• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.101-110
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• 2003

We made intensive observations on the coastal upwelling off the coast of the southern East Sea from June to August in 2001. The upwelling exhibited a weekly waxing and waning. The coastal upwelling of the year 2001 was characterized by abrupt outbreaks and the small local scale. Upwelling occurred more frequently off the coast of Ulsan and Gampo as reported by the earlier observers. The spread of freshly upwelled colder water was varied by each upwelling event. Generally cold waters were carried away northeastward off Pohang province. The upwelled cold waters were saltier than the resident surface waters. The pH and salinity-normalized alkalinity support the idea that the upwelled waters originate from the interior of the East Sea. The extraordinarily high concentration of dissolved oxygen suggests that the upwelled waters are closely connected to the southward flowing North Korea Cold Current. Although a lower primary productivity was reported for the upwelling region, underway surface fluorescence measurement revealed that the recently upwelled waters supported up to an order of magnitude higher algal biomass than the ambient waters. Because thermohaline circulation of the East Sea is so vigorous, with an estimated time scale of less than one hundred years, that the coastal upwelling should be considered not as an anomaly but as a regular component of a circulatory system. A quantitative understanding of upwelling seems to be a key to elucidate material cycling and the associated biological production in the East Sea.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.189-198
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• 1996

Mercury (Hg) is ubiquitous throughout the earth's atmosphere. The uniqueness of its atmospheric geochemistry is well-known with the high environmental mobility and relatively long atmospheric residence time (c.a., 1 year) associated with its high chemical stability. Despite a growing recognition of the environmental significance of its global cycling, the prexisting Korean database for atmospheric Hg is extremely rare and confined to a number of concentration measurements conducted under relatively polluted urban atmospheric environments. To help activate the research on this suvject, an in-depth analysis on the current development in the measurements of atmospheric mercury and the associated fluxes has been made using the most using the most updated data ests reported worldwide. As a first step toward this purpose, the most reliable techniques commonly employed in the measurements of its concentration in the background atmosphere are introduced in combination with the flux measurement techniques over soil surface such as: dynamic enclosure (or field flux chamber) method and field micrometeorological method. Then the results derived using these measurement techniques are discussed and interpreted with an emphasis on its mobilization across the terrestrial biosphere and atmosphere interface. A unmber of factors including air/soil temperature, soil chemical composition, soil water content, and barometric pressure are found out to be influential to the rate and amount of such exchange processes. Although absolute magnitude of such exchange processes is insignificant relative to that of the major component like the oceanic environment, this exchange process is thought to be the the predominant natural pathway for both the mobilization and redistribution of atmospheric Hg on a local or regional scale.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 2020

Pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) have become an environmental havoc in last few decades with reported cases of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs), lethal effects over aquatic organisms, interference in natural decomposition of organic matter, reduced diversity of microbial communities in different environmental compartments, inhibition of growth of microbes resulting in reduced rate of nutrient cycling, hormonal imbalance in exposed organisms etc. Owing to their potential towards bioaccumulation and persistent nature, these compounds have longer residence time and activity in environment. The conventional technologies of wastewater treatment have got poor efficiency towards removal/degradation of PhACs and therefore, modern techniques with efficient, cost-effective and environment-friendly operation need to be explored. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) like Photocatalysis, Fenton oxidation, Ozonation etc. are some of the promising, viable and sustainable options for degradation of PhACs. Although energy/chemical or both are essentially required for AOPs, these methods target complete degradation/mineralization of persistent pollutants resulting in no residual toxicity. Considering the high efficiency towards degradation, non-toxic nature, universal viability and acceptability, AOPs have become a promising option for effective treatment of chemicals with persistent nature.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.208-212
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• 2018

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology has been attractive since it can not only treat organic waste in an eco-friendly way by digesting it but also generate electricity by the unique metabolic process of microbes. However, it hasn't been employed in practical use until now because it is hard to integrate a small electricity up to an adequate amount of electric power and difficult to keep its bio-electric activity consistent. In this study, we combined an energy harvester with MFC (MFC-EH) to make the power-integration convenient and developed an energy self-sustainable wireless sensor system driven by a stable electric power produced by MFC-EH. Additionally, we build the low power application measuring data to be cast by the web in real-time so that it can be quickly and easily accessed through the internet. The proposed system could contribute to improvement of waste treatment and up-cycling technologies in near future.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.93-101
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• 2011

The Hairless (HR ) gene regulates the expression of several target genes as a transcriptional corepressor of nuclear receptors. The hair follicle (HF), a small independent organ of the skin, resides in the epidermis and undergoes regenerative cycling for normal hair formation. HF development requires many genes and signaling pathways to function properly in time and space, one of them being the HR gene. Various mutations of the HR gene have been reported to cause the hair loss pheno-type in rodents and humans. In recent studies, it has been suggested that the HR gene is a critical player in the regulation of the hair cycle and, thus, HF development. Furthermore, the HR gene is associated with the Wnt signaling pathway, which regulates proliferation and differentiation of cells and plays an essential role in hair and skin development. In this review, we summarize the mutations responsible for human hair disorders and discuss the roles of the HR gene in HF development.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.95-104
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• 2014

