Activation of Nrf2/HO-1 by Peptide YD1 Attenuates Inflammatory Symptoms through Suppression of TLR4/MYyD88/NF-κB Signaling Cascade

In this study, we investigate the immunomodulatory effects of a novel antimicrobial peptide, YD1, isolated from Kimchi, in both in vitro and in vivo models. We establish that YD1 exerts its anti-inflammatory effects via up-regulation of the Nrf2 pathway, resulting in the production of HO-1, which suppresses activation of the NF-κB pathway, including the subsequent proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α. We also found that YD1 robustly suppresses nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE₂) production by down-regulating the expression of the upstream genes, iNOS and COX-2, acting as a strong antioxidant. Collectively, YD1 exhibits vigorous anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity, presenting it as an interesting potential therapeutic agent.     

Spray Coating of 2- and 3-D Solid Substrates Using a Sulfated Polysaccharide for Marine Antifouling Applications

Marine antifouling coating using functional polymers has emerged as an important tool to combat marine fouling. Owing to their natural abundance, polysaccharides represent a more sustainable option than synthetic polymers and carrageenan, a sulfated polysaccharide, is identified as a promising candidate for further research based on its excellent marine antifouling properties. However, existing research has only explored the application of carrageenan-based coatings for 2D objects, using techniques such as spin-coating. Here, a spray-coating method is proposed to apply carrageenan-based coatings to the surfaces of 2- and 3-D objects. The coated surfaces exhibit high stability under various chemical/physical stresses and high resistance to protein adsorption and marine diatom adhesion.     

Low temperature OMVPE growth of ZnSe withTertiary-butyl allyl selenide and dimethylzinc-triethylamine

The growth of high quality ZnSe by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy (OMVPE) has been investigated fortertiary-butyl allyl selenide (tBASe), combined with dimethylzinc-triethylamine (DMZn : NEt₃). Single crystalline ZnSe films were grown on GaAs at temperature as low as 350°C with a reasonable growth rate (~1 µm/h). Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) spectra show a negligible carbon incorporation in ZnSe films from tBASe even at high VI/II ratio, in contrast the carbon concentration of 10²¹ cm^-3 in ZnSe films grown from diallyl selenide (DASe)and methylallylselenide (MASe). Good surface morphology, crystalline and interface quality of ZnSe on (001) GaAs are confirmed by scanning electron microscopy, double crystal diffractometry (DCD) and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS). Photoluminescence at 10K shows sharp near-band-edge excitonic spectra.     

Unsteady extinction mechanism of nonpremixed flame interacting with a vortex

The extinction mechanism of a CH₄/N₂-air counterflow nonpremixed flame interacting with a single vortex was numerically studied. An augmented reduced mechanism was used to treat the CH₄ oxidation reactions. The contribution of each term in the energy and the OH species equations were evaluated to investigate the unsteady extinction mechanism of nonpremixed flame. The flame temperature began to decrease due to the convection heat loss when the flame interacted with a vortex. The investigation of the radical behavior during the flame-vortex interaction process also provided useful information on the unsteady extinction mechanism. The OH radical concentration could be used as a good tracer of the state of the unsteady extinction of nonpremixed flame. The reduction mechanism of OH concentration was confirmed by analyzing the contribution of each term in the OH species equation. At initial stage of flame-vortex interaction, the OH production and consumption rates increased gradually, while the OH concentration was kept nearly constant. Near the extinction limit, the OH production rate decreased rapidly due to the low flame temperature, and the balance between the OH production and OH consumption by diffusion could not be maintained. The unsteady nonpremixed flame interacting with a vortex under the conditions of regime (V) shown in the spectral combustion diagram [Thévenin, D., Renard, P.H., Fiechtner, G.J., Gord, J.R., Rolon, J.C., 2000. Regimes of non-premixed flame-vortex interactions. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 28, 2101-2108.] was finally extinguished due to low reactivity, which was induced by the low flame temperature.     

Surface crosslinking of high‐density polyethylene beads in a modified plasma reactor

High‐density polyethylene (HDPE) beads were successfully surface‐crosslinked in a modified plasma reactor. The modified plasma reactor treats large amounts of beads, which are uniformly surface‐crosslinked. In this study, effects of the gas pressure, radio‐frequency (RF) power, and the treatment time on the degree of surface crosslinking were systematically investigated. Degree of surface crosslinking was measured by solvent extraction method (boiling xylene method, BXM). The gel content of plasma‐treated HDPE increases from 0.0 to 1.05% within 10 min at 100 mTorr, 200 W. FTIR and DSC analyses show that the crosslinked layer after plasma treatment is limited only at HDPE surface without changing the bulk thermal property of HDPE. Through the analysis of FTIR, it was confirmed that main peaks corresponding to CH₂ bands were decreased and two peaks corresponding to CF₂ and CF₃ were observed after plasma surface modification. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 83: 2921–2929, 2002; DOI 10.1002/app.10295     

Analysis of the correlation between acoustic noise and vibration generated by a multi-layer ceramic capacitor

Acoustic noise generated by a multi-layer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) makes users uncomfortable, so the problem must be analyzed to reduce the noise. There is a correlation between the acoustic noise and the vibration of MLCCs and the circuit board. Therefore, the acoustic noise problem must be investigated from a vibration perspective. In this study, the acoustic noise-generating mechanism was investigated, and the relationship between the characteristics of the noise and the dynamic characteristics of the circuit board with MLCC was analyzed. And a correlation criterion was proposed to predict the acoustic noise using the vibration response of the circuit board.     

An experimental investigation of mixing of carbon nanotube/polymer composite in a batch-type screw mixer

We develop a miniaturized batch-type screw mixer (BSM) for uniform mixing of polymer resin and nanoparticles, based on the stretching of material elements. This stretching is induced by the combination of recirculating cross-sectional flows in deep channels of the screw and high shear stress developed at flight regions. The BSM is used to produce a polymer nano-composite composed of multi-walled carbon nanotubes and polydimethylsiloxane resin. The mixing performance of the BSM is characterized quantitatively by estimating two different types of mixing efficiencies (i.e., dispersive mixing and distributive mixing) via transmitted light microscope images. The developed BSM highly improves the mixing performance rather than that of a conventional ultrasonic mixing device.     

Polydispersity effect on transient flow behavior of polystyrene solution

Summary The transient flow behavior of the binary blend of monodisperse polystyrene fractions is measured by a flow birefringence method. Both of the shear stress and first normal stress difference are obtained simultaneously in time by using a PMFB technique. The entanglements of the polymer chains significantly affect the rheological property of the binary blend in flow region. Especially, the entanglements of the high molecular weight fractions with themselves is proven to be the main source to the growth of first normal stress differences.     

Dynamics of the wet-end section in paper mills

A model representing the wet-end section of a paper mill has been developed to characterize its dynamic behavior during the grade change. The model is based on the mass balance relationships written for the simplified wetend white water network. From the linearization of the dynamic model, higher-order Laplace transfer functions were obtained followed by the reduction procedure to give simple lower-order models in the form of 1^st-order or 2^nd-order plus dead times. The dynamic response of the wet-end is influenced both by the white water volume and by the level of wire retention. Effects of key manipulated variables such as the thick stock flow rate, the ash flow rate and the retention aid flow rate on the major controlled variables were analyzed by numerical simulations. The simple dynamic model developed in the present study can be effectively used in the operation and control. This paper is dedicated to Professor Se Ki Moon on the occasion of his retirement from Hanyang University.