• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.109-113
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• 2007

The surface molecular motion of monodisperse polystyrene (PS) films was examined using scanning vis-coelasticity microscopy (SVM) in conjunction with lateral force microscopy (LFM). The dynamic storage modulus, E', and loss tangent, $tan\delta$, at a PS film surface with number-average molecular weights, $M_n$, smaller than 30 k were found to be smaller and larger than those for the bulk sample, even at room temperature, meaning that the PS surface is in a glass-rubber transition or fully rubbery sate at this temperature when the $M_n$ is small. In order to quantitatively elucidate the dynamics of the molecular motion at the PS surface, SVM and LFM measurements were performed at various temperatures. The glass transition temperature, $T_g$, at the surface was found to be markedly lower than the bulk $T_g$, and this discrepancy between the surface and bulk became larger with decreasing $M_n$. Such an intensive activation of the thermal molecular motion at the PS surfaces can be explained in terms of an excess free volume in the vicinity of the film surface induced by the preferential segregation of the chain end groups.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.397-406
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• 2008

Computational modeling of signal transduction is currently attracting much attention as it can promote the understanding of complex signal transduction mechanisms. Although several mathematical models have been used to examine signaling pathways, little attention has been given to crosstalk mechanisms. In this study, an attempt was made to develop a computational model for the pathways involving growth-factor-mediated mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt). In addition, the dynamics of the protein activities were analyzed based on a set of kinetic data. The simulation approach integrates the information on several levels and predicts systems behavior. The in-silico analysis conducted revealed that the Raf and Akt pathways act independently.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.113-117
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• 2005

Some polycrystalline ferromagnetic mms are composed of continuously connected nanometer scale islands with random crystallite orientations. The nanometer perturbations of the mm introduce a large number of nearly degenerate local field configurations that are indistiguishable on a macroscopic scale. As a first step, this situation is modelled as a thin ferromagnetic disc coupled by exchange and dipole interactions to a homogeneous ferromagnetic plane, where the disc and plane have different easy axes. The model is solved to find the partial $N\acute{e}el$ domain walls that minimize the magnetic energy. The two solutions give a bistable configuration that, for appropriate geometries, provides an important microsopic ferromagnetic degree of freedom for the mm. These results are used to interpret recent measurements of exchange biased bilayer films.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.4-8
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• 2000

Local coercivity variation of Co/Pd nanomultilayers has been investigated by measuring the polar Kerr hysteresis loops of local areas of submicron size using a magnetooptic Kerr microscope system. Interestingly, the local coercivity distribution is very sensitive to an increase in the number of repeats: the $(2-{\AA}\;Co/ll-{\AA} Pd)_10$ sample showed a smooth variation of the local coercivity, while $(2-{\AA}\;Co/ll-{\AA} Pd)_18$ showed a large fluctuation. From micromagnetic considerations based on a thermally activated relaxation odel, we have found that this local coercivity variation has a crucial effect on the contrasting magnetization reversal behavior observed in those samples: dominant wall-motion far the former sample and dominant nucleation for the latter one.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.180-188
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• 2021

This paper conducted a study on the ortho-para hydrogen conversion in the cryogenic heat exchanger filled with catalysts for hydrogen liquefaction by utilizing the numerical model of plate-fin heat exchanger considering catalytic reaction of ortho-para hydrogen conversion, heat and mass transfer phenomena and fluid dynamics in a porous medium. Various numerical analyzes were performed to investigate the characteristics of ortho-para hydrogen conversion, the effects of space velocity and activated catalyst performance.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.464-474
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• 2021

Inflammation induced by metabolic syndromes, cancers, injuries, and sepsis can alter cellular metabolism by reducing mitochondrial function via oxidative stress, thereby resulting in neuropathy and muscle atrophy. In this study, we investigated whether butyrate, a short chain fatty acid produced by gut microbiota, could prevent mitochondrial dysfunction and muscle atrophy induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the C2C12 cell line. LPS-activated MAPK signaling pathways increased the levels of the mitochondrial fission signal, p-DRP1 (Ser616), and the muscle atrophy marker, atrogin 1. Interestingly, butyrate significantly inhibited the phosphorylation of JNK and p38 and reduced the atrogin 1 level in LPS-treated C2C12 cells while increasing the phosphorylation of DRP1 (Ser637) and levels of mitofusin2, which are both mitochondrial fusion markers. Next, we investigated the effect of MAPK inhibitors, finding that butyrate had the same effect as JNK inhibition in C2C12 cells. Also, butyrate inhibited the LPS-induced expression of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 (PDK4), resulting in decreased PDHE1α phosphorylation and lactate production, suggesting that butyrate shifted glucose metabolism from aerobic glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation. Finally, we found that these effects of butyrate on LPS-induced mitochondrial dysfunction were caused by its antioxidant effects. Thus, our findings demonstrate that butyrate prevents LPS-induced muscle atrophy by improving mitochondrial dynamics and metabolic stress via the inhibition of JNK phosphorylation. Consequently, butyrate could be used to improve LPS-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and myopathy in sepsis.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.859-866
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• 2009

