• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.171-177
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• 1998

The combination of testicular sperm extraction (TESE) with ICSI can achieve normal fertilization and pregnancy rate and is effective method in obstructive and non-obstructive azoospermic patients. But, when pregnancy was not occurred, repeated testicular biopsies are not evitable. Therefore, in this study, we observed the survival rate of testicular spemratozoa and spermatozoa extracted from the seminiferous tubules after cryopreserved-thawed used for next IVF cycle with ICSI. In a total of 23 cases, obstructive azoospermia was 17 cases and non-obstructive azoospermia was 6 cases. In obstructive azoospermia, after thawing, motile spermatozua was observed in 13 cases (76.5%). The fertilization rate with 2PN was 67.6% and 5 pregnancies (29.4%) were achieved. In non-obstructive azoospermia, motile spermatozoa was observed in 2 case (33.3%) after thawing. The fertilization rates with 2PN was 53.7% and 3 pregnancies (50.0%) were achieved. A comparison of the results of motile spermatozoa after thawed testicular spermatozoa and spermatozoa extracted from the thawed seminiferous tubule section were 3 cases (60.0%) and 12 cases (66.6%), respectively. The fertilization and pregnancy rates of thawed testicular spermatozoa and spermatozoa extracted from the thawed seminiferous tubule section were 69.4% and 20.0%, 62.5% and 38.8%, respectively. Conclusively, thawed testicular spermatozoa and spermatozoa extracted from the thawed seminiferous tubule section can achieve normal fertilization and pregnancy and cryopreservation of testicular spermatozoa and seminiferous tubule may avoid repetition of testicular biopsies in azoospermic patients in whom the only source of spermatozoa is the testis.

• 보존과학연구
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• s.36
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• pp.74-85
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• 2015

An ox bone object was excavated from the wetland at the excavation site in Bogam-ri tumulus, Naju. It was only able to identify the full image of the shape. Bogam were deteriorated and cracked due to the soil pressure and the repeated cycle of freezing and melting. They were also fragmented in pieces and powdered. In situ, bones were dewatered, consolidated and wrapped together with surrounding soils not to lose the fragmented bone pieces. Unpacking was carried out in the conservation lab and the treatment was processed. Soils on the reverse were removed and then the surface was consolidated and reinforced. Then, soils on the excavated side was cleaned and the surface was consolidated. The object was placed in the produced storing box. When the ox bone object was excavated, it did not have its head and was in the shape of tieing all its legs up. This shows that the animal had been tied up during a ritual and then buried. During the treatment, the importance of the burial purpose and maintaining the shape at the time of excavation was considered. Therefore, the shape of the object at the time of excavation was maintained rather than dismantling all these fragile bones and finding the shape of an ox. This conservation of ox bone object shows that conservation treatment methods have to be vary depending on characters and conditions of objects. In addition, it is expecting that this writing could be the reference to bone and horn objects excavated in the future for the whole process from the excavation to the conservation treatment.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.218-222
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• 2011

The effect of cycled temperature change on the mechanical properties of wood flour(50 wt.% and 70 wt.%) polypropylene WPC(Wood Plastic Composites) was investigated in this study. Flexural modulus and flexural strength of the WPC showed a decrease due to the degradation of interfacial adhesion between polymer matrix and wood flour by the freeze-thaw test regardless of the cycled number. At the higher loading level of wood flour, the reduction of the flexural modulus was remarkable. After the cycled heat-freeze test, it was found that the flexural modulus and flexural strength of the WPC were lower at the high temperature ($60^{\circ}C$) and higher at the low temperature ($-20^{\circ}C$). At the low temperature ($-20^{\circ}C$) which is below glass transition temperature of polypropylene ($-10^{\circ}C$), WPC is in a glassy state which brings about the high stiffness and strength. At the high temperature ($60^{\circ}C$), the flexural modulus and flexural strength of the WPC with 50 wt.% wood flour were lower because of the increase of polymer ductility.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.29-36
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• 2015

