• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.378-384
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• 2011

Silk fibroin is a biocompatible and slowly biodegradable natural polymer. This natural polymer has excellent mechanical properties, non-toxicity, and non-immunogenic properties and has been demonstrated to support tissue regeneration. Also, gelatin is a natural material derived from collagen by hydrolysis and has an almost identical composition as that of collagen. Silk fibroin/gelatin scaffolds have been fabricated by using the freeze-drying method. To establish the scaffold manufacturing condition for silk fibroin and gelatin, we made scaffolds with various compositions of gelatin, glutaldehyde and silk fibroin. The silk fibroin/gelatin scaffolds were characterized using SEM, DSC, and water absorption ability tests. The cellular proliferation was evaluated by WST assay. These results suggested that a scaffold containing 8% of gelatin, 1% of glutaldehyde and 0.3 g of silk fibroin provided suitable characterstics for cell adhesion and proliferation. In conclusion, the silk fibroin/gelatin scaffold may serve as a potential cell delivery vehicle and a structural basis for tissue engineering.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.141-147
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• 2013

Poly(lactide-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) has been widely used in the drug delivery and tissue engineering applications because of its good mechanical strength and biodegradation profile. However, cell attachment to the scaffold is low compared with that on fibrin although cells can be attached to the polymer surface. In this study, PLGA scaffolds were soaked in cells-fibrin suspension and polymerized with dropping fibrinogen-thrombin solution. Cellular proliferation activity was observed in PLGA/fibrin-seeded costal cartilage cells (CC) on 1, 3, and 7 days using the MTT assay and SEM. The effects of fibrin on the extracellular matrix (ECM) formation were evaluated using CC cell-seeded PLGA/fibrin scaffolds. The PLGA/fibrin scaffolds elicited more production of glycosaminoglycan (GAG) and collagen than the PLGA scaffold. In this study, fibrin incorporated PLGA scaffolds were prepared to evaluate the effects of fibrin on the cell attachment and proliferation in vitro and in vivo. In this result, we confirmed that proliferation of cells in PLGA/fibrin scaffolds were better than in PLGA scaffolds. The PLGA/fibrin scaffolds provide suitable environment for growth and proliferation of costal cartilage cells.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.26-30
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• 2008

This study was designed to investigate the effect of hybridization of synthetic/natural materials for annulus fibrosus (AF) tissue regeneration in vitro and in vivo. The synthetic/natural hybrid scaffolds were prepared using PLGA (poly (lactic-co-glycolic) acid), SIS (small intestinal submucosa) and DBP (demineralized bone particles). PLGA, PLGA/SIS(20%), PLGA/DBP(20%) and PLGA/SIS (10%)/DBP (10%) scaffold were manufactured by solvent casting/salt leaching method. Compressive strength was measured. Rabbit AF cells were isolated, cultured and seeded into experimental groups. Hydroxyproline production and DNA quantity of AP cells on each scaffold was measured at 2, 4 and 6 weeks after in vitro culture. Cell-scaffold composites were implanted subcutaneously into athymic mice. After 1,4 and 6 weeks postoperatively, specimens were taken and H&E, Safranin-O and type I collagen staining were carried out concerning formation of cartilagenous tissue. In vitro PLGA/SIS scaffold was evaluated for total collagen content (bydroryproline/DNA content) and PLGA scaffold was evaluated for compressive strength.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.193-198
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• 2008

Sibutramine is a highly crystalline and poorly water soluble drug as the appetite depressant for obesity treatment. In order to increase water solubility of sibutramine, microspheres including sibutramine were prepared by solid dispersion method using a spray dryer. The crystallinity and morphology of the prepared microspheres were confirmed by SEM and XRD. The morphology of micro spheres has gradually changed into spherical shape as increasing evaporation rate of solvent. According to XRD analysis, crystallinity of sibutramine in micro spheres was decreased by below 10%. Release behavior of microspheres was investiaged at pH 1.2, pH 6.8, and solubility of the sibutramine was significantly different depending on pH. The hard capsule showed fast release of sibutramine comparing with the tablet. These results demonstrated that the pharmaceutical preparation is able to control the release behaviors.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.26-32
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• 2009

