• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.334-339
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• 2004

In this study, the effects of (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and/or hinokitiol (${\beta}-thujaplicin$) on melanogenesis were investigated. Our results showed that both EGCG and hinokitiol significantly inhibited melanin synthesis in a concentration-dependent manner, and that their hypopigmenting effects were stronger than that of kojic acid, which is known to inhibit melanin formation in melanocytes and melanoma cells. Interestingly, EGCG did not show any additive hypopigmenting effect in combination with kojic acid, though EGCG did show a synergistic effect in combination with hinokitiol. Several reports indicate that the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) induces microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) degradation. Accordingly, the effects of EGCG and hinokitiol on the ERK signaling pathway were examined. EGCG and hinokitiol induced neither ERK activation nor MITF degradation. On the other hand, both EGCG and hinokitiol reduced the protein levels of MITF and of tyrosinase, the rate limiting melanogenic enzyme, whereas kojic acid had no effect. In addition, hinokitiol strongly downregulated the activity of tyrosinase, whereas EGCG or kojic acid had only a little effect. These results show that both EGCG and hinokitiol reduce MITF production, and suggest that reduced tyrosinase activity by hinokitiol explains their synergistic effect on melanogenesis.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.8
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• pp.953-960
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• 2012

This paper reports the irradiation effect on the deformation behavior and tensile fracture properties of A533B RPV steel. An inverse identification technique using iterative finite element (FE) simulation was used to determine those properties from tensile data for the A533B RPV steel irradiated at 65 to $100^{\circ}C$ and deformed at room temperature. FE simulation revealed that the plastic instability at yield followed by softening for higher doses was related to the occurrence of localized necking immediately after yielding. The strain-hardening rate in the equivalent true stress-true strain relationship was still positive during the necking deformation. The tensile fracture stress was less dependent on the irradiation dose, whereas the tensile fracture strain and fracture energy decreased with increasing dose level up to 0.1 dpa and then became saturated. However, the tensile fracture strain and fracture energy still remained high after high-dose irradiation, which is associated with a large amount of ductility during the necking deformation for irradiated A533B RPV steel.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.30-38
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• 2016

Background: This study purposed to analyze the relationship between spatial distribution of Diabetes prevalence rates and regional variables. Methods: The unit of analysis was administrative districts of city gun gu. Dependent variable was the age- and sex- adjusted diabetes prevalence rates and regional variables were selected to represent three aspects: demographic and socioeconomic factor, health and medical factor, and physical environment factor. Along with the traditional ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis, geographically weighted regression (GWR) was applied for the spatial analysis. Results: Analysis results showed that age- and sex-adjusted diabetes prevalence rates were varied depending on regions. OLS regression showed that diabetes prevalence rates had significant relationships with percent of population over age 65 and financial independence rate. In GWR, the effects of regional variables were not consistent. These results provide information to health policy makers. Conclusion: Regional characteristics should be considered in allocating health resources and developing health related programs for the regional disease management.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.139-144
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• 2003

Augmentation of CHF by ultrasonic vibration in water pool is experimentally investigated under pool boiling condition. The experiments are carried out using copper coated plates and distilled water. Measurements of CHF on flat plate heated surface were made with and without ultrasonic wave and with variations in inclined angle of the surface and water subcooling. Experimental apparatus consists of a bath, power supply, test section, ultrasonic generator, and data acquisition system. The measurements show that ultrasonic wave enhances CHF and its extent is dependent upon inclination angle as well as water subcooling. The rate of increase in CHF increases with an increase in water subcooling while it decreases with an increase in inclination angle. Visual observation shows that the cause of CHF augmentation is closely related with the dynamic behavior of bubble generation and departure in acoustic field.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.138-142
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• 2003

Soil amendments with oriental herbal medicines such as fruit of Anethum graveolens, flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum, rhizome of Cnidium officinale, rhizome of Coptis chinensis, root bark of Paeonia suffructicosa, stem bark of phellodendron amurense, and stem bark of Cinnamomum cassia at the rate of 0.2％ (weight by volume of soil) significantly reduced Meloidogyne incognita infection (root gall formation) of tomato seedlings compared with the control. The most effective treatments were root bark of p. suffructicosa and stem bark of C. cassia as they gave minimum numbers of galls on tomato roots (4.7% and 8.9%, respectively, relative to control) as compared to other treatments. Another study with root bark of p. suffructicosa and C. cassia at different application doses also showed consistent results in reducing gall number. The control efficacy decreased as the application doses were lower-ed, indicating their dose-dependent control activities. These treatments significantly enhanced aboveground plant growths (total masses).

