• Advances in nano research
• /
• v.12 no.5
• /
• pp.501-514
• /
• 2022

This study aimed to investigate the effects and potential mechanisms of Chikusetsusaponin V (CsV) on endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and vascular endothelial cell functions. Different concentrations of CsV were added to animal models, bovine aorta endothelial cells (BAECs) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) cultured in vitro. qPCR, Western blotting (WB), and B ultrasound were performed to explore the effects of CsV on mouse endothelial cell functions, vascular stiffness and cellular eNOS mRNA, protein expression and NO release. Bioinformatics analysis, network pharmacology, molecular docking and protein mass spectrometry analysis were conducted to jointly predict the upstream transcription factors of eNOS. Furthermore, pulldown and ChIP and dual luciferase assays were employed for subsequent verification. At the presence or absence of CsV stimulation, either overexpression or knockdown of purine rich element binding protein A (PURA) was conducted, and PCR assay was employed to detect PURA and eNOS mRNA expressions, Western blot was used to detect PURA and eNOS protein expressions, cell NO release and serum NO levels. Tube formation experiment was conducted to detect the tube forming capability of HUVECs cells. The animal vasodilation function test detected the vasodilation functions. Ultrasonic detection was performed to determine the mouse aortic arch pulse wave velocity to identify aortic stiffness. CsV stimulus on bovine aortic cells revealed that CsV could upregulate eNOS protein levels in vascular endothelial cells in a concentration and time dependent manner. The expression levels of eNOS mRNA and phosphorylation sites Ser1177, Ser633 and Thr495 increased significantly after CsV stimulation. Meanwhile, CsV could also enhance the tube forming capability of HUVECs cells. Following the mice were gavaged using CsV, the eNOS protein level of mouse aortic endothelial cells was upregulated in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, and serum NO release and vasodilation ability were simultaneously elevated whereas arterial stiffness was alleviated. The pulldown, ChIP and dual luciferase assays demonstrated that PURA could bind to the eNOS promoter and facilitate the transcription of eNOS. Under the conditions of presence or absence of CsV stimulation, overexpression or knockdown of PURA indicated that the effect of CsV on vascular endothelial function and eNOS was weakened following PURA gene silence, whereas overexpression of PURA gene could enhance the effect of CsV upregulating eNOS expression. CsV could promote NO release from endothelial cells by upregulating the expression of PURA/eNOS pathway, improve endothelial cell functions, enhance vasodilation capability, and alleviate vessel stiffness. The present study plays a role in offering a theoretical basis for the development and application of CsV in vascular function improvement, and it also provides a more comprehensive understanding of the pharmacodynamics of CsV.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
• /
• v.28 no.7
• /
• pp.1201-1208
• /
• 2022

In general, to maximize the supply and efficiency of floating offshore wind power generation energy, the motion caused by wave attenuation of the substructure must be reduced. According to previous studies, the motion response was reduced due to the vortex viscosity generated by the damping plate installed in the lower structure among the waves. In this study, a 5 MW semi-submersible OC5 platform and two platforms with attenuation plates were designed, and free decay experiments and numerical calculations were performed to confirm the effect of reducing motion due to vortex viscosity. As a result of the model test, when the heave free decay tests were conducted at drop heights of 30 mm, 40 mm, and 50 mm, compared with the OC5 platform, the platform with two types of damping plates attached had relatively improved motion damping performance. In the model test and numerical calculation results, the damping plate models, KSNU Plate 1 and KSNU Plate 2, were 1.1 times and 1.3 times lower than OC5, respectively, and the KSNU Plate 2 platform showed about two times better damping performance than OC5. This study shows that the area of the damping plate and the vortex viscosity are closely related to the damping rate of the heave motion.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
• /
• v.34 no.6
• /
• pp.198-210
• /
• 2022

The southern strait of Jeju is a divergence point of the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC), and it is the starting point of the thermohaline circulation in the waters of the Korean Peninsula, affecting the size and frequency of marine disasters such as typhoons and tsunamis, and has a very important oceanographic impact, such as becoming a source of harmful organisms and radioactively contaminated water. Therefore, for an immediate response to these maritime disasters, real-time ocean observation is required. However, compared to other straits, in the case of southern Jeju, such wide area marine observations are insufficient. Therefore, in this study, surface current field of the southern strait of Jeju was calculated using High-Frequency radar (HF radar). the large surface current field is calculated, and post-processing and data improvement are carried out through APM (Antenna Pattern Measurement) and FOL (First Order Line), and comparative analysis is conducted using actual data. As a result, the correlation shows improvement of 0.4~0.7 and RMSE of about 1~19 cm/s. These high-frequency radar observation results will help solve domestic issues such as response to typhoons, verification of numerical models, utilization of wide area wave data, and ocean search and rescue in the future through the establishment of an open data network.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.56 no.4
• /
• pp.365-384
• /
• 2023

