• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.265-274
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• 2016

Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are ubiquitous genetic modules that are evolutionally conserved in bacteria and archaea. TA systems composed of an intracellular toxin and its antidote (antitoxin) are currently classified into five types. Commonly, activation of toxins under stress conditions inhibits diverse cellular processes and consequently induces cell death or reversible growth inhibition. These effects of toxins play various physiological roles in such as regulation of gene expression, growth control (stress response), programmed cell arrest, persister cells, programmed cell death, phage protection, stabilization of mobile genetic elements or postsegregational killing of plasmid-free cells. Accordingly, bacterial TA systems are commonly considered as stress-responsive genetic modules. However, molecule screening for activation of toxin in TA system is available as development of antimicrobial agents. In addition, cytotoxic effect induced by toxin is used as effective cloning method with antitoxic effect of antitoxin; consequently cells containing cloning vector inserted a target gene can survive and false-positive transformants are removed. Also, TA system is applicable to efficient single protein production in biotechnology industry because toxins that are site-specific ribonuclease inhibit protein synthesis except for target protein. Furthermore, some TA systems that induce apoptosis in eukaryotic cells such as cancer cells or virus-infected cells would have a wide range of applications in eukaryotes, and it will lead to new ways of treating human disease. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on bacterial TA systems and their applications.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.123-127
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• 2013

A new spray chrysanthemum (Dendranthema grandiflorum) 'Blue Hope' was bred by the Flower Research Institute, Gyeongsangnam-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services in 2009. The cultivar 'Blue Hope' was initially derived from the cross in 2005 between 'Ford', a spray chrysanthemum cultivar, with white anemone type, and 'Chopin', a spray chrysanthemum cultivar with white anemone type. The cultivar has anemone type with white petals. After the evaluation of the characteristics under shade culture in summer and retarding culture in spring and consecutive selection from 2007 to 2009, 'Blue Hope' was selected finality. The natural flowering time of 'Blue Hope' was October 24th, and year-round flowering is possible by shading or lighting treatment. The growth of plant was very vigorous and response time 6.5 weeks. The diameter of flower was 4.9 cm. Number of flowers per stem was 19.1 in autumn. Days to flowering under the short day treatment was about 45 in spring and its vase life was 23.8 days in the autumn season. This cultivar was resistance white rust and consumer's preference of new spray is high level than the control.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.220-227
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• 2008

In this study, polysaccharides were isolated from Korean persimmon vinegar to characterize the polysaccharides existing as soluble forms within traditional Korean fermented beverages, and their immuno-stimulating activities were examined. Three successive chromatographies were used to purify the main polysaccharide in the persimmon vinegar, PV-1b-I, to homogeneity from the crude polysaccharide (PV-0). The molecular mass of PV-1b-I was estimated as 110 kDa and it contained significant proportions of mannose (46.8%), galactose (28.5%) and arabinose (19.1%). PV-1b-I strongly reacted with ${\beta}$-glucosyl Yariv reagent, suggesting the presence of an arabino-3,6-galactan moiety. PV-1b-I also induced high levels of macrophage activation and mitogenicity on murine splenocytes in vitro. The intravenous administration of PV-1b-I significantly augmented NK cytotoxicity against YAC-1 tumor cells. PV-1b-I also showed potent anticomplementary activity in a dose-dependent manner. Finally, C3 activation products were identified by crossed immunoelectrophoresis using anti-human C3 and the anti-complementary activity of PV-1b-I under $Ca^{2+}$-free conditions, suggesting that this PV-1b-I causes complementary activations via both alternative and classical pathways. From these results, one can conclude that Korean persimmon vinegar contains select polysaccharides in addition to healthy components, and these polysaccharides appear to provide immuno-stimulating activities beneficial to human health.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.20 no.4 s.64
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• pp.1-12
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• 2006

