Maydis Stigma Elicits Analgesia and Blocks Edema in Mice and Inhibits Inflammation in Macrophages

Jeong, Yun Hee,Oh, You-Chang,Cho, Won-Kyung,Yang, Hye Jin,Ma, Jin Yeul World Scientific Publishing Company 2017 The American journal of Chinese medicine Vol.45 No.7

<P>Maydis Stigma (MS) is an herb traditionally used in many parts of the world. Previous studies have reported that MS plays a role in several biological activities, including antidiabetic and anticancer activities. However, the effects of a MS ethanolic extract (MSE) on the anti-inflammatory cellular mechanism remain unclear. Here, we investigated the anti-inflammatory properties of MSE and its molecular mechanism both <I>in vitro</I> and <I>in vivo</I>. The effects of MSE on the production of inflammatory mediators, cytokines, and related proteins and the identification of target genes were determined using LPS-stimulated macrophages. We also determined the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of MSE by examining acetic acid-induced writhing responses and xylene-induced ear edema in mice. Our results indicated that MSE markedly decreased iNOS and COX-2 levels without causing cytotoxicity and suppressed the secretion of NO in LPS-stimulated macrophages. MSE also inhibited the production of proinflammatory cytokines, such as TNF-<TEX>$ \alpha $</TEX>, IL-6, and IL-1<TEX>$ \beta $</TEX>, and induced the expression of HO-1. Moreover, MSE treatment significantly reduced the LPS-stimulated activation of MAPK, NF-<TEX>$ \kappa $</TEX>B, and AP-1. Furthermore, MSE exerted an analgesic effect on the acetic acid-induced abdominal writhing response test and an anti-inflammatory effect on xylene-induced ear edema in ICR mice. Finally, we investigated the components of MSE using UPLC-ESI-MS and found that it contains the maysin as a marker component. Overall, these observations demonstrate that MSE has anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive effects both <I>in vitro</I> and <I>in vivo</I>, which may provide new scientific evidence for its use as a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of inflammation.</P>

Development of a Tele-Operated Rescue Robot for a Disaster Response

Hong, Seongil,Park, Gyuhyun,Lee, Youngwoo,Lee, Wonsuk,Choi, Byunghun,Sim, Okkee,Oh, Jun-Ho World Scientific Publishing Company 2018 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMANOID ROBOTICS Vol.15 No.4

<P>This paper proposes practical hardware design strategies and control methods for a rescue robot to save patients in disastrous environments. None of the existing humanoid robots have not shown the capability to efficiently execute rescue tasks for transferring a human to a safe place in a highly unstructured world. To resolve this problem a new form of powerful dual arm mechanism and hybrid tracked-legged mobile platform is developed and the motion is synthesized with dynamics based optimization and a modified hierarchical control scheme. These new design and control policies enable us to simultaneously enhance the manipulation performance and driving stability which have been verified through both in extensive numerical simulations and physical experiments where the rescue robot and whole-body control are indeed required.</P>

AVQS: Attack Route-Based Vulnerability Quantification Scheme for Smart Grid

Ko, Jongbin,Lim, Hyunwoo,Lee, Seokjun,Shon, Taeshik Scientific World, Inc 2014 The Scientific World Journal Vol.2014 No.-

<P> A smart grid is a large, consolidated electrical grid system that includes heterogeneous networks and systems. Based on the data, a smart grid system has a potential security threat in its network connectivity. To solve this problem, we develop and apply a novel scheme to measure the vulnerability in a smart grid domain. Vulnerability quantification can be the first step in security analysis because it can help prioritize the security problems. However, existing vulnerability quantification schemes are not suitable for smart grid because they do not consider network vulnerabilities. We propose a novel attack route-based vulnerability quantification scheme using a network vulnerability score and an end-to-end security score, depending on the specific smart grid network environment to calculate the vulnerability score for a particular attack route. To evaluate the proposed approach, we derive several attack scenarios from the advanced metering infrastructure domain. The experimental results of the proposed approach and the existing common vulnerability scoring system clearly show that we need to consider network connectivity for more optimized vulnerability quantification. </P>

