• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.841-845
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• 2003

In order for engineered tissues to find clinical utility, the engineered tissues must function appropriately. However, smooth muscle (SM) tissues engineered in vitro with a conventional tissue engineering technique may not exhibit contractile functions, because smooth muscle cells (SMCs) cultured in vitro typically revert from a contractile, differentiated phenotype to a synthetic, nondifferentiated phenotype and lose their ability to contract. SMCs in vivo typically reside in mechanically dynamic environments. We hypothesized that cyclic mechanical stretch induces the features of SMCs in in vitro engineered tissues to be similar to those of SMCs in native tissues. To test the hypothesis, aortic SMCs were seeded onto elastic, three-dimensional scaffolds and cultured in vitro under a cyclic mechanical stretching condition for 4 weeks. A significant cell alignment in a direction parallel to the cyclic stretching direction was found in the SM tissues exposed to cyclic stretching. The cellular alignment and alignment direction were consistent with those of native vascular SM tissues, in which SMCs in vivo align in the radial direction (parallel to stretching direction). In control tissues (SM tissues engineered without stretching), cells randomly aligned. The expression of SM ${\alpha}-actin$ and SM myosin heavy chain, phenotypic markers of SMCs in a contractile state, was upregulated in the stretched tissues by 2.5- and 2.0-fold, respectively, compared to SMCs in the control tissues. The cellular features of alignment and contractile phenotype of SMCs in the SM tissues engineered under a mechanically dynamic environment could allow the engineered SM tissues to exhibit contractile functions.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.366-373
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• 2011

We characterized the proteomes of murine N2a cells following infection with three rabies virus (RV) strains, characterized by distinct virulence phenotypes (i.e., virulent BD06, fixed CVS-11, and attenuated SRV9 strains), and identified 35 changes to protein expression using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis in whole-cell lysates. The annotated functions of these proteins are involved in various cytoskeletal, signal transduction, stress response, and metabolic processes. Specifically, a-enolase, prx-4, vimentin, cytokine-induced apoptosis inhibitor 1 (CIAPIN1) and prx-6 were significantly up-regulated, whereas Trx like-1 and galectin-1 were down-regulated following infection of N2a cells with all three rabies virus strains. However, comparing expressions of all 35 proteins affected between BD06-, CVS-11-, and SRV9-infected cells, specific changes in expression were also observed. The up-regulation of vimentin, CIAPIN1, prx-4, and 14-3-3 ${\theta}/{\delta}$, and down-regulation of NDPK-B and HSP-1 with CVS and SRV9 infection were ${\geq}2$ times greater than with BD06. Meanwhile, Zfp12 protein, splicing factor, and arginine/serine-rich 1 were unaltered in the cells infected with BD06 and CVS-11, but were up-regulated in the group infected with SRV9. The proteomic alterations described here may suggest that these changes to protein expression correlate with the rabies virus' adaptability and virulence in N2a cells, and hence provides new clues as to the response of N2a host cells to rabies virus infections, and may also aid in uncovering new pathways in these cells that are involved in rabies infections. Further characterization of the functions of the affected proteins may contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms of RV infection and pathogenesis.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.215-223
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• 2010

Purpose: The present study was aimed to evaluate the level of cortical bone strain during the placement of an implant. The primary concern was to investigate if the extent of overloading area near the marginal bone could be affected by microthread fabricated at the cervical 1/3 of an implant. Materials and methods: Three dimensional finite element analysis was used to simulate the insertion of 3 implants. Control model was $4.1{\times}10$ mm implant (Submerged model, Dentis Co,, Daegu, Korea) equipped with a main thread only. Type I was with main thread and microthread, and Type II had similar thread pattern but was of tapered body. A PC-based finite element software (DEFORM 3D ver 5, SFTC, Columbus, OH, USA) was used to calculate a total of 3,600 steps of analysis, which simulated the whole insertion. Results: Results showed that the strain field in the marginal bone within 1 mm of the implant wall was higher than 4,000 micro-strain in the control model. The size of bone overloading was 1-1.5 mm in Type I, and greater than 2 mm in Type II implants. Conclusion: These results indicate that the marginal bone may be at the risk of resorption on receiving the implant for all 3 implant models studied. Yet, the risk was greater for Type I and Type II implants, which had microthread at the cervical 1/3.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.461-468
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• 2009