In this study, CFD computer simulations by FDS are carried out in order to confirm the performance of the combined operation of both sprinkler system and smoke curtain of 0.54 m depth installed for cooling and blocking the smoke which propagates beneath the sloped ceiling of a stairway corridor of which dimensions are 17.92 m long, 4.00 m wide, and 6.12 m high. It is shown that the response time of sprinklers decreases with fire size and it increases more about 1.1 second in case without smoke curtain than in case with smoke curtain, that the time of smoke transport from the fire source to the stairway outlet decreases considerably with fire size, and that the delay effect of smoke transport is not related to the sprinkler system, whether it is operated or not. This study shows that the combined operation of both sprinkler system and smoke curtain is very effective in smoke cooling, but it is a little for effect on smoke blockage. Although the hazard of skin burn due to radiative heat flux from hot smoke layer is decreased by spray cooling effect, the hazard of smoke suffocation and the weakening of visibility is increased by smoke downdrag and the turbulence of smoke-air mixing due to water spray. These conditions may result in preventing occupants from going out of the stairway during evacuation.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.552-558
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• 2002

Polyphenol oxidase from Flammulina velutipes was purified and characterized. Purification of polyphenol oxidase was achieved by ammonium sulfate precipitation, Superdex G-200 gel filtration chromatography, Phenyl superose affinity chromatography, Mono-Q anion exchange chromatography and Superdex S-200 gel filtration chromatography on FPLC. After these purification steps specific activity of purified polyphenol oxidase increased to 199.1 units/mg. Polyphenol oxidase from F. velutipes was composed of a single polypeptide with molecular weight of about 40 kDa. Optimum pH and temperature for the enzyme reaction were found to be 6.0 and $25^{\circ}C$, respectively. The activity of the enzyme gradually decreased at acidic pH between 3 and 5, and the enzyme lost its activity at alkaline pH between 8 and 10. This enzyme exhibited high substrate specificity to o-diphenols. Km-values for L-DOPA and caffeic acid were found to be 3.97 mM and 1.78 mM, respectively. 2-mercaptoethanol, L-ascorbic acid, sodium bisulfite, EDTA and $Mg^{2+}$ inhibited the activity of pholyphenol oxidase and $Cu^{2+}$, $Fe^{2+}$, $Zn^{2+}$ and $Ni^{2+}$ increased enzyme activity. The activity of enzyme was well maintained at $-70^{\circ}C$ for over 4 months, and at $-20^{\circ}C$ for 1 months.

• Journal of KIISE:Computing Practices and Letters
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.962-974
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• 2010

Recently, the convergence of information technology with bio-technology, nano-technology or other technologies has been creating a new paradigm. In a field of transportation, the intelligent transport systems which is a convergence of intelligent technologies and transportation systems have been studied. The Variable Speed Limit(VSL), is one of ITS technologies, is thought to improve safety and efficiency of transportation while controlling speed limit based on road conditions. Legacy studies have considered only one station for VSL algorithm. However, it is not appropriate for an urban freeway installed with many stations. In this paper, new algorithm is proposed to not only enhance effectiveness of VSL based on cooperation of stations but also reflect road conditions within 30 seconds. The proposed algorithm consists of 4 steps: the first is a "searching bottleneck station" step, the second is a "calculating a size of congestion" step, the third is a "calculating the number of controlled stations" step, the final is a "calculating VSL" step. This algorithm guarantees improved safety and minimum additional travel time. The travel time should be considered because drivers would against the VSL algorithm when the proposed algorithm occurs additional travel time. In our experiments, microscopic traffic simulator VISSIM is selected to perform a modeling work. The results show that proposed algorithm provides the improved safety and minimum increase of travel time.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.54 no.12
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• pp.1205-1214
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• 2021

