• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.43.1-43.14
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• 2021

Group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3), which express IL-22 and IL-17A, has been introduced as one of pathologic cells in axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). Dyslipidaemia should be managed in axSpA patients to reduce cardiovascular disease, and dyslipidaemia promotes inflammation. This study aimed to reveal the role of circulating ILC3 in axSpA and the impact of dyslipidaemia on axSpA pathogenesis. AxSpA patients with or without dyslipidaemia and healthy control were recruited. Peripheral blood samples were collected, and flow cytometry analysis of circulating ILC3 and CD4⁺ T cells was performed. The correlation between Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score (ASDAS)-C-reactive protein (CRP) and circulating immune cells was evaluated. The effect of oxidized low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (oxLDL-C) on immune cell differentiation was confirmed. AxSpA human monocytes were cultured with with oxLDL-C, IL-22, or oxLDL-C plus IL-22 to evaluate osteoclastogenesis using tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining and real-time quantitative PCR of osteoclast-related gene expression. Total of 34 axSpA patients (13 with dyslipidaemia and 21 without) were included in the analysis. Circulating IL-22⁺ ILC3 and Th17 were significantly elevated in axSpA patients with dyslipidaemia (p=0.001 and p=0.034, respectively), and circulating IL-22⁺ ILC3 significantly correlated with ASDAS-CRP (Rho=0.4198 and p=0.0367). Stimulation with oxLDL-C significantly increased IL-22⁺ ILC3, NKp44^- ILC3, and Th17 cells, and these were reversed by CD36 blocking agent. IL-22 and oxLDL-C increased TRAP⁺ cells and osteoclast-related gene expression. This study suggested potential role of circulating IL-22⁺ ILC3 as biomarker in axSpA. Furthermore, dyslipidaemia augmented IL-22⁺ ILC3 differentiation, and oxLDL-C and IL-22 markedly increased osteoclastogenesis of axSpA.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.48.1-48.11
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• 2020

Hyperprogressive disease (HPD) is a distinct pattern of progression characterized by acceleration of tumor growth after treatment with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 Abs. However, the immunological characteristics have not been fully elucidated in patients with HPD. We prospectively recruited patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer treated with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 Abs between April 2015 and April 2018, and collected peripheral blood before treatment and 7-days post-treatment. HPD was defined as ≥2-fold increase in both tumor growth kinetics and tumor growth rate between pre-treatment and post-treatment. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were analyzed by multi-color flow cytometry to phenotype the immune cells. Of 115 patients, 19 (16.5%) developed HPD, 52 experienced durable clinical benefit (DCB; partial response or stable disease ≥6 months), and 44 experienced non-hyperprogressive progression (NHPD). Patients with HPD had significantly lower progression-free survival (p<0.001) and overall survival (p<0.001). When peripheral blood immune cells were examined, the pre-treatment frequency of CD39⁺ cells among CD8⁺ T cells was significantly higher in patients with HPD compared to those with NHPD, although it showed borderline significance to predict HPD. Other parameters regarding regulatory T cells or myeloid derived suppressor cells did not significantly differ among patient groups. Our findings suggest high pre-treatment frequency of CD39⁺CD8⁺ T cells might be a characteristic of HPD. Further investigations in a larger cohort are needed to confirm our results and better delineate the immune landscape of HPD.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2008

Background: A co-inhibitory molecule, B7-H4, is believed to negatively regulate T cell immunity by suppressing T cell proliferation and inhibiting cytokine production. However, the mechanism behind B7-H4-mediated tolerance remains unclear. Methods: Balb/c $(H-2^d)$ mice were fed with dendritic cell line, DC2.4 $(H-2^d)$ every day for 10 days. Meantime, mice were hydrodynamically injected with recombinant plasmid expressing B7-H4 fusion protein (B7-H4.hFc) or hFc via tail vein. One day after last feeding, mice were immunized with allogeneic B6 spleen cells. 14 days following immunization, mice were challenged with B6 spleen cells to ear back and the ear swelling was determined the next day. Subsequently, a mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) was also performed and cytokines profiles from the reaction were examined by sandwich ELISA. Frequency of immunosuppressive cell population was assayed with flow cytometry and mRNA for FoxP3 was determined by RT-PCR. Results: Tolerant mice given plasmid expressing B7-H4.hFc showed a significant reduction in ear swelling compared to control mice. In addition, T cells from mice given B7-H4.hFc plasmid revealed a significant hyporesponsiveness of T cells against allogeneic spleen cells and showed a significant decrease in Th1 and Th2 cytokines such as IFN-${\gamma}$, IL-5, and TNF-${\alpha}$. Interestingly, flow cytometric analysis showed that the frequency of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ Tregs in spleen was increased in tolerant mice given recombinant B7-H4.hFc plasmid compared to control group. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that B7-H4 synergistically potentiates oral tolerance induced by allogeneic cells by increasing the frequency of FoxP3+ CD4+CD25+ Treg and reducing Th1 and Th2 cytokine production.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.70-80
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• 2003

