• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.47-55
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• 2020

Background: Curcuma longa L., a perennial crop originating from tropical and subtropical region, including India, is noted for its important medicinal properties. However, C. longa plants are unable to endure the winter season in Korea, and its rhizomes were invariably succumb to fungal infection when stored in polyvinyl bags. In this study, we accordingly sought to develop a C. longa variety capable of producing high rhizome yields and to identify stable conditions under which rhizomes can be stored in Korea. Methods and Results: We evaluated the agronomic characteristics of nine C. longa germplasms and examined the effects of storing rhizomes at different temperatures (4℃ to 24℃) in paper bags or plastic baskets. We found that the finger rhizomes was higher in CUR02, CUR03, and CUR06 germplasms than those of other groups. Furthermore, in terms of yield per 1 ㎡, the weights of the finger rhizomes and tuberous roots were significantly higher in CUR09 (3.4 ㎏/㎡) and CUR04 (678.7 g/㎡) than those of other groups. Therefore, we consider that these C. longa germplasms might be useful as breeding material. Although the fresh weights of the rhizomes were slightly reduced when stored in paper bags and a plastic baskets at 10℃ to 15℃, there was no evidence of fungal decomposition or sprouting, which is observed when using a conventional storage method. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that the selected C. longa germplasms can provide a useful source of breeding material for the development of high yielding varieties and that a temperature ranging from 10℃ to 15℃ and the use of paper bags or plastic baskets provide stable post-harvest storage conditions for C. longa rhizomes.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.253-259
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• 2018

Structure behaviors resulting from an earthquake are experimentally simulated mainly through a shaking table test. As for large-scale structures, however, size effects over a miniature may make it difficult to assess actual behaviors properly. To address this problem, research on the hybrid simulation is being conducted actively. This method is to implement numerical analysis on framework members that affect the general behavior of the structure dominantly through an actual scale experiment and on the rest parts by applying the substructuring technique. However, existing studies on hybrid simulation focus mainly on Slow experimental methods, which are disadvantageous in that it is unable to assess behaviors close to the actual level if material properties change depending on the speed or the influence of inertial force is significant. The present study aims to establish a Real-time hybrid simulation system capable of excitation based on the actual time history and to verify its performance and applicability. The hybrid simulation system built up in this study utilizes the ATS Compensator system, CR integrator, etc. in order to make the target displacement the same with the measured displacement on the basis of MATLAB/Simulink. The target structure was a 2-span bridge and an RC pier to support it was produced as an experimental model in order for the shaking table test and Slow and Real-time hybrid simulations. Behaviors that result from the earthquake of El Centro were examined, and the results were analyzed comparatively. In comparison with the results of the shaking table test, the Real-time hybrid simulation produced more similar maximum displacement and vibration behaviors than the Slow hybrid simulation. Hence, it is thought that the Real-time hybrid simulation proposed in this study can be utilized usefully in seismic capacity assessment of structural systems such as RC pier that are highly non-linear and time-dependent.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.8
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• pp.202-212
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• 2017

Background: To reveal establishment strategy of Sparganium erectum, we tried to find realized niche of adults through field survey and effects of water level on the establishment process through mesocosm experiments. Results: In the field survey, the height and coverage of community living in deeper water were greater than those of community living in shallow water. There was no statistically significant difference (p > 0.05) in the means of water and soil properties between the two communities. In mesocosm experiments, we found no correlation between water levels and germination rates, but S. erectum seedlings have characteristics of post germination seedling buoyancy when S. erectum seeds germinated in inundation conditions. Shoot height, total leaf length, and survival rates of sinking seedlings in shallow water levels at -5, 0, and 5 cm were higher than those in deeper water levels at 10 and 20 cm. Floating seedlings established in water levels of 3 and 6 cm only. The seedlings could live up to 6 weeks in floating state but died if they were unable to establish. Conclusions: The water level around adult S. erectum communities in the field were different from the water level at which S. erectum seedlings can survive in the mesocosm experiments. The findings provided not only understanding of S. erectum habitat characteristics but also evidence to connect historical links between the early seedlings stage and adult habitat conditions. We suggested the logical establishment strategy of S. erectum based on the data.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.25-34
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• 2016

