• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.1549-1557
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• 2011

Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) can selectively induce apoptosis in many types of transformed cells; however, some human hepatocellular carcinoma cells are particularly resistant to the effects of TRAIL. Although genistein, a natural isoflavonoid phytoestrogen, has been shown to have pro-apoptotic activity against human cancer cell lines, little is known about the mechanism of genistein in terms of TRAIL-induced apoptosis. In the present study, it was investigated whether or not combined treatment with genistein and TRAIL synergistically induced apoptosis in Hep3B hepatocarcinoma cells. Results indicate that treatment with TRAIL in combination with nontoxic concentrations of genistein sensitized TRAIL-resistant Hep3B cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis, which was associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. Further, the inhibition of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation markedly decreased genistein and TRAIL-induced cell viability and apoptosis by enhanced truncation of Bid, increase of pro-apoptotic Bax, decrease of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2, and release of cytochrome c from mitochondria to cytoplasm. Activation of caspases and degradation of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase induced by the combined treatment was also markedly increased by the inhibition of p38 MAPK, through the mitochondrial amplification step. In conclusion, our data suggest that genistein sensitizes TRAIL-induced-apoptosis via p38 MAPK-dependent pathway.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.107-116
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• 2006

Purpose:Maxillay sinus grafting is an effective treatment procedure to improve bone height in the posterior maxillar area for implant installation. Beta-tricalciumphosphate(${\beta}$-TCP) was introduced to be grafting substitute material, providing a reasonable bio-degradation time, no need for harvesting procedure. The purpose of this study is to evaluate bone healing & regeneration phase using histomorphometric and immunohistochemical analysis. Material & Methods:Sixteen rabbits were divided into 4 groups. Bi-lateral maxillary sinus membranes were elevated at each rabbits, ${\beta}$-TCP was augmented in left sinus, autogenous bone was augmented in right sinus. The rabbits were sacrificed at 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks. We investigated the bone regeneration & growth factor expression. Results: 1. The mean new bone volume formation was 28.99${\pm}$6.55%, 49.54${\pm}$5.47%, 69.09${\pm}$8.90% in autogenous grafted area, and 22.86${\pm}$5.56%, 24.00${\pm}$4.09%, 34.11${\pm}$3.37% in ${\beta}$-TCP area at 4, 8, 12 weeks. Therefore, new bone formation in autogenous bone was significantly higher than ${\beta}$-TCP (p<0.05). 2. The BMP 2/4 expression in autogenous bone grafted area was higher at 4, 8 weeks. 3. There was no difference in expression pattern of BMP-7/PDGF/VEGF during grafted bone regeneration. Conclusion:The authors we conclude that the autogenous bone graft was faster than ${\beta}$-TCP in bone regeneration, and the BMP 2/4 were more important in graft bone regeneration.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.92-97
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• 2014

Perchlorate ($ClO_4^-$) is an emerging contaminant of soil/groundwater and surface water. $ClO_4^-$ has been shown to inhibit iodide uptake into the thyroid gland and cause a reduction in thyroid hormone production. $ClO_4^-$ is highly soluble and very stable in water. Biodegradation by $ClO_4^-$-reducing bacteria (PRB) is considered the most important factor in natural attenuation of $ClO_4^-$. Rivers in an industrial complex have potential to be contaminated with $ClO_4^-$ discharged from point or non-point sources. In this study, water samples were taken from the rivers running through the Gumi industrial complexes and used for batch test to analyze $ClO_4^-$-degradation potential of river microorganisms. The results of 83-h batch culture showed that $ClO_4^-$-removal efficiency of all samples was 0.77% or less without addition of an external electron ($e^-$) donor. However $ClO_4^-$-removal efficiency was higher when an $e^-$ donor (acetate, thiosulfate, $S^0$, or $F^0$) was added into the batch culture, showing up to 100% removal efficiency. The removal efficiency was various depending on type of $e^-$ donor and site of sampling. When acetate was used as an $e^-$ donor, the highest $ClO_4^-$-removal efficiency was observed among the $e^-$ donors used in this study, suggesting that activity of heterotrophic PRB was dominant. The results of this study provide basic information on natural attenuation of $ClO_4^-$ by river microorganisms. The information can be useful to prepare a strategy to enhance efficiency of $ClO_4^-$ biodegradation for in situ bioremediation.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.41-54
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• 1999

Because of relatively heavy dead weight of concrete itself and unavoidable heat of massive concrete in bridge piers, circular hollow columns are widely used in Korean highway bridges. Since the occurrence of 1995 Kobe earthquake, there have been much concerns about seismic design for various infrastructures, inclusive of bridge structures. It is, however, understood that there are not much research works for nonlinear behavior of circular hollow columns subjected to eqrthquake motions. The objective of this experimental research is to investigate nonlinear behavior of circular hollow reinforced concrete bridge piers under the quasi-static cyclic load, and then to enhance their ductility by strengthening the plastic hinge region with glassfiber sheets. Particularly for this test, constant 10 cyclic loads have been repeatedly actuated to investigate the magnitude of strength degradation for the displacement ductility factor. Important test parameters are seismic design, confinement steel ratio, axial force and load pattern. It is observed from quasi-static tests for 7 bridge piers that the seismically designed columns and the retrofitted columns show better performance than the nonseismically designed colums, i.e. about 20% higher for energy dissipation capacity and about 70% higher for curvatures.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.471-477
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• 2002

