• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.297-305
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• 2021

Luteolin, a sort of flavonoid, has been reported to be involved in neuroprotective function via suppression of neuroinflammation. In this study, we investigated the protective effect of luteolin against oxidative stress-induced cellular senescence and its molecular mechanism using hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)-induced cellular senescence model in House Ear Institute-Organ of Corti 1 cells (HEI-OC1). Our results showed that luteolin attenuated senescent phenotypes including alterations of morphology, cell proliferation, senescence-associated 𝛽-galactosidase expression, DNA damage, as well as related molecules expression such as p53 and p21 in the oxidant challenged model. Interestingly, we found that luteolin induces expression of sirtuin 1 in dose- and time-dependent manners and it has protective role against H₂O₂-induced cellular senescence by upregulation of sirtuin 1 (SIRT1). In contrast, the inhibitory effect of luteolin on cellular senescence under oxidative stress was abolished by silencing of SIRT1. This study indicates that luteolin effectively protects against oxidative stress-induced cellular senescence through p53 and SIRT1. These results suggest that luteolin possesses therapeutic potentials against age-related hearing loss that are induced by oxidative stress.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.1579-1587
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• 2022

The effects of hydride amount (20-850 wppm), orientation (circumferential and radial), and temperature (room temperature, 100 ℃, 200 ℃) on the axial mechanical properties of Zircaloy-4 cladding were comprehensively examined. The fraction of radial hydride fraction in the cladding was quantified using PROPHET, an in-house radial hydride fraction analysis code. Uniaxial tensile tests (UTTs) were conducted at various temperatures to obtain the axial mechanical properties. Hydride orientation has a limited effect on the axial mechanical behavior of hydrided Zircaloy-4 cladding. Ultimate tensile stress (UTS) and associated uniform elongation demonstrated limited sensitivity to hydride content under UTT. Statistical uncertainty of UTS was found small, supporting the deterministic approach for the load-failure analysis of hydrided Zircaloy-4 cladding. These properties notably decrease with increasing temperature in the tested range. The dependence of yield strength on hydrogen content differed from temperature to temperature. The ductility-related parameters, such as total elongation, strain energy density (SED), and offset strain decrease with increasing hydride contents. The abrupt loss of ductility in UTT was found at ~700 wppm. Demonstrating a strong correlation between total elongation and offset strain, SED can be used as a comprehensive measure of ductility of hydrided zirconium alloy.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.773-784
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• 2023

In this study, a comparative analysis between an electric heat pump cooling system and a hybrid desiccant cooling system is conducted. Desiccant cooling is a thermal driven system with potentially lower electric power consumption than electric heat pump. Hybrid desiccant cooling system simulation includes components such as a desiccant rotor, direct and indirect evaporative coolers, heat exchangers, fans, and a heat pump system. Using dynamic simulations by climate conditions, house cooling temperatures and power consumption for both systems are analyzed for 16 days period in the summer season under climate scenarios for the year 2100 prediction. The results reveal that the hybrid desiccant cooling system exhibits a 5-18% reduction in electric consumption compared to the heat pump system.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.61 no.6
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• pp.21-30
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• 2019

Livestock odor is comprised of mixed type of odorous compounds. Among these, ammonia ($NH_3$) and hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$) are the two known major odor causing substances. Because high odor concentration reduces productivity of livestock and causes damage to the surrounding communities, quantitative analysis is needed to manage the odor inside and outside the livestock facilities. It is also necessary to evaluate odor dispersion according to the distance between the receptors taking into account the influence of odor source and weather condition. Therefore, in this study, we tried to evaluate the internal environment and odor dispersion from experimental pig house considering weather conditions. An experimental farm was specifically selected to eliminate the interference of odors generated by adjacent farms. $NH_3$ and complex odor were quantitatively analyzed using a gas detector and air dilution sensory method. The concentration of $NH_3$ and complex odor in pig house showed a distinct concentration difference according to the cleaning and ventilation conditions. $NH_3$ concentration and complex odor was lower than emission standard in the pig house and at the site boundary. The average $NH_3$ concentration (P1~P3) and the $NH_3$ concentration at the site boundary (S1) were strongly correlated with R=0.77. While the correlation for complex odor inside and at the site boundary had R=0.52. The correlation coefficient between $NH_3$ and the complex odor was 0.80.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.78-83
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• 2011