From 1990's, a study on the development of exothermic concrete, a concrete which electro-conductive material is mixed, has been proceeded. However, due to the difficulty of exothermic reproducibility of concrete specimen, the study has been unable to continuously carried out. Accordingly, this study was focused on developing an exothermic concrete for the purpose of snow-melting material. Cement paste and mortar specimens mixed with graphite, conductive metal powder and chemical admixture were made. The evaluation of exothermic performance and reproducibility was conducted under $-2^{\circ}C$ of low temperature. In addition, micro-chemical analysis was carried out to investigate a cause of exothermic reproducibility. As a test result, the specimen mixed with graphite and superplasticizer with air entrained showed the best exothermic performance and reproducibility. Through micro-chemical analysis, it is judged that polymer or methacrylic acid (MAA), the contents inside the superplasticizer with air entrained, gave exothermic reproducibility by generating the electrochemical reaction with graphite.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.2287-2290
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• 2014

Background: In the past few years, a considerable number of preclinical studies have been proposed metformin as a potential anticancer agent, but some of these studies suffer from a number of methodological limitations such as assessment of cytotoxicity in the presence of supraphysiological glucose concentrations or applying suprapharmacological levels of the drug. These objections have limited the translation of published preclinical data to the clinical setting. The present study aimed to investigate direct anticancer effects of metformin on different molecular subtypes of breast cancer with pharmacological concentrations and under normoglycemic conditions in vitro. Materials and Methods: Breast cancer cell lines from luminal A, luminal B, ErbB2 and triple-negative molecular subtypes were treated with a pharmacological concentration of metformin (2mM) at a glucose concentration of 5.5mM. Time-dependant cell viability was assessed by dye exclusion assay. MTTbased cytotoxicity assays were also performed with metformin alone or in combination with paclitaxel. Results: Metformin did not show any growth inhibitory effects or time-dependant cytotoxicity on breast cancer cell lines in the presence of normal glucose concentrations at the therapeutic plasma level. No augmentation of the antineoplastic properties of paclitaxel was apparent under the tested conditions. Conclusions: Metformin is probably unable to exert cytotoxic or cytostatic effects on breast cancer subtypes at pharmacological concentrations and normal plasma glucose levels. These results highlight the importance of establishing a higher steady-state plasma concentration of metformin in the clinical setting for assessment of anticancer effects in normoglycemic patients.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.213-218
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• 2005

Epilepsy constitutes a significant public health problem, and even the newest drugs and neurosurgical techniques have proven unable to cure the disease. In order to select a group of isolates which could generate an active compound with neuroprotective or antiepileptic properties, we isolated 517 actinomycete strains from soil samples taken from Jeju Island, in South Korea. We then screened these strains for possible anti-apoptotic effects against serum deprivation-induced hippocampal cell death, using the 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay as an in vitro test. The excitotoxic glutamate analog, kainic acid (KA), was used to induce seizures in experimental mice in our in vivo tests. As a result of this testing, we located one strain which exhibited profound neuroprotective activity. This strain was identified as a Streptomyces species, and exhibited the rifampinresistant genotype, Asn$(AAC)^$442, according to the results of 16S rRNA and rpoB gene analyses

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.18-25
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• 2015

To understand the metabolism of flavonoid rhamnoglycosides by human intestinal microbiota, we measured the metabolic activity of rutin and poncirin (distributed in many functional foods and herbal medicine) by 100 human stool specimens. The average α-L-rhamnosidase activities on the p-nitrophenyl-α-L-rhamnopyranoside, rutin, and poncirin subtrates were 0.10 ± 0.07, 0.25 ± 0.08, and 0.15 ± 0.09 pmol/min/mg, respectively. To investigate the enzymatic properties, α-L-rhamnosidase-producing bacteria were isolated from the specimens, and the α-L-rhamnosidase gene was cloned from a selected organism, Bifidobacterium dentium, and expressed in E. coli. The cloned α-L-rhamnosidase gene contained a 2,673 bp sequcence encoding 890 amino acid residues. The cloned gene was expressed using the pET 26b(+) vector in E. coli BL21, and the expressed enzyme was purified using Ni²⁺-NTA and Q-HP column chromatography. The specific activity of the purified α-L-rhamnosidase was 23.3 µmol/min/mg. Of the tested natural product constituents, the cloned α-L-rhamnosidase hydrolyzed rutin most potently, followed by poncirin, naringin, and ginsenoside Re. However, it was unable to hydrolyze quercitrin. This is the first report describing the cloning, expression, and characterization of α-L-rhamnosidase, a flavonoid rhamnoglycosidemetabolizing enzyme, from bifidobacteria. Based on these findings, the α-L-rhamnosidase of intestinal bacteria such as B. dentium seem to be more effective in hydrolyzing (1 →6) bonds than (1 →2) bonds of rhamnoglycosides, and may play an important role in the metabolism and pharmacological effect of rhamnoglycosides.

