• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.643-648
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• 2010

Portable fuel cells are commonly operated in the dead-end mode because of such as high fuel utilization. However, the performance of such systems deteriorates continuously with an increase in the amount of by-products such as water vapor and nitrogen. In this study, to verify the effect of water vapor on Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs), constant-load experiments were carried out for a current density of 600 mA/cm2 and a voltage of 0.4 V, respectively. The performance of the cell was more stable under constant voltage conditions than under constant current density conditions. Condensed water accumulated in the anode channel near the cell outlet. The experimental results show how the relative humidity (RH = 0.15, 0.4 and 0.75) of air at the cathode side affect the performance of PEMFCs with dead-end anode. At RH values higher than 0.15, the mean power density increased by up to 51% and the mean purge duration decreased by up to 25% compared to the corresponding initial values.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.639-644
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• 2008

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the number of live and dead bacteria attached to, or within, the stratified squamous epithelium lining the tissue side of the gingival sulcus. Materials and Methods: A total of 50 patients was examined and classified into healthy or diseased sites according to inflammatory status of the gingival tissue. The surface of stratified squamous epithelium was removed by gentle scraping of the gingival sulcus with curettes. The cells were processed in the laboratory by density-gradient centrifugation to separate the epithelial cells from the loose bacteria and debris. The LIVE/$DEAD^{(R)}$ $BacLight^{TM}$ Bacterial Viability Kit was applied and the specimens were observed by an epifluorescent microscope and the number of bacteria was counted. Results: Live and dead bacteria were stained to green and red, irrespectively. Generally, the number of total bacteria in the diseased sites was significantly higher than in the healthy sites. The mean number of detected bacteria in the diseased sites was $58.6{\pm}36.0$ (red bacteria $10.4{\pm}9.2$ / green bacteria $48.2{\pm}30.5$), while it was $1.5{\pm}1.7$ in the healthy sites (red bacteria $0.1{\pm}0.3$ / green bacteria $1.4{\pm}1.5$). The percentage of red bacteria was $17.5{\pm}11.2%$ in the diseased sites and $2.0{\pm}5.8%$ in the healthy sites. Conclusion: The total number of bacteria in the diseased sites was significantly higher than that of the healthy sites. The ratio and the number of red bacteria were also significantly higher in the diseased sites.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.227-241
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• 2004

Objective : This study was performed to investigate neuroprotective effects of Bupleuri Radix against oxidative and ischemic damages. Method : To observe the neuroprotective effects against ischemic damage, ischemic insult was induced by oxygen/glucose deprivation (OGD) on organotypic hippocampal slice cultures (OHSC) from 1 week-old Sprague-Dawley rats. Propidium iodide (PI) fluorescence-stained neuronal dead-cell areas, area percentages and TUNEL-positive apoptotic cells in CA1 and dentate gyrus, and LDH levels in culture media of the OHSC were measured following Bupleuri Radix extract treatment. Result : The following results were obtained: (1) The $5\;{\mu}g/ml$ of Bupleuri Radix treatment demonstrated a significant decrease in PI fluorescence-stained neuronal dead-cell areas and area percentage in CA1 region of the OHSC from 18 hrs to 48 hrs following the OGD. The $50\;{\mu}g/ml$ of Bupleuri Radix treatment was also significant from 6 hrs to 48 hrs following the OGD and was more effective. (2) The 5 and $50\;{\mu}g/ml$ of Bupleuri Radix treatment demonstrated a significant decrease in PI fluorescence-stained neuronal dead-cell areas and area percentage in DG region of the OHSC from 6 hrs to 48 hrs following the OGD. The $50\;{\mu}g/ml$ treatment was more effective than the $5\;{\mu}g/ml$ treatment. (3) Bupleuri Radix treatment demonstrated a significant decrease in TUNEL-positive apoptotic cells in CA1 region (with 5 and $50\;{\mu}g/ml$) and in DG region (with $50\;{\mu}g/ml$) of the OHSC damaged by the OGD. (4) Bupleuri Radix treatment demonstrated a significant decrease in LDH concentrations in culture media of the OHSC damaged by the OGD. Conclusion : These results suggest that Bupleuri Radix has neuroprotective and control effects on inflammatory and immune responses where there has been ischemic damage to the central nervous system.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.74-80
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• 2008

