Sestrin 2 (SESN2) is a member of the sestrin family of stress-induced proteins that negatively regulate agingassociated biological processes. This study aims to investigate the role of SESN2 in regulating the differentiation potential and senescence of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from young and elderly donors. Bulk RNA sequencing revealed a common decline in the SESN2 mRNA levels in MSCs from elderly individuals, which was confirmed via reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blot analyses. SESN2 knockdown in MSCs from young donors resulted in phenotypic changes similar to those in MSCs from elderly donors, including an enhanced expression of senescence and adipogenic markers and diminished expression of osteogenic markers. To confirm the effect of decreased SESN2 expression on osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation, we induced Sesn2 knockdown in mouse bone marrow-derived MSCs. Sesn2 knockdown suppressed the mRNA expression of osteogenic marker genes, alkaline phosphatase activity, and matrix mineralization. Furthermore, Sesn2 knockdown enhanced mRNA expression of the adipogenic marker genes and intracellular lipid accumulation. These results suggest that a decline in SESN2 expression during aging contributes to the shift of MSC differentiation from osteogenic to adipogenic lineage.

In recent automated manufacturing systems, compressed air-based pneumatic cylinders have been widely used for basic perpetration including picking up and moving a target object. They are relatively categorized as small machines, but many linear or rotary cylinders play an important role in discrete manufacturing systems. Therefore, sudden operation stop or interruption due to a fault occurrence in pneumatic cylinders leads to a decrease in repair costs and production and even threatens the safety of workers. In this regard, this study proposed a fault detection technique by developing a time-variant deep learning model from multivariate sensor data analysis for estimating a current health state as four levels. In addition, it aims to establish a real-time fault detection system that allows workers to immediately identify and manage the cylinder’s status in either an actual shop floor or a remote management situation. To validate and verify the performance of the proposed system, we collected multivariate sensor signals from a rotary cylinder and it was successful in detecting the health state of the pneumatic cylinder with four severity levels. Furthermore, the optimal sensor location and signal type were analyzed through statistical inferences.

Nasopharyngeal stenosis is defined as a morphological transition of narrowing at the nasopharyngeal region. A 2-yearold, castrated male, Korean short hair cat was referred to the animal medical center, Gyeongsang National University. According to clinical signs, diagnostic imaging, and physical examination, nasopharyngeal stenosis was diagnosed. The staphylectomy was performed using a CO2 laser, and there were not any post-operative complications. The patient was discharged in two days. This report describes the case of nasopharyngeal stenosis in cat and represents that laser ablation could be a good option for surgical management of the nasopharyngeal region with a low complication rate.

PURPOSES : There has been increasing interest in South Korea on warm-mix asphalt (WMA) and cold-mix asphalt (CMA) technologies that allow production of asphalt pavement mixtures at comparatively lower temperatures than those of hot-mix asphalt (HMA) for use in pavement engineering. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of replacing HMA pavement with WMA pavement with the goal of reducing CO2 emissions associated with asphalt production for road construction. METHODS : Changes in the dynamic modulus characteristics of WMA and HMA according to short-term and long-term aging were evaluated. In addition, the effects of water damage were evaluated for short- and long-term aging stages. RESULTS : For WMA, in the process of mixing and short-term aging, early-age dynamic modulus decreased owing to low temperature and reduced short-term aging (STA) time. This could result in early damage to the asphalt pavement depending on the applied traffic load and environmental load. CONCLUSIONS : Mastercurves of the dynamic modulus were used for comparative analysis of WMA and HMA. Compared to the dynamic modulus after STA of HMA, the estimated aging time determined by experiments for WMA to achieve the required stiffness was more than 48 hours, which is equiva-lent to approximately 4 to 5 years real service life when converted. It is considered that further studies are needed for performance optimization to achieve early-age performance of the asphalt mixes.

