• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2024

Proton therapy is known for its superior treatment method due to Bragg peak. To enhance the therapeutic effects of protons, research has been conducted on distributing gold nanoparticles within tumors to increase the absorbed dose. While previous studies focused on handling gold nanoparticles at micrometer and nonometer scale, this study proposes a method to computationally estimate the effect of gold nanoparticles at the millimeter scale. The Geant4 toolkit was applied to computational modeling. Assuming a uniform distribution of water, similar to the human body, and gold nanoparticles, the concentration of gold nanoparticles was adjusted using density ratios. When the density ratio was 5%, the gain in absorbed energy due to gold nanoparticles was nearly twice that of the pure water phantom at the Bragg peak. As the density ratio increased, the gain in absorbed energy linearly increased. When gold nanoparticles were distributed in only one voxel at the Bragg peak, the energy of the protons affected only the neighboring voxels. However, in cases where gold nanoparticles were distributed over a wide area, the volume showing 95% of the maximum absorbed energy (9.46 keV) for the pure water phantom (9.95 keV) exhibited an improvement in absorbed energy over a region 16 times larger, and this region increased as the density ratio increased. Further research is needed to quantify the relationship between the density ratio of gold nanoparticles and the relative biological effect (RBE) in the millimeter scale.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.28 no.7
• /
• pp.55-65
• /
• 2012

Total reduction factor that is used when calculating allowable tensile strength of geogrids is made by multiplying the installation damage reduction factor ($RF_{ID}$), chemical degradation reduction factor ($RF_D$), and creep reduction factor ($RF_{CR}$) etc. In case of a model estimating allowable tensile strength considering reduction factor over the short-term tensile strength of geogrids, it has a limit of not considering interaction force between reduction factors. Junction strength comes to be reduced by installation damages or chemical degradation in the same way as tensile strength. Single junction test method cannot properly test damaged samples and shows large deviations as it does not consider scale effect. Besides, regarding calculating shear strength, no reasonable study on reduction factors was conducted yet. Therefore, in this study, reduction factors that may affect the long-term performance of geogrids were revaluated considering various conditions and accurate long-term allowable tensile strength was calculated considering interrelation between reduction factors. Creep results after installation damage and chemical resistance test showed lower value than calculated value according to GRI GG-4. After the installation damage test and the chemical resistance test, the reduction factor of junction strength was less than that of tensile strength. Shear strength before and after installation damage showed no change or increase.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2009.06a
• /
• pp.412-412
• /
• 2009

Carbon-based nano materials have a significant effect on various fields such as physics, chemistry and material science. Therefore carbon nano materials have been investigated by many scientists and engineers. Especially, since graphene, 2-dimemsonal carbon nanostructure, was experimentally discovered graphene has been tremendously attracted by both theoretical and experimental groups due to their extraordinary electrical, chemical and mechanical properties. Electrical conductivity of graphene is about ten times to that of silicon-based material and independent of temperature. At the same time silicon-based semiconductors encountered to limitation in size reduction, graphene is a strong candidate substituting for silicon-based semiconductor. But there are many limitations on fabricating large-scale graphene sheets (GS) without any defect and controlling chirality of edges. Many scientists applied micromechanical cleavage method from graphite and a SiC decomposition method to the fabrication of GS. However these methods are on the basic stage and have many drawbacks. Thereupon, our group fabricated GS through Thermo-electrical Pulse Induced Evaporation (TPIE) motivated by arc-discharge and field ion microscopy. This method is based on interaction of electrical pulse evaporation and thermal evaporation and is useful to produce not only graphene but also various carbon-based nanostructures with feeble pulse and at low temperature. On fabricating GS procedure, we could recognize distinguishable conditions (electrical pulse, temperature, etc.) to form a variety of carbon nanostructures. In this presentation, we will show the structural properties of OS by synthesized TPIE. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Optical Microscopy (OM) observations were performed to view structural characteristics such as crystallinity. Moreover, we confirmed number of layers of GS by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Raman spectroscopy. Also, we used a probe station, in order to measure the electrical properties such as sheet resistance, resistivity, mobility of OS. We believe our method (TPIE) is a powerful bottom-up approach to synthesize and modify carbon-based nanostructures.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.266-270
• /
• 2003

