• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.69-81
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• 2015

Purpose : The first purpose of this study is to find out whether the water extract of Rehmanniae Radix Preparat(RRP), Cuscutae Semen(CS) and their combination(Ssangbohwan, SBH) have the effect of suppressing Receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand(RANKL)-induced osteoclast differentiation. The second purpose of this study is to find out whether the water extract of RRP, CS and SBH have the effect of inhibiting osteoporosis in an osteoporosis model induced by lipopolysaccharide(LPS). Methods : After promoting differentiation of osteoclasts by treating the RANKL, we observed the effect by the administration of RRP, CS and SBH. In addition, by means of Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR), we assayed mRNA expression levels of NFATc1, c-Fos, TRAP and GAPDHS(Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, spermatogeni) from bone marrow macrophages(BMMs). Similarly, the protein expression levels of NFATc1 (Nuclear factor of activated T-cells, cytoplasmic1), C-Fos, MAPKs(Mitogen-activated protein kinases) and ${\beta}$-actin in cell lysates were analyzed by means of Western Blotting. Finally, we determined the anti-osteoporotic effects of RRP, CS and SBH, through the use of Lipopolysaccharide-induced bone-loss mouse. Results : RRP, CS and SBH showed remarkable inhibitive effect on RANKL-treated osteoclast differentiation without cytotoxicity. SBH inhibited the phosphorylation of p38, Jun N-terminal kinases(JNK), and I-${\kappa}B$ and down-regulated the induction of c-Fos and NFATc1 by RANKL. RRP, CS suppressed degradation of I-${\kappa}B$, but it did not affect c-Fos and NFATc1 by RANKL. Lastly, in vivo data showed that RRP and SBH prevented bone erosion by LPS treatment. Conclusions : These results demonstrate SBH can be effective remedy for bone-loss diseases such as osteoporosis.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.255-259
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• 2006

The biodegradable hyaluronic acid(HA) membranes cross-linked with lactide using the crosslinking agent, 1-ethyl-3(3-dimethyl aminopropyl) carbodiimide(EDC) were prepared as a potential biocompatible material for tissue engineering. HA membranes having different mechanical properties were synthesised by varying degree of the mole ratio of lactide to HA, EDC concentration, and crosslinking temperature. HA membranes were degradable in water solution and the degradation became slower with the increasing mole ratio of lactide to HA. HA membranes were sterilized using ethylene oxide gas and extracted with cell culture medium for 24 h at $37^{\circ}C$ and 200 rpm. Cytotoxicity of the extract was tested using NIH/3T3 mouse embryo fibroblast as a model cell. Growth inhibition was not observed in the extracts of HA membranes with the mole ratios of lactide to HA, 5 or 10, and 10% EDC concentration, however 11% of growth inhibition was observed in the extract with the mole ratio of 13. Growth inhibition was not observed in the extracts of HA membranes prepared with 5% EDC or 10% EDC and the mole ratio of lactide to HA, 10, however 12% of growth inhibition was observed in the extract with 20% EDC. Cytotoxicity was not observed in the extracts of HA membranes prepared at varying crosslinking temperatures, $15^{\circ}C,\;25^{\circ}C,\;and\;28^{\circ}C$ with the mole ratio of lactide to HA, 10 and 10% EDC.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.5088-5094
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• 2014

Hovenia dulcis extract (HDE) has positive effects on alcohol degradation, recovery of liver damage and antioxidant activities. This study examined whether HDE exerts an ameliorative effect on inflammatory orifacial pain in an animal algesic model with formalin. The animals (rats) were divided into four groups: group I (control), group II (right facial subcutaneous injection of 5% formalin, inflammatory orifacial pain group), group III (5% formalin + distilled water administration), and group IV injection (5% formalin + 4.5 ml/kg of HDE), respectively. The scores from the scratch and effleurage tests were applied to evaluate the differences between three groups. The expression of p38 MAPK, iNOS and Nrf2 in the brain and medulla oblongata, which are involved in pain regulation, inflammation, antioxidation and nitric oxide production, were analyzed by western blot. The degree of orifacial pain was significantly lower in group IV than in groups I, II and, III. The expression of p38MAPK, iNOS and Nrf2 in the brain and medulla were also lower in group IV than in the other groups. These findings suggested that a Hovenia dulcis extract can attenuate inflammatory orifacial pain by suppressing the expression of p38 MAPK, iNOS and Nrf2.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.926-932
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• 2013

