• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 1998

In order to understand the action mechanism of polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) to the cyst of Accnthcnloebc on the morphological basis, the cysts of four corneal isolates of Acanthanoebc were treated with minimal cysticidal concentration (MCC) of PHMB and their ultrastructural changes were examined by transmission electron microscopy. The most striking change of cysts treated with PHMB compared with normal cysts was the shrinkage of intracystic amoebae, which resulted in the separation of the plasma membrane of intracystic amoeba from endocystic wall. Subplasmalemmal lipid droplets became irregularly shaped . In severely damaged cysts, cytoplasm was aggregated and organelles were severely deformed. Cytoplasmic materials were leaked out through the damaged plasma membrane. Most cysts showed aggregation of nuclear chromatin material. Number of mitochondrial cristae was also reduced. Ecto- and endo-cystic walls were relatively well tolerated. Findings in the present study revealed that PHMB affected mainly on plasma membrane, but lesser on organellar membrane of intracystic amoeba. It seemed likely that PHMB might kill cystic forms of Accnthamoebc by similar mechanism in which this environmental biocide can damage the cell wall of Escherichia coli by binding with acidic phospholipids.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.53-65
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• 2020

Here, we describe an efficient and rapid protocol for the micropropagation of Thymus pallidus Cosson ex Batt., a very rare medicinal and aromatic plant in Morocco. After seed germination, we tested the effect of different macronutrients, cytokinins alone or in combination with gibberellic acid (GA₃) or auxins, on T. pallidus plantlet growth. We found that Margara macronutrients (N₃₀K) had the best effect on the in vitro development of the plantlets. The addition of 0.93 μM/L 1,3-diphenylurea (DPU), 0.46 μM/L adenine (Ad), and 0.46 and 0.93 μM/L kinetin (Kin) resulted in the best shoot multiplication and elongation. In addition, the combination of 0.46 μM/L Kin, DPU, or Ad with gibberellic acid, in particular, 0.46 μM/L Ad + 0.58 μM/L GA₃ and 0.46 μM/L Kin + 1.15 μM/L GA₃, led to better bud and shoot multiplication. Moreover, the integration of the combinations of 0.46 μM/L Kin and auxins, namely 0.46 μM/L Kin + 2.85 μM/L indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), 0.46 μM/L Kin + 2.85 or 5.71 μM/L indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), and 0.46 μM/L Kin + 0.3 or 0.57 μM/L 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), in the culture medium led to better root development and optimized aerial growth. Finally, the in vitro plants from the medium containing N₃₀K + 0.46 μM/L Kin + 2.85 μM/L IAA were successfully acclimatized; these plants served as a source for repeating in vitro culture.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.397-407
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• 2017

To estimate the structural seismic demand, some methods are based on an equivalent linear system such as the Capacity Spectrum Method, the N2 method and the Equivalent Linearization method. Another category, widely investigated, is based on displacement correction such as the Displacement Coefficient Method and the Coefficient Method. Its basic concept consists in converting the elastic linear displacement of an equivalent Single Degree of Freedom system (SDOF) into a corresponding inelastic displacement. It relies on adequate modifying or reduction coefficient such as the inelastic deformation ratio which is usually developed for systems with known ductility factors ($C_{\mu}$) and ($C_R$) for known yield-strength reduction factor. The present paper proposes a rational approach which estimates this inelastic deformation ratio for SDOF bilinear systems by rigorous nonlinear analysis. It proposes a new inelastic deformation ratio which unifies and combines both $C_{\mu}$ and $C_R$ effects. It is defined by the ratio between the inelastic and elastic maximum lateral displacement demands. Three options are investigated in order to express the inelastic response spectra in terms of: ductility demand, yield strength reduction factor, and inelastic deformation ratio which depends on the period, the post-to-preyield stiffness ratio, the yield strength and the peak ground acceleration. This new inelastic deformation ratio ($C_{\eta}$) is describes the response spectra and is related to the capacity curve (pushover curve): normalized yield strength coefficient (${\eta}$), post-to-preyield stiffness ratio (${\alpha}$), natural period (T), peak ductility factor (${\mu}$), and the yield strength reduction factor ($R_y$). For illustrative purposes, instantaneous ductility demand and yield strength reduction factor for a SDOF system subject to various recorded motions (El-Centro 1940 (N/S), Boumerdes: Algeria 2003). The method accuracy is investigated and compared to classical formulations, for various hysteretic models and values of the normalized yield strength coefficient (${\eta}$), post-to-preyield stiffness ratio (${\alpha}$), and natural period (T). Though the ductility demand and yield strength reduction factor differ greatly for some given T and ${\eta}$ ranges, they remain take close when ${\eta}>1$, whereas they are equal to 1 for periods $T{\geq}1s$.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.13-13
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• 2011

