• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.186-196
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• 2019

Berthing energy is majorly influenced by the berthing velocity. It is necessary to design an appropriate berthing velocity for each pier, since excessive berthing velocity can cause berthing accident causing damage to the ship and pier. In this study, as a statistical approach for berthing velocity, the probability distributions suitable for the berthing velocities were confirmed using the K-S test, the A-D test and the Q-Q plot. As a result, the frequency distribution of the berthing velocity was found to be suitable using the Weibull distribution as well as the lognormal distribution. Additionally, the predicted values obtained through estimation of the berthing velocity using the concept of probability of exceedance in this study is proposed as a reference of design berthing velocity. It can be observed that the design berthing velocity is set to be somewhat low so that it does not practically match with the reality. This study and its results can be expected to contribute to the development of a proper design velocity calculation method.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.55-71
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to propose an evaluation method to assess green environments of streetscapes to improve urban street green spaces in Jeonju City. Through a rapid assessment of urban street green spaces, we suggest an objective basis for expanding street green space as well as for adopting sustainable maintenance and improvement measures. We choose 12 sections of streetscapes (roads and sidewalks) to investigate existing street conditions which have more than four lanes and function as major road axes. Six large roads and six medium roads of Jeonju City center area are investigated as pilot assessment study sites. Site inventory checklists consist of environmental characteristics of streetscape, street tree status, and planting condition evaluation. Environmental characteristics of streetscapes are composed of physical and neighborhood factors. For instance, items for physical factors are types and width of road/sidewalks, paving materials, tree protection materials, and green strip. And surrounding landuse is a neighborhood factor. Assessment items for street tree status are street plant names (tree/shrubs/ground cover), size, and planting intervals. Planting condition evaluation items are tree shape, damage, canopy density, and planting types with existence of adjacent green space. Evaluation results are classified into three levels such as A(maintain or repair), B(greening enhancement), and C(structural improvement). In case of grade A, streetscapes have enough sidewalk width for maintaining green strip and a multi-layered planting(in large road only) with fairly good growing conditions of street trees. For grade B and C, streetscapes have a moderate level of sidewalk width with a single street tree planting. In addition, street tree growing conditions are appeared poor so that green enhancement or maintenance measures are needed. For median, only grade B and C are found as its planting growing foundations are very limited in space. As a result, acquiring enough sidewalk space is essential to enhance ecological quality of urban street green. Especially, it is necessary to have green strip with reasonable widths for plant growing conditions in sidewalks. In addition, we need to consider native species with multi-layer plant compositions while designing street green.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.370-378
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• 2019

The hepatic ischemic model has recently been widely used for the epidemiological study of ischemic reperfusion injury. This study was carried out to investigate the protective effect of vanillin, which is known to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, against hepatic and renal injury using an ischemia-reperfusion rat model, and we also investigated the mechanism related to vanillins' protective effect. The test material was administered at a concentration of 100 mg/kg for 3 days, followed by ligation of the liver for 60 minutes to induce ischemia reperfusion. As control groups, there was a negative control, sham control and ischemia-reperfusion-only ischemia reperfusion control, and the controls groups were compared with the drug administration group. In the vanillin group, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities were significantly inhibited compared with the AST and ALT activities of the ischemia-reperfusion group, and histopathological examination showed significant reduction of both inflammation and necrosis. The malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels were significantly different from the ischemia-reperfusion group. In conclusion, vanillin showed a hepatocyte protective action by alleviating the cellular inflammation and cell necrosis caused by hepatic ischemia-reperfusion, and vanillin mitigated inflammatory changes in the kidney glomeruli and distal tubules. The protective effect is considered to be caused by vanillin's antioxidant function. Further studies such as on cell death and possibly vanillin's same effect on damaged tissue will be necessary for clinical applications such as organ transplantation.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.303-308
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• 2019

L-carnitine is found in high levels in muscle tissues. It has been developed as a nutrient and dietary supplement, and also used as a therapeutic supplement in various diseases including type II diabetes, osteoporosis and metabolic neuropathies. However, it is not fully understood how it affects cellular mechanisms in colorectal cancer. Therefore, we attempted to determine the effect of L-carnitine in HCT116 human colorectal cancer cells. First, the HCT116 cells were exposed to L-carnitine for 24 hours at 0-40 mM, and then analyzed for cellular proliferation, oxidative stress and related mechanisms. In a MTT assay, L-carnitine inhibited cellular proliferation and induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) in HCT116 by DCF-DA analysis. To analyze the mechanism of L-carnitine in colorectal cancer cells, we performed a western blot analysis for pERK1/2 and pp38 MAP kinase. The western blot showed that L-carnitine significantly increased protein levels of pERK1/2 and pp38 compared with control. Taken together, we found that L-carnitine has anti-proliferative function via increased ROS and activation of ERK1/2 and p38 pathway in HCT116. These findings suggest that L-carnitine may have an anti-proliferative role on colorectal cancer.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.406-413
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• 2018

In OBIGGS, a small amount of ozone in the atmosphere damages the polymer membrane. Therefore, the ozone removal device is installed at the front end to prevent the damage of the membrane by reducing the concentration of ozone in the gas delivered to the membrane. In this study, two hollow fiber membranes, PI and PSf, used to fabrication hollow fiber module with an effective membrane area of $6.37cm^2$ for gas separation in OBIGGS. The ozone concentration in the chamber was maintained at 2-3 ppm. The gas was continuously supplied into the module by using a pump. The gas permeation characteristics and the tensile strength were evaluated as a function of ozone exposure time. The PI-based hollow fiber membrane showed only 20% reduction in the transmittance, and remained its original uniformity without any significant changes. However, when PSf type hollow fiber membranes were used, the permeability decreased by more than 80% and the tensile strength decreased by more than 70%.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.161-170
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• 2019

