• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 2021

Injection grouting is one of the most common ground improvement practice to increase the strength and reduce the hydraulic conductivity of soils. Owing to the environmental concerns of conventional grout materials, such as cement-based or silicate-based materials, bio-inspired biogeotechnical approaches are considered to be new sustainable and environmentally friendly ground improvement methods. Biopolymers, which are excretory products from living organisms, have been shown to significantly reduce the hydraulic conductivity via pore-clogging and increase the strength of soils. To study the practical application of biopolymers for seepage and ground water control, in this study, we explored the injection capabilities of biopolymer-based grout materials in both linear aperture and particulate media (i.e., sand and glassbeads) considering different injection pressures, biopolymer concentrations, and flow channel geometries. The hydraulic conductivity control of a biopolymer-based grout material was evaluated after injection into sandy soil under confined boundary conditions. The results showed that the performance of xanthan gum injection was mainly affected by the injection pressure and pore geometry (e.g., porosity) inside the soil. Additionally, with an increase in the xanthan gum concentration, the injection efficiency diminished while the hydraulic conductivity reduction efficiency enhanced significantly. The results of this study provide the potential capabilities of injection grouting to be performed with biopolymer-based materials for field application.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.655-663
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• 2020

Background: Korean Red Ginseng is known to exhibit immune-enhancing and anti-inflammatory properties. The immune-enhancing effects of the nonsaponin fraction (NSF) of Korean Red Ginseng have been studied in many reports. However, the gastroprotective effect of this fraction is not fully understood. In this study, we demonstrate the activities of NSF for gastrointestinal protection and its related critical factor. Methods: The in vitro and in vivo regulatory functions of NSF on cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) messenger RNA and protein levels were examined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunoblotting analyses. Gastroprotective effects of NSF were investigated by histological score, gastric juice pH, and myeloperoxidase activity on indomethacin-induced, cold stress-induced, and acetylsalicylic acid-induced gastritis and dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis in in vivo mouse models. Results: NSF did not show cytotoxicity, and it increased COX-1 messenger RNA expression and protein levels in RAW264.7 cells. This upregulation was also observed in colitis and gastritis in vivo models. In addition, NSF treatment in mice ameliorated the symptoms of gastrointestinal inflammation, including histological score, colon length, gastric juice pH, gastric wall thickness, and myeloperoxidase activity. Conclusion: These results suggest that NSF has gastroprotective effects on gastritis and colitis in in vivo mouse models through COX-1 upregulation.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.371-384
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• 2019

Motion perception has been tremendously improved in neuroscience and computer vision. The baseline motion perception model is mediated by the dorsal visual pathway involving the cortex areas the primary visual cortex (V1) and the middle temporal (V5 or MT) visual area. However, few works have been done on the extension of neural models to improve the efficacy and robustness of motion perception of real sequences. To overcome shortcomings in situations, such as varying illumination and large displacement, an adaptive V1-MT motion perception (Ad-V1MTMP) algorithm enriched to deal with real sequences is proposed and analyzed. First, the total variation semi-norm model based on Gabor functions (TV-Gabor) for structure-texture decomposition is performed to manage the illumination and color changes. And then, we study the impact of image local context, which is processed in extra-striate visual areas II (V2), on spatial motion integration by MT neurons, and propose a V1-V2 method to extract the image contrast information at a given location. Furthermore, we take feedback inputs from V2 into account during the polling stage. To use the algorithm on natural scenes, finally, multi-scale approach has been used to handle the frequency range, and adaptive pyramidal decomposition and decomposed spatio-temporal filters have been used to diminish computational cost. Theoretical analysis and experimental results suggest the new Ad-V1MTMP algorithm which mimics human primary motion pathway has universal, effective and robust performance.