• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.51-55
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• 2015

The present research is focused on the effect of porous graphite what is influenced on the 4H-SiC crystal growth by PVT method. We expect that it produces more C-rich and a change of temperature gradient for polytype stability of 4H-SiC crystal as adding the porous graphite in the growth cell. The SiC seeds and high purity SiC source materials were placed on opposite side in a sealed graphite crucible which was surrounded by graphite insulator. The growth temperature was around $2100{\sim}2300^{\circ}C$ and the growth pressure was 10~30 Torr of an argon pressure with 5~15 % nitrogen. 2 inch $4^{\circ}$ off-axis 4H-SiC with C-face (000-1) was used as a seed material. The porous graphite plate was inserted on SiC powder source to produce a more C-rich for polytype stability of 4H-SiC crystal and uniform radial temperature gradient. While in case of the conventional crucible, various polytypes such as 6H-, 15R-SiC were observed on SiC wafers, only 4H-SiC polytype was observed on SiC wafers prepared in porous graphite inserted crucible. The defect level such as MP and EP density of SiC crystal grown in the conventional crucible was observed to be higher than that of porous graphite inserted crucible. The better crystal quality of SiC grown using porous graphite plate was also confirmed by rocking curve measurement and Raman spectra analysis.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.543-553
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• 2013

In Korea, there have been many studies and progresses on various types of pilot scale or commercialized field scale Best Management Practices(BMP) during the last 10 years. Runoff characteristics of diffuse pollutants from different land uses are well identified and documented. However, for the coastal area connected directly with shoreline, runoff patterns and management schemes of non-point pollution were not fully studied. Recently, coastal area is emerging as a new development axis especially in west coast side of Korea such as Incheon city and Chungnam province, thus urbanized area rapidly increased but there are no buffer zones and BMP facilities to aim at preventing direct discharge of the first flush into coastal sea and beaches. In this study, parking area in Deacheon harbor, Boryeong City in Chungnam Province was selected and rainfall runoff was monitored for two year period in order to examine run-off features from which proper type of BMP suitable for coastal area is proposed. Coastal area usually has a low ground water level and consists of plain land, so that large scale BMP such as storm water retention pond and wetland requiring great excavation works is not best management plan. In addition, monitoring study shows that storm water from the paved parking area has a high salinity compared with those in storm water from the inland. High salinity is detrimental for the vegetation. Therefore, BMP employing least vegetative cover and also in terms of maintenance is a good option such as infiltration trench and porous pavement.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.65 no.1
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• pp.96-106
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• 2022

Objective : The most common complication of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) is cage subsidence and maintenance of disc height affects postoperative clinical outcomes. We considered cage subsidence as an inappropriate indicator for evaluating preservation of disc height. Thus, this study aimed to consider patients with complications such as reduced total disc height compared to that before surgery and evaluate the relevance of several factors before ACDF. Methods : We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 40 patients who underwent stand-alone single-level ACDF using a polyetheretherketone (PEEK) cage at our institution between January 2012 and December 2018. Our study population comprised 19 male and 21 female patients aged 24-70 years. The minimum follow-up period was 1 year. Twenty-seven patients had preoperative bone mineral density (BMD) data on dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Clinical parameters included sex, age, body mass index, smoking history, and prior medical history. Radiologic parameters included the C2-7 cobb angle, segmental angle, sagittal vertical axis, disc height, and total intervertebral height (TIH) at the preoperative and postoperative periods. Cage decrement was defined as the reduction in TIH at the 6-month follow-up compared to preoperative TIH. To evaluate the bone quality, Hounsfield unit (HU) value was calculated in the axial and sagittal images of conventional computed tomography. Results : Lumbar BMD values and cervical HU values were significantly correlated (r=0.733, p<0.001). We divided the patients into two groups based on cage decrement, and 47.5% of the total patients were regarded as cage decrement. There were statistically significant differences in the parameters of measuring the HU value of the vertebra and intraoperative distraction between the two groups. Using these identified factors, we performed a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Based on the ROC curve, the cut-off point was 530 at the HU value of the upper cortical and cancellous vertebrae (p=0.014; area under the curve [AUC], 0.727; sensitivity, 94.7%; specificity, 42.9%) and 22.41 at intraoperative distraction (p=0.017; AUC, 0.722; sensitivity, 85.7%; specificity, 57.9%). Using this value, we converted these parameters into a bifurcated variable and assessed the multinomial regression analysis to evaluate the risk factors for cage decrement in ACDF. Intraoperative distraction and HU value of the upper vertebral body were independent factors of postoperative subsidence. Conclusion : Insufficient intraoperative distraction and low HU value showed a strong relationship with postoperative intervertebral height reduction following single stand-alone PEEK cage ACDF.