• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.23 no.9
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• pp.701-707
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• 2010

We have synthesized new pure blue-emitting hyperbranched polyfluorene (Hyper-PDHF) through $A_2$ and $B_3$ type monomers via Suzuki coupling polymerization. The weight-average molecular weights ($M_w$) of the Hyper-PDHF was found about 35,000 with polydispersity index as 6.1. The UV absorption peak of the Hyper-PDHF film was at around 335 nm which was far blue shifted than that of linear PDHF film which was found at 380 nm. The pure blue photoluminescene (PL) peak of the Hyper-PDHF was measured at 419 nm as main emission with 397 and 444 nm as shoulder peaks. The Hyper-PDHF showed also higher PL quantum efficiency in solution than linear PDHF (Hyper-PDHF, $\Phi$sol =0.81; PDHF, $\Phi$sol=0.78). The annealed PDHF film (5 hrs on hot plate at $80^{\circ}C$) showed increased shoulder peak emissions and emission color was changed into the green emission. But, Hyper-PDHF film shows almost no excimer emission peak even the film was annealed. The enhanced PL efficiency and no excimer emission of Hyper-PDHF results from the inhibition of excimer formation by the introduction of the hyperbranched system into the polyfluorene backbone.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.703-712
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• 2010

This study performed to extract operation factors of major organic wastes, which were food wastes and waste activated sludge generated in industries in order to use them as a substrate for bio-H2 production. According to the results of experimental analysis for hydrogen production capacity by various organic concentrations, the hydrogen production yield was the highest at 80 g/L, and the efficiency was improved by the pretreatment of waste activated sludge (acid treatment, alkali treatment). Hydrogen production efficiency was improved by mixing food wastes and waste activated sludge if waste activated sludge was below than 30%, however, it was decreased when it was more than 50%. The impacts of heavy metals on the hydrogen production shows that the inhibition level depends on the concentration of Cr, Zn, and Cu, Fe was able to enhance the hydrogen production.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.309-333
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• 2020

The proposed study aims to numerically investigate the performance of hydrofoils in the context of amphibious aircraft application. In particular, we also study the effectiveness of a slotted hydrofoil in minimizing the cavitation phenomenon, to improve the overall water take-off performance of an amphibious aircraft. We use the ICON A5 as a base model for this study. First, we propose an approach to estimate the required hydrofoil surface area and to select the most suitable airfoil shape that can minimize cavitation, thus improving the hydrodynamic efficiency. Once the hydrofoil is selected, we perform 2D numerical studies of the hydrodynamic and cavitating characteristics of a non-slotted hydrofoil on ANSYS Fluent. In this work, we also propose to use a slotted hydrofoil to be a passive method to control the cavitation performance through the boundary layer control. Numerical results of several slotted configurations demonstrate notable improvement on the cavitation performance. We then perform a multiobjective optimization with a response surface model to simultaneously minimize the cavitation and maximize the hydrodynamic efficiency of the hydrofoil. The optimization takes the slot geometry, including the slot angle and lengths, as the design variables. In addition, a global sensitivity study has been carried and it shows that the slot widths are the more dominant factors.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 2020

Pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) have become an environmental havoc in last few decades with reported cases of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs), lethal effects over aquatic organisms, interference in natural decomposition of organic matter, reduced diversity of microbial communities in different environmental compartments, inhibition of growth of microbes resulting in reduced rate of nutrient cycling, hormonal imbalance in exposed organisms etc. Owing to their potential towards bioaccumulation and persistent nature, these compounds have longer residence time and activity in environment. The conventional technologies of wastewater treatment have got poor efficiency towards removal/degradation of PhACs and therefore, modern techniques with efficient, cost-effective and environment-friendly operation need to be explored. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) like Photocatalysis, Fenton oxidation, Ozonation etc. are some of the promising, viable and sustainable options for degradation of PhACs. Although energy/chemical or both are essentially required for AOPs, these methods target complete degradation/mineralization of persistent pollutants resulting in no residual toxicity. Considering the high efficiency towards degradation, non-toxic nature, universal viability and acceptability, AOPs have become a promising option for effective treatment of chemicals with persistent nature.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.65-72
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• 2015

A comparative study on response of a toxic compound thiocyanate ($SCN^-$) was carried out in continuous and fed batch moving bed reactor systems. Both systems had three sequential anaerobic, anoxic and aerobic reactors and operated at same hydraulic retention time. Feed $SCN^-$ was first increased from 600 mg/L to 1,000 mg/L for 3 days (shock 1) and then from 600 to 1,200 mg/L for 3 days (shock 2). In anaerobic continuous reactor, increase of effluent COD (chemical oxygen demand) due to shock load was only 2%, whereas in fed batch reactor it was 14%. In anoxic fed batch reactor recovery was partial in terms of $SCN^-$, phenol, COD and $NO{_3}{^-}$-N and $NO{_2}{^-}$-N removals and in continuous reactor complete recovery was possible. In both systems, inhibition was more significant on aerobic reactors than anaerobic and anoxic reactors. In aerobic reactors ammonia removal efficiency deteriorated and damage was irreversible. Present study showed that fed batch reactors showed higher substrate removal efficiency than continuous reactors during regular operation, but are more susceptible to toxic feed shock load and in nitrifying reactor damage was irreversible.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.155-172
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• 2013

