• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.23-28
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• 2019

The Titanium oxide ($TiO_2$) is an attractive ceramic material which shows non-toxic, high refractive index, catalytic activity and biocompatibility, and can be fabricated at a low cost due to its high chemical stability and large anisotropy. $TiO_2$ nanoparticles have been prepared by sol-gel method. The pH of solution can affect the $TiO_2$ crystallinity during the formation of nanoparticles. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, photoluminescence spectroscopy in order to investigate their structural and photoluminescence properties. Through these analysis, the size of $TiO_2$ nanoparticles were found to be smaller than 5 nm. As the crystallinity of the nanoparticles increased, the emission of PL in the 550 nm region increased. Therefore, luminescence characteristics can be improved by controlling the crystallinity of the $TiO_2$ nanoparticles.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.1-10
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• 2023

Objective : Obesity in modern society has a significant impact on pathological, psychological and social problems. Therefore, many studies on obesity treatment using herbal extracts with fewer side effects have been conducted. This study was designed to investigate the effect of inhibiting fat accumulation in vitro in order to Mongolian medicinal plants find anti-obesity candidate among. Methods : We measured pancreatic lipase inhibitory activity in Mongolian medicinal plants extract. Cytotoxicity of these extracts was monitored in 3T3-L1 cells by MTT assay. In addition, the anti-obesity effects was confirmed at concentrations of 0.2, 0.1 and 0.05 mg/㎖ through Oil red O staining. Results : Among Mongolian medicinal plants, Rheum undulatum roots in September (RURS), Paeonia anomala L. (PAL), and Fragaria orientalis (FO) showed the highest pancreatic lipase inhibitory activity. As a result of the MTT assay, more than 80% was judged to be non-toxic, and the concentration was determined, and as a result of evaluating the lipid accumulation inhibitory effect, 6 types were selected as candidates. Conclusion : Based on these results, the top 7 species expected to be used as anti-obesity functional materials were selected. However, additional efficacy verification and mechanism of action need to be established in the future. So, it is expected that the medicinal plants verified through this will be used as functional materials for the prevention and treatment of obesity.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.12
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• pp.4708-4714
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• 2022

The novelty in the present search, the Soda-Lime-Silica (SLS) glass waste to prepare free lead glass shielding was used in order to limit the accumulation of glass waste, which requires extensive time to decompose. This also saves on the consumption of pure SiO₂, which is a finite resource. Furthermore, the combining of BaO with Bi₂O₃ into a glass network leads to increased optical properties and improved attenuation. The UV-Visible Spectrophotometer was used to investigate the optical properties and the radiation shielding properties were reported for current glass samples utilizing the PhysX/PDS online software. The optical property results indicate that when BaO content increases in glass structure, the Urbach energy ΔE, and refractive index n increases while the energy optical band gap E_opt decreases. The result of the metallisation criteria (M) revealed that the present glass samples are nonmetallic (insulators). Furthermore, the radiation shielding parameter findings suggest that when BaO was increased in the glass structure, the linear attenuation coefficient and effective atomic number (Z_eff) rose. But the half-value layer HVL declined as the BaO concentration grew. According to the research, the glass samples are non-toxic, transparent to visible light, and efficient radiation shielding materials. The Ba5 sample is considered the best among all the samples due to its higher attenuation value and lower HVL and MFP values, which make it a suitable candidate as transparent glass shield shielding.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.507-519
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• 2023

Postsurgical infections are caused by implant-related pathogenic microorganisms that lead to graft rejection. Hence, an intrinsically antibacterial material is required to produce a biocompatible biomaterial with osteogenic properties that could address this major issue. Hence, this current research aims to make strontium-doped hydroxyapatite nanorods (SrHANRs) via an ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA)-enable microwave mediated method using Anodontia alba seashells for biomedical applications. This investigation also perceives that EDTA acts as a soft template to accomplish Sr-doping and mesoporous structures in pure hydroxyapatite nanorods (HANRs). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis reveals the crystalline and mesoporous structures, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) indicates the surface area of all the samples, including pure HANRs and doped HANRs. In addition, the biocidal ability was tested using various implant-related infectious bacteria pathogens, and it was discovered that Sr-doped HANRs have excellent biocidal properties. Furthermore, toxicity evaluation using zebrafish reports the non-toxic nature of the produced HANRs. Incorporating Sr²⁺ ions into the HAp lattice would enhance biocompatibility, biocidal activity, and osteoconductive properties. As a result, the biocompatible HANRs materials synthesized with Sr-dopants may be effective in bone regeneration and antibacterial in-built implant applications.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.566-572
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• 2020

