• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.59-76
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• 2008

In this paper, we propose an agent architecture called L-CAA that is quite effective in real-time dynamic environments. L-CAA is an extension of CAA, the behavior-based agent architecture which was also developed by our research group. In order to improve adaptability to the changing environment, it is extended by adding reinforcement learning capability. To obtain stable performance, however, behavior selection and execution in the L-CAA architecture do not entirely rely on learning. In L-CAA, learning is utilized merely as a complimentary means for behavior selection and execution. Behavior selection mechanism in this architecture consists of two phases. In the first phase, the behaviors are extracted from the behavior library by checking the user-defined applicable conditions and utility of each behavior. If multiple behaviors are extracted in the first phase, the single behavior is selected to execute in the help of reinforcement learning in the second phase. That is, the behavior with the highest expected reward is selected by comparing Q values of individual behaviors updated through reinforcement learning. L-CAA can monitor the maintainable conditions of the executing behavior and stop immediately the behavior when some of the conditions fail due to dynamic change of the environment. Additionally, L-CAA can suspend and then resume the current behavior whenever it encounters a higher utility behavior. In order to analyze effectiveness of the L-CAA architecture, we implement an L-CAA-enabled agent autonomously playing in an Unreal Tournament game that is a well-known dynamic virtual environment, and then conduct several experiments using it.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.43-48
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to develop an earth leakage alarm circuit breaker, equipped with a leakage alarming function (JER-E2S, ETECKOREA Co., Korea), and to analyze its characteristics. The developed mechanism is exclusively used for single-phase and 220 V circuits, with a rated current of 32 A, 20 A, 20 A (for restrooms), 16 A, etc. It satisfies all characteristics of existing earth leakage circuit breakers (ELB). If a fire current, which is a resistive leakage current (Igr), flows through an electric line, the device detects the leakage current in real time and warns against the leakage through a blinking LED lamp. Since the developed device displays a tolerance to a capacitative leakage current (Igc) that inevitably occurs in LED lamps, communication devices, etc., it ensures a stable power supply. In addition, the earth leakage alarm circuit breaker protects against power failure due to a momentary ground fault. Therefore, it can supply power without the risk of the circuit breaker malfunctioning due to a momentary ground fault caused by water droplets, leaves, etc. Moreover, with a standby power of less than 0.1 W, the developed earth leakage alarm circuit breaker exhibits a power saving performance that is 3~8 times greater than that of other ELBs. Installation of approximately 10 earth leakage alarm circuit breakers in one apartment household, with an area of 120 ㎡, can save 2~5 kWh per month. Therefore, the developed earth leakage alarm breaker not only satisfies the characteristics of existing earth leakage breakers, but also exhibits outstanding power supply quality since it has the functions of electric fire prevention and malfunction prevention. Therefore, this device can innovatively contribute to electric fire prevention.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.202-210
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• 2017

The nonstructural protein 5A (NS5A) encoded by the human hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA genome is a multifunctional phosphoprotein. To analyse the influence of NS5A on apoptosis, we established an Hep-NS5A cell line (HepG2 cells that stably express NS5A) and induced apoptosis using tumour necrosis factor $(TNF)-{\alpha}$. We utilised the MTT assay to detect cell viability, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot to analyse gene and protein expression, and a luciferase reporter gene experiment to investigate the targeted regulatory relationship. Chromatin immunoprecipitation was used to identify the combination of $NF-{\kappa}B$ and miR-503. We found that overexpression of NS5A inhibited $TNF-{\alpha}$-induced hepatocellular apoptosis via regulating miR-503 expression. The cell viability of the $TNF-{\alpha}$ induced Hep-mock cells was significantly less than the viability of the $TNF-{\alpha}$ induced Hep-NS5A cells, which demonstrates that NS5A inhibited $TNF-{\alpha}$-induced HepG2 cell apoptosis. Under $TNF-{\alpha}$ treatment, miR-503 expression was decreased and cell viability and B-cell lymphoma 2 (bcl-2) expression were increased in the Hep-NS5A cells. Moreover, the luciferase reporter gene experiment verified that bcl-2 was a direct target of miR-503, NS5A inhibited $TNF{\alpha}$-induced $NF-{\kappa}B$ activation and $NF-{\kappa}B$ regulated miR-503 transcription by combining with the miR-503 promoter. After the Hep-NS5A cells were transfected with miR-503 mimics, the data indicated that the mimics could reverse $TNF-{\alpha}$-induced cell apoptosis and blc-2 expression. Collectively, our findings suggest a possible molecular mechanism that may contribute to HCV treatment in which NS5A inhibits $NF-{\kappa}B$ activation to decrease miR-503 expression and increase bcl-2 expression, which leads to a decrease in hepatocellular apoptosis.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.222-229
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• 2017

Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) were previously considered to have an anti-inflammatory effect, and Interleukin-$1{\beta}$ ($IL-1{\beta}$) was found to be a pro-inflammatory factor in chondrocytes, but the mechanism underlying ADSCs and $IL-1{\beta}$ is unclear. In this study, we investigate whether P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) signalling, regulated by microRNA 373 (miR-373), was involved in the ADSCs and $IL-1{\beta}$ mediated inflammation in osteoarthritis (OA). Chondrocytes were collected from 20 OA patients and 20 control participants, and ADSCs were collected from patients who had undergone abdominal surgery. The typical surface molecules of ASDCs were detected by flow cytometry. The level of nitric oxide (NO) was determined by Griess reagent. Concentrations of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), interleukin 6 (IL-6), matrix metallopeptidase 3 (MMP-3) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The expressions of IL-6, MMP-3, miR-373 and P2X7R were determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and Western blot was used to detect the protein expression of P2X7R. The typical potential characters of ADSCs were verified. In chondrocytes or OA tissues, the miR-373 expression level was decreased, but the P2X7R expression was increased. $IL-1{\beta}$ stimulation increased the level of inflammatory factors in OA chondrocytes, and ADSCs co-cultured with $IL-1{\beta}$-stimulated chondrocytes decreased the inflammation. OA chondrocytes transfected with the miR-373 inhibitor increased the inflammation level. The miR-373 mimic suppressed the inflammation by targeting P2X7R and regulated its expression, while its effect was reversed by overexpression of P2X7R. $IL-1{\beta}$ induced inflammation in OA chondrocytes, while ADSCs seemed to inhibit the expression of P2X7R that was regulated by miR-373 and involved in the anti-inflammatory process in OA.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.276-285
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• 2020

Circadian rhythm is an endogenous oscillation of about 24-h period in many physiological processes and behaviors. This daily oscillation is maintained by the molecular clock machinery with transcriptional-translational feedback loops mediated by clock genes including Period2 (Per2) and Bmal1. Recently, it was revealed that gut microbiome exerts a significant impact on the circadian physiology and behavior of its host; however, the mechanism through which it regulates the molecular clock has remained elusive. 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propionic acid (4-OH-PPA) and 3-phenylpropionic acid (PPA) are major metabolites exclusively produced by Clostridium sporogenes and may function as unique chemical messengers communicating with its host. In the present study, we examined if two C. sporogenes-derived metabolites can modulate the oscillation of mammalian molecular clock. Interestingly, 4-OH-PPA and PPA increased the amplitude of both PER2 and Bmal1 oscillation in a dose-dependent manner following their administration immediately after the nadir or the peak of their rhythm. The phase of PER2 oscillation responded differently depending on the mode of administration of the metabolites. In addition, using an organotypic slice culture ex vivo, treatment with 4-OH-PPA increased the amplitude and lengthened the period of PER2 oscillation in the suprachiasmatic nucleus and other tissues. In summary, two C. sporogenes-derived metabolites are involved in the regulation of circadian oscillation of Per2 and Bmal1 clock genes in the host's peripheral and central clock machineries.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.2641-2646
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• 2009

The more growing on home automation system at automatic control, the more efficiency required for energy consumption and for recycling energy in near future. Heating is essential in general apartment. Heating method is two types in apartment. One uses electricity, and other one uses warm water. If use electricity, is not efficient by rise of electric charges. But, It can reduce much in expense aspect, if use warm water. When use warm water, temperature of warm water is not equal from all pipe parts. Therefore, indoor tempera can be unequal with set point. Solution of these problems is as following. Temperature sensor in warm water attach pipe. The measured temperature transmits by real time. Temperature of warm water controls in receiver side. In this paper, we propose an automatic temperature transmission system for the heating pipe at home, that is a low-power based, and supply the energy source from a small AC motor resided in bottom cement mortal. The proposed system is used in power mechanism from a collision process of water-jet using propeller water-difference and also designed a CPU module by Atmega8 at ATMEL co., Inc. and a communication module by CC1020 at Chipcon co., Inc.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartC
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• v.9C no.1
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• pp.123-134
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• 2002

