In vivo regulators of neural stem cell development and function

Neural stem cells in the brain give rise to both neurons and glia cells during embryonic development and help maintain tissue homeostasis in adulthood. Although transcription factors and intracellular signaling pathways that modulate NSC function in embryonic and adult brain have been heavily studied, in vivo functions of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and chromatin regulators in NSCs are still poorly understood. Pnky is a nuclear-enriched lncRNA that is transcribed divergently from the neighboring proneural transcription factor Pou3f2. In the embryonic cortex, I found that Pnky deletion increases neuronal differentiation and depletes NSCs prematurely, resulting in defects in cortical laminar structure in postnatal mice. Pnky expression from a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) transgene rescues the in vivo phenotypes of Pnky-deleted brains, supporting the idea that Pnky acts in trans as a key regulator of NSC function and neurogenesis in the embryonic cortex. Chromatin regulator JMJD3 is a histone demethylase implicated in development and disease of multiple organs. My studies show that Jmjd3-deletion in the hippocampus results in depletion of adult NSCs. During development, Jmjd3-deleted dentate gyrus precursors precociously differentiate into neurons, resulting in failed establishment of the hippocampal NSC niche. Single cell RNA-sequencing reveals a broad disruption of genes involved in maintaining stem cell function in Jmjd3-deleted NSCs. In the adult brain, loss of Jmjd3 similarly leads to precocious neuronal differentiation, reflecting the loss of gene expression signatures related to stem cell maintenance. These data indicate both lncRNA-Pnky and JMJD3 may control the rate of neurogenesis, acting like a cell-intrinsic clock for NSCs

Mergers and Acquisitions Practice of Reorganizing Corporations in Korea and Its Ongoing Change

One of the most outstanding legal phenomena in Korean reorganization practice has been the pursuit of Mergers and Acquisition. In fact, in Korea, reorganization practice just begun one decade ago right after a number of conglomerates fell into bankrupt, when Korea faced nationwide economic disaster provoked by the lack of foreign key currency, and a number of conglomerates fallen into bankrupt rushed into court. M&A transaction in reorganization procedure emerged right after the rush of reorganization filings. Meanwhile, it has played significant role in rehabilitation of reorganizing company. Until now, almost every reorganizing company has succeeded in rehabilitating by being injected capital via M&A. Analysis of efficiency of M&A transaction of reorganizing company carried out last several years shows that the earlier debtor company initiates M&A, the more creditors are paid. This is the reason that all the reorganizing companies are urged to pursue successful M&A transaction. M&A of the reorganizing company has several features arising from the limitation to meet the needs of the debtor company; receiverinitiating, fast completion and strictness in negotiation between the debtor and buyer. In reorganization practice, most M&A transactions are carried out through issuing new shares to buyer and, business transfer or asset transfer is rarely pursued. In the M&A process, fairness to potential buyers is the most highlighted, for it induces better price due to their competency to acquire the reorganization company. Recently, a significant change in reorganization practice regarding the pursuit of M&A occurs due to the Debtor Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Law effective as of April 1st, 2006. It introduced quasi-debtor in possession receivership, and then gives reorganization practice a significant influence for receivers not to have to pursue M&A in every reorganization case. Moreover, new reorganization practice allows and respects the result of M&A conducted in a fair manner under the consent between debtor and major creditors. Furthermore, M&A practice of reorganizing company is changing regarding how and when it is initiated, as global economic surroundings are on changing, and receivers of the reorganization company under the supervision of court is seeking efficient ways to M&A for rehabilitation of once financially distressed company

Scanning Reduction Strategy in MEG/EEG Beamformer Source Imaging

MEG/EEG beamformer source imaging is a promising approach which can easily address spatiotemporal multi-dipole problems without a priori information on the number of sources and is robust to noise. Despite such promise, beamformer generally has weakness which is degrading localization performance for correlated sources and is requiring of dense scanning for covering all possible interesting (entire) source areas. Wide source space scanning yields all interesting area images, and it results in lengthy computation time. Therefore, an efficient source space scanning strategy would be beneficial in achieving accelerated beamformer source imaging. We propose a new strategy in computing beamformer to reduce scanning points and still maintain effective accuracy (good spatial resolution). This new strategy uses the distribution of correlation values between measurements and lead-field vectors. Scanning source points are chosen yielding higher RMS correlations than the predetermined correlation thresholds. We discuss how correlation thresholds depend on SNR and verify the feasibility and efficacy of our proposed strategy to improve the beamformer through numerical and empirical experiments. Our proposed strategy could in time accelerate the conventional beamformer up to over 40% without sacrificing spatial accuracy

Experimental study on the effect of initial liquid droplet size on the evaporation in a heterogeneous droplet

[EN] In the present work, we experimentally investigated the effect of initial liquid droplet size on the evaporation in the heterogeneous droplet. Spherical carbon and water were used for particle and liquid droplet comprising the heterogeneous droplet. four initial droplet volumes of 1, 2, 3 and 4 μl were considered when the diameter of the particle was 5 mm. The heterogeneous droplet was suspended with a rod at 20 cm away from the radiator which surface temperature was fixed to 473 K. Ambient temperature and relative humidity remained 296 K and 40 %, respectively, during the experiment. As the results, the evaporation rate of 4 μl case increased about 1.8 times compared with that of 1 μl case. The evaporation rate increased almost linearly with the volume ratio, and that is related closely with the contact surface between particle and water droplet. Contact surface area remained almost constantly with time, whereas it increased with the initial volume of water droplet. The energy from radiator can be accumulated at the contact surface at the side of particle, thereby intensifying the evaporation of water droplet because more heat transfers from particle to droplet through the contact surface. Consequently, the initial volume of liquid droplet is one of the influence factors on the evaporation rate in the heterogenous droplet.This research was supported by the Fire Fighting Safety & 119 Rescue Technology Research and Development Program funded by the Ministry of Public Safety and Security (NEMA-NG-2014-46) and Research Project of Air Sampling Detector funded by Alllitelife co. Inc..Sung, KH.; Nam, JS.; Hong, GB.; Ryou, HS. (2017). Experimental study on the effect of initial liquid droplet size on the evaporation in a heterogeneous droplet. En Ilass Europe. 28th european conference on Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 290-295. https://doi.org/10.4995/ILASS2017.2017.4744OCS29029

Termination of Parental Rights for Parents With Substance Use Disorder: For Whom and Then What?

The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlates of termination of parental rights (TPR) for parents with substance use disorder (SUD) and to determine what happens with regard to permanency once a TPR decision is made. Bivariate techniques and hierarchical non-linear modeling are used. Parents of older youth, boys, and Hispanics were less likely, while parents who failed to make progress in substance use treatment and parenting skills are more likely to experience TPR. At follow up, 85% of the children were adopted, 7% remained in a substitute care settings, and 7% were reunified with their parents. Concerns remain for children without a permanent home setting

Increasing the Durability of Piezoelectric Impact-based Micro Wind Generator in Real Application

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to increase the durability of piezoelectric impact-based micro wind generator (PIMWG) in real application. Using new PIMWG design, numerical simulation, and experimental comparison analysis, we improved the durability of PIMWGs in real application. The experimental results show that the optimized PIMWG generated 2.4 mW (RMS value), and it did not crack within 40h. In this study, we improved the durability of PIMWGs for real application