• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.59-67
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• 2023

Background: This study aims to reevaluate natural radiation exposure, following up on our previous study conducted in 2019, and to assess the associated risk of lung cancer to the public residing in the gold mining areas of Betare-Oya, east Cameroon, and its vicinity. Materials and Methods: Gamma-ray spectra collected using a 7.62 cm×7.62 cm in NaI(Tl) scintillation spectrometer during a car-borne survey, in situ measurements and laboratory measurements performed in previous studies were used to determine the outdoor absorbed dose rate in air to evaluate the annual external dose inhaled by the public. For determining internal exposure, radon gas concentrations were measured and used to estimate the inhalation dose while considering the inhalation of radon and its decay products. Results and Discussion: The mean value of the laboratory-measured outdoor gamma dose rate was 47 nGy/hr, which agrees with our previous results (44 nGy/hr) recorded through direct measurements (in situ and car-borne survey). The resulting annual external dose (0.29±0.09 mSv/yr) obtained is similar to that of the previous study (0.33±0.03 mSv/yr). The total inhalation dose resulting from radon isotopes and their decay products ranged between 1.96 and 9.63 mSv/yr with an arithmetic mean of 3.95±1.65 mSv/yr. The resulting excess lung cancer risk was estimated; it ranged from 62 to 216 excess deaths per million persons per year (MPY), 81 to 243 excess deaths per MPY, or 135 excess deaths per MPY, based on whether risk factors reported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, United Nations Scientific Committee on the effects of Atomic Radiation, or International Commission on Radiological Protection were used, respectively. These values are more than double the world average values reported by the same agencies. Conclusion: There is an elevated level of risk of lung cancer from indoor radon in locations close to the Betare-Oya gold mining region in east Cameroon. Therefore, educating the public on the harmful effects of radon exposure and considering some remedial actions for protection against radon and its progenies is necessary.

• Clean Technology
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• v.13 no.1 s.36
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• pp.54-63
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• 2007

Even traces of CO in the hydrogen-rich feed gas to proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) poison the platinum anode electrode and dramatically decrease the power output. In this work, a variety of catalytic materials consisting of $Cu/Ce_xZr_{1-x}O_2$, (x = 0.0-1.0) were synthesised, characterized and tested for CO oxidation and preferential oxidation of CO (PROX). These catalysts prepared by hydrothermal and deposition-precipitation methods. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, XRF, SEM, BET, $N_2O$ titration and oxygen storage capacity (OSC) measurement. The effects of composition of the support and degree of excess oxygen were investigated fur activity and $CO_2$ selectivity with different temperatures. The composition of the support markedly influenced the PROX activity. Among the various $Cu/Ce_xZr_{1-x}O_2$ catalysts having different composition, $Cu/Ce_{0.9}Zr_{0.1}O_2$ and $Cu/Ce_{0.7}Zr_{0.3}O_2$ showed the highest activities (>99%) and selectivities (ca.50%) in the temperature range of $150{\sim}160^{\circ}C$. It was found that by using of $Ce_xZr_{1-x}O_2$ mixed oxide support which possesses a high oxygen storage capacity, oxidation-reduction activity of Cu-based catalyst was improved, which resulted in the increase of catalytic activity and selectivity of CO oxidation in excess $H_2$ environments.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.363-363
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• 2008