• 한국정보컨버전스학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.47-52
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• 2008

A radio-frequency identification(RFID) tag is a small, inexpensive microchip that emits an identifier in response to a query from a nearby reader. The price of these tags promises to drop to the range of $0.05 per unit in the next several years, offering a viable and powerful replacement for barcodes. The challenge in providing security for low-cost RFID tags is that they are computationally weak devices, unable to perform even basic symmetric-key cryptographic operations. Security researchers often therefore assume that good privacy protection in RFID tags is unattainable. In this paper, we explore a notion of minimalist cryptography suitable for RFID tags. We consider the type of security obtainable in RFID devices with a small amount of rewritable memory, but very limited computing capability. Our aim is to show that standard cryptography is not necessary as a starting point for improving security of very weak RFID devices. Our contribution is threefold: 1. We propose a new formal security model for authentication and privacy in RFID tags. This model takes into account the natural computational limitations and the likely attack scenarios for RFID tags in real-world settings. It represents a useful divergence from standard cryptographic security modeling, and thus a new view of practical formalization of minimal security requirements for low-cost RFID-tag security. 2. We describe protocol that provably achieves the properties of authentication and privacy in RFID tags in our proposed model, and in a good practical sense. Our proposed protocol involves no computationally intensive cryptographic operations, and relatively little storage. 3. Of particular practical interest, we describe some reduced-functionality variants of our protocol. We show, for instance, how static pseudonyms may considerably enhance security against eavesdropping in low-cost RFID tags. Our most basic static-pseudonym proposals require virtually no increase in existing RFID tag resources.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.59-65
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• 2018

We conducted an isothermal slow cook-off(ISCO) test for an aluminized explosive containing AP. The sample bulged before the run-away reaction, and therefore we were unable to obtain the ISCO data. However, these phenomena did not occur for a certain AP grade, which means that the quality of the AP exerted a significant effect on the thermal stability of the explosive formulation. In this study, we investigated the thermal stability difference between a good and bad AP grade. First, we characterized the thermal properties of all APs by Differential Scanning Calorimeter(DSC) and correlated them to the ISCO phenomena. In addition to the DSC study and ISCO test, we also investigated and calculated the SADT and self-heating rate by the ARC of the different AP qualities to interpret the thermal stability of the explosive formulation. Moreover, we investigated the impurity of the AP and a preparation method to remove the included impurity and crystallization. Finally, we implemented qualification methods to identify the quality of AP by DSC using a high-pressure crucible.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.509-513
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• 2021

Curcumin is known to possess diverse beneficial physiological effects including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-depressant, anti-microbial, and anti-neoplastic activities, as well as immune-modulating, metabolism-regulating, and neuroprotective effects. However, despite more than 13,000 research papers published during the last ten years regarding the health benefits of curcumin, curcumin has not been introduced in the market as a pharmaceutical agent in any country. Despite the abundance of positive findings, most investigations that tout its health benefits are based on in vitro and in vivo studies that fail to consider the protean chemical behaviors of curcumin, which is known to be a pan-assay interference compound and an invalid metabolic panacea. Therefore, human clinical trials, despite rigorous study design, have been unable to prove specific benefits. This article reviews the pleiotropic properties of curcumin so that they can be balanced against its beneficial effects and suggests potential research avenues to better understand its health benefits.