• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.23 no.11
• /
• pp.1397-1403
• /
• 2013

Fructus Sophorae, the dried ripe fruit of Styphnolobium japonicum (L.), is an herbal ingredient used in traditional Oriental medicine. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of Fructus Sophorae extracts (FSE) on immune modulation in a murine RAW 264.7 macrophage model. As immune response parameters, the production of prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$) and tumor necrotic $factor-{\alpha}$ ($TNF-{\alpha}$) were evaluated. Our data revealed that FSE increased the macrophage activation and the production of $PGE_2$ and $TNF-{\alpha}$, which was consistently correlated with upregulation of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and $TNF-{\alpha}$ expression at both transcriptional and translational levels. On comparative cytokine protein array, FSE significantly increased several cytokines, which was associated with phosphorylation of mitogen- activated protein kinases (MAPKs), including extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), p38 MAPK and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and Akt in RAW 264.7 cells. However, each inhibitor of these molecules attenuated the FSE-induced $PGE_2$ production. These results indicate that FSE activated macrophages through the activation of MAPKs and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathways in RAW 264.7 macrophages. These findings suggest that FSE may provide a promising source of an immunoenhancing agent.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.39 no.3
• /
• pp.297-309
• /
• 2023

The degradation of coastal ecosystems and fishery environments is accelerating due to the recent phenomenon of invertebrate grazers. To effectively monitor and implement preventive measures for this phenomenon, the adoption of remote sensing-based monitoring technology for extensive maritime areas is imperative. In this study, we compared and analyzed the robustness of deep learning-based object detection modelsfor detecting and monitoring invertebrate grazersfrom underwater videos. We constructed an image dataset targeting seven representative species of invertebrate grazers in the coastal waters of South Korea and trained deep learning-based object detection models, You Only Look Once (YOLO)v7 and YOLOv8, using this dataset. We evaluated the detection performance and speed of a total of six YOLO models (YOLOv7, YOLOv7x, YOLOv8s, YOLOv8m, YOLOv8l, YOLOv8x) and conducted robustness evaluations considering various image distortions that may occur during underwater filming. The evaluation results showed that the YOLOv8 models demonstrated higher detection speed (approximately 71 to 141 FPS [frame per second]) compared to the number of parameters. In terms of detection performance, the YOLOv8 models (mean average precision [mAP] 0.848 to 0.882) exhibited better performance than the YOLOv7 models (mAP 0.847 to 0.850). Regarding model robustness, it was observed that the YOLOv7 models were more robust to shape distortions, while the YOLOv8 models were relatively more robust to color distortions. Therefore, considering that shape distortions occur less frequently in underwater video recordings while color distortions are more frequent in coastal areas, it can be concluded that utilizing YOLOv8 models is a valid choice for invertebrate grazer detection and monitoring in coastal waters.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.342-350
• /
• 1995

Background: Although there are improvements of clinical symtoms after bronchodilator inhalation in COPD patients, it has been noted that there was no increase of $FEV_1$ in some cases. $FEV_1$ did not reflect precisely the improvement of ventilatory mechanics after bronchodilator inhalation in these COPD patients. The main pathophysiology of COPD is obstruction of airway in expiratory phase but in result, the load of respiratory system is increased in inspiratory phase. Therefore the improvement of clinical symptoms after bronchodilator inhalation may be due to the decrease of inspiratory load. So we performed the study which investigated the effect of bronchodilator on inspiratory response of vetilatory mechanics in COPD patients. Methods: In 17 stable COPD patients, inspiratory and expiratory forced flow-volume curves were measured respectively before bronchodilator inhalation. 10mg of salbutamol solution was inhaled via jet nebulizer for 4 minutes. Forced expiratory and inspiratory flow-volume curves were measured again 15 minutes after bronchodilator inhalation. Results: $FEV_1$, FVC and $FEV_1$/FVC% were $0.92{\pm}0.34L$($38.3{\pm}14.9%$ predicted), $2.5{\pm}0.81L$($71.1{\pm}21.0%$ predicted) and $43.1{\pm}14.5%$ respectively before bronchodilator inhalation. The values of increase of $FEV_1$, FVC and PIF(Peak Inspiratory Flow) were $0.15{\pm}0.13L$(relative increase: 17.0%), $0.58{\pm}0.38\;L$(29.0%) and $1.0{\pm}0.56L$/sec(37.5%) respectively after bronchodilator inhalation. The increase of PIF was twice more than $FEV_1$ in average(p<0.001). The increase of PIF in these patients whose $FEV_1$ was not increased after bronchodilator inhalation were 35.0%, 44.0% and 55.5% respectively. Conclusion: The inspiratory parameter reflected improvement of ventilatory mechanics by inhaled bronchodilater better than expiratory parameters in COPD patients.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.120-132
• /
• 2014

