• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.570-578
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• 2003

Background : Ambient particles during Asian dust events are usually sized less than $10{\mu}m$, known to be associated with the adverse effects on the general populations. But, there has been no considerable evidence linking these particles to the adverse effects on airways. The objectives of this study was to investigate the possible adverse effects of Asian dust events on respiratory function and symptoms in subjects with bronchial asthma. Patients and Methods : From march to June 2002, Asthmatic patients who were diagnosed with bronchial challenge test or bronchodilator response were enrolled. We divided them into three groups; mild, moderate, and severe, according to the severity. Subjects with other organ insufficiency such as heart, kidney, liver, and malignancy were excluded. All patients completed twice daily diaries and recorded peak flow rate, respiratory symptom, and daily activity. Daily and hourly mean pollutant levels of particulate matter < $10{\mu}m$ in diameter($PM_{10}$), nitrogen dioxide($NO_2$), sulphur dioxide($SO_2$), ozone($O_3$) and carbon monoxide(CO) were measured at the 10 different monitoring sites. Results : Dust events occured 14 times during the study period. Daily averages of 4 air pollutant were measured with an increased level of $PM_{10}$, decreased level of $NO_2$ and $SO_2$, and no change in CO during dust days compared to those during control days. An increase in $PM_{10}$ concentration was associated with an increase of subjects with PEF variability of >20% (p<0.05), night time symptom(p<0.05), and a decrease in mean PEF (p<0.05), which were calculated by the longitudinal data analysis. Otherwise, there was no association between $PM_{10}$ level and bronchodialtor inhaler, and daytime respiratory symptoms. Conclusion : This study shows evidence that ambient air pollution, especially $PM_{10}$, during Asian dust events, could be one of the many aggravating factors at least in patients with airway diseases. This data can be used as a primary source to set up a new policy on air environmental control and to evaluate the safety of air pollution index. We also expect that this research will help identify precise components of dust, which are more linked to the adverse effects.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 1997

This paper is on the vibration control of access floor on the frames of reinforced structure. In this study, the horizontal anti-vibration system using precise spring damper was developed and modeling and vibration analysis of the RC structure was performed for the control of horizontal vibration coused by machinery and worker's moving. Experiment was done in three cases, no damper at the RC structures, dampers connecting pedestal to pedestal and pedestal to the structure, for the investigation of the effect of the system on disigned RC structure. For each experiment, the occeleration responses on slab and access floor after giving impact wave and external vibration were measured. It was shown that the magnitude of resonance response of the system with dampers are smaller than without damper and the resonance peak also partly moved to low-frequency range. Furthermore. It was shown that the acceleration components of the system with domoers decreased greatly in high-frequency range and the system was very much effective especially for external vibration. In order to verify the anti-vibration effect of the developed system, the vibration analysis was also done for the system by using the finite element modelling. The analysis results was in good agreement with experimental results. Thus, It is concluded that this study is useful for the design of precise anti-vibration system and micro-vibration control of concrete structures.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.974-978
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• 2012

The effect of Cu coating on the sensing properties of nano $SnO_2:Cu$ based sensors for the $CH_4$, $CH_3CH_2CH_3$ gas was studied. This work was focussed on investigating the change of sensitivity of nano $SnO_2:Cu$ based sensors for $CH_4$, $CH_3CH_2CH_3$ gas by Cu coating. Nano sized $SnO_2$ powders were prepared by solution reduction method using stannous chloride($SnCl_2{\cdot}2H_2O$), hydrazine($N_2H_2$) and NaOH and subsequent heat treatment. XRD patterns showed that nano $SnO_2$ powders with rutile structure were grown with (110), (101), (211) dominant peak. The particle size of nano $SnO_2:Cu$ powders at 8 wt% Cu was about 50 nm. $SnO_2$ particles were found to contain many pores, according to SEM analysis. The sensitivity of nano $SnO_2:Cu$ based sensors was measured for 5 ppm $CH_4$ gas and $CH_3CH_2CH_3$ gas at room temperature by comparing the resistance in air with that in target gases. The sensitivity for both $CH_4$ and $CH_3CH_2CH_3$ gases was improved by Cu coating on the nano $SnO_2$ surface. The response time and recovery time of the $SnO_2:Cu$ gas sensors for the $CH_4$ and $CH_3CH_2CH_3$ gases were 18~20 seconds, and 13~15 seconds, respectively.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea TC
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• v.44 no.11
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• pp.42-47
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• 2007