The Rio Grande Compact Commission, in collaboration with local water management entities, water users and universities established a three state Rio Grande The Rio Grande Compact Commission, in collaboration with local water management entities, water users and universities established a three state Rio Grande Salinity Management Program. The objectives of the Rio Grande Project Salinity Management Program are to reduce salinity concentrations, loading, and salinity impacts in the Rio Grande basin for the 270 mile river reach from San Acacia, New Mexico to Fort Quitman, Texasto increase usable water supplies for agricultural, urban, and environmental purposes. The focus of this first phase of the program is the development of baseline salinity and hydrologic information and a preliminary assessment of the economic impacts of salinity. An assessment of the economic impacts of salinity in this region was conducted by scientists at Texas A&M University's AgriLife Research Center at El Paso and New Mexico State University. Economic damages attributable to high salinity of Rio Grandewater were estimated for residential, agricultural, municipal, and industrial uses. The major impact issues addressed were: who is being affected the types of economic impacts the magnitude of economic damages overall and by user category and identification of threshold-effect levels for different types of water use. Salinity concentrations in this 270 mile reach of the river typically range from 480 ppm to 1,200 ppm, but can exceed 3,000 ppm in the lower section of this reach. Economic impacts include reductions in agricultural yields, reduced water appliance life, equipment replacement costs, and increased water supply costs. This preliminary economic assessment indicates annual damages of $10.5 million from increased water salinity. Under current water uses, municipal and industrial uses account for 75% of the total estimated impacts. However, agricultural impacts are based on current crop pattern yield reductions and, salinity leaching requirements and do not account for the impacts of reduced revenue from having to grow salinity tolerant, lower value crops. Actual damages are anticipated to be significantly higher with the inclusion of these additional agricultural impacts plus the future impacts from the growing population in the region. A more comprehensive economic analysis is planned for the second phase of this program. Results of the economic analysis are being used to determine the feasiblity of salinity control alternatives and what salinity reduction control measures will be pursued.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.446-449
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• 2005

In a directional coupler, the design process requires repeated calculation of the characteristics of every changed structure, because it is generally difficult to expect the extinction ratio to be optimized over the entire variation of design parameters. In this paper, we systematically simulated the extinction ratio as a function of the design parameters, and analyzed the general tendency of that characteristic. In other words, we could find the generalized extinction ratio curve if the separation distance is normalized by the waveguide width. Here, the extinction ratio is shown to be increased as the normalized frequency (v) and the ratio (d) of the separation distance over the waveguide width were increased. For various structures with same ratio d, all corresponding extinction ratio curves as a function of v coincide with each other. We showed the usefulness of the generalized extinction ratio curve by applying it to the design and the fabrication of 1310/l550 nm demultiplexer, as it was convenient to design a shorter directional coupler with targeted extinction ratio from this curve.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.328-332
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• 2006

The bioequivalence and pharmacokinetics of alendronate sodium tablets were examined by determining the plasma concentration of alendronate. Two groups, consisting of 24 healthy volunteers, each received a 70 mg reference alendronate sodium tablet and a test tablet in a $2{\times}2$ crossover study. There was a 6-day washout period between doses. The plasma alendronate concentration was monitored for 7 h after the dose, using HPLC-Fluorescence Detector (FD). The area under the plasma concentration-time curve from time 0 to the last sampling time at 7 h $(AUC_{0-7h})$ was calculated using the linear-log trapezoidal rule. The maximum plasma drug concentration $(C_{max})$ and the time to reach $C_{max}(T_{max})$ were derived from the plasma concentration-time data. Analysis of variance was performed using logarithmically transformed $AUC_{0-7h}\;and\;C_{max}$, and untransformed $T_{max}$. For the test medication versus the reference medication, the $AUC_{0-7h}\;were\;87.63{\pm}29.27\;vs.\;102.44{\pm}69.96ng\;h\;mL^{-1}$ and the $C_{max}$ values were $34.29{\pm}13.77\;vs.\;38.47{\pm}24.39ng\;mL^{-1}$ respectively. The $90\%$ confidence intervals of the mean differences of the logarithmic transformed $AUC_{0-7h}$ and $C_{max}$ values were log 0.8234-log 1.1597 and log 0.8222-log 1.1409, respectively, satisfying the bioequivalence criteria guidelines of both the US Food and Drug Administration and the Korea Food and Drug Administration. The other pharmacokinetic parameters for the test drug versus reference drug, respectively, were: $t_{1/2},\;1.87{\pm}0.62\;vs.\;1.77{\pm}0.54\;h;\;V/F,\;2061.30{\pm}986.49\;vs.\;2576.45{\pm}1826.05\;L;\;CL/F,\;835.32{\pm}357.35\;vs.\;889.48{\pm}485.87\;L\;h^{-1}; K_{el},\;0.42{\pm}0.14\;vs.\;0.40{\pm}0.18\;h^{-1};\;Ka,\;4.46{\pm}3.63\;vs.\;3.80{\pm}3.64\;h^{-1};\;and\;T_{lag},\;0.19{\pm}0.09\;vs.\;0.18{\pm}0.06\;h$. These results indicated that two alendronate formulations(70-mg alendronate sodium) were biologically equivalent and can be prescribed interchangeably.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.255-261
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• 2008