The requirement for QoS (Quality of Service) has become an important Issue as real-time or high bandwidth services are increasing, such as Internet Telephony, Internet broadcasting, and multimedia service etc. In order to guarantee the QoS of Internet application services, several approaches are being sought including IntServ (Integrated Service) DiffServ(Differentiated Srvices), and MPLS(Multi-Protocol Label Switching). In this paper, we describe the performance analysis of QoS guarantee mechanism using the DiffServ. To analyze how the DiffServ performance was affected by diverse input traffic models and the weight value in WFQ(Weighted Fair Queueing), we simulated and performed performance evaluation under a random, bursty, and self-similar input traffic models and for diverse input parameters. leased on the results of performance analysis, it was confirmed that significant difference exist in packet delay and loss depending on the input traffic models used. However, it was revealed that QoS guarantee is possible to the EF (expedited Forwarding) class and the service separation between RF and BE (Best Effort) classes may also be achieved. Next, we discussed the performance synthesis problem. (i. e. derived the conservation laws for a DiffServ networks, and analysed the performance variation and dynamic behavior based on the resource allocation (i.e., weight value) in WFQ.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.363-370
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• 2014

Campylobacter jejuni is a prevalent foodborne pathogen worldwide. Human infection by C. jejuni primarily arises from contaminated poultry meats. Genes expressed in vivo may play an important role in the pathogenicity of C. jejuni. We applied an immunoscreening method, in vivo-induced antigen technology (IVIAT), to identify in vivo-induced genes during human infection by C. jejuni. An inducible expression library of genomic proteins was constructed from sequenced C. jejuni NCTC 11168 and was then screened using adsorbed, pooled human sera obtained from clinical patients. We successfully identified 24 unique genes expressed in vivo. These genes were implicated in metabolism, molecular biosynthesis, genetic information processing, transport, and other processes. We selected six genes with different functions to compare their expression levels in vivo and in vitro using real-time RT-PCR. The results showed that the selected six genes were significantly upregulated in vivo but not in vitro. In short, these identified in vivo-induced genes may contribute to human infection of C. jejuni, some of which may be meaningful vaccine candidate antigens or diagnosis serologic markers for campylobacteriosis. IVIAT may present a significant and efficient method for understanding the pathogenicity mechanism of Campylobacter and for finding targets for its prevention and control.

• Archives of design research
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.61-68
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• 1999

Most of the time, developers spend their energy to analyze the main function of the system or make source codes. As a result, they can not consider user interface on their own system and this is true in most programmer's world. But we want to consider the design concept in developing mechanism. In this case we have to upgrade the legacy system which maintaining the transmission system using the copper cables, and add the transmission system using the optical fiber cables. Therefore we design the user interface make easy for end users who are using the maintaining system on copper cables not to confuse the new system which include optical fibers. Especially, we are consider the developing model of design policy and real user to make easy to use new system. In this paper we will describe the instance to adapt the design concept on Broadband Access Network Operation Support System.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.269-279
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• 2013

Low efficiency of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is attributed to incomplete reprogramming of transfered nuclei into oocytes. Trichostatin A (TSA), histone deacetylase inhibitor and 5-aza-2'deoxycytidine (5-aza-dC), DNA methylation inhibitor has been used to enhance nuclear reprogramming following SCNT. However, it was not known molecular mechanism by which TSA and 5-aza-dC improve preimplantation embryo and fetal development following SCNT. The present study investigates embryo viability and gene expression of cloned porcine preimplantation embryos in the presence and absence of TSA and 5-aza-dC as compared to embryos produced by parthenogenetic activation. Our results indicated that TSA treatment significantly improved development. However 5-aza-dC did not improve development. Presence of TSA and 5-aza-dC significantly improved total cell number, and also decreased the apoptotic and autophagic index. Three apoptotic-related genes, Bak, Bcl-xL, and Caspase 3 (Casp3), and three autophagic-related genes, ATG6, ATG8, and lysosomal-associated membrane protein 2 (LAMP2), were measured by real time RT-PCR. TSA and 5-aza-dC treatment resulted in high expression of anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-xL and low pro-apoptotic gene Bak expression compared to untreated NT embryos or parthenotes. Furthermore, LC3 protein expression was lower in NT-TSA and NT-5-aza-dC embryos than those of NT and parthenotes. In addition, TSA and 5-aza-dC treated embryos displayed a global acetylated histone H3 at lysine 9 and methylated DNA H3 at lysine 9 profile similar to the parthenogenetic blastocysts. Finally, we determined that several DNA methyltransferase genes Dnmt1, Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b. NT blastocysts showed higher levels Dnmt1 than those of the TSA and 5-aza-dC blastocysts. Dnmt3a is lower in 5-aza-dC than NT, NTTSA and parthenotes. However, Dnmt3b is higher in 5-aza-dC than NT and NTTSA. These results suggest that TSA and 5-aza-dC positively regulates nuclear reprogramming which result in modulation of apoptosis and autophagy related gene expression and then reduce apoptosis and autophagy. In addition, TSA and 5-aza-dC affects the acetylated and methylated status of the H3K9.