To improve the blue responses of screen-printed single crystalline silicon solar cells, we investigated an emitter etch-back technique to obtain high emitter sheet resistances, where the defective dead layer on the emitter surface was etched and became thinner as the etch-back time increased, resulting in the monotonous increase of short circuit current and open circuit voltage. We found that an optimal etch-back time should be determined to achieve the maximal performance enhancement because of fill factor decrease due to a series resistance increment mainly affected by contact and lateral resistance in this case. To elucidate the reason for the fill factor decrease, we studied the resistance analysis by potential mapping to determine the contact and the lateral series resistance. As a result, we found that the fill factor decrease was attributed to the relatively fast increase of contact resistance due to the dead layer thinning down with the lowest contact resistivity when the emitter was contacted with screen-printed silver electrode.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.390-393
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• 2008

To improve the blue responses of screen-printed single crystalline silicon solar cells, we investigated an emitter etch-back technique to obtain high emitter sheet resistances, where the defective dead layer on the emitter surface was etched and became thinner as the etch-back time increased, resulting in the monotonous increase of short circuit current and open circuit voltage. We found that an optimal etch-back time should be determined to achieve the maximal performance enhancement because of fill factor decrease due to a series resistance increment mainly affected by contact and lateral resistance in this case. To elucidate the reason for the fill factor decrease, we studied the resistance analysis by potential mapping to determine the contact and the lateral series resistance. As a result, we found that the fill factor decrease was attributed to the relatively fast increase of contact resistance due to the dead layer thinning down with the lowest contact resistivity when the emitter was contacted with screen-printed silver electrode.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.340-346
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• 2016

To understand how Bursaphelenchus xylophilus kills pine trees, the differences between the effects of B. xylophilus and B. mucronatus on pine trees are usually compared. In this study, the migration and attacking ability of a non-pathogenic B. mucronatus in Pinus thunbergii were investigated. The distribution of B. mucronatus and the number of dead epithelial cells resulting from inoculation were compared with those of the pathogenic B. xylophilus. Although B. mucronatus is non-pathogenic in pines, its distribution pattern in P. thunbergii was the same as that of B. xylophilus. We therefore concluded that the non-pathogenicity of B. mucronatus could not be attributed to its migration ability. The sparse and sporadic attacking pattern of B. mucronatus was also the same as that of B. xylophilus. However, the number and area of the dead epithelial cells in pine cuttings inoculated with B. mucronatus were smaller than in those cuttings inoculated with B. xylophilus, meaning that the attacking ability of B. mucronatus is weaker than that of B. xylophilus. Therefore, we concluded that the weaker attacking ability of B. mucronatus might be the factor responsible for the non-pathogenicity.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.666-674
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• 2022

The removal efficiencies of nutrients (N and P) and heavy metals (Cu and Ni) by Rhodobacter blasticus and R. blasticus attached to polysulfone carriers, alginate carriers, PVA carriers, and PVA + zeolite carriers in synthetic wastewater were compared. In the comparison of the nutrient removal efficiency based on varying concentrations (100, 200, 500, and 1000 mg/L), R. blasticus + polysulfone carrier treatment showed removal efficiencies of 98.9~99.84% for N and 96.92~99.21% for P. The R. blasticus + alginate carrier treatment showed removal efficiencies of 88.04~97.1% for N and 90.33~97.13% for P. The R. blasticus + PVA carrier treatment showed removal efficiencies of 18.53~44.25% for N and 14.93~43.63% for P. The R. blasticus + PVA + zeolite carrier treatment showed removal efficiencies of 26.65~64.33% for N and 23.44~64.05% for P. In addition, at the minimum inhibitory concentration of heavy metals, R. blasticus (dead cells) + polysulfone carrier treatment showed removal efficiencies of 7.77% for Cu and 12.19% for Ni. Rhodobacter blasticus (dead cells) + alginate carrier treatment showed removal efficiencies of 25.83% for Cu and 31.12% for Ni.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2017.04a
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• pp.107-107
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• 2017

