• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.53-64
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• 2000

This paper is related to color image segmentation scheme which makes it possible to achieve the excellent segmented results by block-based segmentation using Y/C bit-plane summation image. First, normalized chrominance summation image is obtained by normalizing the image which is summed up the absolutes of color-differential values between R, G, B images. Secondly, upper 2 bits of the luminance image and upper 6bits of and the normalized chrominance summation image are bitwise operated by the pixel to generate the Y/C bit-plane summation image. Next, the Y/C bit-plane summation image divided into predetermined block size, is classified into monotone blocks, texture blocks and edge blocks, and then each classified block is merged to the regions including one more blocks in the individual block type, and each region is selectively allocated to unique marker according to predetermined marker allocation rules. Finally, fine segmented results are obtained by applying the watershed algorithm to each pixel in the unmarked blocks. As shown in computer simulation, the main advantage of the proposed method is that it suppresses the over-segmentation in the texture regions and reduces computational load. Furthermore, it is able to apply global parameters to various images with different pixel distribution properties because they are nonsensitive for pixel distribution. Especially, the proposed method offers reasonable segmentation results in edge areas with lower contrast owing to the regional characteristics of the color components reflected in the Y/C bit-plane summation image.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.287-297
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• 2001

Contraction of smooth muscle is initiated by an increase in cytosolic $Ca^{2+}$ leading to activation of $Ca^{2+}$/ calmodulin-dependnet myosin light chain (MLC) kinase and phosphorylation of MLC. The types of contraction and signaling mechanisms mediating contraction differ depending on the region. The involvement of these different mechanisms varies depending on the source of $Ca^{2+}$ and the kinetic of $Ca^{2+}$ mobilization. $Ca^{2+}$ mobilizing agonists stimulate different phospholipases $(PLC-{\beta},\;PLD\;and\;PLA_2)$ to generate one or more $Ca^{2+}$ mobilizing messengers $(IP_3\;and\;AA),$ and diacylglycerol (DAG), an activator of protein kinase C (PKC). The relative contributions of $PLC-{\beta},\;PLA_2$ and PLD to generate second messengers vary greatly between cells and types of contraction. In smooth muscle cell derived form the circular muscle layer of the intestine, preferential hydrolysis of $PIP_2$ and generation of $IP_3$ and $IP_3-dependent\;Ca^{2+}$ release initiate the contraction. In smooth muscle cells derived from longitudinal muscle layer of the intestine, preferential hydrolysis of PC by PLA2, generation of AA and AA-mediated $Ca^{2+}$ influx, cADP ribose formation and $Ca^{2+}-induced\;Ca^{2+}$ release initiate the contraction. Sustained contraction, however, in both cell types is mediated by $Ca^{2+}-independent$ mechanism involving activation of $PKC-{\varepsilon}$ by DAG derived form PLD. A functional linkage between $G_{13},$ RhoA, ROCK, $PKC-{\varepsilon},$ CPI-17 and MLC phosphorylation in sustained contraction has been implicated. Contraction of normal esophageal circular muscle (ESO) in response to acetylcholine (ACh) is linked to $M_2$ muscarinic receptors activating at least three intracellular phospholipases, i.e. phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase C (PC-PLC), phospholipase D (PLD) and the high molecular weight (85 kDa) cytosolic phospholipase $A_2\;(cPLA_2)$ to induce phosphatidylcholine (PC) metabolism, production of diacylglycerol (DAG) and arachidonic acid (AA), resulting in activation of a protein kinase C (PKC)-dependent pathway. In contrast, lower esophageal sphincter (LES) contraction induced by maximally effective doses of ACh is mediated by muscarinic $M_3$ receptors, linked to pertussis toxin-insensitive GTP-binding proteins of the $G_{q/11}$ type. They activate phospholipase C, which hydrolyzes phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate $(PIP_2),$ producing inositol 1, 4, 5-trisphosphate $(IP_3)$ and DAG. $IP_3$ causes release of intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ and formation of a $Ca^{2+}$-calmodulin complex, resulting in activation of myosin light chain kinase and contraction through a calmodulin-dependent pathway.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.539-562
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• 2006

