• Journal of the Korea Society for Simulation
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.77-84
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• 2023

In the agricultural sector, power sources are being developed that use alternative energy sources such as electric tractors and hydrogen tractors, away from internal combustion engine tractors. As parts such as engines and transmissions used in conventional internal combustion engine tractors are replaced with motors and batteries, the center of gravity changes, and thus the risk of rollover should be considered. The purpose of this study is to analyze the overturn angle of the main parts of the electric tractor through dynamic simulation to minimize the overturn accident and to derive the optimal arrangement of parts to improve stability. A total of nine dynamics simulations were conducted by designing three components of the PTO motor, drive motor and the battery pack, and three factors of the arrangement method. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that Type3 Level3, in which the drive motor and the PTO motor are located at the front and rear of the tractor, and two battery packs are located in the middle of the tractor, has a high rollover angle. As a result of this study, the stability increased as the center of gravity was placed backward and located below. Future research needs to be done to find the optimal location of parts considering their performance and placement efficiency.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.229-238
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• 2024

This study evaluated the odor removal performance of a bacteria-based odor reduction kit. The bacteria used were Rhodobacter capsulatus, Paracoccus limosus, and Brevibacterium hankyongi, which can remove ammonia (NH₃), hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), total nitrogen (T-P), and total phosphorus (T-N), which are odor pollutants. The materials used were bacteria and porous aggregates (expanded vermiculite, zeolite beads, activated carbon), and the combination of the materials varied depending on the removal mechanism. Materials with a physical adsorption mechanism (zeolite beads and activated carbon) gradually slowed down the concentration reduction rate of odor pollutants (NH₃, H₂S, T-P, and T-N), and had no further effect on reducing the concentration of odor pollutants after 60 hours. Expanded vermiculite, in which bacteria that remove odors through a bio-adsorption mechanism were immobilized, had a continuous decrease in concentration, and the concentration of odor pollutants reached 0 ppm after 108 hours. As a result, the odor removal performance of materials with physical adsorption mechanisms in actual river water did not meet the odor emission standard required by the Ministry of Environment, while the expanded vermiculite immobilized with bacteria satisfied the odor emission permissible standard and achieved water quality grade 1.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.349-360
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• 2024

Oxidative stress contributes to the onset of chronic diseases in various organs, including muscles. Morroniside, a type of iridoid glycoside contained in Cornus officinalis, is reported to have advantages as a natural compound that prevents various diseases. However, the question of whether this phytochemical exerts any inhibitory effect against oxidative stress in muscle cells has not been well reported. Therefore, the current study aimed to evaluate whether morroniside can protect against oxidative damage induced by hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in murine C2C12 myoblasts. Our results demonstrate that morroniside pretreatment was able to inhibit cytotoxicity while suppressing H₂O₂-induced DNA damage and apoptosis. Morroniside also significantly improved the antioxidant capacity in H₂O₂-challenged C2C12 cells by blocking the production of cellular reactive oxygen species and mitochondrial superoxide and increasing glutathione production. In addition, H₂O₂-induced mitochondrial damage and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress were effectively attenuated by morroniside pretreatment, inhibiting cytoplasmic leakage of cytochrome c and expression of ER stress-related proteins. Furthermore, morroniside neutralized H₂O₂-mediated calcium (Ca²⁺) overload in mitochondria and mitigated the expression of calpains, cytosolic Ca²⁺-dependent proteases. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that morroniside protected against mitochondrial impairment and Ca²⁺-mediated ER stress by minimizing oxidative stress, thereby inhibiting H₂O₂-induced cytotoxicity in C2C12 myoblasts.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.140-147
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• 2016