Recently, lip-reading has been studied actively as an auxiliary method of automatic speech recognition(ASR) in noisy environments. However, almost of research results were obtained based on the database constructed in indoor condition. So, we dont know how developed lip-reading algorithms are robust to dynamic variation of image. Currently we have developed a lip-reading system based on image-transform based algorithm. This system recognize 22 words and this word recognizer achieves word recognition of up to 53.54%. In this paper we present how stable the lip-reading system is in environmental variance and what the main variant factors are about dropping off in word-recognition performance. For studying lip-reading robustness we consider spatial valiance (translation, rotation, scaling) and illumination variance. Two kinds of test data are used. One Is the simulated lip image database and the other is real dynamic database captured in car environment. As a result of our experiment, we show that the spatial variance is one of degradations factors of lip reading performance. But the most important factor of degradation is not the spatial variance. The illumination variances make severe reduction of recognition rates as much as 70%. In conclusion, robust lip reading algorithms against illumination variances should be developed for using lip reading as a complementary method of ASR.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea TC
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.20-33
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• 2002

Usage of ATM AAL2 packets becomes dominant to increase transmission efficiency of voice traffic in the backbone network. In case of voice service that uses AAL2 mechanism, if resources of network are enough, connection of new call is accepted. However, due to packets generated by the new call, transmission delay of packets from old calls can increase sharply. To control this behavior, in this paper we present an AAL2 buffer management scheme that allocates a virtual buffer to each call and after calculating its propagation delay variation(PDV), decides to drop packets coming from each call according to the PDV value. We show that this packet dropping algorithm can effectively prevent abrupt QoS degradation of old calls. To do this, we analyze AAL2 packet composition process to find a critical factor in the process that influences the end-to-end delay behavior and model the process by K-policy M/D/1 queueing system and MIN(K, Tc)-policy M/D/1 queueing system. From the mathematical model, we derive the probability generating function of AAL2 packets in the buffer and mean waiting time of packets in the AAL2 buffer. Analytical results show that the AAL2 packet dropping algorithm can provide stable AAL2 packetization delay and ATM cell generation time even if the number of voice sources increases dramatically. Finally we compare the analytical result to simulation data obtained by using the COMNET Ⅲ package.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics S
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• v.36S no.1
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• pp.70-80
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• 1999

In this paper, a new hierarchical image segmentation algorithm based on human visual system(HVS) characteristic is proposed which can efficiently reduce and control transmission information quantity without the degradation of the subjective and objective image quality. It consists of image segmentation based on mathematical morphology and region merging considering HVS characteristic for the pairs of two adjacent regions at each level of the hierarchy. Image segmentation is composed of 3-level hierarchical structure. In the region merging structure of each level, we extract the pairs of two adjacent regions which human vision can't discriminate, and then merge them. The proposed region merging method extracts pairs of two neighbor regions to be merged and performs region merging according to merging priority based on HVS characteristics. The merging priority for each adjacent pair is determined by the proposed merging priority function(MPF). First of all, the highest priority pair is merged. The information control factor is used to regulate the transmission information at each level. The proposed segmentation algorithm can efficiently improve bottleneck problem caused by excessive contour information at region-based very low bit rate coding. And it shows that it is more flexible structure than that of conventional method. In experimental results, though PSNR and the subjective image quality by the proposed algorithm is similar to that of conventional method, the contour information quantity to be transmitted is reduced considerably. Therefore it is an efficient image segmentation algorithm for region-based very low bit rate coding.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.11
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• pp.12-20
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• 2013

Even though extensive research results have been applied to wireless cellular systems to improve their capacity and coverage, severe performance degradation experienced in cell boundary areas still remains as a major limiting factor to prohibit further improvement of user equipment (UE) throughput. In the Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) standard of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Some advanced techniques have been introduced to overcome this "cell-edge problem", including coordinated multipoint transmission and reception (CoMP) and inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC). In this paper, we propose yet another strategy to improve the performance of low-tier UEs by using the concept of multiple beam direction patterns (BDPs). Such multiple BDPs can be implemented using multi-layer antenna arrays stacked vertically at base station (BS) sites to transmit signals in different main beam directions. In comparison to conventional three-sector antennas with a fixed beam pattern, the proposed methods makes signal transmission in a rotational fashion to significantly enhance the reception quality of UEs located near sector (or cell) edge areas, preventing the situation where certain UEs are marginally covered by the BS for the whole transmission time. Performance evaluation results show that the proposed scheme outperforms the conventional three-sector transmission by 171% in low 5% UEs in terms of the UE throughput.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.255-260
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• 2008