We applied the partitioned waveform inversion to 2,026 event data recorded at 173 seismic stations from the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology Data Managing Center and the Ocean Hemisphere network Project to estimate S-wave velocity and radial anisotropy models beneath the Western Pacific. In the Philippine Sea plate, high-Vs anomalies reach deeper in the West Philippine basin than in the Parece-Vela basin. Low-Vs anomalies found at 80 km below the Parece-Vela basin extend deeper into the West Philippine Basin. This velocity contrast between the basins may be caused by differences in lithospheric age. Low-Vs anomalies are observed beneath the Caroline seamount chain and the Caroline plate. Overall positive radial anisotropy anomalies are observed in the Western Pacific, but negative radial anisotropy is found at > 220 km depth on the subducting plate along the Mariana trench and at ~50 km in the Parece-Vela basin. Positive radial anisotropy is found at > 200 km depth beneath the Caroline seamount chain, which may indicate the 'drag' between the plume and the moving Pacific plate. High-Vs anomalies are found at 40 ~ 180 km depth beneath the Ontong-Java plateau, which may indicate the presence of unusually thick lithosphere due to underplating of dehydrated plume material.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.46 no.2
• /
• pp.58.1-59
• /
• 2021

Exploration of asteroids' internal structure is essential for understanding their evolutional history. It also provides a fundamental information about the history of coalescence and collision of the solar system. Among several models of the internal structures, the rubble-pile model, confirmed by the near-Earth asteroid (25143) Itokawa by Hayabusa mission [1], is now widely regarded as the most common to asteroids with size ranging from 200 m to 10 km [2]. On the contrary, monolithic and core-mantle structures are also possible for small asteroids [3]. It is, however, still challenging to look through the interior of a target object using remote-sensing devices. In this presentation, we introduce our ongoing research conducted at Seoul National and propose an idea to infer the internal structure of Apophis using available instruments. Itokawa's research provides an important benchmark for Apophis exploration because both asteroids have similar size and composition [4][5]. We have conducted research on Itokawa's evolution in terms of collision and space weathering. Space weathering is the surface alteration process caused by solar wind implantation and micrometeorite bombardment [6]. Meanwhile, resurfacing via a collision acts as a counter-process of space weathering by exposing fresh materials under the matured layer and lower the overall degree of space weathering. Therefore, the balance of these two processes determine the space weathering degrees of the asteroid. We focus on the impact evidence on the boulder surface and found that space weathering progresses in only 100-10,000 years and modifies the surface optical properties (Jin & Ishiguro, KAS 2020 Fall Meeting). It is important to note that the timescale is significantly shorter than the Itokawa's age, suggesting that the asteroid can be totally processed by space weathering. Accordingly, our result triggers a further discussion about why Itokawa indicates a moderately fresh spectrum (Sq-type denotes less matured than S-type). For example, Itokawa's smooth terrains show a weaker degree of space weathering than other S-type asteroids [7]. We conjecture that the global seismic shaking caused by collisions with >1 mm-sized interplanetary dust particles induces granular convection, which hinders the progression of space weathering [8]. Note that the efficiency of seismic wave propagation is strongly dependent on the internal structure of the asteroid. Finally, we consider possible approaches to investigate Apophis's internal structure. The first idea is studying the space weathering age, as conducted for Itokawa. If Apophis indicates a younger age, the internal structure would have more voids [9]. In addition, the 2029 close encounter with Earth provides a rare natural opportunity to witness the contrast between before and after the event. If the asteroid exhibits a slight change in shape and space weathering degree, one can determine the physical structure of the internal materials (e.g., rubble-pile monolithic, thick or thin regolith layer, the cohesion of the materials). We will also consider a possible science using a seismometer.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.56 no.spc1
• /
• pp.1027-1036
• /
• 2023

Coastal topographic information is crucial in coastal management, but point measurment based approeaches, which are labor intensive, are generally applied to land and underwater, separately. This study introduces an efficient method enabling land and undetwater surveys using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). This method involves applying two different algorithms to measure the topography on land and water depth, respectively, using UAV imagery and merge them to reconstruct whole coastal digital elevation model. Acquisition of the landside terrain is achieved using the Structure-from-Motion Multi-View Stereo technique with spatial scan imagery. Independently, underwater bathymetry is retrieved by employing a depth inversion technique with a drone-acquired wave field video. After merging the two digital elevation models into a local coordinate, interpolation is performed for areas where terrain measurement is not feasible, ultimately obtaining a continuous nearshore terrain. We applied the proposed survey technique to Jangsa Beach, South Korea, and verified that detailed terrain characteristics, such as berm, can be measured. The proposed UAV-based survey method has significant efficiency in terms of time, cost, and safety compared to existing methods.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.85-93
• /
• 2024

In this paper, we propose a method for establishing a state-space equation model for the motion analysis of floating structures subjected to wave loads, by applying system-identification techniques. Traditionally, the motion of floating structures has been analyzed in the time domain by integrating the Cummins equation over time, which utilizes a convolution integral term to account for the effects of the retardation function. State-space equation models have been studied as a way to efficiently solve floating-motion equations in the time domain. The proposed approach outlines a procedure to derive the target transfer function for the load-displacement input/output relationship in the frequency domain and subsequently determine the state-space equation that closely approximates it. To obtain the state-space equation, the method employs the N4SID system-identification method and an optimization approach that treats the coefficients of the numerator and denominator polynomials as design variables. To illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, we applied it to the analysis of a single-degree-of-freedom model and the motion of a six-degree-of-freedom barge. Our findings demonstrate that the presented state-space equation model aligns well with the existing analysis results in both the frequency and time domains. Notably, the method ensures computational accuracy in the time-domain analysis while significantly reducing the calculation time.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.57 no.3
• /
• pp.165-179
• /
• 2024

