• Journal of Life Science
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.279-284
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• 1998

The nucleotide sequences of the 5'-untraslated region(5'-UTR) of Hepatitis G virus(HGV) from sera of Korean patients were determines. When compared to the previously reported isolates, the Korean isolates have higher sequence homology with the Japanese isolates indicating the geographic distribution of HGV variants. Interestingly, three discrete regions which are highly conserved among HGV isolates from the same geographical area, thus could be applied to distinguish HGV isolates from the different areas were noticed in the 5'-UTR. Based on the sequences of these group-specific regions, twenty four different HGV isolates could be classified into 5 groups. By using the group-specific regions, inconsistency in HGV typing when based on the different regions of HGV could be solved.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.77-86
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• 1992

This paper discusses the thermodynamic study on the suction cooling-steam injected gas turbine cycle. The aim of this study is to improve the thermal efficiency and the specific output by steam injection produced by the waste heat from the waste heat recovery boiler and by cooling compressor inlet air by an ammonia absorption-type suction cooling system. The operating region of this newly devised cycle depends upon the pinch point limit and the outlet temperature of refrigerator. The higher steam injection ratio and the lower the evaporating temperature of refrigerant allow the higher thermal efficiency and the specific output. The optimum pressure ratios and the steam injection ratios for the maximum thermal efficiency and the specific output can be found. It is evident that this cycle considered as one of the most effective methods which can obtain the higher thermal efficiency and the specific output comparing with the conventional simple cycle and steam injected gas turbine cycle.

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 1997

We developed a sensitive, nested reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect Hantaan, Seoul, Belgrade, Puumala and Sin Nombre viruses in animal tissues. Total RNA was extracted from blood, lung or kidney samples of experimentally-infected hamsters by using the guanidine isothiocyanate buffer-acid phenol-chloroform method. Genus-reactive outer primers were derived from the consensus region of the G1 gene sequences of several hantaviruses. Serotype-specific primers were selected within the region amplified by the outer primers. To examine the sensitivity and specificity of the test, we diluted known quantities of Hantaan, Seoul, Belgrade, Puumala and Sin Nombre viruses in human or hamster immune sera before performing the nested RT-PCR. We could detect as little as 1 pfu of virus, even in the presence of high-titer neutralizing antibodies, and the serotype-specific primers amplified only homologous serotype viruses. RT-PCR with these primers demonstrated virus in the blood of experimentally-infected hamsters as early as four days to as late as 30 days after infection. A comparison of a standard immunofluorescent antibody screening test (IFAT) to nested RT-PCR with RNA extracted from lung or kidney tissues of the hamsters, demonstrated that RT-PCR to be more sensitive for identifying viruses in these tissues.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.197-205
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• 2004

Batch test methods have developed for a long time to measure kinetic and stoichiometric parameters which are required to perform steady state design and mathematical modelling of activated sludge processes. However, at various So/Xo ratios, abnormal behaviors of ordinary heterotrophic organism in batch tests have been reported in many researches. Thus, in this research, abnormal behaviors of heterotrophs in batch tests were investigated at various So/Xo conditions by measuring and interpreting oxygen utilization rate. As So/Xo ratio increased, the calculated values of maximum specific growth rates, ${\mu}_{H,max}$ and $K_{MP,max}$, increased. However, at a certain point of So/Xo (around 10mgCOD/mgMLAVSS), ${\mu}_{H,max}$ and $K_{MP,max}$ values started to decrease. According to this observation, three prominent behaviours of heterotrophs were identified at various So/Xo conditions. (1) At low So/Xo region (below 5 mgCOD/mgMLAVSS), the oxygen utilization rate of heterotrophs in batch tests were almost stable and consequently yielded lower maximum specific growth rate. (2) At high So/Xo region (up to 5~10 mgCOD/mgMLAVSS), oxygen utilization rate incresed sharply with time and indicated more upward curvature than the predicted OUR with conventional activated sludge model, which consists of single hetetrotrophs group. Thus, in this region, competition model of two organisms, fast-grower and slow-grower, seemed to be appropriate. (3) At extremely high So/Xo region (over 10mgCOD/mgMLAVSS), significant oxygen utilization rate was still observed even after depletion of readily biodegradable COD. This might be caused by retarded utilization of intermediates which were generated by self inhibition mechanism in the process of RBCOD uptake.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
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• 2004.06a
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• pp.194-194
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• 2004

Tissue-specific expression of the desired gene product in the targrt tissue is central to the concept of bioreactor. One approach is to use a tissue-specific promoter to drive desired gene. To investigate the feasibility of tissue-specific gene expression for bladder using the porcine uroplakin(UPII) promoter and its transcriptional control the efficacy of this promoter as well as well as fragments in regulating gene expression were cell lines using DNA transfection. (omitted)

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.879-886
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• 2000

