• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.97-102
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• 2007

Though the stability analysis of soil slopes widely employs the limit equilibrium method, the study on the jointed rock slopes must consider the direction of joint and the characteristics of Joint at the same time. This study analyzes the result of the change in the factors which show the characteristics of discontinuity and the shape factor of rock slopes, and so on, in an attempt to validate the propriety as to the interpretation of jointed rock slope stability which uses the general finite element program. First, the difference depending on the flow rules was compared, and the factor effect study was conducted. The selected independent variables included the direction of joint which displays the mechanical characteristics of discontinuity, adhesive cohesion, friction angle, the inclination and height of rock slope which reveal the shape of slope and surcharge load. And the horizontal displacement was numerically interpreted at the 1/3 point below the slope, a dependent variable, to compare the relative degree of factor effects. The findings of study on factor effects led to the validation that the result of horizontal displacement for each factor satisfied various engineering characteristics, making it possible to be applied to stability interpretation of jointed rock slope. A modelling is possible, which considers the application of the result of real geotechnical surveys & laboratory studies and the non-linear characteristics when designing the rock slope. In addition, the stress change which may result from the natural disaster, such as precipitation, and the construction, can be expressed. Furthermore, as the complicated rock condition and the ground supporting effect can be considered through FEM, it is considered to be very useful in making an engineering decision on the cut-slope, reinforcement and so on.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.70-77
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• 2023

Air environment regulations have been strengthened due to increasing air pollutant emissions, the target of reducing emissions has increased and interest in gas measurement methods is also increasing. The sampling method is mainly used, but due to the spatial and temporal measurement limitations, the laser absorption spectroscopy which is a real-time and in-situ method is in the spotlight. In this study, we studied the wavelength modulation spectroscopy and described the calibration-free algorithm. The developed algorithm was modified to reflect 46 multi-absorption lines and was applied to light absorption signal analysis in visible and mid-infrared regions. In addition, the difference between the modulation parameters of laser was analyzed. As a result of reviewing the performance through O₂ and NO gas measurement experiments of various concentration conditions, the linearity was R²_O2=0.99999 and R²_NO=0.99967.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.18-25
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• 2022

MOF strengthen the law and institutions for safety management after the capsize accident of passenger ship "Sewol" on April 16, 2014. Nevertheless, about 13 cases of marine accidents such as collisions, contact, and stranding have occurred in coastal passenger ships over the past 5 years. Particularly, according to the judgment of KMST, most of the main causes of passenger ship accidents occurred within harbor areas because of the master's improper ship-handling or inattention. And so, this study analyzed four cases of marine accidents on passenger ships that occurred in the port areas and examined the environmental, institutional, material, and human factors that contributed to the master's improper ship-handling and behavior, and the results are as follows. First, as an environmental factor, the size of the turning basin was not enough. Second, as an institutional factor, the VTS control was not properly supported, the master lacked sufficient training for safe ship-handling in the port area and up-to-date charts were not provided. Third, as a material factor, the digital type speed log capable of the ship's speed in real-time was not installed on the ship's wing bridge. Lastly, as a human factor, the master could not take proper bridge resources and the passage plan was not proper. Therefore, it is suggested in this paper that the size of the turning basin should be adjusted to meet the prescribed standards, the master of passenger ships should receive the ship-handling simulation training among other safety training to ensure safe ship-handling of the master in the port area as improvement measures.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.2.1-2.18
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• 2022

Background: Co-infections of the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) and the Haemophilus parasuis (HPS) are severe in Chinese pigs, but the immune response genes against co-infected with 2 pathogens in the lungs have not been reported. Objectives: To understand the effect of PRRSV and/or HPS infection on the genes expression associated with lung immune function. Methods: The expression of the immune-related genes was analyzed using RNA-sequencing and bioinformatics. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected and identified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), immunohistochemistry (IHC) and western blotting assays. Results: All experimental pigs showed clinical symptoms and lung lesions. RNA-seq analysis showed that 922 DEGs in co-challenged pigs were more than in the HPS group (709 DEGs) and the PRRSV group (676 DEGs). Eleven DEGs validated by qRT-PCR were consistent with the RNA sequencing results. Eleven common Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways related to infection and immune were found in single-infected and co-challenged pigs, including autophagy, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, and antigen processing and presentation, involving different DEGs. A model of immune response to infection with PRRSV and HPS was predicted among the DEGs in the co-challenged pigs. Dual oxidase 1 (DUOX1) and interleukin-21 (IL21) were detected by IHC and western blot and showed significant differences between the co-challenged pigs and the controls. Conclusions: These findings elucidated the transcriptome changes in the lungs after PRRSV and/or HPS infections, providing ideas for further study to inhibit ROS production and promote pulmonary fibrosis caused by co-challenging with PRRSV and HPS.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.122-133
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• 2022

