• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.169-177
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• 2017

The role of electromagnetic (EM) waves in magnetic fusion plasma-ranging from radio frequency (RF) to microwaves-has been extremely important, and understanding of EM wave propagation and related technology in this field has significantly advanced magnetic fusion plasma research. Auxiliary heating and current drive systems, aided by various forms of high-power RF and microwave sources, have contributed to achieving the required steady-state operation of plasmas with high temperatures (i.e., up to approximately 10 keV; 1 eV=10000 K) that are suitable for future fusion reactors. Here, various resonance values and cut-off characteristics of wave propagation in plasmas with a nonuniform magnetic field are used to optimize the efficiency of heating and current drive systems. In diagnostic applications, passive emissions and active sources in this frequency range are used to measure plasma parameters and dynamics; in particular, measurements of electron cyclotron emissions (ECEs) provide profile information regarding electron temperature. Recent developments in state-of-the-art 2D microwave imaging systems that measure fluctuations in electron temperature and density are largely based on ECE. The scattering process, phase delays, reflection/diffraction, and the polarization of actively launched EM waves provide us with the physics of magnetohydrodynamic instabilities and transport physics.

• Nutritional Sciences
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.175-180
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• 2005

Green tea, which has high polyphenols amount, is thought to have hypocholesterolemic effects. The present study was performed to further examine the hypocholesterolemic action of green tea, especially (-) epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) for its effect on diet-induced hypercholesterolemia in rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=15) were fed a green tea-free diet (control), $1.0\%$ green tea catechin (catechin) or $0.5\%$ green tea catechin EGCG for seven weeks. Hypercholesterolemia was induced by adding $1\%$ cholesterol and $0.5\%$ cholic acid to all diets. There was no difference in food intake and body weight gain among the groups. The green tea EGCG treatment led to a significant improvement in plasma levels of total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol and high density lipoprotein (HDL)/LDL ratio (p<0.05). There was no significant effect on the plasma HDL-cholesterol level. The catechin treatment led to a 4.19-fold increase in the LDL-receptor mRNA level compared to the control, but the EGCG treatment did not affect the hepatic LDL-receptor mRNA level. Our results suggest that when blood cholesterol level is down-regulated by green tea EGCG, the LDL receptor gene-independent pathway may dominate the hypocholesterolemic action of EGCG.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.409-413
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• 2001

In this study, high rate deposition of thick CrNx films was carried out by crossed field unbalanced magnetron sputtering for the special application such as piston ring employed in automobile engine. For the high rate deposition and thick CrNx films formation with thickness of 30$\mu\textrm{m}$, high power density of $35W/cm^2$ in each target was induced and the multi-layer films of Cr/CrN and $\alpha$-Cr/CrN were synthesized by control of $N_2$ flow rate. The dynamic deposition rate of Cr and $\alpha$-CrN film was reached to 0.17$\mu\textrm{m}$/min and 0.12$\mu\textrm{m}$/rnin and the thick CrN$_{x}$. film of 30$\mu\textrm{m}$ could be obtained less than 5 hours. The maximum hardness was obtained above 2200 kg/mm$^2$ and adhesion strength was measured in about 70N, in case of multi-layers films. And the friction coefficient was measured by 0.4, which was similar to the value of CrN single-layer film.m.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.40.3-41
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• 2017

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute The observation of particles and waves using a single satellite inherently suffers from space-time ambiguity. Recently, such ambiguity has often been resolved by multi-satellite observations; however, the inter-satellite distances were generally larger than 100 km. Hence, the ambiguity could be resolved only for large-scale (> 100 km) structures while numerous microscale phenomena have been observed at low altitude satellite orbits. In order to resolve those spatial and temporal variations of the microscale plasma structures on the topside ionosphere, SNIPE mission consisted of four (TBD) nanosatellites (~10 kg) will be launched into a polar orbit at an altitude of 700 km (TBD). Two pairs of satellites will be deployed on orbit and the distances between each satellite will be from 10 to 100 km controlled by a formation flying algorithm. The SNIPE mission is equipped with scientific payloads which can measure the following geophysical parameters: density/temperature of cold ionospheric electrons, energetic (~100 keV) electron flux, and magnetic field vectors. All the payloads will have high temporal resolution (~ 16 Hz (TBD)). This mission is planned to launch in 2020. The SNIPE mission aims to elucidate microscale (100 m-10 km) structures in the topside ionosphere (below altitude of 1,000 km), especially the fine-scale morphology of high-energy electron precipitation, cold plasma density/temperature, field-aligned currents, and electromagnetic waves. Hence, the mission will observe microscale structures of the following phenomena in geospace: high-latitude irregularities, such as polar-cap patches; field-aligned currents in the auroral oval; electro-magnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves; hundreds keV electrons' precipitations, such as electron microbursts; subauroral plasma density troughs; and low-latitude plasma irregularities, such as ionospheric blobs and bubbles. We have developed a 6U nanosatellite bus system as the basic platform for the SNIPE mission. Three basic plasma instruments shall be installed on all of each spacecraft, Particle Detector (PD), Langmuir Probe (LP), and Scientific MAGnetometer (SMAG). In addition we now discuss with NASA and JAXA to collaborate with the other payload opportunities into SNIPE mission.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.100-101
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• 2012

