• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.505-516
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• 2016

With the development of nanotechnology, nanomaterials are used in various fields. Therefore, the interest regarding the safety of nanomaterial use is increasing and much effort is diverted toward establishment of exposure assessment and management methods. Occupational exposure limits (OELs) are effectively used to protect the health of workers in various industrial workplaces. This study aimed to propose an OEL for domestic multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) based on animal inhalation toxicity test. Basic procedure for development of OELs was examined. For OEL estimation, epidemiological study and quantitative risk assessment are generally performed based on toxicity data. In addition, inhalation toxicity data-based no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) and benchmark dose (BMD) are estimated to obtain the OEL. Three different estimation processes (NEDO in Japan, NIOSH in USA, and Baytubes in Germany) of OELs for carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were intensively reviewed. From the rat inhalation toxicity test for MWCNTs manufactured in Korea, a NOAEL of $0.98mg/m^3$ was derived. Using the simple equation for estimation of OEL suggested by NEDO, the OEL of $142{\mu}g/m^3$ was estimated for the MWCNT manufacturing workplace. Here, we used test rat and Korean human data and adopted 36 as an uncertainty factor. The OEL for MWCNT estimated in this work is higher than those ($2-80{\mu}g/m^3$) suggested by previous investigators. It may be greatly caused by different physicochemical properties of MWCNT and their dispersion method and test rat data. For setting of regulatory OELs in CNT workplaces, further epidemiological studies in addition to animal studies are needed. More advanced technical methods such as CNT dispersion in air and liquid should be also developed.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.4-4
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• 2008

The progress in flat panel displays over the last two decades has been astonishing. In just 20 years, the LCD-TV grew up from a 2-inch curiosity, to an industry that will sell about 120 million flat panel TV's this year, with viewing area up to 4000 times larger. That success is based on continuous innovation, especially in manufacturing processes. For the next decade to bring another doubling of the business, progress will need to continue in four major areas: Human factors, ecological impact, visual quality, and of course continued drive towards affordability. This talk will detail the technology advances that can allow this industry to meet those challenges. Human factors. Today, we adapt our lifestyle to our technology. People organize their offices, and their homes, around displays. We pass around mobile phones to share images, rather than experiencing them as a group. Billions of newspapers continue to be sold daily. Advances in flexible displays can lead to large portable displays. "New era projection" includes the handheld Pico Projectors that are already on the market, and will ultimately appear integrated in mobile phones the same way cameras do today. "Eco" impact. Today TV's are one of the top energy consumers in a U.S. home, and the fastest growing. Watching a large flat panel TV can cost twice as much as running a large refrigerator. With today's concern about energy consumption, regulations are starting to emerge worldwide to limit TV electrical use. Fortunately, good solutions exist in using light management films to eliminate bulbs, saving power without increasing cost. Going forward, LED backlights will drive another step downward. OLED displays might be the ultimate solution. Visual quality. The color of an LCD-TV is still often considered inferior to a far less expensive CRT. And almost all displays suffer from representing a three-dimensional world on a two dimensional surface. The technology to improve color is available today, and will likely move from premium sets into the mainstream as costs come down. 3D is now arriving in movie theaters worldwide, and that will drive up the demand for similar realistic images in home theaters. And the technology is emerging today for 3D representation to move beyond specialized applications into everyday use, on screens large and small. Affordability. The world takes cost-down miracles for granted in consumer electronics. Each of these other advances will be balanced with a drive for affordability, especially as the market grows in emerging countries. The other three challenges must be met without increasing cost. Putting this all together, the next few years will emphasize "eco friendly" designs, and enhanced images such as 3D. By 2013 we will start to see serious penetration by emissive technologies (OLED, high efficiency plasma, or other), with the "ultimate display" likely not in the market for a decade. Lots of opportunities for innovation remain ahead of us.

• Journal of Korea Foresty Energy
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2005

After manufacturing fermentation system for degrading pig manure using environmentally friendly technique, performance of the system and characteristics of wood chips and pig manure fermented in the system were analyzed. Results from this study shows that proper fermentation temperature($55{\sim}60^{\circ}C$) reached 3days after the system started and degradation rate, which expresses fermentation performance of system, was $180{\iota}$/day. Even as progressing the fermentation of wood chips and pig manure mixture, the amount of extractives drawn out by alkali, and alcohol-benzene and lignin content was not varied. However, ash content in wood was increased. The inorganic compounds in pig manure seem to be transferred into wood chip. On the other hand holocellulose contents in wood were decreased a little. Holocellulose seems to be consumed as the second carbon source in fermentation process. Results through analysis of inorganic- and heavy metal elements contents in wood chips and pig manure fermented in long term process shows that inorganic elements($Ca^{2+},\;Mg^{2+},\;K^+,\;Na^+$ etc.) contents were increased with fermentation time and heavy metal elements(Cd, As, Cu etc.) which cause environmental pollution were not detected. Number of microorganisms including bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi, the number of C.F.U(Colony Forming Unit) was increased while temperature in fermentation system was abruptly increased.

