• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.290-294
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• 2010

We performed a density functional theory study to investigate the intercalation voltage and lithium ion conduction in lithium cobalt oxide for lithium ion battery as a function of the lithium concentration. There were two methods for the intercalation of lithium ions; the intercalation of a lithium ion at a time in the individual layer and the intercalation of lithium ions in all the sites of one layer after all the sites of another layer. The average intercalation voltage was the same value, 3.48 V. However, we found the former method was more favorable than the latter method. The lattice parameter c was increased as the increase of the lithium concentration in the range of x < 0.25 while it was decreased as increase of the lithium concentration in the range of x > 0.25. The energy barrier for the conduction of lithium ion in lithium cobalt oxide was increased as the lithium concentration was increased. We demonstrated that the decrease of the intercalation voltage and increase of the energy barrier as the increase of the lithium concentration caused lower output voltage during the discharge of the lithium ion battery.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.11-23
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• 2018

목적 : 본 연구에서는 $TNF-{\alpha}$와 $IFN-{\gamma}$로 자극한 인간피부각질형성세포 (HaCaT keratinocytes) 모델을 사용하여 지모가 피부장벽 기능에 미치는 영향을 알아보고자 하였다. 방법 : MTT assay를 통하여 지모 주정(70% 에탄올) 추출물 (EAA)이 HaCaT keratinocytes의 세포생존율에 미치는 영향을 확인하였으며 wound healing assay를 통해 EAA가 HaCaT 세포의 이주 능력에 영향을 주는지 관찰하였다. 또한 western blot analysis와 qRT-PCR을 통하여 EAA가 $TNF-{\alpha}/IFN-{\gamma}$로 자극한 HaCaT 세포에서 iNOS의 단백질 발현 및 IL-4, IL-13, IL-6의 mRNA 발현, filaggrin의 단백질과 mRNA 발현에 미치는 영향을 조사하였다. 결과 : EAA는 처리 농도 $500{\mu}g/ml$까지 HaCaT keratinocytes의 세포생존율에 영향을 미치지 않았다. EAA는 wound healing assay에서 HaCaT 세포의 이주 능력을 증가시켰으며, $TNF-{\alpha}/IFN-{\gamma}$로 자극한 HaCaT 세포에서 iNOS의 단백질 수준을 감소시켰다. 또한 EAA가 IL-4, IL-13, IL-6의 mRNA 발현을 억제하는 것 역시 확인할 수 있었다. 뿐만 아니라 EAA는 $TNF-{\alpha}/IFN-{\gamma}$ 자극에 의해 감소했던 filaggrin을 단백질과 mRNA 수준에서 회복시켰다. 결론 : EAA가 HaCaT 세포에서 Th2 type cytokines, pro-inflammatory cytokine의 억제와 filaggrin 회복을 통해 피부장벽 기능 손상에 대한 억제활성을 갖는 것을 확인하였으며, 이를 통해 EAA가 염증으로 인해 손상된 피부장벽 기능 개선에 효과적일 것으로 사료된다.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.694-700
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• 2017

Clostridium difficile, which causes pseudomembranous colitis, releases toxin A and toxin B. These toxins are considered to be the main causative agents for the disease pathogenesis, and their expression is associated with a marked increase of apoptosis in mucosal epithelial cells. Colonic epithelial cells are believed to form a physical barrier between the lumen and the submucosa, and abnormally increased mucosal epithelial cell apoptosis is considered to be an initial step in gut inflammation responses. Therefore, one approach to treating pseudomembranous colitis would be to develop agents that block the mucosal epithelial cell apoptosis caused by toxin A, thus restoring barrier function and curing inflammatory responses in the gut. We recently isolated an antimicrobial peptide, Periplanetasin-2 (Peri-2, YPCKLNLKLGKVPFH) from the American cockroach, whose extracts have shown great potential for clinical use. Here, we assessed whether Peri-2 could inhibit the cell toxicity and inflammation caused by C. difficile toxin A. Indeed, in human colonocyte HT29 cells, Peri-2 inhibited the toxin A-induced decrease in cell proliferation and ameliorated the cell apoptosis induced by this toxin. Moreover, in the toxin A-induced mouse enteritis model, Peri-2 blocked the mucosal disruption and inflammatory response caused by toxin A. These results suggest that the American cockroach peptide Peri-2 could be a possible drug candidate for addressing the pseudomembranous colitis caused by C. difficile toxin A.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.1049-1054
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• 2012

Continued advancements in organic materials have led to the development of organic devices that are thin, flexible, and lightweight and that can potentially be used as low-cost energy-conversion devices. While these devices have many advantages, the environmentally induced degradation of the active materials and the low-work-function electrodes remain a valid concern. Hence, many vacuum deposition processes have been applied to develop low-permeation barrier coatings. In this work, we present the results pertaining to the developed thin-film encapsulation. Multilayer encapsulation involves the use of $SiO_x$ or $SiN_x$ with parylene. The effective water vapor transmission rates were investigated using a Ca-corrosion test. The integration of the developed barrier layers was demonstrated by encapsulating pentacene/$C_{60}$ solar cells, and the results are presented.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.190-196
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• 2019

