• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.296-302
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• 2024

An ionic conjugated polymer-iron (III) chloride composite was prepared via in-situ quaternization polymerization of 2-ethynylpyridine (2EP) using iron (III) chloride. Various instrumental methods revealed that the chemical structure of the resulting conjugated polymer (P2EP)-iron (III) chloride composite has the conjugated backbone system having the designed pyridinium ferric chloride complexes. The polymerization mechanism was assumed to be that the activated triple bond of 2-ethynylpyridinium salt, formed at the first reaction step, is easily susceptible to the step-wise polymerization, followed by the same propagation step that contains the propagating macroanion and monomeric 2-ethynylpyridinium salts. The electro-optical and electrochemical properties of the P2EP-FeCl₃ composite were studied. In the UV-visible spectra of P2EP-FeCl₃ composite, the absorption maximum values were 480 nm and 533 nm, and the PL maximum value was 598 nm. The cyclic voltammograms of the P2EP-FeCl₃ composite exhibited irreversible electrochemical behavior between the oxidation and reduction peaks. The kinetics of the redox process of composites were found to be very close to a diffusion-controlled process from the plot of the oxidation current density versus the scan rate.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.158-168
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• 2023

Natural products have been used to mitigate the effects of cancer and infectious diseases, as they feature diverse bioactivities, such as antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory effects. Here, we chose 10 natural products that are well-known as pulmonary enhancers and investigated their bactericidal effects on Streptococcus pneumoniae. In the disk diffusion assay, the growth of S. pneumoniae was significantly regulated by G. fructus treatment regardless of extraction method used. We first adopted spraying as a novel delivery method for G. fructus. Interestingly, mice exposed to G. fructus three times a day for 2 weeks were resistant to S. pneumoniae intranasal infection (shown both through body weight loss and survival rates compared to the control group). Moreover, we confirmed that exposure to G. fructus regulated the colonization of the bacteria despite the sustained inflammation in the lung after exposure to S. pneumoniae, indicating that migrated inflammatory immune cells may involve a host defense mechanism against pulmonary infectious diseases. While a similar number of granulocytes (CD11b⁺Ly6C⁺Ly6G⁺), neutrophils (CD11b⁺Ly6C^intLy6G⁺), and monocytes (CD11b⁺Ly6C^intLy6G^-) were found between groups, a significantly increased number of alveolar macrophages (CD11b⁺CD11c^hiF4/80⁺) was detected in BAL fluids of mice pre-exposed to G. fructus at 5 days after S. pneumonia infection. Taken together, our data suggest that this usage of G. fructus can induce protective immunity against bacterial infection, indicating that facial spray may be helpful in enhancing the defense mechanism against pulmonary inflammation and in evaluating the efficacy of natural products as immune enhancers against respiratory diseases.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.89-94
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• 1998

Various Mn-oxides can oxidize Cr(III) to Cr(VI). Behaviors of chromium species in the oxidation system, especially on the oxide surface, are expected to control the reaction. During Cr(III) oxidation by birnessite and pyrolusite, Cr species in the reaction system were determined to elucidate their effects on the oxidation. Capacities of Cr oxidation of the two Mn-oxides were quite different. Solution pH and initial Cr(III) concentration also had significant effects on the Cr(III) oxidation by Mn-oxides. Chromium oxidation by pyrolusite was less than 5% of the oxidation by birnessite. The high crystallinity of pyrolusite could be one of the reasons and the difficulty of Cr (III) diffusion to the positive pyrolusite surface and Cr(VI) and Cr(III) adsorption seems to be other controlling factors. At pH 3, adsorption or precipitation of Cr species on the surface of birnessite were not found. Small amount of Cr(VI) adsorption was found on the surface of pyrolusite, but arty Cr precipitation on the oxide surface was not found. Therefore Cr(III) oxidation at pH 3 seems to be controlled mainly by the characteristics of Mn-oxides. Chromiun oxidation by Mn-oxides is thermodynamically more favorable at higher solution pH. However as solution pH increased Cr oxidation by birnessite was significantly inhibited. For Cr oxidation by pyrolusite, as pH increased the oxidation increased, but as Cr(III) addition increased the reaction was inhibited. Under these conditions some unidentified fraction of Cr species was found and this fraction is considered to be Cr(III) precipitation an the oxide surface. Chromium(III) precipitation on the oxide surface seems to play an important role in limiting Cr(III) oxidation by armoring the reaction surface on Mn-oxides as well as lowering Cr(III) concentration available for the oxidation reaction.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.560-567
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• 1997

