• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.4 no.3 s.11
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• pp.1-8
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• 2000

It is required that gas accidents should be managed carefully as the consumption of fuel gas increases and high pressure gas process becomes more complex, which may cause a catastrophic accident. Factors to cause accidents were investigated through a systematic analysis of gas accidents between 1995 and 1998, which could be applied to prepare countermeasures to reduce gas accidents. As a result, it was suggested that the effective countermeasures to gas accidents should be kept applied, while new countermeasures were suggested in the field of increasing or not-decreasing number of accident. Totally 2,027 of accidents were reported during this term, and were found to decrease by about $12\%$ every year from 1996. The number of fuel gas such as LPG and city gas accident took up $96\%$, and most of accidents occurred at end-user's facility such as residential house and restaurant business. According to the kind of gas and facility, trend of accident by cause varies, while dominant causes are defective installation, appliance failure, or user's carelessness. Intentional accidents by fuel gas was excluded in this study because of its occurring mechanism and will be analyzed further elsewhere, although it took up $15\%$ and increased by $38\%$ every year.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.495-520
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• 2018

Because of structural changes in the international oil market and the economy, it is widely recognized that the impact of oil shocks on the economy has weaken since the mid-1980s. This study tries to examine the validity of the recent perception about the relationship between oils shocks and the economy, estimating the time-varying effects of oil shocks on the Korean economy. The results show that the dynamic effects of oil shocks normalized to a one standard deviation has been relatively constant, in contrast to the recent perception and a number of existing studies. In addition, because the shape of impulse response functions at each point in time spanning from 1984:II to 2017:IV has not been changed significantly, it seems that the propagation mechanism of oil shocks also has not been substantially altered. These findings indicate that even though structural changes of the economy, such as the reduction in the share of oil consumption and the spread of high-efficiency energy technologies, have been rapidly progressed, it is not still enough to offset the negative effects of oil shocks. Rather, it seems that the recent perception about the shrinking effects of oil shocks is mainly due to the assumptions that do not reflect changes in the size of oil shocks. In particular, this problem appears more pronounced in the case of the typical a one standard deviation increase oil shock under homoskedasticity assumption, which is widely adopted in the most VAR analyses. Therefore, in estimating the effects of oil shocks on the economy, it is important to specify the correct model and normalization method, to reflect changes in the size of oil shocks.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2014

This paper aims to explain the safety assessment and remediation mechanism of Granulated Coal Ash (GCA) as a material for the remediation of coastal sediments and to evaluate the improvement of the sediment in Kaita Bay, where GCA was applied. The concentrations of heavy metal contained in GCA and the dissolved amounts of heavy metal from GCA satisfied the criteria for soil and water pollution in Japan. The mechanisms on the remediation of coastal sediments using GCA is summarized as follows; (1) removal of phosphate and hydrogen sulfide (2) neutralization of acidic sediment (3) oxidation of reductive sediment (4) increase of water permeability (5) increase of soil strength (6) material for a base of seagrass. From the results obtained from the field experiment carried out in Kaita Bay, it was clarified that GCA is a promizing material for remediation of coastal sediment. This remediation technology can contribute to promote waste reduction in society and to decrease cost of coastal sediment remediation by applying GCA in other polluted coastal areas.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.207-211
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• 1995

In order to determine the mechanism of cold tolerance in crops, changes in biochemical factors related with the biological reduction of molecular oxygen upon cold shock treatment were analyzed at an early stage of Brassica germination. As the cold shocked seedlings were recovered under the normal growth condition for 24 hours, the peroxidase activities in cold sensitive rape(B. napus) and cold tolerant 'Sandongchae'(B. campestris) were considerably increased by 33% and 87% in root fraction and, 84% and 206% in hypocotyl, respectively. The content of superoxide($H_2O_2$) in hypocotyl fraction was dramatically accumulated until 8 hours after recovery and then gradually decreased. The extent of superoxide accumulation was severer in B. napus than B. campestris. At 24 hours after cold shock, $H_2O_2$ content was decreased to the nearly control level in B. campestris but still remained by 38%, in E. napus. Even though $H_2O_2$ content in hypocotyl fraction was decreased only 2% in B. napus during cold shock, while in B. campestris it was severely decreased about 15%. On the other hand, the cold shock at 3 days after Uniconazole treatment was more effective in increase of peroxidase activity than each separate treatment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2013.10a
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• pp.686-686
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• 2013

Automotive turbochargers have become common in gasoline engines as well as diesel engines. They are excellent devices to effectively increase fuel efficiency and power of the engines, but they unfortunately cause several noise problems. The noises are classified into mechanical noises induced from movement of a rotating shaft and aerodynamic noises by air flow in turbochargers. In addition to, there is a mechanical noise caused from movement of an actuator, electronically controlling a wastegate valve. It is called as valve rattle noise. The actuator is connected to a valve through a linkage. The noise occurs only if the valve is open, where the linkage is freely contact to neighbor structures without being constrained by any external forces. This condition allows impacts by the pulsation of exhaust gas, and the vibration from the impacts spreads out through turbine housing, causing the rattle noise. The noise is not in mechanical operating wastegate turbochargers because the linkage of an actuator is strongly connected by actuating force. For the electronic wastegate turbocharger, this paper proposed a test device to show the noise generating mechanism with a small vibration motor having an unbalanced shaft. It also shows how to reduce the noise - reduction of linkage clearances, inserting wave washers into a connection, and applying loose fitting in bushing embracing a valve lever to turbine housing.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.1709-1716
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• 2007

