• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.519-528
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• 2012

Voice activity detection (VAD) is generally conducted by extracting features from the acoustic signal and a decision rule. The performance of such VAD algorithms driven by the input acoustic signal highly depends on the acoustic noise. When video signals are available as well, the performance of VAD can be enhanced by using the visual information which is not affected by the acoustic noise. Previous visual VAD algorithms usually use single visual feature to detect the lip activity, such as active appearance models, optical flow or intensity variation. Based on the analysis of the weakness of each feature, we propose to combine intensity change measure and the optical flow in the mouth region, which can compensate for each other's weakness. In order to minimize the computational complexity, we develop simple measures that avoid statistical estimation or modeling. Specifically, the optical flow is the averaged motion vector of some grid regions and the intensity variation is detected by simple thresholding. To extract the mouth region, we propose a simple algorithm which first detects two eyes and uses the profile of intensity to detect the center of mouth. Experiments show that the proposed combination of two simple measures show higher detection rates for the given false positive rate than the methods that use a single feature.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.5621-5627
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• 2014

To specify the standard of LASEK surgery, this study examined the determination factors affecting the high order aberrations (HOAs) in preoperative and postoperative LASEK. 51 adult patients (102 eyes) were evaluated at the baseline and 2 months after LASEK surgery from Nov 2011 to Jul 2012. The postoperative HOAs ($0.538{\mu}m$) were higher than the preoperative ($0.341{\mu}m$). In linear regression analysis, the refractive components that affected the postoperative HOAs were $J_0$ of corneal astigmatism (CA, 0.400), $J_0$ of refractive astigmatism (RA, 0.389), corneal astigmatism (CA, 0.282), spherical equivalent (SE, 0.239), refractive astigmatism (RA, 0.213), and pupil size (PS, 0.194) with a high R. In multiple regression, $J_0$ of CA, PS and SE were significant factors with the postoperative HOAs. In conclusion, both HOAs and $J_0$ of CA should be considered when determining the suitable factors for LASEK surgery.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.197-203
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• 2009

An indole oxygenase originated from Rhodococcus sp. RHA1 was cloned into the expression vector, pTrc99A, in Escherichia coli, and designated pTCAN1. The pTCAN2 was constructed from pTCAN1 by the deletion of $lacI^q$ for the constitutive expression of indole oxygenase without adding IPTG in the medium. The complete open reading frame of indole oxygenase was 1,224 bp long, which encodes a protein of 407amino acids. Crude extracts of E. coli $DH5{\alpha}$/pTCAN1 and pTCAN2, respectively, were prepared and subjected to SDS-PAGE analysis. A band corresponding to molecular mass of about 43 kDa was appeared and this result correlated with the predicted molecular mass of cloned indole oxygenase. The E. coli harboring pTCAN1 and pTCAN2, respectively, showed blue color colony in LB plate. The pigment showing blue color was prepared from E. coli $DH5{\alpha}$/pTCAN2, and identified as indigo by experiments using spectrophotometer, HPLC, and TLC. The indigo-forming activity of indole oxygenases from the whole cell of E. coli $DH5{\alpha}/pTCAN1$ cultured at LB medium added 1mM of IPTG and that of E. coli/pTCAN2 showed about 1.75nmol/min/mg DCW (dry cell weight) and 3.85 nmol/min/mg DCW, respectively. Also, the E. coli $DH5{\alpha}$/pTCAN2 produced about $236{\mu}M$ of indigo after 48 hours incubation in TB medium supplemented with 2.5 mM of tryptophan.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.606-612
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• 2018