In the recent years, thin film solar cells (TFSCs) have emerged as a viable replacement for crystalline silicon solar cells and offer a variety of choices, particularly in terms of synthesis processes and substrates (rigid or flexible, metal or insulator). Among the thin-film absorber materials, SnS has great potential for the manufacturing of low-cost TFSCs due to its suitable optical and electrical properties, non-toxic nature, and earth abundancy. However, the efficiency of SnS-based solar cells is found to be in the range of 1 ~ 4 % and remains far below those of CdTe-, CIGS-, and CZTSSe-based TFSCs. Aside from the improvement in the physical properties of absorber layer, enormous efforts have been focused on the development of suitable buffer layer for SnS-based solar cells. Herein, we investigate the device performance of SnS-based TFSCs by introducing double buffer layers, in which CdS is applied as first buffer layer and ZnMgO films is employed as second buffer layer. The effect of the composition ratio (Mg/(Mg+Zn)) of RF sputtered ZnMgO films on the device performance is studied. The structural and optical properties of ZnMgO films with various Mg/(Mg+Zn) ratios are also analyzed systemically. The fabricated SnS-based TFSCs with device structure of SLG/Mo/SnS/CdS/ZnMgO/AZO/Al exhibit a highest cell efficiency of 1.84 % along with open-circuit voltage of 0.302 V, short-circuit current density of 13.55 mA cm^-2, and fill factor of 0.45 with an optimum Mg/(Mg + Zn) ratio of 0.02.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.145-159
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• 2016

Objectives : The aim was to investigate the characteristics of low dose effect and non monotonic dose responses(NMDRs) and to predict the influence it might have on the health and medicine, traditional Korean medicine. Methods : By investigating recently published major literatures related to low dose effect and NMDRs, the definition, mechanism, major related fields, and the influence on public health and medicine has been categorized and summarized. Results : Although there are still heated debates about the definition of low dose, it implies the biological responses in environmental exposure level and the NDMDRs means the nonlinear relationship between the dose-response in the slope sign change. Also, it implies the new form of the curve showing a U, reverse U shape, and the slop sign constantly changing showing various forms. This mechanism is because the two acceptor shows opposing effects to toxic materials and the affinity is different along with the numerical value that increase and decrease being different. These characteristics generally appear in endocrine disrupters such as bisphenol A, agricultural pesticides, metal, and radiation. The research field in the public health and medical treatment is obesity, problems in metabolism, growth hormone treatment, climacteric treatment, breast cancer, intake of Korean traditional medicine for pregnancy, menopause and phytoestrogen. Conclusions : As a result of discussing implications, NMDRs is a particular effect in low dose and heated debates surround this response, research is being conducted surrounding the field of obesity, problems in metabolism, growth hormone treatment, climacteric treatment, breast cancer, intake of Korean traditional medicine for pregnancy, menopause, and phytoestrogen. More research and interest in needed as it can have a massive influence in the public health and medicine.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.143-151
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• 2024

Ozone is a colorless, toxic gas that is produced when nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons undergo a photochemical oxidation reaction in the sun's rays. Even at low concentrations, it affects the respiratory system, causing coughing and other harmful effects. It was confirmed that ozone was generated from nitrogen plasma among cosmetic raw materials, and it was found that the concentration of ozone decreased after 1 day. On the other hand, ozone was not detected in ozone-free plasma generated with argon gas. Therefore, we aimed to produce ozone-free cosmetics by utilizing ozone-free plasma. For efficient plasma processing, the non-sinking method was utilized to inject the plasma into layer separation mists, toners, and ampoules, and the stability was observed. It was found that the successful injection of plasma in the layer separation mist was higher than the other two formulations, but decreased sharply compared to the toner and ampoule. It was found that the ozone-free plasma used did not affect the stability of the layer separation mist, toner, and ampoule under low temperature (4 ℃), room temperature (25 ℃), and high temperature (37 ℃, 50 ℃) conditions. Therefore, this study suggests the importance of ozone-free plasma for cosmetic potential and stability of each formulation.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.38 no.2 s.171
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• pp.135-142
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• 2005