In this paper, influence of lossy ground and gap variation between lossy ground and UWB antenna on impulse propagation in time domain for impulse ground penetrating radar (GPR) is numerically and experimentally investigated. For this study, a novel planar UWB fat dipole antenna is developed. First, influence of lossy ground and gap variation between lossy ground and UWB antenna is simulated. For verification, a test field of sand and wet clay soil is built and using the developed dipole antenna, transmission behavior is investigated at the test field. With an aid of IDFT (inverse discrete Fourier transform), time domain impulse response for transmission coefficient measured and simulated in frequency domain is obtained. Measurement and simulation show that the frequency of maximum transmission coefficient and transmission coefficient are increased with higher dielectric constant and larger gap distance. In time domain, it is shown that for higher dielectric constant, the amplitude of the received signal in time domain is higher and reflected signals are seriously modified. Also, it is found that variation of gap between antenna and ground surface makes timing of peak value changed.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.136-146
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• 1994

To research the effect of chemotaxis of Rhizobia toward the root exudate on nitrogen fixing ability in soybean Rhizobia symbiosis system. Root exudate from seedlings of Glycine max. L was collected aseptic conditions. B. japonicum KCTC 2422 induced the formation of symbiotic nitrogen fixing nodules on the root of soybean plant and possessed motility and chemotaxis toward the 2mM proline. LPN-100 mutant was $Nod^-$, $Che^+$, and LPN-101 was $Che^-$, $Nod^+$ strains. Physiological properties of mutants were similar to parent strain. The crude root exudate was tested for its chemotactic ability using the capillary tube method. Chemotactic responses of RCR 3407 toward crude root exudate were 2.2, 2.6, 2.9, those of KCTC 2422 were 2.3, 2.9, 3.0, respectively. The crude root exudate was fractionated into neutral, cationic and anionic fractions. Chemotactic responses of KCTC 2422 was least with anionic fraction, most with neutral and intermediate with cationic fraction. B. japonicum KCTC 2422 was attracted by carbohydrates, amino acids and carboxylic acid. Carbohydrates and amino acids were good chemoattractants and carboxylic acids were intermediate chemoattractants. The peak concentration was $10^{-3}M$ for ribose, glucose, glutamine, aspartic acid and carboxylic acids, with exception of xylose, arabinose, tryptophan, which elicited maximum responses at $10^{-4}M$. The formation of nodules and nitrogenase activity of soybean inoculated with KCTC 2422 was determined in 7days after inoculation, and those of LPN-101 was detected in 15days after inoculation, but LPN-100 didn't form of nodules in soybean plants.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.45-56
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• 2020

This study aims to quantify the uncertainty that can be induced by the objective function when calibrating SWAT parameters using SWAT-CUP. SWAT model was constructed to estimate runoff in Naesenong-cheon, which is the one of mid-watershed in Nakdong River basin, and then automatic calibration was performed using eight objective functions (R², bR², NS, MNS, KGE, PBIAS, RSR, and SSQR). The optimum parameter sets obtained from each objective function showed different ranges, and thus the corresponding hydrologic characteristics of simulated data were also derived differently. This is because each objective function is sensitive to specific hydrologic signatures and evaluates model performance in an unique way. In other words, one objective function might be sensitive to the residual of the extreme value, so that well produce the peak value, whereas ignores the average or low flow residuals. Therefore, the hydrological similarity between the simulated and measured values was evaluated in order to select the optimum objective function. The hydrologic signatures, which include not only the magnitude, but also the ratio of the inclining and declining time in hydrograph, were defined to consider the timing of the flow occurrence, the response of watershed, and the increasing and decreasing trend. The results of evaluation were quantified by scoring method, and hence the optimal objective functions for SWAT parameter calibration were determined as MNS (342.48) and SSQR (346.45) with the highest total scores.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.67-74
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• 1989

The effect of guanabenz on volume-induced micturition reflex contraction (VIMRC) in urethane-anethetized female rats was examined under adrenalectomy, chemical-sympathectomy, ganglionectomy, alpha-1, or alpha-2 blockade. Intracerbroventricular administration of guanalberz had little effect on VIMRC, but topical application suppressed amplitude and frequency of VIMRC. Guanabenz intravenous injection dose-dependently suppressed amplitude and frequency of VIMRC, with complete inhibition at dose of $100\;{\mu}g/kg$, but phenylephrine had no effect on VIMRC. Intravesicular peak pressure and amplitude of VIMRC were increased by 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) treatment when compared with control value, but yohimbine-, prazosin-hexamethonium-treatment and adrenalectomy did not show changes in VIMRC. Dose-response curve of guanabenz on amplitude and frequency of VIMRC shifted significantly to the right by treatment of yohimbine and 6-OHDA, and adrenalectomy. Median inhibitory dose $({\mu}g/kg)$ of guanabenz to amplitude of VIMRC showed 27.3 in control group, 381.6 in yohimbine, 294.1 in 6-OHDA and 54.1 in hexamethonium, and 38.8 in prazosin. Those of guanabenz to frequency of VIMRC showed 41.7 in control group, 571.1 in yohimbine, 410.8 in 6-OHDA, 141.4 in adrenalectomy, 59.6 in hexamethoinum and 31.4 in prazosin. These results suggest that guanabenz inhibits VIMRC through alpha-2 receptor stimulation rather than alpha-1 receptor stimulation and that catecholiamines released from sympathetic nerve ending and adrenal gland play a role in the inhibition.

