• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.305-311
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• 2010

The present study was aimed at preparing microemulsion-based hydrogel (MBH) for the skin delivery of itraconazole. Microemulsion prepared with Transcutol as a surfactant, benzyl alcohol as an oil and the mixture of ethanol and phasphatidyl choline (3:2) as a cosurfactant were characterized by solubility, phase diagram, particle size. MBHs were prepared using 0.7 % of xanthan gum (F1-1) or carbopol 940 (F1-2) as gelling agents and characterized by viscosity studies. The in vitro permeation data obtained by using the Franz diffusion cells and hairless mouse skin showed that the optimized microemulsion (F1) consisting of itraconazole (1% w/w), benzyl alcohol (10% w/w), Transcutol (10% w/w) and the mixture of ethanol and phospahtidylcholine (3:2) (10% w/w) and water (49% w/w) showed significant difference in the flux (${\sim}1{\mu}g/cm^2/h$) with their corresponding MBHs (0.25-0.64 ${\mu}g/cm^2/h$). However, the in vitro skin drug content showed no significant difference between F1 and F1-1, while F1-2 showed significantly low skin drug content. The effect of the amount of drug loading (0.02, 1 and 1.5% w/w) on the optimized MBH (F1-2) showed that the permeation and skin drug content increased with higher drug loading (1.5%). The in vivo study of the optimized MBH (F1-2 with1.5% w/w drug loading) showed that this formulation could be used as a potential topical formulation for itraconazole.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.402-409
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• 2020

Nervous necrosis virus (NNV) contains a bi-segmented viral genome, RNA1 (3.4 kb, RdRp), and RNA2 (1.4 kb, capsid protein) in a small particle (25 nm). Despite its extremely compact size, NNV has caused serious damage by infecting approximately 120 fish species worldwide since it was first reported in the late 1980s. In order to minimize the damage caused by NNV infection and develop effective vaccines, it is necessary to understand the intra cellular signaling system according to NNV infection. NNV infection induces cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase via the p53-dependent pathway to use the cellular system for its replication. Otherwise, host cells recognize NNV infection through the RIG-1-like receptor (RLR) signaling pathway to control the virus and infected cells, and then ISGs required for antiviral action are activated via the IFN signaling pathway. Moreover, apoptosis of infected cells is triggered by the unfolded protein response (UPR) through ER stress and mitochondria-mediated cell death. Cell signaling studies on the NNV infection mechanisms are still at an early stage and many pathways have yet to be identified. Understanding the various disease-specific cellular signaling systems associated with NNV infection is essential for rapid and accurate diagnosis and vaccine development.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.319-328
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• 1994

Aluminium and titanium precursors containing $\beta$-diketonate ligands were used for the synthesis of polymeric sols of alumina and titania by sol-gel methods. To prepare polymeric sols by solgel processing, we synthesized modified precursors having chelating organic ligands. With these precursors it was found to be possible to control both hydrolysis and polycondensation reaction rates which resulted in ultrafine particles few nms of average size. The optimum molar ratio of acid to alkoxide for alumina sol was 0.3-0.4 and that of water to alkoxide &as 1. On the other hand, the corresponding ratios for titania sol were found be 0.25-0.20 and 1 respectively. Dynamic light scattering measurements indicated that the average particle size in both sols was in the order of few nms. SEM photographs were taken to observe crack-free and smooth surfaces of coated membranes after sintering at $450^{\circ}C$. Alumina coated membrane on a slide glass had about 4-4.5$\mu \textrm{m}$, thickness and titania coated one had 2-2.5$\mu \textrm{m}$, thickness. And according to TEM photographs, the grain size of titania was smaller than 30nm and that of alumina was in the range of few $\AA$s to 2nms. An X-ray diffraction study revealed that alumina was $\gamma$ phase and titania was anatase crystal.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.88-94
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• 2001