The development of dry etching process for sapphire wafer with plasma has been key issues for the opto-electric devices. The challenges are increasing control and obtaining low plasma induced-damage because an unwanted scattering of radiation is caused by the spatial disorder of pattern and variation of surface roughness. The plasma-induced damages during plasma etching process can be classified as impurity contamination of residual etch products or bonding disruption in lattice due to charged particle bombardment. Therefor, fine pattern technology with low damaged etching process and high etch rate are urgently needed. Until now, there are a lot of reports on the etching of sapphire wafer with using $Cl_2$/Ar, $BCl_3$/Ar, HBr/Ar and so on [1]. However, the etch behavior of sapphire wafer have investigated with variation of only one parameter while other parameters are fixed. In this study, we investigated the effect of pressure and other parameters on the etch rate and the selectivity. We selected $BCl_3$ as an etch ant because $BCl_3$ plasmas are widely used in etching process of oxide materials. In plasma, the $BCl_3$ molecule can be dissociated into B radical, $B^+$ ion, Cl radical and $Cl^+$ ion. However, the $BCl_3$ molecule can be dissociated into B radical or $B^+$ ion easier than Cl radical or $Cl^+$ ion. First, we evaluated the etch behaviors of sapphire wafer in $BCl_3$/additive gases (Ar, $N_2,Cl_2$) gases. The behavior of etch rate of sapphire substrate was monitored as a function of additive gas ratio to $BCl_3$ based plasma, total flow rate, r.f. power, d.c. bias under different pressures of 5 mTorr, 10 mTorr, 20 mTorr and 30 mTorr. The etch rates of sapphire wafer, $SiO_2$ and PR were measured with using alpha step surface profiler. In order to understand the changes of radicals, volume density of Cl, B radical and BCl molecule were investigated with optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The chemical states of $Al_2O_3$ thin films were studied with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and depth profile anlysis of auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The enhancement of sapphire substrate can be explained by the reactive ion etching mechanism with the competition of the formation of volatile $AlCl_3$, $Al_2Cl_6$ or $BOCl_3$ and the sputter effect by energetic ions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.163-174
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• 2006

The $Ph{\acute{e}}bus$ FP project is an international reactor safety project. Its main objective is to study the release, transport and retention of fission products in a severe accident of a light water reactor (LWR). The FPT4 test was performed with a fuel debris bed geometry, to look at late phase core degradation and the releases of low volatile fission products and actinides. Post Test Analyses results indicate that releases of noble gases (Xe, Kr) and high-volatile fission products (Cs, I) were nearly complete and comparable to those obtained during $Ph{\acute{e}}bus$ tests performed with a fuel bundle geometry (FPT1, FPT2). Volatile fission products such as Mo, Te, Rb, Sb were released significantly as in previous tests. Ba integral release was greater than that observed during FPT1. Release of Ru was comparable to that observed during FPT1 and FPT2. As in other $Ph{\acute{e}}bus$ tests, the Ru distribution suggests Ru volatilization followed by fast redeposition in the fuelled section. The similar release fraction for all lanthanides and fuel elements suggests the released fuel particles deposited onto the plenum surfaces. A blockage by molten material induced a steam by-pass which may explain some of the low releases. The revaporisation testing under different atmospheres (pure steam, $H_2/N_2$ and steam /$H_2$) and up to $1000^{\circ}C$ was performed on samples from the first upper plenum. These showed high releases of Cs for all the atmospheres tested. However, different kinetics of revaporisation were observed depending on the gas composition and temperature. Besides Cs, significant revaporisations of other elements were observed: e.g. Ag under reducing conditions, Cd and Sn in steam-containing atmospheres. Revaporisation of small amounts of fuel was also observed in pure steam atmosphere.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.147-158
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• 2016

