• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.254-259
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• 2014

The pentacyclic triterpenoid ursolic acid (UA) and its isomer oleanolic acid (OA) are ubiquitous in food and plant medicine, and thus are easily exposed to the population through natural contact or intentional use. Although they have diverse health benefits, reported cardiovascular protective activity is contentious. In this study, the effect of UA and OA on platelet aggregation was examined on the basis that alteration of platelet activity is a potential process contributing to cardiovascular events. Treatment of UA enhanced platelet aggregation induced by thrombin or ADP, which was concentration-dependent in a range of $5-50{\mu}M$. Quite comparable results were obtained with OA, in which OA-treated platelets also exhibited an exaggerated response to either thrombin or ADP. UA treatment potentiated aggregation of whole blood, while OA failed to increase aggregation by thrombin. UA and OA did not affect plasma coagulation assessed by measuring prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time. These results indicate that both UA and OA are capable of making platelets susceptible to aggregatory stimuli, and platelets rather than clotting factors are the primary target of them in proaggregatory activity. These compounds need to be used with caution, especially in the population with a predisposition to cardiovascular events.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.35-39
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• 2002

The significance of cell ploidy and repair ability for the radioprotective efficiency of cysteamine was studied in DNA repair - proficient and repair - deficient yeast cells irradiated $^{60}C0\;\gamma-rays.$ Results have been obtained for the cell survival of two groups of yeasts-diplont and haplont cells, both in haploid and diploid states. For diploid Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cells, the correlation between the radio-protective action of cysteamine and the cell repair capacity was demonstrated. Such a correlation was not clearly expressed for haploid yeast cells. In addition, evidence was obtained indicating that the degree of the radioprotective action was independent of the number of chromosome sets in haplont yeast Pichia guilliermondii cells and in some radiosensitive mutants defective in the diploid-specific recovery. It is concluded on this basis that the radioprotective action may involve the cellular recovery process, which may be mediated by a recombination-like mechanism, for which the diploid state is required. The results obtained clearly show that the radioprotective effect was dependent on DNA repair status and indicate that the mechanism of the radioprotective action may be realized on the level of primary radiation damage production as well as on the level of postradiation recovery from potentially lethal radiation damage.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 2003

In this paper many vulnerable areas of the present fire PSA methodology were revealed to apply risk-informed fire protection to nuclear power plants. The results and insights from the fro PSA should be used as a part of a risk-informed decision making process rather than the complete technical basis for decision making. The degree of support and scope of applications is dependent on the accuracy and validity of the model used in the fire PSA. Accordingly; the usefulness of the fire PSA will increase as ongoing research and development efforts lead to improvements in the state of the art technology and as improvements in the implementation of the state of the art technology lead to more consistent results.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.59-67
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• 2010

Response surface methodology was used to predict the optimum conditions of explosive puffing process for ginseng. A central composite design was used to monitor the effect of moisture content and puffing pressure on dependent variables such as functional compounds (extract yield, crude saponin, acidic polysaccharide, and total phenolic content) and sensory properties. Correlation coefficients $(R^2)$ of models for crude saponin, acidic polysaccharide, and total phenolic content were 0.9176 (p<0.05), 0.9494 (p<0.05), and 0.9878 (p<0.001), respectively. Functional compounds increased with decreasing moisture content and increasing puffing pressure. Overall palatability was high at 15-20% moisture content and 98-294 kPa of puffing pressure. On the basis of superimposed contour maps for functional compounds and overall palatability of puffed ginseng, the optimum ranges of puffing conditions were 10-17% moisture content and 294-392 kPa puffing pressure.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.79-82
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• 2015

This paper proposes a novel complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) active pixel sensor (APS) and presents its performance characteristics. The proposed APS exhibits a linear-logarithmic response, which is simulated using a standard $0.35-{\mu}m$ CMOS process. To maintain high sensitivity and improve the dynamic range (DR) of the proposed APS at low and high-intensity light, respectively, two additional nMOSFETs are integrated into the structure of the proposed APS, along with a photogate. The applied photogate voltage reduces the sensitivity of the proposed APS in the linear response regime. Thus, the conversion gain of the proposed APS changes from high to low owing to the addition of the capacitance of the photogate to that of the sensing node. Under high-intensity light, the integrated MOSFETs serve as voltage-light dependent active loads and are responsible for logarithmic compression. The DR of the proposed APS can be improved on the basis of the logarithmic response. Furthermore, the reference voltages enable the tuning of the sensitivity of the photodetector, as well as the DR of the APS.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.88-96
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• 2003