Precipitation is one of a major causes of landslides by rising of pore water pressure, which leads to fluctuations of soil strength and stress. For this reason, precipitation is the most frequently used to determine the landslide thresholds. However, using only precipitation has limitations in predicting and estimating slope stability quantitatively for reducing false alarm events. On the other hand, Soil Moisture (SM) has been used for calculating slope stability in many studies since it is directly related to pore water pressure than precipitation. Therefore, this study attempted to evaluate the appropriateness of applying soil moisture in determining the landslide threshold. First, the reactivity of soil saturation level to precipitation was identified through time-series analysis. The precipitation threshold was calculated using daily precipitation (P_daily) and the Antecedent Precipitation Index (API), and the hydrological threshold was calculated using daily precipitation and soil saturation level. Using a contingency table, these two thresholds were assessed qualitatively. In results, compared to P_daily only threshold, Goesan showed an improvement of 75% (P_daily + API) and 42% (P_daily + SM) and Changsu showed an improvement of 33% (P_daily + API) and 44% (P_daily + SM), respectively. Both API and SM effectively enhanced the Critical Success Index (CSI) and reduced the False Alarm Rate (FAR). In the future, studies such as calculating rainfall intensity required to cause/trigger landslides through soil saturation level or estimating rainfall resistance according to the soil saturation level are expected to contribute to improving landslide prediction accuracy.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.470-476
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• 2018

Facial motor evoked potential (FMEP) by multi-pulse transcranial electrical stimulation (mpTES) can complement free-running electromyography (EMG) and direct facial nerve stimulation to predict the functional integrity of the facial nerve during cerebello-pontine angle (CPA) tumor surgery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the standardized test methods and the usefulness of FMEP as a predictor of facial nerve function and to minimize the incidence of facial paralysis as an aftereffect of surgery. TES was delivered through electrode Mz (cathode) - M3/M4 (anode), and extracranially direct distal facial muscle excitation was excluded by the absence of single pulse response (SPR) and by longer onset latency (more than 10 ms). FMEP from the orbicularis oris (o.oris) and the mentalis muscle simultaneously can improve the accuracy and success rate compared with FMEP from the o.oris alone. Using the methods described, we can effectively predict facial nerve outcomes immediately after surgery with a reduction of more than 50% of FMEP amplitude as a warning criterion. In conclusion, along with free-running EMG and direct facial nerve stimulation, FMEP is a useful method to reduce the incidence of facial paralysis as a sequela during CPA tumor surgery.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.31-41
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• 2019

The toxic dinoflagellate Gymnodinium catenatum isolated from the southern coast of Korea was described under light and scanning electron microscopy, and its large subunit (LSU) rDNA was sequenced. In addition, the effects of temperature and salinity on its growth were investigated. The cells of G. catenatum, as viewed under the electronic microscope, were green-brown color, $38.1-77.4{\mu}m$ in length and $26.1-40.8{\mu}m$ in width. The epicone was conical, while the hypocone was trapezoidal. The nucleus was located at the central part of the cell. The apical groove was horseshoe-shaped and small pores were irregularly distributed on the cell surface. Molecular phylogeny based on LSU rDNA gene sequences showed that the Korean G. catenatum and previously reported species formed a monophyletic clade within Gymnodinium sensu stricto clade. The maximum growth rate of $0.37day^{-1}$, was obtained at $25^{\circ}C$ and 35 psu, and the maximum cell density of $1,073cells\;mL^{-1}$, was observed at $20^{\circ}C$ and 25 psu. However, G. catenatum did not grow at temperature < $15^{\circ}C$ and < $30^{\circ}C$. These results suggest that environmental conditions of summer and autumn in the southern coast of Korea may be favorable for the growth of G. catenatum.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.19-32
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• 2021

Bitcoin, a representative cryptocurrency, is receiving a lot of attention around the world, and the price of Bitcoin shows high volatility. High volatility is a risk factor for investors and causes social problems caused by reckless investment. Since the price of Bitcoin responds quickly to changes in the world environment, we propose to predict the price volatility of Bitcoin by utilizing news information that provides a variety of information in real-time. In other words, positive news stimulates investor sentiment and negative news weakens investor sentiment. Therefore, in this study, sentiment information of news and deep learning were applied to predict the change in Bitcoin yield. A single predictive model of logit, artificial neural network, SVM, and LSTM was built, and an integrated model was proposed as a method to improve predictive performance. As a result of comparing the performance of the prediction model built on the historical price information and the prediction model reflecting the sentiment information of the news, it was found that the integrated model based on the sentiment information of the news was the best. This study will be able to prevent reckless investment and provide useful information to investors to make wise investments through a predictive model.