<i>Eucalyptus globulus</i> Inhibits Inflammasome-Activated Pro-Inflammatory Responses and Ameliorate Monosodium Urate-Induced Peritonitis in Murine Experimental Model

Ji, Young-Eun,Sun, Xiao,Kim, Myong-Ki,Li, Wan Yi,Lee, Sang Woo,Koppula, Sushruta,Yu, Sang-Hyeun,Kim, Han-Bi,Kang, Tae-Bong,Lee, Kwang-Ho World Scientific Publishing Company 2018 The American journal of Chinese medicine Vol.46 No.2

<P><I>Eucalyptus globulus</I> Labill. (<I>E. globulus,</I> Myrtaceae) is used in Europe as a traditional folk remedy for inflammation-related disorders such as arthritis, diabetes, asthma, and gout. We investigated this study to evaluate the protective effects of <I>E. globulus</I> extract (EG) on inflammatory responses, and provide scientific and mechanistic evidence in <I>in vitro</I> and <I>in vivo</I> experimental models. LPS-stimulated murine bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) were used to study the regulatory effect of EG on inflammasome activation <I>in vitro</I>. Monosodium urate (MSU)-induced peritonitis was used to study the effect of EG in an <I>in vivo</I> murine model. EG suppressed IL-<TEX>$ 1\beta $</TEX> secretion via the regulation of apoptosis-associated speck-like proteins containing a CARD (ASC) oligomerization and caspase-1 maturation, leading to the inhibition of inflammasome activation. In the <I>in vivo</I> study, EG suppressed the MSU-induced peritonitis by attenuating interleukin (IL)-1<TEX>$ \beta $</TEX>, providing scientific support for its traditional use in the treatment of inflammation-related disorders.</P>

Experimental Studies on Wave Interactions of Partially Perforated Wall under Obliquely Incident Waves

Lee, Jong-In,Kim, Young-Taek,Shin, Sungwon Scientific World, Inc 2014 The Scientific World Journal Vol.2014 No.-

<P> This study presents wave height distribution in terms of stem wave evolution phenomena on partially perforated wall structures through three-dimensional laboratory experiments. The plain and partially perforated walls were tested to understand their effects on the stem wave evolution under the monochromatic and random wave cases with the various wave conditions, incident angle (from 10 to 40 degrees), and configurations of front and side walls. The partially perforated wall reduced the relative wave heights more effectively compared to the plain wall structure. Partially perforated walls with side walls showed a better performance in terms of wave height reduction compared to the structure without the side wall. Moreover, the relative wave heights along the wall were relatively small when the relative chamber width is large, within the range of the chamber width in this study. The wave spectra showed a frequency dependency of the wave energy dissipation. In most cases, the existence of side wall is a more important factor than the porosity of the front wall in terms of the wave height reduction even if the partially perforated wall was still effective compared to the plain wall. </P>

Advanced approach to information security management system model for industrial control system.

Park, Sanghyun,Lee, Kyungho Scientific World, Inc 2014 The Scientific World Journal Vol.2014 No.-

<P>Organizations make use of important information in day-to-day business. Protecting sensitive information is imperative and must be managed. Companies in many parts of the world protect sensitive information using the international standard known as the information security management system (ISMS). ISO 27000 series is the international standard ISMS used to protect confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive information. While an ISMS based on ISO 27000 series has no particular flaws for general information systems, it is unfit to manage sensitive information for industrial control systems (ICSs) because the first priority of industrial control is safety of the system. Therefore, a new information security management system based on confidentiality, integrity, and availability as well as safety is required for ICSs. This new ISMS must be mutually exclusive of an ICS. This paper provides a new paradigm of ISMS for ICSs, which will be shown to be more suitable than the existing ISMS.</P>

Experimental and Numerical Studies on Wave Breaking Characteristics over a Fringing Reef under Monochromatic Wave Conditions

Lee, Jong-In,Shin, Sungwon,Kim, Young-Taek Scientific World, Inc 2014 The Scientific World Journal Vol.2014 No.-

