Showing papers by "Chonbuk National University published in 2013"

Biogenic Synthesis of Metallic Nanoparticles by Plant Extracts

Abstract: In recent years, nanobiotechnology has emerged as an elementary division of modern science and a noval epoch in the fields of material science and is receiving global attention due to its ample applications. Various physical, chemical, and biological methods have been employed to synthesize nanomaterials. Biological systems such as bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, yeasts, viruses, and plants have been reported to synthesize various metal and metal oxide nanoparticles. Among these, biosynthesis of nanoparticles from plants seems to be a very effective method in developing a rapid, clean, nontoxic, and eco-friendly technology. The use of plant biomass or extracts for the biosynthesis of novel metal nanoparticles (silver, gold, platinum, and palladium) would be more significant if the nanoparticles are synthesized extracellularly and in a controlled manner according to their dispersity of shape and size. Owing to the rich biodiversity of plants, their potential use toward the synthesis of these nobel metal na...

Three Fingerprints of Memristor

Abstract: This paper illustrates that for a device to be a memristor it should exhibit three characteristic fingerprints: 1) When driven by a bipolar periodic signal the device must exhibit a “pinched hysteresis loop” in the voltage-current plane, assuming the response is periodic. 2) Starting from some critical frequency, the hysteresis lobe area should decrease monotonically as the excitation frequency increases, and 3) the pinched hysteresis loop should shrink to a single-valued function when the frequency tends to infinity. Examples of memristors exhibiting these three fingerprints, along with non-memristors exhibiting only a subset of these fingerprints are also presented. In addition, two different types of pinched hysteresis loops; the transversal (self-crossing) and the non-transversal (tangential) loops exhibited by memristors are also discussed with its identification criterion.

Targeted zwitterionic near-infrared fluorophores for improved optical imaging

Abstract: The signal-to-background ratio (SBR) is the key determinant of sensitivity, detectability and linearity in optical imaging. As signal strength is often constrained by fundamental limits, background reduction becomes an important approach for improving the SBR. We recently reported that a zwitterionic near-infrared (NIR) fluorophore, ZW800-1, exhibits low background. Here we show that this fluorophore provides a much-improved SBR when targeted to cancer cells or proteins by conjugation with a cyclic RGD peptide, fibrinogen or antibodies. ZW800-1 outperforms the commercially available NIR fluorophores IRDye800-CW and Cy5.5 in vitro for immunocytometry, histopathology and immunoblotting and in vivo for image-guided surgery. In tumor model systems, a tumor-to-background ratio of 17.2 is achieved at 4 h after injection of ZW800-1 conjugated to cRGD compared to ratios of 5.1 with IRDye800-CW and 2.7 with Cy5.5. Our results suggest that introducing zwitterionic properties into targeted fluorophores may be a general strategy for improving the SBR in diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

Recent advances in the efficient reduction of graphene oxide and its application as energy storage electrode materials

Abstract: Efficient reduction of graphene oxide (GO) by chemical, thermal, electrochemical, and photo-irradiation techniques has been reviewed. Particular emphasis has been directed towards the proposed reduction mechanisms of GO by different reducing agents and techniques. The advantages of using different kinds of reducing agents on the basis of their availability, cost-effectiveness, toxicity, and easy product isolation processes have also been studied extensively. We provide a detailed description of the improvement in physiochemical properties of reduced GO (RGO) compared to pure GO. For example, the electrical conductivity and electrochemical performance of electrochemically obtained RGO are much better than those of chemically or thermally RGO materials. We provide examples of how RGO has been used as supercapacitor electrode materials. Specific capacitance of GO increases after reduction and the value has been reported to be 100–300 F g−1. We conclude by proposing new environmentally friendly types of reducing agents that can efficiently remove oxygen functionalities from the surface of GO.

Highly Efficient and Bendable Organic Solar Cells with Solution-Processed Silver Nanowire Electrodes

Abstract: Highly efficient and bendable organic solar cells (OSCs) are fabricated using solution-processed silver nanowire (Ag NW) electrodes. The Ag NW films were highly transparent (diffusive transmittance ≈ 95% at a wavelength of 550 nm), highly conductive (sheet resistance ≈ 10 Ω sq−1), and highly flexible (change in resistance ≈ 1.1 ± 1% at a bending radius of ≈200 μm). Power conversion efficiencies of ≈5.80 and 5.02% were obtained for devices fabricated on Ag NWs/glass and Ag NWs/poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), respectively. Moreover, the bendable devices fabricated using the Ag NWs/PET films decrease slightly in their efficiency (to ≈96% of the initial value) even after the devices had been bent 1000 times with a radius of ≈1.5 mm.

