• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.117-123
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• 2005

Background: Reduced deformability of red blood cells (RBCs) may play an important role on the pathogenesis of chronic vascular complications of diabetes mellitus. However, available techniques for measuring RBC deformability often require washing process after each measurement, which is not optimal for day­to-day clinical use at point of care. The objectives of the present study are to develop a device and to delineate the correlation of impaired RBC deformability with diabetic nephropathy. Methods: We developed a disposable ektacytometry to measure RBC deformability, which adopted a laser diffraction technique and slit rheometry. The essential features of this design are its simplicity (ease of operation and no moving parts) and a disposable element which is in contact with the blood sample. We studied adult diabetic patients divided into three groups according to diabetic complications. Group I comprised 57 diabetic patients with normal renal function. Group II comprised 26 diabetic patients with chronic renal failure (CRF). Group III consisted of 30 diabetic subjects with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on hemo-dialysis. According to the renal function for the diabetic groups, matched non-diabetic groups were served as control. Results: We found substantially impaired red blood cell deformability in those with normal renal function (group I) compared to non-diabetic control (P = 0.0005). As renal function decreases, an increased impairment in RBC deformability was found. Diabetic patients with chronic renal failure (group II) when compared to non-diabetic controls (CRF) had an apparently greater impairment in RBC deformability (P = 0.07). The non-diabetic cohort (CRF), on the other hand, manifested significant impairment in red blood cell deformability compared to healthy: control (P = 0.0001). Conclusions: The newly developed slit ektacytometer can measure the RBC deformability with ease and accuracy. In addition, progressive impairment in cell deformability is associated with renal function loss in all patients regardless of the presence or absence of diabetes. In diabetic patients, early impairment in RBC deformability appears in patients with normal renal function.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.119-124
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• 2016

In the sapphire wafering process, lapping is a crucial operation in order to reduce the damaged layer and achieve the target thickness. Many parameters, such as pressure, velocity, abrasive, slurry and plate, affect lapping characteristics. This paper presents an experimental investigation on the effect of the plate groove on the material removal rate and roughness of the wafer. We select the spiral pattern and rectangular type as the groove shapes. We vary the groove density by controlling the groove shape dimension, i.e., the groove width and pitch. As the groove density increases to 0.4, the material removal rate increases and gradually reaches a saturation point. When the groove density is low, the pressing load is mostly supported by the thick film, and only a small amount acts on the abrasives resulting to a low material removal rate. The roughness decreases on increasing the groove density up to 0.3 because thick film makes partial participations of large abrasives which make deep scratches. From these results, we could conclude that the groove affects the contact condition between the wafer and plate. At the same groove density, the pitch has more influence on reducing the film thickness than the groove width. By decreasing the groove density with a smaller pitch and larger groove width, we could achieve a high material removal rate and low roughness. These results would be helpful in understanding the groove effects and determining the appropriate groove design.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.238-239
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• 2010

Dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) is one of the widely-used secondary dopants in order to enhance the conductivity of poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxy-thiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) film. In this work, we investigated the effect of DMSO doping in to PEDOT:PSS on the electrical performance of the bulk heterojunction photovoltaics consisting of poly(3-hexylthiophene-2, 5-diyl) and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester. Correlation between the power conversion efficiency and the mechanism of improving conductivity, surface morphology, and contact properties was examined. The PEDOT:PSS films, which contain different concentration of DMSO, have been prepared and annealed at different annealing temperatures. The mixture of DMSO and PEDOT:PSS was prepared with a ratio of 1%, 5%, 15%, 25%, 35%, 45%, 55% by volume of DMSO, respectively. The DMSO-contained PEDOT:PSS solutions were stirred for 1hr at $40^{\circ}C$, then spin-coated on the ultra-sonicated glass. The spin-coated films were baked for 10min at $65^{\circ}C$, $85^{\circ}C$, and $120^{\circ}C$ in air. In order to investigate the electrical performance, P3HT:PCBM blended film was deposited with thickness of 150nm on DMSO-doped PEDOT:PSS layer. After depositing 100nm of Al, the device was post-annealed for 30min at $120^{\circ}C$ in vacuum. The fabricated cells, in this study, have been characterized by using several techniques such as UV-Visible spectrum, 4-point probe, J-V characteristics, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The power conversion efficiency (AM 1.5G conditions) was increased from 0.91% to 2.35% by tuning DMSO doping ratio and annealing temperature. It is believed that the improved power conversion efficiency of the photovoltaics is attributed to the increased conductivity, leading to increasing short-circuit current in DMSO-doped PEDOT:PSS layer.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.1613-1618
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• 2012

The wheel bearing is one of the important parts in a vehicle for translating power and bearing weight. When it is mounted on the knuckle by using bolts, the distortion of the outer ring including the seal mounting point and raceway occurs. In this study, a numerical analysis was performed to analyze the distortion of the outer ring by using a finite element method. The commercial software MSC.MARC was used for this purpose. Elastoplastic and contact analysis were carried out to compute the clamping behavior of the outer ring, bolts, and knuckle. Because the concavity on the flange of the outer ring affects the deformation, its effect was considered. To verify the reliability of this study, the roundness of the outer ring was measured. The experimental results were comparatively in agreement with the computational results.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2009

