• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.615-624
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• 2005

The cPCR technique was used to monitor rumen fermentation and attachment of Fibrobacter succinogenes to cellulose at different pH in the in vitro culture medium. The target fragments of 16S rDNA(445 bp) were amplified from genomic DNA of F. succinogenes with specific primers and internal controls(205 bp) were constructed. Cell counts were estimated from the amounts of genomic DNA, which was calculated from cPCR results. F. succinogenes in pH 6.8 and 6.2 showed apparently higher attachment than in pH 5.8 during all incubation time. There were some difference between pH 6.8 and 6.2 in the degree of attachment, but the different was not significant (P>0.05). Cellulose degradation increased in process of incubation time and the increasing rate was higher when initial pH was higher. The pH in culture medium decreased regardless of initial pH in course of incubation time. After 24 h of incubation, medium pH was dropped by 0.24, 0.58 and 0.16 units from original medium pH 6.8, 6.2 and 5.8, respectively. More gas was produced at higher initial pH in the same manner as in cellulose degradation. In summery, Initial pH of rumen culture in vitro significantly influenced cellulose digestion, gas production, pH change and bacterial attachment. Especially, low pH(5.8) resulted in much lower bacterial attachment and fiber digestion compared to higher medium pH.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.636-642
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• 2007

Background: CpG DNA plays an important role in immune cell function. This study examined whether the temporal control of toll-like receptor (TLR)9 by CpG DNA can regulate the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9(MMP-9). Methods and materials: Macrophages were cultured in the presence of 10% FBS. For the various MMP genes analysis, RT-PCR and real-time PCR were performed. In addition, zymography assay performed for the MMP activity. The phosphorylation assay did for the ERK1/2 and NF${\kappa}B$ activation, and luciferase promoter assay was for the NF${\kappa}B$ activity. Results: CpG DNA induced the mRNA expression of MMP-2, MMP-9, and MMP-13, but not of MMP-7, MMP-8, and MMP-12, in a time-dependent manner. Especially, the mRNA expression of MMP-9 was strongly induced by CpG DNA using real-time RT-PCR. The TLR9 inhibitor, chloroquine, suppressed CpG DNA-induced MMP-9 expression and its activity. Moreover, CpG DNA induced the phosphorylation of ERK and the inhibition of ERK by U0126 suppressed CpG DNA-induced MMP-9 expression and its activity. CpG DNA stimulated $I{\kappa}B-{\alpha}$ degradation and luciferase activity. In addition, pretreatment of SN-50, the inhibitor of NF${\kappa}B$, strongly blocked the CpG DNA-induced MMP-9 expression and activity. Conclusion: These observations suggest that CpG DNA may play important roles in the activation of macrophages by regulating the production of MMP-9 via the sequential TLR9-ERK-NF${\kappa}B$ signaling pathway.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.33-41
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• 2012

The aim of the study is to investigate the method to estimate a shelf life of KM6 single base propellant by stochastic gamma process model. The state failure level is assumed that the degradation content of stabilizer is below 0.8%. The constant of time dependent shape function and the scale parameter of stationary gamma process are estimated by moment method. The state distribution at each storage time can be shown from probability density function of deterioration. It is estimated that the $B_{10}$ life, a time at which the cumulative failure probability is 10%, is 25 years and the $B_{50}$ life is 36 years from cumulative failure distribution function curve. The $B_{50}$ life can be treated as the average shelf life from the practical viewpoint and the lifetime can be expressed as distribution curve by using stochastic process theory.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.417-425
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• 2019

Storage snapshot technology allows to preserve data at a specific point in time, and recover and access data at a desired point in time. It is an essential technology for storage protection application. Existing snapshot methods have some problems in that they dependent on storage hardware vendor, file system or virtual block device. In this paper, we propose a new snapshot method for solving the problems and creating snapshots on-line. The proposed snapshot method uses a method of extracting the log records of update operations at the virtual file system layer to enable the snapshot method to operate independently on file systems, virtual block devices, and storage hardwares. In addition, the proposed snapshot mehod creates and manages snapshots for directories and files without interruption to the storage service. Finally, through experiments we measure the snapshot creation time and the performance degradation caused by the snapshot.

• Clean Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.61-68
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• 2008

There have been great attentions on polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) due to their advantageous characteristics such as zero emission of hazardous pollutant and high energy density. In this work, we evaluated degradation phenomena and stability of single cell performance via one dimensional single cell modeling. Here, CO poisoning on anode on anode was considered for cell performance degradation. Modeling results showed that the performance and stability were highly degraded with CO concentration in fuel gas. In addition, cell performance was reduced by slow oxygen reduction on cathode in long term operation. In order to overcome, it is required to increase ratio o#hydrogen in the fuel gas of anode and high Pt loading contained in the cathodic catalyst layer.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.531-546
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• 2017

