• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.321-325
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• 2015

The triboelectric property of a material is important to improve an efficiency of triboelectric generator (TEG) in energy harvesting from an ambient energy. In this study, we have studied the TEG property of a semiconducting $SnO_2$ which has yet to be explored so far. As a counter triboelectric material, PET and glass are used. Vertical contact mode is utilized to evaluate the TEG efficiency. $SnO_2$ thin film is deposited by atomic layer deposition on bare Si wafer for various thicknesses from 5.2 nm to 34.6 nm, where the TEG output is increased from 13.9V to 73.5V. Triboelectric series are determined by comparing the polarity of output voltage of 2 samples among $SnO_2$, PET, and glass. In conclusion, $SnO_2$, as an intrinsic n-type material, has the most strong tendency to be positive side to lose the electron and PET has the most strong tendency to be negative side to get the electron, and glass to be between them. Therefore, the $SnO_2$-PET combination shows the highest TEG efficiency.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.32 no.3 s.92
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• pp.227-234
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• 2002

In order to investigate the action mechanism of protein kinase C on $K^+$ channel in osteoblastic cell, effects of phorbol 12, 13-dibutyrate on human osteoblast-like cells (G292) were studied by patch clamp technique with cell-attacked configuration. 111 this experiment, 45pS ion channel was dominant in G292 cell line according to their approximate conductances in symmetrical 140mM KCl saline at holding potential of 60mV. In torrent-voltage relationship, reversal potential was 5.5mV at the condition of potassium enriched saline in the pipette and -27 mV at the condition of standard extracellular saline In the pipette. Phorbol 12, 13-dibutyrate 10nM increased the open probability of 45pS channel and staurosporine, an inhibitor of protein kinase C, suppressed this effect. Phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate moved the reversal potential of 45pS channel to more negative potential and increased the single channel current at the same membrame potential. In order to check the activation of protein kinase C in G292 cell by phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate, western blot of protein kinase C was performed. Phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate $0.1{\mu}M$ translocated protein kinase C from cellular compartment to membrane compartment of the cell. These findings suggest that phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate, one of phorbol esters, activate 45pS channel In G292 cell and affect cell membrane potential, that regulate cellular function.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.21-27
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• 2016

Vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) using the electrolytes containing various vanadium ions in sulfuric acid as supporting solution are one of the energy storage devices in alternatively charging and discharging operation modes. The positive electrolyte contains $V^{5+}/V^{4+}$ and the negative electrolyte $V^{2+}/V^{3+}$ depending on the operation mode. To prevent the mixing of two solutions, proton exchange membranes are mainly used in VRFBs. Nafion 117 could be the most promising candidate due to the strong oxidative property of $V^{5+}$ ion, but causes high crossover of electroactive species to result in a decrease in coulombic efficiency. In this study, the composite membranes using Nafion ionomer and porous polyethylene substrate were prepared to keep good chemical stability and to decrease the cost of membranes, and were compared to the properties and performance of the commercially available electrolyte membrane, Nafion 117. As a result, the water uptake and ionic conductivity of the composite membranes increased as the thickness of the composite membranes increased, but those of Nafion 117 slightly decreased. The permeability of vanadium ions for the composite membranes significantly decreased compared to that for Nafion 117. In a single cell test for the composite membranes, the voltage efficiency decreased and the coulombic efficiency increased, finally resulting in the similar energy efficiency. In conclusion, the less cost of the composite membranes by decreasing 6.4 wt.% of the amount of perfluorinated sulfonic acid polymer due to the introduction of porous substrate and lower vanadium ion permeability to decrease self-discharge were achieved than Nafion 117.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the high voltage pulsed Current (HVPC) stimulation on the healing rate and the proliferative activity of keratinocytes and IGF-I mRNA expression of an incisional wound in rat skin. Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats ($265{\sim}290g$) were randomly divided into HVPC (n=10) and control group (n=10). Rats received 10 mm length of full-thickness incision wound on the back under the anesthesia. The HVPC group received electrical stimulation with a Current intensity of 50 V at 100 pps for a duration of 30 minutes, while the control group was given the same treatment without electricity for a week. Polarity was negative in first three days and positive thereafter. The wound length was measured and evaluated as percentage. The mean number of nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) per nucleus and level of IGF-I mRNA expression were calculated. The mean percent of wound closure were $51.17{\pm}17.76%$ and $80.71{\pm}11.91%$, respectively, in the sham treated control and HVPC stimulated groups (t=-4.308, P<0.001). The mean NOR number per nucleus of the keratinocytes in the control and HVPC group were $1.85{\pm}0.20$ and $2.70{\pm}0.23$, respectively (t=8.638, P<0.001). The IGF-I mRNA level were $0.76{\pm}0.44$ and $1.32{\pm}0.41$, respectively, in the control and HVPC stimulated wounds (t=2.906, P<0.01). There was a positive correlation between the mean NOR number per nucleus and IGF-l mRNA level with a Pearson product moment correlation coefficient of 0.72 (P<0.05). These findings suggest that the HVPC may activate the rRNA of the basal keratinocytes and upregulate the IGF-I mRNA levels by alteration of the electrical environment, and it may increase proliferative activity of the keratinocytes in the skin wound of the rat.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.199-205
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• 2015

