• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.317-321
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• 2019

We investigated the characteristics of nano crystalline silicon(nc-Si) thin-film solar cells on graphite substrates. Amorphous silicon(a-Si) thin-film solar cells on graphite plates show low conversion efficiency due to high surface roughness, and many recombination by dangling bonds. In previous studies, we deposited barrier films by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD) on graphite plate to reduce surface roughness and achieved ~7.8 % cell efficiency. In this study, we fabricated nc-Si thin film solar cell on graphite in order to increase the efficiency of solar cells. We achieved 8.45 % efficiency on graphite plate and applied this to nc-Si on graphite sheet for flexible solar cell applications. The characterization of the cell is performed with external quantum efficiency(EQE) and current density-voltage measurements(J-V). As a result, we obtain ~8.42 % cell efficiency in a flexible solar cell fabricated on a graphite sheet, which performance is similar to that of cells fabricated on graphite plates.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.201-215
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• 2000

1. Background and Purpose According to Sasang constitutional medicine, Yuldahansotang(YHT) is a useful prescription for Teaumin patients with a variety of neurologic disorders. Then, I investigated about certain relationships between the effect of YHT and the changes of immune system, especially cytokine network. 2. Methods We studied 8 Taeumin patients with Cerbral infarction. They were treated with YHT in constitutional clinic of Wonkwang Kwagnju Oriental Hospital. We investigated the changes of cytokine network of them. We also investigated cytokine release by lipopolysaccharide- activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy Taeumin controls. 3. Results The mean interleukin (IL)-2 plasma levels were slightly lower in the plasma of patients than in normal group, whereas the mean IL-4, IL-6 and IgE levels were significantly higher. But there were no significant differences in $interferon-{\gamma}$($IFN-{\gamma}$) levels between each group. After administration of YHT for two to four weeks, plasma levels of $IFN-{\gamma}$ and IL-2 derived from T helper (Th) 1 cells were elevated significantly, whereas plasma levels of IL-4 and IL-6 derived from Th2 cells were reduced significantly. Plasma levels of IgE were reduced significantly, too. During the period of YHT administration, other adverse effects are not shown. It is increased significantly to Cytokine release by lipopolysaccharide -activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy Taeumin controls. And the release of $IFN-{\gamma}$, IL-2 and IL-6 was progressively decreased in the plasma treated with YHT. It shows regulatory effects of YHT to cytokine production.

• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.171-179
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• 2022

The present study investigated the survival rate, respiration rate, plasma stress index, and histological changes according to exposure time of cultured red seabream (Pagrus major) and olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) exposed to Cochlodinium polykrikoides red tide. Fish cultured in natural seawater were used as the control group. Cochlodinium polykrikoides density was set to 5,500±200 cells·ml^-1 in the experimental groups. All red seabreams died within 1 hour of exposure to red tide, whereas all olive flounders died within 5 hours of exposure. Analysis of physiological response revealed that in red seabream, plasma glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT), glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) concentrations were increased; plasma glucose and superoxide dismutase (SOD) concentration were decreased. Meanwhile, in olive flounders, plasma cortisol, GOT, and GPT concentrations were increased; plasma glucose concentrations were increased during the first hour of exposure, followed by decrease after 5 hours; and plasma SOD, CAT, and GPx concentrations decreased during the first hour of exposure. Histological analysis revealed structural damage to the gills of both red seabream and olive flounder. In conclusion, the exposure of red seabream and olive flounder to Cochlodinium polykrikoides red tide at the density of 5,500 cells·ml^-1 induces oxidative stress, which activates antioxidant defense mechanisms, ultimately leading to liver and gill damage.