Activation of Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR-4) in articular chondrocytes increases the catabolic compartment and leads to matrix degradation during the development of osteoarthritis. In this study, we determined the proteomic and genomic alterations in human chondrocytes during lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and consequences of TLR-4 activation. Human chondrocytes were cultured with LPS for 12, 24, and 36 h to induce TLR-4 activation. The TLR-4-induced inflammatory response was confirmed by real-time PCR analysis of increased interleukin-1 beta ($IL-1{\beta}$), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor alpha ($TNF-{\alpha}$) expression levels. In TLR-4-activated chondrocytes, proteomic changes were determined by two-dimensional electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectroscopy analysis, and genomic changes were determined by microarray and gene ontology analyses. Proteomics analysis identified 26 proteins with significantly altered expression levels; these proteins were related to the cytoskeleton and oxidative stress responses. Gene ontology analysis indicated that LPS treatment altered specific functional pathways including 'chemotaxis', 'hematopoietic organ development', 'positive regulation of cell proliferation', and 'regulation of cytokine biosynthetic process'. Nine of the 26 identified proteins displayed the same increased expression patterns in both proteomics and genomics analyses. Western blot analysis confirmed the LPS-induced increases in expression levels of lamin A/C and annexins 4/5/6. In conclusion, this study identified the time-dependent genomic, proteomic, and functional pathway alterations that occur in chondrocytes during LPS-induced TLR-4 activation. These results provide valuable new insights into the underlying mechanisms that control the development and progression of osteoarthritis.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.713-719
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• 2009

A natural wetland in the Nakdong River basin which effectively removes non-point source pollutants was investigated for 2 years to understand wetland topography, vegetation types, and water quality characteristics. The water depth of the natural wetland was in the range of 0.5~1.9 m which is suitable for the growth of non-emergent hydrophytes. The wetland has a high length to width ratio (3.3:1) and a relatively large wetland to watershed area ratio (0.057). A broad-crested weir at the outlet increases the retention time of the wetland whose hydrology is mainly dependent on storm events. The concentrations of dissolved oxygen in the growing season and the winter season showed anoxic and oxic conditions, respectively. Diurnal variations of DO and pH in the growing season were also observed due to weather change and submerged plants. COD and TP concentrations were low in the winter season due to low inflow rate and increased retention time. Increased TP concentrations in the spring season were caused by degradation of dead wetland plants. Nitrogen in the wetland was mostly in organic nitrogen form (>75%). During the growing season, ammonium concentration was high but nitrate nitrogen concentration was low, possibly due to anoxic and low pH conditions which are adverse conditions for ammonificaiton and nitrification. The results of this study can be used as preliminary data for design, operation, monitoring and management of a constructed wetland which is designed to treat diffuse pollutants in the Nakdong river watershed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Association of Geographic Inforamtion Studies Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.153-161
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• 2008

Agriculture and forest are basis for livelihood in Nepal while both sectors constitute around 40 percent of the national product and over two-thirds of the economically active population is dependent on agriculture. However, radical changes in land use, depletion in crops production and food availability are major threats due to loss of soil fertilityand severe environmental degradation. In this study, we used time series data from 1986/87 to 2005/06 about food crop production and population published by Government of Nepal, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and Central Bureau of Statistics. Descriptive statistics and ArcGIS were used to assess and map the food security status of Nepalese Terai based on the local food demand and supply system. Food supply to demand ratio(FSDR) was the main idea of assessment. Our results showed that out of 20 districts, only 8 districts were categorised under secured food districts whereas 5 districts were still under food unsecured situation. The analysis further revealed that 7 districts had faced food deficit more than 8-16 times during the last 20 year periods. Data further showed that there was surplus food supply relative to the requirements dictated by FSDR. However, the average FSDR was less than 1.2(less than 20% surplus) exploring fact that most of the districts were not producing sufficient food to cope up the food shock and after 1995 it was relatively stagnant. Our prediction reveals that food supply in Terai even in the future would remain at almost the same level as now, and there will not more than 16-17% surplus by 2021 considering medium vibrant population growth. The findings thus, indicate that Terai may not be a food secure region in the future, even though the region is considered as a food storage house of Nepal. In addition, this paper suggests ways to make future comprehensive case studies more widely comparable in Terai, Nepal.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.286-290
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• 2008

Small amounts of CO in reformate fuel gas effectively block platinum catalysts by strong adsorption on the platinum surface at the operation temperature of $60{\sim}80^{\circ}C$ in PEMFC. To oxidate CO, Ru/C layer (CO filter) was placed between Pt/C layer and GDL (gas diffusion layer) in this study. Ru/C filter provided good CO-tolerant PEMFC anode, but decreased the performance of unit cell about 10% at 0.6 V due to mass transfer resistance from Ru/C filter thickness and increase of charge transfer resistance. Membrane degradation is one of the most important factors limiting the life-time of PEMFCs. Membrane durability would be dependent on the electrode catalyst type. It seemed that Ru catalyst layer would shorten the life time of PEMFC as enhanced the fluoride emission rate of membrane in acceleration test.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.961-965
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• 2007

In this study, degradation of carbohydrates and composition of fermentative products were investigated in semi-continuous acid fermenter varying hydraulic retention time (HRT). Rice soup was used as a sole substrate for the acid fermentation. Solubilization efficiency of the substrate was higher than 70% for all HRT, however the gas conversion was ignorable implying that most of organic contents in the influent remained in the form of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and ethanol after acid fermentation. The VFAs were the predominant product and the VFAs conversion increased as the HRT decreased. The VFAs conversion reached the maximum value at 12 hr HRT accounting for 70% of the influent COD. Similar to VFAs, ethanol conversion was increased with the decrease of HRT and the maximum ethanol conversion efficiency was 8% at the HRT of 12 hr. Composition of VFAs was markedly dependent on HRT. As HRT increased, the composition of acetic acid was increased as a product of acetogenesis from butyrate, valerate and ethanol. This study demonstrated that HRT affected acid fermentation of a carbohydrate containing organic wastes producing VFAs and ethanol which could be effectively used to compensate the lack of carbon in wastewater for biological nutrient removal.