• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.369-375
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• 1997

Studies were conducted to determine the efficiency of decondensation protocols. Sperm obtained from seven normal donors was immediately washed after liquefaction and then decondensed using the method of West et al. (1989) and my original protocol. My optimized protocol entailed mixing 1 ml aliquots of semen with 4 ml phosphate buffered saline (PBS). Following centrifugation, pellets were resuspended in 1 ml PBS containing 6 mM EDTA. After centrifugation, pellets were resuspended in 1 ml PBS containing 2 mM dithiothreitol at $37^{\circ}C$ for 45 min. Following mixing with 2 ml PBS and centrifugation, pellets were resuspended by vortexing. While vortexing, 5 ml of fixative were gently added. Slide preparation was accomplished using the smear method and it was stored at $4^{\circ}C$. When comparing these protocols, the degree of sperm decondensation and head swelling was monitored by measuring nuclear length, area, perimeter, and degree of roundness using FISH analysis software. Apparent copy number for chromosome 1 and, separately, for the sex chromosomes was determined by FISH using satellite DNA probes for loci DIZ1, DXZ1 and DYZ3. Sperm treated by my decondensation protocol showed significant increases (p<0.05) in length, area, perimeter, and degree of roundness. There was a significant decrease (p<0.05) in the frequency of nuclei displaying no signal but no change in the frequency of nuclei with two signals in samples decondensed by my protocol. My data suggested that decondensation using my original protocol may lower the frequency of cells with spurious "nullisomy" due to hybridization failure without inducing spurious "disomy" resulting from increased distances between split signals.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.373-384
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• 2020

Paeonol, quercetin, β-sitosterol, and gallic acid extracted from Moutan Cortex had been reported to possess anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor activities. This work aimed to illustrate the potential anti-oxidative mechanism of monomers in human liver hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells-induced by hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and to evaluate whether the hepatoprotective effect of monomers was independence or synergy in mice stimulated by carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄). Monomers protected against oxidative stress in HepG2 cells in a dose-response manner by inhibiting the generation of reactive oxygen species, increasing total antioxidant capacity, catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, and activating the antioxidative pathway of nuclear factor E2-related factor 2/Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Nrf2/Keap1) signaling pathway. We found that the in vitro antioxidant capacities of paeonol and quercetin were better than those of β-sitosterol and gallic acid. Furthermore, paeonol apparently diminished the levels of alanine transaminase and aspartate aminotransferase, augmented the contents of glutathione and SOD, promoted the expressions of Nrf2 and heme oxygenase-1 proteins in mice stimulated by CCl₄. In HepG2 cells, paeonol, quercetin, β-sitosterol, and gallic acid play a defensive role against H₂O₂-induced oxidative stress through activating Nrf2/Keap1 pathway, indicating that these monomers have anti-oxidative properties. Totally, paeonol and quercetin exerted anti-oxidative and hepatoprotective effects, which is independent rather than synergy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.36-41
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• 2003

This paper presents the results of power spectra using the fundamental and low frequency harmonic components of leakage current waveform to study aging on contaminated EPDM insulator(was serviced during 1997-2001, region Pohang, korea) under salt fog conditions. Experiments have been conducted in the chamber salt fog and at the 16KVrms. The salt contents adjusted as 0g,25g,50g and 75g per liter of deionized water. The onset of dry-band arcing on polymer insulators could be determined by signal processing the low frequency harmonics components. A correlation has been found between the fundamental and low harmonic components of power spectra on leakage current. Where aging could be associated with an increase in the level of both the fundamental and low frequency harmonics components of leakage current. Surface aging for contaminated EPDM insulators occurred when the fundamental component of leakage current was greater then some level On the other hand, when the polymer insulator approached failure, the fundamental component of leakage current reached relatively high values and low frequency harmonics components of the leakage current trended to decrease. The results suggest that both the fundamental and low frequency harmonics of leakage current can be used as a tool to determine both the beginning of aging and before flashover, end of life EPBM insulator in salt fog.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.229-235
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• 2008