• Clean Technology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.270-278
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• 2017

This study introduces a method to easily fabricate highly monodisperse pectin hydrogel microfibers in a microfluidic device by using partial gelation. The hydrodynamic parameters between the pectin aqueous solution and the calcium ions containing oil solution are precisely controlled to form a stable elongation flow of the pectin aqueous solution, and partial gelation of the pectin aqueous solution is performed by the chelating of the calcium ions at the interface between the two phases. The partially gelled pectin aqueous solution is phase-separated from the oil solution in an aqueous calcium chloride solution outside the microfluidic device and is completely gelled to produce monodisperse pectin hydrogel microfibers. The thickness of the pectin hydrogel microfiber is controlled in a reproducible manner by controlling the volumetric flow rate of the initially injected pectin aqueous solution. The pectin hydrogel microfibers were 200 to 500 micrometers in diameter and had a coefficient of variation below 5% under all thickness conditions, indicating that the pectin hydrogel microfibers produced by partial gelation are highly monodisperse. In addition, biomaterials can be immobilized to the pectin hydrogel microfibers produced by a single process, demonstrating the possibility that our pectin hydrogel microfiber can be used as carriers for biomaterials or tissue engineering.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.30-39
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• 2020

Single-phase barium ferrite powder was synthesized using the sol-gel method. At this time, an attempt was made to find the optimal experimental conditions for the production of single-phase barium ferrite by varying the Fe to Ba molar ratio (Fe/Ba) and the heat treatment temperature. In addition, cobalt-substituted barium ferrite particles were prepared using cobalt, which has an excellent effect on coercivity control for the production of ferrite fine particles having a coercivity of 2.5 to 5.5 kOe for use in high-density magnetic recording media. The changes in the magnetic properties of these were investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) were used to observe the synthesis of single-phase, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) were used to analyze the chemical structure and composition. The coercivity of the cobalt-substituted barium ferrite powder was measured by vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). As a result, single-phase Barium ferrites were synthesized when the Fe/Ba molar ratio was 10, and the heat treatment temperature was 900 ℃. The coercivity decreased with increasing the amount of Co added. Barium ferrite, having a coercivity of 2.5 to 5.5 kOe for use in high-density magnetic recording media, was synthesized when the Co to Fe(Co/Fe) molar ratio was less than 0.16.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.493-493
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• 2014

The manufacturing cost of thin-film photovoltics can potentially be lowered by minimizing the amount of a semiconductor material used to fabricate devices. Thin-film solar cells are typically only a few micrometers thick, whereas crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafer solar cells are $180{\sim}300\mu}m$ thick. As such, thin-film layers do not fully absorb incident light and their energy conversion efficiency is lower compared with that of c-Si wafer solar cells. Therefore, effective light trapping is required to realize commercially viable thin-film cells, particularly for indirect-band-gap semiconductors such as c-Si. An emerging method for light trapping in thin film solar cells is the use of metallic nanostructures that support surface plasmons. Plasmon-enhanced light absorption is shown to increase the cell photocurrent in many types of solar cells, specifically, in c-Si thin-film solar cells and in poly-Si thin film solar cell. By proper engineering of these structures, light can be concentrated and coupled into a thin semiconductor layer to increase light absorption. In many cases, silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NP) are formed either on the front surface or on the rear surface on the cells. In case of poly-Si thin film solar cells, Ag NPs are formed on the rear surface of the cells due to longer wavelengths are not perfectly absorbed in the active layer on the first path. In our cells, shorter wavelengths typically 300~500 nm are also not effectively absorbed. For this reason, a new concept of plasmonic nanostructure which is NPs formed both the front - and the rear - surface is worth testing. In this simulation Al NPs were located onto glass because Al has much lower parasitic absorption than other metal NPs. In case of Ag NP, it features parasitic absorption in the optical frequency range. On the other hand, Al NP, which is non-resonant metal NP, is characterized with a higher density of conduction electrons, resulting in highly negative dielectric permittivity. It makes them more suitable for the forward scattering configuration. In addition to this, Ag NP is located on the rear surface of the cell. Ag NPs showed good performance enhancement when they are located on the rear surface of our cells. In this simulation, Al NPs are located on glass and Ag NP is located on the rear Si surface. The structure for the simulation is shown in figure 1. Figure 2 shows FDTD-simulated absorption graphs of the proposed and reference structures. In the simulation, the front of the cell has Al NPs with 70 nm radius and 12.5% coverage; and the rear of the cell has Ag NPs with 157 nm in radius and 41.5% coverage. Such a structure shows better light absorption in 300~550 nm than that of the reference cell without any NPs and the structure with Ag NP on rear only. Therefore, it can be expected that enhanced light absorption of the structure with Al NP on front at 300~550 nm can contribute to the photocurrent enhancement.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.434-435
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• 2012

Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) silicon dioxide thin films have many applications in semiconductor manufacturing such as inter-level dielectric and gate dielectric metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs). Fundamental chemical reaction for the formation of SiO2 includes SiH4 and O2, but mixture of SiH4 and N2O is preferable because of lower hydrogen concentration in the deposited film [1]. It is also known that binding energy of N-N is higher than that of N-O, so the particle generation by molecular reaction can be reduced by reducing reactive nitrogen during the deposition process. However, nitrous oxide (N2O) gives rise to nitric oxide (NO) on reaction with oxygen atoms, which in turn reacts with ozone. NO became a greenhouse gas which is naturally occurred regulating of stratospheric ozone. In fact, it takes global warming effect about 300 times higher than carbon dioxide (CO2). Industries regard that N2O is inevitable for their device fabrication; however, it is worthwhile to develop a marginable nitrous oxide free process for university lab classes considering educational and environmental purpose. In this paper, we developed environmental friendly and material cost efficient SiO2 deposition process by substituting N2O with O2 targeting university hands-on laboratory course. Experiment was performed by two level statistical design of experiment (DOE) with three process parameters including RF power, susceptor temperature, and oxygen gas flow. Responses of interests to optimize the process were deposition rate, film uniformity, surface roughness, and electrical dielectric property. We observed some power like particle formation on wafer in some experiment, and we postulate that the thermal and electrical energy to dissociate gas molecule was relatively lower than other runs. However, we were able to find a marginable process region with less than 3% uniformity requirement in our process optimization goal. Surface roughness measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM) presented some evidence of the agglomeration of silane related particles, and the result was still satisfactory for the purpose of this research. This newly developed SiO2 deposition process is currently under verification with repeated experimental run on 4 inches wafer, and it will be adopted to Semiconductor Material and Process course offered in the Department of Electronic Engineering at Myongji University from spring semester in 2012.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.12 no.11
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• pp.289-298
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• 2014

Recently, the traditional paradigm in railroad technology is changing as more efficient and cost-effective electric vehicle (EV) technologies have emerged. The original concept of PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) proposed in the past has come to be regarded as unrealistic, but its feasibility is improving through the utilization of an EV platform. In particular, battery-powered vehicles pose difficult technical challenges in attempts to achieve reliable and efficient operation. However, based on the inductive power transfer (IPT) technology, the fast charging of supercapacitors with high energy density can contribute to overcoming this technical challenge and promote the transition to electric-powered ground transportation by improving the appearance of cities. This study discusses the development process of a power supply system for PRT, including concept design, numerical analysis, and device manufacturing, along with performance predictions and evaluations. In terms of results, the system was found to meet the performance requirements for power supply modules on a test-bed.

• Clean Technology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.430-436
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• 2013

In this study, experiments on the static adsorption of benzene were carried out using activated carbon made from Pinus koraiensis which is normally discarded waste timber in South Korea. The experiment were performed at 303.15 K, 318.15 K and 333.15 K under the pressure up to 7.999 kPa. Isothermal adsorption curves were obtained using Langmuir isotherm, Freundlich isotherm and Toth isotherm for comparison. Based on the fitting, the adsorption quantity of Benzene (q), the isothermal adsorption curves obtained from Langmuir isotherm and Toth isotherm showed the higher accuracy. Although there was little difference in accuracy between result from Langmuir isotherm and that from Toth isotherm, the adsorption quantity of Benzene (q) was expressed in terms of Langmuir isotherm because less parameters were required for Langmuir isotherm than for Toth isotherm. Moreover SEM images of the activated carbon from Pinus koraiensis and the commercial activated carbon were taken to observe the pore size development. The results showed that the perforation development of activated carbon from Pinus koraiensis (waste timber) was better than that of commercial activated carbon (DARCO A.C., SPG-100 A.C.). Adsorption quantity of benzene on activated carbon from Pinus koraiensis was confirmed to be higher than that on commercial activated carbon. Therefore, we may conclude that it is feasible to commercialize the process to manufacturing activated carbon from waste timber.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.413-440
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• 2010

Since 2000, as importance of sourcing energy emphasized caused by instability of international oil price, interests toward Caspian countries as an alternative markets has increased. Especially, Azerbaijan, as middle Asian emerging exporting country, has performed drastic economic boom because of massive amount of foreign capital flowed in and construction of BTC pipeline. However, despite this economic surge, there are unbalanced economy which is merely focusing on energy industry and pressure from increase in real exchange rate and inflation. In order to analyze the sustainability of Azerbaijan economy, the total sample time period of this paper is from January 2001 to December 2007 and the term is divided into before and after BTC line construction. Vector Error-Correction Model has been applied to analysis confirming short-term and long-term effect. As a result, Azerbaijan now face the symptoms of the recession during the time period and this is due to high oil price and increase in export influenced by BTC oil pipeline resulting in decrease in real interest rate. This conclusion is to affect competitiveness of manufacturing industry, base industry for economic proliferation, in a negative way.