The European Green Deal: Policies and Tools for Building a Green Partnership between the EU and Asia Pacific Countries

( Beatriz Pérez De Las Heras ) 한국EU학회 2021 Asia-Pacific Journal of EU Studies Vol.19 No.2

The European Green Deal (EGD) is the European Union (EU)’s current comprehensive policy framework for achieving climate neutrality by 2050 in compliance with its obligations under the Paris Agreement. However, given the global nature of the climate change challenge, no internal EU policy can achieve climate neutrality if it is not backed by external climate action. Among its foreign policies, the EU is increasingly using trade as an important tool for promoting sustainability. In particular, free trade agreements with certain partner countries, such as those in the Asia Pacific region, now include chapters on trade and sustainable development. However, despite their potential to promote green cooperation, the level of environmental engagement contained in these FTAs and their enforcement in this area are limited. The EU will therefore have to reinforce the external dimension of the EGD in the coming years if it is to achieve its stated ambition of becoming the world’s first climate-neutral economy.

m6A in the Signal Transduction Network

Ki-Hong Jang,Chloe R. Heras,Gina Lee 한국분자세포생물학회 2022 Molecules and cells Vol.45 No.7

In response to environmental changes, signaling pathways rewire gene expression programs through transcription factors. Epigenetic modification of the transcribed RNA can be another layer of gene expression regulation. N6-adenosine methylation (m6A) is one of the most common modifications on mRNA. It is a reversible chemical mark catalyzed by the enzymes that deposit and remove methyl groups. m6A recruits effector proteins that determine the fate of mRNAs through changes in splicing, cellular localization, stability, and translation efficiency. Emerging evidence shows that key signal transduction pathways including TGFβ (transforming growth factor-β), ERK (extracellular signal-regulated kinase), and mTORC1 (mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1) regulate downstream gene expression through m6A processing. Conversely, m6A can modulate the activity of signal transduction networks via m6A modification of signaling pathway genes or by acting as a ligand for receptors. In this review, we discuss the current understanding of the crosstalk between m6A and signaling pathways and its implication for biological systems

Methodology for the integration of a high-speed train in Maintenance 4.0

Bustos Alejandro,Rubio Higinio,Soriano-Heras Enrique,Castejon Cristina 한국CDE학회 2021 Journal of computational design and engineering Vol.8 No.6

The fourth industrial revolution is changing the way industries face their problems, including maintenance. The railway industry is moving to adopt this new industry model. The new trains are designed, manufactured, and maintained following an Industry 4.0 methodology, but most of the current trains in operation were not designed with this technological philosophy, so they must be adapted to it. In this paper, a new methodology for adapting a high-speed train to Industry 4.0 is proposed. That way, a train manufactured before this new paradigm can seize the advantages of Maintenance 4.0. This methodology is based on four stages (physical system, digital twin, information and communication technology infrastructure, and diagnosis) that comprise the required processes to digitalize a railway vehicle and that share information between them. The characteristics that the data acquisition and communication systems must fulfil are described, as well as the original signal processing techniques developed for analysing vibration signals. These techniques allow processing experimental data both in real time and deferred, according to actual maintenance requirements. The methodology is applied to determine the operating condition of a high-speed bogie by combining the signal processing of actual vibration measurements taken during the normal train operation and the data obtained from simulations of the digital twin. The combination of both (experimental data and simulations) allows establishing characteristic indicators that correspond to the normal running of the train and indicators that would correspond to anomalies in the behaviour of the train.

Assembly strategies of wind turbine towers for minimum fatigue damage

Nunez-Casado, Cristina,Lopez-Garcia, Oscar,de las Heras, Enrique Gomez,Cuerva-Tejero, Alvaro,Gallego-Castillo, Cristobal Techno-Press 2017 Wind and Structures, An International Journal (WAS Vol.25 No.6

The aim of this paper is to present a method to obtain the dynamic response of a wind turbine tower in time domain by means of the generation of time series and to estimate the associated fatigue damage by means of a Rainflow counting algorithm. The proposed method is based on assuming the vortex shedding is a bidimensional phenomena and on following a classical modal superposition method to obtain the structure dynamic response. Four different wind turbine tower geometric configurations have been analyzed in a range of usual wind velocities and covering extreme wind velocities. The obtained results have shown that, depending on the turbulence intensity and the mean wind velocity, there are tower geometric configurations more advantageous from the fatigue load standpoint. Consequently, the presented model can be utilized to define assembly strategies oriented to fatigue damage minimization.

