• Membrane and Water Treatment
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.367-375
• /
• 2016

Although the bucky paper (BP) made from carbon nanotubes (CNTs) possesses beneficial characteristics of hydrophobic nature and high porosity for membrane distillation (MD) application, weak mechanical strength of BP has often prevented the stable operation. This study aims to fabricate the BP with high mechanical strength to improve its MD performance. The strategy was to increase the purity level of CNTs with an assumption that purer CNTs would increase the Van der Waals attraction, leading to the improvement of mechanical strength of BP. According to this study results, the purification of CNT does not necessarily enhance the mechanical strength of BP. The BP made from purer CNTs demonstrated a high flux ($142kg/m^2{\cdot}h$) even at low ${\Delta}T$ ($50^{\circ}C$ and $20^{\circ}C$) during the experiments of direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD). However, the operation was not stable because a crack quickly formed. Then, a support layer of AAO (anodic aluminum oxide) filter paper was introduced to reinforce the mechanical strength of BP. The support reinforcement was able to increase the mechanical strength, but wetting occurred. Therefore, the mixed matrix membrane (PSf-CNT) using CNTs as filler to polysulphone was fabricated. The DCMD operation with the PSf-CNT membrane was stable, although the flux was low ($6.1kg/m^2{\cdot}h$). This result suggests that the mixed matrix membrane could be more beneficial for the stable DCMD operation than the BP.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2016

Damage in the periphery or spinal cord induces maladaptive plastic changes along the somatosensory nervous system from the periphery to the cortex, often leading to chronic pain. Although the role of neural circuit remodeling and structural synaptic plasticity in the 'pain matrix' cortices in chronic pain has been thought as a secondary epiphenomenon to altered nociceptive signaling in the spinal cord, progress in whole brain imaging studies on human patients and animal models has suggested a possibility that plastic changes in cortical neural circuits may actively contribute to chronic pain symptoms. Furthermore, recent development in two-photon microscopy and fluorescence labeling techniques have enabled us to longitudinally trace the structural and functional changes in local circuits, single neurons and even individual synapses in the brain of living animals. These technical advances has started to reveal that cortical structural remodeling following tissue or nerve damage could rapidly occur within days, which are temporally correlated with functional plasticity of cortical circuits as well as the development and maintenance of chronic pain behavior, thereby modifying the previous concept that it takes much longer periods (e.g. months or years). In this review, we discuss the relation of neural circuit plasticity in the 'pain matrix' cortices, such as the anterior cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex and primary somatosensory cortex, with chronic pain. We also introduce how to apply long-term in vivo two-photon imaging approaches for the study of pathophysiological mechanisms of chronic pain.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2020.08a
• /
• pp.74-74
• /
• 2020

Skin is continuously exposed to a variety of environmental stresses, including ultraviolet (UV) radiation. UVB is an inherent component of sunlight that crosses the epidermis and reaches the upper dermis, leading to increased oxidative stress, activation of inflammatory response and accumulation of DNA damage among other effects. In the present study, the anti-wrinkle mechanism of Acorus gramineus callus culture supernatant (GB-AGS-PSC) was elucidated in UVB treated HaCaT keratinocytes. GB-AGS-PSC prevented the matrix metalloprotease 1 (MMP-1), elastin, and pro-collagen product and cytotoxicity and SOD inhibition. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction showed that GB-AGS-PSC-treated cells displayed dose-dependent increase in messenger RNA expression levels of Aquaporin 3 (AQP3), Keratin 1(KRT1), fillagrin, and hyaluronan synthase-2 (HAS 2) and decreased expression levels of matrix metalloproteinase-3, -9, and -13 in UVB treated HaCaT keratinocytes. Additionally, GB-AGS-PSC suppressed TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-8 product for inflammatory responses in UVB treated HaCaT keratinocytes. Therefore, GB-AGS-PSC may be useful as an anti-photoaging resource for the skin.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.34 no.8
• /
• pp.1711-1717
• /
• 2024

This study evaluates the efficacy of a decellularized intestine tissue-derived extracellular matrix (Intestine ECM) as a scaffold for culturing colorectal cancer (CRC) organoids and establishing cell-derived xenograft (CDX) models, comparing its performance to traditional Matrigel. Intestine ECM demonstrates comparable support for organoid formation and cellular function, highlighting its potential as a more physiologically relevant and reproducible platform. Our findings suggest that Intestine ECM enhances the mimetic environment for colon epithelium, supporting comparable growth and improved differentiation compared to Matrigel. Moreover, when used as a delivery carrier, Intestine ECM significantly increases the growth rate of CDX models using patient-derived primary colorectal cancer cells. This enhancement demonstrates Intestine ECM's role not only as a scaffold but also as a vital component of the tumor microenvironment, facilitating more robust tumorigenesis. These findings advocate for the broader application of Intestine ECM in cancer model systems, potentially leading to more accurate preclinical evaluations and the development of targeted cancer therapies.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.94-101
• /
• 2017

Ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTC) such as $ZrB_2$, ZrC, $HfB_2$, HfC and TaC has been recently actively investigated for the application as components such as nose-cone, rocket nozzle and leading edge of hypersonic systems. However, the application has been limited by various reasons. The brittleness of the materials and consequent low thermal shock resistance is one of the reasons. The property can be improved through the fabrication of ceramic matrix composites. In this paper, the concept of UHTC and the fabrication process and testing of UHTC-based ceramic matrix composites (UHTC-CMC) were briefly reviewed. Also, international activities regarding the fabrication of UHTC-CMC were summarized and a UHTC-CMC project, which was performed in Korea, was introduced.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
• /
• v.37 no.1A
• /
• pp.25-33
• /
• 2012

Random beamforming (RBF) uses the signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) feedback to select users in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. A large number of users are required to obtain the gain of multi-user diversity for a downlink transmission. However, if the number is not large enough, it may be difficult to obtain multi-user diversity, leading to a rapid degradation in performance. To resolve this problem, we propose the beamforming matrix transformation and the user scheduling method. The beamforming matrix transformation scheme uses the SINRs of each users and have a better performance than conventional schemes over a small number of users. In addition, we propose the user scheduling scheme corresponding to the beamforming matrix transformation. In simulation results, we demonstrate that the sum-rate can be improved according to the number of users.

• Current Industrial and Technological Trends in Aerospace
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.76-84
• /
• 2009

In this review an attempt is made to give the background to the current trends in foreign developments in the ceramic matrix composites for space vehicles. The lightweight and high temperature specific modulus properties of ceramic composites have continued to develop for designing advanced propulsion structures and for increasing space vehicle performances. Those applications require advanced materials with good resistance to high temperatures, to oxidation environments and to mechanical stresses. The advantages of ceramic matrix composites are the low specific weight, the high specific strength over a wide temperature ranges, and their good damage tolerance compared to tungsten, pyrographites and polycrystalline graphites. Due to these advantages ceramic matrix composites are currently used in rocket engine chamber, nozzle, solar array, radar antenna, mirror support structures, hypersonic leading edge articles, heat shields, reentry vehicle nose tips, and radiators for spacecraft. Various processes are discussed together with examples of current application so that some of the advanced technologies can be possibly applied to Korean space technology.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.557-563
• /
• 2015

Skin aging is the most readily observable process involved in human aging. Ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation causes photo-oxidation via generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), thereby damaging the nucleus and cytoplasm of skin cells and ultimately leading to cell death. Recent studies have shown that high levels of solar UVB irradiation induce the synthesis of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in skin fibroblasts, causing photo-aging and tumor progression. The MMP family is involved in the breakdown of extracellular matrix in normal physiological processes such as embryonic development, reproduction, and tissue remodeling, as well as in disease processes such as arthritis and metastasis. We investigated the effect of diphlorethohydroxycarmalol (DPHC) against damage induced by UVB radiation in human skin keratinocytes. In UVB-irradiated cells, DPHC significantly reduced expression of MMP mRNA and protein, as well as activation of MMPs. Furthermore, DPHC reduced phosphorylation of ERK and JNK, which act upstream of c-Fos and c-Jun, respectively; consequently, DPHC inhibited the expression of c-Fos and c-Jun, which are key components of activator protein-1 (AP-1, up-regulator of MMPs). Additionally, DPHC abolished the DNA-binding activity of AP-1, and thereby prevented AP-1-mediated transcriptional activation. These data demonstrate that by inactivating ERK and JNK, DPHC inhibits induction of MMPs triggered by UVB radiation.

• Journal of Powder Materials
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.158-164
• /
• 2018

Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)-copper (Cu) composites are successfully fabricated by a combination of a binder-free wet mixing and spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. The SPS is performed under various conditions to investigate optimized processing conditions for minimizing the structural defects of CNTs and densifying the MWCNT-Cu composites. The electrical conductivities of MWCNT-Cu composites are slightly increased for compositions containing up to 1 vol.% CNT and remain above the value for sintered Cu up to 2 vol.% CNT. Uniformly dispersed CNTs in the Cu matrix with clean interfaces between the treated MWCNT and Cu leading to effective electrical transfer from the treated MWCNT to the Cu is believed to be the origin of the improved electrical conductivity of the treated MWCNT-Cu composites. The results indicate the possibility of exploiting CNTs as a contributing reinforcement phase for improving the electrical conductivity and mechanical properties in the Cu matrix composites.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.29 no.9 s.240
• /
• pp.1049-1056
• /
• 2005

A conservative pressure-based finite-volume numerical method has been developed for computing flow and heat transfer by using an unstructured grid system. The method admits arbitrary convex polyhedra. Care is taken in the discretization and solution procedures to avoid formulations that are cell-shape-specific. A collocated variable arrangement formulation is developed, i.e. all dependent variables such as pressure and velocity are stored at cell centers. Gradients required for the evaluation of diffusion fluxes and for second-order-accurate convective operators are found by a novel second-order accurate spatial discretization. Momentum interpolation is used to prevent pressure checkerboarding and the SIMPLE algorithm is used for pressure-velocity coupling. The resulting set of coupled nonlinear algebraic equations is solved by employing a segregated approach, leading to a decoupled set of linear algebraic equations fer each dependent variable, with a sparse diagonally dominant coefficient matrix. These equations are solved by an iterative preconditioned conjugate gradient solver which retains the sparsity of the coefficient matrix, thus achieving a very efficient use of computer resources.