• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.141-147
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• 2008

This study was aimed to develop an instrument for real-time measurement of fluid conductance and to investigate the hydrodynamics of dentinal fluid. The instrument consisted of three parts; (1) a glass capillary and a photo sensor for detection of fluid movement, (2) a servo-motor, a lead screw and a ball nut for tracking of fluid movement, (3) a rotary encoder and software for data processing. To observe the blocking effect of dentinal fluid movement, oxalate gel and self-etch adhesive agent were used. BisBlock (Bisco) and Clearfil SE Bond (Kuraray) were applied to the occlusal dentin surface of extracted human teeth. Using this new device, the fluid movement was measured and compared between before and after each agent was applied. The instrument was able to measure dentinal fluid movement with a high resolution (0.196 nL) and the flow occurred with a rate of 0.84 to 15.2 nL/s before treatment. After BisBlock or Clearfil SE Bond was used, the fluid movement was decreased by 39.8 to 89.6%.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.11
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• pp.206-216
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• 2013

The emotion plays a critical role in human's daily life including learning, action, decision and communication. In this paper, emotion discrimination classifier is designed to reduce system complexity through reduced selection of dominant features from biosignals. The photoplethysmography(PPG), skin temperature, skin conductance, fontal and parietal electroencephalography(EEG) signals were measured during 4 types of movie watching associated with the induction of neutral, sad, fear joy emotions. The genetic algorithm with support vector machine(SVM) based fitness function was designed to determine dominant features among 24 parameters extracted from measured biosignals. It shows maximum classification accuracy of 96.4%, which is 17% higher than that of SVM alone. The minimum error features selected are the mean and NN50 of heart rate variability from PPG signal, the mean of PPG induced pulse transit time, the mean of skin resistance, and ${\delta}$ and ${\beta}$ frequency band powers of parietal EEG. The combination of parietal EEG, PPG, and skin resistance is recommendable in high accuracy instrumentation, while the combinational use of PPG and skin conductance(79% accuracy) is affordable in simplified instrumentation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.04b
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• pp.93-93
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• 2009

In order to overcome the lack of reactivity with hydrogen gas ($H_2$) and utilize unique properties of Carbon Nano Tubes (CNTs) for the application to hydrogen sensors, there have been intensive works on the surface functionalization of CNTs with various types of nanoparticles including Pd. In the present work, we have investigated the effect of dendrimers and Pd nanoparticles to the hydrogen sensing properties of CNTs by comparing three types of samples: Pd/SWNTs (Sample I), Pd/dendrimer/SWNTs (Sample II) and heat-treated Pd/dendrimers/SWNTs (Sample III). As a result of IV measurement under the $H_2$ and air, sample I was found to have a high sensitivity (25%) to $H_2$, but to have a very slow response time (324 s) and recovery rate. On the other hand, Sample II was found to show much faster response time (3 s) and good recovery rate but lower sensitivity (8.6%) than Sample I which is due to induced dipole moments in the dendrimers. Interestingly, Sample III showed both fast response time (7 s) and high sensitivity (25%), indicating that the pyrolysis of the dendrimers during heat treatment which reduce the distance between the surface of the SWNTs and the functionalized Pd nanoparticles plays a key role in improving the sensitivity. The pyrolysis of the dendrimers in Pd nanoparticle-dendrimer-SWNTs was found to enable a significant electrical conductance modulation upon exposure to extremely low concentrations (10 ppm) of $H_2$ in air. Our results demonstrate that the Pd Nanoparticle-Grafted Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes(SWNTs) with Dendrimers can be used to detect hydrogen, makingoutstanding properties such as fast response, and recovery time, high sensitivity, low detection limit at room temperature compared with other types of hydrogen sensors.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.487-493
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• 2011

Alpha fetoprotein(AFP), which is serological marker for hepatocellular carcinoma, was quantitatively measured by its normal concentration, 10 ng/ml, with a label-free piezoelectric microcantilever mass sensor. The principle of detection is based on changes in the resonant frequency of the piezoelectric microcantilever before and after target molecules are attached to it, and its resonant frequency is measured electrically using a conductance spectrum. The resonant frequency of the developed sensor is approximately 1.34 MHz and the mass sensitivity is approximately 175 Hz/pg. The sensor has high reliability as mass sensor by reducing the effect of surface stress on resonant frequency due to attached proteins. 'Dip and dry' technique was used to react the sensor with reagents for immobilizing AFP antibody on the sensor and detecting AFP antigen. The measured mass of the detected AFP antigen was 6.02 pg at the concentration of 10 ng/ml, and 10.67 pg at 50 ng/ml when the immunoreaction time was 10 min.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.29-34
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• 2002

Our previous studies investigated that narrow field of view (FOV : 50˚) and slow navigation speed decreased the frequency of occurrence and severity of cybersickness during immersion in the virtual reality (VR). It would cause a significant reduction of cybersickness if it were provided cybersickness alleviating virtual environment (CAVE) using biofeedback method whenever subject underwent physiological agitation. For verifying the hypothesis, we constructed a real-time cybersickness detection and feedback system with artificial neural network whose inputs are electrophysiological parameters of blood pulse volume, skin conductance, eye blink, skin temperature, heart period, and EEG. The system temporary provided narrow FOV and decreased speed of navigation as feedback outputs whenever physiological measures signal the occurrence of cybersickness. We examined the frequency and severity of cybersickness from simulator sickness questionnaires and self-report in 36 subjects. All subjects experienced VR two times in CAVE and non-CAVE condition at one-month intervals. The frequency and severity of cybersickness were significantly reduced in CAVE than non-CAVE condition. Virtual environment of narrow FOV and slow navigation provided by electrophysiological features based artificial neural network caused a significant reduction of cybersickness symptoms. These results showed that efficiency of a cybersickness detection system we developed was relatively high and subjects expressed more comfortable in the virtual navigation environment.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.135-145
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• 2013

The recycling of coal bottom ash generated from coal power plants in Korea has been limited due to heterogenous characteristics of the materials. The most common management option for the ash is disposal in landfills (i.e. ash pond) near ocean. The presence of large coarse and fine materials in the ash has prompted the desire to beneficially use it in an application such as fill materials. Prior to reuse application as fill materials, the potential risks to the environment must be assessed with regard to the impacts. In this study, a total of nine test cells with bottom ash samples collected from pretreated bottom ash piles and coal ash pond in a coal-fired power plant were constructed and operated under the field conditions to evaluate the leachability over a period of 210 days. Leachate samples from the test cells were analyzed for a number of chemical parameters (e.g., pH, salinity, electrical conductance, anions, and metals). The concentrations of chemicals detected in the leachate were compared to appropriate standards (drinking water standard) with dilution attenuation factor, if possible, to assess potential leaching risks to the surrounding area. Based on the leachate analysis, most of the samples showed slightly high pH values for the coal ash contained test cells, and contained several ions such as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chloride, sulfate, and nitrate in relatively large quantities. Three elements (aluminum, boron, and barium) were commonly detected above their respective detection limits in a number of leachate samples, especially in the early leaching period of time. The results of the test cell study indicate that the pollutants in the leachate from the coal ash test cells were not of a major concern in terms of leaching risk to surface water and groundwater under field conditions as fill materials. However, care must be taken in extending these results to actual applications because the results presented in this study are based on the limited field test settings and time frame. Structural characteristics and analysis for coal bottom ash may be warranted to apply the materials to actual field conditions.