• Title/Summary/Keyword: Functional activation

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Effect of B-Cation Doping on Oxygen Vacancy Formation and Migration in LaBO3: A Density Functional Theory Study

  • Kwon, Hyunguk;Park, Jinwoo;Kim, Byung-Kook;Han, Jeong Woo
    • Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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    • v.52 no.5
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    • pp.331-337
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    • 2015
  • $LaBO_3$ (B = Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) perovskites, the most common perovskite-type mixed ionic-electronic conductors (MIECs), are promising candidates for intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cell (IT-SOFC) cathodes. The catalytic activity on MIEC-based cathodes is closely related to the bulk ionic conductivity. Doping B-site cations with other metals may be one way to enhance the ionic conductivity, which would also be sensitively influenced by the chemical composition of the dopants. Here, using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we quantitatively assess the activation energies of bulk oxide ion diffusion in $LaBO_3$ perovskites with a wide range of combinations of B-site cations by calculating the oxygen vacancy formation and migration energies. Our results show that bulk oxide ion diffusion dominantly depends on oxygen vacancy formation energy rather than on the migration energy. As a result, we suggest that the late transition metal-based perovskites have relatively low oxygen vacancy formation energies, and thereby exhibit low activation energy barriers. Our results will provide useful insight into the design of new cathode materials with better performance.

Thermal Degradation Behavior and Reliability Analysis of Plastic Materials for Household Electric Appliances (가전제품용 플라스틱 재료의 열분해 거동 및 신뢰성 평가)

  • Im, Chang-Gyu;Kim, Jun-Young;Kim, Seong-Hun
    • Polymer(Korea)
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    • v.29 no.5
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    • pp.508-517
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    • 2005
  • The thermal degradation behavior and reliability analysis were investigated using dynamic thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and accelerated degradation test (ADT) to characterize the dynamic parameters related to thermal degradation of plastic meterials for household electric appliances. In addition, the weathering of the plastic were performed by ADT using Xenon uc, and the color difference of the samples after ADT were measured with Color Eye 3010 specoophotometer. he activation energy for thermal degradation of the samples increased with increasing the rate of weight loss. The Kim-Park method was found to be more effective analysis in describing thermal degradation of plastic meterials. Plastic materials were very sensitive to ultra-violet rays in faster degradation.

Visual recovery demonstrated by functional MRI and diffusion tensor tractography in bilateral occipital lobe infarction

  • Seo, Jeong Pyo;Jang, Sung Ho
    • Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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    • v.31 no.2
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    • pp.152-156
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    • 2014
  • We report on a patient who showed visual recovery following bilateral occipital lobe infarct, as evaluated by follow up functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor tractography (DTT). A 56-year-old female patient exhibited severe visual impairment since onset of the cerebral infarct in the bilateral occipital lobes. The patient complained that she could not see anything, although the central part of the visual field remained dimly at 1 week after onset. However, her visual function has shown improvement with time. As a result, at 5 weeks after onset, she notified that her visual field and visual acuity had improved. fMRI and DTT were acquired at 1 week and 4 weeks after onset, using a 1.5-T Philips Gyroscan Intera. The fiber number of left optic radiation (OR) increased from 257 (1-week) to 353 (4-week), although the fiber numbers for right OR were similar. No activation in the occipital lobe was observed on 1-week fMRI. By contrast, activation of the visual cortex, including the bilateral primary visual cortex, was observed on 4-week fMRI. We demonstrated visual recovery in this patient in terms of the changes observed on DTT and fMRI. It appears that the recovery of the left OR was attributed more to resolution of local factors, such as peri-infarct edema, than brain plasticity.

Stability of stochastic neutral neural networks with delays

  • Xiaoqi Sun;Ling Zhang
    • Advances in Computational Design
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    • v.9 no.2
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    • pp.97-113
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    • 2024
  • In this paper, we proposed a new class of stochastic neutral neural networks with uncertain and deterministic coefficients. Made the Sigmund activation and Lipschitz activation functions less conditional. The Lyapnov-Krasovskii functional is constructed. The linear matrix inequality (LMI) is constructed using Schur's lemma, and new criteria for the global asymptotic stability and global asymptotic robust stability of neural networks are obtained. Furthermore, we have verified that the method is effective and feasible through numerical examples.