Purpose: Platelet derived growth factor(PDGF)-BB and bone morphogenetic protein(BMP)-2 are well-known representative growth factors. The purposes of this study were to investigate the effect of rhPDGFBB and rhBMP-2 on osseointegration of titanium implants at periimplant bone defects grafted with hydroxyapatite and to evaluate the feasibility of imaging bone structures around screw-type titanium implant with micro-CT. Materials and Methods: The first molar and all premolars in the mandible region of four beagle dogs were extracted. Following a healing period of 4 months, three $8{\times}8{\times}6mm$-sized bony defects were formed and screw-type titanium implants were placed with hydroxyapatite(HA) block and growth factors; Control group, PDGF group and BMP group. Two months post-implantation, the mandible was harvested. Bone volume(BV), bone-to-implant contact(BIC) and bone mineral density(BMD) were analyzed with micro-CT and histology. Results: According to micro-CT analysis, BV and BMD measures of PDGF and BMP group were significantly higher than control group(BV; PDGF group: $p{\fallingdotseq}0.011$, BMP group: $p{\fallingdotseq}0.006$/BMD; PDGF group: $p{\fallingdotseq}0.020$, BMP group: $p{\fallingdotseq}0.011$) and BIC measures of BMP group were significantly higher than PDGF group($p{\fallingdotseq}0.015$). In histologic evaluation, BIC measures of BMP group was significantly higher than PDGF group($p{\fallingdotseq}0.048$). The values of BV in histologic sections were higher than in micro-CT images and the values of BIC in micro-CT images were higher than in histologic sections. Conclusion: The findings of this experimental study indicates that the use of rhPDGF-BB and rhBMP-2 can increase new bone formation in a large bony defect around titanium implant, and rhBMP-2 is more effective than rhPDGF-BB. Micro-CT can be considered useful for assessment as a rapid and nondestructive method for 3-dimensional measurement of bone healing around implants. Further study is necessary, however, to remove metal artifacts around titanium implant and to standardize the method.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.27 no.6A
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• pp.618-627
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• 2002

In processing images using 2 dimensional Discrete Wavelet Transform(2D-DWT), the method to process the pixels around the image boundary may affect the quality of image and the cost to implement in hardware and software. This paper proposed an effective method to treat the boundary pixels, which is apt to implement in hardware and software without losing the quality of the image costly. This method processes the 2-D image as 1-D array so that 2-D DWT is performed by considering the image with the serial-sequential data structure (Serial-Sequential Processing). To show the performance and easiness in implementation of the proposed method, an image compression codec which compresses image and reconstructs it has been implemented and experimented. It included log-scale fried quantizer, but the entropy coder was not implemented. From the experimental results, the proposed method showed the SNR of almost the same SNR(Signal to Noise Ratio) to the Periodic Expansion(PE) method when the compression ratio(excluding entropy coding) of 2:1, 15.3% higher than Symmetric Expansion(SE) method, and 9.3% higher than 0-pixel Padding Expansion(ZPE) method. Also PE method needed 12.99% more memory space than the proposed method. By considering only the compression process, SE and ZPE methods needed additional operations than the proposed one. In hardware implementation, the proposed method in this paper had 5.92% of overall circuit as the control circuit, while SE, PE, and ZPE method has 22%, 21,2%, and 11.9% as the control circuit, respectively. Consequently, the proposed method can be thought more effective in implementing software and hardware without losing any image quality in the usual image processing applications.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.91-105
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• 2016

Carbon Nanotube Field-Effect Transistors (CNTFETs) have been studied as candidates for post Si CMOS owing to the better electrostatic control and high mobility. To enhance the immunity against short - channel effects (SCEs), the novel channel and gate engineered architectures have been proposed to improve CNTFETs performance. This work presents a comprehensive study of the influence of channel and gate engineering on the CNTFET switching, high frequency and circuit level performance of carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNTFETs). At device level, the effects of channel and gate engineering on the switching and high frequency characteristics for CNTFET have been theoretically investigated by using a quantum kinetic model. This model is based on two-dimensional non-equilibrium Green's functions (NEGF) solved self - consistently with Poisson's equations. It is revealed that hetero - material - gate and lightly doped drain and source CNTFET (HMG - LDDS - CNTFET) structure can significantly reduce leakage current, enhance control ability of the gate on channel, improve the switching speed, and is more suitable for use in low power, high frequency circuits. At circuit level, using the HSPICE with look - up table(LUT) based Verilog - A models, the impact of the channel and gate engineering on basic digital circuits (inverter, static random access memory cell) have been investigated systematically. The performance parameters of circuits have been calculated and the optimum metal gate workfunction combinations of ${\Phi}_{M1}/{\Phi}_{M2}$ have been concluded in terms of power consumption, average delay, stability, energy consumption and power - delay product (PDP). In addition, we discuss and compare the CNTFET-based circuit designs of various logic gates, including ternary and binary logic. Simulation results indicate that LDDS - HMG - CNTFET circuits with ternary logic gate design have significantly better performance in comparison with other structures.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.291-296
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• 2007