A new approach to obtain stable $W_1/O/W_2$ multiple emulsions has been studied ; The basis of the interfacial interaction between a PCL-PEO-PCL triblock copolymer and a lipophilic emulsifier in the dispersed oil phase was examined. $W_1/O/W_2$ multiple emulsions were prepared by the two-step method. Arlacel P-l35 was used as a liphophilic emulsifier and Synperonic PE/F 127 as a hydrophilic one. Eutanol-G was used as an oil phase. NaCl was encapsulated within the multiple emulsion droplets as the internal marker and its release rate studies were carried out. The suability of the multiple emulsions have been assessed by measuring Separation Ratios(%) and microscopic observations. The release of NaCl was significantly reduced in $W_1/O/W_2$ multiple emulsions containing PCL-PEO-PCL triblock copolymer(2k-4k-2k or 6k-4k-6k) in the oil phase. It may be concluded that the copolymer and the emulsifier form effective interfacial complex to enhance stability and to control the release rate. The effective diffusion coefficients of the NaCl were estimated as $2.64{\times}10^{-15}s$and $3.23{\times}10^{-16}gcm^2/s$ for the $W_1/O/W_2$ multiple emulsion containing 1.2 wt % of PCL-PEO-PCL triblock copolymers with compositions of 2k-4k-2k and 6k-4k-2k, respectively. The rate of release decreased with the increase of the initial concentration of NaCl. The results were examined in view of Higuchi mechanism. A kinetic model which is similar to the model for release of dispersed drugs from a polymeric matrix was found to be suitable for the release of NaCl from $W_1/O/W_2$ multiple emulsions.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.344-350
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• 2004

This study was conducted to develop and assess the applicability of mixed-bed ion exchange resin capsules for water quality monitoring in small agricultural watershed. Recoveries of resin capsules for inorganic N and P ranged from 96 to 102%. The net activation energies and pseudo-thermodynamic parameters, such as ${\Delta}G^{o\ddag},\;{\Delta}H^{o\ddag},\;and\;{\Delta}S^{o\ddag}$ for ion adsorption by resin capsules, exhibited relatively low values, indicating the process might be governed by chemical reactions such as diffusion. However, those values increased with temperature coinciding with the theory. The reaction reached pseudo-equilibrium within 24 hours for $NH_4-N\;and\;NO_3-N$, and only 8 hours for $PO_4-P$, respectively. The selectivity of resin capsules were in the order of $NO_3\;^-\;>\;NH_4\;^+\;>\;PO_4\;^{3-}$, coinciding with that of encapsulated Amberlite IRN-150 resin. At the initial state of equilibrium, the resin adsorption quantity was linearly proportional to the mass of ions in the streams, but the rate of movement leveled off, following Langmuir-type sorption isotherm. The overall results demonstrated that the resin capsule system was suitable for water quality monitoring in small agricultural watershed, judging from the reaction mechanism(s) of the resin capsule and the significance of model in field calibration.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.240-247
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• 2010

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram (-) opportunistic human pathogen causing a wide variety of infections on lung, urinary tract, eyes, and burn wound sites and quorum sensing (QS), a cell density-sensing mechanism plays an essential role in Pseudomonas pathogenesis. In order to investigate the importance of QS in the Pseudomonas infections of Korean patients, we isolated 189 clinical strains of P. aeruginosa from the patients in Pusan Paik Hospital, Busan, South Korea. The QS signal production of these clinical isolates was measured by signal diffusion assay on solid media using reporter strains. While most clinical strains (79.4%) produced the QS signals as similar level as a wild type strain, PAO1 did, where LasR, the initial QS signal sensor-regulator was fully activated, a minority of them (4.2%) produced much less QS signals at the level to which LasR failed to respond. Similarly, while 72.5% of the clinical isolates produced QS signals enough to activate QscR, an another QS signal sensor-regulator, some few of them (9%) produced the QS signals at much lower level where QscR was not activated. For further analysis, we selected 74 clinical strains that were obtained from the patients under suspicion of Pseudomonas infection and investigated the total protease activity that is considered important for virulence. Interestingly, significant portion of them showed very low protease activity (44.6%) or no detectable protease activity (12.2%). When the biofilm-forming ability that is considered very important in chronic infection was examined, most isolates showed lower biofilm-forming activity than PAO1. Similarly, significant portion of clinical isolates showed reduced motility (reduced swarming activity in 51.4% and reduced twitching activity in 41.9%), or non-detectable motility (swarming-negative in 28.4% and twitching-negative in 28.4%). Our result showed that the clinical isolates that produced QS signals at the similar level to wild type could have significantly reduced activities in the protease production, biofilm formation, and motility, and some clinical isolates had unique patterns of motility, biofilm formation, and protease production that are not correlated to their QS activity.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 1973

