• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.183-196
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• 2010

Increasing human activity due to rapid economic growth and land use change alters the patterns of the Asian monsoon, which is key to crop yields in Asia. In this study, we tested the performance of regional climate model (RegCM3) by simulating important components of Indian summer monsoon, including land-ocean contrast, low level jet (LLJ), Tibetan high and upper level Easterly Jet. Three contrasting rain years (1994: excess year, 2001: normal year, 2002: deficient year) were selected and RegCM3 was integrated at 60 km horizontal resolution from April 1 to October 1 each year. The simulated fields of circulations and precipitation were validated against the observation from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis products and Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC), respectively. The important results of RegCM3 simulations are (a) LLJ was slightly stronger and split into two branches during excess rain year over the Arabian Sea while there was no splitting during normal and deficient rain years, (b) huge anticyclone with single cell was noted during excess rain year while weak and broken into two cells in deficient rain year, (c) the simulated spatial distribution of precipitation was comparable to the corresponding observed precipitation of GPCC over large parts of India, and (d) the sensitivity experiment using NIMBUS-7 SMMR snow data indicated that precipitation was reduced mainly over the northeast and south Peninsular India with the introduction of 0.1 m of snow over the Tibetan region in April.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.312-317
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• 2016

The submersion and emersion patterns are key factors that directly influence the habitat environment of the coastal plants and animals. In this study, the coasts are divided into five zones (zones 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 - not flooded, flooded once, flooded and exposed to air twice, exposed to air once, continuously flooded in the day, respectively) based on the patterns using tidal elevation data at the major eight stations and the domestic and international reference tidal levels, i.e., AHHW, ALLW, HAT and LAT, are also estimated to analyse the characteristics of the five distinct zones. Based on the results, the frequency of the zone 3 are dominant and forms from 87.2% to 88.2% (nearly constant) irrelevant with the tidal ranges at all stations. The taking-up percentages of the zones 2 and 4 show nearly constant, below 4% and over 8%, respectively. In Pohang station classified as the mainly diurnal tide, the percentages are decreased to 1.4% in zone 2 and increased to 10.8% due to the effects of the annual and semi-annual tidal components.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.264-276
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• 2010

The objectives of this study were to introduce the methods of soil respiration measurement, to review soil respiration studies conducted in Korea, and to suggest potential issues generated from using various methods for soil respiration measurement. According to the measurement principles, the methods of soil respiration measurements are classified as: alkali absorption method (AA), closed chamber method (CC), closed dynamic chamber method (CDC), and open flow method (OF). Based on the litereaure review on soil respiration studies in Korea, the CDC method was mostly used by the researchers (62%), followed by the AA (17%), OF (13%) and CC (8%) methods. Along with these methods, various instruments were used such as LI-6400-09, EGM-3, EGM-4, and automatic soil respiration chamber. Most of the soil respiration measurements were carried out in forest ecosystems and the reported soil respiration showed a wide range of variations from 130 to 900 mg $CO_2\;m^{-2}h^{-1}$. Continuous monitoring of soil respiration with minimal disturbance and the potential inconsistency in measurements are still the challenges facing the researchers, causing a paucity in quality datasets of sufficient quantity. Few attempts of intercomparison among different methods hinder the data users from synthetic analysis and assessment of the collected datasets. In order to better estimate soil carbon budget and understand their exchange mechanisms in key ecosystems of Korea, it is necessary to measure soil respiration at various plant functional types, soils, and climate conditions over a decadal time scale along with the study on the partitioning of soil respiration into autotrophic and heteorotrophic components.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 2006

For the first step to develop a reference disposal container of spent fuel to be used in a deep geological repository, this paper examined safe dimensions of the disposal container on the points of nuclear criticality and radiation safety and mechanical structural safety and provided basic information for dimensioning the container and configuration of the container components, and establishing the favorable and safe disposal conditions. When the safety factor for stress due to the external loads (hydrostatic and swelling pressure) is taken as 2.0, the safe diameter of the filler material to provide enough container strength under the assumed external loads is found to be 112cm with 13cm spacing between inner baskets in PWR container. Also the thickness of the thinner section between the fuel basket and the surface of the cast insert is determined to be 150 mm. Regarding these dimensions of the container, the PWR fuel container is sketched to accommodate 4 square assemblies or 297 CANDU fuel 297 bundles (33 circle tubes x 9 stacks). However the top and bottom parts need to be checked again through the detail radiation shielding analysis with respects to the emplacement position and handling processes of the disposal container.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.325-333
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• 2016