Glutamine and serum are essential for cell survival and proliferation in vitro, yet the signaling pathways that sense glutamine and serum levels in endothelial cells remain uninvestigated. In this study, we examined the effects of glutamine deprivation and serum starvation on the fate of endothelial cells using a human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) model. Our data indicated that glutamine deprivation and serum starvation trigger a progressive reduction in cell viability through apoptosis induction in HUVECs as determined by DAPI staining and flow cytometry analysis. Although the apoptotic effects were more predominant in the glutamine deprivation condition, both apoptotic actions were associated with an increase in the Bax/Bcl-2 (or Bcl-xL) ratio, down-regulation of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family proteins, activation of caspase activities, and concomitant degradation of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerases. Moreover, down-regulation of the expression of Bid or up-regulation of truncated Bid (tBid) were observed in cells grown under the same conditions, indicating that glutamine deprivation and serum starvation induce the apoptosis of HUVECs through a signaling cascade involving death-receptor-mediated extrinsic pathways, as well as mitochondria-mediated intrinsic caspase pathways. However, apoptosis was not induced in cells grown in glutamine- and serum-free media when compared with cells exposed to glutamine deprivation or serum starvation alone. Taken together, our data indicate that glutamine deprivation and serum starvation suppress cell viability without apoptosis induction in HUVECs.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.468-475
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• 2005

Biofilters packed with various materials have emerged as a sustainable technology for the treatment of volatile organic compounds (VOCs); however, problems including low performance and clogging are commonly encountered. Recently, a bioactive foam reactor (BFR) using surfactants has been suggested to ensure efficient and stable VOCs removal performance. This study was mainly conducted to investigate the feasibility of BFRs using toluene as a model compound. Prior to bioreactor studies, a series of bottle tests were used to select a suitable surfactant for the BFR application. Experimental results of the batch bottle tests indicated that TritonX-100 was the most appropriate one among the surfactants tested, since it showed a minimal effect on the toluene biodegradation rate while the other surfactants lowered the toluene biodegradation rate significantly. Using the selected surfactant, the BFR performance was determined by changing operating parameters including gas residence time and toluene loading. As the gas residence time increased from 0.5 minutes to 2 minutes, the toluene removal efficiency increased from approximately 50% to 80%. In addition, an increase of the toluene loading from $38\;g/m^3/hr$ to $454\;g/m^3/hr$ resulted in a decrease of toluene removal efficiency from approximately 70% to 20%. The BFR had a maximum elimination capacity of $108\;g/m^3/hr$ for toluene, which was much higher than those generally reported in the literature. The high toluene-elimination performance indicates that the BFR be a potential alternative to the conventional, packed-type biofilters. However, the limitation of toluene solubilization and foam stability at either high or low gas flow rate are still problems to be challenged.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.2010-2024
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• 1998

In video coding, it is important to improve the average picture quality as well as to maintain cosistent picture quality between consecutive pictures. In this paper, we propose a distortion-rate estimation method for MPEG-2 video and a forward rate control method, using the proposed estimation result, to be able to obtain the improved and consistent picture quality of CBR (Constant Bit Rate) encoded MPEG-2 video. The proposed distortion-rate estimation enable us to predict the distortion and the bits generated from an encoded picture at a given quantization step size and vice versa. The most attactive features of proposed distortion-rate estimation are its accuracy and low computational complexity enough to be applied to the practical video coding. In addition, the proposed rate control first determined a quantization parameter per frame by following procedure: distortion-rate estimation, target bit allocation, distortion constraint and VBV(Video Buffer Verification) constraint. And then this quantization parameter is applied to the encoding so that improved and consisten picture quality can be obtained. Furthermore the proposed rate control method can solve the error propagation problem caused by scene change or anchor picture degradation by using the B-picture skipping and the guarantee of the minimum bit allocation for the anchor picture. Experimental results, comparing the proposed forward rate control method with TM5 method, show that the proposed method makes more improed and consistent picture quality than TM5.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.183-197
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• 2018