Physical and chemical properties, the salt accumulation and leaching of salt by water of coal fly ash ball (ash ball) were evaluated in comparison with perlite and granule rockwool (rockwool). Bulk density, particle density, solid phase, and porosity of ash ball were 0.93 g.cm$^{-3}$ , 2.29 g.cm$^{-3}$ , 40.6%, 59.4%, respectively. The bulk density of ash ball was greater, while porosity was smaller, than that of perlite and rockwool. Saturation moisture capacity was 52% in ash ball, 71% in perlite, and 90% in rockwool. Water contents after drainage for 1 hr of ash ball, perlite, and rockwool were 21%, 27%, and 80%, respectively. Water content of small granules (3-5 mm) of ash ball was 5% greater than that of large (7-15 mm) grannules. The ash ball was a weak alkali substrate with pH 7.6, but not electric conductivity (EC), of the nutrient solution supplied to ash ball slightly increased. When the absorption of mineral ions to substrates were analyzed, ash ball and RW absorbed mainly PO￣$_4$. On tomato culture, salt accumulation in ash ball substrate was similar to that in perlite. Most of the salts in the ash balls were removed by submerging the substrate eight times in distilled water. It is concluded that water holding capacity of ash ball substrate was lo as compared to other substrates, but air permeability, and water diffusion was excellent, making control of medium water content easy.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.112-117
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• 2012

With the development of nanotechnology, nano-consumer products have been popularized. For the past 10 years, potential risk of nanomaterials to human and environment have been raised carefully. Especially, workers, who directly handle nanomaterials in laboratories and manfacturers, will lead to direct exposure of nanomaterials. Therefore, direct exposure assessment and field monitoring of nanomaterials are required to assess and manage the nanomaterial exposure to human and environment. In this work, two nano-manufacturing companies, which had plasma and sol-gel processes, were selected to analyze the main exposure source and process with in-situ SMPS (scanning mobility particle sizer) and ex-situ TEM (transmission electron microscopy). The results showed that the colloidal nanoparticle in liquid phase was easily evaporated and monitored by SMPS. Most serious thing is that the workers does not know about the potential risk of nanomaterials, and thus they are not taking proper protection activities, such as PPE (personal protective equipment). Therefore, exposure assessment for nanomaterial handling facilities should be additionally carried out, and nano-safety management protocols are also provided.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.209-215
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• 2009

M-type barium ferrite (BaFe12O19) powders were synthesized through the co-precipitation method. Starting material composition $Fe^{3+}:\;Ba^{2+}$ mole ratio was fixed as 8 and the relative amount of $Fe^{3+}$ and $Ba^{2+}$ was controlled. Structure and magnetic properties and powder morphology were investigated using XRD, SEM, VSM. Powder showing high coercivity and small magnetization was obtained at pH8 and $Fe_{3+}:\;Ba_{2+}$ of 12 : 1.5. Small magnetization value was originated from the existence of ${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$. Single-phase Mtype barium ferrite were obtained regardless of the heat treatment condition and the amount of $Fe_{3+}\;and\;Ba_{2+}$ at pH$\approx$10. The largest value of magnetization (55.7 emu/g) under investigation were obtained when $Fe_{3+}:\;Ba_{2+}$ of 13.6 : 1.7 and furnace cooled powder in $O_2$. Particle size of powder was in the range of 50~200 nm.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.65-65
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• 2012

Copper zinc tin sulfide ($Cu_2ZnSnS_4$, CZTS) is a very promising material as a low cost absorber alternative to other chalcopyrite-type semiconductors based on Ga or In because of the abundant and economical elements. In addition, CZTS has a band-gap energy of 1.4~1.5eV and large absorption coefficient over ${\sim}10^4cm^{-1}$, which is similar to those of $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$(CIGS) regarded as one of the most successful absorber materials for high efficient solar cell. Most previous works on the fabrication of CZTS thin films were based on the vacuum deposition such as thermal evaporation and RF magnetron sputtering. Although the vacuum deposition has been widely adopted, it is quite expensive and complicated. In this regard, the solution processes such as sol-gel method, nanocrystal dispersion and hybrid slurry method have been developed for easy and cost-effective fabrication of CZTS film. Among these methods, the hybrid slurry method is favorable to make high crystalline and dense absorber layer. However, this method has the demerit using the toxic and explosive hydrazine solvent, which has severe limitation for common use. With these considerations, it is highly desirable to develop a robust, easily scalable and relatively safe solution-based process for the fabrication of a high quality CZTS absorber layer. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of a high quality CZTS absorber layer with a thickness of 1.5~2.0 ${\mu}m$ and micrometer-scaled grains using two different non-vacuum approaches. The first solution-processing approach includes air-stable non-toxic solvent-based inks in which the commercially available precursor nanoparticles are dispersed in ethanol. Our readily achievable air-stable precursor ink, without the involvement of complex particle synthesis, high toxic solvents, or organic additives, facilitates a convenient method to fabricate a high quality CZTS absorber layer with uniform surface composition and across the film depth when annealed at $530^{\circ}C$. The conversion efficiency and fill factor for the non-toxic ink based solar cells are 5.14% and 52.8%, respectively. The other method is based on the nanocrystal dispersions that are a key ingredient in the deposition of thermally annealed absorber layers. We report a facile synthetic method to produce phase-pure CZTS nanocrystals capped with less toxic and more easily removable ligands. The resulting CZTS nanoparticle dispersion enables us to fabricate uniform, crack-free absorber layer onto Mo-coated soda-lime glass at $500^{\circ}C$, which exhibits a robust and reproducible photovoltaic response. Our simple and less-toxic approach for the fabrication of CZTS layer, reported here, will be the first step in realizing the low-cost solution-processed CZTS solar cell with high efficiency.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.296-302
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• 2006

