• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.204-209
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• 2020

PURPOSE. Prevention of xerostomia and stress is important to prolong healthy life expectancy and improve the quality of life. We aimed to investigate the effects of tongue rotation exercise for increasing salivary secretions and stabilizing salivary stress hormone levels. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Twenty four participants without subjective oral dryness were enrolled. The exercises comprised tongue rotation exercise and empty chewing. The salivary stress hormone level was measured using a Salivary Amylase Monitor. Unstimulated whole saliva volume and salivary amylase activity were measured before tongue rotation exercise or empty chewing and subsequently 5, 10, and 15 minutes after these exercises. Differences in the rates of change of unstimulated whole saliva volume and salivary amylase activity were analyzed by repeated measure analysis of variance. RESULTS. Statistically significant differences among the rates of change were not observed after empty chewing for unstimulated whole saliva volume and salivary amylase activity at the four measurement times. However, the rate of change of unstimulated whole saliva volume and salivary amylase activity were statistically significantly different among the four time points: before the tongue rotation exercise and 5, 10, and 15 minutes post-exercise (P<.05 and P<.01, respectively). CONCLUSION. Tongue rotation is effective in increasing saliva secretion, reducing stress, improving oral function, and extending healthy life expectancy.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.3-6
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• 2001

In common globular proteins, the native form is n its most stable state. However, the native form of inhibitory serpins (serine protease inhibitors) and some viral membrane fusion proteins is in a metastable state. Metastability in these proteins is critical to their biological functions. Our previous studies revealed that unusual interactions, such as side-chain overpacking, buried polar groups, surface hydrophobic pockets, ad internal cavities are the structural basis of the native metastability. To understand the mechanism by which these structural defects regulate protein functions, cavity-filling mutations of $\alpha$1-antitrypsin, a prototype serpin, were characterized. Increasing conformational stability is correlated with decreasing inhibitory activity. Moreover, the activity loss appears to correlate with the decrease in the rate of the conformational switch during complex formation with a target protease. We also increased the stability of $\alpha$1-antitrypsin greatly via combining various stabilizing single amino acid substitutions that were distributed throughout the molecule. The results showed that a substantial increase of stability, over 13 kcal/mol, affected the inhibitory activity with a correlation of 11% activity loss per kcal/mol. The results strongly suggest that the native metastability of proteins is indeed a structural design that regulates protein functions and that the native strain of $\alpha$1-antitrypsin distributed throughout the molecule regulates the inhibitory function in a concerted manner.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.196-203
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• 1995

We presented Tungsten and Tungsten Nitride thin films deposited by RF and DC sputtering. It deposited at various conditions that determining the resistivity and sheet resistivity by stabilizing the basic theory. We investigated properties of the resistivity and sheet resistivity of these films under various conditions, temperature of substrate, flow rate of the argon gas and content of nitrogen from nitrogen-argon mixtures. As the temperature of substrate increased and the flow rate of the argon gas decreased, the resistivities of these films reduced by structural transformation. We found that these resistivities were depend on the temperature of substrate, flow rate and electric power. Very highly resistive tungsten films obtained at 10W RF power. On the contrary, we found that films deposited by DC sputtering, from which very lowly resistive tungsten films were obtained. Tungsten nitride thin films deposited by reactive DC sputtering and the resistivities of these films increased as the content of nitrogen gas increased from nitrogen-argon mixture. And also we found the results show very good agreement, compared with experimental data.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.1733-1737
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• 2009

A new cathode material based on Li$Ni_{0.8}Co_{0.15}Al_{0.05}O_2$ (LNCA)/polyaniline (Pani) composite was prepared by in situ self-stabilized dispersion polymerization in the presence of LNCA. The materials were characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Electrochemical properties including galvanostatic charge-discharge ability, cyclic voltammetry (CV), capacity, cycling performance, and AC impedance were measured. The synthesized LNCA/Pani had a similar particle size to LNCA and exhibited good electrochemical properties at a high C rate. Pani (the emeraldine salt form) interacts with metal-oxide particles to generate good connectivity. This material shows good reversibility for Li insertion in discharge cycles when used as the electrode of lithium ion batteries. Therefore, the Pani coating is beneficial for stabilizing the structure and reducing the resistance of the LNCA. In particular, the LNCA/Pani material has advantageous electrochemical properties.

• International Journal of Railway
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.91-93
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• 2014

In these days, use of proper soils for construction materials become more limited, but wasted soils are abundant; therefore, the method which can use wasted soil such as soft clay has been investigated. Air-foamed stabilized soil has been used widely, but never been used as a subgrade material. The aim of this study is to verify the use of air-foamed stabilized soil as the subgrade construction material. Several wasted soils such as soft clay was selected to make air-foamed stabilized soil mixtures. The air-foamed stabilized mixture design was conducted to find the optimum quantity of stabilizing agent (cement) and air-foamed, and the effect of cement quantity and air-foamed quantity on strength of air-foamed stabilized soil mixtures base on the test results of unconfined compression test was investigated. As the quantity of cement is increased, the strength is increased, but the quantity of air-foamed is increased and the strength is decreased. Elastic moduli based on unconfined compression strength were obtained to use as subgrade of railway track design.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.65-92
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• 2019