A process for manufacturing virally-safe porcine bone hydroxyapatite (HA) has been developed to serve as advanced xenograft material for dental applications. Porcine bone pieces were defatted with successive treatments of 30% hydrogen peroxide and 80% ethyl alcohol. The defatted porcine bone pieces were heat-treated in an oxygen atmosphere box furnace at $1,300^{\circ}C$ to remove collagen and organic compounds. The bone pieces were ground with a grinder and then the bone powder was sterilized by gamma irradiation. Morphological characteristics such as SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) and TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy) images of the resulting porcine bone HA (THE Graft$^{(R)}$) were similar to those of a commercial bovine bone HA (Bio-Oss$^{(R)}$). In order to evaluate the efficacy of $1,300^{\circ}C$ heat treatment and gamma irradiation at a dose of 25 kGy for the inactivation of porcine viruses during the manufacture of porcine bone HA, a variety of experimental porcine viruses including transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), pseudorabies virus (PRV), porcine rotavirus (PRoV), and porcine parvovirus (PPV) were chosen. TGEV, PRV, PRoV, and PPV were completely inactivated to undetectable levels during the $1,300^{\circ}C$ heat treatment. The mean log reduction factors achieved were $${\geq_-}4.65$$ for TGEV, $${\geq_-}5.81$$ for PRV, $${\geq_-}6.28$$ for PRoV, and $${\geq_-}5.21$$ for PPV. Gamma irradiation was also very effective at inactivating the viruses. TGEV, PRV, PRoV, and PPV were completely inactivated to undetectable levels during the gamma irradiation. The mean log reduction factors achieved were $${\geq_-}4.65$$ for TGEV, $${\geq_-}5.87$$ for PRV, $${\geq_-}6.05$$ for PRoV, and $${\geq_-}4.89$$ for PPV. The cumulative log reduction factors achieved using the two different virus inactivation processes were $${\geq_-}9.30$$ for TGEV, $${\geq_-}11.68$$ for PRV, $${\geq_-}12.33$$ for PRoV, and $${\geq_-}10.10$$ for PPV. These results indicate that the manufacturing process for porcine bone HA from porcine-bone material has sufficient virus-reducing capacity to achieve a high margin of virus safety.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.95-103
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• 2012

To treat nitrate and non-biodegradable organics effectively in sewage, industrial wastewater and livestock wastewater, the activated sludge process integrated by a membrane separation and a porous electrode- electrolysis was proposed and its efficiency was investigated. The proposed system was consisted of 3 processes; activated sludge, membrane filtration and electrolysis. In the study, the membrane filtration played a role in reducing the load of the electrolysis to operate the proposed process stably. The electrolysis consisted of a porous electrode to increase the efficiency due to the extension of the specific surface area. Additionally, redox reaction in the electrolysis was induced by decomposing influent water as current was applied. As a result, hydrogen free radicals and oxygen radicals as intermediates were produced and they acted as oxidants to play a role in decomposing non-degradable organics. It was environmentally-friendly process because intermediates produced by porous electrode were used to treat waste matters without supplying external reagent. Experimental data showed that the proposed process was more excellent than activated sludge process. SS removal efficiencies of the proposed process, membrane filtration and activated sludge process were about 100%, about 100% and about 90%, respectively. COD removal efficiencies of the proposed system, membrane filtration and activated sludge process were about 92%, about 84% and about 78%, respectively. T-N removal efficiencies of the proposed system, membrane filtration and activated sludge process were about 88%, about 67%, and about 58%, respectively. The SS data showed that SS was efficiently removed in the single of the membrane filtration. The COD/T-N data showed that COD/T-N of membrane hybrid process was treated by removing a little soluble organics and SS, and that COD/T-N of electrolysis hybrid process was treated by oxidize organics with high removal rate.

• Interdisciplinary Bio Central
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.3.1-3.6
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• 2009

