• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.309-318
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• 2024

Compared to other organs, the brain has limited antioxidant defenses. In particular, the hippocampus is the central region for learning and memory and is highly susceptible to oxidative stress. Glial cells are the most abundant cells in the brain, and sustained glial cell activation is critical to the neuroinflammation that aggravates neuropathology and neurotoxicity. Therefore, regulating glial cell activation is a promising neurotherapeutic treatment. Quinic acid (QA) and its derivatives possess anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Although previous studies have evidenced QA's benefit on the brain, in vivo and in vitro analyses of its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties in glial cells have yet to be established. This study investigated QA's rescue effect in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced behavior impairment. Orally administering QA restored social impairment and LPS-induced spatial and fear memory. In addition, QA inhibited proinflammatory mediator, oxidative stress marker, and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation in the LPS-injected hippocampus. QA inhibited nitrite release and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) phosphorylation in LPS-stimulated astrocytes. Collectively, QA restored impaired neuroinflammation-induced behavior by regulating proinflammatory mediator and ERK activation in astrocytes, demonstrating its potential as a therapeutic agent for neuroinflammation-induced brain disease treatments.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.44-54
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• 2024

This study investigates the effectiveness of using a plasma actuator for active control of turbulent flow around a finite square cylinder. The primary objective is to analyze the impact of plasma actuators on flow separation and wake region characteristics, which are critical for reducing drag and suppressing vortex-induced vibrations. Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) was employed to explore the flow dynamics at various operational parameters, including different actuation frequencies and voltages. The proposed methodology employs a neural network trained using the Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) algorithm to determine optimal control policies for plasma actuators. This network is integrated with a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver for real-time control. Results indicate that this deep reinforcement learning (DRL)-based strategy outperforms existing methods in controlling flow, demonstrating robustness and adaptability across various flow conditions, which highlights its potential for practical applications.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.179-183
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• 2024

In 2023, an outbreak of Lumpy Skin Disease in Ganghwa-gun, Incheon, South Korea, resulted in nine confirmed cases, comprising 8.4% of the national total, a disproportionately high percentage. Epidemiological investigations indicated a significant role of biting insects in viral transmission, particularly in the northern region. However, human-mediated transmission between farms under the same management was also identified. Clinical presentations in infected cattle varied, ranging from anorexia and skin nodules to severe systemic illness. Control measures included culling and burial of infected animals, a standstill order on susceptible livestock movement, and a mass vaccination campaign encompassing all 21,983 cattle in Incheon. Movement restrictions were gradually lifted following negative test results in designated surveillance, protection, and control zones. Environmental testing conducted 30 days after restriction removal allowed for restocking of previously affected farms. This outbreak highlights the vulnerability of the South Korean cattle industry to LSD and emphasizes the critical need for robust preventative measures, including enhanced vector control strategies and widespread vaccination.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.917-922
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• 2008

A disintegrin-like and metalloprotease (reprolysin type) with thrombospondin type 1 motif (ADAMTS1) plays a critical role in follicular rupture and represents a major advance in the proteolytic events that control ovulation. In this study, a 9,026-bp DNA sequence containing the full coding region, all 8 introns and part of the 5'and 3' untranslated region of the porcine ADAMTS1 gene was obtained. Analysis of the ADAMTS1 gene using the porcine radiation hybrid panel indicated that pig ADAMTS1 is closely linkage with microsatellite marker S0215, located on SSC13q49. The open reading frame of its cDNA covered 2,844 bp and encoded 947 amino acids. The coding region of porcine ADAMTS1 as determined by sequence alignments shared 85% and 81% identity with human and mouse cDNAs, respectively. The deduced protein contained 947 amino acids showing 85% sequence similarity both to the human and mouse proteins, respectively. Comparative sequencing of three pig breeds revealed one single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) within exon 7 of which a G-C substitution at position 6006 changes a codon for arginine into a codon for proline. The substitution was situated within a PvuII recognition site and developed as a PCR-RFLP marker for further use in population variation investigations and association analysis with litter size. Allele frequencies of this SNP were investigated in seven pig breeds/lines. An association analysis in a new Qingping female line suggested that different ADAMTS1 genotypes have significant differences in litter size (p<0.01).

