• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.53-64
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• 2021

It is known that the voicing contrast for Japanese word-initial stops is primarily realized as differences in the voice onset time (VOT). However, recent studies have reported that voiced stops are more often produced with a positive VOT than with a negative VOT among the younger generation nationwide. It is also known that post-stop F0 is associated with the stop contrast, but the degree of F0 use differs from region to region. This study explores whether the difference in post-stop F0 functions as a perceptual cue to the stop contrast along with VOT. Fifty-five college students who are native listeners from four different regions participated in two or three perception tests. The results show that VOT is a primary cue to the voiced-voiceless distinction of word-initial stops, but that the effect of post-stop F0 on the stop contrast is marginal. The post-stop F0 is involved in perception only when VOT is ambiguous, such that a sound with high F0 is more often perceived as a voiceless stop, but not vice versa. The results of this study indicate that the acoustic parameters associated with the stop contrast are not the same in production and perception, and suggest that other factors such as context, which is not an acoustic characteristic, may also be involved in the stop contrast.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.377-384
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• 2021

Researching the soil fungal community is important to understand the interaction between fungi and living plants. However, too few studies have examined the soil fungal community and their interactions with plants. Rhododendron mucronulatum, commonly known as Korean rosebay, is an important forest resource that has aesthetic, ecological, and potential pharmacological values. We used a pyrosequencing method to analyze the characteristics of fungal communities from R. mucronulatum soil samples from Biseul mountain county park, which is one of the famous places for large R. mucronulatum colonies in South Korea. We collected soil core samples in February and August at three sites in the Biseul Mountain County Park, taking into consideration the regional and seasonal conditions. We obtained 454,157 validated reads after pyrosequencing all six samples. The fungal communities from the first observation spot in August had the richest species diversity among the samples. Basidiomycota, Ascomycota, and Mortierellomycota were major phyla in the samples. Agaricales_f, Mortierellaceae, and Clavariaceae were major families in the samples. The genus Mortierella was the most dominant in all six samples. Overall, 19 genera could be associated with R. mucronulatum. Sample 1 had 109 genera in sample 1, sample 2 had 111 genera, and sample 3 had 112 genera that were uniquely identified. The samples collected in August had 28 identified genera, that existed only in summer samples, indicating a weather effect. This study can be used as basic research to understand the relationship between soil fungi and plants.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.400-409
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• 2021

Sanguinarine, a natural benzophenanthridine alkaloid, has been considered a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of cancer because it can induce apoptosis in human cancer cells; however, the underlying mechanisms of action still remain unclear. Tumor suppressor p53 deletion or mutation is an important reason for the resistance of colorectal cancer cells to anticancer agents. Therefore, in the present study, the role of p53 during apoptosis induced by sanguinarine was investigated in p53wild type (WT, p53+/+) and p53null (p53+/+) HCT116 colon carcinoma cells. Sanguinarine significantly caused greater reductions in cell viability in HCT116 (p53+/+) cells than in HCT116 (p53-/-) cells. Consistently, sanguinarine promoted more DNA damage and apoptosis in HCT116 (p53+/+) cells than in HCT116 (p53-/-) cells while increasing the expression of p53 and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21^WAF1/CIP1. Sanguinarine increased the activity of caspase-8 and caspase-9, which are involved in the initiation of extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis pathways, respectively, and it activated caspase-3, a typical effect caspase, in HCT116 (p53+/+) cells. Sanguinarine also increased the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, while destroying the integrity of mitochondria in HCT116 (p53+/+) cells, but not in HCT116 (p53-/-) cells. Overall, the results indicate that sanguinarine induced p53-dependent apoptosis through ROS-mediated activation of extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways in HCT116 colorectal cancer cells.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.662-670
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• 2021

Interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs) are the pacemaking cells in the gastrointestinal (GI) muscles that generate the rhythmic oscillation in membrane potentials known as slow waves. In the present study, we investigated the effects of mirtazapine, a noradrenergic and serotonergic antidepressant, on pacemaking potential in cultured ICCs from the murine small intestine. The whole-cell patch-clamp configuration was used to record pacemaker potential in cultured ICCs. Mirtazapine induced pacemaker potential depolarizations in a concentration-dependent manner in the current clamp mode. Y25130 (a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist), RS39604 (a 5-HT4 receptor antagonist), and SB269970 (a 5-HT7 receptor antagonist) had no effects on mirtazapine-induced pacemaker potential depolarizations. Also, methoctramine, a muscarinic M₂ receptor antagonist, had no effect on mirtazapine-induced pacemaker potential depolarizations, whereas 4-diphenylacetoxy-N-methyl-piperidine methiodide (4-DAMP), a muscarinic M₃ receptor antagonist, inhibited the depolarizations. When guanosine 5'-[β-thio] diphosphate (GDP-β-S; 1 mM) was in the pipette solution, mirtazapine-induced pacemaker potential depolarization was blocked. When an external Ca²⁺ free solution or thapsigargin, a Ca²⁺-ATPase inhibitor of the endoplasmic reticulum, was applied, the generation of pacemaker potentials disappeared, and under these conditions, mirtazapine induced pacemaker potential depolarizations. In addition, protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor, calphostin C, and chelerythrine inhibited mirtazapine-induced pacemaker potential depolarizations. These results suggest that mirtazapine regulates pacemaker potentials through muscarinic M₃ receptor activation via a G protein-dependent and an external or internal Ca²⁺-independent PKC pathway in the ICCs. Therefore, mirtazapine can control GI motility through ICCs.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.488-499
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• 2021

This study investigated the effects of the HTE creative education program, which applies blended learning methodology as a convergence class strategy between offline and online, on middle school students' creative problem solving capability. As a result of applying for five creative education practice programs in the classroom, it turned out that there was a statistically significant difference (p < .05) in the case of idea manipulation, visualization, comparison, idea generation, and deliberation, subordinate constructs of creative problem solving capability. Also, the program turned out to be positively effective, with a 0.14 point improvement in the pre and post-means of all middle school students, showing from 3.65 to 3.79 points, and 72% of middle school students who participated in the program were satisfied, and 68% were interested. According to the results, HTE creative education programs using blended learning turned out to be effective as a customized methodology in the COVID-19 situation and the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution, where various creative talents are needed. Therefore, the need for the development of creative education programs on various related topics and teacher training for teaching and learning methodologies of blended learning.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.50
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• pp.131-172
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• 2018

It is noted that nowadays, the bride wealth custom takes an extremely distorted form in African society. Such a phenomenon is a result that the male-dominant culture, Western religions, and capitalist economic system have been negatively combined into dynamic factors seen as bride wealth. This means that the concept of bride wealth has been incessantly reconstructed in the middle of clash and conflict of tradition and modernity. There is also little doubt that the practice is inextricably tangled with the common and current ways of livelihood, early marriage, polygyny, kinship/family structure, poverty, and migration labor. Bride wealth has become an increasingly commercialized element under a capitalist economic system. Accordingly, its traditional symbolism is seen to be subsequently weakening, whereas a tendency towards the reification of women is strengthening more in modern society that embraces modern customs bent on the protection of women's human rights. Its commercialization has produced a result, which instigates the noted violations of women's basic human rights, gender inequality, and promotion of domestic violence. The ways that people perceive bride wealth vary according to their own sex, generation, stratification, and ethnic background. Those people who negatively recognize bride wealth will increase with the deepening of its commercialization due to the influence of capitalism. Its color and effect will deepen and depend on how its agents correspond to socioeconomic changes. They will constantly reinterpret and reconstruct it within their own environments, but the basic human rights efforts are constantly under review by concerned individuals seeking to promote equality for women as a global effort.

• Clean Technology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.339-347
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• 2018

In order to cope with environmental problems and climate change caused by fossil fuels, renewable energy supply is increasing year by year. Currently, waste energy accounts for 60% of renewable energy production. However, waste has a lower calorific value than fossil fuels and contains various harmful substances, which causes serious problems when applied to power generation boilers. In particular, the chlorine in the waste fuel increases slagging and fouling of boiler heat exchangers, leading to a reduction in thermal efficiency and the main cause of high temperature corrosion, lowering facility operation rate and increasing operating cost. In this study, the high temperature corrosion experiments of superheater materials (ASME SA213/ASTM A213 T2, T12 and T22 alloy steel) by alkali chlorides were conducted, and their corrosion characteristics were analyzed by the weight loss method and SEM-EDS. Experiments show that the higher the temperature and chloride content, the more corrosion occurs, and KCl further corrodes the materials compared to NaCl under the same condition. In addition, the higher the chromium content of the material, the better the corrosion resistance to the alkali chlorides.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.529-535
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• 2018