The article discusses an issue of estimating the airspeed of an autonomous flying vehicle. Airspeed is the difference between ground speed and wind speed. It is desirable to know any two among the three speeds for navigation, guidance and control of an autonomous vehicle. For example, ground speed and position are used to guide a vehicle to a target point and wind speed and airspeed are used to maximize flight performance such as a gliding range. However, the target vehicle has not an airspeed sensor but a ground speed sensor (GPS/INS). So airspeed or wind speed has to be estimated. Here, airspeed is to be estimated. A vehicle's dynamics and its dynamic parameters are used to estimate airspeed with attitude and angular speed measurements. Kalman filter is used for the estimation. There are also two major sources arousing a robust estimation problem; wind speed and altitude. Wind speed and direction depend on weather conditions. Altitude changes as a vehicle glides down to the ground. For one reference altitude, multiple model Kalman filters are pre-designed based on several reference airspeeds. We call this group of filters as a cluster. Filters of a cluster are activated simultaneously and probabilities are calculated for each filter. The probability indicates how much a filter matches with measurements. The final airspeed estimate is calculated by summing all estimates multiplied by probabilities. As a vehicle glides down to the ground, other clusters that have been designed based on other reference altitudes are activated. Some numerical simulations verify that the proposed method is effective to estimate airspeed.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.2494-2504
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• 2014

P38 mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinase is an important anti-inflammatory drug target, which can be activated by responding to various stimuli such as stress and immune response. Based on the conformation of the conserved DFG loop (in or out), binding inhibitors are termed as type-I and II. Type-I inhibitors are ATP competitive, whereas type-II inhibitors bind in DFG-out conformation of allosteric pocket. It remains unclear that how these allosteric inhibitors stabilize the DFG-out conformation and interact. Organosilicon compounds provide unusual opportunity to enhance potency and diversity of drug molecules due to their low toxicity. However, very few examples have been reported to utilize this property. In this regard, we performed docking of an inhibitor (BIRB) and its silicon analog (Si-BIRB) in an allosteric binding pocket of p38. Further, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed to study the dynamic behavior of the simulated complexes. The difference in the biological activity and mechanism of action of the simulated inhibitors could be explained based on the molecular mechanics/generalized Born surface area (MM/GBSA) binding free energy per residue decomposition. MM/GBSA showed that biological activities were related with calculated binding free energy of inhibitors. Analyses of the per-residue decomposed energy indicated that van der Waals and non-polar interactions were predominant in the ligand-protein interactions. Further, crucial residues identified for hydrogen bond, salt bridge and hydrophobic interactions were Tyr35, Lys53, Glu71, Leu74, Leu75, Ile84, Met109, Leu167, Asp168 and Phe169. Our results indicate that stronger hydrophobic interaction of Si-BIRB with the binding site residues could be responsible for its greater binding affinity compared with BIRB.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.94-101
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• 2019

The dynamic characteristics of the composite reflector panels are numerically and experimentally investigated. A dynamics model of the panel is analytically developed based on a deployment mechanism of the antenna. The deployment is passively activated using elastic energy of a spring with two rotational degrees of freedom. Using the flexible multi-body dynamic analysis ADAMS, dynamic behavior of the panels such as velocities, deformations, as well as reaction forces during the deployment, are investigated in the gravity and zero-gravity cases. The reflector panel is manufactured using carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs) and its deployment characteristics are experimentally observed using a zero-gravity deployment test. The impact response and vibration problems that occur during deployment of the antenna panel have been identified and reliably deployed using dampers.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.25-38
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• 2019

Purpose: This study evaluated differences in bone healing and remodeling among 3 implants with different surfaces: sandblasting and large-grit acid etching (SLA; IS-III $Active^{(R)}$), SLA with hydroxyapatite nanocoating (IS-III $Bioactive^{(R)}$), and SLA stored in sodium chloride solution ($SLActive^{(R)}$). Methods: The mandibular second, third, and fourth premolars of 9 dogs were extracted. After 4 weeks, 9 dogs with edentulous alveolar ridges underwent surgical placement of 3 implants bilaterally and were allowed to heal for 2, 4, or 12 weeks. Histologic and histomorphometric analyses were performed on 54 stained slides based on the following parameters: vertical marginal bone loss at the buccal and lingual aspects of the implant (b-MBL and l-MBL, respectively), mineralized bone-to-implant contact (mBIC), osteoid-to-implant contact (OIC), total bone-to-implant contact (tBIC), mineralized bone area fraction occupied (mBAFO), osteoid area fraction occupied (OAFO), and total bone area fraction occupied (tBAFO) in the threads of the region of interest. Two-way analysis of variance (3 types of implant $surface{\times}3$ healing time periods) and additional analyses for simple effects were performed. Results: Statistically significant differences were observed across the implant surfaces for OIC, mBIC, tBIC, OAFO, and tBAFO. Statistically significant differences were observed over time for l-MBL, mBIC, tBIC, mBAFO, and tBAFO. In addition, an interaction effect between the implant surface and the healing time period was observed for mBIC, tBIC, and mBAFO. Conclusions: Our results suggest that implant surface wettability facilitates bone healing dynamics, which could be attributed to the improvement of early osseointegration. In addition, osteoblasts might become more activated with the use of HA-coated surface implants than with hydrophobic surface implants in the remodeling phase.