The $LiN_{0.8}Co_{0.2}O_2$ has shown outstanding electrochemical properties. The microstructure of $LiN_{0.8}Co_{0.2}O_2$ cathode was investigated by using TEM (transmission electron microscopy) and X-ray diffraction techniques. The $LiN_{0.8}Co_{0.2}O_2$ was produced by sol-gel method to synthesize fine particles less than $1{\mu}m$ in the average diameter. In this study, emphasis was given to the examination and interpretation of the microstructural change during charge-discharge cycling experiments, which appeared to be one of the main causes of early degradation of rechargeable batteries. Results showed that the $1{\mu}m$ cathode produced by sol-gel method had high reversible capacity and excellent cycling stability due to its homogeneous distribution of Ni and Co cations on u atomic scale. In particular, the $1{\mu}m$ cathode did not show severe strain induced structural defects or cubic spinel disordering during cycling experiments, which had been observed in the conventional $LiCoO_2$ cathode. The $LiNi_{0.8}Co_{0.2-x}M_x[M=Al]$ compounds show good reversibility but low discharge capacity.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.46-52
• /
• 2011

A confocal microscope was developed utilizing a scanning sample stage based on a home-built double-compound flexure guide. A scanning sample stage with nano-scale resolution consisted of a double leaf spring based flexure, a displacement amplifying lever, a Piezo-electric Transducer(PZT) actuator and capacitance sensors. The performance of the two-axis stage was analyzed using a commercial finite element method program prior to the implementation. A single line laser was employed as the light source along with the Photo Multiplier Tube(PMT) that served as the detector. The performance of the developed confocal microscope was evaluated with a mouse ear skin imaging test. The designed scanning stage enabled us to build the confocal microscope without the two optical scanning mirror modules that are essential in the conventional laser scanning confocal microscope. The elimination of the scanning mirror modules makes the optical design of the confocal microscope simpler and more compact than the conventional system.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.100-107
• /
• 2004

The nano or micro sized structures of conducting polymer had been prepared by synthesizing the desired polymer within the pores of template of nano or micro porous membrane filter. In this study, we had tried to fabricate conducting polymer microstructures on an electrode by using electrochemical deposition adopting template synthesis. Our attention was focused on two different things, attaching template on the electrode and fabricating microstructures only at limited areas of the electrode. A conducting polymer, PEDiTT (poly 3,4-ethylenedithi-athiophene) solution was blended with PVA(polyvinyl alcohol) solution and used as an conducting adhesive. After attaching template membrane, the electrode were immersed in 0.5M pyrrole in 0.1M KCI solution, and electrochemical polymerization was performed. The growth process of the microstructures studied by SEM. The electrochemical fabrication of conducting polymer was performed by using two-electrode system. A large working electrode and a micro scale disc electrode were used for the confined area synthesis. Polymerization potential was 4V in an electrolytic solution made of KCI in deionized water. The optimum polymerization conditions were, i.e. (4V/100sec) for $250{\mu}m$ electrode and (6V/30 sec) for $10{\mu}m$ electrode.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.613-616
• /
• 2005

In this word as the first step to develop optical biosensors for a single cell level analysis, the preparation method of nano-scale polymer hydrogel spheres containing an enzyme was set up and the feasibility of the spheres as optical biosensors was investigated. The horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was encapsulated in the PEG hydrogel spheres by suspension photopolymerization, yielding spheres of the average size of 305 nm. After the polymerization, the incorporation and activity of HRP within the spheres were determined by the production of fluorescence resulted from the enzymatic reaction between HRP and $\H_{2}O_{2}$. The fluorescence emission response of the HRP-loaded PEG hydrogel spheres increased by nearly 300$\%$ as hydrogen peroxide concentration was changed from 0 to 11 nM in the presence of Amplex Red. The results suggest that the method to prepare the PEG hydrogel nanospheres containing an enzyme could be used for developing optical biosensors to measure various analytes in the very small samples like a single cell.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.288-297
• /
• 2007