Natural gas is one of the most promising alternatives to gasoline and diesel fuels because of its high thermal efficiency and lower harmful emissions, including $CO_2$. Although the high octane value of natural gas increases engine output and efficiency due to the high compression ratio, this fuel is prone to such difficulties as a narrow limit of inflammability and a slow combustion speed in the lean burn operation domain, leading to unstable combustion and higher emissions of harmful exhaust gases. Hydrogen blended with natural gas can extend the lean burn limit while maintaining stable, efficient combustion and achieving lower NOx, hydrocarbon and green house gas emissions. In this study, the effect of hydrogen addition on an engine performance and NOx emission characteristics was investigated in a heavy duty natural gas engine. The results showed that thermal efficiency was increased and NOx emissions were reduced due to the expansion of lean operation range under stable operation. NOx emission can be significantly reduced with the retard of spark advance timing.

• Mycobiology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.47-55
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• 2013

Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium solani, F. oxysporum, and Macrophomina phaseolina were found to be associated with root rott and wilt symptoms of faba bean plants collected from different fieldes in New Valley governorate, Egypt. All the obtained isolates were able to attack faba bean plants (cv. Giza 40) causing damping-off and root rot/wilt diseases. R. solani isolates 2 and 5, F. solani isolate 8, F. oxysporum isolate 12 and M. phaseolina isolate 14 were the more virulent ones in the pathogenicity tests. Biocontrol agents (Trichoderma viride and Bacillus megaterium) and chemical inducers (salicylic acid [SA] and hydrogen peroxide) individually or in combination were examined for biological control of damping-off and root rot/wilt and growth promoting of faba bean plants in vitro and in vivo. Both antagonistic biocontrol agents and chemical inducers either individually or in combination inhibited growth of the tested pathogenic fungi. Biocontrol agents combined with chemical inducers recorded the highest inhibited growth especially in case SA + T. viride and SA + B. megaterium. Under green house and field conditions, all treatments significantly reduced damping-off and root rot/wilt severity and increased of survival plants. Also, these treatments increased fresh and weights of the survival plants in pots compared with control. The combination between biocontrol agents and chemical inducers were more effective than used of them individually and SA + T. viride was the best treatment in this respect. Also, under field conditions, all these treatments significantly increased growth parameters (plant height and number of branches per plant) and yield components (number of pods per plant and number of seeds per plant, weight of 100 seeds and total yield per feddan) and protein content in both seasons (2010~2011 and 2011~2012). Faba bean seeds soaked in SA + T. viride and SA + B. megaterium were recorded the highest growth parameters and yield components. Generally, the combination between biocontrol agents and chemical inducers recorded the best results for controlling damping-off and root rot/wilt diseases in greenhouse and field with addition improved plant growth and increased yield components in field.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 2005

This study was carried out to investigate the style of livestock house, concentration of malodorous substances of livestock feces and livestock houses in Daejeon area. Among the livestock houses investigated, as most of cow pens(94.5%) have sawdust or chaff on the bottom, there was no leakage of feces out of pen. Most pig pens adopted slury style, but some of them currently use buffering material on the bottom. It is thought that there will be no possible contamination leakage. When it comes to hen house, all the broiler house use litters on the bottom and all the layer house use scrapper. It is also thought that there will be no possible contamination leakage. 3 out of 12 deer pens used buffering material on the bottom, 10 places were maintained in a traditional method, and 7 places left possibility of contamination leakage considering whether the roof was installed or not. The contents of ammonia, amine and volatile fatty acid in fresh feces were lower compared to rotten feces, but the concentration of sulfur-containing matter - hydrogen sulfide, methylmercapthan and ethylmercapthan were higher compared to rotten feces. In the case of malodorous ingredient in livestock houses, only small amount of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide were detected in pig pen and hen house, and other ingredients were not detectable. And those who are engaged in animal husbandry reacted negatively to the use of feed additives for decreasing malodor. In conclusion, it is not worrisome that contamination can be leaked out of animal raising facilities. But if we take into consideration that the point of investigation time is wintry season, there should be more considerate attitude. And feed additives for decreasing malodor need establishing criteria in the manufacturing process.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.126-134
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• 2024