The clarification of spatial-temporal patterns of phytoplankton from southern coastal waters during the period of March to November in 2004 was carried out. Total cell numbers were shown in 5,286 cells $ml^{-1}$ on March and reached to encounter a peak of 27,775 cells $ml^{-1}$ on July. Mean cell number was also shown in maximum of 1,587 cells $ml^{-1}$ on July, which recorded approximately two times higher than on June. The cell number of phytoplankton from southmiddle waters attained an abundance of ${\geq}35%$ regardless of months, which was the highest the abundance of phytoplankton in 2004 than any other waters in this study. Southwestern waters were lower the cell number of 2-5 times than those of southmiddle and southeastern waters. In particular, Prorocentrum occurred in southeastern waters on June and the highest cell number of 8,200 cells $ml^{-1}$ around Tongyeong region on July, which was recorded to occupy the value of 60.9% in southeast waters. The abundance of Skeletonema costatum as a dominant taxa in southwest was shown in ${\geq}60%$ on March, July, September, and October, whereas was also recorded to achieve the abundance of above 80% in southmiddle waters on March, July, and September. The majority of the taxa in southeastern waters was diatom: Eucampia zoodiacus, and Chaetoceros spp.. They occupied above 45%. On November, most of southern waters were abundant to Chaetoceros spp. On the basis of cluster analysis using SPSS ver 10.0, phytoplankton occurring on March showed somewhat no correlation with all of southern waters. In contrast to on March, the relationship between southwestern and southmiddle waters was shown on August and November, indicating a distinction from southeastern waters. However, the distance between southwestern/middle and southeastern waters appeared to be less than 5. Consequently, the abundance of phytoplankton in southern waters showed much fluctuations in temporal and spatial assays. In particular, southwestern and southmiddle waters during the periods of summer and winter appeared to be a similar to environmental characteristics.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.14 no.6 s.67
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• pp.1009-1017
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• 2004

Sialyltransferases cloned so far show the remarkable tissue-specific expression, which is correlated with the existence of cell type-specific sialylated sugar structure in glycoconjugates. In the previous studies, we found various mRNA isoforms of human sialyltransferases generated by alternative splicing and alternative promoter utilization. To understand the regulatory mechanisms for specific expression of human sialyltransferase genes and for production of their mRNA isoforms, in this study, we have isolated and characterized five kinds of human sialyltransferase genes: hST3Gal II, hST8Sia II, hST8Sia III, hST8Sia IV, and hST8Sia V. The hST3Gal II gene is composed of six exons, which span over 17kb, with exons ranging in size from 46 to over 1017 bp. The hST8Sia III gene comprises over 10 kb, and consists of only four exons, which is much smaller and simpler than other human sialyltransferase genes. In contrast, three genes (hST8Sia II, hST8Sia IV and hST8Sia V) span more than 70 kb, and comprise five or more exons. All exon-intron boundaries follow the GT-AG rule. In particular, the sialylmotif L, which is a highly conserved region in all cloned sialyltransferases, was found in one exon of hST8Sia III, whereas this motif is encoded by discrete exons in the other human sialyltransferases. Exon structures of these sialyltransferase genes show the structural diversity, as found in other human sialyltransferase genes reported so far. We determined the transcription start site of hST3Gal II gene by the 5'-RACE and cap site hunting experiments.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.146-161
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• 1996

