• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.110-116
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• 2011

Ru black was used for cathode catalyst in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell which showed low performance at the initial test. However, it was observed that the performance of Ru black cathode was dramatically enhanced after certain kind of experiment compared with initial one. It might be due to an electrochemical treatment in which a voltage was applied to the Ru cathode for constant period time. When a constant potential of 0.1 V was applied to Ru cathode for 30 min, the fuel cell performance of Ru cathode showed the best results. In order to investigate the effect of electrochemical treatment on the performance enhancement, the characteristics of electrochemically treated Ru black was compared with that of Ru black which was reduced under $H_2$ atmosphere. From XRD results, it was turned out that Ru black was not completely converted to metallic Ru by electrochemical treatment, but it is sufficient to be one of reasons for the performance enhancement. According to the results of CO stripping voltammetry, it was observed that some Ru was removed from Ru electrode by electrochemical treatment which might have a bad effect on the fuel cell performance. The removal of some Ru from as-received Ru black by electrochemical treatment is also another reason for the enhancement of fuel cell performance.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.27-35
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• 2008

This work proposes a 14b 150MS/s 0.13um CMOS ADC for SDR systems requiring simultaneously high resolution, low power, and small size at high speed. The proposed ADC employs a calibration-free four-step pipeline architecture optimizing the scaling factor for the input trans-conductance of amplifiers and the sampling capacitance in each stage to minimize thermal noise effects and power consumption at the target resolution and sampling rate. A signal- insensitive 3-D fully symmetric layout achieves a 14b level resolution by reducing a capacitor mismatch of three MDACs. The proposed supply- and temperature- insensitive current and voltage references with on-chip RC filters minimizing the effect of switching noise are implemented with off-chip C filters. The prototype ADC in a 0.13um 1P8M CMOS technology demonstrates a measured DNL and INL within 0.81LSB and 2.83LSB, at 14b, respectively. The ADC shows a maximum SNDR of 64dB and 61dB and a maximum SFDR of 71dB and 70dB at 120MS/s and 150MS/s, respectively. The ADC with an active die area of $2.0mm^2$ consumes 140mW at 150MS/s and 1.2V.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.262-269
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• 1996

The muiltiwire proportional counter for the measurement of low-level and environmental $\alpha$ particles emitting nuclides was developed. External dimension of the devloped multiwire proportional counter is $350{\times}290{\times}30mm$ and the sensitivity area is $250{\times}200mm$. The wall material of the detector was selected the stainless steel to prevent the deformation by external impact and to obtain minimum background. The anode and cathode wires were used the stainless steel material of diameter $50{\mu}m$. The spacing of each wires are 10.0mm, 5.0mm and the numbers of total wire are 21, 42 lines, respectively. The multiwire proportional counter was designed that the measurement source is placed within the detector to prevent the wall absorption effect and the efficiency variation by various source heights. The characteristics of the developed detector have been investigated to obtain the plateau, operating voltage, background, counting efficiency, position sensitivity and energy resolution etc. For the $^{241}Am$ nuclide, the calculated LLD(Lower Limit of Detection) is 5.0mBq/L which is lower than 40mBq/L of recommended LLD value by ISO(International Organization for Standardization).

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.252-259
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• 2016

Neuropathic pain is a complex state showing increased pain response with dysfunctional inhibitory neurotransmission. The TREK family, one of the two pore domain $K^+$ (K2P) channel subgroups were focused among various mechanisms of neuropathic pain. These channels influence neuronal excitability and are thought to be related in mechano/thermosensation. However, only a little is known about the expression and role of TREK-1 and TREK-2, in neuropathic pain. It is performed to know whether TREK-1 and/or 2 are positively related in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) of a mouse neuropathic pain model, the chronic constriction injury (CCI) model. Following this purpose, Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot analyses were performed using mouse DRG of CCI model and compared to the sham surgery group. Immunofluorescence staining of isolectin-B4 (IB4) and TREK were performed. Electrophysiological recordings of single channel currents were analyzed to obtain the information about the channel. Interactions with known TREK activators were tested to confirm the expression. While both TREK-1 and TREK-2 mRNA were significantly overexpressed in DRG of CCI mice, only TREK-1 showed significant increase (~9 fold) in western blot analysis. The TREK-1-like channel recorded in DRG neurons of the CCI mouse showed similar current-voltage relationship and conductance to TREK-1. It was easily activated by low pH solution (pH 6.3), negative pressure, and riluzole. Immunofluorescence images showed the expression of TREK-1 was stronger compared to TREK-2 on IB4 positive neurons. These results suggest that modulation of the TREK-1 channel may have beneficial analgesic effects in neuropathic pain patients.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.36-43
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• 2009

