• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.79-87
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• 2015

This paper proposes a floating-type wave energy conversion system that consists of a mechanical part (yo-yo vibrating system, motion rectifying system, and power transmission system) and electrical part (power generation system). The yo-yo vibrating system, which converts translational input to rotational motion, is modeled as a single degree-of-freedom system. It can amplify the wave input via the resonance phenomenon and enhance the energy conversion efficiency. The electromechanical model is established from impedance matching of the mechanical part to the electrical system. The performance was analyzed at various wave frequencies and damping ratios for a wave input acceleration of 0.14 g. The maximum output occurred at the resonance frequency and optimal load resistance, where the power conversion efficiency and electrical output power reached 48% and 290 W, respectively. Utilizing the resonance phenomenon was found to greatly enhance the performance of the wave energy converter, and there exists a maximum power point at the optimum load resistance.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.483-488
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• 1998

We previously found that a potent gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist, buserelin, decreases GnRH promoter activity together with GnRH mRNA level, providing evidence for an autoregulatory mechanism operating at the level of GnRH gene transcription in immortalized GT1-1 neuronal cells. To examine whether agonist-induced decrease in GnRH mRNA level requires the continuous presence of buserelin, we performed a pulse-chase experiment of buserelin treatment. Short-term exposure (15 min) of GT1-1 neuronal cells to buserelin ($10{\mu}M$) was able to decrease GnRH mRNA levels when determined 24 h later. When GT1-1 cells were treated with buserelin ( $10{\mu}M$) for 30 min and then incubated for 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h after buserelin removal, a significant decrease in GnRH mRNA levels was observed after the 12 h incubation period. These data indicate that inhibitory signaling upon buserelin treatment may occur rapidly, but requires a long time (at least 12 h) to significantly decrease the GnRH mRNA level. To examine the possible involvement of de novo synthesis and/or mRNA stability in buserelin-induced decrease in GnRH gene expression, actinomycin D ($5{\mu}m/ml$), a potent RNA synthesis blocker, was co-treated with buserelin. Actinomycin D alone failed to alter basal GnRH mRNA Revel, but blocked the buserelin-induced decrease in GnRH mRNA level at 12 h of post-treatment. These data suggest that buserelin may exert its inhibitory action by altering the stability of GnRH mRNA. Moreover, a polvsomal RNA separation by sucrose gradient centrifugation demonstrated that buserelin decreased the translational efficiency of the transcribed GnRH mRNA. Taken together, these results clearly indicate that GnRH agonist buserelin acts as an inhibitory signal at multiple levels such as transcription mRNA stability, and translation.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.517-524
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• 1993

To characterize glutelins, the most abundant storage protein in rice, 13 complete coding sequences of glutelin genes from the database were analyzed. According to the phylogenic analysis, these genes could be classified into 5 groups, Group I to V. The degrees of homology were calculated to be in the range of 90 to 60%, but the patterns of hydrophobicity were similar in all the groups. Also, each group was found to have similar amino acid composition with variations in lysine content from 2.5 to 3.6% due to the point mutation of arginine to lysine. The isoelectric points of mature proteins and their basic chains of all the groups showed the value of about 9.0 and 10.0, respectively, while the isoelectric points of acidic chains in these groups showed the distinct value of 6.6, 6.7, 7.2, 8.4 and 7.9. The plot of the fraction of G+C at synonimous site in codons (GC3s) against effective codon numbers suggest no major difference in translational efficiency in the expression of glutelin multigenes.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.8 no.6 s.40
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• pp.55-66
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• 2004

Recently, many high-rise apartment buildings using the box system, composed of only reinforced concrete walls and slabs, have been constructed. In residential buildings such as apartments, vibrations occur from various sources and these vibrations transfer to neighboring residential units through walls and slabs. It is necessary to use a refined finite element model for an accurate vibration analysis of shear wall building structures. But it would take significant amount of computational time and memory if the entire building structure were subdivided into a finer mesh. Therefore, an efficient analytical method, which has only translational DOFs perpendicular to walls or slabs by the matrix condensation technique, is proposed in this study to obtain accurate results in significantly reduced computational time. If all of the DOFs except those perpendicular to walls or slabs in the shear wall structure eliminated using the matrix condensation technique at a time, the computational time for the matrix condensation would be significant. Thus, the modeling technique using super elements and substructuring technique is proposed to reduce the computational time for the matrix condensation. Dynamic analysis of 3-story and 5-story shear wall example structures were performed to verify the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method. It was confirmed that the proposed method can provide the results with outstanding accuracy requiring significantly reduced computational time and memory.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.324-331
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• 2013

