• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.136-144
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• 2003

Oral administration of antigen has long been considered as a promising alternative for the treatment of chronic autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and oral application of type II collagen (CII) has been proven to improve pathogenic symptoms in RA patients without problematic side effects. To further current understandings about the immune suppression mechanisms mediated by orally administered antigens, we examined the changes in IgG subtypes, T-cell proliferative response, and proportion of interleukin (IL)-10 producing Th subsets in a time course study of collagen induced arthritis (CIA) animal models. We found that joint inflammation in CIA mouse peaked at 5 weeks after first immunization with CII, which was significantly subdued in mice pre-treated by repeated oral administration of CII. Orally tolerized mice also showed increase in their serum level of IgG1, while the level of IgG2a was decreased. T-cell proliferation upon CII stimulation was also suppressed in lymph nodes of mice given oral administration of CII compared to non-tolerized controls. When cultured in vitro in the presence of CII, T-cells isolated from orally tolerized mice presented higher proportion of $CD4^+IL-10^+$ subsets compared to non-tolerized controls. Interestingly, such increase in IL-10 producing cells were obvious first in Peyer's patch, then by 5 weeks after immunization, in mesenteric lymph node and spleen instead. This result indicates that a particular subset of T-cells with immune suppressive functions might have migrated from the original contact site with CII to inflamed joints via peripheral blood after 5 weeks post immunization.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.21-35
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• 2016

It is a current trend that the concrete track is applied for high speed railway. In the case of the railway embankment constructed on soft ground, the damage to concrete track which is sensitive to settlement such as distortion and deflection could be caused by very small amount of long term settlement. Pile Supported Embankment method can be considered as the effective method to control the residual settlement of the railway embankment on soft ground. The Geosynthetics is used inside of the embankment to maximize the arching effect transmitting the load of the embankment to the top of the piles. But, PHC piles that are generally used for bridge structures are also applied as the pile supporting the load of embankment concentrated by the effect of the Geosynthetics. That is very low efficiency in respect of pile material. So, in this study, the cast in place concrete pile was selected as the most suitable pile type for supporting the embankment by a case study and the optimum mixing condition of concrete using a by-product of industry was induced by performing the mixing designs and the compressive strength designs. And it is shown that the cast in place pile with the optimum mixing condition using the by-product of industry is 2.8 times more efficient than the PHC pile for the purpose of Pile Supported Embankment by the finite element analysis method.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2006.03a
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• pp.86-95
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• 2006

Brillouin backscatter is a type of reflection that occurs when light is shone into an optical fibre. Brillouin reflections are very sensitive to changes in the fibre arising from external effects, such as temperature, strain and pressure. We report here several case studies on the measurement of strain using Brillouin reflections. A mechanical bending test of an I beam, deployed with both fiber optic sensors and conventional strain gauge rosettes, was performed with the aim of evaluating: (1) the capability and technical limit of the DTSS technology for strain profile sensing; (2) the reliability of strain measurement using fiber optic sensor. The average values of strains obtained from both DTSS and strain gauges (corresponding to the deflection of I beam) showed a linear relationship and an excellent one-to-one match. A practical application of DTSS technology as an early warning system for land sliding or subsidence was examined through a field test at a hillside. Extremely strong, lightweight, rugged, survivable tight-buffered cables, designed for optimal strain transfer to the fibre, were used and clamped on the subsurface at a depth of about 50cm. It was proved that DTSS measurements could detect the exact position and the progress of strain changes induced by land sliding and subsidence. We also carried out the first ever distributed dynamic strain measurement (10Hz) on the Korean Train eXpress(KTX) railway track in Daejeon, Korea. The aim was to analyse the integrity of a section of track that had recently been repaired. The Sensornet DTSS was used to monitor this 85m section of track while a KTX train passed over. In the repaired section the strain increases to levels of 90 microstrain, whereas in the section of regular track the strain is in the region of 30-50 microstrain. The results were excellent since they demonstrate that the DTSS is able to measure small, dynamic changes in strain in rails during normal operating conditions. The current 10km range of the DTSS creates a potential to monitor the integrity of large lengths of track, and especially higher risk sections such as bridges, repaired track and areas at risk of subsidence.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.241-250
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• 2011

