• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.6
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• pp.713-724
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• 2022

Effects of coal tensile strength and plow configuration on the coal fragmentation process was modeled by two-dimensional particles flow code (PFC2D). Three tensile strength values, 0.5, 1,5 and 3.5 MPa were considered in this numerical study. The cutters of plow penetrated in the coal for 4 mm at a rate of 0.016 m/s. According to the PFC manual, the local damping factor was 0.7. Three failure mechanism of coal during the fragmentation process by plow were modelled. The coal material beneath the cutters showed the elastic, plastic and fracturing behaviors in this analysis. In all the models, the plastic zone was fractured and some micro-cracks were induced but the elastic zone remained undamaged. It was observed that the tensile strength affected the failure mechanism of coal significantly and as it increased the extent of the fractured zone underneath the plow cutter decreased during the fragmentation process.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1047-1059
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• 2018

This paper focuses on the cracking and fragmentation process in rock materials containing a pair of non-parallel flaws, which are through the specimen thickness, under vertical compression. Several numerical experiments are conducted with varying flaw arrangements that affect the initiation and tensile wing cracks, shear crack growth, and crack coalescing behaviors. To obtain realistic numerical results, a parallelized peridynamics formulation coupled with a finite element method, which is able to capture arbitrarily occurring cracks, is employed. From previous studies, crack initiation and propagation of tensile wing cracks, horsetail cracks, and anti-wing cracks are well understood along with the coalescence between two parallel flaws. In this study, the coalescence behaviors, their fragmentation sequences, and the role of an x-shaped shear band in rock material containing two non-parallel flaws are discussed in detail on the basis of simulation results strongly correlated with previous experimental results. Firstly, crack initiation and propagation of tensile wing cracks and shear cracks between non-parallel flaws are investigated in time-history and then sequential coalescing behavior is analyzed. Secondly, under the effect of varying inclination angles of two non-parallel flaws and overlapping ratios between a pair of non-parallel flaws, the cracking patterns including crack coalescence, fragmentation, and x-shaped shear band are investigated. These numerical results, which are in good agreement with reported physical test results, are expected to provide insightful information of the fracture mechanism of rock with non-parallel flaws.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.499-502
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• 2011

Aurora A kinase is a mitotic serine/threonine kinase whose proposed functions include the maturation of centrosomes, G2/M transition, alignment of chromosomes at metaphase, and cytokinesis. In this study, we investigated the effect of MLN8237, an aurora A kinase inhibitor, on the postovulatory aging of oocytes based on the frequency of oocyte fragmentation, cdk1 kinase activity, and cyclin B degradation. The fragmentation of ovulated oocytes during prolonged culture was inhibited by treatment with MLN8237 in a concentration-dependent manner. The frequency of fragmented oocytes was significantly lower in oocytes treated with 2 ${\mu}M$ MLN8237 (13%) than in control oocytes (64%) after two days of culture. Most of the control (non-fragmented) oocytes (91%) were activated after two days of culture. In comparison, only 22% of the MLN8237-treated oocytes were activated; the rest of the oocytes (78%) were still in metaphase with an abnormal spindle and dispersed chromosomes. Next, cdk1 activity and the level of cyclin B were examined. The level of cyclin B and cdk1 activity in MLN8237-treated oocytes were nearly equal to those in control oocytes. Our results indicate that MLN8237 inhibited the fragmentation of ovulated oocytes during prolonged culture, although it blocked the spontaneous decrease in activity of cdk1 and degradation of cyclin B. This mechanism of inhibition is different from that in oocytes treated with nocodazole, which have high levels of cdk1 activity and cyclin B.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.3777-3781
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• 2010

The anticancer effect and apoptotic mechanism of a novel indole derivative AC-264, a lead derived from a chemical library, were investigated in human promyelocytic leukemia HL-60 cells. HL-60 cells treated with AC-264 at various concentrations showed the morphological features of apoptosis, such as plasma membrane blebbing and cell shrinkage. AC-264 exhibited cytotoxic effect in various cancer cell lines with different degrees of potency. Especially, AC-264 was effective on increasing the population of apoptotic cells in HL-60 cells, as detected by the number of cells stained with Annexin V and PI. Furthermore, AC-264 activated caspase-3 enzyme activity and induced internucleosomal DNA fragmentation. These results indicated that AC-264 produces anti-cancer effect via apoptotic cell death by activating caspase-3 and inducing internucleosomal DNA fragmentation in HL-60 cells.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.37-40
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• 2018

Farinomalein is a maleimide-bearing compound well known for its anti-fungal activity. In the present study, synthesis of farinomalein is achieved via Stobbe condensation followed by Haval-Argade contrathermodynamic rearrangement. Kinetically driven Stobbe condensation followed by condensation with beta-alanine reveals formation of two isomers of farinomalein. This article describes application of LC-MS/MS in structure elucidation of farinomalein 1 and its isomers 2 and 3 encountered in its synthesis. The proposed distinct fragmentation pathway is supported by rational organic reaction mechanism. These fragmentation pathways are significant for analytical method development of farinomalein in near future. The structures of farinomalein 1 and its isomers 2 and 3 have been assigned undisputedly.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.37-44
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• 2001

