• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 1997

Generally, various semiconductor switching devices for power systems are used in battery chargers for electric vehicle. When these used, it takes the problems of transient-current or distortion of waveforms in power systems near by battery chargers because of harmonics and large peak-current, low power factor, etc., caused by the non-linearity of these devices. Recently, power factor control, line current peak-cut, harmonics reduction which was ignored in past is more and more important. In this paper, to solve those problems we will improve the characteristics of voltage rising and propose the high power factor converter circuit for battery chargers. Our proposed system convert commutated voltage to AC resonant wave in high frequency inverter and rectify the link voltages passed high-frequency transformer and transfer the DC voltages. Especially, the effect using these converter system can be improved very large by power factor control and we have to verify the possibilities of improvement through the experiment of Pb-Acid battery application.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.53-53
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• 2007

반도체 소자의 고집적화, 미세화 화로 인해 반도체의 동작속도를 증가시키기 위하여 Cu를 이용한 금속배선이 주목받게 되었으나, 높은 압력으로 인한 보은 Cu 영역에서 과잉 디슁 현상과 에로젼을 유도하고 반도체 웨이퍼위의 low-k 물질에 손상을 줌에 따라 메탈라인 브리징과 단락을 초래할 있어, Cu의 단락인 islands를 남김으로서 표면 결항을 제거하지 못한다는 단점을 가지고 있었다. 그래서 이러한 문제점을 해결하기 위하여 기존의 CMP에 전기화학을 결합시킴으로서 낮은 하력에서의 Cu평탄화를 달성할 수 있는 ECMP (electrochemical mechanical polishing)기술이 필요하게 되었다. 따라서 본 논문에서는 전기화학적 기계적 연마(ECMP)작용을 위해, I-V 특성 곡선을 이용하여 패시베이션 막의 active, passive, transient, trans-passive영역의 전기화학적 특성을 비교 분석하였으며, Cu막의 표면 형상을 알아보기 위해 scanning electron microscopy (SEM) 측정과 energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS)와 X-ray Diffraction (XRD) 분석을 통해 금속 화학적 조성을 조사하였다.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.141-146
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• 2006

Vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) has been proposed as a possible way to improve the control of refractory epilepsy. We report the effects following VNS treatment in patients with refractory epilepsy. Seventeen patients with a mean age of 12.8 years, ranging from 5 to 29 years, underwent the implantation of vagal nerve stimulation (Cyberonics, Houston, TX). We reviewed the clinical findings before and after VNS in seizure frequency, number of antiepileptic drugs (AED), and quality of life (QOL). All of the patients had intractable seizures, eleven of the patients had additional medical complications, three had hippocampus atrophy, one had encephalomalacia, five had encephalitis, one had pachygyria, and one had schizencephaly. Thirteen patients had symptomatic partial epilepsies, three patients had Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and one had cryptogenic partial epilepsy. The mean follow up duration was 35 months. The mean reduction of seizure frequency compared with baseline before VNS was 26.1% after 3 months (p<0.005), 41.9% after 6 months (p<0.001), 46.9% after 1 year (p<0.001), and 53% at the latest follow-up (p<0.001). Twelve patients showed an improvement of QOL such as mood, language, alertness, expression, and motor function. The most common side effects were transient hoarseness or voice change or cough, which was detected in six patients (35%) and wound infection in one patient (5%). This study has shown a good anti-seizure effect of VNS, decrease in seizure frequency and improvements in QOL. We concluded that VNS is a beneficial therapy in refractory epilepsy with a non-resectable epileptic focus. Further studies should be focused on the prediction of unresponsiveness and the adjustment of VNS parameters for maximum efficacy in patients with various medical histories.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.514-520
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• 2000