The most part of vegetable oils is accumulated as storage lipid, triacylglycerol (TAG) in seed and used as energy source when seed is germinated. It is also used as essential fatty acids and energy source for human and animal. Recently, vegetable oils have been more and more an important resource because of the increasing demand of vegetable oils for cooking and industrial uses for bio-diesel and industrial feedstock. In order to increase vegetable oils using biotechnology, over-expressing or repressing the regulatory genes involved in the flow of carbon into lipid biosynthesis is critical during seed development. In this review, we described candidate genes may influence oil amount and investigate their potential for oil increase. Genes involved in the regulation from biosynthesis of fatty acids to the accumulation oils in seed can be classified as follows: First, genes play a role for synthesis precursor molecules for TAG. Second, genes participate in fatty acid biosynthesis and TAG assembly. Lastly, genes encodes transcription factors involved in seed maturation and accumulation of seed oil. Because factors/genes determining oil quantity in seed is complex as mentioned, recently regulation of transcription factors is being considered more favorable approach than manipulate multiple genes for increasing oil in transgenic plants. However, it should be figured out the problem that bad agricultural traits induced by the overexpression of transcription factor gene.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.87-94
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• 2003

ULF geomagnetic field anomalies related to earthquakes have been reported and a mechnism that magnetic field variations could be generated by the induced telluric current due to the high frequency fluctuation of conductivity in a fault Bone have been proposed. In this study, we calculated electromagnetic anomalies using a simple fault model and investigated the possibility of significant perturbation. Since low frequency electromagnetic fields are modulated by the high frequency oscillation of conductivity and the modulated fields are concentrated in a narrow ULF band, the electromagnetic fields in ULF band could be perturbed significantly. The amplitude of electromagnetic field anomaly depends on various factors: the geometry and conductivity of fault zone, the magnitude and frequency of conductivity fluctuation, the resistivity structure of crust or mantle, the frequency bandwidth of observational data and so on. Therefore, it is strongly required to reveal the deep resistivity structure of crust a.: well ah the structure of fault zone and to ,select the optimal observation frequency band for the observation of electromagnetic activities related with earthquakes.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.202-211
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• 2001

Luminescence is a physical phenomenon exhibited by many non-conducting, crystalline materials, such as quartz and feldspar. Within the crystals, energy absorbed from ionising radiation frees electrons to move through the crystal lattice and some are trapped at defects in the lattice. Observable luminescence is produced by electrons, released from traps by stimulation by absorption of light, which recombine with lattice defects which act as luminescence centers - optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). In a similar way to thermoluminescence(TL) dating, controlled measurement of the OSL signal can provide a means of determining the time since the last exposure of a layer of sediment to sunlight, the age of the sediment. However, whereas in the thermoluminescence dating of sediment only part of the latent thermoluminescence signal is bleached by sunlight as the sediment is deposited and allowance must be made during the laboratory measurements for the light insensitive component, optically induced luminescence dating has the advantage of working only with light sensitive traps in the crystal. Determination of the time since deposition of Quaternary sediment samples from the OSL of quartz grains using blue light was performed. A series of experiments and recent developments relating OSL dating are described, beginning by identifying the features which make OSL signals suitable for the development of dating method. Additionally, there are suggestions as to future research for obtaining reliable ages and a comment on current best practice on procedures, with the dating results of Quaternary sediment.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.19-25
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• 2008

In this study, we fabricated Organic Thin Film Transistors(OTFTs) with $C_{60}$ hole injection layer between organic semiconductor(pentacene) and metal electrode, and we compared the electrical characteristics of OTFTs with/without $C_{60}$. When the $C_{60}$ hole injection layer was introduced, the mobility and the threshold voltage were improved from 0.298 $cm^2/V{\cdot}s$ and -13.3V to 0.452 $cm^2/V{\cdot}s$ and -10.8V, and the contact resistance was also reduced. When the $C_{60}$ is inserted, the hole injection was enhanced because the $C_{60}$ prevent the unwanted chemical reaction between pentacene and Au. Furthermore, we fabricated the OTFTs using Al as their electrodes. When the OTFTs were made by only aluminum electrode, the channel were not mostly made because of the high hole injection barrier between pentacene and aluminum, but when the $C_{60}$ layer with an optimal thickness was applied between aluminum and pentacene, the device performances were obviously enhanced because of the vacuum energy level shift of Al and the consequent decrease of the hole injection barrier which was induced by the interface dipole formation between $C_{60}$ and Al. The mobility and $I_{ON}/I_{OFF}$ current ratio of OTFT with $C_{60}/Al$ electrode were 0.165 $cm^2/V{\cdot}s$ and $1.4{\times}10^4$ which were comparable with the normal Au electrode OTFT.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.161-172
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• 1997

