• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 1982

Soft X-ray photography was used to study some characters of seeds, such as fullness, damage by blight and harmful insects and degree of mechanical damages, degree of development of embryos and endosperms, size and position of cotylendons, existence and position of twin seed. Thirty nine species of woody plants (31 angiosperms and 8 gymnosperms)and four species of herbs were examined in this study. The results showed that through the mechanism of the selective sensitivity of seed structure of soft X-ray, seed characters mentioned above could be recognized regardless of size of seeds and thickness of seed coat. We concluded that it is possible to use soft X-ray photography reliably to find out the various characters of seeds.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.23-43
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• 2017

Purpose: As application-specific wireless sensor networks are gaining popularity, this paper discusses the development and field performance of the GHAN, a greenhouse area network system to monitor, control, and access greenhouse microenvironments. GHAN, which is an upgraded system, has many new functions. It is an intelligent wireless sensor and actuator network (WSAN) system for next-generation greenhouses, which enhances the state of the art of greenhouse automation systems and helps growers by providing them valuable information not available otherwise. Apart from providing online spatial and temporal monitoring of the greenhouse microclimate, GHAN has a modified vapor pressure deficit (VPD) fuzzy controller with an adaptive-selective mechanism that provides better control of the greenhouse crop VPD with energy optimization. Using the latest soil-matrix potential sensors, the GHAN system also ascertains when, where, and how much to irrigate and spatially manages the irrigation schedule within the greenhouse grids. Further, given the need to understand the microclimate control dynamics of a greenhouse during the crop season or a specific time, a statistical assessment tool to estimate the degree of optimality and spatial variability is proposed and implemented. Methods: Apart from the development work, the system was field-tested in a commercial greenhouse situated in the region of Punjab, India, under different outside weather conditions for a long period of time. Conclusions: Day results of the greenhouse microclimate control dynamics were recorded and analyzed, and they proved the successful operation of the system in keeping the greenhouse climate optimal and uniform most of the time, with high control performance.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.249-256
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• 2017

The Monascus azaphilone (MAz) pigment is a well-known food colorant that has yellow, orange and red components. The structures of the yellow and orange MAz differ by two hydride reductions, with yellow MAz being the reduced form. Orange MAz can be non-enzymatically converted to red MAz in the presence of amine derivatives. It was previously demonstrated that mppE and mppG are involved in the biosynthesis of yellow and orange MAz, respectively. However, ${\Delta}mppE$ and ${\Delta}mppG$ knockout mutants maintained residual production of yellow and orange MAz, respectively. In this study, we deleted the region encompassing mppD, mppE and mppG in M. purpureus and compared the phenotype of the resulting mutant (${\Delta}mppDEG$) with that of an mppD knockout mutant (${\Delta}mppD$). It was previously reported that the ${\Delta}mppD$ strain retained the ability to produce MAz but at approximately 10% of the level observed in the wildtype strain. A chemical analysis demonstrated that the ${\Delta}mppDEG$ strain was still capable of producing both yellow and orange MAz, suggesting the presence of minor MAz route(s) not involving mppE or mppG. Unexpectedly, the ${\Delta}mppDEG$ strain was observed to accumulate fast-eluting pigments in a reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. A LC-MS analysis identified these pigments as ethanolamine derivatives of red MAz, which had been previously identified in an mppE knockout mutant that produces high amounts of orange MAz. Although the underlying mechanism is largely unknown, this study has yielded an M. purpureus strain that selectively accumulates red MAz.