The enzyme xylose isomerase (E.C. 5.3.1.5, XI) is responsible for the conversion of an aldose to ketose, especially xylose to xylulose. Owing to the ability of XI to isomerize glucose to fructose, this enzyme is used in the food industry to prepare high-fructose corn syrup. Therefore, we studied the characteristics of XI from Anoxybacillus kamchatkensis G10, a thermophilic bacterium. First, the gene coding for XI (xylA) was inserted into the pET-21a(+) expression vector and the construct was transformed into the Escherichia coli competent cell BL21 (DE3). The expression of recombinant XI was induced in the absence of isopropyl-thio-${\beta}$-galactopyranoside and purified using Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. The optimum temperature of recombinant XI was $80^{\circ}C$ and measurement of the heat stability indicated that 55% of residual activity was maintained after 2 h incubation at $60^{\circ}C$. The optimum pH was found to be 7.5 in sodium phosphate buffer. Magnesium, manganese, and cobalt ions were found to increase the enzyme activity; manganese was the most effective. Additionally, recombinant XI was resistant to the presence of $Ca^{2+}$ and $Zn^{2+}$ ions. The kinetic properties, $K_m$ and $V_{max}$, were calculated as 81.44 mM and $2.237{\mu}mol/min/mg$, respectively. Through redundancy analysis, XI of A. kamchatkensis G10 was classified into a family containing type II XIs produced by the genera Geobacillus, Bacillus, and Thermotoga. These results suggested that the thermostable nature of XI of A. kamchatkensis G10 may be advantageous in industrial applications and food processing.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.3933-3940
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• 2013

The purpose of present study was to determine the frequency of RA with age and to investigate the age-related trends and changing-factors in RA, CA and IAs. The refractive power of the eye and the power of corneal anterior surface were measured with auto-refractor among 1,017 inhabitants aged 5 to 59 years in Cheongju in July 2010. The overall frequency of RA was 22.7%, and frequency of RA increased from 8.9% in 5~9 years age group to 36.8% in 20~29 years age group. It then dipped to 19.2% in 40~49 years age group but increased again 28.6% in 50~59 years age group. $J_{45}$ components for RA, CA, and IAs were fairly stable in different age groups, the changes in $J_0$ components for both RA and CA appeared to be decreased after age of 30 years. In addition, the refractive power on the vertical direction was changed slightly with age, but the refractive power on the horizontal direction was changed significantly with age. It was expected that the change in the frequency of astigmatism with age was due to the change in the refractive power of horizontal meridian.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.311-317
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• 2006

Using PCR amplification, we cloned a cellulase gene (ce/H) from the Bacillus subtilis AH18 which has plant growth-promoting activity and antagonistic ability against pepper blight caused by Phytophthora capsici. The 1.6 kb PCR fragment contained the full sequence of the cellulase gene and the 1,582 bp gene deduced a 508 amino acid sequence. Similarity search in protein database revealed that the cellulase of B. subtilis AH18 was more than 98% homologous in the amino acid sequence to those of several major Bacillus spp. The ce/H was expressed in E. coli under an IPTG inducible lac promoter on the vector, had apparent molecular weight of about 55 kDa upon CMC-SDS-PAGE analysis. Partially purified cellulase had not only cellulolytic activity toward carboxymethyl-cellulose (CMC) but also insoluble cellulose, such as Avicel and filter paper (Whatman No. 1). In addition, the cellulase could degrade a fungal cell wall of Phytophthora capsici. The optimum pH and temperature of the ce/H coded cellulase were determined to be pH 5.0 and $50^{\circ}C$. The enzyme activity was activated by $AgNO_3$ or $CoCl_2$. However its activity was Inhibited by $HgC1_2$. The enzyme activity was activated by hydroxy urea or sodium azide and inhibited by CDTA or EDTA. The results indicate that the cellulase gene, ce/H is an antifungal mechanism of B. subtilis AH18 against phytophthora blight disease in red-pepper.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.339-345
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• 2007

Field performance and morphological characterization was conducted on seven transgenic lines of Codonopsis lanceolata expressing ${\gamma}-TMT$ gene. The shoots were obtained from leaf explants after co-cultivation with Agrobacterium tume-faciens strain LBA 4404 harboring a binary vector pYBI 121 that carried genes encoding ${\gamma}-Tocopherol$ methyltransferase gene (${\gamma}-TMT$) and a neomycin phosphotransferase II gene (npt II) for kanamycin resistance. The transgenic plants were transferred to a green house for acclimation. Integration of T-DNA into the $T_0\;and\;T_1$ generation of transgenic Codonopsis lanceolata genome was confirmed by the polymerase chain reaction and southern blot analysis. The progenies of transgenic plants showed phenotypic differences within the different lines and with relative to control plants. When grown in field, the transgenic plants in general exhibited increased fertility, significant improvement in the shoot weight, root weight, shoot height and rachis length with relation to the control plants. However, all seven independently derived transgenic lines produced normal flower with respect to its shape, size, color and seeds number at its maturity. Indicating that the addition of a selectable marker gene in the plant genome does not effect on seed germination and agronomic performance of transgenic Codonopsis lanceolata. $T_1$ progenies of these plants were obtained and evaluated together with control plant in a field experiment. Overall, the agronomic performance of $T_1$ progenies of transgenic Codonopsis lanceolata showed superior to that of the seed derived non-transgenic plant. In this study, we report on the morphological variation and agronomic performance of transgenic Codonopsis lanceolata developed by Agrobacterium transformation.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.140-145
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• 2005

