• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.131-137
• /
• 2017

A cyclone is an effective tool to facilitate the collection of aerosol particles without using filters, and in cell exposure studies is able to collect a sufficient amount of aerosol particles to evaluate their adverse health effect. In this study, we examined two different methods to improve the aerosol particle collection efficiency of a cyclone. The individual and combined effects of reducing the surface roughness of the inner wall of the cyclone and of using a circular cone attachment were tested. The collection efficiency of particles of diameter $0.2{\mu}m$ was improved by approximately 10% when using a cyclone with a smoothened inner wall (average roughness $Ra=0.08{\mu}m$) compared with the original cyclone ($Ra=5.1{\mu}m$). A circular cone attachment placed between the bottom section of the cyclone and the top section of a collection bottle, resulted in improved collection of smaller particles without the attachment. The 50% cutoff diameter of the modified cyclone (combined use of smoothened inner wall and attachment) was $0.23{\mu}m$ compared to $0.28{\mu}m$ in the original model. The combined use of these two techniques resulted in improved collection efficiency of aerosol particles.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.144-153
• /
• 2018

The aim of this study was to understand the roles of Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) signaling during tooth root and periodontium formation. In this study, we generated the dental mesenchyme-specific Smoothened (Smo) activated/inactivated mice with the activity of Cre recombinase under the control of osteocalcin promoter. In the Smo activated mutant molar sections at the postnatal 28 days, we found extremely thin root dentin and widened pulp chamber. Picrosirius red staining showed loosely arranged fibers in the periodontal space and decreased cellular cementum with some root resorption. Immunohistochemical staining showed less localization of matrix proteins such as Bsp, Dmp1, Pstn, and Ank in the cementum, periodontal ligament, and/or cementoblast. In the Smo inactivated mutant mouse, there was not any remarkable differences in the localization of these matrix proteins compared with the wild type. These findings suggest that adequate suppressing regulation of SHH signaling is required in the development of tooth root and periodontium.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.8
• /
• pp.4001-4005
• /
• 2012

Backgrouds: The hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway is composed of patched (PTCH) and smoothened (SMO), two transmembrane proteins, and downstream glioma-associated oncogene homolog (Gli) transcription factors. Hh signaling plays a pathological role in the occurrence and development of various cancers. Methods: To investigate the expression of SMO protein in colon cancer and its association with clinicopathological parameters and postoperative liver metastasis, immunohistochemistry was performed with paraffin-embedded specimens of 96 cases. Relationships between SMO protein expression and clinicopathological parameters, postoperative liver metastasis were analyzed. Results: IHC examination showed that SMO protein expression was significantly increased in colon cancer tissues compared to normal colon tissues (P = 0.042), positively related to lymph node metastases (P = 0.018) and higher T stages (P = 0.026). Postoperative live metastasis-free survival was significantly longer in the low SMO expression group than in those with high SMO expression ($48.7{\pm}8.02$ months vs $28.0{\pm}6.86$ months, P=0.036). Multivariate analysis showed SMO expression level to be an independent prognostic factor for postoperative live metastasis-free survival (95% confidence interval [CI] =1.46-2.82, P = 0.008). Conclusions: Our results suggest that in patients with colon cancer, the SMO expression level is an independent biomarker for postoperative liver metastasis, and SMO might play an important role in colon cancer progression.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers Conference
• /
• 1998.10a
• /
• pp.13-18
• /
• 1998

The assessment of machined surface is difficult because the freeform surface must be evaluated by surface fairness as well as dimensional accuracy. In this paper, the methodology of freeform surface generation using measured data on the machine tool is presented. The reliability of measured points data is obtained by measuring error compensation. The compensated data are formulated through Non-uniform G-spline surface modeling. In order to improve the surface fairness, the generated model si smoothened by parameterization The validity and usefulness of the proposed method are examined through computer simulation and experiments on the machine tool.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.42 no.9
• /
• pp.661-671
• /
• 2019

Adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) are promising for regenerating degenerated intervertebral discs (IVDs), but the low efficiency of nucleus pulposus (NP)-specific differentiation limits their clinical applications. The Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling pathway is important in NP-specific differentiation of ADSCs, and Smoothened Agonist (SAG) is a highly specific and effective agonist of Shh signaling. In this study, we proposed a new differentiation strategy with the use of the small molecule SAG. The NP-specific differentiation and extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis of ADSCs were measured in vitro, and the regenerative effects of SAG pretreated ADSCs in degenerated IVDs were verified in vivo. The results showed that the combination of SAG and transforming growth factor-${\beta}3$ ($TGF-{\beta}3$) is able to increase the ECM synthesis of ADSCs. In addition, the gene and protein expression levels of NP-specific markers were increased by treatment with SAG and $TGF-{\beta}3$. Furthermore, SAG pretreated ADSCs can also improve the disc height, water content, ECM content, and structure of degenerated IVDs in vivo. Our new differentiation scheme has high efficiency in inducing NP-specific differentiation of ADSCs and is promising for stem cell-based treatment of degenerated IVDs.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.23 no.12 s.189
• /
• pp.30-37
• /
• 2006

In this work, the surface integrity smoothened with a ball end mill was investigated. Because surface integrity mainly affects the manual finishing process, $RV_{AM}$(Remaining Volume After Machining) was introduced, and it gives the relation between machining process and finishing process. Runout and phase shift which adversely affect surface integrity were considered in the generation of surface topography. Cutting points in ball end milling were identified with positional vectors and a set of vectors which have the minimum height in unit area was selected for the generation of surface and $RV_{AM}$. $RV_{AM}$ variation according to runout and phase shift was calculated and experimentally verified in proposed HSM conditions for mold machining. From the simulations and the experiments, a desirable High Speed Machining condition was suggested.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2002.10a
• /
• pp.48.1-48
• /
• 2002

The method of endowing the controller with the strengthened robustness within the boundary layer is presented for controlling the uncertain nonlinear systems in which the variations of the uncertainties are slow. From this controller, the width of the boundary layer where the robust control input is smoothened out can be given by an appropriate value but a better control performance within the boundary layer can be achieved without the control chattering because the role of adaptive control is to compensate for the uncovered portions of the robust control occurred from the continuous approximation within the boundary layer.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.53 no.7
• /
• pp.367-372
• /
• 2020

Cell cycle-related kinase (CCRK) has a conserved role in ciliogenesis, and Ccrk defects in mice lead to developmental defects, including exencephaly, preaxial polydactyly, skeletal abnormalities, retinal degeneration, and polycystic kidney. Here, we found that Ccrk is highly expressed in mouse trachea and bronchioles. Ccrk mutants exhibited pulmonary hypoplasia and abnormal branching morphogenesis in respiratory organ development. Furthermore, we demonstrated that Ccrk mutant lungs exhibit not only impaired branching morphogenesis but also a significant sacculation deficiency in alveoli associated with reduced epithelial progenitor cell proliferation. In pseudoglandular stages, Ccrk mutant lungs showed a downregulation of Hedgehog (Hh) signaling and defects in cilia morphology and frequency during progenitor-cell proliferation. Interestingly, we observed that activation of the Hh signaling pathway by small-molecule smoothened agonist (SAG) partially rescued bud morphology during branch bifurcation in explants from Ccrk mutant lungs. Therefore, CCRK properly regulates respiratory airway architecture in part through Hh-signal transduction and ciliogenesis.

• Journal of Power Electronics
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.568-575
• /
• 2011

This paper proposes an application of energy storage devices (ESD) for low-voltage ride-through (LVRT) capability enhancement and power smoothening of doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) wind turbine systems. A grid-side converter (GSC) is used to maintain the DC-link voltage. Meanwhile, a machine-side converter (MSC) is used to control the active and reactive powers independently. For grid disturbances, the generator output power can be reduced by increasing the generator speed, resulting in an increased inertial energy of the rotational body. Design and control techniques for the energy storage devices are introduced, which consist of current and power control loops. Also, the output power fluctuation of the generator due to wind speed variations can be smoothened by controlling the ESD. The validity of the proposed method has been verified by PSCAD/EMTDC simulation results for a 2 MW DFIG wind turbine system and by experimental results for a small-scale wind turbine simulator.

• Journal of Magnetics
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.1-6
• /
• 2010

The magnetic properties of amorphous Fe were investigated by examining the electronic structures of structurally disordered Fe systems generated from crystalline bcc and fcc Fe using a Monte-Carlo simulation. As a rst principles band method, the real space spin-polarized tight-binding linearized-mun-tin-orbital recursion method was used in the local spin density approximation. Compared to the crystalline system, the electronic structures of the disordered systems were characterized by a broadened band width, smoothened local density of states, and reduced local magnetic moment. The magnetic structures depend on the short range configurations. The antiferromagnetic structure is the most stable for a bcc-based disordered system, whereas the noncollinear spin spiral structure is more stable for a fcc-based system.