• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 2013

Korean red ginseng is known to regulate the immune system and help the body struggle infection and disease. Cadmium is widely distributed in the environment due to its use in industry. Exposure to cadmium is problematic causing organ dysfunction. This study was conducted to evaluate the protective effect of Korean red ginseng extract (RGE) against cadmium-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. In experiments, animals were orally administrated with RGE (25, 50 mg/kg) for 7 d and then intravenously injected with cadmium ($CdCl_2$, 4 mg/kg) to induce acute hepatotoxicity. Cadmium caused the elevated levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and lactate dehydrogenase in serum. In contrast, pretreatment with RGE significantly reduced those serum indexes related with liver damage. In histopathological analysis, RGE decreased the centrilobular necrosis around central veins and the peripheral hemorrhage around portal triads. Moreover, RGE restored the deficit in hepatic glutathione level resulting from cadmium treatment. RGE also inhibited the increase in the expression of Bad, a representative apoptosis marker protein, induced by cadmium treatment. Collectively, these results demonstrate that RGE can reduce the cadmium-induced hepatic toxicity, partly via anti-oxidative and anti-apoptotic process.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.395-400
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• 2002

Lead is one of the most toxic metal and is detectable in practically all phases of environment and in all biological system. Transport, industrial and domestic waste products are the main sources of this pollutant. Ingested lead is rapidly absorbed and widely distributed throughout the body, causing extensive tissue damage. In this study, we chose the freshwater decapods Maceobrachium nipponnese as a sensitive indicator organism for environmental pollution. In order to investigate the possibility in use of $Na^+/K^+ATPase$ activity as a biomarker of lead pollution, we tested the acute toxicity of lead to Maceobrachium nipponnese. The $LC_{50}(96hr)$ value for lead in Maceobrachium nipponnese was found to be $446{\mu}g/L$ with the 95% confidence limits. The lead exposure group at $LC_{50}$ showed a significant $Na^+/K^+ATPase$ inhibition, depending on the exposure time. Comparision of several concentrations of lead revealed that the $Na^+/K^+ATPase$ activity in Maceobrachium nipponnese was significantly decreased in a concentration dependent manner. These results suggest that $Na^+/K^+ATPase$ activity in Maceobrachium nipponnese may possibly be used as a biomarker of lead pollution in aquatic ecosystem.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.216-223
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• 2010

Abalone (Haliotis discus hannai), mostly distributed and maricultured in southwestern coastal areas of South Korea, is recognized as an economically important species in the fishery industry. Abalone intestines are one of the by-products of abalone processing. To investigate abalone intestines as bioactive substances, abalone intestine gastrointestinal digests (AIGIDs) of various molecular weights (MWs) were prepared using in vitro gastrointestinal digestion and an ultrafiltration system, and tested for inhibitory effects against reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress in macrophage cells treated with hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$). In our results, among AIGIDs, AIGID-III (MW=5-10 kDa) showed potent inhibitory activities for lipid peroxidation and free radicals. Additionally, the results clearly indicated that AIGID-III treatment could prevent cytotoxic damage of macrophages by $H_2O_2$-induced oxidative stress due to its potent scavenging ability against cellular ROS. These results suggest that AIGIDs may have protective and therapeutic potential for oxidative stress syndromes and immune diseases through ROS inhibition in macrophage cells.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2002.07d
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• pp.2625-2627
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• 2002

A virtual laboratory for measurement and instrumentation must aim to realize an integrated environment. To achieve this goal, we designed and implemented a client/server distributed environment and developed a web-based virtual laboratory system for electronic circuits. The proposed virtual laboratory system is composed of four important components : Principle Classroom, Virtual Experiment Classroom, Evaluation Classroom and Overall Management System. Through our virtual laboratory, the learners will be capable of learning the concepts and theories related to electronic circuit experiments and how to operate the experimental equipments. Also, every activity occurred in our virtual laboratory is recorded on database and printed out on the preliminary report form. All of these can be achieved by the aid of the Management System. The database connectivity is made by PHP and the virtual laboratory environment is set up slightly differently for each learner. Finally, we have obtained several affirmative effects such as reducing the total experimental hours and the damage rate for experimental equipments and increasing learning efficiencies as well as faculty productivity.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.683-699
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• 2015

Lighting poles and antenna masts are typically high, slender and light structures. Moreover, they are often characterized by distributed eccentricities that make very complex their shape. Experience teaches that this structural type frequently suffers severe damage and even collapses due to wind actions. To understand and interpret the aerodynamic and aeroelastic behavior of lighting poles and antenna masts, this paper presents the results of static and aeroelastic wind tunnel tests carried out on a complex prismatic element representing a segment of the shaft of such structures. Static tests are aimed at determining the aerodynamic coefficients and the Strouhal number of the test element cross-section; the former are used to evaluate the critical conditions for galloping occurrence based on quasi-steady theory; the latter provides the critical conditions for vortex-induced vibrations. Aeroelastic tests are aimed at reproducing the real behavior of the test element and at verifying the validity and reliability of quasi-steady theory. The galloping hysteresis phenomenon is identified through aeroelastic experiments conducted on increasing and decreasing the mean wind velocity.