The study of the corrosion inhibition of armatures made of steel conceived for reinforced concrete by sodium phosphate is the aim object of our experimental tests. Gravimetric and electrochemical measurements were carried in three different Mediums contaminated by chlorides (3% NaCl) with addition of increasing concentrations of sodium phosphate. Inhibitory efficiency reached 80% at an optimal concentration of $7,5{\times}10^{-3}M$, the results obtained using the gravimetric measurements are in good agreement with those obtained by electrochemical methods. However, the monitoring of the pH evolution after 24h shows in the three studied environments, that the pH decreases slightly at 24 hours from the initial pH at $t_0$, due to the presence of corrosion products which change the state of the final solution. Also, scanning electron microscopy revealed the existence of layers of apatite on the metal surface previously treated with the sodium phosphate which confirms the formation of a protective film around the surface of the metal.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.717-724
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• 2020

Styela plicata are naturally-occurring marine resources easily found along the coastlines that have established their niche as functional food and nutraceuticals ingredient along with their increasing consumer demand. Ascidian contain a large amount of dietary fiber but only the meat has been utilized and consumed while the rest of its parts are discarded. Also, various studies have been conducted on the meat of ascidians while studies on the functionality of the ascidian tunics, which were mostly undervalued, were scarce. In this study, we investigated and explored the glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) contents in the tunics of S. plicata, and their potential use as functional ingredient in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications. Sulfated GAGs and uronic acids contents were 8.9-10.7 g/100 g and 9.4-11.3 g/100 g, respectively. Highest GAGs content was extracted with optimum Brix at 7-9. Extraction efficiency using hot water at 121℃ was 4.22% while enzyme extraction using Protamex was more efficient at 5.91%. GAGs extracted from S. plicata tunics exhibited collagenase inhibitory activity of 75.2% at 100 ㎍/mL and procollagen synthesis activity of 80.1% at 100 ㎍/mL.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nitrification characteristics of biological aerated filter (BAF) packed with ceramic media, especially focusing on nitrite build-up during nitrification. When increasing the nitrogen load above $1.63kgNH_4{^+}-N/m^3{\cdot}d$, ammonium removal efficiency decreased to less than 60% and the nitrite ratio ($NO_2{^-}-N/NO_x-N$) of higher than 75% was achieved due to the inhibitory free ammonia (FA, $NH_3-N$) concentration and oxygen limitation. FA inhibition, however, is not recommended strategy to promote nitrite build-up since FA concentration in the reactor is coupled with decreased ammonium removal efficiency. Nitrite ratio in the effluent was also affected by aeration rate and influent ammonium concentration. Ammonium oxidation was enhanced at a higher aeration rate regardless of influent ammonium concentration but, the nitrite ratio was dependent on both aeration rate and influent ammonium concentration. While a higher nitrite ratio was obtained when BAFs were fed with $50mgNH_4{^+}-N/L$ of influent, the nitrite ratio significantly decreased for a greater influent concentration of $200-300mgNH_4{^+}-N/L$. Taken together, aeration rate, influent ammonium concentration and FA concentrations kept in the BAF were found to be critical variables for nitrite accumulation in the BAF system.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.9-13
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• 2003

Plasma polymerized organic thin films were deposited on Si(100), glass and metal substrates at $25∼100 ^{\circ}C$ using thiophene and toluene precursors by PECVD method. In order to compare physical and electrochemical properties of the as-grown thin films, the effects of the RF plasma power in the range of 30∼100 W and deposition temperature on both corrosion protection efficiency and physical properties were studied. We found that the corrosion protection efficiency ($P_{k}$), which is one of the important factors for corrosion protection in the interlayer dielectrics of microelectronic devices application, was increased with increasing RF power. The highest $P_{k}$ value of plasma polymerized toluene film (85.27% at 70 W) was higher than that of the plasma polymerized thiophene film (65.17% at 100 W), indicating inhibition of oxygen reduction. The densely packed and tightly interconnected toluene film could act as an efficient barrier layer to the diffusion of molecular oxygen. The result of contact angle measurement showed that the plasma polymerized toluene films have more hydrophobic surface than those of the plasma polymerized thiophene films.

• International Journal of Stem Cells
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.156-167
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• 2023

Background and Objectives: Cellular reprogramming in regenerative medicine holds great promise for treating patients with neurological disorders. In this regard, small molecule-mediated cellular conversion has attracted special attention because of its ease of reproducibility, applicability, and fewer safety concerns. However, currently available protocols for the direct conversion of somatic cells to neurons are limited in clinical application due of their complex nature, lengthy process, and low conversion efficiency. Methods and Results: Here, we report a new protocol involving chemical-based direct conversion of human fibroblasts (HF) to matured neuron-like cells with a short duration and high conversion efficiency using temporal and strategic dual epigenetic regulation. In this protocol, epigenetic modulation by inhibition of histone deacetylase and bromodomain enabled to overcome "recalcitrant" nature of adult fibroblasts and shorten the duration of neuronal reprogramming. We further observed that an extended epigenetic regulation is necessary to maintain the induced neuronal program to generate a homogenous population of neuron-like cells. Conclusions: Therefore, our study provides a new protocol to produce neurons-like cells and highlights the need of proper epigenetic resetting to establish and maintain neuronal program in HF.