We report the first direct measurement of $CO_2$ flux over Kwangneung broadleaf deciduous forest, one of the tower flux sites in KoFlux network. Eddy covariance system was installed on a 30 m tower along with other meteorological instruments from June to August in 2002. Although the study site was non-ideal (with valley-like terrain), turbulence characteristics from limited wind directions (i.e., 90$\pm$45$^{\circ}$) was not significantly different from those obtained at simple, homogeneous terrains with an ideal fetch. Despite very low rate of data retrieval, preliminary results from our analysis are encouraging and worthy of further investigation. Ignoring the role of advection terms, the averaged net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of $CO_2$ ranged from -1.2 to 0.7 mg m$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ from June to August in 2002. The effect of weak turbulence on nocturnal NEE was examined in terms of friction velocity (u*) along with the estimation of storage term. The effect of low uf u* NEE was obvious with a threshold value of about 0.2 m s$^{-1}$ . The contribution of storage term to nocturnal NEE was insignificant; suggesting that the $CO_2$ stored within the forest canopy at night was probably removed by the drainage flow along the hilly terrain. This could be also an artifact of uncertainty in calculations of storage term based on a single-level concentration. The hyperbolic light response curves explained ＞80% of variation in the observed NEE, indicating that $CO_2$ exchange at the site was notably light-dependent. Such a relationship can be used effectively in filling up the missing gaps in NEE data through the season. Finally, a simple scaling analysis based on a linear flow model suggested that advection might play a significant role in NEE evaluation at this site.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 2002

Background: Viral antigens presented on the cell surface in association with MHC class I molecules are recognized by CD8+ T cells. MHC restricted peptides are important in eliciting cellular immune responses. As peptide antigens have a weak immunigenicity, pH-sensitive liposomes were used for peptide delivery to induce effective cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses. In the previous study, as the HBx peptides could induce specific CTLs in vitro, we tested whether the HLA-A2/$K^b$ transgenic mice that were immunized by HBx-derived peptides could be protected from a viral challenge. Methods: HBx-peptides encapsulated by pH-sensitive liposomes were prepared. $A2K^b$ transgenic mice were immunized i.m. on days one and seven with the indicated concentrations of liposome-encapsulated peptides. Three weeks later, mice were infected with $1{\times}10^7pfu$/head of recombinant vaccinia virus (rVV)-HBx via i.p. administration. The ovaries were extracted from the mice, and the presence of rVV-HBx in the ovaries was analyzed using human TK-143B cells. IFN-${\gamma}$ secretion by these cells was directly assessed using a peptide-pulsed target cell stimulation assay with either peptide-pulsed antigen presenting cells (APCs), concanavalin A ($2{\mu}g/ml$), or a vehicle. To generate peptide-specific CTLs, splenocytes obtained from the immunized mice were stimulated with $20{\mu}g/ml$ of each peptide and restimulated with peptide-pulsed APC four times. The cytotoxic activity of the CTLs was assessed by standard $^{51}Cr$-release assay and intracellular IFN-${\gamma}$ assay. Results: Immunization of these peptides as a mixture in pH-sensitive liposomes to transgenic mice induced a good protective effect from a viral challenge by inducing the peptide-specific CD8+ T cells. Mice immunized with $50{\mu}g/head$ were much better protected against viral challenge compared to those immunized with $5{\mu}g$/head, whereas the mice immunized with empty liposomes were not protected at all. After in vitro CTL culture by peptide stimulation, however, specific cytotoxicity was much higher in the CTLs from mice immunized with $5{\mu}g/head$ than $50{\mu}g/head$ group. Increase of the number of cells that intracellular IFN-${\gamma}$ secreting cell among CD8+ T cells showed similar result. Conclusion: Mice immunized with XEPs within pH-sensitive liposome were protected against viral challenge. The protective effect depended on the amount of antigen used during immunization. XEP-3-specific CTLs could be induced by peptide stimulation in vitro from splenocytes obtained from immunized mice. The cytotoxic effect of CTLs was measured by $^{51}Cr$-release assay and the percentage of accumulated intracellular IFN-${\gamma}$ secreting cells after in vitro restimulation was measured by flow cytometric analysis. The result of $^{51}Cr$-release cytotoxicity test was well correlated with that of the flow cytometric analysis. Viral protection was effective in immunized group of $50{\mu}g/head$, while in the in vitro restimulation, it showed more spectific response in $5{\mu}g$/head group.

• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.37
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• pp.33-60
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• 2018

This article is to present that the research on the Mudang Gut Chum should be within the context of the performance of Mudang Gut and examines its meanings and implications with focus on Seoul Mudang Gut Chum and Hwanghae-do Mudang Gut Chum. Seoul and Hwanghae-do Mudang Gut Chums do not exist in the form of simple dance or movement. They feature continuity while serving the function of revealing the existence of spirit and sometimes show the process of the spirit joining the Gut ritual, which means that the Mudang Gut Chum should not be understood as the dance itself only. Instead, care attention should be paid to the status of the tune of Gut where the dance is placed, relationship between the gut and the spirit, and the flow of narrativity. Also, the Mudang Gut Chum has a lot to do with the tune. Looking at the Mudang Gut Chum simply focusing on dancing steps, and the movement of feet and/or hands fails to gain an accurate understanding of the fundamentals of the Mudang Gut Chum. Closely connected to the tune, which is also associated with the grade of the spirit, the dance shows a variety of performances conducted by entering the Gut ritual of the spirit. In that respect, complex views on the Mudang Gut Chum are required. The same applies to the hereditary shaman Mudang Gut as well. The Korean Mudang Gut Chum has a slight difference between the Gangshinmu gut and the hereditary gut but is in basically the same aspect. The Gut Chum holds its meaning in the flow of gutgeori (tune or dance performed during exorcism, a shaman song) and delivers its own meaning in connection with the tune. It is definitely meaningful to focus on the individual movements of a dancing shaman but one should be able to derive the network of meanings that such movements have within the performance of the gutgeori, which means that intensive studies on the field performance and circumstances should be completed before studying the Mudang Gut Chum. In addition, the Mudang Gut Chum discloses the characteristics of the performance group. The Mudang Gut Chum exists in a complex manner. With respects to the status of the spirit, it shows the characteristics of the performance group. It represents the progress of Gut while closely connected with the tune. Therefore, the way of describing the Mudang Gut Chum should be far more than just simply keeping the dance notations. With this in mind, one should investigate and record the Mudang Gut Chum.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.55 no.11
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• pp.931-939
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• 2022

In Korea, about two-thirds of the precipitation is concentrated in the summer season, so the problem of turbidity in the summer flood season varies from year to year. Concentrated rainfall due to abnormal rainfall and extreme weather is on the rise. The inflow of turbidity caused a sudden increase in turbidity in the water, causing a problem of turbidity in the dam reservoir. In particular, in Korea, where rivers and dam reservoirs are used for most of the annual average water consumption, if turbidity problems are prolonged, social and environmental problems such as agriculture, industry, and aquatic ecosystems in downstream areas will occur. In order to cope with such turbidity prediction, research on turbidity modeling is being actively conducted. Flow rate, water temperature, and SS data are required to model turbid water. To this end, the national measurement network measures turbidity by measuring SS in rivers and dam reservoirs, but there is a limitation in that the data resolution is low due to insufficient facilities. However, there is an unmeasured period depending on each dam and weather conditions. As a sensor for measuring turbidity, there are Optical Backscatter Sensor (OBS) and YSI, and a sensor for measuring SS uses equipment such as Laser In-Situ Scattering and Transmissometry (LISST). However, in the case of such a high-tech sensor, there is a limit due to the stability of the equipment. Therefore, there is an unmeasured period through analysis based on the acquired flow rate, water temperature, SS, and turbidity data, so it is necessary to develop a relational expression to calculate the SS used for the input data. In this study, the AEM3D model used in the Water Resources Corporation SURIAN system was used to improve the accuracy of prediction of turbidity through the turbidity-SS relationship developed based on the measurement data near the dam outlet.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.881-893
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• 2007

IT(Information Technology)-based industries have caused a recent digital revolution and the appearance of various types' information service, being largely expanded toward info-communication device company, info-communication service company, software company etc.. Therefore, the needs to evaluate the company value of IT business for M&A or liquidation are growing tremendously. Unlike other industries, however, IT industry has a short lift cycle and so it doesn't have not only a company value-evaluating model for general businesses but the objective one for IT companies yet. So, this thesis analyzes various value-evaluating technique and newly rising ROV. DCF, the change method of company's cash flow including tangible assets into future value, had been applied during the past industrialization economy era and has been persuasively applied to the present. However, the DCF valuation has no option but to make many mistakes because IT companies have more intangible assets than tangible assets. Accordingly, it is ROV, recognized as the new method of evaluating companies' various options normally and quantitatively, that is brought up recently. But the evaluation on the companies' various options is too subjective and theoretical up to now and due to the lack of objective ground and options, it's not possible to be applied to reality. In this thesis, it is found that ROV is more accurate than DCF, comparing DCF and ROV through four examples. As the options applied to ROV are excessively limited, we tried to develop ROV into a new method by deriving five invisible value factors within IT companies. Therefore, on this occasion, we should set up the basic valuation methods on IT companies and should research and develop an effective and various valuation methods suitable to each company like an internet-based company, a S/W developing enterprise, a network-related company among IT companies.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.259-267
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• 2006