Streptomyces natalensis ATCC27448 produces natamycin, a commercially important macrolide antifungal antibiotic. For molecular genetic study of S. natalensis, we have developed a system for introducing DNA into S. natalensis via conjugal transfer from Escherichia coli. An effective transformation procedure for S. natalensis was established based on transconjugation from E, coli ET12567/pUZ8002 using a ${\Phi}C31$-derived integration vector, pSET152, containing oriT and attP fragments. The high frequency was obtained on MS medium containing 10 mM $MgCl_2$ using $6.25\times10^8$ of E.coli donor cells without heat treatment of spores. In addition, southern blot analysis of exconjugants and the sequence of plasmids containing DNA flanking the insertion sites from the chromosome revealed that S. natalensis contains a single ${\Phi}C31$ attB site and at least a secondary or pseudo attB site. Similar to the case of various Streptomyces species, a single ${\Phi}C31$ attB site of S. natalensis is present within an ORF encoding a pirin-homolog, but a pseudo-attB site is present within a distinct site (GenBank accession no. $YP\_117731$) and also its sequence deviates from the consensus sequences of attB sequence.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 1994

The cells of Campylobacter jejuni heat-shocked at 48${\circ}C$ for 30 min synthesized the heat shock proteins of HSP90, HSP66 and HSP60. Those heat shock proteins were found to correspond to the heat shock proteins of HSP87, HSP66 (DnaK), and HSP58 (GroEL) of E. coli, respectively. By Southern blot analysis of the chromosomal DNAs of C. jejuni with groESL and dnaK genes of E. coli as DNA probes, the heat shock genes of C. jejuni which are homologous to the E. coli groESL and dnaK genes were found to exist in the chromosomal DNA. The genomic libraries of C. jejuni were constructed with the cosmid vector pWE15 and the groEL gene of C. jejuni were cloned in E. coli B178 groEL44 temperature senstive mutant. The hybrid plasmid (pLC1) was inserted with the DNA fragment (about 5.7kb in size) containing the groEL gene. E. coli groEL44 mutant cell transformed with the pLC1 could grow at 42${\circ}C$ by synthesizing the HSP60 of C. jejuni and regained the susceptibility to the ${\lambda}$ vir phage by expression of the groEL gene in the cloned cells. These indicated that the groEL products of C. jejuni had chaperon effects by synthesizing the heat shock proteins in the cloned cells of E. coli.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.105-111
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• 2008

Thrombospondins (TSP-1, TSP-2) are secretory extracellular glycoproteins that are involved in a variety of physiological processes such as tumor cell adhesion, invasion, and metastasis. The present study was undertaken to elucidate the involvement of thrombospondins in the adhesion of osteoblast-like cells using the TSP-1 or TSP-2 antisense MG63 and MC3T3-E1 cell lines. For downregulation of TSPs expression, we prepared antisense constructs for TSP-1 and TSP-2 using the pREP4 an episomal mammalian expression vector, which be able to produce the specific antisense oligonucleotides around chromosome. MG63 and MC3T3-E1 osteoblast-like cells were transfected with the antisense constructs and nonliposomal Fugene 6, and then selected under hygromycin B (50 ${\mu}g/ml$) treatment for 2 weeks. Western blot analysis revealed that expression of the TSP proteins was downregulated in the antisense cell lines. The cell adhesion assay showed that adhesive properties of TSP-1 and TSP-2 antisense MG63 cells on the polystyrene culture plate were reduced to 17% and 21% of the control cells, respectively, and those of the TSP-1 and TSP-2 antisense MC3T3-E1 cells also decreased to 19% and 27% of control, respectively. Adhesion of TSP-1 and TSP-2 antisense MC3T3-E1 cells on Type I collagen-coated culture plate decreased to 27% and 76%, respectively. These results indicate that TSP-1 and TSP-2 proteins may have an important role in adhesion of osteoblast-like cells to extracellular matrix.