• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.50.1-50.11
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• 2020

Objectives: In this study, we investigated the potential of amoxicillin-loaded polymeric microspheres to be delivered to tooth root infection sites via a bioactive reparative cement. Materials and Methods: Amoxicillin-loaded microspheres were synthesized by a spray-dray method and incorporated at 2.5% and 5% into a mineral trioxide aggregate cement clinically used to induce a mineralized barrier at the root tip of young permanent teeth with incomplete root development and necrotic pulp. The formulations were modified in liquid:powder ratios and in composition by the microspheres. The optimized formulations were evaluated in vitro for physical and mechanical eligibility. The morphology of microspheres was observed under scanning electron microscopy. Results: The optimized cement formulation containing microspheres at 5% exhibited a delayed-release response and maintained its fundamental functional properties. When mixed with amoxicillin-loaded microspheres, the setting times of both test materials significantly increased. The diametral tensile strength of cement containing microspheres at 5% was similar to control. However, phytic acid had no effect on this outcome (p > 0.05). When mixed with modified liquid:powder ratio, the setting time was significantly longer than that original liquid:powder ratio (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Lack of optimal concentrations of antibiotics at anatomical sites of the dental tissues is a hallmark of recurrent endodontic infections. Therefore, targeting the controlled release of broad-spectrum antibiotics may improve the therapeutic outcomes of current treatments. Overall, these results indicate that the carry of amoxicillin by microspheres could provide an alternative strategy for the local delivery of antibiotics for the management of tooth infections.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.153-166
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• 2023

Purpose - This research empirically analyzes the influence of economic policy uncertainty and free trade agreements (FTAs) on bilateral trade volumes between Korea and its trading partners. The study investigates whether fluctuations in the Economic Policy Uncertainty Index (EPUI) for both Korea and its trading partners significantly impact trade volumes and whether the implementation of FTAs mitigates these effects. Design/methodology - The study employs dynamic panel data analysis using the system generalized method of moments (system GMM) estimation method to achieve its research objectives. It utilizes country-month-level panel data, including the EPUI, trade volume between Korea and its trading partner countries, and other pertinent variables. The use of system GMM allows for the control of potential endogeneity issues and the incorporation of country-specific and time-specific effects. Findings - The analysis yields significant results regarding the impact of economic policy uncertainty on Korea's exports and imports, particularly before the implementation of FTAs. An increase in the EPUI of trading partners leads to a notable increase in Korea's exports to them. Conversely, an increase in Korea's EPUI negatively affects its imports from trading partners. However, post-FTA implementation, the influence of each country's EPUI on trade volume is neutralized, with no significant difference observed. Originality/value - This research contributes to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence on the interaction effects between economic policy uncertainty and FTAs on bilateral trade volumes. The study's uniqueness lies in its examination of how FTAs mitigate the impact of economic uncertainty on trade relations between countries. The findings underscore the importance of trade agreements as mechanisms to address economic risks and promote international trade relations. In a world where global market uncertainties persist, these insights can aid policymakers in Korea and other countries in enhancing their trade cooperation strategies and navigating challenges posed by evolving economic landscapes.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.703-714
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• 2023

This research conducts a series of tests to investigate the setting retarding properties and strength development in cement pastes incorporating various types and dosages of sugar-based super retarding agents. Six such agents, including Sucrose, Sugar powder, Saccharin, Aspartame, Stevioside, and Mogroside, commercially available, were selected for evaluation. The study also examines the micro-structural properties of these cement pastes. The test mixtures were prepared using a 27.5% water-to-cement ratio and ordinary Portland cement. Micro-structural analyses were conducted using Scanning Electron Microscopy(SEM), X-Ray Diffraction(XRD), and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy(EDS). The findings reveal that the incorporation of sucrose, sugar powder, and stevioside significantly retards the setting time. Particularly, adding 0.1% sucrose extended the setting time by approximately two-fold compared to the control(Plain) mixture. Most mixtures, barring those with sugar powder and stevioside, exhibited compressive strength comparable to the Plain mixture. Notably, with 0.2% sucrose, strength measurements were not feasible at 1 day, but at 3 days, the strength gains aligned with the Plain mixture. XRD, SEM, and EDS analyses confirmed the hydration delay(set retarding) of C3S due to sucrose, with further quantitative corroboration provided by EDS. SEM was used to verify the presence or absence of hydration products. The study concludes that sucrose, as a sugar-based retarder, offers effective set retarding capabilities and compressive strength development in concrete.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 1995