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.268-268
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• 2006

Due to their multipotency, stem cells can differentiate into a variety of specialized cell types, such as chondrocytes, osteoblasts, myoblasts, and nerve cells. As an alternative to mature tissue cells, stem cells are of importance in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Since interactions between scaffold and cells play an important role in the tissue development in vitro, synthetic oligopeptides have been immobilized onto polymeric scaffolds to improve specific cell attachment and even to stimulate cell differentiation. In this study, chondrogenic differentiation of stem cells was evaluated using surface-modified PLLA scaffolds, i.e., either hydrophilic acrylic acid (AA)-grafted PLLA or RGD-immobilized one. Porous PLLA scaffolds were prepared using a gas foaming method, followed by plasma treatment and subsequent grafting of AA to introduce a hydrophilicity (PLLA-PAA). This was further processed to fix RGD peptide to make an RGD-immobilized scaffold (PLLA-PAA-RGD). Stem cells were seeded at $1{\times}10^{6}$ cells per scaffold and the cell-PLLA constructs were cultured for up to 4 weeks in the chondrogenic medium. Using these surface-modified scaffolds, adhesion, proliferation, and chondrogenic differentiation of stem cells were evaluated. The surface of PLLA scaffolds turned hydrophilic (water contact angle, 45 degrees) with both plasma treatment and AA grafting. The hydrophilicity of RGD-immobilized surface was not significantly altered. Cell proliferation rate on the either PLLA-PAA or PLLA-PAA-RGD surface was obviously improved, especially with the RGD-immobilized one as compared to the control PLLA one. Chondrogenic differentiation was clearly identified with Safranin O staining of GAG in the AA- or RGD-grafted PLLA substrates. This study demonstrated that modified polymer surfaces may provide better environment for chondrogenesis of stem cells.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.196-202
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• 2015

Human blood consists of 55% of plasma and 45% of blood cells such as white blood cell (WBC) and red blood cell (RBC). In plasma, there are many kinds of promising biomarkers, which can be used for the diagnosis of various diseases and biological analysis. For diagnostic tools such as a lab-on-a-chip (LOC), blood plasma separation is a fundamental step for accomplishing a high performance in the detection of a disease. Highly efficient separators can increase the sensitivity and selectivity of biosensors and reduce diagnostic time. In order to achieve a higher yield in blood plasma separation, we propose a novel fluid wing structure that is optimized by COMSOL simulations by varying the fluidic channel width and the angle of the bifurcation. The fluid wing structure is inspired by the inertial particle separator system in helicopters where sand particles are prevented from following the air flow to an engine. The structure is ameliorated in order to satisfy biological and fluidic requirements at the micro scale to achieve high plasma yield and separation efficiency. In this study, we fabricated the fluid wing structure for the efficient microfluidic blood plasma separation. The high plasma yield of 67% is achieved with a channel width of $20{\mu}m$ in the fabricated fluidic chip and the result was not affected by the angle of the bifurcation.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.274-281
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• 2010

This paper proposes a DFPS (Dual Frequency Power Source) impedance matching device for uniformity improvement of a semiconductor plasma etching system. The DFPS consists of two parts for safe plasma processing on large-area substrates. The first part is an ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma) for high integration by using ferrite core. The second part is a CCP (Capacitive Coupled Plasma) to control uniformity of whole cells. Proposed DFPS can achieve high productivity improvement required for semiconductor equipment industry. The proposed plasma system is analyzed, simulated and experimentally verified with a matching equipment at 27.12MHz and 400kHz.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.301-311
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• 2012

Discharge property of plasma jet devices is investigated for the application to the doping processes of crystalline solar cells and others. Current-voltage characteristics are shown as the typical normal-glow discharge in the various gas pressure of plasma jets, such as in the atmospheric plasma jets of Ar-discharge, in the ambient pressure of atmospheric discharge, and in the ambient Ar-pressure of Ar-discharge. The discharge voltage of atmospheric plasma jet is required as low as about 2.5 kV while the operation voltage of low pressure below 200 Torr is low as about 1 kV in the discharge of atmospheric and Ar plasma jets. With a single channel plasma jet, the irradiated plasma current on the doped silicon wafer is obtained high as the range of 10~50 mA. The temperature increasement of wafer is normally about $200^{\circ}C$. In the result of silicon wafers doped by phosphoric acid with irradiating the plasma jets, the doping profiles of phosphorus atoms shows the possibility of plasma jet doping on solar cells.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.42-48
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• 2005