Immunosuppressive Properties of Catfish Bile from Silurus asotus: Inhibition of T Cell Activation in Mouse Splenocytes

  • Joo, Seong-Soo
    • Food Science and Biotechnology
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    • v.17 no.3
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    • pp.598-602
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    • 2008
  • Concentrated catfish Silurus asotus bile (SAB) containing high amounts of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and taurocholic acid may have immunosuppressive properties. To investigate the putative immunosuppressive properties of SAB, the anti-proliferation and suppression of early T cell activation markers, and the inhibition of cytokines induced by T cells in response to anti-CD3 mAb activation in mouse splenocytes were examined. The suppression of these activation repertoires are the main properties of calcineurin inhibitors. It was found that SAB effectively suppressed the activation of T cells, and cytokines from T cell activation, at levels similar to cyclosporine A, a calcineurin inhibitor. Although the mechanism in which suppression occurs is not clear, we speculate that SAB from Silurus asotus, which has been known to switch their intake habits to zoophagy during an early adult stage, may explain the suppressive effect of SAB as a result of high amounts of functional UDCA in bile. Our results suggest that the treatment or intake of SAB, either in therapy or as a food supplement, may act as an adjuvant therapy for the prevention of transplant rejection, although further investigation is required before this treatment can be applied clinically.

Cerebral Activation Area Following Oxygen Administration using a 3 Tesla Functional MR Imaging (고 자장 기능적 MR 영상을 이용한 뇌 운동 영역에서 산소 주입에 따른 활성화 영역에 관한 연구)

  • Goo, Eun-Hoe;Kweon, Dae-Cheol
    • Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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    • v.24 no.4
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    • pp.47-53
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    • 2005
  • This study aim to investigate the effects of supply of oxygen enhances cerebral activation through increased activation in the brain and using a 3 Tesla fMRI system. Five volunteers (right handed, average age of 21.3) were selected as subjects for this study. Oxygen supply equipment that provides 30% oxygen at a constant rate of 15L/min was given using face mask. A 3 Tesla fMRI system using the EPI BOLD technique, and three-pulse sequence technique get of the true axial planes scanned brain images. The author can get the perfusion images of the brain by oxygen inhalation with susceptibility contrast EPI sequence at the volunteers. Complex movement consisted of a finger task in which subjects flexed and extended all fingers repeatedly in union, without the fingers touching each other. Both task consisted of 96 phases including 6 activations and rests contents. Post-processing was done on MRDx software program by using cross-correlation method. The result shows that there was an improvement in performance and also increased activation in several areas in the oxygen method. These finding demonstrates that while performing cognitive tasks, oxygen administration was due to increase of cerebral activation.

Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Properties of CO2 Activated Carbon Black Filled Polymer Coating Materials

  • Hu, Quanli;Kim, Myung-Soo
    • Carbon letters
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    • v.9 no.4
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    • pp.298-302
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    • 2008
  • Carbon blacks could be used as the filler for the electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. The poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) were used as the matrix for the carbon black fillers. Porous carbon blacks were prepared by $CO_2$ activation. The activation was performed by treating the carbon blacks in $CO_2$ to different degrees of burnoff. During the activation, the enlargement of pore diameters, and development of microporous and mesoporous structures were introduced in the carbon blacks, resulting in an increase of extremely large specific surface areas. The porosity of carbon blacks was an increasing function of the degree of burn-off. The surface area increased from $80\;m^2/g$ to $1142\;m^2/g$ and the total pore volume increased from $0.14073\;cc{\cdot}g^{-1}$ to $0.9343\;cc{\cdot}g^{-1}$. Also, the C=O functional group characterized by aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids and esters was enhanced during the activation process. The EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) of raw N330 carbon blacks filled with PVA was about 1 dB and those of the activated carbon blacks increased to the values between 6 and 9 dB. The EMI SE of raw N330 carbon blacks filled with PVDF was about 7 dB and the EMI SE increased to the range from 11 to 15 dB by the activation.