The feasibility of electrokinetic remediation was investigated in the laboratory to treat contaminated soil with Zn, Ni and F. Electro-migration and electro-osmosis are the major removal mechanisms because fluorines desorbed from soil exist as an anionic form in soil pores, and Zn and Ni exist as a cationic form. Desorption of fluorine was enhanced under the alkaline condition, but that of Zn and Ni increased under the acidic condition. Sequential pH control was effective to control the mixed wastes from contaminated soil. 2 V/cm was applied to reactor to evaluate the effect of constant voltage gradient, after two weeks, the removal efficiency of Zn, Ni and F was 20.5%, 2.5% and 57.4%, respectively. Even though the removal of Zn and Ni was very low, the pH control enhanced transport of Zn and Ni significantly. As a result, sequential pH control is a effective method to remediate mixed waste-contaminated soil.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.210-216
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• 2010

This paper investigates the dependence of a-Si:H/c-Si passivation and heterojunction solar cell performances on various cleaning processes of silicon wafers. It is observed that the passivation quality of a-Si:H thin-films on c-Si wafers depends highly on the initial H-termination properties of the wafer surface. The effective minority carrier lifetime (MCLT) of highly H-terminated wafer is beneficial for obtaining high quality passivation of a-Si:H/c-Si. The wafers passivated by p(n)-doped a-Si:H layers have low MCLT regardless of the initial H-termination quality. On the other hand, the MCLT of wafers incorporating intrinsic (i) a-Si:H as a passivation layer shows sensitive variation with initial cleaning and H-termination schemes. By applying the improved cleaning processes, we can obtain an MCLT of $100{\mu}sec$ after H-termination and above $600{\mu}sec$ after i a-Si:H thin film deposition. By adapting improved cleaning processes and by improving passivation and doped layers, we can fabricate a-Si:H/c-Si heterojunction solar cells with an active area conversion efficiency of 18.42%, which cells have an open circuit voltage of 0.670V, short circuit current of $37.31\;mA/cm^2$ and fill factor of 0.7374. These cells show more than 20% pseudo efficiency measured by Suns-$V_{oc}$ with an elimination of series resistance.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2011

A 10b 500MS/s $0.13{\mu}m$ CMOS ADC is proposed for 4G wireless communication systems such as a LTE-Advanced and SDR The ADC employs a calibration-free single-channel folding architecture for low power consumption and high speed conversion rate. In order to overcome the disadvantage of high folding rate, at the fine 7b ADC, a cascaded folding-interpolating technique is proposed. Further, a folding amplifier with the folded cascode output stage is also discussed in the block of folding bus, to improve the bandwidth limitation and voltage gain by parasitic capacitances. The chip has been fabricated with $0.13{\mu}m$ 1P6M CMOS technology, the effective chip area is $1.5mm^2$. The measured results of INL and DNL are within 2.95LSB and l.24LSB at 10b resolution, respectively. The SNDR is 54.8dB and SFDR is 63.4dBc when the input frequency is 9.27MHz at sampling frequency of 500MHz. The ADC consumes 150mW($300{\mu}W/MS/s$) including peripheral circuits at 500MS/s and 1.2V(1.5V) power supply.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.474-481
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• 2004