Quadrupole anisotropy in dihadron azimuthal correlations in central d+Au collisions at √sNN=200 GeV

Abstract: The PHENIX collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) reports measurements of azimuthal dihadron correlations near midrapidity in d + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV. These measurements complement recent analyses by experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) involving central p + Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV, which have indicated strong anisotropic long-range correlations in angular distributions of hadron pairs. The origin of these anisotropies is currently unknown. Various competing explanations include parton saturation and hydrodynamic flow. We observe qualitatively similar, but larger, anisotropies in d + Au collisions at RHIC compared to those seen in p + Pb collisions at the LHC. The larger extracted upsilon(2) values in d + Au are consistent with expectations from hydrodynamic calculations owing to the larger expected initial-state eccentricity compared with that from p + Pb collisions. When both are divided by an estimate of the initial-state eccentricity the scaled anisotropies follow a common trend with multiplicity that may extend to heavy ion data at RHIC and the LHC, where the anisotropies are widely thought to arise from hydrodynamic flow.

Tumor Infiltrating PD1-Positive Lymphocytes and the Expression of PD-L1 Predict Poor Prognosis of Soft Tissue Sarcomas

Abstract: Recently, the possibility of PD1 pathway-targeted therapy has been extensively studied in various human malignant tumors. However, no previous study has investigated their potential application for soft-tissue sarcomas (STS). In this study, we evaluated the clinical impact of intra-tumoral infiltration of PD1-positive lymphocytes and PD-L1 expression in tumor cells in 105 cases of STS. Intra-tumoral infiltration of PD1-positive lymphocytes and PD-L1 expression were seen in 65% and 58% of STS, respectively. Both PD1-positivity and PD-L1 expression were significantly associated with advanced clinicopathological parameters such as higher clinical stage, presence of distant metastasis, higher histological grade, poor differentiation of tumor, and tumor necrosis. Moreover, both PD1-positivity and PD-L1 positivity were independent prognostic indicators of overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) of STS by multivariate analysis. In addition, the combined pattern of PD1- and PD-L1-positivity was also an independent prognostic indicator for OS and EFS by multivariate analysis. The patents with a PD1+/PD-L1+ pattern had the shortest survival time. In conclusion, this study is the first to demonstrate that the infiltration of PD1 positive lymphocytes and PD-L1 expression in STS cells could be used as novel prognostic indicators for STS. Moreover, the evaluation of PD1- and PD-L1-positivity in STS is also available as possible criteria for selection of patients suitable for PD1-based immunotherapy.

In situ synthesis of the reduced graphene oxide–polyethyleneimine composite and its gas barrier properties

Abstract: The ternary roles of polyethyleneimine (PEI) as a reducing agent, a surface modifier and a polymer host have been presented to fabricate reduced graphene oxide (RGO) based composite films with improved gas barrier property. The PEI functionalized RGO dispersion is prepared and filtered to fabricate thin films with a brick and mortar structure. The simultaneous reduction and functionalization of graphene oxide (GO) by PEI are confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy analysis. The good dispersion of graphene sheets in the PEI matrix and the layered structure is confirmed by X-ray diffraction and field emission scanning electron microscopy analyses. Thermogravimetric analysis also confirms the removal of oxygen functionalities from GO and the attachment of PEI chains to the RGO sheets. The electrical conductivity of the RGO film is found to be 492 S m−1 at low content of PEI (PEI : GO = 0.02 : 1), and increasing the PEI content leads to a decrease in the electrical conductivity of the films. In contrast, the water dispersibility and gas barrier properties increase with increasing PEI content in the composite film.

Geometric Feature-Based Facial Expression Recognition in Image Sequences Using Multi-Class AdaBoost and Support Vector Machines

Abstract: Facial expressions are widely used in the behavioral interpretation of emotions, cognitive science, and social interactions. In this paper, we present a novel method for fully automatic facial expression recognition in facial image sequences. As the facial expression evolves over time facial landmarks are automatically tracked in consecutive video frames, using displacements based on elastic bunch graph matching displacement estimation. Feature vectors from individual landmarks, as well as pairs of landmarks tracking results are extracted, and normalized, with respect to the first frame in the sequence. The prototypical expression sequence for each class of facial expression is formed, by taking the median of the landmark tracking results from the training facial expression sequences. Multi-class AdaBoost with dynamic time warping similarity distance between the feature vector of input facial expression and prototypical facial expression, is used as a weak classifier to select the subset of discriminative feature vectors. Finally, two methods for facial expression recognition are presented, either by using multi-class AdaBoost with dynamic time warping, or by using support vector machine on the boosted feature vectors. The results on the Cohn-Kanade (CK+) facial expression database show a recognition accuracy of 95.17% and 97.35% using multi-class AdaBoost and support vector machines, respectively.

