• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.64 no.1
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• pp.38-51
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• 2022

Whole-plant corn (Zea may L.) and sorghum-sudangrass hybrid [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] are major summer crops that can be fed as direct-cut or silage. Proso millet is a short-season growing crop with distinct agronomic characteristics that can be productive in marginal lands. However, information is limited about the potential production, feed value, and ensilability of proso millet forage. We evaluated proso millet as a silage crop in comparison with conventional silage crops. Proso millet was sown on June 8 and harvested on September 5 at soft-dough stage. Corn and sorghum-sudangrass hybrid were planted on May 10 and harvested on September 10 at the half milk-line and soft-dough stages, respectively. The fermentation was evaluated at 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, and 45 days after ensiling. Although forage yield of proso millet was lower than corn and sorghum-sudangrass hybrid, its relative feed value was greater than sorghum-sudangrass hybrid. Concentrations of dry matter (DM), crude protein, and water-soluble carbohydrate decreased commonly in the ensiling forage crops. The DM loss was greater in proso millet than those in corn and sorghum-sudangrass hybrid. The in vitro dry matter digestibility declined in the forage crops as fermentation progressed. In the early stages of fermentation, pH dropped rapidly, which was stabilized in the later stages. Compared to corn and sorghum-sudangrass hybrid, the concentration of ammonia-nitrogen was greater in proso millet. The count of lactic acid bacteria reached the maximum level on day 10, with the values of 6.96, 7.77, and 6.95 Log₁₀ CFU/g fresh weight for proso millet, corn, and sorghum-sudangrass hybrid, respectively. As ensiling progressed, the concentrations of lactic acid and acetic acid of the three crops increased and lactic acid proportion became higher in the order of sorghum-sudangrass hybrid, corn, and proso millet. Overall, the shorter, fast-growing proso millet comparing with corn and sorghum-sudangrass hybrid makes this forage crop an alternative option, particularly in areas where agricultural inputs are limited. However, additional research is needed to evaluate the efficacy of viable strategies such as chemical additives or microbial inoculants to minimize ammonia-nitrogen formation and DM loss during ensiling.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.457-470
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• 2023

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of kinesin superfamily member 15 (KIF15) in nasopharyngeal carcinogenesis (NPC) and explore its underlying mechanisms. We employed various assays, including the CCK-8 assay, flow cytometry, the Transwell and scratch assay, Western blotting, and nude mice transplantation tumor, to investigate the impact of KIF15 on NPC. Our findings demonstrate that KIF15 plays a critical role in the proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion of NPC cells. Furthermore, we discovered that silencing KIF15 inhibits cell proliferation, migration, and invasion while promoting apoptosis, and that KIF15's effect on NPC cell growth is mediated through the PI3K/AKT and P53 signaling pathways. Additionally, we showed that KIF15 promotes nasopharyngeal cancer cell growth in vivo. Our study sheds light on the significance of KIF15 in NPC by revealing that KIF15 knockdown inhibits NPC cell growth through the regulation of AKT-related signaling pathways. These findings suggest that KIF15 represents a promising therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of NPC.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.66 no.1
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• pp.72-81
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• 2023

Objective : Ischemia and hemorrhage of pituitary adenomas (PA) caused important clinical syndrome. However, the differences on clinical characteristics and surgical outcomes between these two kinds apoplexy were less reported. Methods : A retrospective analysis was made of patients with pituitary apoplexy between January 2013 and June 2018. Baseline and clinical characteristics before surgery were reviewed. All patients underwent transsphenoidal surgery and were followed up at least 1 year. Results : Total 67 cases (5.8%) among 1147 pituitary tumor patients were enrolled, which consisted of 28 (~2.4%) ischemic PA and 39 (~3.4%) hemorrhagic PA. There were more male patients in the ischemic group compared with hemorrhagic group (78.6% vs 53.8%, p=0.043). However, the mean age, tumor size and functional tumor ratio were significant higher in the hemorrhagic group. Headache was more common in ischemic PA (82.1%) than that of hemorrhagic PA (51.3%, p=0.011). Magnetic resonance imaging findings found that mucosal thickening and enhancement of the sphenoid sinus was observed in 15 ischemic PA patients (n=27, 55.6%), but none in patients with hemorrhagic PA (n=38, p<0.0001). It was worth noting that the rate of pre-surgical hypopituitarism in ischemic PA patients were seemed higher than that in hemorrhagic PA patients, but not significant. The two groups got a total tumor resection rate at 94.1% and 92.9%, independently. No significant difference on the operative time, blood loss in operation and complications in perioperative period was observed in two groups. After operation, cranial nerve symptoms recovered to normal at 81.8% of ischemic PA patients and 82.6% of hemorrhagic PA patients. Importantly, the incidence of postoperative hypopituitarism partially decreased in both groups, among which the rate of hypothyroidism in ischemic PA patients significantly decreased from 46.4% to 18.5% (p=0.044). Conclusion : Patients with ischemic PA presented different clinical characteristics to the hemorrhagic ones. Transsphenoidal surgery should be considered for the patients with neuro-ophthalmic deficits and might benefit for pituitary function recovery of the apoplectic adenoma patients, especially pituitary thyroid axis in ischemic PA patients.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.5D
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• pp.695-703
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• 2008