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.37-40
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• 2006

In this paper, we propose a VQ codebook design of speech recognition feature parameters in order to improve the performance of a distributed speech recognition system. For the context-dependent HMMs, a VQ codebook should be correlated with phonetic distributions in the training data for HMMs. Thus, we focus on a selection method of training data based on phonetic distribution instead of using all the training data for an efficient VQ codebook design. From the speech recognition experiments using the Aurora 4 database, the distributed speech recognition system employing a VQ codebook designed by the proposed method reduced the word error rate (WER) by 10% when compared with that using a VQ codebook trained with the whole training data.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.303-310
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was (a)to compare electromyographic (EMG) activities and physiological variables on the development of fatigue induced by ergometer test, (b)to determine investigate the differences in the stage of fatigue between the electromyographic characteristics and physiological variables. Nine male university students who have no musculoskeletal disorder were recruited as the subjects. The electromyographic characteristics(peak IEMG, average IEMG, median frequency, mean edge frequency) and physiological variables(HR, RPE, blood lactate) were determined for each stage(15, 30, 45, 60 minutes, all out). For each dependent variable, one-way analysis of variance(ANOVA) with repeated measures and correlation analysis were performed to test if significant difference existed(p<.05). The results showed that peak IEMG, average IEMG from low extremity and physiological variables were significantly increased during the all-out stage. EMG parameters in VL, VM show significantly correlation with physiological variables during whole stages. This indicated that IEMG values may be proper parameters to determine muscle fatigue rather than physiological variables.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.88-94
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• 2016

The simultaneous biodegradation between MTBE (Gasoline additives) and BTEX (Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl-benzene, o-Xylene, m-Xylene, p-Xylene) was achieved within a competitive inter-relationship, with not only electron accepters such as nitrate, sulfate, and iron(III) without oxygen, but also with electron donors such as MTBE and BTEX. Preexisting indigenous microorganisms from a domestic sample of gasoline contaminated soil was used for a lab-scale batch test. The result of the test showed that the biodegradation rate of MTBE decreased when there was co-existing MTBE and BTEX, compared to having just MTBE present. The growth of indigenous microorganisms was not affected in the case of the MTBE treatment, whereas the growth of the microorganisms was decreased in combined MTBE and BTEX sample. This may indicate that an inhibitor related to biodegradation when BTEX and MTBE are mixed will be found. This inhibitor may be found to retard the anaerobic conditions needed for efficient breakdown of these complex carbon chain molecules in-situ. Moreover, it is also possible that an unknown competitive reaction is being imposed on the interactions between MTBE and BTEX dependent on conditions, ratios of mixture, etc.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.981-987
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• 2011

Biologically treated water contains a large quantity of organic matters and microorganisms which can cause various problems to membrane. The membrane fouling occurred by these reasons is hard to control by single physical cleaning. This study analyzes the efficiency of aeration with chemical backwashing and foulants removal during chemical backwashing. The cleaning efficiency improves when the chemical concentration is high and the contact time of chemical is long. Chemical backwashing with aeration shows exceptional cleaning efficiency which leads the physical cleaning is required during chemical backwashing since it forms flow inside the membrane submerged tank. From the foulants removal analysis, the particles such as turbidity and TOC removal rate increase when the aeration is applied. Dissolved matter of DOC and UV254 removal is dependent on higher chemical concentration. According to FTIR analysis, one of major foulants, the polysaccharide is controlled by the chemical backwashing with aeration condition.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.109-113
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• 2009

Several tidal current power plants are being planned and constructed in Korea utilizing the strong tidal currents along the west and south coasts. A tidal current reaches 9.7 m on the west coast; there are few potential regions for tidal current power generation. The construction of a dam to store water can prevent the circulation of water, causing a great environmental impact on the coast and estuary. The tidal barrage could produce a large amount of power, but it should be carefully considered. The purpose of developing renewable energies is to minimize the environmental impact and to maximize the utilization of clean energy. To produce a great quantity of power, tidal current farms require the placement of numerous units in the ocean. The power generation is very dependent on the size of the rotor and the incoming flow velocity. Also, the interactions between devices contribute greatly to the production of power. The efficiency of a power farm is estimated to determine the production rate. This paper introduces 3 D interaction problems between rotating rotors, considering the axial, transverse, and diagonal distances between horizontal axis tidal current devices.