• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• 제23권2호
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• pp.28.1-28.18
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• 2022

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) is a major cause of infantile diarrhea in developing countries. However, sporadic outbreaks caused by this microorganism in developed countries are frequently reported recently. As an important zoonotic pathogen, EPEC is being monitored annually in several countries. Hallmark of EPEC infection is formation of attaching and effacing (A/E) lesions on the small intestine. To establish A/E lesions during a gastrointestinal tract (GIT) infeciton, EPEC must thrive in diverse GIT environments. A variety of stress responses by EPEC have been reported. These responses play significant roles in helping E. coli pass through GIT environments and establishing E. coli infection. Stringent response is one of those responses. It is mediated by guanosine tetraphosphate. Interestingly, previous studies have demonstrated that stringent response is a universal virulence regulatory mechanism present in many bacterial pathogens including EPEC. However, biological signficance of a bacterial stringent response in both EPEC and its interaction with the host during a GIT infection is unclear. It needs to be elucidated to broaden our insight to EPEC pathogenesis. In this review, diverse responses, including stringent response, of EPEC during a GIT infection are discussed to provide a new insight into EPEC pathophysiology in the GIT.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.305-312
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• 2007

This study focused on the involvement of the unusual nucleotide (p)ppGpp, a stringent factor, during the morphological and physiological differentiation of Streptomyces coelicolor. Two genes, relA and rshA, were disrupted to demonstrate the roles of the stringent factor in the differentiation. The intracellular concentration of (p)ppGpp in the wild-type (M600) and disrupted mutants was measured in relation to the intentional starvation of a specific nutrient, such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphate or the in situ depletion of nutrients in a batch culture. As a result, it was found that the morphological characteristic of the ${\Delta}relA$ mutant was a bld phenotype forming condensed mycelia, whereas the ${\Delta}rshA$ mutant grew fast-forming spores and straightforward mycelia. In both mutants, the production of actinorhodin (Act) was completely abolished, yet the undecylprodigiosin (Red) production was increased. Intracellular (p)ppGpp was detected in the ${\Delta}relA$ mutant in the case of limited phosphate, yet not with limited carbon or nitrogen sources. In contrast, (p)ppGpp was produced in the ${\Delta}rshA$ mutant under limited carbon and nitrogen conditions. Therefore, (p)ppGpp in S. coelicolor was found to be selectively regulated by either the RelA or RshA protein, which was differentially expressed in response to the specific nutrient limitation. These results were also supported by the in situ ppGpp production during a batch culture. Furthermore, it is suggested that RelA and RshA are bifunctional proteins that possess the ability to both synthesize and hydrolyze (p)ppGpp.

• 제어로봇시스템학회논문지
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• 제6권6호
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• pp.433-440
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• 2000

To flexibly evaluate performance and reliability of a real-time system which is intrinsically characterized by stringent timing constraints to generate correct responses, we propose fuzzyrandom variables and build a discrete event model embedded with fuzzy-random variables. Also, we adapt fuzzy-variables to a path-space approach, which derives the upper and lower bounds of reliability by using a semi-Markov model that explicitly contains the deadline information. Consequently, we propose certain formulas of state automata properly transformed by fuzzy-random variables, and present numerical examples applying the formulas to RTP(Rapid Thermal Process) to show that a complex system can be properly evaluated based on this model by computer simulation.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제34권8호
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• pp.2419-2424
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• 2013

Guanosine-5'-diphosphate 3'-diphosphate (ppGpp) serves as alarmone in bacterial stringent responses. In this study, an affinity column was constructed by immobilizing ppGpp to NHS-Sepharose for isolating ppGpp-binding proteins. A novel ppGpp-binding protein, YjgA, was isolated and characterized by MALDI-TOF MS (matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry) coupled with two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. YjgA and truncated forms of YjgA were cloned and over-expressed in BL21 (DE3). The binding affinity of YjgA to ppGpp was determined by equilibrium dialysis. The interaction of YjgA with ppGpp was very specific, considering that the dissociation constant of YjgA with ppGpp was measured as $5.2{\pm}2.0{\mu}M$, while the affinities to GTP and GDP were about 60 and 30 times weaker than ppGpp. Expression of yjgA gene in Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 was examined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RT-PCR results revealed that yjgA was expressed from early to late stationary phase. The yjgA deletion mutant exhibited decreased cell number at stationary phase compared to parent strain and the over-expression of YjgA increased the cell number. These results suggested that YjgA might stimulate cell division under stationary phase. In most prokaryotic genome, about half of the protein candidates are hypothetical, that are expected to be expressed but there is no experimental report on their functions. The approach utilized in this study may serve as an effective mean to probe the functions of hypothetical proteins.