Assembly strategies of wind turbine towers for minimum fatigue damage

Cristina Nunez-Casado,Oscar Lopez-Garcia,Enrique Gomez de las Heras,Alvaro Cuerva-Tejero,Cristobal Gallego-Castillo 한국풍공학회 2017 Wind and Structures, An International Journal (WAS Vol.25 No.6

The aim of this paper is to present a method to obtain the dynamic response of a wind turbine tower in time domain by means of the generation of time series and to estimate the associated fatigue damage by means of a Rainflow counting algorithm. The proposed method is based on assuming the vortex shedding is a bidimensional phenomena and on following a classical modal superposition method to obtain the structure dynamic response. Four different wind turbine tower geometric configurations have been analyzed in a range of usual wind velocities and covering extreme wind velocities. The obtained results have shown that, depending on the turbulence intensity and the mean wind velocity, there are tower geometric configurations more advantageous from the fatigue load standpoint. Consequently, the presented model can be utilized to define assembly strategies oriented to fatigue damage minimization.

Effect of Pectin on the Expression of Proteins Associated with Mitochondrial Biogenesis and Cell Senescence in HT29-Human Colorectal Adenocarcinoma Cells

Jose Javier Zamorano-Leon,Sandra Ballesteros,Natalia de las Heras,Luis Alvarez-Sala,Mariano de la Serna-Soto,Khaoula Zekri-Nechar,Gala Freixer,Bibiana Calvo-Rico,Zhengguang Yang,Jose Manuel Garcia-Gar 한국식품영양과학회 2019 Preventive Nutrition and Food Science Vol.24 No.2

Mitochondria dynamic is regulated by different proteins, maintaining a balance between fission and fusion. An imbalance towards mitochondrial fission has been associated with tumor cell proliferation. The aim of this study was to analyze whether pectin modifies the viability of human colon cancer cells and the expression of proteins involved in mitochondrial fusion and fission. The human colon carcinoma cell line HT29 cells was growth in 10% fetal bovine serum in the absence and presence of pectin. Pectin reduced HT29 cell viability in a concentration-dependent manner, reaching a plateau at 150∼300 μ㏖/L pectin. The presence of 200 μ㏖/L pectin reduced the expression of dynamin-related protein-1 and increased expression of the mitochondrial fusion-associated proteins mitofusin-1 and 2. Expression of cyclin B1, a protein involved in G2/M transition, was found decreased in pectin-incubated HT29 cells. Moreover, expression of p53 protein, the amount of p53 in the nucleous and β-galactosidase activity, which are all biomarkers for cellular senescence, were significantly higher in pectin-incubated HT29 cells than in HT29 cells incubated without pectin. Expression of the protein B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) homologous antagonist/killer was increased in response to incubation with pectin. However, incubation with pectin did not affect expression of Bcl-2-associated X protein or Bcl-2, or the caspase-3 activity. Overall, we concluded that pectin reduces the viability of human HT29 colon cancer cells, which is accompanied with a shift in the expression of proteins associated with mitochondrial dynamics towards mitochondrial fusion. Moreover, incubation with pectin favors cellular senescence over apoptosis in HT29 cells.

Parameter estimation and assessment of bias in genetic evaluation of carcass traits in Hanwoo cattle using real and simulated data

Mohammed Bedhane,Julius van der Werf,Sara de las Heras-Saldana,Leland Ackerson IV,Dajeong Lim,박병호,박미나,Seung-Hee Roh,Samuel Clark 한국축산학회 2023 한국축산학회지 Vol.65 No.6

