• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.44-51
• /
• 2019

With the goal of tissue regeneration for organs damaged through an accident or a disease, research on tissue engineering has been conducted to produce 3-D scaffolds that can support the cells in the attachment and growth for the cell proliferation and differentiation. A scaffold requires a suitable pore size and porosity to increase the nutrient circulation or oxygen supply for the attachment and growth of cells. The existing production methods such as solvent-casting particulate leaching, phase separation, and fiber bonding have certain disadvantages. With these methods, it is difficult to obtain a free desired shape. In addition, certain pore sizes and interconnectivities among the pores may not be guaranteed. To solve these problems, this study has fabricated a scaffold with a 3-D shaped nose using Alginate, which is a natural polymer obtained through Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), one of the CAD/CAM-based Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) methods.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.61 no.1
• /
• pp.31-44
• /
• 2019

The main objective of this research is to develop a hydroclimate drought index (HCDI) using the gridded climate data inputs in a Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) modeling platform. Typical drought indices, including, Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), and Self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index (SC-PDSI) in South Korea are also used and compared. Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) method is applied to create the gridded climate data from 56 ground weather stations using topographic information between weather stations and the respective grid cell ($12km{\times}12km$). R statistical software packages are used to visualize HCDI in Google Earth. Skill score (SS) are computed to evaluate the drought predictability based on water information derived from the observed reservoir storage and the ground weather stations. The study indicates that the proposed HCDI with the gridded climate data input is promising in the sense that it can help us to predict potential drought extents and to mitigate its impacts in a changing climate. The longer term drought prediction (e.g., 9 and 12 month) capability, in particular, shows higher SS so that it can be used for climate-driven future droughts.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.53 no.6
• /
• pp.169-179
• /
• 2020

Emission features formed through Raman scattering with atomic hydrogen provide unique and crucial information to probe the distribution and kinematics of a thick neutral region illuminated by a strong far-ultraviolet radiation source. We introduce a new 3-dimensional Monte-Carlo code in order to describe the radiative transfer of line photons that are subject to Raman and Rayleigh scattering with atomic hydrogen. In our Sejong Radiative Transfer through Raman and Rayleigh Scattering (STaRS) code, the position, direction, wavelength, and polarization of each photon is traced until escape. The thick neutral scattering region is divided into multiple cells with each cell being characterized by its velocity and density, which ensures flexibility of the code in analyzing Raman-scattered features formed in a neutral region with complicated kinematics and density distribution. To test the code, we revisit the formation of Balmer wings through Raman scattering of the far-UV continuum near Lyβ and Lyγ in a static neutral region. An additional check is made to investigate Raman scattering of O vi in an expanding neutral medium. We find a good agreement of our results with previous works, demonstrating the capability of dealing with radiative transfer modeling that can be applied to spectropolarimetric imaging observations of various objects including symbiotic stars, young planetary nebulae, and active galactic nuclei.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.30 no.12
• /
• pp.1810-1818
• /
• 2020

Inhibitor K562 (IK) protein was first isolated from the culture medium of K562 cells, a leukemia cell line, and is an inhibitory regulator of interferon-γ-induced major histocompatibility complex class II expression. Recently, exogenous truncated IK (tIK) protein showed potential as a therapeutic agent for inflammation-related diseases. In this study, we designed a novel putative anti-inflammatory peptide derived from tIK protein based on homology modeling of the human interleukin-10 (hIL-10) structure, and investigated whether the peptide exerted inhibitory effects against pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-17 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). The peptide contains key residues involved in binding hIL-10 to the IL-10 receptor, and exerted strong inhibitory effects on IL-17 (43.8%) and TNF-α (50.7%). In addition, we used circular dichroism spectroscopy to confirm that the peptide is usually present in a random coil configuration in aqueous solution. In terms of toxicity, the peptide was found to be biologically safe. The mechanisms by which the short peptide derived from human tIK protein exerts inhibitory effects against IL-17 and TNF-α should be explored further. We also evaluated the feasibility of using this novel peptide in skincare products.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.45 no.3
• /
• pp.158-167
• /
• 2022

Ubiquitin (Ub) is post-translationally modified by Ub itself or Ub-like proteins, phosphorylation, and acetylation, among others, which elicits a variety of Ub topologies and cellular functions. However, N-terminal (Nt) modifications of Ub remain unknown, except the linear head-to-tail ubiquitylation via Nt-Met. Here, using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and an Nt-arginylated Ub-specific antibody, we found that the detectable level of Ub undergoes Nt-Met excision, Nt-deamination, and Nt-arginylation. The resulting Nt-arginylated Ub and its conjugated proteins are upregulated in the stationary-growth phase or by oxidative stress. We further proved the existence of Nt-arginylated Ub in vivo and identified Nt-arginylated Ub-protein conjugates using stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC)-based tandem mass spectrometry. In silico structural modeling of Nt-arginylated Ub predicted that Nt-Arg flexibly protrudes from the surface of the Ub, thereby most likely providing a docking site for the factors that recognize it. Collectively, these results reveal unprecedented Nt-arginylated Ub and the pathway by which it is produced, which greatly expands the known complexity of the Ub code.

