• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.155-160
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• 2018

There exists very little information on the ultrastructure of substance P immunopositive (+) fibers in the human dental pulp, which may help in understanding the mechanism for substance P associated pulpal inflammatory pain. To address this issue, we investigated the presence of substance P+ fibers in the human dental pulp by light- and electron-microscopic immunohistochemistry. Light microscopy revealed that substance P+ fibers ran within neurovascular bundles in the radicular pulp and in the core of coronal pulp. They were also frequently present in the peripheral pulp. Substance P+ fibers showed beads like swellings interconnected by thin axonal strand, in a manner similar to bouton en passants and interconnecting axonal strand in the spinal cord. Electron microscopy revealed that almost all the substance P+ axons were unmyelinated. The axonal swellings of the substance P+ contained numerous clear round vesicles (40-50 nm in diameter) and many large dense-cored vesicles (80-110 nm in diameter) as well as many mitochondria. The vesicles and mitochondria were rarely observed in the thin axonal strand interconnecting the swellings. Intimate interrelationship or synaptic structure between the swellings of substance P+ axon and nearby pulpal cells or axons was not found. These findings suggest co-release of substance P and glutamate from the substance P+ pulpal axons and its action on nearby structures in a paracrine manner.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.178-186
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• 2014

Background: This study was conducted to assess health risks in regard to exposure by children to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in children's products. Methods: Ten VOCs were measured by head-space gas chromatography in children's products, including toys, oil pastels, sign pens, furniture, ball pools, and playmats. We estimated the average daily dose (ADD) via inhalation during the use of these children's products and calculated hazard quotient (HQ) by dividing ADD by reference dose of VOCs. Results: Among the measured VOCs, five compounds were identified in children's products: benzene, ethylbenzene, styrene, toluene, and xylene. The detection rates of VOCs in toys, ball pools, furniture, playmats, sign pens, and oil pastels were 85%, 100%, 100%, 30%, 100%, and 60%, respectively. The maximum levels of VOCs were 0.18 mg benzene/kg in toys, 5.92 mg toluene/kg in playmats, 10.37 mg ethylbenzene/kg in ball pools, 24.85 mg xylene/kg in toys, and 118.29 mg styrene/kg in ball pools. From exposure levels of VOCs in the children's products HQs were calculated within a range of $5.71{\times}10^{-10}$ to $4.77{\times}10^{-4}$. The HQ of xylene was the highest for children aged 0-6 playing on the playmats. However, the HQ via inhalation exposure to VOCs in individual products did not exceed 1.00. Conclusion: Based on the results, it was concluded that the use of these children's products do not pose health risks to children.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.80-83
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• 2008

As SOC (Social Overhead Capital) has been expanded, the highway road construction has been accelerated and city road system has been more complicated. So, long road tunnels have been increased and traffic flow rate also has been raised. Accordingly, the exhausting gas of vehicle cars seriously deteriorates the tunnel inside air quality and driving view. In order to improve tunnel inside air quality, we may need to introduce a compulsory ventilation system as well as natural ventilation mechanism. The natural ventilation mechanism is enough for short tunnels, meanwhile longer tunnels require a specific compulsory ventilation facility. Many foreign countries already have been devoting on development of effective tunnel ventilation system and especially, some European nations and Japan have already applied their developed tunnel ventilation system for longer road tunnels. More recently, as the quality of life improved, our concerns about safety of driving and better driving environment have been increased. In order to obtain clearer and longer driving view, we are more interested in EP tunnel ventilation system in order to remove floating contaminants and automobile exhaust gas. Evan though it's been a long time since many European countries and Japan applied more economical and environment-friendly tunnel ventilation system with their self-developed Electrostatic Precipitator, we are still dependant on imported system from foreign nations. Therefore, we need to develop our unique technical know-how for optimum design tools through validity investigation and continuous possibility examination, eventually in order to localize the tunnel ventilation system technology. In this project, we will manufacture test-run products to examine the performance of system in order to develop main parts of tunnel ventilation system such as electrostatic precipitator, high voltage power generator, water treatment system, etc.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.493-501
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• 2014

