• Toxicological Research
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.209-216
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• 2012

The biological activity of particles is largely dependent on their size in biological systems. Dispersion in the aqueous phase has been both a critical impediment to and a prerequisite for particle studies. Carbon black has been used as a surrogate to investigate the biological effects of carbonaceous particles. Here, biocompatible methods were established to disperse carbon black into ultrafine and fine particles which are generally distinguished by the small size of 100 nm. Carbon black with a distinct particle size, N330 and N990 were suspended in blood plasma, cell culture media, Krebs-Ringer's solution (KR), or physiological salt solution (PSS). Large clumps were observed in all dispersion preparations; however, sonication improved dispersion - averaged particle sizes for N330 and N990 were $85.0{\pm}42.9$ and $112.4{\pm}67.9$ nm, respectively, in plasma; the corresponding sizes in culture media were $84.8{\pm}38.4$ and $164.1{\pm}77.8$ nm. However, sonication was not enough to disperse N330 less than 100 nm in either KR or PSS. Application of Tween 80 along with sonication reduced the size of N330 to less than 100 nm, and dispersed N990 larger than 100 nm ($73.6{\pm}28.8$ and $80.1{\pm}30.0$ nm for N330 and $349.5{\pm}161.8$ and $399.8{\pm}181.1$ nm for N990 in KR and PSS, respectively). In contrast, 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) exhibited little effect. Electron microscopy confirmed the typical aciniform structure of the carbon arrays; however, zeta potential measurement failed to explain the dispersibility of carbon black. The methods established in this study could disperse carbon black into ultrafine and fine particles, and may serve as a useful model for the study of particle toxicity, particularly size-related effects.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.461-476
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• 2022

Research studies on the scale effect on triaxial strength of intact rocks are scarce, being more common those in uniaxial strength. In this paper, the authors present and briefly interpret the peak and residual strength trends on a series of triaxial tests on different size specimens (30 mm to 84 mm diameter) of an intact granitic rock at confinements ranging from 0 to 15 MPa. Peak strength tends to grow from smaller to standard-size samples (54 mm) and then diminishes for larger values at low confinement. However, a slight change in strength is observed at higher confinements. Residual strength is observed to be much less size-dependent. Additionally, this study introduces preliminary modelling approaches of these laboratory observations with the help of three-dimensional particle flow code (PFC3D) simulations based on bonded particle models (BPM). Based on previous studies, two modelling approaches have been followed. In the first one, the maximum and minimum particle diameter (D_max and D_min) are kept constant irrespective of the sample size, whereas in the second one, the resolution (number of particles within the sample or ϕ_v) was kept constant. Neither of these approaches properly represent the observations in actual laboratory tests, even if both of them show some interesting capabilities reported in this document. Eventually, some suggestions are provided to proceed towards improving modelling approaches to represent observed scale effects.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.383-389
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to investigate evidence-based practice (EBP) for sensory integration (SI) intervention in children with cerebral palsy (CP) through a systematic review and meta analysis. The screening strategy was performed to select studies for analysis after that, a meta-analysis was implemented for calculating the effect size (ES) in group studies. Twenty-four studies were included for a systematic review and included seven case reports, three single-subject designs, and fourteen group experimental design studies(three randomized controlled trials, three two groups nonrandomized studies, and six one group nonrandomized studies). The ES of the experimental group studies was moderate size of 0.272. The results of the ES according to the dependent variables, the ES was the largest in the fine motor development. The effect size of the published papers was greater than the unpublished paper's and two groups nonrandomized studies' size effect was the largest in the design. The ES of the infants was larger than the children. The ES for a period of 8 weeks, the number of five times a week, and time in 90 minutes showed the biggest in SI program. Although the ES of SI intervention in children with CP showed moderate effect, accumulation of research well be needed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.29 no.7 s.144
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• pp.1027-1036
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• 2005

Based on the correlation analysis result of preceding research, the biodegradabilities of cellulose fibers were closely related to the moisture regain of the samples, which reflects the hydrophilicity and internal structure of the fibers. In addition to this factor, it was expected that the biodegradation conditions influence the biodegradability of fibers. In this study, widely used cellulose fibers including cotton, rayon, and acetate were used. The biodegradabilities of cellulose fibers were measured by soilburial test, and then the degradation behaviors based on each condition were compared. Moreover, the effects of degradation conditions such as humidity of the soil were investigated. Changes in the internal structure of samples were also observed by X-ray analysis according to the soil burial time. It was shown that humidity of soil facilitated the degradation of cotton, rayon, and acetate fibers, showing higher degradation rate with higher humidity in soil. This effect was shown to be much greater in the fibers of high moisture regain such as cotton and rayon. In respect of microstructure change, crystallinities and their crystal size of fibers decreased remarkably in the soil of higher humidity. It was revealed that degradation of crystalline area was more dependent on the soil humidity than that of amorphous area.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.44-50
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• 2007

This study investigated the effect of ultrasound irradiation on the blend of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT). The blends of PLA/PBAT(50/50) (PBAT50) were prepared in a melt mixer with an ultrasonic device attached. Thermal, rheological, and mechanical properties, morphology, and biodegradability of the sonicated blends were analysed. The viscosity of the sonicated blends was increased by the ultrasound irradiation owing to the strong interaction. The morphology of the sonicated blends was significantly dependent on the duration o the ultrasound irradiation. For PBAT50, the phase size reduction was maximized when the blends were ultrasonically irradiated for 30 sec. At longer duration of ultrasound irradiation, the PBAT phase underwent flocculation. Measurement of the tensile properties showed an increased breakage tensile stress and an enhanced Young's modulus when the blends were properly irradiated. This improvement was ascribed to better adhesion between the PLA matrix and the PBAT domain and to better dispersion of the PBAT phase. However, the tensile properties were maximized after excessive energy irradiation, which was ascribed to an emulsifying effect leading to coalescence of the PBAT phase. Impact strength was increased to reach a peak with the ultrasound irradiation, and was higher than the untreated sample for all sonicated samples due to the difference of failure mechanism between the tensile test and the impact test.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.1485-1492
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• 2015