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the assessment of exposure to welding fume and heavy metals among construction welders. Methods: Activity-specific personal air samplings(n=206) were carried out at construction sites of three apartment, two office buildings, and two plant buildings using PVC(poly vinyl chloride) filters with personal air samplers. The concentration of fumes and heavy metals were evaluated for five different types of construction welding jobs: general building pipefitter, chemical plant pipefitter, boiler maker, ironworker, metal finishing welder. Results: The concentration of welding fumes was highest among general building pipefitters($4.753mg/m^3$) followed by ironworkers($3.765mg/m^3$), boilermakers($1.384mg/m^3$), metal finishing welders($0.783mg/m^3$), chemical pipefitters($0.710mg/m^3$). Among the different types of welding methods, the concentration of welding fumes was highest with the $CO_2$ welding method($2.08mg/m^3$) followed by SMAW(shield metal arc welding, $1.54mg/m^3$) and TIG(tungsten inert gas, $0.70mg/m^3$). Among the different types of workplace, the concentration of welding fumes was highest in underground workplaces($1.97mg/m^3$) followed by outdoor($0.93mg/m^3$) and indoor(wall opening as $0.87mg/m^3$). Specifically comparing the workplaces of general building welders, the concentration of welding fumes was highest in underground workplaces($7.75mg/m^3$) followed by indoor(wall opening as $2.15mg/m^3$). Conclusions: It was found that construction welders experience a risk of expose to welding hazards at a level exceeding the exposure limits. In particular, for high-risk welding jobs such as general building pipefitters and ironworkers, underground welding work and $CO_2$ welding operations require special occupational health management regarding the use of air supply and exhaust equipment and special safety and health education and fume mask are necessary. In addition, there is a need to establish construction work monitoring systems, health planning and management practices.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.308-314
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• 2007

To investigate effects of fermentation on volatile components, we analyzed volatile organic compounds of raw and fermented Rhus verniciflua S. bark. A 50%(w/v) sugar solution was used for fermentation. Volatile organic compounds of raw and fermented Rhus verniciflua S. were extracted by the simultaneous steam distillation and extraction(SDE) method, with a mixture of n-pentane and diethylether(1:1, v/v) and analyzed by gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. A total of 51 and 27 volatile organic compounds were detected in raw and fermented samples, respectively, and were mainly alcohols. Compounds such as ethyl acetate, 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol, 3-methylbutanal, 1-octen-3-o1, 3-methyl-2-butanone, hexanal and pentanal were detected as the primary compounds in the raw sample. The fermented sample showed sour different volatile compounds, such as ethanol, ethyl acetate, ethyl lactate and 3-methylbutanol. Thus, a number of volatile organic compounds were synthesized after fermentation of Rhus verniciflua S. bark.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.977-988
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• 2016

The volatile flavor compounds in five Jeju citrus fruit varieties (Cheonhyehyang, Hallabong, Jinjihyang, Hwanggeum hyang and Redhyang) were extracted by simultaneous distillation-extraction (SDE) using solvent mixture of n-pentane and diethyl ether (1:1, v/v) and analyzed by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The number of aroma compounds were identified with : 104 (4,939.77 mg/kg) in Cheonhyehyang, 98 (3,286.38 mg/kg) in Hallabong, 105 (3,317.56 mg/kg) in Jinjihyang, 102 (4,293.39 mg/kg) in Hwanggeumhyang, and 108 (4,049.94 mg/kg) in Redhyang. The detected main volatile compounds were; limonene, sabinene, ${\beta}$-myrcene, ${\alpha}$-pinene, ${\beta}$-pinene, linalool, 4-terpineol, ${\alpha}$-terpineol, (E)-${\beta}$-ocimene and ${\gamma}$-terpinene. Among the identified volatiles compounds, ethyl-benzene, nonanol, 1-p-menthen-9-al, (E)-isocarveol, methyl salicylate, ${\alpha}$-terpinen-7-al, perilla alcohol, and ethyl-dodecanoate were detected in Cheonhyehyang. only Furthermore, ${\beta}$-chamigrene and ${\alpha}$-selinene were in Hallabong only; 3-hydroxybutanal, (E)-2-nonenal, isoborneol, octyl acetate, (E)-2-undecenal, ${\beta}$-ylangene and guaia-6,9-diene in Jinjihyang. ${\rho}$-Cymenene, ${\beta}$-thujone, selina-4,11-diene and (E,E)-2,6-farnesol in Hwanggeumhyang only; and ${\rho}$-cymen-8-ol, bornyl acetate, carvacrol, bicycloelemene, ${\alpha}$-cubebene and 7-epi-${\alpha}$-selinene in Redhyang only. This study confirmed the differences in composition and content of volatile aroma components in five varieties of Jeju citrus fruits.