Brain Activation Evoked by Sensory Stimulation in Patients with Spinal Cord Injury : Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Correlations with Clinical Features

  • Lee, Jun Ki;Oh, Chang Hyun;Kim, Ji Yong;Park, Hyung-Chun;Yoon, Seung Hwan
    • Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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    • v.58 no.3
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    • pp.242-247
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    • 2015
  • Objective : The purpose of this study is to determine whether the changes of contralateral sensorimotor cortical activation on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can predict the neurological outcome among spinal cord injury (SCI) patients when the great toes are stimulated without notice. Methods : This study enrolled a total of 49 patients with SCI and investigated each patient's preoperative fMRI, postoperative fMRI, American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) score, and neuropathic pain occurrence. Patients were classified into 3 groups according to the change of blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response on perioperative fMRI during proprioceptive stimulation with repetitive passive toe movements : 1) patients with a response of contralateral sensorimotor cortical activation in fMRI were categorized; 2) patients with a response in other regions; and 3) patients with no response. Correlation between the result of fMRI and each parameter was analyzed. Results : In fMRI data, ASIA score was likely to show greater improvement in patients in group A compared to those belonging to group B or C (p<0.001). No statistical significance was observed between the result of fMRI and neuropathic pain (p=0.709). However, increase in neuropathic pain in response to the signal change of the ipsilateral frontal lobe on fMRI was statistically significant (p=0.030). Conclusion : When there was change of BOLD response at the contralateral sensorimotor cortex on perioperative fMRI after surgery, relief of neurological symptoms was highly likely for traumatic SCI patients. In addition, development of neuropathic pain was likely to occur when there was change of BOLD response at ipsilateral frontal lobe.

Dendritic Cell Activation by Glucan Isolated from Umbilicaria Esculenta

  • Kim, Hyung-Sook;Kim, Jee-Youn;Lee, Hong-Kyung;Kim, Moo-Sung;Lee, Sang-Rin;Kang, Jong-Soon;Kim, Hwan-Mook;Lee, Kyung-Ae;Hong, Jin-Tae;Kim, Young-Soo;Han, Sang-Bae
    • IMMUNE NETWORK
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    • v.10 no.6
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    • pp.188-197
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    • 2010
  • Background: Lichen-derived glucans have been known to stimulate the functions of immune cells. However, immunostimulatory activity of glucan obtained from edible lichen, Umbilicaria esculenta, has not been reported. Thus we evaluated the phenotype and functional maturation of dendritic cells (DCs) following treatment of extracted glucan (PUE). Methods: The phenotypic and functional maturation of PUE-treated DCs was assessed by flow cytometric analysis and cytokine production, respectively. PUE-treated DCs was also used for mixed leukocyte reaction to evaluate T cell-priming capacity. Finally we detected the activation of MAPK and NF-${\kappa}B$ by immunoblot. Results: Phenotypic maturation of DCs was shown by the elevated expressions of CD40, CD80, CD86, and MHC class I/II molecules. Functional activation of DCs was proved by increased cytokine production of IL-12, IL-$1{\beta}$, TNF-${\alpha}$, and IFN-${\alpha}/{\beta}$, decreased endocytosis, and enhanced proliferation of allogenic T cells. Polymyxin B, specific inhibitor of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), did not affect PUE activity, which suggested that PUE was free of LPS contamination. As a mechanism of action, PUE increased phosphorylation of ERK, JNK, and p38 MAPKs, and enhanced nuclear translocation of NF-${\kappa}B$ p50/p65 in DCs. Conclusion: These results indicate that PUE induced DC maturation via MAPK and NF-${\kappa}B$ signaling pathways.