The ground flight termination system(GFTS) could be used for the termination of launch vehicle in flight motion when the launch vehicle deviates from the designated route due to the system malfunction or failure as well as the launch vehicle can't be tracked by the ground tracking system. This paper introduces the basic concept and design of the ground flight termination system to be used for KSLV launch mission in NARO space center. In order to design the optimal ground flight termination system for KSLV launch application, the operational concept reflected on the flight trajectory and system characteristics of KSLV launch vehicle should be considered. Moreover the RF link budget analysis, and the analysis for system availability and reliability are done. Based on the analysis above, the each subsystem of ground flight termination to transmit the termination signal in stable is designed for KSLV launch mission.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.72-80
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• 2019

In this task, the tool dynamometer design and manufacture, and the Ansys S/W structural analysis program for tool attachment that satisfies the cutting force measurement requirements of the tool dynamometer system are used to determine the cutting force generated by metal cutting using 3-axis static structural analysis and the LabVIEW system. The cutting power in a cutting process using a milling tool for processing metals provides useful information for understanding the processing, optimization, tool status monitoring, and tool design. Thus, various methods of measuring cutting power have been proposed. The device consists of a strain-gauge-based sensor fitted to a new design force sensing element, which is then placed in a force reduction. The force-sensing element is designed as a symmetrical cross beam with four arms of a rectangular parallel line. Furthermore, data duplication is eliminated by the appropriate setting the strain gauge attachment position and the construction of a suitable Wheatstone full-bridge circuit. This device is intended for use with rotating spindles such as milling tools. Verification and machining tests were performed to determine the static and dynamic characteristics of the tool dynamometer. The verification tests were performed by analyzing the difference between strain data measured by weight and that derived by theoretical calculations. Processing test was performed by attaching a tool dynamometer to the MCT to analyze data generated by the measuring equipment during machining. To maintain high productivity and precision, the system monitors and suppresses process disturbances such as chatter vibration, imbalances, overload, collision, forced vibration due to tool failure, and excessive tool wear; additionally, a tool dynamometer with a high signal-to-noise ratio is provided.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.299-312
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• 2021

Purpose: We provide a condition-based maintenance policy where a surrogate variable is used for monitoring system performance. We constructed a risk function by taking into account the risk and losses accompanied with erroneous decisions. Methods: Assuming a unique degradation process for the performance variable and its specific relationship with the surrogate variable, the maintenance policy is determined. A risk function is developed on the basis of producer's and consumer's risks accompanied with each decision. With a strategic safety factor considered, the optimal threshold value for the surrogate variable is determined based on the risk function. Results: The condition-based maintenance is analyzed from the point of risk. With an assumed safety consideration, the optimal threshold value of the surrogate variable is provided for taking a maintenance action. The optimal solution cannot be obtained in a closed form. An illustrative numerical example and solution is provided with a source code of R program. Conclusion: The study can be applied to situation where a sensor signal is issued if the system performance begins to degrade gradually and reaches eventually its functional failure. The study can be extended to the case where two or more performance variables are connected to a same surrogate variable. Also estimation of the distribution parameters and risk coefficients should be further studied.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.307-318
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• 2019

The frequently excessive vibrations presented in civil structures during seismic events or service conditions may result in users' discomfort, or worst, in structures failure, producing economic and even human casualties. This work contributes in proposing the synthesis of a nonlinear optimal control strategy for semiactive structural control, with the main characteristic that the synthesis considers both the structure model and the semiactive actuator nonlinear dynamics, which produces a nonlinear system that requires a nonlinear controller design. The aim is to reduce the unwanted vibrations in the response of civil structures, by means of intelligent fluid semiactive actuator such as the Magnetorheological Damper (MRD), which is a device with a low level of power consumption. The civil structures for which the proposed control methodology can be applied are those admitting a state-dependent coefficient factorized representation model, such as buildings, bridges, among others. A scaled model of a three storey building is analyzed as a case study, whose dynamical response involves displacement, velocity and acceleration of each one of the storeys, subjected to the North-South component of the September 19th., 2017, Puebla-Morelos (7.1M), Mexico earthquake. The investigation rests on comparing the structural response over time for two different conditions: with no control device installed and with one MRD installed between the first floor and the ground, where a nonlinear optimal signal for the MRD input voltage is determined. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed controller for reducing the building's dynamical response.