The plasma damage free and room temperature processedthin film deposition technology is essential for realization of various next generation organic microelectronic devices such as flexible AMOLED display, flexible OLED lighting, and organic photovoltaic cells because characteristics of fragile organic materials in the plasma process and low glass transition temperatures (Tg) of polymer substrate. In case of directly deposition of metal oxide thin films (including transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and amorphous oxide semiconductor (AOS)) on the organic layers, plasma damages against to the organic materials is fatal. This damage is believed to be originated mainly from high energy energetic particles during the sputtering process such as negative oxygen ions, reflected neutrals by reflection of plasma background gas at the target surface, sputtered atoms, bulk plasma ions, and secondary electrons. To solve this problem, we developed the NBAS (Neutral Beam Assisted Sputtering) process as a plasma damage free and room temperature processed sputtering technology. As a result, electro-optical properties of NBAS processed ITO thin film showed resistivity of $4.0{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}m$ and high transmittance (>90% at 550 nm) with nano- crystalline structure at room temperature process. Furthermore, in the experiment result of directly deposition of TCO top anode on the inverted structure OLED cell, it is verified that NBAS TCO deposition process does not damages to the underlying organic layers. In case of deposition of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) thin film on the plastic polymer substrate, the room temperature processed sputtering coating of high quality TCO thin film is required. During the sputtering process with higher density plasma, the energetic particles contribute self supplying of activation & crystallization energy without any additional heating and post-annealing and forminga high quality TCO thin film. However, negative oxygen ions which generated from sputteringtarget surface by electron attachment are accelerated to high energy by induced cathode self-bias. Thus the high energy negative oxygen ions can lead to critical physical bombardment damages to forming oxide thin film and this effect does not recover in room temperature process without post thermal annealing. To salve the inherent limitation of plasma sputtering, we have been developed the Magnetic Field Shielded Sputtering (MFSS) process as the high quality oxide thin film deposition process at room temperature. The MFSS process is effectively eliminate or suppress the negative oxygen ions bombardment damage by the plasma limiter which composed permanent magnet array. As a result, electro-optical properties of MFSS processed ITO thin film (resistivity $3.9{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$, transmittance 95% at 550 nm) have approachedthose of a high temperature DC magnetron sputtering (DMS) ITO thin film were. Also, AOS (a-IGZO) TFTs fabricated by MFSS process without higher temperature post annealing showed very comparable electrical performance with those by DMS process with $400^{\circ}C$ post annealing. They are important to note that the bombardment of a negative oxygen ion which is accelerated by dc self-bias during rf sputtering could degrade the electrical performance of ITO electrodes and a-IGZO TFTs. Finally, we found that reduction of damage from the high energy negative oxygen ions bombardment drives improvement of crystalline structure in the ITO thin film and suppression of the sub-gab states in a-IGZO semiconductor thin film. For realization of organic flexible electronic devices based on plastic substrates, gas barrier coatings are required to prevent the permeation of water and oxygen because organic materials are highly susceptible to water and oxygen. In particular, high efficiency flexible AMOLEDs needs an extremely low water vapor transition rate (WVTR) of $1{\times}10^{-6}gm^{-2}day^{-1}$. The key factor in high quality inorganic gas barrier formation for achieving the very low WVTR required (under ${\sim}10^{-6}gm^{-2}day^{-1}$) is the suppression of nano-sized defect sites and gas diffusion pathways among the grain boundaries. For formation of high quality single inorganic gas barrier layer, we developed high density nano-structured Al2O3 single gas barrier layer usinga NBAS process. The NBAS process can continuously change crystalline structures from an amorphous phase to a nano- crystalline phase with various grain sizes in a single inorganic thin film. As a result, the water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ gas barrier film have improved order of magnitude compared with that of conventional $Al_2O_3$ layers made by the RF magnetron sputteringprocess under the same sputtering conditions; the WVTR of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ gas barrier film was about $5{\times}10^{-6}g/m^2/day$ by just single layer.