Most carcass and meat quality traits are moderate to highly heritable, indicating that they can be improved through selection. Genetic evaluation for these types of traits is performed using performance data obtained from commercial and progeny testing evaluation. The performance data from commercial farms are available in large volume, however, some drawbacks have been observed. The drawback of the commercial data is mainly due to sorting of animals based on live weight prior to slaughter, and this could lead to bias in the genetic evaluation of later measured traits such as carcass traits. The current study has two components to address the drawback of the commercial data. The first component of the study aimed to estimate genetic parameters for carcass and meat quality traits in Korean Hanwoo cattle using a large sample size of industry-based carcass performance records (n = 469,002). The second component of the study aimed to describe the impact of sorting animals into different contemporary groups based on an early measured trait and then examine the effect on the genetic evaluation of subsequently measured traits. To demonstrate our objectives, we used real performance data to estimate genetic parameters and simulated data was used to assess the bias in genetic evaluation. The results of our first study showed that commercial data obtained from slaughterhouses is a potential source of carcass performance data and useful for genetic evaluation of carcass traits to improve beef cattle performance. However, we observed some harvesting effect which leads to bias in genetic evaluation of carcass traits. This is mainly due to the selection of animal based on their body weight before arrival to slaughterhouse. Overall, the non-random allocation of animals into a contemporary group leads to a biased estimated breeding value in genetic evaluation, the severity of which increases when the evaluation traits are highly correlated.

To Find “Beloved Master”: Jane’s Ideological Journey and Male Asymmetry in Jane Eyre

( Hera Kim ) 한국근대영미소설학회 2021 근대 영미소설 Vol.28 No.1

Although previous feminist approaches to Jane Eyre have paid considerable attention to Jane, recent masculinity studies give us a new lens to explore the male characters, St. John and Rochester, who have been dismissed under the umbrella term of Victorian patriarchy. This essay draws upon a methodological approach to masculinity studies and examines St. John and Rochester’s male gender complexities. In employing Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s model of male-male-female triangulation, this essay further argues for St. John and Rochester’s competing masculinities in the ascendancy of Victorian middle-class domesticity. I examine St. John and Rochester’s masculinities, respectively, and move on to Jane’s ideological position between male rivalry. Although Jane has been read as a feminist heroine in pursuit of her independence, I contend that Jane shows a selective sympathy with the domestic Rochester at the end of the novel with her internalization of Victorian middle-class domesticity. Throughout the novel, Jane’s path is a type of ideological journey to find her beloved master. Whereas previous Jane-centered gender discussions have relied upon the heterosexual binary opposition between Jane and the male characters, this essay aims to complicate such heterosexual binarism with a new attention to male rivalry through Sedgwick’s model of triangulation.

Critical Thinking through Asynchronous On-line Discussions

( Hera Chu ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2005 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.9 No.1

This paper investigates participation patterns and critical thinking processes by which knowledge is processed and constructed in an asynchronous on-line discussion in comparison with those of a face-to-face discussion through videoconferencing. The focus is to examine the on-line discussion as part of the learning process to complement face-to-face discussions as a means of developing critical thinking. Participants were Korean and Japanese undergraduate students. Knowledge in collaborative learning is viewed as a social construct facilitated by peer interaction, evaluation, and cooperation. Online discussions have been seen as an effective means to encourage collaborative construction of knowledge. Based on the perspective of collaborative learning, the author adopts the Garrison et al.``s (2001) model as a basic framework for analyzing types or levels of critical thinking (i.e., trigger, exploration, integration, resolution). The results suggest that in-depth thinking using higher levels of critical thinking was more likely to occur in asynchronous on-line discussions than in face-to-face discussions. This tends to be supported by collaboration, a way of triggering further responses. Based on the findings, this study attempts to illuminate the process of collaborative interaction in developing knowledge in the asynchronous on-line discussion.

Effects of Chunking on Reading Comprehension of EFL Learners

Hera Chu 한국영어어문교육학회 2010 영어어문교육 Vol.16 No.3

This study investigates how EFL learners’ chunking ability both in oral and silent reading affects reading comprehension, and how the chunking ability in silent reading relates to that of oral reading. The participants of this study consisted of 30 Korean university students taking a required ‘English Reading’ course. Chunking is a technique of grouping words into meaningful syntactic units for better understanding. Chunking was measured from pauses in oral reading. Results of this study suggest that the participants who can chunk properly both orally and silently display better comprehension of texts in general. However, chunking in silent reading was found to be a stronger indicator of improved reading comprehension. Also, the chunking skills in silent reading showed a statistically strong correlation with those observed in oral reading, suggesting that the chunking ability in silent reading may develop in parallel with that of oral reading. Oral as well as silent reading should be continuously practiced to improve reading comprehension of all levels of EFL learners, including low levels of learners. There is also a need to encourage students to read aloud with appropriate prosodic cues to help them read in meaningful units of words, therefore increasing EFL learners’ comprehension not only in reading but also in listening.