• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.15 no.5 s.86
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• pp.395-401
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• 2006

It is reported that semi-solid forming process takes many advantages over the conventional forming process, such as a long die life, good mechanical properties and energy saves. It is important to predict the deformation behavior for optimization of the forging process with semi-solid materials and to control liquid segregation for mechanical properties of materials. But rheology material has thixotropic, pseudo-plastic and shear-thinning characteristics. So, it is difficult for a numerical simulation of the rheology process to be performed because complicated processes such as the filling to include the state of the free surface and solidification in the phase transformation must be considered. General plastic or fluid dynamic analysis is not suitable for the analysis of the rheology material behavior. Recently, molecular dynamics is used for the behavior analysis of the rheology material and turned out to be suitable among several methods. In this study, molecular dynamics simulation was performed for the control of liquid segregation, forming velocity, and viscosity in compression experiment as a part of study on the analysis of rheology forming process.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2016

Contact between solid surfaces is one of the most important factors that influence dynamic behavior in micro/nanoscale. Although numerous theories and experimental results on contact behavior have been proposed, a thorough investigation for nanomaterials is still not available owing to technical difficulties. Therefore, molecular dynamics simulation was performed to investigate the contact behavior of nanomaterials, and the application of conventional contact theories to nanoscale was assessed in this work. Particularly, the contact characteristics of cylindrical nanowires were examined via simulation and contact theories. For theoretical analysis, various contact models were utilized and work of adhesion, Hamaker constant and elastic modulus those are required for calculation of the models were obtained from both indentation simulation and tensile simulation. The contact area of the cylindrical nanowire was assessed directly through molecular dynamics simulation and compared with the results obtained from the theories. Determination of the contact area of the nanowires was carried out via simulation by counting each atom, which is within the equilibrium length. The results of the simulation and theoretical calculations were compared, and it was estimated that the discrepancy in the results calculated between the simulation and the theories was less than 10 except in the case of the smallest nanowires. As the result, it was revealed that contact models can be effectively utilized to assess the contact area of nanomaterials.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.1366-1371
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• 2003

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are conducted to investigate the thermophysical characteristics and the stability of liquid threads for various conditions. A cylindrical thread in the simulation domain is made of Lennard-Jones molecules. The surface tension of liquid threads can be determined from local densities, local normal and transverse components of the pressure force. In order to understand the effects of thread radii on surface tensions, the Tolman equation is modified on the basis of the cylindrical coordinates for prediction of surface tensions. Surface tensions calculated from the MD simulation agree with the prediction from the modified Tolman equation. In addition, surface tensions decrease linearly with increasing system temperature. For a binary system, the surface tension decreased linearly compared to that for a pure system with increasing binary ratio of solute molecules which have relatively large value of the affinity coefficient. For a fixed binary ratio, the surface tension increased slightly with the affinity coefficient and the maximum value appear around where the affinity coefficient is 1.5 and decreased rapidly for upper value of 1.5. In addition, the critical wavelengths of perturbations are proven to be directly proportional to the equimolar dividing radii of the liquid threads.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.11
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• pp.855-863
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• 2017

Adipose tissue plays a central role in regulating dynamic cross-talk between tissues and organs. A detailed description of molecules that are differentially expressed upon changes in adipose tissue mass is expected to increase our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that underlie obesity and related metabolic co-morbidities. Our previous studies suggest a possible link between endophilins (SH3Grb2 proteins) and changes in body weight. To explore this further, we sought to assess the distribution of endophilin A2 (EA2) in human adipose tissue and experimental animals. Human paired adipose tissue samples (subcutaneous and visceral) were collected from subjects undergoing elective abdominal surgery and abdominal liposuction. We observed elevated EA2 gene expression in the subcutaneous compared to that in the visceral human adipose tissue. EA2 gene expression negatively correlated with adiponectin and chemerin in visceral adipose tissue, and positively correlated with $TNF-{\alpha}$ in subcutaneous adipose tissue. EA2 gene expression was significantly downregulated during differentiation of preadipocytes in vitro. In conclusion, this study provides a description of EA2 distribution and emphasizes a need to study the roles of this protein during the progression of obesity.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.172-184
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• 2012

The prokaryotic molecular chaperone Hsp33 achieves its holdase activity upon response to oxidative stress particularly at elevated temperature. Despite many structural studies of Hsp33, which were conducted mainly by X-ray crystallography, the actual structures of the Hsp33 in solution remains controversial. Thus, we have initiated NMR study of the reduced, inactive Hsp33 monomer and backbone NMR assignments were obtained in the present study. Based on a series of triple resonance spectra measured on a triply isotope-[$^2H/^{13}C/^{15}N$]-labeled protein, sequence-specific assignments of the backbone amide signals observed in the 2D-[$^1H/^{15}N$]TROSY spectrum could be completed up to more than 96%. However, even considering the small portion of non-assigned resonances due to the lack of sequential connectivity, we confirmed that the total number of observed signals was quite smaller than that expected from the number of amino acid residues in Hsp33. Thus, it is postulated that peculiar dynamic properties would be involved in the solution structure of the inactive Hsp33 monomer. We expect that the present assignment data would eventually provide the most fundamental and important data for the progressing studies on the 3-dimensional structure and molecular dynamics of Hsp33, which are critical for understanding its activation process.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.223-227
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• 1983