This study is about ionic water generator filter Recently, a lot of people feel deep interest in health and drinking water. And there are various types of water. Ionic water generator is a system with special function, and can be classified as a medical device and should be manufactured after approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Basically ionized water is different from the packaged and stored water. When the tap water or ground water passes through the various filters of ionic water generator, it turns to the purified water of pH7 ~ 7.5 and we can electrolyze that water into anion and cation by diaphragm. And in negative electrode side, we can get alkaline water with calcium ($Ca^+$), potassium ($K^+$), magnesium ($Mg^+$), sodium ($Na^+$) for body. In general, we can change pH value from 5 to 9 of ionizer by controlling the level of electrolysis voltage in the ionizer. In general, 1stage (pH8), 2stage (pH8.5), 3stage (pH9), 4stage (pH9.5) are used as the alkaline ionized water, -1Stage (pH6.0), -2 stage (pH5.0) are used as the acidic water. But in early stage, the water that passed through filter was weakly alkaline water and that was problem. Therefore, when filter condition is stable, the pH and ORP value of water is different with the early one. the initial setting pH value of the ionizer was confirmed that changes significantly. In order to resolve this problem we need to wash filter for some period time and neutralize by acidification treatment of the filter.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.308-312
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• 2012

Argon-plasma jet (Ar-PJ) is generated by ionizing Ar gas, and the resulting Ar-PJ consists of a mixture of neutral particles, positive ions, negative electrons, and various reactive species. Although Ar-PJ has been used in various biomedical applications, little is known about the biological effects on cells located near the plasma-exposed region. Here, we investigated the effects of the Ar-PJ on actin cytoskeleton of mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) in response to indirect as well as direct exposure to Ar-PJ. This Ar-PJ was generated at 500 mL/min of flow rate and 100 V electric power by our device mainly consisting of electrodes, dielectrics, and a high-voltage power supply. Because actin cytoskeleton is the key cellular machinery involved in cellular movement and is implicated in regulation of cancer metastasis and thus resulting in a highly desirable cancer therapeutic target, we examined the actin filament architectures in Ar-PJ-treated MEFs by staining with an actin-specific phalloidin labeled with fluorescent dye. Interestingly, the Ar-PJ treatment causes destabilization of actin filament architectures in the regions indirectly exposed to Ar-PJ, but no differences in MEFs treated with Ar gas alone and in untreated cell control, indicating that this phenomenon is a specific cellular response against Ar-PJ in the live cells, which are indirectly exposed to Ar-PJ. Collectively, our study raises the possibility that Ar-PJ may have potential as anti-cancer drug effect through direct destabilization of the actin cytoskeleton.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.203-209
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• 2017

Research on condition monitoring and diagnosis of power facilities has been conducted to improve the safety and reliability of electric power supply. Although insulation diagnostic techniques for unit equipment such as gas-insulated switchgears and transformers have been developed rapidly, studies on monitoring of cables have only included aspects such as whether defects exist and partial discharge (PD) detection; other characteristics and features have not been discussed. Therefore, this paper dealt with PD characteristics against void sizes and positions, and with defect localization in XLPE cable. Four types of defects with different sizes and positions were simulated and PD pulses were detected using a high frequency current transformer (HFCT) with a frequency range of 150kHz~30MHz. The results showed that the apparent charge increased when the defect was adjacent to the conductor; the pulse count in the negative half of the applied voltage was about 20% higher than that in the positive half. In addition, the defect location was calculated by time-domain reflectometry (TDR) method, it was revealed that the defect could be localized with an error of less than1m in a 50m cable.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.101-117
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• 1999