• Journal of KIISE:Information Networking
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.382-390
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• 2005

As today's networks evolve towards an If-based integrated network, the role of transmission control protocol(TCP) has been increasing as well. As a well-known issue, the performance of TCP is affected by its loss recovery mechanism that is comprised of two algorithms; fast retransmit and fast recovery. Although retransmission timeout(RTO) caused by multiple packet losses can be avoided by using selective acknowledgement(SACK) option, RTO cannot be avoided if a retransmitted packet is lost. Therefore, we propose a simple modification to make it possible for a TCP sender using SACK option to detect a lost retransmission. In order to evaluate the proposed algorithm, simulations have been performed for two scenarios where packet losses are random and correlated. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can improve TCP performance significantly.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.33.1-33.7
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• 2016

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) lower the freezing point but not the melting point of aqueous solutions by inhibiting the growth of ice crystals via an adsorption-inhibition mechanism. However, the function of type IV AFP (AFP IV) is questionable, as its antifreeze activity is on the verge of detectable limits, its physiological concentration in adult fish blood is too low to function as a biological antifreeze, and its homologues are present even in fish from tropic oceans as well as freshwater. Therefore, we speculated that AFP IV may have gained antifreeze activity not by selective pressure but by chance. To test this hypothesis, we cloned, expressed, and assayed AFP IV from cultured subtropical olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus), which do not require antifreeze protein for survival. Among the identified expressed sequence tags of the flounder liver sample, a 5'-deleted complementary DNA (cDNA) sequence similar to the afp4 gene of the longhorn sculpin was identified, and its full-length cDNA and genome structure were examined. The deduced amino acid sequence of flounder AFP IV shared 55, 53, 52, and 49 % identity with those of Pleuragramma antarcticum, Myoxocephalus octodecemspinosus, Myoxocephalus scorpius, and Notothenia coriiceps, respectively. Furthermore, the genomic structure of this gene was conserved with those of other known AFP IVs. Notably, the recombinant AFP IV showed a weak but distinct thermal hysteresis of $0.07{\pm}0.01^{\circ}C$ at the concentration of 0.5 mg/mL, and ice crystals in an AFP IV solution grew star-shaped, which are very similar to those obtained from other polar AFP IVs. Taken together, our results do not support the hypothesis of evolution of AFP IV by selective pressure, suggesting that the antifreeze activity of AFP IV may have been gained by chance.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.103-108
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• 2007

Cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) is known as one of the critical factor in carcinomas of various organs. However, the importance of Cox-2 in oral squamous cell carcinoma has not been fully described yet. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the anti-cancer effect of selective cox-2 inhibitor, celecoxib in an oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line, KB with respect to cytotoxicity test, in vitro invasion and MMP-2 expression. In cytotoxicity test, celecoxib treated group showed definitely concentration dependent cytotoxicity. In addition, administration of celecoxib reduced the invasive potential of KB cell line significantly in invasion assay. However, there was no remarkable difference of the MMP-2 expression between the celecoxib treated group and the control group. Considering these data, celecoxib had a potential cytotoxic agent to oral squamous cell carcinoma cells. Also, it had anti-invasive property without acting on the MMP-2 expression mechanism. Therefore, it was postulated that celecoxib had the possibility of anti-cancer agent in treatment strategies of oral squamous cell carcinoma.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.35 no.3B
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• pp.493-502
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• 2010

In this paper we propose a scalable sensor network system that makes mesh network among the sink nodes to solve the scalability problem of existing sensor network which is caused by multi-hop networking between the sensor nodes. In the proposed system, the sink nodes have the wireless networking ability to communicate with another sink nodes in mesh fashion, and with the monitoring nodes which is located in the local area or internet area. Especially, the system includes L4(Application Layer) routing mechanism that provides subscribe/publish service to serve selective transmission of sensor data to the specific monitoring nodes. The collected sensor data is transmitted to the monitoring nodes when the sensor data is matched with the monitoring node's interesting value.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.2303-2308
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• 2009