The addition and removal of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) molecules on serine or threonine residues of a protein is called O-GlcNAcylation. This post-translational modification occurs on both cytoplasmic and nuclear protein, and is fast and reversible as comparable to phosphorylation. In contrast to the phospho-signaling cycles, this emerging moon-lightening signaling is cycled by only two enzymes, O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and O-GlcNAcase (OGA). The simple machinery is a good evolutionary adaptation of a cell for quick accommodation to continuously fluctuating intra- and extracellular microenvironments. Rather than "switching" on or off a specific proteins - this would be done by phosphorylation where numerous specific kinases and phosphatases are involved - O-GlcNAcylation would play a "rheostat" which would be much more delicately increase or decrease the efficacy of signal transductions in response to cellular nutrient and stress conditions. Interestingly, recent evidence indicates that O-GlcNAc is further modified by phosphorylation. The O-GlcNAc-P will upgrade the modulation efficiency of cellular processes to continuous 'analogue' level. So far, only one protein AP180 was reported to have O-GlcNAc-P on Thr310. But, proteomic data from our laboratory indicate that there are multiple O-GlcNAc-P proteins, constituting "O-GlcNAc-P'om". This will focus on the possibility of existence of "O-GlcNAc-P'om".

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.627-632
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• 2019

In this study, Laminaria japonica was used as a substrate for a mixed aerobic microbial consortium. Laminaria japonica is well-known as a representative brown algal biomass possessing advantages of cheap cost, and high productivity and carbohydrate content. A biological saccharification system was established by inoculating and enriching the mixed aerobic microbial consortium. Production of the soluble carbohydrate and reducing sugar at different hydraulic retention times (HRT) was observed. The efficiency of saccharification increased according to the decrease of HRT. The maximum saccharification yield in a continuous biological pretreatment process was 17.96 and 4.30 g/L/day for the soluble carbohydrate and reducing sugar, respectively at the HRT of 1 day. In contrast, the staccharification yield decreased drastically at the HRT of 0.5 day. Experimental results indicate that Laminaria japonica is a promising material for the production of useful products, in particular for the saccharification through a biorefinery process. It can thus be concluded that a continuous biological pretreatment process using a mixed cultivation system can be successfully employed for the biorefinery technology.

• BMB Reports
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.60-65
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• 2024

The CRISPR-Cas9 system has significantly advanced regenerative medicine research by enabling genome editing in stem cells. Due to their desirable properties, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have recently emerged as highly promising therapeutic agents, which properties include differentiation ability and cytokine production. While CRISPR-Cas9 technology is applied to develop MSC-based therapeutics, MSCs exhibit inefficient genome editing, and susceptibility to plasmid DNA. In this study, we compared and optimized plasmid DNA and RNP approaches for efficient genome engineering in MSCs. The RNP-mediated approach enabled genome editing with high indel frequency and low cytotoxicity in MSCs. By utilizing Cas9 RNPs, we successfully generated B2M-knockout MSCs, which reduced T-cell differentiation, and improved MSC survival. Furthermore, this approach enhanced the immunomodulatory effect of IFN-r priming. These findings indicate that the RNP-mediated engineering of MSC genomes can achieve high efficiency, and engineered MSCs offer potential as a promising therapeutic strategy.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.257-267
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• 2023

Purpose. The purpose of the study was to fabricate a prototype robotic simulator for dental education, to test whether it could simulate mandibular movements, and to assess the possibility of the stimulator responding to stimuli during dental practice. Materials and methods. A virtual simulator model was developed based on segmentation of the hard tissues using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) data. The simulator frame was 3D printed using polylactic acid (PLA) material, and dentiforms and silicone face skin were also inserted. Servo actuators were used to control the movements of the simulator, and the simulator's response to dental stimuli was created by pressure and water level sensors. A water level test was performed to determine the specific threshold of the water level sensor. The mandibular movements and mandibular range of motion of the simulator were tested through computer simulation and the actual model. Results. The prototype robotic simulator consisted of an operational unit, an upper body with an electric device, a head with a temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and dentiforms. The TMJ of the simulator was capable of driving two degrees of freedom, implementing rotational and translational movements. In the water level test, the specific threshold of the water level sensor was 10.35 ml. The mandibular range of motion of the simulator was 50 mm in both computer simulation and the actual model. Conclusion. Although further advancements are still required to improve its efficiency and stability, the upper-body prototype simulator has the potential to be useful in dental practice education.