ceramide NP in lotion, cream, and cleanser formulations in cosmetics. The analysis was performed using a C18 column, and the mobile phase was set at a ratio of 70 : 30 for acetonitrile and methanol, the flow rate was set to 0.8 mL/min, and the column temperature was set to 20 ℃. The method was verified by analyzing specificity, linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantitation, accuracy, and precision in accordance with the ICH guidelines. As a result of validating the method, the linearity of the calibration curve was excellent (R² = 0.99984). The accuracy of the lotion, cream, and cleanser formulations was confirmed with a recovery rate ranging from 95.11% to 100.48%. The precision analysis showed a low relative standard deviation (RSD) of less than 0.26%. The limit of detection was 0.902 ㎍/mL, and the limit of quantitation was 2.733 ㎍/mL. Through this quantitative analysis method of ceramide NP applied in cosmetics, it is expected to assist in the quality control of products by enabling measurement even when it is difficult to separate the main peak due to the influence of interfering substances.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.161-169
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• 2023

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of Allium hookeri (AH) root on growth performance, serum antioxidant enzyme activity, cecal short-chain fatty acid profiles, and tight junction-related gene expression of broiler chickens. On day 10, 96 birds were allocated to one of two dietary treatments with 6 replicate cages, and 8 birds per cage in a randomized complete block design. The experimental diets consisted of a corn-soybean meal-based control diet and a diet supplemented with 0.3% AH root powder at the expense of the corn in the control diet. The experimental diets were formulated to meet or exceed the nutrients requirements of broilers recommended by Aviagen for each phase (from day 10 to 21 and from day 21 to 28). On day 28, a bird representing the median body weight in each cage was selected, and then blood, cecal digesta, and jejunum tissue samples were collected. No significant differences were observed in body weight gain and feed intake among dietary treatments. However, birds fed the diet containing AH showed a greater gain-to-feed ratio compared to the control group at 21 days of age and throughout the entire experimental period (P<0.05). Serum antioxidant enzyme activity, cecal short-chain fatty acid profiles, and tight junction-related gene expression were not affected by the dietary AH supplementation. Based on the results of the present study, dietary AH supplementation may improve the gain-to-feed ratio, but not gut health markers in broiler chickens from day 10 to 28.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.523-528
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• 2023

The applicability as a material to improve solar cell performance was reviewed by synthesizing a phosphor that emits red wavelengths by a liquid synthesis method using a metal salt aqueous solution and a polymer medium as a starting material. An aqueous solution was prepared using nitrate of metals such as Ca, Zn, Al, and Eu, and a precursor impregnated with starch, a natural polymer, was sintered to synthesize CaZnAlO:Eu phosphor powder. The surface structure and composition analysis of the synthesized CaZnAlO:Eu phosphor powder were analyzed by scanning electron microscope(SEM) and energy-dispersed X-ray spectroscopy(EDS). The crystal structure of CaZnAlO:Eu phosphor particles was analyzed by an X-ray diffraction analyzer (XRD). As a result of measuring the photoluminescence(PL) characteristics of the phosphor, it was confirmed that a red phosphor with a light emitting wavelength of 650-780nm was successfully synthesized. According to SEM and EDS analysis, the synthesized Ca₁₄Zn₆Al_9.93O₃₅:Eu³⁺_0.07 phosphor powder has a uniform particle size, and Eu ions used as an activator are present. The synthesized CZA:Eu³⁺ phosphor can be used as a material that can increase the light absorption efficiency of the solar cell by converting ultraviolet or visible light down conversion into a wavelength in the near-infrared region.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.441-446
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• 2023