Characterizations of in situ grown ceria nanoparticles on reduced graphene oxide as a catalyst for the electrooxidation of hydrazine

Abstract: Ceria (CeO2) nanoparticles were grown on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) via the in situ reduction of graphene oxide (GO) in the presence of cerium nitrate and CTAB, followed by a one step hydrothermal treatment. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Raman spectroscopy (RS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to characterize the samples. The characterization suggests that the ammonia-assisted hydrothermal method is a facile and advantageous route to synthesize CeO2–RGO nanocomposites compared to the widely used method utilising hydrazine hydrate as the reducing reagent. TEM investigations revealed that the CeO2 nanoparticles with an average size of ∼14 nm were dispersed on the layers of RGO. The catalytic activity of the CeO2–RGO nanocomposites towards the electrooxidation of hydrazine was further investigated by cyclic voltammetry measurements. The results obtained suggest that compared to bare CeO2 nanoparticles, the CeO2–RGO nanocomposite exhibits remarkably enhanced electrocatalytic activity, due to the synergistic effects between the CeO2 nanoparticles and RGO.

Interstitial lung abnormalities in a CT lung cancer screening population: prevalence and progression rate.

Abstract: Interstitial lung abnormality was found in about 10% of lung cancer screening participants.

Mitochondrial dynamics modulate the expression of pro-inflammatory mediators in microglial cells.

Abstract: Over-activation of microglia cells in the brain contributes to neurodegenerative processes promoted by the production of various neurotoxic factors including pro-inflammatory cytokines and nitric oxide. Recently, accumulating evidence has suggested that mitochondrial dynamics are an important constituent of cellular quality control and function. However, the role of mitochondrial dynamics in microglial activation is still largely unknown. In this study, we determined whether mitochondrial dynamics are associated with the production of pro-inflammatory mediators in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated immortalization of murine microglial cells (BV-2) by a v-raf/v-myc carrying retrovirus (J2). Excessive mitochondrial fission was observed in lentivirus-transfected BV-2 cells stably expressing DsRed2-mito following LPS stimulation. Furthermore, mitochondrial localization of dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1) (a key regulator of mitochondrial fission) was increased and accompanied by de-phosphorylation of Ser637 in Drp1. Interestingly, inhibition of LPS-induced mitochondrial fission and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation by Mdivi-1 and Drp1 knock-down attenuated the production of pro-inflammatory mediators via reduced nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling. Our results demonstrated for the first time that mitochondrial fission regulates mitochondrial ROS production in activated microglial cells and influences the expression of pro-inflammatory mediators through the activation of NF-κB and MAPK. We therefore suggest that mitochondrial dynamics may be essential for understanding pro-inflammatory mediator expression in activated microglial cells. This could represent a new therapeutic approach for preventing neurodegenerative diseases.

Simultaneous reduction, functionalization and stitching of graphene oxide with ethylenediamine for composites application

Abstract: A simple, efficient and cost-effective approach for the simultaneous reduction, surface modification and stitching of graphene oxide (GO) using ethylenediamine is described. The effect of stitched graphene on the mechanical properties of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE)-based composites was also investigated. Ethylamine was used to produce unstitched graphene, of which structures and properties were compared to those of stitched graphene. The surface modification of GO with ethylamine or ethylenediamine can easily take place under mild conditions. The reduced GO (rGO) shows good crystalline behavior and high electrical conductivity (∼1075 S m−1). The removal of epoxide, carboxyl and hydroxyl groups from GO by ethylamine or ethylenediamine was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared, Raman and photoelectron spectroscopy. The microstructures were analyzed by atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy revealing stitching and crystalline behavior of the rGO. Compared to other reported methods, the reduction of GO with ethylamine and ethylenediamine is a preferable route for large-scale production of functionalized graphene. It was found that the storage modulus of the ethylenediamine functionalized GO (3 wt%)–LLDPE composites is significantly higher than that of pure LLDPE or ethylamine functionalized GO reinforced composites in the studied temperature range (−70 to 90 °C).