This study was done to investigate effects of antioxidant supplementation on phytohemagglutinin (PHA) -stimulated interleukin-2 (IL-2) production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in elderly women. This study was designed as a placebo-controlled, single-blinded, randomized intervention trial. Twenty four elderly women aged over 60 years, visitings social welfare center in Seoul were divided into 3 groups, placebo (n = 8), vitamin C supplemented (n = 8) , and vitamin E supplemented (n = 8) groups. Experimental groups were given either 1000mg of L-ascorbic acid or 400 ill of d- $\alpha$-tocopherol for 4 weeks. There was no significant difference in antioxidant vitamins intakes and their plasma levels among pre-intervention groups. Plasma vitamin C or E levels was significantly increased after vitamin C or E sup-plementations. The increases of plasma thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance (TBARS) levels in the placebo group were significantly higher than those of the supplemented 2 groups. There were no significant differences in the changes of plasma IL-2 level between pre- and post-intervention among the 3 groups. However there was a significant increase in PHA­stimulated IL-2 production by PBMCs after 4-week vitamin E or vitamin C supplementation. Particularly, vitamin E supplemented group showed a higher PHA-stimulated IL-2 production than vitamin C supplemented group. These results indicate that vitamin E or vitamin C supplementation might enhance mitogen-stimulated cytokine production by immune cells, which could be one of the factors to improve health status in the elderly.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.1635-1643
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• 2009

The aim of this study was to provide new insight into the mechanism whereby the housekeeping enzyme glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) locates to cell walls of Lactobacillus plantarum 299v. After purification, cytosolic and cell wall GAPDH (cw-GAPDH) forms were characterized and shown to be identical homotetrameric active enzymes. GAPDH concentration on cell walls was growth-time dependent. Free GAPDH was not observed on the culture supernatant at any time during growth, and provoked cell lysis was not concomitant with any reassociation of GAPDH onto the cell surface. Hence, with the possibility of cw-GAPDH resulting from autolysis being unlikely, entrapment of intracellular GAPDH on the cell wall after a passive efflux through altered plasma membrane was investigated. Flow cytometry was used to assess L. plantarum 299v membrane permeabilization after labeling with propidium iodide (PI). By combining PI uptake and cw-GAPDH activity measurements, we demonstrate here that the increase in cw-GAPDH concentration from the early exponential phase to the late stationary phase is closely related to an increase in plasma membrane permeability during growth. Moreover, we observed that increases in both plasma membrane permeability and cw-GAPDH activity were delayed when glucose was added during L. plantarum 299v growth. Using a double labeling of L. plantarum 299v cells with anti-GAPDH antibodies and propidium iodide, we established unambiguously that cells with impaired membrane manifest five times more cw-GAPDH than unaltered cells. Our results show that plasma membrane permeability appears to be closely related to the efflux of GAPDH on the bacterial cell surface, offering new insight into the understanding of the cell wall location of this enzyme.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.65-71
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• 2015

Intracellular organelles in eukaryotic cells play important roles in many cellular functions. Intracellular trafficking of many proteins to specific intracellular organelles is tightly regulated by various mechanisms in cells. Therefore, elucidating the targeting mechanism of novel markers for intracellular organelles is important for cellular physiology and pathology. In this study, we tried to identify the peptides which could bind to specific glycolipid in cellular membrane using GFP-fused glycolipid-binding peptides, and analyzed their cellular localization. As a result, we could identify mitochondria-, Golgi- or plasma membrane-targeting peptides. Furthermore, we found that the plasma membrane-targeting peptide was localized to the plasma membrane via electrostatic interactions. Thus, our results suggest that various glycolipid-binding peptides could be used as intracellular organelles markers.