• Korean Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.308-320
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• 2007

A multi-agent and web based engineering framework concerning the automation of fatigue durability analysis for welded bogie frame of railway vehicles is presented. Mostly, this kind of design or analysis includes complex workflow, huge amounts of information processing, and problem solving. Macro programs of I-DEAS, APDL of ANSYS, and in-house fatigue code are utilized for parametric geometry representation, automatic mesh generation, static stress analysis, fatigue durability analysis, post-processing, and data sorting. The engineering framework is implemented on the JADE. Since every task requires a fairly complex process and specialized knowledge, the multi-agent based framework is very useful to keep the independency among several disciplines or tasks and to use distributed hardware and software resources. All engineering programs are integrated by XML wrapper. Related database of the engineering framework and web based user interfaces are also developed. A parametric study is carried out to take into account the effect of geometrical change of transom support bracket on its cumulative fatigue damage. The developed engineering framework reduced remarkably the time and costs required in designing and solving engineering problems.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.69-74
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• 1992

This paper describes the energy and speed characteristics of an induction coil-gun. The coil-gun has some merits that it can be easily installed and repeatedly used many times, it does not damage mechanically in the course of launch and the force exerted on the projectile is distributed uniformly. An equivalent circuit is employed for modeling the coil-gun. The circuit equations and equation of motion are then derived based on the equivalent circuit. These equations are solved numerically by using Runge-Kutta method. Finally the energy transfer ratios are obtained according to the variations of the resonant frequency of driving circuit and charging voltage of capacitors. The muzzle velocities of projectile are also obtained according to the variations of electrical conductivity and initial position of projectile, firing angle of driving circuit, charging voltage of capacitor and resistance of driving coil, respectively.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.486-496
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• 2016

The voltage unbalance of an LVDC bipolar distribution system was controlled for high power quality. Voltage unbalance may occur in a bipolar distribution system depending on the operation of the converter and load usage. Voltage unbalance can damage sensitive load and lead to converter accidents. The conditions that may cause voltage unbalance in a bipolar distribution system are as follows. First, three-level AC/DC converters in bipolar distribution systems can lead to voltage unbalance. Second, bipolar distribution systems can be at risk for voltage unbalance because of load usage. In this paper, the output DC link of a three-level AC/DC converter was analyzed for voltage unbalance, and the bipolar voltage was controlled with algorithms. In the case of additional voltage unbalance according to load usage, the bipolar voltage was controlled using the proposed converter. The proposed converter is a dual half-bridge converter, which was improved from the secondary circuit of a dual half-bridge converter. A control algorithm for bipolar voltage control without additional converters was proposed. The balancing control of the bipolar distribution system with distributed power was verified through experiments.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.34-40
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• 2013

Islanding phenomenon of photovoltaic system is undesirable because it leads to a safety hazard to utility service personnel and may cause damage to power generation and power supply facilities as a result of unsynchronized re-closure. Anti-islanding protection is an important technical requirement for grid-connected PV system. Until now, various anti-islanding methods for detecting and preventing islanding of photovoltaic and other distributed generations have been proposed. Most of them are focusing on the anti-islanding performance of single PV system according to the related international and domestic standard test procedures. There are few studies on the islanding phenomenon for multiple photovoltaic operation in parallel. This paper presents performance analysis of anti-islanding function for grid-connected PV inverter systems when several PV inverters are connected in parallel.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.135-148
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• 2017

Topside areas on an offshore oil and gas platform are highly susceptible to explosion. A blast wall on these areas plays an important role in preventing explosion damage and must withstand the expected explosion loads. The uniformly distributed loading condition, predicted by Explosion Risk Analyses (ERAs), has been applied in most of the previous analysis methods. However, analysis methods related to load conditions are inaccurate because the blast overpressure around the wall tends to be of low-level in the open area and high-level in the enclosed area. The main objectives of this paper are to study the effects of applying different load applications and compare the dynamic responses of the blast wall. To do so, various kinds of blast pressures were measured by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations on the target area. Nonlinear finite element analyses of the blast wall under two types of identified dynamic loadings were also conducted.