• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate the killing effect of Candida albicans on hairless mouse-2 (HRM-2) mouse tissues. We tested the effectiveness of a non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma in killing C. albicans strains. The viability of C. albicans was determined by counting the colony forming units (CFU), after non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma treatment. When non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma was repeatedly treated on mouse skin which inoculated with C. albicans. The C. albicans cells were planted on skin tissue, and then the infected mouse tissue was exposed to non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma for 0 sec, 60 sec, 180 sec and 300 sec. The death rate of C. albicans was increased in dependent with treatment times. The three times of non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma at the interval of 10 minutes significantly showed the 6 log CFU/ml reduction of death rate on HRM-2 mouse tissues. Thus, non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma could be used for the disinfection of C. albicans on oral surface.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.1401-1411
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• 2019

Mycobacterial cell walls comprise thick and diverse lipids and glycolipids that act as a permeability barrier to antibiotics or other chemical agents. The use of OH radicals from a non-thermal plasma jet (NTPJ) for the inactivation of mycobacteria in aqueous solution was adopted as a novel approach. Addition of water vapor in a nitrogen plasma jet generated OH radicals, which converted to hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) that inactivated non-pathogenic Mycobacterium smegmatis and pathogenic Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv. A stable plasma plume was obtained from a nitrogen plasma jet with 1.91 W of power, killing Escherichia coli and mycobacteria effectively, whereas addition of catalase decreased the effects of the former. Mycobacteria were more resistant than E. coli to NTPJ treatment. Plasma treatment enhanced intracellular ROS production and upregulation of genes related to ROS stress responses (thiolrelated oxidoreductases, such as SseA and DoxX, and ferric uptake regulator furA). Morphological changes of M. smegmatis and M. tuberculosis H37Rv were observed after 5 min treatment with $N_2+H_2O$ plasma, but not of pre-incubated sample with catalase. This finding indicates that the bactericidal efficacy of NTPJ is related to the toxicity of OH and $H_2O_2$ radicals in cells. Therefore, our study suggests that NTPJ treatment may effectively control pulmonary infections caused by M. tuberculosis and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) such as M. avium or M. abscessus in water.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.85-91
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• 2023

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) occurs when abdominal pressure increases, such as sneezing, exercising, and laughing. Surgical and non-surgical treatments are the common methods of SUI treatment; however, the conventional treatments still require continuous and invasive treatment. Laser have been used to treat SUI, but excessive temperature increase often causes thermal burn on urethra tissue. Therefore, the optimal conditions must be considered to minimize the thermal damage for the laser treatment. The current study investigated the feasibility of the laser irradiation condition for SUI treatment using non-ablative 980 nm laser from a safety perspective through numerical simulations. COMSOL Multiphysics was used to analyze the numerical simulation model. The Pennes bioheat equation with the Beer's law was used to confirm spatio-temporal temperature distributions, and Arrhenius equation defined the thermal damage caused by the laser-induced heat. Ex vivo porcine urethral tissue was tested to validate the extent of both temperature distribution and thermal damage. The temperature distribution was symmetrical and uniformly observed in the urethra tissue. A muscle layer had a higher temperature (28.3 ℃) than mucosal (23.4 ℃) and submucosal layers (25.5 ℃). MT staining revealed no heat-induced collagen and muscle damage. Both control and treated groups showed the equivalent thickness and area of the urethral mucosal layer. Therefore, the proposed numerical simulation can predict the appropriate irradiation condition (20 W for 15 s) for the SUI treatment with minimal temperature-induced tissue.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.16-23
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• 2012

Current display manufacturing processes apply thermal treatment of glass backplanes widely for hydrogen degassing, crystallization of thin-films, tempering, forming, and precompaction. Estimation of the characteristics of transient heating stages and thermal non-uniformities on a single glass substrate or in a stack of glasses are extremely helpful to understand non-homogeneity of mechanical and electronic features of nano/micro structures of end products. Based on simple heat transfer models and using an electric muffle furnace, temperature variations in a glass stack were predicted and measured for glass backplanes of $1.5{\times}1.85m^2$ in size and 0.7 mm in thickness. Except for the period of putting glass backplanes into the furnace, thermal radiation was the major heating mechanism for the treatment and theoretical predictions agreed well to the experimental temperatures on the backplanes. Using the theoretical model, thermal fields for a glass stack of glass-size, $2.2{\times}2.5m^2$, and of the number of sheets, 1 to 12, were calculated for practical design and manufacturing of the muffle furnace for large-scale displays, e.g. up to $8^{th}$ generation.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2006