• Laser Solutions
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.19-25
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• 2014

Optical embedded diffraction gratings with the bulk modification in BK-7 glass plates excited by tightly focused high-intensity femtosecond (130fs) Ti: sapphire laser (peak wavelength = 790nm) were demonstrated. The structural modifications with diameters ranging from 400nm to $4{\mu}m$ were photo-induced after plasma formation occurred upon irradiation with peak intensities of more than $1{\times}1013W/cm^2$. The graded refractive index profile was fabricated to be a symmetric around from the center of the point at which low-density plasma occurred. The maximum refractive index change was estimated to be $1.5{\times}10^{-2}$. The two optical embedded gratings in BK-7 glass plate were demonstrated with refractive index modification induced by the scanning of low-density plasma formation.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.371-377
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• 1995

Silicon oxide films were grown on single-crystal silicon substrates at low temperatures (25~205$^{\circ}C$) in a low pressure electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) oxygen plasma. The growth rate of the silicon oxide film increased as the temperature increased or the pressure decreased. Also, the thickness of the silicon oxide film increased at negative bias voltage, but not changed at positive bias voltage. The growth law of the silicon oxide film was approximated to the parabolic form. Capacitance-voltage (C-V) and current density-electric field (J-E) characteristics were studied using Al/SiO2/p-Si MOS structures. For a 10.2 nm thick silicon oxide film, the leakage current density at the electric field of 1 MVcm-1 was less than 1.0$\times$10-8Acm-2 and the breakdown field was higher than 10 MVcm-1. The flat band voltage of Al/SiO2/p-Si MOS capacitor was varied in the range of -2~-3 V and the effective dielectric constant was 3.85. These results indicate that high quality oxide films with properties that are similar to those of thermal oxide film can be fastly grown at low temperature using the ECR oxygen plasma.

• Mycobiology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2011

This work was conducted to investigate dietary supplementation of oyster mushroom fruiting bodies on biochemical and histological changes in hyper and normocholesterolemic rats. Six-week old female Sprague-Dawley albino rats were divided into three groups of 10 rats each. Feeding a diet containing a 5% powder of Pleurotus ostreatus fruiting bodies to hypercholesterolemic rats reduced plasma total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), total lipid, phospholipids, and LDL/high-density lipoprotein ratio by 30.18, 52.75, 59.62, 34.15, 23.89, and 50%, respectively. Feeding oyster mushrooms also significantly reduced body weight in hypercholesterolemic rats. However, it had no adverse effects on plasma albumin, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, creatinin, blood urea nitrogen, uric acid, glucose, total protein, calcium, sodium, potassium, chloride, inorganic phosphate, magnesium, or enzyme profiles. Feeding mushroom increased total lipid and cholesterol excretion in feces. The plasma lipoprotein fraction, separated by agarose gel electrophoresis, indicated that P. ostreatus significantly reduced plasma ${\beta}$ and pre-${\beta}$-lipoprotein but increased ${\alpha}$-lipoprotein. A histological study of hepatic cells by conventional hematoxylin-eosin and oil red O staining revealed normal findings for mushroom-fed hypercholesterolemic rats. These results suggest that a 5% P. ostreatus diet supplement provided health benefits by acting on the atherogenic lipid profile in hypercholesterolemic rats.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.972-977
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• 2004

The hypoglycemic effect of an exo-biopolymer (EXO) and endo-biopolymer (ENDO) produced from submerged mycelial culture of Ganoderma lucidum was investigated in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Both the EXO and ENDO showed hypoglycemic potential, however, the former proved to be more potent than the latter. The administration of the EXO at the dose of 100 mg/kg body weight (BW) significantly reduced the plasma glucose level (23.5%) and increased the plasma insulin level (2.2 fold) in the diabetic animals. The EXO also lowered the plasma total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and athrogenic index by 14.7, 31.4, 24.1, and 45.4%, respectively, and reduced the liver total cholesterol and triglyceride levels by 6.7 and 25.8%, respectively. It increased the plasma high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (37.7%), compared to the control group. Furthermore, the alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) showed lower activities in the EXO administered groups than the other experimental groups. Taken together, these results suggest that the exo-biopolymer may alleviate the blood glucose level by increased insulin secretion.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.35-42
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• 2001

The diesel engine exhaust gas is know as one of the causes to produce photochemical smog, which causes damage on environmental. However, due to the high thermal efficiency and low carbon dioxide emission, the usage of a diesel engine is prevailed. In this study, the DC non-thermal plasma technology used to the particulate matter (PM) aftertreatment. The exhaust gas characteristics and energy density were investigated on the dynamometer test bed and chassis dynamometer with CVS-75 mode in a passenger diesel car. It was reported that the smoke removal efficiency has around the 70% in the dynamometer test with 80W energy consumption and the PM removal efficiency has the 68% in the real car test. The NOx also reduced the 20% according to electrode type respectively. Considering these results, plasma technology is one of the ways to simultaneously removing method the particulate matter (PM) and NOx.