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of activated carbon (AC) on growth, ruminal charateristics, blood profiles and feed digestibility in sheep, using roughage-based or concentrate-based diets. Twelve Suffolk breed of sheep of similar age and weight were distributed into 4 groups in a $2{\times}2$ factorial design. Two groups were fed a roughage-based diet with (R + AC) and without AC (R - AC), while the other two were fed a concentrate-based diet with (C + AC) and without AC (C - AC), respectively. The addition of 0.3% AC was based on dry matter of feed offered to animals. The incorporation of AC in roughage and concentrate based diets had no marked effects on feed intake, daily gain and feed conversion of the animals within experimental diets. The results obtained might be due to the low level of AC added in the diet. The animal on both concentrate-based diets were higher than the roughage-based diets in terms of daily gain and feed conversion ratio. However, it was observed that the animals provided with AC in the concentrate-based diet did not suffer from diarrhea and easily adjusted to high concentrate feeding. Further, the pH value for all diets before feeding was noted to be similar. After feeding, however, pH was shown to be higher in R + AC (p < 0.05) than in C + AC diet. Rumen protozoa number was decreased after feeding for both + AC diets, but in C - AC diet it was higher than in the roughage-based diets. For ammonia-nitrogen, C - AC was found to be higher than C + AC diet and the roughage-based diets before feeding. Total volatile fatty acid concentration, propionate and valerate molar ratios for both diets and time of collection were not affected. However, acetate, butyrate and valerate molar ratios were observed to be affected by diets and time of collections. The diets with AC increased (p < 0.05) before feeding for acetate molar ratio, but not different within diet, however, the roughage diets were found to be higher (p < 0.05) in acetate than the concentrate diet. In the blood parameters, the glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT), red and white blood cell (RBC, WBC) counts and packed cell volume (PCV) did not differ within and among the diets. Likewise, the WBC differential count in both diets with either - AC or + AC were similar in trend. However, lymphocyte count was noted to be increased in R + AC than the R - AC diet. The addition of AC in both diets did not affect nutrient digestibilities within diets.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2000

The chloroform and methanol (2;1, v/v) extract from an edible plant, Actinidia arguta Planchon, appeared to possess antitumor activity against human leukemias Jurkat T and U937 cells through inducing apoptosis. The substance in the solvent extract was purified by silica gel column chromatography, preparative TLC, and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography. Characteristics of the substance analyzed by UV scanning analysis, $^1H$ and $^{13}C$ NMR spectra suggested that the substance belongs to the chlorophyll derivatives-like group. The $IC_{50}$ value of the chlorophyll derivative (Cp-D) determined by MTT assay was $15\mu\textrm{g}/ml$ for Jurkat, $10\mu\textrm{g}/ml$ for U937, and $11.4\mu\textrm{g}/ml$ for HL-60m and was more toxic to these leukemias than to solid tumors or normal fibroblast. In order to elucidate cellular mechanisms underlying the cytotoxicity, the effect of the Cp-D on Jurkat T cells was investigated. When cells were treated with the Cp-D at a concentration of $15\mu\textrm{g}/ml$, [3H]thymidine incorporation declined rapidly and wa undetectable in 1h. However, no significant changes were made in the cell cycle distribution of the cells by 24h. The sub-Gl peak representing apoptotic cells began to be detectable in 36h, at which time apoptotic DNA fragmentation was also detected on agarose gel electrophoresis, demonstrating that the cytotoxic effect of the Cp-D is attributable to the induced apoptosis. Under the same conditions, although the protein level of cyclin-dependent kinases such as cdc4, csk6, cdk2, and cdc2 was not significantly changed until 24h, the kinase activity of all c안 rapidly declined and reached a minimum level within 1-6h and then recovered to the initial level by 12h and sustained until 24h. These results suggest that inactivation of cdks at an inappropriate time during the cell cycle progression in jurkat T cells following a treatment with the Cp-D leads to induction of apoptotic cell death.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.113-121
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• 2018