Inferior vena cava (IVC) injuries, while accounting for fewer than 0.5% of blunt abdominal trauma cases, are among the most difficult to manage. Despite advancements in prehospital care, transportation, operative techniques, and perioperative management, the mortality rate for IVC injuries has remained at 20% to 66% for several decades. Furthermore, 30% to 50% of patients with IVC injuries succumb during the prehospital phase. A 65-year-old male patient, who had been struck in the back by a 500-kg excavator shovel at a construction site, was transported to a regional trauma center. Injuries to the right side of the infrarenal IVC and the right external iliac vein (EIV) were suspected, along with fractures to the right iliac bone and sacrum. The injury to the right side of the infrarenal IVC wall was repaired, and the right internal iliac artery was ligated. However, persistent bleeding around the right EIV was observed, and we were unable to achieve proximal and distal control of the right EIV. Attempts at prolonged manual compression were unsuccessful. To decrease venous return, we ligated the right superficial femoral vein. This reduced the amount of bleeding, enabling us to secure the surgical field. We ultimately controlled the bleeding, and approximately 5 L of blood products were infused intraoperatively. A second-look operation was performed 2 days later, by which time most of the bleeding sites had ceased. Orthopedic surgeons then took over the operation, performing closed reduction and external fixation. Five days later, the patient underwent definitive fixation and was transferred for rehabilitation on postoperative day 22.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.167-173
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• 2023

Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃ and Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃/C composite with single phase monoclinic structure for the cathode materials are successfully synthesized by direct co-precipitation method using N₂H₄·H₂O as the reducing agent and alginic acid as the carbon source, and their electrochemical properties were compared. The particles with approximately 1~2 ㎛ size and the uniform spherical-like morphology of the narrow particle size distribution were obtained. In addition, the residual carbon can also improve the electrical conductivity. The Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃/C composite has improved initial specific discharge capacity and excellent cycle characteristics to maintain capacity stably than Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃. The results indicate that the reducing agent and carbon composite can affect the good crystallinity and electrochemical performance of the cathode materials.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.544-551
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• 2023

Speech enhancement used to improve the perceptual quality and intelligibility of noise speech has been studied as a method using a complex-valued spectrum that can improve both magnitude and phase in a method using a magnitude spectrum. In this paper, a study was conducted on how to apply attention mechanism to complex-valued spectrum-based speech enhancement systems to further improve the intelligibility and quality of noise speech. The attention is performed based on additive attention and allows the attention weight to be calculated in consideration of the complex-valued spectrum. In addition, the global average pooling was used to consider the importance of the feature map. Complex-valued spectrum-based speech enhancement was performed based on the Deep Complex U-Net (DCUNET) model, and additive attention was conducted based on the proposed method in the Attention U-Net model. The results of the experiments on noise speech in a living room environment showed that the proposed method is improved performance over the baseline model according to evaluation metrics such as Source to Distortion Ratio (SDR), Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality (PESQ), and Short Time Object Intelligence (STOI), and consistently improved performance across various background noise environments and low Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) conditions. Through this, the proposed speech enhancement system demonstrated its effectiveness in improving the intelligibility and quality of noisy speech.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.673-687
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• 2023

Exploratory data analysis is the process of observing and understanding data collected from various sources to identify their distributions and correlations through their structures and characterization. This process can be used to identify correlations among conditioning factors and select the most effective factors for analysis. This can help the assessment of landslide susceptibility, because landslides are usually triggered by multiple factors, and the impacts of these factors vary by region. This study compared two stages of exploratory data analysis to examine the impact of the data exploration procedure on the landslide prediction model's performance with respect to factor selection. Deep-learning-based landslide susceptibility analysis used either a combinations of selected factors or all 23 factors. During the data exploration phase, we used a Pearson correlation coefficient heat map and a histogram of random forest feature importance. We then assessed the accuracy of our deep-learning-based analysis of landslide susceptibility using a confusion matrix. Finally, a landslide susceptibility map was generated using the landslide susceptibility index derived from the proposed analysis. The analysis revealed that using all 23 factors resulted in low accuracy (55.90%), but using the 13 factors selected in one step of exploration improved the accuracy to 81.25%. This was further improved to 92.80% using only the nine conditioning factors selected during both steps of the data exploration. Therefore, exploratory data analysis selected the conditioning factors most suitable for landslide susceptibility analysis and thereby improving the performance of the analysis.