• 소음진동
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• 제5권3호
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• pp.413-421
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• 1995

냉난방용 회전기기에 의한 방사광가속기 건물의 진동은 내부에 설치되어 있는 광학장치나 전자장비의 성능에 영향을 미치기 때문에 건설단계에서 부터 건물 진동에 대한 평가가 매우 중요하다. 본 연구에서는 방사광가속기 건물의 진동을 평가 하기 위해서 실험적 모우드해석법을 이용하여 냉난방기기가 위치한 바닥의 동적특성 을 구하고, 하중응답 모사법을 통해 진동응답치를 계산하였다. 평가결과, 건물바닥의 진동치는 기준치를 상회하고 있으며 이를 해결하기 위해 이중방진 시스템을 설계 제작하여 냉난방기기와 바닥 사이에 설치함으로써 바닥의 진동을 허용한도 이내로 감소시켰다.

• 한국소음진동공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국소음진동공학회 2007년도 춘계학술대회논문집
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• pp.97-102
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• 2007

As environmental vibration requirements on precision equipments get more stringent, use of pneumatic vibration isolators becomes more crucial and, hence, their dynamic performance needs to be further improved. Dynamic behavior of those pneumatic vibration isolation tables is very important to both manufacturer and customer as performance specifications. Together with conventional transmissibility, transient response characteristics are another critical performance index especially when movements of components, e.g., x-y tables, of the precision equipments are very dynamic. In this paper, analysis on transient response of a pneumatic vibration isolation table loaded by a mass moving on it is presented. This is a conventional dynamics problem on a rigid body with 6 degree of freedom and a mass with another degree of freedom. How to obtain transient responses of the isolation table is described when the movements of the mass are prescribed relative to the table.

• 한국소음진동공학회논문집
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• 제17권6호
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• pp.515-523
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• 2007

As environmental vibration requirements on precision equipments get more stringent, use of pneumatic vibration isolators becomes more crucial and, hence, their dynamic performance needs to be further improved. Dynamic behavior of those pneumatic vibration Isolation tables is very important to both manufacturer and customer as performance specifications. Together with conventional transmissibility, transient response characteristics are another critical performance index especially when movements of components, e.g., x-y tables, of the precision equipments are very dynamic. In this paper, analysis on transient response of a pneumatic vibration isolation table loaded by a mass moving on it is presented. This is a conventional dynamics problem on a rigid body with 6 degree of freedom and a mass with another degree of freedom. How to obtain transient responses of the isolation table is described when the movements of the mass are prescribed relative to the table.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제56권6호
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• pp.515-522
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• 2023

Objectives: The pandemic caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has exerted an unprecedented impact on the health of populations worldwide. However, the adverse health consequences of the pandemic in terms of infection and mortality rates have varied across countries. In this study, we investigate whether COVID-19 mortality rates across a group of developed nations are associated with characteristics of their healthcare systems, beyond the differential policy responses in those countries. Methods: To achieve the study objective, we distinguished healthcare systems based on the extent of healthcare decommodification. Using available daily data from 2020, 2021, and 2022, we applied quantile regression with non-additive fixed effects to estimate mortality rates across quantiles. Our analysis began prior to vaccine development (in 2020) and continued after the vaccines were introduced (throughout 2021 and part of 2022). Results: The findings indicate that higher testing rates, coupled with more stringent containment and public health measures, had a significant negative impact on the death rate in both pre-vaccination and post-vaccination models. The data from the post-vaccination model demonstrate that higher vaccination rates were associated with significant decreases in fatalities. Additionally, our research indicates that countries with healthcare systems characterized by high and medium levels of decommodification experienced lower mortality rates than those with healthcare systems involving low decommodification. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that stronger public health infrastructure and more inclusive social protections have mitigated the severity of the pandemic's adverse health impacts, more so than emergency containment measures and social restrictions.