Numerous factors concern with the absorption of substances through the membrane of the gastrointestinal tract. To simplify the experimental condition, present work has been restricted to observe the disappearance rate of substance from the intestinal loop which was made in the jejunum, 70 cm apart from the pylorus of the adult rabbit. The purpose of the study is to clarify the absorption of urea through the jejunal wall is solely attributable to the concentration difference between the luminal fluid and plasma, and to observe the effect of adding red pepper upon the rate of absorption. The rabbits were anesthetized with nembutal, 35mg/kg I.V. Jejunal loop was made by ligating at 2 spots, 70 cm and 80cm apart from the pylorus. After rinsing with normal saline solution through the polyethylene tubing inserted from the end of the loop, 8 ml of test solution was placed through the same tubing. The test solution contained 200 mg% of urea and 150mg% of polyethylene glycol(M.W. 4,000) in normal saline solution. Right after placing the test solution the first specimen was taken through the tubing, and successive samplings were performed at 5, 10, 20, and 30 minutes. Logarithm of the difference of urea concentration between the luminal fluid and plasma was plotted against time elapsed after the onset of the experiment. If straight line is revealed, it would verify the nature of transport mechanism as diffusion, obeying the Fick's principle. The concentration of polyethylene glycol (PEG) was also measured in order to examine the change in the volume. PEG was used as the marker substance because it is not absorbable in the intestinal tract. Consequently the concentration of PEG relates inversely to the volume of the loop. Instantaneous concentration of urea in the loop times the volume will give the amount of urea remaining in the luminal fluid. The change in the amount of any substance is directly relate to the volume of the compartment and differs from the change in the concentration which is independent of the volume. After completion of the experiment without red pepper, it was added in the test solution and was centrifuged after thorough mixing. Supernatant of the mixture was placed in the loop and similar sampling were performed with the same time intervals that of previous run in order to observe the effects of the red pepper on the passive transport of the water soluble small substance, urea. The results obtained were as follows: 1. Logarithm of the concentration difference of urea between the luminal fluid and plasma was diminished exponentially as time elapsed. The decay constant in the experiment without red pepper was 0.0563/min. By adding red pepper in the test solution as much as the concentration rose to 4,000 mg% and 8,000 mg%, the decay constants were lowered to 0.0493/min and to 0.0506/min, respectively. The time interval by which the concentration difference dropped to one half of the initial value was prolonged. Without red pepper the half concentration time was 13.30 minutes, and by adding extract of red pepper, 15.31 minutes and 15.71 minutes were revealed. 2. The profile of the diminishing rate of tile amount of urea was quite different from that of the concentration because of the change in the volume of the loop during the observed period. 3. By adding the extract of red pepper, it slowed down the rate of absorption of urea in the intestinal loop, suggesting an increase in the diffusional barrier. 4. Larger dosage of red pepper brought an increase in the secretion of intestinal fluid with concomitant expansion of the luminal volume, and the retardation of the absorption of urea was noticed. This effect was largely dependent on the sensitivity of the individual animal to the red pepper, extract. The amount of urea remained after 10 minutes interval was 55.5% of the initial amount in the experiment without red pepper. On the other hand it was not consistent after administration of red pepper, showing 50.6% and 66.5% of the initial figures by adding 400 mg and 800 mg of red pepper in the test solution, respectively. It was postulated that symptom of diarrhea often encountered by taking a hot (red pepper) food might be attributable to the increase of secretion and the retardation of absorption in the intestinal tract.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.105-137
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• 2012

After relationship marketing emerged as a new approach in the marketing field in the 1980s, it has been widely studied in the United States, Europe and Asia. Rapid environmental changes and global competition has made it inevitable for companies to consider their relationships with the environment more closely. Under these circumstances, relationship marketing has held a position as a pivotal paradigm in the field of strategy as well as in marketing. In addition, relationship marketing has overcome the limitations of a traditional marketing research while providing richer implications in company's marketing activities. The paradigm shift to relationship marketing has brought fundamental changes in a marketing point of view. First, in philosophical aspects, unlike past research which focused solely on customer satisfaction, organizational relationship parameters which focuses on trust and commitment has become key elements of successful relationship marketing while shifts in thoughts naturally take place from adaptive marketing to strategic marketing. Second, in structural aspects, the relational mechanism of governance such as network structure with a variety of relational partners has emerged as a new marketing organization from the previous simple structure focusing on the micro-economic, marketbased trading between seller and customer. Third, in behavioral aspects, it proposed the strategic course of the action of gaining an advantage over the competition on the individual firm level by focusing on building long-term relationships and considering partnership with the components in the entire marketing system, rather than with one-time transaction-centric action between a seller and a customer. Fourth, in the aspects of marketing performance, marketing performance was sought through the long-term and cooperative relationship with various stakeholders, including customers in the marketing system, focusing on the overall competitive advantage based on relationship rather than individual performance of individual companies' marketing activities, such as market share and customer satisfaction. However, studies of relationship marketing were mostly centered in interorganizational relationships focusing on the relational structure and properties of commercial sector in the marketing system. Paradoxically, the circumstance of the consumer's side that must be considered is evolving again in relationship marketing. In structural aspects, a community, as the new relationship governance structure in the digital environment, and in behavioral aspects, the changing role of consumer participation demanding big changes in the digital environment engaged in the marketing system. The possibility of building a relationship marketing community for common value creation is presented in terms of organization of consumers with the focus on changing marketing environment and marketing system according to the new realities of the 21st century- the popularity of digital environments and the diffusion of customer participation. Therefore, future research of relationship marketing must seek for a truly integrated model including all of the existing structure and properties of the research oriented relationship from both the commercial and consumer sector.