Hydraulic conductivity is the rate of water flux on hydraulic gradient. The van Genuchten Mualem (VGM) model is frequently used for describing unsaturated state of soils, that is composed with the function of soil water potential and soil water content and requests various parameters. This study is to get the value of VGM parameters used Rosetta computer program based on neural network analysis method and to calculate VGM parameters. VGM parameters included Ko(effective saturated hydraulic conductivity), ${\theta}r$(residual soil water content), ${\theta}s$(saturated soil water content), L, n and m. The unsaturated hydraulic conductivity at 10 kPa was calculated by using Rosetta program. Unsaturated hydraulic conductivities of 17 soil series at 1, 3, 5, 7 kPa were also obtained by applying saturated hydraulic conductivity by disk tension infiltrometer based on Gardner and Wooding's equation. Water flow at the water potential of 3 kPa was very low except Namgye, Hagog, Baegsan, Sangju, Seogcheon, Yesan soil series. Unsaturated hydraulic conductivity at 1 kPa showed the highest value for Samgag soil series and was in order of Yesan, Hwabong, Hagog and Baegsan soil series. Those of Gacheon, Seocheon and Ugog soil series were very low. When the value by VGM was compared with the value by disc tension infiltrometer, there was a tendency with exponential function to soils without gravel but there was no tendency to soils including gravel. Conclusively, it would be limited that VGM model for unsaturated hydraulic conductivity analysis applies to Korean agricultural land including gravel and having steep slope, shallow soil depth.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.21 no.12spc
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• pp.664-674
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• 2021

The relevance of this scientific research is determined by the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the current trends and dynamics of world tourism development. This article aims to identify patterns of development of the modern tourist market, analysis of problems and prospects of development in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods. General scientific methods and methods of research are used in the work: analysis, synthesis, comparison, analysis of statistical data. The analysis of the viewpoints of foreign and domestic authors on the research of the international tourist market allowed us to substantiate the actual directions of tourism development due to the influence of negative factors connected with the spread of a new coronavirus infection COVID-19. Economic-statistical, abstract-logical, and economic-mathematical methods of research were used during the process of study and data processing. Results. The analysis of the current state of the tourist market by world regions was carried out. It was found that tourism is one of the most affected sectors from COVID-19, as, by the end of 2020, the total number of tourist arrivals in the world decreased by 74% compared to the same period in 2019. The consequence of this decline was a loss of total global tourism revenues by the end of 2020, which equaled $1.3 trillion. 27% of all destinations are completely closed to international tourism. At the end of 2020, the economy of international tourism has shrunk by about 80%. In 2020 the world traveled 98 million fewer people (-83%) relative to the same period last year. Tourism was hit hardest by the pandemic in the Asia-Pacific region, where travel restrictions are as strict as possible. International arrivals in this region fell by 84% (300 million). The Middle East and Africa recorded declines of 75 and 70 percent. Despite a small and short-lived recovery in the summer of 2020, Europe lost 71% of the tourist flow, with the European continent recording the largest drop in absolute terms compared with 2019, 500 million. In North and South America, foreign arrivals declined. It is revealed that a significant decrease in tourist flows leads to a massive loss of jobs, a sharp decline in foreign exchange earnings and taxes, which limits the ability of states to support the tourism industry. Three possible scenarios of exit of the tourist industry from the crisis, reflecting the most probable changes of monthly tourist flows, are considered. The characteristics of respondents from Ukraine, Germany, and the USA and their attitude to travel depending on gender, age, education level, professional status, and monthly income are presented. About 57% of respondents from Ukraine, Poland, and the United States were planning a tourist trip in 2021. Note that people with higher or secondary education were more willing to plan such a trip. The results of the empirical study confirm that interest in domestic tourism has increased significantly in 2021. The regression model of dependence of the number of domestic tourist trips on the example of Ukraine with time tendency (t) and seasonal variations (Turˆt = 7288,498 - 20,58t - 410,88∑5) it forecast for 2020, which allows stabilizing the process of tourist trips after the pandemic to use this model to forecast for any country. Discussion. We should emphasize the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that many experts and scientists believe in the long-term recovery of the tourism industry. In our opinion, the governments of the countries need to refocus on domestic tourism and deal with infrastructure development, search for new niches, formats, formation of new package deals in new - domestic - segment (new products' development (tourist routes, exhibitions, sightseeing programs, special rehabilitation programs after COVID) -19 in sanatoriums, etc.); creation of individual offers for different target audiences). Conclusions. Thus, the identified trends are associated with a decrease in the number of tourist flows, the negative impact of the pandemic on employment and income from tourism activities. International tourism needs two to four years before it returns to the level of 2019.