• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.562-570
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• 2007

Soluble or cell-bound IL-1 receptor accessory protein (IL-1RAcP) does not bind IL-1 but rather forms a complex with IL-1 and IL-1 receptor type I (IL-1RI) resulting in signal transduction. Synthetic peptides to various regions in the Ig-like domains of IL-1RAcP were used to produce antibodies and these antibodies were affinity-purified using the respective antigens. An anti-peptide-4 antibody which targets domain III inhibited 70% of IL-$1\beta$-induced productions of IL-6 and PGE2 from 3T3-L1 cells. Anti-peptide-2 or 3 also inhibited IL-1-induced IL-6 production by 30%. However, antipeptide-1 which is directed against domain I had no effect. The antibody was more effective against IL-$1\beta$ compared to IL-$1\alpha$. IL-1-induced IL-6 production was augmented by coincubation with PGE2. The COX inhibitor ibuprofen blocked IL-1-induced IL-6 and PGE2 production. These results confirm that IL-1RAcP is essential for IL-1 signaling and that increased production of IL-6 by IL-1 needs the co-induction of PGE2. However, the effect of PGE2 is independent of expressions of IL-1RI and IL-1RAcP. Our data suggest that domain III of IL-1RAcP may be involved in the formation or stabilization of the IL-1RI/IL-1 complex by binding to epitopes on domain III of the IL-1RI created following IL-1 binding to the IL-1RI.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.269-275
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• 2013

In this study, we prepared poly(ethylene-ter-1-hexene-ter-divinylbenzene) using various metallocene catalysts with trityl tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)borate/triisobutylaluminium cocatalysts system. We tried rac-$Et(Ind)_2ZrCl_2$, rac-$SiMe_2(Ind)_2ZrCl_2$, and rac-$SiMe_2(2-Me-Ind)_2ZrCl_2$ to choose optimum metallocene catalyst, comparing with catalytic activity, molecular weight, molecular weight distribution of the terpolymers. To study the effects of chain length of high ${\alpha}$-olefins on the terpolymerization, we synthesized the terpolymers using 1-hexene, 1-octene, 1-decene or 1-dodecene. We characterized chemical composition, thermal properties, and mechanical properties of the terpolymers.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.607-618
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• 2021

The pepper anthracnose fungus, Colletotrichum scovillei, causes severe losses of pepper fruit production in the tropical and temperate zones. RAC1 is a highly conserved small GTP-binding protein in the Rho GT-Pase family. This protein has been demonstrated to play a role in fungal development, and pathogenicity in several plant pathogenic fungi. However, the functional roles of RAC1 are not characterized in C. scovillei causing anthracnose on pepper fruits. Here, we generated a deletion mutant (𝜟Csrac1) via homologous recombination to investigate the functional roles of CsRAC1. The 𝜟Csrac1 showed pleiotropic defects in fungal growth and developments, including vegetative growth, conidiogenesis, conidial germination and appressorium formation, compared to wild-type. Although 𝜟Csrac1 was able to develop appressoria, it failed to differentiate appressorium pegs. However, 𝜟Csrac1 still caused anthracnose disease with significantly reduced rate on wounded pepper fruits. Further analyses revealed that 𝜟Csrac1 was defective in tolerance to oxidative stress and suppression of host-defense genes. Taken together, our results suggest that CsRAC1 plays essential roles in fungal development and pathogenicity in C. scovilleipepper fruit pathosystem.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.468-475
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• 2001

For copolymerization of ethylene and norbornene initiated by various metallocene catalysts such as $rac-Et(Ind)_2ZrCl_2,\;rac-Me_2Si(Ind)_2ZrCl_2,\;rac-Me_2Si(Cp)_2ZrCl_2,\;and\;(n-BuCp)_2ZrCl_2$ with modified methylaluminoxane(MMAO) cocatalyst, the ${\alpha}$-olefins such as 1-hexene(H), 1-octene and 1-decene were added as a 3rd monomer. In this situation, the effects of the polymerization condition, the catalyst structure as well as the structure and the amount of added ${\alpha}$-olefin on the catalyst activity as well as the properties and structure of polymer were examined. As results, it was found that the catalyst activity and thermal property of polymer depended on not only catalyst structure but also ${\alpha}$-olefin structure. For $rac-Et(Ind)_2ZrCl_2/MMAO$ catalyst system, it was possible to get high activity and controllable $T_g$ of polymer. Among ${\alpha}$-olefins, H as a 3rd monomer exhibited the maximum enhancement in catalyst activity.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.605-619
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• 2024