Improved heat dissipation in gallium nitride light-emitting diodes with embedded graphene oxide pattern

Abstract: The future of solid-state lighting relies on how the performance parameters will be improved further for developing high-brightness light-emitting diodes. Eventually, heat removal is becoming a crucial issue because the requirement of high brightness necessitates high-operating current densities that would trigger more joule heating. Here we demonstrate that the embedded graphene oxide in a gallium nitride light-emitting diode alleviates the self-heating issues by virtue of its heat-spreading ability and reducing the thermal boundary resistance. The fabrication process involves the generation of scalable graphene oxide microscale patterns on a sapphire substrate, followed by its thermal reduction and epitaxial lateral overgrowth of gallium nitride in a metal-organic chemical vapour deposition system under one-step process. The device with embedded graphene oxide outperforms its conventional counterpart by emitting bright light with relatively low-junction temperature and thermal resistance. This facile strategy may enable integration of large-scale graphene into practical devices for effective heat removal.

Solvothermal synthesis of ZnO nanostructures and their morphology-dependent gas-sensing properties.

Abstract: Single-crystalline ZnO nanostructures were synthesized by solvothermal method using methanol as solvent. The effect of counterions of zinc salts (nitrate, acetate, and chloride) on the morphology of ZnO nanostructures was investigated. ZnO nanorods (NRs) were formed for all kinds of zinc salts except zinc chloride, where nanoparticles (NPs) were formed. The length and width of ZnO NRs were 100-150 nm and 20-25 nm, respectively, whereas NPs were 20-25 nm in diameter. Replacing methanol to ethanol generated only NRs for all kinds of zinc salts and they were about 10 times larger than those in methanol. The effect of morphology on sensing property was investigated by comparing their response. ZnO NRs showed very high response as compared to ZnO NPs for NO2 and vice versa for CO, although the surface area of ZnO NPs (42.83 m(2)/g) was much higher than those of ZnO NRs (17.6 m(2)/g). The response of ZnO NRs was 30 times higher than those of NPs for NO2 gas, whereas 4 times lower for CO gas. The maximum response of as prepared ZnO NRs was 44.2 to 50 ppm of NO2 gas at 300 °C. A relationship between morphology and interelectrode gap was established. It was demonstrated that the number of grains present between interelectrode gaps has significantly affected the response.

Wide Linear-Range Detecting Nonenzymatic Glucose Biosensor Based on CuO Nanoparticles Inkjet-Printed on Electrodes

Abstract: Inkjet-printed copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) on silver electrodes were used to fabricate the nonenzymatic glucose biosensor. The inkjet-printed CuO NPs electrodes produced high and reproducible sensitivity of 2762.5 μAm M–1 cm–2 at an applied potential of +0.60 V with the wide linear-detecting range of 0.05–18.45 mM and the detection limit of ∼0.5 μM (S/N = 3). The long-term stability and reproducibility of sensor in glucose electro-oxidation resulted from the chemical stability of CuO NPs and pore-like structure formed on Ag surface, which prevented the CuO NPs from conglomeration and the interference of oxygen in the air. Significantly, the effect of interfering species, such as AA, UA, and DA were negligible, whereas sugar derivatives (lactose, fructose, and mannose) show insignificant interference. Finally, the electrode was applied to analyze glucose concentration in human serum samples.

Efficient work-function engineering of solution-processed MoS2 thin-films for novel hole and electron transport layers leading to high-performance polymer solar cells

Abstract: The work-function of MoS2 interfacial layers can be efficiently modulated by p- and n-doping treatments. As a result, the PCE of devices with a p-doped MoS2-based HTL is increased from ∼2.8 to ∼3.4%. Particularly, after n-doping the PCE was dramatically increased due to the change in work-function compared with un-doped MoS2 thin-films.