Introduction: GTPases known as translation factor play a vital role as ribosomal subunit assembly chaperone. The bacterial Obg proteins ($Spo{\underline{0B}}$-associated ${\underline{G}}TP$-binding protein) belong to the subfamily of P-loop GTPase proteins and now it is considered as one of the new target for antibacterial drug. The majority of bacterial Obgs have been commonly found to be associated with ribosome, implying that these proteins may play a fundamental role in ribosome assembly or maturation. In addition, one of the experimental evidences suggested that Bacillus subtilis Obg (BsObg) protein binds to the L13 ribosomal protein (BsL13) which is known to be one of the early assembly proteins of the 50S ribosomal subunit in Escherichia coli. In order to investigate binding mode between the BsObg and the BsL13, protein-protein docking simulation was carried out after generating 3D structure of the BsL13 structure using homology modeling method. Materials and Methods: Homology model structure of BsL13 was generated using the EcL13 crystal structure as a template. Protein-protein docking of BsObg protein with ribosomal protein BsL13 was performed by DOT, a macro-molecular docking software, in order to predict a reasonable binding mode. The solvated energy minimization calculation of the docked conformation was carried out to refine the structure. Results and Discussion: The possible binding conformation of BsL13 along with activated Obg fold in BsObg was predicted by computational docking study. The final structure is obtained from the solvated energy minimization. From the analysis, three important H-bond interactions between the Obg fold and the L13 were detected: Obg:Tyr27-L13:Glu32, Obg:Asn76-L13:Glu139, and Obg:Ala136-L13:Glu142. The interaction between the BsObg and BsL13 structures were also analyzed by electrostatic potential calculations to examine the interface surfaces. From the results, the key residues for hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interaction between the two proteins were predicted. Conclusion and Prospects: In this study, we have focused on the binding mode of the BsObg protein with the ribosomal BsL13 protein. The interaction between the activated Obg and target protein was investigated with protein-protein docking calculations. The binding pattern can be further used as a base for structure-based drug design to find a novel antibacterial drug.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.126-136
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• 2021

Oxidative stress causes injury to and degeneration of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. It is involved in several retinal disorders and leads to vision loss. In the present study, we investigated the effect of 14 kinds of natural compounds and two kinds of synthetic compounds on oxidative stress-induced cellular damage in human PRE cell lines (ARPE-19). From among them, we selected five kinds of compounds, including auranofin, FK-509, hemistepsin A, honokiol, and spermidine, which have inhibitory effects against hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-mediated cytotoxicity. In addition, we found that four kinds of compounds (excluding auranofin) have protective effects on H2O2-induced mitochondrial dysfunction. Furthermore, the expression of phosphorylation of histone H2AX, a sensitive marker of DNA damage, was markedly up-regulated by H2O2, whereas it was notably down-regulated by FK-506, honokiol, and spermidine treatment. Meanwhile, five kinds of candidate compounds had no effect on H2O2-induced intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, suggesting that the five candidate compounds have protective effects on oxidative stress-induced cellular damage through the ROS-independent pathway. Taken together, according to the results of H2O2-mediated cellular damage―such as cytotoxicity, apoptosis, mitochondrial dysfunction, and DNA damage―spermidine and FK-506 are the natural and synthetic compounds with the most protective effects against oxidative stress in RPE. Although further studies on the identification of the mechanism responsible are required, the results of the present study suggest the possibility of using spermidine and FK-506 to suppress the risk of retinal disorders.

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.24-31
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• 2022

Petroleum-based plastics are used for various purposes and pose a significant threat to the earth's environment and ecosystem. Many efforts have been taken globally in different areas to find alternatives. As part of these efforts, this study manufactured alginate-based polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) blended films by casting from an aqueous solution prepared by mixing 10 wt% petroleum-based PVA with biodegradable, marine biomass-derived alginate. Glutaraldehyde was used as a cross-linking agent, and cardanol, an alkyl phenol-based bio-oil extracted from cashew nut shell, was added in the range of 0.1 to 2.0 wt% to grant antibacterial activity to the films. FTIR and TGA were performed to characterize the manufactured blended films, and the tensile strength, degree of swelling, and antibacterial activity were measured. Results obtained from the FTIR, TGA, and tensile strength test showed that alginate, the main component, was well distributed in the PVA by forming a matrix phase. The brittleness of alginate, a known weakness as a single component, and the low thermal durability of PVA were improved by cross-linking and hydrogen bonding of the functional groups between alginate and PVA. Addition of cardanol to the alginate-based PVA blend significantly improved the antibacterial activity against S. aureus and E. coli. The antibacterial performance was excellent with a death rate of 98% or higher for S. aureus and about 70% for E. coli at a contact time of 60 minutes. The optimal antibacterial activity of the alginate-PVA blended films was found with a cardanol content range between 0.1 to 0.5 wt%. These results show that cardanol-containing alginate-PVA blended films are suitable for use as various antibacterial materials, including as food packaging.