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of horizontal air flow produced by circulation fans on horizontal and vertical profiles of meteorological factors. The three-dimensional distributions of air speed, air temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide $(CO_2)$ concentration were measured with and without the fans in operation. The uniformity of the spatial distribution of meteorological factors decreased as the outside air temperature decreased. In "fans off" condition, spatial variations of $4.7^{\circ}C$ in air temperature, 19% in relative humidity were detected. When the fans were operated, these variations were reduced to 2.2 and 6.3%, respectively. As the fan capacity increased, the difference in air temperature among sampling points decreased. The fan capacity of $0.0104m^3{\cdot}s^{-1}{\cdot}m^{-2}$ was enough to obtain a reasonable air flow in greenhouse. The vertical profiles of air temperature and $CO_2$ concentration were reasonably uniform regardless of measurement height and fan capacity. Further researches on the position of fans to reduce the difference in air temperature along the width and the effects of using a larger number of smaller fans are required.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.153-160
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• 2010

This study was conducted to examine the utilization of immunohistochemistry using the bovine anti-brucella immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody in the diagnosis of brucellosis and to develop a functional biomarker relation for the progress of the disease. Anti-brucella IgG antibody was purified from the affected bovine serum using an affinity chromatography. We performed our investigation on 17 cases of brucellosis and 19 control cases with negative Rose-Bengal test results. Our purified anti-brucella IgG antibody showed a positive immunoreactivity in cytoplasmic hepatocytes of the centrilobular region, and glomeruli and tubular epithelium of the kidney. The protein pattern of the affected liver versus control was analyzed by two-dimensional electrophoresis, showing a different expression pattern of proteins between the two. Five protein spots were up-regulated and another were five down-regulated in the brucellosis liver. Significant upregulaton of catalase and 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase might be due to a compensatory reaction in response to the endotoxic shock of brucella. In conclusion, the anti-brucella IgG antibody may be a good tool for discriminative diagnosis of the affected tissues and proteomics data suggest new target proteins underlying a possible pathogenic mechanism of brucellosis.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.219-235
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• 1993

To determine the compatibilities of soft liming materials with denture cleansers by measuring the flexibility and elasticity and investigating the surface changes, 4 self-curing acrylic resin soft lining materials and 1 heat-curing silicone soft lining material were evaluated. 3mm thick x 20mm diameter discs of soft lining materials were individually bonded to a hard acrylic resin base as per manufacturers’instructions. Using an Instron universal testing machine, a static stress of $2kg/cm^2$ was applied for 30secs., the strain in compression was measured, giving an indication of the material’s flexibility. Elastic recovery was measured at 10secs. After removal of stress. Surface changes were investigated with Stereomicroscope. Then the specimens were immersed in 4alkaline peroxide denture cleansers and water as control group, tests were carried out at 1 day, 2 days, 7 days, 14 days and 30 days. The results were as follows : 1. Alkaline peroxide denture cleansers caused considerable porosity on the surface of selfcuring acrylic resin soft lining materials, and the most affected by the cleansers were Viscogel, Coe-Soft, Coe-Comfort, Lynal, in that order. 2. There was significant difference in flexibility between each soft lining material except for Coe-Comfort and Visco-gel, and every soft lining material was significant difference in elasticity. Especially Molloplast-B and Lynal were less flexible and more elastic than other soft lining materials(p<0.05). 3. The denture cleansers increased the flexibility and elasticity of the soft lining materials compared with control group(p<0.05), and Denalan, Polident, Kleenite, Efferdent affected the soft lining materials in that order. 4. There was significant difference in flexibility between each denture cleanser except for Denalan and Polident(p<0.05). Though Denalan and Polident, Denalan and Kleenite did not show significant difference in elasticity, other denture cleansers showed significant difference among each other(p<0.05). 5. Clinically Coe-Comfort, Coe-Soft and Visco-gel were incompatible with alkaline peroxide denture cleansers, and Lynal would be used within only 2 weeks. But Molloplast-B was compatible with alkaline peroxide denture cleansers.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.9-16
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• 2020

Wireless charging has been considered an essential part of recent mobile devices. Moreover, various wireless charging systems have emerged through many studies. Among the systems, in the 2D flat coil system, the transmitter coil and receiver coil are arranged horizontally as close as possible to improve the charging efficiency. Nowadays, the 3D coil system has been proposed by adding some slope to flat 2D coils to reduce the volume. On the other hand, the 3D coil system has a lower charging efficiency than the 2D system that decreases rapidly with increasing distance. This paper proposes a new system that improves the low efficiency and charging freedom, which are the drawbacks of the existing 3D systems. The proposed system was designed in three-dimensions, and another transmitter coil was added to the transmitter coil to improve the transmission efficiency and flexibility. The measurement showed that the charging efficiency of the proposed system was 40.10% when the distance between coils was 8 mm, which is 20.5 % improvement over the existing one. The proposed method can be applied when new wireless charging systems are designed and improve charging efficiency can be improved.