Objective : Stereotactic psychosurgery is known as one of effective means of treating in some medically intractable psychiatric illness. However, it is unfamiliar and it's long-term clinical result has not reported in our country. The authors evaluated its long-term results of pscychosurgery and discussed its neuroanatomical basis. Methods : Since 1993, eight patients underwent stereotactic psychosurgery for medically intractable psychiatric illnesses. All were referred from psychiatrist of these disorders, one was aggressive behavior, five were obsessive-compulsive disorders(OCD), and two were depression with anxiety disorders. Bilateral amygdalotomy and subcaudate tractotomy were done for aggressive behavior, and limbic leukotomy was done for OCD and depression with anxiety. The results of OCD were evaluated with with YBOCS(Yale-Brown obsessive compulsive scale) and VAS (visual analogue scale), CGI(clinical global impairment) in OCD, and OAS(overt aggression scale), MMS, WAIS were checked for the evaluation of aggressive behavior. Hamilton depression scale(HAMD) was used for evaluation of depression. Ventriculography was used in the first five patients and MR-guided stereotaxy was used in recent three cases for localization of target. The lesions were made with radiofrequency lesion generator. Results : With long-term follow up(mean 45 months) in five OCDs, mean YBOCS declined from 34 to 3(n=5). All returned to previous social life. In OAS scores of aggressive behavior during six-year follow up, scores declined from 8 to 2 with clinical improvement. In two patients with depression with anxiety, HAMD declined from 28.5 to 16.5(n=2). There was no operative mortality and no significant morbidity except one case of mild transient urinary incontinence. Conclusion : With these long-term results, authors assumed that stereotactic psychosurgery could be one of safe and effective mtherapeutic methods in several medically intractable psychiatric illness.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.784-793
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• 2019

Two objectives can be pursued simultaneously with the ${\delta}$ control of a single-phase electric spring (ES). These objectives are the stabilization of the voltage across the critical load (CL) of a power system, and the achievement of a specific functionality similar to the pure compensation of reactive power or the correction of the power factor. However, existing control systems implementing the ${\delta}$ control do not cope with non-ideal operating conditions, such as line voltage distortions, and exhibit a somewhat sluggish regulation of the CL voltage. In an effort to improve both the steady-state and transient performances of an ES power system, this paper proposes implementing the ${\delta}$ control by means of a control system built up on the repetitive control and assisted by state feedback with pole assignment. This paper starts by analyzing the dynamics of an ES power system in terms of its poles and zeros. After that, a reduced second-order model of the dynamics is formulated to avoid a notch filter in the pole assignment. A repetitive control for an ES power system is then designed to meet the two above mentioned objectives. Experimental tests carried out on a laboratory setup demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control system in significantly improving the ES power system performance, while reaching the two objectives. In particular, the tests outline the large mitigation of harmonics in the CL voltage under line voltage distortions and its fast stabilization action.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1564-1570
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• 2018

Charge transport dynamics in ZnO based inverted organic solar cell (IOSC) has been characterized with transient photocurrent spectroscopy and localised photocurrent mapping-atomic force microscopy. The value of maximum exciton generation rate was found to vary from $2.6{\times}10^{27}m^{-3}s^{-1}$ ($J_{sat}=79.7A\;m^{-2}$) to $2.9{\times}10^{27}m^{-3}s^{-1}$ ($J_{sat}=90.8A\;m^{-2}$) for devices with power conversion efficiency ranging from 2.03 to 2.51%. These results suggest that nanorods served as an excellent electron transporting layer that provides efficient charge transport and enhances IOSC device performance. The photovoltaic performance of OSCs with various growth times of ZnO nanorods have been analysed for a comparison between AM1.5G spectrum and local solar spectrum. The simulated PCE of all devices operating under local spectrum exhibited extensive improvement with the gain of 13.3-3.7% in which the ZnO nanorods grown at 15 min possess the highest PCE under local solar with the value of 2.82%.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.166-172
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• 2022

Blau syndrome is a systemic autoinflammatory disease presenting with non-caseating granulomatous dermatitis, chronic uveitis, and arthritis. It is caused by a gain-of-function variant of the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain protein 2 gene, which leads to the overactivation of inflammatory cytokines and eventually causes autoinflammation. Since the symptoms of Blau syndrome are nonspecific and usually do not appear simultaneously, it is challenging to differentiate Blau syndrome from other inflammatory disorders. This is a case report of a 13-month-old boy who had suffered from recurrent skin rash and fever. The patient was previously misdiagnosed as refractory Kawasaki disease twice and was treated with intravenous immunoglobulin and systemic glucocorticoid, which only resulted in transient improvement of the symptoms. He was eventually diagnosed with Blau syndrome.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.255-274
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• 2023

