• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.207-214
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• 1997

We collected airborne complex mixtures in a industrial area of Yeochun, and examined whether these complex mixtures could affect gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) in a cultured WBF-344 rat liver epithelial cells (LEC). Since the reduction of GJIC plays an important role in chemical carcinogenesis, measurement of changes of GJIC is a meaningful method to screen carcinogenicity of these mixtures. High and low volume samples were dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and tested. Blank filter extractions were also examined for exclud-ing possible toxicity of filter itself, and TPA (12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate) and DMSO were used as positive and negative control, respectively. When the cells were exposed to samples at concentration below that required to maintain rather than 85% cell viability based on the result of neutral red uptake assay, maximal inhibition of GJIC was observed at 1hr after treatment with both high and low volume samples by scrape-loading dye transfer assay. In fluorescence recovery after photobleaching assay, recovery rates via gap junctions were 33%/min in high volume sample and 62%/min in low volume sample. In together, airborne samples collected in Yeochun inhibited GJIC in a cultured WBF-344 rat LEC. These results suggest airborne samples tested in this experiment may attribute to cause a certain type and degree of cancers in in vivo when exposured for some periods.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.365-365
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• 2010

In this paper, silicon nitride thin films with different silane and ammonia gas ratios were deposited and characterized for the antireflection and passivation layer of high efficiency single crystalline silicon solar cells. As the flow rate of the ammonia gas increased, the refractive index decreased and the band gap increased. Consequently, the transmittance increased due to the higher band gap and the decrease of the defect states which existed for the 1.68 and 1.80 eV in the SiNx films. The reduction in the carrier lifetime of the SiNx films deposited by using a higher $NH_3/SiH_4$ flow ratio was caused by the increase of the interface traps and the defect states in/on the interface between the SiNx and the silicon wafer. The silicon and nitrogen rich films are not suitable for generating both higher carrier lifetimes and transmittance. These results indicate that the band gap and the defect states of the SiNx films should be carefully controlled in order to obtain the maximum efficiency for c-Si solar cells.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.38-43
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• 2013

$Cu(In,Ga)_3Se_5$ is a candidate material for the top cell of $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ tandem cells. This phase is often found at the surface of the $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ film during $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ cell fabrication, and plays a positive role in $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ cell performance. However, the exact properties of the $Cu(In,Ga)_3Se_5$ film have not been extensively studied yet. In this work, $Cu(In,Ga)_3Se_5$ films were fabricated on Mo-coated soda-lime glass substrates by a three-stage co-evaporation process. The Cu content in the film was controlled by varying the deposition time of each stage. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy analyses showed that, even though the stoichiometric Cu/(In+Ga) ratio is 0.25, $Cu(In,Ga)_3Se_5$ is easily formed in a wide range of Cu content as long as the Cu/(In+Ga) ratio is held below 0.5. The optical band gap of $Cu_{0.3}(In_{0.65}Ga_{0.35})_3Se_5$ composition was found to be 1.35eV. As the Cu/(In+Ga) ratio was decreased further below 0.5, the grain size became smaller and the band gap increased. Unlike the $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ solar cell, an external supply of Na with $Na_2S$ deposition further increased the cell efficiency of the $Cu(In,Ga)_3Se_5$ solar cell, indicating that more Na is necessary, in addition to the Na supply from the soda lime glass, to suppress deep level defects in the $Cu(In,Ga)_3Se_5$ film. The cell efficiency of $CdS/Cu(In,Ga)_3Se_5$ was improved from 8.8 to 11.2% by incorporating Na with $Na_2S$ deposition on the CIGS film. The fill factor was significantly improved by the Na incorporation, due to a decrease of deep-level defects.

• Journal of Information Display
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.115-119
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• 2011

Optically isotropic liquid crystal (LC) mixture such as blue-phase LC and nanostructured LC composites exhibit the advantages of fast response time, high contrast ratio and wide-viewing angle due to the induced birefringence along the horizontal electric field. Utilizing this mixture, a novel single cell gap in-plane switching-type polymer-stabilized blue-phase transflective liquid crystal display by embedding the nanowire grid polarizer as a polarization-dependent reflective polarizer in the R region is proposed. This device can be used as a normal black mode without any quarter-wave plate or patterned in-cell phase retarder. Moreover, the transmittance is identical to the reflectance so that it will be suitable for single gamma driving. Detailed electro-optic performances, such as voltage-dependent light efficiency and viewing angle of the proposed device configuration, are investigated.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.521-530
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• 2013

Direct cell-cell communication via the transfer of small molecules between neighboring cells in tissue is accomplished by gap junctions composed of various connexins (Cxs). Proper postnatal development of the epididymis is important for acquisition of male reproduction. The epididymal epithelium is composed of several cell types, and some of these cells are connected by gap junctions. The present study was conducted to determine the presence of Cx transcripts in the corpus and cauda epididymis. In addition, transcriptional changes of Cxs expressed during different postnatal stages were examined by real-time PCR analysis. In both epididymal regions, the same nine Cx transcripts of thirteen Cxs tested were detected. In the corpus epididymis, the highest levels of Cxs31.1 and 37 transcripts were observed at 45 days of age, and amounts of Cxs26, 30.3, and 32 transcripts increased with age and subsequently decreased in the elderly. Expression of Cx31 was greatly increased in the adult and elder stages, while Cxs40, 43, and 45 were abundant in the early postnatal stages. In the cauda epididymis, expression of Cxs26, 30.3, 31.1, 37, and 40 reached the highest levels at 5 months of age. The levels of Cxs31 and 32 mRNAs fluctuated throughout the postnatal period. The amounts of Cxs43 and 45 transcripts were more abundant during the late neonatal and prepubertal ages than later ages. These findings suggest that regional specification of the epididymis is partly regulated by differential expression of Cx genes during the postnatal developmental period.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.103-112
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• 1992