It is crucial to have a comprehensive understanding of inundation and water cycle in urban areas for mitigating flood risks and sustainable water resources management. In this study, we developed a Cellular Automata-based integrated Water cycle model (CAW). A comparative analysis with physics-based and conventional cellular automata-based models was performed in an urban watershed in Portland, USA, to evaluate the adequacy of spatiotemporal inundation simulation in the context of a high-resolution setup. A high similarity was found in the maximum inundation maps by CAW and Weighted Cellular Automata 2 Dimension (WCA2D) model presumably due to the same diffuse wave assumption, showing an average Root-Mean-Square-Error (RMSE) value of 1.3 cm and high scores of binary pattern indices (HR 0.91, FAR 0.02, CSI 0.90). Furthermore, through multiple simulation experiments estimating the effects of land cover and soil conditions on inundation and infiltration, as the impermeability rate increased by 41%, the infiltration decreased by 54% (4.16 mm/m²) while the maximum inundation depth increased by 10% (2.19 mm/m²). It was expected that high-resolution integrated inundation and water cycle analysis considering various land cover and soil conditions in urban areas would be feasible using CAW.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.163-171
• /
• 2024

Structural health monitoring for ships and offshore structures is important in various aspects. Ships and offshore structures are continuously exposed to various environmental conditions, such as waves, wind, and currents. In the event of an accident, immense economic losses, environmental pollution, and safety problems can occur, so it is necessary to detect structural damage or defects early. In this study, structural response data of multi-linked floating offshore structures under various wave load conditions was calculated by performing fluid-structure coupled analysis. Furthermore, the order reduction method with distortion base mode was applied to the structures for predicting the structural response by using the results of numerical analysis. The distortion base mode order reduction method can predict the structural response of a desired area with high accuracy, but prediction performance is affected by sensor arrangement. Optimization based on a genetic algorithm was performed to search for optimal sensor arrangement and improve the prediction performance of the distortion base mode-based reduced-order model. Consequently, a sensor arrangement that predicted the structural response with an error of about 84.0% less than the initial sensor arrangement was derived based on the root mean squared error, which is a prediction performance evaluation index. The computational cost was reduced by about 8 times compared to evaluating the prediction performance of reduced-order models for a total of 43,758 sensor arrangement combinations. and the expected performance was overturned to approximately 84.0% based on sensor placement, including the largest square root error.

• Proceedings of The Korean Society of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology Conference
• /
• 2014.10a
• /
• pp.1-24
• /
• 2014

This study uses geo-spatial crop modeling to quantify the biophysical impact of weather extremes. More specifically, the study analyzes the weather extreme which affected maize production in the USA in 2012; it also estimates the effect of a similar weather extreme in 2050, using future climate scenarios. The secondary impact of the weather extreme on food security in the developing world is also assessed using trend analysis. Many studies have reported on the significant reduction in maize production in the USA due to the extreme weather event (combined heat wave and drought) that occurred in 2012. However, most of these studies focused on yield and did not assess the potential effect of weather extremes on food prices and security. The overall goal of this study was to use geo-spatial crop modeling and trend analysis to quantify the impact of weather extremes on both yield and, followed food security in the developing world. We used historical weather data for severe extreme events that have occurred in the USA. The data were obtained from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In addition we used five climate scenarios: the baseline climate which is typical of the late 20th century (2000s) and four future climate scenarios which involve a combination of two emission scenarios (A1B and B1) and two global circulation models (CSIRO-Mk3.0 and MIROC 3.2). DSSAT 4.5 was combined with GRASS GIS for geo-spatial crop modeling. Simulated maize grain yield across all affected regions in the USA indicates that average grain yield across the USA Corn Belt would decrease by 29% when the weather extremes occur using the baseline climate. If the weather extreme were to occur under the A1B emission scenario in the 2050s, average grain yields would decrease by 38% and 57%, under the CSIRO-Mk3.0 and MIROC 3.2 global climate models, respectively. The weather extremes that occurred in the USA in 2012 resulted in a sharp increase in the world maize price. In addition, it likely played a role in the reduction in world maize consumption and trade in 2012/13, compared to 2011/12. The most vulnerable countries to the weather extremes are poor countries with high maize import dependency ratios including those countries in the Caribbean, northern Africa and western Asia. Other vulnerable countries include low-income countries with low import dependency ratios but which cannot afford highly-priced maize. The study also highlighted the pathways through which a weather extreme would affect food security, were it to occur in 2050 under climate change. Some of the policies which could help vulnerable countries counter the negative effects of weather extremes consist of social protection and safety net programs. Medium- to long-term adaptation strategies include increasing world food reserves to a level where they can be used to cover the production losses brought by weather extremes.