<P> Fringing reefs play an important role in protecting the coastal area by inducing wave breaking and wave energy dissipation. However, modeling of wave transformation and energy dissipation on this topography is still difficult due to the unique structure. In the present study, two-dimensional laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the cross-shore variations of wave transformation, setup, and breaking phenomena over an idealized fringing reef with the 1/40 reef slope and to verify the Boussinesq model under monochromatic wave conditions. One-layer and two-layer model configurations of the Boussinesq model were used to figure out the model capability. Both models predicted well (<I>r</I><SUP>2</SUP> > 0.8) the cross-shore variation of the wave heights, crests, troughs, and setups when the nonlinearity is not too high (<I>A</I><SUB>0</SUB>/<I>h</I><SUB>0</SUB> > 0.07 in this study). However, as the wave nonlinearity and steepness increase, the one-layer model showed problems in prediction and stability due to the error on the vertical profile of fluid velocity. The results in this study revealed that one-layer model is not suitable in the highly nonlinear wave condition over a fringing reef bathymetry. This data set can contribute to the numerical model verification. </P>

Fault Detection of Aircraft System with Random Forest Algorithm and Similarity Measure

Lee, Sanghyuk,Park, Wookje,Jung, Sikhang Scientific World, Inc 2014 The Scientific World Journal Vol.2014 No.-

<P>Research on fault detection algorithm was developed with the similarity measure and random forest algorithm. The organized algorithm was applied to unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV) that was readied by us. Similarity measure was designed by the help of distance information, and its usefulness was also verified by proof. Fault decision was carried out by calculation of weighted similarity measure. Twelve available coefficients among healthy and faulty status data group were used to determine the decision. Similarity measure weighting was done and obtained through random forest algorithm (RFA); RF provides data priority. In order to get a fast response of decision, a limited number of coefficients was also considered. Relation of detection rate and amount of feature data were analyzed and illustrated. By repeated trial of similarity calculation, useful data amount was obtained.</P>

EMSA: Extensibility Metric for Software Architecture

Kim, Jungho,Kang, Sungwon,Ahn, Jongsun,Lee, Seonah WORLD SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING CO 2018 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERING AND Vol.28 No.3

<P>Software extensibility, the capability of adding new functions to a software system, is established based on software architecture. Therefore, developers need to evaluate the capability when designing software architecture. To support the evaluation, researchers have proposed metrics based on quality models or scenarios. However, those metrics are vague or subjective, depending on specific systems and evaluators. We propose the extensibility metric for software architecture (EMSA), which represents the degree of extensibility of a software system based on its architecture. To reduce the subjectivity of the metric, we first identify a typical task of adding new functions to a software system. Second, we define the metrics based on the characteristics of software architecture and its changes and finally combine them into a single metric. The originality of EMSA comes from defining metrics based on software architecture and extensibility tasks and integrating them into one. Furthermore, we made an effort to translate the degree into effort estimation expressed as person-hours. To evaluate EMSA, we conducted two types of user studies, obtaining measurements in both a laboratory and a real-world project. The results show that the EMSA estimation is reasonably accurate [6.6% MMRE and 100% PRED(25%)], even in a real-world project (93.2% accuracy and 8.5% standard deviation).</P>

Deflection of Resilient Materials for Reduction of Floor Impact Sound

Lee, Jung-Yoon,Kim, Jong-Mun Scientific World, Inc 2014 The Scientific World Journal Vol.2014 No.-

<P> Recently, many residents living in apartment buildings in Korea have been bothered by noise coming from the houses above. In order to reduce noise pollution, communities are increasingly imposing bylaws, including the limitation of floor impact sound, minimum thickness of floors, and floor soundproofing solutions. This research effort focused specifically on the deflection of resilient materials in the floor sound insulation systems of apartment houses. The experimental program involved conducting twenty-seven material tests and ten sound insulation floating concrete floor specimens. Two main parameters were considered in the experimental investigation: the seven types of resilient materials and the location of the loading point. The structural behavior of sound insulation floor floating was predicted using the Winkler method. The experimental and analytical results indicated that the cracking strength of the floating concrete floor significantly increased with increasing the tangent modulus of resilient material. The deflection of the floating concrete floor loaded at the side of the specimen was much greater than that of the floating concrete floor loaded at the center of the specimen.TheWinkler model considering the effect of modulus of resilient materials was able to accurately predict the cracking strength of the floating concrete floor. </P>