• Composites Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.246-252
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• 2023

A secondary barrier made of glass fiber reinforced composites has been installed infinitely using automatic bonding machine(ABM) in membrane type LNG cargo containment system (CCS). At the same time, significant thermal stress due to cryogenic heat shrinkage has occurred in the composite on the non-bonding area between the adhesive fixation at both ends. There have been studies from the perspective of structural safety evaluation taking this into account, but none that have analyzed mechanical property taking an prolonged length into account. In this study, 2-parameter Weibull distribution statistical analysis was used to standardize reliable mechanical property for actual length, taking into account the composite's brittle fracture of ceramic material with wide fracture strength dispersion. Related experimental data were obtained by performing uniaxial tensile tests at specific temperatures below cryogenic condition considering LNG environment. As a result, the mechanical strength increased about 1.5 times compared to -20℃ at -70℃ and initial non-linear behavior of fiber stretched was suppressed. As the temperature decreased until the cryogenic, the mechanical strength continued to increase due to cold brittleness. The suggested mechanical property in this study would be employed to secure reliable analysis support material property when assessing the safety of secondary barrier's structures.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.541-548
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• 2002

This study, consisting of two experiments, was conducted to determine the effects of feeding heat treated protein and mineral complex (HPM) on milk production and composition, and ruminal fermentation of Holstein dairy cows. In in vitro experiment, HPM levels were 0, 0.2, 1 and 2%, and Timothy hay, which was substrate, was milled as 1 mm size, and the effects of HPM on pH, ammonia and VFA were analyzed after incubation times of 0, 6, 12, 24 and 48 h, respectively. The pH and ammonia production were not significantly different between treatments during the incubation. In addition, generally, total VFA and individual VFA were not affected by HPM on 0, 6 and 24 h. While, total VFA and individual VFA were increased in 0.2% and 1% of HPM supplemented treatments, but decreased in 2% of HPM treatment compared with control on 12 h. On 48 h, total VFA and individual VFA were increased in HPM treatments compared to control (P<0.05). However, A/P ratio was not affected by HPM supplementation. Gas production was higher in HPM treatment compared to control on 24 h (P<0.05) and 48 h (P<0.05). In lactating experiment, fourteen lactating Holstein cows were used for 4 months in a cross over experimental design. There were two treatments; no added HPM as a control and 0.2% of HPM added as a test treatment. Daily milk yield (P<0.001), 4% FCM (P<0.001), milk protein (P<0.05) and SNF (solid not fat; P<0.05) were increased in HPM treatment compared to control. While, milk fat, MUN (milk urea nitrogen) and SCC (somatic cell count) were not significantly different between treatments.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.192-198
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• 2006

Treatment effects of grape fruit stem extracts (GFSE) containing trans-resveratrol on the storage property of fresh jujube (Zizyphus jujube) were investigated. Fresh jujubes were packed in different storage containers [polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyethylene (PE)], and treated with GFSE containing trans-resveratrol of 10, 30 and 50 ppm, respectively. The storage vessels filled with $N_2$ gas, and stored in refrigerator $(0{\pm}1^{\circ}C)$ during 18 weeks, and then quality characteristics during storage period were analysed. Ethylene gas increased until 8 weeks and decreased afterward. Decaying of jujube started at $6\~8$ weeks in control, but it did at 14 week storage for the fruits at $50\%$ maturity treated with 10 ppm of GFSE and packed in PE vessel. Soluble solid (Brix degree) and total acidity of fresh jujube slightly increased in all the treatments during storage period. Hardness slightly increased until 4 weeks and decreased afterward. Vitamin C content was at the highest content of $86.8\~273.4$ mg/100g for most of treatments at 2 weeks and decreased afterward. Storage stability was higher for $50\%$ maturity fruits than for the $70\%$ maturity, and higher for PE vessels than PET containers. Storage period of fresh jujube in this experiment ranges in $10\~12$ weeks for $50\%$ maturity fruits treated with 10 ppm of GFSE and packed in PE vessel.