In this study, the propagation characteristics and the fabrication tolerance of an optical wire in a flexible optical PCB were analyzed by using a ray-tracing method. It is found from the analysis that the sidewall angle of a core should be controlled within $1^{\circ}$ in order to maintain the propagation loss to less than -1 dB/mm, and that the bending radius of the optical wire should be larger than 5 mm in order to suppress the bending loss below -1 dB. In addition, it is confirmed that the lateral misalignment of ${\pm}15\;{\mu}m$, and the angular tilting of VCSEL of $6^{\circ}$ are allowable for the coupling loss of -1 dB.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 1989

This study was carried out by using laboratory data to calculate Soil Moisture Control Section (SMCS) for medium textured topo-sequential soils derived from porphyry in Milyang area. The soils studied were characterized by loam to silty clay loam, and the moisture content at -1/3 bar in the solum ranged around 21.06% to 32.42%. The moisture contents per centimeter of soil layer within a solum calculated at field capacity (FC) ranged from 0.11cm to 0.19cm. The upper boundaries of SMCS of the soils calculated on the basis of FC as the water content at -1/3 bar, ranged from 16.2cm to 21.2cm and the lower boundaries from 44.4cm to 63.8cm, and the depth of SMCS were from 27.7cm to 42.6cm in the soil profiles. The Bongsan soil on the summit had shallower in the boundaries and narrower in the depth of SMCS than the soils on side-slopes or on valley.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.56-63
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• 2021

This study was conducted to find a candidate prescription with anti-inflammatory efficacy of 7 herbal prescriptions known to be effective in atopic dermatitis and sleep disorders in Korean medicine. The anti-inflammatory of the 7 herbal prescriptions extracts were evaluated by ELISA assay and Western blot assay. 7 herbal prescriptions, Seongyutang(SU), Danseontoetang(DST), Sotosajahwan(ST), Jisiljagyagsan(JJ), Seokchangpo(SCP), Wiryeongseon(WLS), Gogojohwan(GGJ) 30 % EtoH extract was used for in vitro experiments. In TNF-α + IFN-γ(TI) stimulated HaCaT cells, all 7 herbal prescriptions reduced TARC and MDC production, and JJ strongly reduced TARC and MDC production at 100 ㎍/ml concentration. SCP strongly reduced MDC production at 10 ㎍/ml and 100 ㎍/ml concentration. In addition, in substance P(SP)/CRH stimulated HMC-1 cells, JJ strongly inhibited VEGF production at both 10 and 100 ㎍/ml concentrations. In LPS/CRH stimulated Raw264.7 cells, all 7 herbal prescriptions significantly inhibited TNF-α. PMA + Ionomycin(PI)/CRH stimulated EL4 cells, SU significantly reduced IL-4 production at both concentrations of 10 and 100 ㎍/ml. WLS significantly reduced IL-17 production at both concentrations of 10 and 100㎍/ml. This suggests that 7 herbal prescriptions have anti-inflammatory effects by reducing inflammatory cytokines in keratinocytes, mast cells and macrophages caused by inflammation. Therefore, it is expected that 7 herbal prescriptions that are effective for sleep disorders and atopic dermatitis can be used as therapeutic materials for sleep disorders and diseases associated with atopic dermatitis.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1930-1938
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• 2018

Objective: The present study attempted to determine safe and sufficient growth promoters in poultry feeding. Methods: A total of 520 seven-day-old quail chicks were randomly allotted to eight treatment groups in a $4{\times}2$ factorial design experiment to evaluate the effect of different levels of humic acid (HA) and black cumin (BC) seed and their interactions on growth, carcass traits, gut microbes, and blood chemistry of growing quails. Quails were randomly distributed into 8 groups in a $4{\times}2$ factorial design, included 4 HA levels (0, 0.75, 1.5, and 2.25 g/kg diet) and 2 BC levels (0 or 5 g/ kg diet). Results: Increasing HA level associated with a gradual increase in final weight, feed intake and body weight gain along with an improvement in feed conversion ratio. Dietary addition of 5 g BC powder/kg diet gave similar results. The highest level of HA (2.25 g/kg diet) recorded the best values of carcass weight, breast yield, intestinal length, and intestinal weight comparing with the control and other HA levels. Total viable microbial counts decreased (p<0.05) with increasing levels of HA except the intermediate level (1.5 g/kg diet). The concentration of serum cholesterol and low density lipoprotein (excluding that 0.75 g HA) decreased (p<0.05) and high density lipoprotein increased (p = 0.034) along with increasing HA level. The interaction between the $2.25g\;HA{\times}5g$ gave the best results regarding most studied parameters. Conclusion: These findings indicated that HA combined with BC could be used as effective growth promoters, with the recommended level being 2.25 g HA+5 g BC/kg of quail diet.