In this study, to examine the use of sulfur polymer as a coating agent for concrete, durability and hazard evaluations were performed. The result of the evaluation indicated that the chemical resistance of the coating agent for concrete was outstanding against acidic, base, and alkaline solutions. The evaluation of the bond strength after an accelerated weathering test depending on the mixing condition indicated that the most outstanding strength characteristic was obtained when silica powder and fly ash were mixed at the same time. The bond strength exceeded 1 MPa in every mixing condition even after the repeated hot and cold treatment of the coating agent specimen for concrete, and the SFS mix proportion showed the highest bond strength. The examination of the accelerated carbonation and chloride ion penetration resistance of the concrete coated with the coating agent indicated that the specimen coated with the coating agent using silica powder as a filler showed the most outstanding durability. When a fish toxicity test was performed to examine the hazard of the use of the functional polymer as a coating agent for concrete, the functional polymer was found to have no effect on the organisms. When the chemical resistance, freezing and thawing resistance, carbonation, and chloride ion penetration resistance of the coating agent were considered, substituting silica powder and fly ash as the fillers of the functional polymer by 20%, respectively, was the optimal level in the range of this study.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2000

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the important factors affecting survival and pregnancy rate in frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles. Methods: we performed retrospective analysis in 738 cycles of frozen-thawed embryo transfers, in relation to the insemination methods, the freezing stage of embryo, patient's age, infertility factors and the origin of injected sperm in ICSI cycles. After conventional IVF or ICSI, the supernumerary PN stage zygotes or multicellular embryos were cryopreserved by slow freezing protocol with 1,2-propanediol (PROH) as a cryoprotectant. Results: The survival rates of thawed embryos were 69.3% (1585/2287) in conventional IVF group and 71.7% (1645/2295) in ICSI group. After frozen-thawed embryo transfers, 27.0% (92/341) and 32.0% (109/341) of pregnancy rates were achieved in conventional IVF and ICSI group, respectively. There were no significant difference in the survival and pregnancy rates according to the insemination methods, the freezing stage and patient's age. However, the pregnancy rate (36.2%) of male factor infertility was significantly higher than the tubal (27.2%) and other female factor infertility (22.9%). In ICSI group, the origin of injected sperm did not affect the outcome of frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles. Conclusion: The present study demonstrates that acceptable clinical outcomes can be achieved after the transfer of frozen-thawed embryos regardless of the stage of embryos for freezing, the patient's age and the origin of injected sperm.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.311-320
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• 2011

Fly ash (FA), byproduct from power plant has been actively used as mineral admixture for concrete. However, since bottom ash (BA) is usually used for land reclaim or subbase material, more active reuse plan is needed. Pond ash (PA) obtained from reclaimed land is mixed with both FA and BA. In this study, 6 PA from different domestic power plant are prepared and 5 different replacement ratios (10%, 20%, 30%, 50%, and 70%) for fine aggregate substitutes are considered to evaluate engineering properties of PA as fine aggregate and durability performance of PA concrete. Tests for fine aggregate of PA for fineness modulus, density and absorption, soundness, chloride and toxicity content, and alkali aggregate reaction are performed. For PA concrete, durability tests for compressive strength, drying shrinkage, chloride penetration/diffusion, accelerated carbonation, and freezing/thawing are performed. Also, basic tests for fresh concrete like slump and air content are performed. Although PA has lower density and higher absorption, its potential as a replacement material for fine aggregate is promising. PA concrete shows a reasonable durability performance with higher strength with higher replacement ratio. Finally, best PA among 6 samples is selected through quantitative classification, and limitation of PA concrete application is understood based on the test results. Various tests for engineering properties of PA and PA concrete are discussed in this paper to evaluate its application to concrete structure.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.261-267
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• 2015

To develop high-strength high-volume ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) concrete, this study investigated the characteristics of strength development and durability of concrete with the water-to-binder ratio of 23% and the GGBFS replacement ratio of up to 65%. The results show that the compressive strength of GGBFS blended concrete is lower than that of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete up to 3-day age, but the becomes higher after 7-day age. Together with strength increase, the pore structure becomes tighter, and thus the resistance to chloride ion penetration increases. Therefore, the GGBFS blended concrete has high resistance to freezing and thawing without additional air-entraining, and high resistance to carbonation despite low amount of calcium hydroxide ($Ca(OH)_2$). On the other hand, if silica fume (SF) is blended with GGBFS, the strength becomes lower than that of the concrete blended with GGBFS only, and the resistance to chloride ion penetration deceases. Therefore, it needs further studies on the reaction of SF in high-strength high-volume GGBFS concrete.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.349-355
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• 2016