The increase of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) content in recycled asphalt concrete (RAC) is accompanied by the degradation of low-temperature cracking resistance, which has become an obstacle to the development of RAC. This paper aims to reveal the meso-scale mechanisms of the low-temperature fracture behavior of RAC and provide a theoretical basis for the economical recycling of RAP. For this purpose, micromechanical heterogeneous peridynamic model of RAC was established and validated by comparing three-point bending (TPB) test results against corresponding numerical simulation results of RAC with 50% RAP content. Furthermore, the models with different aggregate shapes (i.e., average aggregates circularity (${\bar{C_r}}=1.00$, 0.75, and 0.50) and RAP content (i.e., 0%, 15%, 30%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) were constructed to investigate the effect of aggregate shape and RAP content on the low-temperature cracking resistance. The results show that peridynamic models can accurately simulate the low-temperature fracture behavior of RAC, with only 2.9% and 13.9% differences from the TPB test in flexural strength and failure strain, respectively. On the meso-scale, the damage in the RAC is mainly controlled by horizontal tensile stress and the stress concentration appears in the interface transition zone (ITZ). Aggregate shape has a significant effect on the low-temperature fracture resistance, i.e., higher aggregate circularity leads to better low-temperature performance. The large number of microcracks generated during the damage evolution process for the peridynamic model with circular aggregates contributes to slowing down the fracture, whereas the severe stress concentration at the corners leads to the fracture of the aggregates with low circularity under lower stress levels. The effect of RAP content below 30% or above 50% is not significant, but a substantial reduction (16.9% in flexural strength and 16.4% in failure strain) is observed between the RAP content of 30% and 50%. This reduction is mainly attributed to the fact that the damage in the ITZ region transfers significantly to the aggregates, especially the RAP aggregates, when the RAP content ranges from 30% to 50%.

• Proceedings of the Korea Environmental Mutagen Society Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.144-144
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• 2003

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11b
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• pp.2713-2717
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• 2008

Whole flow fields of a room air conditioner (RAC) have been visualized by a Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique to analyze the flow structure with various inlet and outlet angles, and to control an eccentric vortex which affects an efficiency and noise of the RAC. A test model with 5 stages of a cross flow fan has been manufactured and a transparent acryl has been installed at the side of the test model for the PIV experiment. The inlet and outlet flows and the flow inside the cross flow fan have been analyzed by varying the inlet grill angles and outlet blade angles. The movement of the eccentric vortex has been investigated experimentally by developing the measurement technique for the inner flow field of the cross flow fan. From the visualization of the inner flows, the origins of the noise inside the RAC and the condensation points around the outlet parts of the cold air have been observed and the solution of the problems can be proposed in this study.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.314-321
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• 2014

CDK2 is a key regulator of cell cycle progression. In this study, we screened for miRNAs targeting CDK2 using a luciferase-3'-untranslated region reporter assay. Among 11 hit miRNAs, miR-509-3p reduced CDK2 protein levels and significantly inhibited cancer cell growth. Microarray, Western blotting, and luciferase reporter analyses revealed additional targets of miR-509-3p, including Rac1 and PIK3C2A. Overexpression of miR-509-3p induced G1 cell-cycle arrest and inhibited colony formation and migration. RNAi experiments indicated that the growth-inhibitory effects of miR-509-3p may occur through down-regulation of CDK2, Rac1, and PIK3C2A. Targeting of multiple growth regulatory genes by miR-509-3p may contribute to effective anti-cancer therapy.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.369-388
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• 2022

Composite effect between steel and recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) in steel reinforced-RAC (SRRAC) structures can effectively improve RAC's adverse mechanical properties due to the natural defects of recycled coarse aggregate (RCA). However, the performance of SRRAC after thermal exposure will have a great impact on the safety of the structure. In this paper, firstly, the mechanical properties of SRRAC structures after high temperatures exposure were tested, including 24 SRRAC columns and 32 SRRAC beams. Then, the change rules of beams and columns performance with the maximum temperature and replacement percentage were compared. Finally, the formulas to evaluate the residual bearing capacity of SRRAC beams and columns after exposure to high temperatures were established. The experimental results show that the maximum exposure temperature can be judged by the apparent phenomenon and mass loss ratio of RAC. After high temperatures exposure, the mechanical properties of SRRAC beams and columns change significantly, where the degradation of bearing capacity and stiffness is the most obvious. Moreover, it is found that the degradation degree of compression member is more serious than that of flexural member. The formulas of residual bearing capacity established by introducing influence coefficient of material strength agree well with the experimental results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.91-107
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• 2023

An effective approach to promoting sustainability within the construction industry is the use of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) as a substitute for natural aggregates. Ensuring the frost resilience of RAC technologies is crucial to facilitate their adoption in regions characterized by cold temperatures. The main aim of this study was to use the Random Forests (RF) approach to forecast the frost durability of RAC in cold locations, with a focus on the durability factor (DF) value. Herein, three optimization algorithms named Sine-cosine optimization algorithm (SCA), Black widow optimization algorithm (BWOA), and Equilibrium optimizer (EO) were considered for determing optimal values of RF hyperparameters. The findings show that all developed systems faithfully represented the DF, with an R² for the train and test data phases of better than 0.9539 and 0.9777, respectively. In two assessment and learning stages, EO - RF is found to be superior than BWOA - RF and SCA - RF. The outperformed model's performance (EO - RF) was superior to that of ANN (from literature) by raising the values of R² and reducing the RMSE values. Considering the justifications, as well as the comparisons from metrics and Taylor diagram's findings, it could be found out that, although other RF models were equally reliable in predicting the the frost durability of RAC based on the durability factor (DF) value in cold climates, the developed EO - RF strategy excelled them all.