• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.438-443
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• 2018

The emergence of biofilms have generated urgent alarm in clinical and medicine manufacturing fields engaged in the search for novel antimicrobials from ethno-medicinal plants. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has estimated that 70% of all microbial infections in the world are associated with biofilms. In addition, the emergence of strains resistant to conventional antibiotics has become a serious threat to global public health. Therefore, finding alternative medicines is a major issue in the field of integrative medicine. In this study, four different herb extracts were screened for biofilm formation and the activities of Klebsiella pneumoniae. Of them, Scutellaria scordifolia Fisch. ex Schrank extracts had inhibitory effects on bacterial growth and biofilm formation. The Scutellaia scordifolia Fisch. ex Schrank extracts did not cause any cytotoxicity to L929 cells. The growth of K. pneumoniae was inhibited compared to other comparators in the experimental group containing Scutellaia scordifolia Fisch. ex Schrank. In a group of experiments with plant extracts, a maximum of 60 times the level of living bacteria was confirmed compared to the controls without the addition of the Scutellaia scordifolia Fisch. ex Schrank extracts. In a group of experiments with a significantly lower level of fluorescence extraction, differential interference contrast imaging showed that the number of K. pneumonae was reduced. These results suggest that extracts of this plant be applied as antimicrobial agents against K. pneumoniae, particularly in biofilm forms.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.413-419
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• 2019

In the recent, as a world demand of energy resources has been transformed from fossil fuels to hydrogen-based clean energy resources, a huge attention has been attracted to increase the performance and decrease a production cost of core materials in fuel cell technology. The utilization of reinforced composite membranes as electrolytes in the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells can reduce the use of high cost perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA), mitigate the cell impedance, and improve the dimensional stability as well as the interfacial stability, giving rise to achieve both an improved performance and a reduction of production costs of the fuel cell devices. In this study, we investigate the effects of physical characteristics and cell performances according to the various ionomer solvents in the solution based manufacturing process of reinforced composite electrolyte membrane.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.106-112
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• 2021

Catalyst poisoning by ionomers in membrane electrode assemblies of alkaline membrane fuel cells has been reported recently. We tried to improve the membrane electrode assembly's performance by controlling the solvent's ratio during electrode manufacturing. 4 Different mixing ratios of N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and ethylene glycol (EG) gave four different cathode electrodes with platinum and Fuma-Tech ionomers. The electrode with higher EG improved polarization performance by about 36% compared to the NMP-based commercial ionomer. The dependence of the ionomer's dispersibility on the solvent seems responsible for the difference, which means that the non-uniform distribution of ionomers improves the performance of the electrode. High-frequency resistance, internal resistance corrected polarization curve, Tafel slope, mass activity, and impedance spectroscopy characterized the electrode. We can find that the existence of poor solvent improves cathode electrode performance. It seems to be the result of reduced poisoning of the catalyst according to the particle size distribution of the ionomer.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.20-26
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• 2023

Lab-on-a-disc is a circular disc shape of cartridge that can be used for blood-based liquid biopsy to diagnose an early stage of cancer. Currently, liquid biopsies are regarded as a time-consuming process, and require sophisticated skills to precisely separate cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) floating in the bloodstream for accurate diagnosis. However, by applying the lab-on-a-disc to liquid biopsy, the entire process can be operated automatically. To do so, the lab-on-a-disc should be designed to prevent blood leakage during the centrifugation, transport, and dilution of blood inside the lab-on-a-disc in the process of liquid biopsy. In this study, the main components of lab-on-a-disc for liquid biopsy are fabricated by injection molding for mass production, and ultrasonic welding is employed to ensure the bonding strength between the components. To guarantee accurate ultrasonic welding, the flatness of the components is optimized numerically by using the response surface methodology with four main injection molding processing parameters, including the mold & resin temperatures, the injection speed, and the packing pressure. The 27 times finite element analyses using Moldflow® reveal that the injection time and the packing pressure are the critical factors affecting the flatness of the components with an optimal set of values for all four processing parameters. To further improve the flatness of the lab-on-a-disc components for stable mass production, a quarter-disc shape of lab-on-a-disc with a radius of 75 mm is used instead of a full circular shape of the disc, and this significantly decreases the standard deviation of flatness to 30% due to the reduced overall length of the injection molded components by one-half. Moreover, it is also beneficial to use a quarter disc shape to manage the deviation of flatness under 3 sigma limits.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.427-441
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• 2022