The aim of this study was to investigating whether lncRNA H19 promotes myocardial fibrosis by suppressing the miR-29a-3p/miR-29b-3p-VEGFA/TGF-β axis. Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and healthy volunteers were included in the study, and their biochemical parameters were collected. In addition, pcDNA3.1-H19, si-H19, and miR-29a/b-3p mimic/inhibitor were transfected into cardiac fibroblasts (CFs), and proliferation of CFs was detected by MTT assay. Expression of H19 and miR-29a/b-3p were detected using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and expression of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), collagen I, collagen II, matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), and elastin were measured by western blot analysis. The dual luciferase reporter gene assay was carried out to detect the sponging relationship between H19 and miR-29a/b-3p in CFs. Compared with healthy volunteers, the level of plasma H19 was significantly elevated in patients with AF, while miR-29a-3p and miR-29b-3p were markedly depressed (P < 0.05). Serum expression of lncRNA H19 was negatively correlated with the expression of miR-29a-3p and miR-29b-3p among patients with AF (r_s = -0.337, r_s = -0.236). Moreover, up-regulation of H19 expression and down-regulation of miR-29a/b-3p expression facilitated proliferation and synthesis of extracellular matrix (ECM)-related proteins. SB431542 and si-VEGFA are able to reverse the promotion of miR-29a/b-3p on proliferation of CFs and ECM-related protein synthesis. The findings of the present study suggest that H19 promoted CF proliferation and collagen synthesis by suppressing the miR-29a-3p/miR-29b-3p-VEGFA/TGF-β axis, and provide support for a potential new direction for the treatment of AF.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.430-440
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• 2023

The type three secretion system (T3SS) is a major virulence system of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa). The effector protein Exotoxin S (ExoS) produced by P. aeruginosa is secreted into the host cells via the T3SS. For the purpose of an experiment on inhibitors with regard to ExoS secretion, we developed a sandwich-type enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system. Quercetin was selected because it has a prominent ExoS inhibition effect and also is known to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects on mammalian cells. In this study, we investigated the effects of quercetin on the expression and secretion of ExoS using ELISA and Western blot analysis methods. The results showed that the secretion of ExoS was significantly decreased by 10 and 20 µM of quercetin. Also, popB, popD, pscF, and pcrV which are composed of the T3SS needle, are reduced by quercetin at the mRNA level. We also confirmed the inhibitory effect of quercetin on cytokines (IL-6, IL-1β, and IL-18) in P. aeruginosa-infected H292 cells by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and ELISA. Collectively, quercetin inhibits the secretion of ExoS by reducing both ExoS production and the expression of the needle protein of T3SS. Furthermore, these results suggest that quercetin has the potential to be used as an anti-toxic treatment for the inflammatory disease caused by P. aeruginosa infection.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.1327-1339
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• 2022