The aim of this paper is to enhance the accuracy of predicting time-averaged external surface pressures on low-rise buildings by utilizing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. To achieve this, benchmark studies of the Silsoe cube and the Texas Tech University (TTU) experimental building are employed for comparison with simulation results. The paper is structured into three main sections. In the initial part, an appropriate domain size is selected based on the precision of mean pressure coefficients on the windward face of the cube, utilizing Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) turbulence models. Subsequently, recommendations regarding the optimal computational domain size for an isolated building are provided based on revised findings. Moving on to the second part, the Silsoe cube model is examined within a horizontally homogeneous computational domain using more accurate turbulence models, such as Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and hybrid RANS-LES models. For computational efficiency, transient simulation settings are employed, building upon previous studies by the authors at the Windstorm Impact, Science, and Engineering (WISE) Lab, Louisiana State University (LSU). An optimal meshing strategy is determined for LES based on a grid convergence study. Three hybrid RANS-LES cases are investigated to achieve desired enhancements in the distribution of mean pressure coefficients on the Silsoe cube. In the final part, a 1:10 scale model of the TTU building is studied, incorporating the insights gained from the second part. The generated flow characteristics, including vertical profiles of mean velocity, turbulence intensity, and velocity spectra (small and large eddies), exhibit good agreement with full-scale (TTU) measurements. The results indicate promising roof pressures achieved through the careful consideration of meshing strategy, time step, domain size, inflow turbulence, near-wall treatment, and turbulence models. Moreover, this paper demonstrates an improvement in mean roof pressures compared to other state-of-the-art studies, thus highlighting the significance of CFD simulations in building aerodynamics.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.66-74
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• 2008

In this paper, we propose new techniques that can improve the quality of AAC and SBR encoders comprised in low bitrate HE-AAC. To reduce the pre-echo artifacts often occurring for transient blocks in AAC, we propose an extended Temporal Noise Shaping (sTNS) in which the frequency range is selectively extended down to the low-frequency region. Also, for he high-frequency region being coded by SBR encoder, tones are identified through a sinusoidal modeling and their frequencies are adjusted within the QMF band in order to reduce the noise floor due to aliasing. Spectrograms of the decoded signals were compared and listening tests were conducted to evaluate the proposed algorithm. Results confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.1291-1299
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• 2001

Objectives : The authors present a retrospective analysis of 14 patients treated for spinal cord hemangioblastoma (SCH) between Dec. 1986 and Mar. 2000. This study was conducted to evaluate and compare the difference of the functional outcomes associated with the extent of surgical removal of SCH. Methods : Eleven patients were male and three patients were female. Their mean age was 37.2 years that ranged from 19 to 62 years. Preoperative magnetic resonance(MR) imaging of the spine was performed in all cases, and preoperative angiography in eleven cases. They were followed from 15 months to 161 months(median follow-up period, 47 months), and we investigated the change of neurological symptoms and functional outcomes with radiological features, especially on MR imaging. Results : Six patients were accompanied by von Hippel-Lindau disease, and three of them had multiple CNS tumors. Thirteen patients had intramedullary tumor, and the remaining one had extradural. Syringomyelia around the tumor was observed in ten cases. All patients underwent surgical removal, and gross total removal(GTR) was achieved in ten cases. Preoperative embolization was performed in four cases. In four patients who were treated with preoperative embolization, intraoperative loss of blood was minimal and GTR was possible. One patient developed a transient swallowing difficulty postoperatively without permanent postoperative neurological deficits. In three of four patients in whom GTR was not possible, their functional outcomes were worsened postoperatively. The functional status at discharge was improved in seven patients, stationary in four patients, and worse in three. At the last follow-up(15-161 months), one of four patients who had been stationary at discharge showed improvement but, the rest did not show any change. All patients who showed neurological improvement were patients with GTR, and the patients with GTR had significant better outcome than those without GTR(p=0.015). Conclusion : Surgical treatment, and especially, GTR is considered as treatment of choice for spinal cord hemangioblastoma. Preoperative embolization may prevent intraoperative bleeding and improve surgical outcome.