Embryonic and postembryonic chicken lenses have been analyzed morphologically to investigate the differentiation of the lens fibers by light and electron microscopes. Morphogenesis of the chick lens was initiated as lens epithelial cells were proliferated and proceeded to elongate the cells characteristically at posterior side, by which the disintegrations of nuclei were accompanied during the early developmental stages. Primary and secondary lens fibers were identified at the late developmental stages, while interconnections between neigh-boring cells well developed and denucleation commenced. On day of hatching, the chicken lens fibers contained few cell organelles within the cytoplasm and showed the homogeneity of cytoplasmic appearance. On day 10 of hatching, the lens were fully differentiated; fiber cells, in which most cell organelles except polysomes were disappeared, showed a slender and elongated prismatic shape. At that stage gap junctions were particularly developed or cytoplasmic ridges are closely interlocked between adjoining cells. In conclusion, differentiation of chick lens involves the division of epithelial cells, the elongation into fiber cells, the loss of cell organelles and the increase of gap junction.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.376-379
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• 2016

In this paper, the efficiency improvement of the heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) solar cells is obtained by optimization process of p-type a-SiC:H as emitter. The optoelectronic of p-type a-SiC:H layers including the optical band-gap and conductivity under the methane gas content variation is conducted in detail. A significant increase in the Jsc by $1mA/cm^2$ and Voc by 30 mV are attributed to enhanced photon-absorption due to broader band-gap of p-a-SiC:H and reduced band-offsets at p-side interface, respectively of HIT solar cells.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.331-339
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• 2021

This study presents a novel way to enhance uniformity of the gas flow inside the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), which is critically important to fuel cell performance, by using dimples. A pattern of dimple, which works as a flow distributor/collector, is designed at the inlet and outlet section of a straight channel gas separator. Size of the dimples and the gap between them were changed to optimize the flow uniformity, and any change in size or gap is considered as one design. The results show that some dimple patterns significantly enhance the uniformity compared to baseline, about 4%, while the others slightly reduce it, about 1%. Besides, the dimple pattern also affects to the pressure drop in the flow channel, however the pressure drop in all cases are negligible (less than 26.4 Pa).

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.413-413
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• 2012

Lead sulfide (PbS) Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are promising material for the photovoltaic device due to its various outstanding properties such as tunable band-gap, solution processability, and infrared absorption. More importantly, PbS CQDs have large exciton Bohr radius of 20 nm due to the uniquely large dielectric constants that result in the strong quantum confinement. To exploit desirable properties in photovoltaic device, it is essential to fabricate a device exhibiting stable performance. Unfortunately, the performance of PbS NQDs based Schottky solar cell is considerably degraded according to the exposure in the air. The air-exposed degradation originates on the oxidation of interface between PbS NQDS layer and metal electrode. Therefore, it is necessary to enhance the stability of Schottky junction device by inserting a passivation layer. We investigate the effect of insertion of passivation layer on the performance of Schottky junction solar cells using PbS NQDs with band-gap of 1.3 eV. Schottky solar cell is the simple photovoltaic device with junction between semiconducting layer and metal electrode which a significant built-in-potential is established due to the workfunction difference between two materials. Although the device without passivation layer significantly degraded in several hours, considerable enhancement of stability can be obtained by inserting the very thin LiF layer (<1 nm) as a passivation layer. In this study, LiF layer is inserted between PbS NQDs layer and metal as an interface passivation layer. From the results, we can conclude that employment of very thin LiF layer is effective to enhance the stability of Schottky junction solar cells. We believe that this passivation layer is applicable not only to the PbS NQDs based solar cell, but also the various NQDs materials in order to enhance the stability of the device.

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.56-62
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• 2003

The liver progenitor cells could form a potential target cell population fore both tumor-initiating and -promoting chemicals. Induction of drug-metabolizing and antioxidant enzymes, including AhR-dependent CYP1A1, NQO-1 and AKR1C9, was detected in the rat liver epithelial WB-F344 "stem-like" cells. Additionally, WB-F344 cells express a functional, wild-type form of p53 protein, a biomarker of genotoxic events, and connexin 43, a basic structural unit of gap junctions forming an important type of intercellular communication. In this cellular model, two complementary assays have been established for detection of the modes of action associated with tumor promotion: inhibition of gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) and proliferative activity in confluent cells. We found that the PAHs and PCBs, which are AhR agonists, released WB-F344 cells from contact inhibition, increasing both DNA synthesis and cell numbers. Genotoxic effects of some PAHs that lead to apoptosis and cell cycle delay might interfere with the proliferative activity of PAHs. Contrary to that, the nongenotoxic low-molecular-weight PAHs and non-dioxin-like PCB congeners, abundant in the environment, did not significantly affect cell cycle and cell proliferation; however both groups of compounds inhibited GJIC in WB-F344 cells. The release from contact inhibiton by a mechanism that possibly involves the AhR activation, inhibition of GJIC and genotoxic events induced by environmental contaminants are three important modes of action that could play an important role in carcinogenic effects of toxic compounds. The relative potencies to inhibit GJIC, to induce AhR-mediated activity, and to release cells from contact inhibition were determined for a large series of PAHs and PCBs and their metabolites. In vitro bioassays based on detection of events on cellular level (deregulation of GJIC and/or proliferation) or determination of receptor-mediated activities in both ?$stem-like^{\circ}{\times}$ and hepatocyte-like liver cellular models are valuable tools for detection of modes of action of polyaromatic hydrocarbons. They may serve, together with concentration data, as a first step in their risk assessment.