In order to investigate the contamination level and seasonal variation of heavy metals and evaluate the bioavailability of toxic elements, environmental geochemical survey was undertaken at the Dogok Au-Ag-Cu mine area. The main pollution sources in the area were suggested as tailings, mine waste materials and mine water. Elevated levels of $140{\cal}mg/{\cal}kg{\;}As,{\;}107{\cal}mg/{\cal}kg{\;}Cd,{\;} 3017{\cal}mg/{\cal}kg{\;}Cu,{\;}12926{\cal}mg/{\cal}kg{\;}Pb,{\;}9094{\cal}mg/{\cal}kg$ Zn(before rainy season) were found in mine tailings. Concentrations of heavy metals in farmland soils exceeded normal level in nature soil (Bowen, 1979). The highest level of heavy metals was found in water samples near the mine tailing dumps regarded as a main pollution source of toxic elements in the area. These concentrations decreased to downstream due to the effect of dilution. From the results of sequential extraction analyses for tailings and soils, non-residual forms of heavy metals were found, which indicate the contamination to be progressing by continuing weathering and oxidation. Cadmium and Zn would be of the highest mobility in all samples. The bioavailability of Cd, Cu, Zn and As using SBET analysis from paddy soils was $53.3{\%},{\;}46.5{\%},{\;}41.0{\%}$ and $37.0\%$, respectively. The farmland soil sample(S3) showed the highest total concentration and bioavailability of heavy metals.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.599-615
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• 2022

In order to excavate underground tunnel most safely such as Han river, the slurry shield TBM method is applied to cope with face of high water pressure for many metro projects. In downtown subway project most of excavated soil is discharged externally whereas in road construction excavated soil is used as filling materials so it becomes important factor for success of the project. After excavated soil, weathered rock and soft rock are discharged with bentonite through discharge pipe to slurry treatment plant then those soils are separated in separation plant according to those size. Fine grained soil has been discarded together with filter cake but it is not toxic and can be mixed with coarse aggregate in proper ratio so this study is performed to find use of qualified filling material to meet quality standard. Therefore, in this study, legal standards and quality standards for the utilization of excavated soil of the slurry shield TBM method were examined and test was conducted to derive recycling way for filter cake and aggregate. And a plan for using it as a filling material for road construction was derived. Because bentonite is a clay composed of montmorillonite, and the excavated soil in the tunnel is also non-toxic, disposal of this material can waste social cost so it is expected to be helpful in the underground space development project that carries out the TBM project by recycling it as a valuable resource.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.11-22
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• 2024

A fishway is an artificial waterway or device used to resolve difficulties in the movement of fish in a river. Most existing fishways are made of concrete and emit toxic substances, which has a negative impact on the river environment. Accordingly, there is a need to develop fishway construction technology that is eco-friendly and can increase movement efficiency. The technology presented in this study is an integrated porous structure that combines the aggregate with a biopolymer material extracted from castor oil, a non-toxic material. It is a fishway construction technology using eco-friendly materials that can allow vegetation to grow on the surface. In this study, an eco-friendly fishway mixed with biopolymer and aggregate was built on a real scale and the fish movement efficiency was tested and analyzed. As a result of the experiment, a total of 201 fish of 14 species were released with tags inserted, and the detection rate of released fish was confirmed to be 82.6% on average. A total of 40 fish of 6 species were transported upstream through the fishway, and the average passage rate was confirmed to be 21.7%. As a result of checking the circadian migration pattern, it was found that all fish mainly migrate during the day. It was confirmed that there was no significant functional difference between a fishway using biopolymer and a concrete fishway. It is believed that a fishway using biopolymer can be used as a replacement for a concrete fishway.