An automated lifting vehicle(ALV) used in an automated container terminal is a type of unmanned vehicle that can self-lift a container as well as self-transport it to a destination. To operate a fleet of ALVs efficiently, one needs to be able to determine a minimum-time route to a given destination whenever an ALV is to start its transport job. To find a route free from any collision or deadlock, the occupation time of the ALV on each segment of the route should be carefully scheduled to avoid any such hazard. However, it is not easy because not only the travel times of ALVs are uncertain due to traffic condition but also the operation times of cranes en route are not predicted precisely. In this paper, we propose a routing method based on an ant colony optimization algorithm that takes into account these uncertainties. The result of simulation experiment shows that the proposed method can effectively find good routes under uncertainty.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.149-154
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• 2012

According to the coagulation tests for PACs with various basicities, the PACB with lower basicity showed higher coagulation efficiencies of organics and phosphorus than the PAC with higher basicity. The PACB contained higher amount of monomeric Al (III) hydrolytic species comparing with PAC. In case of the coagulation for the sewage treated water, the coagulation efficiency by the charge neutralization and sweep floc formation was higher with PACB than with PAC. Accordingly, when $Al_2O_3$ concentration was similar in the coagulant, PACB showed higher removal efficiencies of turbidity, $COD_{Mn}$, TP, and $PO_4$-P comparing with PAC, especially in the lower range of coagulant dose.

• BMB Reports
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• v.54 no.10
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• pp.497-504
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• 2021

EGR1 (early growth response 1) is dysregulated in many cancers and exhibits both tumor suppressor and promoter activities, making it an appealing target for cancer therapy. Here, we used a systematic multi-omics analysis to review the expression of EGR1 and its role in regulating clinical outcomes in breast cancer (BC). EGR1 expression, its promoter methylation, and protein expression pattern were assessed using various publicly available tools. COSMIC-based somatic mutations and cBioPortal-based copy number alterations were analyzed, and the prognostic roles of EGR1 in BC were determined using Prognoscan and Kaplan-Meier Plotter. We also used bc-GenEx-Miner to investigate the EGR1 co-expression profile. EGR1 was more often downregulated in BC tissues than in normal breast tissue, and its knockdown was positively correlated with poor survival. Low EGR1 expression levels were also associated with increased risk of ER+, PR+, and HER2- BCs. High positive correlations were observed among EGR1, DUSP1, FOS, FOSB, CYR61, and JUN mRNA expression in BC tissue. This systematic review suggested that EGR1 expression may serve as a prognostic marker for BC patients and that clinicopathological parameters influence its prognostic utility. In addition to EGR1, DUSP1, FOS, FOSB, CYR61, and JUN can jointly be considered prognostic indicators for BC.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.422-432
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• 2006

The volatile organic compounds(VOCs) have been recognized as a major contributor to air pollution. The catalytic oxidation is one of the most important processes for VOCs destruction due to getting high efficiency at low temperature. In this study, monometallic Pt and bimetallic Pt-Ru, Pt-Ir were supported to ${\gamma}-Al_2O_3$. Xylene, toluene and MEK were used as reactants. The monometallic or bimetallic catalysts were prepared by the excess wetness impregnation method and were characterized by XRD, XPS, TEM and BET analysis. As a result, Pt-Ru, Pt-Ir bimetallic catalysts showed higher conversion than Pt monometallic catalyst. Pt-Ir bimetallic catalyst showed the highest conversion on the ${\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ support. In the VOCs oxidation, Pt-Ru, Pt-Ir bimetallic catalyst had multipoint active sites, so it improved the range of Pt metal state. Therefore, bimetallic catalysts showed higher conversion of VOCs than monometallic ones. In this study, the use of small amount of Ru, Ir to Pt promoted oxidation conversion of VOCs.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.535-548
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• 2023