Crystal structure of pre-activated arrestin p44

Abstract: The crystal structure of arrestin-1 is reported, in which the activation step is mimicked by C-tail truncation; the structure of this pre-activated arrestin is markedly different from the basal state and gives an insight into the activation mechanism. Arrestin proteins are negative regulators of G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) function and also act as G-protein-independent signalling proteins. Before forming a high-affinity complex, arrestins must be activated, and two papers in this issue of Nature focus on the interaction between GCPRs and activated arrestin at the atomic scale. Yong Ju Kim et al. mimicked the initial activation step by truncating the carboxy terminus of arrestin to produce the naturally occurring splice variant called p44 and determined its crystal structure. This structure provides insight into the role of naturally occurring truncated arrestins in the visual system. Arun Shukla et al. present the structure of non-visual β-arrestin-1 in complex with an antibody fragment (Fab30) and a fully phosphorylated 29-amino-acid C-terminal peptide derived from a GPCR, the arginine vasopressin type 2 receptor. Taken together, these two studies reveal striking conformational changes associated with arrestin activation. Arrestins interact with G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) to block interaction with G proteins1,2 and initiate G-protein-independent signalling3. Arrestins have a bi-lobed structure that is stabilized by a long carboxy-terminal tail (C-tail), and displacement of the C-tail by receptor-attached phosphates activates arrestins for binding active GPCRs4. Structures of the inactive state of arrestin are available5,6, but it is not known how C-tail displacement activates arrestin for receptor coupling. Here we present a 3.0 A crystal structure of the bovine arrestin-1 splice variant p44, in which the activation step is mimicked by C-tail truncation. The structure of this pre-activated arrestin is profoundly different from the basal state and gives insight into the activation mechanism. p44 displays breakage of the central polar core and other interlobe hydrogen-bond networks, leading to a ∼21° rotation of the two lobes as compared to basal arrestin-1. Rearrangements in key receptor-binding loops in the central crest region include the finger loop7,8,9, loop 139 (refs 8, 10, 11) and the sequence Asp 296–Asn 305 (or gate loop), here identified as controlling the polar core. We verified the role of these conformational alterations in arrestin activation and receptor binding by site-directed fluorescence spectroscopy. The data indicate a mechanism for arrestin activation in which C-tail displacement releases critical central-crest loops from restricted to extended receptor-interacting conformations. In parallel, increased flexibility between the two lobes facilitates a proper fitting of arrestin to the active receptor surface. Our results provide a snapshot of an arrestin ready to bind the active receptor, and give an insight into the role of naturally occurring truncated arrestins in the visual system.

Structural imaging through local wavenumber estimation of guided waves

Abstract: This paper describes a method to effectively image structural features and defects using local estimates of the wavenumber of propagating guided Lamb waves at a fine grid of spatial sampling points. The guided waves are rapidly excited at each grid point using a scanning Q-switched laser system and sensed by a single fixed ultrasonic transducer. Through reciprocity, this produces a full-wave-field time history of a virtual wave being excited from the transducer. Using frequency–wavenumber processing, localized wavelength estimates are obtained by isolating each wave mode, narrowband filtering to one or more high-energy frequency bands, and identifying the center-wavelength of a sliding wavenumber band-pass filter that maximizes the energy at each grid point. The approach was capable of producing detailed images of hidden wall-thinning in an aluminum plate and a steel pipe section and local impact delamination in a complicated composite component.

An available database for the research of finger vein recognition

Abstract: Finger vein biometric has received considerable attentions in recent years. However, there is no approved and benchmark finger vein database for researchers to evaluate their algorithms. Furthermore, few public finger vein databases are available online. Aiming to support a benchmark database, in this paper, we introduce a representative finger vein database captured by a portable device, which is named MMCBNU_6000. Our research is novel in four aspects. First, MMCBNU_6000 is established with participation of 100 volunteers, coming from 20 countries. It contains images acquired from different persons with different skin colors. Second, statistical information of the nationality, age, gender, and blood type is recorded for further analysis on finger vein images. Third, similar to the real application, influences from translation, rotation, scale, uneven illumination, scattering, collection posture, finger tissue and finger pressure are taken into account in the imaging process. Fourth, according to the evaluation of average image gray value, image contrast and entropy on the images from the available databases, the acquired images in MMCBNU_6000 have comparable image quality.

Inhibition of endoplasmic reticulum stress alleviates lipopolysaccharide-induced lung inflammation through modulation of NF-κB/HIF-1α signaling pathway

Abstract: Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is involved in a variety of inflammatory disorders. Under stress conditions, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) loses the homeostasis in its functions, which is defined as ER stress. Little is known how ER stress is implicated in LPS-induced lung inflammation. In this study, effects of inhibition of ER stress on LPS-induced lung inflammation and transcriptional regulation were examined. An ER stress regulator, 4-phenylbutyrate (PBA) reduced LPS-induced increases of various ER stress markers in the lung. Furthermore, inhibition of ER stress reduced the LPS-induced lung inflammation. Moreover, LPS-induced increases of NF-κB and HIF-1α activity were lowered by inhibition of ER stress. These results suggest that inhibition of ER stress ameliorates LPS-induced lung inflammation through modulation of NF-κB/IκB and HIF-1α signaling pathway.