• 유통과학연구
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• 제10권11호
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• pp.79-88
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• 2012

Purpose - The objective of this paper is to suggest that a company's CRM activities have an effect on customer loyalty in the Korean retail industry. Typically, Korean customers use large local marts with convenience in the absence of any other choice. Therefore, this study aims to shed light on the fact that customers do not break away from their preferred retail stores, either owing to their stringent loyalty (the lie loyalty) or difficulty in turning to alternative choices. Research design, data, methodology - By surveying a sample of 200 hyper-markets through a questionnaire, and excluding dubious and missing responses, I obtained 181 samples to be included in the empirical analysis. The survey was conducted for two weeks during October 2011. AMOS and SPSS18 statistical packages were used for conducting statistical analysis for this study. This paper was developed using the concept of customer equity on CRM, which is known to have a positive impact on customer loyalty through the satisfaction and switching-barrier parameters. The hypothesis of this paper is that customer equity is composed of relationship equity, value equity and brand equity, and that the relationship equity variable has positive effects on the value equity and brand equity amongst other types of customer equity. Moreover, customer equity influences customer loyalty through parameters including customer satisfaction and switching costs in the Korean retail industry. Results - According to the results of the analysis, it was confirmed that relationship value had a positive effect (+) on all variables, including the perceived QoS (Quality of Service), store brand images, economic value, and store convenience. It was also confirmed that the assumption that the perceived QoS (Quality of Service), economic value, and store convenience had a positive effect on customer satisfaction was shown to be statistically significant, with a p-value below 0.05. Only the store brand value variable had an effect on the switching-cost variable with respect to the causal sequence of the variables, including the perceived QoS, store brand value, economic value, and store convenience. The remaining variables did not seem to influence the switching-cost variable. On the other hand, another effect showed that customer satisfaction had a statistically significant influence on the switching-costs variable. Moreover, the customer satisfaction and switching-cost variables also had a statistical influence on customer loyalty. Conclusions - The CRM activities had an influence on various variables (including perceived QoS, perceived economic value, store brand value, and store convenience) pertaining to customer values. Customer satisfaction and switching-cost had some effects on customer loyalty as a parameter. This confirms that stringent loyalty exists with respect to customer loyalty in the retail industry. The fact that the variable had such a statistically significant influence on the switching-cost and store brand equity variables means that consumers react to the reputation of a brand, confidence about the store, and quality confidence. The implications of this study in the retail industry should be further extended to devise strategies for customer retention.

• International Journal of Railway
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• 제2권3호
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• pp.124-126
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• 2009

Energy savings can be achieved with optimum energy consumptions, brake energy regeneration, efficient energy storage (onboard, line side), and primarily with light weight vehicles. Over the last few years, the rolling stock industry has experienced a marked increase in eco-awareness and needs for lower life cycle energy consumption costs. For rolling stock vehicle designers and engineers, weight has always been a critical design parameter. It is often specified directly or indirectly as contractual requirements. These requirements are usually expressed in terms of specified axle load limits, braking deceleration levels and/or demands for optimum energy consumptions. The contractual requirements for lower weights are becoming increasingly more stringent. Light weight vehicles with optimized strength to weight ratios are achievable through proven design processes. The primary driving processes consist of: $\bullet$ material selection to best contribute to the intended functionality and performance $\bullet$ design and design optimization to secure the intended functionality and performance $\bullet$ weight control processes to deliver the intended functionality and performance Aluminium has become the material of choice for modern light weight bodyshells. Steel sub-structures and in particular high strength steels are also used where high strength - high elongation characteristics out way the use of aluminium. With the improved characteristics and responses of composites against tire and smoke, small and large composite materials made components are also found in greater quantities in today's railway vehicles. Full scale hybrid composite rolling stock vehicles are being developed and tested. While an "overdesigned" bodyshell may be deemed as acceptable from a structural point of view, it can, in reality, be a weight saving missed opportunity. The conventional pass/fail structural criteria and existing passenger payload definitions promote conservative designs but they do not necessarily imply optimum lightweight designs. The weight to strength design optimization should be a fundamental design driving factor rather than a feeble post design activity. It should be more than a belated attempt to mitigate against contractual weight penalties. The weight control process must be rigorous, responsible, with achievable goals and above all must be integral to the design process. It should not be a mere tabulation of weights for the sole-purpose of predicting the axle loads and wheel balances compliance. The present paper explores and discusses the topics quoted above with a view to strengthen the recommendations and needs for the weight optimization by design approach as a pro-active design activity for the rolling stock industry at large.