China water market has huge potential for increased use of BOT mode and one of the most attractive markets of doing business. However, the current China water BOT market shows that many foreign companies are retreating from the market while Chinese water companies fast growing. From the view no domestic companies have track records in China BOT water market, the research identified twenty market access barriers in terms of construction laws, regulations, BOT-related policy and the recent market situation. These are evaluated based on interview results with 10 professionals direct or indirect having a China water BOT experience. All the factors are found to be highly influential to foreign company's decision on the market participation. Among those, no fixed return policy and low water price, difficulty in water price adjustment and approval, and no government guarantees, all directly related to the project viability and under the control of government, were the most critical factors, implying government's role is the key in increasing the market competition by attracting more foreign participation on the market. In addition, new construction law regulating foreign EPC contractor's construction work, namely Decree 113, and requirement of applying competitive bidding in selecting EPC contractor in a BOT project are also considered signigicant barriers on foreign participation, which contradicts international norm and therefore necessitates an adjustment on current decision process in domestic companies.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.194-202
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• 2006

In this work, extraction and purification of the possible whitening agents from the Chinese plants; Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat (xizang cai ju hua), Rhodiola sachalinensis, and Terminalia chebula Retzius have been described. The chopped leaves of Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat and Terminalia chebula Retzius were added to water and ethyl ether, respectively. Components were separated on a GS310 column ($21.5{\times}500mm$ i.d., $10-15{\mu}m$) and concentrated into four or three portions. The chopped leaves of Rhodiola salientness were added to methanol and separated and concentrated on a column ($C_{18}$ column, $3.9^{\circ}$�F8;300 mm i.d., $15{\mu}m$) into two parts. The whitening effects of extracts were examined by in-vitro melanin production assay, in melana and B16 cells at a concentration of $10{\mu}g/ml$. The ethyl acetate layer of Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat showed 92% melanin inhibitory at $200{\mu}g/ml$, the extract of Rhodiola sachalinensis showed a whitening effect of about 60% melanin inhibitory, which was more efficient than the whitening effect of arbutin (45.6%). The methanol extract of Terminalia chebula Retzius inhibited melanin expression by 90% at $100{\mu}g/ml$; however, it was toxic to B16 melanoma cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.169-169
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• 2022

Over the past 100 years, the global average temperature has risen by 0.75 ℃. The Korean Peninsula has risen by 1.8 ℃, more than twice the global average. According to the RCP 8.5 scenario, the CO₂ concentration in 2100 will be 940 ppm, about twice as high as current. The National Institute of Crop Science(NICS) is using the SPAR (Soil-Plant Atmosphere Research) facility that can precisely control the environment, such as temperature, humidity, and CO₂. A Python-based colony photosynthesis algorithm has been developed, and the carbon and nitrogen absorption rate of rice is evaluated by setting climate change conditions. In this experiment, Oryza Sativa cv. Shindongjin were planted at the SPAR facility on June 10 and cultivated according to the standard cultivation method. The temperature and CO₂ settings are high temperature and high CO₂ (current temperature+4.7℃ temperature+4.7℃·CO₂ 800ppm), high temperature single condition (current temperature+4.7℃·CO₂ 400ppm) according to the RCP8.5 scenario, Current climate is set as (current temperature·CO₂400ppm). For colony photosynthesis measurement, a LI-820 CO₂ sensor was installed in each chamber for setting the CO₂ concentration and for measuring photosynthesis, respectively. The colony photosynthetic rate in the booting stage was greatest in a high temperature and CO₂ environment, and the higher the nitrogen fertilization level, the higher the colony photosynthetic rate tends to be. The amount of photosynthesis tended to decrease under high temperature. In the high temperature and high CO₂ environment, seed yields, the number of an ear, and 1000 seed weights tended to decrease compared to the current climate. The number of an ear also decreased under the high temperature. But yield tended to increase a little bit under the high temperature and high CO₂ condition than under the high temperature. In addition, In addition to this study, it seems necessary to comprehensively consider the relationship between colony photosynthetic ability, metabolite reaction, and rice yield according to climate change.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.25-33
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• 2023

With the growth of the battery industry, a rapid increase in the production and usage of lithium-ion batteries is expected, and in line with this, much interest and effort is being paid to recycle waste batteries, including production scrap. Although much effort has been made to recycle cathode material, much attention has begun to recycle anode material to secure the supply chain of critical minerals and improve recycling rates. The proximate analysis that measures the content of coal can be used to analyze graphite in anode material, but it cannot accurately analyze due to the interaction between the components of the black mass. Therefore, in this study, thermogravimetric analysis of each component of black mass was measured as the temperature increased up to 950℃ in an oxygen atmosphere. As a result, in the case of cathode material, no change in mass was measured other than a mass reduction of about 5% due to oxidation of the binder and conductive material. In the case of anode material, except for a mass reduction of about 2% due to the binder, all mass reduction were due to the graphite(fixed carbon). In addition, metal conductors (Al, Cu) were oxidized and their mass increased as the temperature increased. Thermal analysis results of mixed samples of cathode/anode show similar results to the predictive values that can be calculated through each cathode and anode analysis results.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.5_4
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• pp.1165-1172
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• 2023

Recently, Korea has declared carbon neutrality by 2050. The Korea Forest Service is promoting the precision and high technology of forest resource surveys. As such, the demand for forest resource management is increasing, and the need to build a digital twin of forest space is increasing. However, to date, digital twin has only built and provided virtual city services, which are city and nationwide digital twin environments. Three-dimensional digital twin services targeting forest space are not operated and provided. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to implement a forest digital twin environment to provide 3D forest spatial information services corresponding to vertical information such as tree-level height and thorax diameter. By lightweighting realistic 3D tree models and applying 3D Tiles, we confirmed the feasibility of implementing a forest digital twin environment for 3D forest spatial information services. Through continuous research, we plan to implement a forest digital twin that can deploy and service 3D tree models for trees nationwide, including street trees in urban areas. This is expected to enable the development of forest digital twin services for forest resource management.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.509-518
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• 2023

In this paper, we designed a 4Kb poly-fuse OTP IP (Intellectual Property) required for analog circuit trimming and calibration. In order to reduce the BL resistance of the poly-fuse OTP cell, which consists of an NMOS select transistor and a poly-fuse link, the BL stacked metal 2 and metal 3. In order to reduce BL routing resistance, the 4Kb cells are divided into two sub-block cell arrays of 64 rows × 32 rows, with the BL drive circuit located between the two 2Kb sub-block cell arrays, which are split into top and bottom. On the other hand, in this paper, we propose a core circuit for an OTP cell that uses one poly-fuse link to one select transistor. In addition, in the early stages of OTP IP development, we proposed a data sensing circuit that considers the case where the resistance of the unprogrammed poly-fuse can be up to 5kΩ. It also reduces the current flowing through an unprogrammed poly-fuse link in read mode to 138㎂ or less. The poly-fuse OTP cell size designed with DB HiTek 90nm CMOS process is 11.43㎛ × 2.88㎛ (=32.9184㎛2), and the 4Kb poly-fuse OTP IP size is 432.442㎛ × 524.6㎛ (=0.227mm²).

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.1619-1627
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• 2021

Objective: This study used cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to compare the characteristics of left ventricular remodeling in patients with primary aldosteronism (PA) with those of patients with essential hypertension (EH) and healthy controls (HCs). Materials and Methods: This prospective study enrolled 35 patients with PA, in addition to 35 age- and sex-matched patients with EH, and 35 age- and sex-matched HCs, all of whom underwent comprehensive clinical and cardiac MRI examinations. The analysis of variance was used to detect the differences in the characteristics of left ventricular remodeling among the three groups. Univariable and multivariable linear regression analyses were used to determine the relationships between left ventricular remodeling and the physiological variables. Results: The left ventricular end-diastolic volume index (EDVi) (mean ± standard deviation [SD]: 85.1 ± 13.0 mL/m² for PA, 75.9 ± 14.3 mL/m² for EH, and 77.3 ± 12.8 mL/m² for HC; p = 0.010), left ventricular end-systolic volume index (ESVi) (mean ± SD: 35.2 ± 9.8 mL/m² for PA, 30.7 ± 8.1 mL/m² for EH, and 29.5 ± 7.0 mL/m² for HC; p = 0.013), left ventricular mass index (mean ± SD: 65.8 ± 16.5 g/m² for PA, 56.9 ± 12.1 g/m² for EH, and 44.1 ± 8.9 g/m² for HC; p < 0.001), and native T1 (mean ± SD: 1224 ± 39 ms for PA, 1201 ± 47 ms for EH, and 1200 ± 44 ms for HC; p = 0.041) values were higher in the PA group compared to the EH and HC groups. Multivariable linear regression demonstrated that log (plasma aldosterone-to-renin ratio) was independently correlated with EDVi and ESVi. Plasma aldosterone was independently correlated with native T1. Conclusion: Patients with PA showed a greater degree of ventricular hypertrophy and enlargement, as well as myocardial fibrosis, compared to those with EH. Cardiac MRI T1 mapping can detect left ventricular myocardial fibrosis in patients with PA.