Non-thermal plasma technology for air pollution control, which are NOx, SOx, VOCs, soot, etc., is reviewed. In the early parts of the paper, generation of non-thermal plasma and plasma chemical process are introduced to provide an appropriate plasma condition (electron energy density) for treating air pollutions. Recent results on numerical simulation, optical diagnostics, and gas treatment are provided to characterize an optimal design of plasma generation and plasma chemical process. These data are also helpful to understand unique features of non-thermal plasma process that is achieved with relatively low temperature conditions, i.e. low enthalpy conditions of the treated gas molecules. In the later parts of the paper, several examples of recently developed non-thermal plasma techniques are illustrated, in which technical and economical assessments of the present techniques are provided.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.193-201
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• 2006

Thermal performance model was developed for a cross-flow aluminum heat exchanger with relatively short passage. Appropriate heat transfer coefficient and friction factor equations for laminar channel flow were obtained considering developing regions. The heat exchanger was analyzed using the unmixed cross-flow ${\epsilon}$-NTU relationship considering leak-age between streams. Thermal contact between corrugations and plates was also considered. Tests were separately conducted for two samples - one made of non-treated aluminum sheets, and the other made of varnish-treated ones. The samples were made by stacking corrugations and plates one after another. The model adequately predicted the thermal performance and pressure drop of the non-treated heat exchanger. The thermal performance of the varnish-treated one was $7{\sim}12%$ overpredicted, and the pressure drop of the varnished-treated heat exchanger was $5{\sim}15%$ underpredicted. The air leakage ratio of the non-treated heat exchanger was $23{\sim}26%$. The ratio decreased to less than $10%$ with the varnish treatment.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.54 no.12
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• pp.985-995
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• 2016

Titanium (Ti) has been widely used for dental implant due to great biocompatibility and bonding ability against natural alveolar bone. A lot of titanium surface modification has been introduced in dentistry and, among them, methods to introduce micro/nano-roughened surface were considered as clinically approved strategy for accelerating osseointegration of Ti dental implant. To have synergetic effect with topography oriented favors in cell attachment, chair-side surface treatment with reproducibility of micro/nano-topography is introduced as next strategy to further enhance cellular functionalities. Extensive research has been investigated to study the potential of micro/nano-topography preserved chair-side surface treatment for Ti dental implant. This review will discuss ultraviolet, low level of laser therapy and non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma on Ti dental implant with micro/nano-topography as next generation of surface treatment due to its abilities to induce super-hydrophilicity or biofunctionality without change of topographical cues.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.85-92
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• 2010

In this study, odorous compounds emitted from various wastewater treatment were treated with using the non-thermal plasma reaction, and the effluent gas from the plasma reactor was introduced to a waste sludge reactor to achieve simultaneous sludge reduction. Hydrogen sulfide, the model odorous compound, was removed at 70% using the plasma reaction, and greater than 99% removal efficiency was observed when treated by the sludge reactor. In addition, the sludge reactor showed a high efficiency of ozone removal. As ozone reacted with sludge, oxidation with organic matters took place, and total COD decreased by 50~60% and soluble COD increased gradually. As a result, the integrated process consisting of the non-thermal plasma and the sludge reactor can be successfully applied for the simultaneous treatment of malodorous gas and waste sludge.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.492-496
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• 2004

Shrinkage properties of drawn textured Poly(trimethylene terephthalate, PTT) yarn, which has been developed recently, were investigated to provide fundamental information for the textile industry. Shrinkage ratio characteristics on PTT yarn with six different count were investigated with tension, dry and wet thermal temperature. In non-tension, the shrinkage ratio were increased to increasing temperature at dry and wet thermal treatment, and in tension, the shrinkage ratio were increased to increasing tension at dry and wet thermal treatment.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.41-47
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• 2010

The effects of thermal treatment on CNTs, which were coated with a-$CN_x$ thin film, were investigated and related to variations of chemical bonding and morphologies of CNTs and also properties of field emission induced by thermal treatment. CNTs were directly grown on nano-sized conical-type tungsten tips via the inductively coupled plasma-chemical vapor deposition (ICP-CVD) system, and a-$CN_x$ films were coated on the CNTs using an RF magnetron sputtering system. Thermal treatment on a-$CN_x$ coated CNT-emitters was performed using a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) system by varying temperature ($300-700^{\circ}C$). Morphologies and microstructures of a-$CN_x$/CNTs hetero-structured emitters were analyzed by FESEM and HRTEM. Chemical composition and atomic bonding structures were analyzed by EDX, Raman spectroscopy, and XPS. The field emission properties of the a-$CN_x$/CNTs hetero-structured emitters were measured using a high vacuum (below $10^{-7}$ Torr) field-emission measurement system. For characterization of emission stability, the fluctuation and degradation of the emission current were monitored in terms of operation time. The results were compared with a-$CN_x$ coated CNT-emitters that were not thermally heated as well as with the conventional non-coated CNT-emitters.