Purpose : To compare dynamic susceptibility contrast imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging, and susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) for the differentiation of tumor recurrence and delayed radiation therapy (RT)-related changes in patients treated with RT for primary brain tumors. Materials and Methods: We enrolled 24 patients treated with RT for various primary brain tumors, who showed newly appearing enhancing lesions more than one year after completion of RT on follow-up MRI. The enhancing-lesions were confirmed as recurrences (n=14) or RT-changes (n=10). We calculated the mean values of normalized cerebral blood volume (nCBV), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), and proportion of dark signal intensity on SWI (proSWI) for the enhancing-lesions. All the values between the two groups were compared using t-test. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to determine the best predictor of differential diagnosis. The cutoff value of the best predictor obtained from receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis was applied to calculate the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for the diagnosis. Results: The mean nCBV value was significantly higher in the recurrence group than in the RT-change group (P=.004), and the mean proSWI was significantly lower in the recurrence group (P<.001). However, no significant difference was observed in the mean ADC values between the two groups. A multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that proSWI was the only independent variable for the differentiation; the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 78.6% (11 of 14), 100% (10 of 10), and 87.5% (21 of 24), respectively. Conclusion: The proSWI was the most promising parameter for the differentiation of newly developed enhancing-lesions more than one year after RT completion in brain tumor patients.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.307-321
• /
• 2016

Planetary Boundary Layer Height (PBLH) is a major input parameter for weather forecasting and atmosphere diffusion models. In order to estimate the sub-grid scale variability of PBLH, we need to monitor PBLH data with high spatio-temporal resolution. Accordingly, we introduce a LIdar observation VEhicle (LIVE), and analyze PBLH derived from the lidar loaded in LIVE. PBLH estimated from LIVE shows high correlations with those estimated from both WRF model ($R^2=0.68$) and radiosonde ($R^2=0.72$). However, PBLH from lidar tend to be overestimated in comparison with those from both WRF and radiosonde because lidar appears to detect height of Residual Layer (RL) as PBLH which is overall below near the overlap height (< 300 m). PBLH from lidar with 10 min time resolution shows typical diurnal variation since it grows up after sunrise and reaches the maximum after 2 hours of sun culmination. The average growth rate of PBLH during the analysis period (2014/06/26 ~ 30) is 1.79 (-2.9 ~ 5.7) m $min^{-1}$. In addition, the lidar signal measured from moving LIVE shows that there is very low noise in comparison with that from the stationary observation. The PBLH from LIVE is 1065 m, similar to the value (1150 m) derived from the radiosonde launched at Sokcho. This study suggests that LIVE can observe continuous and reliable PBLH with high resolution in both stationary and mobile systems.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.1-17
• /
• 1982

The stream morphological characteristics of a river basin has a close correlation with the hydrological and hydraulic characteristics of the basin. In this study the correlations of flow duration and Hydraulic geometry with the stream morphological characteristics as well as the correlation between flow duration and hydraulic geometry were analyzed bases on the data for the Geum River basin. The purpose of this study was to provide the necessary informations for water utilization projects at ungauged locations along the river course. First of all, the stream morphological characteristics was analyzed based on the Horton's three laws on the morphology of a stream that is, the law of stream number, the law of average stream length and the law of average stream slope. As is the case for majority of the rivers it was found that the Geum River basin was well developed according to the Horton's laws. High correlations were also found between the basin characteristics and the channel characteristics. The flow duration curves obtained with the daily stream flow data of 10~90% frequency of occurences at the five stage gauging stations in the Geum River could, in general, be expressed as an exponential functional relationship. The concept of proportional stream ordering system was employed to describe continuously the longitudinal variation of the stream morphological characteristics, and the mathematical model was formulated for the discharge-frequency-proportional stream order relationship. With the morphological characteristics as a common parameter the relationships with flow duration, drainage area were established in mathematical expressions, respectively.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.328-336
• /
• 1999

A green microalga, Chlorella vulgaris UTX 259, was cultivated in a bench-scale raceway pond. During the culture, 15%(v/v) $CO_2$ was supplied and industrial wastewater discharged from a steel-making plant was used as a culture medium. In a small scale culture bottle, the microalga grew up to 1.8 g $dm^{-3}$ of cell concentration and ammonia was completely removed from the wastewater with an yield coefficient of 25.7 g dry cell weight $g^{-1}\;NH_3-N$. During the bottle-culture, microalga was dominant over heterotrophic microorganisms in the culture medium. Therefore, the amount of carbon dioxide fixation could be estimated from the change of dry cell weight. In a semi-continuous operation of raceway pond with intermittent lighting (12 h light and 12 h dark), increase of dilution rate resulted in increase of the ammonia removal rate as well as the $CO_2$ fixation rate but the ammonia removal efficiency decreased. Ammonia was not completely removed from the medium (wastewater) of raceway pond which was operated in a batch mode under a light intensity up to 20 klux. The incomplete removal of ammonia was believed due to insufficient light supply. A mathematical model, capable of predicting experimental data, was developed in order to simulate the performance of the raceway pond under the light intensity of sun during a bright daytime. Simulation results showed that the rates of $CO_2$ fixation and ammonia removal could be enhanced by increasing light intensity. According to the simulation, 80 mg $dm^{-3}$ of ammonia in the medium could be completely removed if the light intensity was over 60 klux with a continuous lighting. Under the optimal operating condition determined by the simulation, the rates of carbon dioxide fixation and ammonia removal in the outdoor operation of raceway pond were estimated as high as $24.7 g m^{-2} day^{-1}$ and $0.52 g NH_3-N m^{-2} day^{-1}$, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.86-96
• /
• 2006