Background: Ginseng extracts are known to have angiogenic effects. However, to date, only limited information is available on the molecular mechanism underlying the angiogenic effects and the main components of ginseng that exert these effects. Human umbilical-vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) are used as an in vitro model for screening therapeutic agents that promote angiogenesis and wound healing. We recently isolated gintonin, a novel ginseng-derived lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) receptor ligand, from ginseng. LPA plays a key role in angiogenesis and wound healing. Methods: In the present study, we investigated the in vitro effects of gintonin on proliferation, migration, and tube formation of HUVECs, which express endogenous LPA1/3 receptors. Results: Gintonin stimulated proliferation and migration of HUVECs. The LPA1/3 receptor antagonist, Ki16425, short interfering RNA against LPA1 or LPA3 receptor, and the Rho kinase inhibitor, Y-27632, significantly decreased the gintonin-induced proliferation, migration, and tube formation of HUVECs, which indicates the involvement of LPA receptors and Rho kinase activation. Further, gintonin increased the release of vascular endothelial growth factors from HUVECs. The cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor NS-398, nuclear factor kappa B inhibitor BAY11-7085, and c-Jun N-terminal kinase inhibitor SP600125 blocked the gintonin-induced migration, which shows the involvement of cyclooxygenase-2, nuclear factor kappa B, and c-Jun N-terminal kinase signaling. Conclusion: The gintonin-mediated proliferation, migration, and vascular-endothelial-growth-factor release in HUVECs via LPA-receptor activation may be one of in vitro mechanisms underlying ginsenginduced angiogenic and wound-healing effects.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2014.10a
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• pp.11-11
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• 2014

Fungal pathogens have huge impact on health and economic wellbeing of human by causing life-threatening mycoses in immune-compromised patients or by destroying crop plants. A key determinant of fungal pathogenesis is their ability to undergo developmental change in response to host or environmental factors. Genetic pathways that regulate such morphological transitions and adaptation are therefore extensively studied during the last few decades. Given that epigenetic as well as genetic components play pivotal roles in development of plants and mammals, contribution of microbial epigenetic counterparts to this morphogenetic process is intriguing yet nearly unappreciated question to date. To bridge this gap in our knowledge, we set out to investigate histone modifications among epigenetic mechanisms that possibly regulate fungal adaptation and processes involved in pathogenesis of a model plant pathogenic fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae. M. oryzae is a causal agent of rice blast disease, which destroys 10 to 30% of the rice crop annually. Since the rice is the staple food for more than half of human population, the disease is a major threat to global food security. In addition to the socioeconomic impact of the disease it causes, the fungus is genetically tractable and can undergo well-defined morphological transitions including asexual spore production and appressorium (a specialized infection structure) formation in vitro, making it a model to study fungal development and pathogenicity. For functional and comparative analysis of histone modifications, a web-based database (dbHiMo) was constructed to archive and analyze histone modifying enzymes from eukaryotic species whose genome sequences are available. Histone modifying enzymes were identified applying a search pipeline built upon profile hidden Markov model (HMM) to proteomes. The database incorporates 22,169 histone-modifying enzymes identified from 342 species including 214 fungal, 33 plants, and 77 metazoan species. The dbHiMo provides users with web-based personalized data browsing and analysis tools, supporting comparative and evolutionary genomics. Based on the database entries, functional analysis of genes encoding histone acetyltransferases and histone demethylases is under way. Here I provide examples of such analyses that show how histone acetylation and methylation is implicated in regulating important aspects of fungal pathogenesis. Current analysis of histone modifying enzymes will be followed by ChIP-Seq and RNA-seq experiments to pinpoint the genes that are controlled by particular histone modifications. We anticipate that our work will provide not only the significant advances in our understanding of epigenetic mechanisms operating in microbial eukaryotes but also basis to expand our perspective on regulation of development in fungal pathogens.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.1170-1178
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• 2018

