• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.37-45
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• 2021

Flooding damage may occur due to an unexpected increase in rainfall in summer. Previously, the roughness coefficient, which is a major factor of conveyance, was calculated through on-site measurement, but in case of on-site measurement, there are many limits in accurately grasping changes in vegetation. In this study, the vegetation index (NDVI) was calculated using the Sentinel-2 optical images, and the modified roughness coefficient was calculated through the density and distribution area of the vegetation. Then the calculated roughness coefficient was applied to HEC-RAS 1D model and verified by comparing the results with the water level at the water level station directly downstream of the Soyang River dam. As a result, the error rate of the water level decreased about 14% compared to applying the previous roughness coefficient. Through this, it is expected that it will be possible to refine the flood level of rivers in consideration of seasonal flood characteristics and to efficiently maintain rivers in specific sections.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.67-76
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• 2023

Under constant environmental pollution, the incidence of Atopic Dermatitis (AD) caused by air pollutants and allergens has increased. AD is an allergy inflammatory skin disease characterized by pruritus, eczema, and skin dryness. In herbal medicine, Anemarrhena asphodeloides (Anemarrhenae Rhizoma; AR) has been utilized to treat Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis, hypertension, and inflammation. The purpose of study evaluated the effect of AR in a mouse model of 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB)-induced AD-like skin lesions. After acclimatization for 5 days, the mice (6-week-old, male Balb/c) were divided into five groups (n=6/group): NC (normal control), DNCB (control), Dex (5 mg·kg-1, p.o.), AR100 (100 mg·kg-1, p.o.), and AR300 (300 mg·kg-1, p.o.). On days 1 and 3, 1% DNCB was applied to the skin and ears. After 4 days, 0.5% DNCB was applied once every 2 days for 2 weeks. Then, skin and ears eczema area and severity index (EASI); skin nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels; and plasma immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels were examined. The AR groups showed lower EASI, skin and ear thickness, mast cell count, and IgE levels than the control groups. Moreover, AR reduced iNOS, COX-2, and PGE2 levels. Therefore, AR possesses anti-inflammatory properties and can improve skin damage, indicating its therapeutic potential against AD.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.3
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• pp.399-415
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• 2023

This paper presents the experimental and numerical evaluations on the circular SFRC columns reinforced GFRP rebars under the axial compressive loading. The test programs were designed to inquire and compare the effects of different parameters on the columns' structural behavior by performing experiments and finite element modeling. The research variables were conventional concrete (CC), fiber concrete (FC), types of longitudinal steel/GFRP rebars, and different configurations of lateral rebars. A total of 16 specimens were manufactured and categorized into four groups based on different rebar-concrete arrangements including GRCC, GRFC, SRCC, and SRFC. Adding steel fibers (SFs) into the concrete, it was essential to modify the concrete damage plastic (CDP) model for FC columns presented in the finite element method (FEM) using ABAQUS 6.14 software. Failure modes of the columns were similar and results of peak loads and corresponding deflections of compression columns showed a suitable agreement in tests and numerical analysis. The behavior of GFRP-RC and steel-RC columns was relatively linear in the pre-peak branch, up to 80-85% of their ultimate axial compressive loads. The axial compressive loads of GRCC and GRFC columns were averagely 80.5% and 83.6% of axial compressive loads of SRCC and SRFC columns. Also, DIs of GRCC and GRFC columns were 7.4% and 12.9% higher than those of SRCC and SRFC columns. Partially, using SFs compensated up to 3.1%, the reduction of the compressive strength of the GFRP-RC columns as compared with the steel-RC columns. The effective parameters on increasing the DIs of columns were higher volumetric ratios (up to 12%), using SFs into concrete (up to 6.6%), and spiral (up to 5.5%). The results depicted that GFRP-RC columns had higher DIs and lower peak loads compared with steel-RC columns.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.173-183
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• 2023