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) serving as a separator that can prevent the permeation of unreacted fuels as well as an electrolyte that selectively transports protons from the anode to the cathode has been considered a key component of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The perfluorinated sulfonic acid-based PEMs, represented by Nafion®, have been commercialized in PEMFC systems due to their high proton conductivity and chemical stability. Nevertheless, these PEMs have several inherent drawbacks including high manufacturing costs by the complex synthetic processes and environmental problems caused by producing the toxic gases. Although numerous studies are underway to address these drawbacks including the development of sulfonated hydrocarbon polymer-based PEMs (SHP-PEMs), which can easily control the polymer structures, further improvement of PEM performances and durability is necessary for practical PEMFC applications. Therefore, this study focused on the various strategies for the development of SHP-PEMs with outstanding performance and durability by 1) introducing cross-linked structures, 2) incorporating organic/inorganic composites, and 3) fabricating reinforced-composite membranes using porous substrates.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.442-455
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• 2022

High-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) has been studied as an alternative to low-temperature PEMFC due to its fast activation of electrodes and high resistance to electrode poisoning by carbon monoxide. It is highly required to develop stable PEMs operating at high temperatures even doped by ion-conducting materials for the development of high-performance and durable HT-PEMFC systems. A number of studies have been conducted to develop polybenzimidazole (PBI)-based PEMs for applications in HT-PEMFC due to their high interaction with doped ion-conducting materials and outstanding thermomechanical stability under high-temperature operation. This review focused on the development of PBI-based PEMs showing high performance and durability. Firstly, the characteristic behavior of PBI-based PEMs doped with various ion-conducting materials including phosphoric acid was systematically investigated. And then, a comparison of the physicochemical properties of the PEMs according to the different membrane manufacturing processes was conducted. Secondly, the incorporation of porous polytetrafluoroethylene substrate and/or inorganic composites to PBI matrix to improve the membrane performances was studied. Finally, the construction of cross-linked structures into PBI-based PEM systems by polymer blending method was introduced to improve the PEM properties.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.175-183
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• 2008

Liver regeneration is a result of highly coordinated proliferation of hepatocytes and non-parenchymal liver cells. At this process, induction of metallothionein (MT), which is low molecular and cysteine rich, has been reported. The present study was carried to find the ultrastructure of hepatocytes and determine the expression of MT in regenerating rat liver after partial hepatectomy. As a result, the remnant liver after PH grew fast from 1 day until 7 days. Various changes were morphologically observed. Disintegration of cell plates and liver lobule appeared shortly after PH. And hepatocytes showed the rapid proliferation, characterized by high nuclear cytoplasmic ratio, weak intercellular junctional complexes, chromatin condensation, increase of ribosomes and mitochondria, and temporary increase of lipid droplets. Finally, remodeling of the liver lobule was completed through the rearrangement of blood vessels and cell plates by 7 days after PH. On histochemistry, immunoreactivity indicating the presence of MT appeared moderately throughout the cytoplasm of control rat hepatocyte. After PH, positive reactions for MT increased at the cytoplasm and the nucleus. These results suggest that the remnant liver cells immediately entered cell proliferation and increase of MT expression after PH. It is thought that MT protein might be associated with transfer of some factors needed to cell division from the cytoplasm to the nucleus for regeneration of the liver after PH.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.357-364
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• 2020

The grade and price of Lentinula edodes largely differs in preference depending on the product area and seasonal factors. The product amount of autumn L. edodes was higher than that of spring L. edodes, but high quality, which is divided into "Hwago" is low in preference. Mostly, the autumn L. edodes is obtained as powder; hence, it is necessary to develop a processing method to utilize its flavor and aroma at an affordable price. Additionally, we estimated the content of 𝛽-glucan, ergosterol, vitamin D₂, reducing sugars, and free amino acids and evaluated the anti-inflammatory activity of saccharification powder of log-cultivated L. edodes. In the saccharification powders obtained via 7 min of UV irradiation of log-cultivated L. edodes, 𝛽-glucan and vitamin D₂ contents were found to be the highest, whereas ergosterol content was found to be the lowest. The content of reducing sugars ranged from 62.4 mg/L to 68.2 mg/L. The free amino acids were higher in these saccharification powders than in the control. Subsequently, RAW 264.7 cells were treated with different concentrations (10, 50, 100, 200, 300, and 500 ㎍/mL) of the saccharification powders of log-cultivated L. edodes obtained via different UV irradiation time applications. The cells showed good viability; the anti-inflammatory effect was found to be the highest at 7 min UV irradiation. Therefore, 7 min of UV irradiation was determined to be the optimum condition for manufacturing saccharification powders of log-cultivated L. edodes. Hence, saccharification powders of log-cultivated L. edodes may be used as a raw material for natural sweeteners, food additives, and in the food industry.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2018