A molecular dynamic computer experiment was performed on a system of 108 particles composed of a single polymer chain and solvent molecules. The state considered was in the immediate neighborhood of the triple point of the system. The polymer itself is an analog of a freely jointed chain. The Lennard-Jones potential was used to represent the interactions between all particles except for that between the chain elements forming a bond in the polymer chain, for which the interaction was expressed by a harmonic potential. The self-diffusion coefficient and velocity autocorrelation function (VACF) of a polymer were calculated at various chain lengths $N_p$, and various interaction strengths between solvent molecules and a polymer chain element. For self-diffusion coefficients D, the Einstein relation holds good; as chain length $N_p$ increases the D value decreases, and D also decreases as ${\varepsilon}_{cs}$ (the interaction parameter between the chain element and solvent molecules) increases. The relaxation time of velocity autocorrelation decreases as ${\varepsilon}_{cs}$ increases, and it is constant for various chain lengths. The diffusion coefficients in various conditions reveal that our systems are in a free draining limit as is well known from the behavior of low molecular weight polymers, this also agrees with the Kirkwood-Riesman theory.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.7
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• pp.444-453
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• 2022

Multivalent macromolecular interactions underlie dynamic regulation of diverse biological processes in ever-changing cellular states. These interactions often involve binding of multiple proteins to a linear lattice including intrinsically disordered proteins and the chromosomal DNA with many repeating recognition motifs. Quantitative understanding of such multivalent interactions on a linear lattice is crucial for exploring their unique regulatory potentials in the cellular processes. In this review, the distinctive molecular features of the linear lattice system are first discussed with a particular focus on the overlapping nature of potential protein binding sites within a lattice. Then, we introduce two general quantitative frameworks, combinatorial and conditional probability models, dealing with the overlap problem and relating the binding parameters to the experimentally measurable properties of the linear lattice-protein interactions. To this end, we present two specific examples where the quantitative models have been applied and further extended to provide biological insights into specific cellular processes. In the first case, the conditional probability model was extended to highlight the significant impact of nonspecific binding of transcription factors to the chromosomal DNA on gene-specific transcriptional activities. The second case presents the recently developed combinatorial models to unravel the complex organization of target protein binding sites within an intrinsically disordered region (IDR) of a nucleoporin. In particular, these models have suggested a unique function of IDRs as a molecular switch coupling distinct cellular processes. The quantitative models reviewed here are envisioned to further advance for dissection and functional studies of more complex systems including phase-separated biomolecular condensates.

• BMB Reports
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• v.53 no.8
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• pp.400-412
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• 2020

The world has witnessed unimaginable damage from the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. Because the pandemic is growing rapidly, it is important to consider diverse treatment options to effectively treat people worldwide. Since the immune system is at the hub of the infection, it is essential to regulate the dynamic balance in order to prevent the overexaggerated immune responses that subsequently result in multiorgan damage. The use of stem cells as treatment options has gained tremendous momentum in the past decade. The revolutionary measures in science have brought to the world mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and MSC-derived exosomes (MSC-Exo) as therapeutic opportunities for various diseases. The MSCs and MSC-Exos have immunomodulatory functions; they can be used as therapy to strike a balance in the immune cells of patients with COVID-19. In this review, we discuss the basics of the cytokine storm in COVID-19, MSCs, and MSC-derived exosomes and the potential and stem-cell-based ongoing clinical trials for COVID-19.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.129-148
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• 2016

Plant species on oceanic islands comprise nearly 25% of described vascular plants on only 5% of the Earth's land surface yet are among the most rare and endangered plants. Conservation of plant biodiversity on islands poses particular challenges because many species occur in a few and/or small populations, and their habitats on islands are often disturbed by the activity of humans or by natural processes such as landslides and volcanoes. In addition to described species, evidence is accumulating that there are likely significant numbers of "cryptic" species in oceanic archipelagos. Plant systematists, in collaboration with others in the botanical disciplines, are critical to the discovery of the subtle diversity in oceanic island floras. Molecular data will play an ever increasing role in revealing variation in island lineages. However, the input from plant systematists and other organismal biologists will continue to be important in calling attention to morphological and ecological variation in natural populations and in the discovery of "new" populations that can inform sampling for molecular analyses. Conversely, organismal biologists can provide basic information necessary for understanding the biology of the molecular variants, including diagnostic morphological characters, reproductive biology, habitat, etc. Such basic information is important when describing new species and arguing for their protection. Hybridization presents one of the most challenging problems in the conservation of insular plant diversity, with the process having the potential to decrease diversity in several ways including the merging of species into hybrid swarms or conversely hybridization may generate stable novel recombinants that merit recognition as new species. These processes are often operative in recent radiations in which intrinsic barriers to gene flow have not evolved. The knowledge and continued monitoring of plant populations in the dynamic landscapes on oceanic islands are critical to the preservation of their plant diversity.

• BMB Reports
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.461-467
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• 1999

Recombinant Mycobacterium smegmatis expressing ovalbumin was used to immunize C57BL/6(H-$2^b$) mice, and the humoral immunity against recombinant ovalbumin was analyzed. Antibodies were purified by denatured ovalbumin-conjugated affinity chromatography. The epitopes of the antibodies were screened with a random peptide library displayed on the tip of fUSE5 filamentous phage pIII minor coat proteins. Two peptides, IRLADR and SPGAEV, were selected predominantly by the recognition of purified antibodies using biopanning methods. The composition of the peptide sequence with the primary structure of OVA revealed that the peptide sequence analogizes to INEAGR, part of the $^{323}ISQAVHAAHAEINEAGR^{339}$ sequence previously reported as the antigenic determinant for murine Band also Th cell epitopes (I-$A^d$ binding). Also, the structures of these mimotopes obtained from restrained molecular dynamic computations resulted in the formation of a $\beta$-turn proven to be a secondary structure of the parent peptide within the ovalbumin molecule, enabling us to confirm the structural similarity. This study demonstrates that immunization with recombinant M. smegmatis can generate neutralizing antibodies identical with those induced by the administration of natural antigenic proteins and supports the potential use of mycobacteria as vaccine delivery vehicles.