3D bioprinting is a technology to produce complex tissue constructs through printing living cells with hydrogel in a layer-by-layer process. To produce more stable 3D cell-laden structures, various materials have been developed such as alginate, fibrin and gelatin. However, most of these hydrogels are chemically bound using crosslinkers which can cause some problems in cytotoxicity and cell viability. On the other hand, thermosensitive hydrogels are physically cross-linked by non-covalent interaction without crosslinker, facilitating stable cytotoxicity and cell viability. The examples of currently reported thermosensitive hydrogels are poly(ethylene glycol)/poly(propylene glycol)/poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG-PPG-PEG) and poly(ethylene glycol)/poly(lactic acid-co-glycolic acid) (PEG/PLGA). Chitosan, which have been widely used in tissue engineering due to its biocompatibility and osteoconductivity, can be used as thermosensitive hydrogels. However, despite the many advantages, chitosan hydrogel has not yet been used as a bioink. The purpose of this study was to develop a bioink by chitosan hydrogel for 3D bioprinting and to evaluate the suitability and potential ability of the developed chitosan hydrogel as a bioink. To prepare the chitosan hydrogel solution, ${\beta}-glycerolphosphate$ solution was added to the chitosan solution at the final pH ranged from 6.9 to 7.1. Gelation time decreased exponentially with increasing temperature. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image showed that chitosan hydrogel had irregular porous structure. From the water soluble tetrazolium salt (WST) and live and dead assay data, it was proven that there was no significant cytotoxicity and that cells were well dispersed. The chitosan hydrogel was well printed under temperature-controlled condition, and cells were well laden inside gel. The cytotoxicity of laden cells was evaluated by live and dead assay. In conclusion, chitosan bioink can be a candidate for 3D bioprinting.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.209-214
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• 2008

VBNC (Viable but nonculturable) state is an adaptive response of cells in adverse environments, which lead cell not grow on routine nutrient agar. In this study, we induced VBNC in Escherichia coli using copper and verify the characterization of it. After treatment of copper, we didn't detect any cells via plate cultivation, namely, colony forming unit (CFU) was zero. However, we identified the existence of VBNC by staining live cells with Live/Dead BacLight bacterial viability kit and counting them through flow cytometry. Then we isolated genomic DNA and RNA from VBNC-induced cells and analyzed the stability of them. Degradation of RNA is more severe than that of DNA and RNA is degraded as specific fragments. In addition, we showed the morphology of VBNC cell by Bio-Transmission Electron Microscope (Bio-TEM). VBNC cell showed impaired periplasmic space and inner and outer membrane were separated and the amount of cytosol were significantly decreased.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.726-732
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• 2020

Indonesian kefir grains are potential sources of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that may act as probiotics with specific functional properties. In this study we explored the potential of the probiotic and cholesterol-lowering effect of LAB isolated from Indonesian kefir grains obtained from Bogor, Bandung, Jakarta, and Yogyakarta. The results revealed that 10 isolates showed considerable survivability at low pH and bile salt with total cell reduction of ~3 log colony-forming units per milliliter after exposure to pH 2.5 and 0.5% (w/v) bile salt for 1 and 3 h, respectively. All strains exhibited strong antimicrobial activities against pathogenic bacteria and were sensitive to a wide spectrum of antibiotics but exhibited weak bile salt hydrolase activity. Identification based on 16S RNA suggested that nine isolates were Lactobacillus kefiri and one was Lactobacillus rhamnosus. The ability of the isolates to reduce cholesterol from the media varied, ranging from 22.08% to 68.75% with the highest reduction shown by L. kefiri JK17. The ability to remove cholesterol from the media decreased greatly in resting and dead cells, ranging from 14.58% to 22.08% in resting cells and from 7.89% to 18.17% in dead cells. It can be concluded that Indonesian kefir grains contain LAB potentially acting as probiotics capable of reducing cholesterol. The cholesterol-lowering effect especially occurs when the cells are metabolically active.