This study was conducted to analyse the effects of the UFCA for treating polluted water in a reservoir. The UFCA mixes water by circulation of surface and bottom water layers. The circulation supplies oxygen to bottom of the reservoir, resulting in water quality improvement. With a UFCA in use, we surveyed the changes of temperature, pH, transparency, depth, conductivity, DO, COD, BOD, T-N, T-P and Chlorophyll-a for 7 months from Feb. to Aug. in 2004 in our experimental reservoir. There was little difference in the surface and bottom temperatures of the reservoir because of water mixing by the UFCA. However, pH was changed from 7 to 9. The transparency of water was about 80 cm through the all periods. Conductivity was $150\;{\mu}S/cm$ in early Feb., but increased to $270\;{\mu}S/cm$ in early March. Little change was seen in DO with depth, but it was maintained above 6 mg/l in June and July. BOD increased from 2.1 to 12.2 mg/l. The study reservoir did not undergo any eutrophication during the period of our experiment, but the comparison reservoir had an algae-bloom. The COD in the experimental reservoir increased from 5.4 to 14.5 mg/l. The COD concentration of the experimental reservoir was higher than comparison reservoir at the beginning of the study but in August this situation was reversed. SS concentration increased from 13.5 to 23.5 mg/l in Feb., but it fell from between 8.5 to 11.2 mg/l in July. T-N was increased from 1.3 to 4.9 mg/l. It increased up to 3 times in the rainy season as compared to other components. However the comparison reservoir increased up to 40 times higher than the experimental reservoir in the same period. T-P increased from 0.04 to 0.17 mg/l. The ratio of T-N to T-P increased from 20:1 to 40:1 which means that T-P was a growth limiting factor for algae and aquatic plants. Chlorophyll-a increased from 20 to 120 mg/l, and its concentration was correlated with T-P, such that Chlorophyl-a concentration increased with increased of T-P concentration. The concentrations of COD, T-N, T-P and other parameters were higher in the experimental reservoir than in the comparison reservoir but this situation was reversed in July, when the most severe eutophication occurred. The results show that overall the experimental reservoir was greatly remedied by UFCA. The UFCA accelerated the degradation of aquatic organic materials through effective supply of air with up-flow and circulation of water. We conclude that the UFCA can be very effective in aspect of the remediation of water quality incontaminated reservoirs and lakes.

• World Technopolis Review
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 2014

Center for Research of Science and Technology ("PUSPIPTEK") has 460 hectares land area, still maintained as a green area with more than 30% green space. There are 47 centers for research and testing technology, technology-based industries, and as well as public supporting facilities in PUSPIPTEK area. Based on the concepts developed to make this area as an ecological region, PUSPIPTEK can be seen as a model of eco-innovation. The purpose of this research is to develop a model of water, energy and waste management with eco-innovation concept. As a new approach in addressing environmental degradation and maintaining the sustainability of ecosystem, studies related to eco-innovation policy that combines the management of water, energy and waste in the region has not been done. In order to achieve the objectives of the research, a series of techniques for collecting data on PUSPIPTEK existing conditions will be carried out, which includes utilities data (water, electricity, sewage) and master plan of this area. The savings over the implementation of the concept of eco-innovation in water, energy, and waste management were calculated and analyzed using quatitative methods. The amount of cost savings and feasibility were then calculated. Eco innovation in water management among other innovations include the provision of alternative sources of water, overflow of rain water and water environments utilization, and use of gravity to replace the pumping function. Eco-innovation in energy management innovations include the use of LED and solar cell for air conditioning. Eco-innovation in waste management includes methods of composting for organic waste management. The research results: (1) The savings that can be achieved with the implementation of eco innovation in the water management is Rp. 3,032,640 daily, or Rp.1,106,913,600 annually; (2) The savings derived from the implementation of eco innovation through replacement of central AC to AC LiBr Solar Powered will be saved Rp.1,933,992,990 annually and the use of LED lights in the Public street lighting PUSPIPTEK saved Rp.163,454,433 annually; (3) Application of eco innovation in waste management will be able to raise awareness of the environment by sorting organic, inorganic and plastic waste. Composting and plastic waste obtained from the sale revenue of Rp. 44,016,000 per year; (4) Overall, implementation of the eco-innovation system in PUSPIPTEK area can saves Rp. 3,248,377,023 per year, compared to the existing system; and (5)The savings are obtained with implementation of eco-innovation is considered as income. Analysis of the feasibility of the implementation of eco-innovation in water, energy, and waste management in PUSPIPTEK give NPV at a 15% discount factor in Rp. 3,895,228,761; 23.20% of IRR and 4.48 years of PBP. Thus the model of eco-innovation in the area PUSPIPTEK is feasible to implement.