We survey a recently developed immersed finite element method (IFEM) for the interface problems. The IFEM uses structured grids such as uniform grids, even if the interface is a smooth curve. Instead of fitting the curved interface, the bases are modified so that they satisfy the jump conditions along the interface. The early versions of IFEM [1, 2] were suboptimal in convergence order [3]. Later, the consistency terms were added to the bilinear forms [4, 5], thus the scheme became optimal and the error estimates were proven. For elasticity problems with interfaces, we modify the Crouzeix-Raviart based element to satisfy the traction conditions along the interface [6], but the consistency terms are not needed. To satisfy the Korn's inequality, we add the stabilizing terms to the bilinear form. The optimal error estimate was shown for a triangular grid. Lastly, we describe the multigrid algorithms for the discretized system arising from IFEM. The prolongation operators are designed so that the prolongated function satisfy the flux continuity condition along the interface. The W-cycle convergence was proved, and the number of V-cycle is independent of the mesh size.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.272-278
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• 2021

In this study, high nickel layered LiNi_0.8Co_0.1Mn_0.1O₂ cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries were modified by yttrium doping and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) coating. The effects of yttrium doping and PEDOT:PSS coating on the structural and electrochemical properties of the LiNi_0.8Co_0.1Mn_0.1O₂ cathode material were investigated and compared. The substitution of nickel with an electrochemically inert yttrium was confirmed to be successful in stabilizing the layered structure framework. Moreover, coating the surfaces of the LiNi_0.8Co_0.1Mn_0.1O₂ particles with a conductive polymer, PEDOT:PSS, improved the capacity retention, thermal stability, and impedance of the cathode material by increasing its ionic and electric conductivities.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.13-23
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• 2022

Peat soil has the characteristics of high moisture content, large void ratio and low shear strength. In this study, unconfined compressive strength and SEM tests are conducted to investigate the effects of ultrahigh moisture content, cement content, organic content and pH value on the strength of solidified peat. As an increase in the cement content and curing period, the failure mode of solidified peat soil changes from ductile failure to brittle failure. The influence of moisture content on the strength of solidified peat is greater than the cement content. As cement content increases from 10% to 30%, strength of solidified peat at a curing age of 28 days increases by 161%~485%. By increasing water content by 100%, decreases of solidified peat at a curing age of 28 days is 42%~79%. Compared with the strength of solidified peat with a pH value of 5.5, the strength of peat with a pH value of 3.5 reduces by 10% ~ 46%, while the strength of peat with a pH value of 7.0 increases by 8% ~ 38%. It is recommended to use filler materials for stabilizing peat soil with moisture content greater than 200%. Because of small size of clay particles, clay added in the cement solidified peat can improve much higher strength that that of sand.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.41-51
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• 2023

Cementitious materials such as Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), fly ash, lime, and bitumen have been employed for soil improvement over the years. However, due to the environmental concerns associated with the use of OPC, substituting OPC with calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement offers good potential for ground improvement because it is more eco-friendly. Although earlier research has investigated the stabilizing effects of CSA cement-treated sand, no attempt has been made to examine soil behavior under high confining pressure. As a result, this study aimed to investigate the shear strength and mechanical behavior of CSA cement-treated sand using a consolidated drained (CD) triaxial test with high confining pressure. The microstructure of the examined sand samples was investigated using scanning electron microscopy. This study used sand with CSA cement contents of 3%, 5%, and 7% and confining pressures of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 MPa. It revealed that the confining pressures and CSA cement content significantly affected the stress-strain and volumetric change behavior of CSA cement-treated sand at high confining pressures.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.52.1-52.11
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• 2020

Objectives: Yttria-stabilized tetragonal phase zirconia has been used as a dental restorative material for over a decade. While it is still the strongest and toughest ceramic, its translucency remains as a significant drawback. To overcome this, stabilizing the translucency zirconia to a significant cubic crystalline phase by increasing the yttria content to more than 8 mol% (8YTZP). However, the biocompatibility of a high amount of yttria is still an important topic that needs to be investigated. Materials and Methods: Commercially available 8YTZP plates were used. To enhance cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation, the surface of the 8YTZP is sequentially polished with a SiC-coated abrasive paper and surface coating with type I collagen. Fibroblast-like cells L929 used for cell adherence and cell proliferation analysis, and mouse bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSC) used for cell differentiation analysis. Results: The results revealed that all samples, regardless of the surface treatment, are hydrophilic and showed a strong affinity for water. Even the cell culture results indicate that simple surface polishing and coating can affect cellular behavior by enhancing cell adhesion and proliferation. Both L929 cells and BMSC were nicely adhered to and proliferated in all conditions. Conclusions: The results demonstrate the biocompatibility of the cubic phase zirconia with 8 mol% yttria and suggest that yttria with a higher zirconia content are not toxic to the cells, support a strong adhesion of cells on their surfaces, and promote cell proliferation and differentiation. All these confirm its potential use in tissue engineering.