The anti-inflammatory effect of brown alga Ecklonia cava is well known, and several phlorotannins have also been reported. In this study, major active components for anti-allergy and anti-inflammation were identified by NMR and MS analysis, and the levels of effectiveness were compared. Six major phlorotannins-phloroglucinol, eckol, eckstolonol, triphlorethol-A, phlorofucofuroeckol A, and dieckol-were isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of E. cava. In order to analyze the major active substances in E. cava, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-allergic effects were evaluated for the six separate substances. Antioxidant capacities of each phlorotannin were evaluated using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) radicals, where phlorofucofuroeckol A and triphlorethol-A had the highest radical scavenging capacity in respective radical scavenging assays. Phlorofucofuroeckol A exhibited the highest inhibition of nitric oxide production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells among phlorotannins tested. Dieckol inhibited the release of ${\beta}-hexosaminidase$, a marker for the release of histamine in mast cells, in a dose-dependent manner in antigen-stimulated RBL-2H3 mast cells. Additionally, no cytotoxicities were observed at 1 and $2{\mu}g/ml$ in both phlorofucofuroeckol A and dieckol. These results suggest that phlorofucofuroeckol A and dieckol may play a key role in allergic inflammatory reactions.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.1438-1443
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• 2001

The significance of the casting/forging process for reducing the production cost of large components is being noted in these days. This casting/forging process is a method of forging a workpiece preformed by casting into the final shape. In this study, the casting/forging process has been applied in manufacturing a large aluminum flange in order to reduce press capacity and material cost. Firstly, a hot compression test was performed with cast cylindrical billets in order to determine the optimum forging condition of the aluminum flange. The optimum range of forging temperature of Al 5083 was from 420$\^{C}$ to 450$\^{C}$. The suitable strain rate was 1.5 sec(sup)-1. The deformation amount of a preform of a preform in a forging process is a key role in the mechanical properties of casting/forging products. In order to find the change of mechanical properties according to effective stain of cast aluminum billets, a hot upsetting test were performed with rectangular blocks and then a uniaxial tensile test was performed with specimens cut from the upsetted billets. The tensile strength and the elongation of cast/upsetted aluminum billets were increased largely until the effective strain was 0.7. FE analysis was performed to determine the configurations of case preform and die for an aluminum flange. In the FE analysis, the forging load-limit was fixed 1500ton for low equipment cost. The cast preform was designed so that the effective stain around the neck of a flange exceeded 0.7. From the result of FE analysis, optimal configurations of the cast preform and the die were designed for a large flange. The filling and solidification analysis for a sound cast-preform was carried out with MAGMA soft. In the forging experiment for an aluminum flange, it was confirmed that the optimal configuration of the cast preform predicted by FE analysis was very useful. The cast/forged products using designed preform were made perfectly without any defects.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.307-319
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• 2018

Ion-exchange membrane (IEM) has fixed charge groups and is a separation membrane which is capable of selectively transporting ions of the opposite polarity. Recently, the interest in IEMs has been increasing as the importance of the desalination and energy conversion processes using them as the key components has increased. Since the IEMs determine the efficiency of the above process, it is necessary to improve the separation performance and durability of them and also to lower the expensive membrane price, which is a hindrance to the widening application of the IEM process. Therefore, it is urgent to develop high-performance and low-cost IEMs. Among various types of IEMs, pore-filled membranes prepared by filling ionomer into a porous polymer substrate are intermediate forms of homogeneous membranes and heterogeneous membranes. The production cost would be cheap like the case of heterogeneous membranes because of the use of inexpensive supports and the reduction of the amount used of raw materials, and at the same time, they exhibit excellent electrochemical characteristics close to homogeneous membranes. In this review, major research and development trends of pore-filled IEMs, which are attracting attention as high-performance and low-cost IEMs, have been summarized and reported according to the application fields.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.140-148
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• 2007

The remote sensing observations of land surface properties are inevitably influenced by the landscape heterogeneity. In this paper, we introduce a geostatistical technique to provide a quantitative interpretation of landscape heterogeneity in terms of key land surface parameters. The study areas consist of the two KoFlux sites: (1) the Gwangneung site, covered with temperate mixed forests on a complex terrain, and (2) the Haenam site with mixed croplands on a relatively flat terrain. The semivariogram and fractal analyses were performed for both sites to characterize the spatial heterogeneity of two radiation parameters, i.e., land surface temperature (LST) and albedo. These parameters are the main factors affecting the reflected longwave and shortwave radiation components from the two study sites. We derived them from the high-resolution Landsat ETM+ satellite images collected on 23 Sep. 2001 and 14 Feb. 2002. The results of our analysis show that the characteristic scales of albedo was >1 km at the Gwangneung site and approximately 0.3 km at the Haenam site. For LST, the scale of heterogeneity was also >1 km at the Gwangneung site and >0.6 to 1.0 km at the Haenam site. At both sites, there was little change in the characteristic scales of the two parameters between the two different seasons.