Objectives : Cellular death by apoptosis is an active process, depending on gene transcription and protein synthesis. It was reported that nitric oxide can induce apoptosis in several cancer cell-lines. We have previously observed that proliferation of Ll210 cells was inhibited by the administration of Gleditsiae Spina water extract (GE). In this present study, the mechanism of inhibitory action on the proliferation of L l210 cells was examined. Methods : The cell proliferation was determined by MTT assay and DNA fragmentation was determined by a flow cytometry. Results : The administration of GE decreased proliferation of L1210 cells and enhanced DNA fragmentation in vivo system. DNA fragmentation of L1210 cells was enhanced by co-culture of peritoneal macrophages obtained from GE-administered mice in vitro and it was partly inhibited by L-NMMA, nitric oxide synthetase inhibitor. In addition, GE increased nitric oxide production from peritoneal macrophages of L1210-transplanted mice. Conclusions : These results suggest that the inhibitory action of GE on proliferation of transplanted-L1210 cells is partly caused by an induction of apoptosis via production of nitric oxide in macrophages.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.444-454
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• 2003

Rock fragmentation technique by cutter penetration has widely been used in the mechanical tunnel excavation. Microcracks propagate and interact because of locally concentrated high stress induced by cutter penetration. which is caused by heterogeneity of rocks. In this study Weibull distribution function and degradation index are used to consider the strength heterogeneity of a rock and the degradation of rock properties after failure. Through the numerical analyses, it is shown that the lateral pressure has an important influence on the rock fragmentation. In the single cutter penetration, large chips are formed as lateral pressure increase. The cutter spacing is also an important factor that affects the rock fragmentation in the double cutter penetration. The fragmentation efficiency of the double cutter penetration is better when cutter spacing is 70 mm than 40 mm and 100 mm. From the results, it is expected that this study can be applied to a TBM tunnel design by understanding of chipping process and mechanism of rock due to cutter penetration.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2001

To elucidate the apoptosis mechanism of Trichoplusia ni cell, fundamental studies for apoptosis induction and suppression were performed. Hygromycin B, a known inducer of apoptosis, started the inhibition of T. ni cell growth at $200\;{\mu}/ml$ concentration. Furthermore, at $400\;{\mu}/ml$ concentration, DNA fragmentation was detected on day 2 of incubation. Although both dexamethasone and sodium butyrate inhibited T. ni cell growth, DNA fragmentation was not detected by both treatments. Also, when apoptosis induced T. ni cells with $200\;{\mu}/ml$ hygromycin B were treated with caspase inhibitor (Ac-DEVD-CHO), the apoptotsis was suppressed by 36%. In addition, N-acetylcysteine, another apoptosis repressor, also inhibited the apoptosis of T. ni cells. In order to express the anti-apoptosis gene (bcl-2), T. ni cells were transiently transformed with bcl-2 and its expression was confirmed by western blot analysis. These results showed the potential of developing new insect cell lines with suppressed apoptosis.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.69 no.5
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• pp.537-545
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• 2019

Stress analysis of bottom-hole rock has to be considered with much care to further understand rock fragmentation mechanism and high penetration rate. This original study establishes a fully coupled simulation model and explores the effects of overburden pressure, horizontal in-situ stresses, drilling mud pressure, pore pressure and temperature on the stress distribution in bottom-hole rock. The research finds that in air drilling, as the well depth increases, the more easily the bottom-hole rock is to be broken. Moreover, the mud pressure has a great effect on the bottom-hole rock. The bigger the mud pressure is, the more difficult to break the bottom-hole rock is. Furthermore, the maximum principal stress of the bottom-hole increases as the mud pressure, well depth and temperature difference increase. The bottom-hole rock can be divided into three main regions according to the stress state, namely a) three directions tensile area, b) two directions compression areas and c) three directions compression area, which are classified as a) easy, b) normal and c) hard, respectively, for the corresponding fragmentation degree of difficulty. The main contribution of this paper is that it presents for the first time a thorough study of the effect of related factors, including stress distribution and temperature, on the bottom-hole rock fracture rather than the well wall, using a thermo-poroelastoplasticity model.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.33-40
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• 2004

Objective : This study investigated the apoptotic effect and its mechanism of Radix Aconiti (RA) extract and aconitine, which is a major constituent of RA, in HepG2 human hepatoma cells. Methods : We used MTT and DNA fragmentation assay to investigate cell viability and apoptotic effect on RA extract-treated HepG2 cells. In addition, to clarify the mechanism of RA extract-induced apoptosis, we applied caspase-3 enzyme activity assay and Western blotting method on poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) protein expression. Results : Treatment with RA extract resulted in the decrease of cell viability, and this effect was caused from apoptosis as confirmed by discontinuous fragmentation of DNA in HepG2 cells, but aconitine did not. Also, RA extract-treated HepG2 cells induced the activation of caspase-3 enzyme activity in time- and dose-dependent manners, which was accompanied by the cleavage of 116 kD PARP to 85 kD product. Conclusions : These results suggest that the apoptotic effects of RA extract on HepG2 cells could not be explained by aconitine. Additionally, RA extract induced apoptosis in hepatoma cells through caspase-3 activation and subsequent PARP cleavage.