• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.635-650
• /
• 2017

Acoustic emission (AE) sensors have broadly used to monitor the damage of underground structures and tunnels. The reliability of measured signal is determined by the coupling condition of the AE sensors which are embedded in the target underground structure. To secure the reliability of health monitoring results, it is important to understand the characteristics of the coupling materials. In this study, laboratory tests were performed using portland cement, micro cement, and gypsum as coupling materials in order to verify the bleeding characteristics. The effective parameters for bleeding were determined to be water-cement ratio, material type, curing time, and injected volume of coupling materials. As a results of the experimental study, the bleeding rate increases with an increase in a water-cement ratio and an injected volume; for portland cement, water-cement ratio and injected volume effects are larger than the micro cement. However, curing time is not much effective for occurrence of the bleeding phenomenon. It is anticipated that this study may be useful for the selection of suitable coupling materials for installation of acoustic emission sensors.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.18 no.12
• /
• pp.1975-1983
• /
• 2008

The neuropeptide ${\alpha}$-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (${\alpha}$-MSH) has anti-inflammatory property by down regulating the expressions of proinflammatory cytokines. Because ${\alpha}$-MSH elicits the anti-inflammatory effect in various inflammatory disease models, we examined the therapeutic effect of oral administration of recombinant Lactobacillus casei, which secretes ${\alpha}$-MSH (L. casei-${\alpha}$-MSH), on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in Balb/c mice. Thus, we constructed the ${\alpha}$-MSH-secreting Lactobacillus casei by the basic plasmid, pLUAT-ss, which was composed of a PldhUTLS promoter and ${\alpha}$-amylase signal sequence from Streptococcus bovis strain. Acute colitis was induced by oral administration of 5% DSS in drinking water for 7 days. To investigate the effect of L. casei-${\alpha}$-MSH on the colitis, L. casei or L. casei-${\alpha}$-MSH was orally administered for 7 days and their effects on body weight, mortality rate, cytokine production, and tissue myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity were observed. Administration of L. casei-${\alpha}$-MSH reduced the symptom of acute colitis as assessed by body weight loss (DSS alone: $14.45{\pm}0.2\;g$; L. casei-${\alpha}$-MSH: $18.2{\pm}0.12\;g$), colitis score (DSS alone: $3.6{\pm}0.4$; L. casei-${\alpha}$-MSH: $1.4{\pm}0.6$), MPO activity (DSS alone: $42.7{\pm}4.5\;U/g$; L. casei-${\alpha}$-MSH: $10.25{\pm}0.5\;U/g$), survival rate, and histological damage compared with the DSS alone mice. L. casei-${\alpha}$-MSH-administered entire colon showed reduced in vitro production of proinflammatory cytokines and $NF-{\kappa}B$ activation. The ${\alpha}$-MSH-secreting recombinant L. casei showed significant anti-inflammatory effects in the murine model of acute colitis and suggests a potential therapeutic role for this agent in clinical inflammatory bowel diseases.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.69-75
• /
• 2005

Gas avalanche microdetectors, such as micro-strip gas chamber (MSGC), micro-gap chamber (MGC), micro-dot chamber (MDOT), etc., are operated under high voltage to induce large electron avalanche signal around micro-size anodes. Therefore, the anodes are highly exposed to electrical damage, for example, sparking because of the interaction between high electric field strength and charge multiplication around the anodes. Gas electron multiplier (GEM) is a charge preamplifying device in which charge multiplication can be confined, so that it makes that the charge multiplication region can be separate from the readout micro-anodes in 9as avalanche microdetectors possible. Primary electron collection efficiency is an important measure for the GEM performance. We have defined that the primary electron collection efficiency is the fractional number of electron trajectories reaching to the collection plane from the drift plane through the GEM holes. The electron trajectories were estimated based on 3-dimensional (3D) finite element method (FEM). In this paper, we present the primary electron collection efficiency with respect to various GEM operation parameters. This simulation work will be very useful for the better design of the GEM.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.166-171
• /
• 2017