Squamous cell carcinoma is the most prevalent oral cancer, which is characterized by its low survival rate, high malignancy, mortality with facial defects, and poor prognosis. Exact cause and pathogenesis of the squamous cell carcinoma is still unknown. Various routes including smoking, radiation, and viral infections predispose its genesis, and recent studies revealed that genetic defects which fail to prevent cancer proliferation play a role. Generally, a cancer develops from the decreased rate of apoptosis which is an active and voluntary cell death, and from the altered cell cycles. Anticancer effect can be obtained by recovering the apoptotic process, and by suppressing the cell cycles. Among the apoptosis related factors, bcl-2, caspase-9, and VDAC (voltage-dependent anion channel)are produced in mitochondria of the cell. Cyclosporin-A is known to induce apoptosis through its activation with VDAC. This study was to reveal the anticancer effect of Cyclosporin A to the oral squamous cell carcinoma. The inverted microscope was used to find alterations in the tissue, and sensitivity test to the anticancer cells was performed with MTT (Tetrazolium-based colorimetric) assay. Following cell line culture of primary and metastastic oral squamous cell carcinoma, electrophoresis was performed with extracted total RNA. Finally, semi-quantitative study was carried out through RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction). The results of this study are as follows: 1. The inverted microscopic observation revealed a poorly defined cytoplasm at $2000ng{\sim}3000ng/ml$, indistinct nucleus, and apoptosis. 2. The Growth of cancer cells was decreased at 1000ng/ml of cyclosporin-A. No cancer cell growth was observed at over 2000ng/ml concentration of cyclosporin-A, and at one week, growth of cancer cells was ceased. 3. The MTT assays were decreased as cyclosporin-A concentration was increased. This means that the activation of succinyl dehydrogenase in mitochondria was decreased following administration of cyclosporin A. 4. A result of RT-PCR showed that amount of mRNA of VDAC-2 was decreased half times at a cyclosporine-A concentration of 2000ng/ml. In bcl-2, amount of mRNA was significantly decreased 1/5 times at 2000ng/ml. caspase-9, however, showed slight increase compared to the control group. From the results obtained in this study, administration of cyclosporin-A to the cell lines of oral squamous cell carcinoma induced alterations in morphology and growth of the cells as its concentration increased. Since apoptosis related factors such as VDAS-2, bcl-2, and caspase-9 also showed distinct alterations on their mRNAs, further research on cyclosporin A as an anti-cancer agent will be feasible.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.29-35
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• 2010

We have shown that myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) was required for the off-contraction in response to the electrical field stimulation (EFS) of feline esophageal smooth muscle. In this study, we investigated whether protein kinase C (PKC) may require the on-contraction in response to EFS using feline esophageal smooth muscle. The contractions were recorded using an isometric force transducer. On-contraction occurred in the presence of $N^G$-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), suggesting that nitric oxide acts as an inhibitory mediator in smooth muscle. The excitatory composition of both contractions was cholinergic dependent which was blocked by tetrodotoxin or atropine. The on-contraction was abolished in $Ca^{2+}$-free buffer but reappeared in normal $Ca^{2+}$-containing buffer indicating that the contraction was $Ca^{2+}$ dependent. 4-aminopyridine (4-AP), voltage-dependent $K^+$ channel blocker, significantly enhanced on-contraction. Aluminum fluoride (a G-protein activator) increased on-contraction. Pertussis toxin (a $G_i$ inactivator) and C3 exoenzyme (a rhoA inactivator) significantly decreased on-contraction suggesting that Gi or rhoA protein may be related with $Ca^{2+}$ and $K^+$ channel. ML-9, a MLCK inhibitor, significantly inhibited on-contraction, and chelerythrine (PKC inhibitor) affected on the contraction. These results suggest that endogenous cholinergic contractions activated directly by low-frequency EFS may be mediated by $Ca^{2+}$, and G proteins, such as Gi and rhoA, which resulted in the activation of MLCK, and PKC to produce the contraction in feline distal esophageal smooth muscle.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.1325-1332
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• 2009

In this paper, we design a 2.4 GHz bio-radar system that can detect human heartbeat and respiration signals with small size and improved noise performance using single circular-polarized antenna and phase-locked loop. The demonstrated bio-radar system consists of single circular-polarized antenna with $90^{\circ}$ hybrid, low-noise amplifier, power amplifier, voltage-controlled oscillator with phase-locked loop circuits, quadrature demodulator and analog circuits. To realize compact size, the printed annular ring stacked microstrip antenna is integrated on the transceiver circuits, so its dimension is just $40\times40mm^2$. Also, to improve signal-to-noise-ratio performance by phase noise due to transmitter leakage signal, the phase-locked loop circuit is used. The measured results show that the heart rate and respiration accuracy was found to be very high for the distance of 50 cm without the additional digital signal processing.