PURPOSE. The aim of this preliminary study was to investigate, for the first time, the effects of addition of titania nanotubes ($n-TiO_2$) to poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) on mechanical properties of PMMA denture base. MATERIALS AND METHODS. $TiO_2$ nanotubes were prepared using alkaline hydrothermal process. Obtained nanotubes were assessed using FESEM-EDX, XRD, and FT-IR. For 3 experiments of this study (fracture toughness, three-point bending flexural strength, and Vickers microhardness), 135 specimens were prepared according to ISO 20795-1:2013 (n of each experiment=45). For each experiment, PMMA was mixed with 0% (control), 2.5 wt%, and 5 wt% nanotubes. From each $TiO_2$:PMMA ratio, 15 specimens were fabricated for each experiment. Effects of $n-TiO_2$ addition on 3 mechanical properties were assessed using Pearson, ANOVA, and Tukey tests. RESULTS. SEM images of $n-TiO_2$ exhibited the presence of elongated tubular structures. The XRD pattern of synthesized $n-TiO_2$ represented the anatase crystal phase of $TiO_2$. Moderate to very strong significant positive correlations were observed between the concentration of $n-TiO_2$ and each of the 3 physicomechanical properties of PMMA (Pearson's P value ${\leq}.001$, correlation coefficient ranging between 0.5 and 0.9). Flexural strength and hardness values of specimens modified with both 2.5 and 5 wt% $n-TiO_2$ were significantly higher than those of control ($P{\leq}.001$). Fracture toughness of samples reinforced with 5 wt% $n-TiO_2$ (but not those of 2.5% $n-TiO_2$) was higher than control (P=.002). CONCLUSION. Titania nanotubes were successfully introduced for the first time as a means of enhancing the hardness, flexural strength, and fracture toughness of denture base PMMA.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2018.06a
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• pp.62-62
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• 2018

Pt is still considered as one of the most active electrocatalysts for ORR in alkaline fuel cells. However, the high cost and scarcity of Pt hamper the widespread commercialization of fuel cells. As a strong candidate for the replacement of Pt catalyst, silver (Ag) has been extensively studied due to its high activity, abundance, and low cost. Ag is more stable than Pt in the pH range of 8~14 as the equilibrium potential of Ag/Ag+ being ${\approx}200mV$ higher than that of Pt/PtO. However, Ag is the overall catalytic activity of Ag for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) is still not comparable to Pt catalyst since the surface Ag atoms are approximately 10 times less active than Pt atoms. Therefore, further enhancement in the ORR activity of Ag catalysts is necessary to be competitive with current cutting-edge Pt-based catalysts. We demonstrate the architectural design of Ag catalysts, synthesized using plasma discharge in liquid phase, for enhanced ORR kinetics in alkaline media. An attractive feature of this work is that the plasma status controlled via electric-field could form the Ag nanowires or dendrites without any chemical agents. The plasma reactor was made of a Teflon vessel with an inner diameter of 80 mm and a height of 80 mm, where a pair of tungsten(W) electrodes with a diameter of 2 mm was placed horizontally. The stock solutions were made by dissolving the 5-mM AgNO3 in DI water. For the synthesis of Agnanowires, the electricfield of 3.6kVcm-1 in a 200-ml AgNO3 aqueous solution was applied across the electrodes using a bipolar pulsed power supply(Kurita, Seisakusyo Co. Ltd). The repetition rate and pulse width were fixed at 30kHz and 2.0 us, respectively. The plasma discharge was carried out for a fixed reaction time of 60 min. In case of Ag nanodendrites, the electric field of 32kVcm-1 in a 200-ml AgNO3 aqueous solution was applied and other conditions were identical to the plasma discharge in water in terms of electrode configuration, repetition rate and discharge time. Using SEM and STEM, morphology of Ag nanowires and dendrites were investigated. With 3.6 kV/cm, Ag nanowire was obtained, while Ag dendrite was constructed with 32 kV/cm. The average diameter and legth of Ag nanowireses were 50 nm and 3.5 um, and thoes values of Ag dendrites were 40 nm and 3.0 um. As a results of XPS analysis, the surface defects in the Ag nanowires facilitated O2 incorporation into the surface region via the interaction between the oxygen and the electron cloud of the adjacent Ag atoms. The catalytic activity of Ag for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) showed that the catalytic ORR activity of Ag nanowires are much better than Ag nanodendrites, and electron transfer number of Ag nanowires is similar to that of Pt (${\approx}4$).