Although the exterior wood such as column may frequently contact with liquid water, little work has been found to measure liquid water absorption in wood. To investigate the moisture diffusivity of wood in the longitudinal direction including bound water and free water movement, liquid water absorption test was conducted at the room temperature. The order of magnitude for absorption coefficient and diffusivity was Japanese elm, horn beam, hemlock, spruce, radiata pine, and painted maple. The Boltzmann transformation method was used to determine the diffusivity from measured moisture content distributions in the absorption test. The shape of the curve representing the dependence of diffusivity with moisture content was similar in test samples. The diffusivity decreased with increasing moisture content until around the fiber saturation point and then increased at the nonhygroscopic region, which ranged from $10^{-10}$ to $10^{-7}m^2/s$.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.389-393
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• 2004

The silicide layer used as a diffusion barrier in microelectronics is typically required to be below 50 nm-thick and, the same time, the silicides also need to have low contact resistance without agglomeration at high processing temperatures. We fabricated Si(100)/15 nm-Ni/15 nm-Co samples with a thermal evaporator, and annealed the samples for 40 seconds at temperatures ranging from $700^{\circ}C$ to $1100^{\circ}C$ using rapid thermal annealing. We investigated microstructural and compositional changes during annealing using transmission electron microscopy and auger electron spectroscopy. Sheet resistance of the annealed sample stack was measured with a four point probe. The sheet resistance measurements for our proposed Co/Ni composite silicide was below 8 $\Omega$/sq. even after annealing $1100^{\circ}C$, while conventional nickel-monosilicide showed abrupt phase transformation at $700^{\circ}C$. Microstructure and auger depth profiling showed that the silicides in our sample consisted of intermixed phases of $CoNiSi_{x}$ and NiSi. It was noticed that NiSi grew rapidly at the silicon interface with increasing annealing temperature without transforming into $NiSi_2$. Our results imply that Co/Ni composite silicide should have excellent high temperature stability even in post-silicidation processes.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.390-396
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• 2012

Ag pastes added to Bi-oxide frits have been applied to the electrode material of Si solar cells. It has been reported that frits induce contacts between the Ag electrodes and the Si wafer after firing. During firing, the control of interfaces among Ag, the glass layer, and Si is one of the key factors for improving cell performance. Specifically, the thermo-physical properties of frits considerably influence Ag-Si contact. Therefore, the thermal properties of frits should be carefully controlled to enhance the efficiency of cells. In this study, the interface structures among Ag electrodes, glass layers, and recrystallites on an $n^+$ emitter were carefully analyzed with the thermal properties of lead-free frits. First, a cross-section of the area between the Ag electrodes and the Si wafer was studied in order to understand the interface structures in light of the thermal properties of the frits. The depth and area of the pits formed in the Si wafer were quantitatively calculated with the thermal properties of frits. The area of the glass layers between the Ag electrodes and Si, and the distribution of recrystallites on the $n^+$ emitter, were measured from a macroscopic point of view with the characteristics of the frits. Our studies suggest that the thermophysical properties should be controlled for the optimal performance of Si solar cells; our studies also show why cell performance deteriorated due to the high viscosity of frits in Ag pastes.

• Archives of design research
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.107-116
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• 2001

Despite young age, Internet, as new advertising media, is actively studied worldwide. In 1995, the department of multimedia-related study was first founded in Technical Institute and has carried out the On Internet banner, user is not an object to accept only a message but has a specification to contact with banner actively having various motivation and desire. Internet advertising has various types but banner and e-mail type advertising are main stream. In the view point of recognition and concern rate, banner is very effective because it does not set limit to specific target, but is shown to unspecific audience. Acceding to studies, usage frequency and effect of e-mail type advertising is growing up. And e-mail type advertising is more active because it can target specific audience with various life style. If we can say banner is not so effective in spite of simply good exposure frequency, we can find theoritical background that e-mail type advertising is more effective internet advertising media because high click frequency. And we suppose that this study can be a guide line for measuring process of Internet advertising effect.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.509-515
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• 2017

Quartz is the most abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust. Therefore, understanding of quartz dissolution and precipitation is very important to know about weathering processes and interactions between rocks and water in hydrothermal and metamorphic environments. This paper presents a basic review on the research about quartz dissolution mechanism under various physico-chemical conditions. We rearranged the relationship between each physico-chemical factor and dissolution mechanism from the results of previous researchers in this paper. From this result, we understood that quartz dissolution and precipitation are affected by each factor such as temperature, pH, and applied stress conditions at contact point. In particular, we recognized that the high pH and temperature conditions have different anion concentrations on mineral's surface. As a result, high pH and temperature conditions have a better effect than applied stress condition to the quartz dissolution mechanism.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.2363-2374
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• 2016

Communication occurs through verbal elements, which usually involve language, as well as non-verbal elements such as facial expressions, eye contact, and gestures. In particular, among these non-verbal elements, gestures are symbolic representations of physical, vocal, and emotional behaviors. This means that gestures can be signals toward a target or expressions of internal psychological processes, rather than simply movements of the body or hands. Moreover, gestures with such properties have been the focus of much research for a new interface in the NUI/NUX field. In this paper, we propose a method for recognizing the number of fingers and detecting the hand region based on the depth information and geometric features of the hand for application to an NUI/NUX. The hand region is detected by using depth information provided by the Kinect system, and the number of fingers is identified by comparing the distance between the contour and the center of the hand region. The contour is detected using the Suzuki85 algorithm, and the number of fingers is calculated by detecting the finger tips in a location at the maximum distance to compare the distances between three consecutive dots in the contour and the center point of the hand. The average recognition rate for the number of fingers is 98.6%, and the execution time is 0.065 ms for the algorithm used in the proposed method. Although this method is fast and its complexity is low, it shows a higher recognition rate and faster recognition speed than other methods. As an application example of the proposed method, this paper explains a Secret Door that recognizes a password by recognizing the number of fingers held up by a user.