A thiocyanate poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) membrane electrode based on [1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane]dihalopalladium( II), [(dppe)$PdX_2$, X = Cl ($L^1$), X = I ($L^2$)] as active sensor has been developed. The diiodopalladium complex, [(dppe)$PdI_2](L^2$) displays an anti-Hofmeister selectivity sequence: $SCN^-\;>\;I^-\;>\;{ClO_4}^-\;>\;Sal^-\;>\;Br^-\;>\;{NO_2}^-\;>\;{HPO_4}^-\;>\;AcO^-\;>\;{NO_3}^-\;>\;{H_2PO_4}^-\;>\;{CO_3}^{2-}$. The electrode exhibits a Nernstian response (-59.8 mV/decade) over a wide linear concentration range of thiocyanate ($(1.0\;{\times}\;10^{-1}\;to\;5.0\;{\times}\;10^{-6}$ M), low detection limit ($(1.1\;{\times}\;10^{-6}$ M), fast response $(t_{90%}$ = 24 s), and applicability over a wide pH range (3.5∼11). Addition of anionic sites, potassium tetrakis[p-chlorophenyl] borate (KTpClPB) is shown to improve potentiometric anion selectivity, suggesting that the palladium complex may operate as a partially charged carrier-type ionophore within the polymer membrane phase. The reaction mechanism is discussed with respect to UV-Vis and IR spectroscopy. Application of the electrode to the potentiometric titration of thiocyanate ion with silver nitrate is reported.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.125-132
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• 2006

Transient kinetics of $NH_3$ adsorption/desorption and of SCR(selective catalytic reduction) of NO with $NH_3$ were studied over vanadium based catalysts, such as $V_2O_5/TiO_2$ and $V_2O_5-WO_3/TiO_2$. In the present catalytic reaction process, NO adsorption is neglected while $NH_3$ is strongly chemisorbed on the catalytic surface. Accordingly, it is ruled out the possibility of a reaction between strongly adsorbed $NH_3$ and NO species in line with the hypothesis of an Eley-Rideal mechanism. The present kinetic model assumes; (1) non-activated $NH_3$ adsorption, (2) Temkin-type $NH_3$ coverage dependence of the desorption energy, (3) non-linear dependence of the SCR reaction rate on the $NH_3$ surface coverage. Thus, the surface heterogeneity for adsorption/desorption of $NH_3$ is taken into account in this model. The present study extends the pure chemical kinetic model based on a powdered-phase catalytic system to the chemico-physical one applicable to a realistic monolith reactor.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.257-262
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• 2015

It is well known that cigarette smoke can cause erectile dysfunction by affecting the penile vascular system. However, the exact effects of nicotine on the corpus cavernosum remains poorly understood. Nicotine has been reported to cause relaxation of the corpus cavernosum; it has also been reported to cause both contraction and relaxation. Therefore, high concentrations of nicotine were studied in strips from the rabbit corpus cavernosum to better understand its effects. The proximal penile corpus cavernosal strips from male rabbits weighing approximately 4 kg were used in organ bath studies. Nicotine in high concentrations ($10^{-5}{\sim}10^{-4}M$) produced dose-dependent contractions of the corpus cavernosal strips. The incubation with $10^{-5}M$ hexamethonium (nicotinic receptor antagonist) significantly inhibited the magnitude of the nicotine associated contractions. The nicotine-induced contractions were not only significantly inhibited by pretreatment with $10^{-5}M$ indomethacin (nonspecific cyclooxygenase inhibitor) and with $10^{-6}M$ NS-398 (selective cyclooxygenase inhibitor), but also with $10^{-6}M$ Y-27632 (Rho kinase inhibitor). Ozagrel (thromboxane $A_2$ synthase inhibitor) and SQ-29548 (highly selective TP receptor antagonist) pretreatments significantly reduced the nicotine-induced contractile amplitude of the strips. High concentrations of nicotine caused contraction of isolated rabbit corpus cavernosal strips. This contraction appeared to be mediated by activation of nicotinic receptors. Rho-kinase and cyclooxygenase pathways, especially cyclooxygenase-2 and thromboxane $A_2$, might play a pivotal role in the mechanism associated with nicotine-induced contraction of the rabbit corpus cavernosum.