ILow-temperature $TiO_2$ sol was synthesized with various catalyst contents by using a sol-gel method. $TiO_2$ thin films were produced by a dip-coating method and their optical, structural and photocatalytic properties were examined. Transmittance of $TiO_2$ thin films with 0.10 mol, 0.25 mol, 0.50 mol and 0.75 mol catalyst content showed high transmittance in the visible range. XRD results showed the anatase-to-rutile phase transition was accelerated with increasing catalyst content and the crystallinity size of the $TiO_2$ thin films increased with increasing catalyst content. SEM results indicated that the particle size of the $TiO_2$ thin films was the smallest with catalyst content of 0.25 mol. Photocatalytic results showed that methylene blue was completely decomposed in the presence of anatase film prepared with 0.10 mol, 0.25 mol and 0.50 mol catalyst content.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.771-776
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• 2005

In recent days, there is much interest in the biocidal activity of silver since silver is known to be safe and effective as disinfectant and biocidal material against coliforms and viruses. In particular, nano silted silver particles which can be used as effective biocidal material received more attention. Accordingly, it is important to investigate antimicrobial activity and mechanism of nano sized silver particles prepared in a cost-effective manner. In this study, nano sized silver particles were prepared via photoreduction of a silver salt ($AgNO_3$) in the bulk phase of $PEO_{20}-PPO_{70}-PEO_{20}$ (Pluronic 123) block copolymer The antimicrobial efficacy of silver nano particles against E. coli was investigated and compared with that of silver ion as the concentration of silver nano particles, pH ($5.6{\sim}8.2$), temperature ($4^{\circ}C{\sim}35^{\circ}C$) varied in aqueous system. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to examine the nature of damaged microorganism with nano sized silver particles and silver ion. This study showed that antimicrobial efficacy of silver nano particles was approximately one twentieth than that of silver ion. It was more biocidal at higher pH in contrast with silver ion. In addition, nano silver particles was demonstrated to disrupt the outer membrane of E. coli, subsequently causing their aggregation. On the other hand, silver ion diffused into the cell damaging the cytoplasmic membrane without disrupting the outer membrane of E. coli.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.249-256
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• 2006

Catalytic combustion of toluene was investigated on the Cu-Mn oxide catalysts prepared by the impregnation(Imp) and the deposition-precipitation(DP) methods. The mixing of copper and manganese has been found to enhance the activity of catalysts. It is then found that catalytic efficiency of the Cu-Mn oxide catalyst prepared by the DP method on combustion of toluene is much higher than that of the Cu-Mn oxide catalyst prepared by Imp method with the same chemical composition. The catalyst prepared by the deposition-precipitation method observed no change of toluene conversion at time on stream during 10 days and at the addition of water vapor. On the basis of catalyst characterization data, it has been suggested that the catalysts prepared by the DP method showed uniform distribution and smaller particle size on the surface of catalyst and then enhanced reduction capability of catalysts. Therefore, we think that the DP method leads on progressive capacity of catalyst and promotes stability of catalyst. It was also presumed that catalytic conversion of toluene on the Cu-Mn oxide catalyst depends on redox reaction and $Cu_{1.5}Mn_{1.5}O_4$ spinel phase acts as the major active sites of catalyst.