• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.191-196
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• 2002

The water extract from the root bark of Cortex Mori (CM, Morus alba L.: Sangbaikpi), a mulberry tree, has been known in Chinese traditional medicine to have antiphlogistic, diuretic, and expectorant properties. In this study, the cytotoxicity of CM against tumor cells and its mechanism was examined . CM exhibited cytotoxic activity on K-562, B38O human leukemia cells and B16 mouse melanoma cells at concentrations of > 1 mg/ml. A DNA fragmentation, PARP cleavage, and nuclear condensation assay showed that those cells exposed to CM underwent apoptosis. The water extract of Scutellarie Radix (SR) was used as a negative control and showed no cytotoxicity in those cells. The flow cytometric profiles of the CM-treated cells were also indicative of apoptosis. However, they did not appear to exert the G1 arrest, which is observed in other tubulin inhibitor agents such as vincristine, taxol. The protein-binding test using Biacore and a microtubule assembly-disassembly assay provided evidence showing that CM bound to the tubulins resulting in 3 markets inhibition of the assembly, but not the disassembly of microtubules. The possible nonspecific effect of the CM extract could be excluded due to the results using SR, which did not affect the assembly process. Overall, the water extract of CM induces apoptosis of tumor cells by inhibiting microtubule assembly.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.885-891
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• 2018

Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) toxin A is known to cause acute gut inflammation in humans and animals by triggering cytoskeletal disorganization in gut epithelial cells. In human colonocytes, toxin A blocks microtubule assembly by directly increasing the enzymatic activity of histone deacetylase-6 (HDAC-6), a tubulin-specific deacetylase, thereby markedly decreasing tubulin acetylation, which is essential for microtubule assembly. Microtubule assembly dysfunction-associated alterations (i.e., toxin A-exposed gut epithelial cells) are believed to trigger barrier dysfunction and gut inflammation downstream. We recently showed that potassium acetate blocked toxin A-induced microtubule disassembly by inhibiting HDAC-6. Herein, we tested whether acetic acid (AA), another small acetyl residue-containing agent, could block toxin A-induced tubulin deacetylation and subsequent microtubule assembly. Our results revealed that AA treatment increased tubulin acetylation and enhanced microtubule assembly in an HT29 human colonocyte cell line. AA also clearly increased tubulin acetylation in murine colonic explants. Interestingly, the AA treatment also alleviated toxin A-induced tubulin deacetylation and microtubule disassembly, and MTT assays revealed that AA reduced toxin A-induced cell toxicity. Collectively, these results suggest that AA can block the ability of toxin A to cause microtubule disassembly-triggered cytoskeletal disorganization by blocking toxin A-mediated deacetylation of tubulin.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.456-461
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• 2003

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device in which the energy of a chemical reaction is converted directly into electricity. By combining hydrogen fuel with oxygen from air, electricity is formed, without combustion of any form. Water and heat are the only by-products when hydrogen is used as the fuel source. Fuel cell stack consists of multi-layered unit cells. A unit cell consists of MEA and bipolar plates. The end plate of fuel cell stack should give a uniform distributed pressure to multi unit cell layers so as to reduce the contact resistance and to prevent the leakage of reactant gases and the damage of multi layer components. The current end plate is redundantly large and heavy. It makes the power per unit volume reduced. Topology optimization of end plate is conducted for mass reduction and enhancement of bending rigidity. The evaluation of the current design and the recommendation for the future design is remarked.

• Proceedings of the Korean Operations and Management Science Society Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.821-826
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• 2003

The Purpose of this paper is to automate the representation of manufacturing line using Petri net model. In the manufacturing cell, the line can be represented using workflow which is composed of Bill of Material (BOM) and Bill of Processes (BOP). BOP shows the precedence of processes and the relationship between assembly and disassembly. As a modeling scheme, generalized stochastic Petri net is adopted. For a problem domain with flexible manufacturing cell, Petri net model is made and behavioral properties are analyzed.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Energy Engineering kosee Conference
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• 1994.11a
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• pp.23-27
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• 1994

고분자 전해질형 연료전지의 성능을 향상시키기 위하여 막-전극 어셈블리 제조시 hot-pressing 온도와 압력조건을 변화시켜며 단위전지 성능을 관찰하였으며 이에 대한 분석은 열무게분석법(TGA), 기공도, 이온투과계수 등을 사용하였다. 또한 전지의 작동온도 및 압력을 변화시켜가며 전지의 성능을 관찰하였다. 성능 실험은 가습기의 온도와 cell의 온도, 압력을 변화시켜가며 측정하였다.