This study was purposed to find health promotion and care needs of the elderly in rural area of Korea. As the rural elderly are limited in accessibility to health care resources and could not immediately solve their health care needs when they need. health promotion and care services are expected to bring better and more practical solutions of their health care needs. Thus, the type of health care services to be developed in Korea rural area is discussed to have emphasis on health care service component in addition to health promoting components. Methods of this study was based on survey data analysis : total 322 persons aged older than 55 living at one 'Kun' in Korea administrative unit were interviewed by health workers working at the region and also get trained for this study data collection. The data collection interview was continued from February till May in 1996. The interview questions were modified with adjustment to Korea situation. with basis of the WHO's health promotion program components. The collected data were analyzed using SAS program for frequency, correlation, regressions. The major findings were as follows : (1) $74.8\%$ of the surveyed were sick at the survey time point. and $95.9\%$ known the diagnosis name of the disease. The most frequently complained diseases were Muscular-Skeletal diseases $(43.7\%)$. $34\%$ of those sick had never treated or discontinued therapeutic procedures. so that shown the necessity of systematic and usual health care services with health promotion program development for the elderly. (2) The percent of those who make social participation was $95.3\%$. and the activities were visiting neighbors $(70.4\%)$ and lack of qualified social activity programs. (3) $78.1\%$ of the surveyed had health counseling and education from professional health workers. Those ceased smoking and drinking were $59.6\%,\; 60.3\%$. respectively. Those had no application of therapeutic drugs or nutrion supplements was $40.7\%\;and\;94.1\%$ had regular meals. Those practiced exercises was low remarking $17.7\%$. (4) Positive health behaviors were better carried out by sick groups than by the healthier. except smoking. regular meals. and exercise. $17.5\%$ of sick group smoke more than one case of cigarettes. in contrast to $9.5\%$ of the healthier. (5) Mental health status was heathier among positive health behavior earners. Health counseling and education shown better score of mental health than those never counseled. (6) Positive health behavior practice frequency did not show significant differences when crossed by social activity participation status. (7) Health behaviors of the rural elderly people were carried out better when they had positive 'continuency in therapeutic procedure' 'health status'. 'familial relationship'. 'Health Status' of the rural olderly were explained by 'exercise'. 'drinking'. 'familial relationship'. 'activities of daily living'. Thus, health behaviors practice mutually interact with health status. In conclusion. the health promotion and care program component are recommended to include ation on the necessity of positive health promotion active social acitivities. pleasant life style, adaption into changes on the elderly, safety in residential area. community acitivity and resource utilization. etc .. in addition to the elderly's disability and sickness caring services.

• BMB Reports
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2006

To prove whether error catastrophe /lethal mutagenesis is the primary antiviral mechanism of action of ribavirin against foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). Ribavirin passage experiments were performed and supernatants of $Rp_1$ to $Rp_5$ were harvested. Morphological alterations as well as the levels of viral RNAs, proteins, and infectious particles in the BHK-21 cells infected using the supernatants of $Rp_1$ to $Rp_5$ and control were measured by microscope, real-time RT-PCR, western-blotting and plaque assays, respectively. The mutation frequency was measured by sequencing the complete P1- and 3D-encoding region of FMDV after a single round of virus infection from ribavirin-treated or untreated FMDV-infected cells. Ribavirin treatment for FMDV caused dramatically inhibition of multiplication in cell cultures. The levels of viral RNAs, proteins, and infectious particles in the BHK-21 cells infected were more greatly reduced along with the passage from $Rp_1$ to $Rp_5$, moreover, nucleocapsid protein could not be detected and no recovery of infectious virus in the supernatant or detection of intracellular viral RNA was observed at the $Rp_5$-infected cells. A high mutation rate, giving rise to an 8-and 11-fold increase in mutagenesis and resulting in some amino acid substitutions, was found in viral RNA synthesized at a single round of virus infection in the presence of ribavirin of $1000\;{\mu}M$ and caused a 99.7% loss in viral infectivity in contrast with parallel untreated control virus. These results suggest that the antiviral molecular mechanism of ribavirin is based on the lethal mutagenesis/error catastrophe, that is, the ribavirin is not merely an antiviral reagent but also an effective mutagen.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.137-152
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• 2004

The climatological characteristics of coastal zone over the southwestern coast of Korea peninsula were investigated using the data observed by AWS (automatic weather system) and 4 buoy points. Coastal zone is climatologically defined as the region bounded by the distinct contrast of temperature gradient and wind speed across coastline. In the southwest of peninsula four cross-lines consisted of AWS aligned with each buoy were selected as Geojedo buoy line, Geomundo buoy line, Chilbaldo buoy line and Dukjukdo buoy line. Analysis on the diurnal cycle and intra-month variation, monthly mean and maximum value, the temperature gradient with distance between buoy and each station and the accumulative frequency of wind speed were applied to find out the characteristics and the range of coast zone. The maximum ranges of coastal zone vary from offshore to Sanglim (about 34 km distance from coastline) for Geojedo buoy line, to Sunchun (about 52 km) for Geo-mundo buoy line, to Jaeundo (about 27 km) for chilbaldo buoy line and to Yongin (about 65 km) for Dukjukdo buoy line. The modification of coastal zone according to synoptic flow was investigated for the onshore, off-shore and calm cases. The ranges of coastal zone are significantly changed with the distance between 65∼90 km for the case of onshore. In addition, we tried to find out the variation of the wind and temperature and the wind ratio of wind speed at ocean to land stations along Geojedo buoy line during 12∼13 Sep. 2003 affected by typhoon (MAEMI).