In this paper, electromagnetic scattering by a perfectly conducting strip grating on dielectric multilayers is analyzed for the normalized reflected and transmitted power by applying the Fourier-Galeakin moment method. The induced current density is expanded in a series of multiplication of chebyshev polynomials of the first kind and functions with appropriate edge boundary condition, the continuous condition of electromagnetic field is applied in the boundary planes. The confirm the validity of the proposed method, the nor- malized reflected and transmitted power obtained by varying the relative permittivity and thickness of each dielectric layers are evaluated and compared with those of the existing numerical method and a paper, and then the numerical results in this paper are in good agreement with those of the existing numerical method and the paper. The sharp variation position in the geometrically normalized reflected and transmitted power can be moved by the incident angle, grating period, and the relative permittivity and thickness of the dielectric multilayers, these sharp variation points which are called the Wood's anomaly of the Geome- trically normalized reflected power are observed as a main factor when the reflected powers of the higher order mode are transitted between propagating and evanescent modes, and the local minimum positions are slightly moved to the left hand direction in which grating period is getting small according to the increase of the relative permittivity of dielectric layers.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.833-848
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• 2014

The assessment of the current and future climate change-induced potential wind energy is an important issue in the planning and operations of wind farm. Here, the authors analyze spatiotemporal characteristics and variabilities of wind energy over Korean Peninsula in the near future (2006-2040) using Representative Concentration Pathway(RCP) scenarios data. In this study, National Institute of Meteorological Research (NIMR) regional climate model HadGEM3-RA based RCP 2.6 and 8.5 scenarios are analyzed. The comparison between ERA-interim and HadGEM3-RA during the period of 1981-2005 indicates that the historical simulation of HadGEM3-RA slightly overestimates (underestimates) the wind energy over the land (ocean). It also shows that interannual and intraseasonal variability of hindcast data is generally larger than those of reanalysis data. The investigation of RCP scenarios based future wind energy presents that future wind energy density will increase over the land and decrease over the ocean. The increase in the wind energy and its variability is particularly significant over the mountains and coastal areas, such as Jeju island in future global warming. More detailed analysis presents that the changes in synoptic conditions over East Asia in future decades can influence on the predicted wind energy abovementioned. It is also suggested that the uncertainty of the predicted future wind energy may increase because of the increase of interannual and intra-annual variability. In conclusion, our results can be used as a background data for devising a plan to develop and operate wind farm over the Korean Peninsula.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.12
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• pp.1566-1577
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• 2010

Nandrolone, 19-nortestosterone, is a synthetic androgenic-anabolic steroid promoting muscle growth. Nandrolone is also present in pig meat and sera at non-negligible levels. A number of scientific reports have suggested a positive relationship between incidence of infertility and increased meat consumption in humans. The present study was designed to determine out the effect of feeding nandrolone on the testis of the male reproductive tract. Mixtures of food and nandrolone at different concentrations (0.005 ppm and 0.5 ppm) were supplied to pubertal male rats for 6 weeks. Body weight was recorded every week during the entire experimental period. At the end of the treatment, the testis, epididymis, and epididymal fat were collected and weighted. Sperm numbers in the caudal epididymis were counted. Differential gene or protein expression of steroidogenic enzymes in the testes among experimental groups was determined by semi-quantitative real-time PCR or western blotting analysis, respectively. Histological changes of the testis induced by nandrolone treatment were examined by hematoxylin and eosin staining. Immunohistochemical analysis was employed to detect changes in the localization of steroidogenic enzymes in the testes among experimental animals. There were no significant changes on body, testis, epididymis, and epididymal fat weights among experimental groups. A significant increase of caudal sperm number was found in the 0.5 ppm nandrolone-treated group. Histological examination of the testes noted a high frequency of germ cell sloughing in seminiferous tubules of 0.5 ppm nandrolone-treated rats. Even though transcript levels of $3{\beta}$-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSD) I, $17{\beta}$-HSD4, and $17{\alpha}$-hydroxylase were influenced by nandrolone treatments, protein levels of all molecules examined in the present study were not significantly affected. Immunohistochemical analysis showed no visible changes in the localization of steroidogenic enzymes in the testes among experimental groups. The current study showed that oral intake of nandrolone in male rats for 6 weeks did not cause significant damage to the testis. It is considered that a feeding effect of nandrolone on male fertility would not be remarkable.