• Composites Research
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.66-73
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• 2003

The importance of understanding the response of structural composites to impact and CAI cannot be overstated to develop analytical models for impact damage and CAI strength predictions. This paper presents experimental findings observed from quasi-static lateral load tests, low velocity impact tests. CAI strength and open hole compressive strength tests using 3 mm thick composite plates($[45/-45/0/90]_{3s}$- IM7/8552). The conclusion is drawn that damage areas for both quasi-static lateral load and impact tests are similar and the curves of several drop weight impacts with varying energy levels(between 5.4 J and 18.7 J) follow the static curve well. In addition, at a given energy the peak force is in good agreement between the static and impact cases. It is identified that the failure behaviour of the specimens from the CAI strength tests was very similar to that observed in laminated plates with open holes under compression loading. The residual strengths art: in good agreement with the measured open hole compressive strengths. considering the impact damage site area, an equivalent hole. The experimental findings suggest that simple analytical models for the prediction of impact damage area and CAI strength can be developed on the basis of the failure mechanism observed from the experimental tests.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.237-242
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• 2000

Growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH), the major hypothalamic stimulus of GH secretion from the anterior pituitary gland, has been found to be present in several extrahypothalamic sites including placenta testis, ovary and anterior pituitary gland. The present study was performed to elucidate the role of pituitary GHRH on proliferation of cells derived from rat anterior pituitary gland. The GHRH content of pituitary tissue, cultured pituitary cells, and the conditioned media was evaluated by radioimmunoassay (RIA). Primary cultures of pituitary cells derived from adult rats were prepared by enzymatic dispersion. Significant amounts of GHRH-like molecules were detected in both pituitary tissue and cell cultures by GHRH RIA. Competition curves with increasing amounts of tissue extracts and conditioned media were parallel with those of standard peptide, indicating that the pituitary GHRH-like material is similar to authentic GHRH. To analyze specific cell types responsible for producing GHRH in anteroior pituitary, cell fractionation technique combined with GHRH RIA was performed. In cell fractionation experiment, the highest level of GHRH content was found in gonadotrope enriched-fraction and followed by somatotrope-, lactotrope- and thyrotrope-fraction. Treatment of pituitary cells with GHRH resulted in a dose-dependent increase in [$^3$H] thymidine incorporation. The mitogenic effect of GHRH could be mediated by typical oncogenic activation since the GHRH induced transient increase in c-fos mRNA levels with peak response at 30 minutes. The present study demonstrated that i) the pituitary GHRH expressed in the rat anterior pituitary gland can be secreted, ii) among the various cell types, gonadotropes and somatotorpes are the major GHRH source, and iii) the GHRH treatment increased the [$^3$H] thymidine incorporation and c-fos transcriptional activity in the pituitary cell culture. These findings suggested that GHRH could participated in the paracrine and/or autocrine regulation of cell proliferation, as well as promoting growth hormone secretion.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.1137-1143
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• 2014

Doxorubicin is a general chemotherapy drug widely used for a number of cancers. However, the correlation between endogenous nitric oxide ($NO^{\bullet}$) levels and chemoresistance to doxorubicin remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the effect of endogenous $NO^{\bullet}$ on the anticancer activity of doxorubicin in human colon cancer cell lines HCT116 and HT29 with different p53 status. The cells were treated with either doxorubicin alone or in combination with the $NO^{\bullet}$ synthase (NOS) inhibitor $N^G$-monomethyl-L-arginine (NMA). Doxorubicin differentially inhibited the growth of both the HCT116 (p53-WT) and HT29 (p53-MUT) cells, which was mitigated by cotreatment with NMA. Further studies revealed that inhibition of endogenous $NO^{\bullet}$ mitigated doxorubicin-induced apoptosis in the HCT116 and HT29 cells, as evidenced by apoptotic DNA fragmentation and the sub-G1 peak of apoptotic markers. Apoptosis was delayed in the HT29 cells, and its magnitude was greatly reduced, underscoring the importance of the modulation of p53 in the response. RT-PCR analysis revealed that doxorubicin down-regulated levels of inhibitors of the apoptosis family (cellular IAP-1 and-2). Collectively, these data show that induction of apoptosis by doxorubicin in human colon cancer cells is possibly related to modulation of endogenous $NO^{\bullet}$, the expression of the IAP family of genes, and the status of p53. The underlying mechanisms may represent potential targets for adjuvant strategies to improve the efficacy of chemotherapy for colon cancer.