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a degenerative neuromuscular disease of unknown etiology in which the upper and lower motor neurons are progressively destroyed. Recent evidences support the role of autoimmune mechanisms in the pathogenesis of ALS. This study investigated the effects of sera from ALS patients on neuromuscular transmission in phrenic nerve-hemidiaphragm preparations and on calcium currents of single isolated dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cells in mice. Mice were injected with either control sera from healthy adults or ALS sera from 18 patients with ALS of sporadic form, for three days. Miniature end plate potential (MEPP) and nerve-evoked end plate potential (EPP) were measured using intracellular recording technique and the quantal content was determined. Single isolated DRG cells were voltage-clamped with the whole-cell configuration and membrane currents were recorded. Sera from 14 of 18 ALS patients caused a significant increase in MEPP frequency in normal Ringer's solution $(4.62{\pm}0.14\;Hz)$ compared with the control $(2.18{\pm}0.15\;Hz).$ In a high $Mg^{2+}/low\;Ca^{2+}$ solution, sera from 13 of 18 ALS patients caused a significant increase in MEPP frequency, from $2.18{\pm}0.31$ Hz to $6.09{\pm}0.38$ Hz. Sera from 11 of 18 patients produced a significant increase of nerve-evoked EPP amplitude, from $0.92{\pm}0.05$ mV to $1.30{\pm}0.04$ mV, while the other seven ALS sera did not alter EPP amplitude. In the ALS group, EPP quantal content was also elevated by the sera of 14 patients (from $1.49{\pm}0.07$ to $2.35{\pm}0.07).$ MEPP frequency and amplitude in wobbler mouse were $4.03{\pm}0.53$ Hz and $1.37{\pm}0.18$ mV, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of wobbler controls (wobblers without the symptoms of wobbler). Sera from ALS patients significantly reduced HVA calcium currents of DRG cells to 42.7% at -10 mV. Furthermore, the inactivation curve shifted to more negative potentials with its half-inactivation potential changed by 6.98 mV. There were, however, significant changes neither in the reversal potential of $I_{Ca}$ nor in the I-V curve. From these results it was concluded that: 1) The serum factors of sporadic ALS patients increase neuromuscular transmission and can alter motor nerve terminal presynaptic function. This suggests that ALS serum factors may play an important role in the early stage of ALS, and 2) Calcium currents in DRG cells were reduced and rapidly inactivated by ALS sera, suggesting that in these cells, ALS serum factors may exert interaction with the calcium channel.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.263-272
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• 2011

Highly luminescent and monodisperse InP quantum dots (QDs) were prepared by a non-organometallic approach in a non-coordinating solvent. Fatty acids with well-defined chain lengths as the ligand, a non coordinating solvent, and a thorough degassing process are all important factors for the formation of high quality InP QDs. By varying the molar concentration of indium to ligand, QDs of different size were prepared and their absorption and emission behaviors studied. By spin-coating a colloidal solution of InP QD onto a silicon wafer, InP QD thin films were obtained. The thickness of the thin films cured at 60 and $200^{\circ}C$ were nearly identical (approximately 860 nm), whereas at $300^{\circ}C$, the thickness of the thin film was found to be 760 nm. Different contrast regions (A, B, C) were observed in the TEM images, which were found to be unreacted precursors, InP QDs, and indium-rich phases, respectively, through EDX analysis. The optical properties of the thin films were measured at three different curing temperatures (60, 200, $300^{\circ}C$), which showed a blue shift with an increase in temperature. It was proposed that this blue shift may be due to a decrease in the core diameter of the InP QD by oxidation, as confirmed by the XPS studies. Oxidation also passivates the QD surface by reducing the amount of P dangling bonds, thereby increasing luminescence intensity. The dielectric properties of the thin films were also investigated by capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements in a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) device. At 60 and $300^{\circ}C$, negative flat band shifts (${\Delta}V_{fb}$) were observed, which were explained by the presence of P dangling bonds on the InP QD surface. At $300^{\circ}C$, clockwise hysteresis was observed due to trapping and detrapping of positive charges on the thin film, which was explained by proposing the existence of deep energy levels due to the indium-rich phases.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.236-236
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• 2008

(Bi,La)$Ti_3O_{12}$(BLT) thin film is one of the most attractive materials for ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) applications due to its some excellent properties such as high fatigue endurance, low processing temperature, and large remanent polarization [1-2]. The authors firstly investigated and reported the damascene process of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) for BLT thin film capacitor on behalf of plasma etching process for fabrication of FRAM [3]. CMP process could prepare the BLT capacitors with the superior process efficiency to the plasma etching process without the well-known problems such as plasma damages and sloped sidewall, which was enough to apply to the fabrication of FRAM [2]. BLT-CMP characteristics showed the typical oxide-CMP characteristics which were related in both pressure and velocity according to Preston's equation and Hernandez's power law [2-4]. Good surface roughness was also obtained for the densification of multilevel memory structure by CMP process [3]. The well prepared BLT capacitors fabricated by CMP process should have the sufficient ferroelectric properties for FRAM; therefore, in this study the electrical properties of the BLT capacitor fabricated by CMP process were analyzed with the process parameters. Especially, the effects of CMP pressure, which had mainly affected the removal rate of BLT thin films [2], on the electrical properties were investigated. In order to check the influences of the pressure in eMP process on the ferroelectric properties of BLT thin films, the electrical test of the BLT capacitors was performed. The polarization-voltage (P-V) characteristics show a decreased the remanent polarization (Pr) value when CMP process was performed with the high pressure. The shape of the hysteresis loop is close to typical loop of BLT thin films in case of the specimen after CMP process with the pressures of 4.9 kPa; however, the shape of the hysteresis loop is not saturated due to high leakage current caused by structural and/or chemical damages in case of the specimen after CMP process with the pressures of 29.4 kPa. The leakage current density obtained with positive bias is one order lower than that with negative bias in case of 29.4 kPa, which was one or two order higher than in case of 4.9 kPa. The high pressure condition was not suitable for the damascene process of BLT thin films due to the defects in electrical properties although the better efficiency of process. by higher removal rate of BLT thin films was obtained with the high pressure of 29.4 kPa in the previous study [2].