Adhesion and friction tests were carried out in order to investigate the effect of temperature on the tribological characteristics of poly (methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) film using AFM. The pull-off and friction forces on the PMMA film were measured under a high vacuum condition (below $1{\times}10^{-4}$ Pa) as the temperature of the PMMA film was increased from 300 K to 420 K (heating) and decreased to 300K (cooling). Friction tests were also conducted in both high vacuum and air conditions at room temperature. When the temperature was 420 K, which is 25 K higher than the glass transition temperature $(T_g)$ of PMMA, the PMMA film surface became deformable. Subsequently, the pull-off force was proportional to the maximum applied load during the pull-off force measurement. In contrast, when the temperature was under 395 K, the pull-off force showed no correlation to the maximum applied load. The friction force began to increase when the temperature rose above 370 K, which is 25 K lower than the $T_g$ of PMMA, and rapidly increased at 420 K. Decrease of the PMMA film stiffness and plastic deformation of the PMMA film were observed at 420 K in force-displacement curves. After the heating to 420 K, the fiction coefficient was measured under the air condition at room temperature and was found to be lower than that measured before the heating. Additionally, the RMS roughness increased as a result of the heating.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
• /
• v.38 no.4
• /
• pp.241-247
• /
• 2008

Paclitaxel is a taxane diterpene amide, which was first extracted from the stem bark of the western yew, Taxus brevifolia. This natural product has proven to be useful in the treatment of a variety of human neoplastic disorders, including ovarian cancer, breast and lung cancer. Paclitaxel is a highly hydrophobic drug that is poorly soluble in water. It is mainly given by intravenous administration. Therefore, The pharmaceutical formulation of paclitaxel ($Taxol^{(R)}$; Bristol-Myers Squibb) contains 50% $Cremophor^{(R)}$ EL and 50% dehydrated ethanol. However the ethanol/Cremophor EL vehicle required to solubilize paclitaxel in $Taxol^{(R)}$ has a pharmacological and pharmaceutical problems. To overcome these problems, new formulations for paclitaxel that do not require solubilization by $Cremophor^{(R)}$ EL are currently being developed. Therefore this study utilized a supercritical fluid antisolvent (SAS) process for cremophor-free formulation. To select hydrophilic polymers that require solubilization for paclitaxel, we evaluated polymers and the ratio of paclitaxel/polymers. HP-${\beta}$-CD was used as a hydrophilic polymer in the preparation of the paclitaxel solid dispersion. Although solubility of paclitaxel by polymers was increased, physical stability of solution after paclitaxel/polymer powder soluble in saline was unstable. To overcome this problem, we investigated the use of surfactants. At 1/20/40 of paclitaxel/hydrophilic polymer/ surfactant weight ratio, about 10 mg/mL of paclitaxel can be solubilized in this system. Compared with the solubility of paclitaxel in water ($1\;{\mu}g/mL$), the paclitaxel solid dispersion prepared by SAS process increased the solubility of paclitaxel by near 10,000 folds. The physicochemical properties was also evaluated. The particle size distribution, melting point and amophorization and shape of the powder particles were fully characterized by particle size distribution analyzer, DSC, SEM and XRD. In summary, through the SAS process, uniform nano-scale paclitaxel solid dispersion powders were obtained with excellent results compared with $Taxol^{(R)}$ for the physicochemical properties, solubility and pharmacokinetic behavior.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.24 no.9
• /
• pp.495-501
• /
• 2014

Despite having many attractive properties, $ZrO_2$ ceramic has a low fracture toughness which limits its wide application. One of the most obvious tactics to improve its mechanical properties has been to add a reinforcing agent to formulate a nanostructured composite material. Nanopowders of $ZrO_2$ and Cr were synthesized from $CrO_3$ and Zr powder by high energy ball milling for 10 h. Dense nanocrystalline $2/3Cr-ZrO_2$ composite was consolidated by a high-frequency induction heated sintering method within 5 min at $600^{\circ}C$ from mechanically synthesized powder. The method was found to enable not only rapid densification but also the inhibition of grain growth, preserving the nano-scale microstructure. Highly dense $2/3Cr-ZrO_2$ composite with relative density of up to 99.5% was produced under simultaneous application of a 1 GPa pressure and the induced current. The hardness and fracture toughness of the composite were 534 kg/mm2 and $7MPa{\cdot}m1/2$, respectively. The composite was determined to have good biocompatibility.