This study is about the reuse of bottom ash, which is released as a necessity in thermal power plant. In general, coal-ash are classified as fly-ash, bottom-ash, cinder-ash. Of these, a large amount of fly ash is being recycled as cement substitutes. While, recycling rates of bottom ash are the lowest due to its porosity and high absorption. In this study, the durability of the concrete using bottom ash as a concrete fine aggregate was evaluated. The using level of the bottom ash ranges to step-by-step from 0% to 30%. According to the result of the durability test, regardless of the presence of the bottom ash, freeze-thaw durability could be secured by air entrainment. In case of the resistance to chloride ions penetration, the length change, and the effects on heavy metals, the replacement of bottom ash as fine aggregate was not critical. Although carbonation penetration was higher as the replacement level of bottom ash increased, the experiment showed that it could be possible to use bottom ash as concrete fine aggregate with proper mix design.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.205-211
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• 2015

Most of the sulfur is obtained from desulfurization of natural gas and crude oil. In Korea, more than 120 tons of sulfur are produced by refinery, and about 50 % of the produced sulfur is used as a raw material for the production of fertilizer and sulfuric acid. Modified sulfur is manufactured from excessive sulfur that could be used to improve concrete properties, and this study evaluated concrete strength and durability that contains modified sulfur. Flexural and compressive strengths of concrete with sulfur modified polymer were comparable to those of OPC concrete with mixing water at similar temperatures, while the strengths increased a little as mixing water temperature increased. It was also confirmed that the resistance to freeze-thaw damage was more dependent on entrained air characteristics obtained by a proper use of air entraining agent than on the use of sulfur modified polymer. When concrete was immersed in 5 % sulfuric acid, the rate of reduction in compressive strength of OPC concrete was less than 1/4 of the strength reduction of concrete with sulfur modified polymer. Also, the resistance of concrete with sulfur modified polymer to scaling due to the use of de-icing salt was evaluated as Class 1, while that of OPC concrete was evaluated as Class 4, as aggregates were exposed. Accordingly, it is believed that sulfur modified polymer could be effectively used for bridge deck concrete since sulfur modified polymer improves the durability of concrete.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.267-273
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• 2000

Objectives: We have previous reported that thawed testicular sperm and sperm extracted from seminiferous tubule could achieved optimal fertilization and pregnancy in azoospermic patients. However, thawed testicular sperm did not show motility in many cases. Therefore we studied viability of immotile sperm extracted from frozen-thawed seminiferous tubule using hypo-osmotic swelling (HOS) test and eosin-Y test. Materials and Methods: After sperm extraction using for ICSI, the remained sections of seminiferous tubules were frozen with a computerized freezer. For thawing and preparation of testicular sperm, the seminiferous tubules were thawed by removing from $LN_2$ and letting them at room temperature for 10 min followed by %37^{\circ}C$ water bath for 10 min. The prepared samples were washed for free of preservation medium and sperm preparation method described previous. Sperm was suspended in 0.1 ml hypoosmotic solution. After 30 minutes, the type of distally coiled sperm were assessed. Results: In 44 cases of cryopreservation of seminiferous tubules in obstructive azoospennic patients, the fertilization rates with 2PN were 71.4% and pregnancy rates were 34.1%. The presence of motile spermatozoa on subsequent post-thaw testicular sperm remarked 15.1% and were increased to 77.3% just before ICSI. After sperm extracted from frozen-thawed seminiferous tubule, 3 hrs later in in vitro culture, the cases of presence of motile sperm, reaction of hypo-osmotic swelling test and viable sperm were 63.6% (28/44), 93.2% (41/44), and 77.3% (34/44), respectively. Conclusions: Just after post-thawed testicular sperm did not showed motility. Although motility was gained after in vitro culture, many cases showed non-motile sperm until optimal insemination time. However, HOS test showed positive reaction in non-motile sperm. Therefore, HOS test is an alternative method for the selection of viable sperm for ICSI.