Tight junctions are constituents of the blood-epididymis barrier that play roles in regulating the unidirectional transcellular transport of ions, water, and solutes to maintain optimal conditions for sperm maturation and storage. Claudin 1 (Cldn1) and 4 (Cldn4) are known as tight junction proteins and are expressed in the basolateral membranes as well as tight junctions in the epididymis of rodents. Here, we examined the expression and localization of Cldn1 and 4 to determine the function of these proteins in the pig epididymis. Cldn1 was highly expressed in the basolateral membrane of epithelial cells in the caput and corpus regions of the epididymis. In the cauda region, however, Cldn1 labeling was significantly decreased in the basolateral membrane of epithelial cells. In contrast, labeling indicated that Cldn4 was expressed in the basolateral membrane in the cauda region of the epididymis and was present at punctate reactive sites in the caput and corpus regions. However, in no region of the epididymis did we detect colocalization of Cldn1 and 4 with labeled ZO-1, the distribution of which is restricted to the tight junctions. Our results indicate that Cldn1 and 4 were region-specifically expressed in the pig epididymis but not present in the tight junctions of epididymal epithelium. In addition, reciprocal regulation in specific regions of the epididymis between Cldn1 and 4 may play an important role in generating an optimal luminal environment for sperm maturation and storage in the pig epididymis.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.171-176
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• 2016

This paper proposes road safety facilities applying Hot-dip zinc-aluminum-magnesium alloy-coated steel sheets and coils to reduce the loss of function caused by the corrosion of steel in the service state. Vehicle crash simulations and full-scale crash tests were carried out to provide reliable information on evaluating the crash performance with the products of road safety facilities built with hot-dip zinc-aluminum-magnesium alloy-coated steel. From the results of the simulations and full-scale crash tests, the impact behaviors evaluated by the three-dimensional crash simulations considering the strain-rate dependency in a constitutive model were similar to those obtained from the full-scale crash test results. The full-scale crash test results met the crashworthiness evaluation criteria; hence, the proposed bridge barrier in this paper is ready for field applications.

• BMB Reports
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• v.47 no.9
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• pp.494-499
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• 2014

NADH:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) is known to be involved in the regulation of energy synthesis and metabolism, and the functional studies of NQO1 have largely focused on metabolic disorders. Here, we show for the first time that compared to NQO1-WT mice, NQO1-KO mice exhibited a marked increase of permeability and spontaneous inflammation in the gut. In the DSS-induced colitis model, NQO1-KO mice showed more severe inflammatory responses than NQO1-WT mice. Interestingly, the transcript levels of claudin and occludin, the major tight junction molecules of gut epithelial cells, were significantly decreased in NQO1-KO mice. The colons of NQO1-KO mice also showed high levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity, which are known to affect transcriptional regulation. Taken together, these novel findings indicate that NQO1 contributes to the barrier function of gut epithelial cells by regulating the transcription of tight junction molecules.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.125-132
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• 2017

The effect of food simulants on properties and light barrier function of LDPE-nano $TiO_2$ composite film has been investigated. LDPE-nano $TiO_2$ composite films were prepared with 5.0wt% $TiO_2$ content by melt-extrusion. To simulate food contact environment, according to KFDA standards and specifications for food utensils, containers and packages, food simulants were selected with deionized water, 50% ethanol, 4% acetic acid and n-heptane and composite films were immersed in each food simulant at $70^{\circ}C$, 30 min except n-heptane ($25^{\circ}C$, 60 min). A variety of material properties, including crystallinity, chemical bonds, surface morphology, mechanical, oxygen barrier and optical properties, of LDPE-nano $TiO_2$ composite film were examined with and without the food simulants treatment. As a result, under regulated migration condition, LDPE-nano $TiO_2$ composite showed extremely stable in all properties tested in the study in contact with food simulants indicating that $TiO_2$ nanoparticles are physicochemically stable and quite compatible with LDPE. Results enable us to anticipate migration of $TiO_2$ will probably not occur. To evaluate influence of migration of $TiO_2$ on food stuffs, their color, pH and acidity were observed as well.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.2015-2020
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• 2012

The subthreshold characteristics has been analyzed to investigate the effect of two gate in Double Gate MOSFET using impact factor based on scaling theory. The charge distribution of Gaussian function validated in previous researches has been used to obtain potential distribution in Poisson equation. The potential distribution was used to investigate the short channel effects such as threshold voltage roll-off, subthreshold swings and drain induced barrier lowering by varying impact factor for scaling factor. The impact factor of 0.1~1.0 for channel length and 1.0~2.0 for channel thickness are used to fit structural feature of DGMOSFET. The simulation result showed that the subthreshold swings are mostly effected by impact factor but are nearly constant for scaling factors. And threshold voltage roll-off and drain induced barrier lowering are also effected by both impact factor and scaling factor.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.48-52
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• 2017

In this study, we used I-V spectroscopy, photoconductivity (PC) yield and internal photoemission (IPE) yield using IPE spectroscopy to characterize the Schottky barrier heights (SBH) at insulator-semiconductor interfaces of Pt/$HfO_2$/p-type Si metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) capacitors. The leakage current characteristics of the MIS capacitor were analyzed according to the J-V and C-V curves. The leakage current behavior of the capacitors, which depends on the applied electric field, can be described using the Poole-Frenkel (P-F) emission, trap assisted tunneling (TAT), and direct tunneling (DT) models. The leakage current transport mechanism is controlled by the trap level energy depth of $HfO_2$. In order to further study the SBH and the electronic tunneling mechanism, the internal photoemission (IPE) yield was measured and analyzed. We obtained the SBH values of the Pt/$HfO_2$/p-type Si for use in Fowler plots in the square and cubic root IPE yield spectra curves. At the Pt/$HfO_2$/p-type Si interface, the SBH difference, which depends on the electrical potential, is related to (1) the work function (WF) difference and between the Pt and p-type Si and (2) the sub-gap defect state features (density and energy) in the given dielectric.