The health benefits of garlic (Allium sativum L.) are derived from a wide variety of components and from the different ways it is administered. The known health benefits of garlic include cardiovascular protective effects, stimulation of immune function, reduction of blood glucose level, protection against microbial, viral and fungal infections, as well as anticancer effects. In the present study, it was examined the effects of water extract of A. sativum (WEAS) on the growth of cultured human tumor cells in order to investigate its anti-proliferative mechanism. Treatment of WEAS to tumor cells resulted in the growth inhibition, especially in leukemia cells, which was associated with induction of G2/M arrest of the cell cycle and apoptosis. In order to further explore the critical events leading to apoptosis in WEAS-treated U937 human leukemia cells, the following effects of WEAS on components of the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway were examined: generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), alteration of the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), and the expression changes of Bcl-2 and IAP family proteins. The cytotoxic effect of WEAS was mediated by its induction of apoptosis as characterized by the occurrence of DNA ladders, apoptotic bodies and chromosome condensation in U937 cells. The WEAS-induced apoptosis in U937 cells was correlated with the generation of intracellular ROS, collapse of MMP, activation of caspase-3 and down-regulation of anti-apoptotic proteins. The quenching of ROS generation with antioxidant N-acetyl-L-cysteine conferred significant protection against WEAS-elicited ROS generation, caspase-3 activation, G2/M arrest and apoptosis. In conclusion, the present study reveals that the cellular ROS generation plays a pivotal role in the initiation of WEAS-triggered apoptotic death in U937 cells.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.66-75
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• 2020

Saturated fatty acids contribute to β-cell dysfunction in the onset of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Cellular responses to lipotoxicity include oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and blockage of autophagy. Palmitate induces ER Ca²⁺ depletion followed by notable store-operated Ca²⁺ entry. Subsequent elevation of cytosolic Ca²⁺ can activate undesirable signaling pathways culminating in cell death. Mitochondrial Ca²⁺ uniporter (MCU) is the major route for Ca²⁺ uptake into the matrix and couples metabolism with insulin secretion. However, it has been unclear whether mitochondrial Ca²⁺ uptake plays a protective role or contributes to lipotoxicity. Here, we observed palmitate upregulated MCU protein expression in a mouse clonal β-cell, MIN6, under normal glucose, but not high glucose medium. Palmitate elevated baseline cytosolic Ca²⁺ concentration ([Ca²⁺]_i) and reduced depolarization-triggered Ca²⁺ influx likely due to the inactivation of voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channels (VGCCs). Targeted reduction of MCU expression using RNA interference abolished mitochondrial superoxide production but exacerbated palmitate-induced [Ca²⁺]_i overload. Consequently, MCU knockdown aggravated blockage of autophagic degradation. In contrast, co-treatment with verapamil, a VGCC inhibitor, prevented palmitate-induced basal [Ca²⁺]_i elevation and defective [Ca²⁺]_i transients. Extracellular Ca²⁺ chelation as well as VGCC inhibitors effectively rescued autophagy defects and cytotoxicity. These observations suggest enhanced mitochondrial Ca²⁺ uptake via MCU upregulation is a mechanism by which pancreatic β-cells are able to alleviate cytosolic Ca²⁺ overload and its detrimental consequences.

• Proceedings of the Ginseng society Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.66-83
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• 2002

Recently, we have provided evidence that ginsenosides, the active components of Panax ginseng, utilize pertussis toxin (PTX)-insensitive $G{\alpha}_{q/11}-phospholipase\;C-{\beta}3(PLC-{\beta}3)$ signal transduction pathway for the enhancement of $Ca^{2+}-activated\;Cl^{-}$ current in the Xenopus oocyte (British J. Pharmacol. 132, 641-647, 2001; JBC 276, 48797-48802, 2001). Other investigators have shown that stimulation of receptors linked to $G{\alpha}-PLC$ pathway inhibits the activity of G proteincoupled inwardly rectifying $K^+$ (GIRK) channel. In the present study, we sought to determine whether ginsenosides influenced the activity of GIRK 1 and GIRK 4 (GIRK 1/4) channels expressed in the Xenopus oocyte, and if so, the underlying signal transduction mechanism. In oocyte injected with GIRK 1/4 channel cRNAs, bath-applied ginsenosides inhibited high potassium (HK) solution-elicited GIRK current $(EC_{50}:4.9{\pm}4.3\;{\mu}g/ml).$ Pretreatment of the oocyte with PTX reduced the HK solution-elicited GIRK current by $49\%,$ but it did not alter the inhibitory ginsenoside effect on GIRK current. Prior intraoocyte injection of cRNA(s) coding $G{\alpha}_q,\;G{\alpha}_{11}\;or\;G{\alpha}_q/G{\alpha}_{11},\;but\;not\;G{\alpha}_{i2}\;or\;G{\alpha}_{oA}$ attenuated the inhibitory ginsenoside effect. Injection of cRNAs coding $G{\beta}_{1{\gamma}2}$ also attenuated the ginsenoside effect. Similarly, injection of the cRNAs coding regulators of G protein signaling 1, 2 and 4 (RGS1, RGS2 and RGS4), which interact with $G{\alpha}_i\;and/or\;G{\alpha}_{q/11}$ and stimulates the hydrolysis of GTP to GDP in active GTP-bound $G{\alpha}$ subunit, resulted in a significant reduction of ginsenoside effect on GIRK current. Preincubation of GIRK channel-expressing oocyte in PLC inhibitor (U73122) or protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor (staurosporine or chelerythrine) blocked the inhibitory ginsenoside effect on GIRK current. On the other hand, intraoocyte injection of BAPTA, a free $Ca^{2+}$ chelator, had no significant effect on the ginsenoside action. Taken together, these results suggest that ginsenosides inhibit the activity of GIRK 1/4 channel expressed in the Xenopus oocyte through a PTX-insensitive and $G{\alpha}_{q/11}$-,PLC-and PKC-mediated signal transduction pathway.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.46-53
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• 2015

Background: Glucocorticoids (GCs) are commonly used in many chemotherapeutic protocols and play an important role in the normal regulation of bone remodeling. However, the prolonged use of GCs results in osteoporosis, which is partially due to apoptosis of osteoblasts and osteocytes. In this study, effects of Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) on GC-treated murine osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells and a GC-induced osteoporosis mouse model were investigated. Methods: MC3T3-E1 cells were exposed to dexamethasone (Dex) with or without KRG and cell viability was measured by the 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Realtime polymerase chain reaction was performed to evaluate the apoptotic gene expression; osteogenic gene expression and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity were also measured. Western blotting was performed to evaluate the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) proteins. A GC-induced osteoporosis animal model was used for in vivo study. Results and conclusion: The MTT assay revealed that Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) prevents loss of cell viability caused by Dex-induced apoptosis in MC3T3E1 cells. Real-time polymerase chain reaction data showed that groups treated with both Dex and KRG exhibited lower mRNA levels of caspase-3 and -9, whereas the mRNA levels of Bcl2, IAPs, and XIAP increased. Moreover, groups treated with both Dex and KRG demonstrated increased mRNA levels of ALP, RUNX2, and bone morphogenic proteins as well as increased ALP activity in MC3T3-E1 cells, compared to cells treated with Dex only. In addition, KRG increased protein kinase B (AKT) phosphorylation and decreased c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) phosphorylation. Moreover, microcomputed tomography analysis of the femurs showed that GC implantation caused trabecular bone loss. However, a significant reduction of bone loss was observed in the KRG-treated group. These results suggest that the molecular mechanism of KRG in the GC-induced apoptosis may lead to the development of therapeutic strategies to prevent and/or delay osteoporosis.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.62-69
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• 2014

In the results of monitoring nitrate concentration in more than 8,000 groundwater wells around agro-livestock, the average and maximum nitrate concentration was 9.4 mg/L and 101.2 mg/L, respectively. Since about 31% of the monitoring wells was exceed the quality standard for drinking water, nitrate control such as remediation or source regulation is required to conserve safe-groundwater in South Korea. Typical nitrate-treatment technologies include ion exchange, reverse osmosis, and biological denitrification. Among the treatment methods, biological denitrification by indigenous microorganism has environmental and economic advantages for the complete elimination of nitrate because of lower operating costs compared to other methods. Major mechanism of the process is microbial reduction of nitrate to nitrite and nitrogen gas. Three functional genes (nosZ, nirK, nirS) that encode for the enzyme involved in the pathway. In this work, we tried to develop simple process to determine possibility of natural denitrification reaction by monitoring the functional gene. For the work, the functional genes in nitrate-contaminated groundwater were monitored by using PCR with specific target primers. In the result, functional genes (nosZ and nirK) encoding denitrification enzymes were detected in the groundwater samples. This method can help to determine the possibility of natural-nitrate degradation in target groundwater wells without multiplex experimental process. In addition, for field-remediation application we selected nitrate-contaminated site where 200~600 mg/L of nitrate is continuously detected. To determine the possibility of nitrate-degradation by stimulated-natural attenuation, groundwater was sampled in two different wells of the site and nitrate concentration of the samples was 300 mg/L and 616 mg/L, respectively. Fumarate for different C/N ratio was added into microcosm bottles containing the groundwater to examine denitrification rate depending on carbon concentration. In the result, once 1.5 times more than amount of fumarate stoichiometry required was added, the 616 mg/L of nitrate and 300 mg/L of nitrate were completely degraded in 8 days and 30 days. The nitrite, byproduct of denitrification process, was also completely degraded during the experimental period.