• Genomics & Informatics
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.21.1-21.14
• /
• 2023

Fusobacterium nucleatum is a gram-negative bacteria associated with diverse infections like appendicitis and colorectal cancer. It mainly attacks the epithelial cells in the oral cavity and throat of the infected individual. It has a single circular genome of 2.7 Mb. Many proteins in F. nucleatum genome are listed as "Uncharacterized." Annotation of these proteins is crucial for obtaining new facts about the pathogen and deciphering the gene regulation, functions, and pathways along with discovery of novel target proteins. In the light of new genomic information, an armoury of bioinformatic tools were used for predicting the physicochemical parameters, domain and motif search, pattern search, and localization of the uncharacterized proteins. The programs such as receiver operating characteristics determine the efficacy of the databases that have been employed for prediction of different parameters at 83.6%. Functions were successfully assigned to 46 uncharacterized proteins which included enzymes, transporter proteins, membrane proteins, binding proteins, etc. Apart from the function prediction, the proteins were also subjected to string analysis to reveal the interacting partners. The annotated proteins were also put through homology-based structure prediction and modeling using Swiss PDB and Phyre2 servers. Two probable virulent factors were also identified which could be investigated further for potential drug-related studies. The assigning of functions to uncharacterized proteins has shown that some of these proteins are important for cell survival inside the host and can act as effective drug targets.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.44 no.7
• /
• pp.511-522
• /
• 2011

Two-dimensional shallow water model based on the cut cell and the adaptive mesh refinement techniques is presented in this paper. These two mesh generation methods are combined to facilitate modeling of complex geometries. By using dynamically adaptive mesh, the model can achieve high resolution efficiently at the interface where flow changes rapidly. The HLLC Reimann solver and the MUSCL method are employed to calculate advection fluxes with numerical stability and precision. The model was applied to simulate the extreme urban flooding experiments performed by the IMPACT (Investigation of Extreme Flood Processes and Uncertainty) project. Simulation results were in good agreement with observed data, and transient flows as well as the impact of building structures on flood waves were calculated with accuracy. The cut cell method eased the model sensitivity to refinement. It can be concluded that the model is applicable to the urban flood simulation in case the effects of sewer and stormwater drainage system on flooding are relatively small like the dam brake.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.348-356
• /
• 2014

The existing effective path-length model of ITU-R has some drawbacks: The prediction error is quite large compared to domestic measurement data and it is an empirical model in which the physical characteristics of rain cells are not considered. In this paper, a theoretical model for effective path-length using the rain-cell concept was proposed and its validity was verified using the measurement data. To analyze the statistical characteristics of rain cell parameters, the weather-radar data(CAPPI) measured by Korea Meterological Administration were analyzed and the correction factor was properly introduced to fit the Chollian beacon measurement data of ETRI(Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute). To verify the proposed effective path-length model, it was compared with the Mugunghwa No. 5 beacon data measured in Chungnam National University with the support of ADD(Agency for Defense Development). It was confirmed that the prediction results of the proposed model are in good agreement with the measurement data.

• Journal of the Korea Computer Graphics Society
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.17-24
• /
• 2017

We propose an efficient method to express water spray effects by adaptively modeling air particles in particle-based water simulation. In real world, water and air continuously interacts with each other around free surfaces and this phenomenon is commonly observed in waterfall or sea with rough waves. Due to thin spray water, the interfaces between water and air become vague and the interactions between them lead to heavy vortex phenomenon. To express this phenomenon, we propose methods of 1) generating adaptive air cell in particle-based water simulation, 2) expressing water spray effects by creating and evolving air particles in the adaptive air cells, and 3) guaranteeing robustness of simulation by solving drifting problem occurred when adjacent air particles are insufficient. Experiments convincingly demonstrate that the proposed approach is efficient and easy to use while delivering high-quality results.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.1011-1016
• /
• 1999

This study was performed to search a physical method having high yield and quality and minimum environmental pollution for extraction of pectin from apple pomace. Based on the physical solubilization of plant cell wall under the condition of high temperature, pressure and shearing stress, apple pomace was treated by a corotating intermeshing type twin-screw extruder with the diameter-to-length ratio of 1/20. The specific mechanical energy of extruder was introduced as system parameter for extrusion process modeling and the shaft speed, feed rate and moisture content as process variables. The yield, average molecular weight and galacturonic acid content of water-soluble polysaccharides obtained by extrusion were, respectively, modeled with the linear functions of the system parameter which was of the form as a linear function of process variables. The specific mechanical energy increased with increase of shaft speed and with decrease of feed rate and moisture content. Out of process variables, moisture content had the greatest effect on specific mechanical energy. The yield increased with increase of specific mechanical energy while the average molecular weight and galacturonic acid content increased with its decrease. In aspects of yield and quality of pectin, the results from this study showed the possibility to replace a traditional acidic method with the extrusion treatment of this study.