Ecoclimap-1, a new complete surface parameter global database at a 1-km resolution, was previously presented. It is intended to be used to initialize the soil-vegetation- atmosphere transfer schemes in meteorological and climate models. Surface parameters in the Ecoclimap-1 database are provided in the form of a per-class value by an ecoclimatic base map from a simple merging of land cover and climate maps. The principal objective of this ecoclimatic map is to consider intra-class variability of life cycle that the usual land cover map cannot describe. Although the ecoclimatic map considering land cover and climate is used, the intra-class variability was still too high inside some classes. In this study, a new strategy is defined; the idea is to use the information contained in S10 NDVI SPOT/VEGETATION profiles to split a land cover into more homogeneous sub-classes. This utilizes an intra-class unsupervised sub-clustering methodology instead of simple merging. This study was performed to provide a new ecolimatic map over Northeast Asia in the framework of Ecoclimap-2 global database construction for surface parameters. We used the University of Maryland's 1km Global Land Cover Database (UMD) and a climate map to determine the initial number of clusters for intra-class sub-clustering. An unsupervised classification process using six years of NDVI profiles allows the discrimination of different behavior for each land cover class. We checked the spatial coherence of the classes and, if necessary, carried out an aggregation step of the clusters having a similar NDVI time series profile. From the mapping system, 29 ecosystems resulted for the study area. In terms of climate-related studies, this new ecosystem map may be useful as a base map to construct an Ecoclimap-2 database and to improve the surface climatology quality in the climate model.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
• /
• v.44 no.5
• /
• pp.55-64
• /
• 2010

This study was conducted to estimate genetic parameters for reproductive traits using multivariate animal models in Yorkshire breed. For the study, 4,989 records for litter traits collected between the year 2001 and 2005 from Yorkshire pigs in K GGP were used. The effects of environmental factors such as farrowing year, parity, weaning to estrus interval (WEI), and suckling period were statistically significant (p<0.05), but farrowing season was not significant, for reproductive traits. The estimates genetic correlations and phenotypic correlations in total number of born and number of suckling, was shown to highly correlated. The genetic correlations were higher than phenotypic correlation. The estimates of heritabilities for reproductive traits, considering permanent environment effects (PE) were much lower than those obtained when permanent environment effects were not considered (NPE) in the model. The estimates of heritabilities were 0.240 and 0.076 for total number of born and 0.187 and 0.096 for number of suckling in NPE, and PE, respectively. These results itivcate that PE should be considered in the statistical mode to estimate more acco ate breeding values.

• Proceedings of the Korean Association of Geographic Inforamtion Studies Conference
• /
• 2003.04a
• /
• pp.363-368
• /
• 2003

We have successfully developed a more effective algorithm to extract the lineament in the area covered by wide alluvial deposits characterized by a relatively narrow range of brightness in the Landsat TM image, while the currently used algorithm is limited to the mountainous areas. In the new algorithm, flat areas mainly consisting of alluvial deposits were selected using the Local Enhancement from the Digital Elevation Model (DEM). The aspect values were obtained by 3${\times}$3 moving windowing of Zevenbergen & Thorno's Method, and then the slopes of the study area were determined using the aspect values. After the lineament factors in the alluvial deposits were revealed by comparing the threshold values, the first rank lineament under the alluvial deposits were extracted using the Hough transform In order to extract the final lineament, the lowest points under the alluvial deposits in a given topographic section perpendicular to the first rank lineament were determined through the spline interpolation, and then the final lineament were chosen through Hough transform using the lowest points. The algorithm developed in this study enables us to observe a clearer lineament in the areas covered by much larger alluvial deposits compared with the results extracted using the conventional existing algorithm. There exists, however, some differences between the first rank lineament, obtained using the aspect and the slope, and the final lineament. This study shows that the new algorithm more effectively extracts the lineament in the area covered with wide alluvlal deposits than in the areas of converging slope, areas with narrow alluvial deposits or valleys.