Objective: Fat deposition in poultry is an important factor in production performance and meat quality research. miRNAs also play important roles in regulating adipocyte differentiation process. This study was to investigate the expression patterns of miRNAs in duck adipocytes after differentiation and explore the role of miR-214 in regulating carnitine palmitoyltransferases 2 (CPT2) gene expression during duck adipocyte differentiation. Methods: Successful systems for the isolation, culture, and induction of duck primary fat cells was developed in the experiment. Using Illumina next-generation sequencing, the miRNAs libraries of duck adipocytes were established. miRanda was used to predict differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs and their target genes. The expression patterns of miR-214 and CPT2 during the differentiation were verified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot. Luciferase reporter assays were used to explore the specific regions of CPT2 targeted by miR-214. We used a miR-214 over-expression strategy in vitro to further investigate its effect on differentiation process and CPT2 gene transcription. Results: There were 481 miRNAs identified in duck adipocytes, included 57 DE miRNA candidates. And the 1,046 targets genes of DE miRNAs were mainly involved in p53 signaling, FoxO signaling, and fatty acid metabolism pathways. miR-214 and CPT2 showed contrasting expression patterns before and after differentiation, and they were selected for further research. The expression of miR-214 was decreased during the first 3 days of duck adipocytes differentiation, and then increased, while the expression of CPT2 increased both in the transcriptional and protein level. The luciferase assay suggested that miR-214 targets the 3'untranslated region of CPT2. Overexpression of miR-214 not only promoted the formation of lipid droplets but also decreased the protein abundance of CPT2. Conclusion: Current study reports the expression profile of miRNAs in duck adipocytes differentiated for 4 days. And miR-214 has been proved to have the regulator potential for fat deposition in duck.

• Journal of Practical Engineering Education
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.439 -447
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• 2023

This paper aims to develop a map for optimized class space using ZEP among the metaverse platforms. As a research method, the classroom space was organized so that the subject of learning became a learner, and the classroom space was modified and supplemented to optimize while being applied to elementary school computer classes. The contents of the study investigated learners' prior perception of metaverse, and compared and analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of the metaverse platform. In addition, the map was designed by reflecting the results of the survey, and after applying the map to the class, necessary APIs and apps were installed to supplement it. As a result, the learner became the subject of learning in the metaverse space, freely identified the space, and actively participated in the class. In particular, we found that students who were passive offline and those who had a low participation rate due to lack of skills participated more actively. In particular, students who were passive offline or whose participation was low due to lack of skills participated more actively. If API and JavaScript programs are added to collect log data of learners for learning analysis, real-time feedback is possible for learners, and learner feedback is possible for instructors with statistical data. If this is possible, the metaverse space can fully expect the role of a learning assistant for learners and a teaching assistant for instructors.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.323-330
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• 2023

The development of an analysis model that reflects the microstructure characteristics of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber-reinforced cementitious composites, which have a highly complex microstructure, enables synergy between efficient material design and real experiments. PVA fiber orientations are an important factor that influences the mechanical behavior of PVA fiber-reinforced cementitious composites. Owing to the difficulty in distinguishing the gray level value obtained from micro-CT images of PVA fibers from adjacent phases, fiber segmentation is time-consuming work. In this study, a micro-CT test with a voxel size of 0.65 ㎛³ was performed to investigate the three-dimensional distribution of fibers. To segment the fibers and generate training data, histogram, morphology, and gradient-based phase-segmentation methods were used. A U-net model was proposed to segment fibers from micro-CT images of PVA fiber-reinforced cementitious composites. Data augmentation was applied to increase the accuracy of the training, using a total of 1024 images as training data. The performance of the model was evaluated using accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score. The trained model achieved a high fiber segmentation performance and efficiency, and the approach can be applied to other specimens as well.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.6_1
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• pp.1195-1210
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• 2023

Coastal debris has emerged as a salient issue due to its adverse effects on coastal aesthetics, ecological systems, and human health. In pursuit of effective countermeasures, the present study delineated the construction of a specialized image dataset for coastal debris detection and embarked on a comparative analysis between two paramount real-time object detection algorithms, YOLOv8 and RT-DETR. Rigorous assessments of robustness under multifarious conditions were instituted, subjecting the models to assorted distortion paradigms. YOLOv8 manifested a detection accuracy with a mean Average Precision (mAP) value ranging from 0.927 to 0.945 and an operational speed between 65 and 135 Frames Per Second (FPS). Conversely, RT-DETR yielded an mAP value bracket of 0.917 to 0.918 with a detection velocity spanning 40 to 53 FPS. While RT-DETR exhibited enhanced robustness against color distortions, YOLOv8 surpassed resilience under other evaluative criteria. The implications derived from this investigation are poised to furnish pivotal directives for algorithmic selection in the practical deployment of marine debris monitoring systems.