Biogas, composed mainly of methane (CH₄) and carbon dioxide (CO₂), is a renewable gas that can serve as an alternative energy source. In this study, we developed a new microwave reformer and analyzed its reforming characteristics. We observed that higher temperatures of the microwave receptor led to increased reforming efficiency. By supplying appropriate amounts of methane and steam, we could prevent carbon generated from the thermal decomposition reaction of carbon dioxide from depositing on the catalytic active layer, thus avoiding the inhibition of catalytic activity. Hydrogen generation was enhanced when maintaining the biogas ratio and steam supply at adequate levels. Increasing the SiC ratio in the receptor improved the uniformity of temperature distribution and growth rate, resulting in higher conversion rates of the reforming process.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.482-493
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• 2005

Biomass is originally photosynthesized from inorgainic compounds such as $CO_2$, minerals, water and solar energy. Recent studies have shown that anaerobic bacteria have the ability to convert recalcitrant biomass such as cellullosic or chitinoic materials to useful compounds. The biomass containing agricultural waste, unutilized wood and other garbage is expected to utilize as feed, food and fuel by microbial degradation and other metabolic functions. In this study we isolated several anaerobic, cellulolytic and chitinolytic bacteria from rumen fluid, compost and soil to study their related enzymes and genes. The anaerobic and cellulolytic bacteria, Clostridium thermocellum, Clostridium stercorarium, and Clostridium josui, were isolated from compost and the chitinolytic Clostridium paraputrificum from beach soil and Ruminococcus albus was isolated from cow rumen. After isolation, novel cellulase and xylanase genes from these anaerobes were cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The properties of the cloned enzymes showed that some of them were the components of the enzyme (cellulase) complex, i.e., cellulosome, which is known to form complexes by binding cohesin domains on the cellulase integrating protein (Cip: or core protein) and dockerin domains on the enzymes. Several dockerin and cohesin polypeptides were independently produced by E. coli and their binding properties were specified with BIAcore by measuring surface plasmon resonance. Three pairs of cohesin-dockerin with differing binding specificities were selected. Two of their genes encoding their respective cohesin polypeptides were combined to one gene and expressed in E. coli as a chimeric core protein, on which two dockerin-dehydrogenase chimeras, the dockerin-formaldehyde dehydrogenase and the dockerin-NADH dehydrogenase are planning to bind for catalyzing $CO_2$ reduction to formic acid by feeding NADH. This reaction may represent a novel strategy for the reduction of the green house gases. Enzymes from the anaerobes were also expressed in tobacco and rice plants. The activity of a xylanase from C. stercorarium was detected in leaves, stems, and rice grain under the control of CaMV35S promoter. The digestibility of transgenic rice leaves in goat rumen was slightly accelerated. C. paraputrificum was found to solubilize shrimp shells and chitin to generate hydrogen gas. Hydrogen productivity (1.7 mol $H_2/mol$ glucos) of the organism was improved up to 1.8 times by additional expression of the own hydrogenase gene in C. paraputrficum using a modified vector of Clostridiu, perfringens. The hydrygen producing microflora from soil, garbage and dried pelletted garbage, known as refuse derived fuel(RDF), were also found to be effective in converting biomass waste to hydrogen gas.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.105-115
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• 2020

With the decrease of the agricultural population in Korea, the workers who is vulnerable to labor are increasing in agricultural industry because of aging, feminization of population. They are exposed in poor working environment with higher temperature and concentrations of dust, gas. Higher concentration of harmful gas and dust can cause chronic and acute disease to workers depending on exposure intensity and frequency. In order to improve the working environment in the livestock facilities, It is important to secure monitoring data of the thermal environment and the concentration of harmful gases and fine dust. Multi-point measurement was performed to analyze the regional environmental conditions in the pig rooms. When analyzing the working environment, video monitoring was conducted to analyze the concentration changes of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and fine dust according to worker movement and work type. Ammonia and hydrogen sulfide monitoring result showed 1.5~2 times higher concentrations than other work when working in the pigs living zone, and 2~4 times higher than other work when working to increase the activity of pigs. In the case of fine dust, the result was 1.3 times higher than the worker's exposure standard in a specific work. The concentrations of gases and dusts from pig farms are not of concern for acute poisoning in normal work, but there is a risk of chronic respiratory disease if they are continuously exposed. Accordingly, there is a need for development of work environment monitoring device tailored to workers and preparation of alternatives.