The range extender vehicle runs on a mechanism that allows the small power generation engine to start in the most efficient specific operating range to charge the battery and extend the mileage. In this study, we developed a step motor type intake air supply system that replaces existing throttle body system to develop a simple low cost control logic system. The system was applied to the existing base engine, and in order to improve the performance by increasing the amount of intake air, the effect of changing the length of the intake and exhaust manifold was experimentally examined. As a result, the Type B intake air control actuator operated by one step motor showed higher performance than the Type A in all the operation region, but the performance was lower than that of the base engine due to the increase of flow resistance. To improve this, it was confirmed that the engine performance was improved at both speeds of 2200rpm and 4300rpm when the 140mm adapter was installed in the intake manifold and when the newly designed 70mm exhaust manifold was applied. Through this process, high - precision operation control was realized by connecting the generator load to the optimized engine for the range extender electric vehicle. Experimental results showed that the speed change rate was within ${\pm}2.5%$ at 2200rpm in 1st stage and 4300rpm in 2nd stage and the speed follow-up result of 610 rpm/s was obtained when the speed was increased from 2200rpm to 4300rpm.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1321-1331
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• 2018

The aim of this study was to separate the photosensitizer that induces apoptosis of U937 and SK-HEP-1 cells from Nostoc commune. Dried N. commune was extracted with $CH_2Cl_2/MeOH$ (1:1) to separate the photosensitizer using various chromatographic techniques. The isolated compound was identified as pheophytin a ($C_{55}H_{74}N_4O_5$) with a molecular weight of 870. Its photodynamic activities were assessed under different irradiation conditions (light and non-light) at the same concentration range of $1.15-23.0{\mu}M$. The apoptosis inducing activity in U937 or SK-HEP-1 cells appeared only in the light. The mechanisms underlying the pheophytin a-mediated photodynamic inhibition of cancer cells were further investigated by examining cell morphology changes, cytotoxicity, caspase-3/7 activity, fluorescence staining, flow cytometry analysis, and DNA fragmentation in these two cell lines. The positive control and the light irradiation group showed typical apoptotic responses, including morphological changes, cytotoxicity, caspase activity, nucleus shrinkage owing to chromatin condensation, DNA laddering, and the presence of apoptotic bodies. Cytotoxicity markedly increased in a dose-dependent manner after a 12 hr exposure. Caspase-3/7 activity was higher in U937 cells than in SK-HEP-1 cells. Apoptosis induction therefore appeared to be both concentration- and light-dependent. In conclusion, pheophytin a, isolated from the blue green alga N. commune, had a photodynamic apoptosis-inducing effect on U937 and SK-HEP-1 cells. The findings reported here can be used as basic data for the development of next-generation photosensitizers from N. commune.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.473-478
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• 2018

Radioactive aerosol generated in cutting and melting work during the NPP decommissioning process can cause internal exposure to body through workers' breath. Thus, it is necessary to assess worker internal exposure due to the radioactive aerosol during decommissioning. The actually measured value of the working environment is needed for accurate assessment of internal exposure, but if it is difficult to actually measure that value, the internal exposure dose can be estimated through recommended values such as the fraction of amount of intake and the size of particles suggested by the International Committee on Radiological Protection (ICRP). As for the selection of particle size, this study applied a value of $5{\mu}m$, which is the size of particles considering the worker recommended by the ICRP. As for the amount of generation, the amount of intake was estimated using data on the mass of aerosol generated in a melting facility at a site in Kozloduy, Bulgaria. In addition, using these data, this study calculated the level of radioactivity in the worker's body and stool and conducted an assessment of internal exposure using the BiDAS computer code. The internal exposure dose of Type M was 0.0341 mSv, that of Type S was 0.0909 mSv. The two types of absorption showed levels that were 0.17% and 0.45% of the domestic annual dose limit, respectively.