The barren ground phenomenon in Korea began to occur and spread in the southern coast region and in Jeju Island in the 1980s, and since the 1990s, the damage has become serious in the east coast region as well. Korea has enacted the fisheries resource management act to manage such barren ground through the installation of sea forests among projects for the creation of fishery resources. Until now, projects related to the identification of the cause of barren ground have focused on the density of crustose coralline algae, sea urchins and seaweed, so the original cause of barren ground has not yet been identified. In order to manage barren ground, it is necessary to identify the cause of barren ground. To identify these causes, it is necessary to comprehensively consider i) studies on spatial characteristics such as rock mass distribution, slope and water depth, ii) studies on ecological and oceanographic characteristics such as water temperature, salinity, El Niño, and typhoons etc, iii) studies on organisms such as crustose coralline algae, macroalgae, and sea urchins, and iv) studies on coastal use such as living and industrial sewage inflow. Next, as with regard to legislative policy proposals , it is necessary to prepare self-management measures by the government, local governments, and fishermen as well as address management problems related to the use of sea forests by fishermen after their creation . In addition, when creating a sea forest, a management model for each resource management plan is required, and evaluation indicators and indexes that can diagnose the cause of barren ground and guidelines for barren ground measures should be developed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.503-517
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• 2022

This paper presents the mechanical buckling of bi-directional functionally graded sandwich beams (BFGSW) with various boundary conditions employing a quasi-3D beam theory, including an integral term in the displacement field, which reduces the number of unknowns and governing equations. The beams are composed of three layers. The core is made from two constituents and varies across the thickness; however, the covering layers of the beams are made of bidirectional functionally graded material (BFGSW) and vary smoothly along the beam length and thickness directions. The power gradation model is considered to estimate the variation of material properties. The used formulation reflects the transverse shear effect and uses only three variables without including the correction factor used in the first shear deformation theory (FSDT) proposed by Timoshenko. The principle of virtual forces is used to obtain stability equations. Moreover, the impacts of the control of the power-law index, layer thickness ratio, length-to-depth ratio, and boundary conditions on buckling response are demonstrated. Our contribution in the present work is applying an analytical solution to investigate the stability behavior of bidirectional FG sandwich beams under various boundary conditions.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.5A
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• pp.351-360
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• 2011

Jacket-type offshore structures are always exposed to severe environmental conditions such as salt, high speed of current, wave, and wind compared with other onshore structures. In spite of the importance of maintaining the structural integrity for offshore structure, there are few cases to apply structural health monitoring (SHM) system in practice. The impedance-based SHM is a kind of local SHM techniques and to date, numerous techniques and algorithms have been proposed for local SHM of real-scale structures. However, it still requires a significant challenge for practical applications to compensate unknown environmental effects and to extract only damage features from impedance signals. In this study, the impedance-based SHM was carried out on a 1/20-scaled model of an Uldolmok current power plant structure under changes in temperature and transverse loadings. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied using conventional damage index to eliminate principal components sensitive to environmental change. It was found that the proposed PCA-base approach is an effective tool for long-term SHM under significant environmental changes.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2011

A chronic drought stress has been imposed during non-rainy season(from winter to spring) since 1990s. We faced the most significant water crisis in 2001, and the drought was characterized by sultry weather and severe drought on a national scale. It has been widely acknowledged that the drought related damage is 2-3 times serious than floods. In the list of the world's largest natural disaster compiled by NOAA, 4 of the top 5 disasters are droughts. And according to the analysis from the NDMC report, the drought has the highest annual average damage among all the disasters. There was a very serious impact on the economic such as rising consumer price during the 2001 spring drought in Korea. There has been flood prevention measures implemented at national-level but for mitigation of droughts, there are only plans aimed at emergency (short-term) restoration rather than the comprehensive preventive measures. In addition, there is a lack of a clear set of indicators to express drought situation objectively, and therefore it is important and urgent to begin a systematic study. In this study, a nonstationary downscaling model using RCM based climate change scenario was first applied to simulate precipitation, and the simulated precipitation data was used to derive Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). The SPI under climate change was used to evaluate the spatio-temporal variability of drought through principal component analysis at three different time scales which are 2015, 2045 and 2075. It was found that spatio-temporal variability is likely to modulate with climate change.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.205-213
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• 1998

The efficacy of DA-6034, a new flavonoid derivative, was investigated in comparison with sulfasalazine in a trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced rat colitis. Under light anaesthesia with ether, rats were subjected to intracolonic administration of 30mg TNBS in 50% ethanol (0.5ml) and were then sacrificed at 7 or 21 days after colitis induction. The TNBS control group (the saline treated colitic rat) exhibited ulceration and inflammation of the distal colon with formation of granuloma and pathologic connections. Moreover, an increase in colonic myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity (investigated as an index of leukocyte adhesion and accumulation) and an elevated colonic leukotriene $B_4$ ($LTB_4$) level were observed. The colitic rats received DA6034 (0.3-30mg/kg) or sulfasalazine (50-100mg/kg), prednisolone (0.3-3mg/kg) after the induction of colitis until they were sacrificed. Oral treatment with DA-6034 resulted in significant reductions of macroscopic colonic damage, colonic inflammation. DA6034 had a more potent effect than sulfasalazine and prednisolone on macroscopic colonic damage, while it has similar effect with prednisolone on the reduction of colonic $LTB_4$ synthesis and MPO activity. This study show, therefore, that DA-6034 is effective m attenuating the colonic lesion in an TNBS-induced colitis model. Furthermore, the results suggest that the effect of DA-6034 is partially related to its action on $LTB_4$ synthesis and MPO inhibition.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.17-23
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• 2020