• Korean Journal of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
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• v.61 no.12
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• pp.663-668
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• 2018

Background and Objectives The main objectives of this study were to determine the clinical usefulness of the program-assisted and real ear measurement (REM)-assisted fitting of hearing aids. Subjects and Method Fifteen participants with moderate to moderately severe hearing loss were enrolled in this study. Objective and subjective fitting results were assessed to compare the benefits between the program-assisted fitting (using a software fitting program) and the REM-assisted fitting. Real ear insertion gain (REIG), sound-field audiometry using warble tone, and Korean Hearing in Noise Test (K-HINT) were performed as objective tests. Sound quality rating was performed as a subjective test. Results In the program fitting, 48.89% of fitting points failed to come within ${\pm}10dB$ of the REIG target. In the REM fitting, however, the percentage of failure significantly decreased to 23.33% (p=0.013). In K-HINT test, the reception threshold for speech in quiet situation significantly decreased from 50.1 dB HL with the program fitting to 44.7 dB HL after the REM fitting (p<0.001). In front noise condition, signal-to-noise ratio improved from 4.53 dB to 3.50 dB with the REM fitting without statistical significance (p=0.099). In the sound quality rating, the REM fitting ($4.27{\pm}0.56$) showed a significantly better sound quality ratings than the program fitting ($3.69{\pm}0.74$) (p=0.017). Conclusion The REM fitting showed better results in both subjective and objective measurements than the program fitting.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.5744-5764
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• 2018

In Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) for Internet of Things (IoT) environment, fault tolerance is a most fundamental issue due to strict energy constraint of sensor node. In this paper, a robust energy saving data dissemination protocol for IoT-WSNs is proposed. Minimized energy consumption and dissemination delay time based on signal strength play an important role in our scheme. The representative dissemination protocol SPIN (Sensor Protocols for Information via Negotiation) overcomes overlapped data problem of the classical Flooding scheme. However, SPIN never considers distance between nodes, thus the issue of dissemination energy consumption is becoming more important problem. In order to minimize the energy consumption, the shortest path between sensors should be considered to disseminate the data through the entire IoT-WSNs. SPMS (Shortest Path Mined SPIN) scheme creates routing tables using Bellman Ford method and forwards data through a multi-hop manner to optimize power consumption and delay time. Due to these properties, it is very hard to avoid heavy traffic when routing information is updated. Additionally, a node failure of SPMS would be caused by frequently using some sensors on the shortest path, thus network lifetime might be shortened quickly. In contrast, our scheme is resilient to these failures because it employs energy aware concept. The dissemination delay time of the proposed protocol without a routing table is similar to that of shortest path-based SPMS. In addition, our protocol does not require routing table, which needs a lot of control packets, thus it prevents excessive control message generation. Finally, the proposed scheme outperforms previous schemes in terms of data transmission success ratio, therefore our protocol could be appropriate for IoT-WSNs environment.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.87-94
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• 2022

Myocardial infarction promotes cardiac remodeling and myocardial fibrosis, thus leading to cardiac dysfunction or heart failure. Peiminine has been regarded as a traditional anti-fibrotic Chinese medicine in pulmonary fibrosis. However, the role of peiminine in myocardial infarction-induced myocardial injury and fibrosis remained elusive. Firstly, rat model of myocardial infarction was established using ligation of the left coronary artery, which were then intraperitoneally injected with 2 or 5 mg/kg peiminine once a day for 4 weeks. Echocardiography and haemodynamic evaluation results showed that peiminine treatment reduced left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, and enhanced maximum rate of increase/decrease of left ventricle pressure (± dP/dt max) and left ventricular systolic pressure, which ameliorate the cardiac function. Secondly, myocardial infarction-induced myocardial injury and infarct size were also attenuated by peiminine. Moreover, peiminine inhibited myocardial infarction-induced increase of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α production, as well as the myocardial cell apoptosis, in the rats. Thirdly, peiminine also decreased the myocardial fibrosis related protein expression including collagen I and collagen III. Lastly, peiminine reduced the expression of p38 and phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 in rat model of myocardial infarction. In conclusion, peiminine has a cardioprotective effect against myocardial infarction-induced myocardial injury and fibrosis, which can be attributed to the inactivation of mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway.