• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.417-422
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• 2021

In this study, poly isocyanurate foam (PIR), poly urethane foam (PUR), and phenol foam (PF) of organic insulation materials were selected, and investigated using a cone calorimeter, as per ISO 5660-1. Standard materials (PMMA) were used to standardize the fire hazard assessment, and the fire risk was classified and evaluated by Chung's equations-III and IV. The fire performance index-II value of Chung's equations-II was the highest value with PF of 14.77 s²/kW. And the PUR was 0.08 s²/kW, the lowest value of fire performance index-II value. The fire growth index-II value was the lowest value with PF of 0.01 kW/s². And the PUR was 1.14 kW/s², the highest value of fire growth index-II value. The fire performance index-III (FPI-III) of Chung's equations-III had the lowest value for PUR (0.11) and the highest for PF (20.23). The PUR showed the highest value of the fire growth index-III (FGI-III) as 14.25, while the PF exhibited 0.13 regarded as the safest materials. The fire risk index-IV (FRI-IV) value of Chung's equation-IV was in the following order: PUR (130.03) >> PIR (19.13) > PMMA (1.00) > PF (0.01). Therefore, it was concluded that the fire risk associated with PF is the lowest, whereas that associated with PUR is the highest.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.2107-2113
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• 2014

Particle filtering (PF) has shown its outperforming results compared to that of classical Kalman filtering (KF), particularly for highly nonlinear problems. However, PF may not be universally superior to the extended KF (EKF) although the case (i.e. an example that the EKF outperforms PF) is seldom reported in the literature. Particularly, PF approaches show degraded performance for problems where the state noise is very small or zero. This is because particles become identical within a few iterations, which is so called particle impoverishment (PI) phenomenon; consequently, no matter how many particles are employed, we do not have particle diversity regardless of if the impoverished particle is close to the true state value or not. In this paper, we investigate this PI phenomenon, and show an example problem where a classical KF approach outperforms PF approaches in terms of mean squared error (MSE) criterion. Furthermore, we compare the processing speed of the EKF and PF approaches, and show the better speed performance of classical EKF approaches. Therefore, PF approaches may not be always better option than the classical EKF for nonlinear problems. Specifically, we show the outperforming result of unscented Kalman filter compared to that of PF approaches (which are shown in Fig. 7(c) for processing speed performance, and Fig. 6 for MSE performance in the paper).

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2018.10a
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• pp.122-122
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• 2018

We previously showed that the root extract of Paeonia lactiflora might have anti-inflammatory effects. Paeoniflorin (PF) has been identified as one of the main bioactive components of Paeonia lactiflora, however its role has been well characterized. In this study, we tested whether PF and its derivatives, which is removed the hydroxy group from PF, might have anti-inflammatory effects. In the Nitric Oxide assay, PF and Paeoniflorin's derivative (PFD) showed 55% and 56% more anti-inflammatory effect, compared to LPS control, respectively at 250ug/ml. To further confirm, we examined the effect of PF on tyrosine phosphorylation of Erk MAP Kinase. It is well established that tyrosine phosphorylation of Erk MAP Kinase is related to NF-kB mediated inflammation pathway. We therefore examined whther PF and PFD might regulate Erk activity. PF and PFD showed 35% and 22% less tyrosine phosphorylation compared to Paeonia lactiflora Red Charm extract control, respectively at 500ug/ml. Taken together, these results suggest that PF and PFD may play a role in anti-inflammatory effects in the root extract of Paeonia lactiflora. This study will provide the basis to develop a platform for the inflammation-mediated diseases therapeutics in the near future.

• Mycobiology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.126-133
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• 2019

Isaria javanica pf185 is an important entomopathogenic fungus with potential for use as an agricultural biocontrol agent. However, the effect of I. javanica pf185 on plant growth is unknown. Enhanced tobacco growth was observed when tobacco roots were exposed to spores, cultures, and fungal cell-free culture supernatants of this fungus. Tobacco seedlings were also exposed to the volatiles of I. javanica pf185 in vitro using I-plates in which the plant and fungus were growing in separate compartments connected only by air space. The length and weight of seedlings, content of leaf chlorophyll, and number of root branches were significantly increased by the fungal volatiles. Heptane, 3-hexanone, 2,4-dimethylhexane, and 2-nonanone were detected, by solid-phase micro-extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometry, as the key volatile compounds produced by I. javanica pf185. These findings illustrate that I. javanica pf185 can be used to promote plant growth, and also as a biocontrol agent of insect and plant diseases. Further studies are necessary to elucidate the mechanisms by which I. javanica pf185 promotes plant growth.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.593-605
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• 2020

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Alzheimer's disease is common age-related neurodegenerative condition characterized by amyloid beta (Aβ) accumulation that leads cognitive impairment. In the present study, we investigated the protective effect of paeoniflorin (PF) against Aβ-induced neuroinflammation and the underlying mechanism in C6 glial cells. MATERIALS/METHODS: C6 glial cells were treated with PF and Aβ_25-35, and cell viability, nitric oxide (NO) production, and pro-inflammatory cytokine release were measured. Furthermore, the mechanism underlying the effect of PF on inflammatory responses and Aβ degradation was determined by Western blot. RESULTS: Aβ_25-35 significantly reduced cell viability, but this reduction was prevented by the pretreatment with PF. In addition, PF significantly inhibited Aβ_25-35-induced NO production in C6 glial cells. The secretion of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1β, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha was also significantly reduced by PF. Further mechanistic studies indicated that PF suppressed the production of these pro-inflammatory cytokines by regulating the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) pathway. The protein levels of inducible NO synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 were downregulated and phosphorylation of NF-κB was blocked by PF. However, PF elevated the protein expression of inhibitor kappa B-alpha and those of Aβ degrading enzymes, insulin degrading enzyme and neprilysin. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that PF exerts protective effects against Aβ-mediated neuroinflammation by inhibiting NF-κB signaling, and these effects were associated with the enhanced activity of Aβ degradation enzymes.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.371-378
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• 2011

Juvenile red seabream (mean body weight 29.0 g) were reared in recirculating culture systems with three different biofilter media, sand (SF), polystyrene microbeads (PF), and Kaldnes beads (KF). The efficiencies of the three different biofilter media were also tested. The SF was fluidized, and the PF and KF were trickled. All treatments were duplicated. The volumetric removal rates of total ammonia nitrogen by SF, PF, and KF were 193.8, 183.9, and 142.6 g $m^{-3}day^{-1}$, respectively, and those of nitrite nitrogen ($NO_2$-N) were 113.4, 105.9, and 85.8 g $m^{-3}day^{-1}$, respectively. The TAN and $NO_2$-N removal rates of KF were lower than those of SF and PF (P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference in these rates between SF and PF (P > 0.05). Among the biofilters used, only KF showed total suspended solid (TSS) removal capacity. The TSS removal efficiencies of SF and PF were negative. The growth rates of fish in SF were significantly higher than those in KF but not higher than those in PF. There was no difference in growth rate between fish in PF and KF. The specific growth rate and feed conversion efficiency of red seabreams in KF were lower than those in SF and PF, but there were no significant differences between SF and PF. These results indicate that sand and polystyrene microbeads are recommended for red seabream culture in a recirculating system.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2011

Prompt and accurate diagnosis of malaria is the key to prevent disease morbidity and mortality. This study was carried out to evaluate diagnostic performance of 3 commercial rapid detection tests (RDTs), i.e., Malaria Antigen Pf/Pan$^{TM}$, Malaria Ag-Pf$^{TM}$, and Malaria Ag-Pv$^{TM}$ tests, in comparison with the microscopic and PCR methods. A total of 460 blood samples microscopically positive for Plasmodium falciparum (211 samples), P. vivax (218), mixed with P. falciparum and P. vivax (30), or P. ovale (1), and 124 samples of healthy subjects or patients with other fever-related infections, were collected. The sensitivities of Malaria Ag-Pf$^{TM}$ and Malaria Antigen Pf/Pan$^{TM}$ compared with the microscopic method for P. falciparum or P. vivax detection were 97.6% and 99.0%, or 98.6% and 99.0%, respectively. The specificities of Malaria Ag-Pf$^{TM}$, Malaria Ag-Pv$^{TM}$, and Malaria Antigen Pf/Pan$^{TM}$ were 93.3%,98.8%, and 94.4%, respectively. The sensitivities of Malaria Ag-Pf$^{TM}$, Malaria Antigen Pf/Pan$^{TM}$, and microscopic method, when PCR was used as a reference method for P. falciparum or P. vivax detection were 91.8%, 100%, and 96.7%, or 91.9%,92.6%, and 97.3%, respectively. The specificities of Malaria Ag-Pf$^{TM}$, Malaria Ag-Pv$^{TM}$, Malaria Antigen Pf/Pan$^{TM}$, and microscopic method were 66.2%, 92.7%, 73.9%, and 78.2%, respectively. Results indicated that the diagnostic performances of all the commercial RDTs are satisfactory for application to malaria diagnosis.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.10 no.8
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• pp.1789-1794
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• 2009

In the present study, the cooling performance characteristics on environment changes of A/C applied fin-tube and PF heat exchangers were experimentally investigated. Capacity and COP on an air velocity, an indoor/outdoor temperature and an indoor/outdoor relative humidity were obtained. Fin types of PF heat exchanger were a triangler and squarer form. The experimental data for the three kinds of heat exchangers were measured using the air-enthalpy calorimeter. Performance of PF A/C was more excellent than that of a fin-tube A/C. Also, the performance of PF-2 A/C with the squarer fin was more excellent than that of PF-1 A/C with the triangler fin. As the air velocity, the indoor temperature and the indoor relative humidity increase, capacity and COP increase. And as outdoor temperature increases, capacity and COP decrease. But, the performance change on the outdoor relative humidity was insignificant.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.63-70
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• 2017

Native fluorescent pseudomonas bacteria were isolated from rhizosphere soil of mulberry and were evaluated against powdery mildew. In vitro conidial germination study showed significant (P<0.05) variation in conidial germination by bacterial strains Pf1 and Pf3. Mildew incidence was significantly varied due to treatment with various pseudomonas strains in vivo. Significantly (P<0.05) less mildew incidence was in plants treated with the bacterial strain Pf1 (9.11%) followed by Pf3 (13.48%) controlling 69.40% and 54.75% respectively compared with untreated control. Similarly, mildew severity was least (8.51%) in plants treated with strain Pf1 followed by Pf5 (9.23%) and Pf3 (9.72%) controlling the severity by 84.51%, 77.01% and 71.96% respectively compared with control. The bacterial strains significantly influenced biochemical constituents such as chlorophyll, protein and soluble sugar content of the mulberry leaf. Similarly, bacterial strains significantly increased the activity of the peroxidase (PO) and Polyphenol oxydase (PPO) activity from $7^{th}$ day up to the $28^{th}$ day after treatment. The strain Pf1, Pf3 and Pf5 exhibited a marked enhancement in the peroxidase at different periods of infection. Significant (P<0.01) negative correlation was found between powdery mildew severity with phenol content ($R^2=0.67$) as well as peroxidase ($R^2=0.92$) and polyphenol oxidase ($R^2=0.72$) activity thus confirms induction of systemic resistance in mulberry by pseudomonas bacteria. The study shows scope for exploration of rhizosphere fluorescent pseudomonas bacteria for induction of systemic resistance in mulberry to contain powdery mildew disease effectively.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.261-274
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• 2024

Purpose: Recently, high-protein diets have become highly popular, and the market for protein products has steadily increased in Korea together with the development of various types of such products. However, there is limited information on the consumption of protein supplements (PS) or protein-fortified foods (PF). Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the use of PS/PF among young adults in Jeju. Methods: A total of 350 adults (140 men and 210 women) aged 19-39 years voluntarily participated in this study from June 2022 to May 2023. PS/PF use was measured using a questionnaire. Dietary intake was assessed using a 24-hour dietary recall. Results: Approximately 31.4% of the participants (n = 110) had consumed PS/PF for more than 2 weeks during the past year and 71.8% of them (n = 79) were still consuming these products (PS/PF consumers). The PS/PF consumers tended to be male and physically active (p < 0.05 for all). The most frequent reason for PS/PF use was muscle gain (59.5%), followed by protein supplementation (19.0%) and body fat loss (13.9%), and the most frequent type of PS/PF consumed was powders (70.6%), followed by drinks (17.7%) and bars (8.8%). The PS/PF consumers tended to consume a high-protein low-carbohydrate diet compared to the non-consumers. The prevalence of consuming dietary protein less than the estimated average requirement (EAR) was significantly lower in PS/PF consumers (13.9%) compared to non-consumers (25.4%; p = 0.0316). Conclusion: These findings indicate that the necessity of protein supplementation should be determined based on the current dietary protein intake and individual requirements. The study also provides the basic information for establishing guidelines for appropriate protein intake.