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.243-251
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• 2018

The gridded simulation of crop growth, which would be useful for shareholders and policy makers, often requires specialized computation tasks for preparation of weather input data and operation of a given crop model. Here we developed an automated system to allow for crop growth simulation over a region using the DSSAT (Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer) model. The system consists of modules implemented using R and shell script languages. One of the modules has a functionality to create weather input files in a plain text format for each cell. Another module written in R script was developed for GIS data processing and parallel computing. The other module that launches the crop model automatically was implemented using the shell script language. As a case study, the automated system was used to determine the maximum soybean yield for a given set of management options in Illinois state in the US. The AgMERRA dataset, which is reanalysis data for agricultural models, was used to prepare weather input files during 1981 - 2005. It took 7.38 hours to create 1,859 weather input files for one year of soybean growth simulation in Illinois using a single CPU core. In contrast, the processing time decreased considerably, e.g., 35 minutes, when 16 CPU cores were used. The automated system created a map of the maturity group and the planting date that resulted in the maximum yield in a raster data format. Our results indicated that the automated system for the DSSAT model would help spatial assessments of crop yield at a regional scale.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.1255-1261
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• 2006

An alkaliphilic bacterium, Bacillus sp. strain BK, was found to produce extracellular cellulase-free xylanolytic enzymes with xylan-binding activity. Since the pellet-bound xylanase is eluted with 2% TEA from the pellet of the culture, they contain a xylan-binding region that is stronger than the xylan-binding xylanase of the extracellular enzyme. The xylanases had a different molecular weight and xylan-binding ability. The enzyme activity of xylanase in the extracellular fraction was 6 times higher than in the pellet-bound enzyme. Among the enzymes, xylanase had the highest enzyme activity. When Bacillus sp. strain BK was grown in pH 10.5 alkaline medium containing xylan as the sole carbon source, the bacterium produced xylanase, arabinofuranosidase, acetyl esterase, and $\beta$-xylosidase with specific activities of 1.23, 0.11, 0.06, and 0.04 unit per mg of protein, respectively. However, there was no cellulase activity detected in the crude enzyme preparation. The hydrolysis of agricultural residues and kraft pulps by the xylanolytic enzymes was examined at 50$^{\circ}C$ and pH 7.0. The rate of xylan hydrolysis in com hull was higher than those of sugarcane bagasse, rice straw, com cop, rice husk, and rice bran. In contrast, the rate of xylan hydrolysis in sugarcane pulp was 2.01 and 3.52 times higher than those of eucalyptus and pine pulp, respectively. In conclusion, this enzyme can be used to hydrolyze xylan in agricultural residues and kraft pulps to breach and regenerate paper from recycled environmental resources.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.18-24
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• 2001

Expression of the baculovirus major envelope glycoprotein gene(gp64) is regulated by transcription from botha early and late promoters. To develop a transient expression vector under the control of gp64 gene promoter, the gp64 gene of Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus-K1(BmNPV-K1) was characterized. The gp64 gene was local-ized at EcoR I-Pst I 7.38-kb fragment of the BmNPV-K1 genome. The EcorR 1-Pst I 7.38-kb fragment was cloned and the nucleotide sequence of 2,277 bases including the coding region of gp64 gene was determined. Based on these results, transient expression vector using gp64 gene promoter was constructed and named as pBm64. E.coli lacZ gene was introduced onto pBm64 as a reporter gene and expressed transiently in B. mori 5(Bm 5) cells. The expression vector transfected into the cells was maintained stably for 1 to 5 days. In order to confirm the expression of the reporter gene by gp64 promoter, recombinant virus was constructed. The recombinant virus has two independent transcription units in opposite orientations with two promoters; gp64 and polyhedrin gene promoters each initiating transcription of $\beta$-galactosidase and polyhedrin, respectively. Polyhedra formation and expression of $\beta$-galactosidase in Bm5 cells infected with the recombinant virus were observed with phase contrast microscope and in situ staining.