The use of nuclear materials for nuclear power generation is increasing worldwide, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has signed an agreement with countries using nuclear materials to prevent using military purpose through the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) for the management of nuclear materials. Accordingly, all member countries manage nuclear material and equipment facilities under the treaty and are obligated to conduct safety measures such as inspection, containment, and surveillance in accordance with safety standards. The equipment used in the inspection basically consists of a Scintillator type and a semiconductor detector type, and is mainly used for portable equipment to ensure the integrity of the equipment. In general, the operating environment of the detector guaranteed by the manufacturer is -10 degrees to 40 degrees due to poor resolution and electrical problems. However, in the case of an outdoor environment other than a laboratory environment, it is difficult to maintain the above temperature conditions. In particular, the internal temperature of the vehicle used for transport rises to more than 50 degrees in Korea, making the detector stored therein vulnerable. In this study, a storage chamber for extreme environments was developed. The developed chamber compared the internal temperature by heating the external temperature. In addition, the performance before and after heating was compared by heating the radiation detectors HPGe, CZT, and NaI from -20 to 70 degrees Celsius while using the storage chamber. Our proposed chamber can play a key role in applications with good performance in complex environmental adaptability in their design.

Regulators conduct inspections and issue non-compliance notice, and it is necessary to examine whether this is equivalent a corrective order. A corrective order imposes binding obligations on a business, and violations of it can result in sanctions such as fines, license revocation, or suspension. Therefore, if it is a corrective order, it must go through procedures such as prior notification under the Administrative Procedure Act. However, so far, no such procedures have been followed when issuing non-compliance notice. There are three possible interpretations of it: 1) the issuance of a non-compliance notice is not a corrective order but a part of an inspection, 2) the issuance of a non-compliance notice is a corrective order but not a disposition, and 3) the process of hearing opinions and prior notification was carried out during the inspection. However, if it is a part of an inspection, it should be issued by KINAC or KINS, which is entrusted with the inspection, but it is issued by the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, and it is a disposition because it makes specific demands, and the corrective orders themselves have not gone through the procedure of hearing opinions. Therefore, in order for a non-compliance notice to be enforceable unlike a recommendation and to be issued by the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission instead of the inspection agency, the law should be amended and the procedure of prior notice and hearing opinions required by the Administrative Procedure Act should be carried out at the issuance stage.

One of cosmopolitan pest, Agrotis ipsilon, causes serious economic damages in horticultural crops. This study compared the host fitness of A. ipsilon among nine major horticultural crops in Korea. Among the nine crops, the population of A. ipsilon failed to complete its development in spinach, cucumber, melon, and kidney bean. The host effects on development and reproduction of A. ipsilon were further investigated in the remained five crops. Host plants significantly (P < 0.05) affected the development-related factors of A. ipsilon eggs, larvae, and pupae. They also affected the adult reproduction-related factors including preoviposition period, oviposition period and number, and longevity except for the prepupa stage. A positive relationship was found be tween biological factors. Among the nine crops in this study, napa cabbage showed the highest suitability for the A. ipsilon populations. These findings in this study would be helpful to understand the ecology and develop the man agement tactics of A. ipsilon in horticultural crops.

신종 갈색날개매미충은 과실류에 대하여 심각한 경제적 피해를 야기한다. 국내에서는 이종의 관리를 위해 화학약제를 사용하고 있다. 그러나, 이 해충에 대한 살충제의 사용시기과 종류는 꿀벌 개체군에 악영향을 일으킨 다. 그러므로, 본 연구는 감에 있어 살충제의 사용을 감소시키고 효과를 증대시킬 수 있는 방제의사결정 수준을 평가하였다. 공간분포 분석을 통하여 감귤의 피해관련 요소인 신초, 과실형성수, 수확량에 어떤 발육단계가 영향 을 주었는지를 확인하였다. 갈색날개매미충 알의 분포는 감 열매 수와 공간적으로 관련되어 있었다. 그러나 갈색 날개매미충 알의 밀도와 감의 피해와 관련된 요인들 간에 어떠한 선형 관계를 발견하지는 못했다. 그러나 갈색날 개매미충의 밀도와 산란된 죽은 가지와의 상관성은 확인되었다. 난괴 밀도에 근거한 죽는 가지 추정 발육 모델 (Developed model of branch death possibility)로부터 새롭게 발달된 가지당 5.75개의 난괴가 방제의사결정 수준으 로 제안되었다. 위의 결과들은 과원내 갈색날개매미충 관리의 효과를 높임과 동시에 다른 곤충에 대한 방제의사 결정수준을 개발하는데 도움을 줄 수 있을 것이다.