Makgeolli is a traditional wine in Korea and has been traditionally believed to exhibit health benefits. However, the inhibitory effect of dealcoholized makgeolli (MK) on cancer has never been investigated scientifically. In this study, MK exhibited an anti-angiogenic effect by inhibiting tube formation in human umbilical vein endothelial cells, without cytotoxicity. Treatment with MK reduced the proliferation of AGS human gastric adenocarcinoma cells in a dose-dependent manner and increased the sub-G1 population. Next, we evaluated whether MK could induce apoptosis in AGS cells by using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay or Annexin V method. Treatment with MK at 500 and 1,000 μg/ml increased the number of TUNEL-positive AGS cells. Under the same conditions, MK-treated (500 and 1,000 μg/ml) cells showed significant induction of early or late apoptosis, compared with untreated cells (no induction). In addition, MK also induced phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) expression in AGS cells. However, p53 expression in AGS cells was not changed by MK treatment. Furthermore, MK at 500 mg/kg·d reduced the tumor size and volume in AGS tumor xenografts. Taken together, MK may be useful for the prevention of cancer cell growth.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.958-966
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• 2001

This study has examined the microstructural development in the Bridgman type directional solidification of hyper-peritectic Sn-Cd alloys, and the temperature and flow field have been numerically simulated to see if there is any change induced by convection. The directional solidification experiments carried out in quartz tubes with inside diameters of 0.4∼6mm showed that the resulting microstructures are clearly dependent on the size of tube diameters. The bigger ampoules where the effect of convection is highly expected produced saw-like structures resulting from the primary $\alpha$ and peritectic $\beta$ phase growing together at a planar solid-liquid front, with the former being surrounded by the latter. In the smaller ampoules, where the effect of convection is expected low however, the saw structure disappears, and as is understood from the theoretical prediction based on diffusion-controlled solidification the initial growth of the primary $\alpha$ phase is replaced by the nucleation of the peritectic $\beta$ phase whose growth continues to the end of the solidification.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.9
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• pp.329-340
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• 2020

This study investigates the effect of capital structure on the financial performance of pharmaceutical enterprises which are listing on Vietnam's stock market. The study builds the regression using ROE as dependent variable and four independent variables, including self-financing, financial leverage, long-term asset and debt to assets ratios. In addition, we use other variables as controlling ones, such as firm size, fixed asset rate and growth. We collect data for the period from 2015 to 2019 of all 30 pharmaceutical enterprises which are currently listing on Vietnam's stock market. The least square regression (OLS) is used to test the effect of capital structure to the firms' financial performance. The analysis results show that the financial leverage ratio (LR), long-term asset ratio (LAR) and debt-to-assets ratio (DR) have positive relationship with firm performance, meanwhile the self-financing (E/C) affects negatively to the return on equity (ROE). Upon the findings we suggest that the Vietnamese government should focus on stabilizing macro environment to create favorable environment for enterprises. And the pharmaceutical enterprises should build more reasonable capital structure with higher debt proportion than equity, diversifying loan mobilization channels such as issuing long-term bonds. Additionally, the firms should expand the scale appropriately to maintain development and ability to pay debts.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.121-127
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• 2004

Amphotericin B (AmB), an amphipathic polyene macrolide, is an antifungal drug produced by Streptomyces nodosus. Recently, AmB has been shown to exert antiviral activity against rubella virus and human immunodeficiency virus by different mechanisms. In this study, we evaluated the antiviral effect of AmB against Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) and investigated which step of the viral life cycle was inhibited by AmB to understand the mechanism of antiviral action of AmB. AmB reduced both plaque size and number in the infected cells in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, a 200-fold reduction of infectious virus titer was observed by treatment of infected cells with $5\mug/ml$ of AmB. AmB acted at the post virus-infection step, but not during adsorption of virus to host cells. Western blot analysis revealed that the accumulated level of JEV envelope protein dramatically decreased in the infected cells by treatment with $5-10\mug/ml$ of AmB. Our results indicate that AmB inhibits the replication of JEV at the postinfection step by interfering with viral replication and/or by inhibiting the synthesis of viral proteins.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.73-85
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• 2008

This study is based on an empirical study on consequences of emotions and emotional labor in the food-service industry. It analyzed the effect of emotional labor on emotions of emotional laborers and the effect of emotional labor on communication skills. Data used for analysis were collected through the questionnaire surveyed on the various samples including employees of family restaurants, Korean restaurants, Chinese restaurants, Japanese restaurants, etc. The result of data analysis indicated that only the efforts for emotional expressions among the factors influenced affirmative emotion(P-value=0.042). It also showed that the factor of the efforts for emotional expressions by researchers had a positive effect on both language communication skills and non-language communication skills(P-value=0.000). This study was valuable in the aspect that emotions and communication skills were first selected as dependent variables of emotional labor and it verified causality between emotional labor and these variables. However, it also has some limitations that its sample size was small and it depended on convenience sampling.