Electrochemical performance of Li-ion cells with $LiMn_2O_4$ cathodes and graphite anodes with carbonates electrolytes containing quaternary ammonium-based room temperature ionic liquids (ILs) is investigated. Eight different ILs based on tetraalkylammonium, pyrrolidinium or piperidinium cations paired with bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide or tris(pentafluoroethyl)trifluorophosphate anions are examined in combination with dimethyl carbonate as a main solvent and fluoroethylene carbonate as a solid electrolyte interface forming agent. It is shown that cycling properties of the cells are strongly affected by the content of ILs in the electrolyte mixtures and its increase corresponds to lower discharge capacity retention. Since viscosity and conductivity of ILs are of a great importance for the electrolytes formulation, some kind of combined parameter should be used for the assessment of IL applicability and calculated values of Walden products for neat ILs represent one of the possible options. Besides, positive effect of ILs on reduction of flammability and enhancement of thermal stability of electrolytes in contact with charged electrodes have been demonstrated by means of self-extinguishing time test and differential scanning calorimetry respectively.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.97-108
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• 2011

The photometric light curves of the W-type W UMa eclipsing contact binary system BB Pegasi have been found to be extremely asymmetric over all the observed 63 years in all wavelengths UBVR. The light curves have been characterized by occultation primary minima. Hence, the morphology of these light curves has been studied in view of these different asymmetric degrees. The system shows a distinct O'Connell effect, as well as depth variation. A 22.96 years of stellar dark spots cycle has been determined for the system. Almost the same cycle (22.78 yr) has been found for the depth variation of MinI and MinII. We also present an analysis of mid-eclipse time measurements of BB Peg. The analysis indicates a period decrement of $5.62{\times}10^{-8}$ day/yr, which can be interpreted in terms of mass transfer at a rate of $-4.38{\times}10^{-8}M_{\odot}$/yr, from the more to the less massive component. The O - C diagram shows a damping sine wave covering two different cycles of 17.0 yr and 12.87 yr with amplitudes equal to 0.0071 and 0.0013 day, respectively. These unequal durations show a non-periodicity which may be explained as a result of magnetic activity cycling variations due to star spots. The obtained characteristics are consistent with similar chromospherically active stars, when applying the Applegate's (1992) mechanism.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.14
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• pp.5741-5745
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• 2014

Purpose: To study the expression of insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs) in paclitaxel-treated gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells, and to further investigate underlying mechanisms. Materials and Methods: Real time PCR and Western blot assays were applied to detect the mRNA and protein expression of IGFBP-2, -3 and -5 after paclitaxel (10 nM) treatment of SGC-7901 cells. In addition IGFBP-3 expression was silenced by RNA interference to determine effects. Cell viability was determined by MTT assay. Cell cycling and apoptosis were assessed by flow cytometry. Results: Compared to the control group, only IGFBP-3 expression was elevated significantly after paclitaxel (10 nM) treatment (p<0.05). Paclitaxel treatment caused cell cycle arrest and apoptosis via downregulating Bcl-2 expression. However, the effect could be abrogated by IGFBP-3 silencing. Conclusions: IGFBP-3 exhibits anti-apoptotic effects on paclitaxel-treated SGC-7901 cells via elevating Bcl-2 expression.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.1077-1082
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• 2013

Background: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a malignancy with a poor prognosis. We aimed to explore whether the expression of Long Non-Coding RNA (LncRNA) growth arrest-specific transcript 5 (GAS5) is associated with RCC genesis. Methods: We selected twelve clinical samples diagnosed for renal clear cell carcinoma and found that the LncRNA GAS5 transcript levels were significantly reduced relative to those in adjacent unaffected normal renal tissues. Results: In addition, expression of GAS5 was lower in the RCC cell line A498 than that in normal renal cell line HK-2. Furthermore, using functional expression cloning, we found that overexpression of GAS5 in A498 cells inhibited cell proliferation, induced cell apoptosis and arrested cell cycling. At the same time, the migration and invasion potential of A498 cells were inhibited compared to control groups. Conclusion: Our study provided the first evidence that a decrease in GAS5 expression is associated with RCC genesis and progression and overexpression of GAS5 can act as a tumor suppressor for RCC, providing a potential attractive therapeutic approach for this malignancy.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.375-381
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• 2005

High temperature oxidation behavior of thermal barrier coating (TBC) system (IN738 substrate + NiCoCrAlY or NiAl bond coat with or without Pt + yttria stabilized zirconia) prepared by air plasma spray (APS) process has been studied in order to understand the effect of Pt addition to bond coat on the stability of TBC system. Specimens were oxidized in thermal cycling and isothermal oxidation test at $1100^{\circ}C$. The Pt addition in TBC system with NiCoCrAlY bond coat showed a longer life time compared to that without addition of Pt. Pt addition to TBC system is believed to help the formation of more stable thermally grown oxide, $Al_2O_3$, at the TBC/bond coat interface, leading to a longer lifetime of TBC system.