Objectives : In this study, we investigated the protective effects of Charybdis japonica (C. japonica) water extract on the acute reflux esophagitis in rat models. Methods : Twenty rats were divided into four groups for examination: normal control group (n=6), the reflux esophagitis group (n=6), reflux esophagitis treated with positive control group (ranitidine 40 mg/kg, n=6), reflux esophagitis treated with C. japonica group (100 mg/kg, n=6). All rats fasted for 18 hr and then were induced with reflux esophagitis by a pylorus and forestomach ligation operation. After 4 hr, the rats were sacrificed. The proinflammatory cytokine and proteins expression measured by western bolt assay, and the histopathological analysis of the esophageal mucosa measured by hematoxylin and eosin staining. Results : C. japonica administration significantly was protecting esophageal mucosal damage upon histological analysis of reflux esophagitis in rats. The C. japonica treatment confirmed the protection of the reduction of claudin-5, an evaluation index of the damage of tight junctions in the reflux esophagitis. C. japonica was also found to inhibit the expression of proteins such as COX-2 and TNF-α in the rat esophagus. C. japonica markedly attenuated the activation of NF-κB and phosphorylation of IκBα at the same time. Conclusion : These results indicated that C. japonica suppressed the development of esophagitis through the modulation of inflammation by regulating NF-κB activation. Based on these findings, we concluded that C. japonica can prevent reflux esophagitis.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.371-385
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Soy isoflavone (SIF) and soy lecithin (SL) have beneficial effects on many chronic diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases. Regretfully, there is little evidence to show the combined effects of these soy extractives on the impairment of cognition and abnormal cerebral blood flow (CBF). This study examined the optimal combination dose of SIF + SL to provide evidence for improving CBF and protecting cerebrovascular endothelial cells. MATERIALS/METHODS: In vivo study, SIF50 + SL40, SIF50 + SL80 and SIF50 + SL160 groups were obtained. Morris water maze, laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI), and hematoxylin-eosin staining were used to detect learning and memory impairment, CBF, and damage to the cerebrovascular tissue in rat. The 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and the oxidized glutathione (GSSG) were detected. The anti-oxidative damage index of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione (GSH) in the serum of an animal model was also tested. In vitro study, an immortalized mouse brain endothelial cell line (bEND.3 cells) was used to confirm the cerebrovascular endothelial cell protection of SIF + SL. In this study, 50 µM of Gen were used, while the 25, 50, or 100 µM of SL for different incubation times were selected first. The intracellular levels of 8-OHdG, SOD, GSH, and GSSG were also detected in the cells. RESULTS: In vivo study, SIF + SL could increase the target crossing times significantly and shorten the total swimming distance of rats. The CBF in the rats of the SIF50 + SL40 group and SIF50 + SL160 group was enhanced. Pathological changes, such as attenuation of the endothelium in cerebral vessels were much less in the SIF50 + SL40 group and SIF50 + SL160 group. The 8-OHdG was reduced in the SIF50 + SL40 group. The GSSG showed a significant decrease in all SIF + SL pretreatment groups, but the GSH showed an opposite result. SOD was upregulated by SIF + SL pretreatment. Different combinations of Genistein (Gen)+SL, the secondary proof of health benefits found in vivo study, showed they have effective anti-oxidation and less side reaction on protecting cerebrovascular endothelial cell. SIF50 + SL40 in rats experiment and Gen50 + SL25 in cell test were the optimum joint doses on alleviating cognitive impairment and regulating CBF through protecting cerebrovascular tissue by its antioxidant activity. CONCLUSIONS: SIF+SL could significantly prevent cognitive defect induced by β-Amyloid through regulating CBF. This kind of effect might be attributed to its antioxidant activity on protecting cerebral vessels.