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.287-306
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• 2017

Since the 1990s, political geographers have focused on the study of the process of border construction. They have shifted from the old morphological and functional approaches to boundary that have focused on the types and functions of boundaries. Recent scholarship on border studies understand boundaries and the border regions as entities with overlapping and competing relationships not as manifestation of territoriality. There has been the emphasis on the multidimensional actors and the historical and cultural legacies inherent in the border region as well. Based on these recent discussions, this study examines how the border region has been constructed by various actors and strategies in Dandong China, the border city between North Korea and China. Several sanctions including UN Security Council have been resolved and implemented in accordance with North Korea's nuclear and missile development, which is a relevant example to examine the "border as relationships" in which strategies of various actors are competing. In addition, this paper has a significance as a case study on the construction process of border and the characteristics of its materiality, which is a way to overcome the limitation of discourse-oriented critical geopolitical research.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.44-49
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• 2015

We characterized tissue specific-expressed genes in the posterior silk gland of Bombyx mori using by the Annealing Control Primer based differential display-PCR manner. In this study, we isolated 34 differentially expressed PCR amplicons, which one of these was identified as a novel transcript named as ACP-16 (366 bp), its expression was observed only in the posterior silk glands by Northern blot analysis. To determine promoter region of the ACP-16, we isolated and analyzed a phage DNA having 1.7 kb-long genome DNA including the open reading flame and 5'- upstream untranslated region of the ACP-16 gene from a genomic DNA library. We have estimated a promoter region of the ACP-16 gene by a web promoter prediction engine, which locates -750 ~ -165 from translation initiation site (ATG, +1). ACP-16 gene is necessary to more studies about critical biological role in order to apply the silkworm's transgenic system.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.8-18
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• 2003

An experimental study is carried out to investigate the Reynolds number effects on the near-wake of an airfoil oscillating in pitch. An NACA 4412 airfoil is sinusoidally pitched about the quarter chord point between the angle of attack -6$^{\circ}$ and +6$^{\circ}$. A hot-wire anemometer is used to measure the turbulent intensity in the near-wake region of an NACA 4412 airfoil. The freestream velocities of present work are 3.4, 12.4, 26.2 m/s, and the corresponding Reynolds numbers are $5.3{\times}10^4,\;1.9{\times}10^5,\;4.1{\times}10^5$ and the reduced frequency is 0.1. Axial turbulent intensity profiles are presented to show the Reynolds number effects on the near-wake region behind an airfoil oscillating in pitch. All the cases in these measurements show that the turbulent intensities by the change of the Reynolds number are very large at the lowest Reynolds number $R_N=5.3{\times}10^4$; and are small at the other Reynolds number $(R_N=1.9{\times}10^5\;and\;4.1{\times}10^5)$ in the near-wake region. The significant difference of turbulent intensity between $R_N=5.3{\times}10^4,\;and\;1.9{\times}l0^5$ is observed. A critical value of the Reynolds number in the near-wake of an oscillating NACA 4412 airfoil which indicates laminar separation, no separation or turbulent separation exists in the range between $R_N=5.3{\times}10^4\;and\;1.9{\times}10^5$.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.111-116
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• 2003