Recently, there has been rapid development in the field of flexible electronic devices, such as organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic solar cells and flexible sensors. Encapsulation process is added to protect the flexible electronic devices from exposure to oxygen and moisture in the air. Using numerical simulation, we investigated the effects of the encapsulation layer on mechanical stability of the silicon chip, especially the fracture performance of center crack in multi-layer package for various loading condition. The multi-layer package is categorized in two type - a wide chip model in which the chip has a large width and encapsulation layer covers only the chip, and a narrow chip model in which the chip covers both the substrate and the chip with smaller width than the substrate. In the wide chip model where the external load acts directly on the chip, the encapsulation layer with high stiffness enhanced the crack resistance of the film chip as the thickness of the encapsulation layer increased regardless of loading conditions. In contrast, the encapsulation layer with high stiffness reduced the crack resistance of the film chip in the narrow chip model for the case of external tensile strain loading. This is because the external load is transferred to the chip through the encapsulation layer and the small load acts on the chip for the weak encapsulation layer in the narrow chip model. When the bending moment acts on the narrow model, thin encapsulation layer and thick encapsulation layer show the opposite results since the neutral axis is moving toward the chip with a crack and load acting on chip decreases consequently as the thickness of encapsulation layer increases. The present study is expected to provide practical design guidance to enhance the durability and fracture performance of the silicon chip in the multilayer package with encapsulation layer.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.52-67
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• 1998

The investigative research on the mammalian milk purely consisted of the physiological quality of lactoferrin was conducted to reveal the antimicrobial ativity of specifically functional foods with antibiotic characteristics as a basic data in food manufacturing. Bovine lactoferrin were isolated from raw milk samples, and was digested with pepsin, trypsin and chymotrypsin. It was necessary then to separate and purify lactoferrin from bovine raw milk, and in order to analyze the antimicrobial activity of the enzyme-treated bovine lactoferrin in their required quantitative fraction. Afterwards Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was incubated in it. It was that investigated to enzyme-treated fractions molecular weight and the peptide fragment with antimicrobial effect. 1. The purity of enzyme-treated bovine lactoferrin(BLF) was tested by SDS-PAGE. As a results of 12% SDS-PAGE assay, pepsin-treated LF did not exhibited band until if reaches 14 KDa, while trypsin and chymotrypsin treated LF, known to contain the non-digestive lactoferrin exhibited band at a molecular weight of 33 KDa. 2. Bovine lactoferrin was sucessfully purified through the use of Sephadex G-50 Column. In order to assay LF through the Sephadex G-50 column chromatography, the digestive bovine lactoferrin (BLFs) was eluted with a linear gradient of 0.05% Tris-HCl. When the gel-filtration analysis, pepsin, trypsin and chymotrypsin treatments of BLF fragments was showed 2, 3, and 2 peak, respectively. The results of the HPLC analysis confirmed that had a non-digestive lactoferrin receptor, and trypsin and chymotrypsin treated BLFs has an antimicrobial effect. 3. To measure the strength of the antimicrobial effect of enzyme treated lactoferrin it was compared to the antimicrobial activity taking place at the incubated Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. This might explain the resistance of the microorganisms for peptide fragment. The pepsin-treated of bovine lactoferrin was markedly reduced by incubation of the cells. Trypsin-treated of BLF was similar to chymotrypsin-treated of BLF. However, trypsin and chymotrypsin treatments of BLFs were showed the antimicrobial effect until eight hours incubation for native bovine lactoferrin. Therefore the enzyme-treated lactoferrin have an antimicrobial effect even non-digestive lactoferrin. 4. The digestive bovine lactoferrin fragments assay was carried out by the use of Sephadex G-50 column chromatography and SDS-PAGE. The pepsin and chymotrypsin-treated fragments has a low molecular weight and trypsin-treated lactoferrin was only showed a band. It was described that characteristics of digestive protein. It appeared that there may be a relation between virulence and resistance to enzyme-treated BLF.