Multi-product mass production small and medium enterprise factories have a wide variety of products and a large number of products, wasting manpower and expenses for inventory management. In addition, there is no way to check the status of inventory in real time, and it is suffering economic damage due to excess inventory and shortage of stock. There are many ways to build a real-time data collection environment, but most of them are difficult to afford for small and medium-sized companies. Therefore, smart factories of small and medium enterprises are faced with difficult reality and it is hard to find appropriate countermeasures. In this paper, we implemented the contents of extension of existing inventory management method through character extraction on label with barcode and QR code, which are widely adopted as current product management technology, and evaluated the effect. Technically, through preprocessing using OpenCV for automatic recognition and classification of stock labels and barcodes, which is a method for managing input and output of existing products through computer image processing, and OCR (Optical Character Recognition) function of Google vision API. And it is designed to recognize the barcode through Zbar. We propose a method to manage inventory by real-time image recognition through Raspberry Pi without using expensive equipment.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.685-696
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• 2021

In this study, we investigated the inhibitory effect of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA), a heme precursor, on inflammatory and oxidative stress activated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in RAW 264.7 macrophages by estimating nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), cytokines, and reactive oxygen species (ROS). We also evaluated the molecular mechanisms through analysis of the expression of their regulatory genes, and further evaluated the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant efficacy of ALA against LPS in the zebrafish model. Our results indicated that ALA treatment significantly attenuated the LPS-induced release of pro-inflammatory mediators including NO and PGE2, which was associated with decreased inducible NO synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 expression. ALA also inhibited the LPS-induced expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, and IL-6, reducing their extracellular secretion. Additionally, ALA abolished ROS generation, improved the mitochondrial mass, and enhanced the expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and the activation of nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. However, zinc protoporphyrin, a specific inhibitor of HO-1, reversed the ALA-mediated inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines production and activation of mitochondrial function in LPS-treated RAW 264.7 macrophages. Furthermore, ALA significantly abolished the expression of LPS-induced pro-inflammatory mediators and cytokines, and showed strong protective effects against NO and ROS production in zebrafish larvae. In conclusion, our findings suggest that ALA exerts LPS-induced anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects by upregulating the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway, and that ALA can be a potential functional agent to prevent inflammatory and oxidative damage.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.237-247
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• 2021

Immune responses in the central nervous system (CNS) function as the host's defense system against pathogens and usually help with repair and regeneration. However, chronic and exaggerated neuroinflammation is detrimental and may create neuronal damage in many cases. The NOD-, LRR-, and pyrin domain―containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, a kind of NOD-like receptor, is a cytosolic multiprotein complex that consists of sensors (NLRP3), adaptors (apoptosis-associated speck like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain, ASC) and effectors (caspase 1). It can detect a broad range of microbial pathogens along with foreign and host-derived danger signals, resulting in the assembly and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome. Upon activation, NLRP3 inflammasome leads to caspase 1-dependent secretion of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-18, as well as to gasdermin D-mediated pyroptotic cell death. NLRP3 inflammasome is highly expressed in CNS-resident cell types, including microglia and astrocytes, and growing evidence suggests that NLRP3 inflammasome is a crucial player in the pathophysiology of several neuroinflammatory and psychiatric diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, traumatic brain injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and major depressive disorder. Thus, this review describes the molecular mechanisms of NLRP3 inflammasome activation and its crucial roles in the pathogenesis of neurological disorders.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.338-345
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• 2021

Zizania latifolia has long been used as a tea for both edible and medicinal purposes. However, research into the use of Z. latifolia as a high value-added edible material is lacking. In a previous study, we confirmed that tricin is the major component in Z. latifolia. In this study, we investigated the protective effect of a Z. latifolia extract (ZLE). Toxicity tests of ZLE or tricin on HepG2 cells revealed no toxicity due to ZLE or tricin at all concentrations used. The reduction in cell viability by tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP) was suppressed by treatment with ZLE or tricin. In addition, ZLE or tricin effectively inhibited the production of reactive oxygen species (generation of hydrogen peroxide, alkoxy free radicals, and peroxyl free radicals by t-BHP) and oxidative damage. ZLE or tricin treatments also increased the protein expression of superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), catalase, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), and nuclear factor erythroid-related factor 2 (Nrf2), which are known as antioxidant enzymes, suggesting that the protective effect of ZLE is related to activation of tricin. Taken together, the results indicate that Z. latifolia can be developed as a functional food material for improving liver function.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.31-35
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• 2021

The expansion joints installed on the bridge for the accommodation of expansion and contraction of the supper structure are essential members of the bridge. However, the expansion joints are deteriorated over time and the waterproof function weakens, causing rainwater to penetrate and deteriorate the structure. In order to solve the traffic congestion caused by frequent replacement of the old expansion joints along with the deterioration of the structure, a post-integrated abutment bridge in which the existing expansion joints are removed and replaced with reinforced concrete link connection has been applied to highway bridges since 2016. After the post-integrated abutment method was applied, it was partially applied to bridges in which the superstructure and abutment were jammed. In this study, the causes of problems that may occur when the post-integrated abutment method is applied to the jammed bridge were analyzed numerically. It was analyzed that damage occurred in the link connection part. Based on the results of this study, the application condition for the post-integrated abutment method is reinforced as it is not possible to apply the post-integrated abutment method to bridges are already jammed.