• IE interfaces
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.364-373
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• 2002

This paper developed an operating software for the manufacturing cell of a model plant. The model plant, which was manufactured by Fishertechnik, consists of an assembly cell, a machining cell, and supplementary material handling equipments. Each I/O module of the model plant communicates with the INTERBUS controller devices via High-level Language Interface(HLI). The machining center has two machining cells, which consists of 4 machines respectively, two 3-axis portal transporters, and a rail guided vehicle(RGV). The Petri-Net was used to investigate the dynamics of each machining cell, e.g., the relation of material handling equipments and machines. The operating software was analyzed and designed by Object Oriented Technique. The software was implemented using Delphi 3.0 under Windows 95/NT operating system.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.307-316
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• 2015

Beginning from the recognition of FtsZ as a bacterial tubulin homolog in the early 1990s, many bacterial cytoskeletal elements have been identified, including homologs to the major eukaryotic cytoskeletal elements (tubulin, actin, and intermediate filament) and the elements unique in prokaryotes (ParA/MinD family and bactofilins). The discovery and functional characterization of the bacterial cytoskeleton have revolutionized our understanding of bacterial cells, revealing their elaborate and dynamic subcellular organization. As in eukaryotic systems, the bacterial cytoskeleton participates in cell division, cell morphogenesis, DNA segregation, and other important cellular processes. However, in accordance with the vast difference between bacterial and eukaryotic cells, many bacterial cytoskeletal proteins play distinct roles from their eukaryotic counterparts; for example, control of cell wall synthesis for cell division and morphogenesis. This review is aimed at providing an overview of the bacterial cytoskeleton, and discussing the roles and assembly dynamics of bacterial cytoskeletal proteins in more detail in relation to their most widely conserved functions, DNA segregation and coordination of cell wall synthesis.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.379-384
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• 2007

Sulfonation of polyetheretherketones (PEEK) was carried out in order to fabricate commercial perfluorosulfonic acid membrane alternatives, which were characterized in terms of their ion exchange capacity, ionic conductivity, water swelling, methanol crossover and electrochemical performance in their direct application as a methanol fuel cell. A high ion exchange capacity, 1.88, was achieved with a sulfonation reaction time of 8 h, with a significantly low methanol crossover low compared to that of Nafion. However, the morphological stability was found to deteriorate for membranes with sulfonation reaction times exceeding 8 h. Electrochemical cell tests suggested that the fabrication parameters of the membrane electrode assembly based on the sulfonated PEEK membranes should be optimized with respect to the physicochemical properties of the newly prepared membranes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.175-178
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• 2003

Mechanical behavior of a fuel stack was studied by the orthotropic material model. The fuel stack is mainly composed of bipolar plate (BP), gasket, end plate, membrane electrolyte assembly (MEA), and gas diffusion layer (GDL). Each component is fastened with a suitable pressure. It is very important to maintain a suitable contact pressure of BP, because it affects the efficiency of the fuel cell. This study compared mechanical behavior of various fastening types of the fuel cell stack. Bar, band, and modified band fastening type are used. The band fastening type showed that it reduces total volume of the cell, but it does not improve the contact pressure distribution of each BP. The modified band fastening type was designed by considering the deformations of band fastening type, and it showed a good enhancement of contact pressure distribution.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.197-204
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• 2008

DMFC(Direct Methanol Fuel Cell) is one of promising candidates for power sources of small mobile IT devices like notebook, cell phone, and so on. Efficient operation of fuel cell system is very important for long-sustained power supply because of limited fuel tank size. It is necessary to investigate operation characteristics of fuel cell stack for optimal control of DMFC system. The generated voltage was modeled according to various operating condition; methanol concentration, stack temperature, and load current. It is inevitable for methanol solution at anode to cross over to cathode through MEA(membrane electrode assembly), which reduces the system efficiency and increases fuel consumption. In this study, optimal operation conditions are proposed by analyzing stack performance model, cross-over phenomenon, and system efficiency.