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.198-207
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• 2010

The construction and performance characteristics of doxepin hydrochloride selective electrodes were developed. Three types of electrodes: plastic membrane I, coated wire II, and coated graphite rod III were constructed based on the incorporation of doxepin hydrochloride with ammonium reineckate. The influence of membrane composition, kind of plasticizer, pH of the test solution, soaking time, and foreign ions on the electrodes was investigated. The electrodes showed a Nernstain response with a mean slope of 57.41 ${\pm}$ 0.5, 56.22 ${\pm}$ 0.2 and 52.88 ${\pm}$ 0.7 mV at $25^{\circ}C$ for electrode I, II and III respectively, over Doxepin hydrochloride concentration range from $1{\times}10^{-2}-1{\times}10^{-6}M$, $5{\tims}10^{-2}-1{\times}10^{-6}M$ and $1{\times}10^{-3}-5{\times}10^{-6}M$, and with a detection limit $5.0{\times}10^{-7}M$, $6.3{\times}10^{-7}M$ and $2.5{\times}10^{-6}M$ for electrode I, II and III respectively. The constructed electrodes gave average selective precise and usable within the pH range 3 - 7. Interferences from common cations, alkaloids, sugars, amino acids and drug excipients were reported. The results obtained by the proposed electrodes were also applied successfully to the determination of the drug in pharmaceutical preparations and biological fluids.

• Journal of the Korea Society for Simulation
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.31-39
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• 2006

The visibility graph is a well-known method for efficient path-finding with the minimum search space modelling the game world. The generalized visibility graph is constructed on the expanded obstacle boundaries to eliminate the "wall-hugging" problem which is a major disadvantage of using the visibility graph. The paths generated by the generalized visibility graph are guaranteed to be near optimal and natural-looking. In this paper we propose the method to apply the generalized visibility graph efficiently for game characters who moves among static obstacles between varying start and goal points. Even though the space is minimal once the generalized visibility graph is constructed, the construction itself is time-consuming in checking the intersection between every two links connecting nodes. The idea is that we build the map for static obstacles first and then incorporate start and goal nodes quickly. The incorporation of start and goal nodes is the part that must be executed repeatedly. Therefore we propose to use the rotational plane-sweep algorithm in the computational geometry for incorporating start and goal nodes efficiently. The simulation result shows that the execution time has been improved by 39%-68% according to running times in the game environment with multiple static obstacles.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.153-159
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• 2019

Marine accidents and legal violations result from mistakes and negligences of ship officers, deck officers and engine officers, during the ship navigation and lay days. Due to these accidents and violations, these officers are subjected to disciplinary actions for certification. The disciplinary action, namely certificate punishment is carried out by right rules, processes and equity. However, it is revealed that present situations are different from the principles. For the purpose of finding current states relating to certificate punishment, this study examines and analyses 737 punishment cases, accomplished in 'B' regional office of oceans & fisheries for 5 years from 2014 to 2018. The contents to be analyzed are reprimand agencies, certificate kinds, officers ranks at that time, disciplinary level, violated acts, annual reprimand state, punishment rule and it process, and disciplinary reduction levels. From such valuations various problems, such as disciplinary level deviations among laws, insufficient punishments rules, disciplinary certificate deviation, insufficient reprimand reduction rules, and lack function of crew administrative disciplinary council, are identified. Finally, methods to alleviate the problems identified will be proposed. This study, for the first time analyses the actual administrative disciplinary cases for ship officers'certificates and proposes improvement plans for its incorporation in Korea, This analysis will be useful in the examination of the study for the ship officers and making a plan for them.