Hydrogen gas is a green energy sources because it features no emission of pollutants during combustion. But hydrogen gas is very dangerous, being flammable and very explosive. Hydrogen gas detection is very important for the safety of a nuclear power plant. Hydrogen gas is generated by oxidation of nuclear fuel cladding during a critical accident, and leads to serious secondary damage in the containment building. This paper discusses the development of a Raman lidar system for remote detection and measurement of hydrogen gas. A small, portable Raman lidar system was designed, and a measurement algorithm was developed to quantitatively measure hydrogen gas concentration. To verify the capability of measuring hydrogen gas with the developed Raman lidar system, experiments were carried out under daytime outdoor conditions by using a gas chamber that can adjust the hydrogen gas density. As results, our Raman lidar system is able to measure a minimum density of 0.67 vol. % hydrogen gas at a distance of 20 m.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
• /
• v.26 no.1 s.61
• /
• pp.174-186
• /
• 2005

Objectives : The water extract of Samul-tang (SMT) has traditionally been used for treatment of ischemic heart and brain damage in oriental medicine. However, little is known about the mechanism by which the water extract of SMT rescues cells from these damages. Methods: This study was designed to investigate the protective mechanisms of SMT on oxidative stress-induced toxicity in H9c2 cardiomyoblast cells. Treatment with $H_2O_2$ markedly induced death of H9c2 cardiomyoblast cells in a dose-dependent manner. Results: The characteristics of H20z-induced death of H9c2 showed apparent apoptotic features such as DNA fragmentation and morphological change. However, SMT significantly reduced both H202-induced cell death and morphological change. The decrease of Bc-2 expression by High were inhibited by SMT. In addition, the increase of Bax expression was also inhibited by SMT. The cotreatment of SMT and $H_2O_2$ in H9c2 cells also induced the phosphorylation of ERK in a time-dependent manner. Moreover, PD98059, a specific inhibitor of ERK1/2 attenuated the protective effects of SMT on $H_2O_2-induced$ toxicity in H9c2 cardiomyoblast cells. These results suggest that both ERK1/2 signaling pathways play important roles in the protective effects of SMT on $H_2O_2-induced$ apoptotic death of H9c2 cells. Also, the expression profile of proteins in $H_2O_2$ cardiomyoblast cells were screened by using two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis. Among 300 spots resolved in 2-D gels, the comparison of control versus apoptosis cells revealed that signal intensity of 17 spots increased and 11 spots decreased. Conclusions: Taken together, this study suggests that the protectiw effects of the water extract of SMT against oxidative damages may be mediated by the modulation of Bc1-2 and Bax expression via the regulation of the ERK signaling pathway.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.18-24
• /
• 2012

This research seeks to evaluate damage on type II gas cylinder by an acoustic emission test when executing 20000 cycles fatigue test and thereafter burst test. Used gas cylinders in the experimental are three types as follows; one is sound cylinder, others are cylinders which contain longitudinal and transverse artificial defect. The size of artificial defect is a depth of 3 mm, width of 3 mm and length of 50 mm. In the case of the cylinder which artificial defect, unlike the expectation that it will burst in low pressure, the burst pressure of the cylinder did not differ much according to whether or not there were defects. However, when there was longitudinal defect, the location of burst was near the location of defect. This leads to the effect in which the thickness of the composite material becomes thinner according to the length of the longitudinal defect and this is judged to have an effect on the location of initiation and growth of crack in the liner. Also, for the acoustic emission signal, when there is longitudinal defect, the ratio of an event occurring at defect position among overall hits is more than 50 %, and the source location also accords very precisely with defect position.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.472-477
• /
• 2017

Oil spills cause a lot of damage to the environment. Oil destroys the water environment and ecosystem in a very short period of time once they are contaminated by it, it takes a lot of time to recover from the contamination and the cleaning process is very difficult. Therefore, oil detectors are greatly needed as they can monitor any oil spills over the sea, rivers, and lakes. There are two kinds of technology available for detecting oil, viz. the contact and non-contact types. The former is based on the use of the conductivity, capacitance and microwaves, while the latter employs infrared, UV, laser, optic and radar technologies. As there are also various hurdles in the measuring of oil on water, such as the presence of waves, refraction of light, temperature and saltiness, it is imperative to select the right oil detector which is appropriate for the specific environment. In this study, a contact type oil detector is developed, which can be used in oil related industries, such as refineries, petrochemical companies, and power generation stations. The detector is made up of the sensor module, which floats on the water, and the controller which processes the signal coming from the sensor module and displays it. It is designed in such a way that the existence of oil is detected through the sensor and the change in the permittivity is observed to determine the volume and type of spilled oil.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.231-237
• /
• 2017