Cheese flavor is derived from three main pathways, that are proteolysis, lipolysis and glycolysis, the extent of which varies according to the cheese variety. Proteolysis is the most complex of the three primary events during cheese ripening. The basis of EMC technology is the use of specific enzymes acting at optimum conditions to produce required cheese flavors from suitable substrates. These enzymes consist of proteinases, peptidases, lipases, esterases. The key factors in EMC production are the type of cheese flavor required, the type and specificity of enzyme or cultures used, their concentration and some processing parameters, such as pH, temperature, agitation, aeration, and incubation time. The emulsifiers, bacteriocins, flavor compounds, and precursors also effect to it importantly. The dosage of enzyme or starter culture used is dependent on the intensity of flavor required, processing time and temperature and the quality of the initial substrate. To produce a consistent EMC product it is necessary to have a highly controlled process, and a detailed knowledge of the enzymatic reactions under the conditions used must be fully understood.

• Journal of the Korea Society for Simulation
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.27-35
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• 2015

We analyze an M/G/1/K queueing system with queue-length dependent service and arrival rates. There are a single server and a buffer with finite capacity K including a customer in service. The customers are served by a first-come-first-service basis. We put two thresholds $L_1$ and $L_2$($${\geq_-}L_1$$ ) on the buffer. If the queue length at the service initiation epoch is less than the threshold $L_1$, the service time of customers follows $S_1$ with a mean of ${\mu}_1$ and the arrival of customers follows a Poisson process with a rate of ${\lambda}_1$. When the queue length at the service initiation epoch is equal to or greater than $L_1$ and less than $L_2$, the service time is changed to $S_2$ with a mean of $${\mu}_2{\geq_-}{\mu}_1$$. The arrival rate is still ${\lambda}_1$. Finally, if the queue length at the service initiation epoch is greater than $L_2$, the arrival rate of customers are also changed to a value of $${\lambda}_2({\leq_-}{\lambda}_1)$$ and the mean of the service times is ${\mu}_2$. By using the embedded Markov chain method, we derive queue length distribution at departure epochs. We also obtain the queue length distribution at an arbitrary time by the supplementary variable method. Finally, performance measures such as loss probability and mean waiting time are presented.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.130-143
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• 2021

Wetlands are one of the most representative groundwater dependent ecosystems(GDEs) that require access to groundwater on a permanent or intermittent basis to maintain their biological communities and ecological processes. In this study, the seasonal characteristics of the GDEs in Baekseok Reservoir Wetland were evaluated through the monitoring of the temporal and spatial community of benthic macroinvertebrates in the wetland. The appearance of benthic macroinvertebrates appearance was changed seasonally depending on environmental factors such temperature, precipitation and water level for their habitat and it also showed the clear spatial difference in the wetland. The scores of Diversity index(H'), Richness Index (R1) and the Ecological score of benthic macroinvertebrates (TESB/AESB) were relatively high at St.3 and 4(i.e., north area) where groundwater inflows into wetland(i.e., high ²²²Rn conc.). The statistical analysis (ANOVA test and PCA) investigated the correlation among the benthic macroinvertebrates' community, groundwater level, wetland water level and water quality. The results showed that the community of benthic macroinvertebrates at St. 3 and 4 in Baekseok Reservoir Wetlands was spatially dependent on groundwater level and groundwater inflow. The characterization and assessment of GDEs requires understanding the hydrological, biogeochemical and biological process and this study will provide information for characterization and assessment of GDEs.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.113-121
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• 2007