Background : Thyroid Transcription Factor-1(TTF-1) acts as a tissue specific transcription factor in the regulation of lung specific gene expression and as morphogenic protein during lung organogenesis. Currently, there is very little information on the cis-acting sequences and transcription factors that direct the TTF-1 gene expression. DNAse 1 hypersensitive (DH) sites represent a marker for active or potentially active chromatin and are likely to be especially important in gene regulation, being associated with many DNA sequences that regulate gene expression. It is clear that DH regions correlate with genetic regulatory loci and binding for sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins. Methods : We have used DH site assays to identify putative distal regulatory elements in H441 lung adenocarcinoma cells, which express the TTF-1 gene and HeLa cells. Results : There are four DH sites 5' of the TTF-1 gene. These sites are located at base pair approximately +150, -450, -800, and -1500 from the start of transcription. Conclusion : These data suggest that there may be at least one intragenic site and regulatory region 5' prime to the promotor region.

• BMB Reports
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.175-179
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• 1996

Viral surface proteins are known to play an essential role in attachment of the virus particle to the host cell membrane. In case of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) several reports have described potential receptors on the target cell side, but no definite receptor protein has been isolated yet. As for the viral side, it has been suggested that the preS region of the envelope protein, especially the preS1 region, is involved in binding of HBV to the host cell. In this study, preS1 region was recombinantly expressed in the form of a maltose binding protein (MBP) fusion protein and used to identify and visualize the expression of putative HBV receptor(s) on the host cell. Using laser scanned confocal microscopy and by FACS analysis, MBP-preS1 proteins were shown to bind to the human hepatoma cell line HepG2 in a receptor-ligand specific manner. The binding kinetic of MBP-preS1 to its cellular receptor was shown to be temperature and time dependent. In cells permeabilized with Triton X-100 and treated with the fusion protein, a specific staining of the nuclear membrane could be observed. To determine the precise location of the receptor binding site within the preS1 region, several short overlapping peptides from this region were synthesized and used in a competition assay. In this way the receptor binding epitope in preS1 was revealed to be amino acid residues 27 to 51, which is in agreement with previous reports. These results confirm the significance of the preS1 region in virus attachment in general, and suggest an internalization pathway mediated by direct attachment of the viral particle to the target cell membrane.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.123-159
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• 2013

We use a multi-regional dynamic computable general equilibrium model to explain an economic effect of $CO_2$ tax on the national and regional economy of Korea. First, we compare two $CO_2$ taxes: a region-specific $CO_2$ tax and a uniform $CO_2$ tax. In the region-specific tax, the $CO_2$ tax rate in the capital area and the south-eastern region is much greater than those in other regions. GDP loss resulting from the region-specific tax is bigger than that in the uniform tax. Second, we consider three options for tax recycling: consumption tax recycling, labor-income tax recycling, and corporate-income tax recycling. The corporate-income tax recycling has the least GDP-loss effect over the three options. These results support that it is more efficient to use a uniform $CO_2$ tax rate than a region-specific $CO_2$ tax rate and that the corporate-income tax recycling is more desirable in a sense of efficiency than the consumption and labor-income tax recycling options.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.1729-1740
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• 2017

This paper describes a vision-based method that effectively recognize a traffic light. The method consists of two steps of traffic light detection and discrimination. Many related studies have used color information to detect traffic light, but color information is not robust to the varying illumination environment. This paper proposes a new method of traffic light detection based on intensity and saturation. When a traffic light is turned on, the light region usually shows values with high saturation and high intensity. However, when the light region is oversaturated, the region shows values of low saturation and high intensity. So this study proposes a method to be able to detect a traffic light under these conditions. After detecting a traffic light, it estimates the size of the body region including the traffic light and extracts the body region. The body region is compared with five models which represent specific traffic signals, then the region is discriminated as one of the five models or rejected as none of them. Experimental results show the performance of traffic light detection reporting the precision of 97.2%, the recall of 95.8%, and correct recognition rate of 94.3%. These results shows that the proposed method is effective.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.1005-1011
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• 2010

$\gamma$-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. GABA transporters (GATs) control extracellular GABA levels by reuptake of released GABA from the synaptic cleft. However, how GATs are regulated has not yet been elucidated. Here, we used the yeast two-hybrid system to identify the specific binding protein(s) that interacts with the carboxyl (C)-terminal region of GAT1, the major isoform in the brain and find a specific interaction with the ubiquitin-specific protease 14 (Usp14), a deubiquitinating enzyme. Usp14 protein bound to the tail region of GAT1 and GAT2 but not to other GAT members in the yeast two-hybrid assay. The C-terminal region of Usp14 is essential for interaction with GAT1. In addition, these proteins showed specific interactions in the glutathione S-transferase (GST) pull-down assay. An antibody to GAT1 specifically co-immunoprecipitated Usp14 from mouse brain extracts. These results suggest that Usp14 may regulate the number of GAT1 at the cell surface.