Background: Cisplatin is one of the most extensively used chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of cancer, including bladder, and ovarian cancers. However, it has been shown to induce nephrotoxicity, despite being an outstanding anti-cancer drug. In this study, we investigated the protective effect of dopaol ${\beta}$-D-glucoside (dopaol) on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. Methods and Results: To confirm the protective effect of dopaol on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity, HK-2 cells were treated with $20{\mu}M$ cisplatin and $80{\mu}M$ dopaol. Cisplatin increased apoptosis, caspase-3 activity and mitochondrial dysfunction; however pretreatment with $80{\mu}M$ dopaol successfully attenuated apoptosis, caspase-3 activity and mitochondrial dysfunction. To evaluate the protective effect dopaol on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in vivo, we used an animal model (balb/c mice, 20 mg/kg, i.p. once/day for 3 day). The results were similar to those obtained using HK-2 cells; renal tubular damage and neutrophilia induced by cisplatin reduced following dopaol injection (10 mg/kg, i.p. once/day for 3 day). Conclusions: These results indicate that dopaol treatment reduced cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in vitro and in vivo, and can be used to treat cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. However, further studies are required to determine the toxicity high dose dopaol and the signal pathways involved in its mechanism of action in animal models.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.406-412
• /
• 2012

This study was performed to examine the hepatoprotective effect of isorhamnetin-3-O-galactoside, a flavonoid glycoside isolated from Artemisia capillaris Thunberg (Compositae), against carbon tetrachloride ($CCl_4$)-induced hepatic injury. Mice were treated intraperitoneally with vehicle or isorhamnetin-3-O-galactoside (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg) 30 min before and 2 h after $CCl_4$ (20 ${\mu}l/kg$) injection. Serum aminotransferase activities and hepatic level of malondialdehyde were significantly higher after $CCl_4$ treatment, and these increases were attenuated by isorhamnetin-3-O-galactoside. $CCl_4$ markedly increased serum tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ level, which was reduced by isorhamnetin-3-O-galactoside. The levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) protein and their mRNA expression levels were significantly increased after $CCl_4$ injection. The levels of HO-1 protein and mRNA expression levels were augmented by isorhamnetin-3-O-galactoside, while isorhamnetin-3-O-galactoside attenuated the increases in iNOS and COX-2 protein and mRNA expression levels. $CCl_4$ increased the level of phosphorylated c-Jun N-terminal kinase, extracellular signal-regulated kinase and p38, and isorhamnetin-3-O-galactoside reduced these increases. The nuclear translocation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-${\kappa}B$), activating protein-1, and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) were significantly increased after $CCl_4$ administration. Isorhamnetin-3-O-galactoside attenuated the increases of NF-${\kappa}B$ and c-Jun nuclear translocation, while it augmented the nuclear level of Nrf2. These results suggest that isorhamnetin-3-O-galactoside ameliorates $CCl_4$-induced hepatic damage by enhancing the anti-oxidative defense system and reducing the inflammatory signaling pathways.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.383-388
• /
• 2011

This paper presents to study the accuracy improvement of the laser navigation using FIS(fuzzy inference system) and the reliability. As wireless guidance system, the top-mounted laser with the laser navigation can rotate $360^{\circ}$ with phototransistor or other optical sensors that read the return signal from reflectors mounted at the perimeter of the workspace. The type of major existing guidance systems is a wire guidance system. Because they have high accuracy and fast response time, they are used to most industries. However, their installation cost is very expensive and maintenance is very difficult because their sensors are placed approximately 1 inch below the ground or embedded in the floor. To solve those problems, the laser navigation was developed as a wire guidance system. It does not need to reconstruct a floor or ground. And it can reduce costs of installation and maintenance because changing the layout is easy. However, it is difficult to apply to an industrial field because it is easily affected by disturbances which cause loss and damage of data, and has slow respond time. Therefore, we study the accuracy improvement of the laser navigation. The proposed method is a correction method using reliability of the laser navigation. here, reliability is calculated by FIS which is designed with the analyzed characteristics of the laser navigation. For performance comparison, we use original position data form the laser navigation and position data corrected by original reliability from the laser navigation. In experimental result, we verified that the performance of the proposed method compared the others is improved by about 50% or more.