The aim of this research was to prepare microparticulate systems based on poly (lactide-co-glycolide)(PLGA) for the local release of ipriflavone in order to reduce bone loss. We developed the IP loaded PLGA microspheres using relatively simple oil-in-water(O/W) solvent evaporation method. HPLC was used to perform the in vitro release test of IP and morphology of cell attached on the micro-spheres was investigated using SEM. Cytotoxicity was assayed by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) test. Osteogenic differential cells were analyzed by ALP activity. Through RT-PCR analysis, we observed osteocalcin, ALP, and Type I collagen mRNA expression. The release of IP in vitro was more prolonged over 42 days and IP/PLGA microspheres showed the improvement on the cell proliferation, ALP activity and RT-PCR comparing with control (only PLGA). This initial research will be used to direct future work involved in developing this composite injectable bone tissue engineering system.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2009

PLGA microspheres have been known as an injectable system for tissue engineering. The purpose of this study was to investigate the condition of emulsion formation and cell adhesion on the microsphere surface. BSA-loaded PLGA microsphere was fabricated by oil-in-water (O/W) and water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) solvent evaporation method. Sodium alginate was dissolved in water phase to control initial burst release and to improve lag time by PLGA bulk degradation. In addition, the morphology of cells attached on the micro spheres was studied using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Cellular proliferation behavior of human disc cells cultivated on PLGA micro spheres was analyzed using a MTT assay. MTT assay revealed that the cells can attach and proliferate on PLGA microspheres. According to these results, we concluded that BSA -loaded alginate/PLGA microspheres can be used as an injectable system for tissue engineering application.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.702-710
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• 2013

Zaltoprofen loaded polyoxalate (POX) microspheres were prepared by an emulsion solvent-evaporation/extraction method like oil-in-water (O/W) for sustained release of zaltoprofen. The influence of several preparation parameters such as fabrication temperature, stirring speed, intensity of the sonication, initial drug ratio, molecular weight ($M_w$) of POX, concentration of POX and concentration of emulsifier has been investigated on the zaltoprofen release profiles. Physicochemical properties and morphology of zaltoprofen loaded POX microspheres were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). Through the analyzed results, it was demonstrated that the characteristics of the microspheres greatly affected by the prepared condition. The releases behavior of zaltoprofen was investigated for 10 days in vitro. It was confirmed that the release behavior of zaltoprofen can be controlled by the manufacturing factor of solvent-evaporation/extraction method.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.168-186
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• 2016

In this paper, we investigate the degrees of freedom (DoF) of a two-cluster multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) multiway relay interference channel (mRIC), where there are two relays and two users per cluster. In this channel, users within the same cluster exchange messages among themselves with the help of two relays.We first obtain the DoF upper bound of the considered MIMO mRIC based on cut-set bound. Then, we propose a novel transmission strategy, blind interference neutralization (BIN), to approach the DoF upper bound. This new method utilizes the overheard information at two relays and focuses on the beamforming matrix designs at two relays so that the channel state information (CSI) at users is not required. Through theoretical analysis and numerical simulations, we show that the DoF upper bound can be obtained by using the BIN scheme. From simulation results, we show that the proposed BIN scheme can provide significant performance gain over the conventional time division multiple access (TDMA) scheme in terms of DoF. In addition, we show that the BIN scheme is a superior approach to the existing signal space alignment (SSA) schemes for the considered mRIC.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.98-104
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• 2011

The introduction of a diesel engine into the passenger car and light duty applications in the United States involves significant technical challenges for the automotive makers. This paper describes the SCR System optimization procedure for such a diesel engine application to meet Tier2 Bin5 emission regulation. A urea SCR system, a representative $NO_x$ reduction after-treatment technique, is applied to a 3.0 liter diesel engine. To achieve the maximum $NO_x$ reduction performance, the exhaust system layout was optimized using series of the computational fluid dynamics and the urea distribution uniformity test. Furthermore a comprehensive simulation model for the key factors influencing $NO_x$ reduction performance was developed and embedded in the Simulink/Matlab environment. This model was then applied to the urea SCR system and played a key role to shorten the time needed for SCR control parameter calibration. The potential of a urea SCR system for reducing diesel $NO_x$ emission is shown for FTP75 and US06 emission standard test cycle.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.164-165
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• 2006

Carbon nanotube(CNT)-reinforced poly(ethylene-co-ethyl acrylate)(EEA) nanocomposites were prepared by melt mixing with a Haake internal mixer. The CNT loading was vaned from 0 to 20 wt%. The changes m CNT dispersion and shape were investigated with FE-SEM observation with and without the Tensile strain of 40%. The CNT was protruded over the fracture surface upon Tensile strain, which is a very interesting behavior.