With the development of internet and communication technologies, diversification of consumer needs, and intensifying competition, omnichannel is spotlighted among retailers as one of the breakthroughs to survive. Particularly, among scholars and practitioners, cross channel integration (CCI) has been pointed out as a key concept to achieve success in omnichannel, and several successful cases of retailers and strategies implemented under CCI are reported. Nevertheless, due to the wide scope and complexity of CCI, as well as the substantial cost and long-term perspective required for its investment, CCI involves a high level of uncertainty and complicated decision-making. Thus, most retailers are still struggling in achieving the level of CCI that their consumers desire.

Expanding exports of small and medium-sized companies is crucial for the continuous growth of the Korean economy. Therefore, the government operates various support systems to enhance the export capabilities of these companies. This study aims to analyze the impact of the Korean government's flagship export support system, known as the export initiation support system, on the performance of participating domestic companies. A fixed effect model using panel data was applied to examine the characteristics of 11,099 companies that participated in the export initiation support system from 2016 to 2019. The analysis revealed that the number of exporting countries, employees, and previous export volume had a significant impact on the export amount of participating companies. However, contrary to expectations, the number of overseas marketing participation and the GCL (global competence level) test did not show a significant impact. This study is significant as it provides implications for the development of support projects tailored to the specific needs of small and medium-sized companies, with the goal of improving the export support system.

Recently, many studies have been conducted to improve quality by applying machine learning models to semiconductor manufacturing process data. However, in the semiconductor manufacturing process, the ratio of good products is much higher than that of defective products, so the problem of data imbalance is serious in terms of machine learning. In addition, since the number of features of data used in machine learning is very large, it is very important to perform machine learning by extracting only important features from among them to increase accuracy and utilization. This study proposes an anomaly detection methodology that can learn excellently despite data imbalance and high-dimensional characteristics of semiconductor process data. The anomaly detection methodology applies the LIME algorithm after applying the SMOTE method and the RFECV method. The proposed methodology analyzes the classification result of the anomaly classification model, detects the cause of the anomaly, and derives a semiconductor process requiring action. The proposed methodology confirmed applicability and feasibility through application of cases.

From Fukushima nuclear disaster, as the water which is supplied by rain and groundwater flow into reactor building, contaminated water which contains radioactive nuclides is occurred. Although about 600 tons of contaminated water was generated at the early of accident, as the groundwater management system is developing, about 150 tons of contaminated water is generated now. Tokyo Electric Power Holdings (TEPCO) operate a multi-nuclide removal equipment which is called ‘ALPS’ and store purified water (ALPS treated water) in the Fukushima NPP site by tank. From 2023, the Japanese government decided to dilute the stored ALPS treated water and discharge it into the ocean to secure space on the site. In this study, based on the data opened to the public by TEPCO, the current status of ALPS is investigated. The dilution and discharge process under conceptual design was investigated. In addition, the treatment capacity of ALPS was analyzed based on the radioactivity concentration data of 7 nuclides. And then, two points to be checked found. First, it was confirmed that the performance of ALPS temporarily decreased between 2015 and 2018 due to reduced replacement cycle of filter and absorbent. Second, it was confirmed that the ALPS treated water from specific ALPS still haven’t satisfied the discharge limit for I-129, Sr-90, and Cs-137. In the case of Cs-137, about 1.7 times the radioactivity concentration was detected compared to the discharge limit. For I-129 and Sr-90, about 2.4 times and 2.1 times of radioactivity concentration was detected compared to the discharge limit. From this study, some of the ALPS treated water are confirmed that the radioactivity concentration exceeds the discharge limit, and the treatment capacity of ALPS might be unstable depend on the ALPS operation such as replacement cycle. Therefore, before the discharging of contaminated water on 2023, it is necessary to inspect ALPS if it purifies contaminated water with reliability or not, and to secure the reliable evaluation method to measure radioactivity concentration.