In the delineation of geological structures using seismic exploration, it is very important to improve resolution of seismic data as well as accurate velocity model building and subsurface imaging. The resolution of seismic data can be enhanced by employing high-frequency energy sources or by applying deconvolution techniques in data processing. In marine seismic exploration, however, the main reason for degradation of resolution is the loss of specific frequency components due to ghosts. If we remove the ghosts, we can obtain broadband seismic data by avoiding frequency loss, and thus providing high-resolution subsurface images. Although ghosts can be properly filtered out in the data processing step, more effective broadband seismic technologies have been developing through the evolution of seismic instruments and the innovation of survey design. Overseas exploration companies developed brand-new configurations of receivers such as over/under streamer and variable-depth streamer, or ghost removal techniques using dual-sensor streamer to serve high-resolution imaging technologies. Unfortunately, neither broadband seismic instrument nor processing technique has been studied in Korea. In this paper, we introduce fundamental theories and current status of broadband seismic technologies to assist domestic researchers to study those technologies.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.166-172
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• 2018

In this paper, we propose a new method to predict a mirror's surface deformation due to the stress of moisture release by a coating in the environment of outer space. We measured the surface deformation of circular samples 50 mm in diameter and 1.03 mm thick, using an interferometer. The results were analyzed using Zernike fringe polynomials. The coating stress caused by moisture release was calculated to be 152.7 MPa. This value was applied to an analytic model of a 1.25 mm thickness sample mirror, confirming that the change of surface deformation could be predicted within the standard deviation of the measurement result ($78.9{\pm}5.9nm$). Using this methodology, we predicted the surface deformation of 600 mm hyperbolic mirror for the Compact Advanced Satellite, which will be launched in 2019. The result is only $2.005{\mu}m$ of focal shift, leading to 2.3% degradation of modulation transfer function (MTF) at the Nyquist frequency, which satisfies the requirement.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.99-106
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• 2013

Personal information protection has become one of the most impending business issues because leakage of personal information can cause tremendous financial losses and image degradation. Consequently, personal information protection initiatives have been recognized widely in business. To invigorate personal information protection investments, performance measurement method such as cost benefits analysis or qualitative analyses are needed, which have not been studied enough in the previous studies. This study proposes a performance measurement model which can include quantitative and qualitative analyses in the context of personal information protection investments. A comparative analysis has been performed on security investment and IT investment performance measurements, which leads to choose the WiBe method (developed by the German Interior Ministry), considering the privacy characteristics and the method's applicability. In particular, the quantitative effect measured how proactive threat assessment based on the way according to the nature of the businesses and organizations of privacy and possible investment decisions. This study proposes the 16 performance indicators, which turn out to be meaningful in terms of their materiality and feasibility by conducting focus group interviews of 25 experts on personal information protection.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.261-286
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• 2012

Rumors are widely prevalent in marketplace and It can be problematic and dangerous for the company's reputation and damages their image. Recently, many companies are given trouble by rumors. As getting invigorates the social media, there is high possibility to shape the vicious rumors without any confirmation whether information is true or not. It affects the companies' reputation and trust they have built for long time, also sales drop off. Despite numerous denials, the rumor persisted, keeping occur again and again all the times. Refutation purposes to decrease levels of belief in a rumor. First, establish Study 1 that a variation in identification influences the impact of a rumor on individuals' beliefs. Furthermore, we analyze the effectiveness of a refutation under varying degree of one's level of identification with the rumor object. According to research result, the response pattern of identification and disidentificaion consumers are very different. Disidentifiers, who engaged in systematic processing, believed the rumor less only when the refutation contained strong arguments. Identifiers, processing heuristically, remained unbelieving in the rumor. Study found that identification is an important moderator of consumer response to negative rumors. These defensive processes alleviate the bad influence of that information, and also can reduce the likelihood of attitude degradation.