The bacterial diversity inherent to the biofilm community structure of a modified rotating biological contactor wastewater treatment process, referred to as the Rotating Activated Bacillus Contactor (RABC) process, was characterized in this study, via both culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. On the basis of culture-dependent methods, Bacillus sp. were found to exist in large numbers on the biofilm (6.5% of the heterotrophic bacteria) and the microbial composition of the biofilms was quite simple. Only three phyla were identified-namely, the Proteobacteria, the Actinobacteria (High G+C Gram-positive bacteria), and the Firmicutes (Low G+C Gram-positive bacteria). The culture-independent partial 16S rDNA sequence analysis revealed a considerably more diverse microbial composition within the biofilms. A total of eight phyla were recovered in this case, three of which were major groups: the Firmicutes (43.9%), the Proteobacteria (28.6%), and the Bacteroidetes (17.6%). The remaining five phyla were minor groups: the Planctomycetes (4.4%), the Chlorobi (2.2%), the Actinobacteria (1.1%), the Nitrospirae (1.1%), and the Verrucomicrobia (1.1%). The two most abundant genera detected were the endospore-forming bacteria (31.8%), Clostridium and Bacillus, both of which are members of the Firmicutes phylum. This finding indicates that these endospore-forming bacteria successfully colonized and dominated the RABC process biofilms. Many of the colonies or clones recovered from the biofilms evidenced significantly high homology in the 16S rDNA sequences of bacteria stored in databases associated with advanced wastewater treatment capabilities, including nitrification and denitrification, phosphorus accumulation, the removal of volatile odors, and the removal of chlorohydrocarbons or heavy metals. The microbial community structures observed in the biofilms were found to correlate nicely with the enhanced performance of advanced wastewater treatment protocols.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.131-146
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• 2007

Recently, the role of IT service providers has been enlarged from managing a single function or system to reconstructing entire information management processes in new ways to contribute to shareholder value across the enterprise. This movement toward extensive and complex outsourcing agreements has been driven by the assumption that outsourcing information technology functions is a reliable approach to maximizing resource productivity. Hiring external IT service providers to manage part or all of its information-related services helps a firm focus on its core business and provides better services to its clients, thus obtaining sustainable competitive advantage. This practice of focusing on the strategic aspect of outsourcing is referred to as strategic sourcing where the focus is capability sourcing, not procurement. Given the importance of the strategic outsourcing, however, to our knowledge, there is little empirical research on the relationship between the strategic outsourcing orientation and outsourcing performance. Moreover, there is little research on the factor that makes the strategic outsourcing effective. This study is designed to investigate the relationship between strategic IT outsourcing orientation and IT outsourcing performance and the process through which strategic IT outsourcing orientation influences outsourcing performance, Based on the framework of strategic orientation-performance and core competence based management, this study first identifies core competency orientation as a proper strategic orientation pertinent to IT outsourcing and IT outsourcing process management capability as the mediator to affect IT outsourcing performance. The proposed research model is then tested with a sample of 200 firms. The findings of this study may contribute to the literature in two ways. First, it draws on the strategic orientation - performance framework in developing its research model so that it can provide a new perspective to the well studied phenomena. This perspective allows practitioners and researchers to look at outsourcing from an angle that emphasizes the strategic decision making to outsource its IT functions. Second, by separating the concept of strategic orientation and outsourcing process management capability, this study provides practices with insight into how the strategic orientation can work effectively to achieve an expected result. In addition, the current study provides a basis for future studies that examine the factors affecting IT outsourcing performance with more controllable factors such as IT outsourcing process management capability rather than external hard-to-control factors including trust and relationship management. This study investigates the major factors that determine IT outsourcing success. Based on strategic orientation and core competency theories, we develop the proposed research model to investigate the relationship between core competency orientation and IT outsourcing performance and the mediating role of IT outsourcing process management capability on IT outsourcing performance. The model consists of two independent variables (core-competency-orientation and IT outsourcing process management capability), and two dependent variables (outsourced task complexity and IT outsourcing performance). Comprehensive data collection was conducted through an outsourcing association. The survey data were analyzed using a structural analysis method. IT outsourcing process management capability was found to mediate the effect of core competency orientation on both outsourced task complexity and IT outsourcing performance. Further analysis and findings are discussed.