The xylA gene of Bacillus stearothermophilus No. 236 encoding $\beta$-xylosidase was cloned and sequenced previously. The transcriptional start site of the xylA gene cloned in E. coli was identified to be the guanine (G) by primer extension analysis. This supports that the expression of xylA gene is also directed in the E. coli cells by the previously determined transcription initiation signals, -10 sequence (CATAAT) and -35 sequence (TTGTTA) separated by 12 bp. To increase the expression of $\beta$-xylosidase, firstly the spacer region of xylA promoter was extended from 12 to 17 bp, and then the -10 and -35 elements were converted into their respective consensus sequences. The mutant promoters thus obtained were tested for their activities in both the E. coli and B. subtilis host cells. The change of the length of the spacer region from 12 to 17 bp resulted in a 1.6- and 2.5-fold increase in promoter strength in comparison with the wild type promoter in E. coli and B. subtilis cells, respectively. Also, strength of the promoter with the fourth T to A transversion on its -35 element increased in the transcription level by about 35 times compared with that of wild-type promoter. However, surprisingly the 5' end C-to-T transition of the -10 hexamer showed a 5- to 15-fold reduction in $\beta$-xylosidase activity in both E. coli and B. subtilis. Together, the present data demonstrated that the 5' end nucleotide C of the -10 sequence CATAAT and the fourth nucleotide A of the -35 hexamer are two most critical nucleotides for the promoter activity in the context of the xylA promoter.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.737-747
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• 2012

Recently, in order to support automatic meter reading for conventional metering devices, an image processing-based approach of recognizing the number meter data in the captured meter images has attracted many researchers' interests. Numerical character segmentation is a very critical process for successful recognition. In this paper, we propose an efficient numeric character segmentation method which can segment numeric characters well for any metering device types under diverse illumination environments. The proposed method consists of two consecutive stages; detection of number area containing all numbers as a tight ROI(Region of Interest) and segmentation of numerical characters in the ROI. Detection of tight ROI is achieved in two steps: extraction of rough ROI by utilizing horizontal line segments after illumination enhancement preprocessing, and making the rough ROI more tight through clipping utilizing vertical and horizontal projection about binarized ROI. Numerical character segmentation in the detected ROI is stably achieved in two processes of 'vertical segmentation of each number region' and 'number segmentation in the each vertical segmented number region'. Through the experiments about a homegrown meter image database containing various meter type images of low contrast, low intensity, shadow, and saturation, it is shown that the proposed numeric character segmentation method performs effectively well for any metering device types under diverse illumination environments.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.139-151
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• 2016

Purpose - In Chinese rose market, Korea competes against Latin American and African countries, but is not so competitive in terms of price and quality, implying the importance of using appropriate marketing strategies. This study aims to examine Chinese rose consumers' recognition and attributes of preference for roses produced in Korea, in order to use the result as baseline data for Korean rose exporters to China and provide implications that help establish a variety of marketing strategies targeting each region, income and age group. Research Design, Data and Methodology - 112 Chinese people were involved and interviewed in Chinese horticulture industry who had participated in 2016 Hortiflorexpo IPM Beijing. Online questionnaire survey was additionally conducted with 533 Chinese living in Korea and China. The Conjoint Analysis was conducted for region, age, and income group of respondents to estimate the relative importance of rose attributes evaluated by each population group and the utility derived from each attribute level. This process aimed to compare respective population groups for the relative importance and utility to derive implications for targeted marketing strategies. Results - The analysis finds that Chinese rose consumers prioritize rose color, followed by price, flowering stage, and flower size in purchasing roses. They prefer red roses most, followed by pink and then yellow. Moreover, they prefer larger roses, and relatively cheaper roses. The analysis reveals they prefer roses in their 20%-flowering stage to more than 40%-flowering stage. Conclusions - Establishing marketing strategies differentiated for each Chinese consumer group is critical in expanding Korean rose export. The analysis finds while Chinese consumers living in Beijing considered rose color and flowering stage more importantly than their counterparts in Shanghai, Chinese consumers living in Shanghai considered rose price and size more importantly than their counterparts living in Beijing. Therefore, establishing marketing strategies based on these attributes of preference in each region is necessary. Mid & low-income consumer groups considered price as the most important factor, and high-income consumer groups considered rose color as the most important one. It is, thus, important to focus on rose color when establishing a marketing strategy with targeting the high-income consumer group.