The intermittent nature of renewable energy is a challenge to overcome for safety and stable performance in water electrolysis systems linked to renewable energy. Oxygen removal using the catalyst is suitable for maintaining the oxygen concentration in hydrogen below the explosive level (4%) even in intermittent power supply. Metals such as Pd, Pt, and Ni are expected to be effective materials due to their hydrogen affinity. The oxygen removal performance was compared under high hydrogen concentration conditions by loading on γ-Al₂O₃ with high reactivity and large surface area. The characteristics of the catalyst before and after the reaction were analyzed through X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscope, H₂-temperature programmed reduction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscope, etc. The Pd catalyst that showed the best performance was able to lower 2% oxygen to less than 5 ppm. Changes in catalyst characteristics after the reaction indicate that oxygen vacancies are related to oxygen removal performance and catalyst deactivation.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.317-327
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• 2024

When a non-persistent joint system is formed in a large-scale rock slope, slope failure may occur due to presence of a the stepped sliding surface. Such a surface can be divided into joint-to-joint sliding surfaces or joint-to-rock bridge sliding surfaces. In the latter case, the rock bridge provides shear resistance parallel to the joint and tensile resistance perpendicular to the joint. The load of the sliding rock can lead to failure of the rock bridge, thereby connecting the two joints at each ends of the bridge and resulting in step-path failure of the slope. If each rock bridge on a slope has the same length, the tensile strength is lower than the shear strength, resulting in the rock bridges oriented perpendicular to the joint being more prone to failure. In addition, the smaller the ratio of discontinuity spacing to length, the greater the likelihood of step-path failure. To assess the risk of stepped sliding on a rock slope with non-persistent joints, stability analysis can be performed using limit equilibrium analysis or numerical analysis. This involves constructing a step-path failure surface through a systematic discontinuity survey and analysis.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.88-95
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• 1992

The genetically engineered microorganisms (GEMS) could be released accidentally or ii)rexperimental purposes, as the genetic engineering, technique ha:. become very popular inany laboratories of biological sciences. But there have been littlt: informations on transkrbehavior of the genetically ~nodified genes in the natural en\ironmentx. In this stutly.antibiotic resistant bacteria were isolated from nat.ural waters. and then GEM strains wereconstructed i'rom the natural isolate (NI) by ~noclification oi' the Km' plasmitl. Thetransferability of the plasmids in the GEM and NI strains were examinetl by con-jugationin Luria-Bertani broth :it 30$^{\circ}$C. Also the cff'ccts 01' mating strain and pH on their transferfrequency and rearrangement of the plasmids in tl-~ec o~ijugantsM ere comp:irati\ely stuclictl.I'hc transkr frequency of Km' plasmid in donor of GEM and N1 strains wah similar a.;about 10 ' when co~ljugation was conducted wit11 M'I'I strain is recipient at pH 7. butthat of 1)KCOOI was lowered to 1.2X 10 '. And when the lab. stlain was uhccl as recipient.the transfer tendency of the plasmid was about same in both (;EM and NI strains usedas donor. All thc tionor 5trains. except for I)KC601. showecl the Ilighcs~ frequency of about10 ' at pH 7 and the frequcncics were lowered at both pH 5 and 9. Hut the mocliliedKm' plasmid in the cloned strain of DKC601 was transferred hy very low frequency of10 "at pH 5 ant1 7 comparing to other GEM strains. especiall! any co~~.jugantws ere notobtained at pH 4 and 9 even after conjugation for 6 hours. Rearrangement of the plasmidstranskrred into the lab. strain was not found in the conjugants. I\ulcornerut a lot of rearrangclncntwas ohservecl nlhen they were transferred into the NI strain. Such a rearrangement wasmore severe when donor was GEM strain rather then NI strain Hut such ;r phenomenonwas less affected by p!-l values.r phenomenon was less affected by p!-l values.